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Full text of "<a href="/details/collectionofpape01buck">A collection of papers read before the Bucks County Historical Society</a>"
</h1>
<pre>UNIVERSITY
OF PITTSBURGH
LIBRARY
Ao^";;;; //A
THIS BOOK PRESENTED BY
Alurani Giving Plan
O Co /V.-^O^-e'-iA-^^
"Socks. -•
A COLLECTION OF PAPERS
READ BEFORE THE
BUCKS COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PUBLISHED FOR THE SOCIETY
BY
B. F. Fackenthal, Jr.
RlEGELSVILLE, PA.
VOLUME I.
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Hon. Harman Yerkes Miss Agnes B. Williams
Henry C. Mercer Clarence D. Hotchkiss
Warren S. Ely B. F. Fackenthal, Jr.
v.l
C-o-p. 1
Press oi^
The Chemical Pubi^ishing Co.
Easton, Pa.
t
CONTENTS
Page
List of Illustrations vi
Ivist of OfiScers vii
List of Members viii
Charter xxv
Constitution and By-Laws xxvii
Copy of Act of Pennsylvania Legislature Authorizing County Com-
missioners to Appropriate Money to Historical Societies xxxii
Preface by Henry C. Mercer xxxiii
PAPERS
Early Settlement of Newtown Township. Josiah B. Smith i
The Solebury Copper Mine Capt. John S. Bailey 6
Early History of Bucks County Gen. W. W. H. Davis 13
Bucks County Bi-Centennial Alfred Paschall 18
About Attleborough Gen. W. W. H. Davis 24
William Penn's Home Life at the
Manor House Gen. W. W. H. Davis 28
Mennonites or German Friends Richard M. Lyman 39
Our Stone Age Capt. John S. Bailey 45
The Minerals of Bucks County Charles Laubach 53
The German Population in Bucks County . William J. Buck 57
The Marquis de LaFayette. Gen. W. W. H. Davis 66
The Neshaminy Church Rev. D. K. Turner 77
Indian Town of Playwickey Josiah B. Smith 95
The Doylestown Presbyterian Church . • .John L. DuBois 99
Reminiscences of Wrightstown Hon. Henry Chapman 102
Early History of Wrightstown Miss Annie C. Scarborough ... 1 1 1
Some Account of Warminster Meeting- • -Harriet E. Kirk 116
The Newspapers of Bucks County E. F. Church 118
The Poets and Poetry of Bucks County - -Gen. W. W. H. Davis 126
The Schools of Buckingham Elizabeth Lloyd 137
Reminiscences of Buckingham. Hon. Henry Chapman 143
IV CONTENTS
Bucks County in the Revolution Gen. W. W. H. Davis 153
Indigenous and Naturalized Flowering
Plants, Ferns and Fern Allies of
Bucks County Dr. Isaac S. Mover 161
The Doanes Before the Revolution Henry C. Mercer 173
Sketch of the Life of Gen. John Davis . . . Rev. D. K. Turner 182
Southampton Baptist Church Gen. W. W. H. Davis 196
The Ferns of Durham and Vicinity Miss Margaret J. Moffat 209
The Paper Mills of Bucks County E. F. Church 213
Edward Hicks Dr. Lettie A. Smith 217
The Fells and Slocums of Wyoming Edward Matthews 226
The Durham Iron Works Charles Laubach 232
Three Dramatic Scenes in the Closing
Hours of the Revolutionary Struggle • • Gen. W. W. H. Davis 250
Four Lawyers of Doylestown Bar Caleb E. Wright 266
The Doans and Their Times Henry C. Mercer 270
Thomas Ross, a Minister of the Society
of Friends Capt. John S. Bailey 283
The Durham Cave Charles Daubach - • 294
The Object of a Local Historical Society. Henry C. Michener 297
Plumstead Township Gen. W. W. H. Davis 305
Durham Cave — Reminiscences Martin Coryell 314
Education in Durham Township C. E. Hindenach 316
George Taylor— The Signer Charles Daubach 325
The Worth and Character of Pennsyl-
vania Germans Rev. A. R. Home, D. D. 333
General Ulysses S. Grant Alfred Paschall 349
Colonial Estates Col. Theodore W. Bean 353
The Early Clock Makers Capt. John S. Bailey 361
Penn and His Plans in Pennsylvania Howard M. Jenkins. 367
The American Policy Charles Heber Clark 380
Edward Hicks Hannah E. Holcomb 385
Local Names William J. Buck 389
Our Fern Miss Margaret B. Harvey 393
Early Welsh Settlers Howard M. Jenkins 397
What Geoffrey Chaucer Saw Dr. J. B. Walter 40T
The Schwenkfelders Gen. John F. Hartranft 404
Forestry in Pennsylvania Col. Henry D. Paxson 408
Aboriginal Remains in Durham and
Vicinity. John A. Ruth 417
CONTENTS V
American Archaeology Rev. Dr. John P. Lundy 425
The New Britain Baptist Church Rev. N. C. Fetter 438
Hon. Samuel D. Ingham Rev. D. K. Turner 450
The Mode of Life in Our Early Settle-
ment. Dr. George H. Larison 459
The Foundations on Which Our Fath-
ers Built Rev. W. W. Bullock 467
The Pension System Major Frank A. Butts 472
The Red Lion Inn, Bensalem Town-
ship William J. Buck 485
Early Catholics of Bucks County. Martin I. J. Griffin 489
Then and Now; or Old Times and New
in Pennsylvania Rev. S. F. Hotchkin 496
The Bucks County Medical Society Dr. J. B. Walter 509
The Town We Live in Gen. W. W. H. Davis 521
Bits of History Gen. W. W. H. Davis 527
Scraps of Bucks Before 1750 Dr. John W. Jordan 536
Early History of Bristol Gen. W. W. H. Davis 548
The Progress of the United States Rev. S. F. Hotchkin 561
Loganian Lands in Bucks County. John L. DuBois 572
Popular Errors Respecting North Ameri-
can Indians Dr. William J. Hoflfman 577
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Gen. W. W. H. Davis, Portrait Frontispiece
Building of Bucks County Historical Society vii
Lenape Monument at Wrightstown xxxiii
Josiah B. Smith, Portrait i
Lenape Stone, the Indian and the Mammoth 45
Wrightstown Friends' Meeting-house 102
Horse Block at Wrightstown Meeting-house 102
Buckingham Friends' Meeting-house 143
Dr. Isaac S. Moyer, Portrait ; 161
Palisades or Narrows of Nockamixon 210
Durham Fiirnace, Date-stone 1727 233
Durham Furnace Stove Plate, 1 74 1 240
Durham Furnaces, erected 1848-50 245
Durham Furnace, erected 1876 249
Durham Cave, from photograph taken 1896 295
Durham Cave, arranged with seats, 1885 315
Durham School Houses and Riegelsville Academy 316-321-323
Parsons-Taylor House, Easton, Pa 326
Capt. John S. Bailey in his work-shop at Buckingham 363
The Red Lion Inn, in Bensalem township 487
Court Houses at Doylestown, Bucks county 525
BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Organized Nov. 20, 1880.
Gen. W. W. H. Davis, President.
Richard M. Lyman, Secretary. Alfred Paschall, Treasurer.
Rev. Howard C. Widdemer was chosen Secretary January 14, 1884; Al-
fred Paschall, Secretary and Treasurer, March 17, 1885. Mr. Paschall re-
signed January 15, 1907, and was succeeded by Clarence D. Hotchkiss.
INCORPORATED FEB. 23, 1885.
Directors under Charter.
Gen. W. W. H. Davis, President.
Rev. D. K. Turner Charles Laubach
Josiah B. Smith Thomas C. Knowles
Dr. Joseph B. Walter
Alfred Paschall
Dr. Joseph Thomas
Capt. John S. Bailey
Changes in Directorate.
Jan. 18, 1887
Jan.
15,
1889
Jan.
20,
1891
Jan.
21,
1896
Jan. 20, 1903
Jan. 17,
May 28,
1905
1907
John L. DuBois
Rev. William A. Patton
Henry C. Michener
Col. Henry D. Paxson
Henry C. Mercer
Henry Lear
Mrs. Anna J. Williams
John S. Williams
Mrs. Harman Yerkes
Mrs. Richard Watson
Miss Elizabeth J. Greer
Edward Longstreth
Capt. William Wynkoop
Miss Mary L. DuBois
Josiah B. Smith
Charles Laubach
Dr. Joseph B. Walter
Capt. John S. Bailey
Col. Henry D. Paxson
Rev. William A. Patton
John L. DuBois
Dr. Joseph Thomas
Henry Lear
Henry C. Michener
Rev. D. K. Turner
Mrs. Anna J. Williams
Edward Longstreth
Miss Elizabeth J. Greer
Board of Directors in 1908.
Gen. W. W. H. Davis, President.
John S. Williams, Vice Pres't. Henry C. Mercer, Vice Pres't.
Miss Mary L. DuBois Mrs. Harman Yerkes
Capt. William Wynkoop Thomas C. Knowles
Alfred Paschall Mrs. Richard Watson
Clarence D. Hotchkiss, Secretary and Treasurer.
Warren S. Ely, Librarian.
BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
LIST OF MEMBERS. CORRECTED TO AUGUST 1, 1908.
Those marked thus * are deceased; marked thus *'!" are hon-
orary life members; marked *** were honorary life members
now deceased.
Name
Afflerbach, Henry
Afflerbach, Mrs. Henry
Africa, J. Simpson
Alburger, Mrs. Eliza M.
Allen, Mrs. Thos. L.
Althouse, E. E.
Anderson, John A.
Anderson, William G.
Address
Newtown
Newtown
Huntingdon,
Andalusia
Langhorne
Sellersville
Lambertville,
Doylestown
N. J.
Archambault, Mrs. Priscilla RingPhiladelphia
Atherholt Arthur T. Holmesburg
Atherholt, Thos. C. Philadelphia
Atkinson, Mrs. Anna C. Holicong
Atkinson, Miss Alice M. Holicong
*Atkinson, Mrs. Clara A. K. Wrightstown
Atkinson, Howard W. Doylestown
Atkinson, Mrs. Howard W. Doylestown
Atkinson, Miss Jane Holicong
*Atkinson, Mrs. Letitia R. Doylestown
*Atkinson, Mrs. Margaret Buckmanville
Atkinson, Mrs. Mary Harding Bloomsburg
Atkinson, Miss Sarah E. Penn's Park
Atkinson, Miss Susan W. Holicong
Atkinson, T. Howard Buckingham
Atkinson, Mrs. T. Howard Buckingham
**Atkinson, T. O. Doylestown
*Atkinson, Mrs. T. O. Doylestown
Ayers, Mrs. Ella T. Newtown
Bachman, D. M. Easton
Bachman, S. C. Riegelsville
*Bailey, Capt. John S. Buckingham
Barnes, Mrs. Edward Richmond, Ind.
Barnsley, J. Herman Newtown
Barnsley, Mrs. J. Herman Newtown
Barnsley, Miss Wilhelmina H. Newtown
*Barnsley, Joseph Hartsville
Oct.
4,
1904
Oct.
4,
1904
Feb.
28,
1885
Aug.
14,
1900
Oct.
4,
1904
July
21,
1896
Oct.
7,
1897
Oct.
7>
1902
July
21,
1896
May
26,
1903
Jan.
1 7,
1899
July
21,
1896
Aug.
9,
1898
Jan.
20,
1903
May
28,
1901
May
28,
1901
Jan.
21,
1902
Jan.
I/,
1899
Jan.
19,
1897
Oct.
4,
1904
May
28,
1901
Jan.
i8,
1898
Jan.
22,
1895
Jan.
19,
1897
Jan.
21,
1896
Jan.
21,
1896
Jan.
15,
1901
Aug.
14,
1900
Jan.
28,
1885
Jan.
20,
1880
Oct.
7,
1902
Jan.
i6.
1906
Jan.
19,
1907
Jan.
i6,
1906
Feb.
23,
1885
LIST OF MEMBERS
Bassett, Dr. H. Linn
Yardley
Oct.
6,
1903
Beans, Daniel L-
Newtown
Oct.
I,
1901
Beans, J. Johnson
Doylestown
Jan.
20,
1897
Beans, Thos. J.
Moorestown, N. J.
Jan.
i6.
1906
Beatty, Joseph Henry
Germantown
Oct.
7,
1902
Beatty, Miss Mary May
Germantown
Oct.
7,
1902
Beatty, Miss Susan A.
Villa Nova
Oct.
7,
1902
Beaver, Hon. James A.
Bellefonte
Feb.
23,
1885
Beckman, Mrs. Mary K.
Doylestown
Jan.
17,
1899
=^**Bell, Frank F.
Bristol
Jan.
i6,
1900
Benson Edwin N.
Philadelphia
Jan.
13,
1888
Betts, Mrs. Anna C.
Buckmanville
Jan.
19,
1897
*Betts, Col. Chas. M.
Philadelphia
Aug.
14,
1900
Betts, Miss Lettie Kinsey
Buckmanville
May
26,
1903
Blackfan, Edward
New Hope
Jan.
16,
1906
Blackfan, Mrs. Edward
New Hope
Oct.
6,
1903
*Blackfan, Geo. C.
Newtown
Jan.
19,
1897
Blackfan, Mrs. Geo. C.
Newtown
Jan.
19,
1897
Blackfan, John
Newtown
Oct.
4,
1904
Blackfan, Mrs. John
Newtown
July
28,
1887
*Blackfan, William C.
Solebury
Feb.
^i,
1895
Blaker, Mrs. Susannah
Newtown
May
28,
1902
Bond, Lewis R.
Morrisville
May
26,
1903
Bond, Mrs. Lewis R.
Morrisville
May
26,
1903
Bonner, Mrs. Anna M.
IVenton, N. J.
Oct.
4-
1904
*Branson, James L.
Langhorne
Jan.
18.
1898
*Bray Stacy B.
Lanibertville, N. J.
Jan.
18,
1898
Broadhurst, Joseph J.
Langhorne
Jan.
16,
1900
Broadhurst, Mrs. Joseph J.
Langhorne
Jan.
16,
1900
Broadhurst, Miss Sarah J.
Holicong
Jan.
16,
1900
Brock, Geo. P.
Doylestown
July
21,
1896
Brock, Mrs. Geo. P.
Doylestown
July.
16,
1895
Brodie, Mrs. Emma K.
Doylestown
Oct.
4,
1904
Brower, Davis E.
Doylestown
Feb.
^Z,
1885
Brown, Robert P.
Germantown
Jan.
18,
1898
Brown, Mrs. Robert P.
Germantown
Jan.
17,
1899
Brown, Stacy B.
Newtown
Oct.
6,
1903
Brown, Mrs. Stacy B.
Newtown
Oct.
6,
1903
Bryan, Mrs. F. H.
Newtown
Jan.
19,
1897
Buckman, Miss Addie T.
Doylestown
Jan.
22,
189b
Buckman, Miss Avis
Doylestown
Jan.
19,
1904
*Buckman, Dr. Edward H,
Doylestown
May
28,
1905
Buckman, Miss Geraldine LouiseDoylestown
Jan.
19,
1904
Buckman, Miss Helen
Doylestown
April
10,
1907
Buckman, Louis
Doylestown
Jan.
22,
1895
Buckman, Mrs. Louis
Doylestown
Jan.
21,
1896
Buckman, Miss Louise
Doylestown
July
21,
1896
I.IST OF MEMBERS
Buckman, Samuel T.
Buckman, Mrs. Samuel T.
Buckman, Wallace
Bullock, Miss M. Alice
Burroughs, John H.
Burroughs, Miss Mary Stewart
Burpee W. Atlee
Burpee, Mrs. W. Atlee
Cadwallader, A. J.
*Cadwallader, A. S.
Cadwallader, Capt. C. G.
Cadwallader, Timothy
Cadwallader, T. Sidney
Cadwallader, Mrs. T. Sidney
Cadwallader, Watson W.
Campbell, Miss Ella H.
*Cary, Silas
Cary, Mrs. Silas
***Carver, Mahlon
Case, Mrs. Emily R.
Case, Mrs. Harry
Chambers, Thomas P.
Chambers, Mrs. Thomas P.
Chandler, George A.
**Chapman, Miss Fanny
***Chapman, Mrs. Nancy F.
Chevrier, Mrs. Catharine L.
Child, Miss Rachel A.
*Childs, George W.
*Church, E. F.
Church, Watson P.
Church, Mrs. Watson P.
Colladay, Frank Hicks
*Collins, Mrs. Kate M. V.
'^'Comfort, Miss Anna E.
Comfort, Henry W.
Comfort, Mrs. Henry W.
Constantine, Fred
*Comley. F. A.
Cook, Mrs. George R.
Cooley, Wm. J.
*Cooper, Dr. A. M.
Cooper, Mrs. A. M.
Cooper, Dr. William R.
Cooper, Mrs. Wm. R.
Cornell, George W.
Cornell, Mrs. Geo. W.
Newtown
July
i6, 189s
Newtown
Jan.
20, 1903
Trenton, N. J.
Oct.
6, 1903
Quakertown
May
28, 1901
Philadelphia
Jan.
17, 1 90s
Philadelphia
Jan.
17, 1905
Doylestown
Aug.
14, 1900
Doylestown
Aug.
14, 1900
Yardley
May
28, 1 901
Yardley
Aug.
9, 1898
Philadelphia
• Jan.
18, 1898
Doylestown
Jan.
20, 1903
Yardley
May
28, 1907
Yardley
July
21, 1896
Yardley
May
26, 1903
Doylestown
May
26, 1903
Newtown
Oct.
7, 1902
Newtown
Oct.
7, 1902
Carversville
Jan.
20, 1880
Morrisville
Oct.
6, 1903
Newtown
Oct.
4. 1904
Newtown
Aug.
9, 1898
Newtown
Aug.
9, 1898
South Bethlehem
Jan.
17, 1899
Doylestown
Oct.
7, 1897
Doylestown
Oct.
7, 1897
Trenton, N. J.
Jan.
17, 1905
Langhorne
Oct.
6, 1903
Philadelphia
April
23, 1885
Newtown
Feb.
23, 1885
Newtown
Jan.
22, 1885
Newtown
Jan.
15, 1901
Lansdowne
May
24, 1904
Eddington
Jan.
18. 1898
Bryn Mawr
Jan.
19, 1904
Fallsington
May
26, 1903
Fallsington
May
26, 1903
Doylestown
Jan.
16, 1900
Philadelphia
Feb.
23, i88s
Lambertville, N. J.
May
26, 1903
New Hope
Aug.
10, 1899
Point Pleasant
Jan.
21, 1896
Point Pleasant
Jan.
19, 1897
Point Pleasant
Oct.
6, 1903
Point Pleasant
Oct.
6, 1903
Newtown
Jan.
20, 1903
Newtown
Jan.
20, 1903
LIST OF MEMBERS
Cox, Thos. B.
Buckingham
May
26,
1903
Cozens, Miss Anna P.
Neshaminy
Jan.
15-
1901
Craven, Linford R.
Doylestown
Oct.
7,
1902
Craven, Mrs. Linford R.
Doylestown
Jan.
16,
1906
Crewitt, Mrs. J. B.
Newtown
May
26,
1903
Cunningham, Matthew C.
Holicong
Jan.
16,
1900
Cunningham, Mrs. Matthew C.
Holicong
Jan.
16.
1900
Curwen, Mrs. Geo. F.
Villa Nova
May
28,
1907
Darlington, Edward B.
Boise City, Idaho
July
16,
1895
Darlington, Walter
Philadelphia
July
16,
1895
Dana, Dr. Robert Shoemaker
Morrisville
May
26,
1903
Dana, Mrs. Robert Shoemaker
Morrisville
May
25,
1903
Darrah, John M.
Hartsville
May
28,
1902
Darrah, Mrs. John M.
Hartsville
May
28,
1902
Darrah, Miss Anna
Hartsville
Jan.
20,
1903
Dager, C. T.
Warminster
May
27,
1902
Davis, Gen. W. W. H.
Doylestown
Jan.
20,
1880
Davis, Miss Eleanor Hart
Doylestown
Jan.
22,
1895
Deemer, Hon. Elias
Williamsport
May
28,
1901
Deemer, Mrs. Elias
Williamsport
May
28,
1901
De Cou, Mrs. S. Ella
Trenton, N. J.
May
28,
1907
Dewitt, Mrs. William R.
Doylestown
Jan.
16,
1906
*Dickie, Dr. A. M.
Doylestown
Jan.
20,
1880
*Dobbins, Joseph K.
Neshaminy
Oct.
6,
1903
Doron, Mrs. William E.
Bristol
Jan.
19,
1904
Dorrance, Geo. Morris
Bristol
Aug.
ID,
1899
Doyle, Mrs. Frederick A.
Philadelphia
May
24,
1904
='*Doyle, Mrs. James B.
Philadelphia
May
24,
1904
Doyle, Lemuel H.
Doylestown, Wis.
Jan.
16,
1906
Du Bois, Miss Helen M.
Philadelphia
Oct.
7,
1897
*Du Bois, John L.
Doylestown
Feb.
23,
1885
Du Bois, Mrs. John L.
Doylestown
July
16,
1895
Du Bois, Miss Mary L.
Doylestown
July
16,
1895
Eastburn, Mrs. Ellen B.
Philadelphia
May
28,
1901
Eastburn, Charles T.
Yardley
Aug.
9,
1898
^Eastburn, George
Philadelphia
Jan.
21,
1896)
Eastburn, Hugh B.
Doylestown
July
16,
1895
Eastburn, Mrs. Hugh B.
Doylestown
July
21,
1896
Eastburn, Miss Marion L-
Lahaska
Oct.
6,
1903
*Eastburn, Moses
New Hope
Feb.
23,
188s
*Eastburn, Robert
Yardley
Jan.
22,
1895
Eastburn, Samuel C.
Langhorne
July
21,
1896
**Elkins, George W.
Philadelphia
May
28,
1902
***Elkins, William L.
Ashbourne
Aug.
10,
1899
Ely, Miss Harriet S.
Yardley
May
26,
1903
Ely, Gervas
Lambertville, N. J.
Jan.
18,
1898
LIST OF MEMBERS
*Ely, Henry P.
Buckingham
July
i6,
1895
*Ely, Hugh B.
Philadelphia
May
24,
1904
*Ely, Issac
New Hope
Feb.
23,
1885
Ely, Miss Margaret W.
New Hope
Oct.
7,
1897
Ely, Mrs. Mary E.
Yardley
May
26,
1903
Ely, Miss Myra Coryell
Lambertville, N. J.
Jan.
16,
1906
Ely, Oliver P.
Philadelphia
Oct.
4,
1904
Ely, Warren S.
Doylestown
Jan.
19,
1897
*Ely, William M.
Solebury
Jan.
15,
1901
Ely, Mrs. William M.
Solebury
Jan.
15,
1901
Ely, William Newbold
Chestnut Hill
April
23,
1885
*Engart, John S.
Philadelphia
Aug,
. 14,
1900
Engart, Mrs. John S.
Philadelphia
Aug.
. 14,
1900
Erdman, Dr. Wm. S.
Buckingham
Jan.
15,
1901
*Erismann, Airs. Alice Coryell
Lambertville, N. J.
Oct.
7,
1897
Esherick, Joseph, Jr.
Langhorne
Jan.
21,
1902
Esherick, Mrs. Joseph, Jr.
Langhorne
Aug.
ID,
1899
Esherick, Miss Elizabeth J.
Langhorne
Jan.
21,
1902
Evans, Mrs. Mary McCalla
Philadelphia
Jan.
16,
1897
**Fackenthal, B. F. Jr.
Riegelsville
Aug.
9,
1898
Fackenthal, Mrs. B. F. Jr.
Riegelsville
Jan.
20,
1903
Farren, Mrs. Lettie B.
Doylestown
Aug.
14,
1900
Faville. Prof. E. E.
Des Moines, Iowa
Aug.
ID,
1899
**Fell, Mrs. Amanda R.
Philadelphia
Jan.
20,
1903
Fell, Hon. D. Newlin
Philadelphia
July
20,
1897
Fell, Mrs. D. Newlin
Philadelphia
July
20,
1897
Fell, David Newlin, Jr.
Philadelphia
Jan.
20,
1903
Fell, Miss Elizabeth N.
Philadelphia
Jan.
18,
1898
Fell, E. Lawrence
Philadelphia
Jan.
18,
1898
*Fell, E. Watson
Holicong
July
16,
1895
Fell, Mrs. E. Watson
Holicong
Jan.
18,
1898
Fell, Dr. John A.
Doylestown
Oct.
4,
1904
*Fell, Joseph W.
Holicong
Aug.
14,
1900
Fell, Miss Lucy W.
Germantown
Jan.
21,
1896
*Fell, Morris L.
Doylestown
May
14.
1887
Fell, Robert N.
Ogontz
May
28.
1901
*Fell, William Jenks
Faulkland, Del.
July
16,
189s
Fenimore, Edward C.
Morrisville
May
26,
1903
Fetter, Geo. W.
Philadelphia
Aug.
ID,
1899
Fetter, Mrs. Geo. W.
Philadelphia
Aug.
10,
1899
Fitzgerald, James H.
Mechanics Valley
Oct.
7.
1902
Folker, Howard 0.
Philadelphia
Oct.
7,
1902
*Foulke, Benjamin G.
Quakertown
Feb.
23,
1885
**Foulke, Miss Eleanor
Quakertown
Jan.
18,
1898
**Foulke, J. Roberts
Philadelphia
May
28,
1901
Foulke, William G.
Philadelphia
May
28,
1 901
I.IST OF MEMBERS
Foulkrod, William W.
Frankford
May
24,
1904
Francis, Mrs. William
Doylestown
Jan.
19,
1904
Franklin, Malcolm
Philadelphia
Jan.
20,
1903
Franklin, Mrs. Malcolm
Philadelphia
Jan.
20,
1903
Freed, Mrs. Samuel Z.
Doylestown
Jan.
21,
1902
Fretz, Miss A. Lela
Doylestown
Oct.
7,
1902
Fretz, Dr. C. D.
Sellersville
July
20,
1880
Fretz, John S.
Doylestown
Jan.
17,
1899
Fretz, Mrs. John S.
Doylestown
Jan.
17,
1899
**Fretz, Phillip H.
Doylestown
May
7,
1887
***Fries, Aaron
Philadelphia
Jan.
20,
1903
Funk, Elmer E. .
Doylestown
May
28,
1901
Funk, Henry S.
Springtown
July
28,
1885
Gallaudet, Rev. J. C.
Quinnemont, W. Va.
Oct.
7,
1902
Gallaudet, Mrs. J. C.
Philadelphia
Oct.
7,
1902
Gerlitzki, Mrs Mary S.
Doylestown
Jan.
17,
1905
♦Gilbert, John W.
Holicong
Feb.
23,
1885
Gilbert, Miss Sarah H.
Millersville
Jan.
22,
189s
*Gilkeson, A. Wier
Bristol
Oct.
7,
1897
Gilkyson, Col. H. H.
Phoenixville
Jan.
21,
1902
Gill, Mrs. Laura F.
Richborough
Oct.
4.
1904
*Gillam, Mrs. Elizabeth R.
Langhorne
Oct.
7,
1897
Gillam, Miss Susan W.
Langhorne
Oct.
4,
1904
Gillingham, Harrold E.
Germantown
Oct.
4,
1904
Gillingham, Mrs. Harrold E.
Germantown
Oct.
4,
1904
Goodman, Miss Mary
Newtown
Jan.
21,
1896
Green, Miss Mary E.
Quakertown
May
28,
1901
Gregg, Phineas Jenkins
Philadelphia
May
24,
1904
***Grier, Miss Elizabeth J.
Morristown
Aug.
10,
1899
Grier, Harold Field
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Oct.
6,
1903
Grier, Mrs. Harold Field
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Oct.
6,
1903
***Grier, James H.
Doylestown
Jan.
20,
1903
*Grier, John S.
Philadelphia
Aug.
14,
1900
Grier, Mrs. John S.
Philadelphia
Aug.
14,
1900
Grier, Miss Mary Long
Philadelphia
Oct.
6,
1903
Grier, William H.
Philadelphia
Aug.
14,
1900
*Grundy, Wm. H.
Bristol
Feb.
23,
1885
Grundy, Joseph R.
Bristol
Aug.
9,
1898
*Hagaman, William B.
Wrightstown
May
26,
1903
Hagaman, Mrs. William B.
Wrightstown
May
26,
1903
Hager, William L.
Doylestown
Oct.
7,
1902
Hager, Mrs. William L.
Doylestown
Oct.
7,
1902
Hagerty, Jacob
Doylestown
Jan.
20,
1903
Haines, Miss Laura C.
Buckingham
Jan.
15.
1901
Hall, Matthias H.
Wrightstown
Jan.
18,
1898
Hallowell, H. Warner
Ivyland
May
27,
1902
I^IST OF MEMBERS
Hallowell, Mrs. H. Warner
Hallowell, Miss Edith
Hallowell, Miss Susan C. F
Haring, Abel B.
Haring, Mrs. Abel B.
Haring, Charles C.
Haring, Mrs. Chas. C.
Harley, J. S.
Harley, Mrs. J. S.
Harper, Jesse E.
Harper, Mrs. Jesse E.
Harris, Henry O.
Harris, Mrs. Henry O.
*Harnson E. G.
Harrison, George
Harrison, Miss Jeanette R.
**Hart, B. F.
Hart, Dr. Edward
Hart, John
Hart, Mrs. John
Hart, Joseph G.
Hart, Miss Rebie P.
Hart, Walter Homer
Hayes, Mrs. Charles E.
Headley, Mrs. Beulah C.
Heaton, Mrs. Mary H.
Heed, Charles E.
Heed, Mrs. Chas. E.
Heller, W. J.
*Heston, William
Hibbs D. R. P.
Hicks, Geo. A.
*Hines, Miss Elizabeth
Hines, Miss Ella
Hogeland, Horace B.
Hogeland, Mrs. Horace B.
Holbert, E. W.
Holbert, Mrs. E. W.
Holcomb, Mrs. Cynthia S.
Holcomb, Oliver H.
Hotchkiss, Clarence D.
Hotchkiss, Mrs. C. D.
Hough, Oliver
Hough, Mrs. Phoebe Alice
Howell, Miss Emma
Howell, Lewis A.
Howell, Miss Mabel W.
Howell, William G.
Ivyland
Ivjland
Philadelphia
Frenchtown, N. J.
Frenchtown, N. J.
Quakertown
Quakertown
Quakertown
Quakertown
Yardley
Yardley
Doylestown
Doylestown
Asbury Park, N. J.
Asbury Park, N. J.
Hulmeville
Philadelphia
Easton
Doylestown
Doylestown
Doylestown
Doylestown
Philadelphia
Penn Valley
Yardley
Doylestown
Philadelphia
Philadelphia
Easton
Frankford
Albert Lea, Minn.
Philadelphia
Doylestown
Doylestown
Newtown
Newtown
Jamison
Jamison
Pineville
Pineville
Doylestown
Doylestown
Philadelphia
Newtown
Yardley
Morrisville
Morrisville
Morrisville
May
27,
1902
May
27,
1902
Aug.
10,
1899
May
28,
1 901
Jan.
21,
1901
May
28,
1901
May
28,
1 901
May
28,
1901
May
28,
1901
Oct.
6,
1903
Oct.
6,
1903
July
20,
1897
July
20,
1897
Aug.
9,
1898
Jan.
17,
1899
Jan.
17,
1899
April
23,
1885
May
27,
1902
Jan.
17,
1899
Jan.
17,
1899
May
28,
1907
May
26,
1903
Aug.
14,
1900
Oct.
7,
1902
Oct.
4,
1904
Aug.
ID,
1899
Aug.
14,
1900
Aug.
14,
1900
Oct.
6,
1903
Jan.
17,
1899
July
21,
1906
Aug.
ID,
1899
Jan.
16,
1906
Jan.
16,
1906
Oct.
4,
1904
Oct.
A,
1904
Oct.
4,
1904
Oct.
4,
1904
Jan.
21,
1902
Oct.
4,
1904
Jan.
21,
1896
May
28,
1907
July
21,
1896
Oct.
I,
1901
May
26,
1903
May
26,
1903
May
26,
1903
May
26,
1903
LIST OF MEMBERS
Hoxie, Mrs. Anna B.
Hulshizer, Mrs. Martin
Hurley, William W.
Hurley, Mrs. William W.
Hutchinson, Edward S.
Hutchinson, Airs. Edward S.
*Hutchinson, J. Pemberton
Imswiler, John W.
Ingham, William A.
Iredell, Miss Louisa
Ivins, M. Harvey
Ivins, Mrs. M. Harvey
Ivins, William H.
Jackson, Mrs. A. Davis
***James, Frederick
James, Irvin M.
James, Mrs. Irvin M.
James, Henry A.
James, Mrs. Henry A.
James, Howard I.
James, Miss Marie Megargee
James, Miss Marion M.
James, Mrs. Nathan C.
James, Miss Sarah M.
James, Mrs. Wynne
*Jameson, Col. John
*Jameson, Mrs. John
Janney, Thomas J.
Jefiferys, Rev. Edward M.
Jenkins, Charles F.
Jenkins, Z. T.
Jenks, George A.
Jenks, Mrs. George A.
Jenks, Miss Lydia D.
Jenks, William J.
**Johnson, R. Winder
Katen, Mrs. Sarah J.
Keeler, E. Wesley
Keeler, Mrs. E. Wesley
Keim, Mrs. Joseph de B.
Keim, Thomas De.
Keller. Frank C.
Keller, Lewis
Keller, Mahlon
Kenderdine, T. S.
Philadelphia
Jan.
i6,
1900
Doylestown
Aug.
14,
1900
New Hope
Jan.
15,
1901
New Hope
Jan.
IS,
1901
Newtown
May
26,
1903
Newtown
May
26,
1903
Newtown
Jan.
2,
1896
Yardley
May
26,
1903
Philadelphia
Jan.
16,
1900
Bristol
Jan.
15,
1 901
Langhorne
Oct.
7,
1902
Langhorne
Oct.
7,
1902
Langhorne
Jan.
16,
1900
Philadelphia
Jan.
18,
1898
New York City
Jan.
20,
1903
Doylestown
Oct.
4,
1904
Doylestown
Oct.
I,
1 901
Doylestown
July
16,
189s
Doylestown
Aug.
9,
1898
Bristol
May
26,
1903
Doylestown
Oct.
6,
1903
Doylestown
Jan.
20,
1903
Doylestown
Oct.
6,
1903
Doylestown
Jan.
17,
1899
Doylestown
Jan.
16,
1906
Milford, N. J.
May
28,
1 901
Milford, N. J.
May
28,
1901
Newtown
July
20,
1897
Philadelphia
Aug.
ID,
1899
Germantown
Jan.
15,
1901
Washington, D. C.
Jan.
16,
1906
Newtown
July
21,
1895
Newtown
July
21,
1896
Philadelphia
Oct.
I,
1901
Philadelphia
Feb.
23,
1885
Philadelphia
Jan.
20,
1903
Newtown
Oct.
4,
1904
Doylestown
Jan.
19,
1897
Doylestown
July
16,
^1895
Bristol
Oct.
7,
1902
Bristol
Jan.
20,
1903
Philadelphia
Oct.
6,
1903
Bedminster
May
26,
1903
Perkasie
May
26,
1903
Newtown
July
21,
1896
XVI
LIST OF MEMBERS
*Kenderdine, Watson
Kenderdine, Mrs. Watson
Kephart, Miss Emma P.
*King, Dr. Charles R.
*Kinney, William
Kirk, Mrs. Anna W.
*Kirk, Charles
*Kirk, Mrs. Charles
Kirkbride, Edward S.
*Kiser, Harvey S.
Kiser, Mrs. Louisa B.
Kline, Theodore J.
Kline, Mrs. Theodore J.
Knight, Charles G.
Knig-ht, Charles L-
Knight, Mrs. Charles L.
Knight, Mrs. William B.
Knipe, Irwin P.
Knowles, Thomas C.
Knowles, Mrs. Thomas C.
Krewson, Rev. J. B.
Krauskopf, Rev. Joseph
Laatz, A. Eugene
Labaree, Rev. Robert M.
Lancaster, Mrs. J. E.
*Laubach, Charles
***Lawrence, Mrs. Elizabeth
Lear, Henry
Leatherman, J. Kirk
**Lee, Edward Clinton
Lee, Francis B.
Lee, Franklyn A.
*Leedom, Jesse
Leedom, Miss Ellen K.
Leedom, Mrs. Sarah T.
Leedom, Mrs. Walter F.
Lilly, John
Livezey, B. Frank
Lloyd, Miss Elizabeth
Long, Joseph Yates
Longshore, Samuel H.
Longshore, Mrs. Samuel H.
*Longstreth, Edward
***Longstreth, Edward T.
Longstreth, Howard
**Longstreth, John L.
Lumberville
Aug.
10, 1899
Philadelphia
Aug.
10, 1899
Doylestown
Jan.
17, 1905
Andalusia
Jan.
18, 1898
Bristol
April 27, 1887
Pineville
Jan.
21, 1902
Johsnsville
Feb.
23, 1885
Johsnsville
Feb.
23, 188s
Morrisvillc
May
26, 1903
Doylestown
May
24, 1904
Doylestown
May
24, 1904
Doylestown
Jan.
7, 1899
Doylestown
Jan.
20, 1903
Churchville
Jan.
20, 1903
Newtown
Oct.
4, 1904
Newtown
Oct.
4, 1904
Langhorne
Oct.
4, 1904
Norristown
May
28, I 901
Yardley
Feb.
23, 1885
Yardley
Oct.
4, 1904
Forest Grove
Aug.
10, 1899
Germantown
Aug.
10, 1899
Doylestown
Jan.
16, 1906
Urumiah, Persia
Aug.
14, 1900
Maud
Jan.
17, 1905
Durham
Feb.
23, 188s
Doylestown
Oct.
7, 1897
Doylestown
Feb.
23, 1885
Doylestown
May
24, 1904
Haverford
Jan.
21, 1896
Trenton, N. J.
May
26, 1903
Philadelphia
Oct.
7, 1897
Doylestown
Jan.
20, 1880
Philadelphia
May
28, 1907
Philadelphia
May
21, 1902
Bristol
May
28, 1907
Lambertville, N. J.
Feb.
23, 1885
Yardley
Aug.
10, 1899
Lansdowne
Jan.
17, 1899
New York City
Aug.
9, 1898
Langhorne
Jan.
16, 1906
Langhorne
Jan.
16, 1906
Philadelphia
Dec.
12, 1887
Oak Lane, Phila.
Jan.
15, 1901
Philadelphia
Jan.
15, 190T
Philadelphia
Aug.
9, 1898
LIST OF MEMBERS
I^ngstreth, William
Longstreth, William W.
Ivovett, Dr. Henry
Xovett, Mrs. Joseph L.
Lundy, J. Wilmer
Lyman, Richard M.
Lyman, Robert H.
MacReynolds, George
*Magill, Dr. Edward H.
Magill, Edward W.
Magill, C. Howard
Magill, Mrs. C. Howard
Mann, Miss Elizabeth P.
Mann, Mrs. Catherine Ely
Maris, George L-
Maris, Mrs. George L.
Maris, Mrs. Joshua
Marshall, Alfred
Marshall, Mrs. Alfred
Marshall, Mrs. Geo. M.
Martin, A. S.
Martindale, E. W.
Mason, C. Russell
Mason, William
Mason, Mrs. William
**Mathews, Charles H.
Mattison, Asher
Mattison, Mrs. Asher
Means, Dr. Charles
Means, Mrs. Charles
Means, Charles Stewart
Means, Mrs. Charles Stewart
Means, John Grier
Melchoir, Rev. O. H.
**Mercer, Henry C.
**Mercer, William R.
♦Mercer, Mrs. William R.
Mercer, William R. Jr.
Mercer, Mrs. Wm. R. Jr.
Mercur, James Watts
Meredith, Charles M.
Meredith, Dr. W. H.
Mervine, William M.
Michener, Henry C.
*Michener, John S.
Mickle, Mrs. Robert T.
Philadelphia
Jan.
IS,
1 901
Philadelphia
May
28,
1901
Langhorne
July
20
1897
Emilie
Oct.
6,
1903
Newtown
Oct.
I,
1901
Oakland, €al.
Jan.
20,
1880
Logan, W. Va.
July
16,
1895
Doylestown
May
28,
1901
Swarthmore
Jan.
18,
1898
Philadelphia
Jan.
18,
1898
Doylestown
Aug.
9,
1898
Doylestown
Aug.
9,
1898
Doylestown
Jan.
21,
1902
Beverly, N. J.
Oct.
4.
1904
Fort Ried, Fla.
Jan.
17,
1899
Fort Ried, Fla.
Jan.
17.
1899
Brooklyn, N. Y.
May
28,
1907
Langhorne
May
26,
1903
Langhorne
Oct.
7,
1897
New Hope
May
26,
1903
Norristowu
July
20,
1897
Hulraeville
Jan.
18,
1898
Doylestown
Jan.
16,
1906
Doylestown
Jan.
15,
1901
Doylestown
Jan.
15,
igoi
Philadelphia
Jan.
20,
1903
New Hope
Jan.
21,
1896
New Hope
Jan.
21,
1896
Philadelphia
Aug.
ID,
1899
Philadelphia
Aug.
10,
1899
Tamauqua
Oct.
6,
1903
Tamauqua
Oct.
6,
1903
Tamauqua
Oct.
6,
1903
Springtown
July
28,
1885
Doylestown
Jan.
20,
1880
Doylestown
Oct.
7,
1897
Doylestown
Oct.
7,
1897
Doylestown
Jan.
15.
1889
Doylestown
May
28,
1907
Wallingford
July
20,
1897
Perkasie
May
28,
1907
Quakertown
May
28,
1901
Edgewater Park, N. J.
May
28,
1901
Philadelphia
May
7j
1887
Philadelphia
Aug.
14,
1900
Germantown
Oct.
7,
1897
LIST OF MEMBERS
Miles, Miss A. Melvina
Mitchell, Allen R.
Mitchell, Mrs. Allen R.
Mitchell, Miss Edith M.
McCown, Mrs. Sarah A.
McCoy, William P.
McDowell, F. W.
McGary, Mrs.- M. E. H.
Mcintosh, Geo. W.
Moon, Owen W.
Moon, William H.
Moore, James
Morden, Miss Emily Gertrude
**Morris, Effingham B.
Morrison, Andrew J.
Mowry, Mrs. Philip H.
*Moyer, Dr. Isaac S.
Mull, Miss Lydia H.
*Murfit, Henry S.
Murfit, Mrs. Henry S.
Murray, Peter G.
Newell, William C.
Newell, Mrs. William C.
Newell, Miss Mary Louise
Nicholas, Mrs. M. Catherine
Nichols, H. S. P
Nichols, Mrs. H. S. P.
Nickelson, Mrs. Catherine R.
Nightingale, Charles R.
Nightingale, Mrs. Charles R.
*North, Mrs. Anna M.
Osborne, Dr. Richard H. G.
Osborne, Mrs. Richard H. G.
*Otter, Thomas P.
Paddock, Mrs. Naomi W.
Palmer, Henry
Palmer, Mrs. Henry
Palmer, Mark
*Parry, Dr. George Randolph
Parry, Richard Randolph
Parry, Mrs. Richard Randolph
Parry, Miss Gertrude R.
Parry, Oliver Randolph
Parry, Miss Adelaide R.
Parry, Henry C.
Parry, William B.
Davisville
Oct.
7,
1897
Langhorne
Oct.
6,
1903
Langhorne
Aug.
lO,
1899
Langhorne
Aug.
lO,
1899
Newtown
Oct.
4,
1904
Bristol
Jan.
21,
1908
Philadelphia
Mar.
8,
1888
Dolington
Oct.
4.
1904
Doylestown
Jan.
21,
1896
Trenton, N. J.
May
28,
I9OI
Morrisville
May
26,
1903
Philadelphia
Jati.
15,
1 901
George School
Oct.
4,
1904
Philadelphia
Aug.
10,
1899
Philadelphia
Jan.
21.
1896
Chester
Jan.
1 8,
1898
Quakertown
Feb.
23,
i88s
Morrisville
May
26,
1903
Doylestown
July
20,
1897
Philadelphia
July
21,
1896
New Britain
Oct.
6,
1903
Doylestown
July
21,
1896
Doylestown
July
i6.
1895
Doylestown
May
24,
1904
Doylestown
Jan.
21,
1902
Germantown
Jan.
i8.
1898
Germantown
Jan.
1 8,
1898
Yardley
May
26,
1903
Doylestown
Aug.
9,
1898
Doylestown
Oct.
i6.
1905
Trenton, N. J.
May
26,
1903
Morrisville
May
26,
1903
Morrisville
Jan.
20,
1903
Doylestown
Jan.
20,
1880
Newtown
Oct.
6,
1903
Langhorne
July
20,
1897
Langhorne
Oct.
4,
1904
Newtown
Jan.
1 6,
1906
New Hope
Feb.
23,
1885
New Hope
Feb.
23,
1885
New Hope
Aug.
lO,
1899
New Hope
Jan.
IS,
1 901
Philadelphia
Aug.
ID,
1899
New Hope
Jan.
15,
1901
Langhorne
Jan.
i6.
1900
Langhorne
July
20,
1897
LIST OF MEMBERS
Parry, Mrs. William B.
Parsons, Miss Ella
Parsons, Miss Mary T.
Patterson, Mrs. S. A. W.
Patton, Edward W.
Patton, Rev. William A.
Patton, William A.
Paschall, Alfred
Paschall, Mrs. Alfred
Paschall, Irvin F.
*Paxson, Albert S.
***Paxson, Hon. Edward M.
Paxson, Miss Elizabeth S.
Paxson, Henry D.
Paxson, Mrs. Henry 'D.
Paxson, Miss Margaret S.
Paxson, Miss Mary S.
*Paxson, Richard R.
Pennypacker, Charles H.
*Phillips, Charles
•*Pickering, Mrs. Anna J.
Pickering, Mrs. John R.
Plumley, Charles E.
Plumley, Geo. W.
*Pool, John T.
Pownall, Henry M.
**Prizer, Edward
Purdy, John M.
Pursell, Dr. Howard
Pursell, Mrs. Stacy B.
â– Quinby, Wilmot
•Quinby, Mrs. Wilmot
Randall, Howard E.
Randall, William L.
Randall, Mrs. WiUiam L.
*Reeder, Eastburn
Reeder, Mrs. Eastburn
Reeder, Horace G.
Reeder, Mrs. Horace G.
Reeves, Mrs. Mary J.
Reiner, Mrs. B. F.
Rhoads, Miss Caroline N.
Rice, Hampton W.
Rice, Mrs. Hampton W.
Richards, Dr. J. N.
Rickey, Mrs. Margaret A.
Langhorne
Jan.
i6,
1900
Fallsington
Jan.
1 6,
1906
Fallsington
Jan.
i6,
1906
Doylestown
Oct.
7-
1897
Philadelphia
Aug.
9,
1898
Wayne
Jan.
15,
1884
Radnor
Jan.
20,
1903
West Chester
Jan.
20,
1880
West Chester
July
i6,
1895
New York City
Jan.
17,
1899
Holicong
Jan.
22,
1895
Philadelphia
Jan.
20,
1903
Philadelphia
May
26,
1903
Holicong
May
14,
1887
Holicong
Jan.
18,
1898
Carversville
Oct.
7,
1902
Carversville
Oct.
7,
1902
Lahaska
Jan.
18,
1898
West Chester
May
28,
1907
New Hope
Jan.
20,
1903
Newtown
Jan.
21,
1896
Wissahickon
May
26,
1903
Philadelphia
Jan.
16,
1900
Philadelphia
July
20,
1897
Wrightstown
Oct.
4,
1904
Newtown
May
26,
1903
New York City
Jan.
18,
1898
Holmesburg
Oct.
6,
1903
Bristol
July
18,
1882
Bristol
Aug.
10,
1899
Solebury
Oct.
4,
1904
Solebury
Oct.
4,
1904
Philadelphia
Jan.
19,
1904
Doylestown
Oct.
7,
1902
Doylestown
Oct.
7,
1902
New Hope
Nov.
18,
1884
New Hope
Aug.
10,
1899
Newtown
Aug.
9,
1898
Newtown
Oct.
4-
1904
Trenton, N. J.
Oct.
I,
1901
Philadelphia
Aug.
9,
1898
Bryn Mawr
Jan.
19,
1904
Solebury
Aug.
9,
1898
Solebury
Aug.
9.
1898
Fallsington
Oct.
7,
1902
Allegheny
June
20,
1903
LIST OF MEMBERS
Ridge, Lloyd
Ridge, Mrs. Lloyd
Ridge, Marshall
Riegel, Warren N.
Ring, Miss Mary Jane
Risdon, Miss Elizabeth Walker
Risdon Mrs. Margaret H.
Robbins, Miss M^ry E.
Roberts, Charles R.
Robinson, Frank
Rogers, George W.
*Rogers, George W.
Rogers, Miss Mary Paxson
Rogers, Mrs. William B.
Rose, Miss Emma
Ross, George
Ross, Thomas
Rowland, Mrs. Maria V. N. S.
Rubinkam, G. W.
Ruckman, Miss Frances H.
Ruckman, John H.
Ruckman, Miss Matilda M.
***Ruckman, Thomas H.
*Ruckman, Mrs. Thomas H.
Rufe, John H.
Runk, Miss Emma T. B.
Ruth, John A.
Ryan, William C.
Ryan, Mrs. William C.
Scattergood, Caleb
Scarborough, Miss Annie C.
Scarborough, Mrs. Clara
Scarborough, Miss Mary M.
Scheetz, Grier
Scheetz, Mrs. Grier
*Schofield, Miss Martha A.
Scobey, Mrs. Isadore W.
Scott, Dr. J. E.
Scott, Mrs. J. E.
**Search, Theodore C.
Sellers, Mrs. Richard
Shallcross, Thomas
*Shaw, Miss Annie E.
Shearer, Benjamin F.
Shearer, Mrs. Benjamin F.
Shelley, J. M.
Shoemaker, George A.
Morrisville
May
24, 1904
Morrisville
May
24, 1904
Erwinna
May
24, 1904
Philadelphia
May
28, 1901
Philadelphia
July
21, 1896
Trenton
Oct.
4, 1904
Trenton
Oct.
4, 1904
Doylestown
Jan.
21, 1902
Allentown
May
26, 1903
Yardley
Oct.
6, 1903
Norristown
Aug.
10, 1899
Dayton, Ohio
July
16, 1895
Bristol
Jan.
20, 1903
Bristol
Jan.
21, 1902
Newtown
Oct.
6. 1903
Doylestown
Jan.
16, 1906
Doylestown
Jan.
18, 1898
Bridgewater
Oct.
4, 1904
Jamison
July
16, 1895.
Lahaska
Jan.
15. 1901
Lahaska
Jan.
18, 1898
Lahaska
Aug.
10, 1899
Lahaska
Jan.
22, 189s
Lahaska
Jan.
18, 1898
Revere
Jan.
17, 1905
Lambertville, N. J.
Jan.
21, 1902
Bethlehem
April
27, 1888
Doylestown
Jan.
19, 1897
Doylestown
Jan.
21, 1896
Yardley
Oct.
7, 1902
Wrightstown
Oct.
4. 1904
Philadelphia
Jan.
20, 1903
Wrightstown
Jan.
21, 1902
Perkasie
May
26, 1903
Perkasie
Jan.
16, 1906
Yardley
Oct.
I, 1901
Lambertville, N. J.
Jan.
20, 1903
New Hope
May
28, 1907
New Hope
May
28, 1907
Newtown
Aug.
14. 1900
Swarthmore
Jan.
18, 1898
Byberry
Jan.
16, 1900
Lahaska
Jan.
19, 1897
Dublin
Oct.
4, 1904
Dublin
Oct.
4, 1904
Doylestown
M-y
28, 1907
St. David
Aug.
9, 1898
UST OF MEMBERS
Shoemaker, Mrs. George A.
St.. David
Aug.
9,
1898
Shoemaker, Harry J.
Doylestown
Jan.
19,
1897
*Shoemaker, Mrs Harry J.
Doylestown
July
20,
1897
Shorey, Mrs. Paul
Chicago, 111.
Jan.
22,
189s
=*-Shourds. Miss Lettie Warner
Philadelphia
July
21,
1896
Slotter, William H.
Doylestown
Oct.
7,
1897
Slotter, Mrs. William H.
Doylestown
Jan.
17,
1899
Smith, Mrs. Annie Walker
Trenton, N. J.
Oct.
4,
1904
Smith, Miss Ellen D.
Doylestown
Jan.
22,
1895
*Smith, Dr. Charles B.
Newtown
July
21,
1896
Smith, Mrs. Charles B.
Newtown
July
21,
1896
Smith, Charles R.
Danborough
Jan.
18,
1898
Smith, Mrs. Eliza C.
Yardley
May
26,
1903
Smith, Ely J.
Doylestown
Jan.
17,
1899
Smith, Frederick L.
Doylestown
Jan.
17,
1905
Smith, Mrs. Frederick L.
Doylestown
Jan.
17,
1905
*Smith, Josiah B.
Newtown
Jan.
20,
1880
Smith, Miss Louise H.
Doylestown
May
26,
1903
Smythe, S. Gordon
West Conshohocken
July
21,
1896
Stahr, Prof. John S., D. D.
Lancaster
Jan.
21,
1902
Stapler, John M.
Newtown
Jan.
16,
1900
Stavely, Mrs. William R
Lahaska
Jan.
20,
1903
Stilwell, John P.
Doylestown
May
26,
1903
Stihvell, Mrs. John P.
Doylestown
May
26,
1903
Stilwell, Miss Susanna B.
Doylestown
Oct.
4,
1904
Stine, Mrs. John C.
Harrisburg
Oct.
7,
1897
Stone, Mrs. James S.
Chicago, 111.
Jan.
22,
1895
Stopp, Rev. Samuel A. Bridges
Allentown
Oct.
7,
1902
Stout, Hon. Mahlon H.
Doylestown
Jan.
19,
1904
*Streng, Rev. Samuel
Churchville
Feb.
23,
1885
Stuckert, William R.
Newtown
Oct.
A,
1904
Sutphin, John W.
Trenton, N. J.
May
26,
1903
Swain, Mrs. Edward
Bristol
May
24.
1904
Swain, Joseph W.
Philadelphia
May
28,
1 901
Swartley, John C.
Doylestown
Aug.
9,
1898
Swartley, Mrs. John C.
Doylestown
Aug.
9,
1898
Swartz, Mrs. William
Furlong
Jan.
17,
190S
Swartzlander, Miss Ella
Yardley
Oct.
4,
1904
*Swartzlander, Dr. F.
Doylestown
July
20,
1897
*Swartzlander, Joseph S.
Omaha, Neb.
May
29,
1901
Swartzlander, Miss Laura
Yardley
Aug.
9,
1898
Taylor, Mrs. Anna K.
Philadelphia
Jan.
15,
1901
Taylor, Charles S.
Morrisville
May
26.
1903
Taylor, Mrs. Charles S.
Morrisville
May
26,
1903
Taylor, Charles L.
Trevose
April
29,
1887
*TayIor, Charles W.
Oakford
Feb.
27>,
188s
Taylor, Miss Lillian
Morrisville
May
26,
1903
I^IST OF MEMBERS
Taylor, Samuel S.
Thayer, Mrs. John Adams
Thomas, Arthur K.
**Thomes, Hugh B.
*Thomas, Mrs. Hugh B.
***Thomas, Dr. Joseph
'^**Thomas, Wilson
Thomas, Mrs. Wilson
Thompson, Louis E.
Thompson, Warner C.
Thompson, Mrs. Warner C.
Thornton, Mrs. Henry C.
Tibbils, Miss Dollie
Tierney, John J.
Tierney, Mrs. John J.
Tierney, Edward M.
Tierney, George
Tierney, John J. L.
Tierney, Miss Mary
Tilney, Mrs. Anna Longstreth
Trego, Mrs. Edward A.
Trego, Dr. Howard A.
***Turner, Rev. D. K.
Twining, Mrs. Edward
Twining, Henry M.
*Twining, Jesse B.
Twining, Mrs. Letitia W.
Tyson, Canby S-
*Vanartsdalen, Cyrus T.
*Vanartsdalen, Isaac T.
Vanartsdalen, Mrs. Isaac T.
Vandegrift, Charles A.
***Vandergrift, Charles S.
**Vandergrift, Mrs. Charles S.
*Van Horn R. H.
*Van Horn, Mrs. R. H.
Van Sant, Miss Belle
Vansant, Joseph H.
Vansant, M. V. B.
Vansant, Nathaniel
Vansant, Mrs. Sarah Walker
Vaux, Mrs. William H.
Wallace, William S.
Walker, Mrs. John
Walter, C. J.
Lakewood, N. J.
Jan.
i8, 1898
Philadelphia
Oct.
4, 1904
Lansdale
Jan.
17, 1899
Maud
Jan.
19, 1897
Maud
Jan.
19, 1897
Quakertown
Feb.
23, 1885
Milford, N. J.
Jan.
16, 1900
Milford, N. J.
Jan.
16, 1900
Wycombe
Oct.
I, 1901
Wycombe
Oct.
4, 1904
Wycombe
Oct.
4, 1904
Newtown
Jan.
21, 1896
Philadelphia
Aug.
9, 1898
Newtown
Oct.
6, 1903
Newtown
Oct.
6, 1903
Newtown
Oct.
4, 1904
Newtown
Oct.
4, 1904
Newtown
Oct.
4, 1904
Newtown
Oct.
4, 1904
Germantown
Jan.
IS, 1901
Newtown
May
26, 1903
Newtown
Oct.
6, 1903
Hartsville
Feb.
23, 1885
Yardley
Oct.
4, 1904
Philadelphia
July
16, 1895
Newtown
July
21, 1896
Yardley
July
21, 1896
Germantown
Jan.
16, 1906
Newtown
May
28, 1902
Newtown
â– May
28, 1907
Newtown
May
28, 1907
Philadelphia
Jan.
17, 1899
Eddington
Jan.
21, 1896
Eddington
Jan.
21, 1896
Lambertville, N. J.
Feb.
23, 1885
Lambertville, N. J.
Jan.
18, 1898
Newtown
Jan.
19, 1897
Bristol
Aug.
9, 1898
Trevose
Oct.
7, 1902
Somerton
Oct.
7, 1902
Trenton, N. J.
Oct.
4, 1904
Doylestown
Jan.
19, 1904
Philadelphia
Jan.
21, 1896
Doylestown
Jan.
21, 1902
Somerton
Jan.
18, 1898
LIST OP MEMBERS
Walter, Frank K.
Walter, Dr. Joseph B.
Walter, Mrs. Joseph B.
Walter, Samuel A.
Walker, Mrs. Samuel A.
Walter, Miss Nellie
Walton, Miss Hetty A.
Walton, Seth T.
Walton, Mrs. Seth T.
Wanamaker, John
Wanger, Hon. Irving P.
Warner, George
Warner, Mrs. George
Washburn, Dr. John H.
Washburn, Mrs. John H.
*Watson, Ashbel W.
Watson, Mrs. Ashbel W.
Watson, Miss Elizabeth A.
Watson, Mrs. Georgianna M.
Watson, George
Watson, Mrs. George
**Watson, Henry W.
*Watson, Mitchell
*Watson, Hon. Richard
Watson, Mrs. Richard
Watson, Miss Jane
Watson, William M.
Weaver, Ethan Allen
Weaver, Mrs. Katherine K.
Welch, Mrs. Robert W.
West, Harry F.
West, Mrs. Harry F.
White, Miss Laura W.
White, L. L.
White, Oscar W.
White, Mrs. Oscar W.
Widdemer, Rev. Howard T.
Wildman, Charles
Wildman, Mrs. Charles
*Wildman, John
Wilkinson, Charles B.
Wilkinson, Henry L.
Wilkinson, Ogden D.
Willard J. Monroe
*Williams, Mrs. Anna J.
**Williams, Carroll R.
Williams, Mrs. Carroll R.
Point Pleasant
Aug.
14,
1900
Solebury
Jan.
20,
1880
Solebury
Jan.
19,
1897
Point Pleasant
Aug.
14,
1900
Point Pleasant
May
26,
1903
Point Pleasant
May
26,
1903
Pineville
Jan.
21,
1902
Willow Grove
Aug.
10,
1899
Willow Grove
Aug.
ID,
1899
Philadelphia
Feb.
23,
1885
Norristown
July
16,
1895
Philadelphia
Oct.
7,
1902
Philadelphia
Oct.
7.
1902
Doylestown
Oct.
7,
1902
Doylestown
Oct.
7,
1902
Newtown
July
21,
1896
Newtown
July
21,
1896
Doylestown
Jan.
19,
1904
Langhorne
Jan.
15,
1901
Doylestown
July
20,
1897
Doylestown
Jan.
18,
1898
Langhorne
July
21,
189&
Langhorne
Feb.
23,
1885
Doylestown
Feb.
23,
1885
Doylestown
Jan.
22,
1895
Doylestown
Aug.
10,
1899
Newtown
Oct.
4,
1904
Philadelphia
Jan.
18,
1898
Camden, N. J.
Aug.
10,
1898
Yardley
May
28,
1907
Philadelphia
Jan.
IS,
1901
Philadelphia
Jan.
IS,
1901
Newtown
Oct.
4,
1904
Yardley
Jan.
16,
1906
Cheltenham
May
28,
1 901
Cheltenham
May
28,
1 901
Doylestown
Jan.
IS,
1884
Langhorne
Oct.
4,
1904
Langhorne
Oct.
4,
1904
Langhorne
Aug.
9,
1898
Philadelphia
Jan.
18,
1898
Philadelphia
July
21,
1896
Philadelphia
Jan.
22,
189s
Philadelphia
Jan.
21,
1806
Holicong
Jan.
22,
1895
Philadelphia
Jan.
21,
1896
Philadelphia
July
19,
1897
LIST OF MEMBERS
♦Williams, Dr. E. Newlin
**WiIliams, John S.
*Williams, Mrs. John S.
Williams, Miss Agnes B.
Williams, Miss Lillie Arndt
Williams, William H.
Willets, Mrs. E. R.
Willets, John G.
Willets, Mrs. John G.
Wilson, William E.
Winder, Jacob M.
Windle, Charles T.
Windle, Mrs. Charles T.
Woodman, Isaac N.
Woodruff, W. W.
Worstall, George C.
*Worstall, Mrs. George C.
Worstall, H. C.
Worstall, Mrs. H. C.
Wortstall, Willis G.
Worthington, Evan T.
Worthington, Mrs. Evan T.
Worthington, Miss Kezzie
Worthington, William B.
Wurts, John S.
Wurts, Mrs. Theodore F.
Wynkoop, Capt. William
Wynne, Thomas
Yardley, John
Yardley, Mrs. John
*Yardley, Hon. Robert M.
Yardley, Mrs. Robert M.
**Yerkes, Hon. Harman
Yerkes, Mrs. Harman
Solebury
Jan.
17,
1899
New Hope
Feb.
23,
i88s
New Hope
July
21,
1896
New Hope
July
21,
1896
Lambertville, N. J.
Jan.
20,
1903
Newtown
Oct.
4,
1904
Trenton, N. J.
May
26,
1903
Haddonfield, N. J.
May
26,
1903
Haddonfield, N. J.
Aug.
10,
1899
Mechanicsville
Jan.
22,
1895
Bristol
Jan.
16,
1906
Southampton
Jan.
16,
1900
Southampton
Jan.
16,
1900
Morrisville
May
26,
1903
West Chester
May
28,
1907
Newtown
July
21,
1896
Newtown
July
21,
1896
Newtown
Oct.
4.
1904
Newtown
Oct.
4,
1904
Newtown
Oct.
4,
1904
Newtown
July
21,
1896
Newtown
July
21,
1896
Carversville
Jan.
17,
1905
Doylestown
Jan.
21,
1902
Germantown
Oct.
7,
1902
Germantown
Oct.
7,
1902
Newtown
July
21,
1896
Philadelphia
Jan.
20,
1903
Doylestown
Jan.
18,
1898
Doylestown
Jan.
29,
1897
Doylestown
July
16,
189s
Doylestown
Jan.
19,
1897
Doylestown
Oct.
9,
1891
Doylestown
July
16,
189s
SUMMARY.
lyiving Deceased
Men Women Total Men Women Total
Life members 312 314 626 74 24 98
Honorary life members 18 5 23 12 3 15
Total 330 319 649 86 27 113
Total enrollment 762
Deceased 113
Members living 649
THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
CHARTERED UNDER LAWS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
CHARTER GRANTED FEBRUARY 23, 1885.
Be it known that the subscribers have associated themselves together
with certain other persons named in Section 5 of the accompanying certif-
icate for the purpose of forming an Historical Society and being de-
sirous that they may be duly incorporated and become a corporation, or
body politic in law, under and by virtue of the provisions of the Act of
General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, entitled "an
Act to provide for the incorporation and regulation of certain cor-
porations," approved April 29, A. D. 1874, and its supplements.
DO HEREBY CERTIFY.
1st. The name of the Corporation is "The Bucks County Historical
Society."
2nd. The purpose for which the Corporation is formed is the promo-
tion and encouragement of historical study and research.
3rd. The place where the business of the Corporation is to be trans-
acted is Doylestown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania.
4th. The Corporation is to have perpetual existence.
5th. The names and residences of the subscribers or members of the
association, or Corporation, together with the amount of fee for member-
ship subscribed and paid are as follows. (The number of shares of
stock held by each is not set forth for the reason that the Corporation
has no capital stock).
Joseph B. Walter, Solebury, Pa. . . .
Richard M. Lyman, Doylestown, Pa.
W. W. H. Davis, Doylestown, Pa. . . ,
John S. Bailey, Mechanicsville, Pa .
Richard R. Parry, New Hope, Pa . .
William Newbold Ely. Newbold, Pa.
Henry I<ear, Doylestown, Pa
Josiah B. Smith, Newtown, Pa. . . .
Thomas P. Otter, Doylestown, Pa. . .
Joseph Thomas, Quakertown, Pa . .
D. K. Turner, Hartsville, Pa
Alfred Paschall, Doylestown, Pa . .
Mitchell Watson, Langhorne, Pa . .
E. F. Church, Newtown, Pa
Howard Pursell, Bristol, Pa
William H. Grundy, Bristol, Pa . . .
Moses Eastburn, New Hope, Pa. . . .
James A. Beaver, Bellefonte, Pa. . . .
Charles W. Taylor, Newportville, Pa
Thomas C. Knowles, Yardley, Pa . .
Richard Watson, Doylestown, Pa. . .
Charles Kirk. Johnsville, Pa. . .
Harriet E. Kirk, Johnsville, Pa .
Samuel Streng, Churchville, Pa. .
Joseph Barnsley. Hart-sville, Pa. .
John L,. DuBois, Doylestown, Pa. . .
Benjamin C. Foulke, Quakertown, Pa
Isaac S. Moyer, Quakertown, Pa . . .
R. H. Van Horn, Lambertville, N. J. .
John S. Williams, New Hope, Pa . .
Eastburn Reeder, New Hope, Pa . .
William C. Blackfan, New Hope, Pa.
George R. Parry, New Hope, Pa. . .
Isaac Ely, New Hope. Pa
John W. Gilbert, Holicong, Pa. . . .
George W. Childs, Philadelphia, Pa.
B. F. Hart, Philadelphia, Pa ... .
William J. Jenks, Philadelphia, Pa .
John Wanamaker, Philadelphia. Pa
F. A. Comly, Philadelphia, Pa. . . .
Davis E. Brower, Doylestown, Pa. .
William A. Patton, Doylestown, Pa.
6th. The number of the directors of the Corporation is fixed at nine
CHARTER
and the names and residences of those who are chosen directors for the
first year are as follows :
Gen. W. W. H. Dp vis, Doylestown, Pa.
Alfred Paschall, Doylestown, Pa. Dr. Joseph Thomas, Quakertown, Pa.
Josiah B. Smith, Newtown, Pa. Thomas C. Knowles, Yardley, Pa.
Dr. J. B. Walter, Solebury, Pa. Rev. D. K. Turner, Hartsville, Pa.
John S. Bailey, Buckingham, Pa. Charles I<aubach, Durham, Pa.
7th. The Corporation has no capital stock. A membership fee of
one dollar is assessed upon each person who may become a member of
the Corporation, and such annual dues will be assessed each member as
the Corporation by its by-laws shall determine, such fees and dues to
be applied to promoting the ends for which the Corporation is created.
Witness our hands this twenty-first day of January, A. D. 1885.
Alfred Paschall, Doylestown, Pa. Richard M. Lyman, Doylestown, Pa.
W. W. H. Davis, Doylestown, Pa. John Z,. DuBois, Doylestown, Pa.
Howard T. Widdemer, Doyle.stown, Pa. Henry Lear, Doylestown, Pa.
STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA!
COUNTY OF BUCKS J
Before me, the subscriber, Recorder of Deeds, in and for the County of
Bucks, in the State of Pennsylvania, personally appeared John L. DuBois,
Alfred Paschall and Heury Lear, three of the subscribers to the above cer-
tificate of incorporation and in due form of law acknowledged the same to
be their and each of their, act and deed, and desired that the same might be
recorded as such according to law.
Witness my hand and ofiBcial seal this 23d day of February, A. D. 1885.
MILTON D. ALTHOUSE,
(Seal) Recorder.
And now to wit, February 23, 1885, I Harman Yerkes, President
Judge of the Seventh Judicial District of the State of Pennsylvania,
having perused and examined the within and foregoing instrument, find
the same to be in proper form and within the purposes named in the first
class of the second section of the Act of General Assembly of the Com-
monwealth of Pennsylvania, entitled an "Act to provide for the incor-
poration and regulation of certain Corporatioris" approved the 29th day
of April, A. D. 1874, and that the same is lawful and not injurious to
the community, and I do hereby order and decree that the within and
foregoing charter is approved and that upon the recording of the said
charter and this order the subscribers thereto and their associates shall
be a Corporation for the purposes and upon the terms th rein stated.
HARMAN YERKES,
President Judge.
Recorded in the office for the Recording of Deeds, etc., in and for the
County of Bucks, in Miscellaneous Book No. 23, Page 45, etc. Witness my
hand and seal of ofl&ce this Twenty-fourth day of February, A. D. 1885.
TIMOTHY CADWALLADER,
(Seal) Deputy Recorder.
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS.
Amended October 13, 1908.
CONSTITUTION.
ARTICLE I — OBJKCT.
The object of the Bucks County Historical Society shall be to promote
and encourage historical research and study, particularly the discovery,
collection, preservation and publication of the history, historical records
and data pertaining to Bucks county; the collection and preservation
of books, newspapers, maps, genealogies, portraits, paintings, engravings,
manuscripts, letters, journals, relics, and any and all materials virhich
may establish or illustrate such history; the collection of data relative
to the growth and progress of population, wealth, education, agriculture,
arts, manufactures, and commerce in this country, also, the compilation
of the traditions and folklore of the county, and the acquisition by do-
nation purchase or loan, of tools, appliances and objects of antiquarian
interest.
ARTICLE II — MEMBERS.
Section i. Any reputable person to whom there attaches fitness, is
eligible for membership, and may, at any annual or regular meeting
of the society, become a "Life Member" thereof, upon nomination duly
made and seconded, and upon being elected by a majority vote of those
present ; and upon the payment to the treasurer of a membership fee of
two dollars, one dollar of which shall be in lieu of annual dues for one
year, the payment of said fee to be made within three months of his or
her election, and the enrollment or membership to bear even date with
the payment thereof.
Section 2. Any person paying the sum of $50 or over for the use
and benefit of the society, shall become an "Honorary Life Member"'
thereof, and enjoy all the privileges of members of the society; and
it shall be the duty of the secretary to issue a special certificate to such
members.
Section 3. All honorary life members shall be entitled to receive
free copies of all publications of the society.
article III — DIRECTORS.
The Corporation shall be managed by a board of nine directors (as
provided in the charter) who shall be chosen from among the members
in three classes as follows :
At the first election three shall be chosen for one year, three for two
years, and three for three years. Thereafter three shall be chosen at
the annual meeting each year, for a term of three years. The duties
of the board of directors shall be to take charge of all property be-
longing to the society, to direct the current affairs thereof, and to per-
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS
form such other acts pertainmg to the office as may be referred to it from
time to time or that may devolve upon it by law.
ARTICLE IV — OFFICERS.
Section i. The board of directors shall organize by electing one of
its number as president and tvi^o as vice-presidents, each of whom shall
hold office until his or her successor has been duly elected.
Section 2. Five directors shall be necessary to constitute a quorum
of the board for the transaction of business, but a less number may ad-
journ from time to time until a quorum shall be present.
Section 3. In case of the death, removal or resignation of any of the
directors the remaining directors may supply the vacancy thus created
until the next election.
Section 4. The board of directors shall appoint from among the mem-
bers a secretary, a treasurer, a librarian and a curator. If the board
so elects, the offices of secretary and treasurer may be combined in
one person, and the offices of librarian and curator may be combined
in one person.
ARTICLE V — PRESIDENT.
It shall be the duty of the president to preside at all meetings of the
board, also at all meetings of the society, appoint all committees, sign all
certificates of membership, and perform such other duties as by the
laws of this commonwealth devolve upon him. In case of death, removal,
resignation, or during his absence, the duties of president shall devolve
upon one of the vice-presidents.
ARTICLE VI — SECRETARY.
The secretary of the board of directors, shall also be ex-oMcio, sec-
retary of the society. Before entering upon his office he shall be sworn
to perform the duties thereof with fidelity. He shall record the votes
of the Corporation, and the minutes of its transactions in a book to be
kept for that purpose. He shall sign all certificates of membership. He
shall be the custodian of the common or corporate seal of the society. He
shall keep a register of the members of the society, together with their
addresses, and shall endeavor, so far as possible, to keep a record of
those who may be deceased. He shall give notice to the members of the
society of all meetings, stating the time and place where such meetings
will be held. Where more than one person of a family are members, a
notice to the head of the family in the same household may be considered
a sufficient notice to all members thereof. The board of directors may
in its discretion direct personal notice of any meeting other than the
annual or special meetings to be dispensed with provided public notice
therof shall be given once a week for three weeks, prior to such meeting
in at least three newspapers, not more than one of which shall be pub-
lished out of the county. He shall also perform such other duties as the
board of directors may from t'me to time require of him.
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS XXIX
ARTICLE VII — TREASURER.
The treasurer shall give bond in such sum with such surety or sureties
for the faithful discharge of his duties as the board of directors shall
from time to time direct. He shall keep a statement of the moneys
of the Corporation in a separate book account as treasurer, and shall
deposit the funds in his hands in such banks or other places of deposit
3.S the board of directors may from time to time designate. He shall
be the custodian of all securities of the Corporation. He shall keep
accurate accounts of the income and expenditures of the Corporation,
and collect all moneys due the society or payable thereto, and pay out
the same, only upon orders or vouchers of the board of directors, or a
finance committee thereof. At the annual meeting, he shall present a
statement of his accounts for the preceding year, together with a full
and complete report of the financial condition of the society; such state-
ment shall be duly audited before its adoption.
ARTICLE VIII— THE LIBRARY.
The librarian shall have charge of the books, papers, manuscripts, and
other literary matter whether owned by, or loaned to the society, ar-
range such matter in proper and convenient order, and catolog the
same with the names of the donors, or lenders. At the annual meeting
he shall present a report to the society, embracing the account of his
administration of the library and of its condition during the preceding
year.
ARTICLE IX — THE CURATOR.
The curator shall act as custodian of all tools, relics, appliances and
objects of antiquarian or historical interest, that may be acquired by the
society either by donation or loan, arrange such matter in convenient
order and catolog the same with the names of the donors or lenders.
At the annual meeting he shall present a report to the society, em-
tracing an account of his administration of the museum and of its
condition during the preceding year.
ARTICLE X— COMMITTEE ON LITERARY EXERCISES.
The committe on literary exercises shall consist of five members, two of
whom shall be ex-oMcio the president and secretary. The remaining
three shall be chosen annually by the members. It shall provide for the
addresses, papers and exercises of a literary character, at the meetings
of the society and by program or otherwise arrange the order thereof.
ARTICLE XI — DEPOSITS.
Any person who shall deposit specimens of natural history, objects of
virtu, or other articles of interest in the museum for inspection and
study, may withdraw them at any time, provided the same shall have
been received and accepted by the society as deposits only, and provided
twenty-four hours' notice of the intended removal, shall first be given
to the proper officers to wit: the president, curator and librarian. All articles
received as deposits shall be so marked, numbered and registered in a
book kept for that puurpose with the name of the depositor.
XXX CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS
ARTICLE XII — DISSOLUTION.
In the event of the dissolution of the Bucks County Historical Society-
all its property and historical collections shall go to and vest in the-
Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
BY-LAWS.
ARTICLE I — MEETINGS.
Section i. The annual meeting of the society shall be held on the
third Tuesday of January in each year, at the building of the society, in
the borough of Doylestown, at such hour as may be determined from time
to time by the board of directors.
Section 2. The object of the annual meeting shall be to receive the
report of the president, treasurer, librarian, curator and other officers of
the society; to elect directors, (as provided in the constitution) who shall
be nominated in open meeting and elected by ballot. The secretary,
however, may cast the ballot for the association, by consent of two-thirds
of the members present.
Section 3. The members of the board elected at the annual meeting
shall meet for organization as soon after their election, and at such
place as may suit their convenience, provided that such meeting shall
be held within six months of their election.
Section 4. Meetings of the board can be held at any time and place
at the call of the president, provided that due notice of such meeting
be given to each member thereof.
Section 5. If the board of directors desire to do so, a program, of
literary exercises, including the presentation and reading of papers, can
be arranged for the annual meetings. Such exercises, however, shall
not interfere with the transaction of business as provided in Section 2
O'f this article.
Section 6. Two regular meetings of the society shall be held annually
on the fourth Tuesday of May and the first Tuesday of October. The
object of such regular meetings shall be the transaction of such business
as may properly be brought before the society. For the reading and dis-
cussion of papers. Exhibition of and lectures upon objects of historical
interest, visiting historical localities, erection of monuments, and also
to promote social intercourse.
Section 7. Special meetings may be held at any time, at the call of
the president, and it shall be his duty to call special meetings when
requested to do so by a majority of the board of directors, or by a re-
quest in writing of ten members of the society.
Section 8. All regular meetings of the society shall be open to the
public.
Section 9. Ten members present at any meeting of the society shall
constitute a quorum.
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS XXXI
ARTICLE II— COMMITTEES.
Section i. A finance committee of three may be established at the
option of the board, of which the president shall be ex-officio chairman,
the remaining two to be appointed by the president from among the
members of the board of directors.
Section 2. The president shall appoint from among the members
an auditing committee whose duties it shall be to audit the accounts of
the treasurer.
Section 3. At the annual meeting or within a reasonable time there-
after, the president shall appoint from among the members, the following
standing committees, each committee to consist of three members, who
shall serve for two years : —
A Committee on Biography.
A Committee on History.
A Committee on Genealogy.
A Committee on Relics, Curios and Antiquities.
A Committee on Pictures, Photographs and Paintings.
A Committee on Printing and Publishing.
A Committee on Necrology.
Section 4. It shall be the duty of each committee to keep a full
record of everything relating to the particular subject assigned to its
care, to be kept in a book or books furnished by the society, which are
to remain in the library as the property of the society.
ARTICLE III — ORDER OF BUSINESS.
Section i. The order of business shall be as follows :
1. Reading minutes.
2. Nomination and election of members.
3. Report of secretary, showing status of membership.
4. Correspondence.
5. Deferred business.
6. Reports of officers and committees
7. Reading papers and delivering addresses.
8. New business.
9. Adjournment.
ARTICLE IV — AMENDMENTS.
Section i. Any part of the constitution or the by-laws may be
amended or repealed by vote of two-thirds of the members present at any
annual meeting; provided, that a written copy of such amendment or
resolution to repeal shall have been read before the society at the pre-
ceding regular meeting or annual meeting; by unanimous consent an
amendment or appeal may be agreed to without previous notice being
given.
County historical
societies.
Board of county
commissioners
may assist.
Conditions to be
complied with.
Proviso
Public meetings.
Museum
Constitution, by-
laws and officers.
No. 182.
AN ACT.
TO ENCOURAGE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETIES.
Section i. Be it enacted, &c., That from and
after the passage of this act the commissioner's
board of the respective counties of this Common-
weahh may, in its discretion, pay out of the county
funds not otherwise appropriated, and upon proper
voucher being given, a sum not exceeding two hun-
dred dollars annually, to the historical society of
said county, to assist in paying the running expenses
thereof.
Section 2. In order to entitle the said historical
society to the said appropriation, the following con-
ditions shall have been first complied with : The
money shall be paid to the oldest society in each
county, if there be more than one; it shall have
b'^en organized at least three years ; incorporated by
the proper authority, and have an active membership
of one hundred persons, each of whom shall have
paid into the treasury of said society a membership
fee of at least two dollars for the support of the
same ; and provided further, That no appropriation
under this act shall be renewed until vouchers shall
be first filed with the board of county commissioners,
showing that the appropriation for the prior year
shall have been expended for the purpose desig-
nated by this act.
Section 3. And be it further enacted, that to en-
title said society to receive said appropriation it
shall hold at least two public meetings yearly, where
at papers shall be read or discussions held on his-
toric subjects; that it shall have established a mu-
seum, wherein shall be deposited curios and other
subjects of interest relating to the history of county
or State and shall have adopted a constitution and
code of by-laws, and elected proper officers to con-
duct its business.
Approved — The 21st day of May, A. D. 1901.
WILLIAM A. STONE.
For the years 1901 to 1907 inclusive the commissioners of Bucks county appropriated
$150 annually to the Bucks County Historical Society. It is hoped that they will hereafter
make the full appropriation of $200 to the society, which is an educational institution from
which the people of the entire county are deriving benefit. Editors.
f^:::
^mm^
THE LENAPE MONUMENT AT WRIGHTSTOWN, PA.
Chestnut tree planted in 1890, to replace the old chestnut tree which
stood on site of monument.
(From photograph taken by Miss Florence L. Shimer, August, 1908.)
THE:sTARrm(i POint or THE
'^INDIAH WALK''
SEPTEMBEH IS. » 737
INSCRIPTION ON LENAPE MONUMENT.
PREFACE.
KNKRAlv W. W. H. DAVIS founded the Bucks
County Historical Society on the afternoon of Jan-
uary 20, 1880, when he induced several friends^ to
meet with him in the library room at lycnape Hall in
Doylestown and organize themselves with constitution and by-
laws, as the Bucks County Historical Society.
Having obtained a charter under date of February 23, 1885,
the society met at first quarterly, and afterwards tri-annually, to
hear papers read upon subjects relating to the history of Bucks
county.
Failing to coalesce with the historical club known as the
Buckwampum Literary Society, founded in 1888 by William
J. Buck,^ and thereby missing the able historical assistance of
that observant writer and antiquarian, the society, always sup-
ported by the indomitable industry and cheerfulness of General
Davis, passed through several doubtful years of existence. Some-
times the meetings dwindled in attention and interest to the lowest
limit, as when at Doylestown, January 20, 1890 only the president,
secretary, and one other member were present. At other times they
exceeded expectation, as at the meeting held at Durham cave in
1885, arranged by Mr. Fackenthal, when a special car was char-
tered to carry the party from Lambertville ; and the meeting
1 Josiah B. Smith, Mahlon Carver, Henry C. Mercer, Dr. A. M. Dickie, Dr. Joseph B.
Waller, Capt. John S. Bailey, George S. McDowell, Alfred Paschall, Richard M. Lyman,
Thomas P. Otter, Tesse Leedom.
Temporary officers, Josiah B. Smith, Chairman, and Henry C. Mercer, Secretary. At
the same meetiTig the following permanent officers were elected:— President, Gen. W.
W. H. Davis; Secretary, Richard M. Lyman; Tteasurer, Alfred Paschall.
On January 15, i8><4, Mr. Lyman resigned, and the Rev. Howard C. Widderaer was
elected secretary. When Rev. Widdemer resigned, March 17, 1885, Alfred Paschall was
chosen secretary and treasurer, retaining the (offices until his resignation, January, 15,
1907, when he was succt-eded by Clarence D. Hotchkiss, still (1908) holding the office.
John S. Williams was elected vice-piesident Jannary 15, 1901, and Henry C. Mercer second
vice-president January 21, 1908 Warren S. Ely was chost n librarian, January 15, 1901.
and still holds the office. Since the formation of the society, its founder, Gen. W. W. H,
Davis, has retained the office of president.
â– ^Author of "History of Bucks County," "History of Moreland," ."History of Mont-
gomery Comity," "Life of Chief Justice Lanthorne," "The Cuttelossa," "History of the
Indian Walk," "Local Sketches and Legends," "Early Discovery of Coal in Pennsyl-
vania," etc.
XXXIV PREFACE
in Doylestown in 1897, when the society's collection of ancient
implements was illustrated, or when a larger gathering of
enthusiasts met on the summit of Buckingham mountain
to attend a memorable meeting prepared by Col. Henry D.
Paxson, than ever came there to pluck arbutus in May. But
whatever the audience, the papers read before or after agree-
able luncheons provided by the ladies were an invariable prod-
uct of the meetings.
The trance of William Tennant ; the origin of Princeton Univer-
sity in the Log College; the co-existence of the Mammoth with
the North American Indian, as proved by the remarkable Indian
carving found near Doylestown, known as the Lenape stone ;
the contested claim of the unfortunate John Fitch to the inven-
tion of the steamboat ; the concealment of escaped slaves in
Bucks county ; the taking of lands from the Indians ; the estab-
lishment of Christianity, the families, homes, houses, cus-
toms and landmarks of the region; these and other subjects of
wider or narrower importance formed the themes of many papers
upon colonial history, the Revolutionary war, archaeology, church
history, folklore and genealogy, which were contemporaneously
printed in the scattered columns of the county newspapers.^
But they would have been finally forgotten or lost to the
general public, save for the liberality of Mr. B. F. Fackenthal,
Jr., of Riegelsville, Pa., who has collected, corrected, arranged
and published the complete series in the following pages.
By degrees the society established an influence and won sin-
cere friends. To its suggestion must be ascribed the Bucks
County bi-centennial exhibition, a patriotic celebration of the two
hundredth anniversary of the founding of the county, with meet-
ings and literary exercises, illustrated by a number of heirlooms
and ancient objects, lasting from August 31 to September 3,
1885.^
1 The Bucks County Intelligencer, The Doylestown Intelligencer, The Doylestown
Democrat, The Bucks County Republican, The Doylestown Republican, The Bucks
County Mirror and the Newtown Enterprise.
2 Complete report of the Bucks county bi-centenuial celebration held at Doylestown,
Pa., Augu.'t 31, Sept. i and 2, 1882. Reported by Henry C. Michener, Doylestown, pub-
lished in pamphlet form by Paschall Brothers, of the Bucks County Intelligencer. The
pamphlet states that Gen. W. W. H. Davis proposed the celebration at a special meeting
of the Bucks County Historical Society, held at Newtown Hall, Oct. 11, 1881. It comprises
a catalog of exhibited objects, and its casual and inadequate mention of the lycnape Stone
is a very significant fact.
PREFACE XXXV
In 1884 Miss Martha Chapman gave to the society the land at
Wrightstown, marking the starting point of the transfer of
territory known as the "Walking Purchase" of September 19
and 20, 1737, by which the site of Doylestown and much terri-
tory in the Delaware and Lehigh valleys were bought by Thomas
and Richard Penn from the Lenni Lenape Indians, in confirma-
tion of a previous deed. The monument consists of a cairn of
rocks, surmounted by a stone shaft, after the pattern of the
Indian monument at Stockbridge, Mass.^
In 1895, Dr. Howard M. Grififee and his wife presented to the
society the site of the monument at Washington's Crossing, on
the beach near Taylorsville, on which a monument was erected,
with an inscription carved on the reverse side of a gravestone,
and afterwards on a granite block.-
Mr. John L. Longstreth erected in Warminster township, at
York road and the Street road, May i, 1902, in the name of the
Bucks County Historical Society, a monument to John Fitch,
the gift of his brother Mr. Edward Longstreth, marking the spot
where Fitch is believed to have conceived his idea of the steam-
boat.^ Other members, acting for committees, marked the site
of Gen. Washington's headquarters near Hartsville with an in-
scribed tablet.*
The grave of Moses Doan, with an inscribed slab.^
1 The inscription is on one of the larger loose rocks, and reads, "To the memory of
the I^enni Lenape Indians, ancient owners of this region. These stones are placed at
this spot, the starting point of the Indian walk, September 19, 1737.
Bucks County Historical Society, 1890."
2 The inscription reads, "Near this spot Washington crossed the Delaware on Christ-
mas night, 1776, the eve of the battle of Trenton.
Erected 1889 by Bucks County Historical Society."
The site was found with some difficulty, after careful inquiry among the inhabitants
of Taylorsville. and marked hastily with a heavy stone pier, constructed of the remains of
one of the neighboring out-buildings, and surmounted by the inscribed marble slab above
described. Mrs. Letitia W. Twining presented the present granite block, on which the
inscription was repeated.
3 The inscription reads : "John Fitch here conceived the idea of the first steamboat-
He ran a boat with side-wheels by steam on a pond below Davisville in 1785.
Bucks County Historical Society 1902."
* "In this house Washington had his headquarters from August 10 to August 23, 1777,
-with 13,000 men encamped near here.
Here the Marquis de Lafayette first joined the army.
This tablet erected by the Bucks County Historical Society 1897."
5 The inscription is on a large thin sand.stone slab, laid loose on the ground in the
premises of Reuben High, two mites to the northwest of F'lumsteadville, and reads,
"Here lies the famous Tory and outlaw,
Moses Doan,
Hunted down, captured and killed
After he had surrendered
On Tohickon Creek, August 23, 1783.
Vi et armis."
The tablet on the Keith House in Upper Makefield township
placed in 1897.^
A library now consisting of 2,200 volumes with a number of
maps and manuscripts, and a military collection illustrative of the
Civil and Mexican wars, was gradually formed, also the Her-
barium of 20,000 specimens which Dr. Isaac S. Moyer be-
queathed to the society in i8g8. Messrs. J. A. and H. F. Ruth
of Durham added largely to the archaeological collection already
on exhibition, and Mr. William Fanshaw gave a collection of
bird's eggs to the society,- while much unthanked and too easily
forgotten work was done by members, such as the frequent
presentation of heirlooms or ancient objects,^ the un-
thanked drudgery of the secretary's work, carried on
for years by Mr. Alfred Paschall, the energetic co-operation
and solicitation of assistance from town officers by the present
secretary, Mr. Clarence D. Hotchkiss, and Mr. Warren S. Ely's
labor in cataloging and arranging the library, furthering its
correspondence, and acting as custodian, with Mr. Grant Myers'
efforts in discovering important historic objects in various parts
of the county and obtaining them for the museum,
With much pains, taste and skill, Mrs. Alfred Paschall, as-
sisted by Miss Agnes B. Williams, and the late J. Pemberton
Hutchinson, illustrated for the society an album with a series of
photographs taken by themselves, of houses, sites and objects of
historic interest, while a collection of the tools, implements and
utensils of the Pennsylvania pioneer, giving the society a unique
place among similar bodies, was gathered, catalogued, and partly
explained by a series of pamphlets and special meetings.*
1 "Washington's headquarters previous to the battle of Trenton, December 14-25, 1776."
2 In the printed catalog of the collection and its manuscript supplement at the mu-
seum, the names of all persons who have given or deposited objects with the society are
duly published, with the record of the specimens themselves, while full acknowledgment
has been given to individuals who have otherwise assisted in forming the collection.
3 Mr. J. H. Moon presented a number of trees to the society, as did Mr. John S.
Williams, Mrs. R. ly. *ope, and T. O Atkinson. Miss Ellen D. Smith, and Mrs. Mary
Hart Heaton assisted in planting, pruning and watering several trees and shrubs.
4 See the following pamphlets : Tools of the Nation Maker, 60 pages, 1897, published
by the .society Paschall. Doylestown; The Survival of the Mediaeval Art of Illuminative
Writing Among the Pennsylvania Germans, 14 pages, published through American Philo-
sophical Society ; The Decorated Stove Plates of Durham. 3 pages, Doylestown Intelli-
gencer ; Ivight and Fire Making 29 pages, McGinty, Doylestown ; The Decorated Stove
Plates of the Pennsylvania Germans, 18 pages, McGinty, Doylestown; Special meetings
of the historical society, descriptive of the collection were held at Galloway's Ford, on
July 20th, 1897, and at Doylestown, Oct. 7, 1897.
PREFACE XXXVll
The society, always poor, which had omitted annual dues
from its requirements, which could scarcely afford to pay for
its printing, its inscriptions, or its show cases, which borrowed
its room and its chau's, storing- the over crowded and heterogene-
ous, but very impressive mass of objects comprising its collec-
tion in the cellar and ofificial chambers of the court-house at
Doylestown, had tried on several occasions to raise money for
erecting a building of its own. These efforts failed, and several
donations were withheld until, thanks to the continued endeavors
of Judge Harman Yerkes, and the building committee, a number
of individuals were induced to start an effectual subscription,
which amounted to obout $10,000, including the generous gift of
the late James H. Grier, who bequeathed $5,000, and the dona-
tion of his sister, Miss Elizabeth J. Grier, of the further sum of
$2,000 for a library. These were followed by the liberal gift of Mr.
William L. Elkins and his son, Mr. George W. Elkins, who, im-
pressed with the earnestness of the previous contributors, pre-
sented $18,000 more to build the museum, leaving free the prev-
ious fund for the purchase of land, and for running expenses.
Thereupon, Mr. George W. Elkins having further assumed
the payment of $1,000 for the services of the architect of the
building, the Bucks County Historical Society after much hesi-
tation between the site in Doylestown, now occupied by the Deaf
and Dumb Asylum, the Doylestown National Bank, and the high
ridge to the right of Shewell street, applied the Grier bequest
to buy the southern hill slope, at the corner of Pine street and
Ashland Ave., which adjoined a corner tract previously purchased
for the same purpose for $1,000 by Mr. Edward Longstreth. It
was upon this site, unmatched for its purpose, that the present
museum was built in 1904, with the last sum contributed, there-
by exhausting all the money given, but pardonably trusting to
future endowment, inspired by patriotism and public spirit, for
a sinking fund wherewith the museum and grounds may be main-
tained, a janitor and a curator salaried, and the present building
rendered fire-proof, or enlarged by an annex.
In the production of papers' herewith presented, the usual
tendencies peculiar 10 historical and biographical writing, such
as the suppression of evil facts tending to offend relatives or
descendants, the narrowing of the subject to please popular or
XXXVIU PREFACE
patriotic points of view, the undue aggrandizement of native
heroes, and the behtthng of enemies in time of war, have pre-
vailed. Many incidents highly picturesque, laughable or char-
acteristic, familiar among the best reminiscences of the after
dinner story teller, and enlivening the memory of past events with
a vivid, if sometimes uncomplimentary light, have been buried.
But while papers may have further suffered from lack of literary
skill, repetition, and over-estimate of non-essential facts, on the
other hand, a decided value is given the volumes by the varied
styles of the writers, their close association with the region, their
life-long relationship with its ingrained habits and points of view,
and the fact that many among the authors have become possessed
of data from oral family traditions, or documents generally in-
accessible and sometimes lost after writing.
Henry C. Mercer,
Indian House, Sep. 2, 1908.
JOSIAH B. SMITH.
Born February 13, 1809 ; died March 29, 1888. First signer of the Bucks County
Historical Society constitution ; and who also presented the
first paper read before the society.
Early Settlement of Newtown Township.
BY JOSIAII B. SMITH, NEWTOWN, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, July 20, 1880).
In accordance with a resolution adopted at the last meeting
of our society, April 20, requesting me to write an historical
paper for this meeting, I will briefly notice some of the old land-
marks of Newtown township.
Newtown township is, I believe, the only township :n the
county that was laid out with its land all sold and divided into
farms in time for Holmes to publish the names of settlers in his
map of 1684. The township is therefore fairly entitled to the
distinction, as shown by the map, of being the first one in the
county regularly surveyed and laid out, fully equipped, except
in name, ready for office-hunters to come forward with their
claims.
The townstead, as the place for a town was called, was nearly
a mile square, and was evidently the most important place in
the township. Laying out towns at suitable places, to encourage
and promote settlement was a favorite theory of William Penn.
In one of the articles of agreement which he made, in 1681, with
the purchasers of land, provision was made for a place so
much like Newtovv^n that it has been thought the plan of the town
was drawn to carry his theory into practice.
One article of the agreement provides that purchasers of
from five to ten thousand acres of land who wish to be together
in a lot or township, shall have the privilege of doing so. It
was further provided that purchasers should have their just
proportion of land in the town or city. The first step toward
laying out a township on the plan proposed, would necessarily be
to find vacant land, in a body, suitable for the purpose.
The land along the Delaware river on one side and the
Neshaminy on the other, below the line of Newtown, was soon
taken up by purchasers who wanted a residence on a navigable
stream.
2 i:ARI.Y settlement of NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP
The space between farms located on the river and Neshaminy
was called the Middle-Lots. But it was not taken up so rapidly
as the vacant land on water navigation.
The following are among the familiar names on the Middle-
Lots, viz. : Thomas Atkinson, John Rowland, Thomas Rowland,
Edmund Lovett and Joseph Kirkbride.
Middle Lot Meeting was held at the houses of John Rowland
and Edmund Lovett, usually at the former, as it was more con-
venient. The inhabitants in the lower end of the county were
nearly all Friends, and for their convenience the society was
divided into four parts or meetings for worship, namely:
Neshaminy, Middle Lot, Friends above the Falls, and Friends
below the Falls.
As there is not much general information of the existence of
Middle Lot meeting, 1 will give a short extract from the old
records, of Third-month 5th^ 1686, to show that such a meeting
was recognized by the Quarterly Meeting. Sixty-three copies
of an epistle from Governor Penn were received by the Quarter-
ly Meeting. In making a distribution of these papers, to the
four meetings, the relative number of members belonging to
each meeting will be understood, viz. : Neshaminy, 20 copies ;
Middle Lot, 6 copies; Upper part of river, 19 copies; Lower
part of river, 18 copies.
The official account shows that the lower end was permanently
settled, and religious meetings established at the most con-
venient places for the accommodation of the members.
It is evident, therefore, that Newtown was the first place back
m the woods where vacant land could be obtained suitable for
a township.
The natural formation of the country would mark Newtown
as a point on the line of the great tidal wave of pioneer settlers,
who might work their way back into the wilderness, from the
landing-place below the falls.
The numerous large springs of good water on the banks of
the creek would also be a recommendation to travelers and set-
tlers in a new country. It was also doubtless selected for settle-
ment on account of its central location, and the possibility of
its advantages as a site for county buildings and a place to hold
elections.
EARLY SETTLEMENT OE NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP 3
The first thing, after deciding upon the location, was to pur-
chase the necessary quantity of land required for a township.
Second, to lay out a townstead, embracing ten per cent, of the
land in the township, in the most suitable place for a town.
The townstead was laid out in such a manner that the creek
(now known as Newtown creek) ran across the middle of it,
in its general course from north to south, but it was regarded
as too crooked for a convenient boundary line between town lots.
This difficulty was overcome by leaving a strip of forty acres
of vacant land along the creek, thus dividing the townstead into
two parts.
Two unsuccessful efforts were made by the inhabitants to ob-
tain the title to this vacant land, first in 1716 and again in 1727.
It was called Newtown Common, and was one of the best known
old landmarks of the town. The land between the townstead
and boundary line of the township was laid out in sixteen wedge-
shaped farms, of from 200 to 700 acres each, fitted together in
a compact form around the townstead, with the narrow end of
the wedge butting against it.
These farm lines, running back from the townstead to the
township line, appear on paper something like the spokes from
a hub, and from three-quarters to two and a half miles in length.
The names of fifteen purchasers were published upon their
wedge-shaped farms. The other farm, situated on high ground
on the north side of the townstead, affording a fine view of the
proposed town, bears the name of "Governors."
One of the articles of the agreement provides that a purchaser
failing to cultivate his land, or make any improvement for three
years, forfeited his title, and left the land free for some other
person who could take possession by paying the cost of survey-
ing. The farm of Richard Price, on the south side, had probably
been forfeited, as it was patented to Israel Taylor, in 1693, and
sold by him the same year to James Yates, without recital of a
previous owner.
James Yates was probably the first owner of the farm who
lived upon it and made improvements. He built a mill on the
creek, running alongside of his farm, which he sold to Henry
Nelson in 1728. There is evidence of an old tanyard on the
property without a history. He also had a blacksmith-shop in
4 EARLY SETTLEMENT OF NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP
Operation on his farm. He left evidence of enterprise and in-
dustry. It is said he walked out the Indian purchase of 1686,
which was disputed and again walked out by his son, James
Yates, in company with Marshall and Jennings in 1737, to set-
tie the dispute.
The following names, among the original purchasers, must
have been sufficiently well known in the civil or religious af-
fairs of the province to attract a large share of public attention,
viz., Arthur Cook, John Otter, Christopher Taylor, Israel Tay-
lor, John Rowland, Thos. Rowland, Abraham Wharley, Ben-
jamin Roberts, Shadrach Walley and William Bennett.
Shadrach Walley is the only one on the list, as far as I can
find, who ever lived in the new-town; in 1688 he married Mary
Sharpe, daughter of Joseph Sharpe, under the care of Xe-
shaminy Monthly Meeting of Friends, at his house in "Xew
Town." This is the earliest record I have seen of a marriage
in the new-town.
In addition to his original purchase, he bought the farms of
Abraham Wharley, Benjamin Roberts. Wm. Snead and Israel
Taylor, making him the owner of nearly one-fourth of the land
in the township.
In 1760 all that was left of the name and estate of Walley in
Newtown, was the Red Lion Inn and half an acre of land, sold
by the sheriff as the property of Joseph Walley, saddler.
Thomas Rowland's patent for 500 acres of land is dated 12-
month 12, 1684. It is situated on the north side of Neshaminy
and west of the creek , 450 acres are outside of the townstead.
"Also, 50 acres more in the village or townstead." One side is
on "the street or road of said village."
There is nothing in the recitals to show that the place had
any name, except village or tov/nstead. As William Penn sailed
for England six months previous to the date of Rowland's
patent, it is reasonable to believe that if he had given a name
to the new town^ his commissioners and Thomas Rowland would
have put it in the patent. It was written New Town for some
years, because it was new, until with age it finally grew into
Tslewtown.
Stephen Twining became the fifth owner of the property in
1695 to 1698, and probably the first one who lived upon the
EARLY SETTLEMENT OE NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP 5
farm and made improvements. The title was held by the Twin-
ings and their descendants until a few years ago.
John Coat, an early settler, came from England in 1686, with
a certificate of membership among Friends. In presenting his
certificate to Neshaminy Monthly Meeting, 12-month 3, 1686,
he gave Kew-Town as his residence.
The farm, originally belonging to Israel Taylor, was bought by
Coat in 1689. It subsequently became the property of John
AValley, who sold five acres in 1724, to trustees for the location
of the new court-house and county prison. Quite a number of
the farms were re-sold several times before finding purchasers
who desired them for settlement. The land was originally cov-
ered with a very heavy growth of timber, and for that reason
probably there was more disposition to sell out, than to plant
corn among big trees.
There has been but little change in the boundary line of the
township since it was published in Holmes' map of 1684. At
that tmie all the dividing lines of the farms ran from the town-
ship to the townstead. At the present time, of the eleven original
roads leading to the townstead, eight remain laid out on the orig-
inal division lines between farms, for some considerable distance.
The Durham road is on the line between Christopher Taylor,
on the south, and William Bennett on the north ; the road to
Brownsburg between Bennett and the Governors ; the road to
Taylorsville between Arthur Cook and John Otter. Penn street
is nearly on the south line of Israel Taylor's patent, and is the
south line of subsequent owners in succession, viz. : John Coat,
Samuel Coat, Shadrach Walley, John Walley, and the five acres
sold by the last named for the public buildings, court-house and
prison.
In conclusion the question may be asked v^hy a new town
and township commenced under such favorable auspices were
not more successful. A few facts may be suggested as a partial
answer to the question, ist. The necessity of Governor Penn
returning to England just at that time. 2d. The erection of
a court-house near the falls of the river. 3d. The owners of
the property were non-residents. 4th. The heavy timber made
the cultivation of land difficult. 5th. The farms were long and
narrow, inconveniently shaped without any compensating advan-
tages.
The Solebury Copper Mine.
BY JOHN S. BAILEY, BUCKINGHAM, PA.
(Solebury Meeting, October 20, 1880).
The month of October is a very suitable time for the His-
torical Society of Bucks County to select the Old Copper Mine
as a place to hold its quarterly meeting, as it is the anniversary
month of the discovery of the mine in 1854. Independent of
the mine as a subject of historical investigation, we are upon
and surrounded by Revolutionary grounds.
Not far from here, the council of war was held and Washing-
ton's daring plan was proposed, that led to the capture of the
Hessians, at Trenton. Our bare-foot soldiers were here supplied
with clothing; the pickets were stationed along the Delaware
river in front of us, while the British patrolled the opposite side ;
an old sentinel still stands in yonder farm house, and its old
bell rings out its reveille and tattoO' hours, as it did for the camp
of the Continentals, 104 years ago.
A small enclosed graveyard near us, indicates the burial place
of Captain James Moore, of the New York artillery, who died
here of camp fever the day our troops left for their great victory.
There is also a tradition that the millerj of the old mill, a few
days before Christmas, took a supply of flour into the British
camp at Trenton, and supplied himself with desirable informa-
tion for the benefit of our commander-in-chief; while not far
from this spot the great-grandfather of the president of our
society was obliged, on a visit home during the war, to hide him-
self in the cellar under a hogshead, to escape from the British.
On the hilltop above us, beneath an almost forgotten grave,
rests Dr. John Bowman. Tradition says, "He was appointed
as surgeon in an English fleet, sent out after Captain William
Kidd, the pirate, in 1696; that he also turned pirate, and came
to Bucks county after Kidd was hung, in 1700. He built a cabin
at the foot of the hill and by request was buried on top."* At
* An old popular joke. A child is told very solemnly that a man went
to the top of Bowman's Hill and called "Bowman ! Bowman ! What do you
want? " And Bowman answered " Nothing at all." Editor.
THE SOIvEBURY COPPE:r MINE 7
the head of the valley, some two miles distant, is the old Silver
Mine farm, where silver was mined, in small quantities, one
hundred years ago.
The subject for to-day's consideration is the Old Copper Mine
which was brought to light in 1854. No previous knowledge
of it was known, although the early settlers were informed by the
Indians that near this spot was an old mine "that had been
worked by the Whites," and they took great quantities of copper
away at night to the river, and sent it down the river on rafts.
This was an Indian tradition, and no effort was made to dis-
close the secret until 1854, when John T. Neely opened the en-
trance that had been sealed with large stones and earthy with
the intention, no doubt, to conceal it from view until the parties
saw fit to return and resume operations. The approach to the
mine near the bank of the mill-dam, had also been filled with
debris. For several years Mr. Neely had suspected the spot, as
after heavy rains the water issued from the tunnel as from a
spring.
Just over the mine, some seventy feet from its entrance, a
large cavity existed, into which rabbits were often chased. A
close examination proved it to be the entrance to a vertical shaft,
which led Mr. Neely to search for a drift entrance, and the tun-
nel or drift was opened as before stated, in which several fine
specimens of copper-ore were found. On opening the mine, a
score or more large snakes, and innumerable bats, were found
near the entrance ; they possibly found their way there through
the shaft on the top.
John T. Neely's grandfather, Robert Thompson, purchased
the farm on which the mine is situated, in 1753, of Hon. James
Hamilton, Langhorne Biles, Joseph Farren and William Plum-
stead, of Philadelphia, and William Allen and Lawrence Grow-
den, of Bucks county. This company was no doubt induced
to buy on the strength of the tradition, and bought for mining
purposes. The company bought of William Coleman, who' had
his deed from the proprietary. Shortly after their purchase,
it was sold to Mr. Thompson, they reserving the "full and free
liberty, license and authority, to dig, search and work for cop-
per, lead or iron-ore, and the right of way to and from the
mines to the river Delaware." However, they never exercised
« THE SOLEBURY COPPER MINE
this rig-ht. No attempt was made to locate the mine during-
the lifetime of Mr. Thompson, and moreover no person appears
to have known of the existence of any mine, which was regard-
ed only as a doubtful tradition.
The mine could not have been worked by William Coleman,
oi the proprietary, or the fact would have come to the knowl-
edge of some of the early purchasers of the surrounding settle-
ment.
In the spring of 1864, a gentleman from New York, now a
resident of this township, leased the property and lands adjacent
thereto and re-opened the mine. It required four men, five and
one-Half days and four nights, with a large sized pump to un-
water the mine. An expert in mining was sent on from New
York, who made an examination. The report was not mad©
public, but he found a fine vein of copper which improved in
thickness, as the mine increased in depth. He also' stated that
the kind of drills or tools that had been used in working the
mine, had not been in use for over two hundred years, and that
there had been a great quantity of material taken away, there
not being a sufficient quantity of debris to account for the size
of the mine. Our great civil war was on hand, help scarce, and
wages high, so the mine was abandoned. The following figures
and description, together with the plan, give approximately, the
size of the mine : The main drift, running northwest from the
entrance is 66 feet long, where it crosses a chamber about 15 feet
in diameter, seven feet in height, with a column of stone near the
centre, which supports the roof. The drift extends from the
chamber westward 12 feet. To the right of the chamber is the
main shaft to the surface, six feet in diameter and about 30
feet in height, which was also secured from observation by a
wall built across the foot of it on the line of drift or chamber.
It was then filled with stones, timber and earth ; the timber
probably decayed, hence the cavity wdiich is now about ten feet
in depth, directly over the shaft. In the centre of the chamber
is an oblong shaft or winze 4'x8' and 22' deep, from the bottom
of which there is a drift 15' long, running outwardly. The
drifts on both levels are all 4' wide by y' high.
It was in the drift on the lower level where the small vein
of copper-ore was found, and which appears tO' have been about
THE SOLEBURY COPPER MINE 9
one-fourth of an inch wide at the shaft, increasing to 4" at the
€nd of the drift. It was at this point that work was suspended,
the expert reporting that "the prospects are good."
The excavations all told, allowing ten feet of earth to the
main shaft being left over the top of the mine, makes 1,025
cubic yards, or about 345 tons of debris. An approximate esti-
mate of the debris now lying in front of the mine, amounts to
:about the same figures, but as the earth from the front of the
entrance may be included in said debris, there might have been
some thirty tons or less taken away. Large trees have grown
upon the debris, and have been cut down; others have taken
their places, some now standing will count from sixty to a
hundred years.
The question to be answered by the Historical Society is, when
and by whom was the mine opened and worked? At present
the answer can simply be, as in the case of the old Round Tower
at Newport; the Writing Rock at Dighton; or the great mounds
and caves of the West. "We have no history !"
With propriety we might associate the mine's working to the
people of those days, as it is hardly likely that a people who
"built the thousands of mounds of Ohio were deficient of a
knowledge of the Atlantic coast. However, the Indian tradition
•conflicts with this theory, as "white men worked it." We will
never know the race or color of the mound-builders, but they
were undoubtedly of similar race or people as those who built
the great temples or mounds of Yucatan and Central America,
^vho were not white. At least Humboldt and other scientific
men say that the present race occupying the same districts of
I'ucatan and Central America are the original builders.
There is no question but what this country was known and
partially settled by some race or people of Europe, prior to its
discovery by Columbus. Was there not a Greely, a New York
Herald or World, in the days of Charlemagne or Canute? If
so, there was a Kane, Stanley and others, to represent them.
it is not mythology, that as early as 11 70 the Welsh were ac-
quainted with some part of our northern coast, while the Nor-
wegians claim an early date for a limited knowledge of the
same.
Adventurers are generally seekers for the valuable metals.
10 the; solebury coppkr mine;
and the old Mount Bowman that rears its high head above us
is the first elevation of any note to attract the attention of the
metal seeker from the time he reaches Delaware Bay to this
point. In fact there is no point south of the Hudson's highlands,
that can claim any prominence until this place is reached.
The artificial investigation and discovery of mines depend
upon a particular sagacity or acquired habit of judging from
particular signs. The principal signs, in those days as now,
were the discovery of mineral waters, the discoloration of the
trees or grass, the finding of ore on the surface, and the rise
of warm exhalations or vapors. Many used the hazel-rod (as
the water seeker of to-day), which they conceived was an at-
traction to the metal, as the loadstone draws iron.
Mining of all kinds has been carried on successfully for
thousands of years. Voltaire says of Columbus : He went out
in quest of gold and discovered tobacco, the "divine weed" of
Spencer; a discovery that proved more productive than all the
mines of Mexico or Peru. He sought to Christianize the un-
tutored Indians, and thereby elevate them in the scale of modern
civilization; but the lust, cruelty and rapacity of his followers
transformed a paradise of almost primeval beauty and simplicity
into a land of cruel bondage, desolation and death.
Giving credence to the tradition, "White Men," there is a
period we can set down as the opening of the mine. Gustavus
Adolphus, the great Swede, was instrumental in the founding of
a settlement at Philadelphia, in 1637. Several years before
that date, he issued an order empowering a trading company to
emigrate to this country. As early as 1642, the Old Swedes'
Church was built; it is still standing, a fine old structure.
Again ; the West India Company, about 1625, established a
trading post just below Trenton Falls. Davis, the historian of
Bucks, says, "that if the story of the New Albion is other than
an historical myth, the English were among the earliest advent-
urers and settlers on the Delaware. Between 1623 and 1634,
Charles I. granted an extensive territory to Sir Edward Plow-
den, which embraced Long Island, all of New Jersey, Delaware,
and parts of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, who formed
a company of noblemen and gentlemen, under the title of Albion
Knights. The Delaware was the chosen ground to settle, and
THE SOIvEBURY COPPER MINE II
the company pledged itself to introduce three thousand men
into the colony. Colonists were introduced and made their
homes here."
These dates and people present themselves for our considera-
tion. The Swedes were bold and adventurous, and they were
miners. Sweden was rich in her copper mines. At that period,
they dug from the Kopperburg mountain, in Sweden, copper
to the amount of one-third of the king's revenue. The Albion
Knights were adventurers, and undoubtedly knew the river's
questionable mining grounds.
Mr. President, can we approve of the dates 1620 to 1640 for
the opening of Bucks county's Old Copper Mine? This would
be ten years after the landing of the Pilgrims, and twenty-one
years after Henry Hudson^ in the service of th,e East India
Company, discovered Delaware Bay, or on the 28th of August,
1609.
Then it was, perhaps 250 years ago, that rafts of logs were
piloted down the river to the head of navigation, Trenton's
present site, while in the stream awaiting her return load, lay
the old-fashioned, low down hulk of Queen Christina, or the
more artistic shaped, yet antique looking, English brig of Queen
Bess.
No diamond-pointed drill, propelled by steam, was then in
use, no artificial river whereon a span of horses could pull a hun-
dred tons at a load ; no great iron horse with powerful lungs on
his easy down grade, and well-built track, that could draw at one
load, all their metal and debris, and place it at tide-water in one
hour or less; no lightning was then chained to play the part of
messenger. Yet the old mountain wears the same amount and
kind of clothing; the waters of the beautiful Delaware battle
and beat over its rocks and sands as then, but no Indian, in his
bark canoe, spears the fish or hunts the deer upon its banks ; the
Avigwam of the Lenni Lenape has disappeared; the great earth
sweeps through the heavens as then, but the dark, moist forests
are swept away, and a thousand openings let the sun's rays reach
and warm the earth's products, which hamlets have risen to
beautify and adorn.
Mr. President, we ask what are we doing as a people to main-
tain our place among the nations? What are we doing for "the
12 THE SOLEBURY COPPER MINE
town we liva in?" And are our children being educated any
better than we in our local history, geography and position with
progressive people or nations ? They can give us the area of
Ethiopia, or the population of Soudan, in Africa, but cannot
give the area of Middletown township, or the population of
Bristol borough. They know th^e length of the river Thames,
m England, and the height of the Organ mountains of Brazil, yet
they have little conception of the length of our beautiful Ne-
shaminy, or the height of Buckingham mountain. They have
no knowledge of the agricultural statistics of the county or
townships, of banks, and their capital, miles of railroads and
telegraphs, number of manufactories, papers, etc. In history
they are instructed who Marshal Blucher and Ney were, but
they have never heard of Brigadier General John Lacey, of
Wrightstown, who took part in our Revolution, or of General
Jacob Brown, of Falls township who was Commanding General
of the armies of the United States. The Indian-walk and other
historical events are totally ignored. And how much better are
we doing? Where is our boasted county pride? We build
bridges that are swept away by an ordinar}' flood, or break down
in a few years ; yet we have a model at Bridge Point, within three
miles of our county capital, that was built nearly three-quarters
of a century ago, and with care will stand the elements for i,ooo
years.
In our magnificent pile, with its marble floors, handsome
stained glass windows, and a hundred other modern adornments,
we have disregarded a common branch of philosophy in the
construction of the main hall of justice, and calmly conclude wc
have done our best.
Our archives are built fire-proof, yet we furnish each with
several thousand pounds of combustibles, and think our records
are safe.
We can furnish the capital to build miles of railroads in the
mountains of central Pennsylvania or the far off territories of
the West, but we leave unfinished three separate railroads that
cross our county half-way, that completed, would open to the
world the finest agricultural district in the State.
Thousands of dollars can be furnished to prospect, open and
mine amid the snows of the Sierras or Rocky mountains, hun-
EARLY HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY I3
dreds of miles from civilization, while the great iron deposits
of the upper half of our county, the lead of New Britain, and
the copper of Solebury, are left for future generations to de-
velop.
Early History of Bucks County.
BY GEN. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Newtown Meeting October 11, 1881).
In pursuance of public notice, we have invited our friends to
meet with us to-day to take some action relative to celebrating
the two-hundredth anniversary of the "birth of the county," or
its first organization and settlement.
The near approach of the end of the second century, since
Bucks was settled and declared an organized county, makes it
meet and proper that we should think of celebrating its bi-cen-
tennial. In this age of celebratio^ns and memorial occasions it
seems hardly the thing to let the two-hundredth anniversary
pass by without proper notice. To take some action on this sub-
ject was the main reason of the special meeting of the Historical
Society of Bucks county, at Newtown, to-day.
The settlement of the western shore of the Delaware is one
of the most interesting episodes in history. Discovered in 1609,
by Henry Hudson ; five years afterward the river was ascended
to the mouth of the Schuylkill; and in 1624-25 we find a settle-
ment of Dutch traders on a small island below Trenton Falls ;
from which point, for six years, an active trade was carried on
with the Indians, This was a frontier trading-post, and we can
imagine its surroundings and the habit of life of its occupants,
from what we know of like establishments on our western fron-
tiers. This was the planting of the early seed which grew into
such prosperous communities in the wilderness on the west bank
of the Delaware.
We next have the story of the "Albion Knights," who, under
Sir Edmund Plowden, by grant from Charles L, came to people
both banks of the river somewhere between 1623 and 1634, for
the dates are conflicting. Little came of this attempt, and now
manv consider Plowden and his "Albion Knights" an historical
14 EARLY HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY
myth. Nevertheless, they were a reahty; a few settlers were in-
troduced; the country was explored, and a history written of
their explorations. This account, published in London in 1648,
describes Newbold and Burlington islands ; says that near the
falls "is an island fit for a city; that a ship of 140 tons can as-
cend to the falls," and that "ten leagues higher are lead-mines
in stony hills ;" the town of Kildorpy* is located at the falls, with
"clear fields to plant and sow, and near it are sweet, large meeds
of clover or honeysuckle." What became of Plowden's colony
is a mystery which no one has been able to unravel. The Dutch
held undisputed sway on the Delaware down to 1638, but for the
next seventeen years there was a joint occupancy by them and
the Swedes. In April of that year a colony of Swedes planted
themselves about where Wilmington stands ; they pushed up the
river, and shortly Peter Minuit, the head of the colony, pur-
chased all the land on the west bank of the Delaware, from Cape
Henlopen to Trenton Falls, and extending inland to the Susque-
hanna. This was the first purchase by Europeans of land with-
in the limits of Bucks county. The Dutch, before the coming
of the Swedes, had not made a permanent settlement on the
west bank of the river, nor purchased a foot of ground, except
a small tract about the mouth of the Schuylkill. The Swedes
were the first to map the Delaware; but they lived principally
by hunting and fishing, and did but little, if anything, for agri-
culture. The English, destined to be the governing race on the
Delaware, from its mouth to its source, did not make their ap-
pearance until 1640. The first English settlers came from Con-
neticut, but the Dutch and Swedes made the situation so un-
comfortable for them that they did not prosper. This early at-
tempt failed to give th,e English a foothold on the river. An
end was put to Swedish empire on the Delaware in September,
1655, by a Dutch fleet and 700 men taking possession of all the
settlements.
The control of the Dutch, however, was not long continued.
In 1664, Charles II. granted to his brother, the Duke of York,
"all New England from the St. Croix to the Delaware," and in
October of that year a bloodless conquest was made of the set-
* Compare the ancient mine shaft on the north base of Bowman's Hill.
Editor.
EARLY HISTORY OF' BUCKS COUNTY 15
tlements on the river. There was no violent shock ; dominion
passed from the hands of the conquered to the conquerors in a
very quiet, business way. The laws which prevailed in the
other English colonies were put in force, and political society
was so far organized as the wants of the settlers required. The
country was governed from New York. There was but little
change for severail years, and but few immigrants arrived to
swell the population. By 1670, civil government had become
so well established on the Delaware, and the country was found
to be so attractive that strangers began toi come in and take up
land. Richard Gorsuch was one of the first who bought a large
tract in Bensalem in 1670-71. In the fall of 1672, George Fox, the
eminent Friend, traveled down through the county from Bristol,
on his way to Maryland. In 1676, William Edmundson crossed
into the county at the falls, and traveled down to Upland, now
Chester. The west bank of the Delaware grew more and more
into favor, and we find grants of land were made in the river
townships in 1677, 'y8, '79 and '80. In the last year several
English settlers, among them Gilbert Wheeler and William Biles,
located land in what is now Falls township, just below the site
of Morrisville. They brought their families, and were about
the first English to let light into the wilderness west of the
Delaware.
William Penn first appears in connection with affairs in
America in 1673, when he was chosen arbitrator to settle a dif-
ficulty between the owners of West New Jersey. Eight years
afterwards (1681), what is now Pennsylvania was conveyed to
Penn and his heirs by Charles II., and the deed of the Duke of
York was executed the 31st of August, same year. Penn was
constituted the absolute proprietary of the country, with power
to make laws and organize government. No part of America
was settled under as bright auspices as Pennsylvania; the great
founder was the first to declare perfect freedom in religious
opinion, and his broad catholic views on all subjects; the great
sense of justice which governed his conduct toward all men,
and the equality of all under his laws, astonished the civilized
world, and attracted settlers by the thousands to his infant colony.
With all onr knowledge of Penn, his character at this day is
little understood. He was not the austere ascetic described to
1 6 UARIvY HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY
US. In 1682, when he came to America, he was 38, and in his
prime. Instead of being the fat, clumsy-looking man West
paints him, he was an accomplished and elegant gentleman, po-
lite and refined, and conversant with the usages of the best
society of the time; he was reared amid luxury, and educated in
all the refinements of a polished age. He was tall in person,
with a handsome face and fine manners. He indulged in the
innocent pleasures of life, and was, in the truest sense, a
Christian gentleman and enlightened lawyer, far in advance of
his generation. Such in a word, was the founder of Pennsyl-
vania. The character of this great and good man, and the
character of the Quaker immigrants, who came with or fol-
lowed him into the wilderness west of the Delaware, are im-
pressed upon our Commonwealth, and will be as lasting as our
institutions. We note them in the strong conservatism of our
people; in the broad charities which prevail in our public and
private institutions, individual and collective virtue, and in re-
spect for religion.
Bucks county was the home of William Penn, and in it, at
his great Manor-house, in Falls, he lived in the bosom of his
family, while he was laying broad and deep the foundations of
his young Commonwealth. One of his instructions to. William
Markham, his deputy governor, before he left England for
America to assume temporary control on the Delaware, was
to select a site and build for him a dwelling; and he brought
the frame with him and mechanics to put it up. The spot
selected, as is known to all, was among the fertile meadows of
Falls township, and around it he laid off an extensive domain,
which, although the lines have all been obliterated, is still known
as "Penn's Manor," and the dwelling is reverently spoken of
as the Pennsbury house. Bucks has another claim upon the
regard of its inhabitants; it was one of the three original
counties of this great Commonwealth. At the first provisional
assembly, held at Philadelphia, March, 1683, the country was
divided into three counties — Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester,
and their boundaries fixed; those of Bucks beginning "at ye
river Delaware at Poaquession creek, and so to take in the easter-
ly side thereof, together with the townships of Southampton
iind Warminster, and thence backwards." The "backwards"
EARLY HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 1/
was almost unlimited in extent, quite an empire, extending to the
â– Susquehanna on the west and to what is New York on the
north. The area of this great county has been much curtailed,
but the boundaries still embrace a fair territory, with the original
lines as made by Penn and his assembly intact, except on the
northwest. Our people are a rich composite in character, com-
posed as they are of divers of the best races ; the English Quaker,
the German Lutheran and Reformed, the Welsh Baptist, the
iScotch-irish Presbyterian, the Low Dutch Reformed and the
Irish Catholic ; the first two races and sects largely predominat-
ing. What richer mosaic of character can be found?
What 1 have said of the settlement of the wilderness west of
the Delaware, and of our county and its people, are but a drop
in the great reservoir of State and county history, but enough,
I hope, to direct attention to the subject. This brings us back
to the proposition I started out with, shall the bi-centennial of
our county be celebrated with proper ceremonies at such time
as' may seem most appropriate, or shall it be allowed to pass by
unnoticed ? It seems tO' me that we owe it to^ ourselves, if not
to our ancestors, who left their pleasant homes on the other side
of the Atlantic to plant the standard of civilization in the wil-
derness of the new world. We likewise owe it to the memory
of the great founder of our Commonwealth who established and
nurtured his colony in deeds of peace, and whose doctrine and
precept are among our richest inheritance. If it be meet and
proper that the one-hundredth anniversary of a great battle be
celebrated by the government, why should not the descendants
of those who settled this fair county, commemorate the peaceful
deeds of their ancestors at the close of the second century since
they settled here.
The object of the meeting met with the approval of those
present, and on motion of Josiah B. Smith, of Newtown, a com-
mittee was appointed to take into consideration the propriety of
celebrating the bi-centennial of the county, and make the neces-
sary arrangements for another meeting, to take place
â– during the coming year. The following committee was
named : — Josiah B. Smith, chairman ; Hon. Richard Wat-
son, Gen. W. W. H. Davis, David W. Hess, Dr.
James C. King, Dr. E. J. Groom, Edmund G. Harrison,
l8 BUCKS COUNTY BI-CENTENNIAIv
Elizabeth E. Smith, John Townsend, E. F. Church, Wm. Wyn-
koop, Dr. Walter, Hanna E. Holcomb, John S. Bailey, Amanda
Heston, Cynthia S. Holcomb, Wm. Kinsey, J. Pemberton Hutch-
mson, Anna Eastburn, Thomas C. Knowles, Mahlon Carver,
Hugh B. Eastburn, Jesse Twining, Edward Boileau, Dr. Joseph
'i'homas, Hon. William Godshalk, Alfred Paschall, Ebenezer
Mull, John Burton, Nellie Graham, John Haynes, Albert S.
Paxson, David H. Taylor, Hon. Caleb N. Taylor, Sarah Peirce,
John Wildman, Rev. William A. Patton, Rev. L. B. Brown, A.
M. Zeigler.
The chairman of the committee has been empowered to add
to the number, and requested to call a meeting thereof at an
early date.
Bucks County Bi-Centennial.
BY AI.FRED PASCHALL, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(I,anghorne Meeting, April iS, 1882).
It was lately urged by the writer of a communication publish-
ed in one of the county papers that the spirit of the times is not as
good as it should be, the moral tone of the people lower than it has
been, that there was little for Bucks county to congratulate herself
upon, and that the proposed Bi-Centennial celebration had better
not be held. While occurrences do take place in which individuals
do not conduct themselves in the manner best calculated to reflect
credit upon themselves and upon the county, and practices ob-
tain in certain localities that are not to be endorsed, are these
reasons why the county as a whole and the people generally as
citizens, should not congratulate and celebrate, with pleasure and
thanksgiving, the anniversary of the county's foundation, and
rejoice over those things which we have and enjoy, without
lamentation for others which we may not have attained?
There is certainly abundance of reason for rejoicing and
making merry on our two-hundredth anniversary. While we
may not have accomplished all that is desirable, and worth work-
ing for — even though Americans do try to accomplish the work
of twenty centuries in two, and are daily working themselves
to death in the effort — there is sufficient now completed, which
BUCKS COUNTY BI-CENTENNIAL IQ
is a lasting monument to the time that has elapsed, to justify
the generations that have lived and worked and passed away, in
that they lived, occupied the country, and enjoyed their pleasures
and their possessions. That they lived to some purpose, and
how well they accomplished it, a brief comparison of the period
of two hundred years ago with the present time, will amply
prove.
Two hundred years ago Bucks county was for the most part
iri the condition of wild land. Fresh from the hand of the
Creator, it had not yet felt the influence of the white man to any
appreciable extent. Its value was merely nominal, and it repre-
sented but a trifle in the sale to William Penn. The country
was fair to look upon. It had vast capabilities to be developed.
There were streams to furnish water-powers, ores within the
northernmost hills, fish in the river, and fine and ample districts
suited to the needs and tastes of the farmers. But there were
few people, scarcely any schools, few and poor roads, no post-
offices, no railways, no newspapers and no towns worthy the
name. Alongside this meagre showing compare our condition
of to-day. We have a population of 68,685 persons, with an
estimated taxable valuation of $35,000,000 worth of real estate.
The dairy interests alone of our farmers are giving employment
to over thirty creamery establishments, besides what is done in
a private way. Almost every stream, of any size, is utilized in
running several mills ; the Durham Iron Works are shipping
away hundr,eds of tons of iron yearly ; and a large portion of
Bucks county has been made to blossom as the rose and vield
up its treasures of grain and fruits, under the skilled hands of
cur educated farmers.
We have at this time 294 public schools, besides several private
mstitutions of learning. There are no less than six branches
of railway, radiating from our nearest metropolis into Bucks
county; while from the county-seat, north, east and south, good
turnpikes lead away in either direction, which by connections
reach well over the countr^^ One hundred post-offices distribute
the letters and newspapers to the population, and there are ten
incorporated towns. B,eside these we have a court-house and
public offices equal to any in the state, and a jail surpassing any
though not in point of excellence.
20 BUCKS COUNTY BI-CE:nT£;NNIAL
The foregoing facts, and they are facts as many know, and
are susceptible of proof to the doubters, being admitted, it be-
comes a quesiion upon the advisability and expediency of hold-
ing a celebration, and after that of when, how and where shall
appropriate exercises and ceremonies be held. As to the pro-
priety of holding some kind of a celebration I consider this,
merely a cjuestion of preference among the people ; and the
Bucks County Historical Society having deemed it meet and
proper to recognize this anniversary, at a meeting, held in New-
town, in October, 1881, decided to issue a call for a general meet-
ing of all interested to consider the project. This action seems
to have met with general approval, and there has been con-
siderable interest manifested, both among those who have as-
sembled in the various committees and by the pubHc. In fact
with the exception of the communication above referred to i
have heard of not a single dissenting voice regarding the pro-
priety or advisability of properly celebrating one of the most
important events in the history of the county.
Passing then from this point and assuming that the occa-
sion should be marked by appropriate ceremonies, in recogni-
tion of our growth, resources, prosperity and attainments, the
questions of date, character and place of such commemoration
present themselves in the order named. If it were possible to
determine exactly the day upon which the first official act was
performed, in reference to the county, that would undoubtedly
be the date to observe. Inasmuch as this is uncertain, the date
of William Penn's arrival might be chosen ; but as this date is
rather late in the season and as it has already been fixed upon —
preempted, so to speak — by those having charge of the Bi-Cen-
tennial of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, the 31st of August and
the 1st and 2d of September, the nearest possible approximation
to the date of Governor Penn's departure from England, have
been selected as an appropriate, and, all things considered, the
most expedient time for the holding of the Bi-Centennial celebra-
tion of Bucks county. This is at a time of general leisure, when
our people can conveniently attend and take part in the obser-
vance of the county's two-hundredth birthday ; and as far as
opinions of the various committees extend, it is the only available
one of the appropriate dates of the year. It was agreed upon
BUCKS COUNTY BI-CENTENNIAL 21
by unanimous consent, merely postponing for a single day from
the time first suggested, and this in order to better accommodate
the Friends in Falls and the lower end generally, who might de-
sire to attend Falls Quarterly Aleeting on the 31st.
What the features of the Ki-Centennial shall consist of — in
fact how shall we properly celebrate the occasion — next becomes
the subject of consideration, and it is the most important topic
of all, as upon the determination of these features depends al-
most entirely the selection of the place at which the people may
meet together and unitedly enjoy the event.
There are so many and such diverse interests involved in the
matter that it was found to be a subject of no small difficulty to
even outline in a rough way what the occasion seemed to de-
mand. Literary and musical features were conceded, on all
sides, as absolutely essential ; a display of the agricultural and
mechanical productions of the county, and a collection of the
relics belonging to the time of the county's infancy, in com-
parison with the corresponding products and objects of the
present day, were deemed highly desirable and appropriate ; and
social features such as tea-drinks, banquets, etc., seemed to fully
round out the event and were calculated to promote and foster
the fraternal feelings which shoitld obtain at such a time.
These features being each too valuable to be discarded with-
out great detriment to the celebration, the committee having the
subject under consideration wisely resolved tO' recommend that
all be comprehended in the program and that sufficient time
be allowed to do full justice to the various subjects. If the
literary exercises alone were attempted it would perhaps be pos-
sible to embrace them in one day, by devoting long sessions both
morning and afternoon to the work, but even in that event there
w^oiild probably be a large number of those present who would
be unable to hear and enjoy the program. Such is always and
inevitably the case where the crowd is large and the exercises
are held in a public manner.
Then, too, by the method proposed, there is less risk of serious
interference from weather, and it is hoped that the aggregate
attendance at the literary exercises upon the three days will be
much larger, with a better opportunity for seeing and hearing
all that is said and done, than would otherwise be the case. An-
22 BUCKvS COUNTY BI-CE^NTENNIAI,
Other advantage is the leisure afforded in the mornings, which
njay thus be devoted to an inspection of the various rehcs, pro-
ductions and other articles that may be displayed.
Upon the question of the exhibition of collections, produc-
tions, relics, etc., 1 may say that the sub-committee had in con-
templation the gathering together of v^hatever could be obtained
in the way of implements, furniture, clothing, or other articles
of bygone times, which shall be arranged in such a manner as
to be easily and conveniently exiamined, and yet so as to insure
their safety from accident or injury, in a building adapted to the
purpose, and to which access could be easily and conveniently
had by a large number at the same time. There is abundance
of material suitable for this display, scattered over the county,
which might be easily and inexpensively collected together, if
the owners should be willing to loan their possessions for a few
days to the committee. There are in the county many interest-
ing and valuable collections of minerals, birds, botanical speci-
mens, coins, books, pictures, etc., in private hands of course, in
wnich the people of the whole county would be much interested,
and which they would examine with absorbed attention and
reverent regard, if the opportunity were afforded.
In regard to the tea-drinks and banquet it may be said that
they constitute the social and therefore one of the most valuable
features of the occasion. The people of Bucks county are not
sufficiently acquainted with each other; they are not much as-
sociated, do not mingle much, do not know each other well, do
not appreciate each other enough. If the social features of the
Bi-Centennial shall result in an improved acquaintance and a
higher appreciation of the districts for each other and a greater
lespect and regard for the dignity and worth of the county as
a whole, the work, time and money involved will have been well
spent, and the celebration may mark the beginning of a much
better condition for the future.
In selecting a place for these exhibitions, meetings and festive
occasions, there a,re many considerations involved. In point
of appropriateness there is certainly no locality entitled to pre-
cedence over Penn's Manor, as it was there that the county may
be said to have been born. In point of availability a more cen-
tral spot must be looked for; at which there must be a suitable
BUCKS COUNTY BI-CElNTliNNIAI, 23
structure for the exhibitions, an available place for the literary
and musical exercises, and a building in which the evening
events may be held.
In view of these requirements, and as better filling all the
essential needs of the occasion, the committee decided in favor
of the county-seat, where a large and well adapted building and
grounds have been tendered free of charge for the purpose of
the celebration; the court-house can be obtained, if found de-
sirable, for the literary exercises ; and a large and convenient
liall may be had for the evening festivities. There are good
and extensive accommodations for properly taking care of a
large number of persons, and the place is as easy of access to
all the people as any other spot in the county. And thus the com-
mittee made the decision which it did, and which has not seemed
to give satisfaction to some of the lower end, who claim that
the Bi-Centennial celebration should occur where the county's
existence began, and urge this point as paramount to all others.
While there is a certain amount of force in that position I like
much better the expression made use of by Senator Thomas at
a recent meeting of the general committee : "Gentlemen, we of the
upper-end regard this Bi-Centennial celebration as for and by the
people of Bucks county, and we propose to take the same in-
terest and do our part for its proper observance wherever it may
be held."
Entering into the preparations in that spirit, as I believe the
people generally will, I think vhere can be no reasonable doubt
of the complete success of the affair next August. Though
originally projected by the Bucks County Historical Society the
affair is for and by the people of the county and to represent
them, and with proper effort the occasion may be made as suc-
cessful as we all desire it should and a credit to us and one of
the finest as well as one of the oldest counties of Pennsylvania.
About Attleborough.
3Y GEN. \V. W. H. DAVIS, DOVLESTOWN, PA.
(I^anghorne Meeting, April i8, 1882.)
Those who will take the trouble to investigate the history of
the settlement of Bucks county, will find that the organization
â– of townships took place by groups. The first of these groups
was organized in 1692. The first legal steps taken for this pur-
pose was in 1690, and two years afterward Makefield, Falls,
Bristol under the name of "Buckingham," Middletown, New-
town and Wrightstown as one, Bensalem under the name of
"Salem," and Southampton and Warminster as one, were de-
clared by the court to be organized townships, and the machin-
ery of local self-government was put into operation.
In the report of the jury in favor of the organization of this
^roup of townships Middletown is denominated "the middle
township," that is, midway between Bristol and Newtown, but
it was frequently called "Middle Lots" down to 1703, and "Mid-
dle Township" as late as 1724. Gradually it came to be called
by the name it now bears.
in this brief paper it is not my purpose to give more than a
glance at the settlement of Middletown. A few of the original
:settlers came in the Welcome, among which was Nicholas Walne,
'of Yorkshire, who took up a large tract between Attleborough
and the Neshaminy. The land was generally taken up (in
large tracts) in 1684. Nicholas Walne, probably a grandson
â– of the first settler, studied law at the Temple, returned and
practiced seven years in this county and elsewhere. It is stated
â– of him by Janney, that after he had been engaged in the trial
of a real-estate case at Newtown, Mr. Walne was asked by a
friend, on his return to the city, how it was decided. He re-
plied, "i did the best I could for my client; gained the case for
him, and thereby defrauded an honest man of his dues." He
now relinquished the practice of the law as inconsistent with
the principles of Christianity, settled his business, and became
a minister among Friends. Among others, who were original,
<or, early settlers in Middletown, I mav mention Richard Amer,
ABOUT ATTLEBOROUGH ^:y
Henry Paxson, James Dilworth, Richard Davis, John Scar-
borough, Thomas Stackhouse, Robert Hall, Robert Heaton, who
built the first mill in the township, John Eastburn, Isaiah Wat-
son, et al. Among the prominent settlers who came into the
township at this period, was, Thomas Langhorne, a minister
among Friends, from Westmoreland. He died in 1687, leav-
ing a son, Jeremiah, who became a distinguished man.
My purpose is to treat of Attleborough, now known as Lang-
horne, where we are assembled. William Huddleson was an
Ccirly settler at this point, as were also Abraham and Christian
Vanhorne, Hollanders. Joseph Richardson settled at Attle-
borough about 1730, and six years afterward he bought out the
Vanhornes. He married a daughter of William Paxson in
1732, and was the great-grandfather of the late Joshua Richard-
son. Attleborough, built at the intersection of the Durham and
'I'renton and Philadelphia roads, became an important point in
the lower section of the county at an early day. These high-
ways were great arteries of travel between the tide-water on
the Delaware and the Lehigh, and the Falls and Philadelphia,
it was called "Four Lanes End," because the village was situated
at the crossing of the roads mentioned, for a number of years,
and some are yet living who remember when the present Lang-
horne was not designated. When the late name, "Attleborough,"
was first given it is not known. In all old documents, where
the name is met with, it is written "Attlebury," which we be-
lieve to be the correct spelling, and was afterwards corrupted
into "Attleborough." About 1730-35, Joseph Richardson opened
a store in the west end oi the building, now the tavern, then a
small hipped-roof brick and stone house, which he kept until
1738, when he erected the dwelling on the southwest corner
where Joshua Richardson lived and died. It was a fine and
costly house for its day. It is related, that while building it,
he took a friend to see it, who was about going away without
saying anything, when Mr. R. ventured to remark : "Thee
does not say what thee thinks about it," to which the friend re-
plied : "All I have to say is, take thee care thee does not get
to the bottom of thy purse before thee gets to the top of thy
house." The brick house on the southeast corner was built by
Gilbert Hicks in 1763. After his treason and flight it was
26 ABOUT ATTLEBOROUGH
confiscated and sold. During the Revolution it was used as a
hospital and about one hundred and fifty dead bodies were
buried in the lot close by, then a common. When Lafayette
came up through the county, in the fall of 1777, from Bristol
on his way to Bethlehem, to be treated for the wound received
at Brandywine, he staid over night in the Richardson house.
When the British drove Washington's army from New Jersey,
in December, 1776, the Legislature of the State left with it, and
it was summoned to meet at "Four Lanes End," the last Thurs-
day in December, "to take action on the future." John Fitch,
who has the honor of having floated the first boat propelled by
steam, left Trenton with the army and came into Bucks county
and found an abiding place at the house of John Mitchell, At-
tleborough, and afterward went to Charles Garrison's, in War-
minster, half a mile west of Davisville. In 1783, a tract, on
the eastern side of the village to be called "Washington Square,"
was laid ofif in building lots, one hundred in all, and streets pro-
jected through it. Lots were donated to the denominations of
Baptists, Episcopalian and Presbyterian. Among the streets
marked on the draft are Lamb, Montgomery, Macpherson, Mac-
Dougall, after officers in the Revolutionary army, and Willett.
The hopes of the projectors were not realized. The
old "Attleborough High School," afterward known as Bel-
levue Institute, originated in what was known as the "Mid-
dletown Boarding School Association." The first meeting was
held July loth, 1834, when steps were taken toward the erec-
tion of a suitable building. The Legislature incorporated the
school in 1835, but the effort to get an appropriation from the
State failed. The school was known as "Attleborough Academy,"
prior to 1862, although the name of "Minerva Seminary" was
born on the books. The name of Bellevue Institute was given
to it in 1862, after it had been sold by the sheriff, and passed
into new hands. The erection of the school buildings was
mainly through the efforts of Mr. Arnold Myers, a scholarly
and cultivated man from London, who bought the Simon Gillam
farm and settled there in 1825. He was for a long time en-
gaged in mercantile pursuits at Naples and Trieste, and was
married at Antwerp. He was the father of Leonard Myers,
several years a member of Congress from Philadelphia. Among
ABOUT ATTLKBOROUGH 27
the prominent men who were in part educated at Attleborough,
in the "Academy," or "High School," may be mentioned ex-
Speaker Randall, William B. Mann, John Price Wetherill and
Dr. Samuel Wetherill all of Philadelphia. A post-office was
established in 1805, and Robert Croasdale appointed postmaster.
I have elsewhere mentioned Jeremiah Langhorne. He was
probably the most distinguished man of Bucks county of his
period. Like his father before him he became a large land-
owner. His homestead on the Durham road, below Attleborough,
containing eight hundred acres, was known in his day as
"Langhorne Park," and the remains of it still bear this name.
Langhorne owned two thousand acres in Warwick and New
Britain, which he purchased of the Free Society of Traders;
two thousand acres in Perkasie Manor, and a large tract on
the Monockasy, now in Lehigh, but then in Bucks county; he
was also one of the founders of the Durham Iron Co. His
tract in Warwick and New Britain covered the site of Doyles-
town. In his will, made May i6th, 1742, he made liberal pro-
vision for his negroes of whom he owned a number. Joe,
Cud jo and London were to live at the park and the two former
had a life estate in lands now that part of Doylestown, east of
State street. The Langhorne mansion, a quaint building, has
long since gone to that "undiscovered country," where old
houses and other worn-out possessions find a final resting place.
The policy of changing the name of this beautiful village,
from the one it had borne through its youth and early manhood,
is very questionable, and had the matter been within our con-
trol it would be known as Attleborough while "water runs and
grass grows." It is not a very euphonious name, but has the
aroma of the ,past upon it. The only thing to be said in be-
half of the name, Langhorne, is that it is that of an early set-
tler, and thus connects the place with the past.
William Penn's Home Life at the Manor House.
BY GEX. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYI^ElSTOWN, PA.
(Pennsburj' Meeting, July i8, 18S2).
if there be a spot in Bucks county consecrated by history, it
is that where we are assembled. Here was the Pennsylvania
home of William Penn, the founder of our Commonwealth ;
here, in the bosom of his family, he spent two years moulding
the wise and just institutions of his infant colony, and trying-
to make the wilderness blossom as the rose. Delightful mem--
cries linger around Pennsbury. The imagination is not strained
to picture Penn as he was when he lived here. We see him in
all his outgoings and incomings. We see him arrive in his
barge, land near where we have met, walk up through his gar-
dens and court-yard and enter his dwelling. We see him mount
his favorite horse and ride off to Falls Meeting ; walk about the
grounds directing his workmen ; a delegation of Indians appear,
and with Penn sit down in council in the great hall in the
Manor-house; Governor Jennings comes up from Burlington on
a visit; Penn meets him at the landing and escorts him to the
mansion; his faithful and able secretary, James Logan, arrives
with a message from the provincial council, and they retire to
consult. A party of horsemen approaches through the woods
from the direction of the falls, which proves to be the governor
of Maryland and escort, on his return from New York, who
halts to renew his acquaintance with William Penn and partake
of the good cheer always to be found at Pennsbury. These
scenes and others are so photographed on the mind that we call
them up without effort. Would they could be lived over again!
William Penn is the most conspicuous figure in American
â– cdlonial history. As a lawgiver, he was the wisest and most
liberal of all who attempted to colonize these shores. Religious
liberty owes more to him than to any other one individual. He was
the first to declare that the church owes no tribute to the State ;
and in the new Commonwealth he founded west O'f the Dela-
ware, he established perfect religious freedom. The broad
principles of civil and religious liberty which he engrafted on
WILLIAM PENN'S HOML LIFE AT THE MANOR HOUSE 29
Lis infant colony are the most cherished landmarks of our
Constitution.
The exact time William Penn came into this county is not
known, but it was probably in November, on his way to New
York, shortly after his arrival in 1682, or on his return there-
from. He came up the Delaware in a boat ; made a brief halt at
Burlington, to visit the Friends' settlement there, and thence
across New Jersey on horseback to Elizabethtown Point,
whence he took boat for New York.
Before William Alarkham, his deputy governor, left Eng-
land, in 1 68 1, Penn commissioned him to select a site and build
thereon a dwelling for him. iMarkham brought with him the
frame of a building, and mechanics, and it is probable the
Manor-house was in course of erection when Penn passed up
the river on his way to New York. How natural, then, for
him to step ashore at the mouth of Welcome creek to observe
the progress made in building his new dwelling in the wilder-
ness. It is probable that the nearness of this spot to Burling-
ton ; its proximity to the falls, the head ol tidewater, and the
place of crossing for all who went from the lower Delaware
to New York ; and lying in the midst of a rich section of
country, were the reasons Markham selected this spot for the
governor's residence.
Unfortunately, no drawing of Pennsbury house and its beau-
tiful surroundings, remains ; nevertheless, we are able to ap-
proximate its size and internal and external arrangements. The
house of Mr. Crozer occupies part of the site oi Penn's mansion,
and in the cellar, a portion of the original pavement is shown ;
but there is not a vestige of the house, or out-houses, to be seen.
The dwelling stood on an elevation some fifteen feet above high
water, which gave it a fine outlook toward the river. The sur-
rounding grounds were laid out with taste, being terraced to-
ward the river ; trees and shrubs were planted ; a vista cut
though the woods, so there was a good view of the broad Dela-
ware, up and down; and there were gardens and court-yard.
In 1685, a broad walk was laid out from the house down to the
river, and on each side was planted a row of poplar trees. Many
of the trees were purchased in Maryland ; and the most beauti-
ful of the wild-flowers were transplanted into the gardens.
30 WILLIAM PKNN's HOME; LIFE AT "tUt MANOR HOUSE
Welcome creek wound through the contiguous woods, aijd was
bridged in several places ; and in front of the dwelling was the
boat landing reached by steps. Several gardeners were kept
constantly employed, and the names of some of them are known
to us.
The Manor-house was a large, and commodious mansion, suit-
able for the home of a man so conspicuous as William Penn.
The main edifice was sixty feet long by thirty wide, two stories
high and stately in appearance ; it was built of bricks probably
burnt on the premises, and a bricklayer was sent out from Eng-
land in 1685. The dwelling faced the river. There was a
handsome porch, front and rear, with steps, having both "rails
and banisters." A wide hall, in which the proprietary received
distinguished strangers, ran through the building on the first
floor and opened onto the back porch. There were, at least,,
four rooms on this floor. As you enter, on the left was a par-
lor; in the rear the servants' dining-rooms, separated from
the parlor by a wainscoted partition. The drawing-room was
en the opposide side of the hall, with another room probably
opening into it. There were, likewise, a small hall and a little
closet. Ascending an open stairway, you find four chambers
on the second story, one denominated the "best chamber," a
nursery and a closet, the latter for Mrs. Penn's use exclusively.
The garret was divided into two rooms ; and the stories were
nine feet high. The roof was covered with tiles, burnt in the
province, and on the top was a large leaden reservoir. Penn
seems to have had an eye to good looks in the erection of his
dwelling. After his return to England, he ordered a new front
door, because "the present one is more ugly and low." In 1686
he writes to his agent, Harrison, "pray don't let the front be
common.'' The necessary out-buildings were near the dwelling,
and in August, 1684, he gave the proper directions about them,
writing to Harrison: "I would have a kitchen, two larders, a
washhouse, a room to iron in, a brew-house, and a Milan oven fof
baking, and a stabling for twelve horses." He wanted the out-
buildings to be placed "unifonn and not ascu ;" they were to be
a story and a half, the story eleven feet. The brew-house, of all
the buildings on the premises, was the only one which survived
to the present generation, standing until the fall of 1864, when
WILLIAM PENN's HOML LIFE AT THE MANOR HOUSE 31
It was torn down to prevent its falling. It was twenty by thirty-
five feet, and eleven feet to the eaves ; the foundation and chim-
ney were of bricks ; the sills and posts were ten inches square ;
the weather^boarding of planed cedar, and the lath were split
in the woods. The fire-place was of the most generous pro-
portions, taking in a sixteen foot black-log.
The dwelling was furnished in proper style for the governor
of the province ; and if a dealer in old furniture had the articles
which garnished the Pennsbury house, his fortune would be
made. It had every appliance of comfort and convenience
known to persons of rank and wealth of that day. Penn
brought the greater part of the furniture with him, and our
list of articles is made up from the inventory left at Pennsbury,
when he and his family returned to England after his second
visit. Possibly some of the most valuable articles were taken
back with them. After they sailed, the goods from the town
house were brought up to Pennsbury. The furniture was good
and substantial, but there was nothing extravagant. The "best
chamber," in addition to the bed and bedding, with its silk
quilt, had "a suit of satin curtains," and "four satin cushions,"
with six cane chairs, and "two with twiggin bottoms;" in the
chamber adjoining was a suit of camblet curtains, "with white
liead-cloth and testar," and a looking-glass in each. What the
"testar" of two hundred years ago was, I leave for the ladies
to determine. In the nursery was "one pallet bedstead," and
"two chairs of Master John's," Penn's little son, born at Penns-
bury. We have a list of the. entire furniture in the best parlor,
consisting of "two tables, one pair stands, two great cane chairs
and four small do., seven cushions, four of them satin, the other
three green plush ; one pair brasses, brass fire-shovel, tongs and
fender, one pair bellows, two large maps." In the other par-
lor was a leathern chair, probably occupied by Penn in person
when he had occasion to sit in this room. A long table, at
v/hich public business was transacted, stood in the great hall,
?nd there were "two forms of chairs" to sit at this table. In
Mrs. Penn's closet were four chairs, with needle-worked cases,
and in the little closet on the first story were four flower basins.
I'he table furniture was handsome, and included damask table-
cloths and napkins, a suit of Tunbridge ware, besides white
^2 WILLIAM TENN's HOMK. LIFe; AT THE MANOR HOUSE
and blue china. Pewter ware was in common use, but the
Proprietar}''s family possessed a considerable quantity of silver
plate, including forks and a tea-set. The tables and chairs
were made of oak or other suitable wood, as mahogany had
not vet come into use. As there is no mention of carpets in
the inventory of the household gooids, there were probably
none at Pennsbury, as they were little used in Europe at that
day. The tall, old-fashioned clock, which marked the time for
Wiilliam Penn and his family, now stands in the Philadelphia
library. The house was evidently furnished at intervals before
Penn's second visit, in 1699. To James Harrison, who was left
in charge, Penn wrote in 1695 : "Get two or three eating-tables
to flop down ; one less than another, as for twelve, eight, five.
Get some wooden chairs of walnut, with long backs, four inches
lower than the old ones, because of the cushions." The high-
back William Penn chairs, found in a few old families, are
probably part of these Harrison was ordered to get. The fact
that William Penn did not reside at Pennsbury during his
first visit, must not be lost sight of. The mansion was not then
in a fit condition to be inhabited, but he was frequently there
to give directions about the work. At these visits into Bucks
he probably stopped with some of the Friends who were settled
along the Delaware below the falls. He was in the county at
various times and plac^es, holding court, attending meeting, and
transacting other public and private business.
William Penn, accompanied by his wife, his daughter Letitia,.
and James Logan^ his private secretary, arrived at Philadelphia^
on his second visit to Pennsylvania, the loth of December, 1699.
In a few days they came out to the Pennsbury house, which they
made their home during their two years residence here. Penn
lived like a gentleman, at Pennsbury, and the fat of the land
was his. But, while he lived in elegance, and maintained the
proper state, he was governed by a maxim he laid down for his
own guidance, that "extravagance destroys hospitality and wrongs
the poor." He kept open house, and there was goo^i cheer for
all comers. The steward bought flour by the ton, molasses by
the hogshead, sherry and canary wine by the dozen, cranberries
by the bushel, and cider and olives by the barrel. There was
an orchard on the premises, and cider was made for family
WILLIAM I'ENN'S home LIT^E; AT THE MANOR HOUSE 35
use ; small beer was brewed, and now and then a "rummel of
ale" was fetched from Philadelphia. The candles came from
Boston, and the butter from Rhode Island. The cellar was
stocked with beer, cider, sherry, maderia, canary and claret.
He kept a little rum on hand to be used on the occasion of a
treaty with the Indians. Penn was the enemy of tobacco, and
we know of his spending but ten-pence for the "ill weed" dur-
ing his residence at the Manor, probably for Indian visitors.
The family indulged in the luxury of tea and coffee, although
not then in general use. Penn purchased his substantials at
Philadelphia, the Swedes sending him smoked venison, pork,
shad, and beef; and the beef was roasted in a "dog wheel," if
any of my hearers know just what that article of kitchen equip-
ment was. The 6th of August, 1700, William Penn wrote James
Logan, at Philadelphia, to send him "a flitch of our bacon,
chocolate, a cask of middling flour, and some coffee berries,
four pounds." In the same letter he asks Logan to search for
an ordinary side-saddle and pillion, and some coarse linen tow-
els. In September, he writes : "We want rum here, having not
a Cjuarter of a pint in the house among so many workmen ; best
in bottles, sealed down, or it may be drawn and mixed." The
great founder of our Commonwealth knew how to prevent inter-
lopers poaching on the contents of his bottles. The expenses of
William Penn, for the two years he lived at Pennsbury, were but
£2,049, Pennsylvania currency, about $5,000. This shows that
he was not extravagant but practiced a wise economy.
William Penn employed a number of servants while he lived
at Pennsbury, but we have learned the names of only a few
of them. James Harrison was the chief steward from 1682
to 1687. Next in importance was John Sotcher, who became
steward at Harrison's death, and Mary Lofty, the housekeeper.
A gardener and three carpenters were sent out in 1684; the for-
mer, named Ralph, dying in 1685, was succeeded by Nicholas.
There was another gardener, a Scotchman, recommended "as
a rare artist," Hugh Sharp, whose occupation is not given, a
Dutch joiner and a second carpenter. Penn's coachman, in
1700, was a negro' named John. Among others employed about
the Manor-house, were Ann Nicholas, the cook ; Robert Beek-
man, man servant ; Dorothy Mullers, a German maid ; Dorcas,
34 WILLIAM penn's home; life: at the manor house
a negrine; Howman, a ranger, who, in 1688, was complained
of "for killing ye said Luke Watson's hoggs ;" James Reed, ser-
vant ; Ellis Jones and wife Jane, with children Barbara, Dorothy,
Mary and Jane ; Jack, a negro, whose wife, Pathena, was sold to
Barbadoes because "Hannah Penn doubts her honesty." There
was a Captain Hans, but his office is not known. Some of
these employees seem to have been at the Manor between Penn's
first and second visits. Penn got a new hand in the fall of 1700
of whom he writes to Logan, that he can "neither plow nor
mow; is good-natured, but swears," a heinous offense with
the great founder. When John Sotcher went to England, in
1702, Hugh Sharp was steward in his absence, and Peter was
assistant gardener. Several negroes were purchased for Penn
and sent to the Manor as laborers. "Old Sam" was a favorite,
and "Sue" was probably his wife. After Penn returned to
England, in 1701, he purchased two servants and sent them over;
and about the same time he sent out "Yaff, to be free after
four years' faithful service," and Joshua Cheeseman, an inden-
tured apprentice, whom Penn loved because he was "a sober,
steady, young man and will not trifle away his time." There
was a W. Goot, and one Barnes, "good for nothing." Penn's
clerk was Stephen Gould, whose mother was a Penn, and who
is spoken of as "an ingenous lad, a good scholar and some-
thing of a lawyer."
When William Penn and his family had occasion to go abroad,
they traveled in a style befitting their station. He traveled much
on horseback, and as three side-saddles are inventoried among his
effects, his wife and daughter, no doubt, accompanied him. He
had a coach in the city, a great cumbersome affair, but he proba-
bly never used it as Pennsbury, on account of the badness of the
roads. He drove about the country, from one meeting to an-
other and to visit friends, in a calash, which a pamphlet of the
time styles "a rattling leathern conveniency." In 1700, he writes
James Logan to urge the justices to make the bridges at Penne-
pecka and Poquessin passable for carriages, or he cannot go to
town. His favorite mode of travel was by water. He kept a
barge at Pennsbury for his own use, boats for the use of the
plantation, and smaller boats, used probably for hunting or fish-
ing along the river. The barge, built about 1700, had a mast
WILLIAM PJvNN's HOME: LIFE AT THE) MANOR HOUSE; 35
and sail and six oars, with officers and crew, among whom, was
George Markham, boatswain, and Michael Larzilere, cockswain.
It had an awning to protect the passengers from the sun and
weather, and we suppose it carried a pennant with the Penn arms.
In this boat he had many a pleasant sail on the broad Delaware.
He generally made his trips between Pennsbury and Philadelphia
in the barge, and frequent visits to his friend. Governor Jennings,
at Burlington.
Few events of William Penn's domestic life at Pennsbury
have come down to us. We know that he lived a quiet life, so
far as his official station would permit, but he kept open house,
and dispensed a liberal hospitality. He entertained distinguish-
ed strangers who visited Pennsylvania, the leading families of
the province, and frequent delegations of Indians. His dress,
while a citizen of Bucks county, is not specially mentioned, but
no doubt he wore the costume of the period adapted to his
station. His cash-book mentions, among the articles purchased
tor his own use, "a pair of stockings," at eight shillings, and a
pair of gambodies, or leathern overalls, at £3 2s. He paid £4,
each, for periwigs, and there is a charge "for dressing the
governor's hat." The great event in Penn's family, while at
Pennsbury, was the birth of his son, John, known as the
"American," the 31st of iith-month, 1699. Isaac Norris says,
in a letter written about this period : "The governor's wife and
daughter are well ; their little son is a lovely babe ; his wife is
extremely well-beloved." A tradition, from an aged woman of
this county, coming down through Mrs. Deborah Logan, states
that when a girl she went to the Manor-house with a rural
present to the mansion, and saw William Penn's wife, "a delicate
and pretty woman, sitting beside the cradle of her infant." The
provincial council met at Pennsbury in the summer of 1700, as
Penn had hurt his leg, and could not go to them, His wife
wrote to James Logan to get "a little more oil from Ann Par-
sons," for the governor's injured limb. Nineteen Indian treaties,
in all, were held at Pennsbury. Several marriages were cele-
brated there, among them that of John Sotcher to Mary Lofty,
in 1 701, and Clement Plumstead, of Philadelphia, to Sarah Righ-
ton, in 1704. The marriage of John Sotcher was announced at
Falls meeting, September 4th, and William Penn, who was
36 WILLIAM PENN's home LIFE AT THE MANOR HOUSE
present, stated that as he proposed leaving his affairs in John's
and Mary's hands, and as the season hurried his departure, he
desired to see the marriage accompHshed before he left the
country. The affair was hurried up and the maniage took
place October i6th. This is the only marriage in this country
at which William Penn is known to have been present, and the
names of himself, wife, and daughter are attached to the certifi-
cate. Letitia Penn made the bride a present of a chest of
drawers, which cost £7 — which are probably owned by a de-
scendant.
William Penn was much interested in agriculture and lived
a rural life. It was his chosen occupation. In his letters from
England, to his steward at Pennsbury, he frequently expressed
a desire to make his children "husbandmen and housewives."
He looked forward, almost down to his death, to establish his
permanent home at Pennsbury, and after his second return to
England, he gave instructions to have the improvements go on.
He writes from England, in 1705 : "If Pennsbury has cost me
one penny, it has cost me above £5,000, and it was with an in-
tention to settle there ; though God has been pleased to order it
otherwise. I should have returned to it in 1686, or at farthest,
in 1689." Penn directed his fields laid out at least twelve acres
each. He took pains to introduce new seeds at Pennsbury, and
we are probably indebted to him for the introduction of clover,
and other grasses, into this county. He writes to his steward
m 1685 : "'Haydust from Long Island, such as I sowed in my
court yard, is best for our fields." Again : "Lay down as much
as you can with haydust." Penn was as fond of good stock as
of trees and shrubbery. On his first visit he brought over three
blooded mares, which he rode during his sojourn here, a fine
v/hite horse not full blood, and other inferior animals for labor.
At his second visit, 1699, he brought the magnificent colt
"Tamerlane." In his letter he makes as frequent inquiry about
the mares as about his gardens ; and he often mentions his horse
"Silas," and his "ball-nag Tamerlane." We believe these horses
were kept at Pennsbury from the first. The Manor was not
free from depredations by horse-thieves, and, while Penn lived
there, one John Walsh drove off his roam mare and colt, and a
brown gelding ; which gave him occasion to write to John
WIIvUAM PENN'S home life AT THE MANOR HOUSE 37
Moore to get the thief indicted, for said he, "it is too much a
practice to think it no fault to cheat the governor." Of all the
broad domain of the Manor, but forty acres were cleared by
1701, and an additional forty acres the following year.
Penn's presence was now required in England, and he made
preparations to sail in the fall of 1701. Previous tO' leaving, he
assembled a large company of Indians at Pennsbury, to review
the covenants, and the council was held in the great hall of the
Manor-house. The Indians received presents. Afterward they
Vv^ent into the court-yard to perform their worship, wdiich is de-
scribed in the writings of John Richardson.
William Penn left for England, in November, after a residence
of two years in Bucks county. His lovely seat, in Falls, was
in his thoughts to the last. In a letter of instruction, to James
Logan, he writes : "Remember J. Sotcher and Pennsbury."
Had Penn realized, at that time, that he had left his pleasant
home in Bucks, forever, sadder yet would have been his thoughts
as he sailed down the Delaware.
Pennsbury did not pass out of sight with the departure of
William Penn. In June, 1702, it was visited by Lord Cornbury,
governor of New York, and a suite of fifty persons, to whom
Logan gave a "really handsome country entertainment." In
1703, William Penn, Jr., a wild youth, arrived at the Manor, his
father believing a residence there would improve his morals. He
brought hounds with him and hunted deer, foxes, etc. When
the Indians heard the young proprietary had arrived, a delega-
tion of a hundred warriors and nine kings came to tender their
welcome. Every effort was made to keep him at Pennsbury,
but he spent much of his time in Philadelphia, and played some
wild capers. The place was kept up for several years after Penn
returned to England, and he sent out shrubs and trees and gave
directions how to plant them, and about keeping everything in
repair, especially the gardens. In 1704, the Manor was noted
for its apple-orchard and the quality of its "parmains and golden
pippins." Penn expected to return as late as 1708, when he
wrote to Logan to have William Walton "keep all in order till
we come." He did not live to return, but spent the remainder
of his life in England, surrounded by a sea of troubles. The
furniture was long preserved, but finally sold and scattered. Two
38 WILLIAM PENN'S home LIFE AT THE MANOR HOUSE
looms were kept furnished, one hung with tapestry for the ac-
commodation of the family descendants, should any of them
return ; the other for the agent of the family when he visited the
estate. For many years Pennsbury was a place of great resort
for strangers who wished to view the home of the founder of
i-'ennsylvania, who spread their refreshments under the large
walnut trees that had shaded Penn and his family. The build-
ing fell into premature decay from leakage of the leaden reser-
voir on the roof, and was pulled down to rebuild, just before the
Revolution, but the war prevented it.
The Manor of Pennsbury, as this tract was called, originally
contained 8,431 acres, about one-half of Falls township. It was
once a royal domain, called Sepessin or Sepessing, and was
purchased of an old Indian king, the reputed owner. On Lind-
strom's map, of 1655, Welcome creek is called by this name.
It had had several owners before it fell into William Penn's pos-
session. It was first granted to Captain Thomas Hyde and Thomas
Morley, of the English navy, in 1664, by the name of the Manor
of Grimstead. Eight years afterward, it was granted to Mat-
thias Nicholas, who, in 1675, gave it to John Barry & Company;
and the same year it was included in the tract Sir Edmund An-
dros located for the Duke of York. About 1678, it was con-
veyed by Andros to one Arnout de la Grange, a shopkeeper of
New York. As the terms of these conveyances had not been
carried out by the grantees, William Penn succeeded to all the
rights of the crown. The Manor was sold at various times,
and in various ways, after Penn's death. It is now divided into
nearly a hundred different tracts, and is among the richest land
in the county.
I would remark, in conclusion, that William Penn's personal
appearance is as little understood as his character, and services,
seem to be appreciated. He was not the fat, clumsy man West
painted him, but was handsome in face and comely in person.
In manner he was an elegant gentleman, with all the accomplish-
ments of the day ; spoke French and German, and was noted for
solid learning. He dressed like men of his rank, and wore his
sword some time after he joined the Friends. He was genial
in his intercourse with others, and he was good as he wis great.
He left his indelible impress upon our institutions, and occupies
the first place in our history.
Mennonites or German Friends.
BY RICHARD M. LYMAN, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Pennsbury Meeting, July i8, 1882).
In a few weeks we will celebrate the Bi-Centennial of the
settlement of Bucks county, and it seems very fit and proper at
this time to bring into some prominence a religious denomina-
tion, namely the Mennonites, or as they are sometimes called,
the German Friends which helped tO' make the upper end of
Bucks county what it is to-day.
The Mennonite Society antedates that of the Society of
Friends, both in its formation, and in its settlement within the
state.
The history of the Mennonites after their landing in this
country is very difficult to ascertain, as very little of their
doings, as a religious sect, has been put in writing; almost
all of their literature is in German or Dutch. In order to have
a clear idea of this denomination, it will be necessary for us to
go back to the causes that were the means of forming it and
many others.
The wave of reformation that swept over Europe at the be-
ginning of the sixteenth century, tore asunder in many places
the followers of the Pope from the Romish church.
At this epoch in ecclesiastical history, a number of men calling
themselves reformers, sprang up and gave to the people their
opinion as to the interpretation of the Bible, and the manner in
which the worship of God should be conducted. Among these
reformers may be mentioned the names of Luther and Melancthon
in Germany, Zwingli in Switzerland, preceded by Wycliffe in
England, Huss in Bohemia, Savonarola in Italy, Wessel and
many others in Holland.
These reformers all had their followers, but in ec-
clesiastical, as well as in political reformation, leaders and the
led will often disagree. So it happened at this time. These
different sects were continually at war with one another, con-
tending for the greatest power, in both Church and State. The
40 MENNONITES OR GERMAN FRIENDS
age was one in which rehgious toleration was neither under-
stood nor practiced.
Among this number was one called the Anabaptists, so named
because they deny the validity of infant baptism. From this
sect, a certain class of Mennonites, is said to have risen. The
better class, or modern Mennonites, claim their descent from
the Wyclilfes and the Hussites, who had struggled for a church,
separate from the world and distinguished by the holiness of
its members.
The first class mentioned was composed chiefly of zealous
fanatics, who were dissatisfied with the partial reformation of
Tuther, and demanded more. In 1521, a party of them at-
tempted to revolt against the civil authorities, but were defeated.
At this time, a priest of the Roman Catholic church, by name
Menno Simon, having become persuaded that a reformation was
inevitably necessary, made his appearance.
Menno Simon was born at Witmarsum, in West Friesland,
about 1496. Little of his personal history is known. In 1524,
he became a vicar at Pingjum, where he studied the Bible and
preached repentance. In 1531, his religious life received a
powerful shock, when he witnessed the beheading of a man, for
having been rebaptized. It made so deep an impression upon
him, that he began to contemplate upon -infant baptism, and
finally declared it unscriptural. Hereupon he renounced the
Koman Catholic church and joined himself to that division of
the Anabaptists who were opposed to the fanatical party, and
began to lead the life of an itinerant preacher. For this he
suffered persecution and exile. He soon becam.e the recognized
leader of the party he had joined, and by his zealous teaching of
the Scripture, and by the doctrine and tenets laid down by him,
his followers, in course of time, were called Mennonites, in con-
tradistinction to the Anabaptists. Many of the doctrines of the
latter sect having been discarded by Menno. Menno died at
Wilstenfelde, Holstein, Jan. 13, 1561, leaving behind him several
religious works.
The Mennonites have settled in various parts of Europe, prin-
cipally in Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and the southern
portion of Russia ; their immigration to the United States dates
back to the early settlement of New York, by the Dutch, in 1627.
MENNONITES OR GERMAN FRIUNOS 41
Driven from their homes by persecution and want, they came
to this country, hoping to obtam, unmolested, a home for them-
selves and their families. They were forced to contend, not only
v/ith the Indian and the wild beast of the forest, but we are
told, that when the Dutch surrendered the Delaware to the
English, in 1664, a number of Mennonites were taken into
\'irginia and sold as slaves.
The Mennonites who first settled in Pennsylvania came from
Holland and the Rhine provinces, and in the year 1683, organiz-
ed a church at Germantown, but did not build a meeting-house
until 1702, when they purchased a lot of ground and erected
thereon the first Mennonite church in America. In this they
worshiped for nearly seventy years, when a substantial and
commodious stone building was erected. A few years ago, they
celebrated its one hundreth anniversary.
Soon after the Germans settled the district about German-
lown, the tide of immigration flowed into Bucks, carrying with
it a number of Mennonites. The township that claims to have
the oldest congregation of this sect, in the county of Bucks, is
Milford, where the Mennonites are the predominant sect ;
and consist of two schools, the old and the new ; their earliest
meeting-house was built in 1735. On account of various
reforms, a part of the congregation withdrew and built a church
for themselves. Again, in 1847, there was another division in the
society ; the old-schoolites withdrawing and building a new
meeting-house. There are three churches ; two of brick and
one of stone, the largest of them costing $7,000. The Ger-
mans are naturally a music-loving people, and two of the Men-
nonite churches have large pipe-organs and excellent choirs.
Bishop H. Oberholtzer and the Rev. A. B. Shelly have been
known as earnest workers in the congregations. The former
founded the new school, while the latter organized, in 1857, the
first Mennonite Sunday-school. He is also editor of a denom-
inational newspaper, the Mcnnoiiitischc Fricdcnsbotc.
A number of Mennonites, between the years 1720 and 1730,
found homes in the township of Rockhill, worshiping in private
houses at first, then building a log meeting-house, and finally,
in 1838, tearing the latter down, the;.^ erected upon its site a
.church of stone. Within this fertile valley, grandsire and grand-
42 MENNONITES OR GERMAN FRIENDS
son have lived and toiled for many years, and the same land
which has yielded to them the fruits of their labors, will, in all
probability, be cultivated by their sturdy descendants for years
to come.
The first settlers in Bedminster township were English; the
Germans who soon followed, were mostly Mennonites, and made
their abiding place on the banks of Deep Run, where they pro-
ceeded to clear the forest. They built their first church in 1746.
William Allen, a chief-justice of Pennsylvania who owned a
tract of 6,653 acres in the township, gave to the congregation, the
church-lot and a farm of fifty acres ; by a clause in the deed, the
real estate reverts to the heirs of the grantor, if regular service
in the church be omitted for the period of five years, but the
title would revert to the society, if a minister should be again
licensed. In 1766, a new meeting-house was built about fifty
yards farther up the creek, using the old log-house for a school.
They tore down the stone church in 1872, and a more suitable
one takes its place. The first minister was Abraham Swartz,
who officiated in that capacity for many years. In 1849, the
congregation split and built a new church near by. The old
church has among its relics a silver cup, used for sacramental
purposes, that was given by William Allen to the first congrega-
tion in 1746.
The township of New Britain was early inhabited by this sect,
although settled principally by the Welsh. In 1752, an acre of
ground, in the northwest corner of the township, was bought,
and a rude log cabin was built for the purpose of worship. The
first deed on record of this denomination was made in trust to
John Rohr and Christian Swartz, of New' Britain, and Henry
Shooter and John Rosenberger, of Hatfield, in 1774. The log
house becoming too small to accommodate the growing con-
gregation, a new one of stone was built. Again in 1868, find-
ing this not large enough, they erected a stone church, forty-
five by sixty feet, on the site of the old log cabin. This still
stands and is filled every Sunday with a goodly number of devout
worshipers.
The earliest settlers in Springfield township were of the Anglo
Saxon race, and later on, the Germans. The former came up the
Delaware, while the latter followed the source of the Perkio-
MENNONITES OR GERMAN FRIENDS 43
men. Here in Springfield, they met and had a peaceful contest
for the mastery. The Germans proved to be the stronger, for
to-day, we find but very few of the English speaking race, dwel-
ling in that township. The Mennonites biiilt their first
meeting-house about 1780, and rebuilt in 1824; it is delight-
fully situated in a grove, on the road leading from Springtown
to Quakertown. The congregation here, as in Milford, is divided
into the old and the new schools ; both, however, worshiping
under the same roof, but at different times. Peter Moyer was
the first' pastor, and the last pastor is a descendant of his.
The Mennonites who settled in Plumstead, were of the same
stock that helped settle the township of New Britain. English
Friends were the first immigrants who entered and laid low the
forests of Plumstead — having pushed their way up through
Buckingham and Solebury. The Germans, before long, were
on their heels, and, by perseverance and industry, managed to
obtain a large portion of Plumstead for their share. It is said
that quite a number of the English Friends married into the
Mennonite families and became identified with that sect.
The latter denomination having no regular place of worship,
v^ere compelled to go to New Britain. As the years went by,
their numbers increased, and through the liberality of Henry
Wismer and wife, who gave to them land to build upon, they
â– erected a small meeting-house in 1806. About twenty years
later it was enlarged. This meeting-house, for many years,
answered the purpose also of an English and German school.
A graveyard is near the church, and contrary to the precedent
'Of the denomination, a number of persons outside the congrega-
tion, are buried there. It lies on the Black's Eddy road about
a mile south of Hinkletown.
In the township of Doylestown, about a mile west of the
"borough, stands an old Mennonite meeting-house, with a grave-
yard near by. We cannot tell when it was built, as the old
books of the society are lost, and there is no deed on record to tell
when the property was conveyed. It is said to be the oldest
church-edifice in middle Bucks county.
The majority of the Mennonite meeting-houses are built of
sandstone, one story and a half high, with steep roofs. One
entrance for women, with a small vestibule for them to hang up
44 MENNONITES OR GERMAN FRIENDS
their bonnets and wraps. Another entrance for the men on the
opposite side of the building. On the inside and across the cen-
tral portion is a raised platform with a long desk, used as a
pulpit; upon it lies the old German Bible and hymn-book, which
have been used for several generations. Directly in front of the
desk, sit the deacons and older members of the congregation, and
on each side, facing them, are the younger married people and
children. The women sit on one side of the desk ; the men on
the other. Rows of pegs are suspended from the ceiling for the
men to hang their hats upon.
In their general doctrines the Mennonites agree with the
great body of ecclesiastical Christians. In church govern-
ment they very much resemble the Presbyterians. They hold
annual conferences, and their resolutions are binding on the
churches. For officers they have bishops, preachers and deacons.
The bishop is ordained, while the preacher is chosen by his own
church by lot, and being licensed, is permitted to preach.
Baptism is administered when the children arrive at the age of
eighteen ; the mode is generally by sprinkling, instead of im-
mersion. Twice a year they celebrate the Lord's supper, in
most of the churches preceded by feet washing. They forbid
their members to be married to any, except those who have been
united to the church. Like the society of English Friends, they
are utterly averse to war, to oaths and capital punishment. No
class of people in the world are respected more for their honesty,
morality and industry than the Mennonites, or German Friends.
Quiet* and unassuming in manner, dress and avocation ; rarely
mingling in the affairs of the outside world, they pursue the
even tenor of their way.
LENAPE STONE.
Full size, 1 14' inches thick, liver colored shale or slate litaestone. Aboriginal picture representing
Indians fighting the hairy mammoth.
Found on the east side of Durham road, near Mechanicsville, in Buckingham township, by Bernard
Hansel; the larger part found in 1872, the smaller part in 1881 ; now owned by Col. Henry D. Paxson.
Reverse Side, Showing Symbols of Indian Tribes.
(a) fish, (b) waving lines representing water, (c) pipe, (d) turtle, (e) hawk, (f) probably wampum belt
(g) tomahawk, (h, i) wigwams, (j) snow shoes, (k) star, (1) calumet, (m) deer,
in) probably a war canoe.
Our Stone Age.
BY JOHN S. BAIIvEY, BUCKINGHAM, PA.
(Pennsbury Meeting, July i8, 1882).
If by some great convulsion of nature, this beautiful land
should be suddenly destroyed, and after a lapse of centuries,
like Pompeii, it should be exhumed, or thrown open to the
world in its ruined state, the existing nations on viewing our
ruins, would conclude we belonged to a grand age.
Thus we, with the same characteristic intelligence on behold-
mg the remains of former nations inhabiting this land say, "they
were savages and belonged to a 'Stone Age.' "
Various articles have been published descriptive of the "Stone
Age" of Europe and of this country, while the manufacture and
use of stone implements has barely ceased with our far western
tribes.
in many respects our stone rehcs correspond with those be-
longing to the prehistoric age of other countries. Nothing
definite can be determined as to the time this country was
peopled, or from whence the people came. The gigantic me-
morials, consisting of great temples, whose sides are covered with
sculptured ornaments, and hieroglyphics, of Yucatan, Peru, and
other countries of this continent, indicate a point of civilization
at one time not much inferior to that of the Egyptians and
other nations of the Old World.
If this country were peopled from the Old World, it would
be safe to conclude that a crossing had been made at Behring's
Straits, at an early period, perhaps, when there was less width
of water at that point. Theories have been advanced, of cross-
ing the Pacific in ships of large size, while the mildness of that
wide stretch of water would also admit of small craft. On
landing, they first became cave-dwellers on the north Pacific
coast, and from thence advanced eastward as mound-builders,
and south as temple and monument-builders.
Years and centuries, generations and whole nations have
passed away, and if their history is written, it remains unearthed
beneath their mounds, or ruined temples.
46 OUR STONE AGE
To illustrate what may be termed "Our Stone Age," or the
epoch appertaining to the existence of the early inhabitants of
this part of the country, we herewith present a few implements
found and probably made in our own county.
This piece of flint is termed a core, or nucleus, from which
the flakes, or points, were cut, or broken. It was found near
Point Pleasant at a place noted for its flakes, bits, cores, and
broken, as well as perfect, arrow and spear-heads ; fully identify-
ing the spot as a place of manufacture of implements consist-
ing of flint, jasper, hornblende and other minerals.
The arrow-head, for use, was placed in the end of a split stick,
and made fast with the sinews of an animal.
The spear-heads, similar in shape to the arrow-point, but
much larger, were fastened in a similar manner toi a long handle ;
both arrow and spears were used for game and war.
The tomahawk was mainly for war purposes. The ax was
for domestic purposes ; trees were bruised and left to die, yield-
ing firewood, as well as clearing the ground for agricultural
purpose. A split-handle was tied, or made secure, on each
edge of the stone.
This oblong-stone, with a hole drilled through the narrow end,
is a pendant, or ornament, for the nose or neck. While this
stone, with a hole at each end, is for a similar purpose, or for
a breast-plate.
These flint-balls were hammers. With a split-stick, bent and
fastened around them, they could be used for light work.
This oddly shaped stone is a shoemaker's last, intended for
either foot.
This is part of a scraper for cleaning the meat from the bones
of animals.
They also had corn-mills, and pounders, skinners for remov-
ing the skin of animals, and various other articles of stone and
needles, pins and ornamentals of bone.
Their stone implements were cut, or shaped, with the points
of deer-horn, which is as hard as metal ; by grinding or rubbing
on a stone, they could be brought to an edge and made to cut
or flake flint, and other stone.
Our aborigines had no fixed habitations but halted where con-
venience suggested. Their huts or wigwams were small.
OUR STONK AGE 47
and made of deer skins, or birch bark, and were carried from
place to place.
They had mechanics and artists. The mechanics made their
utensils and implements, while the artist adorned them with
rude designs ; sometimes in beautiful colors. The artistic work
on the flesh side of some of their neatly tanned skins, have been
the wonder and admiration of enlightened nations. They had
kings and rulers, doctors and lawyers, and wise men, or phi-
losophers. Their marriage regulations were enforced. Various
modes were adopted in burials ; under the ground. In different
positions; on scaffolds, and in tree-tops in the open air, and by
burning. In a great measure they lived, in summer, on ber-
ries. Their meats were preserved in summer by exposure to
the sun, and in winter between cakes of ice.
They commonly ate in large parties, or at feasts with no set
hours, simply to obey the dictates of nature. Their large
animals were roasted whole by burying them under the ground
at the side of a hilF, placing stones against the meat, then earth
on top; the fuel was placed underneath, as in burning lime.
Smaller pieces of meat were roasted among stones. Dancing
before, or after meals, was common in devotion, or adoration
to the Great Spirit. Men and women ate apart at feasts, but,
in their family life, ate together.
Their acuteness would lead them hundreds of miles in a
direct line, without any material deviation, fair or cloudy, with
great exactness to the point at which they intended to arrive.
They could point to that part of the heavens where the sun was,
though it w^ere obscured by clouds or fog, and were able to pur-
sue the tracks of man, or beast, on leaves, or grass. Their
memory and wampum-belts would give them dates of treaties
with other tribes for preceding ages. Old age was respected.
They counted their years by the winters, the months by
moons ; they had no weeks, and their days were as so' many
sleeps.
Being trained from infancy, they were proficient in devices
for ensnaring or destroying animals. They shaped canoes from
trees by fire and sharp-stones.
Each nation and tribe had their symbols to distinguish them,
as snake, eagle, etc.
48 OUR STONE AGE
Friends, shall we picture a band of these aborigines, with
their sparkling eyes, large white teeth, faces painted in colors;
long, straight hair, the greater part pulled out, and replaced by
quills and feathers ; ornaments in the nose or on the neck, and
lattles around the ankles? If winter, with a long robe of the
richest furs trailing the ground and probably armed with bows
and arrows? Such scenes were presented on this very spot,
nearly two hundred years ago on occasion of their visits to the
great white-chief, the only treaty-maker they respected — William
Penn.
Having briefly described the people of the latter part, at
least, of the "Stone Age," we wish to call your attention to an
event of Indian history — an event engraved or transcribed on
stone, like the sculptures on the temple walls of Assyria or
the hieroglyphics on the sarcophagi of Egyptian tombs —
an event whose record presents additional evidence that man
was coeval with the huge mastodon and other large animals of
an undeterminable period ; also an event that no doubt occurred
in this country and county.
In 1872, a young man named Bernard Hansel, while plow-
ing his father's field, located on the east side of the Durham
road, about two miles north of Buckingham mountain, found
a part of this stone, or breast-plate, as it may be termed. Noth-
ing in particular attracted his attention, except the few lines
drawn upon its face, and it was placed with his collection of
arrow-heads, of w'hich he had found great numbers in the
same field. Since that time he has been on the watch for the
other part, and was rewarded by finding it a few months ago
while plowing in the same field, and near the same spot where
the first part was found. This is a singular incident, as they may
have broken apart centuries ago; and without the latter part, we
would fail to read the first correctly. It might be well to state
that the field in which so many relics have been found is
near five springs, and was a hunting or camping-ground, being
near the great Indian pathway that existed from the Delaware
at Point Pleasant, through Bucks, from thence to the falls of
the Susquehanna.
The stone is of liver color, perhaps of slate or shale lime-
stone ; present length, four and one-half inches ; width, one
and three-quarter inches, and one-quarter inch in thickness.
OUR STONE AGE 49
In order to more fully illustrate the engraving, we have pre-
pared a rough enlarged fac-simile ; the details are six times the
size of the original.
The artist in depicting this event has probably given us as
much history in the same space as we would expect of our
artists of the present day; and, Mr. President, when the lead-
ing painter of America, Benjamin West, in his historical paint-
ing of 'Tenn's Treaty with the Indians," represents men of
mature years who were but children and did not arrive in this
country until seven years after the treaty, and when William Penn,
the prominent feature, was here until the treaty was ratified ;
while the costumes were not worn for nearly a century after;
and the three-story building did not exist ; when this great
artist is allowed to fancy and produce something of a fictitious
nature for the history of the founding of this Commonwealth —
then we should allow some license to the savage, with his rude
engraving tools, if he should not make perfect curved lines and
his perspective should be a trifle faulty.
Our interpretation of the engraving is that the scene or
action represents an encounter with one or more huge animals.
In the cut, only one is in view, a mastodon*, the same as de-
scribed as belonging to the European Stone Age. The tusks
and proboscis are plainly visible., while the perpendicular lines
en various parts of the body must indicate the long hair with
which the animals were covered, necessary for a cold climate.
The fossils of the mastodon* or hairy elephant are found in
many parts of Siberia, and in 1799, an animal nearly complete
in its parts was found imbedded in the ice on the Siberian coast.
They roamed over Central Europe, from Ireland to the Ural
mountains; from thence across Northern Asia to Behring's
Straits, to Canada and the United States.
If we allow the stature of the Indians represented in the en-
graving to be five feet in height, and if the artist has given us a
correct proportion and delineation of the monster, it would
measure twenty-six feet in length, eighteen feet in height,
twelve feet in depth of body, and in length of tusks on the curved
line thirteen feet. These measurements have been exceeded by
remains found in may places in this country.
One of the braves has a drawn bow, and an arrow pierces the
* Mammoth Elephas primigenius Editor.
50 OUR STONE AGE
side of the monster, which signifies that they could fight him:
with their arrows. Near this brave stands another, with his
spear set upright in the ground, or placed perpendicular showing
that their spears are useless; they could not get close enough
to use them. A third party is reclining on the ground near
a large stone, smoking his pipe. Some of them were cowardly
and hid themselves, and left the braves to do the work. Still
another is under the monster's feet. We would infer that
some were killed by him. He is more destructive than the
forked lightning, which is beautifully depicted.
He is as tall as the tree tops. He is more powerful than the
sun's rays; more changeable than the moon, which is now a
crescent; wonderful as the course of the planets through the
heavens. Venus is enlarged as brighter than the others. They
were numerous as a multitude of stars which are represented by
the crossed lines.
The large rings are the eyelets through the plate. The
action is represented as being at the base of a mountain, the
ground at an angle of about thirty-three degrees ; their wig-
wams are placed back of the rocks and trees, as in a place of
safety. The lake and cave-dwellers of Europe selected sites
for their dwellings with the view of being protected from ani-
mials.
On the reverse side of the stone are various symbols of tribes,
perhaps of those connected with the event. Most conspicuous
are the turtle, eagle, sea-snake and reindeer, or elk, with large
antlers. Also, plainly outlined on one end is their early history.
Large, crooked lines represent water, and a large fish floats in
it, while a number of crossed lines are over the water. Near
the water lines, five points, or peaks, are presented. Next is
a mountain peak with its rock}' sides. Directly over the moun-
tain is a cross, and on the off-side of the mountain from the
five peaks, is a square tablet, and within its borders are ten
dots regularly spaced off.
This history would read : That they crossed, the great water ;
they were acquainted with the five peaks of the Cascade range,
their ancestors lived within view of them; they crossed the
mountain of rocks or the Rocky mountains, and the ten dots
mean there were ten tribes at the crossing, or that ten genera-
OUR STONE AGE 5^
tioiis, epochs or cycles had passed by since the crossing ; they
kept a record of great events, and every fifty-two years was a'
cycle, when great feasts were celebrated, and every three hun-
dred and twelve years, or six of these cycles, was an extra
epoch. Maybe ten of these extra feast years had passed.
Again, proof of age exists in the stone with its milled or
ornamental edge which is worn out in many places. This could
not be done while in the ground or it would have been uniform
over the stone.
My friends, you may say this stone relates to an event of the
prehistoric times of this country, that the little ornament could
easily have been brought from some point in the west, where the
bones of large monsters have been found and described.
This is true^ but we have further evidence of their existence
.here. This large fossil is a section of the vertebrae of some
animal larger than the African elephant, that no doubt roamed
through our land in those far-off days. It was found about
seventy years ago about three miles south of Buckingham
mountain, was built in a wall near the Anchor hotel, where it
remained for perhaps fifty years. It was supposed to belong to
a whale, but the indication of a space for marrow through the
centre would prove it as belonging to a land animal. It measures
over twelve inches in diameter, and is over six inches in length,
allowing at least two inches to be worn away would make the
length of the back of the animal nearly thirteen feet, there
being nineteen dorsal vertebrae. Other large bones or ribs
were found a few years ago, and finding their way to Doyles-
town, were placed on exhibition.
Most persons supposed them to belong to a whale, but there
is no doubt but that they belonged to a land animal. Again
huge fossil remains are being brought to light, just where in
New Jersey quite recently, we understand that the complete
remains of a similar animal were found at Freehold, only a
few miles from this spot.
Albert Koch, a scientist and naturalist of many years ago,
says : — "It is true we cannot rely much on traditions of the
Indians, vet their traditions are founded on events which have
52 OUR STONE age;
actually transpired, and with great care their legends are handed
down from generation to generation, and many details may
be lost, but in a section of the country in Ohio, watered by the
Big Bone river — notice the name — a tradition existed preserved
by the Indians, 'That at a certain period many large and
monstrous animals came from the eastward, upon which the
animals that had previously occupied the country became very
angry and at last so enraged by reason of these intrusions, that
the red man durst not venture out to hunt any more and was
reduced to great distress.' At this time a large number of these
monsters assembled here, when a terrible battle ensued in which
many on both sides were killed and the remainder of the
monsters resumed their march towards the setting sun. After
the battle, the Indians gathered some of the slaughtered animals
together, and ofifered them as burnt offerings to the Great
Spirit."
The Big Bone river, from this took its name. The ceremony
of a sacrifice was kept up at this point for a great many years,
or until about the beginning of this century, when settlers took
up the ground and in their excavations the bones of the masto-
don were found, but it was almost forgotten again when in 1839
in cleaning out a spring a tooth of a mastodon was discovered.
Further search disclosed a great many bones and teeth.
In many instances implements of the Indians, together with
rocks and stones not belonging to the spot, but giving evidence
of having been carried a short distance, and no doubt being
thrown at these animals when mired fast, or in a helpless con-
dition, and the bones of the animals themselves are found to-
gether, proving without doubt the existence of man and the
mastodon at the same period.
This fossil might have been brought from the north by some
great drift of the glacial period, when the ice-fields of the Arctic
seas, in pushing towards the equator broke through our moun-
tains, perhaps scooped out the bed of our river Delaware and
with shuffling current carried forward rocks and fossils.
The rocks, with their rounded edges, were left in many parts
of our county, and remain as silent mementoes of the time,
wliile the fossils being more perishable would be worn away
v»nth the elements.
In conclusion, Mr. President, will you accept our theory that
MINERALS OF BUCKS COUNTY 53
an event as here transcribed did occur, and in our county? H
so, we ask to locate the spot at the west end of Buckingham moun-
tain, in the centre of Bucks county, and its main elevation, with
its bluff, trees and rocks, close by good springs and a fine stream
of water, and at a distance of two and a half miles from where
the engraving and fossils were found.
The Minerals of Bucks County.
BY CHARLES LAUBACH, DURHAM, PA.
(Pleasant Valley Meeting, October ii, 1882.)
To a county historical society in Eastern Pennsylvania it
seems scarcely necessary to make an apology for an essay upon
the subject of minerals. You are all no doubt familiar with
the fact that the county of Bucks contains within its limits a
variety of minerals and that the upper-end townships contain
valuable deposits of iron-ore, the mines of Durham having been
in almost continuous operation since 1727. In an assembly
like this there are doubtless many who take great interest in the
subject of mineralogy, although the vast extent of the field
covered by this science is not fully appreciated by those who
have never given the subject special study.
The science of minerals is important to the geologist, be-
cause aggregations of minerals constitute rocks, or the plastic
material in which the records of the past were made. The
science therefore is an historical science. It infers that each
mineral implanted in a rock indicates some fact respecting the
condition of the sea or land at the time it was formed ; one
condition originating a gritty mineral, another a soft or soapy
deposit, another Hme, and thus forming actual historical
records, to be interpreted by careful study.
The method of interpreting the records rests upon the simple
principle that rocks or minerals were made as they are now
made, and that life lived in olden time as it now lives, and
further the mind is forced into receiving the conclusions ar-
rived at by its own laws of action. When we go among the
hard rocks and find the strata made or formed in irregular
layers, much like those of the ocean beach ; and on opening some
54 MINERALS OF BUCKS COUNTY
of the layers we discover ripple-marks covering the surface, as
distinct and regular as if just made by the waves, or, in another
place rounded layers of water-worn pebbles, such as occur be-
neath rapidly moving waters, whether of waves or rivers, we
Temapk that these hard rocks differ from loose sand, clay or
pebbly deposits simply in being consolidated into a rock, and
further, we may discover perhaps the very means of the con-
solidation. By such steps as these the mind is borne along ir-
resistibly to the conclusion that rocks were slowly made through
common place operations. In volcanic districts we witness the
melted rock poured out in wide-spread layers and cooling into
compact rock. We remark further that the fractured crust in
those regions has often led out the lava to cover the surface
with rock even to great distances from the crater ; we use our
reason in the only legitimate way when we conclude that these
rocks were thrown out melted, even though they may be far
from any volcanic centre. The laws of the existing world, if
perfectly known, are, consequently, a key to past history. But
this perfect knowledge implies a complete comprehension of
nature in all her departments — the departments of chemistry,
physics, physical geography, and each of the natural sciences.
Thus furnished, we may scan the rocks with reference to the
past, and feel confident that the truth will declare itself to the
truth-loving mind.
Having now hastily sketched the nature of the science of
mineralogy, so far as is necessary for our purpose, we come
next to consider some of the most important minerals common
to Bucks county. Of these the quarts is the first in importance,
it occurs in crystals ; also massive, with a glassy lustre. It
varies in color from white or colorless to black, and in trans-
parency from transparent to opaque. It has no cleavage, that
IS, it breaks as easily in one direction as another, like glass.
Clear kinds are called limpid-quarts; violet crystals are the
amethyst; compact, translucent with the color in bands or
clouds, agate ; or without bands or clouds, chalcedony ; massive
of dark and dull color, with the edges translucent, flint; the
same with a splintery fracture, homstone; the same, more
opaque, lydianstone, or basonite; the same of a dull red, yel-
low, or brown color and opaque, jasper; in aggregated grains.
MINERALS OF BUCKS COUNTY 55
sandstone or quart zitc; in loose, incoherent grains, ordinary-
sand. It also occurs in another state constituting opal, a well
known mineral. All these subdivisions of this mineral are
tound in this county. Frequently the young beginner, who has
been assiduously collecting all the different colored stones in
his neighborhood, on presenting them for names to a practised
mineralogist, is greatly disappointed to learn that, with a few
exceptions, his large variety includes all of the above varieties
of quartz and but little else. However, when told that he may
call this specimen yellow- jasper, that red- jasper, another flint,
others hornstone, chert, granular-quartz, ferruginous-quartz,
chalcedony, prase, .smoky-quartz, greasy-quartz, milky^-quartz,
agate, plasma, hyalite, quartz-crystals, basonite, radiated-quartz,
tabular-quartz, etc., he is better pleased with his extensive
cabinet.
The mineral next in importance, and very abundant in th?
county, is feldspar. Under this name I will mention only sev-
eral species; all the different species contain silica and alumina;
but one has, in addition, potash, and is a potash-feldspar; an-
other soda, a soda- feldspar ; another lime, a lime-feldspar ; an-
other soda and potash, or soda and lime. They are all nearly
as hard as quartz ; lustre somewhat pearly on smooth faces ; in
general the white and flesh red in appearance are the most
common.
Carbonate of lime (calc spar, including limestone) is an-
other very common species, which forms various crystals often
transparent ; massive kinds granular, as in statuary marble, or
opaque and earthy, as in common limestone. Colors from
white to yellowish, reddish, grayish-brown to black when im-
pure. â– Dolomite is a carbonate of magnesia and lime.
Mica-schist and its varieties are quite abundant in the lower
end of the county, including garnetiferous-schist, mica-schists-
with quartz, and mica-schist with feldspar.
Trap. This is a dark greenish or brownish black mineral,
heavy and tough, very compact, often without any apparent
grains. It is an intimate mixture of feldspar and hornblende.
It is often called greenstone, and when consisting of albite and
hornblende it is called diorite. This mineral in all its forms
and compounds is very abundant throughout the county.
56 MINERALS OF BUCKS COUNTY
Iron-pyrites or bisulphide-of-iron is one of the commonest
minerals met with in the county. It is usually found in forms
belonging to the isometric system, usually in cubes, also
reniform, globular, stalactitic, with crystalline surface, radiated,
granular and amorphous. Color pale brass yellow ; lustre
metallic. Small quantities of other minerals are frequently
found associated with pyrites, such as gold, silver, thallium,
cobalt, nickel, copper, etc. It is found in small brass-yellow
cubes in many of the rock masses throughout the county, es-
pecially in the altered shale, also in most of the iron ore-mines.
Jt is often mistaken for gold or gold ore.
Tourmaline. Occurs usually with unlike development at the
extremities ; the prisms often triangular, crystals frequently
longitudinally striated ; also in columnar, fibrous and in radiat-
mg masses, sometimes compact. Color usually black, brown-
ish-black, also brown, green, blue, red to colorless ; lustre
vitreous. The chemical composition is very variable, and not
fully understood, owing to some doubts about the state of the
iron and boric-acid in the constitution of the mineral.
Very fine prismatic crystals of black-tourmaline are found
in Bucks county.
We have given to these minerals just described more room
than this sketch allows perhaps, but owing to their abundance
within the limits of the county, as well as throughout the State,
they deserve this recognition.
It must not be supposed that the mineralogy of the district
under consideration is fully understood. Mineralogists will
have sufficient scope to discover and classify extensive cabinets
of rare and important minerals in years to come. A .deep
obscurity still shrouds many mineral localities. Extensive acres
are masked as it were. The surface of the county is under a
high state of cultivation. Explorations, although often at-
tempted, are comparatively small and isolated ; progress is of
necessity slow, so that special classification is at present almost
impossible.
I append the following list of the most important minerals
found in the county ; want of space compels us to forgo giving
tocalities :
GERMAN POPUI.ATION IN BUCKS COUNTY
57
ActinoHte,
Adalaria,
Albite,
Agate,
Allanite,
Alumina,
Amygdaloid,
Aragonite,
Asbestos,
Baryta,
Basalt,
Calcareous Spar,
Chalcedony,
Calcite,
Chlorite,
Copper,
Coccolite,
Dolomite,
Dolerite,
Epidote,
Feldspar,
Franklinite,
Flint,
Galena,
Garnet,
Gneiss,
Granite,
Graphite,
Hematite,
Heavy Spar,
Hornblende,
Hornstone,
Iron :
" Arsenates,
" Carbonate,
" Chromate,
" Hydrous
Oxyd,
" Silicate,
" Spathic,
" Specular,
" Sulphate,
" Titanic,
" Argillaceous,
" Bog,
" Magnetic,
" Lenticular,
" Micaceous,
" Ochre, &c.,
Jasper,
Kaolin,
Lime,
Magnesia,
Manganese
Mica,
Oolite,
Plumbago,
Pyroxene,
Quartz,
Rutile,
Sahlite,
Sandstone,
Schist,
Schorl,
Syenite,
Silica,
Silver,
Stalactite,
Stalagmite,
Scapolite,
Sphene,
Tourmaline (in all vari-
eties)
Trap,
Zinc Ores.
The German Population in Bucks County.
BY WILLIAM J. BUCK, JENKINTOWN, PA.
(Pleasant Valley Meeting, October ii, 1882).
While in Philadelphia during the Centennial Exposition (at
a private circle) the power and influence of the German ele-
ment of Pennsylvania became a matter of conversation. The
party did not exceed a dozen persons who in their descent were
nearly equally divided between the English and the German. One
of the number stated that he believed the latter now considerably
outnumbered the former in this state. Although this had been
my opinion for some ttme, I was surprised that it should be
conceded by all present. Without any desire to arouse preju-
dice, or give undue prominence to what is not deserving, I
stated, that in all my reading, I had no recollection of this ad-
mission having been made in print, and for this reason I would
now venture still further and say., from the information I pos-
sessed, that I sincerely believed that the German element in
Bucks county, (though regarded outside of its own limits, as
one of the English counties), was nevertheless decidedly the
58 GERMAN POPULATION OF* BUCKS COUNTY
Strongest, and that facts could be arrived at to establish it; as
I was the only one of the party present that had come from
that county, my remarks created manifest surprise and doubt
by the majority. I mention this to show how I came to have
my attention directed to the subject.
The official list of teachers employed in this county in the
spring- of 1876, contains 270 names. With some assistance
I have carefully gone over the list to ascertain, through a knowl-
edge of the surnames, the probable descent of those mentioned
therein, and find that about 118 are German, 106 English,
23 Irish, Scotch and Welsh, and about a similar number of Hol-
land, French and Swedish, my figures, if approximately correct,
demonstrate that those of German descent are not only the
strongest, but doubtless possessed of more intelligence than has
been generally accorded to them.
In the census as published for 1870, mention is made that
in Bucks for that year, 109 edifices were used as places of
worship. The highest two denominations set down are ex-
clusively German. I mean the Lutherans and Reformed to
whom are given forty. The Mennonites are another numer-
ous body, but to my regret, no menton is made of the num-
ber of their meeting-houses. The Catholics are represented
as having four churches, (though since largely increased) two
of which are German. The only two sects in the county to
be set down as chiefly English, are the Friends and the Episco-
palians. To the latter 'are given eight places of worship, but
no mention as to the former. The Methodists are the third in
number, having 16, of which several are German. The Baptists
have 15, of whose n-^embership perhaps one-half are of Welsh
descent. The Presbyterians are stated to possess 13 houses of
worship, the membership of which is largely of Irish and
Scotch descent. By this it will be seen that those of German
descent hold the greatest number of places of worship in the
county, and therefore must compare favorably in their religious
cfiforts.
Within a period of one year after the arrival of Wm. Penn
the Germans had already settled at Germantown, and even be-
fore 1690 located themselves in Springfield and in Whitemarsh.
It was not however until after 1708 that their emigration to
Ge;RMAN POPUr.ATION Ol? BUCKS COUNTY S^
this country commenced to any considerable extent. As
early as 1709 a number had settled in the townships of Lime-
rich, New Hanover and Pottsgrove. So great had been their
increase within the present limits of Montgomery county in.
J 734 that in a list of 762 taxables and landholders, considerably
over one-half were Germans, about one-fifth Welsh ; the others,
were chiefly English with a light sprinkling of Scotch-Irish.
It was this current that had set northward from Philadelphia
and turned its course partly eastward and thus became the
original settlers of Milford and part of Springfield ; since then,
they have spread to other parts of the county, including Sole-
bury and Buckingham. Doylestown borough and Doylestown
township are overrun with them and the advanced column has
got pretty well under way in Warrington. In this march we
can perceive no signs of a halt or retreat through diminution
of numbers or that the indomitable perseverance that has ac-
complished it, will slacken. The causes of such a remarkable
change well deserve investigation.
The spread of the Germans southward over the county and
the changes efifected thereby, however remarkable, do them no
discredit for industry, energy, enterprise, intelligence and busi-
ness success. Even fifty years ago there was still a con-
siderable body of English and Sicotch-Irish settlers living:
along the Durham road, beginning at Pipersville up to the
Northampton county line ; these have nearly all disappeared
and the Germans now own their homesteads. In Tinicum,
particularly around Erwinna, also in Bedminster and Plum-
stead, similar changes ar^e noticed. Not long since a descendant
of an old Welsh family in New Britain called my attention to
the changes, in this respect, that had been going on there as
v/ell as in the adjoining townships within his own recollection.
However, as I desire to be brief, I deem it unnecessary to
dwell further on so obvious a truth, except to add that I be^
lieve the chief cause for this change lies in the greater attach-
ment the German has for the soil, and the too prevailing desire
on the part of the others to relinquish farming for other business
in the towns or cities. One fact is now proven by this, that in
perseverance and energy the German descendants are fully the
equals, if not the superiors, of the other nationalities that he conies
6o GERMAN POPULATION IN BUCKS COUNTY
in contact with. If slow, he is sure and progressive, nez'er
goi}ig backzi'ard.
German emigration to Pennsylvania commenced in October,
1683, and was encouraged by Penn who could speak German
and who was himself half Dutch, his mother Margaret Jasper
coming from Rotterdam in Holland. After the death of Penn
a different policy was inaugurated ; the proprietary ring,
as I shall term it, in which James L^gan and William Allen
figured conspicuously, conceived the idea with the first com-
mencement of Indian troubles, about 1727, to have the Germans
settle as much as possible, on the frontier, as a precautionary
measure for additional security to their kind, thus greatly en-
dangermg the lives and property of the Germans who did not
fully realize the situation until Indian vengeance broke loose in
1754, and continued almost unremittingly until 1765, and to
which an innocent and unoffending people were made to suffer
for the sins of others; the exasperated were not able to discrimi-
nate the difference in guilt between a German and an Englishman
or Scotch-Irishman. But the ill-treated Germans certainly deserve
great credit for the peaceable relations they assumed in the
trying ordeal, as for instance the Moravians, for which sufficient
justice has not yet b^een accorded by any of our English historians.
I may here remark that the correspondence of James Logan,
William Allen, Jonathan Dickerson, James Hamilton, Richard
Peters and others in the proprietary interests, go to show the
most unfounded prejudices entertained against the Germans ;
did they live now they would doubtless see the injustice of their
acts and perhaps expose the means used to keep the Germans
from enjoying their just rights. James Logan states that in 1727
6,000 more Germans were expected to arrive, and hopes this
emigration may be prevented in the future by act of Parliament,
else he fears that these colonies will in time be lost to the
crown, and further, if the nmribers continue at this rate will
soon produce a German colony here, perhaps such a one as
Britain once received from Saxony in the fifth century. Good
I say for James Logan, and a high compliment for the Germans.
America was lost to the crown, and this colony of Penn, nay this
very county and its adjoining on,es are becoming more and more
Germanized. In illustration I need only point to the neighbor-
GERMAN POPULATION IN BUCKS COUNTY 6l
ing county of Montgomery where this element is largely in the
majority. In Gwynedd, for instance, in 1734 there were 49
resident taxables mentioned, being all Welsh in name but five;
of this number only one was a German that of Leonard Hartling.
Whoever will look over the present list of landholders in that
township will be surprised at the prevalence of German names.
From an examination thus made we learn that at this time the
AVelsh element does not constitute one-tenth of its total popu-
lation.
In connection with my subject I will relate a brief reminis-
cence. In 1833 my father kept store at Stony Point in Spring-
field township, and at the early age of eight years I w^as sent to
Dovlestown in care of an uncle, who was a m^erchant at that
place in order that I might attend the Doylestown academy. I
v/as not there long before a title was bestowed on me by my
fellow pupils. It was of cours,e not D. D., neither was it LL. D.,
l)ut instead U. C. D. B., that is "Up County Dutch Boy." This
I retained probably for several months, wdien another German
boy made his appearance and the compliment was assigned to
him. Forty-nine years however have made a great change in
the population of Doylestown, the up county German is no
longer either a novelty, or a stranger in what was then a
Scotch-Irish settlement. Look now over the numerous business
signs and behold the great proportion of German names, in fact
half the newspapers now printed there, are in German and your
president but a few days ago informed me that tickets in the
same language, are now distributed to be voted for in every
district of the county.
From the beginning of their arrival, the Germans have had
among them able scholars, and it was owing in part to their
intelligence that the first Bible printed in a European language
m America was in German, published at Germantown, by
Christopher Sower, in 1743, in a magnificent quarto edition of
1,200 copies, each containing 1,284 pages. The son of Mr.
Sower in 1763 issued a second edition of 2,000 copies, and a
third in 1776, of 3,000 more besides publishing between one and
two hundred other works in both German and English. The
third newspaper in Pennsylvania was pubHshed by Mr. Sower,
August 20 1739, called "Dcr Hoch-Dcntsch Pcnnsyhanischc
62 GERMAN POPULATION OF BUCKS COUNTY
Geschicht-Schreiher."' The first almanac in German was pub-
lished in 1738, and for size and matter was far superior to those
that had preceded it in the English. The first Bible in English
was published in Philadelphia by Robert Aiken, in 1780; the first
in New England was published in 1791 by Isaiah Thomas, at
Worcester. John Brandmiller had a printing press in North-
ampton county before 1763, and about that period printed
various works thereon in the German language, as well as
translations from the same into the Delaware Indian language,
to be used in their instruction by the missionaries. Whoever
will glance over the lists of active members of the various
literary and scientific institutions of Philadelphia at this time,
will be struck at the prevalence of the German names among
them. Abraham N. Cassel, near Harleysville, Montgomery
county, has collected a library of several thousand volumes of
German works published in Pennsylvania since its early settle-
ment. I question whether for literary activity and ability any
denomination can approach the Moravians, taking their num-
bers into consideration. During the colonial period, for their
education as well as instruction in Christianity, the Germans
had several schools successfully established among the Indians,
they also had spelling-books, hymns and sermons translated into
their languages. I have repeatedly examined copies of such
books. I have no knowledge th^t with all the wealth, influence
and power, possessed by the English in Pennsylvania that they
have ever done anything of the kind for the instruction of the
Indian.
I think I have demonstrated that the early Germans, or those
that arrived here during the Colonial period must have been
generally an educated people, in some respects much more so
than the other Europeans, especially in a knowledre of the
languages and music. A people that could publish and support
so many books could not be illiterate. Though many came here
poor and had to toil and struggle at first for a mere subsistence,
through their numerous descendants they have been enabled
now to leave their mark and a broad one, not only on this county
but in rearing the solid structure of our Commonwealth with its
four and a half millions of people.
And who is the German? he is neither a Celt nor a Gael, but
the father or founder of the Anglo-Saxon race in England, of
GERMAN POPULATION OF BUCKS COUNTY 63
whom more than half the present words of its language have been
â– derived. But the German race or its language owes nothing
to Britain. The Germans fought the Romans in their forests
and finally invaded their dominions before the Anglo-Saxon
race was dreamed of. This copious language does not need the
aid of a pronouncing dictionary, for that is unnecessary where
€ach letter of the alphabet has its particular sound. Whilst the
English language is spoken by ninety millions of people, the Ger-
man is spoken by nearly an equal number, and nearly double
that of the Spanish, and almost treble that of the French, This
then is the power of the noble old German, the mother tongue
of Tell, Durer, Gutenburg, Faust, Schiller, Goethe, Humboldt
and many more that might be mentioned. * * * Yes I
have just addressed you ni the language of our ancestors from
the valley of that noble stream that rises in the glaciers of the
Alps and flows hundreds of miles away to empty by several
mouths into the German ocean, the scenes of mighty achieve-
ments and of the grandest inventions in the sciences and arts.
Being near the frontiers of France, consequently the seat of
numerous wars, led many German people, in spite of their be-
loved associations, to emigrate to this Country as an asylum from
the military despotism that prevailed there.
I have not come here to instill or infuse prejudice through a
love of race or nationality, but our English historians have not
yet done that justice in their statem.ents respecting the German
element, to which their numbers and influence fairly entitle them.
Reading the pages of Proud, Eaton, Gordon, Trego and Day,
such matters have been barely touched upon, but they are men-
tioned as having settled in considerable bodies in certain coun-
ties, where they have become good and industrious agriculturists,
but ignorant of the English language, and could they become
changed by relinquishing early everything they had been accus-
tomed to from infancy, might become respectable citizens. Now I
would appeal to the unprejudiced of English descent, what
would they think if the German element would with equal right,
ask them to relinquish their language, their manners and customs,
nay even their religious doctrines, so as to conform to our
own and like us become good and intelligent. Thus are
mankind too generally prone to view those \vho differ
64 GERMAN POPULATION IN BUCKS COUNTY
from them in language, religion and nationality. I remember
well some thirty-five or forty-five years ago how some of the
governors of this State as well as some of the superintendents
of our public schools in their messages and reports would sug-
gest methods to eradicate the German language, and change the
habits of its people so as to be more like themselves.
But with all those intermeddling or unsolicited efiforts what
has been the result! though the English language prevails.
English influence is fast declining and the hitherto haughty
Anglo-Saxon blood is getting more and more diluted. Down
to the Revolution, English emigration was encouraged, but
since then owing to their hostility to our institutions and people,
it has been comparatively small, on the contrary with the Germans
and Irish it has greatly increased. The latter however have
thereby diminished their population to nearly one-half, while the
Germans have four times the population of England to draw
on, and that of the very best educated people this world has yet
known. A late writer in Harper s Magazine, in speaking of the
German influx of the Mississippi valley, said that it would not
be long before they would become the dominant element. This
development is changing the national character, as we see in the
increasing observances of Christmas, New Year's day. Good
PYiday, Easter, and in birthday, silver and golden-wedding
festivals. Perhaps it is also owing to this German infusion that
the rigid Puritan stock is relaxing from its former ways or
prejudices, as may be seen in Gothic edifices built for worship
called chapels, with pictorial-glass stained-windows, and within
which the organ sends forth its stirring peals.
That I should have come here to address }_â– .,! is perhaps
nearly as great a surprise to myself as it is to you. Over forty-
five years ago I left this section for the vicinity of Doylestown
and from thence, five years later, for Montgomery county, where
I expect to spend my latter years. I was encouraged to make
an exhibit at your Bi-Centennial celebration, and what was
fully as interesting, to renew former acquaintances among the
survivors of my youth. On this unusual celebration, propositions
were made by several that I should be present at this first
quarterly meeting of the Bucks County Historical Society.
Finally your president pressed the matter so closely that I con-
GERMAN POPULATION IN BUCKS COUNTY 65
sented, and thus unexpectedly my presence is accounted for^
almost a stranger near the homes of my ancestors.
A few months ago an article appeared in the Newtown Bn-
terprise, evidently written by a resident of Falls township, stat-
ing that suggestions had been made that the Bi-Centennial cele-
bration should be held at Doylestown. At this he seemed highly
mdignant, stating that as the county had been settled by English
Friends, it was an affair of theirs and should therefore be held
at or near the Falls of Delaware, where the original settlements
had been made, and further and quite uncalled for, he could not
see what interest the up-country Germans could have in such a
matter. I would say to this narrow-minded writer that the
Dutch followed by the Swedes, had occupied and settled to a
small extent in that section even before William Penn was born
and had he been at the recent Bi-Centennial celebration he could
have learned that the German element did take an interest in
the matter, even in this far away upper-end, as the fine exhibits
of the Hesses, Laubachs, Thomas, Moyer, Fackenthals, Fretzes,
Otts, Copes, Cressmans, Hindenachs and others of the early
respected families hereabouts will testify. Bucks has now been
occupied fully two centuries by different European nationalities
most prominent among which at the present time are the Ger-
mans, English, Welsh, Irish, Scotch, French, and Hollanders.
These M^ere the raw material that is harmoniously blending to
form our American citizens, fully the equals of any people ex-
isting. Two more centuries of amalgamation will leave but few
of pure German, English or other nationality. This must ef-
fectually tend in the end to banish all prejudice, and whatever
pertains thereto, and promote a, stronger love for country and
redound more to the good of the human race.*
* since the above paper was read the writer has examined the list of teachers
attending the county institute last month at Doylestown, and from their surnames judges
of the 285 present, 147 were of German, 107 of English, S Scotch and Irish, 14 Dutch and
French and 8 of Welsh descent.
The Marquis de Lafayette.
BY GEN. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLESTOWN, PA,
(Pleasant Valley Meeting, October ii, 1882).
Next to Washington, the memory of Lafayette is most
cherished by the American people of all the heroes of the
Revolution. His disinterested, and gallant services in the
cause of the struggling Colonies will be fondly remembered
while the Republic survives. His connection with this county,
during the Revolutionary war, was sufficient to give him a
place in our local history, and afford a theme for this occasion.
The Marquis de Lafayette, a nobleman of France, whose
family connections were of the highest rank, was born Septem-
ber 6, 1757. He was not quite nineteen when the Declaration
of Independence was announced. At seventeen he married a
daughter of Count de Noailles, a distinguished statesman of
France, a young lady of large fortune and about his own age.
He joined the French army when eighteen, and, in 1776, when
the American Colonies were buckling on their armor, he was
stationed at Metz. Here he first learned that the Americans
had declared their independence of the British crown, and were
in arms to maintain it. During that summer, the Duke of
Gloucester, brother to the King of England, came to Metz on
a visit, and the commandant of the garrison invited him to
dinner. Lafayette was at the table. Tli^ Duke had just re-
ceived dispatches from England, giving him full particulars of
the revolt of the Colonies, and of their Declaration of Independ-
ence, which he related to the company. The young Marquis
was an interested listener, and, after the dinner, he had a long
conversation on the subject with the Duke. The more he heard,
the greater became his interest. The idea of a people taking up
arms for their liberty was so new to him, that it made a strong
impression upon his youthful mind. He regarded their cause
just, and the struggle a noble one ; and from that hour he re-
solved to devote his sword and his purse to the cause of the
Colonies.
MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE 6/
Difficulties, which appeared quite insurmountable, presented
themselves. How to reach America was a problem he could
not solve, for he knew his departure would be prohibited by
the King. He went to Paris to consult Silas Deane, the Ameri-
can Commissioner, accompanied by Baron De Kalb, as inter-
preter, and who afterward came with him to America. Deane
listened favorably to his proposition to serve the American
cause, and entered into an agreement, by which, on joining
the American army, he was to have a major general's commis-
sion.
About this time news of Washington's retreat through New
Jersey and across the Delaware, reached France, and Franklin,
who had arrived at Paris, meanwhile, advised Lafayette to de-
fer his departure to a more propitious period. This advice had
no influence with the ardent young patriot, who determined to
cast his lot with the struggling Americans at the earliest pos-
sible moment. As the American Commissioners had neither
credit, nor funds, to fit out a vessel to carry the Marquis, with
arms, ammunition and friends, to America, he offered to pur-
chase one with his own money. He said to the American Com-
missioners: "Hitherto I have only cherished your cause; now
I am going to serve it. The lower it is in the opinion of the
people, the greater effect my displeasure will have ; and since
you cannot get a vessel, I shall purchase, and fit out one to carry
your dispatches to Congress and me to America." This con-
duct was that of a true patriot, and his subsequent career and
gallantry proved how much he was in earnest. He now went
to London, where he spent three weeks, in all circles defending
the cause of the Colonies ; and he met there an officer whom
he afterward encountered on the field of battle. Returning from
London to Paris, he went directly to Dr. Franklin, at Passy,
where he met De Kalb. He had already ordered a vessel fitted
out, and left for Bordeaux toward the end of February, 1777,
to embark, but the ship was not ready. The King having been
mformed of his proposed departure, took means to prevent It;
and before he could sail he was overtaken by two officers, who
ordered his return, on the ground that his conduct was in viola-
tion of his oath of allegiance, and would ruin him and his family.
He obeyed the order of the King and returned to Paris. He
68 MARQUIS Dt LAIfAYETTE
plead in vain with his sovereign to be allowed to sail for America,
but his assent could not be obtained. In this difficulty he had
one dear friend who sympathized v/ith his aspirations, and urged
him to persevere, his young wife. He now resolved to risk the
displeasure of his King. He made his way stealthily to the
coast, found his vessel ready, and . sailed with De Kalb and
eleven other French, German, and Polish officers who wished
to take service in the Continental army. Although the French
government secretly favored the plans of Lafayette, it dispatch-
ed vessels to overtake him ; but he eluded them, and arrived
safely at Georgetown, South Carolina, where he landed the 19th
of April, 1777. Thence, himself and companions journeyed,
on horseback to Philadelphia.
Lafayette found the Continental "Congress in session, and
without delay he placed his letters and papers in the hands of
the chairman of the committee on Foreign Affairs. They were
handed back to him the next day, with the remark that so many
foreigners had offered themselves for employment that Con-
gress was embarrassed, and there was very little hope of his
success. Again the true character of Lafayette shone out in
all its brilliancy. He was not cast down at this rebuff; he had
left friends, country and family to asrist the Colonies in their
struggle for constitutional liberty, and he would allow no ordi-
nary obstacle to prevent it. Feeling certain that his papers
had not been read, he addressed a note to the President of
Congress, in which he asked permission to serve the cause of
America upon two conditions : That he should act as a volun-
teer, and without pay. This conduct, so different from other
foreigners, and which exhibited such disinterested patriotism,
together with his high rank and wealth, decided the course of
Congress, and he was now offered the commission of JMajor
General in the Continental army. He was not yet twenty
years old. Lafayette met Washington in Philadelphia, on this
occasion, at a public entertainment, when he, who afterward
became "First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of
his countrymen" was so much pleased with the patriotic young
Frenchman that he invited him to become a member of his
military family, which the latter accepted with delight. Then
and there began a friendship between these two champions of
MARQUIS DL; LAFAYItTTE 69
liberty, which was Hfelong. Lafayette looked up to, and
revered Washington as a father, while the commander-in-chief
returned his attachment with the affection of a parent. The
services of Lafayette were too extended to occupy your atten-
tion with any detailed statement of them. They are known to
every reader of American history. He first fought at German-
town; shed his blood at Brandywine; shared the sufferings of
the tattered Continental army at Valley Forge through the
hard winter of 1777-78; received the approbation of Washing-
ton for his gallantry at Monmouth where he came face to face
with Sir Henry Clinton, whom he had met in London in the
winter of 1777. In the campaign preceding YorktOvvn, La-
fayette rendered very important services, and showed himself
a match for Cornwallis in strategy. Throughout the war he
enjoyed the utmost confidence of Washington, who considered
him one of his most meritorious officers. Lafayette went to
France after the fall of Yorktown, and by his own exertion was
raising an army of allies for the Americans, when he received
news of peace. He returned to the United States in 1784 and
again in 1824 as the guest of the Republic. Down to the time
of his death, in 1834, General Lafayette was often a con-
spicuous actor in the great scenes of his country's history, and
at one time he held its destiny in his hand. He could have
been its sovereign, but his republican convictions would not al-
low him to cover his brows with a crown.
Lafayette joined the Continental army while it lay in Bucks
county. When the British sailed to the south from New York,
in the summer of 1777 Washington put his army in march for
the Delaware, the bulk of it crossing where New Hope now
stands and at Howell's ferry, four miles above, the 29th and
30th day of July, and began their march down the York road
the morning of the 31st. It encamped on the Neshaminy hills,
a mile above Hartsville, for thirteen days, waiting for the enemy
to develop his supposed attack upon Philadelphia. Here La-
fayette reported for duty. We can picture him riding up the
York road, on a hot August afternoon to report to Washing-
ton. The latter was quartered in the stone house on the right-
hand side of the road, a short distance above the bridge over
the Neshaminy, and the whipping-post was erected on the
70 MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE
Opposite side. The house is still standing and belongs to the
Bothwell family of Warwick township. The army marched
hence on the 23d of August and the next day crossed the
Schuylkill. The disastrous battle of Brandywine was fought
the nth of September, where Lafayette was severely wounded
in the leg. Near him, at the time was a young soldier from
Kolebury, this county, who assisted to carry him to a place of
safety. Thence he was taken to Chester, the evening after the
battle and had his wound dressed. The next morning the 12th,
he was conveyed in a barge to Philadelphia. His destination,
Bethlehem, was probably decided upon there by the medical
authorities of the army.
From Philadelphia, Lafayette was taken up the river to
Bristol, stopping at the house of Simon Betz, where he was
waited upon by his niece, afterward Mrs. Charles Bessonett.
How long he staid there we are not informed, but not more
than a day or two; one account says only over night. The ob-
ject in sending him to Bethlehem was that he might be removed
from the scene of military operations, and to a safe distance
from the enemy, and where he could receive proper medical
treatment and the kind attentions of the Moravian sisters,
whose skill as nurses was well known. At Bristol, Lafayette
was fortunate to meet Henry Laurens, a member of Congress
from South Carolina, then on his way to New York to meet
that body, who volunteered to convey him in his carriage. They
probably set out from Bristol on the 18th or 19th, as they ar-
rived at Bethlehem on the 21st, as the distance can be made
in three days, by easy stages. The road they traveled is
reasonably well known. Taking the Durham road, they stopped
the 'first night at Four Lanes End, now Langhorne, quarter-
ing in the Richardson mansion, still standing; and the table up-
on which Lafayette is reputed to have been placed while his
wound was dressed, was exhibited at the late Bi-Centennial. From
tBat place they continued up the Durham road to Newtown.
Now they had two roads open to them; to follow the Durham
road until it was necessary to strike across to the old Bethlehem
road, or take the Swamp road until it intersected with the same.
It is impossible to tell which of these they traveled above
Newtown; but this we do know, that they struck the old
MARQUIS Dt LAFAYETTE 71
Bethlehem road at some convenient point, which they followed
until tliey reached their destination. All the stopping places
have not come down to us. They may have halted at the house
where we are assembled, which was opened as an inn in 1773,
as it was on their direct road. Mention is made of their stop-
ping at Stoffel Wagner's tavern, a mile below Hellertown, and
built in 1752. There was a public inn in Lower Saucon, licensed
in 1744, kept by a man of that name, and no doubt these two
inns stood upon the same spot. Possibly they staid over night
at Wagner's. Thence they had a drive of less than six miles
into Bethlehem, and arrived there in the evening. The Mar-
quis was quartered at the house lately owned by Ambrose
Ranch, on Main street, a short distance west of the Sun Inn,
which was torn down in 1872. He staid there four weeks.
In the Moravian diary, kept at Bethlehem, is the following
entry under date of September 21st: "In the evening General
Woodford, Colonel Armstrong and the young Marquis de La-
fayette, with a suite of Frenchmen, also arrived. The last
named gentleman had been disabled by a wound received at
the battle of Brandywine, and was come for medical treatment."
As the diary states that Henry Laurens was of the party which
arrived at Bethlehem the 21st of September, there is every
reason to believe that Lafayette accompanied him, and rode
in his carriage, as is stated by good authority. In the party
which arrived on that day were several delegates to Congress
on their way to York, to which place that body had adjourned
when the British threatened Philadelphia. In the Moravian
diary of October i8th, we find the following entry: "The
French Marquis de Lafayette left us to-day. We found him a
very pleasant and intelligent young man. He occupied much
of his time in reading ; and among other matter, read an English
translation of the Greenland Mission. With the accounts given
by the missionaries, he expressed himself highly gratified,
pronouncing some of their descriptions, pompeux, and their
narrative of facts simple and truthful. Before bidding adieu,
he desired to be shown through the "Sisters' House" along
with his adjutants, a request which we were pleased to grant.
His admiration was unbounded." While Lafayette was at
Bethlehem, he was visited by Count Pulaski. We know of
72 MARQUIS DE LAFAYE;TTE
his writing but one letter to his wife while with the Moravians,
which is dated October ist. In it he says: "I am, at present,
in the solitude of Bethlehem which the Abbe Raynal has de-
scribed so minutely. This establishment is a very interesting
one; the fraternity lead an agreeable, and very tranquil life;
we will talk over all this on my return; am I intending to
weary those I love, yourself, of course, in the first place, by the
relation of my adventure, for you know that I was always a
great prattler?" The Marquis rejoined Washington's army
while it lay on the east bank of the Schuylkill, watching the
British who occupied Philadelphia. The kindness of Laurens
to Lafayette was not forgotten by his immediate family. In
after years, when he fell into British hands, and was confined in
the Tower of London, the Marchioness made a strong appeal
in his behalf to the Count de Vergennes, soliciting the in-
fluence of the French court in procuring his release.
We next find Lafayette in our county in the summer of
1778. Having spent the dreary winter with the army at Val-
ley Forge, he took the field with it in June. General Lee, with
the advance, marched on the i6th, via Doylestown for the
Delaware, crossing at New Hope on the night of the 20th ; and
Washington encamped the same night at Doylestown with the
main body. The weather was very stormy, and the army re-
mained there until the afternoon of the 21st. Washington
pitched his tent near the dwelling of Jonathan Fell, now the
farm-house of John G. Mann, on the New Hope pike, and La-
fayette quartered at the house of Thomas Jones, west of
Doylestown. Mrs. Jones, wishing to do the polite thing by
the gallant young Frenchman, gave him her best bed to sleep
in. Feeling a little proud of the excellent lodging she had
furnished her distinguished guest, and certain that he had
"slept the sleep of the just," she said to him, when he came down
stairs the next morning ; "General how did you sleep ;" to
which he replied: "Very well madame, but your bed was a
little too short." As this little incident was received from a
member of the family, there can be no question of its truthful-
ness. From Doylestown the army marched to meet the British
upon the field of Monmouth, where Lafayette again distinguish-
ed himself.
MARQUIS DE IvAI?AYE:TTe: 73
There is now a long interval before Lafayette is again seen
in our county — not until his visit in 1824. That year he ac-
cepted an invitation to visit the United States as the guest of
the nation. He landed in New York August the i6th, and his
journey through the country was a continued ovation. He
passed through Bucks county on his way to the seat of govern-
ment — and our people vied with each other in doing him honor.
Meetings were held at several points. The volunteer militia
turned out to receive, and escort him. The officers of Col. John
Davis's fine regiment of volunteers, and a number of militia
officers and citizens met at Ann Hinkle's tavern, Newtown, and re-
solved to have a general turnout of the military to welcome
him when he passed through the county. The regiment of
Colonel Davis was to receive Lafayette at the west end of
Trenton bridge as he came into Bucks, while the Centre Union
batallion, commanded by Major Stephen Brock, was to go to
Frankford, and there join the escort to Philadelphia. Lafayette
reached Trenton Saturday afternoon, September 25th, and
staid there over Sunday. That afternoon the Governor of Pennsyl-
vania passed through Bristol on his way to Morrisville, to re-
ceive the distinguished stranger. On â– Monday morning a great
concourse of people assembled at Morrisville, together with
Colonel Davis's regiment, mounted six hundred strong, and
several independent companies to welcome Lafayette to Penn-
sylvania and escort him toward Philadelphia. Here a diffi-
culty, which had not been foreseen, presented itself. Phila-
delphia, not knowing that Bucks had made arrangements to re-
ceive Lafayette and escort him through the county, had sent
up a cavalry force for his service. Both claimed the right to
receive him as he entered the State ; but it was conceded to
the troops of Bucks, and in the escort through the county, the
commanding officers of the two bodies of troops rode side
by side. As the procession entered Bristol, the honored guest
Avas received by the inhabitants and their families, drawn up
on the turnpike, and he passed under a triumphal arch erected
on the bridge. Here he dined and was introduced to many per-
sons, including Mrs. Bessonett, his nurse forty-seven years hd-
fore. When Colonel Davis was presented, he said to Lafayette
that his father, a soldier of the Pennsylvania line was one of
74 MARQUIS DE IvM'AYETTE
the two who carried him to a place of safety when wounded
at the battle of Brandywine. The general replied that he re-
membered the circumstance well ; that the two men handled
him as if he were a child; and, seizing Colonel Davis in his
arms, gave him a French hug. After dinner the procession
resumed its march with the same order to the Philadelphia line,
when Lafayette was formally deUvered to the committee from
the city. The Bucks county escort now fell to the rear, but
many of them continued on to the city, and took part in the
festivities which followed.
Lafayette had a singularly eventful life, full of vicissitudes ;
and his conduct was so correct that it secured to him a very
unusual measure of public respect. No other citizen of a
foreign country has ever had such strong hold on the affections
of the American people; and he possessed the popular influence
and respect of his own countrymen to a greater degree, and
for a longer time, than any statesman of France. While not
a great soldier, he had many of the qualities of one and won
distinction on the field. He was brave, almost to rashness, and
never shrank from danger and responsibility. He never failed
to protect the defenseless, or save life when the opportunity of-
fered; and amid the most disturbed conditions of French
Society, he was always found on the side of law and order.
His was an admirable character, and history presents few
names which have stronger hold upon humanity.
In some respects the character of Lafayette resembled that
of William Penn. Both had the same enthusiastic love of
liberty ; both gave up the allurements of a court, the advan-
tages of rank, wealth, and powerful friends to carry out their
convictions ; both studied the interests of humanity and pro-
tected them with wonderful pertinacity; one assisted to lay the
foundations of a great Commonwealth in the New World, and
the other shed his blood to maintain its liberties. Both live in
history, and from their lives many a one will find examples
for noble deeds.
Our place of meeting has claims to be called an historic spot,
This Revolutionary homestead is the site of one of the earliest
public inns in this section of the county. It was kept as an inn
when Lafayette passed up this road to Bethlehem, in 1777, and
MARQUIS DE: LAFAYUTTE 75
there is hardly a doubt that he stopped at it. The evidence
that he stopped here on his return, a month later is too conclu-
sive to be doubted. The tract this village stands upon was
patented by Michael Ditthart, in 1757, the year Lafayette was
born, who conveyed it to EHas Beidleman in 1773, and he to
Joseph Savitz before the year was out. The latter took out
license some time in '73. While we do not know the device
emblazoned on the original sign, it was the coat-of-arms of
the State for several years. The Savitzes were a hotel-keeping
family ; George, the son of Joseph, established what is now the
Allen house at Allentown, which was, for many years called
"Savitz's hotel." The inn on this spot, passed in succession,
into the possession of Isaac Busson in 1785; Jacob Ludwick in
1786; Henry Eckel, an immigrant from Alsace who settled
in Bedminster, in 1790, who kept the tavern until 1813, and
cut down the old sign meanwhile, when he sold it to Jacob Ott,
the grandfather of Lewis Ott, the present owner. Henry
Eckel and John Ott, ancestors of Louis Ott, fought at Trenton
in Captain Stout's company, the former as first, and the latter
as second lieutenant. The garden attached to this building
was the site of the first Lutheran-Reformed church in this part of
the county, and the old burying ground is within sight. A tomb-
stone, bearing date, 1740, is walled in the bridge. It was on
this corner that the Rev. Mr. Oyerman, a participant in Fries'
rebellion in 1798 was interrogated by old Mrs. Henry Eckel
as he was riding the borrowed gray horse of old Grandfather
Joseph Frye to a foam and making good time to a place of
safety: "Where to-day in such great haste, Mr. Oyerman?"
"Oh, I've been down to Flatlands," now Richland, "to visit a
sick lady who is about dying and I've forgotten my. prayer
book."
This old inn was a quaint hostelry and some of the old-time
fixtures survive. Among these is a verse of German poetry
with date, 1773, painted on a board which was nailed up with-
in the bar ; a Revolutionary drum with the European maker's
name upon it; and a basket made by the neighboring Indians
106 years ago. The inn had importance from its situation on
the old Bethlehem road, the first highway from Philadelphia
to the Lehigh, and opened to Bethlehem in 1745. The first
76 MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE)
'"Stage wagon," as public conveyances were then called, started
from Bethlehem for Philadelphia, September 10, 1763. The
proprietor was George Klein, and John Hoppel handled the
reins at £40 per annum. It made one trip a week; carried
passengers and goods; fare ten shillings; and left Bethlehem
on Tuesday and Philadelphia on Thursday. The late Mr.
Reichel says this was one of the "swift and sure" hnes of
coaches "which tortured mortal flesh until their utter extinc-
tion by steam." This "stage wagon" sunk £82, 12s. 7d. for the
proprietor the first year. The line was continued with many
changes of proprietors and alterations in style of coaches, until
the North Pennsylvania railroad was opened. Of course the
"stage wagon" of ye olden time stopped at this inn to let off,
and take on passengers, if any there were who dared trust them-
selves to the perils of the journey. In the mind's eye we can
see these thirsty travelers step up to the modest bar of Elias
Beidleman and his successors; drink their mug of Brunswick
mumm; reseat themselves in the liver-wrenching "stage
wagon," and hie away for the infant metropolis on the lower
Delaware. At that time this section did not present the charm-
ing scenery of to-day. It was sparsely settled ; life, with the
immigrant was still a struggle; and modern comforts and con-
veniences had not entered into the dreams of the settler. "Ye
olden time" has passed away, but it has left behind an aroma
from which is drawn the inspiration of history.
The Neshaminy Church.
BY R^v. D. K. turne;r_, hartsvilli;, pa.
(Hartsville Meeting, April 24, 18S3).
The history of an ancient church is often the history of the
community in which it is located. It is intimately connected
with the prosperity or adversity of the people, and shares in the
varied fortunes with which they are visited. In many instances,
in the early settlement of the country, those who came into a
particular locality were of the same religious persuasion, and
soon after their arrival associated themselves together for
the establishment and maintenance of the worship of the Su-
preme Being according to their own views. They prized the
institutions of religion and education, and the church and the
school-house rose together in the wilderness almost before they
had made their own homes comfortable. Only a short time
elapsed after the first settlers came into the neighborhood of Ne-
shaminy, before the Presbyterian church was organized. So far
as is known there are no sessional-records of the Neshaminy
church, previous to 1735, and no records of the board of trus-
tees, or of baptisms, births and marriages previous to 1788. A
small blank-book, bound in parchment, has receipts for salary
by pastors, beginning with 1743, and some dates of their ordina-
tion and installation.
Rev. Robert B. Belville did not share in the opinion of many
others that the church was first represented in Presbytery in 17 10
as the records in his own hand, in the book to which I have re-
ferred, will show; he says it "Is all that can be procured with
certainty." His words on this point are the following : "The con-
gregation of Neshaminy was composed of immigrants from Ire-
land, and was collected and organized by Rev. William Tennent,
Sr., the founder and principal of Log College. The first church-
building was erected in the year 1727." That this remark in re-
spect to the erection of the church-building in 1727 is true, finds
confirmation from the fact that a square stone is now in the wall in
front of the graveyard with the date 1727 cut upon it, and the
initials "W. M." and "W. G." This stone was in the old church
78 NESHAMINY CHURCH
situated in the graveyard, and when the building was taken
down, it was used with other material for the wall enclosing the
cemetery. When the cemetery wall was removed, in 1852, this
stone was put as a relic of antiquity, in the new wall. There
is no evidence that any house of worship was erected in that
neighborhood previous to 1727.
Rev. William Tennent, Sr., came from Ireland in the year
17 16. He had received a thorough classical education in his
native country, and entered the ministry of the Episcopal church,
being for some years the chaplain of a nobleman. Not long
after arriving he severed his connection with the established
church of Ireland, and united with the Presbyterian Synod in
T718. Some have thought that he was pastor at Bensalem, and
5ome individuals point out the identical spot where he taught the
Log College, and the hole in the ground where the cellar of his
house was located ; by the records of the church in Bedford, N.
Y. it appears that he was pastor in that place from 17 19 to 1726,
almost all the period from the time he joined the Synod till he
came to Neshaminy. He was present at the meetings of the
Synod, which were held in Philadelphia, but once during that
time. If he was at Bensalem, why was he absent from Synod
every year but one in seven years, when that place is within
twenty miles of the city, in which its sessions were uniformly
held? In 17 19 a collection was made in Glasgow and Ayr in
Scotland for the missionary fund of America. Part or all of
this donation was expected to be in goods, and it was not known
whether the goods would arrive in New York or Philadelphia,
whereupon Synod appointed a committee of three clergymen
near New York, one of whom was Mr. Tennent, to receive and
sell the goods, if they came to New York; and three other clergy-
men near Philadelphia, to do the same thing if they came to
Philadelphia. Why should Mr. Tennent be appointed on a New
York committee, unless he were near New York? He was never
pastor at Bensalem, though he may have preached there. In
1 72 1 he was at the Synod in Philadelphia, and it is possible he
may have supplied the Bensalem pulpit when he was on his way
to or from that meeting. In 1726 he came to Neshaminy, and
the year after in all probability the original meeting-house was
reared. Rev. Paulus Van Vleck, who, it has been supposed.
NESHAMINY CHURCH 79
was the minister of our Neshaminy church for a time in 1710
and 171 1, was really with the Reformed Dutch Neshaminy
church in what is now the village of Feasterville, and at the
same time at Bensalem, the two churches being both then in the
same ecclesiastical denomination, and under the same ministe-
rial charge. Bensalem was afterward taken within the Presby-
terian fold. Mr. Van Vleck applied in 1710 to the Presbytery
of Philadelphia to be received as a member, and when persons
in subsequent years noticed on the records of the Presbytery,
•that he was from the Neshaminy church, they took it for granted
that it referred to the Warwick church, whereas it was the
Southampton church, not Warwick, which was meant, which
bore the same name. The same mistake in the name, acting con-
verserly may have located Mr. Tennent at Bensalem. We have no
information in respect to any pastor of the church previous to
Mr. Tennent, and it is highly probable that he gathered or
organized the congregation, or that he came here very soon after
it was organized. The original members were of Scotch descent,
from the north of Ireland. But the first owners of the land in
this vicinity, who obtained their titles from William Penn, were
English and most of them residents of London. Deeds now in
possession of J. Lewis Widdifield, R. H. Darrah, John J.
Spencer, Cornelius Carrell, and others extending back to 1703
or 1704, refer to patents for land obtained from Penn in
1684, and mention persons with English names and some in Lon-
don as the original patentees. None of these however were
actual settlers, the latter were nearly all from Ireland and of
the Presbyterian faith. They invited Mr. Tennent to come
among them and preach the gospel. That there was no
church organization when he arrived, finds additional support in
the fact, that he was never installed as pastor.
Mr. Tennent was in limited circumstances pecuniarily, as we
learn in the minutes of the Synod that he borrowed money from
the fund raised to support feeble churches, and the widows and
orphans of deceased ministers, and that in 1728 the interest due
on this borrowed money was remitted to him. The Synod had
such confidence in him that they released a mortgage they held
for it on some other person, and took Mr. Tennent's own bond
for the payment of it. Partly to educate his younger sons he
8o NESHAMINY CHURCH
established a school for the training of young men, with particu-
lar reference to the gospel ministry. He had four sons, Gilbert,
William, John and Charles, all of whom were instructed at Ne-
shaminy except Gilbert, the oldest, who was licensed to preach in
1726. He assisted his father for a time at Log College, as the in-
stitution was called from the fact that its exercises were held in a
log school-house, about 18 by 20 feet, which stood on the prop-
erty now occupied by Mr. Warner, about a mile below Harts-
ville. Gilbert was invited to assume charge of the church at
New Brunswick, N. J., where he remained sixteen years. In
1743 he was elected pastor of the Second church, Philadelphia,
and continued there until his death, in 1764. He was an able,
earnest and powerful preacher, and rose to a high rank among
the clergymen of the Presbyterian church.
William Tennent, Jr., was about twenty-one years of age when
the family reached this neighborhood. For a year or two he
assisted at the "College," and then repaired to his brother Gil-
bert's home at New Brunswick, to perfect himself more fully in
theology. It was there that he passed through the trance, of
which you have all often doubtless heard, when he supposed he
was taken to Heaven. From this state of suspended animation
he was with difficulty restored, all his friends believing him to
be dead except a young physician, who attended him and who
succeeded in recalling the vital spark at the. very juncture when
he was about to be conveyed to the grave. He was ever after
disinclined to speak of his experience during those days of un-
consciousness, but once when urged to give an account of what
he saw in the spirit world, he stated that he seemed to himself
to be transported to the presence of God in the mansions of light,
and for a brief season to have enjoyed the ineffable bliss of
that glorious state, and that it was with great reluctance he
complied with the command to return to earth. This event
produced such an effect upon his mind that he lost all the knowl-
edge he had acquired m his childhood and youth, and was
obliged to learn again how to read English and Latin. Some
months later however, his memory recovered its power, and his
forgotten knowledge gradually returned to him. When his
health was sufficiently restored he was examined and licensed
by the Presbytery of New Bnuiswick, and ordained as pastor
NESHAMINY CHURCH 8l
of the church of Freehold, N. J., where his younger brother,
John, had been pastor before him. He continued in this charge,
greatly beloved and useful at honie and in other congregations
ill. which he frequently preached, till his death in 1777, a period
of nearly forty-four years. His decease occurred during the
American Revolution; he was an earnest patriot, and one of
the last expressions that came from his lips was a desire that
his country might come forth from that ardous struggle with
Great Britain free and independent.
The third son of Mr. Tennent, Sr., John, as has already been
mentioned, was minister at Freehold, before his older brother,
William. But his pastorate was only about a year and a half,
when he died of consumption, leaving a reputation for talents,
eloquence and piety, which, if life had been spared, would have
raised him to a high position in the church.
The fourth son, Charles, entered the same profession, and
was stationed successively in two churches in Delaware and
Maryland, being called away by death in 1770, when he was
about 60 years of age. These sons of old Mr. Tennent were
all connected with Log College, either as pupils or instructors,
and probably were all members of Neshaminy church, which
has the honor of sending forth into the world some of the most
able and successful ministers that honored the early history of
our beloved land. Other eminent men were educated at this
school, as Rev. John Blair, and Samuel Blair, Samuel Finley,
William Robinson and John Rowland, who shone as bright
lights in the church and the state during the last century. But
a particular account of them does not fall within the range of
this paper.
The location of Log College during the first nine years of
Mr. Tennent's residence at Neshaminy, from 1726 to 1735, is
shadowed by a cloud of uncertainty. In the latter year, 1735,
he bought the farm on which Mr. Cornelius Carrell now lives,
called 100 acres, of John White, of Philadelphia, for £140,
which at $5 a pound, was $700. In the deed from White, Mr.
Tennent is spoken of as a resident "of Northampton," and
therefore did not own nor rent what is called the "Log College
lot" previous to 1735. In 1739 the Presbytery appointed Rev.
Francis McHenry as Mr. Tennent's assistant on account of his
%2 NESHAMINY CHURCH
feeble health, and in 1742 Mr. Tennent resigned his charge
through growing infirmities. This was seven years after he
came to reside on the Log College grounds. In an old deed now
in possession of Mr. Cornelius Carrell, it is said that Mr. Ten-
nent's will was made Feb. 16, 1745, and that he died shortly
afterwards. The slab over his grave stating that he died in 1746
is therefore probably an error. Rev. Gilbert Tennent was
named as executor of the real estate, and Mrs. Catharine Ten-
nent as executrix of the personal property. Gilbert Tennent
in February, 1746, conveyed the farm for £361 to John Bald-
win. Of course Mr. Tennent could not have died after the
executor of the will had disposed of the property by a deed,
in which he affirms that he had died before. In 1746, the col-
lege of New Jersey was established first at Elizabethtown ; re-
moved in 1748 to Newark and in 1756 again removed to Prince-
ton, where it has remained a blessing to Christianity and sound
learning till the present time. Log College was the germ of
Princeton College. The need of an institution such as Log
College was felt, and when its doors were closed by the
advanced age and death of its founder, but a short time elapsed
before the friends of education took measures for the permanent
establishment of an mstitution in which young men could obtain
a liberal education without incurring the expense of crossing
the ocean.
As already stated Mr. Tennent was assisted during the last
years of his ministry by Rev. Francis McHenry. One part of
the field was the church at Deep Run, six miles northwest of
Doylestown, and there the venerable man statedly preached till
declining years prevented. Mr. McHenry relieved his senior
colleague from this duty, and the upper-congregation as it was
sometimes called, desired to have him devote his whole time
to them, but by advice of Presbytery he continued to labor part
of the time at Neshaminy. In 1741 a division occurred in the
JSynod of Philadelphia between the "Old Lights" and the "New
Lights" by reason of differences, not in doctrine, but in measures
proper to be used for the promotion of religion. About the
same time a division seems to have taken place in the church
at Neshaminy. The part that favored the "new measures,"
which were approved also by Mr. Tennent, chose Rev. Charles
NESHAMINY CHURCH 83
Beatty, a pupil of Log College, as their pastor, and built a
house of worship where the present church in Warwick stands ;
and the other party, favoring the "old measures," remained in
the old house which stood in the present graveyard, under the
administrations of Mr. McHenry, Vv'ho also preached at Deep
Run until 1757, when he departed this life. As a union of the
New Light Synod, of New York, and the Old Light Synod, of
Philadelphia, occurred in the following year, it is probable that
services were given up in the old church, and the two parts of
the congregation were after a time reunited. But the old edific.e
still remained standing till 1792, when it was taken down and
the material used in the construction of a wall around the
graveyard. Mr. McHenry was an able and learned man, and
had a warm place in the affections of his congreagtions.
Upon Mr. Tennent's resignation, in 1742, Rev. Charles
Beatty was chosen as his successor. He had been a pupil of
Log College. One day a young man with a peddler's pack
came to the door of that institution and knocked. Mr. Ten-
nent upon opening it was addressed by the young stranger in
correct Latin. This excited his surprise, and engaging in con-
versation with him discovered that he possessed talents and
seemed imbued with piety and energy. He then said to him,
"Go sell the contents of your pack, and return and study with
me." This opened the way for the continuance of the studies
Beatty had begun in Ireland. In due time he finished his prep-
aration, and was ordained pastor at Neshaminy, December i,
1743, and as noted in the old receipt book I have spoken of,
"he is to have for a yearly support in his ministry amongst us
the sum of sixty pounds." If that was in Pennsylvania cur-
rency, seven shilling and six pence to the dollar, it would be
but $160. But if it was reckoned by sterling money it would
be nearly $300. Mr. Beatty resided during a considerable part
of his life on the farm which is now owned by John M. Darrah
and occupied by Hiram Carr, but towards the last part of his
life he purchased 57 acres of land at the cross roads, (now
Hartsville) and built a substantial stone house, which is now
the home of Miss Marietta Long.
The same year in which Mr. Beatty began his labors at Ne-
shaminy, 1743, but before he was ordained, his people, who
84 NESHAMINY CHURCH
sympathized with the "New Lights," purchased a lot of ground,
containing "two acres and twelve square perches," of Thomas
Howell, who deeded it July i, and 2, 1743, to James Craven,
John Grey, Alexander Jemyson, Robert Walker, John McCul-
loch, George Hare, Henry Jemyson, Jr., and John Scott, trus-
tees for the congregation. It was provided in the deed, that
no minister should ever be allowed to preach in the proposed
edifice without the consent of the communicant members of the
congregation, and that no person should hold the office of
trustee who was not in sympathy with the doctrines of the
Westminster Confession of Faith and with the work of grace
that had recently appeared in "this land, New England and
Scotland in calling sinners to repentance." It was designed and
expressly provided that the pastors should be Presbyterians, and
that they should cordially approve of the views of the "New
Lights."
Mr. Beatty was often employed by the Synod of the Presby-
terian church to go among the congregations of this country
and Great Britain and solicit contributions in aid of the fund
for aged ministers and the destitute families of deceased minis-
ters and for ' missionary purposes. Between 1760 and 1762,
and again between 1767 and 1769, he visited Great Britain,
being absent from home on each visit about two years. The
first time his main object was to secure donations to the fund
of the Synod and to interest the people of the mother country
in the situation and wants of the Presbyterian congregations
in the infant colonies. He witnessed the coronation of George
III, was presented to the king, and received from him a hand-
some donation to the fund. His second voyage across the Atlantic
was caused partly by the state of his wife's health who was suf-
fering from cancer. She was taken to Edinburg, Scotland, where
she died, March 22, 1768. Mr. Beatty returned to America in
1769. He was appointed in 1763 with Rev. John Brainard to
visit the frontier settlements, and endeavor to open the way for
preaching the word of God, but they were prevented from
going at that time. Three years later, however, the Synod
renewed the appointment of Mr. Beatty, and associated with
him Rev. George Duffield, of Carlisle, to go to the western
part of Pennsylvania, among the Indian tribes, inquire into their
NESHAMINY CHURCH 85
moral condition and induce them to welcome Christian teachers-
Accompanied by Joseph Peepy, an Indian interpreter, they
proceeded to Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg, and 130 miles beyond, into
what is now the state of Ohio, They preached at Fort Pitt to the
soldiers and to the people of the town, and visited the Dela-
ware Indians, who gave them a friendly reception. At the end
of six weeks, after suffering many hardships, they returned
home, and made their report to the Synod the following year.
It was hoped that this first step might be speedily followed up,
and that preachers might be sent in a short time to labor among
the savages ; but the Revolutionary war soon occupied the
minds of the people and many years passed before anything
effectual was undertaken.
In 1756 England was engaged in war with France, which in-
volved the colonies on this continent. The Indians in the
western part of New York and of this state were allies of the
French and often attacked the English settlements. For their
defence a corps of 560 men was enlisted in Pennsylvania and
placed under the command of Benjamin Franklin, and Mr.
Beatty was appointed chaplain. He marched with the troops
in January and was absent some weeks in the winter. While
with Franklin in the interior of the state an amusing incident
occurred, which is thus related by the colonel himself :
"We had for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian minister,
Mr. Beatty, who complained to me that the men did not gen-
erally attend his prayers and exhortations. When they enlisted
they were promised, besides pay and provisions, a gill of rum
a day, which was punctually served out to them, half in the
morning and half in the evening, and I observed they were
punctual in attending to receive it, upon which I said to Mr.
Beatty : 'It is perhaps below the dignity of your profession to
act as the steward of the rum, but if you were to distribute it
out, only just after prayers, you would have them all about you.'
He liked the thought, undertook the task, and with the help
of a few hands to measure out the liquor executed it to satis-
faction, and never were prayers more generally and more-
punctually attended. So that I think this method preferable to
the punishment inflicted by some military laws for non-at-
tendance on divine service."
86 NESHAMINY CHURCH
Having returned home he was engaged in his work as pastor
when another alarm by Indians caused a call for more troops,
and a recruiting officer spent some days at Neshaminy in the
effort to enlist soldiers, but with indifferent success. On the
following Sabbath Mr. Beatty made an appeal to the men before
him in the church to take up ai-ms for the protection of the
poor people in danger on the frontier, and told them that he
intended to enlist as chaplain and that he should be glad to have
as many of his friends as possible go with him. In part at
least as the result of his appeal a hundred men were enrolled
in the vicinity during the subsequent week. Mr. Beatty was
commissioned as chaplain by the governor of the State and set
out from home May 4th to meet the regiment at Harris' Ferry,
now Harrisburg. The elders of the church accompanied him
as far as the Schuylkill. He remained with the regiment near
the Susquehanna until August, when the condition of affairs
on the border permitted his return home. Two years later, in
1758, he was chaplain of the ist battalion of Pennsylvania
troops, which went to Pittsburg, and was no doubt part of the
army of 900 men under Gen. Forbes, which took Fort Du
Quesne from the French, when its name was changed to Fort
Pitt. There he preached in the last part of November before
the whole army, after their triumphant entrance into the
enemies' fortifications, the first thanksgiving discourse and
probably the first protestant sermon ever preached in the val-
ley of the Mississippi. The following year he declined an in-
vitation to become a chaplain in the army. Mr. Beatty always
evinced a warm interest in the welfare of Princeton College, of
which he was a trustee nine years. In 1772 he was sent as a
commissioner to the Island of Barbadoes, in the West Indies,
where were many English residents of wealth, who it was sup-
posed might be induced to contribute pecuniary aid and per-
haps send their sons to the institution for training. The presi-
dent. Dr. John Witherspoon, was first requested to take upon
himself this important duty; but as he could not leave, his son,
James Witherspoon, was appointed for the service, and Mr.
Beatty was selected to accompany him. Governor Penn, of
this state, and Governor Franklin, of New Jersey, each gave
him a passport or letter of commendation. He was well re-
NESHAMINY CHURCH 87
ceived by the governor and citizens of the Island, but before
the object of his visit was fully accomplished he died of yel-
low-fever on that distant island, August 13, 1772, and was com-
mitted to the grave among strangers.
Mr. Beatty married the daughter of John Reading, of Ani-
well, N. J., who was sometimes called Governor Reading, from
the fact that he was vice-president of his Majesty's council for
the province of New Jersey, and at the death of Governor
Hamilton the administration of provincial affairs rested upon
him till the arrival of another governor from England. Mr.
and Mrs. Beatty had eleven children, two of whom died very
young. Four of his sons were at one time officers in the
Revolutionary army, one of whom, John, was commissary gen-
eral of prisoners with the rank of colonel. Previous to the
war he practiced medicine for a time at Hartsville, but subse-
quently removed to Trenton, N. J. He was speaker of the
house of representatives of that state, and filled various other
important offices. He was president of the Trenton Dela-
ware Bridge Company, and projected the first bridge over the
river at that place, which still stands firm after the lapse of
seventy-five years. Another son, Charles Clinton, was killed,
when he was captain in the Revolutionary army, by the acci-
dental discharge of a rifle. Another son, Reading was a phy-
sician at Hartsville, ("Hart's Cross Roads," as it was then call-
ed), at a later period he removed to Erwinna, then to Fallsing-
ton, Bucks county, where he resided forty years. He was
the father of John Beatty, of Doylestown, of Mrs. Dr. Robert
Steele and Dr. C. C. Beatty, of Abington, and of the first wife
ol Rev. Henry R. Wilson, D. D., now secretary of Church
Erection of • the Presbyterian church. Another son was
Erkurios, which name his father coined from two Greek words
"E," from, and "Kurios," the Lord. The family names hav-
ing been given to the other sons, Mr. Beatty desired to express
his gratitude to God for this new object of paternal love. The
boy grew up to be a useful and distinguished man ; a brave
soldier and officer in the war of the Revolution, and in the
United States army after its close. In 1793 he resigned his
office of major in the regular army, and located in Princeton,
N. J., where he became colonel in the state militia, and held
«8 NESHAMINY CHURCH
divers offices of trust and honor. He was the father of Rev.
C. C. Beatty, late of Steubenville, Ohio. Another son was
named William Pitt, after the distinguished British statesman
who opposed the oppression of the colonies by the English gov-
ernment. Though Rev. Mr. Beatty died before all his children
had passed the period of youth, yet several of his sons reached
most honorable positions in the service of their country and
â– eminence in society. Few men have been ancestors of a posterity
whose record has been more commendable.
After his death the congregation was without a pastor about
two years. In May, 1774, a call was extended to Rev. Nathaniel
Irwin, a native of Fagg's Manor, Chester county. He was
educated at Princeton College, and was in that institution at
the same time with James Madison, President of the United
States ; Samuel Stanhope Smith, afterwards president of the
College of New Jersey; William Bradford, who became one of
the justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; Gen. John
Beatty, son of Rev. Charles Beatty, and others, who sub-
sequently occupied distinguished places at the bar and on the
bench, who joined with him in forming the American Whig
Society. He was licensed to preach in 1772, or early in 1773,
and was employed for a time in preaching in the central por-
tions of Pennsylvania and Virginia, which were then almost
wholly missionary fields. For this service the Synod of Phila-
delphia voted him the compensation of £g 9s. 3d., or about
$25.17. He was ordained and installed at Neshaminy, No-
vember 3, 1774. In a record of the church it is stated that he
is to have for yearly support the sum of £130 (in Pennsylvania
currency nearly $350), "until said congregation provide a
parsonage for Mr. Irwin, and, when it is provided, ye sum
of 100 pounds." The parsonage was never procured, and Mr.
Irwin purchased a farm on the road from Doylestown to Phila-
delphia, now owned by John McKinstry, where he resided till
1 810, when he built a large stone house on the west side of
the turnpike, somewhat more pretentious, which still stands
with much the same appearance it had when first erected ; he
was removed by death only two years after his new home was
completed.
In 1775 shortly after his ordination the Neshaminy church
NESHAMINY CHURCH 89
was improved and enlarged. The war of the Revohition was
just commencing, and Mr. Irwin often urged the men of his
congregation to advocate the federal cause and enlist in the
Continental army. By his activity and zeal in the cause of
liberty, he rendered himself an object of hostility to such as
sympathized with the oppressive enactments of Parliament; and
it is said that his life was sometimes in imminent danger. On
one occasion, tradition tells us, it was announced to the people
at the church that "the British were coming," and Mr. Irwin
had only time to give them a patriotic exhortation, commend
them to the Lord of Hosts, mount his horse and flee. The
Synod of Philadelphia and New York was heartily in favor
of resisting the Crown till the demands of the colonies were
complied with.
The honor of inventing the application of steam to naviga-
tion has generally been given to Robert Fulton, of New York, who
was the first to make steamboats completely successful. But the
priority in this invention really belongs to John Fitch, a native
of Connecticut. When young he served an apprenticeship
with a watch-maker and became skilled as a silversmith. He
came to Pennsylvania in 1777, when he was 34 years of age,
and resided in the lower part of Warminster, where he estab-
lished himself in his calling in a wheelwright-shop, belonging
to Jacobus Scout, or "Cobe Scout" as he was familiarly styled.
Fitch often attended public worship at Neshaminy church, and
had a high respect for Mr. Irwin whom he deemed superior
to the position in which Providence had placed him. As he
was returning from meeting one Sabbath morning, and was
walking with a companion along the "Street road," he became
abstracted and paid no attention to his friend's remarks. A
carriage had passed swiftly by them with a fleet horse, and he
afterwards said that the idea struck him with great force that
perhaps a carriage might be propelled along a common road
by some power other than that of animals. He began at once
to revolve contrivances in his mind by which a wheeled vehicle
might move by steam on an ordinary highway. This was his
aim at first, but finding unexpected obstacles he set about con-
structing a steamboat to sail on the water. In two or three
weeks he carried his plans to Rev. Mr. Irvin for consultation.
90 NESHAMINY CHURCH
Mr. Irwin showed him some diagrams representing a steam-
engine, and Fitch was surprised and chagrined that his idea
was not altogether new, as he had never seen nor heard of a
steam-engine before, yet he was strengthened in the behef that
if steam had been used for other purposes he might be suc-
cessful in his scheme. Daniel Longstreth, in an article pub-
lished in the Bucks County Intelligencer, says, "It was in this
log shop (Cobe Scout's) that Fitch made his model steam-boat
with paddle-wheels as they are now used. This model was
tried on a small stream on Joseph Longstreth's meadow, about
half a mile from Davisville, in Southampton township, and it
realized every expectation. The machinery was made of brass,
with the exception of the paddle-wheels which were made of
wood by Nathaniel B, Boileau, whilst on a visit during a vaca-
tion from Princeton College." After spending much time in
perfecting his engine he applied to Congress, which met at that
time in New York, for pecuniary assistance in building a ves-
sel. But no definite action was taken, except to appoint a
committee to consider it. He then applied to the legislatures
of Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but the
bills presented before these bodies failed. He visited General
Washington and Benjamin Franklin, and a second time pre-
sented to the Legislature of this State a petition, supported by
certificates from Rev. Irwin, Abraham Lukens, Seneca Lukens,
Daniel Longstreth, James Scout and John Folwell, of Bucks
county, "that as early as June 1785, he had told them he had
invented a machine for working a boat by steam, and had
shown them drafts of it." Decisive action by the Legislature
was postponed till another year. Meanwhile a small vessel was
built, which ran successfully upon the Delaware river. The
legislatures of New York and Delaware now gave him on his
petition the exclusive right for fourteen years to use steam in
the navigation of boats. A larger boat was built, which made
several successful trips from Philadelphia to Burlington and re-
turn, one trip was made with thirty passengers on board, against
wand and tide, to the great astonishment and admiration of
crowds of spectators. Fitch met with great difficulties in the
way of applying his invention, arising from want of funds,
the incredulity of legislators, and the jealous hostility of owners
NESHAMINY CHURCH 9^
of sail vessels. But he was the first one to discover how the power
of steam might be used in navigation, and more honor should
have been given to his memory by posterity than it has received.
He not only made the attempt, but he really succeeded in navi-
gating by steam. To a member of the congregation of Ne-
shaminy is this credit due; and we may say, without violence
or impropriety, that the pastor of this church. Rev. Nathaniel
Irwin, had a share in bringing before the world one of those
inventions which have had the widest and most beneficent bear-
ing upon the welfare of mankind.
Rev. Irwin was shrewd and far-seeing, and possessed great
influence in the councils of the Presbyterian church. Previous
to the formation of the General Assembly he was four years
clerk of the Synod, and after the General Assembly was con-
stituted he was its moderator once and its permanent and stated
clerk repeatedly. When new buildings became necessary for
the courts and jail, which were formerly in Newtown, he urged
the erection of new buildings in a more central location ; and
though his plan w'as bitterly opposed, yet he succeeded in com-
pany with others in securing the removal of the county seat to
Doylestown. He also contributed not a little influence in favor
of purchasing the tract of three hundred acres of land on
which the almshouse was erected, three miles south of Doyles-
town. He was appointed by the Governor of Pennsylvania
register and recorder of deeds, when the offices were in New-
town, but discharged the duties by a deputy, his son-in-law, Dr.
William Hart. Physicans were not as numerous in those days
as they are now, and he often prescribed for the sick and
furnished them medicine, in weighing out which he used these
scales, which are now before you. He wrote wills, deeds,
miortgages and other legal papers for members of his congregation.
He was fond of music — used to play the violin, and would often
amuse young people, whose society he much enjoyed, with
lively pieces upon that instrument, when they gathered at his
house, and even dancing was occasionally a feature of the en-
tertainment. Yet he was welcomed in houses of mourning and
conducted funeral services with much solemnity, comforting"
the sorrowful, and directing them with moving eloquence to
the source of all consolation. He seldom wrote. He usually
92 NESHAMINY CHURCH
preached extempore and often prepared his sermons while
jogging along to church on the back of his gentle steed "Dob-
bin."
An event, in which Mr. Irwin must have been deeply in-
terested, was the encampment of Gen. Washington with the
American army in this vicinity in 1777. Some of the British
troops had left New York and gone to sea in their fleet, and it
was more than three weeks after their departure before Wash-
ington could learn whither they had sailed. But supposing they
had a design against Philadelphia he came southward from
Middlebrook, N, J., and halted on the side of Kerr's hill, about
a mile north of Hartsville,. and had his headquarters for nearly
two weeks in the house where Mrs. William Bothwell now re-
sides half a mile north of this place. The house, particularly
the main part next the York road, is standing much as it was
when the "Father of his Country" took counsel with his of-
ficers one hundred and six years ago. Whether Washington
attended the divine service in Neshaminy church on the Sab-
bath we are not informed, but it is quite likely that he did, as
that was his custom whenever it was possible. As soon as the
general received news that the British had sailed up the Chesa-
peake bay, he broke camp and hastened with all speed toward
the head of the bay to intercept them, and in a few days after
liis departure from this neighborhood the battle of the Brandy-
wine was fought. While he was at this place Lafayette, who
had just arrived from France and offered his services to the
American cause, joined our army and took his place as an
honored officer on Washington's staff.
Mr. Irwin died March 3, 181 2, aged 65 years and 4
months, and was followed to his grave by a vast concourse of
people in carriages and on horseback, which formed a proces-
sion more than a mile long. He was laid away just where the
pulpit of the old church formerly stood.
In May, 1813, after a vacancy in the pastorate of more than a
year, the congregation chose Rev. Robert B. Belville, a native
of Delaware, pastor, who was not formally ordained and in-
stalled till October of that year. In 1822 and 1823, 10 1 per-
sons were received as members in the space of eight months,
the fruits of a remarkable work of grace; and in 1833, 14°
NESIIAMINY CHURCH 93
more were admitted. He established a classical school at his
own house, where many boys and young men from Philadel-
phia and elsewhere were educated, and in this enterprise he
was much aided by the favorable influence of Rev. James P.
Wilson, Sr., D. D., pastor of the First Presbyterian church, of
Philadelphia.
In 1818 a new roof was put on the church, which was paid
for by a legacy of Henry Jamison, to the amount of $500. Mr,
Belville in 1824 gave to the congregation for burial purposes a
half acre of ground adjoining the cemetery, which was sub-
sequently enclosed with the old yard by a substantial stone
wall. In 1837 h^s health became impaired by nervous prostra-
tion, which manifested itself in his vocal organs, and for more
than a year he was unable to fill his pulpit. Finding little re-
lief from rest or medicine, he resigned his charge, and the pas-
toral relation was dissolved November i, 1838. He removed
to St. George's, Delaware, where he lived several years. In
1845 he was chosen -commissioner to the General Assembly
from the Presbytery of New Castle, and went to Cincinnati,
attended the meeting, and was visiting friends in Dayton, Ohio,
where he died after a brief illness, aged 55 years. His re-
mains were committed to the grave in Dayton.
After the resignation of Mr. Belville the people could not
agree upon his successor. A part favored the election of
James P. Wilson, Jr., and a part were strongly opposed to it.
This difference of views and feelings resulted in an organic
â– division of the church. The part favoring Mr. Wilson re-
mained in the house of worship, and the part opposed to him
withdrew and worshiped for a time in the old school-house in
the grave-yard and afterwards for three years in a board and
frame tabernacle in the grove on the Bristol road, near the present
home of Mr. Andrew Long. By recommendation of the court, be-
fore whom suit for the possession of the property was brought,
the meeting-house and all its appurtenances were put up at pub-
lic auction. The Wilson party bought it for six thousand dol-
lars, and paid half that amount to the other party, who applied
it in 1842 toward the erection of the present building, which
was renovated in 1882. Mr. Wilson's congregation in 1845 ^^~
modeled the old church and made it appear like a new structure
94 NESHAMINY CHURCH
and far more beautiful than it had ever been before. It remains
now for the most part as it was then, except that a new slate
roof was placed upon it in i860. In 1871 a piazza was erected
at its front, and in 1867 about $1,000 expended in repairing
and refurnishing it. During the pastorate of Mr. Wilson the
church prospered and was greatly strengthened. At the end of
eight years, in 1847, ^e resigned the charge, having been called to
the presidency of Delaware College, Newark, Delaware.
My pastorate extended from 1848 to 1873, and that of Rev.
W. E. Jones, D. D., the present incumbent, from the fall of 1873^,
to the present time.
The pastors of the Warminster branch were Rev. Thomas
B. Bradford, Rev. Henry R. Wilson, D. D., Sr., Rev. Jacob
Belville, D. D., Rev. Alexander M. Woods and Rev. G. H.
Nimmo, the present pastor; Rev. John McCluskey, D. D., sup-
plied the pulpit statedly for about a year and a half.
The Neshaminy church has been the mother of several church-
es. Besides the Warwick and Warminster branches, into which
it was severed, the congregation at Forestville and that at
Pleasantville may properly be called its off-spring. The Doyles-
town Presbyterian congregation likewise has many elements in
it that were once regularly gathered on the Sabbath within the
walls of the venerable Neshaminy church, one hundred andi
forty years ago.
Indian Town of Playwickey.
BY JOSIAH B. SMITH, NEWTOWN, PA.
(Wrightstown Meeting, July 31, 1883).
A number of places along the upper line of the first purchase
â– of land of the Indians, in Bucks county, by William Penn, in
1682, have become a part of the history of the county, and in-
•crease in interest with time.
The corner-marked spruce tree on the banks of the Delaware,
has been recognized as a corner on the upper line of the first
purchase and also a corner in the lower line of subsequent deeds.
The location of the tree, it has been assumed on respectable
authority, was about one hundred and forty rods above the
mouth of Baker's, now known as Knowles' creek, and about
ten miles above the gray stones, above the falls at Trenton.
From the corner spruce tree the line ran west-southwest
-along the edge of the foot of the mountain (Jericho hill) to a
corner white oak, marked with the letter P., standing by an
Indian path that leadeth to an Indian town called Playwickey,
and from thence extending westward to a creek called Ne-
shaminy.
The high rocks below the chain bridge have been pretty well
•established as the point referred to on the creek. The history
of all that occurred at the white oak, which happened to be
standing by an Indian path, in exactly the right place for a
corner, at the entrance to Playwickey, has never been published ;
but the description given of the corner by the surveyor, is
so full and explicit, it is reasonable to believe the tree, the letter
P., the path and Indian town of Playwickey, were all situated
near each other and had some important relation to the upper
line of the purchase.
The object of running to the white oak and making it a cor-
ner, instead of running direct to high rocks, was not stated. But
it would certainly be a loss of a good many acres to the pur-
chaser ; the only reason that seems plausible is, the straight 'line
would run across the Indian field on the Hampton farm.
If Playwickey was situated at that place, as there is reason
96 INDIAN TOWN OF PLAYWICKEY
to think it was, the Indians would naturally feel disappointed
and angry to find the line had been run so as to strike the town
and drive them from their ancient home.
To overcome this difficulty and retain their good will and
friendship, the white oak standing by an Indian path, it may
be assumed, was mutually agreed upon for a corner. The
change made an angle in the line and left Playwickey undis-
turbed above it.
The wine drank, crackers eaten and pipes smoked while mak-
ing a settlement of the difference and convincing the Indians
they had no disposition to act unfairly, was not mentioned in the
history.
The surveyor, however, appears to have confirmed the agree-
ment by cutting the letter P, the initial of Playwickey, upon the
corner white oak, as the boundary line, and to prevent disputes
in the future.
The existence of an Indian town called Playwickey, is
proved by the same kind of evidence that proves the purchase
of the land. The only question is its location.
The late Charles B. Trego, of Philadelphia, was born in Up-
per Makefield and spent many years of his life in the township.
He was very certain the corner white oak, marked with the let-
ter P, stood upon land long knowfi as the Hampton farm, in
Wrightstown township. He was also certain the chestnut tree,
described in the history of the celebrated Indian walk, of 1737,
was standing near the intersection of the Durham road with
the road to Penn's Park, between the corner and the graveyard
wall.
The evidence on which his opinion was formed had been col-
lated from the original letter book of James Steel, the Franklin
papers, contemporary writers and personal knowledge of the
country from the Delaware to Neshaminy.
HAMPTON IfARM.
The Hampton farm on which the old Indian field can be seen,
was a part of 1,200 acres of land sold by William Penn and his
agents to Francis Richardson, in 1687, and patented to him in
1692. Richardson, his wife, and son John, died after a few
years. The land then became the property of their two surviv-
ing children, Francis and Rebecca.
INDIAN TOWN 01? PLAYWICKEY 97
Rebecca married Thpmas Murray, and her interest in the
property was sold to her brother Francis Richardson, in 1707,
making him the owner of the 1,200 acres. Francis, during the
same year, sold the said 1,200 acres to Thomas Stackhouse, of
!Middletown. Stackhouse, in 1711, sold 224 acres of the land to
Zebulon Heston, who removed to the place with his wife
Dorothy and children and made it their home until his death
about 1 72 1 or 1722. It was then sold out of the family. It
came into possession of the Hamptons at an early period. In
the fall of 1874 it was sold at public-sale as the estate of Moses
Hampton, deceased.
The land was poor and the house looked so old and out of
fashion it was the opinion of the best informed citizens of the
neighborhood that it had been erected by Zebulon Heston. The
most remarkable place on the farm, however, as well for locality
as for appearance was the old Indian field, on the back part of
the farm, supposed to be the site of an Indian town called Play-
wickey, to which the Indian path leadeth from the corner white
oak, marked with the letter P. It contains six or seven acres
surrounded by woods. It is limited in width by two ravines,
one on each side. The corners of the field are round, like di
race course, on two sides, between the field and brink of the
ravine is a strip, a few yards in width, of native trees, left for
shade or other purpose.
The ground at the north end of the field is comparatively low,
and rises at a reasonably uniform grade to the opposite end,
which is quite elevated, aifording a fine view of the whole field.
At the time the farm was sold the field had not been plowed for
a number of years and was destitute of everything green, except
a thin stand of wiry looking weeds six or eight inches in
height.
The cause of so much appearance of desolation is not known.
But if the field had been the playground and dancing floor of
Playwickey, and tract for training ponies many hundreds of
years, we might think that the germ of all vegetation natural
to the soil, except the wiry weeds, had been stamped out be-
fore it became the property of Francis Richardson.
98 INDIAN TOWN OF PLAYWICKEY
UPPER LINE AT WRIGHTSTOWN.
Some important information relating to the line, the purchase
of 1686, and also that the Indians were very numerous near
Wrightstown, was handed down by a committee of Wrights-
town Monthly Meeting. It appears from the records of the
meeting, of 1752, a committee was appointed, under the advices
of the Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia, for the following purpose :
"To collect such information as they can from the oldest settlers,
and any others capable of acquainting them with any memorable
transaction, since the first settlement of the country, and com-
municate the same to Samuel Smith, who has been appointed
to compile a history of the province and settling of schools."
The information was obtained and handed over to Smith, but
from some cause the history was not written.
A part of Smith's unpublished manuscript now belongs to the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The following extract, re-
lating to Wrightstown, was selected from the work :
"1684."
"JOHN chapman's PLACE."
"The Indians were now numerous hereabout, and used to
frequent Chapman's house in great companies as they had oc-
casion to pass that way, but behaved themselves civilly. One
of their chiefs, however, one day coming to him, in an angry
tone, told him it was their land he was settled on ; pointing to
a small distance, where he said the bounds of the English were,
and borrowing an axe marked a line to the southeast of his
house, and went away without giving him any other trouble at
that time, and the proprietary's commissioners, soon after, mak-
ing a second purchase, prevented any uneasiness for the future."
The above scrap of history was no doubt furnished by the
committee appointed for the purpose. The second purchase, it
will be understood, refers to the purchase of 1686. The line, as
indicated, would be near the road to Penn's Park.
The Doylestown Presbyterian Church.
BV JOHN L. DU BOIS, UOYLKSTOWN, PA.
(Hartsville Meeting, April 24, 1883).
The history of the Doylestown Presbyterian Church is an in-
teresting subject in connection with the history of our county.
The present church-building-, which is quite an imposing one,
stands upon a lot of about an acre of ground, bounded by
Church, Court and Mechanic streets. The situation is beauti-
ful, commanding an extensive view of the surrounding country.
Its size is sixty by ninety feet, and it has a tower and spire one
hundred and forty-six feet from the ground. It was built in
1872, the corner-stone having been laid in 1871 ; and the stone
of which it was constructed, and which is of a light brown color,
was taken from a quarry in Doylestown. It has Gothic win-
dows, and beautiful stained glass ; chapel, Sabbath school
rooms, and session-room, on the first floor, and an auditorium
on the second, capable of seating a thousand persons. The
building with organ and other furnishings cost about $31,000.
Back of the pulpit in the recess against the wall, is placed a
marble tablet, in memory of its late pastor. Rev. S. M. Andrews,
D. D., dec'd, and in the front vestibule down stairs is erected
a large tablet, giving the history of the Deep Run and
Doylestown Presbyterian churches. This is the Doylestown
Presbyterian church as we see it to-day ; but to give its history
we must go back a hundred and fifty-one years. This church
IS but the child of another — the mother church is the "Presby-
terian church of Deep Run," which was built of logs, and found-
ed in the year 1732. Presbytery supplied it until 1738, during
which year Rev. Francis McHenry. from Ireland, was chosen
and installed pastor. He died in the year 1757, and the con-
gregation remained vacant four years. Rev. James Latta was
installed pastor in 1761. The lot of ground, on which the
church stands, together with the adjoining parsonage, in Bed-
minster township, about a mile from Dublin, and seven miles
from Doylestown, was conveyed by Hon. Wm. Allen, of Phila-
delphia, to Mr. Latta, and his successors in the ministry, for
lOO DOYLKSTOWN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
the use of the congregation. In 1770, Air, Latta removeii, and
in three years, the Rev. Hugh Magill became pastor, and he,
in 1776, also left. Then Rev. James Grier was ordained and
installed pastor over the united churches of Deep Run and
Tinicum. He died in 1791 leaving the congregation vacant
until 1798, when Rev. Uriah DuBois was installed pastor over
them. The Union academy of Doylestown was built in 1804, by
subscriptions, and the Rev. Uriah DuBois became its principal.
A room in that building was set apart free for the use of every
denomination of Christians. Mr. DuBois then began to preach
in the academy with his other charges. In 1808, having been
released from the Tinicum church, he began preaching alter-
nately at Deep Run and Doylestown. In August, 181 3, the
Presbyterians commenced building their first church in Doyles-
town on the site of the present building, funds for the same
having been subscribed. On the 13th of August, 18 15, the
church was dedicated to the worship of God. There were
present Rev. Jacob J. Janeway, of Philadelphia; Rev. Robert
B. Belville, of Neshaminy, and the Rev. Uriah DuBois, the pas-
tor. The congregations of Deep Run and Doylestown thus
being united, numbered thirty members. They have now four
hundred and thirty-nine members. Mr. DuBois had eight chil-
dren. Charles E. DuBois, deceased, who practiced law before
the Bucks county courts for forty years; Amelia, who married
the Rev. Samuel Aaron, deceased; Rev. Robert P. DuBois, who
was the pastor of the New London Presbyterian church, Ches-
ter county, for forty years; Samuel F. DuBois, artist; William
E., assayer in the Mint, at Philadelphia, for many years; Ma-
tilda, who married the Rev. S. M. Andrews, deceased; Louis,
and Mary, who married the Rev. Silas H. Thompson. They
are all deceased but Samuel.
Rev. Uriah DuBois died September 10, 1821, and his people
were without a pastor until November, 1823. In July, 1823,
Mr. Charles Hyde became the regular supply of the two
churches, and on November 19, 1823, he was ordained and in-
stalled pastor; Deep Run to have one- fourth of his time. No-
vember, 1829, Mr. Hyde left, and immediately after Rev. Henry
Hotchkiss became the supply, but died in the fall of 183 1. In
the summer of 1831, Silas M. Andrews, a student in the theo-
DOYr.E;STOWN PREiSBYTKRIAN CHURCH lOI
logical seminary at Princeton, N. J., was invited to become
pastor, and the Presbytery of Philadelphia met in Doylestown,
November i6, 1831, and ordained and installed him pastor of
the Deep Run and Doylestown churches. Rev. Alexander
Boyd presided; Rev. Robert Steel preached the sermon, and
Rev. R. B. Belville delivered the charge. The names of com-
municants amounted to ninety-three ; eighty-four of these resided
m the congregation of Doylestown which had preaching every
Sabbath, morning and evening, except the third Sabbath of
April and September. In the summer of 1835, ^ building was
erected on the church grounds, in which were held meetings of
sessions, Sabbath school, and weekly lectures. On March 7,
1881, Dr. Silas M. Andrews, our pastor, died. Had he lived
to November 10, 1881, he would have been the pastor for fifty
3'ears. On May 3, 1881, the present pastor. Rev. William A.
Patton, late of the Roxborough Presbyterian church, was in-
stalled.
The second building at Deep Run was constructed of stone,
some time prior to 1766. The third built of stone, in 1841,
which now stands, but the congregation is very small. It is
of record that as early as the year 1732, the Rev. William Ten-
nent, of log-college memory, preached in Bedminster, and the
place where he preached was called "Mr. Tennent's upper-meet-
ing-house." In 1850, the church at Doylestown was enlarged
and changed in appearance. Towers and a spire were con-
structed at the front of the building. The writer well remem-
bers a pulpit in the old church — it was narrow, and about
twelve feet high, with a door at the base and a pair of winding
stairs inside to reach the top. When Dr. Andrews would enter
he would close the door, and it was quite a while before we
saw his head above the pulpit. The congregation numbers
about six hundred. There are seven Sunday-schools connected
with the church, numbering over seven hundred scholars. With
the church at Doylestown, a library is connected, which has
thirteen hundred and thirty-six volumes. The ruling elders,
from 1796 to 1876, have been Thomas Stewart, James Fergu-
son, Andrew Dunlap, John Mann, John C. Ernst, Jonas New-
ton, John Beatty, Dr. W. S. Hendrie, James McNeeley, Samuel
Godshalk, Nathan Lewis, John Widdifield, John H. Anderson,
102 REMINISCENSKS OF WRIGHTSTOWN
Samuel Hall, John Greer, Silas H. Thompson, John G. Mann.
Benjamin S. Rich and John G. Harris. The present session
is composed of John Beatty, John G. Mann, Benjamin S. Rich.
John G. Harris, Philip H. Fretz, Charles H. Mathews, John L.
DuBois, Carlile Shepherd, Albert J. Jones and John K. Lovett,
the last six having been ordained on the 12th of March, 1876.
This church has exerted a good, moral and religious influence
in the community, and it is revered and honored by all. May
its future be bright and prosperous, and may God bless the
labors of its people.
Reminiscences of Wrightstown.
BY HON. HENRY CH.\PMAN, DOYI^ESTOWN, PA.
(Wrightstown Meeting, July 31, 1S83.)
It affords me great pleasure to address this audience, as-
sembled at the meeting-house of the Society of Friends in
Wrightstov^n. The' recollection of my early days recalls many
agreeable associations, as my ancestors were, perhaps, the first
to fell the dark forest which shrouded the hills, the valleys and
streams around the spot now occupied by this venerable edifice ;
many of those ancestors are reposing in the peaceful graveyard
within view.
In 1684 the white man first ventured beneath the shadow of
the primeval and almost unbounded forest in this vicinity.
Gradually, from year to year, he was followed by others,
prompted by ecjual fortitude and zeal, and inspired by an elevat-
ed moral tone and religious sentiment, until a community was
established, consisting chiefly of the followers of that eminent,
though rudely persecuted, minister of the Society of Friends,
George Fox. Many of the descendants of those colonists now
survive, and some may be here present.
Times have greatly changed since those days, in the habits
of the people, in the manifold conveniences of life, and in the
general intercourse of society. Since that day the world has
been filled with new inventions and appliances in every depart-
ment of life. The genius of man has nearly annihilated time
and space. New and unthought of powers have been develop-
WRIGHTSTOWN FRIENDS MEETINGHOUSE.
Erected in 1787.
(From photograph taken August, 1908).
THE HORSE BLOCK.
At Wrightstown Friends Meeting-House.
Referred to on page 103.
REMINISCENSl'S OV WRIGIITSTOWX IO3
ed, until our astonishment is excited, and we are prone to won-
der how our revered ancestors could have existed in comfort
without the advantages and conveniences we possess. It is not
my intention, however, to review the many objects of scientific
and mechanical interest which throng this prolific field of hu-
man progress. This does not entirely belong to the domain of
local history. I will, however, refer to one object which af-
fords a remarkable contrast between the habits and inventions
of the past and the present, and exhibits by comparison the
wonderful strides that have been made by recent generations.
I allude to the simple structure, at one time visible near the door
of many a meeting-house and farmstead in this county, now
seldom seen, and if seen, looked upon in its dilapidated condition
with curious eyes ; I mean the once familiar horse-block. And
here we have an object, wherever now standing, passed by with-
out comment, and yet it speaks of other days. It is a monu-
ment to female equestrianism, and informs us that in the olden
time, before luxury and its enervating train brought into com-
mon use the wheeled vehicle of various shapes, our grand-
mothers boldly adopted a mode of conveyance, which contribut-
ed cheerfulness to their spirits, health to their bodies, and the
rose to their cheeks. It is sufficient to make reference to ex-
cite in the mind a comparison, as you return to your homes or
traverse the country, for you will meet with no female eques-
trian. The side-saddle, with other antiquated lumber, has been
relegated to the garret. I may here remark that an exceptional
opportunity for observation during a period of ten years, enables
me to say, that the people of Wrightstown, notwithstanding the
many changes in manners and customs, some for evil and some
for good, but rarely manifested any departure from the paths
of peace, or from the sanctions of the law, however frequently
vice may have been conspicuous in other quarters.
There is a tradition, perhaps in some measure well founded,
that there was a period in the history of this community, styled
the "Golden Age." It is said to have commenced about the
year 1720, after the forest over a large area had succumbed to
the axe of the pioneer ; and great stretches of the virgin soil
yielded to the march of the plow-share ; when the products and
fruits of the earth abundantly supplied all the wants of man and
104 REMINISCENSES OF WRIGHTSTOWN
beast. A felicity like that which poets feigned to reign in
Arcadian groves, obtained ; where each inhabitant was content
with the allotments of Providence; where strifes, and especially
those of a partisan or political nature, were unknown; where
temperance in all things existed; where all were dressed in
homespun, the handiwork of the family ; where the fashions of
foreign cities or of the outside world were never supposed to
make the least encroachment upon primitive and simple habits;
where an over-ruling Providence was loved and adored, and
everyone did as he wished to be done by.
"Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife
Their sober wishes never learned to stray ;
Along the cool, sequestered, vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way."
The halcyon period is said to have been maintained until
about the year 1750, when disturbing influences entered this
paradise; and at length the gates were thrown open^ and the
free habits and ways of the rest of the world came in like a
flood, and in some measure usurped the throne of peace and
contentment.
The foregoing sketch may be thought too highly wrought
to be recognized by this society as altogether historical, but it
coincides with the tradition; and it may be well argued that
this tradition must have had some foundation, and consequently
we are brought to the conclusion that there is enough on this
bountiful earth, and forthcoming as the revolving years succeed
each other, to enable a man to obtain peace, happiness and con-
tentment, if they can be found in this world, and if rightly
pursued, without the aid of the thousand inventions of modern
days.
I presume there is no one present who has not heard of the
celebrated Indian-walk, whereby a large tract of land, bounded
on the east by the river Delaware, and on the west by the track
of the walker, Edward Marshall, as far as the Lehigh river, and
thence by a northeast line to the Delaware, was ceded by the
Indians to the white man. With the arrangement for this walk
William Penn had nothing to do. It occurred in 1737, in pur-
suance of a treaty entered into in 1735, between his sons, John
and Thomas Penn, party of the one part, and certain chiefs of
the Lenni Lenape tribe of Indians, of the other part. After
REMINISCENSES OF WRIGHTSTOWN IO5
Marshall completed his great feat, one of the chiefs, Lappe
Winzo, an orator, was highly dissatisfied ; he alleged that Mar-
shall had run a great part of the way, whereas it was stipulated
in the treaty, he was to walk. His time was limited, and it is
pretty certain he made the best use of it ; but that he acted
dishonestly, we have no sufficient reason to believe. Long be-
fore he reached the end of his tether, his two companions,
Solomon Jennings and James Yates, dropped out of line, ex-
liausted. The first thirty miles of this walk were accomplished
in six hours. Edward Marshall was a very large and power-
ful man, and, no doubt, selected in consequence of his pedes-
trian qualifications and great powers of endurance. Some of
his descendants, a few years ago, resided in Buckingham, but
subsequently emigrated to the West. The walk begun at a
chestnut tree that stood on ground now owned and possess-
ed by Martha Chapman. It is but a few yards from the place
m which we are assembled.
There was, for some time, a question whether a certain chest-
nut tree that might be seen within recent years standing with all
the marks of great age, with its bald-head and decayed branches,
near the end of the land which leads to the homestead, once
owned and occupied by Edward Chapman, was the starting point.
But a few years ago a number of gentlemen, including Messrs.
Jordan and Ward, and General Davis, of the Historical Society
of Pennsylvania, came here with a view to ascertain the exact
locality of the starting point of the walk, and from the best
lights that could be obtained, settled the question by fixing the
site at the place now indicated.
It would appear invidious to particularize the many persons
of worth and respectability who were born and bred in Wrights-
town. I might present a long list of venerated families, whose
names are as familiar as household words, but I prefer not to
do so, as while meting out justice to some, I might do in-
justice to others, by unintentional omission.
I cannot, however, refrain from referring to Gen. John Lacey,
whose services in the army during the Revolution have caused
his name to be inscribed upon the pages of history; and I may
also remark that the ancestors of the distinguished novelist,
I06 REMINISCExNTSES OF WRIGHTSTOWN
James Fennimore Cooper, resided in Wrightstown, where I
presume, some of the family still live.
Among those who emigrated to this country in 1684 to es-
cape the persecutions by which the followers of George Fox
were hunted down, was one family, consisting of husband and
wife, and three small children ; they settled on a tract, previously
purchased, of five hundred acres of land, by which you
are now surrounded. The wilderness afforded but rude ac-
commodations for this group, yet however deep the snows of
winter and cold the northern blast, they were endured with
fortitude, and with more patience than were the cruel assaults
upon their peace and freedom in the exercise of conscience in
the old world. Their hardships and privations were severe;
removed in a great measure from the civilized world, their in-
tercourse with human beings was limited to the red-man of the
forest; their only protection from the sharp tooth of winter
an unsubstantial and frail tenement, hastily constructed. But
this was all borne with a Christian spirit. The time passed on
with many discouragements, with little to inspire hope for the
future, when the second winter came round, which was ushered
in with unprecedented severity, and for months the whole
scene was buried in one wide waste of snow. Di:ring this
period twins were born to these parents in this lonely abode,
and one might have supposed the climax of despair had now
arrived, and that the snow would soon become the wmding
sheet of all. But no! A helping hand knocked at the door; it
was opened, and a painted child of the forest stood before this
sorely-tried family. He came on a mission of love and charity,
not bearing the tomahawk and scalping knife. He brought
with him the trophies of the woods, the soft robes of wild
animals, the meat of the wild deer, and meal from the corn he
had raised. From time to time, this noble Indian repeated his
'•nsits, on the same benevolent errand bent, and was followed
Ly others, male and female, equally ready and anxious to dis-
play their kindness. And thus this family and these little twins
were nourished and preserved until the snow had passed away,
and the warm breath of spring brought forth its leaves and
opening sweets, harbingers of better and more prosperous days.
The intercourse between these parties was maintained for sev-
RIvMIMSCKNSKvS OF WKIOIlTSToWX IO7
eial years, on the one hand with the most affectionate gratitude,
and on the other hand with a never-taihng- desire to render the
newcomers all the services in their power. A bond of friend-
ship was thus established, which was never marred, and an in-
tercourse which never ceased, until the game receded far to-
ward the West, and drew the red-man to follow in its tracks.
But it was some time before the settlements of the white man
encroached upon the domains of the deer, the bear, and other
denizens of the forest. During the intervals, the twins grew
to be healthy and robust boys. They early fell into the ways
and habits of those of their own age, who dwelt in the wig-
wams in the vicinity. They fished together, collected nuts and
berries together, and engaged in sport with their mimic bows
and arrows; and their parents might often have seen, with
pleasure, these their
"Rude barbarians all at play.''
I hope I may be pardoned the egotism, when I say I am a
lineal descendant of one of those twins.
It may be well conjectured that the first settler, having cross-
ed the Atlantic without practical knowledge of the country, or
any experience amid the privations and obstacles existing in his
way, which he was obliged to encounter, where he finally set-
tled, over-estimated his ability to contend with the difficulties
placed in his path, and therefore, had better have paused and
rested upon the banks of the Delaware, where fewer hardships
and obstacles would have been met with. But he possessed a
stern and vigorous mind, and a resolution which he fancied would
enable him to overcome all the trials to which his new life
might be exposed. He finally prevailed against opposing forces,
and left a long line of descendants.
This sketch presents the Indian in a very different aspect
from that in which he is represented in recent years, in other
places, after his lands had been wrested from him, his house
razed to the ground, and his wife and children butchered. No
wonder his savage nature has been stirred to its very depths ;
no wonder, unschooled and untutored as he has been, without
the advantages possessed by the white man, he shodld commit
deeds of atrocity, and even of cruelty. But we are assured, as
the foregoing narrative exemplifies, he has a heart that kindness
I08 REMINISCENSES OF WRIGHTSTOWN
will melt, and prompt to deeds of charity and benevolence.
Need we expect him to be other than he is, when he has the
traditions of generation after generation, repeating the story
of the wrongs and injustice his race suffered ever since the white
man placed his foot upon these shores? But there is at least
one memorable, and ever to be revered, exception. It was when
William Penn, the great founder of this Commonwealth, in
1682, first came hither, having inscribed upon his banner, for
his motto, the ever memorable quotation : "Peace on earth, and
good-will to man." It is known that he afterwards erected a
large mansion within that beautiful crescent, described by the
Delaware river, as it flows toward the ocean, which mansion
was situated in what has since been widely designated "Penn's
Manor." Here, it is said, he displayed an elegant and cultivated
taste in adorning and embellishing the adjacent lawns with
various and selected trees, many of exotic origin and many
promising delicious fruit, and the grounds here and there
beautiful with sweet-scented and flowering shrubbery. Gently
sloping terraces were constructed, and beautiful walks and
drives were designed and formed, thus exhibiting a scene almost
of enchantment, and imitating as closely as circumstances would
admit, the attractive places in his native land, with which he
was familiar. You all know that it is but a step from here to
that once delightful retreat; but at this day presenting only
few relics of its ancient glory. It was from here he sent forth
his message of peace and good-will to the roving children of
the forest. They came, a strange and peculiar multitude, many
in fantastic garb, and it was here he treated with their chiefs
and sachems. As was written by a distinguished French
scholar, the treaties then made, though by parole, were never
broken. It was here he laid and cemented that foundation of
friendship and amity, between the Society of Friends and the
barbarian, which subsists to this hour. It was here or else-
where the sentiment of benevolence and fellow-feeling was in-
culcated, and at length penetrated the wilderness and found
its way, in the winter of 1685, to the abode of the family in
Wrightstown, to which reference has already been made. And
though the Indian has long since departed from these coasts
to the far West, and is rapidly, amid persecutions, decimation
REMINISCENSES 01? WRIGHTSTOWN IO9
and violation of treaties, passing- into oblivion, so that we have
little now to remind ns that he ever inhabited this region, but
an occasional arrow-head, thrown up by the plow-share; have
we not reason to believe that the seeds of peace and good-will,
sown broadcast by William Penn, are still bearing fruit, even
among our own population?
After he left his abode at the Manor, many pilgrims of the
so-called savage race came from afar to this shrine, to offer
oblations in his honor, and it is recorded that many, both male and
female, shed tears when informed of his departure, and mourn-
ed that they would see his face no more.
About one hundred and thirty years after William Penn re-
moved from the Manor, two men, whether in a gorgeous room
of the palace of the Tuilieries in Paris, or elsewhere, met to-
gether ; the name of one will never be forgotten ; it was a name
that had made "the world grow pale." This was Napoleon
Bonaparte. The other was Joseph, ex-king- of Spain, his
brother. It seemed as if at this time the fatal hour of destiny,
for this family, had struck. All Europe was in arms, and
moving with steadily concentrating powers toward the gates of
raris. It was high time to fly. Paris, about to be environed
by an overwhelming cordon of steel, was no place of safety,
and there was no adequate force at hand to repel the invading
foe. Napoleon, with his finger upon the map of the United
States, pointed to one spot as the choicest and most eligible to
select as a place of refuge. The suggestion was adopted by
the ex-king of Spain. He crossed the Atlantic, and came to
the coveted retreat with a shattered crown and broken sceptre ;
and there erected a large edifice, and there made his home for
several years. Many refugees from France, among others,
Louis Napoleon, late emperor, and Prince Murat, were his
guests. And lingular coincidence: The place selected was on
the New Jersey shore, nearly opposite the site of Penn's man-
sion, in the Manor. There must be something in the latitude
and longitude of this place, which peculiarly attracts the
notice of prominent Europeans. First William Penn, then
Napoleon and Joseph Bonaparte, and Napoleon's great rival,
General Moreau, whose residence was a short distance above
the Manor, but which was subsequently destroyed by fire. Re-
no REMINISCENSES OF WRIGHTSTOWX
mains of his stables might, if not now visible, have recently been
seen, near the crossing of the Delaware, at Morrisville.
The only event in the respective careers of Napoleon and Penn
which assimilated, was a partiality for the banks of the Dela-
ware. In all else, both in their lives and in their deaths, the
contrast stands out in vivid colors. The one whose name will
never be forgotten, and is emblazoned by military glory ; the
other, whose name is cherished as the symbol of peace and
security. The one devastated Europe, swept myriads from the
face of the earth, and caused millions to mourn, who trampled
beneath his feet kingdoms and crowns as if but the dust of the
highway, and whose wonderful genius was influenced and inspired
by an all-devouring ambition, that could only be appeased, if
at all, by universal, arbitrary, dominion. The other, the benefi-
cent founder of a "s wordless Commonwealth," whose ambition
was limited to the establishment of peace, happiness and pros-
perity. And in the circumstances of their deaths the contrast
is equally striking. The one, captured and carried by his
hunters to the bleak and desert rock of St Helena, in a torrid
zone, and immured as a prisoner far away from the banks of the
Seine, and the people he professed to "love so well ;" where h#
languished for a few years, contemplating the mighty descent
his destiny had reached, from gorgeous palaces, from among
hosts of panoplied warriors and a brilliant staff of marshals,
from cringing and supplicating followers, from obsequious, yet
hypocritical deportment of emperors, kings and princes ; and
there he closed his weary and restless life, "all his conquests,
glories, triumphs, spoils, shrunk to a little measure."
The other passed the closing years of his meritorious life, still
exercising offices of charity and good-v/ill, practicing and teach-
ing the precepts of Christianity, and walking in the ways that
were good, with little regret and much to gratify, and in the
contemplation of the services he had rendered his fellow-man,
and of the erection of a great Commonwealth, whose march
in the course of prosperity is still onward. He died, honored
.and respected, in his native land, am^ong many of his own peo-
ple, and as his life was gentle and without pomp, his remains
were borne to the quiet and unpretentious graveyard at Jordans,
where he sleeps beneath the venerable oaks in undisturbed re-
pose.
Early History of Wrightstown.
BY MISS ANNIE C. SCARBOROUGH, WRIGHTSTOWN, PA.
(Wrightstown Meeting, July 31, 1S83).
Two hundred years ago an unbroken forest covered the land
where now are the well cultivated farms and the comfortable
homes of Wrightstown. The only dwellings were the rude
habitations of the Indians ; the only highways, the narrow wood-
land paths. A year later and the first Christian home was es-
tablished.
John Chapman, of Yorkshire, England, emigrated to
America with his wife and children, made his way through the
forest, and, in the latter part of 1684, took possession of five
hundred acres of land, (previously purchased) and set up his
household goods in a cave, in the wilds of Wrightstown, where
he dwelt until he was able to build a log house. This cave which
has now disappeared, was on the right hand side of the road
leading from Wrightstown meeting-house to Penn's Park. Some
traces of it were to be seen as late as 1768. John Chapman's
house, the first in the township, was near the same spot, not far,
it is thought, from the place where Rachel Blaker's house now
stands.
William Smith, also of Yorkshire, was the second settler in
the township. He came over soon after John Chapman and
bought several hundred acres of land south of the Chapman
tract, extending to the Newtown line and to the Neshaminy.
He also bought one hundred acres of Chapman. The Indians
were friendly, sometimes assisting the early settlers. Game was
abundant and supplied their tables with fresh meats. Corn
bread was for a time an important article of food.
The third settler in Wrightstown was John Penquite, who
took up about three hundred acres of land, between the park
and the Neshaminy. A part of the Penquite tract is now owned
by G. C. Blackfan, a descendant of the Penquites and Chap-
mans.
The fourth settler in the township was John Parsons, who
settled to the northwest of The Park, and in 1690 Garret Van-
112 EARLY HISTORY 01^ WRIGHTSTOWN
sant took up land in the northwest corner of the township. Next
came Richard Sunley and Robert Stukesbury, about 1695, and
in 1697 Peter Johnson settled next to Garret Vansant. Francis
Richardson and James Harrison each had one hundred ac^s
granted to him but never became settlers. Part of Richardson's
land was in the eastern corner of the township and the remainder
in the south and west. Harrison's land was sold to James
Radclifif, whose descendants, the Pembertons, sold it to John
Wilkinson, William Trotter and Abraham Vickers. This tract
was between the park and the Neshaminy. William Penn grant-
ed one thousand acres to John and William Tanner, who sold
to Benjamin Clark. Part of the Clark purchase was sold to
Abraham Chapman. Two hundred acres in the northeast were
patented to Joseph Ambler, in 1687, descended to his son and
then passed to strangers. Two hundred acres adjoining Am-
bler's tract were granted to Charles Briggham and descended
to his daughters, who married Nicholas Williams and Thomas
Worthington.
The Park referred to, also called "Townstead" or "Town
Square," was a tract about one mile square, in the centre of the
township, set apart, it is supposed, for a public park. In 1719
it was divided among the landholders of the township, in pro-
portion to the land they already held, each settler receiving a
portion of The Park adjoining his own land.
The land-holders at this time were John, Abraham and Joseph
Chapman, William Smith, John Penquite, John Parsons, Garret
Vansant, Richard Sunley, Robert Stukesbury, Peter Johnson,
Israel Pemberton, Joseph Ambler, William Trotter, Benjamin
Clark, Charles Briggham and Nicholas Williams. Several of
these never lived in the township. At this time most, perhaps
all, of the land was taken up, but the tracts were large and only
a small part was cultivated. The people were satisfied if their
land supplied them with the necessities of life. They did not
covet its luxuries. Nothing was raised for sale excepting a lit-
tle wheat, which was carried to Bristol on the backs of horses.
Several horses were fastened together, laden with bags of grain,
a man mounted the leader and in single file the train proceeded
on its way to the distant mills. The men at first dressed mostly
in carefully-prepared deer skin, and the women in linen and
EARI^Y HISTORY OF WRIGHTSTOWN II3
linsey. Their fooil was principally mush and milk, bread and
fresh meat, and a few vegetables. The men and boys of the
period did not spend their evenings lounging in the country
stores, smoking and gossiping. The nearest store was at Bris-
tol, and there was not a wagon in the township.
Somewhat later a spirit of improvement began to appear.
About 1720 a part of the Durham road was laid out, through
WrightstO'wn, to join the road already made below, thus opening
a highway to Bristol. About the same time the Philadelphia or
middle-road, as it was called, was made, joining the Durham
road at the Anchor. Before this time the roads were little more
than paths through the woods, some of them merely old Indian
trails. Carts came into use about this time. Some of the large
land-holders sold or rented their lands, and others leased theirs
for a term of years, with the understanding that certain im-
provements were to be made. The farms were better tilled, and
more comfortable dwellings were erected.
Among the early settlers not already mentioned was William
Lacy, from the Isle of Wright, who took up a tract just over the
line in Buckingham. Zebulon Hestou came from New Jersey,
resided some time in Falls and then removed to Wrightstown.
Richard Mitchell bought land east of Mill creek and built a mill.
This property, afterward owned by the Weldings, was a part
of the Pemberton tract, as was also the land taken up by the
Wilkinson family soon after, and by Joseph Sackett, who came
from New Jersey in 1729. John Lay cock, a minister among
Friends, purchased land of John Chapman in 1722. In 1724 or
1725 Joseph Hampton, a Scotchman, settled on a part of the
Clark purchase, and in 1726 Joseph Warner came from New
Castle, on the Delaware. About 1735 Stephen Twining came
from New England and bought land of Jacob Wilkinson ; about
the same time John Linton, also of New England, bought and
settled next to Joseph Ham.pton. To the west of the Warners
settled a family of Smiths, not related to the first settlers of that
name, however.
It is thought Wrightstown was named in honor of one Thomas
Wright, who came over in the Martha, in 1677, and settled
near Burlington. He appears to have been associated with
Penn in the purchase or patent of some land, probably in New
114 EARLY HISTORY OF WRIGHTSTOWN
Jersey. Penn called this township Wrightstown, notwithstand-
ing the objections of some of the land-holders.
In early times, when our ancestors first began to go to the
Philadelphia market, butter, poultry, fresh meat, etc., were taken
on the backs of horses, principally by the women. Later, two-
horse carts were used and a boy was generally taken atlong to
drive. After a time better wagons were common and the
women gave up the market business to the men.
Many of the early settlers of Wrightstown belonged to the
Society of Friends, some of whom had been fined and punished
for their religious belief and practice in England. The first re-
ligious meeting in this township was held at the house of John
Chapman, in 1686. Other meetings were held at his place and
at the house of John Penquite, who was for many years a promi-
nent minister, as was also John Chapman's daughter Ann, who
traveled through the provinces and several times visited Great
Britain. In 1721 Wrightstown had permission from Falls
Quarterly Meeting to build a meeting-house. This was accord-
ingly done on land given for that purpose and for a graveyard,
by the Chapmans, and a part of it is at present the property of
the meeting. The old graveyard, where John Chapman and
most of the early settlers were buried, was near Logtown, now
Penn's Park on the southwest, on the farm owned by Chas,
Gaine. The wall has been torn down and the plow has leveled
the graves. In 1735 Bucks Quarterly Meeting was, for the first
time, held in Wrightstown. In 1765 Friends adjourned Monthly
Meeting "because it came on election day." The early settlers
were zealous meeting-goers. They sometimes went on horse-
back, but often on foot, and it was quite common for men and
women to walk ten or twelve miles to a Monthly or Quarterly
Meeting. As late as 1780 but one riding-chair came to
Wrightstown meeting, but in 1832 there were about one
hundred gigs and chairs, some of them quite expensive ones.
After harvest a general meeting was held at Wrightstown.
Friends came from all parts of the country to attend these
"Solemn Religious Meetings" which lasted for three days, and
at which the most prominent mmisters were present to com-
memorate the "Providential Care of a Beautiful Creator," These
meetings were kept up for nearly a century. At a certain time
EARIvY HISTORV OF WRIGliTSTOWN 1 15
the plum pies of our grandmothers took a prominent part in
satisfying the cravings of tiie inner man among these devout
Friends, who knew how to appreciate the good things of this
life.
A hundred years ago a group of thrifty pine trees stood in
the upper end of our township. This was "The Pines," which
a few years later, with a stone store-house, a frame dwelling
attached, a tailor-shop, a school-house and another dwelling or
two, had risen to the dignity of "Pinetown." John Thompson
kept store there before the Revolution. Pinetown became Pine-
ville in 1830, when a post-ofifice was established, with Samuel
Tomlinson as postmaster.
There are many objects of historical interest in Wrightstown,
but the old landmarks are fast passing away. Few of the old
log houses of our ancestors are standing, some having been
destroyed within the last ten years. Long ago disappeared the
last traces of that ancient chestnut tree from which Marshall,
Jennings and Yates, on that memorable September day in 1737,
started on their famous walk. The poor old tree was blown
over in 1765, but the stump was still to be seen within the
memory of persons now living. It was between the meeting-
house and the Penn's Park road, in the corner of a field now
owned by Martha Chapman, and was not the old tree below
the meeting-house, near Josiah Tomlinson's, as many insist on
believing. This same tree, however, also deserves mention ; it is
iiow^ but a shell, and no longer a thing of beauty or an emblem
of strength. Yet every year it puts forth its leaves and blossoms.
It furnishes rather a lesson of perseverance, or an illustration
of the force of habit. Had this old tree the gift of speech, like
Tennyson's Talking Oak, or The Pine of our Bucks county
poet, what a tale it could tell. Think of the long procession that
has passed since it was a graceful young sapling, since that day,
after the battle of Trenton, when a messenger rode rapidly up
the Durham road to spread the glad tidings, the feet of his
galloping horse beating time as he sang or shouted, "The Hes-
sians are taken ! The Hessians are taken !"
Some Account of Warminster Meeting.
BY HARRIET E). KIRK, JOHNSVILLE, PA.
(Wrightstown Meeting-, July 31, 1883).
The Friends living m Warminster township originally attend-
ed Horsham meeting, but having long experienced the incon-
venience of traveling five miles to their religious meetings, they
concluded to build a house for worship in their own locality. In
accordance with this decision they purchased of Thomas Parry,
for seventy-five dollars, an acre of land, on which a meeting-
house was erected, sheds built and the ground enclosed for a
yard and graveyard at a total cost of $1400. The money was
raised by voluntary subscriptions, many giving in addition their
time and labor to forward the work.
All the contributors lived to see their desire accomplished, but
one Friend, Joseph Warner, who died while the building was
in progress of erection. His widow, Mercy Warner, survived
him nearly forty-two years, and was, while health permitted, a
regular attendant of the meeting. She died at her home, near
Davisville, in 1S82, in the 94th year of her age.
The meeting-house is situated on the Street road, a half-mile
northwest of Johnsville. It is fifty-four feet in length and
twenty-seven feet in width, and will accommodate about 200 per-
sons. A preparative meeting was established there by Horsham
Monthly Meeting in Sixth-month, 1841. At that time the meet-
ing consisted of twenty-four families and parts of families, and
was estimated to embrace one-eighth of the membership of
Horsham Monthly ]\Ieeting.
The first elders were Seth and Jane Davis, Thomas Parry and
Elizabeth Townsend, Joseph Thorne was the first minister, but
he resided only a short time in the neighborhood, and removed
with his family to one of the Western States. Demas C, Wor-
rell, also a minister, a worthy, pure-minded man, lived several
years in the vicinity and attended the meeting, in which his
voice was often heard in gospel ministry.
The first sixteen years after the establishment of Warminster
meeting, are rendered memorable in its history as marking an
some; account of* warminster meeting 117
epoch of unusual mortality among its prominent and valuable
members. During that period ten heads of families, all, except one,
under fifty years of age, were removed by death. Several of these
were men of recognized piety and exemplary living, and their
loss was deeply felt not only in their own society but in the
community. The influence of their practical virtues and the
remembrance of their kind, neighborly deeds are still tenderly
cherished by many of their successors, and a history of War-
minster meeting would scarcely be complete without some refer-
ence to Joseph Warner, Daniel Longstreth, Seth Davis, Wat-
son Twining, Thomas Parry and others.
The households thus deprived of their husbands and fathers
often numbered many young children, and counsel and over-
sight were required in their careful training and in the manage-
ment of their estates, and there were those who embraced the
opportunity to manifest the Apostle's evidence of "pure and
undefiled religion" by visiting "the fatherless and the widows in
their afflictions" and rendering them needed aid.
In a few years, instead of the fathers, were the sons and the
daughters. Several of the former exchanged the quiet pursuits
of agriculture for the more active business engagements of the
city, and some of the latter initiated homes elsewhere.
When the dark cloud of civil war lowered over our country,
and its fearful concomitants introduced into our peaceful homes
anxiety and distress, often attended by bitter separations, expo-
sure in a strange land, privations, sickness, and not unfrequently
death, and when the tidings came that aid was needed to re-
lieve the terrible sufferings of the sick and wounded, and smitten
hearts responded to the call for help, and sympathy and duty
lent activity to willing hands, the women of Warminster town-
ship were not indifferent to the claim universally acknowledged.
An aid society was formed ; supplies of clothing, food and medi-
cine were liberally furnished and forwarded to the sanitary hos-
pitals. In so doing let none imagine that the righteous testi-
mony which the Friends have always maintained against war
was in any degree compromised, for while they discountenance
any participation in military affairs by their members, the Friends
have always acknowledged the obligation to relieve suffering
Il8 NEWSPAPERS OF BUCKS COUNTY
under all circumstances, and in this feeling help went forth
from the aid society of Warminster meeting-house.
Only four are now living who were house-keepers at the time
of its establishment, and but two, Charles Kirk and Lydia Parry,
remain in the neighborhood. The graveyard has received many
accessions to its silent ranks. Warminster preparative meeting
numbers thirty-one families and parts of families. Its meetings
are regularly held twice in the week on First and Fourth days
and attended by a fair proportion of its members. It is yet too
young to have an extended history, but a few generations will,
we hope, add interest and dignity to its chronicles.
The Newspapers of Bucks County.
BY E. E. CHURCH^ NEWTOWN, PA.
(Wrightstown Meeting, July 31, 1883).
When your esteemed president first requested me to contribute
something to the society on the newspapers of the county, the
way did not appear to open. His own comprehensive history
of the county seemed to contain all that was necessary to be
known, and its reiteration would be a needless waste of time.
But since then other counsels have prevailed. I asked myself,
who now living can go farther back on the devious track of his
own recollections, and recall his first acquaintance with county
newspapers ? and what little knowledge one man possesses of a
subject, he should leave behind him for the information of those
to come, thus accumulating material for the structure of history.
For a greater stride has been made in the art of printing, and in
newspapers, during the last fifty years than in all the preceding
years since movable types were invented, or the first genius con-
ceived the idea of issuing a sheet containing news, which is
now called a newspaper. The rude and ancient wood cuts in
the black-letter folios inform us that the early printers of Ger-
many and Holland used the wooden press with the screw to
make the impression. The same press, with little or no change
was used by Franklin ; the same press, with little change, was
in use in an old frame house in Doylestown, when your es-
sayist, on a cold day in November, 1834, entered upon his duties
NEWSPAPERS OF BUCKS COUNTY 1 19
as a printer's devil ; a wooden press, with iron bed and wooden
platen, the impression made by a screw, which required two
pulls of a lever for one side of a newspaper. This was the news-
paper as printed at Doylestown at that time. But soon there
was a change. Even then we heard that there was a machine
invented, somewhere, that printed a paper by turning a wheel,
and that in Philadelphia, there were presses made of iron,
which printed the whole of one side of a sheet by one pull
of the bar ! The era of putting on the ink by buckskin balls
had just passed, and composition rollers were used in 1834,
though the old balls were lying about the office. There had
been no change in -their form since the first type and first press
were made.
But let us proceed to our subject. Bucks became a county
about 1683, but a hundred and seventeen years elapsed before
a newspaper was established within its borders, and then, strange
as it may appear, that first newspaper was not at the county
seat.
There must have been a dim forethought in the mind of Isaac
Ralston, a vision of "nations yet to be," when he put up his
wooden Ramage press and smeared his buckskin balls to print
Bucks county's first paper at a cross-roads on the line between
New Britain, Warwick and Buckingham ! For it was at Doyle
Town he started his paper in 1800. History does not inform us
how long that paper existed, or what became of Isaac the printer.
He had no "esteemed contemporary" to give that pleasant recip-
rocal notice with which one editor puffs another, and vice
â– versa, until they both, and all, think they are men of great ac-
count, and so long as they enjoy that opinion they are happy.
Newtown was known as a place in 1692, the court-house was
removed thence from Bristol in 1725, but it was seventy-five
years later, in 1800, before it had a post-office. The idea of a
court being held in a town seventy-five years before there was a
post-office there, seems at this day of many offices and" star
routes, a strange one. Our mail facilities have increased at an
equal ratio with our newspapers.
Two years after the post-office was established at Newtown,
Charles Holt came there and set up a printing press. He called
his paper the Bucks County Bee, but it must have been a drone.
120 NEWSPAPERS OF BUCKS COUNTY
for it made no honey for Charles. He lost his hold on the county,
and he and his paper passed into the silent realms of oblivion.
The county was then paperless.
But at length a man came who was destined to make his
mark, a man from Connecticut, a Yankee, with push, industry
and talent, Asher Miner by name. He came to Doyle Town
cross-roads, and set up his press. The town had less than a
dozen dwellings, and Newtown was the county-seat and with-
out a paper; but he too had a prophetic vision. His paper still
lives in the Intelligencer, the succession being direct until this
day, without the lapse of a week's issue; first the Pennsylvania
Correspondent, next the Bucks County Patriot, then the Intelli-
gencer. Miner's paper appeared in July, 1804, and he continued
to publish it twenty-one years.
William B. Coale probably worked for Holt when he printed
the Bee, in Newtown. He started a paper there in 1805, call-
ing it the Farmers' Gazette and Bucks County Register, and it
was continued ten years. Coale married the daughter of Asa
and Tamer Carey, the famous host and hostess of the Bird-in-
Hand; and we regret to say, he was a poet, and handed down
to this day is an ode to his mistress's eyebrows, printed on pink
satin, bearing date January, 1803. They were married in June
of the same year, so the poetry brought her! It is needless to
say, that after that there was no more poetry. The realities of
life came then. Coale was succeeded by a man named Robinson,
who, having written poetry, went down to oblivion, unknown
and unsung.
After Asher Miner was fairly established at Doylestown, he
started a branch office, at Newtown, to hold the ground against
the approach of a rival named Simeon Seigfried his lieutenant
there. Seigfried published a paper there for one year, at least,
called the Star of Freedom. A file of that year's paper was in
the hands of the writer a few years ago, in a good state of pres-
ervation. Seigfried, while at Newtown, printed the first edi-
tion of "The Foresters," a poem written by Wilson, the ornithol-
ogist, giving an account of a pedestrian trip from Philadelphia
to Niagara Falls.
In 1 816 a Democratic paper was started in Doylestown, called
the Democrat, which still exists under the control of our talented
NEWSPAPERS OE BUCKS COUNTY 121
and revered president. Lewis Diftenbach was its first publisher,
and the paper was sold to Benjamin Mifflin, of Philadelphia.
Another Democratic paper was started by Simeon Seigfried, but
a move was made to unite the two. Seigfried was succeeded
by Simon Cameron, and the united papers have since been pub-
lished continuously as the Doylestown Democrat. Its next pub-
lisher was William T. Rogers ; then M. H. Snyder, for one year,
then William H. Powell, for about two years. Air. Powell sold
the paper to John S. Bryan, in 1834. He was succeeded by S.
Johnson Paxson, in 1845. Mr. Powell introduced the first cylin-
der press in the county. He also introduced and elaborated the
local department of the paper, and thus inaugurated a new era
in county journalism. In 1858, Mr. Paxson sold the Democrat
to its present proprietor. We have now followed up the Demo-
crat, and shall go back and speak of sundry ventures that fell
by the wayside, were sown on stony ground, or lingered and
died from some cause.
In 1827, the Political Examiner was started by Shaw &
Bartleson. Shaw was a lawyer, and Bartleson a printer, who
afterward removed to New Jersey. In 1828 it was sold to
Alexander Campbell, and published as a Democratic sheet. Then
it was sold to the late Thomas Ross, Esq., and was conducted
as an anti-Masonic paper by Heart & Seeley. The paper was
printed on an old wooden press, and it was the first printing-press
my eyes ever beheld. It was called the Bucks County Republican,
was short lived, and the materials were used for the Jackson
Courier, F. S. Mills, now at Trenton, being its editor. It died
a sudden death.
From that time to the present I have a personal knowledge
of all the papers. Asher Miner was succeeded by Morris &
Kramer, the paper being called the Patriot; then purchased by
Jackson & Kelly, who named it the Intelligencer. Kelly was
sole proprietor for a time, and was a learned and able editor.
He soon took into partnership one of his boys, Wm. M. Large,
who still survives, and after Kelly's death, for a time, Mr. Large
was the sole proprietor. He sold it to Samuel Fretz, who kept
it for one year, and was succeeded by John S. Brown, who was
a very careful and correct man and good editor. He sold it ta
Prizer & Darlington, and you all know its history since.
122 NEWSPAPERS OF BUCKS COUNTY
Manassah Snyder printed the first Gemian paper, called the
Express. It was afterwards published by the Democrat pro-
prietors and issued from the same office. It is still continued,
and is owned by Dr. Morwitz, of Philadelphia, who owns and
publishes a large number of papers conducting- them by proxy.
While James Kelly conducted the Intelligencer, a young man
from Lehigh county, named Jos. Young, prevailed on him to
start a German Whig paper, named the Morgenstern (Morning
Star). Young afterwards assumed ownership and control and
moved it into another office, and sold it to Mortiz Loeb, who still
conducts it. Mr. Loeb is the senior editor of the county.
Franklin P. Sellers, in 1838, started a little paper in the
Democrat office, called the Public's Advocate. It was short
lived. In 1838, he, being a reformed man, started the Olive
Branch, a temperance paper, which he conducted for some time,
and then removed it to Norristown.
Then there was also a Democratic Watchtower, an Indepen-
dent Democrat, and Democratic Standard, all published in
Doylestown, but we believe they were all absorbed into the
Democrat. Their editors were M. H. Snyder, Clayton N. Bryan
and Beans & Kuster. In 1852, a spicy little paper was started
by "Col." Reyner T. Donatt, called the Doylestoivn Spy, it lived
for about two years and then went out of existence.
After the interval of a quarter of a century, types were again
brought to Newtown. Search & Fretz, who had started a news-
paper, with no success, at Hatboro, removed to that place, and
set up their press in 1840. Ic bore the name of Search alone,
and was called the Literary Chronicle, with Lemuel Parsons as
editor. In 1842 it was purchased by Samuel J. and Edward M.
Paxson, and named the Nezvtozvn lournal. Under the Paxsons
it was an excellent, wide-awake paper. It was at one time the
organ of the Native American party, and at another time it
had an offshoot called the Clay Bugle, or Trumpet, or horn of
some kind. In 1847 it was sold to other parties, S. J. going
to Doylestown, to publish the Democrat, and E. M. going to
Philadelphia as a lawyer. It afterwards had two or three
owners, but its earthward course was very rapid. Its last pub-
lisher was named Brower, who went to Virginia. The mate-
NEWSPAPElRS OF BUCKS COUNTY 1 23
rials were taken to Doylestown, being absorbed into the Intel-
ligencer office.
William Bache started the first paper in Bristol, in 1849, call-
ed the Gazette. It was suspended for a time, and afterwards
reappeared as the Index. Mr. Bache carried on a printing office
in Bristol, for some years but the soil did not yield sufficient
support. He is still living. He is a descendant of Benjamin
Franklin, and a man of considerable ability, in his way.
The historian for a time drops the regular thread of his nar-
rative, and carries his readers to new fields. We leave the level
plains of "down-county," and pass to the "upper-end" to
see what has been done in the way of journalism there. In
Milford township, west of Quakertown, some three miles, is the
village of Milford Square, a quiet place off the main line of
travel, with its hotel, store, and mechanics' shops. It is a Ger-
man neighborhood, and the Mennonite religion prevails. Here
in 1850 was started the first Mennonite paper in the world.
This quiet, moral, religious brotherhood had not before spread
their doctrines by the aid of printer's ink, but in that year was
started a German paper Der Religiose Botschapter, the official
organ of the society, the world over. Other papers of the same
denomination have since been established in different parts of
this country, and in Europe. It is yet published by John G.
Stauft'er, who also started a general newspaper in the German
language and published both papers, besides other periodicals.
He has recently removed his business to Quakertown. He is
an enterprising man, and a year or so ago, commenced the
publication of an English paper, at Quakertown, called the
Free Press which he has recently sold to a relative.
But, Quakertown, previously had a paper. In 1869, one
was started there by a man named Prior, and called the Mirror.
It was afterwards published by Cope & Kirk, and removed to
Doylestown. Now it belongs to the Morwitz combination.
There are two papers in the county that never started — never
sprang into the arena full-fledged, like Minerva, but like
Topsy, "grO'wed." In 1872, William Tilton, a young man,
came to the village of Hulmevilie to reside with his parents, and
had a little amateur press. On this he started an occasional
sheet the size of a love-letter, called the Squib. This grew to
124 NEWSPAPERS OF BUCKS COUNTY
be the Hulmeville Beacon — having nine columns to a page, and
printed on a cyHnder press. It was afterwards sold to Thomas
Jiastburn, of Langhorne, the name "Beacon" still being retained,
Vvhere it was published under several owners until April i, 1883,
when it ceased to exist. The other paper in Yardley, about the
same time and in the same way. In 1872, Wm. H. Shively, a
pushing young man, had started a small grocery store in that town,
and had a little press for printing paper bags and circulars. The
newspaper craze struck him, and soon one was issued called the
Luminary, no larger than a man's hand. It grew apace, had
at length eight bordered pages, contained paid-for stories, was
sold at the city news-stands, and in appearance was like unto
the New York Ledger. But Mr. Shively's health broke down,
and he and the paper died in 1875. The other flickering "will-
o'-the-wisps" followed the Luminary, the Record and the Times,
but they both went out, and Yardleyville has since been mainly
lighted by the intellect and bright eyes of its fair daughters.
After the Beacon was removed from Hulmeville to Lang-
horne, the first named place being a borough, felt that it must
have a paper, and E. G. Harrison started one which was first
•called the Beacon, but afterwards changed to the Delaware Val-
ley Advance. It is still published by the sons and daughters of
Mr. Harrison, and is printed by steam-power. Rev. G. W. P.
Brinckloe also issues two monthly society publications there,
but they cannot properly be classed under the head of news-
papers.
This history has left Newtown in mental darkness since 1850.
In 1868 a printer from Maryland came to that place, a wanderer,
and was taken in. He came to stay. He started the Bnterprise
in the spring of that year and still publishes it. Its success has
far exceeded its merits. It was first printed on a hand-press,
but is now issued by the aid of steam.
After Bache's paper gave up the ghost there was no paper in
the large borough of Bristol for many years. It was, and is,
a poor place to support a newspaper. In 1871, James Drury, who
bad been engaged on the Bnterprise, and there met his fate;
looking around for a place to establish himself, selected
Bristol, which was paperless. He started the Observer and
still publishes it. In 1873, Jesse O. Thomas came there from
ne:wspapi;rs of bucks county 125
Ohio and started the Bucks County Gazette. He now has a
partner.
Some two or three years ago, Mahlon H. Sellers, of Mont-
gomery county, started a newspaper in the flourishing borough
of Perkasie, and called it the Central Nezvs. It prospered ; Mr.
Sellers died but the paper still lives.
Two or three papers are published at Doylestown which have
not been noticed. The Wacht, a German paper, started to
catch official advertisements and the Court Gazette, published
daily by Barney McGinty, during the first week of each court,
giving verbatim reports of trials. The Cricket, is an amateur
paper.
In thus hastily glancing over the papers of the county, some
have probably been missed. We, most of us, know the two lead-
ing Doylestown papers, and call them "the county papers," for-
getting the many that have started, struggled, and then
stranded. The world only recognizes success, and the many
failures have been forgotten. We might moralize further, but
the paper is too long already. The prominent points and
peculiarities of many of the publishers we have known might be
alluded to, and many recollections crowd for utterance, but they
must be suppressed. They pass before us like a phantom pro-
cession, while the few old fellows of us that are left, are like
wrecks on the shores of time.
The Poets and Poetry of Bucks County.
BY GEN. W. W. H. DAVIS,, DOYLItSTOWN, PA.
(Wrightstown Meeting, July 31, 1883).
It is recorded of Andrew Fletcher, of Saltoiin, that he said,
"If a man were permitted to make the ballads of a nation he
need not care who should make the laws."
I concede the superior power of ballads over mere poetry of
the highest order, and regret I have none of domestic make to
offer; but, instead, I purpose to call your attention to some of
the poets of Bucks county, with a few quotations from their
productions. My limited time will compel me to be brief in my
reference to both.
Bucks county has had in the past, and still has, a number of
sons and daughters who have paid court to the IMuse. Some
of their poetry is of a very high order, and if fathered by
a Whittier or a Bryant, would have a much wider reputation.
There seems to have been little outgrowth of poetic feeling in
the first half century of our Country's history, for life in the
wilderness was too hard for any display of sentiment.
William Satterthwaite, who is classed among the "Early
Poets of Pennsylvania," was probably the earliest, as well as
the most distinguished, of our county's poets. He was born in
England, but came here somewhere about 1730, because of a
singular and romantic marriage. A good classical scholar, he
turned his attention to school teaching, and taught at Durham
Furnace, Solebury, Buckingham and elsewhere. He found
warm patrons in Lawrence Growden and Jeremiah Langhorne,
dying at the house of the latter. He was unhappy in his con-
jugal relations, and it is even said that his wife tried to poison
him after one of their quarrels.
Mr. Satterthwaite wrote on many subjects; and, among his
productions was a poem entitled "Providence," beginning:
"O, gracious power, divinely just and great,
Who rules the volumes of eternal fate ;
Thou guard of thought, inspirer of my song.
My thanks to Thee, kind Providence, belong;
Thou wing'st my genius and inspir'st my soul
To sing Thy praise, Great Ruler of the whole."
POETS AND POETRY OF BUCKS COUNTY 12"
A verse, addressed to a young lady, in reproof for singing,
ran thus :
"Though singing is a pleasant thing,
Approved and done in Heaven,
It only should employ the souls
Who know their sins forgiven."
On the death of his friend and patron, Jeremiah Langhorne,
in 1742, he wrote an elegy on his character from which I copy
the following lines :
"He stood the patriot of the province, where
Justice was nourished with celestial care.
He taught the laws to know their just design,
Truth, Justice, Mercy, hand in hand to join.
Without regard to fear, or hope, or gain.
Or sly designs of base, corrupted men."
He was a man of many eccentricities. He called hi.s m^ie
by repeating Greek verses to her ; and when he grew impatient
of teaching would repeat to himself :
"Oh ! what stock of patience needs the fool
Who spends his timie and breath in teaching school ;
Taught or untaught, the dunce is still the same ;
But yet the wretched master bears the blame."
The date of ]\Ir. Satterthwaite's death is not known.
The Ingham family, of Solebury, produced several able men,
two of them great scholars of the time, and one, Jonathan Ing-
ham, Sr., something of a poet. He talked and wrote in meter
with the greatest ease. He wrote a journal, in elegant verse,
descriptive of a journey up the Delaware to buy dogs for his
sawmill, and translated some Greek aphorisms into verse. He
communicated the death of a young British officer, whom he at-
tended in his late illness, to Washington, in poetry, in the style
of an elegy, from which we quote two stanzas :
"Ah ! gentle reader, as thou drawest near
Toi read the inscription on this humble stone,
Drop o'er the grave a sympathizing tear.
And make a stranger's hapless case thine own.
******
' "Flushed with ambition's animating fires.
My youthful bosom glow'd with thirst for fame,
Which oft, alas ! but vanity inspires,
To these inclement, hostile, shores I came."
The Watson family, of Buckingham, has produced two poets
of more than local note. Dr. John, son of Dr. Joseph Watson,
128 POETS AND P0E;TRY OF BUCKS COUNTY
born in 1746, and died in 1817, devoted the latter years of his-
life to literary culture and indulged his native taste for poetry.
He wrote in sweet-flowing stanzas on American subjects. His
ode to "Spring," written in 1777, is esteemed his best production..
We have room for a couple of verses:
"The jolly boatman, down the ebbing stream.
By the clear moonlight, plies his easy way,
With prosp'rous fortune to inspire his theme,
Sings a sweet farewell to the parting day.
* + -^ + + *
"The morning's fragrance, the refreshing shade,
The murm'ring waters and the cooling breeze.
The lofty mountain and the rough cascade
Delight the senses and the fancy please."
Dr. Watson wrote some verses on the misfortunes of Eliza-
beth Ferguson, the distinguished daughter of Dr. Graeme, whose
husband, a Scotchman, went off with the British, when they
evacuated Philadelphia, in 1778. She , was a poet and a woman
of marked literary ability, and wrote under the nom de plume-
of "Laura." Of her troubles^ Dr. Watson wrote:
"Can the Muse that laments the misfortunes of love
Draw a shade o'er the sorrowful tale.
That Laura was cheated and fully could prove
That Scotchmen have honor that sometimes may fail."
Paul Preston, a well known citizen of Buckingham, a hundred
years ago, and his two daughters, wrote considerable poetry.
His most pretentious production was a poem entitled "Solo-
moncis," in five or more books. The fifth book, of which only
a few lines are preserved, begins :
"Now let the Muse in meditation deep,
With humble awe, disturb the silent sleep
Of David's harp, and sweep the sounding strings
'Till notes harmonious utter wondrous things."
Mr. Preston was a fine classical scholar, and, among other-
literary labors, translated the works of Torquatus on the "Con-
solation of Philosophy," from the Latin, which his friends pub-
lished after his death, as a tribute to his memory. He wrote a
narrative of "The Captivity of Benjamin Gilbert and Family,"
by fhe Indians, in 1780, in verse, which had considerable
celebrity in its day. In 1787, his friend, Jonathan Ingham,^
dedicated to him an English translation of an epitaph of Theo-
critus.
POETS AND rOETRY OF BUCKS COUNTY 1 29
The family of Samuel Johnson, of Buckingham, had several
members who paid court to the muse. In his day he was the
most cultivated and scholarly man of the county. In a lady's
album he wrote :
"Lady. I thus meet thy request,
Else should I not have deemed it best
To scribble on this spotless page,
With this weak, trembling pen of age.
I've written in Time's album long,
Sketches of life with moral song,
Blotted in haste full many a leaf.
Whose list of beauties might be brief.
Could I some pleasing views now glean,
'Twould make at best a winter's scene ;
On the bleak side of seventy years
How sear the foliage appears ;
And frost-nipt flowers we strive in vain
By culture to revive again ;
The snows of time my temples strew,
Warning to bid the muse adieu."
In 1835 ]\Ir. Johnson wrote his "Vale of Lahaseka," (now
known as Lahaska, a charming valley in Buckingham township),
v/hich is noted for its pleasant flowing meter :
'"From the brow of Lahaseka, wide to the west
The eye sweetly rests on the landscape below ;
"Ti,s blooming as Eden, when Eden was blest.
And the sun lights its charm with his evening glow,
"Flow on lovely streamlet, in silvery pride,
From the hills on the west send your bounty afar.
As you brightly burst forth from their dark sylvan sides,
And fancy delight with your chrystaline car.
"To Friendship and Virtue may long be devoted
The Vale of Lahaseka, pride of the plains;
For charms intellectual her daughters be noted.
And Wisdom and Science enlighten'd her swains."
Mr. Johnson wrote much more ; amiong other things a humorous
poem, entitled, "The Banking Rats ; a Fable," portraying the
disastrous failure of a bank, something as applicable now as
then. The lines addressed to his wife on the fiftieth anniversary
of their marriage, and those on the "Harp," are considered
among his best productions. He was as genial and amiable as
cultivated. The two daughters of Samuel Johnson, Eliza, who
niarried Jonathan Pickering, and Ann, the wife of Thomas
Paxson, and mother of Judge Paxson, of the Supreme Court,
were both given to poetry. Mrs. Pickering addressed lines to
5
130 POETS AND POETRY OF BUCKS COUNTY
Halley's comet, after it had disappeared in 1835, beginning:
"Thou hast gone in thy brightness thou beautiful star,
With the train of refulgence that streamed from thy car;
Where Thilosophy's eagle flight never may soar,
Nor e'en Fancy's bold pinion attempt to explore."
Mrs. Paxson wrote considerable poetry, and much of it was
more than good. Her stanzas, entitled "A Thanksgiving," would
not discredit any pen :
"For the morning's ruddy splendor.
For the moontide's radiant glow.
For the golden smile of sunset.
Illuming all below ;
For flowers, thou types of Eden,
That gem the verdant sod,
And seem to ope their petals
To tell us of our God.
"For the memories that encircle
The happy days gone by;
For the holy aspirations
That lift the soul on high ;
For the hope in brighter regions,
By seraph footsteps trod.
To meet the lost and loved ones,
I thank thee, O my God."
Mrs. Paxson died recently at an advanced age.
The late Nicholas Biddle, who filled a large measure of dis-
tinction in his generation, was a Bucks countian in his life and
death. His beautiful home at Andalusia, was the seat of all
that was elegant in life. He was a man of careful cultivation,
and devoted his leisure on the banks of the Delaware to courting
the muse. He wrote some exquisite things. His most cele-
brated production was "An Ode to Bogle," written July 16,
1829, and is still remembered and quoted. "Bogle," a light
mulatto, was a well known character of the day, in Philadelphia,
who united the vocations of public waiter and undertaker, fre-
quently officiating at a funeral in the afternoon, and at a party
the evening of the same day, presenting, on all occasions, a
gravity of demeanor.
This character, whom Mr. Biddle calls " a colorless colored
man," is the hero of the ode.
POETS AND POETRY OF BUCKS COUNTY 13^
"Hail ! may'st thou. Bogle, for thy reign
Extends o'er Nature's wide domain;
Begins before our earliest breath,
Nor ceases with the hour of death.
Scarce seems the blushing maiden wed,
Unless thy care the supper spread ;
Half christened only were that boy
Whose heathen squalls our ears annoy,
If service finished, cakes and wine
Were given by any hand but thine.
And Christian burial e'en were scant
Unless his aid the Bogle grant.
"Nor less, stupendous man ! thy power
In festal than in funeral hour.
When gas and beauty's splendid rays
Sets hearts and ball-rooms in a blaze.
Or spermaceti's light reveals
More inward bruises than it heals.
In flames each belle her victim kills,
And sparks fly upward in quadrilles ;
Like icebergs in an Indian clime
Refreshing Bogle breathes sublime
Cool airs upon that sultry stream
From Roman punch and frosted cream."
This effusion closed with a stanza addressed to the author's
little granddaughter :
"Meta, thy riper years may know.
More of this world's fantastic show;
In thy time, as in mine, shall be
Burials and pound cake, beaux and tea ;
Rooms shall be hot and ices cold.
And flirts be both as 'twas of old.
"Love, too, and mint-sticks shall be made,
Somie dearly bought, some lightly weighed,
As true the hearts, the forms as fair,
An equal joy, and beauty there;
The smile as bright, as soft the ogle.
But never, never such a Bogle."
Fifty years ago, Samuel Blackfan, of Solebury, a farmer and
minister among Friends, who died in his wagon on the road
from Philadelphia, wrote considerable poetry, and among it a
piece entitled an "Ode to the Winter Sun," beginning :
"Fair fountain of heat.
In bleak Winter so sweet.
Every sensible person we'd perish ;
Yes, rather expire
Than to witness the fire.
Discontinue creation to cherish.
His lines addressed lo "The Belles," are not too old to be ap-
preciated at the present day :
132 POETS AND POETRY OF BUCKS COUNTY
"I apportion part of each week
To dressing my hair with a comb,
And the rend'ring it tidy and sleek,
Even when I continue at home.
But when I determine to visit
The house of a neighboring girl,
I adorn it, and trim it, and friz it
In front, mto many a curl."
The meter of the following, by the same, is charming:
"Meandering streams, romantic glades.
And winds that pass thro' twilight shades.
Retiring from the West ;
The saffron moon, the vernal grove.
Have still the magic power to move.
And harmonize the breast.''
Among the living poets of the county, Samuel Swain, of
Bristol, probably stands in the front rank. He, too, is a
Friend, and it is a singular fact to state, nevertheless true, that
the sweetest poetry of the county has been written by men and
women of this denomination. One of the best things from Mr.
Swain's pen is entitled "By the Sea," written at Ocean Grove,
in August, 1873 :
"Day after day I weary not of thee,
Blue wonder of the world ! and tune my ear
Morning and evening with a fresh delight
To thy unbroken hymn. My fitful heart
Takes home the lesson oif thy constant praise
Ashamed of its poor worship. I feel my soul,
With all its wavering purposes, ascend
To nobler range of power while gazing out
O'er the green desert of thy lillied waves
Climbing toward Heaven. My life and care
Grow paltry in thy light of visions born
At thy mysterious verge ! Out from myself
I travel on thy breast in search of Him
Who hold thy waters in his forming hand,
For no such causeway to the visible world.
As thine is mapped on matter! Evermore
Moving to purification, powerful.
Unchanged thro' centuries, what can lead like thee
To Thought's great Father?*'
The messengers
Of commerce whitening o'er thy perilous waste.
The nerves of lightnmg trembling thwart thy deep
Foundation floors, bearmg the messages
Of hope md fear, of joy and sobbing grief
From heart to parted heart, attune thy psalm.
With sweet triumphs and divine advance
Of human love and peace! The waves roll on
The progress of the world. They waft the fair
Kind messengers of Truth from land to land,
And link the fortunes of all climes !"
POUTS AXD POETRY OF PUCKS COUNTY 133
George Johnson, son of Edwni E. and Anna E. Johnson, of
Upper Makefield, born in 1845, and died in 1875, was a gifted
young man. His health was ruined by close attention to
his literary labors. His widow published a volume of his
poems shortly after his death, from which we select a few
stanzas from that entitled "Tears :'"
"Long ago, long ago.
Ah ! earth remembers well,
From our mourning mother's eyes,
On the dews of Paradise
The first tear fell—
The first of human woe !
Since then, since then.
From the eyes and hearts of men,
How full has been the flow.
"Tears of joy, tears of pain.
Some as sad as on the leaf,
Drops the dreary Autumn rain.
With a patient, meek despair ;
Some like April showers brief,
Wlhen the opening heavens again
Show even more fair.
O, delicious, balmy grief,
A kind of bl'ss thou art!
Thy tears destroy no bloom.
Tears that never outward start.
But fall inward on the heart.
There scar ard consume."
Among our later poets, T. S. Kenderdine, a quiet business
man of Newtown, ranks among the most gifted. He received
a good education, and began life by driving an ox-team to Salt
Lake, and made his way home via San Francisco and the Isth-
mus. He was an officer in the late war. He has written sev-
eral good things, among their. "The Graveyard," "The Old
Mill," "The Old Meeting House," an epic poem entitled "At
Gettysburg," in which battle his younger brother fell mortally
wounded, and others. I quote from "The Graveyard :"
"Like ghastly goblin sentinels.
Keeping their watch and ward.
The tombstones picket the field of death.
Solemnly standing guard.
Wearied with watching since time far gone,
Some lean over and some lie prone.
"The gates stand invitingly open.
Beckoning mortals to come ;
From the sandy soil, with little toil.
Can be scooped a mortal's home.
The populous charnal house seems to say,
Ho ! life-wearied children, come this way !
134 POETS AND POETRY OF BUCKS COUNTY
"A grim old man is the sexton,
With his well-worn mattack and spade ;
He joyously welcomes new-comers
To the fresh-dug home he has made.
He heareth, unmoved, the rattling clod,
And deftly pats the arching sod.'
In "The Old Mill," of Mr. Kenderdine, we find the same
pleasant, flowing meter :
"Half hidden by weeping willows.
At the foot of a wood-crowned hill,
Nestling in quiet beauty.
Stands the old grist-mill.
Its roof is seamed and moss-covered,
And tottering is its wall.
And silent and still is the old water-wheel,
All clasped in Time's enthrall,
******
"Hark! how the mill-stones rumble
As the golden grain leaps through.
List to the chattering "damsel"
Shaking the aguish "shoe,"
Swiftly is gliding the beUing,
The cogs whirl round in a maze,
And with mute surprise in my juvenile eyes,
I wondering stand and gaze.
"There stands the miller musing
On the ups and downs of corn.
His form appears bowed down with years
And the weighty sacks he's borne.
Dust wraps him round like a halo,
Dented and dinged is his hat — â–
An honest old man was the miller, I ween,
Though, on dit, his swine were fat.
"Weighing out quarters of flour,
Measuring bushels of feed.
Plenty of grist-work his dower,
Plenty of water his need.
Toiling from morn till even,
Grinding the golden grain.
When death one day chanced over that way
And heavenward jogged the twain."
If time would permit I could quote from a number of other
male poets, whose verse gives no offense to the muse. Let me
mention in this throng, more or less gifted, Henry Greatorex,
whose effusions saw the light through the "box" of the "Lum-
berville Literary and Debating Society;" William C. Ely, son
of Jesse, near Carversville who was fond of music, literature
and poetry from his youth, and who died in the West half a
century ago ; Martin J. Heed, the artist, of Lumberville ; Cyrus
Livezey, of Lumberville, all of who { earliest productions found
POETS AND POETRY OF BUCKS COUNTY 135
their way through the same "box ;" Jerome Buck, of Doyles-
town, a lawyer of New York, who treads the paths of Hterature
in his leisure hours, and others.
Among the female poets Octavia E. Hill, who spent several
years in Doylestown, married Henry J. Fahnestock, a
merchant of Gettysburg, and died suddenly four months after-
wards, was one of the most gifted. She possessed decided ability,
and perseverance in her literary labors, and a quick imagina-
tion. She died at thirty, in the midst of a useful life. During
the war she wrote much poetry of a martial character. Her
"Lenten Thoughts,'' some of her friends esteem her best ; of
them I give a few stanzas :
"The loving, joyous Christmas-tide is o'er
The startled Magi seek the babe no more.
The mother-wail is hushed on Rama's shore,
"The Forty Days of Satan's tempting near,
The purple robe, the crown of thorns appear —
Afar, the cry of "crucify," we hear.
"As earth awaketh from her winter's sleep
Our souls awake to sense of sin, so deep
That penitence can only pray and weep.
"While early blossoms haste to hail the spring,
And homeward-flying birds her message bring.
We lay our hearts before our suffering King."
Mrs. Emily F. Seal, of Buckingham, daughter of Joseph
Fell, and wife of William T, Seal, now of Philadelphia, wrote
"Under the Stars," beginning:
"The moon moves grandly up the sky.
The snow hills flash its radiance back.
The cold snow-hills that stilly lie
Along the highway's beaten track.
Or stretch far out among the fields.
Topped by the fences, old and gray.
And flank'd by naked woodland shields
As still and bare and bleak as they.
"The Christmas fires burn bright and clear,
Shaming the moonbeams through the pane,
rhe steady tramp of the coming year
Echoes from mountain unto man.
The young New Year, with a joyous bound.
Steps where the Old Year, moaning, dies.
Well may he shake the grey beard round.
And scorn him as in death he lies."
Miss Laura W. White, of Newtown, has written on several
subjects, but none, in our judgment, are superior to her "Beauti-
ful Rain :"
136 POETS AND POETRY OF BUCKS COUNTY
"Oh ! the rain, the beautiful rain,
Tapping against the window-pane,
Whirled about by the wind in its glee.
Sprinkling with diamonds each evergreen tree-
Raining, falling, dripping for hours.
Refreshing the roots of the withered May flowers.
Scattering the dust in the beaten by-path,
Making the daisies and violets laugh —
Beautiful rain from the heaven above,
Sent by God in His bountiful love.
"Oh ! the rain, the beautiful rain.
Filling with mioisture the valley and plain.
Cleansing the dirt and filth from the streets, ^
Drenching the garments of all whom it meets."
If time would permit I might go on and quote from others
of our female poets : Sidney L. Anderson ; Catharine Mitchell,
who published a volume of poems entitled "The Minstrel's
Bride;" Lizzie VanDeventer, of Richborough; Rebecca Smith,
daughter of Mahlon Smith, of Tinicum; Lizzie Lloyd, Mrs. M.
A. Heston, of Newton, and others. I regret that time will not
permit me to give selections from their effusions. I have met
with but one poet among the German population of our county,
but no doubt there have been others — Daniel Home, of Rich-
land, born about 1800, and died about 1836. He wrote a num-
ber of ballads, some of a religious cast, in German and English,
but none of them has come down to us. They were quite
popular throughout the upper end of the county fifty years ago.
1 know of but one hymn written by a Bucks countian. The
author of this was Rev. Oliver Hart, born in Warminster, in
1723; preached at Charleston, South Carolina, from 1749 to
1780, and died at Hopewell, New Jersey, in 1795. He was a
cultivated and eloquent man, and wrote considerable devotional
poetry. The following hymn, written at a season of great trial,
was published after his death:
" Foreboding thoughts and gloom}- fears
Crowd thick into my breast ;
Perplexing doubts and anxious cares
Forbid my soul to rest.
" Happ}- ye saints, above the skies.
Beyond the reach of woe ;
Dear Lord, corrimand my soul to rise,
With joyful haste I'll go.
" The world, in sackcloth and distress,
I'd leave beneath my feet ;
And, mounting in a Heavenly dress,
I would my Saviour meet."
The Schools of Buckingham.
BY ELIZABETH LLOYD, LANSDOW'N, PA.
(Buckingham Meeting, October 25, 18S3).
When we trace the history of any nation back to its origin,
we are apt to tind its beginnings obscured by traditions of doubt-
ful authenticity ; so when we attempt to sketch the earhest efforts
to advance the cause of education in Buckingham, even though
we do not go back two centuries in our researches, we are not
•quite sure how much is fact and how much is tradition.
One author tells us that between the years 1704 and 1730, a
certain Thomas Watson attempted to establish in the township
a school for the Indians ; in the midst of his labors the small-
pox broke out and his educational efforts came to an untimely
end. We learn from another source that the Indian school
story is probably a' myth, but that Thomas Watson was a real
personage, and many descendants bearing his name have won
the esteem of their fellow-citizens. He left two sons, Thomas
and John. The second Thomas had a son John, who taught
school for a time, probably in Buckingham, and afterward be-
came a famous surveyor, and helped to survey the boundary
iDetween Delaware and Pennsylvania at the time of the dispute
"between the Penns and Lord Baltimore. Surveyor John left
no children.
John, the son of the first Thomas, studied medicine and be-
came a doctor; his son Joseph and his grandson John followed
the same profession; the latter is remembered by some of the
present inhabitants as Dr. John Watson ; during the latter part
•of his life he retired from the practice of his profession and de-
voted part of his time to literary pursuits ; he wrote two essays
on temperance, which were published in pamphlet form in 1810
and 1813.
Dr. John's son John was the first teacher of the Buckingham
Friends' schools ; his son Richard Watson was at one time a
teacher of the Hughesian school, and is now president-judge of
Bucks county.
In 1754 Adam Harker, a member of the Society of Friends,
138 SCHOOLS OF BUCKINGHAM
left a legacy of £35 to Wrightstown and ±40 to Buckingham
Monthly Meeting, for educational purposes ; the fruits of the
latter legacy will be noted farther on.
Next in order of time comes a curious old lease bearing the
date 1768, and written in a hand that puts to shame the illegi-
bility of many of our modern penmen. This was the lease of
a tract of land for school purposes, situated in Wrightstown,
(near where Wrightstown, Upper jMakefield and Buckingham!
come together), for the mutual accommodation of children of the
three townships. This land was leased "for and during the full
time the Walls of a certain House now building on said Land
shall by them, their Heirs or Assigns be thought sufficient to
bear a Roof," the yearly rent thereof to be one pepper-corn. The
aforesaid house was finished and school held therein for many
years ; but it was long since torn down and its site is now oc-
cupied by other buildings.
Another school which was famous in times past (but not in
times quite so long past) was Martha Hampton's boarding and
day school for girls, held in a large house still standing at Green-
ville, now occupied by three families. Many of the matrons
of the township look back with pleasure to the days spent there
and give honor to the name of her whose instructions have add-
ed so much to the value of their lives.
So celebrated was this girls' school, kept by a woman, that
even in days when women's rights were rather in the back-
ground, the boys clamored for a share of the educational advan-
tages ; and a few favored ones, such as Chief Justice Edward M.
Paxson and Judge Richard Watson, John Buckman, and others,
were admitted to the hallowed precincts of what, before their
advent, some wag had christened "the nunnerv'."'
In 1789 thirty-two of the citizens of Buckingham subscribed
the sum of £99 i8s. 3^d. with which Tyro Hall school-house
was built. As nearly as can be ascertained, the house then built
is now called the old Tyro Hall school-house; but the oldest in-
habitants say there was a still older house there whose founda-
tions they remember seeing not far from where this building
stands. Tyro Hall is one of the famous schools of our town-
ship, and many boys and girls climbed well up the ladder of learn
ing within its historic walls.
SCHOOLS OF BUCKINGHAM 139
The first action taken towards establishing the Buckingham
Friends' school was 2d-month 6th, 1792, when a committee was
appointed by the Monthly Meeting to circulate a subscriptio^n
paper among the members ; in this way ^759 were raised for a
school fund. It was decided a few months afterward that the
Adam Marker legacy, which now amounted to £245 13s. 8d. be
used to educate the children of poor Friends. Since then
legacies have been added by Joseph Walker, Jonathan Ingham
and Thomas Watson. The school building was erected about
1794, and as it was well built, it still stands as good as new,
and has been used for school purposes ever since.
At the time of the separation, the school fund was divided,
and the orthodox branch of the society built a meeting-house
and a school-house a few rods farther east. During at least a
part of the time after the passage of the public-school law, the
teachers in this house were paid by the township, and the school
is spoken of in the minutes of the school-board as the Oak
Grove school. The house still stands, but the school has been
discontinued for several years.
The Meeting established schools at Carvesville, Forestville,
and it is thought at Bushington, soon after the opening of the
one at Buckingham. In 1855 it leased the land, on which the
Forestville building stood, to the township, for six cents a year;
the township then erected the house which now stands there.
A closer examination of the records would probably show the
date on which Bushington school passed from under the control
of Friends, and into the hands of the directors.
The old Union school-house, since replaced by a larger and
better building, was erected in 1823. Concord is one of the
old schools; the itemized account for building it is still in ex-
istence, but no date is affixed; the cost of the building was $710;
it has been repaired in recent years, and is still a good house.
Church's school is so called because the land on which it stands
was deeded by Joseph Church. The building now called Hick-
ory Grove replaced one known to the school-board as the oc-
tagon, but to the common people as the eight-square-school
house. The land on which Independent school-house stands
was deeded to the township in 1843. Friendship was built in
1848 and Greenville about 1863. In 1882, the Friends having
140 SCHOOLS OF BUCKINGHAM
decided to receive into their school at Buckingham only those
who had made some advancement in learning, the township
opened a school in the second story of the Friends' building,
so that at this date there are eleven public-schools in the town-
ship of Buckingham.
Besides these and the Friends' school, there is one other de-
serving of more than a passing mention, the Hughesian free
school at Centerville. In 1811 Amos Austin Hughes left a
farm of ninety-one acres and $8,000 m money, to establish a
school to educate, and if need be, board and clothe the poor
children of the township. This fund was allowed to accumulate
until 1 84 1, when a school-house was erected. For several years
the teachers were employed by the township. Joseph Fell was
the first teacher employed and paid by the Hughesian trustees.
Before the passage of the school law, the several schools then
existing in Buckingham were supported, as elsewhere, by the
patrons of the school, who paid the teachers a certain sum for
each pupil, the township paid something towards the schooling
of poor children; and Friends, as they have always done, made
provision for the education of the children of such of rheir
members as could not themselves afford to pay. But with the
passage of the school law these things were changed, and rich
and poor met together in our schools on the same footing.
Among the documents kindly furnished for reference, are the
minutes of the first three annual meetings of directors. When
the school law was first passed it was left to the citizens of
each township to decide whether they would have free schools
or not, and Buckingham (to her shame be it said) voted "no
school" for several years, and so the directors only met annually.
Here is a copy of the minutes of their first meeting :
At a meeting of the school directors of Buckingham township,
held at the house of E. Wilkinson, September 25, 1834, James
Jamison was appointed president of the board and Jesse Reeder
secretary. Pryor Kirk was appointed a delegate- to the joint
meeting of delegates and commissioners to be held in the court-
house on the first Tuesday in November next. Joel Worth-
ington appointed treasurer.
First Class. — Pryor Kirk, Joel Worthington.
Second Class. — James Jamison, William Beans.
SCH001.S OF BUCKINGHAM I4I
Third Class. — Jessie Reeder, Robert Smith.
Jamks Jamison, President.
Attest â– â– Jesse Reeder, Secretary.
The next year, the terms of the first two having expired,
Henry Woodman (father of the present director of that name)
and Seneca Fell were duly elected in their places ; and the next
year Joel Worthington and Anthony Rich were elected in place
of the second two. Here there is a break in the records until
1850, when they are entered in a book ; the probability is that
there is another minute book containing the missing records ;
if so, whoever has it should place it in the hands of the present
school-board, and they should see that all the old minute books
are put in a safe place, as such volumes have an historical value
far greater than their apparent worth.
The school law met with opposition even in Bucks county, and
it is rumored that there are a few benighted citizens yet remain-
ing in our township who find their comparatively light taxes
grievous burdens to be borne, and sigh unavailingly for a re-
turn of the good old times. In 1850, numerous petitions were
sent to the Legislature, asking for a repeal of that portion of
the school law which made the maintenance of public-schools
obligatory. It was at this time that the following letter was
addressed to a citizen of Buckingham who was deeply interested
in the cause of education :
Senate Chamber, Harrisburg, Pa.
February 15, 1S50.
Respected Friend: — In reply to thy communication of the 13th inst., I
may state that there is no probabihty of the repeal of that provision of the
act which makes the school law general in its application. The subject was
before the committee on education, who reported adversely thereto, an im-
perfect copy of which report I herewith enclose. It is \i\y duty \.o present
all proper petitions which are sent me, however I may dissent from the
views of the petitioners, though I would for the credit of the county that no
more of that kind should be sent, since the subject has been considered and
decided against ; hence the petitions are ordered to lie on the table as mere
waste paper. I remain,, very respectfully, thy friend.
To Henry Woodman. Benjamin Malone.
The early records of the meetings of the school-board refer
to frequent examinations by them of those desiring to teach ;
but when the office of county superintendent was created, di-
rectors were relieved of this onerous duty. The first and second
superintendents of Bucks county schools, Joseph Fell and William
H. Johnson, were both sons of Buckingham, and had won an
142 SCHOOLS OF BUCKINGHAM
enviable reputation while teaching in her schools. Indeed, so
many eminent citizens acquired the rudiments of their educa-
tion in the schools of our township that we feel proud of her
record ; and it behooves us to see that her future be not unworthy
of her past.
If the roll-books could be carefully examined, we doubt not
that we should find the names of some who afterwards attained
distinction in every one. Several years ago, when the reunion of
the teachers and pupils of the Hughesian school was held, it was
discovered that most of the famous men and wom-
en of the township had been connected with it at some time
in their lives; and doubtless other schools, if justice were done
them, would not fall far behind it. Union school claims a
judge, a general, and a California millionaire.
But the "History of Bucks County" gives the precedence in this
respect to the Friends' school on Buckingham hill. Accord-
ing to that authority it may boast, besides the two county superin-
tendents already named, five judges, at least five directors, two
generals (Andrew Jackson Smith and John Ely) and three
members of Dr. Kane's exploring expedition. The judges, as
you all know, are Hon. Edward M. Paxson, of the Supreme
Court of Pennsylvania, Hon. Richard Watson, of Bucks county,
Hon. Hampton Watson, of Kansas, (recently deceased) Hon.
Alfred Shaw, of New Orleans and Hon. D. Newlin Fell of Phila-
delphia. We might infer from this unusually brilliant galaxy
that there is something in the training of Friends which fosters
what is known as a "judicial mind," but on this theory how can
we account for the two generals, and for the roving propensities
which sent three of its boys in search of the North Pole.
Whether any of the pupils now in attendance at this school
shall attain as great fame as that reached by the boys thirty
or forty years ago, only the future can tell us. The course of
study covers as much ground now as it ever did, and within a
few weeks the school has been added to the list of those whose
graduates are admitted to the freshman class of Swarthmore
College without further examination. But all experience proves
that the mastery of a few things is better than a smattering of
many things ; and that the motto of every school should be,
"Not how much, but how well."
BUCKINGHAM FRIENDS MEETING-HOUSE.
Erected 1768. Used for a time during the Revolutionary war as an hospital.
The successor of a stone meeting-house erected 1731, which was
destroyed by fire in 1768. The stone house of 1731 was the
successor of a frame meeting-house built in 1721.
(From photograph taken August, 1908.)
REMINISCENCES OF BUCKINGHAM 143
The real glon- of the schools of a township is not found in
the number of great men which they produce ; genius can take
care of itself always ; it is mediocrity that needs to be encourag-
ed. It should be the aim of our schools to make of all their
pupils, not celebrites, but honest, industrious, intelligent citizens ;
and so as we look around us on every hand, we find the true
monument to the teachers of the past in the many happy homes
of Buckingham.
Reminiscences of Buckingham.
BY HON. HENRY CHAPMAN, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Buckingham Meeting, October 23, 1883).
The Historical Society of Bucks County deserves the coun-
tenance and encouragement of every intelligent citizen, for its
aim is commendable, and the result of its operation may be
most interesting and useful. The future is to us a blank page,
in which we can take a lesson from the realm of experience.
We may give reign to the imagination and indulge in specula-
tion, but 'like the prediction of the weather-wise or the fortune-
teller, our affected wisdom is bounded by a guess ; and so the
prognostications of the signal office, or the calculations of the
astronomer, to be truthful, must be based on the fixed and im-
mutable laws of nature, and well known facts. We know not
what to-morrow may bring forth; and it is only when the sun
rises in the morning that the seal of the day is broken. It is
not so with the past. Much of it is, and more of it may be made
secure. We have but to search with diligence the archives, that
abound throughout our county, and consult those whose recol-
lections reach beyond the grasp of the present generation, to
gather an abundant harvest of matters connected with the past,
a conspicuous array of examples, either to be admired and
imitated, or to be avoided; and there is much in this pursuit
to charm the antiquary. Who is to obtuse and unreflecting, as
not to derive pleasure, as well as profit, from an acquaintance
with his labors?
There is no branch of learning so comprehensive as history,
for its dominion embraces everything in the past. It is a book
144 REMINISCENCES OF BUCKINGHAM
in which may be read the Hves of distinguished men ; details of
the rise, decUne and fall of nations ; representations of the man-
ners, customs and habits of the various people, who have inhabited
this globe; of great events, which have changed the destiny of
empires ; and of the wonderful inventions of this and other ages.
How many have revelled over the pages of Herodotus, Plutarch,
Hume, Gibbon, Macaulay, Irving, Prescott, Bancroft and others,
and drawn from these sources a fund of knowledge, and found,
in the various experiences of mankind, lessons applicable to
every walk in life ; or traced out the road that leads to happiness
and prosperity, and the causes that point to degradation and
misery? If we seek for an example of lofty patriotism, where
shall we find it purer than in Washington? If we go in quest
of an oracle of common sense, where can we meet it, if not in
Franklin? If we look for a profound and philosophical states-
man, where is there an illustration if not presented in Edmund
Burke? If we turn to the list of philanthropists, where shall
we discover a greater than Wilber force, who never ceased in
his labors for the oppressed? If we are in search of a heart
that melted at the afflictions of others, and one whose life was
devoted to the alleviation of the misery and sufiferings of his
fellowman, where shall we be rewarded, if not in the history of
John Howard? And many more of like virtues, hold a place
on the historical page.
It has been charged against the generation of to-day, that it
is too much engrossed by the present, and that there is a great
want of respect for old things and old ways ; and like the people
of Athens, whom Socrates in his wisdom undertook to instruct
and correct, thereby unjustly suffering martyrdom, each genera-
tion is continually running after some new thing. This certainly
is not the course to make either a wise man, or a learned man,
or perhaps a happy man. It is not saying overmuch to remark,
that the teachings of the past furnish a rich fountain, to which
all may resort with eminent advantage ; as they contribute to the
discipline and expansion of the mind, and the promotion of
sourd morals, industry, and well being here, and to peace
hereafter.
Though this society is still in its infancy, there have been
many interesting documents and relics deposited in its treasury.
REMINISCENCES OF BUCKINGHAM 145
I do not belong to that class of persons who feel or effect a con-
tempt for old things. A clock, a cup, table, chair or case-of-
drawers which may count a century or more of years, if it can-
not narrate its early history, may still have many fond associ-
ations clustering around it, or traditions connected with its
former use. And, while in some respects modern ingenuity and
skill may surpass it in ornamentatio'U, they sometimes fail in the
matter of comfort and utility. I greatly admire the sentiment
which places value in such things ; for it harmonizes with, and
is closely allied to, that which all profess to esteem, to wit, re-
spect and reverence for old age in man and woman. And in
this place, to illustrate the importance and interest that some-
times centre round an old thing, I will detail some circumstances
connected wnth one.
Many years ago, a man who lived on a farm of about one
hundred acres of land, situated in Buckingham, came to the
office of a lawyer in Doylestown, with a view to employ him in an
action of ejectment which had been instituted against him to
recover possession of the said farm. The client brought with him
a copy of his father's will. The lawyer carefully read it, finding
a clause by which the farm was devised to the client,
the defendant, in fee simple ; and the attorney told the
client if his father's title was good, he need have no fear of the
result, but that the father's title was a matter that must be looked
into. In the course of time the suit was called for trial in court.
It is well known that a plaintiff' or party who brings an action
of ejectment must rely upon the strength of his own title, and
not upon the weakness of his adversary's ; consequently it was
incumbent on the plaintiff to exhibit in the first place a valid
title. However defective the defendant's title might be, the
latter was not obliged to surrender his possession to one who
had no better right than he had. The plaintiff' by his counsel,
presented his case and showed conclusively that the title by
which the testator and father of the defendant held the farm
was limited to an estate-tail, and therefore the father had no
right to devise the farm to any one ; but that in accordance
with the nature of such an estate it passed to the eldest son, who
was the plaintiff in the case and elder brother of the defendant.
146 RKMINISCENCES OF BUCKINGHAM
But there was one point it was requisite for the plaintiff to es-
tabHsh, which was that he who had created the estate-tail had
a good title to the farm, or had died seized of the same ; and at
this juncture the proof failed. There was one, and but one,
link wanting to complete the chain, which neither argument,
sophistry nor conjecture could supply. The result was a verdict
for the defendant. He left the court-room rejoicing, and on his
way home was greatly cheered by the glad tidings he bore to his
anxious family.
It is known that one verdict in an action of ejectment does
not ordinarily determine the right, and therefore the way was
open to the plaintiff to make another appeal to the legal tribunal.
He did so, and the same ground was gone over as on the pre-
vious trial. The case was spread out before the court and jury
by the plaintiff's counsel in its former crippled condition, with
the fatal chasm gaping forth, and the missing link as absent as
ever. At this stage, the president judge, who had become im-
patient and was prepared to turn the plaintiff and his case out
of court; (for it appeared like an abuse of patience, to repeat
what seemed to be a farce before a dignified tribunal) ; speak-
ing in a peremptory tone, said "gentlemen, counsel for the
plaintiff, are you through?" The elder one responded, "not
quite, sir," and then rose, his tall and exceptionally well pro-
portioned figure, commanding presence and intellectual features
looming above all surroundings, while there was something ob-
viously ominous in his manner; to the surprise of the court, the
jury, the defendant and his counsel ; (for its existence had not been
made known before), he produced a little piece of paper, brown
as a leaf in November, which, scarce larger than one's hand,
now rose like a cloud above the horizon of the case, and smote
with ruin the defendant's cause. His overthrow was complete.
The missing link had been found. He returned home with a
heavy heart, and with far different tidings from those he had
carried to his family on the former occasion. His antagonist's
title was so fully established that it was believed that any further
contest on his part would be useless in regard to the Bucking-
ham farm.
Now there is a history pertaining to the discovery of this in-
significant looking piece of brown paper, which I will narrate.
REMINISCENCES OF BUCKINGHAM 147
During the interval that elapsed between the rendition of the
verdict in the first suit^ and trial of the second, two venerable
and intelligent gentlemen, who had reached that period in life,
when the mind is apt to recur with peculiar interest to the past,
met together. They were especially fond of antiquarian re-
search. It was, perhaps, on a still summer afternoon, they met
at the residence of one of them, in Buckingham, not far from
where you are now assembled. The history of the past was
freely reviewed until, animated by the interesting subject, the
one at whose house the meeting took place, suggested that there
was an old chest in the loft, which had not been disturbed for
many years, and that doubtless its contents would reveal much
that related to persons and things of by-gone days. The chest
was then brought down from its long resting place to the sitting-
room, and these two old gentlemen entered upon their anti-
quarian feast. Paper after paper was drawn forth, all with
the palpable signs of age upon them. Here, we may imagine
was an old deed, executed in the days of Queen Anne ; there,
some minute of an ancient Monthly Meeting of Friends ; here a
marriage certificate of persons who had long before been carried
to their graves ; and there, family records and genealogies ; and
at length was exumed a little brown paper, at first sight unat-
tractive, but on examination found to be of special value and
importance. This was the missing link of which you have al-
ready heard ; and here in the old chest it had slumbered for
more than half a century, to be thus by accident brought to
light. You have been informed how successfully it performed
its office as it filled up the chasm in the plaintifif's title, like a
link in a well wrought golden chain. It rightly came into the
possession of the plaintiff. But for this forgotten or unknown
scrap of paper — this old thing — a farm of one hundred acres in
Buckingham would not have changed hands.
Buckingham, I believe, has never had a traveler, who can
be compared with Bruce. Humboldt, or Dr. Livingstone, but
still many of its native born have gone to other places in quest
of fame and fortune, and been rewarded. Buckingham, how-
ever, has one traveler who has acquired such a world-wide
notoriety, that he well deserves a place in its history, and here
permit me to indulge in a rhetorical license, called a prosopopoeia,
148 REMINISCENCES OF BUCKINGHAM
that is, the application of a personal pronoun to an inanimate
object.' He was born and reared in this vicinity. But the exact
date of his birth I cannot give; it occurred many years ago,
and he therefore may be called an early settler. Nor am I able
to define his lineage, and perhaps it would puzzle the most
astute antiquary to do so. There is one general and by no means
definite solution of this enigma, which may be ventured. His
ancestor, like that of the whole human race, may be traced to
the Garden of Eden; and he may point to his genealogical tree,
as it there flourished. He is to be found where the red breast
and oriole build their nests, and warble their sweet notes to the
rising and setting sun. He is, perhaps, found on the shores of the
Pacific Ocean, on the margins of the broad rivers, and on the
boundless prairies of the West, and possibly in every state of
the Union. He is always a welcome guest at social meetings,
in long winter evenings ; and never departs from the paths of
rectitude, tmless transformed into a condition, for wdiich he him-
self is not responsible.' He has, it is true, a red face, but for
which, in justice to him, it should be said he is neither indebted
to internal nor external appliances. The red is always laid on
by the cunning hand of nature. He is an acquaintance, who
if met by a native of Buckingham in any part of the world,
will be greeted with delight. Probably you have already dis-
covered who the traveler here referred to is, for he still has
his foot on this soil, and when the dew of April or beam of
May unfolds the lush woodbine or calls from its winter sleep
the trailing-arbutus, wh'ich abounds upon this pleasant eminence,
and which, often delighted in youthful hours, wnth their bright
eves, happy faces, and holiday attire, the grandmothers of some
who are here assembled together; it is then he comes forth with
an exuberant promise, and adorns the landscape with a fascinat-
ing blush of floral beauty, and but rarely violates his promise.
It is needless to say that this traveler, now become almost as
famous as the golden apples grov/n in the garden of the Hes-
perides, is the Smith's cider-apple, w^hicli with a distant relative,
the Seckel pear, found a long time ago in a hedge, on the
peninsula, called the Neck, below Philadelphia, is making a
tour of the whole world.
Two great roads pass through Buckingham, and cross each
REMINISCENCES OF BUCKINGHAM 149
other at nearly right angles, at Centerville, the Durham and
the Old York roads. They were great thoroughfares in the
olden time, and found a place in history. The latter has un-
dergone some change, hut from Philadelphia to the Delaware
it will be known par excellence, as the (Jld York road. In
former times, though perhaps within the memory of many here,
there was a public conveyance which traveled over this road and
had emblazoned on its panels the auspicious name "The
Swift Sure." This Flying Childers would, it was confidently
asserted, carry a passenger from Philadelphia, barring accidents
and snow drifts, to New York, or the ferry this side, in at most
three days. It was a four-horse coach, ahd driven by a class
of men who have generally vanished out of sight now that
stages have almost invariably become but carriers and distribu-
tors of railroad passengers.
It is not my purpose to draw any disparaging contrast be-
tween them and the drivers of the present time. The latter
are usually a worthy and accommodating set of persons, and
their turnouts are adapted to the requirements of the occasion.
I propose to speak of stage coaching in former days. A sketch
of one driver and his equipage, as they appeared on the Old
York road, will serve for all others. He was a man of impor-
tance and sat on the box, behind his obedient and then fashionable
bob-tailed steeds, with an air of self-consequence, that rivaled
the high bearing of a marshal at the head of a military division.
He then had no competitor, such as the lightning express, to
subdue his pride or make him ashamed. He carried, and was
the custodian of, the great United States mail, between New
York and Philadelphia, and as he swept along through this
Buckingham valley, followed by a cloud of dust, it was be-
neath his dignity to give an inch to the luckless traveler who
chanced to meet him. He scorned such injunctions as, "Turn
to the right, as the law directs."
"Like to the Pontic sea.
Whose icy current and compulsive force,
Ne'er feels retiring ebb. but keeps due 'on,
To the Propontic and the Hellespont."
Besides the United States mail, he had a little private pouch,
in which many a wayside letter found its clandestine depository.
This was long before the days of stamps and one-cent postal-
150 REMINISCENCES OF BUCKINGHAM
cards. He was ever ready to execute errands, and carry mes-
sages; and was wont to take compassion on a poor weary wan-
derer, and pick him up. He had a language pecuHar to him-
self. It consisted mainly of slang phrases, or preposterous com-
parisons, or misplaced words, which, superadded to a natural
vein of humor, never failed to amuse, and often provoked the
laughter of the passenger who sat by his side. Though always
quick at repartee, he seldom, if ever, made a disparaging remark
about any one, or "set down aught in malice." He was rather
addicted to boasting, for he wished to impress his passengers
with the most favorable opinion of the region through which
they journeyed, and likewise of its inhabitants. If a slang word
came bounding through the country, passing from mouth to
mouth, as it often did, he would catch it up and play upon it,
till another took its place. His four-in-hand, of which he was
always proud, were usually well selected, and not such as the
poet describes.
" Poor sorry jades,
That lob down their heads, and hang their hips and sides,
The gum down roping from their pale dead
And in their pale, cold mouths, the gimmal bit,
Hangs loose with chewed grass, still and motionless,
And their executors, the knavish crows.
Flying o'er their heads, impatient for their hour."
He had a name for each horse. After a brisk trot over the
level, he would rein in at the foot of a long hill; this, for in-
stance, close at hand, and sleepily crawl to its top. And now
while the wheels would grind the pebbles beneath their slow rev-
olutions with harsh grating accent, he would have a dialogue
with his pets. He would sometimes speak to them in a patronizing
strain, all in his peculiar jargon, sometimes argue with them;
and sometimes a refractory steed would receive a paternal scold-
ing; and he half believed all knew exactly what he said. If
Snowball had chanced to trip or shy at a heap of stones on
the level, he would receive a caution in the severest language
to be found in his master's vocabulary. So the discourse would
run on, until the summit of the hill was reached ; and then, with
an inclination of his body, he would let fly from his whip-stock,
the long lash, that reached high over the leaders' heads, caus-
ing a report like that of a rifle, and making every horse leap
wildly into the air. But presently, they would settle down to a
REMINISCENCES OF BUCKINGHAM I5I
uniform stride. He would now pour forth a volley of slang-
epithets, hardly in sufficient good taste to have a place in a
literary composition ; but highly amusing, when accompanied by
the manner, expression and utterances of the spokesman.
Thus he measured mile after mile, sometimes on the plain, and
sometimes toiling up an ascent, till approaching an inn, he would
then slacken pace, and allcnv a little time for his team to take
breath and be refreshed. When wdthin a few hundred yards
of the said inn, he would draw forth his horn, and with sundry
blasts, announce his coming; at the same time each horse would
prick up his ears with delight. Then there was running to and
fro ; the hostler, with his buckets of water ; the innkeeper hope-
fully rushing behind the bar; the loungers in greedy expecta-
tion of seeing a crowd of strange faces, and the famous tally-
ho; and the boys on the lookout for the great Jehu on the box,
who came thundering up with renewed speed, and with a
freshness that appeared marvelous, for none knew the prepara-
tion that had been employed to attain it; the imposing spectacle,
was brought to a close by a sudden stop which made the house
quake. There was bustle and stir for a time, as if a new era
had dawned upon the place ; but at length the journey was re-
sumed, and all about the inn subsided into its usual monotonous
quiet. Though the stage-driver of former days may not be
considered of sufficient importance to claim a niche in history,
still it is not proper he should be entirely forgotten, for he pos-
sessed certain peculiarities and characteristics, which are not
common at this time, and perhaps, ere long may not be ex-
hibited again ; the remembrance of these is retained by fewer
and fewer all the while. He was a jolly fellow, and if he had
his faults, let the maxim, ''De mortibus nil nisi honum," be ap-
plied to him. As for the four-horse coach, it has nearly
everywhere dwindled into a mere appendage of the railroad.
The Old York road in Revolutionary times, was a great
thoroughfare. General Washington, with his army, after he
had broken camp at Valley Forge, passed over it on his way
to New Jersey. It was while his troops rested upon the slope
of the hill, which lies a short distance to the east of Doylestown,
that he made his headquarters at the mansion long owned and
possessed by the Fell family. There it is probable he wrote the
152 REMINISCENCES OF BUCKINGHAM
letter headed, "Ten miles from Coryell's Ferry :" a copy of
which many of you may have seen. From there he marched
to the Old York road, and by it to the Delaware. When this
road was the common route from Philadelphia to New York,
and especially during the Revolution, no doubt many of die
leading and most distinguished men of our Nation journeyed
over it; but few, if any, however, have left a record of the fact.
There is an atmosphere surrounding this road as it passes
through Buckingham valley, which often has a happy influence
upon the spirits of the wayfarer ; for in either direction it
always seems to lead to some place of interest ahead; and is not
like many others, which possess no charm, excite no emotion,
and promise no destination worthy of notice. And what more
contributes to the development of this atmosphere than the at-
tractive scene presented; the bold mountain, with its beautiful
Indian name ; the broad acres of productive land ; the evidences
of mineral wealth, much of which has been mingled with and
has fertilized the earth in many places, far and near; the sub-
stantial dwellings, and accompanying structures that abound ;
and the general appearance of thrift and prosperity, everywhere
conspicuous. Truly for these reasons, as well as because of its
locality, may Buckingham be styled the central star in the con-
stellation of surrounding districts.
Bucks County in the Revolution.
BY GEN. \V. \V. H. DAVIS, DOVLESTOWN, PA.
(Buckingham Meeting, October 23, 1S83.)
Bucks county has a Revolutionary histor}- both interesting-
and honorable. Her location made her the scene of many im-
portant events in that memorable struggle. Around her, and
within a few hours' travel, are the Hall of Independence, where
constitutional liberty was born ; and the battle-fields of Trenton,
Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Red Bank, Monmouth,
and the bleak hills of Valley Forge. On three occasions the
Continental army, with W.ashington at its head, marched across
the county, and on her soil that great chieftain and his shattered
battalions took refuge in December, 1776, behind the friendly
waters of the Delaware, when sore pressed by the enemy.
\\'hen the war was found to be inevitable, Bucks was one of
the first counties to act. As early as July 9, 1774, several of
her leading citizens, among which were Joseph Hart of War-
minister, and John \\^ilkinson of Buckingham, were appointed
to represent Bucks at a meeting of all the county committees
at Philadelphia. At that meeting Joseph Hart was chairman
of a committee that reported in favor of "a congress of deputies
from all the colonies," the first action of the kind taken. A
committee of safety for the county was appointed the i6th of
January, 1775, of which Joseph Hart was chairman, and John
Chapman, clerk.
When Congress authorized an army, the young men of
Bucks sprang forward to defend their county. John Lacey,
an orthodox Quaker of Buckingham, raised a company for An-
thony Wayne's regiment in January, 1776. His first lieutenant
was Samuel Smith, of Buckingham ; and Robert Sample, a
scholarly man of the same township commanded a company in
Colonel Hubeley's Tenth Pennsylvania regiment. Adjutant
Johnson, of Colonel Magaw's Sixth regiment, also from Buck-
ingham, was captured at Fort Washington. A considerable
number of voungf men of the society of Friends entered the
154 BUCKS COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION
military service, and among them we find the names of Janney,
Brown, Linton, Hutchinson, Bunting, Stackhouse, Canby and
others. Of course the IMeeting, in accordance with its principles
and teachings, could not sanction the martial attitude of
her young men, and many of them were "dealt with." Never-
theless, the society did not forget that charity taught by the
great founder, and down to April, 1776, the Meeting of this
county had distributed £3,900, principally to New England; and
Falls Monthly Meeting authorized a subscription for the suffer-
ing inhabitants of Philadelphia.
Bucks county sent a battalion of 400 men under Colonel Jos-
epIT Hart, to the Flying camp near Amboy, in the summer of
1776, whose quartermaster, Joseph Fenton, Jr., was, I believe,
from this township.
The campaign of 1776, in New Jersey, was disastrous to the
Americans, and on the 8th of December, Washington and his
whole army were across the Delaware and on Bucks county soil.
All the boats along the river for many miles, and the lumber
and scantling, were collected and removed to the west bank;
and when the enemy came to the river in hot pursuit,
they could not cross. The Delaware saved Washing-
ton, and saved the cause of Independence. The Continental
army lay along the river from Dunk's ferry to New Hope, and
all the ferries were carefully guarded. The enemy lay on the
opposite side, watching and waiting for the river to freeze over
so they could cross, but the Almighty had the American cause
in His keeping and the river continued open. Washington
charged General Greene with the safety of the boats, and he was
at Bogart's tavern, noM^ Righter's, at Centerville, on the loth
of December. Among the points occupied by the troops, were
the three regiments of Lord Sterling at Beaumont's in Solebury,
and De Fermoy was at Coryell's, now New Hope; the First
Pennsylvania rifles were stationed at Thompson's mill in Sole-
bury. The officers quartered in farmhouses near their troops,
and I find that Captain Washington, Lieut. James Monroe, after-
ward President of the United States, and Doctor Ryker, were at
William Neeley's in Solebury. Captain James Moore, of the
New York artillery, a fine young man of 24, died of camp fever
at Robert Thompson's, the day the armv marched for Trenton,
BUCKS COUNTY IN THE; RI^VOLUTION 155
and was buried just below the mouth of Pidcock's creek, in the
edge of the timber. Alarinus Willett, Jr., of the same regiment,
died at the house of Matthias Hutchinson, Solebury, and was
buried near the dwelHng, whence his remains were removed to
the family vault. Mr. Hutchinson was a soldier in the French
and Indian war, and was near Wolf when he fell on the plains
of Abraham. This meeting-house was used as a hospital during
this period, and I suppose sdldiers were buried about where the
turnpike crosses the hill, as some of their remains were un-
covered when the pike was made. On meeting days the soldiers
put one-half of the house in order for worship, which many of
them attended. The only Alonthj^y Meeting held out of the
house during the war was on February i, 1777, in Thomas El-
licott's blacksmith shop. The depot of supplies was at New-
town. While the amiy lay in Bucks county, in December,
1776, some of the troops were in a suffering condition. The
First Pennsylvania rifles were barefooted. Washington thanked
the Committee of Safety for the old clothes collected for the
army, and at his request one person was appointed in each town-
ship to collect blankets for the troops.
The headquarters of the commander-in-chief and his most
trusted lieutenants were in Upper Makefield, within easy com-
munication with each other. Washington was at William
Keith's, on the road from Brownsburg near the Eagle ; Greene
at Robert Merrick's, a few hundred yards away across the
fields and meadows ; Sullivan at Hayhurst's, and Knox and
Hamilton at Dr. Chapman's over Jericho hill to the north.
These old houses are still standing, and some of them had not
undergone material change until recently. The bulk of the
troops were encamped within a short distance of the comman-
der-in-chief. When Greene quartered at Merrick's, the Rhode
Island blacksmith lived on the fat of the land devour-
ing his flocks of turkeys, and monopolizing his only fresh cow,
besides eating her calf. In return he allowed the family to
use sugar from the barrel bought for his mess. It is a family
tradition that Washington took supper with Greene the night
before the army started for Trenton, and the young daughter
of Mr. Merrick waited upon the table, and kept the plate from
which he ate as a memento of the occasion. Greene is said to
156 BUCKS COUNTY IX THE REVOLUTION
have purchased the confidence of the daughter, Hannah, by the
gift of a small tea canister, which was kept in the family many
years. It should not be forgotten by the student of American
history, that the campaign against the enemy at Trenton, the
turning point in our Revolutionary struggle, was planned on
Bucks county soil, and that Washington and his army marched
from the hills of Makefield to !)ut it into execution. Just when
Washington first conceived the idea of attacking the Hessians
at Trenton is not known. Bancroft says he wrote Colonel Reed
about the 23d, "Christmas day at night, one hour before day,
is the time fixed for our attack on Trenton." The troops he
selected were those of Ne\Â¥ England, Penn.sylvania. and A'ir-
ginia, and among the ofiticers chosen to lead this forlorn hope
of constitutional liberty, were Greene, Mercer, Sterling, Steph-
en, Sullivan, Knox, Hand, Monroe and Hamilton all in the
confidence of the commander-in-chief. The battle of Trenton
is too familiar to ev^ery reader of American history for me to
detain you with a recital. It will suf^ce to say, that the troops
left camp about 3 p. m., on Christmas day, crossed the Delaware
near Taylorsville, James Slack, a young man who lived near
Yardleyville, and two other young countrymen, assisting to row
them over. The army marched "on Trenton in two columns. At
the outposts an interesting little episode occurred. — Washing-
ton inquired of a man chopping wood at his door, "^^â– hich way
is the Hessian pickets," and the surly reply came back, "I don't
know." "You may tell," said Captain Washington, of the
artillery, "that is General Washington." The man dropped his
axe in a moment, and, raising his eyes to Heaven, exclaimed,
"God bless and prosper your excellency; the picket is in that
house, and their sentry stands near that tree there." The army
recrossed the river the same afternoon, with the Hessian
prisoners, who were conducted to Newtown, where the officers
were quartered at the taverns, and the soldiers confined in the
-church and jail. The officers signed their parole at Newtown,
on the 30th, and were escorted to Philadelphia, while the rank
and file were conducted to Lancaster. Among the prisoners
was a young British officer who was quartered at the house of
Dr. Jonathan Ingham, of Solebury, where he died of pleurisy
from a cold, and the doctor announced his death to Washington
BUCKS COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION 157
in some touching- verses. Washington again crossed the Dela-
ware with the same troops on the 29th of December, and in-
augurated the campaign that nearly relieved New Jersey of the
enemy.
For several months the active scenes of warfare were now
removed to a distance from Bucks county, and her citizens were
not disturbed by alarms of invasion. In the meantime, how-
ever, several calls were made upon the militia of Bucks for
short terms of service ; the county frequently furnished wagons,
and on one occasion, the farmers were called upon to supply
the Continental army with 4,000 bushels of grain for horse feed.
We next find the Continental army in Bucks county, wdth
Washington at its head, in the summer of 1777. When the
British sailed south in July, the American army marched for
the Delaware, Washington, with Greene's division, reaching
Coryell's ferry the night of the 29th, and one brigade crossing
before morning. General Stephen crossed at Howell's ferry
about the same time. These two divisions, forming the bulk
of the army, were put in march down the York road, passing
by this meeting-house ; the march of armed men and the rumble
of cannon wheels disturbing the quiet that prevails around a
house of worship. The army lay on the Neshaminy hills
about Hartville, then the "Cross Roads," for thirteen days and
until the destination of the British was known. While there.
General Lafayette, who had just arrived from France, reported
to Washington for duty, the latter quartering in the house now
the property of the Bothwell family, near the north end of the
bridge across the Neshaminy. The army marched hence the
23d of August, and met the enemy on the disastrous field of
Brandywine, where the gallant young Frenchman was wounded.
He was conveyed up the Durham road to Bethlehem, passing
through Centreville, and no doubt stopping at Righter's tavern.
During the occupancy of Philadelphia by the British, the
country betv;een the Schuylkill and Delaware was debatable
ground, and traversed by parties of both armies. Frequent in-
cursions were made into this county by the enemy. The i8th
of February, 1778, the cavalry companies of Captain Hovenden
and Thomas, composed of Bucks county Tories, made a raid
on Newtown, where they took a quantity of clothing made up
158 BUCKS COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION
for the Continental army, captured Major Murray, killed and
wounded nine and took twenty-nine others prisoners. In April
of the same year the enemy came up to Bristol and captured
Colonel Penrose and several other officers. This debatable
ground Washington entrusted to the command of General
John Lacey, which was a higli compliment when we consider
that he was not yet twenty-three years old. He had great
trouble with both the Tories and the British. He frequently
had his headquarters at Doylestown, and we find him there the
19th of February, 1778, with several hundred men. While
quartered at what is now the county-seat, our Quaker General
and his men did not want for palatable rations, for the receipts
of the purchasing commissary cover veal, beef, Hour, mutton,
turkeys, fowls and whiskey, not a rifled article. From Doyles-
town he moved his force down to the Crooked Billet now Hat-
boro, where he was attacked the ist of May, 1778, and defeated.
The battle reached over the county line into Bucks, and several
American soldiers were killed in Warminster, where lie their
remains unmarked by stone or monument. During this trying
period the militia of our county v/ere frequently called upon
and turned out.
We next find the Continental army in Bucks county in June,
1778. After a six months' residence upon the bleak hills about
Valley Forge, Washington put it in march the i8th of June, to
intercept the British in their retreat through New Jersey, on
their evacuation of Philadelphia. Washington spent the night
of the 20th at Doylestown, with the main body, and the next
afternoon marched for Coryell's ferry, striking the York road at
Centreville, and passing by this venerable edifice a second time
in ten months. The army crossed the Delaware the 226., and
a few days afterward, met the enemy on the field at Monmouth.
Where they encamped the night of the 21st we do not know,
but no more desirable place could be found than in this vicinity.
The night Washington spent at Doylestown he pitched his
tent in the yard of the farmhouse belonging to the late John
G. Mann's estate, and Lafayette quartered at Thomas Jones' in
New Britain. Mrs. Jones wishing to do honor to the young
nobleman, gave him her best bed to sleep in. When he came
down stairs the next morning, she inquired of him, with no
BUCKS COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION 159
little satisfaction on her countenance, how he had rested. He
answered, "Very well, Madame, but your bed is a little too
short."
In September, 1781, the French and American armies, en
route to meet Cornwallis in Virginia, passed through Bucks
county. They crossed the Delaware on the morning of the
I St, at Trenton and neighboring ferries, and the same after-
noon passed the Neshaminy at the rope ferry, encamping that
evening at the Red Lion, in Bensalem. The next day the united
armies marched through Philadelphia amid the united huzzas
of the loyal inhabitants. When the Continental army returned
North after the surrender of Cornwallis, a portion of it a fourth
time marched through Bucks. This was the last time that
soldiers of the Revolutionary army in any considerable numbers
pressed the soil of our county.
Several minor events, connected with the Revolutionary strug-
gle, stook place in our county and disturbed the public peace.
The crimes and exploits of the Doans are part of our history.
These five brothers, sons of respectable parents of Plumstead,
were men of remarkable physical strength and great courage.
They were of good reputation before the war, and probably
were partly driven into hostility to their country. They began
their career of infamy b}- robbing friends and neighbors, and
went on until they became the dread of communities and were
declared outlaws. One of their most daring acts was the rob-
bery of the County Treasury at Newtown, in the fall of 1781,
getting a large amount of money which they divided at Wrights-
town school-house the same night. All but one or two of these
famous, but bad, men came to violent ends.
It is not generally known that our county furnished Commo-
dore Barney with riflemen for the Hyder Aii, which fought a
desperate action with the General Monk, the 26th of April,
1782. They behaved in the most gallant manner. It is related
of one of these brave men, by the Commodore's widow, that he
said to the captain, "Do you see that fellow with the white hat?"
and firing as he spoke, the captain saw the poor fellow "with
the white hat" spring about three feet from the deck to rise
no more. "Captain," continued the marksman, "that's the
third fellow I've made hop." It was found after the action that
l6o BUCKS COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION
every man of the enemy, who had been killed by small arms,
was shot in the breast or head, so true and deadly was the aim
of the Bucks county riflemen.
In our county, as elsewhere, the war bore with great severity
upon those who would not take up arms, or submit to all the un-
just exactions of the period. Among others, committed to jail
at Newtown, for thus offending, was Joseph Smith, a son of Tim-
othy, of Buckingham, and the inventor of the iron mould-board.
He whittled out the model while in jail, and lived to see his pre-
dictions of the great benefit it would confer upon the farmer^
realized. His invention excited great interest among the military
officers at Newtown, and several asked to see the ingenious
prisoner, and were much interested in his explanations. The
case of Thomas Watson, a Friend, also of Buckingham, was
one of still greater hardship. Hay had been exceedingly scarce
in the winter of 1778-79. He had saved a stack, which he in-
tended to distribute among his less fortunate neighbors, but
which the landlord at Centreville wished to buy with worthless
Continental money. Air. Watson refused to sell, but told the
landlord that when the stack was opened he would receive his
share with the rest. This did not suit the pretended patriot ;
who offered the money for the hay which was refused. The
landlord caused the arrest of Air. Watson, on the charge that
he refused to sel'l him hay for paper money. He was confined
in the jail at Newtown, tried by court martial, and sentenced to
be hanged, .and all efforts to have him pardoned failed. At last
Air. Watson's wife appeared before Lord Sterling, who com-
manded at Newtown, at a time his nature was softened by good
cheer, purposely provided by the landlady of the hotel where
he boarded. He withstood her eloquence as long as he could,
when he raised her to her feet and said, "Aladame, you have
conquered ; I must relent at the tears of so noble and good a
woman as vou. Your husband is saved."
DR. ISAAC S. MOVER.
Born February 27, 1838, died September 7, 1898.
Author of the "Flora of Bucks County," contained in the "History of Bucks County,'
by Gen. Davis, published in 1876. Dr. Meyer bequeathed hi.s valuable herbarium
to the Bucks County Historical Society, see preface, page xxxvi.
Indigenous and Naturalized Flowering Plants, Ferns, and Fern
Allies of Bucks County.
BY DR. ISAAC S. MOVER, QUAKERTOWN, PA.
(Quakertown Meeting, April 15, 1884).
The complete flora of Bucks county would embrace, in ad-
dition to the plants mentioned in the title of this paper, all the
lower orders of the vegetable kingdom. These orders contain
an immense assemblage of forms, many of them of surpassing
beauty, when examined by lens or microscope, and with specific
characters just as sharp and valid, as obtains among higher
forms.
The study of these humbler plants would be of absorbing in-
terest, but, by the botanists of the county, they have been scarce-
ly touched, and years must elapse before any successful attempt
to catalogue them can be made.
A brief glance at these forms of vegetable life may not be
unprofitable. The Musci or mosses stand highest in the scale of
organization, and with their roots, stems, leaves and organs of
fructification resemble plants of the higher types of structure.
In fact, they look like trees and shrubs in miniature. No
botanical taste is necessary in order to appreciate the beauty of
these plants. During every month of the year, unless snow
mantles the earth, they will reward the searcher in field, wood,
or rocky hillside. You will notice, that when all other vegeta-
tion is brown and sere, mosses put on their loveliest green. Has
any one ever attempted to define all the shades of green that
the mosses of a single woodland show? You will find them
from the most delicate yellow-green, varying to shades so in-
tensely dark-green as to seem almost black. As to form of leaf
and stem, we have here an endless variety of the most exqui-
sitely chiseled, feathery foliage to be found in the vegetable
kingdom. Bucks county is rich in species of mosses. Haycock
and Buckingham mountains being especially rich localities for
some of the rarer forms. Mr. Eugene A. Rau, an excellent
botanist, of Bethlehem, Pa., has long been making mosses a
6
l62 FLOWERING PLANTS, ETC., OF BUCKS COUNTY
specialty, and is an authority on the subject. Moss lovers
are glad to know that a work on the mosses of the United States
is now in press at Cambridge, and will soon be published.* I
will add that the shingle-covered roofs of old buildings are of-
ten good collecting ground for the bryologist.
The next order in the descending scale of plant life, is the
Hepaticae or liverworts. In this order the distinction of stem
and foliage is almost wholly lost, and, were it not for their green
and lively colors they would be hard to distinguish from the
lichens, next to be considered. Some of these liverworts are
very beautiful. They must be looked for in damp situations,
especially in ravines, at the base of wet and slippery rocks, where
they are continually bathed in the spray of some small waterfall.
In this country these plants have been especially studied by the
late C. F. Austin, of Closter, N. J., by whose early and lamented
death, a timely monograph on these interesting plants has been
rendered impossible.
The Lichens, in which the familiar stem, leaves, and branches
are entirely lost, and in which we have only a more or less flat
expansion of structure not at all resembling that of a true leaf,
and of almost any color except that of true green, are a most
interestmg order. Every one has seen the gray lichen covering
fences, rocks, and trunks of trees. A closer inspection will dis-
cover that it is not only the gray lichen, but that there are many
kinds of various colors, yellow, red, blue, purple, and brown,
sometimes even upon the same tree, rock, or fence. In our
northern flora, lichens play a conspicuous part, and probably
few persons have thought, what an entire and utter change our
landscapes would undergo if our lichen flora were blotted out
of existence. This flora never changes, but, winter and sum-
mer, our eyes are relieved and gladdened by its harmonious
colors. As an instance of the fullness of our lichen flora, I
need only to say that, during an excursion to the Haycock
mountain, made last summer, Dr. Eckfeldt, of West Philadel-
phia, collected sixty-five species in the course of a few hours.
The Doctor was delighted with the richness of the locality. The
lichens of this country have been well studied, and are now be-
ing described by Dr. Edward Tuckerman, of Boston.
* Published May, 18S4, by Lesquercut & James.
FLOWERING PLANTS, LTC, OF BUCKS COUNTY 163
The next order to be glanced at is the Fungi, known in com-
mon parlance as toad-stools and mushrooms.
This order is of vast extent, in number of species, and
variety of form. No person, however unobservant of the
forms of h^e around him, can fail to have had thrust upon his
notice sudden growths of fungi or mushrooms, which have
literally sprung up in a night, and produced vivid patches of
color and life where nothing was seen before. To this order
belong the different forms of smut, rust, mildew, and mould,
so pernicious, especially to the farmer and horticulturist, and
the neatest and most painstaking housekeeper is continually
liable to their ravages in cellar, kitchen and pantry. The de-
struction by rust and mildew in the aggregate is something enor-
mous ; careful and sober estimate has placed it in a single year
in this country at $100,000,000. In the lower levels of fungus
life recent researches have developed results, in which, not the
medical world alone, but suffering humanity everywhere, is
deeply interested. The germ theory of disease is, that many
forms of disease are caused by the introduction into the blood
of very minute fungous plants, called bacteria, which, develop-
ing inordinately there, produce the diseases in question. The
germ theory rests on good analogical grounds, and if the goal,
expected by many of the best scientists of the age, be reached,
typhoid-fever, diphtheria, scarlet-fever, and even consumption,
may yet become as amenable to control as small-pox has been
since the immortal discovery of Jenner.
The study of Fungi is called mycology, and many botanists
all over the country are working up this order of plants. At
West Chester, in the neighboring county of Chester, a party
of gentlemen engaged in the study of the fungi of that county,
have organized a mycological club. Attention has lately been
called to this club by the lamented death of William T. Haines,
Esq., the 'lawyer naturalist, a member of the club, and a gentle-
man, who, in spite of an exacting law practice, found time to do
good work in natural science.
The last of these lower orders is the Algae. Passing by
the beautiful and brilliant sea-weeds, belonging to this order,
as not occurring in Bucks county, we will consider
for a moment the bright green algae, so common in
164 FLOWERING PLANTS, ETC., OF BUCKS COUNTY
our ponds and streams. These plants constitute the green
scum and frog-spittle or ordinary folk-lore. Even in mass they
are beautiful, but under the microscope they develop into ab-
sorbing interest. The desmids, belonging here, are altogether
microscopic ; they have crystalline forms of endless variety and
tint. Excepting the color, which is always some shade of
green, plat,es of desmids resemble the ever changing pictures of
the kaleidoscope. In the desmids we reach the very border land
between animal and vegetable life, and as these minute plants
have free motion, they were long regarded as animals, but their
true position in the vegetable kingdom is now universally ac-
cepted. Prof. Francis Wolle, of Bethlehem, stands almost alone in
this country as a critical student of these plants. The streams
and ponds of Bucks have been often explored by him, and in
his forthcoming work on the fresh water algae of the United
States, our plants will have due recognition.*
Taking up now the flowering plants and ferns of Bucks
county, we are struck by the fact that although one of the
earliest settled regions of the State, and with £. rich and inviting
flora, no attempt had ever been made, up to a very recent period,
to catalogue our country's floral treasures. Delaware, Chester
and Northampton coimties had been thus honored, but nothing
had been done here. It is interesting to know, from a his-
torical point of view, that many of the older botanists, whose
works are now the classics of botanical literature, undoubtedly
collected within our borders. The Bartrams, Michaux, Muhlen-
berg, Collins, Schweinitz, Durand, Rafinesque and others made
excursions along the Delaware into the southern and eastern
portions.
Some records of their excursions and discoveries remain to us
The eccentric Rafinesque, a Sicilian by birth, while living in
Philadelphia, collected extensively in all the surrounding coun-
try. This man, though an excellent botanist, had a mania for
describing new species, not only in botany, but in all departments
of nature. On one occasion he sent a paper to a scientific
society, gravely describing twelve new species of thunder and
lightning! So wretchedly did he prepare his specimens that his
* Published in 1886.
FLOWERIN'G PLANTS, ETC., OF BUCKS COUNTY 165
friends dubbed them "Latin-Hay." In more recent years, the two
Martindale brothers. Dr. Joseph and Isaac C, cohected largely
in the lower districts, and their researches have been an in-
valuable assistance in making up the flora. Some of the up-
per districts, especially those along the Delaware river, were
often visited by botanists from Bethlehem and Easton, and
many fine discoveries made. In this region the veteran botanist.
Prof. T. C. Porter, of Lafayette college, did excellent work,
and was rewarded by finding at the Nockamixon rocks the
rare Sediim Rhodiola, a relic of the glacial epoch, and rarely
found elsewhere within the limits of the United States.
These were beginnings, and of great assistance in working up
the whole flora of the county, afterward undertaken by the
writer. Coming from one of the central and botanically mo-
notonous townships of Montgomery county, in 1859, I became a
resident of one of the river townships of Bucks county. The
change in the flora was most marked ; many plants, entirely
new, were met with, and a slumbering botanical enthusiasm was
soon aroused. After about ten years oi conscientious work and
extensive collecting in all parts of the county, the idea of pub-
lishing a Bucks county flora gradually took shape, and only
awaited a favorable opportunity, which soon presented itself, as
General W. W. H. Davis was then about to publish his "His-
tory of Bucks County" and kindly requested Dr. Joseph Thom-
as and myself to furnish our manuscripts of the fauna and
flora of the county for publication in his work. Thus, in 1876,
the first flora of Bucks county was published. The flora at
that time contained 1,166 species and varieties. During the
eight years that have since elapsed, the number of species has
been increased to about 1,250, tlius bearing out the author's
idea, that the field was by no means exhausted. There is no
question, that, by diligent future research, the number can be
augmented above 1,300, showing a flora of wonderful rich-
ness and variety.''"' Chester and Delaware counties are largely
exceeded, and the large and botanically rich county of Lancaster,
has been fully equaled. The whole flora of the State of Indi-
ana, recently published, contains only 1,432 species, not 200
.* A revision of Dr. Moyer's Catalogue was published June, 1905, in the second edition
of Gen. Davis' History of Bucks County, by Dr. C. D. Fretz, of Sellersville, Pa., which
contains the names of 1.581 species and varieties. Editor.
l66 FLOWERING PLANTS, ETC., OF BUCKS COUNTY
more than Bucks alone. The entire flora of the United States,
according to the most recent estimates, contains about 10,000
species, so that our county mus^ be credited with more than one-
eighth of the entire national flora. This showing, naturally
produces a feeling of pride in the botanists of the county. It
must be a gratification to all, that old Bucks, so rich in many
things, should take advanced rank in her vegetable productions.
You will pardon me for a brief allusion to the botanists within
the county, by whose aid a complete flora of the county has
been rendered possible. In this vicinity. Dr. Joseph Thomas,
Dr. Charles Aleredith, and John J. Moore have long been plant
lovers, and have detected many fine species in their chosen
haunts. Alore recently. Miss Ellen Moore, and Oliver B. Sny-
der have been assiduous cultivators of the science. Mr. Sny-
der, whose early and lamented death merits here a passing
notice, developed remarkable botanical acumen ; he discovered
many rare plants in a region which the writer had supposed
well gleaned. In the northeastern region J. A. and H. F. Ruth
and Miss Margaret J. Moffat, all of Durham, have added three
ferns, and the beautiful five-flowered gentian, to our flora with-
in a few years. C. A. Gross, formerly of New Britain, but now
of Vineland, N. J,, was long a worker on our flora, and to him
the writer owes much information. Mrs. Dr. Parry, and Charles
F. Myers, of Doylestown, have done good work; to Dr. Parry
we owe the first authentic discovery of the rare and beautiful
climbing fern within our limits. Dr. C. D. Fretz, of Sellersville,
is, at the present time, the most active botanist within the limits
of the county ; he brings to his work the experience of years, and
an enthusiasm that never lags ; among many other good things,
Dr. Fretz has crowned his work by discovering in the past year,
the rare and local Siiiin Carsoni, Durand, a plant only known
before from the Pocono mountain, and one station in Con-
necticut. This plant grows at Watt's Gap, in Rockhill town-
ship. Although many good things have been found, the field is
not exhausted, and the worker on the flora of Bucks may expect
for years to come, to add new species to the list. No local
flora is complete until every meadow, copse, hillside, ravine,
and stream has been separately examined, and until the whole
river border has been thoroughly looked up. Many plants are
FLOWERING PLANTS, ETC., OF BUCKS COUNTY 167
extremely local in their habitats, and perhaps fourscore of our
pilants have been found in one spot alone.
Many of our plants are very beautiful. In this short sum-
mary this subject can be only glanced at.
I will only mention a few of many that crowd my mind. The
white water lily, that floats upon the placid middle-reaches of the
Tohickon, is a thing of beauty whose charms poets have often
sung; the pickerel-weed accompanies it, and the cerulean blue
of its spikes contrasts charmingly with the marble whiteness of
the lily. The orange-red, or Philadelphia lily in rocky woods or
copses, has no peer among our northern members of the family,
and- once seen will always be reniembered. If any one has ever
seen an upland meadow blazing with the scarlet of the painted
cup, that picture will always have a fragrant spot in his memory ;
the birds-foot violet, one of our rarest kinds is a plant of
surpassing beauty; the deep purple sheen of its petals is
changed to many colors under varying conditions of light ; the
flint hil'l region is a famous locality for this beautiful violet.
Along the river border the delicate harebell hangs its purple
clusters over the mossy cliffs. This is the same plant as the
Scotch harebell, so often sung about by poets. Scott's beautiful
allusion in "Lady of the Lake" will recur to many.
"A foot more light, a step more true,
Ne'er from the heath flower dashed the dew,
B'en the slight harebell raised its head.
Elastic from her airy tread."
The fringed gentian is another of our loveliest flowers. Upon
its petals heaven's own blue is grandly reflected. In the writer's
opinion, no plant within our borders, has such transcendent
loveliness ; it is rare and must be sought in our northern bogs.
The cardinal flower, common throughout the county, recalls some
rich denizen of the tropics. In the autumnal months, a wan-
derer in boggy ground will catch a glimpse of intensest cardinal.
Closer investigation will reveal the scarlet lobelia, surrounded
by many plants of later summer, fit emblem of barbaric queen,
surrounded by her dusky subjects ; in other countries this
common native of our swamps is most sedulously cultivated for
its intrinsic beauty. Scores of our native plants might be enu-
merated, whose beauty is not surpassed by those of any region,
but time forbids. I will however, before leaving this sttbject
l68 FLOWERING PLANTS, ETC., OF BUCKS COUNTY
mention the orchids of Bucks county. This famous family,
prized by horticulturists, is well represented in our flora. We
have twenty-one species, all of great interest, but some of
especial grace and beauty. The showy orchis, found in rich
woods throughout the county, has a large purple flower of great
elegance. The purple fringed orchis of our bogs is one of our
handsomest species, but quite rare. The rattlesnake plantain
is more beautiful in its foliage than in its flowers. The elegant,
wHite-veining of its leaves renders it unique among our plants.
In our northern meadows the rose-colored pogonia is a su-
perb plant, and in its chosen haunts gives its rosy hue to whole
acres of meadow land. The queen of all our orchids however,
is the stately calopogon. Only the peat-bogs of Springfield pro-
duce this 'lovely flower, but there it is sufficiently abundant, pro-
ducing masses of purple bloom.
We have three Cypripcdiinns or lady's slipper, two with
yellow flowers, and one with a magnificent, large and beautifully
mottled purple flower. All three are rare, but when careful
search reveals them in their haunts, the time and labor spent in
seeking them is not regretted. The construction of this flower
is most curious and typifies well a strange and curious family.
Bucks county, like all southeastern Pennsylvania, was originally
a densely timbered country, and magnificent forests of hard
wood, with a thin sprinkling of soft wood, or coniferous trees,
covered its surface. These forests have now almost entirely
disappeared. In fact, there has been so unwise and reckless
a destruction of forest growth, that we are already reaping the
disasters which such conditions entail. Our smaller streams are
disappearing entirely and our larger ones are dwindling to mere
brooks. Forest trees are the natural condensers of moisture on the
largest scale, and in their absence, and with the sun's summer
rays beating directly on stream sources, the gradual obliteration
of our streams is just as natural and inevitable a result as that
of any other phenomenon of nature. The denudation of forests
on a large scale, as we now have it in the Eastern states, is
the fruitful cause of our summer droughts with all their train
of baleful consequences. It is high time, that by legislation or
otherwise, this ruinous destruction was abated, and the forest
replaced by wise and systematic effort. The older governments
FLOWERING PLANTS, ETC., OF BUCKS COUxNTTY 169
of Europe, driven by hard necessity, have moved persistently
and successfully in this direction; and no subject calls more
loudly for well-directed efforts in this country. Although our
forests have been so sadly decimated, the types of our forest
growth have almost, if not quite, all remained to the present day.
To this beautiful forest vegetation is largely owing the charms
of that rural scenery for which Bucks county is famous, and
which so closely attaches her sons and daughters to her soil.
Our forest flora consists of seventy-five species. All these at-
tain the altitude of true tree growth, twenty feet and upwards.
Some of these species are now very rare and many are becoming
rarer every year. One of our grandest trees is the tulip poplar,
belonging to the magnolia family. When in bloom nothing could
be more beautiful. We have fourteen species of oaks ; two,
the shingle oak and the Spanish oak, are so rare as to be botan-
ical curiosities ; the others are sufficiently common to give
feature to our landscapes and augment largely the value of our
farms.
The walnut family, Juglandaceae, is represented by
both the white and black walnut and by five species of hickory.
In addition to the value of their timber, these trees yield, in the
aggregate a large revenue from the sale of their fruit.
The shellbark crop annually sent from this county to the
markets of Philadelphia and New York is immense, and would
seem incredible to one who has not given the subject attention.
Of the pine family, we have eight species, of which the pitch
pine, hemlock, spruce, and red cedar, are the most abundant. The
white pine is occasionally met with in isolated specimens, but
I do not regard it as truly native. The juniper, found abun-
dantly in some northern stations, is my beau-ideal of arboreal
symmetry and beauty; its berries are collected for medical pur-
poses.
Of birches, we have three kinds, sweet birch, white birch, and
the black birch. All these trees are very beautiful, and what
Bucks county child has not tasted the toothsome birch !
Our willows are fourteen, and our poplars three. This family
which gives a special character to our bog and river scenery,
is the most difficult problem the. botanist has to unravel, and
even in our best text-books the need of thorough revision is
painfully apparent.
170 FLOWERING PLANTS, ETC., OF BUCKS COUNTY
The chestnut is common in many parts of Bucks, and is of
great economic importance, as to both timber and fruit. The
beech, iron-wood, and horn-beam occur frequently, and pro-
duce valuable timber for certain purposes. There are two mul-
berries, and two elms. The slippery elm has important medical
properties, and the white elm is one of the most graceful of our
forest trees. The elm tree is not sufficiently appreciated in Bucks
county. Our Yankee friends value it rightly, and by its use
have wonderfully beautified their towns and highways. The
sugarberry, along the Delaware border, is a fine tree, of large
proportions. The sassafras is a common species, with magnifi-
cent autumn foliage, and redolent of the great tropical order
Lauraceae. We have three species of ash, two of them valuable
timber trees, and becoming altogether too rare.
The catalpa is perhaps no native, but makes itself perfectly at
home, and in late June is a pyramid of flowers to be succeeded
later by its curious Indian beans.
The persimmon, becoming rare, is of a tropical order
extending a single species almost entirely through the
temperate zone. Of our five dog woods, only one attains true
tree dimensions. This tree is one of the most characteristic of
our American species, and in May covers our woodlands as
with a mantle of driven snow.
The wild-plum, wild-cherry, four hawthorns, the crab ap-
ple, and the June berry or shad-bush are our Rosoceous trees,
every one of them beautiful in flower, and several of them with
delicious fruit.
We have only two Leguminous trees, the fragrant locust, and
the red bud or Judas tree. Where this latter abounds in our
trap-rock region, the hills in the flowering season resemble vast
peach orchards. The stag-horn sumac, with its crimson fruit-
panicles, is a gorgeous tree, with handsome feathery foliage.
The maples of which we have five species, the mountain maple,
sugar maple, silver maple, red maple and the box elder, all
handsome trees, will conclude this rapid review of our forest
flora, than which few richer can be found in the same limited
territory.
Of woody plants and shrubs, Bucks county has about
no species. Some of these almost attain the dignity of trees,
others are quite small. ]\Iany of our shrubs are very beautiful
FivOWERING PLANTS, ETC., OF BUCKS COUNTY 171
and deserve cultivation as well as, or better than, the expensive
exotic shrubs of our lawns and gardens. The rhododendron,
and the laurels of our river border are very handsome and
showy. Our two azaleas are very beautiful. The trailing ar-
butus, or May flower, our lovely harbinger of spring, is a shrub,
though usually considered a lovely herb.
The flowering raspberry, with large rose-colored flowers, is a
very ornamental shrub. In fact, the greater number of our
shrubs are handsome in flower and foliage, and in May and
June cover our county with waves of bloom, and load the air
with fragrance. Many of our shrubs bear fruit, both delicious
and wholesome. I need only mention the blackberries, raspber-
ries, whortleberries, blackhaw, or sheepberries, etc., etc. Some
have valuable medical properties. The prickly ash, burning-
bush, witch-hazel, spikenard, ginseng and sumac belong to this
category, which might be much extended. Noxious properties
in our shrubs are rare ; the poison ivy and poison sumac, are
notable exceptions ; the latter denizen of our bogs, exhales a
really dangerous poison, much more virulent than the poison
ivy.
Our herbs embracing the great bulk of our vegetation,
possess many points of interest, and might, with profit, be the
subject of a separate paper; I must however, pass them by
with the remark that in addition to beauty of form
and flower, the economy of the fertilization of their
flowers presents a subject of absorbing interest, which is
only beginning to receive the attention which it merits. It has
engrossed the mind of a Darwin and a Gray with most fruitful
results to science. I will only say that the results of their in-
vestigations, have proved that self-fertilization in plants is the
exception and not the rule, and cross-fertilization, by insects
and current of air, the rule and not the exception.
Our entire flora consists of one hundred and fourteen orders of
plants. Our largest order is the Compositae or sun-flower family,
containing one hundred and twenty-six species. Then in descend-
ing order w^e have Granineae or grasses, ninety-six species ;
Cyperaceae or sedges, ninety-five species ; Leguminosae or bean
family, fifty species ; Rosaceae or rose family, forty-five species ;
Labiatae or mint family, forty-four species ; Ranunculaceae or
172 FLOWERING PLANTS, ETC., OF BUCKS COUNTY
buttercup family, thirty-four species ; Scrophulariaceae or figwort
family, thirty-four species; Cruciferae or mustard family, thirty-
four species ; Caryophyllaceae or pink family, thirty-three species ;
ferns and fern allies, thirty-seven species ; Uliaceae or Hly family,
twenty-six species : Umbelliferae or parsnip family, twenty-five
species. Our largest genus is Carcx or the sedge genus with
sixty-seven species. Aster and SoUdago come next, the former
with eighteen, the latter with nineteen species.
In presenting this hasty summary of the flora of Bucks before
the Bucks County Historical Society, I was met on every hand
bv the temptation to enter more into detail. Nothing is more
difficult and unsatisfactory than to skeletonize a subject whose
full, complete and rounded proportions are so well worth
portrayal. Yet if this brief and imperfect effort shall result in
arousing a more general interest in the vegetation of our county,
I shall feel amply repaid for the time and care spent in its prep-
aration. It has always been a matter of keen regret with me,
that in so inviting a field the laborers should be so few. The
tendency at present happily is to bring natural science more
generally into schools and colleges. This is a most auspicious
sign and cannot fail soon to produce additions to the corps of
naturalists at present altogether too small in this country. In
Europe the fauna and flora of every region is thoroughly
worked up, while here certain forms of animal and vegetable
life have been scarcelv touched. It is a pleasant reflection that
the Bucks County Historical Society has, on several occasio'us,
invited the naturalists of the county to furnish papers on miner-
alogy, ornithology, botany, etc. It shows a healthy awakening
on scientific subjects in our grand old county of Bucks.
The Doanes Before the Revolution.
BY HENRY C. MERCER, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Qiiakertown Meetino^, April 15, 1884.)
Who were the Doanes? and where did they come from?
Whoever ransacks the minutes of at least three Friends'
Monthly Meetings, the chaotic Orphans' Court files. Common
Pleas records, deeds, wills, unindexed criminal dockets on file
at Doylestown, goes over the cart loads of dusty tax-books in
the court-house garret, and attempts to reconcile the traditions
collected in many journeys over the river township of Bucks
county will, in answer to the above questions, find it perhaps as
difficult as I do to curb his tendency to overestimate the interest
of facts thus laboriously gleaned.
John Doane (spelled with a suffixed e), founder of the name
in America, and great-great-grqat-grandfather of the Bucks
county refugees, was one of the Pilgrim Fathers. On the strength
of a statement in the so-called "Father Pratt's" history of East-
ham, Barnstable county, Mass., some of his descendants have
claimed that he came to Plymouth from England in one of the
first three ships. But as his name appears in the passenger lists of
neither the Mayflower, the Fortune, nor the Anne, nor in 1627,
when the original tendency in common was dissolved, we must
rest satisfied with the fact that he came before 1630, when his
name first appears on the tax list.
It appears from some family minute that he was born in
1590, and Heman Doane, of Eastham, in an oration in honor of
his ancestor, a few years ago, quoted the family tradition that
he had come from "Wales, west of England."
It is a great pity that this tradition was not a little more
definite as to his antecedents, for it would have been very satis-
factory to connect him certainly with the ancient West of Eng-
land family near by, the Doanes of Cheshire.
The name of the nth century conquerors, spelled variously
Doan, Don, Donne, Done and Dawne was probably of Nor-
man French origin, D'Oane, and in its etymology allied pos-
sibly to "dun," dark, swarthy.
174 THE DOANES BEFORE THE REV'OLUTION
Doubtless, all the variations of the name in England, Black-
more's Lorna Doone included, can be traced to this stock.
The male line of the Cheshire Doanes, now represented on
the female side by Lord Alvanley, failed in 1630, and the name
has fallen in the social scale in England within the last two
centuries.
Among the several coats-of-arms current in the family here
and in England, probably the Cape Cod one, with the gilt dove
crest, is the most interesting. On the shield appears a unicorn,
signifying wars between England and Scotland, and crosses re-
ferring to the crusades (gules on a ground azure). Beneath it is
the motto, crux mihi lux — "The cross is my light."
The dove crest indicates that certain members of the famil\
have helped negotiate treaties of peace.
Bishop Doane, of New Jersey, keeps the unicorn and crosses,
but adopts the motto, "right onward."
A quartering on one of the English coats indicates that the
Doanes were closely related to the Venables, Barons of Kinder-
ton, Cheshire, and relatives of the Conqueror.
"Near the lofty hall of Tilstone," says an old history, describ-
ing their seat, "are the ruins of the house of Flaxyards, seat
of the Doanes of Utkinton, where Sir John Doane, knight, by
his we'll pleasing services to his majesty James I, who took his
pleasure and repast in iiis Forest of Delamere, A. D. 161 7, of
which he was chief forester, ordered so wisely his Highness'
sports that he freely honored him with a knighthood and graced
the House of Utkinton by his royal presence.
The name appears in Domesday Book, holding Utkinton,
Cheshire, by knights fee. Ipse comes tenet Done, "Done holds
as a 'comes' or lord's attendant." We find it on the battle rolls
of Azincourt, Bloreheath and Flodden Field, and in the Frois-
sart Chronicle, which tells of how Lord Alvanley fought at
Poictiers, where having obtained permission of the Black
Prince to do some feat of arms, that, "then he departed from
the King with four knights who promised not to fail him, John
Grey, Hugh Done, Miles Stapleton and Thomas Wall, and he
was in the front part of the battle, where he did marvels in
arms ;" and we find it again in an ancient song which tells of
THE DOANES BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 1 75
the "men of blood" who fell in one of the fierce battles between
Henry IV and Hotspur.
" Here Dutton, Button kills a Done doth kill a Done ;
A Booth a Booth, and Leigh by Leigh is overthrown."
If John Doane, the Pilgrim Father, did come from "Wales,,
west of England," with Cheshire one of its adjoining counties,
it is not difficult to believe that he might have been a younger
son, or, at least, a son of a younger branch of the Cheshire
family, nor is there anything in the history of his American
descendants to preclude the presumption that they were sprung
from "a race of warriors," as an old history calls them "from
the time of King John," and if anything were needed to
strengthen this presumption it would be the statement in Orme-
rod's History of Cheshire, that the last Sir John Doane, on the
troubles in the 17th century, adopted the cause of the Parlia-
ment and imbibed Presbyterian tenents, which could well ac-
count for at least one of his nephews or cousins emigrating to
Puritan Plymouth.
Beyond the bare facts of Deacon John Doane having been tlie
father of numerous children, having been governor's assistant
in 1633, along with stern Miles Standish, and chosen deacon
of Plymouth church in 1634, and having helped found the off-
shoe colony of Eastham in 1644, where his family afterward
lived, we have little to say of the first John Doane.
What sort of a solid sombre man one would have encounter-
ed in a deacon of Plymouth church, and even what Deacon John
looked like, we need not find it hard to imagine, with the aid
of one of Mr. Boughton's canvasses.
For some reason, so runs a tradition, he was rocked in a
cradle in his old age, and though doubtless, at no time sprighty,
we may perhaps from this conjecture, infer that he was, at least,
restless.
Of his wife, as of the wives of "many of his associates, we
know nothing. Some one complains that the Pilgrim mothers
have not been commended enough. Possibly the best objection
against lavishing all the pity on the Pilgrim fathers, as distuin-
guished from giving any at all to the mothers, is best expressed in
the words of a New England lady of to-day, who declares that the
176 THE DOANES BEFORE THE REVOLUTION
Pilgrim mothers had to bear not only all the hardships of the
Pilgrim fathers, but the Pilgrim fathers besides.
Up to a short time ago all we had wherewith to connect our
Doans of Bucks aounty with Deacon John and the New Eng-
land family, his descendants, from whom Doane street, in Bos-
ton, takes its name, was a minute in the records of the Middle-
town Friends' Monthly Meeting, which stated that on the 3d-
month, 17th day, 1696, Daniel Doane and Mehetabel, his wife,
brought a certificate of good conduct, etc., thither from the
Friends' meeting at Sandwich, Mass.
The breach had to be filled up with sundry Johns and Daniels
out of the local Cape Cod histories in a very unsatisfactory
manner.
Exactly what the relationship was remained a mystery until
Mr. John A. Doane, of Atlanta, Ga., went all the way to East-
ham, Mass, and showed Mr. Heman Doane there, a direct de-
scendant of Deacon John, how the latter had forgotten to look
in the records of his own county court, where much of his own
genealogy had lain unnoticed by him all his life.
These put it beyond a doubt that John had a son Daniel, or
Dan'l as they would call it there, who again had a son Daniel,
who was no other than our Pennsylvania emigrant.
About the time that the Pilgrim fathers were bestowing hard
names, commending doctrines as ^'freeting and gangrene-like"
and fining, whipping, ostracizing and banishing the Friends,
Daniel, Jr., with a dash of contrariness perhaps, not inconsistent
with some of his doings in Bucks county, deserted the religion
of his ancestors and joined the persecuted sect of Quakers at
Sandwich, about forty miles away from his native town.
The Quakers of Cape Cod, however, in those days were by
no means always meekly submissive. Recalcitrants were con-
tinually getting into trouble for "tumultuous carriage," answer-
ing back in court, or giving the judge a piece of their mind.
One Norton, for instance, found occasion to say in court to
Governor Prince : "Thomas, thou liest ; Prince, thou art a
malicious man ; thy clamorous tongue I regard no more than
the dust under my feet; thou art like a scolding woman."
Since others had been bold enough to talk in this way
to the governor, we doubt not, from what we glean later, that
THE DOANKS BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 177
Daniel, Jr., put in his oar now and then, before he found it con-
venient to emigrate to Bucks county.
Nothwithstanding ihe coolness that must have existed be-
tween Daniel, Jr., and his father, who, after amply providing
for all his other children with farms and money, cut Daniel
off in his will with one pound sterling, the latter probably con-
tmued to live at Eastham until the time O'f his journey across
the wilderness with his wife Mehetabel, in 1696.
Considering that such patronymics as Heman, Myrick,
Keziah, and Simeon, had been common in the family, Daniel's
children, whom he took along with him, Daniel, Lydia, Eleazer,
and Elijah, and Joseph, Israel, Rebecca and Elizabeth, born
afterwards in Bucks county, got off rather easily as far as names
w^ent, but a generation later, we find his descendants in Bucks
county consoling themselves with a free use of Tamar, Abigail,
Ephraim, Tabitha, Ebenezer and Mehetabel. Although Daniel
began w^ell in Bucks county, and was, it appears at first a re-
ligious teacher among the Friends, about three years after his
arrival a dark rumor "that Daniel should meddle in predictions
by astrologie," brought him into trouble with the meeting which
lasted almost continually until he was disowned in 171 1.
He had a way of assuming the defensive which ui olved the
frequent sending of committees to parley with him, whom he
often met with "unseemly expressions and contemptuous flouts."
From time to time, when it had gone too far, he would send
in written apologies to meeting, one of which it appeared "was
not fit to be read."
There was trouble too "as to ye man's wife that came to such
an untimely end," as to which scandal Daniel declares in one
of his numerous "papers" that "many mouths were open to
•speak things strange and ambiguous concerning me, but I was
clear, both as to action and thought."
How far Daniel's astrological methods differed from those
of Wiggins, may best be seen m his chief paper, worthy of
Nostradamus himself, read before meeting in 1702, when the
â– "rumors" had assumed their darkest character.
"In as much as many," reads the paper, here and there, "by
their consulting the figures of conceptions, and with revolutions
.and profections, presume to tell what is contingent to bear upon
178 THE DOANES BEFORE THE REVOLUTION
earth either to weal or woe, while they themselves are in ye
bitter source, and are shut up under the oxit of ye animated
spirit, and become fools to ye wisdom of Egypt ; and inasmuch
as it hath much amused the minds of many concerning me be-
cause I have done some things of that nature as to prediction,
and some have been inquisitous to see ye aphorisms and schemes
by which I did work them, and though I did never show it unto
any, yet I do say ingenuously and without mental reservation,
that I never was inclined, much less to study, any magic art
or southing divination or negromantic trick."
But soon after, taking unto himself seven devils worse than
the first, he proceeded to walk "loosely and vainly," and meet
all attempts to recall him with "contemptuous flouts,"" so that
finally, tired out with Daniel and his -dark doings, the Meeting
in 171 1, disowns the said Daniel Doan "to be one of us," and
"we being clear of him^ his wickedness lies upon his own head."
Between him and the refugees of Plumstead there is but a
gap of two generations, easily filled up. It appears from his
will, dated 1743, on record in Doylestown, and sundry deeds,
that he was a carpenter, and in his latter days at least, after the
death of Alehetabel his New England spouse, he took unto
himself a second, by whom he had Samuel, Alary, Thomas, Sarah
and Ebenezer, making in all eleven children wiiose descendants
were to people the forests of North Carolina, the lake shores of
Canada, and the backwoods of Pennsylvania and Ohio.
But it is in the astrologer's son Israel, grand-father to the
refugees, that we are particularly interested, and here again,
after rummaging the court records, we are able to glean but a
few meagre facts ; that he removed from Middletown, lived for
a while in Wrightstown, and squatted on the Indians' land in
Plumstead before 1726; that he lived to a great old age, through
the Revolution, and until his wild grandsons had left their
home forever; that he, too, got into trouble with meeting, and
when, finally, in October, 1725, his case having been brought
up several times, it appearing that "he had gone out from
among the Friends to consummate his marriage contrary to our
known rules of discipline," he was finally dropped from member-
ship. '
Those were the days when, as an old Chapman manuscript
THE DOANES before; THE REVOLUTION 1 79
says, "the Indians were friendly and deer and bears were in
great plenty, and bread was made from Indian corn, when the
grain was carried to market on cara</ans of horses tied head
to tail along Indian paths. It was the golden age between 1725
and '60, when the men dressed chiefly in deer skins and the
women in linsey and linen. When no luxuries had as yet ap-
peared, and men ate from wooden trenchers with pewter spoons,
when the robust women could reap and make hay as well as
keep house, and walk ten or twelve miles to Monthly Meeting,
and all would make merry with no lack of good old Jamaica
rum at the harvest home."
Passing over the other children of the above named Israel,
Mahlon whom I cannot trace, Elijah who died early, Martha
Michener, who notwithstanding her father's trouble, was mar-
ried in meeting; Elizabeth Lewis, Mary Wharton and Rachel
Leipper, who lived near Plumstead meeting-house and had two
handsome daughters, we come to Joseph and Israel, parents
of the refugees.
Israel number two lived with his father and died before him
on the farm now owned by Reuben High, half a mile northwest
of Plumsteadville. He married Rachel Vickers and had chil-
dren, Abraham the refugee, Israel number three, grandfather
of Mr. A. J. Doan, of New Jersey City, to whom I am indebted
for much of my information ; Thomas, whose son now lives at
Edgewood ; Elizabeth, Mary, who married her cousin, Joseph
Doan, Jr., the refugee, and went with him to Canada; Rachel,
who married a William Burges, and one of whose sons became
president of the New Jersey state senate; and Leah, who mar-
ried John Skelton.
Joseph Doan, Sr., son of the first and brother of the second
Israel, a carpenter, and by tradition a maker of plows, though
as it appears from the tax books he bought and sold other parcels
of land from time to time, lived on the Hagerty farm, on the
turnpike just south of Plumsteadville. He married Hester, and
was the father of five of the six outlaws, Joseph, Jr., Moses,
Levi, Aaron and Mahlon, who with their first cousin Abraham,
above mentioned, formed the complement of the Doans in the
outlaw band.
But there was another Joseph, a great uncle of the refugees.
l8o THE DOANES BEFORE THE REVOLUTION
and not to be confused with their father just named. He was
a son of old Daniel the astrologer, and brother of Israel number
one and grandfather through his son Jonathan to the late
Bishop Doane, of New Jersey, and ancestor of Aaron Doan,
of Philadelphia, W. R. Doan, of Toronto, and Abel Doan, of
Westfield, Indiana. He was a skilled backwoodsman, this
Joseph, and the Joseph Doan whom William Penn employed se-
cretly to walk over the ground of the Indian walk and blaze the
trees. He paid a visit, as the minutes show, to his relatives in
New England, and on his return emigrated to Cane Creek, North
Carolina, in 1751, leaving us with one less Joseph in our hands.
As the name of Eleazer has been heard of in tradition and
in the published accounts in connection with the refugees, it
will be well to say here that ihe Eleazer Doan^ who in 1788
removed from his properties called Doanston near the Haycock,
to Plumstead, where he bought and kept the old Price tavern,
which he owned until his death in 181 1, although once in jail
for harboring them, was not one of the refugees.
Whoever takes the trouble to run through the illy arranged
Orphans' Court archives at Doylestown, will find that there were
several Eleazers, but that Eleazer number one, of Upper Make-
field, son of old Daniel, the astrologer, had a son John, who lived
on a tract of his father's land on the Tohickon, and that said,
John had a son- Eleazer, the tavern keeper above named, who
came in for a share of this land when his father died intestate,
and lived there through the Revolution, not appearing in Plum-
stead until 1788, five years after his second cousins had met
their death or exile.
Of these fine looking young men, as they grew up to man-
hood, before the outbreak of the Revolution, save as to their
superiority at wrestling bouts and jumping matches, we can say
but little. All were unmarried except Joseph, Jr., who married
his first cousin Mary, Abraham's sister, and appears to have been
a man of considerable education for the times. Strange to say,
he taught school in Plumstead (at Danborough, doubtless), as
one of his pupils, 'Squire Shaw, of Doylestown, often flogged
by him, could have testified.
Upon examination we find that the romantic stories of their
exploits with Indians, save possibly the one of the leap over
THE DOANES BEFORE THE REVOLUTION l8r
the ravine at Kingswood. X. J., which more properly, perhaps
belong to another paper, all are apocryphal.
Possibly, as Mr. }iIorris states, their father played on "a good
old violin, whose sweet notes echoed from tree to tree in the
solemn stillness of the night." or as another story goes, Abra-
ham Doan, being employed by a Solebury farmer to trim his
apple trees, cut them down tirst and trimmed them afterward
"for devilment,'' but whatever may be supposed as to these
tales, we certainly have heard nothing from either Mr. Ber-
nard Kepler or Mr. Nathan Preston, of Plumstead, whose re-
spective grandfather and mother were schoolmates of the out-
laws, to corroborate the statement that "Abram was an infamous
character even then, for whom there was no extenuation," or
that Moses' horse was named "Wild Devil," or that he once
joined the Mingoes on a raid to Wyoming, or conquered in
wrestling one Lackawalon, an Indian champion, whom "hell
couldn't beat."
But yet these were the days when the high ridges of Plum-
stead were still unbared of their primeval timber, when wolves
wei*e common, and game so plenty that settlers took their guns
to meeting, and beavers built their dams across Pine Run.
Doubtless often the young backwoodsmen, when not at work
on their fathers' farms, dressed in their garb of deer and coon
skins, trapped beavers on Skippack, Neshaminy and Pine Run,
shot deer at midnight in the forest that then shaded the "rocks"
of Nockamixon, fished the pool at Black's Eddy, or pursued the
bear or wildcat to his lair in the gloomy shadow of "Cassidy's
Rocks" ; and as fancy pictures the early wilderness life in
Pennsylvania, it is easy to see the smoke of their evening camp-
fire rising above the tree tops of the Blue mountains or Hay-
cock, or hear the crack of their rifles at daybreak half drowned
in the Tohickon's roar.
Our space will not allow us even to glance at the cause of
their resistance to the colonies, suffice it to say that there is
no reason to doubt the verdict of tradition and history, which
states that they were quiet and orderly citizens before the out-
break of the Revolution, and to add that from 1768 to 1776, a
period presiunably covering the young men's "wild oats," there
is absolutely nothing against the Doans in the criminal dockets
of Bucks county.
Sketch of the Life of General John Davis.
BY REV. D. K. TURNER, HARTSVIELE, PA.
(Southampton Meeting, July 22, 1884.)
For a large part of the facts and dates contained in this paper,
I am indebted to General W. W. H. Davis, president of this
society, who, at my solicitation, permitted me to make such use
of them as I thought proper.
We ought not to allow the noble lives of those, who have
adorned and improved the sphere in which they moved, and
benefitted their country, to pass from our recollection. It is well
to call them up from the past and rehearse incidents in them,
that we may be encouraged to pursue a similar course, and cul-
tivate the virtues they possessed, even if we do not attain to the
distinction they enjoyed. Gen. John Davis was a man of whom
Bucks county may well be proud. He was born and reared
within its limits, and after a period of absence in his youth he
returned and made it the scene of the activities of his manhood
and the quiet serenity of his old age. His ancestry resided in
Scotland and Wales, and the blood of the North of Ireland also
flowed in his veins. It may be said, that the excellent qualities
of the three kingdoms of Great Britain were mingled in his
physical and mental constitution. His paternal grandfather,
William Davis, probably of Welsh origin, was born in London,
and came to Pennsylvania about 1740, a period when large num-
bers of English and Scotch-Irish crossed the Atlantic and found
their home in our State. He settled in Solebury, near the line
of Upper Makefield, which was the place of his residence dur-
ing the remainder of his life. His son, John, father of the sub-
ject of this sketch, was born in Solebury, September 6, 1760,
and spent a part of his boyhood with the family of William
Neely, a relative, at what has been long denominated "Neely's
mill," about four miles from New Hope. When the American
Revolution commenced he was nearly sixteen years of age, and
though a boy, sympathized heartily with the struggle of the
colonies against the tyrannical oppressions of the British
Parliament. A call was made for the militia to take
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GEN. JOHN DAVIS 183
up arms, and he entered the ranks and served four months, as
a substitute for his father, in a company which was attached to
the battahon of four hundred men from Bucks county, under
the command of Colonel Joseph Hart, of Warminster. These
troops took part in what was termed the "Amboy Expedition,"
a branch of the operations in which Washington retreated from
the vicinity of New York across New Jersey. At another time,
young Davis was in a company, whose captain was Samuel
Smith, but of whose services we have no particular account. In
December, 1776, just after his return from the first tour as a
soldier, the commander-in-chief of the American forces crossed
the Delaware and encamped near Jericho Hill, in upper Make-
field township, in the neighborhood where Davis then resided.
He went with the Continental troops, across the river, on that
eventful night, the 25th of December, when the victory of Tren-
ton cheered the nation with hope, that all was not lost, though
little but disaster had attended their efforts for several months.
James Monroe, then a lieutenant, afterwards President of the
United States, was wounded in that engagement and was taken
to the house of William Neely, where Davis was then living.
Being under the same roof for some time the lieutenant and
soldier-boy were no doubt much together, which no doubt in-
fluenced Davis to enlist. At any rate he enlisted in the com-
pany of Captain Thomas Butler, 3d Pennsylvania regiment, in
the winter of 1777. In 1780 a light infantry corps was organiz-
ed for General Lafayette, composed of picked men from dif-
ferent regiments, and Davis was one of those selected, con-
tinuing in it until it was disbanded, and the men distributed to
their former places. During the five years he was in the Con-
tinental army, he participated in some of the most important
actions of the war. When Lafayette was wounded at the bat-
tle of the Brandywine, he was present and assisted to carry the
gallant Frenchman from the field to a place of safety. He took
part in the struggle at Germantown, and spent the following
winter amid the cruel privations and sufferings of Valley Forge.
He aided in gaining the important victory of Monmouth Court
House, in the assault and capture of Stony Point, in the attack
on Block House Point, New Jersey, in 1780, when he was
wounded in the foot ; and in guarding the place of execution,
j84 sketch of the life of gen. JOHN DAVIS
when the spy, Major Andre, suffered upon the gallows. He
seems to have been with the army at the siege of Yorktown, and
5aw the British, under Cornwallis throw down their arms, and
in 1 781, under General Wayne, marched into the Southern
States. In that year, the war practically terminated ; he was
honorably discharged and returned to his father's house in Sole-
bury, and engaged in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture. Dur-
ing the long conflict, that ended in the establishment of our
liberties, he was a brave soldier, performing his duty in the
Tanks with courage and fidelity, and after its close he received
the commission of ensign in the Bucks county militia. He was
joined in the nuptial-bond, June 26, 1783, to Ann Simpson, of
Buckingham, whose father came from the North of Ireland
about 1740. (As General U. S. Grant's maternal kindred were
Simpsons, from the same part of our county, it is quite likely,
that Mrs. Davis was of the same family with the ex-President).
Her father, William Simpson, was a soldier of the Revolution,
and ardently engaged in the cause of freedom. When at home,
on one occasion on furlough, the Tories of the vicinity formed
a plan to capture him. They surrounded the house, and he
'had barely time, before they entered, to rush down cellar and
'have an empty hogshead put over him, which effectually con-
cealed him from their eager search.
Of these parents, John and Ann Simpson Davis, Gen. John
Davis was the third child, and was born August 7, 1788. When
the boy was about seven years old, the family removed to Mont-
gomery county, Maryland, and some incidents in their journey
were deeply impressed upon his memory. Their five children,
father and mother, together with their goods, were all in two
wagons, they crossed the Susquehanna at Havre de Grace on
a flat-boat. They established themselves on a farm near Rock
Creek meeting-house, and here he went to school in the winter
and labored in the usual agricultural employments at other
seasons, until he arrived at the estate of manhood. When about
sixteen he began to drive his father's Conestoga wagon loaded
with grain and produce to Baltimore. Railroads were unknown
in those days, and light spring-wagons had not yet come into
use. Vehicles were large and ponderous, the common roads
seldom repaired, and the traveler had abundance of exercise.
SKETCH OF THE Ul-^ OF GEN. JOHN DAVIS 185
in 1805, before he had arrived at the age of seventeen, he was
employed to convey the effects of a family, who were emigrat-
ing to the vicinity of Pittsburg, over the mountains to their home
on the frontier. A small dog alone accompanied him. The
route most of the way was through a dark forest untouched by
the woodman's axe. At the end of about sixty days he return-
ed safe and sound to his father's door. In 1808, when twenty
years old, he bought the remaining year before his majority
from his father, and for three or four years farmed for himself.
He also endeavored to cultivate his mind, gain information, and
make up the defects of his early education. Instead of idling away
his evening hours at the tavern, as some did, he read books and
public journals, and sought knowledge from every source ac-
cessible, especially upon American history and politics. At
favorable seasons of the year he occasionally visited Bucks
county, the home of his childhood, and here about 181 1 he first
became acquainted with the young woman who afterwards joined
her destinies to his in the holy bands of wedlock; Miss Amy,
daughter of Josiah Hart, of Southampton. Their marriage took
place March 13, 1813, Rev. Thomas B. Montanye, pastor of the
Baptist church, of Southampton, officiating. His bride was a
descendant of John Hart, a minister among Friends, of Eng-
land, who came to this country in 1682, among the earliest set-
tlers of Pennsylvania, under William Penn. He owned 500
acres of land in Byberry, Philadelphia county, and 500 in War-
minster, Bucks county. He resided on the former tract till
about 1695, when he removed to the latter and took up his
permanent abode in cur county. A large number of his pos-
terity in various branches have arrived at positions of eminence
and usefulness in the land.
John Davis, soon after his marriage, transferred his residence
from Maryland to the farm in Southampton, which belonged to
the estate of his father-in-law, recently deceased, and w^hich
with the saw-mill upon it, he purchased, and commenced the
active business of life, as the head of a household. Here he
remained more than half a century, energetically employed in
his appropriate calling. He was almost at once recognized as
a man of intelligence and force. His influence was soon felt.
l86 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GEN. JOHN DAVIS
and a high position awarded him in society, which he never for-
feited.
The war with Great Britain was already in progress, when he
settled at his new home in Pennsylvania. In August of the
following year, 1814, the British burned the Capitol at Wash-
ington, and made an attack upon Baltimore, and then proceeded
toward Philadelphia. A call was issued for volunteers to re-
pel the enem}-, and among the first to respond was the subject
of this sketch. The martial spirit of the Revolutionary soldier,
his father, appeared in the son. The news of the wanton out-
rage at Washington, reached Bucks county August 27th, two
days after it occurred, and on Thursday, September ist, a meet-
ing was held at Plart's Cross Roads, now Hartsville, at which
it was determined to organize a company and march at once
toward the seat of hostilities. The name of John Davis is
at the head of the list of sixty men, who volunteered that af-
ternoon. William Purdy was elected captain ; Samuel Daniels,
1st lieutenant; James Horner, 26. lieutenant, and John Davis,
ensign. The company met September 3d, for drill, and was
fully organized by General Harman Vanzant, brigade inspec-
tor, and directed to march the next Monday morning. At the
time appointed, this company and one from Newtown, under
Captain Vanarsdalen, met at Foster's Corner, now Southamp-
tonville, and a large crowd of neighbors and relatives gathered
to witness their departure. An appropriate discourse was preached
by Rev. Thomas B. Montanye, of the Baptist church, after
which they proceeded on their way in wagons to Frankford,
whence they marched to Philadelphia. They- were the first
troops that came from the country for the city's defense, and
their march through the streets excited no little enthusiasm.
The military uniforms for the rifle company, in which Davis was,
were made up by seventy young women, working gratuitously
in the Masonic hall. The company of Captain Purdy formed
part of Col. Thomas Humphrey's regiment of riflemen, which
were in service in Delaware, three months, from September 5
to Dec. 5, 1814, when they were honorably discharged. En-
sign Davis returned to his home as the war ended by the treaty
of Ghent, signed Dec. 24, 1814. In the spring following, he
entered the volunteer militia, in which he continued for thirtv-
SKETCH OF THE ElFE OF GEN. JOHN DAVIS 187
four years, and always during that time bore the commission of
an officer. He rose gradually through the several ranks of
captain, brigade inspector with the rank of major, lieutenant
colonel and colonel, to that of major general, to which he was
elected three times in succession. He did much to inspire spirit,
interest and energy into the militia service of the country
through that unusually long period. Not many weeks after his
return from camp, he organized a company, called the "Alert
Rifles," which was composed largely of men who had been in
Delaware with him, and who were personally attached to him.
Governor Snyder, of Pennsylvania, gave him a commission bear-
ing date August i, 1814, six months before he actually took
command. This company, made up of strong, active, young
men from Southampton and vicinity, dressed in uniforms of
dark hunting-shirts, trimmed with green or orange fringe, and
carrying burnished rifles, made a fine appearance in the field;
they were proud of their captain and he of them. Sometimes,
after going through their regular military exercises, they ended
the day by the "Indian Ramble," which is thus described by
S. D. Anderson, of Philadelphia, who witnessed it : "The com-
pany was formed in single file, and the captain placing himself
at the head of the men, began the movement in a slow step.
This was gradually increased, until the pace became a swift
run. At the same time the captain moved in a sinuous course,
and the men followed, giving the Indian yell with the full
strength of their lungs. When the proper moment arrived, the
movement was terminated, and the company dismissed. The
sight was intensely interesting, and when the surroundings are
taken into consideration, an evening drill of the riflemen, under
Capt. John Davis, is not likely to be erased from the memory."
In 1 82 1 he was commissioned by Governor Heister, for an-
other term of seven years, but two years after he was promoted
to be lieutenant-colonel, and afterwards to colonel of the first
regiment of Bucks county volunteers. This body of troops
bore a high reputation for discipline and soldier-like appearance.
They met for drill alternately at the Black Bear hotel, or Rich-
borough, and Newtown, and the regimental training day was a
time for people to gather from far and near to witness the
evolutions, to see each other, and amuse themselves. In 1824,
l88 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GEX. JOHN DAVIS
:\Iarquis De Lafayette visited this country as the guest of the
nation, and went through Bucks county on his way to Phila-
delphia. At the western end of the Delaware river bridge at
Trenton, Colonel Davis met him with his regiment of 600
mounted men, and escorted him to the Philadelphia county
line, where he was committed to the mayor and city councils.
At Bristol, they halted on their march, and the colonel was
presented to Lafayette. While they were conversing, the
colonel told hmi that his father, a soldier in the Revolution, had
assisted in conveying him, when wounded at the battle of the
Brandywine, to a place of safety. The Alarquis remembered
the event distinctly, and cordially embraced the colonel, as a
token of his gratitude for what the father had done, when his
life was in peril.
In 182S, Colonel Davis was elected brigade inspector, and
served in that capacity seven years. The office of major gen-
eral of the division, composed of Bucks and Montgomery coun-
ties, became vacant in 1835, to which he was reported elected
and obtained his commission from Governor Wolf. The legality
of the election however was disputed and was submitted to a board
of officers. Gen. Robert Patterson presiding, Gen. Davis, how-
ever, defended his own interests himself, and so forcibly that
an officer said to him at the conclusion, "When they made you
a farmer, they spoiled a plaguey good lawyer." As the elec-
tion had not been free from technical objections, a new election
was ordered, at which he was successful, and again commis-
sioned by Gov. Ritner, December 5, 1835. At the end of five
years he was elected a third time and commissioned by Govern-
or Porter, August 3, 1842. During these three terms of ser-
vice as major-general, he did much to create and foster an in-
terest in military affairs, and was the means of having four en-
campments of volunteer soldiers held under his direction —
three in Bucks and one in Berks county. One was in 1837,
in Northampton, near Richborough, and was called "Camp
Washington," the second, in 1838, in Southampton, near Feaster-
ville, called "Camp Jefferson;" the third, near Doylestown, in
1842, and called "Camp Jackson." At each of these encamp-
ments, five or six hundred men were gathered in tents, hand-
somely uniformed and equipped with burnished arms, and were
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GEN. JOHN DAVIS 189
required to drill several times a day and were otherwise under
strict discipline. In 1842. General Davis was invited to com-
mand an encampmen: at Reading, where eight hundred men
Avere collected, an.d were reviewed by Gen. Winfield Scott and
Governor Porter. This seems to have won the palm over all
similar attempts at representing the arts of war in time of peace,
which had ever been made in the State. The soldiers received
high commendation for their fine appearance and correct bear-
ing both from their commander and the public, and the general
himself was popular among the troops and citizens. This en-
campment was termed "Camp Kosciusko." Attention to mili-
tary affairs was then more extensively manifested throughout
the Commonwealth, than for a long period before or after. The
organizations were entirely voluntary; no aid was given by the
State, yet much enthusiasm appeared in the training and disci-
pline of bodies of men as defenders of their country. J\Iuch
of this interest was due to the efforts of the subject of this
sketch.
In politics. Gen. Davis was always associated with the Demo-
cratic party. Its principles commanded his approval, and he
endeavored, with zeal and activity, to promote its success.
During the first part of the time he resided in the county his
business required the devotion of his energies to such a degree
that he accepted no public office. Though well informed on all
subjects relating to the political affairs of the State and the
Nation, and wielding in the community, a wide influence, he
did not wish to embarrass his private concerns with the cares
of any civil position. Though solicited at times to allow his
name to be used for county offices and the State Legislature,
he declined, until nearly twenty years after his settlement in
Southampton. In 1824 he was an ardent supporter of Gen.
Jackson in the Presidential campaign, which resulted in the
election of John Quincy Adams, by the House of Representa-
tives. In the country store, the blacksmith-shop and other
places where the young men of the vicinity were in the habit of
gathering for the discussion of public affairs, he showed himself
well informed, and able to defend his views with keenness and
ability. His memory retained facts he read in the newspapers
with tenacity, and he used them in such a way as often to
190 SKETCH O^ the; life of gen. JOHN DAVIS
silence, if not convince, those who opposed him. He adhered
to Jackson warmly, when he was elected in 1828. The follow-
ing notice of him at that period was written by S. D. Ander-
son, Esq., long a familiar friend.
" A favorite meeting place of farmers at that time was the local black-
smith-shop in a neighborhood, and on one occasion, John Davis was at an
accidental meeting of his friends and acquaintances at the cross-roads,
where Davisville is now situated. He was in the prime of life, healthy,
rugged, clear-headed, and bold in the defence of his political opinions. In
the gathering were Wm. Purdy, Christopher Search, John Horner, and
others. Some of them were opposed to Jackson, and defended not only the
means by which Adams was elected, but the details of his administration.
The answers of John Davis to the defenders of Adams and opponents of
Jackson, made an impression on my mind, young as I was, that is still keen
and vivid. He used plain and terse language, and marshaled his facts in
such compact style as to bear down all antagonism. Some notice taken of
the boy, who displayed such attention on the occasion, laid the foundation
of an intimacy which lasted until the death of the speaker."
Mr. Davis was in favor of lyceums and debating schools, and
regarded them as important means of educating young men,
and bringing out and cultivating native talent. He was in the
habit of attending them, when held in his own vicinity, and
taking part in the discussion of such topics as interested him.
Forty or fifty years ago there was no little excitement in the
country in regard to carrying the mails on the Sabbath. Many
desired to have the transportation of them on that day abolished
while multitudes defended it. Among those who opposed it
was Rev. A. O. Halsey, pastor of the Reformed Church, at
Churchville, while Gen. Davis thought it necessary for the
public welfare, and warmly advocated the continuance of it.
Mr. Halsey was prevailed upon to send a challenge to the
General to debate the question at the school-house near the
church, of which he was the minister, which was accepted. On
the appointed evening, the room was crowded with an interested
audience, and many were obliged to stand outside at the door
and windows. The clergyman, who was an able theologian,
opened the discussion, and it seemed when he resumed his seat
after a lengthy address, that little could be said in answer to
his arguments for the strict observance of the Day of Rest.
It was now the duty of his opponent to reply. The plain far-
mer arose, and by a skillful presentation of facts and forcible
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GEN. JOHN DAVIS 19^
display of the wants of the commercial, mercantile and busi-
ness world, he made it appear to most of his auditors, that the
nation could not dispense entirely with the Sunday mail.
In 1827 he was nominated as a candidate for sheriff, but
owing to some disaffection in the Democratic ranks, he was de-
feated at the election by a popular candidate of the Whigs,
Stephen Brock. In 1829 he advocated the elevation of Wolf
to the Gubernational chair, and in consequence of his influence
and practical judgment, the Governor, in 1830, appointed him
one of the "Appraisers of Public Works." It was the duty of
these officers to view and assess the damages done to private
property by the canals and railroads built by the authority of
tlie State. He continued in this office three years, and in the
performance of his duty visited all parts of the State on horse-
back, and was frequently in Harrisburg, and in company with
many of the most noted and prominent men. This was a theatre
of action in which he found scope for all his mental activity,
discrimination, and sound sense. He enjoyed it much and was
enabled to accomplish much for the welfare of the Common-
wealth. He endeavored to act justly toward all parties ; the
interests of the State and of private individuals, being alike
weighed in the balance of integrity and discernment. Among
the numerous letters he wrote to his family, while absent, from
them at this period, a portion of one to his son Watts, (Gen.
W. W. H. Davis) now president of this society, then a small
boy at school, may well be quoted here, as it illustrates his sense
of the value of honesty and uprightness :
Harrisburg, Jan. 30, 1833.
" As I promised to write 3'ou from Harrisburg, I now take up my pen to
perform that promise ; believing as I do, that we ought to make no engage-
ment or promise we do not intend at the time to fulfil. As it is important
to instill this principle into the youthful mind, it is therefore my desire that
you should adopt it as the rale of action in your intercourse with all your
schoolmates and others, and not make any promise but what you intend to
perform."
In 1836, an election was held for delegates to a state conven-
tion to revise the Constitution, and General Davis was one of
the four nominees of the Democratic party in Bucks county, but
through the failure of the party, he was defeated. His politi-
cal associates, however, had undiminished confidence in him, and
192 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GEN. JOHN DAVIS
two years afterward, in 1838, he was nominated for Congress,
in opposition to Hon. Matthias Morris, a prominent lawyer,
then a member of the House of Representatives, who sought
re-election. The General was elected by a handsome majority
over his competitor, and took his place in the capitol, at Wash-
ington, December 1839. During his term he w-as a member of
several important committees, among which was that on manu-
factures, its chairman being John Quincy Adams. In 1841 he made
a speech in the House on the "Independent Treasury Bill," which
was spoken of as one of the most forcible and convincing
speeches of that session, and had no little influence in securing
the success of the measure, by which the control of the money
of the United States was taken from the banks, and centered in
the treasury of the government. He was subsequently nomi-
nated for Congress on two occasions, but failed to receive a
majority of the votes cast. Just previous to the election of
Francis R. Shunk, as Governor of Pennsylvania, General Davis
was suggested as a suitable man to be chosen to that high of-
fice. In the political campaign, which resulted in the election
of James K. Polk as President of the United States, he rendered
most effective service, speaking from the rostrum in numerous
public meetings, and laboring with great energy and zeal to
secure the triumph of principles which he deemed important
to the prosperity of the country ; and when the new administra-
tion came into power, among the first appointments made was
that of General Davis to be Surveyor of the Port of Philadel-
phia. He was in this office four years, and discharged its duties
with scrupulous fidelity, and in such a manner as to meet the
entire approval of the President and Secretary of the Treasury.
For his own private correspondence, he always used stationery
bought with his own money, and not with public funds. Dur-
ing this time, he continued to reside at Davisville, driving to the
city on Monday morning and returned Saturday evening, with
Colonel David Marple, whom he had appointed his clerk. He
chose as his deputy, a young man, who was an intimate friend
of James Buchanan, and who afterwards became distinguished
as an author and journalist, John W. Forney. In the political
campaigns which culminated in the election of Mr. Buchanan,
and the defeat of Stephen A. Douglas, he supported both these
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GEN. JOHN DAVIS 193
eminent men, the nominees of the Democratic party, with much
energy, speaking at mass meetings in this region and other parts
of the State. The poHcy of Mr. Buchanan in regard to the
Southern portion of our country and the system of slavery did
not satisfy his views of justice or expediency, and the warm
attachment, which he had felt for the veteran statesman, was
interrupted and never renewed. Though he lamented the civil-'
war that arose in our land, yet when the existence of the Union
was imperiled, he advocated the maintenance of our government,
and the overthrow of rebellion, and encouraged his fellow-citi-
zens to enlist. His son, the president of this society, with his
smile and benediction, placed himself at the head of the 104th
Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, and exposed his life and
health in insalubrious districts, on the march, in the tented field
and in battle^ to preserve our institutions from threatened ruin.
Gen. John Davis was a warm patriot. He loved his country,
and was earnest in upholding every measure, by which he be-
lieved its prosperity would be promoted. About the year 1852,
I accepted an invitation to deliver an address before the Hat-
borough lyceum, in Loller Academy, and chose as my subject,
"The Perils of Our Country." Gen. Davis soon after, perhaps
the next week, delivered a lecture in the same place on the
"Remedy for National Evils." I did not hear it, but was told
that it was forcible and displayed intellectual power and ac-
quaintance with public measures and the wants of our widely
extended land. In business he was industrious, a hard worker,
and endeavored to employ his time in such a manner as to bring
to pass the most desirable results. On his farm, which he
cultivated with his own hands many years, he was a pattern of
diligence and energy. The saw-mill on his property, which
he frequently ran himself, proved a source of large pecuniary
profit, and on one occasion he remarked to some of his family, that
if he ever adopted a coat-of-arms he would design on it a picture
of a saw-mill. Office-holding was merely an incident in his
career, not his main dependence. In 1826 he built a store in
what is now Davisville, subsequently adding a dwelling, whither
he removed his family in 1830, and there he resided about
forty-five years. Davisville received its name in 1827, when the
post-office, which had been for four years in the house of
7
194 SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GEN. JOHN DAVIS
Joseph Warner, on the Street Road, just above the Southamp-
ton line, and called "Warminster," was removed to the store
of Gen. Davis, and he was appointed postmaster.
His wife being at their marriage a member of the Southampton
Baptist church, he associated himself with that congregation,
was an intimate friend of its pastor, Rev. Thomas B. Montanye,
took a warm interest in all its affairs, and was a member of the
board of trustees several years. When the Baptist Association met
there, he welcomed ministers and other strangers to the hos-
pitality of his home, and very many in the sacred profession
have, at different periods, been entertained under his roof. Rev.
Dr. Rice, formerly a missionary to India, once visited the
Southampton church, and was the guest of General Davis.
The General delighted to have his friends visit him, especially
on occasions of interest in the church, and had a heart warm
with sympathy toward any who were trying to promote the
welfare of their fellow- men. He was one of the vice-presidents
of the Bucks ' County Bible Society, and after his death ap-
propriate resolutions of respect were adopted by the society.
For particular reasons arising from the choice of a pastor, he
withdrew from the church, at Southampton, and attended the
Baptist church at Hatborough, of which he became a com-
municant member in 1869, under the ministry of Rev. W. S.
Wood. A division having occurred in the Southampton church,
a branch withdrew and built a house of worship between South-
hamptonville and Davisville, which was enlarged and rebuilt
afterwards, when Rev. W. H. Conrad was pastor. As this
was near his home, while Hatborough was several miles distant.
General Davis removed his church connection to this new or-
ganization, and remained a member of it till his death. When
eighty-two years of age he was appointed a delegate to a Baptist
convention, at Boston, which he found great pleasure in at-
tending. Not only the church, but the whole village of Davis-
ville and the surrounding vicinity are much indebted to his fore-
sight, enterprise and liberality, in the promotion of improve-
ments of public utility. The turnpike to Southamptonville, and
the railroad from Philadelphia to Newtown, received the warm-
est encouragement from his voice and pen, and most generous
aid from his purse. When the subject of building the North
SKETCH OF THE LH^^E OE GEN. JOHN DAVJS I95
East Pennsylvania railroad was agitated in Bucks and Mont-
gomery counties, he advocated its construction at various
gatherings of the people, and when the Newtown railroad was
opened in February, 1878, he was present and made a speech
in the open air, though it was frosty and the ground covered
with snow. A battle took place in the Revolutionary war with
Great Britain, May i, 1778, at the Crooked Billet, now Hatboro,
between some British troops who came from Philadelphia, and
a detachment of American soldiers under Brigadier General
John Lacey, and as the scene of the action was but three miles
from the home of General Davis, he was anxious to have a
monument erected on the spot to commemorate it. An associa-
tion was formed to carry the project into effect, in which he
took great interest, and to which he liberally contributed, and he
was much gratified, when in i860 the marble shaft, now stand-
ing, was reared to remind us of the perils,. sufferings and blood-
shed our fathers went through to secure for us the priceless
blessing of nationa'l liberty.
During the last few years of his life, his health gradually failed ;
his naturally strong constitution lost its energy, and after being
confined to his couch about three weeks, he peacefully closed
his eyes in death April i, 1878, resting by faith upon the aton-
ing merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. His funeral was attended
by a large concourse of his neighbors and friends, many of
whom were distinguished in military affairs, at the bar, in the
pulpit, political life, and in other avocations. This venerable
church, in which we are now assembled, was crowded to over-
flowing during the exercises. His mortal remains repose in
the silent graveyard near by, awaiting the morning of the
resurrection. He was an affectionate son, husband, and father;
a sincere patriot; a public spirited citizen; an humble christian;
courageous in danger, wise in counsel, prompt in action ; an
excellent military and civil officer, and a judicious and disin-
terested legislator. May society and our beloved country en-
joy the presence and services of many like Gen, John Davis.
Southampton Baptist Church.
BY GEiV. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Southampton Meeting, July 22, 1884.)
The whole story of the settlement of this State and county
is epitomized in the next to last stanza of Mrs. Heman's poem,
entitled, "The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers :"
What sought they thus afar ?
Bright jewels of the mine ?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?
They sought a faith's pure shrine.
Our ancestors left their pleasant homes in the British Isles
and on the continent, to seek, in the New World, what was
denied them in the Old. "freedom to worship God." They, who
preceded, came with, or immediately followed, William Penn
were religious colonists, more intent on freedom of worship
than worldly gain. The Friends who settled this county were
men and women of deep religious convictions, who hardly
waited to shelter themselves before erecting places of worship.
In a few years each community was within reach of a meet-
ing, and the religious polity of the Friends was fully established
in the young Commonwealth. As this was to be the home of
every faith and belief, it was not long before the walderness
west of the Delaware was penetrated by other denominations.
Lyonel Brittain, the first known Roman Catholic in the State,
settled on the Delaware, in Falls township, in 1680, and his
daughter Mary is supposed to have been the first child of
English parents born in this coimty, June 13th, same year.
The denominations which followed the Friends, were, in
their order, the Baptists, the Episcopalians, the Low Dutch
Reformed and the Presbyterians; each of which has a his-
torical church, the pioneer of its sect. The Dungans, Baptists
of Rhode Island, arrived in this county in advance of Penn ;
and the 4th of Sixth month, 1682, two hundred acres of land
in Bristol township were granted to William Dungan. About
that time a small colony of Welsh Baptists came from the
same province and settled near Cold Spring, three miles above
SOUTHAMPTON BAPTIST CHURCH 197
Bristol. They were followed, in 1684, by the Rev. Thomas
Dungan, probably father of the William mentioned above, with
his family, who settled in that vicinity. He soon gathered a
small congregation about him and organized, a Baptist church,
the first in the State and county, which was kept together until
1702. We know little of its history ; its only earthly reinains
being the graveyard, overgrown with briars and trees, and a
few dilapidated tombstones. The pastor died in 1688 and was
buried there. Several years afterward a handsome tombstone was
erected to his memory in this yard, but is not now to be found. A
number of his descendants are buried here, among them his grand-
son, Joseph Dungan, who died August 25, 1785, aged seventy-five
years, six months and seven days. Two pastors from Penny-
pack were buried at Cold Spring, Samuel Jones, 1722, and
Joseph Wood, 1747. Elias Keach, the first pastor at Penny-
pack, was ordained by Thomas Dungan, about 1687.
The Southampton Baptist church is the oldest in the county and
the seventh in the State. Its origin dates back to the division
among Friends, in 1691, by George Keith. They, who went
off from the Society, were called "Keithians," "Christian
Quakers or Friends/' and sometimes "Keithian Baptists." A
small congregation met for worship, once a month, at the house
of John Swift, Southampton township, and continued their
meetings down to 1702. Their pastor was John Hart. He
was a distinguished minister among Friends, who came from
England, in 1682, and settled in Byberry, but left the Society
with Keith. The Baptist church at Pennypack was organized
December 13, 1690, by John Watts, Joseph Ashton, John Eaton,
John Baker, Samuel Jones, George Eaton, Jane Ashton, Jane
Eaton, Joan Eaton, Mary Foster and Sarah Watts. John
Watts, from Leeds, England, was the pastor from December,
1690, to August 27, 1702, when he died at the age of 41. He w^as
buried in rear of the church, and on his tombstone is to be read
the following quaint inscription :
" Interred here I be
O that you could now see,
How unto Jesus for to flee
Not in sin still to be.
Warning in time pray take
And peace by Jesus make.
Then at the last when you awake
Sure on his right hand you'll partake."
198 SOUTHAMPTON BAPTIST CHURCH
At the death of John Watts, the congregation worshiping at
Swift's was invited to unite with Pennypack, which they did,
and John Hart became the assistant minister with Thomas
Griffith, to his death, in 17 14. John Hart Hved in Warminster
township at the time. The meetings were continued at John
Swift's every third Sunday, and, when he removed to Phila-
delphia, they were held at Peter Chamberlain's, same township.
In 1 72 1, on the death of Samuel Jones, pastor at Pennypack,
the meetings at Chamberlain's were discontinued for a time,
but were resumed, once a month, in 1726, when Jenkins Jones
was called as pastor. A short time afterward George Eaton
was called as assistant. The place of meeting was now changed
to John Morris's, in Southampton, and Joseph Eaton, an ordain-
ed minister at Montgomery, generally preached for this little
congregation. By 1730, this Society felt it was necessary to
erect a house of worship. Then it was that John Morris, whose
house had so often sheltered these primitive Baptists, came to
the rescue. He gave a lot of one acre to build the meeting-
house upon, and for a graveyard, "in order that the preach-
ing of the gospel might be continued at Southampton." He
added to this gift, about the same time, a farm of 112 acres
to support the minister. The lot of one acre was part of these
grounds, subsequently enlarged. The house was erected in
1 73 1, and, in November, 1732, he executed a deed in trust for
the property to Jeremiah Dungan, Robert Parsons, John
Dungan, John Hart and Thomas Dungan. Joseph Eaton of
Montgomery, was called to preach one Sunday in the month,
and Jenkins Jones on a week day. John Morris, who made
this valuable gift, was born in 1650, baptized at Pennypack,
May 12, 1720, and died February 23, 1733, at the age of 83.
The congregation worshiping at Southampton retained their
connection with Pennypack until 1745. The 15th of February
they petitioned for dismissal and to be constituted a church
by themselves. It was laid before a church meeting, April ist,
granted the 5th, and the new church kept the 8th as a day of
fasting and prayer at the meeting-house. The same day a
solemn church convocation was entered into. Fifty-six names
are signed to this paper, and it is seldom a religious body is
put under the patronage of the same number of pious and
SOUTHAMPTON BAPTIST CHURCH IQQ
estimable people. Among the names are those of Hart, Watts.
Dungan, Potts, Gilbert, Yerkes, Shaw, Jones, Beans, Hough,
Craven, Morgan, Murray, and others of equal repute. The
members of the new church communed together, the first time,
the 1 8th of May, the ordinance being administered by the pas-
tor at Pennypack, Jenkins Jones. Joshua Potts was called to
the office of teacher, Stephen Watts ruling elder, and John Hart
deacon ; the latter two having held the same offices at Penny-
pack. The oldest church members, at the constitution of
Southampton, were Lucy Chamberlain, baptized at Pennypack,
about 1702, Elizabeth Yerkes at the same place, in 1704,
Robert Parsons and John Hart, 1706, and Thomas Potts, in
1707. The first person baptized at Southampton was Joseph
Hart, May 29, 1740, and the first to receive this ordinance af-
ter the church was constituted, were Thomas Dungan, of War-
wick, and Hannah Watts, daughter of Stephen Watts, of
Southampton, administered by Jenkins Jones, May 26, 1746.
These baptisms were in a dam on the farm of Stephen Watts,
now of the estate of the late John Davis, at Davisville. The
baptisms were continued at that place many years, and until
a baptistry was built in the churchyard, in 1774. One of the
signers to the petition for dismissal from Pennypack, was a
negress, Sarah Parr}^ The first member "dealt with" was Isaac
Eaton, suspended October 18, 1746, for "some misbecoming
carriage" at the election at Newtown. The nature of the of-
fending is not given, but we hope that modern practice of vot-
ing "early and often" was not inculcated at that early day, nor
the cause of our brother's fall from grace. The church book shows
that occasionally a brother or sister needed a little fatherly cor-
rection, and which they were sure to receive.
The church prospered during the fifteen years pastorate of
Mr. Potts. In this time it sent forth two members who be-
came distinguished divines, Oliver Hart and Isaac Eaton who
were called to the work of the ministry December 20, 1746.
Mr. Hart was the son of John Hart, first deacon at Southamp-
ton, and grandson of that John Hart who was assistant minis-
ter at Pennypack, and preached for the little flock at Swift's
and Chamberlain's. These young men were licensed to preach,
April 16, 1748. The following year Mr. Hart was called to
200 SOUTHAMPTON BAPTIST CHURCH
the First Baptist church at Charleston, South Carohna, and
ordained the i8th of October, 1749, by Joshua Potts, Benjamin
Miller and Peter Peterson VanHorne. At this time he was
26 years of age. He arrived at Charleston the 2d of Decem-
ber, and immediately entered upon his duties. He labored in
that field for thirty years with gr^eat success and was much be-
loved. Mr. Hart acted a conspicuous part in the church and
out of it. It was largely through his efforts the Baptist churches
of South Carolina were united in an "Association,"
which held annual meetings. When the Revolutionary war
broke out he was zealous and active in the cause of American
Independence, In 1775 he was appointed by the Council of
Safety, (then exercising executive authority in South Carolina),
to travel in conjunction with Hon. Wm. H. Drayton, and Rev.
William Tennent into the interior of the State to conciliate the
inhabitants to the measures of Congress, by removing their
prejudices, and giving them a just view of their political in-
terests. It is thought that the influence Mr. Hart exerted on
this occasion prevented bloodshed. The journal he kept on this
trip, still in existence, is an interesting document. When the
British overran the State, in 1780, and Charleston was on the
point of falling into their hands, he was advised to leave, as it
was feared his activity in the cause of the colonies would bring
him into trouble. He came North and took temporary charge,
(intending to go back at the close of the war), at Hopewell Bap-
tist Church, N. J. ; he did not return South, but died there in
1795, and was buried at Southampton. His death caused great
sensation in the religious world, and many eulogies were pro-
nounced upon his life and character. Mr. Benedict, in his
History of the Baptists, says of Mr. Hart: "His ardent piety
and active philanthropy, his discriminative mind and persuasive
address raised him in the esteem of the public, and gave him
a distinguished claim on the affections of his brethren." Mr.
Hart was born in Warminster township, July 5, 1723; was
twice married, and has descendants in many Southern states.
The claim has been made that thirty Baptist ministers have
descended from him.
Isaac Eaton, licensed the same time with Oliver Hart, was
a son of Rev. Joseph Eaton, of Montgomery, and the first
SOUTHAMPTON BAPTIST CHL'RCH 20I
pastor of New Britain Baptist church, but joined Southampton
church early in Hfe. He was called to Hopewell, in April, 1748,
and ordained pastor, the 29th of November following, by Rev.
Messrs. Carman, Curtis, Miller, and Potts of this church. He
married Rebecca Stout, of that place, the same year. He con-
tinued pastor of that church to July 4, 1772, when he died at
the ag-e of forty-seven. He was buried in the meeting-house
close to the pulpit, and on the marble stone erected to his
memory is this inscription.
" In him, with grace and eminence, did shine
The man, the Christian, scholar and divine."
His funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Jones, of Pennypack,
who said of him : "The natural endowments of his mind ; the
improvement of these by the accomplishments of literature ;
his early and genuine piety ; his abilities as a divine and a
preacher ; his extensive knowledge of men and books ; his
Catholicism, etc., would afford ample scope to flourish in a
funeral oration, but it is needless." Mr. Eaton was the first
among the American Baptists who set up a school for the
education of youths for the ministry. He opened the school
at Hopewell, in 1756, and closed it in 1767. In this time
seventeen ministers, in part or in whole, were educated at his
.academy, and many others, who filled distinguished places in
life. Mr. Eaton had some scholars from this county, and
among others was Stephen Watts, of Southampton.
About this period some disturbance was caused in the
Southampton congr,egation by reason of a new regulation about
marriages. Those desirous of entering into this state were
obliged first to acquaint the church authorities, and three publi-
cations were required. They, who offended in this matter,
were esteemed "disorderly," and "dealt with." This regula-
tion, however, was rescinded in 1757, and the young people re-
joiced again. This practice must have been continued, or re-
newed, for we find there were advanced publications of mar-
riages in 1776. Mr. Potts, the pastor, died in 1761, and in
this yard is still found the stone erected to his memory, with
the following inscription :
202 SOUTHAMPTON BAPTIST CHURCH
In memory of
The Reverend Mr. Joshua Potts,
who was
The Stated minister of this place
Fifteen years.
Endowed with many Excellent qualities,
Faithful to his Master's cause.
And
Died universally beloved,
The 1 8th day of June, 1761,
Aged 42 j^ears.
At the death of Mr. Potts, Thomas Davis preached for the
church for a short time but was not called. Meanwhile, the
temporalities of the church were not neglected; in 1762 a
house and barn were erected on the parsonage, and a wall
, built around the graveyard, superintended by Stephen Watts.
In 1763, Dr. Samuel Jones became pastor of both Penny-
pack and Southampton, on a joint salary of i8o, but continued
the joint charge only seven years, relinquishing that of South-
ampton. In the contract he agreed to live midway between
the two churches. During this pastorate the records give a
case of serious offending by a member of the church. In 1768,
Joseph Richardson was charged with cheating his pastor in the
purchase of a negro. The matter was investigated, and the of-
fending brother was at first suspended, but afterward excom-
municated.
A charge for digging graves was first made in 1764. Dr.
Jones resigned the Southampton part of his charge in 1770,
and gave his whdle time to Pennypack. His place was filled
by Erasmus Kelly, June ist, same year, who was to receive the
rent of the parsonage and £40 in money. Mr. Kelly was a man
of some note. He was born in this county, in 1748, educated
at the University of Pennsylvania, and began to preach in
1769. He left Southampton in August, 1771, to accept a call
at Newport, Rhode Island, where he remained until the
Revolution broke out, when he went to Warren, same state,
where the British burnt the parsonage and his goods. He then
returned to Pennsylvania, but when the war closed went back
to Newport, where he died, in 1784, at the age of 36.
Mr. Kelly was succeeded by William VanHorne, called in
August, 1772, and ordained the 29th of the following May by
Isaac Eaton and Samuel Jones. The records state there were
SOUTHAMPTON BAPTIST CHURCH 2O3
present on that occasion, besides the Revs. John Blackwell,
Joshua Jones, WilUam Rogers and Jonathan Jones, "a great
many common people." Mr. VanHorne was married the fol-
lowing December to Lavinia Budd, of Burlington, N. J., and
had six children, all born at Southampton. He was the son
of the Rev. Peter Peterson VanHorne, a native of Middletown,
in this county; was born at Pennypack, in 1746, educated at
the academy of Dr. Samuel Jones, and received his degree from
the college of Rhode Island. He was a man of very consider-
able note ; his pastorate was active and useful, and he took a
deep interest in all public affairs. He was a member of the
convention that framed the first constitution for Pennsylvania,
1776, and a warm friend of the colonies in their struggle with
the mother country. He joined the Continental army at Val-
ley Forge, January i, 1778, and served as chaplain to General
Grover's, Mass., brigade until the summer of 1780, when he
returned to his charge. In his absence the church relied on
supplies. While the British army occupied Philadelphia, meet-
ings for worship and business were interrupted by the enemy
visiting the surrounding country. We find in the church
record, under date of Sunday, March 22, 1778, the entry, that
it was resolved to hold the business meeting that afternoon,
that should be held the first Monday in April, "on account of
the frequent incursions of the enemy into these parts, and the
great probability of this part of ye country being plundered of
forage; the enemy at Philadelphia being very scarce of that
article." The next meeting for business was held January i,
1779. While the army lay at Valley Forge, Mr. VanHorne,
occasionally rode across the country to Southampton to preach
for his congregation, and two Sundays in June are mentioned
when he was present. Among the supplies for this period was
Samuel Jones, of Pennypack, who received sixteen dollars for
each Sunday. During the absence of Mr. VanHorne his
family were allowed to live at the parsonage.
There were some improvements in the temporalities during
this period. A new meeting-house, 32 x 40 feet, was built in
1773, on a lot bought of Thomas Folwell, the site of the present
buildings, superintended by Arthur Watts and Mr. Folwell. It
does not appear to have been completed immediately, for on
204 SOUTHAMPTON BAPTIST CHURCH
June 1 8, 1779, £84 were collected to finish it. We learn from
the same records, that the old meeting-house was fitted up
for a tenant, in the spring of 1774, and the rent fixed at £4
per annum. Just where the first meeting-house stood may be'
a question, but we believe it to have been the little stone build-
ing near the road, and to the right of this edifice, and used for
a school-house many years. Just below was the sexton's house,
and these two buildings were separated by a stone shed.
j\Iost of the early churches of this county, like the church of
the middle age, maintained a classical school on their grounds,
taught by the minister, or a hired teacher. Southampton fol-
lowed this good example, but how early we cannot say. At a
church meeting, April 9, 1774, Joseph Hart was chosen trus-
tee "of the La/tin grammer school formerly kept by Rev. Isaac
Eaton," and in place of Rev. Joshua Potts, deceased. The
school must have been discontinued for a time, for the records
state that it "had laid dormant." There is no doubt Isaac Eaton
and Oliver Hart received part of or all their classical learn-
ing in this old school-house. The roll of pupils cannot be re-
called, but we know that the late Joseph Gales, of Washington
city, was one of them.
Among those baptized, in 1773, December 11, was a slave
woman, the property of Arthur Watts, named Daphne, who
lived more than sixty years afterward, and is well remembered
by the writer. A new fence was built round the meeting-
house lot the same year. The war affected the church in sev-
eral ways. In 1779, the pew rents were doubled; in 1780 raised
twenty for one, on account of the depreciation of Continental
money, and afterwards thirty, and then forty for one. Just at
what time Mr. VanHorne left the army we cannot say, but in
the winter, or early spring, of 1780. He visited it in April, to
get his discharge, and returned the 4th of June. His salary
for 1 78 1 was fixed at £40 in wheat, at the rate of a dollar a
bushel in specie, or the value thereof, and the use of the parson-
age. When a movement toward building a Baptist church in
Penn's Manor was made, in 1783, Southampton was asked for
a contribution, and a collection of £2 is. 8d. was taken up. May
i6th. Mr. VanHorne had been dissatisfied for some time with
the situation of things, and in the summer of 1785, he tendered
SOUTHAMPTON BAPTIST CHURCH 205
his resignation, which was accepted, and left in the fall. The
reason given was, "on account of increasing expenses of his
family, the insufficiency of his salary, and the little prospect
there was of its being better." Mr. VanHorne died at Pitts-
burg, in October, 1807, on his way to Lebanon, Ohio.
For the next fifteen years the church was served by several
pastors, and temporary supplies. Mr. VanHorne was succeeded
by David Jones, of Great Valley, Chester county, who had,
likewise, been a chaplain in the Continental army. He w^as
called January i, 1786, and moved April 8th ; and was to have
the use and profits of the parsonage, and £40 in money. Mr.
Jones left in the spring of 1792, and returned to Chester
county. Nothing unusua'l took place during his short pastorate.
He was a man of marked character, and no chaplain in the
Revolutionary army is better known in history. The church
now relied entirely on supplies for about two years, and among
them were Messrs. Samuel Jones, Wm. Rogers, David Jones
and Oliver Hart. It was closed during the winter of 1795,
and there was preaching only once a month the following sum-
mer. Thomas Memminger supplied them for four months,
from December i, 1793; was called as pastor in the fall of
1794, and ordained January 13, 1795. How long he remained
cannot be told as there is a break in the church records, but
probably until 1800. In 1792, Benjamin Bennett, a member
of the church, was called to the ministry, and became pastor at
Middletown, New Jersey.
The church was not incorporated until 1794, over sixty years
after it was organized, and nearly half a century after it had
been constituted. The charter came from the State. The first
board of trustees was composed as follows : Members of the
church, Elias Yerkes, Jr., Arthur Watts, Thomas Folwell,
Elias Dungan and Abel Morgan ; of the congregation, John
Folwell, Joseph Hart, Isaac Edwards, Joshua Dungan and
Jacob Yerkes.
We now come to an interesting period in the church's history,
what may be called its "Golden Era." The next change in the
pastorate was greatly for the benefit of its spiritual and tempo-
ral welfare. In 1801 the Rev. Thomas B. Montanye, of War-
wick, New York, was called and accepted ; he made the charge
206 SOUTHAMPTON BAPTIST CHURCH
his life work. He was the son of the Rev. Benjamin Mon-
tanye, of the city of New^ York, where he was born, January
29, 1769, and a descendant of Thomas de la Montanyie, who
arrived from France in 1661. He entered the ministry at the
age of 18, and had already become a noted preacher when
called to Southampton. The church was never in a more
flourishing condition than during his pastorate; the members
were numerous, the congregation large, and its influence second
to none in the denomination. The new pastor was a man of
large views, and public spirited, and he wielded a powerful
influence in the church and out of it. The church building was
rebuilt and enlarged in 1814, to accommodate the increasing
attendance. A Sunday schodl, the first in the county, was or-
ganized in 1814 or 1815 ; it became large and flourishing, and
was maintained several years. Christopher Search was the
president, and William Purdy and John Davis the directors.
In 1822 Julia Ann B. Anderson received a Bible from the school
as a reward for committing to memory the whole of the New
Testament. Mr. Montanye took great pride in the Sunday
school, and frequently addressed it. When troops left this
county, m 1814, for the defense of Philadelphia, they set out
from what is now Southamptonville, where Mr. Montanye de-
livered to them an appropriate discourse, in the presence of a
immerous assemblage. He was chaplain to the troops en-
camped at Marcus Hook, that fall. The defects in the church
records prevent us giving further particulars of this brilliant
and useful pastorate. Mr. Montanye died at his residence, in
Southampton, September 27, 1829, and his remains repose in
this yard. His funeral was more largely attended than was
ever known in all this region of country, the line of vehicles
reaching from his late residence to the church, two miles. In
his death, not only had a great man fallen in Israel, but the com-
munity and county lost one of their best and most useful citi-
zens. He left numerous descendants, among whom is Hon.
Harmon Yerkes, of Doylestown, through his youngest daughter.
The church records of that period are so defective they con-
tain not a line on the death of this much loved pastor.
After the death of Mr. Montanye a year and a half elapsed
before a new pastor was settled. The Rev. Mr. Segar, of
SOUTHAMPTON BAPTIST CHURCH 207
Hightstown, N. J., was called the 8th of November, 1830, but
declined; when Rev. James B. Bowen, of Montgomery, Pa.,
was called and accepted. This was for one year, at a salary
of $300, and firewood, and he moved to Southampton the last
of March, 183 1. At the expiration of the year the call was
renewed and he remained pastor twelve years, residing on the
parsonage farm the whole time. Mr. Bowen left in April, 1843
because of some disagreement with the church and congrega-
tion. During this period there is nothing of unusual interest
to record; there were some additions to the membership, and
the temporalities of the church were carefully managed by the
board of trustees. In October, 1835, delegates from South-
ampton met those from other churches, at Kingwood, New
Jersey, to form the Delaware River Association, to which this
church still belongs. Down to this period the church had been
a member of the Philadelphia Association.
Mr. Bowen was succeeded by Rev. Alfred Earle, called
December 30, 1843. i^is pastorate was not a happy one for
the church, and he left June 17, 1848. He was followed by
Rev. William Sharp, of Troy, N. Y., called x\pril 7, 1849, ^nd
dismissed September 14, 1854; Rev. Daniel L. Harding, of
Orange county, N, Y., called October 14, 1854, and resigned
January 11, 1865; Rev. William J. Purrington, of Washington,
D. C, called August 26, 1867, ^"d resigned April 13, 1879.
For the ensuing five years the church was without a settled
pastor, and relied upon supplies ; when Rev. Silas Durand, of
Herrick, Bradford county. Pa., was called April 12, 1884, and
will assume charge in the fall.
Between the time Mr. Earle left and the calling of Mr.
Sharp, a schism took place, and thirty-three members seceded
from the church. They met at the dwelling of Jesse L. Booz,
the 31st of March, 1849, and organized what is now the Davis-
ville Baptist church, with Mr. Earle for pastor, and John Potts
and Bernard VanHorne, deacons. A meeting-house was built
at an expense of $1,500, and first occupied New Year's day,
1850. This child of old Southampton has grown to be a power-
ful organization, and has had for pastors the Rev. Messrs.
Kent, (who succeeded Mr. Earle,) Cox, Appleton, Conard,
Marsh and Mr. Berry, the present incumbent.
208 SOUTHAMFTON BAPTIST CHURCH
During the pastorate of Mr. Purrington, the parsonage farm,
the gift of John Morris one hundred and forty years before,
was sold, and from the proceeds a handsome residence for the
pastor was erected in 1868, at a cost of $6,000, the church was
improved, and a new house built for the sexton. The church
building is one of the largest in the county, with a seating
capacity of about 1,200, including the galleries. On a marble
slab in the east end we read the dates of the three houses that
have stood upon these grounds: Founded 1731 ; rebuilt 1772;
enlarged 1814. The quaint sexton's house, that stood on. the
road-side more than a century, gave way several years ago,
before the march of improvement; and the old school-house,
where the classics were forced into unwilling heads, singing
schools held, and dramatic performances astonished the be-
holders, has long since gone to its final account. With the de-
struction of these buildings, the sweet aroma of the past has
fled, and our eyes rest only on things that belong to this utili-
tarian age. Not a native oak, that shaded these grounds when
the writer was a boy, has been spared by the remorseless tooth
of time ; but two buttonwoods, of all the old trees, have come
down to us from a former generation, and stand a connecting
hnk between the past and the present. As something is said
about cutting down these trees, permit me to say, in the lan-
guage of the poet:
" Woodman, spare that tree !
Touch not a single bough ;
In youth it sheltered me,
And I'll protect it now."
John Perkins a member of this church for about sixty years,
and a somewhat remarkable character, deserves special men-
tion. He was born in 1754, and becoming blind from an acci-
dent at the age of 12 or 14, never recovered his sight. His
industrious habits enabled him to lay up a support for his old
age. His principal occupation was threshing grain and dress-
ing flax, and he was so well acquainted with the roads that he
traveled alone in all directions. Many are still living who
have seen him going about this and adjoining neighborhoods
feeling his way with his cane. He was a regular attendant at
this church in all weathers; and died August 8, 1838, at the
age of eighty-four years.
THE FERNS OF DURHAM AND VICINITY 209
If we were disposed to indulge in memories of the past; to
speak of the fair women and good men, who, through a century
and a half, have come to this altar to worship most of whom
sleep in this old graveyard ; and to rehearse the events of in-
terest that have had their birth here, the opportunity is excellent,
but time will not permit. The old church book contains numer-
ous entries that will force a smile in spite of the fact that one
is handling almost a sacred record. This congregation has
sent forth many men of note, including divines, men of letters.
National and state legislators, judges, officers of the army,
and officials of Nation, state and county, and the descendants
of old Southampton to day hold places of honor and trust in
many states of the Union. May her sons and daughters re-
ceive the same measure of spiritual prosperity, now and in the
hereafter.
The Ferns of Durham and Vicinity.
BY MISS MARGARET J. MOFFAT, RIEGElvSVILLE, PA.
(Sole bury Meeting, Nov. iS, 1889.)
Bearing in mind that Durham is one of the small townships
of Bucks county, and that but one of the many beautiful forms
of vegetable growth is to be at all enlarged upon, you will par-
don me if I occasionally digress from my subject to glance at
some of our floral treasures not classed under "Ferns or their
allies."
For the benefit of those who have never visited the extreme
northeastern corner of Bucks county I will say that the scenery
in that vicinity is far from being monotonous. Indeed, look in
what directions you will, the eye meets beautifully rounded
hills, bold rocky cliffs, winding valleys and deep, mossy ravines,
sufficiently romantic and fairy like to be the favorite resorts
of Queen Titania herself. The grandest feature of our land-
scape, perhaps I might say of the county, is the "Narrows,"
or Palisades, a range of almost perpendicular rocks which at
places rise fully three hundred feet from the river border. These
clififs begin in Durham and attain their greatest height in the
northern part of Nockamixon. These rocks and their surroundings
2IO THE FERNS OF DURHAM AND VICINITY
present to the botanist a peculiarly rich field for research. The
rare Scdiim Rhodiola, Canada Water Leaf, Ginseng, Mountain
-Maple, Lupine, Scotch Hare-bell and many other choice plants
have been found here by Dr. L S. Aloyer, Prof. T. C. Porter
Dr. C. D. Fretz, and our local botanists.
The botanical centres of Durham and vicinity are Buck-
wampum, the hill and valley west of Lehnenburg (formerly
IMonrbe), the low woods and swamp near Durham church and
the hills opposite Durham furnace extending beyond Rattle-
snake mines.
The flora of our county contains, according to Dr. Moyer,
about 1,300 species and varieties. On the hill opposite Mon-
roe 400 species have been noticed. In the "Flora of Bucks
County," published in 1876, 32 species and varieties of ferns
are enumerated. In Durham and the bordering parts of Nock-
amixon and Springfield 32 species and varieties have been found
within the last three years by jNIessrs. J. A. and H. F. Ruth
and myself. Dr. T. C. Porter informed me recently that he
had found the Cheilanthes, or Lip fern, on the rocks in New Jer-
sey, nearly opposite the lower end of the Narrows, and on this au-
thority the number found in Durham and vicinity may be set
down at 33. Probably, nay certainly, no equally limited area
in the county can produce a fuller local list. The number
is no doubt largely increased by the very diverse character of
the soil and geological structure.
The ferns named in the county flora, and not found in our
vicinity are Woodzvardia Virginica (chain fern), and Lygod-
iiim palmatum (climbing fern). Those not mentioned in the
flora but found in our neighborhood are Pellaea atropurpurea
(cliff brake), Asplenkim Riita-mitraria, Struthiopteris (ostrich
fern), and Ophioglossum vulgatwn (adder's tongue). The
Pellaea atropurpurea and Asplenium Ruta-muraria are found
growing side by side, on a calcareous conglomerate rock, near
Monroe school-house. The Ostrich fern is found along the
river bank near the Narrows. Adder's tongue is found in a
bog west of Monroe. Dr. Porter found the Pellaea atropur-
purea and Asplenium Ruta-muraria growing together on a con-
glomerate outcrop near Delaware Water Gap, exactly as they
PALISADES OR NARROWS OF NOCKAMIXON.
Bluffs (new red-sandstone) are almost perpendicular, rising about
400 feet above the Delaware river.
Taken from Narrowsville Locks, September 9, 1908.
THE FERNS OE DURHAM AND VICINITY 211
were found in Durham. The rich, damp woods near Durham
church and Monroe are particularly good localities for Grape
ferns (Boirychium), Maiden Hair {Adiantnm), Dicksoiiia and
Beech ferns (Phegopteris). The Asplenium Trichornanes and
Camptosorus, which require less moisture, are found on rocky
banks and in clefts of rock near Monroe. The long feathery
fronds of Cystopteris hulbifera add greatly to the beauty of our
deep ravines and render more artistic many an angle of the
Nockamixon rocks. IVoodsia Ilvensis and Struthiopteris are
found near the same locality. The Aspidium Goldianum is
found in a ravine near Buckwampum. Polypodiiim vidgare,
Pteris aqiiilina, the different varieties of Aspidium, Asplenium
Onoclea, Osmwhda and Botrychium wave their delicate fronds
over every hillside.
A word about the fern allies will not be out of place here.
The Horse-tail, or scouring rush, belonging to the genus Bquis-
etmn, is found along the river front. Probably our great-grand-
mothers utilized them in keeping white their wooden ware and
floors in the days when carpets were a luxury. Many fine
sedges and grasses are found along the Delaware ; the rare
wood rush grows here farther south than any locality men-
tioned in Gray's manual. The woods near Durham church
and Buckwampum, are favorite haunts for various species of
Lye podium, or club-mosses, whose trailing stems are eagerly
sought for holiday decorations, and no more graceful festoon
for church or parlor can be found. True mosses of every con-
ceivable shade, from the deepest emerald to pale yellow, car-
pet the hillside with a covering so bright and flexible that the
richest Wilton or Axminster seems dull and harsh when com-
pared with them. Over every gnarled root, rock and fence is
thrown a lichen veil of pale gray, beaded daintily with glowing
scarlet cups. These beauties are so microscopic that they are
seldom fully appreciated. That sweetest of all wild flowers,
trailing arbutus, is found in great abundance among the mossy
cushions.
Should I enter into the details of fern distribution, fructi-
fication and structure, this paper would, I fear, tax the patience
of all except professional botanists. Any standard work on
botany will direct you how to investigate and will supply tech-
212 THE FERNS OF DURHAM AND VICINITY
nical terms ; but in order to understand ferns you must study
the ferns themselves. Every nook and glen must be thorough-
ly explored to discover the habits of the fern in its native haunts.
Let no one imagine the task will be an easy one ; patient appli-
cation and careful observation are essential to success ; yet
the study is so fascinating that toil soon changes to pleasure
and interest deepens with the research.
Nature opens her beautiful book of twelve chapters, and so
vivid are the illustrations that no one to whom the blessing of
sight has been given can be excused from becoming an enthu-
siastic student thereof. Go where you will on the face of the
earth, from the eternal snows of the Arctic to the burning
plains of Africa also under the earth in deep mines, and in the
bed of the sea plant life in some form, greets you. King Sol-
omon, the wisest of mortals, was a practical botanist; we are toLl
that he spake of trees from "The cedars of Lebanon to the hys-
sop on the wall."
The following is a list of the ferns found in Durham and
vicinity :
Polypodium, Phegopteris,
vulgare. hexagonoptera.
Adiantum, Cystopteris,
pedatum. bulbifera,
Pteris, fragilis.
aquilina vestita. Struthiopterls,
Cheilanthes. Germanica.
Pellaea, Onoclea,
atropurpurea. sensibilis.
Asplenium, Woodsia,
Trichomanes, obtusa,
ebeneum, Ilvensis.
Ruta-muraria, • Dicksonia,
thelypteroides, punctilobula.
Filix-foemina. Osmunda,
Camptosorus, regalis,
rhizophyllus. Claytoniana.
Aspidium, cinnamomea.
Thelypteris, Botrychium,
Noveboracense, Virginicum,
spinulosum lunarioides,
cristatum lunarioides-var obliquum,
Goldianum, " var dissectutn.
marginale, Ophioglossum,
acrostichoides. vulgatum.
Thanks are due Messrs. John A. and Harvey F. Ruth, of
Monroe, for assistance in collecting and arranging the above
list of ferns.
The Paper Mills of Bucks County.
BY E. F. CHURCH, NEWTOWN, PA.
(Solebury Meeting, November i8, 1S84.)
The paper-miWs of Bucks county number but two, and one
of them is of recent date, it can therefore be presumed that
this paper will not be a long one.
In this connection, however, it will be well enough to say
something of the manufacture of paper, an article which enters
largely into the life of the age, and which is of universal use.
Early in the history of civilization, when writing was in its
infancy, a material called papyrus was made from a reed grow-
ing in the delta of the Nile, in India, and other southern clime.^.
I'his reed was spilt and flattened out, and by some process made
into sheets. About the year looo paper was made by a process
similar to that now practiced, of cotton, in Europe, and it was
undoubtedly made in China and Japan much earlier, from the
inner bark of different trees.
England imported her paper for centuries and the first paper-
mill in that country was built in Kent by a German, about 1500.
The first paper-mill erected in the United States was on Chester
creek, in Delaware county, Pennsylvania, in 1714. This mill
furnished Franklin with paper. While the machines for reduc-
ing rags and other material into paper-pulp have changed but
little, the process of making paper from the pulp has been
greatly improved. The first paper-maker, after placing his
pulp, (reduced by water to the proper consistency) in a tub,
stood by the side thereof, with a mould or sieve of woven wire,
and dipped up enough of it to form a sheet. Then he shook
the mould, surrounded by a frame called a deckle, to regulate
the size of the sheet. It required practice to dip and shake
properly. This was set up at an angle to dry, and taken by an-
other man and turned over on a felt or blanket, when the mould
was returned to the vatman. Thus the paper was piled up,
alternate sheets of paper and felt, until 130 felts, or five quires
of paper were accumulated, when they were set aside, and put
under a press, to extract the water. Then the sheets were carried
214 THE PAPER MIIvLS OF BUCKS COUNTY
to an upper story, and hung out to dry, when they were folded in-
to quires, pressed again, and made up into bundles. About three
weeks were required to make a sheet of finished paper.
Thus paper was made from the beginning until about 1830;
for eight hundred years. There was little or no improvement
until our day. I say our day, for men are still living and ac-
tive, who made paper by the old process, and remember when
the Fourdrinier machine was put in the mills. By this ma-
chine the milk like pulp flows in at one end and the finished,
smooth-pressed, white paper comes out at the other, piled up
ready to put into quires. Its work is continuous. In all well
regulated mills the machinery starts just after the stroke of 12
on the early Monday morning, and runs until just before 12
on the next Saturday night. It rests on the Sabbath — the
machinery does, but on that day the employees overhaul and ex-
amine it, and make repairs if needed. We shall not attempt
to show the vast increase in the consumption of paper. Wood-
pulp now forms the great proportion of our common print
paper, and a part of the very best. If it were not for wood-
pulp, it might become impossible to print the daily newspapers.
But let me now come to our subject, the paper-mills of Bucks
county. In this township, in sight of this place if a hill did not
intervene in a beautiful valley, just below where the famous
Great Spring flows out of its limestone cavern, is the site of
the first paper-mill built in Bucks county. Samuel D. Ingham
was a man of much more than ordinary ability, who represent-
ed this county in the Congress of the nation for several ternis,
and was afterwards a cabinet minister. When a boy, living
with his father, in the ancestral home, he saw the clear strong
stream issuing from this famous spring, and conceived the
idea that here was the place for a paper-mill, a strong stream,
clear water, and sufficient fall to propel machinery. The death
of his father, who died of the yellow fever, contracted on a mis-
sion of mercy in Philadelphia, interrupted his classical studies,
and at the age of 15 he went down to the paper-mill on the
Pennypack, (now on the line of the Newtown railroad) and
indentured himself to learn the art and mystery of making
paper, and worked at all the branches of this laborious business.
Attaining his majority, he came home, and with a paper-maker
THE PAPER MILLS OE BUCKS COUNTY 21 5
from the Pennypack mill named Langstroth, he built a paper-
mill on the site of an old fulling-mill, about the year 1790.
Here they made printing paper by hand, and hauled it to Phila-
delphia and sold it. The early Bucks county newspapers were
printed on Solebury paper. The old red mill, with its uppei
story of open lattice work, to allow the air to pass through in
clear weather to dry the paper, is well remembered by many
yet living. In 1836 a Fourdrinier machine was put in the mill,
and this is the first machine of the kind used in this State. There
were several other mills, but they continued the old practice of
hand-making for some time afterwards. John Hank leased the
mill when the new machinery was put in, and carried it on until
about 1840, when Anthony Kelty, a paper-maker from Chester
county, took it. Kelty is the first man who ever made paper of
old manila rope and bagging. Previous to this time wrapping
paper was made of coarse and refuse rags, etc., but Kelty con-
ceived the idea of utilizing the jute-fibre, as found in disused
rope and bagging. To-day the manufacture of paper from the
raw imported jute plant is one of the leading industries of the
country. When Kelty sent his new made wrapping paper to
market, he found he had a competitor from Massachusetts, who
had also conceived the same idea, and was making the same
kind of paper. The priority of invention was examined into
by the late Sylvester Megargee, of Philadelphia, and decided in
favor of Kelty. Thus two facts stand out prominently in the his-
tory of this Bucks county paper-mill. Here was used the first
Fourdrinier machine in the State, and here was made the first
manila paper in the country. This was named by Mr. Megar-
gee, who first sold it, Canton or Chinese paper, but afterwards
it was called manila, which name it still bears.
In 1850 Mr. Weeden took the mill and ran it for several
years, making print paper. In 1865 Wm. McCready took it, and
soon after the mill was burned. It was rebuilt in 1876 and run
by Butler & Co., when it was again burned down in 1870. A.
j. Beaumont had purchased the property in 1849, ^"^ still owns
it. He rebuilt the mill in 1870 and ran it. In 1875 Wm. Gandy,
a nephew of Weeden, took the mill, and afterwards a New York
company took it and ran on thin manila or tissue paper until
June, 1883, when they failed, and work was stopped. It nov/
2l6 THE PAPER MILLS OF BUCKS COUNTY
Stands idle, with excellent machinery and good power, ready for
some enterprising individual to take hold of it.
The next paper-mill started in Bucks county was the old
Union Mills, built on the edge of the Delaware river at Wells'
Falls, below New Hope, operated by water-power, a wing wall
having been thrown out into the rapids of the river giving an
im'mense volume of water and considerable fall. The property
was long owned by the late Lewis S. Coryell, and leased to
various parties for many kinds of business, most of which were
failures, and the mill was idle for years. Finally in 1880 the
property was purchased by an incorporated company, the old
buildings entirely torn away, and a large and substantial stone
and brick mill erected in 1881, for the manufacture of manila
paper. It is said to be one of the best mills of the country, with
all modern improvements. It has two machines, one a Four-
drinier and the other a cylinder, and makes two kinds of paper,
the regular manila for wrappers, bags, etc., of all thicknesses,
and a thin tissue or copying paper. It turns out three tons of
paper daily, one of copying paper and two of manila. The
members of the company reside in Trenton and Lambertville,
N. J., and E. R. Solliday, of the latter place, is general manager.
Edward Hicks.
BY DR. LETTIE A. SMITH, NEWTOWN, PA.
(Solebury Meeting, November i8, 1884.)
Edward Hicks, a worthy member and an approved minister in
the "Society of Friends" was born in the village of Attleboro, now
Langhorne, on April 4, 1780, in a brick house which is still stand-
ing on the southeast corner of Four-Lanes-End, as the place
was then called. His parents were Isaac and Catharine Hicks,
both regularly descended from Thomas Hicks, of Long Island,
a man well versed in the law and for some years chief-justice of
the province. Edward's paternal grandfather, Gilbert Hicks,
married the daughter of Joseph Rodman, of Long Island, who
settled the young couple on a tract of land of about 600 acres
on Neshaminy creek, twenty miles east of Philadelphia. Hither
they came in 1747, and dwelt in a comfortable log house in which
Edward's father, Isaac Hicks, was born in 1748. Subsequently
Gilbert sold this large farm and bought a tract of one hundred
acres, (coming to a point at Four-Lands-End,) on which he
erected the brick house before referred to, and in which Edward
was born. He grew wealthy, devoted himself to public business,
and was promoted to the office of chief- justice of the court of
common pleas. While in this office he passed judgment upon
two colored men, who, in consequence, were transported to the
West Indies for life as slaves. It appears that the voice of truth
showed him plainly that he had better sacrifice his lucrative and
honorable office; "but," says Edward, "my poor grandfather
was then basking in the sunshine of prosperity. He was a
politician, he had been an office-hunter and was now an office-
holder, and therefore would not give up to the heavenly voice
within. The consequence was that in the return of retributive
justice, in less than seven years, he lost the object of his youth-
ful affections, the wife of his bosom, and by continuing his at-
tachment to his royal master, in opposition to the American
patriots, whom he imprudently insulted, he was driven from his
home, his country ; his property confiscated, and his family
reduced to indigence. When under the protection of the
2l8 EDWARD HICKS
British army in New York, my father paid him his last visit, and
on parting my grandfather gave his son this last advice, 'You
are a young man, and as you may be exposed to many tempta-
tions, my last and most serious advice to you, is never act con-
trary to your conscientious feelings, never disobey the voice of
eternal truth in your own soul. Sacrifice property, personal
liberty, and even life itself, rather than be disobedient to the
heavenly voice within. I disobeyed this inward monitor and am
now suffering the due reward of my deeds.' "
Edward's maternal grandfather, Colonel Edward Hicks, was
Gilbert's first cousin. He married Violetta Ricketts, of Eliza-
bethtown, N. J., a high-church woman, and their daughter,
Catherine, Edward's mother, was educated a regular member
of the Episcopal church, but on her death-bed was convinced of
the blessed truth as held by Friends. She died on the 19th of
October, 1781, in the thirty-sixth year of her age, leaving her
poor, little, feeble infant, Edward, under the care of her colored
woman, Jane, who had been a slave in the family. This Jane
worked about among the farmers in the neighborhood of Four-
Eanes-End and of Newtown, for a living, taking little Edward
with her. At the latter place she met Elizabeth, wife of David
Twining, who noticed this poor, sickly-looking, white child, un-
der the care of a colored woman, and, being told he was the son
of her dear, deceased friend, Kitty Hicks, her sympathy for the
child and love for the mother led her to take the child and bring
him up as her own. She and her husband, David Twining,
were exemplary members of the Society of Friends. Edward.
in his memoirs, always speaks of Elizabeth Twining as his
adopted mother, and says that she was best described by the in-
spired poetry of the last chapter of Proverbs, that she was cer-
tainly the best example of humble industry that he ever knew
for so wealthy a woman. It seemed to him that this woman was
providentially appointed to adopt him as her son, and to be to
him a delegated shepherdess, under the great Shepherd and
Bishop of Souls. He tells us that she read the Scriptures with
a sweetness, solemnity and feeling he never heard equaled ; that
he often stood or sat by her, before he could read, and heard
her read, particularly the 26th chapter of Matthew, which made
the deepest impression on his mind. It was there that all the sym-
EDWARD HICKS 219
pathy of his heart, all the finer feelings of his nature, were concen-
trated in love to the blessed Saviour. It was there in his spiritual
appearance as a quickening-spirit that he kindled the first devo-
tional fire on the altar of his heart, a fire that was not extinguish-
ed even by juvenile infatuation, a fire that was rekindled about
the twenty-first year of his age, the light whereof led him to a
Saviour's feet, whilst its genial warmth melted him into tears
of repentance and love.
He says he continued under the care of his adopted mother,
as a boarder, until he was turned of thirteen, when his father
finding himself disappointed in his prospect of making a great
man out of a weak little boy, by scholastic education (having in-
tended to make him a lawyer) did the best thing he could have
done, by binding him out as an apprentice to an industrious
coachmaker for seven years, for here (he adds) the propensity
to idleness, for which he had a natural turn, was necessarily
counteracted. "But,"' he continues, "the change was very great
for a poor, weak, little boy, who was brought up thus far as a
gentleman's son, to sit at the table as a boarder as long as he
pleased, and had only to ask for what he wanted to get it. Then
to sit down quickly and eat such as was before him, asking no
questions, with a voracious set of men and boys, who seemed to
eat for their lives, and rise with their master, was hard, and to
go to work was still harder." Here he missed the religious
counsel and tender care of his adopted mother, of whom he often
spoke in his mature years. Being of a lively disposition and
working with men and boys who gave way to a kind of low
slang and vulgarity of conversation and conduct which came
directly in contact with his respectable religious education, he
of course became the butt of their significant wit. "But," he
says, "the tenderness of his religious impressions too soon wore
off, and instead of weeping and praying, he soon got to laugh-
ing and joining in their light conversation, and having a natural
fund of nonsense he quickly became a favorite with his shop-
mates, and thus he was surrounded by the worst of temptations
on every side." Edward as a boy or man was always good
company and a leader in the social circle. His seven years ap-
prenticeship having expired when he was twenty, he hired as
a journeyman with his old masters, Henry and William Tomlin-
220 EDWARD HICKS
son, and continued with them about four months, when he set
up coach and house painting for himself, in the place of his
birth and apprenticeship. He had a natural turn and taste for
painting which enabled him in time to acquire a high reputation,
especially in the business of sign painting. He painted many
hotel signs, his favorite design being William Penn's treaty with
the Indians, an imperfect copy of Benjamin West's celebrated
painting of that subject. He painted the sign of the Brick Hotel
in Newtown, one side representing Washington mounted upon
a chestnut-sorrel horse, the other the Declaration of Indepen-
dence. This sign attracted a good deal of admiration when
new, but has shared the fate of all others, having faded out
from exposure to the weather. He also painted many pictures
which may still be seen in the homes of some of the old residents
of Newtown. Among these are, Jordans, England, showing-
William Penn's grave; David Twining's place in 1787, now oc-
cupied by Cyrus Vanartsdalen ; and the Peaceable Kingdom.
The last was, perhaps, the most remarkable, being an illustration
of the nth chapter of Isaiah, and embracing in the foreground,
all the animals there mentioned, and in the distance Williajm
Penn treating with the Indians. Edward was entirely self-taught
in painting as a fine art, and his work gives evidence of con-
siderable talent. The latter part of his life, painting was his
chief occupation and means of support, having tried farming,
broom-making, etc., and failed in all.
In the fall of 1800, Edward, now twenty years of age, went
to work for Dr. Fenton at painting his house. The Dr. and
his wife were Presbyterians and he went with them to their
meeting and sang with them. One day the Dr. proposed to him
that he should join church, and as an inducement observed that
he would use his influence in forming an advantageous marriage
with an elder's daughter, a rich heiress. Edward replied that
if he was ever worthy to join any religious society he should
join the Quakers.
As he approached his 21st year he left his old associates in
fun and frolic and was under the preparing hand for a change.
He was then disposed rather to shun than to seek young com-
pany, and spent his Sabbaths in rambling about by himself in
solitary places. In one of these excursions he found himself
EDWARD HICKS 221
within reach of Friends' Meeting at Middletown, and went to
it, and although he had often been there before, he had not been
since his serious turn. He says he had a precious meeting,
and continued to walk five miles to that meeting every First-day,
while he lived with Dr. Fenton, in Northampton. In the fall
of 1801 he went to IMilford to live, to assist Joshua C. Candy in
the coachmaking business, particularly the painting, for a cer-
tain sum, Joshua agreeing to give him every Fifth-day from
nine until two o'clock, so that he might go to meeting, which
was about two and one-half miles distant. He walked to
Middletown meeting. He says he has no recollection of miss-
ing a mid-week meeting for forty years when he was web
enough to go. In the spring of 1803 he applied to the over-
seers of Middletown Monthly JMeeting to be received into mem-
bership with Friends, and was received with open arms.
On the 17th of nth month of the same year he was married
to Sarah, daughter of Joseph and Susanna Worstall, of New-
town. He tells us that "she was the first object of his youthful
afifections, even while he was a child."
In the spring of 1804, they settled in Milford, Bucks county,
now called Hulmeville, soon after which he was persuaded to
borrow money and build a house, U'^t liaving enough of his
own. This was the commencement of serious pecuniary em-
Ijarrassment, from which he suffered much discouragement and
difficulty. His debts and dealings brought him in contact with
selfish men which had a tendency to chafe and sour him, and he
says "he soon got into a state like the man in the fable who got
"his neighbor's fault and his own into a wallet, but in putting it
•on his shoulder he got his own faults behind and his neighbor's
before his eyes where he could always- see them, which led him
to wander from the Shepherd's fold and to return to the sin-
ner's path, until he met a kind Friend in the ministry, who seized
the wallet and turned it end for end. At the sight of his own
faults he fled to his home and resolved to talk less and pray
more. And having a better view of his own faults he lost sight
of his neighbor's."
In the spring of 1810 he attended the Yearly Meeting of
Friends, "under considerable exercise and more disposed to
.-silent prayer than vain conversation, for he had been in that
222 EDWARD HICKS
State for some months, and frequently in meeting had solemn
apprehensions that it was his duty publicly to advocate the cause
of Christ. But," he continues, "the fear of being deceived
and a sense of his own unworthiness kept him back, and when
meeting closed he would sometimes feel so weak and faint that
he could scarcely rise from his seat." Yet, upon the whole, this
Yearly Meeting was a strengthening time to him, and when
it closed on the 20th, he returned home. On the 22d being
First-day, he went to meeting, "a meeting," he says, "ever
memorable to him, because it was in that meeting he first de-
cided publicly to advocate the cause of Christ ; he had suffered
for disobedience to the heavenly voice within, and an awful
fear clothed his mind that this would be the last call he would
ever have." He trembled and wept, and kneeling, he offered
a few words in prayer. It was but a few words that he could
utter, and on taking his seat he wept almost aloud, and as soon
as meeting closed he went immediately home without speaking
to any one. With what singleness of heart, with what fear and
trembling, he went to the next meeting in the middle of the
week, and feeling the commandment to speak a few words he did
so, and felt strength renewed, and on the next First-day, feel-
ing a similar concern he spoke again, but was brought imder a
great fear lest he should burden his friends, and was favored
to be silent for some weeks. He had for six or seven years
felt it his duty faithfully to bear a testimony against the use of
spirituous liquors, and Friends were renewedly stirred to en-
gage in the concern and in the Quarterly Meeting at Buckingham,
the same year, 18 10, a large committee was appointed to assist
the Monthly Aleetings, who were recommended to make similar
appointments. In this cojnmittee he labored with Friends and
others to convince them that it was their duty to lay aside the
use of this pernicious article as a drink and as an article of
trade. Edward claimed that his house in Hulmeville was the
first one built without the use of liquor, refusing to furnish
it to the workmen.
Toward the close of the year 1810 he sold his house and lot
in Milford, intending to move to Newtown, where both his and
his wife's parents and other relatives lived. In the spring of
181 1 the time for moving drew near and he had not been able
EDWARD HICKS 223
to get a place to move to, which caused a great deal of anxiety
and trouble to himself and wife, and just when he thought he
must sink on account of it, he received word from Abram Chap-
man, a wealthy lawyer of high repute, that he had thought
much about him (Edward) and his wife through the night and
thought it right to sell them his house and lot and board witli
them, (having previously declined selling to them) which in-
telligence raised their drooping spirits, and Edward thought
it was the Lord's doings and marvelous in his eyes. According-
ly in the 4th month, 181 1, they moved to Newtown, where, he
tells us, "at that time, comparatively speaking, every tenth
house was a tavern and every twentieth of bad report," and only
about four or five families of Friends lived in the town and its
vicinity and there was no meeting of Friends nor hardly such
a thing thought of.
In nth month, 181 1, he was recommended as a Friend who
had a gift in the ministry, by Middletown Monthly Meeting, to
the select quarters and there acknowledged.
In the spring of 181 3 he laid before Middletown Monthly
Meeting a concern to travel as a minister, and obtained a minute
expressive of the unity of that meeting to visit the meetings
belonging to Philadelphia and Abington Quarters, at all of which
he was favorably received. Soon after this first traveling as
an acknowledged minister and while he was still a member of
Middletown Meeting, where there were three or four other
mmisters, and living as near Wrightstown, then the largest
meeting in the quarter, and no minister there who was able to
attend, he consulted some of the Middletown elders as to the
propriety of his attending that meeting as way should open. They
encouraged him to attend to the concern and he went and was
placed at the head of a very large meeting. There he was kindly
appreciated by Friends and others, and soon after was impressed
to go to Wrightstown altogether. His wife uniting with him,
they requested their certificate of removal. The overseers ex-
pressed sorrow that he was going to leave them. Soon after
this the settlement of a Friends' meeting in Newtown was much
talked of. The courts of justice were removed and the public
buildings were vacant. By this time the number of families of
Friends had increased in the town and its vicinity and a large
224 EDWARD HICKS
number in the country round about, but they belonged to three
different Monthly ]\Ieetings, Wrightstown, Middletown, and
Falls. The application to hold an indulged meeting for worship
in the old court-house, which was rented for the purpose, on
First and Third-day mornings, for six months, was made to
all three of those meetings. The request was granted, and com-'
mittees appointed to have the care thereof for six months from
Fourth-month ist, 1815. This was the beginning of Friends'
^Meeting at Newtown, which was no doubt established through
the preaching and influence of Edward Hicks. At the ex-
piration of eighteen months, application was made for permission
to build a meeting-house, which finally received the sanction of
the quarter, and the house was built, which is still standing.
In 1819 Edward again felt a concern to travel in the ministry,
first to the South in the spring, and in the autumn to the North,
in New York and Canada. In these journeys he rode almost
3,000 miles on horse-back. Previous to this journey he had
all the symptoms of pulmonary consumption ; the long horse-
back ride he thought changed it to a chronic cough, which al-
ways after remained with him.
With the approbation of Friends he frequently traveled
in the cause of spiritual truth for some years, visiting many
places and was always well received wherever he went.
He was of commanding presence, tall, slender, and erect, with
dark complexion, striking features and intellectual countenance.
He was a great reader with a very retentive memory; but a
man of strong prejudices and quick temper, which he says he
controlled with great difficulty. In the social circle he was a
most genial and interesting companion. He was by nature an
orator, without appearing conscious of the gift. His clear strong
voice could be readily heard by an assembly of thousands, and
there was a charm about it that seemed to electrify an audience
and command attention the moment it was heard. His deep
feeling and tenderness reached the hearts of his hearers and
melted many to tears. His appointed meetings in the different
school-houses over the county on First-day afternoons were al-
ways crowded. It might be said, moreover, that the mere an-
nouncement that Edward Hicks would be at any meeting in
city or country would insure a crowded house. He was indeed
EDWARD HICKS 225
cne of the most popular and leading ministers in his time. His
heart was always full of sympathy for the sick and suffering
and he was ever ready to visit such and anoint them with the
oil of Heavenly love. He was sent for, far and near, to visit
the dying, and with his Heavenly words he soothed or comforted
their last moments. There could scarcely be a wedding or a
funeral among Friends or Friendly people without soliciting him
to attend, and he was generally favored to respond to the call.
Indeed, it was his concern frequently to attend funerals, where
in large audiences opportunity was afforded to preach the gospel
in the demonstration of the spirit, and with power. He was
also concerned for the support of the "Discipline of the Society,"
believing it was a hedge about them, and the disposition to change
it gave him uneasiness. For many years his cough troubled
liim, which increasing, attended with shortness of breath,
disabled him for distant journeys. But he diligently attended
his meetings at home, and frequently those in the vicinity, and
with the unity of Friends at home (which he always es-
teemed precious) he appointed meetings in school-houses and
other places remote from an}- house of public worship, and
though his bodily strength was declining yet his voice remained
strong and clear. A few weeks previous to his death, his cough
and debility increasing, he felt easy to remain at home, as it
was difficult for him to sit in meetings. And while he was
"fervent in spirit, serving the Lord," he was also "diligent in
business," laboring with his hands for the support of his family
until the day before he died, when finding himself very weak
he returned to the house, saying he "believed that he had paid
his last visit to the shop." The next morning his daughter ob-
served she "thought him better." He replied he ''zvas better,
he was comfortable, but requested they would not flatter them-
selves, for he was going to die." He remained in his chamber
so quiet and easy that his family were not alarmed till afternoon,
when he appeared to be sinking. He continued calm and free
from pain, speaking to all who came to see him. A short time
before his close he said, "Oh ! 'tis a glorious boon to die. That
power can't be prized too high." About nine o'clock in the
evening of Eighth mouth 23d. 1849, i" the 70th year of his
:?ge, he breathed his last, without apparent pain or suffering.
226 THE FELLS AND SLOCUMS OF WYOMING
On tJie 26th his funeral was held at the meeting-house at New-
town, and was attended by a large gathering of people, many
of whom felt that a place was left vacant which could not be
refilled.
The Fells and Slocums of Wyoming-.
BY EDWARD MATTHEWS.
(Solebury Meeting, November 18, 18S4).
Most persons acquainted with the history of the Wyoming
valley are doubtless familiar with the names of two families, in-
dissolubly connected with its romantic and pathetic story. One
was derived from the county of Bucks, and the other was of
Puritan lineage hailing from New England, from whence most
of the pioneers of Wyoming came. The banks of the beautiful
Susquehanna and the fair vale along its banks, sheltered by rol-
ling hills and rugged mountains, possessed that fatal dower of
beauty which caused its lands to become the scene of bloody
combat for the space of a quarter of a century. Since those
days, a far more precious wealth, than its bountiful agricultural
capacities, has been found in the black-diamonds that underlie
its soil. Where a century ago was a harassed settlement of a
few thousand people, has indeed blossomed with a throng of
populous towns and cities, containing a quarter of a million of
people. The descendants of the original Connecticut settlers
form a very considerable portion of the inhabitants, while
the mining of anthracite coal has brought hither a mighty and
motley throng of all peoples and tongues. The original area
of the county of Luzerne has been much lessened by the forma-
tion of newer counties. One township of Lackawanna bears
the name of Fell, and one in Luzerne that of Slocum.
Jesse Fell, with his wife and four children removed to the
Wyoming valley, from the vicinity of Doylestown, in the fall of
1785^ for the purpose of engaging in mercantile pursuits. His
name will be forever associated with the history of that region
as in February, 1808, he was the first to use anthracite coal
in a grate of his own invention. His father, Thomas Fell, born
in Buckingham, April 16, 1751, (married Jane Kirk, of Wrights-
THE FELLS AND SLOCUMS OE WYOMING 227
town), was one of eleven children of Joseph Fell, who came
from the coimty of Cumberland, England, in 1705. Joseph Fell,
the pioneer, born October 19, 1688, was a carpenter and married
in England, Bridget Wilson. He was a member of the So-
ciety of Friends, became a prominent and useful man in the
community in which he dwelt, wrote an autobiography, was
twice married, and died in Buckingham, in 1753. The name of
iiis second wife was Elizabeth Doyle, who was the mother of
seven of his children.
Jesse Fell married Hannah, daughter oi John Welding, of
Buckingham, on the 20th of August, 1775. He had three
brothers and two sisters. Of these, Joseph Fell (who married
Margaret Gourley), was sheriff of Bucks county from 1795 to
1798; Samuel Fell married Tamar Russell, daughter of John
Russell, of Plumstead, who also removed to Luzerne county ;
Amos Fell married Elizabeth Jackson, of Squan, New Jersey ;
Abi Fell married James Meredith, of Castle Valley, and one
sis-ter, Sarah, remained unmarried. The descendants of these,
and other branches of the family remain among us, and reside
over the central portion of this county.
That Jesse Fell was a man of unusual capacities both for pub-
lic affairs as well as business, will be shown by a brief recital of
his life in Wyoming. His sterling integrity won for him the
confidence of all the people of that region, of which he was a
most valuable and foremost citizen. He purchased the property
at the corner of Washington and Northampton streets, in the
city of Wilkes-Barre, December 21, 1787. Here he carried
on a store and tavern for many years. A very small portion of
the building is yet standing and is kept as a hotel by Charles S.
Gable. The place is still known as the "Old Fell House." For
a long time it was the sojourning place of the lawyers and jud-
ges upon the circuit and the rendezvous of many local celebrities.
His broth,er Joseph was sheriff of Bucks, and he became
sheriff of Luzerne, to which position he was commissioned on
the 2 1st of October, 1789, holding the office for two terms. Hav-
ing removed to a region where there were few or no Quakers,
he soon became a backslider to the peace principles of the faith
of his forefathers. He became prominent in military affairs, be-
ing appointed lieutenant of the county by Governor Thomas
228 THE FELLS AND SLOCUAIS OF WYOMING
Mifflin, in 1792, and also brigade inspector in 1793, for the term
of seven years. A ludicrous story is told of his first military
experience. On the morning of the first parade of his brigade
he took it in his head to drill a little by himself. Dressed in full
regimentals, he marched out on the back porch of his house,
and placing himself in military attitude, with his sword drawn,
exclaimed : "Attention, Battalion ! Rear Rank, Three Paces
to the Rear, March !" and he tumbled down into the cellar. His
wife, hearing the racket, came running out, saying: "Oh, Jesse,
has thee killed thyself?" "Go to, Hannah," said the hero, "what
does thee know about war?" On the 5th of February, 1798, Gov-
ernor Mifflin appointed him associate judge of the county, which
position he filled with dignity and credit as long as he lived, a
period of over thirty-two years. His penmanship was remark-
able for its beauty and correctness, and he served as clerk to the
commissioners for many years. His townsmen, of Wilkes-Barre
were never satisfied unless he held some office within their gift,
and he was, therefore, nearly always, either in the borough coun-
cil, or chief-burgess. He was first president of the Luzerne
County Agricultural Society in 1810; was foremost in educa-
tional matters, and was an active member of various schemes
for improvement of the highways. His famous successful ex-
periment of burning anthracite coal occurred in his own house
on February 11, 1808. It is possible, however, that, unknown
to him, Oliver Evans had anticipated his discovery in 1803.
His death took place at the age of seventy-nine, August 5, 1830.
He left a family of three sons and five daughters surviving him.
Of these, Sarah, his third child, in 1800 married Joseph Slocum,
the brother of the unfortunate Frances Slocum, the Indian cap-
tive, whose story has given a sad celebrity to her name.
THE SLOCUM S
The Slocum family was descended from Anthony Slocombe, a
Puritan emigrant, who came from England, in 1637, and was one
of the forty-six purchasers of the territory of Cohannet. near
Taunton, Massachusetts. Some of the earlier Slocums, includ-
ing Giles, son of Anthony, were Quakers, and resided in Rhode
Island. Joseph Slocum, the fourth in descent from Anthony,
was a member of the Rhode Island Legislature for several vears,
THE FELIvS AND SLOCUMS OF WYOMING 229
and removed to the Wyoming valley, in 1763. He went there
with his son Jonathan, born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, in
J 733. and who had married Ruth Tripp in 1757. The father
purchased lands within or near the present limits of the city
of Scranton ; in the early part of this century the locality was
known as "Slocum's Hollow." The son Jonathan, in 1774 set-
tled with his family near the corner of what is now Canal and
Scott streets, Wilkes-Barre.
During the Revolution, the frontier settlement o^ Wyoming
was destined to be cruelly ravaged by savage Indian warfare at
a time when only the undisciplined, the youthful and the aged
had been spared from the ranks of the distant armies of the
struggling colonists. The Slocum family was especially un-
fortunate. Within a little more than a month, Mrs. Slocum
had seen a beloved child carried into captivity ; her doorway
drenched in blood by the murder of an inmate of her house ;
two others of her household carried away prisoners, and both
her husband, Jonathan Slocum, and her father, Isaac Tripp,
murdered by the merciless foe. In an attack by the Indians,
occurring November 2. 177S, she saw a stalwart savage seize
hold of her lame boy, Ebenezer; she rushed out from her hid-
ing place, and pointing at the boy's foot, exclaimed, "The child
is lame, he can do thee no good." Just then they discovered
little Frances, five years old, and dropping the boy, ihey seized
the girl and carried her off, notwithstanding the piteous en-
treaties of the mother. Out from her sight she passed forever;
little Frances screaming to "mamma" for help, holding the locks
of her sunny hair from her eyes with one hand and stretching
out the other in vain to that mother, who would never grasp
her again. The oldest daughter Mary seized her youngest
brother Joseph, then but two years old, rushed out of the back
door and both fortunately escaped.
No tidings in after years could be heard of the stolen child,
though diligent search far and wide was made. The hard
hearts of the savage Indians strangely softened toward the little
captive maiden, and she was treated by them with unwonted
kindness. They carried her far away toward the sunset,
across wide rivers and over high mountains, and, by various re-
movals, thev in time reached Indiana. The child was too young
230 THE FELLS AND SLOCUMS OF WYOMING
to remember aught of civilization or the customs of the whites,
and had no vivid recollections of her childhood's home on the
Susquehanna. She became an Indian in manners, customs and
habits, though the force of inherited qualities caused her to
rank considerably above those around her. She became the
wife of an Indian chief and the mother of a family.
In August, 1837, fifty-nine years after her capture, a letter
appeared in the Lancaster Intelligencer, written by Col. G. W.
Ewing, of Logansport, Indiana, dated January 30, 1835, a year
and a half previous, to the following effect :
There is now living near this place, among the Miami tribe
of Indians, an aged white woman, who, a few days ago, told
me that she was taken away from her father's house, on the
Susquehanna river, when she was very young. She says her
father's name was Slocum; that he was a Quaker, and wore a
large-brimmed hat ; that he lived about half a mile from a town
where there was a fort. She has two daughters living. Her
husband is dead. She is old and feeble, and thinks she shall
not live long. These considerations induced her to give the
present history of herself, which she never would before, fear-
ing her kindred would come and force her away. She has lived
long and happy as an Indian ; is very respectable and wealthy,
sober and honest. Her name is without reproach.
Her surviving brothers, Joseph and Isaac Slocum, sought her
out; she met them cordially, and they identified her by a scar
on her hand, received in her father's blacksmith shop before her
captivity. In vain her cultured and wealthy relatives, then and
at subsequent times, implored her to return with them to civiliza-
tion. To all pleadings she returned a decided negative, and re-
fused to sever her connections with the red-man, or resume
family relations, involuntarily abandoned in childhood; she de-
parted this life March 9, 1847, ^g^id seventy-four years. She
sleeps beneath a beautiful knoll, near the confluence of the
Wabash and the Missisinewa, by the side of her chief and her
children, where her ashes will rest in peace till the morning of
the resurrection. All this story has been told in detail in a
readable little volume, published many years ago, and more re-
cently related by one of her relatives in the Luzerne Legal Regis-
ter* Her story needs only the genius of another Longfellow to
* See also " Frances Slocum, the I,ost Sister of Wyoming," by John F. Meginness, 1891.
THE FELLS AND SLOCUMS OF WYOMING 23I
weave into poetical romance a narrative that might give it the
celebrity of Evangeline and the exile of Acadia.
The remainder of the family of the unfortunate Frances Slo-
cum rose to high position in the valley of Wyoming and were
influential and worthy members of the community in which
they dwelt. Her mother died in Wilkes-Barre, May 6, 1807. Her
brother, William, who was wounded at the time her father and
grandfather were slain, became sheriff of Luzerne in 1795, suc-
ceeding Jesse Fell in that oiHce. He retired from the position
1799 to his farm in Pittston, and was classed as among the most
prominent and influential men of his county. A sister, Judith,
married Hugh Forsman. Joseph Slocum, a younger brother of
Frances, became active in military aft'airs ; was an associate
judge of Luzerne; was one of ten incorporators of Wilkes-Barre
Academy, and was honored by many places of trust and respon-
sibility by his fellow citizens. The township of Slocum was
named in his honor. As already stated he married Sarah,
daughter of Jesse Fell, in the year 1800. One of his daughters,
Abi, named after the Abi that married James Meredith, was
born in 1808, and became the wife of Lord Butler, a grandson
of General Zebulon Butler, of Revolutionary fame. He was
an engineer and coal operator, and was honored by many posi-
tions by citizens of the community. His death took place in 1861,
but Abi, his widow, survives him, and for over .sixty years has
been a devoted member of the Methodist church in her native
place. Her son, Edward Griffin Butler, is a prominent lawyer
of Wilkes-Barre.
The Durham Iron Works.
BY CHAIiLES LAUBACH^ DURHAM,, PA.
Note:— Mr. Laubach presented and read two papers before the
Bucks County Historical Society, on the Durham Iron Works ; one at
the Buckingham meeting, October 23, 1883, on "'The Old Durham Fur-
nace," the other at the Wycombe meeting, October 7, 1902, on "The
Durham Furnaces." As there was some repetition in these two papers, it has
been thought best to consolidate and revise them. Additional matter has
also been included, and they are now presented as one paper.
B. F. F., Jr.
The use of iron can be traced to the earliest ages of antiquity.
According to sacred history, Tubal Cain, who was born in the
seventh generation from Adam, was "an instructor of every ar-
tificer in brass and iron." The Egyptians, whose civilization is
among the most ancient of which we have any record, were, at
an early period, familiar with the use of iron. In the 28th chap-
ter and 2d verse of the book of Job, it is declared that "iron is
taken out of the earth."' Thus we might go on to show that
iron was, in ages gone by, as it now is, a prominent factor in
the advancement and civilization of the human race. In fact,
at the present day, political economists claim that the progress
and intelligence of a nation can be known by the relative pro-
portion of iron and steel, that is used per capita.
Although antiquarians have not neglected the subject, they
have furnished us with no proof that the mound-builders or
other aboriginal inhabitants of the United States were not pos-
sessed with a knowledge of the use and consequently of the
manufacture of iron. The early settlers on the Delaware river,
under the successive administrations of the Swedes and Dutch
and the Duke of York, down to 1682. appear to have made no
effort to manufacture iron in any form.
The first record we have of the manufacture of iron in Penn-
sylvania is contained in a metrical composition by Richard
Frame which appeared in 1692, entitled "A short description of
Pennsylvania," in which he says "that, at a certain place, about
some forty pounds of iron had been made." But Frame neglect-
ed to state or describe how, and where, this iron was made.
DATE-STONE OF DURHAM IRON WORKS.
Erected in 1727.
When the 1727 blast-furnace was demolished in 1819, and a grist-mill erected on its site, this
date-stone was removed to Haupt's grist-mill in Springfield township. The indentation at figure
7 was made by the millers, who used the stone to crack walnuts upon. About 1870 it was pre-
sented to the Durham Iron Works; in 1S74 it was walled in a new hot-blast stove intended for
use at the 1848-50 furnaces. This hot-blast stove was demolished without having been used, and
the stone was placed in the office of the company.
This date-stone formed part of Cooper & Hewitt's exhibit at the Centennial Exposition in
Philadelphia, in 1876. When they sold the property in 1902, it was presented by Hon. Abram S.
Hewitt to B. F. Fackenthal, Jr.
DURHAM IRON WORKS 233
Gabriel Thomas, in his "History of Pennsylvania and West
New Jersey" published in 1698, at page 26 says "Backwards in
the country lies the Mines where is Copper and Iron, besides
other Metals and Minerals, of which there is some Improvement
made already in order to bring them to greater Perfection ; and
that will be a means to erect more Inland Market-Towns, which
exceedingly promote Traffick". Both history and tradition point
to the fact that iron was manufactured at Durham at a very
early period.
Durham township is situated at the extreme northeastern end
of Bucks county; its northern boundary passes through the
South Mountain near Rocky Falls, where the gap through which
the Delaware passes, rivals in picturesqueness the Delaware
AVater Gap.
The deposits of iron-ore in Durham township, not only the
primitive ore lying between walls of gneiss on Rattlesnake
hill and Mine hill, but also the brown hematite (limonite) found
in the limestone basins, and, indeed, the extended deposits of
dolomite as well, present geological conditions quite different
from those of any other part of Bucks county. Moreover,
Durham township also doubtless contains a greater variety of
soil conditions than can be found in any of the other townships ;
in the central part of the township, along the valley of Durham
creek, the soil is limestone ; along the Delaware river front it
is sandy-loam, with a great ridge of glacial-drift extending
from the Northampton county line to the Durham cave. The
ridge upon which the two churches, academy, public-school
building, and other elevated parts of the village of Riegelsville
stand, consists of this terminal-moraine. At the village of Leh-
iienburg (formerly Monroe) can be seen within a distance of
200 feet, first the gneiss, then dolomite, which is separated by
conglomerate from the new red sandstone, which begins at that
point, and covers the lower end of the township. An extended
view of the Durham valley, to the south, can be had from the
Durham hills, where the river winds its course through the nar-
rows or palisades of Nockamixon, which rise in almost perpen-
dicular bluffs 300 feet or more above the river. On the Dur-
ham hills, on farm No. 4 of the Durham furnace-tract, a jas-
per quarry is located, which shows evidence of having been an
234 DURHAM IRON WORKS
important Indian work-shop. The location of this pre-historic
Cjuarry doubtless accounts for the large number of arrow-heads,
spear-points, and other flaked Indian relics found in Durham
and vicinity. Just when the abode of the Indian was disturbed
by the coming of the white man to Durham is not definitely
known, but was doubtless as early as 1682, as is shown by a
letter written June 4 of that year, by J. Claypoole, wherein
it is stated, "We are to send 100 men to Durham to build houses
to plant and improve land^ and to set up a glass-house, for bot-
tles and drinking glasses, and we hope to have wine and oil for
merchandise, and hemp for cordage, and iron and lead and
other minerals."
In th,e 4th volume of Votes of Assembly, page 2.2"], under date
of August 20, 1752, we find the following: "But inasmuch as
there were no settlements above Durham in 1723," thus show-
ing that a settlement existed at Durham in 1723; and it is there-
fore likely that iron was manufactured there at that time, or
possibly earlier.
In an article published in the Doylesfozvn Democrat^ January
6, 1880, we endeavored to show that iron was manufactured in
Durham, on a small scale, soon after the Free Society of
Traders purchased a tract of land, containing five thousand
acres, in Durham. In the minutes of a meeting of the American
Philosophical Society held in Philadelphia, February i, 1850, ref-
erence is made to a paper contributed by Charles B. Trego, an
active member of the society, which gives the following informa-
tion:
" After the grant of August, 16S6, to William Penn, by the Indians,
numerous white settlers established themselves on the lower part of the
purchase ; the settlement gradually extended as far as Durham, in the upper
part of Bucks count}', where a furnace was built."
In or about the year 1726 (as recited in the deed) a company
or co-partnership was formed, "with an intent to erect a furnace
and other works for casting and making iron," consisting of
Jeremiah Langhorne, gentleman, Anthony Morris, brewer,
Jarrtes Logan, merchant, Charles Read, merchant, Robert Ellis,
merchant, George Fitzwater, merchant, Clement Plumstead,.
merchant, William Allen, merchant, Andrew Bradford, printer,
John Hopkins, merchant, and Thomas Lindley, anchorsmith^
DURHAM IRON WORKS 235
and Joseph Turner, merchant, all of the city of Philadelphia,
except Jeremiah Langhorne, who is described as from Bucks
county, and who was doubtless the ruling spirit in this enter-
prise. Charles Read was a brother-in-law of James Logan.
On March 4, 1727, the property (described in the deed as con-
taining 5,948 acres), was conveyed to Griffith Owen and Samuel
Powel, in trust for the twelve gentlemen forming the co-partner-
ship, and declaring the interest owned by each partner. The
partnership to continue for fifty-one years. They at once pro-
ceeded to erect a blast-furnace, which was completed in 1727.
In 1728 James Logan wrote "there are four furnaces in blast
in the colony." Colebrookdale and Durham were two of these.
Anthony Morris was also one of the proprietors of the Cole-
brookdale furnace. In 1731, pig-iron sold at Colebrookdale
furnace at £5 los. per ton. (ii at that time being equal to
$2,667^), and presumably pig-iron was of the same market value
at Durham.
The Durham furnace of 1727 was situated on the site now
occupied by the grist-mill in the village of Durham. The cast-
ing-house was built of stone, facing toward the west. The
furnace was between thirty-five and forty feet square
and thirty feet high. The date-stone, with the figures "1727"
cut thereon was preserved ; in 1876, it was exhibited at the
Centennial Exposition, and is now in possession of Mr. Facken-
thal, as are also many of the title and other papers to which ref-
erence is made herein.
The amount of pig-iron produced in 24 hours appears to have
been about three tons. The blast used was cold (the hot-blast-
oven was not invented until 1828) and was produced by leather
bellows operated by water-power. The dam was situated about
a mile up the creek on tract No. 25 of the partition proceedings
(hereafter referred to), where the course of the race can still
be seen.
About half a mile down the creek, from the site of the original
iron-works, are the ruins of an old forge. Tradition points to
this forge as the one noticed by the early historians as the "new
furnace, about half-way down to the river." The scrap-iron and
cinder lying around this forge were removed some twenty years
ago, and remelted in the modern furnace of Cooper & Hewitt.
236 DURHAM IRON WORKS
The company of 1727 doubtless obtained its supply of ore from
surface out-croppings and from float-ore, from that particular
part of the Durham tract known as Mine hill ; at any rate, there
is no evidence to show that any attempt was made to sink shafts
or to tunnel into the hills until Richard Backhouse became
proprietor, from whose books it appears that there was some
underground operation, reached by vertical shafts, and that
ropes made of hemp or flax one inch thick, and thoroughly tarred,
to prevent raveling or rapid wear were purchased to hoist ore.
A leaf of a time-book, dated August 20, 1781, contains the time
of 12 men^ with the memorandum "to wirking in the min Hoi."
The Durham furnace was located not only in the midst of one
of the richest deposits of iron-ore in the State, but in a
well-timbered country, where fuel could be obtained. Char-
coal was exclusively used for fuel prior to the erec-
tion of the 1848-1850 furnaces; and moreover, during colonial
days the primitive methods of manufacturing iron were quite
different from those of to-day. The plants were erected on the
banks of streams, not only to secure a supply of water, which
is essential also in modern furnaces, but in order that the stream
might furnish power to operate the blowing machinery, which at
that time consisted of ordinary leathern bellows. Our ancestors
needed but little iron, and what little they required was made by
slow processes, yet as early as 1728 small shipments of pig-iron
to Great Britain were made from Durham.
One of the managers of the 1727 furnace was a Mr. Savage,
of whom we know little, except that he, in connection with
James Logan, one of the proprietors, managed the furnace
from 1728 to 1738; and that George Taylor, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence, married his widow. About
1730 James ^Morgan is referred to as iron-master at
the works, which doubtless means that he was the practical
man in charge of the operation, in which position he
continued until his death in 1782. Fifty-two years as a founder
is worthy of special note. From 1738 to 1755 George Taylor,
William Logan and James Morgan were connected with the
works. From 1755 to 1765 the works, or some part of them,
were said to have been managed by Capt. Flowers, later a prom-
inent officer in the Continental army.
DURHAM IRON WORKS 237
In 1750 there were two furnaces and one forge in opera-
tion at Durham, the sites of which can yet be pointed out.^
Acrehus, the historian, says that Chief Justice WilHam Allen
informed him that "at Durham, a Pennsylvania furnace, one
and a half tons of iron-ore yielded one ton of pig-iron, and
that a good furnace yielded from 20 to 25 tons of pig-iron every
week."- Owing, however, to severe weather in winter, short
supply of charcoal, and other causes, the furnace could not
be kept in continuous operation ; and moreover, as will appear
elsewhere in this paper, the blasts were of short duration.
The partnership agreement of 1726, to which reference has
been made, was to continue for 51 years; but before the expira-
tion of that time the property had been freed of the trust, and
not one of the original owners remained ; some were removed
by death, some failed^ and others disposed of their interests.
An amicable deed-of-partition was therefore executed under
date of December 24, 1773, and the property, laid out in 44. tracts,
was amicably divided. At that time, (according to the deed) the
property contained 8,511 acres, 100 perches of land, (1,472
acres having been added by patent of April 3, 1749), and em-
braced the entire township of Durham, and one tier of farms
in Northampton county. By this deed-of-partition, tracts num-
bers I, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 33 were apportioned to Joseph Galloway
and his wife Grace, daughter of Lawrence Growden. Tracts
numbers i, 2 and 3, which at that time, contained 889 acres and
48 perches, practically constitute the Durham furnace tract
1 Mr. I,aubach told me that his authority for the statement that there were two blast-
furnaces in 175c was William SchuU's map, published in 1759, on which two furnaces
and two forges were located. This map is misleading, and was doubtless made by some
one not acquainted with the manufacture of iron who confounded the two names, be-
cause a forge was often referred to as a furnace. A blast-furnace however is an entirely
different structure. Gen. Davis in his history of Bucks county, first edition, page 645,
says there were two furnaces and two forges in 1770. The lithograph made in 1773 is
doubtless reliable because it was made part of the partition proceedings of December 24,
1773. Copies of this lithograph can be found in both editions of Gen. Davis' history, and
the official copy in the recorder's office at Doylestown, in deed-book 16, page 192. If there
was a second blast-furnace in 1770 it would certainly have been placed on the official map
published but three years later ; the map shows one blast-furnace, and three forges, viz.:
upper-forge, middle-forge and lower forge and one stamping mill. The statement that
there were two furnaces does aot appear in the second edition of Gen. Davis's history,
having been omitted at my request. A stamping-mill was an operation for separating^
iron from cinders in the slag-dump Mr. Backhouse in a letter to Col. Isaac Sidman
says " Moses Yeamans says cider is worth one Tun of Barr Iron for every month the Fur.
nace Blows, clear of Expense." B. F. F., Jr.
2 This is misleading ; it doubtless required two tons of Durham ore to make a ton of
pig iron.
238 DURHAM IROX WORKS
of to-day, on which are located the iron-works and other im-
provements, as well as the iron-ore mines.
Joseph Galloway thus became the first individual proprietor
of the Durham iron-works. He was a lawyer of fine talents ;
was much in public-life, and for many years a member of the
assembly of which he was speaker; he was active in all Colonial
measures against the British crown ; was a member of the first
American congress in 1774, signed the non-importation, non-
consumption, and non-exportation acts ; he was however a man
who lacked strength of character. In 1777, fearing the struggle
with the Colonies would result disastrously, left the cause, and
allied himself with the British. He was attainted of treason ; and
his property, confiscated, and sold by the commissioner of
forfeited estates, under act passed by the Legislature March 16,
1778. Richard Backhouse died in 1793; but his heirs doubtless
remained in possession of the property until they were dispos-
sessed by the courts in 1803, it having been shown that Joseph
Galloway had owned the property only in right of his wife
Grace, nee Growden.*
It is evident that there was an agreement as to the division
of the Durham property prior to the partition proceedings ; at
any rate, immediately prior to that date Joseph Galloway leased
the works to George Taylor, the signer, for a term of five years
at an annual rental of £250, with the privilege of renewal for
five years additional. On July 22, 1778, when the first term of
his lease was about to expire, he petitioned the Supreme Execu-
tive Council, setting forth the fact that George Wall, the agent
for forfeited estates in Bucks county, had taken possession of the
works, and placed them in the hands of James Morgan, who
had proceeded to cart away metal from the stamping-mill. The
following is a full copy of that most interesting petition, which
was granted by the Council on the same day with the proviso
that Taylor's lease should not extend beyond April i, 1780.
(See Colonial Records, Vol. XI, page 537).
* Suit was brought by the trustees of Mrs. Galloway against the heirs of Backhouse,
which was tried in the courts of Newtown, May term, 1802. The final decision by the
Supreme Court was rendered December 31, 1803; and it is therefore apparent that the
heirs of Backhouse retained possession until that time. See I,essee of Jenks. vs. Back-
house, I Binney, page 91. Editor.
DURHAM IRON WORKS 239
To the Honble the Supream Executive Council, for the State of
Pennsylvania —
The Petition of George Taylor of Durham in the County of Bucks.
Humbly Sheweth
That your Petitioner about five years agoe, rented from
Joseph Gallovi^ay, late of the City of Philadelphia, the Lands and Works
called and known by the name of Durham Furnace, at the yearly rent
of Twro hundred and fifty Pounds, but from the unsettled State of Af-
fairs and the scarcity of hands for these two years last past, he was
rendered unable to carry them on to any Advantage, as the last year
he made but a small quantity of Shot for the Continental Navy, and
the present year he has not been able even to blow the Furnace. And as
your Petitioner was to have the Privilege under his present Lease, which
will not expire untill November next of having it renewed upon the
same Terms, for five years more, upon his giving five Mtonths Notice,
and as your Petitioner has not had it in his power to give such Notice,
neither was it his wish to have any Correspondence with Mr. Galloway
m the Situation & Circumstance as he now is, and not knowing till very
lately where to apply, he now humbly hopes, that under his present
Circumstances, the Honble the Council will permit of the renewal of
his Lease, agreeable to the Covenant in the Agreement between Mr.
Galloway and him, more especially when it is considered, that your
Petitioner has now at the Furnace above named three hundred Tons of
Ore, a large Quantity of Wood ready cut on a Tract of Wood Land
near Durham which he purchased, and which is of no other Value,
but for the Wood on it, all of which has cost your Petitioner a con-
siderable sum of money. And your Petitioner would further beg leave
to represent to the Honble the Councill that last Week, a certain George
Wall caUing himself an Agent for the forfeited Estates in Bucks Coun-
ty carae to the works and before making any Application or giving any
Information to your Petitioner, and in his absence, then ordered the
Hands at Work not to proceed in the employ, since when a certain
James Morgan who says he acts under and by the Authority of the said
George Wall, has removed, as your Petitioner is informed, a Quantity
of mettle lying at the Stamping Mill, and which your Petitioner con-
ceives to be his Property under his preseat Lease. He therefore hum-
bly prays the Attention of the Honble the Council, to the above Rep-
resentation and that Direction may be given that your Petitioner may
not be disturbed in the quiet and preaceable Possession of the premises
during his present Lease thereof.
And your Petitioner as in duty bound will ever pray.
George Taylor.
Philadelphia, July 22nd, 1778.
In 1779 Richard Backhouse purchased Galloway's interest,
the property from the commissioner of forfeited estates, and be-
240 DURHAM IRON WORKS
came proprietor of the Durham Iron Works,* by the terms of
sale he was given possession April i, 1780. It appears however
that prior to that time he had some official connection or as-
sociation with the works, or its management. He had been a
justice of the peace for a number of years. In 1774 Thomas
Craig of Easton, Pa., borrowed the laws of the province of
Pennsylvania from him, and as late as 1789 he was one of the
justices of Bucks county. The blast-furnace was left standing
until 1819, when it was demolished, and a grist-mill, which is
still in active operation, was erected on its site. There is no
record that any iron had been manufactured at this old furnace
after Mr. Backhouse or his heirs were dispossessed.
A quantity of bomb-shells and solid-shot were left piled
against the old furnace-walls until 1806. Some of these have
been placed in the Bucks County Historical Society's collec-
tion, and others have found their way into the cabinets of relic-
hunters.
The iron manufactured at Durham had an excellent reputa-
tion, due no doubt to the character of the ores from the Durham
mines, which were then and are now low in phosphorus.
The following records from the books of Richard Backhouse
show expenditures for repairing the bellows under date of Feb-
ruary I, 1780. "For the bellows, 12 sheets of tin or thin sheet
* The Durham tract was confirmed to Richard Backhouse by the Council, Sept. 14,
1779, for ^12,800. (Col. Records, Vol. XII. p. 104). There was some contention as to the
payment of the accrued taxes, which the attorney general decided must be paid by Mr.
Backhouse. In commenting on this decision, Mr. Backhouse wrote, "It is true I would not
be willing to part with my bargain, upon being reimbursed my money and charges." At
the time he purchased the property, Pennsylvania money had depreciated about 24 to r.
He certainly did get a bargain. His correspondence further shows that he did not think
he could retain possession.
As the following letter will show Mr. Backhouse experienced some difficulty in getting
a deed for tract No. 7 :
" Sir: — Council seems to make some objection to granting a Deed to the Land, and the
" Secretary has wrote to me to know the Reason why it sold so Low. I have answered
" him in a letter. I apprehend if you were to go yourself you would easily get the Deed.
" And Speak to Gred our Councilor to assist you. I Imagine the chief objection lays with
"him. Your humble Servt.,
"22nd Sept., 1790. GEO. WALL."
"To Richard Backhouse, Esq., Durham."
See also letter of Geo. Wall to Supreme Executive Council, Sept. 22, 1790, Penna.
Archives, Vol. XII., page 319.
By act of the legislature (chapter CVII) approved March 28, 180S, an appropriation of
5415 was made to reimburse Mary Backhouse, widow of Richard Backhouse, "in full to
compensation for losses sustained" in defending the ejectment proceedings.
CAIN • SEINEN • BRVTER " AWEI. ' TOT ' SCHLVG.
CAIN KILLING HIS BROTHER ABEL.
Stove plate made at Durham, 1741.
Stove plates were doubtless cast at Durham furnace continuously from the erection
of the blast-furnace in 1727 until 1794, vs^hen operations were suspended.
The oldest plates that have been preserved are those from two patterns made in 1741,
one pattern of which is shown in the above cut: the other is called the " Adam and Eve "
pattern.
DURHAM IRON WORKS 24I
iron; 4 lbs. cask nails; 2 doz. good allum dressed sheep skins; 15
lbs. glue."
The shipments of shot and shell, during the month of Novem-
ber, 1780, amounted to upwards of two tons, at £25 per ton; and
during the year the total value amounted to £1,076 is. 2>4d. In
1 781, the total value ot shot and shell, shipped to the Continen-
tal army, amounted to £1,982 8s. 8^d. The shipments during
the whole war were correspondingly large. A large proportion
of the shot were three-and-nine-pounders ; some double-headed
shot were also cast and shipped. The shell weighed from twenty
to six'cy or more pounds apiece.
In the partition proceedings, tract No. 36 was allotted to James
Morgan, who is described in the deed as "Iron Master,"' and
who may have been the father of General Daniel Morgan of
Revolutionary fame ; at any rate, I have evidence conclusively
satisfactory to my mind, to establish the fact that Gen. Morgan
was born in Durham township, and not across the river in
Greenwich township, New Jersey, as stated by his biographer.
I claim that he was born in a house standing in the corner of a
field where the road from Easton crosses the Durham creek,
on the east bank thereof, where a small stream, (sometimes
called the Brandy wine) empties into the Durham creek. The
spot is situated about three-fourths of a mile from the present
iron-works, on the extreme western end of tract 30 of the par-
tition proceedings, on the farm of the writer. The house stood
near the creek, and I am of the opinion that there, in 1736, Gen.
Daniel Morgan first saw the light of day.
Among the forges supplied with pig-metal we can mention
the following: Mount Pleasant forge, situated in Berks county,
Pa. ; Moselem. Forge on Maiden creek in Berks county, owned in
1789 by Col. Valentine Eckert ; Chelsea forge, in Warren county.
New Jersey, on the Musconetcong creek at Finesville, one mile
northeast of Riegelsville, on property now owned by Taylor
Stiles & Co. ; Greenwich forge at Hughesville, three miles north-
east of Riegelsville in Warren county on the same steam ; Blooms-
bury forge at Bloomsbury, N. J., on the same stream, and with
which George Ross was connected ; Changewater forge at Change-
water, N. J., on the same stream in Mansfield township, War-
ren county; Green Lane forge, operated in 1733. situated on the
242 DURHAM IRON WORKS
Perkiomen, iMontgomery county, Pa., of which Thomas May-
berry was superintendent in 1785, and Salford forge in Pennsyl-
vania.
During the administration of Richard Backhouse at Durham
furnace, he was directly interested in the Chelsea and Greenwich
forges. Pig iron supplied to the different forges was usually
paid for in refined bar iron.
At the time George Taylor lived at Hughesville, he was in-
terested in the Greenwich forge.
The same market conditions and competition, both from
home and foreign made iron, prevailed then as now ; and the
complaints as to quality shown by the following letter are not
new to the iron-masters of to-day.
Philadelphia, 5th Mo., 10, 1785.
Respected Friend
We have Reed By Walter Fields 7 T. 4 cwt. of Piggs and 20 cwt.
of Bar Iron which is The Dullest article I believe Comes to Market
very Little demand for it at any Price. Some of your Jersey folks
Brought it Down & Sold for £29 per ton & to add to our grievances two
Cargoes of forrin Iron hath lately arrived the first of which Hartley &
Potts Bout at i25 very Neatly Drawn it is. The Latter Come 2 Days
ago about Seventy tons which Remain unsold I hope when things gets
to worst the will mend — it will be very necessary for us to have our
iron better manufactured very few forges but what hath Room for
improvement — have sent one Barrell of tar we bought but the one Bar-
rel of Pork — Which was sent Last Opportunity if any is wanted or
Beef Please to send word by next boat. Lower County Pork is to be
had for about £4-15 I believe But whether it can be Depended on A
Person offers me some to try shall be able to Judge in a few days.
The Iron Reed is very flawey Neat Sound Iron will take the Prefer-
ence here.
Remain thy frds &c.
Jones & Lownes
Richard Backhouse, Esqr.
Durham Furnace
N. B. I have paid Walter Fields Eight Pounds.
During the Revolutionary war there appears to have been a
scarcity of workmen, to remedy which, recourse was had to im-
pressing prisoners of war into service, as the following will
show :
DURHAM IRON WORKS 243
Easton, Pa., February 29, 1780.
Dear Sir: — I have directed the bearer, Henry Leibert, a German priso-
ner of war, to remain under your care and direction. I have ordered him to
leave the services of William Boocher. I request you to manage, order and
direct him as you think just and right. Give me notice when you want
more of these men. I have them ready for you. R. L. Hooper, Jr.
"Septr 28 1779 Reed of Colo Hooper a Brittish Soldr Sick & went to
Goal"
" Septr 30th Reed of Colo Hooper (in the Room of Henry Hender-
son) Francis Win a Brittish Prisr of War."
The following entries from the records of Richard Backhouse
show some of the difficulties encountered in the blast-furnace
practice at that time. It is not likely that the furnace was in
operation much of the time during the winter months.
"Tuesday, May 30th, 1780, at eleven o' Clock in the morning — Durham
Furnace began to blow— July iSth Tuesday at j^ after three o' Clock blew
out. Blew 7 weeks.
Sepr ist Friday night at half after ten o' Clock began to Blow.
Novr 15 Wednesday morning at ten o'Clock blew out 10 weeks & 5
days"
(The book of records is so badly torn that the remainder of this entry
cannot be deciphered, but it indicates that it took eleven da5-s to clean out
the furnace. )
"Sunday morning May 13th, 1781 at 10 o'Clock Durham Furnace
began to Blow June 18, Monday morning Stopt up for want of Coals
occasioned by the excessive floods of rain June 25, monday
morning began again to fill wth mine, etc. 27 Wednesday morning about
seven o'Clock the mine came down July 17 Tuesday at eight o'Clock in
the morning blew out Time of Blast Nine weeks Blew until stopping
Five weeks Stopped up one w^eek then blew Three weeks"
There is a record of another blast almost illegible from which it appears
that the furnace started again on Sunday September 16, 1781, and blew out
December 13, the blast being 12 weeks and 4 days.
The above records show that of the six blasts, one of them
started on Friday and three on Sunday. This is quite in con-
trast with the superstitions and prejudices among furnace-
men 100 years later against blowing-in either on Friday or Sun-
day.
On June 24, 1780, Moses Glore, with a team, was sent to
Easton, Pa., to serve in the barrack-master's department. The
agreement made and concluded between Moses Glore and
Richard Backhouse reads as follows :
244 DURHAM IRON WORKS
Memorandum of an agreement made and concluded by and between
Moses Glore, of the one part, and Richard Backhouse for himself & Co.,^ of
the other part, Witncsseth, That the said Moses Glore doth bargain, agree
and engage to drive team for said Backhouse & Co., for one year, to com-
mence from the 20th inst., and the said Glore doth engage to do all the
duties of a team driver faithfully and honestly, and to obey all orders given
him b}' said Backhouse, and to make up all lost time that may happen by
sickness or otherwise. And it is agreed by the parties aforesaid, that if
Durham furnace should blow out next summer, and not be put in blast
again that season that the said Glore may quit, if he sees cause. In consid-
eration whereof, the said Backhouse & Co., is to pay said Glore one hun-
dred pounds, lawful money of Pennsylvania, for each of the three first
months he shall work, and two hundred of bar-iron for each mouth he shall
work afterwards and find him his diet; and it is agreed, that if the said
Glore should be called in the militia, that the said Backhouse shall pay half
his fine, unless it should amount to more than three hundred pounds, and
in that case the said Glore shall pay one hundred and fifty pounds, the said
Backhouse all the rest, or leave the said Glore to go and serve his tour.
Witness our hands, December 16, 1779.
Wibisss, Michael Fackenthall.
The following agreement to employ a clerk and manager
is also of interest :
January 24, 1780. Agreed with James Neville, to act as clerk and
manager of the Durham Iron Works, from the tenth of April next or so
long as I shall want him, provided it does not exceed one year, and he is to
ride his own horse in consideration whereof, I am to pay him eighty pounds
in hard money per annum and keep his horse. Witness our hands.
Richard Backhouse,
j.\mes nevili.e.
Pots, pans, skillets, kettles, bake-irons, smoothing-irons, clock-
weights, stove-plates, ovens and stoves were manufactured at
Durham for a long period of years. The earliest stove-plate
that has been preserved bears date 1741. During the adminis-
tration of Richard Backhouse frequent reference is made to
shipments of stoves, including ten-plate, and Franklin fire-places.
On Sept. 3, 1784, there was vi shipment of "Four Pipe Ten-
plate Stoves ;" but pipes for draught were doubtless used at an
earlier day.
The product of the Durham works, castings, bar-iron and pig-
iron, was shipped in wagons. Shipments to Philadelphia were
made also by Durham boats, which carried a load of about 15 tons.^
1 The company besides Mr. Backhouse included George Taylor, Col. Robert Lettis
Hooper, Jr., of Easton, (Deputy Commis.sary General in the Revolution) and Isaac Sid-
man, of Philadelphia ; the partnership continued until about the time of Mr. Taylor's
death in 1781, after which Mr. Backhouse operated alone.
2 Durham boats were named after Robert Durham, who built the first one, on the
river bank, near the mouth of the Durham cave ; they were canoe shaped, being pointed
at both ends, and flat bottomed, about sixty-six feet long, six feet beam, and three feet
deep. They were propelled by setting-poles, although oars were sometimes used, and
when the wind was favorable .sails were also used occasionally. These boats fell into
disuse when the Del. Div. canal was opened in 1832. Durham boats were used by Gen.
Washington in taking his army across the Delaware river at Trenton on that memorable
Christmas night in 1776. This is referred to in Trevelyan's History of the American Revo-
lution, as well as by other historians. B. F. F., Jr.
DURHAM FURNACES.
Built by Joseph Whitaker & Co. Furnace No. i, to the right, in 1S48. Furnace No. :
the left, in 1849. (From an anibrotype, furnished by Mrs. George \V. Whitaker).
-•4s9r^^-^ x' ^7;vj|[^^iiiiiir^f
^^^ ' ' f 1 Xl^HI
- ,^'^
Ql^^yii^^
^m^
^^^^^ . :^
DURHAM FURNACE.
Built by Cooper & Hewitt in 1874-75 on site of old No. 2 furnace. First put in blast
February 21, 1876. (From a photograph by Reuben Knecht, of Easton in 1876).
DURHAM IRON WORKS 245
Grace Grcwden, wife of Joseph Galloway, died in Philadel-
phia, February 6, 1782. By her will, dated December 20, 1781,
she devised her Durham property in trust for her only child,
Elizabeth. On or about June 20, 1793, Elizabeth Galloway
married William Roberts, of the Middle Temple, London, Bar-
rister at Law. Immediately before her marriage, however, an
agreement or marriage settlement was made, settling this real
estate on her trustees for life, apart from her husband. Joseph
Galloway died in the township of Watford, county of Herford-
shire, England, in August, 1803, and by his will also "devised all
his property in America in trust for his daughter, Elizabeth.
Mrs. Roberts died in Portman square, London, leaving issue an
only daughter, Ann Grace, who married Capt. Burton, of the
British navy. Ann Grace Burton died December 12, 1837, and
by her will (made two days previous), devised and bequeathed
to her son Adolphus W'illiam Desart Burton, her real estate in
Durham, described in the will as "lying near New York in
North America, aforesaid called Durham."
In the fall of 1847, Adolphus William Desart Burton, by his
American agents, offered the property at public sale, which took
place in the village of Monroe, in front of the hotel which at
that time was kept by John H. Johnson. The property was bid
up to $51,000. but the purchaser could not comply with the con-
ditions of sale; and it was, therefore, later in the day, sold at
private sale for $50,000, to Joseph Whitaker & Co., who were
the next highest bidders at the sale. The property at that time
consisted of 894 acres, and was without furnace-buildings. The
deed was dated March 16, 1848, when possession was given.
Joseph Whitaker & Co. at once commenced the erection of two
furnaces, adapted to use anthracite coal ; they located the plant
at the eastern end of the tract, near the canal, which afforded a
cheap and convenient means of transportation. The furnaces
were completed in 1849 ^"^1 1850 respectively; they were
equipped with non-condensing steam-engines to supply the
blast, also with hot-blast stoves or ovens for heating the blast.
Tile furnaces were 40 feet high. One was 13 feet and the
other 14 feet in diameter at the bosh. A few years later they
were enlarged to 48 and 50 feet high, by 15 and 16 feet at the
bosh. Both furnaces had open tops.
246 DURHAM IRON WORKS
It required about two tons of coal, two tons, three cwt., of
ore and seventeen cwt. of limestone to produce one ton of pig-
iron. The total stock (estimated) consumed by these furnaces
during the time they were in operation, allowing 200 gross tons
for the furnaces per week, would amount to 356,000 tons of
coal, 382,700 tons iron-ore, and 151,300 tons limestone. Coal
was brought to the furnaces from Mauch Chunk, through the
Lehigh and Delaware Division canals. The limestone was
quarried along Durham creek and hauled by teams to the furnace.
The larger portion of the ore was mined on the furnace property,
the balance from other mines in the neighborhood of Durham.
John Ricketts, an expert teamster, brought a six-mule team
from Pheonixville and hauled the first load of building stone,
which was procured on the property. He found quarters for
his team in an old log-barn at the entrance of the Durham cave.
This barn had been in use during the operation of the Lower
forge connected with the 1727 furnace. The lime needed for
mortar at the 1849-50 furnaces, was burned in kilns alongside
Durham cave. The limestone was procured and quarried on
the east side of the cave by Isaac Bigley, Solomon Bigley, Solo-
mon Rice and others. The late Samuel Nicholas claimed that
he was the first to commence work on the foundations of the
new furnaces, and we have not found any reason to doubt his
word. He was employed at the works until his death in 1896.
A number of changes were made from time to time in the
minority interests of the firm of Joseph Whitaker & Co., but the
control and management were always in the Whitaker family,
composed of Joseph Whitaker,* George P. Whitaker, Joseph R.
Whitaker, George W. Whitaker, and James A. Pennypacker.
On April 7, 1863, Samuel Steckel, late of Doylestown, purchas-
ed a small interest which he retained, until the property was
sold April 2, 1864 to Cooper & Hewitt.
After No. i furnace had been lighted in 1849, Joseph Whita-
ker spent little time in Durham, making occasional visits only. He
lived at Pheonixville, and all traveling this side of Philadelphia
had to be done either in a stage-coach or on horse-back, no rail-
roads having at that time reached Durham. The Delaware
Division canal, however, had been built 16 years earlier, and
for that reason the iron-works were erected on the present site.
* Grandfather of Ex-Governor Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker.
DURHAM IRON WORKS 247
James A. Pennypacker was the manager of the works. At his
death he was succeeded by Joseph R. Whitaker, who resigned
January i, 1856, and was succeeded by George W. Whitaker,
who continued as manager, until the Whitakers sold the property
when he moved to Bethlehem. In 1866 he organized the Saucon
Iron Co., building two blast-furnaces at He'llertown, Pa., of
which he was president and manager until 1877, when he was
succeeded as president, by Joseph B. Altemus of Philadelphia,
and as manager, by Michael Fackenthal (the third), who was
also the secretary of the company. Jacob Riegel of Philadelphia
was treasurer of this enterprise, with which Joseph Wharton,
I. V. Williamson, Joseph R. Whitaker and other Philadelphians
were also connected. In 1884, the plant was purchased by the
Thomas Iron Co.
Joseph R. Whitaker was a bachelor, and for many years made
his home at Philadelphia where he was interested in Philadelphia
street-railways, becoming a director of the Fifth & Sixth, and
Second & Third Street lines. He was at one time president of
the Swede Iron Company. During the latter years of his life
he lived on a farm near Dover, Delaware, where he died in
the winter of 1895, leaving a fortune amounting to about a mil-
lion dollars.
James A. Pennypacker was born near Pheonixville, Chester
county, Pa., December 12, 1808. He was a self-taught man,
and his first venture was school-teaching; next we find him
a successful farmer in Chester county. A few years later he
kept a hotel in Pheonixville, at the corner of Bridge and Main
streets. A year and a half later, he sold his two valuable farms
in Chester county, and in the winter of 1847, he came to Dur-
ham, and invested the proceeds of the sale of the farms in the
Durham Iron Works.
During the cholera epidemic at the Durham furnace, July, 1849,
when one hundred and eleven persons were stricken, Mr. Penny-
packer personally directed the cleaning of the dwellings, disin-
fecting the houses wherein the disease had been raging. Fear-
ing that to cart the dead to Haycock and other cemeteries would
spread the disease ; he arranged a graveyard on the north slope
of Rattlesnake hill, but after interring at that place James
Stevens, one of the cholera victims, he was beset by others
mortally ill with the disease, requesting that they be buried in
248 DURHAM IRON WORKS
the Catholic cemetery at Haycock. Fifteen were afterwards
buried at Haycock and one at Durham.
The employees during Joseph Whitaker & Co.'s proprietorship
numbered about 300 men and boys. The houses for the work-
men were built along the south bank of Durham creek. Coo^
per & Hewitt purchased the property for $150,000, but disposed
of it Steptember 1, 1865 to Lewis Lillie & Son, of Troy, New-
York, who enlarged the plant, adding many improvements, in-
cluding a plant for the manufacture of Lillie's chilled iron
safes on an extensive scale. During Lillie and Son's occupancy,
the machine-shops were run by water-power derived from the
Durham creek. The dam was located a little to^ the west of the
county bridge which crosses the stream near the lime-kilns oi
Laubach Brothers. The Ouakertown and Eastern Rail-
road crosses the creek at the site of the dam, and in fact the
road-bed follows the course of the race from the dam to the
furnace. Lewis Lillie & Son failed to meet their obligations,
and their creditors took possession of the property under the
title of Lillie Safe & Iron Co. During this time B. F.
Fackenthal, Sr., became manager of the works, remaining
until 1870, when the property again reverted to Cooper &
Hewitt, and Mr. Fackenthal resumed the practice of law at
Easton, Pa.
In 1874, Cooper & Hewitt demolished the two old furnaces
and commenced the erection of the present plant, the new
furnace started its first blast, February 21, 1876, at that
time it was one of the most modern blast-^furnaces in the
country ; it is 75 feet high by 19 feet bosh, built with a sheet-
iron casing, supported by heavy cast-iron columns. It has a
closed top, and six iron-pipe hot-blast stoves or ovens, which
were designed by Hon. Edward Cooper. Blast is supplied by
two upright blowing-engines, 4 feet stroke, 44-inch steam cylin-
ders and 84-inch blowing-cylinders, the boilers are of cylindrical
type, 24 in number^ 12 steam-boilers, 36 inches in diameter by
60 feet long, 12 mud-boilers 30 inches in diameter by 40 feet
long. The plant consists of pump-house, foundry, machine-shop
black-smith shop, wood-working shops, saddler-shop, office, lab-
oratory and other necessary buildings.
The year 1876, when the new furnace was completed was
DURHAM IRON WORKS 249
that of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The
proprietors of the works, who exhibited a fine display of ores
and other objects of interest at the Exposition, had a printed
pamphlet prepared, describing among- other things their works
at Durham, which contained the following list of officers :
B. F. Fackenthal, Jr., General Superintendent ; S. B. Redmond,
Book-keeper ; Stephen Bennett, superintendent of farms and
stock; James Gledhill, chief engineer; John Downs, founder;
John ]\Iofl:at, blacksmith and veterinary surgeon ; William M.
Bray. Edward Keelan, Joseph Carkett, E. C. George, and Wil-
liam Pout, mining captains ; Dr. R. W. Raymond, consulting
engineer. Air. Fackenthal was appointed general superintendent
in 1876, and for one year thereafter continued also as chemist. In
1893 he was elected president of the Thomas Iron Co., and re-
signed his position at Durham.
The maximum output of pig iron in gross tons was 3,135 per
month; 752 per week, and 128 per day, which at that time
equaled the record of any other blast-furnace using anthracite
coal for fuel. The lowest fuel consumption was one ton per
ton of pig-iron. The Durham mines produced about 34 per
cent, of the ores used in the mixture. The capacity of the
blowing-engines was found inadequate to blow the furnace to
its full capacity ; and Cooper & Hewitt, therefore, in 1892,
added an additional (vertical) blowing-engine, having steam-
cylinders 6 feet and blowing-cylinders 9 feet in diameter by 10
feet stroke.
We now come to the transfer of this property by Cooper &
Hewitt to the present Durham Iron Company, chartered under
the laws of Pennsylvania, which occurred, January, 1902.
The new company, after relining the furnace and making
other necessary repairs, put it in blast, April 17, 1902. It has,
therefore, been in operation about six months at the time of
writing this paper.
I have endeavored to show that this is one of the earliest iron
enterprises in the United States, that its history forms an in-
teresting chapter in the history of our county, and we, of the
upper-end trust that the new owners will be able to keep this
valuable plant in operation, and thereby increase its importance
snd value to the community as the years go by.
Three Dramatic Scenes in the Closing Hours of the
Revolutionary Struggle.
BY GEN. W. H. STRYKER, TRENTON, N. J.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 21, 1885).
It is my privilege to direct your attention to three events
which occurred in the closing days of the great struggle for
American independence. In no volume of the history of this
country, that I have ever seen, are these three scenes connected,
and yet they closely followed one another in clear dramatic
style.
The assault and defence of a little log fort, which con-
sumed but a few minutes of time, with a force small in the
numbers actually engaged, removed from the track of armies,
away from the sources of intelligence in a quiet and an obscure
village was yet the beginning of a bloody tragedy ; the prelude
to a bold enactment by the Continental Congress; the issue by
Washington of an order which must have been full of heart-
pain to him ; the creation through all the states of a wide spread
sympathy, a feeling which wafted itself over a stormy ocean,
and found precatory expression in the court of St. James and in
the halls of Louis XVI at Versailles.
The last parallel had been run, the last ditch had been dug,
the last midnight assault had been made successfully on the
ramparts surrounding the little Virginia village where Lord
Cornwallis was environed by a gallant and a valorous foe. The
starry emblem of a young republic's future glory and the white
banner of the fleur-de-lis of France had been planted on the
shattered batteries, the surrender of the British force had been
signed in the trenches before York, the conquered had been
hurried to their winter prisons, and the conquerors had return-
ed to their huts on the heights of Morris county and the shores
of the Hudson. Washington and Rochambeau had joined with
De Grasse, and reinforcing the youthful Lafayette, they had
ended by one great effort the power of Great Britain in Vir-
ginia, and had retired into quarters to await through a long.
SCENES IN THE CLOSING HOURS OF THE REVOLUTION 25 1
dull winter the effect of this reverse on the plans for the future
in the council of King George, and the first dawn of that peace
which they began now to discern.
Let us look away from the quiet Quaker City where Wash-
ington was spending the winter conferring with Congress and
endeavoring to prevent the colonies from relaxing in their
preparations for the next campaign ; from the metropolis on the
great harbor where Sir Henry Clinton, confined with his army
within narrow military bounds, in no cheerful mood, was
waiting to know the pleasure of the British ministry; from the
troops in camp elated with their great success on Southern soil,
and from the prisoners of w^ar in Pennsylvania and Maryland,
striving as best they could to submit to the privations of their
lot.
No section of the country had such zealous Loyalists and
none such fervid, stout-hearted patriots as Monmouth county,
in New Jersey, and Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Every portion
of these counties was filled with the strongest partisans of
their country's freedom, and here and there the devoted friends
of the royal cause. Around Monmouth court-house, under
the influence which emanated from the pulpit in the Tennent
church, in the town of Shrewisbury and in the village of Middle-
town Point, were clustered families of men who devoted them-
selves unreservedly to the liberty of America. But they were
often cruelly annoyed by their bitter and vindictive neighbors
who did all that bad men could do to injure their countrymen
in their property, their happiness and their lives. Forced to
arm themselves against an unrelenting foe, the patriots were
accustomed to band themselves together to defend each other
against the revengeful Tories. The post of one of these com-
panies, organized for the defense of the maritime frontier,
was the old town of Dover on Toms river, New Jersey, and at
this place they had erected a little fort.
The block-house so rough in appearance, was built of logs
seven feet high, set perpendicularly in the ground and pointed
at the top. It was nearly square, and every few feet between
the logs was an opening large enough to sight and discharge a
firelock. On one side of this fence was a small building intend-
ed as a sort of barracks, and on the other side a little room half
252 SCENES IN THE CLOSING HOURS OF THE REVOLUTION
concealed under ground, which they called their powder maga-
zine. On each of the four corners of this structure, raised high
on a strong, well-braced bed of logs, a small cannon was erected,
mounted on a pivot, and this was intended to be the stout pro-
tection against an assaulting force. No method of ingress or
exit was ever made in this rude fort, and a scaling ladder was
a constant necessity. On a cold winter morning this little post
was destined to be the theatre of a brief but bloody struggle,
and from this sharp action unseen and far reaching sequences
were soon to follow.
The commander of this little fortification since the first of the
year 1782 was Captain Joshua Huddy, a brave, gallant and
daring soldier, who since the first hour of the war had devoted
himself to the cause of liberty. On the loth of December, 1781,
the citizens of Alonmouth county had petitioned the legislature
that he might be ordered to the post at Toms river. He was
soon afterward instructed, probably by the Council of Safety,
to march his company to that place.
Many and strangely romantic are the stories told in the journals
of that day, and oftener recalled by tradition in that neighbor-
hood, of the adventurous feats and bold enterprises performed
by this fearless man. Let it suffice now to recall the fierce courage
of the soldier who, instead of surrendering to the foe surround-
ing his homestead at Colt's Neck, about five miles from Freehold,
chose rather, while feeble women loaded the muskets he had in
his house, to fire them with deadly efifect from difiierent positions
within the building, so as to appear with his single self to be a
little band performing valiant service. And then, after a two
hours' fight and his house fired, being overpowered and carried
off, he unhesitatingly leaped into the waters of the bay, an-
nouncing his personality to his vexed captors: "I am Huddy!
1 am Huddy!" reached his well known shore, and plunged into
a thicket where no stranger could easily follow him. No ex-
pedition w^as too hazardous for Huddy to volunteer, no labor
too great for Huddy to undertake, if the holy cause he
loved could thereby be benefited. This was the commandant
of the block-house at Toms river in 1782. This was the man
the story of whose tragic fate was discussed in the councils
of three nations. In the closing davs of the month of iSlarch,
SCENES IN THE CLOSING HOURS OE THE REVOLUTION 25^
rumors of the possibility of an attempt to capture this post
reached brave Huddy ; and his company of two non-commissioned
officers and twenty-three men gathered within the Httle fort,
and they made immediate preparations for a stubborn defense.
On that Sunday morning in March, Sergeant Landon at day-
break called the roll of the New Jersey battery, and every man
responded "Here."
The reason for the erection of this fort on Toms river, with
its barracks and its magazine, will more fully appear when we
study carefully the commodities which the people of the states
in the Revolutionary period so greatly needed, and with which
the commissary department of the army was so poorly supplied.
The article of salt for curing meats was so important a necessit}-,
that, in the early days of the war, to encourage the manufactur-
ing of a good supply of salt occupied the attention of state
legislatures, was discussed in the Board of War, was the subject
of many resolves by the Councils of Safety. If we examine
the minutes of these bodies we will see the interest which they
took in this matter.
On June 24. 1776, the Council of Safety of Pennsylvania
made a contract with Thomas Savadge to erect works at Toms
river, New Jersey, and appropriated £400 for that purpose.
This establishment was called the "Pennsylvania Salt Works,"
and Mr. Savadge was made the manager. He located them on
Coates' Point, at the junction of Barnegat bay and Toms river,
a half mile from the bay and some six hundred yards from the
river.
Mr. Coates, a Philadelphia merchant, was at one time inter-
ested in this establishment, and the point was named after him.
The machinery at these works was of the rudest kind, as were
also those erected some distance north of Coates' Point and an-
other one on the south side of the mouth of Toms river, at
Good Luck Point. The salt made at these places was taken by
boats to the village, and stored until it could be transported in
wagons across the state. A barrack was ordered to be erected
"by the authorities of Pennsylvania, and a magazine for the
•storage of ammunition, and the men employed in the works were
â– directed to be supplied with arms. The legislature of New
Jersey was asked to relieve these men from active militia duty.
254 SCKXES IX THE CLOSING HOURS OE THE REVOLUTION
which request was granted after some delay. On February 5,
1777, the Council of Safety of Pennsylvania ordered a company
of infantry with two cannon to be sent to Toms river to protect
their state property. In March following, in consequence of a
letter of advice from Mr. Savadge, the Navy Board of Pennsyl-
vania sent the armed boat Delaware, Captain Richard Eyre, to
cruise off the mouth of Toms river. Later, in July, 1777, Cap-
tain John Nice, of the Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot, was
ordered across this State, with his company, to protect the works.
In April, 1778, the works of Mr. Savadge were destroyed by
a British party, under Captain Robertson, but were soon after-
ward rebuilt. Mr. Savadge died in October, 1779, and in De-
cember of that year the works were sold to John Thompson, of
Burlington county, New Jersey, for £15,000, Continental money.
So the establishment came under Jersey control, and had to be
protected thereafter by her own troops, and so it continued until
the event which we now narrate.
Presiding over the Board of Associated Loyalists in the city
of New York was the last governor of New Jersey by royal
appointment. William Franklin, since his sojourn within the
British lines, had been most zealous in devising schemes to in-
jure the patriot cause among the Jersymen who now disowned
his kingly bestowed commission. About the middle of March,
1782, the directors of this board planned an expedition to
capture the little block-house at Toms river and destroy the
village. Orders were given to Captain Evan Thomas and
Lieutenant Owen Roberts, of the Bucks county (Pennsylvania)
volunteers with about forty refugees who were loyal to the
British, to embark on some whale boats commanded by Lieu-
tenant Blanchard and a strong armed crew of eighty seamen.
On Wednesday morning, March 20, 1782, this party left the
wharves of New York and sailed down the harbor. But the
winds were contrary, and after beating about here and there it
was not until March 23d that they fairly rounded Sandy Hook
and were able to sail down the coast. At midnight the party
passed through Cranberry Inlet (now closed), landed the armed
Loyalists, soldiers and seamen at Coates' Point, on the north
side of the mouth of Toms river, and in the still, cool night
marched up to the village. A detachment of armed refugees
SCENES IN THE CLOSING HOURS OF THE REVOLUTION 255
under Richard Davenport, who hved in that section, joined them
on their route to the town.
It was just at early dawn, Sunday, March 24th. that the Tory
party, guided by a refugee named Wilham Dillon, came within
sight of this little hamlet. Captain Huddy had been apprised
of their coming the previous evening by Garret Irons, and dur-
ing the night had sent out a scouting party of volunteers from
the village by a road leading along the river toward the point.
In this way they missed the Tory force, which took a more
rortherly route, passing through the woods and lowland, and
entering the village on the north side. They were promptly
challenged by a vigilant picket, who delivered his fire on the
advance line. The swivel guns in the little fort were instantly
manned, brave Huddy and his dauntless force were at their post
of duty, and a musket was run out from every loophole in the
block-house. A hasty call to surrender was made by the Tory
refugees, a bitter answer of defiance was the quick reply, and a
fierce charge was instantly made by Captain Thomas and his
Loyalists and Lieutenant Blanchard and his daring privateers.
This desperate rush found the brave partisan soldiers all pre-
pared, and in the fusilade which followed immediately Lieu-
tenant Inslee of the volunteers received his death wound. On
the left another brave officer. Lieutenant Iredel, of Blanchard's
party, shed his life blood on the ground. The patriot Huddy
and his company used their bayonets well and the long pikes
Math which they had been provided most effectually, and Lieu-
tenant Roberts of the volunteers and five of his men fell from
the parapet seriously wounded. Most stubbornly did they re-
sist a force four times greater than their own, and most de-
terminedly did they struggle to hold every point of their little
fort. James Kinsley at the guns received a terrible wound in
his head which soon caused his death. Moses Robbins was
severely injured in the face by a musket ball. John Farr was
instantly killed at the very first volley in the fight. James Ken-
nedy also fell desperately wounded, and died before sunset. John
VVainwrighf'fought until pierced with six bullets. David Dodge,
Cornelius McDonald and Thomas Rostoinder were also killed
fighting bravely beside their guns. So the patriot ranks be-
gan to thin out rapidly as the sailors appeared over the top of
256 SCENES IN THE CLOSING HOURS OF THE REVOLUTION
the palisades and leaped down in overwhelming numbers on the
heroic band. Their supply of powder was also about exhausted.
Captain Huddy had done, so Squire Randolph afterwards
wrote, "all that a brave man could do to defend himself against
so superior a number." In the confusion which then ensued five
men, it is reported, made good their escape, and Captain Huddy
and sixteen men, four of them wounded, were taken prisoners
and the block-house opened to the foe. It was said that some
of these prisoners were butchered after capture, but the official
records do not verify this statement. After the surrender,
Major John Cook, of the Second Regiment, Monmouth Militia,
who lived in the village, was brutally bayonetted, and died soon
afterward. The firebrand then made a charred and blackened
heap of this garrison post, and, in their malevolence, they added
to the general conflagration the two mills, the salt works and
store-house, which represented the industry of the village.
The guns on which Captain Huddy had relied for his sure de-
fense, were securely spiked and cast into the river. The large
boats tied to the wharf, capable of holding about forty men,
were rowed down the river to the bay, and carried ofif as prizes
of conquest. So the affair ended in an almost total destruction
of the town. Captain Huddy, the brave and gallant soldier,
with his comrades, was carried off that Sunday afternoon and
placed on the Arrogant, for passage to New York. The after-
part of the day was raw and cheerless, and, while the expedition
had designed to devastate the countrv around Shark river, and
destroy the salt works at Squan, yet the condition of Lieu-
tenant Roberts and his wounded men, thus far without medical
attendance, forbade the further progress of the exhibition. On
Monday forenoon the fleet appeared at the dock in New York,
and Captain Huddy and his followers were instantly confined in
the Old Sugar House prison.
Captain Joshua Huddy was now fairly a prisoner of war and
entitled to all the rights granted to such men, in such situations,
under all that is honorable in the code of war. But these rights
were not respected by Franklin and his cruel board of Loyalists.
Far more bitter, more unrelenting in their severity than the
British themselves, were those men who had fled from their
SCENES IN THE CLOSING HOURS OF THE REVOLUTION 257
homes to place themselves under the protecting care of British
bayonets.
Franklin's board ordered Captain Huddy from the Sugar
House prison to the Provost jail, April ist, and from thence, on
the afternoon of April 8th, he was placed in irons on board a
sloop, and sent down the next morning to the armed ship Brit-
tania. Captain Richard JMorris commanding, which was station-
ed as the guard ship off Sandy Hook. Captain Richard Lippin-
cott, of Shrewsbury township, Monmouth county, but now in
the military service of the Crown, was ordered down
to the guard ship, with secret instructions given by the board,
and Huddy was placed in his custody. At ten o'clock on the
morning of April 12, 1782, Captain Huddy was taken from the
ship by Captain Lippincott and sixteen Loyalists, with six
sailors from the vessel, and placed on the shore at Gravelly
Point on the Navisink, about a mile beyond the old Highland
light-house. Here a hastily built gallows of three rails was
erected on the water's edges, and a barrel and a rope constituted
the entire implements of execution. With a strange impulse,
it is said, these bloody men allowed him, with a rope around his
neck, to dictate his will, and sign it on the barrel-head. This
will is written on a half sheet of foolscap and bears this endorse-
ment: "The will of Captain Joshua Huddy, made and executed
the same day the refugees murdered him, April 12, 1782." The
original is preserved in the library of the New Jersey Historical
Society at Newark.
A placard was placed on his breast which read thus : "We,
the refugees, having with grief long beheld the cruel murders
of our brethren, and finding nothing but such measures daily
carrying into execution ; we, therefore, determine not to suffer
without taking vengeance for the numerous cruelties, and thus
begin, having made use of Captain Huddy as the first object
to present to your view, and further determine to hang man for
man, as long as a refugee is left existing. Up goes Huddy for
Philip White." Captain Pluddy said as his last words : "I
shall die innocent and in a good cause."
Captain Lippincott was profane in his execrations of his men
as he noticed their reluctant conduct to pull the rope on so brave
9
o*-
SCENES IX THE CLOSING HOURS OF THE REVOLUTION
a man. He took hold of the rope hhnself, and very soon poor
Hiiddv was suspended by the neck until he was dead. A
prisoner of war captured in actual battle had been taken from
confinement without competent military authority, and his ex-
ecution had been made a frolic; a wanton, inhuman murder
had been publicly committed which would forever disgrace the
annals of a civilized people even though engaged in war. And
thus was ended, with an appearance of great calmness and
firm manliness, the earthly career of one of the truest, one of
the bravest of the soldiery who fought for the independence of
America. Captain Lippincott reported to the board of Loyal-
ists that he had exchanged Captain Huddy for Phillip White.
"George we owned for our king, as his true ro}'al sons,
But why will he force us to manage his guns?
Who 'list in the army or cruise on the wave,
Let them do as they will— 'tis their trade to be brave;
Guns, mortars and bullets we'll easily face,
But when they're in motion it alters the case;
To skirmish with Huddles is all our desire —
For though we can imirder, we cannot stand fire."
This barbarous act exasperated the good people of Monmouth
county and of the State beyond description. The body of the
murdered soldier hung on the gallows until four o'clock in the
afternoon and was then carried to the residence of Captain
Tames Green, in Freehold. On April 15th, the Rev. Dr. John
Woodhull, pastor of the Presbyterian church, preached his
funeral sermon from the front porch of the old Freehold hotel,
and he was afterward buried with all the honors of war, it is
generally supposed, in the graveyard around old Tennent
church, on Monmouth battle-ground, in what is now an un-
known grave.
On April 19, General Washington called a council of war
of twenty-five general and field officers at Major General
William Heath's headquarters, and submitted to them all the
papers in the case, and requested of them separately, in writing,
a direct and laconic reply to the question whether retaliation
was justifiable and expedient. The members of the council,
without any conference with one another, wrote their answers
to the question and sent them sealed to Washington. The en-
tire body agreed that retaliation was justifiable and expedient.
SCENES IN TPiE CLOSING HOURS OE THE REVOLUTION 259
A majority of them thought a demand should be made on Sir
Henry Chnton for the person of Captain Lippincott, the mur-
derer ; and that, if this was refused, an officer of the same rank
as Captain Huddy should be selected by lot from among the
prisoners of war now in their hands. Twenty-two of the council
were willing to make a demand on the British commander, and
three of them wanted no delay, but thought the horrid crime
merited instant satisfaction.
On the 29th of April the Continental Congress resolved that
General Washington be assured of their firmest support in his
purpose of exemplary retaliation.
General Washington, on the 21st day of April, sent an of-
ficial communication to Sir Henry Clinton, enclosing copies of
all the papers in the case, including the representation of the
Monmouth county citizens, and requiring satisfaction in the
person of the guilty actor in this tragedy. He used this lan-
guage in the letter: "To save the innocent I demand the
guilty. Captain Lippincott, therefore, or the officer who com-
manded at the execution of Captain Huddy must be given up ;
or, if that officer was of inferior rank to him, so many of the
perpetrators as will, according to the tariff of exchange, be of
an equivalent. To do this will mark the justice of your ex-
cellency's character. In failure of it I shall hold myself justi-
fiable, in the eyes of God and man, for the measure to which I
shall resort."
This letter of Washington's called forth a reply from Clin-
ton, April 25th, in which he says : "My personal feelings,
therefore, require no such incitement to urge me to take every
proper notice of the barbarous outrage against humanity,
(which you have represented to me,) the moment that it came
to my knowledge; and, accordingly, when I heard of Captain
Huddy 's death, (which was only four days before I received
your letter), I instantly ordered a strict inquiry to be made in
all its circumstances, and shall bring the perpetrators of it to
an immediate trial." Sir Henry Clinton, the day after writing
this letter, by an order forbid in the future the removal, by the
board of Loyalists, of any prisoner from the prison house to
which he had been consigned. A court-martial of Captain
Lippincott was then ordered. In this trial, certain facts became
26o SCENES IN THE CLOSING HOURS OF THE REVOLUTION
apparent. It was clearly proven that Captain Lippincott had
acted in this brutal outrage on the distinct verbal orders of
Governor Franklin and his board, although it is said that
Franklin tried in vain to get Lippincott- to testify that this was
not correct. The British soldiery thought this a base act,
on Franklin's part, and their indignation at him was not con-
cealed. Captain Lippincott, therefore, claimed that he was
free from all responsibility in the matter, and that the British
commander must look to the board, which he had himself lately
organized, if he would punish any one for this act.
Another fact was also developed at this court-martial. It
was that Captain Huddy was a prisoner four days before the
death of the Philip White, noted on the label on poor Huddy's
breast as he hung by the seashore, and that this placard had
been read to Governor Franklin, by Captain Lippincott, before
leaving New York. The court-martial at last pronounced
Captain Lippincott not guilty and he was acquitted. In the
meantime Governor Franklin had sailed hastily for England.
General Washington was immediately informed of the find-
ing of the court. On the 5th day of May, Sir Henry Clinton
was relieved of command, and Sir Guy Carleton, having ar-
rived at New York, took command of the British army in Ameri-
ca. The regret which Clinton had expressed was reiterated by
Carleton in most distinct language, as to him abhorrent of all
the rights of war. He said that, notwithstanding the acquittal
of Lippincott, he reprobated the act, and gave assurances of
prosecuting a further inquiry. He followed this by disbanding
the board of Loyalists as the surest way of preventing such in-
human acts in the future. He wrote to General Washington
that he intended to preserve "the name of Englishmen from re-
proach, and to pursue every measure that might tend to prevent
these criminal excesses in individuals," and he said he "would
condemn the many unauthorized acts of violence which had
been committed."
Soon after the acquittal of Captain Lippincott, Captain Adam
Hyler, of New Brunswick, a great personal friend of Captain
Huddy, and like him, a bold and daring patriot in nautical ad-
ventures, attempted to carry off Lippincott from his very resi-
dence in New York. One evening with a party thoroughly
SCENES IN THE CLOSING HOURS OF THE REVOLUTION 261
disguised, he rowed out from the hills across the bay in a small
boat, landed at the White Hill wharf at nine o'clock, but
fortunately for Lippincott, Captain Hyler did not find him at
home but "gone to a cock pit," otherwise he would within the
hour, have been ofifered as a sweet revenge to the name of poor
Huddy.
The next act of General Washington in this serious drama
was the ordering. May 3d, of General Moses Hazen, at Lan-
caster, Pennsylvania, to designate by lot and forward to the
army for execution in satisfaction of the murder of Huddy "a
British captain, who is an unconditional prisoner, if such one is
in his possession ; if not, a lieutenant, under the same circum-
stances from among the prisoners at any of the posts, either in
Pennsylvania or Maryland." In accordance with this order a
number who had been confined at York were ordered to Lan-
caster, Pennsylvania, and on May 27th thirteen officers drew
lots as to who should be hung for Huddy.
In General Graham's memoirs, published in the United
Service Journal in 1834, this drawing is most minutely describ-
ed. Thirteen pieces of paper were placed in a hat, the word
"unfortunate" written on one of these strips, and when the
selection took place the fatal word was drawn by Lieutenant
and Captain Charles Asgill, of the First Regiment of Foot, the
only son of a wealthy English baronet. Sir Charles Asgill. He
was only in his twentieth year, and was a witty and brave of-
ficer. "I knew it would be so," said Asgill. "I never won so
much as a bet of back-gammon in my life." That night Lieu-
tenant Greville, one of the lucky officers, sat up with Asgill all
night, fearing, it is said, that he would escape and so leave him
to a new allotment. Captain Asgill was sent to Philadelphia un-
der guard, and thence to Chatham, in Morris county, New Jer-
sey, where a part of the American army was posted. Major
James Gordon, . of the 8oth Regiment of Foot of the British
army, a particular friend of his, was allowed to accompany him
and they were both placed in confinement at Chatham. Captain
Asgill was not an unconditional prisoner under the terms used
by Washington in his order to General Hazen. It seems strange
that this mistake should have occurred, for Asgill was included
in the capitulation of Yorktown, and was a prisoner then await-
262 SCENES IN THE CLOSING HOURS OF THE REVOLUTION
ing exchange. This fact caused General Washington much
distress, as his letters to such trusty officers as Major General
Lincoln clearly show : "Congress by their resolve have un-
animously approved of my determination to retaliate ; the army
have advised it and the country look for it. But how far it
is justifiable upon an officer under the faith of a capitulation, if
none Other can be had, is the question.
When Captain Asgill was brought to Chatham, New Jersey,
he was accompanied, as has been said, by Major Gordon; and
Captain Ludlow, of his own regiment, his fellow in other days
at Westminster school, was allowed by General Washington
to go to New York to see Sir Guy Carleton.
The order of Washington, the selection of Captain Asgill to
be hung for the murder of Huddy, and his being brought from
prison, at Lancaster, to the army in New Jersey, were com-
municated to Carleton, to his government and to the people of
Great Britain. It excited the most wide-spread sympathy abroad
as well as in this country. The royalists themselves, in New
York, were frightened and worried at the charge of murder
proven on them and the train of evils which they had drawn on
themselves.
"Old Huddy we hung on the Navisink shore,
But, sirs, had we hung up a thousand men more,
They had all been avenged in the torments we bore
When Asgill to Jersey you foolishly fetched,
And each of us feared his neck would be stretched."
The father of Captain Asgill was a great invalid, and the
impending fate of his son had to be kept from him lest it ser-
iously affect his feeble health. His sister was gravely excited,
being at times bereft of her reason when she thought of the
dread calamity which menaced her loved brother. The mother,
however. Lady Theresa Asgill, immediately instituted efforts
to cause the release of her son. She called in person upon her
king, and he ordered the British general— so we find in the
Memoirs of Baron de Grimm — "that the author of the crime
which dishonored the English nation should be given up for
punishment." The influence, however, of American Loyalists
resident in Great Britain, caused this order not to be sent across
the water, or if sent secretly it was not complied with. Lad}
Asgill also wrote to the Count de Vergennes, prime minister
SCENES IN THE CLOSING HOURS OE THE REVOLUTION 263
of Louis XM, in a letter full of the most pathetic language of
imploration, and entreated him to communicate with General
Washington. This he did by letter Jmly 29th, enclosing Ladv
Asgill's letter to him and using these words : "Your Excel-
lency will not read this letter without being extremely affected.
It had that eft'ect upon the King and upon the Queen, to whom
I communicated it: The goodness of their Majesties' hearts
induced them to desire that the inquietudes of an unfortunate
mother may be calmed, and her tenderness reassured. There
is one consideration, sir, which, though it is not decisive, may
have an influence on your resolution. Captain Asgill is, doubt-
less, your prisoner, but he is among those whom the arms of the
King contributed to put into your hands at Yorktown."
Various circumstances, before this letter was received, caused
General Washington to hesitate and then delay the execution
of the chosen victim. The interest in his case was very great
in Europe during all the summer months; and on the arrival
of every vessel from America in any foreign port an eager re-
Cjuest was made for information as to the fate of Asgill.
Captain Asgill himself wrote to Sir Guy Carleton begging his
interposition to avert his awful destiny. But nothing seemed
to be done in the matter, much to the distress of Washington,
as is clearly seen in his letters to Congress and to John Dickin-
son, president of Delaware. Benjamin Franklin, the philoso-
pher, statesman and diplomatist, expressed himself on this sub-
ject in this language to Richard Oswald, July 28th : "It can-
not be supposed that General Washington has the least desire
of taking the life of the gentleman. If the English refuse to
deliver up or to punish this murderer, it is saying that they
choose to preserve him rather than Captain Asgill."
The whole case is best stated in the clear language of the
patriotic Tom Paine in one of his letters to Clinton, assigned
"Common Sense:" "The villain and the victim are here
separated characters. You hold the one and we hold the other.
You disown or affect to disown and reprobate the conduct of
Lippincott; yet you give him sanctuary, and by so doing you
as effectually become the executor of Asgill as if you put the
rope round his neck and dismissed him from the world. Wliat-
ever vour feelinsfs on the extraordinarv occasion mav be are
264 SCENES IN THE CLOSING HOURS OF THE REVOLUTION
best known to yourself. Within the grave of your own mind
hes buried the fate of Asgill. He becomes the corpse at your
will or the survivor of your justice. Deliver up the one and
you save the other; withhold the one and the other dies by your
choice. On our part the case is exceedingly plain; an officer
has been taken from his confinement and murdered, and the
murderer is within your lines.
Several letters passed between the British commander and
Washington during the month of August. These were
sent by the American chief to Congress, and in one of his let-
ters of transmittal he confesses that the action of Sir Guy
Carleton in giving strongest assurances, that further in-
quisitions shall be made, and his reprobation of the act of mur-
der in unequivocal terms "has changed the ground I was pro-
ceeding upon, and placed the matter upon an extremely delicate
footing."
So the summer passed along to poor Asgill, not knowing
when his fate would be settled and whether a reprieve or the
hangman's knot w^as the next sight which would appear to him.
In the latter part of August and September, he was allowed to
go about on parole around the village of Chatham and at Mor-
ristown, and he was treated by the American officers, as the
orders read, "with every tender attention and politeness (con-
sistent with his present situation) which his rank, fortune and
connections, together with his unfortunate state, demand."
A severe calumny on the conduct of Washington was re-
ported at the time in British journals and letters, and seems to
have had some color from remarks made in very bad taste by
Asgill himself. It was stated, and it is now found in Tory
history, that a gallows was erected thirty feet high in front
of his prison window with the inscription thereon, "Erected for
the Execution of Captain Asgill." This was indignantly de-
nied in after years by General Washington, and he asked how
a belief in such an act could be reconciled with the "continual
indulgences and procrastinations he had experienced." He also
added "that I could not have given countenance to the insults,
which he says were offered to his person, especially the grovel-
ling one, of erecting a gibbet before his prison window, will, I ex-
pect, readily be believed, when I explicitly declare that I never
SCENES IN THE CLOSING HOURS OF THE REVOLUTION 265
heard of a single attempt to ofifer an insult, and that I had every
reason to be convinced that he was treated by the officers around
him with all the tenderness and every civility in their power."
It was not until October 25th that Count de Vergennes' letter
of July 29th, before referred to, reached Washington, and the
letter of Lady Asgill sensibly affected him. The same day he
sent them to the President of Congress, at Philadelphia, and that
body promptly, November 7th.
"Resolz'cd. That the commander-in-chief be and he is here-
by directed to set Captain Asgill at liberty."
On November 13th, this act of Congress was sent to Cap-
tain Asgill, with a letter of General Washington, the tone of
which is so kind and yet so dignified that it certainly merited a
polite reply, which does not appear ever to have been written.
Captain Asgill returned to England in the ship Swallow,
landing at Falmouth, December 15, 1782. In October, 1783,
he went to Paris, with his mother and sister, to thank King
Louis XVI, and his beautiful, his sympathetic, and, in after
years, unfortunate Queen, Marie Antoinette, for their interces-
sion in his behalf.
A poet of the Revolution, Philip Frenau, whose patriotic
poetry we have quoted before, whose remains lie not far from
Captain Huddy's in the old Freehold grave-yard, wrote a humor-
ous poem entitled "Rivington's Reflections," and he put into the
mouth of Mr. Rivington, the Tory printer of New York city,
these words :
"I'll petition the rebels (if York is forsaken)
For a place in their Zion, which ne'r shall be shaken ;
I'm sure they'll be clever; it seems their whole study ;
They hung not young Asgill for old Captain Huddy,'
And it must be a truth that admits no denying,
If they spare us for murder, they'll spare us for lying.''''
In the little village of Dover on Toms river, New Jersey,
with its useful mills, its store-houses and its salt works, a scene
was enacted in which the Loyalists of your own county took a
prominent part. On the very street of that little town stout
hearts and brave souls battled for freedom and the warm life-
blood of the patriot was shed by Tories from this section in
the last fight in New Jersey in the war for independence. When
the block-house was captured by over whelming numbers, and
266 FOUR LAWYERS OF DOYLFSTOWN BAR
the town was given to the torch, the end was not then. In the
train of misery thus begun a bloody murder of a brave
patriot followed, a gallant young officer as a victim of retalia-
tion for nearly eight months was doomed to death for a crime
not his own, and his pitiful condition commanded the sympathy
of the world.
Four Lawyers of Doylestown Bar.
BY CALEB E. WRIGHT, DOYLESTOWN^ PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 21, 18S5).
When I came to the county of Bucks in 1833, four men were
engaged in practice of law before the Hon. John Fox president,
and William Watts and William Long associate judges. They
were, at that time, the leading members of the Bucks county
bar.
Charles E. DuBois, oldest of the four, was admitted in 1820.
I had, after becoming acquainted with him, abundant opportun-
ity of knowing him well. Our offices were near together, and
our intercourse almost daily.
Perhaps no man was more widely known in our county. His
administration for some years of the orphan's court office, had
early brought him into personal contact with the business men of
our community. It led to extensive business in his profession.
His legal acquirements and fidelity to his clients established him
firmly in public estimation. Whatever was committed to him
was done faithfully and well.
Mr. DuBois was deputy of the Attorney General of the Com-
monwealth during the early part of our acquaintance, and I bear
in mind the test at one time put upon his tender sensibilities.
It was in the trial of Blundin (afterward hung for murder),
when, in reading the indictment to the unfortunate man, Mr.
UuBois was overcome with emotion. I may mention, in pas-
sing, that Judge Fox, was equally overcome in pronouncing the
final sentence of the court.
The confidence reposed in Mr. DuBois, whether as citizen,,
lawyer or bank president, was remarkable. His integrity was
so well grounded that his word was current with all men. And
FOUR LAWYERS OF DOVLESTOWN BAR 267
if it may be said of any man that he Hved a Hfetime withont
enemies, the honorable distinction was assuredly his.
I may close this brief notice by adding, that few persons had
a keener relish for humor, and few, in this respect, better qual-
ified to add the boon of enlivening mirth to social company.
Next, in order of admission to the bar^ was E. T. McDowell.
He began practice in 1822. Eleven years, at that time, had
placed him in high position. His business was already exten-
sive ; his qualifications as a lawyer good ; his power over a
jury great.
He was a man of very commanding presence ; rather over
medium size, well-formed, and eminently pleasing in manner
and address. He was social, witty and genial. What is known
as popularity, he obtained in fullest measure.
Mr. McDowell came from Buckingham, and, I think, was of
Quaker descent. Commendable ambition led him to the study
of the law. What he became, (as he once told me) was through
his own exertions. Certainly he was entitled to credit, for he
had made for himself a distinguished notoriety.
There was at that time no man at the bar who could cope with
Mr. McDowell in facetious and witty declamation. His fund
of humor was profuse. Juries were captivated and swayed by
it. It was, however, always without the acerbity of ill-temper,
and therefore the more potent. This peculiar qualification gave
him marked prominence on the stump.
Mr. ]\IcDowell was for some years a director of the Doyles-
lown bank, and was also its attorney. He was one of the lead-
ers of the old Whig party. He declined all official positions,
save that of member of the constitutional convention of our
State. He died in the zenith of his powers and popularity ; leav-
ing a vacuum difficult to be filled.
Thomas Ross came to the bar in 1829. He was a born law-
yer. With him, a knowledge of the science of legal principles
was intuitive. He grappled with the intricate web by instinct.
His mastery appeared in the early years of his practice. In
acumen, quickness of comprehension, boldness and tact, he had
few superiors in this district of the State. He could have filled
creditably, any position in the line of his calling. Few bright-
er intellects have been known here.
268 FOUR LAWYERS OF DOYLESTOWN BAR
The rise of Air. Ross in his profession was rapid. A chance
for him occurred, and he embraced it. In less than three years
after his admission, this young man had put in his hands, by
Recorder Mcllvane, of the city of Philadelphia, the most impor-
tant criminal case, by far, ever tried in the county. It was the
Andalusia tragedy ; that of Mina and Mrs. Chapman. The meas-
ure of diligence and ability he displayed, is entitled to the
highest commendation. Anyone perusing the report of that
trial, with its manifold developments of crimes and enormities,
will be surprised to witness the exhibition of legal tact and learn-
ing, shown in one so young in his profession. It was this
celebrated trial that placed him at once in the front rank with
his professional brethren; a position which he maintained until
the visitation of a fatal malady assailed him at the summit of his
career.
Mr. Ross was a man of medium stature ; with remarkably ex-
pressive features of face, and handsome person. He had no
sense of fear ; and was intrepid and bold in the prosecution of
his clients' rights. Nothing was omitted in the trial of his cases,
nor any inadvertence of his advisary suffered to escape his ready
apprehension.
The offices held by him were those of deputy of the Attorney
General and member of the Congressional House of Represen-
tatives. His reputation as a lawyer is green in the recollection
of the people of Bucks.
I am conscious of the delicacy and embarrassment attending
my reference to the fourth, in number, of these late leaders of
the bar. Three have passed away; the remaining one, after an
honorable career, extending over half of a century, survives —
the Hon. Henry Chapman.'^
When I first knew him, he had already been 8 years in prac-
tice. He was admitted in 1825. His way to business had been
easy, succeeding, as he did, his father who had held a prominent
position for many years. A -different lot than attends most
young men. But the subject of our notice had capacity to hold
the position thus fortunately attained.
The elevation reached by Henry Chapman, as both an ad-
vocate and a judge, was deservedly high. Among many es-
* Judge Chapman was born April 2, 1804 : died April 11, 1891.
FOUR LAWYERS OF DOYLESTOWN BAR 269
sential qualifications, natural and acquired, was that sublime
bestowment of the Maker, a truly well-balanced mind. It is
the charm of mental qualities; the ballast that trims the ship
amid conflicting elements. Study, education, and the faculty
of mental concentration on the point to be considered, made him
a safe counsellor and successful advocate. His classical ac-
quirements and fine literary taste lent a gloss to his oratory, ex-
ceedingly attractive.
I feel fully justified in asserting that Henry Chapman was
the strongest man before a jury I have every known in a long
life-time. He had argument, denunciation, pathos, intens,ity,
and that unflagging earnestness that must triumph in the end.
And yet, what seems not a little strange, he was the slowest and
most deliberate of all speakers I ever heard, but one ; this
was the justly renowned George Douglass, born in the border-
land of Walter Scott's Abbotsford, and subsequently minister
of the Wesleyan church, Canada. He was slower still; never-
theless, the citizens of two nationalities bear witness to the dis-
plays of his powerful oratory. The young, who generally aim
at extreme rapidity, may find instruction in the two instances
I refer to.
In Judge Chapman we find the happy mingling of scientific,
literary, agricultural and professional pursuits. He has an eye
for the perfection of nature ; an ear for the melody of birds. He
was always a great reader. Aside from Blackstone and Purdon,
the English classics were not overlooked. He found in the
pages of the immortal bard of Avon a chord attuned in sympa-
thy with his own nature. It inspired and beautified his forensic
displays, and illuminated the products of his pen. It is well to
be an able lawyer and upright judge. It enhances the merits
of both to find in Shakespere and Walter Scott the fountains of
inspiration.
This gentleman was not overlooked by his fellow citizens. He
was sent by them as their representative in the State Senate and
House of Representatives at Washington. Twice he was the
dignified and able occupant of the judicial bench, in different
districts of our Commonwealth. And now, the object of public
regard, he sits down to the enjoyment of peace in the vale of
years, conscious of having in all things discharged his duty.
The Doans and Their Times.
BY HEXRY C. MERCER, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 21, 1885).
If tradition had not assured us that our ancestors could talk
of what they had seen and heard, we could hardly believe that
such a thing as gossip, chit chat, or story telling existed among
them. Nothing can be duller, or more colorless, than their
memoranda, letters and note books. Their newspapers are
"journals" and gazettes only in name, and omit with steady
tedium all those incidents of common everyday occurrence,
episodes of town and neighborhood, which could most quickly
and directly tell us of the real life and character of those days.
In fact, pictures of the dress, habits and manners of Bucks
countians a century ago are as hard to find as personal anecdotes
of George Washington. Yet the life of the time was perhaps
more interesting from the story tellers' point of view, or at least
more eye-catching than our own. The very omission of detail
and blindness to the picturesque of its books and letters argued
by no means dullness or lack of character, but only unconscious-
ness. The age of introspection and self-analysis had not yet
come; the modern observer did not exist and the educated man
of the day had not learned that human nature was as interesting
at home as abroad. Nothing was less worthy of note, he
thought, than his town and his neighbors ; his thoughts were
in the halls of Congress or in Europe, and he was very fond of
the high flown declamation of Fourth-of-July orators, or
pamphleteers with Latin pseudonyms, and of such words as
''fortitude," "virtue,'' "valor," "wisdom" and "prudence,"
borrowed from Cicero. These fell upon the ear of the farmer
with a pleasing sound well worth the price of his weekly news-
paper, and had this told of the men and things as he knew them,
why buy it ? he would have said.
The absence of the reporter and local-item-man seems doubly
provoking when we consider that this was a time when he
would have been essentially in his element ; all was highlv color-
ed, incident romance was everywhere ; life possessed the
THK DOANS AXD THEIR TIMES 27I
glamour which theatres and ihustrated magazines now try to
reproduce. It was the day of wayside inns, of old fashioned
war, of picturesque costume, and of "moving accidents by flood
the field." Railroads had not yet destroyed forever the traveler
and his tales, the ancient fire-place had not yet been walled up,
the word hearth-stone had a meaning in every house, and much
of the poetry and health of home had not been destroyed be-
cause the unwholesoine heat of stoves and heaters was cheap.
Yet all this the man of that day would not have understood.
Living more unconsciously than we,, he valued his surroundings
less, and prized not a whit the very facts for which we now rum-
mage in our leisure moments. He would not have organized
or joined an historical society. In these matters we are his
superiors. Far more than he would have done, do we lament
the destruction of landmarks which now are old but then were
new. A new use of the word vandal has been invented to de-
scribe the man who wantonly cuts down the trees which for
many years have shaded the highway and refreshed the way-
farer and his beast. The descendants of the Yates', Beattys',
Wanamakers' and Helmbolds', aiming rather to embellish than
to make their fortunes, must soon be ashamed of the vulgar
selfishness of ancestors whose names and garish advertisements
disfigure our landcapes ad mauseam. Many of us admit that
the planting of trees along roadsides and streams, though a
slight injury to the crop, would be an advantage to the country;
or that the thicket surrounding a spring or shading a water-
course might be spared in the demolition of the forest, and the
writer believes that a word in time might have saved the de-
struction of the last of those beautiful groves — for a century
the beloved playground of children — which had long relieved the
heat of the summer's sun that scorches the meadows on the
northern slope of our hillside.
But to turn to the subject of our paper; as we have hinted
before, facts in the history of the much maligned and misun-
derstood Doans, come to light very slowly, and after long in-
tervals of disappointed investigation, we are frequently tempted
to despair in our attempt to paint a true picture of them or their
times. Among the agreeable surprises, however, which have
thus far enlivened the writer's researches, was a letter which
272 THE DOANS AND THEIR TIMES
he received a few days ago from one of their descendants, Mr.
Alfred J. Doan, of jersey City, whose study has for some time
been the history of his family. It stated that scarcely a month
ago occurred an event, the possibility of which might well have
been doubted, the death of a sou of one of the Bucks county
refugees. His name was Levi Doan, and he died on the 5th
of last month, (December 5, 1884), at the greatest age of 93
years, 8 months and 7 days. He was the son of Aaron Doan,
the Plumstead refugee. P'ortunately, his relative, I\Ir. Alfred
Doan, had discovered him in time to question him, and just one
month before his death the county clerk of Welland county, (On-
tario), Mr. Reid, in company with Levi's son-in-law, a Air.
Pratt, and armed with Air. Doan's series of questions, visited
the dying man^ at his house, in Humberstone, a little town in
Welland county, not far west of Niagara P'alls.
"We arrived at the house," says Mr. Reid"s letter, "at about 9 o'clock,
a. m., and found the old man and his wife — a woman erect, active, and
in the best of health at 86 — it's sole occupants. For 15 years Levi had
been blind, and for 7 partl}^ paralyzed and confined to his bed. He was
evidently no common man, and spoke with a strong voice, realizing the
nature of every question, and giving decided answers to each except
one. Mr. Pratt did the questioning and I took down the answers. Levi
said, 'I was the first of my father's family and am the last.' meaning
that of II brothers and sisters, he, the eldest, alone was living."
JSome of the answers to the questions which they proceeded to ask
were very interesting — for instance the following:
Question (i). Did your father, Aaron, have brothers named Moses
and Levi?
Answer. "Yes ; my Uncle' Moses was a weaver. He was taken pris-
oner by the Americans during the Revolution, and they killed him
while he was stooping down to take a drink of water, by knocking him
on the head with a stone. Levi, his brother, was also taken prisoner;
they hung him."
The old man is here mistaken as to the death of Moses. There is no
doubt whatever that he was shot in a cowardly manner, after he had
surrendered, by Col. Robert Gibson.
Question (3)- Are you sure that your father had a brother named
Thomas?
Ansii'cr. "Yes; I am quite sure of it. There were six brothers and
three sisters, namely. Aaron, Moses, Levi, Thomas, Joseph and Mah-
lon. The sisters were Hetty, Polly and Betsey. Aaron, Thomas, Jo-
seph and the three sisters came to Canada."
Th"s definitely settles the number and names of the brothers and sis-
THE DOANS AND THEIR TIMES 273
ters, fixes the names of the latter, which have always been in doubt
thus far, and clears away all doubt as to Thomas, a boy probably at
the time of the Revolution, and whose existence has heretofore seemed
a myth.
Question (6). Did your Uncle Joseph at one time live in Humber-
stone, (Ontario, Canada), and if so when did he leave there?
Ansivcr. "He taught school here in Humberstone, about four miles
from where I now am. My wife was one of his scholars. Joseph went from
Humberstone about 1820, migrated to the township of Walpole and
settled on Nanticoke creek."
It must have been about this t'me that he returned to Bucks county
and made his unsuccessful attempt to recover property here.
Question (7). Whom did Joseph marry and what family had he?
Answer. "He married his first cousin, Mary Doan, and had eight
children, four sons and four daughters : Moses, Mahlon, Joseph and
Abraham; Rachel, Hester, Leah and Mary."
JStill the Biblical names.
Question (8). What became of your Uncle Mahlon Doan?
Anszver. "He escaped from prison and went on board a ship at New
York on which were 400 Loyalists. I believe they sailed for England.
We never heard any more of Mahlon."
This disposes of the story of his drowning himself in the Chesapeake
Bay.
Question (9). Whom did your three aunts marry?
Ansivcr. "Hetty married Edward Richardson; Mary, Samuel Doan
(of another family), and Betsey married Thomas Millard."
Question (12). Do you know the name of the town in Pennsylvan'a
where your father's people lived?
Answer. "No; they lived in Bucks county, but I do not remember
the name of the town."
He had forgotten us.
Question (13). Do you know whether your Uncle Joseph ever vis-
ited his native county after coming to Canada?
Anszver. "Yes ; he did. He went back after the war was over to
his native place in Bucks county, thinking to recover some of his father's
property, but he did not succeed."
The warlike spirit of the notorious refugees, and their hatred
of the American cause, did not end with their exile to Canada,
and we learn further from the letter that both Aaron and
Joseph served against us in the war of 181 2. Levi, the old man
just dead, son of Aaron, and a son of Joseph were also soldiers
in the war with their fathers. Levi was at the burning of Buf-
falo, and at the battle of Chippewa, and after the war received
a pension from the Canadian government. Joseph and his son
274 THE DOANS AND THEIR TIMES
were both taken prisoners by the Americans ; the son escaped^
but old Joseph was taken to Green Bush, New York, and there
finally exchanged as a prisoner of war.
But more characteristic still was the behavior of another of
the descendants, who was hung about forty years ago for re-
belling against the government of his adopted country. A
friend informs the writer that, while traveling from Toronto to
Montreal, in 1845, he learned from a Mr. Wilson, of the
Canadian Parliament, that descendants of the Doan family still
lived in the neighborhood of Hamilton, and that one of them had
headed a band of insurgents in the Papineau rebellion ; that he
(Mr. Wilson) had witnessed the parting of this man with his
wife and children just before his execution, and had been
particularly struck with pity at the sight; and further that it
had caused comment that one of the Doans, so' noted for their
hostility against the American colonies and loyalty to the Brit-
ish during the Revolution, should have thus turned against the
mother country. Not long after this, as Mr. Alfred Doan tells
us, the father of the dead man visited Chester county. His
name was Jonathan Doan, and he had come from Canada in a
wagon accompanied by a grandson named Jonathan York. At
the time of his visit he was mourning for the son above mention-
ed. Mr. Doan learned that the rebellion in question was not
Papineau's, but that some disaffected persons in Canada West,
taking advantage of the Papineau trouble, then about 1845, ^^
its height, had undertaken to settle certain local grievances by
force of arms. Two of Jonathan Doan's sons were the leaders,
and their enterprise having failed they fled to tke United States,
and there not yet willing to despair, one of the sons raised a
band of desperate characters, and, quite in the spirit of his an-
cestors, invaded Canada. He was defeated, captured, tried for
treason and hung.
But to return to the Bucks county Tories. It is an interest-
ing fact, and one not yet fully enough realized, that the hue and
cry was not raised against them until June, 1783 — the date of
the first proclamation mentioning the name of a Doan. Yet this
was five years after the name of Joseph Doan, "laborer," had
appeared in a Pennsylvania Tory list, and at least two years af-
ter his sons had begun to ravage with impunity their native
THE DOANS AND THKIR TIMES 275
county. True, many complaints had issued from Bucks county
before this, and depositions and affidavits from aggrieved tax col-
lectors in all parts of the county had been sent to the Supreme
Council begging redress, and Henry Wynkoop and others had
written letters complaining most bitterly of "ruffians," armed
banditti and robbers ;" and at least four proclamations offering
high rewards for the apprehension "of persons unknown,"
enemies of the commonwealth, who had been guilty of robberies
and burglaries, were issued between the years 1778 and 1783,
but not any of the depositions, letters or proclamations mentioned
names — the offenders were always "persons unknown" until
1783.
Yet disguises are rarely spoken of — the robberies were as
open and careless as those of Jesse James in our own time — and
it is impossible, we believe, that the public officers and the many
witnesses of their exploits, should not have recognized the
athletic figures of the already notorious Royalists as they sprang
over the threshold of the crashing doorway, tied their victims tc
chairs and bedposts, belabored them with horse-whips, and
threatening them with the savage oaths of that day, followed
them, as candle in hand they rummaged garret and cellar, ex-
plored the recesses of the antique clock or empty cask, lifted the
loose brick on the hearth, or sought the buried chest in the gar-
den. No! the Doans had been identified long before 1783. The
delay in public proceedings against them must be attributed to
indiff'erence and fear.
We say indifference when he consider the important fact that
early robberies respected private property — true, homes were an
exception — but what honest soldier will not steal a horse in time
of war? Attacking public property alone, in a manner guaran-
teed as they might have claimed, in time of war, eschewing pri-
vate money and valuables, it took some time to rouse the private
animosity which might have hastened their earlier pursuit. On
the other hand their vengeance was justly feared. And the tax
collector, who had lost nothing himself, did not feel very re-
vengeful, and was glad to speak of the robbers as "persons un-
known" when he remembered their terrible threats of vengeance
should he divulge names. This view of the public nature of
276 THE DOANS AND THEIR TIMES
their early offences, we think, important, and must lead us to
reconsider many of our opinions of their motives.
Perhaps we are willing to-day to excuse those differences of
opinion as to the right of rebellion against the mother country,
which so perplexed many of our ancestors, and allow that the
Doans, although our enemies, had somewhat the excuse which
might be acceded to the conduct of a Union man living in the
South during the war, and who had revenged himself and his
cause upon his neighbors. Perhaps — in a word — we are ready
to give up the names '^'robber," ''burglar" and ''felon," as applied
to the Doans, and substitute, let us say, the term "guerrilla."
Nothing can more conclusively prove their reckless, dare-devil
spirit, or more completely exculpate them from the mercenary
motives of common robbers, than a consideration of the time
they chose for their first important attack upon public authority
in Bucks county, the robbery of the county treasury at
Newtown. This took place on the night of Monday, October
2.2, 1 78 1, just three days after the practical defeat of the cause
they had espoused — the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
It was a time of processions, flags, the ringing of bells and the
firing of cannon. The power of Great Britain was practically
dead, and further resistance to the colonies was hopeless ; no
price was as yet fixed upon the heads of the refugees, and noth-
ing would have been easier for them than to depart for a new
home in Canada.
But the British disaster — the downfall of all their hopes — in-
stead of discouraging them only inspired them with a spirit
which, as Watson says, places them far above ordinary robbers,
and they rushed to their ruin against hopeless odds with a
desperate recklessness seldom surpassed.
It was on a cold Monday night, late in October, (October 22,
I78i),'that the event which we are about to narrate, and the
news of which filled Bucks county with alarm, took place in the
little village of Newtown.
It was ten o'clock, and probably most of the good people of
the town were in bed, except perhaps the hostler of the inn,
whose lantern still glimmers near the stable, as he whistles late
over his night's work ; but all is silent in the deserted streets,
and we fancy that we can hear onlv the rattle of dried leaves.
THE DOANS AxND THEIR TIMES 277
swept in the eddying wind around the court-house gables and
along the shaded road, then, as now, the main thoroughfare of
the town. At the southern end of the village, and on the right of
this street, a light glimmers through the leafless branches. It
comes from a small stone building, built with its gable facing
the street, and surrounded by trees. In those days it was the
dwelling of John Hart, Esq., treasurer of Bucks county, who,
on the night in question, happened to be sitting late over the
kitchen fire; with him were his house-keeper, Mary Hellings,
and a neighbor, John Thomas, who had come in to hear the
news — for Mr. Hart, who was eating his supper at this unusual-
ly late hour, had probably been absent, had just returned per-
haps from a visit to Trenton or Bristol, and had much to tell
of the exciting events that were then thrilling the country. A
candle burned on the high wooden mantle piece, and a log blazed
in the large open fire-place around which they were sitting. Mr.
Hart, who was not at the table, holding in his hands, we may
suppose, a pewter bowl of mush and milk, in part his evening
meal, and talking as he ate. The topic is easy to guess, the great
subject of the moment, Cornwallis' surrender, three days before,
and tidings of which reaching Philadelphia early on the previous
morning, must by this time have found their way to Newtown.*
All were anxious to hear the latest news, and to discuss such
details of the thrilling ceremony as may have reached them —
the long lines of troops, French and American, Washington and
his w^hite horse, the twenty-eight red-coated captains who would
not deliver their swords to sergeants, Lincoln and O'Hara,
Lafayette, Rochambeau and DeGrasse. The clock has just
struck ten, no one is sleepy, and Mr. Thomas has made no move
to go. Suddenly, a noise was heard at the door, which had not
been latched ; it opened, and a number of men, "unknown," says
Mr. Hart, crowded into the room — seven of them at least — •
brown figures, in linsey-woolsey coats, knee breeches of sheep-
skin or plush, and small soft felt hats with round crowns. Some
wore hunting shirts bound in at the waist with large handker-
* The capitulation was signed October 19th, and the official inielligence, published in
" Freeman's Journal '' of October 31st, is there spoken of as having reached Philadelphia
on Wednesday, the 24th. The same newspaper, of the latter date, however, states that the
news (unofficial) arrived in Philadelphia early on Monday morning (October 22d), i. e.,
shortly after midnight — and gives the anecdote of the watchman, who cried, in broken
English, " Basht dree o'glock, Gornwallis is daken, and a gloudy morning."
2/8 THE DOAXS AND THEIR TIMES
chiefs, and all carried weapons, cocked pistols, heavy clubs,
swords or army flint-lock muskets. ]\Ir. Thomas and Mrs. Hel-
lings rose terrified to their feet, while in an instant the despera-
does surrounded the group. "Keep your seats, good people," said
the savage-looking fellow who first entered the room, in the mild-
est tone he could assume. His business was not with them, and
turning to JMr. Hart, and pointing his cocked pistol at him, he
asked him his name — this was Robert Johnston Steel, hanged
in Philadelphia for this robbery in 1785 — at the same moment
a ruddy-faced, heavily-built man, stepped up to Mr. Hart. His
gray bear skin overcoat was closely buttoned, and a large black
"scallop rimmed hat" thrown back upon his head, displayed a
remarkably heavy jaw and large mouth, clean shaven in the
fashion of the time. He wore blue yarn stockings and the fire-
light flashed on the broad French buckles of his shoes. He
stood very straight; one hand was thrust into the pocket of his
great coat, from which several pistol butts protruded, and a
heavy club moved and twitched in the other, as in the grasp of
a very strong man. This was Moses Doan. Like the rest of
the band he was excited with drink, and it was many a year
before Mr. Hart forgot the flush of the Jamaica rum in his
face, his fierce oaths and the ring of his voice as he asked him
his name, and shaking pistol and club in his face, called for the
key of the treasury. Mr. Hart may well have quailed ; part of
the money was in the house, and he admitted it. In a moment,
having seized a spare candle on the table, one of the band,
Woodward, and five others were ransacking the sitting room, the
upper rooms and the cellar, breaking the locks of chests, closets
and cupboards, searching under beds and sofas, and rattling
and rummaging everywhere. Two men were left to guard the
kitchen and its inmates. Upstairs, as the light and noise enters
one of the bedrooms, a frightened youthful voice makes itself
heard, and the candlelight falls upon several childish forms, now
wide-awake, and huddled together in a small bed. "Don't cry
there," said one of the men, as stooping down he dragged from
under Mr. Hart's bed a large box stuffed with packages of paper
money. "We won't hurt you; we are only going to take the
money up to your father at the office." The children were
frightened, but the kind words and easv tone, which ]\Irs. Eliza-
THE DOANS AND THEIR TIMES 2/9
beth Hough, one of them, remembered for many years and of-
ten repeated, reassured them while the bureau drawers were
ransacked and the paper money stuffed into one of the pillow
cases taken from under the children's heads. In a moment the
robbers were again down stairs and had surrounded Mr. Hart,
who did not dare to deny that the "hard money" was in the
treasury.* Thither they started with a lantern and candle,
leaving Mr. Hart and his companions still under guard. One
Woodward carried the office key, and it is said wore the over-
coat of Mr. Hart, in hopes of passing for him if seen in the
darkness by a neighbor. We may suppose that the robbers did
not lose much time hurrying toward the treasury — the small
prothonotary's ofhce near the court-house. They were accom-
panied by Jesse Vickers, a neighbor and ally of the Doans, from
Plumstead, and his brother Solomon, who had not gone into the
house — as he afterward said — for fear of being recognized by
Mr. Hart. There was only one halt — and that near the jail
wall — where they met a townsman on his w^ay home, perhaps,
near the corner. They stopped him — he had evidently suspected
something — and Jesse Vickers waited to guard him. It was
but a few steps to the treasury, and unlocking the door and en-
tering, they found themselves in a small vaulted chamber, with
little in it save a chair, a desk, and several boxes lying upon the
floor and around the empty fire-place. In the desk, which they
easily broke open, they found a quantity of paper and silver
money; this they took; the gold, with a considerable sum O'f state
money, as Mr. Hart is glad to say in his deposition, escaping
their search. In all, they carried off, Mr. Hart says, the precise
* The Hart house, still to be seen with its ivy-covered wall, is now owned by the heirs
of Silas Bond. It stands on the right of the main street, going south, and not far from
the railroad station. Josiah B. Smith, Esq., the writer's informant, states that the iden-
tity of the building had been vouched for by members of the I,eedom familj', relatives of
the Twinings, the latter having been neighbors of Mr. Hart in Revolutionary times. In
going thence to the prothonotary's office by way of the jail, the robbers would have
passed up Main street, and, turning to the right, crossed the premises now belonging to
Dr. James B. Candy, whose house occupies the site of the old jail, and in the rear of
which stood the prothonotary's office, a small stone building, twelve by sixteen feet in
size, and vaulted with brick. Immediately behind this, and extending to Court street,
stood the court-house, a site now occupied by a furniture shop, belonging to Daniel B.
Heilings' estate. Jail, prothonotary's office, and court-house, stood upon a slight knoll,
and fronted upon an open common, over which the robbers made their way. This com-
mon or court-yard extending to Kiug street (now Sullivan street), on the south, was
bounded on either side by Main and Court streets. The robbers could not have come by
way of Court street, as it did not then extend further southward than Queen street.
28o THE DOAXS AND THEIR TIMES
sum of £735, 17s, 9>2d. in silver — ^besides the paper money
found in the house and office.
"This being done," continues Mr. Hart in his statement, "and after
having kept me and my associates under guard as I think upward of
three hours, they left my house, but in so cautious a manner that 1
could not know the time of their final departure, as some of them were
heard loitering out of doors, on both sides of the house, a considerable
time after they had all gone out of it. Further, I have reason to believe
that at the time of the robbery the perpetrators were between twelve and
twenty in number, as I frequently saw five or six of them together, and
at the same time heard others of them, both indoors and without, who
were not in sight."
Possessed of their booty, the band hastened to a spot
on the outskirts of the town, probably one of the thickets at the
north of the village and near the turnpike leading to Wrights-
town, and there finding their horses, for it is probable that the
others as well as Moses Doan were mounted, they rode rapidly
to the old Wrightstown school-house,* where, being joined by
several other allies and accomplices, all coming for a share of
the plunder, they divided the money. What a sight must the
old school-house have presented by the silent roadside on that
chilly autumn night. Strange picture ! the sixteen figures,
horses picketed to the surrounding trees, the moving figures,
the subdued voices and oaths, and the click of weapons and
spirit flasks ; through the broken door of the school-room the
v/ind rushes, and the lights flicker on the excited faces of the
band as they watch the division of the plunder. Jesses and
Solomon Vickers were there, who afterwards, when captured and
promised pardon, were induced to betray their confederates, and
whose treacherous confession has furnished material for much
of the foregoing narrative — born in Plumstead, like the Doans,
and connected with their family by marriage, they had been their
schoolmates and companions from boyhood. John and Caleb
Paul were there — sons of James Paul, of Warminster; Edward
Connard, from Maryland, and two men named Woodward from
Crosswicks, in New Jersey ; Robert Steel, a desperate character,
whose case appears in volume 2 of Dallas' report ; George
Burns and George SinClair, and Moses and Aaron Doan; the
* The old Wrightstown school-house stood on the east of the turnpike, a little north
of the present store, close to the road, and about forty j'ards from the meeting-house. In
1781 it was doubtless surrounded by tree. No houses were standing on that side of the
turnpike.
THE DOANS AND THEIR TIMES 281
notorious John Tomlinson and his son Joseph were there, also
one Moses Winder, a tax collector, who had played into their
hands, and John Atkinson, a gunsmith of Newtown ; he had
given information to the conspirators and mended several gun-
locks for the expedition. That very night when IMoses Doan
had ridden through Newtown to see if the coast was clear, he
had called at Atkinson's house, but the latter for some reason
best known to himself had not been at home. The wily Jere-
miah Cooper, too, was there, who afterwards, being suspected,
was obliged to fly from home to escape justice. Also one
Aleyers, a German doctor, who, Vickers says, brought much
information to Tomlinson, visiting his house on pretended medi-
cal visits and often remaining there all night. Sixteen or seven-
teen shares were dealt out, of about $280 each, the minor ac-
complices, like Winder, Atkinson and Joseph Tomlinson, re-
ceiving about $40 apiece. The exhibition had been, as the
proclamation of the following Thursday (October 25, 1781),
said — "but too successful."
Much of the scene was vividly recalled to the writer by a visit
to the house of Jeremiah Cooper on Jericho- hill. The little
log cabin, his weaver's workshop, lies on the southern crest
of it and on the right of the descending road, commanding a
fine view of the sunny valley beneath and the rolling country
that stretches southward toward Newtown. On the east rise
the wooded hills of New Jersey and around and behind an an-
cient forest covers the ridge where tradition says the Doans,
like the fox or weasel, found hiding places in lonely haystacks
and caves, holes and covered pits. Beneath runs a fine brook
through the rich meadows, once the camping ground of the
American army, and not far from which, on a knoll surrounded
by fine trees, stands a house, once a dwelling of Collector Keith,
rifled by the Doans soon after the Newtown robbery (February
16, 1782). Still beyond and to the southward shine in the light
of sunset the farm-house and barns once the home of John
Tomlinson. Here the treasury plot was hatched, and here
many an American deserter and red-coated spy was given aid
and comfort. As we look, our fancy pictures some of the strange
scenes that occurred there, and of which the treacherous con-
fession of Vickers gives us faint glimpses. The meetings in the
282 THE DOANS AND THEIR TIMES
wood and barn, the frequent journeys on horse-back of Tomlin-
son to Newtown, not far away, and where his convenient friend,
the gunsmith, had much to tell him, and of the desperate men
who in the morning woods or at nightfall in the house, met him
on his return. We can see, too, as Vickers saw it, the figures
of at least two of the Doans — Moses and the swarthy Aaron —
as with their ramrods, rags, oil and basins, they cleaned their
guns for the exhibition on the threshing floor of the barn, strewn
with knives, swords, rifles and pistols. We think too of the
mysterious and lengthy visits of the German doctor, Meyers,
whom Moses Doan "would trust with any secret," of rum
casks in the cellar and of whispered plots, of the oaths of the
olden time, the savage quarrels and the noise of the carouse
protracted until daybreak, of the terror of the lonely woman
in the house, and of the doom and felon's death that hung
over all.
Home returning late in the evening by the upland of Lahaska,
through the rich valleys and wooded hollows of Buckingham,
and in the shadow of its mountain, other pictures rise before
us of the future exploits and death struggle of the desperate
band, of buried treasure, and of treasure seekers, of caves, lonely
cabins and forest recess and of the time when hunted down
like wild beasts, the outlaws yielded at last to an inexorable fate
which drove them to prison, exile and death.
These scenes should properly form the subject of a future
paper.
Thomas Ross, A Minister of the Society of Friends.
BY JOHN S. BAILKY, BUCKINGHAM^ PA.
(Plumstead Meeting, April 21, 1SS5).
A duty we owe to those who have left a just record is to^
perpetuate their memory, and the collection and compiling of
memorials of some of our early ancestors has unconsciously be-
come part of the work of the Historical Society of Bucks
County. The subject of the following sketch passed the major
part of his life about ten miles from this place (the Friends
meeting-house at Plumstead), and there can be no doubt but
what Zebulon Heston, Isaac Childs, Thomas Ross and other
local ministers of the Society of Friends have often proclaimed
the truth within these walls. It is, therefore, appropriate to
bear testimony of one of their number, although a century has
rolled by.
Thomas Ross was born in the year 1708, in the county of
Tyrone, Ireland, of reputable parents, members of the Episcopal
church, and received a religious education. He and his sister
FJizabeth, who married Thomas Bye, of Buckingham, from
whom proceeded many descendants, came to America about
1728 and settled within the limits of Buckingham Monthly Meet-
ing.
Shortly after his arrival he was convinced of the principles
of Truth as professed by the Friends, and requested that he
might join himself to the meeting.
"At the monthly meeting held at Buckingham ye 3d of ye ist month,
1730, Thomas Ross still continuing his request of joining himself a
member thereto, the meeting after some solid consideration so far con
descends to accept himi as his life and conversation shall correspond with
the Truth he desires to join himself to."
In 1 73 1 he married Keziah Wilkinson, an aunt of Col. EHsha
Wilkinson. Elisha kept the noted hostelry at Centerville from
181 1 to 1836.
In 1733, when 25 years of age, Thomas Ross commenced his
ministry and made numerous visits to Long Island, Maryland
and other points. John Churchman, of Chester county, says
284 THOMAS ROSS
that Thomas Ross accompanied him in his visits to Monthly
Meetings in 1760. John Grififith, of Darby, says that "Thomas
Ross joined him at Landon Grove Quarterly Meeting, ii-month
16th 1765, and from thence they went to Lancaster, then south
through Maryland and Virginia to North Carolina^, returning
3d-month, 1766, to Goshen, where my valuable companion part-
ed for the present." Again 5th-month, 1766, they visited New
England and returning crossed Howell's Ferry (now Centre
Bridge) Seventh-day evening, 23d of 8th-month, from thence to
my companion's house. They went to Wrightstown meeting
next day and to Falls Quarterly Meeting on the Fifth day fol-
lowing.
On 6th month 8th, 1737, Thomas Ross purchased of the
proprietors under the seal of William Penn, a large tract of land
in Solebury, 2]/^ miles south of Well's Ferry, (New Hope) on
which he built a substantial stone-house; part of the tract is
now owned by Edward Yansant, and known as "Ross Farm."
He was a tailor by trade, and devoted part of his time to
that occupation, at other times he taught school. By will he
left five pounds towards the construction of a school-house.
The Yearly Meeting convened at Philadelphia on the 27th to 30th
of 3d month, 1784 granted him a certificate containing 127
signatures, authorizing him to go to Great Britain and Europe
to make a religious visit.
The following incident is recorded by one who was personally
acquainted with him :
"While his mind was under exercise with the prospect of a
visit to Europe, but before he had given up to the service,
he was one day thrown from his horse, and his foot being fixed in his
stirrup, he was dragged some distance, probably a very short one, in
that perilous situation. His mind recurring to his engagement as one
he was improperly shrinking, he breathed forth a petition 'Lord spare
my life and I'll go,' when some of the fixtures giving way he was in-
stantly released."
On the 4th-month 19th he left home for his visit abroad. On
the 2 1 St he left Philadelphia with a number of Friends for
Wilmington. Embarked at New Castle on the ship "Commerce,"
Captain Thomas Truxton commander, the 25th, in company with
Samuel Emlen and son Samuel, George and Sarah Dillwyn, Re-
THOMAS ROSS 285
becca Jones and Alehetable Jenkins, all intending for Great
Britain.
We quote some items from Rebecca Jones' journal relating to
their passage across the Atlantic :
"An incident connected with their embarkation is worthy of
recital, as ilhistrative of the benefit which the true disci-
ple may receive from entire dependence upon the all-sufficient
Teacher. Two ships were in readiness to sail for London. One was a
large merchant vessel, the other a smaller one, had been built for a
privateer, and was especially adapted for fast sailing. They all visited
the two ships to decide between themi, and went first on board the
larger one which had been preferred by many of their friends. They
seated themselves in the cabin and Samuel Emlen first broke the silence
by saying 'Death and Darkness.' A similar feeling of uneasiness in
reference to this vessel piervaded the minds of the others. On taking
their seats in the smaller ship a clear evidence was vouchsafed to them,
that it would be right to take passage in her, which they did accordingly.
"After a safe voyage some two weeks afterward the ship, to which
their attention had just been turned, was towed in on her beam ends,
her keel being out of water, the ballast and whole cargo having shifted
in a storm, so they were unable tO' right her. They had taken a dif-
ferent course from that pursued by the 'Commerce,' and experienced
danger and distress, ^o that all hope of reaching port at one time van-
ished. A lady passenger afterwards gave a moving account of their
passage, and mentioned that when (every light in the cabin being out)
the water made its way into the state room, she lay in her berth ex-
pecting death as inevitable, and reached down her hand to feel the water
as it rose, and while her soul's concerns were uppermost and her
heart was engaged in fervent prayer, the only temporal desire she al-
lowed herself to cherish was that she might not struggle long in the
water.
"On the 26th reached the capes. Capt. Truxton opened a locker and
threw in a pack of cards, saying, 'Lie there ; you'll see the daylight
no more,' in compliment to these Friends ; and at the table took up a
glass of beer, saying, 'Here's hoping that we Friends may reach Lon-
don timely for the yearly meeting,' which had been their desire, though
from the shortness of time it was not confidently expected for them.
After clearing the capes and discharging the pilot, Capt. Truxton joined
our Friends in the cabin ; and having obtained their assent to some
pertinent remarks upon the mutual benefit which persons confined in
such narrow limits would desire for making themselves agreeable to
each other, he observed that there was one thing that they could do,
which would very much displease him."
They of course desired to know his meaning. "It is," said he, 'for
you to know that there is anything in my power which will contribute
286 THOMAS ROSS
to your comfort, and not ask for it." The kind disposit'on thus-
indicated was continued by him through the voyage.
Fifth-month, 6th. "Thomas Ross and Samuel Emlen shpped and
hurt themselves. On the 12th, our worthy friend Thomas Ross this
day, by a lee lurch of the ship, fell in the cabin and wounded one of
his legs badly, which was timely attended to. It was a favor that he
was not more hurt."
28th. "Reached Gravesend. The captain left the ship first, in order
to prepare a dinner and carriages, and had all ready on their arrival.
Having dined, the captain, with Thomas Ross and Samuel Emlen, Jr.^
took one poste chaise, while the others followed. They reached Lon-
don at 4 p. m., arriving in time for the yearly meeting."
Capt. Truxton, in a letter to Samuel Emlen, some months
after, says:
"Present my compliments to Rebecca Jones, and to that worthy old
favorite of mine, Thomas Ross. May God in his infinite mercy and
goodness continue his blessing towards you all ; and after you are sat-
isfied in your minds that you have done your duty towards Him, and
towards your brethren, in this eastern world, that He may be pleased
to conduct you to j^our families, relations and friends in safety is my
sincere wish and prayer."
Sixth-month 23. "Thomas Ross and Samuel Emlen were at London
detained by indisposition and bad leg of Thomas, hurt on shipboard."
On the 26th Thomas left London, visiting many meetings,,
and reached Ireland Eighth-month 19th, 1784, pursued his visits
through Ireland, and on First-month 15th, 1875 he says:
"Left Dublin and that evening reached Ballitore, where I
was kindly received ; next day attended meeting. I sat in
great poverty, feeling my touched with love towards a young
man not of our society. I had to counsel to take care
lest he should be corrupted in that great city of Dublin, where he was-
placed at college, which he seemed to take kindly. In the evening had
a sitting in the family where the Lord was pleased to own us by break-
ing of bread. Blessed be his name forever. Having gone through the
visiting the meetings of Friends of this nation, I do not find myself as.
yet easy to leave it, but hope to wait in patience until my Great Master
is pleased to open the way to move. Remained at Ballitore until 31st."
While at Ballitore the following letter was written to Re-
becca Jones, who was then in Westmoreland:
Ballitore, First-month 25th, 1785.
Dear Rebecca: Thou hast been of late brought up in my mind in great nearness of
affection, in that love which distance doth not raise out, so that I find a freedom to visit
thee with a few lines to inform thee that I have been favored to visit Friends meetings
generallj' through this nation ; and have been enabled by that good hand which I be-
lieve bath sent me forth to labor in his vineyard to clear myself in warning the rebellious
THOMAS ROSS
287
to return, as also to encourage the youth to give up without reserve that so they might
come to fill up the seats of those worthies who are removed, and to be made useful in
their day to the promoting of the great cause on earth. Dear Rebecca, I think I know thou
art a woman who travails in the deep. I travail with thee in my measure, for I think I
may let thee know that I have been led along in a low way, and often baptized for the
dead; and yet have been preserved to cast my care upon Him that can raise the dead-
Dear Rebecca, thou hast been as an epistle written in my heart, and in a fresh revival of
the precious unity which subsisted betwixt us when at home. I have a hope that if we
keep to our first love we shall come to know an increase, and that will be more than the
increase of corn, wine or oil. And now I may let thee know that I am as a blank, and
cannot see my way out of this nation. Yet I trust He who hath hitherto helped me, in
His own time will open the way for me. Dear Rebecca, thou knowest and I know that
unity that spreads over sea and land, a measure of which I have felt at times, that has
brought not only thee, but all my brethern and sisters from America, fresh up in my
mind, with strong desires that we might all be preserved, little and low ; and that we
might be preserved chaste in our love to him who is the bridegroom of souls. Then He
will take care of us, that we need not be anxious when we are going from one meeting to
another what we may have to say, but keep to our gifts, and look to the giver; not to
lean to our own understanding, for if we do we shall greatly fail, instead of bringing
honor to his great name who has called us forth, we shall bring death on ourselves and
not administer life to the people ; for life answers life, as face answers face in a glass ;
and there is nothing that can draw to Him but what proceeds from Him. The province
meeting is to be next Seventh-day at Castle Dermot, which I propose to attend; after
which I have a view of going to Moate, where our friend John Pemberton is to see him on.
He has been confined there some weeks with a cancerous wart on his hand, under the
care of a man skilled in such cases. He is otherwise pretty well in health ; though he
suffered considerable pain he has been preserved in patience and resignation. I should
have written before now only I am such a poor scribe ; but now I have an opportunity of
writing by a female hand. I salute thee in near affection with desires that thou mayest
bear up in mind, remembering that He who is the great helper is said to have been a
man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. My dear love to all inquiring friends. Fare-
well, I remain thy brother in tribulation. Thomas Ross.
He joined John Pemberton 2d-month 14th in the labor of the
gospel. They remained in Ireland until 5th-month 6th, Thomas
having visited every meeting in Ireland but one. His journal
of that date says :
"Embarked at Dublin on board Hawke Packet and arrived at Liver-
pool in due season, and was glad and thankful I had got again on
British shore and shall have occasion to remiember with gratitude the
singular kindness of Divine Providence in affording me help of body
and mind to discharge my religious duty to my own comfort and sat-
isfaction of Friends in Ireland, and to leave them in love, and now to
be favored to return safe to Great Britain, and shall, I hope, remem-
ber the great love* and kindness shewn me by friends in that nation."
They remained in England a few days and then went to Scot-
land, but the bodily infirmities of Thomas Ross increased and
he was under the necessity of resting at Edinburgh and New
Castle from which place, taking in a few meetings, he reached
York, England, iith-month 2d, and attended their Monthly
Meeting the day following, which proved to be the last meeting
Tie was able to attend.
255 THOMAS ROSS
First-month 21, 1786, John Pemberton, in a letter to America,
says :
"Dear aged Thomas Ross has indeed been eminently owned and fav-
ored, but for four months past he has been poorly and now lies at
Lindley Murray's near York, afflicted with some inward obstruction
which occasions great difficulty at times in breathing. It raither in-
creases upon him and may gradually wear him away, though at times he
is cheerful and is in a resigned state of mind. He sometimes has pros-
pects of further labors which gives some hope or expectation that he
may get up again, but it seems doubtful. It would have been accept-
able to me to be constantly with him, but it has been ordered otherwise.
He is in a sweet disposition of mind ; no care is wanting respecting
him; he is waited on day and night; that with respect to suitable ac-
commodations and tender attendance he is full as well off as though he
had been at home. Many have dropped off in this land, and he is desirous
if removed that his remains may lay near Dear John Woolman."
John Woolman was a native of Alount Holly, New Jersey,
an eminent minister, who visited England in 1772 and died of
small-pox loth-month 7, 1772, aged 52 years. He was buried at
the Friends' burying-ground at York.
Second-mo. 3d, Rebecca Jones notes : "Thomas Ross said to me, 'Dear
Becky, I am waiting for the messenger. Oh ! he will be a welcome
messenger to me. Give my dear love to H. Cathrall, to Hannah Pem-
berton, and all my dear friends in Philadelphia. I have heard that
several are coming forward and growing in the Truth and I rejoice in
it. Tell them so. Oh, I hope that He who has been with me in six
troubles, will not leave me on the seventh, but will grant me patience
till my change comes, which will be a glorious change to me. Dear
John Pemberton I have believed that thou wilt be set at liberty to go
home after the next yearly meeting, and I once hoped to be thy com-
pany, but that is over and I shall finish my course here.' "
On the 8th she writes :
"I frequently visit our beloved aged friend Thomas Ross, who is
drawing gradually to 'the house appointed for all living' with an un-
shaken evidence (which he often expresses) 'That fliere is a place of
rest prepared for him.' Our dear friend John Pemberton is with him
and he is not easy to leave him."
Rebecca Jones and John Pemberton remained near him until
his death on the 13th of 2d-month, 1786; he was buried on the
1 6th, as desired, beside the body of his countryman and friend
John Woolman. Rebecca Jones preached with remarkable unc-
tion at the grave, as did George Dillwyn at the meeting-house.
THOMAS ROSS 209
a large audience being collected on the occasion. On the 15th,
Rebecca writes :
"In Ireland Friends and others love to speak of John Pemberton
and our deceased friend Thomas Ross. Indeed they seemed to labor
more abundantly than us all."
Rebecca Jones was born in Philadelphia; up to 12 years of
age was educated in the way of the Church of England; at 21
she became a minister of Friends ; taught school at No. 8 Drink-
er's alley; left Great Britain for home 1788; died 1817, aged
78 years.
Lindley Murray lived one mile from York, at Holdgate ; he
was a noted- scholar at one time, and author of several school
booL-s.
Phebe Speakman, 7th-month 17th, 1789, says:
"Lmdley Mlurray has not been able to walk more than two or three
yards at a time for ten years past. He sleeps well and sits up the whole
day, but is no more able to speak than walk, as he can only whisper
a few words at a time. He and his wife are natives of America, and
are very kind. Lindley attends meetings diligently, and I think adds
weight to them. He is rolled in a chair with wheels to his carriage
and thence to his seat in the meeting house. He is a comely good
looking man, tall and well proportioned ; but a wonder being so much
deprived of the use of his bodily powers. Yet he is active in mind and
very useful; having plenty of the things of this world and being pos-
sessed of ability cheerfully to do good therewith. I was glad in feel-
ing so comfortable with them in their apparently tired state, but I
thought they were much resigned to their allotment and appear to be
patterns of patience."
Thomas Ross has been described as a large man about 6 feet
in height and of a commanding appearance, black hair and eyes,
robust and vigorous even in old age. He was noted as an elo-
quent speaker. Israel Childs, who heard him preach his fare-
well sermon, says :
"It was the most powerful sermon I ever heard and he closed by
saying, 'I now go to the land of my birth to lay my bones in my own
native soil.' "
York Monthly Meeting testifies:,
"During the course of his travels we have abundant cause to believe
his religious services were truly acceptable to Friends and well received
by others, for having an especial eye to the putting forth of the Divine
10
290 THOMAS ROSS
hand, his ministry was attended with Hving virtue and deep instruction
though not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, yet in Godly
simplicity, and with a zeal according to true knowledge. He was wise
in detecting the snares of the enemy, faithfully and without partiality,
warning those who were in danger of falling therein; and as in the
course of his own sanctification he had been made deeply acquainted
with the necessary baptisms peculiar to that important work. So he
was furnished by living experience and the .renewings of holy help with
qualifications to administer in tender sympathy, pertinent and whole-
some counsel to the true Christian travelers. In meetings for busi-
ness he was particularly serviceable, his remarks being mostly short,
pertinent and very instructive, exciting to steady attention to Divine
counsel in the transaction of our Christian discipline, and therein to
exercise true judgement without partiality and respect of persons."
During the course of his ihness he was preserved in a heaven-
ly frame of mind on almost every occasion, dropping instructive
counsel and advice to friends. A collection of testimonials of
York Monthly Meeting, was published in a book of memorials of
deceased Friends in 1821. The following were not inserted
and are taken from the manuscript kept during the time of his
illness. Speaking of his decease he said:
"I have a wife and children who will wish to hear from me. I have
written many letters and particularly to my children for whom my
love and care is great. It will be trying to my dear wife, but she knows
where to apply for help and support."
To some young people he said :
"He that preserved Daniel even in the lions' den, because innocence
was found in him, will preserve you, dear young people, if you keep
to him."
To several that stood by him :
"I must not repeat the expression ; what I say unto you I say unto
you all. Watch ! Watch ! over the goings of your minds. I love to see
you together; it is reviving to my mind. Oh, the cementing love! The
terms used by mariners at sea have often instructed me. When beat
with contrary winds they call to the helmsman. Steady! Oh children
keep steady. When the sea runs high an experienced man is appointed
to watch, who can nearly tell which wave will break over the ship and
when he sees it coming calls, 'hold fast,' lest the waves wash them over.
Take care and be faithful, hold fast what you have got. A ship at
sea has appeared to me the liveliest emblem of human life, for at just
setting out mariners have a port in view and a compass to steer by;
but there are many ships lost near shore, which you know is lamentable."
"Great peace shall they have that delight in thy law. Oh friends lee
THOMAS ROSS 29I
your lights shine." "I long for those that profess the Truth to be pos-
sessors of it." "We have no new thing to publish whatever name we
go by, for the soul that sinneth shall die. It is our iniquities which
separate betwixt us and our God ; we are all upon a level in the sight
of Him; all souls are mine, saith the Lord; as the soul of the master
so is the soul of the servant." "How good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity; it is like the oil that was poured
upon the head of Aaron that descended to the skirt of his garment."
"Oh how precious for families to dwell thus together. Oh that I may
be preserved from uttering anything like murmuring, for I feel my
mind engaged for the honor of the great cause." "I think I am one of
the least in the Lord's family when I consider my own weakness and
lan^eness."
A number of similar expressions were called forth as he lay
on his death bed.
Thomas Ross had two sons and two daughters. Mary mar-
ried Thomas Smith, of Wrightstown, from whence proceeded
at least 1,000 descendants. John married Mary Duer, of Sole-
bury, and moved to Pliiladelphia. This family is quite limited
unless part of it has grown up in the West. Kezia died young.
Thomas, Jr., lived on the old homestead married first â–
Clark, and second Jane Chapman by whom he had 6 sons and
I daughter ; descendants not numerous ; the late Hon. Henry
F. Ross was one of them.
The following beautiful poem was composed by Thomas, Jr.,
2d month 8th, 1790. to the memory of his father.
MEMORIAL
Thus ends the man who privileged to pass
The destined date of three score years and ten,
Devoutly spent the gracious loan and praise
And ardent labors for the souls of men.
Through many a bitter conflict, sorely won.
From strength to strength, victorious hast thou passed,
But light ethereal gilds thy setting sun,
And heaven rewards thy labors at the last.
Oft in sweet converse have I heard thee say,
"The end crowns all," then add. "May God sustain,"
And keep me in the true and living way.
Nor let me lose the Christian in the man.
292 THOMAS ROSS
How oft bewail infirmities, that drew
Thy erring feet out of the narrow path,
And at the time thou didst thy prayers renew
Confessed thyself to be the child of wrath.
Thy life, through this probationary scene.
Was like the ocean tossed by furious storms ;
But near the port thy sky was all serene,
And not a cloud thy peaceful mind deforms.
Faith, half absorbed in vision, hails thee home,
And bears thy soul aloft from guilty pain;
Lost in the glorious hope of bliss to come,
A blest communion, and an endless reign.
He who sustains thee through life's stormy sea.
And raised they drooping head above the wave,
â– Now in the needful hour revisits thee
And shows himself omnipotent to save.
What wonder then thy praise incessant flows !
Praise the soul, universal theme above,
, • Exhaustless theme I that no occasion knows
Through all boundless realms of light and love.
Sometimes with pitying, retrospective eye
Downward on sinful mortals wouldst thou look?
And oft, methinks, I almost hear thee cry,
Pardon them Lord, or blot me from thy book !
Nor swayed by pride from thy own sphere to move.
In thy own measure only didst impart ;
Content to render to the God of love
That grateful sacrifice, an humble heart.
But who can tell what pain thy virtues cost !
What days of patience, and nights of prayer!
Right hands cut of¥, right eyes plucked out and lost!
Rich trophies these — and only won in war.
The world, the flesh and Satan in the van.
Great principalities and powers suppressed.
Too great, alas! for feeble fallen man,
Did not, oh Lord, on thee the burden rest?
Aided by thee, see the poor pilgrim move
In slow gradation through the humble vale.
Though to detach and draw him from thy love
See all the powers of darkness him assail.
THOMAS ROSS 293
And often sore beset on every side,
No ray of light to lead the eye to thee,
Distressed, dejected and without a guide,
The Christian waits thy saving power to see.
Not like the world, thy ameliorating treat.
Thy wine put forth, at last is ever best.
So may our hearts, with cheering ardor beat.
To gain an entrance at the port of rest.
And such a heart was thine to whom the muse
Would consecrate this pledge of filial love;
Thy soul refining, as refined thy views.
From flesh released, triumphant soared above.
Methinks I saw thy guardian angel stand
Prepared to waft through the ethereal road,
Rejoicing to fulfill the high command.
And introduce thee to the throne of God.
'Tis thus indeed, thy end is amply crowned;
Though sown in tears, thy crop is reaped in joy;
Fled are thy sorrows, healed is every wound,
No fears torment thee, and no cares annoy.
That praise which here delighted, there transports
And elevates thy soul to raptures high.
When seen flie order in the spacious courts
Of him whose throne is fixed above the sky.
There pleasures, pure and wondrous, ever new.
In sweet succession open on the soul,
And unremitting streams of bliss shall flow.
When these inferior subjects cease to roll.
But while I contemplate the exalted throne.
Oh, let me not forget my station here,
Nor vainly cherish the delusive dream
Of conquests won, and victory without war.
Pain is tlie harbinger of endless joy.
And death, the gate that opens to the skies.
Affliction is the school of the most high.
To teach the fool and wiser make the wise.
To rouse the soul that o'er the yawning pit
In dreadful slumber wastes the present hour.
To awe the bold and make the proud submit,
That all may praise, and wonder, and adore.
294 THE DURHAM CAVE
But while devoted to a father's name,
The muse this humble tribute would bestow,
Oh, may my life be found as free from blame.
My thankful heart with equal ardor glow.
That when the curtain is about to drop —
Which opens the wonders of the future scene-
My joyful soul like his may rest in hope,
And on the eternal "Rock of Ages" lean.
The Durham Cave.
BY CHARLES EAUBACH, DURHAM, PA.
(Plumstead Meeting, April 21, 1886.)
The Durham Cave is located about 200 feet east of the Dur-
ham furnace and a little north of the Durham creek, quite near
where the creek empties into the Delaware River.
Before the Durham furnaces were erected on the present
site in 1848-9 and before the cave was to some extent destroyed
by Joseph Whitaker & Co., it had a total length of about
three hundred feet, an average height of twelve feet and a
breadth varying from ten to forty feet. The floor of the cave
had a steep incline to the southwest, and the descent was slip-
pery as we penetrated the interior. Its rough walls were adorned
with stalactites, and numbers of these were broken off and
appropriated by curiosity seekers. The cave in its natural state
was divided into three compartments or levels ; each
was reached by descending an incline of about 10 feet. Much
of the bottom of the third compartment or level, was covered
with water, the level of which was influenced by that of the
Delaware river. Some distance from the steep incline of the
second level there was a narrow lateral cavern, terminating in
the form of the letter T. The general direction of the main
gallery was southwest, and that of the lateral cavern trended
towards the east for a distance of at least seventy feet. An-
other narrow passage, also on the east side of the main cavern,
led off to a dark and gloomy room, about eight by twelve feet,
which was called, in olden time, "Queen Ester's drawing-room,"
after a half-breed Indian woman of that name. Prof. H. D.
DURHAM CAVE.
The open foreground indicates the area formerly occupied by large chambers which were blasted
away. The original entrance was somewhat nearer the observer than the extreme
front of the foreground. (From photograph by H. C. Mercer in 1S96).
THE DURHAM CAVE 295
Rodgers in "The First Geological Survey of Pa.," page 99,
says of this cave.
"Between the furnace and Durham creek the limestone formation ex-
hibits a regular anticlinical flexure. This is the locality of the well-
known Durham Cave, remarkable for the mammaHan bones which were
discovered in it, and which I shall hereafter allude to when enumerating
the fossil remains of our bone-bearing caverns* The cave is situated
on the north side or steeper flank of the anticlinical arch, which will
be found, I think, to be the prevailing position of these limestone caverns
in the valleys of the Appalachian chain."
Some fev^ of these fossil bones are still in existence,
but the majority fell into the hands of parties who, tiring of
them, either disposed of them, or, as in many instances, they
got mixed with rubbish and consequently went into the refuse
pile. During the summer of 1856, when Whitaker & Co. were
quarrying the limestone rock (dolomite) of which the cave is
composed, and using it for flux in the furnace and also for
agricultural purposes, they found numerous fossil bones, but
no account was made of them. However, on one occasion Wil-
liam Walters, of Riegelsville, being present when a blast was
put off had his attention called to a fossil animal imbedded
in the solid limestone rock. We will attempt to describe the
position of the animal in Mr. Walter's own language as near-
ly as we can. He says he examined it closely, but could not
determine whether it was a deer or some other animal, although
he thought that it resembled a deer. The whole animal was firmly
imbedded in the rock in a standing position (the bony skeleton)
without any part seemingly missing. The distance from the
face of the rock to where the fossil bones were imbedded was
about ten feet. No doubt the animal, when living, followed a
fissure in the rock, became unable to extricate itself, and dying
in that position became covered by the dripping limestone water
and thus in time solidified by the deposition of stalagmite.
Caverns like the Durham cave were often the abode of primitive
man, who may have placed the animal in the cavern, where
from neglect, or some other cause, it became covered with stal-
agmite and was at length brought to light in the manner speci-
fied. The region around the cave aboimds in Indian relics,
and some of the finest specimens extant in the country have been
* Prof. Rodgers failed to make any further reference to these mammalian bones.
296 THE DURHAM CAVE;
gathered from the adjacent plain and the cave in times past.
Several stone mortars, nvmierous pestles, stone knives, arrow-
heads, pottery, etc., have been picked up from time to time by the
writer.
Primitive man no doubt roamed this valley and plain and may
have used the cavern as his abode. Numerous animal bones
and places where fires had been built were to be found in the
cave in olden times, which show that the cavern served as a
shelter and abode for these pre-historic tribes.
The cave remained in its pristine condition until 1856 when
Whitaker & Co. commenced work on the anticlinical breast, and
after demolishing the first compartment or incline turned their
attention to a lateral cavern situated some thirty yards east of
the main cavern. Here they followed along the trend, com-
pletely isolating the cavern from the remaining portion of the
Inll. Consequently the cavern became an easy prey to further
destruction. Some years later another attack upon the second
compartment or level was made which resulted in the destruc-
tion of this and a portion of the third incline. During the
demolition many fossil bones were discovered in the hardened
stalagmite, such as clifil: swallow (hirundo lunifrous), brown
bat (scotophilus fuscus), common mole (scalops aquaticus), and
others not determined, very few of which have been preserved.
In olden times the cavern was visited by numerous tourists,
scientists and curiosity seekers, the names of some being cut or
chiseled on the smooth rock near the entrance to the cave, all
of which has passed into oblivion. The cavern was known
for miles around by the sobriquet, "Devil's Hole," and many
a giddy boy was brought to terms by being told by his precep-
tor that he would be imprisoned in the gloomy den in company
with his "Satanic Majesty." Good housewives, in olden times,
firmly believed that many of the ills that befell the community
might, with truth, be attributed to the proximity of this cavern
(Devil's Hole) and to the Witches' Head (Hexenkopf) situated
in Williams township, Northampton county, Pa.
Especially did they attribute to this cause the following visi-
tations : If it happened that their spouse remained out late at
night and came home under the influence of bad whiskey ; when
the cows gave bad milk, and were otherwise unrulv ; when it
OBJECT OF A LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY 297
happened to go wrong with the match of a favorite daughter ;
when crops failed, etc.
In olden times immediately east of the cavern was an open
slope or incline towards the Delaware river ; on this sunny bank
was built, by Robert Durham, the first Durham boat. The pre-
cise date of the building of the boat is somewhat uncertain, but
it certainly was before 1750. The Indians inhabiting the vicinity
of Durham at the time were under the chieftaincy of Ka-hovv-
watchy, and the village or Indian town was called Pechoquelon.
Note — During the summer of 1S93 HenryC. Mercer made some interesting explorations
of the Durham Cave. See " Researches upon the Antiquity of Man," published by Ginn &
Co. in 1897, pages 149 et. seq. The earliest mention of the Durham Cave is found on
Schull's " Map of the Province of Pennsylvania, published in 1770. The earliest recorded
description appears to be that of Mr. Wilson, who made two visits there August 5 and
October 12, 1S02. See Hard's Register, Vol. I, page 132. See also Historical Collections by
Sherman Day, page 151. B. F. F., Jr.
The Object of a Local Historical Society.
BY HENRY C. MICHENER, PHILADELrHIA, PA.
(Plumstead Meeting, April 21, 1SS5).
A famous English writer says : "The true historian must
see ordinary men as they appear in their ordinary business and
in their ordinary pleasures. He must obtain admittance to
the convivial table and the domestic hearth. He must bear with
vulgar expressions. He must not shrink from exploring even
the retreats of misery. He considers no anecdote, no peculiar-
ity of manner, no familiar saying, as too insignificant to illus-
trate the operation of laws, of religion and of education, and
to mark the progress of the human mind. Men will not merely
be described, but will be made intimately known to us."
This extract suggests to us some of the aims, purposes and
objects of a local historical society, and points out the appro-
j;riate field of its operations.
To those who regard history as a mere recital of fierce en-
counters betw^een men at arms, an idea which ran through all
the old histories before the modern school represented by Mac-
auley, Froude, Green, Motley, Bancroft and Prescott, a local
field like the county of Bucks is exceedingly barren and unprom-
ising. But to those whose vision extends to a farther horizon
298 OBJIJCT OF A LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIE^TY
who can discover a contribution to the grand total of our knowl-
edge O'f the past in anything, and everything, that throws a
backward ray upon the habits, customs, pursuits, appearance
conduct and amusements of the people who gathered here from
the ends of the earth in former years, there is abundant ma-
terial near at hand to construct a narrative which a century
hence may be priceless.
Much has been said and written from time tO' time concern-
ing the heroic period of our history, our age of iron and of
oak — the Revolutionary era. The houses where the generals
stopped from time to time are almost as well known as the
habitation of our neighbors, and the track of the Revolutionary
army has been repeatedly traced across our territory. Little
remains to be done to locate the places associated with the
events of that day. The Revolutionary age has occupied so
large a place in our annals that the chief interest in our past
begins and ends with it. It overshadows and dwarfs the entire
century which preceded it. Thousands of men and women
were born, lived the allotted span, died and were buried in these
hillsides long before the struggle with England began. These
people had their peculiar pursuits, callings, modes of life, dr^ess
and language, and extracted as much out of life from the op-
portunities afforded as any of us. In many respects, from
sources of information which it is the business of a local his-
torical society to collect and preserve, it is possible to photo-
graph these people to show what garb they wore, what their
clothing cost, what they ate, how they traveled, what their
wealth consisted of, the utensils of neld, shop and kitchen, the
furniture in use, the cost of living and to exhibit all the lead-
ing, and most of the minute, features of the colonial life in
Bucks county for ninety years before the Revolution. The
elements out of which this vivid picture of old life is .to be
constructed are in existence, but perhaps not immediately acces-
sible. They are scattered about in old attics, lumber rooms,
and dust-covered receptacles. It is one of the functions of a
local society to gather together these mute witnesses, to digest
the information they contain, and hand it down to our succes-
sors. Old account books show the rate of wages, the prices
of articles bought and sold. Inventories exhibit the names of
OBJECT OP A LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIE^TY 299
articles of personal property and their value as fixed by sworn
appraisers. Ancient store books set forth the merchandise in
common use, and all have a direct and positive value in aiding
us to form just and accurate conceptions of the old modes of
living.
Robert Archibald, a merchant who died in Bristol in 1734,
had in stock at the time of his death, shalloon, silk handker-
chiefs, leather ink-horns, brass buttons, brass finger rings, horn
combs, sealing wax, shoe buckles, mohair, fans, flints, tobacco
pipes, tankards and punch bowls, porringers, gunpowder. An-
other store stock, that of Charles Brown, a resident of Make-
field in 1748, shows that there was a demand then for snuff
boxes, ink cases, silver studs, red ink powder, quills, irons for
making rope, and tooth pullers. In all other sources of infor-
mation were cut ofi:, and all traditions destroyed, these old pap-
ers would suggest enough to frame a truthful minute and
graphic narrative of the social condition O'f colonial Bucks.
The furniture in the old houses is recorded, and the rooms in
which the articles were located, giving us an inkling of domes-
tic habits. Thus in prodding about in these begrimed and
dust-laden remains I find that bee culture was a common pur-
suit. Swarms of bees are often named among the humble
possessions of these primitive folk. Oxen were very much
more frequently used in the past era than now. In our day
a yoke for farm purposes is a novelty. Many young persons
have never seen a yoke of oxen pursuing their melancholy and
â– deliberate journey. In the census of 1S80 only two working
oxen owned on farms are credited to Bucks county. Sleighs
were an infrequent luxury. Iron-bound wagons were in use
m 1744, but it is a rather rare item. Among the curious reve-
lations which the inspection of these records brings to light is
negro slavery. The fanciful names given to the old house-
hold slaves are novel features of the old life. Thomas Biles,
who died in 1733, in Falls, left among his earthly effects a
negro called "London," worth $500, and a negro girl whom
he called "Parthenia, worth $625. John Burch, another Bris-
tol merchant of 1740, was the happy possessor of five volumes
of the "Spectator," a set of leather chairs, a negro man named
"Boy," one named "Bridge." and another named "Squash."
300 OBJECT OF A LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Elizabeth Bagley, also a resident of Bristol, who departed in
1729, left as a portion of her estate a negro woman and a book
called the "New England Fire Brand." Silver watches were
Quite common, but no gold ones ; prayer books occasionally ap-
pear as a reminder that there were among the first comers some
members of the old Church of England. From the earliest
times nearly everybody seems to have owned a "looking glass,"
or "seeing glass," as it is sometimes called ; nothing is noted
oftener than this minister to human vanity. To see ourselves
as others see us has been the innocent desire of men and women
of every age. A thin streak of worldly pride runs through the
constitution of the wisest and the best.
No better index to the quaint costumes of the departed cen-
tury can be found than almost any of the ancient inventories.
From material contained there the appearance of the colonial
citizen could be sharply pictured, as far as it is possible to
reproduce him merely by the garments he wore. It is sufficient
for illustration to give a single instance. Conrad Leiser died
in Warwick, in 1778. His personal apparel consisted of a
fine hat, a scarlet colored velvet jacket, blue velvet breeches,
and a blue cloth great coat. That he was a soldier of the
Revolution is shown by the item of "a one-half interest of a
wagon, horses and geers, now with the Continental armies, also
pay from the twenty-first of Alay, last." Although the dress
of the Colonists was in the main exceedingly plain and home-
spun, there were occasional exceptions. Parson Lindsey, as
he was called, a clergymian, who died in Bensalem, in 1778,
worth over $20,000 in personal property, a very large estate
in that day, owned among other things a good beaver hat in-
ventoried at $60.
In further illustration of the value of out of the way and
seemingly trivial sources of historical information, the old
browned and mildewed newspaper is not to be despised, par-
ticularly that much neglected department, the advertising col-
umn. These advertisements have much significance because
they come fresh from the people themselves. Thus in some of
the stray numbers of the old Pennsylvania Gazette, of 1752, I
find the quaint advertisements of the ancient Philadelphia inns
where the farmer of a century and a half ago received hospi-
OBJECT OF A LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY 3OI
tality on the market days: "The Square and Compass," "The
Trumpet," "The Wanderer," "The Queen of Hungary," "The
Cross Cut Saw." on Second street. "The Hand Saw" also o-n
Second street near Black Horse alley, "The Bird and Snow,"
"The Mortar and Dove." In the same sheet, under date of
1750, there is an advertisement which exhibits the various ar-
ticles of costume worn in Bucks county : "Ran away from the
subscriber of Falls township a lusty young negro fellow named
Frank. Took with him some clothes, such as a striped jacket
and breeches, white shirts and white stockings, a light-colored
frock coat lined with green, white metal buttons, blue camlet
breeches and a large pair of carved buckles." In the same
paper is a curious account of the robbery of the house of Ben-
jamin Franklin.. The list of goods stolen shows the articles of
apparel among the well-to-do orders of the population of the
period. The articles were "a double neck-lace of gold beads,
a woman's long scarlet cloak with a double cape, a woman's
gown of printed cotton of the sort called brocade point, the
ground dark with large red roses and large red and yellow
flowers, a pair of woman's stays covered with white tabby."
These minute details are commonly recorded as beneath the
dignity of history, yet they frequently throw a broad beam on
the simple facts of former lives and show what our forefathers
and foremothers were about in the humdrum of every-day bus-
iness. The old newspapers reflect, too, the laxity of public
morals in certain directions. Then, as now, inventive genius
was busy working out the ancient seductive problem — that old,
old idea of getting something for nothing. One hundred and
fifty years ago, in plain, plodding-Pennsylvania, it took the
form of the lottery scheme. The principle which is now indirectly
fostered in the church-fair-grab-bag, the prize coffee package,
and the tobacco plug that conceals a gold dollar, then found
expression in the downright out-and-out lottery, managed by
the best men of the vicinage. The old sheets are full of per-
suasive promises of sudden wealth. Many of these schemes
were enterprises to assist in the erection of churches and other
religious objects. In the Pctnisylzvfiia Gctccttc of June 22,
1 75 1, there is an announcement of a lottery for raising four
thousand pounds, $20,000, if expressed in present money, for
302 obje:ct of a local historical society
the building of a church in Trentown as it was then called.
This drawing- was advertised to take place at the house of Na-
thaniel Parker, in Bucks county.
Another field of operations for such a society is the preser-
vation of genealogical data. A record of marriages, deaths
and births should be kept. Without the mandate of the law
such matters would not be reported to the society. It, there-
fore, should be made the duty of some member to preserve this
material from the resources at his command. Marriages and
deaths could be recorded with a near approach to fidelity from
slips regularly taken from the county papers, alphabetically
arranged. The Montgomery society has already taken steps
to this end. The immediate value of such a record would not
be apparent, but the society is working for posterity, and such
a record, if faithfully carried forward, would in- due time be-
come a valuable aid in genealogical investigations. A copy of
all the printed genealogies of Bucks county families should be
deposited in the society's archives, as well as copies of records
of Monthly Meetings, or other records which assist in tracing
ancestry.
A library of the literary remains of deceased Bucks countians
should be begun. In 1859 the Bucks County Intllligknce:r
contained an article in which the principal, perhaps the only,
Bucks county authors previous to 1800 are mentioned. It is
possible that some of these productions may still be in existence.
The first writer mentioned is William Satterthwaith, who wrote
a poem called "The Mysterious Nothing" in 1738. He wrote
an elegy on the death of Judge Langhorne, and a poem "Pru-
dence," and "An Allegory on Life and Futurity." In 1752
Alexander Graydon wrote his "Memoirs of a life passed in
Pennsylvania." He died in 1818. Rev Charles Beatty, a grad-
uate of the famous Log College, wrote a "Journal of a two
months' tour," which is inserted in a life of David Brainard,
published in London in 1769. Joseph Galloway and Judge
Lawrence Growden were old pamphleteers. Dr. James Gregg
wrote a topographical and medical sketch of Bristol in 1804.
Paul Preston of Buckingham, a linguist, wrote a translation of
Boethius' "Consolations of Philosophy" and a poem on the cap-
tivity of the Gilbert family by the Indians in 1780. Dr. John
OBJECT OP A LOCAI^ HISTORICAL SOCIETY 3O3
Watson wrote a valuable history of Buckingham and Solebury,
published in 1826 in the memoirs of the Pennsylvania Histori-
cal Society. Copies or reprints of these works, together with
the productions of future writers, are the legitimate spoils of
the society, together with the short historical sketches written
from time to time by its members. Engravings of celebrated
buildings, possessing historical associations, must not be neg-
lected, and the portraits of deceased Bucks countians, eminent
for greatness or goodness, should be forthcoming. The mark-
mg of historic spots by tablet, or monument, falls within the
scope of the society's activities. The several headquarters of
the commanders of the Revolutionary army in Bucks, if stili
standing, should be designated by some appropriate badge.
The site of such as may be demolished should be pointed out
by some monument in all cases where the owner will submit to
this peaceful invasion of his property. A similar memorial at
the place where the army crossed the Delaware before the Tren-
ton fight would fitly keep alive the associations of the spot.
No community with any pretensions to intelligence will neg-
lect the materials of its history. Every scrap of information
which adds in the slightest degree to the sum of our knowledge
of former times is worth preserving. A man with a keen scent
for historical data, if turned loose to-day in many an attic in
Plumstead, would exhume enough to keep him busy for a long-
time. It is this attention to what the old school of historian
regarded as trifles light as air, which constitutes the charm of
Froude, Macauley, and Green. They have much to say about
the great crisis in the fate of England, but they do not omit to
tell us all they know about the people of England in every re-
lation. We talk with them, sup with them, work with them in
the fields and with them dash over the moors with the hounds.
We go down to London and see it as the Londoner of old-
time hirnself saw it — with its streets unlighted, the water dashing
on the passenger from the house-tops. We hear the night
watch calling the hour. We wade to the knees in the mud of
the streets and hear the carter swearing at the tugging horses.
The popular historian of our day is the chronicler of the little
things which make up the complex thmg we call society at any
given period. These trivial matters were mere dust in the bal-
304 OBJECT OF A LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ance before history became a science. Under the wizard touch
of the true historian who knows how to mould his clay, these
insignificant things, formerly passed by as too gross and vulgar
to record, are made chief stones in the fair edifice they have
built to the memory of the departed ages.
It is a matter of congratulation that attentive audiences are
willing to come together frequently in different parts of the
county to listen to historical sketches, to hear all that may be
said upon subjects which appeal only to the veneration felt for
the fading past, out of which we all sprang and into which we
shall sink. Every man who is loyal to his race has some in-
terest in ancestry and the circumstance? which surrounded their
lives. We all in some degree feel the historic sense and own
the spell which links us to other days. The noblest spirits
have acknowledged this feeling. Thousands of our ancestors
lived their allotment of years, did nothing that made their lives
memorable beyond the daily duty, and then dropped out of
sight. Of this average life of ordinary men and women in for-
mer times little is said in the books. It is possible to read many
pages of history, as it was once written, and still know little
of what we most desire to know of those who have gone before.
Much is said about certain great names thrown to the surface
of affairs in political convulsions, but of the people themselves,
of the vast masses of the common people, of their joys and sor-
rows, their pleasure and pain, their work and play, how meagre,
crude and inadequate is the story?
"How small of all that human hearts endure
That part which kings or laws can cause or cure."
It is the province of these local societies to go down to these
details of ancestral life which have formed the back-ground to
the great events which all men know, to levy contributions
upon every source of information, so that it may be possible
to reproduce the old ways, habits, manners and tone- of life
contrast it with the average levels of our own day, and deter-
mine how far we have journeyed on the road to the regained
Eden.
Plumstead Township.
BY GENERAL W. \V. H. DAVIS, DOVLESTOWN, PA.
(Plumstead Meeting, April 21, 1SS5).
Plumstead was settled nearly a century and three-quarters
ago. English Friends were the first to push their way up through
Buckingham and Solebury into this, then wilderness, country ;
the advanced pickets in the tidal wave of civilization that swept
upward from the Delaware. The Friends afterward encounter-
ed the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and the Germans in this
region of valley and plain and winding creeks, and with what
result is known to you all.
Land was taken up in Plumstead soon after Wm. Penn came
to Pennsylvania. A grant of 2,500 acres was made to Francis
Plumstead, an "iron-monger of London," and after whom the
township was named, in 1683. Of this grant, 1,000 acres were
surveyed to him in January, 1704. He never came to America,
but sold his land to Richard Hill, a merchant of Philadelphia.
Five hundred acres were confirmed to Henry Child, in 1705.
and he owned about 1,000 acres in all. Arthur Cooke, who
probably gave the name to Cook's run, received a patent for
2,000 acres in 1686, which lay, in part, on the Dublin road.
He died in 1699, when his widow% Margaret, and son John,
sold 1,000 acres to Clement and Thomas Dungan, recent set-
tlers in the township.* Some of this tract passed into the pos-
session of Christopher Day, (who died in 1748) John Dyer,
and others. The widow Musgrave or IMusgrove,- Joseph Paul
and Elizabeth Sand, wer.e landowners, and probably settlers, as
early as 1704. Thomas Brown was one of the earliest settlers
in the southeast corner of the township, who located in the
woods about Dyerstown, as early as 1712, if not earlier. He
' This is an error, Arthur Cooke was a large landowner in Bucks countj', but never
owned a foot of land in Plumstead. The i,ooo acres sold to the Dungans were laid out in
Southampton Township ; and the 50 acres conveyed to Christopher Day by Clement and
William Dungan were erroneously said to be in Warminster ; which was given as the
residence ot Day, when, in 1719, he purchased 350 accres of Cephas Child in Plumstead .
part of the 1,000 acres above referred to as patented to Henry Child.
- The Musgrove tract was in Buckingham along the Plumstead line, and Joseph
Paul was a purchaser in the Hill tract, but not a settler. Warren S. Ely.
306 PLUMSTEAD TOWNSHIP
came from Essex county, England, lived a few years in Phil-
adelphia, but spent the remainder of his life in Plumstead. His
son Thomas, born in England, in 1696, became a minister
among Friends, and married Elizabeth Davison, in 1720. Their
declaration of marriage was the first made in Buckingham
Quarterly Meeting. The first to encroach upon the solitude of
Thomas Brown was John Dyer, also a minister among Friends.
He came with his family from Gloucestershire, England, about
1 71 2. He tarried a while in Philadelphia, then pushed out into
the almost wilderness country of Bucks county, and in 1718
we find him the owner of 150 acres of the Cephas Child tract,
including what was known so many years as the "Dyer mill
property," at Dyerstown. He purchased a portion O'f the
Richard Hill tract, and later part of the Child tract, adjoining
on the southwest. John Dyer was one of the most
useful settlers in Plumstead, and should be remembered
with gratitude. He built the first mill in the township,
about 1722, which was one of the first in middle Bucks,
with money borrowed from Abraham Chapman, of Wrights-
town, on or near the site of the present Dyerstown mill. It
was mainly through his efforts that the Easton road was open-
ed from the county line to his mill, and for many years it was
known as "Dyers mill road." He died in 1738, and was bur-
ied in the yard belonging to the Plumstead meeting-house. It
is recorded that when John Dyer came into the township, wild
animals were plenty, the Indians numerous, but friendly, and
the beavers built their dams across Pine run. William Mich-
ener, one of the ancestors of those bearing the name in the
township, and of many without, settled here in 1725, and was
the owner of 400 acres. On an old draft of the township, drawn
in 1724, are marked the following landowners, although some
of them may not have been inhabitants : Christopher Day, Henry-
Child, John Dyer, Richard Hill, Abraham Hayter, Silas Mac-
Carty, Wm. Michener, John Earl, James Shaw, James Brown,
Henry Paul, Samuel Barker, Thomas Brown, Jr., Richard Lun-
dy and Henry Large. The time of the coming of some of these
settlers into the township is not known.
I have already spo^ken of the Child family, (not "Childs''
as spelled at present) as being amiong the earliest comers. Hen-
PLUMSTEAD TOWNSHIP 307
ry, the first of the name, was a Friend, and at one time a mem-
ber of Arch street meeting, and later, settled in Anne Arundel
county, Maryland, but never located in Plumstead. His son,
Cephas, to whom the Plumstead land was conveyed by his
father, settled in Warminster, before he came to Plumstead, but
the date of neither settlement is known. He was a member of As-
sembly in 1747-48. Among his descendants was the late Col.
Cephas Grier Childs, of Philadelphia, whose mother was the
widow of Major William Kennedy, who was killed at the capture
of Moses Doane, in 1783. Col. Childs was an engraver of repute,
and a man widely known and respected.
An effort to organize a township from the territory now-
called Plumstead was made as early as 171 5, but it did not
succeed. The settlers north of Buckingham petitioned the Court
to lay it oft", and on June 17th, that year a survey of the pro-
posed township was ordered to be filed. It was to be called
bv the name it now bears, and the area about 14,000 acres.
Whv the prayer of the -petitioners was not then granted we
know not. In March, 1725, twenty of the inhabitants of this
district, among whom we find the names of Brown, Shaw, Lun-
dy. Large, Michener, Dyer, Day, and others, petitioned the
Quarter Sessions to lay off ''a certain quantity or parcel of land
to be created into the form of a township," the boundaries of
which were to begin at the upper-most corner of Buckingham,
at the corner of Richard Day's land.'' This embraced what
is now Plumstead and Bedminster. We have not been able to
find the survey, but it was probably returned at the June term,
1725. The present area of the township is 12,800 acres. The
Plumstead of 1725 embraced what is now this township and
Bedminster until 1742, when the latter was organized, with an
area of 16,058 acres. All the surrounding townships, except
Haycock, were organized prior to Bedminster.
Other well-known names belonged to early settlers in the
township. The Carlisles and Penningtons were here some time
before the middle of the last century ; and John Carlisle and
Sarah Penningto^i were married in Plumstead meeting-house,
July 5th, 1757. The AicCallas were in Plumstead by the mid-
dle of the century and probably before, the first ancestor. Wil-
liam, being an immigrant from Scotland ; and his son Andrew.
308 PLUMSTEAD TOWNSHIP
born the 6th of November, 1757, settled in Kentucky. One of
his sons, the Rev. WilHam Latta McCalla, a distinguished Pres-
byterian clergyman, was General Jackson's chaplain in the Sem-
inole war, and another, John Moore McCalla, was adjutant gen-
eral of the American forces at the massacre of the river Raisin.
The Hinkles, two brothers, Philip and Joseph, from Germany,
first settled near Germantown, whence the former came to
Plumstead and the latter migrated to North Carolina. Both
were soldiers in the Revolutionary war.
Probably the most distinguished native born inhabitant of
Plumstead was the late Charles Huston, judge of the Supreme
Court of Pennsylvania. He was born in 1771. His grand-
father came from Scotland, but at what time he settled in Plum-
stead 1 am not informed. Charles Huston probably finished
his education at Dickinson College, and was an accomplished
scholar. He was professor of Latin and Greek there in 1792,
and had the late Chief Justice Taney as a scholar. The latter
in his autobiography, makes very complimentary mention of his
old teacher. Judge Huston was commissioned to the Su-
preme Court in 1826; retired from the bench in 1845, ^"d died
in 1849. He was admitted to the bar in 1795, and settled in
Lycoming county. John Ellicott Carver, also a native of Plum-
stead, born in 1809, and died in 1859, achieved quite a dis-
tinguished reputation as an architect. He was one of the pio-
neers, in this profession, in Philadelphia. He learned the trade
of a wheelwright at Doylestown, and when out of his time went
to the city, where he took up the business of carpenter and join-
er, and then stair-building. He now commenced a course of
study and fitted himself for the higher walks of his life profes-
sion. His death closed a useful and honorable career. He is.
another example of what energy and study will accomplish, and
every boy in Plumstead, whatever may be his tastes, should pat-
tern after him. Another family of this township settled
here at an early day, achieved a wide reputation, but, with some-
of the members, was not as enviable as the character of the two
persons last named. I refer to the Doans. They came from
Massachusetts; Israel being here as early as 1726. The home-
stead is now owned by Jacob Hagerty. The fathers were
reputable men and good citizens, but several of the sons became
PLUM STEAD TOWNSHIP 309
notorious in the Revolutionary war as Tories and marauders,
and those who were not killed or hanged fled the country to
Canada. Their place of rendezvous was in a wild, secluded
spot on the south bank of the Tohickon creek, two miles above
Point Pleasant. Here Moses was shot by Gibson, in 1783, be-
cause "dead men tell no tales." It is related that at his sorrow-
ful funeral, the little dog of the dead Doan came forward and
looked down into the grave, after the coffin had been lowered,
as if bidding a last farewell to his master. When Abraham and
Mahlon Doan were hanged in Philadelphia, their father went
alone to town and had their bodies brought up in a cart, he
walking all the way alongside it. They were buried from a
house that stood near Nathan Fretz's dwelling, in the woods
opposite this meeting-house. When Joseph Doan returned to
this country from Canada, about fifty years ago, he related that
he escaped from the Newtown jail by unlocking the door with
a key he made, and then scaled the yard wall. After the lapse
of a century, how readily we call to mind the anguish these er-
ring children gave to parents who loved them in spite of all
their faults. If the whole truth could be told, we believe there
would be many extenuating circumstances, and things we know
not of may have driven them to take up arms against their coun-
try. Some, who have investigated their history, have come to
the conclusion they were almost as much "sinned against as
sinning" at the beginning of their career.
Plumstead and the neighboring townships of Hilltown, Bed-
minster, and Tinicum have sent a number of emigrants to
Canada, within the last century. The movement began in 1786,
when several families left for that country. They were fol-
lowed in 1799 and 1800 by others, and by still others at dif-
ferent periods down through the century. They generally set-
tled in Lincoln county, near Lake Ontario, twenty miles from
Niagara Falls, but their descendants are much scattered. They
are thrifty and well-to-do, and are mostly Mennonites. Fre-
quent visits are made between them and relatives in Bucks
county. Among the names of these self-expatriated Bucks
countians we find Kulp. Albright, Hahn, Moyer, Hunsberger,
Kratz, Fretz, Wismer, High, Angeny, Gross and others well
k-nown.
^lO PLUMSTEAD TOWNSHIP
The earlier settlers of Plumstead turned their attention to the
opening of roads, without any great delay. In 1723 the Easton
road, probably the first, was extended from the Montgomery
â– county line to Dyer's mill^ ^nd about 1726 the Durham road
was opened from Gardenville down to Centerville, Buckingham,
township, where it met the section already opened up from
Bristol. In 1729 the Easton road was extended to the upper
.side of the township, and now a continuous traveled route to
Philadelphia was opened. In 1741 a road was laid out from
the Easton road, above Danborough to Centerville, coming out
on the turnpike within half a mile of that place, and is now
called the Street road. The Ferry road was laid out in 1738;
the roads to Point Pleasant and Lower Black's Eddy, the same
3^ear, and to Kraut's mill, on Deep Run, in 1750. These and
other roads shortly opened, gave the inhabitants ready access to
-all the settled parts of Plumstead and adjoining townships. It
must be remembered there was little use for fixed highways be-
fore wheeled carriages made their appearance, which were a
little delayed at that early day, but they soon followed the set-
tiers.
The Friends being the earliest settlers in Plumstead, their
place of religious worship was the first in the township. We
have a tradition that the first meeting of Friends at private
houses was held in the winter of 1727. The 2d of October, 1728,
they asked to have a meeting for worship every other First
â– day; it was granted and held at the house of Thomas
Brown. The first meeting-house was ordered to be erected in
1729. and the location was fixed near this spot by the previous
â– opening of a grave-yard. It was built in 1730, of logs, on fif-
teen acres, the gift of Thomas Brown and his two sons. Thomas
and Alexander. The site was selected by a committee appointed
by the Monthly Meeting of Buckingham and Wrightstown, on
which were Cephas Child and John Dyer, of Plumstead. The
trustees, mentioned in the deed, were Richard Lundy, Jr..
Willian Michener, Josiah and Joseph Dyer. The log house was
replaced by a stone one in 1752, which was partly rebuilt in
1876. During the Revolutionary war the meeting-house was
used for a hospital, and I am told blood stains were to be seen
n.mtil the new floor was laid. Judge Huston, when a boy, went
PLUMSTe:aD TOWNSHIP 3II
to school in the old meeting-house ; his father, Capt, Thomas
Huston, at the time, keeping the tavern at Gardenville.
About the same time, 1730, a Scotch-Irish congregation was
organized in the township, and a log church built. It stood on
the farm of Andrew Shaddinger, at the intersection of the
river and Durham roads, two miles from Smith's corner. It.'-
history is wrapped in a good deal of doubt. The congregation
was probably an offshoot of Deep Run, by reason of some
doctrinal disagreement ; it is spoken of by that name, and be-
longed to the New Brunswick Presbytery. The names of but
two of the pastors have come down to us. Hugh Carlisle, who
preached there and at Newtown, in 1735 and left in 1738, and
Alexander Mitchell. The latter was born in 1731, graduated
at Princeton, in 1765, and was ordained in 1768. It is not
known at what time he became pastor, but he left in 17S5, for
the Octoraro and Doe Run churches, in Chester county, where
he preached until 1808. He did two good deeds while in the
latter pastorate, introduced stoves and Watts' psalms and hymns
into his churches, each an aid to comfortable worship. The
next oldest place of worship in Plumstead is the Mennonite
meeting-house, on the Black's Eddy road a mile southwest of
Hinkletown, built in 1806, on an acre and a half given by
Henry Wismer and wife. It is a branch of the Deep Run con-
gregation, and its pulpit is supplied from that meeting, Doyles-
lown and New Britain.
Among the remains of the past is an old grave-yard, on the
Swamp road a mile above Cross Keys, in the corner of the
350-acre tract that Christopher Day bought of Cephas Child in
1719. By his will, proved March 25, 1748, he gave "ten
perches square for a grave-yard forever." It is now in ruins
and bushes and brambles flourish among the graves of Plumstead's
"rude forefathers." The donor of the land was the first to be
buried there, "March ye 6th, 1748."' Only four other stones
give the names of the occupants of the graves ; C. Day, who
died in 1763, probably a son of the first mentioned, J. Morlen,
1749-50. Abraham Fried, December 21, 1772. and William
Daves, February 22, 181 5, a black man, aged 58. A tradition is
handed down, that the early Welsh Baptists, of New Britain,
312 PLUM STEAD TOWNSHIP
buried their dead in this grave-yard until they organized a
church of their own.
Like other townships. Plumstead was the home of Indians be-
fore Europeans came. They welcomed the settlers, and con-
tinued friendly. They remained longer in this township than
in most of the other parts of the county, and their locations can
be traced by Indian remains. There was probably a collection of
lodges near Curly Hill, where arrow-heads, bottle-green, blue
and white, have been found within the past fifty years. They
are two or three inches long, narrow, sharp, and well-shaped,
and appear to have been made by a people somewhat advanced
in the arts. Indian axes of hard stone, well finished, have been
picked up there, and also articles in stone which look as if used
in cooking. There is a tradition, that a village was located near
the head-waters of the southeast branch of Deep Run, which re-
mained there long after the township was settled by the whites.
They went to the Neshaminy to catch fish, then abundant in that
stream, and paid frequent visits to the houses of the settlers
on baking day, and were regaled with pies, cakes, etc., to
conciliate their good-will.
In its early days, Plumstead did not compare favorably with
many other townships, in point of fertility. There was much
poor land, and some hardly paid for the cultivation; but within
the last fifty years a great change has taken place. The use of
lime and other fertilizers has converted the barren plains into
fruitful fields. What was once known as "Poor Plumstead"
is now one of the richest townships in the county. It has steadily
grown in population. The earliest enumeration of the in-
habitants that we have seen was that of 1746. when the num-
ber was set down at 130. It is possible these figures stand for
taxables, for we find the number had grown to 953 in 1784 of
which seven were colored, and there were 160 dwellings. We
are not^able to give the census of 1790 and 1800, but have the
population of each decade from 1810 to the present time.
In 1820, it was 1,790; in 1850, 2,298; in 1870, 2,617. and 2,537
in 1880. In some of the decades a slight decrease is shown,
but that may arise from errors in taking the census.
Plumstead belongs to that group of townships which, settled
by English-speaking people, have become pretty well Germaniz-
I'LUMSTEAD TOWNSHIP 3I3
ed. Among these are Durham, Nockamixon, Tinicum, Hill-
town, New Britain and others. Fifty years ago the Germans in
Plumstead were largely in the minority, now they predominate,
and are increasing yearly. It may be said this increase is going
on in nearly every township in the county. The Germans have
been exceedingly aggressive since they settled in Bucks. Seat-
ing themselves in the extreme northwest corner of the county,
they have overrun the upper townships, and in some of them
have nearly rooted out the descendants of the English race.
Like their ancestors, which swept down from the North on to
the fair plains of Italy, they have been coming down county for
a century and a half with a slow, but steady tread. They are
now found in every township below Doylestown, and there is
hardly a community in which the language of Luther is not
spoken and German ballots voted. Where this advancing Ten-
tonic column is to halt is a question to be answered in the future.
They seem to be in a fair way to root out all others who have
not the same strong attachment to the soil. As citizens they
are not excelled by any nationality.
Durham Cave — Reminiscences.
BY MARTIN CORYELL, LAMBERTVILLE, N. J.
(Durham Cave Meetiiis. July 28, 1885).
It affords me great pleasure to be present at a meeting of
the Bucks County Historical Society, in historical old Durham,
and to visit again the Durham Cave or "Devil's Hole," as it was
often called. It brings to my recollection many pleasant mem-
ories.
Michael Fackenthal, Sr., (born 1756; died 1846) and my
father, Lewis S. Coryell were intimate friends, and were fre-
quently together politically and on business connected with the
Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal. This was about
the years of 1825-32 — the days of Gen. Jackson's candidacy, as
I remember.
About 1836-38 Col. Simpson Torbet was engineer of the
White Water canal m Indiana, and I was his assistant. We
found that many of the settlers of the White Water valley were
from the banks of the Delaware river," either Pennsylvania or
New Jersey, which naturally drew us together. One of our
boarding houses was kept by John Godley, who, with an older
brother, left their home at Godley's Mills, then called Helltown,
some 8 miles from Durham, in New Jersey, and purchased a
half section of farm land on the state line of Ohio and Indiana
near the town of Harrison. He told us much about the "Devil's
Hole," and what a place of resort it was for the young people
who came for miles around on horse back, mostly on Sundays.
There was a story current that when John Godley, as a stranger,
was introduced to the young people at a ball it was as "John
Godley, from Helltown, New Jersey, and near the Devil's Hole,
Bucks county, Penna."
Another stopping place of kindly welcome was with Allan
Backhouse, near the village of Trenton. He was the seventh
son of the man who last had charge of the Durham Furnace
under the original proprietors, and under whose management
the mines and furnace were stopped. It was with him that
Samuel D. Ingham was placed to acquire the Pennsylvania
DURHAM CAVE.
Showing seats and platform, as arranged for meeting of the Bucks County Historical
Society, July 28, 1885. The stairs lead up to " Queen Esther's Drawing-
Room." The American Institute of Mining Engineers
held a session in this cave May 20, 1886, using the
same seats and platform.
DURHAM cave; — REMINISCENCES 3 1 5
German language and a business training. Allan Backhouse
left this furnace when young and had only a general remem-
brance of the place. He owned a good farm and was a thrifty,
successful farmer, an excellent judge of horses and cattle, and
I might also say, of men. tie was respected throughout the
country wherever known, by his admitted powers as the seventh
son, and by his many kind and generous acts, and his refusal
to take money or pay for favors done.
In 1840 I had charge of the Delaware Division of the Penn-
sylvania Canal, as the assistant of William K. Huffnagle, and
in passing through Durham, my father directed me to pay my
respects to Mr. Fackenthal (great-grandfather of B. F. Fack-
enthal, Jr.), then in the 85th year of his age. I found him to
be sufifering with his limbs, and confined to the house, and I
only saw him a few times. Whilst I was on the canal I made
several visits to the cave to show it to friends, procuring can-
dles from John S. Johnson and Mr. Tinsman, who then lived
near the entrance of the cave. (The house was pointed out to
the society). At one time Esq. Daniel Poor accompanied me
up the line of the canal. We spent the night with Brice Pursel,
son-in-law of Esq. Poor. On our return Esq. Poor expressed
a desire in passing to see the cave. I procured matches and
candles and we entered, approaching what is now so appropri-
ately termed "Queen Esther's Chamber." A large flock of
sheep had taken possession of its cool and dark recess, appre-
ciating its freedom from flies and gnats, became frightened at
our approach, and with an unearthly smothered bleat came pre-
cipitately jumping O'ff the elevated floor of "Queen Es-
ther's Chamber," striking Esq. Poor and myself about the head
and shoulders, prostrating us on the dirty, stony floor, putting
out our lights and leaving our clothes in no very cleanly plight.
We relighted our candles and proceeded in further examination,
and found ourselves in a small dark chamber with something
attached to the roof. Esq. Poor was inquisitive and applied
the flame of the candle to the object which proved to be a bat;
when its wings, feet, head and coating were severely singed,
it uttered a piercing cry and with about a hundred others came
swarming about him, putting out his light, completely astound-
ing him and making him somewhat distrustful.
3l6 EDUCATION IN DURHAM TOWNSHIP
We proceeded onward and downward over a rough pathway,
Esq. Poor having a watchful eye on the roof for more bats and
reached the spring of very clear water then termed a "Lake-
let," which was so obscured by the flickering light of our candles
that Esq. Poor walked into the spring over his boot-tops. The
cold water so unexpectedly encountered and his endeavors to get
out quickly, in connection with the rolling stones, caused him
to fall into the water. On the whole Esq. Poor did not consider
it a very great success, and we proceeded on our way home,
stopping at John H. Johnson's hospitable hotel at Monroe where
we partook of some counter irritants which rendered the re-
mainder of the journey very pleasant, but we thought it best,
not so speak in too high praise of the "Devil's Hole" to our
friends at home.
Education in Durham Township.
C. E. HINDENACH. *
(Durham Cave Meeting, July 2S, 18S5),
To write the history of a single school, or of one teacher,
Vv'ould furnish sufificient material for a paper of proper length
on this occasion. How nnperfectly, therefore, can we hope to
succeed in developing the history connected with and clustering
around the schools of the entire township, as well as that of
each individual teacher? We shall endeavor, therefore, to re-
fer only to the more prominent historical facts and avoid go-
ing into details. The character and extent of education in a
community may invariably be regarded as an indication of the
true greatness and moral worth of a people. Though isolated
instances of individual greatness and remarkable mental de-
velopment, like fertile oases in the desert, may loom up here
and there 'midst unfavorable surroundings, yet that elevated
influence which pervades the masses, and which manifests it-
self in every relation of man's existence, is accomplished only
by a liberal system of education enforced by tact and talent.
Durham, with its charming environments, its romantic hills,
* Mr. Hindenach was a member of the Pennsylvania I,egislature. sessions 18S6-7 and
18SS-9.
RUFES SCHOOI. HOUSE, DURHAM TOWNSHIP.
Built in 1861 to replace a log school house built in 1802.
(From photograph taken September, 1908.)
*^^%
MONROE SCHOOIv HOUSE, DURHAM TOWNSHIP.
Built in 1865 to replace a frame school house built in 1836.
(From photograph taken September, 1908.)
EDUCATION IN DURHAM TOWNSHIP 317
picturesque landscapes, fertile valleys, celebrated for its Revo-
lutionary heroes, its Indian treaties, its comparative vast min-
eral wealth, its botanical retreats, and its natural cave, in which
this honorable society is convened to-day, has always main-
tained its position in the advanced ranks of education. Even
though it be located within the bounds of that section of the
county branded with the epithet of "Upper End," which to the
minds of many good people, resulting from a lack of a more ex-
tended knowledge of this particular section of the county, means
inferiority, the schools of Durham on the whole have always
compared favorably with those of other districts of the count}-.
Many years prior to the adoption of the common school
system of Pennsylvania, Durham already reaped the benefits of
superior school facilities over those of neighboring districts.
When the eventful struggle for the adoption or rejection of
the proposed common school system came, Durham was not
wanting in citizens who fiercely antagonized it with the avowed
object of its defeat. Notwithstanding the vigorous efforts of
the opposition, the common school system was adopted in 1843
by a decisive vote in Durham township, and the office of the
school-trustees supplanted by that of school directors. The
first school-house in the township, and indeed in this section of
the county, was the "Old Durham Furnace School," built in 1727.
It was a little log house, standing along the east side of the
road leading from Easton to Philadelphia, about 100 yards
north from Durham creek, near the village of Durham, where
the garden of Henry Stover is located at present. The only
teachers of which we have any record were J^mes Backhouse,
who taught the higher mathematics ; John Ross, who afterwards
served as judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; Thom-
as McKeen, afterward president of the Easton National Bank ;
and Richard H. Homer, who taught the school in 1784 at a
â– salary of 7s. 6d. per day. He organized a singing school in
this old log house during the winter of 1789, where the lads and
lasses of the entire neighborhood were want to meet in their
home-spun, to cultivate that most pleasing art. Good singing
in those days consisted mainly in rendering it vigorously, the
time being directed by a powerful beating of the whole arm of
the teacher. The following epitaph, placed on a marble slab
3l8 EDUCATION IN DURHAM TOWNSHIP
at the head of a certain eccentric choir leader, would have
been an expressive one for the subject of our sketch. It reads:
"Stephen and Time at length are even,
Stephen beat Time, and Time beat Stephen."
This house, after serving as the great pioneer school of
northeastern Bucks county, was finally torn down in 1792.
No school, perhaps, in the township has so largely influenced
the farming community, nor has been so instrumental in pre-
paring the masses for the different channels of practical life,
and indeed not a few for more responsible positions, as the
school at Laubach's. This school-house was built in 1802, and
stood on the property now owned by Jacob Rodenbach, near
the dwelling house of S. H. Laubach. The school at the old
Durham furnace having been discontinued, this became the
great educational centre, not only for the township, but a large
number of scholars from New Jersey crossed the Delaware
daily, walking over two miles on the Pennsylvania side to be
benefited by the superior advantages of the then celebrated
school. The first teacher that we have any knowledge of who
taught in this house, was Jacob Lewis, who taught in 1813; Dr.
Drake, who possessed a somewhat scientific turn of mind, in
1815, and Michael Fackenthal, a proficient surveyor. In 1826
after having lost its former popularity, the school was taught by
Josiah N. Stover, to the great amusement of both boys and girls.
They thoroughly appreciated his peculiarities, and huge jokes were
cracked at the expense of the unfortunate master. But woe
to the offender if caught in the act, for the master had a won-
derful predilection for the hickory rod_, and moreover possessed
a wonderful skill in wielding it. On the morning of the last
day of the term the scholars gathered in the school-room,
closed the shutters and pulled the latch-string in. The teacher
on returning took in the situation. He first attempted to fright-
en them into surrender, but without avail. Finally, on promis-
ing to make a general presentation of gifts, the latch-string was
adjusted, the fort surrendered and the teacher gained admis-
sion, greatly to his relief, and young America scoring a victory.
No sooner, however, had he entered the coveted school-room,
than, regardless of pledge and honor, he hastened his steps in
EDUCATION IN DURHAM TOWNSHIP 3 19
the direction of the neighboring bushes, to prepare for a gen-
eral siege. On seeing this the scholars scattered, choosing rather
to forego the luxury of promised gifts, than to endure for a brief
season the ceremony for which the considerate teacher was
making such elaborate preparations. Not a single scholar re-
turned to the school-room. Thus unceremoniously the school
term closed. James Rittenhouse a near relative of the mathe-
matician, taught the school in 1822. and William Stryker in
1833. He received for his compensation $1.50 per scholar for
a term of three months, and as a special inducement was grant-
ed the privilege of '"boarding 'round." It was further stipu-
lated that the patrons furnish the fire wood and keep the school-
house in repair. Mr. Stryker was an iron-clad disciplinarian,
which in those days was considered the prime qualification of
the successful teacher. A set of strict rules were conspicuous-
ly hung in the school-room for the guidance of both teacher and
scholar. The rules were six in number, the last being, "The
rod is for the fool's back." The last seemed to claim special
attention perhaps in coiisequence of its orthodox teachings ; but
the application, and not the orthodox injunction, impressed the
awe-stricken transgressor most sensibly. The old school-house
was torn down in 1845 and the logs sold to John Sloyer, with
which he built a stable.
The first school-house in the Rufe's district built of logs about
1802, was of small dimensions at first, but subsequently enlarged
by having an addition built thereto. The ground necessary
for its erection was donated by Samuel Eichline. In 1861 the
old house was burned down and the present stone building erect-
ed. We have been unable to find a record of many of the teach-
ers who taught this school, as well as any particular history
connected with it. Notwithstanding this fact we are gratified
to note that very able teachers have had charge of the school.
Ex-Senator Dr. Joseph Thomas wielded the baton in this dis-
trict during the period when "boarding 'round" was in vogue;
and in a conversation with me at one time confessed to a certain
inclination he had, in boarding with certain families longer than
their allotted portion of time. The writer taught the school
from 1 875- 1 878, and John A. Ruth is the present teacher.
Mr. Ruth is scientifically inclined, and makes a specialty of bot-
320 EDUCATION IN DURHAM TOWNSHIP
any and archseology, in which he has acquired an enviable pro-
ficiency. Alfred Fackenthal, Esq., began his career as teacher
at this school.
The New Furnace school-house was built in 1853. Among-
the teachers who taught the school are C. W. Fancher, Minnie
Fackenthal, Anna Black, Bernard Magee and Frank Baker.
Mr. Baker was a cranky character and taught the school in
1876. After teaching several months he burned down the house.
For several weeks prior to the fire he seemed over-anxious
to occupy the new school building which was being completed.
On a certain cold day in December, he used the wainscoting and
several desks for fuel and fired the stove to such a degree that
the house caught fire. A regular panic ensued in the school-
room when the fire was discovered. The teacher, seizing his
clock, made a bee line for the door, followed by the awe-strick-
en pupils. They all escaped safely from the burning building, and
collecting in groups, stood gazing on with apparent satis-
faction. School was opened in the new building in February,
1877, by N. S. Rice as principal, at present a practicing phy-
sician, and C. W. Fancher, teacher of the primary department.
Warren S. Long, Esq. was the last principal of the school. Wil-
liam Satterthwaite, a poetical writer, at one time taught the old
Furnace school. Becoming impatient with the trials and vexa-
tions connected with teaching, he composed the following stanza :
" Oh, what a stock of patience needs the fool
Who spends his time and breath in teaching school ;
Taught or untaught, the dunce is still the same,
But yet the wretched master bears the blame."
By far the oldest school building standing at the present
time is the McKeen Long school-house. It is a low stone build-
ing and withal the typical school-house of the fathers. It was
built in 1802, was central in its location, and many of the old-
er residents of the township point with just pride to this old
relic of by-gone days as the place where the foundation of their
future usefulness was laid.
In 1836 the first school-house, a small frame building, was
erected in the Monroe district, at a total cost of $425, the ground
being donated to the district by George Trauger. A more pre-
DURHAM FURNACE SCHOOI, HOUSE. ERECTED IN 1877.
A township graded school. The successor of two school houses, one built in 1853, near
the present furnace, and destroyed by fire in 1877 ; the other called "Durham
Creek School House," built in 1S77, sold to Methodist congregation in
1877, and now used as a dwelling.
(From photograph taken Oct. 10, 1908).
DURHAM CHURCH SCHOOI. HOUSE. ERECTED IN 1S81.
A township graded school. The successor of school houses erected in the immediate
neighborhood of Durham village in 1727-40, 1802 and 1844, the last named still standing
and owned by congregations worshiping in Durham Union Church.
(From photograph taken Oct. 10, 1908).
EDUCATION IN DURHAM TOWNSHIP 32E
tentious building was erected on this site in 1865, and is the one
in use at present. Among the early teachers we find the names
of S. S. Bachman, at present a successful physician of Easton;
John H. Black, L. C. Sheip, now principal of the Doylestown
schools; Dr. John R. Heany, Dr. Bennet N. Bethel, A. M.
Paff, Rev. O. H. I\'Ielchor, Dr. C. D. Fretz, the botanist, and
D. R. Williamson, the last named being one of the most success-
ful teachers that has ever graced the schools of the township. Dur-
ing the period in which he taught the Monroe school, it had the
reputation of being the best in the township, and indeed was
excelled by very few in the county. On one occasion, when the
superintendent visited the school, the teacher was conducting
a recitation in algebra ; after propounding a number of ques-
tions relative to the example last demonstrated, the superin-
tendent was in the act of dismissing the class when the most
youthful looking member said: "Now, Mr. Superintendent,,
if you have no objections, I would like to ask yon a few ques-
tions." The superintendent complying with the request, the
pupil turned his inquiry upon him in the form of pointed ques-
tions, bearing on the different steps of the last example ex-
plained. After enduring the torturing questions for a while
he drew out his watch, and was relieved to find that m order
to visit another school he was obliged to dismiss the class and
leave at once. On leaving, the superintendent said to the teach-
er: "That little white-headed boy wound me up tighter than
I have ever been wound up before." The little boy in question
was none other than the now efficient superintendent of the
Durham Iron Works, B. F. Fackenthal, Jr.
The Durham Church school-house was built in 1844, the
ground being donated by John Knecht, Sr., and the money for
its erection subscribed by the patrons of the district. The school
was opened in 1845 by Jacob Nickum, who taught until 1849.
Mr. Nickum was a man of brilliant attainments, and certainly
deserved the honor of laying the foundation of the future edu-
cational work within those walls. In 1862 Aaron S. Christine
took charge of the school. Mr. Christine was a natural born
teacher, and stood head and shoulders above the teachers of
Durham at that time and maintained his position in the advance
II
222 EDUCATION IN DURHAM TOWNSHIP
ranks as an educator in eastern Pennsylvania. Nature found
in him an enthusiastic admirer. Not a few of the most intelH-
gent citizens of Durham, and of the adjacent township of
Springfield, can testify to a scientific inspiration with which
they were imbued while under his instruction. Such an one,
it would seem to our imperfect understanding, ought to have
an extended number of years wherein to bestow upon mankind
the benefits of his researches, but death claimed him before he
had scarcely reached the meridian of life. Carrie Fackenthal,
who is still vividly remembered by her former pupils, in con-
sequence of the interest and zeal manifested in botany, taught
the school with marked success in 1868 ; and H. S. Cope, a
specialist in penmanship, taught in 1869. In 1881 the old
building was sold to the Durham Cemetery Company, and a
new school-house erected in the southeastern angle of William
S. Long's property. This is indeed a commodious two-story
building, the finest in the township, and compares favorably with
any in the county. The appliances in the rooms are modem,
and the large school campus is well planted with shade trees.
The writer has had charge of the school since 1882.
The Riegelsville School Association built its first school-
house in 1846, and opened with D. R. Kressler as the first
teacher; George F. Hess, afterward paymaster of the Central
R. R. of N. J., succeeded him in 1847. H- ^- Hough, a relative
of General Grant, and subsequently one of the principals of Lin-
den Female Seminary, Doylestown, and at present a clerk in
the Pension Department at Washington, taught the school dur-
ing the civil war. Miss Rebecca Smith, who has taught in al!
but two townships in the county, taught a summer term at this
school. David W. Hess, who is favorably known in the county,
may be mentioned as one of the prominent teachers of the
Riegelsville school. Mr. Hess subsequently organized a
select school in Springfield, just over the boundary line of Dur-
ham, which, before the era of "Normal Schools," was largely
instrumental in preparing teachers. In 1874 the old Riegels-
ville school-house was sold and converted into a private dwelling,
the directors purchasing the Presbyterian church, in which a
graded school, which the rapid growth of the village required,
was organized. D. R. Williamson was selected as tRe first
RIEGEI.SVILLE PUBI^IC SCHOOI^.
Building erected in 1849 by the Presbyterian congregation of Riegelsville ; services
discontinued in 1865 ; purchased by Durham school board in 1874, which remodeled and
converted it into a township graded school (at which time the school house erected in
1843 was sold and converted into a dwelling-house). Township high school established
here in June, 1903, one of the first under the act of 1895.
(From photograph taken Oct. 10, 1908).
RIEGEtrSVII^I^E ACADEMY.
An academy for the education of boys and girls ; prepares students for college or for
business. Founded in 1883 by John L,. Riegel ; building erected in 1886. The public
library of Riegelsville, founded by Mr. Riegel in 1885. occupies two rooms on the second
story, and now contains 4,500 volumes. The academy and library are under the direction
of St. John Reformed Church of Riegelsville.
(From photograph taken Oct. 10, 1908).
EDUCATION IN DURHAM TOWNSHIP 323
principal. In 1877 Peter Troxel was selected as principal. Mr.
Trdxel was aggressive and rather peculiar ; he was at times
somewhat unrefined in his language and rude in manners, but
he was an untiring, indefatigable worker, and possessed an
indomitable will, which many who were under his instruction
have reason to remember. No one, however, who is willing
to pass an unbiased judgment on his teaching, will hesitate to
accord him the credit of awakening an interest in the Riegels-
ville school, which was largely instrumental in bringing about
its present reputation. His aggressiveness soon brought him
into difiiculties with the patrons, and after a two years' siege
he resigned. In 1879 the school was taken in charge by
Charles Bachman, who taught three successive sessions. He
was a devoted teacher, and not only maintained its acquired
reputation but succeeded in carrying the school far in advance
of its former standard. Miss Margaret J. Moffat, the present
principal, has, during the last two terms, taught the school with
very gratifying results. She is a conscientious and devoted
teacher, and devotes her spare moments to the study of botany,
in which she has gained a more than local reputation. Miss
Cora Hodge is at present teacher of the primary department.
The Riegelsville high-school was organized by C. W. Fan-
cher, and opened on August 3, 1857, '^^ ^^^ basement of the
Presbyterian church. Mr. Fancher was eminently successful,
and quite a number of teachers were prepared under his super-
vision. He was the last teacher of the Furnace primary school,
and is undoubtedly the oldest active teacher in the county. The
older the physician, the more desirable is his service, in con-
sequence of his experience ; the older the lawyer, the more his
counsel and advice are sought after. Not so with the old teacher,
for when the rosy cheeks are gone, the bright lustre of the eye
vanished and the silver threads largely predominate, the teacher,
as a rule, loses his attractiveness and vivacity in the school-room,
and his place is supplanted by some lad or lass in the teens.
The school was continued by D. R. Williamson during 1869-
70. In 1 87 1 Dr. George W. Best conducted the institution for
one year. John Fitzet commenced his work in the above school
on September 30. 1872. Pie removed to the basement of Me-
chanics' Hall in February, 1873, and closed his labors the fol-
324 EDUCATION IN DURHAM TOWNSHIP
lowing March. Thus ended the high school work until B. F.
Sandt, of Easton, on September 3, 1883, opened the Riegels-
ville Academ}-. Notwithstanding the unfavorable location of
the school, success attended the efforts o-f Prof. Sandt, and
the school supplies a long felt want in the community. A select
school was opened in the basement O'f the residence of George
W. Whitaker in i860 by D. R. Williamson, who was succeeded
by Sarah R. Krewson the following year, when the school was
•discontinued.
The first district superintendent employed was Charles Lau-
Imch, in 1879, who continued in office four years, when a wave
â– of economy pervaded which abolished this office and reduced the
school term one month. During this period the schools advanced
their standard, and showed marked progress.
It would be doing a great injustice to the schools of Dur-
ham by closing this paper without noting the patriotism mani-
fested by them during the late civil war, especially the Riegels-
ville school. At this school, the teacher, H. H. Hough, ad-
journed school during two afternoons weekly for the purpose
of permitting the pupils to knit stockings, make shirts, and
prepare bandages for the wounded soldiers. These articles
were forwarded to the hospitals and battle-fields. Many of
the scholars worked their names on the articles before sending
them. Messrs. Haggerty of Rufes school, Strouse of Monroe
school and Hough of Riegelsville school were the principal
factors in giving an entertainment for two nights, in the old
Union church at Riegelsville, to raise money to buy hospital sup-
plies for wounded soldiers.
We have thus imperfectly traced the history of our schools,
from a "boarding 'round" system until their present growth ;
and though we still find many imperfections in them, yet we
find much to admire. There has never been a time with better
-opportunities for young people to prepare for the active duties
'of life. The best talents are devoted to the preparation of our
text-books and school literature, which have never heretofore
been prepared with so much care and skill. It is to be regretted
that the aim of much of our modern education is merely
intellectual development. The child has more than mere mind;
EDUCATION IN DURHAM TOWNSHIP 3^5
he is moral as well as intellectual. Statistics show that the
ratio of crime to population is less in Ireland, illiterate as her
masses are, than in Massachusetts with all her schools. The
culture which our schools must produce is one of the conscience
and of the brain, since that alone is real education.
" 'Tis not a cause of small import
The teacher's care demands;
For what might fill an angel's heart
Appeals to teacher's hands."
George Taylor — The Signer.
BY CHARLE;S LAUBACH, DURHAM, PA.
(Durham Cave Meeting, July 28, 18S5).
The subject of this sketch, George Taylor, a Signer of the
Declaration of Independence, was a prominent actor in civil as
well as political life in this section of our country a little over one
hundred years ago. To chronicle the events and doings of an
individual so prominent and honored as Mr. Taylor after the
lapse of a hundred years is a duty not so easily performed.
Mr. Taylor was of Irish parentage; born in 1716, the son of
a respectable clergyman of that country, who gave him a thorough
education. He was quick, active and intelligent, and his father
determined to educate him for the medical profession, which
science it is believed he actually commenced to study. This
however did not coincide with the bent of his faculties, and
he soon tired and became disgusted with the slow progress he
made, and determined to seek his fortune in a life of more
variety and adventure. Hearing of a vessel about to sail for
Philadelphia, he deserted his medical studies and embarked as
a redemptioner* on board the vessel. On his arrival in xA-merica
* I doubt if there is any authority for the oft repeated statement by local historians,
that George Taylor wasa redemptioner, " Hefiry's History of the Lehigh Valley " is silent
on this point, as is also the History of Easton by Ethan Allen Weaver, who states in a
personal communication, that he cioubts if he was a redemptioner. On the other hand
both editions of Davis's history and Battle's history of Bucks county state that he was a
redemptioner. the information for these last three named histories, was to my personal
knowledge furnished by Mr. Laubach, author of this paper. "Appleton's Encyclopedia
of American Biography " also states that he was a redemptioner, but that work was not
published until 18S9, aiid the information doubtless did not come from original sources.
In fact there is no information from official records, or from reliable sources, to show
that he was a redemptioner. I believe the statement to be a myth, evidently intended to
add importance, bj' way of contrast, to the career of George Taylor, because of the prom-
inence which he afterwards attained. M. S. Henry's " History of the Lehigh Valley,"
page 94, et. seq., says that he was the son of Nathaniel Taylor, who emigrated to America
and settled in Allen township about 1730 to 17.35. This statement is also erroneous. Mr.
Henry doubtless fell into the error by assuming, that a certain Nathaniel Taylor, of
Allen township, whose will (probated March 4, 1768) on record in Northampton'county,
was the father of George, because by his will he gave a portion of his real estate to his
son John. Mr. Henry refers to thisand assumes that John was a brother of George, and
that George al.so inheVited certain real estate in Allen township, overlooking the fact
that George had purchased his Allen township property a year earlier (March 10, 1767) of
Thomas Armstrong. Nathaniel Taylor left a widow (Janet), one son (John) and three
daughters. The evidence is conclu.sive that he was not the father of George, and more-
over Nathaniel signs " His mark " to his will, which also goes to show that he was not an
educated clergyman, as stated by local historians. I am informed in a private letter re-
ceived from Capt. W. Gordon McCabe. LL.D., of Richmond, Va., a great-great-giandson
of George Taylor, that there is a tradition in the family, that the father of George Taylor
was a barrister. Dr. McCabe further savs that the name of George's father was not
Nathaniel, also that George came to America alone to seek his fortune, was shipwrecked,
on the passage, and arrived in Philadelphia in indigent circumstances. B. F. F., Jr.
PARSONS-TAYLOR HOUSE.
The oldest house in Easton, Pa. Built by William Parsons, the founder of Easton, some-
time between 1753 a"d 1757- First occupied by him April, 1757. Later the home of George
Taylor, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and wherein he died February
25, 1781. At that time the property included all of Lot No. 176 on the original plan of Easton,
60 feet on Hamilton (now Fourth) Street, and 220 feet on Ferry Street ; and it is to be pre*
sumed that there were kitchen and other out-buildings attached to the stone house, which is
27 feet front on Ferry Street, and 17 feet 9 inches front on Fourth Street. That part of the
property on which the house stands 21 feet by 27 feet, was purchased January 15. 1906, by
the George Taylor Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, which has placed a
bronze tablet on the Fourth Street side, with the following inscription : —
THIS HOUSE BUILT IN 1757 BY
WILLIAM PARSONS
SURVEYOR GENERAL OF PENNSYLVANIA
AND THE HOME OF
GEORGE TAYLOR
SIGNER OF
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
IS MAINTAINED BY THE
GEORGE TAYLOR CHAPTER
DAUGHTERS
OF THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
AS AN HISTORICAL MEMORIAL
1906
GEORGe; TAYLOR — THE SIGNER 327
lie bound himself to Mr. Savage, the proprietor (probably by
lease, as the chain of title does not show that he ever owned any
part of the property) of the Durham Iron Works, who paid the
expenses incurred in his passage from Ireland. He accompanied
Mr. Savage to Durham, and was employed for some time around
the works as a filler,"^' but later was promoted to clerk, and
soon became an important member of the concern. He re-
tained that position until the death of Air. Savage in 1738, and
in 1739, married his widow, and because manager or lessee of
the Durham iron works.
In 1763 Mr. Taylor was appointed b} act of assembly one of
the trustees for building the court-house at Easton, all moneys for
which were to pass through his hands. In 1764, he removed
from Durham to Easton and was commissioned a Justice of the
Peace. On March 10, 1767, he bought a farm in Allen town-
ship of Thomas Armstrong for i 1,100 Pennsylvania currency,
containing 331 acres, near the Lehigh river, now included with-
in its limits the present town of Catasauqua, the deed refers
to this property as the "Manor of Chawton." Mr. Taylor dis-
posed of this tract March 27, 1776 to John Benezet for £1,800
Pennsylvania currency, it being valued in the assessment of 1770
at £416, including six horses, eight cows, and three negroes.
The county tax was 37 shillings and 2 pence.
On October 15, 1764, we find Mr. Taylor representing
Northampton county in the Provincial Assembly, which met
.at Philadelphia, where he was placed on the committee of
grievances, one of the most important and useful offices at that
time, and still more so at a future period. He took part in
discussing the great questions, which then agitated the province,
viz: — the alteration oi the charter and the reformation of the
proprietary government, into which many serious abuses had
crept. In the month of October, 1765, Mr. Taylor was again
elected as a representative from Northampton county. On
June following we find him on the committee appointed to draw
up an address to the king on the repeal of the Stamp Act. In
this appeal the most conciliatory language is used, showing
* The chain of title does not show that Savage owned any part of the property, he
doubtless operated under lease. I can find no confirmation of the oft-repeated statement
that Mr. Taylor was, at any time, a filler at Durham furnace. And this statement seems
but another part of the myth. B. F. F., Jr.
328 GEORGE TAYLOR — THE SIGNER
every indication of the return of good feeling between the
Colonies and the mother country. To show still further their
appreciation of this prospective reconciliation, they added to
the address a resolution, in which they expressed their readiness
to meet, in every constitutional way, the vv^ishes of the British
government.
In the early part of 1768, when a member of Assembly,
he exerted himself strenuously in bringing to justice the per-
petrators of some horrid massacres of savages on the frontier
which had nearly involved the province in an Indian war.
Thinking that the Governor had not acted with the promptness
the matter deserved, he, with several other members of the As-
sembly, was appointed to draw up an address calhng the
Governor's attention to it, in which they urged him to exert
all his powers to bring the oli'enders to justice, to avenge the
wrong done to the Indians, and thus save the province from the
calamities of an Indian war.
During the year of 1768 the wife of Mr. Taylor (whose
name was Ann) died and was buried at Easton, Pa. Mr. Tay-
lor remained a member of Assembly until 1770.
In 1774 he again became proprietor of the Durham Iron
Works, remaining in possession until 1778, when the property
was sold by the commissioner of forfeited estates. He then
moved to Greenwich, Warren county, at that time part of Sussex
county, New Jersey, and became interested in a forge owned by
Hugh Hughes. During the Revolutionary war, cannon-balls,
bomb-shells and grape-shot used by the Continental army were
cast at the Durham furnace, and shipped by his orders.
On August 2, 1776, Mr. Taylor, then a member of the Con-
tinental Congress, affixed his signature to the Declaration of
Independence.* While performing his duties in the Continental
Congress he was placed on a committee to prepare and report
* The Journal of the Moravian Society at Bethlehem under date of July lo-ii. 1776
states that there were elected five Germans and three Irish farmers as delegates ; that
these delegates appointed the member of Congress, who in this instance was George
Taylor. In the Pennsylvania Magazine of History, volume IX, page 279, James Allen, a
son of C. J. William Allen, .says in his diary, under date of February 17, 1777, " The .As-
sembly has appointed Gen. Roberdeau, J. B. Smith, William Moore and reappointed
Robert Morris, and Benjamin Franklin delegates in Congress, and left out George
Clymer, James Wilson, George Ross, Dr. Rush, George Taylor, and John Martin. The
reason assigned for leaving out these old members it is said, is that the New Light Pres-
byterian party have thecscendant in the Assembly. B. F. K., Jr.
GEORGE TAYLOR — THE SIGNER 329
to the Assembly a draught of instructions by which it was to
be governed. This duty was one of much importance and dif-
ficulty. It was well known that the affairs of the colonies had
arrived at a crisis when the wise might anticipate and the bold
hope for a decided resistance and eventually a separation. In
this state of affairs Col. Taylor and the rest of the committee
prepared such measures as in their judgment offered the best
means of obtaining redress of American grievances and restor-
ing harmony between Great Britain and the colonies.
During the ensuing winter, 1776, great and rapid changes
were wrought in the sentiments of the people. They became
convinced of the necessity of separation and began to prepare
for resistance. Only a few months elapsed after performing
the critical duty just mentioned, when Col. Taylor was again a
member of a committee that laid before the Assembly a docu-
ment which bears all the marks of a determined and indignant
people. In this document the committee represent : "That, as
every day brings fresh proofs of the violence of the British
ministry, and of their fixed purpose to subdue the free spirit
of America, etc.," the committee have come to the following
resolution :
'^' Resolved, That application be made to the House of Representatives
praviiig that they will take order for raising 2,000 men to act in the
defence of th s province, and this board will represent it as their
opinion that it will be most for the public service that one battalion of
regular troops be formed out of that number, and the remainder be a
body of riflemen."
During his public life Colonel Taylor was for some time en-
gaged on behalf of the United States, with several of the Indian
tribes on the borders of the Susquehanna, and appears to have
been successful in forming a treaty with them at Easton.
In March, 1777, he retired from public life and devoted him-
self to recovering losses sustained by his long engagement in
public affairs. While engaged in these peaceful pursuits, at the
iige of 65 years, he peacefully resigned his life on February
25, 1781, and died honored by all who knew him.
His will, dated January 6, 1781, probated March 10, 1781,
recorded at Easton in Book i, page 40, appoints Robert Levers,
of Northampton, (now Allentown) Robert Lettis Hooper, Jr.,
330 GEORGE TAYLOR — THE SIGNER
of New Jersey, and Robert Traill, of Easton, executors. The
following is extracted from his will:
" And I do hereby give and bequeath unto such one of them my said
executors as shall take upon him the burden of the executorship, or unto
them conjointly acting, the sum of one hundred pounds, lawful money of
Pennsylvania, over and besides what is usually allowed to executors in the
register's office, and I do also give and bequeath unto the said Robert
Levers, my silver mounted double-barrelled gun, to be engraved thus :
"The gift of George Taylor, Esq."; and I do likewise give and bequeath
unto the said Robert Lettis Hooper, Jr., a neat silver-mounted small sword,
to be thus engraved : "In memory of George Taylor, Esq." And unto the
said Robert Traill I do give and bequeath one pair of pistols. And I do give
unto my house-keeper, Naomi Smith, in consideration of her great care and
attendance on me for a number of years past, the sum of ^500, lawful
money aforesaid, to be paid to her within six months after my decease ; and
I also give unto the said Naomi Smith one bed and bedstead, together with
such household goods and furniture as my executors in their discretion shall
judge most needful and convenient for her accommodation in her future
dwelling place; and I do give and bequeath unto my grandson George Tay-
lor the sum of ^500, like money aforesaid, in right of his primogeniture.''
The will further recites that one-half of the residue is to go
to his five grandchildren, George, Thomas, James, Ann and
Mary, in equal parts; and the remaining one-half to the five
children of his said house-keeper, Naomi Smith, whose names
are as follows : — Sarah Smith, Rebecca Smith, Naomi Smith,
Elizabeth Smith, and Edward Smith. He appoints his execu-
tors to be the guardian of these five children, until they attain
the age of 21 years, In the meantime the income is to be ap-
plied toward their maintenance and education. He says his ex-
ecutors knowing his mind therein are to permit Naomi Smith to
keep them until they arrive at the age of 10 years, when they
are to be "pilaced out" at the decision of his executors.
He had two children by his wife, a daughter Ann (called
Nancy), who was never married, having died in childhood,
and a son James, an attorney, who married Elizabeth, daughter of
Lewis Gordon, James died before his father when but twenty-nine
years of age, leaving a wife and the five children referred to in
Mr. Taylor's will ; these five grand-children were therefore the
only descendants of Mr. Taylor.*
* Sanderson's sketch of Col. T^yXor \n\v\s,'- Lives of the Signers'' is full of inaccuracies.
Among other things, he says that " c;eorg;e Taylor left no legitimate descendants." Had
he consulted the Northampton county records, he would have avoided the blunder. Mr.
Taylor left a goodly number of " legitimate descendants," but none except from the
marriage of his son James to EJlizabeth Gordon. These descendants emigrated to Vir-
ginia, where their descendants still flourish.
GEORGe; TAYLOR — THE SIGNER 331
It appears by the records of the Orphans Court, held at Easton,
in and for the county of Northampton, February 4, 1799. be-
fore the Honorable John Mulhallon and John Cooper, Esq.,
Judges of said Court;, that Robert Traill, his only surviving- ex-
ecutor petitioned the Court to have auditors appointed to set-
his account. On filing their account February 25, 1799, the au-
ditors show that a balance of £42, 2s. 8>^d. was due to Mr.
Traill. It appears from these records that owing to the death
of two of the executors, there was some complication or short-
age in the account, which together with the depreciated
value of Pennsylvania money, at the time of Mr. Taylor's death,
were doubtless the reasons for his estate being insolvent.
It certainly appears from the following clause in his will, that
he had some interest in the Durham Iron Works at the time of
his death :
" And I do further order and direct that in case any or all of my
•co-partners in the Durham Iron Works should choose to take my share of the
same into their hands as purchasers, that they pay unto my estate the
several sums advanced by me into the partnership, together with my share
of the profits that may have arisen thereon, and in case of their and every of
their refusal, that my executors sell and dispose of the same to any person
or for the best price that can be got."
The inventory of his personal estate filed at Easton March
25, 1784, includes 17 tons 16 cwt. of bar-iron to be delivered
by the Durham Iron Co. in two payments at i35=i623. Also
included in this appraisement is "One negro man named Tom,
about 32 years old" who appears to have been sold before filing
the instrument, for 280 bushels of wheat valued at ij"]. Also
'"one negro named Sam, a cripple, sold for £15."
Reference is also made in his will concerning settlement for
a certain plantation which he in company with the late Lewis
Gordon purchased from John Atkins containing about 500 acres
situated on Marshall's creek in Lower Smithfield township,
and which had been sold for £750 to Thomas Adams.
The incidents we have recorded in this sketch furnish but
meagre means to judge of the character and worth of Mr. Tay-
lor; but from them we may fairly conclude that he was a man
of strong parts and honorable conduct, industrious, enterpris-
ing and useful in times requiring firmness and strong good
332 GEORGE TAYLOR — THE SIGNER
sense. Tradition in the neighborhood where he resided, says
"that he was a fine man and a furious Whig."
At one of the most prominent points in the Easton cemetery
is found a monument dedicated to the memory of George Tay-
lor, which was unveiled on the 20th of November, 1855. The
funds for its erection were collected among the generous and
public spirited citizens of Easton to celebrate the opening of the
Belvidere Delaware Railroad to Easton, Feb. 3, 1854. But
the funds were not all needed for that purpose and the town
council decided to use the surplus funds to erect this monument
to the memory of this great and illustrious citizen.
The total height of the monument is 22 ft. The bottom base
is of blue Rutland marble, rusticated form, in imitation of cut
masonry, size 6ft. square by 2 ft. high. The remainder is of
imported Italian marble. The sub-base is 4 ft. 2 in. square at
bottom by 14 in. high. The die is 3 ft. i in. square at the bot-
tom tapering to 2 ft. 10 in. at the top and 3 ft. 5 in. high, on
each corner is carved an inverted torch, the east face contains
the following inscription : "In memory of George Taylor, one
of the Signers of the Declaration of American Independence.
July 4, 1776. Born 1716, Died 1781." Above the die is a cap
with ornamental cornice 3 ft. 10 in. square at largest part by
22 in. high ; then a plinth 2 ft. 4 in. square by 3 ft. high on the
east face of which is carved the Coat-of-Arms of Pennsylvania.
The shaft resting on the plinth is 20 in. square at the bottom,
tapering to 13 in. at the top by 10 ft. high. On the east side
is carved the name "Taylor". On top O'f the shaft a draped
American flag is carved, with an American eagle resting on
top watching and guarding our Country's flag. The body of
George Taylor lies buried on the east side of the base. The
monument is significant. It tells of noble deeds ; of great worth ;
of renown ; a patriot dead ; a country's loss ; a nation's grief.
The Worth and Character of the Pennsylvania Germans.
BY REV. A. R. HORNE, D.D., ALLENTOWN, PA.
(Durham Cave Meeting, July 28, 1885).
Tacitus, the Latin historian, two thousand years ago, gave a
description of the German character, which at this day, as far
as the virtues ascribed to them are concerned, is appHcable tO'
the Pennsylvania Germans. These bold pioneers, in the settle-
ment of Pennsylvania, had brought with them from the father-
land their religion, love for education and liberty, their indus-
try, economy and indomitable perseverance. Equipped and
adorned with these, as their capital and accomplishments, they
gained possession of the fertile valleys and of the hill sides even
to their summits, which have been caused by their labors to blos-
som as the rose, to yield to them abundantly the fruits of the
soil, and to gladden the eye of the observer as once did the fer-
tilities of Goshen, the beauties of Sharon, the rich abundance of
Canaan, and the enchantments of Paradise. Among the few
treasures, very few, indeed, which thev had brought from their
homes beyond the sea, were a Bible, a Psalter, Starke's Gebet
Buch, and Arndt's Wahres Christenthum. Not one of them
was without religion and education, two precious legacies which
they had brought from the fatherland and transmitted to their
posterity. Houses of worship were erected in every community,,
which, though but rude structures, afforded them places in which
to worship the God of their fathers. It is worthy of mention
that hundreds of these churches in eastern Pennsylvania, have
been built and owned conjointly by two and sometimes three
different denominations, having services on alternate Sundays or
on different hours of the same day and worshiping under the
same roof for a century without a jar or discord. It is doubt-
ful, indeed, whether anywhere in Christendom a parallel case
can be found, except perhaps in Germany, the native country
of these people, where, in certain localities, Protestants and
Catholics worship in the same churches.
The children, when of proper age, are instructed in the prin-
ciples of religion, and encouraged to become members of the
334 PENNSYLVANIA ge;rmans
church of their parents. So carefully and conscientiously were
these duties discharged by parents that, fifty years ago it was
difficult to find an adult who was without church membership.
It was looked upon as greatly to the discredit of any one, who
lived to the age of manhood without having made a profession
of religion. When any of these sporadic cases were found minis-
ters of the gospel regarded it their duty to make a public ex-
ample of them, and hold them up as a warning to others.
Church discipline was also rigidly enforced, and though more
or less laxity has crept into some of the churches of the present
time, yet in most of them, the careful practices of the fathers
are preserved. Examinations of candidates for church member-
ship are made, and such as do not come up to the requirement
of intellectual and moral qualifications are held in abeyance
till after further instructions of mind and conscience they attain
to the proper standard. Members of congregations are sub-
jected to an examination before they are admitted to the com-
munion table. If any are at variance with their neighbors a
reconciliation must be effected before they can come to the
Lord's table. Those who lived in outward and gross sins aie
prohibited from communing until they have given evidence of
sincere repentance. Those who have been guilty of overt acts
of transgression are required to do kerchahuss, until they give
satisfactory evidence of a reformation of their hearts and lives.
â– Suicides were formerly buried on the outside of the grave-yard
or in a remote corner within, away from all others. The grave-
yard, Gottes-acker, is always hard by the church and sermons
are preached in the church on funeral occasions.
The educational interests of the young have always received
special attention at the hands of the Germans. In the father-
land every child is compelled to attend school from the age of
seven to fourteen. To find a German, who cannot read and
write, is as much of an impossibility as to find one of fourteen
years and over who is not a confirmed member of the church.
In conformity with the custom and spirit of the fatherland, the
church and school-house were among the first buildings erected
by the sons of their worthy sires as they reached America. In
every German community of Pennsylvania, from the Delaware
to Lake Erie, this custom was perpetuated. The old edifices.
PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS 335
Still Standing at many places, though simple and primitive in
their style of architecture, bear testimony to the high value which
these people placed on education. Teachers, too, not landloufer
and ignoramuses, but regularly trained instructors from the
gymnasia and schullehrer seniinarien of the old country were
employed, wherever the early settlers could command the means
for doing so. These teachers were not mere itinerants who
taught a term and then left, but they were permanently employed.
Houses were furnished them, and farms, containing in some cases
a hundred acres, were set apart for the use of the teacher, who
at the same time was also the organist of the church, and musical
instructor. He was the foresinger, not the chorister, nor the
leader of the singing, but everything that the word /or^-singer
implies. The teacher was as indispensable, in many respects, as
the preacher, and ranked only second to him. In many cases
he took the preacher's place, especially when the minister was
absent, in which case, though not permitted to enter the pulpit,
he read a sermon at the altar. Frequently, the minister (as
is now the case in the sparsely settled sections of the West and
Southwest), was the school-teacher, being engaged six days of
the week in teaching, and preaching to the congregation on
Sunday, as well as holding kinner-lehr .
The Pennsylvania Germans a century or even fifty years ago,
were almost, without exception, farmers, mechanics and laborers.
Their daily toil on the farm, and at their trades, kept the children
so busily engaged that they had but little time at their command
for school or study, and in consequence the education of many
was sadly neglected.
They did not so readily adopt the public-school system in its
earlier days, as some of their English neighbors, but this was
not because they were unfriendly to education or schools. Neith-
er was their opposition to the public-school system to be attribu-
ted to ignorance, as those not conversant with the facts some-
times think. There are two reasons for it. Coming from a
land where religion is taught in the schools, they feared that in
state schools their most precious heritage, religion and religious
instruction, would be ignored, and the moral nature of their
children left uncared for by a merely secular education. And,
in the second place, with their intense love of liberty, and having
336 PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS
come from a land where church and state are united, producing a
most unhappy state c-f things, they sought to preserve that free-
dom which they enjoyed here, and feared that, by the establish-
ment of state schools, a step might be taken looking toward a
union of school, church and state. As soon as they felt con-
vinced that such a course was not contemplated, they became
the ardent advocates of a free school system, and are now its
warmest supporters.
The greater part of the Pennsylvania Germans are farmers —
hardy and industrious tillers of the soil. They are robust, strong
healthy and hard workers. In many of the rural districts women
assist the men in farm work. Though not seen following the
plow, it is, nevertheless, a common sight to see them engaged
in raking hay, binding grain, hoeing and husking corn, milking
cows and the like. If it be a failing, their failing is that they
work too much. Oftentimes we have seen young ladies, whose
parents were worth their thousands, engaged as servants, waiting
^on tables at boarding-school where their brothers were attend-
ing as students. While these women may not be experts at the
piano, and yet they sometimes are, they understand practically
how to bake bread, and prepare a most sumptuous and tempting
meal. Every mother educates her daughters in the art of house-
Iceeping before they are permitted to leave the maternal roof.
"Solomon's description of a diligent wife could not have been
more accurate than it is, if he had taken a Pennsylvania German
girl for his model
As farmers, the Pennsylvania Germans have no superiors.
Their good native judgment guides them in the selection of the
farm, and they always have the best in the land. Many a worn-
<out farm has been purchased at sheriff's sale and the soil's fer-
tility reclaimed by these people. In a few years the new pos-
:sessor becomes enriched and lives thereon as their proverb has
it wie in fogel in honfsawma. Nowhere, from Canada to the
-Gulf of Mexico, can farms be found in as high a state of cul-
tivation, stocked with as fine sheep, horses and cattle, and as
well improved with fine, large convenient buildings, as in the
^German counties of Pennsylvania.
The large Schweitser scheuer, Swiss barn, is a structure pecu-
liar to this people. It is one of the first necessities of the farm-
PKNNSYLVANIA GERMANS 337
er. Even when his dwelhng-house is indifferent in style and
cramped in the interior for room, the barn is commodious and
suppHed with all the modern conveniences. The heavy horses
which are always keep scrupulously clean and well fed, reflect
great credit on their owners. They treat their beasts with great
consideration, foregoing their own convenience rather than allow
their cattle and horses to suffer. The horse is stabled and fed be-
fore the owner looks after his own wants, thus fulfilling the scrip-
tural precept that "the righteous man regardeth the life of his
beast."
The Pennsylvania German farmer has all the improved tools
and machinery. His grain is sown, harvested, threshed and
cleaned by means of the best machines. All the latest inven-
tions, if proved good, are purchased regardless of cost. His
dairy has modern improvements, and a creamery is found in
almost every neighborhood. The improved breeds of cattle are
procured for dairy purposes, hundreds of dollars being frequently
paid for a choice heifer. Fruit trees are found, not only in the
immediate surroundings of the buildings, but entire orchards
of choice varieties of apples, pears, peaches, plums, etc., are
found on almost every farm. It is not uncommon to find from
twelve to twenty varieties of grapes on a farm. In many sections
tobacco is raised and great profits derived therefrom. When
the Pennsylvania German farmer finds that a new crop can be
cultivated to advantage he is not slow in introducing it. He
may not have studied agricultural chemistry theoretically, but
he knows experimentally how to adapt his crops to the soil, or
the soil to the crops. He has probably not studied higher arith-
metic, algebra or geometry, nor even bookkeeping, but he knows
how to balance his accounts so that from year to year his proper-
ty is enhanced in value.
In the midst of his busy life, the Pennsylvania German farmer
is not indifferent to the cultivation of his sesthetical nature. His
house, yard and flower-garden are often very tastefully arranged.
The housewife provides unostentatious decorations for her
rooms and parlors, while her beautiful flowers in pots adorn
the windows, and often require a small conservatory for their
preservation in winter, and when transplanted, the tastefully laid
out yard is fragrant with their odor, while their beautiful and
varied colors please the eye.
338 PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS
Music is one of the fine arts very extensively cultivated among
this people. An organ, and not infrequently a piano, is found
in almost every house. Around this musical instrument, the
young folks of the neighborhood gather of an evening or a Sun-
day afternoon and fill the air with the sounds of their clear al-
most stentorian voices. The notes may not be quite as delicate
as refined operatic music, yet they sing with such a heartiness
and good cheer that the music seems to come from the inmost
soul. It is an outburst of feeling and emotion, strong and elo-
quent. Orpheus, like the Pennsylvania German farmer's daugh-
ter, by hand and voice, has often caused, if not the tree tops, yet
the heads of full many a city dude to bow at the magic charm
of her music, and Icarus-like, his wings melted to be drawn by
the resistless siren strains to the fatal coast of some Pennsylvania
German homestead.
As neighbors they are extremely kind and friendly. They
frequently assist each other by loans of money. Before the
modern innovations and customs were introduced, these loans
were made without interest and without requiring instruments
of writing. In sickness and misfortune they assist one
another to the extent of their ability, and never accept any
compensation. When before the days of insurance, buildings
were destroyed by fire, or property was lost by misfortune
they collected moneys frequently sufficient to cover the amount
of the loss. At funerals, even to this day, all the neighbors
assist the afflicted family until the dead are buried, and for which
it would be regarded almost as a mortal sin to accept any com-
pensation.
Their hospitality is proverbial. No one, not even the beg-
gar, is permitted to depart from their gates without having his
hunger appeased. Their beneficence is sometimes abused by
unscrupulous persons, who impose upon their kindness. Hence, no
section of the country is so much infested by tramps as the Ger-
man counties of Pennsylvania. No Pennsylvania German farm-
er, even when himself in straitened circumstances, would think
of accepting pay for meals and lodging from any one who tem-
porarily enjoys his hospitality. They are very sociable and
given to visiting; even distant relatives are not forgotten. Sun-
day afternoon is largely devoted to visiting, but frequently, too,
PENNSYIvVANIA GERMANS 339
â– several days are set apart, when the season of the year permits,
for the purpose of making visits. In winter entire weeks
are devoted to visiting. No visit is counted as such unless a
meal is partaken of in connection therewith. These meals are
most bounteous, such as the Pennsylvania German housewife
understands so well to prepare. Several kinds of meats, vege-
tables of all kinds when in season, and pies and pastry of every
conceivable kind are on the table. It is not at all unusual to
have six to eight different kinds of pies and frequently as many
kinds of cakes. These victuals are cooked, and baked, and
dished up in the very best style, so as to tempt the appetite of the
most fastidious. The good housewife and her daughters who
wait on the guests insist that every one must at least taste every
dish that is passed around. With Helf dir duch selver. Du escht
yo schier gar nix. Du biscJit duch niich net sottf Ess dich duch
recht sott, and similar expressions, the guest is pressed to par-
take of the bountiful repast, until ability to do further justice
to the meal is exhausted. Sobriety, modesty and honesty are
distinguishing characteristics of this people. They are not as
a rule total abstainers, but their sociality sometimes leads to
convivality, but it seldom terminates in drunkenness. They are
from principle opposed to sumptuary laws, but also from prin-
ciple abhor drunkenness. Their modesty has restrained them
from presenting themselves to the public gaze, hence their ability
has been underrated and great injustice often done them. For
the same reason they prefer to suffer denials, privations and
poverty rather than protrude themselves upon the charities of
others. Tramps and beggars of all nationalities abound, but
rarely the Pennsylvania Germans. Until spoiled by the philos-
ophy of the world, it was regarded as a great disgrace for any
of them to become involved in financial failure, or to neglect the
payment of their honest debts. The principle that " a good
name is to be chosen rather than great riches" influences them in
their dealings with their fellowmen.
One half of the distinguished Governors of the State were
Pennsylvania Germans. The first Governor that ever took a
decided stand in favor of public schools was a Pennsylvania Ger-
man, John Andrew Shulze. In 1828, he said in his message:
"The mighty works and consequent great expenditures undertaken by
340 PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS
the state, cannot induce me to forebear again calling your attention to
the subject of poiblic education. To devise means for the establishment
of a fund and the adoption of a plan, by which the blessings of the
more necessary branches of education should be conferred on every
family within our borders, would be every way worthy the Legislature
of Pennsylvania. The estabhshment of such principles would not only
have the happ'est effects in cultivating the minds, but invigorating the
physical constitution of the young. What nobler incentive can present
itself to the mind of a republican legislator than a hope that his labors
shall be rewarded insuring to his country a rate of human beings,
healthy, and of vigorous constitution, and of minds more generally im-
proved than fall to the lot of any considerable portion of the human
family."
His biographer says of Shulze : "None of his predecessors
had come to that high office with so much culture and grace as
he." Under him stupendous plans for the improvement of the
Commonwealth were adopted and put in execution.
George Wolf, another Pennsylvania German Governor, was
born in Allen township, Northampton county, almost on the
banks of the Lehigh river. He came to the gubernatorial chair
when the outlook was most gloomy and the credit of the State
was at a low ebb. He by a bold stroke and an expensive policy
carried out the great system of improvements which have been
so beneficial to the State. The most substantial of these was
the establishment of a system of public instruction. James Bu-
chanan, in a speech delivered at West Chester, in 1829, said:
"If ever the passion of envy could be excused a man ambitious of true
glory, he might almost be justified in envying the fame of that favored in-
dividual, whoever he may be, whom Providence intends to make the instru-
ment in establishing common schools throughout the Commonwealth. His
task will be arduous. He will have many difficulties to encounter, and
many prejudices to overcome, but his fame will exceed that even of the
great Clinton, in the same proportion that mind is superior to matter.
Whilst the one has erected a frail memorial, which like everything human,
must decay and perish, the other will raise a monument which shall flourish
in immortal youth, and endure whilst the human soul shall continue to
exist. Ages unborn and nations yet behind shall bless his memory."
Simon Snyder, the third Governor of Pennsylvania, whose
name has been a household word for over half a century in every
German family, and tor whom one of the counties of the State
was named, was a representative Pennsylvania German. He was
Governor during most thrilling times, the war of 1812-15. He
devoted all his energies to prosecuting the war and held out every
PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS 341
inducement to facilitate volunteering and to aid in the equipment
and support of the troops.
Joseph Hiester, another Pennsylvania German Governor, like
many of the German boys, was put to the plow so young that
when it struck a stump or caught under a root he was thrown
on his back. When in 1775 the great Washington was in need
of men and means, Hiester aroused his fellow townsmen of
Reading to come to the rescue. When a public meeting had
been called he laid $40 on a drum head as bounty money, and
promised to furnish a company with blankets and funds for
their equipment, which promise he fulfilled faithfully. He raised
a company and marched them to the assistance of Washington,
and with them endured indescribable privations and sufferings.
He was Governor from 1820 to 1823.
Joseph Ritner, a Pennsylvania German farmer's boy, and in
his youth a common farm laborer (knecht), with less education
than any other Governor, nevertheless proved himself the posses-
sor of so much good common sense and reason that his adminis-
tration was quite an eventful one. Perhaps much of his success
was due, like that of many Germans, to the fact that he consulted
his good wife when difficulties arose. At least it is said that when
the family had learned of his election to the gubernatorial chair,
the daughters asked Mrs. Ritner: ''Sin meer now all govcrnccraf"
And she gave them the laconic and yet expressive answer : ''Nee,
ihrr narra, yuscht der dad un ich." In his administration the
public school law was put into force ; he always regarded its
adoption as the crowning glory of his administration.
One of the best representatives of P-?nnsylvania German char-
acter that every occupied the gubernatorial chair was Francis
Rawn Shunk. He was not only a German by extraction and
birth, but preserved his German feelings, manner of thought,
language and habits to his dying day. Like the other German
Governors he was a poor, hard working farmer boy. He worked
by the day (im dazvglaw) in his youth. Like many a German
boy, he, however, employed his leisure hours in study. His
faithful mother's influence, advice and consolation, when after his
day's labor he laid his aching head on her lap, were powerfully
effective in forming him to be the great man he was. There
never was a better exponent of the Pennsylvania German char-
342 PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS
acter so noted for honesty, sincerity and purity whether in pri-
vate or ptibHc Hfe, than Francis R. Shunk.
Governor John W. Geary, though not regularly classed with
the German Governors, was also of German extraction ; and so
was David Rittenhouse Porter, on his mother's side.
The last one in the line of German Governors was John F.
Hartranft, who, like the others, true to the character of his
people, rose from comparatively humble circumstances to the
office of chief Executive of the State.
Not only as Governors of the State, but in other positions of
prominence and usefulness, both in this and other states of the
Union, have the Pennsylvania Germans distinguished themselves.
Among them may be named Godlove (Gottlieb) S. Orth, one of
the most prominent men of the country, at one time governor of
Indiana and minister to Austria. An illustration that the Penn-
sylvania German is still living in all its freshness and vigor in
Europe as it did centuries ago, is furnished in the fact that when
Mr. Orth was introduced to the Emperor of Austria he con-
versed with him in the vernacular of Pennsylvania. The Em-
peror, although speaking thirteen languages, did not speak Eng-
lish. As the conversation, at Mr. Orth's request, was con-
ducted in German, the Emperor asked him : "Tell me in what
part of Germany were you born?" Mr. Orth replied "Not in
Germany, but in Pennsylvania, in the United States." "But,"
said the Emperor, "you speak the pleasing accent of the Rhine."
From the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, in 1618, to
the end of Queen Anne's reign, in 1713 their capital city, Heidel-
berg, leveled to the ground three times, every decade an army
of soldiers sweeping like a whirlwind over the Palatinate, leaving
confusion and death in its train, crops destroyed and houses
burned, men, women and children driven into forests, where they
were left to suffer and to die, leaving their native home and
seeking new homes in a foreign land, robbed on the high seas
and sold as slaves upon their arrival in America, harassed here
and distressed by unmerciful savages, oppressed, down-trodden,
persecuted by their English neighbors, this people has preserved
its identity, character and language till this day, as, "Selbst schon
in jenen grauen Jahren, da Tacitus geschriehen, gesondert, un-
gemischt nie und sich selber gleich."
PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS 343.
The first German Bible in America was published by Christo-
pher Sauer, 39 years before an English Bible was published.
The first paper-mill in America was erected by Rittenhouse in
1690. Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, who came to this county in
1742 as a Lutheran minister, and who himself was a distinguished
divine, extensively known in America and Europe, was the sire of
a numerous family of descendants, many of whom became prom-
inent as theologians, statesmen and scientists. Gen. Peter A.
Muhlenberg, the Revolutionary patriot minister, who divested
himself of his clerical robe in the pulpit and took up his sword
in defense of his country, his congregation joining him, F. A.
Muhlenberg, Speaker of the National House of Representatives
in 1789, Rev. Dr. W. A. Muhlenberg, the distinguished author
of the well known hymn : "I would not live alway," and Muh-
lenberg the scientist and botanist, whose name is associated with
a number of specimens, all were descendants of the Pennsylvania
German patriarch. Rev. Michael Schlatter, the patriarch of the
Reformed church in America, through whose exertion a society
was formed in England in 1752, for the dififusion of knowledge
among the Germans in America, should also be named in this
connection. Conrad Weiser, the noted Indian interpreter, whose
name and fame are intimately associated with the history of this
State ; David Rittenhouse, the astronomer and philosopher, second
only to Franklin in his scientific researches and discoveries ;
Hartman, the discoverer of anthracite coal and its uses ; Barbara
Frietchie, the heroine of Frederickstown ; Lorenz Ibach, who
made the calculations for the almanacs of North and South Amer-
ica; Dr. Henry Harbach, the poet of the home and heart; Zin-
zendorf, the Indian missionary; Baron Stiegel, one of the first
men to smelt iron in this part of the country; and such men as
Herman, Helfrich, Schindel, Dubbs, Neitz, Waage, Demme and
Weiser, who by their oratory stirred and by their lore instructed
the masses, were all Pennsylvania Germans.
The Pennsylvania German has only of late begim to make his
influence felt. For more than a century he was engaged in toil
and labor, so that but little was heard or known of him beyond
the limited circle of his immediate surroundings. He had no
desire to hold office, did not seek for renown nor attempt to
press himself into prominence, preferring in his modest way to
344 PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS
attend to his own business, and thus remained in comparative
obscurity. His character was as little understood as his language.
Within the past few decades, however, his worth has become
very generally recognized. He has learned the language of the
land, and converses very fluently therein. His knowledge of
the Pennsylvania German enables him to understand the high
German when he reads it or hears it spoken and moreover his
practical knowledge of an additional language besides the Eng-
lish has been of advantage to him.
In the Eastern Pennsylvania counties, and even beyond the
Susquehanna, the preaching of the Gospel is very largely in Ger-
man. In more than half of the churches in this part of the state
the services are exclusively German. Of the remaining hilf at
least half are alternately English and German. The German
i^sed in the sanctuary is a proper, grammatical high German.
The Pennsylvania Germans, though they may never have been
taught to read the German of the books, have not the least
difficulty in understanding it. Besides they can learn to read
the German almost without effort. Their Pennsylvania German
affords them an easy avenue to the rich treasures of German
lore, of which those who do not understand German can only
acquire a knowledge by severe study. The chief difficulty of
the Pennsylvania Germans in learning English is in the articula-
tion of those few sounds which do not occur in German. These
are chiefly th, zv, ch and a few others. Many of them have,
however, by practice entirely overcome these difficulties and
pronounce the English so well that even the most practiced ear
cannot detect any imperfections. The ability to articulate Ger-
man sounds not found in English is a great help to them in ac-
quiring other languages, and constitutes a full offset to the labor
required in overcoming difficult English sounds. Ch, as pro-
nounced in German, s, u, and other sounds not found in English
are more difficult for the English tongue to acquire than th, zv,
and ch are to the German. Let any Englishman try to say acht
un achtsig and he will invariably fail in the attempt. But these
and u are sounds which are found in Greek, French and o'.hei
ancient and modern languages and give the German an advan-
tage in acquiring foreign languages.
Many of the towns and cities of eastern Pennsylvania have
FENNSYI^VANIA GERMANS 345;
German newspapers, the circulation of which is constantly in-
creasing. The German weeklies of Allentown alone have a
combined circulation of thirty thousand. There now are six or
seven churches in Allentown in which German is preached ex-
clusively, and fully as many more where German is on an equality
with the English. Thirty years ago there were in that city only
three or four churches in which German was preached. A sim-
ilar pertinacity of the Pennsylvania German is found through-
out the German districts of the State.
In many sections of the State the original English and Scotch
Irish population has given way almost entirely to the Germans.
In Berks, Lancaster, Lebanon, Northampton and other coun-
ties where, at the beginning of the present century, large and
prosperous settlements of English speaking people were found,
the Pennsylvania Germans have supplanted them so completely
that if it were not for the inscriptions on the tombstones these
English names would be entirely unknown.
The Pennsylvania Germans have made an impression on the
customs and habits of those with whom they have come in con-
tact, and have even introduced some of their forms of expression
and idioms into the English of their neighbors. Thus the expres-
sion right azvay, so frequently heard, as, "I will come right away,"
is a Pennsylvania Germanism, from grawdes wegs. Mondays,
Tuesdays, is from the German Mondazvgs, Dinschdawgs. The
German ethical dative mer, for me is another example, as "My
flowers all died for me last winter," mei blumma sin mer all dod
gonga, etc. Once, so frequently heard, is a similar Pennsylvania
Germanism, as "Come here once," "Let me see once." Kum
mol her, Ins mich emal sehna! The word dumb is frequently
used in its Pennsylvania German sense as "he is a dumb fellow,"
cr is en dummer kerl. The English word "dumb" means "not
able to speak," but in German the word means "ignorant," and
hence the expression "dumb fellow" is intended to mean an "ig-
norant fellow," "a stupid fellow." The idiom "it is all," so
universally heard in English sections of country where German
influences prevail, is another example. The German says es is
alles all, "it is all all," and means "there is nothing left;" but
the expression anglicised is nonsensical, and yet "the money is
all," "the paper is all," "the ink is all," etc., are heard al-
.346 PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS
most constantly. The adverb "so," as frequently used in Eng-
lish communities, in which Pennsylvania German influences pre-
vail, is another illustration of how their idiom has insinuated
itself into the English. "I can get along so," ich kann so fort
kiimma; "this will not go so," des geht so net, and similar ex-
pressions are very common. The adverb then, as frequently
heard, is also a Germanism. "Well, then, you may go," well,
donn, magst du geha ;" "can you read then, too?" konscht du
don aw lesaf
While these influences may be of a doubtful character, there
are others which the Pennsylvania Germans have brought to
bear on their neighbors that are of unquestionable benefit. Thus,
for illustration, have they taught others by precept and example,
industry and economy. Laziness is discarded by these people to
such an extent that no one is tolerated among them who will not
work. Even the intellectual laborer is sometimes not in the best
repute among them, unless he is willing, at times, to "lay his
hand to the plow." Book agents, drummers, and even profession-
al men find it greatly to their advantage, when they attempt to
transact business among the Pennsylvania Germans, to give a
specimen of their ability to work.
The farmer's wife and daughters exhibit specimens of their
industry at the annual fair. One of the interesting features of
the eastern Pennsylvania fairs is the needle- work, jellies, pre-
esrves, butters, canned fruits, wines, bread,, cakes, pies and vari-
ous other articles displayed. In the homes of these women
may be found similar exhibits. Their garrets and otherwise
unoccupied rooms are filled with large rolls of home-made rag
carpet, bags of schnits and other dried fruits, crocks of apple-
butter, clothing and underclothing of the most substantial kind,
bed-quilts, sheeting, pillow-cases, stockings, gloves, and in olden
times, home-spun and home-made fabrics of all descriptions
enough to last the family for years. In the cellar pickles, sour-
krout, pickled-cabbage, mince-meat and other articles of diet
are stored away in abundance. Besides this the house from
<:ellar to attic is kept scrupulously clean. No dirt nor dust is
allowed to accumulate on window-panes, stairways, floors or fur-
niture. The house is washed out several times a week and
swept and dusted daily. The beds are not infested with vermin.
PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS 34/
nor the clothes permitted to become moth-eaten. The Pennsyl-
vania German women are not only seen on their knees in their
devotions, but when scrubbing, sweeping and dusting, which
constitutes also part of their worship, an article of their faith
being that "cleanliness is next to Godliness," or better that "labor
is worship," or better still "in the sweat of the face shalt thou
eat thy bread." Their examples of industry are not without ef-
fect on those who came in contact with them.
Among the many improvements made by the German popula-
tion of Pennsylvania, in late years, that of erecting school and
church edifices deserves mention. In the city of Allentown,
perhaps the most intensely German city in the State, have been
erected no less than five or six of the finest and most substantial
school buildings that can be seen anywhere outside of the largest
cities. It is, indeed, a question whether any city of equal size in
this country has better school buildings and accommodations than
Allentown. Nowhere in the United States are so many educa-
tional institutions to be found within the same area as in eastern
Pennsylvania. Lafayette College, at Easton ; Lehigh University
and the Moravian Female Seminary, at Bethlehem ; Muhlenberg
College and the Female College, at Allentown ; the Keystone
Normal School, at Kutztown ; Franklin and Marshall College,
at Lancaster; the Millers vil'le Normal School; Lebanon Valley
College, at Annville ; Pennsylvania College, at Gettysburg ; Dick-
inson College, at Carlisle; the West Chester Normal School, the
Bloomsburg Normal School ; the Cumberland Valley Normal
School, at Shippensburg ; Lewisburg University ; Palatinate Col-
lege, at Myerstown, are all located either in German counties or
receive their patronage largely from the German districts. Many
of these institutions were built by the money of Pennsylvania
Germans.
The many beautiful and costly church edifices which have been
built in the rural districts of German Pennsylvania, as well as
in the towns and cities, in the last twenty-five years, are an
abundant proof of the liberality and progressiveness of this
people. Nowhere in the whole country are so many church
buildings found of equal size, so well built and furnished, and
better attended services. These churches are mostly built of
brick or stone, have high and well proportioned steeples, are
carpeted and have improved furniture and large pipe-organs.
348 pe;nnsylvania Germans
The manufacturing interests and public improvements on this
territory are scarcely exceeded by those of any other territory
of equal size. The iron industries, from the mining of the ore
to the manufacturing of almost any article, into which iron is
capable of being manufactured, are simply immense. Lehigh,
Berks, and other German counties are literally honey-combed with
ore-beds. The number of blast-furnaces from Easton to Harris-
burg is counted by the score, while the rolling-mills and other
iron manufactories are equally numerous. These, however, con-
stitute but one branch of the industries found on this territory.
The manufacture of hats, shoes, tobacco, silk, furniture, clothing,
paper, cotton goods, etc., is extensively carried on and gives em-
ployment to the surplus population not engaged in agricultural
pursuits, as well as afifording development for their inventive
genius. These external evidences of progress and improvement
are but the index of an internal growth which is constantly going
on. While it is true as is sometimes asserted, in disparagement
of the Pennsylvania Germans, that none of their descendants have
ever occupied the bench as judge of the Supreme Court, it is
equally true that almost every other position of prominence, from
Governor of the State to President of the United States, has been
filled by representatives of this people, and not only this, but
that for all the learned professions, as well as the different posi-
tions of trust and responsibility, they have furnished not only
creditable but distinguished representatives during the present
century.
While Judge Jeremiah Black, Hon. Simon Cameron and Presi-
dent James Buchanan may not be ranked among the full-blooded
Pennsylvania Germans, these distinguished individuals have al-
ways claimed to have sprung from this people from their mother's
side, or to have German blood coursing in their veins. On the
'Other hand such men as Dr. Gross, Dr. Leidy, the eminent
surgeon, Dr. Krauth, one of the first theologians of the country,
the Doctors Schmucker, John Wanamaker, and a dozen of other
prominent personages are Pennsylvania Germans "to the manor
born." Many of the rising men on the bench, at the bar, in the
pulpit, in the practice of medicine, in science and the profes-
sional chair, at this day, are Pennsylvania Germans who are
proud of their nationality and the language of their mothers.
GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT 349
It is worthy of mention in this connection, that, whereas this
people twenty-five years ag-o had not a single representative on
the bench, they now have no less than a dozen who are an honor
to any nationality. The presiding judges of Northampton, Le-
high, Carbon, Berks, Schuylkill, Lebanon, Union, Montgomery,
Centre, Somerset, Clearfield, Clinton and other judicial districts
of the State may be named in this connection.
The Bachmans, Knechts, Riegels, Hindenachs, Fackenthals,
Houpts, Deemers, Laubachs, and others here in Durham, are
praiseworthy examples of the Pennsylvania German element.
General Ulysses S. Grant.
BY ALFRED PASCHALL, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Durham Cave Meeting, July 28, 1SS5).
The death of General Grant cannot be called a local historical
event, though he is connected with some of our older families ;
but it seems to me that, at this moment, with the nation standing
at his bier, it is not inappropriate for the Bucks County Historical
Society to bestow at least a passing notice upon the event, and
at this meeting, between the death and burial of our most il-
lustrious citizens, to briefly contemplate his character and actions.
It matters nothing to the deeds General Grant did, or the
results he accomplished, what immediate spot was his birth-place,
where his earlier years were spent or whence he sprung. Neither
is it of importance as to his blood kin or his family connections.
The lessons of his life are apart from these. Influenced in
various degrees by surrounding circumstances, as other men's
lives are, and of interest to his fellow citizens as connected with
General Grant, the facts of his birth and life, together with his
associations, have been recounted hundreds of times, and are
familiar events with all. They will be retold to unborn genera-
tions, as are those of many other eminent men of the past, for
the lesso'ns they contain and for the encouragement they hold
out, and they will serve their purpose and exert a helpful in-
fluence upon the characters of those who study them.
Here, to-day, we go not into the history of these events, further
than they are shown by the character of the man whom the
world has delighted to honor, and whose death the people of
350 GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT
the United States deplore as a national calamity. Educated
a soldier, Grant would have remained in obscurity, even after
some experience, save for the great civil war. Entering the
army at an early date, Captain Grant rapidly rose to eminence,
and ere three years had passed away, had clearly demonstrated
that he was possessed of the soundest military judgment, discre-
tion, prudence and an indomitable will, coupled with tireless in-
dustry. He was accustomed to form his own opinions after a
patient and careful examination of all the circumstances, in any
given case, and once formed his judgment was rarely if ever
altered. His determination to fight a campaign to the finish
upon the lines he had marked down has become a proverbial
expression with his fellow countrymen both in and out of mili-
tary life. Coupled with this force of character was the utmost
simplicity. The personification of integrity and open hearted-
ness, he trusted his fellow men, and did not look for traits in them
which were foreign to his own nature. In his army experience
he seldom failed in securing the hearty co-operation and sup-
port of his subordinates^ and the complete and successful carry-
ing out of his views and plans was thus accomplished. The
ultimate results of General Grant's work in the army were the
fall of Richmond, and the suppression of the Rebellion. It is
not impossible that other generals might have succeeded in at-
taining this end. The army of the Union was backed by men,
money and materials in excess of the army of the Confederacy
and both had able officers in numbers. Still General Grant
succeeded where others had failed. He took Richmond and
from the time he was placed in command of the Union forces
until the day of Lee's surrender, there were no backward steps
taken. For the result thus attained the people hailed Grant as
the saviour of the Republic, and nothing more natural could have
occurred than his selection to govern the Nation he had fought
to preserve.
The period embraced in Grant's administration, when President,
will be the portion of his public life which will be considered
the least successful. Thoroughly upright himself, and trusting
other men to be the same, he was entirely without experience
in matters of state craft, and his civic appointments were not
made with the judgment that should have been exercised. It
G£;ne;raL ULYSSES S. GRANT 351
was at a very critical and delicate point in the history of the
Nation, when General Grant occupied tlie Presidential chair, and
hence mistaken appointments probably wrought more harm than
they would at some other period. Then again the habit of form-
ing his own opinions as to men, and adhering to them was of
great disadvantage in the Executive office, as it had previously
proven beneficial in the army. President Grant, with all his
mistakes and imperfections did his best, however, as an honest
but unqualified man in the Presidential chair, and while future
historians will not mark the two terms of administration, to
which he was called by an enthusiastic and grateful people, as
"successful," I believe that General Grant's personal character
will at all times stand forth as clear and bright at the close of
his official terms as when he laid down the sword to assume
the Presidency, and that for his official mistakes the verdict will
be that they were all from the most honest intentions.
Perhaps the most remarkable journey on record is the trip
of Mr. Grant, a private citizen, around the world. The victorious
commander of one of the largest and finest armies modern times
have known, and immediately after the close of hostilities twice
elected ruler of the most prosperous Nation on the face of the
earth, Mr. Grant visited the leading countries of the globe and
was received by princes and potentates of the earth, with the
pomp and circumstance of a royal visitor. Entertained by rulers
and cities, formally welcomed in every land, facilities for travel
and observation never before accorded any man extended to
him, his trip treated as a national event by the press of the
world, Mr. Grant returned to his home a plain, unpretending
American citizen, unspoiled by adulation. Just here occurred
the event which has been so deplored of many — his allowing the
use of his name in connection with the Presidential nomination.
This in the light of subsequent events can now clearly be ascrib-
ed to his implicit trust in those whom he believed to be his
friends. It was regarded by many at the time as a manifesta-
tion of weak vanity, or an undue ambition to the highest position
in the land, but later developments seem to have made it more
probable that designing politicians, under cover of friendship
to serve their own purposes, influenced the ex-President to allow
his name to go before the convention, and backed up their as-
352 GijNERAiv uIvYsse;s s. grant
sertions of the public's desire for his return to his former high
office by pointing to the magnificent receptions accorded him on
his return to the United States.
After the grand triumph, comes the sad side of our hero's
life. Unaccustomed to business transactions he entrusted his
money and affairs to those in whom he believed. These failed
him in a most dishonorable manner, as every one knows, and
the result was a broken down and poverty stricken old man,
through no fault of his own, save only a simple integrity which
did not understand crookedness, and a paternal desire to help
his sons. Anxious that no loss might accrue to any one, even
indirectly, through him, the General sacrificed all he had and made
whole every dollar for which he was in the remotest degree
responsible. Broken in health, troubled in mind and with age
creeping on. General Grant accepted a restoration to his old
rank, and went upon the retired list of the army last spring,
after enjoying power, position, wealth and honors in as high
degree as the public could bestow.
Suffering for the past nine months from a painful and surely
fatal malady General Grant's best manhood has been apparent.
Knowing what was before him he has done his best. Resigned
to the wishes of his family and physicians, he has worked at
his memoirs when able and when suffering too severely, has
borne his pain with Christian fortitude and a soldier's bravery.
After a long and most suffering illness he at last succumbed
and the vital spark passed away on the 23d of July, 1885. Un-
complaining, and conscious nearly to the last, the end was
quiet and peaceful, surrounded by his family and his faithful
doctors and nurses. With the lapse of time, and the errors of
judgment into which General Grant fell in the various capacities
of officer and citizen, will be to a great degree forgotten, and
his character will stand forth clearly portrayed as the greatest
general of the age, an upright Executive, a modest citizen and
a brave man.
How shall we rank thee upon glory's page
Thou more than soldier and just less than sage —
Shall it be as a warrior flushed with fame?
Shall it be as a statesman only in name?
No, we prefer to rank thee high as we can
And write thee a brave, generous, honest, kindly man.
Colonial Estates.
BY COL. THEODORE W. BEAN, NORRISTOWN, PA.
(New Britain Meeting, October 27, 1885,)
The proprietary or colonial government of Pennsylvania from
1682 to 1776 seems to have been of a peaceful and conservative
character. All nations and tongues and kindred were here cor-
dially invited to unite in their efforts to form and administer a
system of government that would secure to mankind the measure
of human happiness believed to be incident to the province of
life. Peaceful relations with the aborigines were first secured.
On the banks of the Delaware, at a point marked by a great
elm tree, the founder of the colony surrounded by a few judicious
followers, met in council a large delegation of the Lenni Lenape
tribes. "We meet in good faith and good will ; no advantage
shall be taken on either side, but all shall be openness and love.
We are the same as if one man's body were to be divided into
two parts, we are all one flesh and blood.'' The response was
natural — "We will live in love with you and your children as
long as the moon and the sun shall endure." This covenant
of peace and amity had neither signature, seal nor oath to con-
firm it. No record of it can be found. The sons of the wilder-
ness, returning to their forest homes, preserved the history of
the great event by strings of wampum, and later generations
would count over the shells on a clean piece of bark, and repeat
to child and stranger the magic words of "peace and good will."
Honorable peace with the natives gave to all a sense of per-
manent security. Contentment and interest in the colony were
inspired by assuring to a taxpaying citizenship a participation in
making laws to govern themselves. The people responded
promptly to the privilege, and through their representatives en-
tered upon the w^ork of preparatory legislation at Chester, and
in a session of three days completed a form of government. By
the joint act of the people and the proprietary all were united
on the basis of equal rights. The rule of equality in descent
and- inheritance was secured in families by abrogating the laws
12
354 COLONIAL ESTATES
of primogeniture. The standard of woman was raised to an in-
heritable person in the distribution of all intestate estates. Every
resident who paid "scot and lot to the Governor" possessed the
right of suffrage, and every Christian was eligible to public of-
fice. No tax or custom could be levied or collected but by law,
murder was the only crime punishable by death, marriage was
declared a civil contract, every prison for convicts was made a
work-house, there were neither poor rates nor church tithes. The
Swedes, Finns, Dutch, and all men of whatever nation were in-
vested with the liberty of Englishmen. It was a bold depart-
ure in a right direction, keenly appreciated by the newly en-
franchised men, and led to open exclamations of joy by many
leading spirits, among them Lawrence Cook, who declared for
his fellow citizens, "that it was the best day they had ever seen."
The birth of popular power and the institution of forms of
government demanded by it imposed the duty of dislodging the
prejudice and superstition lurking in many minds. The estab-
lishment of "an asylum for the oppressed of every nation" was
an invitation to the children of misfortune of every clime to
seek refuge in it. Adventurers came in throngs, demanding
personal license in the name of public liberty. The mass of
emigrants came with minds clouded by the gloomy terrors of
an invisible world of attending fiends. Witchcraft found ad-
vocacy and belief, and demanded the arrest and trial of a com-
mon scold in the person of a woman. The event was important
and the scene memorable. Penn presided as judge ; the jury was
carefully selected, the Quakers outnumbered the Swedes. The
nature of the accusation was carefully considered, the witnesses
were patiently examined, the jury received the charge of the
court, and after mature deliberation returned the following ver-
dict: "The prisoner is guilty of the common fame of being a
witch, but not guilty as she stands indicted." The personal
friends of the liberated but incorrigible scold were directed to
enter into bonds that she should keep the peace and be of good
behavior towards all good citizens, and from that day henceforth
in the colony of Pennsylvania witchcraft became an extinct of-
fense. The sinful arts of conjuration were obscured, if not
eradicated, by this public trial and "neither demon nor hag ever
rode through air on goat or broom-stick," in the presence of
a Quaker judge or jury thereafter.
COLONIAI, ESTATES 355
The political freedom of the colonists induced frequent modi-
fications in their form of government. The Council and Assem-
bly were in session in the spring of 1683. Addressing them in
reference to the form of government, Pennsaid, "You may amend,
alter, or add ; I am ready to settle such form or additions as
may be for your happiness." The question before them was
"whether to have the old charter or a new one." A new one
was adopted and approved by the Governor of the province. By
this charter the Provincial Council was to consist of eighteen
persons, three from each county, and the Assembly of thirty-six
persons "of most note for virtue, wisdom and ability." The
laws were to be prepared and proposed by the Governor and
Council, and the number of Assemblymen to be increased at their
own pleasure.
The popular branch of the Legislature had no power to orig-
inate laws or measures, but could negative or defeat those pro-
posed by the Governor and Council. It was soon discovered that
an elective Assembly,v representing a large constituency, was un-
satisfied with the exercise of a negative power. Discussions were
frequent and animated. This led to conferences with the Coun-
cil and the Governor ; the associated wisdom of the many became
manifest, and the privilege of suggesting measures was conceded
to the Assemblymen. In return, they conferred upon the Govern-
or the power to negative measures proposed by the Council. In
the light of experience, it would seem to have been better to re-
pose the veto power in the Executive, granting to the most pop-
ular branch of the Assembly power to originate all laws for the
public welfare. As modified in 1683, the colonial government
continued until 1696. Having established the colony upon prin-
ciples of constitutional freedom, Penn confided the executive
power to Thomas Lloyd, an eminent Quaker, and in the month
of July, 1684, returned to England. Commentators concur in
reporting serious dissensions among those vested with the power
of government. The trouble was mainly due to the distinction
between the proprietary interests and those of the common people.
In August, 1684, the province contained eight thousand souls ;
over these Penn had established a democracy, while his great
landed interests made him a feudal sovereign. Bancroft de-
clares, "The two elements in the government were incompatible,
356 COLONIAL ESTATES
and for ninety years the civil history of Pennsylvania is but an
account of the jarring of the opposing interests, to which there
could be no happy issue but in popular independence." Sher-
man Day says, "The different authorities did not support each
other as they should have done ; there was constant bickering
between the legislative and the executive, and between the mem-
bers from the 'territories' and those of the province." The 'ter-
ritories' or what subsequently became the state of Delaware were
a source of solicitude to Penn, and the representatives from them
were generally hostile to the proprietary interests.
The third frame of government was adopted in 1696, and
continued in force until 1700. Meantime Penn returned to his
colony and applied himself diligently to a further modification
of the government and in securing unity in the administration
of the laws. The Assembly met in extra session in May, and
again in October, 1700. A new charter or frame of government
and a new code of laws were submitted. After long and bitter
discussion both were adopted. The charter continued in force
until the separation of the province from Great Britain, 1776.
No longer was said, "God Save the King," but thenceforth it
was "God Save the Commonwealth."
The foundation was laid in the first intestate law for the re-
storation and equalization of estates, long lost to the great ma-
jority of the human family. It is only by historical contrasts
that we learn the most valuable lessons taught by time ; and only
when we realize that, for thousands of years prior to 1682, the
earth's great estates were inherited by the eldest male heir, to
the exclusion of younger brothers and all sisters ; and only in
the absence of male issue did the female issue inherit at all, and
then all females, i. e., daughters, in common, that the estate would
the more certainly pass to the next male issue, it is, we repeat,
only when we realize the effect of such an exclusive landed
aristocracy, that we fully appreciate the great changes wrought
"by William Penn and his coadjutors, when, by a plain and simple
law, they equalized the inheritance of all mankind in the colony,
thus creating new or "colonial estates" for all second and sub-
sequent sons and all daughters.
This enactment was among the most remarkable and provident
in the history of the colony or commonwealth. Its adoption was
COLONIAL ESTATES 357
secured by earnest efifort, and not until a double share was pro-
vided for the eldest son was the work consummated. We beHeve
this to be the first instance in the history of the world when, by
legislative enactment, the right of inheritance was equalized.
Special instances, by reason of kingly power or prerogative or
by local custom, may be cited where the laws of primogeniture
were suspended, but they are exceptional and only serve to prove
the general rule referred to.
The law of equal inheritance, as enacted 1682-3, was the log-
ical and succeeding step to that taken by the Great Commoners
of England when they fixed the right of dower in Magna Char-
ta as a legal estate ; prior to which dozvcry, as distinguished from
doivcr, was the gift of the husband, a matter of favor or caprice
and was all the wife expected or received.
The intestate law, as originally enacted, gave to the eldest son
a double portion or share. This clause was soon repealed, and
practically with this modification the law has continued in force
to this day. So firmly was the principle of equal inheritance
anchored in the popular will of the people of the colony that it
has been doomed absolutely safe as secured by law, without
a constitutional guarantee, although three constitutional conven-
tions have been held since the first intestate laws were adopted.
Additional "estates" have resulted from this colonial legisla-
tion of equal importance, as seen in the "separate estates" of
married women, under the general act of Assembly of 1848, by
the provisions of which a married woman can retain and control
her own property, unaffected by the fortunes and misfortunes
of her husband. The history of this famous act, and the adju-
dications of it by our courts of last resort, if fully and truly
written, would be read with great advantage by the people whose
interests are affected by it. It is safe to say that the judiciary
supported by a conservative and ecclesiastical sentiment, was
hostile to the innovation and released the husband's hold upon the
wife's property with painful reluctance. Chief Justice Black
was the evil genius of the period, and by a line of decisions de-
feated the clear intendments of the law for at least twenty-five
years subsequent to its enactment. But thanks to Chief Justice
Agnew, and later to Justice Trunkey, who have practically re-
versed the court as constituted and controlled by Black, we are
358 COLONIAL ESTATES
now almost back to where we were under the first adjudication
of the act. So absokitely is the wife's property secured to her
now, by the law as judicially construed, that she may loan her
separate estate or money to her husband, and if he fails to honor
the debt, or if he becomes embarrassed financially, he may pre-
fer her as a creditor by confessing a judgment to her, for money
borrowed, upon which she may issue execution and sell his es-
tate by the sheriff. This was the legal sequence of the act of
1848, and in effect was so held by the court in Cumming's Ap-
peal, Jones p. 272, the first case adjudicated, and where a married
woman was declared a feme sole. But the idea of a wife having
the sole power to direct legal proceedings against her husband,
and if necessary to sell his estate by the sheriff, was beyond the
comprehension of Judge Black, and in his judgment was not to
be tolerated, and if such pretensions were claimed by the people
who made the law they must be thwarted. A reference to the
judicial dicta of the court, as it construed the law in 1849, Chief
Justice Gibson presiding, and under Chief Justice Black at a
later period, and again, under the regime of Chief Justice Ag-
new, will illustrate the point as well as a volume.
In Cummings' x-Vppeal the court says "By that act a married
woman must hereafter be considered a feme sole in regard to
any estate, of whatever name or sort, owned by her before mar-
riage, or which shall accrue to her during coverture, by will,
descent, deed of conveyance or otherwise. The act works a
radical change in the condition of femes covert," opinion by Rog-
ers, J. In Bear's Administrators vs. Bear, 33 St. Rps., page
523, 1859, the court says, per Strong, J., delivering the opinion
and following the dicta of C. J. Black, in Keeny vs. Good, "It
is a radical mistake to suppose that the act intended to convert
the wife into a feme sole, so far as relates to her property. That
is impossible while she is to continue to discharge the duties of
a wife." In Williams' Appeal, 47 St. Rps., page 307, Agnew,
C. J., said, "Here is a judgment admitted to be unobjectionable
in point of honesty, given by a husband to secure his wife's sep-
arate estate. We are asked, in a cjuestion of distribution, to pro-
nounce it void upon the legal fiction that they are one in law.
The proposition is shocking to any but the mind of a black letter
lawyer, and is to be denied if it can be resisted by any proper
legal principle. Unless we must, why should we go back to a
COLONIAL ESTATES 359
period when legal logic, like this of the schools, was so meta-
physical that rights were subservient to technicahty and sub-
stance' to form? Centuries were consumed in the slow process
of legal parturition, giving birth to the benign features of the
act of 1848, securing the separate estate of married women."
In Rose vs. Lathshow, 90 Pa. St. Rps., page 238, opinion by
Trunkey, J., 1879, Mrs. Rose issued execution against her hus-
band and sold his personal property. The court below, following
the dicta of Black, held this proceeding to be illegal. The Su-
preme Court, however, following the departure of Agnew, in
Williams' Appeal, reversed the court below and said, "When it
was judicially declared that a judgment given by a husband to his
wife to secure her separate estate is not void at law or equity,
because of the legal unity of the parties, a principle was settled
which entitled the plaintiff (Mrs. Rose) to recover. The equity
doctrine which sustains conveyances and gifts to her by her hus-
band without the intervention of a trustee, recognizes her personal
existence, and is not an invasion of the true principle of unity con-
sequent upon marriage. Two persons are united, but it is not
true that the identity of one is lost. We have taken no account
of the foreboded ills to follow a decision that a wife's execution
in a judgment against her husband is not a nullity. The common-
wealth is none the worse for the advanced legislation in secur-
ing married women in the ownership and enjoyment of their
property, and will not be hurt if they are allowed process for
collecting money honestly due them. An insolvent debtor may
exhaust his means in payment of a favored creditor, and he may
confess judgment to that creditor, and all his property be seized
in satisfaction thereof. This has been the law, and now that the
statute (1848) secures the wife her separate estate, when the
husband owes her, he may rightfully give her the preference."
A review of the logical results of our "Colonial Estates," and
the consequent enlargement and betterment of the condition of
secured and subsequent sons and all daughters, is comprehen-
sively epitomized in the census of 1880, part II pp. 1368-9. We
quote some selected statistical references to employments to show
in the ordinary nature of things the compensation, influence and
independence resulting from them, which tend to illustrate the
judicial wisdom of cutting up by the roots the obsolete common
360 COLONIAL ESTATES
law folly that man and wife are one in property, and that the
personal identity of the wife is lost in marriage.
Whole number of adults engaged in professional and
penal service in the United States 4,074,238
Males 2,712,943
Females 1,361,295
We will enumerate a few of the classes of pursuits in which
the daughters of the country are named:
Clergymen 1 65
Lawyers 75
Physicians and Surgeons 2,432
Artists and Teachers of Art 2,061
Officials of Government 2, 172
Journalists 288
Employees of Government 3, 168
Musicians, Professional and Teachers of Music 13,182
Actors 1 , 820
Architects . . 17
Authors and Lecturers 320
Chemists, Assayers and Metallurgists 48
Clerks in Government Offices i ,976
Collectors and Claim Agents 26
Designers, Draughtsman and Inventors 56
Sextons 14
Watchmen and Private Detectives 14
Bankers and Brokers in Money and Stocks 68
Teachers and Scientific Persons 154-375
In the commercial and industrial pursuits the capitalized in-
dividuality of women is still more forcibly marked as by refer-
ence to the authority referred to will be seen.
It should not be a matter of historical amazement that women
have become professional and capitaHzed factors in the census
reports of the country. For two hundred years and more she
has inherited one-half of all the broad acres of the land, and
one-half of all the billions upon billions of personal property
that is divided share and share alike at the close of every gen-
eration. With equal educational advantages, with enlarged ca-
pabilities, newly created ambitions and a consciousness of the
power of capital, she naturally moves forward with the propul-
sive forces of the age and country.
It requires neither sage nor prophet to foretell the near ap-
proach of the period when her disenthrallment in the republic
mt UARLY CLOCK-MAKURS 361
will be complete, when the pulpit, the bar and the clinic will be as
free to her as it has been to the more favored, and we will add
the more brutal of mankind. The present and contemplated
future is no conception, induced by peculiar notions upon the sub-
ject. It is the result of a cause, and whether it be for weal or
woe, is inevitable, since by the law of the land we have declared
the right of all to equal inheritance ; as well attempt to hold
back the secured and subsequent sons as the sisters in the race
of life in the great republic of the world.
''Colonial Estates" are now state and national, and the world
is all the better for it. It is a movement responsive to Christian
civilization, and in consonance with the benediction of the Creator
upon the created. "And God said unto fhciii (not him) have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
The Early Clock-Makers.*
BY CAPT. JOHN S. BAILKY, BUCKINGHAM, PA.
(New Britain Meeting, October 27, 18S5.)
In looking over the old wills of a century ago, or even later, it
is not unusual to find a bequest of the clock to some member of
the family, with the view of retaining it among the descendants.
Thus the old fashioned high clock (grand-father's-clock) has be-
come the grand heirloom and is handed down for generations.
The early inventories disclose the fact that a valuation of from
$60 to $100 was placed upon them.
Our first clocks were brought from England ; and as the de-
mand for clocks increased, clock-makers settled in Philadelphia
and commenced manufacturing about 1720. Some thirty years
later, a number of German and English clock-makers settled
in the counties around Philadelphia, and the manufacture of
clocks became an important industry in our county.
There are probably 1,700 old high clocks within our county at
the present time, or one to each forty inhabitants. It is also
* The proceedings of the Montgomery County Historical Society, Vol. i, page 187,
contain an interesting paper by Moses Auge, on the "Clock and Watchmakers of
Montgomery County." Mr. Auge also made a short address on the .same subject, at the
joint meeting of the Montgomery and Bucks Societies held at Ambler Park, June 10, 1886.
362 THE EARLY CIvOCK-MAKERS
estimated that as many more have been sent out of the county
and otherwise disposed of during the last forty years, making-
at least 3,500 that were made by our early clock-makers.
An enterprising clock-maker of to-day could doubtless take
an order to make and deliver that many clocks in a year, but
when we take into consideration the condition and wants of our
colonists and the citizens of the new republic, together with the
meagre and imperfect tools then in use, great credit should be
given to our early clock-makers.
One of the earliest and best known clock-makers was Joseph
Ellicot, of Buckingham, born Eighth-month 8th, 1732; son of
Andrew Ellicot and Ann Bye, the latter a daughter of Thomas
and Margaret Bye, from St. Mary's parish, England. Ellicot's
clocks bear his name with the number and "Buckingham," al-
though it cannot be ascertained that he lived in the township. Gen-
eral Davis, in his History of Bucks County, says "Joseph was a
genius in mechanics, to which he was devoted from boyhood.
About 1760, he made, at his home, in Solebury, a repeating watch,
without instruction, which he took to England, in 1766, where it
was much admired and gained him great attention. After his
return, in 1769, he made a four-faced musical clock, the wonder
of the times, which played twenty-four tunes and combined
wonderful and delicate movements." This clock is now in Al-
bany, New York. Joseph made about 300 clocks and died in
1780.
Andrew Ellicot, son of Joseph, was born in 1754, and was also
a clock and mathematical instrument maker, and became one
of the most noted citizens of our county and country. He was
surveyor-general of the United States, in 1792, and adjusted the
line between the United States and Spain in 1796. "He laid out
the towns of Erie, Warren and Franklin, in this State, and was
the first to make accurate measurements of Niagara Falls ; was
also consulting engineer in laying out the city of Washington,
and completed the work which Major L'Enfant planned; he
was secretary of the land-office, located at Lancaster, Pa., in
1802, and in a letter to Colonel Wall, of Bucks county, he speaks
of his astronomical observations made while absent on the Flor-
ida line, and how the same would be published in the transac-
tions of the Philosophical Society, and of the great pleasure he
CAPT. JOHN S. BAII^EY.
Born April lo, 1835 ; died August 17, 1903. Archaeologist, antiquarian and maker of sun-dials.
In his workshop at Buckingham, 1901.
THE EARLY CLOCK-MAKERS 363
would experience in a visit to his old friends of Bucks, but that
â– weight of official business had for years past and would
probably for years to come prevent him from enjoying that sat-
isfaction." He was appointed professor of mechanics at West
Point, in 1812, where he died in 1820.
Hilltown furnished a noted maker about 1760, and some of
our best clocks bear the name of Benjamin Morris, who was a
descendant of English Friends. His son Enos also learned the
trade and followed it a short time, then studied law and was
admitted to the bar in 1780. Benjamin made nearly 300 clocks.
Solomon Parke, another famous maker, commenced the man-
ufacture of clocks at Newtown, the county-seat in colonial days,
and continued to make them for many years thereafter. A
number of his clocks are found in New Jersey, perhaps more
than of any other Bucks county maker. From the number of
clocks bearing his name, together with their quality, yet re-
maining in the county, he must have been a very popular me-
chanic. His name upon a clock face gives a partial recommen-
dation as to the movements in the rear.
Henry Wismer was an important manufacturer, having made
more clocks than any other maker. He lived in Plumstead, on
the Durham road, about one mile above Gardenville, and em-
ployed several workmen. He commenced about the close of
the last century and continued to manufacture until a short time
before his death, which occurred in Canada, near Lake Ontario,
in 1728. Most of his clocks bear his name, with the initials
B. C. for the county, omitting the township. Brass shavings
are yet found on the site of his old shop.
Hugh Ely, son of Joshua, who was a grandson of Joshua,
who came from England, in 1685, appeared in the business in the
beginning of this century, at New Hope. He made four clocks —
one of them for the almshouse of this county. Another was a
musical clock for his brother Asher, which played the old famil-
iar tunes of Yankee Doodle, Nancy Dawson and the Beggar
Girl. The musical parts now find rest within the walls of a tin
pan stowed away in the garret, while the clock calmly pursues
its work minus the same.
Gotshalk, of New Britain, about 1760, William Maus, of Hill-
town, and Septimus Evans, of Warwick, about 1810 were makers
of several clocks each.
364 THE EARI^Y CLOCK-MAKERS
The name of Solliday was identified with our early clock-mak-
ers for three quarters of a century; Jacob of Bedminster, was a
maker at the close of the Revolution, and with his son Peter still
pursued his occupation as late as 1807.
Benjamin, a brother of Jacob, conducted the business in Rock-
hill, near Sellersville, and made a great many clocks. His son
George also manufactured clocks, but mainly in Montgomery
county.
Samuel, another son of Benjamin, served an apprenticeship,
and in connection with his business as jeweler, at Doylestown,
constructed five clocks of a superior character. This was about
^^33' by which time small clocks had made their appearance.
They were cheap and the demand for high clocks ceased. Short-
ly after this Samuel moved to New Hope, where for nearly a
half century he has been known as a lumber and coal dealer,
in connection with his business as jeweler and repairer of clocks
and watches. Within the past week he, (the last of the line of
our early clock-makers), was laid to rest at Doylestown, near
the scene of his early work, at the age of nearly four score years.
John N. Solliday, who died in 1881, near Point Pleasant, made
a number of clocks, and was considered one of the best makers
of his time. About 1830 he made an extra fine musical clock
for a neighbor in Tinicum, which played three tunes. The old
man kept it in running order until 1880, when this elegant piece
of workmanship not excelled in this country or abroad, was sold,
and it now adorns a gentleman's hall in New York city.
There also existed amateur clock-makers, who would make
one or more time pieces, have their name upon the face and then
cease. Jewelers, not manufacturers, would also make sales for
the makers and have their own names placed upon the faces ; so
it does not always follow that the name upon the dial in every
case designates the maker's name.
Our early artificers used great precision and mathematical
genius in the construction of their work. For hundreds of years
clocks had been rude and irregular, but after the application of
the pendulum, discovered by Huyghens or Galileo, they became
more accurate, and improvements were continually added. Among
these the snail is the more prominent. By this device the works
for striking were less complicated and converted the clock into
THE EARLY CLOCK-MAKERS 365
a repeater, always striking the hour as the hands pointed. Thus
by a cord attached to a small lever, or dog, in the clock, running
from thence to the bed-room, any hour of the night could be
ascertained by a slight pull.
Occasionally clock movements were sent over from England
ready to put together. The moon and monthly wheels were
principally made at Birmingham, England. The painting and
enameling of moons and faces, together with the engraving of
brass faces, were done mainly in Philadelphia by regular artists
and engravers. The twenty-four hour clocks were furnished
with a chain and one weight and rarely with moons, while the
eight-day movements have two weights, and as extras, in addi-
tions to the moons, the long-sweep second hand, a weekly calen-
dar and sometimes quarter-hour bells in striking.
It is not generally known that the moon wheel is arranged
with two moons on its surface, so that as one sets behind the
hemisphere another rises on the opposite side, and that there are
fifty-nine teeth on the outer edge or rim of each half of the wheel.
As the socket Of the hour hand revolves around the face twice
in 24 hours, it engages each time with a tooth of the moon wheels
which in 29^^ days carries the moon through its lunation. A
lunar month is 44 minutes longer than ' the time made
by the clock, hence in one year the clock has lost eight hours,
or in three years it loses one day, and the moon-wheel should
be set forward accordingly. This ingenious contrivance has
been in use for centuries.
The clock cases were made by cabinet-makers, who exhibited
great skill and fine workmanship. Our native woods, walnut,
cherry and maple, were generally used, yet many mahogany cases
were made and some handsomely inlaid.
Some clock-makers furnished sun-dials, which served as time
keepers. The Gnomon shadow indicated the time of day, being
parallel to the axis of the earth. They were often made of
cast-iron but more frequently of lead, the mould being made of
soap-stone or sometimes of wood, which was easily worked.
They were constructed for a perpendicular or horizontal position,
being placed against the side of a building or on a post con-
venient for observation ; different latitudes required a difference
in the lines of the dial. Paul Preston, of Buckingham, an asso-
ciate of Franklin, a great mathematician, was a dial maker.
366 THE EARLY CLOCK-MAKERS
On the advent of the Yankee clock, the small size and price
depressed the old clock-makers' business, and the old clock with
its great tall case ceased to be made; but while thousands of
the cheap clocks have long since passed away, the early clock-
makers' work still exists, and in many instances, although con-
stantly running for a century or more, they show little signs of
wear.
So when we review our history, as artisans or mechanics,
for the last century or longer, omitting the clock-making of a
recent date by Louis Spellier, of Doylestown, there has been no
such artistic handicraft displayed within our county as that
performed by our early clock-makers.
During a period of thirty years froiii 1840 to 1870. the high
clock passed through a crisis. Hundreds were sold for a trifle
and many, on account of size and trouble in moving, were broken
and the works sold as scrap. An instance is related of an
extra fine mahogany case, with fine movements, being sold at
auction, in 1872, for twenty-five cents. The clock had fallen
on its face some twenty years before, which disarranged its works.
It was taken to the garret, where the mason wasps used the
case and works for nests. Forty-eight hours' work reclaimed its
originality and fifty dollars were made by the operation. A
woman sold an old clock for a trifle, as it took up so much room ;
it passed through several hands and finally she desired its re-
turn. It now graces the old corner of its early days, at a hand-
some advance in price. A gentleman lost sight of his great-
grand-father's clock and employed a party to look it up. It was
traced to the woods of Wisconsin, was re-purchased and re-
turned, at great expense, and the old relic now serves its owner
.as a reminder of his ancestors, as every Saturday night he closes
liis six days of labor by winding it up with the key they used,
looking upon the face they looked at, listening to the peculiar
yet regular tick that they heard. Its pendulum has swung back
.and forth nearly 32,000,000 times yearly ; it is hoped that genera-
tions yet to come may derive the same pleasure from its almost
animated form that he does.
Penn and His Plans in Pennsylvania.
BY HOWARD M. JENKINS, GWYNEDD, PA.
(Ambler Park Meeting, January lo, 1886.)
From Deal, at the beginning of autumn, 1682, the Welcome
spread her sails for the west. With her hundred passengers
(nearly one-third of whom were never to see the new home tO'
which their hopes were turned) the little ship set out bravely
to contribute by her voyage a great and notable event in the
history of mankind. As she left the Downs, and passing slow-
ly westward through the uneasy Channel, dropped astern the
white cliffs that mark the English shore, we may think that the
tall, straight figure of the young leader in her enterprise rose
conspicuous from the groups upon her deck to bid farewell to
the home he left behind. In those waters his father, admiral
of the navies of England, victor over the terrible Van Tromp
himself, had sailed triumphant fleets; while now, in this single
modest craft, flying no emblem but that of peace, surrounded
with a little company of English country folk, he set out to un-
dertake the building of a fabric, social and political, of which
the world as yet had no example, and in which it had little faith.
Stout heart as the old admiral doubtless had, stout, too, and more
serene was the courage of the son! Already famous, though
not yet thirty-eight years old, Penn had had a wide experience
of life. He had seen in his boyhood the wreck of the monarchy,
the rise of the commonwealth,- and the defeat by crafty Cromwell
of those brave and generous spirits, who, anticipating by more
than two centuries the progress of English liberty, hoped even
then to make the commonwealth real. He had seen the confus-
ion when Cromwell died, the revels when Charles came back,
the proscription of those who had been too slow in changing
sides, the transition from Puritan strictness tc Cavalier laxness
He had traveled through Europe, to observe the manners an.!
get the culture of the continent, and he had taken part of his
time to study, as Barclay did, the basis of Protestant doctrine,
as it was then taught by the most eminent of the Reformed theo-
logians in France. Fifteen years had passed since he had joined
368 pe;nn and his plans in pe;nnsylvania
in the religious movement of the Kriendb. Among these, who
had now become a numerous body, spread into the four quarters
of the British kingdom, and setting up meetings in every Amer-
ican colony where a relaxed persecution would permit — among
these Penn had taken his place, not precisely as a leader, for it
was, and is, a democratic body, which Fox had formed, but as
one of the most trusted and trusty of elders. In a new order
of knighthood he had won his spurs. Before the magistrates
of London he had asserted with dignity and firmness the rights
of his own citizenship, and the inviolability of trial by jury. He
had plead for and defended the rights of conscience in the court-
room, in the assemblies of the people and at the throne of the
King. In the Tower once and in Newgate twice he had been
confined "for truth's sake." He had written his "Sandy Foun-
dation Shaken" and "No Cross No Crown," two of the most
famous polemics of his age, not to mention many minor pam-
phlets. In Germany he had made two extensive tours; through-
out England his presence was familiar and his voice welcome in
every shire from Cornwall to Northumberland. Drawn to the
new world as a place where the plan of social organization upon
Christian principles might be tried with the greatest possibilities
of success, he had gathered his company from among the sober
and earnest membership of the Friends, and now turned with
them to join in the heroic enterprise of American colonization.
With him were ancestors of many of the good people of this
present good county of Bucks — two or more of them ancestors
â– -of my own, through the female lines, and giving me thus a right
which I value to look back to the voyage of the Welcome with
a feeling of personal share and possession. Doubtless many
of the hundred were friends and associates of Penn. There was
Thomas Fitz water, a husbandman, from Hamworth, in the coun-
ty of Middlesex, by London. Of the thirty who died on the
passage, victims of that dread scourge, the smail-pox, his wife
Mary, and children Josiah and Mary were three. Two Sussex
;men there were : John Rowland, of Billingshurst, a husbandman,
-with his wife, Priscilla, and William Buckman, of Billingshurst
•also, a carpenter, with his wife, Mary, and two children. A group
of Yorkshire people, representing one of the most fruitful fields
,of Quaker growth made a notable portion of the company. Here
were Nicholas Wain, one of the brightest and ablest of the emi-
PENN AND HIS PLANS IN PJiNNSVLVANIA 369
grants who from the time of his arrival took an active and useful
part in affairs, and his wife and three children. Here were the
Walmsleys. a larger family, Thomas, the husband and father,
a miller — possibly a millwright — by occupation, destined to live
but a short time in the new home. Then Thomas Croasdale and
his wufe, Agnes, and their six children: Cuthbert Hayhurst,
who died the following March, and his family, and Thomas
Stackhouse and his wife Margery. With them, too, a shy yet
adventurous lad, from far Cumberland, in the north, Joseph
Kirkbride, the eloped 'prentice boy, with his little bundle of cloth-
ing, his hopeful heart destined to no disappointment as the result
of this bold undertaking.
Preceding the IVclcomc there had been, certainly, many other
venturesome ships. These were not the first pilgrims. The
Mayflower had crossed more than sixty years before, and the
ships of Minuit. bearing the Swedish settlers, had reached the
west bank of the Delaware forty-four years earlier than the
company Penn was now bringing to join them at Christiana and
Upland. The movement across the ocean of a people seek-
ing new homes and leaving the old ones behind forever was al-
ready impressive and commanding. Nothing appears in all the
history of the human family's removals so wonderful as this
from the shores of western Europe to those of eastern America,
that began with the seventeenth century, and now, as the nine-
teenth moves toward its last decade, still deepens and broadens
in volume. Other migrations, great as they have seemed, shrink
by comparison. Made in pursuit of conquest or under pressure
for the means of subsistence, they have a mean and ignoble char-
acter beside one whose object was to establish the new home of
an industrious and progressive people. Moreover this had a
strong serene courage in its steps. Unlike the migrations on
the land surface of the old continent, that moved by easy stages
from stream to stream, from valley to valley, driving their flocks
and herds along and easily carrying their household goods, this
coming to the margin of the great and almost unknown sea, set
out to cross it in the face of perils that might well have shaken
the stoutest heart. Forced to embark in the small and feeble
vessels of the time, with rude appliances of seamanship, with
imperfect knowledge of navigation, this braved the storms and
370 PENN AND HIS PLANS IN PENNSYLVANIA
Struggled with the waves for weeks and months in a voyage of
three thousand miles.
This we may say as to the whole movement. It had, from
Raleigh's voyages down to the day the Welcome weighed her
anchor, these characteristics of high heroism. But greater in
moral aspect it became when the emigrants sailed out not mere-
ly in pursuit of temporal prosperity — that "cumber" which Penn
warned his wife and children to beware of — but to secure for
themselves and to establish for their children liberty of conscience,
freedom of faith. Christian tolerance and liberality of belief.
You may cross the Atlantic ocean now in about a week. From
Sandy Hook to Queenstown the fastest steamships, at the most
favorable season, run in less than seven days. But the company
on the Welcome, leaving the Downs on the last day of August
or the first of September, rejoiced to find themselves in sight of
the American shores forty-two days after their last lingering
look had rested on the vanishing line behind them. "That day
six weeks," says Penn in one of his letters, "we lost sight of
land in England we saw it again in America." "I came into
this country," he says in another letter, "on the 24th of October ;"
and this is understood to have been the day on which his ship
made the entrance to Delaware bay. On the 27th he had reached
the front of the town of New Castle, as the records of the coun-
ty (now in the offices of the new court-house at Wilmington)
show ; and on the 28th he received at New Castle formal de-
livery by the Duke of York's commissioners of the possession
and "seizin" of that territory which now forms the state of
Delaware. On the 29th, as other records show, he had reached
Upland, presently, at Pearson's suggestion, to be renamed after
the ancient city of Chester — the "Castra Legionem" of the Rom-
an soldiers in Britain.
Let us imagine for a moment what feelings animated the
voyagers as, unaided by the buoys and lights which at every
point now mark the channel for the pilot, they cautiously sailed
up the expansive bay. Mingled emotions doubtless thrilled their
hearts. If they allowed themselves to reject they recalled the
ties of home and kindred and association which they had sunder-
ed ; and they must have sadly thought, too, of the thirty missing
ones, great and small, whom death had claimed. But we may
easily believe that they cast aside, for the time, thoughts of what
PENN AND HIS PLANS IN PENNSYLVANIA 37I
lay behind to indulge their expectations of the future. Much
lay before them — all the glad promise of new and peaceful homes,
where beneficent laws justly administered should be the rule
among a contented and virtuous people. On their right hand,
before they reached New Castle, they looked inland, no doubt,
to discover the signs of Fenwick's colony, at Salem, settled seven
years before, and then discoursed among themselves on the other
Quaker colony, which had passed higher up, in 1677, and begun
the town of Burlington. The season was late, autumn was
chilling into winter, yet we may believe the low shores of the bay
were still green, and that inland the great forests of oak and
hickory and maple remained bright with color. The land seemed
good; twelve leagues at sea they had snuffed the scent of it, Penn
tells us, and the odors were "as sweet as a garden new blown."
Cheerfully — nay, gladly — they must have enjoyed the arrival at
the little riverside town of the Swedes and Dutch, and heard
the chains rattle as the ship swung round to her anchor. From
all the inhabitants they received welcome. Never was a ship
more fitly named. The Swedes, the Dutch, the English, the
Indians pressed forward to greet them. The fame of Penn had
preceded him. To be under the patronage and protection of one
whose ideas were so humane and plans so just was a glad pros-
pect to every one whose scheme of life was built upon a founda-
tion of good purpose. It was indeed an auspicious arrival. Thir-
ty years of active life lay before the new governor, and in him
almost entirely lay the great possibilities which were to have
their fruition in his commonwealth. Had the Welcome never
come to land, had Penn been among the thirty smitten with
death upon the voyage, the history of Pennsylvania — and of
America — would have been differently written. He, and he on-
ly, stood forth in 1682 as the one capable to execute his own
plans. Well might the settlers extend their open hands and
gladly might the simple natives gather about him. In all the
long list of those who had set foot upon their shores — in the
midst of many whose names are famous and whose exploits were
brilliant, from Raleigh and Hudson down by Miles Standish
and Winthrop to Roger Williams — Penn has his own eminence
and his own fame. As he stepped ashore, on that day two cen-
turies distant, he came to affect for all time the civilization of
the new world.
372 PENN AND HIS PLANS IN PENNSYLVANIA
For the Commonwealth that Penn founcted was and is great.
It is so written, and this fact no future can destroy, though
bringing as it may for its own record decHne, decay or dissolu-
tion. Where faults lie in the structure is chiefly where the build-
ers have departed from the plans of the architect. His founda-
tions were broad and solidly laid; what he did he did well and
honestly. That his plans were perfect we do not know, because
it is not within the range of our own capacity to declare what,
at any particular period, perfection in government would be.
But that in the main they went beyond the mark of all that had
been known before, that they showed at once a greater wisdom,
a broader spirit, a more exact justice, a truer humanity than
the world had yet experienced, no one whose word is of any con-
sequence has ever thought it worth while to deny. No impartial
historian who has studied them has ever taken any other than
this view ; he has acknowledged with enthusiasm that the central
and controlling thought in the beginning of the new state was
that same goodness of heart, that same fairness of dealing that
to the minds of the people with whom Penn's conversion had
united him constituted the practical evidence of the Christian
religion. Democracy, the equal rights of all, the elevation of
none at the expense of others, the oppression of none for the
advantage of others — these were principles in government flow-
ing as naturally from the teachings of George Fox as the com-
moner precepts to pay debts honestly, to live soberly and to be
plain in speech, behavior and apparel. "The doctrine of Fox
and Penn," says Bancroft, in his great chapter on Pennsylvania,
"being but common creed of humanity, forbids division into
contending factions and insures the highest moral unity." And
he adds, a little further on, what is so far pertinent to my pres-
ent purpose that I take a half dozen sentences bodily : "This
is the praise of William Penn, that, in an age which had seen
a popular revolution shipwreck popular liberty among selfish
factions, which had seen Hugh Peter and Henry Vane perish
by the hangman's cord and the axe, in an age when Sidney
nourished the pride of patriotism rather than the sentiment of
philanthropy, when Russel stood for the liberties of his order and
not for new enfranchisements, when Harrington and Shaftesbury
and Locke thought government should rest on property, Penn
did not despair of humanity ; and, though history and experience
PENN AND HIS PLANS IN PENNSYLVANIA 373
denied the sovereignty of the people, dared to cherish the noble
idea of man's capacity for self-government. Conscious that there
was no room for its exercise in England, the pure enthusiast,
like Calvin and Descartes, a voluntary exile, v^as come to the
banks of the Delawrare to institute 'the holy experiment.' "
For the proof of these statements we need only to examine in
detail the remarkable code passed by the first Assembly, called
by Penn, immediately after his arrival, and which met at Upland
early in December. The study affords the tangible and exact
evidence of the extent to which the system of Pennsylvania, much
of which yet survives, went in advance of the time when it was
formed. In the first place it enacted liberty of conscience. It
is in dispute whether Roger Williams, in Rhode Island, and Cal-
vert's colony of Catholics, in Maryland, had already. done the
same, but no one disputes the plainness and distinctness of Penn's
enactment. It appeared, then, as a marvel of liberality, and
it remains to be the jewel in the crown of Pennsylvania's colon-
ial action. Apart from this, the humanity of the Quaker idea
stood out in the penal system which the new code had created.
In that day death was the penalty in every country for a long
list of crimes. It was the brutal age. If we venture to look
back into the laws of England, contemporary with those passed
by this little assembly at Chester, we shall be not only struck by
the contrasts between the two but shocked with the spectacle
which English society presented. It was then that, quoting the
words of Macaulay, the gentleman of leisure "arranged parties
of pleasure to Bridewell, on court days, for the purpose of see-
ing the wretched women who beat hemp there whipped," and
"a man pressed to death for refusing to plead, or a woman
burned for coining, excited less sympathy than is now felt for a
galled horse or an overdriven ox ;" "if an offender was put into
the pillory it was well if he escaped with his life from the shower
of brickbats and paving stones," and if he was tied to the cat's
tail, the crowd pressed round him, imploring the hangman to
give it the fellow well and make him howl."
In the face of such a sentiment as this it was that the As-
sembly dared to exempt from the punishment of death every-
thing except the single crime of willful murder. Nearly two
hundred offenses were at one stroke taken from the list to which
by the English laws capital punishment was awarded. Look-
374 PENN AND HIS PLANS IN PENNSYLVANIA
ing toward that great truth in penal knowledge, that, in the
cases where reformation of an offender is possible, enforced
labor is the cure for crime — as idleness is the temptation to it
— it was enacted that all prisons should be work-houses. It
was provided that jailers should not oppress their prisoners — an
enactment whose need could be testified to by many of the un-
fortunates who for the sake of their religious belief had suffered
in the horrible jails and dungeons of Great Britain. Equality of
heirship was established by the abolition of the privilege of pri-
mogeniture. The form of affirmation was provided instead of
an oath. The right of suft'rage was extended to all who paid
''scot and lot" — i. c, their share of taxation. No taxes could be
laid except by laws passed by the representatives of the people
in their assemblies. There were neither poor rates nor tithes.
A false accuser was made liable to double damages. The laws
were to be made public, and even taught in the schools, so that
all might know their purport. Fines should be moderate, so
that no oppressive judge should ruin a man by excessive sever-
ity. Parties to suits might appear and plead for themselves.
The records of the courts should be brief and plainly written.
Fees and salaries should be moderate, and be hung up in a list
in every court, and any officer convicted of taking more should
repay two-fold and be dismissed from his place. This was hu-
manity enacted into law. Much of it was new, nearly the whole
far in advance of the time — part of it, perhaps, too progressive
to be then .altogether practicable. Well might the Swedes ex-
claim, when the Assembly had finished its work, "This is the
best day we have ever seen." With the spirit in it of heroic
Gustavus Adolphus and of wise Oxenstiern, their own colonial
foundation had been fair and liberal, but they discerned in the
system of Penn a character whose broad beneficence made a
new revelation of the possibilities of human government.
And not only to the white men along the Delaware was this a
good day — it was good, too, to those who owned, (if any one
can individually own the planet which we inhabit in common,)
the soil which the new-comers desired to use and enjoy. Here
was a man come who sincerely wished them well. He had writ-
ten to them, by his commissioners, more than a year before, that
he desired to gain their "love and friendship by a kind, just and
peaceable life." He had told them, in another letter, that those
PENN AND HIS PLANS IN PENNSYLVANIA 375
who would come as his colonists were a "just, plain and honest
people, that neither make war upon others, nor fear war from
others, because they will be just." He had assured them in still
another letter that the laws should include provisions for their
protection, "nor will I ever allow," he said, "that any of my
people shall sell you rum to make you drunk." The laws passed
at Chester had provided in a section of more than usual length
and couched in the strongest language, for the punishment of
any who should sell "rum and brandy and such like distilled
spirits" to the Indians.
Such a man as this was rare. He was of a new and unusual
sort. The Indians may well have wondered and rejoiced at
his coming. They had held councils and made treaties with
Europeans, up and down along the Atlantic, for three-quarters
of a century; but they had learned by sad experience that the
smooth words they heard were often only "from the lips out-
ward." Penn was one of the first who truly threw himself upon
their good faith, and relied implicitly upon that spark of good
ness which, as his doctrine taught, must be in them as in every
other human being. And now, mark ! is it not wonderful how
this confidence was justified? For seventy years there was
peace with the Indians. The other colonies, with scarcely a
single exception, had their Indian wars, abounding in horrors,
the recital of which shocks us to the present day ; but Pennsyl-
vania, until long after Penn's death, never had one. The In-
dians were peaceable and friendly neighbors ; rude as their man-
ner of life was, they had and manifested still that spark of com-
mon humanity upon which Penn relied. How was it then? Is
it to be explained in any other way — this peaceful intercourse
between the white men and the red in Pennsylvania — than as the
justification of the belief that just treatment from the one side
would secure a return of it from the other? Little indeed has
the American Indian, pursued and perishing for three hundred
years, the remnants of his race disappearing in our own day,
to relate of such experience. Horrid massacres of the Indians,
before the advent of Penn, had disgraced the rulers of the colony
at Manhattan and fierce wars had ensanguined all New England.
Maryland, and Virginia, too had had their conflicts with the
natives. North and south of Pennsylvania the story was the
same. Such facts, I venture to think, dismiss the pretense that
376 PENN AND HIS PLANS IN PENNSYLVANIA
the tribes who fished and hunted here had a singular and ex-
ceptional mildness of character. It is beyond belief that with
warlike Indians upon all sides it should happen that the Quakers,
full of the purposes of peace themselves, should come to the
exact spot, and the only one, where gentle savages were to be
found. The explanation, I think, does not lie in that direction.
Penn had faith in his own principles. He believed that man-
kind were of one blood, fashioned by one hand, touched by one
nature. He bravely tried the Indians with whom he had to deal
and they stood the trial. What chapters might have been writ-
ten in the history of the American colonies, unstained by blood,
free from the recital of dark cruelties, if there had been more of
this practical application of the Christian doctrine! Philip of
Pokanoket — brave, desperate hero of his red race, Philip himself
might have lived out his days and have been laid quietly with
his fathers at Mount Hope, as unknown to the fame of revenge-
ful slaughter as the now forgotten sachems of the Brandywine
and Schuylkill, had there prevailed everywhere that faith in the
brotherhood of man that was declared in the words and letter^
of Penn, and solemnly engaged under the elm at Shackamaxon.
Let us remember, here, that the Indian policy established by
Penn never broke down. The time never came when it was
found to fail. The time did come when it was thrust aside by
the forces exterior to those which the Friends were able to ex-
ert. You will look in vain through the history of the Pennsyl-
vania settlements, even those of the frontier, up to a certain
date, for any story of Indian troubles. You will find that there
were no such troubles for almost three-quarters of a century
after Penn's coming, and for more than half a cen'cur}/ after his
final departure for England. In the meantime the Endian wig-
wam was open to the white man, and in the white man's cabin
door the latch-string hung outside. It was past the middle of
the eighteenth century, when, as England and France engaged
in war at home, the waves of their colonial discord swept down
from the north and west upon Pennsylvania and engulfed her
peaceable people. From the time when England's policy in Amer-
ica demanded the arming of the colonies, not for their sake,
but for her advantage; when the great game for power l)egan
between her King and the King of France ; when Canada was one
of the objects of conquest, and Acadia, with her sad exiles, one
PENN AND HIS PLANS IN PENNSYLVANIA 377
of the victims ; when intrigues to keep the alUance of the In-
dians, other intrigues to seduce them from alHances already
made, and in general methods that stimulated their .vorst nature
and stamped out their best reduced the whole English policy —
like the French — to the level of barbarism ; from this lime, I
say, you fall wpon the record of Indian troubles along the border
of Pennsylvania. From the day of Braddock, with his ill starred
expedition, there appear in all the chronicles of the frontier
counties the details of bloody encounters, savage reprisals and
cruel revenges. It seemed as though the policy of the govern-
ment at home, and even that of her sister colonies, could no
longer endure the sight of Pennsylvania's peace. That devil's
broth, concocted along the Canadian line, where the schemes of
France encountered the plans of England, boiled and stirred al-
ways in the green valleys of the Mohawk and Genesee, where
the aid of the great Iriquois was sought by both nations with
all the evil means that had been found potential ; this was the
drink of death sent by their neighbors to the colonists here. I
confess that the history of that time is not one to be easily read
with patient philosophy. Nor is it one to which justice is often
done. Even such historians as Parkman find it convenient to
belittle the Pennsylvania record, and to gloss that of the other
colonies ; to ignore the merits of a system which maintained
peace by doing justice, in order to describe without shame the
wars that grew from distrust, jealousy and injustice.
Nor need we avoid— ^nay we must justly recall at this point —
another great feature in Penn's system of 1682 which was tram-
pled down in the rush of outward forces in spite of the exertions
of those who would have maintained it. Penn had provided no
soldiers. He had kept no army. There was not even a militia
in his day. He had meant that the law should lay its hand upon
evil doers, but he expected that sherififs and constables would
suffice for its enforcement. In the French and Indian wars
this plan of government went down. It did not fail ; it was
ruthlessly swept away. Do we, then, ask whether it be possible
that government can exist without the naked sword in the
hands of justice? Do we inquire whether that maxim is cor-
rect that the law without an army as its ultimate means of en-
forcement is no law at all? Does the whole of our civil system,
3/8 PENN AND HIS PLANS IN PENNSYLVANIA
orderly and serene as it mostly seems, rest, after all, upon a
bayonet ?
To ask these questions without answering them must serve
the present purpose. They would involve too much to be hastily
answered, even if it be that the experience of society, after nine-
teen hundred years of this era, affords a solution at all. But it
must be altogether reasonable that each should speak for him-
self, not as a dogmatic declaration but as an individual expres-
sion, not as a general and sweeping decision but as a single atom
of testimony thrown into the great scale. The question is wheth-
er Penn's great plan of a Christian commonwealth is not near-
er the true ideal than that whose standing army oppresses at
home and menaces abroad ; whether the serene faith with which
he set out to establish it does not elevate him in the estimation
of every civilized observer immeasurably above the statesman
whose scheme of selfishness requires at every step the support
of force ; whether there is not something better in the gospel of
John than in the chronicle of Joshua's slaughters in Canaan.
Penn may have been too far before the millennium to be within
the reach of possible success, but dare we deny that he stretched
his hand in the right direction?
Nor must we lose sight in a study of the Indian policy, and
the peace plans, of one of the causes why Penn's commonwealth
could not be preserved in the completeness of his design. He
did not know how nearly the whole of western Europe would
be stirred by his invitation to come here and settle. He projected
— using his own words — "a free colony for all mankind," and
then he threw his door wide open. Here was neither
proscription nor persecution. Here was neither distinc-
tion of rank nor difference in privilege. The world came troop-
ing in. Fifty years after the Welcome's voyage the Pennsyl-
vania colony had become the home of a great variety of people,
of diverse nativity, language, religious faith and habits of life.
Here were Swedes, English, Hollanders, Welsh, Irish, Scotch
and Germans. Here were Quakers from Yorkshire, Presbyter-
ians from Ulster, Schwenkfelders from Silesia, Mennonites from
Switzerland and the Palatinate, Lutherans from the central Ger-
man states, Calvinist Reformed from Holland, Episcopalians
from England, Baptists from Wales, Moravians from Saxony
and Roman Catholics — a small number — from various quarters.
PENN AND HIS PLANS IN PENNSYLVANIA 379
This was cosmopolitan, indeed. Of such diversity the Pennsyl-
vania which we know has been constructed, and it has followed
naturally that when any of these elements, or any combination
formed of them, became stronger than that which cherished the
plans of Penn, something in his scheme must give way. Thus
it has been ; Pennsylvania shows to-day the moulding hand of
its founder, yet there have been change and alteration in details,
as other theories and different plans than his have prevailed. It
has taken a long time to fuse the mass, to bring it into a homo-
geneity of character. Nevertheless, the piocess goes on. In es-
sentials, Pennsylvania is coming to a concord of her forces. She
begins to exert again in the family of American States that moral
influence which she exerted when she first took her place in the
family of American colonies. This justifies Penn. It rewards
him. It will be his triumph, still further, as in the future his
precepts are still further adopted. For it was he who declared :
"Wherefore governments rather depend upon men than men
upon governments. Let men be good and the government can-
not be bad. // it be ill they ivill cure it. That, therefore, zvhich
makes a good constitution must keep it. Namely, men of zuisdom
and virtue:" And in that maxim, holding our courage and our
purpose, let us hold our faith.
The American Policy.
BY CHARLES HEBER CLARK, CONSHOHOCKEN, PA.
(Ambler Park Meeting, June lo, iSS6).
What is the true American policy? What is the one great
end at which the people of this country and their representatives
in Congress should steadfastly aim? It is obviously not a
policy of "territorial aggrandizement," which is simply a large
name for theft of other people's property. That policy ended
for us when slavery was abolished. We have space enough and
to spare. No sane American any longer hungers for Cuba.
No American who loves his country can desire political affili-
ation with the half-Spanish, half-civilized and turbulent races
of Mexico and Central America. No self-respectful American
wishes to annex Canada until the Canadians wish it.
Our people have none of that diseased thirst for glory which
has impelled France to squander lives and money in foolish cam-
paigns in foreign lands. The motives which cause Russia to cast
longing eyes upon Constantinople, and to wage perpetual war-
fare in the deserts of Asia, have no counterpart here. Unlike
Germany, we have no dynastic ambitions to gratify, no con-
quests to maintain by force, no hereditary enemy to guard
against. There is not here, as with England, an imperious
need of foreign markets for oar wares, and there is no allure-
ment to that policy of relentless greed which has destroyed
Ireland, blighted India, and cursed China with opium.
Our geographical situation, our climatic conditions, the polit-
ical privileges of our people, the very nature of our govern-
ment, exempt us from the impulses which compel these nations
in such directions. We hold a position wholly unique. No
other nation ever had such a place, such a government, such a
territory, and such opportunities. The important thing here
is the welfare of the individual man — of the individual man who
lives in our own land, and who is a factor in our problem ex-
actly equal to the highest and the lowest of his fellows. Here
every male human being counts one. He is a lord of a land in
vv'hich all material things are possible. There is no mineral
THE ame;rican policy 381
used in the arts which he may not dig from the soil ; there is
no staple which that soil will not produce. There is no warmth
of perpetual summer, no variety of changing temperature, no
intensity of cold which he may not find within his own borders ;
and he is equal to the most exacting requirements of dextrous
handicraft. Whatever man, in his most highly civilized con-
dition, wants for his necessities, or for the indulgence of his
luxurious tastes, can with few exceptions be grown here or
made here. We have within our confines an epitome of the
whole fertile earth. We need be dependent upon nobody. We
could go far towards supplying the demand if everybody ^vere
dependent upon us.
Such a people, so richly equipped with energy and skill, so
completely unfettered by privilege, and living in such a land,
have a policy plainly, by circumstances, outlined for them.
It is an industrial policy of vast and far reaching possibilities.
It is a policy of peace and not of combat; a policy of work and
not of war ; a policy of triumph over matter and not of victory-
over men; a policy which may, and ought to, be consecrated to
a high purpose which shall bring blessings to us first, and then,
perhaps, radiate them over the face of the earth.
Plainly stated, the true American policy may be said to be
this : To put this nation, as speedily as may be. into a position
of industrial independence ; to use all the rightful powers of the
people and of their government to develop our resources so
that we can live, if we will, precisely as well as if all the re-
mainder of the surface of the globe were sea.
There are few notions more groundless than that foreign
commerce is a necessity for every nation. It ts a necessity for
most nations, but not for this one. Interchange of commodities
is essential to prosperous civilized life. Man requires the prod-
ucts of the labor of his fellow men. The higher we climb in
life the more we need to exchange the fruits of toil ; but mere
passage of the sea is not requisite to fulfillment of these ends.
The conditions are fully met when the millions of a rich and
free country grow and make all things needful, and trade with
one another. W'hat we must have is full supply of our wants,
and if we can supply them fully by our own efforts the whole
purpose of commerce is achieved. W^e alone, of all the na-
382 THE AMERICAN POLICY
tions of the earth, can do this. To try to do it should be our
unremitting purpose. What we now export is our surplus ; but,
under right conditions, there need be no surplus. When a sur-
plus is threatened let some turn aside from producing that thing
and begin to produce material of which there is less than
enough. The accelerated diversification of industry is the
secret of national prosperity. To grow only what is wanted is
healthful economy. To stop producing when enough has been
produced is to keep trade from stagnation. Turn the excess
of water in an overfiovving river into channels of irrigation and
there is increased fertility. Use, upon undeveloped resources,
human energy that inclines to waste itself in overcrowded in-
dustry and there is gain to the old industry, to the new and to
the nation. Therein lies the solution of the problem of the
establishment of real and enduring prosperity.
We pay seventy millions a year for sugar. Much of it we
pay to slave-holders. All of it we pay to foreigners. Every
pound of sugar we need can be grown within our own borders.
France and Germany and Belgium have sugar for export. The
profits from this traffic they keep at home to enrich their do-
mestic commerce and to give large profits to the tiller of the
soil.
The incredible folly which would surrender our sugar
duties to foreign planters would make sugar growing here im-
possible. The wise statesman is he who would take, annually,
a few millions of those duties and expend them in bounties to
American growers of beet-sugar. That is an investment which
would be repaid ten thousand fold.
We imported last year flax and flaxen materials to the value
of $30,000,000. We can grow here flax enough for the needs
of the human race, and there are no spinners and weavers bet-
ter than ours.
Already we grow 85 per cent, of all the wool we consume.
Under a judicious system we can supply the whole of the
home demand.
We now buy abroad about $16,000,000 worth of raw silk;
but in our Southern states the mulberry flourishes and the
silk worm will wind his glossy shroud as well as in Italy or
France.
the; AMERICAN POIvICV 383
No doubt tea can be grown within our own borders. Cer-
tainly we can make tin plate, every pound of which is now im-
ported. We are now wholly dependent upon Europe for the
aniline colors, which lie latent in the coal tar that we expend
for coarser purposes. These are but suggestions of wide and
great possibilities.
When the American farmer has thus enlarged the number of
his products, and when American factories make all the linens,
the woolens and the silks that Americans need, it will be oi
little importance to us to seek a foreign outlet for our grain
l)roducts. The agricultural industry will have such diversity
that there will be no need for farmers to watch with anxiety
what London has to say about the price of grain. We need not
fear when we hear that India and Russia are shipping wheat
and extending cotton culture. We shall have a home market
greedy for material. We shall have sugar farms, flax farms,
tea farms and silk farms as a relief from the superfluity of grain
farms. We shall fulfill all the conditions of a prosperous com-
munity. Every talent will have employment. Every soil will
have use. Every physical want will be met. Every peg will
have a hole. With the ice crop of the Kennebec at one extreme,
and the orange crop of Florida at the other, we shall fill all
the possible spaces in our home industry and offer to mankind
the unprecedented spectacle of a people who ask nothing of the
other inhabitants of the rolling earth but that they follow, so
far as they can, so good an example.
Is this a selfish policy ? Yes, in so far as it aims first to
achieve high results solely for our own country. But observe,
first, that it proposes to hurt nobody ; second, that the doors
are open for others to come in and help in the work ; and third,
that it fulfills what seems to be a divine purpose. The Creator
does not offer possibilities with an intention that men should
neglect them. When he made this land and put into it a peo-
ple whose industrial powers are unsurpassed, the inference is
fair that he intended these people to make use of these materials.
Shall we plant sod over a gold mine because Australia has
gold which she would send us? Shall we abandon Florida to
crocodiles and malaria because Sicily has oranges? Shall we
spin no cotton because Lancashire has muslins she must sell?
384 THE AMERICAN POLICY
vShall we hackle no flax because British greed has left but that
one industry to poor Ireland? Such a doctrine has no warrant
in experience or revelation. These things are ours, and woe to
us if we do not use them valiantly and faithfully.
By what means shall these ends be attained? By resolute
maintenance of the protective tariff system, and by a liberal and
judicious distribution of bounties. It is as fair to encourage
sugar growing by use of bounties as it was to open up the
West to settlement by bounties to trans-continental railroads.
The beet-sugar industry of Europe was born of the bounty
' system. Our cotton crop is the offspring of protection. Both
are of inestimable value to the respective countries and both
justify the wisdom which used public power and public money
to make them possible.
In conclusion let me make one reflection of a more serious
nature. No policy with respect to material things, however
successful it may seem to be, can have true and lasting success
if it be accompanied by decay of public morality and by growing
indifference of citizens to the solemn obligations of citizenship.
These are the two evils which especially menace our country.
If they shall triumph, the ultimate ruin of this nation, in spite
of its riches, is as sure as the operation of retributive justice.
Edward Hicks.
BY HANNAH E. HOLCOMB, NEWTOWN, PA.
(Ambler Park Meeting, June lo, iS86.)
Edward Hicks, an approved minister of the Society of Friends,
was the son of Isaac and Catherine Hicks, both regularly and
directly descended from Thomas Hicks, of Long Island, a man
learned in the law and for a number of years chief justice of
that province. Edward's paternal grandfather, Gilbert Hicks,
married the daughter of Joseph Rodman, of Long Island, who
provided the young people with a home on a tract of land of
about 600 acres which he owned on Neshaminy creek, 20 miles
east of Philadelphia. Hither they came in 1747 and here Ed-
ward's father, Isaac Hicks, was born in 1748. Subsequently
Gilbert sold this large farm and bought a tract of 100 acres at
Four-Lanes-End, and on the southeast corner he erected the
brick house in which his grandson, Edward, was born and
which still stands in the centre of Langhorne. Edward's mater-
nal grandfather, Colonel Edward Hicks, was Gilbert's first cous-
in. He married Violetta Rickets, of Elizabeth, N. J., a member
of the Episcopal church, and their daughter Catherine, Edward's
mother, was trained in that faith. Edward was born April 4,
1780, and his mother died October 19, 1781, leaving him a deli-
cate infant to the care of her colored woman, Jane, who had
once been a slave in the family. Jane took him with her to her
daily tasks among the farmers, and thus the frail, sickly-looking
child was brought to the notice of Elizabeth, wife of David
Twining. Her sympathies were at once aroused, and learning
that he was the son of her former beloved friend, Kitty Hicks,
she took the child under her own care. Elizabeth, with her
husband, was a member of the Society of Friends and a woman
of deep religious convictions. Her religious instruction and
scriptural reading made a deep and lasting impression upon Ed-
ward's youthful mind. At the age of 13 he was apprenticed
to a coachmaker for seven years. Here his natural fund of
wit and good humor soon made him a favorite with his shop-
13
386 EDWARD HICKS
mates and led him into many temptations. At the expiration
of his apprenticeship, in the autumn of 1800, while engaged in
painting the house of David Fenton, he attended Presbyterian
church with him, when Mr. Fenton wanted him to join the
church, adding as an inducement that he would use his influence
to secure for him an advantageous marriage with an elder's
daughter, a rich heiress. But Edward replied that if he was
ever worthy to join any religious society he should
join the Quakers. As Edward approached his majority
his religious nature, so strengthened in childhood by
his adopted mother's pious influence, was awakened anew. He
shunned his former gay companions and often spent his Sab-
baths in long, solitary rambles. On one of these lonely walks
he was led to Middletown Friends' Meeting. His experience
there was so precious to him that he became a regular attendant,
though at that time living five miles distant with David Fenton,
of Northampton. In 1801 he went to Milford as assistant in
the coachmaking business, especially the painting. He contin-
ued his regular attendance at Middletown meeting twice a week,
and in 1803 was there received in membership. On November
17th of the same year he was married to Sarah, daughter of
Joseph and Susanna Worstall, of Newtown, who, he tells us, was
the first object of his youthful affections, even while he was
-a child. After his marriage he continued to reside in Milford,
.as Hulmeville was then called. It was in 1810, when 30 years
of age, that Edward Hicks first felt himself called to the ministry.
â– "For months," he informs us "he had frequently in meeting had
solemn apprehensions that it was his duty publicly to advocate
the cause of Christ. But the fear of being deceived and a sense
of his own unworthiness kept him back." And it was not until
his return from attending Yearly Meeting that spring that he
yielded to the call. It was on First-day, the 226. of 5th-month.
He had, he says "suffered for disobedience to the heavenly voice
•within and an awful fear clothed his mind that this would be
the last call he should ever have. He trembled and wept, and
kneeling, offered a few words of prayer. He could utter but
a few words and on taking his seat wept almost aloud, and as
soon as meeting closed he went immediately home without speak-
ing to anyone. The following mid-week meeting he attended
with fear and trembling and feeling the commandment spoke
EDWARD HICKS 387
again very briefly." Thus under a strong conviction of duty
and a deep sense of his vireakness was commenced that ministry •
which was destined to become so successful and so powerful for
good. He had for six or seven years felt it his duty faithfully-
to bear a testimony against the use of spirituous liquors, and
Friends were renewedly stirred up to engage in the concern, and
in the Quarterly Meeting at Buckingham, the same year, i8io^
a large committee was appointed to assist the Monthly Meetings,,,
who were recommended to make similar appointments. In this
committee he labored with Friends and others to convince them
that it was their duty to lay aside the use of this pernicious article
as a drink and as an article of trade. In April, 181 1, he re-
moved to Newtown and in November of that year was first re-
commended as a minister by Middletown Monthly Meeting and
recognized as such by the Quarterly Meeting. In 181 3 he first
traveled as an acknowledged minister, visiting the meetings be-
longing to Abington and Philadelphia quarters. Shortly after
this he left Middletown meeting, which had three or four other
ministers, and went to Wrightstown where he was soon at the
head of a large meeting. But in April, 181 5, an indulged meet-
ing was started in the old court-house building at Newtown under
the care of Wrightstown, Middletown and Falls meetings. This
was the beginning of Friends' meeting at Newtown, which was
no doubt established largely through the preaching and influence
of Edward Hicks. In about three years from that time a new
meeting-house was erected there which is still standing. In
1 81 9 Edward was again called to travel in the ministry and
visited the South in the spring and in the autumn New York
and Canada. In these journeys he rode nearly 3,000 miles on
horseback. Previous to this journey he had all the symptoms
of pulmonary consumption, but he was greatly benefitted by this
long horseback ride, only retaining a slight chronic cough. From-
this time, with the approbation of Friends, he frequently traveled
in the cause of spiritual truth and was always well received wher-
ever he went. His chief occupation and means of support was
painting, his attempts at other things, such as farming, broom-
making, etc., having all failed. He had a natural turn and taste
for painting, which won him quite a reputation, especially as a
sign painter. He painted many hotel signs, his favorite design
being William Penn's treaty with the Indians, an imperfect
380 EDWARD HICKS
copy of Benjamin West's celebrated painting of that subject.
He painted the sign of the brick hotel in Newtown, one side
representing Washington mounted upon a chestnut-sorrel horse,
the other the Declaration of Independence. This sign attracted
a good deal of admiration when new, but has shared the fate
of all others, having faded out from exposure to the weather.
He also painted many pictures which may still be seen in the
homes of some of the old residents of Newtown. Among these
are Jordan's England, showing William Penn's grave; David
Twining's place in 1787, now occupied by Cyrus Vanartsdalen ;
and the Peaceable Kingdom. The last was, perhaps, the most
remarkable, being an illustration of the nth chapter of Isaiah,
and embracing all the animals there mentioned in the foreground,
and in the distance William Penn treating with the Indians.
Edward Hicks was a man of commanding presence, tall,
slender, and erect, with dark complexion, striking features and
intellectual countenance. He was a great reader with a very re-
tentive memory; but a man of strong prejudices and quick tem-
per, which he says he controlled with great difficulty. In the
social circle he was a most genial and interesting companion.
He was by nature an orator, without appearing conscious of
the gift. His clear, strong voice could be readily heard by an
assembly of thousands, and there was a charm about it that
seemed to electrify an audience and command attention the mo-
ment it was heard. His deep feeling and tenderness reached the
hearts of his hearers and melted many to tears. His appointed
meetings in the different school-houses over the county on First-
day afternoons were always crowded. It might be said, more-
over, that the mere announcement that Edward Hicks would
be at any meeting in city or country would insure a crowded
house. He was indeed one of the most popular and leading
ministers in his time. His heart was always full of sympathy
/or the sick and suffering and he was ever ready to visit such
and anoint them with the oil of Heavenly love. He was sent
for far and near, to visit the dying, and with his Heavenly words
he soothed or comforted their last moments. When declining
health disabled him for distant journeys, he still diligently at-
tended his meetings at home, and frequently those in the vicinity.
He appointed meetings in school-houses and other places remote
from any house of public worship. And while he was "fervent
LOCAL NAMES 389
in spirit, serving the Lord" he was also "diHgent in business,"
laboring with his hands for the support of his family until tlie
day before he died, when finding himself very weak he returned
to the house, saying he "believed that he had paid his last visit
to the shop." The next morning his daughter observed she
"thought him better." He replied he "zvas better, he was com-
fortable, but requested they would not flatter themselves, for
he was going to die." About nine o'clock. Eighth-month 23d,
1849, ^^ the /Otli year of his age, he breathed his last, without
apparent pain or suffering. On the 26th his funeral was held
at the meeting-house at Newtown, and was attended by a large
gathering of people, many of whom felt that a place was left
vacant which could not easily be refilled.
Local Names.
BY W^ILLIAM J. BUCK, Je;nKINTOWN, PA.
(Ambler Park Meeting, June lo, 1886.)
The names given to our states, counties, cities, and all other
places and divisions may be classed as of three kinds : Aborig-
inal, foreign and local origin. It is to be regretted that so few
of the first have been preserved or retained. What names are
more beautiful and sonorous than Perkiomen, Wissahickon, Pen-
nypack, Tacony, Neshaminy, Tohickon or Susquehanna? What
more absurd than Lake George should have been so called in
place of Horicon, its former Indian name? But such substitu-
tions have been numerous over this country in the past, and to
help check m part such innovations and to aid in having more
appropriate or significant ones is now the purpose of these re-
marks, probably the first attempt in this direction.
Our early settlers had a partiality for calling the counties,
townships and villages after places in Europe, particularly Great
Britain, which accounts for the origin of about three-fourths of
the present names of townships in the counties of Bucks and
Montgomery. A majority of those of local origin are beautiful
and appropriate with generally one exception, villc or tozi'ii being
a useless appendage, and I am glad to see it being dispensed with.
The North Pennsylvania Railroad Company in my opinion did
390 LOCAL NAMES
right in calling their station at the river Delaware, Yard-
ley, it is much more appropriate and convenient than Yardley-
ville.
Our post-office laws justly require but one name of the kind
in a state. This prevents mistakes, and also tends to render
them less commonplace. Where a name is required it should
be carefully considered and not applied in too great a haste.
In most cases it would be best under such circumstances for
the people of the vicinity to call a meeting and require a list
of names to be sumitted and posted for public examination
before voting upon them. Under all circumstances the names
should also be suggestive, convenient and euphonic or of agree-
able sound. With a little invention, historic research, topogra-
phy and the natural sciences can furnish any number of new
and beautiful names of local interest without going beyond the
limits of the neighborhood.
A few years ago in traveling over the Perkiomen railroad my
attention was arrested by the name of its first station near the
Schuylkill, called "Oaks ;" certainly odd-sounding and to any
other than a grossly ignorant person in that neighborhood must
appear a misnomer. For within half a mile from this very sta-
tion lived John James Audubon, one of the greatest ornitholo-
gists that the world has produced from about the years 1789 to
1810. It was here where he conceived the plan of his great
work and in reality laid its foundation ; it was here too that
he mentions the discovery of several new species of birds which
had not previously been described. To the intelligent stranger
or traveler how much more significant and appropriate would
he have received the announcement of "Audubon !"
When residing on a farm in Caroline county, Maryland, I had
my attention unexpectedly called to the importance and value
of beautiful, significant and appropriate names through the fol-
lowing singular circumstance : About a mile and a half distant
at the intersection of a cross roads an enterprising Englishman
in 1865 purchased a lot of ground on which he made extensive
improvements, including a store ; and in a few years, he applied
for a post-office to be called "American Corners," by which it
has been since known. Some time after on seeing him I stated
my objections to the name as it had little else to recommend it
LOCAI, NAMES 391
except its novelty. He suggested that before I passed criticism
T should at least exercise my inventive powers to see whether I
could do any better.
It was in this manner that I had my attention particularly
called to the subject, and I determined at my convenience to
make an attempt. The result on three or four trials to my
surprise exceeded considerably over three hundred English
names. The total time consumed in this novel experiment did
not exceed two hours. The paper that contains this effort bears
the date of March 30, 1873. Owing more particularly to the
increasing number of post-offices, railroad-stations, villages,
schools, country-seats, streets, avenues and resorts, must neces-
sarily occasion a constant demand for new or additional names.
I therefore concluded to give a portion of my list (the whole
taking too much space) as an aid or guide for public use until
a more appropriate or original list is furnished by some other
person.
Names adapted for elevated situations. Grand View, Sunny
Knoll, High Wood, Mossy Knoll, High View, Breeze Hill, Wind-
mount, Bleak Hill, Highmount, Rugged Hill, Fine View, Storm
Hill, Clear View, Rocky View, Daisy Hill, Misty Height, Pebble
Hill, Long View, Berry Hill, Mossy Hill.
Names adapted for valley locations — Mossyvale, Wooddale,
Mapledale, Sunnymead, Shadydell, Walnutdale, Silverdale, Wood-
vale, Fruitdale, Shrubbydell, Greenmead, Meadvale, Hazledell,
Daisymead, Grassy Nook, Sunny Bank, Fernmead, Ruraldale,
Sunny gleam, Ruralvale.
Names adapted for plains or level situations- — Daisyplain, Level
Lawn, Fairplain, Cluster Grove, Oakplain, Clovernook, Fruit-
plain, Broadview, Opal Lawn, Wideplain, Broadlawn, Wideview,
Greenplain, Thorn Grove, Green Lawn, Sunnyplain, Roseplain,
Ledgefawn, Clearplain, Highplain, Daisy Lawn, Clearview, Bri-
arlawn.
Names adapted for hill sides — Shadyside, Sunny Wood, Lau-
relside, ' Sunny Spot, Roadside, Fairside, Mapleside, Elmside,
Glenside, Warmwood, Hillslope, Mossyside, Ruralside. Green-
slope, Airyside, Sunny Slope, Waypath, Steepside, Viewside,
Fernside.
Names adapted for places beside streams — Clear Brook, Clay-
ford, Woodstream, Spicewood, Wood Brook, Mossydell, Hazel-
392 LOCAL NAMES
nook, Ferndell, Woodspring, Footbridge, Hazeldell, Meadow
Glen, Purling Brook, Meadow Brook, Ripple Rill, Daisystream,
Shady Brook, Quiet Nook, Ivy Bridge, Fernnook, Pebble Spring,
Lilly Pond, Brookside, Silver Stream, Laurel Brook.
Names adapted for wild or romantic locations — Rockwood,
Mossy Glen, Fernwood, Beech Glen, Wildwood, Shadywood,
Rocky Glen, Briar Glen, Woodpath, Forest Glen, Hazel Glen,
Fountain Rock, Flower Glen, Cascade Glen, Berry Glen, Rugged
Glen, Ripple Rock, Ferncliff, Violet Glen, Forest Glade, Wood-
glade, Fern Glen, Laurel Glen, Ivywood, Rockydell, Wood Glen,
Mossy Rock.
As respects ill-chosen names Washington Irving remarked in
1840 that it
"is an evil unfortunately too prevalent throughout our country. Nature has
stamped the land with features of sublimity and beauty ; but some of our
noblest mountains and loveliest streams are in danger of remaining forever
unhonored and unsung, from bearing appellations totally abhorrent to the
muse. In the first place our country is deluged with names taken from
places in the old world, and applied to places having no possible affinity or
resemblance to their namesakes. This betokens a forlorn poverty of inven-
tion, and a second-hand spirit, content to cover its nakedness with the bor-
rowed or cast-off clothes of Europe. It would be an object worthy the
attention of the historical societies, which are springing up in various parts
of the Union, to have maps executed of their respective states or neighbor-
hoods, in which all the Indian local names should, as far as possible, be re-
stored. In fact, it appears that the nomenclature of the country is almost of
sufficient importance for the foundation of a distinct society."
In extending its invitation the committee has generously al-
lowed me fifteen minutes, which I do not propose to occupy, you
will therefore excuse me in making a brief digression on so in-
teresting an occasion as this the first joint meeting of the mem-
bers of the historical societies of Bucks and Montgomery coun-
ties. May these sister organizations of almost the same age long
continue to flourish and promote through historic investigations
a love for facts and knowledge. A regard for local history
is based on a love for home and country, for kindred and for
friends, as well as a promoter of patriotism. It is elevating,
refining, and above all instructive, because it continually pre-
sents us with the results of experience. Hence it has been well
said that history should make men wise by the lessons it teaches
from example. To help aid in this work has brought us together
and is the object of our societies to encourage.
Our Fern.
BY MISS MARGARET B. HARVKY, ARDMORE, PA.
(Ambler Park Meeting, June lo, 1886.)
The historical society of Alontgomery county and the sister
society of Bucks county, ought to rejoice alike that Montgomery
county has made an unique contribution to science. I intend
briefly to relate the history of a fern — one which the leading au-
thorities everywhere recognize as Our Fern.
It is scientifically known as Asplcnium chcnoidcs and is so ex-
ceedingly rare that but few, if any, except botanists, have ever
seen it. It is not generally known that a fern found upon the
banks of the Schuylkill was considered important enough to
form the subject of a paper published in the journal of the His-
torical Society of London, in which the plant was described as
"an extremely interesting fern."
This fern was discovered by Air. R. R. Scott, of Port Ken-
nedy, in 1863. He found it growing in the rocky limestone clififs
in Springfield township near Lafayette station, on the Reading
railroad, at a place generally known as the soapstone quarry
(so Mr. J. H. Redfield, of the Academy of Natural Science tells
me,) although I always understood by the soapstone quarry, a
similar place on the Lower Merion side of the river. The only
specimen that Mr. Scott was fortunate enough to secure was suf-
ficient to give him immortality. He sent it to Prof. Asa Gray,
of Harvard, and afterwards to the Rev. M. G. Berkely, of Eng-
land, who sent it to Sir. W. J. Hooker, all of whom pronounced
it new to the scientific world. In 1866 Rev. Berkely published
the first account of the fern, and a description was included in
Gray's Manual of Botany, published the following year. The
name adopted was Asplenium ebcnoidcs, which had been given
by Mr. Scott himself*.
* This fern commonly known as Scotts Spleenwort has since been found in Ver-
mont, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, Indiana,
Missouri and Kentucky. It is local and rare excepting in a ravine in Alabama where it
occurs in great abundance and in all stages of growth. As early as 1S62 it was suggested
that it might be a hybrid between the Ebony Spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron (L)
Cakes) and the Walking Leaf (Camptoso'rus rhizophyllus) (L) Link). There has
been much controversy on this point, but since Miss Margaret Slosson, after many un-
successful attempts, recently succeeded in obtaining hybrids of the supposed parents
which resemble certain forms of Scott's Spleenwort found in nature, it is generally ac-
cepted as proven that Scott's Spleenwort is a hybrid. Keller and Brown report Scott's
Spleenwort as growing in Montgomery, Lancaster, Lehigh and Northampton counties in
Pennsylvania. Dr. T. C. Porter reports it as growing in Lehigh and Northampton counties:
Harold W. Pretz, of Allentown, Pa., to whom we are indebted for the information con-
tained in this foot-note has collected it on limestone in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In
Lehigh county where the parent species are very abundant, a number of plants have been
found. Dr. C. D. Fretz, of Sellersville, has no knowledge of its discovery in Bucks county.
Editors, 1908.
394 o^^R FERN
In Gray's Manual of Botany is mentioned a certain F. Borguin,
who also found this fern on the banks of the Schuylkill. Prof.
T. C. Porter, of Lafayette College, Easton, in his description
of the flora of Pennsylvania in the Topographical Atlas of the
State, mentions Asplenium ehenoides with the Schuylkill, near
Philadelphia, as the "only known station." About thirty speci-
mens in all have been found, of which scarcely two private col-
lectors own any. Mrs. Hannah Ritchie, a niece of Dr. Hiram
Corson, is one of the favored few. To her kindness am I indebt-
ed for a sight of the perfect frond. Mrs. Ritchie, however, be-
lieves it to be "a sport;" and in this opinion Mr. J. H. Redfield
coincides.
My attention was particularly called to this fern two years
ago, when I was engaged in classifying the ferns of the county
for the Montgomery county centennial. I had long known,
however, that this fern was to be found somewhere in our coun-
ty-
This rare fern is small and quite irregular. It is allied to
the very familiar lady fern, that exquisite, plumy ornament of
our moist woods, but only a scientist could see the resemblance.
I will say, however, than an Asplenium, or fern of the lady fern
kind, is distinguished by bearing its seeds diagonally upon the
backs of its leaves. Another Asplenium is the little, narrow
leaved, ebony fern, or ribbon fern, as it is sometimes called, grow-
ing in dry rocks or sandy banks, always known by its black
stem. Mr. Scott considered that his fern somewhat resembled
this one, so he altered the name of the latter, Asplenium ehen-
eum, to find a name for the former, which he called Asplenium
ehenoides. But it also resembles another and very different fern,
the rare and curious walking leaf, Campfosorus rhisophyllus.
This little fern grows in the crevices of rocks and is character-
ized by a tapering, undivided leaf, with ear-like lobes near the
base, the tip running out sometimes to a mere thread, which
creeps into a rocky fissure, takes root and gives rise to a new
plant. Mr. Scott believed that his fern was distinguished by
the same peculiarity, and concluded that it was probably a hybrid
between the ebony fern and the walking leaf. The idea of a
hybrid between ferns is so remarkable that even yet botanists
scarcely know whether to consider such a thing possible or not.
It was the little fern from our county which upset them all.
OUR F15RN 395
Rev. M. G. Berkely, of London, considers this "extremely in-
teresting fern" as a "genuine hybrid." Professor Sereno Wat-
son, of Harvard, has kindly sent me a tracing of Mr. Berkely's
plate, which I received only yesterday morning. In this the
points of resemblance between the three ferns are closely shown —
so plainly, indeed, that the most unlettered examiner would find
little difficulty in comprehending Mr. Berkely's argument. The
fern marked A. ebenoides is a cross between the other two, A.
ebeneum and Camptosorns rhizophylhis. The tracing of A. eb-
enoides is from Mr. Scott's original specimen. It agrees with
the walking fern in its elongated tip and in its producing new
plants from its own leaflets, and with the ebony fern in its
black stem and diagonal seeds.
Now, it may occur to some one to ask : if this fern was dis-
covered and described more than twenty years ago, why speak
of it as something new to-day? Because the scientific world
has lately heard of it again ; the probabilities are that before a
great while we may know something more about it. Within
the last two or three years, new specimens have been found in
Tennessee. It is however, a great satisfaction to know that it
was found in our county before it was discovered elsewhere.
The Black Rocks, near Bryn Mawr, in Lower Merion, Mont-
gomery county, have long been a favorite haunt of botanists.
The variety of ferns, orchids and other rare botanical treasures
found there is something marvelous. Last year while botanizing
in this locality, I pulled up a frond of the walking leaf and was
amazed to see in my hand a piece of vegetation exactly like what
I have sketched ; that is a frond of the walking-fern, with
elongated runner, at the tip of which was a new plant having
four leaves and a little bunch of rootlets. Two of the leaves
were ear-shaped like those of the walking-fern, two irregularly
divided like those of Mr. Scott's fern. I sent my specimen
to Prof. Sereno Watson for his opinion, saying that I thought
I had found, as a variety of the walking-fern, a young specimen
of Mr. Scott's fern. He was inclined to agree with me, but, of
course, no specimen of a fern is considered perfect until full
grown and bearing spores. Prof. Watson passed my imperfect
specimen over to Prof. Daniel C. Eaton, of Yale, who, in ex-
amining it, pulled it apart, to my great regret. He considers
the divided leaflets part of a separate plant which grew "ex-
396 OUR FERN
ceedingly near Camptosorus," as he says. But I insist that he is
mistaken, as I know when I pulled up the little plant that it was
one ; it stood out entirely in the air upon the tip of the walking
leaf, just as I have it sketched. Prof. Watson inclines to my
opinion, so I feel safe in asserting that I can trust my own eyes.
I believe, then, that although I cannot be credited with discover-
ing another perfect specimen, I can be quoted as finding enough
to indicate that the Rev. M. G. Berkely is correct in his estimate
of Mr. Scott's fern as a genuine hybrid. I am, therefore, of the
opinion that the Black Rocks, in Lower Merion, may be set down
as another locality in which this precious fern occurs.
I now take pleasure in presenting to the Montgomery County
Historical Society, in addition to the separate tracings of As-
pleniiim ebenoides, a tracing from the drawing of the Rev. M.
G. Berkely, and my own imperfect specimens, consisting of
two fronds of the ebony fern, two of the walking-leaf, my little
disputed plant and a sketch of this last as it appeared when I
found it.
It occurs to me that some may wonder why I consider it such
a great honor to discover a rare or new plant. I
doubtless covet this distinction all the more because I
have for the second time missed the possibility of such
an honor. If my name could be associated with the
discovery of a new plant I would consider myself more highly
favored than Queen Victoria who was honored by giving her
name to the royal-lotus, simply because she happened to be the
Queen. Give me a dear little plant that God made for my very
own and I care not whether my name appears on a monument
of bronze or granite. The great Linnaeus, at first sight of the
modest twin-flower, knelt down and thanked his father in Heav-
en for creating bloom so beautiful. I am sure that he would
prefer to be known and loved by this same Linnaea borealis than
to be remembered by a marble statue, such as anyone might
command for money.
My native Lower Merion contains, or recently did contain, a
beautiful species of Asclepias, which is not mentioned in Gray's
Botany; it is possible, therefore, that Montgomery county may
again lead the world in the history of a new plant, which Mr.
William Jacobs and I discovered last year while exploring in the
woods near Bryn Mawr, but unfortunately neglected to preserve
EARLY WELSH SETTLERS 397
specimens. We regretted it, later, when we found our plant un-
described in Gray. Mr. Scott discovered but one fern, and it
gave him immortality. Last Friday morning, June 4th, while
in the neighborhood of Bryn Mawr, it occurred to me to look
up our plant ; but I saw a new house built on the very spot at
which we had found our treasure a year ago. I was greatly dis-
appointed, but trust that some one will re-discover it and thus
confer additional honor upon our county.
Early Welsh Settlers.
BY HOWARD M. JENKINS, GWYNEDD, PA.
(Ambler Park Meeting, January 10, 1886.)
The county of Montgomery, like the great Commonwealth of
which it is part, was settled by diverse peoples. The Swedes
were already here when Penn received his charter, and his
own invitation to come and make homes in his new province
was not only broad but also cordial and attractive. In response
there speedily appeared upon the sea, seeking the capes of the
Delaware, a varied company. Englishmen of every shire from
Kent to Chester and from Cornwall to Cumberland ; Irishmen
from Ulster and Leinster ; here and there a canny Scot ; Welsh-
men from far down by Llandaff and Haverford or far north
by Bala and Caernarvon ; Hollanders from the lower reaches of
the Rhine; "High Dutch" from along the upper margins of the
famous river ; all these and more made up the moving throng that
within a single generation's span set out for Pennsylvania. Of
all the colonies no other had so varied a population.
In this diversity Montgomery county fully shared. As a part
of one of the three original counties, it was subject to the orig-
inal conditions. If we except the fact that a smaller propor-
tion of Ulster Irishmen came here, every other feature of the
diversity of Pennsylvania is presented in this county. In the
lower townships, east of the Schuylkill, along the Wissahickon,
the Tacony and the Pennypack, English settlers made their
homes, and with them many of the Holland Dutch; while above,
upon the Perkiomen and its many tributaries, fed from the slop-
ing hills that overlie the new red sandstone, there settled by
398 EARLY WELSH SETTLERS
scores and hundreds the frugal and laborious German farmers,
worshipers according to the formulas of Meyanchthon at Augs-
.burg, or Ursinus at Heidelberg, or pious followers of Menno
Simon or Caspar de Schwenkfeld.
Punctually, at the very first announcement of the plans of
Perm, the Welsh began to move. Before his own departure he
had sold to the "Welsh Tract" Company the 40,000 acres from
which have been formed the now populous and rich Merions,
and Haver ford and Radnor. The Welcome had not yet left
England when the first of the Welshmen had reached Upland.
on their way to the settlement of Merion. If Richard Wain had
not yet come into Cheltenham (and the evidence is that he had
not) Edward Jones, the Welsh pioneer, whose ship, the Lion,
Compton master, cast anchor in the Delaware on August 13, 1682,
and who went immediately to his new home, where Wynnewood
now is, and where his direct descendants yet live, was the ear-
liest settler in what is now the county of Montgomery ; the pion-
eer, therefore, of a hundred thousand people.
If we consider, then, the Welsh settlers in this county as to
the period of arrival, they began to come in midsummer of
1682 — and had substantially ceased coming by 1720 — though
Ihere were a few arrivals later.
If we regard them as to the places of their settlement, they
'took up the whole of Lower Merion and Gwynedd, nearly the
whole of Upper Merion and Montgomery, a considerable part
iof Plymouth, and some part of Horsham and other lower town-
ships, while a few families pushed upward into Hatfield, Tow-
ramencin, Perkiomen, Providence and Limerick.
Considering their religious classification, the greater part were
Friends, a considerable number were Baptists, and some remained
members of the established Church of England. The Friends'
imeetings at Merion and Gwynedd were purely Welsh ; the Baptist
meeting at Montgomery, the first planted by that denomination
in the county, and the fourth in the State, was also Welsh ; some
of the earliest Episcopalian worshipers at St. Thomas', White-
marsh, and St. James', Evansburg, were of original Welsh fam-
ilies ; and it was the Rev. Malachi Jones, a Welsh minister, who,
in 1714, with others among whose names at least two are Welsh,
â– organized the Presbyterian church of Abington, nearly if not
>quite the earliest of that denomination in the county.
EARLY WELSH SETTLERS 399
If we consider the Welsh as to their occupation, they were
chiefly farmers, though among them some had such knowledge
of mechanical trades as in that time was needful to the convenience
of people who were largely self-dependent. Of Edward Jones,
the pioneer, you will find Penn speaking, in his letter describing
for the Free Society of Traders the productiveness of Pennsyl-
vania's soil. He had, with ordinary cultivation, says the founder
for one grain of English barley planted, a growth of seventy
stalks and ears. One of the earliest schoolmasters of the coun-
ty was Marmaduke Pardo, of Gwynedd, who came from Haver-
ford West, in Wales ; and John Cadwalader, of Merion, a Welsh-
lad from Pembroke, ancestor of many distinguished Pennsylvan-
ians, when he married Martha Jones, in 1699, was also desig-
nated as a schoolmaster. Thomas Wynne, of Merion, from Caer-
wys, in Flintshire, who came with Penn, in the Welcome, and
who was Speaker of the first three Assemblies, was a surgeon
and physician, a "chirurgeon," according to the designation of
his day, and was the earliest practitioner in Penn's Colony. His
son-in-law, Edward Jones, (whom I have already mentioned)
was also a "chirurgeon," and his grandson. Dr. Thomas Cad-
walader, son of John, the schoolmaster immigrant, was one of
the most eminent physicians of Philadelphia for fifty years of
the last century. It is a fact somewhat remarkable that, as my
friend Dr. Levick, of Philadelphia, has pointed out in a recent
address, all the early physicians of Philadelphia, including Dr.
Thomas Lloyd, Penn's amiable and faithful deputy Governor,
came from Wales. They and their sons laid the foundations of
that city's eminence, a pre-eminence undisputed for a long period,
and scarcely challenged even yet, in the profession of medicine.
It is, indeed, true that the Welsh settlers, while they were most-
ly "yeomen" when they came, turned in many cases to other
engagements than the tillage of the soil. Upon those who had
their homes in the townships adjoining the German settlements,
the strong inclination of the German farmer for a strictly ag-
ricultural life, his unsurpassed diligence and frugality, his con-
tentment with modest returns and his patience in gathering
them ; these qualities in many cases gave him lands which the
Welshman or his son was ready to sell. Philadelphia drew
many, some even in the first generation, and many more in the
second and third; and of those who remained a considerable
400 EARLY WELSH SETTLERS
proportion eng-aged in mechanical pursuits, went into trade, or
entered the professions. In the list of the justices appointed to
open the new courts of Montgomery county, in 1784, the first
two, James Morris and John Richards, are obviously of Welsh
blood. Judge Morris was in fact almost the first judge of our
courts, following Judge Muhlenberg's term of a single year,
and serving himself for four years. Among the most prominent
associate judges were John Jones, Richard B. Jones and Josiah
W. Evans, and of the justices of the peace in subordinate jur-
isdiction none was more conspicuous than 'Squire Job Roberts,
of Whitpain, or his kinsman 'Squire John Roberts, of Mont-
gomery.
But I will not attempt, in this, an elaborate study of the sub-
ject, much less a complete statement of all the facts. It must
serve the present purpose merely to indicate generally the im-
pression which the Welsh element has made upon our county.
Their family names would form an extensive list, and would in-
clude many that are now familiar and largely represented m
the county's life — among them Cadwalader, Davis, Ellis, Ed-
wards, Evans, Foulke, Griffith, Hughes, Humphreys, James,
Jenkins, Jones, Lewis, Lloyd, Morgan, Morris, Parry, Pugh,
Price, Roberts, Richards, Rice, Thomas, and Williams. But
many family names partly Welsh in later generations do not
here appear. General Hancock, whom we must regard as the
most distinguished son and citizen of Montgomery county, was
of Welsh blood through his mother, and was particularly in-
terested and proud to thus trace his descent back to the Cymric
ancestors, who from Caesar's day down to the Norman Conquest
fought for their inheritance in Britain.
Let us not, however, in the ardor of these studies, in our
devotion to a single strain of history, lose sight of the vastly
greater fact in the beginning and now, the essential unity of our
people. From the first, upon the broad platform of Christian
brotherhood and democratic association, the men, and women, of
Montgomery county, as of our great State and our vastly greater
Nation, learned to respect and value each other. It may be said
with truth of the Welsh element that it contributed an important
factor to the population of Montgomery county, and what more
than that is it necessary to claim. The greater name of "Amer-
WHAT goe;ffre;y chaucer saw 401
ican" comprehends us all, and includes for us all qualities, Gaelic
or Saxon, Celtic or Teutonic, that were worthy of being brought
hither in the beginning or that deserve to be remembered now.
What Goeffrey Chaucer Saw.
BY DR. J. B. WALTER, SOLFBURY, PA.
(Ambler Park Meeting, June 10, iS85.)
Your genius of history moves in her crypt
And smiles — we may trust with approval — ^to see
Her votaries waking from slumber,, equipt
vVith tablet and style and the mystical key —
The word at whose utterance the doors of the past
Swing wide and lay bare to the eye or the soul
Times vanishing vistas — aisles dim, grand and vast,
And peopled with shades fading back to their goai.
That goal is a sea, wide and waveless and deep,
And, writ in the mist that hangs o'er it, I read
One word. 'Tis oblivion; and under it sleep
The dead of the ages ; their tribes, country, creed
Unknown and uncared for. The names of the few
Alone are cut deep in the temple of fame :
Their deeds fill the records we fondly pursue,
Aglow with their glory or dark with their shame.
The names of the few mark the steps of the race ;
Their fame is for all men, of every clime.
Their deeds are the pride of the world — or disgrace ;
Through them history throbs with the pulse of all time.
What cause may determine the age or the man,
And shape his brief course for the weal or the bane
Of myriads unborn, he may answer who can.
And say why lived Caligula and why lived Penn.
But poets are seers who may spurn the details
That make up your histories of nations and times.
They dwell in a wide realm of fancies, whose vales
And hills echo back the melodious chimes
That ring through the centuries. Prophets are they.
Who look down the misty and far-coming years,
And see nations rise, flourish, fall and decay,
And pass from the world 'mid its tears or its jeers.
402 WHAT GOEFFREY CHAUCEK SAW
It chanced long ago, on a morning in Maj'-,
When odors of blossoms and buds filled the air
Of old mother England, a youth, by the way,
Sat under a hawthorn— a youth passing fair;
Who, resting a while on the turf soft and green.
Looked off o'er the landscape and saw, far away,
The great ocean roll, and the skies all serene,
Bend downward to kiss the wild waves at their pla3^
And ships on their errands of trade came and went;
And some with their burdens of men swept along;
Their masts 'neath the wide-spreading canvas were bent;
Their decks were enlivened with story and song.
And one graceful craft skim'd the sea like a gull;
In spray from her prow, the green waters she tossed;
And so she sped on till the waves hid her hull.
And her sails in the low stooping heavens were lost.
But he saw her still — as in visions we see;
And saw far beyond her — a thousand leagues west —
A land undiscovered, yet destined to be
A refuge for all of God's poor and opprest ;
A land clad in forests, primeval and grand,
Where sound of the axe never rose on the air ;
A soil all unvexed by the husbandman's hand,
And wide rushing rivers and great lakes were there.
He saw where the rays of the southern sun fell
On sluggish lagoon, on palmetto and palm;
And heard, through her dense woods of pine, rise and swell
The moan of the fierce northern blast; felt the calm
That followed the storm when, all laden'd with snow —
No breath to disturb them — the green boughs o'erhead
Were blent with the masses of crystals below.
And nature seemed sleeping the sleep of the dead.
He saw where the blue smoke from wigwams arose
Of warlike Pequod and of great Iroquois ;
Of Lenni Lenape, Creeks, Cherokees, Crows,
And all the wild tribes skilled to slay and destroy.
And then, while he still gazed in wonder and awe,
A great sable cloud, hid the world from his sight —
But only an instant — then once more he saw
The same land and sea, with surprise and delight.
WHAT GOEFFREY CHAUCRR SAW 403
How wondrous the change ! In that moment, old Time
Had swept fifty decades like cobwebs away,
And showed to the eye of the seer, where sublime
In bright, sturdy youth his new continent lay.
The same skies bent low o'er the ocean's broad breast ;
And over the waves monster ships went and came —
No sail wooed the breeze, but they sped on in haste,
And deep in each hold glowed a fierce burning flame
That still urged them on, where in wild jubilee
The storm wind assailed them, towards havens of rest ;
And some of those harbors were over the sea.
Far off — in that country a thousand leagues west.
And there, where the forests primeval had grown;
Where blue smoke from wigwams for ages had curled ;
O'er lands that the red man had claimed as his own,
He saw a new, strange starry banner unfurled
O'er hundreds of cities ; o'er thousands of towns ;
O'er numberless hamlets and villages fair ;
O'er plenty and want ; amid laughter and groans
Of men in their joy or of men in despair;
He saw the broad folds of that banner float high,
And millions and millions, the young and the old.
Pressed restlessly on — many sank with a sigh —
And some sought for honors and some wrought for gold.
And self was the Moloch at whose cruel shrine
Men knelt; and the twin demons Envy and Pride,
Stood by, ever whispering the word mine, mine, mine,
And seeking for whom to betray or misguide.
But grand lives were lived and some great deeds were done
And Charity, hiding her face and her hand,
Stole forth on her missions of mercy alone,
And Hope went behind her through all that broad land.
And thus — while the lark, on that morning in May,
Sang, soaring aloft through the odorous air ;
And fields clad themselves in their brightest array
Of grasses and flowers, the senses to snare,
A youth — Geoff re)^ Chaucer— with pure poet soul,
Looked down through the ages and off o'er the sea,
To where the swift tide of a new life should roll
And break on the shores of a nation to be.
The Schwenkf elders.
BY GEN. JOHN F. HARTRANFT, NORRISTOWN, PA.
(Ambler Park Meeting, June lo, 1886.)
As it is altogether out of my line, indeed, I also fear, beyond
my disposition and skill, to contribute to the real work of a his-
torical society by bringing to light historical facts, I can only
be useful by attempting to show the relative value of those al-
ready on record, or by suggesting lines of investigation. The
real laborious work of the antiquary, the archaeologist, the biog-
rapher and the historian, I must leave in the hands of the
members of your societies whose zeal and skill have already
begun to fill your archives. I merely want to indicate a line
of investigation which seems to me of importance.
It is remarked by Grote that it is impossible for anyone to
comprehend history unless one is imbued with the Hellenic
modes of thought, the Hellenic constitution. The remark is per-
haps true of every people ; it is certainly true in the fullest sense
of every free, self-governing people. The true history of this
country will be the history of its constitution. I do not mean
the written constitution; that history has been written over and
over again from every point of view. It consists of nothing
more than technical and legal arguments upon the construction
and meaning of words and phrases. I mean no disrespect to the
eminent expounders of the constitution, when I say, "It was all
sound and fury, signifying nothing." After seventy years of
argument, compromise, evasion, construction and reconstruc-
tion, the real constitution stepped in and settled the matter, as
all such things always have been and always will be settled, ac-
cording to the spirit and not according to the letter of the law.
It is this constitution — the bringing together of the moral and
physical traits and characters of a people, their interaction and
fusion, the resultants and resolutions of these forces, — which
makes the true history of a free people. It is the only history
worth knowing.
I shall illustrate my meaning by a brief reference to the early
settlement in this county by the Schwenkfelders. In its self
THE SCHWUNKFELDERS 405
insignificant, it becomes important as one of the factors which
went to make up the constitution of which I speak. It was one
of the numerous rills which in the eighteenth century trickled
out of the old order of things to form the mighty river of
progress, along new lines over a nezv continent. They numbered
less than two hundred individuals — men, women and children —
and were the remnant of a sect which once numbered thousands.
Driven off from the Lutheran communion by the intolerance
of the great Luther himself, and abandoned by their Protestant
brethren, they had been severely persecuted by the Catholic au-
thorities as not included in the treaty.
As usual they had thriven under persecution. Afterwards,
when a more liberal policy toward them was pursued by their
brother Protestants, most of them gradually returned to the
fold. The few that remained felt more severely the persecu-
tion of the Jesuits, and finally took refuge in Saxony, from
whence, after a sojourn of some years, they went to Holland,
and came to America in 1734. Although from their number
they are hardly worthy of mention by the historian, we are
justified in concluding that the few who were left represented
as resisting all influences to give up their opinions, the conscience
and the strength of the sect. It is, therefore, their contribution
to the spirit, the constitution of which I have spoken, that gives
them an importance out of all proportion to their number. The
Puritans of the Mayflower, the Huguenots who left France in the
latter part of the seventeenth century and settled some in Eng-
land, some in Holland, and some in America ; the first followers
of Penn ; these few families of Schwenkfelders, and some other
sects that I cannot now recall, or that have not yet had their
historians, are other examples. Of these we may fairly claim
that the Schwenkfelders were the gentlest and the purest. For
there was undoubtedly something of sternness and stubbornness
and pride in the virtues of the Puritan ; of enthusiasm in that
of the Huguenots ; of singularity if not affectation in that of the
Quaker ; but as far as we are able to judge, we cannot trace the
influence of these or any coarser feelings in the pure and simple
lives of the humble Schwenkfelders.
"What good they saw, humbly they sought to do,
And lived obedient to the law, in trust
That what might come and would come
Should come well."
4o6 THE SCHWENKFELDERS
The two points in which they materially contributed to the
constitution of the country, most important in their effects, were
the training and capacity for local self-government and deep and
â– expressed opposition to human slavery. The former they en-
joyed with all or nearly all the other classes and sects who settled
the country.
Before the Revolution, the Puritans, the Huguenots, the Cath-
olics, the Lutherans, the Quakers, the Schwenkfelders and others
were little isolated communities of greater or lesser extent and
of more or less importance, seeking each in its own way its
spiritual and temporal welfare. After the Revolution, Puritan,
Catholic, Huguenot, Lutheran, Quaker, and Schwenkfelder, Eng-
lish, French, Swede and German were part of one nation and
â– one people. For all these, still clinging to old traditions, to live
together in perfect religious toleration was a great education.
To join in the organization of govermnents, local, state, and
national, was a greater. Of the first the Schwenkfelders had
no need. The only sect in America, the United States
at least, that did need training was, strange to say,
the Puritans, who made more noise in the world about
religious liberty, and practiced it Jess than any other
Protestant sect. But they fought manfully for it, and it
is altogether probable that without them the civil regeneration
I speak of might never have been brought about. Although
they would have kept the liberty they claimed to themselves and
to those who thought like them, they also builded better than
they knew. Of the second education I do not hesitate to say
that the Germans had and have more need than any other class
of settlers. The Englishman with all his prejudices, the Scot
with all his clannishness, accepted the situation at once. Even
the Irishman, after a generation or two of belligerency and
dynamite, settled down into an American.
But the evolution of a German is a slower aft"air. He clings
tenaciously to his habits, his ideas, his patois, his home. Hence
it is that his traces are so clearly and so long defined in the
private and local life, and his influence so little felt in the public
and general policy of the nation. In one view this is a most
admirable trait; in another, it has its disadvantages. Its ad-
vantages are summed up in the eulogy so often and with truth
pronounced upon this class that they are good citizens. But in
the; schwenkfelders 407
a nation where each citizen is a part of the government something-
more than passive obedience to \a.w and morality is rightly de-
manded of him. It is not enough to be a good citizen, a man
ought also to be an active citizen. Either we have got to govern
ourselves or some one will do it for us. We cut ourselves ofif
from the old world because we did not like the latter alternative
and because we had a mind to try the other. We have tried it.
I think we may say that we have been, in a measure, success-
ful. I know that it was and is yet, to a certain extent the
fashion with Fourth of July orators and politicians, and, in-
deed, statesmen, to claim complete success for our experiment.
But the civil war gave us better and juster views. It was
evident that something was wrong in the "most perfect govern-
ment in the world," when it cost 600,000 lives and six bil-
lions of wealth to straighten things out. But it also gave us
the opportunity to shake off the last load of feudalism, and I
think increased our chances of success. And in this connection
I must again refer to the silent and unnoticed influence of these
men and their doctrines. They and a few others were emphati-
cally the "still, small voice" that at last brought the conscience
and will of the nation to the great act of emancipation.
The glory of the latter, viz., "their deep and expressed oppo-
sition to human slavery," they, the Schwenkfelders, enjoy with
only a few other sects. The sense of the dignity of toil, which
was the result of poverty and necessity, and the recognized
equality which was the essence of their religion, produced the
spirit which gradually swept the slave line southward, and gave
the North and the West to freedom and equality. The written
constitution recognized slavery, and out of its provisions were
erected its bulwarks ; the unwritten, the true constitution, recog-
nized freedom and swept away the barriers to its progress. When
the armies were set in battle array, the heaviest artillery, as
well as Providence, were on the side of Union and liberty.
But we are in the last ditch of civilization. There are no
more virgin continents to which we can immigrate. We must
fight it out under the conditions as they now are. It is therefore
of the highest importance to find out what are the forces which
we can handle and direct. It is along these lines then that I
believe the work of a society like this should be done ; to find
the origin, the thoughts, the feelings, the habits, and the effects
408 FORESTRY IN PENNSYLVANIA
of those ideas, of the diiiferent sects who settled the country, is
to find the tendencies, the wants and the capacities of their
descendants. In the real histories of the future, battles will be
dismissed in a sentence and campaigns in a paragraph, but the
causes which set the armies in the field, the drift of the great cur-
rent of which these are only the surface disturbances, will be
exhaustively presented, and the historian will find his materials
in the archives of such unpretentious but most useful societies
as these, and the statesman will find herein also better means
of settling our social difficulties than bayonets, and the laborer
than dynamite.
Forestry in Pennsylvania.
BY HENRY D. PAXSON, HOLICONG, PA.
(Neshaminy Church, Warwick, Meeting, July 27, i8S5.)
There is a subject of vast importance which has well nigh
escaped the attention of our society, as well as the community
at large, and that is Forestry in Pennsylvania. In treating of
this subject it may be necessary to go beyond the bounds of
our own State and to allude to forestry in general. The term
forest as we understand it in this country constitutes a large
tract of primeval growth of timber, such as has never been in-
terfered with by the hand of man. Smaller tracts, such as in-
tervene between clearings or cultivated lands, are more generally
called woods or woodlands. In England, in olden times, the
term forest had a different signification. Blackstone defines a
forest as "waste grounds belonging to the king, replenished with
all manner of beasts of chase or venary, which are under the
king's protection for the sake of his royal recreation and de-
light" (I Blackstone, p. 288) ; so that originally it was considered
more as a hunting-ground. But at the present day forests are re-
garded in a very different light — they are looked upon as hav-
ing an intimate connection with the interests of climate, agricul-
ture and water supply. Hence has arisen that branch of science
which is denominated forestry. The objects of forestry are
numerous — it studies not only the general laws of trees, the adap-
tion of certain trees to certain soils, their development in masses.
FORESTRY IN PENNSYLVANIA 409
but also that intinence they exert upon the welfare of mankind.
In pursuit of this inquiry of the consequent effects of forests,
let us inquire into the state of our earth in its primitive con-
dition. From the most ancient traditions and records we find
that the entire land portion of our globe, except in the frigid
polar regions, was originally covered with dense forests. Hesoid
who lived 1,000 years before Christ, says:
"No days of famine to the righteoiis fall,
But all is plenty, and delightful all;
Nature indulgent o'er their land is seen,
With oaks high towering are their mountains green.
With heavy mast their arms diffusion bow.
While from their trunks rich streams of honey flow."
From the writings of Xerxes, Heroditus and Tacitus we learn
of the "wooded lands of the East," while Caesar in his commen-
taries tells of those extensive forests in Gaul and of the Druids'
veneration for the forests of oak and mistletoe in Brittany, amid
whose dismal shade they performed their sad religious cere-
monies. Abundance of authorities might be cited to further
prove this position. From this then it would seem that our
forests were divinely intended for a purpose, that they were not
left alone to chance, but grew in obedience to a wise Providence
to prepare the earth for the advent of man, and to maintain an
equilibriimi of the climate, soil and water supply for his exist-
ence, comfort and prosperity.
Let us inquire how it is that the forests exert these influences.
The trees act as mediators between earth and air and are con-
ductors of moisture from earth to air and from air to earth, they
absorb from the air and through their roots draw from the
ground that moisture needed to preserve a proper atmospheric
equilibrium. Whether the forests have a decided influence upon
our rainfall is a question upon which there is a diversity of opin-
ion, yet the preponderance seems to be that they have. Little
argument is necessary to establish this point. The leaves falling
from year to year in the woodlands accumulate in time to a great
depth, and slowly decaying form a covering of light, spongy
soil or humus, which is capable of absorbing a large amount of
rain and snow. Such a mass not only acts as a conductor but
retains a vast amount of water. The rains, instead of flowing
at once into the streams, are held for a time, trickling away
gradually as from a sponge into the water-courses and finally
4IO FORESTRY IN PENNSYI.VANIA
spread over adjacent fields and meadows. Again, it is natural
to suppose that clouds laden with moisture passing over the cool-
er wooded heights would be condensed and descend in the form
of showers.
That forests have a decided influence upon climate is now gen-
erally conceded. Volney, the French traveler, who visited our
country towards the close of the last century, notes that changes
had been observed in the climate in proportion as the land had
been cleared. Another important matter connected with this
subject is, the influence exerted by our forests in the way of
staying the storms that would otherwise break over us and carry
devastation in their course. In this particular the destruction
of the forests has given rise to a new industry — the wind and
storm insurance company. That the forests act as an equalizer
of temperature may be seen from the fact that in the coldest
weather wood-choppers can pursue their work, while whoever
has visited the woods on a hot summer day must have felt its
invigorating coolness as compared with the open field.
From these principles of forestry, let us briefly view the facts
that establish their certainty. If we look upon those countries
of the old world, where the physical laws of nature have been
violated by the destruction of the forests, we will find the re-
sults portrayed by the deplorable spectacle of desolate lands,
burning deserts, famines, drouths, and depicted by the pitiful
sights of thousands of diseased and starving humanity. Lands
that were once productive and fertile are now barren wastes.
Countries that once were boundless in wealth and resources, wield-
ing the sceptre of power over the civilized world, are now visited
only by the pilgrim. Their dry water-courses, their untrodden
roads and their ruined piles of masonry are monuments of a
once flourishing civilization.
The limits of this paper will not permit me to speak in detail
of these countries ; how they were once fertile and productive ;
how those laws of nature were disregarded; how calamities be-
fell them. They are all undeniable facts. You may think it
improbable that the Great Desert of Sahara was once a fertile
and inhabited land, but such is now generally believed. Dr.
Oswald says that in the very centre of this desert have been
found traces of the courses of former rivers and creeks and
petrified stumps. Champollion says, "The astounding truth
FORESTRY IN PENNSYLVANIA 4I I
dawns upon us that it may once have been a region of groves and
fountains, the abode of happy milHons," now
"A region of emptiness howling and drear,
Which man hath abandon'd from famine and fear;
Which the snake and the lizard inhabit alone,
With the twilight bat from the yawning stone;
Where grass, nor herb, nor shrub, takes root.
Save poisonous thorns that pierce the foot ;
And the bitter melon for food and drink.
Is the pilgrim's fare by the salt lake's brink ;
A region of drought, where no river glides,
Nor rippling brook with osier'd sides ;
Where sedgy pool, nor bubbling fount,
Nor tree, nor cloud, nor misty mount,
Appear to refresh the aching eye ;
But the barren earth and the burning sky,
And the blank horizon, round and round.
Spread void of living sight or sound. ' '
" The destruction of the grand woods that once clothed the Appe-
nines, has rendered Italy (the Papal States) a region of poverty, disease and
wretchedness. In Greece the traveler looks in vain for the legendary foun-
tains, rivers and lakes, with which the classic poets had made him familiar.
The water-nymphs have vanished along with their sorrowing sisters, the
Dryads. Palestine has become a parched and sterile land, on account of
the disforesting of its mountains and hills." (Bible Teachings in Nature.)
The Island of Malta is barren and treeless, Peru and North Africa, rainless,
and Assyria parched and inhabited only by the Bedouin Arab. A decrease in
the depth of the Rhine, Elbe and Oder and many other European rivers has
been noticed and can only be attributed to the destruction of the timber at
their sources. "Palestine and Egypt, once the granaries of the Roman
world, are now desolate and barren because of the destruction of their
forests." — Forestry at Home and Abroad.
Ahiiost yearly we hear of the dreadful famines in India, China,
Persia and Brazil, There are doubtless some here who remem-
ber the famine in China in 1878, which carried off 7,000,000
human beings.
" Pitiful and heart-rending are the accounts given of this dreadful
famine. For all these (3) years of drought, men, women and children
desperately toiled to fight off starvation by tilling a parched soil that could
not yield them sustenance ; then, as heretofore, they went to eating grass ;
when the grass failed they dug roots, ate insects, vermin and their own
dead ; mothers, driven mad by the cries of their starving children, buried
them alive to end their sufferings or else killed them for food ; and, at last,
with black and bloated faces, they fell dead by thousands and millions, at
home, on the hills and fields and along the roadsides, victims of their own
blind folly and sin or that of their fathers, in violating the laws of nature
and destroying her beneficent equilibrium of climate and moisture in sum-
mer and winter, seed time and harvest, as maintained by the forest." — For-
estry at Home and Abroad.
412 FORESTRY IN PENNSYLVANIA
But let US turn from this sad picture in the old world and
look upon America. It seemed that a beneficent Providence
had taken compassion on a thoughtless race and gave a world
where they might commence anew. Like the mother world this
too was found covered with forests. Those early pioneers who
sought these shores found the entire land from Maine to Florida
and extending to the Mississippi river one vast forest, broken
only by the waters of gleaming lakes and little openings, here
and there, where the aborigines practiced their rude attempts
at husbandry. What a grand and wondrous sight it must have
presented! What emotions must have filled the hearts of the
discoverers as they gazed upon America in its pre-historic great-
ness, its swelling rivers rushing through that boundless forest
of broad-leafed trees ! What must have been their feelings as
they pressed their way through that region of wondrous beauty,
heard the sweet note of the woodland songsters echo through
the awful stillness, surveyed the mountains clothed in timber
towering far above the surrounding forests, as they caught the
moisture from the passing cloud and distilled it into rain-drops
which trickled down their rugged sides into the gurgling stream-
lets that ran to the valley below !
Thus our ancestors found America. But the forests will not
grow corn, and in order to level them they applied fire and the
woodman's axe. That they have done their work effectually
cannot be denied. At first the pioneers in agriculture sought
the valleys and rich lowlands, and the clearings of timber here
did not much affect the flow of water, as their sources were con-
cealed in the secret recesses of the mountain. But, not content
with this, they extend their clearings far up the hillside and even
beyond the source of water supply. Then it was that the change
began. Then it was that our depleted timber lands, failing crops,
cyclones and destructive fires, long drouths, followed by raging
freshets, began to make their appeals.
Let us calmly view the results of this wanton waste in this
country. From reliable statistics it is ascertained that at the
present rate of destruction of our forests there will soon be a
dearth of timber, and then must inevitably follow failing
water and barren fields. In connection with the loth census
of the United States a survey was made of the forest resources
of the several states, which shows that the states which were
FORESTRY IN PENNSYLVANIA 4I3
once the "timber states" of this country — the northern New Eng-
land States, New York and Pennsylvania — cannot be included
in this class any longer ; and that the states whence the present
supplies are drawn will soon cease to furnish them. Ex-Govern-
or Hartranft. in a message to the Legislature of this State, says :
" Lumbermen of experience declare that in thirty years, with the
present alarming destruction of trees, Pennsylvania will not have any sala-
ble timber within her borders. The regions where this timber is found are
the natural reservoirs from which our rivers and streams are fed, and obser-
vation shows that the rain fall and the supply of water therein have been
materially diminished since they were stripped of their forests."
It has been ascertained that forest fires within this State alone
destroy annually from 2 to 3 million dollars worth of timber.
Our papers give us almost daily the accounts of these forest
conflagrations now raging in Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hamp-
shire and Pennsylvania, and the sad news of families in Texas
fleeing from drouth and threatened starvation. From the Phil-
adelphia Record I clip the following:
Erie, Pa., July 8. — Extensive forest fires are now raging near
Albion, in this county, and unless rain falls within a few days great destruc-
tion to propert}' will result. The burning tract comprises 1,000 acres, and
contains five large saw-mills, the fate of which it is impossible to learn,
owing to the meagreness of the reports. The forest is mostly of hemlock
and beech timber, and is very valuable. Nothing has been heard from the
lumbermen for two days, and it is feared some of them have lost their lives.
Chicago, July 23.— A special from P^ort Worth, Tex., says: All day
yesterday wagons loaded with families and their effects from the western
counties were streaming through the cities. They are fleeing from the
drought prevalent in the western counties and have come here in quest of
work. They give most gloomy accounts of the condition of crops and the
lack of water for stock. Hundreds of families are abandoning their cattle
and homes and going eastward to keep from starving to death. The situa-
tion is critical. Rain seldom falls in that district during August, and by
the time it comes there will be, it is feared, nothing left in the country.
Following the destruction of the forest comes in close succes-
sion the failing water supplies. Our people in towns and cities
are even more interested in this branch of forestry and water
supply than the agriculturist. To our cities the failing streams
are giving timely warning that other and more bountiful ones
will have to be resorted to. The once noble Schuylkill has lost
much of its former volume. The people of Philadelphia are al-
ready looking to the upper Delaware for their future supply.
414 l-'ORESTRY IN PENNSYLVANIA
If they do, let them zealously guard those monarchs of the
forest that stand as sentinels along its source.
Dr. J. P. Lundy, a man of recognized scholastic attainments
and possessed of a far-seeing judgment, and one of the prime
movers in the question of forestry in Pennsylvania, in speaking
of the inroads upon our forests and the consequent effect on
the water supply, says : "Philadelphia may have to go to Lake
Erie, and New York, Brooklyn and the large towns on the Hud-
son river, may have to go to the Adirondacks."
I will venture to say that there are many of you present to-day
who can call to mind diminished streams and failing springs
that in your boyhood gave a bountiful supply. In my native
township of Buckingham the noisy clatter of Ash's old mill
hopper is no longer heard. The ponderous water-wheel that
wont in "ye olden time" to go its daily rounds refuses longer
to travel without water, and now the baL finds a hiding place
and the lonely owl hoots in the old gables of the once celebrated
mill. And yet nearer home, the old Gilbert tannery, at Holi-
cong, that has been running so long that the "memory of man
runneth not to the contrary," is now defunct, succumbed for the
want of forest bark. The huge chimney stack that for long
years poured forth its volume of dark smoke high in air and
served as our wind gauge stands only as a mocking monument
of the leveled forests.
Even yonder picturesque Neshaminy, I am told, has lost its
force and volume except when swollen by heavy rains, which
is the result of causes herein stated. Whoever has wandered
in mid-June along her flowery banks and drank in the sweet
melodies of wood and stream along her shores must deprecate
any measure that will lessen her flow. INIay her waters never
grow less.
y
"While Morn's fadeless lustre pours
O'er her winding and romantic shores,
And far outlined like a silvery thread
May she ever roll upon her rocky bed."
These facts point to the urgent necessity of forest protection.
Let us see what has been done. In many of the countries of
the mother world the evils attending the destruction of forests
were long ago recognized and proper steps taken for their pro-
tection and reproduction. On the west side of France are the
FORESTRY IN PENNSYIvVANIA 415
landes or sand dunes, a region of 2,500,000 acres, covered by
burning sands, which have been carried there from the sea shore
by the winds. Trees have been planted on the borders of this
tract and the result has been that the sand-laden winds have
been warded off in a great measure and many acres of waste
reclaimed. A noted explorer tells of the following remarkable
instance of climate modified by the surroundings of man : In
Australia large tracts were kept treeless by the periodical burn-
ing of tall grass, with which the ground is covered. Sheep-
raising has been introduced and grass kept down and thousands
of acres made fit for agriculture.
In many European countries the subject of forestry has taken
the position of a science, and the forests are regarded not only
for the effect on climate, but as an important source of public
revenue. The forestry bureaus in France and Germany are an-
nexed to the governments and form a part of the finance depart-
ment. In Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Prussia and
Italy schools of forestry have been established where the subject
of tree culture is studied in all its branches. In some places it
is carried into the common schools. Nearly all these countries
have stringent laws for the protection and regulation of their
forests. Of such forest management this country has compara-
tively nothing. Beyond the establishment of the American For-
estry Congress, and the reservation of the Yellowstone Park, in
Wyoming, we have little except the recommendation of Presi-
dent Hayes in his message to Congress, wherein he says, "The
urgent necessity for legislation to this end is now generally re-
cognized." Further than this our general government has done
nothing, and few of the states have laws looking to the protec-
tion of our forests, such as a wise forethought would have dic-
tated years ago.
In our own State little has been done, yet the attention of our
people is being awakened to the subject by the Pennsylvania
Forestry Association, whose publications and lectures are arous-
ing the intelligent sentiment of our people to the importance of
early co-operative work. Nature is every ready to assist in
any measure looking to the comfort and happiness of mankind.
In this case, above all others, she oft'ers her helping hand. How
soon do we behold a new growth of timber on mountain and
hillside, where the plow does not follow the removal of the tim-
4i6 fore;stry in Pennsylvania
ber, and so likewise were our fields left for a time uncultivated
nature would again assert her sway and restore the wasteful
work of man.
Let us learn by the experience of other countries and profit
thereby. Those who are intrusted with legislation should see
that laws are passed favoring forestry and exempting from tax-
ation such timber land as the owners shall agree to maintain
as such. Our railroad companies could plant trees along the
line of their roads at a trifling cost, and add much to the com-
fort of the traveling community. The road bed would furnish
abundant support for the trees without encroaching upon ad-
joining cultivated lands, while in course of time the trees could
be used for railroad ties.
Our farmers could do no more valuable work than planting
upon the roadsides such trees as make a valuable timber for
mechanical purposes, so that, in addition to their worth as shade
to the summer traveler, they would be a source of profit to him
when grown. We have as yet much virgin soil, but it is a
question of time only when with this waste we shall lose our
vitality. Our country has not yet grown feeble from this loss
of its life blood, and it is not too late to retrace our steps. It
may take a century to regain what has been lost, but let us
begin the task, trusting that those who follow after us may be
animated by the same zeal, and carry on the good work to com-
pletion. May our fair land fulfill the measure designed by Provi-
dence in its creation for the abode of man, and may the sweet
melodies of wood and streams be a lasting inheritance.
Aboriginal Remains in Durham and Vicinity.
BY JOHN A. RUTH, BETHLEHEM, PA.
(Neshaminy Church, Warwick, Meeting, July 27, 1S86.)
Nearly two centuries have passed since the first settlers
found their way into Durham and the adjoining- districts. They
built their rude cabins in the clearings which they made in the
forest, and there began the great work which has made this
locality one of the most fertile and beautiful parts of our State.
The forests which once covered valley and hill have near'ly dis-
appeared, and well cultivated and productive farms occupy their
places. Wild animals, which were once common in this section,
have disappeared with the forests that sheltered them. The In-
dian, too, has retreated before the ever advancing tide of civili-
zation, and has found a new home in the far West. An Indian
coming- into our locality to-day is regarded as a curiosity. We
have almost forgotten that the land we call ours once belonged
to another race. The only traces the Indian has left of his for-
mer presence are a few local names and the stone implements
and flint chips found on his village sites and workshops. Through
his stone implements we learn to know the Indian as he was be-
fore coming into contact with the white race. From the finely
chipped spear-points and arrow-heads found along our streams
we learn his way of procuring his daily bread. They also speak of
his mode of self-defense. His stone mortars and pestles and the
pottery found on his village sites tell of his domestic Hfe. His
rude pipe of stone or clay reminds us of the origin of a habit
which has unfortunately been perpetuated by our own race.
His finely carved and polished ornaments show that he was not
exempt from that love of display which is so prominent a part
of human nature. These being some of the lessons taught by
the remains of the stone age, we can readily see how archae-
ology is of great value to the student of history.
The tribes living in Durham and vicinity at the time of its
settlement were the Lenni Lenape or Delawares, and the Shawn-
ees. The Lenape were the original owners of the land. Their
14
4l8 ABORIGINAL REMAINS IN DURHAM AND VICINITY
name according to Heckewelder, means "Original People."
Schoolcraft says it means "Manly Men," and Loskiel translates
it "Indian Men." Their tradition as given by Heckewelder, tell
us they originally lived in the far West. In their travels east-
ward, which occupied many years — they came to a great river
named Namaesi Sipu or Fish River by Heckewelder, and Mes-
sussipu or Great River by Squier, Schoolcraft and other writers.
Difference of opinion exists as to what stream this was. Heck-
ewelder believes it to have been the Mississippi, while recent
w^riters think it was some part of the upper St. Lawrence, per-
haps Detroit river. Crossing this river in company with the
Mengwe or Iriquois, whom they had met, they conquered the
TalHgewi, who opposed their further progress. The Talligewi
fled southward and never returned. They were probably the
people who erected the extensive mounds and earthworks in the
Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and who have been named the
Mound Builders. Continuing their journey eastward, in com-
pany with the Iriquois, they gradually took possession of the
country bordering on the Atlantic, the Iriquois taking that part
which lies along the Great Lakes, and the Lenape the "south
country" on the four great rivers, Hudson, Delaware, Susque-
hanna and Potomac. The Lenape were divided into three tribes
called Unamis or Turtle, Unalachtgo or Turkey and the Minsi
or Wolf tribe. The Turkey and Turtle tribes occupied the coun-
try lying between the mountains and the sea. The Wolf tribe
was the most powerful and warlike and 'lived back of the other
tribes, among the mountains, in order to watch the movements
of the Iriquois, whom they regarded with hostile feelings. The
Lehigh and Musconetcong mountains were the southern boun-
dary of their possessions.
The Shawnees were of Southern origin. They were a rest-
less, wandering people and have been very appropriately named
"The Gypsy of the Wilderness." They had a marked genius
for creating disturbances among their neighbors, and for this
reason were compelled to leave their home in the South, from
whence they came to the Tennessee and Cumberland valleys. A
part of the tribe came into Pennsylvania, and by permission
from the Lenape "settled principally at and about the forks of
the Delaware, some few between that and the Schuylkill." The
Shawnees occupied the west bank of the Delaware, and the Len-
ABORIGINAL REMAINS IN DURHAM AND VICINITY 419
ape the east bank. For a number of years they Hved in peace
with each other, and the Shawnees became a powerful people.
A very trifling afifair finally involved the two tribes in a war.
Some of the Shawnee women wandering over to the east side
of the river, met a party of women and children of the Lenape.
One of the children found a large grasshopper, which a squaw
from the other tribe snatched from the child's hand and gave to
her own child. This led to a war which resulted in the defeat
of the Shawnees, who fled to the wilderness of the Susquehanna.
The final battle of this war was fought in the vicinty of Holland
Station, Hunterdon county, N. J. Traditions of it still exist
in the locality. A white man is said to have witnessed it from
the narrows, or palisades on the Pennsylvania side. Broken
spear-points, arrow-heads, and stone-axes are still found in the
vicinity.
The Lenape and the Shawnees being the aboriginal occupants
of Durham, it is reasonable to suppose that most of the relics
found here are the handiwork of these tribes. The locality pre-
sented to the aborigines advantages very favorable to a savage
mode of life. The Delaware and its branches formed a great
highway of travel between the dififerent tribes. Its waters
swarmed with fish, which were an important article of food.
Throughout the township are never failing springs of pure water
around which the Indians loved to camp. The fertile soil along-
the Delaware yielded abundant crops of corn. Material suit-
able for the manufacture of all kinds of stone implements was
close at hand. The southeastern part of the township was their
favorite resort. Along the Delaware, between Monroe and the
Narrows have been found three ancient village sites. The most
extensive of these is along the Delaware near the mouth of Gal-
lows Run. It extends along the river several hundred yards
and from fifty to one hundred yards back. Its extent can be
traced by the numerous broken cobblestones and chips of quartz
and jasper which are thickly strewn over the surface and im-
bedded in the soil. Many of the cobblestones bear marks of
fire. The chips of quartz and jasper are the refuse left by the
ancient arrow-maker. They are an unerring guide to the archae-
ologist. Where they are abundant he is almost sure to find
arrow-heads and other implements. Many fine relics have been
found among the refuse of this aboriginal village. They exhibit
420 ABORIGINAL REMAINS IN DURHAM AND VICINITY
all degrees of workmanship, from the rude "turtle-back" to the
finest chipped spear-points and arrow-heads. The most abun-
dant relic is the arrow-head, of which several hundred speci-
mens have been collected. Many of them show by their excellent
workmanship that they were made by a people who had reached
a high degree of skill in the stone art. Stone-hammers, sinkers,
plummets, scrapers and spear-points are plentiful. The last named
are generally broken. Among the rarer implements are polish-
ing-stones, grooved-axes, celts, knives, pestles, hoes, drills or
perforators, ceremonial hatchets and amulets. Fragments of
pottery are plentiful. It is made of a mixture of clay, pounded
quartz and shells, and is of rude manufacture. Some fragments
are well preserved, while others are crumbling and have the ap-
pearance of great age. Some pieces are rudely ornamented and
sometimes perforated in order to suspend the vessel by means of
a string.
About a quarter of a mile north of this locality, on the farm
of Frederick Overpeck, is another place of great interest to the
relic hunter. Here broken cobblestones and flint chips are not
so numerous as at the former locality, but the relics are peculiar.
They consist principally of triangular ?irrow-heads and fragments
of pottery. During seven years of careful collecting but one
stemmed arrow-head was noticed. This specimen was found on
the outskirts of the village, and was probably lost by an Indian
from some other locality. Most of the triangles are of jasper
and are of the finest workmanship. The pottery, which is abun-
dant, is distinct from that of the other village sites. It is made of a
finer quality of clay and is profusely ornamented. Like all ab-
original pottery it is unglazed, but remarkably well preserved.
On many of the specimens collected the ornamentation is as
distinct as on the day it left the hand of the ancient potter.
Many spear-points and arrow-heads have crumbled into dust, but
this pottery, made of perishable clay, has defied the tooth of time
and successfully resisted decay. The vessels are generally or-
namented around the rim with series of lines and dots. The
lines are all straight, crossing each other at angles. The de-
sign is often regular and shows taste and skill on the part of the
artist. The making of pottery and its ornamentation was the
work of the squaws. The design was engraved on the vessel
before it was baked, by means of a sharp stick or a piece of bone.
ABORIGINAIv REMAINS IN DURHAM AND VICINITY 42I
The dots were often made by pressing the end of a hoUow spear
of grass into the clay. Some vessels were wrapped with cord
or with a coarse kind of cloth, and are known to collectors as
"cord marked" and "cloth marked." Some of the vessels had
their rims finely moulded. Finely polished celts, pipe-stems,
polishers and amulets have been found with this pottery.
On April i, 1882, while collecting relics along the Delaware
south of the Nockamixon rocks, a similar locality was dis-
covered. The freshet of that spring had washed the soil from a
small piece of ground along the river bank, leaving exposed a
bottom covered with small pieces of red shale and pebbles. Among
this refuse we collected 245 pieces of pottery, 25 arrow-heads,
I drill, 3 fragments of clay pipes, i scraper and i sinker. Of
the pottery 67 pieces were ornamented. This pottery is similar
to that found at Mr. Overpeck's, and compares very favorably
with the best pottery found in the Middle or the Eastern States.
Twenty-four of the arrow heads were triangular. On a later
visit 57 pieces of pottery and i arrow-head were found. History
gives us no clew as to who the people were who made this pot-
tery and used triangular arrow-heads exclusively. Dr. D. G.
Brinton, of the Academy of Natural Sciences, to whom the facts
were referred for explanation replied as follows : "I lately saw
a collection of arrow and lance-heads from a locality in New Jer-
sey nearly opposite the points you locate, in which all the speci-
mens were without stems, and many of them were triangular.
Evidently they belong to the same horizon as these you describe.
I do not know to whom we can attribute them if not to some
tribe of the Delawares or Lenape. Even in the same tribe the
character of the work in stone differed, depending on the material
at hand and the skill of the artist. I am not aware of any tribe
who distinctively used the arrow-head without stems. Such are
found in varying proportions in all collections."
On the property of Josiah Trauger, at Monroe, relics are fre-
quently found. In the spring of 1881 while workmen were dig-
ging the foundation for a house at Monroe (now Lehnenburg ) ,
they found arrow-heads, pottery and charred wood at a depth
of six feet. On Mr. Lehnen's farm near Monroe is a locality
noted for its large numbers of stone-hammers and arrow-heads
with notched bases.
In aboriginal times life and property were by no means as
422 ABORlGINAIv REMAINS IN DURHAM AND VICINITY
safe as at present, and the Indian in selecting a village site often
chose positions strongly defended by nature. Sentries were placed
on the hilltops from whence they could detect the approach of
an enemy. Signal fires were lighted to warn the surrounding
country of the approach of danger. This mode of defense was
common among the North American tribes. The Mound Build-
ers built signal mounds on many of the most prominent hilltops
in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. The tribes of the far West
use signal fires for signalling purposes to this day. The posi-
tion in which some relics have been found in Durham seems to
indicate that the same means of defense were used by the tribes
living in this locality. On the farm of Aaron Trauger, near
"Monroe, on the top of a steep hill, giving a fine view of the Dela-
ware valley, from Pincher's Point to near Milford, N. J., relics
are often found. Another and more commanding position of this
kind may be seen on the farm of Henry Adams. It gives a fine
view of the Musconetcong valley. The place is remarkable for
its large number of grooved plummets.
The Indian in his travels often camped for a short time by
some spring of pure water. Around almost every spring in the
township indications of his former presence may be found. On
the farms of George Schick and Jacob Richards are several
springs around which stone implements have been found.
In the river valley between Durham Iron Works and Riegels-
ville are three places marked by the refuse of village sites. One
of these is on the present site of Riegelsville. The remains are
said to have been destroyed by the freshet of 1841. The second
is at Cooper & Hewitt's sand-pit. The third is at Durham cave,
where several axes and arrow-heads have been found during
the last few years. It is but a short distance from the second
locality, and may have been part of the same village. The
remains which connected the two were probably destroyed by
the building of the canal and public road. Durham cave was
once occupied by the Indians. One of its rooms is still known as
Queen Esther's drawing-room.
On No. 4 farm of the Durham furnace tract, near Rattlesnake
Hill, is an ancient jasper quarry from which material was ob-
tained for the manufacture of stone implements. The excava-
tion made by the miners is still visible, and the surrounding fields
are thickly strewn with flakes of red, yellow and brown jasper.
ABORIGINAI, REMAINS IN DURHAM AND VICINITY 423
Among them are found the stone-hammers used in blocking out
the mineral into pieces of a suitable size for the manufacture of
implements. These hammers are cobblestones brought from the
river, and do not have the finger pits which distinguished the
hammers found elsewhere. Their battered edges give ample
proof of the hard usage they have received.
The adjoining parts of New Jersey are no less noted for relics
than Durham. On the farms of John Bloom and Benjamin Riegel,
at Riegelsville, N. J., many stone implements have been collected.
The farms of Mr. Snyder and Mrs. Hager, near Holland, N. J.,
have added many fine specimens to the writer's collection.
About one-half of all the relics collected in this vicinity are
spear-points and arrow-heads. Of about 3,000 specimens in the
writer's collection, 1,424 are of this class. Nearly all the forms
described by archaeologists are represented. Those with tangs
or stems are most numerous. Next in number are the triangles.
Barbed and serrated specimens are frequent. Specimens of
unique form are sometimes found. The material of which they
are made is such as was close at hand. About 60 per cent, are
made of jasper, 30 per cent, are argillite, and the remainder
quartz, chalcedony and other minerals. Specimens made of ma-
terial foreign to the locality are often found.
A large number of stone-axes have been collected during the
last few years. Most of them are of excellent workmanship.
Those in the writer's collection weigh from seven ounces to five
pounds. On some the grooves extend entirely around the axe,
while others are grooved on three sides only. Axes with double
grooves are very rare. But two such have been found in this
locality. They may be seen in the cabinets of Dr. J. S. Johnson
and C. E. Hindenach.
Plummets and sinkers are common, and every collection has
a number of them. They are found among the stone implements
of all lands, and writers disagree in regard to what they were
used for. Some claim they were used as weights to sink fishing
nets. The writer has seen them in collections, labeled "stone-
hammers." Dr. C. C. Abbott regards the grooved specimens as
war club-heads, but as some are too small to be used effectively
for such a purpose, it is probable that these implements were put
to more than a single use.
424 ABORIGINAL REMAINS IN DURHAM AND VICINITY
Ceremonial implements and amulets are rare, and much sought
for by collectors. Those found are generally broken. Stone
hoes are of rare occurrence. The pipes used by the aborigines
are among the rarest of Indian relics. They were highly prized
by their owners, and were generally buried with the dead. Im-
plements of unknown use are of frequent occurrence. In the
writer's collection are several large stone wedges weighing about
four pounds each, that have been worked over their entire sur-
face. What such implements were used for can only be guessed
at. They may be unfinished axes. About two years ago there was
found on the farm of Frank Trauger near Kintnersville, a small
semicircular specimen made of the hardest magnetite. It is
beautifully polished, and is unique, both as to form and material.
This locality is very fortunate in having a number of active
collectors who have carefully gathered and preserved many val-
uable specimens that would otherwise have been lost. Among
those who have done good work in this direction are Dr. J. S.
Johnson, and Benjamin W. Pursell, of Kintnersville, C. E. Hinde-
nach, of Durham, Charles and Samuel H. Laubach. S. F. Wolf, G.
W. Fackenthal and E. P. Laubach, of Riegelsville. Pa. A. D.
Bloom, of Riegelsville, N. J., has made a fine collection in his
locality. To these collectors thanks are due for valuable inform-
ation received. In closing this article it is a pleasant duty to
acknowledge my indebtedness to my brother, H. F. Ruth for the
valuable assistance he has rendered in collecting material. But
for his valuable help, the writing of this article would not have
been made possible.
Although the number of specimens collected in the vicinity is
large, the supply is not exhausted. The greater part of our
county has been but little explored. No county in the State
presents a richer field for the archaeologist than Bucks. The soil
along our extensive river-border and larger creeks holds material
of great value to the archaeologist and historian. Their preserva-
tion should claim the attention of all, that through them we may
learn more about the primitive inhabitants of our county. "Time
which antiquates antiquities and has an art to make dust of all
things" has left us these remains of a former race that we may
see the advance we have made over them in all that has made
our race more enlightened and noble. Let us preserve them,
AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY 425
that, when the last Indian shall have gone to the "Happy Hunt-
ing Ground" of his fathers, and his race is extinct, coming gen-
erations may know by the remains of his handiwork what manner
of man he was.
American Archaeology.
BV REV. DR. JOHN P. EUNDY, PHILADELPHIA, PA.
(Neshamiuy Church, Warwick, Meeting, July 27, 1886.)
There are two schools of American Archaeology which may be
classed as the old and the new, or the purely scientific and the
merely theoretical or skeptical. The great Humboldt is the best
representative of the one, and the Rev. Dr. Robertson, the famous
Scotch historian, is the leading type of the other. The old or
scientific school holds that America once had a high degree of civ-
ilization, which was not altogether aboriginal, but was partially at
least, an importation from abroad, either from high Central Asia
or Egypt or elsewhere. The new or skeptical school holds that
America never had any civilization which the natives of the soil
did not originate, and that this meagre civilization originated
with the ancestors of the present tribes of American Indians.
For my part, I go in the old paths in company with Humboldt as
the most sagacious of all pioneers.
Before James Bruce had brought to the notice of his skeptical
and scoffing countrymen, his partial discovery of all the rich
treasures of ancient Egyptian art and learning, polity and re-
ligion, manners and customs, which lay buried in tombs and
were depicted on temple walls. Count Carli, of Italy, had al-
ready published his American Letters, in which, by a vast array
of learned research, he undertook to show that ancient Peru was
]iartially peopled from China, and that ancient Mexico and Cen-
tral America were colonized from Egypt. Before the indefati-
gable Belzoni had gone to Egypt to prove that Bruce was right
in his account of Egyptian antiquities, the great Humboldt was
at work in Mexico and elsewhere on the American continent in
his masterly investigation of its wonderful antiquities, and had
concluded that its civilization had first appeared along the Gda
river or further to the northwest.
426 AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY
The first to account for this civilization and to bring to the
notice of the learned in Europe the Chinese account of five Budd-
hist monks and missionaries as having found their way to some
part of North America or Fu-Sang, was the scholarly De Guines,
of France, whose History of the Huns still remains an authority
of first importance. M. Abel-Remusat, a competent French
sinologist, of the early part of this century, in his Observations
on Northern Buddhism, makes this remark about the account of
De Guines : "One point which is far from being sufficiently
cleared up, and which remains, if I may so say, altogether prob-
lematical, is the journey of five Monks from Cophene (Samar-
cand) to the country of Fu-Sang, situated 20,000 li to the east
of Ta-han, and which M. De Guines supposes is in America. In
order to establish so important a fact as this, he not only adduces
the account of such a journey, made A. D. 458, and the conver-
sion of some of the American people to Buddhism, but must
also needs employ other proofs derived from a vague itinerary,
perhaps apocryphal, set forth by a compiler of the 13th century,
after a monk whose relation we do not yet possess." Remusat
does not here dispute the account of the five Buddhist monks
having gone to America, but only wants additional evidence,
which he thinks is not forthcoming in the later narrative. He
is simply cautious and wants the matter cleared.
The discovery and announcement made by De Guines aroused
a keen interest and much controversy among the learned of
Europe ; and the celebrated Klaproth treated the Chinese account
as a mere romance, very much as some of our antiquities and
the precious relics of an ancient civilization are regard-
ed as forgeries or as Bruce's narrative of his Travels
to Discover the Source of the Nile, was hooted at as a pack of
traveler's lies by the skeptical and scoffiing British public of the
last century, who laughed poor Bruce into his grave broken-
hearted. Forgery is an easy term to apply to a valuable and
unique relic of artistic workmanship and mystic meaning, as it
has been applied to the Lenape Stone, found in two pieces at
dififerent times near Doylestown;* but inasmuch as a forgery is
as close an imitation as can be made of an original, he must
* For further account of the Lenape Stone see "Our Stone Age," by Capt. John S.
Bailey, Vol. I, page 48, ante. Also " The Red Man's Bucks County," by Henry C. Mercer,
Vol. II, of these proceedings.
AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY 427
be a bold man, indeed, who can pronounce this Lenape Stone
to be a forgery without having the original for comparison. I
have carefully examined this stone to-day with the aid of a
strong microscope, and can see in it no traces of modern work-
manship, other than the partial filling up of some of the deeper
cuts or tracings with the stuff used to clean it. I have no doubt
whatever that a hardened copper graving tool was used to make
the tracings of this stone, inasmuch as Dr. Foote has now in his
possession a piece of Obsidian or other hard stone, with a bit
of such a copper graving tool broken off and remaining in the
tracing, and brought from Mexico. For all the lines of this
Lenape Stone are traced, not stippled or punctured as the most
of our rock inscriptions are ; and this fact induces me to believe
that this Lenape Stone Gorget is an inheritance or a trophy ob-
tained from some more civilized people than the Lenni-Lenape
Indians.
But so cautious and so disputatious is the new science of
Agnosticism, both at home and abroad, that it even doubts or
ignores the existence of a personal God ; much more must it be
expected to doubt and cast suspicion upon such small matters
as the Lenape Stone and the more important Davenport Tab-
lets of kindred subject and workmanship. There are yet in-
telligent Englishmen who do not believe that the Egyptian
hieroglyphs have been deciphered ; there are fossil German clas-
sical scholars who dispute the fact of Dr. Schliemann having
excavated and laid bare the ancient Troy of Homer and the
Mycenae of Agamemnon, and there are among ourselves mere
theorists who are so perverse and obstinate as to reject every
newly-discovered fact that does not support their preconceptions
and prejudices. These are not true scientists, but skeptics of
the baser sort, whom to follow is to get lost.
Now, inasmuch as such perverse skepticism is calculated to
arrest all true progress and discourage independent research and
investigation, the dictum of Klaproth respecting the Chinese ac-
count of the Five Buddhist Monks, was controverted by such able
scholars as Paravey, Newmann, Perez, Gordon, Eichthall, and
our own ''Hans Breitmann," Mr. Leland ; but the most elaborate
and exhaustive work on the subject is that of Mr. Edward P.
Vining, of Chicago, published last year (1885), in New York.
428 AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY
The only criticism to be made on this really able work is the
omission of the remarkable rock-inscriptions found along the
Gila, Chaco, Zuni, and other streams of Arizona, New Mexico,
southern Colorado, Utah, and elsewhere in that region of our
country; for some of these inscriptions bear very clearly and
strongly on Mr. Vining's argument in vindication of the Chinese
story as interpreted by De Guines and others after him.
The story is this: "This is the account given by a priest who
came to China, in the reign of the Tey dynasty, A. D. 499. The
kingdom of Fu-Sang is situated 20,000 li to the east of the coun-
try of Ta-han. It is also east of China. It produces a great
number of trees called fusang, from which comes the name of the
country. The leaves of the tree are like those of the Chinese
Tong. The fruit has the form of a pear, reddish in color ; from
its bark they make cloth and other stuffs for clothing, and boards
for their houses. The people have a kind of writing, and they
love peace. They have two prisons, one in the south and the
other in the north, in which their criminals are confined, with
this difference, that the most guilty are placed in the northern
prison and are afterwards taken to the southern prison, if they
obtain pardon ; otherwise they are condemned to remain in the
first all their lives. They are permitted to marry, but their
children are made slaves. When criminals are found occupying
one of the principal ranks of the nation, the other chiefs as-
semble around them ; they place them in a ditch, and hold a great
feast in their presence. They are then judged. Those who
have merited death are buried alive in ashes, and their posterity
is punished according to the magnitude of the crime. The king
bears the title of Y-chi; the nobles of the nation after him are the
great and petty Toiiy-lou, and the Na-to-cha. The prince is
preceded by drums and horns when he goes abroad. He changes
the color of his garments every year. The cattle of the country
bear a considerable burden on their long horns. They are har-
nessed to wagons. Horses and deer are also employed for this
purpose. The inhabitants feed hinds, as in China, and from
them obtain butter or cheese. A species of red pear is found there
which is kept for a year without spoiling; also the iris (grape
or plum) and peaches, and copper in great abundance. They
have no iron, and gold and silver are not valued.
AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY 429
"He who wishes to marry builds a house or cabin near that
of the maid whom he wishes to wed, and takes care to sprinkle
a certain quantity of water on the ground every day during
the year. He finally marries the maid, if she wishes and con-
sents ; otherwise, he goes to seek his fortune elsewhere. The
marriage ceremonies, for the most part, are like those which are
practiced in China. At the death of relatives, they fast a greater
or less number of days, according to the degree of relationship,
and during their prayers they expose the image of the dead per-
son. They wear no mourning garments, and the prince, who
succeeds his father, takes no care of the government for three
years after his elevation. In former times the people had no
knowledge of the religion of Fo (Buddha), but in the Sum
dynasty, A. D. 458, five priests went from Cophene (Samar-
cand), preaching their doctrine in this country, and then the
manners of the people were changed."
Such is the older and simpler story, bearing the impress of
truth in its unadorned statements, and too plain and brief to
be called a romance. The later and longer story called The
Kingdom of Woemen, or Amazons, is too extended for citation
here, but may be read in the various translations which Mr. Vin-
ing gives, compared with the original Chinese. These trans-
lations, eight in number, as are also those of the earlier account
substantially agree.
What now are the facts and the witnesses, here in America,
which seem to substantiate this story of five Buddhist priests
having preached, somewhere in our country, their mild and
merciful doctrine of peace and kindness, their pure primitive
morality akin to that which is taught in Christ's Sermon on the
Mount and in His seven moral precepts? Why, first and fore-
most of all, the whole strange and as yet inexplicable narrative
of that mysterious personage called Quetzalcoatl, who, with
some companions, came to Mexico, Central America, Guatimala
and Yucatan, teaching the people all the arts, letters, polity and re-
ligion of a higher civilization than as yet existed among them,
forbidding all cruelty and bloodshed, all human and animal sac-
rifices, and teaching them to avoid vice and crime, to do justly,
to love one another, and to live in peace and good fellowship.
Coming as he did from somewhere from the East, he disappeared
43© AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY
as mysteriously as he came, going back to the East across the
ocean on a raft of snakes, just as the old Hindu avatara of
Bhairava, the son of Siva, is represented seated on a coiled ser-
pent, holding the trident in his hand; or rather as the Hindu
god Vishnu himself is figured, lying at length on a raft of seven
snakes or cobras and floating on the waters of the original chaos ;
or better still, Buddha himself depicted as half-man and half-
snake, with the heads of four cobras serving as a nimbus or
crown of glory. We must here bear in mind that Northern
Buddhism is very much mixed up with the grotesque mythology
of Brahmanism and the native superstitions.
Now the trident or Tisul is still the sceptre of Siva, or Alaba-
deva in India ; it was also the sceptre and the symbol of Quetzal-
coatl of Mexico, etc., according to the best and most reliable ac-
counts we have of this strange being in Sahagun and Clavigero.
The Buddhist priests and monks of Nepal and Tibet still carry
the trident of Siva in their solemn religious ceremonies and pro-
cession, just as all Roman, Greek and some Anglican and Amer-
ican Christians carry the cross ; and this trident, or Trisul of
Siva and of Buddhist priests, figures conspicuously on the rocks
of the Gila river and elsewhere in the southwestern portion of
our country. The first witness to this astonishing fact is Major
W. H. Emory, of the United States army, who, in 1846-7, made
a military reconnoissance from Fort Leavenworth, Missouri, to
San Diego, California. In his report to Congress, very badly
printed, in 1848, under date of November i6th, 1846, Major
Emory says : "After making ten miles we came to a dry creek
coming from a plain reaching far to the south, and
there we mounted the tablelands to avoid the bend in the
river (Gila), made by a low chain of black hills coming in from
±he southeast. The tableland was strewed with fragments of
black basalt, interspersed with agate, chalcedony, vitrified quartz
and carbonate of lime. About the summit was a mound of gran-
ite boulders, blackened by augite, and covered with unknown
characters, the work of human hands. These have been copied
(and a plate of them is given opposite the page of description).
On the ground near by were also traces of some of the figures
showing some of the hieroglyphics, at least, to have been the
-work of modern Indians. Others were of undoubted antiquity.
AMERICAN ARCHAICOLOGY 431
and the signs and symbols intended, doubtless, to commemorate
some great event. One stone bore on it what might be taken,
with a little stretch of the imagination, to be a mastodon, a horse,
a dog and a man. Their faces were turned to the east, and this
may commemorate the passage of aborigines of the Gila on their
way south. Many of the modern symbols are in imitation of
the antique, and doubtless, the medicine men of the present day
resort to this mound to invoke their imseen spirits, and work
the miracles which enable them to hold their sway among their
credulous race. There are many more weird and mysterious-
looking places than this to be found along the banks of the Gila,
and the first attraction to the modern Indian was, without doubt,,
the strange characters he saw described. Some of the boulders
appear to have been written and rewritten upon so often it was
impossible to get a distinct outline'of any of the characters."
The two plates given to illustrate this important text, show
us a conspicuous central group, consisting of a man standing
in the act of adoration before a circular figure with a dot in
the centre, sustained on the top of a cross, and from the upper
part of which issues a figure in the form of a Y. The letter 1,
is at the base of the cross, on the left, and what seems to be a
snake or dragon is on the man's right, near his foot. The trident
is conspicuous, an anchor, four other crosses, one of which is
the ancient szvastica, of India, the sign of Agni or the Fire-god ;
two other human figures ; two animals, one of which resembles
a horse, and various other tree-like symbols and curious devices.
On another rock we have several orantes, circles, a trident at-
tached to a snake-like figure, a dragon, a mastodon, and two
other animals, like a dog and a pony and a cross.
Again, under the date of the previous October, the 22d, Major
Emory says : "Many deep arroyos have paid tribute to the Gila,
but in none of them have we found water. Following the bed
of one of these to examine the eccentric geological formation it
displayed, I found unknown characters written on a rock, copies
of which were made, but their antiquity is questionable." And
yet these characters are much the same as the others. The plate
shows us a bident and a trident close together, an orante, sev-
eral crosses, the astronomical sign of Leo, which is also the letter
ga of the primitive Buddhist alphabet, before the time of Asoka,
432 AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY
the symbolical meaning of which, according to the Lalita Vis-
tara, is this : "Profound is the law of entrance into the produc-
tion of connected causes," i. e., the beginning or first of connected
causes belongs to a law too deep to penetrate. Therefore, we
are to consider these latter symbols discovered by Major Emory
as of the same undoubted antiquity as the former, for they be-
long to the same order in both meaning and execution.
Another and a later witness, Lieutenant James H. Simpson,
A. M., of the United States army, must now be put on the stand
to testify to the same facts. In his Journal of a Military Recon-
naissance, from Santa Fe, Nezv Mexico, to the Navajo Country, in
1849, under date of August 27th, Lieutenant Simpson says : "Two
miles over a slightly rolling country, our general course being still
northwest brought us to the commencement of the Canon de
Chaco, its width being about two hundred yards. Friable sand-
stone rocks, massive above, stratified below, constitute its en-
closing walls. Four miles further, on the right side of the
canon, is a habitation excavated in the rocks, its front wall being
of stone and mud masonry. The height of the apartment is four
feet ; dimensions in plan, fourteen by fourteen feet, and the size of
â– doorway two by two feet. Alongside of it is another small apart-
ment also excavated in the rocks. A mile further, on the left-
hand side of the road, is a stone and mortar enclosure, elliptical
in shape, sixteen by eight feet in plan, and having two equal
â– compartments. About a mile further are to be seen a number of
very large sandstone boulders, which have tumbled from the
Tocks above, some of them containing probably as much as 15,-
000 cubic feet. In some instances, I noticed rocks of the same
kind in situ, and just ready to tumble down. On several of these
boulders were found a number of hieroglyphics — for a repre-
sentation of which, see plates 23, 24, and 25." (Original Report
of the Secretary of War, Geo. W. Crawford, to Hon. Millard
Fillmore, president of the Senate, p. yy. Document 64). This
modest soldier offers no explanation of these most extraordinary
rock-inscriptions nor is he presumptuous enough to call them
either genuine antiques or modern forgeries. He simply knows
nothing about them, and therefore has the good sense to say
nothing.
Plate 25, to which the reader of this journal is referred, con-
AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY 433
tains two remarkable representations, one of which will be des-
cribed further on, and the other now claims our attention. It re-
presents a man earnestly engaged in building a large boat, cross-
like in shape, like a bird with extended wings or a fish with
long flappers, a boat with outriggers for greater safety. Near
him is a trident on a stand, beneath which is the distinct letter
L, and what resembles a pair of compasses. On the left of the
picture are a doe, an arcade with six pointed arches and a tree
beside it, and over this a great open hand. The letter W is near
the top of the rock, on the left. A possible explanation of this
extraordinary group of symbols and pictures may be this : "The
Bodhisattva (or pre-existent Buddha) says to himself, after I
have built and launched the Ship of the Law which has the great
power of good guidance and of safe transport, of austerities, of
patience, a ship which is excelling, consolidated by an accumula-
tion of alms, staunch and well built by profound meditations,
firm and solid as the diamond ; having by myself alone furnished
and supplied this vessel, having by myself alone launched and
cleared her, I shall pass innumerable creatures in the stream of
transmigration ; I shall escape every trouble arising from the vex-
ation and annoyance of transmigration by the waves of wrath
and passion, and by the Grabas which make it difficult to navi-
gate. Such is my purpose. Having done this, having by myself
alone crossed this ocean of existence infested with Grabas hav-
ing hostile looks, and infested with the Rakchasas of natural cor-
ruption ; having by myself traversed the whole boundless uni-
verse, I shall then land and establish myself in a blessed abode,
where there are no more old age, sickness and death." (Foucaux's
Lalita Jlsfara, p. 190, or the exposition of the Law among North-
ern Buddhists ) . In one of Ferguson's plates of the old Buddhist
Topes of Amravati, such an ark or ship is represented, carried
in procession.
On the sandstone boulder of the Canon de Chaco, the man,
building a ship, is entirely alone. The trident near him is the
peculiar symbol of the northern Buddhist faith ; the arcade, with
Buddha's tree of knowledge beside it, may be intended to repre-
sent the blessed abode free from old age, sickness and death, where
he finally entered Nirvana ; the great open hand, so often seen
in Yucatan and elsewhere in ancient American monuments, called
434 AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY
Huemac or The Strong Hand, and applied to Quetzalcoatl as a
protector and worker, may be the same as the Kin-Shan or Strong
Hand of the Chinese Buddhists, or the Deva of the Sanscrit,
the god Vibasha who dwells in the flanks of the Golden mountains
of Meru or the heavenly Paradise. St. Augustine tells us, in
his controversy with the Mauichean Faustus, that David means
strong of hand or desirable. The hind or doe of our American
picture may also illustrate the story which Beale tells us about
the pre-existent Buddha having sacrificed his own life to save
such a deer from the royal hunter of Benares, she being big
with two young ones. {Travels of Pah Hian, etc., p. 135).
It is a curious fact, showing how widespread and universal
was the use of the trident and other like symbols, a fact recorded
by Mr. Layard, who found the trident and other sacred symbols,
such as the mystic cone and the Maltese cross, the ancient sym-
bol for God in Mexico, carved on the rocks of a deep gorge
or canon of the river Gomel, in Assyria, precisely in such a weird
place as the ancient people of the Gila and the Chaco rivers
chose for the purpose, and where they, doubtless, assembled for
worship. This river Gomel flows among the Kurdish hills ; and
these inscriptions are over the head of the king, not far from the
spot where the stream debouches on the plain, where Alexander
the Great fought the famous battle of Arbela, B. C. 331, which
gave him possession of the country. Mr. Layard informs us
that the five mythical symbols of the Assyrian worship were the
bident, the winged globe, the crescent, a star and horned cap ;
and that the symbols of royalty were the trident, the crescent,
a star or the sun, and the cross worn around the neck, (Nine-
veh and Babylon, p. 302, N. Y., 1853.)
In India the trident is the symbol and the sceptre of Siva,
as already intimated; and Siva is the third power of the Hindu
Triad, whose special function is that of destroying and repro-
ducing, of bringing out of death and decay new forms of life.
It is an androgynous power or principle of nature in male and
female, most fittingly represented by the bident ; while Siva's
single male power exercised in the three worlds of heaven, earth
and sea in the production of their varied life, is best represented by
the trident. Georgi says very truly that the trident represents
Mahadeva or Siva among the Tibetans. The linger or phallus
is also his symbol.
AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY 435
It was just the same in Egypt. The trident was there one of
the symbols of Ammon or the great father of all ; and the old
Theban priests represented this trident entwined by the serpent
to indicate Jupiter Ammon in his character of the life-giver and
healer of men, or power and wisdom combined. Nay, in the
old Christian catacombs or cemeteries of Rome, we find the tri-
dent entwined by the Dolphin as the sign of merciful power and
protection from the dangers and the storms of this sea of exist-
ence ; and, what is still more remarkable, we see this trident sur-
mounting the mast of the ship or ark of the church itself, with
the dove sitting beside it, holding the olive branch in her beak, in
token that the flood of time and the storms of this troubled life
had subsided, and that the ship was safely moored in the haven
of the Eternal city, that blessed abode free from old age, sickness
and death.
We find this trident on the celebrated Grave Creek stone ; more
than once on one of the Davenport tablets ; and three times on
one side of the Lenape Stone, the most singular and ingenious
device in one example being a combination of trident, cross and
bird.
The most probable origin of the trident as a symbol of life-
producing power is to be found in plant life or forms, consisting
of root, stem and branches, inasmuch as the most ancient Chinese
and Egyptian ideographs for the hidden power which begets life,
are figures in the shape of tridents, the Chinese interpretation
of which is, that which goes forth into life.
Now, inasmuch as the present tribes of American Indians are
never known to cut or pick into granite or sandstone rocks any
such things as tridents and primitive alphabetical letters or sym-
bols, each having a distinct meaning, nor to have any definite
knowledge of their origin or purpose, it is obvious that some
more ancient and civilized people inscribed them on the rocks
of the river Gila and the Chaco, on tablets, gorgets and amulets,
as the sacred signs of their religion, to mark their places of wor-
ship and to protect them from danger, disaster and death. How
the bident of Assyria and the trident of China, Tibet, India and
Egypt, the trident of all Northern Asiatic Buddhist priests, ever
came into America, is one of those problems which only such a
story as that of De Guines will ever help us to solve. Until
436 AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY
more light is thrown on the subject by the discovery of other his-
torical documents in China, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia or Central
Asia, we must rest content with this as sufficient to explain the
mystery.
Yes ; make of it what we will, there are other distinct Chinese
and Egyptian characters inscribed on our rocks and early mon-
uments. Thus, for example in Peru, there are unmistakable
Chinese symbols depicted on the lintel of the gateway of the
ancient cemetery of Tiahuanuco, indicating it to be a place of
darkness and the dead. Mr. Squier, than whom no better Amer-
ican archaeologist lives, says of the ruins of this ancient Peruvian
city: "They have been regarded by all students of American
antiquities as in many respects the most interesting and important,
and at the same time the most enigmatical, of any on the con-
tinent. They have excited the admiration and the wonder alike
of the earliest and latest travelers, most of whom, vanquished
in their attempts to penetrate the mystery of their origin, have
been content to assign them an antiquity beyond that of the other
monuments of America, and to regard them as the solitary re-
mains of a civilization that disappeared before that of the Incas
began, and contemporaneous with that of Egypt and the East.
Unique, yet perfect in type and harmonious in style, they appear
to be the work of a people who were thorough masters of an
architecture which had no infancy, passed through no period of
growth, and of which we find no other examples. Tradition,
which mumbles more or less intelligibly of the origin of many
other American monuments, is dumb concerning these. The
wondering Indians told the first Spaniards that "they existed be-
fore the sun shone in the heavens," that they were raised by
giants, or that they were the remains of an impious people whom
an angry Deity had converted into stone because they had re-
fused hospitality to His vicegerent and messenger, the Inca."
(Peru, p. 274, 284, Lond. 1878).
But then, quite as remarkable and quite as inexplicable are
the vast ruins of Arizona, more especially the ruins and rock
inscriptions described by Lieutenant Simpson, in New IMexico.
under date of September 17, 1849. Guided by an old trader
named Lewis, Lieutenant Simpson found the now famous Inscrip-
tion Rock, in the valley of the Zuni river, on the top of which
AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY 437
were some most extraordinary ancient ruins, squared to the four
cardinal points, and the whole plateau filled with an immense
amount of broken pottery, of different patterns from any hitherto
seen. Plate ^2, of his report or journal, presents us with a com-
plete group of Chinese symbols, which I have closely compared
with Dr. Morrison's and Martin's, and find them to agree in
every essential particular. Thus, the Chinese sign of the Ram
with a bird near it is conspicuous ; there are the signs of culti-
vated land and a man beside it ; the letter A beside an altar ; the
tablet on which imperial decrees were posted ; the standards of
an army ; a figure, half man and half-snake, walking erect in
front of a fox, and three great open hands, two of them having
a diagonal line across the palm and fingers.
I close this paper with the mere mention of another symbol,
common to Egypt, China, and America, which was the first thing
to lead me into the investigation of our rock inscriptions. It is
found on a sandstone boulder, in the Canon de Chaco, and pictured
in plate 25, of Simpson's journal. That conspicuous symbol, as
compared with its precise counterpart in Champollion's Precis,
is the Hieratic Egyptian character for Jupiter Ammon, the great
father of all things. It also closely corresponds with the ancient
Chinese symbol of Shang-Ti, the Supreme God of the Chinese
people. It corresponds in form with our modern letter, F, but
in course of time, it developed into T. Simpson's plate repre-
sents this fatherly character, standing on the northern part of a
great circle, facing the east, as if about to people the universe
with its varied life. The chambers of the south are represented
by horizontal and perpendicular lines. Three lines or rays of
light proceed from the southwest ; and outside the great circle
the sun is seen shooting out rays in four clusters, with the Strong
Hand near it. The letter A again, five crosses, and the two an-
cient mothers of all mythology, one of heaven and the other of
earth, Minerva and Ceres under different names, complete the
picture, save a great measuring rod or baton of authority at the
left edge of the rock. The whole most probably relates to the
creation of the world. All this and more that might be adduced
suggest a civilization far in advance of that of the present oc-
cupants of the soil.
The New Britain Baptist Church.
BY REV. N. C. FETTER, READING, PA.
(Neshaminy Church, Warwick, Meeting, July 27, 1886.)
About thirty miles northeast of Philadelphia, on elevated
ground, in a rich agricultural valley, stands the old meeting-
house and new chapel of the New Britain Paptist Church. The
grounds contain about three acres, two of which are used as a
cemetery.
The cemetery, enlarged in 1843, ^s enclosed within
walls, and well filled with graves, many of which are not marked.
The oldest inscription is in memory of John Riale, who died Aug-
ust 14, 1748.
In the meeting-house yard are still standing some of the origin-
al forest trees. An unfailing spring of water supplies the baptist-
ry built in one corner. There are numerous sheds and hitching
posts, and a frequently used public-road passes diagonally through
the yard. The size of the building is 65 feet long by 46 feet
wide, and 23 feet high to the eaves of the roof. It has a seat-
ing capacity of 600. There is no basement.
The new chapel, completed in 1885, located about 15 feet from
the church, is 56 feet long, and 33 feet wide. On the main floor
is an audience-room, parlor and library. On the second floor,
an infant class-room. The basement contains dining-room and
kitchen. The cost of building and furnishings was nearly $7,000.
The membership of the church is about 300. The congregations
are large, and composed mainly of an English-speaking-German
people, together with some families, descendants of the original
Welsh settlers.
As early as 1683 Welsh Baptists were attracted by the freedom
of religious opinion established by William Penn, and many of
them left their native land and emigrated to America. About
the year 1700, a number settled in Bucks and Montgomery coun-
ties. The following is from the records of the old Montgomery
Church :
"By ye good providence of God, there came certain persons
from South Wales into ye Township of Montgomery, County of
THE NEW BRITAIN BAPTIST CHURCH 439
Philadelphia, in ye manner following- : In ye year of our Lord,
1 710, came over John Evans, and Sarah, his wife, James Minister,
John Thomas, and Elizabeth, his wife settled there likewise. In
1712, Abel Morgan went to give them a visit, being acquainted
with both families, and to preach to ye few who came together at
ye house of John Evans."
The number grew from time to time, and some were baptized.
Through the advice and influence of Abel Morgan, they formed
an independent organization, and on June 20, 17 19, established
the Montgomery Baptist Church, with 10 members. This same
church, 25 years afterwards, became the unwilling mother of the
New Britain Church.
In 1722 the membership of the Montgomery church had mate-
rially increased, and was presided over by the following: John
Thomas, David Evans, Benjamin Griffith and Joseph
Eaton. On October 23, 1725, Benjamin Griffith was ordained
the first regular pastor of the Montgomery church, and later
Joseph Eaton became first pastor of the New Britain church,
in the meantime, serving Montgomery church as associate, and
assistant to Mr. Griffith. Between 1735 and 1740, some 10 or
12 years after Mr. Griffith's ordination at Montgomery, dissen-
tions arose in that hitherto peaceful and prosperous church. The
difficulty was two-fold. In the first place, the dispute arose con-
cerning what was then regarded as an "essential doctrine," and
secondly, dissatisfaction prevailed regarding the location of the
church. The doctrinal disputes, from our present standpoint,
seem absurd, but to them were serious and grave. It is possible
that these differences might have been healed had it not been
for the fact that the church was not located to suit all of its
members; in fact, as early as 1730 the Baptists in New Britain
had become so numerous, that they began to hold services at pri-
vate houses, and attended the church at Montgomery only on
Communion Sundays, and when the roads were good. The New
Britain members suggested as a compromise that a house should
be built on Leathy Hill. This project was opposed by the Mont-
gomery faction, and resulted in a division that was even more
marked than heretofore, the one party having Benjamin Grif-
fith at its head, the other Joseph Eaton, each crying "The Tem-
ple of the Lord we are ! The essence of the Church is with us."
440 THE NEW BRITAIN BAPTIST CHURCH
Henceforth they acted as two separate factions, sometimes meet-
ing under the same roof.
Numbers who at first favored the claim of the New Britain fac-
tion, petitioned for honorable dismissal, which was granted by
the Montgomery faction. At the time of this division, about 15
sided with neither party, and were called "neutrals," some of
whom refused to be identified with either faction thereafter. Af-
ter obtaining a dismissal, the New Britain church became in-
corporated November 28, 1754, but was not received into the
association until 1755. At that time there were about 22 mem-
"bers.
The church derived its name from the township in which it was
located. New Britain township then included the upper part
•of Warrington, and a large portion of Doylestown townships,
and was first settled about 1720. During the preceding 20 years,
it had become populated with Welsh Baptists, except the part
now included in Warrington, where there are now a number
of Presbyterian families.
Although New Britain church was founded by Welsh people,
the present church register shows that fully half of them at the
present time are people of German descent, whose ancestors
were Mennonites, Lutherans and Reformed. In many places,
the early Welsh Baptist churches have either collapsed, or been
crippled by the coming of the Germans, and other nationalities
of different faith. This was the case at Rockhill, where there
was once a Baptist church. In New Britain, however, the church
was too strong to be prevailed against, and succeeded in winning
the emigrant, and finally drew to its folds, the slow, conservative
Germans.
The first meeting-house in New Britain was built in 1744,
and known for many years as the "Society Meeting-house." The
congregation was called the "Society Party." This name origin-
ated from the Society of Free Traders, formed by capitalists in
London in the year 1682. This society bought large tracts of
land in different parts of the county, including a tract of 8,300
acres, extending from the Borough of Doylestown to the dividing
line between Bucks and Montgomery counties. The New Britain
meeting-house occupied a central position on this tract of land,
formerly owned by the Society of Free Traders.
THE NEW BRITAIN BAPTIST CHURCH 441
The first formal notice taken of the Baptist denomination
appears in the minutes of the Philadelphia Association in 1746,
when it was "Voted that the letter from the Society Party came
into the Association disorderly, and their messengers were not
to be received into the house."
In 1747 the Association passed a resolution, declining to hear
any further debates. In 1748 they recommended the petitioners
to be first reconciled to the Montgomery church, and their way
would then be clear for admission. No further notice appears
to have been taken of the church by the Association, until the erec-
tion of the first church in 1755, eleven years after its separation
from Montgomery. It was then resolved to receive the church
lately constituted in New Britain, Bucks county, under date of
November 28, 1754.
Since its organization more than a century and a quarter has
passed. During that time there were intervals when the church
had no regular pastor, aggregating probably 20 years, leaving*
112 years to be occupied by sixteen ministers an average of 7
years for each. The only time the doors were closed for any
considerable period was during the Revolutionary war. Rev.
Joseph Mathias, of Hilltown and Rev. N. B. Baldwin, of Mont-
gomery, were looked to for preaching when deprived of a settled
pastor.
The following are the names of pastors from 1743 to 1879:
the dates indicate approximately the years of service.
1. Joseph Eaton • 1743-1749 9. Thomas T. Cutcheon 1836-1S38
2. William Davis 1749-1768 10. Samuel Nightingale. 1838-1S45
3. Joshua Jones 1768-1793 11. Heman Lincoln 1845-1S50
4. William White 1795-1804 12. William Wilder 1851-1854
5. Silas Hough 1804-181S 13. Levi G. Beck 1855-1859
6. John C. Murphy 1819-1824 14. Abijah C Wheat 1860-1865
7. James McLaughlin ... 1825-1827 15. William Whitehead . . 1867-1871
8. Samuel Aaron 1830-1831 16. Lewis Munger 1872-1879
Biographical Sketches.
Rev. Joseph Eaton. New Britain's first pastor died before
the church was formally organized. He was its foster-father
during its spurned infancy. Pie was a native of Wales, born
August 25, 1679. He came to America in 1686 with his parents.
In or about the year 1721 he bought a farm of 175 acres in
Montgomery county, where he probably resided. The farm
442 THE NEW BRITAIN BAPTIST CHURCH
at present is owned by Albert Arthur. Rev. Eaton called to the
ministry at Montgomery county in 1722, was ordained Oct. 24,
1727. He preached up to the time of his death, April i, 1749
at the age of 70. He was buried in the old New Britain grave -
yard, and like many others in that last resting place, his grave
is not marked.
Rev. Wileiam Davis. It was quite customary in early times
for pastors to have colleagues, but churches did not pay enough
salary to support even one man. The pastor was, therefore,
obliged to resort to secular employment for the maintenance
of his family; and if specially pressed with cares through the
week, so that he could not prepare a sermon, would call upon
his assistant. As Rev. Eaton had been a colleague of Benjamin
Griffith at Montgomery, so William Davis became a colleague of
Joseph Eaton at New Britain, and was ready to succeed him at
his death. Rev. Davis was also a native Welshman, born in
1695 at Castleneth, Glamorganshire. He came to this country in
1722, but soon went back again. He returned in 1737, settled
at Vincent, then removed to New Britain and had care of the
church until his death October 3, 1768. He lies buried at James
Hundred, Kent county, Delaware.
Rev. Joshua Jones. Another native Welshman, born at New-
castle, county of Pembroke in 1721, arrived in America in 1726,
was ordained at New Britain in 1761, and took sole charge of
the Church in 1768. He was pastor at New Britain the remainder
of his days, a period of 25 years.
There is a pamphlet written about 1770, which contains the
following description of New Britain church, during the pastorate
of Rev. Jones.
"The house is of stone, 40 ft. by 30 ft., erected in 1744, on a lot of
two acres, partly the gift of George Growden, and partly the gift of the
congregation, whereon were stables, a school-house and a fine grove. It is
a rising ground, formed into an angle by the crossing of two high roads.
The house is accommodated with seats, galleries, and a stove. The church
exists in two branches, the one near the meeting-house, on the border of
the great swamp 14 miles off, where also is a meeting-house, commonly known
b}-^ the name of Rockhill. All assemble at New Britain on the first Sunday
of the month to celebrate the Lord's Supper, There are some temporalities
belonging to this church, also 30, the gift of Thomas Jones ; 5 the gift of
William George ; 5 the gift of Simon Matthews. With these helps, the
income of the minister may easily be made up to 40 a year. The families
belonging to the place are about 70, the members 49."
THE NE;w BRITAIN BAPTIST CHURCH 443
Soon after the close of the Revolution, and still in the time of
Rev. Jones, there appeared a Universalist element in the church,
led by David Evans, a miller, who lived near Pine Run. He was
born in 1738, and became a member of the church in 1770. He
was a man of parts, self-educated, a good speaker ; but withal,
vehement, obstinate, partisan, arrogant and over-bearing. Owing
to his difference in doctrine, it was deemed best to drop him
from the roll of church membership. Henceforth, he sought to
bring the whole church over to his belief. A conflict ensued
which lasted a long period, and although Evans was able to in-
fluence his own family and his personal friends, he could not
shake the whole church from its ancient theological moorings. Ev-
ans organized a church of his own in 1785, and built a small house
in 1 80 1, where he continued to preach for many years. Two of
his pamphlets were printed in Doylestown, and in one is a curious
hymn of his own composition. With his death in 1824, the
congregation disbanded, and was heard of no more. Thus we
see that Rev. Jones went through dark days during his long
ministry but he seemed to endure hardships as a good soldier.
He was not considered eloquent, but was sound, systematic and
instructive in his discourses. He is said to have invariably closed
his sermons thus : "I leave it with you briefly and abruptly,,
and may God add his blessing." He died in 1795.
Rev. WiIvUAM White. During his pastorate, which lasted 9
years, y8 were added to the church by baptism and 10 by letter.
On Jan. i, 1803, next to the last year of his ministry, the pews
were rented for the first time. On May 8, 1796, at the Mont-
gomery church, Mr. White baptized his successor, —
SiEAS Hough, M. D., was licensed to preach in August, 1803,
and succeeded Mr. White in the pastoral relation, having been
ordained in June, 1804. He labored with the New Britain and
Montgomery churches until March 2, 1818, when he was stricken
with paralysis in the pulpit, and was able to preach only a few
times thereafter. He died suddenly on the night of May 24, 1823.
During Rev. Hough's pastorate of 14 years, 26 members were re-
ceived into the church. A new meeting-house was also built,
which stands to this day. Those who knew the Doctor say that he
was a man endowed with a remarkable vocabulary and readiness
/]/^/| THE NEW BRITAIN BAPTIST CHURCH
of speech. While Dr. Hough lay ill, the church was supplied by
Rev. Joseph Mathias, of Hilltown.
Rev. John C. Murphy, was installed as pastor Dec. 9, 1819.
His ministry was peculiarly blessed, 91 being received by baptism,
and 13 by letter. He closed his pastorate April 18, 1824.
Rev. James O. McLaughlin, was elected pastor Oct. 20, 1825.
He proved himself to be an able minister, and a successful
pastor. He was baptized in Wilmington by Philip Hughes in
1784, in the 17th year of his age. In July, 1827, while visiting
at Lambertville he was taken sick at the residence of Deacon
Garrison, and died Aug. 19, 1827. The pulpit was again filled
for a long time by Father Alathias.
Rev. Samuel Aaron, whose name has been recorded among
the noted pioneers of temperance and human freedom, was a
full-blooded Celt born in New Britain township October 19, 1800.
He died at the age of 65, and was buried on the day that Abra-
ham Lincoln was assassinated. He was a man of tender
sympathies, but iron-clad for the right. He was perhaps the
most naturally talented and brilliant man that ever occupied the
New Britain pulpit. He acquired a classical education, and be-
came a profound mathematician. He was a courageous, force-
ful speaker. In early life he had studied law but soon left that
profession for that of teaching, which engaged his life for more
than 40 years, during 17 of which he was pastor of three churches.
His ordination to the ministry took place at New Britain, Aug.
27, 1828, where he remained but one year, when he felt
obliged to resign on account of his arduous labors as a teacher.
He lived to see the triumph of the principles he advocated, so
far as slavery was concerned. On hearing of the fall of Rich-
mond, and the surrender of Lee, a few hours before his death,
he exclaimed, "Thank God! I rejoice in the salvation of my
Country." His last words were, "Thy grace is sufficient for
me." His funeral was numerously attended from distant places,
and the house of worship could not contain the throng. Sympa-
thizing letters were received by the family from John G. Whittier,
Wendell PhiHps, and others.
Rev. Thomas T. Cutcheon and Rev. Samuel Nightingale,
were the pastors after the resignation of Rev. Aaron, the for-
mer for two years, the latter for nearly 7 years. The church
THE NEW BRITAIN BAPTIST CHURCH 445
(lid not prosper under either administration. Rev. Cutcheon
was rejected by the first council regularly called to examine
and ordain him as a minister of the gospel, Init was afterwards
put through by a council packed from New Jersey. Rev.
Cutcheon's preaching was mechanical. His sentences were
rhetorically ornate, but each sermon was like a glittering iceberg.
He was gifted almost with the brain of a genius, but destroyed
his influence by his lack of reverence for sacred things. The
dissensions in the church became aggravated, but a vote taken
in 1844 sustained the pastor. The next spring another vote was
taken, in which he was defeated, and obliged to retire, after
which he undertook to establish a Baptist church at Doylestown,
which ended in a failure.
Rev. Heman LincoIvN, was in many ways, the most remark-
able of New Britain's long line of pastors. He was born in
Boston in 1821, and assumed charge of the New Britain church
in September, 1845. He came to New Britain fresh from Brown
University, and Newton Theological Seminary. Though not an
eloquent man, he was learned and scholarly. His discourses were
instructive, interesting and impressive. He was a preacher that
grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
He was always regular in his habits and soon educated his con-
gregation to promptness. His coming was the signal for reform
both temporal and spiritual in the forces of the church. He
soon began to draw large audiences, and many were converted
under his ministry. The baptismal scenes along the banks of
the Neshaminy drew immense multitudes every two months, and
the membership soon doubled. His influence as a lecturer and
teacher will be felt for many years. During his administration,
the old session room was built, and the cemetery enlarged. He
resigned in the spring of 1850, to accept a call of the Franklin
Square Baptist church of Philadelphia, and to become editorially
identified with the interests of a Baptist paper. In 1865 he re-
ceived the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Rochester Univer-
sity, and to-day occupies the chair of homiletics and pastoral
theology in the seminary at Newton Centre.
Rev. Wileiam Wieder, was born in Massachusetts, March 31,
1819. At the age of i6, he joined the Presbyterian church,
into which he was led by force of association and parental in-
446 THE NEW BRITAIN BAPTIST CHURCH
fluence. Three years later, in 1841, he became a Baptist, and
the same year entered Madison University. After being gradu-
ated and spending a year in the theological seminary, he settled
as pastor in Baltimore. In 1850 he was invited to supply the New
Britain church for one year, and in January. 1851, was unani-
mously elected its pastor. He was a tall man with benign
countenance, and too mild a manner to make many enemies. As
a preacher, he was noted as a man of special force, and was
everywhere honored for his sincerity, knowledge and abounding
zeal in the service of Christ. He did not, however, leave the
impress upon the community that his predecessor did. After leav-
ing New Britain, he served successfully at the following places,
Upland, Philadelphia, Bridgeton, N. J., Minneapolis, Minn., and
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At the last named place, in the midst of a
prosperous pastorate, his health gave way, and he resigned. Up-
on his recovery he became missionary for the Iowa state conven-
tion. In 1 88 1 he purchased a small tract of land and residence
in Brooklyn Centre, eight miles from Minneapolis, where he
dwelt until he died, meanwhile assisting pastors in special ser-
vices and preaching for needy churches.
Rev. Levi G. Beck was called to succeed Rev. Wilder in the
spring of 1855. He was a self-made man of middle age. He
was converted in 1830, and baptized the same year by Rev. John
R. Dodge of Philadelphia, and commenced preaching at the age
of 21, without any previous preparation. Since then he has
served many churches, built several meeting-houses, and for
years was an efficient secretary of the Pennsylvania general
association. His ministry at New Britain was marked by the
enlargement of the church in 1857-8, and he is said to be the first
who succeeded in introducing an organ into the choir. He al-
ways had large congregations at New Britain. His sermons
were generally long ; being fluent of speech, he did not find the
toil of study as necessary to preparation as less gifted men did.,
The church prospered under his ministry, and was left in far
better condition at the time of his resignation in 1859, than when-
he took charge of it. He is now in the 75th year of his age,,
still active in his master's service, and bearing the responsibility
of the pastorate of the Baptist church at Lansdale. He was.
held in high esteem wherever known on account of his sweetness-
of character.
THE NEW BRITAIN BAPTIST CHURCtI z|47
Rev. a. C. Wheat came to New Britain in the winter of i860.
He was born in Connecticut, Oct. 15, 1809. He was a scholar
in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, and besides the English, spoke
French and German fluently. For a time he was connected with
the Methodist church. Forty-three other Methodists followed
him into the Baptist church, and after his own baptism, he bap-
tized them. He was a hard worker, but had only medium suc-
cess at New Britain. By reason of the Rebellion, and the con-
sequent difference of opinion among men, he found it impossible
with his Northern sympathies, not to clash with those who might
entertain other opinions. Whether discreet or indiscreet in the
utterances of his opinion, no matter how mildly he prayed for
the "President and all in authority," somebody was sure to get
mad. His leaving in 1865 was mainly on account of political
uncongenialities in the church. During his pastorate, mission
stations were kept up at Chalfonte, Castle Valley, New Galena,
and Doylestown, and the Sunday school at New Britain for the
first time was encouraged and induced to keep up its sessions
through the winter months. Upon leaving New Britain he
settled at Coatesville, where, on his 35th wedding anniversary,
he organized a little band of 35 members into the Coatesville
Baptist church. Toward the close of his life, he practiced medi-
cine, and was greatly beloved, as both a physician and pastor.
His last home was at Sunbury, where he died in 1872. Rev. N.
B. Baldwin supplied the New Britain church nearly a year after
his resignation.
Rev. William M. Whitehead was a Philadelphian by birth.
He was baptized by Rev. George Higgins at the age of 16. In
1844, when 21 years of age, he went to Madison University. He
decided to enter the foreign field as a missionary, but was pre-
vented from doing so. He graduated with honors in 1849, ^^^
commenced his ministerial labors at the Beulah Church in Ches-
ter county. In 1852 he was called to the pastorate of the Frank-
lin Baptist church, v/here his efforts were crowned with success,
and a number of young people admitted into his church. A con-
servative sister, fearing that some of the younger inquirers might
be acting under the impulse of excitement, suggested that if he
could get such men as Montayne, and Shettleworth forward to
his "anxious bench," she would have faith in it. Much to her
448 THE NEW BRIT.AIN BAPTIST CHURCH
surprise the next night these gentlemen were among the inquirers,
asking what they should do to be saved. At the end of 7 years,
Rev. Whitehead severed his pastoral ties at Frankford, and took
charge of the Great Valley church, Chester county, soon after
which the civil war broke out, and he decided to go to war with
the brave boys of the Valley, and enlisted in the 97th regiment
in November, 1861. Upon reaching Hilton Head, S. C, he with
another chaplain, organized the First Colored Baptist church of
Beaufort. In 1862, while lying near some of the swamps of
Georgia, he contracted the Southern malarial fever, and was
forced to resign, being honorably discharged Aug. 20, 1862. In
the spring of 1863, although still broken down in health, he
settled with the AlcKeesport church, Allegheny county, at the
salary of $200 per year ; he also opened a school for advanced
pupils, but his arduous duties as a preacher, soon compelled him
to quit teaching. In 1867 he accepted a call to the New Britain
church. As a pulpit orator he was considered superior to most
of his predecessors. During his pastorate a valuable library
was purchased for use of the young people of the community.
The books were well-selected, and consisted of the choicest pub-
lications in science and literature. The library, however, was
not founded on a permanent basis, and the books have become
scattered. After serving the church acceptably for nearly five
years, he resigned, and went to Hahnemann Medical College
in Philadelphia, where he was graduated as a physician. He then
entered upon the joint work of preaching and practicing medicine
at Woodbury, N. J. In November, 1873, a severe cold seized upon
his weakened constitution, and threw him into a fever from which
he died Jan. 28, 1874. He was a patient, unselfish man, who was
held in the highest esteem and affection by the people of his
church.
Rev. Lewis Munger was born ]\Iarch 16, 1.841 in Northfield,
Conn. His early years were spent on his father's farm. He re-
ceived an ordinary common school education, and when old
enough he began to teach. At the breaking oat of the civil war,
he joined the Second Heavy Artillery, and was raised to the rank
of captain before the struggle was over. In 1865 he entered
a commercial college in Springfield, Mass., intending to engage
in commercial pursuits, but while there was brought to Christ
THE NEW BRITAIN BAPTIST CHURCH 449
under the ministry of Rev. A. K. Potter, and while his parents-
were Congregationahsts, he decided to become a Baptist, and.
made a pubHc profession of his faith in 1866. He was admitted
to Brown University in the fall of that year. During one of
his college vacations, his gifts were of great service in a revival
which brought large additions to the Northfield church. He
left college in 1869, and entered Crozer Theological Seminary
graduating in 1872. He had already been called to the New
Britain church, and was ordained its pastor June 13, 1872, and
on June 18 was married'to Miss Lucy E. Weston daughter of the
president of the seminary. He resigned in 1879. He had wit-
nessed the membership of his church more than double under
his ministry, he preached his last sermon on the 6th anniversary
of his ordination. His text was "it is expedient for you that I
go away." He little knew how much his sermon meant at that
time for he never entered the pulpit again, but was taken home
to die of consumption, which he contracted of exposure while in
the army. He was a hard-working student, a Godly man, and
a beloved pastor.'^
* Rev. N. C. Fetter, the author of this paper, succeeded Rev. Lewis Munger, was or-
dained June 24, 1879, and resigned February, 1890. Rev. Fetter was succeeded by Rev.
Thomas C. Davis and he by Rev. Eugene B. Hughes.
Hon. Samuel D. Ingham.
BY REV. D. K. TURNER, HARTSVILEE, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January i8, 1887.)
One of the objects of the Bucks County Historical Society is to
hand down to posterity the recollection of the worthy deeds and
exalted characters of those who have deserved and won fame
among our own people. On this roll of renown the name of
Samuel D. Ingham occupies a conspicuous place. He was the
only one, who, being a native and long a resident of this county
was chosen to be an advisor of the President of the United States
in his Cabinet. Few others of our own citizens have displayed
greater intellectual ability, and none has evei stood in a more
elevated position. It is highly appropriate, therefore, that his
character and public services should be made the subject of in-
vestigation and of comment in the proceedings of this society.
Samuel Delucenna Ingham, son of Dr. Jonathan Ingham and
Ann Welding was born at Great Spring, Solebury township,
September i6, 1779. His great-grandfather, Jonas Ingham, was
of Saxon origin, and emigrated from England about the year
1705. Jonathan Ingham, the only son of Jonas, was born in
Trenton, in 17 10. About the year 1739, Jonathan, accompanied
by his father, removed to Bucks county, and bought a part of
the estate of James Logan, containing the noted "Spring," which
was long known as "Ingham Spring." This property remained
in the possession of the family about one hundred and ten years.
Jonathan Ingham, Sr., the grandfather of Samuel, died in Sole-
bury, in 1799, aged 89 years, and was buried in the grave-yard
of the Buckingham Friends' meeting. His son, Dr. Jonathan,
was born at Great Spring, July 16, 1744. Fond of study from
the period of youth, he acquired a knowledge of the Latin,
Greek and Hebrew languages, and could converse with one
tribe of Indians in their own dialect. In the summer of 1793
Philadelphia was visited by yellow fever and large numbers
of the inhabitants died.*
Dr. Ingham, Samuel's father, was anxious to discover a reme-
* See Watson's Annals, 1857 Edition, Vol. 2, page 389.
HON. SAMUEL D. INGHAM 45I
(ly for that fearful malady, and with that object in view he often
went to the city, and assisted in giving attendance to the sick
and dying. This resulted in his being attacked himself, and
thinking that the air of a more elevated locality might check
the development of the disease, he hastened towards Schooley's
Mountain, but before he reached there at a point in the road
about a mile west of Clinton, New Jersey, he died in his car-
riage, October i, 1793, and was buried in the grave-yard of the
Bethlehem, N. J. Presbyterian church. He was the father of
eleven children, five sons and six daughters, only one, a son,
dying before him. Samuel was the fifth child, the oldest sur-
viving son at the time of his father's death, and only fourteen
years of age. A wadow with ten children, and an aged grand-
father, in his 80th year, were left with no one to provide for
them. The youthful Samuel felt that the responsibility of car-
ing for them devolved in a measure upon him.
He learned the trade of paper-making in a mill on the Penny-
pack creek, and while thus employed used every effort to ac-
quire an education, often going on foot to Philadelphia, a dis-
tance of 16 miles to get books from a library. His intellect ex-
panded, and as he grew to manhood he displayed strong
judgment, and became the trusted counsellor of the family. It
is said that in his studies during his apprenticeship he was as-
sisted by a Scotchman, named Craig. At twenty-one years of
age, when he was his own master, he returned to his mother's
home and assumed direction of affairs on the farm and in the
paper-mill, which was operated by water-power derived from
the "Big Spring".
Soon after establishing himself at the fraternal mansion, Aug-
ust 25, 1 80 1, before he was twenty-two years old, he was united
in marriage to Rebecca Dodd, of Bloomfield, N. J., who was the
mother of six of his children, three sons and three daughters, all
of whom are now dead. As a young man he became interested
in local politics and for several years was secretary of the
Democratic county meetings. This rendered him familiar with
usages of public deliberative bodies, and paved the way for ad-
vancement to higher positions. Three successive years, 1805-6-7,
he was elected a member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania,
and in 1808 he declined a re-election. About this time, without
452 HON. SAMUEL D. INGHAM
solicitation on his part, Governor Thomas McKean sent him a
commission of justice of the peace. It was mainly owing to the
exertions of Mr. Ingham and Benjamin Parry that the act for
building a bridge over the Delaware at Coryell's Ferry, between
New Hope and Lambertville, was obtained from the Legislature,
and those two gentlemen were appointed a committee to super-
intend its erection. The cost of this including the purchase
of ferry rights, toll-houses and approaches was about $68,000.
Parton says : "Ingham's successful management of his pri-
vate business, in circumstances of more than usual difficulty, con-
structing his mill in a region where not a mechanic whom he
employed had ever seen one, and starting it with far more
credit than capital, proves him to have been a man of executive
ability."
Mr. Ingham represented this district in Congress from 181 2
to 1816. But after serving in the 15th Congress one term, the
declining health of Mrs. Ingham rendered it necessary for him
to resign. He then accepted the position of prothonotary of
this county, and removed his place of residence for a few years
to Doylestown. In 18 19 Governor Findlay, father of the late
Judge John K. Findlay, appointed him Secretary of the Com-
monwealth, an office the duties of which he performed with
ability and credit until the close of the gubernatorial term. In
1822, 1824, 1826 and 1828 he was chosen to represent his fellow
citizens in the National House of Representatives at Washington,
and with his previous service in that body was a member of
seven separate Congresses, which has been seldom, if ever,
equalled by any delegate from this county. For a considerable
time he was chairman of the Committee on Post Offices and
Post Roads, and was also a member of the important Committee
on Ways and Means. Though he could at any time, as occasion
required, present his views upon public questions on the floor
of the House, yet he sought more to exert his influence and em-
ploy his energies in the deliberations and investigations of the
committee room.
During the first Congress of which Mr. Ingham was a member
his seat was next to that of John C. Calhoun, to whom he be-
came strongly attached; but did not share his views of the su-
premacy of the rights of the states.
HON. SAMUEIv D. INGHAM 453
In 1828 he used his influence to secure the election of General
Jackson. In 1824 he had labored earnestly for Jackson and
Calhoun, when the latter was elected Vice President, and Penn-
sylvania cast all her electoral votes, twenty-eight in number, for
both those candidates for the highest National offices; but Jack-
son not having a majority over all other candidates, the election
for President was thrown into the House of Representatives,
and John Quincy Adams was there elected by a majority of
one state, having thirteen states in his favor out of twenty-four.
Parton in his "Life of Andrew Jackson, says, "Mr. Inghani
was one of those Pennsylvanians who had originally preferred
Mr. Calhoun for the Presidency, and suspended their efforts
in his behalf, in deference to the evident wish of the people."
Mr. Ingham's warm advocacy of Gen. Jackson's claim to the
Presidency both when he failed of an election and later when
he secured it were some of the reasons that influenced the gen-
eral in 1829 to nominate him for Secretary of the Treasury, and
moreover he was recommended by his party associates in Con-
gress as well as by his fellow-citizens at home.
While Mr. Ingham was Secretary of the Treasury, the United
States Bank was in the full tide of prosperity. It was an in-
stitution of vast resources and great usefulness. Its capital
was thirty-five millions of dollars ; the funds of the general gov-
ernment deposited in it were six or seven millions ; the deposits
of private individuals were six millions more, and its circulation
twelve millions. The principal place of its business was in a
splendid marble building in Philadelphia, where were employed
a hundred clerks ; and besides this there were tweny-five branches
in as many dififerent towns and cities of the Union. Its credit
was unimpaired throughout the whole land, and its notes were
taken at par from Maine to Oregon and from the lakes to the
Gulf of ]\Iexico, and were received in the countries of Europe
with simply the difference of the rate of exchange. Three
months after Mr. Ingham entered upon his duties as Secretary a
large payment was to be made on the public debt. Nicholas
Biddle was then president of the bank, and Mr. Ingham wrote
to him at the commencement of the business, accepting the offer
of the facilities which the bank afforded for transacting it. While
payment was in progress he wrote again, in the following terms :
454 HON. SAMUEL D. INGHAM
"I cannot close this communication without expressing the sat-
isfaction of the department at the arrangements which the bank
has made for effecting these payments in a manner so accommo-
dating to the treasury, and so Httle embarrassing to the com-
munity." When the task was completed he expressed again his
high appreciation of the aid the bank had given and his grati-
tude for it. It is evident from this that Mr. Ingham did not
sympathize with General Jackson in his opposition to the bank
or that the latter entered upon his course of hostility to it at a
later period. At first the general seems to have entertained no
feelings inimical to it. But he became prejudiced against it
by complaints from Isaac Hill, of New Hampshire, then Sec-
ond Comptroller of the Treasury, and others of the same state,
that Jeremiah Mason, president of the Portsmouth branch, an
intimate personal friend of Daniel Webster, had withheld loans
from some who were Jackson men and granted them to his
political opponents. Partiality, when exercised against his sup-
porters, aroused the general's resentment, as we might naturally
suppose it would ; and as Mr. Mason was accused of that offense
though the charge was promptly denied, the Democrats in New
Hampshire demanded his removal. Nicholas Biddle declined
to accede to their wish, and this seems to have been the origin
of General Jackson's opposition to the United States Bank. Many
letters passed between Mr. Ingham and Mr. Biddle upon this
affair, in all of which the Secretary of the Treasury displayed
shrewdness, ingenuity and the ability to cope with the ablest
minds.
There was in Washington during the early years of General
Jackson's administration, a hotel kept by William O'Neal, where
a large number of members of Congress boarded during their
stay in the city. His daughter Peggy, as she was called in her
girlhood, bright lively and beautiful, formed the acquaintance
of many public men, and was a general favorite. At length she
married Mr. Timberlake, a purser in the navy, who died a few-
years after by his own hand while on a cruise at sea. Major
John H. Eaton, Senator from Tennessee, had admired the young
woman before her marriage, and when she became a widow, he
being a widower was inclined to marry her. Coming from the
same state as Gen. Jackson, and a gentleman of fine manners
HON. SAMUEL D. INGHAM 455
and address, an acute lawyer, interesting" in conversation, and a
polished speaker in legislative halls, he was one of his intimate
friends and mentioned to him that he had it in mind to marry
Mrs. Timberlake, but that reports had been circulated prejudicial
to her good name. The general scouted the idea that anything
could be said truthfully against her character or conduct, and
advised him to follow the inclinations of his heart in spite of all
the malicious slanders that envious women could invent. Major
Eaton gladly took the counsel of his distinguished friend, and the
naval officer's widow became the Senator's wife. Shortly before
the inauguration, it was rumored that the new President expected
to take Major Eaton into his Cabinet. No one seemed dis-
posed to make serious objections, so far as the Senator himself
was concerned; but it at once occurred to the ladies of the up-
per classes in Washington, the wives and daughters of Senators
and the highest officers in the government, that as the wife of a
member of the Cabinet Peggy O'Neal would be entitled to a
place in their society. The President was visited and remon-
strated with, and assured that trouble was in store for him if he
persisted in carrying out the proposed plan. But General Jack-
son, as usual, would not yield. He claimed that Major Eaton
was worthy of the place ; that the country would be benefitted
by his services, and that lying tales about one of his family
should not swerve him from a course which he deemed right :
that other people might visit whom they pleased, but he should
always treat the major and his lady with the highest respect.
The general had his way about the composition of his Cabinet,
but he could not control the ladies of Washington, and they in-
fluenced their husbands. The Secretary of War soon found him-
self and family slighted and contemned. The Cabinet was divid-
ed on the question of the proper treatment to be given to him
and his household. Those w^ho would pay no heed to the rumors
were the President and Major Eaton, Mr. Van Buren, Secretary
of State, and Mr. Barry, Postmaster-General ; on the other side
were Mr. Ingham, Mr. Branch, Secretary of the Navy, Mr.
Berrien, Attorney-General, Mr. Calhoun the Vice President. Ma-
jor Eaton was in an extremely embarrassing position. So little
was said against him that he could not demand satisfaction from
those whose families would not associate with his family ; yet his
intercourse wath the three married men in the Cabinet was for a
456 HON. SAMUEL D. INGHAM
long time strictly official. General Jackson was dissatisfied with
the want of harmony in his Cabinet, and he finally conceived the
idea that "Messrs. Ingham, Branch and Berrien were using their
influence to have Major Eaton and his family excluded from all
respectable circles, for the purpose of degrading him, and thus
driving him from office," and he declared that if such was the
fact, he would deprive them of office.
Mr. Ingham prepared a long and minute statement of his con-
duct and views in regard to the settlement of the difficulty which
was submitted to the President, and from which the following
may be quoted :
"As to the family of Mr. Eaton, I felt an obligation on me not to say
anything to aggravate the difficulties, which he labored under, but to ob-
serv^e a total silence and neutrality, and to inculcate the same course as to
my family, and if any other representations had been made to the President
they were false. If he chose to exert his power to force my family to visit
anybody they did not choose to visit he was interfering with what belonged
to me, and no human power should regulate the social intercourse in my
family, by means of official or any other power, which I could resist. If I
could submit to such control I should be unworthy of my station and should
despise myself."
When Mr. Ingham's positive denial of any combination or con-
spiracy against Major Eaton was communicated to the President
he appeared satisfied and disclaimed the wish to regulate the
social relations of the families of his advisers. He went so far
as to propose a meeting between Mr. Branch and Alajor Eaton
for the purpose of securing a reconciliation between them, and af-
ter this for a time apparent concord reigned in the circle imme-
diately about the National Chief Magistrate. But he seldom con-
sulted the three gentlemen, and after a time meetings of the Cab-
inet ceased to be held altogether. In 1830, about a year after Jack-
son had entered the White House, he learned in some way that
Mr. Calhoun had proposed in 1818 that his conduct in the Semin-
ole war should be investigated. Whereupon he called upon Vice-
president Calhoun by letter to explain his connection with the un-
just and false accusations.
The Vice-President's reply not being satisfactory, the general
refused to have further amicable relations with him, and all who
had been particularly friendly to Mr. Calhoun incurred his dis-
pleasure. Among these were the members of the Cabinet who
had differed from the President in respect to Major Eaton's
HON. SAMUEL D. INGHAM ^57
family. They fell into disfavor, and he determined to dissolve the
Cabinet. Mr. Van Buren and Major Eaton opened the way for
this measure by tendering their resignation, and the others soon
learned that the President desired that tliey imitate their ex-
ample. In accepting Mr. Ingham's resignation the President
closed his letter as follows :
" It is with great pleasure that I bear testimony to the integrity and
zeal with which you have managed the fiscal concerns of the Nation. In
your discharge of all the duties of your office, over which I have any con-
trol, I have been fully satisfied ; and in your retirement you carry with you
tny best wishes for your prosperity and happiness."
A dissolution of the Cabinet had never before taken place since
the formation of the Federal Union, except at the close of a
Presidential term. It was not expected by the people generally
and aroused surprise and excitement throughout the land. Many
blamed Calhoun for it ; others thought it a cunning movement
of Van Buren ; and others still ridiculed General Jackson about
the unity of his Cabinet. The New York American ptiblished
the following:
"To THE HERO : TOUCHING HIS 'UNiT,' "
"Your rats united might have been,
But should we judge from actions.
We'd say, although a 'Unit' then,
They now are I'ulgar Fradions.'''
A picture or cartoon was issued and circulated extensively, in
which the members of the Cabinet were represented as rats with
human heads. The portrait of each man quite lifelike, and the
President stood over them with a broom sweeping them out of
the house.
Mr. Ingham resigned the office of Secretary of the Treasury in
April, 1 83 1, but the vacancy being filled by the appointment of
Hon. Louis McLane, minister to the court of St. James, who
did not return from England till August, he continued to dis-
charge the duties of the position for several months. Major
Eaton also remained in Washington, and 'becoming exasperated
almost to madness by the reports which had crept into the public
journals, among others a statement that Mr. Ingham had said he
would not associate with the major's family, an angry corre-
spondence ensued between them. The major demanded an apol-
ogy or satisfaction by a duel. Mr. Ingham would give neither.
Then Major Eaton waylaid him to horsewhip him, or as Mr.
458 HON. SAMUEL D. INGHAM
Ingham supposed, to assassinate him, and to avoid any further
difficulty he retired from the capital and returned to his home
in Bucks county, where he was received with great honor by his
fellow citizens, by whom his course in political life was almost
universally approved. Rev. George Hale, D. D., of Philadel-
phia, his son-in-law, says of him : "He was offered the ministry
to Russia, but he declined. There was a time, when, if he had
given consent, his name would have been put forward as Penn-
sylvania's choice for the highest office in the gift of the American
people. Mr. Ingham never received a commission for pensions
secured or any pecuniary compensation directly or indirectly
for any special service rendered through the whole period of his
public life."
For several years, Mr. Ingham efficiently co-operated with the
Bucks County Agricultural Society"^ and had a large share in
developing the anthracite coal resources of Pennsylvania, through
the Beaver Meadow Co., and afterwards through the Lehigh Val-
ley Railroad and kindred organizations. • In i860 he warmly
adopted those principles which led to the election of Abraham
Lincoln as President of the United States. "He was a
man of strong feelings, but always master of himself, temperate
in meat and drink, even eschewing tobacco in every form ; never
careless, inconsiderate, or extravagant in speech."
His first wife began as early as 181 5 the first Sunday school
ever held in New Hope, and every Sabbath Mr. Ingham, though
not a communicant, attended Mrs. Ingham to the school, assisted
her in the work, and then escorted her home again. Mrs. Ing-
ham, in connection with another "Mother in Israel," was the
founder of the Solebury Presbyterian church, and in carrying
the project into effect he was unsparing in the contribution of in-
fluence, effort and funds. He was always a regular attendant
on the preaching of the gospel in the sanctuary and a liberal
supporter of the pastor and a firm believer in the fundamental
doctrines of Christianity. In 1849 he removed from Solebury
to Trenton, N. J., where his death occurred June 6, i860. He
lived for more than eighty years without a stain upon his char-
acter. His remains lie buried in the graveyard of the Thomp-
son Memorial Presbyterian church, Solebury.
* For Mr. Ingham's address before Bucks County Agricultural Society, see Hazard's
Register, Vol. VI, page n8.
mode; of life in our farlv settivEmfnts 459
Mr. Ingham was twice married. His first wife, Rebecca Dodd,
died August 25, 1819. His second wife, to whom he was mar-
ried December 2, 1822, was Deborah Ke}'^ Hall, daughter of Cle-
ment Hall, of Salem, N. J., who was the mother of three daugh-
ters and one son. '1 he latter, William A. Ingham, is an attor-
ney at law in Philadelphia, and the only living daughter is the
wife of Rev. Dr. George Hale, of the same city.
The Mode of Life in Our Early Settlements.
BY DR. GEORGE H. LARISON, LAMBERTVILLE, N. J.
(Solebury Deer Park Meeting, July 26, 1887.)
These counties, Hunterdon of New Jersey and Bucks of Penn-
sylvania whose historical societies have joined together in holding
this inter-state meeting present quite a different appearance
from what they did when the white man first made his way
through the virgin forests and settled upon his first home, his
mode of living then was fitted to his surroundings and very
(lift'erent from our mode to-day.
Our counties were first reached by settlers under Penn, who
pushed their way from the landings on the Delaware, on the
south, and from landings on the east at Manhattan and there-
abouts.
From the landings in and about Philadelphia came from Eng-
land some of her best blood — men of steady habits, great cour-
age, honor and industry. And from the landings on the east,
at Manhattan, the Kill Von Kull and Arthur Kill, came the
noble Hollander mixed with French Huguenot blood from the
goodly land of dykes and Van Dykes. With these there came
the Welsh and Scotch, and to the north, there came from the
German provinces not a few.
The Welsh settled from the Pennypack to Hilltown and the
Scotch selected to best suit themselves.
All these had habits and modes of life learned in the Father-
land — and as Caesar said of Gaul's divisions — "All these dififer
from each other in language, customs and laws."
More than Caesar's men, each had a religious notion, char-
acteristic withal.
The Englishman had a trade from home apprenticeship, which
460 MODE Of LIFE IN OUR EARLY SETTLEMENTS
here he taught his sons, yet they both felled the large trees of
the forest and tilled the soil for a common livelihood on week
days and attended Friends' meeting on the Sabbath.
From Holland's dykes and higher lands came men of trades
who taught their sons the same as they cleared the land and
grew the crops on which to live, and they, on Sabbath, like the
saints at Pentecost, were all in one place with one mind and one
accord.
The Scotchman, too, a skilled mechanic, taught his boy to be
the same, while in these woods, among the trees, he did as other
yeomen to till the ground and grow the crops from which he
lived, holding firmly to the tenets of John Knox and his Pres-
byters.
The Welsh from mines in turn cut trees, tilled the soil, and
did as well as others, whose habits of life had always been above
ground. Their language was odd, their natures good ; with steady
habits and active lives they gained many friends and held a place
with others. His religious notions were fixed : that every man was
born a sinner, yet every man had offered him saving grace by
strict compliance.
The sturdy German, whose great aim was to make home
happy, own land and save money, was fond of work and brought
his children up to do it. The boy could mow, the girl could
plow and no needed work was left undone. In reverence they
followed Luther or Menno, and were instructed to stand by
these rites.
The English, from governmental authority, held the ascendency
in language, but the surrounding country had more to do with all
their habits and mode of life. The Englishman, on one tract
of land, the Dutch, the Scotch, the Welsh, the German, on
another, near or adjoining, must, as a matter of necessity, be-
come good neighbors and blend together.
The old ways of the Fatherland were changed of necessity
to modes of life in the new. Their homes were here ; they had
come to stay. Life commenced anew, and the country would be
whatsoever they made it. The land was theirs ; they had bought
it. They were here to improve and defend it and to make it
one common settlement; one common and great country.
Clearings were made all over these townships ; trees felled ; new
MODE OF LIFE IN OUR FARLY SFTTLFMFNTS 461
ground turned up with the hoe and wooden mould-board plow;
the seeds of Indian corn, indigenous to this soil, were here plant-
ed by those who had not seen it grow, as it did not belong to the
Fatherland. It was to them a wondrous crop. Their expecta-
tions were more than realized in the adventure.
The virgin soil was good, and, like all new ground to-day^
best for crops. The giant stalks of corn were astounding, and
the roasting ears were relished among the early edibles of their
first crops. Beans, peas, cabbage, onions, and turnips all grew
to perfection, and the wheat was never-failing.
Their stock required special attention, as there were no pasture
lands cleared, consequently the milch cows must roam in the
forests and in winter when snows covered the ground, trees were
felled that the cattle might subsist by eating the green twigs
of the tree tops; this they called browsing. Their horses
shared quite the same fate, and for a time, proportionately, were
few in numbers. Hogs of the roach-back kind fared better, as
they were calculated to run at large in the forest and fatten on
crops of acorns which here abounded.
The sheep, necessary for wool, came in later, when the clear-
ings were more extended; but, on account of wolves and other
destructive animals, required constant care by day and sheltering
in closed pens at night.
There were indoor difficulties to encounter on account of the
scarcity of household goods, as this material must of necessity
come from the mother country, and the transporting was done at
extreme cost. The outfit for a new settler was usually limited.
An iron pot, frying pan, copper kettle, mug and a few pewter
platters, with knives and forks and wooden spoons, must satis-
fy till other days. These, with their wearing apparel, could be
toted on horseback from the ship's landing through the woods
to the place of final settlement, where the cabm or temporary
house must be built. In this the choice of ground was made,
and the site for building was as a matter of necessity and con-
venience near an excellent spring of water, as old landmarks and
tradition to-day will show.
This first house was built often single-handed, the man, his
wife and children, if he had them, with an axe, felled a few
smaller trees or saplings and logged them in pieces, often about
462 MODE OF LIFE IN OUR EARLY SETTLEMENTS
12x16 feet, notching each at the ends. They would pile them
up so as to clear the head in height; and for a roof cut poles
and bark or better, split some larger trees. As for a floor the
ground would do till some logs were split and trimmed, and
laid down, the split side up. One door in front, and to close
it a blanket or canvas was fixed thereat.
A window front and back two feet square, while for light a
greased paper or a thin linen cloth to take the place of bet-
ter transparencies. The fireplace was constructed of stone on
the inside at an end or corner, and to lay these stone and fill the
cracks between the logs of which the walls were made, clay or
loam was mixed into a mortar.
In these primitive homes lived the daring pioneers, often a
year or two or three. Large stones for andirons, and a fire
high piled on the hearth for culinary purposes, warmth and can-
dle light from wood that was everywhere abundant and needed
to be taken out of the way. Here in hot beds of coals and em-
bers were roasted eggs, corn ears and other edibles, and after
dusting away the ashes these relishes were counted as the best.
After the temporary house was built the clearing must begin.
Large trees were girdled to kill them, and smaller ones felled
and burned; and as the settlement became thicker and the
clearings more extended, days were fixed on and on invi-
tation the neighbors would go to the place of their friend,
having what they called a frolic, for felling trees, rolling logs
and burning them to clear the ground. The women folks, to
do their part, would get up a good supper ; pot pie made of
venison, and good coffee for a rarity, made of burned or scorched
rye.
After living in the little pioneer hut of 12 or 14 feet square
for a year or more, and the clearing of a few acres covered with
â– growing crops, the next thing in order was to build a more
permanent log house; many of which stood for n:ore than 100
years, and later buildings of the kind can still be seen to-day.
White oak sapling trees about ten inches in diameter, cut in
lengths of 22. or 24 feet, notched at the ends, were laid up a little
higher than a man's head, as the walls of the house; the roof
was made on rafters hewn from smaller trees, pitched from the
centre each way, and covered with rived lath and shingles and
MODE OF LIFE IN OUR EARLY SETTLEMENTS 463
the gable ends from the square with rived weatherboards run-
ning up and down.
These houses were of the one-story order, and occasionally-
one was built more elaborately with two rooms on the floor, which
lengthwise required longer logs. The partitions between rooms
consisted of blankets or curtains suspended, an easy matter then
to make rooms large or small, and even more of them. The
windows were few and small, and until glass 7x9 were obtainable,
the greased paper or thin linen filled the bill for window lights.
In this second edition of houses there was a great improvement
in doors, for instead of a blanket or canvas to close the foramen
magnum, a wooden door hung on wooden hinges, the boards of
which were carefully rived out of choice timber with a froe.
The floor was made as usual of split logs dressed, laid with
the split side up. The fire-place was always built on an extend-
ed scale, reaching in length the breadth of the house, over which
was placed a large wooden mantel-piece hewn out of a white
oak tree as large as 16x24 inches, on which that side of the
stone chimney was built. The floor, or bottom of the fire
place, was made of large, choice hearth stones, sometimes brought
from miles away. It was one of the adornments to have a fine
hearth, neat jambs and mantel-piece.
The chimney was so constructed that it was utilized for many
purposes. From front to back, about a foot above the top of the
mantel-piece, were walled in at each end a piece of timber, or
a long stone if it could be found to suit, upon which rested the
lug-pole, to which were suspended the pot-hooks and trammels
always in use in cooking and boiling to hold pots and kettles
in position over the fire. On the inside of the mantel were driven
one or more spikes to which a fat goose was often hung with a
toe-string in front of a lovely fire to roast, while on the hearth
beneath was placed the dripping pan to catch the dripping fat
in the process of roasting and basting. In like manner turkeys
and other poultry, pieces of beef and venison were nicely roasted,
and sometimes the raccoon and opossum as well.
In this primitive fire-place much labor was saved in cutting
fuel. There was the back-log, often full length, and 15 to 18
inches in diameter, brought in from the wood-pile on rollers,
and at the front of the large andirons was laid the fore-stick,
464 MODE OF LIFE IN OUR EARLY SETTLEMENTS
often as much as two men could carry, while between the back-
log and the fore-stick was piled quantities of long-wood, which,
when burned through the middle, was chunked together till all
consumed. Around these fires, high piled upon the hearth, sat
the cheery family many a cold winter evening; the mother and
girls with spinning wheels at flax and tow and the father and
boys with tow on their knees making yarn for ropes and other
purposes. These fires served the triple purposes of light, heat
and cooking, and were a good substitute for the indispensable tal-
low-dipped candle, then an expensive necessity.
It was over these fires that the long-handled frying-pan was
so much in use. The cook could keep at a comfortable distance
from the coals and turn the pan cake by tossing it up the chim
ney and catching it down side up as it reached the pan.
In sleeping, beds were used in the living room with much
economy. There was the bed in one corner and under it the
trundle-bed ; against the wall the turn-up bed, which, when used,
took up much of the floor, and when not in use was entirely
adjusted out of the way. These beds were dressed with straw
and feather ticks, linen sheets and woolen blankets, and for the
piercing cold of midwinter many used a comforter, made by
stretching together a linen sheet and woolen blanket, which was
filled in with the down of water fowls and placed upon the
l3ed for a top covering.
For clothing, wool and linen were in common use, except for
•a few who wore buckskin breeches. The wool from sheep that
with care did well, and linen from flax that never grew better
than it did here on new cleared ground, were their whole depend-
ence. Wool was carded into rolls by hand, and spun on the old-
time spinning-wheel. For sheets, shirts, towels, and summer
clothing linen was in general use. Every wife and daughter
was an expert at the spinning-wheel, and not a few of them
did good work with a loom.
To prepare the flax when grown, our men and boys would
pull, thrash, bleach, break and dress it, and it was no small art
to understand. To give it the National coloring it was steeped
in a dye made of bark from the butternut tree, and the cloth
made was called linsey woolsey, much used for men and boy's
MODE OF LIFE IN OUR EARLY SETTLEMENTS 465
clothes, and for women quite the same, except the coloring was
made a good substantial plaid.
Men wore the sailor coats or roundabout coats extending to the
waistband, with short legged trousers mounted with large brass
buttons, brought from the Fatherland. The women folks wore
short gowns and petticoats, a neat dress for in and out-door
work. The common hood and sun bonnet for the women, the
fur caps and straw hats for the men and boys, all shod with
cowhide shoes, gave to our early settlers everywhere the appear-
ance of a new Nationality.
As all this wearing apparel was homespun, wove and made,
there was variety in the make-up from top to bottom. The coon-
skin cap, the beaver bonnet, fur mufflers and moccasin shoes ;
and even some like George Haytock and his wife Rachel a noted
pair on the other bank of the river, made and wore shoes with
wooden soles.
Most of the men in these early days had trades, yet all were
farmers. The mechanic was indispensable. Tanners, shoe-
makers, blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, etc., were every-
where coming into use in this rising country. Tanners and tan-
neries to furnish leather were located all about. There is
scarcely a stream or brook, that is 5 miles long in both these
counties, but somewhere along its banks once stood a tannery.
To make leather into shoes many there were who worked at
it, but none so successful as the apprenticed cordwainer. The
charcoal burner and iron worker, like Tubal-Cain were here only
beginners, mainly making nails for houses and shoes for horses.
Their day was yet to come.
As to carpenters and masons, there was always work, but
more of it after saw-mills came. There were mills for grind-
ing flour, but as yet far away, and the mode of reaching them
was by horseback, one man taking one or more horses, and Hke
the pack mules of the Spaniards south, grain was put in long
bags or wallets, and laid over the horse's back.
The day for wheelwrights and wagon roads was in the
near future. On horseback and with a sled was traffic done.
A man going a long journey as some men did, it was not
uncommon to take two horses, and after riding miles take the
saddle from the horse then used, and put it on the back of the
466 MODE OF UFE IN OUR EARLY SETTLEMENTS
Other, mount it and in turn lead the resting horse. In those
days every one became expert in horse riding. The side-saddle
for women early came in use, and the mother would mount a fleet
horse with her child and gracefully ride away.
As to wheels and wagons they were forthcoming and the
horse path changed to a road bed. Wheels were made then of
large strong wooden felloes of white oak, cut from the base of
the trunk to the root of the tree, so that two felloes, each being
half, made a whole wheel, and were fastened together by iron
plates and bolts, as whole wheel tires were then unknown.
For beasts of burden the ox and horse were principally used.
The sled and oxen in clearing ground of wood and stone, and
horses for longer journeys and quicker trips.
In visiting the people over all this region were social and
greeted each other with marked respect and a disposition in all
to become better acquainted and more united.
Professional men in these days were equal to the emergency.
The land surveyor made his mark in laying off large tracts with
much exactness, and the surveyor and conveyancer of today, in
smaller divisions, fall back on the original survey.
The school teacher came early and the system of schools was
everywhere encouraged, and as soon as population warranted
the school-house was built, and the schoolmaster, with rod in
hand, taught the young idea how to shoot.
The clergy were men of mind and had much to do, and like
all home missionaries looked after their people, and the foundling
of their churches was the beginning of our's to-day.
The gatherings at Buckingham, Makefield, Wrightstown and
Falls of the Friends have gone on all these years. The Presby-
terians have not left off, nor the Reformed silenced into some
other sect. Luther's men are still the same. The Welshman's
tongue is gone, but his church remains ; and so all these good
old men, each in his own way, did what he could in his genera-
tion to make his people better and theirs after them.
The physicians too had a place, for people's ills and ails called
for help, and he who could give it was sent for many miles
away. The pills and powders and pounded barks carried in
saddle bags by day and night over all these hills by the good
Samaritan were better known to the afflicted than to us.
FOUNDATIOx\S ON WHICH OUR FATHERS BUILT 467
To say the least of an early consultation of these men : two
strangers met, one lived in this county and the other in that, one
was of French descent and the other English. After a diagnosis
was made the Frenchman says to the Englishman : "What do
you pronounce the ail?" When the Englishman replied, "If
I was a Latin scholar I would call it a phlegmon, and if I was
a French scholar I would call it a phlebon ; but as an Englishman
I would call it an abscess."
The lawyer, too, was here among the first, and still remains.
Even-handed justice and strict compliance to all enactments
made the founders better men.
There were many thrilling incidents in real life among the
early settlers, few of which tradition has brought to us, and we
are left to conjecture and conclude that the early settlers were
no mean people and their mode of life well selected.
The Foundations on which Our Fathers Built.
BY REV. W. W. BULLOCK, LAMBERTVILLE, N. J.
(Solebury Deer Park Meetiug, July 26, 1887.)
The representatives of our two Historical Societies meet here
to-day as the children of patriots ; we would not be content with
any lesser title ; we seek no greater. We are citizens of no mean
country ; we come of sturdy stock. There flows in our veins the
blood of martyrs, patriots, statesmen ; our homes are on the
soil hallowed by the footprints and marked with evidences of
this noble lineage. Our work and toil of to-day are in the fields
and forests, and hamlets, where our fathers and mothers labored
and where numerous evidences thereof remain. It would not be
wise for me to attempt, should I dare, to speak of their worth.
I am not equal to the task; to more competent pens than mine
must that work be committed.
In this, the one hundred and eleventh year of our National
Independence, we cannot behold the magnitude of our institu-
tions, nor mark the rapidity of progress without inquiring what
were the special features of that early planting, wherefrom has
sprung our present greatness.
In the religious life, in provisions for education and in loyalty
468 FOUNDATIONS ON WHICH OUR FATHERS BUII.T
to the government we can, I think, find the rock foundations that
give stabiHty to the Nation to-day, and in the work of laying
these, we all feel proud of the fact that within the limits of
the two counties, in Hunterdon, N. J., and in Bucks, Pa., repre-
sented here, lived many people who played an important
part in the history of our Country.
Turning to the religious life of the past, we find that with the
first settlers came the church and preachers of the Gospel ; meet-
ing-houses were as numerous as the villages, and the worship of
God and the keeping of His respects were as much a feature
of daily life as tilling the soil. The scant records of the past,
whenever they touch upon the subject, make mention of the rigor-
ous observance of religious professions. The Sabbath was re-
garded and kept as a holy day, and the people went to meeting
with a regularity that it would be delightful to see again.
On June 28, 1778, the battle of Monmouth was fought. Pre-
paratory thereto Washington crossed the Delaware from Penn-
sylvania and is said to have passed the Sabbath in Lambertville
(then called Coryell's Ferry) at a stone house, still standing at
a point near what is now the northern extremity of Main street.
Part of the troops crossed on Saturday and the remainder on
Monday, but none on the Sabbath. The day was too sacred
for even such vital work as theirs. That such a recognition of
the claims of God should be rewarded by a glorious victory for
our army, is a just evidence of the blessing that falls to those
who "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."
Neither were the fathers ignorant of the conservative power
of education ; and though taking excellent care of the present,
they also planned for the future. The school-house was the
complement of the meeting-house. Sometimes one building
served the double purpose.
As early as 17 18 the Log College stood on the banks of the
Neshaminy. In that year came Rev. William Tennent and his
son William, from Ireland. At the Log College the son was
educated under his father's tuition, and from thence studied
divinity under his brother Gilbert, at New Brunswick. How
long this college existed is not known, but it is certain that it
was regarded with a jealousy, commensurate with its importance,
and no doubt if a minute and full record of its work had been
FOUNDATIONS ON WHICH OUR FATPI^RS BUILT 469
kept we should be able to trace its influence down to the present.
Tradition leans toward the idea that this school was the
nucleus of the College of New Jersey, situated at Elizabeth-
town. "The Historical Collections of New Jersey," referring-
to the College of New Jersey, says : "It owes its origin to a
difference of religious views in the Presbyterian churches, which
took place at the period of Mr. Whitefield's labors in this coun-
try. At this time, 1741, the synod of Philadelphia, which repre-
sented the whole church, was divided into two bodies, the synods
of New York and Philadelphia. The churches composing the
former were mostly east of the Delaware river, and of the latter
to the west of it." The charge made by the Philadelphians,,
against the New York brethren, was "that they introduced men
into the ministry without adequate literary attainments." Wheth-
er well founded or not, measures were at once adopted by the
synod of New York to remove the odium of such a charge. Un-
der the direction of Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, of Elizabethtown,
a graduate of Yale, a charter was obtained in 1746, and Dr.
Dickinson chosen first president of the College of New Jersey.
Owing to doubt about the first charter, a new one was
obtained in 1748, during which year the institution was moved
to Newark, and in 1756 was removed to Princeton, and thence
onward it has continued to grow and extend the influence of its
training and culture throughout the land. More than five thou-
sand graduates have already gone forth from its halls, whose in-
fluence has been felt in the welfare of our Nation.
Brown University, of Providence, R. I., was nurtured at
Hopewell, in Hunterdon county, N. J. In the year 1748, Rev.
Isaac Eaton, A. M., became the first regular pastor of the Bap-
tist church "there and continued the relation for upwards of
twenty-six years. During this time he began a school in con-
nection with his duties as pastor. His efforts in this work were
quite successful, and the school became known. The talent and
ability that he displayed, in the double position of preacher and
teacher, brought him into prominence in the Philadelphia Asso-
ciation of Baptist Churches of which the one he presided over
was a member. Through this body the way was opened for
enlarging the field and measure of his educational work. At a
meeting of the Association, under date of October 5, 1756, the
470 FOUNDATIONS ON WHICH OUR FATHERS BUILT
following resolution was passed: "Concluded to raise a sum of
money toward the encouragement of a Latin grammar school,
for the promotion of learning among us, under the care of
brother Isaac Eaton, and under the inspection of Brethren Able
Morgan, Isaac Steele, Abel Griffiths and Peter B. Van Horn."
This action had the desired effect, and the school soon came
to have great influence, while men who became eminent for
divinity went out from the teaching of that wonderful man.
Other professions were well represented among the graduates.
Rev. Eaton was the first teacher among American Baptists, who
opened a school for the education of young men for the ministry.
His first student was said to have been John Manning after-
wards the first president of Rhode Island College, (now Brown
University). About the year 1763, an effort was made to make
the school a corporate institution, and a petition was presented
to the Legislature for that purpose, but for some reason, per-
haps because one college already existed in the state, the charter
was not granted. At the instance of prominent Baptists in
Rhode Island, a charter of incorporation was obtained from
the Legislature, and the school removed there, under the name
of Rhode Island College, James ^Manning being the first presi-
â– dent.
Isaac Eaton died July 4, 1772, at the age of 47 years. A tab-
let was erected to his memory ; first, in the meeting-house and
now in the cemetery of the Hopewell church. The house in
which Mr. Eaton conducted his school is still standing in the vil-
lage of Hopewell, in a good state of preservation.
From Brown University was graduated Dr. Edward H. Ma-
gill, a child of Bucks county, who has been president of Swarth-
more College, in Delaware county. Pa., since its beginning.
This deep, strong religious life, expressed, not insignificantly,
in the numerous buildings dedicated to the worship of Almighty
God, but finding larger expression, in the daily lives of the fath-
ers, was a foundation wisely laid and built upon. To it we owe
much of the present regard for religious privileges and bles-
sings.
But the handmaid of religious liberty is education, and so
by the side of the church was a school, and the love and interest
in one was felt also in the other. Be it remembered that these
FOUNDATIONS ON WHICH OUR FATHERS BUILT 47I
foundations were laid long before the Declaration of Independ-
ence, so that it is not difficult to see how, from the religious life
of trust in God came the power, and from the educational train-
ing, the ability, to make and formulate such a wonderful parch-
ment, as that which is so carefully preserved in the State House at
Philadelphia. May we jealously guard these foundlings of the
fathers, because they are the means of an enlightened conscience,
the promoters of National prosperity and the ennoblement of
the race.
This is a pivotal period in our history, a time demanding for
its control men of piety, intelligence and patriotism. Our fath-
ers left us a legacy, adequate to meet the exigencies of the hour.
May the sacrifice and struggle through which they passed, in
order to lay the foundations of the churches and colleges that dot
the land to-day, incite us to a just appreciation of their gift,
and may we prove our gratitude, by putting within the reach of
every youth of the land, the advantages of a college education ;
and finally, may the patriotism, as displayed, in the uncomplain-
ing endurance of the rigors of Valley Forge, and in the untiring
energy of the field at Monmouth, under the excessive heat of a
June sun, cast its spell over us all, that we be worthy sons of
worthy sires.
The Pension System.
BY MAJOR FRANK A. BUTTS.
(Solebury Deer Park Meeting, July 26, 1887.)
The first duty of a soldier is to obey orders. I have been
a soldier, and the fact that I met my old friend and former
brigade commander, General Davis, in the City of Brotherly Love,
a short time since, and received an order from him to prepare
a paper on the Pension system of the United States, to be read
before this inter-state historical meeting of Bucks and Hunter-
don counties, will account for my being here with you to-day.
While I feel that, after a period of twenty-three years, I am
honored in again being called to serve by the side of my beloved
commander, I regret that some one more familiar with the great
pension system of the United States, has not been selected to
address you upon this occasion. However, if you will bear with
me for a short time, I will endeavor to give you an idea of the
pension system of our country; a system that has become so
thoroughly incorporated into our policy that even if there be
any who so desire, they can never expect to witness its discon-
tinuance. Originating as it did, within six weeks after the sign-
ing of the Declaration of Independence, every change that has
since been made therein has had for its object the rendering
of assistance to more numerous classes, and at this date there
is hardly a neighborhood in the United States but what has some
interest in the benefits thus conferred.
It is not my desire to tax your patience by entering into the
details of the various acts of Congress, either granting or
increasing pensions; but to simply give you as clear an idea as
I can of the internal working of pension matters ; of the many
difficulties to be met in the ajudication of large percentages
of pension claims ; to show some of the devices for aiding
claimants, and to point out the great liberality of our Govern-
ment.
A pension is a regular allowance .of money paid to an in-
dividual by a sovereign or government, in consideration for ser-
vices rendered, or in recognition of merit, civil oc military. Near-
THE PENSION SYSTEM 473
ly all foreign countries have both civil and military pension
lists, but in the United States pensions are granted, with a
few exceptions, in consideration of military service alone. Mil-
itary pensions are divided into two general classes — invalid and
gratuitous. Invalid pensions are granted to persons who have
become disabled in military or naval service in consequence of
wounds or sickness, and thereby wholly or in part incapable of
supporting themselves and those dependent upon them. Gratui-
tous pensions are given as rewards for eminent services, and
are usually granted at the close of a war, or a term of service.
In my remarks I shall only deal with the four. great wars —
the Revolutionary, the War of 1812, the ]\Iexican War, and
the War of the Rebellion. Of the 278,021 soldiers who served
in the Revolutionary war, 37,918 received pensions for service,
and the aggregate amount paid to them was $46,177,845. This
does not include the pensions granted to disabled soldiers prior
to March i8, 1818, which were paid up to the organization of
the general government, March 4, 1787, by the several states,
and after that date by the United States. From March 4, 1787,
to March 4, 1818, the amount paid by the United States, (5 years
estimate on account of the pensions allowed for invalids in War
of 1 812 having been included with the Revolutionary) was
$2,708,428, making a total of $48,886,273. The last survivor
who was pensioned under the .general laws was Lemuel Cook,
of Clarendon, N. Y., who died May 20, 1866, aged 104 years.
Of two soldiers pensioned under special act of Congress, at
$500 per annum, one was John Gray, of Brookfield, Ohio, who
died March 28, 1869, aged 105 years, and the other, Daniel F.
Bateman, of Freedom, N. Y., April 5, 1869, aged 109 years.
From 1863, when the first act was passed, to June 30, 1875,
the amount paid under all the acts, to widows of Revolution-
ary soldiers, was $19,639,546. From 1875, there being no sol-
diers and only 445 widows, the disbursements were consolidated
with those of the war of 1861 and are estimated. The average
payments (71 having died during the year) were $80 to each.
On June 30, 1882, there were 86 on the roll, and in 1886 about
40. Estimated payments to June 30, 1886, for the eleven years
was about $130,000, making a total of $19,769,546. The young-
est widow known that was pensioned was 34 years old when
474 THE PENSION SYSTEM
she applied in 1853. There are now living in the State of Penn-
sylvania, three widows of soldiers of the Revolutionary War,
viz.: Elizabeth Beltz, aged 86; Margaret Mulligan and May
M. Dickey, who are paid at the Philadelphia agency.
The total number of enlistments in the War of 1812 was
527,654; of this number 296,916 served 60 days or more, and
30,317 have been pensioned. 37,748 widows' pensions were al-
lowed, and of this number 6,967 were widows who were mar-
ried prior to February 17, 1815.
The total number of enlisted men in the war with Mexico was
73,260; of this number 7,560 were pensioners as invalids prior to
the act of January 29, 1887. Under this last act 14,740 ap-
phcations of survivors and 3,985 of widows have been received
up to June 30, 1887, and of this latter class of claims 7,551
survivors and 891 widows have been adjudicated between the
dates of the passage of the act and the closing of the fiscal
year (June 30, 1887).
In the civil war, 1861-65, there were 2,778,304 enlistments,
and the records of the Pension Bureau on June 30, 1887, show
that 362,355 invalid pensions have been admitted, and 234,245
of widows, minor children, and dependent fathers, mothers,
brothers and sisters. Of the 362,355 invalid pensioners, there
are two who receive $100 per month, and one $75 — these are
by special acts of Congress. There are 982 who re-
ceive $72 per month, for loss of both legs, both arms,
both eyes, or for being so disabled as to require a constant
attendant. There are also 1,123 who receive $1 per month, and
at this date there are still pending more than 396,000 claims
of all classes.
At the outbreak of the civil war all pensioners in the insur-
gent states were cut off from the benefits of the pension laws,
and the names of those known to have been disloyal were sub-
sequently stricken from the rolls. In 1867 the names of sur-
vivors and widows who could prove their loyalty during the war
were restored.
It is a matter that is often questioned, how there can still be so
many names of widows of survivors of the War of 1812 on the
pension rolls, and the figures have, upon more than one occasion,
been subject to question, and I am here reminded of a
the; pension system 475
little circumstance which will serve to prove that this
widows' roll may be continued for some time to come. Some
months ago a veteran of the War of 181 2 addressed a letter
to his lawyer in Washington, stating that, inasmuch as a young
lady had been very attentive to him for some time, that he in
dying would like to leave his pension to her, and asked the ques-
tion if there were not some legal way in which he could make
the same over to her. In answering the letter the attorney,
of course, informed him that there was no law to cover such a
case, but somewhat humorously suggested that he might marry
the young lady, and then, as his widow, she would be entitled to
the benefits accruing from his services as a soldier. About three
months later, the lawyer was not a little surprised at receiving a
letter from the widow of this same veteran. She was a young
lady scarcely past her teens, and if the fates are kind to her,
and she should decline to remarry, she can, doubtless, be a widow
of the War of 1812 at some date in the 20th century.
The Pension Bureau was a branch of the War Department
until March 3, 1849, when an act to create the Department of
the Interior was approved by Congress, and Thomas Ewing was
appointed secretary. He proceeded to organize the Department,
and his estimate shows that he deemed a permanent force of
ten clerks sufficient to transact all necessary business of the
Department at that date. The whole number of invalid pension-
ers then on the list of the Pension Ofifice was 4,115. The whole
number drawing pensions in 1850 was 13,078, of which 5,207
were Revolutionary pensions, and yet, with this insignificant
family of pensioners, as compared with the number on the rolls
to-day, requiring 18 Pension Agents, 250 Special Examiners,
1,400 clerks and other employes to look after them, Mr. Heath,
who was then Commissioner of Pensions, thought he was doing
an immense business, and seriously contemplated asking Con-
gress for an increase of pay. The salary of the Commissioner
was at that date $3,000, and the total of that year's appropria-
tion for the Pension Office was $34,234, while the total appro-
priation for the same Bureau for 1887 was $2,500,000; this is
for the Bureau solely, and exclusive of the $1,000,000 for fees
of examining surgeons.
In 1849 the Office of the Department of the Interior was in
476 THE PENSION SYSTEM
a rented building, and the Pension Office was located on the
fourth floor of an old building rented by the Government, and
known as Winder's Building. Compare the quarters occupied
by Pension Office clerks at that date with those enjoyed by the
clerks of to-day; and just here it may b^ of interest to give you
some idea of the capacity of the new Pension Building, which
must be, with possibly two exceptions, the largest building in the
world :
The area of the ground plan is 80,000 square feet ; cubic
â– capacity 8,211,500 cubic feet; floor of guest hall, 36,656 square
feet; floor area of rooms in the four floors, 123,542 square feet;
â– cellar floors, 13.696 square feet; total floor area, 197,689 square
feet. The great hall can seat in the lower floor 6,861 men, the
four galleries, 4,446 men, and the total seating capacity of great
hall and galleries, 11.307 men. In the great hall and its galler-
ies, there is close standing room for 30,130 men. In the whole
"building closely packed, 32,730 could be seated, and 90,000 men
could stand. There are few halls, and few buildings which
could contain so many people.
All matters relating to pensions are now under the jurisdiction
of the Commissioner of Pensions. The Bureau is divided into
fourteen different divisions, and the number of clerks borne upon
the rolls is 1,542.
I will now describe the course of procedure in the adjudication
of claims, and in so doing you will observe the use of each of
the different divisions. All communications addressed to the
Commissioner of Pensions, or the Pension Bureau, are received
in the Mail Division, where 27 clerks are now employed. Upon
the receipt of an application for pension, it receives the stamp
of the Pension Bureau in the Mail Division, and its receipt is
at once acknowledged. The application is then sent to the
Record Division, where the service given therein is verified by
roster of State troops as published by the Adjutant General of
State, and all additional services are supplied when omitted by
the applicant; it is then placed in an envelope, known in office
parlance as a "jacket." This jacket must bear on the face
his late rank, company, regiment, date of enlistment and dis-
charge, and his present post office address, also the disability
for which pension is claimed. The records of the division are
THE PENSION SYSTEM 477
then carefully searched to make sure that this is not a duplicate
of some former application. If it is a duplicate it is marked as
such, and is merely sent to the case as evidence ; if not a dup-
licate, it is numbered and recorded. It is then forwarded to an
adjudicating division, and of these there are five, namely, the
Eastern, Middle, Western, Southern, and Old War and Navy,,
the names suggesting the claims forwarded thereto, all claims
from eastern states being acted upon in the Eastern Division,
&c.
One of the first duties of the Examiner when a new claim is
handed to him, is to learn whether the claimant is acting for
himself, or is represented by an attorney ; if the latter, it is
necessary for him to send the case to the Law Division in order
that the official standing of the attorney may be properly en-
dorsed thereon; it is then returned to the adjudicating division,
where the Examiner proceeds to examine it as to the proper
execution of the declaration and sufficiency of the allegations.
If these prove insufficient, the claimant and attorney will be
so notified, and the case is sent to the pending files, awaiting
amendment of declaration. If sufficient, the claimant and his
agent will be informed of the number, and that the claim will
be settled as soon as possible. The Examiner then makes a
call on the Adjutant General for a complete military history of
the claimant; a call on the Surgeon General for a report of any
medical treatment that the claimant may have received during
his term of service ; and issues an order for the claimant to
appear before a Board for medical examination, and a call is
made upon the claimant or his attorney for such evidence as
may be necessary to complete the claim. When the reports are
received from the Adjutant and Surgeon Generals, and the evi-
dence is all complete, the claim is briefed by the Examiner and
submitted to the Board of Review for admission or rejection. In
the Board of Review the claim is judicially acted upon, and,
after a finding upon the law and the facts, the case is sent to
the Medical Referee, for his decision upon the medical question
involved. It is then returned to the Board of Review for a
final report. If favorable, the case is rated and sent to the
Certificate Division, where the certificate is made out and signed
by the Commissioner. The certificate is then sent to the Depart-
478 THE PENSION SYSTEM
ment of the Interior for the signature of the Secretary, after
which it is sent to the claimant, and the Pension Agent is noti-
fied to make payment. The case is then sent to the Admitted
Files. If the report of the Medical Board and Board of Review
is unfavorable the case is sent to pending rejected files, awaiting
the filing of additional evidence, and the claimant or his at-
torney so informed. This describes the manner of proceeding
with a clear claim, but such claims are rather in the minority.
There are many claimants who fail to comprehend the magnitude
of the pension business, and perhaps I cannot illustrate this
any better than by telling a little incident which came to my
notice in 1883: —
One of my fellow clerks called my attention to correspondence
addressed to Col. Dudley, then Commissioner of Pensions, written
by an old comrade, in which, in a simple, kindly way he expressed
himself in about the following language, "i have not heard from
my pension claim for some time ; now. Colonel, I don't want you
to think that I am impatient, for I do realize that you must have
a great deal to do in your office, but I do think that, as an act
of justice to old soldiers, you ought to employ two or three
clerks to help you."
This expresses what I am sure is, to a greater or less extent,
the opinion of many pension claimants. A large proportion
write as though they thought the Commissioner read, personally,
every piece of mail or evidence filed in the Bureau.
Let me now portray the course of what is known in office par-
lance as a ''tough case :"
The claimant has no record of hospital treatment, and has for-
gotten the names of any of the comrades who were with him
when he received his disability ; perhaps he was a prisoner of
war and received his disability when he was captured, or during
his prison life, and, while he may remember the names of his
comrades, he may not be able to remember their service ; has
kept up no acquaintance with them during the period which has
elapsed since the war, and is, therefore, unable to furnish their
evidence which is necessary to prove the origin and continuance
of his disability while in the service. When a claim in any one
of the five adjudicating divisions has been difficult of adjudica-
tion ; the claimant unable to gain a response from comrades writ-
THE PENSION SYSTEM 479
ten to ; is perhaps too ignorant to fully comprehend the manner
of proving up his claim, and when all else seems against it, it is
turned over to the Special Examination Division, which was es-
tablished under Gen. John H. Baker, in August, 1873. The area
covered by this system of special examination includes every state
in the Union, and is now divided into five districts, namely, the.
Potomac, Hudson, Illinois, Alissouri, and Western. Each dist-
rict is represented in the Office by a Supervising Examiner,
through whom all the Examiners located in these districts must
report.
During the past fiscal year the number of Special Examiners
located throughout the United States, averaged 251. A certain
number of cases are referred to each Examiner, who personally
visits the claimant and takes his statement in his claim ; he then
visits as many comrades or neighbors of the claimant as circum-
stances seem to indicate as likely to know some of the facts rela-
tive to claimant's disability. In all cases that are sent to the
Special Examination Division for investigation, the claimant
is afforded an opportunity to be present, or to be represented
by his attorney, at the cross-examination of any of his witnesses,
conducted by the Examiner acting for the Government, and he
may personally, or through his attorney, cross-examine any wit-
nesses who testify against him. This system has established
a good feeling between claimants and the Pension Bureau that
did not exist under the former practice of the office, and has
conveyed, as it should, the knowledge that it is the desire of
the Bureau to execute the pension laws in the spirit of liberality
and fairness with which they were framed. It is frequently
necessary to refer a claim from one district to another for fur-
ther investigation, and while the claimant may think that twelve
months or more is a very long time to waii for the result of such
investigation, it must be remembered that a large number of
pension claims are specially examined, 30,058 last year, and as
the average number of cases returned by each Examiner each
month is about nine, it will be readily seen that, while special
examination is the surest means of fair adjudication, it is neces-
sarily fraught with many difficulties, and must sometimes ap-
pear very slow. In 1833 it was ascertained that of the total
number pending (244,000 in round numbers), 204,000 were
480 THE PENSION SYSTEM
awaiting response of claimants to calls for necessary evidence,
and that the evidence lacking, in the majority of cases, was of
officers and enlisted men to establish origin and continuance
of disability, and if contracted in service and line of duty. In
a large number of these cases there was either no record at all
at the Adjutant General's office, or none of constant presence
for duty without which no pension can be granted under the
law.
This condition caused Col. Dudley, then Commissioner of Pen-
sions to suggest that a record of surviving soldiers and sailors
could be satisfactorily established, and under his administration
began that section of the Special Examination Division which
Gen. Black, now Commissioner of Pensions, organized into a
division known as the Army and Navy Survivors. In this di-
vision, which is now indispensable to the Pension Bureau, there
are the post office addresses of more than 900,000 survivors of
the War of the Rebellion. To the Grand Army of the Republic
belongs the greatest praise for the interest they have taken and
the assistance they have rendered in the establishment and com-
pletion of these records, and I deem it safe to say that wher-
ever a soldier has heard of, and appropriated the full merits of
the division named, he has taken pleasure in doing all in his
power to add to its success. Some idea of the magnitude of the
work can be obtained from the following :
In April, 1884, there were only 5,000 names with post office
addresses, on file as compared with the record which now num-
bers over 900,000 names. During the fiscal year which has just
closed, 158,227 names have been furnished for use in 28,209
cases, and of this number of addresses, 29,604 have been supplied
to names furnished by claimants, as of comrades whose evidence
would, in their opinion, satisfactorily adjudicate their claims.
An important section of this division comprises carefully com-
piled records and post office addresses of surgeons, including
surgeons U. S. Army, U. S. Vols, and Contract Surgeons, who
were in charge of, or on duty in the General, Post, and Field
hospitals thoughout the loyal states during the war. In ad-
dition to the regular roster of Regimental Surgeons, in which
the addresses are kept verified to date, as far as possible, we
have also the addresses of more than 5,000 surgeons U. S. Army,.
the; pension system 481
U. S. Volunteers, and Contract Surgeons, who were not only
on duty in hospitals, but also with Batteries of Light Artillery
and other independent commands, and nearly all of these addres-
ses have been obtained during the past two years. It has al-
ways been a difficult matter to supply this class of evidence in
pension claims, the majority of claimants forgetting even the
name of the surgeon who treated them ; if, however, they can
now give the place and date of their treatment, every effort is
made to furnish the name and post office address of the sur-
geon. With this division in the good working order in which
it now stands, the class of claims last described can be much more
readily adjudicated, for not only do Examiners of adjudicating
divisions call for information, but claimants and their attorneys
have the same privilege, and profit by it.
Perhaps I cannot better exemplify the benefits derived from the
records of the Army and Navy Survivors Division, than by re-
lating to you a few incidents that have come under my own per-
sonal attention. In a case that had been pending for seventeen
years, the claimant had served in a New York regiment, and in
one of the battles in the Department of the Gulf, he received
wounds that afterward caused paralysis of the lower limbs. He
was unable to learn of the whereabouts of any of his officers or
comrades whose evidence was necessary to the adjudication of
his claim. He applied personally to the Pension Bureau, and
was at once furnished with a list of names, with post office ad-
dresses, of members of his company. Because of his necessity,
his case was niade "special," and as his former captain, whose
name appeared op said list, was, and at this date is, a resident of
New York City, a Special Examiner was directed to call upon
him for his testimony. The captain was astonished to learn
that the claimant was still living. They had both been wounded
in the same battle, Sabine Cross Roads, and the captain told his
story about as follows :
"During the action our forces were repulsed by the enemy and
were on the retreat, when claimant's horse was shot, which caused
him to fall back in rear of the column, where four of the enemy
came upon him and demanded his surrender. This he refused,
for, having been an officer in the Prussian army and an expert
swordsman, he relied upon his ability as such to cut his way
16
482 the; pension system
through to our lines. With three mounted opponents on his left
and the colonel of a Louisiana regiment on his right, he fought
bravely until he had received nine wounds, one of which was
eleven inches in length and another seven. He had disabled
three of the enemy, and finally killed the colonel, cutting his
head with a right cut almost from his shoulders. The claimant's
horse soon dropped dead, and he, wounded and bleeding as he
was, crawled on hands and knees to a clump of bushes about one
hundred yards from the scene of conflict, where I was lying
badly wounded. Almost immediately after, we were captured
by the enemy and were obliged to walk some distance to an old
carpenter shop, where we spent the night. We were then for-
warded to a prison camp at Tyler, Texas, and soon after our
arrival, the claimant was placed in irons because he had killed
the colonel. After many months of indescribable suffering, we
were paroled. When the claimant arrived at Gen. Sheridan's
headquarters, his only covering a piece of lousy blanket, his con-
dition was so horrible that the General exclaimed : 'Great God !
is it possible that they can treat human beings in this way!' " The
claimant's case was finally adjudicated on the captain's evidence,
and the poor fellow received nearly $10,975, with a pension for
life of $72 per month.
Another incident is that of a man claiming pension for total
blindness alleged to have been incurred in the service. He had
made affidavit that his officers and comrades were all dead, but
upon consulting the record it was discovered that a member of
his company was an employe of the Government 'Printing Office.
A Special Examiner called upon him, and when asked if he knew
the claimant his answer was in the affirmative. To the question
"What kind of a soldier was he," came the answer, "He would
have been a good enough soldier if he had been able to see ; he
was so blind that it was always a mystery to us how he had
passed the examining surgeon." This man's full deposition was
taken, and before finished the fact was discovered that two offi-
cers and two comrades of claimant's own company lived in the
same town with him, and thus he was proven a most complete
fraud and saved $10,000 to the Government. These are but two
instances of the many that come to light daily.
One or two other incidents occur to me that may be of interest
to you :
THE PENSION SYSTEM 485
A short time ago, an examiner in the Southern Division, in
examining the claim of a widow of a soldier who served in a
West Virginia regiment as an enlisted man. and later as an officer-
in the United States Colored Troops, came across some papers
that led him to believe that the soldier might still be living. The
claim had been pending for many years and nothing had been
heard from the soldier since he was mustered out of service in
1865. The case was referred to the Army and Navy Survivors'
Division, for the purpose of ascertaining if the records of that
division would show the whereabouts of said soldier. The fact
was soon disclosed that the regiment had been mustered out of
service in Philadelphia, and after some inquiry the soldier was
found alive and well, and employed as a conductor on one of the
street car lines in that city. His post office address, with street
and number, were sent to the supposed widow, who resided in
Greene county. Pa., scarcely one hundred miles away from the
man who had abandoned his wife and seven children over twenty
years ago. The last heard from the case was a letter from the
oldest son, who said that the whole family, wife and seven child-
ren, would go to Philadelphia, and some morning, bright and
early, would form in line from the doorstep to the gutter, and as
the soldier passed out they would give him a marching salute.
Let me now call your attention to a few figures which will
serve to show the magnitude of the work of the Pension Bureau.
During the fiscal year which has just passed, the new claims filed
were as follows: 36,204 invalid, 9,717 widows, 2,325 minor
children, 2,277 dependent mothers, and 1,314 dependent fathers^
making a total of 51,837. 112,360 pension certificates were
issued, and of this number 55,194 were original. 2,234,331 let-
ters were received, and 1,792,052 sent out, and in the Middle Di-
vision alone, where claims in Pennsylvania service are adjudi-
cated, and where there are 76,561 pending claims, over 54,000-
pieces of evidence were received during the month of June, 1887.
Now, if you will bear with me for a few minutes longer, I
will give you a few facts in regard to the payment of pensions.
Payments were made quarterly at eighteen agencies located in
different parts of the country. At each of these agencies a
permanent roll is kept of all pensioners resident within its pay-
ing limits. This roll is arranged alphabetically by class, sex, etc..
484 THE PENSION SYSTEM
gives the number of pension certificate, and the soldier's full
service, also his post office address at the date of his payment.
On this roll are entered respectively, new pensions, new allow-
ances to pensioners, reductions, suspensions, deaths, remarriages,
transfers, and variations of rates.
The disbursements at the various agencies range from $1,000,-
000 to $7,000,000, the agency at Columbus, Ohio, disbursing
the largest amount. The amount appropriated by last Congress
for the payment of pensions was $75,000,000, and in connection
therewith there was also appropriated $100,000 for salaries of
Pension Agents and expenses of the several offices, including
clerk hire, etc. The total amount paid out in pensions by the U.
S. Government is about $15,000,000 per year greater than the
amounts paid by all other civilized nations for the same purpose,
and we have paid in twenty years more money on account of
one war, than Europe has paid in the last two hundred years.
There are in United States 2,647 counties, and there are but
118 of these in which no pensions are being paid. Of the 118
non-pension counties, 40 are in Texas ; 20 in Georgia ; 9 in the
Indian Territory ; 7 each, in Utah and Dakota ; 6 each in Louisi-
ana and Mississippi ; 4 in Florida ; 3 in Arkansas ; 2 each, in Ala-
bama, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, and North Carolina, and i
€ach, in California, Colorado, Idaho, Tennessee, Virginia and Wis-
consin. There are 1,691 pensions paid in 35 foreign countries;
of this number, 771 pensioners reside in Canada ; 380
in Great Britain; 310 in Germany, and 50 in Switzer-
land, the remaining 180 are scattered all over the civilized world.
Notwithstanding the large amounts thus disbursed by the govern-
ment, it is a deplorable fact that there are many of our brave boys
who are being supported by charity.
In 1886, General Black directed an investigation to be made
with a view to determine the number of soldiers and sailors who,
having served in the army and navy of the United States, were
supported in whole or in part from the public funds or organized
charities. Upon the information thus furnished from 1,240
counties in the United States, it was found that the number re-
ceiving support as before stated, was 9,000. The oldest man re-
ceiving support was 103 years of age. The mean age was 57,
the youngest man was 21 years of age. Over 48 per cent, of
RED LION INN, BENSALEM TOWNSHIP 485
all SO receiving support were native born, and over 51 per cent,
were foreign born. Over 13 per cent, of the total number re-
ported were pensioners, and over 86 per cent, were non-pen-
sioners. Over 45 per cent, were married men, and over 54 per
cent, unmarried men. 19 per cent, of the total number actually
reported were blind or insane. It is hoped that in the near future
some action will be taken by the Government to obviate the
necessity for such humiliation to those who fought so bravely in
the dark days of our civil war.
The Red Lion Inn, Bensalem Township.
BY WILLIAM J. BUCK, JLNKINTOWN, PA.
(Bensalem Meeting, July 17, 1888.)
The first highway used for travel by land was the route lead-
ing northwestwardly from the present city of Philadelphia to the
Falls of Delaware the site of the city of Trenton. In 1677, it
was called the "King's Path," whereof the court at Upland
March 14, 1681, appointed Clause Johnson to be overseer "from
Poquessing creek to Samuel Clifif's," at the present Bristol bor-
ough, and John Arkaman from thence to the Falls ; they being re-
quired to "repair the highways within their respective precincts,
which is to be done before the last day of May." William Penn
writes from Pennsbury to his secretary, James Logan, in Phila-
delphia, the 22nd of the 6th-month, 1700, to "urge the justices
about the bridge at Pennepecka and Poquessin, forthwith for a
carriage, or I cannot come down." These several extracts re-
veal to us the early condition of affairs respecting travel in that
vicinity. It is presumed the present turnpike road, from Phila-
delphia to the Poquessing creek, and thence to Morrisville, by
way of Bristol, is located without any material deviation on the
aforesaid route.
After the use of this ancient highway for upwards of half
a century, Philip Amos, an Englishman by birth, in 1730 con-
ceived the idea of setting up an inn for the accommodation and
entertainment of travelers as they passed to and fro on their
way either to market or on business or pleasure to Philadelphia,
then, the capitol of Pennsylvania. In that year, (as we learn
486 RED LION INN, BKNSALEM TOWNSHIP
from the Bucks county court records), he petitioned for a Hcense
to keep a pubHc house, "near Poquessing creek, on the highway
from Philadelphia to Bristol." Thus was this ancient hostelry
established one hundred and fifty-eight years ago, and be-
lieved to have been ever since continuously kept as such. It is
probable that from the time of its origin, its sign has been the
"Red Lion," which name was a general favorite among English-
men, by reason of its being a prominent figure on the British
coat-of-arms.
After the death of Philip Amos we know that his widow, Ann
in 1744, received a license, there being at this date one other
public house in the township. From the colonial records we
learn that on April 5th, 1747, a resurvey of the road was made
"from Philadelphia to Poquessing creek, and over it to the
Widow Amos', being eleven and three-quarter miles from the
city." The maps of the Province by Nicholas Scull in 1759
and William Scull in 1770 both denote Widow Amos. These
records indicate that she kept the house for some time. Reading
Howell, on his large township map of Pennsylvania, published
in 1792, calls it "The Red Lion Inn." John Butler, of Philadel-
phia, advertises his "stage Waggon" in 1759, as making three
trips weekly to New York, crossing at "Trenton Ferry," thus
passing daily over the old highway and affording increased
traveling facilities to the public.
Henry Tomlinson, nearly a lifelong resident of Bensalem,
where he died in April, 1800, aged 79 years, kept a journal for
upwards of forty years, noting therein the principal occurrences
of his neighborhood, and to which we are now indebted for
several interesting facts relating to this subject:
"October 30th, 1763, there was a smart shock of an earthquake. May
1 8th, 1775, Joseph Cox went to learn the military exercise at Red Lion.
August 5th, following, a great muster among the soldiers. June 24th, 1777,
two soldiers took away two of my horses out of the plow. January 4th,
1778, the soldiers took away from me two cattle. March 6th, much wheat
and haj' burnt by the soldiers. March 15th, a horse taken by the soldiers.
March 27th, a mare taken for the use of the Continental army. April 17th,
all night the English ranging to Bristol and Bensalem. August 17th, 1780,
had a horse taken out of the plow for the wagons."
As Mr. Tomlinson relates, the people of that vicinity during
the Revolution suffered severely from the marauding parties of
RED L,ION INN, BENSAI^EM.
Front view from the west, showing date-stone, also swinging sign of the Hon.
(From photograph in Historical Society's Album).
RED UOX INN, BENSAIvEM TOWNSHIP 487
the hostile forces. It was between the Red Lion and Dunk's
Ferry that General Lacey, according to orders, destroyed a large
quantity of forage in the beginning of March, 1778, to prevent
its falling into the hands of the British while in possession of
Philadelphia.
Benjamin Loxley, captain of the first Philadelphia artillery,
on his march to Amboy, makes the following remarks in his
journal, under date of March 22, 1776:
"That they had started from Frankford at four o'clock in the morning
and arrived at the Red Lion by nine, where they halted and ordered
breakfast, which the landlord refused supplying, and said he had not
enough bread for five men ; that he wondered how he could expect it for
one hundred. At half-past nine marched for Shammony."
It appears they pushed onward to secure a later breakfast
elsewhere, most prol^ably at Bristol. During the Revolution many
distinguished men sought accommodation at the Red Lion, as they
journeyed to the National Capitol at Philadelphia. On August
29, 1774, Messrs. Boudin, Gushing, Robert Treat Payne, Samuel
Adams, and John Adams, all members of Gongress from Massa-
chusetts, stopped there. The diary of John Adams records
that he stopped there again December, 1775', and October 13,
1776.
Washington, August 28, 1781, with the combined French and
American army, numbering about 16,000 men, suddenly left the
vicinity of New York which he had threatened to attack, for the
purpose really of investing Yorktown and compelling Gornwallis
to surrender. Henry Tomlinson states in his journal that the
army passed through Bensalem, August 30th. and that "General
Washington went to Philadelphia, escorted by forty or fifty men,
who rode sword in hand as a guard.'' It was, however, for this
night, that a portion of his army encamped at the Red Lion, to
proceed hurriedly forward the next morning to accomplish the
distant and arduous march that eventually led to the signal tri-
umph that closed the drama of the American Revolution. Wash-
ington, on this occasion, may have made a brief stop at the inn,
but no more, as his business interests demanded his presence that
night in the city. That the surroundings of the locality were
favorable for the encampment of a large army no one will deny.
It was at a warm time of the year, and water and forage were
abundant, and the advantages ofifered were better than near a city
488 RED UON INN^ BENSALEM TOWNSHIP
and moreover the increased temptation to the soldiers was less
which Washington always carefully guarded, as we learn from
his correspondence with Congress.
The turnpike from Philadelphia to Trenton was commenced
in 1803, and in the following year finished to the Poquessing,
but from the Red Lion to its termination, at Morrisville, not
until about 1813.- To help note the changes going on even in
this early settled neighborhood, it may be stated that in 1790, a
bear was started on John Carver's farm and pursued into Ben-
salem, where he finally escaped into the forests. A lynx or
wild cat was shot in 1806, on the farm of John Tomlinson, in
Byberry. It is said that this was the last appearance of these
native animals in this section.
To the Hall family, now the proprietors in the third generation
of this ancient hostelry, I also have a regard. Though an entire
stranger to them previous to 1884, they had extracts from my
pioneer history of Bucks county, relating to the old Red Lion, let-
tered in oil within its ancient walls, giving due credit to the
author thereof. Thus after an interval of thirty years, at the
instance of the late Watson Comly, of Byberry I made my first
visit there, to find what he had for some time previously inti-
mated in a most friendly letter. Aside from its Colonial and
Revolutionary memories the old Red Lion Inn is located in the
midst of beautiful and interesting scenery. The steep, venerable
and substantial stone bridge over the meandering Poquessing,
on what was once the "King's highway," claimed also my at-
tention. I thought, were I a younger man, and more devoted
disciple of Izaak Walton, here I could indulge "in going ang-
ling," as well as meditate on its olden-time associations as given
in this brief paper.
Early Catholics of Bucks County.
BY MARTIN I. J. GRIFFIN, PHILADFLPHIA.
(Bensalem Meeting, July 17, 188S.)
Pennsylvania, "the American Sanctuary" of pre-Revolutionary
days, was truly such to the Catholics who settled within the
Province founded by William Penn. Though Penn followed
Lord Baltimore and Roger Williams, in making Religious Tol-
eration a "fundamental" of his Province, he yet "for the matter
of liberty and privileges, proposed that which was extraordi-
nary," as he wrote Turner, Sharp and Robert, April 15, 1681, in
proposing, securing, defining and maintaining that principle em-
bodied in the frame of government adopted at Chester, Decem-
ber loth 1682, that "All persons living in this Province shall in
no way be molested or prejudiced in their religious persuasion
or practice, or in matters of faith or worship," for this declara-
tion has never been darkened by a statute debarring Catholics
from the public practice of the rites of their religion. This can-
not be said of the Catholic colony of Maryland, when Catholics
in Cromwellian and later days were debarred from the public
exercise of their religion or their worship restricted to "private
houses," nor of Massachusetts, whose colony excluded Catholics
until the French army landed at Newport, to assist in the Revo-
lutionary struggle.
These references are made to set forth the greatness of Wil-
liam Penn, and to win for him that appreciation of his character
with Protestant writers which led Catholics to believe that though
Penn professed and declared Religious Toleration for all yet,
he did not mean that Catholics, (thfe hated and hunted people
of his time) should in his Province enjoy that which in England
they could not have. That he was rather a follower of Cromwell,
whose religious liberty did not mean toleration of "The Popish
Mass."
But with Penn's avowed detestation of the religious principles
and practices of Catholics he yet declared, "I dare not deny
others what I claim for myself. I mean liberty for the exercise
of my religion, thinking, faith, piety and providence a better
490 KARIvY CATHOLICS OF BUCKS COUNTY
security than force, and that if truth cannot prevail with her
own weapons, all other will fail." (Haz. Reg., Vol. 2, pp. 29-30),
for said he, "I abhor destroying them that differ from me for
God's sake," and that by "liberty of conscience I mean a free and
open profession and exercise of one's duty to God, especially
in worship," and in doing so, cited instances of the Catholics
granting toleration. (Janney's Penn, p. 280, 2d ed., 1882.)
So when Penn's foundation principles for his "holy experi-
ment" were made known. Catholics were among the numbers
of those who availed themselves of the opportunities which the
new province offered to all who undertook the hardships m
order to enjoy freedom in religion and to promote their worldly
welfare.
Besides the Catholics known to have been early settlers under
Penn in Philadelphia among whom may be named George Nixon,
grandfather of Col. John Nixon, who read the Declaration of
Independence to the citizens of Philadelphia, July 8, 1776, brief
reference may be made to the presence of Catholics among the
early settlers of Bucks county under the Penn grants.
Among the unpublished domestic letters of Penn preserved
in the Pennsylvania Historical Society, is one written from Lon-
don. April 10, 1685, to James Harrison, his steward. In it
he says "Remember me to Dr. More, whose letters I had tell
him, and to J. Gray, ye R. C. Keep things well with such per-
sons for our general credit."
Dr. More was president of the Free Society of Traders and
one of Penn's first judges; and "J- Gray, the R. C," was John
Gray, the Roman Catholic, as he was distinctively called by the
founder. Gray was one of the first purchasers and his name
appears on Holmes' Map of Pennsylvania, 1681, for land in
Philadelphia county, adjoining Bucks and on Holmes' Map of
Bucks his name appears in conjunction with that of John Tatham.
for a lot of ground in Warwick township.
We get a glimpse of the industry and activity and, perhaps,
good management of John Gray by a letter of Penn's to be found
in the collection referred to, in which, writing to Harrison re-
lative to reported inattention to his aflfairs. "Ye Gray has done
more for his time with one-fifth of ye charge than has been done
with all ye hands I left and sent."
EARLY CATHOLICS OF BUCKS COUNTY 49 1
Gray owned the land on which the lUicks county almhouse
stands. He did not, however, remain "ye Roman CatlioHc," as
appears by his will, which, after making bequests to relatives
in Ireland, also made a bequest to a Presbyterian minister and
to the Log College, opened in 1727, by Rev. William Tennent,
of Bensalem. This was the first literary institution above the
common schools in Pennsylvania, and "the germ from which pro-
ceeded the flourishing college at Princeton." '
Associated with John Gray, as we have seen, in the proprietor-
ship of land in Bucks county was John Tatham, a more conspic-
uous character by reason of his wealth, education and political
distinction in the neighboring province of New Jersey. The
coupHng of the names of Gray and Tatham for the same grant
suggests the possibility that Tatham was not then in America,
but that he came as the agent of Dr. Daniel Coxe, who, in 1684,
acquired extensive interests in West Jersey, and in 1686 in East
Jersey, and who, in 1687, t»y purchase of the interest in West Jer-
sey, of late Governor Byllinge, became Governor and he appointed
Tatham Lieutenant Governor. But Tatham being a Catholic and
Jacobite, the assembly rejected him and he continued to act as
agent for Dr. Coxe. Tatham and other proprietors of West Jersey,
met at Burlington, (where Tatham lived) and elected eleven of
their number commissioners to exercise authority in governing
the province. These commissioners in conjunction with the com-
missioners of East Jersey were entrusted with the settlement of
the division line. Tatham was a man of wealth and authority,
and may have been arrogant, for James Logan, writing to Wil-
liam Penn, Feb. 12, 1707, said: "But I am not Governor, nor
am I what Tatham boasted himself to be." (Penn and Logan
Cor., Vol. n, p. 207.) Tatham was the richest man in the pro-
vince, lived at Burlington in a great and stately palace, as Gab-
riel Thomas, in 1698, called it, and which, after his death was
bought by the London Society for the Propagation of the Faith
in Foreign Parts, as a residence for a bishop, which the Episco-
palians hoped to have sent. It was however occupied by Rev. John
Talbot, who, by nonjuring consecration, became the first bishop.
Tatham's will dated July 15, 1700, was admitted to probate in
New Jersey July 26, 1700 and in Pennsylvania Aug. 30, 1700.
By the inventory, dated September 27, 1700, his goods and
492 EARI.Y CATHOLICS OF BUCKS COUNTY
chattels are valued at £3765 i8s., 3d. It enumerates many
church vessels, plate, relics and other articles of a Catholic char-
acter. He had 478 books covering most of the department of
literature, commentaries on the Scripture, law, logic, theology,
history, medicine, music, astronomy, surveying, etc. The titles of
all are given in the inventory. By his will (see Researches Ap-
ril, 1888) he bequeathed to his wife Elizabeth, all his estate
"for her common benefit, maintenance and preferment of her-
self and children, Dorothea Hickman excepted, to whom for her
graceless and shameless rebellion I do give one piece of dirt,
if demanded, and no more, and it is my positive will that neither
she nor hers be benefitted to a greater extent by anything I
have or may have hereafter till the hour of my death." The
witnesses were Thomas Revell, Josh Newbold, Jos. White.
Tatham owned property on the Neshaminy in Bucks county
which was afterwards called Trevose, the seat of Joseph Gallo-
way, in right of his wife, daughter of Lawrence Growden. (Penn
and Logan Corr., Vol. i, p. 222.)
Tatham died in July, 1700. His executor was Thomas Re-
vells. Elizabeth, wife of Tatham, died soon after him, as her
will, dated October 15, 1700, was proved May 21, 1701. She
gave six shillings to her daughter, Mrs. Hickman, "if demanded."
Patrick Robinson, of Philadelphia, and John Revells, of Burling-
ton, trustees. Revells became guardian of the children.
Among the New Jersey MS. at the Pennsylvania Historical
Society is the petition, dated Oct. 11, 1704, of Thomas Revells,
setting forth that as executor and guardian, he had an action
against Joseph Growden, of Bucks county, about the title to a
tract of land lying within said county whereof he holds possession.
He had served him with a declaration of ejectment at the coun-
ty court of Bucks, that the petitioner had waited and moved
for a trial upon the said declaration almost three years past, that
he had notwithstanding been put off from court to court and at
last positively denied ye same to the great charge and wrong
to the orphans. The petitioner asked the Council of the Province
to take into consideration the matter so that some effective method
might be had for a fair hearing and trial of ye said title to
ye said land. By the minutes of the Council, 3d-mo., 1705,
we learn that Revells and Growdon were ordered to appear be-
fore the Council.
EARLY CATHOLICS OF BUCKS COUNTY 493
This property of Tatham's, in Bucks county, I am of opinion
was used by him for the celebration of Mass by the Jesuits who
traveled between Maryland and New York. Catholicity was
not tolerated in New Jersey, after 1688, so that Tatham, to avoid
the persecution and prosecution that came upon priests in Mary-
land (who, even for celebrating Mass in private houses, were ar-
rested) used the property in Bucks county. Pa., where within the
tolerant land of Penn, the priests could ofit'er the Holy Sacrifice
without offending against the law and at which the families of
Gray and Tatham and perhaps others assisted.
In January 1707-8, Rev. John Talbot, the Rector of St. Mary's
Episcopal Church, Burlington, N. J., wrote from New York to
the secretary of the society for the propagation of the Gospel
in foreign parts at London, "Arise, O Lord Jesus Christ, and
help us and deliver us for thine honor !..*..*..*.. There's an
Independency at Elizabethtown, Anabaptism at Burlington, and
the Popish Mass in Philadelphia. I thought that the Quakers
would be the first to let it in, particularly Mr. Penn, for if he
has any religion 'tis that. But thus to tolerate all without con-
trol is to have none at all." (Hill's His. St. Mary's.) This
is the earliest direct evidence of the celebration of Mass in Phila-
delphia.
On February 14, Talbot, then at West Chester, N. Y. wrote
Rev. George Keith, then in Connecticut, "I saw Mr. Bradford in
New York. He tells me that Mass is set up and read publicly
in Philadelphia, and several people are turned to it amongst
which Lionel Brittin, the church warden, is one and his son is.
another. I thought that Popery would come in amongst Friends,
the Quakers, as soon as any way." (From Doc. His. of P. E.
Church of U. S. Church Documents, Conn., Vol. I, p. 37. Jas.
Pott, publishers, 1863.)
Now a neighbor to John Gray and John Tatham, and an orig-
inal settler prior to the coming of Penn, was Lionel Brittin.
He was a blacksmith from Alney, Bucks county, England, and
arrived in the ship "Owner's Advice," George Bond, master
and settled in Bucks county, June 4th, 1680. (Haz. Annals, p.
483.) His daughter Elizabeth died while the ship was coming up
the Delaware and was buried at Burlington. There was no Phil-
adelphia then. Brittin settled on this side of the river at the
494 EARLY CATHOLICS OF BUCKS COUNTY
lower falls of the Delaware, where he took up two hundred acres
of land. He remained there until 1688, when he removed to
Philadelphia, severing his connection with the Friends' meeting,
which met at the house of William Biles. Before its formation
the Quakers had met from time to time at Brittin's So when
the ceremonies of the reception of Lionel Brittin took place about
Christmas or New Year's, 1707-8, the Church of England people
at once wrote to London, giving information of the extent of
Penn's liberality in religious matters ; that he actually had a gov-
ernment that not only permitted '"papists" to worship God in
their own way, but they could do so publicly and to the "public
scandal" of the town.
Penn was then in England fighting against debts and trouble
and ingratitude and public enemies. On September, 1707-8, he
wrote to Logan: "Here is a complaint against your govern-
ment that you suffer public Mass in a scandalous manner. Pray
send the matter of fact for ill use is made of it against us here."
This declaration will be found in the Penn and Logan corre-
spondence. Vol. H.
Although but two children are mentioned in Brittin's will, it
is 'known he was the father of Mary, born December 13, (O. S.)
1686, in Bucks county. She was the first born of English par-
ents in Pennsylvania. A record of this fact is in the Register's
office, at Doylestown, in the handwriting of Phineas Pemberton,
Register of that county. It appears, however, that JNIary died
young.
Brittin's daughter Rebecca married Philip Kearney, a mer-
Kihant of Philadelphia. Their daughter Rebecca married William
Plumstead, April 19, 1733. She died January 20, 1741, four
.of their children died young. One daughter, Rebecca, married
Charles Gore, lieutenant of 55th Regiment of British army.
The marriage settlement is dated March 4, 1760. Lieutenant
'Gore contributed £2 to the purchase of St. Mary's burial ground.
Fourth, near Spruce. He died before January 28, 1763. His
\widow resided in Philadelphia, and died July i, 1809. The
issue of this marriage was two children, who died young.
Thomas, son of Rebecca and William Plumstead, born April
28, 1740, married Mary Coats, August 13, 1762, at Old St. Peter's
and died October 29, 1776. Their daughter, Rebecca Plumstead,
EARLY CATHOLICS OP BUCKS COUNTY 495
married Benjamin Hutton, at Christ Church, July 2'], 1780. A
daughter by this marriage, Mary Hutton, married September 22,
1799, John Devereaux, a sea captain and merchant. He died
at Island of Grand Cayman, W. I., April 1820. (Keith's Penna.
Councilors, p. 173.) Their son, John Devereaux, born August
10, 1800, was for many years treasurer and trustee of St. Mary's
Church, is still living and is president of the Pennsylvania Fire
Insurance Company. His son. Colonel Eugene Devereaux, may
be known by his services in the late war.
Lionel Brittin's daughter, Rebecca, who married Philip Kear-
ney, had a daughter Susanna, who married Thomas Lloyd, son
of Thomas Lloyd, and grandson of Thomas Lloyd, President
of councilors 1684-88 and 1690-93. Their daughter Susanna
married at Christ Church, November 4, 1762, Thomas Wharton,
Jr, who was Governor of Pennsylvania during the Revolution.
(The Wharton Family Pa. Mag., Vol. I, p. 327).
Philip Kearney died on Monday, July 30, 1775. at an advanced
age, at his seat at Amboy; for many years he was an eminent
lawyer, at that place. His death was universally lamented.
Lionel Brittin's daughter, Elizabeth, second of the name, mar-
ried Michael Kearney, a prominent man of East Jersey, from
whom descended Gen. Phil. Kearney, famous in our late war,
and J. Kearney Rogers, a well-known citizen of New York.
Brittin's grand-daughter, Elizabeth Kearney, married James Mor-
ris, son of Anthony Morris, second mayor of Philadelphia, at
Burlington meeting, about 1730. A daughter Mary, by this
marriage, married Colonel Blathwaite Jones, of the line of the
Revolutionary army ; and their daughter, Susanna Budd Jones,
married Dr. Samuel Shober. Their son, Samuel Lieber Kuhn
Shober, married Mary Bedford, and their son is Samuel L. Sho-
ber, now of Philadelphia.
As far as I have been able to discover, the Devereaux family
are now the only Catholic descendants of the first convert to
the faith in our State. Elizabeth, wife of Lionel Brittin, made
her will, June 5, 1732. It was recorded January 21, 1741. She
died in a house on Second street below Market, near the Bap-
tist church.
Then and Now; or Old Times and New in Pennsylvania.
BY REV. S. F. HOTCHKIN^ BUSTI^ETON^ PA.
(Bensalem Meeting, June 17, 1888.)
The Bucks County Historical Society meets to-day on histor-
ical ground, the Red Lion Inn, kept by Philip Amos, in 1730.
Its picturesque position among the hills, near two stone country
bridges, gains a new interest when we remember that in 1781
Washington going to attack Cornwallis, at Yorktown, camped
for a night, with his army, on both sides of the Poquessing creek.
The Massachusetts delegates to the first Continental Congress at
Philadelphia, Bowdoin, Cushing, Samuel and John Adams and
Robert Treat Paine, dined at this hotel, on August 29, 1774.
A few rods to the west lies an old graveyard, where sleep
the ancestors of Dr. Benjamin Rush, opposite the lawn of the
Drexel place. A little farther is the old mansion of the Parry
family, where Dr. Rush was born. I believe that family owned
the farm when the distinguished doctor visited it, with his little
son, in 1812, and wrote the touching and beautiful letter to John
Adams (Watson's Annals, Vol. 2, page 76). A tradition in
the Parry family narrates how the great man stopped to enter
the old burial ground, and he himself has noted his emotions
on that occasion.
The letters "J. R." being the initials of John Rush, the first
settler, have been plastered over in the stone wall. Byberry
creek, with its fish, yet runs its course before the door. The
walls of the house still stand, but the room in which the doctor
was born has been merged into another, by the tearing away
of a partition.
In the deeds of the Rush property I noticed two of that name
marked as blacksmith, and the doctor describes his grandfather
as "a. farmer and gunsmith." He therefore, like many other
distinguished men, was descended from the honest sons of toil.
A dry race is a relic of the water-power which once drove the
works of a gun-shop which stood not far from the house. One of
the deeds of the property, bearing the date 1736, was executed
in the reign of George II.
THEN AND NOW 497
It was probably in this region that the boy became famihar
with the eagle's nest, which served his quick wit so well when he
was called to visit a sick lady who had been his companion in
childhood. Finding her mental powers sluggish, by illness, he
startled her by calling out, "Do you remember the eagle's nest?"
The query recalled the old association, and the mind began its
work again. The old Hart mansion is near this hotel. A short
distance from the Rush mansion is the farm where the Duffields
once lived. They were friends of Benjamin Franklin, and one
was his executor. They owned much land in this neighborhood,
and here the philosopher may have visited them.
Nicholas Moore, the Lyondon attorney, friend of Penn, and
Speaker of the Provincial Assembly, had his home but a few
miles from this spot, near the Somerton pike. The mansion and
the lock-up, where a few offenders reflected on their ill-doings
have both disappeared. The thousands of acres held by him who
gave the name to the two Morelands have been divided into
farms.
Judge Cooper, father of the novelist, J. Fennimore Cooper,
once lived in Somerton, while Judge Sommers resided near that
village, and gave it the name it bears. We are close to Pleasant
Hill, where John Comly taught his school and wrote his school
books. His son Charles lives in the old mansion.
On the river is the site of the bake-house, famed since the days
of the Revolution. It is thought (judging by the relics found
there) that an Indian village may have been situated at the
mouth of the Pennypack just below our meeting place.
Andalusia College, under the Rev. Dr. Wells, and Bristol Col-
lege, of an earlier day, under the Rev. Dr. Colton, are reminders
to the Episcopal church of hard work done for her benefit.
But, let us widen our view and extend our glance backward
and look at the earlier settlers of this fair region in their re-
ligious and social life as painted by Watson, Davis, Buck, Tur-
ner, Scharf, Westcott and the Swedish clergyman Acrelius.
The "History of Byberry and Moreland," by that indefatigable
local historian, Dr. Joseph C. Martindale, assisted by the journal
of Isaac Comly and the personal aid of Watson Comly and
Isaac C. Martindale has been an invaluable mine of information.
The Indians first wandered along these streams and fished and
498 THEN AND NOW
hunted, and sung and danced, and loved and warred, and left
us their names on many a stream and hill. Two squaws buried
m the midst of the old .gra>eyard at Byberry L;eeting-house
are said to have been the last who lived in Byberry and More-
land. A large cedar tree near their graves is a fitting monu-
ment. Another tree in this yard has its history of affection. It
was planted by Joseph Gilbert at the head of his wife's grave,
and Isaac Comly, as a small boy, going to school, saw him water-
ing it.
An abundance of fish allured the Indians to the Delaware
river in the spring, and the wild fowl, in the autumn. The coun-
cil-fire, the pipe and the wampum-belt were familiar objects
on the shore of this stream, vvhich still holds its Indian name.
In 1638 the Swedes began their simple lives in the wilds of
Pennsylvania. They loved bays and water-courses, as they were
familiar with them in their own land, and the Delaware river
began its career of importance in the history of this region. The
Swedes went to church in boats and they wanted Chambers,
to whom Penn had given the monopoly of the Schuylkill ferry
to let their boats pass without toll.
At a later period the Swedes built stone houses, roofed with
oak or cedar shingles and plastered. They were whitewashed
every year. The Swedish pastor, Acrelius, laments the advance
in fancy clothing and fine horse-gear and houses.
The Germans also settled in Pennsylvania in large numbers,
drawn largely by the religious freedom offered by Penn. Lau-
rens Hendricks, a German preacher, describes these hardy emi-
grants, many of whom had long beards and great shoes with
large nails. They were pious in prayer and innocent in life.
Then there were the Welsh from their native mountains, with
their shaggy beards and their ancient pedigrees. The Welsh
road still keeps up their memory in this region and their family
names linger among us, while on many a headstone in the ancient
Baptist graveyard at Pennypack you may read their names. The
Dungans, Griffiths and Evanses keep green the memory of Wales
while the Swedes are yet known by means of the Toy family, who
held much land about Holmesburg Junction.
As we reflect on these early settlers, let us consider the time
when Philadelphia (which now has about a million inhabitants).
THEN AND NOW 499
was a forest. Nils Justafson, an aged Swede, told the Swedish
traveler, Professor Kalm, that he so recollected it. Uz, the child
of Joseph Duffield, when three years of age, was eaten by wolves
not far from the place where we are now assembled. His father
died in 1746 and a brother named before him died in 1720.
Martindale does not give the date of the birth of Uz. When
Giles Knight was about to emigrate from England to this region
his friends wished him to leave his son Joseph, about two years
old, in England for fear that wolves, bears or panthers might
devour him in the wilds of Pennsylvania.
In 1672 George Fox and his friends were taken across the
river from New Jersey to Bristol in the canoes of friendly In-
dians, while their horses swam. The whistle of the steamboat
to-day may remind us of John Fitch, and his labors in Bucks
county to advance steam navigation and his touching wish to
be buried on the banks of the Ohio, where he believed that the
passing steamers would glide by his grave.
Times have changed. The Indian canoe no longer divides
the waters of the Delaware and the Indian-trail has yielded
to the turnpike and railway. The first vessel that was impelled
by the skill of white men on this river awoke the wonder of
the timid deer and the red Indian, and doubtless caused many
a solemn talk in Indian huts and round their council fires. The
Shield, of Hull, under Captain Towes, in November, 1678, as-
cended as high as Burlington. Sir Edmund Plowden's expedi-
tion came up the Delaware in 1642. and Thomas Young and
Evelyn, from England, went up as far as Trenton Falls, in 1634.
However, the work of these early boats was trifling as compared
to modern navigation. The famous ship Welcome brought only
one hundred emigrants : compare the thousands that now land
at our ports. Still we may use the old proverb, "one, but a
lion ;" for Penn and his company exerted a mighty influence for
good on the new country.
The telegraph has changed life wonderfully. A message can
now be sent from here to San Francisco or to Europe, much
sooner than it required to communicate with the farther parts
of Bucks county in the days of its first settlement.
The Bristol turnpike where we meet to-day is mentioned as a
road in 1700. In good weather and for moderate distances the
500 THEN AND NOW
old Stage-coach was a pleasant mode of travel, but before turn-
pikes were known the passengers were frequently required to
help lift the stage out of the mud, and the journey was anything
but pleasant in stormy weather or in winter, or at night.
Charles Comly informs me that at a meeting held at Trenton
to deliberate about a railway to New York, a stage-owner, per-
haps it was Mr Reeside, was present by invitation and said
that the idea was preposterous, as he had a dozen stages, and
sometimes they were not more than half full. The old oval
stage-coach had four horses, which were changed at Trenton,
and the small boy was delighted when the horn blew loudly
and the accomplished whip drew up his smoking-team at the
hotel. If the driver had given a little touch of the whip just
before he reached the stopping place "to make the critters lively,"
and to show his skill in holding them in, can we blame him?
The passengers took boat at New Brunswick for New York; it
required the entire day to go from Philadelphia to that city ;
now a man may go to New York in a little over two hours, per-
form a day's business and return at night. As a contrast, let
me say that an old Quaker gentleman related in the hearing of
one who has reported it to me, that once, in a region not very
far distant from Philadelphia, he found his way to a house after
the close of Friends' meeting, one Sunday, by the direction to
follow the track of the two wheels of a chaise, as that was the
only wheeled vehicle that was accustomed to come to the meeting ;
it was perhaps the only pleasure carriage in the neighborhood.
An aged man has told me of the white-topped, old fashioned
wagons which used to go to service at Trinity Episcopal church,
Oxford, in past years. Bayard Taylor, in Kennett, described
the old-fashioned chair as a "ponderous machine with drab body
and wheels, and curtains of drab camlet looped up under its
stately canopy." Such vehicles have generally disappeared, as
did "The Deacon's One-Horse Shay." The old Chew carriage yet
stands in the carriage house at the Chew mansion, in German-
town, to show the grandeur of a former day. In olden times
the bride rode from her home to her new abode on a pillion be-
hind her husband. Bayard Taylor's father kept a country store
at Kennett Square. A customer wanted two hay-rakes, and we
learn from Cromwell's life of the poet, that his father drove
a dozen miles to West Chester to get the articles.
THEN AND NOW 5OI
Mention has been made of the small boats of provincial times.
The ship Palgrave, which runs from Calcutta to New York, is the
largest sailing vessel now afloat. She is of 3078 tons burden and
at least 32 feet in length.
Christopher Marshall's diary, while recounting the excellencies
of his good wife and his vexations with regard to the conduct
of his colored servant, Poll, and that of his man, Antony, and
the death and burial of his beloved cat, and the numerous war-
like rumors that abounded in Revolutionary days, also contains
some intimations of the mode of life of Pennsylvanians over a
century ago.
The diary under date of June 7, 1775 states that the ship
Prosperity, Captain McCulloch, brought about four hundred pas-
sengers from Belfast.
Charles Marshall, the son of Christopher, and the son's wife
and daughter, Betsey, came to and returned from Bristol July
16, 1775 in a chair to try the water for the health of Charles.
Perhaps the chaise' passed along this road to those famous Bath
springs, which drew visitors even from Europe. Marshall also
records that Samuel and John Adams came and spent some time
with him, reminding one of the Southern editor's invitation to
Dana to come and see him and bring his knittin' and stay almost
all day. The diarist mentions six wagons going eastward, each
carrying a ton of gunpowder. They did not then know the
value of railways either in war or in peace. General Cass as a
boy used to watch at Pittsburg for the Conestoga wagons to ap-
pear which would bring from Philadelphia the purchases ordered
by the young folks. There was in Pennsylvania a transition time
between walking and carriage riding when the horse carried his
rider. Clement, of Alexandria, notes that some of the rugged
Scythians preferred to ride on horseback instead of indulging
in the comparative luxury of the ancient wagons.
A war trouble emerges in Marshall's diary, in the record that
the December mail had reached Philadelphia, but General Howe
would not allow the letters to be delivered. Business men and
lovers must have been alike annoyed. As to the present frequency
of the mail, mark the numerous mail-boxes by the way-side and
remember that even the country farmhouse now, in the city limits,
may have a mail delivered by carriage. Franklin in his day
^02 THEN AND NOW
could keep the record of the general post-office matters in this
country with his own hand : but an army is now required to do
the same work.
The domestic life of the early emigrants was intensely simple.
When the babe was born in the wilderness no tender wrappings
awaited the young child, but the free air and the glorious sun,
and a wealth of woodland and river welcomea it.
Mary Carver, born in a cave near Philadelphia, five days after
Penn's landing, is said to have been the first child of English
parentage, born in Pennsylvania. This is an historical error, for
subsequent investigation shows that Mary, daughter of Lionel
Brittin who settled in Falls township, June 4, 1680, was born
there December 13, 1680. Mary was a noted preacher among
the Friends. She died in 1769, aged 89 years.
Let us turn now to education. The old school-house nearby,
shows how important education was considered at a later day,
and the brownstone building at Andalusia, which has taken the
place of the old Red Lion school-house, marks a farther advance
in public sentiment ; but in the days of the earliest settlement
there were no schools. Many children could neither read nor
write. The Bible and prayer book did good duty, to which oc-
casionally a few other books were added and more deeply thought
over than the flood of literature which now almost drowns
thought. No daily paper brought news from the whole world to
the breakfast table.
The Friends of Byberry deserve great credit for instituting a
circulating library in 1733. The present building, near the By-
berry meeting-house, is a delightful place for the antiquary, with
its old and new books and its specimens of natural history.
Martindale, in his Byberry and Moreland, gives a vivid account
of school life in the old building which once stood at this place.
The larger boys split the vvood, and the boys and girls swept
the school-room at noon. Such work made strong boys and
girls, and fitted them for the duties of life, but woe be to the
teacher who expects such labor from the pupils today. The
teacher mended quill-pens and ruled copy-books. When steel-
pens came they cost ten cents apiece.
The first settlers utilized the skins of animals for clothing,
while moccasins covered the feet. The Swedish women made
THEN AND NOW 503
use of fur material for dress. Clothing improved as times grew
better. The Rev. Dr. Edward Hopper, in a poem at the Memor-
ial celebration at Greenville, N. Y., described this advance by
saying :
" Thus calico and silk and sin,
By slow degrees kept coming in."
Sheepskin was considered a good material for the clothing of
lads and buckskin was used for men, as far as breeches were
concerned. When cloth came, the tailor made his yearly visit to
the houses to make up the material, and the shoemaker did like-
wise. Much spinning and weaving was done at home and the
bride made the material for furnishing her new home. Now
the distaff of the ancients is a poetic thought and the spinning-
wheel is a mere ornament.
Shoes were not generally ^vorn in summer except for going
to meeting. In Jamaica the inhabitants carry their good clothes
to the neighborhood of the church, and change them among the
bushes and after church resume the old clothing. In Denmark,
as Miss de Borring states, the peasantry often wear their wooden
sabots and only put on their shoes in going to church or on fes-
tive occasions.
Cooking and farming utensils were very primitive among the
settlers of Pennsylvania. The first efifort was to clear away the
trees ; log-rolling was made a sport when numbers came together
to show the strength of united effort. The bread-trough and
settle and the wooden-platter and wooden-spoon were useful.
A short time since at a sale of the Brinton family relics, near
Chadd's Ford, a wooden-spoon was shown with a handle five
feet in length.
The deluge of advertisements of newly patented articles which
now crowd the newspapers would have astonished our first
settlers. The house-wife swept her house with a rude broom,
made at home. The farmer had a coarse and heavy hoe and the
simplest implements of agriculture. What would he have said to
a modern machine which reaps and binds and threshes the grain
and puts it into bags, while in motion? Before the coming of
Penn, two Walton brothers walked from Byberry to New Castle,
Del., a distance of 50 miles, and each carried back a half-bushel
of seed-wheat. Sixty bushels were harvested as the result of
504 THEN AND NOW
that toilsome journey when bridges were lacking and the path-
way doubtless in poor condition. Grain was reaped with sickles.
According to Martindale, Joseph Gilbert was the best reaper in
this neighborhood.
Grain was generally stacked and threshed with flails. There
were a few small log-barns thatched with straw for the stock.
As to vehicles John Wells is said to have had the first riding-
chair in the county, which was used for about a century from
about 1739. The Indian-trail became a bridle-path and a road
followed ; cart and carriage came in time until the glass
coaches of Governor Keith and Chief Justice Allen astonished
the natives. Sleds were used to haul grain and the lads went to
mill with their grists on horseback. Compare this primitive state
with the fine carriage sales of Heritage, which used to make
the main street of Bustleton shine on a spring afternoon, or see
Bucks county roads now lined with bright vehicles. In old
times horse-collars were made of straw or calamus and the
traces and lines of hemp or flax ; the Swedes used home-made
traces of twisted deer-hide and the rest of the harness was of
the same material, except the horse-collars, which were of plaited
corn-husks ; the skin of a bear or deer served as a saddle. The
Swedes brought domestic animals with them.
Let us now make a call on the settlers in their rude houses.
The kindly Swede received you in his log cabin, called a block-
house, consisting of one room. The low door forced you to
;stoop as you entered. The windows were guarded by sliding
boards; the luxury of window-glass was seldom seen, in place
•of which bladder, isinglass, or oiled paper was used. The
bedding was of skins of animals. They knew how to work in
skins, for they made their own shoes.
We may catch an idea of early hardships from the fact that
in 1679 the clap-boards on English houses on the Delaware river,
were so far apart that one could stick a finger between them.
The best houses were plastered with clay. Two travelers said
•of one house, that, though they were very tired, they sat up all
night, because there was not room to lie down, and that unless
they kept close enough to the fire to burn, they could not keep
warm, as the wind blew through the rudely constructed dwelling.
In 1 741 we find the Moravian bishop David Nitschman, living
THEN AND NOW 505,
in his hewn-log house in Bethlehem, which was then in Bucks
county. The early dwellings about Philadelphia, as described
by Watson and Martindale, were half caves. If you would see
pictures of them, look into Watson's Annals, or the Rev. Dr.
McCook's "Tenants of an Old Farm ;"' then compare these with
the palace of Ogontz, or the scores of magnificent country resi-
dences that now adorn the suburbs. The Waltons already re-
ferred to, had a cave dug in the earth, covered with bark and
dirt, where they lived for some months. The caves were dug
about three feet deep, and roofed with timber, tree-limbs, sod
or bark The chimneys were of stone, with clay mortar. Ben-
jamin Lay lived in a cave at Alverthorpe, now the residence
of the Fisher family, opposite the Abington meeting-house near
Jenkintown, and in another at Branchtown where I believe there
was a second cave for his wife.
Giles Knight lived several weeks by the side of a log, under
the sky. Log houses followed caves. They were one-story in
height, with a hip-roof, and fire-place. The side of the fire-
place was a favorite seat for warmth and furnished light for
reading at night. There is an old log house on the Germantown
road, at the corner of Mermaid Lane, where an early settler
named Yeakel lived, which is worthy of note, as a remarkable
relic of those days. Occasionally one is still seen in eastern
Pennsylvania, but many can still be seen in Ohio.
The houses in this neighborhood are built largely of stone,
although as early as 1775 there were two brickyards in Byberry.
The food of the emigrants was exceedinglv simple. Martin-
dale says that fish and pumpkins were often their only fare. At
times wild game was procured. Mush and milk and the honey
of wild bees, and the sugar of the maple, however, made a diet
not to be despised, and one which brought more promise of
health than some of our modern dainties do. The Swedes were ac-
customed to four meals a day, including the "four o'clock piece."
One great inducement to emigration was the abundance of
land, and foreigners were invited to these shores by the promise
that they would become their own landlords, and the West now,
with its broad acres and foreign population, is repeating the
same story.
When Bartholomew Longstreth, who opened the York road
5o6 THEN AND NOW
from Crooked Billett, to Neshaminy, built his house, he sawed
the joists with a whip-saw from the logs that had been hewn
and squared. He also had a mould, in which he made pewter
spoons, as did other farmers.
Social and professional life was not far advanced in the early
days. The houses could not accomodate large parties, and
courting must have been performed with difficulty. Doctors
were not at hand, and woman with her tender care must have
recalled her stock of English medical lore for the aid of her
household.
Personal adornment must have been very simple, though the
Indians desired mirrors, and the young white and Indian girls
saw beautiful forms when they looked in their glasses ; and per-
haps, like Narcissus, were enamored of themselves. Gold and
jewels are not necessary to display true beauty. We find that
in 1779, nine men in Byberry were taxed fifteen dollars each,
because they had no wives ; had they got beyond the time when
a wife was needed to make the buckskin breeches?
When Penn arrived the population was estimated at three
thousand. The people were mainly Dutch and Swedes with a
few Finns. A striking indication of the wildness of the coun-
try is seen in the statement that James Harrison and Phineas
Pemberton, in passing the site of Philadelphia, in 1682, could
not get accommodation for their horses, and turned them into
the woods ; in the morning they could not find them. This was
in November, and one of the horses was not found until the fol-
lowing January.
In passing, let me say as regards decoration, that at Penn's
house at Pennsbury, there were satin curtains and cushions,
though the furniture was not extravagant.
Among the simple early enjoyments of a primitive people, we
must not forget the corn-huskings, when the young men and
maidens had their lively parties in the rustic barn. The making
of apple-butter was an important domestic industry, which caused
much care. The preparation of rag carpets, when those luxuries
were introduced, was also important.
A writer in the Atlantic Monthly, describes the manners of the
Pennsylvania Dutch in Lancaster county. The stateroom, with
the rag carpet on it, they called the rag-room. They had gay
THEN AND NOW 50/
quilts of green and red calico, perhaps in the form of a basket
on white ground, or bright coverlets for the bed, of red, white
and blue as if "to make the rash gazer wipe his eye." The pil-
low-cases were of blue check, or calico. Beds were supplied
with feather covers. The Dutch had their Christmas mummers,
bearing nuts and cakes. They called them Bellschnickel.
One of the common occupations was the making of soap. Ar-
temus Ward, in his "Courtship of Betsy Jane," has amusingly
described this work as follows : "It was a sublime site, in the
spring of the year, to see our several mothers (Betsy's and mine)
with their gowns pin'd up so they couldn't sile 'em, affecshuntly
Billing sope together and aboozin' the nabers."
The house-raising gave amusement to the men. Thus the
country people lived, without jewelry and fine clothes, lacking fans
and umbrellas, ignorant of stenography and type-writing and
Pullman palace cars and a hundred and one of the luxuries and
conveniences which we enjoy to-day. The stump fence enclosed
the lands now walled, or hedged, or protected by wire. If the
new engine of the Reading Railroad Company, weighing 133,000
pounds, and costing $12,000 had appeared among them they
would have been as surprised as the Persians now are at the con-
struction of their first railway. The present cost of that engine
would in the days of the first settlement have bought the right of
way from Philadelphia to New York.
If the early emigrant could have seen the elevated railway of
the Pennsylvania Company and the Broad street station, he would
have been astounded. I know one boy who missed his lessons
in the Red Lion school-house from excitement the day the pres-
ent roadway was opened. We cannot give up the consideration
of the surrounding section without a reminder that Nicholas
Biddle's fine old mansion is on the Delaware river near us, at
Andalusia. It is still the home of the family. Next below it, on
Dr. King's place lived Alexander J. Dallas, father of George
M. Dallas who was secretary of the treasury under Monroe.
The place bears the name of Devon. Near us, on the Decatur
road, which perpetuates the family name, stands the old mansion
in which Commodore Decatur lived with his father. He went
to the school of John Comly, at Pleasant Hill and this bright
lad, of mixed Irish and French extraction, is remembered as a
508 THEN AND NOW
rider of wild horses and the courage of youth was preserved in
age, though it is not well for every lad to ride a wild horse ;
as every boy may not be a future commodore. Both father and
son bore the name of Stephen and the father was a commander in
the navy.
The monument of Thomas Holme, the surveyor of Penn, may
be seen, this side of Ashton station, on the Bustleton railroad,
joining the Willett property.
While the forefathers lived differently from us they died as
we do. Death came with its solemn lessons into the little houses
of the early settlers.
The comparison of English and American burial places has a
new interest when we reflect that the Penns in after days wor-
shiped at Stoke Pogis church, near their home. Stoke park,
which is supposed to be the scene of Gray's Elegy. There was,
however, a comfort to the emigrant when he placed his child's
body under the "trees of God" and saw the leaves covering it
under the sunshine and the pure snow in winter, as a shroud over
the grave. As times improved, there were family graveyards,
sometimes protected by a wall, as is that beautiful one on the hill-
side at Stenton, where that faithful toiler in local history, Mrs.
Deborah Logan, sleeps her last sleep. At first rude stones told
of the mourner's wish to perpetuate a loved name, afterwards
the pure white marble was carved into suitable devices and
modern cemeteries," as at Somerton, among the glorious hills,
preserve the recollections of the dead. The white monuments,
as peaceful sentinels, guard the loved remains. The Friends
have done much to render sacred the resting places of the dead;
and it is a noble mark of Christianity. At first they met in pri-
vate houses, then came the stone meeting-houses at Fallsington,
Byberry, Abington, Horsham and Buckingham, each surround-
ed by its silent congregation of the dead. These thoughts bring
us to the religion of the settlers. The Swedes, at Gloria Dei
had their matins at Christmas and Easter and Pentecost (Whit-
Sunday). To these glad services they added the pine wood
lights at Christmas. Their bridal pairs had crowns and garlands
as adornments. Betrothal v/as practiced. A striking custom
at funerals was that the pall-bearers were of the age and sex of
the deceased. From the days of Penn this has been a religious
THE BUCKS COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY 509
region ; God grant that it may so continue. When the wife of
Governor Thomas Lloyd landed in his new country, she kneeled
and prayed earnestly for Heaven's blessing on the colony. The
visit of Whitefield to the Presbyterian church under Tennent,
at Neshaminy, was one of the most striking incidents of early
times. Close beside us is All Saints' Episcopal church, Torres-
dale, where good Dr. Beasley served for over forty years. It
was once under the care of the faithful missionaries of the
English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in foreign
parts and Bishop White doubtless visited the old church building,
which antedated the present one.
The history of one section is an example of all. It is sad to
think how the fathers have departed. Future generations in like
manner are sure to think us backward, as inventions multiply ;
but the great question with all generations old and new, will be not
whether we dressed in homespun, or broadcloth, in calico or silk,
but did we fear God and keep His commandments and is the
world better for our having lived in it.
The Bucks County Medical Society.
BY DR. JOSEPH B. WALTER, SOLEBURY, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 15, 1889.)
In the year 1847, i^i furtherance of a movement originated by
the New York State Medical Society, representatives from six-
teen states met in the city of New York for the purpose of
forming a National Medical Society.
In the following year (1848) the convention met in Philadel-
phia, completed its organization, and adopted its present name,
"The American Medical Association." In that same year "The
Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania" was organized
and that was also the year in which "The Bucks County Medical
Society" came into existence.
Prior to that time there were fifteen state medical societies
in more or less successful operation, the oldest of which was
that of New Jersey, organized in 1766.
The organization of the American Medical Association, as
was intended and expected, incited to the formation and stimu-
5IO THE BUCKS COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY
lated the growth of other subordinate societies, both state and
county. Our own society was directly an outgrowth of that
movement, which was inaugurated, avowedly, for the purpose of
developing a higher standard of medical education. Anything
favoring the accomplishment of this very desirable end must, it
was thought, tend to the advancement, in efficiency and usefulness
of the entire profession.
Some of the physicians of Bucks county, cognizant of the need
of the time, and desiring to contribute their share to promote
the general weal, decided to align themselves with their brethren
elsewhere, and therefore on Wednesday, June 14, 1848, seven-
teen of them with two (Drs. John and Samuel Lilly) from
Lambertville, N. J., met at Newtown and: Resolved, That it
was expedient to form a medical society ; they adopted a consti-
tution and by-lays ; to which they appended their names and
the first and only Bucks County Medical Society of which your
historian has knowledge was launched forth.
The names of these nineteen fathers of this society are as
follows :
Phineas Jenks, ist president, J. S. Harris,
Thomas L. Allen, Beniamin Smith,
William S. Hendrie, M. P. Unton,
Ralph Lee, Samuel Lilly,
John Lilly, C. C. Jennin.a^s,
Charles Foulke, Cornelius Baker,
Townsend Fell, Charles Mathews,
Joseph S. Longshore, John D. Moore,
Abraham Livezy, O. P. James.
C. H. Mathews, ist secretary,
Of these, seventeen are resting from their labors, having passed
over to join the great majority in a realm where sickness,
pain and wounds are presumably unknown. The two still living
are Drs. O. P. James, ^ of Doylestown, and Abraham Livezy,^
of Yardley, who are both at this writing, January, 1889, enjoy-
ing a hale, and, it is hoped, a happy and prosperous old age.
Others from time to time connected themselves with the society
until November 19th, 1856, at which date 59 names had been
signed to the constitution. This number must not, however,
be understood to indicate the actual membership for, while oc-
casional additions were made, losses were sustained through
death, removals, resignations and, it seems, more especially
' Dr. O. P. James died February 19, 1894.
- Dr. Abraham Livezy died August 31, 1896.
THE BUCKS COUNTY MEDICAI. SOCIETY 51I
through persistent absenteeism and the non-payment of dues.
The losses appear to have been more numerous than the gains.
It has not been possible to ascertain the nnmber of members
in good standing after the first few meetings, but it is safe
to assume that it was at no time much in excess of the original
nineteen and the probabilities are that it soon fell below that
number. At any rate it is certain that, after the first two or
three years of its existence, the profession began to lose interest
in the society and its proceedings, as was apparent from the de-
creasing attendance upon its sessions.
And so it came to pass that after a brief struggle of only eight
years against a host of inimical influences such as professional in-
difference, jealousies, etc., etc., it gave up the fight and entered on
Nov. 19th, 1856, upon a somewhat protracted period of hiber-
nation, which continued without interruption until October 31st,
1863. The average attendance during these several years was
about six members.
In 1863 there were manifested signs of re-awakening. Some-
thing had stirred the dry medical bones of the county and there
arose among them a faint clatter which indicated to the outside
professional world that, in some mysterious way they retained
the power to revive.
A call was therefore issued for a meeting to be held at Doyles-
town for the purpose of reorganization. In response to this
call, and testifying to the universal and overwhelming demand
for such an institution, seven Bucks county physicians assembled
on October 31, 1863, and resolved, "That we reorganize the
Bucks County Medical Society on the basis of the constitution
and by-laws of the old society." Each paid an initiation fee and
signed the roll. After a general interchange of views, they
adjourned to meet at Newtown on the 21st of November, fol-
lowing. At the October meeting. Dr. Hiram Corson, of Mont-
gomery county, the veteran of sixty years continuous practice,
and the oldest living graduate of the medical department of the
University of Pennsylvania, was present and delivered an address
upon the importance of maintaining a vigorous and active or-
ganization.
The adjournment to Newtown was, ostensibly, to complete
the formation, but its real purpose was to develop the in-
512 THE BUCKS COUNTY MEDICAI. SOCIETY
terest and secure the co-operation of physicians in that part of
the county.
At that meeting there was present, a spectator, a young man —
then a student of medicine but now a member of the society —
who still has after the lapse of twenty-five years a distinct
recollection that it was in no sense a conspicuous success,
nor did it foreshadow a brilliant future for the society.
But few were present and only two names were added to the
roll. One of the physicians of the town, in fact a resident of
the house in which the meeting was held, declined to look in up-
on the proceedings, which were of the most informal character.
The gentleman who had so kindly insisted upon that student
accompanying him, and who was enthusiastic for the success
of the society, is recorded as having attended precisely four
meetings, and then his interest took the course of Bob Acres'
courage, and like many others, both before and since his time,,
he quietly dropped out of the ranks, and, so far as this society
is concerned, was known no more.
The next meeting was held at Doylestown, on January 20th,
1864. At that time the reorganization was perfected; officers
were elected : committees appointed, etc. Ten new members
were admitted, thus bringing the number to nineteen, which was
exactly that of the old society at its first meeting, sixteen years
previous. It required three meetings to obtain the result,
but at last it had been reached, and, with a full complement
of officers and committees and a membership very respectable,
as to both numbers and ability the now thoroughly re-
suscitated society, all aglow with a conscious blush of strength,,
with a large supply of ambition and in the firm and laudable de-
termination to accomplish something worthy of itself, turned its
face to the future and started boldly and hopefully upon its
career.
The old society had been somewhat nomadic in its habits
wandering to Newtown, Doylestown, Pineville, Richborough,
New Hope, etc. It was now resolved to discontinue these
peregrinations and to locate permanently at the county seat.
At the next meeting, April 20th, 1864, it was resolved to
hold four meetings each year, viz. : in January, April, August
and November. That arrangement, however, seems to have
the; bucks county medicaid society 513
been unsatisfactory since, in November, 1865. it was decided to
discontinue the January and August meetings and thereafter
hold but two meetings yearly to wit: in May and November, the
latter to be considered the annual meeting.
At these annual convocations, it was customary for the society
to comfort and refresh the inner man, among other things, with
what are sometimes designated "annual festivals" and at other
times "annual dinners," to prepare for which a committee was
usually appointed at the preceding meeting. What the differ-
ence was, if any, between the festival and dinner cannot be set
forth in this paper because reliable information is not at hand.
When there was a surplus in the treasury the bills wer'-i paid
from the funds of the society. But it frequently transpired that
no such threatening and dangerous element as a surplus was
available and, in that event, and to satisfy the demands of the
caterer, a direct tax ranging from $1.00 to $1.40 was laid upon
the individual members of the society
For some years after the reorganization considerable interest
appears to have been manifested. The average attendance was
83^ which was considered fairly good. Papers were read
and matters of general professional interest were discussed at
each meeting ; but, after a time, as in the case of the old society,
the members began to grow weary in well doing, and, although
there were but two meetings yearly, the attendance began to fall
off until November 22, 187 1, when the minutes bear this ominous
entry without comment or explanation: "No quorum being
present no business was transacted."
The society had now arrived at the age at which its ancestor
had suspended operations. It was eight years old. Its health
had for some time been steadily running down. All the symp-
toms indicated that the offspring, like its parent, was to find an
early demise from an acute, progressive and unremedial anaemia,
brought on perhaps by an atrophic or dangerously torpid con-
dition of some of its vital organs.
At the next meeting (April, 1872) no quorum was present and,
therefore, no business could be legally transacted ; but a thereto-
fore affiliated physician having moved within reach was present;
was proposed for membership and elected ; signed the constitu-
tion, paid his fee and at once became a full-fledged member.
17
514 THi: BUCKS COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY
This timely reinforcement made up the quorum which proceeded
to elect itself to the offices. At the following meeting no quor-
um was present and at the next (May, '73) but a bare quorum
(5 was a quorum) and in November six members put in an ap-
pearance, which made a pretty big gathering for that time. Ap-
ril, 1874, no meeting was held, and in November none should
have been held, no quorum being at hand, but, as on some former
occasions, those present elected themselves to offices. At this
point it will be in order to remark that small attendance was
often due to stormy weather. All the world knows that a storm
is particularly obnoxious to a doctor and that it is only with
the utmost difficulty, and in response to the most persuasive
eloquence or the most pathetic appeal, that he can be induced to
venture out when one is prevailing.
The society was, however, at that time, a subject for pity, rath-
er than for ridicule. It was practically moribund. The spark
of vitality, still remaining to it, was carefully fanned and tenderly
nursed by a few who still clung to it with tenacity, which per-
haps they had unconsciously learned at bedsides, where they had
done valient, but dubious and unequal, and too often unsuccess-
ful battle for the lives of those whom they had in charge ; hop-
ing that something would "turn up" to fan into the dead embers,
at least the semblance of a blaze of professional interest and so
give it new, if uncertain, lease of life.
Their experience was like unto that of the great, but not the
only Wilkins Micawber; their faith and hopeful waiting were
finally rewarded. But, unlike that illustrious individual, while
waiting and hoping they — adopting the sensible and pregnant
advice of Sairy Gamp — chose rather to "make an effort," in their
own behalf, with a view to induce others to come to their aid,
but with only the most indifferent success. One such tentative
effort was made at the May meeting of 1873, when the corre-
sponding secretary was directed to write a personal letter to
every physician, within easy access of Newtown, inviting him to
be present at a meeting to be held in that town on August 6th fol-
lowing.
To that Mascedonian cry for help there was. so far as is known,
not a single response. The minutes, read at the next annual
meeting in Doylestown (October 29, '73) briefly, correctly and
THS BUCKS COUNTY MEDICAI. SOCIETY 515
baldly stated the case thus : "Drs. Walter and Paxson attended
the meeting at Newtown." They were the only persons who
did attend it, and you may be well assured that one of them
traversed the fifteen miles of road lying between that town and
his residence, in an extremely disgusted frame of mind.
In that way the society, in a condition of suspended animation,
but occasionally showing some small sign of vitality, held to-
gether and struggled along until November, 1882. About that
time there was some slight premonition of a change for the
better, which, fortunately, did not prove delusive.
At the meeting of May, 1883, the expectations so lately aroused
began to find realization. Eight new members were elected. A
committee which had been appointed for that purpose reported
some important amendments to the constitution which, it was
hoped, would add materially to the membership, and increase
the interest in the society. One of these changes authorized the
formation of two sub-societies, one to organize in the lower and
the other in the upper end of the county, the members of each
to sign the constitution and become members of the parent
society.
The chief reason for this change was, as was understood at
the time, because physicians residing in Bristol and the region
round about desired it. They had sometime previously organized
and were successfully conducting "The Medical . Association of
Southern Bucks County," but they had no standing with the State
Society. Under its rules they could obtam no recognition as a
society, nor as individuals, could they be admitted to membership
in that body. Hence, it was necessary for them, if they desired
such connection, to unite with this which was, and during its
existence must continue to be, the only legally constituted medical
society in Bucks county. The above named change afforded
them easy opportunity to accomplish their wishes, and they now
operate as the highly successful, profitable and pleasant summer
quarterly of this society.
The November meeting of 1883 was to most of the older mem-
bers, then- present, an unprecedented affair ; eleven answered to
their names and three were admitted, making a total attendance
of fourteen.
The spring meeting of 1884 was in every way still better; eight-
5l6 THE bucks' COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY
een members were in attendance (what a crowd it seemed) and
more life and more interest were displayed than the members
from 1872 to 1882 had ever, even in their most sanguine
moments hoped to see. In fact, it was evident from every cir-
cumstance that the Bucks County Medical Society had at last
emerged from its semi-comatose condition and had entered upon
a new and, it is hoped a lasting era of prosperity and usefulness.
At that meeting Prof. J. E. Garretson of the Philadelphia Medi-
co Chirurgical College was present by invitation; explained the
surgical engine, which under his skilled manipulation has accom-
plished marvelous results, and delivered a most interesting ad-
dress upon a psychological subject then and since agitating the
public mind. Upon this subject the professor has since pub-
lished a volume ("Nineteenth Century Sense,") over his literary
nom de plume, "John Darby."
That feature — an address by some invited guest, usually a
teacher of one of the branches of medicine — was again intro-
duced in 1886 and has since contributed greatly to the pleasure
and profit of the society. In November, 1884, 3. committee
which had previously been appointed for that purpose, reported
a new constitution and by-laws which were adopted and subse-
quently printed and under them the society is now working. At
this meeting Dr. Joseph Foulke, who had been recording secre-
tary continuously since the reorganization in 1863, a period of
twenty-one years, declined a re-election. During all these years,
if the doctor was absent from a single regular meeting, the
minutes are believed to make no record of the fact. He had
served the society faithfully and well. Dr. Harvey Kratz was
elected to fill the position, which he succeeded in doing with credit
to himself and satisfaction to the society, 'till 1887, when he de-
clined to serve longer in that capacity, and Dr. William E.
Doughty was elected to succeed him.
Dr. Doughty has done a valuable and painstaking bit of work
in tabulating the names of officers and members of the society
from its organization, forty years ago, to date. These tables, to-
gether with the explanatory notes, give a very fair ovitline history
of the society. He deserves our thanks for this work, which was
entirely gratuitous and self-imposed.
The quarterly meetings of the society are held respectively at
THE BUCKS COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY 517
Quakertown, in February, and at Bristol, in August. They are
well attended and are of value, professionally and socially, to
the participants. In points of interest they are not behind if,
indeed, they are not sometimes in advance of the larger annual
and semi-annual meetings at the county seat. These quarterly
meetings bring society privileges within the reach of many who,
otherwise, could not enjoy them because of their distance from
Doylestown.
Bucks county has at last a live medical society which had upon
its roll at its semi-annual meeting a total membership of forty-
two and the information at hand leads to the conclusion that this
body is doing more and better work than at any previous time in
its history. As already stated the average attendance of
the old society was about six members. From 1864, when
the reorganized society — phoenix like — had emerged from the
cold and lifeless ashes of the old, until 1882 when, in its turn,
it had approached dangerously near to the line beyond which
lies dissolution and a blank and formless void, but from which,
through fortunate circumstances it was so happily rescued, dur-
ing these nearly twenty years, mostly years of decrepitude, the
average attendance upon the new was almost exactly that given
above for the old society, viz. : six. Since 1882, when it was
plucked from the ve.-y jaws of impending disaster, the average
has been sixteen. These averages are however, slightly mislead-
ing, for it should be borne in mind that the number of physicians
in the county had been greatly augmented since the days of the
old society ; so much so, indeed, that the proportion of member-
ship to the whole number of practitioners in the county, at that
time, will not compare very unfavorably with ours for the last
year. The proximity of a greater number of members now to
the place of meeting ought to make the percentage of attendance
higher at this time than ever before.
Scarcely five years have elapsed since its latest rehabilitation
and yet, to even a superficial observer, there are not wanting
certain premonitory symptoms which make it evident that
without care and continuous effort and without the sacrifice of
some time, convenience, personal feeling and inclination, on the
part of the profession of the county, the history of this reorgan-
ized and now robust and vigorous body will be, in its main fea-
5i8 the; bucks county medical society
tures, but a repetition of that of which the foregoing is possibly
not a very lucid or satisfactory outline.
Every organization known to man has within it the elements
of its own destruction. These are not always obvious, and when
discovered are, too frequently, not susceptible of removal ; but
often, by well adapted and careful procedure, the final catastrophe
may be indefinitely postponed. Some of the elements, now more
or less latent but which becoming active will work harm to
this society, are not far to seek nor difficult to find. These
each of you is at liberty to turn over in his own mind; but tell
them not, I pray you, in Gath nor whisper them in Askelon.
It may not be the province but it is certainly the privilege of
the historian if, in his investigations, he has discovered rocks and
shoals upon which not a few organizations h^ve gone to wreck,
to draw attention to them. In doing that he may state his
conclusions clearly and broadly ; or he may set up metaphorical
fingerboards to point the way that may be pursued in safety as
well as that which is to be avoided because of its dangers. In
the present case, it may be said that along the road safest and
best for a medical society to pursue will be found professional
courtesy, fair dealing and a kindly or, at the least, a charitable
consideration for others and, resulting from these, fraternity, co-
operation, and usefulness.
Along the path to be avoided lurk selfishness, envy, enmity
and that contemptuous and contemptible critical disposition which
cannot or will not see any good in any person, opinion or deed
that has not conformed to its own narrow and arbitrary standards.
Along the first named road lies success and long life for the so-
ciety. Along the last will soon be observed an absence, utter
and complete, of that brotherly forbearance — that professional
sympathy and cohesive esprite du corps which is so absolutely
necessary to the successful existence of a medical as well as any
other society.
To the causes of failure may be added another which, while it
is altogether negative, is equally destructive. It might be briefly
characterized as laziness, but it shall be described thus : It is
the disposition, inherent or acquired, to eschew all effort that
may in any way be avoided ; it is the absence in any one of
that vim which, being present, acts as a vis a tergo and gives
THE BUCKS COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY 519
rise to the exertion necessary to reach the place of business
at the time appointed. Or if, by chance, a person of the
kind referred to should, without efifort on his part, float
into a meeting upon some easily flowing and softly undu-
lating wave and should be gently — ever so gently — stranded
there, then it is the absence in him of that intellectual "snap"
which, being present, would occasionally impel him to give ex-
pression to some of the ideas, thoughts and conclusions which
are supposed, correctly or otherwise, to find an abiding place
somewhere within the presumptive, but unexplored, recesses of
his brain.
Such a physician, if such there be, may prove altogether sat-
isfactory and of the greatest possible service to his patient, but
he will not contribute in any very remarkable manner to the suc-
cess of a society nor to the general advancement of his profession.
In closing this paper it may be said that while the Bucks Coun-
ty Medical Society has, at this writing, a larger membership
than any, save ten, of her fifty sister societies in this State the
possibilities both for the enlargement of its membership and her
increasing efficiency are numerous and patent.
The probabilities will be determined by the professional pride,
the fraternal feeling and the hearty co-operation, or the absence
of these, among the physicians of the county and the records of
the society will display the results to some future and, doubt-
less, much more competent historian than he to whom you have
now so kindly given your patient attention.
A List of Members of Bucks County Medicai. Society
From Organization to Date. (January, 1889.)
Allen, Thomas L. Sr., Cooper, A. M.*
Allen, Thomas L. Jr.,* Cooper, R. I.
Applebach, N. Cowdrick, C. R.
Adams, Q. L.* Castle, J. R.
Baker, Cornelius, Cawley, J. I.*
Bradshaw, Samuel Crewitt, John A.*
Birdsall, S. Cooper, William R.*
Brolasky, J. P. Dyer, John
Cernea, A. D. Dingee, Richard*
Carey, Samuel, Dickie, A. M.
Collins, Benjamin Doughty, William E.*
Case, William E. Dill, M. B.*
520
THE BUCKS COUNTY MEDICAI. SOCIETY
List of Members of Bucks
Evans, J. R.
Evans, I. N.
Ely, Edward
Ely, William E.
Erdman, M. S.*
Fouike, Charles
Fell, Townsend
Fell, John A.
Fretz, C. D.*
Fretz, J. H.*
Fouike, Joseph*
Fouike, R. C.
Fretz, O. H.*
Gray, L.
Gregg, John
Grier, Philip H.
Groff, Joseph E.*
Groff, J. F.
Groom, E. J*.
Gillingham, H.
Hendrie, W. S.
Harris, J. S.
Hough, D. W. C.
Harlow, James
Heston, G. T.
Hines, A. J.
Hough, Thomas L.
Hellyer, Edward
Herbein, M. H.
Hellyer, H. A.*
Hancock, E. C*
Jenks, Phineas
Jennings, C. C.
James, O. P.
James, William M.
Jordan, A. S.
Kephert, T. P,
Kirk, William H.*
Krause, J. H.*
Kratz, Harvey*
Knight, R. B.
Lee, Ralph
Lilly, John
Lilly, Samuel
Longshore, Joseph L.
Livezey, Abram
County Medicai. SoQi-Er\.~{CotUinued).
Linton, M. P.
Lippincott, Henry
Lloyd,
Large, Theodore M.
Linderman, R. J.
Mathews, C. H.
Meredith, Benjamin
Mathews, Charles
Moore, J. D.
Moyer, Joseph
Meredith, Charles F.
, Mann, William
McCoy, G. R.
Malone, Benjamin
Mench, J. G.
Meredith, H. B.
Moyer, D. P.*
Mathews, Abel*
Moyer, L S.*
Myers, A. F.*
Nigo, Watson P.
Nightingale, H. B.
Nonamaker, Noah
Nash, A. B.*
Ott, J. J*
Price, James L.
Paxson, Joseph A.
Pursell, H.*
Parry, Susan*
Parker, G. A.*
Parry, George R*
Rich, James S.
Riley,
Ridge, James M.
Rice, L. C.
Ritter, H. H.
Richards, J. N.*
Rice, N. S.*
Smith, Charles W.
Scott, Samuel
Shive, P. C.
Svvartzlander, Frank*
Swartzlander, Fred
Thompson, Samuel
Thomas Joseph*
Trego, A.
THE TOWN WE LIVE IN 521
List of Members of Bucks County Medical SocT-nrY .—{Continued).
Trumbauer, L. Weirbach J. J.
Thornton, J. S * Walter, J. B.*
Wilson Benjamin B. Wilson, S. H.*
Wiley, Kemble Wilson, A. S.*
Winder, A. Winder, William G.
^Members of Society, January, 1889.
The Town We Live In.*
BY GEN. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLESTOV/N, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 15, 1889).
Some years ago General Banks delivered a lecture here, and
took for his subject, "What a Man Owes to the Town He Lives
In." I do not propose to give the paper, I am about to read,
such a wide range as that distinguished lecturer, but invite your
attention to a few facts concerning "The Town We Live In."
Doylestown, within a mile of the geographical centre of the
county, is built on land Penn granted to the "Free Society of
Traders." The site was a point of importance when the sur-
rounding country was almost an unbroken forest, because at the
intersection of two great highways — that from Well's Ferry,
near New Hope, to the fords of the Schuylkill, and from Phila-
delphia to the forks of the Delaware ; the former opened in
1730, and the latter, to Doylestown, in 1724, and to Easton, a
few years later.
The early history of our borough is merged, to some extent,
in that of Warwick and New Britain, for its site occupies what
was the territory of both townships. Court street being the di-
viding line ; New Britain on the northwest and Warwick on the
southeast. Among the earliest settlers of this immediate sec-
tion were the Merediths, the Snodgrasses, and Wellses, and the
Doyles. The Doyles, probably the first to locate on the imme-
diate town site, were here as early as 1730, for in that year Ed-
ward Doyle bought 150 acres of Joseph Kirkbride and Jeremiah
Langhorne, who then owned the whole of the town site. This
tract lay on this, or the New Britain, side of Court street. In
1752, William Doyle, a son of Edward, bought 19 acres
of Isabella Crawford, embracing what is now the heart of our
borough, bounded by Court and State, and Hamilton and Church
streets. Among other early landowners in our borough limits,
were two negro slaves of Jeremiah Langhorne, Cudjo and Joe.
* In 1905 Gen. Davis published a book entitled "Doylestown Old and New."
522 THE TOWN WE UVE IN
xA.t his death, in 1742, he divided 310 acres between these two
slaves, which they disposed of within a few years. This tract
lay southeast of Court street.
Like the average American village, Doylestown was born of
a road side inn, with a log house or two to bear it company. A
tavern was opened here as early as 1745, and the location, no
doubt, was at or near the crossing of the two great roads that
cut the town site, now Main and State streets. In that year,
William Doyle went down to Newtown, the county seat, with
a petition that bore, among other names, those of David Thomas,
Thomas Morris, Hugh Edmunds, Clement Doyle, William Dun-
gan and Edward Doyle, and asked the court to grant him a
license to keep a public house and sell liquors. One reason given
why license should be granted, was because there was no public
house within five miles, which made the time very long between
drinks.
The exact location of this early hostelry would be interesting
to know, but it can hardly be fixed at this late day. In his
petition, William Doyle stated he lived "between two great
roads, one leading from Durham to Philadelphia," the present
Easton road, and Main street through our borough, "and the
other from Well's Ferry toward the Potomack," our
State street. William Doyle owned, prior to his purchase
of the 19 acres, a tract fronting on the present Court street,
just back of the present Fountain House lot, 21 perches, and
extending back 320 perches. As the first license, 1745- 1752,
was for the house in New Britain, it was doubtless on this lot,
which remained a part of the hotel property until after
the Revolution. The hotel after 1752 was in Warwick.
As Doyle then owned the land between Main and Ham-
ilton, and State and Court streets, the point "between the
two great roads" was probably the angle formed by Main and
State streets. From the best evidence I have, I believe the inn
was located on, or near, the site of the present Fountain house,
and the humble little Doyle hostelry may have been its legitimate
ancestor. William Doyle kept the house for thirty years, selling
out about 1776, and removing to Plumstead, where he died.
Doyle sold the tavern to Daniel High innkeeper, of Warwick,
and with it, two acres of land at the corner of State and Main
streets. The same year Hough bought the adjoining property
THE TOWN WE LIVE IN 523
on which the National bank is built, and three weeks afterward,
sold it to Richard Stanwick, of Chester county, an officer of cus-
toms at Philadelphia. Stanwick joined the British during the
Revolution when the bank property was confiscated and sold.
At that time, and down to 1777, our pleasant village, was called
''Doyle's Tavern."
The earliest mention of the present name of our town is on a
map of "Twenty Five Miles Around Philadelphia," drawn by the
engineers of the British army when they occupied that city in
1777. It was then spelled "Doyltown." When General Lacy,
who occupied the village in 1778, wrote Washington, he dated
his letters at "Doyle Town," making it two words. The
American army passed through the town, in June, 1778, on the
march from Valley Forge to the field of Monmouth ; remained
here over the night of the 20th, and the next day crossed the
Delaware at Coryell's Ferry, now New Hope. Washington
pitched his tent in the yard of the farm-house late of John G.
Mann on the New Hope pike just beyond the borough limits.
Doylestown contained but two or three houses in addition to
the tavern, in 1778; one of these a log house, was on the site of
Mrs. Scheetz's stone dwelling. West Court street, and another
where Weinrebe's bakery stands. At that early day, the village had
its physician, Dr. Hugh Meredith, on Armstrong's corner, where
he lived many years, and died there. By 1790, the hamlet had
grown into a prosperous "Cross Roads,'' with half a dozen
dwellings, a tavern or two, a store and a smith shop. The black-
smith was Joseph Fell, who lived in the southeast corner of the
Ross mansion, a small one-story stone structure, and the smithy
was across Main street, on the site of the old hay scales. George
Stewart lived in a log house about where the Intelligencer office
stands, and was afterwards known as Barton Stewart's shop.
Going down Main street, we find a small stone tavern on the site
of Lenape building, probably kept by Christian Wertz, who
bought the property in 1791, and a small frame store-house
adjoined it on the east, kept, I believe, by Nathaniel Shewell.
On the opposite corner, Weinrebe's, stood a small frame ; and
a log house on the site of the old brewery, on the north side of
State street, then vacant, but soon afterward occupied by Joseph
Pool, for a groggery. One of the first houses built after those
named, was of log on the knoll, opposite Clear Spring tavern.
524 THE TOWN WE UVE IN
by Elijah Russell, and is still standing. Soon afterwards,
a Canadian, named Musgrave, built a log house on the James
Ott lot on Main above Broad street, and also a shop, where
Mrs. Cuffel's dwelling stands, where his son carried on wheel-
wrighting. The father was the first clock and watchmaker
in Doylestown. In 1798, Charles Stewart kept a tavern where
the Fountain house stands, at which the Bethlehem stage stopped
for dinner. This was the extent and condition of Doylestown
ninety or an hundred years ago ; but lowly as it was, it possessed
the seed everywhere planted in this country wherefrom our
towns spring. As late as 1832, there was but one dwelling on
the east side of Court street, from the intersection of Main to
the Buckingham line ; and on both sides of State street, from
Main to Maple avenue, there were not over a dozen dwellings.
At that day there were not many, if any, over one hundred
houses in Doylestown.
Ninety years ago, Doylestown was well -wooded. There was
timber on both sides of Main street, from Broad to the Dublin
road; on the north side of Court street from Broad to the bor-
ough line ; and the farms of Riale and x\rmstrong were both
heavily timbered. At that period Robert Kirkbride owned the
land on both sides of Main street, fiom Broad to the Cross Keys.
Of our present public houses it is thought the older portion
of the Fountain house was built by Enoch iLarvey about 1804
and he kept it several years. He came here in 1788, and mar-
ried a daughter of Charles Stewart. Stewart was a man of cul-
ture and some means, whose father had immigrated from
Scotland, bought a farm near Doylestown, and married
a Miss Finney, whose sister was the wife of Dr. Todd,
and mother of Mrs. Hugh Meredith. Charles Stewart was
the father of Barton Stewart. The Ross mansion was a
public house as early as 18 13, and probably before, and among
the landlords, were William Watts, several years an Associate
Judge of the Courts, William McHenry, Stephen Brock, and
Abraham Black, known by the euphonious name of "Wally-
bocker" Black. One Hare moved into the house in 181 5, and
kept it under the name of "Indian Queen Tavern." He was
succeeded by Stephen Brock, in 1816, and Willian McHenry.
in 1818. In 1812 the "Clear Spring hotel" was called the "Bucks
OI^D COURT HOUSK AT DOYLESTOWN, PA. ERECTED IN 1812.
Countj' seat removed from Newtown and first term of court held at Doylestown May 11, 1813.
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PRESENT COURT HOUSE AT DOYI^ESTOWN, PA.
Erected in 1877 on site of old court house.
THE TOWN WE LIVE IN 525
County Farmer," and in 181 5 was kept by Jacob Oberbeck. The
old Mansion house, southwest corner of State and Main, was
Hcensed about 1812, but previously a store was kept in the build-
ing by Henry Magill, uncle to William Magill. The old "Citizens
house" now the store of A. F. Sheetz & Co., was built about 1832,
and kept by Joseph Burrows in 1833. At that timt there were
six public houses in our borough ; now with three times the popu-
lation we have but four.
Doylestown has always been a village of slow growth, but it
was natural and healthy. I was told by the late Thomas Brun-
ner, of Bridge Point, that he and the late Samuel Kachline
counted the dwellings in 1821, which then numbered 29, includ-
ing the academy in which a family lived. The population was
hardly 300; and not over 500 in 1829. The first brick house
built of brick made here, was erected in 1830.
The first of the public buildings erected in Doylestown was
the academy, which stands a monument that has outlived its
usefulness, was built in 1804, partly from receipts of a lottery,
and partly from an appropriation by the Legislature. In the
first announcement for pupils it was stated, as an inducement
for parents to send their children, that "the Bethlehem and
Easton mail-coaches run through the town twice a week" ; and
they who intend continuing their children at the academy were
invited to meet and consult on a certain plan of furnishing the
school with wood. The academy was the ancestor of the Pres-
byterian church, through the Rev. Uriah DuBois, its first prin-
cipal. He held meetings in a room in it until the church was
built in 1813-14. Mr. DuBois died in 1821. The first Sunday-
school in the county was organized in the academy in 1815.
The removal of the county seat to Doylestown, in 1813, stimu-
lated its growth. With the county seat came a new influx of
population, and several prominent families became residents of
the village. Among these may be named the Chapmans, Foxes.
Rosses, Mathewses, Morrises, Wattses, et. al. The heads of
these families are dead, but most of them have left descendants
in the male or female line. Later came others. Several of
these, and some of their descendants have been conspicuous
figures in social, political and professional life. Among those
who came from Newtown with the county seat, was John Pugh,
526 THE TOWN WS live; IN
father of John B. Pugh, Esq. He was then Recorder of the
county which office he held for fourteen years. He served three
terms in the State Legislature, and was four years in Congress.
He was a native of Hilltown, where his father, Daniel Pugh,
settled in 1750. Three Mcintosh brothers, John, Jonathan and
Daniel, came here from Martinsburg, Va., about 1800 and died
here. About the same period came the Halls, Vanluvanies, et. al.
One of the most unique characters among the earlier inhabitants
of Doylestown, was George Murray; born in Scotland in 1781 ;
came to America in 1804 and settled in Doylestown, in 182 1. He
was a fine scholar and taught school fifty-live years, 21 of them
in our town. He was never known to spoil, the child if a little
application of the rod would save him, and we have some among
us who remember both him and his rod.
The first newspaper printed in the county was published at
Doylestown, and issued at the "Centre House" July 25, 1800 by
Isaac Ralston. Who Isaac Ralston was, and where the "Centre
House" stood, are lost to history. We have searched for them,
but they are beyond resurrection. This journalistic venture was
followed by the Bucks County Intelligencer in 1804, and the
Democrat in 1816. The first attempt to sell town lots, in Doy-
lestown, was made February 8th, 1806, by John Black, "on main
road through said village from Norristown to Coryell's
Ferry ;" and our town had its first 4th of July celebration at the
Academy in 1806, marked by three orations, reading the De-
claration of Independence, and drinking seventeen toasts.
Of modern Doylestown I need not speak; to do so would be
like tiie repetition of an "oft-told-tale." Her greatest period
of improvement has been from the close of the War of the Re-
bellion to the present time. In that time the town has been fairly
modernized ; not made a seaport, nor a metropolis, but a hand-
some and prosperous country town. Our population has almost
doubled ; new public buildings erected at heavy expense ;
handsome private dwellings built, or old ones so improved they
are so far from the original as was the boy's jack knife, with
its two new blades and three new handles ; our streets recurbed
and paved; water works built so that our population has now
an opportunity of making good the aphorism, that, "cleanliness is
next to Godliness;" our educational facilities have been largely
BITS OF HISTORY 527
increased and improved ; and the comforts and conveniences of
life widened and multiplied in various v^ays. With its eligible
situation, and delightful and healthy surroundings ; its well
shaded streets and pure water ; its intelligent society, and near-
ness to the great centres, few communities of equal numbers,
have more blessings to be thankful for. Really, Doylestown is
a model town in more ways than one.
If time would permit it would be a pleasing task to make per-
sonal mention of some of the men and women who have adorned
our borough in the past. We become so accustomed to those
who spend their lives under our notice, we rarely give them
credit for the qualities they possess. Not infrequently a small
community has in its midst, both men and women, whose daily
life develops heroism and courage that would adorn any station,
however exalted. Doylestown has her heroes and heroines, but
the veil of modesty keeps them "unhonored and unsung."
Bits of History.
BY GEN. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLESTOWN, TA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 21, 1890).
I. — THE DUTCH ON THE DEEAW^ARE.
Holland played an important part in the discovery and settle-
ment of the Valley of the Delaware. The Dutch flag was the
first to catch the western breeze at the mouth of Delaware bay,
on its discovery by Henry Hudson, August 28, 1609. In 16 14,
Cornelius Jacobson May ascended the Delaware some distance,
and, two years later. Captain Hendrickson discovered the Schuyl-
kill. Hollanders were the first white men to tread the soil of
our county and State. In 1616, three Dutch traders set out from
Fort Nassua, now Albany, to explore the interior, striking across
the country to the headwaters of the Delaware, down whose west-
ern bank they traveled to the Schuylkill. Here they were made
prisoners by the Minquas, but rescued by Captain Hendrickson at
the mouth of the river. He was sent round from Manhattan
in the "Restless" for that purpose, and ransomed the Dutchmen
with kettles, beads and other merchandise.
The Dutch gave the Delaware the first names it bore, the
528 BITS OF HISTORY
Zuydt, or South river, the Nassua, Prince Hendricks and the
Charles river. About 1624-25, the Dutch West India company
established a trading house on a small island near the western
shore of the Delaware, just below Trenton Falls, and placed
thereon four families of French Walloons. This was the first
white settlement within the limits of Bucks county. The Dutch
carried on a profitable trade with the Indians as early as 1621.
They held undisputed sway on the Delaware down to 1638 ; and
the English, destined to be the governing race on the river from
its mouth to its source, did not make their appearance until 1640.
In 1646, Andreas Huddie put up a stake at the Falls, with a
Dutch coat-of-arms on it, and claimed the country west of the
Delaware for Holland. A Dutch traveler, named Van Der
Donk, was the first to write and publish a book about the country
along the Delaware. The Dutch and Swedes held a joint oc-
cupancy for seventeen years, until the English displaced them
both. The Swedes were the first Europeans to make a purchase
â– of land of the Indians within the limits of Bucks county. This
was soon after 1638, and Peter Lindstrom, a Swedish engineer,
surveyed and mapped the Delaware from its mouth to the Falls.
in 1654. At the time of the English conquest of the Delaware,
1665, the population on the river was about 400, mostly Swedes.
This people, few in numbers, made their mark on the future of
the State. They built the earliest churches and introduced Chris-
tian worship in the wilderness west of the Delaware. One or
two of these early congregations are still prosperous bodies. The
Dutch introduced negro slavery into our State and county.
II. — pe;rsonality of wiluam penn.
The appearance, and personal character, of William Penn are
not understood. The outlandish painting by Benjamin West, of
the Apocraphal Elm Tree Treaty, represents him as an old,
broad-faced, very fat and clumsy man, as if he had been born
and brought up in an ancestral broad-brim and shad-belly. This
picture is brought to the attention of children in their earliest
years, and the impression never leaves them. The genuine Wil-
liam Penn was an entirely dififerent-looking sort of person. He
was an accomplished and elegant gentleman ; polite and refined
and conversant with the usages of the most polished society of
the time. He was reared amid luxury, and grew up surrounded
BITS OF HISTORY 529
by all the appliances of wealth, and was educated in the refine-
ment of the age. He wore a sword like a true cavalier; and
the only portrait of him extant, painted at the age of twenty-
three, represents him a very handsome young man. He prac-
ticed athletic exercises and excelled in them. He spent two years
in France, mostly in Paris, before he came to America, where
he applied himself to the study of the French language and of
theology, and acquired the polish of that polite nation. On one
occasion, while in Paris he was attacked by a highwayman, and
drawing his sword vanquished him. When he came to Penn-
sylvania he was only thirty-eight, hardly in his prime, and I
doubt whether a more courtly man had crossed the Atlantic to
settle on these shores. He was tall and elegant, and polished.
His dress has been entirely misrepresented likewise. His
shad-belly coat as the costume is named, was a myth as to Penn.
After he became a Friend, he wore the dress of the period with
the feather and tinsel left ofif. Nor was he the austere man he
is painted, but indulged in all the innocent pleasures of life, and
relished the good things God placed at his hand. While he
occupied his elegant home at Pennsbury, he maintained the state
and dignity that belonged to one of his rank, and dispensed a
most generous hospitality to all who came. He was, in the
truest sense, a Christian gentleman, an enlightened lawgiver, far
in advance of his generation. The work he did, for civilization
and Christianity, in planting a colony west of the Delaware, can
hardly be estimated at this day. The impress Penn and the Quakers
made on America's future is not second to that of the Pilgrim
Fathers.
III. — BUCKS IN THE REVOLUTION.
One of the most interesting features of our county history
is the part she played in the Revolution. Although no battle
was fought in Bucks, it was the theatre for the movement of
armies. The Continental army, with Washington at its head
marched across the county several times, and in the trying period
â– of December, 1776, that army took shelter behind the friendly
Delaware. Three signers of the Declaration of Independence,
Taylor, Clymer and Morris, made their homes in Bucks and one
was buried there. While the county was loyal to the colonies,
a large minority of the inhabitants were disaffected.
530 BITS OF HISTORY
After Washington crossed into Bucks, in December, 1776,
his small army, strengthened by some militia, was posted on, or
near, the river, from above New Hope down to Dunk's Ferry.
Before crossing Washington had ordered all the boats on the
river, for a distance of sixty miles to be collected and secured
on the west bank. While the Continental army was shivering
on that bank of the river, the enemy had comfortable quarters on
the opposite side atid was only waiting for the river to freeze
that they might cross over.
Washington and his most trusted lieutenants were quartered at
farm-houses near the troops and in easy communication with
each other. The commander-in-chief was at William Keith's
on the road from Brownsburg to the Eagle tavern; Greene was
at Robert Merrick's, a few hunderd yards across the fields and
meadows ; Sullivan was at Hayhurst's on the road to Newtown ;
and Knox and Hamilton were at Dr. Chapman's over Jericho
Hill to the north. Headquarters were well sheltered, convenient
to the river, close to Jericho Hill, from the top of which signals
could be observed a long way up and down the river, and within
a few miles of Newtown, the depot of supplies. The old man-
sions where Washington, Greene, Knox and Hamilton quartered
are still standing and little changed, the Keith house being the
last to yield to improvement. It is a two-story stone dwelling,
24x28, with stone kitchen adjoining, and was built by Keith, in
1763. The pine door, in two sections, was set in a solid oak
frame garnished with a wooden lock, 14x8 inches. The Mer-
rick house a fourth of a mile away was also of stone, 20 feet
square with a kitchen at the west end. The farm was bought
by Samuel Merrick, in 1773, and noAV belongs to Edward, a
descendant. As the house was not yet finished, Greene had the
room he occupied tastefully painted with a picture of the Rising
Sun over the mantel.
Samuel Merrick had a family of half grown children, and
Greene purchased the confidence of the young daughter, Hannah,
by the gift of a small silver tea canister, which was kept in the
family many years. The Rhode Island blacksmith lived on the
fat of the land at Merrick's, devouring his flock of turkeys, and
monopolizing his only cow, besides eating her calf. In return he
allowed the family to have sugar from his barrel. At the last
BITS OF HISTORY 53 1
supper before Trenton, Washington was the guest of Greene ; the
daughter, Hannah, waited upon the table and kept the plate
from which the commander-in-chief ate, as a memento of the
occasion. After supper the family was sent across the fields to
spend the night at a neighbor's, so there should be no listeners
to the council-of-war that destroyed British Empire in America.
The Chapman mansion, the quarters of Knox and Hamilton,
now, or recently, owned by Edward Johnson a mile from
Brownsburg, is in excellent condition. Knox occupied the first
floor of the east end, then divided into two rooms, but now all
in one, 25x17. Hamilton, then a young captain of artillery, lay
sick in the back room. The late Peter D. Cattell, who lived
and died on the adjoining farm, used to tell that he saw Wash-
ington at Knox's quarters.
At what time Washington conceived the plan of recrossing the
Delaware to attack the Hessians at Trenton, is not known. He
quietly made his preparations. Dr. Benjamin Rush tells us in
his diary, that he saw Washington write the watchwords : "Vic-
tory or Death," on the 23d of December, and about the same
time he wrote to Colonel Reed, "Christmas day, at midnight,
one hour before day, is the time fixed upon for our attack on
Trenton. For heaven's sake keep this to yourself, as the dis-
covery of it may prove fatal to us." He made Gates acquainted
with his project, and wished him to go to Bristol, take command
there and operate from that quarter. But this jealous subordi-
nate pleaded ill-health, and requested leave to proceed to Phila-
delphia. He left camp Christmas morning, a few hours before
the troops marched for their rendezvous on the banks of the
Delaware, en route for Trenton. Gates forgot to halt at Phila-
delphia, but hastened on to Baltimore, to intrigue with Congress
against the commander-in-chief.
For this dangerous work Washington took his most trusted
battalions from New England, Pennsylvania and Virginia
and among the officers, were Greene, Mercer, Stirling, Stark,
Stephen, Sullivan, St. Clair, Knox, Hand, Monroe and Hamil-
ton. The men were provided with three days cooked rations,
and were to carry forty rounds of ammunition. A few days
before Christmas, boats were collected at Knowles' cove, a well-
sheltered point in the river, above McKonkey's ferry. The
532 BITS OF HISTORY
troops left their camps about three o'clock, Christmas afternoon,,
and reached the rendezvous before nightfall. The morning was
clear and cold, but became stormy with sleet, and, about eleven
o'clock it commenced to snow a little. The river was full of ice.
While Washington, whip in hand, was prepared to mount, Wil-
kinson, who had been sent to Philadelphia in the morning, and
who had tracked the men by the blood from their feet, joined
the troops, and handed him a letter. Before receiving it he ex-
claimed, with solemnity : "What a time is this to hand me
letters !"
I need not pursue this eventful episode further. The troops
were about 2,400 strong, with twenty small pieces of cannon, and
never before was a mightier cause upheld by so small a body of
men.
IV. — UCENSE AND TAVERNS.
License, taverns and their signs make up an interesting chap-
ter of history. In the olden time, when few persons were able
to read or write, taverns and their sign-boards were important
factors in towns and cities. The names of many of the streets
of London are derived from the sign of the tavern, frequently
the first house on them. These signs suggest the mode of
thought, or give an idea of the humor of the people. The
Crown is one of the oldest English signs, and is typical of royalty.
There was a Crown inn, in Cheapside, Loiidon, as early as 1467.
The Crown was associated with other titles, as "Crown and
Mitre," the "Crown and Anchor," etc. An old poet thus set
forth the company that visited some of tliese resorts :
"The gentry to the King's head,
The nobles to the Crown."
The anchor is an old and favorite sign, and was used by
early printers. The anchor was probably used as an emblem,
instead of referring to its use in shipping. It is said to have
been frequently met with in the catacombs, and was typical of
the words of St. Paul, "the Anchor of my Soul, &c." The
Cross Keys are the arms of the Papal See, the emblem of St.
Peter and his successors. It was frequently used by innkeepers
and other tenants of religious houses, and, no doubt, was first
used by them after the reformation. The Red Lion was, and
still is, a very common sign, and is thought to have originated
BITS OF HISTORY 533
from the badge of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who
married a daughter of Don Pedro, the cruel, who wore a Hon
rampant to represent his claim to the throne of Castile. There
was a Red Lion inn, in England, as early as 141 5. For cen-
turies the Bear inn was a celebrated tavern at the foot of Lon-
don bridge, and, in time of Richard IIL, it was the resort of
aristocratic pleasure-seekers. Probably the first White Bear inn
was named after this animal. Henry IIL received one as a pres-
ent from the King of Norway, in 1252. There were also Black
Bear inns in the olden time. In this county we have had, or
now have, taverns with all these typical signs.
The earliest license record here is in 1671, when Captain John
Carr, English Governor on the west bank of the Delaware,
granted licenses to both distill and sell. Down to near the
close of the last century, the Court recommended applicants
for license to the Governor. For a long time after the settle-
ment of the county, liquors were used by all classes, and none
thought them hurtful to health or morals. Richard Ridgeway,
who lived in Falls, opposite Biles' island, was probably the first
landlord in the county, as we understand the term, being
licensed to keep an "ordinary," August 3, 1686. In 1706,
Thomas Brock was licensed to keep a tavern, but he had probably
kept one before, for he states in his petition that he is "now-
grown ancient, and is destitute of any other employment."
In 1734 John Wells was licensed to keep a tavern at what i.<
now New Hope, where he kept the ferry. In 1730 twenty-five
persons were returned to the court "as retailers of rum" in
the county, of which Bristol had five, and Makefield three. None
was reported in Buckingham, Warminster or Southampton.
The amount of tax assessed was £92.
The Red Lion inn, in Bensalem, has probably been longer
continuously kept as a public house, than any other one in the
county. It was kept by Philip Amos as early as 1730; at his
death the license passed to his widow, who was still keeping it
in 1770. It was a popular stopping place. When the delegates
to the Continental Congress, from the East, were passing to and
fro they were in the habit of halting there to dine. In 1781, part of
the Continental army, on its march to Yorktown, encamped in
its immediate vicinity, over night. The house is a stone struc-
534 BITS OF HISTORY
ture, and the situation a picturesque one, near the Poquessing
creek. The surroundings invite the traveler to repose.
The Anchor tavern, in Wrightstown, is one of our oldest inns,
and may rival the Red Lion in length of years. The house was
built by Joseph Hampton, who came into the township in 1724,
and kept the tavern several years. John Parker was the
landlord in 1800, and it was known as "Parker's." When the
Anchor was hung out as a sign, and that name given to it, I
do not know. In 1744 thirty persons were licensed to keep
taverns in Bucks county, and among the landlords were Joseph
Thornton, Newtown, on the site of the Brick hotel; John Bald-
win, at the Cross Roads, now Hartsville, in Warwick, who
moved away in 1748; Ann Amos, at the Red Lion, and John
Ogilby, probably at the Buck, in Southampton. Bernard Van-
horne had been keeping tavern in Northampton, probably at the
Black Bear, but he came to grief in 1748, because, "he had no
regard to the laws, encouraged drunkenness, gambling, fighting,
etc., on week-days and Sunday," and "does frequently abuse and
beat his wife in an extraordinary manner." In 1758, thirty-five
persons made application for license. The Harrow tavern, Nock-
amixon, was so called in 1785, and twenty years earlier, John
Wilson kept a tavern on, or near, the Durham road, same town-
ship.
The Brick hotel, Newtown, has an interesting story. We are
not informed when it was built, but a public house was kept on
the site as early as 1744. In 176 1, it was called the "Red Lion," and
was sold by the sheriff, and bought by Amos Strickland, who had
kept it since 1748. He died in 1779, leaving his estate to his wife
and children. One of the daughters married Mark Hapenny, and
one of Hapenny's daughters became the wife of the late John
Yardley of Lower Makefield. Amos Strickland is said to have
built the first brick hotel on the site, the same that is now stand-
ing, and is the east section of the present pile of buildings. The
Hessian officers, captured by Washington at Trenton, were
brought straightway to Newtown and confined in the Brick hotel.
The house is indebted to the late Joseph Archambault, who
bought it in 1820, for most of its modern improvements.
KeichHne's tavern, at the intersection of the Durham and Eas-
ton roads, at Pipersville, Bedminster township, and lately replaced
BITS OF HISTORY 535
by a new building, was a noted inn in its day, hardly surpassed in
the county — certainly by none in the upper end. The centre build-
ing was erected in 1759; the parlor and dining-room in 1734;
and the kitchen and small room at the west end in 1790,
and 1 80 1. Colonel Piper was its landlord from 1778 to his death,
in 1823, when he was succeeded by his son-in-law, Jacob Keich-
line, who kept the house to his death, in 1861. Their joint
occupancy reached through 83 years, only falling seventeen short
of a century, which can be said of few public houses in the coun-
try. This old inn sheltered many of the greatest men of its
generation, among them Wayne, Franklin, Bishop White, Dr.
Rush, Joseph Bonaparte and others. On one occasion, while
Colonel Piper, the landlord, was absent at Newtown, two of
the Doane confederates came to the house and made an attack
on his wife, but she drove them away with her husband's sword,
and broke the arm of one with a flat-iron. The wife of Jacob
Keichline was a born politician, and while she presided on the
domestic side of the house, a great deal of the county politics
centered around the old tavern.
There is said to have been a tavern at Bristol as early as
about 1705, but I can find no record of it. The Ferry house,
corner of Mill and Radcliffe streets, was kept by Patrick O'Han-
lin, in 1730. The Delaware house was built on its site in 1765,
by Charles Bessonett. In 1785, Archibald McElroy built and
opened a public house called the Cross Krys, which is now a pri-
vate dwelling.
The Black Bear, in Northampton, and the Buck, in South-
ampton, were noted taverns sixty years ago, and were much
frequented by politicians and lovers of fun. There was a tav-
ern at the Black Bear a full century ago, and one at the Buck,
called by that name, in 1795. The old tavern, at Centreville, is
considerably more than a century old and was kept by one John
Bogart, in 1774; General Greene had his headquarters in it, for
a time, while Washington occupied the west bank of the Dela-
ware in 1776. There was a public house at Warminster, as
early as 1758, and known as Dilworth's tavern. Thomas Beans,
who kept it many years, was its landlord in 1800.
Scraps of << Bucks" Before 1750.
BY DR. JOHN W. JORDAN, PHILADElvPHIA.
(Bristol Meeting, July 15, 1S90.)
A great deal has been written and said at different times
and by different persons, about the Mora\ian settlements in old
Bucks, and particularly of the town of Bethlehem, about the
life and character of its people, its historical antecedents, its
literary institutions and the beauty of its surroundings. For
myself, Bethlehem has always had a peculiar charm, and hence
it is my custom to^ visit it frequently, at a time, too, when
it still bore marks of the impress that had been stamped upon
it by its founders and early settlers in the first half of the last
century. "Where is there a place like it?" was the
question I involuntarily put to myself, as from my perch on the
lumbering Troy coach, I first caught a glimpse of its houses from
the declivity of the mountain on the south bank of the beauti-
ful Lehigh. "Where is there a place like it?" and the answer
to this question was emphatically, "no where." Nor was I
singular in being thus captivated by the influences of the
village, whatever these influences may have been, as year after
year I was welcomed at the hotels by the same habitues — mem-
bers of the best families of our capitals and occasional celeb-
rites, too, who ignoring the claims of fashionable watering
places in their summer leisure, sought recreation and health for
body and mind in the little Moravian republic.
When I first knew Bethlehem it was exclusively inhabited by
Moravians, as unique a settlement perhaps as might be found
within the borders of the State. The private houses were
for the most part built of stone, long and low storied struc-
tures, which though ancient looking and quaint, were scrup-
ulously neat as to their surroundings and as to their internal ar-
rangements, altogether in keeping with the mode of Hfe of a
irugal, simple and almost primitive people. The streets were the
very pink of neatness and so were the people, more especially the
female portion of it. There was no push then, and no being
pushed ; no invidious comparisons between wealth and poverty.
SCRAPS OF BUCKS ' BEFORE) I75O 537
but apparently an equitable apportionment of this world's goods.
It was perhaps owing to this latter feature in their corporations^
that the hardworking, industrious, music-loving Moravians,
lived in those days in an almost enviable state of competency
and happiness. Sojourners among them, at least, thought they
did. Furthermore as the exclusiveness of their settlement per-
mitted of its municipal affairs being regulated in accordance with
the peculiar regime of the church, many of their cherished
customs and festivities, both social and religious, could be ob-
served by its members without giving offense to or incurring
the idle curiosity of persons not of their communion.
These customs were invested with an indescribable charm,
customs that savored strongly of German life and char-
acter, fraught with the German's love of genial fellowship, of
social gatherings and innocent recreation, with his love of music,
whether in the concert room or in the sanctuary, and with his
love of throwing a veil of poesy about the routine of home life
by the festive observance of anniversaries and high days in the
family.
Is it a wonder, then, that fascinated by the ways of this
peculiar people and their history, I should have been impelled
in the more recent years of pilgrimages to this Mecca of my
youth, to delve in their archives, where are stored the journals
of the early Moravian annalists, who, with exemplary provi-
dence, committed to writing day by day, or week by week, what-
ever of moment occurred in their little world or the greater one
without, when Pennsylvania was still a province of the British
Crown ?
Bethlehem of to-day, despite the march of time, new modes
of thought and new generations of men, still bears the birth-
mark of its Moravo-Silesian parentage, a quadrangular area,
enclosed with solidly built structures of wood and stone, hip-
roofed, one of them capped with a turret, in which hangs the
bell that rung out over hill and dale and down into the
deep woods every day at sunrise and sunset its sweet summons to
the house of prayer. They were fashioned after a model brought
from the Fatherland, and which we have reason to believe the
Moravians loved to perpetuate, in the hope that peradventure
through its presence the memories of ancestral homes might be
538 SCRAPS OF "bucks" before 1750
kept green in the hearts of their children and of their children's
children far down the stream of time.
In my paper to-day I propose to elucidate some features in
the history of the Moravians during the period they lived within
the jurisdiction of old Bucks — 1741 1752 — and introduce data
not generally known.
The first settlement made by the Moravians in the American
colonies of Great Britain was in 1735, at Savannah, Georgia, but
owing to the hostilities with Spain was finally abandoned in
1740, the Colonists retiring to Pennsylvania. The real estate
owned by the church, however, was not disposed of until the
close of the last century.
In April, 1741, the wedge of land between the Monocacy creek
and the Lehigh, of 500 acres, which had been offered to the
Moravians by 'Squire Nathaniel Irish, of Saucon, an agent of
William Allen, was purchased on their behalf by Henry Antes,
who became one of the three proprietors of Moravian real estate
in the Province during the tenure of that estate by joint tenancy.
This tract was part of an original grant of William Penn to
John Lowther and Ann Sharlot Lowther for 5,000 acres to be
located in the Province of Pennsylvania, subject to a yearly
Grand Rent of i shilling for every too acres. The release is
dated 23 October, 1681. From John Lowther the tract was
conveyed to Joseph Turner, 13 August 1731, and by Joseph
Turner to William Allen, 23 February, 1736. On this tract
Bethlehem was built. Bishop David Nitschmann writing to
Germany, three months later, states :
"The 500 acres of land in the Forks we will take : First, It
lies on the water where we can get wood as much as we want ;
Second, It has woods ; Third, Stone ; Fourth, Lime ; Fifth, Sand ;
Sixth, Meadows ; Seventh, Springs ; Eighth, We can get to Phila-
delphia by water ; Ninth, It lies near the Indians, who we love ;
Tenth, It is located so that on one side lies New Jersey and all
Pennsylvania can reach us. The land is very fertile to all ap-
pearance and our brethren are here already tolerably arranged.
They have three cows and have built a house by the Indian field,
so that in the next year we can earn our bread tolerably and
together we are sufiiciently rich as to be able with what I brought
along to pay down iioo at the purchase. Building will not
SCRAPS OF "bucks" BEFORE I750 539
be so high as we make everything ourselves and have enough
wood. There are two matters which cost much here, viz.,
masons and smiths and a good weaver. All iron is twice as dear
as in Germany, and tile roofs are cheaper than roofs of shingles
and the nails."
In the same year the "Barony of Nazareth" containing 5,000
acres was purchased of the financially embarrassed founder of
Calvanistic-Methodism, George Whitefield, who had owned it
since 1735. On this tract old Nazareth and its dependencies,
Gnadenthal, Christian's Spring and Freidensthal, were erected.
Old Proprietor Penn, when releasing these 5,000 acres to his
trusty friend. Sir John Fagg, for the sole use and behoof of
his daughter, Letitia Awbrey, confirmed them with the privilege
of holding thereon "Court baron and vie^A s of frank pledge, for
the conservation of the peace." This privilege, I am inclined
to believe, was a factor in the purchase on the part of the Morav-
ians. During the visit of Count Zinzendorf to Bethlehem, in
1742, the annalist has recorded: "It becomes plainer every
day that our proper congregation town will have to be placed on
Nazareth land, which, on the strength of forming a barony, has
the privilege of independent jurisdiction of its own." I can-
not adduce any instance that this privilege was actually exercised
for the Moravians, being a peace-loving people, seldom had re-
course to the law in settlement of disputes. But at the time of
the harvest in 1744 some of their neighbors of the Scotch-Irish
settlement having been informed that the cut grain had been
removed from the fields into the barn on a certain Sunday to
avoid damage from an impending storm, a warrant was sworn
out for the arrest of those who had assisted in breaking the Sun-
day law. When the Constable appeared he was prevailed upon
not to serve the warrant until word had been sent to Bethlehem,
Henry Antes, the Moravian proprietor, happened to be in Beth-
lehem and at once repaired to Nazareth, informed the Constable
that he was a Justice of the Peace for the county of Bucks and
a German, and, the Moravians being Germans, he would hear the
case ; but he also advised the Constable not to serve the warrant ;
that he would personally make it all right with Justice Craig,
whereupon the Constable left. The Moravians never appeared
before Justice Craig. I have given the substance of the record,
540 SCRAPS OF BUCKS BEFORE 1750
but the inference is strong that Proprietor Antes on this occasion
exercised the power Proprietor Penn had confirmed to his daugh-
ter, Letitia, and her successors.
In 1744, 12 acres belonging to Nathaniel Irish, and in 1751,
200 acres of the Burnside plantation were added by purchase to
the Bethlehem tract on the north. Perceiving the advantages that
would accrue to Bethlehem from the control of the Lehigh at
that point and an unobstructed outlet into the more thickly
peopled parts of the Province, in 1746, the Simpson tract of 274
acres and a parcel of 34 acres belonging to the Proprietors on
the south side of the Lehigh were purchased. In 1748 the
Boerstler tract of 102 acres, in 1749 the Ysselstein plantation
of 263 acres, and in 1752 two tracts of about 240 acres, belonging
to the Proprietors and John Schaub, were acquired. The Mo-
ravian domain in old Bucks therefore aggregated upwards of
6,500 acres.
The money necessary for the purchase of these lands was, for
the most part, furnished by Count Zinzendorf. Thus the Ameri-
can branch of the Church came into financial connection with the
Church of Europe. Now there are two pomts of peculiar and of
special interest belonging to the financial history of the Moravian
Church in America. From 1742 to 1762 Bethlehem, Nazareth
and the smaller settlements were united in a so-called Economy,
of which Bethlehem was the centre.
The great Moravian Economies, that institution or policy under
which the earlier settlers were pleased to live, as being well adapted
to their straightened circumstances and likely to prove efficacious
in holding the members of the brotherhood together by an al-
most indissoluble tie — without a tie of which character there
could be neither unity of action nor any reasonable hope of suc-
cess in what they sought to accomplish — have been variously
understood by readers of Moravian history, and very erro-
neously by such as thought they found their parallel in the com-
munistic movement of Fourier and later reformers of that school.
The Moravians were not communists in the current acceptation
of the term. Their settlements were not phalansteries. The
members of their Economies voluntarily, and only after they had
been made acquainted with their requirements, contributed
the labor of their hands towards the furtherance of the religious
SCRAPS OF BUCKS BEFORE 175O 54I
■enterprises of their Church — nothing more ; while the Church,
in turn, obHgated herself to provide these her workers with the
necessaries of life — nothing more. There was, therefore, no
common treasury, as among the primitive Christians; no ap-
propriation of goods and chattels of the individual ; no com-
pulsion ; no vows, and finally, no bar to the individual with-
drawing from a partnership, upon his signifying his reluctance
to longer continue the responsibilities which he had once felt
free to assume.
This association prospered greatly, and not only did it yield the
inhabitants themselves a comfortable support but it also main-
tained an extensive itinerary among the settlers in various of
the Colonies, supported the entire mission among the Indians and
helped to found and keep up in the first years of their existence
a number of other Moravian Churches. It must also be stated
that when this economy system was finally abrogated, in 1764, the
American property of the church had been immensely improved,
and the Bethlehem and Nazareth tracts had, from a wilderness,
been made to blossom as a rose, and all manner of industries
had been introduced, some of which yielded considerable profit.
The other peculiar feature was the appointing of nominal pro-
prietors who held the estates of the church in fee simple and
the investments in their own name. This arrangement was in-
troduced to avoid incorporations. In some instances the pro-
prietors were at the same time the administrators, that is, the
men who administered both the estates and the investments.
Whenever the proprietor and administrator were two different
persons the former gave to the latter a general power of attor-
ney, which enabled him to act in all cases according to his own
judgment. As soon as the proprietor came into possession of the
estates he executed his last will and testament, leaving them to
his successor, who was appointed by the church. At the same
time he gave a solemn pledge in writing that he would, to the best
â– of his ability, administer the property for the good of the church,
and not in any way use it for personal ends. I consider this
feature one of the most interesting knov;n in financial history
and a wonderful instance of faith and confidence. Never was
there the most distant attempt made to abuse this trust which,
.at one time, involved hundreds of thousands of dollars. The origi-
542 SCRAPS 01? BUCKS BEFORE I75O
nal purchases of land by the Moravians in old Bucks were
made by various agents, who from time to time transferred it
to what are called in law "joint tenants." These "joint ten-
ants" were Bishop A. G. Spangenberg, David Nitschmann and
Henry Antes. Just prior to the founding of Northampton coun-
ty, or to be more precise, on 21st of November, 1751, Spangen-
berg and Antes issued a release by which they nominally sold
the two-thirds part of the Moravian estates to the remaining
tenant, David Nitschmann, who thus became the sole proprietor
in fee simple of all the estates of the church.
For the peopling of their estates the church organized on the
Continent and in England colonies, which she transported on
vessels of her own. This she did for considerations of economy
in part, and out of regard for their comfort, but chiefly perhaps
from reluctance to expose those for whose spiritual well being
she was concerned, to the hurtful influences of promiscuous as-
sociates during the tedious weeks and months spent at sea. The
most interesting period in the history of these emigrations falls
between 1742 and 1764, during which time there were four ves-
sels afloat owned by the church, two of which were built in
America. In the organization of these colonies due regard was
always paid to the requirements of their settlements, and the in-
troduction of the "specification for tradesmen needed here and to
be. forwarded from Europe," from a letter of Bishop Cammer-
hoff, of Bethlehem, to Zinzendorf, dated in July 1747, may prove
of interest : "Farmers, as many as you can send ; carpenters^
and masons, as many as you can send ; for shoe factory, a fore-
man ; linen weavers, half a dozen ; tanners, four if possible.
Englishmen ; saddlers, two ; zvool combers, two from Yorkshire,
they suit our English settlers best; cloth and blanket makers
as many as you choose ; cabinet makers, four good ones ; saw
millers, three Norwegians; nail makers, three or four; apothe-
cary, one ; blue dyer and fuUer, one from Yorkshire* ; shepherds,
one or two ; cowherds, two or three ; coopers, two or three ; mil-
lers, three or four ; surgeon, one ; bakers, two or three good ones ;
bookbinder, one who can bring with him some parchment."
"Bethlehem," he continues, "blooms and grows greener every
day. I cannot express how lovely and inspiring a sight it is to
* John Hurst, one of the two fullers imported from Yorkshire, in 1749, was the grand-
father of Lucas and William I,. Hurst, lawyers, and their brother, Henry B. Hurst,
poet, of Philadelphia.
SCRAPS OF BUCKS BEFORE^ I75O 543
see a corps of upward of thirty reapers move off to the fields
under the sound of sweet music. Harvest work always presses,
as in this country the grains ripen all at once. At the last Court
at Newtown, at our suggestion, officers required by law were ap-
pointed, viz : Mathew Schropp, as roadmaster, and William Frey,
overseer of the poor. (The Moravians have never had any
poor!) Anton Albrecht, who lives one mile south ot the Lehigh
is our constable. We pay him, as the office is not wanted by any
of our brethren."
I cannot better describe the religious life of the Moravian
settlements, of the period we are reviewing, than by again quot-
ing from the correspondence of Bishop Cammerhoff. Under
the head of "Daily Routine at Bethlehem" he states :
" In the morning, general morning prayer with a few remarks on the
doctrinal text for the day; at noon, a conference and a quarter-hour service;
at sundown, meeting for communicants and reading of general church in-
telligence. Special church subjects are communicated by the pastor or as-
sistants who meet in love feast on Sunday evening. Friday and Saturday
evenings, general meetings; special meetings on other evenings. Sunday,
early morning blessing, at 9 a. m. the Te Matrem, followed by English and
German preaching, which is also attended by our neighbors. All the church
and congregation festivals are not observed here, but we do those of Christ-
mas, New Year's, Easter, Whitsuntide, Michaelmas and others after the old
style with the people of this country. Although we also observe your time
<^i. e. new style) of keeping them to think of you, I wish there was but one
style and am glad to hear that an Act of Parliament has been passed to intro-
duce the new style into England."
Communication between the Moravian settlements and the
capital of the province was by wagon and post riders, four postil-
ions being engaged in the latter service, which was organized
in the summer of 1742. Of one of the teamsters of the Beth-
lehem wagon the following anecdote is related : Once in Phila-
delphia, whither he had gone with the wagon, he was led by his
love of music to enter a hall or room, whence he had heard
sweet sounds, and where there chanced to be some amateur
musicians at a private rehearsal. The teamster in his rustic
garb and whip in hand sat down not in the least disconcerted,
and drank in the harmonies of sound that came from wind and
stringed instruments. It was now that one of the performers
came over to twit the countryman, but he, however, was too art-
less to see the point of his jokes, and stated on inquiry that he
544 SCRAPS OF BUCKS BEFORE 175O
loved music and occasionally indulged in practicing it. This
brought down the house, and a conceited young fellow said :
"Suppose you gratify us with a performance; here is a violincello,
your instrument." When offering him the "bit of jolly timber,"
he at the same time put before him a piece of music upside
down. "Now play, and then we can judge." The old rustic,
none abashed and conscious of his ability allowed the music to
remain as it was placed on the stand, played it perfectly and
walked out victor.
A postilion left Bethlehem every Monday and proceeded as
far as Falckner's Swamp and by Tuesday evening reached Ger-
mantown ; early on Wednesday morning rode into the city and
then returned to Germantown, where he nighted. Thursday
to Falkner's Swamp and on Friday reached Bethlehem again.
In the event of the arrival of important letters from Europe
they were at once dispatched to Bethlehem by a brother, who
footed it all the way. The pastors of the congregations at
Bethlehem and Philadelphia acted as postmasters, and John
Stephen Benezet (whose three daughters married Moravian cler-
gymen) and Charles Brockden (for many years the Penn's Re-
corder of Deeds and Master of the Rolls) for some time acted
as purchasing agents for the church in Philadelphia. Bishop
Cammerhoff in June of 1747, relates the following anecdote:
"The Rev. George Whitefield and Charles Brockden recently passed an
evening together and in the course of their conversation Brockden related
to the former owner of the Nazareth tract of the improvements made by the
Moravians, and expressed his regret that the great field preacher had not
united with them. ' I see that you still would like me to become a Moravian,'
remarked Whitefield. ' Assuredly I would,' replied Brockden, ' not that I
think b)' so doing you would add the weight of one grain to their cause,
but I pity you in your work, for you remind me of that species of birds in
the Malacca Islands which being destitute of feet is compelled to be always
on the wing.' "
With the growth of the Moravian settlements the means of
transporting the products of their farms and manufactories in-
creased and naturally too, the expenses. To lessen the latter,
in the summer of 1750, it was proposed to attempt carriage by
water. Two sailors from the Moravian transport vessel, the
Irene, were sent to Bethlehem from New York, who surveyed
the rivers Lehigh and Delaware, and marked the rapids, rocks.
SCRAPS OF BUCKS BEFORE I750 545
and sand bars down to Trenton. In November the boat which
had been built for the trial, laden with a cargo of linseed oil,
and drawing but eighteen inches of water, started on her voy-
age to Philadelphia. Eleven days thereafter, on her return
voyage, the boat and cargo were sold at Trenton because it was
found impossible to haul it over the falls, and thus the iirst at-
tempt at water transportation between the valley of the Lehigh
and Philadelphia failed. In September, 1763, a stage wagon was
run between Bethlehem and Philadelphia, it being the first of
those successive generations of "Swift and Sure" lines of coaches
which tormented mortal flesh until their total extermination
by steam.
The first bell used in Bethlehem was brought from Philadel-
phia and in July, 1742 was hung in a tree near the Congregation
House. Joachim Senseman, who in later years was employed
in the Indian mission, was appointed bell ringer and hour
striker.
He began to strike the hours at five o'clock in the morning,
when the night watch went off duty, and continued until thev
went on duty again, when they struck the hours up to midnight.
In 1747 Augustine Neisser, of Germantown (specimens of whose
handiwork are still to be met with), manufactured and erected
a large brass clock with three bells, one to strike the hours,
and the other two in pleasant euphony the quarter hours.
The first purchase of horses for the Bethlehem farm was
made on August, 1742, when four were obtained at Esopus, on
the Hudson. In the "Farm Inventory" for the year 1744 I
find the stock consisted of 24 cows, costing £4 each, and 49 calves,
19 two years old, 24 one year old and 6 younger ; i bull ;
68 sheep, at 7 shillings each; 17 lambs; 3 goats; 205 fowls; 12
working horses, 5 mares, 2 colts and 3 yearlings, the total val-
uation being £264. The apple orchards, which attracted the
attention of Governor Penn when he visited the settlement in
1752, were laid out in 1743, the first trees being purchased in
Oley and Tulpehocken — 490, costing four pence each. 'Squire
Edward Smout, of Lancaster, performed the grafting. To-
bacco was raised in 1750, perhaps earlier, and an attempt was
made in 1744 to grow rice on the lowlands, but it proved a fail-
ure. â–
18
546 SCRAPS OF "bucks" BEFORE I750
On June 28, 1743, the first grist was ground for the Morav-
ians by the waters of the Monocacy. The mill was the planning of
Henry Antes, who was both millwright and miller of many years
experience. The run of stones was cut by Peter May, in his
quarry on the Neshaminy, and the mill irons wrought at the
Durham furnace. The first harvest on the tract was cut in July,
of 1742, the price of wheat and rye being at that date 2/4 per
bushel. I find that in the year 1745 grain was very scarce in
the neighborhood of Bethlehem, and four wagon-loads were pur-
chased in Tulpehocken, and in exchange with one of their neigh-
bors 42 bushels of lime were given for 9 bushels of wheat.
For many years the Moravians dealt extensively with the Dur-
ham Iron Works on the Delaware, in bellows-pipes, stove-
plates, bar-iron and iron plates.
Permit me to read you a letter :
Durham, 12 April, 1750.
Mr. Brownfield, Bethlehem.
Dear Sir : The bearer, one of the company's servants whose arm is in-
jured by the overset of a cart, beg the favor to recommend him to your doc-
tor, whose charges with the ferryage, 2 quarts oats for one creature, and a
pint or quart of beer for the man, shall be paid to you the first time Mr. E.
comes to Bethlehem, which won't be long. The furnace will be in blast in
June next. We then can cast for you what 56, 28, 14 and 7 lb. weight you
shall want. Your humble servants,
Wii^iviAM Logan & Co.
The price of iron was £28 per ton at this date. Dr. Adolph
Meyer, since 1742, was the surgeon and physician for the Mo-
ravian settlements, but his reputation as a skillful and successful
practitioner frequently compelled him to visit the settlements of
the lower Minisinks and West Jersey. His successor, Dr. John
Matthew Otto, also enjoyed a high reputation beyond the Mo-
ravian domain.
The last official business transacted between the Moravians
and old Bucks is recorded under date of 21 June, 1752:
"Brother Jasper Payne went to Newtown Court for the last
time," (to settle some accounts of Bethlehem township, which
had been erected in 1747 on petition of the settlers;) and "The
first court of Northampton county will be held 27 July, 1752."
In March of 1753, the following important remark i& of record:
"From 1 743-1 752, while Bethlehem was in Bucks county, the
Brethren were only taxed as a corporation. Now, in the new
county, the commissioners want to levy a tax of nine shillings
SCRAPS 01^ BUCKS BEFORE; I75O 547
annually on each single Brother. Having entered a complaint
to Court of Appeals, it was laid aside." This was the beginning
of a series of burdens, which at times threatened to financially
embarrass the Moravian settlements, and which only ceased with
the capture of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
In January, 1752, the following trades were represented
in Bethlehem : Apothecary, book-bindery, book-store, cooper,
breeches maker, hatter, joiner, potter, skinner, locksmith, black-
smith, grist mill, tanner, nailsmith, pewterer, stocking weaver,
shoemaker, tailor, turner, linen weaver, worsted weaver, wheel-
wright, saddler, dyer, fulling mill, silversmith, tile kiln and soap
boiler.
I have in my library the notes of an itinerary of two Moravian
evangelists among the Quakers of the Great Swamp, North Wales
and the Neshaminy made in February, 1748, but time will pre-
clude any quoting from it further than that when they reached
the Neshaminy they found the district in a fervor of excitement
about the war (Gov. Shirley's), and the New Lights very zeal-
ous, exhorting their hearers from the pulpit to take up arms and
drill.
As early as 1742, the Moravian evangelists were to be found
preaching in this district, mainly in the houses of the farmers.
In 1744, John Brooks deeded to the church "a plot of i acre and
9 perches, situated in Southampton township, near the Neshami-
ny creek, and adjacent to a certain great tract which divides
said plot from the land of George Shaw and touching the road
to Bristol," on which a small log church was built. This plot
was part of a tract deeded to Robert Ingle by Thomas Philips
and Mercy, his wife, (date not given) and by Robert Ingle to
William Wait Third-month, 1686; by William Wait to Ralph
Dunn, June i, 1705, and by Ralph Dunn to John Brooks, no date.
The original deeds are no more explicit as to precise locality
than I have quoted, hence I have failed to locate the site of the
only Moravian church erected in Old Bucks south of the Lehigh
river.
Mr. President, had my lot been cast among the brotherhood
of Behlehem, who lived in the first decade of our century —
men who delighted to tell of the olden time — had I been per-
mitted to interrogate among others old Father Grube, with his lit-
548 I^ARLY HISTORY OF BRISTOL .
tie three cornered hat and dressed in livery of sober brown, who
was reticent excepting touching the matter of the olden time
when he would also now and then institute comparisons between
the missionaries of that degenerate time and the missionaries of
his day of activity — "We had it hard indeed! I well remember
one summer that I set out on foot from Bethlehem for the Indian
mission at Wyalusing, on the upper Susquehanna, with a pair of
pigs in a double bag sJung over my shoulders; how I sweated,
and how at the springs at which I sat down to take my frugal re-
past, I would dip the panting little grunters into the water to
cool their sweltering bodies" — Verily, I believe, there would have
been no end to my writing of the Moravians of old Bucks.
Early History of Bristol.
BY GEN. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Bristol Meeting, July 15, i8go).
The time allotted me is too brief to do justice to a subject
that embraces the history of a town that was once our county's
capitol, and the only seaport in it; that it enjoys the distinction
of being the second oldest borough in the State, and wherein
many interesting events have transpired in the past two hundred
years. Under these circumstances, I shall be able, only, to touch
a few points in Bristol's history
It is error to suppose that Friends were the first to settle
our county. Years before Penn's arrival, a few Dutch, Swedes
and Fins were on the Delaware, between the Falls and the
Schuylkill, living in the rudest of habitations, by hunting, fish-
ing and trading with the Indians. A few English settled on
the river, in Falls township, in 1678, on land granted them by
the Duke of York.
In the report of the jury, fixing the boundaries of the first
five townships, laid out in 1692, Bristol is located with the fol-
lowing meets and bounds:
"Follow the river to Neshaminah, then up the Neshaminah
to the upper side of Robert Hall's plantation, and to take in the
land of Jonathan Town, Edmund Lovett, Abraham Cox and
others, to Pennsbury, and by the same to the place of beginning."
EARLY HISTORY OF BRISTOL 549^
The name given the township was "Buckingham ;" it was called
by this name in 1697, and "New Buckingham," in 1705. The
present name first appears in 1702, when a constable was ap-
pointed for "Bristol." We know of no reason for dropping
the old name and assuming the new, unless it gradually came to
be called by the name of the borough growing up within its
borders. The great majority of the original settlers of Bris-
tol township were Knglish Friends. Bristol, next to Falls, is
the most interesting township in the county, and played an im-
portant part in the settlement of the province.
The site of Bristol is on the grant of 240 acres, by Sir Edmund
Andros, Provincial Governor of New York, to Samuel Clift, in
March, 1681. Clift sold 50 acres to Richard Dungworth, 60 to
Walter Pomeroy, and 100 to Morgan Drewitt, leaving the re-
maining 30 acres to his son-in-law, John Young, by his will'
dated November 29, 1682. Young's son sold it to Thomas
Brock and Anthony Burton, February 20, 1695, for £20 cur-
rency. Upon this 30-acre tract, extending northward from Mill
creek, and also on a part of John White's land adjoining, the
original town was laid out with the following boundaries :
"Beginning at a post standing in the line of John White's
land south, 48 degrees east 18 rods to a corner; then southeast
18 rods to a corner post; then south 58 degrees west to a cor-
ner post standing by the creek called Mill creek ; thence by the
said creek to the Delaware ; thence up the river Delaware 94
rods to a post, thence north 39 degrees, west 51 poles to a post;
thence west 32 degrees south to the place of beginning, being
in Buckingham." It is thought a portion of the Clift tract had
been previously laid out into building lots. The road that
then led down to the ferry was the same as the present Mill street,
and was 120 perches long and 3 perches wide.
The petition "of the inhabitants living about the ferry," for
the laying out of the town, is dated June 10, 1697 ; the signers
styling themselves "the inhabitants and owners of land in the
county of Bucks, but more especially, in the township of Bucks,"
asking permission to establish a marketing town "at the ferry
against Burlington v/ith a weekly market and the privilege of
wharfing and building to a convenient distance into the river
and creek," and that there "may be a street under the bank to
550 EARLY HISTORY OF BRISTOL
the river and creek." The Provincial council, at which this peti-
tion was presented met at the house of Phineas Pemberton, who
lived on the west bank of the Delaware just below the Falls.
The prayer of the petitioners was granted, and Pemberton was
ordered to make the survey and draft according to the plan sub-
mitted. The fourteen original lot owners were the following:
Joseph Growden, Phineas Pemberton, John White, Robert
Brown, John Smith, Thomas Alusgrove, John Town, Samuel
Carpenter, Thomas Brock, Henry Baker, Anthony Burton,
Samuel Bown or Bowne, William Croasdale and Samuel Oldale.
There is some little confusion in the dates touching the estab-
lishment of a ferry across the Delaware at Bristol. The cross-
ing must have been used as a ferry from the first settlement but
not so declared by law until several years afterward. It
was spoken of as a "ferry" as early as 1697. In 1709 John
Sotcher, who then owned the landing on this side, presented
a petition from the county magistrates to the Provincial coun-
cil for a ferry across the Delaware. No doubt this was granted.
The Assembly of New Jersey, by act of March 17, 1713, estab-
lished a ferry "from the town of Burlington to the town of New
Bristol." At a later date, 1729, Sampson Carey petitioned to be
granted a ferry from Burlington to Bristol. We have no time
to reconcile these dates and explain the confusion.
Bristol encountered the trials and tribulations of a village for
twenty-three years before assuming the responsibilities of cor-
porate life. This was in 1720, when, on petition of Anthony
Burton, John Hall, William Watson and Joseph Bond, and "many
other inhabitants of the town of Bristol, owners of a certain
tract of land formerly called Buckingham," the town was incor-
porated into a borough by letters patent from the Crown, dated
November 14th. As the charter came directly from the Crown,
instead of Provincial Assembly, when the independence of the
colonies was established the corporation was dissolved, but it was
restored by the Legislature in 1785. The town was called "New
Bristol" down to 1714.
Among the provisions of the first charter of Bristol was one
authorizing the holding of two annual fairs, two days in May
and three in October, "in such place, or places, as the burgess,
from time to time, may appoint." These fairs, a great feature
EARIvY HISTORY OF BRISTOL 551
of social life of that day, were attended by all classes, the great
majority bent on having a frolic. Horse-racing, drinking, gamb-
ling and stealing prevailed to an alarming extent. The young
men came in from the country, on horseback, in their shirt sleeves,
their sweethearts riding behind them ; their coats tied behind the
saddle, with thin soled shoes for dancing wrapped up in them.
As was the fashion, these young country gallants wore two
pairs of stockings, the inner white, and the outer of colored yarn,
the tops of the latter turned down to show the inner pair and
protect them from flirt. Negro slaves were allowed to attend
the last day of each fair, when they flocked to the town in large
numbers and held their jubilee. After these fairs had continued
three-quarters of a century, the people of Bristol and vicinity
petitioned the Legislature to abolish them on the ground that they
were "useless and lumecessary, and promote licentiousness and
immorality," and, by act of April 14, 1796, they were abolished,
and Bristol took leave of her fairs forever.
There is but little to be said of Bristol in its infancy ; as a
matter of fact it was but a feeble, frontier river village, and is
without a history. The inhabitants, may, or may not, have been
threatened with fires in 1701, but, in that year, the Assembly
passed an act to prevent them. What is spoken of as a "great
fire," broke out in 1724, but we have no record of the property
destroyed or the value. Among others, the Friends of Abington
meeting raised money for the relief of the sufferers.
Oldmixon, who visited Bristol in 1708, on his trip down the
Delaware, speaks of it as "the capital of Bucks county," con-
taining fifty dwellings, but, in all probability, he did not take
the trouble to count them. As the town is credited with but
ninety dwellings, ninety- eight years afterward, this early trav-
eler's estimate was not correct. In 1753, the number of male
taxables is returned at ^2., of which 24 are single men. The
taxables had increased to 123 in 1761. The population and wealth
were of slow growth. In 1784 the town had a population of 296,
of which 24 were colored, with 45 dwellings. Scott's Gazateer
puts the dwellings at about 60, in 1790; another authority puts
the dwellings at 90, and the population at 511. By the census, the
population in 1810, was 628; 1820, 908; 1830, 1,262 and
1,438 in 1840. In 1746 the tax levy was $30, and $26.50 in
552 EARLY HISTORY OF BRISTOL
1748, and less than $140 in 1785. That year there were 11
negro slaves ; three persons were taxed for plate, 106 ounces, of
which Dr. Wm. Mcllvain had 60 ounces. Graydon's Memoirs,
published in 1811, says of Bristol, about 1756:
"Then, as now, the great road leading from Philadelphia to New York,
first skirting the inlet, at the head of which stand the mills, and then turn-
ing short to the left along the bank of the Delaware, formed the principal,
and, indeed, the only street marked by any continuity of building. Other
places for streets were opened from this main one, on which here and there,
stood an humble, solitary dwelling. At the corner of one of these lanes was
a Quaker meeting house, and on a still more retired spot, stood a small
Episcopal church, whose lonely graveyard, with its surrounding woody
scenery, might have furnished an appropriate theme for such a muse as
Gray's. These, together with an old brickyard, constituted all the public
edifices of this, my native town."
Captain Alexander Graydon, the author of this early sketch
of Bristol, was the son of an Irishman, who came to this coun-
try about 1730; his mother, the daughter of a Barbadoes mer-
chant, was born in Frankford-on-the-Main. Young Graydon
joined the Colonial forces at the breaking out of the Revolu-
tionary war, and became a captain in Wayne's regiment. He
was taken at the capture of Fort Washington and suffered a
long imprisonment. At the time of which Captain Graydon
wrote, all the inhabitants of Bristol were Friends with the
exception of the DeNormandies and a few other families.
Bristol has the honor of having been the county-seat
of Bucks, at a time, when its area was greater than many
German principalities. The first court-house was in Falls town-
ship, near the Delaware, and a short distance below the present
Morrisville. This v/as a small log building with two rooms on
the ground floor. In 1703 the county-seat was removed to Bris-
tol, and the same year the Assembly authorized the erection of
a two-story brick court-house, on a lot the gift of Samuel Car-
penter. It stood on Cedar street, nearly opposite the Masonic
hall, and many years ago fell into the hands of William Kinsey.
The prison was on the ground floor ; the court-room over it,
and a whipping-post attached to the outside wall. A work-house,
built in 1722, at the expense of the county, was authorized by
the act of Assembly, of February 22, 1718. It was replaced
by a new one in 1745, at the expense of the council. The in-
EARLY HISTORY OF BRISTOL 553
stitution was managed by a president, treasurer and assistants.
In 1725 the seat of justice was removed to Newtown, and, in
1812 to Doylestown, each removal placing the court-house and
public offices nearer the centre of population.
Friends meeting at Bristol is one of the oldest in the county.
In 1704, the Falls Monthly Meeting granted the Bristol
Friends permission to hold meetings for worship monthly,
increased to twice a month in 1707; the first meeting-house was
erected in 1710, and enlarged in 1763. Until a meeting was
allowed, the Bristol Priends attended at Falls, Neshaminy, now
Middletown, and sometimes crossing the river to Burlington.
During the Revolutionary war Friends meeting-house was used
as an hospital. The Episcopalians were not long behind the
Friends in building a house for religious worship, and St. James'
church was erected in 171 1. It has an interesting history.
Queen Anne gave the church a silver communion service, and
John Talbot, chaplain in the English navy, was the first rector.
He and George Keith, who created the seism among Friends,
founded St. Mary's church in Burlington, N. J. In the grave-
yard of St. James, lie the remains of Captain Green, of the
American merchant service, the first to carry the Stars and
Stripes to China ; and near him was buried Captain Sharp,
United States Army, who, while stationed with his regiment,
just above Bristol, in 1796, fell in a duel with the quartermaster.
This episode emphasized the old, old story ; there was a woman
at the bottom of it, a Miss Sarah McElroy, whose father kept
the Cross Keys tavern, in Bristol, many years.
Bristol was a birthplace of Methodism in America. Cap-
tain Webb, an officer in the British army, who lost an eye at the
siege of Louisburg, and scaled the heights of Abraham with
Wolf, joined the Methodists in England, in 1765. He subse-
quently came to America and preached at various places, in-
cluding Bristol, and probably laid the foundation of the church
here. John Adams said he was the most eloquent man he ever
heard. He gathered the first congregation in Philadelphia, and
laid the foundation of St. George's chapel. The first Methodist
church here was a small brick, built in 1804. Other congrega-
tions were organized and church buildings erected in their order ;
554 EARIvY HISTORY O? BRISTOL
the Presbyterian in 1844; Catholic, in 1845, ^"^ Baptist, in
1848.
Among the institutions of Bristol worthy of note the "Sarah
Lukens Keene House" may be mentioned, founded by a woman
whose name it bears. She was a grand-daughter of Surveyor
General Lukens, and at her death, in 1866, left her residence,
known as the "Pavilion," with its furniture and several thou-
sand dollars in money, in trust "for the maintenance, forever,
of five, six or more aged gentlewomen" who are widows or
single. The building was erected in 18 16, and, for many years,
was the home of Major Lenox, of the Revolutionary army, the
uncle of Miss Keene ; whose elegant and generous hospitality in-
vited the presence of many persons of distinction of this coun-
try and Europe, including Joseph Bonaparte, ex-King of Spain,
and several foreign diplomats.
The Bristol Lodge of Masons, instituted in 1780, is one of the
oldest in the State, and it was here John Fitch, the inventor and
discoverer of the method of propelling boats by steam, was in-
ducted into the order, in 1785. The Farmer's bank, now the
Farmer's National bank, and the first banking institution in the
county, was organized in 1814. The building is not without
a history. It was built by Architect Strickland, in 1818, for a
private residence for James Craig, and upon his death was oc-
cupied by his sisters. During their occupancy. Lieutenant Hun-
ter, U. S. N., who killed Miller, of Philadelphia, in a duel, and
Lieutenant Burns, his second, were secreted in the house until
public indignation subsided and they were suspended from the
service. They were restored to the Navy, and Hunter won dis-
tinction in the Mexican war.
For many years Bristol was a celebrated watering place. As
early as 1722 the Bath Springs obtained celebrity for the medic-
inal qualities of their water, and, at that early day, it was much
frequented by invalids, some coming from abroad. It became a
noted resort, and many distinguished people spent several weeks
here in the summer. Down to 1821 it was the principal water-
ing place in the United States, and the Bath Springs, relatively,
were as famous as Saratoga at the present day. The semi-
annual races brought many sporting persons from all parts of the
country ; these attractions combined to make Bristol a very desir-
EARLY HISTORY OF BRISTOL 555
able residence, and it was resorted to by prominent persons in
every walk of life.
The opening of the Delaware Division canal, with its outlet
here, did much to stimulate Bristol before the days of steam-
boats and railroads. Ground was broken for this, then great
enterprise, October 28, 1827. After prayer and an address by
Peter A. Brown, of Philadelphia, a barrow of earth was dug by
George Harrison, of this county, and Peter Ihrie, of Easton,
in the presence of several hundred persons, who were marched
to the ground in procession by the late William F. Swift. In
the afternoon a company of an hundred sat down to dinner
provided by Mr. Bessonett. The basin was finished in August
1830, and the canal was formally opened from Bristol to New
Hope, December 7, when a boatload of excursionists passed
between these points ; and there was a public dinner with speeches
and toasts, at Bristol.
Among the oldest settled families at Bristol, and whose liv-
ing descendants may claim to be "to the manor born," may be
mentioned the Burtons, Swains, DeNormandies, Bessonetts,
Williamses, Rushes, and Carpenters.
The Burtons have been here and in this vicinity from the first
settlement. The late Anthony Burton was the fourth in descent
from the Anthony who married Susan Kean, in 1725, and, on
the maternal side, was the great-grandson of Ann, daughter of
John and Mary Sotcher. The marriage of the latter took place
at Pennsbury, October 16, 1701, on the eve of Penn's return to
England, and is the only marriage he is known to have been
present at in America. The certificate is signed by some of the
leading men of the Province, including the Proprietary, his wife
and daughter. Letitia Penn made the bride a present of a chest
of drawers that cost £7.
Samuel Swain traces his paternal line back five generations
to Benjamin Swain, who married Elizabeth Rulon, about 1743-5,
and he was the eighth in descent from William and Margaret
Cooper. On the maternal side of the male line he is the seventh
in descent from Ezra Croasdale, who married Ann Peacock,
in 1687. Among our later local poets Samuel Swain probably
stands at the head, and his verse is read with delight.
DeNormandie is a princely name, and belongs to one of the
556 EARLY HISTORY OF BRISTOL
oldest and most distinguished families of France. The first tf>
come to America was Andre DeNormandie, from Geneva, in
1706, with two sons, John Abram and John- Anthony, and settled
in Bristol, where the father died in 1724. One of the ancestors
was the friend of Calvin and the executor of his will, and another
the confidential agent and Lieutenant of Frederick the Great.
The remains of father and sons lie side by side in St. James
churchyard. A member of the family, Rev. James DeNorman-
die was rector of an Episcopal church at Portsmouth, N. H., a
few years ago. The name is extinct in Bristol. The Bessonetts
were Huguenots, John, the first ancestor settling in Bristol about
1 73 1. His son John was an active resident here an hundred and
twenty-five years ago. He established the first line of regular
stages between Philadelphia and New York, the through trip
being made "in two days at the low fare of four dollars." The
line was kept up until succeeded by steamboat and rail. In 1785
John Bessonett was landlord of what is now Pratt's hotel. Be-
fore the Revolution, the head of George H. was the sign for this
inn, but when a detachment of American troops passed through
the town, they riddled his Majesty's head with bullets, and the
landlord got a new sign more in keeping with the times. The
name of Bessonett is likewise extinct in the county.
The Williamses were in Bristol early in the last century. En-
nion Williams, a thrifty cooper and baker, and a leader in Falls
meeting, was here as early as 1725, marrying Mary Hogg
in that year. He built the front of the "Willis" house,
subsequently the "Buckley" house, putting on the west end
the letters and figures, "E. W., 1735," in the blue brick. Benja-
min Rush, the. distinguished physician and surgeon, and a signer
of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Bristol, in 1745.
The family settled on the Poquessing, in Byberry, in 1682.
His ancestor, John Rush, the first who came to America, com-
manded a troop of horse, in Cromwell's army. His daughter.
Susannah, married ]ohn Hart, ancestor of the Harts, of War-
minster. At what time the father of Benjamin Rush came to
Bristol is not known.
Samuel Carpenter, one of the most prominent men in the
Province of his day, was a native of Surrey, England, and came
to Pennsylvania in 1683. He became an opulent merchant. At
UARLY HISTORY OF BRISTOL 557
the close of the century he was the largest land owner in Bristol
township. He owned, about 1705, the "Bristol Mills," built by-
Francis Russell in 1699, and removed from Philadelphia to this
place temporarily about 17 10, residing in summer on Burlington
island. The mills were on what is now Mill creek, quarter of a
mile from the river, and vessels came up to the door to load and
unload freight. In 1701 Carpenter was the richest man in the
Province.
James Thornton, a distinguished minister among Friends who
was born in England, in 1727, and landed in Philadelphia, in
1760, spent many years of his life in Bristol. He afterward
married and settled in Byberry, where he died in 1794.
Bristol is not unknown in military annals. On November
9, 1757, 250 men of the 35th British regiment were billeted in
the town over night. The bill was presented to the county com-
missioners, but as they refused to pay, the borough had to foot
it. Bristol bore her full share of tribulation incident to the
Revolution, and, after the war was fully under way, there was
hardly a week troops did not pass through, or quarter in, it.
In December, 1776, General Cadwalader occupied the town with
3,000 men, and the following year, while the British occupied
Philadelphia, 1,500 were billeted on the inhabitants at one time.
A party of refugee Light Horse surprised the town at daylight
on Good Friday. Leaving the city the evening before, they
secreted themselves in the bushes about the ford at the Flushing
mills. Muffling their horses' feet, and waiting until the morning
gun notified them of the withdrawal of the sentinels, they dashed
into town, and carried oft a few of the inhabitants, and such
plunder as they were able to seize. The captain of the militia
company, that garrisoned the town, sought safety in a friendly
garret. When the American and French armies marched South
in September, 1781, to meet Cornwallis, at Yorktown, they passed
near, if not through, Bristol. Crossing the Delaware at Tren-
ton and the neighboring ferries, the morning of the ist, they
passed the Neshaminy at the rope ferry the same afternoon,
encamping at the Red Lion, Bensalem, that evening. The next
day they marched through Philadelphia. In 1799, a portion
of the troops, which assisted to quell the "Fries Rebellion,"
rendezvoused at Bristol before marching for the seat of war.
558 EARl,Y HISTORY 01^ BRISTOL
The evening of the day General Lafayette was wounded at
Brandy wine, September 11, 1777, he was taken to Chester, and, the
next day conveyed up the river to Bristol on his way to Bethle-
hem. He remained here a day and a night, and probably two
nights, at the public house of Sims Betts, and was waited on by
his niece, who afterward became the wife of Charles Bessonett.
The General stayed at Bethlehem, in the tender care of the Mo-
ravian sisters until recovered from his wound when he rejoined
the army.
Lafayette visited Bristol a second time, forty-seven years
afterwards when the guest of the nation. He reached
Trenton, on his way to Philadelphia, Saturday afternoon, Sep-
tember 25, 1824, and stayed over Sunday. On Monday morn-
ing he crossed the bridge into Pennsylvania, and was received
by the late General John Davis at the head of his regiment,
600 strong, mounted and some cavalry from Philadelphia. They
escorted him down through the Manor, the people turning out
en masse to honor him. As the procession entered Bristol, the
honored guest was welcomed by the inhabitants and their fam-
ilies drawn up along the turnpike, and he passed under a triumph-
al arch erected over the bridge. Here he dined and was intro-
duced to many persons, including Mrs. Charles Bessonett, who
had been his nurse nearly half a century before. After dinner,
the procession moved on in the same order to Philadelphia
county line, where the distinguished guest was turned over to
the city committee.
The surroundings of Bristol are full of history. Three miles
up the river is Cold Spring where a small colony of Welsh
Baptists settled in 1682, followed by Rev. Thomas Dungan and
family from Rhode Island in 1684. He gathered a congrega-
tion and organized a church, the first of that denomination in
Pennsylvania. Mr. Dungan died in 1688, and was buried in
the graveyard, and the church was kept together until 1702.
Two pastors at Pennypack were buried at Cold Spring, Samuel
Jones, in 1722, and Joseph Wood, in 1747. There is no trace
of the building, if one were ever erected, but the ruins of the
grave-yard remain, overgrown with briars, and a few dilapidated
tombstones.
Burlington island, recognized as belonging to the west shore,
EARLY HISTORY OF BRISTOL 559
and included in Markham's purchase, came early into notice.
The Indian name was Mattiniconk, and it was so called as early
as 1654. A trading house and military post were built on it in
1671, and, in 1672, two Dutch servants of Peter Alricks were
killed there by Indians. When the Dutch ruled on the Dela-
ware, the Governor occupied the island as a pleasure ground,
built good houses and cultivated the ground ; raised dykes, and
grew great crops of grain on a large piece of meadow land. In
1679 it was held by the English Governor of New York, who
rented it to some friends. The possession of the island was
confirmed to Burlington, by the Provincial assembly of Penn-
sylvania, among its earliest acts. In 1722, Governor Burnet,
of New York, resided upon the island.
• A few miles above Bristol is Pennsbury, the seat of the founder
of our Commonwealth. What memories cluster around that
' spot ! It was the home of Penn during the anxious period he
was laying broad and deep the foundations of free government
west of the Delawaie. There he dispensed princely hospitality
to all who came, and taught the savages to value deeds of peace.
In forming a correct estimate of the debt the world owes Penn,
the fact should not be overlooked that he was the first founder
of a state to declare positive freedom to worship God. No-
where else is the spirit of the next to last stanza of Mrs. Hemans'
poem, "The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers," so correctly em-
phasized, as by the work of Penn and the Quakers in founding
this State:
What sought they thus afar ?
Bright jewels of the mine ?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?
They sought a faith's pure shrine.
Three miles below Bristol, on the bank of the Delaware, stands
a group of buildings known as "Bristol college," a flourishing
institution of learning fifty-five years ago. About 1787, the
farm attached belonged to an Irish sporting gentleman, named
Benger, who imported the famous horse Messenger. He sold
the farm to Van Braam, the Governor of an East India island,
who came to this country when his island fell into the hands of
the English. He erected an elegant mansion, and called it
China Retreat. Van Braam sold the property in 1798.
560 EARLY HISTORY OF BRISTOL
In 1842 the late Captain Alden Partridge opened a military
school in the China Retreat building, that was kept up a few
years ; the buildings were occupied as a military hospital during
the Civil War, and later by a school for the education of colored
soldiers' orphans.
It would be a pleasure to treat of new Bristol,
would time permit. When the Bristol of to-day is rele-
gated to History, and the future historian comes to write its
life, the record will be an honorable one. It will be the record
of the most populous and wealthy town in the county, and
abreast with the times in all good movements ; whose cultivated
and lovely women and intelligent men make up a society the
equal of any ; whose business interests reach out in all directions ;
and the courage of whose sons, on land and sea, equals the virtue
of her daughters. Such will be the verdict of the Bristol of to-
day, when the historian looks at it down the corridor of time,
at the end of the coming century.
The Progress of the United States.
BY REV. S. F. HOTCHKIN, BUSTLETON, PA.
(Bristol Meeting, July 15, 1890).
In the first settlement of this land a narrow strip along the
Atlantic coast contained a few villages which held the enterpris-
ing emigrants who had come hither. The buffalo and Indian
ruled the prairie. The present census is expected to show a
population of between sixty and seventy millions. Last month
about twenty million dollars were paid on the public debt. In
the days of Penn this would have bought the whole United
States many times over. According to ex-Secretary Bayard's
oration on Caesar Rodney, Penn's colony "was supposed to
number forty thousand" when he died in 1718. This country
was born at a time when the telegraph and steamer and rail-
way were waiting for her, and now a woman may travel alone
for thousands of miles, and the traveler finds one language, one
coin, and one flag from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This ex-
tended journey is not over an uninhabited country; but well
cultivated farms also towns and villages with their manufactur-
ing industries meet the eye on every side.
The Indian life was far more poetic than ours. The tents
and the ponies, and the forests, and the curling smoke, and the
Indian children were more picturesque than the sights which
meet our eyes to-day. We hardly realize how long these sons
of the forest tarried in what is now a settled district. Rev. Dr.
Alfred Nevin, in his "Men of Mark of Cumberland Valley,
Pennsylvania," states that the eminent divine, Rev. Dr. Francis
Herron, in his early life, found Indians numerous near Marietta,
Ohio, and camped two nights with them.
Thomas L. McKenney's "Tour to the Lakes, and Incidents
of the Treaty of Fond Du Lac," gives the experience of a joint-
commissioner with Governor Cass, in 1826, under the Presidency
of John Qumcy Adams. Here "The ranger of the western
world," as Cowper would have styled him, is seen traveling
westward. A safety barge, towed by a steamer, was then the
562 THK PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
mode of struggling up the Hudson river. The barge was a fine
place for eating, and sleeping. The noble Mrs. Johnson, a
Chippeway Indian, who largely influenced her people in their
agreement, as Mr. Cass stated, well deserves mention. In ad-
dition to this woman, who aided in the treaty, Mrs. Schoolcraft,
with her silvery voice and delicate manners, and mildness, must
be named as the daughter of a Chippeway mother, and wife
of a distinguished traveler and author. She was the descendant
of an Indian king, and drew much attention in Europe, as Poca-
hontas had in former days. She was educated by her devoted
father. Such examples indicate the good effects of the white
man's power in certain cases. The Indian war-song and love-
song have ceased to echo in our woods and valleys, though the
names of the ancient races cling lovingly to our streams, as
if they could not bear to be altogether forgotten. Wisconsin
is now forgetting its dog-trains, where a lady and child, wrapped
in fur, might ride forty miles a day, while the husband guided
the strange steeds. The snow-shoes and Indian-canoe and dances
and glad feasts are now lacking, while the fur trade, which
enriched an Astor, is largely a thing of the past.
If my hearers wish to know the condition of this country in
an early day, let them step into the Philadelphia Library, and
take up that folio entitled "America," by John Ogilby, Esq. "His
Majesty's Cosmographicer, and Geographick printer," published
in London in 1671 ; and the quaint maps and striking pictures
will draw his attention. The wonders of fish and animals, and
of Indians clad in skins, roaming where now cities stand in
luxury, are like a constant romance. Virginia then comprehended
New England, and Queen Elizabeth's honor was commemorated
all along the Atlantic shore. New Netherlands, now New York,
was a part of this wide Virginia. As to climate, the old author
makes a remark befitting our summer weather as follows : "There
are who affirm that New England, though situated in the midst of
the temperate zone, nevertheless feels both extremities of the two
opposite zones, in the summer the heat of the torrid, and in the
winter the cold of the frigid."
As to Indian times, Schenectady means "the first place seen
after coming out of the woods." When white men occupied it
the place had a double stockade, with a blockhouse at each corner,
THE PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES 563
the larger one being a church. This is now the seat of Union
College, once under the care of the Reverend President Nott,
and where Bishop Potter, of Pennsylvania, was once a pro-
fessor. The Hght of literature has shined into those old woods.
Daniel Denton's "Brief Description of New York," in 1670,
is the first description of New York and New Jersey in the Eng-
lish language. It describes the abundance of the country, where
one may travel hundreds of miles through towns and villages
and hear no complaint of want, or be asked for a farthing, while
the Indians were hospitable. Beehives abounded, and this was
a "terrestrial Canaan * * * where the land floweth with
milk and honey." "Peace and plenty" were everywhere visible.
The doors of low-roofed houses were shut against pride and
luxury, but wide open to charity toward each other or strangers.
A wagon or cart gave as good content as a coach, and "home-
made cloth was better than the finest lawns or richest silks."
In William W. Campbell's "Annals of Tyron County, New
York," or the "Border Warfare of New York during the Revolu-
tion," we see another picture in another region, where Indian
attacks kept the settlers in fear, as the thrilling stories narrate.
Often however the white provoked the hostility of the Indian.
Watson, who wrote the "Annals of Philadelphia," likewise gave
the public his interesting researches in the state of New York.
Here we see Henry Hudson slowly moving up the North river,
which was to bear his name, in the little vessel called "The Half
Moon." In Dutch times New York city was New Amsterdam,
and the place was established by the Dutch for fur trade. Later
on we see a Dutch Mayor locking the city gates every even-
ing at six o'clock, and opening them at sunrise. Mrs. Sigour-
ney made this the subject of a poem, beginning:
" Lo with the sun, came forth a goodly train,
The portly Mayor with his guard of State. ' '
In following Watson's leading, we behold the cows in Albany
with their tinkling bells returning along the grassy streets where
they were permitted to spend the night. Mrs. Grant, in her
memoirs of Mrs. Schuyler, describes this simple life when, in
this Dutch town the cows were milked at their masters' doors.
So now, every evening, the narrow streets of Nicaea, in Asia
Minor, contain the buffaloes driven in from the fields, as J. T.
564 THE TROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
Bent describes the ancient city in the Fortnightly Review. There
was a comparative equahty among the inhabitants as to wealthy
manners and dress. The porch, or stoop, was a gathering place
of famiHes or groups of neighbors. Sometimes the young peo-
ple in winter would sit there in the evenings wrapped in furs
to see companies riding down hill on their sleds.
Travel in summer was by ox-cart, or rough white-topped
wagons. The buffet-car between New York and Chicago with
its library and barber-shop was unheard of, and the dining-car^
and a conductor with white kid gloves, and train employees
in blue uniform, and a lady's maid and stenographer were not
then deemed necessary to the traveler. A plush covered revolv-
ing chair was unknown in locomotion. For many years the
blazed path through the forest, with its chipped trees, guided
the woodmen.
Rochester, in New York, was considered a Western town,
and when it had a population of 8,000 not one was a native of
the place. In 1843 Abner Barlow, the first farmer to sow a fielcj
of wheat in western New York, attended an Agricultural Society
meeting in his ninety-second year.
When John Ouincy Adams was in New York, in 1785, it
had 18,000 inhabitants, and John Jay was laying the foundation
of a house in Broadway, "a quarter of a mile from any other
dwelling." By God's goodness the city is now one of the lead-
ing markets of the world, and let us not forget how Christianity
has aided this wonderful development, as we see its many
church-spires pointing heavenward. The new world had true
religion as its foundation stone while an enterprising nation like
Japan is now seeking the same truth with which we started
on our wondrous race. The Indianapolis Nezus remarks that
our three leading cities contain more people than "were in the
whole country one hundred years ago."
In country districts instead of bridges, rafts of felled trees bore
the moving emigrants. Neighbors were from ten to forty miles
distant. New England's thrift and energy have largely settled
the new West, where like rudeness was seen in the beginning.
One of the pleasant things about the first settlements in this
land was the kindness and hospitality of the Indians which were
too often met with cruelty on the part of the whites. Irving's
THE PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES 565
"Last sigh of the Moor" at Granada was repeated on many a
hillside, and in many a forest, as "the poor Indian" left his
favorite stream and his hunting-ground and the graves of his
ancestors, as the grasping and relentless white man bade him
move onward, and clear the way for the great care of human
progress. It is a consolation to think that at this late day some
effort is made to educate and Christianize those who remain of
these vanishing tribes.
The great Erie canal was one of the vast strides with which
civilization began to assert its power, and the name of DeWitt
Clinton is memorable in connection with the mighty undertaking
begun at a time when public spirit hardly anticipated the im-
mense revolution which the introduction of steam was to intro-
duce on land and sea. The gliding through meadows, and the
incidents of the passing through locks, with the sinking and
rising of the boat, and running under bridges were striking
features of canal travel.
In old time the mail was carried on foot from New York
to Albany. As to the manners of the people, Washington Irving
describes the Dutch cleanliness, when the New York floors were
scrubbed and strewed with sand, drawn into graceful curves
by marks of the broom, and good people "rose with the dawn,
dined at eleven, and went to bed at sundown." The six o'clock
dinners, and the fine carpets of the New York of to-day do not
answer this description. In the desire to restore old forms
of architecture and furniture, I wish that the fireplace tiles with
their Scripture scenes and texts might find place, as they would
be useful in impressing divine lessons on the minds of children.
The first daily paper in New York was issued by F. Child
& Co. It was "The Daily Advertiser," and began in 1785.
Since the Revolution, the mail between New York and Philadel-
phia was carried by a boy in saddlebags, on horseback, thrice
a week ; next came a sulkey, and then a bag was placed on a
platform on wheels, and a four-horse stage with all its grandeur
followed.
When Lafayeite sojourned in this country he was pleased with
the simple American manners, but the fashions in dress of our
ancestors were stifif. The cocked hat and wig indicate this.
Young men had powdered heads. The coats had long cuffs, and
566 THE PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
their skirts were sometimes wadded and buckram lined. Shirt-
ruffles were worn, and breeches and shoes had buckles of silver
or other material. Boys often had wigs. Women always wore
caps, high-heeled shoes, and, in miry winter, clogs. If we were
to meet such men and women now, we should be startled. In
those times the manners were formal, as was also the dress.
When wigs disappeared, both men and women plaited their
natural hair. Sharp-toed shoes were used. Vests had pocket-
flaps, and queues were worn. Ladies clothed their heads with
the muskmelon bonnet, the wagon bonnet (used by the French),
the whalebone bonnet, the calash bonnet, and the straw beehive
bonnet. Men's boots came in after the Revolution. Umbrellas
and parasols are comparatively modern. Jonas Hanway, a Lon-
don merchant, was noted as introducing the use of the umbrella
in London. It was at first ridiculed as efifeminate. Men wore
"rain coats," and women "camblets." Mere children were dressed
stiffly like grown people. Old pictures show this. The house
furniture was simple, and for a long time there were no stoves,
but the family-hearth was a reality, and not a mere figure of
speech. A delightful- reality it was, as the group watched the
poetic fire-light, and the young listened to the tales of the elders,
of a yet older time and its joys and perils in emigrant and Indian
days.
The devotion to religion, when religious service cost toil, was
praiseworthy. The Huguenot farmers of Rochelle, New York,
used to walk twenty miles into New York city on Saturday
afternoons to attend the services in the French language at the
church "Du St. Esprit," (Church of the Holy Spirit,) on the
following Lord's Day.
We turn now from Watson's notes to Geikie's "Hours with the
Bible," to see in that scholarly volume, how men lived in the East
in ancient times, that we may draw a comparison with American
settlements. The simple one-story houses, with their flat roofs
and latticed windows, and the unlighted streets, where night trav-
elers must carry lamps, display such primitive state of things
in Judea as was seen in our early history.
The advance in agriculture in this country has been so great,
and the means of moving grain so ample, that the question of
over-production is staring us in the face. Compare the time
THE PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES 567
when the Virginia colony thought of returning to the mother
country because they could not get provision here. The
food, which then came from England to cheer their hearts and
give them new life was returned gladly in the Irish famine and
immense quantities of grain and fruit, including the luscious
apple, now go abroad to fill the tables of foreigners. The ele-
vators jutting up in our large cities tell this tale.
An illustration of modern American agriculture may be found
in the fact that in Dakota there is a farm eight miles square.
It is divided into sections, worked by gang-plows, with three
horses, and the furrows are a mile long. Scandinavian work-
men are employed ; they start their plowing at four or five
o'clock in the morning, and by nine or ten at night return to
the point of departure, having made two furrows. There are
one hundred and twenty combined mowers, reapers and binders
and twenty steam threshers on the farm. The owner has his
own steamer to carry grain on the Red river to Fargo. A friend
of mine conversed with one who had worked on this farm, and
gave me these wonderful particulars.
When we consider such signs of improvements, we may style
the United States the wonder of the 19th century, though Vic-
tor Hugo said that Africa would be the continent of the 20th
century.
About fifty years ago. Mrs. Child wrote her interesting letters
from New York which are so full of important facts, told in
charming style and enlivened by Christian sentiment — we will
cull a little information from the volume. From the Bowery,
which was in early days a Dutch farm, according to the mean-
ing of the word, to Bloomingdale, was a fashionable drive
when these letters were written.
The Grand Boulevard and Central Park still keep up a coun-
try look on the side of the beautiful Hudson river, but if Mrs.
Childs could now ride along the ancient highway she would
see many a new sight. St. Mark's Episcopal church where
Governor Stuyvesant is buried, and where the old pear tree
has been known as a landmark, is not far from the Bible House,
Cooper Institute and Astor library, and the visitor in New
York should make it one of the objects of his attention. The
old style of the sacred building is maintained without and
568 THE PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
within. The New York Historical Society's rooms are near it.
Mrs. Child has some Indian reminiscences. Lake Winne-
pesaukey (Winnepisiogges), is translated as meaning the Smile
of the Great Spirit, and many such American lakes may re-
mind us of the time at the Creation when "the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters," and brought order and
beauty out of confusion. Some Penobscot Indians were found
by our authoress in the Elysian Fields, at Hoboken, where
they had pitched their tents. The lady told the dwellers in the
two tents that she had eaten supper with their tribe in a hemlock
forest on the Kennebec's shores, and asked if the old chief
Captain Neptune was living, and inquired concerning Etalexis,
his handsome and tall nephew. She recalls the fact that Ben-
jamin West, on first seeing the Apollo Belvidere, exclaimed:
"How like a young Mohawk warrior!" These young Indians
were skillful in overcoming wild beasts, and the legend St.
George slaying the dragon found its counterpart in their brave
acts, as well as in those of the white emigrants who came into
the forests after them ; though in neither case may we imagine
the contest prolonged for three days as in Spenser's Faerie
Queene, where the noble knight is represented as thus continuing
his dire combat until victory came.
The rapid advance of this country may perhaps best be seen
by taking the case of an individual as the type of many. This
book notices pleasantly the garden of the great seedsman. Grant
Thorburn, at Ravenswood, Long Island, opposite New York,
near Astoria. The horse cars now run through that district.
There were nearly three thousand dahlias in bloom in this gar-
den near the river side. The handsome country seats of Thor-
burn and his son were m the garden. The famous owner loved
to tell the story of his youth, when he was a little Scotch lad,
with "brief legs and shuffling feet," as he expressed it, on the
deck of an emigrant steamer, in 1794. He helped Cato, the
colored cook, prepare the potatoes for dinner, as the ship neared
New York. One of the men who came out to the ship in a boat
asked if there was a nailmaker on board, and as that was the
lad's occupation, with a sixpence in his pocket, and a nail ham-
mer as personal property, he began a successful career in this
land of wondrous individual as well as national development.
THE PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES 569
I have turned to' Grant Thorburn's biography to look over his
own descriptions of early life in New York. This representa-
tive emigrant, who was known in literature as Lawrie Todd^
began married life in a room six by twelve, containing "a bed,
a pine table worth fifty cents, three chairs, a soup-pot, tea-kettle,
six cups and saucers, a griddle, frying-pan and brander." The
faithful Christian wife had refused an offer of marriage from
a comparatively wealthy man to share poverty with her beloved
husband. The happy couple had what they thought needful,
but carpets and brasses and mahogany and servants and wealth
came to Thorburn afterwards. They were a Godly pair, and
began the new life with a prayer, and God's blessing attended it.
In Henry Graham Ashmead's "History of Delaware County," is
a description of one phase of early housekeeping which women
may be thankful is .1 record of the past. Candles were made
with huge kettles of tallow hung by a crane over burning logs,
while long poles rested on the seats of chairs. Tow strands
were used before candle wicks were invented. The candles were
placed in the garret to dry and harden. The kerosene and gas
and electricity of the present time have driven out such tasks.
The old picture of country worshipers going to service at early
candle light, carrying their candles with them to light the church,
is a pleasant one.
In Mrs. Kirkland's "New Home — Who'll Follow?" there are
somewhat dramatized illustrations of Western life in the early
days of Michigan. Mrs. Kirkland was a sister of Goodrich,
the Peter Parley so familiar to the boys and girls of a former
day. In her travels she represents vividly the trouble of finding
proper sleeping arrangements in small houses, and the rude
manners of the new country. The borrowing of many things,
where household utensils were scarce, was a constant trouble ;
though when one neighbor is said to have sent to borrow the
baby of another, it was a pretty compliment, and one which
sometimes is given in an Eastern home. A baby shoe is said
once to have made a pleasant excitement in a mining camp, and
the baby is met with a smile in all lands.
Dickens, in Martin Chuzzlewit, has described the early con-
dition of Cairo, in Illinois, in a satirical way.
I well recollect years ago going several miles from Chicagcv
570 THE PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
to the sale of lots, and while it seemed strange to expect large
growth at such a distance from the Western metropolis a citizen
of Chicago informed the crowd that they were making history,
and certainly he was right. Chicago and her suburbs have made
as wonderful a history as any other city in the world. In Car-
negie's "Triumphant Democracy" we read that in 1840 the popu-
lation of Chicago was 4,500, while now the Queen of the West
leads the world as a lumber and a provision market.
In 1682 the population of the town of New York was over
2,000, besides the slaves, and now it is pushing along on the
second million. In April of this year (1890) there arrived in
the United States over 64,000 emigrants.
During the ten months ending with the close of last April, our
exports were over 747,000,000 dollars. This amount of money
would have bought the old colonies many times over.
One thing which has contributed to the progress of the United
States has been its comparative freedom from wars. The Eng-
lish member of Parliament, James Bryce, in his extensive work
"The American Commonwealth," says : "Despite the admira-
tion for military exploits which the Americans have sometimes
shown, no country is at bottom more pervaded by a hatred of
war and a sense that national honor stands rooted in national
fair dealing." He adds that most European nations of like
strength have in past times abused their power.
The religious sentiment of the country has contributed to this
peacefulness. The advance in religious thought is shown in the
splendid churches which bless our land. When Henry Ward
Beecher preached in the second story of an academy in Indian-
apolis, at his first settlement, in a room which held "scarcely
more than one hundred," he was the precursor of those clergy
who should see the Lord worshiped in the beauty of holiness
in grander buildings. That impressive sermon of his which
was the first one to that small congregation was to be
followed in Brooklyn by others which should affect thous-
ands. The pleasant services in the "semi-subterranean" lecture
room in the new church which arose in Indianapolis with its
"glorious scenes" of spiritual life, fostered by abounding labors
and prayers, evinced the fact that spiritual progress is to be
reckoned among the sources of material development.
THE PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES 57 1
Literary progress must not be omitted. In Rev. Rufus W.
Griswold's "Curiosities of American Literature," we can see the
wondrous accounts of early travels in this new and strange
land. Cotton Mather and the Bay Psalm Book and the noble
work of the devoted missionary EHot in the translation of the
Bible into the Indian language are treated of. The Indian
Bible may be seen under a glass case in the Ridgway Library.
A copy of one edition is worth hundreds of dollars. Mrs. Brad-
street, and Roger Williams, and William Penn, and Governor
Wolcott, and Nathaniel Ward, and Phineas Rivington follow
as prose and poetry, succeeded each other, and Revolutionary
ballads lay open the heart of the people. Hopkinson's "Battle
of the Kegs" is one of the liveliest of these ballads. Mather
Byles, and Joseph Green, and Timothy Dexter, and Rev. Drs.
Dwight and Mayhew, and Mr. Dennie, and Robert Treat Paine,
and Joel Barlow, and the Philadelphia school-master, John Bev-
eridge, who wrote Latin poems, are noticed in this work. In
later years, we may add the genial Irving, and the vivid Cooper,
and the historian Prescott, and the poets Bryant and Whittier
and the humorous Saxe, and Longfellow, who enlivens farm-
house and city home with pure and sweet strains. In theology,
Jonathan Edwards made this world famous in the old country ;
and many have succeeded him in the simpler mode of sermoniz-
ing in which tens of thousands of American clergy instruct their
flocks every Sunday. In light literature, Poe, and Hawthorne,
and Mrs. Stowe, and General Wallace have done good work;
and American books have gone to foreign lands. Good Dr.
Newton, of Philadelphia, wrote wonderful sermons for children,
which have been translated into various languages, and are
blessing the earth.
Literature comes through education, and the school-house,
college and theological seminary, and law school, and medical
college, have done their work well here. The old rude school-
house has given place to the artistic and luxurious building and
the children have comfort of body as well as pleasure of mind.
In this review of prosperity we need to thank God that the
prediction of the prophet Amos concerning another land seems
applicable here, as "the plowman" overtakes "the reaper, and
the treader of grapes," the sower of the "seed." As we think
572 XOGANIAN LANDS IN BUCKS COUNTY
of the wilderness overcome, and the thousand blessings of civiliza-
tion, let us remember the teaching of God by the mouth of
Moses, that wealth is not to be ascribed to our "power" or "the
might of" our "hand" but to the gift and established "covenant"
of the "Lord" our "God." By his power goodly cities and
powerful governments arise ; and if the people forget Him their
power vanishes by the breath of His displeasure. Let us then,
as individuals, and as a nation, seek to walk in His ways, that
He may continue to direct our steps in the paths of peace and
happiness and prosperity, as He guided our wandering fathers.
Imagination fails to painl the glories of the coming time, if
such faithful service is rendered unto God, and such blessings fol-
low as have already been the lot of this favored land, which has
dwelt under the care of the Lord, so that we look back with the
Indian to the smile of the Great Spirit as resting on our soil
and brightening our waters.
Loganian Lands in Bucks County.
BY JOHN h. DUBOIS, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, Jan. 20, 1891).
In 1747 James Logan, a citizen of the Province of Pennsyl-
vania, owned a tract of land in Solebury township, Bucks county,
containing about 612 acres. This land is situated on both sides
of the Lahaska turnpike, about two miles from New Hope.
James Logan conveyed it to Jacob Dean and Jonathan Ingham
in two parts. These two tracts take their names from the origi-
nal tenants and are known as the Dean and Ingham tracts of
Loganian land.
Now as to the Ingham tract: On the first of May, 1747,
James Logan, by his deed or indenture, granted a part of the
above tract containing 409 acres and 66 perches to Jonathan
Ingham, his heirs and assigns, to hold the same from and after
March i, 1754, for the term of seven years, at the yearly rent
of £21 sterling in English money, or in foreign good coined
silver or gold equivalent to the same "on the first day of March
in every year for the full term of seven years; and from the
I.OGANIAN LANDS IN BUCKS COUNTY 573
expiration of the said seven years for the full term of one hun-
dred years the next ensuing, at the yearly rent of £25 ster-
ling in money aforesaid on the first day of March ; and after the
expiration of the term of one hundred and seven years to wit :
On the first day of March, 1861," the deed provided "That
the said tract of land, with all the improvements thereon, was
to be valued by four judicious and impartial men, to be in-
dififerently chosen by the heirs and assigns of the said James
Logan of the one part, and the executors, administrators and
assigns of the said Jonathan Ingham of the other part, and by
how much the true value of the said land and improvements
shall in the estimation of the said four persons exceed the rent
herein reserved one full half or moiety of such excess shall be
added to the said rent herein reserved and from that time become
a new rent, and shall be yearly yielded and duly paid to the heirs
and assigns of the said James Logan by the executors, admin-
istrators or assigns of the said Jonathan Ingham on the first
day of March yearly forever ; and in the like manner the like
proceedings shall be renewed at the expiration of every 121
years forever thereafter."
The deed also prohibited the tenant from cutting off more
than three-fourths of the wood, the other one-fourth being re-
quired for a supply of "fencing and firing." Subsequently, to
wit, on May 5, 1747, a supplemental deed was executed by the
same parties for the purpose of correcting an omission in the
former deed. By this deed, James Logan reserves to himself,
his heirs, and assigns "one full moiety or half part of all such
copper or lead ore as shall at any time be found after the said
first day of March, 1753, within the bound of the within granted
land with full privilege of his and their walkeneys at all times
hereafter to view the said land, to hold the said moiety of such
copper or lead ore to the said James Logan, his heirs, and as-
signs to their own proper use and behalf forever." In 1760
the heirs of James Logan granted the rent reserved by the deed
of May I, 1747, to certain persons in trust for the Loganian
Library, Philadelphia, excepting, however, the right of James
Logan and his heirs, to "all the mines or shares of mines on the
said tract. The Library Company, of Philadelphia, is now the
trustee of the Loganian Library and in that capacity entitled
574 IvOGANIAN LANDS IN BUCKS COUNTY
to the rents reserved in the deed from James Logan to Jonathan
Ingham,
The term of 107 years expired March i, 1861, but in conse-
quence of a difference of opinion between the Library Co., and
the tenants, as to the principle on which the valuation of the
tract should be made so as to fix the rental for the term of 121
years, it was delayed until the question could be adjudicated by
the Supreme Court. That Court decreed that the valuation
mentioned in the deed is of the fair market value of the fee sim-
ple of the tract of land conveyed by the said indenture with the
improvements therein, free from all incumbrances and not of
the annual net value of the said tract of lands and improvements,
and that the Plaintiffs are entitled to have one moiety of the
excess of the interest at six per cent, upon the said valuation of
the fee simple of the said tract of land and improvements to be
made as aforesaid at the expiration of the said term of 107 years
over and above the present rent of twenty-five pounds sterling
added to the said rent to become a new rent for the period of
121 years from March i, 1861. And further that the parties
should each choose two judicious and impartial men to make
such valuation. In pursuance of this decree the Library Co.
in beginning of 1862 selected David Landreth, of Bucks county,
and Charles H. Murheid, of Philadelphia, and the tenants John
Blackfan and Stacy Brown, of Bucks county, who personally
examined the land and heard the parties together with such persons
as they saw proper to bring before them to give their opinions
in regard to its value. In consequence of a difference of opinion
the referees did not then agree. The valuation however by the
assent of all the parties interested was assessed at the sum
of $22,500, the Library Co. having agreed to release the restric-
tion in regard to clearing the woodland. This valuation made
the annual rental of the 409 acres and 66 perches for the term
of 121 years, $730.55. It is on this tract that the celebrated
Ingham spring gushes forth, which furnishes the valuable water
power enjoyed by New Hope. The counsel for the Library
Company were : Peter McCall, of Philadelphia, Charles E. Du-
Bois and Hon. Richard Watson, of Bucks county ; and the
counsel for the tenants were : Hon. M. Russel Thayer, of Phil-
adelphia, and Hon. Thomas Ross, of Bucks county.
LOGANIAN LANDS IN BUCKS COUNTY 575
,, As to the Dean tract. On May 26, 1747, James Logan granted
to Jacob Dean, his heirs and assigns forever, the residue of the
tract containing 202 acres and 82 perches. This part of the
tract is also situated on the New Hope turnpike and includes
the hamlet known by name of Paxson's Corner. There are upon
it several limekilns, besides quarries of excellent limestone.
By the terms of the deed this tract was granted to Jacob
Dean, his heirs and assigns, for the term of seven years, com-
mencing on March i, 1754, at the yearly rent of "ten pistoles
in fine coined gold weighing at least four pennyweights and
seven grains per piece, or in other good coin silver or gold
equivalent to the same," payable on March ist of every year;
and from the expiration of the said seven years for the full
term of one hundred years at the yearly rent of "ten pounds
sterling in English money as the same passes in England or in
foreign good coined gold equivalent to the same," payable on
the 1st of March yearly, the first payment to be made March i,
1 761. The deed also contained the same clause in regard to
the valuation of the land at the expiration of the 107 years as
the deed from Logan to Ingham above recited. It also con-
tained a similar restriction in regard to cutting off the wood
which, however, with the exception of 8 or 10 acres, had been
cut off many years ago by former tenants. It further contained
the same reservation of the right of James Logan and his heirs
and assigns to the profits of one half of the copper and lead
which might be found on the premises. And also subject to
the privilege of Logan, his heirs and assigns and their "walk-
eney" of viewing the said land.
The term of 107 years having expired March i, 1861, and
the Supreme Court having on the case of the Ingham tract
settled the principles of law governing the valuation, the Library
Company of Philadelphia who succeeded to this estate of James
Logan, selected David Landreth, of Bucks county, and Charles
H. Murheid, of Philadelphia; and the tenants William T. Rog-
ers and Benjamin S. Rich, of Bucks county, referees to deter-
mine the valuation of the tract. These gentlemen met beginning
of 1862 and having viewed the premises and some of the adja-
cent estates adjourned to meet in Doylestown February 25, 1862 ;
-at which time they assembled in the court room and heard the
576 LOGANIAN I,ANDS IN BUCKS COUNTY
testimony of witnesses in regard to the value of the land a?
defined by the Supreme Court.
There was considerable difference between the estimates of
the witnesses on the part of the company and those of the tenants.
Some of the former estimated the land worth $70 per acre
while the tenants' witnesses generally valued it at from $40 to
$45 per acre. Much evidence was adduced on both sides both
of a parol and documentary character. After a tedious session
the referees adjourned to meet in Philadelphia at the office of
Mr. Murheid on the 27th of March, at which time they deter-
mined the question submitted to them and assessed the value of
the land known as the Dean tract at the sum of $45 per acre.
By this assessment the annual rent which the tenants of the Dean
tract will be required to pay the Library Company for the next
121 years commencing March i, 1861, will be $292.20. The
counsel in this case were Peter McCall, C. E. DuBois and
Richard Watson for the Library Company, and T. & H. Ross
and George Lear, for the tenants. The present counsel for the
Library Company is the reader of this paper and he collects
from the tenants of the Ingham and Dean tracts the annual
rents amounting as above stated to the sum of $1022.75.
The present tenants are as follows : Alexander Cathers, D.
B. Smith, Charles McDonald, T. T. Eastburn, Eastburn Reeder,
Elias Paxson, J. Naylor, Harriet Shepherd, Cress Fell, T. T.
Pool, Mrs. A. J. Beaumont, Amos Johnson, J. B. Thompson
€State, Josiah B. Smith, Mrs. George H. Beaumont, Deer Park
Association and Charlotte Breban. At first the Library Com-
pany paid all the taxes assessed on the real estate. They did
this voluntarily, not being legally required to do so. Afterward
they paid half of the taxes and the tenants the remaining half.
Now the tenants pay all the taxes, they being the owners of the fee
the taxes fall legally upon them. The rents in arrear can be col-
lected by the legal process mentioned in the deeds, by distraint,
etc. When any of the land is sold the purchaser takes it sub-
ject to the Loganian rent, even if it is a judicial sale. The ten-
ants have generally been prompt in paying the rents to the
Library Company, and the directions in the deeds have always
been carried out. Whether these lands in some way will ever
be freed from what is called the Loganian rents no one can.
now tell — the future will determine it.
Popular Errors Respecting North American Indians.
BY DR. WILLIAM J. HOFFMAN, WASHINGTON, D. C.
(Doylestowu Meeting, Jauary 20, iSgi).
Although the antiquities and Indians of the United States
have for many years occupied the attention of anthropologists,
both in this country and abroad, it is only a few years, compara-
tively speaking, since anthropologic research has been scientifi-
cally conducted so that in the light of more recent discovery it
is not at all surprising that many of the old theories are entirely
discarded and constant antagonism met with from those who
had based their beliefs upon imperfect, or even erroneous, state-
ments of earlier writers.
At the present day, however there are various specialists in
the several divisions of the science of anthropology who are
steadily collecting from original sources all available informa-
tion for ultimate elaboration and publication, whereby a vast
amount of valuable material concerning the languages, customs,
sociology and mythology of existing tribes will be permanently
preserved.
It is difificult, at this late day, to obtain satisfactory informa-
tion relative to any pre-Columbian history, and impossible to
decide conclusively whether the Indian was autochthonous or
not. The comparison of languages appears to be one of the
safest methods of detecting relationships between peoples of
different countries, and as there has yet to be found a single
instance in which linguistic afifinity can be conclusively estab-
lished between any tribes of North America and of the old
world, our natives stand practically isolated. This statement
brings us to the first of a series of common, though erroneous,
beliefs.
Instead of there being but a few prominent tribes and lan-
guages as is generally supposed, there are about two hundred
and twenty-five, grouped under fifty-eight Hnguistic families.
Some of these families are represented by but a single tribe
and language, as shown by the Zuni, and the Tonkaway; while
19
5/8 POPULAR ERRORS RESPECTING NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS
others may embrace a great number of tribes, as was the case
with the Algonkian family which, with the exception of the
Iroquoian, embraced ahnost every tribe from Nova Scotia to
the James river, and westward to the country of the Blackfeet,
in Montana ; or, a Hnguistic family may be represented by widely
separated tribes, as, for instances, the Athabascan, of which the
Kenai are in Alaska, the Chippewayan in British America, the
Rogue rivers in Oregon, the Hupa in California, the Navajos in
New Mexico, the Apache in Arizona and the Lipans in Chihua-
hua.
The impression obtains that Indian languages are limited
as to the number of words, and that conversing in certain lan-
guages, the speaker, is compelled to accompany his words with
gesture signs to make himself understood. Statements to this
effect are made by various writers when alluding to the Arapaho !
This language is one of the Algonkian family, and consequently
presents all the radical features, syntax, etc., of almost any
other language of that family, so that an Arapaho would
meet with but little difficulty in acquiring Cheyenne,
Blackfoot, Shawnee, Delaware, or any other language of that
family. But if he were desirous of learning the languages of
other linguistic families, new radical vocabularies would first
have to be mastered, after which would appear the real difficul-
ties in the shape of verbal forms, inflextions, the prefix, suffix
or incorporation of pronouns, a new syntax, and many other
things that must of necessity be kept in constructing the phrase
or sentence it might become necessary to express.
Indian languages are not so limited to a meagre vocabulary
as many authors would have us believe. The Dakota language
contains over twenty-five thousand words ; the Choctaw fur-
nished the late Reverend Byington about seventeen thousand
words for his translation of the Bible into that language.
The mere collection of a vocabulary is not the investigation
of the language ; sentences and texts must be dissected and
analyzed, and it is only by this process that the real structure,
and the difficulties become apparent. A Greek verb is capable
of thirteen hundred forms of conjugation in its various modes,
tenses, person, etc. A Tuscarora verb furnishes at least nine-
teen hundred variations, and a Mohawk will reach even to two
POPULAR ERRORS RESPECTING NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS 579
thousand. The dual form also exists, as "He" they, and "She"
they. But vvirh all these intricacies the verb to be does not ap-
pear in any language, as we understand it in English, but there
are forms substituted which answer the purpose.
Through what processes these languages have become so high-
ly developed and differentiated it is impossible even to conjec-
ture.
Of the numerous theories proposed to account for the peopling
of America by immigration from across the Atlantic, none has
borne the test.
The most plausible theory, and one that is more generally
believed, is that the aborigines are the descendants of people who
had in remote times crossed over from Asia into Alaska. Upon
an examination of the tribes of Alaska, we find the coast
line occupied by Innuit or Eskimo, while the interior is thinly
populated by tribes of the. Athabaskan linguistic family, already
referred to. The language of the Innuit is totally distinct from
Tschukchee of the Kamtscatka side, and there yet remains a
small colony of people resulting from the intermarriage of Eski-
mo, with Tschuckchee, who had been transported thither by
the Russians, solely for the purpose of being employed by the
fur hunters. No independent or voluntary intercourse is known
to exist between the natives of the Asiatic and the American
sides of the strait.
The only other reasonable theory respecting the peopling of
America, and one which is worthy of careful study is that the
original immigrants crossed the Pacific ocean, landing possibly,
somewhere in the vicinity of Peru. This theory is based upon
a variety of reasons, the most conspicuous among which is the
fact that in former times the Pacific ocean was more thickly
studded with islands, as is verified by deep sea soundings; the
fact that the Polynesians are accustomed to make long journeys
in their canoes — authentic instances being recorded where jour-
neys of from fifteen hundred to two thousand miles were made,
simply for the pleasure of visiting acquaintances ; and also be-
cause the most highly developed architectural and other remains
are found in Peru, gradually becoming less important as we pass
northward through Central America, Mexico, and into the
United States.
580 POPULAR ERRORS' RESPECTING NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS'
The Hon. Horatio Hale, at the BerHn Congress of American-
ists, in 1888, treated of the subject "Was America peopled from
Polynesia," and remarked that "In attacking this problem, we
are met at the threshold by what seems, at the first sight an enor-
mous and almost insurmountable difficulty. This obstacle is
found in the astonishing number of totally distinct languages
which are spoken in the region bordering on the west coast of
America. To appreciate this difficulty, we may contrast it with
the simplicity of the problem which encountered those scholars
who, in the last century, had to inquire into the connection be-
tween the Polynesian islanders and the races of eastern Asia.
Here the number of continental languages was small and several
of them, composing the monosyllabic group, were so utterly
alien in character to the Polynesian tongues that no connection
with them could reasonably be imagined. The comparison was
practically narrowed down to some five or six idioms, the Ma-
layan family, the Corean language, the Japanese, the Ainu, and
possibly one or two northern tongues. In making this compari-
son, the resemblances between the Polynesian and the Malayan
idioms became so instantly and decisively apparent that no doubt
as to the conclusion could be felt by any scientific student of
languages.
On the American side, all is different, we find a long stretch
of sea-coast, extending from north to south, more than seven
thousand miles, and inhabited by many linguistic families, speak-
ing several hundred languages. Not one-half of these have been
studied grammatically, and of the rest we have merely vocabular-
ies. This circumstance, while it might seem to lighten the labor
of the comparison, would at the same time leave it imperfect and
inconclusive. Therefore, more cautious inquirers have reserved
their opinion in regard to this supposed migration until it can
be based on the only evidence which in such a question is decisive
— that of linguistic affinity.
Another prevailing error concerns the customs and social
condition of the several tribes. They are not all on the same
plane of intellectual development, and their condition and pro-
gress is governed, to a great extent, by their environment. While
some are practically builders of stone houses, and agricultur-
alists — to a certain extent — others are broken up into small
bands and maintain a wretched existence by subsisting upon the
POPULAR ERRORS RESPECTING NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS 581
most loathsome food. To these the term "digger" has been
appHed, and under this indefinite designation may be placed
ahnost fifty different tribes on either side of the Sierra Nevada,
though in reality the true digger is the Bannock and several
neighboring allied tribes, who subsist to a great extent upon
the Camas root and Tuckaho or Indian bread, both very pala-
table substances.
Of all errors, that pertaining to the gradual extinction of the
Indian is the most widespread. The fact is, that the Indian
population is on the increase and has probably always been so.
There are numerous reasons for an error like this to gain
credence, among which may be noted ist, the unconscious, or
careless, exaggeration of the population of tribes when they
were first met with ; 2d, false statements of the Indians them-
selves that they might be considered more powerful and influential
than they actually were; 3d, the enumeration of brands and
tribes under different, though synonymous, terms; 4th, the dis-
appearance, or non-existence, of tribes mentioned in early works.
The traveler Catlin announced in his letters dated 1839, "The
Indians of North America were sixteen millions." De Tocque-
ville remarked "there is no instance on record of so rapid a de-
struction," and Hubert H. Bancroft, in his "Native Races,"
after philosophizing that "the intercourse of civilized with sav-
age people results in the disappearance of civilization, or the
extinction of the barbaric race," bewails "all the millions of
native Americans who have perished under the withering in-
fluence of European civilization." Such statements are con-
stantly met with, and considering the character and prominence
of the authors are readily accepted.
Since careful enumeration of the Indians has been made at
stated intervals in connection with the National census, as also
the lists of families in possession of Indian agents, upon which
are based the issue of rations and annuities, we find a gradual,
though positive, increase in the native population, i. c, taken as
a whole. It is true that some tribes are gradually becoming
extinct, though it is in some instances partly accomplished by
intermarriage with whites, or other Indians ; partly through
disease, etc. The names of some tribes have disappeared from
literature on account of such tribes becoming incorporated with
582 POPULAR ERRORS RESPECTING NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS
Other and more successful bodies, through which means the
new-comers adopt the language, dress and customs of the adopt-
ing ones.
Not many years since, when less was known of the numerous
bands of "Prairie Indians," the number of people supposed to
subsist almost entirely by hunting was largely over-estimated.
One illustration will suffice: A "scientific" traveler met with
the Comanches, and in due time learned from them the names,
and numbers of the different tribes by which they were sur-
rounded. The country to the north, it was ascertained, belonged
to a tribe which the Comanches designated a Shir-ri-di-ka — dog-
eaters, the population being given at about 5,000. When this
traveler arrived in the country of the Arapaho, he failed to find
there the Shir-ri-di-ka, but in their stead a people who gave
their tribal designation as Arapaho, and again the population
was noted. Upon leaving the Arapaho country and entering
the territory of the Dakota, inquiry elicited the statement that
to the south dwelt the Maq-pi-a-to — Blue skies, this being the
Dakota word applied to the Arapaho. In this manner one tribe
figured under three distinct terms and a proportionately increased
census.
There are some interesting facts connected with several rem-
nants of tribes. Some, in California, are at this day represented
by but two, or perhaps three, full-blooded members. The last
full-blood Tutelo died several years ago, in Canada, and the two
or three surviving mixed-bloods are unable to speak that lan-
guage. The Tulares, in the southern portion of California, num-
ber about 600 souls, and in the year 1883 there were six deaths
and seven births, an increase of one. The Indians constituting
the Dakota nation, number about 40,000, while the total Indian
population of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, reaches a
total of about 265,000.
Much might also be said concerning the "Mound Builders,"
who are generally supposed to have been "an ancient race of
high culture," when in reality they were merely the immediate
predecessors and progenitors of the modern Indians who, at the
time of their discovery, were found occupying the mound areas.
Excavations of hundreds of mounds have yielded many relics
of European manufacture clearly indicating that many of the
POPULAR ERRORS RESPECTING NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS 583
mounds were constructed after the advent of the white man.
Some of the reHcs thus far recovered consist of coins, medals,
sleigh-bells, scissors, brass pins, Venetian polychrome beads,
pipes, portions of firearms, bayonets, swords, etc. Further
research will undoubtedly bring to light more interesting results.
The current assertion that the Indians believe in one Supreme
God is utterly without foundation. Primitive man fills his world
with the multiplicity of spirits, both good and evil, and although
there are apparently chiefs of both classes of these mythic be-
ings, neither is supposed to be possessed of supreme power and
freedom of action. These Gods and demons, for such they
may be termed, are limited in their ability to perform certain
acts only, which expressions of favor or antagonism to the Indian
become apparent to him in a variety of ways. The Thunder God
brings rain in the spring, whereby edible and medicinal plants
are revivified. The Thunderer is supposed to be a huge bird,
the movement of whose wings causes the storm, and whose
voice is heard in the accompanying thunder and lightning. The
Bear spirit is one of the most powerful deities, and is favorably
disposed toward man in aiding him in the accomplishment of
his desires. So with all other spirits or manidos. The favor
of one or more manidos must be invoked by making offerings,
prayers or supplications, and by fasting; and if the anger of a
malevolent spirit is to be averted, the aid of a more powerful
and benign spirit must be secured to counteract the power of the
former.
As the gift of successful invocation is possessed by but a few,
such persons are looked upon as shamans, sorcerers, or priests,
commonly though erroneously designated as medicine men. These
shamans constitute a regularly organized society, known as the
Grand Medicine society, in which are preserved all the ancient
ritualistic traditions of the Indian cosmogony and genesis. At
the preparation of and initiation into this society of candidates,
portions of this ritual are dramatized and the ceremonies are
of a sacred and profoundly impressive character. This is termed
by the Indians their religion and their adherence thereto is the
chief reason of their disinterestedness in or non-adoption of the
Christian religion.
Every Indian in early life goes into a secluded place to fast
584 POPULAR ERRORS RESPECTING NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS
for an indefinite number of days, until in his ecstatic delirium
he perceives some animate form, which he believes to be his
guardian spirit or tutelary daimon. The dreamer then prepares
a small effigy or imitation of this form, and wears it about his
person as a charm, fetish or amulet, and when occasion demands
he makes offerings to the spirit so symbolized, for aid in what-
ever project he may have nearest at heart.
It is true that there is a universal belief in being designated as
a Great Spirit, but, as I have just remarked he is not the spirit
of infinite power, recognized by civilized man and believers in
the Christian religion as God.
Deluge myths, met with among nearly all of our native tribes,
have not been transplanted from the Orient, but had their origin
in the localities in which they occur. Some of these myths relate
to struggles between good and bad spirits, when, to aid the for-
mer, the Benign Spirit caused the water to cover the surface of
the earth so as to subdue or destroy the malignant beings. In
other instances the Indians assert that according to the stories
of their ancestors, the water at one time had covered even the
highest mountains.
Indians are aware of the effects of aqueous erosion and the
consequent stratified deposit of sand, gravel and boulders so long
as it pertains to the level surface of the country and water
courses ; but when such deposits form the surface stratum of a
hill or mountain top, his ignorance of geology, and therefore
the cause and effect of upheavals, will invariably lead him to
suppose that the water had reached that altitude, instead of the
mountain being formed after the deposits had been made in past
ages.
All phenomena and abnormalities are explained by myths,
and in conclusion I may refer to the origin of the Sierra Nevada,
as explained by the Wintuns of California. They have observed
that when a mole burrows beneath the soil there appears upon
the surface a slight ridge ; in a similar manner were formed the
immense mountain ridges, constituting the Sierra Nevada, by
a large mythic mole which burrowed under the earth from north
to south. Equally curious explanations are given to account for
the reason why the beaver has a bare flat tail ; why the meadow
lark has a yellow breast; the panther a long tail and the rabbit
POPULAR ERRORS RE:SPE;CTING NORTH AMe;rICAN INDIANS 585
a short one; and also why the latter has long ears, large eyes,
and a slit upper lip. But to enter upon these details would carry
us into the domain of Indian philosophy and mythology which
would be inappropriate at this time.
I .r."' *"* Third St.
JHAZLETON. PENNA.
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