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Full text of "<a href="/details/collectionofpape02buck">A collection of papers read before the Bucks County Historical Society</a>"
</h1>
<pre>UNIVERSITY
OF PITTSBURGH
LIBRARY
THIS BOOK PRESENTED BY
Alumni living Plan
WII.IJAM I,. ];i,KIXS.
Born May 2, 1S32. Died November 7, 1903,
jralily of Mr. Klkins and of his son George W. Elkins, made possible the erecti^
of the liucks County Historical Society's building at Doylestown.
â– D'J^^' ^t^^'
.ry
A COLLECTION OF PAPERS
READ BEFORE THE
BUCKS COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PUBLISHED FOR THE SOCIETY
BY
B. F. Fackenthal, Jr.
RIEGELSVILLE, Pa.
1909
VOLUME II.
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Hon. Harman Yerkes Mrs. Agnes Williams Palmer
Henry C. Mercer Clarence D. Hotchkiss
Warren S. Ely B. F. Fackenthal, Jr.
Press of
The Chemical Publishing Co.
E ASTON, Pa.
f
CONTENTS
Pagb
List of Illustrations vi
Officers of the Societ}- vii
Standing Committees viii
PAPERS
The Counties of Pennsj'lvania Hon. J. Simpson Africa i
The Two Makefields Gen. W. W. H. Davis 12
John Fitch, the Inventor of Steam Navi-
gation Rev. D. K. Turner 22
The Schwenkfelders Isaiah A. Anders 35
Some Historic Facts Gen. W. W. H. Davis 43
Prehistoric Man in Northern Bucks
Count}' Charles Laubach 52
The Grave of Tamanend Henry C. Mercer 58
Hon. Richard Watson Alfred Paschall 66
Bedminster Township Gen. W. W. H. Davis 69
Hon. Bird Wilson, D. D. , LL. D. , Hon. Harman Yerkes 82
The Blackfans in England and America-Miss Elizabeth C. Blackfan--- 102
The Bristol Pike Rev. S. F. Hotchkin 105
The Jails of Bucks Count}- Rev. D. K. Turner iii
Notes Taken at Random Henry C. Mercer 122
Early and Trying Days of the Reformed
Church in America Rev. J. G. Dengler 132
The Beatty Family Rev. D. K. Turner 137
Historical Sketch of Hatboro and
Vicinity Hon. Harman Yerkes 152
Robert Morris, the Financier of the
Revolution Rev. D. K. Turner 157
The Battle of Crooked Billet Gcu. W. W. H. Davis 173
First Settlers' Descendants Alfred Paschall 187
Early Settlers in Bucks County Gen. W. W. H. Davis 192
Representatives of Bucks County in
Congress Rev. D. K. Turner 205
The Hermit of the Wolf Rocks Col. Henry D. Paxson 231
IV CONTENTS
Reading the Rocks Charles Laubach 246
The Early County Superintendency of
Bucks County Hugh B. Easlburn 253
The Red Man's Bucks County Henry C. Mercer 267
The Tree and the Vine, the. Original Seal
of Bucks County Hon. Harman Yerkes 283
Buckingham, the Empire Township Gen. W. W. H. Davis 294
Washington's Crossing, Unveiling of
Monument at Taylorsville Dwight M. Lowrey 308
Washington's Crossing, Dedication of
Monument at Taylorsville Gen. William S. Stryker 316
Washington's Crossing, Additional His-
torical Facts Hon. Samuel F. Gwinner 325
Daniel Boone, a Native of Bucks County. Rev. D. K. Turner 329
The Battle of Fair Oaks Gen. W. W. H. Davis 337
An Old Burying-Ground, Grave of
Edward Marshall John S. Williams 348
John Ross and the Ross Family Hon. Harman Yerkes 353
Newtown Prior to 1800 J. Pemberton Hutchinson 386
Folk Lore, Notes taken at Random Henrv C. Mercer 406
Half an Hour with the Old Taverns of
Doylestown Gen. W. W. H. Davis 417
General Jacob Brown. A Bucks County
Hero of the War of 1812 Rev. D. K. Turner 441
The Growden Mansion Henry Winfield Watson 451
Thomas Janney, Provincial Councilor Oliver Hough 457
The Little Neshaminy Rev. D. K. Turner 466
Tools of the Nation Maker Henry C. Mercer 480
Colonial Bucks County Hon. Harman Yerkes 4S1
Some Treasures and Recollections of
Childhood Miss Martha Reeder 490
When Men were vSold, Reminiscences of
the Underground Railroad in Bucks
County and Its Managers Dr. Edward H. Ma,t;ill 493
Scotch-Irish Families Warren S. Ely 521
The Society of Friends ]Mrs. Anna E. Willits 541
Jeremiah Langhorne and His Times Samuel C. Eastburn 546
Amos Austin Hughes E. Watson Fell 561
The Turnpike Roads Rev. D. K. Turner 565
CONTENTS V
Rescue of the Colors Painting presented to Bucks county 576
Temanend, Chief of the Lenni Lenapes. -Mrs. Sarah DuBois Mowry 588
How the Word "White" Became Inserted
in Our Constitution of 1838 Gen. W. W. H. Davis 595
Early Courts of Bucks County William C. Ryan 601
Settlement of Tinicum Township Gen. W. W. H. Davis 615
The Old Sullivan Road Rev. Henry M. Kieffer, D. D • . 622
Indian "Busts" Found in Hilltown Town-
ship Rev. J . G. Dengler 634
Sketch of the Life of Rev. Thomas B. • • •
Monlanye Rev. D. K. Turner 640
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
William 1,. Elkins (portrait) Frontispiece
Deep Run School House, Bedminster, Exterior View 73
Deep Run School House, Interior View, Showing Staves of Music on
Beams of Ceiling 73
President Judges of Bucks County Courts 82
Old Jail at Doylestown, Erected in 1S13 iii
New Jail at Doylestown, Erected in 18S5 1 1 1
Ripple Marks at Raubsville, Northampton County, Pa 246
Bucks County Superintendents of Public Schools 253
" Turtlebacks " Found at Upper Blacks Eddy 279
Indian Quarry Refuse at Gaddis Run 279
The Keith House, Washington's Headquarters in 1776 317
Tablet Placed on Keith House by Bucks County Historical Society ... 317
The Ross haw Office at Doylestown , Pa 353
The Ross Residence at Doylestown, Pa 353
Treasury and County Offices at Newtown, Pa., Erected in 1796 386
" Court Inn " at Newtown, Pa., Erected in 1733 386
Growden Mansion, " Trevose ", Front View 451
Growden Mansion, "Trevose", Kitchen and Slave Quarters 451
Lamps of Pennsylvania Pioneers 480
Candle Dipping 100 Years Ago 480
Tools of the Nation Maker, Two \Mews 486
Tools of the Nation Maker 489
The Conestoga Wagon or Prairie Schooner 489
Samuel Scott, a Fugitive Slave 51S
Scott's Home in Solebury Township 518
Mansion of Jeremiah Langhorne 546
Fire Proof Office of Joseph Growden at ' ' Trevose " 546
Rescue of the Colors, at Battle of Fair Oaks 576
Indian ' ' Busts ' ' Found in Upper Bucks County 634-637
BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Organized November 20, 1880.
Incorporated February 23, 1885.
For Charter, Constitution, By-laws, and List of Members, see Vol. I.
OFFICERS
For the Year Ending January, 1910.
President
General W. W. H. Davis
Vice Presidents
John S. Williams Henry C. Mercer
Directors
Thomas C. Knowles Yardley, Pa.
Henry C. Mercer Doylestown, Pa.
Mrs. Richard Watson Doylestown, Pa.
(Term expires January, 1910)
General W. W. H. Davis Doylestown, Pa.
Captain William W'ynkoop Newtown, Pa.
Miss Mary L. DuBois Doylestown, Pa.
(Term expires January, 191 1)
Alfred Paschall West Chester, Pa.
John S. Williams New Hope, Pa.
Mrs. Harman Yerkes Doylestown, Pa.
(Term expires January, 1912^
Secretary and Treasurer Librarian and Curator
Clarence D. Hotchkiss, Warren S. Ely,
Doylestown, Pa. Doylestown, Pa.
STANDING COMMITTEES
History and Genealogy
Seth T. Walton Evan T. Worthington
Dr. J. B. Walter Mrs. Sarah B. Knowles
Historical Landmarks
Warren S. Ely Hon. Harman Yerkes
Ely J. Smith Capt. William Wynkoop
Tree Planting and Grounds
T. O. Atkinson
Mrs. Mary Heaton Miss Ellen D. Smith
Relics, Curios and Antiquities
Grier Scheetz Henry C. Mercer
Matthias H. Hall Miss Ellen D. Smith
Pictures, Photographs and Paintings
Alfred Paschall
Mrs. Agnes Williams Palmer Miss Margaret W. Ely
Mrs. Alfred Paschall Miss Belle VanSant
Biography and Necrology
C. R. Nightingale
Mrs. I. M. James Mrs. Anna L. Tilney
The Counties of Pennsylvania.
BY HON. J. SIxMPSON AFRICA, HUNTINGDON, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 20, 1S91).
ANY of the pupnlar histories of the day erroneovtsly
fix the year 1682 as the date of the first settlement
of Pennsylvania. More than half a century before
the date of William Penn's charter, the Dutch "West
India Company took possession, under the right of discovery,
of the lands along the rivers Hudson and Delaware, the former
being called the North and the latter the South river. The
Dutch settlement upon the Delaware was abandoned, and, under
Queen Christiana of Sweden, an expedition, under command
of Peter Menewee (or Minuit), consisting of two vessels with
many colonists, landed in the present state of Delaware in April,
1638, built a town and purchased the land along the bay and river
as far up as the Falls at Trenton and westward to the Susquehanna.
Accessions were had from year to year and the Swedish colony
prospered in material wealth. For a number of years the settlers
enjoyed comparative peace, but the Dutch, unwilling to permit
the Swedes to enjoy that which they claimed rightfully belonged
to them, in 1655 sailed up the Delaware with armed vessels
and compelled the Sw^edes to surrender to their authority. The
capitulation was an honorable one and the latter were permitted
to remain in possession of their lands.
In 1664, the English, under Charles II, captured New Amster-
dam (New York) and with it the Dutch possessions on the
Delaware. Again the Swedes and a few Dutch settlers came under
the rule of a new master, under whom, however, all private
rights remained unimpaired.
The dispossession of the Dutch was made by James, Duke
of York and Albany, to whom the King, his brother, had
made a grant on the 12th of March of that year.
With the exception of an interval of a few months from
August 1673, until the autumn of 1674, when the Dutch accom-
r
2 THE COUNTIES OF PENNSYLVANIA
plished a temporary repossession, the territory now known as
Pennsylvania and Delaware remained the proprietary possession
of the Duke of York. It was g-overned by his appointees who
made numerous grants of land. The oldest of these grants
on record in this Commonwealth is dated January i, 1667.
After 1664 there was another element, the English, added
to the already mixed population of Swedes and Dutch, which
only preceded a few years still another admixture, the Scotch,
Irish and German, all of which in their way contributed to that
industrious, thrifty and sturdy population which has made Penn-
sylvania the richest, if not the greatest. Commonwealth of the
American Union.
William Penn obtained his charter from Charles II., March
4, 1681, and on the loth of the next month commissioned
William Markham, Lieutenant Governor. But his title to the
soil was not complete, and on August 20, 1682, he obtained
from the Duke of York, three quit-claim deeds, one for Pennsyl-
vania and two for portions of the three lower counties. After
the execution of these conveyances, which made his title abso-
lute, Penn arranged to come to America and arrived in October
following. As we have already seen, the colony planted by
Peter Menewee, nearly half a century before, augmented by
Swedish, Dutch and English immigrants, had, by the time of
Penn's arrival, attained a considerable population and he found
a State already formed, needing only that moulding or direc-
tion which his master-mind was well qualified to give. In his
frame of government, he recognized the rights of the people
and sowed the seeds of independence which, a century later,
brought fruit in that declaration of human rights conceived
and promulgated within the province he founded, that was
a revelation to the oppressed of the world and caused thrones
to topple and fall. The world owes more to broad-minded Wil-
liam Penn than he has received credit for.
As soon as Penn arrived, he set about putting into motion
his preconceived plans for the government of the province.
The Delaware front was divided into three counties, Bucks,
Philadelphia and Chester; but the precise lines of separation
do not ap])e.-ir to have been fixed until April i, 1685, when the
the: counties of PENNSYLVANIA 3
boundary between Bucks and Philadelphia was settled to be the
Poquessing creek from its mouth up to a point near the southern
angle of the present township of Southampton and thence by a
northwest line as far as the province extends. This line remains
the boundary between Berks and Lehigh and ran through the
present counties of Schuylkill, Columbia, Lycoming, Tioga and
Potter. In the last named county it would be terminated by the
line of the state of New York. Mother Bucks, at its formation,
embraced the whole of its present territory and the counties
of Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Monroe, Pike, Wayne, Luzerne,
Lackawanna, Wyoming, Suscjuehanna, Bradford and Sullivan
and parts of the other counties last above named.
Philadelphia included Montgomery and Berks, and that por-
tion of the province between parallel lines running northwest-
wardly and terminated by the northern boundary of the province.
All the remainder of the province, more than half of its area, be-
longed to the county of Chester.
The Proprietaries, as Penn's sons and grandsons who succeeded
to his estates here, were called, respected the rights of the Indian
occupants and refused grants of land and restrained settlement-^
thereon until the title of the native owners was purchased. By
the purchase made prior to Penn's grant, and those in 1682,
1 7 18, 1736, 1749, 1754, 1768 and 1784, the Indian title to all
the lands within the boundaries of Pennsylvania became vested
in the Proprietaries or the Commonwealth.
Lancaster was erected from Chester in 1729 and took from
it its vast western expanse of territory. From Lancaster, York
which then included Adams, was set off in 1749, and Cumberland
in 1750. The latter then embraced all of the Cumberland Valley
and the entire region west of the Susquehanna. In 1752 Berks
was taken from Philadelphia, Chester, Lancaster and Cumber-
land ; and Northampton from Bucks. Bedford was formed from
Cumberland in 1771, and Northumberland in 1772 from Lancaster,
Cumberland, Berks, Northampton and Bedford. In 1773, West-
moreland was taken from Bedford. It was the last county
created under the provincial government. The growing dissen-
sions between the colonies and the mother government and fear
of attack from Indians on the frontier, retarded the tide of im-
4 THE COUNTIES OF PENNSYLVANIA
mig-ration, and put a stop to further carving out of new counties.
By this date large settlements of Scotch people, improperly
called Scotch-Irish, had been made in Bucks, Chester, Lancaster,
York, the Cumberland Valley, along the Susquehanna, up the
Juniata and on the waters of the Monongahela, and Germans
were planted in Bucks, Montgomery, Northampton, the Lebanon
valley, York and elsewhere in the province. These people, set
by the proprietary government on the frontiers as a barrier
against hostile incursions by the Indians to the settlements below,
were practically voiceless in the councils of the province, but
were soon to act an important part in the struggle for Inde-
pendence, and make their power felt in the new Commonwealth.
. We have seen that prior to the stormy days of 1776, eleven
counties were formed, all except Philadelphia, bearing the name
of shires or localities in England, and indicating the predomi-
nance of English sentiment in the councils of the province.
The experienced observer can read in the successive layers
of the earth's crust, in the gneiss, slate, limestone, shale, sand-
stone, and coal, and the evidence of upheavel and disruption, the
history of the various stages of progress fitting the planet for
the habitation of man and no less unerringly can we, in study-
ing the names given by man to streams or political divisions
of a country, divine the prevailing or predominating thought
of the time. Soon after the organization of Westmoreland,
the war cloud appeared in the horizon. Before Independence
was declared the people of Pennsylvania appointed an election
for delegates, who in convention in the summer of 1776, formed
a Government for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and de-
throned the proprietary officers. The Revolution was now upon
the country and the thoughts of the people were centered upon
that struggle.
The 'first county created under the Commonwealth was on
March 28, 1781, and it was named Washington, after the
great and good man who, in the providence of God, was choseii
to lead the American army to ultimate victory. This, bear in
mind, was some months before his crowning achievement, at
Yorktown, the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. Next, in 1783
was Fayette; then Franklin and Montgomery in 1784; Dauphin
the; counties of Pennsylvania 5
in 1785 and Luzerne in 1786. All these names have Revolu-
tionary associations. Lafayette, you remember as one of Wash-
ington's aids ; Benjamin Franklin needs no introduction ; Mont-
gomery honors a brave patriot who fell in the assault on Quebec ;
Dauphin was named in honor of the eldest son of the King o£
France, whose good offices in our behalf were secured by Frank-
fin ; Luzerne honors Chevalier De la Luzerne, Minister of France
to the United States for five years during the Revolutionary
struggle and our zealous friend.
Of the remaining fifty counties, two, Huntingdon and Somer-
set were given English names; thirteen, Allegheny, Lycoming,
Erie, Venango, Indiana, Tioga, Susquehanna, Lehigh, Juniata,
Clarion, Wyoming, Montour and Lackawanna, have Indian
names ; thirteen, Mifflin, Greene, Wayne, Armstrong, Buthr,
Crawford, Mercer, Warren, Potter, Pike, Perry, Sullivan and
Lawrence, honor military or naval heroes ; seven, Delaware
Bradford, Columbia, Clinton, Blair, Fulton, and Cameron, dis-
tinguished men; three, Adams, Jefferson and Monroe, Presidents
of the United States; two, McKean and Snyder, Governors of
the Commonwealth ; two, Beaver and Elk, animals that abounded
within their limits ; one is a Dutch name, Schuylkill ; and seven.
Centre, Cambria, Clearfield, Lebanon, Union, Carbon and For-
est may be classed as miscellaneous.
English. — Huntingdon, formed in 1787, bears an English name,
but was so called after its county town, laid out in 1767, and
christened in honor of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, England,
tor her liberal donations to the University of Pennsylvania,
whose provost. Rev. Dr. William Smith, was the founder of the
town. Somerset, 1795, bears the name of an English shire
but the reason for its transportation here I have not ascertained.
Indian. — Allegheny, 1788, is supposed to have been derived
from AlHgewi, the name of a race of Indians that dwelt along
the river. This name, spelled Allegheny, is applied to the
main ridge of the Appalachian chain that stretches across the
State. Lycoming, (1795), the name of a creek, is corrupted
from "Lagai-Hanne," signifying "Sandy stream." Erie, (1800,)
from a tribe of natives. Venango, (1800,) is a French corrup-
tion of "In-nun-gah." Indiana, (1803,) a slight change from
6 THE COUNTIES OF PENNSYLVANIA
"Indian." Tiago, (1804,) corrupted from "Tia'oga," an Iro-
quois word signifying "a. gate, a place of entrance." Sus-
quehanna, (1810,) "Hanna," or "Hanne," signifies stream.
Authorities differ as to the meaning of the prefix "Susque,"
some claiming it to be "broad-shallow" and others "crooked."
Lehigh, (1812,) from "Lechauwekink," "where there are
forks" shortened by the early German settlers to "Lecha."
Juniata, (1831,) an Iroquois word claimed by some to be equiva-
lent to "Standing stone," Clarion, (1839, ) called by the Dela-
wares "Gawunsch-hanne," or briar stream. Wyoming, (1842,)
corrupted from a Delaware name "Maughwauwame," signifying
large plains or extensive flats. Montour, (1850,) from a French
Indian bearing that name. Lackawanna, (1878,) forks or union
of waters.
Military. — Mifflin, (1789,) Greene, (1796,) Wayne, (1798,)
Armstrong, (1800,) Butler, (1800,) Crawford, (1800,) Mercer,
(1800,) Warren, (1800,) Potter, (1804,) Pike, (1814,) Perry,
(1820,) Sullivan, (1847,) ^^^ Lawrence, (1849,) were named
for Pennsylvanians and others who distinguished themselves
in the first and second wars for Independence. Mifflin was also
Governor of the Commonwealth at and for nine years after, the
adoption of the Constitution of 1790.
Distinguished Men. — Delaware, (1789,) is not Indian as some
suppose, but is the name given to our eastern boundary river
after Lord De la War, an English navigator. Bradford, (1810,)
was originally called Ontario, but changed in 181 2 to the present
designation in honor of William Bradford, an Attorney General
of the United States. Columbia, (1813,) perpetuates the name
of the discoverer of America. Clinton, (1839,) honors DeWitt
Clinton, the ardent advocate of canal navigation in New York,
and Blair preserves the name of John Blair, a member of the
Legislature from Huntingdon county, noted for his efforts in
pushing the construction of the main line of public improvements
in this Commonwealth. Fulton, (1850). The friends of this
new county asked that it should be called Liberty, but by some
design on the part of a legislator, it received its present name
in honor of the successful steamboat inventor, not the original
one however, as old ATother Bucks claimed him as one of her
the; countie;s of Pennsylvania 7
sons. Cameron, (i860,) was named for General Simon Cameron
then one of our United States Senators.
Presidents. — Adams, (1800,) and Jefferson, (1804,), were
named for Presidents of the United States then in office and
Monroe, (1836,) for another President who served from 1817
until 1825.
Governors. — McKean, (1804,) bears the name of the Govern-
or of the Commonwealth then in office, who had been Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court. Snyder, (1855,) was called for
Simon Snyder, Governor from 1808 until 181 7. It included
his homestead.
Animals. — Beaver, (1800.) took its name from the principal
stream which was so called by reason of the pioneers finding its
current obstructed by beaver dams. Elk, (1843,) "from the
noble animal which, upon the arrival of the first settlers, in large
droves had a wide range over this forest domain."
Dutch. — Schuylkill, (1811). Many of the tributaries of the
Delaware called by the Dutch inhabitants "Zuydt," still bear the
names given by them. A conspicuous one is the Schuylkill river,
from which this county derived its designation. The original
term was "Schuylen" to hide and "kill" creek, meaning the
hidden creek or stream.
Miscellaneous. — Centre, (1800,) so called because it includes
the geographical centre of the State. Cambria, (1804,) is an
importation from Great Britain and is supposed to have been
given by a colony of Welsh who were early settlers. Clearfield,
(1804,) comes from a locality designated in the journal of an
early explorer as the "Clear Fields." Lebanon, (1818,) is a
scriptural name applied at an early day to a township of Lancas-
ter county that embraced a large part of the present county.
ITnion, (1813,) supposed to be derived from the LTnion of the
American States. Carbon, (1843,) received its name from its
valuable coal deposits; and Forest, (1848,) was a fitting recogni-
tion of the major part of the territory.
William Penn's province was bounded west of the Delaware"
with the exception of a portion of an arc of a circle of twelve
miles radius, having its centre in New Castle, springing from the
Delaware until it intersected the Maryland line by three straight
8 THE COUNTIES OF PENNSYLVANIA
lines. The southern boundary was to be the beginning of the
40th degree of north latitude; the northern, the beginning ot
the 43d degree, and the western 5 degrees of longitude west-
ward from the Delaware. While these latitudinal lines can be
plainly defined they were predicted upon an erroneous idea of
the geography of the country. Lord Baltimore claimed that his
charter extended northward to the end of the 40th degree, and
therefore would include the city of Philadelphia and a large strip
of territory along the southern portion of our Commonwealth.
This difference gave rise to many disputes, often resulting in
bloodshed and was not finally settled until after many conten-
tions before the King and council in England. An agreement
was entered into July 4, 1760, by which the line separating the
two provinces was to be a parallel of latitude running from the
northeastern corner of Maryland, 15 miles in latitude south of
the most southern part of the city of Philadelphia. Various at-
tempts had been made from time to time to fix a temporary
boundary and then to trace one under the agreement of 1760;
but it was not until Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were
employed and performed the work allotted to them, that this
vexed question received final settlement. These men uncon-
sciously rendered their names famous throughout the world,
for they defined the line which became for many years thereafter
the line of demarkation between freedom on the one hand and
slavery on the other. They arrived in the city of Philadelphia,
November 15, 1763, made the necessary astronomical observa-
tions and preliminary surveys, so as to be ready for the great
work on the parallel the following season. They continued the
survey from season to season until in 1767, the valley of Dunkard
creek, now in Greene county was reached, where they were
stopped by the Indians who refused to allow them to proceed
further. This work ended the contentions with Maryland, set-
tled the land titles along the border, and secured peace to the
adjacent inhabitants.
But some years later another difficulty was presented; Vir-
ginia claimed that she was not a party to the settlement be-
tween Lord Baltimore and the Penns, and her right to the end
of the 40th degree of latitude was not affected thereby and she
THE COUNTIES OF PENNSYLVANIA 9.
was not bound by the Mason & Dixon survey. She therefore
asserted her claim up to the hne mentioned and also declared
that the western boundary of the State was to be precisely par-
allel with the river Delaware and at every point 5 degrees of
longitude therefrom. Following up this claim, she granted lands,
planned settlements, and even organized counties within the
present limits of Pennsylvania. Happily, through the efforts
of a joint commission, these differences were settled in 1784;
Pennsylvania's right to an extension of the Mason & Dixon line
recognized also that the western boundary should begin at a
point on the Mason & Dixon line 5 degrees west of the river
Delaware and then run a due north line as far as the two states
were co-extensive.
The fixing of the extreme western corner of the State was an
act requiring the highest astronomical and mathematical skill,
and Pennsylvania very properly committed that duty on her
part, to her distinguished son, David Rittenhouse. The Mason
& Dixon line was soon thereafter extended to this point; the
western line was run and marked during the years 1785- 1786
and the New York line in the years 1786- 1787.
It is proper to remark here that about 1774 the two states
of New York and Pennsylvania attempted to define the end of
the 42d degree of north latitude as the boundary between them.
David Rittenhouse, already mentioned, acted on the part of
Pennsylvania. The point at which the line crossed the Dela-
ware was marked by a stone monument. The severity of the
season prevented the extension of the line, and the Revolution-
ary troubles coming on, that work was abandoned until after the
close of the contest with Great Britain, when the line was con-
tinued, as already mentioned, in 1786- 1787.
Rittenhouse's extreme accuracy was recently tested in the
re-tracing of the New York boundary and from the observations
then made by the most refined instruments, the correctness of
the points he fixed has been well established.
The western and northern boundaries of the Commonwealth
intersected on the edge of Lake Erie. By an adjustment of the
boundaries of the state of New York, it was limited on the
west by a section of a meridian line which was to be drawn
lo the; counties of Pennsylvania
from the extreme western part of Lake Ontario until it intersected
the boundary of Pennsylvania. That survey left out of New York
and Pennsylvania a triangular strip adjacent to Lake Erie,
which has been familiarly known as the Erie Triangle, and was
purchased by Pennsylvania from the United States Government,
and thus Pennsylvania obtained a good harbor upon that lake.
The rectangular system by which William Penn directed his
city of Philadelphia to be laid out and afterward copied all
over the country, was followed to a considerable extent in
laying out the tracts of land, townships and roads in parts of the
three original counties. These lines are yet visible in various
places in Chester, Montgomery and Bucks, and particularly in
the last two named counties. Further west, the conformation
of the country caused the rectangular lines to give way to the
direction of valleys and the mountains. Still further west, where
the surface of the country admitted of it, the rectangular system
was again put in practice, first by laying out the lands in square
form, next in making the rectangular system conform to the
cardinal points of the compass. The effects of that system are
readily seen upon inspection of the map of Pennsylvania, where
it will be observec that most of the lands in what is known
as the Indian purchase of 1784, being that portion of the State
lying northwest of an irregular line drawn from Towanda to
where the Ohio river crosses the western boundary, are laid out
by north, south, east and west lines and the county and township
boundaries conform in the main to that system.
From this plan, introduced by Penn and perfected by the years
of experience of the Commonwealth, the officers of the U. S.
Government obtained the idea of laying out the public lands,
and they improved the system of making the lines conform to
the true meridian and by adopting the square mile for the unit
of area.
This Commonwealth is an empire in itself. It is bordered on
the east by tide water and on the west connects with the chain
of Great Lakes and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Its cen-
tral portion is broken by the Appalachian chain, giving a rugged
contour ; but between its mountains are fine valleys of unexcelled
fertility. In the northeastern portion there are practically inex-
the; counties of Pennsylvania ii
haustible beds of anthracite coal ; in the centre, semi-bituminous,
and west of the main ridge of the Alleghenies, ahnost the entire
territory is underlaid with bituminous coal of various grades ;
in the valleys of the Allegheny and the Monongahela are vast
deposits of petroleum that have added much to the wealth of the
people, and in various places throughout the Commonwealth
are found inexhaustible stores of iron-ore, which have enabled
it to achieve and maintain the first rank in production of iron in
this country; and the forests along the head-waters of its princi-
pal streams, have contributed largely to the material wealth of
our people. Its population of 5,250,000, is fairly distributed
over nearly 46,000 square miles. The great cities of Philadelphia
and Pittsburg are at opposite extremes of the State ; but scattered
elsewhere, north, south, east and west, are cities ranging from
20,000 to over 80,000 inhabitants each, and elsewhere through-
out its territory, many cities and boroughs of less size. The
great increase of population, and wonderful augmentation of
wealth found within our borders, have occurred within the short
space of two centuries.
Of the sixty-seven counties, (in 1890) one contains over 1,000-
000 people; one over 500,000; one over 200,000; six over 100,-
000 ; two over 90,000 ; five over 80,000 ; seven over 70,000 ; three
over 60,000 ; six over 50,000 ; nine over 40,000 ; ten over 30,000 ;
six over 20,000 ; ten under 20,000.
The Two Makefields.
BY GEN. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Yardley Meeting, July 21, 1S91.)
The dwellers on the banks of the beautiful Delaware, who
enjoy all the comforts and many of the luxuries that wait on
the nineteenth century civilization, can hardly realize when this
country was a wilderness; when from the sea to the mountains,
and beyond to the setting sun, the wild beast and the savage
Indian were its only inhabitants. Yet such was its condition a
little more than two centuries ago.
When the good ship Welcome, our Quaker Mayflower, en-
tered the capes of Delaware, October 24, 1682, there were but
few settlers in the valley of our noble river. On either bank
were found an occasional Swede and Hollander, survivors of
the colonists which their governments had introduced many years
before; and just below the Falls were half a dozen English fami-
lies which had settled there five years prior, while Sir Edmund
Andros governed the country under the Duke of York. With
these exceptions it may be said our county was without a civilized
inhabitant, and its "original people," the Lenni Lenape, held un-
disputed sway.
The "Falls of Delaware" was an objective point for Penn's
immigrants, and from there many of the pioneers set out to
people the neighboring wilderness. William Yardley, from
Staffordshire, England, with his wife, three children and a ser-
vant man, who arrived at the Falls September 25, 1682, a month
before Penn landed, was the pioneer settler of Lower Makefield.
Me pushed his way up into the woods and settled on his large tract
that included the site of Yardley. He was a fit man for a pio-
neer. Born in 1632, he was a minister among Friends at
twenty-five, and was several times imprisoned because he would
not yield up his faith. He became a leading man in the new
province, was a member from Bucks in the first Assembly and
was also in Council, dying in 1693. Thomas Janney wrote of
him, about the time of his death : "He was a man of sound
THE TWO MAKEFIELDS I3
mind and good understanding." After his death his nephew
Thomas estabUshed a ferry here called "Yardley's Ferry," which
the Assembly confirmed to him in 1722. This soon became an
important point, and, later in the century, when the three great
roads leading to Philadelphia, via the Falls, Attleborough and
Newtown, terminated here, "Yardley's Ferry" was a thorough-
fare of traffic and travel between the lower Delaware and a large
section of East Jersey.
Several other settlers pushed their way into the woods of
Makefield as early as 1682. Richard Hough, in his will made in
1704, gives the following as the order of the land owners along
the river from the Falls up: John Palmer, Richard Hough,
Thomas Janney, Richard Vickers, Samuel Overton, John Brock,
1,000 acres; John Clows, i,ooo; WilHam Yardley, 500; Eleanor
Pownall, Thomas Bond, James Harrison, Thomas Hudson,
Daniel Milnor, 250 ; Joseph Milnor, 250 ; Henry Bond and Rich-
ard Hough, 500 acres. Harrison owned, in all, 5,000 acres, here
and elsewhere, and Bond was a considerable proprietor. The
usual quantity held by a settler was from 250 to 1,000 acres.
Among the earliest marriages in the township was that of Rich-
ard Hough to a daughter of John Clows, ist month 17, 1684,
and the meeting appointed William Yardley and Thomas Jan-
ney to see that it was "orderly done and performed." The
descendants of this family are found in great numbers in many
parts of the country and in every walk of life.
Of the early families of Lower Makefield besides the Yardleys
and Houghs, which have come down to our generation, may be
mentioned the Briggses, the Livezeys, the Slacks and many others
if T had time to speak of them. The Briggs family trace their
descent, on the paternal side, for more than two centuries
through the Briggses, Croasdales, Storeys, Cutters and Hard-
ings to Ezra Croasdale who married Ann Peacock in 1687. On
the maternal side it runs back through the Taylors, Yardleys, et al.,
to John Town, who married Deborah Booth in 1691. The Stock-
tons, more recent in the township, are a collateral branch of the
Princeton family of that name, the first in this county being a
nephew of Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of
Independence. The latter descended from Richard, a Friend, who
14 the: two MAKEFIELDS
came to America between 1660 and 1670 and settled on Long
Island. The Livezey family of Lower Makefield and Solebury, of
which Dr. Abraham Livezey, of Yardley, is a member, came to
Bucks county at an early day ; John, the first comer, settling in
Solebury soon after Penn's second visit, where he took up a tract
of land including the old Stephen Townsend farm. The Slacks
came into the township about 1750, from New Jersey, and were
descendants of Hendrick Cornelise Slecht, who emigrated to
Long Island in 1652 from Holland. Abraham, born in 1722,
settled in Lower Makefield and died in 1802. The descendants
are very numerous, and ariiong them are some distinguished
men. James Slack, a young son of Abraham, assisted to ferry
Washington's army across the Delaware on that memorable
night in December, 1776, when on its way to attack the Hessians
at Trenton.
Makefield was not organized into a township until 1692 when
the first subdivision of the county was made. The first legal
steps toward laying out townships, were taken in 1690, when the
Provincial Council authorized warrants to be drawn, empower-
ing the magistrates and grand juries of each county to sub-
divide them into hundreds or such other divisions as they shall
think most convenient in collecting taxes and defraying county
expenses. At the September court, 1692, a jury was appointed
to divide the county into townships, and directed to meet at the
Neshaminy meeting-house, in Middletown, the 27th. They re-
ported at the following December court, dividing the settled por-
tions into Makefield, Falls, Buckingham, now Bristol, Salem,
now Bensalem, and Middletown. The following are the metes
and bounds of this township : "The uppermost township be-
ing called Makefield, to begin at the uppermost plantation and
along the river to the uppermost part of John Wood's land, and
of the lands formerly belonging to the Hawkinses and Joseph
Kirkbride and Widow Lucas' land, and so along as near as may
be in a straight line to Joshua Hoops' land." The John Wood
here referred to was the first English settler in the county, in
[678, and took up 478 acres opposite the Falls.
The name of Makefield, has its origin in Macclesfield, Ches-
hire England the place of nativity of Richard Hough above
THE TWO MAKEFlEIvDS 1 5
mentioned. When John Fothergill, minister among Friends,
of London, visited the township in 1721, he wrote the name
"Macclesfield," in his journal. It is possible that Macclesfield,
was pronounced "Makefield" by the early English settlers, and
the spelling was made to conform to the pronounciation. In
the will of Henry Margerum, an earlier settler, the name of
the township is written "Maxfield," but one remove from
Macclesfield. But all this is conjecture in face of the fact that
the jury, which laid off the township, spelled the word plainly
enough "Makefield."
The township had been settled nearly three-quarters of a cen-
tury before the Friends had a meeting-house to worship in : in
all the intervening years going down to Falls and uniting with
the settlers of that township. In 17 19 the "upper parts" of
Makefield asked permission of Falls to have a meeting on First-
days for the winter season at Samuel Baker's, John Baldwin's
and Thomas Atkinson's, which was allowed. In 1750 the Falls
Monthly gave leave to Makefield Friends to hold a meeting for
worship every other Sunday at the houses of Benjamin Taylor
and Benjamin Gilbert, because of the difficulty "in going down
there," meaning down to Falls. The first meeting-house was buih
in the township in 1752; size 25x30 feet, one-story high, and was
enlarged in 1764 by extending the north end 20 feet at a cost of
£120.
The increase in wealth and inhabitants was slow. In 1693,
the next year after the township was organized, the assessed
tax of Makefield was but £11, 14s., 3d. In 1742, sixty years after
the settlement, the taxable inhabitants numbered 76, of whom
II were single men; the next year they decreased to 57, but in
creased to 94 in 1764. The presence of wealth at that period
was not a disturbing element, the heaviest taxpayer, Thomas
Yardley, being assessed at but £100; the poor rate was three
pence per pound, and nine shillings for single men. In the next
twenty years there was considerable increase in population, num-
bering 748 in 1784, of which 26 were blacks. At that time there
were one hundred and one dwellings in the township. The
census of i860 puts the number of foreign-born population at
227. The first loss by fire in the township that I have any
l6 the; two MAKEFIELDS
record of was in 1736, when the dwelling of John Schofield was
burned, and collections to cover the loss were taken up in the
Monthly Meetings.
The township contains a relic of the early days in the remains of
a burial place known as the "old stone graveyard" near this spot.
The ground was given to the Falls Monthly Meeting June 4,
1690, by Thomas Janney, just previous to his return to England
where he died. At my visit to it twenty years ago, there was but
a single stone standing to mark the resting place of the fore-
fathers of the township. This was a brown sandstone, 27
inches high, 18 wide and 6 inches thick, that part out of the
ground being dressed. On the face, near the top, were the
figures ''1692/' and below was the following inscription: "Here
lies the body of Joseph Sharp, the son of Christopher Sharp."
What unwritten history lies in these silent, unknown graves !
If the voiceless tongues of the occupants could speak, how deeply
interesting would be their relation of the settlement of the town-
ship, the hardships, nay, the sufferings of the pioneers in this
the then wilderness west of the Delaware.
Your pleasant little township capital, which bears the name of
the first owner of the land it stands upon, had its birth in the
wilderness like all American towns two centuries ago. It stands
at the site of Thomas Yardley's ferry of ye olden time. It had a
struggle for over a century before it developed into what Ameri-
cans call a village. This was in 1807. An old map of that
date shows a number of building lots and streets laid out above
the mouth of the creek running back from the river, and, on the
south side, lots were laid out at the intersection of the Newtown
and upper river roads. The only buildings in the place were the
old tavern on the river bank and the dwellings of Brown,
Pidcock, Eastburn and Depue. At that time the ferry was half
a mile below the bridge and boats landed opposite the farm-
house that once belonged to Jolly Longshore. One Howell kept
the ferry on the New Jersey side, and it was as often called
Howell's as Yardley's ferry. The first store-house was built
by the widow of Thomas Yardley. An old tavern, kept by
John Jones, and afterward by Benjamin Fleming, stood
on the upper side of the ferry, and when the ferry was
the; two makh;fields 17
moved up to the site of the bridge, a tavern called the
"Swan" was built there and was first kept by a man named Grear.
Among the earliest dwellings in Yardley were a small frame on
John Blackfan"s land near the creek, the three-storied stone
called the "Wheat Sheaf" because a sheaf of wheat was cast in
the iron railing in front of the second story, and a small frame
and stone house east of the canal above Bridge street. Charles
Shoemaker was the first lock-tender on the canal at Yardley, in
1831. The third store in the place was that of Aaron LaRue.
who joined the church, emptied his liquor into the canal and set
it on fire. LaRue's son killed a negro in this store-house for
insulting his mother and the grand jury ignored the bill. A
post office was established here in 1828 and Mahlon Dungan was
appointed postmaster. The Yardley of to-day is a much more
pretentious village than its ancestor of eighty-four years
ago. With its industries, churches, schools, railroad communi-
cation with the outside world, its numerous appliances for the
comforts and conveniences of modern life and its busy, active
population of 1,000 souls, your pleasant village is keeping well
abreast with its fellows in the race of wordly prosperity.
In a letter written by James Logan to Phineas Pemberton
about 1700, he mentions that William Penn "had ordered a
memorandum to be entered in the office that ye quarry in R.
Hough's and Abel Janney's lands be reserved when they come to
be confirmed, being for ye public good of the county." What
about "ye great quarry" and who can tell us of it now? Are
the quarries at Yardley the same? In this same letter Logan
asks Pemberton where he can get "three or four hundred acres
of good land and proportionable meadow in your innocent coun-
ty?"
As Makefield originally embraced Lower and Upper Make-
field, it is proper we should consider the settlement of both
townships. When this township was organized in 1692, what is
now Upper Makefield was a wilderness. Probably a few ven-
turous pioneers had pushed their way thither, but there was
hardly a permanent settler in it. The two townships were one
under the general name of "Makefield" for forty-five years
after they were settled. In 1695. Thomas Holme, Penn's Sur-
l8 THE TWO MAKEFlEIvDS
veyor General, laid off a tract of 7,000 acres north of what is
now Lower Makefield, to which was given the name of "Manor
of Highlands," extending into the edge of Wrightstown and
Solebury. Among the original purchasers in this part of Make-
field we have the names of Edmund Luff, Henry Sidwell, Thomas
Hudson, whose large tract lay about DoHngton and extended to
the Delaware ; and Joseph and Daniel Milnor, the "London-
Company," composed of Tobias Collett, Daniel Quere and Henry
Goldney, of London, became extensive land-owners in Upper
Makefield township, purchasing 5,000 acres before 1700.
The "Manor of Highlands" was reserved for William Penn,
and in 1705 he wrote to James Logan that a great part of the
Manor was taken up by "encroachers." In 1708 William Smith,
son of the William Smith who settled in Wrightstown in 1684,
purchased 201 acres in Upper Makefield, which the surveyor
was instructed to lay out, at a place called Windy Bush, in
Penn's Manor of Highlands, near Wrightstown.
Among others who settled in this part of Makefield, or who
were landowners in it, were Thomas Ross, the ancestor of the
distinguished family of that name, John Pidcock, Gilbert Wheel-
er, Jeffrey Burgess, the Blackfans, Richard Hough. John Trego,
Charles Reeder, Edward Bailey, Richard Parsons, John Osmond,
the McNairs, the Keiths, the Magills, the Stewarts and others.
The Tregos are descendants from French Huguenot ancestry
which came to America shortly after 1688 from England. The
McNairs are what is called Scotch-L-ish, but properly Scotch -
Saxons, and all are descended from Samuel, son of James, who
was driven from Scotland to Ireland by religious persecution, and
was born in county Donegal, in 1699. This family has been a
prolific one, and descendants of the first settlers are found in
many states of the Union. The grandfather of the late Joseph
Fell, of Buckingham, lived and died in Upper Makefield; and
his father, David Fell, was born in the township. He studied
mathematics with Dr. John Chapman, of Upper Makefield, Latin
with the Rev. Alexander Boyd, of Newtown, and read medicino
with Dr. Isaac Chapman, of Wrightstown, having the late Dr.
Phineas Jenks as fellow student. He completed his studies at
the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania and was
THE TWO MAKEFIELDS 19
graduated there in 1801. On leaving the University, Dr. Fell
carried with him the following certificate from Dr. Rush, its
founder, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence :
" I do hereby certify that Mr. David Fell hath attended a course of my
lectures upon the Institutes and Practice of Medicine in the University of
Pennsylvania with diligence and punctuality.
[" Signed] Benjamin Rush.
'â– 'Philadelphia, February 2^th, 1801."
This early medical diploma is written on a small piece of
paper, and I am the fortunate ovvner of it. Dr. Fell began
practice under the shadow of Bowman's hill, and died in Buck-
ingham, in 1856, on the premises owned and occupied by the
late Dr. Seth Cattell. Dr. Fell was one of the earliest graduates
in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania.
As already stated, the two Makefields were under one munici-
pal jurisdiction for 45 years. This was continued to 1737,
when the population had become so numerous, it was incon-
venient for the constable and assessor to discharge their dtities.
A division of the township was now asked for, which led to the
organization of Upper Makefield. At the March term, a petition
signed by 20 of the inhabitants, was presented to the Court of
Quarter Sessions, representing themselves as living in that
part of the Manor of Highlands called "Goldney's & Company's
Land," meaning the London Company; that the township is so
large, containing 22,000 acres ; the lands so thickly settled ; the
township officers cannot discharge their duties toward all the
inhabitants ; that the constable does not know the bounds of the
township, and frequently returns the names of persons taxed
with the inhabitants of Wrightstown. For these reasons the
petitioners ask to have the said company's land attached to
Wrightstown, or erected into a township by itself. This action
led to the organization of Upper ]\Iakefield township with an
area of 11,628 acres, and the boundaries have been little, if
any, altered since 1753. Among the names signed to the peti-
tion for the erection of the new township are Palmer, Russell,
Richey, Lee, Doane, Hough, Bailey, Smith. Parsons, Atkinson,
Osmond, Trego, Tomlinson, Reeder, Brown and \A^all. all well-
known in the countv.
20 TH^ TWO MAK^FIELDS
Among the distinguished sons of Upper Makefield, the late
OHver H. Smith, of Indiana, member of the Legislature and of
Congress, U. S. Senator and Attorney General, probably stands
first. He was a son of Thomas and Letitia Blackfan Smith,
and a descendant of William Smith, who settled in Wrightstown,
in 1684; born on the farm owned by the late John A. Beaumont,
and died in Indiana in 1859. There was a vein of wit and
humor in his composition and many anecdotes are told of him
When a young man, a raftman at New Hope offered a high
price for an experienced steersman to take his raft through
Well's Falls, and young Smith, believing he could do it, accepted
the offer and conducted the raft down the falls in safety. H^
knew nothing more about the channel than what he had learned
while fishing. It is told of him when he first went to Washing-
ton as a Senator, one of his fellow Senators asked him what
college he had graduated at, and he answered "Lurgan," the
name of a roadside school house in Upper Makefield. At one
time Mr. Smith kept store at Hartsville, and at the Green Tree,
Buckingham. His career is a good example of what energy
and courage will do in this country for a young man if he seizes
the opportunities as they present themselves.
Other inhabitants of Upper Makefield are not unworthy of
note. Thomas Langley, as eccentric as Oliver H. Smith was dis-
tinguished, was born near London, England, and came to Penn-
sylvania about 1756. After teaching school for several years,
his mind became deranged and remained so to his death. He
imagined himself the king of Pennsylvania, and believed in the
invisible agency of evil spirits. He wandered about the country
as an itinerant cooper, and in 1803 extended his travels to South
Carolina, being absent a year. He was an educated Episco-
palian, but joined the Friends and attended their meetings.
Much romance lingers about the memory of Dr. John Bowman,
an earlier settler on Pidcock's creek, and after whom Bowman's
hill was named. It tells us he was appointed surgeon of the
English fleet sent out under Captain Kyd, in 1696, to suppress
piracy on the high seas and that he turned pirate with him ; that
he came to Newtown after Kyd was hanged, where he drew
upon himself suspicion that he belonged to the pirate's gang;
the; two make;fiei.ds 21
that he disappeared and after being gone several years returned,
and built himself a cabin at the foot of the hill that bears his
name ; then removed to Newtown where he was found dead in
his house ; that among his effects was a "massive oatcen chest, '
but it failed to yield up any of Captain Kyd's gold.
At the southern base of Bowman's hill is a small hamlet
called Lurgan, after the birthplace of James Logan, in Ireland.
Three-quarters of a century ago a famous day-school was kept
there, in a one-story house, now occupied as a dwelling, and
among the scholars were Judge John Ross, Oliver H. Smith,
whose career I have related, Dr. John Chapman, Edward Smith,
a learned man, Seth Chapman, lawyer and judge, Dr. Seth
Cattell and others. Among the teachers of this primitive semi-
nary were the late Joseph Fell, of Buckingham, Moses Smith,
afterward a distinguished physician of Philadelphia, a man
named McLean, who became a noted teacher and was a fine
Latin scholar and mathematician, and Enos Scarborough, cele-
brated for his penmanship, father of the late Hiram Scarborough,
of New Hope. But the glory of Lurgan hath departed, and
most of her scholars, statesman and jurists have crossed the dark
river to the undiscovered country beyond.
The two Makefaelds are full of Revolutionary incident. When
Washington withdrew the Continental army to the west bank
of the Delaware, in December, 1776, he encamped the main body
along the river from Trenton to New Hope. Two or three
brigades lay in the meadows of Upper Makefield under the shel-
ter of Jericho hill, and the officers quartered in the neighboring
farm houses. Washington occupied the dwelling of Robert Keith
on the road from Brownsburg to the Eagle ; Greene was at Mer-
rick's a few hundred yards to the east, across the fields and mead-
ows ; Sullivan was at Hayhurst's, grandfather of the late Mrs.
Mary Buckman, of Newtown ; and Knox and Alexander Hamil-
ton were at Doctor Chapman's, over Jericho hill to the north.
From the top of this hill a good view of the river could be had
with a field glass, quite down to Trenton.
The houses occupied by Washington, Greene, Knox and Ham-
ilton are still standing and in good preservation. The depot of
supplies was at Newtown. From these camps the small Con-
22 JOHN FITCH, THE INVENTOR OF STEAM Ni^VIGATlON
tinental army, on which hung the hopes of free government in
America, marched to attack the Hessians at Trenton. The
evening before, December 24th, Washington rode over to Mer-
ricks to take supper with Greene, and, no doubt, Knox, SterHng
and SulHvan were there. The family were sent across the fields
to spend the night at a neighbor's, so there could be no listeners
to the council of war that destroyed British Empire in America.
The troops marched about three on Christmas afternoon and
reached the place of rendezvous, at the mouth of Knowles' creek,
where the crossing was to be made, about sundown. The rest
of the story I need not tell ; you, who have read American his-
tory aright, are familiar with it ; those of you who have not read
it, should not fail to do so at the first opportunity.
John Fitch, The Inventor of Steam Navigation.*
BY REV. D. K. TURNER, HARTSVIELE, PA.
(Davisville Meeting, July i6, 1S89).
" There's a Divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough hew them how we will."
Men often fail of suitable rewards for their labors, though
they may have toiled with apparent wisdom, energy and perse-
verance. An eminent illustration of this is found in the career
of John Fitch, the first person who successfully applied the
power of steam to navigation. He was born of English ancestry,
Jan. 21, 1743, in Windsor, Conn., and in his youth served an
apprenticeship with a watchmaker, but received very little in-
struction at his trade, being kept by his master mostly at farm-
ing. After being released from his indentures, with an im-
perfect knowledge of time-pieces, but with much native mechani-
cal genius, he worked a few years at brass founding, married
and had a son and daughter, but not being able to live harmon-
iously with his wife, he turned his steps southward, journeying
on foot and repairing clocks and watches for subsistence by the
way.
For some time previous to the American Revolution, he
* Rev. Tiirner read a paper 011 John Fitch at the Wrightstown meeting, July 31, 1883.
As this is a later paper, and as both cover practically the same material, it has been
thought better to omit the publication of the first paper, in order to avoid duplication,
and to give the author the benefit of his latest paper on the subject.
JOHN FITCH, THE INVENTOR OF STFAM NAVIGATION 23
resided in New Jersey, at Trenton, and during that struggle he
was employed by the public authorities in repairing fire-arms
for the Continental soldiers, for which service he was peculiarly
adapted, and was more useful to his country than if he had
served in the ranks, though he had been chosen lieutenant and
had fully intended to join the army in the field. When the British
troops from New York approached the Delaware, all active
patriots were compelled to seek some place of safety, and he re-
tired across the river into Pennsylvania, finding a home tempo-
rarily with John Mitchell at Four Lanes' End (now Langhorne)
in Bucks county, and afterwards with Charles Garrison, in War-
minster. He set up the business of a silversmith in the
shop of Jacobus Scout, a wheelwright, commonly called Coba
Scout. While Washington's forces were at Valley Forge, he
supplied them with tobacco and beer, and realized large profits
in Continental currency, which, however, rapidly depreciated
on his hands. At one time he had forty thousand dollars in
paper, which in the course of a year or two sank in value to
a hundred dollars in silver and in order to prevent it from be-
coming altogether worthless he determined to invest it in land
warrants and locate them in Virginia. In his boyhood he had
learned something of surveying and by study and practice had
acquired proficiency in it. This prepared him for the position
of deputy surveyor, which he secured through the recommenda-
tion of influential friends in Philadelphia. Clothed with the
proper authority, he went to Kentucky, then a part of Virginia,
and in that dense wilderness, rarely visited by civilized man, he
passed 1780 and a portion of 1781, laying out tracts of the most
fertile land and, as he believed, had secured the foundation of
an immense fortune, when Congress adopted a new method of
survey and the most of his labor proved of no avail. In 1782,
when on a commercial expedition down the Ohio river en route
to New Orleans, he was captured by Indians, who were in the
interests of the British, and carried to Canada, it was almost a
year before he was exchanged and returned to the United States.
Peculiarly unfortunate in most of his enterprises, he realized
the force of the proverb, "The best laid plans of mice and men
aft gang aglee."
24 JOHN FITCH, THEJ INVENTOR OF STEAM NAVIGATION
On Sunday in the month of April, 1785, after having been to
Neshaminy church, where Rev. Nathaniel Irwin preached, he was
walking along the Street road toward his home in company
with James Ogilbee. Being troubled with rheumatism, which he
had contracted in his tours through the Western wilds, he found
his progress somewhat difficult. When a gentleman passed him
rapidly in a carriage, drawn by a spirited horse, the idea oc-
curred to him, "Could not a vehicle be invented which would
move without a horse?" Ogilbee afterward said that he at once
became inattentive to conversation and seemed lost in thought,
and Fitch subsequently affirmed that he then first conceived the
notion that steam might be applied to propel carriages on land.
This occupied his mind for a week, when he was convinced that
the roughness of common roads would prove an insurmounta-
ble obstacle to the use of steam in ordinary wagons. But the
employment of it in vessels presented itself as practicable, and
the more he contemplated it, the more he was impressed with
its feasibility and its great importance. With the utmost
diligence and enthusiasm, he set about making drawings of a
boat to be propelled by steam which he took to his friend, Rev.
Nathaniel Irwin, who is spoken of by Dr. Archibald Alexander,
of Princeton, as "a. man of a profound understanding." Mr.
Irwin had in his library a book containing a description of a steam
engine and showed it to the self-taught inventor. In his manu-
script autobiography, now in possession of the Philadelphia
Library Company, Fitch says, "Although it was not to my credit,
I did not know that there was a steam engine on earth when I
proposed to gain force by steam," and he adds, when the drawing
at Mr. Irwin's was shown him, "I was very much chagrined."
Still, on reflection, he concluded that as the mighty force of
heated vapor had never as yet been applied to boats, it would be
a grand triumph of mechanical skill if he could devise the
machinery by which it could be accomplished. He first con-
structed a small model boat with paddle-wheels. Hon. Nathaniel
B. Boileau, afterwards a noted politician in Pennsylvania and
Secretary of State under Governor Snyder, told Daniel Long-
streth, formerly a highly respected citizen of Warminster, that
he himself when at home on a vacation from Princeton college
JOHN t'lTCH, the: inventor OF STEAM NAVIGATION 25
made the paddle-wheels, which were of wood, and that Fitch
made the rest of the machinery of brass. Mr. Longstreth's
language giving Mr. Boileau's statement is this:
" It was in 'Cobe' Scout's log shop that Fitch made his model steamboat
with paddle-wheels as they are now used. The model was tried on a siiiall
stream on Joseph Longstreth's meadow, about half a mile from Davisville,
in Southampton township, and it realized every expectation. "
Through the courtesy of General Davis, I am permitted to
present an account of this trial of the boat, taken down by
him in 1858, from the mouth of Abraham McDowell, of War-
minster township, who was an eye witness of the scene, when
in his childhood. Mr. McDowell said:
" I was acquainted with Jotin Fitch, the steamboat man. Sometime after
the Revolutionary war, he came to my father's house, in Warminster town-
ship, Bucks county. Pa., to board, where he remained two or three years or
more. Near the house was an old log shop, where my father carried on
weaving, and James Scout, called ' Cobe Scout, ' did silver-smithing. In
this shop John Fitch built his first steamboat, which I distinctly remember,
as I was a good-sized boy. It was about four feet in length and a little over
a foot in breadth, with a wheel in the stern, somewhat like a flutter- wheel.
When the boat was done it was taken to a dam on the farm of Arthur Watts,
in Southampton township, near the present village of Davisville, and now
owned by Gen. John Davis. John Fitch was accompanied by James Scout,
Abraham Sutphin, Anthony Scout. John McDowell, William Vansant and
Charles Garrison. I went along out of boyish curiosity, and after we
reached the dam, Arthur Watts and, I think his son, Wiliam Watts, then a
young man, came out to witness the experiment. I was sent up to the head
of the dam, where the water was shallow and the mud deep, as the men did
not like to go where they would get muddy. I waded in a little distance,
where the water was deep enough to allow the boat to float, and stood there.
The boat was launched, and in a few minutes it put off^ under a full head-
way, puffing and the smoke flying, and very soon reached the opposite side
of the dam. This run being too short, it was next started lengthwise of
the dam, and made several trips back and forth to and froni the point where
I stood. When it reached me, I turned it around and headed it toward the
starting point again. We were there two or three hours, and until all were
tired and satisfied with the experiments, when we returned home. Fitch
carrying the boat under his arm. The late Nathaniel Boileau, E-q., then a
yoting man, turned some part of the machinery for the boat and I carried it
back and forth several times, and I remembe I thought the wheels were
very pretty things and wanted them for a wagon. I was born in I7!^2, and
at that time I could not have been less than four or five years old. The
whole transaction is indelibly impressed upon my memory. Soon after this
trial. Fitch took his boat to Philadelphia, where he met srme person who
told him some part of the machinery was not right, and that he had better
alter it, when Fitch returned home with the boat to make the suggested
alteration, after which he went a .second time to Philadelphia with his boat.
The shop in which this boat was built was on the farm now owned by Mitch-
ell Wood, in Warminster township, within about three hundred yards of
the line of Montgomery county. Mr. Boileau lived at this time with his
father, on the farm now owned by Lewis Willard, on the line between Bucks
and Montgomery counties, near the eight-square school-house and little
more than a mile from Davisville.
Yours, respectfully,
[Signed] Abraham McDowell."
26 JOHN FITCH, THE INVENTOR OF STEAM NAVIGATION
This account bears many marks of truth, though Mr. Mc-
DoweU, if he is correct about the date of his birth, could have
been at the time of the experiment but four years and a few
months old. He may have recollected the names of the men who
were present and other circumstances by often hearing the
matter talked about afterwards, as a remarkable affair of that
kind would naturally be. The engine used in the little craft
was constructed in Philadelphia, and judging from all the
historical data accessible, was the first steam engine ever made
on this continent.
It is stated in Westcott's "Life of Fitch," (prepared from the
manuscript autobiography of the inventor), that in 1786 a company
of individuals was formed who contributed $300, to enable him
to complete and bring forth his proposed boat into practical use.
"The first great difficulty was the making of a steam engine, a
piece of machinery, which the mechanical capability of the coun-
try was scarcely able to furnish. There were at that time but
three steam engines in operation in America." They were all
imported from England; two were in New England and one in
New Jersey. None had ever been constructed this side the Atlantic.
Fitch first engaged John Nancarrow, of Philadelphia, to assist
him in his experiment, and at the end of a month the machinist
produced drawings of the old-fashioned atmospheric engine, that
"was to have a weight to raise the piston." This did not satisfy
Fitch, and that plan was rejected. After a time he became ac-
quainted with Henry Voight, a watchmaker in Philadelphia,
who had displayed much ingenuity, and concluded to employ him
to assist in the work. They first made a small engine, the cylin-
der of which was only one inch in diameter and would not move
regularly ; the force generated was not able to fully overcome
the friction. The expense was very slight, being only £3 Pennsyl-
vania currency, or $8.00. Though Fitch had never seen a steam en-
gine of any kind before, and this was of almost insignificant capaci-
ty and operated imperfectly, yet it illustrated the idea he had form,-
ed, and he was confident his invention would ultimately be of vast
importance to mankind. This little one-inch cylinder engine was
placed in the model boat and set forth on a pond near Davisville,
and was the germ of the vast commerce by steam, which now
JOHN FITCH, THE INVENTOR OF STEAM NAVIGATION 2']
traverses the rivers, lakes and oceans of the world and enriches
all lands.
Fitch and his friend immediately commenced the construction
of an engine with a three-inch cylinder, and at the same time
they made a skiff with the apparatus for its propulsion, which,
by way of experiment, they moved by hand until the new engine
was finished. They employed "a screw of paddles," an endless
chain, and one or two other kinds of gear, but they did not give
satisfactory results. These trials were made on the Delaware
river, and were witnessed by several persons, who jeered and
scoffed when Fitch landed on the shore, and he was so much
mortified at his want of success in overcoming difficulties that
he went to a tavern, and, as he says, "used considerable West
India produce that evening," of which he was much ashamed
the next day. The following night he went to bed early, and,
instead of sleeping, thought what kind of gearing he should use
in his boat, and after some hours, it suddenly struck him that
cranks and paddles would be a practicable arrangement, and for
fear he should forget the precise idea, he arose, struck a light,
and made a draught of it. Early in the morning he went to see
Voight, showed him his plan ; it was approved, was put into
operation in the skiff, and, with some changes, worked by hand
successfully. Soon the steam engine with a three-inch cylinder
was completed, placed in the skiff, and attached to the oars,
and made the little craft hurry over the water at the speed of
seven or eight miles an hour, and Fitch was certain that with
a more powerful engine the velocity might be increased to ten or
twelve miles an hour.
The funds of the company were running low, and an un-
successful effort was made, through Dr. Benjamin Franklin,
to sell the engine to the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia.
It cost about a hundred dollars, but the inventors were willing
to part with it for any sum they could get. Much gratification
was felt by the members of the company in the result of the
efforts of Fitch. They were satisfied now that his invention
would prove practicable and useful, yet they hesitated about
contributing more money. It was proposed to build an engine
with a twelve-inch cylinder also a much larger boat, for which
28 JOHN FITCH, THE) INVe;NTOR OF STFAM NAVIGATION
a considerable expenditure would be required ; but the means were
not furnished and Fitch experienced great distress at the un-
willingness of his associates to provide funds.
He therefore wrote a letter to the Legislature of Pennsylvania,
asking for a loan of £150, or $400, and in this communication
he says : "Mr. Voight and myself are sure that we can build
an engine; nay, we are vain enough to believe that we can
make one as good as they can in Europe ;" and he declares that
in his opinion his plan will be worth to America three times as
much as all the territory northwest of Ohio, and that it would
open that part of the land to settlement by making it possible
to go rapidly up the current of swift rivers with large quantities
of merchandise and many passengers. His petition was respect-
fully received and placed in the hands of a committee, who re-
ported favorably, recommending a loan, but the bill failed by a
small negative majority. He then wrote to ("k)vernor Mifflin,
requesting that a private subscription might be taken among the
members of the Legislature, but no effort was made to aid him
in that way. After much persistent labor with all who were
interested in the scheme, money enough was secured to finish
the engine and place it in the boat. But defects immediately
appeared. The cylinder had zvoodcn caps and they admitted
air ; the piston box was leaky and all the works had to be taken
out, altered and put in again at a large expense. Then the con-
densation was imperfect and new condensers were required ;
then the steam valves were not tight. As soon as one defect was
remedied another appeared. Finally when every fault seemed
to be obviated and all parts were adjusted, it was found that
the boiler was not large enough to generate sufficient steam.
Although the contributors were discouraged, they were pur-
suaded to respond once more ; the necessary alterations were
made, and the boat was tried publicly on the Delaware, August
22, 1787. The convention to frame a Constitution of the United
States was at that time in session in Philadelphia and an invita-
tion was extended to the members to witness the experiment,
and Fitch says in his journal that nearly all of them were present,
except General Washington. They considered it successful,
though the machinery was not sufficiently powerful to move the
JOHN FITCH, THE INVENTOR OF STEAM NAVIGATION 29
boat very swiftly against the current. Governor Randolph, of
Virginia, "was pleased to give the invention countenance," and
the next day Dr. Johnson, of the same state, sent a complimen-
tary note to the persevering genius. Governor Ellsworth, of
Connecticut, informed Rev. Ezra Stiles, president of Yale col-
lege, that he saw the trial of the steamboat made by John Fitch,
and that it gave satisfaction to all the spectators ; David Ritten-
house, the celebrated astronomer. Prof. Andrew Elliott, of the
Episcopal academy, and Dr. John Ewing, provost of the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania, all wrote certificates that the boat, operated
by steam alone, moved against wind and tide with a very con-
siderable degree of velocity, and that the theory thus reduced to
practice must be of vast benefit to the human race.
This craft, with a twelve-inch cylinder, however, was too
small for practical purposes, and after many delays a longer
boat with the same machinery and paddles at the stern, was
built and set out on a trip to Burlington. It went well until it
came opposite the town within twenty or thirty rods of the
wharf, when the boiler sprang a leak and they were compelled
to anchor in the stream. With the next tide they got the dis-
abled vessel back to Philadelphia. An account of this first long
voyage of the steamer was prepared in 1855 from reminiscences
of old persons, who lived along the Delaware, and who wit-
nessed it at various places on the route. The following are a
few extracts from this narrative :
" Crowds of persons assembled at all the prominent points along the river
to see her pass, and waited for hours to witness what was then the greatest
wonder of the day. At Point-no-Point, now Bridesburg, the whole popula-
tion of Frankford and the upper end of Philadelphia county were gathered,
and they saw the boat slowly steam by them on her upward progress. Great
indeed was their enthusiasm and long and loudly did they cheer the gro-
tesque exhibition. Women waved their handkerchiefs in approbation.
Bateaux put off from shore and rowed alongside the steamer, cheering the
adventurous and now exulting Fitch.
"At Dunk Ferry a similar demonstration took place. A vast concourse
of people had collected there from the interior of Bucks county to see the
passing of the new wonder. Loud cheers greeted her as she approached,
and a cannon, one of those which Gen. Reed had vainly endeavored to
carry across the Delaware on the night of Washington's masterly surprise at
Trenton, and which by some oversight had been left behind, was hastily
loaded and discharged in honor of the discoverer of navigation by steam."
30 JOHN FITCH, THE INVENTOR OF STEAM NAVIGATION
The accident to the boiler was soon remedied, other improve-
ments were effected, and the boat made several voyages to and
from Burlington without mishap, at the rate of four or five
miles an hour. In a trip made on October 12, 1788, thirty
passengers were on board, and a few days later a number of
distinguished gentlemen were carried, among whom was Cap-
tain John Hart, of the ist U. S. Infantry, who certified that they
moved at least four miles an hour and that the same force ap-
plied to a boat would move it against the current of the Ohio,
Mississippi and other Western rivers at a similar speed.
But this did not satisfy Fitch. To make his invention useful,
more power and greater velocity must be developed. By this
time a majority of the members of the company became dis-
satisfied at the repeated calls for money and withdrew from
the concern. Voight also, the inventor's tried and skilled friend,
pleaded the wants of his own family and his personal affairs, which
had been too much neglected, and abandoned the work. But the
patient genius was not entirely discouraged. He organized a
new company ; an engine with an eighteen-inch cylinder was
constructed ; various changes, improvements and experiments
were made, and the velocity was augmented, but it was still
not great enough for a river packet. New exertions were put
forth during the spring of 1790, and the tireless enthusiast had the
satisfaction during the summer of that year of being able to go at
the rate of eight miles an hour, and to pass all the sailing vessels
that competed with him. The boat afterwards went eighty
miles in a day and was run as a regular passenger steam
packet. Advertisements are found in the Federal Ga::ette and
other newspapers of 1790 announcing the days of leaving Phila-
delphia and extending through the months of June, July, Aug-
ust and September. The first notice is the following:
" The steam V>oat is now ready to take passengers, and it is intended to set
off from Arch street ferry, in Philadelphia, every Monday, Wednesday and
Friday, for Burlington, Bri-^tol, Bordentown and Trenton; to return on Tues-
days, Thursdays and Saturdays. Price for passengers, 2 shillings and six-
pence, 33 cents to Burlington and Bristol ; 2 shillings and 9 pence to Borden-
town, and 5 shillings to Trenton, June 14, 1790."
It was advertised also to run at various times to Gray's
Ferry, Christian Bridge, Chester and Wilmington. Counting up
JOHN FITCH, THE INVENTOR OF STEAM NAVIGATION 3I
the lengths of all the trips it made that summer, it must have run
between two and three thousand miles. Lewis Rue and John
Shaffer gave a certificate that they set out from Philadelphia
June 5, 1790, at four o'clock in the morning and went in the
steamboat to Trenton and thence to Lambertville and back to
the city in the afternoon, at a speed of 7>4 miles an hour. Ful-
ton's boat, the "Clermont," seventeen years afterwards, in 1807,
occupied thirty-two hours in a distance of 150 miles, or four
and three-quarter miles an hour ; Fitch's boat was, therefore,
superior in speed to Fulton's, and would have reached Albany
fifty-two miles in advance ! Yet Fulton is generally called the
inventor of steam navigation.
Fitch and his company commenced another boat, "The Per-
severance," but it was never finished. While lying at the wharf
in Kensington, a northeast storm drove it from its moorings
and drifted it on Petty's island, where it remained fast sev-
eral days. Other hindrances retarded the work, and winter set
in before it was completed. The next year, 1791, was consumed
in efforts to raise money and improve the machinery. But funds
came in slowly, the friends of the unfortunate projector became
discouraged and indifferent, and in 1792 the attempt to com-
plete the second boat was abandoned altogether, and in 1795 it
was sold in part to the highest bidder at public vendue.
Several causes conspired to prevent Fitch from bringing to
a successful and profitable issue the attempt to introduce steam
navigation. One was the low state of the mechanic arts in this
country. No steam engine had ever been built here, and but
few were in operation in the whole land. It was difficult to ob-
tain necessary iron or steel castings and a large part of the
work had to be done by ordinary blacksmiths, unskilled in
such work. Fitch himself was poor, without influential friends,
except those whom he secured by his own industry, perseverance,
and mechanical genius. The period was unpropitious. It was
just after the close of the Revolutionary war, when money was
scarce, and the people generally impoverished by their sacri-
fices for liberty, were with difficulty persuaded to contribute
to a venture, concerning the ultimate success of which they were
doubtful. Sea captains, the owners of boats and sailing vessels
32 JOHN FITCH, THE INVKNTOR OF STEAM NAVIGATION
and all interested in prevailing modes of carrying on commerce,
were jealous of the innovation, which threatened to diminish
their profits, and derided and scoffed at his scheme. It was only
by wonderful energy and determination, united with countless
faith in the feasibility and vast importance of his plan, that
enabled him to reach the measure of success he actually attained.
He demonstrated practically and fully that navigable waters could
be traversed by steam, but circumstances beyond his control pre-
vented the introduction of his invention into general use at that
early day.
His claim to priority has never been refuted. The thought
of a steamboat first came to him in April, 1785. In August of
the same year he presented a memorial to the Continental Con-
gress for encouragement and in September he applied for aid
to the Spanish minister, then in New York. In December he
asked for assistance from the Legislature of Pennsylvania. In
1786 the Assembly of New Jersey passed an act giving him ex-
clusive right for 14 years to navigate all the waters of the state
by fire and steam, and in 1787 similar acts were adopted in his
favor by the Assemblies of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York
and Virginia.
The legislative bodies would not have given him this right
unless they had been convinced that his claims were unimpeach-
able. Committees in each listened to his statements, investigated
their truth and reported in his favor, and their recommendations
were adopted, which is testimony of the strongest kind that his
invention was prior to that of any other individual, and that he
was the original projector of the most important and valuable
improvement ever made in navigation.
In February, 1786, nearly a year after Fitch conceived his
plan, he applied to Arthur Donaldson, of Philadelphia, an in-
genious man possessed of some pecuniary means, for assistance,
and asked him to become a partner with himself in the enter-
prise. Donaldson hesitated and said he would consult a friend
and let him know his decision later. In this interview Fitch
declares that Donaldson did not hint that he had ever thought
of using steam as a power in propelling boats, yet a few months
afterwards Donaldson asserted that he had contrived a way for
JOHN FITCH, THE INVENTOR OF STEAM NAVIGATION 33
driving boats by steam, and intended to apply to the Pennsylvania
Legislature for the sole right to the machine. The Legislature
considered the merits of both in respect to originality and the
next year decided in favor of Fitch. It does not appear that
Donaldson ever thought of steam in connection with boats till
the idea had been suggested to him by Fitch, yet he pretended
that the credit of the discovery should be awarded to him.
James Rumsey, of Virginia, likewise pretended to the honor
of the invention, but the evidence shows that his claims were
fallacious. He did indeed experiment in 1784 to get a boat
made which would be worked by a machine with poles, set in
motion by hand. But he did not intimate that he expected to
use steam as the power till many months after Fitch had applied
to more than one legislative body for a patent right, and his
claims had been heard of in all parts of the country. Fitch first
learned that Rumsey said he had invented a steamboat in October,
1787, more than two years after Fitch began his experiments.
During all that time Rumsey had been planning a mechanical
boat, to run by hand or horse power, and it had not occurred
to him that steam could be employed until the idea was sug-
gested by the persevering exertions of the skillful artisan in
Pennsylvania.
After the failure to complete the third large boat, "The Perse-
verance," Fitch remained for some time in Philadelphia without
funds, sad and despondent. Much of his time was passed in writing
his autobiography, which was comprised in six manuscript vol-
umes. In them he gives an account of the events of his life and of
his arduous and checkered experience with the steamboat. He de-
posited them in 1792 with the Philadelphia Library Company,
requesting that they be not opened till 1823, at the expiration of
thirty years. The whole work is addressed to Rev. Nathaniel
Irwin, pastor at Neshaminy, for whom he entertained the high-
est veneration and the warmest regard. The early education
of Fitch was very limited, and in his writings, grammar, ortho-
graphy, spelling and punctuation are constantly violated, but his
style is forcible and vivid, and displays far more than ordinary
intellectual gifts.
In 1793 he went to France, under the direction of a company
34 JOHN FITCH, THE INVI^NTOR OF STFAM NAVIGATION
of gentlemen, with a view to building steamboats there, but the
French Revolution was agitating the country when he arrived,
no funds could be secured, his own means were soon exhausted,
and after tarrying a while in England, he returned to the United
States, working his passage as a common sailor. For two years
he remained with his relatives in New England, and in 1796
he fitted a small steam engine in a ship's yawl in New York city,
and ran it on a little pond called the "Collects," now filled, on
the site of which the "Tombs" prison is built. Robert Fulton
and Robert R. Livingston were several times on this craft with
Fitch, while it was in motion, who explained to them the work-
ings of the machinery. It was propelled by a screw propeller,
and steered by an oar. Fulton, instead of being an originator,
was taught by Fitch, but he was more fortunate in possessing
in Livingston a wealthy friend.
Fitch had been revolving in his mind for a considerable time
a journey to Kentucky to look up lands which he still owned
there, and to form a company to build steamboats for the West-
ern rivers. In 1797 he repaired to that region, which he had
traversed repeatedly with his surveying instruments when it
was occupied only by savages and wild beasts. But he found
that no steamboat company could be organized, and that his
lands were over-run by squatters. To eject them he was obliged
to engage in vexatious lawsuits. To pay his board bill he had to
transfer his title to some of his lands to the keeper of the hotel.
He had become addicted to intemperate habits by resorting to
the bottle for comfort and cheer in his misfortunes, and at last,
when he saw no prospect of realizing the vision of his life, he
took opium with fatal efifect, and passed intentionally into the
dreamless sleep of death at Bardstown, Kentucky, somewhere
between the 25th of June and the i8th of July, 1798, being in
the 56th year of his age. Only a rough unhewn stone marks his
grave in the cemetery of that distant village. But a monument
ought to be erected over it. on which should be inscribed his
prophetic words, "The day will come when some more potent
man will get fame and riches from my invention. This will be
the mode of crossing the Atlantic in time, whether I shall bring
it to perfection or not."
The Schwenkfelders.
BY ASHER A. ANDERS, PHILADELPHIA, PA.
(Do3'lestown Meeting-, January 19, 1892).
There is no spot in this broad land wherein there may be found
such a great variety of sects as within the hmits of the grant
allowed William Penn. This is not to be marveled at, w^hen we
recall the fact that to this end Penn labored : while even in NeW
England, the Puritans, who themselves had endured the pangs
of persecution, were inclined to persecute those who took excep-
tion to their views. So many and various are the sects that it
will be unnecessary to name the leading denominations, which
are doubtless well known to all the members of this society. The
Moravians and the Mennonites are comparatively well known,
but the Amrish, the Harralites, and finally the Schwenkfelders,
of whom this paper will treat, are unknown, except probably
in name only, to most persons, even to those with whom they
come in daily contact. Probably many or all of the members
of your historical society may in a measure be conversant with
the local history of the Schwenkfelders, but few know of their
past, of the ignominious brutalities and suffering they were the
subjects of, all for tlie views they took in reference to the Scrip-
tures.
The founder of this peculiar people was one Kaspar von
Schwenkfeld, who was born in the year 1490, in a little village
called Ossing at that time, but now known as Ossig, in the
principality of Liegnitz, in Lower Silesia. He was a nobleman,
ranking high in court circles. He was educated at Cologne
and lived for a number of years at various universities on the
continent, where his favorite studies were theology and the
writings of the church fathers. After leaving the various uni-
versities he visited many German courts, devoting some years
to the culture which in his time was supposed to benefit his rank,
qualifying himself for knighthood and becoming a courtier.
While yet a young man he entered the service of Carl Duke of
Munsterberg, at whose court the doctrines of John Huss were
36 the; schwenkfeIvDErs
received and by none more heartily than by the young knight and
courtier. They made a lasting impression upon his mind and
doubtless gave direction to his future life and labors.
Being unfitted by bodily infirmities for knightly duties, he
quitted the service of the Duke of Munsterberg and became
counselor to Frederick II, Duke of Liegnitz, w^hom he served
in that capacity a number of years. Theology, however, had
stronger attractions than affairs of state. He made the acquaint-
ance of many theologians who were drifting in the direction of
the reformation, and under the influence of such associations
and the impressions already received, he withdrew from the
ducal court and was chosen canon of St. John's church at
Liegnitz.
Luther had now withdrawn from the church of Rome and his
doctrine attracted the attention of Schwenkfeld, who fell in with
Luther upon the issues at stake and he forthwith renounced his
position as cannon of St. John's and became an evangelist. While
Schwenkfeld was not inclined to be a controversialist, it was
not long before he and the Great-Reformer began to difl:'er on
points of doctrine which eventually led to a meeting between
the two at Wittenberg in September, 1525, where a personal inter-
view was held, resulting in a seeming agreement on the ques-
tions at issue, but which eventually drifted them far apart.
Trouble now began to thicken. Deprived of his fellowship
with the Lutherans, Schwenkfeld was none the less also an
outcast from the Catholics. Even Ferdinand, King of Bohemia
and Hungary, and afterward Emperor of Germany, whose lib-
erality to the Protestants brought him into disfavor at Rome,
could not tolerate his doctrine, and consequently ordered the
Duke of Liegnitz to suppress Schwenkfeld and his teachings,
Silesia being tributary at that time to the Bohemian Kings. But
the friendship formed while he was counselor to the Duke for-
bade compliance with the King's edict. But while the Duke
disobeyed the command of the King to repress Schwenkfeld,
he was powerless to protect his friend, and therefore urged
him to retire from Selesia for a time, until toleration should be
granted once more at the royal court.
After rcceivino- this kindly advice from his friend and hereto-
THE SCHWENKFELDERS 37
fore protector, Schwenkfeld left Silesia in 1529 for a tour
through Germany, and as it afterward proved, never to return
to his native land. This event then gave rise to a statement cir-
culated by his enemies at that time, and has since been repeated
by some German w^riters, that he had been expelled by the
Duke at the solicitation of the King, but which was refuted
by the fact of his continued friendly correspondence wath the
Duke until the latter's death. From that time on he moved
about from city to city defending his doctrines in public dis-
cussions with learned men and before the magistrates at Augo-
burg, Nurnburg, Strasburg and Ulm and other cities. His life
was one of unremitting labor. Besides preaching, he main-
tained correspondence wdth learned men and those high in rank
throughout Germany and Switzerland.
After thirty-six years of severe toil with voice and pen, he
died in the city of Ulm, December 10, 1562, leaving a name
unspotted by any charge except that of heresy and that only
in respect to doctrine. His opponents accorded him the praise
of possessing great learning combined with modesty and piety.
Although the purpose was never entertained by Schwenkfeld
to establish an independent sect, he had, so far as successful
teaching was concerned, prepared the way for it. Many clergy-
men, noblemen and other influential and learned men throughout
Silesia and Germany and other localities, especially at Liegnitz
and Jauer, embraced his doctrine, but their prosperity was
short lived. State reasons inclined the Prince to favor the larger
following of the other Reformers : even Frederick H, whose
friendship for Schwenkfeld had never abated, yielded to the
dominant influences and dismissed the court preacher, but while
he lived he exercised no severity to the people in his dominions,
After his death they fared worse. They came into dire dis-
favor with both Protestants and Catholics. They were called
Schwenkfelders in derision — a name which they accepted — and
they were stigmatized by almost every name supposed to convey
reproach. Frederick HI, who succeeded to the principality
at the death of Frederick H, determined to stamp them from
his dominions and consequently issued a decree against them
imposing among other things a fine of 500 florins upon any per-
38 the; sciiwsnkfelders
son who would harbor a Schweiikfelder, at the same time
ordering all their books to be seized and burned.
These stringent measures had an effect quite contrary to that
intended. The number of Schwenkfelders increased rather than
diminished. Persecution followed persecution until about the
year 1580, when it seemed that every ingenuity that man could
devise was employed to exterminate them ; no clergyman would
solemnize their marriages. Leading men were expelled from
the country, others were arrested and imprisoned in dungeons,
where many died from starvation, cold and violence. Others
contracted diseases from which they afterward died. Large
numbers were sent to Vienna and there condemned without trial
to serve in the wars with the Turks, or as oarsmen on the Medi-
terranean Galleys — and thus passed the weary years until the
outbreak of the Thirty Years War, when the Schwenkfelders
accepted the horrors of that prolonged struggle as a grateful
change from the cruelties of religious persecution.
After the peace of Westphalia the old persecutions were
increased with renewed vigor. Amid all these persecutions,
without organization, robbed of their books, which had been
burned, they maintained their faith for more than two centuries.
Toward the close of the 17th century this period of intolerance
relaxed; large numbers of the young entered the other Pro-
testant denominations, and from that time the Schwenkfelders
gradually decreased, until the year 1718 they numbered only
a few hundred, where formerly they had been counted by
thousands, and had disappeared entirely from many towns where
they had been numerous.
It was not difficult for the enemies of the Schwenkfelders
to persuade Charles VI that the treaty of Westphalia in its in-
terdiction of religious persecution did not protect the Schwenk-
felders. An imperial edict to this end, that of compelling them
to return to the state-religion, was issued. Consternation seized
the people and persecution stalked throughout the land. Women
were placed in stocks and compelled to lie in cold rooms in win-
ter without so much as straw under them. Marriages were for-
bidden, and when young people went into other countries to be
married they were imprisoned on their return. The dead were
THE SCHWENKFELDERS 39
not allowed Christian burial in the church-yards where their
ancestors for many generations slept, but were required to be
interred in cattle-ways, and sorrowing friends were forbidden
to follow the remains even to these ignominious resting places.
Hundreds of Schwenkfelders were so buried for a period of 20
years, and to prevent escape from the horrible situation, the
people were forbidden to sell their property or under any pretext
to leave the country, and severe penalties were denounced
against any one who should assist a Schwenkf elder to escape.
They therefore resolved to escape at all hazards.
The exodus commenced in the month of February, 1726. Dur-
ing that and the following months upwards of 170 families es-
caped by night from the different towns and villages of Silesia
and fled on foot to Upper Lusatia then a portion of Saxon\.
In consequence of the prohibition of the sale of their property
and the police regulations to prevent their emigration, they were
obliged to leave their property behind except such as they could
carry with them. The less provident who had laid up little or
no money found themselves in great destitution among strangers.
They were, however, hospitably received and entertained by
Count Zenzendorf, and soon after their arrival they received
assistance from unknown friends in Holland.
The assistance received from Holland led to a correspondence
with their Dutch benefactors who strongly advised emigration
to Pennsylvania. Some had already purchased homes in Lusatia,
but subsequent events proved that the hand of persecution would
soon follow them even to this temporary shelter. It was ascer-
tained that application had been made for their enforced return
to Silesia, and their presence would not be tolerated in Lusatia
after the following spring. Soon after the announcement that
protection would be withdrawn, two families emigrated to Phila-
delphia, where they arrived September 18, 1733. Their report of
the country and the advice of the friends in Holland determined
about forty families to follow them. They then journeyed to
Holland, arriving in Plaarlem on the 6th of June. Here they were
received with open arms and hospitably entertained by their
benefactors of former years.
Just here it will be proper to mention a circumstance showing
40 the; schwenkfeld^rs
that "bread cast upon the waters will return after many days.''
This was shown by the disinterestedness of a mercantile house
in Haarlem composed of three brothers named Von Byuschause.
Their attention to the strangers was not limited to seeing that
their actual wants were supplied ; they endeavored by personal
attention to make the stay of the party enjoyable. The little ones
especially came in for a full share of their kindly offices. Part
of the contributions which had been sent for the rehef of the
destitute remained unexpended and those having it in charge
offered to return it to the donors. The Messrs. Von Byuschause
would not listen to the offer but directed the fund to be expended
for the benefit of the poor people when they should arrive in
Pennsylvania, and not content with all they had done, they insisted
upon providing at their own expense, a vessel for the transporta-
tion of the whole company to Philadelphia and defraying the
entire expense of the voyage. The descendants and successors of
the Messrs. Von Byuschause met with reverses in the year 1790.
Information of this fact coming to the Schwenkfelders in Penn-
sylvania, they in grateful remembrance of the kindness shown
them in childhood more than half a century before, raised a large
sum of money and sent it to the relief of the distressed house.
The emigrants remained at Haarlem, enjoying the munificent
hospitality of the Messrs. Von Byuschause until the 19th of
June, then proceeded to Rotterdam, where they embarked on an
English ship, the St. Andrew, which had been chartered for
them by their large-hearted friends ; and touching at Plymouth,
England, they arrived in Philadelphia on September 22, 1734.
On the next day all male persons over 16 years of age proceeded
to the State-house, and there pledged allegiance to George
n. King of Great Britain, and his successors, and of fidelity to
the proprietor of the Province. They spent the 24th in thanks-
giving, for deliverance from the hands of their persecutors.
This day was set apart to be observed by them and their descend-
ants through all time and is observed to this day. This
little band who had passed through so many trials together,
were now to separate. Some settled in the present limits of the
city of Philadelphia, in the neighborhood of Chestnut Hill, others
in the present counties of Montgomery, Berks and Lehigh. It
the; schwenkfeIvDERs 41
is needless to dwell on the privations and hardships of the first
few years. They were such as fell to the lot of all the early
settlers of Pennsylvania. This, however, was as naught to
the persecutions through which they came.
It was natural to expect that the remaining Schwenkfelders
would speedily follow their emigrant brethren, but such was
not the case. A change of tactics on the part of the authorities
in Silesia gave a comparative rest for a few years. The hour
of final deliverance had come. In a short time Charles II paid
the debt of nature and Frederick the Great proclaimed religious
freedom in the long misgoverned principalities. He was not
content to merely stop religious persecutions, but endeavored
to redress the damage even at the expense of the royal treasury.
For that purpose he issued an edict in 1742 which reflects the
highest honor upon himself, and when the insignificance of
their numbers is considered, pays a flattering tribute to the
worth of the exiled Schwenkfelders. In this edict everything
of which they had been deprived, including land, was returned,
and full protection in every form was granted them, but much
as they loved their fatherland, none of the Schwenkfelders in
Pennsylvania availed themselves of the royal invitation to return.
They had become attached to the government in which they
enjoyed absolute freedom and a measure of prosperity that
promised better things in the future than the restoration of their
estates in Silesia. By untiring industry, they shared in the
prosperity and wealth of their newly chosen home, and have
not been deficient in giving to their adopted country men of
intellect and social standing, who have become famous in
church and state.
Their houses of worship are plain and primitive, without dis-
play of architectural beauty or costly finishings — no gilded dome
or tapering spire — no chime of bells to summon the faithful to
worship. But with simplicity and humility they worship the
God of their fathers as in days of yore. To attend one of their
services is certainly impressive on account of its rural simplicity.
The male and female portion of the assemblage occupy separate
parts of the house. Their music is of the kind that would indi-
cate the singing of a requiem, being mostly in a minor key, and
a feeling of sadness pervades the place.
42 the; schwenkfelders
The Schwenkfelders are given mostly to agricultural pur-
suits, and son follows father in the same line, generation after
generation. They are thrifty and economical and as a conse-
quence it is a rarity to find a poor Schwenkfelder. Their
farms are models of what can be accomplished and they take
great pride in their barns and stock. They are peaceable and
law-abiding and shun strife and legal broils. They take care
of their poor and none who remain in their fold is ever thrown
upon public charity. No poor man or beggar ever approaches
in vain for food or shelter at their door, nor is he turned away
in distress.
It may very properly be asked why they do not increase in
numbers as other denominations do, and can be answered by
saying that they never ask any persons outside of those born
in their faith to become part of them, while many of their
young have been received into other denominations.
Many of them have ably filled positions of trust and responsi-
bility. Some have been elected to represent their districts in
the halls of Congress, some in the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives at Harrisburg, others have risen to prominence at the
bar of justice, including the Supreme bench ; many have be-
come scholars of note, having attained proficiency in the arts
and sciences. Some have risen to eminence in the science of
medicine, and one to the highest gifts within the power of tlie
people to bestow, namely that of Governor of the State of
Pennsylvania, was conferred upon the late John F. Hartranf*:,
a brave and tried soldier, who fought his way from com-
parative obscurity to that of a general.
Some years ago the Schwenkfelders sent one of their repre-
sentative men to Silesia to ascertain what had become of the
property and estates which they left behind in their flight. He
returned and reported that there was no hope of its recovery,
owing to the proclamation which had been made by Frederick
for their return, and which had not been accepted by them.
Sdme Historic Facts.
BY GEN. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 19, 1S92).
Bucks county is rich in historic incidents. Wliether we
consider its settlement and the men who composed tlie band of
pioneers who had the courage to penetrate the wilderness, or
note the events that have transpired from that time to the present,
we find much of deep interest. We must not lose sight of the
actual condition of things when Penn and his bold immigrants
landed on the bank of the Delaware. If we except an oc-
casional clearing, what is now a charming and cultivated land-
scape, was an unbroken forest. The rivers swarmed with fish,
the woods were filled with game, and -there was much wild
fruit. The country was without roads, and those who traveled
followed bridle paths or propelled themselves in canoes on the
streams.
One of the earliest subjects to engage the attention of the
first settlers of our county was the marking of their cattle. As
they were turned loose in the forest, some distinctive mark to
recognize them was provided by law. In Bucks the registry of
ear marks was begun in 1684, but no doubt cattle were marked
earlier. The first name entered in the book kept for that pur-
pose is that of Phineas Pemberton, and the entry reads : "The
marks of my cattle, P. P., the 10, 6th-mo., 1684," and the book
is part of the records of our court. Nearly all the entries
were made in that year, and the book contains the names of
105 owners of cattle in Bucks county. The usual method of
marking was by cropping one or both ears ; each owner's cattle
must be marked differently, and any alteration of the marks was
a punishable offense. Among the owners of cattle in 1684 we
find the names of many prominent families of to-day.
In viewing the early history of our county we are impressed
with the fact that it was a Quaker settlement, and Pennsyl-
vania a Quaker Commonwealth. Outside pressure had intensi-
fied the settlers' religious convictions, which were carried into
44 SOME HISTORIC F'ACTS
state and family. Their social and domestic government was
practically turned over to the Meeting, and a discipline was
enforced that would not be tolerated now. It prescribed rules
for dress, and marked out the line of behavior. As early as
1682, male and female, old and young, are advised against
"wearing superfluity of apparel." In 1719 they advanced a
step farther, and advised that all who accustomed themselves
to suffer their children to use "the corrupt and unscriptural
language of you to a single person" should be "dealt with." In
1711 Friends were exhorted not to attend the funerals of those
not in communion with them ; nor to go into any of their "wor-
ship-houses," or hear their sermons. They were strict about
marriages, and the man and woman were not allowed to dwell
in the same house, from the time they "begin to be concerned
in proposals of marriage," until its consummation. Notwith-
standing this strictness, the Meeting countenanced the supply-
ing of liquor at funerals and marriages.
I have mentioned Phineas Pemberton as the first to have
the ear marks of his cattle registered. He was the first clerk
of the Bucks county courts, serving until his death, in 1702.
There is no doubt the Pembertons lived on the fat of the land.
His daughter Abigail writes him, in 1697, that she had saved
twelve barrels of cider for the family. In one of his letters
he speaks of "goose wrapped up in the cloth, at the head of a
little bag of walnuts," which he recommends them to "keep a
little after it comes, but roast it, get a few grapes, and make
a pudding in the belly." One of the members of the Pemberton
household was a young girl named Mary Becket, a descendant
of the great Northumberland house of Percy. When her mother
married Becket she was a ward in Chancery, and they were
compelled to flee to the continent, where he was killed in the
religious wars in Germany. Mary was the only child. Her
mother subsequently married one Haydock, had two children
who became Friends and came to America. Mary Becket was
married to Samuel Bowne, of Flushing, Long Island, October
4, 1694. His letter to Mary, dated 6-mo., 1691, is a model of
its kind. A copy fell into my hands some years ago ; it contains
some pointers that might be of service to the young ladies present
SOME HISTORIC FACTS 45
in this kind of epistolary correspondence. It opens by saying,
"My very dear and constant love salutes thee," and insists in
calling her his "dear hart." The future history of Mary Becket
I have not been able to learn.
Bucks county produced a number of eminent men in the past,
but in this brief paper I have time and space to mention but a
few. Our county furnished the United States one Commanding-
General of her army, and he was a member of the Brown family
— Jacob Brown, a descendant of George Brown, who came from
England in 1679, and settled on the Delaware near Biles' creek,
in Falls township. Our hero, the son of Samuel Brown, was
born on the Delaware three and a half miles below Morrisville,
May 9, 1775. The family removed to western New York at
the close of the century, where he was living when the war with
England broke out in 181 2. He went to Washington but a plain
citizen, and presented himself to General Armstrong, Secre-
tary of War. He introduced himself to this functionary by
saying that his name was Jacob Brown ; that he was a full-
blood Bucks county Quaker, but had an inclination to enter
the military service, which he would do if the Secretary would
give him the command of a brigade ; that he knew nothing of
military, but believed he possessed every other requisite for a
soldier and an officer. The Secretary, without hesitation,
offered him the command of a regiment, which he declined,
saying : "I will be as good as my word ; give me a brigade and
you shall not be disgraced, but I will accept nothing less." He
returned home and received the commission of Brigadier Gen-
eral in the militia; served with great distinction in the war
and rose to be Commanding General of the Army of the
United States, dying at Washington, February 24, 1828, where
he was buried. The following verse was cut on his tomb-
stone :
" Let him who e'er in after days
Shall view this monument of praise,
For honor heave the patriot sigh
And for his country learn to die. "
Falls township, Quaker though it be, produced another officer
of renown. I refer to Charles Ellet, Jr., who rendered dis-
46 some: historic p^acts
tinguished service in the late Civil War. He was born in 1810,
adopted the profession of an engineer and at the age of 19 went
to France with a letter to General Lafayette. Finishing his
education in Paris, he traveled over Europe on foot studying
bridges, canals, &c. Among his other great works were the
wire suspension bridges at Fairmount, Philadelphia, Niagara
Falls and Wheeling, Va. He married a daughter of Judge
Daniels, of Virginia. He was the first to recommend the use
of steam rams on the western waters during the Civil War,
and proved their efficiency by destroying the enemy's fleet May
12, 1862, at the cost of his life. He was buried from Independ-
ence Hall with civic and military honors. At his death his
brother, Alfred M., took command, and, when he was given the
marine brigade his nephev\^ Charles Rivers Ellet, succeeded
to the ram fleet. The latter died suddenly in 1863. Three
other members of the family served with the ram fleet and be-
haved with conspicuous gallantry, Lieutenant-Colonel John A.
and Lieutenants Richard and Edward C. Ellet. These men,
little known to the present generation at home, were an honor
to the country and an honor to the county.
Bucks county can claim the distinguished General Zebulon
M. Pike, who fell at York, Canada, in 1813, as a resident if not
a native. There is some question as to which side of the Dela-
ware he was born on, but we know he spent several years of his
life in Solebury and went to school there. The Pikes were early
settlers in that township. It is claimed that he was born at
Lamberton, now the lower part of Trenton, January 5, I779'
and that his father afterwards removed to Lumberton where the
family lived. This was his home in 1786. While living there
the father subscribed the oath of allegiance to the Colonies. He
was a soldier in the Revolution ; served in St. Clair's expedition
in 1791 ; was a Lieut. Colonel in the regular army in 1812, and
died in 1834 at the age of S^. The son, General Pike, entered
the army as lieutenant, March 3. 1799, and his services are too
well known to lie repeated. Among them were valuable ex-
plorations to the head-waters of the Arkansas and Red rivers,
in 1806. This led to his capture and imprisonment at Santa Fe,
New Mexico. The buildinc: he was confined in was a small
SOMK HISTORIC FACTS 47
adobe structure annexed to the government palace. It was still
standing when I went there in 1853 ; and the roof fell in, the
day David Meriwether, the newly appointed Governor, arrived
to take charge of the office the same year. The Mexicans con-
sidered this a favorable omen. A distinguishing feature of
General Pike was a fine head of bright red hair; and as he
was the first man with reel hair ever seen in New Mexico, he
was viewed as something of a curiosity.
Nicholas Biddle, the great financier, was long a resident of
Bensalem township, this county. The Biddies were settled in
Pennsylvania almost at the birth of the colony, the first ancestor,
William Biddle, one of the original proprietors of New Jersey,
coming from London in 1681. Many of them became distin-
guished men, several serving in the Navy and Army. Edward
was a captain in the Avar of 1756 and member of the Conti-
nental Congress ; Nicholas was a captain in the Navy and
perished with his vessel, the frigate Randolph of 32 guns, while
fighting the British ship Yarmouth of 64 guns ; Charles Biddle,
the father of our Nicholas, was vice-president of Pennsylvania
while Benjamin Franklin was president. The Bensalem prop-
erty, the home of Nicholas Biddle. was purchased in 1795 by
John Craig, one of Philadelphia's old merchants, who, in mem-
ory of his successful mercantile ventures in Spain and her col-
onies, called his country home "Andalusia." In 1811 Nicholas
Biddle married Craig's eldest daughter, and spent much of his
time there, removing thither permanently in 1821, and devoting
much of his time to agricultural pursuits. He was made presi-
dent of the United States Bank in 1823, which place he held
until the charter expired in 1830: and, on the rechartering of the
bank by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, he was again elected
president, but retired in 1839. The bank failed in 1841, and
his own fortune then very large, went in the general wreck.
Mr. Biddle was an accomplished scholar and a man of refined
tastes, spending much of his leisure in literary pursuits. He
was a poet of no mean merit. His "Ode to Bogle," the great
Philadelphia waiter and undertaker, whom he denominated "the
colorless colored man," lives to this day and has been republished
again and again. He was the first to introduce Aldernev cattle
48 SOMS HISTORIC FACTS
into this country and the cultivation of the grape, while to his
efforts the country is indebted for one of the most beautiful
structures of modern times, Girard College. It was a saying
of his that there were but two truths in the world, "the Bible
and Greek architecture," and his influence was exerted in favor
of that order for public buildings. Nicholas Biddle died at
Andalusia, February 26, 1844.
In 1703 William Penn sent his son William, a wild youth,
to Pennsylvania, hoping the associates of his father would have
a good influence over him. He came commended to the care
of James Logan with this injunction to the latter: "Take
him immediately away to Pennsbury, and there give him the
true state of things, and weigh down his levities, as well as tem-
per his resentments and form his understanding, since all de-
pends upon it, as well as his future happiness, as in a measure
the poor country. Watch him, outwit him, and honestly overreach
him for his own good. Fishing, little journeys, (as to see the
Indians) &c., will divert him; no rambling to New York, nor
mongrel correspondence." Logan carried out these instructions,
and young Penn was soon under the peaceful roof at Pennsbury.
He brought out two or three couples of choice hounds, for deer,
foxes and wolves, and his father wrote to have John Sotcher,
who had charge of Pennsbury, quarter them about, "as with
young Biles et al." Young Penn received the congratulations
of his father's friends; and when the Indians heard that the son
of the Proprietary had arrived, they sent a deputation of one
hundred warriors with nine kings to Pennsbury, to tender their
welcome. Young Penn made a favorable impression, and Sam-
uel Preston wrote Jonathan Dickinson : • "Our young landlord
in my judgment, discovers himself his father's eldest son;
his person, his sweetness of temper and elegance of speech are
no small demonstrations of it." Neither the devotion of Logan,
the interest of his father's friends in his welfare, nor the pure
atmosphere of Pennsbury, had the desired effect ; he spent most
of his time in Philadelphia, where he played some wild capers.
He fell again into evil habits, and, returning to England in the
fall of 1704, died in disgrace in France a few years later.
The waywardness of this favorite son almost broke the father's
heart.
some; historic facts 49
Among the distinguished persons who visited Pennsbury after
Penn left it was Lord Cornbury, the Governor of New York,
in June, 1702. He was a cousin of Queen Anne, and came to
BurHngton to proclaim her ascension to the throne. Governor
Hamilton and party met him at Crosswicks, N. J., and invited
him to visit Pennsylvania. James Logan, who was up at Penns-
bury, hastened down to Philadelphia to provide for his entertain-
ment, and a dinner "equal to anything in America," we are told,
was prepared for him and his retinue. On his return from
Burlington to ihe Falls on the 24th, he paid a visit to Pennsbury,
Logan had sent up wine and, as he expressed it, "what could
be got," and was there to receive his guest. Lord Cornbury
was attended up the river by four boats besides his own, includ-
ing the Governor's barge, and arrived about ten in the morn-
ing with a suite of 50 persons. James Logan, in a letter to
Penn, says of this dinner: "With Mary's great diligence, and
all our care, we got really a handsome country entertainment,
which, though much inferior to those of Philadelphia for cost,
etc., yet, for decency and good order, gave no less satisfaction."
The "Mary" here referred to was Mary Sotcher, the house-
keeper, and wife of John Sotcher, who had charge cf Pennsbury
for many years. In September, 1704, Lord Cornbury again
visited Pennsbury, accompanied by his wife, when they were
entertained by William Penn, Jr. At that period the Manor
was noted for its apple-orchard, and the quality of its "pear-
mains and golden pippins."
The Ellicott family was one of the most prominent of our
county, Andrew, the first ancestor in America, coming from
Devonshire, Enlgand, and settling in Solebury in 1730. He
followed farming and milling. About 1770 his three sons,
Joseph, Andrew and John, purchased a tract of land at what
is now Ellicott's Mills, in Maryland, and removed thither. There
in the wilderness they built mills, erected dwellings, stores and
schoolhouses, opened roads and quarries and established the seat
of an extensive and profitable business. They were all men of
sterling merit and became rich and conspicuous. They introduced
the use of plaster of Paris into Maryland and were the first to
advocate -a supply of good v/ater for Baltimore. Joseph, the
50 SOME HISTORIC FACTS
eldest son, was a genius in mechanics, to which he was devoted
from boyhood. About 1760 he made a repeating watch without
instructions, which he took to England, where it was much ad-
mired and gained him great attention. y\fter his return he
made a four-faced musical clock, tiie wonder of the time, which
played 24 tunes and combined many other and delicate move-
ments. He died in 1780 at the age of 48. His son Andrew,
born in Solebury, in 1754, became a distinguished engineer.
He was Surveyor-General of the United States in 1792; adjusted
the boundary between this country and Spain, in 1796; laid out
the towns of Erie, Warren and Franklin in this State, and was
the first to make an accurate measurement of the falls of Niagara.
He was the consulting engineer in laying out the city of Wash-
tngton and completed the work. In 1812 he was appointed
professor of mathematics at West Point and died there in 1820.
George EHicott, the son of Andrew, was one of the greatest
mathematicians of his time, and died in 1832. The Ellicotts
owned the mill at Carversville, and what was known as Pettitt's
mill in Buckingham. They were Quakers.
I can recall no one at present whose career presents a more
interesting history than the late Dr. Arthur D. Cernea, of Buck-
ingham. Many of us knew him as a quiet Friend and practi-
tioner of medicine, never dreaming that in his life thereby hangs
a tale. He was Ijorn in Philadelphia, of French parentage,
about 1806. Plis father, an officer of the French army, came to
this country near the close of the last century with his wife,
from the West Indies. She was likewise French, her family
having lost their estates in the troubles in those islands. Con-
templating a short visit to France, their eldest son, Arthur, a
lad of nine years, was placed at the Moravian school, Nazareth.
The parents were never heard of after they embarked, and their
fate is left to conjecture. It was learned in after years from
the records of a lodge of French Masons, in possession of the
Pennsylvania Historical Society, that his father and mother
came to Philadelphia about 1793, also learned his mother's maiden
name, and the time of their departure for France. The over-ab-
sence of the parents was kept from young Cernea as long as pos-
sible, but when he discovered it, he resolved to quit school and
some; historic facts 51
not be a charge upon others. He left Nazareth, unknown to the
teachers, with a small sum of money in his pocket realized
from the sale of a box of paints, and started on foot for Phila-
delphia, stopping over night at the Jenkintown inn. Here he
met Eleazer Shaw, of Plumstead, on his way to market, with
whom he rode to the city and to whom he related his story.
After a fruitless search for his parents, Mr. Shaw persuaded
the young lad to go home with him, which he did. At this
time he was about 13. He lived with Mr. Shaw several years,
devoting his leisure to self -improvement. By the time he was
18 he was qualified to instruct others, and began to teach at the
old eight-square school-house in Plumstead, and afterward taught
at several other places, including Ouakertown. While here he
began to read medicine with Dr. Hampton Watson, and grad-
uated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1831. He re-
moved to Buckingham and associated himself in the practice of
medicine with the late Dr. Wilson, and, at the death of that
eminent physician, he continued practice alone, removing to
Centreville. a more convenient point. Here he died a few years
ago. Dr. Cernea was a quiet, scholarly man, devoting his leisure
to literature and the sciences, giving much attention to botany.
If we were to inquire into the lives of other men who go in and
out among us daily, no doubt we should find many of them
equally chequered and interesting.
Prehistoric Man in Northern Bucks County.
BY CHARLES LAUBACH, DURHAM, PA.*
(Pipersville Meeting, July 19. 1892).
Man in the Delaware V^alley must be studied from a geological
standpoint. Not only is this true of our section of the country,
but of the Pacific coast and intervening country as well. To de-
termine at what precise point in geological time man appeared
upon the earth, is obviously impractical with our present knowl-
edge. We can, however, trace prehistoric man as far back as the
Glacial epoch and possibly in the Pliocene. Man in the Ter-
tiaries from being hypothetical has at length become a tangible
creature.
That there was a prehistoric age of man is easily recognizable
by every sense which makes us intelligent human beings. If this
principle of knowledge were insufficient to convince, we need but
to refer to the Hebraic accounts for conclusive arguments in
favor of this our most reasonable doctrine. Their record refers
to cities and countries which were populous and possessed of ap-
pliances and arts and sciences that were old when the Hebrew
nation comprised only a few families. Northern Africa was at
that time the seat of a civilization which the Jews never equalled.
Ethiopia, already overpopulated, swept thence a tide of civilization
towards the ever-receding western world. Even before the old-
est Hebrew records, Ethiopia had its vast pyramids, colossal
monuments and grand moral memorials which are now but debris
of an ancient civilization.
It seems, too, in that period, which is so far away from us that
their incidents are almost imperceptible in the dimness of their
own antiquity, that the populous hordes of Africa, as well as the
people of Asia, were impelled by the same mysterious principle
of impulse and unrest to move ever onward toward the setting
sun. Hence we find that the tendency has forever been "West-
ward."
* In October, i8gi, Mr. lyaubach gave to the Museum of the University of Pennsyl-
vania his archaeological collection, consisting of about 1,500 specimens, including ham-
mer-stones, chipped flints, axes, and a number of miscellaneous objects.
PREHISTORIC MAN IN NORTHERN BUCKS COUNTY 53
This singular record of the weird past has its Drototypes even
now in this materiahstic age of strange surprises and wonder-
ful discoveries. There is the same restlessness of races, and the
spirit of unrest agitating us now that actuated the Phoenicians
to discovery and conquest in the unrecorded history of those past
ages. This same mobility is the peculiarity of the present-day
pioneers, whose few wants, hermit habits, and primitive disposi-
tion tend to carry them to the borders of unexplored countries
towards which the ax and plow and printing-press are impelling
hordes of the hungry, eager and adventurous spirits of the age.
There they indulge in the rude and semi-barbarous pleasures in-
cident to nomadic life.
There will probably always be overcautious folk, who will ac-
cept no other testimony than his or her own eyes — often the most
treacherous of guides — and who turn their backs when we speak
of prehistoric man, chipper of jasper, argillite and flinty rock,
and who with no other weapon than bow and arrow held at bay
the savage and ferocious beasts of primeval time. Such a man
stands out in the geological history of the Delaware Valley, not
as a dim shadow, but as a substantial fact.
In the valley of the Delaware river palaeolithic mxan has left
abundant traces of his former presence. Dr. C. C. Abbott, of
Trenton, N. J., one of the most competent archaeologists of this
country, says while speaking about prehistoric implements :
" As the first to point out what is now maintained b}' competent archae-
ologists to be their real significance, I may be pardoned for devoting the
conclusion of my address to a consideration of the Delaware Valley. So far
as its physical character and the traces of prehistoric man found there, have
a bearing on the question of the antiquity of man in America. But do not
suppose that others have not gone over the same ground. Slialer, Belt,
Whitney, Wright, Pumpelly, McGee, Lewis, as well as our State geologists,
are practically one in their view that the gravel deposits along this river are
so far ancient as to be very significant as to whatever traces of man or other
mammals they may contain; while Dawkins, Tylor, Putnam, Morse, Haynes,
Wilson, DeCosta, and others have all been more or less successful in finding
traces of palaeolithic man in this river valley, and admit witliont qualifica-
tion his former presence. "
I would prefer to give the opinions of others, rather than my
own, but as prehistoric man and his implements have claimed
my attention for many years, I may be pardoned for bringing
before this society some facts in the distribution of prehistoric
54 pre;historic man in northern bucks county
implements and their importance in the study of the question now
before us. The conditions under which prehistoric implements
occur in the valley of the Delaware are characteristic, and are as-
sociated with a deposit, which, although geologically recent, is of
great antiquity. A wide gap, that the most earnest opponent of
prehistoric man cannot close, exists between these and the Indian
relics proper. The confusion concerning the evidences of man's
antiquity in the valley of the Delaware is due to the fact that the
average collector has laid too much stress upon the character of
the implements found, and too little upon the circumstances under
which they were found. The evidence of man's antiquity is the
same the world over, and only when we find the geological and
archaeological condition in accord, i. c, prehistoric implements
in undisturbed deposits of great age, can we assert that such evi-
dence has been found.
The discoveries in this region give tangible results of man's
great antiquity in the valley of the Delaware. Several sites,
circles of stones, hearths, small boulders, burnt and cracked by
fire, fire-discolored earth, etc., have been found in this vicinity,
deep under gravel-deposits of post-glacial times. These deposits,
lying immediately south of the terminal moraine, give us approxi-
m.ately, their own age and connection with the last Glacial epoch.
To say that man was here before the close of the Glacial epoch
fixes a minimum point only, as to his antiquity. How long he
was here previous to that time must be determined by other
considerations. The Glacial period was a long time in closing.
The deposits at Trenton and along the Delaware northward took
place while the ice sheet still lingered in the upper water shed
of the Delaware. The Glacial period followed the Tertiary period.
Vast geological and climatic changes occurred during the Tertiary
period, especially towards the advent of the Glacial epoch. Both
geological and astronomical causes may have been at work in pro-
ducing this singular period in the earth's history. The best es-
tablished view seems to be that Glacial periods are periodical
phenomena, depending upon the eccentricity of the earth's orbit
By this we can approximately fix the time of the age or period.
It may have ended about 60,000 years ago. In about 150,000
years to come the orbit of the earth will again be so eccentric
that a glacial period may supervene. The time estimate becomes
PREHISTORIC MAN IN NORTHERN BUCKS COUNTY 55
of great importance in elucidating the question, how long ago did
man first make his appearance on the earth ? Assuming then that
geologists are correct in their data, we have from thirty to sixty
thousand years of time for these deposits to be made, and at no
time was the continent uninhabitable, however deeply submerged
the lower lying areas. There was land enough for mammalian
life, and it flourished at the very foot of the advancing or receding
ice sheet. It should be noted that all of tlie remains of pre-
historic man thus far reported from these deposits in this region
have come from or immediately beneath the later ice action. It
is significant that nearly all the palaeolithic implements found by
Dr. Abbott in the Trenton gravels are of similar age and con-
dition.
In my frequent excursions throughout the valley of the Dela-
ware I found many promising fields, and obtained many valuable
specimens of the handiwork of the later Indians. Among these
polished and finished specimens were occasionally noticed some of
rude shape, showing a wide gap in the method of manufacture, and
from their respective positions it became conclusive that they be-
longed to tw^o different races of men occupying the country at
dift'erent times.
In the fall of 1886 while overseeing a large excavation being
made in opening a limestone quarry north of Durham creek, and
at a depth of about twenty feet from the surface (the surface
soil being glacial drift) against a limestone ledge, the workmen
came upon an undoubted ancient hearth or cooking place. Numer-
ous fire-burnt and broken stones were found, with several rude
but rather dubious looking implements of stone. The hearth or
fireplace and burnt stones were undoubtedly placed in the cir-
cular position by ancient man before this deposition of over
twenty feet of glacial gravel.
Several years ago while a gang of men were making excava-
tions on the New Jersey side of the Delaware, they exhumed
from the glacial gravels quite a number of artificial objects manu-
factured by ancient man. These implements were exhumed at a
depth of at least forty feet from the surface, and in a geographic
position denoting great age. Along Fry's run, in Williams
township, Northampton county, Pa., Theophilus Sleckel, while
quarrying sand in a deposit of the same age, exhumed at a depth
56 PREHISTORIC MAN IN NORTHERN BUCKS COUNTY
of twelve feet several hearths or fireplaces of circular shape,
besides a large number of stone implements of undoubted arti-
ficial manufacture. In 1862 after a heavy freshet wliereby about
twenty acres of river drift were washed away along the Dela-
ware river at Riegelsville, Bucks county, we picked out of the
embankment remaining, at a depth of forty feet from the sur-
face, some sixty arrow heads manufactured of argillite. It may
be claimed that this river drift deposit is comparatively recent,
yet viewing it from an archaeological standpoint, it is extremely
old, dating back at least to the thawing of the great ice sheet.
Atout four hundred yards north of where a little creek some-
times called the ''Brandywine" empties into Durham creek, under
an overhanging limestone ledge, were found about thirty or more
implements of rude manufacture resembling the net sinkers of
the late Indians. These implements of stone must have been
placed there before the extensive floods created by the melting
of the great ice sheet, as the limestone in the vicinity is covered
by an alluvial deposit of drift and soil averaging from seven to
fifteen feet in depth.
After the 1862 freshet in the Delaware, Lewis Bloom, on the
New Jersey side of the Delaware, opposite Durham, discovered
in a washout at a depth of fifteen feet from the surface in the
underlying clay a cacJw of argillite and quartz arrow-points con-
taining at least half a bushel. These primitive implements were
probably deposited or buried in the clay or soil by ancient man.
Having, endeavored to make clear what I mean by prehistoric
man, and shown also that he was a fact and not a myth, the
question arises, what was his fate? Did he like the mammoth
and the mastodon become extinct ?
Whatever conclusions may ultimately be arrived at in regard
to the relationship between the Red Man found in this section
at the time of its discovery by the Europeans and prehistoric
man, it is quite apparent that a long lapse of time occurred be-
tween their respective occupation.
No line of connection between Glacial man and the modern
Red Man has as yet been determined, and in all probability never
will be. It is doubtful whether sufficient positive evidence to satis-
fy the minds of mankind at large, of the presence of an earlier
people than the Indian along the valley of the Delaware, will ever
PREHISTORIC MAN IN NORTHERN BUCKS COUNTY 5/
be forthcoming; yet, to the minds of candid observers, there is
such a degree of positive evidence in the interpretation of known
facts that brings it within the bounds of certainty. That pre-
historic man attained to an advanced degree of culture in the
land is also certain, as may be demonstrated by visiting the
museum of American Archaeology and Palaeontology of the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
However others may be impressed by what I have now im-
perfectly presented, for myself I see while strolling along the
pleasant shores of the beautiful Delaware river the remnants
(implements) of a once grand and noble race, who, while living,
inscribed their history, meagre though it be, upon enduring tab-
lets of stone. These ancients, having fulfilled their mission,
pass. The Indian with his polished stone looms up and, like his
predecessor, fades away. Soon, the present race having attained
its zenith, will, like its predecessors, follow, and another grander,
nobler, brainier civilization will step upon the platform and gaze
with wonder and admiration upon the relics of the past.
In recapitulating the various geological formations occurring
where these prehistoric implements were found, we have recent
illuvium, river-drift, brick-clay and post-glacial deposits. Hiis,
in brief, is the tale told by our clay and gravel deposits in north-
ern Bucks and adjacent parts of New Jersey. How interesting
do they become where they aid us in deciphering the early history
of man.
The Grave of Tamanend.
BY he;nry c. me;rcer, doyi.e;stown, pa.
(Pipersville Meeting, July 19, 1S92).
Walk down Neshaminy creek on the right bank at "Prospect
Hill," in New Britain township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania,
and as you come out of the hemlock grove that overhangs
the water, ascend the first rivulet that crosses your path to empty
into the stream. A walk of 300 or 400 yards brings you to the
rills source, a small spring half hidden by grass, in a hollow of
the open hillside meadow.
About 50 feet downward from the spring close to the rill, you
find by pulling away some briars an old stump much decayed,
where 40 years ago, stood a large tulip-poplar, and just 47 feet
below it, some large suckers mark the former site of a chestnut
tree. Between the two stumps stands a young cherry tree and
there a little nearer the rivulet at the foot of the bank, 11 feet
from the poplar and 36 feet from the chestnut, according to Aden
H. Brinker, is the site of an Indian grave.
The spot is on the farm now (1892) owned by Enos Det-
weiler, in New Britain township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania,*
about a mile up Neshaminy creek from Godshalk's mill-dam, and
there is no doubt that in the middle of the last century an In-
dian chief was buried there by white men.
The local tradition of the death and burial has been often
referred to by antiquarians, notably in Watson's Annals, II, 172
— in a quoted letter written from Bucks county by one E. M., in
about 1842, to the editor; in Sherman Day's historical collections,
(p. 163) ; in Harper's Magazine, (Vol. 44, p. 639) ; by W. J.
Buck in the Doylestown Democrat of May 6, 1856, and by John
Rogers within a few years in the Doylestown IntelUgcucrv.
It was noted down by me in June of last year (1891) from
* I traced back the ownership of the property in the Doylestown lanrl records to
abont 1770. From that time (deed book 19, p. 76) it had come down through David Cald-
well, William Forbes, William Dean, David Waueroner, Abram Mover, John Mover.
Captain J. Robharts in 1S22 (deed book 49. p. 139) to John Q. Adams Drinker and the pres-
ent owner. I cannot learn that it was ever owned by the Shewells.
the: grave of tamanend 59
the lips of Thomas Shewell, of Bristol, the oldest living male
descendant — great-grandson of the Walter Shewell, (b. 1702, d.
1779) who superintended the burial about 150 years ago.
A very aged Indian, too infirm to walk, (so the story ran, as
Mr. Shewell knew it direct from his ancestors), while being car-
ried by younger followers to a conference with the Proprietaries
(probably at Philadelphia) halted near the above mentioned
spring;^ there tired of their burden^ the young Indians built a
hut for the old man and leaving him in charge of an Indian girl,-
suddenly, after night Came on, abandoned him and went on to
the conference.
So enraged and distressed was the aged chief, on waking, to.
find himself deserted, that he tried to commit suicide by stab-
bmg himself, and when his weak, trembling hand could not
thrust the knife with eflrect, he at last set fire to his bed of
leaves and threw himself upon it." The other Indians, who had
been refused a hearing by the Proprietaries in his absence, and
were sent back to fetch him, on arriving at the hut, found him
dead with a hole burned in his side.
The aiTair was noised abroad and Walter Shewell, of Painswick
Hall,* the most prominent man in the neighborhood and once
sheriff of Bucks county, had the body buried near the hut in
the presence of the Indians.
All the common versions repeat the incident omitted by Mr.
Shewell, that Walter Shewell's son Robert, then a little boy,
wanted to go with his father to the funeral but was forbidden.
The Misses Shewell, of Doylestown, are very certain of the detail
as forming part of their family tradition, but their cousin, my
informant, doubts it.
Not long after, the body of a son or descendant of Tammany
' The common version and that of Sherman Day, taken from some members of the
Shewell family, about 1840, (Historical Collections, p. 163) says distinctly that the old
chief fell ill on the road.
- The current versions describe the girl as his daughter, who was sent to the spring
for water when he committed suicide.
3 All the other versions say that he first tried to burn himself, but was prevented, and
afterwards stabbed himself while the girl was at the spring.
•* Painswick Hall, named after an ancestral country seat of the Shewells in England.
The old hou'ie recently sold by the Misses Shewell, of Doylestown, still stands on the left
of the road leading from New Britain to Castle Valley, the first building on the left after
crossing the road to Oodshalks mill. Early in the last century it belonged to an estate
of 500 acres. The Shewells were in New Britain in 1729.
6o the; gravk of tamanend
or Tamanend (for so all the traditions distinctly name the buried
chief) was brought by Indians to the spring and there buried
near the other grave, where Thomas Shewell, my informant, re-
membered seeing both grave-mounds with the stones and the two
large trees in about the year i8i6.^
Still later two more dead Indians, supposed descendants of
Tamanend, were brought by the tribe to the spot for burial, and
finally, for some reason unknown, interred in the old New Britain
(Baptist) churchyard where all traces of their unmarked graves
have been lost.-
On January 31, 1892, I visited the spring and site of "Tam-
rnany's" grave in the company of the only two persons now liv-
ing who probably could positively identify the spot, Aden H.
Brinker, of New Britain, and Edward Brinker, (sons of John
Quincy Adams Brinker) who had bought the present (1902)
Detweiler farm including the grave sites, from Captain Robbarts
and sold it to its present owner.
Knowing the need of exactness in these facts, I took the great-
est care in learning from the Brinker brothers that Captain
Robbarts had been a particular friend of the Shewells and a
continued guest at Painswick Hall, scarcely a mile away; that
through Nathaniel Shewell, the then owner, (uncle of Mr. She-
well, of Bristol,) and others of the family, he had been fully
acquainted with the particulars of the tradition ; that after his
sale of the property to the Brinkers he had boarded at the
Brinker house until his death and had frequently shown the
boys and their father the graves by the spring.
Aden H. Brinker was about 14 years old when his father or-
dered him to remove the grave-stones, (flat hewn slabs of red
slate from Neshaminy creek,) about 3 feet long and i^A wide
with no marks upon them, and then standing at "Tammany's"
grave 6 or 7 feet apart and protruding about 8 inches from the
ground. Much less interest was taken in the second grave than
in the first, and both brothers distinctly remember their father
and a Captain Robbarts referring to it and pointing it out
' The Misses .Shewell knew iiolhins- of this second grave.
- The Misses Shewell had not heard of these graves. Neither had the present sexton
at New Britain. Eugene James had an indistinct recollection of having heard them
mentioned.
the; grave of tamane;nd 6i
about 50 feet away across the gully. When A. H. Brinker dug
up one standing stone and another fallen one as belonging to
it, both of these with the other two from "Tammany's" grave
were hauled away in a cart and built into the wall of the new
barn.
At the same time about 1850-60 the boys cut down to be used
as timber the chestnut tree and the giant poplar (whose trunk it
took six horses to haul) that once shaded the spring.
So the spot has changed much since the graves were visible.
So much so that perhaps Mr. Shewell, who has not seen it for
80 years, would not recognize it.
The steep overhanging bank has been much graded down by
ploughing. The source, according to Mr. Brinker, has receded
nearly 100 feet from the poplar, stump. The trees are gone and
the hillside is bare.*
Still, let us draw a straight line from the poplar stump to the
chestnut shoots, measure 11 feet from the former or 36 feet
from the latter, and looking northward step a little to the left,
and then, if there is any certainty in human evidence, we are
within a few feet of the spot where a rusty iron knife or
hatchet, a few glass beads bought from white men, and possibly
a brass medal might be dug up to tell the tale of this memor-
able interment. Let me beg that no relic hunter, for the sake
of a few comparatively modern trinkets (since he need expect
to find no implements of the stone age), will venture to disturb
the spot for archaeology by careless digging and render its scien-
tific identification hopeless.
No doubt then as to the burial of the Indian, and little doubt
as to our having found the spot. The only remaining question
is as to the identification of the chief. Was it Tamenend?
Sherman Day (Historical Collections, p. 163) says "No" and
adduces in proof an ingenious and at first convincing argument.
He fixes, and I think correctly, the date of burial after 1740,
because Robert Shewell, the "little boy," who asked in vam, (ac-
* Resides the two large trees referred to, a walnut and two other chestnuts on the
slope just above the spring and opposite Tamniany's grave, were cut down by the
Briukers for barn building at the same time, 1850-60.
62 THE grave: of TAMANKND
cording to the common tradition), to go to the funeral, was
born then.*
Tammany he thinks could not possibly have been living so
late and escaped the notice of the Moravian missionaries, who
explored the Forks of the Delaware in 1742 and the Susque-
hanna soon after. This is only a suggestion of Mr. Day's and
so is my answer to it. I suggest that Tamanend might have been
living until after 1740 unnoticed by white men for the follow-
ing reasons :
First. — -Tamanend was present at a council in Philadelphia on
July 6, 1694, when the Iroquois wanted the Delawares to attack
the settlers (colonial 1:447), when he made the speech.
"We and the Christians of this river have always had a free roadway to
one another and though sometimes _ a tree has fallen across the road,
yet we have still removed it again and kept the path clear and we design to
continue the old friendship that has been between us and you."
And again on July 6, 1697, (Pa. arch. i. 124) and with "Wehi-
land and my brother and Weheequickhon, alias Andrew, who is
to be king after my death," he again for the third time sells his
land between Pennypack and Neshaminy creeks. This is the
last official notice of him thus far discovered.
If he was forty years old then, he would have been 93 in
1750, or if 50, 103 at the latter date, which is in general accord
with the Bucks county tradition of his great age and the tradi-
tional information upon which Cooper bases his description in
the "Last of the Mohicans."
Second.^ — The fact cannot be overlooked that Prospect Hill,
* But it is useless, I think, to a'^sign as he does. 1749. or the date of any known public
conference to the joiirn* y of the old man and his followers over Prospect hill. Examin-
ation of the signed treaties proves, that no one chief v^hatever his rank as sachem was
present at any of the land conferences which did not concern him personally. Tamanend
who WIS head sachem of the whole r,enape system until 1718, was not present at the
Jersey land ire fty of 1673, or the lower Bucks county sale in 1692, or the Chester and
Pennypack sale in 16S5, nor that for the Schuylkill and Pennypick lands in 1683, or Sus-
quehanna and Delaware lands in 16S3, (see Colonial Rec and Pa. archives) when in 1683
sellint? lands between the Neshaminy and Pennypack (Pa. srch 1.62), Tamanend con-
cerned h imself with his own patrimony. A study of the deeds throws little I'ght on the
governmenial system of the I,enape. We find appended to each a list of strange names,
and the .same tract .sold several times by different inaividnals with no hint of a general
tribal supervision
Doubtless dozens of informal conferences were never recorded to anyone of which
Tamanend may have been called. The 1749 conference concluded a sale of lands beyond
the Blue Mountains. At that time Tamanend, if living, had been deposed from the oflRce
of chief sachem 31 years.
the; gravk of tamanend 63
the scene of his death, according to the legend, is comprised in
the very lands lying between Pennypack and Nesliaminy creeks,
which as the particular territory of Tamenend himself he sold
three times over to William Penn in 1683, 1692 and 1697. Then,
and for years after, the word Tamanend must have been identi-
fied with the region, and is it likely that the Shewells, who came
there in 1729, only thirty-one years after the last sale, would
have made a mistake in the name ?
Third — There is some corroborating evidence of the tradi-
tion in a song sung in honor of the American Saint Tammany
in 1783 at one of the meetings of the then celebrated Tammany
brotherhood in Philadelphia^ Its beginning,
" Of Andrew, of Peter, of David, of George,
What mighty achievements we hear."
proves it to have been written later than the date of the first
Philadelphia almanac that dubbed Tamanend a saint, about 1760-
70. While its last verse,
" At last growing old, and quite worn out with years,
As history doth truly proclaim.
His wigwam was fired, he nobly expired.
And flew to the skies in a flame."
infers either that the composer had heard the story of his death
on the Neshaminy, or had, which is rather unlikely, confused him
with the well known drunken Tedyuskung, who was burnt to
death in his wigwam at Wyoming in 1763.
At one of these meetings in 1781 a delegation of Senecas visited
the society's "wigwam" on the Schuylkill, where hung a portrait
of "Tammany," on which occasion Cornplanter made a speech
and pointing to the picture, poured a libation of wine on the
ground, saying, '"If we pour it on ground it will suck it tip
and he will get it."
It was this merry-making, parading brotherhood, founded in
Philadelphia before the Revolution, who set in vogue the myth
that the three white balls on Penn's coat-of-arms represented
three dumplings which Tammany had cooked for him at the
Treaty Tree, who adopted Indian names and paraded in Indian
dress on Tammany's Day (the 1st of May),* who invited all
* The frequent elaborate Indian costumes still common at city parades in Philadel-
phia are unquestionably a relic of these processions.
64 THE GRAVE OF TAMANEND
manner of myths, stories, and sayings about the great Indian,
and had him dubbed a saint by certain almanac makers, who set
going the word Tammany, so to speak, over the country, and
gave rise to all the other so-called Tammany societies in the Unit-
ed States, the Independent Order of Red Men, and the New
York political organization known as Tammany Plall, founded
in Borden's city hotel in New York in 1789, and who gave
the name to Tammanytown, Juniata county; Mount Tammany,
near Williamsport, Md. ; Tamanend, Schuylkill county ; Tam-
many street, Philadelphia (now Buttonwood) ; St. Tammany
parish, Louisiana; Tammany, Mecklenburg county, Virginia, and
a hundred other places so called.
But fourth and last, to return to our particular subject, there
is no question that the three clans of the L,enape, the Wolf,
Turtle and Turkey, were in a vague, loose way presided over
by a head sachem chosen from the Turtle clan by the members
of the two other clans. (Lenape and Their Legends, p. 47).
Just what his powers were, is not definitely known. He certainly
had little or nothing to do with the land sales of his fellow chiefs
to the whites. Loskiel says that "he arranged treaties and
conventions of peace" and kept the wampum peace belt of the
tribe. (Mission, p. 135). He held his office during good be-
havior and so generally until death.
Such a chief was Tamanend and the others : Allumpees, died
1747; Natiumus, probably Tatemy, died 1761 ; Netatawees, in
the west, and Tedyascung, in the east, died 1763, who came after
him until the removal of the Delawares from eastern Pennsyl-
vania,* and such were the many who came before him, if we
' are to believe the testimony of the "Wallum Olum," or Lenape
bark record, an historic song illustrated by mnemonic picto-
graphs, and sung by medicine men at sacred occasions, recount-
ing the tribal migrations and the full list of head sachems, dis-
covered by the eccentric antiquarian, C. A. Rafinesque, and re-
cently published by Dr. Brinton (Lenape and Their Legends,
p. 170).
The Wallum Olum tells us that Tamanend, or "The Afifable,"
was not the first of his name, but that long before, counting
* The=e and many other interesting and uncollected data I find in an annotated edi-
tion of Reschel's " Memorials of the Moravian Church" at the Pennsylvania Historical
Society.
THK GRAVK OF TAMANEND 65
back by the names of scores of rulers before the coming of the
whites, there were two other Tamanends, the first a celebrated
head chief in the far West before the tribe had migrated east-
ward. Taking this and Reichel's "Memoirs of the Moravian
Church" as our authority we learn that our Tamanend was pre-
ceded by Ikwahou, and probably succeeded by Allumpees, or
Sassoonan, who was made chief in 1718 and held the office
till his death in 1747.
Here is an important date then, the certain end of Tamanend's
reign in 1718. If he died then that is the end of our story. The
Neshaminy legend is mistaken. But that he did so is by no
means certain.
For some reasons, not thoroughly explained, the Iroquois at
about this time obtained that curious moral and physical influence
over the Delawares which has been the subject of much curious
speculation. Then it was that governors were sent down from the
Six Nations to look after them, and they were referred to as
"women" and "in petticoats," and took that position of a con-
quered people which they held down to the outbreak of the Revo-
lution.
What the details of this sudden decadence were, whether a
defeat in battle or a weakening dispute no one has a? yet authori-
tatively learned. The Moravians did not come into the upper
Delaware and Susquehanna region until 1742, and as Heckewel-
der testifies, the Indians were very reticent on these subjects.
Allumpees, made chief sachem in 17 18, was a weak character
who died a drunkard in 1747. As the tool of the Iroquois, he
may have been elected by their powerful influence to supersede
Tamanend, nor is it impossible to suppose that tlie latter, by a
patriotic resistance to the majority of his people at the time
of their degradation, had become distasteful to the Six Nations.
If it is not unfair to suggest this, we have an easy explana-
tion of the several apparent contradictory facts — that he had
a great reputation among his tribe, and yet that they said so
little about him, that he lived until about 1750 and yet was un-
noticed by early settlers, missionaries and public documents.
Yet this is but supposition and I have thus far tried in vain
66 HON. RICHARD WATSON
to sift to the bottom the stories that Tamanend once Hved upon
the site of Easton, was buried where Nassau Hall now stands
at Princeton college, lived in the state of Delaware, or at the
place in Damasus township, Wayne county, called by the early
Connecticut settlers "St. Tammany's fiat" in 1757.
Still I do not despair on the other hand of finding in the ar-
chives of the Moravians at Bethlehem, or in the State archives
at Harrisburg or Trenton, or in the lost diaries of Still or
Weiser or any of the other early scouts, or in the traditional
data probably embodied in the Fenimore Cooper MSS., or from
living Delawares themselves, some direct proof that the well au-
thenticated Neshaminy legend is true, that the great Tama-
nend was alive between 1697 and 1750, that deposed by his ene-
mies in 1 7 18 he lived on in the Pennsylvania wilderness until a
very old man, watched jealously by the powerful Iroquois and
their governor at Shamokin, avoided cautiously by the time
servers of his tribe, beloved by many in secret, guarded by a
few, and least of all, betrayed to the notice of the white
stranger.
Hon. Richard Watson.
BY AIvFRED PASCHALL, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Pilieisville Meeting, July 19. 1.S92).
In the death of Richard Watson, which occurred sud lenly,
while on a trip to Philadelphia, on Friday, July 15, 1892,"'' the
Bucks County Historical Society loses an eminent and highly-
gifted member.
It is neither necessary nor appropriate at this time to refer
to the life of the deceased in his social, official, business and
citizen relations. These have been lately recounted at other
hands, and by able tongues. As a member of this society, a
few words may be permitted in connection with this meeting.
Richard Watson was during all his life ardently interested in
liistorical matters. Some years since he devoted much time and
* Judge Watson was born February 3, 1823.
HON. RICHARD WATSON 67
study to a careful examination of the records of the Society of
Friends of the meetings in the lower end of the county, noting
many forgotten facts and making copious notes for his own keep-
ing. He was a close observer of events, and it was a life-long
practice to write his observations and experiences in a journal
— one of the greatest aids to accurate history which individuals
have ever contributed.
Judge Watson's greatest service to the Historical Society was
in connection with the celebration of the bi-centennial anniver-
sary of the founding of Bucks county. This movement had its
beginning at a regular quarterly meeting of our organization,
held at Newtown,- October ii, 1881, at which a committee was
appointed, headed by Josiah B. Smith, and with Judge Wat-
son's name second on the list, to take into consideration the en-
tire subject of a suitable observance of the two hundredth an-
niversary of the settlement of Bucks county.
At the meeting for organization of the committee, held in
November following. Judge Watson was made chairman, and au-
thorized to appoint a committee of seven persons to report a gen-
eral plan of celebration. This committee presented a written re-
port to Chairman Watson, at a meeting held in December, and
the matter then took definite form. Richard Watson as chair-
man was then authorized to appoint a committee of twenty
to carry through the work, and from the performance of this
duty, with the knowledge and judgment which were displayed
in the selection, dates the success of the bi-centennial celebration
of 1882.
Judge Watson served upon the sub-committee on literary exer-
cises, and made the opening address on the first day of the cele-
bration, and from that I take the following extract, the closing
sentences of his remarks, worthy of the occasion, the man and
the county of his nativity and. our homes, a fitting close to this
brief tribute to him whose remains were yesterday laid to rest
in the Doylestown cemetery, and an encouragement to our faith
and hopes brought by the history of the past to the times in
which we live :
68 HON. RICHARD WATSON
" Two hundred years have passed since the settlement of the county. We
have met to commemorate that event, to perpetuate a knowledge of the past,
to consider the present, to look forward upon the future. Our bicentennial
celebration is a fitting tribute to the memories of those who have li\ed be-
fore us, and who made Bucks county what the present generation found
her. There were great and good men among them. We may profit by
emulating their virtues and their works. But there is a glamour over the
past that conceals the details and allows only the prominent features of the
vision to be seen. The view is a distorted one. The extremes, both good
and bad, appear in exaggerated forms. Men lived and worked and thought
then much as they do now ; they were prompted by the same motives,
subject to like passions and frailties, possessed the same virtues, influenced
by like religious feelings, as are the men of to-day. In short, we are a people
like unto them.
"It is, however, a just cause of congratulation for the present, and of
hope for the future, to know that the world has learned much in the last
two hundred years and has been bettered by the learning. We of Bucks
county have reaped and are reaping the fruits of the knowledge gained in
common with our fellow men elsewhere. We live in every respect much
better than our ancestors. We are better housed, better clothed, better fed
and better taught. Statistics show that we live longer too. As knowledge
and comforts bring enjoyments and long life, there is every reason to be-
lieve they also bring an increase of happiness and virtue. Sin is often a re-
sult merely of ignorance and want.
" We may sigh for the good old times when men were all honest and
pure, but when those times were we do not know. The zealous enthusiast,
impatient of results in his efforts to cure the evils in the world, may be dis-
app )inted and weary, may conclude mankind is growing worse instead of
better, and may become himself in danger of losing his love for humanity
and his faith in the true and the right. A greater mistake was never made.
An examination of the old records, both of the courts and of the church or-
ganizHtions, and a careful study of the history of the past, will show that
offences were more frequent and flagrant in the olden times than they are
to-day and that the present standard of morality is higher and more closely-
observed than it was then.
" There is no cause for discouragement in all proper efforts to promote the
good and the true. Impatience is the child of weakness. Confidence is an
attendant upon strength. Right is stronger than wrong. Good is mightier
than evil. Love is the conqueror of hate. In the providence of God, love,
right and truth must triumph in the end. Bucks county has abundant
cause to look with pride upon her past, with satisfaction upon her present,
and with confident hope upon her future."
Bedminster Township.
BY GEN. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Pipersville Meeting. July 19, 1892).
The most interesting part of our county's history is a sketch
of the pioneers who settled it; who transformed the forests into
productive farms ; opened roads and built houses ; their gradual
expansion and growth in the elements of civilization, and the
organization of townships, the bed-rock of local self-govern-
ment. In the paper I am about to read, I shall treat of Bed-
minster township from the standpoint I have mentioned.
It is stated in one of William Penn's biographies, that when
he sailed on his return to England, in 1684, from his first visit
to Pennsylvania, the Province was divided into twenty-two
townships ; but this could not have referred to Bucks county, for
her boundaries were not yet fixed, nor were townships laid out
until eight years afterward. There is evidence that Penn intend-
ed to lay out this county according to a system of townships
that would have given them much greater symmetry than they
now possess, and similar to our three rectangular townships on
the Montgomery border, with an area of about 5,000 acres each ;
but circumstances, over which he had no control, compelled him
to abandon right-angle townships. There were no legal sub-
divisions in Bucks earlier than 1692, although, for the conven-
ience of collecting taxes, etc., limits had already been given, and
names affixed, to some of the settlements.
It is a feature of the formation of the townships of Bucks
county, that they were organized in groups, at shorter or longer
intervals, as the wants of the settlers called for them. The first
group composed of the five townships of Makefield, Falls, Buck-
ingham, (now Bristol), Salem, (now Bensalem) and Middle-
town, was formed in 1692 ; while the second group, Southamp-
ton, Warminster, Newtown, Wrightstown, Buckingham and Sole-
bury, was organized in 1703. The first township organized north
of Doylestown was Hilltown, in 1722, followed by New Britain
in 1723, and Plumstead in 1725. Milford was the first German
70 BEDMIMSTER TOWNSHIP
township to assume corporate life, and the first of the concluding
group that embraces the remaining townships in Bucks, organized
prior to 1752. In this group is Bedminster. If you will examine
your county map, you will find that this township lies wedged
in between Plumstead, Hilltown, Rockhill, Haycock and Nocka-
mixon, having the tortuous Tohickon for its north and northeast
boundaries, and it formed part of Plumstead at the time of its
organization in 1742.
Speaking of the parent and child, that is, of Plumstead and
Bedminster, it may be remarked right here, they were both settled
by English-speaking people, but were subsequently overrun by
the Germans. Other townships were conquered in the same
peaceful way, and the Germans are still marching toward the
lower Delaware like an army with banners. They have great
staying qualities, and when they once plant their stakes in the
fertile fields south of Doylestown, they are as hard to rout
out as were their war-like ancestors after they had crossed the
Rhine in pursuit of the Roman legions. When I was a boy, the
German language was seldom heard in lower Bucks, but to-day
it is spoken in almost every neighborhood, and German ballots
are voted at every poll.
Before settlers began to arrive in what is now Bedminster,
William Allen, of Philadelphia, and the Penns owned
all of the land in the township. Allen's was called the "Deep
Run tract," because that stream ran through it. The Penns
opened their lands for settlement about 1725-30, and settlers soon
began to come in. Among others, John Hough bought 200 acres
on Deep Run, in 1734, and, in 1741, Richard Hockley took up
I, GOO acres, the survey being made by virtue of a warrant
dated March 20, 1734. This tract lay "near Tohickon above
Deep Run." In a few years there was considerable population
along this stream, and the settlement bore its name until the
township was organized. The first settlers were from the north
of Ireland, of that sturdy race known as Scotch-Irish, and of
Presbyterian faith.
Among these pioneers we find the names of William Hart,
Cochran, Thompson, Grier, Barnhill, McNeelcy, Darrah, Robin-
son, McHenry, whose grandson became a county commissioner,
Humphrey Orr, who took up 900 acres on the Tohickon, at the
BKDMINSTER TOWNSHIP 7I
point where the Durham road crosses that stream, and was known
as "John Orr's ford" until a bridge was built. This Bedmins-
ter pioneer was the ancestor of. the distinguished Orr family of
South Carolina, of which James L. was a member of Congress,
Speaker of that body, and died in St. Petersburg in 1873, while
minister to Russia. The Orrs were in Bedminster as early as
1730. Samuel Ayres, from Antrim, Ireland, settled on Deep Run
about 1742, and died there the following year. The late F. A.
Comly, president of the North Pennsylvania railroad, was a
descendant of Samuel Ayres, in the female line.
The Darrahs are descended from a Scotch-Irish ancestor who
settled at Deep Run. Thomas Darrah came from the north of
Ireland about 1725 ; he first settled in Horsham, now in Mont-
gomery county, then Philadelphia, but, after living there a few
years, sold his property and removed to Bedminster, where he
patented 800 acres. At his death, in 1750, he left five sons and
three daughters. The descendants are numerous, and several of
the name have served their country in various wars that have
taken place since that time, William Darrah, son of the first
Thomas, serving in Benjamin Franklin's regiment in 1756-57.
William Armstrong, also an early settler, and a signer of the peti-
tion for the township, was of Scotch-Irish descent, whose line can
be traced back to John Armstrong, chief of the border clan of
that name, who was treacherously murdered by James V, of
Scotland. His father was an officer at the siege of Derry;
and William, with his wife Mary and three sons, came from
Ireland to America, in 1736. They probably settled in Bed-
minster soon after their arrival, for we find that he built a man-
sion in the township in 1740, known for many years as the "Arm-
strong House." December 30, 1747, he received from the Penns
a patent for 300 acres, on the south bank of the Tohickon, which,
added to 104 acres he had bought two years prior, made him
the owner of 404 acres in all. He died abut 1785. Two of his
sons served in the Continental army.
Jacob Wismer, who died at Deep Run, February 4, 1787, in
his 103rd year, was an early settler in our county, but it is im-
possible to tell when he came into Bedminster. He was born in
Germany prior to 1720; immigrated to North Carolina where he
lived ten years, and then removed to this county, where he mar-
72 bedminst£;r township
ried his third wife, with whom he Hved 67 years. He is thought
to have come here as early as 1720. The name of Jacob "Weis-
more," signed to the petition for the township, in 1741, was doubt-
less meant for Jacob Wismer. He left, at his death, 170 children
and grandchildren, and his widow died at 84. The Eckels were
among the earliest German pioneers in Bedminster, the grand-
father of John Eckel, who died 20 years ago, coming from the
borders of France and Germany and settling near the Deep Run
meeting-house. Returning to Europe on business, shortly after-
ward, he was taken sick on his way home, and died at Philadel-
phia. His body was buried in Tohickon graveyard. His de-
scendants are numerous. The late David Spinner, of Milford,
married a granddaughter, a daughter of John, the son of Henry.
The Scheetzs are descended from Conrad Scheetz, who immi-
grated from Germany with his brother Philip, and settled in Ger-
mantown about 120 years ago. They were married and brought
their families. Conrad was a hatter, and many farmers of Bucks
and Montgomery bought their hats of him when going to or
returning from market. He had a large family of children, all
of whom lived and died in Philadelphia, except George, the eld-
est son, who settled at Keller's church, some ninety years ago.
He married a Fluck and had a family of nine children, eight
sons and one daughter, all of whom are living but three of the
sons ; and there had not been a death among them until within
five years. George Scheetz died about 1861, and his widow in
1875, at the age of 83. The family Bible, handsomely illustrat-
ed, and brought from Germany by Conrad Scheetz, is still in
the family.
The Germans, destined to be the ruling race in Bedminster,
were not far behind the Scotch-Irish. The first of these comers
were Mennonites, who settled on, or near. Deep Run before 1746.
Among them we find the names of Swartz, Friedt, Kolb, Ober-
holtzer, Gross, Wismer, Kulp, Moyer, Meyers, Godshalk, Landes.
Eckel, Keichlein, Scheetz, Koehler, Leatherman, Stover and many
others, all familiar names at this day. Several v/ere leaders in
the church ; some were bishops, others deacons.
The settlers in Bedminster of both races, followed the uni-
versal practice of the immigrants from the old world to Pennsyl-
vania, and organized religious societies and built churches as soon
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DEKP RUN SCHOOL HOUSE.
In Bedmiuster township, Bucks county. Pa. Built in 1842, the successor of log house of 1746.
DEEP RUN SCHOOL HOUSE.
Staves of music written on beams of ceiling.
(Photographs by H. C. Mercer, in 1S97.)
be;dminste;r township ']2>
as they had found shelter for their famiHes. The Scotch-Irish,
the first to arrive, were the first to erect a church. This was in
1732, 162 years ago, when a log meeting-house was built near
Deep Run, in the southwest corner of the township, and in 1736
the Rev. Francis McHenry was called to the pastorate. No
doubt meetings were first held at private houses, for, when Rev.
William Tennent was called to Neshaminy in 1726, and six years
before the church was built, Deep Run was his "upper congre-
gation." The church joined the Philadelphia Presbytery, in 1732.
This was the original place of worship for the Scotch-Irish
settlers in all this section of the country, and was the cradle
of Presbyterianism in Bucks county, north of Doylestown. Deep
Run was the parent of the Doylestown church. As evidence of
the great change in religious faith and race since the settlement
of the township, we need but state there is not a Presbyterian or
an English family in it. It has become thoroughly German, and
service is only held at Deep Run at long intervals to prevent
the forfeiture of the real estate given by William Allen for a
parsonage. There are none there to keep watch and ward over
the old place of worship but the spirits of the rude forefathers,
who lie buried in the church-yard, and who left pleasant homes
in the old world for freedom to worship God in the new. Be-
sides the Orr's, others of the pioneer settlers in Bedminster were
the ancestors of distinguished descendants. The Grier family
gave three ministers to the church, and a judge of the Supreme
Court of the United States; while the late William D. Kelly
was a descendant of the Darrahs in the female line.
The Mennonite settlers were the next to organize a church,
and a log meeting-house was erected near the Deep Run in
1746. William Allen gave the ground for the place of wor-
ship, deeded a fifty-acre farm, in trust, to Abraham Swartz,
Hans Friedt, Samuel Kolb and Marcus Oberholtzer, bishops and
deacons, for the use of the church, and he also gave them a silver
cup for Sacramental purposes, which is still in use. The log
house was replaced by a stone one in 1766, and the latter, by a
modern structure, in 1872. Some fifty years ago a schism took
place in the church, when a portion went ofif and erected a new
place of worship, but the old congregation remains, one of the
largest and most flourishing in the county. The first minister
74 BEDMINSTER TOWNSHIP
was Abraham Swartz, who became bhnd during the latter part of
his ministry, after which it was his custom to get one of the
congregation to read a portion of the Scriptures, from which
he would select his text and preach a sermon. Continuous ser-
vice has. been held since the first house was built in 1746, The
second German church in Bedminster was the Tohickon, Lu-
theran and German Reformed, situated in the northwest corner
of the township, a few hundred yards south of the point where
the old Bethlehem road crosses the Tohickon creek. At what
time this congregation was organized is not known, but it had
grown to considerable size by 1754, and, for ten years, it
had been visited by Messrs. Rauss and Schultz. The congrega-
tion, at that day, was too poor to pay the salary of a regular
minister, but managed to build a parsonage and school-house. We
have no record of a church being built at that time. The first
church building was of logs, and the subsequent ones of stone,
the present large and substantial edifice being built in 1838. The
lot was the gift of Andrew and Charles Keichline, and, for
many years, it was known as "Keichline's Church." The church
building is one of the largest in the county, having seating capacity
for a thousand, and the two congregations nearl)'- double that
number. The organ, built in Lehigh, in 1839, was probably the
first pipe organ in a church in the county. The name of the first
pastor at Tohickon has not come down to us, but Casper Wack
was in charge from 1770 to 1782, and likewise at Indianfield, in
Rockhill, and the Great Swamp, in Lehigh county. He was the
first young man of these denominations ordained to the ministry
in America, and Tohickon was his first church. In 1773, the
Synod added Nockamixon- to his charge, and he supplied other
congregations. The home of Mr. Wack was in Hilltown, two
miles from the present Hilltown church. Among the pastors at
Tohickon was the Rev. John A. Strassburger, who was in charge
about thirty years, until 1854, dying in i860, in his 64th year.
He made his mark on the community, and few men, in the church,
or out of it, wielded wider influence.
There are few more interesting spots than the old graveyard
of the Tohickon church, which hands down to the present gen-
eration the names of the pioneers who worshiped on the banks
of that historic stream. When I examined this graveyard, twenty
BEDMINSTER TOWNSHIP 75
years ago, the same fact was noticeable that is observed in all
the old graveyards in the county, that the gravestones mark four
periods in the interments; first, the primitive rock from the foun-
dation of the church down to about 1750, generally without in-
scription; next, slate, to 1775; then brown sandstone, to about
1800, followed by marble, first blue, then white. German in-
scriptions were universal until within about 40 years. The grave-
stones show a sprinkling of English names, probably of settlers
in Tinicum or some of the English-speaking people who had
settled along Deep Run. The earliest stone in the Tohickon yard,
with a legible inscription, was erected to the memory of John
Henrich Eckel, probably the ancestor of the family in that town-
ship that bears this name, who died November 24, 1764, his wife
Susannah, born in 1719, surviving him to 1803, thirty-nine years
of widowhood. Then we have Felix Lehr, 1769, Michael Ott,
1767, and his wife Catharina, 1792. Johannes Honig, the orig-
inal of Haney, born in 1714, and died in 1787, and Jacob Nonne-
macher, born 1720, and died in 1788. Several stones bear the
name Salade, the original of Solliday. The late Henry Eckel
was organist in the old stone church. Keller's church, likewise
Lutheran and Reformed, was organized at an early day, but we
are not able to give the date, but sometime before 1750. In
175 1 the Rev. Mr. Rauss, Lutheran, accepted a call and reached
his new charge in a fifteen days' journey from New York,
traveling most of the way through unbroken forests.
The first movement toward the formation of a township was
made in March, 1741, one hundred and fifty-one years ago, when
"thirty-five inhabitants of Deep Run" petitioned the Court of
Quarter Sessions to form the territory into a township, with the
following boundaries : "Beginning upon Plumstead corner, com-
ing along that line to Hilltown corner, and from that line to Rock-
hill corner, and down Tohickon till it closes at Fiumstead cor-
ner, where it begins. The following names attached to this pe-
tition give us additional knowledge of the men who peopled the
wood north of Plumstead : James Hughes, Robert Smith, Abra-
ham Black, William Armstrong, John Graham, John Ree, George
McFerrin, Adam Thompson, Mr. Miller, Thomas Darroch, Mark
Overbold, Martin Overbold, Nicholas Ogeny, Jacob Leatherman,
Jacob Weismore, John Fretts, William Graham, Joseph Town-
76 BEDMINSTUR TOWNSHIP
send, Henry Groud, Alichael Lott, David Kulp, Daniel Norcauk,
John Bois, Joseph Armstrong, John Riffle, Ralph Trought, Fet-
ter Ryner, Matthew Ree, Andrew Sloan, Tilman Kiilp, Christian
Stover, George Lynard, John Clymer, Nicholas Kean and Fred-
erick Croft. I have given the spelling of these names as they art
on the public records, though some of them are evidently erro-
neous. The township was granted at the March term, 1742, and
the Court appointed, to lay it off, as jurors, John Kelley, Wil-
liam James, Griffith Davis and Lewis Evins, with John Chap-
man as surveyor. It was surveyed and laid out sometime during
the year, and the boundaries returned differ little, if any, from
the present. On the report of the jury the following is en-
dorsed : "Confirmed with the name of Bedminster." In the
jury's report the Tohickon is spelled "Tohickney" and "Socunk"
is named as a place whose locality is now entirely unknown.
The area of Bedminster township is given as 16,058 acres. In
the petition for the organization of Tinicum, in 1738, Bedminster
is mentioned as a township, and probably was so for all practi-
cal purposes, but was not so constituted by law ui.'til 1742.
In addition to a labyrinth of local roads, about which little is
known, Bedminster is cut by three great arteries of travel that
run through the county ; the Durham and Easton roads that inter-
sect at Pipersville, in the southeastern corner of the township,
and the old Bethlehem road, which forms part of the north-
west boundary. The Swamp road separates Bedminster from
Hilltown on the west. The first township road, we have a record
of, was laid out in 1748; starting in the road from "Colvin's ferry
on the Delaware (now Point Pleasant) to Philadelphia," and
running to John Clymer's mill on the Tohickon; thence by the
Presbyterian and Mennonite meeting-houses to the old Bethle-
hem road. A road was laid out from the Durham road to Jacob
Stout's mill, on the Tohickon and to Tohickon church, and thence
toward the county line, about 1755. In 1765, a road was opened
from Deep Run meeting-house to the Easton road ; and the fol-
lowing year, a road was opened from the meeting-house to To-
hickon church. The fact that several public highways led toward
the Deep Run, at that early day, is evidence that that rrgion was
the seat of considerable population. A bridge was built over Deep
Run, near the meeting-house, about 1800.
BICDMINSTER TOWNSHIP ^'J
Of the mills of Bedminster, it is supposed that the oldest was
built on the site of Angeny's mill, on a small stream emptying-
into Deep Run, east of the Presbyterian meeting-liouse. The date
is unknown. The first mill may have been John Clymer's on the To-
hickon, built before 1749; and the mills of Joseph Tyson, on Cabin
Run, and Jacob Kraut, on Deep Run, were erected next in order.
They were followed by Jacob Stover's on the Tohickon and
Henry Black's oil mill on Cabin Run and Durham road, half a
mile below Pipersville, torn down some years ago. A widow
Shearer owned a mill in Bedminster, in 1753, but we have never
known its location, and that year a road was laid out from it to
Deep Run meeting-house. Among the early mills on the To-
hickon, in addition to Clymer's, were those of Ichabod Wilkin-
son, White's and Henry Lot's.
Bedminster has five villages, at least localities so designated ;
DubHn, Pipersville, Hagersville, Bedminsterville and Keelersville.
Of the number, Dublin is the most considerable, while Pipers-
ville has the most history fingering around it. Dublin is said to
have taken its name from its earliest log tavern. It was a
double building and got the name of the double-inn : the change
to Dublin was easy enough. This was near a century ago, and,
in the course of time, a hamlet grew up about it. Three inns
are said to have stood on the site of the old hostelry. A man
by the name of Robinson kept it during the Revolution, whose
son was a royalist, and an associate of the Doanes. After the
war it is supposed the son lay concealed a long time in the house
between two partitions ; he was watched, but not discovered.
The father was drowned in a creek on the premises. A post-
office was established at Dublin in 1827, with Newton Rowland
postmaster. In 1798, when Rev. Uriah DuBois was called to
the pastorate of Deep Run church, he lived at Dublin, remain-
ing there until 1804, when he removed to Doylestown to take
charge of the Union Academy which was opened that year.
Pipersville, where we are assembled to-day, and whose hos-
pitality we enjoy, is the centre of an interesting history. Its
founder was George Piper, from whom are descended all that
bear the name in this section and many elsewhere. He was
born on the Wissahickon, Philadelphia county, November 11,
78 BEDMINSTER TOWNSHIP
1755 ; removed to Bedminster about the time he arrived at man-
hood, and married a daughter of Arnold Lear, of Tinicum.
He opened a store here in 1775, and, in 1778, moved into the
tavern that stood on the site of the present pubHc house, and
was the landlord of it until his death in 1823. He was a promi-
nent man. At one time he was an officer in the Continental
army, a colonel in the State militia and assisted General Paul
Mallet Provost to purchase the tract of land on the east bank of
the Delaware, on which he afterward laid out Frenchtown, Hun-
derdon county, New Jersey. Colonel Piper listened to the read-
ing of the Declaration of Independence in front of the State
House, Philadelphia, July 4, 1776. This place was not called
Pipersville until the post-office was opened in 1845, ^^^ Jacob
Nicholson was appointed postmaster.
The tavern kept at Pipersville, in ye olden time, and of which
George Piper was the landlord almost half a century, was a
very noted inn a century ago. The first building was built
about 1759, by one Bladen, on the site of the present house.
This was the centre building; the parlor and dining-room were
added in 1784, and the kitchen and a small room at the west
end in 1790, and 1801. The sign of the old inn, simply "Piper'?
tavern," was painted on a board and fastened to the front of the
upper porch. It was called "Bucks county hotel" for many
years. While Colonel Piper was landlord of the old inn, it shel-
tered some of the most distinguished men of the last century,
among whom may be mentioned General Anthony Wayne, of
the Revolution; Benjamin Franklin, Governor Mifflin, Timothy
Pickering, Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, Doctor Rush, Chief Justice Tilghman, Bishop White.
Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg and others. Timothy Matlack cut his
name on the railing of the upper porch, which was still there
when it was taken down in 1827. During the yellow fever of
1799, Mayor Wharton, of Philadelphia, and his family boarded
here ; and Stephen Girard made it his stopping place to and
from Bethlehem. George Taylor, another signer of the Declara-
tion of Independence, was a frequent guest of Colonel Piper,
as was also William Allen ; and Colonels John and Thomas
Cadwalader stopped at the old inn while on their gunning ex-
bedminste:r township 79
cursions along the Tohickon, sometimes accompanied by William
Logan and Casper Wister. Among the distinguished men, who
patronized Colonel Piper's tavern, was Joseph Bonaparte, ex-
King of Spain, who boarded with him two weeks at one time.
On such occasion the brother of the French Emperor was ac-
companied by his entire suite, and brought with him his cook
and plate ; the landlord only furnishing the meats, vegetables,
etc., which his servants prepared for the palate of the ex-King.
In addition to the distinguished guests named, who found shelter
under the roof of the old historic inn, the celebrated General
La Fayette must not be forgotten. xA.fter being wounded at
Brandywine, he was taken in a barge to Bristol, and then con-
veyed in a carriage up the Durham road, to Bethlehem. He
passed this point, and there is no doubt stopped here, and prob-
ably remained over night.
During the Revolution this neighborhood was, at times, the
scene of exciting episodes, being in the range of the Doanes
and their confederates. Colonel Piper was frequently from
home, being at one time in command of the American outposts
near Milestown, when some of these disreputable fellows would
visit the tavern. It is told, by a member of the family, that one
day, while the Colonel was absent at Newtown, then the county
seat, leaving only his wife, children and a hired man at home,
Gibson and Geddis, two of the confederates of the Doanes, came
to the inn while Mrs. Piper was ironing. Geddis put his booted
foot into a pan of buckwheat batter, when she threw a flat-iron at
him, breaking his arm near the shoulder. In return he tried to
strike her with his loaded whip, but she retreated into a side
room, got her husband's sword and drove the ruffian from the
house. The broken arm was set by Doctor Shaffer, who
boarded at George Fox's, a mile and a half below the tavern.
Geddis brought suit against Mrs. Piper for damages, but was
afraid to prosecute it. Gibson, the companion of Geddis, was
the same who shot Moses Doan after his capture at the cabin
on the Tohickon. It is said of the patriotic Mrs. Piper, that
during the Revolutionary war, she gave her husband her entire
fortune she received from her father's estate, £325 in gold, to
purchase shoes and clothing for his company. It had been buried
8o be;dminste;r township
in the cellar of the tavern in an earthen pot, but was dug up
and carried to camp. It was replaced by Continental money
that became worthless.
When George Piper was gathered to his fathers, in 1823,
at the age of 68, he was succeeded as landlord by Jacob Keich-
line, his son-in-law. He presided at the head of this famous
hostelry until 1859, two years before his death, making the rule
of these two, 81 years, a longer lease of power in the same
family than any other tavern in the county can boast, and few
in or out of the State. The Keichlines are one of the oldest
families in Bedminster, but not as numerous as they were half a
century ago. The first immigrant was John Peter Keichline, who
settled in the township as early as 1742, one hundred and fifty
years ago. He had three sons, all of whom entered the Revolu-
tionary army and did good service. Peter, who removed to
Northampton county, as early as 1749, built the first flour mill
on the Bushkill. He lived at Easton. When the Revolutionary
war broke out, he recruited a company of riflemen, in Northamp-
ton and Bucks, for Colonel Miles' regiment, and was in command
of it at the battle of Long Island, 1776, where he was taken
prisoner. Lord Sterling, wrote to Washington that the Eng-
lish General Grant was killed by some of Keichline's riflemen.
His brother Andrew was promoted to a majority on the field
of Monmouth, and Charles, who entered the army later than his
two brothers, took the oath of allegiance in June, 1778. Andrew
and Charles were both born in Bedminster, the former being the
grandfather of the late Dr. William H. Keichline, of Philadel-
phia. Jacob Keichline, the son of Andrew, was born in this
township, September 8, 1776, and his father owned and kept
a tavern, now, or was lately, a dwelling house opposite the
Tohickon church. In the 36 years that Jacob Keichline kept the
old tavern at Pipersville. he and his wife became very popular,
and the house was much frequented. They were both warm
Democrats, the wife taking as deep an interest in politics as her
husband. She, a plain German woman, was a born ]^olitician.
and took to it as naturally as Richlieu to state craft. Many
an anxious candidate for office had his fortunes helped by re-
ceiving timely advice from her. Candidates, on their way up
be;dminste;r township 8i
county from below, seldom failed to stop and have a chat with
the astute landlady of the old tavern. When a youth, I oc-
casionally came with my father into this section, who always
stopped to see Mrs. Keichline,' and they invariably sat down
and had a quiet chat on the political situation.
The old inn, whose story I have briefly related, stood until
1885, when the present owner, Jacob B. Crouthamel, built the
present commodious house on the site. Although "lost to sight,"
the historic hostelry is still "to memory dear," and "Kachline's
tavern" will be remembered long after the generation which
saw it in the flesh shall have passed away. Since the new inn
was erected, various improvements have been added to Pipers-
ville. In 1877, a library was established; in 1886, Dr. Brum-
baugh erected a chapel, and George Rapp commenced building
a creamery in 1889, which was finished and successfully run
by A. M. Gerhart; Amos Fretz began the clothing business^
in 1884, and in 189T, a council of the Junior Order of Native
American Mechanics was organized here. Other industries will
spring up in the near future, and, while Pipersville may never
be a seaport, it will undoubtedly increase in intellectual and
material wealth.
While the Bedminster of to-day may not keep pace with some
of her sister townships in its progress in the Arts and Sciences
and Literature, she is behind none of them in agricultural pur-
suits. One has but to traverse the township and see her elegant
farms, teeming with rich harvests and ornamented with hand-
some dwelling and well-kept farm buildings, to be satisfied that
her husbandmen are the equal of any in the county. By the
last census she stands first in valuation in horses and cattle.
Four creameries stimulate the farmers to improve their stock
and enrich the soil so as to get the best results from their dairies.
Bedminster's fertile hills and rich valleys are the pride of their
owners. Of her business interests the mercantile pursuit flour-
ishes, and the general stores of Sherer & Co., Dublin, and Lewis
Keller, Bedminsterville, are among the largest in the county.
The sons of Bedminster have not been behind other sections of
the county in fighting- their country's battle ; they shed their blood
in the Revolution that established the Union and in the late war
82 HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., LL.D.
that preserved it. Two of her sons have filled the office of
Superintendent of Public Schools of the county, S. S. Overholt,
and William H. Slotter, the present efficient incumbent. Others
are found in the leading professions of the day — in Law, Medi-
cine, the Ministry and in Art.
Hon. Bird Wilson, D.D., LL.D.
BY HON. HARM AN YERKES, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 17, 1893).
The commendable effort of the bar and the county commission-
ers of Bucks county to collect, for preservation in the court-
room, the likenesses of the judges who have presided over our
courts in times gone by, naturally excites interest in the lives
and history of the eminent men who, by their learning and
ability, contributed to the honorable record of our county.
They were, each in his turn, the central figures around whom
were enacted scenes exhibiting the passions, ambitions, secret
motives, hopes, revenges, plottings and despair which impel men
to attempt the noblest deeds or to commit the blackest crimes.
They, as the chief arbiters of the lives, liberties, fortunes and
happiness of many of their fellow mortals, carried responsibili-
ties which doubtless cast many a shadow over the brightest
hours of their lives. They carried to their graves secrets and
confessions of the wrecked beings whom, in duty's line, they had
been called upon to condemn, that must have impressed them
with the wickedness, coldness, treachery, sadness and empti-
ness of this earthly life.
The courts of justice of our State had undergone a variety
of changes prior to the adoption of the Constitution of 1790.
The Act of 1722 had provided for the appointment, in each
county, of a suitable number of justices to hold the several
courts. These justices were not required to be learned in the
law. They were authorized to hold public and also private or
special sessions. The public sessions were limited to two days'
sittings. Their jurisdiction was also limited. In holding the
orphans' court the justices sat at the localities most convenient
PRESIDENT JUDGES OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Portraits of all president judges from 1790 to 1S51, except that of John D. Coxe (17117-1S0
whose portrait we were unable to get.
(For portraits of other judges of Bucks county, see page 94.)
HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., LL.D. 83
to the parties, but the number of times they preferred Col.
Piper's tavern at Pipersville would indicate that they had also
an eye to the good things of this world.
A Supreme Court with a Chief-Justice and two Associates was
also constituted at Philadelphia. They were required to ride
the circuit into the counties of Bucks and Chester twice a year,
to try all issues joined therein. The jurisdiction of the Su-
preme Court attached in all causes where the value exceeded
£50, and in all cases of debt for rent, replevin, ejectment, tres-
pass or suits wherein title to real estate might come in question.
They were also to deliver the jails of all persons committed for
capital crimes or felonies.
By the Constitution of 1790 and the Act of 1791 the Supreme
Court was continued as before. The courts of Common Pleas,
Oyer and Terminer and Quarter Sessions and Orphans' Court
were erected into four districts or circuits, one of which, the first,
comprised Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware. In
each of these districts one President Judge, skilled in the law,
and four Associate Judges (afterwards reduced to two) were
appointed by the Governor. The same Act provided for a High
Court of Appeals to be composed of the Judges of the Supreme
Court, the Presidents of the Common Pleas districts and three
other persons of legal attainments who were commissioned dur-
ing good behavior. This resembled the present Court of Ap-
peals of New Jersey.
Down to 1806, when Bucks county was separated from Phila-
delphia, the law end of our courts was so closely allied with
that city that a history of the judges and lawyers of the time
seems to belong to her rather than to us. However, some of
the greatest lawyers of the province were residents of Bucks
county and represented it in the legislative bodies. They
followed the Judges of the Supreme Court in riding the
circuit into all the counties. Time will not permit me to name
these lawyers nor the eminent Justices of the Supreme Court
who held the circuits here. Probably all of them came here in
their turns. Most prominent among the Judges of the County
Court were Jeremiah Langhorne, in the early days, and Henry
Wynkoop, of the Revolutionary period, both able men. Wyn-
84 HON. BIRD WII^SON, D.D., hh.D.
koop was one of the most honored of our citizens. He was our
first member of Congress and the intimate friend of General
Washington. Senator McClay intimates that he was given to
toadying to the great man. He was appointed President of the
Court of Common Pleas of the county in 1784 and was next to
the last Lay President Judge of the courts of our county. John
Barclay succeeded him and held the position for a few months.
Other prominent Justices were Joseph Hart, James Benizet,
Francis Hutchinson, James Hanna, Andrew Long, John and
Joseph Chapman and Richard Backhouse. They were all com-
missioned as Judges of the Court.
The First President Law Judge of this county was Hon.
James Biddle. He was appointed under the Act of 1791 to
preside over the new district comprising Philadelphia, Bucks,
Montgomery and Chester, and held the office at the time of his
death in 1797; he was a member of the Biddle family of Phila-
delphia, famous for six generations for men of physical and
mental vigor ; he was the oldest of three brothers. A second
brother, Edward, was a member of the Continental Congress,
and promised to take a very high place as a military leader in
the Revolution, but an unfortunate accident resulted in his
death. The other, Charles Biddle, became Vice President of
the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania and was in-
fluential in public afifairs. Charles was the father of Nicholas
Biddle, who carried on the great bank contest with President
Jackson and was ancestor of nearly all of the name who in this
generation have won distinction as judges, lawyers and soldiers.
James, the first Law Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of
this county, was born February, 13, 1731, and studied law with
John Ross, of the Philadelphia bar. He practiced in Berks,
Lancaster and Northampton counties, residing in Reading until
about 1760, when he removed to Philadelphia, on being ap-
pointed Deputy Prothonotary. Later he became Deputy Judge
in admiralty. In December, 1776, he removed to Reading and
continued the practice of the law until 1788, when he was made
Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia, a
position much sought after by lawyers. His principal competi-
tor for the appointment was James Wilson, Esq.. hereafter
HON. BIRD WII.SON, D.D.^ LL.D. 85
mentioned, and father of the subject of this paper, who became
a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
While Mr. Biddle held the office of Prothonotary, the yellow
fever broke out in Philadelphia, but he resolutely refused to
leave his post, throughout the scare. He was a vestryman of
Christ church and is buried in its grounds. He married Frances
Marks, and had thirteen children,- only three of whom lived to
be over ten years of age. A number of his descendants are
living.
Judge Biddle was succeeded on the bench of Bucks county
by the Hon. John D. Coxe, who held his first court at Newtown,
August 9, 1797. He was succeeded by Hon. William Tilgman,
who first sat at Newtown, February 3, 1805.
Judge Tilgman did not remain long on the Common Pleas
bench. Chief Justice Shippen of the Supreme Court, who had
reached the age of 78 years, resigned at the beginning of 1806,
and Judge Tilgman was appointed to that position, which he
filled with great learning and ability until his death on April
30, 1827. Chief Justice Tilgman was one of the greatest judges
the State has produced. The circumstance that Governor Mc-
Kean, whom Horace Binney termed the father of the Supreme
Court, appointed him Chief Justice thus making him the head of
fhe new judicial system at a time when party spirit was at its
highest, although those two great men did not agree in their
political views, was the strongest tribute to his worth as a jurist
and lawyer.
I have now reached a period in our judicial history when
Bucks county, relieved of the delays and disadvantages to which
the natural tendency to neglect by a bench and bar whose cen-
tral interest was in a populous city, had always subjected her,
was to emerge upon a career of business activity and intel-
lectual brightness in the conduct of legal afifairs, which gave
to her lawyers a reputation, long maintained, second to none
in the Commonwealth.
A short retrospect of the manner of conducting the business
of the courts will serve partially to explain the causes which
led to the important reforms in our judicial system that have
since survived all changes. As usual they arose through agita-
86 HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., LL.D.
tion by the people at large. Succeeding the Revolution, there
was a tendency to form a higher class, after the model of the
English. This was a continuation of the colonial aristocracy.
The disposition was to retain the lofty notions which had pre-
vailed, of pomp, circumstance and display in the conduct of pub-
lic officers. Both President Washington and Vice President
Adams were accused by the severer class of Republicans of
a hankering to ape the forms of royalty on public occasions.
These notions were nowhere stronger than in Philadelphia.
The courts, necessarily conservative, were slow to change in
matters of formality, as they have always been in systems of
practice. In the Supreme Court, the judges wore robes of scar-
let, the lawyers dressed in black gowns, and Chief Justice Mc-
Kean presided with his cocked hat upon his head. When the
judges rode the circuits into the adjoining counties, they were
met and escorted to the court-house and to and from the justices'
robing-room by the sheriff' with a drawn sword and by the
constables of the county carrying their staves, as was the cus-
tom in England.
It appears that Henry Wynkoop, probably through his as-
sociations with Washington, Adams, Hamilton and other great
men at the Nation's capitol, was deeply imbued with the idea
that a display of pomp rather than the certainty and rapidity
of executing the public business would impress the people with
the majesty of the law. It is possible that his own handsome
and distinguished presence, which we are assured appeared lo
great advantage on public days, whetted his taste for these
formalities.
Upon assuming the presidency of the Justices' Court, be made
an order that, during the sitting of the court, the constables
should appear with their staves in their hands ; that "after the
court shall have adjourned they walk in procession with their
staves, before the sheriff to the door of the justices' room,
where they shall deposit their staves until the time of adjourn-
ment shall have expired, when they shall again attend and walk
to the court-house door as before directed."
The people generally, notwithstanding their Quaker affilia-
tions, also held to the formalities of the mother country. The
HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D._, LL.D. 8/
grand inquest for the body of the county presented "that the
present device (the design of the provincial government) ought
to be obHterated, and the arms of the State of Pennsylvania,
with such addition as the court shall think fit, be put in the room
thereof." The Court then suggested "that a buck be added by
way of a crest to denote the county." With the adoption of
this suggestion, showing a singular ignorance of the origin of
the county name, the learned Court and "the body of the coun-
ty" were content with the dignity thereof, and the order so
stood. â–
But this pomp in the judicial proceedings did not facilitate
the despatch of business, and the want of legal knowledge
of the justices of the county court rendered them unfit to trans-
act it. The people lost and buried their unwise prejudice against
lawyers as judges, and discerning that their important litigation,
depending upon the uncertainty of the attendance of the Su-
preme Circuit Court and of the attorneys from the city, was
much hindered and delayed, became dissatisfied ; and complaints
grew loud and strong. One great source of delay was de-
clared by Governor McKean, in one of his veto messages, to
He in requiring the judges of the Supreme Court to go upon
the circuit into each county of the State to try cases. In those
days the difficulties of traveling into remote counties consumed
much of the year. Lvocal tribunals, presided over by law judges,
were therefore demanded. The feeling at the delay in judicial
proceedings became very bitter. In the heated canvass of Simon
Snyder against the re-election of Governor McKean in i8o5', a
powerful argument used against the Governor, was that he was
a lawyer and ex- judge and had no sympathy with these de-
mands — a charge afterward proved to be unfounded. An
attempt was also made to supplant the constitution of 1790 with
a new one for the same reason. The strength and threatening
character of the feeling in this county are shown in a very able
address issued by Samuel D. Ingham, to counteract the efifect
of these arguments. He was elected to the Legislature in that
campaign and, no doubt, greatly aided Governor McKean in
bringing about the Legislation of 1806, reorganizing the judic-
iary system and providing for a system of arbitration, legal pro-
»0 HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., I,I,.D.
cedure, etc. probably to-day the best in the union. There was
no man better quaHlied by knowledge, ability, industry, capacity
for great labor, and unequaled experience, for this undertaking
than the Governor. His most enduring monument is in the
laws enacted during that year.
The Act of 1806 "To alter the Judiciary System of the Com-
monwealth" became the permanent foundation of our present
system. It created ten Common Pleas Districts now grown with
the greatness of the Commonwealth, to forty-nine. The
counties of Bucks, Chester, Montgomery and Delaware were
formed into a new district, called the seventh. The Act also
called for the appointment of a judge learned in the law, and
two associates in each new district. It is a noteworthy fact that
Bucks county has always retained the designation of the
"seventh" district.
Bird Wilson was appointed to the position of President Judge
of this district, then the second in importance in the State. He
was twenty-nine years old — younger than any of his suc-
cessorij upon coming to the bench. Henry P. Ross, the next
youngest, was thirty-two years old. But Judge Ross was a
tried, successful and able lawyer, with a very large practice
in the nisi prins court, while Judge Wilson had httle experience,
and had probably never tried a case. His appointment, there-
fore, illustrates the great decision of character and confidence
in his own judgment of Governor McKean. He undoubtedly
believed that Mr. Wilson possessed the qualifications to make
a good judge, and trusted to time to make good his opinion.
There may have been other circumstances to influence the ap-
pointment, such as the distinguished services of James Wilson, the
father of the appointee, and the unusual advantages which the
young man had possessed to become learned in the science of the
law.
A sketch of James Wilson will be found in the "Encyclopaedia
Americana." He was one of the most prominent and influential
men who took part in the formation of our present National
government. By some he was regarded the ablest.
He was born near St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1742, and passed
from the university at that ])lace to those of Glasgow and Edin-
HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., LL.D. 89
burg. He came to America about 1763 and taught in the college
at Philadelphia. He and William (afterwards Bishop) White,
were intimate friends, and in 1768 wrote in company some
essays called "The Visitant." He studied law with John Dick-
inson and moved to Reading, where he probably married his
wife, Miss Bird, after whose family the town of Birdsboro, is
called. He practiced law there for a time, and then moved to
Carlisle. Eventually he returned to Philadelphia, and soon at-
tained very high rank in his profession. In 1774 he wrote a
pamphlet on "The Authority of the British Parliament," which
was much praised. He was a colonel of militia and a member
of the Provincial Convention.
As a member of the Continental Congress of 1775, he won re-
pute as a scholar and debater. He signed the Declaration
of Independence July 4, 1776. The next year he was a com-
missioner to treat with the Indians. By defending certain Tor-
ies and merchants who refused to lower their prices to a scale
imposed in popular resolutions, he became very unpopular. On
October 4, 1779, a mob attacked his house with cannon ; he and
his friends defended it ; the city troop came to his aid, and blood
was shed. He was Advocate General of France in the United
States. He was long the acknowledged head of the bar of the
city and State, and his gains were very large. He was a direc-
tor of the Bank of North America ; agent for the State in the
Connecticut controversy : again a leading member of Congress
in 1782-1786.
In the convention of 1787 he was "the best read lawyer," and
chairman of the committee which reported the Constitution, Aug-
ust 6.
Washington said that "the convention was made up of the
wisest men in America" and that "among the wisest was James
Wilson." High praise to a young man of 45. At the State
convention to consider the adoption of the Constitution, he
lauded it as "the best form of government ever offered to "the
world :" and, in the ceremonies which celebrated its adoption
delivered in the State House a memorable address. Washing-
ton appointed him in October, 1789, one of the first judges of
the Supreme Court of the United States, and personally wrote
90 HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., LL.D.
him a highly complimentary letter. In one of his decisions
he asserted the sovereignty of the Nation. He was elected in
1786 a member of the learned Philosophical Society of Phila-
delphia. He received in 1790 the first appointment as Professor
of Law at the City College, which in 1792 was united with the
University of Pennsylvania, and delivered three courses of lec-
tures. His practice, chietiy in the admiralty courts, was very
remunerative, but large as were his gains, they were swallowed
up by tl^e land speculations then so disastrously rife. He be-
came involved, iiud to avoid arrest for debt exchanged circuits
with a Southern colleague, Judge Iredell. He died at Edenton,
N. C, August 28, 1798, aged 56 years, of over-work and anxiety.
Professor McMasters goes so far as to say he died "a broken-
hearted fugitive from justice." But a calmer judgment will
hardly hold that the avoidance of a debtor's prison constituted
one a fugitive. Experience has taught that imprisonment for
simple debt is unjust and will not avail to collect a claim.*
His son. Bird Wilson, was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania,
January 8, 1777. It is said of his early youth that he then
displayed the same indoor sort of character which marked his
riper years. Rather than go out to engage in play with his com-
panions, he found pleasure in the immediate society of his par-
ents. To him alone was accorded the privilege of having his
books and playthings in his father's ofifice, as also of being the
constant companion of his father, even when called on in con-
sultation in matters of business, the details of which were strictly
confidential. He graduated from the University of Pennsyl-
vania in 1792, at the very early age of fifteen years. He at
once began the study of law and was admitted to practice at
the Philadelphia bar, March 13, 1797. He was appointed to a
responsible position in the office of the Commissioner of Bank-
ruptcy. It is not known that he ever actually engaged in the active
practice of the law ; in fact, it is asserted, by a near friend, that
he never tried a case before a jury. The same person assures
us that he had not a single element of the popular orator. Wc
* He was buried in North Carolina. In igo6 Justice Wilson's remains were removed
to Pliilarieliiliia, and reinterred at Christ Church g;routids. Philadelphia, beside his wife
and son, amid noHble ceremonies, in which distinguished representatives of the Nation
and State participated.
HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., LL.D. 9I
are assured, however, that he had made himself a master of the
law as a science, and was entirely familiar with its great leading
principles. His opinions show this ; and his writings and ad-
dresses indicate that he was a clear reasoner and capable mas-
ter of the language in which he registered his thoughts. That
he was thoroughly learned and of great promise, when ap-
pointed to the bench, goes without saying, to anyone who has
studied the character of Governor McKean.
Bird Wilson was educated, and came to the bar, enveloped
in an atmosphere of legal learning. Philadelphia was then
the great centre of law and all that pertained to it in America.
Besides all the law courts of the State, the Supreme and Dis-
trict Courts of the United States were located there. In the
office of his distinguished father, first a leader of the bar and
afterwards a member of the highest court in the country, the
young man who, as a boy, had been the companion of his father,
met and doubtless received the attentions, almost paternal, of
such men as John Jay, Oliver Ellsworth, John Rutledge, Wil-
liam Gushing, William Tilgman, Edward Shippen and Jasper
Yeates. There, no doubt, the haughty, stern, clear-sighted and
self-willed Thomas McKean had come to admire the quiet, un-
obstrusive, gentle and scholarly young man so dififerent in dis-
position from himself. No doubt the interest of these great
men, the friends of his deceased and unfortunate father, had
something to do with the appointment. It was, besides, the age
of young men all over the world — of Napoleon, of Pitt and of
Jefferson.
Mr. Wilson was appointed President Judge of this district on
February 28, 1806, and immediately commissioned by the Gov-
ernor at Lancaster, then the seat of government. He first took
his seat upon the bench in this county at Newtown, on May 5.
Judge Wilson's first case was the Com. vs. Joseph Black, charged
with horse-stealing, who was convicted and sentenced to under-
go an imprisonment at labor for nine years and give further
surety for five years. The terms of the surety were such as to
insure virtually an imprisonment for the entire 14 years. In
those days prisoners were not allowed an abatement equal to
about one-third the term, as now. This and other punishments
92 HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D._, LL.D.
inflicted by Judge Wilson, indicate that notwithstanding his
mild and gentle disposition, he was a vigorous administrator
of the criminal law.
By. way of comparison we refer to another case which was
tried twenty years before in the same court-house. John Hough
was convicted of stealing a mare and was sentenced to pay
forty pounds "and on Saturday following to be stood in the
pillory one hour, be publicly whipped 39 lashes, have his ears
cut off and nailed to the pillory and be imprisoned six months,"
probably to give his ears time to heal. The courts of this
county have never been very partial to horse thieves.
In a memorial published by Rev. W. White Bronson, the
statement is made that throughout his entire judicial career,
Judge Wilson was not reversed by the Appellate Court. I would
prefer that this assertion might stand to the credit of the good
man, but to permit it would do violence to the truth of history.
The State reports show that of the 22 reported cases appealed
from him during his term, he was reversed in eleven ; in two
he was affirmed by a divided court ; and, in one other affirmed
case, the Supreme Court held he had committed error in favor
of the plaintiff in error.
Sterritt vs. Bull, ist, Binney 234, is the first reported of his
cases reversed in the Supreme Court. It must have excited mixed
feelings of triumph and disappointment in the breast of the
young judge. In it two disputed questions arose upon the ad-
mission of evidence. In the first instance Judge Wilson admitted
the evidence and sealed a bill of exceptions, in the other he wa<;
opposed to admitting the testimony, but the associate judges
overruled him and sealed a bill of exceptions. The case was
appealed by Thomas Ross, a distinguished lawyer of that day
and a cousin of Judge Ross. The Supreme Court reversed both
decisions. The case illustrates the embarrassments under which
the new Court commenced.
The Quakers of Pennsylvania did not favor lawyers, and
originally organized their courts with the idea of excluding
them altogether. But as incongruous and arbitrary decisions
and judgments developed the importance of having, in the con-
duct of legal affairs, as in every other business, the best skilled
HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., hh-D. 93
agents, the barriers against the legal profession were gradually
broken down, so that lawyers or friends of the parties were per-
mitted to appear at trials and advise the judges. But prior to
1791 the laymen maintained themselves, alone, as judges in the
local courts. As a result, many of the local justices, such as
Wynkoop, Murray and Hutchinson, were well informed in. t\vi
ordinary and common rules of practice of the law. The Act of
1806, which reduced the number of associates to two, was a
severe blow to the power of the lay judges, in matters purely of
law. Yet they jealously resisted what they regarded as an ag-
gression upon their prerogatives. It was not surprising, there-
fore, that Judge Wilson's associates, considering their own years
of experience and his inexperience, in the trial of cases in the
courts, should have disregarded the opinion of the young lawyer
and asserted their own power. The first division in the court re-
sulted in a drawn battle ; but the blow to their vanity, which the as-
sociates received from the Supreme Court, seems to have inspired
such respect for their president that we do not again read of their
overruling him upon legal questions. He also won the devotion
and respect of the very able lawyers who practiced in his court,
as well as of the general community.
In a conversation with the late Hon. Henry Chapman in Octo-
ber, 1890, he gave me his impressions of Judge Wilson, whom
he remembered well. He said : "He was a model judge, learned,
polished, affable and pleasant. Although modest, he possessed
sufficient fire and vigor to maintain order in the court-room."
He also stated that he distinctly remembered an incident when
he was present in court, as a youth. Mr. Conda, Mr. Hanna
and, he thought, Mr. Swift "became very warm during the trial
of a case. Judge Wilson interrupted them and said: 'Gentle-
men, I do not object to your language, but the manner of your
speech is not respectful to the Court.' Thereupon the case pro-
ceeded in an orderly manner ; and every one must have been im-
pressed, as I was, with the dignity and urbanity of the mild ap-
pearing judge." It was not in Judge Wilson's nature to be-
come a demonstrative partisan. He was, however, a man of
deep political convictions. But in office, he was a respecter and
an adherent of the view of decorum observed bv Governor
94 HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., LL.D.
McKean, Judge Tilgman and other strong partisan lawyers of
his day — that in the discharge of judicial duties personal or po-
litical prejudices, feelings or opinions, should not be permitted to
have any influence. Upon his retirement from the bench, the
West Chester Village Record, the opposition paper of that county,
commended him "for his liberality in not making, in his appoint-
ments, a devotion to particular political tenets an indispensable
requisite to promotion." He was judge here at the time the pubhc
buildings were removed from Newtown to Doylestown. and so
conducted himself in that period of local contention as to escape
animadversion. He lived at Norristown during his incumbency
of the bench. His residence was on the eminence east of the
town, his mansion occupying the site of Oakland Female In-
stitute. During the same period he was chiefly instrumental
in organizing the parish of St. John's church, Norristown, and
in erecting the church edifice there, begun in 1813. He was a
warden of the parish for many years, as well as a delegate from
it to the annual convention of the diocese. As a consequence
of the dependence of his father's family upon him, he never
married, but provided for the wants of his three brothers and
two sisters, and succeeded in making adequate provision for
them and acquiring besides a handsome estate.
On the first of January, 1818, Judge Wilson, then forty-one
years old, resigned his commission as judge, to enter ti.e min-
istry of the Episcopal church. Of the causes which led to this
determination we are left, somewhat, to conjecture. On the one
hand, it has been asserted that disappointment and disgust at the
reversal of his judgments, particularly "the White Marsh Church
case," caused his retirement. By others it is ascribed to his
unwillingness to sentence the murderer John H. Craig, "tried and
convicted before him," it being asserted that, "upon the trial
some painful, harrowing scenes were witnessed, almost con-
vulsing even the agonized spectators ; and, as a matter of course,
making a deep impression upon the judge, whose native refine-
ment and delicate kindness of heart no one who had ever known
him could ever possibly mistake."
His connection, if any, with the case of Craig, was such
merely as may have occurred at a formal hearing and com-
:aa,-fMv^
W^^
\S&\
PRESIDENT AND ADDITIONAL LAW JUDGES OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Portraits of all Bucks county judges from is.si to igoi), except Arthur G. Olmstead, (addi-
tional law judge 1.S71-1.S72), whose portrait we were unable to get. Henry P. Ross was the
first additional law judge under the Act of iSdg. He assumed office December 1st of that
year, and was promoted to the president judgeship in iSyi. He removed to Montgomery
county in 1S73, where he served until his death, April 13, 1SS2. Stokes L,. Roberts succeeded
Judge Olmstead as additional law judge, he .served from December 1,1872, to January i,
1873. Richard Watson succeeded Judge Roberts as additional law judge in 1S73, and became
president judge in 1S74, when Judge Ross removed to Norristown.
{.For portraits of other judges of Bucks county, see page 82. )
HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., LL.D. 95
mitment for trial. Neither were the circumstances such as to
excite the degree of sympathy and timidity claimed, in the
mind of one, who, as the records show, had always been stern
and inflexible in administering the law. John H. Craig, a drunken
blacksmith, waylaid and shot Edward Hunter, Esq., who had
written the will of his father-in-law. He was arrested and dis-
charged, and afterwards, upon his own confession, re-arrested
and committed for trial.
His case did not come up for trial until nearly four months
after Judge Wilson's resignation had been accepted by the
Governor ; and no such reason was given in that resignation.
The case was called for trial before his successor, Hon. John
Ross, Tuesday April 14, 1818, and lasted until Saturday night.
The jury was charged by Judge Ross, remained out about an
hour and returned with a verdict of guilty. The proof seems
to have been so plain that so good a lawyer as Edward Tilgman
did not deem it worth while to file a motion for a new trial, and
the court immediately imposed the sentence of death. A con-
temporary account in the Village Record of April 22 and 2Q,
says the proof was "so full and clear as to leave no possible
room for doubt," and the conduct of Craig was "very hardened
and unfeeling." The trial "presented a complete history of the
operations of a mind, conceiving, plotting and executing a hor-
rid murder, afterwards laboring under the weight of guilt,
in flight, in temporary security, arrested, discharged after an
examination, confessing to a friend, and again arrested and com-
mitted to custody." Although "every individual on the jury
took the affirmation, they agreed upon their verdict in about one
hour."
Judge Wilson's resignation is endorsed as accepted on January
I, I St 8. Judge Ross, his successor, was commissioned January
13. Hunter was killed July 19, 1817. Craig fled and escaped
to Northampton county. The sheriff of that county passed
through Doylestown with him in custody on Friday, September
12. He was taken to Media, and finally, in October, committed
for trial. While Judge Wilson was reversed in the case of
Mather vs. Trinity Church, 3 S. & R., 508, there was no case
tried before him over the White Marsh church, with which he
96 HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., LL.D.
was connected, and which he could not have tried had it existed.
Therefore, there can be Httle foundation in that alleged reason.
I conclude from the prompt acceptance of the resignation, the
almost immediate appointment of the new judge, and the date
(the beginning of the year), that it was a step which, for a
considerable time had been contemplated and understood as
to occur at that time.
From a careful study of Judge Wilson's character, we must
believe that his resignation of the judgeship, was the result
of a deliberate and conscientious determination that he had per-
formed his full duty in his office, and that a more congenial field
of labor and usefulness was open to him, rather than a weak
desertion of a most distressing duty, the probability of perform-
ing which, in the then condition of society, he must have contem-
plated when he took office. I am not willing to believe he
would have accepted a public position with a mental reserva-
tion to escape its most solemn duty.
He might retire from his high office, which he held for a
longer period than any of his successors, with honor and pro-
found satisfaction even. He had assumed it without experience
and with the serious misg-ivings, natural to one of his disposi-
tion, of his own ability to fill it, observing the want of confidence,
in him, of his associates and, no doubt, of the able bar over which
he presided. He had organized and set in smooth working order
the new court, so perfectly and satisfactorily that hardly a
material change has been made in the methods of transacting
the public business in the long period of seventy-five years ; in
fact, it has been found wise to return to some of the safeguards
against mistakes created by him and temporarily departed from
He wisely abolished the foolish and showy forms of procedure
and retained the useful ones; and since he took his seat in the
court, 87 years ago, the records have ceased to be burdened with
orders displaying a pompous assumption of dignity by the court.
He had been a laborious, studious, prompt and conscientious
official, trying his cases with firmness and ability, and had won
from his superiors the highest testimonials to his character as a
judge. The reported cases, appealed from him, show that many
new and intricate questions were considered and decided by
HON. BIRD WILSON^ D.D._, LL.D. 97
him, and his position was argued with such ability and learn-
ing that in a majority of the cases where he was reversed one of
the three Supreme Judges dissented from his colleagues and
agreed with him : a high complement to his ability and the best
evidence of the difficulties of the questions involved.
His district was a hard one, requiring much time and atten-
tion to keep up with the business ; yet from the time he took
his seat the complaints, before so common, ceased. His official
labors and the chaotic condition of his father's affairs, of whose
estate he was executor, had given him little rest and even
at his youthful time of life had inclined him to long for quiet
retirement from distracting public duties. He retired from the
bench, honored and respected by all, and left a record for learn-
ing, purity and superior judicial conduct which has justly excited
the emulation of all his successors.
It is reserved to but few men to successfully pursue, in the
learned professions, first one public career, reaping the high-
est honors, to close and round it out, and then to enter upon a
second career in the line of another profession, completing it
with equal honor and success, before retiring from the activities
of life. Such was the fortune vouchsafed to Judge Wilson.
More than this, he was a prolific writer and successful author
in law and theology.
In 1803 he published an edition of his father's works, in-
cluding his law lectures, in 3 volumes ; about the same time a
work on real property, and after his elevation to the bench he
edited "An Abridgment of the Law," in 7 volumes. As a
churchman, besides his elaborate memorial to Bishop White,
which included a complete history of the church in America, he
wrote and published several learned papers upon doctrinal ques-
tions. Bishop White, of the Episcopal church of Pennsylvania,
had been his father's boyhood companion and friend and his
own lifelong adviser, and having abandoned the law with his
resignation of the judicial office, Judge Wilson devoted him-
self to preparation for the ministry, studying under the direc-
tion of the bishop. He was admitted by that learned prelate as a
deacon in Christ's church, on the 12th of March, 1819, and as a
priest about a year afterwards.
9o HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., LL.D.
On the 3rd of May, 1820, Bishop White announced the death
of Rev. Thomas P. May, rector of St. John's church, Norris-
town, and of St. Thomas' church, White Marsh, and said to the
convocation, that, "as an alleviation to the loss which these
parishes had sustained there was one residing within their
bounds, the Rev. Bird Wilson, recently ordained but long known
among them for his able and faithful discharge of the duties of
a highly responsible office in the judiciary department, and who
without delay was chosen and settled as their pastor."
This was the first and only rectorship held by Judge Wilson
during his entire clerical life. It lasted but about two years.
Of his manner in the chancel, one who knew him well, Rev. W.
White Bronson says "He was not what is known as a popular
preacher. He had none of the so-called graces of oratory. His
voice, never strong, made it often necessary that the fixed and
undivided attention of his hearers should be given. His manner
was quiet, dignified and impressive."
In 1 82 1 Judge Wilson received the degree of Doctor of Divin-
ity from the University of Pennsylvania. He did not long re-
main at Norristown. "His reputation for learning and stead-
fastness of character transplanted him to a broader and far more
useful field of Christian work." The General Theological Sem-
inary had been established at New Haven, Connecticut ; and at a
meeting of the trustees held on the 24th of July, 1821, Dr. Wilson
was appointed to the chair of systematic divinity and accepted.
The seminary was united with a diocesan school in New York
and the new institution located at New York. At the first
meeting of the trustees, held December 19, 1821, Dr. Wilson
was reappointed to the same chair. He filled the duties of this
position with great ability and success for nearly thirty years,
contributing his aid in the erection of the seminary building,
begun in 1825, and of the chapel of St. Peter's connected there-
with, which was afterwards succeeded by the large parish church
of the same name.
In 1825, in consideration of the advanced age of Bishop White,
who had reached his 80th year, it was deemed advisable to elect
an assistant bishop in the diocese of Pennsylvania. The bishop
consented and a special convention was called for the purpose.
HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., LL.D. 99
It convened on October 25, in St. Peter's church, Philadelphia.
There was a question whether particular parties were canonically
resident in the diocese, and therefore, entitled to vote. The seat
of Dr. Wilson was disputed on the ground that he was a pro-
fessor in the seminary in New York ; but the Committee on Cre- :
dentials reported that, "while his duties there are of a public
and official character, he has in no way changed his residence
or ceased to be a resident of Pennsylvania."
The candidates were Rev. Bird Wilson D. D. and Rev. Wil-.
Ham Meade, of Virginia, afterwards bishop of that diocese. Dr.
Wilson cast a blank vote. The tellers announced that Rev. Wil-
liam Meade had received 27 votes and the Rev. Dr. Wilson 26
votes. It was suggested, it is said, by Hon. Joseph R. Inger-
soll, that a majority of the members had not voted for ary
candidate. The tellers made a supplemental report, from which
it appeared, "there were 54 clerical members present and that
one of them had declined to vote," which vote being counted
rendered it a tie ; upon which Bishop White announced "that
there was no constitutional vote for any candidate."
The convention then adjourned. At a subsequent meeting at
Harrisburg, May 8, 1827, Dr. Wilson was again urged to allow
his name to be used as a candidate ; but he peremptorily declin-
ed, and Henry U. Onderdonk, D. D., was elected. The contest
in the first convention gave rise to a great deal oi excitement :
and when, upon the adjournment, Bishop White was asked if he
would again reconvene a convention, replied he would not. He
afterward said : "J\Iy reason for the limitation arose from the
excitement of feelings which I had perceived to be produced ;
and out of occurrences which my mind could not reconcile to the
integrity of ecclesiastical proceedings, such as I never before wit-
nessed in our church, and concerning which I was resolved,
chat if there should be a continuance of them no act of mine
should contribute to it." From the circumstance that it w ;is felt
that the venerable Bishop White preferred Dr. Wilson as his
assistant, although he could not be induced to express a wish,
there is little doubt that the convention was controlled into dis-
regarding what would seem a natural consideration for him as-
well as the great worth and superior qualifications of Dr. Wilson
lOO HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., hh.D.
through the warm feehng which then prevailed between high
and low churchmen. It was the intemperate feeling of the latter
which led to the bishop's severe strictures. His expressions fur-
nish convincing proof that although advanced in years, the great
prelate had lost none of his mental vigor.
In 1829 Dr. Wilson was '^lected Secretary of the House of
Bishops of the United States, and served in that capacity until
1841, when he declined a re-election. Bishop White died July
I/', 1836, at the advanced age of 89 years. Dr. Wilson was se-
lected by his family and the unanimous action of the clergy to
write his life. It was said to be "pre-eminently the most fitting
choice ; for he bore, himself, a most striking resemblance to him
whom he thus worthily commemorated."
. His memoir of Bishop White was published in 1839. It and
his other writings upon church subjects gave him a high standing
as an ecclesiastical scholar and disputant.
In 1844, owing to some charges to the effect that some of
the students in the seminary were receiving encouragement in
"superstitious or Romish practices," Dr. Wilson, as Dean, pre-
pared a report on "certain cases of discipline," which had great
influence in clearing the institution of unpleasant imputations.
While reading this paper to the faculty, he suddenly became so
confused as to be obliged, for a short space of time, to suspend
the reading. The attack, which soon abated, was the first
warning to him of failing health. In his final illness a cele-
brated physician expressed the opinion that the inception of his
disease, softening of the brain, might be dated from that mo-
ment. It was said that "nothing that had ever occurred to him in
the whole course of a long life, was known to prey upon and
depress his spirits, as did this period of deep anxiety which af-
fected the character of the institution over which he presided and
had done so much to build up." On the 28th of June, 1848, he
handed his resignation to the Board of Trustees. A unanimous
and most flattering request was at once made by the Trustees that
he would withdraw the paper, which he did. Two years later, he
again pressed his resignation which was finally accepted in 1850.
The honor of Professor Emeritus was conferred on him by the
trustees.
HON. BIRD WILSON, D.D., LL.D. lOI
In 1855 the Convention of the Diocese of Pennsylvania elected
him a member of the Trustees of the Seminary, but he declined
the position. On October 7, 1845, the degree of Doctor of Laws
was conferred upon him by Columbia College, New York. In
informing him of this honor the Board, who unanimously voted
the honorary degree, say: "It is the first time in a long series
of years in which the board have conferred this degree on a
clergyman being a D. D. But in your case, from your character
and extensive attainments and your eminent services in the cause
of religion and learning, there was no hesitancy in departing
from the general practice."
After the resignation of his professorship. Dr. Wilson passed
about six years in quiet study and in friendly social relations
with his numerous friends. He was then again attacked with
the fatal disease of which he had received a warning eleven
years before. It was that terrible malady, softening of the brain,
and continued its course three years "with many alternations and
varieties of intensity," his mind at times being very seriously af-
fected. At length he was relieved from the misery and terror
which sufferers from that fearful disease endure. He died
quietly and calmly on Thursday, April 14, 1859, aged 83 years.
Rev. W. White Bronson, to whom I am indebted for much infor-
mation, has fittingly commemorated his services, especially in the
church, in a memorial published in 1864. From the grandson of
the distinguished founder of the Episcopal church in America, it
is a delicate and an appropriate testimonial of the intimate rela-
tion between two families which, begun in the boyhood of
Bishop White and Judge James Wilson, has uninterruptedly
continued for a century and a quarter.
Of the six children of James Wilson, only one, Mary, ever
married. She became the wife of Paschall Hollingsworth and
had one child, Miss Emily Hollingsworth, who is the last sur-
vivor of the family of James Wilson. She is unmarried and re-
sides with Mr. Bronson. In a few short years, at most, naught
will be left save the history of their imperishable deeds to keep
green the memory of James and Bird Wilson, both of whom
played a prominent and often difficult part in laying the
foundations of Pennsylvania's admirable system of laws.
102 the; BLACKFANS in ENGLAND AND AMERICA
A word about Judge Wilson's habits. It was said that he was
strictly methodical and was accustomed to walk five miles every
day regardless of the weather, and almost always over the same
course ; that he possessed an uncommonly high toned spirit,
coupled with inflexible firmness and decision. It "was utterly
impossible to move him from aught suggested by reason, con-
science or a high sense of duty, but hastiness or impatience he
had never been known to exhibit."
There is a fine portrait of him at the Episcopal Seminary, New
York, executed in oil by the artist Huntington ; a well executed
copy of it is in the court-house, at Doylestown.
His funeral was held in St. Peter's church, New York, whence
his remains were taken to Philadelphia and deposited, while
appropriate services were conducted before the altar of Christ
church, where he had received his commission "to break the
bread of eternal life." He is buried in the grounds belonging
to Christ church, at the corner of Arch and Fifth streets. The
chapel at the Episcopal hospital, Philadelphia, was erected by
his niece to his memory.
The Blackfans in England and America.
BY MISS ELIZABETH C. BLACKFAN, SOLEBURY, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 17, 1S93).
Among the many friends and counselors of William Penn, the
Great Founder of our Commonwealth, was Edward Blackfan who
was bound to him also by ties of kinship, and whose name is
mentioned frequently in the records of the Province and the let-
ters of William Penn. Edward Blackfan, whose descendants
still reside in Bucks county, was the son of John Blackfan, of
Stenning, Sussex county, England. The Blackfans were among
the early converts to Quakerism, and both the Penn and Blackfan
families attended the meetings at Ifield. They were connected
through the Crispins, as Edward Blackfan's wife, Rebecca, was
William Penn's first cousin, her father and Admiral Penn hav-
ing married sisters.
It is not strange that the ties of consanguinity and of a like
THE BLACKFANS IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA IO3
faith should grow into that warmth of friendship and confidence
which was displayed in the letters of the Proprietary during the
last five years of Edward's life. The Blackfans seemed to have
suffered like many others of that period for their religious faith.
John Blackfan was fined several times for refusing to attend
worship or pay tithes, and was also imprisoned and finally ex-
communicated. The marriage certificate of Edward Blackfan
and Rebecca Crispin is dated 8-mo., 24th, 1688. The marriage
took place at Ifield Friends' Aleeting, and was witnessed by Wil-
liam Penn, his wife, son and daughter. The marriage certificate
is in possession of my father, William C. Blackfan, and is in a
good state of preservation.
The last account of Edward fJlackfan was in a letter to Rich-
ard Morris, dated at London, 1689, containing an order pro-
claiming William and Mary, King and Queen of England, France
and Ireland. Here all record ends, but tradition tells us, that he
had purchased or obtained grants from Penn, of certain valuable
lands in Pennsylvania, with the intention of emigrating to
America ; his plans could not be carried out, as he was taken
sick and died; this was probably in 1699. It is to be regretted
that his papers became lost or destroyed. About one year after
his death, in 1700, his widow, Rebecca, with her infant son Wil-
liam, came to America, where she was kindly received at Penns-
bury by her kinsman, taking charge of the Proprietary's house.
When the son William became of age, he received by deed of
gift from Thomas and William Penn, a tract of 500 acres of land
in Solebury township. The original deed is said to be in a good
state of preservation, and is in the possession of the family of
Og"den Blackfan, of Trenton.
In 1 72 1 William married Elinor Wood, of Philadelphia, and
settled in Solebury township. Many prominent names appear on
the certificate of their marriage, including those of the Mayor,
Surveyor-general, Provincial-commissioner, and Attorney-gener-
al ; they had six children, Crispin (named for his grandmother's
family), Elizabeth, Rebekah, Sarah, William and Hannah. Soon
after her son's marriage, Rebecca, widow of Edward, married
Nehemiah Allen, a prominent citizen of Philadelphia, and a
member of the City Council. At William's death the 500-acre
104 THE BLACKFANS IN DNGI^AND AND AMERICA
tract of land in Solebury was divided, Crispin taking the western
half, and William Jr. the eastern half.
Crispin married Martha Davis and had nine children, one son
Edward, and eight daughters. Edward married Mary Smith and
had four children, of whom three were sons, Crispin, Samuel and
Joseph. Crispin married and settled in Trenton, where his son's
family still reside. Samuel married Elizabeth, daughter of Moses
Eastburn. After his death the homestead was sold and passed
out of the family name. It is now owned by Charles Atkinson.
Joseph studied medicine and settled at Radnor, Delaware county.
His descendants live at Norristown.
William, fourth child of William and Elinor, married Esther
Dawson, daughter of Thomas Dawson, granddaughter of John
Dawson. The Dawson property lay two miles west of New Hope
and consisted of 500 acres of land. It was deeded to John Daw-
son in 1 7 19, by Ralph Jackson and Francis Harding. This prop-
erty was left by Thomas Dawson to his grandsons, John and
Thomas Blackfan. The original deed is the only one ever made
and is still in possession of the Blackfan family. William and
Esther had six children. Of the sons, Thomas died unmarried;
Jesse married Jane Defifendorf, of New York; William died in
1796 and his wife in 1806; John married Martha Quinby, of
New Jersey, and settled upon the estate his grandfather left him,
near New Hope. He died in 1806, leaving one son, John, born
in 1799. His widow, Martha, afterwards married Dr. Isaac
Chapman.
John Blackfan married Elizabeth R. Chapman, of Wrights-
town, in 1821, and settled in Solebury at his father's house.
This house was burned in 1835, nearly everything in it being de-
stroyed. He built the present house, not far from the old site.
They had four children who grew to maturity, Hetty Ann, Wil-
liam C, George C. and Martha C. Hetty Ann married George
Watson and died in 1867. William C. married Elizabeth Ely, of
Philadelphia, and lives upon the Solebury farm. George C.
married Lavinia Worstall, of Newtown, and lives there. Martha
married George Watson and lives in Philadelphia. John Black-
fan's wife, Elizabeth, died in 1856, and in 1864 he married
Francenia Ely, of Buckingham, and moved to Yardley, where he
died in 1878.
THE BRISTOI, PIKE IO5
Many old deeds, certificates and wills remain in our possession,
together with the bibles of John Dawson, printed 1613, and
Elinor Wood Blackfan printed in 1758. An old che?t-of-drawers,
brought from England, 1700; a clock made in 1792, by Seneca
Lukens, maker of the state-house clock; an old chair or two,
some silver, etc., are all that remain of their personal property ;
some was destroyed by fire and some scattered among the fami-
lies of the numerous daughters. Such is the record of the des-
cendants of the staunch old Quaker whom William Penn called
cousin and honored with his friendship and confidence. There
have been no statesmen or politicians among them, but they have
led upright and blameless lives and their descendants are proud
of an inheritance, which, if it bring no great wealth or fame,
brings what is held to be better than great riches, a good name.
The Bristol Pike.
BY REV. S. F. HOTCHKIN, BUSTEETON, PA.
(Menlo Park, Perkasie Meeting, July i8, 1893).
Near Frankford creek lies Chalkley Hall, where the pious
preacher among Friends, Thomas Chalkley, retired from busi-
ness cares for rest and quiet and where in after years the poet
Whittier was a guest, and concerning which he wrote a delight-
ful poem.
Wain grove is just across the creek and we are reminded
that the Wains owned a thousand acres around Frankfort.
On Church street the Presbyterian church of Dr. Murphy,
the historian of the Log College, reminds us that early Swiss
settlers found a religious home there.
An old summer-house on the Wamrath place which Editor
France is trying to preserve (in a new resting place) is said to
have been the spot where the Declaration of Independence was
planned, or at least where Jefferson and other Congressmen
came on the afternoon of the day of signing the Declaration.
There was once a hotel on the place.
The ancient hotel, the "JoHy Post," tells of a day when a
stage horn and fiery steeds and hungry passengers passed that
io6 the; BRISTOL pike;
way. The "Allen House" a little above it, calls to mind a
splendid entertainment to Lafayette when that hero revisited
this grateful land. Editor Axe has well described the scene.
We now approach the point of rocks noted in Col. McLane's
dangerous experience under a British pursuit. Cedar Hill and
North Cedar Hill cemeteries have chosen this beautiful spot,
and thousands of silent sleepers lie in this city of the dead.
Let us look on these massive tombs and remember the Anglo-
Saxon lines translated by Longfellow :
" For thee was a house built.
Before thou wast born."
We look at a house before we enter it. The narrow house
appointed for all the living awaits us, but if we die in Christ
the blooming flowers on the graves are as the early Christian
poet Prudentius sings, but types of a renewed life. The burial
service gives St. Paul's assurance that what is sown in corrup-
tion shall be raised in incorruption, and the clergyman in pass-
ing casts a thought on those whom he has here laid to rest over
whose graves have echoed the blessed words of the Saviour.
" I am the Resurrection and the Life."
" On the cold cheek of death smiles and roses are blending,
And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb."
Near the cemetery is the Cornelius place. At its entrance
is a house, some parts of which may have composed a portion
of the old rectory of Trinity Episcopal church, Oxford, in Pro-
vincial days when the parson could live miles from his church
and try to cultivate a glebe, but it is hard to raise chickens and
catechumens together. Mr. Cornelius was one of the earliest
to experiment in photography in this country.
Tacony is the seat of the Disston saw works known over the
world, also of the iron and metal company, whose bronze
statue of Penn draws the gaze of thousands in Philadelphia.
The Forest Home above was a splendid gift of the great
actor to the poorer brethren and sisters of his profession.
Holmesburg is a pretty and thriving town of which the Wash-
ington hotel was the centre ; the village once bore the name of
Washington. A later Holme family may have given name to
the town, but a monument to Thomas Holme, the Surveyor Gen-
THE BRISTOI, PIKE lOJ
eral of Pennsylvania is in a graveyard on the Bustleton railroad
at Ashton station. The good man left £4 which was the seed
of the Lower Dublin Academy, and which now aids the Holmes-
burg Free Library. U^his perpetual blessing should stimulate
others to endow benevolent and Christian institutions that they
may thus live in their works after they are dead.
Passing Alexander Brown's place with its long avenue of
splendid trees, we reach "Eleven-mile lane." On the river stood
the old bake-house used for baking bread for the army in the
Revolution.
The Fisher family, descended from General Morgan, have
wisely preserved the name in their country seat. From this
point for three miles up the Delaware is one of the finest sub-
urbs in this or any other land. The magnificent country seats
are directly on the broad river, and no public road intervenes.
Here the tired business man may find true rest. Wordsworth
says :
"The world is too much with us ; late and soon
Getting and spending we la}- waste our powers."
Hence we need to recuperate them and Archbishop Trench
puts enjoyment in a word thus :
" A little murmur in mine ear,
A little ripple at my feet."
So nature or rather the God of nature soothes the man who is
indeed yet a tired child.
Vancouver once spent some time in an old white wooden
house with green blinds on the river bank on Nelson Brown's
place, which is called after the great navigator's name.
Torresdale is now before us. Here was Risdon's red brick
hotel, where young gentlemen of Philadelphia came to fish, and
were conveyed in little boats to and from the vessels in the
stream. Charles Macalester came and introduced the Scotch
name Torresdale from the place of ancestral relatives in Scot-
land ; Glengarry, named in like manner, was his own fine, large
mansion at the mouth of the Poquessing, where of late years his
daughter, Madame Laughton, dispensed a bounteous hospitality,
having numbered Canon Farrar among her guests. Father and
daughter are dead, and the empty house is lonely in its ample
I08 THE BRISTOL PIKE
lawn. A brownstone Presbyterian church, clad with ivy, is the
result of a bequest of Mr. Macalester. This gentleman was the
orig-inator of the modern settlement, but Colonel Morrell has
pushed it on to greater life. The Hopkins and Grant properties
are absorbed into the Morelton Inn grounds, and various cot-
tages shelter guests who desire privacy. Those who wish to see
a yacht race can here behold the white-winged servants of the
wind bending under their master's power, and struggling with
the waves as Aeolus contends with Neptune for the mastery.
The tally-ho also displays the rapid and beautiful steeds which
enliven, the old turnpike, while Colonel Morrell's energy and
benevolence have improved the roads, adding thus a high mark
of civilization.
On the hillside is the large and beautiful Academy of the
Sacred Heart with its beautiful chapel, lately adorned and en-
larged by the Drexel family. All Saints' church and rectory
are close at hand. Here good Dr. Beasley served many a year
as a pattern of a country parson. As we descend the hill, an
old country school-house, no longer used as such, displays the
simple mode in which our fathers spent their school-days. An
old hipped-roof house on our left is the ancient home of the
Hart family, who were ancestors of your worthy president.
General Davis. An ancient graveyard opposite, given to the
public by John Hart, contains some of the relatives of Dr. Rush.
The family lived on the Parry place near by.
The Old Red Lion Inn stands on the turnpike; it is a pictur-
esque structure ; and the three-arched bridge over the Poquessing,
on the Red Lion road, adds to the beauty of the scene. Here
the Revolutionary army once encamped, and at the Yorktown
anniversary a company again honored the place in the same
way.
On the river, Adolph Borie had his home, and the Secretary
of the Navy under Grant, and the companion of his foreign
travel, had his family name commemorated in a railroad station,
though a late alteration has dropped that depot.
Andalusia was the country seat of Nicholas Biddle, the
financier and literary man. James S. Biddle and Judge Biddle
now occupy it. The river bank for miles is lined with trees,
the; BRISTOL PIKE 109
which Sir John Lubbock tells us are more lasting than flowers
in their leaves. He calls each tree a picture. The oak he styles
"the type of strength, the sovereign of British trees." The
chestnut with its "glossy leaves," and "delicious fruit" shows
its durability in "the grand and historic roof of Westminster
Abbey." The birch is named as "the queen of trees," and the
beech enlivening the country with its greenness in spring, and
its "glorious gold and orange in autumn" is not forgotten.
Above the Biddle place is the Bickley mansion, now occu-
pied by the gun club. In the carriage house stands an ancient
coach like that of Washington. An aged lady of the family
used to tell of the perilous trips to Philadelphia when the bays
dragged the coach into the city making the sixteen miles in
four hours, and observing the same rate in returning, while the
thought of highwaymen gave zest to the journey. Those were
days of early breakfasts and late suppers.
On the turnpike at Andalusia is the Chapel of the Redeemer,
and the King library founded by Dr. Charles R. King for the
good of his neighbors. Above were Andalusia College and
Potter Hall under the late energetic Rev. Dr. Wells.
Cornwells was a half-way house between Philadelphia and
Trenton. The Vandergrift graveyard is an ancient landmark
here ; St. Elizabeth's noble school is here.
At Eddington we glance at Christ Church and at the large
Industrial School of St. Francis and ride by the pretty Presby-
terian church beyond with its architectural tower, and look at
Ford Inn at Bridgewater the scene of Dr. Beasley's poem on the
gentle ghost of former times when a ford was used instead of a
bridge.
The Clock house on the river was so called because an upper
window was shaped like the face of a clock, and for years a light
shown in it at night to warn raftsmen and boatmen of rocks.
The old mansion was the home of Dr. Rousseau. It now be-
longs to the famous and ancient fishing club, the State in Schuyl-
kill. The old Fish house once in the Park, and later at Gray's
Ferry, has been moved here. This club for over a century has
comprised some of the best known people in Philadelphia. Laf-
ayette was an honorary member and is said to have done some
no THE BRISTOL PIKE
cooking there. The gentlemen pride themselves on being able
to cook their meals and fish are served by them with juicy
beef-steaks.
Bristol College is at hand. Here Von Braam Houckgeist built
China Hall and it is said that this distinguished man who had
lived in China hung bells under the roof that the winds might
make music as an Aeolian harp. An Episcopal College arose,
and a large additional building was built. Here was afterward
a Soldiers' Hospital, and a graveyard near at hand shows that
some could no longer answer the roll call, and some empty seats
at home kept up the thought that life is often freely given for
country.
Bristol with its factories looks backward as the story of the
â– glory of Bath Springs rivals that of Saratoga and the Old Quaker
â– Meeting and the graveyard of St. James' Episcopal Church speak
loudly of the past.
Let us go on to Morrisville. Here two great names meet ud,
Morris and Moreau. As you leave your depot on the right
beyond the Goodyear rubber works lies the Grove, which was
the estate of the great financier of the Revolution, Robert Morris,
who was a compeer of Washington and Franklin. The brick
'Stables forming a part of the Goodyear buildings, and seen from
the railway are said to have been built by him, when Govern-
ment messages went from Philadelphia to New York by horses.
The mansion here fell into the hands of Napoleon's General,
the distinguished Moreau, of whom Dr. Turner has told you in
a lecture. The dwelling was burned and the General lived in
the large ferry house yet standing, and listened to the strange
noises of the Trenton iron works. It is sad to walk in this grove,
now being cut into lots, but long the resort of picnics, and to
think of Morris, like Walter Scott, at Abbotsford, ruined by his
unfinished palace on Chestnut street, and his land speculations
and a dishonest partner. As Socrates and Plato mused and
taught on the Cephissus, at Athens, so on the Delaware ^Hd he
look over the past and the future, and as he was the husband
of Mary White, the sister of Bishop White, let us hope that he
had the faith of that good man and looked beyond the earthly
river to the Heavenly Canaan.
I'o which prisoners
Janiiar
OLD JAIL AT DOYLESTOWN.
•ere transferred from Newtown May 13, 1813.
3, 1SS5, and buildings demolished same year.
NKW JAIL AT DOYLESTOWN.
Completed and occupied January 3, 1885.
The Jails of Bucks County.
BY REV. D. K. TURNERj HARTSVILEE, PA.
(Menlo Park, Perkasie Meeting, July i8, 1893).
The punishment of criminals is coeval with the human race.
The first pair were violators of law, and experienced the evil con-
sequences of their offense in expulsion from the Garden of Eden,
their beautiful home, in the loss of innocency, sorrow, and the
perpetuation of evil in their posterity. Ever since their day it
has been necessary for the good of society to inflict some kind of
penalty upon those, who disregard the rights of their fellow-
men in the pursuit of pleasure, gain, or revenge.
Inferior misdeeds, as justice requires, are usually followed by
lighter retribution than those of greater turpitude, and accord-
ingly in our country, offenders of deeper criminality are incarcer-
ated in state penitentiaries for a longer term, and those of a
milder type in county jails for a shorter period.
From the earliest history Bucks county has had a court-
house for the trial of accused persons and a place for the con-
finement of such as were convicted. Corporeal chastisement
with the whip has not been unknown within our limit s, but
shutting up within prison walls has been more generally practic-
ed, especially within the last hundred years. This county was
designated by William Penn as one of the three original coun-
ties of Pennsylvania in 1682. Soon after his arrival in the Prov-
ince, one of his first measures in the organization of local gov-
ernments was the appointment of sheriffs for each county. Then
the judges of the lower courts were nominated, and their ses-
sions formally opened by the Governor. The first court in the
county was held at the house of Gilbert Wheeler, March 4,
1684, William Penn presiding, and Richard Noble, sheriff. No
mention has been left in the county records of the erection of
the first public buildings, and we are not informed exactly where
they were, nor what were their dimensions or appearance. The
minutes of the second session of the Court of Quarter Ses-
112 THE JAILS OF BUCKS COUNTY
sions commence thus: "Court met at Court-House, nth day,
I2th month, 1684-5" No doubt the jail was attached to the
court-house or under the same roof, but on what precise spot,
is left to conjecture, and few hints are suppHed which aid us in
forming an opinion as to its definite location. The Provincial
Assembly of 1683 passed an order, that each county erect a house
of correction with dimensions 16 by 24 feet, and at this session
of the court William Biles and William Beakes were directed
"to, buy 10 or 12 acres of land to be laid to the public use of the
county, and that they do it, if they can before the next Court."
At the Falls Monthly Meeting of Friends, June 7, 1686, it was
proposed to hold their regular meetings in the court-house, at a
rent of 2^ shillings a month ; but the idea was afterwards
abandoned, "because there was no convenience of seats or water."
From this it appears that the first jail and court-house were
in Falls township. July 14, 1687, the records state that
" Philip Conway, being in custody for nnsdenieanor, and being in the
prison below the court, was very unruly in words and actions to the great
disturbance of the king's peace and of the court in the exercise of their
duties, cursing the justices and other ofiicers, casting logs against the door,
and endeavoring to make as much disturbance as he could ; therefore, the
Court orders that the ^40 forfeited by him be levied according to his said
recognizance on his lands, goods and chattels."
It seems from this incident that the jail was under the court-room.
About forty years ago a tradition was narrated by Jacob Smith,
who owned a farm just below Morrisville, that the first court-
house and jail had been on his property about two hundred yards
from the river bank and opposite to what was then called Moon's
Island. The building was of logs, two stories in height, on a
stone foundation, with an attic, about 20x40 feet in size. The
first story was divided into two rooms, one somewhat larger than
the other, the smaller being used for the jail and the others for
the court. The windows of the former and the throat of the
fireplace were secured with iron bars.
This description does not correspond to the idea formed from
the scanty allusions of the records, but there may have been tzvo
court-houses before the one erected in Bristol, as the minutes
of court of December, 1793, begin thus: "At the court-house
near the falls," as if the judges were in a different place from
THE JAILS OF BUCKS COUNTY II3
that in which they had met previously. However, if there were
two, they were both in the vicinity of the Delaware river, in the
lower part of the county, where the earliest settlements in the
county were made. Gradually population extended into the in-
terior and a different location for the public buildings was de
manded. After much discussion the offer by Samuel Carpenter,
of Bristol, in 1705, of a site, was accepted and the court deter-
mined to meet in that town in June. He directed also that a pair
of stocks and a whipping-post should be reared for the punish-
ment of those who might be found guilty of diamkenness and
other misdemeanors. But the edifice, for some unknown reason,
was not erected till 1709, and where the court sat in the mean-
time, whether in the old house or in some temporary structure,
is uncertain. In that year the court ordered a tax of two pence
on the pound, which is in the ratio of 83^ mills to the dollar, to
defray the expense of the new court-house and prison. The
structure was accordingly built and braved the storms of 125
years, though it was not employed all that time for the same
honorable ends which marked its birth. In 1834 Hon. William
Kinsey bought the building and tore it down. He states that it
was built of brick, two stories high, 24x34 feet, with a whipping-
post attached, and a beam extended out from the end for a gal-
lows. The upper room was for the court and the lower for a
prison.
The seat of justice remained in Bristol about twenty years,
during which period settlers rapidly multiplied toward the
northwest and the location was inconvenient for many, who were
obliged to travel long distances over poor roads to transact public
business. In 1724 the Assembly passed an act empowering Jere-
miah Langhorne, William Biles, Joseph Kirkbride, Jr., Dr.
Thomas Watson and Abraham Chapman to build a new court-
house and jail in the county of Bucks. The expense was not to
exceed £300, which, if English currency, would be $1,500, a
sum which seems small, but which had much more purchasing
value than at the present day. The committee decided upon
Newtown, and purchased five acres of land in that place from
John Walley. The court-house and prison were sepai'ate edifices,
made of brick, and faced the south, but no minute account of
114 THi; JAILS OF BUCKS COUNTY
them has come down to us. Before many years had passed, the
prison was found too small and in 1745 a more commodious
structure superseded it, and the old jail was employed as a
workhouse and reformatory. The new jail was surrounded by
an ample yard, enclosed by a stone wall, and furnished with a
set of stocks, according to the custom of that era. It has been a
tradition, generally credited, that the jail in Newtown was once
destroyed by fire, whether the older or later building is not
specified, nor does rumor intimate if it was due to the incen-
diary scheme of some inmate anxious for his liberty.
The story is confirmed by a presentment of the grand- jury, in
what year is uncertain, that "John Webber, being a prisoner in
the prison-house in Newtown, wilfully set fire to the said house,
whereby the same was consumed to ashes."
Joseph Doane, one of the five brothers of that name, who were
celebrated during the Revolutionary War for their deeds of daring
and hostility to the cause of independence, was captured and in-
carcerated at Newtown. He was endowed with great physical
strength and activity, and was accused of robbing and plunder-
ing houses, stealing horses and committing other acts of vio-
lence against the lives and property of those who favored
America. He was held for trial and might have been condemned
to death, if he had not by cunning and agility succeeding in es-
caping in the night, when the keeper was asleep. He fled to
New Jersey, where he is said to have made a better use of his
talents, than he had done before, in teaching school, but not feel-
ing safe there he went to Canada, the refuge of modern culprits,
where he died at an advanced age.
During the struggle for freedom from Great Britain some of
the Society of Friends were confined in the prison at New-
town, because they refused to take up arms or pay taxes for the
maintenance of the army. General Davis mentions in his his-
tory of Bucks county that "Joseph Smith, of Buckingham, the
inventor of an iron mould-board for a plow, declining from
conscientious scruples to pay anything for the support of the
war, was put in jail." It is said that he amused himself during
his confinement by making with a jackknife models of his plow,
which he threw over the jail wall, and which excited much in-
the; jails 01^ BUCKS COUNTY II5
terest as an important improvement in agriculture, which was
destined to prove the source of great benefit to the country.
Thomas Watson, of Buckingham, also another Friend, was im-
prisoned. On account of a detachment of troops being en-
camped in the neighborhood of his home in the winter of
1778-79 hay had become extremely scarce. Watson had saved
a stack and rather than sell it for worthless Continental money,
determined to distribute it among his neighbors, who had suf-
fered more from military requisitions than he. This was made
a ground of accusation against him. He was tried by court-
martial and sentenced to be hanged for treason. Efforts to ob-
tain his pardon were in vain, until his wife went to Lord Sterl-
ing, then in command of the American troops in that region,
and with tears prevailed upon him to issue an order for his
liberation.
Toward the last part of the last century the public buildings in
Newtown had become old and inadequate to the wants of the
county. Many in the lower districts wished to see new edifices
in the same piace, and presented petitions to the Legislature
with that in vievv^ But this plan was not acceptable to the
people in the upper townships, who by this time had greatly
increased in numbers. They asserted that Newtown was thirteen
miles from the centre of the county and that they ought not to
be compelled to go so far to the courts and public offices. In
1800 a meeting of citizens was held at Shaw's tavern, in Bed-
minster, to protest against erecting a new court-house and jail
at Newtown, and "thereby permanently fix the seat of justice at
that place." Not only was the village far from being central,
but they said "the roads through it were so unpopular as never
to support a sufificient number of public houses to accommodate
the many that will be obliged to attend court." A petition was
prepared and sent to the Legislature praying for a removal of
the county seat to a more convenient location. Similar action
was taken at gatherings in Haycock at the house of John Ahlum,
in 1808, in Buckingham, and in other neighborhoods. Yielding
to the desire expressed by so many, the Assembly passed an
Act in 1810, which was approved by the Governor and
which provided for the appointment of three "discreet
Il6 THE JAILS OF BUCKS COUNTY
and disinterested persons, not holding real estate in the
county, to select a site for the public buildings, which shall be not
more than three miles from Bradshaw's Corner," now styled
Pool's Corner. The Governor chose Edward Darlington, of
Chester county, Gabriel Hiester, Jr., of Berks, and Nicholas
Kern, of Northampton county. They met at Newtown early in
May. The Turk, Centreville and other districts were discussed, and
they were about deciding upon Pool's Corner, when citizens of
Doylestown brought such influences to bear upon them that they
yielded to their representations. Nathaniel Shewell, of New
Britain, who owned the triangular piece of land between Court
and Main streets, in Doylestown, offered to donate nearly three
acres to the county, if that site was selected; the owner of the
Clear Spring promised unrestricted access to it for county pur-
poses, and another gentleman offered a plot of ground near
the spot on which the Catholic church now stands, for a potter^•^
field. This decided the commission in favor of Doylestown, and
on May 12, 1810, the land was deeded to the county, which is
still the site of the court-house and from which the jail frowned
darkly seventy-two years.
The work on the jail was apparently done first; but it was so
intermingled with that on the court-house, and, moreover, ma-
terials for the two were purchased at the same time, that a
separation of the accounts cannot be accurately made. Little
was effected toward the erection of the buildings during that
year, and 181 1 passed without accomplishing more than obtain-
ing lumber and stone ; the latter was delivered on the ground
for 56 cents a perch, and the privilege was secured of taking
loose stone from the quarry of Septimus Evans for 12^ cents
a perch. Lime was hauled from Whitemarsh. Levi
Bond and Enos Yardley contracted to do the car-
penter work at eight shillings and four pence per day, which
in Pennsylvania currency amounted to $1.11, and they were no
doubt to board themselves and to work from morning till night
without reference to the number of hours. The county was to
furnish the whisky at the raisings. The wages were afterwards
increased to $1.25 a day and the number of men employed to
25, as the legislative enactment required that the work should
the; jails of bucks county 117
be completed within three years. The total cost of the buildings
was $38,057, but what proportion of that sum went to the jail
it is impossible to determine. It stood north of the court-house
and consisted of a rectangular structure facing Court street with
two wings, one at each corner of the rear of the main edifice,
forming thus three sides of a hollow square, the fourth side
being guarded by a high stone wall.
On May 4, 1813, the offices were ready for books and papers
appropriate to the several departments, and the jail for the
prisoners, and on the 13th, Sheriff Samuel Sellers transferred
the culprits from Newtown to their future "durance vile" in
Doylestown ; and no doubt they enjoyed the ride of fourteen
miles under their kind-hearted conductor, and perhaps a song
now and then burst from their lips as they passed over hill and
dale and through leafy groves on that bright spring morning.
It must have been quite a long procession, of which they formed
a part, for there were ten wagons filled with public property,
among other things, the twelve stone steps of the old court-
house. The court-house, old office, jail and jail-yard and public
ground thereto appertaining, in Newtown, were sold at public
auction to John Hulme for $1,650, and the new office and lot of
ground belonging to it to William Watts for $900.
The first jail in Doylestown remained in use for more than
seventy years, but when it had reached the age of three score
and ten, infirmities crept in upon it. The walls were for the
most part sound, but the wood-work, floors, window-frames,
sash and doors were shrunken and decayed by the lapse of
time, and, moreover, it was too small and insecure for the proper
detention of prisoners. The inhabitants of the county had mul-
tiplied manifold, but the capacity of the prison had not ex-
panded. Many convicts were necessarily confined in one room,
involving injury to their health and morals. Repairs often
made did not remedy its defects, and it was plainly seen that the
termination of its usefulness had been well nigh reached. A new
court-house was completed in 1877, at a cost of about $100,000.
and this large outlay had much influence in retarding the con-
struction of a better jail. The same year a fire occurred in the
venerable pile, which threatened to destroy everything combus-
115 THE JAILS OF BUCKS COUNTY
tible in it, seeming to portend its approaching downfall. Its an-
tique appearance, too, in contrast with the beautiful temple of
justice reared at its side, was sadly against it, and the ground,
on which it stood, was wanted to enlarge the park and set olT
the attraction of its fair neighbor. With a sigh escaping from
its iron-bound doors, it quietly made up its mind "to shuffle off
this mortal coil" and lie down to endless sleep and pleasant
dreams.
In February, 1882, the grand jury unanimously declared it to
be their opinion that "the present building used for a jail is en-
tirely unfit for the purpose, and earnestly recommend the con-
struction of a new building." The succeeding grand jury in
May and the State Board of Public Charities advanced similar
views, and the general opinion of citizens was that the work
should be undertaken as soon as the county had liquidated its
debt without increasing the rate of taxation.
In January, 1884, the site where the jail now stands was se-
lected by the Board of Public Charities and the county com-
missioners, Messrs. John Wynkoop, James T. Breisch and Isaac
Ryan. It was chosen in preference to the corner of Court and
Church streets, because being as desirable in other respects, it
was somewhat less elevated and would afford a more liberal
supply of water. It was the property of Dr. George T. Harvey,
and in February the commissioners bought four acres of him
commanding a beautiful prospect toward the south and south-
east, and susceptible of perfect drainage. A better location
could hardly be desired for any penal institution. Architects
Hutton and Ord, of Philadelphia, were employed to draw a plan
and supervise its execution, and the contract for the construc-
tion of buildings and walls was awarded to Henry D. Livezey,
of Doylestown, for $72,000. The stone, which is an excellent
variety of red sandstone, was obtained from a quarry a short
distance in the rear of the jail yard. The expense of introduc-
ing gas, by which the premises are lighted, was $4,249, and of
steam for heating, washing and cooking $3,772. The entire cost
of the prison was $83,274, exclusive of a stone stable, which was
erected outside the wall in 1885 at an expense of $1,700, making
the whole amount nearly $85,000. January 3, 1885, eight
the; jails of bucks county 119
months after it was begun, the prison was finished and handed
over to the commissioners, who transferred the keys to Sheriff
Allen H. Heist.
It is built in the form of the letter T, the part represented by
the horizontal bar being- the front, in which is the main en-
trance. From this a corridor, 10 feet wide and 175 feet long,
runs to the rear, and a similar corridor crosses it at right angles,
each lined by tiers of cells. At the point of the intersection
spreads a rotunda, lighted by a dome 28 feet high. The of-
ficers standing in this central space occupy a commanding point
of observation. The cells are vaulted rooms 8x18 feet and 12
feet high and are lighted from the corridor through the grated
door and also by a slot in the top of the arch, 4 inches wide
and three feet long, which is directly beneath a skylight. They
are well ventilated^ are warmed in winter and have abundance
of light for working or reading and are ordinarily occupied
each by one person. They might be termed luxurious apart-
ments in comparison with the dens and dungeons in which
criminals were confined formerly and which prevail now in
many parts of the world.
The Marquis de Lafayette, who joined the American army in
the Revolution near Hartsville, when Washington was encamped
there, some years after his return to Europe was imprisoned
at Magdeburg by the enemies of liberty. The cell which he oc-
cupied for nearly a year was a space of only 4 feet by 8 feet ex-
cavated under the outer ramparts of the castle. It was so damp
that the walls were covered with mould and no light entered
except through a small opening in the door.
His detention at Olmutz for three years and a half more
was in a cell of a similar character. The contrast between such
apartments and those which are found in our jail is very great.
The present efficient sherifl^, J. Johnson Beans, remarked to me
not long since that there was no punishment in living in the in-
stitution under his charge, except the confinement. With plenty
of good plain food, light and air, warm in winter and cool in
summer, and not obliged to work beyond their strength, the
inmates pass their days in comfort. They only suffer from de-
privation of their liberty. If they are insubordinate a diet of
I20 THE JAILS OF BUCKS COUNTY
bread and water and no communication with any one usually
subdues the most refractory in a short time. Recourse is never
had to corporeal punishment.
Three objects should be sought in penal discipline, the main-
tenance of the supremacy of the law, the prevention of crime
and the reformation of the criminal. While the first two are
most important, the last should not be forgotten. It is extreme-
ly desirable that every convict should not only pay the penalty
for his offense, as an example to others, but that such an im-
pression should be made upon his mind and heart that his char-
acter will be improved ; and that he will be less inclined to
wrong-doing when he emerges from the prison. With this most
commendable aim, religious services have been held in the pres-
ent jail on Sunday afternoons, for a number of years past,
under the leadership of George W. Hunt, a citizen of Doyles-
town.
The services are conducted in the rotunda with seats pro-
vided for all the inmates who choose to be present, the attend-
ance though voluntary is nearly universal. The singing is gen-
erally done by the prisoners. The Bucks County Bible Society
also has, by request, several times within a few years past gratu-
itously supplied the men with Testaments, which they could
keep as their own property.
The annals of crime have been darkened by the perpetration
of but few murders within the limits of our county. The first
execution, probably the first in the State, took place in July,
1693, when Derrick Johnson, alias Closson, was hung in Falls
township after a fair trial and after every effort possible had
been made to secure his pardon or the commutation of his sen-
tence. It is related that he was confined in the old jail at the
Falls, which was dilapidated and insecure, and it was hoped
by the authorities that he would break out and escape; but as
he failed to do this, they were obliged to carry out the mandate
of the law.
In 1 83 1 Dr. William Chapman, of Bensalem, was poisoned
by Mina, a Spaniard, who came to his house representing him-
self to be unfortunate, ingratiated himself with Mrs. Chapman
and took the life of his benefactor. She is supposed to have
the; jaiIvS of bucks county 121
been an accomplice, as after the death of her husband she mar-
ried the foreigner. This, and other circumstances, fastened
suspicion upon the couple ; they were arrested and lodged in
jail at Doylestown. After a long trial she was acquitted for lack
of sufficient evidence. Mina was convicted and hung.
Executions were public in those days and on June 26, 1832,
he was taken in a dearborn wagon to a field on the almhouse
property attended by fourteen companies of volunteer infantry
and six of cavalry from this and neighboring counties. No
equal gathering of the stalwart yeomen and fair women of this
region had ever been witnessed before. Perhaps the tragic
scene in which he suffered for his crime, may have had its
proper effect upon the multitudes looking on, increasing their
reverence for the law and their desire to walk in the ways of
virtue and innocence.
On April 18, 1867 Albert Teuffel was hung in the jail-yard in
Doylestown for killing James Wiley the captain of a canal-boat
near the Narrowsville lock in Nockamixon township. His mo-
tives seem to have been robbery and revenge. On February 15,
1856 Jacob Armbruster of Nockamixon township was executed
at Doylestown for taking the life of his wife, that he might gain
possession of a house and lot, which she owned. On August
14, 1835 Josiah Blundy paid a like forfeit to justice for the
murder of Aaron Cuttlehow. No one of the fair sex, so far
as I have learned, has ever been within our prison walls pro-
nounced guilty of murder. It is doubtful whether any other
than these five just mentioned have been convicted of that
crime within our bounds. The smallness of the number during
the two hundred years that have elapsed since the organization
of our county, speaks well for the sobriety and self-restraint of
our people. Various other offenses have been committed as
the years have rolled on, and our jail has probably always had
more or less occupants varying in numbers up to 40 or 50.
Would that we could say it was without a tenant; that Sherifif
Beans reigned in solitary grandeur there, a king without sub-
jects, and that there was no one among all our population, who
de.-crved to be there.
Notes Taken at Random.
The Sunbonnet, Indians Mining Lead, The Grass Hopper War,
A Lost Boundary.
BY HENRY C. MERCER, DOYEESTOWN, PA.
(Menlo Park, Perkasie Meeting, July i8, 1S93).
THE SUNBONNET.
Charles Mayer, of Macungie, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania,
told me in September, 1892, that he had seen peasant women
at Kaiserslautern, (Rhenish Bavaria,) Neckarsulm, (Wurtem-
berg) and Walkeren in the Odenwald, wearing bonnets like
sunbonnets on Sundays, but I saw nothing of the kind in North
or South Germany, and believe that this characteristic Ameri-
can head dress now in vogue from Maine to Mississippi, which
must strike a European as strangely as a Breton woman's mus-
lin cap strikes an American, and which I suppose is not to be
seen anywhere in Italy, Spain, France, Holland, Scandinavia or
Russia, originated in England.
At Brandon in Suffolk, the landlady of the Ram Inn, told
me in April, 1893, that old people in the country still wore sun-
bonnets, though girls had grown ashamed of them, and that
if I waited a day, which I could not, she would get me one to
take to America.
It remains for folk lore to tell us how and where this cur-
ious headgear was introduced into the United States, and why,
abandoned in the land of its invention, emigrant women of all
nations should here so easily have adopted a thing, which if
we stop to think, seems to be the only universal, national and
therefore uniquely interesting article of dress that we have.
INDIANS MINING LEAD.
Benjamin W. Pursell, of Kintnersville, Bucks county, told me
in September, 1891, as a well known story in the Delaware
valley, that Indians in the last century had shown members of
the Ridge family, then living on Ridge's Island, lead-ore in situ,
at a spot never since discovered in the neighboring hills.
NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM 1 23
More definite still is the lead story of New Galena, Bucks
county, Pa., at third hand. Somewhere in the middle of the
century Elijah and Abraham Campbell, of Plumstead, told John
M. Proctor, now of Blooming Glen, who wrote me in December,
1891, that straggling- Indians coming to hunt along the north
branch of the Neshaminy, between 1790 and 1808, had often taken
them as boys to a place near the mouth of the "Hartyhickon"'
(now the property of Arthur Chapman). There they disap-
peared in the woods to return with their arms full of lead, with
which they made bullets.
I took these for local tales until I was surprised to hear J.
M. Kessler, at Hummel's Wharf, Snyder county. Pa., tell me
the same story, while pointing to the hills across the Susque-
hanna as its scene. But I came nearest of all to the legend when
Reuben Anders, of Little Wapwalopen, Luzerne county. Pa., gave
me it first hand. He had seen the Indian who had spent the
night with his grandfather and offered to show him a mineral
wonder on a hill called Councilkopf. Though the latter was
afraid to follow the red man alone, one Harman had gone hunt-
ing with two others, who when bullets had given out had gone
into the woods and returned with loads of lead. If untrue,
it is hard to see why this lead story has so seized the popular
mind. But when we realize, as I am informed, that lead rarely
if ever occurs pure in nature, but as galena, which if mixed
with lumps of limestone requires about 1,200 degrees (Centi-
grade) to smelt by drying out the carbonic acid and re-
moving the sulphur, it is to be doubted whether, given the
galena, any such offhand bullet-making in the woods could ever
have taken place.*
Squier and Davis found galena ornaments in ancient Ohio
tumuli. Clarence B. Moore showed me a lump excavated by
him from a St. John's river (Florida) mound, and modern
Sioux ornament their catlinite pipes with lead, but no digging
has yet proved that mound builder or Indian in pre-Columbian
♦Some specimens of galena, recently obtained through Alfred Paschall, from the
prospective mine now working in the bed of the north branch of the Neshaminy, on the
farm of Henry Funk (New Britain township, Bucks Co., Pa.), would not melt in a red hot
crucible, but splintered into fine fragments, as did other fragments when held directly
in the bellows fire.
124 NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM
times regarded galena as other than a hard, gHttering stone
to be pounded or rubbed into trinkets.^
Still we know that the Rhode Island Indians very soon
learned the art of pewter casting from Roger Williams' col-
onists, and the question therefore is, had Indians in eastern
Pennsylvania by 1780-90 learned from white men how to smelt
bullets from galena for their newly acquired guns?
Whether or not these lead tales furnish us with an archaeologi-
cal clue of importance, they seem less strange than the story told
me on July 12, 1893, by Charles Keller (now 84 years old), of
Point Pleasant, as related to him sixty years ago by his father,
Christopher Keller: About the end of the last century Peter
Keller, Christopher's brother, had refused to do some iron work
for a band of Indians at his blacksmith shop, on Tohickon
creek, above Stover's mill (the present Redding Meyers farm).
When he pleaded as an excuse that his supply of charcoal was
exhausted the Indians went into the forest and after nearly
a day's absence returned with a basket full of "stone" (anthra-
cite) coal,- with which he did the job.
THE GRASSHOPPER WAR.
Another legend somewhat more fanciful than the lead story,
begins at Durham, Bucks county, Pa., crosses the Blue moun-
tains and descends the Susquehanna. The late Peter Fraley
and Nelson Angell informed Charles Laubach, of Durham,
about i860, that the hillside across the Delaware at Holland,
' .^fter the present paper was read, Walter Chase, of Madison, Wisconsin, showed me
a small figure of a turtle of cast lead found bv him at a surface Indian camp site in 1889
on the shore of Lake Wingra. two miles southwest of Madison. Dr. Hall, of Madison,
had another plowed up by a farmer in 1891, with a stone axe and four or five arrowlieads,
from an effigy mound, shaped itself somewhat like a turtle, on the shore of Lake Men-
dota. near Madison. Two perforated discs of ca>t lead have also been found by farmers
in Dare county, Wisconsin and are now in the possession of neighboring collectors. Ga-
lena oc::urs in southern Wisconsin in loose masses in a very pure state.
' Mr Keller about 30 years aa:o says he saw lumps of very coarse coal burnt by way
of experiment in the furnace at the blacksmith shop at jacob Stover's mill on Tohickon.
The specimens had been found about 3 miles down the stream (right bank), at a place
not above 4 milt-s from the shop of Peter Keller, his uncle.
While the present paper was printing I learned that John Ruth, of New Britain
while diguing a mill race in 1S48, on the present farm of Joseph Mitchell (New Britain
township. Bucks Co , Pa ), discovered an outcrop of coarse anthracite coal, specimens of
which though impure and not satisfactorily combustible, were burnt as fuel in the forges
of neighboring blacksmiths. I saw the outciop in process of examination by a shaft on
Septeuiber 12 1892. but learned from the ownrrs that no fragmen's of coal had been
previously found on the surface or in the neighboring bed of the stream.
NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM I25
N. J., had been about the year 1800 so thickly strewn with human
bones that the skulls in heaps of five had sometimes served as
rail rests for fences. All was the result of a fierce battle called
the "grasshopper fight" seen by one Metlar from the top of the
"Narrows" cliff, in 1755, when a Pennsylvania band of "Paw-
nees" (Shawnees)^ quarreling with the Delawares about a grass-
hopper that some children had caught, attacked the latter and
were nearly exterminated. Reuben Anders, at Little Wap-
walopen creek, on the Susquehanna, Luzerne county, in June,
1892, again told me this story in the main, as having occurred at
the Indian town there, where the tribal quarters had been sepa-
rated by a string boundary. Some children chasing a grasshopper
over the line, had set the women, then the men to fighting, till
most of the combatants were killed. On this occasion a white
man, living with the Indians, was burnt alive and all the neigh-
boring settlers buried their valuables.
I heard the story again from J. M. Kessler at Hummel's
Wharf, (Snyder county. Pa.,) in June 1892, where it was given
color by the presence of an Indian ossuary (on the J. W. Am-
bergast farm) from which farmers for the last sixty years had
been ploughing fragments of human skeletons with better pre-
served teeth and skulls. J. M. Fisher repeated it, grasshopper
and all, near the site of Indian graves unearthed by him on the
Isle of Que on the Susquehanna, (Snyder county. Pa.,) as did
Mr. Klemson, living on Klemson's Island below, near the site
of another ancient ossuary.- In his narrative the grasshopper
had been used for fish bait by the swarthy squabbling children.
And so at Sunbury, the same tale was told me, with its scene
laid up the west branch of the Susquehanna at Chillesaqua.
Whether regarded as a clue to lost events, or like a fairy tale
1 A large band of Shawnees long quartered with the Delawares, left Pechequeolin,
the great Indian town at Durham cave almost opposite Holland, in 1728 A few others
remained until 17S8 (according to information from Charles I.aubach). It must be re-
membered that the Indians had sold all the land on the Pennsylvania side in 1738, and
if living there were doing so on tolerance or as squatters.
- The presence ot these ossuaries on the Susquehanna, many of which were examined
by me in July, 1892, showed traces of incineration, and the fact that all the Indian inter-
ments that I could hear of in the region from their explorers showed traces of white
contact seems to indicate that drying the dead on polrs or stone protected structures, and
finally depositing the loose bones in heaps to be (sometimesi cremated, was the common
mortuary custom of the Susquehanna Indians prior to the coming of the whites.
126 NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM
worth catching from the people's mouth to see what imagination
is made of, the story is interesting. From the latter stand-
point the ossuaries, graves and scattered bones might seem ex-
cuse enough for the legend of a battle. But why the grasshop-
per?
A LOST BOUNDARY.
A much garbled and misquoted passage in the deed of 1682
for Lower Bucks county to William Penn now hanging in the
fire-proof room of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, says
that the northern boundary of that purchase ran "up the river
side to a corner-marked spruce tree, with the letter P, at the
foot of a mountain, and from the said corner-marked spruce
tree along the side or foot of the mountains, west northwest to
a corner white oak marked with the letter P standing by the
Indian path that leads to an Indian town called Playwicky, and
near the head of a creek called Towssissink, and from thence
westward to the creek called Neshaminy creek." These blazed
trees must have stood until 1737 undisturbed, when the deed
of that year (see recorder of deeds, office, Philadelphia, book
G, vol. I, p. 282,) going over the description to get the starting
point for the "Indian Walk" says more definitely:
" Beginning upon a line formerly laid out from a corner spruce tree by
the river Delaware about Mackeerickkiton, and from thence running along
the ledge or foot of the mountains west-northwest to a corner white oak
marked with the letter P. standing by the Indian path that leadeth to the
Indian town called Playwicky, and from thence extending westward to
Neshaminy creek."
Another much discussed copy in the Penn. MSS., a supposed
deed made in 1686, goes over the latter description without
varying it materially and has only served to whet curiosity as
to the exact position of the line and its landmarks. We know
that Edward Marshall and the walkers started in 1737 at a
chestnut tree near the corner of the Wrightstown church yard
to walk off the new purchase, and the line ought to have run
through the tree if they started at the right place.
But there is a dispute as to whether they did and the true
course of the boundary and the position of the Indian village,
the mountains, the streams, and blazed trees, have for many
years puzzled antiquaries.
NOTES take;n at random 127
Charles W. Smith, in his "History of Wrightstown," does
not doubt that the chestnut tree was on the line but W. J. Buck
("Indian Walk" p. 26) thinks not, seeming- to rely on East-
burn's map of Highland Manor in the Penn. MSS., at the
Pennsylvania Historical Society, which appears to place the
boundary some distance to the southward.
However, as this rough pen drawing marks no conterminous
streams or hills, it can hardly, without further corroboration,
be used as proof of more unjust dealing than took place at the
"walk," which it would if the walkers started about a mile too
far to the north.
The trouble is that the old deeds, besides getting the direc-
tions by the compass wrong, neither give distances along the
line, nor explain where Mackeerickkiton, its starting point on
the Delaware, was, and if it had not been for John Watson,
surveyor of Bucks county, who made notes upon the fascinating
puzzle in 1756, only 19 years after the walk, we would be hope-
lessly in the dark as to the landmarks intended.
He says in the valuable manuscript, now (1893) in the pos-
session of Mrs. Richard Watson, of Doylestown, that "Mac-
keerickkiton" is Baker's creek, afterwards called Great creek,
and now Knowles' creek, though the 1682 deed calls the Delaware
river itself "Mackeerickkiton."^
That Towssissink was thought in 1756 to be its most southern
branch, heading in Joseph Hampton's land (i. c. the rill now
rising close to Frank Doan's house that crosses the Buckman
and Watson wood) about one mile east of AÂ¥rightstown.
That the corner white oak marked "P was thought by John
Chapman deceased, to stand in 1756 on Joseph Hampton's land,"
(now the Buckman and Watson and possibly Doan tracts)
on Towssissink creek above described.
That "Playwicky" or "Laywicky" was an Indian town or
plantation about Philip Draket's, below Heaton's mill.-
1 " Unto the Delaware river, alias Makeriskhickoii. Makerisk-kitton. written also
Makenskkitton, Makerisk-hickoii and Makeerick kitton in early Indian deeds, denotes
I am inclined to believe, a spot either on the bank or in the bed of the river Delaware
which conjecture I base on the termination /ci/Zoii evidently intended for ki/ hanne or
gichlhanne, signifying 'the main stream.' "— Heckewelder, Indian names, Nazareth, 1S92,
P- 254.
2 Playwickv, "corrupted from Plaenwikichtit, signifying 'the home or habitation of
the Indians of the Turkey tribe.' " — Heckewelder, Indian names, p. 262.
128 NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM
Another John Watson, cousin to the above, commenting on
his relative's notes in 1815, says that the Hne, with its elbov^'
just east of Wrightstown, ended on Neshaminy at the High
Rocks, on the left bank belov^f Worthington's mill on the present
Blackfan property.
That the corner white oak "was or is supposed to be or have
stood near the northeast corner of Joseph Hampton's land,"'
and that "the corner spruce tree stands by my measure 140
perches, measured by the bank of the river, above the mouth of
the Great creek."
These notes settle the starting point of the line on the Dela-
ware, for there can be no mistake about the "corner marked
spruce tree" seen by John Watson (the second) in 181 5, and
whether Mackeerickkiton means the present Knowles' creek or
not, the "mountain" is Jericho hill.
Leaving Lahaska creek and "Windy Bush" behind us, to
stand on its top and look down into the valley, our interest in
old farmhouses that were Washington's and Greene's headquar-
ters and meadows where the Continental army lay encamped
before the battle of Trenton, wanes at the thought of this puzzle
of an earlier time. We are on the "mountain" or "ledge of the
mountains" of the old deed. Below us ripples Mackeerickkiton,
near whose mouth once stood the "corner marked spruce tree."^
Somewhere through the leafy dells to the right is its southern
branch, Towssissink, and there is or may be still the Indian path
and the white oak near a spring blazed with Penn's initial.
Descend the hill, cross the stream and follow its right bank
by the road up the valley, not west-northwest as the deed says,
since that would lead up the river, and as John W^atson (the se-
cond) remarks, "include no land at all," but west-southwest,
convinced that the deed's direction was a slip of the pen.
Where the dale narrows and the rustling woods arch thick-
est over the way, by the old Hampton tract.- Towssissink, if the
Watsons are right, is the brook that there flows southward across
the road, and there if anywhere Nature will tell us the secret
of the blazed oak, the Indian path and the lost "Playwicky."
' This tree has certainly disappeared, as I paced off the distance up the river and
looked in vain for it in June, 1891.
2 Novir (189.^) Buckman and Watson's vcoodland.
NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM I29
Tramping through green underbrush and by briar-covered banks
of shale to the rill's source, half a mile away, Dr. Charles C.
Abbott and I saw in June, 1892, a large white oak, probably 400
or 500 years old, which may well have been one of the most in-
teresting landmarks in Pennsylvania. Though we failed to find
a trace of the Indian path, the venerable oak, not a hundred
yards from the line of the Buckman & Watson tract and com-
prised possibly by the Hampton land in 1756, close to the source
of Towssissink, fulfilled fairly the conditions of the deed,
save the blaze. But this, if buried under its bark, only its
destruction could reveal, and we went away wondering if there,
like James Miller, of Selinsgrove, on the Susquehanna, who,
in 1891, split fifteen Indians beads out of the heart of a maple,
or as a workman in Moore, Michigan, not many months ago,
sawed an iron tomahawk, buried ten inches in the wood, out
of a log, or as John Watson, above mentioned, in 1769 found
on Lahaska creek the figure of the "Thunder bird," cut with
stone axes under the bark of a tree, we might not, if we dared
to cut and saw and split the noble stem find somewhere within
its living circle of rings the tell-tale letter?
THE INDIAN TOWN ''PLAYWICKY."
If to get to the oak* we have followed the brook, a strange
impression is in st»re for us as we step out of the trees into
a bleak clearing known as the "Indian field." We have come as
out of an oasis suddenly into the desert. A hillside shuts in the
place on the west and high woods hide its four or five acres on
all other sides. There is no house in sight.
Young trees have sprung up and grass grows on the supposed
native clearings on the Updyke farm, on Fish run, near Jami-
son's Corner ; on Henry Woodman's farm, on Robin run, near
Concord; on the Paxson property, near Holicong; on the north
side of Jericho hill, and on Buckwampum, but here, blighted in
the midst of fertlest Buckingham, the "Indian field," strangest
sight of them all, remains a red waste.
The late Josiah B. Smith, of Newtown, was impressed with
* The oak stood in 1891 by the spring close to Frank Doan's hou'se. Examination of
the titles foi this and the adjoining- property in the deed books in Doylestown may reveal
whether it could have ever been comprised in '-the northwest corner of Hampton's laud."
5
130 NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM
the spot, until his death, as the site of Playwicky,* but the fact
that no Indian remains have ever been found there would rule
it out, if John Watson's note, above referred to, had not dis-
tinctly placed "Playwicky" in Northampton or Southampton
township, "about Philip Dracot's, below Heaton's mill."
Still to agree with John Watson is not easy, for what with Philip
Dracord or Draket or Dracott and Ralph Dracord, mentioned
in the Bucks county deed books (V, 309; IX, 159; IX, 158,) as
owning or transferring land in Southampton close to the North-
ampton border, I cannot yet find where a Philip Draket lived
in 1756, though deeds prove that Heaton's mill is the present
(Willard estate) mill on Ironwork creek, at Rocksville, North-
ampton township. The Dracot family, says local tradition, once
owned the Stephen Delaney farm on Mill creek, above the mouth
of the Ironwork brook, but in a walk along Mill creek for four
or five miles in 1891, I searched on either bank in vain for a spot
sufficiently scattered with stone implements, charcoal and pottery
to have indicated an Indian town of note.
If the few relics on the Delaney farm mark the spot, then
Playwicky was either a very small village or had been occupied
but a very short time; while, should the words "below Heaton's
mill" mean anywhere to the southward of the stream, then some
inland site, less inferably suited to Indian taste, near Feaster-
ville, may yet be found to corroborate John Watson.
PECHEQUOElvIN.
If we have lost "Playwicky" we have found, thanks to the in-
vestigations of Charles Laubach, of Durham, Pechequoelin, the
Indian town about the mouth of Durham cave, whose fire sites
and stone circles Anthony Laubach remembered about 1812
as extending from Durham creek to Riegelsville. So they re-
mained till the canal, cultivation and the freshet of 1841 destroyed
them
William Walters plowed down in 1853-55 three mounds six
to eight feet high on the hilltop behind the cave, near which
about seven acres of woodland, cleared by the Indians remained
until 1855. Later a group of twenty-five stones set on end were
taken away to build a neighboring wall, save one that I saw in
* See " Indian town of Playwicky," Vol. I, p. 95.
NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM 131
1892 still Standing as a land boundary by the Morgantown road.
Pechequoelin's trails and paths led up and down the river,
across the hill by the clearing up the Brandywine creek
and up the Durham creek to meet the path followed
by Marshall and the "walkers," on which the Durham road was
afterwards built.
To have seen the large, dry chamber of Durham cave before
its destruction by the iron company was to have recognized
that man from the time of his arrival in the Delaware valley
must have used it as a habitation. But the bones of men and
animals, gathered about 1845-59 by Professor H. D. Rogers,
State geologist, were sent in boxes to the Academy of Natural
Sciences in Philadelphia before it was realized that the whole
question of human antiquity on the river could probably have
been settled there.
The story of the evolution of stone implements and human
association with fossils was forgotten when no careful record
was kept by the circumstances of discovery and science lost lit-
tle when the stone objects found and sent to Dr. Swift of Easton,
were burned at the fire in Pardee Hall. The damage, though
unintended, had already been done.
Early and Trying Days of the Reformed Church in America.
BY REV. J. G. DUNGIvER, OLlJY, PA.
(Menlo Park, Perkasie Meeting. JiiU' 18, 1S93).
In preparing for the celebration of the centennial of the Re-
formed Church, of which I had the honor to be chairman of the
committee of arrangements, I was led to investigate the records
of the early and trying days of the Reformed Church in
Anierica. ]\Iy attention was particularly drawn to certain per-
sons connected therewith, to a few of whom I desire to call
attention, particularly to one (Rev. John Michael Kern) who
spent the closing days of his life in the upper part of Bucks
â– county, and whose ashes lie buried in the old graveyard of the
Indian Creek Reformed Church, near Telford.
In the researches to which I have referred, my attention
was also drawn to the life and services of Baron VonSteuben,
who was an elder in the Reformed Church to the close of his
life. I question whether the whole list of eminent men of his
day and generation presents a more interesting character.
He was born in Magdeburg Germany, in 1730. The son of
a distinguished officer in the Prussian army, which he entered as
a cadet at the age of 14 years, he soon came to the notice and
attention of that grand character, Frederick the Great, fought
splendidly in the Seven Years' War, became Grand Marshal at
court, but when court-life became too monotonous, traveled
extensively. After traveling from court to court, he determined
to go to England by way of Paris, where he met the American
commissioners, Franklin and Deane, who saw in this chivalric
young Baron the very man needed in America as drill-master for
the Continental army ; and as he was dissatisfied, and not in
sympathy with the courts of Europe, he decided to go to Ameri-
ca. In his voyage to America, the vessel caught fire three times,
endangering the lives of the passengers, particularly as the
vessel carried large quantities of gun powder.
He arrived in Portsmouth, N. H., with his suite, December
I, 1777. They proceeded on horse-back to York, Pa., where
TRYING DAYS 01? THE REFORMED CHURCH 1 33
Congress was in session. The Baron for a time was much
discouraged because he could not understand the EngHsh lan-
guage, but on arriving in Pennsylvania, he found many Penn-
sylvania Germans and others who could converse with him in his
native tongue. He was received at York with enthusiasm, and
in the most complimentary terms Congress detailed him to pro-
ceed to Valley Forge, and report to General Washington. This
was during one of the gloomiest periods of the war.
General Washington appointed VonSteuben to the important
office of instructor-general of the Continental army, with the
rank of major-general. He at once proceeded with the work of
re-organizing and drilling the bare-footed and ill clad army.
It was said that it was necessary to keep the men drilling
in order that they might not freeze. Tossing, the historian,
says, "After this the Continental regulars were never beaten
in a fair fight." VonSteuben did his full duty to the end of the
war, commanding divisions in battle, and directing the trenches
in the siege of Yorktown. A number of promotions offered
to him were declined.
After the close of the war, he lived in New York city, spend-
ing the summer months on his land in Steuben township,
Oneida county, N. Y. He was an active elder in the Reformed
Church in Nassau Street, of which the learned Rev. Dr. John
Daniel Gross was pastor. The whole community honored the
somewhat eccentric Baron. It is said that he could, by his
presence, quiet any disturbance, and that an angry crowd would
stop and give three cheers to VonSteuben.
Immediately after his death, which occurred Nov. 28, 1794,
General North had a tablet erected in the church, of which the
Baron was a member, bearing this inscription :
" Sacred to the memory of Frederick William Augustus Baron de Steuben,
a prominent Knight of the Order of Fidelity, Aide de Campe to Frederick,
King of Prussia, Major General and instructor general of the Revolutionary
War ; esteemed, respected and supported by Washington. He gave military
schooling and discipline to the citizen soldiers, who, fulfilling a decree of
Heaven, achieved the independence of the United States. The highly pol-
ished manners of the Baron were graced by the most noble feelings of his
heart. His hand, open as daj' for meeting charity, closed when in the
strong grasp of death.
This memorial is inscribed by an American who had the honor to be his
Aide de Campe, the happiness to be his friend."
134 TRYING DAYS OF THE) REFORMED CHURCH
Michael Hillegas, (B. 1728 D. 1804), the faithful friend of
Washington, and the first treasurer of the United States, was
also one of the distinguished laymen of the Reformed Church.*
With very few exceptions, all the pastors of the Reformed
Church were earnest advocates of independence. In their re-
ports to the authorities in the old country, they spoke of the
British as enemies. The cause of this could easily be traced
by studying the trials which they passed through in the old
country, as well as the new conditions which they found in
America. They appointed days of fasting and prayer, and often
chose texts on which patriptic sermons were preached, as a re-
sult of which they frequently got into trouble with England.
Rev. John H. Weikel, pastor of Boehms church in Montgomery
county, preached on the text : "Better is a poor and wise child
than an old and foolish king who will no more be admonished."
Rev. Dr. Caspar Diedrich Weyberg, of Race street, Phila-
delphia, on one occasion preached expressly to the Hessian
mercenaries, whereupon it was said that if he would not be
silenced, the whole body of Hessians was likely to leave the
British cause. He was imprisoned for his patriotism, and on the
Sunday after his liberation, seeing how the British had desecrated
his church, which had cost over $15,200 (in depreciated Conti-
nental money) to repair, he preached on the text: "O God!
the heathen have come into Thine inheritance ! Thy holy tem-
ple have they defiled."
When Gen. Richard Montgomery was killed in the famous
attack on Quebec, his eulogy was delivered in the Race street
Reformed Church, in Philadelphia. When the opinions of citi-
zens were divided on the subject of the war, the strong and
clear resolutions of loyalty to the cause of freedom, and the
communication sent to Washington on his election to the Presi-
dency, by the Reformed Synod, show of what mind and spirit
these early pastors were. A full history of the part taken by Dr.
Weyberg among the soldiers would alone be a subject for an
interesting and pathetic paper.
Rev. Dr. F. L. Herman is also entitled to a special place in
* For an interesting account of the life and public services of Michael Hillegas, see
" The Pennsylvania German," October 1901, Vol. 2, page 147 et seq.— Editor.
TRYING DAYS OF THE REFORMED CHURCH 135
history, on account of his heroism and devotion to the people
during the prevalence of the yellow fever, and also on account of
the friendship and attachment between Gen. Washington and
himself. Washington attended his church frequently, and on one
occasion, communed with his congregation.
But not all the ministers and laymen of the Reformed Church
in America were in sympathy with the move for liberty. I
turn now to the other side for the purpose of studying one whose
career I had specially in mind in the preparation of this paper.
I refer to Rev. John Michael Kern, whose remains, as already
stated, lie buried in the graveyard of the Indian Creek Re-
formed Church, near Telford. I must, necessarily, treat him
very briefly, because of the meagre data which are obtainable.
To understand him we must bear in mind that we are all
more or less the creatures of circumstances. In the Civil War
period, we of the North were for the Union, because we could
not well be otherwise. But if we had been born and reared in
the sunny South our sympathies would, no doubt, have been on
that side.
Social relations are a great power in determining one's at-
titude for or against a principle. Conscientious ministers of
the gospel before the war on the one side preached against
slavery while those on the other side upheld it. I have in my
library a singular volume on "The Pro and Con of Slavery" by
a Southern Episcopal divine, with the weight of his argument
on the side of slavery. Go back to the Revolution and you
find a similar situation. In the city of New York, as it then
was, the British ruled in outer affairs, and also largely in
social affairs. The Nassau Street Reformed Church was at that
time a very prominent and highly influential congregation. Their
pastor was a young man of marked ability. He had been trained
in the best universities of Germany. He was also highly
cultured, and accustomed to move in the best circles of society.
His first relations with the British seem to have been purely
social, but they did not end there. From social and personal
attachment he was led to avow the principles of his friends and
finally became an outspoken loyalist. This was well enough for
the polished pastor so long as the British had the rule social and
136 TRYING DAYS OF THE REFORMED CHURCH
otherwise, but the tables turned, and then he found himself with
many others, on the wrong side of popular opinion and favor.
It is easy to see why the days of usefulness of this pastor
came to a speedy and an unpleasant end. He quietly left New
York and moved to Montgomery, where he remained to the close
of the war. Soon after he went to Halifax, but in 1788 he
wandered to Pennsylvania and settled in Rockhill township in
this county. He preached in Tohickon and other churches for
a short time, and on the 22nd of March of the same year, 1788,
poor, heartsick, and a stranger among strangers, he died.
Such was the career of the Rev. John Michael Kern of whom
we often think with feelings of peculiar sadness because we feel
assured that it was purely the force of circumstances that de-
termined his life and that brought a once brilliant and hopeful
career to such an humble and obscure end.
Little is known of him except what is here indicated, no doubt,
because he himself took special pains to allow but little to be
known of his former relations. It was most likely his wish to die
unknown and to be absolutely forgotten. As to his moral and
official character nothing in the least derogatory to honor and
sincerity is known. We think of him as a man of honest inten-
tions, whom the receding tide of popular opinion left alone and
forsaken in a new and strange land, and who, after having
wandered lonely and disconsolate, finally came to the deep
wilds of upper Bucks and Montgomery counties to die and be
well-nigh forgotten.
The Beatty Family.
BY REV. D. K. TURNER^ HARTSVILLE, PA.
(Doylestowu Meeting, January lo, 1894).
It is not uncommon to observe the excellences or unworthy
traits of parents developed in many of their posterity. Peculiar-
ities pass down from ancestors to generations following. The
principle of heredity prevails extensively in all branches of ani-
mated nature^ and in none perhaps more than in the human
race.
This is illustrated in the history of the family of Rev. Charles
Beatty, who commenced his pastorate at Neshaminy Presbyterian
Church in 1743.
The name "Beatty" is supposed to be derived from the Latin
word "beatus," (happy), and is found with various forms of
spelling in England, Scotland and Ireland ; the different branches
from the original source have, in course of time, been located.
The father of Rev. Charles Beatty was John Beatty, who
in 1640, resided in county Antrim in the north of Ireland,
whither his progenitors had removed from Scotland. He was
an officer in the British army, and is said to have been a noble
looking man, with a fine military bearing. At one of the sta-
tions, where he was located in the discharge of his duty as a
soldier, he became acquainted with Christianna Clinton, to whom
he subsequently united in marriage.
Her grandfather, William Clinton, was of English parentage,
and in the struggle between the Parliament and Charles I, ad-
hered to the cause of the latter, and was an officer in the royal
army. After the defeat and execution of the King he fled to
Scotland, but soon passed over to Ireland and settled in county
Longford, where he died, leaving a son, James, only two years
old, who, on arriving at maturity, while on a business trip to
England, met Miss Elizabeth Smith whom he married. She was
the daughter of a captain in Cromwell's army. Through his
wife he received some pecuniary means, which enabled him to
138 THE BEATTY FAMILY
establish a reputable standing in the "green isle," which had
given him birth.
This alliance was crowned with at least two children, Chris-
tianna, who married John Beatty, and Charles, who was the
ancestor of the Clintons, celebrated in the history of the State
of New York. Christianna lost her husband in Ireland, at
what time is unknown, and was left a widow with four children.
Her brother, Charles Clinton, hoping to secure larger prosperity
and more religious freedom in the new world, determined to
emigrate to Pennsylvania. He and some of his friends char-
tered a ship in Dublin, commanded by Captain Ryner, for the
voyage across the Atlantic. His sister and her family accom-
panying him, they set sail for Philadelphia, May 20, 1729.
i\lthough the captain was bound by a written contract, the
voyage for some unexplained reason was prolonged, lasting five
months. They suffered for want of provisions, and were re-
duced at last to the verge of starvation. The rations being
reduced to half a biscuit and half a pint of water per day.
Many of the passengers died from hardships and privation,
among them a son and daughter of Mr. Clinton, and Mrs.
Beatty's eldest daughter Elizabeth. It was believed by some,
that the captain contrived to render the passage long and ex-
tremely severe, that the emigrants might perish and their prop-
erty fall into his hands, or that he had been bribed, that emigra-
tion might be discouraged. When land was sighted, it proved
to be Cape Cod in New England.
He was persuaded to disembark the survivors of the ship's
company at a port in Massachusetts. In that region they
remained through all the following year, and not finding a
place altogether suited to their wants there they removed in the
spring of 1731 to Ulster county, N. Y., about eight miles from
the Hudson river and sixty miles from the city. There Mr
Clinton fixed his residence with his wife and a daughter born
in Ireland, and had four sons born in this country. One of
them was George Clinton, General in the Revolutionary army,
and for eighteen years Governor of the State of New York.
Another was James, the father of DeWitt Clinton, the pro-
the; beatty family 139
jector of the Erie Canal, likewise Governor of New York, and
Senator of the United States.
Mrs. Beatty and her family remained near her brother Charles
for some time, but at length she married James Scott, of New
York city, where she removed and resided 'till her death in
1776, in the 91st year of her age. She was a lady of refine-
ment, of dignified and courteous manners, neat and tasteful in
her dress, fond of music, performing skilfully upon the harp,
and endowed with a vigorous intellect. All her ofl;spring, who
were children of her first husband, Mr. Beatty, were born in
Ireland. Mary married a Mr. Gregg, and another daughter,
Martha, was married to a Mr. McMillan. She found her home
with her mother in the old lady's declining years, and probably
inherited her property, as none of it came to her brother Charles'
children.
Charles Beatty, the eldest son of John and Christianna Beatty,
appears to have remained with his relatives in Ulster county, N.
Y., during most of his youth, and assisted his uncle, Charles
Clinton, in clearing the forests and cultivating the soil. He was
under most favorable moral and religious influences and grew
up with an established character of virtue and integrity. Either
in Ireland or in America, he was trained in the various branches
of an English education and in the Latin language. About
the time that he arrived at his majority he set out to provide
for himself as an itinerant trader. Probably obtaining a supply
of goods in New York, where his mother, Mrs. Scott, resided,
he traveled on foot through New Jersey, vending his wares to the
scattered families. One day he came to the door of "Log Col-
lege," as it was called, an institution founded by Rev. William
Tennent, Sr., near Hartsville, in Bucks county, for the education
of young men for the ministry of the Presbyterian church. This
school was established because its founder perceived the great
need in our new and growing country of a larger number of
preachers than the colleges of Great Britain or New England
could supply.
He believed that a thorough university training, however de-
sirable, was not absolutely necessary to success in the sacred
calling. The venerable man met young Beatty at the door and
I40 TH^ BE ATT Y FAMILY
greatly to his surprise was addressed by him in correct Latin.
Finding that he had acquired the rudiments of classical learning
and appeared sincere in his religious principles, he said to him :
"Go sell the contents of your pack, come back and study with
me." His youthful visitor followed his advice, with the result
that he ultimately became his successor in the pastoral office at
Neshaminy. Mr. Beatty, however, did not become minister of
the whole congregation, as a division took place in the General
Synod of the Presbyterian Church in 1741 between two parties,
denominated the "Old Lights" and the "New Lights." The
former were opposed to the admission to the ranks of the clergy
of any but those who had received a complete training in a uni-
versity, while the latter deemed the want of ministers in the
land so imperative, that in cases in which other qualifications
were sufficient, the lack of a college diploma ought not to bar
the way to the pulpit. The "New Lights" favored the work
and measures of Whitfield and his friends; the "Old Lights"
denounced them as the fruit of fanaticism and delusion. Mr.
Tennent advocated the views of the "New Lights," and Mr.
Beatty cordially sympathized with him. The congregation at
Neshaminy was not entirely harmonious.
When Mr. Tennent, in 1743, became incapacitated by age
for the duties of a pastor, Mr. Beatty was invited to take his
place and was installed over the part of the congregation which
adhered to the "New Lights," and they built a new house of
worship on the site occupied by the present church. The other
portion of the congregation chose Rev. Francis McHenry as
their pastor, who faithfully served them and the Dcople at Deep
Run at the same time until his death in 1757. After the re-
union of the two synods, in 1758, Mr. McHenry 's flock at
Neshaminy became gradually merged in that of Mr. Beatty. Rev.
McHenry was the great grandfather of Charles McHenry, now
residing in Doylestown.
Mr. Beatty was an earnest and zealous preacher, and took a
deep interest in missionary operations, particularly among the
Indians. David Brainerd's labors among the sons of the forest
in New Jersey and the forks of the Delaware awakened in his
mind sentiments of warmest approval. In 1745, when Brain-
THE BEATTY FAMILY I4I
erd visited Philadelphia to consult the Governor upon his labors
for the aborigines, he sojourned with Mr. Beatty and formed
a most favorable opinion of both his spirit and his abilities. Not
only was Rev. Beatty faithful to the welfare of his own particular
flock, but he was usually present and took an active part in
ecclesiastical councils with which he was associated. The Synod
of Xew York and Philadelphia elected him ^loderator in 1764.
In 1750 he made a missionary tour through south New Jersey
going' as far as Cape May, preaching frequently on the way,
with the approval of the Synod, to which body he gave an ac-
count of the circumstances and wants of the people in that
region. In 1754 he went with several other clergymen, by ap-
pointment of Synod, to A'irginia and North Carolina and was
absent from home about three months, afterwards presenting a
report of his work to those who had sent him.
A warm patriot, he was anxious to do all in his power for the
defense of his country and the protection of her citizens in time
of danger. At three different times he served as chaplain with
Pennsylvania troops in the struggle of the French and Indians
with the English. The first was soon after the savages had de-
stroyed the Moravian village of Gnadenhutten on the Lehigh,
when the expedition was under the command of Benjamin Frank-
lin. They set out in January, 1756, but Franklin soon gave up the
charge of the soldiers to Col. Clapham, and Mr. Beatty returned
home before spring. The same year he was commissioned by Lieut.
Gov. Morris, of Pennsylvania, to act in a similar capacity with
a military force, which was to penetrate into the interior of the
State. In 1758 a large army having been raised to attack Fort
Duquesne, Mr. Beatty at the request of Gen. Armstrong was
commissioned chaplain of the wdiole force by Lieut. Gov. Wil-
liam Denny. They marched west through the wilderness, fording-
streams and crossing mountains, where no sign of human habita-
tion met their eyes, and where they might be waylaid by the
enemy in ambush. Before reaching the Allegheny river they were
attacked by a considerable body of the French, but repulsed them,
forcing them to retreat toward their fortification. Pushing on
the next day after the foe, they ere long came to the fort, but
found it evacuated and partly destroyed by fire. The enemy had
142 THE BEATTY FAMILY
become convinced that they could not hold the place against the
advancing army, and had entered boats and gone down the Ohio.
The Americans took possession of the empty citadel and effectual-
ly terminated the efforts of the French to drive out the Eng-
lish from the Valley of the Mississippi. Here Mr. Beatty preach-
ed a sermon of thanksgiving to God before the whole army,
which was probably the first Protestant sermon ever delivered
in that magnificent territory, which had long been the prize con-
tended for by two mighty nations. In 1759 he was invited to
engage in a similar work, but the Synod advised him to decline,
as his congregation needed his pastoral care.
Soon after the reunion of the "Old" and "New Lights" in 1758,
a scheme was adopted by the Synod to provide a fund for the
benefit of aged or deceased ministers and their needy families.
Mr. Beatty was on the committee to draw up a plan, which in-
cluded also help for destitute mission fields. It was thought best
that some one should go to Great Britain to solicit pecuniary aid
for this fund. Mr. Beatty was selected. He sailed for Europe
in the spring of 1760 and was absent till the summer of 1761.
He visited Ireland, Scotland and England, was at the coronation
of George III, was present at Court, and received from the King
a handsome donation to the fund. His mission proved highly
creditable to himself, and advantageous to the objects he had
mainly in view. He afterwards crossed the ocean again with his
wife on account of her health, between 1767 and 1769, being
away nearly two years. But his beloved companion did not re-
turn with him. Her decease took place at Greenock, Scotland,
March 25, 1768 where her remains lie buried, together with
those of an infant daughter.
In 1766, by direction of Synod, Mr. Beatty and Rev. George
Duffield, of Carlisle, made a tour among the western settlements
and the Indian tribes for preaching and studying their religious
condition. From Carlisle to Pittsburg they pursued the journey
by two different routes. Meeting at the latter town, in which
there were not then more than thirty houses, besides the forts,
they crossed the Allegheny river in a canoe, "swimming their
horses at its side." Continuing along the Ohio till they passed
the Beaver river, thence southwest through the primeval forest,
THE be;atty family 143
they came to the principal town of the Delawares, 120 miles
west of Pittsburg, in the present state of Ohio. They held many
conferences with the Indians, aiid Mr. Beatty preached his first
sermon to them through an interpreter on the parable of the Prod-
igal Son. The journey occupied two months, and was extreme-
ly fatiguing, being made on horse-back through the woods, and
over streams without bridges, but it gave them much informa-
tion about the natives, which they embodied in a report to the
Synod.
Mr. Beatty was a trustee of the College of New Jersey at
Princeton, elected in 1763. The institution was in its childhood
and needed larger resources than this country, just emerging
from the wars with the French and the Indians, could furnish,
It was deemed important that aid should be solicited in the West
Indies, some portions of which were occupied by British planters,
men of wealth. Dr. John Witherspoon, the president who was
first requested to undertake the duty, being unable to leave his
post, Mr. Beatty was appointed to serve on what proved to him
a fatal mission.
He arrived at the Island of Barbadoes June 6th and died
August 13, 1772, stricken with the yellow fever. There in the
cemetery at Bridgeton his remains are interred. As a public
speaker he was ready, fluent, impressive, and seldom made use
of a manuscript. Gentlemanly in his manners, pleasing in his
personal appearance and address, he commanded respect and
made friends wherever he went. He was useful, active and
influential in his parish, in society, in the judicatories of the
church and in the affairs of the country.
Rev. Charles Beatty was married in 1746 to Ann, daughter of
John Reading, president of the Council of New Jersey and after-
wards governor of the Province. They had eleven children,
two of whom died quite young. Nine reached maturity and
most of them married and left a numerous posterity, who are
scattered far and wide over the land.
I. Mary Beatty, the eldest daughter, at the age of 27i mar-
ried Rev. Enoch Green, pastor of the Presbyterian church at
Deerfield, N. J. He served as a chaplain in the army of the
144 THU BEATTY FAMILY
Revolution, and while acting in that capacity was attacked with
camp-fever and died, after being in the ministry ten years. Like
many others he gave his life for his country. His widow resided
many years near Trenton, N. J., on the farm of her father-in-
law, which subsequently became the property of herself and her
sons. In 1 82 1 she removed to Philadelphia, where she died in
1842, in the 96th year of her age. During the seven years of
the Revolutionary contest she abstained through patriotic mo-
tives from the use of tea, though fond of the exhilarating bev-
erage. She had three children, two sons and a daughter. One
of her sons, William, when a young man, served in the militia
in quelling the insurrection of "The Whiskey Boys" in western
Pennsylvania. Her other son, Charles Beatty Green, studied
law and settled in Natchez, Mississippi, where he acquired an
extensive practice, and was chosen a member of the House
of Representatives of the State, and continued to be a member
either of the House or the Senate many years. He filled also
other offices in the State, both civil and military, and was known
as "General Green."
2. John Beatty, the oldest son, graduated at Princeton in
1769, with the first class that took their bachelor's degree under
the presidency of Dr. Witherspoon. He studied medicine with
Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, in 1770 and 1771, and commenced
the -practice of his profession at Hartsville, Bucks county, in
Neshaminy congregation, in 1772. His father's death took
place that year. He was one of the executors of the will, and
the care and management of the estate occupied much of his at-
tention. In 1774 he married Mary Longstreet, whose home was
near Princeton, and he soon moved to that town. When the
war with Great Britain commenced in 1775, he joined the army
as Captain and rose to the rank of Major, was taken prisoner
at the surrender of Fort Washington in November, 1776, and
detained in severe and rigorous confinement till May, 1778, a
period of eighteen months, when he was exchanged. A few
weeks later Dr. E. Boudinot resigned as Commissary General
of Prisoners and Major Beatty was appointed to his place and
promoted to the rank of Colonel. In 1780 he resigned and was
honorably discharged from the service, when he returned to
THE BEATTY FAMILY I45
Princeton and resumed the practice of medicine. He did not
confine himself, however, to his profession, but miiigled in pub-
he affairs. He represented New Jersey in the Continental Con-
gress in 1783 and 1785, and in the Federal Congress in 1793-5.
He was a member of the State Legislature and Speaker of the
Assembly. In 1795 he was chosen by the Legislature, Secretary
of State, and held the office ten years. In military life he held
a conspicuous position, being Brigadier General of Militia,
which gave him the title by which he was afterwards known.
General Beatty.
The Trenton Delaware Bridge Company, organized in 1803,
chose him as its president, and he superintended the erec-
tion of that most important structure, which was on the direct
route from Philadelphia to New York, which united New Jersey
and Pennsylvania, and which was at that day considered in both
England and America, a remarkable work, being on a new plan.
During the building of it he resided at South Trenton, near the
terminus. A spectator at its opening in 1805, said, "Well do
I remember his tall and commanding appearance when he led
the great procession that was formed to inaugurate its first
crossing." He was President of the Trenton Banking Com-
pany, a trustee of the College at Princeton, and a trustee in the
First Presbyterian Church of Trenton.
His death occurred in 1826, in his 78th year. He was mar-
ried twice and had two children by his first wife, a son and
daughter. One of his grandchildren, Catharine Louise Beatty,
a young lady of unusual ability and piety, in 1861 went to India
as a missionary under the direction of the Presbyterian Board
of Foreign Missions, and for nine years was at the head of a
large seminary for girls, in which position of exhausting labor
her health failed, and she passed away in 1870 much lamented.
3. Elizabeth Beatty, the fourth child, married Rev. Philip
V . Fithian, a native of Greenv\^ich, N. J. He graduated at
Princeton in 1772, and was appointed Chaplain in the Revolution-
ary army in 1776. It is said, that at the battle of White Plains
he fought in the ranks. Soon after, exposure brought on the
dysentery and he died in the autumn of the same vear.
Mrs. Elizabeth Fithian, after her husband's death, married his
146 THE BEATTY FAMILY
cousin, Joel Fithian, and several of her children were in the
Union army in the late struggle with the Confederate States.
4. Charles Clinton Beatty, sixth child, graduated at Princeton,
in 1775, and entered the Army of the Revolution with a com-
mission in a Pennsylvania regiment. In the expedition against
Canada he was with Gen. Wayne, and in November, 1776, was
one of the garrison of Fort Ticonderoga. During the winter or
spring he came south, and while with a body of troops at
Aloore's tavern, near Chester, Pa., he was showing a fine rifle he
had just bought, to one of his brother ofiQcers, when the latter,
taking it in his hand, and not knowing it was loaded, pointed
it at the former and said, "I will shoot you, Beatty!" The
trigger fell, the bullet pierced his heart, and he fell dead. The
officer was overwhelmed with grief and dismay, and could never
allude to the tragic occurrence, (though he lived to old age),
without the most sad and distressing emotions. The remains
of the unfortunate young man were interred in the Old Chester
burying-ground.
5. Reading Beatty, the seventh child, named for his mother's
father, John Reading, after pursuing the study of medicine
with his brother John at Neshaminy and with Dr. Moses Scott,
of New Brunswick, N. J., in 1775 enlisted in his country's mili-
tary service as a private soldier, was soon made sergeant, then
ensign, then lieutenant, and during the campaign of 1776, in
consequence of the sickness of his superior officer, acted as
captain. When Fort Washington was surrendered, he was
among the prisoners, and was at first subjected to ignominious
and severe treatment, being deprived of most of his clothing,
marched through New York, and confined in the prison-ship
Myrtle, and came near being murdered by a Hessian soldier.
Ere long, however, he was permitted to reside at Flatbush, Long
Island, where he remained eight months, when he was ex-
changed in company with his brother, John. After prosecuting
his medical studies for a year or more, he was appointed sur-
geon in the nth Pennsylvania regiment, and was commissioned
by Congress; and in 1781 he received from Congress a commis-
sion as surgeon of artillery, in which capacity he remained
with the army till the close of the war. When hostilities had
the: beatty family 147
terminated, he began the practice of medicine at Hartsville, and
remained there three years; but having married in 1786 Chris-
tiana, the daughter of Judge Henry Wynkoop, of Bucks county,
he removed to Nockamixon township, and thence to Fallsing-
ton, where he resided forty years, pursuing his profession with
success. For a long period he was ruhng elder in the Presby-
terian church of Newtown, to which place he transferred his
home in 1828 and there died in 1831. His wife survived him
nearly ten years.
One of their children, Anii, married Rev. Alexander Boyd,
pastor of the Presbyterian church in Newtown. Another,
Charles Clinton Beatty, graduate, d at a medical college in Phila-
delphia in 1816 and practiced mei Heine five years in Penn's
Manor, and subsequently in Abington, Montgomery county.
Another daughter, Mary, married Rev. Robert Steel, D. D., pas-
tor of the church at Abington. Another son, John Beatty, born
in 1800, now (1894) resides in Doylestown, at the advanced age
of nearly 94 years. He first married Miss Emily Moore, daugh-
ter of Dr. Samuel Moore, of Philadelphia, who had a Farm at
Bridge Point, now in possession of Aaron Fries. This beautiful
property he owned from 1831 to 1841. Having lost his wife, he
married, in 1833, Miss Mary A. Henry, of Evansburg, Pa., and
their home was brightened by the presence of five children,
and many grandchildren have proved an honor and comfort in
their declining years.
Sarah Beatty, daughter of Dr. Reading Beatty, married Rev.
Henry R. Wilson, D. D., who immediately after their marriage
went to Indian Territory, as a missionary among the Choctaws.
Exposed to many hardships and privations in an unhealthy dis-
trict, her health soon failed and in less than a year she whs taken
from her husband by death, July 15, 1835. He was afterwards
sent to Hindostan as a missionary, and at a later period became
the secretary of the board of church erection of the Presby-
terian General Assembly, which office he ably filled till his death,
a few years since.
6. The eighth child of Rev. Charles Beatty was called by his
father Erkuries, a name that he himself coined in gratitude for
the gift. It was derived from two Greek words — e, from, and
148 THE BEATTY FAMILY
Kurious, the Lord, which after a few changes in spelHng became
Erkuries. The boy was preparing for Princeton college when
the war with Great Britain commenced, and though only six-
teen years of age, he wished to join his older brothers in fighting
for the liberties of his country, but for a time he was restrained
by his guardian on account of his youth. However, he success-
fully engaged with others in a privateering adventure to cap-
ture a British sloop near Elizabethtown, and soon after en-
listed in the ranks as a soldier, rising ultimately through several
grades of promotion to the position of major. He was in many
severe battles ; with Lord Sterling on Long Island, in the re-
treat by night ; at White Plains, and in command as a sergeant
of a guard over some stores, where he narrowly escaped being
captured or slain and every one of the detachment was killed or
wounded but himself. He took part in the engagements of the
Brandywine under Lafayette and at Germantown, in the latter
of which he was wounded in the thigh. Fainting from the loss
of blood he was carried from the field and laid at the door of
one of the Society of Friends, who took him in and sent for a
gentleman to whom he was well known, a Mr. Erwin, who
lived near Hatboro. There he remained till he had recovered and
then returned to the army, which had encamped at Valley Forge.
In 1778 he was in the battle of Monmouth under General Wayne,
on the Hudson, at Schoharie to protect the town from the In-
dians ; in an enterprise against the Onandagas, in April, 1779;
and in Sullivan's expedition against the savages in the fall of
the same year. After Arnold's treachery he was stationed for
a time at West Point and in various other places, where he saw
hard service in the field. He assisted in the capture of York-
town, Va., saw the British lay down their arms, and was detached
as a part of the guard over the prisoners at Lancaster, Pa.
Throughout the war he was an active, brave and meritorious of-
ficer. Subsequently for several years he acted as clerk in the
War office, settling the accounts of the Pennsylvania line and
as paymaster in the Western Army, which made it necessary
for him to often visit New York and Philadelphia to confer
with the Secretary of War about clothing, paying and provision-
ing the troops.
the; beatty famii.y 149
In 1793 ill health and other reasons induced him to resign his
relation to the army, when General Wayne, in a letter accepting
his resignation, expressed his high appreciation of his faithful
and valuable services and his great esteem for him as an officer
and a gentleman. Most of his subsequent life was spent on the
Castle Howard farm near Princeton, N. J., which he purchased
and on which he devoted himself to practical and scientific
agriculture. In 1799 he was married to Mrs. Susanna Fergu-
son, of Philadelphia, who with her daughter immediately went
to reside on the farm with him. In civil life he was often
elected to honorable and important offices. He was Justice of
the Peace, Judge of the county courts, member of the State Leg-
islature and of the council, and for a long period Treasurer of
the Society of the Cincinnati. His later years were passed in
Princeton, where he died in 1823, in the 64th year of his age.
He had three children, one of whom was Rev. Charles Clinton
Beatty, D. D. who graduated at Princeton college, and after
traveling in the West for the benefit of his feeble health, studied
theology and preached in the vacant pulpit of the Presbyterian
church in Doylestown two months in the summer of 1822, when
through his labors and the aid of others a season of great re-
ligious interest was enjoyed and about seventy persons united
with the church, trebling its numbers. Receiving a call from
the Presbyterian church in Steubenville, Ohijo, he decided to
accept it and was installed pastor in 1823, which position he
occupied thirteen and a half years. In those days in that new
country ministers were content with small stipends. His salary
at first was $500 and he never asked the people to increase it.
In 1824 he attended as a delegate the General Assembly in
Philadelphia, and was married in June to Miss Lydia R. Moore,
a daughter of Dr. Moore, of Bridge Point, Bucks county. Pa.,
to whom he had been attached from his youth. His young wife,
however, was not spared to him long. She passed from earth
in June, 1825, and her infant daughter soon followed her. In
1827 he was married to Miss Hetty E. Davis, of Maysville,
Ky. She was fond of teaching, and in accordance with her
wishes they established the Steubenville Female Seminary, which
for many years was widely known as a popular institution of
150 the: beatty family
high standing and eminent usefulness. In 1840 he received
the degree of D. D., and in i860 that of LL. D., from Washing-
ton College, Pa. Often a member of the Presbyterian General
Assembly, he was elected the Moderator of that body in 1862
and the next year preached the sermon at the opening of its
sessions. He was called by his brethren to take a prominent
part in the reunion of the two severed branches of the Presby-
terian Church, being chairman of the committee of the old
school assembly, and of the united committee composed of the
two committees, whose report was adopted by both bodies, and
sealed their union. In many other ways he was honored by
ecclesiastical organizations, with which he was connected, which
time forbids me to mention. After a life of singular benevolence,
usefulness and distinction, he died at his home in Steubenville,
O., October 30, 1882, in the 83rd year of his age.
7. William Pitte Beatty, the tenth child of Rev. Charles
Beatty, was named after the eminent English statesman, whose
opposition to the tyranny of Great Britain in her treatment of the
Colonies rendered him dear to every patriotic American. In
1799 he was married to Eleanor Polk, of Neshaminy, named for
her aunt, Mrs. Eleanor Polk, a lady, who died in 1850 in extreme
age, and who remembered to have seen General Washington
when his army was encamped at Neshaminy, and he rode on
horseback at the head of his troops and took off his hat to the
ladies that greeted him. William Pitte Beatty was a good pen-
man and had a talent for arithmetical calculations, and was
employed in various official positions in Philadelphia and Co-
lumbia, Lancaster county, in which latter place he was post-
master for many years. His long life found its close in Phila-
delphia at the home of one of his sons, when he was 82 years
of age. Like his brother Erkuries he maintained to the last
the practice of wearing the hair in a queue and in other respects
resembled an old fashioned gentleman. He was one of the
founders and principal supporters of the Presbyterian church
in Columbia, and was an ardent patriot and friend of every
thing that benefited humanity.
One of his children, George Beatty, in 1832, had charge of a
large section of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal; in 1837 he
THK BEATTY FAMIIvY I5I
was Secretary of the Executive Council of the Territory of Iowa ;
and on the division, he held the same position in Wisconsin ; he
was likewise the Auditor General and Treasurer ot that Terri-
tory ; and had charge of the building of the Northern railway of
Canada, in which capacity he secured the approval and commen-
dation of the directors, which were expressed by special resolu-
tion.
Another son of William P. Beatty, Erkuries, resided at Car-
lisle, Pa., and was Assistant Adjutant General in the late Civil
War under General Miles, and received from the War Depart-
ment the rank by brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel for gallant and
meritorious services.
I have already, I fear, exhausted your patience and will close
with the remark, that the record of Rev. C. Beatty, and his
family, is in a high degree honorable. Patriotism, courage, love
of military service, industry, executive ability, and piety are
qualities which have been exemplified in an unusual measure in
the ancestors and in their descendants.
Historical Sketch of Hatboro and Vicinity.
An Address of Welcome.
BY HON. HARMAN YIJRKES, DOYLKSTOWN, PA.
(Hatboro Meeting, July 17, 1894).
It was a happy thought that suggested Hatboro as the place
for the joint meeting of the historical societies of the counties
of Chester, Bucks and Montgomery. About this centre of his-
torical interest a series of events cluster which, here, more
perhaps than elsewhere, illustrate the evolution of the people
of these counties out of the maze of bitter, not to say bigoted,
religious and social differences which so greatly multiplied the
difficulties and embarrassed the efforts of the friends of Ameri-
can Independence in establishing free democratic government
in this land.
For the possession of the beautiful valleys and fertile hills
and plains enclosing them, from the time when Tammany and his
associate chiefs, in 1681-83, granted to Penn the lands along
and between the Neshaminy and Pennypack creeks, there appears
to have been a quiet but determined struggle between the various
elements of earnest and rugged characters who first settled in
these parts.
Here at the confluence of the "big" and "little" Neshaminy
gathered a sturdy Presbyterian band under the lead of the
learned and wise Tennent and the brave Beatty, while, to the
north, as far as Bedminster and Tinicum, they found aggressive
support from the Scotch-Irish adherents of the same faith. What
ancestry has left a greater impress upon the history of our
country than these? What institution of learning of such small
pretentions has exerted an equal influence with the Log College
in developing the highest civilization and virtues of mankind?
Nowhere in Pennsylvania were the peaceful yet determined
followers of Penn more aggressive in proclaiming their tenets
and in occupying the soil than along the belt of country upon
which old Horsham meeting-house stands and extending from
West Chester to the Delaware. It can confidentlv be asserted
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF HATBORO AND VICINITY 1 53
that no influence was greater in uniting the famiHes of the three
counties in a common brotherhood than the common meeting
ground at Horsham, where all were wont to gather in social
and religious intercourse. But the Friends and Presbyterians
were not the only ones to contend for the possession of this rich
heritage along the Pennypack. Under the lead of Eaton and
Watts, the Baptists early established themselves, while their
brethren from Wales, in Upper Dublin, planted a colony above
the Neshaminy at New Britain and Hilltown, where, through
long years, they have carried on a tenacious though losing effort
for possession with the home-loving and conservative Menno-
nites.
At the outbreak of the Revolutionary war all these forces
were engaged in a successful struggle for material advancement.
Intermingling with each other in the pursuit of their various
enterprises, of clearing the land, trading and intertrading, little
had occurred to sharply define their differences of opinion or to
kindle the smouldering fires of antagonism and bitterness which
their strongly divergent sentiments inevitably developed in a
time of civil war. The Friends, then in the first growth of their
peculiar views upon the question of war, were not inclined to
abandon their new teachings and to take up arms. They coun-
seled peace and submission to the exactions of the mother coun-
try.
On the other hand, the Presbyterians and Baptists, not enter-
taining any conscientious scruples upon the subject of war, were
willing and even eager to ascribe to the peaceful counsels of the
Friends motives of cowardice and treachery to their neighbors,
and by persecution and intolerance drove many of their young
men, as unquestionably was the case with the notorious Doan
family, to abandon the practices of peace and to openly join
the ranks of the Royalists. Thus religious feeling, as in all great
upheavals, had much to do in shaping the course of events in this
locality.
But other influences were also at work. While the leading
Friends counseled peace and submission to wrongs rather than
open war, from the pulpits along the Pennypack and the Nesh-
aminy, Nathaniel Irwin and other bold spirits thundered forth
154 HISTORICAL SKETCH O^ HATBORO AND VICINITY
resistance to tyranny. Moving up and down, in and out, amon^
all these discordant elements were the men of prominence, wealth
and power in the community, greatest and most influential among
whom was the able, eloquent and persuasive Joseph Galloway,
who in his final false step was supported by Jonathan Walton
and other more aggressive spirits among the Loyalists. Gallo-
way first led in protests and counseled resistance, then, appalled
at the consequences to his high position, of possible failure,
repudiated independence, deserted family and country and lost
all. Who to-day can reckon the influence upon the final attitude
of the people of this neighborhood of Joseph Galloway as he passed
through here on his frequent visits to the Fergusons over there
at Graeme Park?
On the other hand, never wavering, and present at every
public gathering, could be seen the handsome and impressive
Henry Wynkoop, counseling all to stand firmly by his friend
Washington. Then there were the Rev. Nathaniel Irwin, John
Fitch, the inventor of the steamboat, the Beatty family. Colonel
Joseph Hart, Captains Andrew Long and Henry Darrah and
others of their followers who made the townships of Warmin-
ster, Warwick and Warrington firm supporters of the Revolu-
tion, while on this side of the line Dr. Edwards and Judge Bom-
bers contended with greater odds.
Sectarian lines failed to hold all followers within them. From
Hilltown Captain Thomas led a company of Loyalists into Howe's
camp, at Philadelphia, while Lacey, the Wrightstown Quaker,
marched his company to the storming of the Canada posts, after-
wards to return and command in the action which occurred al-
most on this spot.
On the morning of May i, 1778, the most important outpost
of the patriot army at Valley Forge was stationed here, at the
Crooked Billet, commanded by General John Lacey, who, doubt-
less, was selected for this difficult command in the hope that his
Quaker affiliations might have some influence in suppressing
demonstrations of local sympathy for the enemy. General Lacey
was to prevent communication of the inhabitants between the
Delaware and Schuylkill with the enemy at Philadelphia and to
watch and report his movements to General Washington.
HISTORICAI. SKETCH OF HATBORO AND VICINITY 1 55
No similar task was ever assigned a commander under more
difficult circumstances. Sympathy with the enemy, whetted by
a profitable trade with his army, was strong among the farmers,
and treachery lurked about Lacey and dogged the footsteps of
his command, as, for safety, it shifted its camp from place to
place. During the winter twenty-five of his command were be-
trayed into the hands of the enemy at Smithfield, and on the 6th
of March his own men had aggravated the situation by burning
a number of barns and wheat-stacks about Byberry meeting-
house, while he had caused the cattle of the farmers to be driven
to Doylestown so as to prevent their falling into the hands of
the British.
It is therefore not a matter of wonder that, notwithstanding
every precaution, the British troops were piloted so as to evade
Lacey's sentries. When we shall hear from General Davis of
the cruelties perpetrated upon that day, we may more thoroughly
understand the bitterness of feeling which then prevailed be-
tween Patriot and Loyalist in this community, and can realize
its influence upon after events in its development.
For long years whatever of public moment was undertaken
here was aggressively done and vigorously resisted. The se-
cond Afasonic lodge in Bucks county, which was located at
Bean's tavern, over in Warminster, was fiercely assailed during
the anti-Masonic fever and compelled to surrender its charter,
while your most prominent citizen. Dr. John H. Hill, was de-
feated for Congress through the same feeling. This place was
also on the line of the most aggressive and active "underground
railroad," where the anti-slavery society which was an earl>
friend to the local library, found strong supporters among
the Friends. That there was a strong antagonism was developed
in 1823, when the kidnapping of a colored boy from his master,
who had arrested him, resulted in a riot in Hatboro and led to
the participants being taken before the United States Court, in
Philadelphia, where they found themselves much in the same
plight that the Debsites of Chicago now are.
Horsham meeting-house and old Loller academy have again
and again resounded to the eloquence of Lucretia Mott and
Charles C. Burleigh preaching universal freedom and Christ
156 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF HATBORO AND VICINITY
the Prince of Peace, and the walls of the academy have re-
echoed with sharp and exciting forensic contests, never to be j
forgotten by those who heard them, over the prominent ques- I
tions of the times, between these able disputants and General
John Davis, Josiah Randall, E. Morris Davis, Alfred Earle and 1
numerous other bright men whose ambition, whetted by love j
of intellectual combat, attracted them as by common consent,
to this centre of intellectual activity and public political agita- j
tion. In no other locality in these counties, during more than |
a century, could there be found a greater mental development '
and activity than here. I
x\nd now that the angel-of-peace seems to have spread her
wings over the graves of all the combatants and as their children
vie with each other in singing their praises : when the political
and sectarian rancors of old have departed ; when the shriek
of the iron horse signalling the dawn of progress, ease and
security, is heard in your midst, and other thoughts suppress
that old stern desire for conflict and discussion, let the local
historian come down upon the stage to commemorate the abili-
ties, virtues and honesty of purpose which distinguished the
inhabitants of the vicinity of the old town of Crooked Billet,
and lest he should overlook it, let me now ask you one and all ;
What was the one great influence which, more than the preach-
ing of dogmas and sectarianism, the enrollment of battalions and
the clash of arms or the eloquence of orators and disputants,
has contributed to your local advancement, glory and happiness r"
Every index will point to that plain but impressive building
down the street which holds the precious volumes of the Union
Library, founded in 1755. and where so many of us have found
pleasure and profit. As we glance over the names of the con-
tributors and members, what a galaxy of noble men and women
is unfolded and what an illustration of how all, however differ-
ing, worship at the common shrine of learning and information.
There are William Allen and Lawrence Growden, Chief and
Associate Justice of Pennsylvania ; Joseph Galloway, Dr. Thomas
Graeme, Elizabeth Ferguson, Thomas Penn the proprietor, Alex-
ander Graydon, Dr. Oliver Hart, Daniel Clymer, Robert Loller,
Joseph Hart, Rev. Joshua Potts, Nathaniel Irwin, Gen. John
ROBERT MORRIS THE; FINANCIER OF THE REVOIvUTlON 1 57
Davis, the Lukens, the Jarretts, the Iredells, Lloyds, Spencers,
McNairs, and other famihes, whose works have left a lastinj;^
impression upon the civilization of the century. To the strangers
who are here to-day, on behalf of my old neighbors, I bid you
a hearty welcome to the feast, both of mind and body, which
now awaits you.
Robert Morris the Financier of the Revolution.
BY REV. D. K. TURNER, HARTSVILEE, PA.
(Hatboro Meeting, July 17, 1S94).
Probably no one is mentioned on the pages of American his-
tory except Washington, to whom we are more indebted for the
final result of the Revolutionary struggle than to Robert Morris,
whose wisdom and foresight as a financier were of incalculable
value in guiding the "Ship-of-State" through a sea of difficulties,
which threatened to engulf it.
As he owned and managed for a considerable period an ex-
tensive estate in Bucks county, and founded one of its towns,
which bears his name, it may not be amiss to dwell briefly on
this occasion upon his life and character.
His father, whose surname was likewise Robert, resided in
Liverpool, England, and was taught the trade of nailmaker, but
had a partiality for mercantile pursuits, which the son seems
to have inherited. When the latter was a boy of six years old,
the family removed to America and settled on the eastern shore
of Maryland. They had been in the New World about
ten years when the father made a social visit to a vessel in the
harbor, and on his taking leave a salute was fired from a can-
non in his honor. The wadding struck him in the arm, causing
a wound which proved fatal. This occurred in 1750, when
Robert, Jr., was 16 years of age. Some time before this he
was placed in the counting house of Charles Willing, of Phila-
delphia, where he soon displayed unusual industry and enter-
prise. In a few years a change took place in the firm and he
entered into partnership with Thomas Willing and engaged in
foreign and domestic trade. He made several voyages across
158 ROBERT MORRIS THE FINANCIER OF THE REVOLUTION
the ocean as supercargo, in one of which during the Seven-Years-
War between France and England he was captured by the
French and detained a long time as a prisoner. While in con-
finement he earned some money by repairing a watch, which he
used in paying his passage home.
In 1769, when he was 35 years old, he married Mary White,
a sister of Rev. William White, D. D., the first bishop of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania, and chaplain to
the Continental Congress. Before her marriage she is pictured
in a fascinating light in a poem written by Joseph Shippen,
on the belles of Philadelphia, indicating that she was sprightly
and beautiful.
" In lovely White's most pleasing form,
What various graces meet ;
How blest with every striking charm,
How languishingly sweet."
Mr. Morris was successful in business and acquired a con-
siderable fortune and a high reputation for ability in commer-
cial transactions when the efforts of the British Parliament
to oppress the Colonies began to arouse their indignant oppo-
sition. In 1765 the Stamp Act was passed. This was a measure
to raise revenue from America, requiring that legal documents,
bonds, deeds and contracts should be written on stamped paper
or parchment, which must be purchased from the Royal Govern-
ment. The Colonists insisted that England had no right to
lay taxes of any kind upon them without their consent. As
they had no representatives in Parliament they declared they
could not be justly compelled to pay anything into the King's
treasury, unless they chose to do so. All the payments they had
heretofore made were in their view voluntary contributions.
On the day the act was to go into operation the people mani-
fested their grief and displeasure in the most decided manner.
In Boston, Philadelphia and other cities the bells on the
churches were muffled and . tolled as if for a funeral, cannon
were fired, flags were put at half mast for the death of liberty,
processions paraded through the streets and orations were de-
livered against the tyranny of the ministry. In many places
the stamps themselves were seized or were prevented from
ROBERT MORRIS THE FINANCIER OF THE REVOLUTION 1 59
being landed ; the stamp officers were oblig-ed to resign, or
hide, to escape the vengeance of the populace, and at the same
time numerous associations were formed by merchants, who
agreed not to import goods from Britain until the odious act
was repealed. In these displays of indignation against that
measure, Robert Morris fully sympathized. He signed the non-
importation agreement, though this course resulted in interrup-
tion of his business and severe pecuniary loss, and he was on a
committee of citizens to compel John Hughs, the collector in
Philadelphia, to desist from collecting the stamp tax. His
standing in the city for energy and efficiency was almost un-
equalled, and in 1766, when still a young man, he was appointed
warden of the port.
At the commencement of the struggle with the mother coun-
try he was forty-one years of age, and the commercial house,
of which he was the head, occupied the first rank in wealth
and extent of its operations both at home and abroad. During
the long hostilities he took part in nearly all the proceedings
of the United States, except those that were of a military charac-
ter, and even in these he exercised much influence.
There was then no proper treasury of the general Govern-
ment. Congress, the highest legislative authority in the land,
passed bills for the discharge of trivial debts ; $16.39 ^o^ fer-
riage, $11.78 for meals for troops, $22 for two sick men in hos-
pitals, $16 for a lost rifle, and so on through 1777
and part of 1778. The regular operations of taxation
and providing for the support of the credit of the
Nation did not exist. The compact, into which the Colonies
entered to carry on the war, gave no power to Congress to levy
taxes upon the inhabitants of the several States, or to bor-
row money by loans. Each Commonwealth was independent,
and means to pay troops or to obtain arms and ammunition
could only be obtained by the consent of the different legis-
latures. The people were almost universally opposed to being
taxed, for the struggle was against taxation, and they had paid
comparatively little to maintain the colonial officers and legisla-
tive assemblies. The annual cost of the civil establishment of
all the Colonies together, previous to 1775. had l)ccn but $300.-
l6o ROBERT MORRIS THE FINANCIER OE THE REVOIvUTlON
GOO. They were not accustomed to heavy pecuniary pubHc bur-
dens. No one in New England paid half a crown, or 66 cents,
per annum before the Revolutionary War to support the State.
A fortnight before the battle of Bunker Hill the report that
a man in Salem, Mass., had 500 pounds to lend to the Govern-
ment was taken up with eagerness by the authorities, so limited
were their resources. The Pennsylvania Assembly, by an Act
in 1775, voted to lay a tax on real and personal property, but
they did not order the collectors to collect it, and it was to be
paid when the bills of the Colony to discharge its former debts
were paid. In 1779 taxation had lain dormant in South Caro-
lina four years, ever since the beginning of the war, and prev-
ious to that period it had been slight. The planters of the
South had been somewhat isolated and in the habit of defend-
ing themselves and punishing offenders with little ceremony,
and in the North the structure of courts and jurisprudence
was simple and inexpensive.
Great Britain had indeed obtained large sums of money from
the Colonies, but it was done indirectly, by duties on imports,
tonnage and port dues. From these sources at the opening of
the contest the crown received £80,000 annually. With the
Declaration of Independence this at once ceased. It was not
till after the present Constitution was adopted that the people
of the United States paid for federal purposes as much as they
had paid to the King. When he attempted to tax them in new
modes for the maintenance of a power across the ocean, it is not
surprising that they refused their consent. But the same dis-
crimination to submit to unwonted imposts rendered it extremely
difficult to Congress to realize funds necessary to defend the
position they had assumed. The need of more troops and more
money to arm, equip and pay them was constantly felt. The
letters of Washington to Congress are full of urgent requests
for more men and additional supplies of food, clothing and
ammunition, and that body perceived the imperative necessity
of acceding to his suggestions. They often applied to the
States for assistance, representing the pitiable condition of the
soldiers, and the imminent peril of the cause of liberty unless
help were rendered, but frequently received little more than
ROBERT MORRIS THE) FINANCIER OF THE REVOLUTION l6l
empty resolutions in reply. Samuel Dexter, of Massachusetts,
retired from public life because he could not consistently vote
to raise an army without seeing measures inaugurated for its
support. However patriotic Congress might be, it was desti-
tute of power to coerce the States to undergo expenses which
it did not approve, and its enactments had little more efficiencv
than so many recommendations. June 2, 1775, more than a
year before Independence was declared, it resolved that no
one should sell supplies to the British. The next day they voted
to borrow i6,ooo, and to provide for the liquidation of the loan,
but how payment was to be realized was not clear.
During the first part of the contest the principal reliance of
the National Government was upon paper promises to pay,
which were circulated as money, and as from necessity they
were multiplied, until at the expiration of a few years they
would purchase nothing and were worthless. February 17, 1776,
Congress appointed a committee of five, one of whom was Mr.
Morris, to superintend the department of finance, and in April
following an effort was made to organize the treasury office
under this committee. The same year it established a loan
office, with a view of borrowing five millions of Continental
dollars, at four per cent, interest, to be repaid in three years.
Air. Morris was first elected a delegate to Congress from
Pennsylvania in 1775, and subsequently to the same body in
1776 and 1777. He was the first from his State who signed
the Declaration of Independence, though he had been doubtful
whether the time chosen for its promulgation was appropriate.
He saw the poverty of the Confederation and with his clear
mercantile foresight feared the consequences of contracting
debts which without foreign aid there was no prospect of pay-
ing. He served on various committees to provide military
stores, including a committee to secure a navy for the defence
of the coast. His voice was often heard advocating measures
by which the States might be induced to furnish adequate
pecuniary means for the prosecution of the war. In 1776 he
was on a committee of secret correspondence with reference to
securing assistance from European nations, and was intimately
6
l62 ROBERT MORRIS THi; FINANCIER OF THF REVOLUTION
associated in this task with Benjamin FrankHn and John Jay.
In the intervals of the sessions of Congress in 1776 and 1777
he was one of a committee of three, to whom was intrusted all
its business. He wrote many long and important letters to
Washington and to the representative of the United States in
France urging the importance of prevailing upon that country
to render help. Washington applied to him for £150 in hard
money to be used in the secret service of the Government, and
he undertook to supply it, though gold and silver were ex-
tremely scarce. Lieut. Col. Charles Lee, a retired officer in
the British army, dissatisfied that he had not been promoted
as he thought he deserved, determined to join the American
cause. If he did so, his property would be confiscated and he
would be reduced to poverty. As he was destitute of funds,
Mr. Morris loaned him £5,000, that he might be able to trans-
fer his allegiance to the side of the Union. Some months
afterwards Lee, who by this time had been made a Major
General in our army, wrote to a friend across the ocean, that
"the affairs of Pennsylvania were in the hands of Robert
Morris." INIr. Morris was a member of the Council of Safety,
and before and after the war one of the most influential members
of the Pennsylvania Assembly ; his private business suffered much
by his attention to public duties, and by his willingness to use
his property and his credit for the benefit of his country.
In 1777 Congress realized more than ever the impracticability
of meeting the large and increasing expenses of the war by the
issuing of paper money, and it began to urge the States to tax
their citizens. In September a committee was appointed, on
which Mr. Morris was placed, to press this matter upon the
immediate attention of the Legislatures. The same year a
resolution was passed advising Washington to take supplies for
the soldiers from the disaffected inhabitants, a plan which tended
wherever it was carried out, to intensify their ill feeling toward
the partisans of freedom. In 1778 considerable time was spent
in devising schemes against the property of the Tories, and
confiscation of their effects seemed to be almost the last resort.
To employ the uncertain power of the Confederation to take
what was needed from the L^nionists was deemed unwise
ROBERT MORRIS THE FINANCIER OF THE REVOLUTION 163
and unsafe. In a letter to Franklin then in Paris, it is said,
in explanation of the difficulty of gathering funds, "The con-
test being upon taxation, the laying of imposts except in the
direct necessity would be madness."
Yet Congress was impressed with the vast importance of
keeping up the conflict, and it asked the States to provide
annually six millions of dollars for eighteen years commencing
with 1779, and as this proposition was not accepted, in the
early part of that year it made a call upon them for fifteen
millions of dollars and in May for forty-five millions more. In
1780 it sent out a trumpet blast to all the Commonwealths for
aid, and made apportionment of six million silver dollars, which
might be paid partly in specific articles, as corn, oats and flour.
The value of the bills of credit and notes it had put forth,
had fallen so low that it was useless to issue more. That
was the most gloomy period in the Revolution. Many patriotic
hearts were filled with overwhelming anxiety, lest after all the
labors, sufl^erings, hardships, and battles of years the attempt
to establish a free government on this continent should prove
vain. The English saw the depressed condition of the Colonies
with exultation. King George III said the distress in America
would force his rebellious subjects to make peace. Washington
himself was more alarmed than he had been at any previous time.
He wrote in May, 1780, to Joseph Jones, a delegate from Virginia :
"Certain I am unless Congress are vested with powers by the several
States competent to the great purposes of war, or assume them as a matter
of right, and they and the States respectively act with more energy than
they have hitherto done, our cause is lost. One State will comply with a
requisition of Congress ; another neglects to do it ; a third excutes it by
halves, and all differ either in the manner, the matter, or so much in point
of time, that we are always working up hill. While such a system as the
present one, or rather want of one, prevails, we shall ever be unable to apply
our strength or resources to any advantage."
There was lamentable carelessness in many parts of the land
about fulfilling the wishes of Congress, yet in some regions
earnest and self-denying efforts were made to conform to
them. In 1 781 President Reed, of Pennsylvania, said that
4,000 persons in the State were suffering for want of provisions,
and yet he urged the commissioners to bring in the taxes.
164 ROBERT MORRIS THE) FINANCIER OE THE REVOLUTION
About that time Congress appointed a committee, in which
President Reed was, to discover the reason why the taxes were
not collected. After investigation they reported that it was due
to the neglect of the proper officers. Even then all our country-
men were not disinterested patriots. The committee said, "not
one-third of the taverns take out a license."
Continental property, no longer needed toward the close of
the war, was sold by appraisement. Officers would sell to
a friend a span of horses belonging to the Government for
one-third of its value.
In Bethlehem a commissary on full pay was employed with
an assistant to supply six Hessians, who worked about the town.
Reed said, "a mulatto under the deputy commissary has ac-
quired a handsome fortune, some declare £10,000 in specie.
There have been at times twelve deputy quarter-masters in
this one county alone."
Enforcing the' payment of taxes caused great hardships to
individuals and in many districts. One man in Pennsylvania
with a small farm owed militia fines of twenty and one-half
pounds, ($57.00) ; to satisfy the debt the collector took away
two horses and seven cattle. The collector of Caroline county,
Va., reported that many of the people there were willing to
pay the tax but had no money; they were willing to give up their
property, and some had exposed it for sale, but no one had
silver or gold to buy it with. In 1780 Mr. INIorris, assisted
by other citizens of Philadelphia, established a bank, by means
of which 3,000,000 rations of provisions and 300 hogsheads of
rum were forwarded to the army. In 1781, before Yorktown
was captured, it was feared that Philadelphia might be at-
tacked by the r>ritish. and Thomas Paine proposed that one-third
or one-quarter of the value of the house rents should be levied
on the inhabitants of the city for its defence, which it was esti-
mated would amount to £300,000 or $800,000.
The various schemes for providing money proved inade-
quate, and Congress therefore decided to place the financial
affairs of the Country, in the hands of one man, who should
be clothed with authority to devise and execute plans to re-
plenish the exhausted treasury and revive the public credit.
ROBERT MORRIS THE) FINANCIER OE THE REVOLUTION 165
For this duty in February, 1781, Alexander Hamilton nomi-
nated Robert Morris, who was unanimously elected with the
title "Superintendent of Finance," which was abbreviated in
common parlance to "Financier." His salary was to be $6,000
a year, a small compensation for the services he rendered. Soon
all the monetary operations of the government were under his
control. A floating debt of $2,500,000, weighed down the treas-
ury, and more permanent obligations existed in the form of
currency and certificates of loan to the amount of $140,000,000,
or counting twenty of paper for one of silver, seven millions
in specie. There was no power in the Confederacy to oblige
the States to assist in meeting its responsibilities and no regu-
lar, reliable source of income. No systematic assessment had
been adopted for all parts of the land, and the States were
jealous of each other, one afraid that it would pay more accord-
ing to its population and resources than another.
]\Ir. Morris was from the first embarrassed with the general
derangement of pecuniary aflr'airs, enormity of expenditures,
confusion, languor, complexity and consequent inefficiency of
the operations of the Government. He wrote to Congress and
CO the States urgently requesting that their mutual accounts
be settled, that he might know the liabilities of the Confedera-
tion. He stated that in his judgment the cost of the war was
$20,000,000 a year, and that the assessments should be paid in
specie ; that if they were contributed in old Continental paper,
their cause was hopeless. He must abandon the system prev-
iously in use and enter upon a new course. He found the
treasury empty, and discovered that public officials, clerks and
employes had not been paid for many months, and that some of
them were liable to be put in jail for debts they had necessarily
contracted and had no means to satisfy. If he paid the salaries
of those, who were about to be imprisoned and not others, there'
would be misunderstanding and hard feeling; so he paid them
all from his own purse.
France acknowledged the independence of the United States
and made an offensive and defensive treaty with us in 177S, and
as hostilities arose with Great Britain in consequence, she sent
a fleet and troops to our coasts to aid us, which proved most
l66 ROBERT MORRIS THE FINANCIER OF THE REVOLUTION
timely and advantageous. But money was needed to recruit and
support our own army. Not only military and naval assistance
was required, but pecuniary funds also. Mr. Morris made efforts
to secure a loan from France with indifferent success. He tried
to obtain one of $5,000,000 from Spain, but that country was
not in circumstances to furnish it. At length he borrowed
$1,400,000 from Holland, which was the first loan our Govern-
ment ever made from a foreign nation. He exerted a powerful
influence in his own, as well as other States, in the way of
inducing the people to comply with the demands of Congress.
He pronounced specific supplies, grain, etc., to be burdensome
and comparatively useless, and pressed the need of solid money.
Albert Gallatin in 1796 wrote, that Pennsylvania had levied
some enormous taxes during the war, as he thought, far be-
yond her ability, the arrearages of which were not yet fully
paid, and this was largely through the persuasive eloquence of
Mr. Morris.
Lord Cornwallis surrendered to the combined French and
American forces October 19, 1781. The day before that im-
portant event Mr. Morris stated, that he could not command
more than one-twentieth of the sum necessary for the current
expenses of the year. He declared, that he had not, since his
appointment as Superintendent of Finance, received a shilling
from any State but Pennsylvania, and that only in paper money,
and £7,500, in specie, which must be expended for contracts
in the State. For general purposes almost nothing had come
within his reach during a period of eight months. Yet the
war must be prosecuted, the soldiers must have food, clothing,
tents, arms and ammunition, and money that their families might
be kept from starvation while they were in service, and all the
other innumerable expenses of the National administration must
be met. No other course seemed open to him than to purchase
what was needed with his own private means and to enter into
contracts on his personal responsibility. The campaign of 1781
was freighted with the gravest issues ; multitudes of the people
were becoming weary of war ; preparations must be vigorously
made for the destruction or capture of the British forces under
Cornwallis, and Mr. Morris was obliged to take upon himself
ROBERT MORRIS THE; FINANCIER OF THE REVOLUTION 167
the task. In the first part of the season he furnished the army
several thousand barrels of flour and during the summer issued
his own notes to the amount of $1,400,000 to provide articles
demanded. Marshall, in his "Life of Washington," says that
it was due to Morris that the movement on Yorktown was not
frustrated by lack of men, transportation and subsistence.
Another writer says that "next to Washington the country
owes the triumph of Yorktown to Robert Morris." Just be-
fore that event he obtained from the Chevalier Luzerne, a
French nobleman, £20,000 in specie.
People had so much confidence in him that his own notes
circulated more freely than those of the Confederation. Chas-
tellux says that on the strength of his office as minister of
finance his notes, bearing his own name alone, passed through-
out the Continent as cash, and the Legislature of Virginia
enacted a law making them legal tender.
Mr. Morris used every expedient possible to raise funds. He
had faith in the ability of the country to pay ultimately all
its indebtedness, but this was a season of poverty and sore dis-
tress. He applied to the Society of Friends for donations for
the refugees from the South who had fled from the incursions
of the British. They answered that they had contributed to
the citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, and to the inhabi-
tants of the frontier settlements during the French and Indian
Wars and that it w^as not convenient for them to accede to
his request now. In 1782 the quotas to be paid by the States
came in so slowly that the general Government had not money
sufficient to pay debts of the utmost exigency and to support
its embassadors in foreign lands, even with the help afiforded
by France.
Many of the people in districts in possession of the enemy
suffered severely by the contest. Farmers, on the opening of
peace, found their farms out of order, buildings dilapidated,
fences gone, stock carried off, crops destroyed and utensils
missing, and many of the churches were torn down or deserted.
At the close of 1779 Air. Tracey, a merchant of Newburyport,
Mass., had lost forty-one ships. Facts like these account in
part for the laxity of many of the States in contributing for
l68 ROBERT MORRIS THE FINANCIER OE THE REVOLUTION
the Confederation. Their rehictant delays laid an enormous
load upon the shoulders of Mr. Morris. But though the soldiers
in numerous instances met with great losses and all were poorly
supplied and meagerly paid, yet they behaved nobly. A French
officer, who was in the Yorktown campaign wrote as follows :
"I cannot too frequently repeat how much I was surprised at
the American army. It is beyond understanding how troops,
who were almost naked, badly paid, composed of old men,
negroes and children could move so well, both on the march
and under fire."
Mr Morris devised various forms of imposts upon the fitting
out of vessels, and as no one had been appointed to regulate
the affairs of the navy. Congress in 1781 resolved, that until
such an appointment should be made, the duties of that depart-
ment should be performed by the Superintendent of Finance,
and for more than three years he was in charge of both the
treasury and the navy, without increase of salary. Though he
objected to this additional burden, yet he bore it, because it
saved expense to the United States. Joseph Reed, secretary
of Gen. Washington, wrote from London that Morris had "all
the effectual powers of the Government of the Union in his
hands." In 1781 he proposed to Congress the establishment
of a mint, and through his efforts the bank of North America
was incorporated and its operations sanctioned by the Legisla-
tures of Pennsylvania and several other States, and it proved
a powerful agent in relieving the Confederation of its em-
barrassments. In 1783, just before the ratification of the treaty
of peace, he wrote to the President of Congress, that "as noth-
ing but the public danger could have induced him to accept
the office of Superintendent of Finance, so little apprehension
was now entertained of the common enemy, that his original
motives had ceased to operate ; that circumstances had post-
poned the establishment of the public credit, and that it did
not consist with his ideas of integrity to increase the national
debt while the prospect of paying it was diminishing." He
therefore resigned, but at the request of Congress remained
in charge till November, 1784. At the end of the war the
army would not disband unless the claims of the soldiers were
robe;rt morris the; financier of the; re;volution 169
satisfied, and Mr, Morris became responsible for the amount
necessary. This with other sums advanced made the Nation
at his retirement a debtor to him of a half million of dollars, for
which he trusted his successor would idemnify him, and
which was all finally repaid. He was elected by Pennsylvania
a member of the convention that framed the present Constitu-
tion of the U. S., and a member of the first U. S. Senate.
When President Washington was about to organize his cab-
inet, he offered to Mr. Morris the position of Secretary of the
Treasury, but he declined it. Upon being asked by the Presi-
ident whom he would recommend, he suggested Alexander
Hamilton, who received the appointment.
When the sound of arms was no longer heard in the land,
Mr. Morris formed a partnership with Gouveneur Morris,
though they were not relatives, and engaged in commerce with
China and India. They sent out in 1784 the first American
ship that ever appeared in the port of Canton. His residence
in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War was on Front
street below Dock street, facing the Delaware river, but sub-
sequently it was on Market street, between Fifth and Sixth,
and was the finest in the city. It was in this mansion that
Gen. Washington, by the invitation of Mr. Morris, ordinarily
took up his abode when in Philadelphia. The two eminent
men were on terms of the warmest friendship, and there was
no one whom the President held in higher esteem than the
able and patriotic financier. At a reception on one occasion,
when a large number of distinguished guests were presented
to Washington, he bowed to them all, but shook hands with Mr.
Morris alone. After the alliance was formed with France, he
was visited by diplomats, noblemen and other foreign dignitaries,
as the representative man of the city. In 1782 the Prince De
Broglie took tea with him, and spoke of him in letters as the
Controller General of the U. S. The Marquis De Chastellux
says, "He is a large man, simple in his habits, lives in fine
style. His house is like the residences of wealthy Englishmen."
August 31, 1 78 1, is represented in the journals of the time as
a gala day in Philadelphia, when Washington came to the
town with a large number of French officers. They first rode
170 robe;rt morris the; j'inancier of the; re;voIvUTion
to the city tavern, thence to the house of Mr. Morris, where
they were appropriately entertained. This dwelhng originally be-
longed to Richard Penn, grandson of Wm. Penn, but had received
extensive improvements from its proprietor.
In 1795 Mr. Morris was persuaded by Monsieur L. Enfant,
a Fiench architect, to enter upon a scheme, which subjected
him to great pecuniary loss, the building of a splendid man-
sion on a new site. He said he could sell his High street, or
Market street property for $80,000, and was told he could
put up a magnificent structure for $60,000. He therefore
bought nearly the whole square bounded by Chestnut, Wal-
nut, Seventh and Eighth streets, for i 10,000, or $26,600, and
the architect proceeded with the work. The ground was twelve
or fifteen feet higher than it is at present, and was a com-
manding location. Cellars of two and in some places three
stories underground were dug with extensive vaults and mas-
sive arches ; the superstructure was reared two stories in height
with lofty ceilings ; the whole exterior was faced with marble
with much carved ornamentation in relief, and furniture was
imported from Europe at lavish expense. The result was the
most beautiful private dwelling in America. But Mr. Morris was
often seen gating at it with mortification and regret, and was
heard to utter bitter exclamations at his own folly and the ex-
travagance of the architect. Soon after this he was involved in
financial troubles and the grand palace was seized by his
creditors. But it was so far beyond the need of any one that
no purchaser could be found even at a minimum price ; it was
therefore taken down at great cost ; most of the cellars were
filled up and the materials sold in lots to the highest bidder.
Toward the last part of his life Mr. Morris displayed less
wisdom in the management of his own affairs than he had
done previously in those of the Government. He purchased
2,500 acres of land in Bucks county along the Delaware op-
posite Trenton. The earliest date of his ownership is 1787,
when Manassah Cutler mentions that he saw several long
buildings, which Mr. Morris had erected. The place took the
name of Morrisville. Tn the tract he had fourteen farms,
a grist-mill, rolling-mill, wire-mill, snuff-mill, plaster-mill.
ROBERT MORRIS THE FINANCIER OE THE REVOLUTION 17I
an iron-forge, a saw-mill, a brewery, a fine house for his
own residence with suitable outbuildings, and a stone quarry.
In 1794 he directed his son William, who was then in London
to visit a Mr. Wood, who he understood could build a steam
engine, and get him to come to America ; and stated, that if
the machinist had not money sufficient, he would furnish means
to construct the engine and make the voyage; he cautioned him,
however, not to attract the attention of the British Government,
which would do everything in its power to prevent the growth
of manufactures in the new Republic. The Duke De Liancourt,
a French nobleman, gives a description of Morrisville, and re-
marks that Robert Alorris owns the whole of it ; and that
he had started iron-works and other manufactures. All these
enterprises failed to be remunerative ; they were in advance of
the times. The estimated value of the property was $250,000;
but on it were two mortgages, the first to the Insurance Com-
pany of North America for $73,000, and the second for $25,000
to George Clymer, one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence.
Morrisville is within the district originally chosen as the
site of the capital of the United States. In 1784, while Con-
gress was in session at Trenton, it appointed a commission of
three members, one of whom was Mr. Morris, to procure land
near the Falls of the Delaware for public buildings. It was to
be not less than two, nor more than three, miles square, and
they were authorized to erect suitable edifices in an elegant
manner, and to draw on the treasury for $100,000. It was
understood that the spot for the Hall of Congress was to be
the high ground west of Morrisville. Soon after Congress
adjourned to New York and influence adverse to the plan arose.
Washington was in favor of a more southern location, and it
was finally decided, as a compromise between the North and
South, that the seat of the National Government should be
temporarily, for ten years, in Philadelphia, and permanently
on the banks of the Potomac.
Besides the village bearing his name, Mr. Morris owned a
tract which was called in an inventory of his possessions, the
Neshaminy estate, and a farm of no acres in Plumstead town-
1/2 ROBERT MORRIS THE FINANCIER OE THE REVOLUTION
ship. With John Nicholson and James Greenleaf he organ-
ized the North American Land Company and bought millions
of acres in different sections of the country at low prices, from
a few cents to a dollar an acre. They had 4,300,000 acres in
the region of the Genessee in New York State and vast tracts
in Northampton, Luzerne, Washington and other counties of
Pennsylvania. Greenleaf was an unprincipled sharper and
through him Mr. Morris lost all he possessed. In 1798 Mr.
Morris was arrested for debt by suit of Charles Eddy, whom
he pronounced "the most hardened villian God ever made."
Having no means to satisfy his creditors, he was confined in
prison three years and six months.
It has been said with some truth that he used his private
fortune for his country, but that in his time of trouble his
country forgot him. Still it is proper to remark that his ul-
timate descent to poverty did not come from his connection
with the Government, but from his own imprudent speculations.
He wrote to a friend in England that ''although he suf-
fered much loss of property by the war, on the whole he had
gone through the crisis about even. He had lost as many as
150 vessels and mostly without insurance, as he could not
get it effected ; but as many escaped and made excellent prof-
its, his losses were made good to him, or nearly so." While
he was in prison he was visited by Washington more than once,
who still esteemed him a dear friend. He was released in
1 80 1, and lived about five years after, dying in 1806, at the
age of seventy-two. His wife survived him 21 years. They had
seven children, sons and daughters, several of whom were sent
to Europe to be educated in France and Germany.
The Battle of the Crooked Billet.
BY Ge;n. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLKSTOWN, PA.
(Hatboro Meeting, July 17, 1894).
The Delaware-Schuylkill peninsula, including both banks of
these rivers, is richer in Revolutionary history than any other
section of the country. The war was almost fought within these
narrow limits ; it was the alpha and omega of the movement that
gave constitutional government to America. Here the war for
independence was given form and substance by that immortal
Declaration, which electrified the world by announcing that "all
men are. created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, gov-
ernments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed."
As the war progressed, this peninsula was repeatedly traversed
by the Continental Army with Washington at its head ; and, in the
dark days of December, 1776, when driven out of New Jersey,-
it sought shelter behind the friendly waters of the Delaware,
whence it turned on the foe and gained the victories at Trenton
and Princeton. On four occasions the army crossed this penin-
sula immediately preceding, or following, important events in the
war; in 1777, to open the campaign of Brandywine and German-
town; in 1778, to strike the enemy in flank at Monmouth while
escaping from Philadelphia to New York; in 1781, on its march
to cross swords with Cornwallis at Yorktown ; and, after his sur-
render, to return by the same route later in the Fall. At the close
of the war, delegates assembled at the capital city of this penin-
sula and formed that constitution which welded thirteen feeble
Colonies into the most powerful Nation of the world ; and here
was established the capital of the infant Republic, and the new
Government successfully launched on its career of greatness.
Starting fiom this village of Hatboro (formerly called Crooked
Billet), a pedestrian of ordinary power, can walk to any one of
the eight battlefields ot tie Revohition m a single day; Trenton^
174 the; battle of the crooked bieeet
Princeton, Brandywine, Paoli, Germantown, Fort Mifflin, Red
Bank and Monmouth, not to mention the Crooked Billet. In
addition to these fields is Valley Forge, where more courage was
required than in any other battle of the war. I repeat, that no
section of the country is so rich in Revolutionary history and
incident as this peninsula.
The Fall and Winter of 1777-78 were among the most trying
periods of the war. The preceding campaign had been disas-
trous to our arms. Defeated at Brandywine; forced to retreat
at Germantown in the moment of victory ; the fall of Fort
Mifflin and Red Bank, the keys to the Delaware, and the enemy
in possession of Philadelphia, military operations closed with little
apparent hope for the cause of the Colonies. As the Winter set
in Washington marched with his ragged battalions to the bleak
hills of Valley Forge, where he encountered a more inexorable
foe than British bayonet or Hessian sabre.
Washington, finding it necessary to have this peninsula guard-
ed by a military force to prevent supplies reaching the enemy at
Philadelphia, placed it in command of John Lacey, a Bucks
county Quaker, Brigadier General of militia. He had seen ser-
vice as Captain in Wayne's Regiment on the Canadian frontiers,
and was esteemed an excellent officer. He entered upon duty in
January, 1778, under special instructions from the Commander-in-
Chief. He was active during the Winter and Spring, with a force
never large enough for the duty required of him, patrolling the
country and trying to prevent intercourse with the city. He
was constantly moving, and we find his headquarters, in turn,
at Graeme Park on the county line, Rodman's farm, now the
Bucks county almshouse property, at Doylestown, the Crooked
Billet, and at other places. Despite all his efforts to break up
intercourse between city and country, it had become so frequent
by the end of. March it was seriously contemplated to depopu-
late the country between the Delaware and Schuylkill for the
distance of fifteen miles, but the plan failed to receive Washing-
ton's approval. He had frequent encounters with the enemy,
sometimes meeting with loss.
Near the close of April we find Lacey moving down the York
road as far as Edge Hill to watch a party of the enemy, but, learn-
TH:e battle; of thd crooked billet 175
ing they had gone to Philadelphia, he returned to the Crooked
Billet with his whole force, about 400 militia. He encamped in
a wood owned by Samuel Irvine, on the east side of the York
road, at the upper end of the village, the right resting on the
road and facing south. Lacey quartered in a stone house,
on the opposite side of the road, owned by one Gilbert, many
years the home of the late John M. Hoagland, and now the prop-
erty of Thomas Reading. Here he was attacked at daylight May
I, by a large body of British, suffered considerable loss in killed,
wounded and prisoners, and was obliged to fall back a couple of
miles. He had taken the ordinary precautions to prevent sur-
prise, but his orders were not carried out. The evening before he
was joined by a body of unarmed militia.
General Howe, the British commander, had it in contemplation
to attack and disperse Lacey's force, and Major Simcoe, the com-
mander of the Queen's Rangers, a refuge corps, was charged with
making the arrangements. He was familiar with the country,
having traversed it in most directions ; and had sent spies into
Lacey's neighborhood, and had all his movements watched. He
learned that Lacey expected to be at the Billet May i, and gained
other information that would be of value, which was reported
to General Howe with his plans. They were approved and the
expedition ordered. In addition to the Queen's Rangers, a con-
siderable body of cavalry and light infantry was detailed, and
spare horses were to be taken along to mount the infantry should
that be necessary ; the whole to be under the command of Lieut.
Col. Abercrombie.
The following plan of attack was agreed upon. The British
were to reach the vicinity of Lacey's camp at daylight. The
Queen's Rangers were to attack his left flank and rear, which,
if successful, would prevent his falling back to the hills of
Neshaminy ; while a body, to be placed in ambush on the road
leading from the Billet to Horsham meeting-house, would cut
off his retreat to the main army at Valley Forge. Simcoe was
to bring on the attack, and, when the firing of the Rangers was
heard, a third body was to move up the York road through the
Billet, and attack Lacey's camp in front. This would place the
Americans between two fires, and, it was thought by acting in
concert, their object could be accomplished without difficulty.
176 THE BATTLE OF THE CROOKED BIEEET
The British troops left Philadelphia on the afternoon of April
30, with guides acquainted with the country. They marched out
Second street, and up the Middle, or Oxford road through the
Fox Chase to Huntingdon Valley. Here the force was divid-
ed, the main body, composed of light infantry and cavalry and
commanded by Abercrombie in person, marching by the nearest
route to the York road and thence to the place of the proposed
ambuscade. Simcoe with the Queen's Rangers and some cavalry,
continued up the Middle road above the Sorrel Horse tavern;
turned into the- Byberry road, and along it to Lloyd's Corner ;
then turned to the right into the road leading from the Willow
Grove to the county line; now changed to the left, at Bean's
Corner, now Kimball's, and came into the county line a short
distance above where the old "eight-square" school-house stood.
In a few hundred yards they took to the fields across the farm of
Isaac Boileau the nearest way to the Billet.
During the night Simcoe fell in with Captain _ Thomas' com-
pany of armed refugees and barely escaped an encounter with
them. The enemy was anxious to capture Lacey ; spies were
placed in the trees about his quarters to watch his movements ;
and Captain Kerr, who marched with Simcoe, was ordered to
seize and hold Lacey's quarters with his detachment of horse
as a rallying point. The enemy marched with all possible speed
but daylight appeared before Simcoe reached Lacey's camp. He
had escaped all the patrols.
I have stated that Lacey took the necessary precautions to
prevent surprise. He gave orders the evening before for the
patrols to leave camp at 3 o'clock, but it was near daylight be-
fore they left. Lieut. Neilson, who took the road to Horsham,
came within sight of the cavalry and light infantry in a mile,
and sent a soldier back to camp to give the alarm. He found
the militia paraded. The patrol under Lieut. Laughlin returned
to camp after a scout of a couple of miles without discovering the
enemy, but heard firing before getting back.
Abercrombie, fearing he should not be in time to support Sim-
coe's attack, detached a part of the cavalry and the mounted
infantry, to the place of ambush, while he marched up the York
road with the main body to strike Lacey in front. From the way
Lacey was hemmed in, Abercrombie probably sent a detachment
the; battle of the crooked bieeet 177
up the Easton road to turn his right flank and fail upon his rear
in concert with the Queen's Rangers. Tliey must have come into
the York road where the cfounty line crosses it, and where the
cavalry attacked Lacey's left soon after he began his retreat.
General Lacey states in his report to General Armstrong, that
one detachment of the enemy passed the cross roads in his rear
before his scouts got there.
The enemy was within 200 yards of Lacey's camp when first
discovered. He was in bed, but dressed in a hurry, mounted his
horse and joined his command. It is charged that he carried
part of his clothes in his hands. The enemy, in his front and
rear, opened fire about this time, being sheltered by the houses
and fences. Seeing himself nearly surrounded, and the enemy's
force superior to his own, Lacey ordered a retreat, moving by
column to the left in the direction of a wood across open fields,
the wagons following, and in full view of the enemy in pursuit
He states that when he emerged into the open fields, and a body
of the enemy's horse appeared in front, his men gave him an
anxious look, as if asking him what they should do. He ordered
them to "deliver their fire and push on." His flanking parties
now began exchanging shots with the enemy and were soon hotly
engaged.
Lacey moved across the fields in tolerable order to the wood,
probably the tract that belongs to the late William K. Goentner's
estate. Here he made a stand. By this time the several parties
of the enemy had come up, and attacked him on all sides. He
says in his report to Washington : "I kept moving on till I made
the wood, when the party of both horse and foot came up the
Byberry road and attacked my right flank; the party from the
Billet fell upon my rear; the horse from the rear of n;y camp
came upon my left flank, and a body of horse appeared directly
in front." The situation of things shows that Lacey was sur-
rounded, and his position critical. The enemy now began to con-
centrate on the wood, and General Lacey being much exposed,
and having already suffered considerable loss, thought it safer to
move on, which he did with the loss of all his baggage.
The force which appeared on Lacey's right flank and front,
about the time he reached the wood, was Simcoe's rangers and
cavalry. When Simcoe left the county line and struck across the
178 THE BATTLE OE THE CROOKED BIELET
fields directly for the Billet, and, while explaining to his officers
his plan of attack, hearing firing in the direction of Abercrombie's
detachment, he exclaimed, "The dragoons have discovered us,"
and pushed on at a rapid pace to join in the action. He came up
on the right flank of the retreating Americans, as already stated,
intercepting on his march some small parties of fleeing militia-
men, several of whom were killed. He dispatched a party of
cavalry to intercept Lacey's baggage, and captured it while cross-
ing the fields. While the Americans were marching through the
wood, Simcoe resorted to a ruse, thinking it might induce them to
lay down their arms. Riding within hailing distance he ordered
them to surrender, and, as they did not halt, he gave, in a loud
tone, the commands, "Make ready, present, fire," to deceive them
into the belief that he had a body of troops with him. In this he
was disappointed ; they continued to move on, paying no other
attention to him than bowing their heads at the word "fire." The
retreating Americans were pursued for a couple of miles, skirm-
ishing with the enemy, an occasional man falling. They passed
across the farm of Thomas Craven and by the present Johnsville
to near the Bristol road, when they turned to the left into a wood,
when pursuit was relinquished. Entering the York road near
Hartsville, Lacey moved down towards the scene of the late con-
flict, hoping to find the enemy oft" his guard in the hour of vic-
tory, but he had retired, carrying his wounded and most of his
killed with him.
The loss was not heavy on either side, and that of the British
not accurately known. General Lacey reports 26 killed and 8 or
TO wounded, most of whom fell while crossing the open fields.
Several were taken prisoners. Lacey lost three officers killed, two
with the patrols, and Captain Downey, acting commissary of sub-
sistence. Captain Downey had taught school in Philadelphia, and
rendered valuable services in the war, among other duties making
a military survey of the Delaware. He was first wounded in the
shoulder, and afterward bayoneted and attacked in a brutal man-
ner. The loss of the enemy is still more uncertain, as he carried
most of his killed, and all his wounded, away with him. He
left five dead bodies on the field. A field officer is supposed to
have been killed, and another officer was badly wounded in the
knee, and he was carried to the farm-house of Thomas Craven.
THE BATTI^E OF THE CROOKED BIEEET I79
where his wound was dressed. In the report of Major Simcoe
he admits some of his rangers were wounded, and says the shoe
buckles of Captain McGill probably saved the life of that ofticer.
The Americans were buried in one grave above Craven's Coiner
and near the county line; the wounded were taken to the house
of Thomas Craven until able to be removed. After burying the
dead and caring for the wounded, General Lacey fell back to the
north bank of the Neshaminy above the Cross Roads, now Harts-
ville. The captured baggage was taken to Philadelphia and hold,
the proceeds being divided among the soldiers of the expedition,
yielding about a dollar to each man.
The British are charged with extreme cruelty to our wounded
at the Crooked Billet, which I fain would disbelieve for the
sake of humanity and the credit of the English name, but the
evidence is conclusive, and the witnesses unimpeached. In a field
on the Craven farm, and near the county line was a large pile
of buckwheat straw. Garret Grewson, a respectable man living
in the neighborhood, says several of our fatigued militiamen
crept into this straw about sunrise ; that a Tory told the British,
and they set fire to the straw while our men were asleep. Some
were burned to death, and others so badly burned they died shortly
afterward. Several of our wounded, who had crept into the
straw for shelter, were likewise burned by the enemy. General
Lacey in a letter to General Armstrong, under date of May 7.
writes :
"Many of the unfortunates, who fell into the merciless hands of the British,
were cruelly and inhumanly butchered. Some were set on fire with buck-
wheat straw, and others had their clothes burned on their backs. Some of
the surviving sufferers say they saw the enemy set fire to the wounded while
they were yet alive, but struggled to put it out, but were too weak, and ex-
pired under the torture. I saw those lying in the buckwheat straw ; they
made a most melancholy appearance. Others, I saw, who, after being
wounded by a ball, had received near a dozen wounds with cutlasses and
bayonet. I can find as many witnesses to the proof of these cruelties as
there were people on the spot, and that was no small number who came as
spectators."
After the British returned from pursuit of the Americans,
they visited several houses, mainly in quest of something to eat.
There was little plundering, but general consternation prevailed.
A small party went to the dwelling of David Marple, an aged man,
i8o the; battle of the crooked bielet
grandfather of the late Col. David Marple, and ordered the family
to catch and cook the chickens for them. They were not allowed
even to spare the setting hens on their nests. The conduct of
the enemy, however, was not as bad as often witnessed on similar
occasions.
In my boyhood the old people of the neighborhood were full
of incidents connected with the battle ; I listened to their recitals
with intense interest, and treasured them with the greatest
care. Captain Baird, an ofificer in the action, and, I believe, a
witness of the affair, said the last British soldier was killed in a
wood on the south side of the Bristol road just above what was
then known as "Hart's Corner." He was chasing a militiaman
named Vandyke, and had snapped one of his pistols at him. The
latter, in his alarm, forgot he was carrying a loaded musket, and
was in a fair way of getting a bullet through his head. As the
dragoon was about drawing his second pistol, Vandyke thought
of his musket, and, taking deliberate aim at the soldier, shot him
dead, when, mounting his horse, he rejoined his retreating com-
rades.
Stephen Beans, the father of the late Robert Beans, related
substantially the same story, as told him by a son of Thomas
Craven, who said he saw a trooper shot near a wood on the John
Mentz farm, and within sight of the Craven homestead. He
was leading his father's horses to the wood to conceal them,
when he saw a militiaman rest his gun on a fence, aim at his
pursuer, and shoot him from his horse; that the horse — dun
colored, with a black stripe down his back — ran to his horses,
was caught by him, and taken by the militiaman, who mounted
and rode away. Mr. Beans related another incident that oc-
curred under his own observation. His parents lived at the
old Beans homestead opposite the lane of Harman, now Stephen,
Yerkes on the Street road. All the men being absent, either
witli the militia or hiding the stock, his mother took him, then
a small boy, down to the Yerkes house, which then consisted
of the small end of the present building. During Lacey's re-
treat a tired militiaman came into the room ; said he was closely
pursued and wanted to hide under the bed that stood m a
corner of the room. The women advised him not to do so.
the; battle oe the: crooke;d bii.Ive;t i8i
telling him there was a heap of straw in the Bean's barnyard,
where he could more safely conceal himself.
He went out the back door, and, by keeping the house be-
tween him and his pursuers, reached the straw without being
seen. The enemy, four in number, soon entered the house,
and demanded where the militiaman was concealed. They re-
fused to accept a denial that he was there, and proceeded
to search for themselves, jabbing their bayonets into the very
bed in which the militiaman wanted to hide. He returned
after a while and thanked the women for his deliverance, saying
his pursuers walked over the straw in which he was concealed,
and came near bayoneting him. Mr. Beans related this incident
in the same room which he saw the militiaman and his British
pursuers enter. He also stated that some of the Americans
who were killed, were buried on the Parry farm, near the Qua-
ker meeting-house. The last American is said to have been
killed while sitting on the fence on the north side of the Bristol
road, at the end of the road that runs across from Johnsonville.
He and a man named Cooper retreated along this road, and
were sitting on the fence resting before entering the timber.
Just then a couple of British dragoons, who were pursuing
them, raised the little hill beyond where General William W.
White lived, and, seeing the two militiamen, one of them fired
and Cooper's companion was killed. The bloofl stains remained
on the fence many years.
At that time two men lived in the neighborhood named Van-
Buskirk; both had the title of Captain, one a Whig, the other a
Tory. The British only knew the Whig, whom they had long
been anxious to arrest. During the burning of buckwheat
straw, the neighbors collected, and among them the Tory Cap-
tain. Hearing him called by name, a British officer asked him
if he were Captain VanBuskirk ; he answered "Yes," probably
expecting a compliment for his services to King George, but
he was arrested instead. He said he was not the Captain Van-
Buskirk they wanted, and asserted his loyalty, but it availed
nothing. The neighbors looked smilingly on, thinking it a
good joke. He was taken to Philadelphia, thrown into prison
and kept there until some one vouched for his loyalty ; he was
1 82 THE BATTLE OF THE CROOKED BIEEET
then liberated and apologies made, but this did not heal the
wound. Ever after he was as good a Whig as his namesake.
The medicine effected a cure.
Soon after Simcoe turned into the crossroad at Lloyd's
Corner on his way to the Billet, he halted to get a guide from
the old house on the Kelley farm. A young man put his head
out of a window and was ordered to dress and come down;
and was then threatened with death if he did not show them
the way. This he agreed to do if they would give him their
fastest horse to ride so he could escape should the "rebels"
attempt to capture him. They mounted him on one of their
fleetest horse, he, watching his opportunity, put whip to it and
escaped. The enemy fired at him but this only increased his
speed. This was told me by the late Judge William Watts, when I
was a boy; he saw the escaped guide, without hat or coat, rid-
ing at the top of his speed, about daylight in the morning,
across the breast of the Davisville mill-dam.
One of Simcoe's officers left his horse at Isaac Boileau's
on the county line in charge of a negro, threatening hiiii with
punishment if he let the "rebels" have it, and hastened across
the fields with his command. After a while a militiaman came
along and compelled the negro to give him the horse, which
he mounted and rode off. After the fighting was over the
officer returned, and flew into a great rage on finding his
horse gone. The alarmed negro explained it as well as he
could, but this did not satisfy the Englishman; the slave was
arrested and taken along, but was released after going a few
miles. This was related to me by an eye-witness.
Isaac Tompkins, a small boy at the time, was living with
his parents in the old Fretz building, and had a distinct recol-
lection of the day. He had just got up, about sunrise, when
his sister, who had been sent into the garden to plant cu-
cumber seed, came running into the house shouting "the Brit-
ish are coming," and, on looking out, he saw a body of red-
coated dragoons marching up the road. They were part of
Abercrombie's command w'hich came across from Horsham
meeting-house and attacked Lacey in front.
Nathan Marple, father of the late Colonel David Marple, was
the; battIvE of the; crooke;d bille;t 183
then a boy of about sixteen, and lived with his father at the Bil-
let. He heard firing in the morning, and, supposing Lacey's
men were getting ready to drill, started across the fields to go
to them. He had not gone far, however, when he saw the
British dragoons riding across a field toward the camp; they
wore cloaks which concealed their red coats. He took warning
at what he saw, and returned home. He further related, that
he saw an officer ride some distance in front of his men, halt,
rise up in his stirrups and look around as if reconnoitering.
He immediately heard the report of a gun, and saw the officer
fall to the ground, when the horse wheeled round and cantered
back to the company.
Nearly forty years ago. Safety Maghee, of Northampton
township, Bucks county, then in his ninty-sixth year, related
to me the following as his recollection of events connected
with the battle of the Crooked Billet. He said :
"In 1778 I was living with my uncle, Thomas Folwell, in Southampton
township where Horatio Gates Yerkes lives (now Cornell Hobensack's on
the road from Davisville to Southampton Baptist meeting-house). On the
morning of the battle of the Billet, I heard the firing very distinctly, and a
black man named Harry, and myself concluded we would go and see what
was going on. I was then about 13 years old. We started from the house
and went directly toward where the firing was. When we came near where
Johnsville stands, we heard a volley there which brought us to a
halt. The firing was in the wood. The British were in pursuit of
our militia and chased them along the road from Johnsville to the
Bristol road and also through the fields from the street, to the Bris-
tol road. They overtook the militia in the woods near the Street road.
When the firing ceased we continued on and found three wounded
militiamen near the wood ; they appeared to have been wounded by a sword
and were much cut and hacked. When we got to them they were groaning
greatly. They died in a little while and I understood were buried on the
spot. They appeared to be Germans. We then passed on, and in a field
near by we saw two horses lying dead ; they were British. One of them
was shot in the head, and the gun had been put so near the hair was
scorched. While we were on the field, Harry picked up a cartouch box that
had been dropped or torn off the wearer. Shortly after we met some of the
militia returning, and, when they saw the black-fellow with the cartouch
box they became very much enraged ; accused him of robbing the dead, and
took it away from him. These dead horses were on the farm of Colonel
Hart, now the property of Comly Walker. Soon after this we returned
home."
The late Jonathan Delaney, of Warminster, used to relate
184 THie BATTLK OF THE; CROOKED BILIvET
the following circumstance he witnessed. He was living at
the time at Frankford, through which one detachment of the Brit-
ish passed on their return to the city. Among the prisoners was
an old man who wore on his shoes a pair of large silver buckles,
which attracted the attention of a soldier while marching along
the street, who left the ranks and stooped down to pull them
off. The old man, who was not disposed to be thus robbed of
his property, struck the would-be thief on the head with his
fist and knocked him down, the other soldiers, who witnessed
the act, giving a loud shout of approval of the prisoner's cour-
age.
The news of the battle soon spread over the country, and many
of the inhabitants were so much alarmed they would not venture
from home until assured that the British had returned to the
city. A child of Samuel Flack, who kept the tavern at Doyles-
town where the Fountain house stands, had previously died,
and was to be buried on that day at Neshaminy; but the alarm
was such only four persons would venture with the corpse to
the place of burial. These were two young men and a couple
of young women, one of the latter being a Miss Mary Doyle,
afterward Mrs. Mitchell and the mother of the late Mrs. Na-
thaniel Cornell, of Doylestown. They were all mounted, the
men being armed, one of them carrying the coffin. They rode
the fastest horses they could get, so they might be able to escape
should the enemy pursue them. When they reached the bury-
ing-ground, the young men dismounted and buried the corpse,
the two young women remained on horseback ready to fly at the
first alarm. This sad duty discharged the young men remount-
ed, and they all rode home as rapidly as possible. They
could see the smoke from the burni'-«g buckwheat straw.
A few days after the battle General Lacey ordered a general
court-martial to try the officers of his scouts and patrols for
disobedience and neglect of duty on the morning of the attack.
It met at camp on the Neshaminy, May 4, with Colonel Smith,
President and William Findley, afterward Governor of the
State, Judge Advocate. Lieut. Neilson was found guilty and
dismissed from the service, but Ensign Laughlin was acquitted and
ordered to rejoin his regiment. The court tried a number of
the; battlk of the; crooke;d bili^et 185
citizens and soldiers for various offences, holding intercourse
with the enemy, &c., &., some were found gulty and sentenced
to be whipped, others to be confined in the Lancaster jail.
General Lacey was subjected to severe and unjust criticism
for the affair at the Crooked Billet, and especially by those hos-
tile to the cause of the Colonies, The attempt to hold him re-
sponsible for the reverse he met signally failed, and his con-
duct received the approval of his superiors. His situation was
a critical one, and only the coolest judgment and most deter-
mined courage of himself and men saved him from the capture
of his entire force. He took the necessary precaution to obtain
the earliest information of the approach of the enemy and pre-
vent surprise, but his orders were disobeyed. His actions will
bear the closest scrutiny. His camp of 400 men was surprised
and nearly surrounded ; he had raw militia, the enemy were
veterans inured to war. Practically, he cut his way out with
the small loss of some 35 killed and wounded and a few prisoners.
He had to march across an open country most of the distance,
fighting every foot of the way, the enemy pressing him at the
same time in front and rear and on both flanks. I am astonished
he was able to extricate himself from his perilous situation;
and it seems quite like a miracle he did not fall into the enemy's
hands with his entire force. His action was so highly appre-
ciated by the Executive Council of the State, that the Secretary
wrote General Lacey on May 16: "Your conduct is highly
approved ; and your m.en have justly acquired great reputation
by their bravery."
In conclusion, I present a new and interesting incident connec-
ted with the battle of the Crooked Billet, and although I had
known of it for several years, I only received it in writing on the
13th inst. It came to me in a letter from the Rev. R. W. Luther,
D. D. dated Newark, N. J., July 12, 1894. He writes:
"My grandfather, James Luther, was at the Crooked Billet with his
brother, William. At the surprise he and his brother were encamped some
little distance away from the main body of our troops, with several others
guarding a wagon in which was the camp chest with |8oo in silver, together
with papers, orders, etc. At some period he was Quarter-master of the Fly-
ing Camp, and, from the fact that this money was committed to him, he was
probably acting in a similar capacity at this time. This is only conjecture.
" After the surprise, and during the confusion, he and his guard started to
lOD THE battle; of the crooked BIIvLET
escape with the wagon and contents, intending to get to Valley Forge.
They laid down a panel of fence and tried to reach a piece of woods near by.
They had crossed two fields, when, suddenly over the brow of a hill, a
company of about seventy British horsemen appeared and rode down and
surrounded them. The guard offered what defence they could, especially
my grand-uncle William, but soon were forced to surrender. Attracted by
the shouts of soldiers when they discovered the money, a group of British
ofiicers rode up. As they approached, a trooper was cutting at my grand-
uncle, who was disarmed, but sheltering himself by seizing the trooper's
bridle and dodging under the horse's head. The trooper was enraged by the
defence made. As the group of officers rode up, a young officer called out,
" has the man surrendered?" The other troopers answered, " He has, my
Lord." The young officer ordered the trooper to desist, and when he still
cut at my grand-uncle, paying no attention to the order, the officer drew a
pistol and shot him off his horse. My grand-uncle, who was severely
wounded, was placed in the saddle, and the whole party were taken to the
tavern .
" My grandfather said that so long as they were with the British regulars
they had good treatment, but the next day, being put in charge of some
Tories, they were stripped of most of their clothing and their shoes, and all
their valuables. When they were going into Philadelphia, the Tories con-
gregated at a tavern, threw bottles in the road compelling them to walk
over the broken glass. My grandfather and his brother were taken to New
York ; afterward were exchanged, and William died on the return tramp,
from hardship and privations in the prisons.
" M}' grandfather returned to the village of Concord in what is now
Franklin count)^, Pa., to recruit men for his company, and there command-
ed the force which rescued the village from an attack of Tories and Indians.
Subsequently he served during the war.
"I have given you, my dear General, this account as I have heard it
many times from my father, he hearing it from my grandfather and his
fellow soldiers. Grandfather survived until 1826."
First Settlers' Descendants.
BY ALFRED PASCHALL, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Doylestowii Meeting, January 22, 1895).
If the commandment to honor parents were the criterion of
judg-ment Americans would be generally and severely con-
demned. We have been too busy with the present to even
think of the past, much less to do it honor and respect. We
have been too much absorbed in overreaching our brothers to-
day to render the respect and remembrance due our progeni-
tors for what we are and what we have. I say have been ad-
visedly, because there is a disposition, becoming each year more
marked, to recall the past, to honor our predecessors, to mem-
orialize the events of the Country's early history, and to pledge
anew our faith to the principles which our forefathers pro-
mulg-ated. The patriotic societies and the associations of de-
scendants of the military heroes of '76 are especially active in
this work and are accomplishing a conspicuous efifect in the
cause of hereditary patriotism.
The development of two hundred years in America is stu-
pendous as it is matchless. It is not wonderful that successive
generations have been closely absorbed by the topics of their
times, and thus have lived in their present rather than in the
past. Each succeeding set of people have thought their times
the best times, and the active, ardent, hustling citizens of each
period have been busy with themselves and their affairs, to the
exclusion of what their ancestors have had or have been. Of
course there are many honorable and conspicuous individual
exceptions, but the general statement is true. Sufficient unto
the day were the interests thereof and the past — if there was a
past — was permitted to slumber in oblivion. This condition was
fostered by the further fact that many could not if they would
trace their ancestry beyond three generations, and many, very
many, could not and now cannot go back two generations with-
out getting out of the United States.
Under such circumstances it is not strange that the reverence
i88 FIRST si;ttle;rs' descendants
to our fathers, to the generations which have preceded us, and
contributed to the welfare of our Country and the prosperity of
our times, have been ignored or forgotten or even unknown
among a large mass of our people. That conditions should be
thus, however, is both wrong and unfortunate. It is debasing
to one of the best attributes of the human mind. It is weaken-
ing to our respect for ourselves and our people. It lessens,
along with our family regard,, our patriotic pride and the love
and sympathy and fraternity which we should feel for the com-
mon Country of our fathers and ourselves. In its personal and
family aspect the interest we should feel and the respect we
should render to our forefathers is a matter for individuals.
What may be attained in knowledge or satisfaction by the
study of ancestry and genealogy is for each a larger or smaller
subject as circumstances decree. But it is individual and must
be pursued each for himself.
In the broader, general sense of honor to our parents who
were the settlers and founders of this Nation, there is loving
loyalty and patriotic devotion and support of principles, which
are a source of strength to nations as well as an honorable char-
acteristic among men, and that this tendency is increasing among
us is alike honorable and promising. Our people are to-day mani-
festing a disposition to look with favor upon this phase of the
subject. There are more patriotic and antiquarian societies than
there were even a half century back. Events of the past two hun-
dred years are constantly being made more prominent. Dates of
important historical events are being celebrated with a growing
warmth and fervor. Gifted speakers in glowing words are calling
the attention of descendants to the great deeds of their an-
cestors, or to the remarkable events of our history, or to the
heroism of conviction and principle, which are our priceless heri-
tage and which made our Country's record the history we are
proud of.
Yet the lines of the existing associations are narrow and
the forefathers whom they honor are of the not distant past.
These societies are entirely right so far as they go, and in
time will be of greater antiquity than at present. With all hon-
or and respect to all the societies which draw inspiration and
FIRST Sl^TTLERS' DESCENDANTS 189
existence, and foster patriotism and family respect upon the
great events and glorious histor}/ of the days of '76, I think
it would be possible and advisable to go further back into our
history, to show deference and respect to at least as great and
good principles, to honor equally our first parents in this Coun-
try, to secure a wider strength, a larger membership, a greater
influence, even a stronger patriotism, through an organization
of first settlers' descendants, than by any means yet suggested,
or even upon the memories of the greatest military struggle the
world has known.
The period previous to 1700 witnessed the arrival upon these
shores of a very large number of people who came for con-
sciences' sake. Religious convictions were the consideration
which determined a generous proportion to leave homes and
friends and kindred, and seek a habitation in the wilderness.
F^reedom to worship God as their consciences might determine,
was worth the risk of hardship, privations, sufferings, even life
itself. What they sought they found. What they found they
maintained. What they maintained they transmitted to their
posterity in the free land and free speech for free men, which
are to-day the boasted foundations of our institutions.
To uphold and extend these traditions and teachings of the
past, to honor our fathers that our day may be long in the
land which their and our God and their principles and teach-
ings have given us, there could be no more appropriate and
consistent ag-ency than an association of first settlers' descend-
ants. To practically map out such an organization is not a
feasible discussion for a paper of this character at this time.
A few points only can be suggested. The motto and sentiments
should be patriotic. The purpose should be the perpetuation of
the principles upon which the Country's cornerstone was laid
by the forefathers. The work should be the inculcation of
knowledge and respect as well as remembrance and recogni-
tion of the labors of those who are gone, given for the
National and our welfare. Eligibility to membership should be
restricted to those of the blood of the inhabitants of what is
now the United States previous to 1700 — now a term of about
two centuries. Both sexes should be included in the member-
190 FIRST SETTLERS DESCENDANTS
ship. Work should be pursued much as in the organizations
now existent, but should be more comprehensive in perfecting
genealogical lines downward, the proper dissemination of
large and accurate information and the encouragement of the
idea of Americanism — every citizen a sovereign. The associ-
ation should also be unique in that there should also be family
name chapters or branches as well as State, county and town-
ship subdivisions of a general National Society.
In such an organization as first settlers' descendants, if
made general and conducted upon proper lines, there would
be inevitably the strongest influences favoring patriotism, the
support of our institutions, the maintaining of early principles,
encouragement of individuality. Who should more warmly love
their Country than the children of those who settled it and
occupied the soil ? Who should more ardently support our in-
stitutions than the posterity of those who founded our insti-
tutions? Who should more strongly uphold principle than the
descendants of those who suffered for principle? Who should
more ardently foster individual strength of character and life than
they who are of the blood of strong and conscientious men? Yet
than these very aims and attributes there is nothing to-day
more lacking in our social, official and political conditions. In
the slang of the day, money talks, and in the social, official and
political functions of the times it has been and is money,
organization, sharpness and a "pull'' that count more than
manliness or brain, blood or principle. This is not unreservedlv
and universally a fact of course, but it is the popular tone of
our times. It is a wrong tone, and needs correction. If the
people whose ancestors founded this Country, who endured pri-
vations for principle, who watered the soil with their blood,
cannot and do not institute and urge the reform which shall
jealously guard and religiously care for the heritage bequeathed
to us, because of patriotic love and parental veneration, it is idle
to expect others to appreciate and show respect for the great-
ness of the past or hope of the future.
Again a fraternal society of the descendants of first settlers
would have a conspicuous effect in completely eradicating
sectionalism. The lives and deeds of the early settlers were
FIRST SETTIvERS DESCENDANTS IQl
a common heritage to all of their descendants, North, South,
East and West. The awakening and organization of this com-
mon interest and pride, could and would be the means of creat-
ing most intimate knowledge and closest ties among first set-
tlers' children, wherever scattered. Blood will tell and ties of
consanguinity, once established and recognized, would forever
strengthen our common relations and forever bar difficulties
such as the terrible events of the sixties. At this date there
are doubtless an immense number of persons eligible to the
membership of a society of first settlers' descendants, and they
are scattered in every State of the Union. It was the good
old fashion to rear large families in the early days of the Coun-
try's history, and there was less need of doctors than in these
times. Descent was numerous therefore, and in this day
doubtless runs in a goodly sum in eight figures.
In contemplating the nomenclature of the original States of
the Union there is but one bearing the name of the first propri-
etor and first Governor — Pennsylvania. In the subdivisions of
the Commonwealth there is but one county containing the
country home of him who gave his name and left his impress
upon history and settled here previous to 1700 — Bucks. What
more appropriate then than that under the auspices of the
Bucks County Historical Society, in the vicinity of Penn's man-
or home, in the State he founded and loved, established and
settled more than two centuries since, there should be organ-
ized the initial society of first settlers' descendants, to honor
the works and worth of our fathers of two centuries ago, to
perpetuate the principles they upheld and to inculcate loyalty
and patriotism, alike to principle and the land w^hich the first
settlers transmitted to us? Where better might such a society be
established than here, among the people many of whose family
names have been associated with the possession of the soil for
two hundred years?
There is no question involved of wealth — money can't buy
blood. There is no issue as to prominence or preferment.
Even eminence cannot always trace lineage. The first settlers"
descendants would be purely an American association, the
posterity of those whose coming here, made the Nation, in
192 EARLY SETTLERS IN BUCKS COUNTY
some six or eight generations, what it is, and in honoring
whom the Country would be honored and their posterity be
encouraged to bear a part in present affairs, as did their
forefathers in the past — for sound principles, for strong lives,
for high character, for the Country's welfare and for the honor
of succeeding generations.
Early Settlers in Bucks County.
BY GEN. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYEESTOWN, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 22, 1895).
A knowledge of the early settlers of a country — whence
they came and the character of the men they are — is always
a matter of deep interest ; and we are fortunate in having had
preserved to us so much that concerns the men who first pen-
etrated the wilderness west of the Deleware.
The first Europeans, to settle within what is now Bucks coun-
ty, were a few families of French Walloons, who located at a
trading-post on a small island near the west shore of the Dela-
ware, just below Trenton falls, about 1624-25. The post was
broken up a few years later and the Walloons returned to New
York.
Jocob Alricks, a trader on the Delaware, was one of <"he ear-
liest permanent comers, and previous to 1657. He was ac-
companied by his wife, who fell a victim to the climate. His
nephew, Peter Alricks, a native of Gronegen, Holland, who
probably came to America with his uncle, was the first known
land owner in Bucks county, but may never have lived here.
Beginning life as a trader, he was commissary of a fort near
Henlopen in 1659 ; was the first bailiff and magistrate of New
Castle and settlements on the river, his jurisdiction extending
to the Falls : was commandant of the Colonies under the En-
glish in 1673 ; was one of the first justices commissioned by
Penn after his arrival ; a member of the first assembly, held
in Philadelphia, in 1683, and was repeatedly a member of the
Provincial Council. He lived at New Castle and had a large
family of children. He owned an island in the Delaware be-
low the mouth of Mill creek, at Bristol, and it bore his name
EARI,Y SETTI^ERS IN BUCKS COUNTY I93
for many years, but has entirely disappeared. The island was
granted to Alricks by Governor Nicholls in 1667; by Alricks
to Samuel Borden, in 1682, and, by him, to Samuel Carpenter
in 1688. In 1679 Alricks' island was occupied by a Dutchman
named Barent. Herman Alricks, of Philadelphia, grandson
of Peter Alricks, when a young man, settled ni the Cumber-
land valley, about 1740, and when Cumberland county was
organized, 1749-50, he was the first member of the assembly.
He filled the various offices of register, recorder, clerk of
the courts and justice of the peace, to his death, in 1775. His
wife was a young Scotch-Irish girl named West, and her broth-
er Francis was the grandfather of the late Chief Justice Gibson.
Herman Alricks had several children, all born in Carlisle, the
youngest, James, in December 1769. The late Hamilton Al-
ricks, of Harrisburg, was a descendant of Peter Alricks, as
are probably all who bear this name in the State. ,
Duncan Williamson — known in the early records as "Dunk"
Williamson, (but the inscription on his tombstone reads Dun-
can,) was one of the earliest settlers on the river front in Bucks
county. His descendants claim that he came to America from
Scotland with his wife in 1660-61. We first hear of him in 1669,
when land was granted him on the east side of the Schuylkill
from the mouth up. He probably settled in Bensalem about
1677, when 100 acres were surveyed to him on the south side of
the Neshaminy in that township. In 1695 he bought 100 acres
additional, adjoining the tract he already owned, of Thomas
Fairman, for in silver money; part of 4,000 acres Fairman
had purchased of William Stenly and Peter Banton in 1689,
Dunk's ferry was named after him. He died about 1700, and
was buried in the Johnson burying-ground, Bensalem. Of his
wife nothing is known. His son William, who died in 1722,
left a widow and five sons, Jacob, Abraham, John, William and
Peter. Peter, the great-grandson of Duncan, Mas the grand-
father, on the mother's side, of Robert Crozier, of Morrisville.
A sister of Peter Williamson, who married Abraham Heed, died
in Solebury in 1834, aged loi years. The descendants of Dun-
can Williamson intermarried with the families of Vandegrift,
Walton, Burton, Crozier, Brewer, Vansant, Thompson and many
7
194 EARIvY SETTLERS IN BUCKS COUNTY
Others of this county and State, wherein many of them live.
Among them was the late Peter Williamson, Grand Treasurer
of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Pennsylvania. The late Isaiah
Williamson made the greatest name of all the descendants of
Duncan Williamson. He embarked in mercantile pursuits in
early life, and by close attention to business and the strictest
integrity in all his dealings, became one of the richest merchants
of Philadelphia, his fortune amounting to several millions. He
left the bulk of his wealth to found a mechanical school, w^here
poor boys are taught trades.
The first known Catholic in Bucks county, and probably in
the State, was an early settler in Falls township, Lyonel Britton,
who arrived in 1680. He was a Friend and a blacksmith by
trade, and came from Almy, in Bucks, England. He was one
of the first to arrive that year, and settled on 203 acres in the
bend of the Delaware at the upper corner of the Manor. Penn
patented it to him in 1684. A daughter died on the way up
the river, and was buried at Burlington. Another daughter,
Mary, born June 13, 1680, was, so far as is known, the first
child of English parents born in Bucks county, or probably in
the State. The record of Mary Britton's birth is in the register's
office, Doylestown, in the handwriting of Phineas Pemberton.
The name of Lyonel Britton is found on the panel of the first
grand jury drawn in Bucks county, June 10, 1685. He probably
left this county and removed to Philadelphia in 1688, which year
he conveyed his real estate in Falls to Stephen Beaks for £100.
He is noted in our early annals as the first convert to Catholicism
in the Colony. He assisted to read public mass in Philadelphia
in 1708, and was a church warden the same year. He died in
1 72 1, and his widow in 1741.
Samuel Carpenter, shipping merchant and miller, was one of
the most prominent of the early settlers in lower Bucks, and
left a high reputation behind him. He was born in Surry, Eng-
land ; went to the island of Barbadoes, whence he came to this
Province in 1683. He first settled at Philadelphia, where he
carried on extensive shipping business. At the close of the cen-
tury he was the largest land owner in Bristol township — some
2,000 acres, inchuling the site of the borough, and the tracts of
John Otter, Samuel Clift, Edward Bennet and Griffith Jones,
EARLY SETTI^KRS IN BUCKS COUNTY I95
running down the Delaware to the mouth of the Neshaminy;
and afterward purchased the tract of Thomas Holme, extending
back to the Middletown line, making about 1,400 acres. He
likewise owned two islands in the river. Samuel Carpenter
probably built the Bristol mills on what is now Mill creek, a
quarter of a mile from the river, and up to whose doors small
vessels came to load and unload freight. The saw-mill was 70
feet long and 32 wide, and able to cut 1,500 feet of lumber in
12 hours, a large amount for that period, and the flour-mill
had four run of stones, with an undershot wheel. There is some
uncertainty as to the time Mr. Carpenter built the mills, but as he
speaks of them in 1705, as being "newly built," it was probably
not earlier than the opening of the century. They earned a clear
profit of £400 a year, very considerable for that early day. The
mill-pond covered between two and three hundred acres. The
pine timber sawed at the mill was brought from Timber creek,
N. J., and the oak, cut from his own land nearby. At that time
the mill-race had about fifteen feet head and fall, and there was
water enough to run eight months in the year. Mr. Carpenter re-
moved from Philadelphia to Bristol and took up his permanent
residence there, about 1710-12, living in summer on Burlington
island, where his dwelling stood until 1828. He was the richest
man in the Province in 1701, but lost heavily by the French and
Indian war of 1703. At one time he ofi:ered to sell his Bristol
mills to his friend William Penn, and to Jonathan Dickinson, of
the island of Jamaica, in 1705. The wife of Samuel Carpenter
was Hannah Hardman, who came from Wales in 1684. He
died at Philadelphia in 1714, and his wife in 1728. His son
Samuel married a daughter of Samuel Preston and grandlaugh-
ter of Thomas Lloyd. Samuel Carpenter, the elder, was one of
the most conspicuous men of that period, and largely interested
in public affairs. At diiferent times he was a member of the
Executive Council, of the Assembly, and Treasurer of the Pro-
vince, and is spoken of in high terms by all his contemporaries.
The Ellets, who distinguished the War of the Rebellion on the
side of the Union, were descendants of Samuel Carpenter through
the intermarriage of the youngest daughter of his son Samuel
with Charles Ellet.
The Rev. Thomas Dungan, who came from Rhode Island with
196 EARLY SETTLERS IN BUCKS COUNTY
his family and settled in Bristol township, in 1684, was one of
the most conspicuous of our early settlers. Emigrants of this
name from Rhode Island had preceded him, and some of them
were on the west bank of the Delaware before Penn's arrival.
William Dungan, probably the eldest son of the Rev. Thomas,
came in advance to the Quaker colony, in which there was
neither let nor hindrance in freedom to worship God, and took
up 200 acres near Bristol. The grant was made by William
Markham, 6th. mo. 4th, 1682, and Penn confirmed it in 1684.
About this time a small colony from Rhode Island settled near
Cold Spring, one of the finest in the county, and near the river
bank, three miles above Bristol. It discharges 150 gallons a
minute. When the Rev. Thomas Dungan arrived he settled in
the immediate vicinity, and soon gathered a colony of Welsh
Baptists about him, and organized a church, which was kept to-
gether until 1702. Its history is little known. If a church-build-
ing were ever erected it long since passed away, but the grave-
yard, about 50 feet square, with a few dilapidated tombstones,
remains. It is supposed the land for the graveyard, etc., was
given by Thomas Stanaland, who died in 1753, and was buried
in it. Among others, buried in this old graveyard, were two
pastors at Pennypack, the Rev. Samuel Jones, who died in
1722, and Joseph Wood, in 1747. Thomas Dungan, the pastor,
died in 168S and was buried in the yard, but several years after-
wards a handsome tombstone was erected to his memory at
Southampton. The Rev. Elias Keach, the first pastor at Penny-
pack, and who afterwards became a celebrated English divine,
was baptized and ordained by Mr. Dungan, and probably studied
with him. The Rev. Thomas Dungan left five sons and three
daughters. In his will he bequeathed his real estate to his three
sons, Thomas, Jeremiah and John, after the death of their
mother, thev paying their sisters, Mary, Rebecca and Sarah, £s
each. The sons and daughters married into the families of Wing,
Drake, West, Richards, Doyle and Carrell. William, the eldest
son, married in Rhode Island, probably before he migrated to
Pennsylvania. The descendants of this Baptist pioneer became
numerous, and we have the authority of Morgan Edwards for
saying, that by 1770 they numbered between 600 and 700. The
family probably left Bristol in 1698, when four of the sons, Cle-
EARLY SETTLERS IN BUCKS COUNTY I97
ment, Thomas, Jeremiah and John, conveyed 200 acres to Walter
Plumphluy, and removed to Northampton township, the home
of the family for a long time. The descendants are still numer-
ous in the county, in both the male and female lines. Some mem-
bers of the family reached honorable positions in life. One was
Major General of militia in the early twenties; another, Joshua,
of Northampton township, an ardent temperance man and poli-
tician ; and Hugh E., son of Daniel, of Northampton, was
educated at West Point, graduated into the artillery, and died of
yellow fever at Fort Brown, Texas, in 1853.
William Yardley was one of the pioneers of Lower Makefield
township. He came with his wife, Jane, children, Enoch,
Thomas and William, and servant, Andrew Heath, from Ban-
clough, near Leek in Staffordshire, in 1862, arriving at the falls
September 28. The "falls of the Delaware" was an objective
point to Penn's first immigrants, for a little colony of English
settlers had gathered there five years before; hither many di-
rected their footsteps upon landing, whence they spread out into
the wilderness beyond. Several of these settlers pushed their
way into the woods up the river soon after arriving, among them
William Yardley, who took up a tract of 500 acres covering
the site of the present Yardley. He was born in 1632, was a
minister among Friends, and had been repeatedly imprisoned.
He took a prominent place in the new colony immediately he
arrived, and we find him a member from Bucks, of the first as-
sembly, and was also in the Provincial Council. He died in
1693. Thomas Janney wrote of William Yardley about the
time of his death : "He was a man of sound mind and good
understanding." He was an uncle to Phineas Pemberton. From
him have descended all the Yardleys of Bucks, and many else-
where, with almost unnumbered descendants in the female line.
The Kirkbrides were among the first to settle in Falls. The
ancestor was Joseph Kirkbride, son of Mahlon and Magdalene,
who came over in the Welcome, at the age of 19, running away
from his master and starting for the New World with a little
wallet of clothing and a flail. He was first employed at Penns-
bury, but soon removed to West Jersey. He was twice married,
his first wife being Phoebe, daughter of Randall Blackshaw,
to whom he was married March 14, 1688, and the second Sarah
198 EARLY SETTLERS IN BUCKS COUNTY
Stacy, daughter of Mahlon Stacy, proprietor of the site of
Trenton, and one of the most prominent men on the Delaware.
This marriage took place December 17, 1702. She died three
years after, leaving one son and two daughters. Joseph Kirk-
bride lived to become an influential and wealthy man, and a
leading minister among Friends ; he was a magistrate and a
member of assembly. In 1699 he went to England, visiting his
old master in Cumberland and paying him for the services he
had deprived him of seventeen years before, by running away.
He returned in 1701, and died in 1738 at the age of 75. From
his son Mahlon have descended all that bear his name in the
county. He married Mary, the daughter of John and Mary
Sotcher, favorite servants of William Penn, at the age of 20,
and settled in Lower Makefield, where he built a stone mansion
that stood until 1855, when it was torn down by a grandson of
the same name. Col. Joseph Kirkbride, who lived opposite Bor-
dentown, and was prominent in the county during the Revolu-
tion, was a grandson of the first Joseph. While the British army
occupied Philadelphia in the Winter of 1777-78 they made an
excursion up the Delaware, and burned the fine dwelling of
Col. Kirkbride. At the death of the first Joseph, he left 13,000
acres to be divided among his children. The homestead farm
in Falls remained in the family until 1873 when it was sold at
public sale to Mahlon Moon for $210 an acre — one hundred and
one acres and a few perches. Until recently, a small dwelling,
with cellar underneath and used as a tool and wood-house, built
by the first settler, was standing on the premises. A ferry was
established at Kirkbride's landing as early as 1718, which came
to be known as Bordentown ferry, and, we believe, still bears
that name.
Phineas Pemberton, one of the most prominent immigrants to
arrive in 1682, from Boston, county of Lancaster, England, was
a glover by trade. He and his father-in-law, James Harrison,
came together, sailing from Liverpool, July 7, and landed in
Maryland, October 30. Pemberton brought with him his wife,
Phoebe, children Abigail and Joseph, his father, aged 72, and
his mother, 81. Harrison was accompanied by his wife, several
servants and friends. Leaving their families at the house of one
William Dickinson, Choptank, Maryland, Pemberton and Harri-
EARLY SETTLERS IN BUCKS COUNTY I99
son traveled on horseback up the west bank of the Delaware
toward their destination, stopping over night at the site of Phila-
delphia. Unable to procure accommodations for their horses,
they were obliged to turn them out in the woods. As they
could not be found in the morning, our two immigrants had
to proceed in a boat up the river to the Falls. They continued
on to William Yardley's, at the site of Yardley, who had pre-
ceded them, and already begun to build a house. Pembertf<n,
concluding to settle there, purchased a tract of 300 acres, calHng
it "Grove Place." He and Harrison now returned to Marylaii 1
and spent the winter there, coming back to Bucks county in May,
1683, with their families. It is thought Pemberton lived w-th
Harrison for a time, but how long is not known. He owned
considerable land in Bucks county, which lay in several town-
ships, including the "Bolton farm," in Bristol township. He is
supposed to have lived in Bristol borough at one time. His wife
died in 1696, he March '5, 1702, and both were buried on tlic
point of land opposite Biles" island, in Falls. They were the
parents of nine children, only three leaving issue ; Israel be-
coming a leading merchant of Philadelphia and dying in 1754.
One of Phineas Pemberton's daughters married Jeremiah Lang-
home.*
As previously stated, James Harrison, the father-in-law of
Phineas Pemberton, came with the latter in 1682, landing in
Maryland, October 30, and settling in Lower Makefield the fol-
lowing spring. Penn appointed Harrison his "lawful agent" to
sell for him any parcel of land in Pennsylvania of not less than
250 acres. This was soon after the latter's arrival, or poss'My
before he sailed.
The Paxsons were of the immigrants who arrived in 1682.
James Paxson, the progenitor of the family, coming from Bycot
house, parish of Slow, county of Oxford. He embarked with
his family, but his wife, son and brother Thomas died at sea,
his daughter Elizabeth only surviving to reach her father's new
home west of the Delaware. He settled in Middletown, locat-
ing 500 acres on the Neshaminy above the site of Hulmeville.
After being there two years he married Margaret, the widow of
William Plumley, of Northampton township, August 13, 1684.
* Por additional account of Phineas Pemberton see page 43 ante.
200 EARLY SETTLERS IN BUCKS COUNTY
He was a man of influence and a member of assembly. In
1704 he removed from Middletown to Solebury, purchasing Wil-
liam Croasdale's 250 acres, but at what time he came into Buck-
ingham is not definitely known. The late Thomas Paxson was
fifth in- descent from James through Jacob, the first son by his
second wife, Sarah Shaw, of Plumstead, whom he married in
lyy'J. But three of Jacob Paxson's large family of children
became residents of Bucks county, Thomas, who married Ann,
granddaughter of William Johnson, and was the father of ex-
Chief Justice Edward M. Paxson, of the State Supreme Court;
the late Samuel Johnson Paxson, proprietor of the Doylestown
Democrat; and Mary Paxson, who married William H. Johnson,
and died in 1862. William Johnson, probably of English descent,
was born in Ireland, and received a good education. He came to
Pennsylvania after his majority, bringing an extensive library
for the times, settled in Bucks county, married Ann Potts,
and removed to South Carolina, where he died at the age of 35.
His sons were all cultivated men, Thomas becoming an eminent
lawyer, and dying in New Hope, in 1838. Samuel, the youngest
son, spent his life in Buckingham, married Martha Hutchinson
and died in 1843. Ten years ago Judge Paxson published the
memoirs of the Johnson family with an autobiography by Ann
J. Paxson, his mother, containing a number of her poetical pro-
ductions. Samuel Johnson was a poet of no mean merit, writing
some really excellent verse. In his history of Buckingham valley,
one of the most productive and beautiful in the county, he wrote:
" From the brow of Lahaska wide to the west,
The eye sweetly rests on the landscape below ;
'Tis blooming at Eden, when Eden was blest,
As the sun lights its charms with the evening glow."
Two years and three months after William Penn and his
immediate followers had landed on the shores of the Delaware,
John Chapman, of Yorkshire, England, with his wife Jane, and
children Mara, Ann and John, took up his residence in the woods
of Wrightstown, the first white settler north of Newtown.
Being a staunch Friend, and having suffered numerous persecu-
tions for opinion's sake, including the loss of property, he
resolved to find a new home in the wilds of Pennsylvania. Of
the early settlers of Wrightstown, the names of John Chapman,
EARLY SETTLERS IN BUCKS COUNTY 201
William Smith and Thomas Croasdale are mentioned in "Bessie's
Collections," as having been frequently fined and imprisoned for
non-conformity to the established religion, and for attendance
on Friends' meeting. Leaving home June 21, 1684, and sailing
from Aberdeen, Scotland, he reached Wrightstown toward the
close of December. Before leaving England, he bought a claim
for 500 acres of one Daniel Toaes, which he located in the south-
ern part of the township, extending from the park square to
the Newtown line, on which the village of Wrightstown and
Friends' meeting-house stand. Until able to build a log house,
he lived with his family in a cave, where twin sons were born
February 12, 1685. Game from the wood supplied them with
food until crops were grown, and often the Indians, between
whom and the Chapmans there was the most cordial friendship,
were the only reliance. On one occasion, while his daughter
Mara was riding through the woods, she overtook a frightened
buck chased by a wolf, and it held quiet until she had secured
it with the halter from her horse. The first house erected by
John Chapman stood on the right hand side of the road leading
from Wrightstown meeting-house to Pennsville in a field that
formerly belonged to Charles Thompson. After a hard life in
the wilderness, John Chapman died in 1694, and was buried in
the old graveyard near Penn's Park. His wife died in 1699.
This was his second wife, Jane Saddler, born about 1635, and
married June 12, 1670, and was the mother of two of his children.
The children of John Chapman inter-married with the families of
Croasdale, Wilkinson, Olden, Parsons and Worth, and the des-
cendants are numerous. The late Dr. Chapman, of Wrightstown,
and Abraham, of Doylestown, were grandsons of Joseph, one of
the twins born in the cave.
The descendants of John Chapman have held many places of
public trust, and, in the past, were in the assembly, on the bench,
in the senate chamber, the halls of Congress, at the head of the
loan ofiice, county surveyor, county treasurer, etc., etc. In the
early history of the county they did much to mould its affairs.
Ann Chapman, the daughter of John, became a distinguished
minister among Friends, traveling as early as 1706, visiting Eng-
land several times. The family added largely to the real estate
originally held in Wrightstown and elsewhere, and, about 1720,
202 EARLY SETTLERS IN BUCKS COUNTY
the Chapmans owned nearly one-half the land in the township.
The most prominent member of the family was the late ex-Judge
Henry Chapman, a distinguished lawyer and jurist. In i8ii
Seth Chapman was appointed President Judge of the eighth
judicial district of Pennsylvania.
The Watsons came into the county the beginning of the i8th
century, Thomas Watson, a maltster, from Cumberland, England,
settling near Bristol at a place called "Honey Hill," about 1701.
His family consisted of his wife and sons Thomas and John,
He brought with him a certificate from Friends' meeting at
Pardsay Cragg, bearing date 7th mo. 23d, 1701. He married
Eleanor Pearson, of Robank, in Yorkshire. He removed to
Buckingham in 1704, and settled on a 450-acre tract bought of
one Rosile, lying on the southeast side of the York road. Al-
though he held Penn's warrant he declined to have the land
surveyed without the consent of the Indians. He was a man of
intelligence, and, there being no physician within several miles,
he turned his attention to medicine, and built up a large practice
before his death in 1731-32. He was interested in the educa-
tion of the Indians and it is said kept a school for them, but
lost his most promising pupil by smallpox. Of his two sons,
Thomas, the elder, died before his father, and the younger, John,
studied medicine, took his father's place, was a successful prac-
titioner, and died in 1760. John, the son of Thomas, born about
1720, finished his education at Jacob Taylor's academy, Phila-
delphia, and became one of the first men in the Province. He
was a distinguished mathematician and surveyor, and assisted
to run the line between Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. He
was noted for his elegant penmanship. He died in 1761 in his 42nd
year, at the house of William Blackfan, and was buried at
Buckingham burying-ground. The newspapers of the day ex-
pressed great regret at his death. John Watson was secretary
to Governor Morris at the Indian treaty at Easton, 1756.
Franklin had promised to find the Governor a good penman, and
mentioned Mr. Watson ; and when the Governor's party marched
up the York road, Mr. Watson was out mending fence, bare-
footed, but, on invitation to accompany them, he threw down his
ax and walked to Easton without any preparation for the jour-
ney. He engrossed the treaty on parchment, and his penman-
EARLY SETTLERS IN BUCKS COUNTY 2O3
ship elicited great admiration. Franklin said that after the treaty
was engrossed, the Governor took off his hat to Watson, and
remarked to him: "Since first I saw you I have been trying to
make out what you are. I now have it. You are the greatest
hypocrite in the world." In personal appearance he was a large,
heavy man, and not prepossessing, but was both a scholar and a
poet. He spoke good extempore verse. It is stated that on one
occasion an Irishman, indicted for stealing a halter, asked Mr.
Watson to defend him, and he consented. The testimony was
positive, but he addressed the jury in fine extempore poetry,
beginning :
" Indulgent Nature generally bestows.
All creatures knowledge of their mortal foes," etc,
and the fellow was acquitted. Thomas Penn wished John Wat-
son to accept the office of surveyor-general in 1760, which he
declined. He has the credit of introducing the "New York
cider" apple into Bucks county, by grafting two apple trees with
it on his Buckingham farm, in February, 1757. John W^atson
was the grandfather of the late Judge Richard Watson, of
Doylestown.
Thomas Langhorne, of Westmoreland, England, arrived in
1684. He was a minister among Friends and brought a certifi-
cate from the Kendall Monthly Meeting. He had been fre-
quently imprisoned, and, in 1662, was fined £5 for attending a
Friends' meeting. He took up a large tract of land below Attle-
borough, now Langhorne, running down to Neshaminy, and
settled in Middletown. He represented the cottnty in the first
Assembly, and died October 6, 1687. Proud styles him "an
eminent preacher." Thomas Langhorne was the father of Jere-
miah Langhorne, who became Chief Justice of the Province.
The son was a man of mark in the new Commonwealth, wielding
large influence, and died October 11, 1742. He became a heavy
land owner. The homestead tract of 800 acres, known as "Lang-
horne Park," lay on the Durham road, and the borough of Lang-
horne is built on part of it. He owned 2,000 acres in War-
wick and New Britain townships, purchased of the Free »Society
of Traders ; two thousand at Perkasie, and a tract on the
Monocacy, now in Lehigh, but then in Bucks county. He own-
ed the ground on which Doylestown is built. He was also one
204 EARLY SETTI^ERS IN BUCKS COUNTY
of the original proprietors of the Durham iron works. In his
will, dated May i6, 1742, he made liberal provision for his ne-
groes, of whom he owned a number. They who had reached
twenty-four years of age, were to be manumitted, and others set
free at the age of 21. A few received especial marks of his
favor, among them Joe, Cudjo and London, who were to live
at the park until his nephew, Thomas Biles, to whom it was
left, became of age; and were to have the use of the necessary
stock, and support all the women and children on the place at a
rental of £30 per annum. Joe and Cudjo were given life es-
tates in certain lands in Warwick, covering the site of Doyles-
town, after they left the park. For a few of his favorites he
directed houses to be built, and 50 acres allotted to each during
their lives; specifying in his will that the negroes were to work
for their support, but there is great doubt whether they kept
their part of the testamentary contract.
The mansion of Jeremiah Langhorne, Manor-house as called
in ye olden time, has always been an object of interest. It was
built of stone, without any regard to architectural beauty or ef-
fect, with two wings, and stood on the site of the dwelling late
Charles Osborne's, two miles above Hulmeville. The old road
from Philadelphia to Trenton, crossing the Neshaminy just above
Hulmeville, made a sweep around by the Langhorne house, and
thence to Trenton by the way of Attleborough. The park was
long since cut up into several farms, and the last vestige of
the mansion obliterated. It is possible the site of the dwelling is
known. If so that is all. In 1794, four hundred and fifty acres
were sold to Henry Drinker, Samuel Smith and Thomas Fisher,
and the part unsold, 285 acres, was called "Guinea." A portion
of this tract is the borough of Langhorne. The last of the Lang-
horne slaves was one known as "Fiddler Bill," who lived some-
times in the ruins of an old house on the premises, but was
finally taken to the almshouse, where he died.
Representatives of Bucks County in Congress.
BY REV. D. K. TURNER, HARTSVILEE, PA.
(Doylestowu Meeting, January 22, 1895).
We are all interested in the character and the qualifications
of those who represent us in the Congress of the United
States. They are sent to Washington to frame laws for the
whole country, by which the safety and prosperity of its nu-
merous and diversified population may be secured. They are
types of the people, for whom they act, and if able, upright
and patriotic, they reflect credit upon their constituents. Es-
pecially do we desire that the legislators from our own particu-
lar district should be capable of presenting and advocating such
statutes, as will advance in the best manner the interests of all
of our citizens.
For many years after the thirteen original colonies were
planted, they were independent of each other. In 1754 a con-
vention was held in Albany, N. Y., in which a plan of union was
formed, but failed to secure the subsequent approval of both the
British Government and the Colonial Assemblies. Eleven years
later, in 1765. the first American Congress met in New York,
composed of delegates from nine colonies, one of which was
Pennsylvania, and in 1774 a second congress was held in Phila-
delphia with members from eleven colonies. Among these was
Joseph Galloway, a native of Maryland, owning large estates
in Bensalem and Durham townships. Though he practiced law
in Philadelphia, his home was at Trevose, where he owned 1,300
acres of land. He was endowed with superior intellectual ability,
and chosen to high official positions, being a member and Speaker
of the Pennsylvania Assembly and prominent in the Colonial
Congress. In the first part of the struggle between the British
crown and the Colonies he was favorable to the American cause,
regarding the course of the Royal Government as oppressive.
He gave his assent to all the measures designed to express the
indignation of the people at the tyranny of the English min-
istry, and no one at that time stood higher in the esteem of
206 REPRESENTATIVES OE BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS
patriotic Americans. But he never favored breaking loose from
the mother country and estabhshing independence, and when the
war for freedom commenced he joined the royahsts and remained
with them in Philadelphia and New Jersey until 1778, when
he went to England and there spent the rest of his life. In 1779
he was summoned before a committee of Parliament to testify
and give his views on affairs in the revolted States, and spoke
in terms of severe denunciation of the conduct of General Howe
and other British officers.
On his departure for England, his estate this side the Atlantic,
valued at £40,000, equal at the present day to more than $200,000,
was declared by Congress confiscated. Subsecjuently, however, as
it came into his possession through his wife, it was restored to his
daughter, Elizabeth, a young lady celebrated for her beauty and
accomplishments, who married an Englishman.* Joseph Galloway
published a number of pamphlets and books, some of which
breathed a spirit of bitter animosity against the land of his
nativity. His death took place in England, August, 1803, at
the age of 73 years.
Henry Wynkoop represented our county in the Colonial Con-
gress from 1779 to 1783, and after the adoption of the Federal
Constitution, in the Congress of the United States from 1789 to
1791. He was a descendant of Cornelius C. Wynkoop, who
emigrated from Holland. His father, Nicholas Wynkoop, came
to Northampton about 1727, and received in 1738 from his
father, Gerardus Wynkoop, a deed of 260 acres of land, on
which he resided for a long period. Henry Wynkoop was wide-
ly known and honored in Pennsylvania, and was a member of
the "Committee of Public Safety" for this county in 1774-5-6,
and a lieutenant in the army of the Revolution. He occupied the
bench as Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, when
it was located at Newtown, and is said to have been the personal
friend of Washington and Alexander Hamilton. He was Presi-
dent Judge of the Courts of Bucks county, appointed in 1777
and reappointed June 8, 1784. He was also appointed a Judge
of High Court of Errors and Appeals of Pennsylvania, Novem-
ber 20, 1780, commissioned March 28, 1783, and took the oath
of office April 7, 1783. He resigned both positions June 27,
* See Vol. I, page 245.
REPRESENTATIVES OF BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS 207
1789, when he was elected a member of the first Congress. He
was the first Associate Judge of Bucks county, commissioned
August 17, 1791. He died March 25, 1816, in his 80th year.*
John Pugh represented this district in Congress from 1805 to
1809. He was the grandson of Hugh Pugh, who emigrated from
Wales about 1725 and settled in Chester county. Subsequently
he removed to the vicinity of Norristown, where his son Daniel
was born, who at length settled in Hilltown, Bucks county, and
married the daughter of Rev. William Thomas, the Baptist
clergyman of that place. Daniel was the father of John, who
became distinguished in politics and social life, bore a shining
reputation, and wielded a strong influence in the region where
he lived. His fellow citizens manifested great confidence in his
wisdom and integrity, as they elected him to the Legislature in
1800 and re-elected him three times. Two terms in Congress
also indicated that he was held in high esteem by the people. In
1810 the Governor of the State appointed him register-of-wills
and recorder-of-deeds of the county, the duties of which offices,
then in charge of the same person, he faithfully and efficiently
discharged for fourteen years. One of his children was John
B. Pugh, Esq., for many years justice of the peace in Doyles-
town and a citizen of high standing. Probably no one in this
county ever appended his name, as magistrate, to legal
documents more frequently, or was trusted more fully,
than Esquire John B. Pugh. His wife was the daugh-
ter of Hon. John Fox, President Judge of the courts of
this county. A daughter of John Pugh, the member of Con-
gress, became the wife of General William T. Rogers, of Doy-
lestown, who was a member of the State Senate several terms
and at one time president of that body. John Pugh died 1842.
The next member of the National House of Representatives
from Bucks county was William Rodman, Jr., occupying that
position from 181 1 to 1813. He was the son of William Rodman,
Sr., who was a prominent citizen and held many offices of public
trust, among others being a member of the State Legislature
several years. William Rodman, Jr., was even more distinguish-
* For further account of the life and public services of Judge Wynkoop see "The Wyn-
koop Family" by Capt. William Wynkoop, and "Judge Henry Wynkoop" by John S.
Wurts, Vol. 3 of these papers.
208 REPRESENTATIVES OE BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS
ed than his father. He was born in Bensalem, October 7, 1757,
and though in his minority when the Revolutionary struggle
commenced, he took an active part in the war and served in the
militia under General Lacey. A justice of the peace many years,
in the Legislature a long time, and a member of the Senate of
Pennsylvania, he was sent to Congress in 181 1, serving one term.
In 1791 during the administration of Washington, Congress placed
an excise tax upon whiskey, which aroused great opposition in
the western part of Pennsylvania, where large quantities of dis-
tilled liquor were manufactured. This hostility was even carried
to such an extent as to reach defiance of the National govern-
ment. By direction of the President, Mr. Rodman raised a com-
pany of soldiers which, together with other troops, soon had the
effect of quieting the disturbance. A niece of William Rodman
married Judge John Fox, of Doylestown.
Mr. Rodman was succeeded in Congress by Samuel D. Ingham,
who was perhaps more widely known throughout the country,
at that time, than any other of our citizens. He was elected to
Congress in 1812, 1814, and 1816, and again in 1822, 1824, 1826
and 1828.*
On the resignation of Mr. Ingham from Congress the first
time in 1818, Dr. Samuel Moore was chosen to fill the vacancy.
He was born in Cumberland county, N. J., studied medicine, re-
ceived the degree of M. D., and married the daughter of Dr.
Robert Patterson, the first director of the U. S. Mint in Phila-
delphia. In his early manhood he located as a practitioner in
the village of Dublin, in Bedminster, but soon removed to Tren-
ton. His health being impaired, he relinquished his profession
and engaged in trading, making occasional voyages to the West
Indies. In 1808 he purchased the grist and oil-mills at Bridge
Point, where he erected a saw-mill, store and school-house and
several dwellings, and a handsome residence for himself on an
elevated site, now owned by Aaron Fries. He was an enter-
prising, energetic man, and one of the most prominent in the
building of the first Presbyterian church in Doylestown, towards
which he gave $200, a large sum for that day. After completing
in Congress the unexpired term of Mr. Ingham, he was twice
* For full and complete account of the life and public services of Mr. lugham, see
Vol. I of Bucks County Historical Society papers, pp. 450 to 459.
REPRIiSENTATIVES OF BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS 2O9
re-elected, being in the 15th, i6th and 17th Congresses. In 1824
he was appointed Director of the Mint to succeed his father-in-
law, Dr. Patterson. At a good old age he died in 1861 at Doyles-
town.
When Mr. Ingham became Secretary of the Treasury in
1829, Samuel A. Smith was chosen to fill his place in Congress
and continued in office till 1833. He was born in Nockamixon
township, associated with the Democratic party and resided in
Doylestown, where he carried on the mercantile business many
years on Main street below Lenape hall. He removed to Point
Pleasant, where he died and his remains were interred in the
graveyard of the Presbyterian church at Doylestown, with which
religious organization he had been long connected. He was a
man of fine physical appearance and was often marshal of pro-
cessions on public occasions. His father, James Smith, lived on
the Durham road above the Harrow tavern.
He was followed by Robert Ramsey, of Warwick, who was
born in Warminster, February 14, 1780, received a good English
education and occupied a high place in the esteem and confi-
dence of his fellow-citizens. He took an active interest in the
politics of the county, was a member of the legislature five years,
1825-26-27, 29-31, and in Congress two terms, from 1833 to
1835 and from 1841 to 1843. Endowed with sound judgment
and clear discernment he performed acceptably the duties of every
office to which he was chosen. While in Washington he was mti-
mately acquainted with John Ouincy Adams, and a warm admirer
and friend of that distinguished statesman. A regular attend-
ant on religious services, he was a liberal supporter of the gos-
pel and for many years a trustee of Neshaminy church. He died
of paralysis, December 12, 1849, in the 70th year of his age.
The next member of the National House of Representatives
from this district was Matthias Morris, who was born in Hilltown
in 1787. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in New-
town in 1809. When the county-seat was transferred to Doyles-
town, he accompanied it and for a time resided in this borough,
but subsequently practiced law in Philadelphia till 1839, when he
was appointed by Governor Heister deputy attorney general for
Bucks county and returned to Doylestown, which place was his
210 re;presi;ntative;s oi^ bucks county in congress
home for the remainder of his hfe. When Philadelphia was
threatened by the British in 1814 he joined the forces of defence
encamped at Marcus Hook. In 1828 he was elected to the State
Senate and in 1835 to Congress by a majority of 706. In 1837
he was chosen again over his competitor, Judge John Ruckman.
In 1829 he married a daughter of Abraham Chapman. His death
took place in Doylestown, November 6, 1839.
In the Congressional election of 1838 the candidates were
Matthias Morris, of the Whig party, and John Davis, of the
Democratic. Davis was successful, having received a majority
of 424 over his opponent. He served but one term (1839-41),
having been renominated and failed of election on two subse-
quent occasions. He was the father of Gen. W. W. H. Davis.*
In 1842 Michael H. Jenks, of Newtown, was elected to Con-
gress by a majority of 640 votes over his competitor, General
Davis. A-Ir. Jenks was born in Middletown township in 1795,
was trained in farming and milling, but in middle life devoted
himself to conveyancing and dealing in real estate. For a long
time justice of the peace, he was a commissioner and treasurer
of the county, and associate judge from 1838 to 1843. He was
in Congress one term from 1843 to 1845, allied to the Whig
party. His youngest daughter became the wife of Hon. Alexan-
der Ramsey, the first Governor of A'linnesota and U. S. Senator
from the State. After a life of honorable usefulness ]\Ir. Jenks
died in Newtown October 16, 1867, aged 'J2 years.
Our county was represented in Congress from 1845 to 1847
by Jacob Erdman, who died at Coopersburg, July 20, 1867. He
was born February 22, 1800, in Upper Saucon township, Lehigh,
then Northampton county, his birthplace being a farm, on which
his father was born, and his grandfather and great-grandfather
had lived. It had been in the possession of the family at least
as far back as 1750, and is still in the hands of their descendants.
He was a representative in the State Legislature in 1834, 1836
and 1837, and elected associate judge of the courts of Lehigh
county in 1866, which position he occupied at the time of his
death. Two of his daughters, Mrs. Henry S. Cope and Anna
Maria Erdman reside in Bucks county, near Sellersville. His
* For fuU sketch of the life of Gen. John Davis, see Vol. I of these papers, pages 1S2 to
195.
REPRESENTATIVES OF BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS 211
grandson, Hon. Constantine J. Erdman, now (1895) represents
in Congress the district of which Lehigh county forms a part.
Hon. Jacob Erdman was succeeded in 1848 by Hon. Samuel
A. Bridges, who was in Congress first in 1848 and '49, and a sec-
ond time from 1853 to '55, when as a Democrat he defeated Caleb
N. Taylor, the Whig candidate. Mr. Bridges was born in Col-
chester, Conn., in 1802, and graduated at Williams College,
Mass., in 1826. In that year he removed to Easton, Pa., and
studied law with Hon. James Madison Porter & R. M. Brooke.
He commenced practice in Doylestown, but in 1830 removed to
Allentown, which was subsequently his home, and where he
gained a high reputation as an able advocate at the bar and a
learned counselor. After being there about ten years, at the
opening of a term of court, he received a telegram announcing
the death of a member of his family. The judge, being asked
to continue his cases, looked over the docket and found Mr.
Bridges' name connected with every case, whereupon the court
adjourned. In 1876 he was elected to Congress the third time,
to represent the tenth district, composed of the upper portion
of Bucks, Lehigh and Northampton counties. It has been said of
him, by one who knew him well, that he was conscientiously up-
right in all his course. As a lawyer he would never take a fee
that he did not think he justly earned. Liberal to the poor and
generous in contributions to every good cause, he was greatly
esteemed by all and deeply loved by those who knew him most
intimately. A cultivated gentleman, he was a consistent member
of the Presbyterian church and always in his pew on the Sab-
bath. In 1876 he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from
Williams College, his alma mater. His death took place in Al-
lentown in 1884, when he was 82 years old.
After the first term of Mr. Bridges, Thomas Ross, of Doyles-
town, was elected in 1848, over Caleb N. Taylor, by 321 majority,
to represent the district at the National Capital. He was born
and spent his boyhood in Doylestown, being the son of Hon.
John Ross, judge of the courts of this county and of the Supreme
Court of the State. Educated at Princeton College, he graduated
in 1825, pursued the study of law and was admitted to the bar
in 1829 ; he soon rose to a commanding position in his profession.
212 repre;sentative;s of bucks county in congre;ss
securing a large clientage and wide influence. At the expiration
of one term in Congress he was re-elected over Caleb N. Taylor
by 240 majority.
He was an eloquent public speaker, an earnest advocate of the
principles, and a consistent adherent to the fortunes of the Demo-
cratic party. One of his sons was Hon. Henry P. Ross, for
many years judge of the courts of Bucks and Montgomery coun-
ties. Another was Hon. George Ross, a lawyer at the head of
the bar of Bucks county, and member of the Senate of Penn-
sylvania. Hon. Thomas Ross died July i, 1865, after Mr.
Bridges' second term.
Dr. Samuel C. Bradshaw was elected to Congress by the
Whigs by a majority of 345 votes. Dr. Bradshaw was born in
Plumstead in June, 1809, graduated at the Pennsylvania Medical
College, Philadelphia, and practiced medicine in Haycock town-
ship five or six years ; then with Dr. Carey at Quakertown thirty
years, and alone ten years more. He represented this Congres-
sional district from 1855 to 1857. He died in the house now
occupied by Dr. Wm. H. Meredith in Quakertown, June, 1892,
and was interred in the Friends' burying-ground of that place.
In the next Congressional election, 1856, Dr. Bradshaw was
defeated by Henry Chapman by 1,532 votes, a much larger ma-
jority than usual. Judge Chapman was born in Doylestown,
January 16, 1805, and studied law with his father, Abraham
Chapman, Esq., an eminent legal advocate, and for a long period
regarded as the "father of the Bucks county Bar." His son,
Henry, was admitted to practice in 1826, and soon manifested
unusual ability in his profession and acquired wide distinction.
Without ambitiously seeking political honors he was chosen a
member of the State Senate in 1843. About 1847 he was ap-
pointed President Judge of the Chester and Delaware judicial
districts, and sat upon the bench until the expiration of the term
in 185 1, when he declined the nomination. In 1861 he was
chosen Presiding Judge of the courts of Bucks county, and con-
tinued in office the full period of ten years, when he declined re-
election. He possessed great dignity of character and manners,
and never stooped to an unworthy act in official or private life.
His integrity was never questioned and his decisions were rarely
REPRESENTATIVES OF BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS 213
if ever reversed. The members of the bar respected, loved and
feared him. The closing years of his long life were spent in
the enjoyments of "otium cum dignitate" on a beautiful estate a
short distance north of Doylestown, where he passed away,
April II, 1891.
Judge Chapman was followed in Congress by Henry C. Long-
necker who was born in 1825, and graduated at the Military
Academy, Norwick, Vermont, and at Lafayette College, Easton.
He served in the Mexican War, as a lieutenant, and was wounded
at the battle of Chapultepec. Sent to Congress in 1859, he re-
mained in Washington one term; in 1861 joined the Union
Army ; as colonel of the Qtli Pennsylvania Infantry, com-
manded a brigade in West Virginia and in like capacity a similar
body of troops at the important battle of Antietam. At the
close of the Civil War he laid down the sword and returned to
the practice of the law in Allentown, and was chosen Associate
Judge of Lehigh county, in 1867. An able lawyer and judge, a
gallant military officer, he died at Allentown, September 16, 187 1.
In the Congressional election of i860 Dr. Thomas B. Cooper
was successful over his opponent, Mr. Longnecker. He was
born in Cooperstown, Lehigh county, December 29, 1823, was
educated at Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, and at the Medical
College of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated
in 1843. He practiced in his profession many years in Coopers-
town, at which place he died April 4, 1862, during the second
session of the 37th Congress.
On the death of Mr. Cooper, Hon. John D. Stiles was elected
to the vacant seat, and took the oath of office June 3, 1862. He
served with fidelity and was appointed on the committee of the
House on Revolutionary Claims. He was born January 15,
1823, and admitted to the bar in 1844. He was a delegate to
the convention which nominated James Buchanan for the Presi-
dency in 1856, also to the Chicago convention of 1864, the con-
vention of 1866, and the Philadelphia convention of 1868. He
was re-elected to the 38th Congress, 1863-4, over Judge Krause,
but did not at that time represent this district, a change having
taken place in the geographical limits of the district, by which
the northern part of Philadelphia, Montgomery and Bucks coun-
ties were united.
214 REPRESENTATIVES OE BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS
Hon. M. Russell Thayer was elected to Congress for
two terms, from 1863 to 1867. He was born in Peters-
burg, \'a., Jan., 27, 1819, graduated at the University of Penn-
sylvania in 1840, was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1842.
In the 38th Congress he was chairman of the committee on Land
Claims, and in the 39th Congress chairman of the same committee
and of the one on the Bankrupt Law. He was subsequentlv
elected one of the Judges of the District Courts of Philadelphia,
and has acted in that capacity many years. He has published
several valuable papers on politics, law and literature, and is a
man of legal learning and literary culture, and an able and up-
right Judge.
Hon. Caleb N. Taylor was- elected to the 40th Congress in 1866
and served during 1867 ^"d 1868. He was born July 2y, 18 13, at
Sunbury farm, Bristol township, where he passed most of his
life. Interested deeply in agriculture, being a large land owner,
he did not confine himself to that branch of industry, but engaged
in politics and banking and was for a long period president of
the Bristol bank. He was a delegate to the first Republican con-
vention in Chicago, and several times a Presidential elector. In
Congress he was on the Committee on Territories and Expenses
in the Treasury Department. x\n ardent and influential politician,
for years he exercised a powerful control over the elections and
appointments of the Whig and Republican parties in the lower
section of the county.
Dr. John R. Reading followed ]\Ir. Taylor in the 41st Congress,
in the years 1869 and 1870*. He was born in Philadelphia
county, November i, 1826, and graduated at the Jefferson Med-
ical College. After receiving the degree of M. D., he successfully
pursued his profession at Somcrton, one of the northern suburbs
of Philadelphia, where he built up a large and lucrative prac-
tice. Connected with the Methodist church he showed unusual
* This statement is misleading. In the election of 1868 the face of the returns indi-
cated a majority for Dr. John R. Reading. Jlr. Taylor, however, successfully contested
the election, proving that many illegal votes had been cast against him, particularly in
Durham and Hensalem townships. The illegal votes in Durham township resulted in
the arrest and imprisonment of a number of foreigners who had voted on fraudulent
naturalization papers, purported to have been issued out of the Supreme Court of Penn-
sylvania, in September, 186S. On April i-;, 1870, the House of Representatives, liy a vote
of 145 yeas to 45 nays (67 not votiny). decided that Dr. Reading was not entitled tohis seat;
and on the same day without a divisioti, the House voted that Mr.Taylor was entitled to a
seat from the fifth district of Pennsylvania. The second session continued until July 15,
1870; the third session assembled on the first Monday of December, 1870, and the Con-
gre.ssadjourtied March 4, 1S71. Dr. Reading served as Congressman i year, i month and
9 days, when Mr. Taylor took his seat for the remaining portion' of the fortv-first
Congress. " Editors.
REPRESENTATIVES OF BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS 21 5
ability as an exhorter and class leader, and was licensed as a local
preacher, in which capacity he often supplied pulpits and con-
ducted religious meetings.
In 1870 Hon. Alfred C. Harmer was the successful candidate
for congressional honors. Born in Germantown August 8, 1825,
he commenced business as a shoe manufacturer and was after-
wards a wholesale dealer in shoes. From 1856 to i860 he was a
member of the city councils of Philadelphia and then elected
recorder-of-deeds, which important office he held three years.
He was chosen a delegate to the Republican National Conven-
tion at Chicago ; he represented Bucks and Montgomery counties
and a part of Philadelphia in the 42d and 43d Congresses from
1 87 1 to 1875^ in which he was chairman of the Committee on the
District of Columbia and a member of the Committee on Weights
and Measures.
After serving the district of which Bucks county was a part,
four years, the Congressional districts were changed, and Har-
mer was elected to nine succeeding Congresses for the fifth
district in which he resides, and is still (1895) representing
that district.
In the fall of 1874 Hon. Alan Wood, Jr., of Conshohocken,
was elected to the 44th Congress, for the years 1875-76. He was
an extensive iron manufacturer, and well acquainted with the de-
tails and wants of that important industry. He was born in
Philadelphia July 6, 1834, located in business at Conshohocken
in 1857, having previously built the sheet and plate iron rolling-
mills at that place, owned and operated by the firm of Alan Wood
& Co. While in Congress he was on the Committee of Public
Buildings, the House having a majority of Democratic mem-
bers, with Hon. Mr. Kerr, Speaker, who died a few months after
his elevation to the chair, and was succeeded by Hon. Samuel J.
Randall. Many important and exciting events occurred, among
which was the election to the Presidency of the United States of
Mr. Hayes by the electoral commission, to follow General Grant.
In the House were Mr. Blaine, Mr. Hayes, Mr. Garfield, General
Benjamin Butler, General Banks, Mr. Hill, of Georgia, Judge
Kelly and other distinguished National characters.
In the autumn of 1876 Hon. Alan Wood, Jr;, declined a re-
2i6 re;pre;se;ntative;s of bucks county in congre;ss
nomination, and Dr. I. N. Evans, Republican, of Hatboro,
Montgomery county, was elected to the forty-fifth Congress
by 1,518 majority over Abel Rambo, Democrat. At the com-
pletion of this term, the years 1877-78, by the rules of the party
the candidate for Congress was to be taken for four years from
Bucks county, and Montgomery county was not entitled to the
office again until 1882, when Dr. Evans was nominated by the
convention over a number of rivals and elected to the 48th
Congress, for the years 1883-4. In the fall of 1884 he was
elected a third time and served in the 49th Congress, for
1885-86. In the 45th Congress he made a speech on the tar-
iff, which was highly approved by those whose opinions agreed
with his, and which was translated by a Baptist minister into
the Welsh language and circulated extensively in the region of
Pittsburg and Allegheny. Another speech of his before Con-
gress was on "The Retirement and Recoinage of the Trade
Dollar," in the redemption of which he was much interested,
and the success of that just measure was largely due to his
efforts. His speech on "The Suspension of the Silver Coinage"
was received very favorably by the Secretary of the Treasury,
the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Director of the Mint.
The New York Herald and New York Tribune printed a con-
siderable part of it with favorable comments. In the 48th
Congress he spoke on the following topics : "The Tariff,"
"The National Board of Health," "Inter-State Commerce,"
and "Oleomargarine." Dr. Evans was born in Pennsylvania,
in 1827 ; studied medicine, and graduated at the medical depart-
ment of Bowdoin College, ]\Iaine, 1851, and at Jefferson Col-
lege, Philadelphia, 1852. He is a member of the Pennsylvania
State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association.
For many years he had a large medical practice at Johnsville,
Bucks county, and at Hatboro, but subsequently devoted him-
self principally to banking and the purchase and exchange of
real estate, in which he is now engaged. He is now (1895)
president of the Hatboro National Bank.
After Dr. Evans' first term Hon. William Godshalk, of New
Britain, was chosen to represent the district in the 46th Con-
gress, 1879-80, by a majority of 1,338 votes, and the 47th Con-
REPRESENTATIVES OE BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS 21/
gress, 1881-82, by 1,864 majority. He was born in October,
1817; received a good education in his youth, and became in-
terested in poHtics in early manhood. In 1848 he was nomi-
nated county treasurer and in 1864 for the Strite Senate. In
September, 1862, he joined the company of Captain George
Hart, of DoylestowUj who went at the call of the Government for
troops to act against the Southern Confederacy, and was at
Hagerstown, Md., at the time of the battle of Antietam. In
1871 he was elected associate judge of the courts of Bucks
county and served on the bench with fidelity and usefulness
five years. At the expiration of the four years of his duty in
Congress, the nomination of a candidate belonged to Mont-
gomery county, and he retired to his farm and mill, which he
conducted with prosperity and success. He was twice married
and the father of five children. After an honored life he died
February 6, 1891, in the 75th year of his age.
At the conclusion of Dr. Evans' third term it was due to
Bucks county to select a candidate for the House of Represen-
tatives in Washington, and Hon. Robert M. Yardley was chosen
by the Republican party and was elected by the people to the
50th Congress, 1887 and 1888, by 2,135 majority over Edwin
Satterthwaite, Democrat, and was re-elected for the 51st Con-
gress, 1889-1890, serving four years. Mr. Yardley was born
in Yardley, Pa., October 9, 1850, and is of English descent,
his ancestors having resided in the county 150 years. He was
employed in his younger days with his father in the coal and
lumber business ; but having received a good education, he
studied law with his brother, Mahlon Yardley, Esq. In 1872
he was admitted to the bar of Bucks county, and commenced
practice in Doylestown, where large success has attended him.
In 1879 he was elected District Attorney, and in 1884 a delegate
to the Republican National Convention at Chicago. He is one
of the directors of the Bucks County Trust Company, and is
a widely known and highly respected citizen. When the Key-
stone National Bank failed in Philadelphia he was appointed
by the Comptroller of the Currency in Washington, Receiver,
and satisfactorily carried through the investigation of its com-
plex affairs.
2l8 REPRESENTATIVES OF BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS
In 1890 Hon. Edwin Hallowell, of Moreland, Montgomery
comity, was elected to the 52nd Congress over Irving P. Wan-
ger, Esq., of Norristown, Republican, and served with fidelity
to the interests of his constituents two years, 1891 and 1892.
In 1892 Hon. Irving P. Wanger was elected to the 53rd Con-
gress, 1893-94, over his competitor, Air. Hallowell, and was
re-elected to the 54th Congress for the years 1895-96, over Dr.
John Todd, and is now the efficient and eloquent representative
of the 7th district, to which this county belongs.
Hon. I. P. Wanger was born in North Coventry, Chester
county. Pa., March 5, 1852; commenced the study of law at
Norristown in 1872, and was admitted to the bar in 1875 ;
was elected burgess of Norristown in 1S78; was a delegate to
the Republican National Convention in 1880; was elected
District Attorney of Montgomery county in 1880 and again in
1886. In the first session of this Congress he made a speech in
favor of the repeal of the purchasing clause of the Sherman
Act. In the second session he spoke several times on the tar-
ifif bill, when it was under consideration in committee of the whole.
He also spoke in opposition to the reduction of appropriations
for the education of the Indian children, and several times
briefly on incidental matters.
Of the 28 members of Congress, of whom I have given
brief notices, 1 1 were farmers, or farmers and millers at the
same time, 10 lawyers, 4 physicians, 2 manufacturers, and i a
merchant. No single occupation claimed them all or even a
majority of them. They were all honest, upright and intelli-
gent, seeking the good of the country rather than their own
selfish ends, and some of them were able defenders of the
interests committed to their charge. Our country has reason
to be proud of its representatives during its long history since
the adoption of the present form of government. Compared
with the majority of the members of the lower house at Wash-
ington, they have stood high ; they have been worthy of their
position, and some have attained an enviable degree of eminence.
For many years our county was united with other counties
in districts that sent to Congress more than one member at the
same time, and it has been deemed desirable to gather the facts
REPRESENTATIVES OE BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS 219
attainable in reference to all those who acted for us in the Na-
tional halls of legislation, though they were not residents of our
county, and represented the district in conjunction with others.
For some items of information that follow I am indebted to
Hon. Harman Yerkes, President Judge of the courts of Bucks
county, and to D. H. Neiman, Esq., of Easton, Pa.
The members of the Continental Congress from Pennsylvania
previous to 1787, when the National Constitution was adopted,
were elected by the State Assembly, two of whom, Joseph Gallo-
way and Henry Wynkoop, were from Bucks county, and have
already been spoken of. The new Constitution provided that
Pennsylvania should have eight Congressmen till the next census,
and in the ist and 2d Congresses it had eight; in the sessions
following it had thirteen till 1803. An act was passed by our
Legislature Oct. 4, 1788, prescribing in what manner members
of Congress and electors for President of the United States
should be chosen, but it does not divide the State into districts,
and I am informed by W. M. Gearhart, Esq., Chief Clerk of the
Secretary of the Commonwealth in Harrisburg, that it is im-
possible in his office to find who represented Bucks county be-
fore 1803. All the members in the last century may be properly
termed "Congressmen-at-Large," as they represented the whole
State, stricty speaking, rather than any one portion of it.
One of the earliest representatives, who had charge of the
interests of our county in Congress, was Hon. Samuel Sit-
greaves. He was born in Philadelphia, received a liberal aca-
demic education, studied law and was admitted to the bar. He
commenced practice in Easton, where he soon displayed eminent
ability and profound learning, and was chosen a delegate to
the convention in 1790, which framed a Constitution for Penn-
sylvania under the new system of national government. De-
cidedly and warmly in favor of a firm union in the States, he
acted with the Federalists, and was chosen a member of the
lower house of Congress, and took his seat December 7, 179?.
Securing in a high degree the confidence of his constituents
and an elevated place in public esteem, he was re-elected and
entered again upon his duties in 1797. His reputation for men-
tal acumen and deep reasoning became so conspicuous that he
220 REPRESENTATIVES OF BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS
was appointed by President John Adams in 1798 a commissioner
to treat with Great Britain in regard to difficulties, which had
arisen in the commercial relation of the two countries. We
were accused of showing partiality for France in the war, in
which she was engaged with England. The latter proud of her
superiority as "mistress of the seas," endeavored to lay humilia-
ting restrictions upon our commerce, to which our nation did not
propose to submit. In the struggles of France with other Euro-
pean nations then in progress we desired to stand neutral, and
Mr. Sitgreaves was designated as fully qualified to assist in ar-
ranging measures, by which our rights and interests would be
secured. To enter upon this important duty he resigned his
seat in Congress and was succeeded by General Robert Brown.
After a life of distinguished honor his death took place at a
ripe old age in Philadelphia, April 4, 1824.*
By Act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, of April 2, 1802,
Bucks, Montgomery, Northampton and Luzerne counties were
constituted one district, and were directed to elect three members
of Congress till the next apportionment, which by law of the
United States would be made after the succeeding census in
1810.
One of those who represented this district of four counties
during the period from 1802 to 1812 was General Robert
Brown. He became a member of the House before the dis-
trict was constituted, being elected to fill the vacancy caused
by the resignation of Hon. Samuel Sitgreaves. He first took
his seat December 4, 1798, and served by repeated re-elections
to March 2, 181 5, being in nine Congresses, from the 5th to the
13th inclusive, about 18 years. The territory for which he
acted comprised most of eastern Pennsylvania. His services
were eminently satisfactory to his constituents, so much so that
his election on each occasion is said to have been unanimous, or
without opposition, except once, when the Federal party set up
as its candidate against him Mr. Sitgreaves, whose reputation as
special envoy to England they hoped would carry great weight
in his favor. Even then Gen. Brown prevailed by a large ma-
jority.
* See Henry's History of the Lehigh Valley, for portrait of Hon. Samuel Sitgreaves,
page 17, for sketch of his life, ibid., page 407, et. seq.
REPRESENTATIVES OF BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS 221
During the Revolution he was an officer in a body of troops
under Washington, called the "Flying Camp." They comprised
two thousand men and were among the best of the American
army. After Gen. Howe had captured New York City, Wash-
ington retreated northward, but left Col. Morgan with three
thousand soldiers, among whom were Robert Brown and his
comrades at Fort Washington, with orders to hold it to the
last. This fortification was on Manhattan Island, about eleven
miles above the city. It was soon attacked by a strong force
of the British, and was defended with great courage and de-
termination. The fight continued all day. When the ammu-
nition of the Americans was exhausted they resisted assaults
with the barrels of their muskets, but at last were forced to
surrender to superior numbers. The enemy lost about i,ooo
men in killed and wounded, and the English commander was
so incensed at the stubborn resistance he met with, that he
deliberately put to death one of the colonels. The prisoners
were placed in a church under guard, and for three days and
nights had no food. Starvation and exhaustion were fatal to
many of them, and the dead were carried away in carts by
their heartless foes and dumped into pits with quicklime to
hasten decomposition. Being an officer, Capt. Brown, who had
learned the trade of a blacksmith in his youth, was released
on parole, and working at that business in the vicinity where his
men were confined, he earned money with which he bought
bread which he distributed among them. This fact reported
at home by survivors proved one of the elements of his long
continued popularity.
Hon. Isaac VanHorne was another of the three gentlemen
who represented the district during the period from 1802 to
1812. He was born in Bucks county and served as a captain
in the Revolutionary War. He was coroner from 1786 to 1791
and member of the State Legislature from 1797 to 1800 inclu-
sive, being elected four years in succession, as that body then met
annually. He was chosen member of the National House of
Representatives twice and served from 1801 to 1805. ^ con-
ference of the dififerent counties of the district was held at
Nazareth September 25, 1804, to decide upon candidates for
222 REPRESENTATIVES OE BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS
congressional honors and he was made president of the meet-
ing. In the early part of this century Ohio was in its infancy,
and Mr. Van Home was appointed by the U. S. Government
to act as receiver of public money derived from the sale of
lands and excise duties at Zanesville, which was the capital
of the State from 1810 to 181 2. and it may have been during
that time that he was a resident of the place in the service of
the Union.
Another of the members of Congress in the early part of
this century from the district, in which Bucks county was in-
cluded, was Hon. John Ross. He was the grandson of
Thomas Ross, who was born in county Tyrone, in the north
of Ireland, in 1708, and immigrated to Upper Makefield in
1728, when he was 20 years of age, at a period, which was
marked by the coming of large numbers of Scotch-Irish to
Pennsylvania. Thomas Ross, the grandfather of the Judge, John
Ross, is said to have been brought up in the Episcopal church ; if
so, he left the ecclesiastical associations of his ancestors, and
in 1729 was admitted to membership in the Friends' meeting
at Wrightstown, and subsequently became a noted minister m
that denomination. In June, 1784, he made a visit for relig-
ious purposes in company with other Friends to England,
Scotland and Ireland. During his travels he reached the home
of Lindley Murray, the celebrated English grammarian, at
Holdgate, near York, where overcome by the infirmities of
years, he died June 13, 1786, in the 78th year of his age.
He is spoken of as a man of great excellence of character and
of unusual strength of mind. His grandson, John Ross, born
February 29, 1770, received a good English education, and
while a young man, taught school in Durham township. Here
he became acquainted with Richard Backhouse, proprietor of
the iron furnace, who seeing in him promise of future distinc-
tion encouraged him to study law at Easton, agreeing to lend
him money for his expenses till he could support himself
in his profession. He applied himself with diligence, was ad-
mitted to the bar, and soon proved a learned counsellor and
an able advocate. Interested in the affairs of the nation, he
was elected to the nth Congress, which began its sessions
REPRESENTATIVES OE BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS 223
May 22, 1809. His term at this time continued to March 3,
181 1. Being- again elected without opposition, in conjunction
with Samuel D. Ingham, to the 14th Congress and re-elected
to the 15th, his second period in Washington was from Decem-
ber 4, 1 81 5, to February 24, 181 8, when he resigned to accept
the Judgeship of the Seventh Judicial District, consisting of
the counties of Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware,
with two associate judges. This position of influence and re-
sponsibility he held 12 years, till April 9, 1830, when he was
appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. His
tenure of this high office, however, was only four years, as he
was removed by death in 1834, aged 64 years. He had pur-
chased some time previously a considerable tract of land in
a secluded section of Monroe county, on which he had set
apart a family burying-ground, and there his remains were
deposited in their final resting place.* In person Judge Ross
was tall, erect and muscular. His manners were dignified,
inclining to austerity, and in some respects he seemed eccentric.
At one time he displayed a taste for spotted or calico horses,
which were then rarely seen, and with a span of them attached
to his large heavy carriage, as he rode to and fro between
Doylestown and Philadelphia, he was the object of interest
and respectful curiosity to all observers. Among his descend-
ants were his son, Hon. Thomas Ross, and his grandsons, Judge
Henry P. Ross of Norristown, and Hon. George Ross, of
Doylestown.
Another of the gentlemen associated in the representation of
the district comprising our county between 1802 and 1812
was Hon. Frederick Conrad. He was born in Worcester
township, Montgomery county, where he resided most of his
life. Of German extraction, his father or grandfather crossed
the ocean to find liberty and prosperity in this home of the free.
His first wife was Catherine Schneider, by whom he had seven
children, one of whom was the mother of Judge Hoover, of
Norristown. His education was received principally in the
common school, that intellectual nursery of many distinguished
men, but reading and study developed a naturally strong mind,
* The burial place referred to is at Ross Commons, which was named for Judge Ross.
224 REPRESENTATIVES OF BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS
and early in life he stood high among his fellow citizens for
sterling sense and extensive information, and in 1789, he was
elected to the lower house of the State Assembly, was re-
elected the two following years, serving three terms. In 1804
and 1805, he was paymaster of the 51st Regiment of the Penna.
militia.
In 1803 having been elected as a Federalist he took his seat
in Congress, was re-elected in 1805, holding the position till
December 3, 1807. His nomination the second time took place
at a meeting of conferees at Nazareth, September 25, 1804,
when Hon. Isaac VanHorne presided. In his congressional
career his coadjutors were John Pugh, of Bucks, and Judge
John Ross, of Northampton county. In 1809, when Nathaniel
B. Boileau, of Hatboro was appointed Secretary of the Com-
monwealth by Gov. Snyder, his seat in the Legislature became
vacant, and ]\Ir. Conrad was nominated by the Federal party
to fill his place, but was defeated by Richard T. Leech, Repub-
lican. In 1807 he was appointed by Governor McKean Justice
of the Peace, and probably continued a magistrate as long as he
lived, for at that period the office was held during good behavior.
In February, 1821, he received from Governor Hiester the ap-
pointment of prothonotary and clerk of the courts of Mont-
gomery county, and was reappointed by Governor Shultz in
1824, performing the duties of the post faithfully six years.
Mr. Conrad's home and farm were at Centre Point, on the Skip-
pack road, about four miles northeast of Norristown, to which
borough he removed late in life. Being a Justice of the Peace
he wrote many deeds and mortgages and joined many couples
in marriage. In person he was of medium height, stoutly built,
and inclined to corpulence. With a flow of animal spirit he
united sprightliness in conversation and his companionship was
sought by a wide circle of friends in public and private life. He
died in Norristown and was buried in the graveyard of the Wentz
German Reformed congregation, of which he was a member and
officer.
Another of those who represented Bucks county, when it was
joined with Montgomery, Northampton and Luzerne, was Hon.
Thomas Jones Rogers. Born in Waterford, Ireland, in 1780, he
REPRESENTATIVES OE BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS i 225
was brought by his parents to this country when six years old.
His father settled in Philadelphia and engaged in the manufac-
ture of glue and cow-skin whips. His son, Thomas, in early
youth, learned the art of printing and having acquired some
skill and experience in that, which is the preserver of all arts,
he went to Washington city, and remained there several years.
Subsequently he removed to Easton, Pa., where he purchased
the Delazvare Democrat and Baston Gazette, which he success-
fully conducted a long period. During this time he compded,
printed and published a work entitled, "A New American Bio-
graphical Dictionary or Remembrancer of the Departed Pleroes,
Sages and Statesmen of America," which was designed specially
for the use of schools. This book ran through three editions,
in 1813, 1823 and 1824 respectively. In the war of 1812 he was
an officer in the Pennsylvania troops that marched to Marcus
Hook for the defense of Philadelphia, and rose to the rank of
Brigadier General, which he held a long time in the militia of this
State. Judge John Ross having resigned his membership in Con-
gress, Gen. Rogers was elected to fill his place and took his seat
in the 15th Congress, March 24, 1818; re-elected to the i6th, T7th,
and 1 8th Congresses he served until April 26, 1824, when he re-
signed, as he had been appointed register of wills and recorder of
deeds for Northampton county, which position he occupied sev-
eral years. He was one of the incorporators named in the char-
ter of Lafayette College at Easton, and was an honored trustee
of that institution from 1826 to 1832. In 1830 he returned to
Philadelphia, where he was an officer of United States Customs.
His death occurred in New York City, December 7, 1832, at the
age of 52 years. He married Mary Winters, daughter of Chris-
tian and Mary Winters, of Easton. They had eleven children,
ten of whom were born in Easton and one in Philadelphia.
One of the sons, Gen. William Findley Rogers, was alsj a
printer, having learned the trade with his father in Easton. Early
in life he removed to Buffalo, N. Y., where in after years he filled
the offices of city auditor, controller and mayor. During the
war with the Southern Confederacy he served his country with
distinction and was afterwards appointed Major General of the
Fourth Division, National Guards of the State of. New York.
8
226 REPRESENTATIVES OF BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS
One of the daughters of Gen. Thomas Rogers was the wife of
the late Dr. F. A. Fickhardt, of Bethlehem, Pa. Another son,
also a printer, and a daughter, reside in Philadelphia.
Another gentleman, who represented this district, was Hon.
Jonathan Roberts. He was born in Upper Merion township,
Montgomery county, August i6, 1771. His great-grandfather,
John Roberts, emigrated from North Wales to America in 1682,
and settled in what is now Lower Merion township. He was a
millwright and erected the third mill in the Province of Penn-
sylvania. Jonathan's father, also named Jonathan, in 1771 was
chosen a member of the Colonial Assembly, and continued to
serve in that capacity four years. The son, Jonathan, the subject
of this sketchy when five years old was sent to school to Law-
rence Bathurst, a nephew of Allen Lord Bathurst, one of the
English nobility, and was his pupil 5 years. His teacher had
received a liberal education in England, and being endowed
with a strong mind made a lasting impression upon his mental
habits and character. When 14 years of age he came under the
tuition of a Mr. Farris, at the "Gulph." While under his in-
struction he was directed to commit to memory and declaim
Addison's "Soliloquy of Cato." This he refused to do, because
he thought it wrong to learn and repeat the sentiments of a
man who had intentionally killed himself. He did not then un-
derstand that Addison designed not to commend the views of
the ancient Romans, but to put into his mouth those of a heathen
philosopher. When about 17 years of age he was indentured
to learn the trade of a wheelwright, and passed through a full
apprenticeship of three years. During this time he sought the
society of intelligent and cultivated people in his vicinity with a
desire for personal improvement. Speaking of this period, when
he was an old man he said, "I was engaged in my work some-
times from earliest dawn to latest twilight. Work absorbed
every thought and feeling. I have felt at times a like abstraction
when in office, discharging public duties. To this faculty of
entire absorption of my powers, whether mental or physical, I
owe any success I have ever reached." He read and studied
morning and evening and wrote essays that he might form a
correct and forcible style of composition.
REPRESEiMTATIVES OF BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS 227
In 1795 Jonathan and his brother, Matthew, leased their father's
large farm of 375 acres and managed it with energy and success,
and in 7 years he said, "We could command $7,000 and had in-
creased our stock and improved the land. At every spare mo-
ment I recurred to my studies. My desk and books were ever
kept at hand. I never touched them, however, but with cleanly
washed hands." In 1798, being then in his 28th year, he was
elected to the Legislature and was one of the youngest mem-
bers. At that time the seat of the State Government was at
Lancaster. Speaking of his return home at the close of the
first session, he said, "I sat down to a plain farmer's table,
lodged in the old loft on a chaff bed, and in three days had re-
sumed my usual habits of daily toil."
He was returned to the Assembly the next year and began to
take part in the discussions before the house. In 1807 he was
elected contrary to his expectation to the State Senate by a
majority of 500 over John Richards, a popular German candi-
date. In that body he was a prominent actor, and at the close
of the term had acquired a reputation for high character and
ability. In 181 1 he was elected by the Republican party a
member of Congress, in conjunction with Gen. Robert Brown,
of Northampton county, and William Rodman, of Bucks, and
in the autumn went to Washington in a private hack through
Lancaster, which was called the western route. The question of
a war with Great Britain for her aggressions upon our com-
merce came before Congress, and Mr. Roberts took a firm stand
with the administration of Mr. Madison in favor of that measure
and made an able speech against the arbitrary assumptions of
the mother country.
By an arrangement instituted by the Legislature in 1812,
Montgomery and Chester counties were erected into one district,
which Mr. Roberts was chosen to represent. _ He continued to
favor carrying on the war with vigor, and rose to such promi-
nence as a statesman, that he was chosen a member of the
U. S. Senate, and having resigned from the House of Represen-
tatives he took his seat as Senator, Feb. 28, 1814, and served
with honor till 1820, the end of his term. He earnestly opposed
the extension of slavery and the Missouri compromise. After
the expiration of his career in Congress he was sent again to the
228 REPRESENTATIVES OF BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS
Pennsylvania Legislature and subsequently re-elected. In the
political contests between Gen. Jackson and John Quincy Adams,
he advocated the claims of the latter, and was henceforth associat-
ed with the Whig party, and was a delegate to the National
Convention that met at Harrisburg and nominated General Wm.
H. Harrison for the Presidency. When John Tyler became
President, he appointed Mr. Roberts Collector of Customs at
Philadelphia, greatly to his surprise, as he had recommended for
the post Henry Morris, the youngest son of Robert Morris, the
Financier of the Revolution. With President Tyler's course in
breaking away from his former affiliations he did not sympathize,
and resigned the collectorship, which was his last public office.
So decidedly was he in favor of home manufacture, that he
would never knowingly wear a garment of foreign fabrics. He
married when in his 40th year, in 1813, just before the adjourn-
ment of Congress, Miss Eliza H. Bushly, of Washington, a lady
or rare endowments. His death occurred July 21, 1854, at the
advanced age of 83 years. His wife survived him 11 years. They
had nine children, one of whom, Jonathan M. Roberts, still
occupies the ancestral property, which has been in possession
of the family the protracted period of 213 years.
An act was passed by our Legislature, April 2, 1822, consti-
tuting the Eighth Congressional District of the counties of Bucks,
Northampton, Pike and Wayne, to be represented by two mem-
bers. In the 17th and i8th Congresses, that is from 1822 to
1824, Samuel D. Ingham and Thomas J. Rogers were the two
joint representatives. In 1824 Mr. Rogers resigned, and Hon.
George Wolf was elected to fill the vacancy. He was born in
Allen township, Northampton county, August 12, 1777, of Ger-
man parentage. He received a classical education, studied law,
was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice at Easton. When
a young man he was initiated into the Order of Free Masons and
was for many vears a popular member of Easton lodge. Active
in politics, he was sent to the Pennsylvania Legislature, serving
his constituents faithfully, was crowned with higher honors, and
elected to the House of Representatives in Washington, for the
second session of the i8th Congress, taking the oath of office,
December 9, 1824. Re-elected to the 19th and 20th Congresses,
REPRESENTATIVES OF BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS 229
his term of service extended to March 3, 1829, nearly 5 years.
He was then chosen Governor of Pennsylvania, and was an able
and honored chief executive from 1829 to 1835, six years. An
ardent Democrat and an earnest friend of General Jackson, he
was appointed first Comptroller of the Treasury of the United
States, and discharged with ability the duties of that responsi-
ble position from June 18, 1836, to February 23, 1838. When
Mr. Van Buren occupied the Presidential chair^ he received
the lucrative appointment of Collector of Customs at Philadel-
phia. Two Presidents thus indicated their high appreciation
of his talents, industry and integrity. He died in Philadelphia,
March 14, 1840, in the 64th year of his age.
In the 2 1 St and 22nd Congresses Hon. Samuel A. Smith, from
Bucks county, and General Peter Ihrie were united in represent-
ing this district. General Ihrie was born in Easton, February 3,
1796. It is said by those who knew him, that he was a gentle-
man in every sense of the term, courteous, brave and honorable.
In 1829 he was elected to Congress as a Jackson Democrat and
re-elected in 1831, serving four years. In the days of the or-
ganized militia he was Major General of a division, and had
the reputation of being a thoroughly trained officer. For many
years he was a member of the board of directors of the old Eas-
ton bank and the solicitor of that board. He was one of the foun-
ders of Christ Lutheran church in Easton, and for a long period
the president of its board of trustees.
His first wife was Camillia Ross, daughter of Judge John
Ross. By this marriage there were five children, two sons and
three daughters. Their mother died November 11, 1841. He
subsequently married Eliza Roberts, of Newtown, a sister of the
late Judge Stokes L. Roberts. General Ihrie died at the family
residence, on the northeast corner of the public square in Easton,
March 28, 1871, in the 76th year of his age. His remains were
interred in the Easton cemetery. He lived a long useful life,
respected and honored by the whole community. His brother
Anthony, the only survivor of his family, still (1895) resides
in Easton.
From 1832 to 1843 Tjiicks county alone constituted the Sixth
District with one member of Congress.
230 REPRESENTATIVES OE BUCKS COUNTY IN CONGRESS
From 1843 to 1852 the Sixth District was composed of Bucks
and Lehigh f-'-'^nties with one member. In the latter year the
name of the same district was changed to the Seventh, up to the
present time with several alterations of territory it has sent but
one member to the National Lower House at Washington.
I will now give a list of all who have represented our county
in Congress, as complete as I have been able to make it. Some
having been in ofifice at different times, I will mention their names
but once, in chronological order, according to the date of their
first election : Henry Wynkoop, Samuel Sitgreaves, Robert
Brown, Isaac VanHorne, Frederick Conrad, John Pugh, John
Ross, Jonathan Roberts, William Rodman, Samuel D. Ingham,
Thomas J. Rogers, Samuel Moore, George Wolf, Peter Ihrie,
Robert Ramsey, Matthias Morris, John Davis, Michael H. Jenks,
Jacob Erdman, Samuel A. Bridges, Thomas Ross, Samuel C.
Bradshaw, Henry Chapman, Henry C. Longnecker, Thomas B.
Cooper, John D. Stiles, M. Russell Thayer, Caleb N. Taylor, John
R. Reading, Alfred C. Harmer, Alan Wood, Jr., I. Newton
Evans, William Godshalk, Robert M. Yardley, Edwin Hallowell,
and Irving P. Wanger.
The Hermit of the Wolf Rocks.
BY COL. he;nry d. paxson, holicong, pa.
(Meeting at Wolf Rocks, Buckingham, July i6, 1895).
It is a source of great gratification for me, on this occasion,
on behalf of the good people of Buckingham, to bid the members
and friends of the Bucks County Historical Society, a hearty
welcome to the Empire township.
All lovers of local history commend the good work being done
by this society in rescuing from oblivion many interesting facts
and much history of our county that would otherwise have been
lost to the present as well as the future generations, and we
should express our approbation for the valuable service rendered
to this end by Messrs. Davis, Paschall, Turner, Smith, Yerkes,
Chapman, Wright, Mercer, Laubach, Bailey, Michener, Buck
and many others.
To the press of our county, principally through our worthy pres-
ident and secretary, we are much indebted for publishing the
many valuable papers read before the society from time to time.
This, besides awakening an interest in the subject, has done much
to preserve these valuable articles, and I trust the day is not far
distant when some generous and broad-minded citizen of our
county will donate a sufficient fund to our society to enable it to
publish all of these valuable papers in book form and thereby put
them in proper shape for preservation for all time to come.
There is an eminent fitness for this meeting to be hel 1 at this
place, for we are truly upon historical ground ; not made memor-
able by any achievements in armed conflict for mastery, but rather
by deeds of peace enunciated by Pennsylvania's founder and
great law-giver. As the eye takes in the great panorama of the
valley and the wooded slopes outlining its western border, our
minds naturally revert to the changed conditions which two cen-
turies of civilization have wrought. Let us look back to the
period when our early pioneers halted by the way at New-
town, while others pushed up through the woods of Wrightstown
and scaled our mountain to behold this land of promise. It was
232 THE HERMIT OF THE WOLF ROCKS
not the land spoken of in the Scripture which the children of
Israel were led to view, but not allowed to enter. On the con-
trary, they came with passports that gave to them a lasting
heritage.
What a wonderful world of beauty met the pioneers' enrap-
tured gaze as from the mountain top their eyes rested on this
beautiful valley clothed in primeval forest of oak, hickory and
walnut, and broken only here and there by small clearings where
the aborigines practiced their rude forms of agriculture. The
smoke yet ascended from the wigwam of the Indian at Holicong
and the bright waters of Lahaska creek rippled over its pebbly
bed, on whose bank the Lenni Lenape with his bow and quiver
startled the wild deer from its repose. Is it any wonder that the
pioneers here rested, that here they built their meeting-house
and homes?
Among the number who took title from Penn were the follow-
ing : Thomas Bye, 600 acres ; James Streator, 500 acres ; Thom-
as Parsons, 500 acres : John Reynolds, 900 acres and Richard
Lundy, 1,000 acres. To one standing on Buckingham INIoun-
tain the eye covers all of these various tracts. Down to 1700
little inroad had been made upon the forest, and upon the heavy
timber the woodman's axe made slow progress.
It was not long after the first purchasers that others joined
therein and a new era of prosperity, civilization and refinement
was inaugurated. The soil was found to be unsurpassed in
fertility, and the melodies of wood and stream brought the
Prestons, Canbys, Parrys, Larges, Andersons, Elys, Fells, Pax-
sons and others, and the large tracts were divided and sub-
divided to suit the views of purchasers.
The opening up of the Old York road and the Durham road
which cross at Centreville also turned the tide of travel thither-
ward, and was one of the forerunners of civilization.
A place of worship always makes an important mark in the
history of a community, but it was not until 1720 that a Monthly
Meeting of Friends was established at Buckingham. The early
settlers were mainly Friends or people inclined that way as dis-
tinguished from Church people, and were, previous to this time,
a part of the Falls Meeting. History has it recorded that occa-
the; hermit of the wolf rocks 233
sionally the trip was made on foot; if so, it was a religion of
sacrifice and not an easy-going one as now.
The first meeting-house was built of logs, in 1705, and in a
few years it was found insufificient to accommodate the largely
increased membership of worshipers and a larger one, also of
logs, was built near the site of the old one. This took fire in
1768, while the meeting was in session, and in 1769 was built the
present house as we now find it. Thomas Canby, of Thorn,
Yorkshire, England, came over with Penn, and was the first
clerk, and he and his descendants served in that capacity for a
period of one hundred years.
The late Thomas Paxson was the last in the line, his grand-
father, also Thomas, having married a daughter of Thomas Can-
by. Friend Canby was no ordinary man, and to him was due
in no small measure the growth and prosperity of this particular
meeting. He lived many years where we now find Samuel and
Joseph Anderson, and was the father of seventeen children. The
name is not common at present, but this is accounted for from
the fact that a large portion of the family were girls and that
they had a fashion in those days, as now, of changing their names
in early girlhood, as good offers presented. Thus the name was
lost ; not so the blood ; a proportionate quantity yet remains, is
carried down the stream of time, and the pulse will register its
ebb and flow to the latest generation.
What hallowed memories cling around this historic old meeting-
house ! In the Revolution its roof sheltered the sick and wound-
ed soldier, while its old casements have resounded with the sharp
report of the flint lock or the measured tread of the guard. And
how rich and rare in remembrance of many sunny and sad scenes
of both bridals and burials are those quaint old walls as they stand
festooned in stern and strict simplicity. Here most of the mar-
riage happenings of this section were consummated. On one
October day in 1824, four parties knotted the golden tie that
binds two willing hearts. They were Dr. John Wilson and Mary
Fell, Samuel Eastburn and Mary Carver, Joseph Lewis and Ann
Saul and Daniel Smith and Hannah Betts. Daniel Smith long
survived all the others and his decease took place very recently.
The ancient horse-blocks are living sentinels of by-gone days
234 THE HERMIT OF THE WOLF ROCKS
when men and women came to meeting on horseback and made
use of them in mounting and dismounting, and those majestic
old oaks have stood ward and watcher around the old edifice
through many generations of worshipers.
Here, too, we find the old graveyard wherein are gathered
many generations of our forefathers. From 1700 to 1800 there
was no other burial ground for many miles around, and here it
may be truthfully said :
" Each in his narrow cell forever laid
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."
The school-house, too, close by, has strong claims to memory,
for here, under such able instructors as Joseph Fell, William
H. Johnson and Thomas Paxson, many men who have smce
risen to eminence received their early education. While the yel-
low fever prevailed in Philadelphia, in 1793, Jesse Blackfan and
Benjamin Ely, merchants of that city, brought their goods up
to this school-house, and in the second story opened and kept
store until they felt safe in returning to the city. It is also mem-
orable as being the place where the first agricultural society of
this county was organized. And so the old edifice has claims
historical as well as classical.
While we cannot in this paper mention all of the events which
have made this valley historical, or call to mind all the men who
have shed lustre on this county, yet here is a rather remarkable
coincidence which must not escape our observation. On yonder
slope an unpretending farmhouse registers the birthplace of ex-
Chief Justice Edward M. Paxson. Upon an adjoining farm
Justice D. Newlin Fell first saW the light of day. Still in front
of them, with but a small farm intervening, we find the birthplace
of the late Judge Richard Watson. All three were reared upon
the farm and knew little or nothing of college life, but drank in
from Nature's fountain and our common school the elements
of success in life; who will say that the Empire township has
not a prolific soil?
The old York road over which many of you traveled in coming
to this meeting is full of historic interest and covered by long
years of travel when it was the great thoroughfare between Phila-
delphia and New York. Along this road ran the great swift
THE HERMIT OF THE) WOLF ROCKS 235
sure four-horsed mail and passenger coach thundering along all
weathers and roads, rocking and surging on her leather suspend-
ers. Now she sticks in the mud — all out — Heave Oh ! and on-
ward we go, warranted withal with many relays of horses to go
through in three days. What mighty changes in travel since then,
and yet it is only about fifty years since the sight was familiar.
Now we run sitting still and fly without wings. A traveler go-
ing through Buckingham valley, on the New Hope cannon ball
express, recently remarked that he saw two objects : two hay
stacks, and they were both going the other way.
Nor was the old stage-coach the only line of travel that has
made old roadway famous. It was a common carrier — an ar-
tery as it were — that supplied the life blood to Philadelphia.
Long lines of white tented wagons, filled with farm products
from upper Bucks and New Jersey, found out roads to meet their
wants. They, however, like the stage line, have been withdrawn
and gone into history. General Washington likewise passed
along this road with his army of men on his way from Valley
Forge to the ferry at New Hope after stopping over night at the
town of Doyle.
Centreville, at the intersection of the York and Durham roads,
and in the line of vision from the W^olf Rocks, is an old hamlet
replete with historic interest. It was on Monday morning, Sep-
tember 10, 1737, at 7 o'clock that a picturesque group passed
through this village on the line of what is now the Durham road.
The party consisted of Timothy Smith, Sheriff of Bucks county,
assisted by Benjamin Eastburn, Surveyor General, and two depu-
ties, Nicholas Scull and John Chapman, who, with three Indians,
accompanied Edward Marshall, James Yates and Solomon
Jennings on the famous walk to define the boundary of land
released by the Indians to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania.
We have no record that the party stopped at the old hostelry
for refreshments and therefore presume that Sheriff Smith had
anticipated the wants of the walkers and sent the provender along
in advance.
Next in importance to the old meeting-house, Righter's Hotel at
Centreville has probably more of historic interest connected with
it than any other building in the township, and if its ancient walls
236 the; hermit of the woef rocks
could speak what a tale they could unfold. This old hostelry-
dates back far beyond the Revolution, and at that trying- period
of our country's history was known as "Bogart's Tavern."
There General Greene had his headquarters, and its hospitable
roof sheltered the great and good Washington on the many occa-
sions he passed through our township on the mission of his coun-
try. There was the recruiting station, and there many a poor
fellow shouldered the flint-lock and bade adieu to friends and
family for the chances of war, and never returned to relate the
story of his privations and suffering. There the "Bucks County
Committee of Safety" was organized, and many of its most im-
portant meetings held.
What a picture could be painted of this old inn. Fancy a
little band of patriotic farmers gathered there late at night laying
their rude plans for the defence of their country. Now there is
a pause in their deliberations — each man grasps his flint-lock for
without, there is borne on the midnight air the noisy clatter of
horses' hoofs hurrying down the Durham road. In fear and
breathless silence they wait until the sound is lost in the distance
of the mountain. Now they breathe a sigh of relief for well
they knew it was Moses Doan and his band of Tory outlaws !
These are a few of the many incidents of history connected
with the environments of our meeting to-day, which afford a
rich field for the historian, and which the limits of time allow
but a passing reference by way of a prelude or introduction to
what is announced in the program as "The Hermit of the Wolf
Rocks."
In the year 1709, Joseph Large, the great-grandfather of Albert
Large, the Hermit and subject of this sketch, attracted by the
many inducements offered to agriculturists in the Buckingham
valley, for it was then beautiful as now, purchased of Richard
Lundy, for the consideration of £20, a tract of 100 acres of land,
extending from the line of John Reynolds' land on the Mountain,
northward toward the York road, and was a part of the 1,000
acre tract which Richard Lundy purchased of one Jacob Telnor.
He also purchased of Samuel Blaker in 1759 a tract of 50 acres
adjoining for £238. It will be noted there was a large increase
in land values in 50 years.
THE HERMIT OF THE WOEF ROCKS â– 237
Joseph Large in his will, dated May 10, 1784, among other
things devised to his son, John Large, his farm containing 150
acres, and extending from the Old York road on the north, to
the Reynolds line on the Mountain, on the south. The Reynolds
line is but a few rods south of Wolf Rocks, where the present
meeting is held.
John Large died February 2, 1794, leaving a widow, Rachel
Large, and seven children, Jonathan, William, Samuel, (born
December 6, 1775) John, Achilles, Elizabeth and Sarah, to
whom the farm descended. In the partition made in 1799, a
tract containing 122 acres (and covering the Wolf Rocks) was
adjudged to Samuel Large, the Hermit's father.
Standing at the Wolf Rocks the whole tract lies before you.
Here Samuel Large pursued his occupation as an agriculturist,
but what made him famous was his skill as a foxhunter. His
appointments for the chase were the best, and his well trained
hounds and fleet steed that knew no fence as a barrier, won the
admiration of all beholders. It was a gala day on^ the hunt when
Large with his aids, the Elys and Byes, gave chase. Foxes were
then abundant and their runways covered a large territory of
wooded tracts. Buckingham and Solebury mountains. Bowman's
hill and Jericho mountain were favorable haunts of sly Reynard,
and however hotly pursued seldom failed to cover his retreat.
Even in this day an occasional fox is seen on the mountain, but
the baying of the hounds and the horn's clear notes on moon-
light nights are no longer heard in the valley.
Of the children of Samuel Large the most conspicuous were
Joseph and Albert, the former as teacher at the old Tyro Hall
school, in Buckingham, and afterwards as an Episcopal clergy-
man in the far West, and the latter whose remarkable case of
seclusion has made his name historic and won for him the world-
wide notoriety as the most celebrated hermit of modern times.
We have no data to fix the exact year of Albert Large's birth,
but circumstances lead to the belief it was about the year 1805.
Of his childhood and training there is little reliable information
now known other than his general dislike for restraint and con-
finement. The school-room was no place for him and books at
this period of his life were an abomination. The late Joseph Fell,
238 the; hermit of the wole rocks
with all his skill as an able and successful instructor, was unable
to cistill in the mind of this pupil, "Bert" Large, a liking for
books. Playing truant was not unknown to him and the wilds
of Buckingham Mountain were his delight.
Here, like a child of nature, he would wander for days at a
time through the shady woods admiring the wild flowers that
grew unrestrained along those leafy isles or listened to the wood
birds' sweet but plaintive note. Then when worn out he would
recline on some mossy rock and dreamily watch the fleecy clouds
floating along the blue firmament until lulled to sleep by the
gentle sighing of the winds through the mountain oak.
Thus passed his boyhood days and when early manhood arrived
a train of events occurred that may have changed his purpose and
turned his whole after life into the sad but interesting and roman-
tic story we find it. Affliction came upon the family and the pale
messenger bore his loved mother, Elizabeth, across the river
which separates us from the long hereafter. However much
it may have borne heavily on them at the time.
The father's tears were few and brief
For he woo'd and won another,
But ever before the eyes of the son,
Came the image of his mother.
It does not appear that the introduction of the new mother,
Mary Dean, added to his home attractions, for now he is known to
have absented himself from home for long periods. Yet as the sun-
shine that dispels the clouds is the brightest, so the joy that follows
grief is often the sweetest. Tender words of sympathy and en-
couragement from a fair one of the valley did much to overcome
his former griefs and trials. Here tradition broadly hints a love
entanglement connected therewith.
The valley then, as now, was the seat of beauty and refinement,
and why should he escape the smiles that from time to time had
led others captive. There was one above all others whose charms
were proverbial. She was the grand luminary of attraction, the
star at which all others knelt, whose smile was sweeter and whose
silver laugh was merrier than all others as it rang among the
sylvan bowers of Lahaska.
That he aspired to her hand there is every reason to believe
and that mutual love did not materialize is also known, but at
THE HERMIT OF THE WOLF ROCKS 239
whose hands the fault Hes remains as yet an untold tale. A
proper respect for the changed condition of things impels me to
keep silent as to the name of the fair one. On what a slender
cord sometimes hangs one's future happiness and station in
life. This second disappointment or lost hope turned him away
from human society and for many years his abode was entirely
unknown to his family or the outside world.
" He sought his new abode where moonlight's wing
Curtained the sleeping valley far below,
And life to him seemed like a weary thing,
Lulled by the music of the winds so low."
Sadly twisted and warped as his mind must have then been, yet
in selecting the weird romantic Wolf Rocks as his abode he seems
to have had an appreciation of nature left. The ponderous rocks
forming the roof of his new home stand sentinels over the valley
he loved so well. It was a fitting place for his retirement, for
while giving an outlook upon the busy world, was comparatively
secure from the steps of any intruder.
The mountain and rocks were less frequented then than now,
and days and perhaps weeks passed without a traveler visiting
them. While his family and friends thought him lost, yet here,
amid the changing seasons, with storm and wild tempests sweep-
ing the mountain's height and valley below with its white mantle
of snow, he was secure in his rocky castle. What must have been
his thoughts as he sat near the entrance of his lonely cell at
midday, and beheld his kindred tilling the soil and gathering the
harvest in the same field where he was once a toiler, were known
only to him. He was a silent watcher of all the improvement going
on in the valley and little on the line of travel on the Old York
road could have escaped his observation. His eye took in the
quiet villages of Lahaska, Greenville and Centreville, the spires
of Doylestown and the far-off Haycock mountain with its round-
ed and blue summit. Many years he thus lived unknown to the
outside world. He must have sallied forth at times to gather
in supplies to stock his larder, but this was doubtless after the
tired farmer had sought repose and night had spread her mantle
over mountain and valley. At length he became less car^^ful to
conceal his identity and made occasional visits to near villages.
But how changed his appearance. His long growth of hair and
240 the; hermit of the wolf rocks
beard flowing over his breast and shoulders left no semblance of
"Bert" Large of the valley, and
" The very mother that him bare
Would not have known her child."
At that period of his history, a few years before his dis-
covery, he seems to have fallen into a very common but mis-
taken notion that to assuage grief or drown sorrow, a resort to
the intoxicating bowl would give relief. Accordingly to the vil-
lage inn went he with his little brown jug to be filled; but alas
on his return home the jug or its contents became too heavy and
he fell, not among thieves as of old, neither by the roadside, but
upon a lime kiln's summit. The light from the burning kiln
in the darkness of the night had drawn him thither, and a
chilly October air led him to take advantage of the warmth
there afforded, unmindful of the danger of inhaling the nox-
ious coal gas. In the morning he was found by one of the
employes of the late William H. Johnson, the great philan-
thropist and reformer. The little brown jug, his companion
of the previous night, was yet beside him but showed no
signs of life, its spirits had departed, and it was thought at
first that those of the traveler had shared the same fate. Not
so, however, for friend Johnson acted the part of a good Samari-
tan, had him removed to his house nearby and the work of
resuscitation commenced. Mr. Johnson, in writing of this inci-
dent some years ago, says :
" One of the hands brought intelligence, early in the morning, that a man
was lying at the top of one of the kilns tlien on fire, and that he believed
him to be dead. We went to the place and found the person still in the
same position as when first seen. His face was turned toward the heated
stone forming the top, and upon examination it showed a livid paleness.
His eves were entirely closed. A close inspection showed a slight breath-
ing at long intervals. The kiln at the time being in full blast and having
been on fire for more than a day, the carbonic gas was passing off very
freely from the vent at the top. and the man having his face very near this
opening had imbibed the noxious vapor until his lungs were now incapable
of performing their ofhce. A phial of hartshorne was at once applied to his
nostrils. This very soon gave evidence that his lungs were yet capable of
inhaling, although they had suffered a temporary paralysis. His breathing
soon became improved, and it was not long before the whole body gave in-
creased signs of animation. He sat up and preparations were soon making
for a cup of coffee and some other refreshments. He showed no disposition
to conver.se about his new abode or his singular nap, and, although his in-
tended repast was nearly ready, he seized the momentary occasion of the
person preparing it being absent from the room, to beat a hasty retreat.
This was the last opportunity (until the time of his discovery) that pre-
sented of holding any intercourse with the man who obtained a distinction
as the Hermit of the Wolf Rocks on Lahaska mountain."
THE HERMIT OF THE WOLF ROCKS 24J
William H. Johnson was a near neighbor of Albert Large
and had known him from childhood.
For some years after the incident just related Large was
neither seen nor heard of until there came on Friday morning,
April 9, 1858, the startling announcement of his discovery.
DISCOVERY AT THE WOLF ROCKS.
The facts from well authenticated sources are as follows : On
the morning of that day as William Kennard, a well-known color-
ed man of this township, was passing along the foot of the Wolf
Rocks, he observed smoke issuing from the rocks and heard a
strange noise like the rattling of tinware ; or to use his own
words, "like the dragging of a kettle by a chain." He became
alarmed and ran to another part of the mountain to obtain the
company of another colored man, Moses Allen, to go back with
him and make some explorations.
The two men, armed with a crowbar, went back to the part
of the rocks from which the strange sound emanated, and after
making considerable explorations were about to abandon the
enterprise, when it occurred to them that making a noise might
bring the stranger to sight. They commenced boring the rock
with a crow-bar, which had the effect of bringing a voice from
some hiding place which asked, "who is it and what do you
want?" They proceeded to the cleft in the rock and after dili-
gent search succeeded in finding an entrance to a room or cavern
in which was a human being. Upon being asked to come out
he refused to do so, and denied the obtruders admittance, threat-
ening to "put balls through them both," if they attempted to
enter.
There had been so many strange rumors concerning the Wolf
Rocks and their environments ; their possible occupancy by a band
of counterfeiters and outlaws ; the story of the little girls who
were gathering whortleberries or chestnuts near the rocks, and
ran home alarmed, stating to their parents they had seen a man
at the Wolf Rocks with a beard a yard long; another, that the
human voice had frequently been heard there on moonh'ght
nights, pouring forth a stream of wild and romantic melody
when at the same time no person could be discovered from
whom it could possibly have emanated. From these and other
242 THE HICRMIT OF THE WOEF ROCKS
rumors the two men thought it unsafe to proceed further with-
out reinforcements, and they accordingly secured the services of
several stalwart men from the limestone quarries of the late
Aaron Ely.
The large party, plentifully armed with crow-bars, churn-
augurs, and other quarrymen's tools, returned to the rocks and
began the research. The sounding of heavy iron bars upon the
rock roof of the cavern, with a huge fire at its entrance, and the
loud voices of the quarrymen calling upon the occupant to come
out, compelled him to yield, and he displaced the large stone that
formed the door of his abode and reluctantly came forth. The
exploring party were dumbfounded to find him to be the missing
Albert Large. In appearance at that time he is described as a
man about the average size, with rather round or drooping
shoulders, over which fell long gray hair in profusion. His
beard extended almost to his waist, and, with his ancient and
tattered clothing and general unkempt appearance, he presented
a picture of a veritable wild man.
The exploring party having made a favorable impression on
him by the promises that no injury should be done him, he
at length became composed and gave them some account of his
history and mode of living, and invited them to inspect his den.
The cave was located about midway of the "Big Wolf Rocks"
and a short distance below what is termed the "Wolf Hole," a
place that has been observed by all who have ever paid this
wild spot a visit. The entrance was from the north side and
could only be effected by going on all-fours. The first place
they entered was his kitchen or culinary department. In it
were found a rude fireplace, some pipe to carry off the smoke,
several buckets, a powder keg with a leather strap for a handle,
several tin pans, an iron pot for boiling his foo I and a number
of minor cooking utensils.
The next apartment was his sleeping room, which was sepa-
rated from the kitchen by a rough mortar wall of his own con-
struction. This room was not high enough for a man to walk
erect, but when once ensconced therein, its occupant was pretty
cozy and comfortable. It contained a pretty good mattress that
served him as a bed, an old stool and a few other articles that
THE HERMIT OF THE WOLF ROCKS 243
made up his chamber suit. This room was so surrounded by
board work and mortar that the penetration of dampness was
impossible. Over the entrance leading to the cave was a large
flat stone, which he rolled away at pleasure when he wanted to
go out, and which was carefully replaced when he returned and
wished to enter his sanctum. Altogether his cave was a place
of some comforts, and to a man who wished to be secluded from
the world was capable of being a resort of much happiness and
pleasure.
Large claimed he purchased his tobacco and some provisions at
village stores several miles distant. This is probably true, but
it was thought at that time that the balance of his provisions,
such as apples, potatoes, turkeys, chickens, milk, and beef from
the smoke-house were never paid for. He stated that one hard
winter he was shut in his cave for six weeks, and that with
the snow of an unknown depth above his cave and provisions
and tobacco running low, the situation was anything but cheering.
During the summer season parties came to the rocks almost
weekly and kept him pretty well posted as to the news in the
valley. While he was in their very midst, as it were, and could
hear all that was said, his presence was unknown to them. The
natural arm chair and sofa of stone, objects of rare curiosity,
are close by his cave, and he heard much in the way of "billing
and cooing" there happening.
The "Wolf Hole," that dark recess, was visited by another
class in nowise allied to those just alluded to, and while Large
is not known to have disclosed the robberies and incendiaries
there plotted, yet several parties of doubtful reputation found
it convenient to move from the neighborhood shortly after his
discovery.
At the time of his discovery considerable speculation existed
in the public mind as to the length of time he had occupied this
sequestered and secluded spot. To his captors. Large claimed a
residence of forty years, but in this he must have been mistaken.
The best and most reliable authorities in the valley at that
time agreed that his heimit life was not over twenty years;
perhaps about eighteen years, from the time he first entered the
cave until his discovery in 1858.
244 THD HKRMIT OF THE WOLF ROCKS
The news of the discovery of the long-lost Albert Large and
his cave spread like a forest fire, and the public curiosity was
aroused by the circumstances so novel and mysterious. That a
man had been living, summer and winter, for so many years,
in a cavern of a rock, in sight of the heart of the valley, was
too much for the credulity of the neighborhood. The Sunday
following his discovery all avenues leading to the mountain
were lined with vehicles heavily freighted with humanity, all
bent on reviewing the great discovery. They came from Doyles-
town, New Hope, Lambertville, Flemington, and in short the
whole region of country from Tinicum to Newtown. For many
weeks the excitement was unabated, and the Wolf Rocks and
hermit's cave were the principal theme uppermost at inns and
stores. Every article found in his cave was thoroughly in-
spected, and it was not long before everything there, even to
the board lining and mortar wall, were carried .-.way as relics by
curious people.
Accounts of his finding were published far and wide at the
time, and residents of our county when traveling in the far Wes-
tern States have frequently been asked about the Buckingham
hermit. Not only in our own land, but from far-ofif shores we
find our transatlantic journals giving the matter great publicity.
Some of them were wide of the mark in matters of actual fact,
and to show how the story got mystified in crossing the ocean,
we quote entire, as a matter of curiosity, an article printed at
that time in the Guide, a paper published in London, England:
EXTRAORDINARY ! DISCOVERY OF A HERMIT !
" Hermits are things of the past, only to be found in story books, or old
worm-eaten novels of the end of the last century, in which trap doors and
caverns play a distinguished and lugubrious part. It is, therefore, with
some little surprise that we have to record the following well authenticated
story : There exists at a distance of some miles from Doyle's Town, Penn-
sylvania, a mountain known as the Wolf Rock. Goats alone find pasture on
its barren cliffs, and even they must be sadly starved to seek food upon
these naked and jagged stone hills. A few weeks ago, however, two blacks
from Doyle's Town started in search of three stray goats, and tracked them
to the foot of Wolf Rock. They had no alternative then but to scale the
rugged mountain. It was no easy task, for the hunters had nearly all the
time to crawl upon their hands and knees.
" Evening drew in, and yet there were no signs of more than one of the
goats. They accordingly made up their minds to redescend, when their at-
the; hermit of thh wolf rocks 245.
tentioii was attracted to a noise in some hollow of the hill. Negroes are
naturally curious, while the)' even fancied they were upon the track of the
two fugitives. They determined then, to explore further, and advanced to-
wards the entrance of a mysterious-looking grotto. It was a narrow fissure,
obstructed by roots and stones. After much exertion, one succeeded in
crawling in upon his face ; but just as his eyes were becoming used to the
darkness, a voice from out of the gloom cried, ' What do you want ? ' The
negro knew not what to say. He stammered out that he was looking for a
goat. For some minutes there was no reply ; then a mysteiious voice cried
out, ' Wretch, you advance to your destruction. One step more, and you
are a dead man.'
" The black could stand it no longer, but backed out as speedily as possi-
ble from the hollow, and rapidly regained Doyle's Town, telling everybody
he met that he had been face to face with the Prince of Darkness. Now,
the inhabitants of Doyle's Town are not superstitious, but they are curious.
They accordingly determined to learn the truth. Plentifully supplied with
arms, lanterns, &c., they surrounded the cavern, after lighting a great fire
at its entrance. The supposed demon not liking to endure the fate of
Marshall Pelissier's Arabs, came forth. He was a man of herculean stature,
clothed in skins of goats and foxes, with long hair and beard, and singularly
wild eyes. He was at once made prisoner and his dwelling examined.
" It was a large grotto, divided into three compartments, lined with moss,
and receiving light and air from above. There was a fire place, a comfort-
able bed, and numerous remains of poultry were there, which explained the
frequent and mysterious disappearance of fowls, &c., which had been no-
ticed by the neighboring farmers for some years. Questioned as to his name
and strange existence, the Sybarite hermit declared his name to be Albert
Large. He assured his captors that for forty years he had dwelt in that re-
tired cavern, never leaving it but at night to hunt for the poultry, goats and
pigs on which he fed. A disappointment in love had driven him to his ex-
tremity. His brother, Joseph S. Large, is an eminent minister of the Epis-
copal church."
Such, my hearers, are the stories, both authentic and apocrypal
of Albert Large, the hermit, as I have gleaned them. After his
discovery he lingered about the mountain but a short time, and
on yonder rocky promentory he is said to have taken his fare-
well view of the beauty-woven valley, and bade a silent but
mournful adieu to those weird and romantic rocks, endeared
to him as a home through all the changing seasons of those
many years of his life in solitude.
From thenceforth all traces of him and his later history have
been lost. It was thought by some that he might have gone to
another cave or hiding place somewhere along the banks of the
river Schuylkill, but there is nothing to warrant such belief.
246 READING THE ROCKS
It is now 37 years since his departure, and if living he would
be 90 years of age. It is most likely that long ago he paid the
debt of nature, as his habits and mode of life were not calcula-
ted to lead beyond "the days of our years" as allotted by the
Psalmist. Instances of a life like this are very rare, and if
all were known of him, an interesting volume would be the
meditations and reveries of Albert Large, the Hermit of the
Wolf Rocks.
Reading the Rocks.
BY CHAREES LAUBACII, DURHAM, PA.
(Meeting at Wolf Rocks, Buckingham, July 16, 1895).
On the northern borders of the ancient triassic sea, on the
Pennsylvania side of the Delaware river, in Nockamixon town-
ship, Bucks county, in latitude 40 degrees 31 minutes, longitude 75
degrees 14 minutes, we find large areas almost inaccessible un-
der ordinary circumstances, owing to stupendous clififs and their
beetling heights ; but at their base, and where nature scooped
out deep ravines, plentiful opportunities are offered to the f^cien-
tific tourist to amply repay him for his hazardous attempt of ob-
taining rare mineralogical specimens. Geologically, the rock for-
mation belongs to the Mesozoic time. — Reptilian Age.
The position of the rocks in linear or ranges parallel with
the mountains north, is therefore along depressions made when
the Appalachian foldings took place. They are in many in-
stances upwards of 400 feet in perpendicular height. The rip-
ple-marks, rain-drop impressions, mud-cracks, etc., occasionally
met with while prospecting, show wherever they occur, that
the layer was for a time a half-emerged mud or sand flat ; and
as they extend through much of the rock, there is evidence
that the layers in general were not formed in deep water. The
veins of minerals run in ribbons, in strings, broadening out
unexpectedly, and i)enetrate the rock, in varying proportions
and directions — in places even a foot in thickness. They lie
generally in a horizontal position, but frequently bent or con-
torted in every conceivable direction. They are usually more
KII'PI,]': MARK,S.
At Raubsville, Northampton county, Pa. In limestone quarry on line ot Philadelphia
& Kaston Electric Railway. Two niile.s north of Riegel.sville and fi', miles south of
p:aston, about 50 yards from the west shore of the Delaware river and one mile north of
the boundary line between Bucks and Northampton counties. Said to be the largest and
best defined ripple marks on the Atlantic coa.st. See Geological Survey of Pennsylvania,
published in 1S5S by Prof. H. D. Rogers, Vol. I, page 99.
( From photograph taken April t>. igo9.)
READING THE ROCKS 247
abundant where a soft layer supervenes ; but pyrites are more
plentiful in harder rock. There is hardly any one point on
the outcrop of the minerals to be described that may be said
to be favored in abundance, except the copper-bearing veins
which have been from time to time somewhat exploited by Mr.
Benjamin W. Pursell, and Mr. Amos Stone, of Doylestown.
We will therefore proceed to describe some of the more
prominent minerals found in this interesting locality.
ist. Iron pyrites in cubes; the adjacent faces are often
striated at right angles with one another, also in other forms.
Pyrites close to druses sometimes contain minute quantities of
gold. A fine specimen of the latter mineral was picked up by
Mr. Pursell, in the locality.
Pyrites in every imaginable condition, from a smooth, even
yellow-colored mass almost devoid of crystalline form, to ag-
gregations of very small but beautiful crystals, are met with.
The crystals are generally less than a quarter of an inch long,
and a cabinet specimen showing elegant forms of aggregations
may be easily obtained with proper care in cutting the rock
around it with a cold chisel. Patience is an excellent and
necessary virtue in searching for minerals, and is eminently
necessary here among the almost inaccessible cliffs and multi-
tudinous barren veins. I may mention here that every part
of the success of a trip lies in knowing where to find the min-
erals sought — there is much more satisfaction (as every min-
eralogist has experienced) in finding rich deposits independent-
ly of direction, and by close observance of indications, rather
than having them pointed out ; consequently the precise loca-
tion is not necessary, but anyone wishing to prospect or collect
cabinet specimens of the various minerals met with in the lo-
cality will find the courteous owner of the premises, Mr. Pur-
sell, always willing to aid the collector in quest of these inter-
esting objects.
Iron-pyrites is distinguished from copper-pyrites in being too
hard to cut with a knife, and also by its paler color. The ores
of silver at all approaching pyrites are steel-gray or nearly
black, and besides they are easily cut with a knife and quite
248 READING THE ROCKS
fusible. Gold is sectile and malleable; and besides, it does not
give off a sulphur odor before the blow-pipe like pyrites.
2nd. Specular iron-ore occurs here, sparingly in complex
modifications of rhombohedral crystals, occasionally thin and
tabular ; sometimes micaceous or lamellar, color, dark steel-
gray or iron-black, crystals highly splendent, streak reddish-
brown.
3rd. Amygdaloid, a trappean shale, containing numerous
spheroidal or almond-shaped cavities filled with chlorite, is found
here in great abundance. Some very fine cabinet specimens
may be picked up in this locality without any exertion, as
they are scattered over the surface in places in great profusion.
Some specimens, however, are well worth a thorough search, and
possess considerable value as unique mineralogical specimens.
It is probable that some of the other zeolites belonging to this class
occur here, but I have not been able to find them. Persistent
search may possibly reveal them, or they may be stumbled upon
through accident by some one.
4th. Galena — sulphuret-of-lead. This mineral does not ap-
pear to be very abundant in this locality, but through the kind-
ness of Mr. Pursell we obtained several fine specimens, picked
up by him while exploiting in the vicinity. General Davis,
in his History of Bucks County, page 640, says :
" Attention was drawn to this section at an early day. In the description
of New Albion, published at London, in 1648, there is mention made of
' lead mines in stony hills,' ten leagues above the Falls of the Delaware,
which probably had reference to the iron ore in the Durham hills, where a
little lead has been found from time to time."
It is probable, however, that future exploitations may
result in larger finds of lead-ore, as the appearance of the
specimens denote that they were detached from a vein-bearing
stratum, and not merely random or float specimens, washed
or transported from another locality. Galena resembles some
silver and copper-ores in color, but its cubical cleavage or gran-
ular structure will usually distinguish it. Its sulphur fumes
before the blow-pipe prove it to be a lead ore. The specimens
have the characteristic of being easily split into small crystals.
5th. Epidote. This mineral is quite abundant as inferior
READING THE ROCKS 249
specimens. It occurs in the rocks in proximity to dykes of trap
or basalt. There are three prominent varieties of this mineral
found here ; one of a yellowish-green color, another of a gray-
ish-brown ; a third of dark reddish shades, which contains
a large per cent, of oxide of manganese.
6th. Copper ores. Of these there are quite a variety, and
as there is very little difference in their appearance a minute
description may be best. The hammer and chisel will be neces-
sary to obtain anything unique in the present state of
the mines. Among the copper mineral varieties, green
malachite stands preeminent. This mineral is finely ex-
posed in this locality, and is conspicuous by its rich
green color. Fine specimens may be obtained in abundance,
which form excellent cabinet specimens. For this kind of
specimens, masses of considerable size, quite hard, and of a pure,
green color, should be taken. As the greater part of this min-
eral is only about one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness, it re-
quires care to secure anything massive ; but with careful chisel-
ing, fine specimens may be obtained. The mineral is so con-
spicuous by its rich, green color, and solubility in acid, that a de-
tailed description is deemed unnecessary. It readily dissolves in
acid with effervescence, as it is a carbonate-of-copper. Red-
oxide of copper is found in small quantities along the line
of outcrop, or near it. Fine crystals are fairly abundant, but
are difficult to distinguish, as they are generally coated with
malachite ; its color is earthy, or brownish red. The crystals
are generally from an eighth to a quarter of an inch in thick-
ness, and found imbedded in masses of malachite. When a
piece of the latter is found, which has a high gravity, red-copper-
oxide may be suspected and broken into, when the red-oxide
crystals will appear, which have a greater beauty in the eyes
of the mineralogist than the more massive malachite. The
crystals dissolve in acids, similar to malachite, but without effer-
vescence — that is if they be freed from malachite. The red-
copper-oxide is not of itself a very showy mineral, but its
rarity fully compensates for a considerable search after it. At
the time of my visit to the locality, considerable of it could be
seen scattered among the debris.
250 READING THE ROCKS
Chrysocolla is also found in abundance, largely resembling
malachite, but has a bluer^ lighter color, and is seldom massive,
mostly occurring in incrustations and beautiful druses, which
make fine cabinet specimens. 'It is softer than malachite, but
as it is found mixed with it, it is difficult to distinguish, ex-
cept it does not dissolve in nitric acid, although the acid takes
the green color of a solution of malachite, which characterizes
it. By careful search, finely drused specimens may be found,
which can be carried away as mementoes of an interesting trip.
Copper-glance has also been found in the locality, although
we were unable to detect it during our visit; but on our ar-
rival at the laboratory of IMr. Pursell we saw a solution of this
mineral in a test tube which gave the characteristic white sul-
phur powder precipitation. A steel blade being placed in the
solution quickly received a coating of copper, known by its red
color.
Erubscite, another coi)per mineral, occurs here, sparingly,
with the other varieties of this class. It is of a reddish-yellow
color, sometimes tarnished to a light-brown on its surface.
Erubscite is distinguished from red-oxide, which it alone re-
sembles, by its lighter color, great solubility when pure, and
its sulphur fumes.
Having thus as briefly as possible sketched a few of the
more prominent minerals found in this interesting locality,
we will ask your attention for a few minutes to a concise con-
sideration of the life existing during the genesis of these min-
erals and rocks.
The fossil remains of the vegetation of the period includes,
so far as we have discovered, no species of sigilaria, stigmaria,
or lepidodendron, the characteristic genera of plant life of the
Carboniferous era immediately preceding the age under con-
sideration; but, instead, there are cycads, or a species of tree-
fern, having a simple trunk with a tuft of large leaves or fronds
at the top resembling a palm, along with many new forms of
ferns, Equiesta and Coniferae. No species of moss or grass
have as yet been met with in this locality. The remains of these
plants are sufficient to show that the hills had their forest veg-
etation of Coniferae, cycads and ferns, from which trunks and
READING THE ROCKS 25I
leaves were occasionally swept into the estuaries, while the
marshes were in some places accumulating vegetable debris,
forming lignite. Relics of insects and crustaceans are rare in
this vicinity — several fossil tracks of worms, indicated by the
marks they left on the fine shales, also some fossil footprints
of birds and reptiles have been discovered. The latter appar-
ently belong to the lizard tribe. Numerous fossils, and far
more varied, are found in other localities in this formation.
The Nockamixon palisades, although comparatively an atom
in the vast system of the Mesozoic is a system in itself in its
revelations, and the portion of science, though gathered from
one small exposure, is the deciphered law of the whole com-
plicated Mesozoic formation.
By studying out the character of the rocks, minerals, fossil
remains of plants and animals, we are enabled to restore to our
minds to some extent the epoch registered in the formation
now under consideration. The various strata are thus not sim-
ply records of moving waters, sands, clays, pebbles, and dis-
turbed or uplifted rocks, with crystalline and rare minerals
and fossil plants, and ancient life embedded in the strata; but its
history is a history of the life of the globe, as well as of the rock
formation of the period.
A text book on paleontology, crystallography, or physics, out-
lined and printed on the spot, would serve for the whole of the
Mesozoic formation — Reptilian age. Thus the rocks and min-
erals here exposed, may be regarded as records of successive
events in the world's history — as actual historical records, and
may be read as easily as any historical document written by man.
Nature has placed its stamp upon every rock, mineral, pebble,
seam of ore, fossil, crack or crevice, or any marking whatever,
and only awaits the careful student to read the record. Thus
every rock stratum marks an epoch in history, and groups of rocks
a period, and still larger groups ages ; and thus the ages which
reach through geological time are interpreted and their life his-
tory determined by their fossil remains.
On botanical data the ages would read :
I St. The age of seaweeds, covering the ages of mollusks and
fishes.
252 READING THE ROCKS
2cl. The age of coal-plants or acrogens of the carboniferous age.
3d. The age of cycacls, corresponding to the Mesozoic-Reptilian
age, (or age now under consideration) and dicotyledons, cor-
responding to the mammalian age.
4th. The age of palms.
Turning to the. Historical ages we recognize:
I St. The age of mollusks, or silurian.
2d. The age of fishes, or Devonian.
3d. Carboniferous age — coal plants.
4th. Reptilian age — reptiles, the dominant race, (corresponding
to the age under discussion).
5th. Mammalian age — mammals, the dominant race.
6th. Age of man. The present.
There are precautions necessary in outlining the ages, depend-
ing on individual differences and diversities in the range of fossils,
which will no doubt be fully understood by the average scientists,
and need not be dwelt upon at this time.
The position of the Triassic beds show that this part of the
continent stood nearly at its present level when the deposition oc-
curred. The strange absence of Atlantic sea shore deposits
in the Triassic period, coupled with the absence of Radiates, and
paucity of Mollusks, and the presence of only a few species that
are properly marine, prove that the ocean had imperfect access,
if any, to the regions under discussion. That the beds are not
seashore deposits or formations like the Cretaceous and Ter-
tiary of later times is thus confirmed, and clearly sustains the idea
that the beds are partly of estuary and partly of lacustrine origin.
The occurrence of vegetable remains and the lignite beds also
prove this conclusion.
The thickness — 3,000 to 5,000 feet or more, in connection with
the foregoing, shows that the areas covered by this deposit, under-
went a gradual subsidence to the above depth or beyond ; conse-
quently, that these oblong depressions were slowly deepening, and
continued to deepen until the last layer was deposited.
" 'aes TO J^""*^ .
T76 TO JLl"^
^06 TO jor«t
COUNTY SUPERINTEXDEXTS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Portraits of all incumbents from the time the office was established by Act approved May 8,
1S54, with one exception ; we were not able to get a photograph of Stephen T. Kirk,
of Doylestown, who was superintendent from June, iSikj, to May. 1S70.
The Early County Superintendency of Bucks County.
BY HUGH B. UASTBURN,, DOYIvESTOWN, PA.
(Meeting at Wolf Rocks, Buckingham, July i6, 1895).
The question of education in its relation to the incHvidual, to
the community, and to the State, has always been from the
founding of our State a matter of exceeding interest to those
who have been interested in the progress and prosperity of our
people. As we all know, the great founder of our Common-
wealth, in framing the Constitution which seemed to him to be
necessary in guiding the infant energies of the young State
which he had created, said, "That, therefore, which makes a good
Constitution must keep it, viz: Men of wisdom and virtue,
qualities, which, because they descend not with wordly inheri-
tances, must be carefully propagated by a virtuous education of
youth." But while there have always been many institutions
of a private character for the instruction of youth in our State,
that have done superior work and have aided in the development
of great intellectual power among our people, while in our own
county there have been such institutions to whose labors can be
traced great results, notably the case of the Log College in
Warminster, founded nearly a century and three-quarters ago,
while academies, seminaries and colleges have done much to
promote the well-being of the State, yet our system of common
school instruction has had to wait for its development and growth
until within a comparatively recent period. In 1834 the Legis-
lature of Pennsylvania passed its first General Act providing for
a system of common schools. It was not made obligatory upon
any township or borough in the State to accept all of its pro-
visions ; those provisions could be made operative and of value
only as each school district in the State might see fit to put them
into force. The deep-rooted feeling of antagonism upon the part
of many people to any system of education which required for
its support the payment of taxes by the general public, and con-
sequently the contribution to the public treasury by those who
had no children to send to school as well as by those who had,
254 EARLY COUNTY SUPERINTENDENCY OF BUCKS COUNTY
the former claiming that they could not be benefited by the pay-
ment of a school tax, constantly manifested itself in the dispo-
sition to render of no avail the provisions of the law ; and the
result was that in a large number of the districts of the State
there was a failure to put the Act fully in force for many years
after its enactment. Assaults were made upon the law in the
Legislature, and it was only by the labors of Thaddeus Stevens,
Thomas H. Burrows and their compeers that it was saved upon
the statute books. The districts that so failed to adopt were,
with scarcely an exception, the most backward and un-enterpris-
ing in their respective counties ; but even where the Act was
accepted and the experiments tried, there was a failure to realize
the results hoped for from the system. There was a failure to de-
vise and carry out any well-considered plan for the preparation
of teachers for their work, for the examination and selection
of teachers, for the grading and classification of schools, for the
building of suitable school-houses, and for properly furnishing
them, for the supply of proper books and apparatus, and gen-
erally for a judicious financial management of the schools. Be-
fore Pennsylvania could fully realize the position in which she
stood, educationally, and could awake to the perils surrounding
her, it seemed necessary that the quickening and inspiring in-
fluence of Horace Mann, in his magnificent twelve years' work,
commencing in 1837, as the Secretary of the State Board of Edu-
cation of Massachusetts, should summon our people to the great
work which lay before them.
The haphazard method of conducting the educational work in
our State became finally so notorious, its evils so patent, and
the results so frightfully apparent in the failure to uplift the
great bo^ly of our people to the intellectual and moral plane
upon which it was universally recognized they should stand,
that the Act of 1849 was passed, followed by that of 1854, the
latter, without reference to the narrow and selfish views of
those districts which had either failed to adopt the provisions
of the Act of 1834 or had constantly endeavored to ren^^er abor-
tive any sufficient results from that Act, providing as follows in
the first section thereof:
DARIvY COUNTY SUPERINTENDENCY OF BUCKS COUNTY 255
" That a system of common school education be, and the same is hereby
deemed, held and taken to be adopted according to the provisions of this
Act, in all the counties of this Commonwealth, and every township, bor-
ough and city of this Commonwealth, or which shall be hereafter erected,
shall constitute and be a school district subject to the provisions of this
Act."
The school authorities of the State, as well as all careful
students of the subject at that time, recognized as the most impor-
tant feature of the Act those sections which provided for the elec-
tion in each county of an officer to be called the County Superin-
tendent, and which specified his powers and duties. The law re-
quired the person elected to this office to be of "literary and
scientific acquirements, and of skill and experience in the art of
teaching."
Many in this audience have from their personal knowledge
had some conception of the magnitude and character of the
duties which confronted the first officer in this county to be
elected to that position. A majority of us who are here to-day
have seen something of the gradual evolution and development
of the system, and as pupils or teachers we may have been
directly benefited by that development ; but no one who was not
familiar with the condition of the schools in our county prior
to 1854, of the methods by which they were conducted, of the
kind oi teachers who were in charge of them, of the facdities
that were furnished in the way of books and apparatus to
teachers and pupils, can have any adequate idea of the work
that confronted the first county superintendent.
As I have intimated, there have always been good schools
in this county. There have been men and women who, specially
qualified by mental and moral endowment, filled with enthusiasm
and working with tact and energy have been quoted and re-
membered from one generation to another as teachers of remark-
able power, who have, in their respective communities, aided in
preparing for the State good citizens, and in developing inherent
genius in many young people who otherwise might have remained
in comparative obscurity. But such schools were exceptional.
They were sporadic. Their existence was but fitful.
The majority of the schools were taught by persons who were
inadequately prepared, and who taught with no idea that teach-
256 EARI^Y COUNTY SUPERINTENDENCY OP BUCKS COUNTY
ing could or would be a profession. Most of the male teachers
used the few months of winter to eke out a livelihood which
an agricultural, mechanical or other pursuit would fail to proper-
ly provide for. In not a few localities, teachers were appointed
who were of intemperate habits and bad morals. The school-
houses to which the children of that day were sent were almost
universally imfit in their appearance and architecture, in their
lack of ventilation, in their dearth of conveniences both within and
without, to provide for the proper moral as well as mental de-
velopment of the child. The books were crude and meagre and
uninteresting.
In certain localities the people insisted upon having good
teachers, that their children should be sent to decent school
buildings, and that whatever was necessary to supplement the
work of an efficient teacher should be done ; but there was a
lack of method, of organization, of management, calculated
to lift up the whole body of the schools and impress upon them
throughout the marks of a vigorous, upward and progressive
movement. Teachers were put in charge of schools either with-
out an examination at all as to their qualifications, or in many
cases with but the most superficial effort to ascertain what they
knew and what they could do.
Naturally the members of the school boards would be unpre-
pared, at least in the majority of cases, to conduct a thorough
examination of those who might apply for the position of teacher
in all of the branches to be taught. It was the custom in cer-
tain places, if some citizen had the reputation of knowing more
of mathematics or geography or grammar than his fellows to
request him to examine teachers in that subject; but no certifi-
cates were issued showing the results of any examination. The
State authorities too complained that there was no proper ac-
counting to the school department by the local school boards
of the moneys appropriated by the State. There was no method
by which accurate and reliable data could be obtained from these
districts by the department; and it was alleged in many cases
that there was a deliberate misappropriation by the local authori-
ties of the moneys which had been intrusted to them, without
there being any sufficient method on the part of the State in
EARI,Y COUNTY SUP£;RIN TENDENCY OF BUCKS COUNTY 257
ascertaining where the difficulty lay. Much prejudice, born of
ignorance and selfishness, which had always been entertained
toward the common school system, yet remained, with the dis-
position to thwart and hamper as far as possible all efforts to
render the provisions of the new Act a success. Many people
regarded the creation of the office of County Superintendent as
entirely unnecessary, and the salary paid as a waste of the public
money.
The outlook, therefore, for the first officers under this Act
was one that promised nothing but hard work. The Act has
outlined nearly all of the principal duties of the County Su-
perintendent as they have existed from that day to this. He
was required to examine teachers, and to see that no incompe-
tent teacher was employed ; to see that there should be taught
in every district certain specified branches, as well as others
that the Board of Directors might require ; to visit all the schools
as often as practicable, noting the course in methods of in-
struction in branches taught, and to give such directions in the
art of teaching and the methods thereof in each school as to
him, together with. the directors and controllers, should be deem-
ed expedient and necessary. He was given power to annul cer-
tificates given to teachers upon sufficient cause, which annul-
ment would result in the dismissal from his school of the
teacher afi^ected. It was directed that the annual reports of the
several school districts should pass through his hands to the State
Superintendent, and that he should make annually a report of
the condition of the schools under his charge, suggesting im-
provements and furnishing such pertinent information as he
might think fit. These were among the requirements imposed
from the beginning. There have naturally been added from time
to time other duties, notably the holding of County Institutes, and
increased powers in regard to the issuing and endorsing of cer-
tificates to teachers.
The first of the incumbents of the office had no beaten track
to follow. While the office was not a new one in some portions
of the country, yet here it was entirely untried ; and those who
were first elected found it necessary that they should blaze the
way. Fortunately, the majority of the people in our county, and
9
258 EARLY COUNTY SUPERINTENDENCY OF BUCKS COUNTY
all our papers, recognized the necessity of selecting the best per-
son who could be found. And this feeling was voiced in man})
ways, insisting that the person chosen should be a person of
"scientific and literary acquirements and of skill and experience
in the art of teaching." In some counties of the State the feel-
ing of opposition to the office was manifested in the fixing of
a salary which was purposely made so low as to discourage the
efforts of the official chosen and to put a stigma of popular dis-
approval upon the officer and his work. The Nezv York Tribune
of that day, in noticing the salaries paid to County Superinten-
dents of common schools of this State, makes the following
caustic criticism: "Of course at such rates either, first, feeble
men are appointed who will effect nothing, or, second, capable
men are chosen who are not expected to devote their time to
their work, or third, good men are expected to give their ser-
vices for half their value for the sake of the cause. In either
case the policy is shabby, short-sighted and eminently Pennsyl-
vanian. Chester, Montgomery and Bucks want men worth at
least $1,500 and cannot afford to take an inferior article. Only
think of Dauphin, the metropolitan county, including a city of
at least ten thousand inhabitants, appointing a County Super-
intendent of Schools at the magnificent sum of $300 a year. No
wonder the State is sold out three or four times a year by her
Legislatures when public ignorance is thus cherished." The
salaries in two of the counties were as low as $100 a year.
Prior to the convention called under the Act, which was fixed
for the first Monday of June, 1854, there was much discussion
in our county as to who shoul 1 be chosen. Several teachers
who had been successful either in the county or outside of it
were named. When the day arrived those who were especially
interested in education looked with intense anxiety for the re-
sult of the work of the convention. It was held in the old Court
House, at Doylestown, June 5, 1854. Its president was a gentle-
man who then, as always afterward, manifested his interest in
public school work, and did not allow the fact that he was a
professional man to dull and narrow his interest in the mass
of the people, but who gave the benefit of his eloquence to
school work, in educational meeting and institute whenever call-
EARI^Y COUNTY SUPERINTKNDENCY OF BUCKS COUNTY 259
ed upon. The convention was presided over by a member of
the Doylestown Borough School Board, George Lear, Esq. The
first work of the convention was to determine the salary. The
appointment of a committee to consider that question was fol-
lowed by the nomination of candidates for the office. The list
comprised Joseph Fell, of Buckingham ; James Anderson, Bris-
tol borough ; Solomon Wright, Solebury ; Dr. E. D. Buckman,
Bristol borough; Mahlon Long, Warwick; Aaron B. Ivins, Phila-
delphia; James Robinson, New Hope; Eugene Smith, of Doy-
lestown borough, and Silas Thompson. The names of Aaron B.
Ivins, Mahlon Long and Eugene Smith were withdrawn. Before
taking a vote the report of the Committee on Salary was pre-
sented, stating that the committee had agreed on $1,000 as the
salary of the Superintendent. Upon motion of George H. Mich-
ener, Esq., of Doylestown, that the report be adopted, the spirit
of hostility to the system as well as to the office became at once
manifest when a director from one of the most intelligent dis-
tricts of the county arose and vigorously opposed the motion,
stating that he was opposed to the law, and no good would re-
sult from the office, that the directors were competent to manage
the affairs of the schools, and that as the Legislature had given
them power, by refusing a salary, to virtually annul the office,
they should adopt his amendment, which provided for a salary
of one dollar for each school district. The report of the com-
mittee was adopted, although the majority was not very large,
the vote being 78 to 59.
Among the school directors constituting the convention were
many men who have been prominent in the county, and who,
both at that time and for years afterwards, manifested a lively
interest in the advancement of common schools. Among them
were such men as George Lear, George H. Michener, Alfred H.
Barber, John Clemens, of Doylestown borough ; George McDow-
ell, of Doylestown township; Thomas Janney, Dr. David Hutch-
inson, E^Hvard H. Worstall, of Newtown borough; Jacob Buck-
man, Mahlon B. Linton, Daniel M. Hibbs, Newtown township;
John B. Claxton, J. Watson Case, Isaiah Michener, Dr. Charles
H. Mathews, of Buckingham ; Moses Eastburn, Elias B. Fell,
Charles Magill, Robert Simpson, of Solebury; Dr. J. D. Men-
260 EAKLY COUNTY SUPKRINTEND^NCY OF BUCKS COUNTY
denhall, Bristol borough ; Jesse L. Stackhouse, Samuel Hulme,
of Bristol township; John Buckman, Isaac Eyre, Pierson Mitchell,
Jesse G. Webster, of Middletown; Joseph A. VanHorn, Barclay
Knight, John Yardley, Richard Janney, Benjamin Beans, of
Lower Makefield; Samuel Bradshaw, Josiah Rich, Isaac G.
Thomas, of Plumstead ; John H. Mathias, Elias Hartzell, Hill-
(lown; Theodore S. Briggs, Henry Wynkoop, Wilson D. Large,
Edward O. Pool, of Upper Makefield; Isaac VanHorn, North-
ampton; Henry Frankenfield, Samuel B. Thatcher, of Haycock;
Jacob A. Bachman, Peter Laubach, of Durham; William B.
Kemmerer, Dr. Charles F. Meredith, of Richland ; Mahlon
Long, Eleazer Wilkinson and Nathaniel J. Rubinkam, Warwick ;
George Comfort, of Falls; Charles Kirk, Harman Yerkes, Jo-
seph Barnsley, of Warminster.
The convention happily chose the right man for the place
in selecting Joseph Fell, of Buckingham. He possessed the
requirements which the Act called for, as his range of knowledge
was extended and he had for many years been a successful teach-
er. There are those here to-day who can testify to the thorough-
ness and accuracy of his work in the school-room. He had the
happy faculty of arousing the interest of the pupil in the work
before him, of stimulating his energies and of making the sub-
ject so attractive and full of interest that the child found it a
pleasure to study. He had moreover the great tact which was
so especially needed in the incumbent of this office.
As a consequence, in making his tours of the county, in ex-
amination of teachers, in visiting schools, in his intercourse
with the school directors, in the discussion of methods and plans
of work, in his appeals for progress, on all of these lines, he
was able to so impress himself upon teachers, directors, and the
people as well, with whom he came in contact, officially and
socially, as to disarm in many cases hostility, to win converts
to the cause and in all cases to command a respectful attention
and consideration from those who had determined only to scoff.
A gentleman has told me, within a few days, of his experience
when in 1856 he attended an examination in one of the upper
townships with a view of applying for a certificate. He was
young and diffident, and fearful of entering upon the ordeal be-
EARLY COUNTY SUPERINT^NDKNCY OF BUCKS COUNTY 261
fore him, but Mr. Fell, seeing him outside of the school-housj
and ascertaining his purpose, encouraged him to make the effort,
assuring him that he would probably meet with success. The
timidity of the young man was dissipated, and he was thus en-
abled to approach the work with composure and to pass the ex-
amination creditably. He afterwards became one of the leading
teachers of the county. This was doubtless but one of hundreds
of cases wherein young people were encouraged by Mr. Fell's
manner.
In visiting the school, he usually carried with him such appara-
tus as it was practicable for him to take with him, and, as the
schools at that time were almost bare of anything that could be
used for illustration, the simple experiments and illustra-
tions which he gave were interesting and suggestive to
pupils and to teachers as well. This feature of his
work resulted in improved teaching as well as caused the
expenditure of money for needed maps, blackboards, charts, etc.
A lady now living in Illinois, who formerly taught in Plum-
stead township, writes to me, referring to Mr. Fell,
" He had the happy faculty of entertaining the pupils and holding their
attention from the least to the greatest, and if they knew anything he was
sure to find it out. He had the same happy faculty in examining teachers."
Another of the successful teachers of that time, a lady of our
county who has always maintained her interest in the public
schools, writes me of the nervous dread which she felt over her
first examination, but that Mr. Fell's genial manner made her
feel entirely at ease before the examination commenced. She
says,
" He was a model Superintendent as well as a man. He possessed the
faculty of making the whole school feel at ease in his presence. Would con-
duct most of the exercises himself , dwelling chiefly on fundamental princi-
ples, as he was a firm believer in the educational structure having a firm
foundation. Always brought with him globes, charts, etc., which were not
then furnished the schools, and would so entertain the pupils that his visits
were always looked forward to with pleasure."
Some of Mr. Fell's experiences in visiting schools and in ex-
amining teachers were decidedly ludicrous. They illustrate very
fairly the character of many of the schools, and the unfitness
of the teachers in the matter of their scholastic knowledge and
262 EARLY COUNTY SUPERINTENDENCY OF BUCKS COUNTY
their disciplinary power. He described his experience in one
school as follows :
" I fouri'l between 30 and 40 pupils of every grade of size from mere in-
fants to young women. The door was open, a bucket of water having been
emptied immediately in front of it making no small amount of mud to be
tracked in the room. The floor was literally littered with shavings, chips,
apple cores, etc. Two benches drawn up closely to the stove, in which
there was sufficient fire to fill the house with smoke, were densely packed
with interesting children who seemed much more intent upon the exercise
of munching nuts, apples, and persimmons, than they were with the proper
exercises of the school room. During recitations it was a common thing for
the scholars to spring up on the top of the desk behind them and remain
there until the class was done. One little chap was sitting in the middle of
of the floor busily engaged stuffing the chips wiih which he was surrounded
into his shoes. Others were stretched at full length on the benches enjoying, if
not a siesta, at least a comfortable lounge. Another school was visited dur-
ing the absence of the teacher. The children who were out playing fol-
lowed me in and after arranging themselves to the best advantage for a per-
spective and eagerly scanning my person till curiosity satisfied commenced
a very animated romp ; mounting benches and desks, sans ceremony, leav-
ing on them the footprints of mud and dust, which by the by evidently indi-
cated familiarity with such labor. The teacher soon made his appearance.
Apologizing for his absence beyond the usual hour of calling, on account of
company, he thumped furiously against the sash of the window with his
ruler. The well known sound had the effect of hurrying the scattered ur-
chins pell mell into the school-room. One little chap immediately upon
entering the door bawled out at the top of his voice, ' Teacher , swored
the hardest kind of a word while you was gone home for your dinner.'
' Hush ! Take your seats. First class read.' ' Teacher,' said another, ' you
haven't called the roll yet.' The master, thus being reminded of his duty,
called the roll, after which he pr.)ceeded to business. The teacher seemed a
good deal worried with his scholars, who were of the vivacious kind, and
who, spurning the prosing sedentary mood, illustrated their admiration of
social intercourse by frequent exchanges of friendly visits. Exclamations,
' John take your seat.' 'Thomas, what are you doing there?' 'Do turn
your faces the other way, and mind your bu.siness as you commonly do.' ' I
will keep you in at intermission if you do so again,' were frequent. One
youngster, perhaps a Scott or Jackson, took out his chestnut club and aim-
ing it at a schoolmate would hnlloo ' Bang,' nmch to the amusement of his
Lilliputian compeers. I came to the conclusion that if the children learned
well here that the largest liberty was no drawback to the acquisition of
knowledge. As illustrating the qualifications of some of the applicHnts lor
teachers' certificates Mr. Fell narrates the case of a young man who brought
with him a note signed by the President and Secretary of the School Board
stating that they were all ' sadsfied ' with him and wished him to teach
their school. ' I asked the applicant if he understood grammar and geogra-
phy. He said he could ' go through ' with them if required to teach them.
EARIvY COUNTY SUPERINT^NDENCY OF BUCKS COUNTY 263
He was then furnished with pen, ink and paper and desired to write the
boundaries of Pennsylvania. He gave ' Pennsylvania Bounded on North By
West Indian on the South B Meditarania Sea on the East by the Pasific
ocean on the West by Indian Ocean.' Another case was that of a man who
came with a note from an officer of a school board who answered the ques-
tions propounded to him upon different subjects with considerable readi-
ness, but who in response to the question as to what he had been doing this
season said he had been in jail seven months and just got out. The man
was crazy and had made his escape from a mad-house to seek his fortune in
Pennsylvania."
Mr. Fell's experience and success as a teacher, and his breadth
of view as a school ofificer led him to become, very early in his
term, a potent factor in conventions and organizations looking
toward the reconstruction of our school system. Prior to the
Act of 1854 there had been few meetings of an educational char-
acter in the county having for their purpose the upbuilding of
the schools. I find in 1852 or 1853, that there were two woods
meetings held, one near Newtown and the other near Pineville at
which parents, teachers, and the pupils of the schools were
present, and to which lectures and instruction were given intend-
ed to stimulate activity in the educational work. There were also
occasional informal gatherings of teachers ; but all of these move-
ments were desultory and fell far short of what was required
to reach the mass of schools, and the majority of teachers. In
July, 1854, on call of the State Superintendent of common
schools, Mr. Fell attended the first State Convention of County
Superintendents in the State at Harrisburg. The list of
topics discussed is very suggestive as showing that there are
some questions we can never finally settle. Thus history
continually repeats itself. We find to-day the same topics
troubling us and claiming much of the best thoughts of
our educators. This list ts as follows: ist, Grade of
teachers' certificates ; 2nd, Mode of examining teachers ; 3d
Grades of school ; 4th, Visitation of schools : 5th, Teachers' In-
stitutes ; 6th, The best mode of interesting the directors ; 7th
The best mode of engaging the co-operation of parents ; 8th,
Uniformity of books.
During the first year of his term we find that he recognized
the necessity for an organization of the teachers of the whole
county. On March 28, 1855, a meeting was called by him at
264 EARI,Y COUNTY SUPERINTENDENCY OF BUCKS COUNTY
Doylestown to consider the matter of a county organization.
After a discussion of the question, which showed that the spirit
existed which could build up and maintain such an organization,
the meeting adopted a resolution of that excellent man and
citizen, Rev. S. M. Andrews, to the effect that it was expedient
to form a Teachers' Institute of Bucks County. A committee
was appointed to consider the matter, and an adjournment was
had until June ist of the same year. The committee then re-
ported, and the meeting adopted the name of the Bucks County
Educational Society. A two days session was held in the Court
House at Doylestown which was full of interest. Professor John
F. Stoddard and Professor Charles W. Sanders, whose names
have been connected with text books in arithmetic and reading,
familiar to many of us in our school days, were present and
lectured. The work proved so profitable ^nd was so much
needed that another meeting of the Society was held, commenc-
ing on October 22nd, in the same year, and continued for five
days, which was attended by about 100 teachers, and at which
the instructors aside from the local aid were Professors Stod-
dard, Sanders, and Grimshaw. Henry Chapman and George
Lear received resolutions of thanks for addresses which they
made before the Institute. The citizens of Doylestown entertain-
ed the lady teachers free of charge. I venture to say that there
has been no greater zeal shown in the history of County Insti-
tutes in this county than was exhibited in these meetings, which
laid the foundations of the organization which, voluntary at the
outset, have been finally required by law to be held.
The beginning of the system of District Institutes had also its
origin during Mr. Fell's term. Probably the most efficient one
was held at Centreville, in the township of Buckingham. It
was made up principally of the teachers of Buckingham and
Solebury.
The necessity of Normal schools for the proper preparation of
teachers naturally impressed itself upon the mind of our first
County Superintendent as it did upon the minds of every student
of our educational condition and needs. We therefore find IMr.
Fell giving substantial aid to the first institution of the kind in
our State, to wit, the school at Millersville, presided over in the
EARLY COUNTY SUPfiRINTENDENCY OF BUCKS COUNTY 265
beginning- by Professor Stoddard, and which was afterwards
wonderfully developed during the principalship of James P.
Wickersham, his successor. Many of the aspiring young people
of our county went there on the opening of the school and for
many years, and until the institution of other Normal schools
had somewhat interfered, the contribution of Bucks county to
the enrollment of Alillersville's list of pupils was as strong as that
of any county in the State. Mr. Fell encouraged our ambitious
teachers to go there. In this connection, as recalling the won-
derful growth from small beginnings achieved by this school, I
cannot forbear to quote from the prophetic words of the Hon.
Thomas H. Burrows delivered at the opening exercises of the
school, held on the 5th of November, 1855 :
" But a few months ago and the words Normal School were never heard
in our midst. And had they been, they would have elicited no more than a
passing remark. Who beyond its own immediate bounds knew of Millers-
ville? None. Its existence was only to be ascertained by reference to the
map of the State. But her name has already gone forth, and in a few years,
should this School meet with the success which we, its friends, so ardently
desire for it, then will Millersville and its Normal School be household
words on the lips of every citizen."
In the year previous to the adoption of the Act of 1854 the
average salary paid male teachers per month in our county was
$21.57, and the females $17.92. For the last of Mr. Fell's term
the salaries were $27.05 and $23.33 respectively, an increase' of
more than 25 per cent, in the one case and more than 31 per cent,
in the other.
We may never know the full influence of the work of the
three years of J\Ir. Fell's term ending June, 1857. Examining
teachers, encouraging the diffident, remonstrating with the care-
less, compelling the most unfit to leave the work, traveling
over the county encountering privation (and at the same time
meeting with the hospitality for which our people are noted),
urging upon directors and citizens their duty in the supply of
those facilities so much needed, stirring up the public conscience
through educational conferences and institutes, in private appeals
and in contributions to the press of the county, in repelling as-
sault upon the system by tactful administration of its princi-
pal office, in stirring up the ambition of teachers and leading
266 EARIvY COUNTY SUPERINTENDENCY OF BUCKS COUNTY
pupils to believe that there was something more ahead of them
than was to be found along the miserable lines already laid down
for them — such was some of the work he did.
At the expiration of his term he was not a candidate for re-
election, and the office for the next three years went to another.
A pure and upright man, a teacher of large experience, a citi-
zen interested in all philanthropic movements, a native and resi-
dent of the same Buckingham Valley that had contributed the
first incumbent of the office. William H. Johnson served for
the period ending- June, i860. The limits of this paper will not per-
mit the discussion of the work during his administration. Mr,
Fell, in the convention which elected his successor, delivered an
address calculated to quicken anew the spirit which he had suc-
ceeded so well in stirring into life. He laid down the work,
but never lost his interest in it; attending institutes, and always
offering encouragement and advice as he had been wont to do.
The people's schools owe him a debt of gratitude. In their
development he must always be recognized as a large factor.
He did his part towards bringing nearer that time referred to by
his superior in office, the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and
at the same time the Superintendent of Common Schools, the Hon.
Andrew G. Curtin, who said in his report in 1885 :
" When the common school system of Pennsylvania shall have unfolded
its vast powers; when a corps of trained and educated teachers to supply all
its demands shall have taken the field; when the text books used in the
schools shall be wisely selected, and the schoolhouse built on the most ap-
proved model ; when its protection and progress shall be the first object of
the Government — then will all its mi.yhty agencies to do good be ft- It ; the
public mind refined and enlightened; labor elevated; patriotism purified;
our Republican form of Government fixed on an immutable basis, and the
people crowned with its benefits and blessings."
The Red Man's Bucks County.
BY HENRY C. MERCER, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Meeting at Wolf Rocks, Buckingham, July i6, 1895).
We have been meeting thus for years to rescue from oblivion,
facts in that part of the Delaware valley known as Bucks coun-
ty. Sometimes I am afraid that we will exhaust the subject,
for we only have some 250 years to talk about. Back of that
we find ourselves lost in the great forest, a green shadow cov-
ering the whole eastern half of the North American continent,
from Florida to Hudson's Bay, from Louisiana to Labrador. On
the side of a hill like this, where the wood-cutter works at a
disadvantage, we try to imagine what it was, but the heaviest
trees and their fallen, rotting trunks are cut and gone. Many
sounds of the universal woods have ceased. Plants have varied
their habits. A change has come over the animals and birds. But
this immense woodland, larger than that crossed by Stanley in
darkest Africa, has left us many insects and reptiles and flow-
ers, many streams and a soil rich for a long time without culti-
vation. Because of it I believe there is a louder noise of frogs
and beetles upon a summer night here than anywhere in the Old
World. A study of the turn of fate that destroyed the fiercer
and multiplied the gentler animals recalls to the naturalist this
great sea of trees which we know well sets a mysterious limit
to all our historical records. What happened for centuries in
its shadow? Who knows? There was John Smith at James-
town in 1607, Hudson at Manhattan in 1609, De Vries on the
Delaware in 1643, but what back of that? Columbus in 1492,
and then what ? Our history is the story of transplanted Europe,
and must long remain so. The chronicle of America is yet
hidden under this forest gloom. Once walk into the shade alone
and listen to the echoes. Books guide us no more. We have
left behind us the annals of Penn, the struggles of the pioneers,
even the founding of a new nation for the sake of a knowledge
that no one has yet grasped. We look for signs on the ground,
268 TH^ RED man's BUCKS COUNTY
Upon the rocks and by the river-side, fascinated by questions
that lose interest where books and histories begin.
Fifty years ago the European student stepped over the boun-
dary Hne of history, left Herodotus and Tacitus and Egypt
and Assyria and Greece behind to dig in caves and find traces
of a man, who, it is said, hunted the mammoth in France and saw
the woolly rhinoceros in England, but let us repeat it that to
get behind the record here, so as to use the word pre-historic,
we have only to go back three centuries at most. Then we are
in the pre-Columbian darkness.
The great question is — who were the thousands of tribes,
with several scores or hundreds of different linguistic stocks, more
or less red and more or less alike, that Columbus found ? Where
did they come from? Did they emigrate hither well equipped
with primitive arts, or develop them on the spot ? And in answer
to the question, which a child asks when it points to a grooved
stone axe in a museum, and says, "How old is it ?" we can hardly
more than say that we do not know. But something has been
learned in the last five years. After much digging and searching
some lights glimmer on the subject in this eastern part of the
United States.
If we can account in any way for the Lenni-Lenape, found here
in the Delaware valley, something has been done.
THE LENNI-IvENAPE.
When we sum up all that we know we find that the Lenni-
Lenape or Delaware Indian, found in Manhattan by Hudson
in 1609, ^^^ here by DeVries and Campenius in 163 1 and 1643,
were not very different from other Indians. Though one class
of students holds that all Indians belong to one parent stock;
another contends for different stocks, both leaving out the Eski-
mo, as a race apart. We know that Penn found the Lenape
here, that they had a confederacy of related tribes, that they
were cheated out of lands at Wrightstown, and in consequence
helped to massacre and torture our ancestors at Wyoming, under
the leadership of a ferocious woman called Queen Esther,
and we know now that they were related in language to tribes
in the far West, like the Sioux. When we gather their relics
we soon come to the end of the list. All the wood and skin and
the; rkd man's bucks county 269
basket work and most of the bone is gone. We have a few
chipped blades, grooved stone axes and a curious catalogue of
fantastic stones used in religious ceremonies. That is all. And
there is nothing to differentiate the collection from the general
run of "Indian relics" all over the United States. We are not
dealing, therefore, with an isolated or unique race, but only with
one Indian family, whose character is about the same as that
of all the others, Mound Builders included.
MOUNDS.
The Lenape built three mounds, six to eight feet high, at
Durham, which William Walters ploughed down in 1853-55- I
opened one and saw remains of about 50, not much larger than
Christian graves along Saucon creek. There is a row of little
ones on Rattlesnake hill, at Durham. One has been described to
me near Mahanoy, another near West Chester, and if the so-
called "Giant's Grave" in Solebury is not a loam-covered rock,
it may be of Lenape make. Without it, however, we now know
that they could build mounds like the Ohio tribes, though they
very rarely did it.
GRAVES.
The first immigrants said that the Lenape buried their dead
in the ground, and in the last three years Mr. Ernest Volk has
found many such burials at Trenton. Though I have found none
I hear of others near Atlantic City and in the river sands at Tay-
lorsville, at Durham, below the Delawater Water Gap and at
Minnisink. There is a graveyard near Doylestown, according to
a writer in "Hazard's Register."
The chief Tamanend it seems was buried on Prospect Hill
about 1750. Had the Indians made mounds or marks at their
graves, we should find them easier. Had the holes been shal-
low we should plough up more skeletons. Therefore we are
left to suppose either that they buried below plough-depths, that
the bones have all decayed, which could hardly be true in all of
our soils, or that they cremated the bodies or the bones after
drying off the flesh, like the Nanticokes on the east shore of
Maryland. Charles Laubach showed me stones standing at Gal-
lows Hill, near Durham, supposed by him to mark the site
of an ancient crematory, and he and I found curious paved areas,
270 the; rkd man's bucks county
suggesting ovens, at Glen Gardner, New Jersey, near Erwinna,
on the Hexankopf, and at the Turk dam. There were traces
of decomposed animal matter at some of these places, but no
human bones; and if corpses or skeletons had been burnt
there, where were the teeth ? We found charcoal in the chinks
between the stones, yet that means little when we realize that
underbrush has been burnt and woods fired all over the
country, so that you can dig up bits of charcoal in almost any
field or grove.
IMPLEMENTS.
Arrow-heads ought not to be worth five cents apiece. They are
a drug in the market. Together with the other stone tools they
have been figured and discussed over and over again. Dr. C. C. Ab-
bott describes the whole range of Lenape stone work in his
"Primitive Industry," but other things have been found since
the book was written, and I have summed up elsewhere every pub-
lished account of eye witnesses of the manufacture of chipped
blades, showing how the Indian made them, in five ways, (a) by
flaking by direct percussion with stone hammers; (b) by indi-
rect percussion, or hammering on punches; (c) by direct pressure
with a pointed bone; (d) by impulsive pressure or pressure aided
by a blow, and (^) by pressure aided by heat.
There are a few grooved stone axes in Australia and you find
grooved hammers in Spain and Italy, but no one has picked up
a grooved-axe in Europe. They are scattered all over North and
South America, and I saw them in Madrid from Uraguay and the
Argentine. About three years ago Mr. Maguire, of Washington,
showed that you can easily make one with one of the familiar
pitted pebbles — common at Indian village sites — held fast between
the thumb and second finger, so as to strike about 100 blows to
the minute. Chipping, polishing and drilling holes with hollow
reeds and wet sand cover most of the stone work, and made all
the hoes, scrapers, drills, flake knives, teshoas, pestles, mortars,
hammerstones, bannerstones and gorgets in every boy's collection,
but as we are not trying to exhaust the subject we will speak of
things less known.
SHELL HEAPS.
Mounds of oyster and clam shells, mixed with charcoal, rise
THE RED MAN S BUCKS COUNTV 27I
from the low salt swamps by the sea along the New Jersey coast.
Some standing in the water look old, and as if the land must have
sunk since they were formed. Theory supposes them to be of
great antiquity and made by a race of people who disappeared
before the Indian came. Savages eating molluscs at one spot
produce such heaps, which I have examined in Maine and Mary-
land, but not in New Jersey. Now we know through the ances-
tors of S. P. Preston, of Lumberville, that the Lenape remnant,
in the last century, walked from Bucks county to the Atlantic
coast at certain seasons to eat clams and so form shell heaps near
New Brunswick. The heaps would grow quickly and whether
the Indians and their ancestors made all the deposits along the
coast is not certain. If they did we are done with the mystery
of the New Jersey shell heaps, and the notion of their immense
antiquity.
BLADE MATERIAL.
Like all other American Indians, the Lenape were found in the
stone age. They could not melt metals. When they used cop-
per they hammered it cold. As is our iron so was their stone,
a thing more important to them in the scale of needs than rail-
roads, electricity, steamboats, gunpowder or perhaps even print-
ing are to us. For long periods in man's unknown past the craft
of making stone tools outrivalled everything else. Most of the
tools were chipped and because not every stone would chip, those
that did were hunted for and valued. The Lenape, and all his
red kinsfolk prized the flakable, pointed, smooth-grained jasper.
With pointed poles, stone spades, and by means of heat they
dug hundreds of holes into a vein of it, which Mr. Berlin, Mr.
Laubach and myself discovered three years ago running along
the Lehigh hills, from Durham to Reading. It is worth a half
day's drive from here, or a less journey on a bicycle, to see
these pits, some forty feet deep originally, at Vera Cruz and
Macungie near Allentown — a sight nearly as astonishing as that of
the famous mounds at Newark or Marietta. I have tried to beg
men of means in Philadelphia to buy the field that encloses one
of these marvels at Vera Cruz before the plough touches it and
it is lost, and I have begged lovers of nature to go and see it, but
unfortunately in vain.
272 the: red man s bucks county
The Lenape could not have been in this region a week before
they began to hunt workable stone. Almost as important as jas-
per and probably discovered by them in this region before it, was
the meta-morphosed slate called argillite. To get it, I discov-
ered in 1892 that they had cut a dozen or more trenches along
the hillside at Gaddis' run at Point Pleasant, and worked upon a
solid cliff on the Neshaminy.
This new information is not contained in any history. Five
years ago no student had thought of aboriginal blade quarries, and
the boys who collect arrowheads do not yet know where to look
for them. Nevertheless these strange stony pits throw a flood of
light upon the past. They show that the Lenape, like all the
other Indians, were geologists, and in the shade of the old forest
had probably scrutinized the rocks in the Delaware valley as rocks
have been scrutinized by Indians over every acre of ground
between Maine and Mississippi.
Be not surprised, therefore, to learn that the Red Man had
seen coal, though he did not use it, and could find galena ore and
hematite before the white man came. After white blacksmiths had
shown the Lenape the use of anthracite coal the latter may have
dug some lumps for Peter Keller, at a secret mine somewhere
along Tohickon creek, as the story goes. But, notwithstanding
the traditions current in Bucks county, up the Delaware and down
the Susquehanna I do not believe the legend of their coming out
of the wood with armfuls of pure lead for bullet-moulding. Lead,
save in the minute films, sometimes picked up in Wisconsin, is
not found pure, and galena ore is a very different thing and will
not do for bullets until it is smelted, at a temperature of nbout
1,200 Centigrade.
Any Indian tool made of a stone not indigenous had to be car-
ried from a distance. A farmer near West Chester showed me-
an arrowhead of volcanic glass or obsidian found in his field,
and if his story was true and there was no trick, the Lenape
must have got it from Mexico or the Yellowstone Park. They
picked up quartzite at many places on the surface of the sea-
board country and mined ryolite on the southern Susquehanna.
I discovered an ancient chert digging in Snyder county, Penn-
sylvania, and soon found that the Indians had continually used
the; red man s bucks county 273
rolled stones on the river beaches, just as I saw where they had
chipped jasper pebbles into arrowheads on the Chesapeake shore.
Then it was easy to believe as I walked up and down these strands
that by following up the desirable pebbles to the parent rock,
from which the stream had torn and borne them, the inland mines
above mentioned were discovered by Indians at a time when the
whole country was obscured by forest. Going up the Delaware
stream argillite pebbles cease about Frenchtown, and if you fol-
low them as a dog would a trail you can walk straight from Bris-
tol to the Indian mine on Gaddis' run. Black chert runs far up
the river, and any boy who collects arrowheads can on his holiday
help science by tracing northward for these pebbles as far as they
will lead him. Somewhere near the Gap of the Delaware or Le-
high, some creek black with them will give him the clue, and he
will find the quarry where most of the black arrowheads were
worked out of the solid rock. Perhaps I had better not rouse
any boy's curiosity with speculations about soapstone and mica,
hematite, lead and precious stones. Let him remember that no
one knows much as yet, and that the most wonderful secrers of
the old forest lie still buried in the ground, waiting for him or
me or anyone who knows how to search.
MAIZE.
As far as we now know (Zea-mais) maize, as the Arawakas, of
South America, call it — Indian corn, was one of the greatest sur-
prises of the New World. The Spanish discoverers of the i6th
century had never seen or heard of it when they found the Indians
growing and eating it all over America. There is a story that
Rifaud, a Frenchman, found maize in an Egyptian tomb, and it
might be true if Dr. Le Plonglon's idea is correct that the Egypt-
ians came from maize-growing Yucatan, but Candolle, the great
Italian botanist, thinks that Rifaud was tricked by an Arab. Soon
after the Spaniards took maize to Spain it was seen growing near
Seville in 1524. Then it reached Italy, where the natives make
their i^olenta mush of it, and to Turkey, Egypt, Hungary, France
and Austria. It does not thrive in cloudy England, but Stanley
found it in the Congo forest. In Europe and the Orient not one
of the strange names given it refers to America, and few realize
that the widespread grain, like the turkey, the potato and the
274 the; red man s bucks county
tobacco pipe came from America. What a lavish, noble, poetic
plant it is ! A little genius or a touch of originality at the World's
Fair, at Chicago, would have ordered a whole building to be de-
voted to the strange history of this beautiful gift of the Red
Man to the world.
The Central Americans lived on it almost entirely. Every stone
pestle and mortar found in the Delaware valley proves no less
surely that the Lenape grew it than does their word pone, bor-
rowed into English and meaning corn bread, such as you get in
Virginia. There the negroes learned how to make their hoe-
and-ash-cakes from Indians, whom they had seen pounding dry
or parched grains on stone and cooking the meal and water cakes
in the hot embers of open fires.
If you let corn run wild here it will die out, because the grains
freeze in winter and therefore Prof. Harschberger, of the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, thinks that it came as a wild plant from
Mexico, where it might reproduce itself without help. Whatever
was done to husband the plant for food up to 1500 the Indians
did. The ancient cobs from Peruvian tombs are small, like
those from Ohio mounds, and show how cultivation has helped
the plant. The Zunis have outdone all other gardeners by pro-
ducing at least five beautiful colored varieties — yellow, blue, white,
red and black — which they make into sacred breads and use in
ceremonies, as when they scatter meal on rattlesnakes in the hor-
rible snake dance. If we could go out into the Mexican wilder-
ness and find the wild plant we should know better what changes
cultivation has made, but notwithstanding reports and experi-
ments we are not yet certain that the maize brought by Professor
Duges from Mexico in 1888 and planted in Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts, and Philadelphia, which Lumholtz told me he found on
the Mexican plateau 2 years ago, is the true original of the great
grain. The Lenape stored corn in three or four still visible pits
near Dyerstown and again, according to W. J. Buck, at a place on
the Pennypack. De Soto says that he walked through Indian
maize fields three leagues long. La Salle appropriated a lot of
maize from an underground cache in an old Illinois village,
and our armies destroyed great quantities of stored maize when
ravaging Indian towns in the northeast. To maize we no doubt
the; red man s bucks county 275
owe the existence of another series of curious landmarks in
Bucks county, as yet unvisited, unmentioned and unheard of.
These are the mysterious clearings in original tracts of woodland
known as "Indian fields." It is probable that the Lenape, by
charring the trunks of blazed and dry trees, and then cutting
them down with stone axes, made the old clearing of about seven
acres once conspicuous on the river bank above Durham cave.
I understand that there is one of these fields very near us on
the slope of this mountain. I saw another on Jericho hill, and
one near Mozart. Mr. Laubach has found one on Buckwampum,
and a few individuals at Jamison's Corner have seen or heard of
the ancient opening in the woods on Fish run, hardly half a mile
from the toll gate.
We might think that the Lenape had had villages at these spots,
but if so more relics would be found. I can find none in the open
heath in Buckman & Watson's woodland, west of Wrightstown,
one of the most remarkable places in Bucks county. Therefore I
cannot agree with the late Josiah B. Smith, of Newtown, who
thought it the site of an Indian town, corruptly called Playwicky,
in Penn's deed of 1682.
INDIAN VILLAGE SITES.
If the Camera Club would take a suggestion might it not be
well to search for the topographical features described in this
deed, now hanging in the fire-proof room of the Historical Society
of Philadelphia. The parchment is the very beginning of his-
tory in Bucks county, and speaks of landmarks that refer back
into an unknown time. A mountain, a place called Mackkeeri-
kitton, a stream called Towsissink, a corner spruce marked with
the letter P, a whiteoak with another P, by a spring, and a path
close by leading to an Indian town called Playwicky. Thesej
places marked the upper boundary of the first part of Bucks
county that the Indians yielded to the white man. Hence the
Hne from which Marshall .and the walkers of 1737 started or
ought to have started. Between Wrightstown meeting-house and
the Delaware these landmarks existed or still exist. There is a
whole lore upon the subject, and strange to say some chance of
still finding the white oak with the letter P even yet under its
bark, a notable tree in 1682. Could the American Forestry Con-
276 THP; RED man's bucks COUNTY
gress hold a meeting at any more interesting spot? John Watson
surveyor of Bucks county in 1756, and the late Josiah B. Smith,
of Newtown, were the only two persons who, to my knowledge,
became fascinated with the puzzle of these lost landmarks. Would
that the Camera Club and all who love to turn their backs upon
a desk might catch their enthusiasm. As to Playwicky, a manu-
script foot note of John Watson, which Mr. Smith never saw,
says that it was near Philip Draket's, below Heaton's mill ; in
other words, somewhere along Mill creek, in Southampton or
Northampton township, below Rocksville, but I looked in vain for
the signs of a village where they should have been in that region,
and concluded that the hearths and relics of Playwicky lie buried
under the leaves of some woodland not yet cleared, or that I
have carried away baskets full of chipped stones from the
real site without knowing its name.
A map of the lower valley region with the recently discovered
village sites marked on it would show that they fol-
low the streams. That they lie often at the mouth
of a confluent, on south-facing slopes, warm in winter and
that there is little use looking for them anywhere else. The
larger the stream the larger the village, while the sites at springs
are the smallest of all, from which we infer that the village
builders entered the country by its streams, reaching last the
headwaters or springs. When important trails had been worn
through the forest, villages may have sprung up with reference
to them, but until that time the stream — itself a natural highway
and hunting trail, occasioned the village.
I would divide, therefore, habitation sites in this region into
three classes : ( i ) camp sites at springs or on trails, smallest
and most modern; (2) villages on the larger tributaries of the
Delaware, older and larger; (3) towns on the Delaware proper,
oldest and largest of all. One out of every five farms in the
county ought to show a site of the first-class, like that on the
old Hansell farm near Mechanicsville, or that close to Dyers-
town, or that on the Montanye farm at Johnsville. The larger
village, from which Dr. Michener, of Colmar, must have gathered
a bushel of relics, belongs to the second category. So does that
at Dark Hollow, or the other at Graeme Park on the Little Nesh-
the; red man's bucks county 277
aminy, while the last class of forgotten villages runs along the
whole Delaware Valley from Trenton to the Lehigh, as for in-
stance at Lower Black's Eddy, Taylorsville, Hall's Island and
Gallows run.
When we have hunted over these sites we have reached the end
of our collection of arrowheads and confront a much larger
subject. All these remains of one kind and class might be
the handiwork of the Lenape. In Europe you would have found
on one hand the ruins of a city with coins and iron ; on the other
the floor of a cave bedded with chipped stone tools, and nearby
possibly barrows, cromlecs or dolmens, marking the graves of
people who used bronze. Here there is no such variety and dis-
tinction. Everything on the surface repeats itself over and over
again and we might be half inclined to refer it all to the Lenape.
But was there no man here before Wm. Penn's Indian? A
Lenape told the Rev. Charles Beatty, in 1767, that his people had
come to the Delaware, according to a bead tally, in 1397. The
painted stick chronicle of the Delaware, preserved by them for
centuries and rescued from destruction by Rafensque and Dr.
Brinton gives about the same date as does a native tradition
of the same kind collected by Heckewelder, all of which means
that the Lenape only came here when Richard II was ruling in
England, but these accounts say that tlic pioneer Indians found
the country deserted, and this is very important. Had no man
been here before? Shall we go back over geological epochs until
there is no use looking further to find this region (and with' it
v/e must infer the whole middle Atlantic coast) untrodden by
human foot? There is a way of answering this question with-
out the help of legends. If man was here he left his trace ;
somewhere he built a fire ; somewhere dropped a chip of stone or
fragment of bone to tell the tale. And at this point digging has
professed to startle us with a new discovery.
THE MAN OF THE TRENTON GRAVELS
It is hard to dig trenches deep enough for the student, and
he is lucky when others dig them for him. The Pennsylvania
railroad, cut an immense pit into a gravel bank behind the city
of Trenton, the very sight of which might inspire any one with
a love of geology. It is evident that the gravel was washed
2/8 THU RED man's BUCKS COUNTY
there, for you can get into the pit and see the same kind of
stratified bands that water is seen to make in gutter-sand when
you shoe it and look at the section. But what kind of a freshet?
A frethet that overtopped the State-house at Trenton and foam-
ed against the Point Pleasant hill tops ; a roaring deluge filling
the whole valley with sand and stones, and caused by one of
the wonderful phenomena of the world's history. Geologists
say it came from the meltings of the great glacier, that conti-
nental crust of ice that crossed the valley like a high wall at
Belvidere, ran westward to the Rocky mountains and northward
to the Pole. Whatever was originally in this sand, therefore,
was as old as the freshet, and when Dr. C. C. Abbott said that
he found chipped-tools of stone manufactured by man and since
called "turtle-backs," bedded between the layers of gravel in
this pit, it surprised the scientific world.
Other students have gone to Trenton again and again and
have failed to find a turtle-back in place, and for the last two
or three years a fierce dispute has raged between those who
assert and those who deny that Dr. Abbott was mistaken. These
turtle-backs resemble in shape very ancient chippeJ-stones found
in Europe, and that fact was first recognized when Dr. Abbott
found them in 1885; at that time, strange to say, nobody knew
that the Lenape and all other modern Indians, had continually
produced the same kind of chipped-stones.
The new knowledge came from the study of the blade quar-
ries on Gaddis-run, near Point Pleasant, where the Indians had
mined masses of native rock, and when chipping it into blades
had continually produced "wasters" or failures, half-blocked out
pieces that would not thin down. Thousands of these lay scat-
tered about the Gaddis-run mines, made probably in the
fifteenth or sixteenth century, rather than ten or twelve thou-
sand years ago. As we soon found that turtle-backs could, be
picked up at all the village-sites on the Delaware, there was
no reason why they could not have been found at the village-site
now occupied by Trenton and originally overlying the top
of the gravel pit where the first turtle-backs were found. For
these reasons the opponents of Dr. Abbott said that his specimens
were not found in place in the gravel, but had slipped down
Found by H. C. Mercer on an
CHIPPED STONE BI^ADES.
ndian village site, Upper Blacks Eddy, Bucks count:
INDIAN QUARRY AT GADDIS RUN, POINT Pl.EASANT, PA.
olograph shows the haninierstones, argillite chips, " turtlebacks " and other quarry refu.se
left by Indians in mining and working this native argillite rock for material
for arrowheads and larger chipped blades.
THE RKD MAN S BUCKS COUNTY 279
the banks from the Indian layer above ; that they were not
finished tools of the ancient ice-men, but half-finished castaways
of the modern Lenni Lenape. To continually fail to find turtle-
backs is negative evidence, yet it grows stronger. Nevertheless,
whoever goes to Trenton and pulls another specimen out of the
freshly cut bank, where there is no down-sliding, will settle the
question, but he cannot have too many witnesses.
THE AGE OF RIVER DEPOSITS.
Though no more turtlebacks seemed to be discovered in the
Trenton pits, there are other ways of getting at the truth. If a
savage, little better than the ape, sat on the cold river beaches
chipping turtlebacks 12,000 years ago we ought to find his traces
somewhere else. There is a sand bank high above the canal at
the mouth of Fry's run in Northampton county that by position
looks at first sight as old as the Trenton bank, but when Mr.
Laubach had shown me chips, charcoal and hammerstones buried
deep in it, we learned from Mr. Salisbury, of the New Jersey sur-
vey, that it was modern after all. High as it is, the true glacial
washings were seen much higher. The river bending sharply
there might have overwhelmed the bank, just as when the so-
called "punkin" freshet that filled the canal with sand and wash-
ed away Whip-poor-will Island, nearby, lapped the bottom of it.
The chips, therefore, might have been made by Lenape Indians.
You can find fire sites upon an old surface about two feet below
the present bank top on Marshall's island, and I discovered after
digging a deep trench, that there was a lower village layer below
the well-known surface village at Lower Black's Eddy. But
these levels are entirely at the mercy of freshets that build and
unbuild banks, and that fact destroys their value as tests of age.
This underplaced village-site at Lower Black's Eddy is the
oldest human trace that I have been able to find in the Delaware
valley and if I give up the Trenton gravel specimens it is all I
have left. Who inhabited it ? Was its denizen a predecessor of
the Indian, was he the Trenton gravel man himself, or was he
only the first Lenape immigrant? To these questions I can say
that no extinct animal bones were found to give a date to the
lower hearths. The lower village man made pottery, which the
ice men were supposed not to be able to do. He used more ar-
28o the; red man's bucks county
gillite than jasper. His arrows and spears were very narrow
and long, but that does not seem evidence enough to me to prove,
as has been urged, that he was an Eskimo. Until other evidence
is in, the reasonable supposition seems that he was the first com-
ing Lenape pioneer in the 15th century.
CAVES.
Early man is supposed to have visited habitable caves when he
saw them. If so a cave is a place where you can gather at one
spot and with least trouble traces of every people that inhabited
its neighborhood in the past. Visiting it ancient man left refuse
layers on its floor, and you cut through these culture bands to
find, by necessity, the latest on top and the oldest on the bottom.
The late Hillborn T. Cresson said he found a cave on Naaman's
creek, containing a series of layers that began with the Indian
and went back to the Trenton man, but I have as yet found no
such cave anywhere in the eastern United States or Central
America. The Indian house, a rock shelter on Tohickon creek,
contained only a film of Lenape refuse no older than that seen
at any village site. The cave on the Neshaminy, near Worthing-
ton's mill, is a mere chink unfit for habitation like the Doan's
cave near Cassiday's rocks on the Tohickon, or the shelter near
the Wildonger farm in Tinicum. ]\Ir. Paret dug bone needles,
an argillite blade and the bones of the peccary, bison and giant
beaver from Hartman's cave, near Stroudsburg, but was not cer-
tain that they were associated together in the same layer. The
great room at Durham cave, close to the river and easy of access,
must needs have contained the whole truth, but to the despair of
the students the Durham Iron Company blasted down its roof and
if they did not destroy it's floor, covered it with tons of rubbish.
1 found a bone of the extinct peccary in one of its ceiling cran-
nies, called "Queen Esther's chamber," but there was no human
hearth to associate it with. On the Schuylkill, the Port Kennedy
cave, at which I have worked nearly two months, the most re-
markable exposure of sloth, horse, mastodon, peccary and tapir
1x)nes in eastern North America would settle the question of
human antiquity in the East if it contained man, but thus far I
have fomid no trace of his presence there, and much hunting at
other places and from many points of view repeats the inference
THE RED MAN S BUCKS COUNTY 2c5I
that in Eastern America man's remains are modern when com-
pared with the relics of Europe, and that before the Indian there
was no human inhabitant.
THE LENAPE STONE.
The age test of extinct animal bones does not help us as much as
we might think when we reflect that the word extinct means
"not observed by white men for the last 300 years," but in Europe
the name like the word "prehistoric," carries us back 2 milleniums
at once. Nevertheless Port Kennedy and other such deposits will
help science to learn which of these older animals survived long-
est and fixed relative dates. Meanwhile we are not sure that a few
mammoths, whose bones were found undecomposed on the surface
at Big Bone Licks in Kentucky in the last century, did not strag-
gle along into comparatively recent times. This would be the true
meaning of the Lenape Stone which has not yet had its proper
hearing before science. Bernard Hansell found, after an hitervai
of nine years, two fragments of a gorget with a picture scratched
upon it in Indian style, representing sun, moon, stars and light-
ning and men fighting the hairy mammoth. When Colonel
Paxson, its present owner, and Captain Bailey presented it to
archaeologists and I tried to give the evidence in a pamphlet,
objections were urged against it which have succeeded in ruling
it out as a record. The chief of these the one that seems to
have prevented further examination, was that urged by Dr.
Daniel G. Brinton, who said that the outlines represented a
group and that Lenape Indians could not draw groups. That
its notion of the brute, human and Divine types placed
side by side was above Indian conception, that the
lightning was suspicious and the sun with divergent rays
doubtful, that the stone lacked the patina of age, that the
lines were steel-cut and that a clever fabricator would have used
aboriginal tools, to which I answered that we have no adequate
library of Lenape pictographs with which to compare this stone,
or by which to gauge the Eastern Indians' power of drawing
groups, as the modern Sioux draws groups on buffalo robes,
fix a limit to his sesthetic conceptions, or make up our minds
about lightning and suns with rays. The patina was gone
because Colonel Paxson and I unwittingly washed and scrubbed it
282 the; red man's bucks county
off, I cannot believe in the power of discriminating steel-cut
lines from lines made from beaver-teeth or arrow-heads in this
case. Under the circumstances it is beyond me. Mr. Wads-
worth, lithologist at Cambridge, Mass., agreed with Dr. Brinton
about the steel-cut look of the lines, but Mr. Iddings, of the
U. S. Coast Survey, said that he did not know whether such
discrimination were possible after scrubbing. 1 agree with him
and go perhaps a little farther. After experiments with abor-
iginal scratching tools, blunt awls and scissors and scrubbing
brush and similar pieces of slate I came to the conclusion that it
would be unreasonable to assert that the Lenape stone lines were
steel cut.
The mammoth outline has been said to resemble an etching
of the same animal found in one of the French caves and pub-
lished in "Dana's Handbook of Geology," but I do not see the
likeness. The stone is unique, and aboriginal drawings of any
kind are exceedingly rare. This is against the specimen, though
not a final objection. A band of Lenape at the Big-Bone Licks,
in Kentucky, when asked the meaning of the mammoth bones
lying there, told the Governor of Virginia their legend of a
great devastating animal destroyed by lightning. The specimen
is too interesting not to compel us to have a theory about it if
we believe its authenticity. If the Indians did not make the
stone, why the lightning? What conceivable connection has
lightning with a mammoth in the mind of any possible white fab-
ricator unless he knew of this legend, whose relation to the stone,
I believe, I was the first to discover? Other evidence has come
in for the Lenape stone, and Dr. Brinton's case should not be
regarded as complete until he has examined and given an opinion
on the three other carved stones found on the Hansell farm.
Are they forgeries, too?
They have not been scrubbed and are ready for the microscope.
Will anybody shrug his shoulders and say that Dr. Brinton has
settled the question until they are accounted for? Ten years
have passed. I have watched and hunted for suspicions in
vain, welcoming all criticism and taking all contradiction as a
matter of course. To me the stone seems too important to let
individual feelings intrude between it and the light. There
THE ORIGINAL SEAL. OF BUCKS COUNTY 283
is no libel in the case ; but only the pros and cons that
beset the truth. Provided you are hunting it, consider them
all. Use any words you please, forgery included. No one need
look unutterable things. The cool scientific frame of mind let
us hold fast upon, as the only frame of mind that prevails here.
I was convinced beyond a reasonable doubt ten years ago. And
after weighing everything that could be weighed and doubting
everything that could be doubted I cannot find the evidence to
change my opinion.
The Tree and the Vine, the Original Seal of Bucks County.
BY HON. HARMAN YERKES, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Meeting at Wolf Rocks, Buckingham, July 16, 1S95).
A year, perhaps longer, ago I received a telegram from Dr.
William H. Egle, of Harrisburg, asking for a copy of the orig-
inal seal of Bucks county, "a tree and a vine," to be used in
designing the decorations of one of the rooms of the enlarged
Capitol building.
An answer to the telegram has not been forwarded for the
reason that I discovered it entailed an amount of labor not to
be performed within the time usually expected to answer an
inquiry importing the urgency of a telegraph message.
However, that and other applications for the old seal from
antiquaries and others excited my interest in the subject of local
heraldry and seals.
The use of seals in Pennsylvania for the attestation of offi-
cial and other documents dates back to the foundation of the
colony. Charles the II. conferred the right upon William
Penn to use his arms on the Proprietary Seals and hence we
find them forming the basis or central figure of all the Colon-
ial Seals.
The proprietor, chief officers and important personages of
the colony all had their seals, official or personal, which were
used at the execution of every instrument of importance or
value. Some of these, as distinct as on the day when they were
executed, exist to this time.
284 THE ORIGINAL SEAL OF BUCKS COUNTY
111 making treaties with the native Indian chiefs seals were
frequently used. Tammany and other chiefs signed in curious
hieroglyphics, sometimes in imitation of reptiles and wild ani-
mals.
They regarded their efforts at chirography with much satis-
faction and pride, and instances, no doubt, occurred where,
for the sake of scribbling in the colored ink their awkward
marks or signs, they voluntarily parted with valuable possessions.
A curious and interesting illustration of primitive heraldry
in Pennsylvania is the "Record of Ear and Brand Marks for
Bucks County, 1695."
In it the early settlers recorded the cuts and scarifications
of the ears and the brand-marks, burned in the flesh of their
cattle for purposes of identification and ownership. The
record was made by drawings, showing the style of the
cuts in the ears and the brand-marks. We there find that the
"Proprietary and Governor" marked his cattle by cropping off
about half of both ears, and for his brand mark he burned "on
the near shoulder" of the animal in large capitals W. P. P. G.,
which stands of course for William Penn, Proprietary and
Governor, the same inscription as appears on his seal. But
these marks, unless recorded, did not protect the ownership or
right of property. We find the case of an unrecorded stray,
where, "at the request of the ranger," she was slaughtered by
James Harrison. In the division the Governor took two-thirds
and the ranger one-third, after Harrison had had 60 pounds
for wintering her. A good bargain for the Governor and his
"ranger."
After Penn had occupied his colony and divided his domain
into counties, one of the early steps in the course of the new
organization was to provide a separate seal for each county. At
an assembly held in Philadelphia the loth of first-month
(March) 1683, it was enacted that "there shall be a county seal
in every county of this Province and territories thereunto belong-
ing for the use of each respective county. Accordingly at a
council meeting held at Philadelphia, "ye 23d of ye ist-month,
1683," it was ordered that the seal of Philadelphia be the "An-
chor."
THK ORIGINAL SEAL OF BUCKS COUNTY 285
Of the county of Bucks "A Tree and a Vine."
Of the county of Chester "A Plow."
Of the County of New Castle "A Castle."
Of the county of Kent "Three ears of Indian Corn."
Of the county of Sussex "One Wheat Sheaf."*
In the year 1693 William and ]\Iary, King and Queen, ab-
rogated the above law, but it was restored the same year.
Again in 1705 a confirmatory law was passed "that there shall
be a county seal in every county of this Province for the use
of each county." This Act inflicted a heavy penalty for count-
erfeiting seals, but did not indicate what the county seals then
were, or should be. They therefore remained unchanged, so
far as appears, with the exception of that of Philadelphia, which
in some prints shows an anchor, and in others a ship under
full sail, with numerous buildings filling in the unoccupied
spaces.
It is probable no alteration was made in the design of ^he seal
for Bucks at that time since the original seal continued in use un-
til a much later perio !. Investigators have heretofore proved that
the seals of all the counties, with the exception of Bucks, were act-
ually made and used in accordance with the order of Council of
March 23, 1683. Prints of these are to be found in the volume
of Duke of York's laws, published by the authority of the
State in 1879.
This volume also contains three illustrations of seals for
Philadelphia. One purporting to be the original '^^eal of
the county, 1683, is to be found on page 493 ; it displays the
ship under full sail. Another, the seal of "The City of Philadel-
phia," 1701, on page 528, contains on a quartered shield four
designs, as follows — clasped hands, a sheaf of wheat, a pair
of scales and a ship under sail.
On the last page is the seal with an anchor above the Penn
Coat-of-Arms. As already shown this is the original seal,
adopted by the order of Council, ist month, 1683. It will be
interesting to know when and why this seal was superseded
by that of the ship under full sail.
* The last thiee named counties weie tlie " lower counties " now in the State of Dela-
ware.
286 the; original seal oi" bucks county
In my efforts to discover the tree and vine seal I encountered
a good deal of discouragement. I first turned to that encyclo-
pedia of facts, "Davis' History of Bucks County," only, how-
ever, to encounter dire disappointment. It says the first seal at
the organization of the county, in 1682, was a tree and a vine,
but that it cannot be stated when it was superseded; that in
1738 it consisted of a double circle and shield in the centre with
bars, crescent, etc. A drawing is given of the 1738 seal, but
with the exception that it contains the Penn shield, it bears no
resemblance to any authorized seal. There is great doubt
whether this is a correct representation of any county seal ever
used. It is merely the well known seal of the Penn family.
The inscription "The County Seal," without more, would fail
to indicate what county it belonged to, and could hardly have
stood alone. It is probable the drawing was made after an
imperfect impression of the complete and perfect seal. There
are hundreds of such to be found among the files. The wording
is likely an embellishment by the artist.
Next in order I sought information from that son of Bucks
of whose triumphs in the field of local history we are all so
proud, William J. Buck. In a paper written by him prior to the
Bucks County Bi-Centennial celebration, after referring to the
order of Council, Mr. Buck records his conviction of the non-
existence of "the tree and the vine" seal, in the following
language :
"Whether such a seal was ever used for official purposes I have my
doubts as I possess no knowledge of having seen anything of the kind af-
fixed or impressed on any ancient documents pertaining to the several rec-
ords of the county, in the archives at Harrisburg or in the collections of the
Historical Society, though I have carefully kept this matter in mind, and
even mentioned it in my History of Bucks County in 1854."
The official edition of the Duke of York's laws, fails to give
any information of the Bucks county seal.
In his excellent work on "Heraldry in America" Mr. Eugene
Zeiber says that the design above the shield, on the seal of
Bucks, was probably a sheaf of wheat, but that of the seal of
Bucks there is no description. I since learn from him that
Dr. Egle concurred in this opinion. It will now be under-
THi; ORIGINAL SEAL Oi' BUCKS COUNTY 287
Stood why I was unable to promptly answer Dr. Egle's tele-
gram of a year ago.
Still the uncertainty about the seal, the substantial abandon-
ment of further inquiry, and want of belief in its existence by
these careful and reliable antiquarian authorities, while promis-
ing an almost hopeless undertaking, seemed to warrant renewed
search and investigation, with a view of, settling the doubt one
way or another.
The legislation upon the subject of our county seal is sin-
gularly unsatisfactory and meagre. From 1683, when the tree
and the vine were declared to be the emblems of Bucks county,
nothing further than the Act of 1705 appears upon the statute
books, concerning the seal, down to the Revolution.
In the year of Independence, the Constitution, adopted Sep-
tember 28th, declared that all commissions should be in the
name of and by the authority of the Freemen of the Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania, and sealed with the State seal ; but
there was no provision as to what the seal should be. The Act
of January 2, 1778, provided that a new seal should be pro-
cured for the Supreme Court and the Courts of Oyer and
Terminer and general Jail Delivery of this State, having the
arms of the State thereon, with such other devices as the
judges of the said court should direct. The Act of 1791 di-
rected that the seals in the custody of the Supreme Executive
Council should be the seals of the State, but does not describe
them. It is quite probable the Judges and the Council, soon
after the Declaration of Independence, had adopted the seal,
described in Zieber's Heraldry as being used in April, 1777.
In 1799 the commissioners of each county were authorized
to have and use a common seal, for the purpose of sealing their
proceedings, but it was not directed that they should adopt the
county seal, which had always been used by the courts.
Later Acts have been passed relative to the county seal,
which since 1854. is required to have the same device that is
engraved on the great seal of the State, with the name of the
county, court or office in which the seal is to be used.
After a very tedious examination of the files in the county
offices, which are in a remarkably good state of preservation,
2»» the: original seal OF BUCKS COUNTY
for writs and other documents, attested by the county seal,
I am able to remove all doubts as to the existence of the tree
and vine seal, and while the facts may upset certain theories as
to the composition of the great seal of the Commonwealth, I
can positively assert that the Bucks county seal "A Tree and
a Vine," ordered by the Assembly and designated by the Ex-
ecutive Council in 1683, was actually made and in use as the
county seal continuously until after the outbreak of the Revo-
lution.
A great majority of the seals upon the old writs, etc., are
quite indistinct, yet a number clearly define the tree and vine ;
at least two of these are absolutely perfect. An impression
in wax of the seal attached by Jeremiah Langhorne to a writ
in partition between Thomas Stackhouse and Robert Cobbert,
issued the 15th day of December, in the second year of George
II. (1729) is as fresh and distinct as if made yesterday.
Another in paper upon a similar writ attested by Gilbert
Hicks, March 17, 1774, is equally clear.
The original seal of Bucks county is about the size of a sil-
ver half-dollar, with the escutcheon or shield of the Penn
family as its central figure. The background of the shield is
white, with a black band and three plates thereon, above which
is a half-moon, probably the distinguishing mark of the Pro-
prietor's branch of the family. Surmounting the shield is a
low broad tree having a rather heavy trunk, with thickly clus-
tered branches, similar to the apple or chestnut. Extend-
ing from the base of the tree around the shield is a distinctly
defined vine, resembling the old-fashioned trumpet vine, so com-
mon about the old homes of Bucks county. Within a double
dotted line on the outer circle is the inscription, "William Penn,
Proprietor and Governor, Bucks."
In technical heraldry the shield may be described as follows :
Argent, on a fesse sable, three plates ; a crescent for dififer-
ence, above the shield (in position of a crest;) a fruit tree
proper ; in support of it a vine : in exergue, the legend ; Wil-
liam Penn, Proprietor and Governor, Bucks.
The suggestion has been made that it is doubtful if there
is really a vine upon this seal, because the seals of Philadel-
the; original seal oi? bucks county 289
phia, Chester, New Castle, Kent and Sussex, all adopted the
same time, seem to be of the same design as that of Bucks.
All contain the shield of Penn as a central feature, and the
same inscription altered to suit the name of the county ; and
it is asserted all contain the same decoration, assumed, on the
Bucks county seal, to be a vine; that, therefore, the vine so-
called is but a mantling, which heraldic artists use to fill in
vacant spaces, and as it appears on all the other seals of the
series it is surely not a vine. It is said, therefore, that it can
only be set down as a misnamed decoration upon the seal of
Bucks county.
This sug-g-estion is not tenable for several reasons : A com-
parison of the so-called decoration upon the Bucks county seal
shows that it is not so broad and is of a different form from
those upon the others of the series, that is if the drawings be
anything like a fair reproduction of those seals, the stem is
fine and vine-like, apparently with flowers pendent, while in
the others the decoration is broad and imaginary or fanciful.'
In all the others the decoration appears as attached to the top
of the escutcheon, but on the Bucks county seal it is discon-
nected from the shield and has its root at the base of the
tree, thus showing a very noticeable and significant difference.
There is no reason to believe that the decoration upon the
other shields represents a vine. It was not decreed or intended
they should, but when we take up the Bucks county seal, we
find first a decree directing that a vine form part of the seal,
and upon it as used we find a fair representation of a vine
apparently growing out of the earth at the root of the tree.
It seems hypercritical to deny that this is a vine, even though
it might not be well executed.
There may be some question as to the kind of vine shown.
The pendent branches may represent clusters of grapes, or,
as I confidently believe, the trumpet flower. There is less
room to question the kind of tree ; it has been suggested it was
intended to represent the lower part of the "treaty elm." That,
however, had no peculiar or special association with the de-
velopment of Bucks county. The tree shown on the seal con-
290 the; original seal of bucks county
tains thick clusters peculiar to fruit trees in full leaf, for in-
stance the chestnut, plum or the apple.
As the anchor or sailing ship has its significance on the seal
of Philadelphia ; the plow, the Indian corn, the castle and the
wheat sheaf, on those of Chester, Kent, New Castle and Sussex ;
so are the fruit tree and vine, significant on the seal of Bucks
county, noted for their products.
As early as 1648 a Swede, Rev. John Campanious, wrote that
"alx)ut the falls the land is rich" and there grows "a great quan-
tity of grape vines ; the fruit thereof is white, red, brown and blue.
The inhabitants want only to know how to press the grape in
order to have a rich wine country." He also said there was to
be found walnut, mulberry and several sorts of plum trees in
abundance.
William Penn, who presided over the Council that selected the
tree and the vine as our seal in 1683, wrote to his friend, Henry
Savill, that "the woods yield us plums, grapes, peaches, strawber-
ries and chestnuts in abundance." What was more appropriate as
the emblem of the county than this combination of the tree and
the vine upon her seal.
We have evidences that this seal was used until the change
was made, after the promulgation of the Constitution of 1776.
As already observed probably the Judges of the Supreme
Court, when they agreed upon the devices for the seal, pursuant
to the Act of January 2, 1778, adopted substantially a seal,
which had already been put to use through the exigencies of the
occasion, when allegiance to both King and Proprietor was first
thrown off.
Mr. Zeiber informs us that on April 10, 1777, there appeared
upon some currency bills a seal upon which was engraved a
shield with the arms of the Proprietor, a plough between two
barrulets, in chief a ship under full sail and in base three garbs
or sheaves of wheat substantially the same as now used and
recognized. We discover the same design upon all seals used
since 1778. Those in the prothonotary's office are inscribed in
the outer circle "Prothonotaries office, Bucks county." A very
distinct impression of this seal is attached to the record of a deed
by Joseph I Tart, recorder, inscribed "Rolls office, Bucks county,
THE ORIGINAL SEAL OF BUCKS COUNTY 29 1
Pennsylvania, 1778." Mr. Zeiber says : "It is not known from
whence the design came, that it would seem to have been a com-
position made from the provincial seals of the three original
counties, for, on the crest which, surmounts the Penn Coat-of-
Arms ; on that of Philadelphia, in 1683, is a ship under full sail;
on the shield of Chester county a plough, while on that of P)ucks
was probably a sheaf of wheat, of the latter, however, he admits
there is no verification.
To sum up the results of the investigation, it is established,
first : The tree and the vine, as the emblem of Bucks county,
was used on her seal from 1683 to the Revolution, almost 100
years. The proof of this seal is admitted by Mr. Zeiber, who,
writing under date of April 29, 1895, says "Dr. Egle and myself
have looked carefully over these papers and are of the opinion
that you possess the long sought for seal of Bucks county." In
one the "tree and vine" is distinct and on another, what appears to
be three sheaves of wheat, is above the shield. The last inference
of the experts is incorrect. The seal supposed to represent three
sheaves of wheat is attached to a certificate issued by Jeremiah
Langhorne, as deputy register for Bucks county ; it is therefore
the seal of the register's office. We reason from analogy, that
its design followed that of the seal of the Register General's
office, which was an open book above the shield.
In the minutes of the Council of February 6, 1705, it ap-
pears that Thomas Story, Master of the Rolls, was authorized
to adopt for the seal of his office, an escutcheon with the Pro-
prietor's arms and two rolls in the upper division and one in the
lower. The designs of the seals of the enrollment office of the
Province and the county are to be found on pages 518 and 538,
Duke of York's laws. They are both after that directed by the
Council. While we have not discovered the authority for the
seal of the Register General's office, we do have upon page 571
of the same book a reproduction of the seal taken from a docu-
ment in 1713, it shows an open book above the Penn coat of arms.
There is no room for doubt that as in the Rolls' office, the Deputy
Register General used a seal with the same design as that of his
chief officer in the Province, with the inscription changed to apply
to the proper county. A careful inspection of the seal referred
292 THE ORIGINAL SEAL OF BUCKS COUNTY
to by Mr. Zeiber will disclose that what he takes for three sheaves
of wheat, is really the open book of the Register General's seal,
and bears little resemblance to wheat sheaves.
The second conclusion, therefore, is: That prior to 1777 the
sheaf of wheat did not at any time form a part of the design of
the seal of the county of Bucks, and consequently the theory that
the seal first used and afterwards by law adopted, as the great
Seal of the Commonwealth, during and after the Revolutionary
war. and used by all the counties, was a composition designed
from the Provincial seals of the three original counties of Penn-
sylvania cannot be sustained by any facts, so far as Bucks coun-
ty is concerned, and must be abandoned. The wheat sheaf was
the emblem of Sussex, one of the lower counties, now a part of
the State of Delaware, and was also the design upon a quarter
of the shield, found upon the seal of the city of Philadelphia,
1 70 1. It therefore seems that both the wheat sheaf and ship,
forming a part of the great Seal, were borrowed from Philadel-
phia, while Bucks, with her equal claim, but greater modesty,
was forced to the background, a practice that too much prevails
to this day.
Third : As already shown the seal printed in "Davis' History"
does not appear to have been the legally authorized seal of Bucks
county at any time, for the tree and vine were undoubtedly upon
the county seal from 1683 to 1776. The seal in question may
have been engraved from an indistinct impression of the true
seal. It is almost incredible that the words "The County Seal"
could have been inscribed thereon without the name of the county
appearing.
I have thus traced the history of the original seal of Bucks
county with the one purpose, to establish its identity and discover
all the facts obtainable. In conclusion, a question naturally pre-
sents itself : Why should not the original emblem of Bucks be
restored and have appropriate representation in the great Seal of
the Commonwealth? Is there sufficient county pride to induce
an effort in that direction? To that end let it be engraved as a
perpetual monument to the thrift and industry of the first settlers,
as well as a still appropriate emblem of the conservatism of their
the; original se;al of bucks county 293
descendants, our worthy and honored farming community, who
continue to cultivate the tree and the vine, and are content to en-
joy their fruits amidst domestic happiness and the highest moral
and religious development.
It is said that at the monastaries of Mount Athos the follow-
ing precaution is resorted to to protect the Corporate Seal against
counterfeiting: The circular matrix is divided into four quar-
ters, each of which is kept by one of the four ruling monks. The
four pieces are joined by a key handle, which remains in the
custody of the secretary. Thus it is only when all five guard-
ians of the various parts of the matrix meet together that the
complete seal can be stamped on any document. Unfortunately,
through some neglect to assert her just claim to the distinction,
Bucks is the only original county of Pennsylvania not represented
on the Great Seal. But she still possesses the emblem which is
entitled to a place there. It is her quarter of the matrix, with-
out which the true patriotic seal cannot be stamped. Let her
guard it as jealously as the monks of Mount Athos do theirs,
until the true Great Seal shall be made.
The Great Seal of the Commonwealth, hewn in lasting stone,
guards the main entrance to our beautiful court-house, and, with-
in, the flag born in the heat of battle by her brave sons is pro-
tected. V/hen shall Bucks county's original seal, the emblem
of peaceful agriculture and thrift, find a place and be pcipet-
uated ?*
* Since the above paper was read a number of well preser\'ed seals, with the Tree
and the Vine thereon have been found among the Records of the County offices. An ex-
act reproduction of the seal was made by Mr. Eugene Zieber in his lifetime. The Tree
and the Vine Seal was followed in producing the seal of the Bucks County Historical So-
ciety, copy of which is shown on the title page of this volume.
A beautiful design of the " Tree and Vine," seal of Bucks county, done in Moravian
tiles and concrete, the work of Henry C. Mercer, now (1909) forms part of the decoration
of the State Capitol at Harrisburg.
Buckingham, the Empire Township.
BY GEN. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Meeting at Wolf RocUs, Buckingham, July i6, 1895).
Three-quarters of a century ago, Samuel Johnson, a poet, sang
the praises of this beautiful valley, in verse, of which I give a
single stanza:
" From the brow of Lahaseka, wide to the west,
The eye sweetly rests on the landscape below ;
'Tis blooming as Eden, when Eden was blest,
As the sun lights its charms with his evening glow."
We stand about where the poet is supposed to have stood when
he cast his horoscope on the charming surroundings. The "vale
of Lahaseka" hath lost none of its charms ; the eye, as then,
"sweetly rests on the landscape below ;" and her "lovely stream-
lets" flow on in their "silvery pride" from the hills on the west.
The central location of Buckingham, its large area, 18,488
acres, its productive soil, high cultivation, beautiful rural scenery
and agricultural wealth, rich deposits of limestone, its distin-
guishe 1 sons, and the general intelligence of the people, entitle
it to be called the "Empire township" of the county.
Buckingham was among the earliest townships settled. The
stream of immigration, that brought settlers into the woods of
Wrightstown carried them up to the "Great Mountain," called
"Lahskekee" by the Indians, whence they spread over Buck-
ingham and Solebury, originally one township. The name is
English. We have "Bushing" from becen, the beech tree; then
"Becen-ham ;"now "Bushingham," the village among the beeches,
and lastly, "Buckingham." Bristol was originally called "Buck-
ingham," but the name was not given to this township until after
that of Bristol had been changed. It was organized shortly after
1700. anrl called "New Buckingham" in 1706.
The earliest survey was that by Cutler, 1703, showing parts of
Buckingham and Solebury, with the Street road dividing them.
This was probably laid out by Phineas Pemberton when county
surveyor, about 1700. A subsequent survey was recorded Sep-
BUCKINGHAM, THE) EMPIRE TOWNSHIP 295
tember 15, 1722, which I have seen, but I do not know when the
lines were run. It begins at the northwest corner of the town-
ship and runs southwest by a Hne of marked trees, 1,493 perches,
and the last line was up the Street road to the place of beginning
2,184 perches; these are substantially the present boundaries of
Buckingham. The earliest map of the township I have seen was
drawn in 1726, giving its entire area from the Solebury line to
the west end of the mountain. The York and Durham roads
are marked on it. At that time there were twenty landowners,
and the names are all given on the map but one, among them
are the well-known names of Fenton, Hough, Preston, Fell,
Phillips, Holcomb, Gilbert, Large, Kinsey and Bye. The Pax-
sons, Watsons, and others, whose descendants now people the
township, were then residents, but the map does not contain
their names.
It is impossible to name the first white settler in Buckingham,
or the time of his arrival, but it must have been shortly after 1681,
when John Chapman located in the woods of Wrightstown. The
honor is claimed for Amor Preston, who tradition says, was a
tailor at Wiccaco, Philadelphia county; that when his cabin was
burned, the Indians, living about the Great Mountain, invited
him to move up to their village, possibly to make fashionable
garments for the "four hundred." His wife was the daughter of
Swedish parents living on the Delaware above the mouth of
Neshaminy. The Preston family produced some prominent men.
Paul Preston was a fine mathematician and linguist, and the
friend and associate of Franklin. A friend of Franklin, about
to go to court at Newtown, asked for a letter to Preston. This
the philosopher declined to give, saying, "You will know him
easy enough, as he is the tallest man, the homliest-looking man
and the most sensible man you will meet at Newtown."
The early settlers of Buckingham were mostly Friends, well
educated and intelligent, with a robust faith pleasant to contem-
plate, some of them walking down to Falls to attend meeting
before getting permission to have one of their own. The pio-
neers of Buckingham had a hard life, and imagination at the
present day falls short of the reality. Until a crop was raised
flour was fetched from Falls and Middletown, over 20 miles.
296 BUCKINGHAM, THE KMPIRE TOWNSHIP
and grain was taken to Gwin's mill on the Pennypack, below Hat-
boro, to be ground down to 1707. This was to supply Buck-
ingham and Solebury. It was not so convenient then as now for
the fair daughters of Buckingham to purchase their spring bon-
nets, as there was no store north of Bristol, and it is doubtful
if that kept a very good assortment; nor could they so quickly
send the boy to mill for flour to bake sponge-cake and make
cream-puffs on the eve of an entertainment.
The names of some of the first purchasers have long since
disappeared from both township and county records; among
them are those of Nathaniel Bromley, 2,292 acres; Thomas
Mayleigh, 1,622; John Reynolds, 984; Edward West, 980; Wid-
ow Musgreave, 980, and Richard Lunday, 1,025. These holdings
foot up 7,883 acres, very nearly one-half the present area of
the township. Before Solebury was cut off, the entire area was
33,000 acres. This was probably prior to 1703.
A distinguishing feature in the settlement of Bucks county,
with all denominations, was their care in erecting houses for
religious worship and establishing schools. As the Friends were
the first to come they led off in this work. The township had
no constituted meeting prior to 1700, when the Quarterly granted
leave to the Buckingham Friends to hold a meeting for worship.
They first met at the house of William Cooper, and in turn at
John Gillingham's, James Streator's, and Nathaniel Bye's. In
1705 Streator conveyed ten acres, in trust, to build a meeting-
house on and for a burying-ground, with the privilege of roads
to get to it. On the west side of the road, that wound up the hill
and near the line of the graveyard, a small log meeting-liouse
was erected. In June of that year Buckingham Friends notified
Falls meeting they intended to build a meeting-house, auvl asked
their advice. Consent was given, and Stephen Wilson and John
Watson were appointed to collect money for the building fund.
It was begun that year, but not finished until 1708.
Upon the establishment of a Monthly Meeting, in 1721, a frame
house was erected a little further up the hill ; and, ten years later,
a stone meeting-house, with a stone addition one story high for
the use of women, was built still higher up the slope. In this
Buckingham Friends held their first Monthly Meeting in 1732.
BUCKINGHAM, THE EMPIRE TOWNSHIP 297
It was destroyed by fire in 1768, and the present fine old-fashion-
ed building, 40x70 feet, was erected the same season, the meetings,
in the meantime, being held at the dwelling of Benjamin Wil-
liams. The mason work and plastering were done by Mathias
Hutchinson, of Solebury, and the carpenter work by Edward
Good, of Plumstead. The present house was used as an hospital
while the Continental army occupied the west bank of the Dela-
ware, in December, 1776, and several soldiers were buried where
the turnpike crosses the hill ; their remains were uncovered when
the pike was made. It is said the soldiers, on meeting days put
one-half the house in order for Friends, and that many of them
attended worship. During the war. Monthly Meeting was held
out of the house but once, February i, 1777, in Thomas Ellicot's
smithshop.
A word about some of the individual settlers, who erected their
altars and their hearthstones in the woods of Buckingham, will
not be out of place.
The Smith family did their full share in peopling this empire
township and from which have descended a numerous posterity.
At one time there were ten Robert Smiths in the same neighbor-
hood. A Robert Smith, second son of his father who died on
the passage, was the first of the family to arrive, coming in
his minority, prior to 1699. He made his way well in life;
marrying in 1719, and dying in 1745 the owner of 700 acres in
Buckingham, Makefield and Wrightstown. He had six sons
and John Watson, the surveyor, said they were the best six pen-
men he every met in one family. About this time came William
Smith, with his son Thomas, who took up 500 acres adjoining
Robert. Joseph Smith, who introduced the use of anthracite coal
into the county, and Charles Smith, of Pineville, the first to burn
lime with hard coal, were descendants of Robert Smith, the
elder. A Robert Smith was a pioneer in burning lime, having
burned a kiln as early as 1785. The first kiln was probably
burned by Samuel Smith, grandfather of the late Josiah B., of
Newtown, in 1761. Thomas Smith, the elder, of Buckingham,
planted the seed that grew the tree that bore the first cider apple
in America, on the farm where the first Robert Smith settled.
Samuel Smith, a captain in the Continental Army, was a native
298 BUCKINGHAM, THK EMPIRE) TOWNSHIP
of this township, as was his son Andrew J. Smith, a Major Gen-
eral in the late war. The father married a daughter of John
Wilkinson, and I have heard my father say that his father helped
Captain Smith steal the bride-elect away from the parental roof.
More than 100 years ago the Smith family of Buckingham es-
tablished a valuable industrial establishment in Tinicum township,
on the Delaware, for the manufacture of plows and mould-boardb,
which was run by water. The place was called "Smithtown," and
the works successfully carried on for half a century. Joseph Smith,
of Buckingham, made the pattern for the first iron mould-board
about 100 years ago on the farm now owned and occupied by
Heston J. Smith, great-grandson of the Joseph that made the
plow. It was cast at Charles Ncwbold's foundry below Cam-
den, N. J. It was patented in 1800.
Thomas Canby, son of Benjamin, of Yorkshire, born about
1667, came to Pennsylvania in 1683, as an indentured apprentice
to Henry Baker. He settled in Buckingham about 1690, and
married Sarah Garis in 1693. He was married three times, and
the father of 17 children. He first bought part of the Lundy
tract; sold this to Baker and then bought part of the Scar-
borough tract in Solebury, including the Stavely farm. He sub-
sequently purchased Heath's mill on the Great Spring creek,
near New Hope, where he died in 1742. His descendants are
numerous, and included General Canby, U. S. A., who was killed
by the Indians in California some 20 years ago. Among the
families which have descended in parts from this ancestry are
the Laceys, Hamptons, Elys, Smiths, Staplers, Gillinghams, Pax-
sons, Wilsons, Eastburns, Watsons, Pickerings and Magills.
William Cooper, mentioned in "Bessie's sufferings" among
those fined and otherwise punished for non-conformity, was an
early settler. He was born in Yorkshire in 1649; came to Penn-
sylvania in 1699, locating here in the same year. He was twice
married, the first time about 1672, three years before joining the
Friends. Three children by the first wife and one by the second
came to America with him. The name is written Cozvper in the
parish record, in England, and in the deed for 500 acres pur-
chased of Christopher Atkinson. It was at his home where Friends
first held meetings in Buckingham. William Cooper died in 1709
BUCKINGHAM, THE EMPIRE) TOWNSHIP 299
at the age of 60. This family is not identical with that of Coop-
er, the novelist; but as the latter was the grandson of Hannah
Hibbs, of Solebury, he was a descendant of Bucks county an-
cestry in the female line.
The Byes were in the township prior to the close of the cen-
tury. In 1699 Thomas Bye purchased 600 acres of Edward
Crews, Nathaniel Park and others, extending down to the moun-
tain. Crews and Park were probably never residents of the
township, the land they conveyed to Bye being granted them m
1681, the year before Penn left England, and joined the tracts
of Lundy and Streator. Charity Bye, daughter of Hezekiah and
Sarah Bye, born in 1780, was the mother of William F. John-
son, Governor of Pennsylvania, 1850-54. The Bye tract was
laid out by John Cutler, October 6, 1701. He was an early settler
in Middletown and made a resurvey of the county in 1702-3.
The Paxsons were among the earliest settlers in Buckingham,
and in the county. William Paxson was in Middletown in 1682,
and a landowner in 1684, locating 500 acres on the Neshaminy
above Hulmeville. He lost his wife, two sons and a brother on
the voyage, and, two years after his arrival, married the widow
of William Plumley, of Northampton. William Paxson became
a man of influence in the community, and represented the county
in the Assembly. His son Henry removed to Solebury in 1704;
was in the Assembly in 1705-7, and, subsequently, came to Buck-
ingham. The late Thomas Paxson was fifth in descent from
Henry, through Jacob, his fourth son, and Sarah Shaw, of
Plumstead, his second wife, whom he married in 1777. But'
two of Jacob Paxson's large family of children became residents
of Bucks : Thomas, who married a granddaughter of William
Johnson, and Mary, who became the wife of William H. John-
son, deceased; William Johnson was born in Ireland and receiv-
ed a good education ; came to Pennsylvania after his majority
and settled for a time in Bucks county; married Ann Potts, re-
moved to South Carolina, where he died at the age of 35. His
sons were cultivated men, Thomas becoming an eminent lawyer,
and dying at New Hope in 1838. Samuel, the youngest son,
spent his life in Buckingham, married Martha Hutchinson and
died in 1843. Thomas Paxson was the father of ex-Chief
300 BUCKINGHAM, THE; EMPIRE TOWNSHIP
Justice Edward M. Paxson, of the State Supreme Court, and
of Samuel Johnson Paxson, for many years proprietor and editor
of the Doylestown Democrat. The latter was a man of "infinite
jest." Upon the election of Mr. Buchanan, to the Presidency,
he announced the fact in his paper in great head lines, thus :
"A Bachelor in the White House and All the Old Maids Tickled
to Death." It was republished in the London Times, and pro-
duced a broad smile wherever read.
The Watsons came into Bucks county from Cumberland, Eng-
land, with the eighteenth century, Thomas Watson, with his
wife and sons Thomas and John, locating in Bristol township
at a place called "Honey Hill," about 1701. As his meeting-cer-
tificate bore date 7th mo. 23d, they probably landed that fall.
He removed to Buckingham in 1704, and settled on 400 acres
he bought of one Rosill, lying on the southeast side of the York
road ; but he was so careful of the rights of the Indians he
refused to have the tract surveyed without their consent. A
man of intelligence, he turned his attention to medicine, and,
there being no physician within several miles, he grew into a large
practice before his death, about 1731-32. He was probably the
earliest physician in the township, flis son John, of greater
medical knowledge, followed his father's profession, met with
success and died in 1760. He was sixteen years in the As-
sembly. John, the grandson of Thomas, named after his father,
and born about 1720, was one of the most prominent men of
the Province. He was a distinguished mathematician and sur-
veyor and noted for his elegant penmanship. He assisted to run
the line between Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, known
in later days as "Mason and Dixon's Line," and was Secretary
to Governor Morris at the Indian treaty at Easton, 1756. He
was both a scholar and poet. Thomas Penn wished him to ac-
cept the ofifice of Surveyor General in 1760, which he declined.
He died in 1761. The late Judge Richard Watson was descended
from this ancestry.
Among others who settled in Buckingham about this period
were Mathew Hughes, several years a member of Assembly, and
commissioned a justice of the peace in 1738; Joseph Fell, the
Lintons, John Plill, Ephraim Fenton, Isaac Pennington, William
BUCKINGHAM, THE) EMPIRE TOWNSHIP 3OT
Pickering, the Carvers, probably descended from William, who
settled in Byberry, in 1682, of whom Elias Carver, Esq., of
Doylestown, is descended, and many others I could name, would
time permit.
Of the Fells, Joseph, son of John and Margaret, of L.ong-
lands, county Cumberland, England, born in 1668, was the first
comer. He arrived in 1705 with his wife and two children.
Landing at the mouth of the Potomac they made their way
to Bristol by land and water ; thence to Upper Makefield, where
they lived a few months, and removed to Buckingham in 1706,
where he died. Pie remarried in 1709. He was the father of
eleven children, and they, and his thirty-five grandchildren, in-
termarried, among others, with the families of Scarborough,
Kinsey, Watson, Haines, Kirk, Church and Heston. He left a
farm at his death to his son Joseph, in Upper Makefield, whither
he removed. Here his son, who became Dr. David Fell, father
of Joseph and grandfather of Judge Fell, of Buckingham, was
born. He read medicine with Dr. Isaac Chapman, of Wrights-
town, and was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, his
certificate, signed by Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declara-
tion of Independence, bearing date of February 25, 1801.
It is claimed that Jesse Fell, the son of Thomas and Jane,
born in Buckingham in 1751, was the first person to make a suc-
cessful experiment of burning anthracite coal in an open grate.
This was at Wilkes-Barre, whither he removed about 1790, and
where he died in 1830. He was a prominent citizen of Luzerne,
and served one term as Ajssociate Judge.
The Idens were long in the county before coming to Bucking-
ham. A Randall Iden was married about 1690. A second Ran-
dall Iden, probably a son of the former, lived in Bristol town-
ship in 1724, ani,! was married to Margaret Greenfield, of "Mid-
dle township," the present Middletown. A third Randall Iden,
grandfather of the late James C. Iden, of Buckingham, and son
of Jacob, of Rockhill, married a daughter of Samuel Foulke,
of Richland, in 1772, and on the certificate are the names of
twelve Foulkes and thirteen Robertses, witnesses that the mar-
riage was "orderly done."
Among others, who purchased land in the township prior to
302 BUCKINGHAM, THE) EMPIRE TOWNSHIP
1700, but not all settlers, were James Streator and Richard
Parsons each 500 acres. In 1724 Streator styled himself "prac-
titioner in physic," but, as he was a grocer in 1683, he must
have studied the healing art subsequently. The farm of the late
Joseph Fell is part of the Streator tract. In 1683 a warrant,
covering several thousand acres, was issued to Thomas Hudson
for land in this and other townships; and, in 1688, i,ooo acres
were confirmed to Richard Lundy. In 1687, 980 acres were
surveyed to Edward West, and 984 to John Reynolds, lying on
both sides of the mountain on the road from Pineville to Clay-
town. These two tracts have some historic interest, and gave
rise to numerous lawsuits. The original purchasers never ap-
pearing, the land was settled upon by others without a color of
title, the Proprietaries taking bonds from the tenants against
waste. In 1781 suits were commenced for the possession of these
lands and continued for more than half a century, the late Thomas
Ross being one of the counsel. The absence of Reynolds was
accounted for by his alleged loss at sea, on his return to Eng-
land, but that of West was never explained.
Among the earlier settlers in Buckingham, but not classed
among the earliest, were the Simpsons. There were probably
two families of this name. Those best remembered are the de-
scendants of William Simpson, from the north of Ireland, born
about 1732 and came here between 1748 and 1750, and bought
100 acres of John Penn.in 1766. He married Nancy Hines, of
New Britain, and their daughter Ann was the mother of the
late Gen. John Davis, of Davisville. John Simpson, son of Wil-
liam, was the father of the late Mrs. Ann Jamison. William
Simpson was a soldier of the Revolution, and, on one occasion,
while on a visit home, escaped the search of a party of Tories
by having an empty hogshead turned over him in the cellar. A
James Simpson was living in Buckingham prior to the William
mentioned above, where his son John was born in 1744. He
settled on the Susquehanna, above Fort Hunter, in the present
Dauphin county, in 1769, and married a daughter of Captain
James Marray, in whose company he served in the Revolution.
He was the grandfather of Hon. J. Simpson Africa, late Secre-
tary of Internal Afifairs. A branch of this family emigrated to
BUCKINGHAM, THE EMPIRE TOWNSHIP 303
South Carolina and Virginia. General Grant was a descendant
of our Bucks county Simpsons. A number of other families in
the township deserve mention, but I have neither time nor space
to notice them.
One of the most distinguished residents of Buckingham in th&
past century was Dr. John Wilson. He was born in Southamp-
ton in 1768; graduated at Dickinson College in 1792; taught a
classical school, of which Samuel D. Ingham, Jackson's Secre-
tary of the Treasury, was a pupil; graduated in medicine, in
1796, from the University of Pennsylvania, one of the first from
Bucks county. He settled in practice at Elm Grove, where he
died in 1835. He possessed a rare combination of desirable quali-
ties ; was accomplished, handsome and courtly, and his house-
the seat of refined and generous hospitality. He was twice mar-
ried, the second wife being Mary Fell, widow of William Fell,
and both wives were women of elegant manners and high intelli-
gence. The late Lewis C. Coryell once remarked of him : "Dr.
Wilson knew more from a potato hill up, than any other man
I ever knew." The late Dr. Cernea read medicine with Dr, Wil-
son, and became a distinguished botanist. His life was full of
romance.
Buckingham is entitled to special honor for her activity in
the cause of education. In this work she stands in the front
rank. The ordinary country schools were opened soon after its set-
tlement and the rudiments taught in them. Tradition tells us that
Thomas Watson opened a school for Indians prior to 1730, but
his philanthropic work was closed by the smallpox. In 1754,
Adam Harker left a legacy of £40 to the township towards
maintaining a free school under charge of the meeting; and, in
1789, Thomas Smith leased a lot for thirty years, at the annual
rent of "one pepper corn," on condition that a school-house be
erected within a year. This was done, and subsequently known
as the "Red school-house." It stood on the Street road on the
northwest bank of Hyrl's run. A new building, erected on the
opposite side of the creek, is now used as a dwelling. My
father received part of his early education in that little school-
house.
The most noted three schools in the township in the past cen-
304 BUCKINGHAM, THE EMPIRK TOWNSHIP
tury were "Tyro Hall," the "Friend's School" and the Hughesian
Free School." Tyro Hall was built about 1789 on a subscrip-
tion of £99 contributed by 32 persons, and the lot was given in
trust, by David Gilbert, to the care of three trustees, elected by
the contributors. The last board was John C. Shepherd, Jesse
Haney and Joseph Beans, in 1854. The house stood on the road-
side just above Greenville, and one on the same site is now used
as a dwelling, but whether the original, or built subsequently, is
not clearly determined.
The first action toward establishing "Buckingham's Friends'
School" was taken in February, 1792, by the Monthly Meeting
appointing a committee to raise means. In this way £709 were
obtained to which the Harker legacy was added, £245, and others,
Joseph Walker, Jonathan Ingham and Thomas Watson. The
school building was erected in 1794, and is still standing but no
longer used for school purposes. When the Friends separated
the school fund was divided. The Hughesian school was founded
on a legacy left by Amos Austin Hughes at his death, in 181 1,
the real and personal property amounting to $21,450. It was left
to educate the poor children of the township and such others as
stood in need, "forever." If necessary they were to be clothed
and fed. A charter was obtained in 181 2, and the building
erected ; and the school maintained for many years ; but, within
recent years, the school was discontinued and the money turned
over to the township school fund. Mr. Hughes, who was an
invalid from his youth, was a quiet, patient sufferer, and passed
most of his time in reading and meditation.
Among the teachers at one or another of these schools, and
known to the present generation, were William H. Johnson and
Joseph Fell, both superintendents of the public schools of the
county ; Joseph Price and Albert Smith, who served in the Con-
gress of the United States. Several of the scholars reached promi-
nent places in the world's affairs : Justices Paxson and Fell of
the State Supreme Court ; Richard Watson, President Judge of
our County Courts, and his brother, a Judge in Kansas ; Gen. A.
J. Smith, U. S. A. ; J. Gillingham Fell, Dr. Janney, one of the
most prominent physicians of Philadelphia, late coroner and now
in charge of the medical department of Girard College, and
BUCKINGHAM, THE EMPIRE TOWNSHIP 305
Jefferson Baker and Amos Bonsall, members of Dr. Kane's Arctic
expedition. Baker died in the Polar region, and Bonsall, on
his return, wrote a book on the expedition.
Buckingham had another school equally noted in its day, that
should not be overlooked. Martha Hampton's Boarding and Day
School for Girls, at Greenville, on the York road. It was kept
up for a number of years, and there many of the matrons of
the township received their education. Tradition tells us the boys
of the period were anxious to enjoy the advantages of Miss
Hampton's seminary, and possibly the society of the girls as well,
and a few of the very nicest boys, prime favorites, were admitted
to the school, of which Edward M. Paxson is said to have been
one. No youth could have a better endorsement to begin life
on, and to it may be attributed his success. Of the three early
public libraries in the county, that of Buckingham was establish-
ed second, 1795, having been preceded by Newtown, in 1760, and
followed by Falls, in 1800. Of the three, Newtown and Falls
are still maintained, that of Buckingham having been wound up
forty years ago.
I have already alluded to the sons of Buckingham who liave
made their mark in industrial pursuits. The Smiths, who estab-
Hshed the extensive plant on the Delaware, in Tinicum, more
than one hundred years ago, introduced the use of anthracite
coal into the county ; were the first to burn lime with hard coal,
etc., etc. ; but another of your citizens should not be forgotten.
I allude to the late James Jamison. The county is probably
more indebted to him than to any other one man for the present
method of burning lime in fixed kilns. He found, by repeated
experiment, that by putting lime and coal in a kiln, supported
by grates, with space underneath for wood to kindle the lower
layer of coal the manufacture of lime was both expedited and
cheapened. Previous to this wood had been exclusively used, but
the cost of lime was now reduced to about one-half.
No township in the county is superior to Buckingham from an
agricultural point of view ; none, whose soil is richer ; none,
where there is more careful tillage; none, where the labor of the
farmer is rewarded with better crops. The earliest attempt was
made here to improve the condition of the husbandman by or-
306 BUCKINGHAM, THE EMPIRE TOWNSHIP
ganized effort. This was by the organization of a society "for
promoting agriculture and domestic manufactures," the first in
the county, in 1811. The meetings were held in school-
houses, and it probably died a natural death, but we are not in-
formed of the date of its demise. It was followed by the "Bucks
County Agricultural Society," whose first exhibition was held at
Newtown in 1824. In 1826 Jeremiah Bailey exhibited the model
of a machine for cutting grass and grain which had been in
successful operation in Philadelphia county. James Worth used
this machine on his farm at Newtown that season, and spoke in
high terms of it. It is thought the introduction of a strong tem-
perance resolution, by Dr. Phineas Jenks at the May meeting,
1829, hastened its winding up, but jealousy and rivalry among the
members played their part. Among the early industrial estab-
lishments of Buckingham was the scythe and ax factory of Ed-
ward Kinsey, two miles northwest of Lahaska, where he had a
trip-hammer operated by water-power. He was esteemed one
of the finest mechanics in the county.
A century ago there was a cultivated and scholarly coterie in
Solebury and Buckingham, and the sons and daughters of this
township have maintained their reputation in more recent times.
Several cultivated the muse of poetry; the earliest of these was
Dr. Joseph Watson, great-grandfather of the late Judge Richard
Watson. His son, Dr. John Watson, devoted the latter years
of his life to literary culture, and indulged his taste for poetry.*
Others of the sons and daughters of Buckingham have paid
court to the muse, whose productions have merit, but we nave
neither space nor time to notice them.
A glance at the taxables and population of Buckingham is not
without interest, as the census shows a gradual increase in
population, down to i860; since then there has been a falling off
In 1722 the taxables were 53, of which nine were single men;
the heaviest tax-payer being Richard Humphrey Morris, ii. 3s,
gd, on 1,900 acres; they had increased to 178 by 1764. The
heaviest tax raised was in 1781, the period of the greatest de-
pression of Continental money, when it reached £6,767, 8d. In
1810 the population according to the Federal census, was 1,715;
* For poetry written by residents of Buckingham, see "Poets and Poetry, of Bucks
County," Vol. I, of these papers, p. 126.
BUCKINGHAM, THE EMPIRE TOWNSHIP 307
in 1830, 2,193; in 1850, 2,767; in i860, 3,088; in 1890, 2,544. In
the three decades, from i860 to 1890, it has fallen off 544; that
is, Buckingham had 6 per cent, less population than she had thirty
years before. She was then the first, or second in population,
and fell the fourth in 1890. In the same period twenty town-
ships of the county had fallen off in population. These figures
present a serious problem.
Despite the fact that Buckingham was settled by Friends, who
eschewed war and all its belongings, a martial spirit always ex-
hibited itself in her young men. When Congress authorized an
army, in 1775, John Lacey raised a company for Wayne's regi-
ment, and Samuel Smith, also of Quaker ancestry, was his first
lieutenant. Robert Sample, a scholarly man, was a captain in
Hubley's Tenth Pennsylvania Regiment, and served to the end
of the war, and Joseph Fenton, Jr., was a surgeon in Colonel
Joseph Hart's battalion, in the Amboy campaign. Fall of 1776.
Samuel Smith was a Brigadier in the campaign on the lower
Delaware in the War with England, 1812-15, and his son, An-
drew Jackson Smith, a Major General in the late war for the
Union, in which a number of her sons served, and several laid
down their lives for the cause.
If the empireship of Buckingham were determined by the num-
ber of her sons who have entered the professions, she would
get the award without a contest. Eighteen of them have become
"learned in the law," and" six ascended the bench, two of them
reaching the court of h'st resort, one the Chief Justice. In addi-
tion, in two adjoining townships, one in each reached the State
Supreme bench. Why is this ? Why should so many of the young
men of the immediate section seek to climb to fame up the bteep
ladder of the law. and with such signal success? Is it because
of the air they breathe, the water they drink, or of some occult
influence that controls their young manhood? I challenge any
other township in the county to match it.
Washington's Crossing, Unveiling of Monument at Taylorsville.
BY DWIGHT M. LOWREY, TRENTON, N. J.
(Taylorsville Meeting, October 15, 1895).
"When in the chronicle of wasted time" we read for knowl-
edge of the contributions which earlier generations have made
to the advancement of the interests which humanity holds most
dear, we learn of no single event more inspiring or more fruitful
of beneficent consequences, than the heroic action which we in
filial piety have met to-day to commemorate, on both sides of the
river, by votive tablet and by appropriate and imposing monu-
ment.
The night before Trenton was a dark hour, the darkest per-
haps of all that long twilight through which the sun of American
Independence was struggling upwards to bright and glorious day.
When on March 17, 1776, the British forces evacuated Boston
and sailed away to Halifax, there was scarcely a hostile company
in the Colonies. Charles Lee occupied New York and for a
moment the whole Atlantic shore seemed to be free from the
menace of military occupation.
The spirit of the Revolutionists rose, the sentiment of Inde-
pendence grew and strengthened, to be crystallized at last in that
eloquent Declaration which is the birth certificate of a great and
puissant nation, and the best statement of those just and liberal
principles, the observance of which alone can make government
a blessing to mankind.
The Declaration of Independence came to the people of the
American Colonies as the "glad tidings of great joy." We
read on Bancroft's glowing pages that the planters of South
Carolina received it as "an unavoidable necessity, but with
unspeakable pleasure." The Puritan ministers of Massachusett>
read it from every pulpit, for that upon the destiny of this
people it contained the full counsel of God. "The soldiers of St.
Clair, at Ticonderoga, cheered it with wild enthusiasm," because
"by it we became a free people with a name among the States
of the world." And the men of Rhode Island, as thev looked
UNVEILING OF MONUMENT AT TAYLORSVILLE 309
down the long vista of our coming greatness and forecast
our progress in civilization, broke forth into that superb
and exultant prophecy, not yet realized in full measure
to our hope ever constant though long deferred : "Free
trade with all the world, American manufactures, and the dif-
fusion of liberty o'er and o'er the globe."
In five months all was changed; victory and confidence gave
place to defeat and despondency ; and the liberty and dignity which
had seemed our secure possession hung trembling in the balance
of an unpropitious fate.
While the bell which is now our most precious relic was "pro-
claiming liberty to all the land," Lord Howe, with an army of
20,000 men, was sailing up New York Bay to a position on Staten
Island. Slowly but steadily he pushed back the American line,
first from Long Island, then from New York, then from the
Highlands above the city, then across the river westward, then
across New Jersey and behind the Delaware. We had been
driven from Canada, we had lost New Jersey. The enemy held
New York and had opened to his movement the great water-
way of the Hudson from Sandy Hook almost to the Great
Lakes. By a master stroke of military policy he had cut the Revo-
lution in two, and its severed members lay apparently at his
mercy.
The Congress lost heart and fled to Baltimore. The country
folk lost heart and sought protection from the invader, and strove
to win a claim upon his favor by betraying to his camp the defen-
ders of their country. Philadelphia was sullen and discontented.
The Quakers, in Yearly Meeting for Pennsylvania and New Jer-
sey, refused "in person or by other assistance to join in carry-
ing on the war," and published their longing for the old connec-
tion with the mother country by mention of "the happy con-
stitution" under which "they and others had long enjoyed peace."
Samuel Adams declared that "the people of Pennsylvania and
the Jerseys seemed determined to give it up."
Europe lost faith in our success. Franklin was in Paris, but
the French government hesitated to ally itself openly with what
appeared to be a failing cause ; and Voltaire wrote : "Franklin's
3IO UNVi;iUNG OF MONUMENT AT TAYLORSVILLE
troops have been beaten by those of the King of England; alas,
reason and liberty are ill received in this world."
But there was one man whom defeat could not dishearten, nor
disaster overthrow. Impassionate, patient and serene, he stood
faithfully at his post, hoping when all around him doubted,
persistent and persevering when others failed and turned back.
No man saw so clearly the difficulties military and political which
obstructed the triumph of the Revolution, yet he faced those diffi-
culties with a courage that never faltered and overcame them all.
To all those who criticised his measures or questioned his pur-
pose or winced at his advice, he had but one reply : "A character
to lose, an estate to forfeit, the cause of liberty at stake and a
life devoted must be my excuse."
His wisdom in council, his heroism in the field, the mildness
of his manners, the kindliness of his disposition, the firmness of
his temper, the elevation of his patriotism, the constancy of his
purpose, his love of liberty, his respect for law, combined to make
him in a peculiar manner the representative and type of all that
is best in the race to which we belong. There have been others
like him, who have preceded him ; there have been others like him
who have followed him. Joe Hampden was such a man when
he braved the royal authority and labored to bring about the great
uprising which triumphed at Naseby and on A^arston Moor.
Abraham Lincoln was such a man, as he guided the ship-of-state
through the storms of Civil War to a more perfect union and a
more complete and generous liberty. And there are still others
to whom like virtues have secured some measure of this man's
renown. But of all the great names which illustrate the annals
of the Anglo-Saxon race on either side of the Atlantic, none has
so secure a place in history, none has so certain a portion in the
admiration and applause of mankind, as the Commander-in-Chief
of the Continental army, the First President of the American Re-
public. Indeed there is no nation ancient or modern which can
produce the instance of a Revolutionary leader whose character
combines, in such wonderful moderation and harmony, the cour-
age and decision of a military commander, the conservatism and
initiative of a wise and progressive statesman, the virtue and self-
restraint of a private citizen.
UNVEIUNG OF MONUMENT AT TAYLORS VI IvLE; 3II
Mr. Lecky, the greatest of English historians, in his "History
of England in the XVIII Century," says of Washington :
" He was in the highest sense of the words a gentleman and a man of
honor ; and he carried into public life the severest standard of private
morals." * * * " It was always known by his friends, and it was soon
acknowledged by the whole nation and by the English themselves, that in
Washington, America had found a leader who could be induced by no earthly
motive to tell a falsehood or to break an engagement or to commit any dis-
honorable act. Men of this moral type are happily not rare, and we have
all met them in our experience ; but there is scarcely another instance in
history of such a man having reached and maintained the highest position
in the convulsions of civil war and of a great popular agitation."
This Republic may pass away ; another race may succeed us
and dwell in the homos where we now happily reside ; our own
descendants may forget the language in which we speak, even as
we have forgotten the tongue in which our Saxon ancestors
recorded the sentiments of their heart and the annals of their
achievement ; but while history shall preserve the memory of
those who have sacrificed and striven for the welfare of men,
while literature shall exalt the renown and extol the character
of the virtuous and the just, the name of George Washington
will continue to be held, in reverend remembrance, an inspiration
and an encouragement to every generous and devoted effort to
ameliorate the condition of mankind.
It was Christmas Eve, 1776, surrounded by his famishing
troops, Washington lay at Newtown. His chest was empty, his
ammunition was low. His command had not clothing to cover
their nakedness, nor shoes to protect their bleeding feet. The
men were within ten days of the expiration of the period of their
enlistment, and that feeble army, worn to a mere shadow of its
original proportions, by the battles and suffering of a long and
disastrous campaign, was on the point of dissolving altogether,
and with it would disappear the only visible bulwark between the
middle States and complete subjugation.
The enemy, well informed as to the situation, was disdainfully
awaiting the hour when the Continental army "unsmote by the
sword" should vanish into nothingness. Satisfied with the re-
sult of the year's fighting, he was resting from war and disport-
ing himself in our cities, while he waited for milder weather in
which to open in overpowering strength the final campaign which
312 UNVKIUNG OF MONUMliNT AT TAYLORS VI I^I^E)
was to crush into complete submission the rebelHous subjects of
the British Crown.
Cornwalhs made ready to sail for home to claim the reward
of his services. Howe was in New York roistering with wine
and wassail and lavishing upon his mistress the wealth he had
gained from the destruction and plunder of American commerce.
Donop lay at Burlington with orders to hang to the nearest tree
any of the inhabitants who in bands or otherwise should fire on
his troops. Rahl lay in Trenton with 1,200 Hessians, guarding
the booty which they had gathered from the homes and shops of
our citizens. The blare of martial music and the pageantry of
parade occupied his attention by day, and the nights were spent
in carousing. So great was his contempt for the weakness of
the Continental army, and so strong was his confidence in the
defence which the river afforded that he refused to fortify his
position and talked boastfully of repelling with the bayonet a
possible attack.
The insolent security of the enemy was Washington's oppor-
tunity. It was now or never with him. A blow must be struck
which would revive the failing hope of the Continentals, or all
was lost forever. So he marshalled his men — 2,400 strong — 500
men of New England were there, and Stark, of Bennington, led
them on. The Virginians were there, and James Monroe was in
command. The Pennsylvania line was there, and the sword of
Hand flashed at the head of their column. Green and Mercer, Stir-
ling and Sullivan and Alexander Hamilton were there to lead and
cheer the forlorn hope. The night was dark and bitterly cold,
the wind was high, the storm was wild, the current of the liver
was running strong, and the ice was dense and pushing hard.
But the mariners of Marblehead manned the boats, the army
crossed the ice-choked torrent and marched through the tempest
to the town. Fifteen long weary miles these war-worn veterans
marched through that tempestuous night, leaving on the inow
over which they passed, the marks of the blood from their un-
shod feet. The watchword given by the Commander himself
was "Victory or death," and when morning came the victory
was theirs. The Hessians surrendered without a blow, and
Trenton was ours again.
unve;iling of monument at tayIvOrsville 313
The importance of a victory is not always to be measured by
the blood that is spilt in the clash of arms. The daring of that
night silenced all cavil ; an army with courage and endurance to
surmount such obstacles to reach and capture its foe could never
be finally overcome. The victory of Trenton turned the tide of
w^ar in our favor, and from that moment all thought of sub-
mission was abandoned.
The War for Independence, followed as it was by the War
of 1812, created in the breasts of our people a feeling of antagon-
ism and hatred toward the mother country which the lapse of
years has not yet entirely obliterated. To many Americans, even
now, distrust and abhorence of all that is English seems a neces-
sary factor in a true American patriotism.
It is a noble and sacred duty to laud and honor the achieve-
ments of the valiant dead whose sacrifice and devotion made us a
separate and free people. But we do wrong if we allow the
memory of past conflicts to determine our attitude in the rela-
tions of the present. We owe much to the heroic dead, we owe
more to the living and still more to that posterity which must suf-
fer from our mistakes.
The world is not helped by suspicion and hatred ; the cause of
humanity is advanced by sympathy and charity. If we are to do
our part in the great work of our national advancement, even as
they whose deeds we celebrate did theirs, we shall note the dif-
ference of our circumstances, and while we retain the benefits
of "battles long ago," we shall put away the rancor which is born
of strife.
The War of the American Revolution was almost entirely due
to the wrong-headed obstinacy of one man, George III. Even
had the English of that generation unanimously supported the
policy of the King, it would be irrational to visit on the popula-
tion of the British Isles to-day our resentment at the sins of their
great-grandfathers.
But in point of fact, George III never had the approval of the
great body of the English people in his policy toward America.
Burke, Fox and Chatham and most of the Whigs defended our
course and rejoiced in our success. Lord Efiingham threw up
his commission in the army rather than serve against the Ameri-
cans, and Dublin merchants voted him a resolution of thanks ;
314 UNVEILING OF MONUMENT AT TAYLORSVIELE
Amhert declined a command; and General Conway was of the
opinion that no English officer was bound to serve his sovereign
in such a cause ; Edinburg and Glasgow refused to vote addresses
favorable to the Government ; London and Bristol gave their v^oice
in our favor. The classes who favor authority and repression —
the clergy, the bar, the landed interest and the army — sustained
the King; but the Dissenters and great body of the people in
England, Scotland and Ireland were either openly hostile to the
royal policy or unmoved by the resistance it encountered.
The common people of the British Isles would not enlist in
either the army or the navy to fight against their own flesh and
blood in the Colonies. The government was compelled to empty
the prisons to get soldiers for the ranks, and harry the islands
with press gangs to get sailors to man the ships. Finally the
king bought the services of 17,000 German mercenaries and at-
tempted by foreign aid to subjugate his rebellious Colonies. This
policy turned the rebellion into a revolution and precipitated the
Declaration of Independence.
The Hessians whom Washington captured at Trenton are
the standing proof of the stupid infatuation of the British Gov-
ernment and of the generous and fair-minded temper of the great
body of the British people. It is well to remember these facts.
It is well also to do justice now to those men in the Colonies and
in the mother country whose souls were torn with anguish at
the thought of a permanent dismemberment of the English-
speaking race. The benefits of Independence to us have been
as great as they are unquestionable; but they are not to be
found in that attitude of hostility toward the mother country into
which, by the errors of Cabinets, we have unavoidably been
thrown. That is an evil and only an evil, for it has in no
slight measure cut us off from the well-spring of our civiliza-
tion and troubled the current of our orderly and polite develop-
ment. The benefit is to be found in the closer union of the
people of these States, a union never fully consummated until Lee
gave up his sword at Appomattox. And to that consummation
no man contributed more than Washington himself, for he forged
the instrument by which that union was attained.
In the midst of desperate fortune, preceding the victory of
unve;iung of monumicnt at taylorsviIvLE 315
Trenton, Washington, while wresthng with the difficulties of the
present, was looking with wise providence to the future. Worn
out by the fickleness of the militia, and distrustful of the tardy
and reluctant succor of the State levies, he pled with Congress
for permission to organize battalions on the authority of the
United States. ^ At length the permission came, and Washington
laid broad and deep the foundations of that noble Army of the
Republic, whose valor and consecration have lent a new orna-
ment to the dignity of the human race. On a thousand well-
fought fields it has made manifest the devotion of a great and
magnanimous people to the cause of freedom and of human right ;
and it has never drawn its sword save in the effort to defend, ex-
tend, consolidate and perpetuate the empire of liberty controlled
by just and reasonable law.
While we cherish all the priceless achievements of its heroism,
as we meet to celebrate its feats of arms, let us remember that
the victories of peace are even more precious than the vic-
tories of war.
It is true to-day as it was 3,000 years ago that "he that con-
quereth his own spirit is greater than he that taketh a city."
"The old Continentals in their ragged regimentals" were called
upon to strike hard and to spare not. But it is ours to bind up
the wounds of strife, and to take up again in charity and human-
ity the august work of modern civilization. The great families of
the Anglo-Saxon race belong together. We have a common
origin, a common nature and a common destiny. The world
loses by our contention, and gains when we are joined in helpful
co-operation.
A general political union of all these widely-scattered groups
may be neither possible nor desirable, but we have in our com-
mon language an apt and ready instrument for the profitable in-
terchange of thought. and service; we have the basis for closer
contact in the substantial similarity of our moral, social and
political ideals ; and we have in the noble and unrivaled literature,
which is our joint heritage, a common inspiration to every exalted
purpose and to every intelligent and righteous endeavor.
In our relations with these kindred peoples we in the United
States can cultivate to our own advantage that broad and intelH-
3l6 DEDICATION OF MONUMENT AT TAYLORSVILEE
gent sympathy which deals gently with shortcomings, and appre-
ciatively with those traits which make up the dignity and strength
of a sister nation. We can promote that social and intellectual
commerce, and that industrial intercourse and exchange which
unite the tribes of men in reciprocal assistance, until the coming
in of the time, which we cannot now foresee, but \vhich we never-
theless most fondly anticipate, "When the war drums shall be
muffled and the battle flags be furled, in the parliament of man—
the federation of the world."
Washington's Crossing, Dedication of Monument at Taylorsville.
BY GEN. WILLIAM S. STRYKER, TRENTON, N. J.
(Taylorsville Meeting, October 15, 1S95).
What could be more cheerless than the condition of the Con-
tinental Army in December, 1776? Christmas day was approach-
ing, but for them there was no holiday rejoicing. The weather
was bitterly cold and their miserable clothing, which was scarcely
sufficient to protect them in Autumn weather, left them exposed
to the nipping frosts of early Winter. At night they lay down
on these hillsides covered with snow, without so much as a blan-
ket to shield them. In lieu of shoes they had bound their feet
with rags. Suffering with cold and hunger, marching over the
frozen ground with bleeding feet, this was the fate of the pa-
triotic army which had been gathered for the purpose of resist-
ing British tyranny in America. What then was left for these
heroic men but to make one final struggle for liberty, to strike one
last desperate blow and die? Across the Delaware, in the can-
tonment of Trenton, preparations for the Christmas revel were in
progress ; but on the Pennsylvania shore men grasped their flint-
locks more closely in their chilled fingers and waited with stern,
determined faces the next orders of their leader.
The night shadows were creeping over the woods on Jericho
hill and the road from Neeley's mill to Newtown. In the door-
way of Samuel Merrick's house, on that well-traveled road,
stood a general officer of Washington's army, listening to the
distant ring of horse's hoofs on the frozen ground. A moment
'â– p-
WASHINGTON S
Headquarters
previous to
he Battle of Trenton
. Dec 14- E5. 1776. .
TABI.ET ON KEITH HOUSE.
Placed by Bucks Count}- Hi.storical Society, January i, 1897.
THE KEITH HOUSE.
On .south side of Jericho mountain, near Woodhill post-office in Upper Makefield
township. Built by William Keith in 1763. Original hou.se still standing, but
alterations and additions have been made by James T. Keith and Dr.
William Paxson, subsequent owners. Purchased October 15, 1907,
by Sigafoos & Poore, of Riegel.sville, Pa.
(Half-tone engraving furnished by the Newtown Enterprise.)
DEDICATION OF MONUMe;nT AT TAYLORSVILI.E; 317
later, General Greene's expected guests drew rein before him
and he saluted his Commander-in-Chief. General Washington
was attended by an aide-de-camp, the gallant Cplonel Baylor, and
six Philadelphia troopers as a body guard. He had ridden over
from William Keith's house on the Brownsburg road, to General
Greene's headquarters to be present on this Christmas eve at a
council-of-war, to which he had called his leading commanders.
A few moments after the arrival of Washington and his guard,
a little group of officers were seen dismounting in the dooryard of
the old stone house, and the courtly Stirling, the best dressed man
in the army, the brave and deterrhined New Hampshire General
Sullivan and the foreign adventurer, DeFermoy, were welcomed
from the doorstep by General Greene. Then, at short intervals,
came the experienced soldier, St. Clair, and the equally skilled
Stephen, the devoted Virginian, Mercer, Colonel Sargent, of
Massachusetts, and the sturdy mariner. Glover.
After preparing supper for General Greene and his com-
patriots, the Merrick family left the house to the exclusive use
of the council. The meal had just been announced when Colonel
Stark, tall and straight as an Indian, and Colonel Knox, the
artillerist, were admitted. The Rev. Dr. Alexander McWhorter,
of Newark, pronounced grace at the supper of this important
gathering of American military heroes.
When the frugal repast was over and the short Winter twilight
had faded into darkness, the famous council began. No explana-
tion was needed to tell these soldiers of the critical situation in
which the American army was placed. Each fact which led up
to their present unhappy predicament stood out before them with
painful clearness. But what was to be done? The young repub-
lic was already surrounded with clouds of doubt, disaster and
defeat ! Some step must be taken promptly, some decisive blow
struck, or their longed-for liberty as a people would be lost, per-
haps forever. The Commander-in-Chief laid before them his
fully-matured plan, so ingenious and yet so simple that all who
read can grasp its military subtlety. To make the perilous
crossing of the icy Delaware during the hours of darkness ; to
creep on the unwary Hessian foe in Trenton when Christmas
wines and Christmas revelry had relaxed their customary vig-
3l8 DEDICATION OF MONUMENT AT TAYLORSVILLE
ilance and made a dull watch ; to throw them into helpless confu-
sion by the suddenness of the attack and by striking from three
sides at once, this was the plan of action upon which Washington
had decided as the bold stroke to retrieve his country's fallen for-
tunes. The division of Colonel John Cadwalader, at Bristol, was
to attack the cantonments of Colonel VonDonop, at Mount Holly,
Black Horse and Bordentown ; the corps of General Ewing, of
Pennsylvania, and General Dickinson, of New Jersey, were to
cross at Trenton Landing, take position on the south side of the
Assunpink creek and, if possible, to close up all avenues of escape
or entrance of a reinforcement for the British troops in Trenton;
at the same time Washington and the commanders present at the
Council-of-war, with 2,400 of their best Continental soldiers would
make the direct attack on the garrison town of Trenton. Colonel
Stark, who was so soon to drive his country's foes "pell mell"
through the streets of that village, "dealing death wherever he
found resistance," gave the key-note to the evening's consultation,
when he said, immediately after Washington had concluded :
"Your men have too long been accustomed to place their depend-
ence for safety upon spades and pick-axes, li you ever expect to
establish the independence of these States, you must teach them
to place dependence upon their fire-arms and courage." General
Greene and General Sullivan spoke hearty words in commenda-
tion of the scheme, and Lord Sterling, that brave and gouty
Jerseyman, always ready to strike a blow at British rule in
America, made some enthusiastic remarks on the importance of
an immediate attack. Colonel Glover gave a sincere promise
as to what his men would do, which promise he carried out faith-
fully and successfully. "Now is the time to clip their wings,"
said Washington, "while they are so spread," and the plan in
all its details was approved by these zealous military leaders.
"Christmas day, at night, one hour before day, is the time
fixed upon for the attack upon Trenton," General Washington
wrote to his Adjutant General, Colonel Reed, at Bristol.
So the memorable council dissolved, the horses were brought
to the doorway and the little company rode away in the darkness.
In every great enterprise, a crisis is sure to come ; it may be
slight, unseen, easily surmounted, or it may be vital, fully recog-
DEDICATION OF MONUMENT AT TAYLORSVILLE 319
nized, requiring desperate exertions and fraught with tremendous
results for good or ill. Such an hour had now arrived for the
Continental army. The defeat on Long Island, the evacuation
of New York, the capture of Fort Washington, the surrender
of Fort Lee, the retreat through the Jerseys, and the near ap-
proach of the expiration of the term of service of a large part of
the army, had brought the young nation to the lowest depths of
despair. In this desperate condition a blow must be struck im-
mediately at the military power of Great Britain, or the cause
of national freedom and unity in America would be irretrievably
lost. The great Chieftain had no idea of abandoning a cause
in which he had risked his fortune, his honor, and his life, and
all men turned to him, blindly, hoping that in some way he could
change the disaster and defeat into glory and victory. So, with
a tranquil countenance, Washington moved about among his
officers and men, inspiring them with his"^ own undaunted spirit
and high sense of patriotic duty; impressing them with the
belief, that sooner or later, he would bring them out of this
depressing darkness into brightness, the glory of victory and an
enduring national life.
Early on Christmas morning, Washington issued his orders
for the march to Trenton. Every detail had been carefully
studied and each brigade commander knew exactly what was
expected of him and his men. The position of each detachment
on the march and in the attack was carefully given ; a profound
silence was enjoined and death was the penalty to be meted out
to any soldier who quit the ranks. Three days rations were
cooked and every officer put a piece of white paper in his hat
that he might readily be recognized in the gloom as an officer.
The accoutrements were put in order, forty rounds of ammunition
carefully packed and the troops destined for this expedition were
ordered to parade over the hill back of McKonkey's ferry.
On the first day of December, before leaving Brunswick for
Princeton, Washington had dispatched Colonel Richard Hump-
ton of the nth Regiment, Pennsylvania Continental line, to gather
together all the boats on the Delaware river above and below
the falls at Trenton. Colonel Humpton had called to his aid
such well-known and skilled river men as Jacob Gearhart, Daniel
320 DEDICATION OF MONUMENT AT TAYLORSVILI^E
Bray, Uriah Slack and Thomas Jones, and, with a zealous party
of farmer boys, they had collected all boats of every descrip-
tion in the upper-waters of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers.
These boats, with those used at Howell's ferry and Beatty's
ferry, on December 7th and 8th, to carry over the retreating
army from Trenton to Bucks county, they hid behind the diick
woods on Malta island and at the mouth of Knowles' creek,
where they could not be seen from the New Jersey shore. Just
before dark these boats were brought down some two miles to
McKonkey's ferry. There were also rafts which had been made
for the transportation of the artillery, and there was the long,
canoe-shaped Durham boat, used especially for carrying iron from
Oxford furnace, in Sussex (now Warren) county, New Jersey,
and from the Durham iron works, in Durham township, of this
county, and flour from John VanCampen's mill, at Minisink, to
the market at Philadelphia. These boats were possibly named
after Robert Durham, who built the first boat on the west
bank at the mouth of the Durham cave, and were about forty
feet long, painted black, and had an oar adjustable at either end
for steering the boat. This was the best boat for the purpose
of moving the troops across a swift river as it could carry a
regiment of men at every trip.
As early as two o'clock in the afternoon of Christmas day
some of the regiments most remote from the ferry began to
march, and in an hour thereafter all the troops ordered for this
enterprise were moving toward the place of parade over the hill.
The movements of these men over the light snow which had fallen
could easily be traced by the blood which dropped from the feet
of those who had no shoes.
During the night of December 20th, which had been intensely
cold, some of the upper branches of the river had entirely frozen
over. All day Monday and Tuesday the current had been swift
and nearly free from ice, but by noon on Wednesday, which was
Christmas day, the river was full of floating cakes of ice, not
very thick, but very troublesome to boatmen who wished to make
a quick and direct crossing. The weather that night became even
colder and more cheerless. Some snow and a good deal of hail
and sleet fell and the darkness was almost impenetrable.
DEDICATION OF MONUMENT AT TAYLORSVIELE 321
In the meantime, while the patriot soldiers plodded with dogged
determination through the snow, how was it at Trenton ? Gen-'
eral Howe, the British Commander-in-Chief, had posted at Tren-
ton three Hessian regiments, fifty Hessian Yagers and a few
British lighthorse, in all about 1,400 -men. Since the I4tli of
December they had occupied all the public buildings and were
quartered in many of the private houses. They did some picket
and guard duty, but the work to which they were looking forward;
confident of success, was to cross the river as soon as it should be
completely frozen over, take the capital-city of Philadelphia,
and spend the remainder of the winter there, enjoying the gay
and congenial society of the loyalists in what was then the most
considerable commercial center in the country. Colonel Johann
Gotlieb Rail, the senior officer at the post, afifected to make light
of the army under Washington, calling it a lot of farmers who
knew nothing about war and would surely run at the first attack
of his veteran troops. On Christmas night there was a small
alarm on the Pennington road outpost, but this was soon over
and seemed only to make them more careless in their fancied
security. They remembered how they had kept Christmas-
tide in the Fatherland, and, although a great ocean separated
them from Hesse, they proposed to have as great a frolic as the
wine-cellars of the rich merchants of Trenton could afford. So,
even after the alarm, they continued the revelry so imprudently
begun. Colonel Rail himself joined a convivial party, and it
was just before daylight the next morning when he reached his
own quarters and his bed. General Washington knew the state
of affairs in the village through his trusted spy, John Honeyman,
and he was prepared to take advantage of the tempting situation:
It was just at dusk, this cheerless Christmas night, when
Washington, w^ith Colonel Henry Knox and the other members
of his staff, came to the river bank, ready to give the order for
the first boat to shove off. Sitting on his chestnut-sorrel horse,
he dictated a letter to Colonel Cadwalader, at Bristol, telling
him that, nrtwithstanding the c'iscouraging accounts he had re-
ceive ! of what might be expected from all the operations below,
he was determined to cross the river and attack Trenton in the
morning, as the night promised to be dark and his movements
322 OI^DICATION OF MONUMENT AT TAYLORSVILLE
would be concealed. With more impatience than he usually permit-
ted himself to show, he heard an aide-de-camp of General Gates
say that that officer had not assumed the command at Bristol,
as he had desired, but had gone on to intrigue with the members
of Congress at Baltimore in his own interest and contrary to the
expressed wishes of his chief. He had left the post of duty, of
danger and of honor.
The hour for the crossing had arrived. Close to the Com-
mander-in-Chief rode his true friend, Colonel Knox, and with
stentorian voice he repeated the commands of Washington. A-
bove the noise of the crunching ice, above the calling of the boat-
men, louder than the voices of the drivers of the artillery horses,
tlie orders of Knox resounded through the darkness and the storm.
His services that night cannot be over-estimated.
When the boats were shoved off from the Pennsylvania shore
and had reached the swift current, the jagged cakes of ice struck
them repeatedly, and severely, and it was with the greatest diffi-
culty that they could be properly handled. The wind was high, and
at 1 1 o'clock the air was filled with blinding snow. Then again,
as once before, over the East river, after the battle of Long
Island, and as he had promised at the council of war. Colonel John
Glover, and his magnificent Marblehead regiment of sea-faring
men did inestimable service in gui.'ing the army over the dark
and angry river.
Several years after the war, in adc'.ressing the Legislature of
Massachusetts, General Knox used these words in reference to
Colonel Glover's Regiment :
"I wish the members of this body knew the people of Marblehead as well
as I do. I could wish they had stood on the hanks of the Delaware river in
1776, in that bitter nij^ht when ibe Commander-in-Chief had drawn up his
little army to cross it and had seen the powerful current bearing onward the
floating masses of ice which threatened destruction to whosoever should ven-
ture upon its bosom. I wish that when this occurrence threatened to defeat the
enterprise they could have heard that distinguished warrior's demand, 'Who
will lead us on?' and seen the men of Marblehead, and Marblehead alone,
Stand forward to lead the army along the perilous path to unfading glories
and honor in the achievements of Trenton. There, sir. were the fishermen of
Marblehead athomeupon land and water, alike ardent, patriotic and unflinch-
ing, whenever they unfurled the flag of the country."
The name of Captain John lUunt, a shipmaster, of Portsmouth,
DEDICATION OF MONUMENT AT TAYI^ORSVIEEE 323
N. H. has come down the century to us as one of those who
gave most efficient aid on that terrible night. The progenitors
of some of the famihes represented here to-day figured in that
noble band of volunteers from both sides of the river, who
gave their skill an 1 strength to stemming the angry stream that
bitter night. Tradition gives us the names of Phillips, Slack,
Muirheid, Laning, Titus, Greene, Scudder, Guild, Inslee, and
Woolsey. All honor to those heroes on that Christmas night
of 1776.
It ha ' been confidently expected that all the troops intended
for that expedition, with the horses of the artillery and cavalry,
the eighteen cannon and howitzers, could easily be transported
over the river by midnight, and so leave the hours between
twelve and five o'clock for the march to the village. But it was
after three o'clock in the morning before the last man and the last
gun had reached the New Jersey shore. It was then too late
to strike the town in the early dawn, but General Washington
was still determined to make the attack. The risk must be taken
and he was fully resolved to capture the village and its Hessian
garrison.
The story of the surprise, the attack and the capture has been
often told and need not be repeated here. The details of the
march by the river and Pennington roads are known to you all.
The ol ! clocks in Trenton struck the hour of eight as the sharp
reports of the American rifles were heard north of the town and
repeated near the river. Colonel Rail, not yet recovered from
his midnight frolic, essayed to muster his gallant troops. They
fell back before the irresistible dash of the men of General
Greene's division; they lost their cannon, and their lea ler fell
from his horse fatally wounded ; they retreated to the apple-
orchard and tried to escape by the bridge and through the waters
of the Assunpink creek. At this juncture, finding themselves
surrounded, they surrendered, and the patriot army took possess-
ion of nearly t,ooo men, as many rifles, six cannon and flags, and
all the stores which the Hessians had collected.
P)cfnre nine o'clock in the morning, the day, which had opened
in glonm and secret despondency, had changed to one of bright-
ness and hope and future glory. The "crisis" as proclaimed a week
324 DEDICATION OF MONUMENT AT TAYLORSVILIvE
previous by Thomas Paine, the "time which tried men's souls"
had passed to make way for glorious triumph. What matter-
ed it then if the sleet cut their faces, and the wind whistled
through their tattered regimentals, or the blood oozed from their
frosted feet ; had not victory perched upon their banners ; had
they not shown the veterans of European wars that they could
be defeated and captured by the fire-lock in the sturdy arm of
a true American? And so they minded not the nine mile march
back again to McKonkey's Ferry, with their prisoners, the re-
crossing of the river, the upsetting of the boats and the involun-
tary swim in the icy waters. The next day a thousand men were
unfit for duty. What mattered it, they were hero-victors all !
A river with a dangerous current had been crossed in the dark-
ness ; a British post had been captured, and the turning point in
the war had been passed. Glory, eternal glory, to the 2,400
young men who crossed this perilous river on that memorable
Christmas night.
It is just and fitting, nay, it is a duty to mark in loving remem-
brance the spots where great deeds have been enacted, or
where great men have lived and died, and in this way to com-
memorate to future ages the magnificent heroism of the men
who sutTered that the nation might endure. By monuments
alone can we fittingly rescue from oblivion the achievements of
those who, in the hour of greatest trial, fought for personal
liberty and national independence. So, to-day, in honor of the
heroes who crossed the river on that wintry night, we have
erected two monuments to mark the historic crossing, the one
on the Pennsylvania and the other on the New Jersey shore,
and we dedicate them both in the spirit of true patriotism. Let
the recollection of the virtues of these soldiers and the record
of their noble lives inspire us all to the latest generation, and
then this great country, great in its constitution, great in its
history, shall stand a monument to the ages, as long as the world
endures, the home of an enlightened, a Christian, a liberty-loving
people the "land of the free!"
Washington's Crossing, Additional Historical Facts.
BY HON. SAMUEL F. GWINN^R, TAYLORSVILLE, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January i8, 189S).
On October 15, 1895, there was dedicated in Taylorsville,
under the auspices of the Bucks County Historical Society, a
monument to commemorate the crossing of the Delaware river
at that place by the army of General Washington, on Christmas
night, 1776. On the same day a monument was erected on
the New Jersey side of the river in commemoration of the
same event.
The principal orator was General Stryker, of Trenton, N. J.,
who delivered an able and interesting address appropriate to
the occasion. That the address of General Stryker disclosed
new historical facts and traditional information must be ad-
mitted by those who heard him or read his interesting address ;
yet nevertheless it failed to particularize in relation to certain
matters which I have no doubt are interesting to the members
of the Historical Society and to the public. I therefore submit
the following facts more to supply omissions than to criticize
the address :
General Stryker informs us that the house of Samuel Mer-
rick, in which Washington held a council of war, on Christmas
eve in 1776, when preparing' his plans for the crossing of the
river and his moving upon Trenton, was located on the road
leading from Brownsburg to Newtown, but gives no further
information as to the location of the house. The Merrick house
is on what is now known as the O'Brien farm and now owned
and occupied by Thomas Gray. It was at one time occupied by
John Case. About 30 years ago Nathan Irwin built and occu-
pied the present farm-house, but died about 25 years ago.
The old Merrick house is less than two miles from the
Keith house, where Washington then had his headquarters.
General Stryker says : "Early on Christmas morning orders
were given for this expedition to parade over the hills back
326 Washington's crossing, additionai, historical facts
of McKonkey's Ferry." This parading evidently must have
taken place upon the lowland or level ground between the
hills or rising ground and the river, as it is the only location
near the ferry where the troops could manoeuvre. The road
from the "Eagle"' then continued in a direct course from where
it intersects the back river road to the ferry, upon which road
was located a small log house which was occupied by General
Washington as his headquarters while preparations for the
crossing of the river were being made. This old house was on
the farm owned by the late Thomas B. Lownes, and was con-
sumed by fire some years ago. The stones used in the cellar
walls were used in building the foundation upon which this
monument is erected.
Where the crossing took place is the best place to be found on
the Delaware river anywhere, convenient to Trenton. Just above
where McKonkey's Ferry was located there is a large island.
Under this island a large eddy forms and extends the greater
part over the river and the current is greatly broken, except
as it passes around the easterly or New Jersey side of this is-
land. Between this island and the New Jersey shore the current
is always somewhat swift, but this swiftness does not extend
tar below the island. This island caused the floating ice, dur-
ing low water, in the river principally to pass down near the
New Jersey shore. In crossing from Pennsylvania to New
Jersey there would thus be a current and ice to obstruct the
rafts and boats for about one-third the distance they had to
traverse. By taking advantage of the eddy under the island the
rafts and boats could have been poled or rowed up under the
lee of the island and by proper handling given a good start
into the current would have, with comparatively little difficulty,
been landed at the ferry. The Durham boats used could not
have met with much difficulty in crossing, as the ice v/ould
be but little impediment to them, as by their weight and sharp-
ness, bow and stern, they were much more steady and easier
handled than the other boats used. These other boats were
ferry boats and such boats as could be gathered for the occas-
ion. The ferry boats, and the others, unless some of them were
bateaux, and I suppose rafts also, were broad at the bow and
Washington's crossing, additional historical facts 327
would be liable to run upon the floating ice and thus impede
their progress. But no boat used was more adapted to the
purpose of crossing the horses and artillery than the broad and
long ferry boat and the use of rafts would possibly indicate a
lack of boats for crossing. The Durham boats were suitable
for any purpose, or could have been made so. Large quan-
tities of ammunition and supplies could be placed on them, on
the bottom, and upon the top of this a large number of men
could also be taken, and they were of much the greater value
in the crossing. But still the crossing was difficult, though the
greatest difficulty was no doubt caused by the darkness of the
night and the approaching storm and not by the condition of
the river. The crossing commenced early in the evening and
continued until 3 o'clock the next morning.
At II o'clock at night the storm commenced, at which time
considerably more than one-half of the crossing must have
been acomplished. This long time occupied in crossing must
have been caused by the lack of a sufficient number of suitable
boats and the use of unwieldy rafts for carrying the artillery.
Although the distance from the place of crossing to Trenton
was but eight miles the troops did not arrive there until about
8 a.m., being about five hours going that distance.
After the battle was won Washington returned to INIcKon-
key's Ferry with his army bringing his prisoners with him,
and all were crossed over to the Pennsylvania side of the river
without much difficulty or delay. In a very few days the
river must have been again crossed by the army, for on Jan-
uary 2, 1777, we find Washington again in Trenton fighting
what is called the second battle of Trenton, and on the day
following the battle of Princeton took place. After all this
Washington was soon back into Pennsylvania again with his
army, and yet with all this crossing and recrossing little or no
difficulty seems to have been experienced. All of this would
indicate that the river was in a placid condition and not the
wild perilous stream it has been represented to have been on
Christmas night, 1776.
At the time of the crossing there were no roads on the New
Jersey side near the ferry as now located. The road now run-
328 Washington's crossing, additional historical facts
ning directly from the river then passed up by the old house, yet
standing, a short distance above the ferry, and near the monu-
ment erected in October, 1895, on the New Jersey side of the
river, and was the then road leading to Pennington and was
the road taken by the troops until they reached the road lead-
ing to Trenton which they followed south. This old house was
then a hotel at which tradition says Washington took refresh-
ments after crossing the river.
The records in Doylestown show that the McKonkeys dis-
posed of their holding at Taylorsville, within about two years
after the crossing. John AlcConkey conveyed 13 1/4 acres to
Benjamin Taylor on April 22, 1777, one acre of which is now
part of my farm and upon which the farm-house stands.
William McKonkey conveyed 150 acres to George Bennett
on December 4, 1778, fifty acres of which now constitute all of
my farm except the one acre referred to on the western side of
the road running through the farm, and upon which are located
the barn and other out-buildings. The other 92 acres are now
owned by Edward Kell. who resides thereon. The McKonkeys
seem to have left the neighborhood soon after disposing of their
property, as a person by the name of Tomlinson came into
possession of the ferry about that time and continued to operate
it until the building of the bridge at Taylorsville in 1833, when
it became known as Tomlii^ison's Ferry.
Daniel Boone, A Native of Bucks County.
BY REV. D. K. TURNER, HARTSVILEK, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 21, 1896).
Perhaps no native of Bucks county has been more celebrated
than Daniel Boone. In his day and for a long period after-
wards his fame was widely spread through our country. As
a pioneer, hunter, explorer of regions untrodden by white men,
and forerunner of civilization, he was surpassed by none, who
more than a hundred years ago made their way to the path-
less regions of the West. He was born in February, 1735,
of English parentage, his grandfather, George Boone, having
emigrated from Exeter, England, in 171 7, with his wife and a
large family of children. Daniel's father, Squire Boone,
(Squire being a Christian name and not a title) in 1728 bought
T40 acres of land in New Britain township of Thomas Shute,
of Philadelphia, on which property it is probable that the noted
son came into life seven years later.
When he was about ten or twelve years old the family removed
to Berks county, and located near Reading. That part of the
country was then sparsely settled, large tracts were covered with
unbroken forests, game was abundant, and in his boyhood he
formed and strengthened the taste for hunting, which subse-
quently characterized him. After remaining there six or seven
years his father, encouraged no doubt by Daniel, went to the
still more primitive region of central North Carolina, and bought
a property not far from the Yadkin river. Here was a field for
the young man to cultivate his love of nature, to see her in
her wildest aspect, and to roam over mountain, hill and valley,
rifle in hand. While in that locality he married Rebecca Bryan,
and pursued the occupation of a farmer several years ; but in
1 761 becoming restless he joined a band of congenial spirits,
crossed the Blue Ridge, and explored the head waters of the
Tennessee river. A similar expedition followed three years later,
along the sources of the Cumberland.
330 DANiEiv boone;^ a native of bucks county
These tours increased the desire, which had been awakened
in his mind, to throw off the restraints of artificial civiHzation
and to find a home, where the luxurious usages of refined
society would no longer incommode him, and where inequali-
ties of wealth and station would be little regarded. In 1767 a
man, who had been far into the western wilderness, returned
and depicted in glowing colors the beauty of the region known
as Kentucky, its grand forests, undisturbed hunting grounds
and fertile soil.
Boone at once formed a resolution to visit it, and if the ac-
counts were true, to cast his lot there. Two years elapsed,
however, before he could so arrange his affairs as to make
protracted absence from home possible. In 1769 a party of six
hardy frontiersmen was formed, who placed themselves under
his leadership and set out on the first of May for the almost
unknown territory south of the Ohio. Their journey was toil-
some and dangerous. The Indians, though nominally subject
to Great Britain, were hostile to white men, jealous of their en-
croachments and disposed to take their lives or force them back
east of the mountains. The travelers moved along their lone-
ly way, under the leafy arch above them, with little food but
that which their rifles provided, five weeks. On the 7th of
June they reached an elevated spot, from which they beheld
a wide prospect of the valley of the Kentucky river and its
tributaries. There they determined to erect cabins, and from
this as a central point, hunt the buffalo and make extensive ex-
plorations. Several months passed away in these agreeable em-
ployments.
When winter came, having seen no Indians, though contin-
ually on the watch for them, they separated into three parties,
Boone and a single companion, whose name was Stewart, re-
maining together. On the 22nd of December these two men
were surprised by the savages, robbed of all their valuables, and
held prisoners a week, when they contrived to elude the vigi-
lance of their captors and escape by night.
In January, Daniel's brother, Squire Boone, and another hun-
ter from North Carolina, arrived, bringing tidings of their
families and welcome additions to their diminishing supplies
DANIEIv BOONE, A NATIVE OF BUCKS COUNTY 33I
of powder and lead. It was not long before they were again
attacked by Indians. Stewart was shot and scalped, the man
who came with Squire was lost in the woods and the two
brothers were left alone in the boundless forest. In the spring
Squire went home for supplies, and Daniel continued with no
companion, without bread, salt or sugar, taking care of and
adding to their furs, until the middle of summer, when the
solitary exile was cheered by his brother's return. During
the following autumn and winter they explored other parts of
Kentucky and found it most attractive and desirable for a per-
manent abode.
In March, 1771, they packed their horses with valuable pel-
try and retraced their steps eastward across the Alleghenies 10
Yadkin. Daniel had been away from his family two years,
in which he had seen no human being but his few com-
panions and hostile savages. In spite of the dangers crafty and
treacherous foes presented, he determined to emigrate to the
new country as soon as he could sell his farm and properly
arrange his business. This was accomplished in about two
years, and in the fall of 1773 he and his brother, with their fami-
lies, turned their faces toward the setting sun. On the way
they were joined by five families and forty armed men, and thus
strengthened they moved forward cautiously but with new
courage. They had reached a valley near the southeast corner
of Virginia, when they were suddenly attacked by Indians.
Six of the party were killed, among whom was James Boone,
Daniel's son and they were compelled to retreat forty miles to
the Clinch river.
Deeming it unsafe to penetrate further into the haunts of
the aborigines that season, they remained in that locality till
Tune, 1774. Boone was then requested by Governor Dunmore
to go to Kentucky and conduct on their route home a party
of government surveyors. This enterprise was successfuly car-
ried through, m which he was occupied two months and traveled
on foot 800 miles. His reputation for shrewdness, caution and
daring in border' warfare was now fully established, and he was
chosen to command, with the rank of captain, three separate
garrisons of soldiers in outposts for the defence of the frontier
332 DANIEI. BOONE, A NATIVE OF BUCKS COUNTY
against the Shawnees and other alhed tribes. He fought and
defeated those marauding and merciless foes in several battles and
drove them to their wigwams north of the Ohio. In 1775 he was
engaged by the Transylvania Company to open a road between
the Holston and Kentucky rivers. The danger of meeting
stealthy and enraged savages was imminent at every step, but
the work was energetically pushed forward and completed, and
in April a fort and incipient town were built on the Kentucky
and named Boonesborough. Harrodsburg was founded soon
after, and the permanent occupation of the territory by civ-
ilized man was begun. In a few months he removed his fam-
ily to the new settlements, and his wife and daughters were
the first white females ever seen on the banks of the Kentucky.
About a year after their arrival one of his daughters and two of
her companions one afternoon went rowing on the river. They
amused themselves for some time dashing the water with their
paddles, and failed to observe that they were being drifted by the
current toward the shore opposite their home. But sharp eyes
were watching them from the bushes, and as they floated nearer,
five Indians seized the canoe, drew it out of view of the fort,
and carried off its light hearted occupants prisoners. Their
cries for help aroused the garrison, but Boone and Callaway,
the fathers of the two girls, were absent, and nothing decisive
could be done for their rescue that night. On the return of the
men late in the evening preparations were made to pursue their
captors next morning, and we may imagine, that little sleep
was taken by their anxious parents, as the hours of darkness
slowly rolled away. Ere the sun was up a party of armed men
was on the trail of the savages, and followed it with so much
rapidity, that they overtook them about midday, as they were
about to cook a meal. So sudden was the attack that the wily
foe was surprised and overpowered, before they had time to
kill their prisoners, as was their custom in similar circumstances.
Boone was a skillful military commander as well as a suc-
cessful hunter. During the whole of the Revolutionary War the
British incited the Indians to acts of murder and rapine along
the border, and he was employed with his command much of
the time, especially in 1777, in defending the settlers. Inter-
DANIEL BOONE, A NATIVE OF BUCKS COUNTY 333
course with the eastern part of the country was infrequent and
attended with great difficulty. Many of the comforts and all
of the luxuries of life were extremely scarce. Even salt was
not to be had for weeks or months. There were salt springs
at a place called the ''Blue Licks," where deer, elk, and buffalo
were wont to resort to obtain it, and it might be made there
by the slow process of boiling, but at the peril of nocturnal
incursions of sneaking redskins. To secure this almost indis-
pensable article Boone formed and commanded a party in the
dead of winter 1778, who proceeded to the saline springs and
had been there a month when, being a little distance from camp,
he was surrounded and captured by a hundred Indians. Thor-
oug-hly acquainted with Indian customs, in a short time he won
their regard to such an extent as to gain favorable terms for
his party, whose lives were to be spared and they were to be
treated as prisoners of war. He was taken to Detroit, then
under British control, and was honorably received by the com-
mander of the district, but strictly watched. Sharp as the
savages, he resolved to escape, and with this in view asked
to be adopted into the tribe, suffered his hair to be pulled outi
except the lock on top of his head, and was painted like a
brave. He was allowed at certain times to hunt, and often
returned to his "durance vile," making no attempt to leave.
But after being with the dusky warriors five months he went
one day with his rifle into the woods, and when out of sight
started for his home, 160 miles distant.
With no guide but the sun and stars, he had little fear of los-
ing his way, and was anxious only about crossing the Ohio,
as he was not an adept at swimming. When he came to the river,
after some searching, he found an old canoe, in which he got
safely over, and reached Boonesborough in five days from the
time he set out. All his friends supposed he had perished,
and his wife and children, under that idea, had returned to
North Carolina. He warned the garrison that they would soon
be attacked, and the fort was immediately put into the best
possible state of defence. Not without reason, for in a few
weeks nearly 500 Indians under British officers appeared and
began a siege. Ere long they called upon the intrepid hero to
334 DANIEI. BOONE, A NATIVE OF BUCKS COUNTY
surrender. He refused and bid them do their worst. A furious
attempt was made to storm the fort, but it was repulsed with
bravery and success, though the defenders numbered less than
a sixth part of the assailants, and the enemy, after a loss of
nearly forty killed and many more wounded became disheart-
ened, and filed off to the north. For his eminent services in
the late military operations Boone was promoted to be major.
About this time he went to North Carolina to join His family,
from whom he had been separated almost a year.
In 1779 he sold his property and invested the proceeds in
Continental money, then passing at a heavy discount, intend-
ing to convert it into land-warrants, and to locate them m Ken-
tucky. Others with a similar purpose intrusted to him large
sums, having perfect confidence in his integrity. Nor did he
betray his trust, but on his way to Richmond, where the sessions
of commissioners to adjudicate western land titles were held,
he was robbed of the whole, amounting to about $20,000. If
this unfortunate reverse had not occurred, he would have be-
come a large proprietor of real estate in one of the most fertile
parts of the Union.
He returned with his family to Boonesborough in 1780. Dur-
ing that summer, while hunting with one of his brothers, the
latter was killed and scalped by Indians, and he himself came
near meeting the same fate. A body of militia formed to
chastise the prowling foe, advanced into their neighborhood,
and in spite of his earnest remonstrances were enticed into an
ambuscade and attacked. In the engagement he lost a son, and
another brother was wounded. About that time he was raised
to the rank of Colonel.
For ten years after the close of the Revolutionary struggle
he was occupied in agriculture and occasional hunting. In 1792,
when Kentucky was admitted into the Union, and the legality
of claims to real estate was investigated, his titles were declared
invalid and he was reduced to penury. He was now about
sixty years old, and had spent the best part of his life in ex-
ploring that magnificent inheritance and repelling the incursions
of barbarous tribes, yet he was destitute of an acre he could
call his own. He became embittered against officers and courts.
DANIEL, BOONE, A NATIVE OF BUCKS COUNTY 3^5
that are often used by the unscrupulous and grasping to de-
fraud the unwary, and determined to place himself where he
would be less likely to suffer from a similar cause. His hopes
turned towards Missouri and in 1795 he removed to the Osage
river fifty miles west of St. Louis. That country then be-
longed to Spain and was frequently called Upper Louisiana.
Col. Boone was everywhere known as an able officer and a
shrewd manager of Indian affairs, and in 1800 he was appointed
commander of the Osage district, and as a compensation for
his services in that capacity he was allotted 8,500 acres of rich
land near the Missouri river. But it was necessary that he
should appear before the Spanish Commissioner in New Orleans
and have his title ratified by the highest authority. He put
off attending to the matter from day to day, and finally neglected
it altogether, and lost a baronial manor which would have en-
riched himself and his children. When he left Kentucky he
was not only poor, but in debt, and though several hundred
miles from his former home, he had no disposition to avoid
paying his creditors. Farming, then as now, brought little
money. The only source from which he could secure cash,
was from furs obtained by hunting, and in this for several
years he had meagre success. At length by getting a consider-
able supply of fine peltry his purse was moderately replenished,
and he made a trip to Boonesborough, paid all persons the
sums they said he owed them, and made his way back to the
Osage with but half-a-dollar in his pocket. Then he declared
he was ready to die content.
In 181 2, when yy years old, he had a claim to 850 acres of
land, the title to which was defective, and he was in danger of
losing it. Missouri was then in the area of the U. S.j and a
petition was presented to Congress, recommended by the Leg-
islature of Kentucky, and supported by many influential men,
that the possession of this tract should be confirmed to him.
In view of his valor and courage, and the toilsome and peril-
ous labors he had gone through in defence of the infant settle-
ments of the Mississippi valley, favorable action was taken and
the request was granted, a token that Republics are not always
ungrateful. This property he enjoyed ten years until the close
336 DANIEL BOONIv, A NATIVE OF BUCKS COUNTY
of his life, which took place in 1822, in his 88th year. He was
laid to rest beside his wife, who died seven years previously, in
a cofifin, which he had provided for himself, and which he kept
under his bed, perhaps with a desire to follow the precept, "Me-
mento Mori." A large number of children, grandchildren and
other descendants to the fifth generation followed his remains
to the grave.
Francis Parkman in his interesting volume, "The Oregon
Trail," says that he was furnished in 1846 witli a horse by his
"friend Mr. Boone of Westport, a grandson of Daniel Boone,
the pioneer." And when the author had advanced in his tour
far toward the Rocky Mountains, he states that he overtook a
party of emigrants on their way to the Pacific Coast. I quote
his language :
" Conspicuous among the rest stood three tall young :men, grandsons of
IJaniel Boone. They had clearly inherited the adventurous character of
that prince of pioneers, but I saw no signs of the quiet and tranquil spirit
that so remarkably distinguished him. Fearful was the fate that months
after overtook some of the members of that party. General Kearney on his late
return from California brought back their story. They were interrupted by
the deep snows among the mountains and, maddened by cold and hunger,
fed upon each others' flesh."
Whether any or all of those three young men perished in that
way, we are not informed.
A portrait of Col. Daniel Boone, which now adorns the
walls of the State House, in Frankfort, Kentucky, was painted
by Chester Harding, an eminent American artist, about two years
before the veteran's death. It was long deemed appropriate by
the citizens of Kentucky that a monument should be erected to
his memory in the Capital of the State, of which he was one
of the principal founders, and in 1845 this was accomplished,
and the bodies of himself and his wife were removed from Mis-
souri and deposited in the cemetery of that city with imposing
ceremonies.
Col. Daniel Boone was a noble man, of whom the country that
gave him birth may well be proud. Many cities contended for
the honor of the nativity of Homer, and we may be congratulated
that one so brave, energetic, persistent and patriotic comliienced
his career among us in Bucks county. His education was limited.
TH^ BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS 337
but he possessed a strong- mind and commanded a powerful in-
fluence wherever he went.
The minute forms of a highly developed social and leg-al system
were repugnant to him, yet he had few if any superiors in the
virtues that adorn the head of a family or constitute a worthy
citizen. As a husband and father he was beyond reproach. Sub-
tle and cunning in warfare with the savages, he was too unsus-
pecting and guileless in his dealings with civilized men. Perfectly
honest, he wronged no man but often suffered himself to be
wronged. To no one are the exploration and settlement of our
country west of the Alleghenies and south of the Ohio more
indebted than to the hero, Daniel Boone.
The Battle of Fair Oaks.
BY GEN. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 21, 1S96).
As our wonderful war for the Union was closed almost a third
of a century ago, and has passed into history, the paper I present,
"The Story of a Battle," is pertinent to the occasion.
And what is a battle ? Who can fully realize it, without having
been actually present and engaged in such a conflict, and looked
upon the awful surroundings?
Not one !
As a matter of fact a battle is the transforming of human
beings, created in the image of their Maker, into brutes and sav-
ages ; it arouses their fiercest passions, and, when the combatants
are fully warmed up to their work they have no other thought
but to kill.
This seems impossible to those who have always lived within
the influence of Christian civilization, where the tenderest emo-
tions of the soul are brought out ; nevertheless it is true, and my
statement is only the epitome of a battle in a few lines.
To paint the picture as I have it on my mind, I'll reproduce,
as near as I can, what I saw at "Fair Oaks," the first great battle
in front of Richmond. But, before doing this, permit me to
occupy a few paragraphs in conducting my regiment to the scene
of conflict.
338 THE BATTLE OE FAIR OAKS
The 104th regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers left Doyles-
town nearly 1,000 strong, November 6, 1861, for Washington,
where it became part of the Army of the Potomac, and there
passed the Winter. It took the field in the early Spring of 1862
and participated in the campaign on the Peninsula. It bore its
part in the siege of Yorktown ; was present at Williamsburg ;
joined in the pursuit of the retreating enemy, meeting and ac-
cepting all the vicissitudes of the service, and halted the morning
of May 21, 1862, with the Fourth Corps, within a mile and a
half of the Chickahominy. That evening it crossed this historic
stream, by order of General McClellan, to go on picket, being
the first infantry regiment on the enemy's side of the river ; and,
within the next twenty-four hours, it crossed and recrossed that
stream six times.
On May 24th the 104th regiment led Naglee's brigade in a
reconnoissance toward Richmond, meeting the enemy near Savage
station and defeating him after a spirited action, and on the 26th
established itself at Fair Oaks, within five miles of the Confed-
erate Capital, whose steeples were in plain view from the tree
tops. We occupied the picket line without shelter of any kind,
and held it to the 31st, the day the battle was fought. The
regiment changed its location a few hundred yards to the north,
two days previous, the men pitching their shelter tents in a piece
of timber, from which the bushes had been cleared. The "Nine
Mile" road ran in front of the camp, and the field and stafif
occupied a log cabin on it. I propose telling you what came within
my own observation and disclaim all personal knowledge of what
took place over a wide field on which many thousands of men
were engaged in deadly conflict. Some profess to know it all.
I make no such pretensions.
There was a heavy storm the night before the battle, and the
flash of lightning, crash of thunder and pouring rain seemed like
a war of the elements prophetic of the terrible conflict of the
morrow. The country was flooded. That evening Company F
was put on picket and Company E in the morning, leaving but
eight companies with the colors. Saturday was clear and sultry,
and the forenoon unusually quiet. In camp the men were lolling
in the shade, and at my quarters. Captain Cries was occupied
TH£; BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS 339
replenishing our mess-chest — for the enemy. About ten o'clock
an aide of Gen. Joe Johnston passed through my camp a prisoner
from the picket Hne, and, about eleven, three shells from the
enemy's lines fell within our camps, but we thought nothing of
it at the front. In the meantime, however, suspicions were arous-
ed; the troops were forming and the artillery horses harnessed.
Our headquarters mess had just finished dinner and were dis-
cussing the campaign in front of our cabin, when an aide of
General Casey dashed up with an order to have the regiment under
arms immediately. It was in line in a few minutes. This was a lit-
tle after twelve. We did not expect a battle, thinking it an ordinary
alarm. Shortly after I received an order to march the regi-
ment nearer the Williamsburg road to support a battery. This
was but a short distance, and we formed on the battery's right
in a piece of timber. We were next ordered to advance two
hundred yards into a clearing, where the line was quickly reform-
ed and dressed as on parade. We were now ready for work,
but could see nothing of the enemy. At this time my own regi-
ment was the only force at the front on this part of the field, and
was the first to receive the shock of the enemy.
It is the general impression that armies go out to fight decked
in all the "pomp, parade and circumstance of glorious war," as
we see it represented in pictures, but it is far from the truth.
Men need not to be dressed in finery to be killed, and they seem
to realize it, for they generally divest themselves of every useless
article. They frequently go to the field without their coats and
sometimes with their sleeves rolled up. My regiment wore
trousers and blue blouses, and carried Austrian rifles that would
kill at a thousand yards. A reliable gun, plenty of ammunition
and a stout heart are the most needful equipments. A battle^
is no dress parade affair.
Soon after forming our line in the clearing, the enemy was
seen in the edge of the timber in front, and began coming out in
great numbers, firing as they advanced. Bullets began to fall in
our ranks, coming with a whizzing, hissing sound, increasing
every moment. The regiment stood in line, and had not fired a
shot. The men were restive. Thinking the time to open fire had
come, I ordered them to load, followed by "Ready," "Aim.". At
340 THE BATTI^E OF FAIR OAKS
this moment, Sergeant Major Wallazz, a former pupil of "Stone-
wall" Jackson, came running up and said, "Let me say fire?" I
assented ; he gave the word, and 400 bullets were discharged into
the masses of the enemy in our front, within point blank range.
This was the first volley, and gave notice throughout the army
that the battle had begun. It must be borne in mind that, while
these preliminaries were going on, my regiment stood alone, with-
out any support.
Other troops were soon in position, and the action became
general, both sides loading and firing as rapidly as possible.
My men began to fall, killed and wounded ; the former lying
where they fell, many of the latter walking, and others being
carried off the field. The fire grew hotter and hotter, but the
men stood up to their bloody work as cheerfully as on dress
parade. They were cool, and there was no flinching. They
stood in an old clear-up furrow, and there the cartridge papers
lay by the basket full. During the hottest of the firing one of
my men, a strapping big fellow, called out to me, "Do you see
that Colonel, they have put a bullet through my canteen and the
water is running out." He was told to attend to his work and
not mind it. Our right rested on the timber, and seeing a move-
ment of the enemy to flank us in that direction. Companies A
and B, Captain Rogers and Lieutenant Kephart, were pushed into
the woods to prevent it.
We had now been under fire more than an hour ; our line had
been well maintained, but many men had fallen. The enemy was
pressing us in front and on the flank and threatened the battery
we were supporting. At this crisis the men were ordered to fix
bayonets and charge. They sprang forward, with a tremendous
yell, about one hundred yards across a piece of ground covered
with low bushes, one-half of the regiment jumping over a worm-
fence, the color-bearers planting the flags in the soft ground, and
laying down by them. This was on the enemy's side of the fence.
Fire was re-opened and the enemy checked for a short time. It
was fool-hardy, but had the desired effect. Seeing we must re-
linquish our ground unless reinforced, an officer was sent to Gen-
eral Casey with the request that he send us a regiment. The
officer passed twice between the fire of the two armies and re-
turned unhurt. This gallant deed was done by Lieut. Ashenfel-
THK BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS 34 1
ter. About this time a large white flag, with a black square in
the middle, appeared in the enemy's ranks. Some of our men,
thinking it a flag of truce, asked what should be done, and
were told to fire at it as rapidly as possible. A volley brought
down the bearers, but it was immediately seized and raised by
another. Soon after they raised another flag, a white cross
with stars on a blue field. Many of their men had white mus-
lin tied round their hats.
The regiment had been in action nearly three hours, and
nearly one-third of the men had fallen ; the promised re-inforce-
ments not arriving, we could hold our ground no longer.
There was no order to retire ; the men were literally pushed
back by the superior force of the enemy. Individual soldiers
on the other side came near enough to strike my men with
their muskets. The regiment retired slowly and sullenly,
neither officers nor men running. When it retired the enemv
was pressing it in front and on both flanks, and in a few min-
utes, our retreat would have been cut off. He was already
shooting down our battery horses some distance in the rear
of our line of battle. The guns had been previously hauled off
and saved. Many of our men, after emptying their own cartridge
boxes, got 'a fresh supply from the boxes of their dead and
wounded companions lying around them. The rifles were dis-
charged so often the barrels burned their hands, and the
grooves were so furred I saw some of my men place the ram-
rod against a tree to force a cartridge home.
One of the most gallant things I ever witnessed was the
rescue of one of the flags at Fair Oaks- — that presented by the
ladies of Bucks county. You will recall the charge of the reg-
iment, its entanglement with a low worm-fence and the plant-
ing of the two flag staffs in the soft ground on the enemy's side
of the fence, where the fighting was renewed and continued
until we were forced to retire.
In the confusion and excitement of retiring one flag was
left on the enemy's side of the fence and they made a bold
effort to capture it. I ordered those nearest not to retire with-
out bringing the flag, when Major Gries, Orderly Sergeant
Myers and Color Sergeant Pursell sprang for it. The enemy,
342 THB BATTI^E OF FAIR OAKS
seeing the movement, rushed for the flag at the same time.
Purcell, who had already secured his own flag, with it in his
hand, jumped over the fence, seized the other and pulled it
from the ground. The enemy were not quick enough and lost
the coveted prize.
As Pursell mounted the fence to return, with both flags in
his hands, he was struck by a bullet and knocked over, carry-
ing the flags with him. Regaining his feet, he handed one flag
to Sergeant Myers, and started to the rear with the other, but,
becoming faint from loss of blood he gave it to Corporal Mich-
ener, who brought it off in safety. Both flags were delivered
to the regiment that evening after the battle and received the
most cordial welcome. The three prominent actors in the little
drama were all wounded — Major Gries and Sergeants Pursell
and Myers — the Major dying a few days afterward. The
government recognized the gallantry of Sergeant Pursell bv
presenting to him a medal of honor. This is but a single epi-
sode of gallantry among thousands that occurred during our
great war.
While the battle was raging in our immediate front, on our
left, two or three hundred yards away, other portions of our
division were sustaining an equally stubborn contest. Gen-
eral Casey, our division commander, was a conspicuous figure
sitting on a large iron-gray horse on the Williamsburg road,
apparently as unconcerned as if it were an ordinary field day.
In this direction the country was open a short distance, but
on our right and rear all movements were obscured by bushes
and timber. The din of battle from the constant firing of can-
non and smaii arms was almost deafening. When the regiment
fell back a number of our wounded men were left on the field,
and some twenty of them were found the following Monday
morning in a small house to the left of our last line of battle.
They had crawled or had been carried there by some of their
'C5omrades.
Chaplain Gries rendered valuable assistance to the wounded,
our medical officers both being absent. He remained at the
camp, and dressed the wounds of the men, as he had paid some
attention to the healing art, he was not entirely without ex-
THE BATTLE OF EAIR OAKS 343
perience. He saved many men from falling- into the enemy's
hands. Seizing three ambulances he loaded them with the
wounded, including his own brother, and sent them to Savage
station, a mile in the rear of the battlefield. There he took
possession of the kitchen and out-buildings, also the barn and
carriage house, which he filled with wounded as fast as they
arrived. The cows were turned out of their stables, which
were cleansed and bedded with cornfodder. There, many
wounded spent the night and the Chaplain was occupied until
nearly midnight dressing the wounds. Many of the wounded,
however, lay in the rain all night, several dying before morning.
When the regiment fell back from the first line to the second
it was by squads and single files, and, in doing so, we lost
several officers and men. Lieut. McDowell was killed at that
time. He was shot dead while talking to Captain Pickering,
fell on his face and was left lying there. He was stripped by
the enemy. Captains Corcoran and Swartzlander and Lieuten-
ants Hendrie and Ashenfelter were wounded on the second line.
Ashenfelter had a little adventure in getting to the rear that was
not down on the bills. He was shot in the ankle and taken to
a cabin in the woods, where he spent the night. There he
was joined by a couple of young surgeons, who, supposing him
to be asleep, were overheard talking about cutting off his
foot, one of them remarking that it would be a "nice operation".
The Lieutenant now let himself be heard, saying, as he would
have to be a party to the operation, his consent would have
to be obtained, wdiich could not be had while his sword
w^as able to do duty. This closed the professional aspirations
of these young sawbones in that direction. Lieut. Ashenfelter
died of that wound many years after. It might have been
better for him had these young doctors taken the case in hand.
I was on foot, as my horses had been sent to the rear when
the battle opened, and, as we had to fall back through the
slashing, my movement was difficult. I wore a pair of Mex-
ican spurs, with long rowels which caught in the faggots at
almost every step, and, at times I could hardly keep my feet.
I walked into a battery just unlimbered and on the point of
firing, and had to ask them to hold their fire until I could
344 TH£; BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS
get out of their way. When I reached my own camp about
300 yards in the rear of where my regiment had done its
fighting, I found there some fifty of my men and a few officers,
and my headquarters cabin was filled with wounded. The men
fit for duty were collected on the left of the 23d Pa. under
Major Ely, but the fire of the enemy soon became so warm,
and being outflanked, we were forced to retire. About sun-
down the regiment, some 150 strong, assembled at the rifle-pits
near the field hospital a mile in the rear of where the battle had
begun. The organization had been tolerably well maintained,
and here the flags were delivered to it. The battle was now
over, the weary lay down to rest and the wounded to die. The
regimental wagons were saved by the quartermaster sending
them to the rear when the firing began, but the camp equipage,
baggage and personal effects of the officers and men fell into
the enemy's hands.
The result of the battle left the regiment in a very forlorn
condition. Both officers and men lost all their clothing ex-
cept what they had on their backs. Every camp utensil was
gone but their tin cups, and in these the men had to do their
cooking until a new supply was obtained. The loss of com-
rades and reaction from the great mental and physical strain had a
very depressing effect, and it required considerable effort to be
cheerful. The depression was aggravated by bad weather. But this
gradually passed oft". On Sunday a few men supposed to be
killed or wounded reported for duty, and the old routine and
discipline were re-established.
There is a humane side to war, despite the blood and car-
nage of battle — a silver lining, as it were — and it is evidence
they do not entirely rob men of their finer feelings. The night
of the battle the enemy occupied my headquarters cabin, and
it was â– filled with his and our wounded. All concur that
they treated our men with kindness. Among the uninvited
guests was General Roger A. Pryor, of Virginia. He assisted
a surgeon in amputating the leg of one of my men on my
handsome Mexican blanket, which was ruined. He treated our
wounded to some fine wines and other liquors our mess re-
ceived just before the call to arms, and the contents of our
THE BATTI^E or" FAIR OAKS 345
well-filled mess-chest, which Captain Gries arranged in the
morning, supplied them with rations until removed on Mon-
day. The enemy carried a number of our wounded to the shade
of an old building nearby and supplied them with crackers
and water. Corporal Solly reported that he was carried off
the field by order of a Confederate colonel.
An occasional incident relieves the harsher features of war.
When the regiment was called to arms, the owner left his pet
coon in camp, securing him by running a sergeant's sword
through a ring in the chair and then into the ground to the
hilt; when the owner returned to claim his property, it was
gone, and never heard of afterward. A pet cat was more for-
tunate ; it, too, was left in camp, but survived the day ; lived
to complete the campaign on its owner's knapsack, and died
in tranquility at Gloucester Point, Va. The regiment had
drawn a ration of whiskey that morning, but it was not issued,
and as one of the cooks was thought to be over-fond of it,
a drummer boy was left in camp to watch it. When the
bullets began whistling unpleasantly near the cook, he thought the
rear was the post of honor, whither he fled at double-quick;
and the drummer followed his example, for a bullet having gone
through the bucket there was no longer any whiskey for him
to watch.
In the forenoon a soldier and a drummer-boy were reported
for fighting, and by way of punishment they were tied to a
tree : but, when the regiment was called to arms, they were
released and sent to their companies. Both went into action
and the soldier was one of the first to be killed. As a rule
the line officers used rifles in action, and some of the drummers
did the same.
Nothing is sadder or more revolting than a battle-field after
the struggle is over ; it shocks every sensibility ; while the fight
is on, with body and mind fully occupied, and the fiercest pas-
sions aroused, there is no time to seriously contemplate the
surroundings ; but after it is all over and the passions have
had time to cool, if one visits such scene of strife and looks
upon the work he has been engaged in, he will then fullv realize
the brutality of war, and what an awful thing a battle really is.
346 THE BATTLU OF FAIR OAKS
The following will give a faint idea of the appearance of a
battle-field and the scenes that meet the eye :
The battle was fought on a Saturday. I did not revisit the
field, but, on Monday morning a detail of two men from each
company was sent there to identify and bury the dead, accom-
panied by several officers, including the Adjutant Chaplain
and Captain Pickering, whose reports reached me. The Adju-
tant says of his visit:
" Never can the recollection of that field be effaced from the memory of
those who visited it on that day. The weather being extremely hot, with fre-
quent showers, the dead had become bloated and swollen, until their clothes
would hardly hold them, the blood still oozing from gaping wounds, the
ground saturated with gore. Flies, in m3-riads, swarmed around; dead horses
with -saddles and bi idles still on; broken guns, remains of camps, with the
food cooked for Saturday's dinner, untouched; the air polluted with stifling
odors from decomposing bodies; wounded men in the agonies of death, all
tended to make the heart sick and the soul shudder at the sight. I visit-
ed the late headquarters of the 104th. Here I found the log hut filled with
wounded and dead soldiers. Some were our own men. The wounded had
been refreshed from the stock of provisions left by the field and staff'. At
the door the bloated carcass of a dead horse still lay, while under our shel-
ter tents were numerous dead rebels."
Chaplain Cries reports :
"Close by the house of Seven Pines I found Staats, of Company F, lying
dead, his brother, who was with me, recognized him; we buried him as de-
cently as possible and then began to look for more. Close by we found a
rebel still groaning, with the maggots swarming in and out of the wound in
his head. In a tent were two dead rebel officers, and outside was a captain
of a Michigan regiment with his name pinned on his breast. In the road
were two Union soldiers, regiment unknown, and a number of miscreant shy-
sters loafing under the shelter of an old barn, and looking on coolly, whilst
wagons were passing over the legs of one of the dead heioes, I dragged the
body out of the way, and directed a stupified Captain, who was looking on,
to put the men at work burying the dead. At the old log hut we found a
sad sight, as well as along the road to it — dead soldiers, Union and rebel,
horses and broken wagons. In the camp of the 23d Pennsylvania lay the
fresh meat issued to them the morning of the battle. In the old hut were
dead and wounded packed close together, some of the living hardly showing
signs of life. We ministered to them and got them off to the rear. We then
struck through the wood toward the line occupied by the regiment in the
battle, searching for the wounded, but found none except of other regiments.
From the Fair Oaks building we started for the regiment. The road was
lined with dead h(jrses, and in the fields were dead rel)els lying in rows like
the winrow work of a reaper. The air was loaded with stench, and the sun
almost overpowering. What with this, and the sights we had seen and the
work we had done, we just managed to drag ourselves back to the rifle pits."
THE BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS 347
Captain Pickering, who accompanied the burial party to the
battle-field, tells the following as his experience :
"Quite a number of ambulances were removing the wounded to the station.
We found several of the rejiinient's wounded and, after seeing them safely
put in to the ambulances, we commenced a search for the dead. We found
the greater number on our first line, and from there to the fence, against
which we made the charge, and from there to the log house on our left.
Lieutenant McDowell lay about fifty yards from the house. It was impos-
sible to recognize many of the dead, the hot sun and rain had so disfigured
their countenances. Many of their faces had swollen up and burst. I hap-
pened to find one man of my company near there, and he and I commenced
to dig a trench for the company's dead. I sent word for a new detail which
arrived about noon, by which time I was ready to bury those belonging to
the company. We then buried all the dead of the 104th we could find. The
names of those we recognized were cut on a board and put at the head of the
grave. While thus engaged, we were within a few yards of the picket lines,
and there was constant skirmishing with the enemy."
The loss of the regiment during the battle is a natural in-
quiry, and I will give it. The night before it had about 500
present for duty. The two companies sent to the picket lines
reduced the number 100, leaving 400 with the colors. Of these
10 officers and r66 enlisted men were killed, or wounded, and
61 captured on the picket line, a loss of over 40 per cent,
of the number engaged.
I have no personal experience to relate outside of that con-
nected with my regiment, nor had I time to attend to anything
else than what was taking place immediately around me. I
was unfortunate enough to be struck twice — by a rifle ball in
the left elbow joint, which made a painful wound, and by a
musket ball on the left breast, but too far spent to break the
skin. Toward evening my wound was dressed by a couple of
surgeons at a field hospital, and that night I was the guest of
Chaplain Cries and slept in a cow stable, the cow being turned
out of her stall, which was bedded with clean straw.
It gives me pleasure to bear testimony to the heroic conduct
of Bucks county's regiment in the great war for the Union.
It honored every draft on its services, nor claimed an hour's
grace. In all the qualities that make good soldiers, discipline,
perfection in drill, respect for superiors, cleanliness, steadiness
under fire, freedom from pillages and manly endurance under
the most trying vicissitudes of war, the men of the 104th had
no superiors. It was an honor to command such a regiment,
and the county was honored in sending it to the field.
An Old Burying-Ground, Grave of Edward Marshall.
BY JOHN S. WILIvIAMS, NEW HOPE, FA.
•(Doylestown Meeting, January 21, 1S96).
A mile and a half west from where the Tinicum creek enters
the Delaware, in Tinicum township, on an elevated hillside
facing- the southeast, is an old burying-ground, known as the
Marshall Graveyard. Local tradition informs us that about
the middle of the last century two young- women of the Mar-
shall family, in a ramble over the country, stopped to enjoy
the beautiful prospect from this hill, when one exclaimed,
"When I die I want to be buried here." One authority says
that before she reached her home a sudden shower came up,
and she was drowned, in trying to cross the Tohickon creek ;
another, that she died of typhoid fever later in the season, but
both ag-ree, that her wishes were respected, and that she was
laid at rest under a cedar tree in the present enclosure. This
tree was struck by lightning a few years since, but the stump
still remains. Local authorities place the time at which this
occurred somewhere near 1760. The grave, so far as I can
learn, is not marked, except by the location of the cedar stump.
The gravestone bearing the oldest date and the one which
gives to this little yard its greatest historic interest is that of
Edward Marshall, of the great Indian Walk. It is marked by
a marble slab rising nearly four feet above the ground, and bears
this inscription :
"In Memory of Edward Marshall, Sen.,
who died Nov. 7, 1789. Aged 79 years.
Unveil thy bosom, faithful tomb !
Take this frail treasure to thy trust
And give these sacred relics room ;
To slumber in thy silent dust."
This tombstone was placed at his grave in 1829, by his rela-
tives, and the inscription is said to have been written by his son.
Thomas. Under what conditions this tract of land was first
used as a burying-ground, seems to be at present unknown.
AN OLD BURYING-GROUND 349
The deed, by which it is now held, is dated March 22, 1822, and,
was made by Bernard Hillpot and Barbara, his wife, to Wil-
ham Ridg-e and Wilham Marshall, of Pennsylvania, and Thomas
Marshall, of New Jersey. It conveys 127 perches of land and
was placed on record May 2, 1894, by Dr. A. M. Cooper, of
Point Pleasant. The graveyard proper contains probably 100
perches of land, the remaining 27 being outside the enclosure,
shaded by cedar trees, and having posts for tying horses, and
also includes a lane running across a neighboring farm to the
public road.
The property was originally a part of the Streeper tract ; the
wall enclosing it was erected by Rebecca Kean in 185 1 ; the shin-
gle roof which formerly covered it having given way, Dr. A.
M. Cooper in 1892 caused the wall to be repaired, raising it
slightly and covering it with a substantial coping of Point Pleas-
ant stone, neatly dressed.
The grounds are in excellent condition. Many of the grave-
stones are of modern design, and were it not for the numerous
old graves marked with the native stones and presumably des-
ignating the resting places of those who were laid away a cen-
tury or more ago, it w^ould be difficult to imagine that this spot
had been used 150 years for its present purpose.
The position of the graves gives the yard an unusual ap-
pearance. The enclosure faces the southeast, with the end walls
following the same direction, while the graves all range east
and west, with the feet to the east, and are therefore placed
diagonally across the graveyard and not parallel with the walls.
y\side from the Marshalls, who are quite numerously repre-
sented, many other names are recorded on the tablets. The
Ridges probably come next in number ; they are direct descend-
ants of Edward Marshall. The Coopers are also quite numerous ;
they are descended from Samuel Cooper, who married Grace
Ridge, and at least three, probably more, generations of them are
buried here. In looking over a chart of the Cooper family
owned by Dr. A. M. Cooper, the name of J. Kenimore Cooper
appears in the third generation from Samuel above named ; this
seems to verify the truth of the claim made by the Coopers of
Solebury, who have from time to. time been brought to this
350 AN OLD BURYING-GROUND
old yard to be buried, that they were related to the great novelist.
Of other marked graves are the Mclntyres, Watsons, Mc-
Dongals, Otts, Myers and Woods, but history fails to inform
us of the much larger portion of burials whose graves are marked
with unlettered native stones.
Unsuccessful efforts have been made at times to make these
graves give up their secrets, but the years and the earth have
combined successfully to thwart both friend and historian. The
grounds are carefully kept and leave only pleasant impressions,
and the thought occurred that too much commendation could not
be given to the generous hands and loving hearts which had
cared for and protected this old graveyard- from the desolation
which too often marks the private resting-places of the dead.
Most of the surroundings of this notable spot take their col-
oring from the historic name of Marshall, the great walker, and
his immediate descendants. Warrants were granted to Edward
Marshall and his brothers, William and Moses, in 1733, for
three tracts of land "above the Tohickon creek," commencing at
the river and extending up the Tinicum creek ; these lands we
are told by Buck, the historian, were surveyed by Nicholas
Scull, Deputy Surveyor General, on ]\Iay 9, 1738, the last of the
three tracts, which was deeded to Moses Marshall, reaching to
and embracing the present Marshall graveyard.
Application was made in 1738 in the Court of Quarter Ses-
sions of Bucks county asking for the organization of a new town-
ship to be called Tennicunk, "on lands adjacent to Plumstead,"
signed by numerous residents, including the three Marshall broth-
ers. Tennicunk means in Indian parlance a "Wooded Island,"
and was probably applied to Marshalls Island, in the Delaware,
opposite the mouth of Tinicum creek, which was willed to Edward
Marshall by his brother William in 1757, and was his home from
that date, (with the exception of short intervals,) until his death,
which occurred there in 1789. His funeral took place from a
house just below the Tinicum creek, which Buck says was still
standing in 1873 ; but which Gen. Davis in his history concludes
stood on the site of the present stone house, while Dr. Cooper
thinks the frame house adjoining, must have been the one, as
he can recollect when the present stone house was built. We
AN OLD BURYING-GROUND 35I
can therefore safely conclude that it was an old house near that
spot from which he was carried to his "faithful tomb" in the old
burying-ground. It is not, however, the purpose of this paper
to dwell on the life of Marshall, as that has received careful
and conscientious study, the results of which have enriched Gen.
Davis' history of Bucks county, and Buck's story of the great-
walk.
As Edward Marshall was the father of twenty-one children,
many of whom married and settled in this vicinity, doubtless
from the vantage ground of the old graveyard the eye rests on
the former homes of some of them ; the names of Ridge, Kean,
Pursel, Weisel and Mclntyre, borne by the married daughters,
their children and grandchildren, are still prominent in the town-
ship. I am informed that the family name of Marshall is not
known in the neighborhood as belonging to any of his descend-
ants.
The present William A. Ridge, living on the banks of the
Delaware above Point Pleasant, a great-grandson of Edward
Marshall, is the possessor of the old rifle which he owned and
probably the one with which he shot a "thousand deer or more
and Indians unnumbered," for after the murder of Marshall's
first wife by the Indians, he and they were sworn enemies, and
if history is correct his aim was seldom at fault. Many tradi-
tions of his encounters and methods, have come down through
the years, one of which, especially interesting, is that he used
a noiseless powder, which gave him a great advantage over his
swarthy enemies.
Without being associated with the subject of this paper, I
desire to invite attention to an old land mark, worthy of notice,
on the river road where Smithtown used to stand. It is the
remains of an old foundry and factory where Joseph Smith
made the first cast-iron mould-board that Pennsylvania produced.
He is also said to have introduced in these shops the first an-
thracite used for blacksmithing purposes in Bucks county.
Smithtown was not long-lived, nor very successful, but the intro-
duction of the Smith plow was an important event ; it was prob-
ably the best plow used in the first half of the century. The
business of manufacturing plows was continued by Mahlon
352 AN OLD BURYING-GROUND
Smith for a long time. The plow had a long mould-board which
was thought to be too heavy to handle, but it did its work well ;
it finally gave way to the Miles, Wiggins and Deats plows,
which were lighter in weight ; since the introduction of plows
made of heavy steel castings, much the shape of those manu-
factured at Smithtown, farmers have learned that heavy weight
does not always mean heavy draught. The thought occurred
while riding past the site of the old town, whether it would not
be well for the Bucks County Historical Society to place a tab-
let on the rocks above these crumbling ruins to mark the spot
where a new and great industry was projected in our county
by its energetic citizens. Would it not be well, more often, to
memorize the triumphs of our people who have been leaders
in the peaceful revolutions of the past, whether they be in the
line of mental, moral, mechanical or scientific achievement.
In a parting glance from the old burying-ground we could not
fail to be impressed with the beauty of the landscape which
had captivated the maiden of a century and a half ago ; to the
east lie the hills which wall in the noble Delaware on its seaward
course ; to the south the spire of the old Tinicum church rises
above the neighboring roofs : and far to the Westward are
cultivated farms and comfortable homes, v/hile at one's feet is
the Tinicum creek with its rugged banks and its
" Old road winding, as old roads will,
Here to a ferr)' and there to a mill."
Following the creek on our homeward drive we soon reached the
Tohickon hills, which were haunted in the early times by the
presence of the outlaw Doans, but which have in modern years
reminders of nothing but pleasant memories of picnic days spent
on their rocky summits. A little later we came in view of that
beautiful panorama of river and bridge, and hamlet and hill,
which meets the gaze from the Point Pleasant heights.
Having thus appreciated and enjoyed this Tinicum drive we
could not wonder that even the staid Proprietors desired to
make a good bargain for the "Manor of the Highlands," although
the conscience can hardly be convinced that even these ends
could justify the means said to have been brought to bear in
their acquisition ; nor can we wonder that the aboriginal owners
Till-, ROSS I, \W OI-IICI".
Court-hoii',!.- \aui and Pine htreet, Doylestown, Pa. Built about 1830 by Thomas Ross, and
used by him and his descendants as a law office continuously down to the present time. In 1905
an addition was made, so constructed as not to change the appearance of the old building.;^ At
present (1909) occupied by the law firm of Yerkes, Ross & Ross, the two latter great-grandsons of
judge John Ross.
THp: ROSS RKSIUENCE, DOYI^ESTOWN, PA.
On this site a black-smith shop was erected in 1788, which in 181 1 was enlarged and converted
into a tavern known as the " Indian Queen." The property was purchased May 25, 1824, by Judge
John Ross and converted into a dwelling. The corner shown in the foreground, and the chimney
shown in center are parts of the old black-smith shop. The dwelling was torn down in 1897 to
make way for the new banking-hou.se of the Doylestown National Bank.
JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY 353
looked on with dismay at the phenomenal walk of Marshall,
which must have seemed to them like the gait of Hiawatha, when
" At each stride a mile he Tueasured."
And perhaps we should not blame them if they felt that they
had "sold their birthright for a mess of pottage."
John Ross and the Ross Family.
BY HON. HARM AN YERKES, DOYEESTOWN, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 21, 1S96).
One hundred and six years have elapsed since a somewhat
radical change in our Constitution provided that Law Judges
should preside over our county Courts. In that period we have
had twelve President Judges — James Biddle, John D. Coxe,
William Tilgman, Bird Wilson, John Ross, John Fox, Thomas
Burnside, David Krause, Daniel M. Smyser, Henry Chapman,
Henry P. Ross and Richard Watson.
K a people may be judged of their civilization and progress,
by their laws and the faithful execution thereof, then the freemen
of Bucks are entitled to occupy the first rank among their fellows.
No country of the world can boast of a fairer system of laws
than Pennsylvania has possessed, since W^illiam Penn first gave
us his beneficent code, and the records of these men who admin-
istered the law, are excelled by none, for purity, integrity and
fidelity to duty.
It so happens that for the first time in more than a century,
the occupant of the bench finds himself alone and without a
single one of his honored predecessors among the living, to whom
he can turn for counsel and advice in any great emergency ; they
all sleep among our honored dead, revered for the good they did,
and secure in that fame, which purity of life and honorable pub-
lic service, can win.
But the story of their deeds, and of the lives they lived, which
gave them their exalted places in the estimation of their fellow
men, have been but partially told, if told at all. If I, who succeed
them and but too imperfectly discharge the duties of the office
they so honored, can bv a simple narrative of the more prominent
12
354 JOHN ROSS AND THU ROSS FAMILY
events of their lives inspire a single additional spark of gratitude
and honor to their memory, I shall feel amply repaid for the
little labor required of me, and will but discharge a duty I owe
them for the illustrious and worthy example they have left for
their successors to emulate.
In a former paper I referred briefy to James Biddle, John D.
Coxe and William Tilgman, and with some particularity traced
the honorable and exceptionally successful and pure life of
Bird Wilson*.
The first native of Bucks county to hold the office of President
Judge of her Courts since the adoption of the constitution of
1790 was John Ross, appointed January, 1818. At the time of
his appointment he was 48 years of age, seven years the senior
of Bird Wilson, his retiring predecessor, who had occupied the
bench for twelve years, and who was consequently the youngest
Judge who ever sat upon our bench. To form a correct measure
of the capacity of a public man, it is essential to have some
knowledge of his antecedents, his family and its influence, and
of the obstacles and surroundings through which he may have
reached and maintained his place.
On June 8, 1737, John Penn, Thomas Penn and Richard Penn,
by their patent conveyed a tract of upwards of 200 acres of
land in Solebury township to Thomas Ross. The ancestors of
this Thomas Ross were Scotch, but they settled in county
Tyrone, Ireland, where Thomas was born in 1708. At the age
of 20 he immigrated to Bucks county, accompanied by his sister
Elizabeth, who afterwards married Thomas Bye. Her descend-
ants are quite numerous.
Thomas Ross took up his abode upon that portion of "Penn's
Manor of Highlands" lying m what is now Solebury township.
The community in which he settled was composed almost ex-
clusively of Friends. Soon after his arrival he requested that he
might join the Wrightstown Meeting, and the record of the
Monthly Meeting held at Buckingham shows that on the Third-
day of First-month, 1730, the meeting, after some solid considera-
tion, condescended to accept him "so far as his life and conversa-
tion shall correspond with the truth he desires to join himself to."
JOHN ROSS AND Tilt ROSS FAMILY 355
In 1 73 1 he and Kesiah Wilkinson twice declared their inten-
tions of marriage before the meeting; they were passed, and
Abraham Chapman and James Harker were appointed a com-
mittee to attend the marriage. At a Monthly Meeting at Wrights -
town Sixth-month 3rd, 1731, the committee reported that the mar-
riage was "decently accomplished." Kesiah Wilkinson was a
daughter of EHsha Wilkinson and sister to Colonel Elisha
Wilkinson, of Buckingham. The record of his testimony before
the Wrightstown Monthly Meeting shows that "Thomas Ross
was born in 1708 in the county of Tyrone in Ireland, descended
of reputable parents, members of the Episcopal church, and
received a religious education. Coming into America about the
twentieth year of his age and settling within the limits of Buck-
ingham Monthly Meeting, he soon afterward became convmced
of th^ principles of truth as professed by the Friends." *
Thomas Ross immediately took an active interest in religious
instruction and became a noted minister of the Society. In 1784
he sailed for Europe on a religious mission in company with a
number of Friends. Rebecca Jones, of Philadelphia, was of the
number. She was a convert from the church of England, and
became a teacher and preacher of the Quaker sect. The record
of her absence on this mission recites : "Granted a certificate by
the Monthly and Select Meeting, 1784, to visit Great Britain.
Embarked at New Castle on board the ship Commerce, Capt.
Thomas Tuxton, commander, 25th of 4th mo., 1784, in company
with my valued friends Thomas Ross, Samuel Emlen and son
Samuel, George and Sarah Dillwyn and Mehitable Jenkins, all
intending for Great Britain."
General Davis in his history relates that the party were anxious
to reach their destination in time for the Yearly ]\Ieeting, but
the Captain said it was impossible. One day, while Mr. Ross
was seated beside Rebecca Jones, he said to her, "Rebecca, canst
thou keep a secret?" She replied that she could, when he added,
"We shall reach England this dav two weeks, in time for the
Yearly Meeting." On the morning of the appointed day one of
the Friends, who was keeping a sharp lookout, saw land. The
Captain admitted that had it not been for the lookout, encouraged
* For an additional account of the life of Thomas Ross, see Vol. I. page 2S3.
356 JOHN ROSS AND THK ROSS FAMILY
by the words of Friend Ross, his vessel would have gone upon
the rocks; no doubt the prophecy was made as a joke or inspired
by a bouyant hope.
Rebecca Jones returned to America in 1788, but Thomas Ross
did not come back with her. He attended the Yearly Meeting
in London, and traveled in Ireland and the north of Scotland,
taking part in many religious meetings. Through a mishap
he broke a limb and was taken sick, and was entertained and
cared for at the house of Lindley Murray, the gramma'-ian,
at Holdgate, near York, in England, where he died Second-month
13th, 1786, in his 78th year. He is buried there, and a modest
stone, erected by a descendant, marks his grave.
The letter of John Pemberton, to the widow, announcing his
death speaks of him in high terms. Among his last words were
"I see no cloud in my way. I die in peace with all men.'' His
grandson, Thomas Ross, of Chester county, wrote a poem of
considerable merit commemorative of his virtues. (See Vol. i,
page 291, et seq.) In his will, dated Fourth-month 12th, 1784,
he speaks of his occupation or trade as that of a "Tailer." His
son Thomas and nephew John Chapman, were appointed execu-
tors. He bequeathed £30 to be appropriated to building a Friends
school-house, probably the same that stood near Wrightstown
meeting-house. His widow, Kesiah, did not long survive him.
She died the following year upon the farm in Solebury, which he
purchased from the Penns in 1737. This was their home as
long as they both lived, throughout a married life of fifty-five
years. Upon it they built a stone house in the year of the pur-
chase, and in 1780 added to it a substantial and commodious
extension, which is still standing. Their children were :
Mary, born First-month, 17th, 1732 — married Thomas Smith
and has numerous descendants.
John — born Eleventh-month, nth, 1734.
Kesiah — born First-month nth, 1736.
Thomas — born Second-month 23d, 1739.
John married Mary Duer, of Solebury, and moved to Philadel-
phia. He had several children. Of these, Joseph moved West;
John was a physician, and Thomas, who married Rachel, daughter
of Daniel Longstreth, of Warminster, was a distinguished law-
JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY 357
yer. He was usually spoken of as "Lawyer Thomas Ross" or
"Lawyer Tom." He settled in West Chester, but had an exten-
sive practice throughout Eastern Pennsylvania. By his first
wife he had a daughter Rachel, born Third-month 23rd, 1782,
died Seventh-month 6th, 1875, who married Richard Maris.
The late George G. Maris, of Buckingham, was a son of this
marriage. Lawyer Thomas Ross' second wife was Mary Thom-
as ; they had several children. The Patience Ross referred to
in the will of Kesiah was probably a daughter of John.
Thomas Ross, the youngest son of the preacher, born in 1739,
was the father of Judge John Ross. He was executor under
the will of his father and purchased from the estate, the Solebury
property, which he conveyed to his son Thomas, referred to as
"the hatter," in 1796, and who with his wife Jane, resided there
until about 1800, when they removed to the county-scat at New-
town, and took up their residence in the house of Aaron Pliillips
on Main street. In 1801 he purchased the house and contin-
ued to reside there for several years, probably until his decease.
It is probable that he acted as Clerk of the Courts, to which
office his son Thomas was appointed in 1801, holding it eight
years. The exact time of his death is not known, but it probably
occurred in 1814-15. Jane, his first wife, died prior to 1814. He-
was twice married, his first wife being a Miss Clark and the second
Jane Chapman. His children were Thomas, John, William,
Cephas, Hugh and Samuel. Of these Thomas and William had
no children. Thomas. John and Hugh all became lawyers and
were prominent.
Thomas, the oldest, born in 1767, studied law and was
admitted to the bar in Easton in 1793. He did not remain in
practice there, but went to the city of New York where he en-
gaged in the business of "hatter," at No. 3, Burling Slip, Queen
street. He returned to Bucks county i)rior to 1800, and purchased
of his father the Penn tract of land in Solebury. He settled
and practiced law in Newtown, but having marital difficulties,
removed to New Hope, his place of residence at the time of his
death. He was a successful man of business, and possessed
superior abilities, which, possibly owing to the unsettling in-
fluences of domestic troubles, were not developed in the law, as
35^ JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY
they might have been. In 1800, aided no doubt by his neighbor
and friend, Samuel D. Ingham, and brother John, then in the
Legislature, he obtained from Governor McKean, the appoint-
ment to the offices of Prothonotary, and Clerk of the Courts of
Bucks county, which he held for eight years. These offices were
the most lucrative positions in the county.
• In 1804, at a meeting of Democratic citizens or Jeffersonians,
held at Wilkinson's, in Buckingham, Thomas Ross, Samuel D.
Ingham and James Milnor were appointed a committee to pre-
pare and issue an address in favor of the re-election of Governor
AIcKean, and against a proposed amendment to the Constitution.
The address is a thorough and able paper, and no doubt contribut-
ed greatly towards the success of the Governor, whose election
was bitterly opposed. The principal reason for opposition, was
that he was a lawyer, which whether valid or not, was true, for
Governor McKean is now regarded as one of the greatest men
of his day ; he was always known to be a great lawyer. Thomas
Ross married Mary Lyons, of Long Island, New York. They
had no children, and after his removal to Newtown, through some
misunderstanding, they entered into articles of separation, and he
changed his residence to New Hope. He died in 1815, while on
a visit to his brother John, in Easton. By his will he left his en-
tire estate to his brother John, including the homestead in Sole-
bury. John devised this farm to his son, the late Thomas Ross,
of Doylestown, who in 1853 conveyed it to Edward Vanzanl.
From the time the first Thomas purchased it of the Penns, it
was in the family continuously, for a period of 116 years.
Hugh Ross studied law with his brother John, at Easton, and
w-as admitted to the bar there in 1801. He practiced law there a
short time, then caiTje back to Newtown, where he practiced a few
years, then went to Trenton and subsequently settled in Milford,
Pike county, Penna., where he built the house still occupied by his
granddaughter, Mrs. VanAukin, and in which he died. He
married Catharine Biddis, of Pike county, and had two children,
Edward and Louisa. Edward graduated at West Point and
was in the Florida war. He was celebrated as a mathematician,
and translated Bourdon's algebra for the use of the West Point
Academy. He sold his translation to Davies, who published it as
JOHN ROSS AND THE) ROSS FAMILY 359
Davies' Bourdon. He was also a professor of mathematics at
Kenyon College, Ohio, and at the time of his death at the Free
Academy, New York City. He was twice married and had sev-
eral children. His descendants are numerous in Ohio ; one of
them married the celebrated Thomas Corwin.
Hugh Ross' daughter Louisa married John Brodhead, and had
a number of children prominent in Pike county. One of his
daughters, still living, married Senator Charles H. VanWyck, of
Nebraska. Another daughter, Maria, married Hon. Daniel Van-
Aukin. Cephas Ross was twice married, first to Mary Bow-
man, second to Mary Biddle, and had nine children. He resided
on the Plumstead farm of his brother John and at New Hope,
where he died in 1840.
Samuel Ross, another brother of Hon. John, and the 3^oungest
child of Thomas and Jane Chapman Ross, born 1779, married in
181 5, Margaret, the daughter of Christian and Mary Helena
Wirtz. They had six children, of whom William Walter, of
Philadelphia, and Margaret Anna, who married James Lefiferts,
yet survive.
Hon. John Ross, son of Thomas, and grandson of the preacher,
was born in Solebury township, Bucks county, February 24, 1770.
Like all the members of his father's family he received a liberal
education. When quite young he started out to make his own
way in the world. He commenced life as a school-teacher at
Durham furnace. Richard Backhouse, a Justice of the Peace
and one of the Justices of the Bucks county court, then owned
and operated th.e furnace. He became impressed with the in-
dustry and ability of the young man, and when Mr. Ross had
decided to go South in pursuit of fortune, persuaded him to
change his mind and remain in Pennsylvania. He suggested to
him that he study law, and offered to assist him during the time
required for reading, and to help him later in obtaining a practice.
Mr. Ross yielded to the suggestion of his friend and entered upon
the study of the law under the instructions of his cousin, Thomas
Ross, of West Chester.
The following incident shows the feeling of gratitude which
the family cherished for Richard Backhouse. One Joseph Lewis,
a somewhat noted stage driver in his day, who drove the coach
360 JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY
between Easton and Philadelphia, was not as provident a man
as he might have been. Sometimes when he go: in straightened
circnmstances he would call upon the late Thomas Ross for as-
sistance. He never went away empty handed. On one occasion,
one of the family asked Mr. Ross why it was that he was al-
ways so lavish in handing out money to Lewis, apparently before
he was asked for it. His only reply was : "Joe Lewis is a grand-
son of Richard P)ackhouse, who aided my father when in need
of help ; but for his generosity I might not have the money to
give. Lewis shall not want as long as I am able to give."
John Ross was admitted to the bar of Bucks county, at New-
town in 1792, and at Easton the same year. After some delibera-
tion it was decided that he should settle in Easton, Northampton
county. More than one reason operated to bring about this
determination. L'ndoubtedly, an important one was the friend-
ship of Richard P)ackhouse, who had large business connections
in Easton, growing out of his management of the Durham iron
works. He was in a position to render a young lawyer much as-
sistance. But a controlling reason was the result of the concep-
tion of an ambitious scheme to acquire an extended and potential
influence throughout the circuits of the first, second and third
judicial districts, not only in the practice of the profession of the
law, but also in directing and controlling the politics of the east-
ern section of the State.
It must be conceded, surely not to their discredit, that the fam-
ily in every generation, have been imbued with a desire for popular
approbation, and an ambition for professional excellence and of-
ficial position. This trait was manifested by the first of the
family here who, long after he had attained the allotted three
score and ten years, left his peaceful home and incurred the dan-
gers of the then difficult ocean voyage that he might visit the
home of his youth, and try the power of his eloquence in sub-
jecting his people to the opinions, to which he had become a
convert in the new world. Again it appeared in the father and
brothers of Judge Ross, who seconded him in activity in the public
issues of the day as it has been show-n in the two generations of
his descendants, who have lived in our own day.
It was told by his son, that when John Ross came to the bar,
JOHN ROSS AND THE; ROSS FAMILY 361
it was thought that with a cousin, Thomas Ross, (then promi-
nent in the Z;ffairs of Chester county, often engaged in the Courts
of Philadelphia county, and constantly riding the circuit through
Chester, Lancaster, Delaware, Bucks, Montgomery and Dauphin,
and a father, brothers and numerous connections in Bucks, who
wielded a wide influence,) John should seek a new field, that the
family power might be extended, and made to command a still
greater control The place of settlement was apparent. The
third judicial district or circuit, consisting of the counties of
Berks, Northampton. Luzerne and Northumberland, embraced all
the territory, except Dauphin county, north of the counties named,
to the New York State line, and lying between the Delaware and
Susquehanna, then practically a wilderness, now ahnost an empire
in wealth and population.
Easton, at the forks of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers, and
within easy communication by means of those highways, with
the more populous regions, was to become the centre of the move-
ments of this family junto. Whether this clever conception was
hatched in the fertile brain of Thomas Ross, of Chester county,
or originated with young John Ross, it was worthy of men of
unusual grasp and ability, and of the widest, if not the wildest,
ambition. As we proceed in the narrative of the life of the man
of whom Henry P. Ross was wont to say. that "no member of the
family approached him in ability," we shall see how this domi-
nant idea of an extended yet centralized family influence became
instilled into the minds of the entire family, and repeatedly con-
trolled the conduct and settled the fate of its members, in every
generation. In this one idea every son of the race was instructed,
and whoever of them failed to devotedly cherish it, was regarded
as recreant to a family tradition and duty.
When John Ross settled in P^aston, his brother Thomas prob-
ably joined him and completed his law studies there. He was
admitted to that bar in 1793, but, it appears, he immediately went
to New York. John was not so deeply immersed in his profes-
sional and ambitious schemes, that he was proof against the
blandishment of the fair sex. In a letter written October, 1793,
to his lately married brother Thomas, with whom he had been
visiting, he declares his purpose "as soon as Court is over" to
362 JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY
turn his attention to "something in the poetical Hne which may
please Mrs. Ross or her sister." The reference to the sister is
significant in connection with the purpose to do something in
the poetical line. Especially is this so when the sentence is in-
jected into the middle of a letter upon the prosaic subject of a
saddle and bridle, and a lame horse. The young man of 23
probably failed heart, as the letter was not sent, but found in
his papers, 103 years after it was written. Miss Lyon appears
to have been supplanted by one, Mary Jenkins, whom he married
a couple of years later.
His selection of Easton for settlement was a wise one. Through
a strong will, limitless ambition, dauntless courage, with possibly
an active quick temper to incite him, Mr. Ross by strict applica-
tion and attention to business, soon obtained a large practice.
At that time one of the most prominent lawyers in the State.
Hon. Samuel Sitgraves, resided in Easton, and towered far above
any member of his profession in that section. He was fresh from
his triumph of convicting John Fries for treason in the United
State Court, in Philadelphia, and had been honored by a seat in
Congress and held the appointment of foreign Ambassador from
President Adams. With an audacity, characteristic of more than
one of his descendants. Mr. Ross sought with avidity, rather than
avoided, forensic conflicts with the great man. His daring brought
him into popular notice and won the admiration of the rough back-
woodsmen from above the mountains, whose confidence and sup-
port he always retained.
In the division into political parties then going on, the Rosses
took the side of the Jefl^ersonians or Democratic-Republicans
against the Adams men or Federalists.
In Bucks, Thomas Ross and his son Thomas, when he re-
turned from New York, joined hands with Samuel D. Ingham,
in support of the Jeffersonians, while in Northampton, John threw
down the gauge of battle to Samuel Sitgraves, the great Federal
leader, and by a skillful use of the popular prejudice, broke his
power forever, for there is no doubt that Mr. Sitgraves' influence
was finally destroyed through the part he took in prosecuting
Fries. There was much sympathy, especially among the Ger-
mans, for PVies in his tax rebellion, and the severity of Mr.
JOHN ROSS AND THE) ROSS FAMILY 363
Adams' administration alienated them from his party. John Ross
profited by this revulsion of feeling. About 1800 he was elected
to the Legislature, and while in this position aided no doubt by
Samuel D. Ingharn, procured the appointment of Prothonotary
and Clerk for his brother, Thomas, in Bucks county.
In 1804 he became a candidate for Congress in the district
comprising the counties of Bucks, Montgomery, Northampton,
Wayne and Luzerne, entitled to three members. At a meeting
of the conferees of all the counties held at Hartzell's tavern,
Nazareth, September 25, 1804, presided over by Isaac Vanhorn,
of Bucks, John Pugh, of Bucks, John Ross, of Northampton, and
Frederick Conrad, of Montgomery, were nominated by the Demo-
cratic-Republicans. The candidates received nearly all the votes
and the nominations were made unanimous. But the action of
the convention was unsatisfactory to a number of citizens of
Northampton county, who were disgruntled over the proposed re-
tirement of the veteran ]X)litician and soldier, General Robert
Brown, the then Congressman, in favor of a young man of 34.
Accordingly on the next day a meeting "of the inhabitants" of
Northampton county was assembled at Easton, and proceeded to
nominate General Brown as an independent candidate. Their
resolutions declared that they had not been well used by the de-
cision of the conferees so far as respects John Ross, for the fol-
lowing reasons :
1. The Northampton conferees were appointed by twenty-seven
persons, principally from one township.
2. John Ross, when a member of the Legislature of the State,
advocated anti-Republican principles, and more particularly in
conjunction with the Federalists, opposed the amendments to the
Constitution of the United States.
3. That General Brown, who has served heretofore in Congress
with fidelity : who in the year 1776 labored with his own hands to
])rocure sustenance for his fellow prisoners ; who borrowed money
at a large discount to alleviate their distress ; and who has unceas-
ingly and unremittingly endeavored to promote the prosperity of
the Union, is still entitled to our warmest confidence. That we will
use all proper and decent means to support the re-election of said
Robert Brown as a member of Congress.
364 JOHN ROSS AND THE; ROSS FAMILY
The Federalists made no nomination and the contest was be-
tween Ross and Brown. The latter was elected. The result
showed, that while the older man held the voters from the older
settled districts, the young advocate had won the affections of
the backwoodsmen of Luzerne and Wayne, where Ross receiv-
ed nearly all the votes and Brown hardly any. The large vote
for Ross in Bucks showed the influence of his connections in that
cpunty. Strange to say, notwithstanding the Easton resolutions
denounced Ross' affiliation with the Federalists, that party, es-
pecially in Montgomery county, threw their vote almost en masse
to General Brown. Such is the inconsistency, shall I say, trickery
and dishonesty, of the so-called popular expression of politics.
Undismayed by his defeat in the first venture in a popular
election, due more, however, to the popularity of General Brown
than to his own demerits, Mr. Ross while devoting himself to his
profession had no idea of abandoning the field of politics. Few
men could count on stronger support, and more promising pros-
pects, for the future. His cousin, Thomas Ross, was still in active
practice and constantly engaged in the Courts of all the south-
eastern counties. In Bucks his father was highly respected, and
his brother was Prothonotary and Clerk in all the Courts, the most
important and lucrative position in the county, and the dockets
show, that he himself was engaged in numerous cases in the
county. At Easton, George Wolf, afterwards Governor, had been
his student, and with other young men was his warm supporter.
Thus circumstanced, Mr. Ross set about strengthening his power.
After his defeat by General Brown, he and his Bucks county rela-
tives formed an alliance with Samuel D. Ingham, and became
the leaders of the AIcKean men. The understanding then entered
into with Ingham, lasted to their mutual advantage for nearly
twenty years, when causes of which I shall speak later caused
their paths to diverge.
In 1808 Mr. Ross again became a candidate for Congress and
was successful. At the expiration of his term he was appointed
Prothonotary of Northampton county. In those days the county
officers were not prohibited from practicing law, and owing to the
particularity required in proceedings, lawyers were frequently
appointed by the Governor to fill these offices. One person often
JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMII^Y 365
held all the offices, which made the appointment very desirable.
Samuel D. Ingham, while in Congress, held the office of Prothono-
tary. Judge James Biddle felt that he was making a sacrifice
when he resigned the Prothonotaryship of Philadelphia to accept
the position of President Judge of Philadelphia, Bucks and Dela-
ware.
In 1814, ]\lr. Ross was again elected to Congress and re-elected
in 1816, but resigned before serving out the term, to accept the
judgeship. On January 25, 1818, he was appointed by Governor
Findley to the office of President Judge of the Seventh Judicial
District, comprising the counties of Bucks, Montgomery, Chester
and Delaware, made vacant by the resignation of Hon. Bird Wil-
son. The office was then held for life.
Samuel D. Ingham, Judge Ross' colleague in Congress, was then
Prothonotary of the county. He resigned his seat in Congress
to become Secretary of the Commonwealth. We find the first
order of the new Judge, published by Mr. Ingham as Prothono-
tary, required that when judgments were entered of record, the
warrants or confessions must be filed of record. It is surprising
that this had not always been required.
After an absence of over a quarter of a century, John Ross re-
turned to the county of his birth. He was in the prime of life
and no doubt felt a satisfaction in coming back to the home of
his ancestors to assume the duties of its most important office.
Twenty-eight years before he had gone hence to win fortune, a
poor and unnoticed school teacher. He had been successful be-
yond ordinary expectation or hope. In the State Legislature, in
Congress, in society, at the bar, and in material wealth he had,
and now, occupied a foremost position. Besides the valuable
property in Bucks county devised by his brother Thomas he had
amassed much valuable real estate in Northampton county. In
Easton he owned a pretentious home, and had acquired a tract of
343 acres of land, in what is now Ross township, Monroe county.
There at the Delaware Water Gap he contemplated establishing-
his family home, and erected, what for that time was considered,
a commodious and handsome house. The spot is a beautiful
one, situated on the divide of the Delaware and Lehigh. To
366 JOHN ROSS AND THE) ROSS FAMILY
the north, the waters flow to the Delaware ; to the south, by the
beautiful Aquanchicola, to the Lehigh,
"The Lehigh to the Delaware flows;
The Delaware to the sea."
In the centre of the domain which he named Ross Common
he set apart the family graveyard still owned by his descendants.
Such preparation is suggestive of family affliction. When he
moved to Doylestown the little graveyard had already received
more than one of its eternal occupants. His brother Thomas
was buried there in 181 5, and other graves were there. His oldest
son, George, a graduate of Princeton, and admitted to the bar in
1818, had become embroiled in a quarrel over a young lady, and
as the result of a duel, was either dead or a wanderer, in either
instance, mourned by his parents as dead. Another son had become
incurably aftiicted as the result of sickness, and unwise medical
treatment. Of all who twenty years before had formed that alli-
ance promising so much, he and Ingham only survived to reap
its fruits. Under these circumstances it was probably a relief to
change his home to the county of his fathers. He occupied the
Ross mansion, soon to be torn down, at Main and Court streets,
which a few years later he purchased of Judge Watts. He was
not unknown to the district, when he assumed office, over which
he was to preside. The following contemporary account of him,
published in the West Chester Village Record, is no doubt an
impartial description of him, as a lawyer, and is well worth re-
production as fairly describing at least two of his grandsons,
known to us :
"It is announced in the ofiicial paper at Harrisburg, that John Ross, Esq.,
member of Congress from the district composed of Northampton, Bucks,
Wayne and Pike counties, is appointed President Judge of the district com-
posed of the counties of Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Bucks. There
are, withovit doubt many gentlemen within the district, of both political part-
ies, well qualified to fill the ofifice, numerous as are the requisites and great
as are the responsibilities. Put the usage has recently obtained, in appoint
ing Presidents of court to select gentlemen out of districts; and for this satis-
factory reason, that a lawyer who was in full practice would be called upon
for years, to decide upon causes in which he had l)een interested as counsel;
or frequently to leave the bench.
If then, no disrespect has been shown to the district, the only remaining
question is, whether the person selected is qualified for the station. Mr. Ross
is a man of active mind and decided character, and has entered with zeal in-
JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY 367
to the political contests of the day. If he has been the favorite of Northamp-
ton county, which has for years been the stronghold of Democratic prin-
ciples, I need not say, that in politics we widely differ. Under the present
feelings or excitement perhaps it could not have been expected that Mr.
Findley would select a judge from the ranks of his opponents, but it is hoped
that he will exercise, at least, as much liberality as his predecessor, and not
make, injudicial appointments, a devotion to particular political tenets, an
indispensable requisite to promotion.
Mr. Ross has been, for the last fifteen years, in active practice in North-
ampton and the neighboring counties. In commencing business he found
Mr. Sitgraves at the head of the Bar in that district— as he would have been
from his talents in any other in the Union. Instead of being depressed, by
the high standing and attainments of this gentleman, whom he must meet
or shun, they awakened the ardent spirit of Mr. Ross to the highest exertions
of honorable emulation. Almost always engaged in opposition, it was for many
years an interesting struggle of the one to maintain in exclusive honor the
heights so fairly gained, and of the other, at least, to share the enviable eleva-
tion. This conflict naturally led to study, accuracy in proceeding, vigilance
to defend from attack, and alertness to see and seize upon the weak points of
his adversary's argument or cause. Mr. Ross is, therefore, a learned and an
able lawyer. As an advocate he neither aims at pathos, nor goes out of his way
to round a period, but he always opens his cause in a clear manner, preserves the
strong points lucidlj' to view, and enforces his arguments always with per-
spicuity, often with eloquence. In mentioning the politics of Mr. Ross I
mean only to gratify the natural curiosity of my readers who, when a new
officer is appointed wish to know "all about him" and not to intimate that
his politics will influence him on the Bench. Quite otherwise. There, I am
confident in saying he will be known neither as a Federalist nor Democrat,
but an Independent Judge, doing his duty without fear, favor or affection."'
I have now reached a period in the career of my subject,
when a just narration of the Hfe of Judge Ross involves largely
the political history of the county, and the relations thereto of one
or two of his successors on the Bench.
It was the beginning, in this county, of the era of personal
politics and personal journalism. It is not an agreeable under-
taking to delve into the history of that time, and by the cold, un-
prejudiced light of time read the discreditable and often vulgar
personalities of the local press. For a period of 75 years, with
a few honorable exceptions, it has been the misfortune, not to
say disgrace, of our county, that the editors of our newspapers,
many of them strangers, abiding here but a short time, mistaking
the mission of true journalism, have substituted, for the advocacy
of principles and the publication of ideas, personal abuse and
vilification. They have systematically chilled and warped the
368 JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY
local patriotism of our people, by belittling the public services,
and attacking the characters of our prominent men, preferring not
to encourage local pride and admiration by bestowing just praise,
where worthily earned.
When one goes over the old files of the newspapers of our
county and reads the unjust and nauseating abuse of Samuel
D. Ingham, the Chapmans, the Pughs, the Rosses, Fox, McDowell
and others, without whom our county would indeed be meagre of
honorable mention, involuntarily the question arises, is it possible
that a fair-minded, and disinterested people, who knew the worth
of these men, and honored them, would tolerate their discredit,
by supporting such degrading journalism.
But succeeding generations have been more liberal and time
evens up all things. Now when these men are remembered only
with honor, the slander and those who invented it, pollute one
common grave of oblivion. Who remembers the names even of
the vilifiers of fifty years ago who thus prostituted their oppor-
tunities. They were not of us in fact, and are not of us in
history. Yet when we reflect that but for these harpies, Samuel
D. Ingham would not have been driven away to die out of the
county he so long honored ; John Ross, in his old age and sickness
would not have been hounded to his grave ; the belligerence and
bitterness of John Fox, and the reserve of Henry Chapman in
public, would never have appeared to conceal the affectionate
devotion of the one, and the kindness and affability of the other,
to family and friends ; and when we recall the anguish and bit-
ter tears of their dear ones, no doubt often endured in silence,
we cannot but despise the despicable natures of those who with
the opportunity of reaching the uninformed, so abused a sacred
privilege.
John Ross was commissioned as President Judge of the Vllth
District, January 13, 1818. The District comprised the four coun-
ties lying around Philadelphia and in importances was second in
the State.
An Act, passed March, 1821, and taking effect the succeeding
June, detached the counties of Chester and Delaware and erected
them into the XVth Judicial District. Thenceforth the Vllth
District comprised the counties of Bucks and Montgomery, until
JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY 369
by direction of the Constitution of 1874, they were separated.
When Judge Ross came to the District he selected Jenkintown as
his residence. His mother-in-law, Mrs. Jenkins, resided there,
and no doubt it was Mrs. Ross' wish to return to the home of her
birth. From that place the four county seats at Doylestown,
Norristown, West Chester and Media were reasonably easy of
access, over good stage roads.
After the division of the District, it seemed advisable that the
Judge should reside in one of the county towns. Accordingly in
1824 he bought of Associate Judge William Watts the lot, tavern-
stand, and other buildings in Doylestown, where the new Nation-
al Bank building stands and a part of which is still the property
of his descendants.
He converted the tavern-stand into a family residence, where he
lived continuously until his appointment to the Supreme Court.
After that he found Jenkintown more convenient to the court-
house in Philadelphia, and consequently spent the greater part
of his vacations there with Mrs. Ross, who, owing to the con-
dition of the health of her son John, found it necessary for the
safety of other members of the family, to remove him to the
quietude of that place.
Judge Ross' service as a Common Pleas Judge was marked by
energy, ability and learning in the law.
The Pennsylvania Correspondent in speaking of his first ap-
pearance upon the bench said that "his desire to preserve order
in the court, to enft)rce its decisions and to further the administra-
tion of justice, created a very favorable impression on the minds
of the bar, the jurors and spectators." It is worthy of note that
his first case, and probably the only one of the kind in his long
service, was that of one Thomas Leonard for the very unusual of-
fense of eaves-dropping. His sneaking propensity cost Thomas
$20 fine and costs. The time allotted to this paper will admit
of only a brief reference to incidents in Judge Ross" judicial ex-
perience.
He found awaiting him for trial in Delaware county a case of
great interest, that of John H. Craig, for murder. Craig held a
grudge against Edward Hunter, Esq., of Newtown township.
Delaware countv, who had written the will of his father-in-law.
370 JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY
The case was called for trial at Media, Tuesday, April 14, 1818,
and occupied until midnight the following Saturday. It was hotly
contested on both sides. One of Craig's lawyers was Edward
Tilgman, one of the great lawyers of his day and cousin to
the Chief Justice. The trial resulted in a verdict of murder in
the first degree. No complaint was made of the manner of the
trial, and the prisoner was immediately sentenced. The scene is
described as very pathetic, and Judge Ross' bearing throughout
this most distressing ordeal, was highly commended.
It appears that notwithstanding the "era of good feeling" in
politics, the people were, as they are now, suffering from the stress
of hard times. Early in his term, Judge Ross, in a charge to
the Grand Jury of Montgomery county, gave his ideas of the way
to work out an improvement. He likened the demands for a
new tarifif, public improvements, etc., to the fable of the man who
called upon Hercules to raise his wagon from the ditch, instead
of putting his own shoulder to the wheel, and applied the fable
by saying:
" We must help ourselves, and if that will not answer, then we may cry
for Hercules to assist us. We are too fond of showing out in our families,
and in this way we exceed our incomes. Our daughters must be dressed
off in their silks and crapes instead of their linsey-woolsey. When you can
induce your sons to prefer young women for their real worth, rather than
their show ; when you can get them to choose a wife who can make a good
loaf of bread and a good pound of butter, in preference to a girl who does
nothing but dance about in her silks and laces, then, gentlemen, you may
expect to see a change for the better ; we must get back to the good old
simplicity of former times if we expect to see more prosperous days."
Whether this homily was an appropriate suggestion to the
"good men and true" of the county, who can deny, that it has
some application at least, three-quarters of a century later.
One of the most remarkable trials of this county was that
against S. Y. Thornton, Jacob Hellings, Jesse Hellings, John H.
Keys, Thomas Salvadge, Samuel Thatcher and Jacob Thornton
for conspiracy to circulate counterfeit money, which took place
before Judge Ross at August sessions, 1821, amid great ex-
citement, throughout the county.
Mathias Morris, Thomas Kettera, F. B. Shaw and Joseph S.
Pickering appeared for the Commonwealth and J. W. Condy,
Peter A. Brown, John Swift, Abraham Chapman, John Fox and
JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY 37I
Robert Bethel, for the defendants. The trial lasted three weeks
and resulted in the conviction of Keys, Jacob Hellings and S.
Y. Thornton. The charge of Judge Ross which was very clear
and concise and contains the best definition of conspiracy I have
found in any of the books, occupied less than a half-hour.
I have heard the older lawyers say that one of the defendants
cunningly arranged with a Doylestown hotel-keeper to put him
in the same bed with one of the jurors, and that at night after
the lawyers had had their say, he argued his own case with the
single juryman so effectively, as to secure his own acquittal.
In 1828, a number of colored people were tried for riot in the
x\frican Episcopal Church, at Attleboro. The trial consumed
a week, and involved some nice cjuestions of law. There was
much interest manifested in the case. Who knows anything
about the difficulty, or of that church ?
Then as now the labors of the Court and officers were occa-
sionally lightened by some diverting incident or interesting point
of law.
At ]\Iay term, 1820, Joshua G. Walker was sentenced to ten
yeais at labor, and politely thanked the Court for their moder-
ation. He probably expected to be hanged. In the case of one
Bailey a motion was made to arrest the judgment because of a
defective indictment. Associate Judge Long was absent and
Judge Watts surprised the President by disagreeing with him
on the question of law, and insisting that the indictment was
good; this rendered the defendant liable to punishment. The
President, however, carried his point by positively refusing to
pass sentence.
In the case of Closson vs. Bye the Supreme Court reversed
the judgment, because the jury had not followed the instructions
of the Court, thereupon a juryman wrote to a newspaper indig-
nantly inquiring whether "the noses of men are of wax to be
twisted into shape by the courts." In the opinion of some, the
question remains unanswered to this day.
The court which met February, 1830, was an easy one, for
it was reported that "Nothing was done at court : notody in
jail, but one bill for assault and battery sent to the grand jury
372 JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY
and ignored and costs imposed on the prosecutor. The trial
list was called for the next week and no cases for trial."
The following incident, no doubt embellished by the reporter,
it was insinuated, took place before Judges Ross, Long and Watts.
It must be borne in mind that the bonnets worn by ladies at that
period, were described to be as large as parasols.
An old lady witness was called to the stand, which in those
days was located directly in front of the bench.
The following interchange of compliments took place:
Judge — Take off yoiir bonnet, madam.
Lady — I will not, sir.
Judge — I desire you to put off your bonnet.
Lady — I am informed that in public assemblies the woman should cover
the head and, of course, I will not take off my bonnet.
Judge — Why! you are a pretty woman, indeed. I think you had better
come and take a seat on the Bench.
Lady — I thank you kindly, sir, but I really think there are old women
enough there already.
Of course she did not take off her bonnet; her hair had not
been arranged with that expectation.
I am indebted to the late William Thompson for the following
story :
Mr. H. was a man of settled opinions, one of which was a
decided aversion against forms in procedure. As constable of
Doylestown township, by his vigorous efforts at repression of
offences, he had won the favor of the Court and was appointed
court-crier. When he opened his first court he omitted the
conclusion to the proclamation. The judge, with a show of
severity, called his attention to the neglect of duty, and instructed
him, that in the future, the proclamation must conclude with
the words "God save the Commonwealth and this Honorable
Court."
When the time arrived to adjourn the court, he lustily cried
out the conclusion, "God save the Commonwealth," then broke
for the side door and, as he passed out, muttered audibly, "And
may the d 1 take your old court."
Because of his worth and well-known peculiarities he was not
called back for punishment and the late John D. James became
the court-crier.
JOHN ROSS AND THE; ROSS FAMILY 373
I will now turn to some political incidents. We have seen
how beneficial the alliance between Ingham and Ross was to
both, while each remained the ruling power in his respective
locality. It is easy to discern in the tone of the press of the day
that the removal of Judge Ross, to Mr. Ingham's bailiwick,
was regarded with suspicion, and even jealousy, as likely to
weaken by a division of influence, the undisputed power of the
great local magnate. There was also a hope for this result,
for, as usual, there were those, smarting under the sting of neg-
lected recognition, who looked upon the coming among them of
one whose reputation and political influence made him the rival
of j\Ir. Ingham in the public eye, as affording an opportunity to
break the power of the latter. The Intelligencer, representing
the opposition to Mr. Ingham, in a period when party lines had
become almost obliterated, encouraged the idea that Judge Ross'
influence should be asserted in the interest of his own friends.
Had ]\Ir. Ingham, cool and careful politician as he was, been
constantly upon the ground, a rupture might have been avoided.
But in John Quincy Adams and others at Washington he was
now finding foemen worthy of his steel and must of necessity
leave his home afifairs to his friends. The irritating course of
the Intelligencer and its friends in holding Judge Ross up as the
great man, excited the hot headed followers of ]\Ir. Ingham,
among whom were John Fox, Charles H. Mathews, William T.
Rogers and Mannassah H. Snyder, so that they in turn cast
imprudent, and sometimes personal reflections, upon Judge Ross
and his friends ; two stars of the same magnitude, revolving in
the same circle, with so much electricity in the air, inevitably
must collide.
For some years Judge Ross avoided the contest by taking up
his residence in the obscure village of Jenkintown. But un-
fortunately for his peace of mind and for the uninterrupted
perpetuation of the power of Mr. Ingham the division of his
judicial district, largely due to Mr. Ingham himself, rendered
it more convenient that the Judge should locate his residence
at the seat of justice of one of the two counties. Naturally
Judge Ross selected his native county for his residence. The
embers of jealousy and war smouldered until an issue of battle
worthy of the parties arose.
374 JOHN ROSS AND THE) ROSS FAMILY
The approach of the great Presidential and Gubernatorial con-
tests of 1828 found the now recognized rivals preparing for the
fray, which was to determine who should prevail with the new
Administrations, State and National.
The Ross men were early in the field to show their devotion
to Jackson. On the morning of Thursday, August 20, 1828, a
large hickory pole was brought into the village, and with great
labor, and industry, a portion of the Jackson men raised it in
the afternoon, on a corner of Judge Ross' lot, and as was said
by an opponent "immediate]}- in front of his door," where
the monument now stands.
It was said that a large portion of the Jackson men openly
disapproved of the measure and refused to assist in raising the
pole, "because they knew such would bring their cause mto
disrepute and lead to riot and disturbance."
From these assertions, we may infer, that the other faction
did not relish this move to curry favor with the rising star of
the Southwest. During the following night the anti-Jackson
men gathered alx)ut the pole with intent to cut it down.
Their movements were overheard by some neighbors ; the alarm
was given and much disturbance ensued. Mrs. Judge Ross,
like a Spartan matron, loyal to her husband and his friends,
jumped from her bed, and without consulting the manner of
her going, rushed to the scene of conflict, planted herself at the
base of the oft'ending pole, threw her arms about it and defied
the vandals to do their worst. Although there was threatened
riot, there is no way to overcome the will of a woman, and the
emblem of loyalty to Old Hickory was saved temporarily, for
afterwards the rascals succeeded in cutting down the pole by
stealth. Thereafter, inspired by the bravery of Mrs. Ross, the
Democrats, each succeeding Presidential campaign, gallantly
planted a hickory pole upon the consecrated spot. James M.
Wilkinson and the late Philip Fretz were the leading spirits
in planting the last one there in the 6o's.
At the succeeding election Jackson was elected President and
George Wolf, of Northampton county. Governor of the State.
Both the Ingham and the Ross men had supported the successful
candidates, but they reaped divided benefits. Ingham, being
JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMII^Y 375
at Washington and near President Jackson, held the advantage
with the President and was appointed Secretary of the Treasury.
This triumph, owing to the unfortunate Eaton affair, turned to
ashes in his hands and embittered the balance of his life.
Governor Wolf had studied law with Judge Ross at Easton,
and while the Ingham men worked hard for the fruits of victor v
within his gift, the Ross men easily exercised a controlling in-
fluence with the Governor.
Judge Ross obtained marked recognition from the Executive
of the State. Yet the opposition deftly used the Democrat to
arouse distrust between the Governor and his old preceptor.
They alleged that Ross was angry at the Governor through dis-
appointment in not being chosen Secretary of the Common-
wealth instead of Samuel McKean, and therefore he had gone
over to the anti-Masons so as to weaken the Governor.
The contest thus invited, was not avoided. Judge Ross, as
if to convince the wavering of his influence with the Governor,
secured for himself, July, 1829, the appointment of Commis-
sioner for Pennsylvania, to treat with New Jersey for the
use of the waters of the Delaware river, a very imix)rtant of-
fice, the duties of which were ably discharged, as shown by the
report filed the following December. One of the immediate
results of this Commission was the construction within the next
three years of the extensive system of canals, waterways, and
powers along and connected with the Delaware.
This exhibition of power with the Governor, was almost
simultaneous with a more formidable display of strength, which
was intended to handicap Air. Ingham in his own field of ad-
vancing greatness.
Samuel A. Smith, of Bucks county, and General Peter Ihrie,
Jr., Judge Ross' son-in-law, were sent to Washington as Con-
gressmen from Air. Ingham's own district, to attack him from
his home, and to weaken him with General Jackson's admin-
istration. With the assurance that his Secretary of the Treas-
ury was in the minority in his own district. General Jackson
found no political reason in the way of selecting that officer as
the point of attack when he began to resent reflections cast
upon the wife of his Secretary of War. General Jackson was
376 JOHN ROSS AND THE; ROSS FAMILY
soldier enough, to concentrate his attack, upon that part of his
enemies' hues which showed the greatest weakness.
That important contest for Congress was settled by North-
ampton county. In Bucks the Fox-Ingham candidate was Lewis
S. Coryell. George Harrison and Samuel A. Smith were also
candidates for nomination. Smith carried the twelve German
districts, representing a majority of the Democratic voters, thus
developing such strength that the opposition treated with Har-
rison, withdrew Coryell in his favor and thereby nominated nim
over Smith. The cry of "bargain and sale to betray the Ger-
mans" was raisetl, and to secure the sympathy of Northampton
county it was charged that Judge Fox, upon taking the stage
coach for Easton on a political errand, had given the word, "any-
thing to beat Ihrie."
A Democratic-Republican convention was called at Jacob
Baker's tavern, in Rockhill township, of which Col. John Matts,
Col. Hager, Harvey Mathias and Capt. David White were the
officers. Thomas Ross, Charles E. DuBois and Major George
R. Grantham were active participants. The convention passed
resolutions denouncing Harrison for betraying his friends to the
"Fox factionists," and attacking N. B. Eldred, of Pike county,
who was the other Ingham candidate, as a New Englander and
an enemy to the Germans. The meeting nominated Smith and
Ihrie.
The contest was as hotly waged in Northampton county. Ihrie
carried the regular conferees there ; who recognized the Smith
convention in Bucks, joined with his conferees, and nominated
Smith and Ihrie. The other faction, by like means, nominated
Harrison and Eldred. Thus, there were two Democratic tickets
in the field. The Adams men did not run any candidate for
Congress. At a convention presided over by Rev. Thomas B.
Montanye, they resolved to leave the Congressional nominations
open and nominated a county ticket only.
Smith and Ihrie were elected by a decided majority. It was
claimed that the old Federalists and Adams men supported Har-
rison and Eldred.
We have seen that by the transfer of Mr. Ingham to Wash-
ington, the leadership devolved upon John Fox, who afterwards
JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY 377
succeeded Judge Ross upon the Bench. A more determined, alert
and loyal leader could not have been found. His chief weak-
ness grew out of his great earnestness, which betrayed him into
courting bitter antagonisms when unnecessary, although he was
naturally of a mild and gentle disposition. While it does not
appear that Mr. Ingham was averse to a contest with Judge Ross,
yet his friends were bitter in accusing the latter, with betraying
his old time friend, colleague, and political ally, when he sent
Congressmen to Washington to oppose the Secretary of the Treas-
ury.
The Ross men made the counter charge that Ingham had not
hesitated to bargain with the Adams men to elect Congressmen
whom he could control. One charge was that Mr. Fox had said
he was for anybody to beat Ihrie. because he "did not like Ihrie's
connection with ojd Judas ; that Ihrie and Ross had joined with
the Federalists to defeat Ingham and that John Ross' eternal
selfishness could not be endured." Fox retorted, by saying,
these charges were untrue, and that Judge Ross had himself
circulated them, as an excuse to oppose Ingham. As usual,
others were drawn into the controversy, Henry Chapman, Albert
Smith, Charles H. Mathews and other young men were referred
to as witnesses to prove statements pro and con.
A new element of bitterness was infused into the contest by
Judge Ross, when he unbottled a vial of wormwood and gall by
antagonizing Francis B. Shaw, who had been a supporter of
Smith and Ihrie, and was Deputy Attorney General, for Mr.
Shaw's cutting tongue was proverbial. The Democrat of Novem-
ber lo, 1829, announced that Thomas Ross, "a stripling of old
Judas, is appointed in place of F. B. Shaw, removed." It then
proceeded to give its opinion of the "Drone" and "that hungry
brood Tommy and Ihrie." These expressions may give some
idea of the conduct of the "elevating press" of that time.
"A citizen" (when does he not write in political contests) wrote
protesting against Thomas Ross acting as Attorney General while
his father was on the Bench, and alleged that Thomas was first
appointed for Northampton county and resigned, that Attorney
General Markley, of Montgomery county, made the appointment
to secure greater influence with Governor Wolf, and worse than
all said John Ross is an "lago."
37^ JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY
The next week a long- screed appeared entitled "A Comedy. A
Way to Office." It described Markley as Attorney General ap-
pointing Thomas Ross with the expectation that the Judge would
resign, and he, Markley, be appointed in his place. The Adams
men and Federalists helped along the discord. The Intelligencer
called the Democrat the "family organ," and sarcastically denomi-
nated Fox, Benizet, the Pughs and Dr. Mathews, "the family."
Personalities were freely bandied, and if we recall that the pure
characters of Judges Ross and Fox were not affected by such
contemptible methods of opposition, and that the personal recti-
tude of all the principal persons thus assailed, easily parried the
foul blows, we must be impressed with the impotence, and folly
of personal journalism, the highest office of which is to hurt the
feelings of the innocent.
Good old Governor Wolf undertook to become the peacemaker
between his turbulent followers, and attempted to conciliate both
sides. He made a sorry mess of it.
In i\pril, 1830, John Todd, a Justice of the Supreme Court,
died; Judges King, of Philadelphia, and Ross were mentioned
for the vacancy. Judge Ross was appointed, and commissioned
April 16; two weeks later his bitter foe, John Fox, was appoint-
ed to the vacancy caused by the promotion.
If, as the result of this manoeuvre. Governor Wolf ex-
pected peace he was woefully mistaken. The Ross men irri-
tated to desperation by the attacks and personalities of the
Democrat had now started an organ of their own, called the
Republican. Without an occupation the paper must die. It
therefore opened a violent attack upon Judge Fox and unmerci-
fully abused Governor Wolf for making an unfit appointment.
A more imprudent act than the attack upon Governor Wolf
by a paper published in the interest of Judge Ross, or his friends,
could not be imagined in the game of politics. Connected with
the denunciation of the Mason's, it brought down on the head of
Judge Ross, a charge, that to one of his disposition, must have
been most humiliating. The fight of the factions was renewed
with the odds on Judge Fox's side ; they remained so, until by a
similar act of imprudence, he alienated his strongest follower,
Henry Chapman, and drove him to become the powerful and
JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY 379
aggressive head and leader of the scattered anti-Fox elements in a
factional warfare, which he ahly conducted for nearly a quarter
of a century.
The selection of John Ross for the Supreme Court was in
every respect a fitting one ; for thirty years he had almost con-
tinuously held positions of the highest trust, and filled them ably
and honestly. The appointment was highly commended every-
where, except, by his factional opponents at home. There is not
recorded, any meeting of the Rucks county bar to show appre-
ciation of the honor conferred on the county. But the Mont-
gomery bar passed resolutions commendatory of the high sense
of integrity and ability, which characterized his judicial career,
and as a manifestation of their esteem for his judicial and per-
sonal character, invited him to a parting dinner at the Washing-
ton tavern. His reply indicates that he availed himself of the
opportunity the invitation oft'ered, to refute the charges which his
enemies had made against him at his home, while he gloried in
his independence of the influence he had opposed. He said :
"If I had ever cowered to any great man, in or out of court, or been
influenced by political management or intrigue; or if I had ever been overaw-
ed, prevented or diverted from the performance of my dut}' by any combina-
tion; or if I had ever failed to lend a hand to the young inexperienced mem-
ber of the Bar, to investigate the merits of his cause, I should not have de-
served and certainly should never have received from the enlightened and
intelligent Bar of Montgomery county, the approbation, they have this day
so politely and handsomely bestowed. My present state of health forbids
my indulging in the pleasure it would otherwise afford me to spend a social
hour over the festive board."
John Ross was in his 6ist year when he became a Justice of
the Supreme Court. His colleagues were Gibson, Rogers, Smith
and Huston, the latter also a native of Bucks county from Plum-
stead township. Later Justice Kennedy took the place of Smith,
who died soon after Judge Ross' appointment. Judge Ross'
opinions are reported in the three volumes of Penrose & Watts'
reports and in 3d and 4th Rawde. They show great research
and legal knowledge, and for crisp, expressive and strong Eng-
lish, compare well with those of the great Chief Justice, with
whom he sat. In Summerville v. Holliday, i Watts 513, his two
page opinion, involving the doctrine of presumptions, was so clear
and convincing, as to satisfy all his colleagues excepting Ken-
nedy, who occupied 17 pages in a fruitless effort to refute it In
380 JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY
Snowden v. Warder, 5 R. 103, he wrote a beautiful tribute to
the common law, anrl his dissenting opinion in McNair's Ap-
peal, 4 R. 160, delivered shortly before his death, was the best
answer that could be made to those who accused him of failing
powers.
But he was not to be permitted to enjoy his final honors in
peace. The warfare which his imprudent friends kept up against
Governor Wolf, Judge Fox and the alleged misdoings of the Ma-
sonic order, found fruit in a most unfair attack upon him in his
high office.
In the Legislature on January 14, 1832, Mr. McKeehan, of
Cumberland county, presented a petition for the removal of John
Ross, on account of mental and bodily infirmity. A committee
was appointed and an investigation ensued.
Of this proceeding the Intelligencer said :
"It is stated that these petitions originated in consecjuence of the unfriend-
ly opinion of the Judge, in respect to Governor Wolf and Masonry. The rea-
sons urged in the petition for his removal cannot now be the true ground of
complaint, for we believe Judge Ross has enjoyed for several months almost
uninterrupted good health, and appears better and stronger than he has done
for several years. In this district he enjoys the esteem of the Bar and his
fellow-citizens very generally, and we should much regret, if we thought he
was to be removed from the Supreme Court, to gratify mere pique and to
make way for a more fortunate political favorite."
William T. Rogers, M. H. Snyder, Wm. H. Powell and others
were subpoenaed to testify against him. The same paper said
its doubts, of the motives which instigated the investigation,
were now strengthened.
"It is somewhat singular that men should have been selected to prove the
fact of imbecility who are the direct personal enemies of the Judge, and with
whom he has had no personal intercourse for years. We know since his
appointment to the Supreme Court and long before they have been kept at
such a distance as to have little opportunity to judge of his mental imbecility
at least."
It then comments upon the circitmstance that those who, like
the family physician, were capable of judging of his physical
and mental condition, w^ere not summoned. It further said, that
he had been in attendance upon the Court continuously for weeks,
and delivered three opinions a few days before, and that the
bar of Philadelphia did not participate in the investigation.
JOHN KOSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY 381
Judge Ross appeared and personally conducted the cross-ex-
amination of the witnesses before the committee, and was assisted
only by the young son of Judge Burnside.
It was said that he displayed much acuteness in cross-examining
witnesses. E. T. McDowell, G. R. Granthem, Samuel Yardley
and several members of the Norristown bar, went to Harrisburg
to testify in his favor, but he was not required to call wit-
nesses in his own behalf. The Committee declined to hear his
side of the case and made a report against the petitioners which
was unanimously adopted. The Intelligencer after the conclusion
said: "Thus terminates this matter which is, in one of the
Harrisburg papers, not inaptly termed a farce. It is worthy
of remark, that not a single paper has editorially spoken favor-
ably of the prosecution against the Judge, except the Doylestown
Democrat, whilst on the contrary, the Village Record, Norristown
Sentinel, Philadelphia Inquirer and others have disapproved in
strong terms of the proceedings."
Sixty-five years after the event, when it is common to see in
our ancestors, virtues greater than we have, the conclusion is
irresistible that a similar proceeding in our generation could not
take place without bringing upon its authors the severest cen-
sure. Political resentment and personal feeling were undoubt-
edly at the bottom of the attack. He had perhaps, been unwise
in permitting his friends to irritate and arouse so formidable
opposition, without disclaiming responsibility. But he could
hardly do this when he sincerely ascribed Masonry as the cause
of Judge Fox's appointment. Judge Fox accused him of being
the instigator of the assaults upon him. but his private letters to
his son, Thomas, do not show a hostile spirit. The objections
to Jurlge Ross' fitness for the Supreme bench ought to have had
more force against his appointment, when made, than after-
wards, when his removal was attempted. When appointed, in
1830, he admitted he was not well, but in 1832 his health had
decidedly improved and he had. about recovered it.
The criticisms passed upon Governor Wolf because of the
appointment of Judge Fox, and the strong anti-Masonic attitude
of both the Rosses, and their denunciation of Governor Wolf
for favoring Masons, accompanied by the resignation of Thomas
382 JOHN' ROSS AND TIIK ROSS FAMILY
J^oss as Deputy Attorney General, were the active causes which
drove a Governor of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
and his friends, to the unfortunate attempt to disgrace and pull
down from his place a Justice of the Supreme Court. Governor
Wolf failed to act the great man in this affair.
Judge Ross was known to be in ill health when he received his
a])j)(>inlment. ( )n occasions, he had been forced to delay con-
vening his court, because of severe attacks of sickness. We have
seen that for the same reason he declined the dinner tendered by
the [Montgomery county bar. In a letter to his family, written
from Lancaster, in 1830, he said:
" I am certainly incoinpelent to attend to any kind of Inisiness— not
sleeping more than one night in three. The weather has been very inju-
rious to me. Wearisome days and nights have been my portion since my
arrival here, yet I have been every day in court — nearly stupid. Judge
Huston has been most of his time at his chambers on account of gout or
R , though undoubtedly much better than myself. I am now, while
writing, unable to connect two ideas, nor can I continue any longer to
write! My head feels giddy."
His son, William, who attended him at Lancaster, wrote to his
mother of his father's sleeplessness, suffering and ill health.
It seems clear, therefore, when Governor Wolf appointed him
Supreme Judge, ill health was not regarded as an obstacle, but
when disagreements arose between them, it became in his judg-
ment, or that of his friends, a disqualification. It was the unani-
mous opinion of thi^se who attended the investigation, that Judge
Ross never displayed greater ability and skill, than in conducting
the last battle of life against his enemies, the most rancorous of
whom were at his own home.
Jacob Kern, Senator from Northampton, who was his warm
friend, wrote that he confounded the witnesses by his sharp cross-
examination, and convinced every person hearing him, that his
mind was far from being in the least impaired, and that the
petitioners were heartily tired of the business. His son, Thomas,
volunteered his assistance. The following impatient reply, Avhich,
in after years, Air. Thomas Ross e'n joyed referring to, was rather
discouraging to the young practitioner :
"Dear Tom : "When I require your advice it will be time
enough to give it to me, and then, and not till then, will it be
acceptable."
JOHN ROSS AND THF, ROSS FAMILY 38.3
The committee summoned as witnesses two members of the
Supreme Court, Gibson and Huston.
Judge Gibson was very fond of playing upon the vioHn. When
presiding at WilHamsport, one Sunday morning, he entered the
bar-room of his hotel and observed a violin lying there, for-
getful that it was the Sabbath, picked it up and drew from it
some exquisite strains of harmony.
A political adversary, who conducted a newspaper, attacked
him for the alleged impious act. Instead of treating the reflection
with indififercnce, and the contempt it deserved, he foolishly wrote
an explanation of the whole affair, excusing himself by alleging
that he had forgotten the day. This, of course, furnished his
unscrupulous opponent another excuse to renew the attack.
David Paul Brown gives this sequel, as occurring during the
investigation into Judge Ross' mental condition. Judge Gibson
gave evidence of peculiarities in Judge Ross, calculated to sup-
port the charges of failing judgment and want of memory. When
turned over for cross-examination the following mortifying and
ludicrous dialogue took place between the Chief Justice and his
associate :
Associate. You say, sir, you consider my memory defective ? Did you
ever know me, on any occasion, to forget the Lord's holy day the Sabbath ?
Chief Justice. I have no such recollection.
Associate. You consider my judgment impaired. Pray, sir, did you ever
know me to be guilty of the weakness and folly of answering a paragraph,
in an obscure country newspaper, charging me with playing the fiddle on
Sunday, and to put my defence against the charge — upon the ground of my
having forgotten the day ?
This, said Mr. Brown, was unanswerable. The associate tri-
umphed and all further proceedings were abandoned.
Judge Huston, through an unfortunate failing of his own, suf-
fered a like discomfiture. Other judges of the court were ready
to testify in his behalf but were not called. Judge Ross' health
was at this time reasonably good, and so continued until his death.
He was permitted to survive the discreditable attempt to remove
him, for two years, which probably were the most peaceful years
of his life after reaching manhood. He died in Philadelphia,
Friday, January 31, 1834. of apoplexy; his death was sudden,
he having been upon the Bench in his usual health the previous
3^4 JOHN ROSS AND THE ROSS FAMILY
day. A meeting of the bar was at once called, with John Sar-
geant, Esq.. as President, and josiah Randall as Secretary, and
resolutions deprecating his death as a great public loss, and of
sympathy with his family, were passed. It was also resolved
that the members of the bar wear crepe upon the left arm for
thirty days.
Judge Ross was buried in his family lot at Ross Common,
Monroe county.
Thus ended the active, useful and somewhat stormy life of
John Ross. His life could not have been active and successful
in those times without being aggressive and turbulent. For 35
years he was almost constantly in public life, in the formative
period of our laws and developing growth. In every direction
a great newborn, free people were expanding under the pressure
of new ideas and systems, the outcome of our experiment of Re-
publican institutions. It was no time for men to devote them-
selves to conventionalities ; stern and exacting duties commanded
all their energies. That John Ross in such a period, starting
without resources, other tlian his brains, worked his way to
the rank of leader, and was successful in fortune, and profession,
without tarnishing his honor, speak the character and worth of
the man. He is fairly entitled to rank with the foremost of the
great men of our county, belonging to a race of our own peo-
ple. In appearance Judg-e Ross was a handsome and imposing
man ; tall, erect and muscular, with an inclination to portliness :
his manners were dignified and to some degree severe.
He was the progenitor of a race of remarkably good lawyers.
His wife Mary Jenkins, whom he married November 19, 1795,
not belonging to the Society of Friends of which he was a
member, he was disowned by that society, and afterwards natu-
rally inclined to the Episcopal church, in which his grandfather,
Thomas Ross, the Quaker preacher, had been reared. Mrs. Ross
was a woman of unusually fine character. She devoted much of
her later life to the exclusive care of her son, John, who when
a small boy, lost his mind through the malpractice of a physi-
cian. After her son Thomas had successfully prosecuted Mina,
the murderer, she wrote a pathetic letter to him in behalf of
Mina deploring his miserable situation, and as a mother, piously
JOHN ROSS AND THE) ROSS I^AMII^Y 385
urged her son to visit the murderer in his cell, and urged him to
administer such consolation to him as was in his power. This
Christian appeal of his mother was obeyed by Mr. Ross, who
saw Mina in his cell and became the messenger of his last
wishes to his friends. It did not, however, make such an im-
pression on Mina, as to discourage him from shaking his fist at
Mr. Ross as he passed his office on the way to his execution. I
mention the incident as illustratins^ the character of Mrs. Ro3.>
in such strong- contrast with the mother, who but sees a son's
triumph and forgets the lesson of his duties.
When in Jenkintown Mrs. Ross resided in a stone house near
the road. It was her thoughtful practice to keep a light burning
in the window through the night to light the way of passing mar-
ket men. I have heard her kindness spoken of by those who
appreciated the welcome beacon light. She died in December,
1845-
They had twelve children, George, Charles J., Lord, Camilla,
Serena, John, Thomas, William, Jesse Jenkins, Adelaide, Albert
and Mary. George, Thomas, William and J. Jenkins, became
lawyers, they were all college graduates. Thomas Avas the only
one who pursued the practice of his profession. He was Deputy
Attorney General and Congressman.
The late Henry P. Ross and George Ross were his children.
John Ross' son, George, was killed in a duel. William became a
teacher, and Jenkins was a man of leisure.
Camilla Ross married General Peter Ihrie, Jr., of Easton ; Ade-
laide married Dr. Samuel R. Dubs ; William married Ruth Ann
Lukens ; Jenkins married Ann Kelly ncc Rae. They all left de-
scendants. John did not marry ; he survived all his father's
family and died at an advanced age, in 1886. The other chil-
dren of Judge Ross died without issue.
Newtown Prior to 1800.
BY J. PEMBERTON HUTCHINSON, NEWTOWN, PA.
(Meeting at Sharon, near Newtown, July 21, 1896.)
Immediately after receiving a charter for the Province of
Pennsylvania from King Charles II, on March 24, 1681, Penn
set about devising plans for establishing not only a large city
in the Province, but also for locating a number of towns therein.
In order to carry out this latter scheme he offered prospective
settlers who would purchase from 5,000 to 10,000 acres together,
and adjacent to some suitable point for a town, to give them
one-tenth of their respective purchases within the limits of the
proposed tov/n-site, or, as he termed it, the "townstead."
Although some settlements were perhaps made at an earlier
date in Wrightstown, the present site of Newtown was probably
the first point after leaving the river near Bristol that was
considered suitable for the founding of one of these proposed
towns. Here was a fine stream, numerous springs and rich land
— considerations not to be overlooked in the settlement of a
new country — and accordingly, on Holmes' map of 1684, made
under the direction of Penn, we find the townstead or new
town laid out and the surrounding land divided among fif-
teen diiferent owners on tracts varying from 200 to 700 acres,
with one tract on the north marked "Governors." The "Town-
stead" was a piece of land about a mile square, with the stream,
now called Newtown creek, running through its entire length
near the middle. Persons taking up the surrounding land were,
by agreement, allowed 10 per cent, of their purchases within
the "townstead" and the remainder in country land adjoining.
The farm west of the town which belonged to the late Alex-
ander German is believed to be very nearly identical with one
of the original 10 per cent, townstead lots. The boundary lines
between the various tracts served at first only to mark laneways
to the back lands. These laneways were extended and have become
the public roads of to-day. So it is more than probable that
quite a number of the public roads leading out of Newtown at
F(.)Rmp:r trkastrv and corxTv (>i-i-]ci:s ai' newtowx, pa.
Built in 1796, abandoned in 1813 when county buildings were erected at Doylestowii,
now ( i909)occupied as office building by Edward S. Hutchinson.
• -- ^^^a^^MfldflRs^ooyVS^^H
1
(J
I
H
â– COURT INN" AT NEWTOWN, PA.
Built in 1733 by Joseph Thornton.
(Photograph.s by J. Peniberton Hutchinson).
NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O 387
this time like the spokes of a wheel, are nearly upon the old
lines of original purchase. The settlement thus made, though
then largely upon paper, would very probably be referred to as
the "new town," and it is thus quite easy to see how the name
of Newtown, spelled with a capital "N," soon came to be en-
grafted upon the first of Penn's towns in the county of Bucks.
THE COMMONS.
In accordance with another provision made by Penn with the
early settlers of Newtown, and in order that all might have an
equal right to the use of the waters of the creek, he reserved
a rectangular piece of land, lying on Ix)th sides of the stream,
extending the entire length of the town, for the common use
alike of all the inhabitants of the village, and this was known ss
the "common land," or "Commons." It was originally surveyed
and laid out by John Cutler, in pursuance of a warrant from the
Commissioners of Property, dated Sixth-month 6th, 1716, and
granted to Shadrack Walley, William Buckman, and John Frost,
trustees on behalf of themselves and the other inhabitants of
said township for the purposes above stated. These trustees all
dying before the title thereto was fully perfected, the commons
remained practically unchanged and unproductive until 1727,
when, on December 20th of that year, an agreement was entered
into by Stephen Twining and nine others, then owners of the land
about the townstead, to have the common land "re-surveyed,
purchased from the Proprietary's Commissioners, and equal-
ly divided among the said landholders as best suited their
lands and the public in general, and to lay out such streets or
ways through the same as would give them all convenient ac-
cess to the w^ater." The tract included in the "Commons" was
bounded on the south by the northerly line of Dr. George T.
Heston's land, and extended northward along the easterly side of
what is now State street to Frost's lane, or "upper" street ; thence
westward to the toll-gate on pike to Wrightstown, and southward
along the westerly side of Sycamore street, called the "other"
street, down by the Presbyterian church to the aforesaid line of
the Heston property. It included State street on the eastern
border and Sycamore on the western border, each 66 feet in
388 NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O
width, and contained 40 acres and 97 square perches. Many of
the present principal business places of the town, with an equal
number of residences, are within its limits. It was again sur-
veyed in 1796 by Isaac Hicks, and in consideration of £79 6s. a
patent from the State was issued by Thomas Mifflin, then Gov-
ernor, to William Buckman, Francis Murray, and others, on July
8, 1796, and after being divided into 55 lots it was exposed to
public sale and sold on August ist of that year. The lots on
Main street from the southerly line as far north as Washington
avenue, except a lot just north of Centre avenue, were sold in
fee simple, while those above Washington avenue, as far north
as Frost lane, and those on Sycamore street, were sold on
ground rent. But few of the lots above Washington avenue
were improved, on many, the ground rents were unpaid, and they
reverted back to the trustees and were re-sold to other parties.
According tp agreement among the inhabitants of the township,
dated April i, 1796, the proceeds of these sales were to be divided
into three equal parts — one-third to go to the benefit of the acad-
emy or free school, then established in Newtown, "which said
academy is to teach gratis all such poor scholars as may offer."
Another one-third to go to the township for the benefit of a
school or schools which were then or may fie subsequently es-
tablished in said township, exclusive of the townstead ; the re-
maining one-third to be for the benefit of the townstead, in
such manner and for such purposes as a majority of said trus-
tees may direct.
This brings the history of the ''Commons" up to 1800, but, in
consequence of the death of all the trustees named in the patent
except one, and the resignation of the trust by this one, further
acts of the Legislature were obtained, incorporating the "Trus-
tees of the Newtown Commons," and fully authorizing them to
carry out the provisions of the original trust. This organization
is in existence at the present time, but has little to do further
than the occasional satisfaction of an old mortgage or the extin-
guishment of a ground rent.
PERMANENT SETTLERS.
The first to make a permanent settlement about Newtown were
Stephen Twining, William Buckman, Thomas Hillborn, Ezra
NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O 389
Croasdale, John Frost, Shadrack Walley and James Yates, all
of whom died between 1716 and 1720, except James Yates, who
died in 1730. This was the James Yates who walked over the
one and a half days' walk of the Indian Walk of 1686. The
papers relating to this were lost, however, and the boundaries
were never settled until 1737, when another James Yates, son of
the above mentioned, accompanied Edward Marshall in the great
Indian Walk of that year. He lived in Newtown, in the old part
of the b.ouse now occupied by Thomas P. Hampton, and became
a member of the Friends' Society ten years before the great walk.
The first patent issued for land about Newtown was to Thom-
as Rowland, for 500 acres, and was dated Fourth-month, 15th.
1685. The land was north and east of the Neshaminy and west of
Newtown creek ; 450 acres were outside of the townstead and 50
acres more were within the "village or townstead," and "one side
thereof was on the street or road of said village," but the village
had no name at the time of Rowland's patent.
Shadrack Walley was the only one of the original purchasers
who ever lived in the New Town, where he married Mary Sharpe,
in 1688, under the care of "Neshaminy (now Middletown)
Monthly ]\Ieeting" of Friends. John Coat, who came from
England in 1686 with a Friends' certificate, on presenting the
same to Neshaminy Monthly Meeting, on Twelfth-month 3d,
1686, g-ave his residence as "New Town," in two words.
James Yates was the first owner of a farm in Newtown who
ever lived on it. His land laid upon the southeasterly side of
the town, about "The First Hollow." He built a mill on the
creek running along the westerly side of his farm, and sold it
to Henry Nelson in 1728. The remains of the old dam belonging
to this mill may still be seen in the creek close to the southerly
line of the commons lots.
PRESBYTI^RIAN CHURCH.
The oldest institution existing in Newtown at the present day
is the Presbyterian Church. It was originally composed of
Scotch-Irish and English Presbyterians. Their first church
building was a wooden structure, and was located about a half
mile west of the town on the land now occupied by the estate of
Alexander German, deceased. The old graveyard attached to
390 NEWTOWN PRIOR Po 180O
the church is still to be seen, and contains a number of quaint
inscriptions on the large marble slabs which mark the final resting
places of prominent members of that day. The first reg'ular pas-
tor was the Rev. Hugh Carlisle, who presided until 1738. He
was succeeded in 1739 by the Rev. Hugh Campbell, \vho,however,
occupied the pulpit but a few months. The church then remained
without any regular pastor until the Rev. Henry ]\Iartin, a grad-
uate of FVinceton, was called in 1752, and he remained in charge
until his death in 17O4. During the next five years the pulpit
was filled b)' various su])])lies. but in 176; the Rev. James Boyd
became the settled minister. The present building, beautifully
located on the ridge at the northwest side of the town, was erec-
ted in I7(">9, on the lot either purchased from or donated by John
Harris in 17^17. The church, as originally built, had the
main entrance on the south side. The pulpit was in the center,
on the north side, and was reached by a high flight of steps. Th'e
pews had high backs, and the floor was of brick. Parson Boyd
was pastor of the church for nearly half a century, during which
period it flourished greatly. He died in charge in 18 14. and a
large marble slab, supported by four stone pillars, marks the
place of his interment in the graveyard of the church.
In the early days of this church it was no unusual thing to
hold lotteries under authority of the State for the erection or
repair of houses for worship, and during the time of the Rev.
Mr. ]\Iartin the Assemblv authorized the holding of a lottery for
the purjiose of raising £400 to repair the old wooden church and
to build or repair the residence of the minister. The following
is a copy of one of the lottery tickets :
NEWTOWN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH LOTTERY, I761.
No. 104. This ticket entitles the bearer to such Prize as may be drawn
against its number if demanded within six months after the drawing is fin-
ished, subject to such deduction as is mentioned in the scheme.
[Signed] Jno. De Normandie.
It was within the walls of the present church that some of
the Hessian prisoners taken by Washington at the Battle of
Trenton spent the first night of their captivity, and a story is
told of an English officer being buried beneath its floor. To
substantiate this, it is said that \vhen digging the foundation for
NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O 39I
one of the gallery posts at the time the old church was remodeled,
human bones and military buttons were unearthed.
LIBRARY.
The only other institution now in Newtown which dates its
organization back in the last century is the "Newtown Library."
While the population of that period was of a very intelligent
class, few families possessed more books than a Bible and perhaps
a few other religious works, so the need of a library was early
felt. The first meeting of which a record is preserved in the
minutes was held at the house of Joseph Thornton, in Newtown,
in August, 1760. The Thornton house was known at that time
as the "Court Inn," and is the same now occupied by Mrs. E.
Mitchell at the corner of Court street and Centre avenue. At
this meeting officers were elected to serve till the last Seventh-
day of October next, the time fixed for the holding of the annual
election anrl payment of annual dues. The books were to be
kept at the house of Mr. Thornton, and he was elected librarian.
At the meeting on October 25. following, twenty-seven members
each paid £i, as required by the rules of the association, and the
first purchase of books, numbering sixty-two volumes, of which
twenty were of history, was made soon after. In the spring
of 1761, as Mr. Thornton then moved out of town and was no
longer able to attend to the duties of librarian, the board of
directors ordered the books to be kept at the house of David
Twining, who then lived on his farm just south of the town,
now owned and occupied by Cyrus Vanartsdalen, and David
was appointed librarian. The library remained here from 1761
until 1788, a period of twenty-seven years, and David acted as
director, treasurer and librarian. On account of the troubled
condition of the country, the meetings of the directors were
suspended from October, 1774, until October, 1783. a period of
nine years. By this time the interest in the library had fallen
ofif very much, and on September 27, 1778, it was proposed
to sell the books and divide the proceeds among the members,
and six members were appointed to carry this project into effect.
During the twenty-eight years of the library's existence, however,
a new generation had grown up, and a number of the younger
people expressed a desire to co-operate with the older members,
3y2 MCWTOWX I'RIOR lO 180O
kt'cp the library intact, am! add to its vohimes and usefulness.
Accordingly, on Novernber lo, 1/88, the new library com-
pany met in the grand jury room in the court-house and an
agreement was entered into b_\- the old and new members to in-
corporate the library, and the incorporation was effected on
]\Iarch 27, T789, under the title of the "Newtown Library Compa-
ny." The members then acting as the officers were named as
the incorporators, and were as follows : Henry Wynkoop, Thom-
as Jenks. Francis Murray, Samuel Benezet and Abraham DuBois,
who were then directors, and William Linton, then treasurer.
This movement gave new life to the institution, and at a meeting
of the directors in Deceniber, 1791, the library was reported as
containing 832 volumes, which were kept in the court-house
building, and it was decided to print the constitution and by-
laws, a catalog of the books and a list of its members. From
this time on the interest in the library was well maintained for
a number of years.
COURT-UOUSK AND JAILS.
The removal of the courts from Bristol to Newtown was
agitated as early as 1723, and an act was passed on March 24;
1724, authorizing Jeremiah Langhorne, William Biles, Joseph
Kiikbride, Thomas Watson, ALD. and Abraham Chapman to
purchase a piece of land at some convenient place in Newtown,
in trust for the use of the county, and to build thereon a court-
house and a prison at an expense not to exceed ^300. The trus-
tees accordingly purchased of John W^alley five acres of land
on which the new public buildings were shortly erected. The
lot was part of the 200 acres, located in 1689 by Israel Taylor,
and had a front along the easterly side of Main, now State street
(being the easterly line of the common lots), from what is now
the north line of the Heilig estate southward 40 perches to the
middle of Penn, then called Lower street; thence eastwardly 20
perches to a line I57/^ feet eastward from the easterly side of
Court street ; thence northwardly 40 perches and westwardly 20
perches to the place of beginning.
The lot was laid out with alleys 15 feet wide on the three
sides, north, south and east, and was subsequently divided into
six lots, each having a front of 190 feet, and a depth, clear 'of
NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O 393
the streets and alleys, of 142^ feet, and separated by streets 30
feet in width.
The public buildings occupied lot No. i. The court-house
was a two-story stone building, and stood on the easterly side
of the square where the old frame building on Court street be-
longing to the Heilig estate now stands. The court-room was
on the first floor, the main entrance was by double doors in the
middle on the south, the judges were seated on a platform in a
recess or bay window in the middle of the north side. There
was a large fireplace and chimney at each end. The second
story was fitted up for jury rooms ; it had the old fashioned
hip roof and was surmounted by a small cupola with bell. Here
the courts of the county were held from 1725 to 1813, a period
of 88 years.
The first jail erected was at the northwest corner near where
the drug store now stands, but it soon proved to be too small,
and a new jail was erected immediately west of the court-house
and where the Heilig house, at present occupied by Dr. Crewitt,
now stands. Under an act of the Colonial Legislature of 1745,
the old jail was by order of the Council taken as a work-house
for prisoners and opened for that purpose in December, 1746.
The act providing for the removal of the court-house to New-
town also provided for the holding of all the elections in the court-
house, and the elections for the whole county were held there
until 1786.
In the report of the Bucks county courts to the Governor in
1730, I find that Elizabeth Thomas was tried for murder, that
"she pleaded not guilty, but the jury found it manslaughter, and
she was burnt in the hand" — the usual punishment in those days.
Down to 1772 it was customary for the county officers to keep
the records and public papers at their respective dwellings, but
on March 21, 1772. an act was passed ordering the erection of
a strong fire-proof building of 12 by 16 feet inside dimensions,
with walls two feet thick and covered by a brick arch one foot
in thickness, where the records were to be kept under penalty
of £300. This small building, the last of the county buildings
on the court-house square, is well remembered by the writer,
as well as by many others now living, having been torn down as
394 NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O
recently as 1873 by Mr. Heilig, whose estate, as has been said,
still owns the court-house site. During the Revolution this
small stone building was used as a magazine for storing powder
and other military supplies, and was the treasury building robbed
by the Doans in 178 1. It was later used as a lock-up, iron store
and horse stable.
After the close of the Revolutionary war there was soon a
great revival of business, and the small building just described
becoming insufficient to accommodate the county records, the
large stone building on the opposite side of the street from the
jail and now occupied as offices by the writer, was erected by
the county for office purposes in 1796. It is a very substantial
building, having dressed stone on two fronts. The first floor
was divided by 20 inch walls and a wide hall into four rooms ; the
two rooms on the south side were designed for offices and the
two on the north side as vaults, and these latter were provided
with iron shutters and iron window and door frames, several
of which are still to be seen in place.
On September 9, 1777, courts were first held in Newtown
after the Oath of Allegiance was required under act of As-
sembly of June 13, 1777, when Henry Wynkoop, the presiding
justice, delivered an able charge to the grand jury in keeping
with the new order of things.
DURING THE REVOLUTION.
Located as Newtown was, between Philadelphia and New
York, the county seat for a very large section of the country,
and on one of the main thoroughfares through the county, we
would naturally expect it to be an important point during the
Revolution ; and such it was. Easy of access ; central and back
from the river, it was selected as a depot for supplies for the
Continental army during the various campaigns in New Jersey.
It was also the headquarters of Washington from December
27 to 29, 1776, when he returned to Trenton to follow up his
victory of the 26th. On the 27th he wrote as follows :
Headquarters, Newtown, Dec. 27, 1776.
To Presidetit of Congress : On the evening of the 25th inst. I ordered the
troops intended for this servnce to parade back of McKonkey's ferry that
they might begin to cross the river as soon as it grew dark, &c.
NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O
395
On the 28th he wrote from Newtown to Major General Heath,
and on the 29th again to the President of Congress, as follows:
I am just setting out to attempt a second passage over the Delaware with
the troops that were with me on the morning of the 26th, &c. Since trans-
mitting a list of the prisoners, a few more have been discovered and taken
to Trenton, among them a Lieutenant Colonel and Deputy Adjutant Gen-
eral, the whole amounting to about 1,000.
There seems to be no reliable evidence that Washington was
ever at Newtown except on the three days above mentioned.
The building occupied by him stood on the site of the present
dwelling on the farm of Alexander German, deceased, just
across the creek on the westerly side of the town, which
property at that time belonged to the estate of John Har-
ris, deceased. Before leaving Keith's on that memorable
Christmas day, Washington sent his movable effects to New-
town as a place of safety in charge of his secretary, who found
quarters in the old Harris mansion. It is said that on
leaving the place Washington presented the family with a silver
tankard, which, after being kept for many years, was finally con-
verted into spoons. The writer distinctly remembers the tearing
down of the old house, but has no recollection of the appearance
of the historic structure.
Immediately after the battle of Trenton, on the afternoon of
December 26th, the captured Hessian soldiers were hurried
across the river and over to Newtown, where they were con-
fined in the county jail, Presbyterian church and m several of the
private houses. The officers, about 23 in number, were kept in
the ferry house during the night of the 26th, and escorted to
Newtown by Colonel Wheedon on the 27th, where they were
quartered at the inns. The officers were paroled on Dec. 30th
and sent to Philadelphia, Lancaster and Baltimore. Four of the
officers were invited by Washington to dine with him while he
was in Newtown, while others called upon Lord Sterling, whose
acquaintance they had made while he was a prisoner on Long
Island.
Lord Sterling, a prominent commandant of the forces under
Washington, was a native of New York, and his true name was
William Alexander. His ancestors came from Scotland, and
he spent a large part of his fortune attempting to secure the
396 NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O
title and estate of an earldom held by some of his ancestors in
162 1, and to which he claimed to be the rightful heir. His
efforts, however, were unsuccessful, though from courtesy he
was always styled Lord Sterling, and his letters to Washington
and the council were signed simply "Sterling." The stone
house on State street now owned by Hannah Hibbs was at that
time kept as an inn, and was known as the "'Justices' House,"
because the justices of the court were usually entertained there,
and here it was that Lord Sterling is supposed to have been when
he received the visit from the Hessian officers on the 27th or
28th of December. While at Newtown Sterling wrote frequent
letters to the Supreme Council of Safety at Philada., a few of
which may be interesting:
Newtown, January 4, 1777.
I was ill with rheumatism before our first expedition to Trenton, but the
fatigue and hardships I endured for 40 hours in the worst weather I ever saw
rendered me unfit for further duty in the field. General Washington there-
fore placed me here to do the best I could to secure the ferries and upper
part of the country against any surprise. I will do the best I can with the
force I have to cotnniand. I have a number of prisoners from the enemy's
army pouring in upon me (thank God), but tell me what I am to do with
them ; there is no room for them here. * '•■This is the first time I
have been able to scrawl since I crossed the Delaware last.
Most respectfullj^ yours, Stkrlinc",.
Again, under date of January 6, 1777, he wrote to the chair-
man of the Council, as follows :
Lieutenant Wilmot, of the British Light Horse, is just brought in
wounded. I shall send him on to " Four Lanes' End" [now Langhorne]
to-morrow. There are a number of prisoners of war here, and more coming
in. I should be glad to hear your opinion where it would be best to send
them.
Under date of January 7th he wrote the secretary of the Coun-
cil as follows :
I shall send off to Philadelphia about 70 British prisoners to-morrow
morning. General Washington has upwards of 200 more with him. James
Reynolds and the other two deserters went to Philadelphia yesterday.
To give an idea of the extent of the capture by Washington
and his army at Trenton, and of the poorly equipped condition of
his men, I quote a letter from Deputy Quartermaster General
Clement Biddle to the Council of Safety :
NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O 397
Headquarters, Newton, 28lh December, 1776.
Sir: His Excellency General Washington has commanded me to send for-
ward the prisoners taken at Trenton, to pass through Philadelphia to Lancas-
ter, and I have sent them with a guard under the conduct of Captain Murray
(an officer of the State lately released from New York), with directions to
furnish them with provisions and quarters on the road. * * * I have the
pleasure to inform you that the prisoners amount to near 1000; that their
arms, six brass field pieces, eight standards of colors and a number of swords
and cartouch boxes, taken in this happy expedition, are safely arrived at and
near this place. If your honorable committee could by any means furnisk
shoes and stockings for our troops, it will be a great relief.
Clement BiddlE, D't'y Or. Mr. Gen'l.
It will be noticed that this letter is dated "Headquarters, New-
town, December 28, 1776."
It will be impossible to note more than a very few of the im-
portant events which occurred at Newtown during the Revolu-
tionary period. On February 23, 1778, Washington wrote to
President Wharton, of the Council, as follows :
Headquarters, Valley Forge.
Sir : The militia from the westward who had been detained by the bad-
ness of the weather have arrived at General Lacey's camp, and those from
'Northampton have I hope come in by this time. Their presence had become
exceedingly necessary, as the insolence of the disaffected in Philadelphia
and Bucks counties had arisen to a very alarming height. They have seized
and carried off a number of respectable inhabitants in those counties, and
such ofl&cers of this army who fell in their way, among others Major Murray,
of the 13th Penua. Regiment, who was at Newtown with his family.
Their raid upon Newtown was made on the night of February
18, 1778, by the cavalry companies of Hovenden and Thomas,
both Bucks county Tories, who captured a quantity of cloth de-
signed for the army, and made prisoners of Major Murray,
three other officers and 26 soldiers, besides killing and wounding
more.
In July, 1 78 1, Captain Claypole was ordered to receive recruits
at Newtown. On September 11, 1781, militia of Philada., city
and county, Chester, Bucks, Lancaster, Berks and Northampton,
Light Horse of city and county, York and Cumberland, and two
companies of artillery, were called into service and ordered to
rendezvous at Newtown. On October 12, 1781, General Lacey
was ordered to discharge the militia at Newtown, and on the
same date Paymaster Scott was sent there with £3,000 to pay
them off.
398 NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O
ROBBERY OE THE COUNTY TREASURY.
Probably no event which has ever occurred in the county has
created as much excitement as the robbery of the county treasury
at Newtown by a band of outlaws headed by the notorious Doan
brothers, on the evening of October 22, 1781. The Doans, as
is well known, were the sons of respectable Quaker parents in
Plumstead, but early in the struggle for independence espoused
the cause of the Crown, and on account of their Tory principles
and numerous robberies were declared "outlaws." John Hart
was then county treasurer and lived in the stone house on the
west side of State street, now occupied by Thomas P. Hampton,
at what was then known as "The First Hollow."
The outlaws were harbored by John Tomlinson, who then
owned the large farm in Wrightstown now belonging to Mrs.
Charles Williams, and it was here that the plans for the
robbery were laid. John Atkinson, who carried on black-
smithing in a shop on the property now of Dr. Heston, was
frequently called upon by the Doans and their companions to
repair their guns, and it was he who kept them posted as to the
movements of Treasurer Hart, the probable amount received by
him from the various collectors, and when the treasury building
was without a guard ; and as compensation for his services he
received a small portion of the stolen funds.
Moses Doan rode through the town in the early evening, and,
finding the coast clear, he and his comrades surrounded Hart's
house about 10 o'clock, made him prisoner, took possession
of the keys. With these they repaired to the little stone treasury
near the court-house and had no difficulty in securing all of the
county funds contained therein, amounting to about i735 in specie
and £1,300 in paper.
The robbers carried their booty to an old log school-house
which stood just across the road from the Friends' meeting-
house at Wrightstown, and there divided it, giving each par-
ticipant 140 hard dollars and a share of the notes, which latter
were divided by count without regard to value. They then dis-
persed, each going his own way.
Henry Wynkoop, Esq., then judge of the court, lost no time
in informing the Supreme Executive Council of the robbery, and
NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O 399
that body on October 27th issued a proclamation offering a
reward of iioo in specie for each and every one of the perpetra-
tors of said robbery who should be apprehended and convicted.
As a result, two of the party, Jesse Vickers and Solomon Vick-
ers, were arrested, tried and convicted at Newtown, and sentenced
to be hung; and on August 3, 1782, on reviewing the case of Jesse
Vickers by the Council, it was ordered that he be executed on
the 7th inst., and that he be informed if he would make a full
disclosure of his accomplices he would be pardoned. His con-
fession soon followed, and his execution was again postponed
until the 14th, and he was removed to Philadelphia jail. The
confession of Solomon Vickers was also obtained, and he and
Jesse were both pardoned on September 10, 1782.
As an outcome of these confessions, John Tomlinson, of
Wrightstown, at whose house the robbery was planned, was
arrested, tried, convicted and hung at Newtown, and buried on
his own farm ; the stones marking the grave are still to be
seen. Two of the Doan brothers were convicted and hung in
Philadelphia, and it is said that their father, Joseph, walked from
Philadelphia to Plumstead behind the cart which carried their
dead bodies to his home in that township. Joseph, a third
brother, was arrested, but broke jail at Newtown and fled to
Canada, and their lands were confiscated and sold.
PROMINENT MEN.
Among the names of prominent persons who were identified
with the history of Newtown during the last century was that of
Judge Gilbert Hicks, great-grandfather of our present townsman,
Isaac W. Hicks. He was born on Long Island, January 10, 1720.
When married he removed to a farm in Bensalem, presented to
his wife as a wedding present by her father, erected buildings
thereon and raised a family. On June 9, 1752, only six years
after coming into the Province, he was appointed by the gover-
nor and council at Philadelphia one of the justices of the peace
for Bucks county, and held the office until the Revolution; and
on March 29, 1776, John Penn, then Governor, commissioned
him and Hugh Hartshorne, Esq., to hold court for the trial of
all crimes and offences committed by negroes, whether slave or
free. He built the brick house in Langhorne opposite the hotel
4CMD NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O
in 1763, and removed there. He was a man of superior nind
and commanded the respect of all. Was chairman of a pubHc
meeting held at Newtown on July 9th, 1774, in pursuance of a
previous notice, when he made a short address explaining the
object of the meeting as being to consider the injury and distress
occasioned by numerous acts of oppression to the Colonies
which had been passed by the British Parliament, in which
body the Colonies were not represented. When, however, the
British General Howe issued his proclamation, Judge Hicks seem-
ed greatly impressed with the power of England, and while he
condemned the injustice of Great Britain toward the Colonies,
he advised to postpone any over resistance until the Colonies
should become stronger. Being conscientious in regard to the
oath which he had taken on assuming office, he read Howe's
proclamation in front of the court-house at Newtown, and coun-
seled his friends to pause before it was too late. Not that he
favored Great Britain, but for the good of the Colonies.
But the temper of the people was not in harmony with ihese
sentiments, and those who heard him denounced him as a traitor,
and the whole town was thrown into excitement. Judge Hicks
returned to his home at "Four Lanes' End," where he was
soon pursued by a company of horsemen, bent on making his
arrest. He was, however, apprised of their coming in time to
make his escape to the woods, and after the storm had somewhat
subsided he fled the country and spent the remainder of his days
in Novia Scotia, supported by a pension from the British Gov-
ernment, while his property at Langshorne and in Bensalem
was confiscated and sold by the State.
Isaac Hicks, familiarly known as "Old Squire Hicks," was
the son of Gilbert, the judge, and was more closely connected
with the business history of Newtown during the last quarter
of the last century and the first quarter of this than any other
person. He was born on his father's Bensalem farm in 1748, and
after acquiring such education as the times would afford, and
reaching manhood, settled in Newtown. On June 6, 1772, Rich-
ard Penn, then Governor, issued four commissions to him;
I. As Justice of the Peace, and also assigning him as one of
the Justices of the County Court.
NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O 4OI
2. Prothonotary or Principal clerk of the Court of Common
Pleas.
3. Clerk or Register of the Orphans' Court.
4. Recorder of Deeds; and three days later, on the recommen-
dation of the Justices of the Court of General Quarter Sessions,
he received a commission as clerk of that court, with charge of
all its records.
He was also county surveyor and conveyancer, and filled all
his positions of trust with general satisfaction until September,
1776, when the whole county was in a tumult on account of the
Revolutionary struggle, and the excitement occasioned by his
father's unfortunate action made it necessary to remove him from
office and appoint new men.
On February 19, 1777, it was resolved by the Council of Safety
that Joseph Hart and Henry Wynkoop, Esqs., and Richard Gibbs
be requested to repair immediately to the house of Isaac Hicks,
late clerk of the court for Bucks county, and take possession of
all the public papers, books and records that may be in his posses-
sion, to clear out the office built by the county for the purpose
of keeping the records, and place them all therein and make
report if any be lost, Henry Wynkoop, Esq., to keep the keys.
On February 22, 1777, the committee reported to council that
the records were all correct and the papers deposited, and the
''office to be cleared to-morrow."
'Squire Hicks then removed to "Four Lanes' End" and occu-
pied the house recently vacated by his father, whose confiscated
estates being sold at public auction, at the court-house at New-
town, on August 24, 1779, were bought by Isaac for £4,030.
He lived at "Four Fanes' End" until 1796, when, on January
2d of that year, he bought the property at the corner of State
and Penn streets, Newtown, now known as the White Hall hotel
property, and removed to the old frame house thereon, in which
he lived until his death in 1836. He was naturally well qualified
for business, and made the survey of the common lots when they
were laid out in 1796. He was authority on all questions of
boundaries, and always went surveying on foot, even thoug-h the
work were miles away. He was very erect in person, had white
hair and carried a heavy cane, and as a justice he gave his decis-
402 NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O
ions with dignity and impressiveness. He died at the age of 88
years and was buried in the Presbyterian graveyard at Newtown,
where the stone which marks the spot is placed by the 'Squire's
request nearly two feet below the surface of the ground. He is
well remembered by many now living, as he walked about the
town with his heavy cane and dressed in knee breeches.
Edward Hicks, son of Isaac the 'Squire, and a prominent min-
ister in the Society of Friends, was born at Langhorne, Fourth
month 4th, 1780. His mother died when he was very small and
he was taken home by Elizabeth, the wife of David Twining, and
lived there until he was old enough to go to a trade, when his
father bound him to a coach painter at "Four Lanes' End."
After he completed his apprenticeship he returned to Newtown,
married, and established himself at coach painting. There is
no doubt that the kindly religious teachings which he received
while in the Twining home had much to do with the develop-
ment of his strong and sensitive mind in the line of religious
thought, in which he afterwards became so ardent a worker; but
as his religious labors were confined to the present century, I
am obliged to pass them over in this paper.
One of the most conspicuous figures in Newtown during the
latter part of the i8th century and during the Revolutionary
days was Col. Francis Murray. In 1784 he bought the large
stone dwelling on Court street immediately opposite the court-
house and now owned by George Brooks, from Bernard Taylor,
and lived there until his death in 1816. We find him becoming
a member of the library company in 1774, one of its incorpora-
tors in 1789 ; on December 28, 1776, a captain lately released from
New York and conducting prisoners from Newtown to Philadel-
phia, and his name appears upon the list of officers and privates
of artillery settled with at Newtown by the auditors of Bucks
county on March 24, 1781, as Lieut. Col. Francis Murray, late
of the 13th Regt., Penna. Militia. He was a large owner of real
estate in Newtown, and in September, 1783, purchased a confis-
cated farm of Joseph Doan, of 108 acres, in Plumstead. On
November 17, 1783, he was appointed Lieutenant of Bucks coun-
ty, and was one of the trustees of the Newtown Commons in
1796 and of the Bucks County xA.cademy in 1797, and one of the
NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O 403
associate justices of the court in 1813. He died on November
30, 1816, aged 84 years, and is interred in the Newtown Pres-
byterian graveyard.
SCHOOLS.
Although the population of Newtown prior to 1800 was few
and the neighborhood very sparsely settled, the community was
not without schools. The earliest school in the town of which we
have any reliable record was that kept by xA.ndrew McMinn, an
Irish schoolmaster, who bought the lot upon which the Temper-
ance House now stands of Amos Strickland, on May i, 1772, and
erected thereon the present buildings. Here he kept both a
tavern and a school. AIcAIinn sold the property to Gen. Murray
and bought No. 11 of the Common Lots, immediately opposite,
on which was an old house that had been used for school pur-
poses. Here AIcAIinn lived and still carried on his school. There
was a stone quarry upon the rear of the lot, and it is related of
McMinn that whenever any one came for a load of stone from
his quarry, he would lock up the scholars and go down and help
load the stone. He was well remembered by the late Nicholas
Willard.
As a further evidence of an appreciation of educational ad-
vantages by our citizens of one hundred years ago, no better
proof is needed than the erection of the large three-story stone
academy building in 1798. This building was after the style of
the county offices of that date, with dressed-stone front, and very
substantial. Prior to 1797 a lot part of the commons was con-
veyed by the trustees of the commons to certain persons for the
erection thereon of an academy and free school, and the Bucks
County Academy was incorporated by the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania, and the articles approved by Thomas Mifflin,
Governor, on April i. 1797. Francis Murray, Thomas Jenks
and others were appointed trustees to carry out the provisions of
the Act. The new building was erected during the next year
and school kept therein with more or less regularity, and more
or less under the care and influence of the Presbyterian Church,
for about fifty years following.
404 NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O
TEMPERANCE.
There was also an active movement in the cause of temperance
during the last century, and as early as June 12, 1746, v^e find
a petition with thirty-one signers presented to the justices of the
peace holding court at Newtown, "to suppress certain public
houses which are public nuisances and very prejudicial to some
of the neighbors. There are too many of them and they are not
supplied with suitable conveniences to entertain travelers."
OLD BUILDINGS.
Among the oldest buildings in the town are those erected for
hotels, or, as they were then styled, "inns." The very oldest
of these is probably the old frame building on the easterly side
of State street between Centre avenue and Mercer street, and
known as the "Bird-in-Hand," from the old sign painted by
Edward Hicks for Asa and Tamar Gary, representing a bird
in a hand. It was built by George Welch, a Dutchman, in 1726
or '28, soon after the erection of the court-house. It is still
occupied as a dwelling, but is scarcely tenantable.
The "Gourt Inn,"probably the next oldest of these inns at
present standing, is, as before stated, on the southeast corner of
Gourt street and Gentre avenue. The old stone and frame part
of this building was erected by Joseph Thornton in 1733. The
brick portion on the corner was built by his widow in 1757,
while the stone addition on the east was erected by Josiah Fer-
guson in 1792. This old hostelry was patronized largely by
those attending court, and hence its name. The newer portions
have been remodeled within the past few years, and are now in
good condition.
The third oldest of these old inns is probably the easterly part of
the present "Brick Hotel." This building occupies the site of
the "Red Lion Inn," a little old tavern which in 1760 was sold
by the sheriff, together with a half acre of ground, as the estate
of Joseph Walley, saddler, deceased, to Amos Strickland, for £40.
At this time Strickland owned all the land north of Washington
avenue to Frost Lane and as far as the bend in the road beyond
the cemetery, and the Red Lion Inn was the most northerly build-
ing in town. In 1764 or '65 Strickland burned a kiln of bricks
NEWTOWN PRIOR TO 180O 405
in his meadow, on what is known as the PhiUips farm, just east
of our present Lincoln avenue, and with them erected a large
two-story hotel building on the former site of the little old inn,
where he lived until his death in 1779, at which time all of his
estate came into the hands of his son, Amos Strickland, Jr. The
building then erected is the easterly part of the present Brick
hotel, and has large rooms, high ceilings, broad windows, a wide
hall with open stairway and beautiful old wooden arches, and must
have been a grand structure in its day, and is still in excellent con-
dition. Hessian officers were quartered here after the battle of
Trenton. The senior Strickland kept a number of horses, was
fond of racing, etc. Washington avenue as far east as the bend
was known as "Strickland's Lane," and here many exciting races
were witnessed at election times and on other public occasions.
The "Justices' House," heretofore mentioned as the quarters
of Lord Sterling while in Newtown, is very near the old "Bird-
in-Hand," was built by Anthony Siddons in 1768, and is still in
good repair.
The "Temperance House," as has been said, was built in 1722
by jMcAIinn, the Irish schoolmaster, who sold it about 1796 to
General jMurray, and he rented it as a tavern as long as he lived.
The license was taken away soon after the courts were removed to
Doylestown in 1813, and has never been restored.
Such then is some account of the settlement and history of
Newtown during the first century of its existence and of a few
of the persons who were prominent in making that history. Very
much, probably of equal or greater interest, has necessarily been
omitted. May Ave of to-day not fail to remember that we are
participants in the history of its second century.
In conclusion, I desire to acknowledge the valuable contribu-
tions to our local history made by our late townsman, Josiah B.i
Smith, deceased, from whose manuscript volumes I have obtained
much information.
Folk Lore, Notes taken at Random
BY HENRY C. MERCER, DOYIvESTOWN, PA.
(Meeting^ at Sharon, near Newtown, July 21, 1896).
POPULAR CHARACTERISTICS.
Turning over the pages of note books which record the re-
searches of several past years, I find stray allusions to that class
of descriptive popular characteristics, which often escaping no-
tice because everywhere in evidence, have found value in the
eyes of science under the name Folk Lore.
Quakers, Germans, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, followers of
the English Church, Welsh and Dutch impressed their traits
upon Eastern Pennsylvania and left characteristic marks, which
an anthropologist sees. The sharply pronounced "r" which
recently seems to have become modified by immigrant influences,
probably came from Scotland and certain parts of Northern
England. No doubt its marked effect on the sound of the lan-
guage has been helped by the dry climate which Professor
March supposed thinned the Anglo-Saxon voice, and lifting
it from the chest higher into the throat robbed it of deeper
and softer tones, a final result which strange to say has not
been effected on the vocal organs of the musical negroes. If
we judge without prejudice they must be held to possess, as
a class, the only melodious voices in our country.
An essay might be written on such bearings of trees upon
human culture as not even the investigations of the Forestry
Congress seem to have brought out, such surprising truths fnom
a general point of view, as for instance, that enunciated by Dr.
Johnson when he said there were no trees in Scotland, or
the fact that all the streets devoted to business in all the cities
of Eastern Europe (with two or three exceptions) are bare of
trees, that no arcadian groves, nor, speaking comparatively, any
trees or grassy lawns exist in Greece. That Spain has no trees,
and but little grass, that on the fertile plains of Lombardy hardly
a tree is permitted to outvie an average apple tree in size.
FOI.K LORE, NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM 407
I remember a pollard willow in one of Albrecht Duerer's en-
gravings made probably about the year 1520, and if Germans
were in the habit of transforming and distorting the shape of
shade trees by pruning during or before the i6th century their
numerous old wood cuts, paintings and engravings will show
it. On the other hand we may learn that the desire to compress
the outlines of all masses of leafage into ideal globular forms
resembling a cabbage, sprung from a wave of French influence,
which pervaded Europe about the time of Frederick the Great.
This authorized as models for imitation such trimming of trees
as is represented in the clipped promenades of Versailles, St.
Cloud, Potsdam and San Souci. But whoever originated the
fashion of pollarding shade trees along streets regardless of
species, as of insects, light, air, view, and the life of the tree it-
self, there can be little doubt that the Germans brought it to us
notwithstanding the fact remarked before, that neither they, nor
any of the other peoples of Western Europe were, or have since
been accustomed to plant shade trees in the business streets of
towns and cities.
POPULAR TALES AND RHYMES.
But the fanciful poetry-loving Germans may well have affected
us in other ways, and to what extent imagination may have
been stimulated by Teutonic immigration, might be shown by
a study of children's tales, rhymes and local legends, more easily
than by examining the conscious documents of literature. With-
out having investigated the matter, I can testify that the people
of the Lehigh hills, emigrants of a century and a half ago
from the middle Rhine, a land of fable, have fairy tales and
nursery legends still. For example, the following tale, rhymes
and formulae were told to me by Mrs. Charles C. Miller, of Ma-
cungie, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, in October, 1892. They
recall the occasion of an exploration of the Indian jasper mines
at Macungie, when living at Mr. Miller's hospitable house, I
passed many pleasant evening hours with his family talking of
old and new Germany.
4o8 FOLK LORE, NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM
THE BLIND MAN AND THE GIANT.
(Translation.)
Once upon a time a lamb said to a blind man, "You are no
use to the world." Whereupon the latter answered, "Let us
go and travel together and you will see." Now as they started,
the blind man offered to take the lamb on his back, and having
done so they traveled on thus till they came to a strange coun-
try. There they found an ass tied to a fence, and as the blind
man said they should take all along that they found, he put the
lamb on the ass, and getting up behind on its back the two rode
away. As they journeyed on, they found a plough and put it
also on the ass. When they had gone on still further they saw
a heavy rope and the lamb said to the blind man : "See ! there
lies a rope," and the blind man said, "We will take it along."
By that time it was growing dark and they had ridden into a
forest where they saw a great palace. Dismounting there they
went to the door and knocked, but no one answered for there
was no one within. They went in then, taking all their things
with them and closed the door.
When it was night the King of the house came and wanted
to go in but found the door locked. Then he knocked and said
(in English), "Who is in here?" and those inside called back
(English), "Who is out there?" Then he, outside said, "I am a
giant" and he within said : "I am the grandfather of the giant."
At this the King of the palace said that he inside should let
the sound of his voice be heard, and the blind man heated a bar
of iron hot in the fire and struck the ass with it. so that the ass
gave a horrible bray. Then the King said: "Surely from your
voice you must be the grandfather of a giant, but pull one of
your teeth and throw it out that I may know you."
At these words the lilind man threw out the ploughshare.
"Now pull one of your hairs and throw it out." said the King,
and the blind man threw out the rope. Then said the King,
"By your voice and your tooth and your hair you must surely
be the grandfather of a giant, so stay where you are. The pal-
ace is yours as long as you live." Thus did the two get a good
house to live in.
To Mrs. Miller's kindness I am also indebted for the following :
FOtK LORE, NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM
409
CHILD S COUNTING OUT RHVMI
Hicka, hacka, Hollerstock,
Wie viel Hanna hat der Rock,
Ans, zwa.drei;
Zucker auf der Brei,
Salz auf der speck,
Hahne geh wek
Oder ich schlach Dich in der Dreck.
Hick, hacka, elderbush,
How many horns has the ram,
One, two, three;
Sugar in the pap,
Salt in the lard.
Rooster go away
Or I'll knock you in the dirt.
COUNTING OUT RHYMES.
Ente diute minte fass
Geh in die schule und lern etwas.
Ente dinte minte fass
Go to school and learn something.
Ani beni dunke funke
Rabe Schnabe diebe daube
Kassi nabi oli boli rose
Du liegst raus, Du bist aus.
Ani beni dunke funke
Rabe Schnabe diebe daube
Kassi nabi oli boli rose
You lie out, vou are out.
Alte wind muhl geh die strassnaus
Hoi die kuli Ham
Trieb die schof naus
Werst net n'ouf gekratelt
Wer'st net nunta g'falla
Hets Mei Schwester g'heirt
Wer'st mei Schwoger wara.
Old windmill go up the road
Bring the cow home
Drive the sheep out
If you don't climb up
You won't fall down
If you marry my sister
You'll be mv brother-in-law.
THE VAGABOND.
Hansel von Bach
Hat lauter gut sach
Hat stiefel und shporra
Hat alles verlora
Hatkugele gegusa (gegossen)
Hat Soldada todt gshusa
Hat's Heisle verbrennt
Hat lumpa drum g'henkt.
Johnny of the brook
Has good things plenty
Has spurs and booth
Has gone to the duce
Bullets he's moulded
Soldiers he's shot
Houses he's burned
And dresses in rags
THE COCK.
Es kommt'n man von Micka Bruck
Und hat'n klad von tansend stuck
Und hat'n knockish Angesicht
Und hat'n lederner Bart.
Here comes a man from fly bridge
His clothes are of a thousand pieces
He has a bony face
And has a leathern beard.
4IO
FOLK LORE, NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM
Die Sonne scheint,
Das vogley greint,
S'huckt auf'm Lauda
Und spinntn' gaeler fauda.
Die Lady von der Rutsch
Wenn sie fahren will hat sie kein
kutsch,
Wenn sie reita will hat sie kein gaul
Wenn sie laufa will ist sie zu faul.
Es steht ein kindle an der wand
Und hat an gokle in der hand
Und tehts gern broda
Und will em net geroda
Tehts gern essa
Und hat kein messer.
RHYMES.
The sun shines,
The bird sings,
Sits on a shutter
And spins a golden thread,
The lady of the slide
When she wants to drive has no
coach.
When she wants to ride has no horse
When she wants to walk is too lazy.
On the wall there stands a child
In his hand he has an egg
He wants to fry it but it won't cook
He wants to eat it, but has no knife.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
All good children go to heaven.
One flies east, one flies west.
One flies over the cuckoo's nest.
BRAUCHE (POW-WOW) HEALING FORMULA.
For Hartsgespar, Ungewachsa, stitch in side, side ache.
Hartsgespar and Ungewachsa weiche von (name of person )'s rippen
gleich wie unser Herr Jesus gewichen ist von seiner grippe. (Touching
highest and lowest ribs with thumb and forefinger of right hand and re-
ing twice morning, noon and night).
side ache go out of 's ribs, even as our Lord Jesus went out of his manger.
POW-WOW FORMULA— ROTHENLAUFE — ( inflammation).
Geh heraus das Rothelaufen aus der Haut und geh Zuruck was du warst.
(After repeating blow the cross first down fingers then across them on
sufferer's right hand holding it up).
Go out scald, out of the skin, and go back where thou wast.
POW-WOW FORMULA — SCHWINDE (TETTER ).
Like all others only to be learned by woman from man or man from
woman.
(Three times stroking the cross — in directions before given — on the suf-
ferer's right hand. For horses as well as men).
Geh aus dem Marks in die Knocken
Aus den Knocken in das Fleish
Aus dem Fleisch in das Blut
Aus dem Blut in die Haut
Aus der Haut in die Hohe
Aus der Hohe sieben Klofter tiefin
die Erde.
Go out of the marrow into the bones,
Out of the bones into the flesh,
Out of the flesh into the blood.
Out of the blood into the skin,
Out of the skin into the sky,
Out of the sky seven yards deep in
the ground.
FOLK LORE, NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM 4II
The European parentage of the tale, rhymes and formulas
is demonstrated by the phrase and thought of the Old World
which pervades them. But to what extent they reveal character-
istics, denoting a change of environment from the Black Forest
and Hardt mountains, to the Lehigh hills, to what extent they
have become American, let students of folk-lore tell. I only pre-
sent the documents.
TREASURE HUNTING.
As more fairly illustrating the wild and native growth of im-
agination in America, several myths, dressed from the beginning
in American dress, prove the existence of the soil at least, from
which a national literature might spring. There are manv
things to be heard from the people's mouth as you search the
Appalachians from Pennsylvania to Georgia. The quaint fancy
of the grasshopper war was a myth, which pertains not only to
the valley of the Delaware, but to that of the Susquehanna. The
still more widely diffused rumors of Indians mining lead are true
legends, born of the early contact of the white and red races,
while the latter in its more widespread and original form of
treasure hunting pertains generally to the human race. Who-
ever follows this last notion from the Delaware valley and down
the Appalachians into Tennessee realizes that all men hunt treas-
ure in imagination. The jokes, the bantering, the anecdotes of
workmen and bystanders during archaeological expeditions have
continually brought the thought to my notice.
Rejuvenated by caves, by mountains, by a geology little stud-
ied, and by the recent disappearance of a mysterious race the
ancient theme has so fastened upon the imagination of many
a mountaineer that he is able to fancy himself the hero of sto-
ries that have been current in the region before he was bom.
We had heard of the Indian lead mine, of the mysterious cliff
that glinted its precious buttresses through the forest, of treas-
ure buried within a given distance of a blazed tree, or con-
cealed in logs at the bottom of streams, but there were new ways
of telling the tale, and an aged man with broad brimmed white
felt hat, resembling Rip Van Winkle in appearance, diverted
my attention even from the unearthed remains of extinct ani-
412 FOLK LORE, NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM
mals at Zirkel's cave in northern Tennessee with the following
story :
The time is the year 1894; the scene, a mountain region not
far from Knoxville, but the incidents are of a kind that we
dream about in childhood after reading- the story of Ali Baba
and the Forty Thieves.
For some time the scanty inhabitants of the wild district which
I will not name, had noticed the presence in the neightorhood
at intervals of two Indians who, as they came and went, said
and did little to indicate the purpose of their visits. Neverthe-
less observations on the part of the curious and a few stray hints
from the Indians themselves revealed the fact that the myster-
ious visitors were Cherokees, descendants of the original possess-
ors of the land. They had come from and returned to the
present home of their tribe in the Indian Territory, and when
they went carried with them canvas sacks heavily laden, and
which according to a generally accepted theory contained silver
ore.
The inference was that a silver mine, long supposed to exist
in the country was known and worked by the Indians, and to
find it soon became the fixed purpose of my informant. He made
several vain attempts to follow the Indians, but as they eluded
all his efforts, and as he had resolved to make his discovery alone,
he devised a plan for the systematic ransacking of a large tract
of forest. The woods were divided into rectangular areas and
these were laboriously gone over one by one, till one day, after
weeks spent in the search, he halted before a low clifif, convinced
that success was within reach. Certain rude outlines cut in In-
dian style upon the face of the rocks, judged by their inclination,
pointed to a certain spot nearby, and there on removing the
leaves, a flat stone lifted up revealed the mouth of a cave.
Venturing in his curiosity led him a long distance underground.
He crossed a chasm on a log, reached a room littered with slag
and charcoal, discovered a small furnace, and at last saw the
glittering vein of metal arching over one of the galleries. There
it still is. My informant had not yet raised the funds to buy
the property, and the Indians still make their visits. Had the
discoverer consented to take me to the cave, I must have pledged
FOLK IvORE, NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM 413
him not to reveal his secret, while our visit to the underground
mine must have been timed so as not to coincide with the pres-
ence of the Indians. Finding us in possession of their secret
they would have defended their inheritance by force. They
•or we must have perished in the cavern, while danger of sur-
prise by the red men was the more likely, my informant supposed,
since the suspicions of the former had been roused. "A white
man has discovered our secret." This much they had ventured
to say in the neighborhood. "We have marked his trail in the
forest mould and found the gray hairs of his beard clinging to
the rocks.
THE GLASS SNAKE.
A paper was read at one of the recent meetings of the "Amer-
ican Association for the Advancement of Science," essaying to
show that stories of bears have greater fascination for children
than any other kind of tale, and that, therefore, they may be
regarded as an unconscious inheritance from a primitive condi-
tion, when bears rather than most other wild animals, ravaged
the farmyard and carried off children.
Snake stories, however, have a firm hold on older minds.
Though I never saw a rattlesnake den, I do not pretend to deny
the existence of places such as I heard of at Salt Pond Moun-
tain in Virginia, where if you threw a stone down a certain chasm,
not a dozen but a hundred rattlesnakes, at least, appeared to
frighten you with their combined rattling, and overpower you
with a noisome odor, said to resemble the smell of raw cucumbers.
But if I have heard once the story of the hoop snake, with tail
in mouth rolling at you like a cart-wheel, I have heard it twenty
times, believing it less each time, particularly when the detail
is added that the tail of some of the rollers, armed with a lance-
like point, is sometimes spitefully darted into the trunks of im-
mense trees, which die in consequence.
Here, however, before your very eyes at last, is a snake no
less remarkable. The joint snake of many tales, in many senses
of the word. Again and again have I heard of the w^onder, as
drawers of the long-bow vouch for it in the AUeghenies. I
know a man who would perhaps have fought to maintain th«;
truth, as he said he had observed it with his own eyes, namely,
414 FOLK LORE, NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM
that this snake, when struck, flew in pieces, which individual
pieces not only crawled away, but cominj^ together at will, re-
stored the lKjd\- to its original length.
The truth of the matter is that this so-called joint snake, or
glass snake, is no true snake at all but rather a non-poisonous'
lizard, the Ofhosaurns ventralis, that two-thirds or half its length
is tail, and that the tail, almost as thick as the tody and very
brittle, may break in sections when struck, leaving the upper
vertebra and abdomen intact. Some pieces may wriggle "till
sundown" and seem t'j crawl away, but when we are told that
they link together again we feel like making the reply of the
Kentucky Colonel to the narrator of a great marvel, "Would
you believe that," he asks, "if you had not seen it with your
own eyes ?"
"Xo, sir," says the story teller.
"Then, sir," says the Colonel, "may I be so bold, sir, as to
request you, sir, to permit me the same privilege."
THE CONQUEST OK FIRE.
Turning imm myths and legends to facts of every day life,
that bear upon the character or welfare of humanity, how shall
we overestimate the significance of processes by which fire is
made? We liave had to do wdthout matches at times, and so
may in imagination eliminate the match altogether from life,
and substitute the flint and steel. But more difficult is it to pass
backward over the centuries, and realize ourselves in the per-
sons of ancestors existing without even this device. Yet as
sure as we are here, and as sure as there was a time when iron
was as yet undiscovered, so there was a time when no man alive
knew better how to make fire than by the rubbing together of
pieces of wood.
We may imagine this but how shall we look still
farther back into the darkness and recall the time when
man, ignorant even of the rubbed stick, looked upon
fire as a mystery, a wonder of nature, beyond his
mastery? Of a sudden all the equipments that seem to make
our life possible are obliterated and man stands alone without
the ma.stery of light and heat. At some time there must have
been a hint from somewhere, at some time a struggle for the all
FOLK LORE, NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM 415
potent spark. Was the first experiment for fire suggested by the
smoking of trees chafing in the wind ; by the clash of flint
rocks; by the volcano, or by the lightning? Who shall say?
However it came, when it came, the fate of the race depended
on its issue. Let us estimate if we can the human energy expen-
ded in this first effort; then let us try to judge the reward. Imag-
ining the event and its consequences, shall we venture to exalt
in importance the inventions of steam, gunpowder, printing or
the telegraph over such a discovery as this ?
This is not devising new episodes for the human story, but
following it logically backward by way of known landmarks
established by the Creator. From the match to the flint and
steel ; from the flint and steel to the fire stick ; from the fire
stick to ignorance ; a series of slow steps which we may best
realize by turning to savage tribes still in the stone age, still
ignorant of the flint and steel, and therefore at the lowest stage
of development of the most momentous and important of all hu-
man arts. The South Sea Islanders produce a flame by rubbing
a pointed twig held at an angle along a groove in another stick
held upon the ground, and we learn from the observations of ex-
plorers, and from the ancient native drawings of Central America,
that Indians before Columbus made fire by causing a round
twig held vertically upon a piece of wood to revolve by friction
between the palms of the hands. A mechanical device, the bow
drill, in use among the Eskimos, was an improvement upon this,
since by it you cause the twig, pivoted in a piece of hollow stone
or bone, to revolve more rapidly with less effort, and strange
to say after the same manner as the modern Arab carpenter does
his boring and drilling. More ingenious still is the device for-
merly in use among many Indian tribes, shown me recently by
Joseph Nicolar, a Penobscot Indian, at Kennebunkport. Maine,
as anciently the fire-making method of his tribe.
Two discs of bark pegged together are mounted on a pivot
which revolves as you work a loose bow-string upon it. Pre-
sently the dry pine wood about the spinning hickory scorches
and begins to smoke. Then if you stop at the right moment, and
the bow-string doesn't break, you get a spark. Be very careful.
Touch the ember with a piece of ])unk — a fungus that grows in
4l6 FOLK LORE, NOTES TAKEN AT RANDOM
tlie hollow of old locust trees, and blow hard enough, but not
to<:) hard. Then sprinkle upon the smoking spot finest wood
shavings and twigs, and y^u have your tongue of flame.
If you wish to see how easy this looks, find a picture in
Louis Figuiers' "L'Homme Primitif" called "Le Couquete de
feu" where a band of cave men, rubbing sticks and twirling
even simpler machines than these are sending up colunms of
flame and smoke from an old stump. Then try it hour after
hour, breaking the bowstring just at the critical moment, up-
setting the tables, and as some of us have done many and many
times, falling back utterly exhausted, conquered. But then are
you in touch with Primitive Man, then as never before may you
feel what a moment it must have been, when for the first time
in the world, doubting and wondering, the poor naked savage
struggled and toiled and fought for the great secret. When
with the whole of Nature braced against him, as it were, and
swaying with the strain of her tightly held secret, she yields
at last and he conquers fire.
Half an Hour with the Old Taverns of Doylestown.
BY GKN. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 19, 1897).
There is a deal of history in old taverns, and when but few
people could read or write, their sign-boards played no mean
part of the literature of city and town. Alany London streets de-
rived their name from the sign before the tavern, not infrequently
the first house built. A stndv of these signs is suggestive of the
mode of thought and humor of their period.
The crown, typical of royalty, was one of the oldest English
signs. There was a "Crown" in Cheapside, London as early
as 1467. It was associated with many other names, as "Crown
and Mitre/' "Crown and Anchor," etc. An old couplet runs thus :
"The Gentr}' to the King's head,
The nobles to the Crown."
The anchor was probably used as an emblem without refer-
ence to its use in shipping ; and was frequently found in the
catacombs, typical of the words of St. Paul, the "Anchor of the
Soul." The Cross Keys are the arms of the Papal See, the
emblem of Peter and his successors ; but I have no time to
linger, and must hasten to the subject of my paper — "Half an
Hour with the Old Taverns of Doylestown."
The first tavern in Doylestown was opened by William Doyle,
in 1745, and license granted at the March term. The peti-
tioner stated he lived "between two great roads, one leading
from Durham to Philadelphia, the other from Wells' ferry
toward the Potomack." As Doyle lived in New Britain this
would bring his residence in one of the angles formed by the
crossing of the present Main and State streets, and north of
Court. The license was renewed for thirty years, and Doyle kept
the house until about 1775, when he sold out and removed to
Plum.stead, where he died.
Just where this pioneer tavern stood would be interesting to
know. It is only reasonable to suppose Doyle's tavern was
14
4l8 HAIvF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OF DOYEESTOWN
near the cross-roads, so it could command the travel of both.
He may have first set up the bar in his ow^n dwelling, and
afterward rented, or purchased, a convenient house. In this
it is likely the location was south of Court street, and as near
one of the four corners as he could get. It must be remembered
that Doylestown, at that time, contained hardly half a dozen log
houses, and the present name was not applied, until more than
thirty years afterward. In 1752 William Doyle bought 19 acres
of Isabella Crawford, on what is now the northeast corner of
State and Main streets which he sold in October, 1774-76 to
Daniel Hough, innkeeper, of Warwick. This purchase included
Randall's corner, and part, if not all, of the block bounded by
Main, State, Pine and Court streets.
Two or three locations are claimed as the site of Doyle's tav-
ern, but there is little or no evidence to sustain them. There
is one fact, however, that militates against the claim that it stood
on the site of Mrs. Scheetz's dwelling, on West Court street.
When Doyle applied for license at the June term, 1774, he was
set down in the records as "William Doyle of Warwick:" The
line of the present Court street was then the boundary between
New Britain and Warwick, and the site of the Scheetz dwelling
was in New Britain. It is more than likely that Doyle had
kept a tavern at the same location all the years he had been a
landlord.
In conclusion we repeat what we said at the beginning: It
would be highly interesting to know the exact location of
"Doyle's Tavern," the name which our future county capital
bore for thirty years. It might open the way for the develop-
ment of data now entirely unknown, and let us into the secret,
where the young Doyles, Dungans, McLeans, Wests, Manns,
Johnsons, Flacks, Griers and Snodgrasses, scions of the leading
families hereabouts, spent their evenings, and tripped the light
fantastic toe with their rustic sweethearts. We have no modern
Oedipus to unravel the mystery that envelopes our subject.
There is not the same mystery surrounding the second of our
group, known to our fathers as the "Ship Tavern," for it stood
at the southeast corner of State and Main streets, the site of
Lenape building. It antedated all other taverns of our borough
HALF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLESTOWN 419
except Doyle's. When torn down in 1874, to erect Lenape,
the tong-ue of tradition said it had rounded out a full century
as a licensed house, and I beheved it. There was evidence of
great age about the building. The eastern end, containing the
long low parlor, was the original building : the pointing on the
end wall next to Main street was in good condition, and, when
the western end was built, probably when license was granted,
the old wall was plastered over. No doubt the original building
was used for a dwelling. Samuel and Joseph Flack, one of them
the ancestor of James Flack, of our borough, owned this corner
from 1774, down to 1791 when they sold it. The writer was
told many years ago, by Mrs. Nathan Cornell, long a resident
of Doylestown. that Samuel Flack kept tavern there in 1778;
as he and his brother Joseph owned the corner where the
"Ship" stood, it is more than probable he launched that barque
"upon the vasty deep."
An event, worth the telling connects that old house with Rev-
olutionary times. On ]\Iay T, 1778, the day of the battle of
Crooked Billet, a young child of Samuel Flack was buried
from this house, at Neshaminy graveyard. Fear of the British
was such that but four persons were willing to accompany the
corpse, two young men, both armed, and two young women, all
mounted, one of the men carrying the coffin on his horse. On
reaching the graveyard the men dismounted, buried the corpse,
and galloped home as rapidly as possible. They heard the
firing of the Crooked Billet. One (^f these plucky girls was
Mary Doyle, afterwards a Mrs. ^litchell, and mother of !Mrs.
Nathan Cornell already mentioned. This is the first we hear of
the "Ship Tavern," and it was through its front door, the little
coft'in of the dead child was carried that sweet May morning
one hundred and eighteen vears ago.
We next hear of the "Ship" in December, 1805, when George
Stewart announces in Asher Miner's paper that he had "again
commenced business at the old stand in the village of Doyles-
town, a few rods southwest of the two taverns." The "two
taverns" were the Ship, and the ancestor of the Fountain House,
on corners diagonally opposite. The Mansion House was not
then built, and was not licensed until five years later. On Jan-
420 HALF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLESTOWN
iiary lo, 1806, Asher Miner's paper again speaks of our hostelry,
as "that noted tavern stand, 'Sign of the Ship,' in the tenure of
Matthew Hare, situate in Doylestown, fronting the Easton and
New Hope roads." The western, or barroom end, had previously
been built. On April i, 1817, Jacob Kohl advertised his oc-
cupancy of tile "Ship Inn," formerly occupied by John Wor-
man, and latterly by Lott Carr and Colonel Flack, opposite the
stands of John Brock and Captain Magill. The former was a
storekeeper, and the latter kept the Mansion House on the
opposite corner. Flack offered the property for sale in 1816,
but it did not sell. Kohl was agent for a line of stages that
ran to Philadelphia.
In 1829 it was called the "Bucks County Inn;" in 1839 the
"Bucks County Hotel" and kept by Richard Leedom. One of
the more recent landlords was Benjamin Morris, born in Doyles-
town township, and elected sheriff in 1830. He was a member
of the jMorris family, of Hilltown, which, at one time, was
prominent in the county. He was sheriff of the county when
the Mina-Chapman murder took place, and he hanged the mur-
derous Spaniard. He spent several of the later years of his
life at the "Ship" and died there. His step-daughter. Miss LaRue,
a tall, graceful, pretty girl, became the first wife of the late Dr.
George T. Harvey, and was the mother of Judge Edward Harvey
of Allentown. The widow of Benjamin Morris died in recent
years over ninety.
After Benjamin ^^lorris, the "Ship" had several command-
ers, the next owner probably being Pierson Hyde. He did not
keep the house, but rented it to A. R. Kram, who afterwards
moved to the Citizens House. This brings us down to 1851,
when Alfred H. Barber, of Point Pleasant, bought the property
and moved there April i, 1852. Mr. Barber kept the house until
the Fall of 1859, when he sold it to Aaron Barndt, and moved
out in the Spring of i860, and the new landlord moved in.
Barndt did not long enjoy his new honors, for he died in 1862
or '63, and the Ship Tavern passed into the possession of his
family, and, for the next ten years, it was in the hands of ten-
ants. The first of these was Abner Cleaver, who came from the
Clear Spring and remained a couple of years, when he removed
HALF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVLRNS OF DOYLESTOWN 421
to the historic Brick Tavern, Newtown, where (1897) he still
is. He was succeeded by John Bush, the last of a long line of
landlords, the Doylestown Improvement Company buying the
property for the erection of the Lenape Building, and into their
hands. Bush gave up the Ship in the Spring of 1874. Peace
to its ashes ! The borough elections were held for many years
at the "Ship," at that time the vote was cast at one poll, and if
the scenes attending these expressions of the popular will could
be recalled, they would make an exceedingly interesting chapter
in our village life. An oil painting of the old inn is extant.
The Fountain House is the third tavern in this group, and its
record reaches back almost a hundred years, under various
names. The ground upon which it and its belongings stand,
is part of a tract William Penn conveyed to Jeremiah Lang-
horne, October 10, 1707. Thirty-nine years afterward it came
into possession of Richard Swanwick, an officer of customs at
Philadelphia ; who, taking sides with the Crown when the
Revolution broke out, his real estate was confiscated and sold
at public auction, August 24, 1779. He owned the land that the
Fountain House and bank now stand upon. It was bought
bv Samuel and Joseph Flack, the same who owned the Ship
tavern, and to whom the State executed a deed June 8, 1780.
Meanwhile Samuel Flack had bought his brother Joseph's in-
terest, and conveyed the whole to John Shaw, innkeeper, of
Plumstead. It is thought Shaw built a house, obtained license
and kept tavern there : but, be that as it may, Shaw sold the
property to Enoch Plarvey, March 29, 1794: Harvey to Charles
Stewart, his father-in-law, in 1798: Stewart to Dr. Hugh Mer-
edith, in 1802 : and ^Meredith conveyed it back to Harvey, in
1803, who retained possession imtil his death in 1822.
Our Quarter Sessions records show that license was issued
to Charles Stewart in 1800, 1801 and 1802, and to Enoch Har-
vey in 1802 3 4567 8. and doubtless for several years after-
ward. Harvey rented the house to David P. Marple, in 181 5,
who subsequently went to Philadelphia and died there in 1829.
At that period the house was known as the "Doylestown Hotel,"
and later as the "Fox Chase Hotel," retaining the latter name until
sometime in the 30's. A live whale, caught in the Delaware
422 HALF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLESTOWN
the admittance to adults being- 25 cents and children 12 1/2
cents. Mr. Harvey advertised the property for sale in July,
181 5, and the description given of it then is of interest after
a lapse of 80 years. He says :
"The house is large and commodious, 76 feet in length, anrl
30 wide, containing six convenient rooms on the lower floor be-
sides an entry, and ten rooms on the second floor, one being
sufficiently capacious to accommodate parties of business f)r
pleasure. In front of the house is a porch, and, contiguous to
it, is a well of superior and lasting water with a good pumo
therein." The house was then but two stories with the usual
attic. I rememlier the "capacious'" room spoken of on the sec-
ond floor, and attended a military l)a]l there ncarlv fifty years
ago, when the nodding ]>lumcs and glittering eiiaulets of the
county militia ofticers helped make a brilliant scene. It was
called the " ball room." forme(| ])y throwing- three rooms (sepa-
rated b\- movable i)artitions) into one. .\t the time it was the
only room in the borough, except the court-room, suitable for
such i)ur])ose.
]\rr. llarve\' made a second attempt to sell the property in
1830, with no better success than before. He spoke of it as
"the Sign of the Fox Chase," 26 miles from Philadelphia, 30
from Easton, tt from New Hope: it fronts on the Philadel-
phia and Easton Port road, and the State road to the State line,
and is known as the most eligible situation in the village for
a public house. Among the outbuildings were two stone hay
houses, carriage house, shed and stabling for 60 horses, also a
large stone blacksmith shop, and a good wheelwright shop.
After the death of Harvey in 1832, the executor sold the
tavern property to Daniel Wierman for $1,976, and the follow-
ing year the latter sold it to Stephen Brock, who took posses-
sion April T. 1833, coming from the Turk, whither he had
moved from Doylestown the spring before. Brock was the most
famous landlord of the town, if not of the county, and will be
referred to again in this paper. Brock kept the house for a
couple of years and sold it in 1835 to James Meredith for
$4,250. Meredith probably never occupied the house but made
HALF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLFSTOWN 423
some improvements. Isaac W. James was the landlord in 1836,
and it was called the "Doylestown Hotel," the revival of an old
name. There was now a double piazza, and two-thirds of the build-
ing was three stories high. James was followed by William Field,
who kept the house 1837-38. In the Winter, or early Spring of
the latter year, Meredith sold the property to Elnathan Pettitt
for $5,000; he also came up from the Anchor, and was the
second landlord that hostelry gave to our borough.
Mr. Pettitt was an old and experienced landlord and he in-
creased the popularity of the house. The Quarter Sessions
records show that he kept a licensed house in Warwick in 1800
to 1808 inclusive, but we have no means of telling where.
Prior to the organization of Doylestown "township, he may have
kept a house' anywhere in Doylestown, south of Court street
and been in Warwick.
Mr. Pettitt took possession of what we call the "Fountain
House" in the Spring of 1838, and ruled over the destinies of
the old inn eleven years. The Bucks County Intelligencer
gave him a send-off by recommending him and his sons "as
true and good Whigs as there are in the county." Mr. Pettitt
had two sons and two daughters, agreeable young people, who
attracted company and helped to make the house a social cen-
tre. Elnathan, or "Telly," as he was known to everybody,
remained at home and assisted his father to run the house, while
John B. read medicine, graduated, and settled at Taylorsville,
where he married. His death was a sad one. On the night
of May 26, 1845, while returning from visiting a patient, his
horse ran away, threw him out, and, becoming entangled in the
harness, was dragged several hundred yards, and picked up dead.
One of Mr. Pettitt's daughters married Mannassah H. Sny-
der, the founder of the Bucks County Express, the first German
newspaper published in the county. He was a man of promi-
nence; was proprietor and editor of the Doylestown Democrat;
was Postmaster, and cut quite a figure in political and military
circles. He rounded out a varied life by serving in the ranks
during the war of 1861-65, and two of his sons were also serv-
ing their Country as telegraph operators. During Mr. Pettitt's
ownership, Stephen Brock rented the inn one year, and that
424 HAU- AN HOUR WITH THK OU) TAVlCRNS OF DOYI^ESTOWN
Summer the house received a fresh coat of paint. When Pet-
titt sold out. in i84(;, the hotel passed into the hands of Charles
H. Mann, who had recently retired from the sheriff's office.
He took possession the first of April, moving down from the
Citizen's house. This is almost fifty years ago, and yet, on
looking- hack, it seems that one can almost touch that period
with one's hand. Suhsequent to Mann's occupancy forty years
ago, there have heen five jiroprietors and landlords for this
popular puhlic house; X. P. Krower 1856, William Corson
^S(>/, Edward Yost 1879. John T. vSimpson 1883, and Daniel
Mcf^aughlin since 1892. In that time the house has been much
improved, and is now the most imposing and valuable hotel in
the county. ]\Ir. Corson changed the name to the "Fountain
House." from the small fountain he put in over the old well.
John Purdy was the landlord while Mr. Simpson owned the
house, and a model one he was. Mr. McLaughlin, the present
owner and kee])er of this po])ular establishment, is able to
speak for himself.
Not the least interesting feature in the history of the Fountain
House is its increase in value. In less than half a century it
has appreciated nearly two thousand per cent. Giving the fig-
ures we have at hand, and starting at 1832. when it was sold
for $1,976. we find an increase in value at every change of
hands until it passed to its present owner at $33,000. We
doubt if equal advance in the price of a country tavern property
can be cited anywhere else in Pennsylvania.
The Mansion House, that stood on the southwest corner of
State and ]\lain streets, the site of Weinrebe's bakery and con-
fectionery, is the fourth historic tavern. In 1775, that corner,
and a considerable tract in the angle formed by Maine and State
streets, was owned by William Scott. When the Continental
Army encamped at Doylestown, in June. 1778. on its march
from A'alley Forge to strike the British Army in its flight to
New York, one brigade occupied the south side of State street
west of Main. A small frame or log house stood on the corner.
While it is not important, for our purpose, to know when
the Magill's came to Doylestown, or got possession of this cor-
ner, we will say, in passing, they were early settlers, and the
HAIvF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLESTOWN 425
male line is still with us in the person of Charles H. Magill,
grandson of William, first landlord of the Mansion House.
William Magill was born in 1777 and erected the building, a
two and a half story stone, fronting State street, in the first
decade of the century. It was doubtless built for a public
house, and its erection probably hastened by the movement to
have the seat of justice removed to Doylestown. He took out
his first license in 18 10. This was renewed from year to year,
and he continued to keep the house until his death, in 1824,
at the age of 47. Mr. Magill was a man of note and influence
in the community, and public spirited, to judge from his con-
duct. When the British Army threatened Philadelphia, in 1814,
he recruited a company of A'olunteers and served through the
campaign on the lower Delaware. On one occasion his towns-
men selected him to deliver the 4th of July oration, and he
acquitted himself with great credit, the celebration taking place
in the Academy. No doubt the name it bore for 50 years was
given the house at the time it was built. It had a porch on both
fronts, and, when Peter Opp returned home from the Mexi-
can War, in 1848, Dr. Charles H. Matthews welcomed him in
a patriotic speech from the front porch.
On the death of William Magill he was succeeded by his
widow, a practice more common then than now, and she pre-
sided over the destiny of the Mansion House for ten years. As
we find William Field in possession in 1834, he probably fol-
lowed Mrs. Magill in her life time. He was a son of Benjamin
Field of Doylestown, and elected Sheriff of the county the same
Fall. This shortened his reign over this tavern. There were
four candidates. Field and Plenry Carver representing the two
great parties, with Christopher Bloom and George Harple as
free lances. Field was elected by a majority of 120, while the
two independent candidates polled, respectively, 136 and 793
votes. Field was twice married, his first wife being Martha
Dungan to whom he was united, October 27, 1824, by George
li. Pawling, Esq. Pie Avas a popular man and figured exten-
sively as an innkeeper in after years. His daughter Elizabeth,
a child of the second marriage, a sprightly, pretty girl, and
the toast of the vouno- men of Doylestown, added to the
426 HAIvK AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLESTOWN
popularity of her father's house. She married Rex Peters,
son of the great stage proprietor, and partner of Reeside, who
was called the "Land Admiral," and they settled down on a farm
in Chester county.
Samuel E. Buck was the successor of William Field at the Man-
sion House, keeping it a couple of years, and then removing to
the Ruck Tavern, formerly Mrs. !\Iarple's, 130 North Second
street, Philadelphia, which he opened December 19, 1838. He
probably kept that a year, when he took the Mount Vernon House,
South Second street, where he died December 7, 1840. He was
a member of the Buck family of Nockamixon, and a handsome,
dashing-looking man. He and one of the pretty daughters of
Josiah Y. Shaw falling in love with each other, gave the father
the slip, hied away to the city, and were married by Mayor
Swift, December 29, 1833. Buck came to Doylestown in 1832,
and began store-keeping with Daniel Wierman as business part-
ner, the latter dying in January, 1834. Mr. Buck's widow
married John Titus, a native of Bucks county and a member
of the Philadelphia bar, who afterward achieved considerable
distinction in the profession, at one time filling the chair of
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Arizona. Mrs. Titus was
a lovely woman, whose estimable qualities increased with ripen-
ing years.
When Buck left the Mansion House, in 1838, a man named
Zepp, from Philadelphia, took charge, of whom little is known
and less said by this generation. When Zepp went out, Charlie
Tucker moved in. He was a facetious fellow, and a tailor, who
followed his trade while he played the role of landlord. He
probably kept the house three years as we know license was
issued to him in January, 1842, for the coming year. Tucker
had several successors while the house continued in license,
Thomas Sands being one of the last. The house went out of
license in the Summer of 1853, while David Wilson, of Nock-
amixon, was landlord, who was sold out by the Sheriff. It
was Democratic headquarters for several years, and there the
returns were brought the night of the election. As it did not
take so long to count off then, as at present, the returns
were frequently in by midnight, when the political couriers would
HAI.F AN HOUR WITH THE) OLD TAVE;RNS OF DOYLESTOWN 427
set out to carry the news to the different sections of the county.
This practice was continued until there was proper telegraph
and rail facilities. To get the returns required much riding and
driving. There was so much uncertainty as to Bridges first elec-
tion, 1852, that Dr. Harvey and I drove up to Allentown,
a round trip of 60 miles, to get the figures, driving John
Weikel's famous match grays.
The first telegraph instrument in the county was set up and
operated in the Mansion House parlor in the Winter of 1845,
which I remember very well. Dr. Alfred Goell, a Russian, and
pet of Amos Kendall, Postmaster General, and James L. Shaw,
son of Josiah Y. Shaw, of Doylestown, were putting up wires
from Norristown across Montgomery and Bucks to Lambert-
ville, a section of the line from Washington to New York, via
Baltimore and Philadelphia. The instrument attracted great
attention and many came to see it ; and they were not a few
who contradicted it when told people could talk over the wires.
At that time copper wire only was used, as it was thought
none other would carry the electric current.
The Mansion House property was not sold at the death of
William Magill's widow, but retained in the family, until their
son Alfred, father of Charles H., died. This was in 1853, when
it was put up at public sale and knocked off to John Weikel
for about $6,000, and a conveyance executed to William T.
Eisenhart and Abraham L. Garron for an advance of $500. The
property was about an acre in extent, fronting on South Main
and West State streets. It was sold off in building lots and built up
with stores and dwellings ; the Main street block in 1857, and that
on State after the war. Willoughby Shade bought the tavern
house, and kept a tinware and stove store there, for a few years,
when it passed into the hands of the late James S. Mann, who
improved it handsomely as we see it to-day. Thus two of the
"Three Taverns," around which throbbed much of the business
pulse and life of the village, and were really its centre, have
passed into history.
There are two groups of old taverns in Doylestown ; one, and
the elder, at the crossing of the two main streets, whose history
we have briefly rehearsed ; the other, about the court-house.
428 HALF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVLRNS OF DOYLFSTOWN
These had their birth in tlie removal of the seat of justice to
this place, and, but for that, would probably never have existed.
Their story we will now relate.
The elder of these is known to history as the "Indian Queen,"
a name recognized by few of the present generation, and by
these as more of a myth than a reality — occupying the apex of
the triangle bounded by Court, Main and Broad streets, in-
cluding the court-house grounds. It had three lives; first a
blacksmith shop, then a country tavern, and, for three-quarters
of a century, a dwelling, familiarly spoken of as the "Ross
Mansion," the home of one of the oldest and brainiest families
of the county.
The ground this historic house stood upon, was part of the
"Free Society of Traders" tract: then to Jonathan Kirkbride ;
to William Doyle, in 1737 the first appearance of the founder
of our county's capital ; to John Robinson ; to Joseph and
Jesse Fell, prior to the Revolution, who built a smith shop on
the southeast side of the road leading from Easton to Philadel-
phia, near where Main and Court streets cross. Here Joseph
pounded iron, shod oxen and horses, repaired country carts and
discussed with his neighbors the quarrel between Britain and
.her Colonies. The Fells were Quakers as they are to-day,
and Joseph owned the Mann farm on the New Hope pike
just beyond the borough dam. In 1788 Joseph Fell bought his
brother's interest, the latter removing to the Wyoming Valley,
where he kept tavern, sat upon the bench and took a hand in
teaching the industrial world how to burn anthracite coal in a
grate. In 1802 this triangle fell into the possession of Nathaniel
Shewell, of Painswick Hall, who parted with the last of it in 181 5.
The smithy was the germ of the tavern and mansion, and it
was no trouble for the genealogist to read their ancestry and
descent in the rude arches over the cellar windows, and in the
masonry of the southeast corner.
When reasonably assured that Doylestown would be the new
county-seat, Nathaniel Shewell enlarged the ancient smithy to
a two-story attic house, extending the southwest front to Main
street, two rooms on each story. This improvement was plainly
to be distinguished bv better stone and finer dressing, espec-
HALF AN HOUR WITH THK OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLFSTOWN 429
ially at the corners. Further addition was made before, or after,
the house got Hcense, including the hall and sitting and dining
rooms. The kitchen and library were built to the east end
after the property came into possession of the Ross family.
While Lear and Flack were tearing down the old building
to erect the bank, a discovery was made that settles a disputed
point. On two of the beam fillings at the top of the Court
street wall, near the southeast corner, scratched in the fresh
mortar were the letters "N. S. and G. S., 181 1," the former,
undoubtedly, standing for "Nathaniel Shewell," the owner of
the property, and the latter for some other member of that fam-
ily. This record cannot be successfully disputed. In the
middle of the dwelling (not including the hallway that ran
through the house from southeast to northwest) was a heavy
stone wall extending up to the comb of the roof, and on it
was found a dressed chimney top ; additional evidence that
the small southeast corner room, first story, was a smith shop.
The building may have been extended to its northeast limit in
181 1, for when Shewell ofifered it for sale, in 1812, he described
the house as a new stone house, 50x32 feet, having three
fronts ; a stone barn with convenient double sheds, 95 feet
long, and a stone smith shop. The smith shop had probably
been rebuilt across Main street, in front of the Thompson house,
where charcoal and other debris of a smithy were turned uo
over forty years ago in digging foundations for a hay scale. As
Shewell did not sell his Indian Queen he concluded to rent it,
and we now come to its history as a tavern.
And who were the landlords that watched over the destiny
of this new tavern at the new cxDunty-seat ? The first on the
roll is Frederick Nicholas. Of him we know nothing except
that he was refused license, elsewhere, a short time before. He
took possession of the Indian Queen about the first of April,
1813 ; occupied it about two years, and, on the first of April,
T815, was succeeded by Matthew Hare, who removed from the
Ship Tavern. In a newspaper notice of his change of location,
he says he had "given up the ship," and hoped "by particu-
lar attention to the duties of a public house keeper, to reinlist
430 HALF AN HOUR WITH THE) OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLESTOWN
a portion of his old shipmates." Hare was an old landlord,
and we think a Warwick man.
On April i, 1816, Stephen Brock, whose acquaintance we
made at the "Doylestown Hotel," assumed the baton of author-
ity at the Indian Queen. His license was issued at the April
sessions, and renewed the following year. On taking possession
he made the following announcement in the columns of Asher
Miner's newspaper of April 9th. :
" Friends at a distance, and neighbors near."
" I have taken Shewell's convenient tavern stand in Doylestown, near the
court-house, at the door of which the Indian Queen exhibits herself in all
kinds of weather, her spirits neither depressed b}' clouds nor raised by stm-
shitie. I have liquors of a good quality, and have made comfortable pro-
vision for the weary traveler, including provender for his horses ; and, hav-
ing a disposition to live by the provision, I pledge myself to use every
proper exertion to give satisfaction to those who may frequent the inn of
Stephen Brock."
Mr. Brock was a picturesque person, and, as an innkeeper,
surpassed by none. He was genial and popular, and an import-
ant factor in county politics. No man could play the part of
candidate for office with greater success, and he was charged
with enrolling the mothers on his side in politics, by kissing the
children and giving them candy. His strength among the vot-
ers was so great, that, on two occasions, he ran as an indepen-
ent candidate for sheriff against the field and was elected. In
his first race, in 1821, when returned by 983 majority, he an-
nounced his candidacy in a card, which starts off by saying:
"I am no grandee, nor caucus man, nor political intriguer: btit
a plain man." and the people seem to have thought so, for they
elected him. There was always a vein of humor about him;
in the Spring of 1825 when he moved out to the Cross Keys,
he announced that instead of having "shifted his quarters to
the Lake country, the Cherokee settlements, or any other out-
landish region," he "had only removed to the sign of the Cross
Keys, lately kept by Peter Adams, Esq., on the Easton road,
one mile from Doylestown."
M. Brock left the Indian Queen April i, 1818, and William
McHenry, father of the late Charles McHenry, of Doylestown,
succeeded him. The new host came of an old Irish family, and
HALF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLFSTOWN
431
his immediate ancestor was the Rev. Francis McHenry, a dis-
tinguished Presbyterian divine. He was a watchmaker and
carried on his trade while keeping the house. He was followed
by Abram Black, whose pet name was "Walabocker," not at
all classic, but affectionate, who moved up from the Black
Bear, where he had kept seven years. He was at the Queen
in 1821-22. In 1815 Shewell sold the property to William
Watts, who came up from Newtown with the removal of the
county-seat. He had held more than one row-office, and was
subsequently Associate Judge. At the end of Mr. Black's two
years, Mr. Watts took out a license in his own name and kept
it for two years, 1823-24. We know of no occurrence out of
the ordinary routine of life at a country tavern while he kept
it, and, in the latter year,Mr. Watts sold the property to Judge
John Ross, recently appointed to the Common Pleas bench of
the district. The deed is dated May 25, 1824.
The life of this historic tavern now comes to an end, as the
new owner put it to other uses ; the Indian Queen was trans-
formed into a dwelling, and used as such to the end of its days,
almost three-quarters of a century. Three generations of ^av\-
yers were reared and trained under its roof. Many of us have
a vivid recollection of the elegant woman who presided over
the Ross mansion; of the pride she took in her intellectual
sons ; and with what grief she mourned the daughter of the
house cut off in the pride of womanhood. Many pleasant, as
well as sad memories linger about the old homestead.
The Court Inn legitimately follows the Indian Queen, and
may almost be called its child. It was a modest frame building
until Mr. Heist improved it. We do not know when it was
built, but it v/as probably transformed into a tavern soon after
the Indian Queen retired to private life. It will be remembered
that W^illiam Watts sold the Queen to Judge Ross in 1824, and
he was the first, or one of the first, landlords of the Court Inn.
He left it November i, 1826, his goods being sold at public
vendue, October 26. Pie was doubtless the owner, for he men-
tions in his advertisement, that he had "rented both his tavern
and farm." Among the stock sold at his vendue was a pair
of beautiful cream bays, known as "Lafayette horses," very
432 HALF AN HOUR WITH THZ OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLESTOWN
much the fad after Lafayette's visit in 1824. They were two
of the six horses of that color that drew the Marquis through
the streets of Philadelphia when he visited that city.
William Field succeeded Watts, taking possession of the
house the fourth of November. He was still there in 1832,
and, on the 28th of October, married his second wife, Eliza
Gordon, of Doylestown. The "Doylestown coachee," running
to and from Philadelphia, carrying the mail, put up at the
Court Inn, and Field probably owned it, as he was proprietor
of a stage line in 1832. Watts still owned the house in the
Spring of \^2, when William T. Rogers offered it for sale as
his agent. The house was robbed the night of April 15, 1830,
while Field occupied it, and a number of articles stolen, in-
cluding a dozen silver spoons, marked with the initial "D,"
which had belonged to his first wife. It is possible Field did
not occupy the house continuously from 1826 to 1832; if he
left in 1832 he may have lived privately until 1834, when he
moved into the Mansion House. There is a break in the line of
landlords, and our Quarter Sessions records do not help us out.
Crispin Blackfan, of Solebury, while Prothonotary in the 20's
kept the Court Inn, and his son, Joseph H., told me he was
born there. In future years the son held an important position
in the Post Office Department, and was ''Superintendent of For-
eign Mails" for a long time. John Weikle kept the house in
1842. and George II. Wyker in 1844, who. at the time of mov-
ing into it, announced in one of the town newspapers that he
"had absquatulated from the old stand on the Easton road, two
miles below the Willow Grove, and has squatted down at
Doylestown at the Court Inn."
Wyker was followed by Joseph Strawn, "Pappy Strawn," as
he was called, to whom license was granted at the April term
1846. He kept the house twenty years, and developed a num-
ber of peculiarities of character. He had a certain time for
closing, and the rule was as rigid as the law of the ]\Iedes and
Persians. The hour was ten o'clock, and if the guests were
at the bar taking a "night cap," it made no difference, they
had to go. He had great faith in the moon, and watched it
closely, and, as age grew upon him, began to predict and pro-
HAIvF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OF DOYEESTOWN 433
phesy. One of his peculiarities was his dishke to negroes, and,
with a single exception, none of this race was allowed to drink
at his bar. This was Peter Jackson, a negro of the old school,
tall and dignified, and a constant attendant upon the officers
in the hey day of our county military. Strawn had an only son,
Clayton, who, after serving in the war of the rebellion, went to
sea with a couple of his companions, and sailing the south seas
over in different vessels, they met at Honolulu. The other two
came home, but Strawn remained ; contracted leprosy, was sent
to the island where such unfortunates are confined : and finally
became the Governor. One of Strawn's daughters married
William Beek, who built the first exhibition building on the
Doylestown Fair Grounds in 1855, which was blown down that
Fall, after a great fair at which Horace Greeley and a baby
exhibit were the drawing cards. Allen H. Heist succeeded
Strawn at the Court Inn in 1866 and to him the house is in-
debted for all the modern improvements. He first erected the
brick back building and then the front structure, the original
frame giving way to the demands for better accommodations.
The third tavern, in the court-house group, was the stone
house at the northeast corner of !Main and Broad streets, now
owned and occupied by Webster Grim, Esq. It was a licensed
house for many years under the name of the "Green Tree,"
a sign bearing this emblem, swinging in front of it. This was
the third tavern that had its birth in the transfer of the
county-seat from Newtown to Doylestown, and built by Septi-
mus Evans for a dwelling, prior to 1813. Evans, a clock and
watch maker by trade, was here before 1807 and married Cath-
arine Houpt, of Durham, March 11, i8ti. He obtained license
in 1813, 14 and 15, and kept it as a tavern these years, but.
wishing to go elsewhere, sold it to Daniel Woodrufil:" in the Fall
of i8i5', and he probably moved into it the first of April, i8r6.
He announced himself as the "landlord of the Green Tree Inn,"
on taking possession, the first mention of the name we have
seen. To what place Evans removed, and when he left Doyles-
town we do not know, but we find him following his trade at
Jenkintown in 1821. He was the father of the late Henry S.
Evans, many years proprietor and editor of the F/7/(7,f;r Record,
434 HALF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLESTOWN
West Chester, probably the most valuable country newspaper
in Pennsylvania. He served two terms in the State Senate.
He was born in Doylestown, and no doubt under the roof of
the Green Tree.
A new landlord took possession in the Spring of 1817, a
village tailor by the name of John Randall, and the second
of this craft who became a boniface in our town. During his
occupancy of the house a stranger and a traveler died there,
William Dennison Burroughs, of the State of New York, who
had taken a raft down the Delaware to Philadelphia, and was
attacked with pleurisy on his return. We are not informed
how long Randall kept the house, nor who were the interven-
ing landlords, if any, but we do know that Margaret Kiple
kept it in 1822-23, leaving it the first of April, 1823. Joseph
Burroughs, the father of the "Citizens' House," of which more
later on, bought the property in the Spring of 1823 and moved
in, as Mrs. Kiple went out. Burroughs, who was still there
in 1826, announced that "Mineral water of the best quality,
and ice cream equal to Philadelphia manufacture, can be had
on Thursday and Saturday evenings." These were luxuries at
that day. Air. Burroughs' wife, Sarah, died in Philadelphia
June 30, 1824. He left the tavern prior to 1828, and began
keeping a flour and feed store in Doylestown, being succeeded
at the Green Tree by Henry Carver, subsequently elected
Brigade Inspector. Carver was there in 1828, and William
Field from 1829 to 1 831.
Thomas Purdy, of Southampton, father of ex-Sheriff John
M. Purdy, was the next landlord to rule over the Green Tree,
his administration beginning April i, 1831, William Purdy,
his father, having been recently appointed Prothonotary of the
county by Governor Wolf. Father and son, that Spring, came
to Doylestown and occupied the tavern. The license was taken
out in the name of the son. The Purdys left the Green Tree
in the Spring of 1833 ; the father removing to the house now
occupied by Arthur Lehman, corner of State street and Print-
ers" alley, where he died in 1834, the son going to the Black
Bear, Northampton township, where he kept store a few
vears in the Stuckert storehouse, and then removed to his
HALF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLESTOWN 435
father's farm in Southampton. He died there in the Fall of
1844, two years after his election to the Sheriff's office. Amons^
the subsequent landlords were Benjamin Carver, the successor
of Purdy; Kirk J. Price, who kept the house in 1836; Theo-
dore Kinsey, who left the tavern to engage in the lightning-rod
business, and, striking it at the flood, led on to fortune ; and
Joel Vasey, who left the Green Tree in 1849, to give place to
Abram R. Kram, the bartender for Lewis Apple at the Citizens'
House. License was granted to both Apple and Vasey at the
April Term, 1846. The Green Tree gave up the ghost as a
licensed house sometime in the Spring of '54, and, since then,
has been occupied as a residence by various persons.
The fourth, and last, of the group of taverns that encircled
the court-house was the "Citizens' House," known by other
names to the present generation, but practically the same build-
ing now occupied by Scheetz's stores, southwest corner of
Court and Pine streets. It was a frame house built by Joseph
Burroughs, in 1830-31, for a temperance house; finished in the
Winter and opened in March. One of the newspapers of the
village announced on December 7, 1830, that the "Citizens'
House," is now ready for the reception of jurors, boarders and
others, by the proprietor, Joseph Pjurroughs. The advertisement
was headed "New Establishment." At that time there were
no buildings on the south side of Court street between the
Academy and Printers" alley, where Barton Stuart's log barn
stood. It was enlarged and improved by several owners.
In 1835 the proprietor of this temperance house, wiioso-
ever he may have been, was the possessor of a handsome col-
lection of birds, insects, fishes, minerals, etc.. collected by the
son of a Mr. Myers, supposed to be the landlord. They were
the cause of attraction. An article that appeared in the Intelli-
gencer, of May 13, 1835. signed "Subscriber" pays the fol-
lowing compliment to this hostelry, and its collection of curios :
"Being at court last week, I had a curiosity to visit this
establishment, and rarely have I spent a half hour more agree-
ably than in examining the collection of birds, minerals, sculp-
ture and paintings, with which one of the rooms of the Inn
is so tastefully decorated. The skill displayed in the ar-
436 HALF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OE DOYEESTOWN
rangement of the specimens deserves praise, and the collection
is highly creditable to the place." At what time the house
obtained license is not known, but it was probably after 1836,
when Kirk J. Price removed hither from the Green Tree; this
is supposed to have been about 1839, ^^^ ^^at William Field
was the first landlord after license was granted. He left it
in the Spring of 1841, and removed to the Mount Vernon
House, Philadelphia, the second Doylestown landlord to try
his fortune at that then famous house. After license was
obtained the name was changed to that of "Citizens' House,"'
which name it retained to the end of its days as a tavern.
Stephen Brock succeeded Field the Spring he left, and kept
the house for five years, removing to the Cross Keys in 1846.
When he took charge he headed his notice in the newspapers,
"Brock against the field," and it was literally true. While he
kept the house it was the centre of much of the social life of
Bucks county's capital. Air. Brock's two agreeable daughters,
and three popular sons, were important factors in making it
attractive during their father's administration. The Summer
of 1845 was especially gay; the house was filled with boarders,
among them several attractive girls from the city. Cotillion
parties, in the large dining room, were of almost nightly occur-
rence, and picnics frequent. Some hearts were touched, and,
in after years, matches made by those who first met there. I
was then in Doylestown and joined in these innocent pleasures,
and, in after years, when standing in that empty dining-room,
and contemplating past delights, it seemed "like some banquet
hall deserted."
Ex-Sherifif Charles H. Mann succeeded Mr. Brock in the
Spring of 1846, and kept the house until he removed to the
Fountain Plouse in 1849, which he bought of Pettitt. The
landlords in rotation, from Mann, were Lewis Apple, who
moved from Opp's : J. Wilson Cowell, son of Joseph Cowell, of
Point Pleasant, whose tavern was quite famous in its day, and
where J. Wilson got his early training, and whose oldest daugh-
ter married James X'^anhorne, cashier of Hatboro National Bank ;
William C. Knight, of Southampton, bought the house in 1863,
kept it two years then he returned to Southampton where he died
HALF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLESTOWN 437
in 1877 ; Thomas P. Miller, son of Alahlon Miller who kept the
famous Black Bear many years, who made some valuable im-
provements, and was succeeded by ex-Sheriff Purdy in the Spring
of 1876; Morgan Rufe bought the house of Purdy in 1883,
and altered it for a general store. After Rufe's death it was
bought by A. F. Scheetz whose sons conduct mercantile business
in it. In its prime, the Citizens' House was the first public house
of the county-seat. Its nearness to the court-house helped its
patronage, and, when the four-horse mail stages ran between
Easton and Philadelphia, before the days of railroads, they
stopped there to change horses and dine, coming into town to
the music of the driver's horn.
In the forties and early fifties, while Judges Krause and Smy-
ser were upon the bench, they made the Citizens' House their
headquarters while holding court. This made it the resort of
the members of the bar, much more than a similar cause
would influence them now. After court had adjourned for the
day it was no unusual thing to see almost the entire bar at
this popular hostelry, spending all, or part, of the evening, talk-
ing politics, discussing points of law, indulging in jokes, and.
not infrequently, seasoned with wit. When the weather was
mild enough to sit out of doors the company would gather on
the broad pavement in front of the house. The late Thomas
Ross took great delight in these social-professional gatherings,
and was the life of the assemblage. His gold snuff-box played
no mean part, for when that was taken out and passed around,
it was equivalent to serving notice on the company there was
fun ahead. More than one fellow member of the bar suffered
from the keenness of his wit.
At one time, away back in the 30's, the post-ofiice was in the
Citizens' House, kept in the cellar under the southwest end, and
was entered by an open stairway from Court street. Randall Mad-
dock was the postmaster, and if tradition be at all truthful, he car-
ried the letters round town in his hat. Our postal service has
grown verv considerably in the last sixty years.
The "Spring House Tavern," at whose front swung the sign
of the "Bucks County Farmer" near a century ago, and, at
this time, is known as the "Clear Spring Hotel," is one of the
438 HALF AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLFSTOWN
oldest taverns in Doylestown. When built and by whom, when
first licensed to sell the "ardent," and the name of the first
landlord, we are not informed. But one fact we do know, and
that points to its longevity ; it was a public house at the dawn
of the century, years before any one dreamed that the little ham-
let at the crossing of the Easton road and that from Coryell's
Ferry to the Schuylkill would ever become the county's capital.
As long ago as 1806 this tavern was owned and kept by John
Worman. doubtless the same who was carrying on tailoring in
Doylestown just previous to that time. On December 6 he ad-
vertised his tavern for sale in "(lermany," the name that end
of our borough has borne from that time to the present, with
twenty-three acres of land. He says in a partial description of
the premises, "The house has two fronts, each 50x20 feet,
with a good kitchen." As Landlord Worman did not succeed
in selling his tavern he concluded to remain, and stayed there
until April i, 1809, when he removed to Philadelphia to the
sign of "The Drover," Third and Callowhill. Who followed
Worman at the Spring House we do not know, but the next we
hear of the tavern it was owned by John Ledley Dick, who
probably bought it of Worman. Dick was still the owner in 181 3,
and possibly longer. On August 30 he offered it at public sale
under the name of the "Spring House, sign of the Bucks County
Farmer." At this time Jacob Overholt was keeping it. The
house was spoken of as a "New .stone building with a living
spring of water near its base, and in full view of the public
buildings, Doylestown." This tallies well with what may be said
of it now. Just previous to vacating the premises Overholt ad-
vertised a "Fox Chase," in Asher Miner's newspaper, in the
following terms :
"A handsome fox will be let out from the Bucks County Far-
mers' Inn, in Doylestown, when all, who are fond of innocent
sport, are invited to attend with good dogs and fleet horses." We
are not informed how the fox chase terminated, nor who took
the brush.
Mr. Dick, with three sisters, came from Belfast, Ireland, in
the first decade of the century, and settled at Doylestown. They
are supposed to have been the children of a Presbyterian min-
HALF AN HOUR WITH THt OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLESTOWN 439
ister. He took to business, bought the tannery in "Germany,"
and carried on the tannery business. One of the sisters became
the wife of Dr. Charles Meredith, and the brother married a
daughter of WilHam Erwin, of Erwinna. The death of Mr. Dick
was surrounded with pathetic circumstances, and great sadness.
The typhus fever was epidemic in Doylestown, in the Winter of
1 81 5, and he was one of the victims, dying February 18, after
a few days' ilhiess. He was the first person buried in the Pres-
byterian graveyard. A young member of the bar, and Mr. Dick's
intimate associate and friend, and who was with him in his last
moments, in a letter written to a friend in the lower end of the
county, thus speaks of this sad event :
"My friend. John L. Dick, died to-day at 2 p.m., of the ty-
phus fever. How frail is man ! Ten days ago he was in the
vigor of health. Alas, how visionary our hopes of earthly hap-
piness : but two months since he married Miss Erwin, the
daughter of the richest man in the county. How soon their
fondest anticipations of future bliss and domestic felicity were
destroyed." The writer of this letter caught the fever of Dick
and died in a few days — himself, mother, sister, and a young
lady, a member of the family, all dying in the same house within
two weeks.
In 1816, Valentine Opp, of Springfield township moved down
to Doylestown and occupied the Clear Spring, of which he was
landlord and owner for many years. He was succeeded by his
son. The tavern was in the occupancy of the Opp family until
1843. Peter Opp, who served through the Mexican War, was
a grandson of Valentine. Mrs. Clementine Constantine, daughter
of Valentine Opp, died at Doylestown, October 7, 1896, in her
88th year. When the Opps left the tavern in 1843, Lewis Apple
moved in, remaining there until I1846, when he went to the
Citizens' House. Apple was succeeded at the Clear Spring by
Thomas Scotland, and a number of others down to the present
time, whose incomings and outgoings are known to the present
generation.
A few words more and our story is concluded, of the nine old
taverns we have discoursed about, and which, in their best days,
wielded great influence. Six have been dropped from the rolls
440 HAI,F AN HOUR WITH THE OLD TAVERNS OF DOYLESTOVVN
of licensecl houses, and but three remain, the Fountain, Monu-
ment, and the Clear Spring. As we call the roll of their land-
lords, a rather remarkable fact presents itself, eight of them,
including one proprietor, filled the office of High Sheriff, and one
was twice elected ; they were Stephen Brock, William Field,
Benjamin Morris, Thomas Furdy, Charles H. Mann, John M.
Purdy, Allen H. Heist and John T. Simpson. Two of these
landlords, but not included in the number named, came of dis-
tinguished ancestry ; one descended from an officer who accom-
panied William the Conqueror to England and was knighted on
the field of Hastings, while another came in direct descent from
a Lord Mayor of London, 300 years ago. But one new tavern
has been erected in Doylestown in sixty-five years ; and, it is
a creditable fact, that in the last fifty years, while our population
has increased, the number of our public houses has decreased.
When our torough had but 500 inhabitants, it contained seven
licensed houses ; now, with a population of 3,000, it has only
four, and has not had a greater number in twenty-five years.
With this record Doylestown's increase in temperance and
sobriety should not be called in question.
General Jacob Brown. A Bucks County Hero of the War of 1812.
BY REV. D. K. TURNEK, HARTSVILLE, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, January 19, 1897.)
Many of the native citizens of Bucks county took part in the
war which the Government of the United States felt compelled
to declare against Great Britain in 1812. None of them, however,
rose to such eminent distinction as Gen. Jacob Brown, and it
seems not inappropriate to spend a little time in dwelling upon
his life, his character and his achievements.
Born in Falls township about three and a half miles belon^
Alorrisville, near the banks of the Delaware river. May 9, 1775,
he was fourth in descent from one of the earliest settlers of
Pennsylvania. His father, Samuel Brown, was a faithful mem-
ber of the Society of Friends. His ancestors had lived in tht
county almost a hundred years, and the family were deeply im-
bued with love for America and her institutions, though there
is no evidence that any of them disregarded the requirements
of their religious faith by taking up arms to engage in war-
fare.
At the period of his youth schools were few in number and
widely scattered, and he gained from teachers, only the sim-
ple rudiments of learning. But like many others who have
made their mark in the world, he endeavored to train his own
mind and to secure knowledge by reading and study in pri-
vate. So successful was he in these exertions, that at the age
of eighteen he began teaching at Crosswicks, N. J., eight miles
from Trenton, where there was a Friends Meeting, under whose
special care probably the school was. About three years
elapsed in this congenial employment, during which time he en-
'arged his acquaintance with the science and practice of sur-
veying land.
When he reached his majority in 1796 he went to Cincinnati,
Ohio, then a small straggling village, surrounded by an almost
pathless wilderness. The infant city was laid out in 1788,
442 GENERAL JACOB BROWN
only eight years previously, on a patent, obtained by John
Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, and was settled by a colony from
that State. Probably the subject of this sketch and Symmes were
acquainted, as they were together in some of the same battles
in the last war with England, and it may have been through
Symmes' influence that Brown turned his stei)s toward the West.
His journey from Pittsburg was made down the Ohio river on
a boat, or ark. luanaged l)y oars and poles, the only means of
transportation at that day between the two places. In 1790,
six years before his visit, emigrants were often fired on by
Indians from the banks, as they and their goods slowly floated
by. But two years before his coming a line of Keel boats was
established, that were protected by breastworks with loop-holes
for the use of muskets, which occupied four weeks in the lonely
voyage, and it was doubtless on a craft of this kind that he
arrived safely at his destination.
People in considerable numbers were pressing into the rich
country of the Tvliami, and the services of the surveyor were
often needed. In this business Brown engaged with industry
and success a year or two, when he returned East, and was
appointed Principal of a Friends' school in New York City.
This position he resigned after a brief period, being ambitious
to advance his fortunes more rapidly than he could do in the
uneventful, though honorable, calling of an instructor of youth.
While in the city he had more facilities for studying jurisprudence
than elsewhere, and employed his leisure hours in gaining ac-
quaintance with the principles of law. though he did not carry
it so far as to be admitted to the bar.
In 1799, he was attracted to Jefferson county, N. Y., then a
region covered with primeval forests near Lake Ontario, of
v^rhich the principal town was Sackett's Harbor. Hither also
at this juncture his father and his family removed from Bucks
county. Here he surveyed, bought and sold lands, and under
the superintendence of father and son the first house was
built in the town named for them. Brownsville. His speculations
in real estate were highly successful ; his property, judiciously
managed, increased, and he became one of the most widely-known
and esteemed citizens of the northern part of New York. When
GENERAL JACOB BROWN 443
the militia was organized, early in this century, he was ap-
pointed Colonel of the regiment, and ere long- made Brigadier
General. Attentive to his duties, firm and strict in discipline, yet
kind and considerate toward the soldiers in the ranks, he
was a respected and ]X)pular ot^cer, and won the confidence of
the highest authorities of the Commonwealth.
The arrogance of England in forcibly taking from American
vessels, seamen whom she claimed as her subjects, and im-
pressing them into her navy, and other arbitrary measures con-
trary to the law of nations, brought on war between that country
and our own. As was expected, the border between Canada
and the United States became the theatre, in which was enacted
an important part of the conflict. General Brown was directed
to take command of a brigade in defence of the northern fron-
tier. He had not been trained in the regular army, and had
never gained experience by passing through campaigns or battle^.
But he possessed natural traits, which, when called into action,
constitute a successful military general, and where others failed,
he won distinguished renown and greatly benefited the cause
of his country.
The first important service he performed in the field was in
October, 1812, when the British made an attack upon Ogde,ns-
burg, on the St. Lawrence. With 750 men, they attempted to
cross the river in boats, under cover of a fire from guns at Press-
cott's, on the Canada side. The Americans had a battery of two
cannon and a body of militia under General Brown. Though the
enemy fought with conspicuous bravery and determination more
than an hour, yet they were repulsed, losing three killed and four
wounded, when they took to their boats and hurriedly escaped.
This success highly encouraged these raw troops, who had known
scarcely anything of actual war before, and correspondingly ele-
vated their commander in their esteem.
On April 25, 1813, Generals Pike and Dearborn of our armv
with 1,600 selected troops left Sackett's Harbor in vessels on
Lake Ontario, as was supposed, to attack Kingston, which was
just across on the Canadian shore, but they actually proceeded
westward, and after a sail of two days reached the vicinity of
York, the germ of what is now the flourishing city of Toronto.
444 GKXERAL JACOB BROWN
Here were large quantities of military stores and provisions,
belonging to the enemy, which it was desirable to capture or
destroy. The British resisted the landing of our soldiers, but
were compelled to give way before their impetuous charge, and
retreated to their principal fortifications. Our men, forming on
the bank of the river, marched three miles in pursuit of the foe,
and were about to storm the works, when the magazine containing
an immense (juantity of powder exploded with tremendous force.
It was not known whether this happened acccidentally or by
design on the part of the British.
The shock was like an earthquake on land and water. Stones,
debris and timbers were thrown far and wide, even on to the
decks of our vessels. Betw'een one and two hundred Ameri-
cans and some of the English were killed, (icneral Pike and
two of his aids were among the victims. The General was
literally stoned to death in the moment of victory ; his breast and
sides were crushed. As he was lifted from the ground he heard
a shout, and asked what it meant. An officer near answered,
"The British Union Jack is coming down, and the Stars and
Stripes are l^eing raised in its place." This revived the flicker-
ing flame of life, and being carried on board the Commodore's
ship, he requested that the captured flag be placed under his head,
and lying in this position he expired. He was one of the heroes
w^ho have sacrificed their lives for the honor and independence
of their country. The victory achieved here should have been fol-
lowed by the pursuit and detention of the garrison ; but Gen.
Dearborn, remaining on his vessel, allowed the regular English
troops to escape, and secured as prisoners the Canadian militia
alone, who were at once paroled and dismissed. The stores
taken were conveyed in our ships to Sackett's Harbor, where
by a misapprehension they w^ere soon after burned. We lost
about 300 men and the enemy 500, mostly wounded. We realized
little benefit by this engagement, though victory perched upon
our banners.
To offset our good fortune at York, the enemy a month later
fitted out an expedition against Sackett's Harbor. On May 28,
181 2, they advanced upon the town from the northern shore of
the St. Lawrence with 900 men in eight vessels and 30 boats. To
GliNURAL JACOB CROWN 445
oppose them, the Americans had 800 men of the line, and 500
mihtia, the latter under Gen. Jacob Brown; he was requested,
however, by Gen. Dearborn to take command of the entire force,
to which he acceded, and the direction of the whole battle
was in his care.
The first day the Indians, who were aiding the British, cut off
some American boats, but effected little more. Our yeomen
soldiery were unaccustomed to meeting- savages. They had heard
of their fiendish cruelty in torturing prisoners, and dreaded com-
ing into their power. The English denied that they encouraged
their Indian allies in inhuman warfare. But there is indubitable
proof that they did incite the red-men to put to death with
fearful barbarity all Americans that fell in their way, not only
during the Revolution and the War of 1812, but before the
beginning of this century in a time of peace. When York was
taken by our forces, among other things found, was a scalp
suspended over the Speaker's chair in the Parliament House, as
a trophy of Indian prowess in Some recent raid upon the territory
of the Union. This was sent to General Armstrong, Secretary
of War of the U. S., but he refused to receive it or allow it to
have a place in his cabinet of curiosities. At the close of the
Revolution in 1783 a computation was made of the Indian war-
riors, who had been employed by the British against the re-
volted Colonies. There were twenty-seven dififerent tribes, or
sub-tribes, represented, including i2,6yo fighting men. Hon.
Charles J. Ingersoll says: "In both the first and later wars witli
England, that power had a greater number of Indians under arms
than Europeans employed against the Americans ;" and we may
add, that they were used not in civilized conflict alone, but in
murdering, scalping and burning at the stake the inhabitants of
our Northwestern borders.
In 1782, Captain Gerrish, of the New England militia, in an
expedition against the British and Indians, captured some bundles
of dried skins, which he brought home, and concerning which
he writes to a superior ofliicer as follows :
Albany, March 7th.
" The peltry taken in the expedition will, you see, amount to a good deal
of money. The possession of this booty at first gave us pleasure, but we
446 GENERAL JACOB BROWN
were struck with horror to find among the packages, eight large ones con-
taining scalps of our unfortunate country folks, taken in the last three wars
by the Seneca Indians from the inhabitants of the frontiers of New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and sent by them as a present to
Col. Haldimand, Governor of Canada, in order to be by him transmitted to
England ; and they were accompanied by a curious letter to that gentle-
man."'
In this letter, that went with the scalps, is a list and minute
description of all the eight bundles, and their contents. The
whole number was 95 t, of which 190 were of boys of various
ages; Jii were of girls, big and little: 43 were of Congress
soldiers killed in different skirmishes; 88 were of women, with
long hair: and the remainder were of farmers; and all were
marked with Indian signs and devices, by which the savages
indicated to what class they belonged, how they were slain, by
muskets, tomahawk, knife or club, and in what they were em-
ployed at the time of death, whether in the house or the fields,
and man}- other particulars. In this communication, which was
signed by James Crawford, an Indian or half-breed, he claims
that there were very few gray heals among the scalped, almost
all being young or in middle age, which he says makes the ser-
vice to the English government more essential, and earnestly
requests that supplies be sent to his people, of which they were
in great need, as " they had not been idle friends."
The savages were wont to inflict inconceivable sufferings
upon their prisoners, as Francis Parkman abundantly shows in
his interesting volumes. They pulled out the finger-nails and
toe-nails of their hapless victims, burned the bottoms of their
feet with red hot irons, thrust hot irons into their lx)dies,
and roasted their flesh at a slow fire to prolong their
agonies. The militia under Gen. Brown were well aware
what would be their awful fate, if they should be taken
alive by the red-skinned denizens of the forests, and it is not
surprising that they should recoil when they saw them in the
ranks of the enemy.
In the attack on Sackett's Harbor at first the British gained
some advantage, driving the militia within the intrenchments,
and an American naval officer, supposing the day was lost, set
on fire the stores, that had been taken at York. But Gen. Brown
GENE;RAIv JACOB BROWN 447
rallied his wavering lines, and cheered them on against the foe,
soon compelling them to retreat, leaving many killed and
wounded, whom they deserted to be cared for or buried by the
Americans. Hon. C. J. Ingersoll uses the following language
about the General, who was unexpectedly called to direct the
operations of the day : "Gen. Brown, no soldier by profession,
was one of those natural offsprings of war, who seem born to
excel in it, a man stout of person, strong of nerve, bold, brave,
sagacious, full of resource, indefatigable, whose exploits were
among the most brilliant of that war."' I will here introduce
a part of a letter which Gen. Brown wrote immediately after
the engagement.
May 29, 1813.
" We were attacked at the dawn of this day by a British regular force of
at least 900 men, most probably 1,200. They made their landing at Horse
Island. We are completely victorious. The enemy lost a considerable
number of killed and wounded on the field, among the number several offi-
cers of distinction. After having re-embarked, they sent me a flag desiring
to have their killed and wounded attended to. I made them satisfied on
that subject. Americans will be distinguished for humanity and bravery.
Our loss is not numerous, but serious from the great worth of those who
have fallen. Colonel Mills was shot dead at the commencement of the
action, and Colonel Backus, of the first regiment of light dragoons, nobly fell
at the head of his regiment as victory was declaring for us. I will not pre-
sume to praise this regiment ; their gallant conduct on this day merits much
more than praise. Sir George Prevost landed and commanded in person.
Sir James Yeo commanded the enemy's fleet. In haste, yours, &c.
Jacor Brown."
An author of distinction has made the following observation :
"General Brown was a Pennsylvania Quaker, a village schoolmas-
ter not far from Philadelphia, and soon rose, like Greene in the
War of the Revolution, to militar}^ eminence ; two men of genius
for military aft'airs, only second, if that, to the first military com-
manders of this country, Greene and Brozvn, of whom it was
jocularly said, that both proved true blue."
The ruling authorities of our government were much gratified
with the military skill and heroic conduct of General Brown,
shown in the defeat of the British at Sackett's Harbor, and soon
after promoted him to the rank of Brigadier General in the
regular army. In November, 181 3, he was at the head of the
advance force in the expedition of General Wilkinson down
448 Cl'NI'lRAL JACOl! r.ROWX
the St. Lawrence. The enemy had been driven from the region
of Niagara more than three-fourths of the distance to Montreal.
Col. Winfield S. Scott, afterwards Lieutenant General, was
serving under (leneral llrowu, and was fifteen miles ahead of
General Wilkinson. The English, 800 strong, were overtaken
after a rapid march by our troops, consisting of about the sams
numljcr. and were routed at lloophole creek, leaving many pris-
oners in our hands. If the vigorous measure of General Brown
had been seconded l)y Wilkinson, there is little doubt that Mont-
real would Ikuc been ca])tm'ed. Xo C(Misiderable obstacle was
in the way. The only thing necessary was to press on and the
coveted prize would have been grasped.
But on the 12th of November, when it was expected that
Gen. Hampton would have added his force to that of Wilkinson,
and made assurance doulily sure, he sent a message to the latter,
])ositivelv declining to aid in the onward movement or to pro-
ceed further into Canada. This afforded sufificient excuse to
Wilkin.son to arrest all aggressive operations and retire into
Winter quarters. General Brown and Col. Scott were recalled,
and inaction settled like an incubus upon our army.
Soon after this Gen. Brown was appointed Major General in
the regular army of the I'. S., and assigned to the command of
the Niagara frontier. During the Winter of 1813-14 he was
engaged in completing the organization of the forces in West-
ern New York, perfecting their discipline, and preparing them
for energetic action in the Spring. At the opening of the season
arrangements were made for an invasion of Canada. Gen.
Brown's headquarters were at Buffalo with his soldiers in two
brigades under Generals Winfield Scott and Ripley, numbering
3,300. The English were encamped about three miles away
near the Chippewa river, a confluent of the Niagara, undjcr
General Riall, who had 2,500 men, some cavalry, artillery super-
ior to the American, and a lx)dy of Canadians and Indians.
Early in the morning of July 3d, Gen. Brown's troops crossed
the Niagara and seized Port Erie, the garrison of 140 men sur-
rendering without resistance. On the next day they drove in
the British outposts and ere long came near the main body, when
the General determined to attack them in their present position.
gi!;ne;rai. jacob brown 449
That his men might be fresh and vigorous, however, he deferred
the contest till the following morning, July 5th. The English
commander, influenced by similar considerations, adopted the
same plan. Both parties then left their camps and deployed into
a plain two miles wide. On the American side Gen. Scott's
brigade was in front ; General Ripley's some distance in the
rear. The two armies marched steadily towards each other,
with colors flying, the light gleaming from their bayonets, as if
on parade, till they had approached within eighty yards, when
the flash of musketry burst forth on each side all along the
line. General Brown, fearful that Ripley's brigade would not
arrive in time to lend their help, dashed back to hurry them up.
While he was gone. General Scott seeing some confusion among
the Canadians, occasioned by the blowing up of an ammunition
wagon, shouted to McNeill's battalion. "The enemy say we're
better at long shot than steel. Eleventh ! give the lie to the
slander — charge ! charge the rascals !" This was done obliquely
in gallant style, and another battalion raking them on the op-
posite flank, they broke and left the field to the Americans. This
was all accomplished in a short time, and when General Brown
returned the English were in full retreat . they continued across
the Chippewa, burning the bridge behind them. The British had
2.100 engaged in the battle; the Americans 1.900. The former
lost in killed and wounded 503; the latter 335. With nearly
equal numbers on each side and a fair field, victory rested with
General Brown's army on account of the superior discipline, to
which it had been subjected during several months, the skillful
disposition of the different regiments, and the promptness of the
commanding officers to seize the favorable opportunity for charg
ing the enemy.
Two days after the conflict at Chippewa, another sanguinary
engagement took place with the English in the same vicinity, at
Lundy's Lane, sometimes called the battle of Bridgewater, or
Niagara, in which General Brown again saw triumph salute the
flag of his country. He was at the head of about 3.000 soldiers
The Canadians had 4,000, with a heavy battery of cannon, and
were posted on high ground in a most desirable location. Want
15
450 GENERAL JACOR CROWN
of time will prevent my giving a description of this fearful strug-
gle, which occurred late in the afternoon and evening of July
25, 1814. Major General Brown and Brigadier General Scott
were both severely wounded. A writer says about that memo-
rable contest: "At length the enemy broken and foiled at all
points retired for the third time, and a profound silence ensued,
interrupted only by the groans of the wounded and dying, and
the monotonous roar of the great waterfall, moaning as it were
over this fatal scene of patricidal strife and military glory." And
he calls it the "most hotly contested battle perhaps that had
at that time ever been fought upon the American continent."
For his bravery, ability and success in the several campaigns
of the war General Brown received the thanks of Congress and
a gold medal, which the resolution declared was designed to be
^'emblematical of his triumphs." The Winter of 1814-15 he
spent in Washington recovering from his wounds, preparing for
another campaign, as he supposed, in defence of his native land,
and enjoying the respect and homage of every patriot. By the
Treaty of Ghent in 181 5 peace was restored between Great Brit-
ain and the United States, and General Brown remained in the
regular army as Major General until 1821, when he succeeded
to the supreme command under the President. In that year he
was stricken with paralysis, but lived in an enfeebled condition
seven years, departing this life at Washington, February 24, 1828,
in the 53d year of his age.
His remains were deposited in the Congressional Burying
Ground at Washington, and the following inscription appears
upon the monument at his grave: "Sacred to the memory of'
General Jacob Brown. He was born in Bucks county, Pennsyl-
vania, on the 9th of May, 1775, and died at the City of Wash-
ington, Commanding General of the army, on the 24th of Feb-
ruary, 1828.
" Let him, who e'er in after days
Shall view this monument of praise,
For honor heave the patriot sigh
And for his country learn to die."
Built by Josep
GROWDHX MANSION â– TRKVOSK." l-KONT VIlvW.
C.rowdeii in 16S5. Orisiually two stories and attic, the thi
in later years. Now (1909) owned and occupied by the sons of Charles W. Taylor.
"TREVOSE," EAST WING.
Used by Joseph Growden as kitchen and slave quarters.
(Photographs by J. Pemberton Hutchinson).
The Growden Mansion.
BY HENRY WINFIELD WATSON, LANGHORNE, PA.
(Doylestowii Meeting, Jan-.iary 19. i.Sgy.)
In Bensalem township, in lower Bucks county, on the banks of
the Neshaminy, stands a mansion of historical importance. It
was the first pretentious manor-house erected within the Prov-
ince of Pennsylvania. In this old homestead originally dwelt
the Growdens, one of the prominent and distinguished families
of Bucks county in the early Colonial days.
The influential settlers of the county were mostly Friends, and
the Growdens belonged to that religious persuasion, and the fam-
ily lived for a generation in accordance with the discipline of
that association.
Joseph Growden was the first of the family to emigrate to
America. He came from Cornwall, England, and received from
William Penn a grant of 10,000 acres of land. One portion of
it embraced nearly half of Bensalem township. On this part
of the grant he built his residence, and maintained a baronial
establishment which he called "Trevose."
Gabriel Thomas in his book entitled "An Historical Descrip-
tion of the Province of Pennsylvania," published in London in
1698, mentions the Growden mansion as being situated on the
Neshaminy river, and describes it as follows : "Judge Growden
hath a very Noble and Fine House, very pleasantly situated, and
likewise a Famous Orchard adjoyning to it, wherein are contain-
ed above a Thousand Apple Trees of various sorts."
He also touches upon the morals of the country in this ideal
way : "Of Lawyers and Physicians I shall say nothing because this
Country is verv Peaceable and Healthy : long may it so continue
and never have occasion for the Tongue of the one, nor the Pen
of the other. Ixjth equally destructive to Mens Estates and Lives ;
besides forsooth they. Hang Man like, have a License to Mur-
der and make Mischief."
The Growden. house was built about 1685, and was situated
on the old mail-route road, leading from Philadelphia to New
452 THE GROWDKN MANSION
York. When that highway was abandoned half a century ago,
it left the dwelling in a somewhat obsolete and secluded spot.
It is a two story stone building with an attic, a wide hall through
the centre, and a winding staircase. Extending from the two
northern corners, are wings of two stories each, and built in
proportion to correspond with the size of the mansion. The
west wing was originally occupied by Richard Gibbs, secretary
to Judge Growden, and the east one was used for a kitchen,
and the quarters for the slaves.
A few feet east of the house is a stone building about fifteen
feet square, it originally had a brick arch roof and a large open
fire-place. This was Joseph Growden's offtce. Here were kept
the early records of Bucks county, later valuable documents be-
longing to the State, as well as important papers and correspond-
ence of Benjamin Franklin. This building is now used as a
carriage house, but there still remains an iron window shutter,
which is pierced with bullet holes, made by a squad of soldiers
in 1778. They went there to arrest Joseph Galloway, who mar-
ried the granddaughter of Joseph Growden, and afterward be-
came a Tory. The office was broken open, and the records of
the county strewed about and destroyed.
Joseph Growden was a member of the assembly in 1685 from
Philadelphia. In 1693 he was elected to represent Bucks county
in the general assembly, and served as speaker for a number of
consecutive terms. He was appointed a provincial judge in 1706,
and one of the judges of the Supreme Court in 17 15. Proud
speaks of liim as being Attorney General in 1725.
David Lloyd a man of prominence married Grace the daughter
of Joseph Growden. Janney in his life of William Penn described
Mr. Lloyd to be a man "of considerable ability, and in private
life bore a fair character, but in his public career, he was a dis-
turber, that knew no peace in himself, nor permitted any in
others."
William Penn was an admirer and an intimate friend of the
Growdens. An incident is related that upon the occasion of the
death of a little grandson of Joseph Growden, and the son of his
daughter (^.race Lloyd. William Penn writes to a friend in these
THE GROVVDEN MANSION 453
affectionate words : "Poor Grace has borne her affliction to ad-
miration."
David Lloyd was evidently a politician, as he became the
leader of "the popular party" in opposition to William Penn.
Mr. Lloyd was elected to the general assembly, and was chosen
speaker for one term. Lloyd's party took advantage of the
opportunity to strengthen their cause while Penn was on a
visit to London. A letter written to Penn, by his secretary
James Logan, describing the political situation at the time, gives
further evidence that Joseph Growden was looked upon bv Penn,
as a man of influence. He writes : "Th}- friends are deeply grieved
at these proceedings and sympathize with thee, nay more, Jo-
seph Growden declares his abhorrence of them, and their pro-
ceedings against thee." Penn in his reply to this letter speaks
of his enemies as ''illegitimate Quakers."
Joseph Growden died September lo. 1730, and his son, Law-
rence, inherited the greater part of his father's estate. Lawrence
Growden was also a member of the assembly from Bucks county,
and was several times speaker of the house. In 1739, he was
appointed one of the commissioners to survey and lay out the
division line between Pennsylvania and Maryland. He died in
1769 leaving two children Elizabeth and Grace. The Trevose
mansion, and the tract, containing the mines and furnaces at Dur-
ham, were allotted to his daughter Grace, the wife of Joseph
Galloway.
Joseph Galloway was born in Maryland in 1730. he was the
son of Peter Galloway, who claimed to be a descendant from
the Earl of Galloway. Mr. Galloway was educated in Philadel-
phia, where he afterwards read law. He was a man of marked
talent, and rose to power and fortune, and was distinguished
as one of the leading lawyers of the Province. Upon the death
of his brother-in-law, Lawrence Growden, he became the resi-
dent of the Growden mansion. Joseph Galloway was a member
of the assembly from Bucks county in 1765, and was success-
ively returned until the year 1774. He was chosen several times
speaker of the House. He was one of the secret partners of the
Chronicle, a paper published in Philadelphia, which was the fourth
newspaper published in America in the English language, and the
454 THi- GROVN'DKN MANSION
first with four columns. He was an intimate friend of Benjamin
Franklin, the latter staying- for days at a time at his lUicks county
home.
Joseph Galloway was ajipointed by the delegates from Penn-
sylvania a member of the (jcncral Congress, which met in
Philadelphia in 1774. He believed that (ireat Britain and the
Colonies should settle their dififerences amicably and without
bloodshed. After hostilities had commenced, he upheld the Brit-
ish, and joined them in Philadelphia. He was rewarded by being-
made their General Superintendent in that district. He after-
ward went to New York and was appointed Secretary to the
Commander-in-Chief of the British army. In 1778 he was at-
tainted of treason and fled to England and his property in Amer-
ica confiscated*.
Mr. Galloway wrote a number of pamphlets which were re-
ceived by Great Britain with favor. After he joined the British he
published one against Sir William Howe, in which he endeavored
to show that he lost the conquest of the American Colonies from
his love of entertainment a.nd pleasure. In consequence of this
paper, upon his arrival in England, he was examined before the
House of Commons, as to the transactions in America during the
war. His accounts created a sensation and were heralded
throughout England. He afterwards became a British pensioner
and died in London, in 1803. at the age of seventy-three.
Elizabeth Galloway, the daughter of Joseph Galloway, often
referred to as "Betsey" Galloway, was a great belle and an at-
tractive woman. Among her many suitors was a Mr. Grififin,
who became a judge in his maturer years. Mr. Galloway would
not give his consent to this marriage, and only prevented an
elopement by shooting the ardent wooer. She afterwards was
more successful and eloped with William Roberts, a British of-
ficer, although her father had threatened to receive him in the
same cordial manner he had favored Mr. Griffin. This union, how-
ever, proved an unhappy one, and a separation soon followed the
marriage. One of the articles of the agreement of separation was
that the father would be allowed to see their only child Ann Grace
but once a year, on a certain day, at a given hour, and in the
* See paper on Dnrhaiii Iron Works, Vol. I, pa^e ^^S, et seq.
the; growden mansion 455
presence of a witness — on one of these occasions he attended Mid-
dletown meeting to hear the eminent preacher James Simpson.
During the sermon Mr. Roberts looked at his watch, and finding
the four had arrived which he might see his child, arose and went
out of the meeting. This created a great disturbance, and was the
subject of much comment after the close of the service. Such
behavior in a Friends meeting, in those early times, was consid-
ered a high breach of decorum.
The Galloways lived in accordance with their social position
and wealth. The following extract from an old diary gives, per-
haps, an intelligent idea how they were looked upon by the com-
munity in which they lived. I shall quote the exact words :
"The Galloway family lived in great style and were looked upon
as great folks by the people in the neighborhood. Grace and
her daughter, Elizabeth, would ride out in their coach and four
horses, and pay their visits in the neighborhood, which were
but select — Jane Collison, Grace Kirkbride, Mary Richardson
and her daughters, Mary and Ruth, were the only persons in the
neighborhood they visited, and they but once a year. They
would stay and take tea ; the horses must not be taken from the
coach, but stand before the door, and the driver stand by and
mind them until they were ready to go home. They also kept
a chariot." After a long and tedious legal proceeding the greater
part of the Galloway estate which was confiscated, was finally
restored. Mr. Galloway had owned the property in right of his
wife. His grand-daughter, Grace Ann. inherited her mother's
share of the Growden estate. She married Benjamin Burton,
a British officer, and settled in England, where she died Decem-
ber 12, 1837. Nine years afterwards her share of the Growden
estate was sold by her children, which realized a large sum.
The homestead was purchased by George Williamson. It
afterwards became the property of Charles W. Taylor, and upon
his death in 1893, passed into the possession of his children, who
now occupy the old mansion. From Lawrence Growden to the
Burtons, a period of nearly one hundred and fifty years, the
Growden estates descended to female heirs, as there were no
male heirs during that long period.
About 1844 a chest filled with old china was found near the
45^> THIC GROW l)i:.\ MANSION
mansion, by a laborer in digging a post-hole ; and in 1888 a second
box of china was discovered near the same spot. These un-
(loul)tedly belonged to tlie (lalioway family and were secreted
during the Revolutionary times.
The ("irowdens took a i)n)minent i)art in forming the laws of
the Province. They were loyal to the Colonies, and were fore-
most in aj)pealing to the governors for more liberal laws, as
England year by year, made her edicts more exacting.
The mansion is as .solid as when it was built, 200 years ago.
There have been but slight changes to alter the outside appearance.
This old house in its da\ has seen many a distinguished guest.
Here Tenn held (•(•uncil. and laws were formed for the better
government of the Colonies. Here Franklin dotibtless discussed
the laws of electricity, whereby he brought from the heavens
the power that moves the mechanical world. Here the eminent
but erratic Galloway lived, who op]XDsed the separation of the
Colonies, and whose influence was so strong with Congress, that
those members wdio favored independence, recognized his force
and took urgent measures against him. This old mansion is
worthy of consideration l)y those who are interested in histor-
ical researches.
Thomas Janney, Provincial Councilor.
BY OLIVER HOUGH, PHILADELPHIA.
((ialloway's Ford Metting. July 20, 1897.)
Thomas Janney was born in Cheshire England, about 1633.
Although we have no direct proof, (that is, none known at this
time,) it appears almost certain that he was the son of Thomas
and Elizabeth Janney, who lived in Pownall Fee township, Wilm-
slow parish, which was in Macclesfield Hundred, Cheshire.*
Thomas Janney, Sr., (whom we suppose, as above, to be the
father of the subject of our sketch,) joined the Society of
Friends a short time after that body came into existence, and
he is mentioned several times in their early annals. In Besse's
"Suffering of Friends" several instances of his being persecuted
for his faith are reported; in 1653 he suffered distress of goods
for going to meeting; in 1664 he was imprisoned for refusing to
pay tithes ; in 1666 a number of persons (among them his nephew,
William Janney, and James Harrison, who afterwards came
to Pennsylvania,) were sent to gaol in Chester for being at a
meeting at the house of Thomas Janney, in Pownall Fee.
We know little further of the events in the life of the elder
Janney. There was a Thomas Janney who was Mayor of
Stockport in 1639; he was probably not the same person as the
father of the Councilor, as the latter would most likely have been
too young in 1639 to hold such a position ; yet it is possible that
he might have been the same, and in later life moved to the
country. Stockport is one of the principal towns in Cheshire,
and is only three or four miles from the border of Pownall Fee
township, being like the latter, in the northern part of Maccles-
field Hundred.
Thomas Janney, Sr., died i2th-month, 17th, 1677, and iiis wid-
ow, Elizabeth, died i2th-month, 19th, 1681 ; they were both buried
at Mobberly, where most of the family were also buried. Mob-
* Since the above was written all these statements have been verified. See The
Quaker Janneys of Cheshire, in Publications of the Southern History Association, Vol.
VIII, and Thomas Janney, Provincial Councilor, in Penna. Mag. Hist, and Biog., Vol.
XXVII, both by Miles White, Jr., of Baltimore.
458 THOMAS JANNEY, PROVINCIAL COUNCILOR
berly, was a parish of Bucklow Hundred, and its parish church
and graveyard were about five miles southwest of that of Wilm-
slow. Mobberly had probably been the parish of earlier gener-
ations of the family.
If our presumption is correct, that Thomas and Elizabeth were
the parents of Thomas Janney, the Pennsylvanian, their children
were as follows :
(i) Thomas, the subject of this sketch;
(2) Alary; who married either John Bancroft, of Etchels.
Cheshire, or Robert Pierson, of Pownall Fee; the records of
Cheshire Monthly Meeting mention the marriages of two Mary
Janney s in 1663, the husbands' names being as above.
(3) Henry; married ist-mo. i6th, 1672-3, Barbara Baguley.
(4) Alartha; married i2th-mo. 12th, 1672, Hugh Burgess,
of Pownall Fee.
(5) Margaret; died young, iith-mo. nth, 1673, and was bur-
ied at Alobberly.
(6) Randle; died young, 3d-rno. 17th, 1674; buried at Mob-
berly.
It may be of interest to give some particulars of Thomas Jan-
ney's brother, Henry and also a cousin William, as some of the
children of both emigrated to Pennsylvania.
William Janney was a son of Thomas' uncle Randall Janney,
of Styall, by his wife, Anne Knevett, and lived at a place usually
called Hanford, more correctly liandforth, in Cheadle parish,
also in the Hundred of Macclesfield, before 1671. He belonged
to the Society of Friends, and is mentioned in Besse's ''Suffer-
ings." He was among those sent to gaol at Chester in 1666, for
being at a meeting at his uncle's house in Pownall Fee; and
in 1683 he lost 16 pounds 5 shillings, by the statute against Popish
recusants, which was applied to the Quakers.
William Janney married 7th-month 30th, 1671, at Thomas
Taylor's house in Stafford, Deborah Webb, of Inkstrey (in
Staffordshire?) They lived all their married life in Hanford,
and their children were born there. Deborah died 5th-month
20th, 1701, aged about 54 years. After his wife's death William
moved to Morley, a district in Pownall Fee township, where
THOMAS JANNEY, PROVINCIAL COUNCILOR 459
he died on 8th-montli 4th, 1724, aged about 86 years. They A'cre
both buried at Mobberly. Their children were :
(ij Joseph; born 7th-mo. 7th, 1672.
(2) Annie; born 7th-iTio. 3d, 1674. Nothing further is known
of these two.
(3) Randle ; born 2nti-nio. loth, 1677, went to Phila(,'':lphia.
Pennsylvania, and became a wealthy merchant there. He is
mentioned in the correspondence between William Penn and
James Logan. In his will, made in 1715, he left a bequest to his
father, William Janney, of Alorley, in Cheshire, and mentions
his brother Thomas, who also came to Philadelphia, his cousin
Abel Janney, (son of his cousin Thomas) and a number of other
relatives and friends. He married 8th-mo. 31st, 1701, in Phila-
delphia meeting Frances Righton.
(4) Thomas; born 3d-mo. i8th, 1679. ^^ preceded his
brother Randle to Philadelphia, and afterwards applied, through
Randle, for a certificate from the Monthly Meeting held at
Morley.
(5) Mary; borft 6th-mo. 17th, 1681 ; married George Pawley ;
they are mentioned in her brother Randle's will.
(6) William; born 3d-mo. 31st, 1683. Nothing further
known.
(7) Elizabeth; born , died — mo. nth, 1701 ;
buried at Mobberly.
Henry Janney, brother of Thomas, the Councilor, married
ist-month i6th, 1672-3, Barbara Baguley, of Stockport, and
they took up their residence in that town, where her family
lived. About 1680 they went to Adswood, in Cheadle Parish;
this place we have not been able to locate at the present time.
About 1685 they moved to Eaton Norris, in Lancashire, where
Henry died, 6th-month, 3d, 1690; he was buried at Mobberly.
Henry anrl Barbara Janney had issue :
(i) Elizabeth: born 9th-mo. 7th, 1677, at Stockport. After
her parents died she and her sisters Mary and Tabitha went
to Philadelphia to be under the care of their relatives there.
Elizabeth married in 1710, Pentecost Teague, a member of
Common Council, and one of the city's two representatives in
460 THOMAS JANNEY, PROVINCIAL COUNCILOR
the Assembly of Pennsylvania. He was a native of Cornwall.
England. They had no children.
(2) Mary; born nth-mo. ist, 1680; came to Philadelphia
with her sisters and in 1708 married Joseph Drinker, of die well-
known Philadelphia family of that name.
(3) Martha; born 8th-mo. 21st, 1683, died i2th-mo. nth, 1684;
buried at Mobberly.
(4) Thomas; born ist-mo. ist, 1686, died 8th-mo. 2nd, 1686;
buried at Mobberly.
(5) Tabitha; born /th-mo. 29th, 1687, at Eaton Norris. She
came to Philadelphia with her sisters, and married in 1709, Wil-
liam Fisher. Their son, also William Fisher, was the Mayor
of Philadelphia in 1773.
Having now given some outline of his parentage and family,
we proceed with the account of Thomas Janney, the minister
of the Society of Friends, and a member of the Provincial Council
of Penn.sylvania. In his 21st year, or about 1654 he joined
in profession of Friends' principles ; and the following year re-
ceived a gift in the ministry and thereafter he devoted much
time to preaching. For this purpose he traveled extensively in
England and Ireland, and it was said of him that he "had a
fervent and sound testimony for the truth, and his conversation
and course of life accorded with this doctrine." He was not
exempt from persecution for his work in this behalf. In 1663
according to Besse, Anne Janney, of Hanford, Thomas Janney
Jr., and James Harrison, of the same place, suffered distress
of goods. This Anne Janney was probably an aunt of Thomas,
the latter being known at this time as "junior," and probably
residing temporarily at Hanford. Besse also reports that in
1671 and 1673 Thomas Janney suffered in goods for refusing
to pay tithes ; this was probably our subject, but might have
been his father. It is said that he was also imprisoned several
times. In 1669 he was preaching in Ireland.
Thomas Janney's residence in Cheshire was in the district
called Styal, in Pownall Fee township. A letter to him from
Phineas Pemberton dated 5th-mo, 3d, 1682, requesting him to
come to the funeral of the latter's daughter, Ann, is addressed
THOMAS JANNEY, PROVINCIAL COUNCILOR 461
"Thomas Janney, Shaddow Moss, Cheshire." This was near
the village of Styal, in the district of the same name.
He married Qth-month 24th, 1660, at the house of James Har-
rison, in Pownall Fee, Margery Heath, of Horton. James Har-
rison, at whose house they were married, was a well-known min-
ister of the Society of Friends, and afterwards became very
prominent in public affairs in Pennsylvania. He had married
in 1655 Anne Heath, sister to Margery.
After William Penn obtained the grant of Pennsylvania, Thom-
as Janney removed to that Province, sailing in the ship "Endeav-
or," which arrived 7th-month 29th, 1683, bringing his wife and
four children, Jacob, Thomas, Abel and Joseph. In the Phila-
delphia list of arrivals his name is spelt "Janeway" and his wife's
given name as "Margaret." In the Bucks county list of settlers
the names are given correctly. In the former he is said to be
from "Poonoll," Cheshire, and in the latter "Stial," Cheshire,
both correct, though misspelt. He brought two servants : John
Nield, to serve 5 years and to have 50 acres of ground ; and
Hannah Falkner, to serve 4 years and have 50 acres.
He settled in Bucks county on a tract on the Delaware river
about a mile below the present Yardley, having a front of quarter
to half a mile on the river, and running inland about three miles.
This was patented to him by the Commissioners of Property as
550 acres, on 7th-month 26th, 1691. This was in the original town-
ship of Makefield, now Lower Makefield township. Thomas
Janney gave a lot of 72 square rods out of this tract to Falls
Meeting of Friends, for a burying-ground ; it was the first public
burial place in the county, although private ones had been in use.
He conveyed it by deed dated 4th-month, 4th, 1690, to William
Yardley, Richard Hough, Joshua Hoopes and William Beakes,
as trustees for the Meeting. The lot was situated on the high
ground overlooking the river, and beside the road leading from
Falls to the uppermost river plantations. This graveyard, with
a stone fence around it, is still to be seen on the road below Yard-
ley, and is still ('1897) occasionally used for burials.
Thomas Janney lived on this plantation, (excepting when in
Philadelphia attending the council, or on religious visits to other
colonies,) the balance of the time that he remained in Pennsvl-
462 THOMAS JANNEY, PROVINCIAL COUNCILOR
vania. Although his will has not been found on record^ a deed
of 1700 between his sons Jacob and Abel, states that it was dated
3d-month 21st, 1695, and that by it he left a part of the planta-
tion on the river front, (supposed to be 250 acres, by later survey
found to be 365 acres 12 perches) to his eldest son, Jacob, who
sold it to his brother Abel. He probably left the back part of
the plantation to his other sons.
Besides the above, Thomas Janney had a larger tract, about
1,000 acres, on the inland side of the township, towards New-
town; its lower end adjoined the back of his home plantation,
and ran back of the river lots for about 2^ miles, and of vary-
ing width. When the township lines were more accurately laid
<lown, part of this fell in Newtown township. No patent for
this tract has been found on record, but both it and the river
plantations are shown on Holmes' map.
That part of the inland plantation that lies in Newtown town-
ship has remained in the Janney family until the present time.
Stephen T. Janney, Esq., now lives on part of it ; the main part
of his house was built about or a little before 1750. it is supposed
by his great-grandfather, Thomas Janney, who was a grandson
of Thomas Janney, the first owner of the property. The late
John L. Janney (father of the Present Prothonotary Thomas J.
Janney, and of John L. Janney, who now reside? there,) o^-ned
part of the original tract, adjoining his brother, Stephen's.
Thomas Janney was related by blood or marriage with many
of the prominent early settlers of the county. As before stated
James Harrison, one of the largest landholders in the county, a
member of the Provincial Council, and intimately associated with
the Proprietary in public and private affairs, had married iiis sis-
ter-in-law, Anne Heath. Harrison's daughter, Phebe, married
Phineas Pemberton, also a member of the Provincial Council and
Assembly, who held the combined offices of Register and Record-
er, and who was called by James Logan the "Father of Bucks
county." Pemberton, in a number of letters extant, speaks of
or addresses Thomas Janney as "uncle," the relationship being
through his wife. William Yard'ley, another Councilor and
THOMAS JANNEY, PROVINCIAL COUNCILOR 463
Assemblyman, and landholder on the Delaware river, on the site
of the village of Yardley, was connected through the Harrisons
or Heaths. In a memorial of William Yardley, written by
Thomas Janney, 6th month, 26th, 1693, after the former's death,
he calls him his "dear friend and brother," saying : "What I have
here written concerning this my dear friend and brother, is from
my own knowledge, we having been intimate friends from our
youth up, and since we came to America, we have had the advan-
tage of frequent opportunities together, it having been our lot to
live near to each other."
John Brock, who had a river plantation between William Yard-
ley's and Thomas Janney's, was also a cousin of the latter. A
letter from John's brother, Ralph Brock, of Bramhall, England,
dated i2th-mo. 28th, 1696-7, to Phineas Pemberton, preserved
among the Pemberton family papers, mentions Thomas Janney
as his "deare Coz."
Thomas Janney was elected to the Provincial Council for one
term of three years 1684, 1685, 1686. He qualified as a member
ist-mo. 20th, 1684, attesting to keep secret the debates of the
body. The minutes of the Council record his presence at most of
the meetings, but have little else to say of him. He was a
member again in 1691, apparently filling an unexpired term; as
the minutes for this year have been lost, his tenure of office at
that time, as well as his record during the term, are rather ob-
scure. Thomas Janney was one of the Justices of the Peace for
Bucks county; in his day these justices held all the county courts;
they were Judges of the Quarter Sessions, Common Pleas, Or-
phans' Court, etc. His commission was dated April 6, 1685.
and renewed January 2, 1689.
He was one of the commissioners or jurors who made the
first official division of Bucks county in 1692. They were di-
rected to meet at Neshaminy meeting-house, in Middletown,
on September 27th of that year, and to divide the county into
hundreds or other convenient divisions. They specified the
boundaries of five townships, following more or less closely the
township lines laid down on Holmes' map ; these were : Make-
field, Falls, Buckingham (afterwards Bristol, not the present
Buckingham), Salem (now Bensalem). and Middletown.
464 THOMAS JANN1';y, PROVINCIAL COUNCILOR
While speaking of Thomas Janney's official record, it will be
best to correct an error that has been repeated by several histo-
rians. They state that Arthur Cook and Thomas Janney were
appointed on Qth-mo. 19th, 1686, County Surveyors of liucks
county. The minutes of Council of the 9th-mo. 19th, 1686, con-
tain an order of the Council to Robert Turner and John Barnes
for Philadelphia county, and Arthur Cook and Thomas Janney
for Bucks county, with the surveyors of the respective counties,
to meet and lay out a more commodious road from Broad street
in Philadelphia to the Falls. This shows conclusively that Cook
and Janney were not the surveyors themselves.
While in America, Thomas Janney continued his journeys
on religious affairs, as he had done before leaving England.
He visited meetings of the Society of Friends in New England,
Rhode Island, Long Island and Maryland, as well as in Pennsyl-
vania and New Jersey. In 1695, in company with Griffith Owen,
he returned to England to visit Friends' Meetings there. In
the course of his travels he was taken ill at Hinchin, and expect-
ing to die, said to one of two relatives who came from Chester
to see him: "It is some exercise to think of !)eing taken away
so far from my home and family, and also from my relations
and friends in Cheshire ;" and spoke further on religious mat-
ters, as recorded in a memorial of him by Philadelphia Yearly
Meeting. After this he recovered sufficiently to go to Cheshire,
where he again became worse, and died i2th-mo. (February)
I2th, 1696, attended by his sister. In the account just quoted and
in Joseph Smith's catalogue of Friends' Books, it is stated that
he was buried in "Friends Burying Place," in Cheshire; but the
Cheshire Monthly Meeting records record that he was buried
T2th-mo. 15th, at Mobberly, where nearly all of the Janneys of
his own and preceding generations were buried. He was aged
63 years and had been a minister 42 years. The entry in the
Meeting- record mentioned above says : "Thomas Janney, of Penn-
sylvania, America, a minister on a visit to this, his native country."
A testimony concerning him by Falls Monthly Meeting, together
with a further account compiled for this purpose, was published
by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in a book called "A Collection
of Memorials Concerning Divers Deceased Ministers," etc.,
Philadelphia, 1787.
THOMAS JANNEY, PROVINCIAL COUNCILOR 465
Although he can hardly be called an author, Thomas [anney
wrote a few pieces for publication. He wrote an introduction
to a book by Alexander Lawrence entitled, "An Answer to a
Book Published by Richard Smith, of Westchester, Wherein, The
People of God called Quakers (more particularly in this County of
Cheshire,) are cleared from Wrong, Injustice, and False Accusa-
tions by him charged upon them." This book was printed in 1677,
and the introduction was, in his own words, "Given forth the 29tli
day of the Seventh-Month, 1677, Thomas Janney." His principal
writing was "An Epistle from Thomas Janney to Friend, of
Cheshire, and by them desired to be made Public." He
dated this, "From my House near the falls of Delaware, in
the County of Bucks, in Pennsylvania, the i6th day of the Tenth-
Month. 1693." It was printed and sold by T. Sowle. near the
meeting-house, in White-Hart-Court, in Gracious street, Lon-
don, 1694. Thomas Janney wrote a memorial of William Yard-
ley, which has been quoted above. This was published in the
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's book of Memorials, which con-
tained that of Thomas Janney himself before referred to.
Of Thomas Janney's descendants only one branch has re-
mained in Bucks county, the greater part of the family having
moved at an early period, to Virginia, and some from there to
the South and West.
The children of Thomas and Margery (Heath) Janney were:
(i) Jacob; born 3d-mo. i8th, 1662; died 8th-mo. 6th. 1708,
married Mary Hough.
(2) Martha; born 5th-mo. 17th, 1665, died i2th-mo. 4th. 1665;
buried at Mobberly.
(3) Elizabeth; born iith-mo. 15th, 1666, died iith-mo. 17th.
1666; buried at Mobberly.
(4) Thomas; born i2th-mo. 5th. 1667. married Rachael
(5) Abel; born loth-mo. 29th. 1671, married Elizabeth Stacy.
(6) Joseph; born ist-mo. 26th, 1675, married Rebeckah Biles.
The two daughters as shown above died in infancy, while the
four sons' accompanied their father to Pennsylvania. The family
name of the son Thomas' wife is unknown, and although he had
several children, nothing is known of his descendants. Abel's
wife was a daughter of Mahlon Stacy, a large landed proprietor
466 THE LITTLE NESHAMINY
in New Jersey, and an eminent man in the early colony. Joseph's
wife was a daughter of William Biles, a Provincial Councilor,
and also a most prominent man in his day. The descendants of
Abel and Joseph Janney moved to London county, Virginia, and
from there, many of them went to Baltimore, Washington and
further; they generally occupied a high position in the localities
in which they lived. Among them was Samuel M. Janney, the
historian of the Society of Friends.
The Janneys that remained in Bucks county are all descended
from Thomas' son Jacob ; he married Mary Hough, daughter of
John Hough, who was a member of the Provincial Assembly in
1710. They had one son, Thomas, born i2th-mo. 27th, 1707-8;
he married Martha Mitchell, and had a son Richard who was
grandfather of the late Thomas Janney, the late John L. Janney,
Stephen T. Janney, Esq., and others who are or were known
to many present.
The Little Neshaminy.
BY REV. D. K. TURNER, HARTSVILLE, PA.
(Galloway's I-'ord Meeting, June 20, 1897.)
Much of the history of any region is intimately connected with
the streams that pass through it. They have much to do with the
life of the people and exert a wide influence upon their welfare.
The Delaware, Hudson, Ohio, and the Mississippi rivers not only
delight the eyes of thousands that gaze upon them, but the bus-
iness, the pleasures, the maintenance and the domestic and social
habits of multitudes near them and at a distance are greatly affec-
ted by the fact that their waters flow in ceaseless current in the
same channels year after year and from generation to generation.
In like manner the water-courses within Bucks county have an
important bearing upon the career of its inhabitants.
The Neshaminy creek, though a small stream, is almost entirely
within the county and is worthy of attention. I have therefore
chosen one branch of it as the subject of this paper. In travers-
ing the bed of the stream toward its source about midway, we
find it divided into two parts, one coming from the northwest,
and the other from the southwest. The former is larger and
THE LI'nXE NESHAMINY 467
is often called the North Branch or the Big Neshaminy. The
latter is the smaller and is denominated the West Branch or
Little Neshaminy. The source of the Little Neshaminy is in
Montgomery county, a few miles west of the county-line, and
its general direction east and northeast. Soon after entering
our county it is joined by a confluent of considerable size, the
Park creek, a name derived from the fact that it runs through
the celebrated Graeme Park farm.
Toward the last part of the life of William Penn, when he
was unable by sickness to direct the affairs of the Province of
Pennsylvania, his wife, Hannah Penn, sent from England Sir
William Keith to act as Governor. He discharged the duties of
his office from May i, 1717, to 1726, nine years. In 1718 he
purchased the tract of land, a part of which was afterwards
known as "Graeme Park." It consisted of 1,200 acres, and was
a portion of 5,088 acres which the Commissioners of William
Penn in 1706 deeded to Samuel Carpenter, a wealthy merchant
of Philadelphia. After Mr. Carpenter's death his executors sold
it to Andrew Hamilton, who in a few weeks transferred it to
Governor Keith for ^500 or $2,500 in Federal money, a fraction
more than $2 an acre. Most of it lay in Horsham township,
in what was then Philadelphia county, but a part was in War-
rington, in Bucks county, and there is a tradition that the Gov-
ernor built a grist-mill by the creek on the north side of the
county-line. A short distance ea.st of the creek he erected a
pointed stone dwelling, 56 feet long, by 25 feet wide, two stories,
being each 14 feet high, and third story ceiled, with dormer win-
dows, a mansion much more pretentious than any other in the re-
gion at that time. Separate from the main building in the rear
were a kitchen, offices, malt-house and a large barn. It was con-
structed in the most substantial manner of sandstone, with beams
and floors of oak, and the walls are still (1897) standing much as
they were 175 years ago, though a new roof was rendered neces-
sary a few years since by the ravages of time. The front is
toward the northwest, and a large lawn shaded by stately trees
slopes nearly to the creek.
The principal door of entrance opening into a hall, is divided
into two sections, the division running lengthwise from top to
468 THE LITTLE NESHAMINY
bottom, the two leaves joined by strong iron hinges. The walls
of most of the rooms are lined with panelled wainscoting, from
the floor to the ceiling, and must have originally pres2nted a
fine appearance. A handsome balustrade guards the stairway.
From the windows of the third story a pleasant prospect is pre-
sented over a wide extent of fields and meadows. Here the
Governor used to spend the summer, attended sometimes by
many of the gay, refined and cultivated from the metropolis.
They traced the finny tribes along the Neshaminy and hunted
game through the woods, then almost undisturbed by the hand
of man. The whole vicinity was covered with forests, and at
the Governor's request, in 1722, the Council of the Province
directed that a road should be opened from his country-seat to
the present village of Horshamville, and thence to Round Meadow
Run, now Willow Grove. At the same time the County line
road was being surveyed from York road somewhat beyond the
Governor's place.
Governor Keith's wife had a daughter by a former marriage,
Miss Ann Diggs. She was married when young to Dr. Thomas
Graeme, a prominent physician of Philadelphia. To this gentle-
man and Thomas Souder, in 1726, the Governor made over for
£500 all his personal property at his plantation, consisting of
II slaves, several of them children; 20 horses, cows, sheep, hogs,
wagons, implements, furniture and a large collection of silver
and table ware and domestic utensils, the inventory of which
is still preserved by the present owner of the estate, Mrs. Abel
Penrose. Sir William must have lived in a considerable degree
of splendor, and extended abundant hospitality to numerous
friends. In 1728 he left America for London, where he resided
till his death in 1740, at the age of nearly 80 years. It is
stated by the historian. Proud, that his last days were passed in
penury. After his departure to England his wife, Lady Ann
Keith, held the property till 1739, when she transferred her
claim to her son-in-law. Dr. Thomas Graeme.
The winter home of Dr. Graeme was on Chestnut street,
near Sixth, Philadelphia, in which city he held several important
offices. He was at different times a member of the Council, Port
Physician and Collector of the Port. By appointment of Gover-
THE LITTLE NESHAMINY 469
nor Gordon in 1731 he became one of the three Justices of the
Supreme Court, which position he occupied nearly twenty years,
and in addition, in 1732, he was made Justice of Oyer and Ter-
miner and General Jail Delivery for Philadelphia, Pnicks and
Chester counties. In this capacity he was one of the first judges
that ever acted for Bucks county. He continued to own the
park at Horsham till his decease, and after the death of his wife
in 1765 he resided there permanently. His earthly career closed
suddenly in 1772, when he was nearly 84 years old. The proper-
ty, comprising almost 1,000 acres, was not diminished during
his life. A large circle of friends and acquaintances held him
in high esteem, and his ability and integrity in the discharge of
his public and official duties were without a stain.
His daughter, Elizabeth Graeme, to whom her father bequeath-
ed his estate, was an accomplished young lady, highly educated,
intellectual and of literary tastes. In 1772, but a few months
before his demise, she married Hugh Henry Ferguson, who
had come to this country not long previously from Scotland.
He resided with her on the plantation three or four years,
but when the War of Independence commenced he espoused the
side of the British and engaged in the royal service, while her
sympathies remained with the Americans. When the English
forces were withdrawn from Philadelphia he went with them
to New York, and was in the commissary department with
the rank of Colonel. After the close of the war, a separation
took place between him and his wife, and thev were never re-unit-
ed. He was attainterl of treason and lost all right to the estate of
Mrs. Ferguson, and she herself came near having the Park
property wrested from her hands for supposed complicity with
him, but by an Act of the Legislature in 1781 the title to it
was vested in her, and she resided upon the property until 1791.
when having been reduced by previous sales to 555 acres it
was sold to William Smith, of Philadelphia, who had married
her niece. Soon after this, it was still further reduced in
size, and in i8or the remainder, 204 acres, came into the pos-
session of Samuel Penrose, of Richland township, Bucks coun-
ty, at whose death his son, William Penrose, became the owner.
He made extensive improvements to the grounds and buildings,
470 THE IvITTLE NESHAMINY
though the main parts of the present dwelHng were erected in
1810 by his father. Wilham died in 1863, bequeathing the
farm to his son, Abel Penrose, whose widow now holds it
and resides thereon. The old mansion was used as a tenant
house for a considerable period, but is at present unoccupied
and serves occasionally for a granary. It is regarded by the
Penrose family, who have owned it almost a hundred years,
as a sacred relic of antiquity, worthy of being preserved and
handed down to posterity.
Mrs. Furguson, a short time before disposing of the estate,
probably about 1797, removed to the house of Seneca Lukens,
two miles distant, on the road to Philadelphia, where she
departed this life in 1801, aged 60 years- She was an elegant,
refined woman, of most agreeable manners, hospitable and
charitable well nigh to her own pecuniary injury. While
the American Army was at White Marsh, it is stated, she sent
them on several occasions linen and woolen cloth raised and
manufactured on her own place, and that she received in return
letters of thanks from General Washington.
In looking over the old deeds belonging to the Penrose
family I observed that the blank parts of some of them had
been cut out. The explanation of this was discovered in a
paper in the handwriting of Mrs. Ferguson, which had been
carefully preserved, and which I copied, as follows :
"The reason why these parchments are deficient is, a couple
of young ladies wanted to make some small pocketbooks to
keep money in, and they took the plain part of the parchment.
This I know to be the fact. Signed. E. Ferguson.
"March 12, 1791."
MILLS ON THE NESHAMINY.
Among the most important features of Neshaminy creek
are the mills that are planted near it and are run principally
or wholly b_v its waters. One of them is half a mile north of
Hartsville, on the York road, now (1897) owned by John M.
Darrah. The exact date of the erection of it and of the dam,
an eighth of a mile west, has not come down to us, but it was
about 1783. The land on which it stands is part of a tract of
1,000 acres bought by James Boyden, of London, from William
THE LITTLE NESHAMINY 471
Penn. By proprietary warrant May 26, 1684, 484 acres were
laid off for him in what is now Warwick township. This tract
was in the Boyden family 57 years, and appears to have been
occupied by few settlers during that long period. In 1741
John Boyden, James Boyden and Mrs. Mary Boyden Shute,
grandchildren of James Boyden, Sen., sold 325 acres to Thomas
Howell, of Philadelphia, and he, the next year, 1742, sokl to
John Griffith 51^4 acres, (on a portion of which is the site of
the mill,) for £6, Pennsylvania currency, or $16. In 1761 John
Griffith sold 2 acres and 33 perches, on which the mill stands
to Thomas McCane. How long he held it is uncertain, as
there is a break in the chain of title for 25 years, covering the
time of the Revolution. In 1786 Eleazer Twining sold the lots
to John Carr and Joseph Hart. John Carr the same year parted
with his interest in it to Col. Joseph Hart for £25 or $66. The
persons, who afterwards owned it in succession, were Col. Wil-
liam Hart, Josiah Hart, Benjamin F. Wright, Capt. William
H^art, John Polk and John M. Darrah, the present owner. The
mill building used to stand twenty-five rods east of the York
road, down the race, off the main line of travel. But Josiah
Hart about 1813, soon after he purchased it, said, "I want to
be during the day where I can see the people." So he removed
it to the west side of the turnpike, the position it has maintained
ever since. In 1861 it was rebuilt by J. M. Darrah and fitted
with new machinery. Benjamin F. Wright, who owned it
for a short time, 1839-40, afterwards took his family to Phila-
delphia and was elected member of the Common Council of
the consolidated city, and one of three building inspectors, in
which latter capacity he served by re-election ten or twelve
years. The owners of the property have not always been prac-
tical millers, but employed other men to manage the mill. A-
mong those who within the last sixty years have conducted the
business, the following may be mentioned : Jacob Slack, Samuel
Pool, Charles Briggs, Samuel Hugh and Joseph M. Kirk.
MEARNS' MILL.
Another mill on the West Branch is called Mearns' upper
mill, farther down the stream east of Darrah's mill. Ex-
actly at what date it was built is unknown, but it must have
472 THE LITTEE NESHAMINY
been before 1777, for in an old deed dated 1782 in possession
of Hugh M earns. 75 acres were sold by William Thompson to
Hugh Ramsey. Mention is made of a grist-mill erected thereon
before 1777, and of an oil-mill and tan-yard built between 1777
and 1782. The land is part of a tract of 5,000 acres, which
William Penn, May 12, 1684, caused to be surveyed in Bucks
county. Out of this, July 13, 1684, 1,000 acres were sold to
James Claypoole in Warwick. For non-payment of what was
due to the Proprietary. Sherifif William Biles in 17 13 sold from
this tract 400 acres to Joseph Claypole, son of James, and
Joseph in 1727 sold the same to Nicholas Hellings, and in 1734
Hellings parted with it to Thomas Dungan, of Northampton.
In 1739 Dungan transferred 91 acres to Samuel Faries for £112
Pennsylvania currency, or $299, or about $2.25 an acre. In
1777 the administrators of Samuel Faries sold 75 acres to Wil-
liam Thompson, and he in 1782 deeded it to Hugh Ramsey.
This is the history of a portion of the land attached to the mill.
Another portion was procured in this way : The commission-
ers of William Penn in 1714 sold to Mary Crap 1,100 acres
and she was to pay one English shilling, or 23 cents, every
year for every lOO acres. In 1727 this tract was sold to Ed-
ward Pierce, of Philadelphia. In 1729 George Claypoole, be-
came the owner, and his son. Abraham Claypoole, followed him
in the ownership of 550 acres. He in 1746 transferred 100
acres to Samuel Faries.
Another piece of land connected with the mill ran through
the following devious career. John Bland and John Mann,
of London, in 1729. conveyed, by their attorneys in Philadel-
phia, one-third of 638 acres and 44 perches to Robert Mearns.
After his decease his children, Hugh, Agnes, Jennet and Mary,
inherited it. One of the daughters, Agnes, married John Ran-
dle. Their children, John Randle and Jane Randle, in 1786
parted with their share of the land to Hugh Mearns for iioo
(Pennsylvania money) or $266.
Some of the property has been in the possession of the Mearns
family since 1729, 168 years, and has passed by inheritance from
one to another; the present owner, Hugh Mearns. being the
sixth generation from Robert Mearns. A large business in
THIC LITTLK NESHAMINY 473
the manufacture of flour was formerly done at the upper mill
and previous to 1850 heavy teams were employed in hauling
grain and flour from and to Philadelphia. Though the build-
ing is still standing it is no longer used for milling purposes.
Hugh Alearns, grandfather of the present owner, was a student
at Princeton College four years and graduated in 1823.
One of the reports of the faculty, dated September 27, 1820,
marks his scholarship as "distinguished."
Mearns' loivcr mill, as it was formerly termed, or Ross' mill,
stands nearly half a mile from the upper mill, probably on the
tract belonging, 150 years ago, to Samuel Karies, and afterward
to William Mearns. The two mills were held by the Alearns
family for many years and it is now impossible to accurately
di.stinguish the history of the one from that of the other. The
upper is believed to be the older of the two. In 1858 the lower
mill and the farm attached to it passed into the hands of Clark
Ross and Lewis Ross, by whom it was rebuilt in 1869. A saw-
mill is located by the side of the grist-mill, where, for a long
period, oak, hickory and other hard woods were manufactured
into lumber. In 1893, after the death of Lewis Ross, by an
untimely accident at the mill, the place became the property of
C. F. Kindred, of Philadelphia, its present owner, by whom a
new barn was erected, in 1897. The ruins of the old mill,
built about 1780, are still visible, but no flax-seed has been crush-
ed there for several generations. As one, or both, of these mills
was in existence when Washington had his army encamped along
the Neshaminy for two weeks in 1777, it is highly probable
that his soldiers were supplied with corn-meal and rye and
wheat flour from them and thus the waters of the stream may
have contributed to the defence of the country in time of peril.
After the death of Rev. Nathaniel Irwin, one of the pastors
of Neshaminy church, which took place in 1812, two of his
granddaughters, children of his son, Henry Irwin, became mem-
bers of the family of Robert Mearns, at the upper mill, and
were trained with care and wisdom until their maturity. One
of them, Rebecca, married a Mr. Hindman, resided subsequent-
ly in the State of New York, was the mother of twelve children
474 J'HE LITTLE NESHAMINY
and died at Albany, N. Y. December 30, 1887, in the 81 st year
of her age.
long's mill.
Another mill on the Neshaminy, usually called Long's mill,
is situated in Warrington township, near the western line of
Warminster. The present structure was built by Hugh Long
in 1855, and a steam engine was placed in it to furnish power.
when the water was low, but it is not now employed. I have
not been able to learn when the first mill was erected, but it
must have been early -in the present century. The immigrant
from Ireland, who originally settled on the tract was Andrew
Long, born in 1691. His son, William, born 1727, his grand-
son, Hugh, and his great-grandsons, William and Thomas
successively owned the farm, which is entirely surrounded by
public roads. It was subsequently held by Job Walton and
now by Henry Shepard, of Plymouth, Pa.
THE FULLING MILL.
Across the Bristol road from Neshaminy cemetery on the
bank of the creek, 75 or 100 years ago, a fulling-mill and dam
used to stand on the property of Col. William Long, where for
a long time people brought home-made woolen cloth to be finish-
ed for use. The sound of its machinery is not now remembered
by the oldest inhabitants, and the waters curl and ripple over
the ruins of what was once an aspiring dam.
BRIDGES.
Before 1850, but four bridges spanned the Little Neshaminy,
one on the turnpike between Doylestown and Willow Grove ;
one on the Bristol road near Neshaminy church ; one on the
York road above Hartsville, and one at Mearns' upper mill on
the Almshouse road. Within the latter half of this century
six substantial new bridges have been placed, where formerly
people were compelled to ford the stream, which sometimes
in freshets became dangerous or absolutely impassable ; two on
the County-line ; one on the Street road ; one on the township-
line between Warminster and Warrington, and two at Ross' Mill.
One of the oldest roads crossing the Little Neshaminy is
the "York road," so called from the fact, that for a long period
THE LITTLE NESHAMINY 475
previous to the construction of railroads it was the main thor-
oughfare between Philadelphia and New York, on which stages
ran that carried numerous passengers. Where this highway
passes over the creek in Warwick township, above Hartsville,
a stone bridge was built, as stated by Gen. W. W. H. Davis
in his history of the county, in 1755, which was replaced in
1789 by a much larger and finer one with six stone arches.
This stood for the most part uniinpaired until an unprecedent-
ed flood occurred in 1865, when it was undermined and dan-
gerously injured. Its treacherous condition was unobserved
for months, when one morning with scarcely a premonitory
tremor an arch fell, and in the course of the forenoon three
or four more arches quietly and deliberately gave way, and
it became a mass of ruins. The turnpike company, by whom
the franchise of the York road had been assumed, were
obliged to restore it, which they did with a substantial covered
structure built of timber in 1866.
Over the first bridge at this point, soon after its erection,
Benjamin Franklin, who in 1753 was appointed Deputy Post-
master General for the Confederate colonies, used to travel on
business connected with the mail service between New York
and Philadelphia.
The bridge on the turnpike leading to Doylestown near Frog
Hollow, or Neshaminy post-office, or Paul Valley, as it is
variously termed, was originally built over 100 years ago. The
present structure was reared in 1821.
The County-line road crosses the two branches of the Little
Neshaminy, which unite in Warrington to form the main body
of the stream, and on neither of them for more than 100 years
after they were opened to travel was there any bridge. I
have often forded them on horseback and in a carriage, when
I have sighed for something to keep me high above treach-
erous mud, rocks and water beneath me. Similar was the fact
with the crossing near Long's mill. Pedestrians were compelled
to trust themselves to a shaky, half-decayed log, fastened to
trees on the shores by a chain. Now at each of these places
there is a handsome stone arch bridge. The one at the Park
creek was erected by Bucks and Montgomery counties in 1853 ;
476 THE UTTLE NESHAMINY
the one farther up the County-Hne near the school-house in
Warrington, with five arches of dressed stone, in 1865. The
Commissioners superintending the latter were Jacob Slifer,
Abraham C. Cole, Tobias C. Hance, from Montgomery county,
and Jesse I '.lack. IV-ter Staatcs, Daniel Clewell, from Bucks
county.
The bridge on the Street road a short distance below the
Doylestown turnpike was built in 1859 under the charge oi An-
drew Dudbridge, Commissioner.
The bridge near Long's mill, having six stone arches, was
erected in 1869 at an expense of about $13,000, by Commission-
ers. Thomas Heed, David Seip and Moses O. Kulp. The
ma--tcr-mason was James O. Cozens.
The first bridge at Mearn's upper mill, which had stood there
probably nearly a centurv. was re])laccd by a new one four
or five years ago.
Xear l^oss' mill two bridges are required by the crookedness
of the stream within a short distance of each other. One was
erected in 1868 under the management of Josiah W. Leidy,
Thomas Heed and David Seip, Commissioners, and the other
in 1890 by J. I'.. Tomlinson, \V. Worthington and Tilghman
Barron, CommisMoners.
Before a briery-" existed near Xeshaminy church on the Bristol
road, a hundred years ago, the fording place was an eighth of
a mile below, near the residence of R. H. Darrah, and at that
point a large log used to be seen in the edge of the water, on
which the soldiors of the aimy under Washington, wdien en-
camped near by. (according to tradition,) washed their clothes.
A covered w^ooden bridge on solid stone abutments bore the
storms and floods more than half a century, but by the great
freshets of 1865 it was somewhat moved from the perpendic-
ular, and the present bridge mostly of iron was erected m 1869.
Of the ten bridges now covering the creek five are of stone
with neat symmetrical arches ; the others are of iron and wood
combined.
NESHAMINY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
In the edge of Warwick township, on the line of Warminster,
at the point where the Neshaminy passes across the Bristol
THE IvITTLE NESHAMINV 477
road from the latter township to the former, stands the Ne-
shaminy Presbyterian Church.* I have treated of its history
and the biography of some of its pastors before this society
in former years and it is unnecessary to dwell upon them
now. The cemetery connected with the church is a little c'.istance
west of the sanctuary, and the first house of public worship,
built in 1727 stood within its limits. The oldest tombstone
is that of Cornelius McCartney, 1731. Probably some may
have been buried there before, whose graves were not marked.
It is the testimony of tradition that the remains of some soldiers,
who died during the Revolution were interred there, and it is
possible that deaths may have occurred in the army while Wash-
ington was encampe.'l in the immediate vicinity. In 1873 the
congregation of Neshaminy of Warwick purchased and add-
ed to the graveyard ten acres of very desirable ground,
which enlarged its original size four fold. By the efforts of
James Grier, Esq., of Warrington, and others a few years
ago, a fund of several thousand dollars was accumulated for
the care and improvement of the cemetery. This has been de-
posited with the Doylestown Trust Co., the interest being ex-
pended under the direction of the trustees of the Church.
W.VSHINGTOn's ENC.WIPM IvNT.
In the summer of 1777 Washington, then in New Jersey with
his army, learned that a British fleet was preparing to convey
a large body of soldiers from Xew York to attack some point
held by the Americans ; but he could not discover what was its
destination. Fearing it might be Philadelphia he slowly march-
ed toward that city. Those were days in which telegraph lines
and steam vessels were unknown and reliable information of
the enemy's movements could not be obtained for several weeks.
Part of Washington's forces crossed the Delaware at Coryell's
ferry, now New Hope, and part at another point above, and pro-
ceeded down the York road, spent a night at the Little Neshami-
ny above Hartsville, where the headquarters were in the house
now owned by Mrs. Sarah Campbell, and thence advanced to Ger-
mantown. Still in doubt as to the designs of the British fleet he
retraced his steps after a few days to the same point on the
* See "The Neshaminy Church." Vol. I, p. 77.
478 THE LITTLE NESHAMINY
Neshaminy previously occupied and remained there from '\ugust
lo to 23. A whipping-post was set up on the west side of the
road, (jn huul now owned by John X'anlUiskirk, by way of warn-
ing to the refractory and disobe(Hent. The army was com-
posed of four (Hvisions under ("lenerals Greene, Sterling, Steph-
ens and Lincoln. These were subdivided into eight brigades under
Generals Maxwell, Scott, Weidner, Muhlenberg, Wayne, Wood-
ford, Nash and Conway. Marquis De LaFayette, then scarcely
twenty-one years of age, who had been appointed Major General
by Congress a short time previously, was there as a member
of Washington's immediate family, but with no separate com-
mand.
After waiting in anxious expectation for news of the enemy,
thirteen days, and enjoying the rest and abundant supplies,
which the fertile valley of the Neshaminy afforded, tidings
came that the hostile ships had appeared in Chesapeake Bay :
then the General knew that Philadelphia was in danger, and
he at once put his men en route thither. In the course of the
following three weeks the battle of Brandywine took place, and
as the Americans had Init 13,000 and the British 18,000, the
latter won the day and ere long took possession of Philadelphia.
In 1819 a Latin ode was composed on the Neshaminy by
Dr. Isaac C. Snowden, who then resided near Hartsville. It
was subsequently published in the Philadelphia Magazine, of
which Dr. Snowden was the editor. He was a gentleman of
fine abilities and unusual classical attainments, as is shown in
the ode. a copy of which was furnished me by Mrs. Esther
Mearns. of Ivyland. I will not inflict upon you the Latin,
but will read a translation written by Benjamin C. Snowden
and James Ross Snowden in 1872.
"TO NESHAMINY^ A RIVER OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Through the green valleys and among high and shady groves,
Not timed to the lyre nor cared for by the muse.
Here running and murmuring the Neshaminy rolls its waters.
Delightful stream, O Neshaminy, wherever one may look,
Some beautiful object is to be seen, always agreeable to me.
Near its green bank stands a venerable church.
Surrounded with oaks and other trees of the wood ;
Here the ploughman, the herdman and many farmers come
To lay the incense of their hearts upon its holy altar.
THE UTTLE NESHAMINY
479
Nearby a rude bridge spans the shady stream,
And over the rocks and shores the falling waters plunge.
On a steep crag overlooking the forest,
The ruins of a small and ancient mill are seen;
Above this the home of the pastor rears its v^rhite summit,
Blooming with flowers amidst the forest trees, graceful to the sight.
Toward the south, devoted to funeral rites, a piece of land
Contains the ashes of humble farmers and kind neighbors.
In the circle of the world no place can be found
So agreeable and beautiful as this little spot."
Perhaps you will bear with me, if I detain you a few mo-
ments longer by reading the following lines, never published,
composed by Airs. Souder, of Philadelphia, about 35 years since.
STANZAS TO THE NESHAMINY.
The banks and braes of Bonny Doan
Were sung, Auld Scotia's Bard, by thee;
In humble strains I fain would sing
Thy praises, fair Neshaminy!
Shaded by many an ancient oak
And many a drooping willow tree.
In tranquil beauty thou dost glide.
Charming all hearts, Neshaminy.
The Tennents School boys hither ccme,
Eager thy placid face to see.
And here with barbed hooks and line
They rob thee oft, Neshaminy.
I've wandered on thy lonely banks.
And plucked the wild flowers on the lea ;
And well I know a charm there dwells.
In thy bright streams, Neshaminy.
The wise and good of other days
Have heavenly wisdom learned of thee ;
Perchance in heaven they sing the grace
That brought them to Neshaminy.
The patriot soldier hither come
From war's rude din awhile to flee.
But thine is all a peaceful flame,
Like thine own waves, Neshaminy.
And now farewell ! to other scenes
The voice of duty calleth me,
Yet never from any heart shall fade
Thy lovely stream, Neshaminy.
The Tools of the Nation Maker.
(Doylestowii Meeting. f)ctober 7. 1S97).
Note : — This was one of the most interesting and profitable meetings ever
held by the Bucks County Historical Society. The special purpose of the
meeting was to present, explain and illustrate, the use of the ancient imple-
ments and relics, which had been collected mainly through the efforts of
Mr. Henry C. Mercer, of Doylestown. It is indeed fortunate, not only for
the societ}', but for the community as well, that the society has among its
members an antiquarian and archaeologist so thoroughly equipped as Mr.
Mercer, who has made the collecting of material for the museum a labor of
love. It is to be regretted that he did not present a written manuscript, or
that his remarks were not fully taken down at the time they were made ;
but any report, however faithful, would fail to .show the interest that was
taken in the lecture ; neither could it convey to the minds of those not
present the value of having present at this meeting, some of the older per-
sons of our county, who were called upon by Mr. Mercer to illustrate certain
implements with which they were familar. The account which follows has
been gathered from newspaper reports, .supplemented by the recollection of
people who were present. During 1897 Mr. Mercer prepared a catalog con-
taining a full description of the greater part of the material in the museum
at that time, to which much material has since been added.
B. F. P., Jr., 1909.
A crowded court-room at Doylestown greeted the opening of
the special auttnnn meeting of the Bucks County Historical So-
ciety, on Thursday afternoon, October 7, 1897. There were pos-
sibly one thousand persons present when President Davis called
the meeting to order. Most of the audience had been on hand
early to inspect the exhibit, as well as to visit ihe rooms of th-?
society on the second floor of the public buildings. Although
much had been removed, there was still a fair collection left ; in
fact, what would have been considered a good collection some
years ago.
Down in the court-room, however, the most and best of the
society's relics were displayed. A frame had been erected some
20 feet high and 40 feet wide, covered with heavy paper; against
this, and on tables and shelves the relics of Colonial days, the
"Tools of the Nation-Maker," had been suspended and arranged.
To the extreme left, under the sign "Felling the Forest," were a
series of felling-axes, such as the pioneers used in clearing awav
Hanging lard-laniixs, fluid-lamp, tin candle-sticks, and tin lardlani]
TOOLS OF THE NATION MAKER.
Candle-dipping loo years ago.
(Photographs by H. C. Mercer).
THE TOOI,S OF THE NATJON MAKER 481
the trees. Next were the tools for building the leg cabin. Then
household implements connected with the preparation of food,
such as skillets, pots, griddles, and fire-place apparatus. Agri-
cultural utensils followed these, and then came utensils of domes-
tic craft. Man and animals were the succeeding series, differ-
entiated by displaced signs, and last, on the tables, were pottery
exhibits and samples of illuminated writings, classed generally
under the head of learning and amusements. On the floor were
the heavier implements : plows, spinning-wheels, flax-brakes, etc.,
while a large table on the right supported an assortment of lan-
terns and lamps. A number of old guns and rifles covered one
end of the table. Grain-cradles filled the prisoner's-dock, and
the radiators were topped with antique wooden mould-board
plows. Sheaves of wheat, golden pumpkins, tree-boughs and
green vines were so disposed as to attractively s\u-round the ex-
hibit.
It was a large, and most interesting and impressive collection,
which greeted the audience on its entry, such as has probably been
shown nowhere else in the United States, and one which it
would be very difficult to duplicate anywhere.
Just as the court-house clock was striking three. President
Davis called the meeting to order. Secretary Alfred Paschall
then presented and read a list of candidates for membership, all
of whom were duly elected.
General Davis then introduced Hon. Harman ^^erkes, who read
the following introductory address, entitled
Colonial Bucks County.
We are living in an age of inquiry. The diffusion of edu-
cation in the past fifty years, has produced a critical taste
which, not content with facts and results, delights in complex-
ities of investigation, and demands reasons for inferences which
are supported by assertion only. We instruct, we acquire
learning, and like the French, we exchange our thoughts by
illustration.
No longer must the young acquire the elements of education
and knowledge by the dull methods of repetition and memo-
rizing- The attractive and reasoning invention of the kinder-
16
4^2 Till; TOOLS Ol* THK NATION MAKKR
garten has displaced the mental tortures and cruelties of mean-
ingless tasks, and knowledge and memory are aided by objects,
location and association.
Everywhere and in everything we have grown into the ad-
vanced methods of effecting great purposes by example and
illustration, and we build each new accomplishment upon
something already established.
In the great realm of history the reader of this decade, how-
ever much pleasure he may derive from the brilliant rtyle
and romantic paintings of McCauley, is not content to accept
plausible traditions, brilliantly pictured imaginings, or unsup-
ported assertions, as history; he, rather, revels in the contem-
plation of the causes, than in the actual possession of results.
Locally, we know that our county was first settled in the
lower districts by the English Friends, and that close upon
their tracks many of the followers of Pastorious, who ascending
the J'ennypack, to its source, found a lodgment in this
county ; that, later on, the lands above these were taken up
by the sturdy Scotch-Irish ; next the hardy German-Lutherans
and Reformers, the Palatines and ]\Iennonites, i)ushing up
the Schuylkill and Pcrkiomen, encircled, like a cordon, the
earlier settlers from the Rockhills to Nockamixon. Then there
came from Rhode Island under the lead of Thomas Dungan, a
troop of independent followers of Roger Williams, and formed
the first Baptist settlement right in the midst of the Quakers.
Next came an aggressive band of Holland Dutch with some
French Huguenots from New York, who, following the course
of the Delaware, broke through the passes of the Blue Ridge
at the Water Gap and Wind Gap, and penetrating the older
settlements, as a wedge driven into the yielding timber, appro-
priated the rich lands of North and Southamptons, and planted
the Colony of New Holland.
But, however content the student of yesterday was to ac-
cept simply these facts, he of to-day seeks to know the reason
why these pioneers favored our good county in preference
to other localities scattered along a coast of thousands of miles,
and he finds a satisfactory solution in the pacific proclamation
of Penn. and his instructions to treat the strangers with kind-
THE TOOLS OF THE NATION MAKER 4^3
ness, in the founder's visit to the Rhine in quest of settlers for
his new Commonweahh, and in Governor Keith's mission to
New \'ork offering inducements to the Germans there, to
come to Pennsylvania. He traces the immigration of the Bap-
tists to a disagreement in the fold in Rhode Island and under-
stands how they were followed by their Welsh brethren.
We are well aware, and proud, too, of the fact that the
commingling of the blood of all these, the fittest survivors of
the independent spirits who sought the blessings of liberty in
this land, under severe privations, produced a race of men of
superior brawn and brain, whose descendants, seeking nearer
and wider fields of enterprise. North, West and South and in the
great cities, through the force of character and intellectual
activity, inherited and born from the assimilation here, of the
blood, customs and ideas of the best types of every nationality,
have done honor to the county of their birth by taking the
foremost positions, in arms, mechanics, commerce, the arts and
the professions wherever they have gone.
We know, as an historical fact, that tlie great naval victory
of the Hyder Alii, over the British ship the General Monk, in
1782, was due to the Bucks county riticmen on board the
American ship, and that Captain Berry accorded to their bravery
and steady aim, the honor of the victory. But why were the
Bucks county riflemen selected to man the American ship?
Mr. Mercer produces the answer. These ecjuipments of the
hunter and the relics of the once-famous Durham boat, of the
stone-hackers, and the raftsmen's pike-poles gathered along
the Delaware, dumb of speech though they be, are eloquent
witnesses of the reason for selecting those brave, daring, reck-
less and skillful riflemen and watermen of the Delaware.
The men, whose type many of us can recall, and none were
braver or hardier, who. in the early Spring, shouldered their
trusty rifles and penetrated inland through the wilds and passes
of the Blue Ridge to the headwaters of the Delaware and Lehigh,
piloted thence upon the swollen streams their rafts and boats,
incurring the dangers of lurking savages, wild beasts, the mad
current and hidden rocks were, of all others, best fitted
to meet and defeat the boastful British sailors.
484 THE TOOLS OF THE, Ny\TION MAKER
We know as a matter of history that the successful crossing
of the Delaware upon that fateful Christmas night not only
won the battle of Trenton, but saved the cause of Independence ;
and the faithful historian of our time will not overlook the
correspondence of Washington, in which he depends for success
upon the collection of the boats upon the Pennsylvania shore.
The men who successfully piloted those boats through the ice
of the Delaware were those whom I have named, whose tools
you find here, in the rooms of the Bucks County Historical
Society. Who knows but that the cause of Independence gained
the day through the skill and efforts of our Bucks county
watermen ?
The relics and tools of old Cobe Scout's shop recall John
Fitch launching his first steamboat in Daniel Longstreth's
meadow, in Warminster township. It requires no great stretch
of imagination to find in these associations the explanation that
a Bucks county boy, born upon the scene imbibing the incentive
to application to inventive mechanics, from the story of Fitch's
exploits, has risen to a position of prominence and influence at
the head of the greatest manufactory of the most wonderful
piece of mechanism in the world, the locomotive engine.
The Historical Society lays before you the results of its efiforts
to preserve for the instruction and enlightenment of the student
of the future, these relics and proofs of the customs, trades and
sacrifices of the founders of the Colony ; these tools of the
makers of the Nation.
We confidently believe that there cannot be collected else-
where as complete, authentic and valuable a study of the com-
mingling of the implements, utensils, customs, inventive genius,
and drift of ideas of the representatives of all the different
races and nationalities of the old world, who made our country
and people what they are, and finally of the moulding of all
the better elements of the races into the typical American citizen,
as we here present. For, nowhere else, in the early settlement
of the country, were so many different nationalities represented
and drawn together, in so limited a territory, and so thoroughly
commingled, and nowhere else will there be found so many of
THE TOOLS OF THE NATION MAKER 485
their descendants occupying in undisturbed peace the homes of
their first ancestors as here in Bucks county.
Here are laid before you the actual tools that contributed to
the formation of a new society, a new Commonwealth and a
new people. Here are the very axes that felled the primeval
forests and constructed the log cabin, the arms and traps by
which the beasts that roamed through the valleys and over the
mountains were made subservient to the wants of the settler.
Here we see the culinary implements, the agricultural tools, and
the simple machinery ingeniously devised, to provide the thous-
and and one wants of a new country widely separated from the
marts of the world.
Here is the lesson of the hardships endured, the self-reliance
and the resourceful adaptation to a novel and trying condition,
that developed the men of Valley Forge, Germantown, Trenton
and Monmouth, who were capable of conceiving and erecting
a form of free government incomparable with any conception
found in history.
Here in brief, is recalled, as never before, from the fireside,
the field, the forest and the waters of our county, the simple
story of the building of the Colony, of the Revolution, Inde-
pendence and Constitutional Government.
Our Society with a proud satisfaction over this initial work
in the preservation of historic emblems, wishes to express its
appreciation of the patriotic spirit of our citizens, worthy de-
scendants of honored ancestors, who have so freely contributed
of their "Lares and Penates," their cherished household relics
and mementoes of their dear ones, to the object of perpetua-
ting, within our own borders, these proofs of the sturdy char-
acter of our forefathers.
Of the gentleman to whom is due the credit and honor of
conceiving the idea of preserving these invaluable mementos, I
can only say that for his devotion, sacrifices and tireless energy,
in making the collection, he will find his fullest reward in the
hearty sympathy of the people of his native county to whom he
has made himself dear through the revival of those latent
sentiments that so strongly appeal to their domestic attachments.
As citizens of Bucks county we are proud of its worthy sons
486 THE TOOLS OF Tllp; NATION MAKKK
and daughters wherever they he, and we honor and love those
who, remembering the home of their youth and ancestry, turn
to us in sympathetic revival of our domestic history and
traditions.
I have too long trespassed upon your patience. This day and
occasion Ijelong to Mr. Henrx- Chapman Mercer, who has been
invited by the Society to discourse upon the uses and significance
of these dear old objects, which were the handiwork and the
handicraft of the noble pioneers, to whose devotion and sac-
rifices we owe all we are.
Address of Henry C. Mercer.
(Abstract from the Doylestowii Intelligencer).
President Davis then introduced Henry C. Mercer, who began
his talk by speaking of the discovery of a house near Doyles-
town, which was full of old relics, such as many people are
accustomed to think of as rubbish or trash, but when studied, lead
deeply into the life of our forefathers of the early century. If
you should ask the pioneer what was the first thing in the settle-
ment of a new country, he would answer, "felling the forest ;"
and in this the axe is the most prominent factor (although food
should, perhaps, be placed first). Following this would come in
order the log cabins, agricultural implements, the development of
the domestic arts and handicraft, the training of animals that may
serve man, education, games and ainusements.
Taking up these in their order, we come first to the axe". They
are of much more importance to us than the first Mississippi
steamboat or the first pioneer's rifle. At first they were neces-
sarily rough and crude. We can study the dififerent shapes,
wonder why they are square or round, or how they are dififerent
from those in Germany, but we cannot trace our axes to Europe,
they were invented by our pioneers, and are a radical modifica-
tion of the ancient European axe. At this point of Mr. Mercer's
talk, the rifle of Edward Marshall (who was made famous be-
cause of the walking-purchase) was exhibited, and its history told
by his great-grandson, Mr. William A. Ridge, who said that
Marshall, after the loss of his wife, who was killed by the Indians,
"was death on the Red Men."
TOOI^S OF THE NATION MAKER.
TOOIvS OF THE NATION MAKER.
As arranged bj' H. C. Mercer in the court-hou.se at Doyle.stown, Pa., for hi.s lecture before
the Buck.s County Historical Society, October 7, 1S97.
(Photographs by Mrs. Alfred Paschall).
THE TOOLS OF THE NATION MAKER 487
From the axe of the forest we next come to the log house,
which, Mr. Mercer said, was formerly used in India. The early-
settlers, leaving the houses of civilization, came to America and
were forced to return to log huts. Of these there are some,
scores left in Bucks county. They are far too venerable to be wan-
tonly destroyed, and should always remain intact to show the
life of the beginning of our century. Among the tools used in
building these log houses, may be mentioned the road-axe, the
splitting-axe, the adze and the mortising-axe. The carpenter's
hatchet now so common, was probably invented in America. Car-
penters formerly used two tools, a hand-axe, and a claw-ham-
mer ; now the two tools are combined in one. Naturally, a log
cabin had to have a roof, so shingles were split from the logs
of wood with the aid of the "frow." When first split they were
rather rough and had to be smoothed ; afterwards holes were
punched in the shingles so that nails might be driven through
them without danger of splitting them.
The next thing to occupy our attention is food, and the various
methods of its preparation. Food was formerly cooked m the
old open fire-places in the direct radiation of heat. Among the
instruments used for cooking were the skillet, the crane, the tin-
kitchen, the bake-iron, the peel and the Dutch-oven. The last
named was a deep kettle in which the food was placed ; a lid
was then set on top and the coals heaped over all. Bread was
baked in the Dutch-ovens, and the pies on the stone bake-ovens.
the universal habit of pie-eating doubtless originating through
the offices of the oven.
The subject of light was then taken up and the various sorts of
candles, lard and oil lamps described at length. Probably the
first light was from a mussel or clam-shell filled with fat, mto
which a wick was inserted. Later came the lantern with a candle
inside, and as no glass surrounded the flame, great care had to
be exercised to prevent the flame being blown out ; next came a
lantern with holes in it; then a lantern of glass that was better;
the third step was a lantern with much more glass ; the next
change consisted of using sperm-oil instead of candles; and
finally we have kerosene. Taking these up severally, we find that
the manufacture of candles was pursued in several ways, the
488 THE TOOLS OF THlv NATION MAKER
chief way was by dipping the wick into smelted tallow, or by
moulding them. There are two kinds of light, those produced
by the wick resting in a liquid, and those produced by its standing
in a solid. When we go back to 1820, we find that there were
no percussion matches but only small sticks with one end dipped
in sulphur. By means of the flint and steel tinder-box a piece
of punk was ignited, and from this the match was kindled, with
which in turn the lard-lamps were lighted. These lard-lamps
were discontinued when kerosene lamps were introduced, until
finally the electric light took its place as the best light. In clos-
ing the subject, Mr. Mercer produced a very pretty climax by
telling of each device for producing light, until finally, when
speaking of the last light produced, the electric lights Avere flashed
on, all over the court-room.
Agriculture and its implements next claimed attention. Mr.
Mercer said there are two main ideas in agriculture, — sowing
and reaping. In the former, the oldest implements are the hoe
and the shovel. Ikit the most interesting, by far, is the plough,
two types of which, the wooden and the iron plough, were
shown and explained. In the harvest or reaping, rakes occupied
a prominent place, although they followed the sickle and the
scythe. The old sickle had a saw-tooth edge, and was preferred
for cutting grain, as the stalks could be kept straight-, which
was not the case when scythes were used. .After 1830 the sickle
was generally abandoned, and the scythe, with a cradle attach-
ment, used instead. Three styles of cradles were shown, the
Trussian, the French and our own. The grain-cradle is sup-
posed to be many centuries old, although it did not come into
general use until about 1820. If a line were drawn through
Bucks county, near the centre, the two divisions would repre-
sent the English and the German settlings ; the Germans in the
northern or upper-part, and the English in the southern or
lower-part. The settlers of the lower-part used a scythe of
hard steel, which was sharpened by a whet-stone, while those
in the upper-part used a scythe of soft metal, which was first
pounded out on an anvil, and then whetted. (Mr. Abraham Delp
was here introduced to the audience and illustrated the pounding
thin of the Dutch scythe.)
The domestic crafts include among their products rye straw
Tools of the nation maker.
As arranged by H. C. Mercer in the court-house at Doylestown, Pa., for hi.s lecture, October;
(Photograph by Mr.s. Alfred Pa.schall: )
r^:pfff%4qHJ^'«i'-'-mJUi^HB
iw<
^n|
wKH^^m
=^*t^^*?^^P^?^ â– â–
THE CONESTOGA WAGON OR PRAIRIE SCHOONER.
Of lighter type for tran.sporting families rather than merchandise. In common use in Penn-
sylvania until 1S30, occasionally seen until i860. Called " Prairie Schooner" in the far West be-
fore the linion Pacific Railroad was built. Protected by home-spun linen cover and equipped
with hanging grease pot or cows-horn. Generally drawn by four hor.ses, which were sometimes
geared with bells. Drivers whips with silk or squirrel skin crackers, often used to score paneled
walls of old taverns, as at the Harrow tavern in Bucks county.
Photograph by H. C. Mercer from the original wagon used by Thomas Hoovenden as a
model for his painting " Westward Ho " in the capitol at Washington. Wagon now in the museum
of the Bucks County Historical Society. Presented by Mrs. Hoovenden.
THK TOOLS OF THE NATION MAKKR 489
baskets, dough-troughs, butter-scales, dinner-horns, boulder-
forks, terrapin-forks, foot-warmers, and the extremely important
one of implements employed in the preparation of clothing. In
the old days flax and wool were laboriously spun by hand. The
various processes of flax working, were breaking, swingling and
hetcheling, until finally the fibre could Ijc spun into clothing. Tlie
wool had to go through a process of cleaning and carding, ancl
was then spun into long threads, afterwards to be knitted. (The
processes described by Air. Mercer were then illustrated; the
breaking of flax by Mr. Delp, and the spinning of it by Mrs.
Shive and Mrs. Koons.)
Mr. Mercer had a fine exhibition of old Bucks county pottery,
including bowls, dishes and plates of dififerent sorts. Under
the subject of education, the teacher's desk, taken from an old
German school, was shown with its accompanying sand-box
and ink-well. Many specimens of Fractur or illuminated manu-
scripts were also shown. Household remedies and herbs were
presented and briefly described.
Mr. Mercer closed his extremely interesting talk by thanking
the persons who had assisted him, and by saying that if aU of us
would band together, we could as a result, amass a vast collection
of most valuable relics of our forefathers' time.
At the conclusion of Air. Alercer's talk, the meeting ad-
journed, and many people inspected the various objects arranged
in the front of the court-room. The collection of photographs
owned by the society came in for a large share of attention and
excited much comment by its beauty.
Among the distinguished visitors noticed in the gathering were
Charles C. Harrison, Provost; Dr. George S. Fullerton, Vice-
Provost ; Dr. Marion D. Learned, Professor of Germanic
languages. Dr. M. C. Brumbaugh, Professor of Pedagogy, all of
the University of Pennsylvania; Sidney G. Fisher and Owen
Wister, of Philadelphia.
Some Treasures and Recollections of Childhood.
BY MISS MARTHA REEDKR, SOLEBURY, PA.*
(Doylestown Meeting, January i8, 189S.)
There is an instinct that seems to be born with all classes to
collect and hoard treasures. It is one of the first traits to
appear in a child, and the relics of a bygone youth are the dearest
possessions of the old. These trifles, symbols of an almost
forgotten past, meet us everywhere. They are as various in
kinds as the characters that once cherished them. These — the
treasures of the dead — should be touched with reverent 5ngers.
My first introduction to the study of history began with the
Revolutionary War. I remember rushing home from school,
on fire with patriotism, and eagerly questioning all the grown
folks for stories, if possible of a personal nature, concerning
those stirring times. I was seriously annoyed at the pacific
principles of Friends, which prevented them from taking part in
the conflict. I w-anted to find one ancestor who had carried
a musket through the war for Independence. But contentment
had to be found in smaller things. On my father's farm in
Solebury. near the New Hope borough line, in the stone wall
of an old shed was firmly lodged an iron shell, a mute witness
of Revolutionary times. Whether the shell was hurled from
the cannon of a flying foe, or from the patriots guns, is un-
certain. Safe in the old stone wall it rested for many years.
One spring the empty shell was espied by the bright eyes of a
little wren, hunting a home. "\Miat a nice house that would
be," twittered she, and she called her husband. He approved
the site and this young couple set up houskeeping in the niissle-
of-war. The wrens and their descendants continued to make-
that hollow shell their home during many summers. At lasr
the w^all was torn down, then the birds indignant at this vandal-
ism, sought another home. The wren's nest is still remembered
by gray-haired men who were then school boys. The old ihell
had a checkered existence after that. It w-as so heavy no one
* Daughter of Eastburn Reader, now Mrs. Charles Janney of New Hope.
SOMK TREASURES AND RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD 49 1
knew just what to do with it. It was rolled from one dark,
cob-webbed corner to another until it was rescued by a kind
friend and taken to end its days in the rooms of the Bucks County
Historical Society.
The only other relic of those times our house afforded was a
half dozen silver teaspoons, part of the outset of a bride of 1777.
The engraving on the handle is in perfect preservation an;l the
pea-fowl on the back of the bowl is easily seen on every spoon,
showing that they must have always received the greatest care.
They are somewhat larger than the after-dinner coffee spoon,
and you can imagine my pride and delight at being permitted to
use them at the tea table.
In grandfather's house there stood a tall chest-of-dravvers.
The linen, (rose leaf scented.) the shawls, and the beautifully
quilted silk petticoats, found in the lower drawers, were at
one time of little interest to me. But those top drawers ! Out
of reach of rummaging childish fingers, ever seemed a realm
of mysterv. They were up so high that even a chair with a
stool on top of it, brought forth only a tumble and a bump. What
a magic world they proved when at length curiosity was grat-
ified, with the wonderful things made in cross-stitch, the long
silk mitts, and the beaded purses ; each had its own story and
to the telling of which, a childish listener never wearied There
was one long curl of hair and the half of a silver clasp upon
which letters were engraved. The lock of hair was the exact
color of my own and when I learned it had adorned the head of
a girl who. almost one hundred years ago had lived and played,
where I lived and played, it fascinated me. The curl, the trin-
ket, a book in which her name was written, were all that was
left to tell the storv of "Mary." I thought and wondered about
her so much that at last she grew to be almost real. In imag-
ined loyalt}- to her I actually struggled through the book in
which her name was written, old fashioned s's included. Those
old long s's always made it seem as if the author were lisping.
The title was almost as long as the book itself. It was "Some
Account of the Life and Death of John, Earl of Rochester,
Who died July 26, 1680, Written by His Own Dictation on
His Death Bed bv Gilbert Burnett." The book was not cheerful.
492 SOMK TREASURES AND RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD
The missing half of the clasp furnished material for an
alluring romance. It must surely be part of a love token.
And its mate — where was it now? This piece had been so
carefully cherished that the suggestion its fellow was simply
lost, was with scorn rejected. And why should my theory not
be right? It was known that "]\Iary" had begun to spin the
linen for her outset, and had completed a few pieces. But as
she entered the portals of womanhood, death claimed her. And
so I treasure this half of the old-time trinket and hope some
day to find its fellow and learn the rest of the unfinished story
of this long- forgotten "Mary."
In a box of old letters was found a piece of yellowed paper.
The penmanship, faded but still beautiful, attracted attention.
Indeed, writing with a quill or a pen seems fast becoming a
lost art when the wretched scribbling of to-day is compared
with the exquisite work left by our forefathers.
On the paper was the copy of an old prophecy. No doubt
there are many such still existing, lying between the leaves
of old Bibles, in secret drawers of old secretaries or among
long written letters as this one was found. Whatever the in-
spiration may have been the wording was simple but command-
ing. In 1803 there was one Joseph Hoag at work in his fields
when he "observed a mist dim the brightness of th^ sun." As
he pondered on this phenomena his "mind was struck into sol-
emn silence," and a voice from heaven spoke to him. The di-
vision of the Society of Friends was foretold ; also the Civil
War and the freeing of the slaves. Further the voice told him,
"Then a monarchial power will arise and take the government
of the States, establishing a National religion and make the
people tributary to support its expenses." Property Vv'ould
be taken for this purpose, from the rightful owners to a large
amount. Almost chaos reigned. But at the end the voice
promised comfort. "This power shall not always stand, but
with it I shall chastise my children until they return to the
faithfulness of their forefathers. For, its iniquities thou seests
what is coming in thy native land." Joseph Hoag tells us that
this vision remained with him many days. He says "I had no
idea of writing it until it came to be a burden, that for my own
WHEN MEN WERE SOLD 493
relief I have written it." When the vision was made known it
created great excitement coming as it did from nn eminent min-
ister of the Society of Friends. At the time of the division
among the Friends and in the dark days of the Civil War, copies
of the old prophecy were brought to light and discussed by
many serious minded people. In the peaceful years that have fol-
lowed it has been forgotten. No matter what its value as a
prophecy may be, a thing that so deeply stirred the hearts of
our forefathers , deserves at least a remembrance by their
descendants.
It is among these almost forgotten treasures, that the only
opportunity comes to me to add my little to the unwritten past.
When Men Were Sold, Reminiscences of the Underground
Railroad in Bucks County and Its Managers.
BY DR. EDWARD H. MAGILL, SWARTHMORE, PA.*
(Doylestown Meeting January i8, 1898.)
It is always a source of great pleasure to me to return to my
native county of Bucks, and it is an especial pleasure to-day to
meet this Historical Society of our county, which is so laud-
ably engaged in collecting and placing in a permanent form,
the various means of preserving the memories of the past.
And the subject which you have given me is one which has
special attractions, presenting as it does, the opportunity to
do some justice to those brave and loyal men and women of the
earlier day, whose loyalty consisted, not in obeying wicked laws of
human enactment, but in unswerving fealty to what they so
appropriately called the Higher Law, the law of God, written
indelibly in the human heart. It was obedience to this law
that enabled those brave fathers and mothers of ours to prevent
this fair country from becoming a free hunting-ground for
the Southern task-master pursuing his fleeing fugitive, and to
open through our county a comparatively free passage to that
land of freedom which, by the unerring guidance of the North
Star, and long and lonely midnight travel, they sought in
* Dr. Magill (born Sept. 24, 1825, died Dec. 10, 1907) was president of Swarthmore
College from 1871 to 1890.
494 WHEN MEN WERE SOLD
the good Queen's dominions, and which they failed to find
under the broad aegis of our National flag, the Stars and Stripes.
My subject, then, may be announced as: "Reminiscences of
the Underground Railroad in lUicks county, and its managers."
It is difficult for the present generation of young people to
imagine the necessity for the existence, in this free country,
of such an organization as the "Underground Railroad." The
institution of American Slavery, by which more than three
million human beings were held in the most abject servitude,
and regarded as chattels, to be bought and sold, ruthlessly
sci^aratcd. by the will of the master, regardless of family ties,
and all of the horrors attendant upon the public auction sales
of men, women and children to the highest bidder, and their
being driven daily to their labor in the fields by ruthless and
heartless task-masters, have now happily become a thing of the
past, requiring a strong effort of the imagination even to conceive.
It was early in the present century that the comparatively
small number of slaves held in the Northern States were gradu-
ally set free and a ver}- distinct line between the free and the
slave States became fully established. This line, (called Mason
and Dixon's line, on the southern border of our State of
Pennsylvania), separating, as it did, widely varying views and in-
terests, was early felt, by the most far-seeing of cur statesmen to
be a serious menace to the well-being of the Republic, if indeed it
did not actually threaten its destruction at no very distant day.
As a result of this distinct division of interests, and consequent
difference of views upon so important a question as that of
human slavery, hostile feelings were constantly on the increase
between the North and South during the first quarter of the
recent century. These were especially manifested in our Na-
tional councils at Washington and a growing tendency was
observed to form, regardless of political differences, pro-
slavery and anti-slavery parties. The values of property in
slaves became more and more precarious along the northern
border of the Slave States, owing to their facilities to escape
into a free territory in the North and this escape began to be
more and more promoted by the spread of the anti-slavery senti-
ment in the Northern States. As a consequence the practice
whe;n men were soed 495
became more common for the planters of the border States
to sell to the far off cotton plantations of the Gulf States, those
slaves who were most restless under the yoke, and especially
those who had attempted to gain their liberty by flight, aided
by friends in the North.
Before the end of the first decade of the present century the
hegira of the Southern slaves toward the promised land of Can-
ada had fairly set in. It will be observed that this land of
promise was not reached until they had passed the limits of
this boasted land of liberty, and arrived in a territory, governed
by an English king. Thus, when the hunted fugitives started
on their Northern journey, following the light of the North
Star by night, and hiding during the day in barns, deep woods,
under hay-stacks, corn-shocks or any other available place of
concealment which they found upon their route, they but little
appreciated the long and weary way before them. Indeed,
many were grievously disappointed on finding that, on reaching
a Free State, they were still within easy reach of their pursuing
masters, who sought them eagerly to increase their stock of
slaves for the Southern market. The fact that being sold to
the far South was the almost certain penalty of an attempt to
secure their freedom, greatly increased their fear of recapture,
and made to every colored family in the border Free States the
name of kidnapper a terror indeed. I say to every colored
family, for even free colored persons, who haci never been in
slavery, not infrequently were seized as fugitives and hurried
away, sometimes without even the form of a trial to the South-
ern market.
This Northward migration toward the promised land of
freedom was naturally greatest in the State of Pennsylvania,
the States further west being comparatively unsettled at this
early period ; and in Pennsylvania perhaps no counties were tra-
versed by so large a number of fugitives as those of York, Adams,
Chester and Lancaster. These counties, especially the two lat-
ter, were largely settled by Friends, who were generally known
to be in sympathy with the escaping slaves. I may here re- .
mark that Dr. Hiram Corson, in his paper before the Montgom-
ery Countv Historical Society a few years since, stated that
496 WHEN MEN WERE SOLD
nearly all of those in that county who were accounted as Aboli-
tionists were members of the religious society of Friends. Of
course, even there, there were notable exceptions, prominent
among whom for many years was the Rev. Samuel Aaron, of
Norristown. The counties of Chester and Lancaster were also
far enough from the border to afford a temporary place of
safety after passing the line of the Slave States. In the little
town of Columbia, incorporated a few years later, there was, at
the time of which I speak, near the year 1810, a considerable
settlement of colored people, and to these a number of escaping
fugitives became united. But the danger of pursuit and of
restoration to bondage constantly increased. It was soon
after this period that the thought was conceived of forming a line
of stations from Columbia toward the north, the northeast and
northwest, these stations to be the homes of well-known friends of
the slave, and about 10 miles apart, making it a comfortable
night's journey on foot from one to another. These three north-
erly routes were decided upon, that the fugitives should not travel
in so large numbers together, as to increase the danger of dis-
covery. Thus after passing Columbia, all large groups being
divided there by the careful friends of the slave having charge
of the route, and going forward by night, and being carefully con-
cealed by day, the danger of discovery and arrest was very
much diminished.
It is said that the baffled and disappointed masters, on
reaching Columbia, instead of securing their fugitives there, as
they had done on various occasions in previous years, now found
that all trace of them suddenly disappeared, cnid they angrily
declared that there must be an "underground lailroad" some-
where in the neighborhood. This is said to be the origin of
this expression which has since become so familiar. This
method of transporting the escaping slaves through the free
States of the North, a method which extended later to our own
and other counties, and which was kept up even after the
keepers of the underground stations assumed so much greater
risk after the passage, in 1850, of the infamous bill known as
the Fugitive Slave Law, was originated, and first carried into
WHEN MKN WERE SOLD 497
effect by that staunch and faithful friend of the oppressed.
Wilham Wright, of Columbia.
As the principal line of escape through Pennsylvania was
by way of York, Adams, Lancaster and Chester counties, the
underground line through Bucks county was less used, and conse-
quently less perfectly organized. Still many slaves came
through the county, reaching it through the northeastern
Chester county-line, by way of Norristown, or coming up
through Philadelphia. Farmers on their way home from market
frequently brought them up, sent on by the Abolitionists of
Philadelphia, and these frequently found homes and occupa-
tion with the Bucks county farmers, some of them remaining
for several years. At the home of my father, Jonathan P.
Magill, of Solebury, many were thus received, beginning as
far back as my memory extends. Many stories of their ex-
periences as slaves, and their efforts to escape, were told my
brother Watson and myself, by our hired colored men, which
stories are more or less distinct in my memory. The general
impression left on my mind by these in my early boyhood was
the sad and helpless condition of the life of the slave; the in-
expressible terrors which these affectionate creatures experien-
ced from their fear of separation from their families ; their
bravery in setting out unaided and alone to seek a land of
liberty, by hundreds of miles of night travel, guided only by
the North Star, and incurring the constant risk of recaoture
and being sold to a far oft' Southern market ; and the great
cruelty and inhumanity of a system which could thus deprive
human beings of their inalienable right to life and liberty.
I have spoken of the constant increase of the feeling of op-
position to slavery in the Northern States through the first
quarter of the present century. This feeling intensified as
the years passed on, and the consequent hostility between the
North and South became more and more pronounced. But
while the South was practically united in support of their
cherished institution of slavery, the North did not present the
same undivided front in opposition to it. Many at the North.
having family or business connections with the South, were
lukew^arm, or even sided with the slave power, in its constant-
498 WHEN MEN WERE SOLD
ly increasing demands. It was at this time that the opposition
to slavery first took organic form by the estabhshing of the
American Anti-Slavery Society, about 1832. On January i, 1831,
William Lloyd Garrison began in IJoston the publication of
the Liberator, the leading paper throughout the long struggle
of more than thirty years, advocating the doctrine that "im-
mediate and unconditional abolition of slavery was the right
of the slave and the duty of the master." He had promulga-
ted this doctrine two years before in the paper published by
him in connection with Benjamin Lundy in the city of Balti-
more, called The Genius of Universal Emancipation, and for
his severe demmciation of slavery had been fined and impris-
oned in Baltimore several months. His motto now adopted
in the Liberator of "No Union With Slaveholders," aroused
still more the hostility of the South, and through sympathy
with the South, and the influence of Southern trade, the Gar-
risonian Abolitionists were kept in a small minority for a
number of years. But the little band stood firm, and in their
"Declaration of Principles." drawn up by Garrison, and signed
by 50 earnest and devoted men, in advance of their age, they
declared : "We may be defeated, but our principles never."
The only Bucks county name found in this list of early signers
is that of Robert Purvis, and he is the only one among them
who is still (1898) living. In a recent conversation he ex-
])ressed his gre^tt satisfaction that, in that early day, women
were conspicuous in their advocacy of the cause of the slave,
and were present and gave their counsels when the "Declara-
tion of Principles" was adopted.' That the equality of woman
was not then acknowledged as it is to-day is evident from the
fact that no woman's name appears upon the list of signers
of that first Declaration. When they were about to sign the
paper, knowing that it would destroy their business if engaged
in Southern trade, a friend, whose name I know, but forbear to
mention, said to James Mott, "Remember, thou art in business
with the South, and that it may ruin thy trade to sign it."
Whereupon Lucretia Mott, sitting by, promptly said : "Put
down thy name, James." Such was the spirit that prompted
the Abolitionists of that early day.
WHEN MEN WERE SOLD 499
From the first appearance of Garrison's Liberator it was
ever a welcome weekly visitor at my father's house. Al-
though then but six years of age I well remember the thrill
with which we heard our father read in our little sitting-room
that memorable first editorial of the great anti-slavery leader,
closing with the words : "These are the principles by which I
shall be guided ; I will not retract a single inch, and I will be
heard." I may add here that besides the Liberator the other
principal anti-slavery papers, the Pomsyhaiiia Freeman and the
National Anti-Slavery Standard were regularly received at my
father's house.
Of the comparatively small Ijand who entered thus early on
the anti-slavery work in Bucks county, there were none who
were not actively interested from the beginning in the operation
of the Underground Railroad. Indeed for membership in that
organization, of which our own Robert Purvis was president
for many years, and whose only dividend received by the
shareholders was unpopularity among their fellowmen, there
were no hard and fast rules of admission, but all were gladly
welcomed, without formal enrollment, who were able and wal-
ling to lend a hand. I should say here that there were some
most efficient workers among them, led by kindly motives of
humanity, and sympathy for the oppressed and down-trodden
race, who did not consider themselves Garrisonian Abolition-
ists, being too cautious and conservative to rally under the rev-
olutionary banner of "No union with slave-holders." Some of
these were afterward active in the Liberty, and the Free Soil
party.
So far as I have been able to ascertain, the routes of North-
ern travel for the slaves were less clearly marked through Bucks,
than they were through Chester and Lancaster counties. The
ten mile limit, for the distance between the stations, was also
far less frequently observed. The escaping fugitives usually en-
tered the county from the south, by way of Philadelphia, but
many came by the northeast Chester countv route already
referred to, by way of Norristown. Li naming families
who were especially interested in this humane but unlawful ( ?)
work of aiding slaves through Bucks countv. I shall doubtless
500 whe;n men were sold
omit some who were equally interested with those named, and
who performed with them an equally important part of the
work, and incurred with them an equal risk in carrying on
their principles, in direct violation of what they justly regarded
as iniquitous laws.
In the lower part of Bucks county among those who were
ever ready to receive with sympathy these unhappy fugitives,
to care for them, and give or obtain for them employment so
long as they dared to stop on their Northern flight, and then
with the proper credentials to their friends further North,
to help them on their way, either by taking them in their own
conveyances, sometimes covered over or disguised, to avoid de-
tection in case of pursuit and search, or by sending them on bv
trusted friends traveling in that direction, or sometimes when
it seemed safe to do so, paying their fares and sending them
by stage (Bucks county being then without railroads), I
may mention the names of Robert Purvis, Barclay Ivins,
the Pearces, Swains, Beanses, Lintons, Schofields, Buckmans,
Janneys, Twinings, Jonathan Palmer, William Lloyd, William
Burgess, and Jolly Longshore.
After a journey northward of from ten to twenty miles the
fugitives were received and kindly cared for until ready to go
further North, by the Atkinsons, Browns, Tregos, Blackfans,
Smiths, Simpsons, Paxsons, John E. Kenderdine, Jonathan P.
Magill, Jacob Heston, William H. Johnson, Joseph Fell and
Edward Williams.
Having but slight acquaintance with friends of the slave in
the northern end of the county I can only say that the friends
of the middle section generally forwarded fugitives to Richard
Moore, of Ouakertown, or sometimes, more directly further on
by stage or private conveyance to the Vails or to Jacob Sing-
master, of Stroudsburg. On reaching these Northern points,
having put so many miles of weary travel between them and
their masters in the South, their feeling of security increased,
and still more was this the case on reaching Montrose or Friends-
ville, in Susquehanna county, where, under the kind care of
Israel Post, in Montrose, or Caleb Carmalt, in Friendsville.
and other friends to aid them, thev had reached ground on
WHEN MEN WERE SOLD 50I
which, in those days of difficult travel, the slave holder but
rarely ventured in search of his slaves. A comparatively short
journey from these places brought them to the State of New
York.
The home of our friend Richard Moore, in Ouakertown, be-
ing the last important station of the Underground Railroad in
our county and being the point where the northeastern Chester
county-line and most of Bucks county lines converged, I have
felt that it would be a matter of especial interest to know all that
I could learn of this station from the best authority. To this
end I have been twice granted an interview by Alfred IMoore.
the grandson of Richard Moore, at his office in Philadelphia.
I learn from him that Richard Moore, while not ready to unite
with the early Abolitionists in their revolutionary motto : "No
Union with Slaveholders," still felt prompted by kind sympa-
thy to aid the escaping fugitives on their way. His home soon
became known to the friends further South as a place where
fugitives would receive care and assistance in their flight.
Thence they soon began to come directed to this home in very
considerable numbers. Although slaveholders rarely proceed-
ed so far as this in pursuit of their slaves, they occasionally did
so, and more than once the master presented himself at
the front door of Richard Moore a few moments after the ob-
ject of his search, being forewarned of his approach, had
escaped by a back door to a safe place of concealment in the
rear. Many of the fugitives on reaching Ouakertown, feeling
comparatively safe, were willing to hire out there, and Richard
Moore was ever ready to give them work himself or find them
employment among his friends and neighbors. Still there were
many of the slaves whose terror was so great that they were
anxious to be passed on as soon as possible to a real land of
freedom in Canada. These were, of course, sent on at once
and generally with letters to friends in Montrose or Friends-
ville. Much of the route between Ouakertown, and stations
farther up the valleys of the Lehigh and the Susquehanna, was
through an unsettled country where the probabilities of discoverv
and arrest were but slight. But there, as elsewhere, most of their
traveling was done at night, they lying safely concealed in some
502 WHEN MEN WERE SOLD
dark ravine or impenetrable morass or brushwood during the
day. The cruel treatment of these poor creatures at home, may
be well conceived, on considering the terror of many of them
by day and by night, even in the depths of these interminable
forests, with hundreds of miles of travel between them and
their masters whom they so greatly feared.
One of the slaves who reached the Ouakertown station about
the year 1850, just about the time of the passage of the Fugi-
tive Slave Law. seemed especially brave, being destitute of
fear even in that most trying time. He was a slave of Abraham
Shriner, of Pipe Creek, Maryland, and was known as Bill Budd
at home, but on running awa}' from bondage assumed the name
of Henry Franklin, it being naturally a common practice with
runaway slaves to take an assumed name. This man did not
care to be sent to Canada, and was employed as a carter by
Richard Aloore for several years. During that time he was
often engaged in carting coal from the Lehigh river, there
being then no railroad to Ouakertown. When slaves were to
be sent northward, he would load his wagon with them in the
evening, cover them well with straw, and take them up d.uring
the night, giving them a start on the lonely journey toward
Friendsville ; he would then return with a load of coal the next
day. Alfred Aloore is quite confident that one of the slaves
thus carried north by Henry Franklin was Parker, the principal
hero in the Christiana tragedy. This brave Franklin, who was
thus instrumental in aiding so many slaves to secure their freedom,
afterwards came to Philadelphia where he was for a number of
years janitor in the Academy of Fine Arts, and lived in Phila-
delphia until his death. Richard Moore had sent on fugitives
for several years, and when the number became quite large he
began to keep a regular record, and after a time, until the war
made escape from slavery unnecessary, he recorded the names
of about six hundred ; many of these, however, did not come
through the lower end of Bucks county, but reached his station
by way of Norristown and the northeastern Chester county-line.
Thus far (except the case of Bill Budd. alias Henry Frank-
lin). I have spoken rather on the general aspect of the question
under consideration. I now proceed to give, with some detail.
WHEN MEN WERE SOED 503
a few individual cases of the escape of slaves through our
county, and their recapture, which details I have endeavored to
confirm by a careful personal investigation.
Although the case of Big Ben has been quite fully stated
in the public press, as it occurred more than half a century ago,
it has been suggested to me, that 'the young people of this
generation know little or nothing about it, and that I had better
include at least a brief outline of it in these reminiscences.
It was about 65 years ago that a slave of one William Ati-
derson, near Little York, Maryland, named Benjamin Jones
(called Big Ben from his immense size, measuring according
to his own and others testimony 6 feet 10^ inches in stature),
with four other slaves, fearing that they were about to be sold
to the Southern market, started on a Northern journey by
night toward a land of freedom. After many risks and hard-
ships, being frequently aided by kind friends of the Underground
Railroad, they succeeded in reaching Buckingham, in this coun-
ty, where some of them found employment. Big Ben worked
for Jonathan Fell, (father of Joshua Fell, of Mechanicsville ),
Thomas Bye, William Stavely, and others for about eleven
years. He was one day chopping in the woods near Forest-
ville, when his former master, William Anderson, with four
other men, one of them at least a noted slave catcher of that
day, came suddenly upon him to arrest and take him back to
the South. His fellow laborers were frightened and fled,
leaving Ben alone to cope with five men. He defended him-
self desperately with his ax, and said afterwards that at one
time he had them all five on the ground at once. But at length
he was tripped up and overpowered, but not without seriously
wounding several of his captors and receiving injuries himself
from which he never wholly recovered. This seems to De one
of those cases where a slave was returned to the South without
even the form of a trial. He was taken to Baltim.ore and placed
in Hope H. Slater's notorious slave prison to await sale to the
far off cotton fields of the Gulf States, the usual fate of re-
turned fugitive slaves. But his wounds made him unsalable
(much to his master's chagrin, who had hoped to take him un-
harmed, for obvious reasons, with which hum^.nitv had little
504 WHKN MKN WliRE SOLD
to do), and he was confined to this slave-pen, when a meeting
was called at Forestville, of which I take the following report
from the Pennsylvania Freeman of June 6, 1844: —
"An animated meeting was held on the subject of Big Ben on the
26th ultimo in Forestville, at which George Chapman presided and R.
H. Donatt acted as secretary^ and the following, among other spirited
resolutions, was adopted :
"Resolved, That it is the duty of every one to do all that he con-
stitutionally can to defeat and baffle the slave catcher, to protect his prey
from his grasp, and to hold up to public scorn and indignation the in-
famous conduct of the Baillys and Hubbards and all other Northern men
who sell their principles and barter the rights of their fellow men for
Southern gold."
The sum of $700, the amount demanded by Slater, was <^oon
after raised, and George Chapman and Jonathan K. Bonham
were sent on behalf of the citizens, who paid the ransom and
brought the kidnapped slave back to his adopted Northern home.
After his return to Bucks county he was never the same man
he was before. His physical strength was much impaired by
the wounds received in his struggle for liberty and his spirit
seemed much broken. He worked for a time in Buckingham,
and in my own native township, where I remember seeing him
occasionally, bowed down somewhat by the hardships
which he had undergone. I was always impressed by his
enormous stature. His feet especially were conspicuously
large, and one of the jokes that then passed current was that
his shoes were never mated, one being older than the other,
as it took so much leather to make him a pair that he could
afiford to buy but one at a time. He was married some ten years
after his return, to a woman named Sarah Johnson, of Norris-
town, who spent with him the last years of his life in the Bucks
County Hospital, where they told a visitor they were well
off. as they always had plenty to eat and wear.
For information as to the case of Big Ben I am especially
indebted to Alfred and Edward Paschall, who interviewed him
in the Asylum toward the close of his life, and obtained impor-
tant statistics as to his life and his escape from slavery.
I am informed by John S. Brown, now of Swarthmore.
formerly for many years the successful and honored head of the
Bucks County Intelligencer, that some time in 1837. having
WHEN MEN WERE SOED 505
finished his apprenticeship, and Hving with his mother in Plum-
stead during the temporary absence of his father in the West,
he was one day in Doylestown on business, and as he passed
the Temperance hotel, then kept by his brother-in-law, Kirk
J. Price, Mr. Price stepped out and asked him, in a somewhat
mysterious manner, to keep a sharp look-out as he passed a
corn field along the Academy lane, and a passenger would
present herself, whom he was to take up to the house of Charles
and Martha Smith, in Plumstead, (Martha being his father's
sister) ask no questions, and leave her in their care. He did
as directed, and soon saw a woman looking cautiously out from
between the corn-rows, he took her in, conveyed her to
the house of his aunt, and they gladly received her, and no
doubt forwarded her on her way to the next Underground sta-
tion at either Ouakertown or Stroudsburg. In that way, he
says, he became for one day, a conductor on the Underground
Railroad.
From Isaac Warner, of Hatboro, I learn that his father's
house was one of the stations of the Underground Railroad,
and that slaves would frequently stop there, hire out in the
neighborhood for a few days, and then be directed, with, of
course, the necessary letters and needed aid, to the house of
the father of Isaac's first wife, Richard Moore, of Quaker-
town, whose home has already been described as the last and
one of the most important stations in the northern part of
our county. This was during the thirties, early in the history
of regular anti-slavery organizations. About 1835 one Joe
Smith, who had worked for Isaac Warner's father some two
years, being one of that large number who did not care to be
forwarded to Canada, went to Byberry and engaged with a
Mr. Walton there, and soon after married a free woman, by
whom he had two children. Early in the spring of '37 or '38,
learning that his master was seeking him in the neighborhood,
he was sent on to Quakertown, of course, to the care of Richard
Moore. Shortly after, Isaac informs me, the wife and children
were sent to his father's house, where he had them covered up
in a wagon with plenty of straw and started with them to
Ouakertown. He was directed to stop nowhere on the road
5O0 WHEN MEN WKRE SOLD
for fear of detection, and to take with him a bucket to water his
horses at some stream on the road. If enquired of on the way
he was to say that he was going to Richard jMoore's pottery,
the abundance of straw in the wagon being, of course, supposed
to be for packing the wares on his return. He made the jour-
ney without molestation, united the man and his family and
they were promptly forwarded to Canada on the Underground
Railroad, by tlie usual route.
Let me give you an amusing instance of one of the difficulties
encountered in investigating this subject of the Underground Rail-
road. Wishing to know more about one of the points where an
important underground station seemed to have been successfully
worked for a number of years, and knowing no one in that vicin-
ity, I addressed a letter of enquiry to the postmaster there,
briefly stating what I desired. In a week I received the fol-
lowing replv :
"There is a mistake about there being an Underground Rail-
road here. There is no railroad, nor was there ever any slaves
here that anybody here knows anything about. I am sorry I
can't give you any information on the subject you have so
much at heart, but indeed I can not."
Another -case was given me by Isaac Warner, but as it did
not pass through any part of Bucks county, (being confined
wholly to Montgomery ) I will pass it by saying that the parties
who interfered with the arrest of a fugitive were fined to the
amount of four or five hundred dollars, which amount they had
to pay. If the case had occurred after the passage of the Fugi-
tive Slave Law, in 1850, the fine would have been $2,000. with
imprisonment for a period not to exceed six months.
I will now briefly state a case with which our family have
been quite familiar. Rachel Moore was a slave near Elkton,
Alaryland, more than fifty years ago. She was manumitted by
her master, and received free-papers from the court at Elkton.
I had hoped to present these papers, as they were long carefully
cherished in her possession, but they have been mislaid since
her death. She had six children who were still slaves, and suc-
ceeded in bringing all of them North, aided by the Underground
Railroad. As usual they traveled only by night, resting in
WIIEX MEN WKRU SOLD 507
concealment during the day. Think of a mother starting" un-
aided, with her six children, to a distant and unknown country,
seeking- for her children the blessings of freedom which she
herself had already acquired ! Does not the fact speak volumes
for the cruelty of the system of oppression from which she
was making her escape ? They sometimes met with friends
wh() took them in and cared for them during the day, and
sent them on at night. Sometimes they were less fortunate,
and spent the day of anxious concealment all alone. The first
names that I have of those with whom they stopped are a fam-
ily of Lewises with whom they spent two days at Phoenixville,
and who then sent them on, in a wagon at night, to a friend nam-
ed Paxson, near Norristown, who in turn took them into Nor-
ristown to the home of that well-known friend of the slave,
Jacob L. Paxson, where they remained two weeks. From
there they were forwarded to the home of W. H. Johnson,
where homes were found for the four eldest children in the
families of Thomas Paxson. Joseph Fell, Edward Williams and
John Blackfan. Rachel, with her two younger children, came
to the home of my father, Jonathan P. INlagill, where they re-
mained for several years. I am indebted to Fanny, one of
these children, for the details of this account.
The Christiana tragedy, sometimes known as the Gorsuch
murder case, which occurred in 185 1 and was one of the early
test cases of the Fugitive Slave Law, (passed in 1850,) is too
well known to recjuire an extended description here ; but I may
say that I am credibly informed that some of the slaves con-
cerned in that tragedy passed through the upper end of our
county, by way of Norristown, and were received and cared
for by Richard Moore, at Ouakertown. Dr. Smedley, in his
interesting history of the Underground Railroad in Chester and
Lancaster counties, gives quite a full account of this case and
speaks of three principal actors in it, Parker, Pinckney and
Johnson, as passing through Ouakertown. But there was
another of these fugitives who passed over much more of our
L^nderground Railroad, in this county, as I have learned from
the lips of an actor in the case within a few weeks. This
man was brought by a Friend to Philadelphia on a Sixth-day
508 WHEN MUN WKRE SOI.D
evening, soon after the Christiana riot, probably by previous
arrangement with Wilham Lloyd, of Dolington. William, being
in market on that evening, arranged to take the slave home
with him and then send him on toward the North. He agreed
to do this, knowing full well the heavy penalty of $2,000 fine
and six months imprisonment to which the new law would
make him liable if detected. What a sad condition of our
Country when the law-makers were so overawed by the slave
oligarchy of the South that they would frame laws that the
best of our citizens must evade, being unable conscientiously
to obey them ! The Country being aroused by the tragedy at
Christiana, and pursuit and search being therefore especially
to be feared, William started home late on Seventh-day, cover-
ing his man completely with straw in the back part of his
covered wagon. On approaching home during the night he
took the slave to a colored family whom he knew, living in
a small house in the edge of a wood on the Newtown and Yard-
ley pike, close by Janney's dam. The next morning he sent
for Henry M. Twining (from whose lips I received this ac-
count a few weeks ago) and asked him to call at the huuse
of the colored man near Janney's dam and take the fugitive
on toward the North, on First-day night. He took the proper
conveyance that night and drove him to the house of my father,
Jonathan P. Magill, of Solebury, arriving there considerably
after midnight. When called up by Henry's knocking father
and mother were both much startled and seemed to hesitate
for a few moments what to do, but my sister Rebecca, the only
other member of the family then at home, came to the door of
their room and said "we cannot do anything but admit them
and take care of the fugitive." So they came in and were
kept over night. Henry M. Twining returned home in the
morning, with the assurance that the slave would be cared
for and promptly forwarded and aided on his way to the North.
Later the word came that he was safe in Canada and he doubt-
less went from our home either to Richard Moore's or took
the more eastern Stroudsburg route, perhaps going up from
New Hope in the stage line that was then running between
New Hope and Easton. I may say here in passing that it
WHEN MEN WERE SOLD 509
must have been by this stage line, with letters either to the Vails
or to Jacob Singmaster, of Stroudsburg, that, when quite a
small boy, I sent forward three men and two women, as I
remember, driving these five colored people to New Hope,
and putting them in the care of the stage driver, paying their
fare to some point to the North. I do not mention this as
an important event and my memory is rather indistinct con-
cerning the details, though I feel quite sure of the fact.
If it be asked why I did not learn afterwards by what route
the colored man brought by Henry M. Twining, was sent on,
I would say that I was absent in Brown University all of that
year, never afterward living at home, and I have no idea that
either my parents or my sister, Rebecca, knew it was one of
the slaves from Christiana that they were sending on, and
would not therefore distinguish him from various others, in
that anxious year.
I proceed now to state the outline of the case of the slave
Jane Johnson (which case was connected with the imprison-
ment of Passmore Williamson), as she passed on her way
North over a part of the Underground Railroad of Bucks coun-
ty. For the facts in this case I am indebted to a paper prepared
a few years since for the Historical Society of Montgomery
County by Dr. Hiram Corson, of Norristown, after he was
91 years of age. a paper full of interesting reminiscences of
the anti-slavery movement, and those most prominently en-
gaged in it, which paper will probably be given to the public
at an early date.*
Jane Johnson and her two boys, 7 and 1 1 years of age, were
brought to Philadelphia by their master, a man named Wheel-
er, of Virginia, then United States Minister to Nicaraugua.
Learning that the}- had arrived on a steamer lying at Walnut
street wharf, and soon to sail on to New York, William Still
and Passmore Williamson, of Philadelphia, found means to
inform the slave, that being brought to Pennsylvania by her
master, she was free by the laws of our State. She thereupon
made her escape from the boat with her two little boys, and
they were secreted by anti-slavery friends in Philadelphia.
* See 'Tlie Abo itioiii.sts of Moiitfjonicry County" in publicalion of Montgomery
Historical Society, Vol. II, pages i to 76.
510 w 11 K x M ]•: \ w KR !•: s( )Lr)
Still and Williamson were tried before Judge Kane for the ab-
duction or attempted abduction of a slave. When Williamson
was required by the judge to produce the slave in court he
could not do so, as the mother and boys had been aided by
friends in making their wa\- to lioston. where they were kept
concealed. Williamson was tben consigned to prison on the
frivolous charge of "contempt of court." As the case pro-
ceeded and the false testimony of the master seemed likely to
imperil the case of the slave, the great risk was incurred of
having Jane Johnson brought from Boston to confront him
with her testimony. The public feeling was wrought up to
a very high pitch and there was danger of collision in the
court, the Ignited States District Attorney declaring that he
would take the slave before she left the court-room, the State
authorities declaring that he should not. But she quietly left
the room unmolested after her clear and impressive testimony
was given, and was accompanied in her carriage b}- James
ATiller Mc^linn, Secretary of the American Anti-Slavery So-
ciety, Lucretia Mott. and an intrepid officer named George Cor-
son. A carriage load of offices also followed them as a
guard. Soon after she was brought to the house of George
Corson, of Plymouth, wbcre she received kindly care. I will
give the conclusion of the case in the words of Dr. Hiram
Corson :
"Mahlon Linton and wife. Abolitionists of Bucks county, happened
to be on a visit to George Corson and family, and it was concluded
that a son of George Corson, when only eleven or twelve years of age —
but now Dr. E. M. Corson, of Norristown — should, with a carriage having
Jane in it, as he did not know the road, closely follow Mahlon Linton's
carriage through the night to Mr. Linton's home, beyond Newtown,
Bucks county. After dark they started and all through the night went
on, reaching this second Underground station, Air. Linton's home, before
morning dawned. From there she was helped on to Canada, where her
two boys had been already sent."
Dr. Corson's paper contains numerous references to inter-
esting cases of slaves who were passed on by him either to
Richard Moore, in Ouakertown, to W. H. Johnson, in Buck-
ingham, or to Mahlon B. Linton, as in this case. It will be
seen that the LTnderground Railroad, with its numerous sta-
WHKN MEN WERr; SOLD 51I
tions and sub-stations, often pursued a very zig-zag and irreg-
ular direction, sometimes to elude pursuit, and often according
to the convenience of the various agents of the road.
I come now to an important case with which Robert Purvis
was closely identified, several details of which I had heard at
dififerent times from John S. Brown, Henry M. Twining and
others. Peeling the importance of having these details proper-
ly connected, that I might present a clear statement of the whole
case, I have had two very satisfactory interviews with Robert
Purvis at his home in Philadelphia during the past three weeks.
He is now past 85 years of age and quite feeble, his memory of
recent events (not of those of his earlier life) showing the
effect of age. He received me most cordially, with all the grace
and dignified courtesy for wdiich he was so notably distin-
guished in early life, and at the close of each interview of
more than an hour, he dismissed me with the same dignified
and gracious manner, begging me to call at any time when he
could render me the least service upon any subject. In his
account of the case, he fully confirmed all that my other
friends had said, and added some important points. The case
as he gave it to me is substantially as follows :
He said that he w^as living in P5ensalem about the year 1838.
He had then living with him a most excellent and faithful
colored man named Basil Dorsey. who had been with him about
two years. At this time Dorsey was visited by a brother-in-
law of his wife, from the State of Maryland, whence he came.
This brother-in-law, for some reason, became jealous of Dorsey
in his happy home and betrayed Dorsey and his three brothers
to their master, from whom they had escaped in 1836. The
master (their reputed father,) aided by a notorious slave catch-
er, came to Philadelphia and arrested Thomas, one of the
brothers, and hurried him away to slavery, from which he was
soon redeemed by his friends by the payment of $1,000. Soon
after the arrest of Thomas these men secured the aid of a con-
stable from Bristol and obtained warrants from Judge Fox,
of Doylestown, for the arrest of the remaining three brothers.
Two escaped them, and were taken by night by Robert Pur-
vis' brother, Joseph, to a friend's house 40 miles distant, in
5f-2 WHEN MEN WERE SOLD
New Jersey, whence they were forwarded to Canada. Basil
now alone, remained, and the slave hunters came upon him
toward evening as he was ploughing at a distant point on Robert
Purvis' farm. Word came quickly to Mr. Purvis, brought by
the son of a neighboring farmer, of the attempt to capture and
hand-cuft' Dorsey, and he hastened to the spot, where he learned
that they had alread}' started to Bristol with their prey. Rob-
ert immediately had his fleetest horse harnessed and made pur-
suit, reaching Bristol as they were locking up Dorsey in a
cell where criminals were confined. He remonstrated, and
addressed a crowd who assembled, telling them of the outrage,
and warmly enlisted their sympathy. The master informed him
that they would go to Doylestown the next morning, and bring
the case before Judge Fox. In the morning, taking Dorsey's
wife and two young children. IMr.. Purvis drove to Doylestown,
and employed as counsel Thomas Ross, one of the ablest lawyers
then at the Doylestown bar. When the case came up the
Judge was deeply moved — for, said Purvis recently as he told
me the story, "he was a man with human feelings if he was
a judge ;" — and the forlorn condition of the hand-cufifed deject-
ed prisoner, and the tears of his young wife, and their two
children, moved every heart with pity ; and to gain time, and
make provision for the bast possible defense, and for other
reasons which appeared later, (but not before the court) ; — the
lawyer for the defence succeeded in putting off the case for two
weeks and the hand-cufifed prisoner was remanded to a cell.
These two weeks were well used by Purvis and his friends.
The colored people were thoroughly aroused, and preparations
were made for a forcible rescue if the case went against Dorsey.
As the time for trial approached Purvis drove to Philadelphia,
and called upon the best criminal lawyer at that bar in those
days, David Paul Brown. He stated the case in a few words
and offered Brown a fee of $50 if he would come to Doyles-
town and defend Dorsey. To this Mr. Brown replied, almost
indignantly, that he had never charged a dollar for defending
a slave, and never would, but that he would gladly come to
Doylestown, and take the case as requested. At the end of two
weeks, the case came on before Judge Fox, and a young
WHKN MEN \^"KRK SOLD 513
and rising lawyer of this bar, was the claimant's council. Mr.
IJrown was promptly on hand for the defendant. Although it
was against the principle of the Abolitionists to pay for a slave,
the great sympathy felt for Dorsey, and the fear of losing the
case, had caused two attempts to be made to purchase him.
The master asked $500; when the sum was offered by his
friends, he raised the price to $800; and that being also offered,
he demanded $1,000. "No," said Dorsey, when consulted,
"Do not pay it. I am prepared to take my life in court, if
the case goes against me, for I will never go back to slavery."
Mr. Purvis said to me last week that he could but commend
the man for his brave resolution^ — and the case came on. The
prosecuting- attorney made a clear statement of the claim, pre-
senting the bill-of-sale. and the necessary evidences of the
legality of the demand of the master. Robert Purvis felt,
as he listened to his plea and considered that the interpretation
of the law was then almost invariably favorable to the slave-
holder, that Dorsey's fate was practically sealed, unless the
forcible rescue, contemplated and prepared for, was resorted
to, upon which hundreds of well prepared colored men were
resolved, but which they wished only to use as a last resort.
At this moment David Paul Brown arose, and his erect and
stalwart form, and dignified and earnest manner, at once ar-
rested the attention of the crowded court. He began by ad-
mitting the force of the arguments which the claimant's council
had adduced, saying, "unfortunately, by the laws of this boasted
land of freedom, the right of one man to claim another as his
chattel slave in many of our States is unquestioned ; and even
in the States called free, the slave owner from another State,
is permitted by the laws to seek his flying fugitive wherever he
can be found ; thus practically making these Northern States
a free hunting-ground for the master seeking his fleeing bond-
men." At this point he paused, and the anxiety of the friends
of the fugitive on hearing this admission may be imagined.
When Mr. Brown suddenly drew himself up to his full height —
raised his forefinger — pointing most earnestlv to the opposing
514 WHEX UU.S VVHKK SOLD
council and continued, in his most impressive and deliberate
manner: "Tims far 1 freely admit the force of the argument
law; this is a court of law; and nothing can be decided in this
indictment and upon that I take my stand. This is a land of
law; this is a court of lazv; and nothing can be decided in this
court but under the strict sanction of law. x\m I not right?"
The Judge, apparently deeply moved by the manner of Mr.
Brown, graciously bowed assent. Mr. Brown proceeded : "The
opposing council has made a clear case for his client except
in one important point : he has not shown by proper evidence
that, under the laws of Maryland, a man may be held as a
slave, and not showing this his case goes by default." "But,"
exclaimed the young prosecuting attorney, "Maryland is a Slave
State. Everybody knows that Maryland is a Slave State."
"Everybody is nobody," thundered Mr. Brown. "Common re-
port does not pass before a court of justice. You must prove
it by the proper documents. The right to hold a fellow man
as a slave is too important a right to rest on any but the most
direct and substantial evidence." Here the young attorney
stepped out and quickly brought a copy of the Laws of Mary-
land, which Mr. Brow^n, after a glance at the title page, returned
saying that it was not a properly certified copy. The young
attorney then begged for a brief delay that the proof demanded
could be secured. But Air. Brown was unrelenting and demand-
ed the dismissal of the case for want of proper proof on this
point. The judge, who had been deeply moved by the plea
of ]Mr. Brown and his earnest manner, grew more and more un-
easy in his seat, and the whole feeling of the court and of the
assembly was now evidently on the side of mercy. At this
juncture the judge arose and said suddenly: "7 lie case is dis-
missed." Instantly Robert Purvis was at the elboAV of Dorsey,
leading him toward the door. A crowd of sympathizers rush-
ed out with them and were just in time to see Purvis and Dorsey
in a light carriage, behind a fleet horse, disappear down Academy
lane. They drove rapidly to Philadelphia, w^here Robert Purvis
left Dorsey at his mother's, telling her to ask no questions and
keep him well concealed. Soon after he took him on to New
WHEN MEN WERE SOLD 515
York, where he was taken care of by good friends of the
slave and later was joined by his wife and children in New
England.
Twenty-five years after, during the war that ended slavery,
the door bell of Robert Purvis in Philadelphia was rung and
a young colored man, of refined appearance and bearing, was
ushered into his parlor. When ]Mr. Purvis came in he rose
and said: "Is this Robert Purvis?" When told that it was
he said, "My name is Robert Purvis Dorsey. You saved
ni}' father 25 years ago, and he has always told me that I
must find your house first whenever I came to Philadel-
phia."
\A'hen Mr. Purvis first told me this story, about three weeks
ago, he was deeply affected, and seemed to dwell upon some parts
of it, repeating them over and over before he would let me go.
He also added that a few years after the war he visited
Basil Dorsey and his family, and found Mr. Dorsey a
well-to-do citizen, with an interesting wife and a number of
children, all of whom had received or were receiving a good
education. "The whole case of Basil Dorsey," said Mr. Purvis,
"I have always considered the most interesting case of my long
and eventful life."
Wishing to know something of the later life of this hunted
fugitive I made enquiry in different directions, but seemed to
obtain no clue, when a few days ago I happened to speak of the
case to Elizabeth Powell Bond, Dean of Swarthmore College.
"Why," she exclaimed, "I preached the funeral sermon of Basil
Dorsey in 1872!" In a few minutes she found among her papers,
a printed copy of this admirable sermon, and in it I found print-
ed the bill-of-sale of Basil Dorsey, executed in '51 soon after
the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law. He was then in business in
Florence, Mass., and often called to Boston and elsewhere and his
numerous friends feared that under the new and infamous law,
his liberty even so far away as Massachusetts, might be imper-
illed. So they made up the sum of $150, which his old master
preferred to accept, rather than incur the risk of his recapture
in those troublous years, when the war for freedom was pre-
5l6 WHEN MKN WERE SOLD
paring every day, and received from the master this bill-of-sale.*
I have had it carefully copied and dejxjsit it among your memen-
tos of those dark days now happily passed, as I would deposit
a slave driver's whip, manacles, iron collars, or any other relic
of the barbarous system of slavery, for, in the language of
Mrs. Bond : "It is of historic value, as really a relic of barbar-
ism as the instruments of torture by which the slave drivers
maintained their authority."
As I afterwards told Robert Purvis of this interview with
Mrs. Bonfl, the good old man was deeply moved, and said :
"Such coincidences, (as they are sometimes called,) are 7iot
accidental, and I firmly believe that you are divinely directed in
the work which you have undertaken.""
* ONE OF THE CHATTEL RECORDS OF BALTIMORE CO.
(BILL OF SALE.)
Kno7t> a/l turn by these presents, That I, Thomas E. Sollers, of Frederick County and
State of Maryland, for and in consideration of the sum of One hundred and fifty dollars
lawful money of the United States, in hand paid by George (,'riscom. of the city of Phila-
delphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, Attorney at Law, at or before the sealing and de-
livery of these presents, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged: Havf: granted,
bargained and sold, and by these presents Do grant, bargain and sell, unto the said
George Griscom, his Executors, Administrators and Assigns, One Mulatto Man, named
Ephraitn Costly, otherwise and now called Basil Dorsey, aged about forty-three years, a
slave for life. [The said Ephraim Costly, otherwise and now called Basil Dorsey, as
aforesaid, having been born a slave for life of Sabrick Sollers, late of said Frederick
County, in the State of Maryland, and raised by the said Sabrick Sollers, and owned by
him as such slave for life until the decease of said Sabrick Sollers, after which he became
the property, as such slave for life, of the said Thomas E. Sollers, (who is a son and one
of the heirs at Law of said Sabrick Sollers, deceased,) and is now a fugitive from service,
from said State of Maryland.]
To Have and To hold the said described Mulatto Man named Ephraim Costly,
otherwise and now called Basil Dorsey, a slave for life as aforesaid to the said George
Griscom. his Executors, Administrators and Assigns forever, and he the said Thomas E.
Sollers, for himself, his Heirs, Executors and Administrators, the said Mulatto Man
Ephraim Costly, otherwise Basil Dorsey, ;'unto the said George Griscom, his Executors,
Administrators and Assigns, against him the said Thomas E. Sollers, his Executors
and Administrators, and against all and every other person or persons whatsoever, shall
and will warrant and forever defend by these presents.
In witness ivhereof, I hive hereunto set my Hand and Seal, this Fourteenth day of
May, Eighteen hundred and fifty-one. Signed, sealed and delivered
Thomas E. Sollers, [seal].
In the presence ot
P. GORSUCH.
STATE OF MARYLAND, )
CITY OF BALTIMORE, / ^'
Beit Remembered, That on this fourteenth day ot May, 1S51, before the Subscriber, a
Justice of the Peace for said, appears Thos. E. Sollers and acknowledges the above
Instrument of Writing to be his act and deed, according to the true intent and meaning
thereof, and also at the same time personally appeared George Griscom and made oath
on the Holy Evangels of Almighty God that the consideration set forth therein is true
and bona fide as set forth. P. Gorsuch.
WHEN MEN WERE SOLD 517
On the route to New York over which Basil Dorsey was taken
there were a number of stations kept by friends of the slave,
ever ready to forward the escaping fugitive, as the following
letter from Edward H. Ogden, of Riverton, N. J., bears witness:
"There was also a route on the Underground Railway to Canada
through New Jersey, for I remember when a lad, while lying at my
Uncle Enoch Aliddleton's, in Crosswicks, N. J., being aroused one night
after midnight by the arrival of a runaway slave very much alarmed.
My cousin, William Middleton, and myself, drove him to Hightstown,
having him concealed and covered with straw in the bottom of the
wagon. We delivered him safely that night to the Underground agent
to whom my uncle consigned him. I remember being badly scared at the
toll gate we drove through, fearing the wagon would be examined."
Another instance of escape through Bucks county and then by
the Underground road through New Jersey, comes to me in a
letter recently received from William Bargess, now of Millville,
Pa., and well known in my early life as the Secretary of the
Bucks County Anti-Slavery Society. He writes :
"Sometime about 1840-45, when residing at Langhorne, we had a party
of six stout fugitives arrive, whose experience had been somewhat
different from that of ordinary fugitives. They had escaped on a small
boat used in connection with the lighter service on Albemarle Sound.
Their trusted leader, or captain, having a small compass, and knowing
something of the inlets of the coast, had piloted them slowly northward,
having secured some provisions before starting, and they succeeded in
working their little craft up the Delaware Bay and up the river, landing
only for short periods, until they passed Philadelphia, and then they acci-
dentally found a friendly adviser who directed them to- our village. On
arriving there they found shelter for the night among some colored people.
The next day their case was made known to our Anti-Slavery friends and
I was chosen to convey them to Trenton in a good covered wagon, in
which all were placed. I was advised to report them to B. Rush Plumly,
then a merchant there. On arriving at the store I spoke to Rush, and he,
seeing the situation, said drive them into the yard, and get under cover
of the barn, as there were slave hunters then in town, looking for victims,
and we might arouse suspicion. He furnished ample provisions for the
party, but advised me, if possible, after feeding the horses, although
storming, to push right on to Princeton, where there was a safe ren-
dezvous. Although the team was hired for Trenton only, considering the
situation, I did not hesitate, and on reaching the suburbs of Princeton,
I reported my party to a colored man, who was on the regular line,
via New Brunswick and the Raritan river steamer to New York. I left
them in good spirits, and learned later that they had been safely forward-
ed by Anti-Slavery friends to Canada. Though I had had a dreary ride on
5l8 WHEN MEiX WKKK SOLD
such a day I returned home well satisfied with having contributed a
small item toward carrying out the precept of our Divine Master, to
do unto others as we would have others, under similar circumstances,
do unto us. Thousands of similar cases could, no doubt, be enumerated,
but I have been pleased to see the old record referred to, partly as an
incentive to our young friends in the line of humanitarian duty whenever
an opening occurs ; something of a practical character, as the essence
of a true religion, more potent, progressive and uplifting to our fellow
men than loud professions and blind theories, devoid of utilitarian results."
William C. Blackfan told me of two fugitive slaves coming to
the hotise of his father. John Blackfan, in Solebury, and being
named by him. I have endeavored to learn all the details of
this case still accessible, and have received from Dr. J. B. Wal-
ter, of Solebury, the following account given him by "Scott"
himself, and which varies somewhat from the memory of Mr.
Blackfan. Tie writes :
"This man lives within a few hundred yards of this village (Solebury),
and has resided here for many years, being still a pretty hale but very
ignorant old man. He knows nothing whatever of dates, and T am un-
able to fix accurately the time of his arrival. Scott says that William
C. Blackfan was about 15 or 16 years old when he arrived. ]\Ir. Black-
fan thinks that is about correct. That would place the time of his ar-
rival about 1847 or '48, say fifty years ago. But Scott also says that some
old man named Ayer or Ayers told him (Scott) three or four years ago
that he knew him to have been here more than fifty years. That old man
is dead, hence the story cannot be verified. Scott's master rented him
to a doctor, and told the doctor that the boy was over twenty-four years
old. That was about a year before he ran away. This should make the
runaway not less than 75 years old, which, from appearances, is not far
wrong.
"This man, with six others, came from Queen Ann count}', Md., he
personally from Centerville. One of these they lost on the way. The
others all came to Bucks county. Their names were William Scott, Parry,
Helmsley, James Griffith, William Wright, William Stephens and Alec.
Reed. Helmsley and Griffith were cousins of Scott. Griffith still lives in
Trenton. N. J., and Helmsley died there a few weeks ago. Wright went
to William H. Johnson's, in Buckingham, and afterward to John Ruck-
man's. Stephens went to Jonathan P. Magill's, and Reed was for a
time at Dilworth's. Scott thinks all but Griffith and himself are dead.
"Scott and Helmsley first went to Newtown (Mahlon B. Linton's and
other places) for a few days. From there they went to Jonathan P.
Magill's. From there Helmsley went to Mahlon Gibbs', and your
brother, Watson P. Magill, brought Scott to a place on the road a little
SAMUEL SCOTT.
The fugitive slave, referred to in Dr. Kdward H. Magill's paper,
" When Men were Sold."
( From photograph taken in iSijS when about 7.s vear
Still living ( nioi)) at age of S(> Near.-^l.
ige.
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
Scott's home in Solebury township, Bucks county. Pa.
(Photographs by Dr. J. B. Walter).
WHEN MEN WERE SOLD 519
way from Blackfan's, directed him to the place and went on. Scott
made his way to Blackfan's and worked there several years.
"The old times have passed away; slavery went out in the throes of a
great war, and the event preceding the war, and many of importance
that occurred during those sad years have grown misty in the minds of the
survivors. A new generation is upon the stage, having no personal knowl-
edge of and but little interest in the things of which you wrote. Your
paper came none too soon, and was to me and many others extremely
interesting.
"I have made photographs of Scott and his abiding place, which I send
herewith, hoping they may, in some degree, make amends for my failure
as to facts, dates and common report."
The case of the fugitive, Rachel Moore, who escaped with
her six young children, has always been to me a subject of
deep interest, she and some of her children having been for
a number of years, connected with my father's family. It is
therefore with great pleasure that I received recently, important
supplementary information as to their escape and sufferings,
and the kind friends who aided them on their way, in the fol-
lowing letter from my friend, Grace Anna Lewis, now of
Media, Pa. She writes :
"I will give thee some additional facts which relate, I think, to the
fugitive, Rachel Moore. I do not remember her by name, possibly she
had not then assumed it, but I have no doubt that the woman and her
six children are the same who came to our house, not to Phoenixville,
but four and a half miles from that place, on a farm, midway between
Kimberton and Chester Springs, near the road leading towards Lion-
ville and West Chester. There was no anti-slavery family of the name
Oif Lewis living in Phoenixville, and none except ours, in the region at
the time, so I cannot doubt that the person referred to is the same as the
one I remember. I suppose that she and her children were forwarded to
Elijah F. Pennypacker, near Phoenixville, and by him transferred to
Jacob Paxson, of Xorristown, since that was the usual route for fugitives
sent in that direction. It would be very easy for a child (the daughter,
Fanny Moore, now surviving, mentioned in my paper) in this lapse of
time, to forget — indeed quite marvelous if she should not.
"The woman to whom I refer reached us in a most pitiable condition.
Soon after she and her children left the home of the master, a rain
came on, and the flapping of their wet garments against their unprotected
limbs wore off the skin, until it bled with every step, yet their sense of
danger of capture was so great that they pressed forward with all the
speed possible to them. I think the mother carried the youngest child
to hasten them forward. When they reached our home they were too
sore to do anything but rest and recuperate. In addition to their need of
520 WHEN MEN WERE SOLD
rest was that of northern clothing. My memory is that the mother wore
but a single garment, a coarse, heavy dress made of tow, wo.ven in broken
stripes of red, an inch or more in width, and totally unlike anything of
northern manufacture, the children being dressed in the same material.
Of course this clothing exposed them to detection by the first pro-slavery
person they should meet ; and it had to be burned immediately, as sooai
as the other could be provided. A store for such cases was kept
constantly on hand at our house, much of it being prepared by a num-
ber of anti-slavery families, who sent it to us in quantity. Our home
was usually the first on the line where southern clothing could be ex-
changed for northern. Frequently the haste was too great to admit of
delay at an earlier time. In the case of John Vickers, of Lionville, the
next station south of ours, his wife had long been dead, and there was no
one to attend to such matters. His pottery stood immediately on the public
road, and there was little opportunity for concealment, except when due,
in exceptional cases, to his own quick wit, or that of his assistants, white
and colored. He was a most kindly man, and was faithful in the highest
degree to his anti-slavery principles, as was also our dear and venerated
friend, Elijah F. Pennypacker, the next station in an opposite direc-
tion, as well as Lewis Peat, to whom we frequently sent our colored
guests. As was usual in most cases, we never heard anything further of
this woman and her children until I listened to thy account in the
Intelligencer. The gathering up of the ashes 'for history's golden urn'
is not alone for succeeding generations, but for the old workers too. It
was very pleasant for me to know that after all her trials, this woman
had found a safe home with thy father and mother."
Among the hundreds of cases of fugitive slaves who have
passed through Bucks county, according to the testimony of
eye witnesses, and especially by those engaged in the "Under-
ground" work have passed on to the higher life. But these
few may suffice as type cases, illustrative of the sufferings en-
dured, and the dangers bravely dared by this oppressed and
long suffering race. Let us rejoice that, in the wise ordering
of Divine Providence, this dark stain upon our National es-
cutcheon is removed, and that our beloved country may now
proudly take her place in the vanguard of the world's onward
march among the nations of the Earth.
Scotch-Irish Families.
BY WARREN S. ELY, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Manor Park, Langhorne Meeting, August 9, 189S.)
Full justice has probably never been done the Scotch-Irish race
for the part it played in the founding of our great Common-
wealth. The history of the English Quaker, the Welsh Bap-
tist, the Swede, the German and Palatine, and the French Hu-
guenot, has been fully written, and their influence on our com-
mon institutions fully credited, but little or nothing has been
said of the Scotch-Irish, one of the most important and domi-
nant forces in the formation of our composite national character.
It is not my object in this brief paper to go generally into
the history of this race in our county or country, or of the part
they took in its settlement, and the establishment of a local self-
government, in accordance with Penn's "Holy Experiment," but
to briefly touch upon their national characteristics, and the in-
fluence tliey exerted u]X)n the communi:\', aiul t.i low .n.-
a brief account of some of the early settlers and their immediate
descendants. Hardy, active, aggressive, intelligent, keenly alive
to the necessity of establishing a colony where perfect free-
dom of conscience in the matter of religious faith could be
enjoyed, yet almost fanatically attached to their own religious
tenets, those of the Presbyterian kirk of Scotland, they formed
an important adjunct to the peace-loving Quaker and phlegmatic
German in the formation of our national character, and in the
preparation of the somewhat conglomerate elements in our ear-
ly population for the burdens and responsibilities of self-govern-
ment.
Simultaneous with their arrival began the organization of the
Presbyterian church, and frequently of schools in connection
therewith. The early records furnish abundant evidence of their
zeal, the purity of their lives, and their earnest effort to
foster in the minds of the young a reverence for Divine teach-
ings, and a due respect for our peculiar institutions. Their
piety, and their rigid enforcement of law and order, in their
522 SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES
section, stand out in strong contrast with the lawlessness of
the frontier settlements of later days.
In writing- anything like an authentic and connected history
of the early Scotch-Irish settlers in America, the historian will
find the way beset with difficulties. Unlike his Quaker contem-
porary, who was most careful and painstaking in such matters,
the early Scotch-Irishman appears to have regarded the preser-
vation of family data, as of minor importance, and the records
of the early churches have either been lost, or appropriated by
the descendants of the former custodians. The information in
reference to this race must therefore be largely sought in the
county records and the archives of the State, with some little
help from the tombstone inscriptions in old Presbyterian grave-
yards.
Prior to 1720 very few of the race had come to America, but
in that year appeared the vanguard of that great army of Ul-
ster Scots, with their rugged and aggressive qualities, nurtured
amid the adverse conditions of the English policy in church
and State, who were destined to have such an important influence
in the formation of our coming State and Nation.
They came in such increasing numbers that in 1729 James
Logan, the great Secretary and mouthpiece of the Proprietary
Government became alarmed. He said "it looks as if 'Ireland is
to send all her inhabitants to this Province." and he feared they
would make themselves master of it. The same distrust of this
yet untried element in Penn's '"Holy Experiment" was largely
shared by the prominent people of the Province for many years.
When, however, it became necessary to raise troops and formulate
plans for the defence of our frontiers, from the ravages of the
savage hordes, instigated by a National enemy, it became very
apparent that the Quaker, the hitherto dominant element in pol-
itics could not be relied upon for a Legislator. The Scotch-Irish
on the other hand had cheerfully responded to the call for troops,
and had in every way upheld the hands of the executive in this
trying time. Then it was that their intelligence, courage and
patriotism, began to receive proper recognition, and that they
took their place shoulder to shoulder with men of all other nation-
alities in the upholding and maintenance of our grand Common-
SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES 523
wealth. The prominent part played by the Scotch-Irish in the
Revolution is well known. It is no detraction from the services
rendered by others, to say that this race, and especially in this
section, was the dominant force in that movement ; so marked
was their prominence therein that an English officer writing home
in 1778 designates the struggle then being waged for freedom,
as "an Irish-Scotch-Presbyterian Rebellion."
The principal gateways of the Scotch-Irish "Invasion" before
referred to were Philadelphia and Newcastle, from which points
they radiated into the counties of Chester, Bucks and Lancaster,
and later from these localities, augmented by later arrivals into
York and Cumberland and the section west of the Susquehanna.
There is no doubt that one of the earliest settlements of the
race was within the borders of our county, and that this was
to a great extent the threshold from whence this sturdy adven-
turous race sent forth its sons into the then untried wilderness
of our present northern and central counties, where they achiev-
ed a name to which their descendants refer with pride ; at a
still later period peopling the valleys of Virg-inia, the Cumber-
land Valley, Kentucky, Ohio and by the Northwest, Tennessee and
portions of the South.
We know that many of the earliest arrivals found homes in
Bucks. In 1728 was made the settlement known as "Craig's" or
the "Irish Settlement," in the upper part of what was then Bucks,
but which, in 1752, became Northampton county, among the
original settlers being Col. Thomas Craig, William and James
Craig, John Boyd, Hugh Wilson, Nigel Gray, with the Lattimores,
Horners, Armstrongs. Wallaces, Kerrs, Greggs and others.
There is little doubt that this settlement was an ofif-shoot from
the settlement at Neshaminy. ]\Iost of these people were closely
allied by kinship with those at Neshaminy, Elder Thomas Craig
being a brother of Daniel Craig, of Warrington, and a brother-
in-law to Elders John Gray and Richard Walker, of the same
place, the latter having married his sister. The Creightons,
i\ tillers and Jamisons, of Neshaminy, were also connections of the
Craigs. Elder Thomas Craig owned a large plantation in War-
rington for many years after his settlement in Northampton,
which he conveyed to James Barclav on the marriage of the
524 SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES
latter to his niece, Margaret, the daughter of his brother Daniel :
he also had a son Thomas, who married a Mary Wright and
settled in New Britain township, where he died in 1746.
The neighborhood of Deep Run, in Plumstead and New Brit-
ain townships, was settled by many of the Scotch-Irish, as well
as a portion of Tinicum and Bedminster; but far the most im-
portant settlement in Bucks, and we believe in the influences,
religious, educational and otherwise, which flowed from it, one
of the most notable in the country, was the one made at the
forks of the Neshaminy, with Warwick for its centre.
In 1726 there was already ([uite a settlement of Scotch-Irish
in Warwick, Warrington, Warminster and Northampton, with a
scattering representation of the same nationality in Buckinghin\,
Newtown, the Makefields and New Britain.
It is impossible to fix the exact date of their arrival, from the
fact that many of them being persons of somewhat limited means,
and accustomed to the Feudal system in their native country,
very few of them took a fee simple title to their lands at first
but took up considerable tracts of land on a leasehold with a title
to the improvements, though by 1730 many of them had become
quite extensive landholders.
Among the earliest arrivals were the families of Craig, Jam-
ison, Baird, Stewart, Hair, Long, Weir, x\rmstrong. Gray, Graham
or Graeme, Wallace and others. Warwick seems to have been the
natural centre of the settlement, and while some of the settlers
there early associated themselves with the Presbyterian churches
of Bensalem and Abington, a church organization was evidently
effected at Neshaminy in 1726, at the site of the present Ne-
shaminy church, and near the site of the famous "Log College."
William Aliller, Sr., and his wife, Isabel, born in Scotland, in
1671 and 1670 respectively, with three sons, William, Robert
and Hugh, and at least two sons-in-law, Andrew Long and John
Earle, were among the earliest arrivals in the county. The date
of their arrival could not have been much, if any, later than 1720,
as upon the records of Abington Presbyterian church is the
following entry: "Margaret, daughter of Andrew Long, bap-
tised August ye 4th, 1722." And again on the records of
Bensalem church are the following items, immediately fol-
SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES 525
lowing each other: "October ye 3d, 1725, Andrew Long and
Ezabel, his wife, had a daughter baptised, named Ezabel," and
"John Earl and Margaret, his wife, had a daughter baptised,
named Mary." John Earle is mentioned as a land owner on a
draft of Plumstead township, made March 11, 1724, and he and
a Thomas Earle were among the petitioners for the organization
of the township in March, 1725, but it is improbable that he ever
was a resident of the township. Another item appearing on the
records of Bensalem church is this : "George Hare and his wife
had a son baptised, named Benjamin, 8-mo ye ist day, 1724."
This George Hare was one of the trustees mentioned in the
trust deed for the purchase of land by the "New Lights" in 1744,
and died in 1769, leaving a legacy of £21, for the "support of
the Gospel at the new meeting-house at Neshaminy," and makes
his son Benjamin executor of his will. In 1756, the will of his
son directs that "Father be provided for;" this will also men-
tions tbe I'.enjamin whose baptism was above recorded, who
died in 1804, "aged about 80 years;" William Hare devised £S
"for the support of the Gospel ministry at Neshaminy where
Rev. Charles Beatty preaches." On the list of "Ye names of
those yt have joyned with our Communion" at Bensalem, are
Henry Jamison and Jeanne, his wife, and Robert Pock and Eli-
zar, his wife, both early settlers at Neshaminy.
In March, 1726, William Miller, Sr., purchased from Jere-
miah Langhorne and Joseph Kirkbride, some 400 acres of land
in Warwick, out of which he at once dedicated a corner, about
an acre, to the use of a church and graveyard, and in his wills,
(two of which are on file in the office of the Register of Wills
at Doylestown) specifically recites the dedication and confirms
it to the use of "Ye Congregation" forever. This tract comprises
the present burying-ground. The humble church building that
once stood there has long since disappeared and all that remains
of it is a stone in the graveyard wall bearing the date 1727, and
the initials "W. M." and "W. G." The W. M. beyond doubt
are the initials of William Miller ; it is not known to whom the
"W. G." refers, but this ancient relic has suggested the theory that
William Miller and the person designated by the letters W. G.
may have been the first elders of the church. This idea is some-
526 SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES
what supported by the fact, that the published record of the
eldership and other officers of the church, seem all to date from
1743, the time of the division between the old and new light
parties in the church, those named being of the Tennent or "New
Light" party, while William Miller, Sr., remained with the "Old
Light'' party at the old church under the ministration of the Rev.
Francis McHenry, to whom he refers in one of his wills as his
"trusted and well beloved friend" and made him one of his ex-
ecutors.
William IMiller, Sr., was a leading man in the community, as
is evidenced by his donation to the church. He and his sons
were evidently people of education and refinement. His eldest
son, William, was one of the finest penmen of his time. It is not
known that William, Sr., served his township or county in any
public capacity other than as a member of the grand jury at
dififerent times, and as commissioner of highways for a few
years. In this connection it may be stated that the county officers
from the earliest days to nearly the date of the Revolution
were monopolized by the Quakers, and it was only within a few
years of the date of the Revolution that a Scotch-Irishman was
elected to any office in the gift of the people of the county. Rich-
ard Walker was elected to the Provincial Assembly in 1747, being
the first and only one of his race to represent his county in that
body, prior to 1760. He was re-elected continuously until 1759,
and the following year was succeeded by James Melvine another
Scotch-Irishman.
James Wallace was elected coroner and duly commissioned
in 1768, being the first of his race whose name appears on the
rosters of the county officers.
. William Miller, Sr., died in 1758 at the ripe old age of 87
years, his wife, Isabel, preceding him but a few months, and
both lie in the burying-ground which he, thirty odd years before,
had dedicated to the congregation of "The Presbyterian Church
of Neshaminy." This couple had six children, some of whom
it would appear, were married prior to their arrival at Nesham-
iny. They were William, the eldest, whose wife was Ann Jami-
son, a daughter of Henry Jamison, who with his three sons settled
at, Neshaminv at the same time as the Alillers ; Robert, whose
SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES 527
wife was Margaret Graham a niece of Elder John Gray, of War-
rington, and either a sister or daughter of David Graham who
removed from Horsham to Tinicum township, about 1750; Hugh
who died single in 1758-9 was a lieutenant in the Provincial ser-
vice in 1747, he owned a tract of land at the time of his death
a part of which is now included in the borough of Doylestown.
The daughters of William Miller, Sr., were Isabel, wife of An-
drew Long; Margaret, wife of John Earle, of Warminster, be-
fore referred to and whose courteous qualities seemed to be
vouched for by the title "Gentleman John Earle" by which he
was generally known ; and Mary, the wife of James Curry, of
whom little is known, except that it would seem that he lived
in New Jersey at the time of her father's death in 1758.
William Miller, Jr., as he was generally known, became a large
land owner in Bucks county. He owned and operated a saw-
mill in Warminster, and was also owner of a saw-mill and tract
of land in Rockhill township. Judging from the number of law-
suits in which he was involved it would seem that he was of a
litigious tendency. He died in 1786, possessed of a considerable
estate. His children and grandchildren intermarried with the
Kerrs, Craigs and other Scotch-Irish families of Neshaminy.
Robert Miller appears as a land owner in Warrington as ear-
ly as 1735, and when he died in 1753 was the owner of over 300
acres of land. In 1739 he deeded ^'j acres on the line between
Bucks and Montgomery, then Philadelphia county, to Dr. Thom-
as Graeme, which tract doubtless formed part of Graeme Park.
At the time of his death he owned 100 acres of land adjoining
Horsham township, purchased of David Graham then of Hors-
ham township, but later of Tinicum, which said Graham with
Margaret, his wife, conveyed, to his, Robert Miller's children,
after their father's death "being for some years in the possession
of the said Robert Miller" but for which no conveyance had
ever been made. This David Graham was probably the father
of Mrs. Robert Miller. Robert left four children, Isabel, who
became the wife of James Wallace, of Warwick, in 1754; Wil-
liam, who married a Margaret Gold ; Hugh, who married Fran-
ces Kilpatrick ; and Robert, the youngest.
John Earle died in 1772, leaving three daughters, Margaret,
528 SCOTCH-IRISH I^AMILIKS
who first married William Irwin, of Plumstead, and after his
death became the wife of Matthew Henderson ; Mary, wife of
John Barnes : and Isabella, wife of Barnard VanHorn. John
Earle made his wife, Margaret, and his friend, James Wallace
his executors. The settlement of his estate furnishes an illustra-
tion of the depreciation of Continental money, that may not be
without interest in these days of financial agitation. An inven-
tory was filed in 1773, which shows the total personal estate
amounted to about £1,900. Partly owing to the fact that every-
thing was bequeathed to the widow for life, and partly no doubt
to the unsettled condition of the country nothing further was
done in the estate until 1780 after the death of the widow, and
James Wallace being also deceased, letters of administration
with the will annexed were granted to Bernard VanHorn, a son-
in-law, who filed another inventory of the same goods described
in the former inventory. In this latter inventory an eight-day
clock was valued at £600, a table at £100. nine slaves valued in
1773 at from £8. to £55, each, were appraised in 1780 at from
£2,250, "for a lx)y" to £4,000. Sixteen acres of oats in the ground
are set down at £4.000, and wheat is valued at £25 per bushel.
The personal estate in 1780 aggregates £32,000. about seventeen
times the appraisement seven years before. In 1791 a balance
of £20.000, in settlement of the estate is by agreement reduced
by a ratio of 50 to i, or to the sum of £414.
John Earle was for many years a justice of the peace, and
was in every way a prominent member of the community. He
acted as admini.strator and executor of a great many estates, and
was frequently appointed by the Court to lay out roads, etc..
James Wallace frequently appearing as his colleague.
As has already been shown Andrew Long was one of the ori-
ginal settlers at Neshaminy and probably accompanied his fath-
er-in-law. Miller, to this country. He became a considerable
land owner, owning nearly 700 acres at his death, which oc-
curred in November, 1738. at the early age of 47 years. He
lies buried at Neshaminy, the stone marking his ^rave being one
of the oldest therein erected. His will shows that he had sev-
eral daughters, all of whom were evidently under age, but he
does not specifically name them. The only two. who appear of
SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES 529
record in the settlement of his estate, or rather in the conveyance
of his real estate, are Mary, wife of Joseph Carr, of Warwick,
and Jane, wife of John McClenachan of Grcnidgc, Sussex county,
New Jersey.
x\ndrew Long, Sr., had three sons, William, born in 1727,
died in 1793, married Elizabeth — and had six children, Andrew,
Alexander, John, William, Hugh and Isabella, the latter married
Alexander Crawford, of Plymouth. His sons, Andrew and Alex-
ander, removed to Fayette county prior to the death of their
father in 1793. William was devised by his father's will the
"Merchant Mill, Saw Mill and plantation of 130 acres, purchased
of John Beard." Hugh, 194 acres in Warminster, and John the
"Plantation I live on, devised by my father, containing 220 acres."
The mill above mentioned is still known as "Long's Mill" and
the title remained in the family name until a few years ago.
Andrew, second son of Andrew, Sr., born 1730, died 1812,
married Mary Smith and had children, John, Andrew, William,
Isabella, wife of Solomon Hart, Mary, wife of Barnard VanHorn,
Margaret, wife of Harman Yerkes, and Letitia, wife of Wil-
liam Yerkes. Harman and Margaret Yerkes were the grand-
parents of Hon. Harman Yerkes, President Judge of the Courts
of Bucks county, and William and Letitia Yerkes were the
grandparents of Hon. William Yerkes, late Judge of the Com-
mon Pleas Court of Philadelphia. Both Andrew and William
Long were active during the Revolution ; their names head the
list of Warrington Association in 1775. William was selected
h\ the Committee of Safety to receive the arms of non-associates
and Andrew was a captain in the Flying-camp.
Hugh (third son of Andrew Long, Sr. ) married in 1761 Mary
Corbit. daughter of William Corbit, of Buckingham, who was a
son of John Corbit, a Scotch-Irish emigrant of Northampton
township. Hugh Long was a first lieutenant in the Bucks countv
Battalion of the Flying-Camp, and died of camp fever in 1778.
He had seven children, Andrew, who married Mary, daughter of
Adam Kerr. Col. William Long, Hugh, Isabella, Elizabeth,
married — Whitton, and Mary, who married Robert Wallace, of
Warwick, her cousin, and Jane, who married a McLean. The
Rev. Mahlon Long and Professor Charles Long were the sons
530 SCOTCH-IRISH FAMIUIiS
of Hugh the second. The Long connection is an extensive one
and many of the descendants still reside in Bucks county.
John Gray, who appears as an elder of the Neshaminy church
in 1743, and as one of the trustees in the Trust Deed in 1744,
was from the north of Ireland, and one of the early settlers ; he
owned a plantation on the northwest side of the Bristol road,
extending northwardly from the present village of Warrington.
The opening of "Dyer's Mill road," now the Doylestown and
Willow Grove turnpike, cut off a small corner of his farm where
Warrington hotel now stands, and in 1736, he with a number of
his neighbors, petitioned the Court to have the road changed so
as to follow his line, but without avail. John Gray married Mar-
garet Craig, a sister of Elder Thomas, of "Craig's" and Daniel
of Warrington; he must not be confused with John Grey, alias
Tatham, a large land owner in Bensalem and other parts of
lower Bucks. This Grey was from London when he purchased
land of Penn as John Grey. A large tract of his land was located
in Bensalem, where it is said he built a palatial residence. He
became involved in a long drawn out law suit with Joseph Grow-
den, the termination of which showed Grey up in a rather un-
enviable light. He afterwards removed to New Jersey where
he appears as John Tatham, living at Burlington in what the
early records term a "lordly and princely style." William Penn
in a letter written to his Commissioners in 1687, throws con-
siderable light on this character, by instructing them to "put a
stop to ye irregular grants made to John Grey alias Tatham now
discovered to be a Benedictine Monk of St. James Convent, as
they call it. commanded over by ye king."
John Gray, of Warrington, died April 27, 1749, at the age of
57 years, leaving his widow, and two sons, John and James, and
two daughters, Alary and Jean, the latter married to a MacDon-
ald. He does not mention his sons in his will, but, after givng
several small legacies to nephews and nieces, among the latter
being Margaret Graham, "late wife of Robert Miller," and to
some cousins in Ireland, he devised his whole estate to his wife,
Margaret, for life, then to "Brother" Richard Walker, Rev.
Charles Beatty and Rev. Richard Treat, in trust ; £2 per annum
to be paid for "support of ministry at Neshaminy" and one half
SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES 531
of residue "for the benefit of Rev. Charles Beatty, during his
ministry at ^he new meeting-house at Warwick." The other
half for the use of "Religious Students for the ^Ministry." when
Beatty ceases to preach, whole of the profits thereof for the use
of such students forever.
In 1788, Richard Walker, Esq., filed a settlement as surviv-
ing executor, showing a balance in hand of £199, 17s and "ex-
hibits receipts from Rev. George Duffield and Jonathan Byard
Smith, his successors in the trust, for two loan office certificates
for $800. Receipt date August 20, 1783." This is the sequel
to Mr. Turner's speculation as to the source of the "Two Years
Annuity" received from Rev. Duffield in 1783.
Margaret Gray survived her husband many years, dying some
time between April, 1782, and Alarch 1783, they being the dates
of signing and proof of her will, respectively, "Far advanced in
years" to use her own expression.
An interesting incident, illustrative of the uncertainties of life
on the frontier, may be detailed of John Gray, son of the elder,
who v.'ith his brother, James, removed west to the Tuscarora
valley in what was later Juniata county, and in 1756 was living-
near Fort Bingham with his wife, Hannah, and little daughter,
Jean. On the night of June 11, 1756, while Gray, who had been
to Carlyle for provisions was on his way home, the Indians at-
tacked and burned the fort, massacred most of the people, and
carried a few away into captivity, among the latter being Mrs.
Gray and her little daughter. Gray made many efforts to obtain
intelligence of his lost family. He joined Col. Armstrong's ex-
pedition against Kittanninning in the fall of 1756, in the hope of
recovering them, but learning nothing, he returned to Bucks coun-
ty, broken in health and spirit, made a will providing for his
wife and child should they return, and died broken-hearted in
1759-
After being carried to Canada, his wife, with the help of some
traders, made her escape and returned to Bucks county shortly
after the death of her husljand, but the child had been carried
farther west by the Indians, and was never heard of, though
in 1764, when a lot of captive children were brought to Phila-
delphia, Mrs. (iray went there in hopes of finding her child, but
532 SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILTKS
without success. During her captivity Mrs. Gray received an
offer of marriage from one George Woods, a fellow captive, a
somewhat remarkable character, who afterwards figured exten-
sively in the history of Bedford and Allegheny counties. Being
averse to a partnership in misfortune, and already, as she sup-
posed, having a husband living, she peremptorily declined.
Sometime after her husband's death, however, she did marry
again, her second husband being Enoch Williams, with whom
she took up her residence on the farm, settled by her husband on
the Juniata river, in what was then Cumberland county. She
does not seem to have made any effort to have the will of her
first husband proven until 1785, some 25 years after his death,
and was then only partially successful as only one of the sub-
scribing witnesses, Andrew Long, Esq., was living; the matter
was therefore delayed until 1790, when the handwriting of the
other witnesses was proven and letters of administration with the
will annexed were granted to her husband Enoch Williams ; the
sister, Mary Gray, who was named as executrix, then living in
Mifffin county, declining to act. The provisions of the will, or
a neglect to properly comply with them, gave rise to the most
celebrated law suit in Central Pennsylvania, and was before the
courts of that section for fifty years. It is known to the legal
profession as "The Gray Property Case" and is one of the most
celebrated ejectment suits ever tried in the State, being reported
in 10 Segeant & Rawle, page 182, as Frederick vs. Gray.
It will be noticed that it was characteristic of the early Scotch-
Irish immigration, that they nearly always came over in family
groups, as in the Miller, Craig and Jamison families. This,
it would seem was also the case with the Wallace family, who
we find settled at an early date in Plumstead, Tinicum, War-
rington and Warwick. Two of the name, Robert and John,
were settled in the neighborhood of the Tohickon, as appears by
land warrants granted to both at about that time. There
is little doubt that these two were the progenitors
of the other Wallaces found living in Tinicum, Warwick, War-
rington and Plumstead at a later date. They evidently arrived
some time prior to 1738. As before noted the date when the
Scotch-Irish acquired lands in fee is no sure indication of the
SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES 533
date of their arrival, as the majority of them appear to have re-
sided on leased lands many years before purchasing.
Robert, John and James Wallace, all appear as land owners
in Tinicum, prior to its organization into a township in 1747.
James Wallace, of Tinicum, who may have been a son of one of
the others, though more probably a brother, died in 1765, leaving
a widow, Hannah, and seven children, viz: Robert; Jean, wife of
Robert Hutchinson; Elinor ; William; Samuel; Elizabeth and
Mary. Samuel married Jemima Dean, and lived for many years
in New Britain township.
The Warrington Wallaces were Joseph and William. John, eld-
est son of the former and his wife, Jane, was a stone mason, and
married a daughter of Archibald Finley, of New Britain, who
was also a mason, and with whom he doubtless learned his
trade. This John Wallace and his brother, Andrew, were both
Revolutionary soldiers, Andrew going as a recruit furnished by
Bedminster township in 1778, and John being a lieutenant in
Captain Beatty's company, was captured at Fort Washington,
Eong Island, November 16, 1776, along with the greater part of
Col. Alagaw's regiment, but was paroled. Memoranda in the
hands of his grandson, Rev. J. W. Wallace, of Independence,
Missouri, show that he was with the army at Whitemarsh and
Valley Forge. At the close of the Revolution, John, with his
brothers and sisters and probably his parents, went to Virginia,
and from there to near Lexington, Kentucky ; some of the fam-
ily going over the mountains on pack horses, and some down
the Ohio to Maysville and then by wagon to Lexington. These
and many other Bucks county folk doubtless formed part of
that movement of the Scotch-Irish into Kentucky, which set in,
after the Revolution, and which is pictured so vividly by James
Lane Allen in the "Choir Invisible."
William Wallace, of Warrington, married Agnes Creighton,
widow of William Creighton, one of the trustees named in the
trust deed of 1774 of the "New Lights" of Neshaminy church.
I have always been strongly impressed with the idea that he
was the individual represented by the initials, "W. G." in the
graveyard wall at Neshaminy, and that the "G" so interpreted was
really meant to be a "C." but have no corroboration of this
534 SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES
theory other than his interest in the church in its infancy, and
his close connection with other leading members of the con-
gregation. A close personal inspection of the initials, however,
convinces me that it was clearly meant for a G.
His wife, Agnes, was an Armstrong, a sister of Joseph Arm-
strong, of Bedminster, and of Thomas Armstrong, who married
a daughter of Francis IMcHenry. William Creighton died in
1747, and his widow married William Wallace soon after, and
continued to reside with her children upon the homestead, on
the Hristol road, between the present villages of Warrington and
Tradesville. (the present farms of George and Levi Garner,)
mitil about 1760, when the entire familv removed to Cumber-
land township, York county.
From the foregoing it will be seen that the Wallaces were a
large connection in Bucks county, a long time before the Rev-
olution, but those of the name who lived in Warwick seem to.
have been the best known branch, and to have remained the
longest in the county, as they continued to reside therein until
about 1850, while the other Wallaces left the county mostlv
in the previous century.
The head of the Warwick family was James Wallace, who
from all indications appears to have been the son of John. He
was born in the north of Ireland and we believe came as a boy
with his father to Bucks.
About 1750 the name of John Wallace appears frequently
on the records of the Common Pleas Court of Bucks county
as plaintiff m a number of suits of a nature indicating that he
was a man of some means but from the date of the appearance
of James Wallace as a prominent figure in the community about
1754-5, we hear nothing more of John, except that his name
appears on the tax lists of Warwick as a single man living ''at
James Wallace's," where he died in 1777, about the same date
that James died.
In 1754 John Earle and James Wallace were appointed by
the Orphans' Court of Bucks county, guardians of the minor
children of Robert ]^Iiller, deceased, of whom John Earle was
an uncle, and a few months later James Wallace appears as the
husband, as well as the gruardian. of one of these minors, Isabel
SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES 535
Miller. Prior to 1762, James Wallace lived on leased land, but
in that year he purchased from Andrew and William Long, his
wife's cousins, some 300 acres in Warwick, being a part of the
property which William Miller, Sr., his wife's grandfather pur-
chased of Langhorne and Kirkbride in 1726. It was upon this
tract that the main body of Washington's army encamped m
August, 1777. From the date of his marriage until his death
in 1777 James Wallace figured prominently in the affairs of the
county, his name appearing very frequently on the records as
one of a commission to lay out roads, and in various other
positions of trust. In the year 1768 he was elected coroner of
the county, continuing to serve until 1772, one of the longest
terms for which the office was held in Colonial days. xA.s the
relations between the Colonies and the mother country began
to be strained, he, like the rest of the Scotch-Irish, took up
the cause of the Colony as against the crown, and participated
actively in the affairs of the county and Province. At the meet-
ing of the inhabitants of Bucks, held at Newtown, July 9, 1774,
to remonstrate against the oppressive measures of the parent
country, he was one of the six deputies of the county there
elected and delegated to represent it at Philadelphia in the
Conference of Provincial Deputies held in Carpenter's Hall, July
15, 1774, which meeting he attended. His name heads the list
of the Warwick Associators taken August 21, 1775. He was
a i^articularly active and prominent member of the Bucks Coun-
ty Committee of Safety, the governing body of the county 1774
to 1776, attending all its meetings but two^ and being a mem-
ber of the Committee of Correspondence, as well as of a number
of committees to ''interview" and "reason with" recalcitrant lo-
cal Tories. He was appointed the officer for the middle sec-
tion of the county to receive and pay for the arms purchased
for the use of the Associators.
In January, 1776, James Wallace with Col. Keichline and
Joseph Fenton was selected to proceed to Philadelphia and as-
certain the process for making saltpetre with a view of ex-
plaining the method to the inhabitants of the county, and thus
facilitating the manufacture of powder.
In May, 1776, he was again one of the committees appointed
536 SCOTCH-IRISH I-AMILIKS
to represent the county in convention of other County Com-
mittees at Philadelphia, but it appears that the Bucks county
delegates did not attend.
He also represented Bucks as a delegate to the important
Provincial Conference at Carpenter's Hall in June, 1776, his
fellow delegates being Col. Hart. Major Wynkoop and Ben-
jamin Seigle. Wallace appears as a member of several com-
mittees of that body, which met with the avowed object of tak-
ing steps to form an independent Government, and which among
other things provided for, and arranged details and machinery,
for the convention, which adopted the first Constitution of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Col. Hart, Major Wynkoop
and James Wallace were named by this Provincial Conference
the three judges of Bucks county, to conduct the election for
delegates to the Constitutional Convention.
Upon the new Government going into effect he was appointed
by the Supreme Executive Council, (the Executive Power of
the State.) one of the judges of the Civil and Criminal Courts
of lUicks, and his commission dated March 31, 1777, is recorded
in the office of the Recorder of Deeds at Doylestown. About
this time he was also elected a Justice of the Peace for Warwick
township.
It is apparent from this record, that James Wallace, in his
day, was a prominent figure and moving spirit in the affairs of
Bucks county, and undoubtedly a leading character in the com-
munity at Neshaminy, one who held their confidence as is evi-
denced by the fact that he appears almost always as the repre-
sentative of Warwick and its Scotch-Irish constituency. The
history of Bucks county during the Revolutionary period
shows that Col. Hart, Judge Wynkoop and James Wallace, until
his death, were the three most active and prominent men in
the affairs of the county. As throwing some further light on the
character and standing of James Wallace in the community, we
refer to a letter written by Judge Wynkoop to the General Com-
mittee of Safety, at Philadelphia, in January, 1776, in which he
refers to the Bucks County Committee appointed to go to Phil-
adelphia and investigate the manufacture of saltpetre above men-
SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES 537
tioned, in which he says, of them : "Those are persons of rep-
utation and influence in different parts of the county," '" * * *
and speaking of James Wallace, who had been selected as a mem-
ber to receive and pay for the saltpetre, he states further: "Mr.
Wallace is a gentleman of property, strict honesty, and firm
attachment to our cause." His interest in the Neshaminy church
is shown by the fact that in 1767 he was elected one of the
trustees, and doubtless continued to serve as such until his deatn.
His further usefulness was cut short by his death in the latter
part of 1777. While the cause of his death is not known, it
would seem, that it was in some manner, the result of the strife
then being waged. His wife, Isabel, survived him many years,
being alive in 1810, also his two sons ; William, who lived to an ad-
vanced age, and died single, in his native township ; and Robert,
who married Mary, the daughter of Hugh Long and ]Mary Cor-
bit ; and three daughters, Jane, who married John Carr, son of
Joseph and Mary (Long) Carr; Margaret, who married Samuel
Polk, son of James and Elinor Polk; and Isabel, who died a
spinster. His grandchildren married into the families of Rog-
ers, Sturgeon, Kennedy, Mearns, James, Shewell, Hough, Ward,
Bothv^^ell, Krewsen and other well known Bucks county families.
Joseph Carr, of Warwick, was another early settler who came
from the north of Ireland. He was born in 1697 and died in
1757. He first appears at Xeshaminy in 1731, when he signed
the petition for the erection of Warminster township. He was a
witness to the will of Andrew Long in 1738, and married Long's
eldest surviving daughter, Mary, (born 1725). His children,
as mentioned in his will and appearing of record in the con-
veyance of his real estate were, John, the eldest, who became
prominent in Neshaminy church, and married Jane, daughter
of James and Isabel (]\Iiller) Wallace; Joseph and Andrew,
who are said to have gone to South Carolina ; William, who
remained in Warwick; and daughters Margaret, who married
Thomas McCune : Isabella, wife of John Anderson, and removed
to Baltimore county, Maryland ; and Mary, wife of Robert Mc-
Ilhenny, of York county.
The descendants of Robert Carr, Mariner, of Philadelphia,
who purchased land in Warminster in 1758 claim that he also was
538 SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES
a son of Joseph, of Warwick, but we have no proof of this, fur-
ther than a tradition, in their branch of the family. It is just
possible that Joseph Carr was married prior to his marriage
with Mary Long, as it will be noticed that he was many years
his wife's senior, being but six years younger than her father.
If this be so, and Robert, the issue of a former marriage, and
also absent on the high seas, that may account for his not being
mentioned in his father's will.
John Carr and Jane, his wife, had a large family. William
Carr for many years Clerk of the Orphans' Court of Bucks
county, was a child of this marriage, the other children inter-
married with the Rogers, Sturgeons, JVIearns and Kennedys and
their numerous descendants are widely scattered through the
county and country.
Two other early families of Neshaminy, to whom we have
already briefly alluded, and who are deserving of much more
than the brief mention we can give them in this sketch, were
the Walkers and Craigs. The Walkers were among the earliest
arrivals, and the family appears to have consisted of William
and Ann, his wife, and their sons, John, Robert and Richard,
and at least two daughters. William, the father, died in
1738, aged 66 years, and Ann, his wife, in 1750, aged 70, they
both lie buried at Neshaminy. We have no data as to John,
other than that he had two sons, William and John.
Robert Walker (son of William and Ann) died in Northamp-
ton township in 1758, evidently unmarried and without issue,
as after leaving a legacy of £50 to Rev. Richard Treat, Rev.
Charles Beatty and his brother Richard, in trust for the benefit
of Neshaminy church, he bequeaths the balance of his estate to
his brothers, Richard and John, and his sisters Mary King and
Christine McNaire, and their children. He further directed that
"Friends join in placing a tombstone over our father."
By far the most prominent of the family, however, was Rich-
ard Walker, Esq., born in 1702, he was probably quite a
young man when he arrived in the Province. He married Sarah
Craig, a sister of Col. Thomas and Daniel Craig, as before stated ;
she was four years his junior, being born in 1706. Richard
Walker was elected to the Provincial Assembly in 1747 and
SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES 539
continuousl}- re-elcctcl until 1759, when he was succei^.led by
James Melvine, of New Britain. He was commissioned a Jus-
tice of the Peace of the courts of Bucks county in 1749,
and served continuously as a Justice until 1775, over a quarter
of a century. He was also commissioned a captain in the Pro-
vincial Service Feb. 12, 1749, was a prominent member of the
Committee of Safety and an elder of the Xeshaminy church.
He died April 11. 1791. aged 89 years, and his wife Sarah, April
24, 1784, aged 78 years, both are buried at Xeshaminy. Rich-
ard Walker evidently left no children, as his estate was divided
among collateral heirs, the descendants of his sisters and brothers,
among the distributees being quite a number who were residents
of the "Irish Settlement" in Northampton county, viz: AIc-
Xaires, Ralstons, Latimers, Griers. Wilsons and Culberstons.
His plantation was on the Lower State road, extending west-
ward from the liristol road at Tradesville.
W^illiam Walker of another family died in 1757, possessed of
about 500 acres of land, in Warrington, and left a widow, Alar-
garet, and six children, Robert : Elizabeth, wife of Henry Kinley ;
Catherine ; Alary ; James ; and Margaret.
The Craigs were a large family, the heads being Elder Thomas,
the founder of the "Irish Settlement," his brothers, William
and James of the same place, and Daniel, of W^arrington, with
sisters married to Gray and W^alker, of X^eshaminy, and John
Boyd of the upper settlement.
Daniel Craig, as already stated, was one of the earliest settlers
in Warrington, he died in 1776, leaving a widow, Margaret, and
eight children — Thomas. John. William. Margaret, wife of
James Barclay ; Sarah, wife of John Barnhill, and great-
great-grandmother of Theodore Roosevelt ; Jane, wife of Sam-
uel Barnhill ; Mary Lewis, and Rebecca, wife of Hugh Stephen-
son. His son Thomas took a prominent part in the Revolution,
was commissioned a captain October 23. 1776. and rose to the
rank of colonel. He married Jean Jamison, daughter of Henry
Jamison, son of the Emigrant Ancestor, and Alary Stewart, the
daughter of another early settler in Xeshaminy. His daughter
Alargaret married Capt. William Aliller, founder of Millerstown,
now Fairview, York county, for many years a Representative and
540 SCOTCH-IRISH FAMILIES
Senator of that county. (This WiUiam Miller it is thought from
various indications was a connection of the Warwick family
already referred to.)
Thomas Craig's eldest son Daniel married like his father a
Jean Jamison, daughter of Robert Jamison, of Neshaminy, and
his wife, Hannah Baird, daughter of John and Hannah (Stewart)
Baird, of Neshaminy.
The Craigs were evidently fighting stock, as not only appears
by the record of Thomas, of Warrington, but by that of his
cousins, Capt. John Craig, of the 4th Penna. Light Dragoons,
who it is said Washington pronounced the best horseman in
the army, and that of Colonel afterwards General Thomas Craig,
who served from the beginning to the end of the Revolution,
was in the battles of Quebec, Brandywine, Germantown and
Monmouth, as well as serving in North and South Carolina.
It would also seem that their descendants inherited their
ancestors' fighting and patriotic qualities, as we know of at least
one of the grandsons of Daniel Craig, Jr., who served with dis-
tinction during our late Civil War, and only his age and infirmi-
ties, resulting from wounds then received, prevent him from being
at this time at the front in the service of his country.
Did time and space permit we would like to refer to the Jam-
ison, Grier, Baird, Armstrong and Stewart and other such
Scotch-Irish families of the time referred to, and we beheve it
would not be uninteresting if some mention could be made of
some of the descendants of these early pioneers in later gener-
ations, but we can only say that their children are to be found
in every section of our great land, their worthy and courageous
ancestors helped to colonize, and in every walk of life, not only
in agricultural pursuits, that first and ever honorable occupation,
some even on the lands settled by their forefathers, but as well
in the marts of commerce, in the pulpit, at the forum and in
the army and navy of their country ; and we believe wherever
found and however engaged, serving their day and generation
in a manner that shows they have inherited, unimpaired, the
worthy and sturdy qualities and characteristics, displayed by
their forbears amid the uncertainties and adversities of pio-
neer life and the trying times of the Revolution.
The Society of Friends.
BY MRS. ANNA EASTBURN WIIvLITS, HADDONFIELD, N. J.
(Manor Park, L,anghorne Meeting, August 9, 1S98.)
The history of England is largely written in her ancient
churches and crumbling ruins, and the student of her historic,
literary and religious shrines is irresistibly tempted to live in
the past. Will you visit Bristol, England, in 1644, and listen
to the joy over the birth of William, beloved son of Vice Admiral
Sir William Penn ? Far beneath the noble mansion lay the red-
roofed city, with devious lanes, ivy covered cottages, and gray
churches ; while all around was a smiling landscape of emerald
meadow and cultivated field.
Though you search the wide world through, you will never
find such cathedrals, so fraught with majesty, sublimity, the
loveliness of human art, and the ecstatic sense of a Divine ele-
ment in human destiny. Those old Monks who built the Abbeys
Df Britain, laid their foundations, not alone deeply in the earth,
but deeply in the human soul.
In the midst of these associations, bounded by tradition,
George Fox, Robert Barclay and William Penn taught that the
Divine Being speaks directly to the heart of every man ; and
that teaching was logically "the root of the goodly tree of
doctrine which sprang from it." George Fox said "it was his
Inisiness to point men to Christ and to leave them there," and
all the journals of Friends emphasize the truth stated by the
Apostle Paul when he said to the Corinthians, "Know ye not
that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth
in you ?"
This was no new truth which George Fox announced to the
world, but the message was gladly received by the people, and
though long lost sight of. became then a mighty power. The
views of Friends made humanity sacred, and every man a brother.
In the days of Penn, the question came continually to them
whether they should obey the Lord rather than man. They
held their meetings contrary to Parliament, and the order of
542 THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS
llie Crown ; they refused to take oaths, and in divers ways
transgressed authority, so that the prisons of England were
filled with Friends. At one time 4.200 of them were in the
gaols, and more than 10,000 altogether thus suffered, not for
any crime or misclemeanur, hut hecause of their stout defense
of liherty and their heroic resistance of religious tyranny.
They all practically said with William Penn : "My prison shall
he my grave hefore 1 will hudge a jot, for I owe obedience of
the conscience to no mortal man." When driven or dragged
from their meeting-houses they assembled in the streets, and
when the meeting-houses were torn down they met on the ruins.
]\Iany died in prison, and many more suffered long imprison-
ment onl}' to resume their life of sacrifice and trial wdien re-
leased. They were courageous, aggressive, bold and unsparing
in their denunciation of sin and sinners, but equally tender-
hearted, loving and affectionate. Even women suffering the
tortures of the lash would kneel and ask God to forgive the
men who dealt the blows.
Their labors in those days were marvelous. They preached
the Gospel in every town and village in England ; then crossed
the Atlantic to deliver Christ's message to the Indians and
settlers in the land of the setting sun. When did they rest?
Noisome prisons could not have yielded them ease, and yet
a sojourn in jail was the only vacation these preachers had.
They were all ablaze with the fire of zeal and the light of un-
selfishness. They did not take up arms against the government,
but showed the patriotism of endurance and suffering until the
Nation was aroused and Parliament was compelled to pass laws
recognizing their liberty of conscience and of worship, in the
benefits of which all the civilized world has in a degree partaken.
The protest of George Fox came at a time when . William
Penn wrote. "England was a benighted and bewildered nation."
After the first half century, in wdiich the zeal of Fox, Barclay
Penn and scores of others had gathered one hundred thousand
members in Great Britain and America, another era came for
them. Internal organization and supervision took the place of
evangelizing aggressiveness. But, with it all, the Society has
been able to infuse the spirit and essence of George Fox's teach-
THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS 543
ings into the very veins of the modern world; and also his
testimony to the spirituality of worship, against ritualism, against
the sin of intolerance and abomination of war, the wrongful-
ness of oaths, and the indwelling of God in believing and faith-
ful souls.
The Friends are an embodiment of great principles, and an
incarnation of a grand life. Both these principles and life have
entered into the bone and sinew of our Republic, and both are
still necessary for the realization of ultimate America.
When seen at their best, the Friends stand in American
history for ideal civilization ; and this civilization is their con-
tribution to the American Republic. They arose in an age of
dogmas and creeds and persecution and reforms and reUgious
revolutions and c|uarreling ecclesiastics. They took their place
among the rank of reformers, and were the most advanced of
all. Their gun was a protest, their bullet a principle and their
powder the inner light. In the days of William Penn their
ways and principles spelled anarchy, "but by the slow education
of centuries they now spell righteousness, peace and love."
William Penn took the life of Fox, the system of Barclay, the
converts of Burroughs and built all into a Commonwealth
which gave the Friends the civil embodiment of their cherished
ideals, and which gave America, the powerful Colony of Penn-
sylvania, a mighty bulwark in the defence of freedom. Penn
paid a large price for the privilege of being a Quaker, and this
made him a man to be trusted. He sacrificed the friendship of
his home, for his father said of him : "William has become a
Quaker, or some such melancholy thing." He was democratic
in spirit and gave his colony a constitution and laws full of
the genius of humanity and of equal justice.
The liberty of thought bore its fruits, and brought the colony
due honor and respect. The Declaration of Independence and
other historic facts and reforms took place on Quaker soil, be-
cause there was more freedom of thought in Pennsylvania
than there was in ^Massachusetts. The Friends believed in re-
ligious liberty, while the Puritans denied it. They were most
liberal in their opinions and were foremost in philanthropy,
and all the advanced ideas of the modern world. The Puritan
544 'i'HE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS
was opposed to high hving and the pleasures of the table, but
was devoted to learning and literature.
The Friends seem to have had no rule whi.ch prohibited very
liberal hospitality, and this pleasant feature of the home, extends
to the present day. But what they lacked in the higher educa-
tion they made up in the home. As with crime and pauperism
they took the elementary training of their children in their own
speicial care.
William I'enn in a letter to his wife wrote about his children:
"For their learning i)e liberal. Spare no costs; for by such
parsimony all is lost that is saved." Early Friends were ex-
ceedingly careful to avoid all such things as savored of costliness
and finery. As William Penn says. "If thou art clean and
warm, it is sutficient : for more doth rob the poor and please the
wanton." The code of laws which he prepared for the Province
was exalted in aim, comprehensive in scope, and the details
marvelously practical.
The great colony was established on the most liberal and
advanced principles of his time. How attractive to Penn must
have appeared a home for his pure faith in the virgin woods,
in a commonwealth reared afresh out of nature by manly effort
and a(henturc, where he could try the experiment of his prm-
ciples in the truest form. From 1682 to 1776 the Province of
Pennsylvania was the Friends. They controlled its policy and
legislation down to the summer of 1776. when their power was
destroyed almost in a moment.
During the first seventy years the political history of the
Colony may be said to be exclusively a history of the Friends,
because the Church of England people, who were their opponents
during the time, were so few in numbers, that they played a
comparatively insignificant part. The Friends developed the
civil liberty of the Province, and worked out a body of Consti-
tutional liberty, which at the time of the Revolution gave Penn-
sylvania such a satisfactory form of government, that it was a
great obstacle in the way of the movement for independence.
Ultimately, the ecclesiastical Quaker triumphed over the polit-
ical, and the body settled down into a growing conviction, that
for them, obedience to righteous laws, and passive resistance to
THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS 545
unrighteous aims, constituted the burden of a Friend and duty
to the government.
The Inchan policy of the Friends has been immortahzed on
canvas and in print, and from generation to generation the behs-
of-wampum, which ratified the many treaties were handed down
"as witnesses betwixt us and you of these agreements." Pres-
ident Sharpless, of Haverford College, in his book, "A Quaker
Experiment in Government," says, "As long a'= exact justice
prevailed, peace existed" and this is the lesson of Pennsylvania.
A prominent Divine says : "This is the message of the Quaker
fathers to the patriotic sons of America. If you would render
your country the highest service and lead it forward to the mil-
lennial age, be an intellect to your country, think for it ; be a
conscience for your country, make moral decisions for it, and
think and decide within the lines of God's holy law. If you
would render your country the highest service, be the Lord's
prophet to your country ; dream dreams for it, and see visions
for it." Hold up ideals before the people, and you will attain
a civilization embodying your ideals and the Society of Friends
may become, in God's providence, the gathering place of the
mighty hosts wdio profess the name of Christ.
Jeremiah Langhorne and His Times.
BY SAMUEL C. EASTBURN, LANGHORNE, PA.
(Manor Park, Langhorne Meeting, August 9, 1898. )
In preparing a paper on Jeremiah Langhorne and his tunes,
keeping in mind there is a hmit to my time and your patience, I
have used only such portions of what might be called published
history as was necessary for a framework of the narrative,
giving most attention to those matters showing the social ana
home life of the times, beheving these are the stones which form
the fabric of all history, too often overlooked, and particularly
the province of the local historian. For these I am greatly in-
debted to the Middletown meeting records, my own collection,
and letters in the possession of my friends many of whom are
connected, or more or less remotely descended, from the subject
of my sketch.
In doing this, one is greatly impressed that during the one
hundred years immediately following 1680, this part of "Penn's
wooded country" was occupied by a great number of men
prominent in the councils of the new colony "of great weight
and worth" and whose Quaker conservatism made them "wise
counselors" in all the new matters and conditions connected
with the growth of the State, founded as had never been at-
tempted before, "in the fear of God and the love of man-
kind."
One of the earliest arrivals was William Biles, who took up
over 300 acres, nearly eastward from Langhorne. "He was a
man of talent and influence and a leader." He was a member
of the Assembly, a surveyor, overseer of the highways and
a constable under Governor Andros and the Duke of York,
before Pennsylvania was turned over to Penn, and he spoke
and wrote his views freely of the mismanagement of Governor
Andros and his agents, for which he was fined and imprisoned.
Joseph Growden, the son of Lawrence Growden. of Cornwall,
England, a large mine owner of great wealth, in 1682 bought for
himself and father 10,000 acres in almost a square, beginning
MANSION OF JKRKMIAH LANGHORNE.
as located in Bensaletn township, Bucks county, a short distance south of the
house now occupied by Charles Randall, near the only ford then on
the Neshaminy, later known as Galloway's ford.
FIRK PROOF OFFICE OF JOSEPH GROWDEN AT " TREVOSE"
Stone building about is ft. square, in which was kept the early records of Bucks county and
later valuable documents belonging to the State, also important papers and correspondence of
Benjamin Franklin. An iron window-shutter still remains, bearing the marks of British bullets
fired by a plundering party in 177S, who broke open the oflfice, scattering and destroying the
valuable papers contained therein. Now used as a carriage-house.
JEREMIAH LANGHORXE AND HIS TIMES 547
on the opposite bank of the Neshaminy to the south of Lang-
home, running westerly nearly to the present Trevose station
and easterly almost to the Delaware. It was called "Trevose,"
and his manor-house still standing was the seat for several
generations of a grand style of living, suited to a man of his
position, wealthy and landed possessions. In addition to this he
had a fine house on Mulberry street, in Philadelphia. He
was a member of the Assembly in 1684, a member of the Privy
Council from 1687 to 1703. He represented the county in the
General Assembly in 1693 and was its Speaker for over 20
years. In 1706 he was appointed Provincial Judge and in
1 71 5 one of the Judges of the Supreme Court.
To the north, on the southern edge of where Langhorne now
stands, Thomas Stackhouse had a large tract. He was "an
able man of good means." William and Henry Paxson each
had large tracts, the former over 800 acres to the northeast
of Langhorne. running up Core creek to where William Barns-
ley now lives. He was ''a man mild in manner, but true and
sturdy in the cause of right as his magnificent oaks." He was
also a member of the Assembly.
Directly west of Langhorne, m the bend of the Neshaminy,
Nicholas Wain lived with lands on both sides of the stream.
He was noted as a talented though eccentric lawyer and the
ancestor of a long line of legal lights.
These men were all members of the Society of Friends, they
were strong, virile, intelligent, self dependent, with large ideas
of living which they had enjoyed in the Old Country on account
of wealth and position and which evidently did not down because
of their convincement of Friends' prnciples.
To this company and environment came in 1684, Thomas Lang-
horne from Kendall meeting, in Westmoreland, England, "an
able minister" and took up 864 acres, beginning near where we
now are and running north to the top of Edge Hill, thence
along it eastward nearly to Glen Lake, adjoining Thomas
Stackhouse on the north and William Biles on the east. He
called it Langhorne Park. He was a widower with four chil-
dren, Jeremiah, the subject of our sketch; Sarah, who married
548 jKREMIAH LAXC.HORNE AND HIS TIMES
William jjiles ; Eli/.abeth, who married Lawrence Growdcn. ami
Grace, who died unmarried at the age of thirty-four.
Thomas Lang^horne was a branch of the Langhorne family of
Wales, a family of much wealth and threat note, who were owner.-,
of all the .countr)' from St. David's to Carmathean. over 60
miles, and other estates besides. St. lirides was the family
home, settled by Thomas Langhorne during the reign of Ricliard
II. Langhorne Castle was dismantled by Cromwell. The old
churchyard, I am told, contains 40 monuments of the Langhornes.
But this scion of a great and wealthy family had had his
conscience quickened by the preaching of "the despised quaker,
George Fox." and ])utting behind him "the lusts of this world
and the i)ride of life" had cast his lot with those people and
lived and preached and taught among ihem. He felt "called"
to go to Friends in Pennsylvania and '"they received him willing-
ly." He was said to be mild in manner, "a devoted servant of his
Master" and he must truly have come to this environment, vigo-
rous, lusty, wrestling with the rugged forces of nature and new
conditions without limit as to territory, "with a sweet savor of
the Gospel peace which to u> is very precious." The minute
sent by him from his meeting and Friends in F,ng-land is such
a beautiful tribute to his character and so (piaint in exj^ression
I am tempted to give extracts from it :
"We recommend to you our dear friend and brother, Thomas Langhorne.
into whose heart the Lord, we hope, hath put it to give himself up with
his family for your Country, in the western parts of the world. We are
the more satisfied with his integrity and regard to God in the matter, be-
cause we can guardedly say. that the Lord has blessed hmi with the riches
and glorj' of His own life, in the enjoyment of which God has made him
an instrument in his hands for the help and comfort of many. An elder
that has ruled well and is worthy of honor, which in his own country he
hath so large a share thereof, that he need not count the enlargement
thereof and that fullness that cometh from true content, the glory and
thereof and that fullness that cometh from true content, the glory and
riches of the kingdoms of the earth he need not covet after. You may
lay your hands upon him with a ready mind and a brotherly respect, for
you will find him worthy and for him you will never be ashamed. He is
bone of your bone and the remembrance of him will be precious to your
souls. We are made willing to give him up in your behalf for di'^cai.te
or place cannot disunite from being one another's help and our bowels
will be kept with you. You may be assured that if it was not for our
JEREMIAH LANGHORNE AND HIS TIMES 549
brotherly love and the Gospel's sake (for the furtherance thereof God
has made him an able minister) ; if it was not for this we could not
have given him up to the outwardly and remote parts of the world, whom
whether we shall ever see his face again visibly we know not. He has
had great power. We do not part with him as a thing of light value
and if we did not feel our loss would be your eternal gain, our sorrow
could scarcely be expressed, but in your advantage does our satisfaction
stand without grudging."
Cotilcl the sorrow of his friends at losing a beloved minister
be more earnestly expressed than that by this Httle company,
bereft more than 200 years ago, or with such a father could Jere-
miah Langhorne have been other than an exceedingly upright man,
with a keen sense of right and with a full appreciation of his
responsibility for his actions and his relations to his fellowmen.
Thomas Langliorne lived but three years after coming here.
The Langhorne house was located in the garden just south of
the house now occupied by Charles Randall, about one-quarter
of a mile straight west from here and near the only ford
then on the Neshaminy, later known as Galloway's ford. Here
Jeremiah Langhorne lived a single life with his sister Grace,
till her death and after with his many servants. Here he en-
tertained in a large way, strangers and visitors. He not only had
this tract but other tracts near Perkasie and also on the ATonocacy
in the upper end of Bucks and in the present Lehigh county,
amounting to many thousands of acres. He was a Chief Justice
of the Province and held court in various places throughout it,
often being absent on that business for three months at a time.
He is described as being rather under than over medium height,
but erect and sprightly in habit and with a dignity which in-
spired respect. That he was a forceful man and held in the
highest regard by all. is shown on one occasion when some of
Fenn's agents were bent on a scheme to defraud the Indians of
some of their land ; and their chief having vainly attempted
to get the matter directly to the notice of Penn, who was then in
England, declared that if he did not have it righted by the Pro-
prietor he and his people would lay it before Jeremiah Langhorne.
This appears to have halted the scheme.
In addition to his frequent trips to his Durham* and other
* Jeremiah I,anghorne was one of the 12 founders of the Durham iron-works in 1727.
See Vol. I, page 234.
550 JEREMIAH LANGIIORXE AND HIS TIMES
estates and his judicial duties he appears to have given much
time and intelhgent care to his farming- and the affairs of his ser-
vants and tenants. He took great pride in his crops and fre-
quently sent to England for new seeds for his planting, and the
detail of his whole establishment seems to have been a constant
subject of his scrupulous care.
I do not know of any well-authenticated doc'Liment. that if we
read between the lines, and get our minds filled with the cir-
cumstance and surroundings of the man and times, that will
give us a better picture of his mind and his feeling that the
deeds men do live after them than his will written by himself
on two sheets of paper, Fifth-month 17, 1742. as follows:
'"I, Jeremiah Langhorne, of ^liddletown, in the cnuniy of Buck's, and
Province of Pennsylvania Esquire, calling to mind the uncertainty of
man's life in this transitory world, do make this my last will and testa-
ment in manner and form following: First of all I freely resign my
soul unto God, who gave it, and my body to be decently buried at the
discretion of my executors hereinafter mentioned ; and as concerning
what estate it has pleased God to bestow upon me in this world, I give,
devise and bequeath the same in the manner following: Imprimis: J
give, devise and bequeath all my land and plantation in Middletown
township, called Langhorne Park, where I now dwell, containing about
'"ight hundred acres, unto Thomas Biles, the son of my nephew Thomas
Biles, deceased, and the heirs of his body lawfully to be gotten, sub-
ject to the provisions, reservations and directions hereinafter compre-
hended and expressed concerning the same, and for want of such issue
then I give the same to my niece, Sarah, the wife of Lawrence Grow-
den, and to the heirs of her body by the said Lawrence, and for want of
such issue then I give and devise the same to the said Lawrence Growden,
his heirs and assigns forever, subject nevertheless and under this proviso
and direction, and it is my will and mind, that my negro servants, Joe,
Cudjo and London and the survivors of them shall remain upon, occupy,
possess and enjoy all my said plantation and the profits thereof until
the 25th day of ISIarch, which will be in the year 1751. they committing
no manner of waste or spoil within the same, nor sowing any part of
the land thereof with any kind of grain oftener than every fifth year,
excepting only ten acres for Buckwheat or Indian corn yearly : and like-
wise upon this further express condition, that they the said Joe, Cudjo and
London and their survivors shall yearly and every year on the 25th day
of ]\Iarch pay to my executors liereinafter named and their survivors,
the yearly rent of thirty . pounds current money of Peimsylvania during
the said terms, and shall entertain, maintain and support my negro Bos-
ton and all my negro women and children, as well as any other children
they may have within the said term, they the said Boston, women and
JEREMIAH LANGHORNE AND HIS TIMES 551
children doing and performing such work as is fitting for them to do,
and my will is that the said Boston and all my young negroes shall
remain upon my plantation as long as I have appointed the said Joe,
Cudjo and London to stay there, and after that Boston shall be left to
the care of my executors, but shall not be sold, and the young negroes
to the disposal of their respective parents and upon the said Joe, Cudjo
and London leaving my said plantation, then I order and further direct
that my executors, or the survivors of them, shall build and provide
a small house for my servants Lydia, Hannah and Frank and lay thereto
fifty acres of land, out of the said plantation between the house where
John Winner lives and my line, next to Thomas Stackhouse's, and that
the said Lydia, Hannah and Frank and their children shall there be
sufifered to abide and dwell during the lives of the said Lydia, Hannah
and Frank, or the survivors of them, and my executors shall then give
them two cows, one horse or mare and ten sheep.
Item, I do further order and direct that my executors and their sur-
vivors shall as soon as may well be after my decease, provide a small
hO'Use where John Winner now lives and lay thereto fifty acres of l?nd.
and that my negroes Sarah and Nancy shall (if they choose so to do)
be suffered to dwell there with their children, but so long as my other
negroes are allowed to stay upon this plantation they shall nevertheless
bestow their labor upon the same, for their common piofit, and be main-
tained and supported at their common expense, and at the expiration
of the term hereby given in my said plantation to the said Joe, Cudjo
and London, I will and direct that my executors and the survivors of
them give unto the said Nancy and Sarah and the survivors of them
two cows, one horse or mare and ten sheep, and the said London, Nancy
and Sarah and their children, shall be suffered to dwell in the last men-
tioned small house and to possess, occupy and enjoy the same and the fifty
acres of land so to be laid thereto, during the lives of the said London,
Nancy and Frank, and the survivors of them.
Item, I give to the said Joe, Cudjo and London two cows, eight horses
or mares and twenty sheep and all my implements of husbandry.
Item, I give unto my said servants, Joe, Cudjo and London, one hun-
dred and fifty-five acres of land of the tract where Nathaniel West
now lives to be laid out and allotted to them at the discretion of my
executors. When the said Joe and Cudjo shall quit, leave and yield up
the possession of my said plantation, called Langhorne Park aforesaid,
to hold the said one hundred and fifty-five acres each separately during
their respective lives.
Item, I give to my servant Wm. Fineley the sum of ten pounds current
money of Pennsylvania.
Item, I give to each of my two negroes who are now under age the
sum of ten pounds, when they attain the age of twenty-four years.
Item, I do absolutely manumit, enfranchise and set free all such of my
servants as shall at my decease he 24 years of age (except my negro
552 JKREMIAH LANGIIORXK AND HIS TIMES
Boston), and all the rest of my negroes 1 order and direct ni}- execu-
tors to set free at their respective attainment to 24 years of age.
Item, I give unto Edward, Mary and Sarah, the three children of my
niece, Anna Pennington, and unto William, Jeremiah, John, Sarah and
Hannah, the tlve children of my niece, Grace Bates, deceased, each the
sum of one hundred pounds, current money of Pennsylvania, to be paid
to them when they respectively attain the age of twenty-one years.
Item, I give and devise unto my nephew, Charles Biles, the plantation
which 1 purchased of Benjamin Scott and Arthur Lear (lieing the same
where the said Charles now dwells) with the appurtenances, to his heirs
and assigns forever.
Item. I give and devise unto^ my niece, Sarah Growden, aforemen-
tioned, and my niece, Hannah Janey, and their heirs and assigns equally
to be divided between them, my tract of land of one thousand acres or
thereabouts, being near Perkasy, in the said county of Bucks, be the
same more or less, to hold to them, their heirs and assigns, etiually, for-
ever.
Item. ] give and devise unto "Margaret Biles, daughter of my nephew
Thomas Biles, and to her heirs forever, the hundred acres of land where-
on my said nephew lives and the land of Robert Shaw, and I also give
unto the said ]\Iargaret Biles the sum of forty pounds current money of
Pennsjdvania. I give and devise unto James Hamilton and Andrew
Hamilton, sons of my friend, Andrew Hamilton, deceased, and to
their heirs, to be equally divided l^etween them, one thousand acres of
land, adjoining to the other land last l^efore described, one thousand
acres and land of Matthew Hughes, being the same land, I Isought of
William Allen, to hold the said one thousand acres of land to them,
their heirs equally forever.
Item, I give and devise unto my kinsman, Thomas Langhorne, now or
late in the employ of Lord Lonsdale, and to my kinsman, William Jack-
son, of London, woolen draper, and to their heirs equally to be divided
between them, five hundred acres of land being on or near Monackasy
creek, in the forks of the Delaware.
Item, I give to my kinsman, Thomas Langhorne, three hundred pounds
current money of Pennsylvania, to be paid to him five years after my
decease.
Item, I give to my sister, the widow of William Biles, an annuity of fifty
pounds current money of Pennsylvania, to issue out of the balance of my
real and personal estates after my debts and legacies are deducted, to be
paid to her annually by my executors on the 29th day of September during
her natural life, and I also give to my said sister my silver tankard and six
silver spoons and the bed and furniture that lately stood in the room
where my books are.
Item. I give unto my aforesaid niece. Sarah Growden. all my silver
hafted knives and forks.
Item, All the rest of my plate I give and bequeath unto the said Sarah
JEREMIAH EANGHORNE AND HIS TIMES 553
Growden and Hannah Janney, and the wife of the said Charles Biles,
equally to be divided between them.
Item, It is my will and mind and I do direct that all the furniture of my
best parlor and the room over it, in the west wing of the mansion house,
and of the closets in or adjoining said rooms, shall not be taken away or
disposed of, but shall always remain in and go along with my said house
as heirlooms appurtenant thereto, and during the nonage of my said
kinsman, Thomas Biles, I leave the care of the said two rooms and also
the use of them when they may occasion to my executors.
Item, I give and bequeath to the said Lawrence Growden, all my
books, except such part thereof that my said nephew. Thomas Biles,
when he becomes of age may desire to have.
Item. I give and bequeath unto the said Lawrence Growden my negro
boy. Boston, until he shall arrive at the age of twenty-four years.
Item. I give and bequeath to my friend. Joseph Quinn. of Philadelphia,
merchant, one hundred pounds as a recompense for his acting as one of
my executors.
Item. I give to my good friend. William .\llen. my stallion riding horse
and to Joseph Tuner my other riding horse.
Item. I give unto Buckludge Simms. living with Joseph Tuner, the sum
of ten pounds, current money of Pennsylvania.
Item, It is my will and mind that my executors shall leave in my said
house a reasonable part of my household goods as shall be fitting for the
use of my said negroes.
Item. And foreasmuch as a ditYerence may aiise between my said ne-
groes, Joe, Cudjo and London and their wives and children, I do hereby
give my executors or any two of them full power and authority to judge
of and determine said differences and disputes, that may or shall at any
time happen between my said negroes, while they shall be upon the said
plantation, whose judgment and order therein shall be final, to which all
my said negroes shall submit, or if any of them shall refuse so to do, it is
my will and mind that he, she or they so refusing, shall have no benefit
of or from my said plantation, given them by this my Inst will as afore-
said, nor to the stock or goods so left thereon. I hereby give unto my
executors full power and authority to sell or dispose of and convey all my
lands and tenements or any part thereof, not otherwise provided tor,
and lastly I do desire and bequeath all the rest, residue and remainder of
my estate, not herebefore bequeathed and after my debts and legacies are
paid, to the said Lawrence Growden and Langhorne Biles, to be equally
divided between them and I hereby nominate, constitute and appoint the
said Lawrence Growden. Langhorne Biles and Joseph Tuner, executors,
hereby revoking all former wills by me at any time made. In witness
whereof I. the said Jeremiah Langhorne. have this, my will, written upon
two sheets of paper, set my hand and seal the i6th day of I\Iay. in
the year of our Lord 1742."
554 JEREMIAH LANGHORNE AND HIS TIMES
It will be noted that more than half of this remarkable docu-
ment is given to providing- for those dependent ones who had
been with him during life and who he felt would need his
care afterwards. There were some seventy of them. He not
only freed them all, which over one hundred years was a step
in advance of the times, but provided for their support as far
as he was able during the balance of their lives. Recognizing
their inability to appreciate and properly use his benefactions,
he hedged them about so they would be able to gradually
grow towards them. He held up to them the Christian idea
that they are bound to help one another and the dignity and
necessity of manual labor. Recognizing they were weak, de-
pendent creatures and differences might arise among them, he
provides for their adjustment and punishment absolute, for the
rebellious. While disposing of much valuable estate, yet he
again and again returns to still another thought for their care.
These Negroes and their families lived for many years under
these provisions and I have seen men who remember then-
occupancy of the houses, just on the ridge of this hill and
around a sprnig just back of the Manor hotel. As the time
limit expired, or through their improvidence, or by death, the
land became merg-ed with the rest of the estate. On account
of chis land having been laid off for his slaves and so long being
occupied by them it was known as "Guinea," and in making
transfers of parts of this property it was known as the "Guinea
tract" as late as 1886.
Jeremiah Langhorne went about on horseback, accompanied
bv a Negro servant, "Boston," above referred to. He was
always to be seen on a black stallion and with a black boy,
so one of the slaves of Judge Growden had told me in my
younger days. Judge Growden, his neighbor, kept a chaise.
As to the date of the death of Jeremiah Langhorne, or
the Dlace of his burial, we have no certain record. It is
neighborhood tradition that he. died in his manor-house, and
it is fair to assume that he was buried in the Middletown
meeting graveyard of which he was long a member. The will
above spoken of was proven in 1774.
Lawrence Growden died in 1783 and his landed estates were
I
JEREMIAH EANGHORNE AND HIS TIMES 555
left as above stated to his two daug-hters. Thomas Nicholson
and Joseph Galloway, his sons-in-law, were his executors.
This latter was a lawyer, a learned and scientific man, and
a close friend of Benjamin Franklin, who was a frequent
visitor to Trevose manor.
The Galloways lived in great style. Joseph Galloway was
a member of the Assembly in Philadelphia at the time of the
Revolution and did all in his power to prevent the Declaration
of Independence. He presented a petition to Cong-ress giving
at great length hie views in the matter, w^hich was numerously
signed by prominent citizens of like feeling. The first thirty
pages of this were said to have been written by Benjamii:
Franklin, who did not favor such haste. It was answered by
Jonathan Dickinson in a great speech. When word was brought
to Trevose that the Declaration had been signed it is said a
mason working on a tall chimney, which is still standing, near
the ruins of one of the tenant houses, was so afifected that he
dropped from it to the ground and was killed.
In the excited state of public feeling Galloway was classed
as a Tory, and left Trevose, joining Sir William Howe, then
in New York, and was with him for a while as provincial or
advising governor of provinces, but soon fell out with him and
went to England, where he was summoned before Parliament
to give testimony concerning the conduct of the war, which
lie did to the damage of Lord Howe. He was afterwards
^â– ranted a pension but never returned to this country. The
most of his lands in America coming through his wife were
sequestered, those he held were confiscated and an attainder
lodged against him.
After his decease he left his property, mostly lands, to his
daughter, "the sprightly Betty Galloway." She petitioned to
liave them returned to her, claiming them as hers by inheritance
and the sequestration lasted only during her father's interest in
them. This was finally allowed and they were put in the hamls of
trustees to handle and sell for her.
During the years from Joseph Galloway's departure till their
restoration they were entirely looked after by an ancestor of
the writer, Abel James. His carefully kept accounts of all
556 JEREMIAH EANGHORNE AND HIS TIMES
his receipts and expenditures are quaint and interesting as
showing the ways of the time. He had under his charge large
tracts, widely separated and they largely consist of records of
the arrest and prosecution of squatters and employment of
counsel. The trustees, to whom it was finally turned over,
appear to have appreciated his faithful stewardship as is evi-
denced by the following minute of one of their early meetings :
"After a careful consideration and inspecting his accounts we have
allowed Abel James £2,400, 14s. i4d. as a compensation for his time,
trouble and faithful services in managing and transacting the affairs of
the estate during times of great difficulty and personal danger, attend-
ing numerous suits in Bucks county, bargaining and repurchasing Joseph
Galloway's life estate upon advantageous terms from persons who had
bought them when confiscated, renting the lands and improving the
same, etc."
So much for the public life and landed estates of Jeremiah
Langhorne and his Growden connections and their descendants.
For the way they lived I am indebted to the accounts of Abel
James. When Joseph Galloway occupied the Trevose mansion,
the only ford on the Neshaminy, as already stated, was at the
foot of his lawn and was called Galloway's ford. The road
from Philadelphia at that time passed by his house and crossed
here.
As early as 1690 a letter of a visiting Friend speaks of
passing Joseph Growden's "big house" and crossing the Ne-
shaminy at the foot of his lawn, and spending the night at Jere-
miah Langhorne's. As this was the only ford near there it
must have been crossed by many men of importance in old
colonial days. That Governor Andros, George Fox and Ben-
jamin Franklin crossed there on well authenticated visits there
is no doitbt. After passing the Langhorne house the road bore
to the eastward passing James Heaton's mill. This was on
Chubb run, just north of the railroad. I well remember its
ruins and the dam and course of the race can be clearly seen
to this day. This mill was one of the earliest in the county,
if not the very first, for Heaton came here in 1682. The mill
is often spoken of by both the Langhornes and Growdens as
well as by Abel James and others. The following acknowledg-
JKREMIAH LANGHORNE AND HIS TIMES 557
ment made to Middletown meeting' by one of its members in
1689 shows that this mill was in use at that early day.
"Where as it happened in going to James Heaton's mill with corn to be
ground in the time called Christmas, I and some others being in the mill
house, James Heaton brought us some liquor and desired us to drink.
It being liquor to which I was not accustomed I drank till I was over-
taken so far that the liquor offending my stomach T. was forced to cast
it up again to my great shame and confusion and to the dishonor of
truth which I profess and for which I have undergone great exer-
cisement ever since and I do heartily ask of the Lord that he will strengthen
me in the future that I may withdraw from such temptation."
John and Richard Mitchell did their mason work and carpenter
work at two shillings a day. Stephen Blunt made their shoes
at £1 per pair. Legal advice came high; Benjamin Chew, Alex-
ander Wilson and J. Ingersoll, charged £9, £15 and £80 for
opinions. Samuel Preston did the drafting and surveying.
Prothonotary's fees were £3 for four actions. The tax on
Langhorne Park was $45.
amounted to £193, 14s and 4d. The corn brought 3s. 4d and
In 1789 the wheat and corn sold from Langhorne Park
wheat 6s. id, at same date; 13 gallons of Lisbon wine cost
$12 per gallon, 2 pairs cotton hose 12s per pair and 6 muslin
handkerchiefs los each.
The land sold at from £4 to £7 per acre. The last of
Langhorne Park proper was sold in 1798 for £7 per acre, and
was thought very cheap "but he is an able man and takes
all the wood and rough land we had better sell." The last
of the Grow den-Galloway tract was not sold till 1843, the
late Judge Jenks, of Newtown, having been appointed to
close it up. It brought $40 per acre. These prices were for
tracts without improvements.
They held meetings for worship at different houses till 1689
when they started to build a meeting-house on land then be-
longing to Nicholas Wain, on the hill side, to the south of
the farm now owned by George Reed, just below the Cut-
oft" railroad crossing. It had one window of "six lights of
^lass" which a man came on horse from Philadelphia to put in.
ITis bill is for three days service and keep of horse. He was
558 JEREMIAH LAXGHORNEAND HIS TIMES
probably a clay each coming and g"oing". The only other win-
dow was of oiled paper.
Though Jeremiah Tanghorne did not marry, yet he seems to
have been a great attender of weddings as his signature is on
many marriage certificates as a witness. The natural products
of the country at that time were plenty and greatly appreciated
by the settlers.
"It is a country," writes old }kIahlon Stacy in 1683, "that produces all
things for the sustenance of man, apt to answer the expectation of the
diligent. The orchards, their very limbs torn to pieces by the weight
of the fruit, most delicious to the taste and lovely to behold ; great stores
of wild fruits from j\Iay to Michaelmas ; the Indians bring them to our
houses in great plenty. My judgment is the fruit trees in this country
destroy themselves with the very weight of their fruit. The Indians
bring seven or eight fat bucks a day to my house and I put them away,
having no use for them. Jtly brother and I caught over three bushels
herrings in half an hour. Fowls are plenty, ducks, geese turkeys,
pheasants, partridges and many other sorts. There is some barren land
and more wood than some would have upon the land, neither will the
country produce corn without labor, nor is cattle to be got without
something to buy them, nor bread with idleness. I live as well to my
content as I ever did and in a far more likely way to get an estate."
One hundred years later we find Thomas Stackhouse, 3d.,
buying a part of Langhorne Park because "'he had not as much
wood land as he ought to have." I have seen a letter written
by Benjamin Franklin from Trevose, when visiting his friend,
Joseph Galloway, where he speaks of an orchard on that place
of 10,000 trees. So they lived and worked and worshiped.
The letters of the Cirowden and Galloway families show
that their daughters were sending to England for ribbons, anil
calashes and corduroy and riding-saddles and surcingles and
hose. The young ladies of that period were grace by name
and full of grace by nature, if we may believe the letters of
the time, though distance may lend enchantment to our view.
There were Grace Langhorne, Grace Growden, Grace Bates,
Grace Heaton, Grace Stackhouse, Grace Mitchell, Grace East-
burn, and later Grace Galloway. Grace Langhorne appears to
have been quiet and studious and perhaps religiously inclined
and probably not of robust health as she died at the age of
thirtv-four. We find her at about thirtv reading Elwood's an-
JSREMIAH LANGHORNE AND HIS TIMES 559
swer to "The Troublesome William Keith," also when two
volumes of Thomas El wood that belonged to the meeting were
wanted they could not be produced because "we have loaned
them to Grace Langhorne and she hath not yet returned them."
These would be considered rather heavy reading for single
young ladies of that age at the present day. Grace Growden
is spoken of as handsome and dashing, and when she went
out in her chaise young gallants on horseback were always
at her side. She is spoken of in later life "as a dignified woman
of superior understanding and great worth of character.''
While Grace Elizabeth Galloway, better known as "the sprightly
Betty Galloway," seems notwithstanding her sharp tongue to
have captivated both young and old admirers.
As showing the courtesies of that day even in business letter
writing I take a few extracts from an old letter written to her
in England by her agent here, to whom she had evidently writ-
ten complaining that in his last remittance he had charged too
much commission f.or his services.
"28th ]\Iay. Dear Betsy. We have just received yours of February 15th
and note the contents. You think the terms we proposed is too high
and others do business in America for five per cent, commission. We
can assure you that no commission we ask is anj" inducement for us to
undertake j^our business. It is the friendship we have long had for your
father and self, is our principal inducement, and the desire we have of
rendering you any service in our power, in the management of your estates
and interests in America, but in the meantime we think justice to ourselves
and our families require that we should not give so much of our time as
we have for two years past without a reasonable compensation for it,
and after a full trial in the business we find we cannot do it less than
seven per cent., especially if it continues to be as troublesome in the
future as it hath hitherto been. John Thompson has seven and a half
per cent, for doing the business for the Nicholson estate, but it is not
so difticult to manage as yours. His instructions is unlimited and his
commissions freely allowed and we are conscious that wt have paid every
attention to your business and managed the whole with the strictest
economy, but as you appear to be dissatisfied with our charge and as you
don't seem to have confidence in us and you think it ad-
visable to put your business in other hands it will be per-
fectly agreeable to us under our present instructions, but we shall con-
tinue to take the same care of your estates as we have heretofore done
till you appoint others whom you think may serve you better. We
conclude with much respect to your father and self, etc."
560 JEREMIAH LANGHORNE AND HIS TIMES
As this went by steam packet mail, and it was six months
before its answer was received, this soft answer and lapse of
time probably turned away wrath as the agent was retained and
his friendship for the family appears to have regularly yielded
seven per cent.
By marriage or deaths without issue Jeremiah Langhorne's
estates went largely to the Growdens and after to the Gallo-
ways. Jeremiah Langhorne being the only male member of the
family and he being unmarried, the name, as far as that branch
of the family goes, has not been perpetuated, though there
are numerous indirect descendants among the Biles, Aliens,
Richardsons, Stevensons, Nicholsons and VVistars.
Truly, we who live in this community, which bears the
honored name of Langhorne,* should feel that we have before
us a noble example, and a heritage builded on the same foun-
dation of sturdy integrity and Christian fellowship and duty.
"Remembering what has been done for us, our valleys should
be tranquil in the white and gold of the .harvest, our people
loving, our homes happy and our hearthstones bright, our con-
science clear, our churches earnest and all creeds lost in the
Gospel. Peace and sobriety should walk hand in hand through-
out our borders, honor in our homes, uprightness in our
midst, plenty in our fields, straight and simple faith in the breasts
of our sons and daughters, sunshine all the time and every-
where, and the whirling stars in their courses should not look
on a happier people."
Amos Austin Hughes.
BV E. WATSON FKLL, HOLICONG, PA.
(Meeting at Solebury Meetiiig-House, August lo, 1S99.)
Amos Austin Hughes was born in Buckingham township.
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1767, and died in his home at
Centreville on the sixth of the twelfth month, 181 1, in the
fortv-fourth year of his age. He was an invalid from his
early youth, being unable to walk, but had the use of a rolling-
chair, which proved a great convenience. He, nevertheless,
had a fair education, and spent most of his time in reading
and silent meditation. He was of a corpulent habit, of
a grave countenance, expressive of a reflecting mind. Al-
though confined to the limits of his own dwelling and de-
barred from personally taking an active part in the scenes
of life, yet he fully demonstrated that he was possessed of a
sound judgment, a generous disposition, and was a humani-
tarian in the highest sense. He liberally contributed to the
poor and afilicted, and believed it his duty to appropriate a
part of his estate in some special way for the benefit of poster-
ity. Having observed with regret the great disadvantages un-
der which the children of the poor contended, by reason of
being brought up in ignorance, he made provision in his will
for the education of the children of persons in low or mid-
dling circumstances, in his native township, forever, and to
board and clothe the scholars when necessary.
In order to carry out these provisions, he devised to twelve
trustees, the mansion-house and ninety-one acres of land on
which he resided and about $8,000. the income of which was
to create a fund to be employed by the trustees in erecting and
maintaining on some part of the land a school to be called "The
Hughesian Free School," and to be incorporated by that name.
In his will made and signed October 21, 181 1. he directed his
friends John Ely, Nicholas Austin, John Watson. Jr., William
Ely, Thomas r)ye. Dr. John ^^'ilson, Samuel Johnson, Joseph
Shaw, Isaiah Jones, Joshua Anderson. Joseph. Watson and
562 AMOS AUSTIN HUGHES
Stephen Wilson, all of the township of Buckingham, county
of Bucks, or such of them as shall be living at the time of his
decease, to act as trustees, and to apply as soon as possible to
the Legislature of Pennsylvania for an act of incorporation,
establishing them and their successors a body politic and cor-
porate forever by the name of "The Trustees and Directors of
the Hughesian Free School." He further provided that the
number of trustees should not at any time exceed twelve, and
that no person should be chosen who should not at the time of
such choice be an inhabitant of the township of Buckingham,
according to its then limits, and the actual owner of a freehold
estate therein of the value of at least ii,ooo Pennsylvania cur-
rency.
The first secretary of the board of trustees, John Watson,
Jr., the father of the late Hon. Richard Watson, wrote for the
trustees that "Although it may be several years before the pro-
posed institution may come into operation, yet as a sure and
respectable foundation is laid, we may reasonably anticipate
much real and lasting benefit will result to po'-terity, and the
generosity of the donor be witnessed in practical consequences
by succeeding generations." The first board of trustees held
their first meeting at the house of Alary Paxson on January 13,
1812, and then resolved unanimously to apply for an act of
incorporation, Samuel Johnson, Dr. John Wilson and John Wat-
son, Jr., were appointed a committee to draft and forward a
petition to the Legislature then sitting- At their next meeting,
April 27, 1812, the committee reported that it had sent to Lan-
caster the petition as directed, and had lately received infor-
mation from William Erwin that the act to incorporate the
trustees had passed the Senate ; but was halted in the House of
Representatives, being recommended to the next session, where-
upon Samuel Johnson and John Watson were appointed to
inquire what objections there were to the bill. At their next
meeting, December 29, 181 2, the committee reported, that the
objection to the bill in the House was because of the section
requiring a trustee to be a freeholder to the amount of £1,000.
This objection was overcome, and at the next meeting of the
trustees, May 12, 1813, all the trustees being present, John
AMOS AUSTIN HUGHES 563
\\ atson reportetl he had received a copy of the act incorporat-
ing the trustees as it passed both houses of the Legislature, and
that it had received the Governor's approval. (Laws of Penn-
sylvania 1 81 3, page 28, Chapter 3,660, passed Feby. 25, 1813. )
This being their annual meeting, an election of officers was held,
Samuel Johnson was elected President ; John Ely, Treasurer,
and John Watson, Secretary. The vacancies m the board of
trustees, caused by death, resignation, or removal from the
township, were filled from time to time by election in accordance
with the provisions of the will and the act of incorporation.
At a special meeting held August 24, 1840, the board consist-
ed of the following members : Isaiah Jones, John Watson,
Joseph Watson, William Watson, Joseph Broadhurst, Aaron
Ely, Thomas Paxson, James Burson, William Large, George
Hughes, Amos Kirk and Jacob Trego. The first three named
were the only remaining trustees of the original board of twelve
named in the will. At this meeting the board decided to build
a school-house where the present building now stands, and con-
tracted with Charles P. Large to erect the building. The
building was completed in 1842, and one room therein used for
school purposes by the school directors of Buckingham township
until the fall of 1851, when the trustees concluded the fund had
sufficiently accumulated to warrant them in opening and conduct-
ing a school. The school then opened and was continued as one
school until the fall of 1861, when it was in a manner graded,
and an additional teacher employed. There were at that time
112 pupils on the roll, and an average daily atiendance of 50.
In the fall of 1893 another school was started, the trustees
acting in co-operation with the directors of the township schools,
and since that time the school has been well graded in three
departments, primary, intermediate and grammar, and there are
now on the rolls 156 pupils.
The school has always been far in advance of any surround-
ing schools, higher instruction being given in mathematics and
academic studies which were not attainable in the public schools.
Hundreds of students have received the rudiments of an
education at this institution, and hundreds more have gone out
from its walls fairly ecjuipped for the duties of life ; while a
564 AMOS AUSTIN HUGHES
few have continued their* studies, becoming graduates of normal
schools and coUeges. and distinguished in their professions,
reflecting crecht on their Ahna JMater and its donor. Between
the time of the devise of the estate and the death of the donor
in 181 1 and the creation of the school in 1842, a period of 31
years, the State of Pennsylvania had enacted public school laws,
and when the school went into active operation all schools in
the State were free, and the will became to an extent inopera-
tive. The trustees however, have earnestly and continuously
endeavored under legal advice to carry out the desire of the
testator in spirit as fully as possible under the changed condi-
tions. The present board of trustees consisting of Samuel E.
15roadhurst, Dr. Joseph Foulke, Henry Watson, Charles Wil-
liams, Preston J. Fell, J. Simpson Large, T. Howard Atkinson,
James Connard, Henry G. Fell, Valmore M. Hellyer and E.
Watson Fell, realizing that fully three- fourths of the children
of r>uckingham township end their education at the public
schools, having no means to continue it, and believing, that
the Amos Austin Hughes Estate was bequeathed especially for
such persons, are making earnest endeavors to provide, at the
institution under their charge, a more liberal and practical
education than heretofore.
In this age of large donations and munificent endowments to
colleges and universities, the modest bequest of Amos Austin
Hughes mav seem trifling and insignificant, yet in its accumula-
tion and application to the material and educational necessities
of the youth of his township, it has proven itself of great and
lasting benefit, and will cause his name to be forever treasured
in o^rateful remembrance.
The Turnpike Roads.
BY REV. D. K. TURNER, HARTSVILLE, PA.
(Meeting at Solebury Meeting-House, August lo, 1S99.)
Roads are essential to civilization. In savage countries they
are almost unknown. In the dark regions of Africa, the vast
portions of South America and other parts of the globe where
barbarism prevails, obscure paths through the forests bewilder
the traveler and give him little aid in his journey. As nations
become enlightened, the avenues for mutual intercourse between
different districts improve ; those, who have attained the jiighest
culture, have constructed the best roads ; those, who are on a
lower scale in the refinement of life, have proportionally neg-
lected their means of passing to and from various localities, and
if we had no other criterion of the state of any people in re-
spect to their advancement in material interests, it might be
found in the condition of the arteries through which their inter-
course with each other flows.
In the more recently settled parts of the United States the
roads are little more than tracks over the prairies, hills and
mountains, improved indeed above nature by cutting down the
forest and a slight grading of the ground, yet generally muddy
or rough s'everal months of the year. In the older portions of
the country some of the roads have been made hard and in a
measure smooth by macadamizing or covering them with broken
stone. If all could be treated in this way, it would be an im-
provement greatly beneficial to all our population. The expense,
however, will probably prevent this from being realized in
reference to many of them for a long period in the future.
These stone roads have generally -been the result of the com-
bined efforts of incorporated companies ; some are profitable
to the stockholders, but they are often maintained at a pecuni-
ary loss to those who originated them. Perhaps it may throw
some light upon the actual cost of constructing and keeping in
repair macadamized roads, (a subject concerning wdiich there
is little knowledge and much misapprehension in the public mind.)
566 THE TURNPIKE ROADS
if I give from original records a sketch of the turnpikes on
the Old York road, commencing at the Willow Grove and extend-
ing northward. They are three in number and part of a fourth :
the first from Willow Grove to the Street road in Warminster ;
the second from the Street road to Centreville; from Centre-
ville to Lahaska. al)Out two miles, is a section of the Doyles-
town and Lahaska turnpike ; and the remaining one runs from
Lahaska to Xew Hope.
HATilORO AND WARMINSTER TURNPIKE ROAD COMPANY.
The York road below the Willow Grove toward Philadel-
phia was macadamized previous to 1846, and likewise the Easton
road northwest of Willow Grove to Doylestown. About that
time the project of covering with stone the part north of the
Grove to Hatboro began to l>e zealously canvassed and a com-
pany was formed for the purpose in 1847, which was incor-
porated by Act of the Legislature February 2, 1848, with the
following incorporators acting in behalf of the stockholders,
viz: Gove Mitchell, M. D., Joseph B. Yerkes, William Glas-
gow, Elijah \\'. Beans, Hiram Reading, Joseph Hart, Samuel
Craven, John C. Beans, Charles H. Hill, M. D., Jacob Fretz.
Asa Comly, Harman Yerkes. Ezra Walmsley, Robert Darrah
and John Engartl.
It was provided in the charter that the road from fence to
fence should be at least 45 feet wide, and the stone track 20
feet wide. The first meeting of the company was' held June
20, 1850, at the public house of Robert Radclifif in Hatboro;
William Glasgow was temporary chairman and Dr. C. H. Hill,
secretarv. Dr. Gove Mitchell was elected president for the
ensuing year and John C. Beans, treasurer. The contract for
building the road was given to Robert Scarlett for $12,150; the
length 4 miles and 120 rods, or 4-)^ miles, which is $2,777.12
per mile. The cost of the bridge enlargemen.t at Sampson's
hill was $300 additional. The lower toll-house cost $305, and
the upper one. at the county-line, $360. It was determined to
pay the gate-keepers $9 a month and furnish oil for the lamps,
which was subsequently increased to $11.50 a month. The sur-
vey of the road was made by Elijah W. Beans. The treasurer
was allowed $15. and the secretary $5 a year for their services
the; turnpike roads 567
In later years the treasurer received one per cent, of the annual
income.
In 185 1 it appeared that the actual expense of constructing
the road had been $13,467.21 or $3,078 per mile. Toll was first
taken in May, 185 1. The rate of toll first adopted was one cent
a mile per horse for narrow wheels, and afterwards increased
to one and a half cents, and half these rates for broad wheels.
In 1 86 1, when the volunteer soldiers moved to the south for the
defence of the Union against the Confederate States, no toll
was charged the vehicles conveying them, a spark of the same
patriotism which animated all parts at that time.
In 1867 the project of opening Broad street, Philadelphia,
through Montgomery and Bucks counties, was agitated, and
being dreaded by many outside the city limits, a remonstrance
was adopted against it by the directors of the turnpike company.
The following persons have been presidents of the companv:
Dr. Gove Mitchell from 1850 to 1855; G. Justice Mitchell 27
years to 1883; Ezra P. Carrell 10 years to 1893; William J.
Kirk 1893; Samuel S. Thompson from 1893 to the present
time. The treasurers have been John C. Beans from 1850 to
1874; Isaac Warner from 1874 to 1882; Samuel M. Hazlett
from 1882 to the present time. The secretaries have been : Dr.
Charles H. Hill from 1850 to 1868; Mllliam J. Kirk from 1868
to 1893; James VanHorn from 1893 to the present time.
The following persons have acted as superintendents, over-
seeing and directing the work, and often doing a large amount of
work themselves: G. J. Mitchell, William Glasgow, Hiram
Reading, Charles Kirk. Dr. Charles H. Hill, Joseph B. Yerkes.
Daniel Lloyd, Jonathan Beans, Elijah W. Beans, John Betts,
Samuel M. Hazlett, Abner Walmsley, William J. Kirk, AÂ¥atson
T. Davis, James VanHorn, Samuel J. Garner and H. Warner
Hallowell.
The directors acting at different times and for various per-
iods, have been as follows : Dr. Gove Mitchell, Harman Yerkes.
G. J. Mitchell, Daniel Lloyd, John Betts, Samuel M. Hazlett.
Jonathan Stackhouse, Jonathan Davis, John C. Beans, William
Glasgow. Charles Kirk, M^illiam J. Kirk, Ezra P. Carrell, Sr.,
Joseph Barnsley, George Jarrett, Elijah W. Beans, Charles H.
568 THE TURXPIKK ROADS
Hill. M. D., Joseph 15. Yerkes. Hiram Reading, Comly Hamp-
ton. George Kenderdine, David Jarrett. D. K. Turner. H. \V.
Hallowell, Watson T. Davis. Samuel S. Thompson, James \ an-
Horn, Frank Kimball, O. E. C. Robinson, S. J. Garner, Wil-
liam Hallowell, Thomas Reading, M. D.
The turnpike runs through the whole borough of Hatboro,
and as the citizens have the free use of the road and are not
liable for repairs, and as there is no toll-gate within the borough
limits except at one edge, it was deemed just that some com-
pensation should be given, and accordingly for a number of
years past $100 has been annuallv paid by the borough to the
company and the main street of the town has been by the
company telfordized and kept smooth and hard.
Previous to 1820, the policy of the managers had been to
keep the road in fair order and pay yearl)- dividends to the
stockholders, they had usually been successful in returning five
or six per cent, on the par value of the stock. But soon after
that time, j^artly in consequence oi great im])rovements having
been made in the roads nearer Philadelphia, it was determined
to give the turnpike a smooth dressing of fine stone and put it in
first class condition. The estimated expense was $2,700 per
mile. One section of 1,500 feet long cost $1,000. The pro-
posed work has been nearly accomplished, but the whole income
of the road has been put upon it ; a house and lot and stone
cjuarry at Samson's hill, long owned by the company, and
from which a large amount of stone was (juarried, have been
sold for about $2,800. and the balance after cancelling a debt
turned into the treasury ; $2,000 was borrowed ; and all pecun-
iary obligations are not yet paid. Xo dividend has been de-
clared for seven years and the traveling public are indebted to
the generosity of the managers and owners for a hard, smooth
roadbed.
There has been received from the toll-gates, rent of house
and the telegraph line, from 1853 to 1898 inclusive, 46 years,
$100,602, an average of $2,187 ^ year, and there has been ex-
pended $67,936, an average of $1,477, or v$337.6o a mile.
JIARTSVILLE AND CEXTREVILLK TURNPIKE.
Previous to i8^6 the York road was not coated with stone
THE TURNPIKE ROADS 569
north of the Street road in Warminster township, and the people
for a considerable distance on each side of it sufifered great
inconvenience, in the winter and spring, from mud, or rough-
ness when it was frozen. Farmers taking hay to Philadelphia
were in the habit of having four or live horses draw the load
as far as the common road extended and an extra man or boy
to bring back part of the team, when the rest would continue
their journey to the city. In 1855 the project of macadamizing
the road from the Street road in Warminster to Centreville
was discussed b}' many, and the next year a company was
formed to carry out the plan.
The first meeting of the stockholders, who took the name
of the Hartsville and Centreville Turnpike Road Company,
was held at the public house of Samuel Fries in Bridge Valley,
April 7, 1856. W^illiam Glasgow was chosen chairman pro tem,
and John Blair secretary pro tem. Courtland Carr w^as elected
president for the ensuing year and Mahlon Long secretary.
The latter acted as secretary but a short time, when he resigned
and William Glasgow was appointed to fill the vacancy.
The contract for constructing the turnpike was let to Nicholas
Pickens for $3,035 per mile, and he agreed to take as part pay-
ment 15 per cent, of the cost in stock, but this did not
include the gate-houses and many other incidental expenses.
The gate-keepers at the three gates, below Hartsville, at
Jamison and at Bushington, were allowed $9 per month, and
they were at first required to furnish their own light, but sub-
sequently the company paid for one lamp each. Albert Mattis,
of Bridge \^alley, was employed to erect the toll-gate house at
Bushington for $462. William Stavely, John Blackfan and
Jonathan Ely were chosen, May 4, 1857, commissioners to view
and examine the road with reference to its acceptance from the
contractors. On July 4 they reported to the directors, that
they had carefully examined it and recommended that it be
accepted and their recommendation was adopted. The wdiole
length of the road is 8^i miles- The stone part is 16 feet wide
and the broken stone is 13 inches deep. There were originally
878 shares of stock, par value $25 a share, amounting to
$21,950. The company began taking toll July 15, 1857, and
570 THE TURNPIKE ROADS
commenced taking it the whole length December 12, 1857. No
dividends have ever been declared to the stockholders ; tho whole
income has been used to keep the road in order, meet expense;;
and pay the interest on debts for borrowed money and some few
years the directors have been able to pay small portions of
the loans contracted.
The following persons have been presidents of the company :
Courtland Carr 15 years, from 1856 to 1871 ; John AI. Darrah
from 1871 to the present time. The secretaries ha/e been
William Glasgow from 1856 to 1882; Joseph Barnsley from 1882
to 1888; R. T. Engart from 1888 to the present time. The
treasurers have been George Jamison from 1856 to i860; Cress
Fell from i860 to 1897; George Opdyke from 1897 to the present
time.
The directors have been as follows, serving at various times
and for different periods : William Glasgow, Watson Kirk, An-
drew Craven, Cress Fell, Thomas B. Spencer, Jonathan Opdyke,
Amos Ellis. Samuel B. Buckman, John Worthington, Joshua
Bennett, Nathaniel Burroughs, John M. Darrah, Andrew Long,
Joseph Barnsley, B. Taylor Jamison, John Opdyke, William M.
Jamison, George Taylor, R. T. Engart, J. Johnson Beans, Charles
Buckman, George Opdyke, Ezra P. Carrell.
The superintendents have been : Samuel Buckman, Cress
Fell, Jonathan Opdyke, Courtland Carr,* Joshua Bennett, John
M. Darrah, R. T. Engart, Charles Ellis, William Glasgow.
Charles Buckman, Andrew Long, N. H. Burroughs, George
Taylor, E. P. Carrell and George Opdyke. They served in that
capacity in different sections at various times, some for a year
or two and some for a large number of years, and were paid $5
or $10 or $20 a year, according to the extent of the road which
was placed under their charge. The number of stockholder^
was originally about 125, but many of them subscribed for less
than ten shares each.
In 1859 the gate-keepers were directed not to take toll for
travel to and from religious meetings on Sunday morning, nor
to or from funerals directly, but to require it Sunday night.
In 1755 a bridge was erected over the west branch of the
Neshaminy creek, on the York road above Plartsville, which
THE TURNPIKE ROADS 571
was replaced by a much larger structure of six stone arches in
1789. This stood for the most part uninjured by the wearing
of the elements until 1865, when an almost unprecedented fresh-
et took place in the stream and undermined it. Its appearance
above the water was unchanged, but the foundation was seri-
ously impaired and two years after, March 5, 1867, four of
the arches one after the other, in the course of the forenoon
quietly fell.
It was resolved by the company, March 16, to ask the Legisla-
ture for authority to borrow $5,000 and issue bonds to meet
the expenses of rebuilding- A timber bridge v\^as built during
the summer of that year to cover the space occupied by the
part destroyed at a cost of $3,779.22, by Isaac P. Corson, which
was the last work he engaged in, as he was then suffering from
a disease that terminated in his death.
The bridge over the north branch of the Neshaminy at
Bridge A'alley with eight fine stone arches was erected by the
county about 1795, and is a noble piece of architecture. As the
York road passes over it, the turnpike company was compelled
to assume its ownership, and become responsible for repairs.
In the progress of a century it has suffered somewhat from the
ravages of time, and has been occasionally repaired at consid-
erable expense by the company. It still bears the marks of
strength and durability and will no doubt last many generations.
In the course of forty years, extending from 1858 to 1898,
there has been expended upon the road, including the cost of
maintaining the gate-houses and paying the gate-keepers, the
sum of $66,329.35 ; besides the original cost of stone coating
and toll-houses and a new bridge, which were more than .030,000.
The first cost and repairs together have been over $96,000.
The amount of money received from tolls during forty years
has been $70,810.89. The average annual income has been
$1,770. The average annual expense has been $1,658 or $188.75
per mile. The yearly margin of income over expense $112, which
has disappeared in paying interest on the debt, and making a
few diminutions of the principal. The officers and directors
have received no salary ; they have always paid their own toll
like other people, and the superintendents have had a very meagre
compensation for their time and labor.
572 THE TURNPIKE ROADS
THE BUCKINGHAM AND DOYEESTOWN TURNPIKE.
It had been in my mind to give a somewhat full account of
the Buckingham and Doylestown and of the Lahaska and New
Hope turnpikes, but on applying to John S. Williams, secretary
of the latter company, for the use of the records, I was informed
that he prepared a sketch of the history of those roads in 1888,
and that it was published in the Bucks County Intelligencer.
Through his courtesy I have consulted this sketch, which ren-
dered it unnecessary and inexpedient for me to bring before
you a minute statement of the past transactions of these two
organizations. I will therefore present only a brief resume
of them and this will render complete the notes on the whole
line from Willow Grove to New Hope.
The Buckingham and Doylestown turnpike, which runs from
the county seat to Lahaska, was chartered April 30, 1843, but
sufficient stock to authorize calling a meeting was not subscribed
for nearly four years. In January, 1847, a call was issued foi
the meeting, signed by Samuel D. Ingham, Thomas Paxson.
Joseph Broadhurst. Samuel Yardley, Charles H. Mathews,
John Blackfan, IMathias Shaw, Edward Williams, Valentine
Dickerson, William T. Rogers, Joseph Campbell and Samuel
Eastburn. The meeting was held February 18 following, when
Samuel D. Ingham was made temporary president and Thomas
Paxson secretary. Permanent officers were chosen as follows :
William T. Rogers, president ; Harvey Shaw, secretary ; Edward
Williams, treasurer, and managers, William Stokes, Joseph
Broadhurst, X'alentine Dickerson, Thomas Paxson, Samuel
Eastburn, Simon Meredith, John Blackfan, Abner Atkinson,
Jacob Eastburn and James Harvey.
May 6, 1847, the contract for building the road was entered
into with B. and D. McLane. for $2,700 per mile, exclusive of
the toll-houses and gates. The length was six miles vv^anting
four rods. Levi Hartley was the first gate-keeper at Centre-
ville, he began taking toll January i, 1848, at a salary of $7.50
a month. About that time Governor Shunk appointed Samuel
Hart, Esq., of Doylestown ; David Evans, of New Britain ; and
John L. Radcliff, of Warrington, commissioner? to inspect the
road as far as completed, who soon made a favorable report,
I
THE TURNPIKE ROADS 573
During the summer of 1848 the entire road was finished, and
C. Day first received toll at Pool's Corner August 5.
The presidents of the company have been William T. Rogers
from 1847 to 1863; Joseph Fell to 1867; Edward Williams to
1876; Joseph Fell again to 1883; Samuel E. Broadhurst to
the present time.
The treasurers have been Edward Williams to 1848; secretary
and treasurer combined, Harvey Shaw to 1852; William Bal-
derston to i860; R. R. Paxson to 1880; Oliver Balderston to
1883; John W. Balderston to 1898. and \'almore Hellyer to the
present time.
The whole cost of the road was $18,688.32, an average of
$3,114 a mile. As sufficient stock was not subscribed at first
to meet this amount, $5,000 w^as borrowed on mortgage, which
was paid off in a few years. A dividend has also been usually
made to the stockholders of from four to twelve per cent,
annually on the par value. The income in 1848-9 was S 1,3 15,
which afterwards increased to nearly $3,000 a year, but lately
has been about $2,500 annually. The expenses for repairs,
gates and improvements, have been about $1,200 a year, or
$200 per mile, as I have been informed by \'almore Hellyer,
secretary.
The present officers are : President, S. E. Broadhurst, secretary
and treasurer. A'. M. Hellyer; managers, John ]M. Grey, Preston
J. Fell, J. Monroe Paist. J. Simpson Large, Harry C. Large,
John S. Williams, T. Howard Atkinson, \\'illiam C. Blackfan,
\\ M. Hellyer.
THE L.\H.\SKA AND NEW HOPE TURNT'IKE.
The Lahaska and New Hope Turnpike Company received
its charter from the Legislature, February 24, 1847, but the
formation of the company lingered five years. The commis-
sioners named in the Act of Incorporation were John Blackfan.
John C Parry, Edward Williams, Matthias Shaw, Oliver Pax-
son. William Stavely, Benjamin S. Rich, William Williams,
Harvey Shaw, Thomas Paxson and William H. Johnson.
The company was organized June 8, 1853, with 500 shares of
stock at $25 a share, making the capital $12,500; afterwards
increased to 516 shares and $12,900. but the whole cost of the
574 '^'HE TURNPIKE RO.-VDS
road was $16,255.59. ^'"^cl the length four miles and three quar-
ters and 26 rods, averaging $3,422 a mile.
The presidents of the company have been John Blackfan from
1853 to 1864; Moses Eastburn to 1887; Richard E. Ely to
1890, and Hugh B. Eastburn to the present t-me.
The offices of secretary and treasurer have been combined
in the same person and held by William Balderston from 1853
to i860; Richard R. Paxson to 1880, and John S. W^illiams to
the present date.
The following have been managers of the company at various
times and for various periods, viz: William T. Rogers, jMathias
Shaw, William Stavely, Henry L. Corson, Elias E. Paxson,
Richard E. Ely, Thomas L. Murray, Joseph E. Reeder, Wil-
liam Balderston, Hiram Scarborough, Moses Eastburn, Spencer
W. Kirk, David K. Reeder, John Blackfan, Charles M. Shaw,
Amos C. Paxson, Hugh P. Paxson, John S. Williams, Eastburn
Reeder, Richard R. Paxson, Joseph S. Atkinson, William C
Blackfan, Hugh B. Eastburn, William T. Eastburn, Joseph P.
^^'ildman, Timothy T. Eastburn, Alfred Paxson.
It has been a custom with this company to present to the
gate-keepers every year at Christmas a turkey, as a token of
good will and an encouragement to future fidelity ; a commend-
able as well as unusual practice.
Between the years 1855 and 1865 the average annual income
for ten years was $1,300, and the average annual expense, (in-
cluding interest on a debt.) $944, or $192 per mile. This was not
greatly different from the receipts and expenditures of other
periods of the company's history.
Let us now make a brief recapitulation of the cost of building
and maintaining per mile the four turnpikes, whose career we
have described-.
The original cost of the Hatboro and Warminster turnpike
per mile was $3,078; Hartsville and Centreville, $3,478: Buck-
ingham and Doylestown, $3,114: Lahaska and New Hope,
$3,422, making an average cost of $3,273 per mile.
The annual cost of repairs and maintenance per mile has
been as follows : Hatboro and Warminster, $337,60 : Hartsville
and Doylestown, $188.75; Buckingham and Doylestown, $200;
THE TURNPIKE ROADS 575
Lahaska and Xcw Hope, S192, making an average of $229.59
per mile.
In conclusion a few reflections may not be out of place.
1. The gentlemen, who have had the management of these
turnpikes for half a century, have been among our most enter-
prising, yet wise, prudent and judicious citizens, and the roads
could not have been under the control of men, who would have
conducted their affairs more carefully, more disinterestedly, or
more for the benefit of the community.
2. The stone part of a macadamized road, which is much
used for heavy hauling as well as light driving, should be from
sixteen to twenty feet wide and thirteen or fourteen inches
deep.
3. The original cost of such a road will be about $3,000 a mile.
4. The annual expense of keeping it in good condition will
be about $200 a mile.
5. After the road is constructed it must not be neglected, as
constant repairs are necessary.
6. It costs far more every year to maintain in satisfactory
order a macadamized road than it does a common dirt road.
Hence the reason all our roads are not covered with a coating
of broken stone is to be found not, as some have intimated,
in the want of knowledge and enterprise of our rural popula-
tion, but in their lack of pecuniary ability to procure all the
luxuries thev desire.
" Rescue of the Colors."
PAINTING PRESENTED TO BUCKS COUNTY.
(Exercises and Addresses, October 20, 1899.)
The presentation of William T. Trego's celebrated painting,
"Rescue of the Colors," portraying' a heroic and thrilling in-
cident in the desperate fight of the 104th Pennsylvania Regiment
at the battle of Fair Oaks, the first of the series in ^IcClellan's
fights before Richmond, was the occasion of the assembling of
a large number of distinguished people in Doylestown on
Saturday, October 20, 1899. The atTair was very successful,
and the committees who worked hard to make it so, 'leserve
much praise.
]\Iany of the distinguished guests arrived on the 12.23 train
and were met at the Reading station by the Germania Band.
Company G and members of Bodine Post, G. A. R.., and other
veterans and escorted to the various places where they were
to be entertained.
The presentation exercises took place in the court-room, which
was completely filled by a large audience. The room had been
very prettily decorated with flags and plants. The picture, the
gift of Hon. John Wanamaker to the county, with the Bucks
County Historical Society as its custodian, was stationed in
front of the judge's desk. It was suitably draped and veiled
by an American flag. Just as General Davis, the commander
of the regiment arose to tell the story of the rescue of the col-
ors. Miss Sue Swartzlander unveiled the picture, and every
eye in the court-room w^as directed upon the beautiful painting.
The exercises were presided over by Dr. Joseph Thomas of
Ouakertown. Pa., who was introduced by Hon. Robert AI. Yard-
ley. After a brief speech of thanks. Dr. Thomas took the chair
and conducted the exercises with the grace of a gifted presid-
ing officer. The program was as follows :
o "< o r.
O o <
£ 5* x'
" ^ 2
° p 3
I
rescue; of the colors 577
Music, "Star Spangled Banner," elaborated for reeds, and the overture
from "Rip Van Winkle,"— Germania Band, Ouakertown.
Opening Remarks— Dr. Joseph Thomas, of Ouakertown.
Invocation— Rev. Jacob Belville, D. D., of Germantown.
Music, "Sweetest Story Ever Told,"— Band.
The Story of "The Rescue of the Colors,"'— General Davis.
Presentation of the Picture, "Rescue of the Colors," to Bucks county, in
the custody of the Bucks County Historical Society,— Hon. John Wana-
maker.
Music, Patriotic Melody,— Band.
Response to the Presentation— Hon. Harman Yerkes.
Music, "Moonlight on the Hudson,"— Band.
Benediction— Rev. N. C. Fetter.
Music, great battle piece "Ambuscade,"— Band.
Address of Gen. W. W. H. Davis.
Ladies and Ccntlcmcu : — We have come together, this after-
noon, to emphasize one of the most heroic deeds in the annals
of war, that of rescuing from the grasp of the enemy, on the
field of battle, the colors of a regiment. Nothing is more high-
ly prized by soldiers than the flags their regiment carries, for
they represent their cause and country, and. to lose them on the
field, sometimes entails disgrace. The occasion to-day is made
more deeply interesting Isy the fact that the heroic deed in ques-
tion, was the deed of Rucks county's sons, and the regiment
which carried them was Bucks county's regiment serving in the
great war for the preservation of the L'nion.
The 104th Pennsylvania regiment was the first to cross the
historic Chickahominy on the march of the Army of the Potomac
to Richmond. A lay, 1862. That was on the 21st, and. in the next
two days, the .regiment crossed and recrossed that stream five
times. During the next three days the 104th led a reconnois-
sance in force toward Richmond meeting some loss, reaching
Fair Oaks farm-house on the 2()th, the nearest point to Rich-
mond reached by the Army of the Potomac before its capture
three years later. The same day on which the 104th stacked
arms at Fair Oaks farm-house, the rest of our division moved
tip to Seven Pines, a mile in the rear; the other regiments of
our brigade occupying about the same line as ourselves. The
first twenty-four hours the men remained by their arms, day
and night, and did not take off their equipments. They were
19
578 RESCUE OF THE COLORS
frequently under arms, as the situation was much exix)sed ;
there was constant firing between the pickets and the casualties
frequent.
We occupied this position until May 29th, furnishing details
for picket, supporting the line, and discharging other military
duties growing out of our advanced position and nearness to the
enemy. On that morning, the 29th, the 104th was moved over to
the Nine Mile road, a quarter of a mile to our right, pitching
the shelter-tents in the low bushes with headquarters in a log cab-
in on the roadside. A collar-line 20 feet wide was cut through the
bushes in front of our camp, and an opening cut through on the
left to enable the regiment to march out by that flank to the
Williamsburg road. We were surrounded by timber with a
partial clearing in our immediate front, and on our left.
In the camp of the 104th there was no expectation of a battle
on the afternoon of May 31. At regimental headquarters the
officers were sitting in front of their cabin discussing the cam-
paign, the men lolling in the shade. Shortly after 12 an aide
of General Casey rode up with an order for the regiment to
get under arms, and the line was formed in a few minutes. It
was supposed to be an ordinary, daily alarm from the picket-line.
In a short time another order came for the regiment to move
out immediately and support a battery ; but the line was hardly
dressed when the regiment was again ordered, by another staflf
officer, to move out into a clearing about 100 yards to the front
and right, which deprived it of all shelter. The new line was
formed in a clear-up furrow. The regiment was now drawn up
in advance of the rest of the division, and was the only regiment
on the right of the Williamsburg road within sight.
The battle of Fair Oaks, (called by some "Seven Pines,"
which is a misnomer,) opened about i o'clock that hot Satur-
day afternoon, and the 104th had the honor of delivering the
first fire, a regimental volley, that sent nearly 400 rifle balls
into the enemy's ranks. This announced, to the Army of the
Potomac, the battle was on, and gave notice to all,
"To stififen the sinews and summon up the blood."
As the woods in front were in close rifle range and filled with
the enemv, the execution must have been verv considerable. The
re;scuk of the; colors 579
action immediately became general on our part of the field,
botli parties loading and firing as rapidly as possible. One
feature, connected with the regiment's first volley, proves, con-
clusively, its excellent discipline and great steadiness under fire.
Preparatory to firing, the commands had been given, "Ready.
Aim!" and, at this moment. Sergeant Major Wallazz, a former
pupil of General Stonewall Jackson, at the Virginia Military
Academy, stepping up, said, "Let me say fire." Consent being
given, he spoke the word that sent the rifle balls into the enemy.
Not a trigger was pulled until he said "fire" the men standing
at the greatest tension, an example of steadiness never surpassed.
The men soon began to fall, killed and wounded, and the fire
grew hotter. The line was maintained unusually well, and the
men fought like seasoned veterans. The regiment had been
under fire over an hour, the enemy, meanwhile coming out of
the timber into the open, was pressing us with superior numbers.
To meet the crisis that was approaching, an aggressive policv
was atlopted ; after consulting with Major ("xries, a charge
was ordered, not with the expectation of crossing bayonets with
the enemy, for that is seldom done in modern warfare, but in
the hope of checking his advance. The men were ordered to
cease firing and fix bayonets, which was promptly done, fol-
lowed by the command. "Charge l)ayonets ! forward, double quick !
march!" and the regiment sprang forward with a tremendous
yell. In about one hundred yards it struck a low worm fence,
not seen before, which cut the line of charge at an angle of 35
degrees, the four right companies, including the color company,
springing over the fence. The color-bearers stuck the flag-stafifs
in tbe soft ground and la}' down by them. It will now be under-
stood that the regiment was astride the worm fence, but the
line was reformed as well as it could be. and the battle renewed
at close quarters. The experiment had the desired efl^ect and
the enemy's advance was checked for the time being.
Seeing we must relinquish our ground in a short time unless
reinforced. Lieutenant Ashenfelter was sent over to General
Casey on the ^^'illiamsburg road for a regiment to support us ;
it was promised. liut never came. At that time the 104th was
engaged single-lianded with a suiierior force. ( )ver two hours
580 RESCUK OF THE COLORS
had elapsed since the regiment went into action ; more than
one-third of the number had fallen ; we could hold the ground
no longer. No order was given to retire ; the regiment wa-^
pushed back by the superior weight of the enemy. Individual
soldiers were almost near enough to club muskets. There was
no running, no haste made ; officers and men retired sullenly.
The enemy made a bold effort to capture our flag, and nearly
succeeded.
The flag, carried l)y Sergeant Slack, was left sticking in the
ground on the enemy's side of the fence, the Sergeant having
been shot through the chest and gone to the rear. Seeing
this an order was given those nearest ''not to retire without the
flag." Several sprang for it, including Major Cries, Orderly
Sergeant Myers, Corporal Michener and others. Pursell had
already secured his flag, and with it in his hand, jumped back
over the fence and seized the other. The enemy sprang for
it at the same time, but Pursell was too quick for them. He
seized the flag-staff with his left hand, holding his own in the
right, and again jumped over the fence, this time with botli
flags ; and they were rescued. While doing this he was hit bv
two bullets, a third going through his blouse. Becoming faint
from loss of blood Pursell handed one flag to Sergeant Myers,
the other to Corporal Michener, who brought them safely oft'
the field. Major Cries and Color Sergeant Slack both died
from their wounds.
There recently turned uj) among my military papers, a small
pass book, in the handwriting of Major Rogers, then Captain
of Company A, giving the names of the officers and men of the
regiment in the field, and where they were the day of the bat-
tle. They amounted to 500. The night before. Company E,
went on the picket, and Com]:)any F. went on picket that morn-
ing, leaving eight companies with the colors, which, by actual
count, amounted to 393 officers and men. Of these almost 50
per cent, fell on the field, killed or wounded, in less than three
hours. Thus, I have briefly told the story of the ''Rescue of the
Colors" as seen by men on the field of battle, but it remains to
be told how it came to be depicted on canvas by the artist's
brush.
rescue; of the colors 581
Two thing-s had already been done to hand the name and fame
of Bucks county's regiment down to future generations ; its
history had been written, and a monument erected to the mem-
ory of its dead; but one other thing was necessary, to round
out the deeds of the young men of Bucks, who so freely gave
their blood and their lives for the Union, a painting of the
"Rescue of the Colors." This was frequently talked about by the
survivors, but the way to reach it was not clear. In the Sum-
mer of 1898, a subscription was drawn, and, with $50 on it,
was laid before the Hon. John Wanamaker, who was asked
to help the cause along. After a few minutes reflection he
replied: 'T will pay for the picture out of the respect I have
for Bucks county and her fighting regiment." This is how it
came about, and to our distinguished fellow citizen, and the
no less- distinguished artist whose genius and skill made the
painting possible, all the honor belongs.
Presentation by Hon. John Wanamaker.
The presentation speech was made by the Hon. John Wan-
amaker, who was liberally applauded when he was introduced.
Mr. Wanamaker's speech made a favorable impression and he
was occasionally interrupted by applause. He began by saying
that his part in the proceedings was a simple one and that he
had to confess to a feeling of selfishness. He might, he said,
have written a letter, yet when the invitation came to spend the
day with the people here it was not to be resisted. But it
seemed, he said, that he had done such a little thing, such a
selfish thing. When General Davis brought the subscription
])aper to him with two $25 subscriptions on it, he said to him-
self, "The General ought not to be begging for money for the
commemoration of the deeds of these brave neighbors of ours ;
and I thought we ought to do the very best that could be done,
and the very least that could be done was to put these deeds
into permanent form."
Mr. Wanamaker then very gracefully thanked the people of
the county for the opportunity of presenting the picture. He
said it was intended as the gift of a friend and neighbor, and
also as a mark of deep regard for an old Bucks county man,
582 RKSCUK OF THE COLORS
who had been an inspiration to him — Isaiah \ . Wilhamson,
the greatest true philanthropist in this State since the days of
Stephen Girard. To the regiment he could only say that it was
a hearty gift out of a loving heart for them.
"Who gave the order to recover the colors?" asked Mr.
Wanaimaker. Then turning to the veteran commander, he said :
'T think I can take him by the hand — you. General Davis."
Amid cheers and applause the speaker grasped the veteran's
hand, and continued : '"The man who never mentioned his own
name to-day in the story of the rescue. Wounded though he
was, the thing that was upj)ermost in his mind was the preser-
vation of the flag" of his country."
Mr. Wanamaker said he would call attention to this great
thought, that ought to be the most emphasized to-day, namely,
that the loyalty of the citizens of this country is not set upon
some man or familv that rules, but upon the flag that represents
the law and constitution — the flag that means unity and pro-
tection to human liberty. Concluding ]\'Ir. Wanamaker said:
"Your men enlisted as Bucks countians and returned as Bucks
countians after the war was over, but from the day they left the
boundary of Pennsylvania, until they passed it again to be
mustered out, they were the soldiers of the United -States, and
fought for the flag of the L'niun. When was that flag ever so
beautiful as it is to-day?
"Fellow-Citizens, Comrades. Neighbors, if we are true to our-
selves, if we avoid treachery to the principles of government;
if we honestly administer the offices and give obedience to law,
the future of this country is safe. No man should permit party
interest or selflsh ])ersonal purposes to surmount loyalty to
justice, truth and honor : despite all difference and divisions,
living together under the great arch of uprightness and good
citizenship as flag-loving, law-revering American citizens, we
shall see our countrv the pride and joy of the whole earth."
PURSElvL AND TREGO.
When the applause which greeted the speaker subsided after
he had taken his seat. Chairman Thomas inquired whether
Hiram W. Pursell, the color bearer, whose act of daring was
the theme in evervbodv's mouth during the dav, was in the
REScui; OF the; colors 583
audience, and if so, would he come forward. A tall, well-pre-
served, fine-looking man arose near the centre aisle and walked
towards the front of the room. As he did so the entire audience
arose and a wave of applause and cheers ran around the room
which continued until he stood grouped beneath the picture,
beside the chairman and his old commander. The scene was
r. striking one and thrilled the audience with enthusiasm, to
which they gave vent in another outburst of applause. During a
lull in the demonstration Chairman Thomas asked Mr. Pursell
whether he desired to sa}- anything, but the brave, modest hero,
who at Fair Oaks faced the bullets of the enemy at close range
without flinching and after being wounded bore off his colors
in triumph, was conquered by the demonstration, and, overcome
by emotion, he simply bowed his acknowledgment of the tribute.
Then the Chairman called for three cheers for Pursell and they
were given with a will.
William T. Trego, the artist who painted the picture, was then
invited before the audience and he also met with a flattering recep-
tion. The storm of applause that greeted him showed how much
the people appreciated the work of art just unveiled. Mr. Trego
modestly thanked the audience for the interest they had taken
in the picture and as he returned to his seat he also was given
three hearty cheers.
Judge Yerkes' Speech of Acceptance.
Judge Harman Yerkes, who had been appointed to receive
the picture on behalf of the people of the county, was applauded
as he arose. He said :
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — On behalf of the peo-
ple of Bucks coutity, who now become the custodians of this
fine historical portrayal of the bravery of her s(mis, to preserve
its material form so long as a fragment shall last and to cherish
its spirit for all time, I shall first convey to you, Mr. Wanamaker.
our appreciation of the happy thought which suggested this idea
of perpetuating an event which we justly regard with great
pride, and of the patriotic generosity through which it becomes
our possession.
The pride of our county is augmented by the circumstance
584 RKSCUK 01- THE COLORS
that the artist, who has so successfully and grandly risen to the
requirements of a great occasion, and enlarges his own fame on
this canvas, is himself one of her own sons.
Ikit, sir, in this county, to the generation to which you and
I belong, neither the skill and genius of the artist, the eloquence
and liberality of a Wanamaker nor the pen of the historian is
required to arouse our people and remind them of the brave
deeds, the noble sacrifices, an'd honorable lives as citizens and
soldiers of the men of the 104th Pennsylvania Volunteers, from
their honored and distinguished commander down to the eleven-
year-old drummer-boy, who gave courage and inspiration to
the men behind the guns.
Their's was the exceptional honor in the Peninsular war to
be put in the advance in the attack on Richmond, and in the rear
in the retreat to Harrison's Landing; always the post of danger,
the place assigned to Marshall Ney, "the bravest of the brave,"
by the greatest Captain of modern warfare.
The memory of Fair Oaks, Gaine's Mill, Savidge Station, Bot-
tom's Bridge. ^Malvern Hill, Morris Island and Charleston is
to us as vivid as it was in 1863.
But here is preserved for future generations a thrilling re-
minder of the precious value which their fathers placed upon
the free institutions of our country, and the corner-stone of
their preservation, the Constitution and Union of the States,
one and inseparable.
But, Mr. President, there is a side to this picture other than
that which depicts the glory and fury of war and the well-won
victory. Bleeding, dying, and dead men are there — fathers, sons,
lovers, husbands and brothers of loving, loved and suffering dear
ones, upon whose unhappy hom.es and into whose aching lives
this picture of the glory, glamour and excitement of Fair Oaks
casts not a ray of sunshine or hope. That is beyond the genius
of the artist. That side of the story tells of the helplessness
of the orphan and the weeds of the widow, and recalls the
long pension-list, and the millions which all must pay as the
just debt of calling forth to the conflict the strength and support
of a nation to maintain its existence. Here we find the ever
present and unavoidable lesson and warning, which follows pride
RESCUE Of THE COLORS 585
of achievement and self-glorification. The misery, sorrow and
lasting burden upon a people of war may be cast into the shad-
ows and background of the picture, but there they are. always
present and never to be forgotten or effaced. The military spirit,
the fever for war and the demand for a great standing army,
now too often encouraged, are not amongst the least dangers
that threaten the stability of our free government.
Yon flag points a moral and adorns this temple-of -justice as
the true emblem of the military power and its uses in a free
and independent republic. When rebels against their country
and government defied the laws, closed the federal courts and
drove the judges froni the bench, the last resort of Governmental
authority, the taking up of arms was forced upon us, and then
that flag as the emblem of authority was by the people of this
town placed in the care of the 104th Regiment, and carried by
brave Sergeant Slack, not as the banner of military power,
but of the government of the Ignited States by civil administra-
tion under the Constitution. It was always kept to the front,
and never lowered in the face of the enemies of their country.
When the authority of the government was acknowledged and
the rebels bowed to the laws of their country, riddled with
bullets, and torn to shreds by the storms of battle, it was brought
back to our county, and there is no page of all the records of
the history of the noble deeds of our regiment more glorious
and typical of their true American love for the law of the land,
than their resolve to forever fold it as the sign of battle and
deposit it here in their own midst, in their own temple-of-justice,
where law and liberty have ever been maintained under civil
government, and as we hope ever will be. Xo finer illustration
of devotion to liberty and country, of the cheerful sul)ordination
of the military to the civil power of government, can be found.
And this is the reason why we love these old fighters. They
are patriotic, law-abiding soldiers. Mr. Chairman, it was the
happy fortune of our dear old county, that in its first settlement,
it was selected as a home and largely dominated by the two
races who have been foremost in the development of civilization
the world over ; the English and the Oermans, and that here too
came the two sects representing their respective races, whose
586 RESCUE OF THE COLORS
love of peace, antipathy to warfare, and gentle practices have
contributed so much towards the true greatness of our Common-
wealth — the Quakers and the Mennonitcs. Wise enough to
recognize that the imperfections of human temperament some-
times make war inevitable, they honor the true patriotic soldier.
But, believing in peace as the highest and noblest aim of govern-
ment, they view with dissatisfaction and jealousy every ap-
pearance of advancing the military power over the civil author-
ity. Tn these days they are a hopeful barrier against the growth
of militarism. It is not in harmony with the views of these
worthy and peaceful people, nor with mine, and, I trust, not
with yours, my fellow citizens, that the trappings of war and
pictures of bloodshed and carnage should appear as the appro-
priate furnishing of this room, wherein we hope to preserve lib-
erty, law and order through the civil administration of the
court. Such display might indicate a menace to the civil au-
thority of government.
This picture, in the custody of the Historical Society, will
be preserved in their rooms, (and soon we hope to possess an
appropriate building) along with those implements of the peace-
ful pursuits of agriculture, which in the hands of our ances-
tors were used to conquer the forests, and to subject to the uses
of man the virgin soil ; in fact, to win battles without present
glory, amid privations greater than those of war and pro-
ductive of results stupendous and more lasting than ever war
gained. There the sturdy yoemanry of Bucks will be content
to see this picture of the prowess of their fellow citizens remain
side by side with the implements of the glorious and fruitful
progress of our husbandmen, to instruct coming generations that
"peace hath its victories no less renowned than war," and that
the true glory of a Republic lies in the advancement of piety
the protecting arm of law and order ; that when the neces-
sary evil of war must be met in the defence of government,
liberty, law, order and humanity, with honor to its participants,
the worthy sons of Bucks are and ever have been prepared to
lay aside their tools and implements of peace, and as citizen sol-
diers go to the front, follow the noble example of Hiram
Pursell. and carry the flag into the heat of the conflict and hold
RESCUE OF THE COLORS 58/
it there, never to be surrendered. However much the sturdy
people of our county may disagree with the mihtary spirit and
its encouragement, whether they be Quakers or Mennonites, they
are too true and faithful adherents of their country and its
government to desert them in the hour of peril or to leave them
undefended. Thus only can we reap the real lesson of faith-
ful and true citizenship through this painting, along with the
evidences of our other great achievements as a county and as
citizens loyal in the support of the progress, liberties and laws
of our common country.
THE CONCLUDING EXERCISES.
Chairman Thomas then called upon Congressman Irving P.
Wanger and General B. F. Fisher for remarks. Both responded
with short and appropriate addresses. Congressman Wanger
paid a very high compliment to General Davis because of the
deep love and interest he manifested for his soldiers during and
after the w^ar. General Fisher's address was a hasty review of
the battles on the Chickahominy, in which he referred to the
great responsibility which rested upon the 104th at Fair Oaks
and the probability that Richmond would have been captured
Tiad not rains made the Chickahominy impassable, making it
impossible to reach McClellan's army with reinforcements. In this
General Fisher saw the working of Providence, who is the ar-
l)iter of events both great and small.
At the conclusion of the exercises the audience viewed the
picture and then slowly dispersed. The court-room was left open
all afternoon, and a number of people who had not the opportu-
nity to attend the exercises saw the picture later. ]\Iany high
compliments were paid to the artist and his work. The painting
was greatly admired by every one and nothing but favorable
comment was heard. The picture is spirited and the daring res-
cue is well depicted. The figures in the foreground, prominent
among whom is seen that of General Davis, in the midst of
his men, holding his wounded arm, are all strongly drawn. Not
only the rushing battle-stained living soldiers, but the dead and
wounded lying in the grass, the worm fence and stone wall
over which the L^nion and Confederate troops are contending,
the regiments in the distance, the stubborn now wavering line
588 TEMANEND, CHIEF OF THE LFNNI LFNAPES
of the 104th, down upon which a horde of gray, which many
times outnumbers the bkie, are bearing ; the puffs of smoke fol-
lowing the volley firing, are all so terribly earnest, so warlike
and so realistic that one can easily imagine he is looking at
the real battle of the Civil "War. The painting is a valuable per-
manent record of the valor of our county's famous regiment,
and both as a memento of the war and as a work of art Bucks
has a treasure her sons will no doubt preserve as long as the
canvas shall endure/
1 By a resolution of the county commissioners, the picture " Rescue of the Colors,"
also the flag which had been presented to the regiment by the ladies of Doylestown,
were removed to the building of the Bucks County Historical Society, where they now
Temanend, Chief of the Lenni Lenapes.
BY MRS. SARAH, l^UBOIS MOWRV, CHESTKR, PA.
(Meeting at Soleburj' Meeting-House, August 10, 1S99 )
It is a remarkable fact that the picturesque North American
Indian has been seldom the theme of our literary men. We have,
however, "The Story of Hiawatha" in the exquisite verses of
Longfellow, and James Fenimore Cooper leads us through a
romantic Indian world. In the field of history, the forest life and
Indian character are vividly portrayed by Francis Parkman,
who tells us^ that he found this field uncultured and unreclaimed.
His work serves to show what a vast world this subject opens
to the imaginative writer or artist.
The Delaware county artist, Benjamin W^est, has left us his
historical impression of the intercourse of the red men with the
Friends, in his celebrated painting of "Penn's Treaty," under
the great elm at Shackamaxon. James Reed, a nephew of
James Logan, said that the portraits of the Friends in this
painting were so admirable that he could name them all.
Benjamin W^est's grandfather was one of the number. -
An early tradition tells us, that the first Indian to welcome
the Quakers to the shore of the Delaware, was the great chief,
Temanend, whom we call Tammany. His name is written in
- See "Our Stone Age" by Capt. John S. Bailey, Vol. I, page 49.
TKMANEND, CHIEF OF THE LENNI LENAPES 589
at least six ways, but there is higher authority for the spelHng
Temaneud than any other form.
There is no proof whatever that Temanend extended the
hand of fellowship to the friendly leader at the time of his
arrival. But some Indian played that important part in the
drama, and it is rather pleasant to believe the tradition, and
to inquire more carefully concerning him and his tribe.
Temanend was a sachem of the Lenni Lenape tribe of the
great Algonquin family of North American Indians, whose
territory extended along the Atlantic coast from the St. Law-
rence to Savannah. To the Algonquin family also belonged
Pocahontas, King Philip, and Pontiac. Of all the clans of
the Algonquin, the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians espe-
cially interest us, for we occupy their native hunting-grounds
and enjoy their beautiful hills and valleys with a proud sense
of ownership.
The Lenni Lenape or "original people," as their name signifies,
were the ancestral tribe, and this claim was recognized by other
Algonquin tribes, in giving them the title of "Grandfather. '
Their own story was that they had migrated from the west,
hundreds of years ago and traveled by land and water, until
they discovered the Lenape-whituttuck, or rapid stream of the
Lenape, renamed by the English, the Delaware.
Those who have lived among the more civilized tribes of
aborigines claim that their traditions are credible. La Hontau
said : "These savages have the happiest memories in the world."
Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary, writes in his charming
narrative : "There are men who have by heart the whole his-
tory of what has taken place between the white men and the
Indians, and relate it with ease, and with an eloquence, not to
be imitated. On the tablet of their memories they preserve this
history for posterity."
It was etiquette, at their councils, for each speaker to report
vx^rbatim all that his predecessors said, and the whites were
often astonished at the verbal fidelity with which the natives
recalled the transactions of long-past treaties.
The Lenni Lenape Indians, at the time of \\'illiam Penn, were
in a state of vassalage to the Iroquois or Five Nations.
590 TEMANEND, CHIEF OF THE LENNI LENAPES
They were consequently mild and peaceful and remained so
until they realized, (to use their own words,) that "the whites
will not rest contented until they have destroyed the last of us.
and made us disappear entirely from the face of the earth."
These mild mannered Lenapes were to some extent an agri-
cultural, but not a pastoral people. They preferred open country
to boundless forests.
William Penn in his letter to the Free Society of Traders,
writren August )0. 1683, gives an interesting account of these
native woods.
"The fruit I find in the woods are the white and black mulberry, chest-
nut, walnut, plum, strawberries, cranberries, whortleberries and grapes of
divers sorts. There are also verj' good peaches in great quantities; not an
Indian plantation without them. They make a pleasant drink. It is dis-
putable with me whether it is best to fall to refining the fruits of the coun-
try, especially' the grape, by the care and skill of art, or send for foreign
stems already good and approved. It seems reasonable to believe that not
only a thing groweth best where it naturally grows, but will hardly be
equalled by another species of the same kind that doth not naturally grow
there. But to solve the doubt I intend, if God give me life, to try both, and
hope the consequence will be as good wine as an}- of the European coun-
tries of the same latitude do give.'"
"Of living creatures: fish, fowl and beasts of the woods, some for food
and profit, and some for profit only. For food as well as for profit, the elk
as big as a small ox; deer, bigger than ours; beaver, raccoon, rabbits and
squirrels, and some eat 3'oung bear and commend it. Of fowl, there is the
turkey, forty and fiftj- pounds in weight, which is very great; pheasants,
heath-birds, pigeons and partridges. Of fowl of the water, the swan,
goose, brants, ducks, teal, also the snipe and curlew."
"The woods are adorned with lovely flowers for color, greatness and
variety."
In "An Historical and Geographical Account of the Province
and Country of Pennsilvania and of West-New-Jersey in Amer-
ica" by Gabriel Thomas, published in London in 1698, we find
the following, in reference to the grape industry :
"Next I shall proceed to instance in the several sorts of Wild
Fruits, as excellent Grapes, Red, Black, White, Mascadel, and
Fox, which upon frequent Experience have produc'd Choice
Wine, IxMng daily Cultivated by skilful \'inerons : they will
in a short space of time, have very good Liquor of their own,
and some to supply their Neighbors, to their great advantage;
as these Wines are more pure, so much more wholesome ; the
TEMANEND, CHIEF OF THE LENNI LENAPES 59I
Brewing- Trade of Sophisticating and Adultering of Wines as
in England, Holland (especially) and in some other places not
being known there yet, nor in all probability will it in many
Years, through a natural Probity so fixed and implanted in the
Inhabitants, and (I hope) like to continue" The innocent Ga-
briel with the same naivette says : "There are also many curious
and excellent Physical Wild Herbs, Roots, and Drugs of great
Vertue &:c., which makes the Indians by a right application ot
them, as able Doctors and Surgeons as any in Europe"
And now that we have had a glimpse of the woods and
fields of the Lenni Lenape on the shores of their beloved "rapid
stream," and its beautiful tributaries, let us learn what we can
about the chief Temanend.
As fishing and the chase were the chief dependence of the
tribe, they were necessarily scattered abroad among the for-
ests and streams in search of sustenance. We hear of Tema-
nend at Philadelphia in 1683, on the 23d day of the Fourth
month, when he and Metamequan conveyed to Proprietor Penn
a tract of land lying between the Pennypack and Neshaminy
creeks. We hear of him again at a meeting held in Philadelphia
with Governor JMarkham in 1694. We hear of his wngwam
upon the site of Princeton College, again in the northeastern
hills of Pennsylvania. If we may believe local tradition he died
in 1750 while traveling in Bucks county, and was there buried.
The name Temanend means " affable," and it appears that
his character was accurately described by this cognomen.
Heckewelder, who lived among the Indians after Temanend's
death, gives this summarv of his virtues :
"The name of Temanend is held in the highest veneration among
the Indians. Of all the chiefs of the Lenape he stands foremost.
He was an ancient Delaware chief, who never had his equal.
He was in the highest degree endowed with wisdom, virtue,
prudence, charity, affability, meekness, hospitality, in short,
with every good and noble qualification that a human being may
possess. He was supposed to have had an intercourse with
the great and good spirit, for he was a stranger to everything
that is bad." Other accounts of the savage hero speak of a
deadly struggle with an evil spirit, but they are of such a fanci-
592 TEMANEND, CHIEF OF THE LENNI EExN'APES
ful and mythical character, that I will not take time to dwell
upon them. A remarkable feature of the preceding eulogy
of the chief is this : It is his moral character which is thus held
up for our admiration. The conspicuous traits of the Indian char-
acter are ambition, self-conceit, revenge, envy, but in spite of
his haughty spirit he is a devout hero-worshiper. He ad-
mires the sages as well as the warriors of his tribe, and conse-
quently the name of Temanend became a synonym for greatness
and goodness.
When Colonel George Morgan, of Princeton, in 1776, was
sent by Congress as an agent to the western Indians, the Dela-
wares, or Lenni Lenape, conferred on him the name of Tema-
nend, as the greatest mark of respect which they could show
to one whom they considered worthy of the name.
In view of these facts, it need not surprise us to hear that
the Pennsylvania troops of the American Revolution, chose
him for their patron-saint and inscribed his name on their ban-
ner. One writer assigns May ist as the Saint's Day, but several
other authorities name the 12th day of May as set aside in hon-
or of "Saint Tammany," as he was finally designated.
The day was celebrated with great gaiety. Wigwams were
erected, poles were planted in the earth surmounted by a liberty
cap and tomahawk. x\fter an address by a representative of the
Sachem, the troops danced with feathers and buck's tails in
their caps. The practice spread throughout the army and con-
tinued until the war of 181 2 when the Secretary of War for-
bade the practice as debauching to the troops. A play was
written entitled "Tammany, the Indian Chief" and was pre-
sented in New^ York city where it was witnessed by Washington
and some of his cabinet. There are various accounts of the
celebration of the day in different localities. In all these de-
scriptions Tammany is called the patron or titular saint of
America.
The renowned Tammany Society, of New York, was formed
soon after the peace of 1783, by William Mooney, an upholsterer,
who regarded the powers of the general government as danger-
ous to the independence of the state governments and to the
common liberties of the people. He wished to preserve the
TEMANEND, CHIEF OF THE LENNI LEXAPES 593
just balance of power and his purpose was patriotic and
purely Republican. It was recognized as a counter- weight to
the Cincinnati Society, which was considered aristocratic in
its tendencies and certainly did tend to the establishment of a
hereditary order.
Columbus and Tammany were at first chosen as patrons of
the new society, but the name of Columbus was afterwards
dropped and that of Tammany retained. At first there were no
party politics in the proceedings. It is described as a charitable
and social organization. It undertook the establishment of a
Museum of Natural History, which afterwards fell into the
hands of P. T. Barnum.
It rescued the bones of the Prison Ship martyrs and gave
them the most remarkable funeral this country has ever wit-
nessed. Aaron Burr was at one time its guiding spirit and
many great men were its members. In its early history its member-
ship was so reduced in consequence of a criticism made by Wash-
ington, that only three persons were in attendance at the an-
nual festival on Tammany's day. From this time it became a
political institution whose career it is unnecessary to dwell
upon.
An allusion has been made to the death and burial of Tema-
nend in Bucks county. In the preparation of this paper I have
found many references to the fact of Temanend's death and
burial in this vicinity. There is no doubt that in 1750 an In-
dian chief was buried there by white men. The stumbling block
to the skeptical mind is that Temanend's name is on the deed
drawn in 1683, which if he were only aged twenty at the time,
would make him eighty-seven when he died.
With mv love for local tradition. I am unwilling- to allow
the matter of age to overturn the long established local histories.
It is a fitting resting place for the great Delaware chief, shut
oft" from the world's highway, with the bank of the picturesque
Neshaminy creek just beyond the designated spot. In a vicinity
that is noted for its charming views of hills and valley, forest
and stream, there is no lovelier vision than that which meets the
eye at the summit of Prospect hill. Standing there we have lifted
594 TEMANEND, CHIEF OF THE LENNI I^ENAPES
"the twilight curtain of the past" and glanced for the moment
at the shadowy ground of tradition.
"And that which History gives not to the eye," we have
"Let fancy with her dream dipped brush supply."
The great sage and chieftain rests on an eminence which
overlooks a part of the fair territory, which he sold to the
white man, for a paltry list of stockings and hats, kettles,
awls, fish-hooks and needles, and said that he was "contented
and satisfied !" History does not tell us whether he went down
to the grave "satisfied."
May he not have felt as another of his tribe did when he
poured forth his soul some years later to his beloved mission-
ary teacher, Heckewelder? Listen to his words:
" On every side of the Lenapewhituttuck the white people landed. They
were welcomed as brothers by our fathers who gave them lands to live on
and even hunted for them and furnished them with meat out of the woods.
Such was our conduct to the white men who inhabitated this country until
our elder brother the great and good Miquon came and brought us words of
peace and good will. We believed his words and his memory is still held
in veneration among us. But it was turned to sorrow. Our brothers died
and those of his good counselors who were of his mind were no longer listened
to. The stranger no longer spoke to us of sitting down by the side of each
other as brothers of one family, they forgot the friendship which was to last
until the end of time, they only strove to get our land by fraud or force.
'There is no faith to be placed in these words.' "
It is one hundred and fifty years since the Indian chief
was laid by white men beneath the sward on the banks of the
Neshaminy. His virtues challenge the admiration of our mod-
ern civilization.
And who shall deem the spot unblest,
Where Nature's younger children rest,
Lulled on their sorrowing mother's breast.
Deem ye that mother loveth less
These bronzed forms of the wilderness,
She foldeth in her long caress?
As sweet o'er them her wild flowers blow,
As if with fairer hair and brow
The blue eyed Saxon sleeps below.
How the Word '< White" Became Inserted in Our Constitution
of i838.
BY GEN. \V. \V. 11. D.VVIS, DOVLESTOWN, PA.
(Doylestown Meeting, Janviary i6, 1900.)
The movement that led to the insertion of the word ''White/'
in the Pennsylvania State Constitution of 1838, as a qualifica-
tion for electors, and where and how it originated, has been
lost sight of, in the rush for more important events, in the past
60 years. As a limitation of the right of suffrage it was severely
criticised, as it was an advanced step, but w-as approved by the
cencensus of public opinion of the day and the supreme law of
the State on the subject, until the adoption of the 15th amend-
ment to the Constitution of the United States, at the close of
the Civil War.
The earliest qualification for electors in Pennsylvania, was
fixed at a meeting of deputies held at Carpenters' Hall, Phila-
delphia, June 18, 1776, which decided upon calling a provisional
convention for the purpose of forming a new government for
the Province. At this election all were allowed to vote who
were "Associators, 21 years of age, and had paid a tax or been
assessed." The election was held July 15, 1776. In the Con-
stitution formed that year, and the first in the State, the right
of suffrage was conferred on "every freeman of the full age of
21 years, having resided in the State for the space of one whole
year, next before the day of election for representatives, and
paid taxes during that time." In the Constitution of 1790, the
qualification for electors was practically the same as at present :
the voter must be a citizen, of the age of 21, must have resided in
the State two years, and paid a State or county tax. This Constitu-
tion with an occasional amemlment. remained in force until suc-
ceeded by that of 1838, in which a radical change was made in the
qualification of an elector. What this was, and how it came
about I purpose to state in this paper.
This event belongs to the most exciting period of the anti-
slavery agitation, prior to that immeih'ately preceding the War
596 the; word "white" in our constitution of 1838
of the Rebellion, 1861-65. During this period that mysterious
organization known as the "Underground Railroad," had its
rise and growth, and was the agency that brought many fugitive
slaves into the southern counties of Pennsylvania. Down to
this time, the negro was not known as a political factor in the
State ; he did not claim the right to vote, much less was it ac-
corded to him, but occupied the same inferior position he had
held since the settlement of the Colony. There was a tradition
that an occasional negro vote reached the ballot-box, but so
seldom, and the votes so few, they failed to attract public at-
tention.
At the October election in Bucks county, 1837, there was a
change in this particular and public indignation was aroused. At
several polls negroes presented themselves, demanding the right
to vote. and. at a few polls, were allowed to put their ballots
into the box. In Middletown township, a strong Whig district,
whose inhabitants were mainly members of the Society of
Friends, and strongly anti-slavery, fourteen negro votes were
polled all cast for the Whig ticket. These, with the same charac-
ter of ballots cast in a few other townships, were sufficient to turn
the political scale, and. in consequence, two of the Whig candi-
dates were elected, one County Commissioner and one County
Auditor. This caused great excitement among Democrats and
the Doylestown Democrat, the party's organ, was unsparing
in its denunciation.
In the issue following the election, October 18, the then editor
and proprietor. General John S. Bryan, indulged in this philippic :
"A number of negroes came to the polls with guns, and one of them
said he had his gun loaded, and would have shot if he had been molested
in voting. Is such conduct of negroes to be tolerated? Whoever heard
of any white man going to the polls with his gun loaded, in order
to shoot any person who should question his right to vote? Tolerate such
indulgence to the blacks for a few years longer ; hold out inducements
and protection to runaways, and harbor them in the lower end of Bucks,
and they will make the very streets run with white man's blood. Can
and will the free and independent voter of any party sanction such in-
terference?"
These and other appeals sufficed to arouse the Democratic
party and the independent Whigs to a high pitch of excitement
and immediate steps were taken to prevent negro voting in the
THE WORD "white ' IN OUR CONSTITUTION OE 1838 597
future. Three public meetings were called, at important centres
of the county, to discuss the issue of negro suffrage before the
people, and to ask their support against it. The present genera-
tion can hardly realize the bitter feeling against negro voting
in the 30"s, nor how this supposed infringement of the Constitu-
tion aroused conservative men of both parties. These meetings
were held at the White Bear tavern, Northampton township,
Saturday, October 21 ; the Buck tavern, Southampton township,
and at Buck's tavern, Xockamixon, both on Saturday, October
28. A meeting was likewise held at Doylestown. At these
meetings red hot speeches were made, and no etTorts made to
allay the excitement.
The leaders of this movement were the ablest politicians in
the county, and had a very clear conception of what they were
aiming at and how to reach it ; it was nothing less than to have
the word "white" inserted in the State Constitution, thus limit-
ing the right of suffrage to "white freemen" instead of "freemen."
The occasion was also opportune as a convention had been order-
ed to amend the Constitution, and was in session in the fall
of 1837. If this change were made there could be no misun-
derstanding, in future, as to whom the right to vote belonged.
The three meetings called were largely attended, that at the
White Bear being the most imposing, and there the party leaders
were assembled. The chairman was General John Davis, South-
ampton ; the vice-presidents. Jesse Johnson, Lemon Beans, Sam-
uel Gilkyson, Elias Black and Evan Groom, and the secreta-
ries. Dr. Charles H. Mathews and ]\Iannassah Snyder, of Doyles-
town, and Thomas Purdy of Southampton. The speakers were
Cabel E. Wright and Stokes L. Roberts, Esqs.. members of the
Bucks county bar. A committee of twenty-one persons was
appointed with General William T. Rogers, chairman, to report
a preamble and resolutions for the consideration of the meeting ;
a second committee to submit a form of memorial to be presented
to the Constitutional Convention ; and to the Legislature at its
approaching session, and to the Court of Quarter Sessions, the
latter for the purpose of testing the legality of the election under
the Act of Assembly. A second committee, of which the late
Judge Henry Chapman was chairman was given charge of
598 THE WORD "white" IN OUR CONSTITUTION OF 1838
the case when it should reach the court ; while a third committee,
with Mr. Wright at its head, was appointed to report the pro-
ceedings, of the White Bear meeting, to the Southampton and
Nockamixon meetings to be held tlie following Saturday. In
addition to this machinery, three men were appointed, in each
election district in the county, to procure signatures to the memo-
rial to the Legislature. The preamble and resolutions, said to
have been drawn by the late Judge Fox and adopted unanimously,
were an elaborate and able statement of the premises from which
it was argued that the negro was not a "freeman" with.in the
scope of the Constitution and never had been.
We have thus presented both the legal and political machinery,
set in motion by the astute men at the head of the mov^ement,
to change the text of the organic law, on the subject of suffrage,
through the amended Constitution, and in one of its most im-
portant features. .\s all the conditions were favorable, their
success was complete. There were two lines of attack, so to
speak, on the right of negroes to vote, one through the courts,
to decide the legality of the poll of votes and election of candidates
by negro ballots ; the other, more direct and far reaching, through
the Constitutional Convention then in session which had the
power to decide the question for the present and future.
The case came before the Bucks county Court of Quarter
Sessions at the December term, 1837, upon the complaint and
petition of a number of freemen of the county as provided by
Act of Assembly. The defendant, the legality of whose election
was challenged, made answer on December 12. denying they
were unJuly elected, and, after full and able argument, the
opinion of the Court was delivered December 28, 1837, by Judge
Fox, President Judge of the judicial district.
Judge Fox's opinion in the case was one of the most ex-
haustive and learned reviews of the question ever delivered. It
covered the political status of the negro in Pennsylvania from
the settlement of Penn's Colony under the grant from Charles
II. As a matter of fact the negro had no "political" status in
the State. He came here a bondman and a bondman remained
until the abolition of slavery in 1783. Whether this Act of
Assembly clothed the late bondsmen with the status of citizen-
THE WORD WHITE IN OUR CONSTITUTION OE 1838 599
ship, and qualified them to discharge the duties of electors, was
the question before the Court. After a careful examination,
the Court summed up ijts conclusions in the following words :
"For the reason given the Court are of the opinion that a
negro, in Pennsylvania has not the right of suffrage, and there-
fore they, (the complainants) will now take the means neces-
sary to ascertain the truth of the facts alleged in the complaint."
The Constitution Convention, of 1837-38, was called in pur-
suance of an Act of Assembly approved by Governor Wolf,
April 14, 1835, for the purpose of amending the Constitution
of 1790; was submitted to a vote of the people at the October
election, 1836, receiving a majority of 13,404, in a total vote
of 159-736; and the Convention met in the Hall of the House of
Representatives, Harrisburg, May 2, 1837.
The Convention had not been long in session before the ques-
tion of negro suffrage was presented, the initial step being a
memorial from the negroes of Pittsburg asking that they be secur-
ed in the right to vote. This was prior to the movement in Bucks
county which was not put on foot until after the October election.
The first memorial was presented November 16, by John B. Ster-
iger, a delegate from Montgomery, asking that negro voting be
prohibited by constitutional provision, and he moved that it
be printed. On this the two parties first locked horns and it was
objected to. On the question of printing the memorial a spirited
debate took place, but the motion was carried by a vote of 84
to 29. The same day other memorials were presented from
Bucks and one from Montgomery. From this time, until the
question was settled, memorials continued to be presented fro'm
various counties, but the number from Bucks was equal, if not
greater, than those from all other parts of the State. Several
of the eastern counties presented memorials against negro suf-
frage, a few of them coming from Bucks.
In November the Convention adjourned to Philadelphia, where
it re-assembled on the 28th. On the first reading of the Third
Article of the Constitution, that related to sufi.'rage, Benjamin
Martin, a delegate from Philadelphia, a member of die Society
of Friends, moved to insert the word "white" before the word
"freemen." The change was made in committee, which reported
6oo THE WORD "white;" in our constitution of 1838
on Saturday, January 20. On the re[X)rt a debate was immedi-
ately opened, the Convention remaining in continuous session
until the following Monday morning at nine o'clock, when it
adjourned. On the vote being taken there were ']'] in favor of
sustaining the report of the committee and 45 against it. On
its final passage the vote was the same, changing the qualification
for a voter in Pennsylvania from "freeman" to "white freemen."
The debate on this question was a notable one, the ablest mem-
bers participating in it. Among these were Messrs. Earie, Dar-
lington, Dickey. Forward, Joseph R. Chandler, Hopkinson, and
the distinguished William M. Meredith closing it on the nega-
tive. In so far as we can gather from the minutes of the Conven-
tion, the debate was good tempered, with an entire absence of
the excitement too often attending later forensic displays. The
question w^as met as all great questions should be, with calm
dignity. For the present, the question of negro suffrage was
settled, and not reversed until the Nation had emerged from the
greatest Civil War of modern times, and resulted in placing the
white man and the negro on the same political plane in this coun-
try. The opinion of Judge Fox on the constitutional and legal
aspect of the question was printed by authority of the Legis-
lature, and widely circulated, and De Tocqueville mentions it
in his sfreat work entitled "Democracv in America."
Early Courts of Bucks County
BY WILLIAM C. RYAN, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Doylestown fleeting January i6, 1900.)
About the twenty-first of June, 1681, William ]\Iarkham, Wil-
liam Penn's cousin and representative, arrived in New York,
bearing the commission of the new Proprietary as "Deputy."
lie presented his credentials to the authorities, who at once is-
sued a proclamation to the justices and magistrates upon the
Delaware, commanding them "readily to submit and yield all
due obedience" to Penn's authority. On the first of July, ]\Iark-
ham reached the seat of government of the Delaware settlements,
lie was fully authorized to act in the place and stead of Penn
and to do whatever the peace and safety of the Province
seemed to require, until the Proprietary himself should arrive
or until he should receive further orders. To state it more
particularly. ]\Iarkham was specifically empowered to call a
council of nine, over which he was to preside : to read, to the
inhabitants the king's declaration of subjection and Penn's let-
ter to them, of which he was the bearer, and take their ac-
knowledgment of Penn's authority ; to settle "bounds'' between
Penn and his neighbors in his new possessions ; to survey,
set .out, rent, or sell lands, under certain restrictions; to erect
courts, make sherififs, justices of the peace, and other requi-
site inferior officers "that right may be done, the peace kept
and all vice punished, without partiality, according to the good
laws of England ;" to suppress tumults and riots, make ordi-
nances, and do anything else authorized by the king's letters
patent to Penn, except call assemblies to make laws.
At that time there were but few white inhabitants in the
territory now embraced in Bucks county, and these were scat-
tered through the section at present included in the town-
ships of Falls, Bristol and Bensalem, and the borough of Bris-
tol. The seat of government was at Upland, now Chester, and
the district of Upland included the east and west banks of
Kristina kill and extended upwards to "the head of the river."
602 EARLY COUkPS OF BUCKS COUNTY
In i()73 tlie Dutch had created three jiuHcial cHstricts and es-
tabHshed a court of justice in each — one at Upland, one at
New Amstel and one at Whorekill. By the treaty of Westmin-
ster, concluded between England and Holland on February q,
1674, the settlements on the Delaware reverted to the Duke
of York, and English control was re-established here. In No-
vember of the same year. Governor Edmund Androsse reorgan-
ized the government of the Colony on the river, retaining many
of the old officers and magistrates. On Septeraber 25, 1676,
he issued a proclamation, declaring the Duke of York's famous
code of laws to be in force in the Delaware settlements, estab-
lishing courts for the same districts and at the same places as
had theretofore been held, and defining their powers and juris-
diction. These courts were to be composed of justices of the
peace, three of whom were to constitute a quorum, and the eld-
est of whom was to preside unless the justices agreed otherwise.
They had the power of a court of sessions and exclusive juris-
diction of causes involving less than twenty pounds and of
the lesser grades of criminal offences. They were also clothed
with limited equity powers. From the court's judgments in mat-
ters involving more than twenty pounds and crimes "extend-
ing to life, limbo or banishment" an appeal lay to the Court of
Assize at New York. The Upland court also exercised limited
probate powers after 1677, but letters of administration in es-
tates exceeding thirty pounds in value could only be granted
at New York. The court met quarterly on the second Tuesday
of the month.
It was to this court that the people of Bucks were at that time
required to resort with their legal business and litigation, and
it was to the justices composing it that the Deputy Governor
presented his credentials from Penn and the Lieutenant Gov-
ernor and council at New York. The court at the time was
composed of Otto Earnest Cock, Israel Helme, Henry Jones,
Lansa (probably Lacey) Cock and George Browne, who had
been commissioned by Governor Androsse on May 28, 1680, "for
the space of one whole year from the date hereof or till further
order." The names suggest the probable cosmopolitan character
of the tribunal. At least one of the number. George Browne,
EARLY COURTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 603
lived near the falls. Markham promptly organized the new
council, which included two members of this court. Otto Ear-
nest Cock and Lacy Cock, and entered at once upon hi- official
duties. The first court held under his administration sat at
Upland on September 15, 1681. He presided at that held on
the 30th of November following. \\'hile the Deputy Governor
was clothed with ample authority to erect new courts, he did
not do so. The Upland court continued to administer justice
as it had done before the transfer of the Province, until the
arrival of the Proprietary himself in October of the following
year.
Penn promptly convened an assembly at Upland, which now
became Chester. It met on December 4, 1682, and enacted
the "Great Law, or Body of Laws of the Province of Pennsyl-
vania and territories thereunto belonging." which contained
many important provisions relating to the powers, jurisdiction
and procedure of courts ; and under their authority the fir.-t
Bucks county courts were established. Chapter LXXVIT pro-
vided "That the Justices of each respective County Court, shall
sit every year, to inspect and take Care of the Estates, usage,
and Employment of Orphans, which shall be called the Or-
phans' Court, and sit the first third day of ye week, in the first
and eighth month yearly: That Care may be taken for those,
that are not able to take care for themselves." This law re-
mained in force until 1693 when it was abrogated by \\ illiam
and Mary, but later in the same year it was re-enacted.
Pursuant to its provisions an Orphans' Court was established
in Bucks county, on the fourth day of first month, 1683
(March 4, 1683). The record of its proceedings, kept in the
characteristic handwriting of Phinehas Pemberton the clerk,
dimmed by age but still legible and in fairly good condition,
remains among the records of that court in the custody of the
present clerk. It covers the period from 1683 to 1692 and ap-
pears from cursory examination to be complete. There were
evidentlv no formalities attending the opening of the first ses-
sion, but the occasion was marked by the gracious presence
of the Governor. It is one of the two courts held in the
countv, which the records show that Penn attended. The min-
6o4 EARLN' COL'RTS oF lU'CKS COl'S'TN'
utes commence as follows : "At an Orphans' Court held by the
king's authority in the name of William Penn Propryatory and
governor of the said Province and territories thereunto be-
longing att. Gilbert Wheeler's for the aforesaid county, the 4th
of the first month. 1683. to Inspect & take an acct. of the
Improvements & usage of the estates of orphans. Present, the
Governor William Penn ; Justices, James Harrison, Jon Otter.
Wm. Yardley. Wm. Beakes, Thomas Fitzwater, Phinehas Pem-
berton C."
The several justices in attendance were all men who were
at the time, or who sul)se(iuently became. coi-'sj>icuous in the
affairs of the Province. James Harrison, a shoemaker by trade,
was the father-in-law of the clerk Phinehas Pemberton. Both
were from Boston, in the county of Lancaster, England. With
their families, they had arrived in Maryland on the 30th of
October in the preceding year, and later had come to Bucks
county and, located near the falls. Harrison enjoyed the con-
fidence and esteem of Penn to a marked degree. He was a
minister among his sect and had been imprisoned in England.
He received a grant of 5,000 acres from the Proprietary
which were afterwards located in Falls, Upper Makefield, New-
town and Wrightstown. He became Penn's agent in personal
afifairs and also one of his commissioners of property. Later
he was appointed a member of the governor's council and one
of the Provincial judges. He died in 1687. William Yardley
had arrived at the falls during the previous September and at
this time had located on the Delaware, on a tract in the town-
ship of Lower Makefield, which included the present site of
the borough of Yardley. He too was a minister among Friends
and in England with Harrison and others had also sufifered
imprisonment on account of his faith. He was the uncle of
Pemberton. He served as a member of the assembly in 1682
and of the Governor's council in 1689 and 1690. He died in
1693.
William Beakes was a farmer from the parish of Baskwill,
in Somerset, who had come to America in the ship "Bristol
Merchant" in February. 1683. He afterward served as a mem-
ber of the assembly.
EARLY COURTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 605
Thomas Fitzwater was a farmer from Middlesex, near Hamp-
ton Court. He was one of the passengers on the "Welcome."
His wife and two children died upon the voyage. He too
was a member of the first assembly from Bucks and a justice
of the peace. He served in the assembly of 1688 from Phila-
delphia, and died in 1699.
The name of John Otter continues to appear on the records
of the courts for several years. He was a justice and served
in the assemblies of 1686, 1687, and 1692.
Phinehas Pemberton, the clerk of this court, was very con-
spicuous in the alTairs of the Province. He continued to act
as clerk of all the courts of the county until his death in
1702. He filled numerous other local offices, the duties of all
of which he discharged conscientiously. He served as a mem-
ber of the Governor's council in 1685-6-7-95-97-99 and of the
assembly in 1689 and 1694, from this county. When he died.
Penn mourned his loss as that of "the ablest as well as one
of the best men in the Province."' It will be observed that
there were no lawyers among the members of this court. It
was more than a century later before lawyers appeared on the
bench. There was probably none in the county at that time, and
but few in the Province. It has been assumed that they were
regarded with disfavor, but this conclusion is not justified by
the mere fact that they do not appear to have participated in
the public affairs of the county at that time.
The proceedings of the court were very informal. No ci-
tations were issued nor decrees made. While the sheriff was
always in attendance, he appears to have had little or nothing
to do with the execution of the court's orders. It was the
practice to detail one or more of the justices or persons not
members of the court to "speak with" parties concerning
matters before the court and make report thereon. Thus
James Harrison, as above stated, was directed to confer with
Spencer orphans in relation to their being bound out. In the
Clark estate Nicholas Wain, Robert Lucas and David Davids
were ordered to speak with Richard Noble coijcerning his ac-
counts. Again it appears it was ordered ''that widow Vena-
bles be summoned to orive an acct. of her children's estate to
6o6 EARLY COURTS OF BUCKS COUNTY
the next court and that William Beakes speake with her that
in tlie meantime she does not embroil the estate." The se-
lection of justice Beakes for this delicate mission shows that
he was recognized by his associates as a man of tact and dis-
cretion.
Most of the time of the court appears to have been devoted
to the di'^position and care of orphan children, which was the
only declared purpose for which it was created. There were
numerous instances of children who, bereft by death of their
parents, were left alone in the new world without kindred at
tender ages. They were not without friends, however, as the
Orphans' Court was vigilant in protecting them in their rights
and dealt with them very considerately. The justices were sturdy
pioneers, breasting the "blows of circumstance" in the wil-
derness to which they had come, but there was a kindly side
to their natures. The wards appear to have been consulted
at times al)out their inclinations, and in the Spencer estate
already referred to, the binding out of the two lads seems to
have been the result of their expressed willingness to be bound
as proposed, reported by one of tlie justices. The estates of
those days were small, but it must be borne in mind that the
purchasing power of money was much greater then, and their
value now would not therefore be expressed in the same
amounts.
The house of Gilbert Wheeler, at which this first session of
the court was held, was at the falls. It was probably a public
house. Court was frequently held there. In some instances it
sat at the house of Joseph Chorley. The record does not state
always where the court was held, but there is frequent mention
of the "court-house." The location of this building is a matter
of conjecture, upon which the records throw but little light.
It is known, however, to have been at or near the falls. The
minutes of a court of 1693 begin : "At the court-house near
the falls." A tradition has placed it on the first farm below
Morrisville. Fifty years ago there stood on this land, about
two hundred yards from the river, a two story building con-
structed of logs, having two rooms on the first floor and one
large room on the second floor. One of the lower rooms was
EARLY COURTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 607
supposed to have been a prison, from the fact that the floors
were heavy and the windows and doors bore evidence of hav-
ing once been grated. Dr. E. D. Buckman, in a published
letter, in 1884, gave a description of this structure which he
saw in 1854. That the court-room and prison were in the same
building and that the latter was located underneath the former
appears to be confirmed by the record of a court held in 1687,
which says that :
"Philip Conway being in custody for misdemeanor and being in prison
below the court was very unruly in words and actions to the great disturb-
ance of the king's peace and the court in the exercise of their duties, curs-
ing the Justices and other officers, casting logs against the door and endeav-
oring to make as much disturbance as he could ; therefore, the court orders
that £40 forfeited by him be levied according to this said recognizance on
his lands, goods and chattels."
The building referred to disappeared long ago. In
location and construction it answers the meagre description of
our first public building that has come down to us, but the evi-
dence of its identity is so slight and inconclusive that the
site of the first court-house remains an open question.
Under date of August 16, 1683. Penn wrote in a letter to
the Free Society of Traders that
"courts of justice are established in every county with proper officers,
as justices, sheriffs, clerks, constables, etc., which courts are held every
two months. But to prevent lawsuits there are peacemakers chosen by
every court in the nature of common arbitrators, to hear and end dif-
ferences betwixt man and man. And spring and fall there is an Or-
phans' Court in each county to inspect and regulate the affairs of or-
phans and widows."
There is, however, no record of any other court than the
Orphans' Court in this county prior to this date. The oldest
record in the office of the Clerk of Quarter Sessions is dated
nth, loth-mo., 1684, and purports to be "the minutes of the
Court in Bucks county." This court also was composed of jus-
tices of the peace.
The assembly of 1682 prescribed the forms of procedure for
the courts of the Province. They are of great interest alter the
lapse of two centuries. They were adapted to the simple life
of the Province and reflect the liberal spirit of the Great
Founder of the Commonwealth. But while he secured libertv,
()08 KARI.V CorRTS OF BUCKS COUNTY
he also estaljlished justice, while the proceedings of the courts
were informal. res])ect ft)r the law and those who administered it
was commanded and coni])clled. The courts were oi)en to all;
hut vexatious lili^-^ition was discouraL^ed in (.'very way possible.
It was ])rovidcd
"Tli.'it in all ruuris persons of -all persuasit)ns ma\ freely appear in
tlu-ir i>\vn wax, and according to their own manner, and personally plead
their nwn cases themselves, or if unable hy their friends: and that
the first process shall be the e.\hi])ition of the complaint fourteen days
before the trial, and that the defendant may be prepared for his defense,
lie or she shall be summoned no less than ten days before, and a copy
of the complaint delivered to him or her. at his or her dwelling house.
to answer unto. lUit before the complaint of any jjcrson shall be re-
ceived, he or she. shall solemnly declare in oi)en court, that he or she
believeth in his or her conscience, that his or her cause is just, and if
the party complained against shall notwithstanding refuse to appear,
the plaintiff shall have judgment against the defendant, by default."'
Trial hy jiny was al>o ])ro\idcd for and arbitration was en-
courat^ed. The oidy instance of the appointment of "peace-mak-
ers."" as reim calls them in the letter referred to. in this count}',
which ai)])ear.s in the rec(^rds of the courts, is an entry under
date of Sc])temher. i^S^. when tlie court ai)pointed Joshua
Hoopes. llem-y I'a.xson and h^nathan Scaife to serve for the
ensuing year. An entry under date of June 22, 1696 evi-
dences the favor in which arbitration was held by the court. It
states that "the petition of Isaac Burges, in relation to a debt
due him from his brother. Samuel Rurges. was read, and the
court appointed Joseph Kirkbride to speak to said Samuel Bur-
ges, and advise him to refer the matter in ditTerence to indifferent
men to be by them chosen, but if he shall refuse the said advice
that then \\''illiam Biles and Richard Hough do take what further
care is fit to accommodate the matter in difference as may be
found most expedient and expeditious." Civil actions were re-
quired to he tried in the county court, "where the cause of
action did arise." Froin its judgments in cases where the
amount involved exceeded £12 an appeal lay to the Governor and
Council.
In 1684 the Provincial court was established. It was composed
of five justices appointed by the Governor. It sat twice a year
in Philadelphia, and Spring and Autumn two of the justices
I
EARLY COURTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 609
traveled the circuit, hearing appeals from the county courts and
trying- certain civil and criminal cases that were beyond the
jurisdiction of those courts. In 1686 Arthur Cook and James
Harrison were appointed to this court from Bucks county. In
1690 Arthur Cook and Joseph Growden were made members
of the tribunal. In 1726 Jeremiah Langhorne became a Pro-
vincial judge and served on the bench several years, becoming
eventually the Chief Justice of the court.
The civil suits brought in the Bucks county courts involved
small amounts and trifling causes of action. The first suit upon
the record is dated loth-mo. nth. 1684. Robert Lucas sued
Thomas Bowman for withholding £7, which, it was averred, was
due to the said plaintiff in the third month last past, and ob-
tained a judgment by default. At the same court Gilbert
Wheeler brought suit against Walter Pomfret, of West New
Jersey, for withholding £5. Samuel Overture also brought an
action against John Clens, the record of which bears the date
of nth-mo. 29th, 1684. It is stated that Joseph Chorley, the
servant of the defendant, had been "shot into the leg" and
that the defendant had "agreed that if the plaintiff would come
and cure the said servant, the said defendant would content him."
The servant recovered, and so too did the plaintiff. In 1692
Joseph Chorley appeared in court as a plaintiff : he brought an
action against Robert Lucas "for damages occasioned by shoot-
ing his ox ;" the defendant was successful and plaintiff' appealed.
The record states that the jury reported "that they had viewed
the ox, and he was so little harmed by the shot, that the said
Chorley need not have lost two day's work for any harm the
ox had received."
The first traverse jury empanelled in a Bucks county court
was composed of the following persons : Robert Carter, John
White. James Boyden, George Brown, Lisnel Brittain, William
vSandford, Henry Burdun. Jonathan Scaife. Edmund Lovett,
Thomas Atkinson. Daniel Brinson, and John Clews. The date
of the second is December 9, 1685. In the cases disposed of
before this, the facts were determined in some other way. Under
the Duke of York's laws juries consisted of seven men. Penn's
6lO EARLY COURTS OF BUCKS COUNTY
assembly increased the number to twelve. In 1698 a jury having
some difficulty in reaching an agreement (as some juries since
have had) finally cast a lot to see what their verdict should be.
The unsuccessful party, learning the facts, called the court's at-
tention to this improper conduct and an investigation fol-
lowed. The jurors were examined in open court. They
admitted that they had deliberated part of a day and the
quarter part of a night, without reaching a verdict and con-
cluded to see which way the case would go by lot. Accord-
ingly the constable John Drake was directed to cast a piece
of money into his hat. They denied, however, that the verdict
to which they afterward agreed was influenced by the result.
They said that the casting of the lot had troubled them and
they had paid money in satisfaction of both the parties to the
suit. The parties appeared and confirmed the statements as
to the payment of the money, expressing their satisfaction at the
result and the belief that they were in no way hurt by the verdict.
The court imposed a fine of £2, los, on each juror and 103",
on the constable. The trial out of which this incident arose
was that of a suit to recover the value of a horse, which was
estimated at £3, los ; the decision turned on the question of
the identity 'of the animal. The jurors were Joseph Wilner,
Ambury Burton, Henry Marjirum, Edmund Lovett, Walter
Pomphret, William Darke, John Shaw. John Stackhouse, Jacob
Janney. Thomas Janney and James Moon, and the case that
of Francis White vs. John Alman.
The trial of criminal offences occupied a considerable portion
of the time of the early courts. There were numerous penal
statutes passed by the first assembly, and while the colonists
were generally peaceful, law abiding people, the records show
that there were some criminals among them. Most of the of-
fenders with whom the justices dealt were not very dangerous
characters and guilty of trifling offences only. Under the law
all persons were "Bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for cap-
ital offences, where the proof was evident or the presumption
great." Every quarter there was a jail delivery in every county.
The drawing of juries in criminal cases is thus provided for
in an old act : "In all causes, capital and criminal, the freemen
EARLY COURTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 6ll
of the county shall be summoned by the sheriffs, and the names
of the free men shall be writ in small pieces of paper and put
into a hat and shaken : forty-eight of whom shall be drawn
by a child, and those so drawn shall stand for the sheriff's
returns, and the first twelve, not reasonably excepted against,
shall stand and serve for the trial." The first grand jury in
the county, of which there is any record, was that in attendance
at June session 1685.
The offences which most frequently appear among the records
of the early criminal courts are theft, unlawfully selling rum.
perjury, scandal, profane swearing, etc. Those of burglary,
counterfeiting and murder occur only at intervals. In 1685
Joseph Lunn was brought before the court on the charge that
"he did swear several oaths." Lunn was the servant of Der-
rick Clawson, who had struck him, in consequence of which
Lunn used the profanity attributed to him. This appearing from
the evidence the court sentenced Lunn to pay for the three
oaths 15s, or suffer fifteen days imprisonment in the house of
correction at hard labor, and be fed on bread and water."
Clawson was also sentenced to pay a fine. He paid both fines
and the costs, Lunn being required to give him fifteen day's
service after the expiration of his term to reimburse him.
Clawson a few years later was arrested on a much graver
charge. In 1689, Philip Conway, whose disorderly conduct
in the jail on one occasion has been referred to, was fined
2s, 6d, "for the lie he told in John Swift's case, whereof he
was convicted by his own confession." Conway appears to
have been incorrigible, and in 1690 he had the audacity to steal
"a mare belonging to Governor Penn," for which he was sen-
tenced to make three-fold restitution, to be whipped on the
bare back with thirty-nine stripes, and to be banished out of
the government, not to return under penalty of one hundred
pounds. As we hear no more of him he either reformed or
sought other fields for his operations. In 1702 one Joseph
Ball pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with en-
tering the house of Joseph Plumley and stealing several pieces
of money. The court sentenced him to receive seven lashes
on his bare back and to wear a Roman "T" on his left arm
6l2 EARIvY COURTS OF BUCKS COUNTY
six months. Whipping was generally included in sentences for
theft and some other minor offences. Sometimes the record
adds to the number of lashes the words "well layed on." But
two murder cases appear in the records before 1700. In 1685
it appears by the minutes of the Provincial Council that John
Otter, one of the justices already mentioned, applied to the
Council for the appointment of a special commission to try
David Davis, who was then a prisoner "on suspetition of killing
his servant." The Council commissioned James Harrison, Ar-
thur Cook, Thomas Janney. \\'illiam Yardley and William
Biles "to hear and determine all heinous and enormous crimes
that shall be brought before them in ye County of Bucks, in
a court then to begin on ye 10th inst., by them to be held."
Davis was a chirurgeon and lived in Middletown. No further
trace of the case appears any where and it may be reason-
ably inferred that the "suspetition" was not well founded.
The first homicide case to engage the attention of the courts
in this county was that of Derrick Jonson, alias Clawson, who
was arrested for murder in May, 1692. On the 8th of that
month the body of an unknown man bearing marks of violence,
was found floating in the Neshaminy near its mouth. The
coroner of the county, John Cooke, made an investigation and
concluded that the crime had been committed about six weeks
before. He reported that "upon a due examination of things
it appeared that a considerable quantity of blood on the walls
and on the bed of Derrick Jonson, alias Clawson, about the
supposed time that the above murdered person lost his life, was
discovered, and the said Derrick refused to give any account
how the said blood came there : whereupon this court commit-
ted him, the said Derrick Jonson alias Clawson into the safe
custody of the sheriff until he shall be delivered by due course
of law." Jonson was later given a hearing the record of which
is as follows :
"Derrick Jonson alias Clawson on being examined said he showed the
blood o.n the wall to Edmund Lane and his brother Claus Jonson. and
to Mary Boyden, he also said there was no blood on the bed but
what was bled by a man that came to thrash for him three years ago, and
that he had spoke of the blood fully as much as it was. Coroner John
Cooke said that when he went to view the blood he perceived that it
EARLY COURTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 613
had run in several streams down the boards on the wall, which streams
continued until they went behind the planks that lay on the ground floor.
Brighta, the wife of said Derrick, said the blood seen on the wall was
discovered between day and sunrising, and that there was a sheet hanged
on the outside of the bed in the manner of curtain ;ind that there was no
blood in the bed. Being asked when they put fresh straw in the bed,
she said she was not certain, but she thought about the latter end of
March or beginning of April last."
Jonson and his wife were held for trial. On October 4, 1692,
they made application to be admitted to bail. The record reads
"Whereas it was supposed in the beginning of this court that the
said Derrick should have been brought to trial forthwith, but the judges
believing it to be more discretional to defer the trial until spring to see
if something further might not be discovered concerning the supposed
murther, and it being the winter season, and the prison inconvenient
for the season, thought good to order that bail be taken for his and
his wife's appearance at the next Court of Quarter Sessions to be held
for this county."
Accordingly Claus Jonson, the defendant's brother, and Peter
Rambo became their sureties in the sum of fifty pounds each.
The grand jury indicted Jonson for murder at the next regu-
lar session of the Provincial circular court, held at the court-
house on April 14th, 1693, by Samuel Jennings and Joseph
Growden. His wife and sister were also indicted for aiding
and assisting in the crime. Jonson was arraigned and pleaded
not guilty. The record states,
"He craved to have further time for trial, he not being prepared for it ;
which was allowed him by the court until the next Provincial Circular
Court held for this county, being the king's evidence was not so full as
hereafter it is expected that the king's attorney was not here to prosecute."
Evidently the case against the prisoner was not a strong
one. These expressions contained in the record clearly indicate
that the evidence was not conclusive of his guilt. On the 28th
Jonson presented a petition to the Provincial Council asking
for a trial by a commission similar to that in the Davis case
above referred to. There is no record of the trial, which
appears to have taken place between that date and June 26th,
when the Council refused an appeal from relatives, friends
and neighbors for clemency for Jonson, who is described in
the petition as "a pioneer condemned to dye." The execution
took place before the 30th of July following, when the minutes
6l4 EARLY COURTS OF BUCKS COUNTY
of the Council show that Israel Taylor, sheriff of the county,
was called upon "to give an account of the estate of Derrick
Jonson, lately sentenced and executed for murdering an un-
known person." Tradition fixes Tyburn as the place where
Jonson paid the dread penalty, but there is nothing to suggest
the fact, much less to establish it. except the gruesome name
that has been bestowed upon it. Jonson was a Swede, who
was among the first settlers of the county. He was at one time
a constable and at another an overseer-of-highways. How much
of the story of the crime of which he was adjudged guilty
and for which he died has been lost in the missing record of
his trial we do not know. The facts reported by the coroner
and developed upon the preliminary hearing before the court,
while justifying his arrest and indictment, would scarcely sus-
tain a conviction. But the adverse result, the refusal of the
Provincial Council to interfere and the prompt execution of
the prisoner leave little dou])t that other and more convincing
evidence of his g-uilt must have been produced at the trial.
Jonson's tragic fate must have been a startling episode in the
quiet life of the colony.
It is not the purpose of this paper to trace the development
of the judicial system of the Commonwealth, interesting and
profitable as it would be to do so. What has been attempted
is some account of the establishment of the administration of
justice in this county, which Penn chose for his home, and the
method and spirit of the conduct of legal proceedings in
those far off times, when the Great Founder exercised in
person the prerogatives of Governor of the Province. A mere
glance at these old records is all that is possible within the
limits of this paper, but it affords us a glimpse of the life of
our forefathers. The environment was different, but human
nature appears to have been much the same then as now.
Settlement of Tinicum Township.
BY GEN. VV. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLESTOWN, PA.
(Point Pleasant Meeting, August 14, 1900.)
The organization of townships, with some accounts of the
pioneers who settled them, transformed the native forests mto
productive farms, opened roads and built houses, with a sketch
of their gradual expansion and growth, is the most interesting
portion of a county's history.
The first legal steps toward the formation of townships in
Bucks county, were taken in 1690, when the Piovincial Council
authorized warrants to be drawn for the magistrates and grand
jury of each county, to subdivide them into hundreds and such
other subdivisions as shall be most convenient for the collection of
taxes and defraying of county expenses. The names of our early
townships were the creatures of chance, or were given them by
force of circumstances or location. Falls, took the name from the
falls in the Delaware ; Newtown, because it was a "new town,"
or settlement, in the woods ; Middletown, midway between the
uppermost inhabitants and those along the river below. Others,
again, were named after the places the settlers had come from,
which they were acquainted with, or where their friends lived
in the mother country.
It was a feature, in the organization of the townships of Bucks
county, that they were laid out in groups, at longer or shorter
intervals, and as the wants of settlers called for them. The first
group comprised Falls, Makefield, Bristol, Bensalem and Middle-
town. The fourth and last group, prior to 1752, when the county
was divided by cutting off Northampton county, included Tini-
cum township, the subject of our sketch. This group was formed
between 1734 and 1775, Durham being the last.
We first hear of Tinicum, or the territory it was made of, in
1699, during Penn's second visit. On the 6th of September Penn
wrote to James Logan, from Pennsbury,
"I desire to see T. Fairman for that I hear an Indian township, called
Tohickon, rich lands and much cleared bv the Indians, he has not sur-
6l6 SKTTLKMKXT (Jl- TIMCUM ToW.NSllir
veyed to mine and the children's tracts as I expected. It joins upon the
back of my manor of Highhmds, and I am sorry my Surveyor (>eneral
did not inform me thereof. If it be not in thy warrants, put it in, except
lands already, or formerly taken up. <>r an Indian township. The Indians
have been with me about it."
The "Manor of 1 liglilands" emljraccd a large part of what is
now I'pper ATakefiekl. and l)ack i)f it 10,000 j-cres were con-
hrnied to John Penn and liis chil(h-en. This may liave reference to
the same tract, and prol)ably the "Indian townshi])" was part of
wliat is now Tinicum. .\mong the earh'est and largest lan<l-
owners in the county was the "London Company." of whicli
7,500 acres were in Tinicum, the purchase being probably made
about 1699, and had a frontage of five miles on the Delaware.
In 1750 the English I^arliament authorized the sale of all the
London Company's land, and trustees were appointed to sell
it. and it gradually came into the possession of individual owners
and invited settlers.
The stream of emigration, that planted the Scotch-Irish on the
banks of Deep Run, in I^edmin^ter, carried settlers of the same
race across the Tohickon into wliat was then the wilderness of
Tinicum in the first quarter of the eighteenth century. It will
be noted from this that the first settlers in the woods of Tinicum,
(the real pioneers') were the English-speaking lace, afterwards
si'.ppianted by Germans. This was the case in several other
townships of the county, notably Plumstead, Bedminster and
Nockaiuixon.
We make no attemjjt to point out the first settler in Tinicum for
that would be difficult to do wath accuracy ; all w^e can do is to
group the first comers. By about 1730, one hundred and seventy
years ago, we find settled in the township William, Edward and
Moses ^Farshall, Moses and Joseph Collins, Joseph Haverford,
Richard Thatcher, David Grififee or Griffith, Richard Minturn,
James Ross, John Hall and James Willey, not one of them German.
These were the pioneers of Tinicum. In the museum of the Bucks
County Historical Society, you will see a sample of the tools and
implements of these "Nation-Makers," with which they felled the
trees, built log cabins and otherwise used in doors and out in
rearing comfortable homes in the wilderness. Edward Marshall
is historic, and to him we shall refer again. These pioneers
SETTI.EMENT OF TINICUM TOWNSHIP 617
were followed by others. In 1737 Mathew Hughes took up a
tract in the lower part of the township, on the river road, ex-
tending back to the hills; in 1739 Casper Kolb, a German, took
up 150 acres, which he sold ten years later to Michael Heany,
another German, and probably the ancestor of the family of this
name with you to-day in the township. In 1745 Heany bought
an equal quantity of patent land, described as "near Tohickon,
Bucks county." From this time onward settlers continued to
come to Tinicum ; John Praul, of Bensalem, patented several
hundred acres, extending from Point Pleasant up to Smithtown,
and reaching a mile back from the river ; V^an Fossen, a Hol-
lander, at the mouth of the Tohickon; Christopher Sigman, 1750,
and many other early settlers are on the roll of pioneers.
By 1738, there were enough settlers in Tinicum to justify a
township organization, and they took steps in that direction. On
March 26, twenty-six of the inhabitants, doubtless leading men,
"Petitioned the Court of Quarter Sessions to erect the following dis-
trict of country into a new township to be called Tennicunk. Beginning
at the lower corner of Nockamixon, on the river Delaware, thence ex-
tending by the same township southeast, 2,140 perches to the Tohickon
creek, thence down the said creek by the townships of Bedminster and
Plumstead to the Delaware aforesaid, then up the said river to place
of beginning."
The Court allowed the township and it was soon after surveyed
and organized. The original boundaries of Tinicum are ictained
without change. The area of the township is 17,177 acres. The
township organization invited settlers, and emigrants seeking new
homes, flocked to the country immediately north of the Tohickon.
The names on the petition for the erection of Tinicum, prove the
first settlers to have been English and Scotch-Irish, the bulk of
the Germans coming later. The petitioners for the township
were William, Edward and Moses Marshall, Moses, Joseph and
Jonathan Collins, Joseph Haverford, Richard Thatcher, David
Griffith, Richard Mintburn, James Ross, John Hall, James Willev.
James Stuart, Joseph M. King. Michael Williamson, William
Rickey, John McKee, John Peterson, James Brigg>s, James Camp-
bell, John Stewart, James Johnson, John Shaw, William Hill and
Joseph McFarland, who styled themselves "divers inhabitants of
the lands adjacent to Plumstead." It wotdd be a pleasant duty
6l8 SETTLEMENT OF TINICUM TOWNSHIP
to deal with the individual settlers, but a brief reference ro a
single family will have to suffice. I refer to the Williams family,
who descended from a Yankee ancestor who was born in Boston,
removed to Wilmington, Delaware, and thence to Philadelphia,
where he married. The great-grandfather of Hiram A. Wil-
liams purchased several hundred acres of John and Richard Penn.
His son Jeremiah bought the tract of his father and settled in
the township with his family prior to the Revolution. Newbury
D. Williams was a member of this family as is also John S. Wil-
liams, of Solebury, an active member of this society. At the
time of which we write Richard Stevens owned 4,131 acres, nearly
one-fourth of the land in the township.
We have met with the records of but few of the roads in Tin-
icum, the earliest being the road from the mouth of Tinicum
creek, near Erwinna, then known as "London ferry" to the mouth
of Indian Cabin run, where it crosses the Tohickon and meets
the Durham road, laid out in 1741. The Durham road was opened
through the township in 1745. In 1747, a road was surveyed
from London ferry to the Durham road, 12 miles and 36,712
perches. The bridge over the Tohickon on the Durham road
was built in 1765 at a cost of £283, i6s, io>2d, the taxpayers
contributing £101, 13s, 6d. The crossing was called John Orr's
ford, after the first settler at that place, ancestor of the distin-
guished South Carolina family of that time.
A century ago and for some time before, Arthur Erwin was
Tinicum's largest land owner and most prominent citizen. When
the London company's land was sold at public sale in 1761, he
purchased 1,568 acres. He was of Scotch-Irish birth, and set-
tled in Tinicum prior to the Revolution and represented the county
in the Assembly in 1785. He laid out Erwinna, which was
named for him. He was assassinated in Luzerne county, 1791,
and at his death was the richest man in Bucks county, owning
2,000 acres in Tinicum, some in Durham, and 25,000 acres in
Steuben county. New York. His son also represented this
county in the Assembly. Each of his children received 2,500
acres, but the family, at this time, does not own a foot of his
ancestral acres, a noted example of riches "taking wings and
flying away." In 1816 a daughter of William Erwin married
SETTLEMENT OF TINICUM TOWNSHIP 619
John L. Dick, of Doylestown, who died in less than two months
of typhus fever, and the widow subsequently married Thomas G.
Kennedy; he was afterward elected sheriff of the county.
A very interesting part of the history of Tinicum is that which
relates to the industrial establishment founded by Joseph Smith,
a native of Buckingham township, a little over one hundred years
ago. Two and a half miles above Mount Pleasant, on the banks
of the Delaware, he erected dwellings, grist and saw-mills and
smith and plow shop where he carried on a very extensive busi-
ness for several years. The place was called "Smithtown," from
the name of its founder. The principal employment was making
plows and mould-boards. Joseph Smith was assisted by his sons
and brother Robert, and in 1800, the latter took out a patent for
a cast iron mould-board, the first of the kind ever invented.
Before that plows were fitted with wooden mould-boar Js, but
this invention revolutionized the plow as well as plowing. In
1803 the Smiths shipped 758 mould-boards to Philadelphia. The
patent for this mould-board hangs in the museum of the Bucks
County Historical Society, and receives much attention. Upon
the death of Joseph Smith the plow works were carried on several
years by his sons. Joseph Smith likewise introduced the use of
hard coal in blacksmith shops in Bucks county and taught
others how to use it. Some of the Smiths went into Tinicum
in 1774. but the copartnership was not entered into until 1784,
about the time Smithtown was founded. This improvement in
the plow gave Mr. Smith the confidence of Thomas Jefferson.
He also introduced cloverseed into Bucks county and the use of
plaster-of-Paris on land, which have proved sources of great
wealth. It is said the west bank of the Delaware might have
become the seat of the DuPont powder works, subsequently estab-
lished on the Brandywine, in Delaware, had proper effort been
made and interest manifested in the enterprise. Under date of
September 10, 1801, Joseph Erwin in a letter to George Wall,
of Solebury, says Mr. DeNoilles, accompanied by Mr. DuPont
(Depont) formerly French Council at Charleston, S. C, paid a
visit to Mr. Prevost, founder of Frenchtown, N. J. DuPont
was then looking for a place to establish powder works in this
country. Mr. Erwin states he was not then fully acquainted with
620 SETTLEMENT OF TINICUM TOWNSHIP
Mr. DuPont"s object or he would have otiered him a location at
Ervvinna. When the matter was mentioned to Mr, Prevost, he
promised to write to Mr. DuPont, but it is believed that he did
not do so.
Edward 2^Iarshall, another resident of Tinicum, was a very
picturesque and famous person, but on a ditferent line. He was
born at Bustleton, Pliiladelphia in 1710, and was 27 years of
age when he made the great walk that led to the so-called "Walking
Purchase," of 1737, which gained for the Penns a large amount of
valuable territory, but lost the good will which the Indians had
entertained for the founder of the Colony. Marshall was a
hunter by occupation and choice. He was twice married and the
father of 21 children. What time he came into the county is not
known, but he moved up into what is now Monroe county after
the Great W'alk, but subsequently removed to an island in the
Delaware opposite Tinicum. wdiere he died in 1789. He was
a famous Indian slayer, not because he delighted in taking life,
but in revenge for their killing of his wiie while abf^ent from home.
From this time forward he swore vengeance against the red men
and lost no opportunity to shoot them. If questioned on the
subject of killing Indians, he had a way of gelling rid of his
questioner by saying that when he saw an Indian "he generally
shut one eye and never saw him afterward." As Marshall could
not get a rifle in this country to suit him. he caused a barrel and
lock to be purchased in Germany which he had mounted here.
I have seen and handled this famous piece. On the top of the bar-
rel are the following letters, faintly seen: "I. A. D. Rosenberg."
The rifle is still in the family, and when I saw it, some years ago,
the hair trigger was as sensitive to the touch as when the original
owner set it to shoot Indians over 150 years ago. In the flint-
box was the identical rammer-screw that Marshall used in clean-
ing it before starting out in search of human game. It is doubt-
ful wdiether any other firearm in existence has shed so much
human blood as this old rifle. The Marshall graveyard, as many
of you know, is on a hill facing southeast a mile and a half from
where Tinicum creek empties into the Delaware.*
On the left bank of the Delaware opposite Tinicum in Hunter-
* For description of the Marshall graveyard see paper by John S. Williams, Vol. II,
page 348 ante.
SETTLEMENT OF TINICUM TOWNSHIP 62 1
don county, N. ]., is the flourishing borough of Frenchtown.
The land, it is built on, was purchased about a century ago, and
Colonel George Piper and General Paul Mallet Prevost laid out
the town. The early growth was slow, and 75 years ago it
contained not more than half a dozen houses. One of them, of
log, on the Baptistown road is said to have been inhabited by a
carpenter who sometimes got employment as a hand on the Dur-
ham boats that plied on the river. Their bound girl was "Posses-
sed with an evil spirit," and people flocked for miles to witness
her "manifestations." In recent years there were aged people
who had stories to tell of "Wyker's Ghost," but, that, with many
other things, has passed into history. The Prevosts were an old
Huguenot family which took up its residence in Switzerland upon
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and came to this country
prior to the Revolution. Paul Mallet Prevost's uncle, General
Augustin Prevost, distinguished himself in defence of Savannah
in the Revolution, and his great-grandson Sutherland M. Prevost,
is now (1900) Third Vice President of the Pennsylvania railroad.
The Old Sullivan Road.
BY RKV. IIKNRV M. KIEFI'KR, D. D., EASTON, PA.
(Point Pleasant Meeting, August 14, 1900.)
Before entering upon the theme on which I have been asked
to speak to you on this occasion, may 1 not be permitted to say
that I deem it a great privilege and a distinguished honor to enjoy
the favor of this meeting. May I not Ix^ permitted also to say that
there would seem to be some propriety in a citizen of Eascon and
of Northampton county taking part in the anniversary of the Bucks
County Historical Association ? For, what is now known as the
county of Northampton was originally a part of Bucks, and of the
original territory of Bucks no place or town or settlement was
more important or better known in Colonial and Revolutionary
days than "Easton," or "The Forks of the Delaware." On the
occupation of Philadelphia by the British, the archives of Con-
gress were removed to Easton as a place of security. Here, on
the point of land at the junction of the Eehigh and the Delaware
river — still known as "The Point," and a favorite meeting place
with the Indians long before the advent of the white man — numer-
ous meetings were held by the colonial authorities and the Indians,
and treaties made, the representatives of the powerful confeder-
acy of the Six Nations finding their way by an Indian trail from
the chief settlements in western New York along tlie Susque-
hanna, and over the wild and rugged mountains of the Pocono
to the settlements on the Delaware.
^lore than a year before the terrible massacre at Wyoming —
which occurred in 1778 — a meeting was held at Easton, by special
resolution of Congress, in January 1777, between certain com-
missioners of Congress on the one hand, and the representatives
of the Six Nations or their affiliated tribes, on the other, the
Honorable George Taylor, one of the signers of the Declaration
being the president and the celebrated Thomas Paine the secre-
tary of the legation. The sessions of the great convention
between the two were held in the old Reformed church in which
I have the honor to preach. The church itself was erected in
THE OLD SULUVAN ROAD 623
1776. Though frequently re-modeled since its erection, and at
present one of the handsomest church edifices in our city, the
original walls still stand, and in their ponderous strength bid fair
to stand a thousand years. At ,the time of the treaty it was the
largest building in Easton, and was no sooner completed than the
men of the congregation shouldered their guns and marched ofif
to join the armies of Washington, leaving their commodious
church building to be used as an hospital during the war. When
the treaty was held, the church records say that "The organ first
played, then the red man and the pale face drank rum together,
and then they proceeded to business."
One could wish they had omitted the rum and transacted the
business better. The purpose of this as of all the treaties made
with the Indians in that day was, to detach the Six Nations from
the British and to unite them in terms of friendship with the
struggling Colonies — or at least to secure their neutrality in the
conflict. The massacre at Cherry Valley and Wyoming the next
year abundantly demonstrates the failure of the treaties to ac-
complish this great result.
At Easton, also, the Sullivan expedition was organized the
year after the massacre, viz., in 1779, for the purpose of punish-
ing the Indians for their inhuman barbarities at Wyoming. Here
the troops of Washington assembled in June of the year named,
and hence they set forth on their long and toilsome expedition
through an unbroken wilderness, against the western Indians,
to carry SAvord and torch into the heart of the enemies' country.
Those Indians had their home in western New York. That
was the central seat of their power.
If you take the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroad,,
pass through Easton, Water Gap, Scranton, Elmira, Binghamton,
as far as the Genesee river, you will come into an exceedingly
fertile country. The land is gently rolling, but at many places
level as the prairies. The soil is deep, loose, free from stone, and
exceedingly rich. The Genesee river, like the Nile of Egypt,
annually overflows its banks, and leaves a precious alluvial deposit
which relieves the farmer of all necessity of artificial fertilizing.
Great crops are there grown of grain and corn, peas and beans, cel-
ery, asparagus and other vegetables, while no better fruit crops are
624 THE OLD SULLIVAN ROAD
anywhere to be found. There the Indians hved. There they
had their towns, consisting not of huts or rude wigwams, but of
log houses well and carefully built. Genesee Castle, for instance,
w hich was located on the present site of the town of Moscow in
Livingstone county, X. \., consisted of Ii8 well built log houses.
Many broad acres of grain, corn and cereals of all kinds were
cultivated by the Indians, not only for their own support, but for
the nourishing of the British army. When, therefore, Washing-
ton determined to send a strong expedition against these western
Indians, his object was not only to punish them for their part in
the massacre at \\'yoming, but to strike at the very central seat of
their power, and at the same time to strike indirectly at the British,
by destroying one source of supply for their armies. It is of this
expedition, and more particularly of the road by which the arm}^
reached its ultimate destination, that I have been asked on this
occasion to speak, my theme being
THE OLD SULLIVAN ROAD.
Whoever visits that rough section of country in Monroe county
of this state known by the general designation of "The Pocono
jMountains." whether his errand be that of the summer tourist in
search of rest and refreshment, or that of the angler or hunter
in quest of sport or game, will be sure to hear of "The Old
Sullivan Road." Whether you go by rail through the iieart of
this yet wild wilderness, or commit yourself to the soul-stirring
movements of a long swinging buckboard, the favorite mode of
conveyance through these rough regions of scrub-oak and pine,
great reaches of swamp and marsh, and tangled growth of laurel
and rhododendron, you will be sure sooner or later to be told that
}ou are now on "The Old Sullivan Road."
If you are a new-comer in these regions, and have the good for-
tune to be in charge of a communicative buckboard charioteer.
you will very likely be told that
"General Sullivan went through here with an army during the Revo-
lutionary War, to fight the Indians up at Wyoming. He had a good
many soldiers with him, and they had to cut a road through all this
wild country all the way up. The road we are now driving over is that
road — the Old Sullivan Road. They must have had an awful time,
those poor fellows, cutting a road through these mountains, for it's a
the; old SULLIVAN ROAD 625
pretty rough country yet, and what must it not have been a hundred
years ago? By and by we'll pass by Hell's Kitchen and Hungry Hill,
and I'll show you where the old soJdier is buried along the road.'
These remarkably realistic names, rude landmarks of an old-
time march by a column of Continental soldiers, stimulate the
curiosity of the man in search of Revolutionary lore, the more
so as he passes over "Hungry Hill" and is shown two flat rough
mountain stones, one at the head and the other at the foot of a
grave said to contain the dust of some poor fellow whose march
ended in this lonely spot, with the murmuring pines and the hem-
locks above him, and the sweet-smelling trailing arbutus around
him.
Not far from this spot your driver will point his whip to what
is yet a great swamp (though on the top of a mountain and at an
elevation of nearly 2,000 feet) which he will tell you goes by the
singular name of "Hell's Kitchen," and when you ask, "How in
the w^orld it ever came by such a name?", he only shakes his head
and says he doesn't know.
"That's the name it always had. Got it 011 the Sullivan march, some
way or other. May be it was very hot weather when they came through
here, or because they had little to eat, or something. Can't tell which. There
used to be an old pine tree down there in the swamp that had an in-
scription cut in the bark, or rather into the solid pitch pine under the
bark, but it was cut out a good many years ago and taken to the
museum of the Historical Society in Philadelphia, and there were only
two words, in letters, several inches high— 'Hell's Kitchen.' A few
miles further on, the road crosses the Tunkhanna creek, and then the
larger Tobyhanna, passes Locust Ridge, crosses the headwaters of the
Lehigh, goes through the "Shades of Death," and from there leads on
in a northwesterly direction to Wyoming."
Thus you get your first introduction to "The Old Sullivan
Road" after a true, hearty and unceremonious Pocono mountain
fashion, and if you be a person interested in the early historv
of your country, you feel disposed to make some further inquiry
into the local traditions as well as the recorded facts concerning
this old military road over wdiich the avengers of the blood of
W^'oming marched more than a hundred years ago.
You first investigate "Hell's Kitchen." It is a warm summer
day when you go down into the swamp in which it is situated.
The swamp is put down in the engineer's survey made by Sulli-
626 THE OLD SULLIVAN ROAD
van's men, as "The Great Bear Swamp" and is thirteen miles
long and several wide. You find it a tangled mass of laurel and
rhododendron, cranberry, huckleberry, scrub-oak and hemlock,
roots and fallen trees and bogs endlessly intermingled — and you
find it also one of the hottest places on earth. However fine may be
the breeze that is blowing out in the open, here, with huge rhodo-
dendron all about you, and reaching far over your head, and
shutting out every breath of air, the dark, dank morass exhaling its
moisture and saturating the stifling atmosphere — whew! After
thrashing about for half an hour, you beat a retreat for the "Old
Sullivan Road," steaming with perspiration, and have no further
need to ask any one why this spot was called "Hell's Kitchen"
by the soldiers of Sullivan.
In the further course of your investigations, you ride over the
road from Tannersville, or "Learn's Tavern" as it was called
120 years ago, to the "Shades of Death" well on toward Wyoming.
You locate the camps of Sullivan's army at various points along
the way ; note how carefully the road hugged the high ground
wherever high ground could be found ; observe how steep and
rugged and rocky the ascent is all the way from the Wind Gap
to the summit of the Pocono, until the great swamp is reached on
top of the mountain.
You look up the oldest inhabitant, old uncle Andrew Eschen-
bach, a man of more than 90 years, and learn the traditions of
the road from him. You interview the man who cut out the
"Hell's Kitchen" block from the pine tree, and you become sensi-
ble of a growing antiquarian interest in this old military road
which was for many years the only means of communication be-
tween Wilkes-Barre and the Delaware.
For want of proper carefulness mistakes have frequently been
made concerning this old road. Thus, some years ago, a certain
justly very celebrated American historian, whose name you would
all recognize were it mentioned, made a very ridiculous blunder
concerning it. Being engaged in writing a chapter on the Sullivan
expedition for a very valuable historical work in course of prepa-
ration at the time, he came to Easton and lodged over night with
the late highly esteemed Dr. Traill Green, his purpose being to
set forth the next morning to ride over the "Old Sullivan Road," in
THE OLD SUI^IvIVAN ROAD 627
order to give it his personal inspection, and prepare an account of
it for his forthcoming book. He went his way, and when the book
appeared his Easton host wrote him, that "he had given a very
charming account of the "Old Sullivan Road" from Easton to
the Wind Gap in the Blue mountain, and as far as Ross Common,
or maybe a trifle beyond — and that he had gone astray, from that
point onward, giving a very fine description of the Wilkes-Barre
turnpike, which was opened half a century later."
A very common impression is that this old road was cut through
this inhospitable wilderness by the army of Sullivan, which left
Easton, June 18, 1779, and reached Wyoming near Wilkes-Barre
some five or six days later, and more than one writer and speaker
has grown eloquent over the hardships and trials and labors en-
dured by that army in accomplishing such an Herculean feat.
To convince any observant man that this road could never have
been opened in that way in the short period of five or six days,
he needs only to ride over that road from Tannersville to the
Tobyhanna— on a buckboard.
No. The road was not cut through by Sullivan's main army,
but by an advance body of pioneers some 500 in number, who
began the work early in May and finished it not in five days, but
in six weeks. When it was finished, Sullivan's anny set out
from Easton on its march to Wyoming, 2,500 strong, reaching
Wyoming in five days, with its supply train and artillery, a column
two miles in length — a tardy but terrible avenger of blood.
The depredations of the Indians the former year (1778) at
Wyoming and Cherry Valley had weighed heavily on the mind
of Washington, and he had determined that something should be
done for the punishment of these inhuman savages, and for the
protection of the exposed settlements on the frontiers. In Octo-
ber of that year he addressed a letter to the Continental Congress
in reference to the matter. The General Assembly of Pennsylva-
nia also urged the necessity of vigorous action. Accordingly
early in the following year, 1779, Congress, then in session in
Philadelphia, sent to General Washington at his headquarters at
Middlebrook, now Bound Brook, N. J., explicit orders "to take
effectual measures for the protection of the inhabitants and the
chastisement of the savages."
628 THE OLD SULLIVAN ROAD
Washington then wrote to Governor George Clinton, of New
York, informing him of the secret expedition he was organizing,
and asked his heartj co-operation, which was cheerfully granted.
The design of Washington was that the expedition should consist
of two grand divisions, one of which starting from "The Forks
of the Delaware," (now Easton) should cut its way through the
wilderness of the Pocono mountains to Wyoming and ascend the
north branch of the Susquehanna to its intersection with the Tioga
river, there to be joined by the other division under General James
Clinton, who was to descend the Susquehanna from its source.
The united divisions, numbering about 5,000 men, were thence to
march along the Chemung river by way of Elmira (then called ,
Newtown ) to western New York, burning the Indian villages, de-
stroying their crops, fighting the foe wherever he could be brought
to a stand, "carrying the war into Africa," and fighting the Indian
with his own weapons.
It is said that Washington was a good judge of men, and cer-
tainly his selection of a commander for this important expedition
did credit to his judgment. For, although a young man, being
then in his thirty-ninth year, Major General John Sullivan was
a competent and experienced officer, and conducted this afifair
with such discretion as to win for himself a vote of thanks from
Congress.
General Sullivan was by no means a novice in expeditions of
this kind, having long before given proof of that fertility in re-
source, and courage in execution so necessary to such undertak-
ings. From a vers^ interesting article in Harper's Magazine for
July 1886, "The Powder for Bunker Hill," one may learn some
interesting facts concerning his early history. He was born in Som-
erworth. New Hampshire, in 1740. His father, who was in the
F'retender"s service, had fled from Ireland to America for
political reasons. His mother also emigrated from Ireland when
a young woman. During the voyage across the water, a fellow
passenger asked her — "And what do you expect to do over there
in America?" "Do*?" was the quick reply of the laughing girl —
"Do? Why I'll raise governors for them sure!" A remarkable
prediction verily, for one of her sons was governor of Massa-
chusetts, a grandson, governor of Maine, another was a United
the; 0I,D SULLIVAN ROAD 629
States Senator, and still another lieutenant-governor of Illinois.
Living at Durham in New Hampshire at the outbreak of the
Revolution, Sullivan was notified by Paul Revere on his celebra-
ted ride that two regiments of British troops were about to
march from Boston to occupy Portsmouth and the fort in its
harbor. Young Sullivan hastily and secretly organized a body of
his fellow townsmen, embarked in a boat, surprised the garrison
on a clear, bitterly cold moonlit December night, and carried
off 100 casks of powder— an invaluable prize to the colonists, as
the event proved, for, the powder being taken back in the boat, the
larger part of it "was buried under the pulpit in the meeting-
house in front of Major Sullivan's residence." At the battle of
Bunker Hill there was a grievous lack of ammunition amongst the
colonists. In the very height of the engagement, when the Brit-
ish were forming to charge the lines of the patriots, it was dis-
covered that Prescott's men had but one round of ammunition
left and that Stark's men were but little better supplied, when
in the very nick of time an ample supply of powder arrived on
the field. "It had been brought over from Durham, sixty miles
away in old John Demeritt's ox-cart, and was part of the store
that had been buried under parson Adam's pulpit." To a man who
had exhibited such courage, foresight and loyalty, Washington
thought the secret expeflition against the western Indians might
be safely entrusted.
Of the sixty miles traversed by the expedition from Easton to
Wyoming, not less than forty lay through a vast mountain wil-
derness, which had seldom known the footsteps of a white man.
For a distance of forty miles, from what is now known as Tan-
nersville, which under the name of Larned's Tavern was the out-
post of civilization north of the Blue mountain at that day, an
unbroken solitude extended. An irregular mountain range, or
^ather a succession of thickly wooded foot-hills, intervened be-
tween the settlements on the Delaware and that at Wyoming. A
wild and rugged country it is to this day, abounding in rocky
ravines, impenetrable swamps and bold mountain bluffs. Through-
out all these forty miles there was no other road than a mere
thread of an Indian trail by which the red man found his wav
630 Till-: OLD SULLIVAN ROAD
from his settlements in New York State to the head waters of
the Lehigh and Delaware.
In order, therefore, to condugt a military expedition into the
Indian country, it was necessary to penetrate this great wilderness
by cutting a military road through forty miles of its extent, and
in order to construct this road it was necessary to send forward
an advance body of men as a pioneer corps.
One portion of this vanguard, a pioneer corps, was taken from
the army of Washington wdiicli had wintered in New Jersey at
Bound Brook, viz., Colonel Oliver Spencer's New Jersey regiment,
consisting of 32 officers and 283 men. This hardy body of men,
breaking camp the first of ]\Iay, marched to the Forks of the
Delaware, crossed over to Pennsylvania in boats, taking their
way around the north shoulder of the hill on which Lafayette
College now stands, and by a somewhat disused street of our
city w^hich still bears the name of "Sullivan" street, bearing away
to the \\'in(l Ga]), and thence to "Larneds," "Larners" or "Learn's
Tavern." now known as Tannersville, the extreme outpost of
civilization on the Indian trail to Wyoming.
Here they were joined by a second contingent of the vanguard,
the Second New York regiment under Colonel Van Cortlandt,
which had wintered in Ulster county, N. Y., and had received
orders from W^ashington to proceed to Fort Penn near Strouds-
burg. Pa., there to await the orders of General Sullivan. Ac-
cordingly, the regiment loaded its own baggage and stores on
farm wagons, marched to Port Jervis where the wagons were
discharged, and the baggage sent by boats down the Delaware
to Decker's ferry, where the troops crossed, marching by way of
Stroudsburg to Learn's Tavern, where they joined Colonel
Spencer's men, the two regiments together numbering about 500.
Amongst the thirty journals or diaries of soldiers and officers
connected with this famous expedition, which a few years ago
were published by the New York State Legislature, none is more
interesting than the two or three by the men with this pioneer
corps — that of Lieutenant Hardenberg, of the Second New York
eminently so. It is a well written and carefully kept diary of the
deeds and experiences of the vanguard, from day to day giving
ample evidence of the difficulty with which this road was con-
THE OI.D SULLIVAN ROAD 63 1
structed, and the hardships endured by the officers and men who
cut it through the primeval forests and almost impassable swamps.
They suffered from want of provisions (a not uncommon event
with soldiers) so much so that we read that on "June 3rd the men
could not work, having nothing to eat," giving their camp the name
of "Hungry Hill" which it still bears. They doubtless floundered
about in the great swamp, and left their mark on "Hell's
Kitchen" hard by. They built a bridge and a causeway across
the Tobyhanna. a hundred and fifteen paces in length. "The creek
is considerably large and abounds with trout. vSome good land
along the creek. The road very hard to make." On Monday,
the 14th, he says "The General beat, struck tents and marched to
Wyoming, and arrived there about 12 and pitched camp" — no
doubt precious glad to have finished this part of the work at last,
and to have got out of the great wilderness of Pocono.
The journals of the soldiers with the main body express wonder
at the prodigious labor involved in the construction of a road
through such a wilderness. Thus, the diary of Sergeant Thomas
Roberts says —
"June 2ist. Marched twenty milds through the Grate Swamp wheare
there was not A hous nor fense nothing but Rocks and Mountains and
a Grate part of it was as dark as after sundown. When it was noon-Day
at times the Sun Was not to Bee Seen that for the timber the swamp
so thick you Cold not see ten foot. We Incamped that Day at the End of
the 'Shades of Death.' "
It appears from the records that desertions from the ranks on
this march were not infrequent. Perhaps the gloom of the forest
affected the spirits of the soldiers, many of whom had at best but
little liking for the kind of errand they were on. Fighting the
British in the open field was one thing, but fighting the miserable
red-skins in swamps and forests was quite another. Poor fel-
lows ! Some of them were caught and promptly executed as an
example of discipline to the army. When the army halted for
the night somewhere north of the Wind Gap, at the farm of one
Nicholas Young, a young Irishman, Thomas Gilmore, going to
the spring for a canteen of water, saw the daughter, Rachel
Young, on a similar errand. Filling her pail for her, and carrying
it up to the house, he then engaged to cut wood for his supper and
breakfast, and while chopping the wood he cut an ugly gash in
632 THK OLD SULLIVAN ROAD
his foot with the axe — accidentally, perhaps. At all events, his
regimental surgeon bound up the foot, put him on the sick list, and
he had to march, not "left in front." but "left behind," when the
army marched the next morning. He stayed six weeks, until his
foot got well and he had won tiic heart of Rachel. And after
the cruel war was over, he came back one day to the Young
homestead near Lake Poponoming, and claimed his bride, and
settled on a fertile tract of land which he had noticed on this expe-
dition along the Susquehanna ; and to-day some very eminent peo-
ple in Pennsylvania may trace their ancestry to a young soldier lad
filling his canteen and looking at the same time into the bright
eyes of a )'oung girl at a fountain of water.
On the arrival of the troops at Wyoming, all were amazed at
the scene of desolation presented t(» iheir view. As the journal
of ]\iajor Xorris says:
"A melancholy scene of desolation, in ruined houses, wasted fields,
and fatherless children, and widows. These unhappy people, after living
in continual alarms, and disputing for many years their possessions with
the Pennsylvanians, at length were attacked ])y a merciless band of
savages, led on hy a more savage Tory Butler, their houses were plun-
dered and burnt, their cattle and effects conveyed away after they had
capitulated, and the poor, helpless w^onien and children obliged to skulk
in the mountains and perish, or travel down to the inhabitants hungry,
naked and unsupported — in a word language is too weak to paint and
humanity unable to endure the history of their sufferings."
There can be no doubt that the scenes there witnessed by the
continental troops fired their spirits with courage and a burning
desire to wreak a summary vengeance upon the inhuman savages,
and their still more inhuman leaders and instigators — the Tories.
It falls not within the scope of this paper to follow in detail
the further progress of the Sullivan expedition. Suffice it to say
that the expedition, after its junction with Clinton's troops at
Tioga, was, for that day, a very formidable array. Probably no
greater army of men had ever been seen by the Indian scouts, who
w^atched its every movement from the mountain tops. It carried
with it terror to the hearts of the Indians, who fled at its approach.
With difficulty they were brought to a stand at Newtown (now
Elmira) where they were terrified by Sullivan's artillery, and
were so utterly defeated that they never again attempted a battle.
THE OLD SULLIVAN ROAD 633
Once up in the fertile Genesee valley, where the Indians had their
towns, and many acres of crops growing under the summer sun,
their towns were burned to the number of 140, their crops were
destroyed to the estimated amount of 60,000 bushels of grain,
and desolation left behind in retaliation for the desolation of
Wyoming. A pity it is that the Sullivan expedition could not
have brought help to, rather than vengeance for, the people of
Wyoming, but it happened in this case, as in many others in
human history, explain it how we may — that bloodshed attends the
path of progress. "The Old Sullivan Road" is the path of the
avenger of blood, but it is more — it is one of the earliest evidences
in our history of a spirit of nationality struggling to an expres-
sion of itself; the exponent of that spirit of fraternity and fel-
lowship which, for more than a century, has been making all
sections of our land one, free and indivisible. AA'e have now no
less than three railroads traversing the distance between the
Forks of the Delaware and Wyoming, but in the evolul:ion of
all these magnificent highways of traffic there is still existing, and
still used, one old roadway, the precursor of all. constructed with
prodigious effort, and sweat, and blood, over which the historian
may well linger, and the man of contemplative mind may well
reflect — "The Old Sullivan road."
Indian "Busts" Found in Hilltown Township.
BY REV. J. G. DENGLER, SELEERSVIEEE, PA.*
"" (Quakertown Meeting, April 15, 1S84.)
As shown by the minute-book of the Bucks County Historical
Society, Rev. Dengler presented a paper on this most interesting
subject, which for some reason was not printed in the county
newspapers; and it further appears that the manuscript was not
preserved. The editors having, therefore, written to Rev. Deng-
ler, asking for his recollection as to the contents of his paper,
received in reply a letter from him dated October 30, 1908, from
which the following information is obtained.
"While making a pastoral visit to the aged father Benjamin
Wirebach, of Hilltown township, at that time 80 to 84 years of
age, I heard him refer to Indian gods, or, as he called them in
Pennsylvania German, 'Inchin Gotter.' This aroused my cu-
riosity, and from him I learned the following facts :
''In the meadow, near the home of Mr. Wirebach, when he was
a young man, were numerous Indian graves, on which curious
stones, all having the shape of a man's head or bust, had been
placed to mark the burials. They consisted of both large and
small busts, the small ones marking the graves of children. From
time to time, these busts or markers were carried away. Some
of them, however, were still preserved in the neighborhood, one
being in the yard of a Mrs. Meyers. Acting on this suggestion,
I called on Mrs. Meyers, and found in her front yard, m a
flower-bed, the bust referred to, which I purchased, as she was
willing to part with it for a consideration.
"I was told that there had been nearly a dozen of these busts
at one time, but all had become lost or stolen. I succeeded, how-
ever, in finding a second one in the yard of a Mr. Noll. People
who remembered seeing a number of them said they all looked
alike, were made of 'new red sandstone,' and all had the same
general characteristics. Those in possession of Mrs. Meyers and
Mr. Noll were certainly of the same form, although the specimen
which T obtained from Mrs. Meyers was much the finer of the
two. It was about two feet high, and had all the characteristics
* Xow fiqog^ residing at Oley. Berks county. Pa.
INDIAN "BUST."
Typical specimen of the probably weather-made and non-artificial series of "bust
found along the summit of the ridge referred to by Mr. Mercer,
township to the Delaware river at Point Pleasant
museum of the University of Pennsylvania.
tending from Hilltown
Specimen in the archaeological
INDIAN " BUST."
Found in 1S.S4 by Rev. J. G. Dengler at the Wirebach farm in Hilltown township A
local tradU.on remembered by Mr. Wirebach affirmed that the object had been placed
upon a neighboring Indian grave. Specimen presented to the University of Pennsylvania
by Rev. Dengler, and now in its archaeological museum.
INDIAN "busts" found IN HILLTOWN TOWNSHIP 635
of the Indian, viz : high cheek bones, high apex and a thick neck,
when viewed from the sides.
"On the day of the meeting at Ouakertown, 1 took the bust
purchased from Mrs. Meyers with me, and exhibited it in con-
nection with and to ilhistrate my paper, which was hstened to
with great interest. After reading my paper, I was congratulated
by many of the members on what they said they thought was
an important discovery. I remember particularly the congratu-
lations of Mr. Charles Laubach, of Durham, Pa., who stated that
in his opinion I had made myself famous by the discovery of these
busts. He said it was the first evidence of pre-historic sculpture
east of the Alleghenies. Mr. Laubach afterwards purchased from
Mr. Noll, the other bust to which I have referred.
"When the reports of my paper and of the bust reached the
notice of the archaeologists at Philadelphia and elsewhere, I was
besieged with letters from them asking for further information.
This continued for some months, which not only interested but
also amused me, because I had no idea that it would receive so
much attention. Among the letters received was one, as I recol-
lect, from a Mr. Brown, Secretary of some ethnological society,
which resulted in a visit from him ; but alas ! he declared that
the bust was 'an accidental creation of nature.' He expressed
regret that he was often compelled to destroy the value of such
finds. I assured him that it caused me no special disappoint-
ment whatever.
"I now thought that my bust was 'done for,' and gave it no
further concern ; but the end was not yet, as I received a letter
from Dr. D. G. Brinton of the Academy of Natural Sciences,
requesting me to send it to Philadelphia, as they wished to give
it special consideration. I at once sent it forward, but as I heard
nothing from them for several months, I thought my 'poor
Indian' had suffered a sad fate. While attending a meeting of
the Synod of the Reformed Church at Reading, I was surprised
one morning by several friends asking me whether I had seen
the Philadelphia papers, containing an account of my bust. I
found that the newspapers had devoted more than a column in
reporting a meeting of the scientists, at which my bust was con-
sidered, giving the separate opinion of a number of specialists,
over their own signatures, among which was thai of Dr. Brinton.
636 INDIAN "rusts" found IN HILLTOWN TOWNSHIP
Tlie concensus of opinion was that it was not a specimen of any
sort of Indian sculpture, but as Dr. Brinton had said, 'an ac-
cidental creation' by water, frosts, &c.
"But *lo. the poor Indian' was not dead yet. From the time
of the Ouakertown meeting, the correspondence to which I have
referred was kept up with quite a number of people, including
Mr. Henry C. Mercer, of Doylestown, who was later appointed
Curator of the Museum, of the University of Pennsylvania.
"After the meeting in Philadelphia, a controver.sy again arose,
relative to the genuineness of the bust as a pre-historic Indian
sculpture relic. I was told that Mr. Mercer was especially
active in his claims for the historic value of the bust. It was he,
I believe, who, after a long controversy, had the celebrated
Xenape Stone" acknowledged as a genuine article of Indian en-
graving.
"My bust finally found a resting place in the Museum of the
University of Pennsylvania, where it now is. Dr. C. C. Abbott, who
was Curator of the ]\lus^um at that time, wrote to ask me for a
copy of my paper, which alas, I had destroyed, not considering
it of any further value. However, I gave him a history of the
manner in which the bust came into my possession.
"Personally, I could never accept the theory of 'accidental
creation,' believing there was too large a number of the stones,
all having the same general .shape, which was attested to by a
number of people who saw them. The two busts which I saw
were of the same type ; both bore clearly the marks of the working
of some tool, which I believe was the work of the Indian ; and
moreover, the information well authenticated was, that they were
all seen over a century ago, on Indian graves or mounds."
COMMUNIC.\TION FROM HENRY C. MERCER.
I well remember the archaeological discussion at the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania caused by the presentation of the alleged
"Indian busts." referred to by Rev. Dengler.
The question argued by Dr. Brinton. Dr. Abbott (then curator)
a geologist, lithologist. and others, was whether these objects in
possession of the museum were produced by natural weathering
upon masses of rock, or whether they had been artificially pro-
duced. The dispute was several times revived, but no one
visited the site of discovery referred to bv Rev. Dengler, or
INDIAN " BUST."
Found in possession of Mr. Treffinger in the neighborhood of the Wirebach farm in Ililltown
township, Bucks county. Specimen presented to the I'niversity of Pennsylvania.
Now in the archaeological museum of the University.
TWO INDIAN "BUSTS."
The one to the right has been artificially scarred to a depth of about two inches, with
two holes about three-quarters of an inch in diameter. The upper hole is cut vertically down-
ward from the centre of the top, the lower one horizontally on the side near the middle.
Found in possession of Mr. Walters, of Point Plea.sant, Bucks county, before 1900. Mr. Walters
having obtained it on the east slope of the ridge extending from Hilltown to Point Plea.sant.
The bust to the left without perforations was found in Bucks county before 1905, illus-
trates a large class of these objects that appear to have been produced by the action of the
weather, and may have been retouched bj- human hands.
INDIAN "busts" found IN HILLTOWN TOWNSHIP 63/
attempted to collect tradition from farmers bearing upon the
possible use of such stones by Indians. Shortly after my as-
sociation with the University I discovered that Rev. Dengler's
specimens and those of Mr. Laubach were by no means unique.
Mr. Henry Shaddinger of Gardenville, had several of them in
his collection, and I learned that they were characteristic of a
certain locality in Bucks county, namely, a ridge extending from
the Delaware river at Point Pleasant, Westward into Plilltown
township ; that Rev. Dengler's specimens came from the Hill-
town end of this ridge, and that a great number of them were
bedded in the banks of streams, built in loose stone walls, or in
the possession of farmers as curiosities, near Smith's Corner.
Plumstead township. Bucks county, that is to say near the
Point Pleasant end of the ridge. Along this ridge at various times
and places I gathered about forty of the alleged busts, one of
which, coming from the farm of a ^Ir. Treflfinger. very near Rev.
Dengler's site, is a remarkably massive and apparently artificial
specimen. This, together with most of my others. I presented
to the University, after which I found still another specimen along
the banks of the Neshaminy at Rush valley, Bucks county ; another
one in the possession of a collector at Sunbury, Pa., which the
owner said he had found on one of the Susquehanna beaches
near there, and which he believed to have been used by one of
the Indians for mooring fish nets, and another, most remarkable
of the whole collection, partly perforated with two holes, about
the size of a man's finger, in the possession of a Mr. Walters, at
Point Pleasant, Bucks county.
On the other hand, I found a specimen in the woods near Rev.
Dengler's site, which might have been said to be in process of for-
mation, inasmuch as a weak band in its stratification encircling
the stone had to some extent fallen otf in the form of scales,
which lay around its base.
The stones ranged in size from 8 to 30 inches in diameter.
They were all characterized by a constriction around the middle,
thus producing in general an hour-glass shape, only a compara-
tively few of them being rounded into anything like the semblance
of a human head. At the top a great many of them showed
square angles.
638 INDIAN ''busts" found IN HILI^TOWN TOWNSHIP
One of the lithologists at the University, had, on the strength
of my additional specimens, classified the stones as follows.
Class I. Wholly natural, produced by frost and weather.
Class 2. Natural in the main, but re-touched by human hands.
Class 3. (Probably based upon the Treffinger specimens),
AAHiolly artificial.
Aly own experience would induce me to throw out class 3.
The Point Pleasant specimen absolutely demonstrating class 2 in
at least one instance. Unfortunately, I was unable to collect
any local traditions bearing upon the use of these stones by
Indians, but T regard the tradition imparted to Rev. Dengler by
Mr. Wirebach as very important and can see no reason why the
Lenni-Lenape Indians or their predecessors in the region should
not have used these singular formations as grave-stones.
Doylestown. Pa., November 28, 1908.
Communication From Dr. C. C. Abbott.
I have by no means forgotten the discussion as to the "busts'',
and my interest therein, for I took the very opposite of the view
as expressed by Dr. Brinton and others.
On receiving a series of specimens I had them submitted to
Prof. George F. Koenig, then mineralogist of the University of
Pennsylvania. He pronounced one specimen to be artificial! <'
chipped over the entire surface, above the "waist" or narrowest
part of the object. This specimen had a rounded top and bore
some slight resemblance to a human head. Others were much
more like blacksmiths' anvils, but wanting, of course, the horn-
like projection of that implement. Taken as a whole, these
busts are natural products, shaped by frost primarily, and sub-
sequently by running water, and because of their shape attracted
the attention of the Indian, and so were gathered, transported
to some distance, and as found or altered by the finder, used in
probably more ways than one. Doubtless, had the mineral been
more traceable, retouching of the surface would have been
found more frequent and efifective, for limestone concretions have
been found in the Delaware vallev anrl eastward over New Jersev
INDIAN ''busts'' found IN HILLTOWN TOWNSHIP 639
that have been chipped until no doubt remained as to the aboriginal
sculptor's intention. (See American Naturalist, October, 1882).
I have found these "busts" in New Jersey, and in the immediate
valley oi the Delaware near Bristol, Pa. I described one in
American Naturalist, April, 1872, found near Lawrenceville,
Mercer county, N J.
If a stone, large or small, is selected by an Indian and put
to some special purpose, then, I maintain, it becomes an "Indian''
object, and given a few centuries, an Indian relic. This ap-
plies to those so called "busts." When found where they could
not be except through man's agency, they are entitled to such
archaeological significance as can logically be ascribed to them,
while when found where nature left them after their shaping,
they are no more than frost fractured forms.
That they were used as tomb-stones, I doubt. Are they not
more likely to have been prominent objects in a village site, about
which dances occurred, or otherwise connected with the cere-
monial features of the Indian's life? Be all this as it may, to
relegate the whole business to the dust heap, as Dr. Brinton
autocratically proposed to do, is by no means warranted.
Trenton, N. J.. December 3, 1908.
Sketch of the Life of Rev. Thomas B. Montanye.
];\ RKV. D. K. ITRNKR, HARTSVILLE, PA.
(Southainptoii MeetintC. July 22, 1SS4.)
The ance^lDrs of Rev. Thomas 15. Montanye were fTugue-
nots in France. They belonged to that noble class of the French
population, wlio endured persecution for their attachment to
the Protestant faith, and who by the revocation of an Act of
Toleration were compelled to tiee from their native land
to preserve their lives. Some went first to Molland and subse-
quently came to this country. Among them was Count or Sir
jean De La Montaigne. Both titles are given to him in diiiferent
papers and in ancient records. La Rochelle was the last strong-
hold of the I'rotestants in France, and when that city after an
obstinate defence surrendered to Richelieu in 1628, he crossed
the wide ocean in search of freedom of conscience and of wor-
ship, and located in New Amsterdam, now New York City,
then under the control of the Dutch. Not long after his com-
ing a large grant of land on Manhattan Island was made to
him, and he l)ecame a member of the Council and one of the
Directors General of the town. ,\s immigrants frequently came
from the Old \\'orld, many settled u])on his land, and claimed
ownership by right of possession. After his death in 1661 a
petition was presented to the Council, signed by liis children,
asking to be put in possession of the lands given to their father,
and_ which had been occupied by unauthorized strangers. The
request was refused on the ground, that it would cause great
harm and detriment to the village of Xew Harlem. If this
extensive tract with all the elegant houses, stores and manufac-
tories, which are now upon it, could be recovered to the heirs
of Sir Jean, the wealth of one of our Bucks county families
would be counted by tens of millions of dollars.
Count Jean De La ^Tontaigne had two sons and two daughters.
One of the daughters was stolen by the Indians when a child
and never recovered. One of the sons, Jean, Jr., married and
had five children, one of whom was A'incent. His son, Thomas.
SKETCH OF LIFE OF REV. THOMAS B. MONTANYE 64I
married Rebecca Bryant. One of his sons, Benjamin, born June
16, 1745, was the father of Rev. Thomas B. Montanye, who was
born in New York City, January 29, 1769, and was in the fifth
generation from Count Jean, one of the earhest inhabitants of
New York City. His father, Benjamin, in the first part of
his manhood was a member of the Dutch Reformed church, in
N. Y., but after his son, Thomas, and a daughter, much against
his wishes, had united with the Baptist church, he himself ex-
amined the doctrines of that reHgion with more care, and at
length followed the example of his children, and became con-
nected with the same church. It was quite customary with the
Baptists in former times to license and ordain private members
of the church, who displayed ability and popular gifts, and Ben-
jamin ]\Iontanye after a time was called to the ministry and
with a few others originated a new organization, which subse-
quently became one of the strongest churches in the denomina-
tion in the United States. He served this charge for a time and
was then called to the congregation in Deer Park, Orange county,
N. Y., "where he labored with great success till his death, which
occurred in December, 1825, in the eighty-first year of his age."
It is said, that he often rode on horseback from his home in
New York to Southampton to visit his son and preach in his
church.
Thomas, the principal subject of this sketch, though brought
up in a Dutch Reformed congregation, was led, under the preach-
ing of Rev. John Gano, an able and celebrated Baptist minister
of New York, to abandon the faith, in which he had been edu-
cated, so far as baptism was concerned, and become a member
of the first Baptist church in that city, in 1786, when he was 17
years old. He displayed such native talents, that he was li-
censed to preach at 18 years of age, though he had not enjoyed
the advantages of a liberal education, and the following year,.
Nov. 20, 1788, when less than 20 years old, he was ordained
by Rev. Elders Waldo, Gano, Jayne and Southard, and became
pastor of the church in Warwick, Orange county, N. Y. At
the ordination Elder Waldo preached the sermon and Elder
Gano gave the charge. Previous to his settlement there spiritual
religion had been in a low state among the members, and skep-
21
642 SKETCH OF LIFE OF REV. THOMAS B. MOxMTANVE
ticism and indifference had extended widely in the community.
But he began his labors with confidence in the power of the truth,
and continued them with zeal, industry and success for twelve
years and a half. During one year of his residence there .more
than 150 were addetl to the church, as the fruits of a powerful
work of Grace. His influence and reputation spread into the
surrounding region. He was regarded as an able and eloquent
preacher of the Word, and his presence and assistance were
sought at meetings of associations, ordinations, and religious
conventions, at which a prominent part was usually assigned
him. In 1800 he visited the association in Philadelphia, and
was invited to preach at the church in Southampton, Bucks
county, which was then without a pastor. His services were
so agreeable to the people, that he soon received a call to l)e their
spiritual guide, and the indications of Providence seemed to
point it out as his duty to accept it, which he did in May, 1801.
The Warwick church regretted his leaving them, and in their
letter of dismission they say : "He stands high in our esteem,
and we are extremely loath to part with him, but not willing
to hold him without his pleasure of mind, we give him up at his
request, though not cheerfully, but with sorrow of heart and
many tears." They were unable to unite in the choice of a
successor, and in 1803, two years after his removal, a meeting
of the congregation was held, at which it was unanmiously
resolved to recall him. But he replied, that he was comfortably
established at Southampton, and it seemed the Divine will that
he should remain there. For a year or two after that Lhey still
vainly entertained and expressed the hope, that he might be
persuaded to change his mind and accede to their request. At
Southampton he was eminently useful in building up the church,
confirming and instructing Christians in their faith, and gather-
ing in converts to the fold. The people almost universally were
attached to him. They had confidence in his talents and piety,
and found him a judicious counselor and disinterested friend.
He was industrious, and labored diligently for their good as
well as his own temporal support. He resided several years
upon the parsonage farm, ( which has been sold within a few
years past.) and cultivated it to a considerable extent with his
own hands. He used everv week or two to go to market in
SKETCH OF LIKE 01" REV. THOMAS B. MONTANYE 643
Philadelphia with produce, and would arrange his trip m such
a way as to stay at the Fox Chase over night. Reaching there
in the last part of the afternoon he would hold a meeting for
preaching in the evening previously appointed, and the next
morning proceed on his way to the city. Perhaps the Baptist
church in that village may have sprung from his labors on these
occasions. His visits among his people were always enjoyed
and his coming to their houses gladly welcomed, at marriages,
and social gatherings, as well as in seasons of afflictions and sick-
ness, and at funerals. In times of festivity he was very often mvi-
ted to carve at table, as was the case with many clergymen in for-
mer years and was more successful in it than many of his brethren.
When public anniversaries of religious societies were held, he
was not infrequently requested to make an address, and pos-
sessing a loud, penetrating voice, and distinct enunciation ; he
could be heard by several thousands, and was popular with the
masses on that account, as well as because he was fluent in
speech, fervid and impassionate in manner, and had the facultv
of impressing his views with great force upon his hearers. He
was often employed, as the records of the courts of Bucks coun-
ty show, in the settlement of estates, as executor or administrat-
or, writing and witnessing wills, attending sales, etc. His ad-
vice was often sought by his people in their temporal as well
as spiritual affairs, and he always endeavored to reconcile part-
ies, who were at variance, to heal dissensions in the neighbor-
hood, and promote peace and harmony.
When the war of 1812 arose between Great Britain and this
country, and 14,000 men were drafted from Pennsylvania into
the service of the United States, Rev. Alontanye was appointed
September 25, 1814, one of the five chaplains from this State.
The others were Revs. Jonathan Eaton, Robert Rossel, Robert
Sample and Samuel Tait. He was stationed with the second
division, commanded by General Smith, at Marcus Hook, below
Philadelphia, and occupied the same tent with Nathaniel Shewell,
who was a highly respectable citizen of Xew Britain, in this
county. He was a warm patriot, and entered upon the duties
of his position in the army with alacrity and a desire to benefit
the men individually as w^ell as the cause. In an article upon
the events of that period, published in the Union Star and Chron-
644 SKETCH OF LIFE OF REV. THOMAS B. MONTANYE
icle of December 5, 1859, which was furnished to me by a
friend, occurs the following passage :
"Of that sweet Boanerges, Thomas B. Montanye, an incident is related
illustrating his supreme devotion to the King of Kings. His life was so
pure, and such his personal majesty, grace, and earnestness of address.
that officers and soldiers were alike swayed by his magic will."
Then follows the anecdote, which is taken from "Sprague's
Annals of the American Pulpit," and which was written by
Hon. Horatio Gates Jones. It reads thus :
"Having received a chaplain's commission, he sallied forth to the camp
on the banks of the Delaware. His clerical labors there pro\ ed highly
acceptable and salutary. On one occasion, particularly, he had an oppor-
tunity of exhil)iting his fortitude and conscientiousness in a way that at-
tracted special notice. A general drill and review of the army had been
â– ordered for the morning of the Sabbath, at the same hour, when preaching-
had hitherto been the order of the day. He told his friends that this
military exercise must not take place at the hour of public worsiiip. He
then proceeded to the quarters of the General in command, and stated to
him in a dignified and courteous manner, that he held a commission
from his country, and also from his God; that l)y virtue of this latter
commission, he was superior in command on the Sabbath to any of the
military ; that the general order for a review would interfere with orders
from a higher source : and that consequently the review could not and
fitust not take place. The General heard the chaplain with surprise, but
with respectful attention ; and the result was, that 'after-orders' were
issued, and the review was postponed."
After his term of service as chaplain closed, he was appointed
in December, 1814. Principal Assessor of United States taxes for
the Fifth District, and held the office three years, until 181 7.
No doubt, this position was the more desirable for him, as the
salary paid him b\' the church was only $300 per year, as ap-
pears by the original account books from 1818 to 1827. still in
possession of the family. This sum, however, was intrinsically
and relatively more valuable then than at the present day.
He received a call, April 9. 1827. to become pastor 01 a new
church just formed in Bridgetown, N. J., which he did not see
his way clear to accept. .
He was chosen in November, 1824, by the church in Wilmine-
ton, Delaware, to be a member of a Council, which was held to
try the case of Rev. Samuel R. Green. Associated with him
were Rev. ^Messrs. Matthias. Ashton. Shepherd and Walford.
SKETCH OF LIFE OF REV. THOMAS B. MONTANVE 645
Mr. Montanye was a member of a committee to organize the
Philadelphia Baptist Society to promote Foreign Missions, be-
fore which Drs. Rice and Judson subsequently preached, and
was in sympathy with the efforts to send the gospel to the
heathen ; and during his pastorate contributions were given by
this people to aid the Foreign Missionary Society in its benev-
olent work. He sometimes also held protracted meetings of
several days consecutively for the revival of religion, as had
been done in this church from her earliest history. A Sabbatli
school was established during his pastorate, in which "rewards
of merit" were given to the pupils, as appears from a testament
containing the following inscription: "Presented to the South-
ampton Sabbath School Society by Captain John Davis ;" and
under this is the following: "Reward of Merit from the South-
ampton Sabbath School Society to Jane Cornell, October 12.
1823," with James Anderson's name subscribed as secretar}-. 'The
merit for which this reward was given was her committing 900
verses of the New Testament to memory." Among the super-
intendents of this school were William Purdy, Jacob Wright.
Christopher Search and General John Davis. Rev. Montanye
was not infrequently present, and addressed the school, and on
such occasions, the galleries, in which it was held, were hlled
with spectators and listeners. At certain times the school met
in the school-house on the grounds of the church.
Mr Montanye was decidedly opposed to the use of intoxicating
drinks as a beverage, and a warm friend of temperance, even
before the agitation of the question of total abstinence began.
On one occasion he was invited to take some ardent spirits, as
others were doing in the company. He replied. "Xo, I thank
you; I will take a glass of water." The well-rope at the house
happened to be broken, and a draught of that simple fluid was
not obtained without some difficulty. However, a glass of
water was at length brought by a little boy, who afterwards be-
came Rev. Horatio Gates Jones, D. D.
During his pastorate he received into the membership of the
church 129 persons by baptism and quite a number by letter.
Twenty-one were baptised in a single year. When he commenced
his labors there were 91 members, and when he died, though
646 SKETCH OF LIFE OF RFV. THOMAS B. MON'IANYE
many had deceased, and many removed, there were 125 members,
an increase of more than one-third.
Among the many whom Rev. ]\Iontanye united in the bonds of
marriage, may be mentioned all the sons and daughters of Thomas
Beans, formerly proprietor of the hotel at Warminster ; many
of the large circle of relatives in the Yerkes family, and General
John Davis who married Miss Amy Hart. Upon his return
home from the latter wedding, which was in 181 3, he named his
own newly born daughter. Amy Hart, after the bride. She grew
up and became the bride of Stephen Yerkes, and the mother of
Hon. Harman Yerkes, judge of the courts of Bucks county.
In his public life. Rev. Alontanye was closely associated with
not a few prominent men in this part of the State, as General
Davis, Judge Watts, and Enos ]\Iorris. Esq., the latter a dis-
tinguished lawyer of Xewtown who was received as a member of
this church in 1806, from the church in Hilltown, and was one
of the executors of Alontanye's will. A daughter of Mr. Morris,
Mrs. John Lloyd, died at the early age of 19 years, and the last
sermon Rev. Montanye preached was at her funeral, which oc-
curred about two weeks before his own death. This lady was
the mother of E. ^lorris Lloyd, Esq., formerly of Doylestown.
and of Dr. Henry Lloyd, of Yardley.
Rev. IMontanye was careful in his pecuniary transactions to
have everything- correct and fully understood by those with
whom he dealt, and disliked to have any accounts remain un-
settled after the first of April of each year. In his will he
prohibited any one from examining his accounts or business
papers beyond April ist; previous to his decease, except such as
he designated, which were connected with his own private af-
fairs.
He usually enjoyed excellent health, being endowed with :\
strong physical constitution, but in June, 1829, having been
in attendance at the Association, in Warwick, he contracted a
disease of the liver, which at length terminated in death. During
the month of August he was able to fill his pulpit a few times,
but in September his strength failed more rapidly, and it became
evident that the end of his earthly labor was drawing nigh.
.After the funeral service already mentioned he gave up the ex-
SKETCH OF LIFE OF REV. THOMAS B. MONTANYE 647
pectation of recovery, but expressed to a brother in the minis-
try the highest confidence that he was destined to a happy
immortaUty. On one occasion, when his disorder seemed to
assume a more favorable aspect, he remarked that he could
scarcely calculate on long life. '•:\Iy course," he said, "has
been a rapid one; I was early in sin, and in that I ran a mad
career; was called early to embrace the Savior; commenced
my ministerial course early ; and have preached perhaps oftener
since I have been engaged in the ministry than almost ainy other
man; therefore I may expect that my life may not be greatly
protracted." His friend remarked to him that it was not proba-
ble he would meet the Philadelphia Association, then near at
hand, and which he had attended 28 years in succession. After
a moment's reflection he said, "If I am not there, I shall be—"
pointing upwards, as though he would have said, "I shall be in
Heaven." His last words were, "I die! I die!" and immediatelv
he passed away into the everlasting rest on Sabbath morning,
September 2j, 1829, aged 60 years, 7 months and 26 days. His fu-
neral was attended on Monday, by twelve ministers of the Gospel
and an immense assemblage of parishioners, neighbors and friends,
and a suitable discourse was preached by Rev. Joseph Matthias,
of Hilltown. The Philadelphia Baptist Association, at a meeting
held soon after, adopted resolutions expressing their sense of
his ability and value to the cause of religion, and the loss they
had sustained in his removal from among them. The inscription
found upon the marble at his grave was prepared by himself,
and in his will he directed that it should be placed upon his
tombstone, which he desired to be modest and of New Jersey
freestone. His pastorate at Southampton extended through a
period of nearly twenty-eight and a half years.
The following testimony in regard to him is from the pen of
Rev. Horatio Gates Jones, D. D.. his intimate friend.
"Under his ministr}- many were translated from the state of nature
to the state of grace, and many were advanced to a higher state of
holiness. The bad were made good, and the good were made better. In
his sermons there was a rare union of argument and persuasion to con-
vince the mind and gain the heart. In speaking he possessed an admirable
felicity and copiousness. In his style there was a noble negligence, his
great mind not deigning to stoop to the affected eloquence of words. In
648 SKETCH OF LIFE OF REV. TH<;)MAS B. MONTANYE
the social circle all who knew him were delighted with his urbanity. His
natural abilities and endowments invariably commanded respect ; his rea-
soning faculty was prompt and acute ; his memory uncommonly tenacious,
and his conversation highly agreeable.''
I may add that he wa.s constant and faithftil in filling all his
ministerial appointments, and one of his sons remarked in a
letter to General Davis, in 1873, diat his father was absent from
the chnrch but two Sundays in forty years.
Before he was twenty-one years old he married his cousin,
Ann Edmunds, born January 27, 1771. She was the daughter
of a prominent merchant of New York, in prosperous business
before the Revolution, but during that struggle deprived of his
property by the British. She remembered distinctly seeing the
English army coming into the city, when she was a girl of only
five years, wdiile wdth her father's family she was carried away
in a boat, that contained all the goods they contrived to save from
the hands of the spoilers. She survived her husband thirty-two
years, dying in 1861, aged ninety. They were the parents of eleven
children, of whom but three, Mrs. Sarah Ann Conrad, Mr'i. EHza
W. Addis and Airs. Rebecca M. Dungan, are .still living. When
the mother died there were living of their descendants 65 grand-
children, and 213 great-grandchildren and several greit-great-
grandchildren.
Note: — Rev. Thomas B. Montanye was descended from John Alontanye.
his first ancestor in America, and not from Thomas as stated by Gen.
Davis in his paper on "Southampton Baptist Church." Vol. i, page 206.
Thomas was the grandfather of Rev. Thomas B.
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