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Full text of "Papers read before the Society and other historical papers"

UNIVERSITY 

OF PITTSBURGH 

LIBRARY 

THIS BOOK PRESENTED BY 

Alumni Giving Plan 




J. Herman Barnsley 

Director lQ:0-iq,S2 



Mrs. Richard Watson 
Director 1896-1932 





Matthias H. Hall 
Director 1927-1935 



Warren S. Ely 
Director 1922-1936 



FOUR DIRECTORS OF THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

J. Herman Barnsley, born Dec. 12, 1854, died May 25, 1932. Mrs. Richard Watson, nee 
Isabella T. McCoy, born Dec. 31, 1846, died June 3, 1932. Matthias H. Hall, born Apr. 29. 
1844, died Apr. 13, 1935. Warren S. Ely, born Oct. 6, 1855, died Marcli 9, 1936. 



THE BUCKS COUNTY 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

PAPERS READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY 
AND OTHER HISTORICAL PAPERS 




FACKENTHAL PUBLICATION FUND 
(Established in 1909) 



VOLUME VII 



937 



EDITORIAL COMMITTEE 

George MacReynolds Horace M. Mann 

Edward R. Barnsley B. F. Fackenthal, Jr. 






Copyright, 1937 
The Bucks County Historical Society 



Press of 

Berkemeyer-Keck Co. 

Allentown. Pa. 



-9 



CONTENTS 



Papers ^ 

Illustrations ^^ 

List of Officers -"^i" 

Personnel of Officers ^^V 

List of Members, November 1, 1937 xv 

PAPERS 

The Schools of Neshaminy Rev. D. K. Turner 1 

The Bender System of Steam Pro- 
pulsion Gen. W. W. H. Davis 19 

John Fitch, Pioneer in Steam Navi- 



gation. 



.William H. Riphardson 27 



36 



The "Collect Pond," Lithograph of 

1846 William H. Richardson 

John Flitch's Third Steamboat William H. Richardson 47 

Early Botanists in Bucks County Prof. A. F. K. Krout 48 

The Durham Iron Works in Durham 

Township Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 59 

Charles Kirk's Review of a Century.. . Mrs. Helen E. D. Acton 95 

Notes on Gristmills and Milling in 



104 



Pennsylvania Henry S. Engart 

William Penn and His Home Life at 

Pennsbury Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 137 

Genealogical Notes and Land Titles.. . Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 173 

An Introduction to the Loyalists of 
Bucks County and Some Queries 
Concerning Them Louis Ely Thompson 204 

General Washington and his Army 
Crossing the Delaware River Christ- 
mas Night, 1776 Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 235 

The Life and Expatriation of Judge 

Gilbert Hicks Miss Sarah W. Hicks 247 



VI CONTENTS 

The County Court at Newtown Judge Calvin S. Boyer 256 

Presses and Printers of Newtown 
before 1868 Edward R. Barnsley 265 

Paintings and Other Works of Art 
in the Museums of the Bucks 
County Historical Society Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 333 

Biographical Notice of Matthias 
Heaton Hall Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 349 

Some Memories of George Brown 
Ellis, Edward M. Ellis and William 
H. Ellis, Nineteenth Century En- 
gravers of Buckmanville Valley. . . . Charles C. Ellis 351 

Early Hough Families of Bucks Coun- 
ty Wallace Irwin Hough 378 

Covered Highway Bridges in Bucks 

County George M. Hart 398 

Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, 
Tinicum, Pa Rev. Allen S. Fisher, S. T. M. . . . 409 

Buckwampun Historical and Literary 

Society Lewis Sigafoos 414 

Louis H. Spellier and His Electric 
Clocks Mrs. Annie Meredith Fretz 420 

History of the Building of Doyles- 

town Friends' Meeting House Mrs. Thomas O. Atkinson 425 

Biographical Notice of Warren Smed- 
ley Ely Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 430 

Address of Welcome to "Temora" Mrs. Charles C. Willis 434 

Early Time-Telling Devices. Harrold E. Gillingham 441 

General LaFayette's Journey from 
Brandywine to Bethlehem, with 
Special Reference to Inscriptions 
in Taverns and Tavern Signboards. . Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 453 

A List of the Birds of Bucks County 
with Annotations George MacReynolds 479 

Superintendents of Common Schools 

of Pennsylvania, 1834-1937 Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 539 

Inventions and Mechanical Progress 
in Bucks County Maurice Shoultes 542 



CONTENTS VII 

Pennsylvania-German Potters of 
• Bucks County, Pennsylvania Guy F. Reinert 580 

Walnut Grove F"arms, Address of 

Welcome Hon. Joseph R. Grundy 586 

The DuPonts Selecting a Site for 

Their Powder Works Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 587 

Charles Ellet, Jr., Engineer and Pa- 
triot Hugh B. Eastburn 590 

The Great Chain at West Point and 
Other Obstructions Placed in the 
Hudson River During the War of 
the Revolution Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 596 

Historic Saint James Church, Bristol, 

Pennsylvania Rev. George E. Boswell, S. T. B. 612 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Portraits of Four Former Directors: 

J. Herman Barnsley, Mrs. Richard Watson, Matthias H. Hall and 
Warren S. Ely Frontispiece 

John Fitch's Third Steamboat 47 

Durham Iron Works Paper: 

Durham Furnaces of 1848-1849 58 

Durham Furnace of 1876 58 

Map of Durham Iron Company's Real Estate 61 

James Logan, Portrait 62 

William Allen, Portrait 65 

James Hamilton, Portrait 67 

James Allen, Portrait 68 

John Penn, Portrait 69 

Fireback in Home of James Logan at Stenton 71 

George Taylor, Portrait 72 

Mansion House, Durham Iron Works 72 

General Daniel Morgan, Portrait 73 

Durham Iron Works, Arch of 1727 Furnace 74 

Joseph Whitaker, Portrait 75 

Peter Cooper, Portrait 76 

Edward Cooper, Portrait 78 

Abram S. Hewitt, Portrait 80 

Lillie Chilled Iron Safe 81 

Stove Plate 1741— The Snake Betrayed Adam and Eve 82 

Stove Plate 1741— Cain Killing his Brother Abel 82 

Lurmann Closed Front and Bronze Tuyeres 84 

Pioneer Bessemer Converter of America 86 

Durham Cave, View Taken 1893 90 

Cross Hammers, Insignia of Mining Engineers 93 

Aged Employees of Durham Iron Works 94 

Charles Kirk, Portrait, 1800-1890 96 

House in Abington Built by John Kirk, 1735 96 

Notes on Gristmills and Milling in Pennsylvania: 

Gristmill on Mechanics Run, Bucks County 104 

Double-Geared Gristmill in Bedford County 106 

Illick Gristmill in Lebanon County 107 

Wilson Klinger's Gristmill, Schuylkill County 109 

Gristmill near Hershey, Dauphin County 110 

Brown's Gristmill, Berks County 112 

Types of Water Wheels 114 

Armitages Gristmill in Bucks County 116 

Reaction Wheel or Old-fashioned Turbine 120 



ILLUSTRATIONS IX 

Dam Across Lehigh River at AUentown 121 

Spannuth's Gristmill, Lebanon County 122 

Morgan's Gristmill, Montgomery County 124 

Cradling Grain in Blair County 125 

Modern Way of Harvesting in the Twentieth Century 126 

Gristmill in Blair County, with Two Pair of Buhr Stones 128 

Interior of Gristmill in Blair County 129 

Forebay in Mill Race to Carry Water to Water Wheel 132 

An Ancient Double-geared Gristmill, Bedford County 133 

Oliver Evans' Gristmill, Interior •. 134 

Ruins of Eugene Blair's Gristmill, Bucks County 136 

William Penn's Home Life at Pennsbury: 

William Penn, Portrait 138 

Medal in Commemoration of Penn's Treaty with the Indians 143 

Landing of William Penn at the Blue Anchor Tavern 146 

Imprints of William Penn's Pamphlets: 

Truth Exalted, 1671 147 

Plain Deahng, 1672 148 

The Skirmisher Defeated and Truth Defended, 1676 149 

The People's Ancient and Just Liberties Asserted, 1682 150 

Letter from William Penn to the Free Society of Traders, 1683. . . 151 

Portraits of Thomas Penn and His Wife, Lady Juliana Penn 154 

Portraits of Richard Penn and His Wife, Hanna Penn 154 

Plan of Pennsbury Manor on Delaware 159 

The Crozier House at Pennsbury 159 

Friends Meeting-House at Jordans, England, Built in 1688 161 

Admiral Sir William Penn, Portrait 165 

"Solitude" at High Bridge, N. J 171 

Penn Family — Genealogical Chart 173 

Genealogical Notes and Land Titles: 

First Casting Known to Have Been Made in America 187 

Evolution of Cast Iron Stoves: 

Five Plate Jamb Stove 188 

F"ive Plate Jamb Stove, The Tenth Commandment, 1760 189 

Five Plate Jamb Stove, The Dance of Death 190 

Six Plate Draft Stove. . . : 191 

Ten Plate Stove 192 

Franklin Fire Place in Bucks County Historical Museum 193 

Franklin Fire Place, Detail of Construction, 1742 194 

Fireback at Stenton, Made at Durham, 1728 194 

Fireback at Valley Forge, 1734 195 

Side Plate for Six Plate Stove, Made at Colebrookdale, 1763 196 

Fireback Made at Oxford, N. J., 1746 197 

Bucks County Historical Society, Elkins Building, 1904 198 

Bucks County Historical Society, Mercer Museum, 1916 199 



X ILLUSTRATIONS 

"Fonthill," Home of Dr. Henry C. Mercer, Doylestown, Pa 200 

Ringing Rocks of Bridgeton Township 201 

Ripple Marks or Wave Lines in Limestone Quarry 202 

Palisades at the Narrows of Nockamixon in Bucks County 203 

Washington Crossing the Delaware, Winter of 1776: 

Grave of Capt. James Moore, 1776 238 

Continental Army Crossing the Delaware, 1776 239 

General Washington, Portrait 243 

George Taylor, Signer of the Declaration of Independence 244 

Tavern at Washington Crossing, Pa. 245 

Robert Morris, Portrait, Signer of the Declaration of Independence. . 246 

George Clymer, Portrait, Signer of the Declaration of Independence.. 246 

Presses and Printers of Newtown Before 1868: 

The Flowers of Modern History, Imprint, 1804 267 

To Horsemen, Advertisement, 1807 269 

Sheriff's Sales of Land, 1805 270 

Bond of Andrew Loux, 1807 271 

Catalogue of Books in the Newtown Library, 1808 276 

The Star of Freedom, Captions 286 

Asher Miner, Receipt, September 4, 1817 287 

The Foresters, A Poem, June, 1818 290 

Fire Board, One of the E:arliest Preserved Works of Edward Hicks, 1820 292 

Constitution of the Northampton Auxiliary Society, 1880 302 

Edward M. Paxson, Portrait 306 

The Newtown Journal and Workmen's Advocate, Imprint, 1843 309 

The Act of Incorporation and Ordinances of the Borough of New- 
town, May, 1843 310 

Samuel Johnson, Portrait 313 

The Triple Wreath, Poems by Samuel Johnson, 1844 314 

Newtown Library, Original Receipt by E. M. Paxson 318 

Receipt of Hiram Brower, Newtown Journal, 1849 323 

Surveying and Conveyancing Advertisement by J. Barnsley, 1844.. . . 324 

William Bush, Job Printer, Advertisement, 1857 328 

Watson Price Church, Portrait 329 

E. F. Church, Portrait 330 

Enterprise Printing Office 332 

Paintings and Other Works of Art in Museums: 

Edward Hicks, 1780-1849, Portrait 333 

Gen. W. W. H. Davis, Portrait 334 

The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks 335 

Washington Crossing the Delaware 336 

Penn's Treaty with the Indians 337 

Thomas Hicks, 1823-1890, Portrait 338 

Major Joseph Archambault, Portrait 339 

Camp of the 104th Regiment at Merion Hill 340 

The Washington Tree 341 



ILLUSTRATIONS XI 

Whittier House in Solebury Township 342 

Rescue of the Colors 344 

Example of William H. Ellis' Engraving 368 

Example of Edwin M. Ellis' Engraving 370 

Covered Highway Bridges of Bucks County: 

Krout's Mill Bridge 401 

Loux's Bridge 402 

Frankenfield's Bridge 403 

Sheard's Mill Bridge 404 

South Perkasie Bridge 405 

Finland Bridge 405 

Knecht's Bridge 406 

Houpt's Mill Bridge 406 

Pastors Who Served Christ's Lutheran Church: 

Henry S. Miller 
Christian F. Weldon 
Clinton P. Miller 
William S. Emory 

Joseph W. Mayne ) 408 

Robert B. Lynch 
Charles C. Snyder 
William A. Fluck 
Allen S. Fisher 

Christ's Evangelical Church and Parsonage 412 

Tinicum Union Church from 1861 to 1907 412 

Louis H. Spellier, Portrait 420 

Louis H. Spellier, Elliott Cresson Medal 422 

Bucks County Court House Clock 424 

"Temora," Home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Willis 437-438 

Early Time-Telling Devices: 

French Silver Pocket Sundial 442 

Egyptian Methods of Time Telling 444 

Sundial of Ahaz 445 

Ring Dial and Wood Pillar Sundial 447 

French Ivory Book Sundial 448 

German Wood Book Sundial 449 

German Wood Block Sundial 450 

Marquis de LaFayette in 1825, Portrait 453 

Joseph and Mary Richardson House, Langhorne, Pa 456 

Bedroom Sign, Pleasant Valley Hotel 459 

Bar-room Sign, Pleasant Valley Hotel 460 



XII ILLUSTRATIONS 



Hotel Swinging Signboards: 



Turk Hotel, near Doylestown 464 

Cross Keys Hotel 465 

The Red Lion Inn 466 

The Robert Morris Hotel 467 

Seven Stars Tavern, Durham Township 468-469 

The Elephant Hotel 470 

King of Prussia Tavern 47 1 

The Sign of the Lion 472 

The Three Crowns Tavern 473 

Six Horse Conestoga Wagon 477 

Dr. Joseph Thomas, Portrait 478 

Lake Warren, Nockamixon Township 480-482-484 

The Last Passenger Pigeon 488 

Hawks Killed in Mortal Combat 494 

The Duck Hawk 502 

Loon Caught in a Shad Net 525 

Pottery Dish, S. Singer Potter 581 

Walnut Grove Farms, View of Dwelling 586 

First Powder Mill of the DuPont Powder Company 588 

Hudson River Chains: 

Chain and Boom at Fort Montgomery 599 

Barbed Timber, Part of Cheveaux-de-frize 600 

Two sections of Cheveaux-de-frize at PoUopel's Island 601 

Links of Great Chain at Military Academy, West Point 604 

Eighteen Links of the West Point Chain at the Chicago Historical 

Society 607 

Four Links of the West Point Chain in the Smithsonian Institution, 

Washington, D. C 607 



THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

Organized January 20. 1880 
Incorporated February 23, 1885 



OFFICERS 

For year ending May, 1938 

B. F. Fackenthal, Jr., Sc. D., LL. D., President 
Judge Calvin S. Boyer, First Vice-President 
John H. Ruckman, Second Vice-President 

DIRECTORS 

Judge Calvin S. Boyer 
Edward R. Barnsley 
Mrs. Harry J. Shoemaker 
(Term expires May, 1938) 

Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr. 
George MacReynolds 
Mrs. E. Y. Barnes 

(Term expires May, 1939) 

John H. Ruckman 

Horace M. Mann 

Miss Margaret R. Grundy 

(Term expires May, 1940) 

Curator Librarian 

Horace M. Mann George MacReynolds 

Secretary and Treasurer 
Horace M. Mann 



PERSONNEL OF OFFICERS 



PRESIDENTS 

Gen. W. W. H. Davis Jan. 20, 1880, to Dec. 26, 1910 

Dr. Henry C. Mercer Jan. 17, 1911, to Mar. 9, 1930 

Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr Since May 3, 1930 

VICE-PRESIDENTS 

John S. Williams Jan. 15, 1901, to Aug. 21, 1920 

Dr. Henry C. Mercer Jan. 21, 1908, to Jan. 17, 1911 

Joseph B. Walter, M. D Jan. 17, 1911, to Aug. 18, 1917 

Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr Jan. 18, 1910, to May 3, 1930 

Col. Henry D. Paxson Jan. 15, 1921, to Jan. 30, 1933 

J. Herman Barnsley May 2, 1931, to May 25, 1932 

Judge Calvin S. Boyer Mar. 11, 1933, to date 

John H. Ruckman Mar. 11, 1933, to date 

DIRECTORS 

The following changes have been made in the personnel of the Board of 
Directors since the publication of Volume VI: 

Judge Calvin S. Boyer, Mar. 11, 1933, to succeed 

Col. Henry D. Paxson, who died Jan. 30, 1933 
Edward R. Barnsley, Mar. 11, 1933, to succeed 

J. Herman Barnsley, who died May 25, 1932 
Horace M. Mann, Mar. 11, 1933, to succeed 

Mrs. Richard Watson, who died June 3, 1932 
Miss Margaret R. Grundy, May 4, 1935, to succeed 

Matthias H. Hall, who died April 13, 1935 
George MacReynolds, May 2, 1936, to succeed 

Warren S. Ely, who died Mar. 9, 1936 



For Charter, Constitution and By-Laws, see Volume I 



LIST OF MEMBERS 
NOVEMBER 1. 1937 



Names marked with a star (*) are life members, and those marked with 
two stars (**) are honorary Hfe members. 

Membership fee, $2, which includes dues for the year of election to Decem- 
ber thirty-first. Annual dues thereafter, $1, payable for calendar years. 
Life membership fee, $25. 

All publications issued by the society are distributed free to members 
in good and regular standing, but only one copy to each household. 

The names of members who neglect to pay dues for five years are sus- 
pended from membership. 

Annual meeting first Saturday in May. 

Names Address Elected 

Achey, Webster S Doylestown 

Achey, Mrs. Webster S Doylestown 

Acton, Dr. Donald K Elkins Park 

Acton, Mrs. Frank M Elkins Park 

Amram, David W Feasterville 

Anderson, Miss Laura V Doylestown 

Armstrong, Miss Anna Doylestown 

Atkinson, Albert R Doylestown 

Atkinson, Mrs. Howard W Doylestown 

Atkinson, Ira Newtown 

Atkinson, Mrs. Ira Newtown 

Atkinson, J. Willis Buckingham 

Atkinson, Mrs. J. Willis Buckingham 

Austin, Mrs. Esmonde Bridgewater 

Balderston, Miss Olive Newtown 

Bamford, Mrs. Caroline S Trenton, N. J. 

Baringer, I. Y Perkasie 

Barnes, Benjamin H Doylestown 

Barnes, Mrs. E. Y Yardley 

Barnsley, Edward R Newtown 

Barnsley, Mrs. J. Herman Newtown 

Bean, Oscar O Doylestown 

Bean, Mrs. Oscar O Doylestown 

Beatty, Miss Frances A Germantown 

Beatty, Miss Mary Mays Germantown 

Bennett, Fred P Penns Park 

Bennett, Mrs. Fred P Penns Park 

Betts, Mrs. Alice M. Beans Doylestown 

Betts, Miss Mary Elizabeth Doylestown 

Blackledge, H. L.. Kearney, Neb. 

Borden, J. P New Hope 

Borden, Mrs. J. P New Hope 

Boyer, Hon. Calvin S Doylestown 

Boyer, Mrs. Calvin S Doylestown 

Braden, Mrs. Findley Doylestown 



May 


5, 


1934 


Sept. 


26, 


1936 


Sept. 


26 


1936 


Sept. 


13, 


1930 


May 


2, 


1936 


May 


1, 


1937 


May 


3, 


1930 


.Tan. 


15, 


1921 


May 


28, 


1901 


May 


7, 


1932 


May 


7, 


1932 


June 


7, 


1924 


June 


7, 


1924 


June 


15, 


1918 


June 


3, 


1922 


Jan. 


19, 


1924 


May 


23, 


1911 


Sept. 


13, 


1930 


Oct. 


7, 


1902 


Jan. 


21, 


1928 


Jan. 


19, 


1907 


Oct. 


5, 


1909 


Oct. 


5, 


1909 


Oct. 


9, 


1937 


Oct. 


7, 


1902 


Oct. 


9, 


1937 


Oct. 


9, 


1937 


May 23, 


1917 


May 


23, 


1917 


May 


2, 


1931 


Oct. 


1, 


1921 


Oct. 


1, 


1921 


May 


7, 


1932 


May 


7, 


1932 


Jan. 


21, 


1928 



XVI LIST OF MEMBERS 

Names Address 

Briggs, Mrs. Edward Newtown 

Bristol, Henry P New York, N. Y. 

Brown, George B Yardley 

Brown, Mrs. George B Yardley 

Brown, Stacy B Newtown 

Brown, Mrs. Stacy B Newtown 

Buckenham, Dr. J. E. Burnet Chestnut Hill 

Buckman, Hon. Clarence J Langhorne 

Buckman, Miss Helen Doylestown 

Buckman, Williamson Trenton, N. J. 

Bucks County Daughters Amer. Rev.Doylestown 

Burpee, Mrs. W. Atlee Doylestown 

Bye, Dr. Arthur C Holicong 

Byles, Mrs. Anna B Newtown 

Cadwalader, Augustus J Yardley 

Cadwalader, Mrs. Augustus J Yardley 

Cadwalader, T. Sidney Yardley 

Carr, Mrs. James W Holicong 

**Carroll, Dr. John B Hatboro 

Carver, Miss Josephine J Forest Grove 

Carwithen, Walter M Doylestown 

Carwithen, Mrs. Walter M Doylestown 

Case, Mrs. Henry R Doylestown 

Ceader, Mrs. Joseph D E. Cleveland, Ohic 

Chamberlin, William B Torresdale 

Chamberlin, Mrs. William B Torresdale 

Chambers, Mrs. Alexander Newtown 

Chambers, John B Newtown 

Chambers, Miss Mary B Newtown 

Chambers, William W Philadelphia 

Chandler, George A Bethlehem 

Chapman, Ellwood B Swarthmore 

Chapman, Mrs. Ellwood B Swarthmore 

Chapman, William New Hope 

'=*Chidsey, Andrew D., Jr Easton 

Cliff, Mrs. George H Langhorne Manor 

Clymer, Mrs. Frederick H Doylestown 

Collins, Alden M Middletown 

Conrad, Alfred M Newtown 

Cook, Chester P Merion 

Cook, Mrs. Chester P Merion 

Cooke, Morris Llewellyn Chestnut Hill 

Cooke, Mrs. Morris Llewellyn Chestnut Hill 

Cooper, Mrs. William R Point Pleasant 

*Cope, Jacob E Sellersville 

Coppedge, Mrs. Fern I New Hope 

Coyle, Major William R Bethlehem 



Elected 


Jan. 


19 


, 1897 


May 


1 


, 1937 


May 


1 


, 1937 


May 


1 


, 1937 


Oct. 


6 


, 1903 


Oct. 


6 


, 1903 


.Tan. 


25, 


, 1916 


Oct. 


4, 


, 1910 


Apr. 


10, 


1907 


Oct. 


5, 


1909 


.Ian. 


15 


, 1927 


Aug. 


14, 


, 1900 


Oct. 


22, 


, 1912 


Oct. 


17, 


1925 


May 


28, 


1901 


Feb. 


10, 


1914 


May 28, 


1907 


Jan. 


17, 


1925 


May 


1, 


1937 


Sept. 


26, 


1936 


May 


7, 


1932 


May 


7, 


1932 


Mav 


3, 


1930 


Oct. 


11, 


1924 


Oct. 


9, 


1937 


Oct. 


9, 


1937 


Sept. 


26, 


1936 


Tan. 


19, 


1924 


Oct. 


19, 


1931 


May 


6, 


1933 


Tan. 


17, 


1899 


May 


3, 


1930 


May 


3, 


1930 


May 


1, 


1937 


May 


1, 


1937 


Oct. 


10, 


1911 


Oct. 


11, 


1924 


Jan. 


18, 


1910 


Jan. 


21, 


1928 


Jan. 


17, 


1920 


Sept. 


13, 


1930 


June 


16, 


1923 


June 


16, 


1923 


Oct. 


6, 


1903 


May 


1, 


1937 


June 


22, 


1929 


Jan. 


21, 


1922 



LIST OF MEMBERS XVII 



Names Address 

Crane, Mrs. Theron I Philadelphia 

Craven, Mrs. Frances Doylestown 

Darlington, Walter Germantown 

Darrah, Miss Anna Hartsville 

Darst, Miss Marian C Doylestow n 

Deakin, Edward W Washington Crossing 

Deakin, Mrs. Edward W Washington Crossing 

'"*Deats, Hiram E Flemington, N. J. 

DeCou, Miss S. Ella Trenton, N. J. 

Desmond, Miss Fredonia M Point Pleasant 

♦Dickinson, Walter F Long Island, N. Y. 

Dillin, Miss Hettie P Philadelphia 

Eastburn, Arthur M Doylestown 

Eastburn, Mrs. Arthur M Doylestown 

Eastburn, Hugh B Bristol 

Eastburn, Mrs. Hugh B Bristol 

Effrig, Horace A Newtown 

Effrig, Mrs. Horace A Newtown 

"^♦Elkins, George W Philadelphia 

Ellis, Rev. Charles G Margaretville, N. Y. 

Ely, Miss Helen H Newtown 

Ely, Mrs. John H Doylestown 

Ely, Mrs. Warren S Doylestown 

Ely, William Newbold Chestnut Hill 

Engart, Henry S Lebanon 

Erdman, Mrs. William S Buckingham 

Eyster, Mrs. Anita L Philadelphia 

Fabian, William W' Newtown 

*Fackenthal, Dr. B. ¥., Jr Riegelsville 

Fackenthal, Dr. Frank D Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Fell, David Newlin, Jr Doylestown 

F'ell, Miss Edith N , Holicong 

Fell, Edward W Holicong 

F"isher, Rev. Allen S Tinicum 

Fitzgerald, James H Upper Black Eddy 

Flack, Mrs. Margaret Carversville 

Fluck, Dr. William H Doylestown 

F"rankenfield, Howard B Philadelphia 

Frankenfield, William M Philadelphia 

Franklin, Malcoln Haverford 

Franklin, Mrs. Malcoln Haverford 

Fravel, Col. Ira F Wrightstown 

Freed, Harvey M Richlandtown 

Freed, Mrs. Harvey M Richlandtown 

Fretz, Mrs. Annie Meredith Oak Lane 

Fretz, Mrs. John S Doylestown 



Elected 


Feb. 


10 


1914 


Jan. 


16 


1906 


July 


16 


1895 


Jan. 


20 


1903 


June 


17 


1916 


Sept. 


26 


1936 


Sept. 


26 


1936 


May 


23 


1917 


May 


28 


1907 


Jan. 


17 


1911 


May 


7 


1932 


May 


2 


1931 


May 


7 


1932 


May 


7 


1932 


May 


6 


1933 


Oct. 


9 


1937 


Jan. 


15 


1921 


Oct. 


4 


1919 


May 


28 


1902 


May 


4 


1935 


May 


5 


1934 


Jan. 


18 


1919 


Oct. 


11 


1924 


Apr. 


27 


1887 


Oct. 


19 


1931 


May 


23 


1911 


May 


3 


1930 


Oct. 


19 


1931 


Aug. 


9 


1898 


Oct. 


12 


1935 


Jan. 


20 


1903 


Tan. 


15 


1901 


Oct. 


9 


1920 


Oct. 


19 


1931 


Oct. 


7 


1902 


Oct. 


7 


1902 


May 


6 


1933 


May 


4 


1935 


May 


4 


1935 


Tan. 


20 


1903 


Jan. 


20 


1903 


May 


4 


1935 


May 


3 


1930 


May 


3 


1930 


Aug. 


27 


1926 


Jan. 


17 


1899 



XVIII LIST OF MEMBERS 

Names Address 

Fretz, Mrs. Mahlon Barnes Newtown 

Fretz, William F Pipersville 

Fretz, Mrs. William F Pipersville 

Fritsch, Mrs. Howard C Narberth 

**Garber, Daniel H Lumberville 

Garber, Mrs. Daniel H Lumberville 

Gardy, Mrs. Julian Doylestown 

Garges, Mrs. I. B Doylestown 

Ginther, Mrs. Mary P Buckingham 

Goedecke, Karl Hazleton 

Gray, Samuel S., Jr Newtown 

Gray, Mrs. Scott Newtown 

Grier, John S Philadelphia 

Griest, Thomas H New Hope 

Griest, Mrs. Thomas H New Hope 

Grim, Robert H Perkasie 

Grim, Webster Doylestown 

Gross, Miss S. Ella Doylestown 

Grundy, Joseph R Bristol 

Grundy, Miss Margaret R Bristol 

Haddon, Mrs. Thomas Doylestown 

Haines, Miss Laura C Doylestown 

Hallowell, Miss Edith Hatboro 

Hammond, Dr. Julian T., 3rd Newtown 

Harper, Mrs. Lucy A Yardley 

Harrison, Miss Jeanette R Hulmeville 

Hart, Charles Media 

Hart, George Doylestown 

Hart, Mrs. George Doylestown 

Hart, George M Doylestown 

Hayhurst, Emery R Columbus, Ohio 

Hayhurst, Walter F Lambertville, N. J. 

■ Heacock, Joseph Linden Hatboro 

Hendrickson, David New Hope 

Hendrickson, Mrs. David New Hope 

Hicks, Miss Sarah W Newtown 

Hill, William M Kintersville 

Hixson, Wesley Coopersburg 

Hobart, Mrs. E. W Doylestown 

Hoffman, J. H Doylestown 

Hogeland, Horace B Newtown 

Holcomb, Capt. R. C Upper Darby 

Hommel, Rudolf P Richlandtown 

Horning, Harry Lansdale 

Hornor, Harry Archer New Hope 

Hornor, Mrs. Harry Archer New Hope 



Elected 


Oct. 10, 1911 


May 6 


1933 


Jan. 21 


1928 


Oct. 14 


1922 


June 15 


1918 


June 15 


1918 


Jan. 19 


1904 


Jan. 21 


1922 


Jan. 15 


1927 


May 6 


1933 


May 2 


1931 


Jan. 25 


1916 


Aug. 14 


1900 


Oct. 9 


1920 


Oct. 9 


1920 


Sept. 22 


1934 


Oct. 9 


1937 


Sept. 26 


1936 


Aug. 9 


1898 


Aug. 9 


1898 


Sept. 13 


1930 


Jan. 15 


1901 


May 27 


1902 


Oct. 9 


1920 


Oct. 6 


1903 


Jan. 17 


1899 


Jan. 16 


1917 


Jan. 19 


1929 


Jan. 21 


1928 


Oct. 9 


1937 


Jan. 21 


1928 


June 16 


1923 


Oct. 17 


1925 


June 22 


1929 


June 22 


1929 


Jan. 21 


1913 


May 6 


1933 


Jan. 21 


1928 


Oct. 4 


1904 


May 1 


1937 


Oct. 4 


1904 


Oct. 13 


1923 


Jan. 19 


1918 


June 22 


1929 


May 3 


1930 


May 3 


1930 



LIST OF MEMBERS XIX 

Names Address Elected 

Hotchkiss, George S Doylestown Jan. 15, 1927 

Hotchkiss, Mrs. George S Doylestown Jan. 15, 1927 

Hostetter, Mrs. Albert K Lancaster Sept. 13, 1930 

Hough, Wallace H New York, N. Y. Sept. 26, 1936 

Hough, Mrs. Wallace H New York, N. Y. Sept. 26, 1936 

Howell, Miss Mabel W Trenton, N. J. May 26, 1903 

Hubard, Mrs. Archibald B Elkins Park Sept. 26, 1936 

Hubbs, John H Germantown Sept. 26, 1936 

Hubbs, Mrs. John H Germantown Sept. 26, 1936 

Hulshizer, Mrs. Rosa B Doylestown Aug. 14, 1900 

Huntzinger, Mrs. George L Philadelphia Jan. 17, 1925 

Hydeman, Nathan Norristown May 3, 1930 

Iredell, Miss Elizabeth Bristol Oct. 4, 1919 

Ivins, Mrs. William H Langhorne Jan. 16, 1900 

Jaekel, Frederick Blair Doylestown Jan. 25, 1916 

Jaekel, George W Philadelphia June 1, 1915 

Jaekel, Mrs. George W Philadelphia Jan. 16, 1917 

James, Henry A Doylestown July 16, 1895 

James, Howard I Bristol May 26, 1903 

James, Irvin M Doylestown Oct. 4, 1904 

James, Mrs. Irvin M Doylestown Oct. 1, 1901 

James, Miss Sarah M Doylestown Jan. 17, 1899 

James, William Mt. Airy June 22, 1929 

James, Mrs. William Mt. Airy June 22, 1929 

James, Charles A Mt. Airy June 22, 1929 

James, Miss Elizabeth B Mt. Airy June 22, 1929 

Janney, John L., 3rd Newtown June 3, 1922 

Jenkins, Charles F Germantown Jan. 15, 1901 

Johnson, Miss Gertrude S Doylestown Oct. 9, 1937 

Johnson, Morris W Philadelphia Oct. 10,1911 

Junette, Victor E Doylestown May 3, 1930 

Kane, James M Doylestown Jan. 26, 1925 

Keeler, E. Wesley Spring Valley Jan. 19, 1897 

Keller, Hon. Hiram H Doylestown June 15, 1918 

Keller, Mahlon Perkasie May 26, 1903 

Kenhner, Dr. Howard M Philadelphia Oct. 9, 1937 

Kenhner, Mrs. Howard M Philadelphia Oct. 9, 1937 

Kephart, Calvin I Arlington, Va. Oct. 13, 1923 

Kinsey, Mrs. J. Ingham Easton June 22, 1929 

Kirk, Edward R Wycombe Oct. 10, 1911 

Kirson, Mrs. Alice A Holicong May 3, 1930 

Kister, Mrs. H. Leroy Doylestown Oct. 6, 1903 

Knight, Mrs. Charles L Newtown Oct. 4, 1904 

Knight, Howard Wenonah, N. J. Oct. 9,1920 

Knight, Mrs. Howard W^enonah, N. J. Oct. 9,1920 



XX 



LIST OF MEMBERS 



Names Address Elected 

Knight, Mrs. William B Trenton, N. J. Oct. 4.1904 

Kohler, Paul E., Jr Churchville Sept. 26, 1936 

Krisher, Mrs. Goldie Flack Philadelphia Jufie 4, 1914 

Landenberger, C. H., Jr New Hope Sept. 26, 1936 

Landenberger, Mrs. C. H., Jr New Hope Sept. 26, 1936 

Leatherman, J. Kirk Doylestown May 24, 1904 

Leatherman, Mrs. J. Kirk Doylestown Sept. 13, 1930 

Leattor, Mrs. Gertrude M Doylestown June 22, 1929 

Leattor, Mrs. Hannah R Doylestown June 22, 1929 

Leedom, Walter F Bristol May 28, 1907 

Leedom, Mrs. Walter F Bristol May 28, 1907 

LeRoy, Mrs. F. G Newtown Oct. 9, 1920 

Linton, Mrs. Franklin J Newtown Oct. 9, 1920 

Littleton, Miss Julia Waters Doylestown June 18, 1921 

Lochhead, Miss Anne J New Hope Sept. 13, 1930 

Lochhead, Miss Catherine P New Hope Sept. 13, 1930 

Long, Mrs. Emily Doylestown Oct. 9, 1937 

Longshore, Frank H Philadelphia Jan. 20, 1923 

Longshore, Miss Marion H Langhorne Sept. 26, 1936 

Longshore, Mrs. Samuel H Langhorne Jan. 16, 1906 

Longstreth, Edward T Philadelphia Jan. 15, 1901 

Lovett, E. H Yardley June 22, 1929 

Lovett, Mrs. E. H Yardley June 22, 1929 

Lovett, Dr. Henry Langhorne July 20, 1897 

Lovett, Mrs. Henry Langhorne June 4, 1914 

Lugar, Mrs. John Wrightstown Sept. 22, 1934 

Lundy, J. Wilmer Newtown Oct. 1, 1901 

Lyman, Miss Marion Doylestown June 12, 1912 

MacReynolds, George Doylestown May 28, 1901 

Magee, John F Easton Sept. 22, 1934 

Mann, Horace M Doylestown Jan. 19, 1918 

Mann, Mrs. Horace M Doylestown * Jan. 19,1918 

Mansfield, Mrs. Maynard W Philadelphia May 3, 1930 

Markle, Mrs. Alvin, Jr Hazleton May 2,1936 

Marshall, Mrs. Alfred Langhorne Oct. 7, 1897 

Marshall, Mrs. George Morley New Hope May 26, 1903 

Martin, Fred F Doylestown May 3, 1930 

Martin, Mrs. Fred F Doylestown May 3, 1930 

Mathews, Charles J Langhorne June 4, 1914 

Mathews, Mrs. Charles J Langhorne June 4, 1914 

Mathews, Edgar B Ocean Grove, N. J. May 5, 1934 

Mathias, Miss Ella Bristol Jan. 19,1929 

McCredy, Mrs. J. Wilson Philadelphia Jan. 15,1901 

McKinstry, Mrs. Ruth Doylestown Jan. 21, 1928 

Mendenhall, Dr. John C Frankford Sept. 26, 1936 

Mercer, William R Doylestown Jan. 15, 1889 



LIST OF MEMBERS X 

Names Address Elected 

Mercer, Mrs. William R Doylestown 

Meredith, Charles M Quakertown 

Merrick, Aubrey Newtown 

Metzger, Mrs. Emil Bristol 

Miller, Mrs. D. Yeakel Chestnut Hill 

Miller, Fred J New Hope 

Mireau, Francis C Doylestown 

Mitchell, Mrs. Allen R Germantown 

Mitchell, Theodore D Upper Darby 

Molloy, J. Carroll Pineville 

Moore, Miss Elizabeth K Doylestown 

Moore, Henry W Bridgewater 

Morris, Mrs. Armand V Bristol 

*Morris, Lawrence J Philadelphia 

Moyer, Mrs. Alvin Doylestown 

Murfit, Wallace Gilkyson Newtown 

Murray, Dr. John H Yardley 

Murray, Mrs. John H Yardley 

Myers, A. Conard Buckingham 

Myers, Mrs. A. Conard Buckingham 

Myers, Ralph E Oak Lane 

Myers, Mrs. Ralph E Oak Lane 

Newell, Mrs. William C Doylestown 

Newell, Miss Mary Louise Doylestown 

Nicholas, Miss Caroline Doylestown 

Nichols, Mrs. H. S. P Germantown 

Nichols, Mrs. William R Aquetong 

Palmer, Miss Anna S Newtown 

Palmer, Edward Langhorne 

Palmer, Mrs. Edward Langhorne 

Parry, Miss Adelaide R New Hope 

Parry, Miss Gertrude R New Hope 

Parry, Henry C Langhorne 

Parry, Mrs. Henry C Langhorne 

Parry, Mrs. William B Langhorne 

Parsons, Miss Ella Philadelphia 

Patterson, Mrs. John T Doylestown 

Paxson, Henry D., Jr Hollcong 

Paxson, Miss Mary S Doylestown 

Perkins, E. Stanley Germantown 

Pickering, H. Russell Newtown 

Pilling, William S Germantown 

Poore, Miss Dorothy A Riegelsville 

Powers, Mrs. Fred Perry Germantown 

Pratt, Mrs. Sophie L Doylestown 

Preston, Albert W Solebury 



May 


28, 


1907 


May 


28, 


1907 


Jan. 


21, 


1922 


Oct. 


9, 


1937 


Jan. 


19, 


1904 


June 


16, 


1923 


May 


27, 


1913 


Aug. 


10, 


1899 


May 


4, 


1935 


Oct. 


10, 


1911 


Oct. 


9, 


1937 


June 


15, 


1918 


Oct. 


19, 


1931 


May 


6, 


1933 


May 


4, 


1935 


June 


3, 


1922 


May 


1, 


1937 


May 


1, 


1937 


May 


6, 


1933 


May 


6, 


1933 


Sept. 


26, 


1936 


Sept. 


26, 


1936 


.Tuly 


16, 


1895 


May 


24, 


1904 


May 


6, 


1933 


Jan. 


18, 


1898 


Oct. 


28, 


1916 


Oct. 


10, 


1911 


June 


4, 


1914 


June 


4, 


1914 


Jan. 


15, 


1901 


Jan. 


15, 


1901 


June 


3, 


1922 


June 


3, 


1922 


Jan. 


16, 


1900 


Jan. 


16, 


1906 


May 


5, 


1934 


Oct. 


9, 


1920 


Oct. 


7, 


1902 


Oct. 


9, 


1920 


Sept. 


22, 


1934 


May 


30, 


1919 


Sept. 


10, 


1927 


Oct. 


9, 


1920 


Jan. 


19, 


1924 


Sept. 


13, 


1930 



XXII 



LIST OF MEMBERS 



Names Address Elected 

Preston, Mrs. Albert W Solebury Sept. 13, 1930 

Pursell, Miss M. Lillian Mechanicsville Oct. 5, 1909 

Pyle, Francis C George School Jan. 25, 1916 

Quimby, Miss Margaret Lumberville Oct. 5, 1909 

Quimby, Miss Mary Lumberville Oct. 5, 1909 

Quimby, Wilmot Solebury Oct. 4, 1904 

Quimby, Mrs. Wilmot Solebury Oct. 4, 1904 

Reading, F. Linwood Hatboro Oct. 19, 1931 

Remensnyder, John Paul Metuchen May 7, 1932 

Repass, Rev. Bernard Doylestown Jan. 15, 1921 

Repass, Mrs. Bernard Doylestown Jan. 15, 1921 

Richardson, Russell, Jr Philadelphia May 2, 1936 

Ridge, Mrs. Lloyd Newtown May 24, 1904 

Roberts, C. Wilson Southampton May 6, 1933 

Roberts, Mrs. C. Wilson Southampton May 6, 1933 

**Roberts, Charles R Allentown May 1, 1937 

Roberts, Charles W Newtown May 6, 1933 

Roberts, Clarence V Germantown June 18, 1921 

Roberts, Mrs. Clarence V Germantown June 18, 1921 

Roberts, Erastus T New York, N. Y. June 3, 1922 

Roberts, Mrs. Thomas S Minneapolis, Minn. July 21, 1896 

Roberts, Dr. W. A Newtown Jan. 15, 1921 

Roberts, Mrs. W. A Newtown Jan. 15, 1921 

Robinson, Mrs. George K Flushing, N. Y. May 26, 1903 

Rosenberger, Mrs. H. B Doylestown Oct. 5, 1909 

Rosenthal, Albert New Hope June 22, 1930 

Ross, Thomas Doylestown Jan. 18, 1898 

Ruckman, John H Doylestown Jan. 18, 1898 

Ruckman, Mrs. John H Doylestown Oct. 5, 1909 

Ruckman, John Fell Doylestown June 15, 1915 

Rush, Walter D Plumsteadville May 5, 1934 

Ryan, Miss Helen L Doylestown Oct. 9, 1937 

Sandford, Joseph E Brooklyn, N. Y. Oct. 17, 1925 

Sasse, Rev. Lewis, II Newtown May 5, 1934 

Satterthwaite, Miss Elizabeth B Trenton, N. J. Sept. 25, 1926 

Saul, Walter Biddle Germantown May 3,1930 

Saul, Mrs. Walter Biddle Germantown May 3, 1930 

Scarborough, Miss Anna C Newtown Oct. 4, 1904 

Scarborough, Mrs. Elizabeth B Wyncote May 1, 1937 

Schmidt, R. Roland Neshaminy May 1, 1937 

Schneider, Mrs. Karl Langhorne Sept. 26, 1936 

Schultz, Miss Doris Hamilton, Ont., Canada May 4, 1935 

Seiffert, George R Philadelphia May 7, 1932 

Semple, Mrs. Samuel Titusville May 6,1933 

Shaddinger, Roy K Doylestown Oct. 17, 1925 

Shimer, Miss Florence L Riegelsville June 22, 1929 



LIST OF MEMBKKS XXIII 

Ncmrs Address Elected 

Shive, Mrs Claries H Doylestown Oct. 12,1935 

Shoemaker, Mrs H.J Doylestow n Oct. 5, l'J09 

Shoemaker, Lester B TuUytown Sept. 22, 1934 

Shoemaker, Mrs. Lester B Tullytov n Sept 22, 1934 

Shorey, Mrs Paul Chicago, 111. Jan. 22, 1895 

Sickel, Howard S. J Philadelphia May 2, 1936 

Siegler, C'rarles L Doylestown May 3, 1930 

Sienkie-wi-:z, Casimir A Doylestown Jan. 15, 1927 

Sigafoos, Lertis Doylestown Jan. 21, 1928 

Sigafocs, Mrs Lewis Doylestow n May 5, 1934 

Sinkler, Whar::on Philadelphia June 18, 1921 

Slack, Joseph C Penns Park Nov. 8, 1913 

Slack, Mrs. Joseph C Penns Park Nov. 8,1913 

Smith, Miss Anna W Newtown June 3, 1922 

Smith, C. Arthur Wycombe May 3,1930 

Smith, Mrs. Charles B Newtown July 21, 1896 

Smith, Clarence H New Castle, Ind. May 30, 1919 

Smith, H. Eastburn New Hope Oct. 9, 1937 

Snipes, Mrs. Edgar Morrisville Jan. 25, 1916 

Spong, Mrs. Charles Stuart Newtown Oct. 12, 1935 

Stackhouse, Lewis S Trenton, N. J. Sept. 25, 1926 

Stavely, Mrs. William R LahasVa Jan. 20, 1903 

Stockham, Thomas B Morrisville May 6, 1933 

Stone, Frank S Chestnut Hill Nov. 8, 1913 

Stover, Henry Willet Wellsbcro Jan. 17,1925 

Stover, Mrs. Henry Willet Wellsboro Jan. 17, 1925 

Swain, Frank K Doylestown Sept. 13, 1930 

Swain, Mrs. Frank K Doylestown Sept. 13, 1930 

Swartley, Mrs. John C Doylestown Aug. 9, 1898 

Swartley, Wilson H Doylestown Jan. 25, 1916 

Swartzlandcr, Frank Doylestown May 4, 1935 

Swartzlander, Mrs. Joseph R Doylestown May 26, 1903 

Swartzlander, Miss Mary Doylestown May 5, 1934 

Swartzlander, Miss Sue B Dcylestown May 1, 1937 

Svvope, Miss Laura R Erwinna Jan. 1^,1909 

Taylor, Mrs. Bertha M. B Philadelphia June 16, 1923 

Taylor, Francis G Doylestown Sept. 13, 1930 

Taylor, Mrs. Francis G Doylestown Sepr 13, 1930 

Thomas, Mrs Edith M Quakertown Oct. 17,1925 

Thompson, Albert J Wycombe Nov. 8, 1913 

Thompson, Airs. Albert J Wycombe Nov. 8, 1913 

Thompson, Hon. J. Whitaker Philadelphia June 15, 1918 

Thompson, Louis E Glen Ridge, N. J. Oct. 1,1909 

Thompson, William A Cynwyd Sept. 13, 1930 

Thompson, Mrs. William A Cynwyd Sept. 13, 1930 

Thompson, William A., Jr Cynwyd Sept. 13, 1930 

♦Thomson, William B Philadelphia May 7, 1932 



XXIV LIST OF MEMBERS 

Names Address Elected 

Tinsnian, Mrs. William Lumberville 

Todd, Mrs. Henry A Doylestow n 

Tomb, Mrs. Earl L Bristol 

Tomb, Mrs. Harriet W Langhorne 

Tomlinson, Aaron Langhorne 

Tomlinson, Mrs. Aaron Langhorne 

Tomlinson, William S Newtown 

Townsend, Arthur P Langhorne 

Townsend, Mrs. Arthur P Langhorne 

Trexler, Edwin G Allentow n 

Trexler, Hon. Frank M Allentown 

Turnbull, Miss Jean W New Hope 

Twining, Franklin M Newtown 

Twining, Wilmer A Wycombe 

Vanartsdalen, Mrs. Isaac T Newtown 

Walton, George A George School 

Warner, Mrs. George Ardmore 

Watson, Mrs. George Doylestown 

Watson, Palmer Philadelphia 

Weisel, W. O Doylestown 

Weisel, Mrs. W. O Doylestown 

Wheeler, George Mt. Airy 

Whitney, William W Spring Valley 

Whitney, Mrs. William W Spring Valley 

Wilkinson, Mrs. Ada Lowther New York, N. Y. 

Wilkinson, Ogden D Philadelphia 

Williams, Mrs. Carroll R Rye, N. Y. 

Williams, John S., 2nd New Hope 

Willis, Charles C Newtown 

Willis, Mrs. Charles C Newtown 

Wilson, Edward C Yardley 

Wilson, Mrs. Edward C Yardley 

W'ilson, Miss Jessie M Newtown 

Wittekind, Dr. John R Morrisville 

Wolf, Mrs. James J Ottsville 

Woodman, Miss Elizabeth A Wycombe 

Worthington, Miss Evelyn L Newtown 

Worthington, Miss Kezzie Carversville 

Wright, John Stapler Newtown 

Wright, Mrs. William Newtown 

Wurts, John S Germantow n 

Yardley, Mrs. John Doylestown Jan. 29, 1907 

Total, 446 Members, including 4 Life Members and 7 Honorary Life 
Members. 



Oct. 


5, 


Jan. 


16, 


Oct. 


9, 


Sept. 


13, 


June 


3, 


June 


3, 


June 


3, 


Jan. 


18, 


Jan. 


18, 


Sept. 


13, 


Sept. 


13, 


Jan. 


15, 


Oct. 


19, 


Oct. 


9, 


May 


28, 


June 


3, 


Oct. 


7, 


Jan. 


18, 


June 


7, 


May 


5, 


May 


5, 


May 


6, 


Sept. 


26, 


Sept. 


26, 


Tan. 


21, 


Jan. 


22, 


July 


19, 


May 


6, 


Oct. 


13, 


Oct. 


13, 


Jan. 


19, 


Tan. 


19, 


Oct. 


19, 


May 


6, 


May 


4, 


Sept 


26, 


Sept 


13, 


Tan. 


17, 


Jan. 


15, 


Oct. 


10, 


Oct. 


7, 



The Schools of Neshaminy* 

By rev. D. K. turner, HARTSVILLE, PA. 
(Warminster Meeting, July 27, 1886) 

WHEN the early settlers of Pennsylvania came across the 
Atlantic to make for themselves new homes in the wilder- 
ness, they were not in pursuit of material wealth alone. 
They sought also the advantages which civil and religious liberty, 
education and enlightened society bring in their train. To these 
they had been accustomed in a measure in the old world, and 
while they were cutting down the primeval forests, erecting 
dwellings and bringing the soil into subjection they thought of the 
wants of the higher nature of man. It was once remarked by Dr. 
Horace Bushnell, a very acute and original thinker, that the ten- 
dency of emigration is to barbarism, and no doubt those who 
leave the institutions of civilization, and go far away from the 
haunts of men, are liable, in enforced attention to physical necessi- 
ties, to lose sight of the cultivation of the mind and refinement of 
the manners. The pioneers in the establishment of this colony 
endeavored to avoid this evil ; to preserve freedom and intelligence, 
which had gradually been acquired in the struggles of ages, and to 
enlarge and confirm the inheritance they had received from their 
ancestors. 

The owners of the land in the neighborhood of Neshaminy, 
when it was first bought of the original proprietor, William Penn, 
were English people, as appears from the patents given by him; 
the names of the grantees and of the places, from which they 
came, being of that nationality, but many of them did not reside 
here. In a few years Scotch-Irish immigrants purchased of them 
smaller tracts and took up their abode along these hills and 
valleys. They had been in the habit of attending school in their 
younger days, were sensible of the value of education, and 
desired to have their children enjoy privileges similar to those 
which had been accorded to them. They planted a church here 
and a school house by its side. The meeting house first stood in 
the present graveyard and was probably erected in 1727. A 
stone, on which that date is carved with the initials, W. M. and 

* A deferred paper, not printed in any prior volume of "A Collection of 
Papers Read before The Bucks County Historical Society." 



2 THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMINY 

W. C, was in the wall of the building, which remained standing 
until 1792, though long unused for religious services, when it was 
taken down by direction of the trustees, and the material used in 
the construction of the graveyard wall that ran west from the 
school house. This stone was placed in that wall and held its 
position until 1851, when a new wall was built along the Bristol 
road and the block was fixed in it near the front gate, where it 
now is. 

Graveyard School 

The first school house, known to have been in this vicinity 
after "Log College," was of logs, in what is now the graveyard, a 
short distance back of the chapel. At what time it was erected 
we have no means of knowing. But it was an antique structure 
when it was removed about 1825, and had probably borne the 
winter storms of more than half a century. It was set up to last, 
as buildings were in former days. Having become somewhat 
dilapidated, (perhaps I might better say dilogadated), the people 
in this section thought it desirable to have it replaced with a 
better edifice, and one night a jackscrew was applied to one of the 
logs and the work of demolition was begun. But it was found 
more difficult to tear it down than had been expected. It would 
not go to pieces without a large amount of hard work. It had 
been a useful though humble temple of knowledge. In it many 
excellent preceptors had taught the rising generation, and some, 
whose peculiar modes of giving instruction have been superseded 
by those of a more enlightened character. 

One of them was James Gray, more familiarly called "Jimmy 
Gray," who held the rod of dominion there about a hundred years 
ago. He was of Scotch descent, and very eccentric. A large, 
noble hickory tree stands by the side of the Hartsville and Centre- 
ville turnpike, near the gate of Esquire Johnson Beans, in War- 
minster. Gray lived, in his early days, not far off, and he told 
Hugh Long, formerly of Hartsville, that as he was driving his 
mother's cows to pasture one morning he cut off the top of the 
sapling for a switch, which gave it the fork that appears a few 
feet above the ground. When he became a young man, he was 
employed to guide the youthful mind in its search for knowledge, 
and for his own recreation in his arduous labors he was in the 
habit of getting the boys to play practical jokes on one another. 



THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMINY 3 

For example, he would send a boy out to lie concealed in the 
bushes near a spring, and would send two others for water, and 
inform them of the one hiding, and tell them to throw a bucketful 
on him. 

Another teacher was William Long, commonly denominated 
"Little Billy." William Carr, who formerly owned the farm 
now in possession of George Jamison, of Warwick, and who was a 
long period in the public offices at the court house in Doylestown, 
said that he went to school to him. He was wont to have the 
scholars commit their spelling lessons and read in concert aloud, 
he himself calling at the top of his voice, and accompanying it by 
striking on his desk with a huge hickory stick, which he always 
carried as a wand of office. He would cry out, "Be busy! Be 
busy!" and Mr. Carr said the youngsters found amusement in 
shouting as loud as possible, to see who could make the most 
noise, but without reference to the words of the lessons. 

Gideon Prior occupied the chair of instruction in this rude 
building, probably when he first came to Neshaminy from New 
England, between 1785 and 1790. He had been invited by his 
brother, who resided in South Carolina, to come there, and set out 
from his Eastern home with that intention, but having reached 
this neighborhood he tarried to preside awhile in the hall of 
science, married, and ever after remained here. When a boy, in 
the American Revolution, he desired to do something for his 
country, and went from Connecticut into Rhode Island, where our 
French allies under Count Rochambeau were. As he was only 
sixteen years old, he was unable to perform regular military duty, 
and became a driver of wagons; marched with the army to the 
banks of the Hudson River, and subsequently to Yorktown, Va., 
where he was during the siege of that stronghold. He carried 
ammunition across the fields, when the bullets and cannon balls 
were whistling in the air above him, but escaped unhurt. He 
remembered to the close of his life the scene in which the British 
soldiers surrendered, and petulantly threw down their arms, with 
a crash, that resounded far around. As operations on land then, 
for the most part, terminated, he made his way to the North and 
took a place on board a privateer that cruised on the Atlantic 
Ocean, but was captured by a British frigate and carried prisoner 
into New York, which was still in the hands of our enemies. Here 
he was confined on board a prison ship in the harbor for a time 



4 THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMINY 

and suffered great privations. The mother country then claimed 
the right to impress into her naval service any of her subjects, 
wherever they could be found. Americans were yet, in her view, 
her subjects, and Gideon was required to leave the prison-ship, and 
go as a sailor on a man-of-war, in which he was borne out to sea. 
After experiencing various adventures and hardships he was 
abandoned on one of the West India Islands, friendless and 
without means, but found a way to get back to the United States. 
In a year or two he entered Dartmouth College, N. H., where he 
remained about four years, and acquired a good knowledge of the 
Latin language as well as other branches of a classical education, 
when he bent his steps southward and found a resting place at 
Neshaminy. He was a superior teacher, and his sons, Asahel and 
Azariah, were prepared for Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., 
principally by him as their tutor. He understood vocal music 
also, and frequently had a singing school under his charge, and it 
is quite likely that the young men and maidens under his lead 
have often made "the welkin ring" in the old log school house 
with the strains of "Old Hundred" and "Dundee." 

Other teachers in that building were John Emory and Alfred 
H. Carpenter. The latter is described as being "as jolly a boy as 
any one, out of school, but very strict in school." He would get 
a long hickory rod, and stand in a ring of as many boys as could 
get around him, and any boy might, if he dared venture, "cut and 
thrust." But while the boys got many smart blows. Carpenter 
was too quick for them to hit him. He entertained the little fel- 
lows amazingly by "yarns," comic songs, etc. 

Among the later "masters" in the log building were Doctor 
Bryan, of Doylestown; Mr. McKean, of Easton, president of a 
bank, who married a sister of James Porter, governor of the 
Territory of Michigan, and Azariah Prior, who became an Epis- 
copal clergyman, and resided many years in Pottsville. The last 
was John McNair, who subsequently established a seminary near 
Abington, and represented Montgomery County in Congress. 

The stone school house in the graveyard was built in 1825, by 
subscription of the people of the neighborhood. Samuel Long, 
son of Hugh Long, first taught in it, occupying the place until he 
went to college at Canonsburg in the spring of 1827. He was an 
admirable teacher; not satisfied with going through the routine of 
each day, he desired to have his pupils understand the branches of 



THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMINY 5 

Study they were pursuing. He took pains to encourage them, to 
explain difficult points, and to make the way clear for the exertion 
of their own faculties. An elderly man once told me, that when a 
boy, he himself was one of his scholars, and that he gained more 
light on arithmetic the first day than he had in several months of 
previous schooling. Another teacher in the stone building w^as 
William Wright, a very peculiar man, but a capital driller in the 
elements of a common English education. Rev. Mahlon Long, 
when quite a young man, swayed the rod there from April, 1832, 
to January 1, 1834. I heard him say once, that before he took 
charge there, the parents were in the habit of paying three cents 
for each day's attendance of each child, and that when applica- 
tion was made to him to assume the position, he insisted, as one 
of the terms of acceptance, upon being paid by the quarter, and 
not by the day, as more creditable to him and presenting greater 
incentives to regularity and punctuality on the part of the 
scholars. Like Cincinnatus, he was taken literally from the plow, 
for he was in the field when one of the managers of the school came 
to him to request his services. 

Samuel Hart also gave instruction in the stone school house, 
father of the late George Hart, Esq., and Josiah Hart, of Doyles- 
town. He was an accurate and skillful surveyor, a remarkably 
neat penman, and for a time Associate Judge of the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas of Bucks County. 

Miss Caroline Downer, afterwards Mrs. Caroline Whiting, 
had the children under her eye for a number of years, immediately 
preceding the adoption of the general State system of education, 
and even for a time after that period she taught the smaller chil- 
dren, for whom the friends supposed a private school best adapted. 

Hart's School House 

Previous to 1756, a small school house had stood in War- 
minster, near the road leading from Johnsville to Newtown, on the 
property of Daniel Longstreth, in which James Sterling was then 
teaching. But in that year the people removed that structure, as 
inadequate and inconvenient, and erected on the same lot a stone 
building, 18 feet by 36, with a partition running across it dividing 
it into two rooms, in which it was intended that Latin, Greek and 
mathematics should be studied, as well as common English 



THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMINY 



branches. The names of the subscribers to the expense fund that 
have come down to us, are Joseph Hart, John Dungan, Derrick 
Kroeson, James Stirling, WilHam Ramsey and James Spencer. 
In paying subscriptions labor was accepted at the rate of two 
shillings and sixpence for a good "hand on his own diet," or 33 
cents, and for a cart with five horses, 10 shillings, or $1.33. In 
1757 Daniel Longstreth and Grace, his wife, deeded the lot of 
ground, on which the school house stood, to William Folwell, 
John Dungan, Anthony Scout and John Vanartsdale, as trustees, 
and they made a certified declaration of their trust to Joseph 
Hart, Daniel Longstreth, Giles Craven and Derrick Kroeson, who 
represented the people of the neighborhood. In 1765 Thomas 
Handcock was employed to teach for a year with a salary of 
fifty-five pounds, or $146.66. Other teachers were Hezekiah 
Durham, Lemen Banes, Hon. John McNair and Colonel David 
Marple. 

In 1831 the edifice just referred to had been occupied as a 
fountain of knowledge 75 years, and had become unfit for use. It 
was accordingly taken down and a new one erected, in size 20 
feet by 25, at an expense of $320.28. It may be interesting to 
some to hear the names of those who subscribed towards it. They 
are as follows: 



Griffith Miles 
Robert Ramsey 
William Spencer 
Lot Bennett 
John Hart 
William Craven 
John Craven 
Joseph Warner 
John Davis 
John Hart, of Coxville 
Daniel Longstreth 
William M. White 
Thomas Warner, Jr. 
James Evans 
Thomas Hart 
Lewis F. Hart 
David Krusen 
John Spencer 
William Williamson 



Isaac Hobensack 
Lemen Banes 
William Vansant 
Joshua Walton 
Samuel Scott 
Joseph Carrell 
John Bothwell 
Stephen Beans 
David Marple 
John Bready 
Thomas Spencer 
Garrett Krusen 
Robert Jamison 
Thomas Craven 
Elijah W. Beans 
Daniel Dungan 
Jesse Carrell 
William Fetter 
John Magoffin 



Charles Prior 
John Sutch 
Isaac Craven 
John Rapp 
Samuel Krusen 
Joseph Longstreth 
Joseph K. Campbell 
Harman Yerkes 
John Yerkes 
Archibald McLean 
Jesse Edwards 
William Biddle 
James M. Delany 
Adam Mclllhany 
Benjamin J. Slack 
Lewis Biddle 
James Travis 
John Hunter 
E. H. Yerkes 



The first teacher employed in the new school house was Elijah 



THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMIXY 7 

W. Beans. Others who succeeded him were Wilham Maddoc, 
Isaac W. Spencer, Tyson Lukens, Gilbert Blaker, John A. Thorn- 
ton, M. D., Miss Ann Ehza Hart, Miss S. Fell, of Buckingham, 
and Miss Elizabeth Croasdale. The building was abandoned in 
1800, when the school house on the Street road, below Johnsville, 
was built. Besides being used for the education of children. 
Hart's school house served other valuable purposes. The War- 
minster Debating Society, a regularly organized literary associa- 
tion, held its sessions many years within its walls, in which politi- 
cal and moral questions were discussed with great interest by 
prominent men, as General John Davis, Colonel David Marple, 
Rev. T. B. Montanye, and others. 

Rev. Robert B. Belville held in it a large Bible class, com- 
posed of adults and children. Among those who habitually 
attended were Colonel William M. White and wife, Mr. and Mrs. 
Robert Jamison, William Blair and wife, Hugh Mearns, a grad- 
uate of Princeton College; Griffith Miles, the Ramseys, Breadys, 
Harts, and many others. Public worship was often observed in 
it, conducted by Rev. A'lessrs. Belville, John Magoffin, James P. 
Wilson, Henry R. Wilson, Sr., Joseph H. Mathias, of Hilltown, 
and J. B. Bowen, of Southampton. The youth of the neighbor- 
hood were also taught vocal music, singing schools being fre- 
quently held there in the long evenings of the winter. 

Street Road School 

Another school house, in which children were taught many 
years during the first half of this century, stood by the side of the 
Street road, in Warminster township, on ground which is now 
included in the farm of Joseph Barnsley, Esq. In it a number of 
excellent teachers trained the youthful mind, among others 
Gideon Prior, W'illiam Wright, John Griffith, Abel Beans, Elijah 
Beans, Benjamin Shoemaker, David Moody, John Craven, John 
Ramsey, Neil McCue, Wetherill and Robert Winder. In 1850, 
soon after the enactment of the present public school law% the old 
building, which had been long unused except for Sunday School, 
was taken down, and another erected a few rods off on the corner 
of the Norristown road, which is now occupied by one of the 
township schools. 

Isaac Beans, now living in Hartsville at the age of 81 years, 



THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMINY 

tells the following circumstance about his attendance at the old 
Street road school. He says: "I went to Gideon Prior, when he 
was master there, and was sometimes pretty mischievous. I 
would get out of my seat to where I ought not to be, and Mr. 
Prior would come along and take me by the hair and lead me back. 
Mother was cutting my hair one day and I said to her, 'Cut it as 
short as you can, so Mr. Prior can't get hold of it.' So she cut it 
very short, and not long after Mr. Prior tried to get his hand fast 
on it, and not succeeding he gave me a smart cuff about the ears; 
and I did not make much by the operation." 



Mr. Belville's School 

In the fall of 1818, or the spring of 1819, Rev. Robert B. Bel- 
ville, then pastor of Neshaminy Church, established a boarding 
school for boys on his own property, which some of the lads of the 
neighborhood were also permitted to attend. It originated in the 
following manner: Mr. Belville had been at much expense in 
buying a farm and building a house and barn upon it. His 
salary was only six hundred dollars a year; he was in debt and his 
increasing family needed a larger income. He had the offer of a 
call to the pastorate of the Market Square Presbyterian Church, 
in Harrisburg, and was in doubt whether he ought not to accept 
it. In consultation with his session upon the subject they 
advised him to remain wath them and teach school. He con- 
cluded to accede to their wishes. Loller Academy, at Hatboro, 
was then destitute of a principal, and when it was known that he 
desired a situation of the kind he was appointed. He issued cir- 
culars, rented his farm and was about to move to Hatboro, when 
the trustees of Loller Academy passed a resolution prohibiting 
religious instruction in the school. Mr. Belville went to see Rev. 
James P. Wilson, D. D., senior, pastor of the First Presbyterian 
Church in Philadelphia, to confer with him on the matter, and the 
result was that he decided to decline the position at Hatboro and 
teach at his own residence. He bought back the lease of his 
farm, put up a school house, and in six weeks from the time he 
had the interview with Doctor Wilson, he returned to announce 
to him that he was ready to open a classical and select school at 
Hartsville. The doctor handed him the names of eleven pupils, 



THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMINY 9 

who were waiting to accompany him to the new institution, and 
who were to pay S200 per annum, at that day an unusually large 
price. He continued to superintend the seminary thus inaugur- 
ated until 1828, a period of nine years, when having accumulated 
sufficient to supplement the income derived from the church, he 
terminated his labors in this department of effort. During all 
this time all the pupils he could accommodate came to put them- 
selves under his care and the institution was prosperous and suc- 
cessful. He was assisted by his brother John, who married Miss 
Elizabeth Long, of Warrington, and was afterwards settled as a 
Presbyterian minister in Ohio, and died a few years ago in Day- 
ton, in that State; also by Robert Dunlap, subsequently pastor 
of Presbyterian churches in Danville and Pittsburgh, Pa. ; and by 
James P. Wilson, Jr., now pastor of the South Park Presbyterian 
Church in Newark, N. J. The latter taught the Greek alphabet 
to Jacob Belville, D. D., now of Pottsville, on his sixth birthday. 
Most of Rev. Robert Belville's pupils were from Philadelphia, 
the sons of men of business, who devoted themselves to the occu- 
pations of their parents. Among them some may be particularly 
mentioned: Three sons of Dr. J. P. Wilson, Sr. ; Matthew, who 
became a merchant; Samuel, a doctor; and James P., Jr., who 
became an eminent clergyman, and is still living, having been 
minister in Newark thirty-three years; Dr. James Booth, who 
w^as somewhat distinguished as an analytical chemist; William B. 
Hart, son of Thomas Hart, a graduate of Princeton College and a 
man of high standing in Philadelphia; John Duncan, James 
Postlethwaite and Lemuel Gustine were promising young men, of 
Natchez, Mississippi, but died in early manhood; Francis Markoe 
became a leading merchant in New York city; several sons of 
James Fassett, of Philadelphia; Conrad Boyer and Dyer Gardiner, 
of New York. There were likewise as pupils: Duvals, Waynes, 
Birds, a McKean, a Keith and a Buoy. Mr. Belville prepared 
boys for college or for business, giving instruction in the classical 
languages and in the higher branches of mathematics. He was 
a firm disciplinarian and had faith in the truth of Solomon's 
maxim, "He that spareth the rod, spoileth the child." He pun- 
ished his son, Jacob, one time rather severely, who, in telling about 
it soon after to other boys, said: "Father played the fiddle and I 
danced the tune." He sought to imbue the minds of his pupils 
with correct moral and religious principles as well as intellectual 



10 THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMINY 

culture, and his school was influential in promoting superior edu- 
cation beyond the immediate locality in which he resided. 

One of the outgrowths of Mr. Belville's seminary was that of 
Samuel Long, who opened a private school in a building erected 
in 1830 by his father, Hugh Long, on his property in Hartsville. 
He occupied it from the autumn of that year to the spring of 1833, 
when he removed to the dwelling on Kerr's hill, a mile north of 
Hartsville, which is now owned by Isaac Weaver. A school room 
was built on a beautiful site near the mansion, and the institu- 
tion, patronized by both boarding and day scholars, prospered 
for about two years and a half. His success was so encouraging 
that he was making preparations to enlarge his house. With this 
in view he went into the woods with some men about two miles 
from home to get ready the necessary timber, when a heavy limb 
of a tree fell suddenly and fractured his skull, rendering him 
unconscious and causing his death in a few hours. The loss 
experienced by the community and by the friends of education in 
the unexpected decease of this excellent man was greatly felt. 
It occurred on Saturday, December 5, 1835, and Neshaminy 
Church, with which he was connected as a member, was filled 
with a mourning congregation on the next day when Rev. R. B. 
Belville, the pastor, took occasion appropriately to address them 
in reference to the sad event. 

Shortly after this, or about this time, Mr. Belville, desiring to 
secure the proper education of his younger children, employed 
Miss Frost, a young lady from New England, and others to teach a 
select school on his own premises, at which a few attended from 
the neighborhood besides his own family. This arrangement con- 
tinued only two or three years. 

In the autumn of 1831 Rev. James P. Wilson, Jr., opened a 
classical boarding school on the property owned by his father, in 
Warminster, now in possession of R. Thompson Engart. It was 
intended for pupils from a distance, in which they might be pre- 
pared more particularly for college, and during fifteen years was 
favored with a high degree of prosperity. Among the tutors who 
assisted Mr. Wilson were Rev. Mahlon Long, Rev. Horatio 
Howell, a chaplain in the L^nion army during the late war, who 
was killed at Gettysburg by some Confederate soldiers as he was 
standing on the steps of a church in which he had just been taking 
care of the sick and wounded of both sides. Another preceptor 



THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMINY 11 

was William Sturgeon, a nephew of William Carr, of Doylestown. 
Among Mr. Wilson's pupils were Rev. John W. Mears, D. D., late 
professor in Hamilton College; Rev. Dr. Burt, of Cincinnati, and 
many who became lawyers and physicians. 

Darrah's School 

About 1835 Mr. Robert Darrah was impressed with the im- 
portance of providing for the instruction of his children, growing 
up around him, better facilities than the neighborhood afforded. 
After some consultation with Mr. Joseph Hart and Rev. R. B. 
Belville, he proposed to be at the expense of erecting, on his 
property, a school building, furnishing it and supplying it with 
necessary fuel, if the other two gentlemen would bear their pro- 
portionate cost of tuition. The children of no other families 
than these three were to be admitted without their consent, and 
the number of pupils limited to twelve. The price of tuition was 
to be $5.00 per quarter, and a salary of $240.00 per year was 
guaranteed to the teacher, who was to find a home gratuitously at 
their houses in rotation. This plan was carried into successful 
operation for a time only. Mr. Belville soon withdrew his co- 
operation, and after a few years no stipulated compensation was 
assured to the teachers. They were allowed to develop the 
income on their own responsibility, though no rent was ever 
charged by Mr. Darrah for the use of the building, which was at 
length enlarged one-third above its original dimensions. The 
school was first designed for small children, but as time went on it 
lost this characteristic and became an institution of much higher 
grade. In it Latin, Greek, French, algebra, geometry, mensura- 
tion and surveying, history, chemistry and natural philosophy, 
even such branches as were pursued in the third year of a college 
course, were successfully taught, and students could be prepared 
to enter college in advance of the Freshman class. Several of the 
instructors were graduates of Yale and Princeton. The names of 
them all were as follows: Miss Howe, of Philadelphia; Miss Mar- 
garet Bliss, of Springfield, Mass., from 1836 to 1838 ; Miss Doane ; 
Miss Lucy Griswold, of Connecticut; Henry A. Boardman, three 
months in 1840; James A. Darrah, of Hartsville, from September, 
1840, to 1842; Mahlon Long, from September, 1842, to 1843; Wil- 
liam C. Sturgeon from 1843 to 1845; Charles S. Stone, of Maine, 



12 THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMINY 

from 1845 to 1846; Douglas K. Turner, of Hartford, Connecticut, 
from September, 1846, to April, 1848; Joseph D. Nichols, of 
Springfield, N. H., from September, 1848, to April, 1849; Miss 
Emily Darrah, from April, 1849, to July, 1854. The first twelve 
scholars that attended at the beginning of the school were Anna 
Bellville, Elizabeth Bellville, Robert C. Bellville, Frances C. 
Hart, Byron Hart, Eliza M. Hart, Rachel H. Darrah, Eliza M. 
Darrah, Mary Ann Darrah, Emily Darrah, Hannah Hamer and 
Martha Carr. Besides these there were about one hundred and 
twenty other pupils, who attended for longer or shorter periods. 
Some subsequently entered the learned professions; several filled 
important civil offices, and almost all occupied places of useful- 
ness and respectability in society. Four died in defense of their 
country in the late war with the Confederate States; Major Irwin 
Moody, who was killed in Mississippi; Sergeant Harman Y. 
Beans and Colonel Samuel Croasdale, in Virginia, and Dr. Byron 
Hart, a surgeon in the army, who contracted disease in South 
Carolina, in consequence of which he was compelled to come 
North, but died the same day he arrived in New York. The 
seminary on Mr. Darrah's property enjoyed a successful career 
until about 1855, when it was given up, the public school system 
having greatly improved, and other institutions of a high rank 
having been founded in the immediate vicinity. 

Beans' School 

A log dwelling had long stood on the farm of Mr. John C. 
Beans, in Warminster, near the York road, which was used for a 
time, about the year 1835, for school purposes, but was taken 
down by him and replaced with a new school house. This was 
occupied by different teachers for a number of years ; among them 
were Miss Anna Craven, now Mrs. Mearns; Elizabeth McNair, 
sister of Hon. John McNair; George Hart, A. B., a graduate of 
Yale College; Charles Meredith; Miss Sarah Yerkes, now Mrs. 
Rev. A. J. Hay; Joseph D. Nichols, A. B., a graduate of Dart- 
mouth College, N. H. Mr. Beans was warmly interested in the 
education of the young, and established the seminary near his 
own residence, that his large family might enjoy the advantages 
of a careful early training. One of his sons was sent to Mrs. 
Mearns so young that she used to keep him quiet sometimes on her 



THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMINY 13 

knee by putting a large silver watch she carried into his mouth for 
him to grind his incipient teeth on. He grew up in favor of a 
sound metalHc currency and was able to calculate United States 
money well. 

Jamison's School 

In 1835 the Misses Phebe and Maria Jamison, daughters of 
William Jamison, established a school on their father's property, 
in Warwick, which was successfully carried on for thirteen years, 
being closed in 1848, and in 1866 their sister, Miss Emma Jamison, 
opened a girls' seminary in Hartsville, which continued under her 
careful and efficient supervision sixteen years, until 1882, when 
her health required rest. 

In the autumn of 1846, Miss Elizabeth Croasdale, daughter of 
William Croasdale, of Hartsville, opened a school for small chil- 
dren in a building adjoining her father's residence, which she con- 
tinued to superintend two or three years, when she engaged in 
teaching in public schools in various townships, especially in War- 
minster. She possessed remarkable talent in penmanship and 
drawing, and in the course of time became a pupil in the School 
of Design for Women, in Philadelphia, then assistant teacher, 
then principal of that very useful and important institution, which 
position she held at the time of her death a few months ago. Her 
services there were highly appreciated by the friends and patrons 
of art, and the loss occasioned by her decease was deeply felt. 
She was a sister of Colonel Samuel Croasdale, who fell in the 
battle of Antietam. 

A school house was built on the property of William C. Jami- 
son, in Warwick, at the almshouse road, by himself and Major 
George Jamison, in 1844, in which the following teachers gave 
instruction in succeeding years, viz.: James E. Darrah, of Tren- 
ton; Charles Ramsey; Joseph Flack, Jr.; Samuel Wilson, seeds- 
man, of Mechanicsville, Bucks County; and during one winter 
Joseph Flack, Sr., and George Jamison taught alternately every 
other week, an arrangement not adapted to operate harmoniously 
for any length of time. Soon after the inauguration of the present 
system of public instruction this school house was used by the 
township for a considerable period and the directors a few years 
since erected a new building on the same lot, now occupied by the 
Warwick Center public school. 



14 the schools of neshaminy 

Tennent School 

In 1850 Rev. Mahlon Long, who had been for several years 
principal of the academy for boys in Harrisburg, Pa., and Prof. 
Charles Long, who had been professor of the Latin and Greek 
languages in Delaware College, bought the property adjoining 
Neshaminy Church, which had belonged for a generation or two to 
the Wallace family, and erected thereon a large and commodious 
stone mansion, with a two-story school building adjoining, and 
established an institution for boarding and day scholars, which 
they denominated "Tennent School," in memory of Rev. William 
Tennent, Sr., founder of Log College. It was opened November 
6, 1850, and was remarkably prosperous from the beginning. 
The reputation of the principals as able, accomplished and 
thorough instructors, brought more pupils than could be accom- 
modated from Philadelphia, the interior of Pennsylvania, and 
other States. Strict discipline was maintained; the boys were 
obliged to study, and hence they made rapid progress in knowl- 
edge. Most of them studied the classical languages and higher 
mathematics, and a large number were fitted for admission to 
our best colleges. Prof. Charles Long died July 15, 1856, much 
regretted by a large circle of patrons and friends. The cause of 
liberal education sustained a severe loss in his untimely decease. 
From that date to June 29, 1870, Rev. Mr. Long conducted the 
academy himself, aided by different tutors at various times. The 
assistants were: Frederick U. Worley, Isaiah Bready, William 
Hutchinson, afterwards tutor in Yale College and a clergyman of 
high standing; Andrew H. Gamwell, Albert B. Shearer, now a 
member of the Philadelphia bar; William C. Macy, subsequently 
professor in Union College, Schenectady, N. Y. ; Edward B. Glas- 
gow, now a member of the bar in Massachusetts; Charles L. 
Crane, William P. Ames, William H. Thompson, and George W. 
Ely, now^ pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Columbia, Pa. 

Of the pupils, four became physicians, viz. : Samuel Ashurst, 
Robert B. Glasgow, W^illiam Ramsey and Francis S. Wilson. 
Twenty-five became lawyers, viz.: Hon. James B. Groom, who 
finished his academic studies at the "Tennent School," and who 
was in later years Governor and United States Senator from 
Maryland; Judge Henry P. Ross, Judge Harman Yerkes, Samuel 
and Robert Croasdale; Arthur Chapman and Henry C. Mercer, 



THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMIXY 15 

son and grandson of Hon. Henry Chapman; Thomas Corwin 
Cheston, stepson of Judge Briggs, of Philadelphia; George Delp, 
George Morris Dorrance, George Earle, Benjamin Forster, 
Robert L. Muench and Henry Shellenberger, of Harrisburg; B. F. 
Gilkeson, Edward B. Glasgow; Albert C. Haseltine, now residing 
in Paris; John McDowell, Henry Mclntire, Austin Harrington, 
Robert S. Martin, Robert Patterson, now of Pittsburgh; Winfield 
S. Purviance; George Ross and Albert B. Shearer. Nine became 
clergymen, viz.: Edw^ard K. Donaldson, Joseph H. Dulles, Allen 
M. Dulles, George W. Ely, Samuel M. Freeland, William Hutch- 
inson, Jacob B. Krewson, Nathaniel I. Rubincam, and Dr. John 
S. Stewart, of Towanda, Pa. 

These pupils of "Tennent School" have all stood well in their 
several professions and reflected credit upon their alma mater, 
and some have attained unusual excellence. Besides them a 
large number have occupied useful and prominent positions in 
society and in various avocations. Among them the following 
may be specified: J. Lowrie Bell, general manager of the freight 
department of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad; Richard H. 
Morris, in connection with Morris Dorrence, extensively known 
in the business of locating lands, settling claims arising from 
accidents and adjusting titles; he was captain of a company of 
artillery in the late Civil War, and performed effective service; 
Joseph Warner Johnson, now one of the celebrated law-book 
firm of Philadephia; Joseph C. Bright, president of a railroad 
running from Reading to Pottsville; Justice Cox, iron manu- 
facturer; Rev. W. A. P. Martin, D. D., president of the Imperial 
College of Pekin, China, had two sons in Tennent School; he was 
a remarkable linguist and his sons inherited their father's ability; 
Col. Jonathan T. Rorer, of Hatboro, was an officer in the war 
against the Southern Confederacy on the staff of General Sheri- 
dan, and was with him in his famous expedition in the Shenandoah 
Valley, Va. ; Henry M. Mclntire was also in the war and died 
from a wound received in battle; he was very promising in talents 
and character; Caesar Rodney Fisher, of Philadelphia, a noble 
young man, during the rebellion was riding as an officer, when his 
head was shot off by a cannon ball; Robert Belville Ely, during 
the same struggle, was for a time in charge of a gun-boat in the 
lower Potomac, a very dangerous service, to which he was ap- 
pointed by Admiral Dahlgren, then in command of the Navy 



16 THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMINY 

Yard at Washington. For bravery and efficiency Belville Ely 
was gradually promoted to a lieutenancy in the regular army and 
took part in the action in Mobile Bay, when Admiral Farragut 
lashed himself to the mast of his vessel and ran the gantlet of the 
torpedoes sunk in the channel. Charles F. Haseltine, an elder in 
the Second Presbyterian Church, of Philadelphia, is widely known 
as a collector of fine paintings; Rev. Dr. Boyd, of Winchester, Va., 
had two sons in the school, and a son of Hon. Charles J. Faulkner, 
minister to France under President Buchanan, was also here. 
Louis Bates, of Philadelphia, recently told me that while he was 
a pupil of Tennent School, in the year 1856, the boys had a debat- 
ing club, and at one of their sessions this question was discussed : 
"Which is the greater evil, Intemperance or Slavery?" and that 
young Faulkner, who was a natural born orator, defended slavery 
with great vigor and earnestness, and laid down to his associates 
his views with remarkable eloquence. A son of General Wade, 
of Savannah, Georgia, was likewise here; these four young men 
from the South, just spoken of, were on the Confederate side in 
the civil convulsion. Rev. Mr. Long has remarked in regard to 
the institution, "Our aim was, from first to last, to have as few 
arbitary laws as possible, but to strive to make each 'a law unto 
himself,' to train and develop the individual, allowing no imitators 
in anything, as being derogatory to man or boyhood alike. If a 
boy did some mischief, little notice was taken of it if it was done 
under strong impulse, but if repeated or imitated it was regarded 
as an ofl'ense; and so most of the mischief, malicious or otherwise, 
was cut up by the roots. We strove to find a boy's bent and 
follow it. Until a boy's mind was disciplined, we sought to follow 
such subjects as he most inclined to, and found that this training 
to an intense individuality was the surest way to start what was 
latent in him." 

In 1870 the institution was closed, not for want of pupils, but 
for private reasons, and since that date no school has been held on 
the property. 

RosELAND Seminary 

In 1851 Rev. Jacob Belville, then pastor of the Presbyterian 
Church in Hartsville, associated with himself Mrs. Harriet Mc- 
Elroy, of Lambertville, N. J., in the establishment of Roseland 
Female Seminary. At the close of the first year Mrs. McElroy 



THE SCHOOLS OF XESHAxMINY 17 

withdrew and Mr. Belville conducted the institution subse- 
quently as the sole principal. He was assisted at various times 
by the following teachers: Miss Forman, Miss Strickland, Miss 
Sophia Chadwick, Miss Hapgood, Miss Hibbard, Miss Riley, 
Miss Emma Jamison, Miss Anna Belville, Miss Julia McCluskey, 
Miss Taylor, Miss Pollock, Miss Hinsdale, Miss Rebecca Mit- 
chell, Miss Maria Belville, and Mr. Taylor, of Philadelphia, who 
gave lessons in vocal music. The seminary continued in success- 
ful operation about fourteen years until 1865, when Mr. Belville 
became pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Holmesburg, near 
Philadelphia. During this period the buildings, originally 
erected by Rev. James P. Wilson, Jr., were greatly enlarged and 
improved to accommodate an increasing number of pupils. 

Emlen Institution 

There is an institution in Warminster which, though not 
founded by one of the citizens of this neighborhood, ought not to 
be overlooked. It is the "Emlen Institution for the Benefit of 
Children of African and Indian Descent." 

Samuel Emlen, of Burlington, N. J., who died in 1837, left by 
will $20,000 to establish a manual labor school, in which colored 
and Indian youth might be trained for usefulness and respecta- 
bility. It was first located in Mercer County, Ohio, where a 
farm of 192 acres, with some buildings, was purchased in 1843 for 
$1000. Improvements were made, but it was found to te too far 
from the homes of most of the directors, who resided near Phila- 
delphia. Hence, after being there fourteen years, in 1857 it was 
decided to transfer the school to Pennsylvania. The real estate 
and personal property were sold for $6000, and a farm of fifty- 
five acres bought in Solebury township, Bucks County, for 
S5528.75. But the soil proved to be poor and it was determined, 
after about fifteen years, to remove the school to a more favor- 
able location. The Solebury farm was disposed of for 86300, 
and the present property in Warminster, containing ninety-five 
acres, was purchased in 1873 for $10,000, the buildings being 
much better than at either of the former places, and they have 
since then been enlarged. 

There is a fine, well-lighted school room in the second story, a 
separate dining room for the boys on the first floor, and a number 



18 THE SCHOOLS OF NESHAMINY 

of sleeping rooms on the third floor. The whole property of the 
institution is now estimated at about $36,000. There are usually 
from fifteen to twenty colored boys in the school, being instructed 
in ordinary English branches and taught to work on the farm. 
For several years past the superintendent has been Howard 
Meredith. Though most of the trustees belong to the denomina- 
tion of Friends, yet the boys attend with the superintendent the 
Presbyterian Church and Sabbath School at Hartsville, Rev. 
G. H. Nimmo, pastor. The institution is doing a good work, 
and may well be commended to the favorable regard of all who 
are inspired by sentiments of true philanthropy. 

As has been noticed by those who have heard the foregoing 
remarks, an unusually large number of schools and seminaries 
have been inaugurated and maintained in this vicinity. The 
people have always been favorable to education, and the institu- 
tions alluded to have produced a most salutary efi"ect upon the 
community. They have given intelligence, culture and refine- 
ment to society, and been the means of preparing many for an 
honorable, useful and happy life. 

"Honor and state from no condition rise; 
Act well your part; there all the honor lies." 



The Bender System of Steam Propulsion* 

By gen. W. W. H. DAVIS, DOYLESTOWN, PA. 
(Davisville Meeting, July 16, 1889) 

YOU have already listened to an interesting paper on John 
Fitch and his application of steam to the propulsion of 
boats, the first to accomplish this achievement. His dis- 
covery and invention, for I am safe in the use of both terms, 
revolutionized navigation and gave to commerce the control of the 
sea. It is my purpose, on this occasion, to present the latest 
invention and discovery in the same field, which, I believe, is 
destined to work as great change in the propulsion of boats as did 
John Fitch a century ago. 

The construction of vessels, and their methods of propulsion, 
make an interesting chapter in marine affairs. The raft is the 
earliest, and elementary, form of vessel; while the trunk of a tree, 
hollowed out by fire, or such primitive tools as savages possessed, 
represents the first effort to obtain flotation depending on some- 
thing else besides mere buoyancy. 

Marine experts divide water craft built from the earliest time 
into six classes: Rafts, floating logs or bundles of brush wood, 
reeds or rushes tied together; dug-outs, and hollowed trees; 
canoes of bark, or of skins stretched on framework, or inflated 
skins; canoes or boats built of pieces of wood fastened together 
with sinews, thongs, or vegetable fiber; vessels of planks stitched 
or bolted together, with inverted ribs, and with decks or half 
decks, and vessels with the frame-work set up and the planking 
of the hull nailed on afterward. All these forms survive in some 
part of the world. 

Five different kinds of propellers, for the propulsion of water 
craft, are mentioned: The oar, the sail, the paddle-wheel, the 
screw and the water jet, although the latter has been little in use. 
The oar and the sail have played an important part in the marine 
affairs of the world, and down to the application of steam were the 
only known propellers. They propelled the commerce of the 
world in time of peace, and carried her navies to combat in time 
of war. The oar was the power that propelled the fleet of Jason 

* A deferred Paper, not printed in any prior volume of "A Collection of 
Papers Read before The Bucks County Historical Society." 



20 THE BENDER SYSTEM OF STEAM PROPULSION 

in search of the Golden Fleece, and the oar and sail combined 
moved the fleets of Greece and Rome when they contended for 
supremacy on the Mediterranean Sea. 

As the oar was superseded by the sail in obedience to the 
demands of commerce, for the same reason inquiry was set on 
foot for some better method of propulsion to take the place of the 
sail. This new demand was supplied by John Fitch, the humble 
mechanic of Warminster, the father of steam propulsion ; and the 
honor due him is only second to that due the discoverer of that 
almost universal motor, steam. He added a new propeller, the 
sidewheel. This was a hundred years ago, for I do not date 
steam propulsion from Fulton's successful trial of the Clermont, 
on the Hudson, in 1807. A steam boat, for towing on canals, 
was built in Scotland as early as 1801, but discontinued because 
of the damage to the banks; and the "Comet," the first steam 
vessel in Europe that plied with any success on river or open sea, 
was built in the same country in 1811-12. 

In the course of time the sidewheel had "served its day and 
generation," and was pushed aside by the screw, the invention of 
that greatest of modern naval engineers, Ericsson. The screw 
was several years working its way into popular favor. Mr. 
Ericsson built a small steamer in England, propelled by a screw 
at the rate of ten miles an hour, in 1837. Five years afterward 
the English Admiralty became possessed of a screw vessel. The 
"Rattler," built in 1843, was the first war vessel with a screw; 
but it was not until 1845, the importance of the screw propeller 
for ships of war was recognized. Notwithstanding its advantages 
over every other form of propeller, the screw has developed great 
defects, and the want of a better has long been felt. This, I 
believe, has been reached in what is popularly known as the 
"Bender Propeller," the invention of another mechanic, who lives 
a few miles away, on the Montgomery border. 

Henry C. Bender, the inventor, is of German descent. His 
grandfather, with his young wife, emigrated from Alsace, to 
escape enforced military service, eighty-six years ago. He 
settled in Philadelphia County, became a farmer, and died there 
at the age of eighty-three. Henry C, the son of Peter, one of 
the two sons of the immigrant, was born in Philadelphia County, 
in 1834, brought up within sight of the Delaware, and was familiar 
with boats from his earliest years. He manifested great inventive 



THE BENDER SYSTEM OF STEAM PROPULSION 21 

genius from his childhood. Whatever toy was given him, he 
would break up, after playing with it awhile, to see how it was 
made, and whether he could improve on it. On one occasion, 
when his mother took him to the city, he managed to elude her, 
and was found, after considerable search, in a store dissecting a 
large horn. When quite young he made a violin with no other 
tools than a barlow knife and a gouge, and the violin is still pre- 
served as a valuable possession. When about ten years of age, 
he built a canal boat forty inches long. When it was ready to 
be put into the water, his father, before going away one morning, 
directed his son to cut potatoes in the cellar, but young Bender 
aspired to a higher destiny, and, when his father was out of sight, 
took the boat to the Delaware and spent the day in practical 
navigation. When the father returned at night there was an 
account to be settled, and it was adjusted on the Paddy and the 
drum basis. One of the boy's peculiarities was the destruction of 
his inventions when he was satisfied they worked satisfactorily. 
At the age of sixteen, Mr. Bender removed to Montgomery 
County with his parents and learned the carpenter trade, at which 
he continues to work. Although leading a busy life at his trade, 
he has found time to invent several valuable things, now in use by 
the public. 

Mr. Bender's attention was directed to the subject of a new 
system of steam propulsion several years ago. He tried different 
devices, all somewhat similar; none proved a success, but that 
which bears his name. He made a wooden model ; put into it the 
brass machinery of a French walking doll, and tried it in a trough 
in the cellar. It answered his expectations. He subsequently 
made alterations and improvements, and, when in proper condi- 
tion, patents were applied for in this country and Europe and 
obtained. 

You may ask why Mr. Bender departed so far from the known 
methods of propulsion? He had studied Nature and based his 
method on Nature's method. He noticed that water fowl are 
equipped with propelling apparatus located near the center of the 
body, and entirely submerged. How would a duck or a goose 
get through the water if their propellers were four-fifths out of 
water like the sidewheels of an old-fashioned steamboat, or 
astern, at the end of a long bone, like a modern screw? What a 
sorry attempt they would make at navigation! And yet, these 



22 THE BENDER SYSTEM OF STEAM PROPULSION 

are the methods of steam propulsion all over the world. The 
defects they have developed Mr. Bender has carefully avoided. 
Naturalists have observed that the propelling powers of the 
swiftest fish that swims have the same location, notably the sun- 
fish, that glides through its native element like a flash. Was 
Nature ever known to be at fault in her work? 

What then is the Bender method of propulsion, and wherein 
does it differ from those that have gone before it? The considera- 
tions mentioned induced him to locate the propelling power under 
the boat, amidships, with a set of paddle blades on either side the 
keel. This location gains two important points: The wheels will 
always act on solid water, and their pulling power will be greatly 
increased. 

But a serious objection presented itself to this arrangement. 
If the wheels were to revolve entirely in solid water, they would be 
compelled to lift a heavy weight. This was a drawback to the 
method, and how to overcome it was an important question. But 
the inventor was equal to the occasion. A happy thought 
directed his attention to the possibility of housing the wheels in 
an air-tight drum. On the principle that an inverted tumbler, 
submerged in water, will have a certain space filled with air, he 
was confident the drum would not wholly fill with water if made 
air-tight. This theory was found to be correct on experiment. 
It was further discovered that the centrifugal force not only 
draws air from the water, but expels the water from the drum 
and keeps it out. In rapid revolutions the water-line is driven 
down until at least half the drum is filled with air. To verify the 
presence of air in the drum, a small hole was bored in the top of it, 
in the working model ; the air rushed out until exhausted, and the 
hole was plugged up. The boat was now started, and, in a short 
time, the drum was again filled with air. These facts then, are 
apparent from the experiments made; when the paddle-blades 
leave the water they enter an air-tight compartment in which 
they revolve until ready to re-enter the water, and the paddle- 
blades are not obstructed in their legitimate work. The possibil- 
ity of the paddle-blades revolving in an air-tight drum may have 
suggested itself to other minds, but Mr. Bender was the first to 
give the world a practical solution of the problem. Here, in a 
nutshell, as it were, we have the gist of the system, or method, of 
steam propulsion of which Mr. Bender is the inventor, or dis- 



THE BENDER SYSTEM OF STEAM PROPULSION 23 

coverer. All who have examined it admit its simplicity, and I 
believe it will prove more efficient than the screw or the side- 
wheel. 

The side-wheel, which comes down to us hoary with age, had 
one principle of the Bender system — location of the propelling 
power near the middle of the boat, but its defects more than 
counterbalance this advantage. The paddles never worked in 
solid water; their submergence was trifling; the housing of the 
paddle-wheels added greatly to the cumbersomeness and unman- 
ageableness of the boat, and, in a moderate sw^ell, one wheel was 
generally out of water. These defects still cling to the side-wheel 
wherever used. 

Among the points of excellence of the Bender propeller, as 
compared with the side-wheel and the screw, the following are 
enumerated, and generally acknowledged by all who have given it 
careful investigation : It combines greater speed, greater economy 
in construction, greater safety and comfort to passengers, with a 
great deal more room for freight. These are important requisites. 
That this method will develop greater speed seems evident. The 
propelling power being always in the water, and the water not 
disturbed, the grip of the paddle-blades is much strengthened, and 
the pulling power greatly increased. It matters net how much 
the ship may be rolled by a storm the paddle-blades can never be 
out of water unless the ship lay over on her side, and even then 
one wheel is submerged. As the action of the engines upon the 
paddle-blades will be direct, there will be little loss of power, and 
nearly the whole of it will be used for propelling the boat. What 
is technically called "racing" and "slip" will be unknown. 

There will be great economy in the construction of a vessel to 
be propelled according to the Bender method. The engines will 
be smaller and lighter, more compactly built, simpler in con- 
struction and connections, less liable to get out of order, and 
their first cost considerably less; the heavy shafting, bearings, 
and other accompaniments and connections, all expensive, and 
indispensable to the screw, will be dispensed with. There will be 
no use for a marine governor or its equivalent, an item of no mean 
expense; nor will there be any loss of power from the heating of 
the bearings. The machinery w411 not only cost less, but can be 
placed in the vessel with much greater facility, thus saving time 
and expense in building. The large space in the after part of the 



24 THE BENDER SYSTEM OF STEAM PROPULSION 

ship now taken up with shafting and other fittings that belong to 
the screw, under the Bender system could be used for the storage 
of cargo, and, in some vessels, this would save hundreds of tons to 
freight. 

In the matter of safety and comfort to passengers, a vessel 
equipped with the Bender propeller will be superior to the one 
propelled by the screw. It must be remembered, that the wheels, 
occupying a small space in the bottom and center of the hull, are 
always in the water to do their allotted work ; and the vessel passes 
through the water with greater steadiness than by any other pro- 
pelling power. The vessel will be able to turn upon its own 
center; and, in the event of one wheel being disabled, she can 
make very good speed with the other, and, in the meantime, the 
broken wheel can be repaired, which cannot be done with any 
other system of marine propulsion. When a stream screw is dis- 
abled at sea, the vessel is practically helpless. If the rudder be 
disabled the vessel can be steered by the propelling power; there- 
fore a vessel equipped with this system would not be at the mercy 
of the elements, as are vessels of the present day. 

They, who have crossed the ocean in a screw steamer, have not 
forgotten, and probably never will forget, how often their sleep 
was disturbed by the noise of the propeller. In rough weather, 
when the bow of the vessel is down in the waves, and the stern 
high in the air, the whirl of the screw is a more diabolical noise 
than that made by ten thousand Dutch windmills, if that were 
possible. At times, the sound is something unearthly. Notwith- 
standing the discomfort to the passengers, think of the wear and 
tear on the machinery. The little noise, made by the wheels of 
the Bender system, is not heard by the passengers, for they are 
out of sight and sound under the water, nor will they be disturbed 
by the machinery. In an experiment made with a thirty-foot 
launch, the boat moved through the water noiselessly as far as 
the engine and wheels are concerned, the ripple at the bow being 
all the disturbance. The shapely little vessel presented an 
unique and beautiful sight as it glided over the placid waters of the 
Schuylkill. 

I have already spoken of the safety to vessel, cargo, and pas- 
sengers ensured by the Bender system, but it is important enough 
to be referred to again, briefly. There will be no long shafting 
to break and disable the vessel in mid-ocean, as is frequently the 



THE BENDER SYSTEM OF STEAM PROPULSION 25 

case with the screw. Many vessels have been lost from this 
cause; a recent noted case being the steamer "Denmark." The 
screw was tested to its utmost capacity last winter, in the great 
storm at Samoa, and proved a failure, all the vessels of the Ger- 
man and American fleets being lost but one, and that was thrown 
upon the reef. This was caused by what the Bender system 
avoids. The roughness of the sea lost to the screw its grip on 
the water, and when it was called upon to keep the vessels off a lea 
shore it was powerless to do its work. I venture the assertion, if 
these vessels had been equipped with the Bender system, all 
would have been saved, for the paddle-blades, acting on solid 
water beneath the bottom of the vessel, could not have lost their 
grip. This proposition should induce even skeptics to give the 
Bender system careful consideration before throwing it aside. 

One of the most serious objections to the screw is the great 
loss of power, estimated by Mr. Froude, an English expert, at two 
and a half times that which is directly effective in propulsion — 
that is, the indicated power of the engines at maximum speed 
needs to be two and a half times greater than is required by the 
speed, etc., or 250 per cent. These are his figures. Calling the 
effective horse-power, that is, the power due to the net resistance, 
100, then, at the highest speeds the horse-power required to over- 
come the induced negative pressure under the stern, consequent 
on the thrust of the screw, is 40 more; friction of the screw in the 
water, 10; friction of machinery, 67; air pump resistance, 18; slip 
of the screw, 23, making, 258. In addition to the power required 
to overcome the net resistance 100, we therefore need 2^ times 
that which is directly effective in propelling the vessel. With 
this great loss of power in the screw, it is time some other method 
of propulsion was introduced. Any system that will reduce the 
loss of power one-half will be welcomed with delight by all inter- 
ested in maritime affairs. But the Bender system will do even 
better than that. In war vessels the Bender propeller would be 
invaluable. The location of the paddle-blades, at the bottom of 
the vessel, takes them out of reach of shot or shell, and the 
dreaded torpedo. The propelling power would be in a position to 
defy the enemy, and the machinery could be placed equally secure. 
A vessel of war, thus equipped, would be invulnerable in her most 
vital parts. 

What has been said thus far has had reference to the applica- 



26 THE BENDER SYSTEM OF STEAM PROPULSION 

tion of the Bender method to sea navigation, but, if time would 
permit, as much could be said in favor of its adaptability to our 
internal waters. The problem of a system of steam navigation 
for canals has attracted attention for a long time, and, within the 
last five years, the New York Legislature offered $100,000 to the 
successful contestant. All the present methods fail, because of 
the washing of the banks. I believe there is no question that the 
Bender method will fill this want. The paddle-blades are too far 
below the surface to disturb the water sufficient to wash the 
banks of a canal even at an increased rate of speed, but, on the 
contrary, will prove advantageous by clearing the bottom of the 
canal of sediment. The whole system in a canal boat would 
occupy a small space and reduce the expense at least twenty per 
cent. What a magnificent field our canals, rivers, bays, lakes, 
and other waterways present for this economical, speedy and safe 
system of steam propulsion. This system is equally applicable to 
war and commercial purposes, and is especially adapted to the 
boats used in the Life-Saving Service, whereby two or three men 
would be enabled to do the work of twelve or fifteen, leaving 
great additional space for those to be rescued from the perils of 
the sea. It could be utilized for many purposes in water trans- 
portation, to which the present expensive and cumbersome system 
is not applicable. 

The Bender system has attracted great interest, and received 
favorable criticism from many prominent men in maritime 
affairs. Among others, it is endorsed by Captain Joseph Francis, 
the inventor of the life-boat that bears his name, and to whom 
Congress has ordered a gold medal, presented, in acknowledgment 
of his valuable services to mankind. I am informed by the 
literary executor of the late Captain Ericsson that the last drawing 
made by that distinguished engineer was "a study of the Bender 
propeller." On it, he wrote, in Swedish, "Not so foolish as it 
appears at first sight." The executor further writes: "Indeed, I 
understand that the Captain had a very high opinion of the pro- 
peller, though it had to overcome the prejudice in his mind 
against new inventions." It would be difficult to pay the 
Bender's system a higher compliment. 



John Fitch, Pioneer in Steam Navigation 

By WILLIAM H. RICHARDSON, DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL HISTORY, 
JERSEY CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION 

(Reprinted from the Jersey Observer, May 25, 1935, by the courtesy and permission 
of the author) 

JOHN FITCH in 1785 became the prime inventor of the steam- 
boat in America; unique in the history of steam navigation, in 
that in the five years ending in 1790 he rounded out the cycle 
from his conception of the steamboat to its completely successful 
development. 

It is now proposed to celebrate the sesquicentennial of this 
epochal conception of the steamboat. We insist with every last 
endeavor of our mind and the last grain of our bodily strength, 
that the sole credit for the birth of the steamboat out of which has 
grown the present count of "more than 32,000 ships of a hundred 
tons burden or more, the total gross tonnage of which is approxi- 
mately 70,000,000," must go to the man to whom that full "honor 
is due," so long overdue, John Fitch. 

This year is not only the sesquicentennial of the conception of 
the steamboat; it is also the 150th Anniversary of the production 
of John Fitch, "A Map of the North West Parts of the United 
States of America" 1785. 

The highly adventurous circumstances under which the data 
for the map was gathered, can be better understood from the first 
public announcement of the map, in the Pennsylvania Packet of 
June 30, 1785, which reads: 

"John Fitch, having traversed the country North-West of 
the Ohio, in the several capacities of a Captive Surveyor, Trav- 
eller, etc. . . . And having performed the engraving and printing 
himself, is enabled to sell at the very small price of a French 
crown. . . ." 

When we read in the first advertisement of this now famous 
map that John Fitch had compiled it after "having traversed the 
country in the several capacities of captive, surveyor, traveler, 
etc.," it gives us little thrill. But the thrills are there a-plenty! 

Fitch had spent the whole of 1780 and the spring of 1781 
exploring and surveying in Kentucky, locating the lands on 



28 JOHN FITCH, PIONEER IN STEAM NAVIGATION 

Virginia land-warrants, and eventually his claims for 1,600 acres 
in various tracts were filed in Richmond. On the way out to 
Kentucky when near the mouth of the Big Sandy the Indians 
pretty nearly "got him" for an indiscretion committed by another 
of the voyageurs. (66-72) 

The summer of 1781 he was back to his Bucks County home 
settling up his affairs there, getting together all the money he 
could, believing that proper investments in Kentucky lands 
would lay the foundation of an immense fortune. He had raised 
£150 in specie and fully resolved upon the plan for the whole 
expedition. 

Early in March, 1 782, the party rendezvoused at Fort Pitt. A 
large boat was chartered by four adventurers and laden with a 
cargo, in which John Fitch had the greatest interest. There were 
nine others on board, when the craft left Fort Pitt on March 18. 

At Wheeling island three other boats joined them. When 
opposite the mouth of the Muskingum through the mismanage- 
ment of the captain, Parkinson, the boat set so hard on the point 
of an island there, it was impossible to get it off without removing 
some of the cargo, which was done, piling the bags of flour on the 
shore. About sunset the boat floated. 

That night, at Fitch's entreaty they set a watch to guard the 
flour; when his turn to keep watch came, he laid an ax near the 
bow-fastening, an alleged timidity for which he was jeered by the 
rest. At daylight a man was sent out to scout the island, and 
the rest gathered in the calaboose for "a hot buttered dram." 
Then Fitch looked for his ax; it could not be found anywhere. 

The scout was absent a longer time than he should have been. 
A man from another boat went over to where the flour barrels 
were piled; he was secured by the Indians lurking there, taken 
before he could give the slightest alarm. The first scout had 
been secured the same way. The Indians then crawled unper- 
ceived behind pieces of driftwood, and instantly killed Captain 
Magee by a volley from their rifles. 

Another man went on deck to cut the boat-fastening, and was 
shot dead. The rest retreated to the hull of the boat, where 
Fitch, with a tomahawk, tried to chop a hole in the plank from 
which he could reach and cut the boat-fastening. The Indians 
had retired to a safety-zone on the bank, and sent one of their 
prisoners to demand the surrender of the others. 



JOHN FITCH, PIONEER IN STEAM NAVIGATION 29 

So it was that on March 22, 1782, John Fitch began his 
captivity with chagrin, "as nine stout healthy men of us, all well 
armed, marched out to eight Indians." . . . 

The spot was near the present site of Marietta, Ohio, and the 
eleven unlucky adventurers had to prepare for a march through a 
wilderness which is now included in the finest portions of Ohio 
and Michigan, until they reached the British post at Detroit, 
after incredible hardships. Some of them were held prisoners by 
the British; finally exchanged, and John Fitch reached the 
hearthside of his Bucks County friends nearly nine months after 
the "captivity" started. (JF-TW 73-110.) 

Deputy Surveyor in Kentucky 

"Fitch, while in Kentucky, was a deputy surveyor, and seems 
to have been intimate with Colonel Todd and Colonel Harrod, 
then men of consideration and consequence there. He had one 
of the best requisites of an efficient surveyor, in that he was a 
great walker, being tall and sinewy. 

"He told Mary (McDowell) that he had sold 800 of his maps 
of the northwestern parts in the United States, in the western 
part of Virginia and Pennsylvania, making all his journey on 
foot; and on such occasions he could always out-travel a horse. 
In walking he pitched forward and went forward with a great 
swing. 

"On one occasion ... he walked (from Warminster) to 
Spring Mill and back, before sunset — making forty miles in the 
journey. One of his Maps is now at Warminster, preserved as a 
relic of the genius of the man. It is inscribed as 'Engraved and 
printed by the author,' and with equal truth it might have been 
imprinted thus: 'Engraved in Cobe Scout's wheelwright shop 
and printed on Charles Garrison's cider press, by the author' — ■ 
for such were the facts in the case. 

"All these efforts of the man were specially designed to raise 
funds, whereby to push forward to completion and success the 
absorbing subject of his steam invention. That was the theme 
and purpose of all his thoughts and wishes." (Ph. 14 from Wat- 
son 585, 586.) 

P. Lee Phillips, the author of the 1916 monograph on this 
amazing cartographic achievement, tell us first that it was "made 



30 JOHN FITCH, PIONEER IN STEAM NAVIGATION 

to further one of the greatest inventions of modern times"; and 
that "it is the only map known which was made, engraved and 
printed by the same person." 

There are three most interesting items organized from the files 
of the Library of Congress, in the symposium through which John 
Fitch prepared Congress for the support of his invention, begin- 
ning with August 20, 1785, when Dr. John Ewing first enthusiasti- 
cally commended the Fitch principles as "sound and philosophi- 
cal"; and on August 23, when Mr. Houston commends the busi- 
ness in glowing terms to Honorable L. Cadwalader. 

On August 29, we find the petition of John Fitch to the Presi- 
dent of Congress soliciting their attention to the rough model of 
"the machine he has invented" "to facilitate the internal naviga- 
tion of the United States, adapted especially to the waters of the 
Mississippi". . . 

There were quite a few tributaries of that delineated on his 
famous 1785 map! 

August 30, 1785, John Fitch submitted his proposals to Con- 
gress; in it are interwoven his plan to promote the sale of his map 
and still further exploit his steamboat. If the United States 
would encourage the sale to the amount of 4,000 subscribers, he 
would oblige himself to finish the steam engine for rowing a boat 
at his own expense; "and think himself happy in thus promoting 
the interest of his country". . . 

Shortly after the proposals were submitted, which were futile 
after all, "Congress had resolved that the public lands should be 
sold at public vendue, and in such a manner that all hopes of the 
land company, in consequence of their superior knowledge were 
swept away." 

John Fitch wrote, "Thus was an immense fortune reduced to 
nothing at one blow. I could have located 200,000 acres, besides 
what the company were entitled to for the halves, and found 
plenty of encouragement." (J. F. — T. W. 130.) 

That calamity did not daunt John Fitch : he went on ; on July 
27, 1786, the steam-engined skiff made the maiden voyage that 
revolutionized the water-borne commerce of the world. 

(For the reason that the subject of the 1786-87 Steam Boat is 
more extensively treated in another of our "John Fitch" items, we 
turn to the next production.) 



JOHN FITCH, PIONEER IN STEAM NAVIGATION 31 

For 1788 a new Steam Boat sixty feet long and eight feet 
beam, appeared near the end of July, 1788. The substitution of 
propelling it by means of three paddles at the stern, instead of the 
twelve in the two side frames meant a very important economy in 
the power. 

The change to a new type of pipe-boiler dispensed with three 
and a half tons of brick work. On the first voyage, destined for 
Burlington, there were great popular demonstrations; but as she 
approached Burlington, "when within twenty or thirty poles of the 
wharf where it was intended to come to, the pipe-boiler sprung a 
leak, so that the engine would not work, and they were compelled 
to come to anchor." (249, 250.) 

The boat was gotten to the dock by the next tide; but there 
was no discouragement. "The vessel had done what had never 
been done before in any part of the world. It had been impelled, 
by the force of the elastic vapor, twenty miles; and the casualty 
which had caused the stoppage was of a trifling character, and of 
easy repair." (252) 

Early Tribulations 

It was while the experiments were in progress for the final 
tuning up, after months of the most exasperating contenti®ns, 
within and without, that the Steam Boat narrowly escaped 
catastrophic destruction. After fires had been lit under the 
boiler a tremendous gale arose, rendering further procedure 
impossible. 

The fire under the boiler was not entirely quenched, for a 
blaze started that burned the Steam Boat to the water's edge on 
each side of the grate or furnace. The act of salvage, by sinking 
the craft in the Delaware, was permitted to John Fitch, when 
apprised of it in the night. Repairs were made after the boat 
was raised but the last experiments, made in December, 1789, 
proved that the Steam Boat was not fast enough for the project 
of a river packet, and was then laid up for the winter. (273, 274) 

"In the spring of 1790 the Steam Boat Company began to put 
the works on board." Various alterations to the boiler were in 
progress. "The pleasant prosecution of the business was pre- 
vented by recriminations and quarrelsome scenes between Fitch 
and some of the Directors." 



32 JOHN FITCH, PIONEER IN STEAM NAVIGATION 

Fitch was gentlemanly enough to confess in his Journal that 
on that Great Moment in the History of the Steam Boat, he was 
depressed, discouraged, and peevish. The row then was over the 
condenser. Fitch wrote out the specifications for an entirely 
new one. (277, 278) 

April 12, 1790, the machinery was tried out; after a short 
journey in the Delaware, a pulley broke, and the Steam Boat 
anchored — but the adventurers knew they were on the right track 
at last; the jeering of ribald sailboatmen had ceased to trouble 
them. A stronger pulley was applied; and they went on with "a 
trial that was glorious in its consequences." (280) 

To the Secretary of War and the Attorney General on June 22, 
1790, John Fitch addressed a letter that is at once an epitome of 
his conception of the steamboat in 1785 and its peculiar adapta- 
bility to the waters of "the Western Territory" and the opening 
up of the commerce of all the internal waters of the United States, 
as well as a concise statement of its present civic or political and 
mechanical aspects. (298-300) 

After months of suspense during which he was deserted by all 
the members of the company, but three or four, when he is in 
penury, want, wretchedness, and rags, John Fitch addresses 
another letter dated December 25, 1790; Christmas Day then, as 
now. 

In it John Fitch reviews the years beginning with 1785; he 
throws his challenge to the world, still unanswered, that his inven- 
tion is in "the thought of applying the action of steam to naviga- 
tion, and not in the mode of effecting it. 

Finally John Fitch, who had "dissipated the last farthing" he 
has in the world, toward the perfection of his invention, and upon 
which these friends have spent nearly £4,000, saw their prospects 
vanishing away through this dilatory Congress. He was "dis- 
tressed at the thought of abandoning a scheme now so fully ascer- 
tained." 

He proposes to take a boat from here to the mouth of the 
Mississippi, "and thence by the power of steam, ascend those 
waters to the rapids of the Ohio, I should conceive that I con- 
ferred the greatest benefit, in a pecuniary sense that America ever 
experienced." . . . Fitch had no doubt that Congress would 
make a grant of 50,000 acres of land there as recompense. All 



JOHN FITCH, PIONEER IN STEAM NAVIGATION 35 

Fitch wanted was support here for three months in his soHcitation 
of Congress for the grant which Congress could not deny for "the 
benefit of our Empire." (305-308) 

Discussion of the steamboat patents was resumed early in 
1791. John Fitch was notified January 26, that the hearings 
would probably be postponed until after the termination of the 
present session of Congress. Fitch "remonstrated by letter the 
next day and on the day following waited on Mr. Jefferson and 
the other commissioners. 

"He appealed to them in virtue of his distresses, and urged 
that he was kept in idleness and suspense until this decision 
should be made. 

"I showed them," said he, "all the clothes I had in the world, 
except a few old shirts, and two or three old stockings, all in 
darns, like those which I had on, that they could see I was then 
all in rags." 

"Appeals like these were useless: the commissioners were not 
to be affected by the presence of a poor wretched genius, who they 
knew was derided as a madman." 

"Congress adjourned on March 3, and on the next day Fitch 
waited on Mr. Jefferson; and so on, day after day, until, to get 
rid of the persevering pest, the commissioners appointed April 1, 
to hear the steamboat case." (315) 

Then, on April 4, 1790, ensued more of the discreditable, 
shameful bickerings on the part of the commissioners, against the 
recognition of the greatest genius in his generation and in behalf 
of a political favorite. (325, 326) 

April 23, 1791, John Fitch and James Rumsey were awarded 
patents bearing the same date and in precisely similar terms, the 
only changes in the two documents being in the necessary places 
in the preamble and the closing paragraph of the certificates. 
These are the terms: 

"For applying the force of steam to trunks, for drawing water 
in at the bow of a boat or vessel, and forcing the steam out at the 
stern, in order to propel a boat or vessel through the water. For 
forcing a column of air through a trunk or trunks, out at the 
stern, with the bow valves closed, by the force of steam; and for 
applying the force of steam to cranks and paddles for propelling 
a boat or vessel through the water." (327) 



34 JOHN FITCH, PIONEER IN STEAM NAVIGATION 

It will be seen that about seven-eighths of the "claims" that 
were forced upon Fitch were Rumsey's. 

This is the jubilee year for the complete vindication and full 
justification of John Fitch! 

"1790 Steam Boat . . . Now Running" 

Just where the Draft and Specifications of the Steam Boat of 
1790 fits into the chronological or historical picture is now a 
matter that is being more diligently studied by the writer. The 
subject seems to have been unnoticed by Mr. Westcott, who 
prints (on p. 284) the picture of a squatter, stubbier boat, as 
"John Fitch's Steam Boat— 1788, 1789, 1790." 

The picture is palpably a copy from an original, that must 
have been prepared by John Fitch to support his method of the 
application "of the action of steam to navigation," "now in use, 
1790." The legended references, from A (a perspective view of 
the great piston), to G. G. G. "The Oars . . . similar to a man 
paddling," and the Scale of Feet are complete. 

(The above reference is found in a portfolio marked "Drawings 
of Plans of Robert Fulton". . .; There are 21 others in it also 
that are not "plans of Robert Fulton." In other words the 
reader need not conjecture about the acquisitive character of 
Fulton.) 

Nothing is needed for the reproduction of a full-size 60 feet by 
8 feet beam Steam Boat for the navigation of the waters of John 
Fitch's golden dreams to the haven where his body now rests, 
Bardstown, Kentucky. 

This is the legend inked in on the flag: "on the 4 Sept., 1790, 
an Ensign Presented to Messrs. Fitch and Voigt, by his Excel- 
lency the President of Pennsylvania, by the Secy, and several 
members of the Council. . . ." 

The incident the ensign really perpetuated was the voyage of 
Governor Thomas Mifilin June 16, 1790. "They were highly 
pleased, and authorized Fitch to get a suit of colors at their 
expense. . . . The bill amounted to m5 6s lid. . . . There had 
been no flags on the Steam Boat before, and Fitch, naturally 
anxious for the eclat which such a gift would occasion, desired 
that it should be presented in form. 



JOHN FITCH, PIONEER IN STEAM NAVIGATION 35 

"The Governor and Council were too shrewd poHticians to 
thus publicly commit themselves in favor of a scheme which had 
been the subject of popular derision for four years. Mr. Biddle, 
the Secretary, informed the inventor that the flags were given by 
private subscription among the members of the Council and not 
officially." (J. F.— T. W. 282) 

It is rather an interesting anecdotal interpolation to be con- 
vinced that there was no "false-dating" about anything John 
Fitch did! 

(The colors were said to have been taken by Fitch to France 
and brought back later, and were once in the Patent Office, 
Washington. 283) 



The "Collect Pond" Lithograph of 1846 

A Pure Fabrication, That Has Fooled Most of the Writers 
of Our Textbook Histories of the United States 

By WILLIAM H. RICHARDSON, DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL HISTORY, 
JERSEY CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION 

(Reprinted from the Jersey Observer, June 1, 1935, by the courtesy and permission 
of the author) 

** A VIEW of Collect Pond and its vicinity in the City of 
Z-\ New York in 1793. On which Pond, the first boat pro- 
pelled by Steam with paddle wheels or screw propellers 
was constructed by John Fitch, six years before Robert Fulton 
made trial of his boat upon the River Seine, in France, and ten 
years prior to his putting into operation his boat Clermont in 
New York, with a representation of the boat and its machinery, 
on the Collect Pond by John Hutchings No. 3 Wesley Place, 
Williamsburgh, L. Island 1846." 

The picture in the upper left corner of this 1846 lithograph 
shows the figures of three men, two standing on the rear seat of the 
yawl; one about the middle, at the machinery, his left hand 
extended; the boy is standing on the front seat with an oar over 
the right gunwale. 

A picture of another boat is shown in the upper right corner 
of the lithograph. This title is legended in two lines above and 
beneath the boat propelled by twelve paddles, six on each side: 

"John Fitch's First Boat Perseverance as seen on the Dela- 
ware, Phila. 1787. Speed 7 miles an hour." 

John Fitch's First Boat 

The fact is that John Fitch's first boat, "seen on the Dela- 
ware," was a skiff in which on July 27, 1786, the first epochal 
voyage was made (not 1787 as the Hutchings lithograph mis- 
informs us). 

"The Steam Boat": That is the name shown on the books of 
the ship-carpenters who finished the first one November 23, 1786; 
the Steam Boat, most delightfully observed in 1788 by Brissot de 
Warville; the Steam Boat all along the line in the literature of the 
Company, as well as the advertisements of the first steam packet, 



THE "collect pond" LITHOGRAPH OF 1846 37 

passenger and freight service in the world, between Philadelphia 
and Trenton the Steam Boat of 1790. 

Not one of John Fitch's productions that was ever navigated 
was known by another name than the Steam Boat. A 1791 boat 
was called the "Perseverance," but never made a voyage, and 
was abandoned. The Company, facing the tragic circumstance 
precipitated by the false patents of Fitch's and Rumsey's boat in 
precisely the same terms verbatim except for the patentees' 
names, forced upon them by the partisan committee in Congress, 
April 23, 1791, was quickly in sore straits. 

Poor Eye-Witnesses 

There are three eye-witnesses testifying July 3, 1846, fifty 
years after it happened : 

Anthony Lamb, has "a perfect recollection of having seen a 
Boat . . . with a screw propeller in the stern driven by steam. 
... I do not recollect the year, but I am certain that it was early 
in 1796. . . ." 

William H. Micklock, city surveyor, also was "an eye-witness 
to the circumstance of a Boat being propelled by steam . . . 
about the year 1796 . . . and that I have a perfect recollection of 
all these localities. . . ." 

John Hutchings himself tell us rather vaguely that the inci- 
dent was "In the summer of 1796 or '97," and then continues 
with the details of what "Mr. Fitch explained to Livingston and 
Fulton and of conversations carried on between 'Mr. Fitch' and 
'Mr. Fulton;' while he (Hutchings) had conversation only with 
Mr. Fitch." 

The "lad Hutchings," however, seems to have had a most 
remarkable capacity for carrying his conviction by the "Descrip- 
tion" of the "Yawl about 18 ft. in length and 6 ft. beam, etc." . . . 
and every part and its working legended and described, from A to 
L. 

The figures in the yawl are all "explained" too: "No. 1 Mr. 
Fitch, 2. Mr. Fulton, 3. R. R. Livingston Esq., 4. Lad Hutch- 
ings." 

It seems strange that in this Anno Domini of 1935, there are 
still people gullible enough to continue the perpetrations in the 
above "certifications" and "Remarks," and swallow them with- 



38 THE "collect pond" lithograph of 1846 

out having observed that none of the "eye-witnesses" agree pre- 
cisely on the year nor the exact mode of propulsion. 

Underneath the picture on the right we find the following 
"Remarks. In the Summer of 1796 or 7 Mr. Hutchings, then a 
lad, assisted Mr. Fitch in steering the boat, and otherwise attend- 
ing to the working of the machinery. At that time Robert R. 
Livingston, Esq., and Robert Fulton with Mr. Fitch and the lad 
Hutchings, worked or passed several times around the pond on 
different occasions, while Mr. Fitch explained to Livingston & 
Fulton the Modus Operandi of the Machinery Mr. Fitch having a 
patent for his invention from the State of New York. I believe 
Mr. Fitch to have been the original inventor of the application of 
steamboats as a propelling power and likewise, the two persons 
represented in drawing (dressed in black) to have been Robert R. 
Livingston, Esq. and Robert Fulton. 

"I being a lad had conversation only with Mr, Fitch. From 
hearsay I believe Colonel Stevens of Hoboken, N. Jersey, and 
another person by the name of Rosevelt had some knowledge of 
the enterprise and felt an interest in its success. 

"In conversation Mr. Fitch remarked to Mr. Fulton that in a 
former experiment paddle wheels splashed too much and could 
not be used in Canal Navigation. No one in that time thought of 
having these covered with boxes. They had no doubt, but the 
boat might be propelled 6 miles per hour, (though then making 
something less). The steam was sufficiently high to propel the 
boat, once, twice or thrice around the pond, when more water 
being introduced into the boiler (or pot) and Steam generated. 
She was again ready to start on another expedition." 

Captain Samuel Morey 

On pages 378, 379 in his "Life of John Fitch," the usually 
impeccable Thompson Westcott has organized the evidence that 
it was Captain Samuel Morey — and therefore not John Fitch — 
who figured in that John Hutchings fairy story of 1846. The text 
is here quoted in full: 

"In 1790, Samuel Morey began to experiment upon steam- 
boats in the vicinity of the Connecticut River. He went thence 
to New York, and for three successive summers tried many plans 
of modifying steam-engines for propulsion, and in testing the 



THE "collect pond" LITHOGRAPH OF 1846 39 

power of propellers. He took his boat back to Hartford in 1793, 
and having completed it, took it to New York the next summer. 
It was propelled by a wheel at the stern, at the rate of five miles 
an hour." 

"Chancellor Livingston, Judge Livingston, Edward Livings- 
ton, John Stevens, and others, were on board when it went by the 
force of steam from the ferry at New York to Greenwich. Liv- 
ingston offered to assist Morey if he could make the boat go at the 
rate of eight miles an hour. . . ." 

Captain Samuel Morey 's part in that Collect Pond incident in 
1796, however, is also organized from his own statement that it 
was in that season (1796) that . . . "I went again to New York 
and applied the power to a wheel in the stern. ... I invited the 
attention of Chancellor Livingston and he and others, went with 
me from the ferry as far as Greenwich (village) and back, and 
they expressed great satisfaction in her performance." J. S. — 
A. T. 129.) 

Colonel Johx Stevens 

Of the Collect Pond incident, the biographer of Colonel 
Stevens of Hoboken, New Jersey, writes. . . . 

"The year 1797 has been generally accepted as that in which 
Fitch made his demonstration on the Collect Pond . . . John 
Hutchings . . . insisted that both Chancellor Livingston and 
Fulton were on board her and that Fitch explained the modus 
operandi to Fulton. ..." 

"But if Fulton was there," (in 1797), Turnbull continues, 
"then all the biographers who have placed him in Paris must have, 
been mistaken . . . Hutchings was, after all, writing his account 
from a memory that might have played him false". . . (J. S. — 
A. T. 128). 

Insofar as proving anything this chatty and imaginative "lad" 
Hutchings said, "in the summer of 1796 or '97" with such assur- 
ance about the central figure in this "comedy of errors," John 
Fitch, by the correspondence between him and Colonel Stevens, 
it is of a negative character, since there was no correspondence in 
1796 or 1797. 

John Fitch wrote his last letter to Colonel Stevens in mid- 
summier, 1795, and it did not concern any such monstrosity as 
that alleged "Model of John Fitch's Steam Boat," etc., etc., by 



40 THE "collect pond" LITHOGRAPH OF 1846 

which millions of people have been "gold-bricked;" and John 
Stevens chose to ignore him. 

John Fitch, desperately poor, destitute, wanted Colonel 
Stevens' financial help in building a "steam boat," its power 
developed by horses traveling around a large central cogged wheel. 
It would cost but seven or eight hundred dollars. The voyage 
from Albany to New York could be made in two days. 

Perhaps John Fitch had fantastic ideas about the profit it 
would make; but the idea could not have been half-bad, since 
Stevens adopted it — maybe "unconsciously celebrated" it — in 
1813 when Fulton drove his "Juliana" off the Hudson. 

(Through the courtesy of the Librarian of the Stevens Insti- 
tute we have had the privilege on May 3, 1935, of examining all 
these letters.) 

The Miscalled "Clermont" 

Those who are trying now — and everybody seems to be doing 
it! — to stain our history teachments with the name that never 
existed at the time, nor on the occasion they would vaunt, an 
incident that never transpired as related on that 1846 lithograph, 
may end any further disputation by this writer if they will point 
to a single contemporaneous letter in Fulton's hand or direction 
in which that false name is so used. 

Permit me now to refer to the following lines from a letter 
written November 13, 1813, by Fulton to Mahlon Dickinson, 
Esq.: 

". . . the North River Steam Boat first ran in July, 1807. 
All that constituted the success of a Steam Boat was in that boat 
the day she started and the same machinery is still in her. ..." 
(Original letter in the New Jersey Historical Society collections; 
photostat copies in our files.) 

In the period between 1807, when the boat was licensed at the 
New York Custom House, under the name of the "North River 
Steamboat of Clermont" down to June, 1813, the name in com- 
mon usage appears to have been "North River," or "North River 
Steam Boat." There are eight references organized in those 
fashions, and none to "Clermont." (R F— HWD 222, 228, 229, 
233, 234.) 

The Hutchings lithograph does not mention either the "North 



THE "collect pond" LITHOGRAPH OF 1846 41 

River" or "North River Steam Boat" at all; the false "Clermont" 
is repeated three times in it. 

In 1796, "Mr. Fulton" was not in that "Collect Pond" Hatch- 
ings fantasy. He was in England then. His "Treatise on the 
Improvement of Canal Navigation" was published that year. 
(R F— HWD 36-38.) 

Apparently Fulton was in England up to June, 1797; arriving 
in Paris July of that year. There is nothing noticed by Mr. 
Dickinson, his biographer, to indicate he had made an appearance 
on the "Collect Pond." (R F— HWD 63-67.) 

Misleading Commentators 

This legend is spread across the bottom of the Hutchings 
lithograph : 

The world is indebted for the original idea and to the mechani- 
cal genius of John Fitch of East Windsor, Conn. And to the 
perseverance and indefatigable attention to the use of steam of 
Robert Fulton, Esq. Pa. The wealth & Exalted character of 
Robert R. Livingston, Esq. Chancellor of the State of New 
York." 

The Editor of "The Pageant of America," writes me that he 
has accepted this "Collect Pond" story as true. We quote now 
from Volume IV, page 81, paragraph 2, last sentence: 

"Yet Fulton deserves the honor and credit he won, since he 
was the first man to assemble working parts that operated to- 
gether with practical success for commercial purposes." 

Dr. William Joseph Showalter in the National Geographic 
Magazine, November, 1933, page 551, writes this sentence, which 
we now quote: 

"Fulton never claimed that he had put anything new in his 
boat — only that he had succeeded in adapting properly the work 
of other men for practical ends." 

Let us observe a close up or two, of these "successful adapta- 
tions to practical ends," quoted from "John Stevens: An Ameri- 
can Record." 

(283) "Fulton evidently thought it best to suggest the meet- 
ing, which was held on November 27 (1809). After long dis- 
cussion, the rough draft of an agreement written out by Fulton 
provided that the parties should 'relinquish to other reciprocally 



42 THE "collect pond" lithograph of 1846 

(284) all patent rights which they now or hereafter might have 
respecting steamboats." 

Fulton and Livingston were to have New York, including 
Lake Champlain; the New Brunswick run; and the Ohio and the 
Mississippi, with the general reservation that the Stevens im- 
provements should not be used by them in establishing ferry- 
boats between New York city and the New Jersey shore. 

"The Colonel was to use anything of Fulton's on the Delaware, 
the Chesapeake, the Santee, Savannah and Connecticut Rivers, 
as well as the Providence run. ..." 

"All these were to be his (Colonel Stevens) for the next seven 
years, provided that, if he had not in that time established steam- 
boats on any particular water, that one should revert to Livings- 
ton and Fulton. . . " 

(285) Colonel Stevens signed the agreement as drawn by 
Fulton. 

In July, 1813, the ferry boat company dominated by Fulton, 
and under the monopolists' grants of the wedge of waters between 
Jersey City and New York for that voyaging, determined that 
John Stevens ferryboat, the "Juliana" should be driven off the 
Hudson River. 

The terms demanded by Fulton were too humiliating for 
Colonel Stevens to submit to. Then commenced the deadly rote 
of "swearing out of injunctions." "In order to avoid actual 
seizure on the New York side, he was keeping his ferryboat at 
Hoboken." On the voyage to Connecticut waters August 3-5, 
(?) 1813, the "JuHana" with the Colonel's son in command, "was. 
chased by six (police) barges filled with men, but escaped them. 
(339, 340-2.) 

Colonel Stevens' biographer records the close call the Livings- 
ton-Fulton monopolists had when Colonel Ogden made the first 
public attack on them, on constitutional grounds, before the legis- 
lature at Albany, in March, 1814; "they promptly compromised 
with Ogden, letting him buy, for use in New Jersey a ten year 
right to all their patents and privileges." (355) 

There are scores of similar references that may be abstracted 
from "John Stevens: An American Record," alone, to prove the 
sordid activities and employment of Robert Fulton, in the field of 
steam navigation then! 



THE "collect pond" LITHOGRAPH OF 1846 43 

In the paragraph on this Hthograph headed "Remarks" we 
read in lines 6 and 7 : 

"Mr. Fitch having a patent for his invention from the State of 
N. Y. . . ." 

This allusion is to the exclusive grant of that state made in 
1787 before the Constitution delegated to Congress the power to 
regulate commerce. 

The expropriation by Livingston in 1798 of three unexpired 
years of the grant to Fitch and the later unlawful occupation and 
usurpation by Livingston and Fulton of common public rights in 
navigable waters; the fact of Fitch's priority of invention of the 
steamboat, are all established in the great case of "Gibbons v. 
Ogden." (Wheaton IX, U. S. S. C. reports 1-241.) 

In that case Colonel Ogden was simply the courtpiece for the 
successors to the Livingston and Fulton steamboat monopoly. 

Mr. Hutchings, only twenty-two years afterward, has totally 
failed to "recollect" the least thing about that monumental 
exposition of Chief Justice John Marshall! 

Port of New York Authority 

In the "Joint Report" to the states of New Jersey and New 
York, 1920, upon which the Port of New York Authority is 
founded, in setting up the "historical factors as a background for 
present and immediate action". . . we charge that the "his- 
torian" who organized the chapter on the "History and Purpose 
of the Commission," etc. (pages 41 and following) is guilty of 
many gross factual errors. 

We protest against his fallacy in not first setting up the facts 
that the United States Supreme Court in the Decree of 1824 in the 
"great case of Gibbons v. Ogden," (42) had actually condemned 
all those outrages inadequately detailed, mainly against citizens 
of New Jersey, by Livingston and Fulton and their offensive, 
opprobrious steamboat monoply, under color of New York legis- 
lative acts, that were ordered annulled in that same decree. 

Livingston and Fulton and their successors never had the 
slightest shadow of the "rights" they claimed, and under which 
they desolated our commerce. The simile of the occupants of a 
stolen or "possessed" automobile haled into a police court, is the 
only one applicable to the crowd that had marauded for their 



44 THE "collect pond" lithograph of 1846 

prodigious personal profiteering the waters declared by Chief 
Justice John Marshall, in his Opinion in the same case to be the 
property of the people of the United States. 

Those men and their perpetrations had been convicted: they 
had burglarized our common rights all those years. That is the 
true "historic perspective," the only light, in which their unlawful 
piracies and predatory practices should be viewed today. 

To speak of those circumstances as a manifestation of success 
"in adapting properly the work of other men for practical ends" 
is something we insist is entirely unworthy of further adulation 
and emulation or perpetuation. 

The printed statements concerning them on various pages, we 
contend, are utterly devoid of legal, historical and pedagogic 
values and should be obliterated. 

John Fitch, Inventor of the Steamboat, Thompson Westcott: 
Lippincott, 1857. 

This is the best production ever issued on this subject. Ex- 
ceptions should be noted to certain pages of references that 
deceived Mr. Westcott. 

The volume is mainly based on John Fitch's original papers 
now in the Ridgway Branch, Philadelphia Library; others, of the 
''Steam Boat Company," Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 

P. Lee Phillips: The Rare Map of the Northwest, 1785, by 
John Fitch, Inventor of the Steamboat. A Bibliographical 
account, with facsimile reproductions, etc. The map was first 
advertised June 30, 1785 ; its supporting literature scintillates with 
statements of John Fitch's purpose to build a steamboat to pene- 
trate these Northwestern waters. 

Washington: W. H. Lowdermilk & Company, 1916. 

Records of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1824. 
(Gibbons v. Ogden, Wheaton IX, 1-241.) In the statements and 
arguments of Daniel Webster and William Wirt, counsel for the 
Appellant against the blistering persecution and prosecution by 
the successors of the Livingston and Fulton steamboat monopoly, 
will be found the facts supporting John Fitch's priority of inven- 
tion and operation of the steamboat, as well as the desolation and 
devastation of our commerce due to the repugnant New York 
laws annulled by the Chief Justice in his decree, in that great 
case. (240) 

In his opinion (186-222) the Chief Justice declared, in sub- 



THE "collect pond" LITHOGRAPH OF 1846 45 

Stance, that the deep streams penetrating the country were the 
common property of the people of the whole United States, for 
the burdens of its commerce; every district has the right to par- 
ticipate in it. (195) 

The right of intercourse between the states derives its source 
from laws whose authority is recognized in every civilized country 
throughout the world. The Constitution found these rights 
existing and delegated to Congress the power to regulate them. 
(211) 

The Decree in this case (240) is a condemnation and conviction 
of those who had hogged these rights of the people in their Liv- 
ingston and Fulton steamboat grants and armed them with brutal 
powers in the punishment of alleged transgressors in their pirated 
waters. 

A History of the Steam Boat Case Lately Discussed by 
Counsel before the Legislature of New Jersey, etc. : 

48 pages, 4 pages appendix — Trenton, 1815. 

This epochal hearing warranted breaking the seals of the case 
containing the papers of John Fitch, deposited in the Philadelphia 
Library, October 4, 1792, under the provision that they were not 
to be opened for thirty years or at any time, in opinion of the 
directors, "it was deemed proper to do so for the maintenance of 
his reputation and rightful claims." (JF-TW 340-346.) 

The pamphlet is highly important in that it establishes the 
New Jersey contention, as well as the piratical New York claims, 
nine years before the Livingston and Fulton steamboat monopoly 
was blistered by the United States Supreme Court. 

"The Pageant of America," Volume IV, page 80, paragraph 2, 
line 7, 8, says: "Rumsey had in 1784 exhibited a steamboat before 
General Washington . . . "the power had been steam applied by 
cranks to a series of setting poles." . . . This statement is false: 
quoting from. Washington's Diary, September 6, 1784, disproving 
the "steamboat" fallacy (photostat copies of which are available 
here) the concluding lines read : 

"... What adds vastly to the value of the discovery, is the 
simplicity of its works; as they may be made by a common boat 
builder or carpenter, and kept in order as easy as a plow, or any 
common implements of husbandry on a farm — ." Certainly that 
covered absolutely no reference to anything else than a "pole 
boat" and "steam" should be obliterated from this discussion. 



46 THE "collect pond" lithograph of 1846 

The earliest proven references to the invention of the applica- 
tion of steam to navigation are in the writings of John Fitch, 
April, 1785. 

"The Pageant of America," Volume IV, page 80, continues, in 
lines 9, 10, 11. "Fitch, who had applied for state monopolies 
over steamboats, contested Rumsey's inventions ..." 

The above statement conveys a false impression or inference : 
the fact is that John Fitch applied for and was granted "state 
monopolies" before the Constitution delegated to Congress the 
right to regulate commerce in such a manner. 

Livingston's illegal expropriation, in 1798, of three years of 
John Fitch's real rights, granted him in 1787, in the alleged waters 
of New York, later sharing them with Fulton, was really the nub 
of the great "Gibbons vs. Ogden case." 

Beveridge's John Marshall, Edition 1919, Volume IV, Chapter 
6, "Commerce Made Free," will be found most readable and 
highly illuminating as to the fact and circumstances of the growth 
and spread of this obnoxious Livingston and Fulton steamboat 
monopoly: its crushing is considered the supreme effort, the 
furthest reaching in its interpretation of the Constitution in the 
long life of the great jurist. 

We hold that the references in Beveridge alone, fully warrant 
any mention of Livingston and Fulton and the steamboat monop- 
oly they founded is entitled to no other consideration than that of 
obloquy. 

William H. Richardson, Mechanical Engineering, June, 1932, 
pages 399-405. John Fitch, Patriot, Martyr, Pioneer Steamboat 
Inventor. 

This article is subject to certain deletions and revisions. 

William H. Richardson, Founders and Leaders of Connecti- 
cut, John Fitch. 

Charles E. Perry, Hartford, 1934, pages 297-300. 

(The above article is subject to additions which could not be 
inserted in the brief space in the volume as published. Typed 
transcripts are in copies in our Free Public Library.) 



John Fitch's Third Steamboat 

By WILLIAM H. RICHARDSON. DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL HISTORY. 
JERSEY CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION 

(Reprinted from the Jersey Observer, Feb. 27, 1936, by courtesy and permission of author) 

THE original of the craft represented in the model was 60 feet 
long by 8 feet beam, and is recognized as the steamboat of 
1788-1789-1790. October 12, 1788, she carried thirty pass- 
engers from Philadelphia to Bordentown, besides a most distin- 
guished company who certified to the performance of the vessel. 

With improved mechanism, in the season of 1790, the "Steam 
Boat" traveled on the Delaware River between Philadelphia and 
Trenton, the first steam-merchant marine highway in the world, 
and in other extended journeys, between two and three thousand 
miles, without serious mishap at a speed of eight to nine and a 
half miles an hour. 

John Fitch's prospects and those of the Steam Boat Company 
were ruined by the iniquitous patent awarded by the partisan 
Commissioners for the Promotion of Useful Arts, April 23, 1791. 

While Fitch was pursuing the rights of the "Steam Boat Com- 
pany in France" in 1793 at the time of the outbreak of the red 
revolution, Robert Fulton got hold of his plans and specifications 
and copied them in 1794. 

Certain of John Fitch's exclusive rights to steam navigation, 
granted before the Constitution began, were infringed by the 
monopolists, Fulton and Livingston, precipitating the most far- 
reaching decree in the history of American jurisprudence in 
expounding the Constitution by Chief Justice John Marshall in 
1824; all navigable streams were declared public domain for the 
country's commerce. 




JOHN FITCH'S THIRD STEAMBOAT 

This model, begun in 1935, is the collective contribution of the forty boys under the direction 

of Harry A. Conroy in the vocational classes of School Number 23, as their joint tribute to 

the sesquicentenary of the invention of the steamboat officially recorded in 1875. 



Early Botanists in Bucks County* 

By prof. a. F. K. KROUT, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 

THE early local history of the original Counties of Pennsyl- 
vania was left in obscurity on account of publications not 
having been as numerous and as general as they have come 
to be in later years. Much that is of great interest to the people 
of a County is, therefore, unknown, or failed to become universal, 
by never having become a matter of record, or was lost in volumes 
that have ceased many years ago to exist. Thus the most inter- 
esting historical facts in the province of science, and in the trans- 
mutation of local events, have been lost altogether. The natural 
inclination to live exclusively in the present will often make us 
exceedingly authentic with the immediate past, but very indiffer- 
ent to the more remote times which are more or less involved in 
obscurity. 

It was this line of thought, in connection with my special 
investigation and study, that most vividly brought to my mind 
the question, Who were the early Botanists of Bucks County? 
They were not resident scientific people, like their successors, 
Doctors Moyer, Martindale and Fretz, but they were men whose 
fame was world-wide and whose history and work, I never had 
the remotest idea, were associated with the history of my native 
County of Bucks. But such are the indisputable facts. I will 
name but three, and first and foremost is Dr. Benjamin S. Barton, 
who not only frequently visited our borders, but induced other 
naturalists to imitate his example. 

* (In May, 1898, General W. \Y. H. Davis, then President of The Bucks 
County Historical Society, received the following letter, dated Philadelphia, 
Pa., May 16, 1898: "Dear General Davis: I wish you would let me know when 
you are coming to Philadelphia again and where I can meet you. I have just 
completed an article on a subject that relates to the early history of Bucks 
County, which you may desire to have, and in reference to which I would like 
to see vou personally. Hoping that I ma}' be of some little assistance to you 
in your great work, I remain, with kind regards, Yours Truly, A. F. K. Krout." 
A short time later Professor Krout, a native of Bucks County and a botanist of 
considerable note, gave his paper on "Early Botanists in Bucks County" to 
General Davis and it remained on file in the Society's archives unpublished 
until now. It was not read as a paper at any meeting of the Society.) 

Editors, 1937 



early botanists in bucks county 49 

Dr. Benjamin S. Barton 

In the year 1789 the Trustees of the College of Philadelphia 
instituted a Professorship of Natural History and Botany. Dr. 
Benjamin S. Barton was honored with the appointment of teach- 
ing these branches of science. They had never been regularly 
taught in the institution. Several courses of lectures on Botany 
had, however, formerly been delivered by Dr. Adam Kuhn, one 
of the pupils of the great Linnaeus. 

These were Doctor Barton's favorite studies, and from the 
beginning of his career he never ceased to look forward when 
natural science should be an indispensable branch in the Univer- 
sity — when it should cease to yield its laurels to languages which 
are withered or dead. 

Upon the union of the College with the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1791, his former appointment was confirmed by the 
Trustees of the united institutions. From that time on, notwith- 
standing his poor health at times, his labors continued to prosper; 
and having long ago been called from his favorite work, it was 
ably taken up by his successors, and the department in that great 
university now stands second to none in this country. 

In addition to his lectures in the University, Doctor Barton, 
as early as 1804, had published in London a volume on the Ele- 
ments of Botany. This was followed by Volume II, in 1814, 
published in Philadelphia. A revision of the two volumes ap- 
peared in 1827. 

Doctor Barton was also an enthusiastic collector. His field 
for research in this respect was Philadelphia, and the nearer por- 
tions of Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware Counties. 

He had the happy faculty of associating with him in his work 
men who were the amateurs and scientists of his day and genera 
tion. On account of his work at the University, he was prevented 
from making long expeditions himself, but he spared neither 
time nor means to get other men to do this work for him. ! 

He, by this means, made what no doubt is the first Philadel- 
phia and Pennsylvania Herbarium. This collection antedates 
the Academy of Natural Science by many years and was de- 
posited with the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, that being, 
the only public depository of the kind during that period. It' 
remained in the museum of the Philosophical Society almost 



50 EARLY BOTANISTS IN BUCKS COUNTY 

unknown and forgotten, until within a recent date, its treasures 
were looked into by the writer of this article, by permission of 
Thomas Meehan, a high official at the Academy, who was instru- 
mental in inducing the officers of the Philosophical Society to 
deposit the same with the Academy. To my great pleasure and 
rare satisfaction, I found that this collection contained the evi- 
dence and facts of one of the most interesting bits of history for 
our own County of Bucks. 

Frederic Pursh 

Another noted Botanist who became associated with the early 
history of the County of Bucks, was Frederic Pursh, of whom all 
botanical works make mention in their nomenclature of plants. 

He was born at Tobolsk in Siberia and educated at Dresden. 
He resided in America from 1799 to 1811. During this time he 
made various botanical excursions. He went to England and 
published his Flora. He returned to America and while engaged 
in collecting material for a Canadian Flora, died at Montreal, 
June 11, 1820, at the age of forty-six years. 

His first object was to form an acquaintance with all American 
Botanists. Among these, he had the pleasure to account one of 
the earliest, and ever after most valuable, was the Rev. Dr. 
Muhlenberg of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 

He also visited the old established gardens of Mr. Marshall, 
the author of a "Small Treatise on Forest Trees of North Amer- 
ica." He spent some time at the Botanic Gardens of Messrs. 
John and William Bartram. 

Not far from the latter place, and where the University of 
Pennsylvania now stands, were the extensive gardens of William 
Hamilton, Esq., called "The Woodlands." Mr. John Lyon, who 
had the management of these gardens, was then about to give 
them up. Having the offer of being appointed his successor, he 
embraced the opportunity and in 1802 entered upon the situation. 

During his stay at this place which was until 1805, he received 
and collected plants from all parts of North America; and when 
Micheaux's Flora Boreali-Americana appeared, which was during 
that time, he was not only in possession of most of his plants, 
but had a considerable number not described by him. 

During his stay at the Woodlands he made many trips along 



EARLY BOTANISTS IN BUCKS COUNTY 51 

the Delaware and the lower end of Bucks County. I found in 
the Bartonian collection twenty-three species that were named 
by him. The labels are in his own handwriting and over his own 
characteristic signature. 

Within this period he also formed an intimate acquaintance 
with Dr. Benjamin S. Barton at the University. Being now very 
anxious to explore the more remote parts of this country, par- 
ticularly the ranges of the Alleghany Mountains, he was encour- 
aged in this desire, by Doctor Barton, who gave him the financial 
aid to carry out his design and thus enable him to associate his 
name with two of the most memorable botanical excursions in all 
the experience of his explorations, one to the south on the Alle- 
ghanies in 1805, as far as the high mountains of North Carolina 
and back by the seashore; and the other over the Alleghanies to 
the northeast, the greater and lesser Lakes as far as the White 
Mountains in New Hampshire, and back by the seashore. 

It was on the latter of these excursions that he became in 
touch once more with the territory of Bucks County. His trip 
to the Lakes and thence to the White Mountains he made in the 
year lc06. He went from Philadelphia by way of Easton and 
passed through Bucks by the usual route of travel, which was 
then to Doylestown and over the old Durham Road to Kinters- 
ville and along the Delaware. 

Both of these tours he made principally on foot, as he nar- 
rates himself, "The most appropriate way for attentive observa- 
tion, particularly in mountainous countries." He traveled over 
an extent of more than three thousand miles each season, with no 
other companion than his dog and gun, frequently taking up his 
lodging in the midst of wild mountains and impenetrable forests, 
far remote from the habitations of men. 

The collections and observations made by him in the course of 
these journeys, he communicated to Doctor Barton and now are 
the most important and larger part of the Bartonian Collection, 
which had remained for so many years almost forgotten with the 
Philosophical Society at Philadelphia. The plants definitely 
named in that collection by Pursh as collected in Bucks County 
are the following: 

Aster recurvatus, Willd. 
Aster Tradescantia, L. 
Aster Vimineus, Lam. 



52 EARLY BOTANISTS IN BUCKS COUNTY 

Aster prenanthoides, Muhl. 
Aster mutabilis, Willd. 
Aster undulatus, L. 
Aster patens, Ait. 
Aster spurius, Willd. 
Aster ericoides, L. 
Galactia glabella, Mx. 
Glycine sarmentosa, Willd. 
Glycine monoica. 
Hedysarum canescens. 
Inula Mariana. 
Lespideza capitata, Mx. 
Lespideza polystachus, Mx. 
Lespideza divergens, Muhlb. 
Lobelia inflata, L. 
Phaseolus helviolus, L. 
Polygonum variodes, Pursh. 
Polypodium connectile, Mx. 
Saponaria officinalis, L. 
SoHdago lanceolata, L. 



C. S. Rafinesque, Ph. D, 

He came to North America in 1802 and traveled chiefly on 
foot until 1804, over New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Mary- 
land and Virginia; from the Juniata to the seashore, and from the 
Alleghany Mountains beyond Easton to the Potomac beyond 
Washington and Alexandria. 

In 1805, he left America for Europe, where he remained until 
1815. On his return to this continent he was shipwrecked on the 
shores of Connecticut, and lost all his former Herbals and col- 
lections, both American and European. 

Being deprived of all his first labors in Botany, Zoology, and 
Mineralogy in that memorable year 1815, he had to begin again 
his researches and collections, which he pursued with new zeal, 
and always at his own sole expense. 

He spent 1815 and '16 in the States of New York, New Jersey 
and Pennsylvania. In 1816 he went to explore as far as Lake 
Champlain, Vermont, and the Saranac Mountains near the 
sources of the Hudson River. In 1817 he went to the Mattawan 



EARLY BOTANISTS IN BUCKS COUNTY 53 

and Catskill Mountains and explored Long Island, where he 
dwelt awhile. 

His great travels in the West began in 1818. He made a tour 
of two thousand miles as far as the Wabash River, crossing the 
Alleghanies twice on foot and explored Ohio, Indiana, Illinois 
and Kentucky. 

Having been appointed Professor of Natural Science in the 
Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1819, he 
crossed the Alleghany Mountains for the third time, over the 
Cumberland road of Maryland, still on foot, as he never would 
cross those beautiful mountains in any other way, in order to 
botanize all the while. 

He spent seven years in Kentucky. In 1836 he left Kentucky 
and settled in Philadelphia, but took a long botanical journey on 
the way back, going through Ohio, to Sandusky on Lake Erie, 
Bufifalo, Niagara, Canada, the New York Canal, etc. 

In 1827 his excursions were to the seashores of New Jersey, 
thence to Troy, Massachusetts, Boston, returning to Philadelphia 
by different roads. 

In 1828 he went to the Alleghany Mountains to the north of 
the Lehigh, the Schooley Mountains of New Jersey, and Matta- 
wan Mountains of New York. 

In 1829 he went to the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, and as far 
as Connecticut. 

In 1830 he made his second journey to the Catskill Mountains. 

In 1831 he was in Delaware and New Jersey. 

In 1832 visited Maryland twice. He explored the Cococton 
Mountains of Maryland, and the Alleghany Mountains as far as 
Sherman Valley and the Juniata, quite at leisure, residing some- 
times at the top of the mountains. 

In the year 1833 he proposed to visit the Appalachian Moun- 
tains as far as Alabama, but was prevented by an accident and 
heavy rains. He only went as far as those of Virginia. 

In a second journey of this year, he undertook to visit the 
sources of the Rivers Delaware and Susquehanna, exploring first 
the Pine Barrens and seashores of New Jersey, then going from 
Albany over the Heidelberg Mountains to Lake Utsiantha, the 
source of the Delaware at the foot of the Kiskanon Mountains, 
and Lake Otsego, source of the Susquehanna. 

The year 1834 saw him twice in the Alleghany Mountains of 



54 EARLY BOTANISTS IN BUCKS COUNTY 

the north, once by following the course of the Delaware, botaniz- 
ing the southern and eastern boundary of Bucks County, all the 
way to Durham ; the second time westward by the Welsh Moun- 
tains, Conewago Mountains, Albany Mountains, Locust Moun- 
tains, to the Pottsville mines, and the source of the Schuylkill 
River, returning by Mauch Chunk and AUentown. 

His travels in 1835 were in the Central Alleghanies up the 
rivers, Juniata and Susquehanna, exploring the mountains of 
Peters, Buffalo, Wisconisco, Mahantango, Tuscarora, Jack, 
Seven Mountains and their valleys. Since then he chiefly 
explored South New Jersey, the Pine Barrens and the region up 
the Delaware. 

During his residence at Philadelphia he made frequent trips 
to the lower end of Bucks County. It is here where he closed his 
American career as one of the most industrious, persevering and 
successful botanical collectors this country has ever seen. 

During so many years of active and arduous explorations, he 
met with all kinds of adventures, fares and treatment, having 
been welcomed under the roof of hospitable friends of knowledge 
or enterprise. He seldom met with liberal enlightened men, who 
could believe that he was actuated by the pure love of knowledge 
and science. 

Such a life of travels and exertions had its pleasures and its 
pains, its sudden delights and deep joys mixed with dangers, 
trials, difficulties, and troubles. The mere fatigue of a pedestrian 
journey was nothing compared to the gloom of solitary forests, 
when not a human being was met for many miles, and if met, to 
be mistrusted ; when the food and collection had to be carried in 
his pocket or knapsack from day to day. He met rough or 
muddy roads to vex him, and blind paths to perplex him; rocks, 
mountains, and steep ascents. He often lost his way. He had 
to cross and wade through brooks, creeks, rivers and swamps, 
occasionally overtaken by a storm, when the trees fell around 
him, when the thunders roared and the lightning struck near him. 
Unhealthy regions and sickly seasons never affected him, because 
he was always careful, abstemious and temperate. 

Although he felt all these miseries, he was never compelled to 
sleep at night on the ground, but always found a shelter. He 
never had been actually starved, nor assailed by snakes or wild 
beasts, nor robbed, nor drowned,, nor became suddenly unwell. 



EARLY BOTANISTS IN BUCKS COUNTY 55 

Temperance and the disuse of tobacco partly availed him, and 
always kept him in good health. 

The pleasures of a botanical exploration fully compensated 
him for the miseries and dangers, else no one would have been a 
traveling botanist, nor spent his time and money in vain. Every 
step taken in the field and groves and hills appears to have 
afTorded him new enjoyments. 

He felt the exultation that he was a conqueror. That he had 
made a conquest over nature. That he was going to add a new 
object or a page to science. This peaceful conquest had cost him 
tears, but filled his mind with a proud sensation of not being 
useless on earth, of having detected another link of the creative 
power of God. Every pure botanist is a good man, a happy man, 
and a religious man. He lives with God in his wide temple not 
made with hands — such a man was Rafinesque. 

He wrote his Botanical Works in four languages, Latin, 
French, Italian and English. He wrote in English in order to 
make it available to all botanists. His Flora Telluriana was 
partly in Latin, on account of the generic and specific characters. 
All the plants he described had been met alive, and collected by 
him in their natural soils, in bloom and seed, unless he otherwise 
stated the facts. 

The question naturally arises, "What did he do with his vast 
collections?" He was an active member of the Royal Institute 
of Natural Science of Naples, the Italian Society of Arts, the 
Imperial Economic Society of Vienna and was Imperial Natural 
Curator of Bonn. The few American societies then existing were 
in their infancy and so the bulk of both his collections and that of 
Pursh went to the European Museums. 

Rafinesque was a highly educated gentleman, which, with his 
great activity, enabled him to write many volumes on scientific 
and literary subjects. Among the most noted are: 

1. Florula Ludoviciana, lc07 — (Flora of the state of Louis- 
iana). Translated from the French. The revisal and transla- 
tion of Robin's Flora was a most desirable addition to the knowl- 
edge of North American Botany. The nomenclature of the whole 
Flora was remodeled and accurately fixed, enumerating more than 
four hundred species, of which there were thirty new genera and 
one hundred and ninety-six new species. 



56 EARLY BOTANISTS IN BUCKS COUNTY 

2. Fishes Inhabiting the Ohio River, 1820. 

3. Ancient History and Survey of Monuments of North 
America, 1824. 

4. American Manual of Grape Vines, 1830. An account of 
sixty-two species. 

5. Alsographia Americana, 1838. A continuation and revision 
of his Sylva Telluriana of North American trees and shrubs. 

6. American Manual of Mulberry Trees, 1839. 

7. New Flora and Botany of North America, 1836. Being a 
supplemental Flora to the various botanical works of Micheaux, 
Muhlenberg, Pursh, Nuttall, Eliott, Torrey, Beck, Eaton, Bige- 
low. Barton, Robin, Hooker, Riddell, Darlington, Schweinitz and 
Gibbs, containing nearly five hundred additional or revised 
genera and fifteen hundred new species, illustrated by figures in 
"Autikon Botanikon." This new Flora is quite an original work, 
based upon his individual researches and discoveries during the 
thirty-six years of his botanical travels, whereof twenty-four were 
spent in North America, the main field of his labors. 

8. The Good Book and Amenities of Nature, 1840. This is 
the last of his American publications. In it he writes on general 
subjects and refers in no mistaken terms to the failings and 
jealousies of his American contemporaries, some of whom, no 
doubt, treated him meanly and with injustice. 

One of the most redeeming features of Doctor Britton's New 
Flora is that he gives Rafinesque and Pursh credit for their great 
labors in discovering the new species of American plants and first 
naming them, which names were injustly ignored by some of the 
later and ambitious American Botanists. The thanks of all 
scientific people are due Doctor Britton for his generosity and 
high sense of honor and justice in restoring the fruits of the labors 
of these great men that have been so deservedly earned by them. 

And the history-loving people of Bucks County will, with 
pleasure, cherish the memory not only of their resident scientific 
people, but also the memory of the great men who came within 
her borders for her early contributions to science, which helped to 
give them a name and fame as wide as the world itself. 




DURHAM FURNACES 

Built by Joseph Whitaker & Co. Furnace No. 1, to the right, in 1848. Furnace No. 2, to 
the left, in 1849. (From an ambrotype, furnished by Mrs. George W. Whitaker.) 




DURHAM F"URNACE 

5uilt by Cooper & Hewitt in 1874-75 on site of old No. 2 furnace. First put in blast February 
21, 1876. (From a photograph by Reuben Knecht of Easton, in 1876.) 




The Durham Iron Works in Durham Township 

Read Before the Friends Historical Association of Philadelphia 

Buckingham Friends Meeting House, Holicong, Bucks County, Pennsylvania 
June 10. 1<>22 

By dr. B. F. FACKENTHAL, Jr.. RIEGELSVILLE. PA. 

(Revised before printing) 

^^^HE subject assigned to me by your committee 
J is an agreeable one, as I began my business career 
I at the Durham Iron Works and have spent half 
a century of my life in the manufacture of iron. 
The subject is also peculiarly fitting to present to 
this patriotic society, as many of the gentlemen 
connected with the 1727 blast furnace were members of the 
Society of Friends. I must, however, ask your indulgence if I 
draw on papers that I have heretofore presented to the good 
people of Bucks County. 

Grant of Pennsylvania to William Penn 

Charles the Second, King of England, Scotland, France and 
Ireland, granted the Province of Pennsylvania to William Penn, 
Esquire, by Royal Charter dated March 4, 1681, which included 
what is now the State of Delaware. 

William Penn, on his first visit to America, sailed from Eng- 
land by ship "Welcome," September 1, 1682, and entered the 
Capes of the Delaware River October 27th, and after a passage 
of 57 days, arrived at New Castle the following day. The date 
of his arrival at Upland, now Chester in Pennsylvania, is not 
definitely known, but most authorities say it was on October 29, 
1682. 

William Penn was born at Tower Hill in London, October 14, 
1644, and died at Ruscombe, Berkshire, England, July 30, 1718, 
in the seventy-fourth year of his age. Shortly after his arrival 
in 1682, he divided the Province of Pennsylvania into three 
counties, Philadelphia, Chester and Bucks. Bucks to include 
all territory north of Philadelphia County. (Montgomery was 
erected out of Philadelphia County.) 

When William Penn came to Pennsylvania there were but 
few settlers north of the Neshaminy, and the country beyond was 
largely an unbroken wilderness, the boundaries of which were 



60 THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 

not definitely known. The limits of the present Bucks County 
wefe automatically outlined and defined when Northampton 
County was set off in 1752. After that all territory north of 
Bucks County was comprised within the County of Northamp- 
ton, out of which many other counties were afterwards erected. 

There is evidence to show that some white people had set- 
tled in the northern part of the original Bucks County at an 
early day, arriving there via Esopus, now Kingston on the Hud- 
son. The territory north of the Lehigh was known as the "Forks 
of the Delaware," but many early documents refer also to the 
south side of the Lehigh River by that name. 

Durham Township 

At the extreme northeastern end of the present Bucks County, 
on the Delaware River, lies the township of Durham, containing 
6,410 acres, 123 perches, and therefore one of the smallest of the 
29 townships into which Bucks is divided. 

There is some evidence to show that Durham contained white 
settlers as early as 1682. At any rate its settlement was much 
earlier than that of the surrounding country, for example, North- 
ampton County was not erected nor the town of Easton laid out 
until 1752. 

The accompanying map will show the several surveys and 
patents w^hich make up the township of Durham, indicated 
within heavy black lines; for convenient reference they are 
marked First, Second and Third Tracts. There were also three 
other tracts acquired by the Durham Iron Company lying out- 
side of the township. These are marked on the map as Fourth, 
Fifth and Sixth Tracts. 

The First Tract containing 300 acres was patented September 
8, 1717, to Jeremiah Langhorne and John Chapman. (Patent 
Book A, Vol. V, page 266.) 

The Second Tract, containing 4,448 acres, was surveyed May 
25, 1727, to James Logan, Penn's secretary, and by him conveyed 
the same day to Samuel Powell, in trust, for the newly formed 
Durham Iron Company.^ This tract was granted to James Logan 

1 Samuel Powell was a rich carpenter who owned ninety houses in the 
City of Philadelphia. He was the son-in-law of Anthony Morris, and lived 
at the corner of Pine and Second Streets. (The Pennsylvania Magazine of 
History, Vol. XII, page 478, and Vol. XXI, page 121.) 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 



61 




MAP OF DURHAM IRON COMPANY'S REAL ESTATE 
Showing location of furnaces, forges, stamping mill, mines, etc. Durham Township as organ- 
ized in 1775 is shown within black lines, made up of three tracts containing by re-survey of 
1773, 6,410 Acres, 123 Perches. The three tracts lying outside of the township, 
contain 2,101 Acres, 23 Perches, making an aggregate of 8,511 Acres, 123 
Perches owned by the Durham Iron Company. 

in lieu of his deeding back to the Proprietaries a hke acreage of 
land in Tinicum Township, which he had by connivance obtained 
from the American representatives of John Striepers of Crefelt, 
Germany, who was granted a warrant March 9-10, 1682, for 
5,000 acres. It is quite evident that Striepers had 4,448 acres 
of this surveyed to him in Durham, but James Logan represented 
that as John Striepers was an alien he could not legally hold land 
in Pennsylvania. On a warrant dated February 23, 1701, there 
was surveyed to John Striepers a like acreage in Tinicum Town- 
ship, which was patented to him June 24, 1705, and which his 
American agents transferred to James Logan, January 17-18, 



62 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 



1725. After the death of John Striepers his heirs claimed that 
by this manipulation James Logan obtained the Durham tract 
by fraud and in an irregular and unlawful manner. They accord- 
ingly brought suit in the courts of Bucks County, December 
Term, 1765, to recover the property, but the decision was natur- 
ally against them, and the title was confirmed to the Logan inter- 
ests in 1769. There is quite a bit of history connected with this 

questionable transaction, as 
can be seen by examining 
the Striepers papers in the 
manuscript department of 
The Pennsylvania Historical 
Society, as well as other docu- 
ments. The tract on which 
Stenton, the former home of 
James Logan, is built, is on 
lands said to be part of the 
Striepers grant. The Penn- 
sylvania Magazine of History 
(Vol. 38, page 242), contains 
a copy of an agreement for 
paying the expenses (amount- 
ing to £42-17-1) in defending 
the ejectment suit brought by 
the Striepers' heirs, by which 
they were to be borne equally 
by Thomas and Richard Penn, 
William and James Logan, Jr. 
(sons of James Logan, who died in 1751), and Dr. Nicholas 
Moore, president of the Free Society of Traders. 

The Third Tract, 1,200 acres, bordering on the Delaware, 
was part of a large grant to the Free Society of Traders, surveyed 
to Jeremiah Langhorne, February 16, 1724, and by him conveyed 
May 25, 1727, to Samuel Powell, in trust for the Durham Iron 
Company. Four members of the Penn family, William, Jr., 
Richard, Springott and Letitia, were four of the largest of the 226 
stockholders of the Free Society of Traders, chartered in London, 
March 26, 1682. (See Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. 
XI, page 175.) 

On April 20, 1745, the three Durham tracts, to which I have 




THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 63 

referred, and which uichided all of Durham, were re-surveyed as a 
whole, and a patent granted, April 3, 1749, to Rev. Richard 
Peters, in trust, which included the two tracts for which a patent 
had not been granted when the first surveys were returned. 
(Patent book A, Vol. XVII, page 347, &c.) 

The three tracts lying outside of Durham were all patented 
in trust for the use and benefit of the then owners of the Durham 
Iron Company. The so-called Fourth Tract containing 1,472 
acres, of which 1,229 acres are in William Township, 37 acres 
in Lower Saucon Township, both in Northampton County, and 
206 acres in Springfield Township, was patented to Rev. Richard 
Peters, in trust, April 3, 1749. (Patent book A, Vol. XVI, page 
3S8, &c.) The Fifth Tract, containing 418 acres, 104 perches, 
lying in Springfield Township, was patented September 8, 1773, 
to William Logan, in trust. (Patent book AA, Vol. XIV, page 5, 
&c.) The Sixth Tract, containing 126 acres, 120 perches, lying 
on the Delaware at Rocky Falls, in the County of Northampton, 
was patented to Rev. Richard Peters," in trust, September 24, 
1773. (Patent book AA, Vol. XIV, page 4, cS:c.) 

Durham Erected Into a Township 

On March 4, 1744, eight years before Northampton County 
was erected, there was an effort made to organize Durham into a 
township, to include all of the present township of Durham and 
all of Williams Township. The records at Doylestown show 
that the petition was allowed, but for some unexplained reason 
the plan did not materialize. 

The fact that the Durham Iron Company owned the entire 
township, hindered its settlement and was doubtless the reason 
for its not having been organized into a township until June 3, 
1775, after the dissolution of the Durham Iron Company and 
the lands partitioned, December 24, 1773. 

In 1791 there was an abortive effort to have an act of assembly 
passed to annex Durham and Springfield to Northampton County, 
but it failed for want of enough signers to their petition, as the 
following letter from a Northampton County member of the 
Assembly will show. I wonder whether politics has improved 
very much since then? 

- Rev. Richard Peters, D. D., \was born in Liverpool about 1704, died in 
Philadelphia July 10, 1776. (See Provincial Councillors by Keith, page 235.) 



64 THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 

"I came home last Monday night as my brother came with us, as my wife 
has been very poorly. Last Saturday I have brought a resolution before the 
house to have Durham and Springfield annexed to Northampton, and have 
put myself to a great deal of trouble and had it almost carried, but your Mr. 
Lay whom you put so much confidence in has voted against you; all the fault 
was that you had only 120 signers, and they had 200. But our Assembly 
tells me it would be best, if you were in earnest, you should petition again and 
get as many signers as you could, if such as they had, for a man from West- 
moreland cannot know a boy's name from a man's name, you know well what I 
mean, if not come to my house and I will tell you the whole story. If you 
can get 200 signers I will get them annexed to Northampton." 



Durham Iron Company Organized in 1726 

The early settlement of Durham was doubtless due to the 
discovery of iron ore in the Durham hills. During 1726 a com- 
pany, consisting of twelve gentlemen, was formed to erect a blast 
furnace for the manufacture of charcoal pig iron, the casting of 
pots, pans, kettles, firebacks and other castings. Three forges 
were also built on the Durham Creek for the refining of pig iron 
into wrought iron; their location is shown on the map, page 61 
ante. There is some evidence to show that an earlier iron 
operation was carried on at Durham, probably by Catalan 
Forges or Bloomaries, for conversion of iron ore into wrought 
iron. A blast furnace is, however, a plant entirely different from 
the other earlier processes, many of which were established 
long prior to the blast furnace. The Durham furnace situated 
in the center of the township, at the village of Durham, was 
one of the first four to be built in Pennsylvania. Colebrookdale, 
built in 1720, was the earliest. The original date-stone of Dur- 
ham Furnace, bearing date 1727, has been preserved and can 
now be seen in the museum of the Bucks County Historical 
Society at Doylestown. 

Partnership Agreement Dated March 4, 1727 

The twelve gentlemen who associated themselves together 
and formed the Durham Iron Company in 1726, the partnership 
agreement dated March 4, 1727, to continue for 51 years, were 
Jeremiah Langhorne, Anthony Morris,^ James Logan, Charles 

^ Anthony Morris, described in the partnership agreement as a Brewer, 
was also one of the founders and owners of the Colebrookdale blast furnace, 
built in 1720. 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 



65 



Read, Robert Ellis, George Fitzwater,'* Clement Plumsted, 
William Allen, Andrew Bradford, John Hopkins (Mariner), 
Thomas Lindley (Anchor Smith) and Joseph Turner. All were 
from Philadelphia except Jeremiah Langhorne, who was from 
Bucks County. These gentle- 
men were prominent and 
leading citizens: Jeremiah 
Langhorne became Chief 
Justice of the Province; he 
was a large land owner in 
Bucks County, including what 
is now Langhorne Park. 
Charles Read was a provincial 
councillor, later alderman and 
then mayor of Philadelphia, 
in which office he served three 
years, collector o f excise, 
trustee of the loan office and 
judge of the admiralty court; 
his sister, Sarah, was the wife 
of James Logan. Clement 
Plumsted held many offices 
of public trust; he served as 
a provincial councillor, and 
three terms as mayor of 
Philadelphia; in 1741 he 
became entitled by deed from 
Robert Plumsted to the proprietaryship of East Jersey (Keith's 
Provincial Councillors, page 167, and Colonial Records, Vol. Ill, 
page 270); William Allen (who married Elizabeth, daughter of 
Andrew Hamilton) was chief justice of Pennsylvania from 
1751 to 1774, and the founder of Allentown; Joseph Turner, 
who for 50 years was a business partner of William Allen, served 
as a Provincial Councillor, and in 1745 declined his election to 
the mayoralty of Philadelphia. Among other interests these two 
gentlemen owned and operated the LTnion Iron Works in Hunter- 
don County, N. J., with its 11,000 acres of land, and the Andover 

■i George Fitzwater, born in Suffolk, England, in If 80, married Mary 
Hardiman. Their daughter, Debora, married Christopher Clymer, father 
of George Clymer, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. 




66 THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 

Iron Works in Sussex County, N. J.^ James Logan, whose history 
is well known to you, was Penn's secretary; Andrew Bradford 
was a printer, son of William Bradford, first printer of New York, 
and an uncle of the William Bradford, so frequently referred to 
by Benjamin Franklin in his autobiography. 

The Penns Mortgage Pennsylvania 

When William Penn and his eldest son, William Penn, Jr., 
on October 8, 1708, placed a mortgage for £6,600 on their Penn- 
sylvania lands to Henry Gouldney and his eight associates, no 
patent could thereafter be issued without a release from the mort- 
gagees. Judge Huston, in his work on land titles, in speaking of 
this mortgage, refers to a deed of April 30, 1724, which recites 
that one-fourth then remained unpaid, and on page 231 says, "I 
have heard more than once, many years ago, that William Allen, a 
distinguished barrister of London, afterwards chief justice of 
Pennsylvania, had furnished the money which finally paid off 
this miortgage, and the books of the land office show many grants 
of large tracts of land to him between 1733 and 1740." 

Among other gentlemen who later became shareholders in 
Durham Township and the iron works, were William Logan and 
James Logan, Jr., sons of James Logan; Judge Edward Shippen 
of Lancaster, Pa.; Lawrence Growdon of Trevose; Israel Pember- 
ton, Jr., Langhorne Byles, James Morgan^ and James Hamilon. 
The latter purchased an interest in 1749 when serving as lieuten- 
ant governor of Pennsylvania. James Hamilton did not marry. 
He inherited by aaIII from his father, Andrew Hamilton, the 
estate called "Bush Hill," containing 153 acres imm.ediately north 
of Vine Street, now within the limits of the City of Philadelphia. 
This tract was part of the Penn homestead called "Springetts- 
ville," which his father, Andrew Hamilton, had received in recog- 

•'' For Andover Iron Works, see History cf Sussex and Warren Counties, 
page 442, by James P. Snell, 1881. 

6 C. J. Edward Shippen was the founder of Shippensburg, Pa., born July 

9, 170^, died September 25, 1761. (Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. 
XXIV, page 261.) 

7 James Morgan is described as an "iron master," doubtless the practical 
man who had charge cf the blast furnace as "founder." He may have occu- 
pied that position for some years, but he did not become a partner until June 

10, 1772, about six months prior to the partition proceedings of December 
24, 1773, when he was allotted for his one thirty-second interest. Tract No. 36, 
on which part of the Borough of Riegelsville is located. He disposed of this 
tract to Thomas Long on April 11, 1774, 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 



67 



nition of his services for going to England and appearing in 
chancery for the final proving of the will of William Penn. James 
Hamilton held many offices of public trust. He was president of 
the Provincial Assembly, and in 1733, shortly after coming of 
age, succeeded his father as prothonotary of the Philadelphia 
courts, the most lucrative ofifice in the Province at that tim.e; the 
appointment was for life. He was Lieutenant Governor of the 
Province from 1748 to 1754, and again from 1759, until he was 
succeeded by John Penn in 1763. 

Colonial Office Holders Put Under Parole 

James Hamilton was one of the thirty-eight office holders 
under the Crown and Proprietary Government, who by act of 
Congress, July 31, 1777, and 
by order of the Supreme 
Executive Council of August 
first of that year, were to be 
"imprisoned and removed 
from the State," until they 
renounced their commission 
by taking the prescribed oath 
of allegiance.^ During the 
occupancy of Philadelphia by 
the British he was paroled 
and lived with his nephew, 
James Allen, at Trout Hall, 
AUentown, Pa. He was dis- 
charged from his parole May 
2, 1778, and given a pass to 
visit his hom.e at Bush Hill, in 
order that the cancer on his 
nose, from which he was a 
great sufferer, might receive 
special treatment by a Phila- 
delphia physician, but he 

complained that the time allowed him, two weeks, was too short, 
and he decided not to make the journey. After the British 

8 Colonial Records, Vol. IX, page 733; Vol. X, page 363; Vol. XI, pages 
264-265-478-593. Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, Vol. V, pages 459- 
487-484-511-512-611-613-620. Ibid., Vol. VI, pages 372-383-407-433-435-456- 
464-468-469.^ Kieth's Provincial Councillors, pages 120-130-308-324. 




68 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 



evacuated Philadelphia he was allowed to go and come to Bush 
Hill at his own pleasure. He died in New York, August 15, 1783, 
and was buried next day on his estate at Bush Hill, where his 
father had also been buried. (The Pennsylvania Magazine of 
History, Vol. I, page 242, and Vol. XVI, page 165.) 

Governor John Penn and 
Chief Justice Benjamin Chew 
were also among the 38 office 
holders. They were arrested 
and sent to Fredericksburg, 
Va. On August 15, 1777, 
Justice Chew expressed a 
willingness to take the pre- 
scribed oath, but it was not 
until May 15, 1778, when the 
British were about to evacu- 
ate Philadelphia, that they 
were discharged from their 
parole and conveyed back to 
Pennsylvania.^ John Penn was 
then allowed to go to the 
Union Iron Works, near Clin- 
ton, Hunterdon County, New 
Jersey, which, as already 
stated , were owned by William 
Allen and Joseph Turner. 
This property included what is 
now High Bridge, where the plant of the Taylor Iron & Steel 
Company is located. The house, called "Solitude," at High 
Bridge, occupied by John Penn during the time of his parole, 
is still standing, and the chamber he occupied, called the "John 
Penn Room," has undergone but little change and is an object of 
interest to visitors. 

During the first visit of John Penn to Pennsylvania in 1752, 
he made his home with James Hamilton at Bush Hill. In 1763, 
on his second arrival from England, he was appointed Lieutenant 
Governor, and three years later in 1766, married for his second 




9 Colonial Records, Vol. XI, page 267; Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, 
Vol. V, pages 478, 515, and Vol. VI, pages 00, 85, 364, 367, 380, 389, 507, 523. 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 



69 



wife, Ann, daughter of Chief Justice WilHam Allen and grand- 
daughter of Andrew Hamilton. 

In after years I had the pleasure of reopening one of the Union 
Iron Works ore mines, known as the Church or Van Syckle mine, 
and shipping several thousand tons of the ore to Durham Fur- 
nace where it was smelted.'*^ In 1863 the Thomas Iron Company 
purchased 81 acres of the High Bridge property, with the iron 
ore mines, from which they mined 69,180 tons of ore. This prop- 
erty later came under my management when I was president of 
the Thomas Iron Company. 

Durham Iron Company Dissolved 
On December 24, 1773, five years before the Durham co- 
partnership would have expired by limitation, none of the original 
partners had survived. At 
that time Joseph Galloway 
owned four ninety-sixth of 
the company, and Lawrence 
Growdon of Trevose, who 
had owned fifty-eight ninety- 
sixth, devised his interest to 
his two daughters, Elizabeth, 
wife of Thomas Nichleson, 
and Grace, wife of Joseph 
Galloway. That part of the 
property containing the iron 
works, mines and quarries 
was partitioned to Joseph 
Galloway in right of his wife, 
nee Grace Growdon. When 
Galloway allied himself to the 
British cause, he was by act 
of March 6, 1778, attainted 
of treason and his property 
and life-right in Mrs. Gallo- 
way's property were seized 
and sold in 1779 by the com- 
missioner of forfeited estates. 

10 Ore from the Church or Van Syckel mine shipped to Durham was found 
to contain from 10 to 15 per cent, of Titanic Acid, and for that reason mining 
operations were suspended. 




70 THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 

Mrs. Galloway's interests were purchased by Col. Richard Back- 
house for himself and his three associates, Col. Isaac Sidman, 
Col. Robert Lettis Hooper, Jr., and Col. George Taylor. The 
sale was held at Newtown, August 23, 1779, deed dated Septem- 
ber 14, 1779. The price paid was £12,800. (See Colonial 
Records, Vol. XII, page 104.) Under this administration the 
furnace operated during the open seasons of 1780 to 1789, inclu- 
sive. After the death of Joseph Galloway in 1803, Mrs. Gallo- 
way being also deceased, suit was brought in the Bucks County 
courts by their only child, Elizabeth, wife of William Roberts, 
Esq., to recover Mrs. Galloway's real estate, alleging that her 
father had been in possession by courtesy. After several argu- 
ments in the Supreme Court at Newtown, the court decided that 
Galloway's attainter vested no claim to the real estate of his 
wife, Grace, in the Commonwealth, and only freed from his 
tenancy by the courtesy when she died seized, and therefore the 
property passed by her will, and the Backhouse heirs were dis- 
possessed.^^ In like manner Galloway's real estate, held in right 
of Mrs. Galloway, including Trevose and Belmont, which had 
been seized and sold by the Commissioner of Forfeited Estates, 
were restored to her daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Roberts. ^^ 

It may not be known to all of you that the now historic Hog 
Island, in the Delaware River below Philadelphia, was owned by 
Joseph Galloway, and was among his lands forfeited to the Com- 
monwealth.^^ Also that part of the moneys received from the 
sales of forfeited estates was appropriated to the support of the 
University of Pennsylvania, which had been founded in 1745, 
but not erected into a University until 1779, the very year these 
forfeited estates were sold. 

Durham Furnace Put in Blast in 1727 

Durham Furnace began making pig iron in 1727, and during 
the following year, 1728, James Logan built beautiful Stenton. 
It was therefore reasonable to suppose that the eight firebacks, 
in the fireplaces at Stenton, were made at Durham Furnace. 
Three of them bear date 1728, one contains the initials J. L., all 
have the same scroll work and show evidences of having been 

11 Jenks vs. Backhouse Heirs, 1 Binney, page 91. 

12 Pemberton vs. Hicks, 3 Dallas, page 479, and 4 Dallas, page 168. 

13 Colonial Records, Vol. XII, pages 661 and 730; Pennsylvania Archives, 
First Series, Vol. VIII, page 760, and Sixth Series, Vol. XII, page 197. 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 



71 



Cast from the same pattern, but some omit the date and initials. 
The Colonial Dames, in whose care Stenton has been placed by 
the City of Philadelphia, kindly permitted me (September 12, 
1912) to photograph these firebacks, and also to take boringg 
from the backs of 
three for chemical 
analysis. The result 
confirmed the thought 
that they were made 
at Durham, as the 
cast iron exactly cor- 
responds to the analy- 
ses of Durham ores. 
The title papers show 
that James Logan, at 
that time, owned 
directly and indirectly 
three-eighths part of 
the Durham Iron 
Company. In 1744 
the plant was leased 
by William Bird, later 
it was operated u.nder 
the name of William 
Logan & Company. 
Soime reference is also 
rhade of its having 
been leased by Robert 
.Ellis, one of the original partners of 1727. Robert Ellis became 
indebted to Chief Justice William Allen, in the sum of £3,300, 
and his interest in Durham was sold by the Sheriff of Bucks 
County to Israel Pemberton, Jr. Deed dated June 25, 1750. 

George Taylor a Signer of the Declaration 
OF Independence 

Col. George Taylor, one of the signers of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, was living in Durham when, on 
August 2, 1776, he affixed his signature to that immortal 
document. In 1755, at a time when he and Samuel Flower 
were lessees of the Durham works, they made "Cannon 




FIREBACK in home of JAMES LOGAN 
at "Stenton," Cast at Durham Furnace, 1728 



72 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 




shot" for the Provincial gov- 
ernment, presumably for the 
French and Indian War.^* On 
the night of April 8, 1768, the 
combustible part of the plant 
was destroyed by fire. Colo- 
nel Taylor was again the lessee 
of the Durham works from 
1773 to 1778, during that time 
he made shot, shells and 
cannon for the Continental 
army. His first shipment, 
August 25, 1775, is the earliest 
on record from any Pennsyl- 
vania iron works. ^■'' 

Sixteen of these old cannon 
balls have lately been un- 
earthed from the slag dump 
along the bank of the Durham 




MANSION HOUSti, DURHAM IKON WORKS 

Home of George Taylor in 1776, when he signed the Declaration of Independence. Successor 

to an older house which was destroyed by fire. 

14 Bucks County Court Records, September Term, 1765. 

15 Colonial Records, Vol. X, pages 297-298-315-331-339-354-365-373-381- 
382-598-690. See also The Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. V, page 123. 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 



73 



Creek immediately in front of the 1727 blast furnace, which alone 
is a sufficient guarantee that they were made there. This has been 
further confirmed by having one of them drilled for chemical 
analysis, and found to contain Phosphorus, .094; Manganese, 
.053; Silicon, .420; Copper, none, and therefore corresponding to 
results expected from Durham ores. Their sizes and weights 
are : Balls, 4>4 inches diameter, 10>^ pounds ; 5 inches in diameter, 
15 pounds; and 5>2 inches in diameter, 22 pounds. 



Stamped Cinder Iron 

In the early charcoal blast furnace practice, which did not 
have large percentages of sulphur in the fuel to contend with, 
much smaller percentages of flux wfere used and the cinders or 
slags were quite acid, carrying with them globules of iron im- 
bedded therein, known to furnacemen as "buckshot." At the 
Durham charcoal furnace a stamping mill was erected (see its 
location on map, ante). The iron recovered by this manipulation 
was called "Stamped Cinder Iron." The proportion of such 
iron recovered at Durham furnace, during the Backhouse 
administration, was about four per cent, of the pig iron 



output. The price obtained 
1785, when £11 was charged 
for pig iron, and £5 in 1789, 
when £8 was received for pig 



General Daniel Morgan 
Born in Durham 
General Daniel Morgan of 
Revolutionary War fame, the 
hero of the Battle of Cowpens, 
S. C, was born in Durham 
Township in 1736, where his 
father was employed at the 
iron works. He died at his 
home in Winchester, Virginia, 
July 8, 1802. His body lies 
buried in the Presbyterian 
Cemetery at Winchester, 
marked by a horizontal slab, 



for it was £8 per gross ton 




general DANIEL MORGAN 



1i 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 



which has been badly defaced by relic hunters breaking off 
corners of the slab, even into the inscription. 

The last blast of the 1727 furnace was made in 1789. 
On November 18, 1819, the site occupied by the furnace 
buildings with the water power was sold to Judge William Long, 
who erected a gristmill thereon, and although this gristmill has 
changed owners many times, it has been in continuous operation 
ever since. 




DURHAM IRON WORKS 

The stone arch, at the fore bay, shown above, and the race are all that remain of the 1727 

blast furnace. The race about one mile long, with a head and fall of about 23 feet, has 

since 1819 been in continuous operation to furnish power for a gristmill, now 

(1937) owned by Harvey F. Riegel. 




THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 75 

Anthracite Furnaces r~ "" " ~" ~~~ — ^ 

Built in 1848 and 1849 

In 1847 (deed dated 
March 16, 1848), the • 
remainder of the furnace 
tract, 894 acres, was I 
purchased at public sale j 
by Joseph Whitaker & 
Company,*'' who during 
1848 and 1849 erected 
two blast furnaces for 
using anthracite coal. 
They were equipped 
with hot blast ovens, 
steam engines (horizon- 
tal ones). They located 
the plant near the mouth 
of the Durham Creek 
where it empties into the 
Delaware River. This 
location enabled them 
to receive anthracite by 
canal, and to ship their 
product, mainly pig iron, 
by water, although much 
of it was carted to 

Riegelsville, N. J., and shipped by railroad. And thus after 
the lapse of fifty-nine years the mines were reopened and 
the wheels of industry resumed. 

Mr. Joseph Whitaker (b. 1789; d. 1870), the senior partner, 
whose portrait is shown herewith, was the grandfather of former 
Governor Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, and of Dr. Isaac R. 
Pennypacker. The so-called Whitaker furnaces were built under 
the supervision of James A. Pennypacker (born Dec. 12, 1808), 

16 At the time the Durham property was purchased the firm of Joseph 
Whitaker & Company was composed of Joseph Whitaker, James A. Penny- 
packer, Mathias J. Pennypacker, George P. Whitaker, John Freedly, Wilham 
Davis, John J. Philhps and Levi H. Evans. When the property was conveyed 
to Cooper <S: Hewitt, April 2, 1864, the firm consisted of Joseph Whitaker, 
his two sons, Joseph R. VVhitaker and George W. Whitaker, and Samuel Steckel, 
Jr., the latter owning one twenty-fourth. 




THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 77. 

who was the first manager. In 1849, during the cholera epidemic 
at Durham Iron Works he took personal charge of all sanitation, 
caring for the sick and giving his personal attention to the burial 
of those who died. After his death, March 23, 1851, the manage- 
ment developed upon Joseph R. Whitaker, who resigned January 
1, 1856, and was succeeded by his brother, George W. Whitaker, 
who continued in charge until the works were sold to Cooper & 
Hewitt. 

The Whitakers bought a number of outlying tracts containing 
brown hematite ore, which they used to advantage in their mix- 
ture with Durham ores. 



Cooper & Hewitt Buy Durham Iron Works 

On April 2, 1864, the Whitakers sold the Durham property 
with all outlying tracts to Edward Cooper and Abram S. Hewitt 
of New York, son and son-in-law of that venerable philanthropist, 
Peter Cooper (b. Feb. 12, 1791; d. Apr. 4, 1883), founder of 
Cooper Union, an institution for the advancement of Science 
and Art. In 1830 he built and ran the first Am.erican locomotive, 
which he called the "Tom Thumb." In 1857 he was associated 
with Cyrus W. Field in laying the first transatlantic submarine 
telegraph cable. He made many improvements and appliances 
in the manufacture of iron, steel, wire, glue and other industries. 
In 1879 the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain conferred 
upon him the Bessemer Gold Medal, in recognition of his services 
in developing the American iron trade. 

Hon. Edward Cooper (1824-1905) was a brilliant engineer, an 
inventor of many appliances and processes for the m.etallurgy 
of iron and steel. He designed the Durham hot blast stoves, 
which were widely used at many blast furnaces; he also invented 
the double bell and hopper used at Durham. At the Andover 
Furnaces, Phillipsburg, N. J., in 1856 (then owned by Cooper 
& Hewitt), he built an experimental plant for testing the possi- 
bility of producing steel direct from pig iron, and in connection 
therewith used water-cooled valves, which antedated those later 
patented by others. As a result of these studies he began in 
1873 at their Trenton works the practical test of a direct reduc- 
tion process which presented many novel features of his own. 
He declined to have any of his inventions patented. The firm 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 79 

of Cooper & Hewitt, in 1854, at their Trenton, N. J., works 
(The New Jersey Steel & Iron Co.) was the very first to roll 
beams and girders, now so largely used in construction work. 
They also introduced the Siemens-Martin patent in this coun- 
try, and later they interested themselves in the inventions of 
Snelus, for the use of basic linings, which, combined with sub- 
sequent improvements by Thomas, became the foundation 
of the basic open hearth process for making steel, that has 
almost entirely replaced the Bessemer process. At the out- 
break of the War of the Rebellion, Cooper & Hewitt at their 
Trenton Iron Company plant rendered the War Department 
a great service in manufacturing gun barrels from a superior 
quality of steel. The rifles made from them were stamped 
"Trenton-Springfield Rifles." Mr. Cooper served for a two- 
year term (1879-1880) as Mayor of New York City. 

Edward Cooper was one of the m.ost delightful and lovable 
men it has ever been my good fortune to be associated \\ith. 
In concluding his worth and character, his biographer says: 
"I thank God for a life so pure, so unselfish, and so greatly useful 
to mankind. "^'^ 

Hon. Abram S. Hewitt (1822-1903), after graduating at 
Columbia University, served that institution for a time as a 
teacher of mathematics, and later served as one of its trustees. 
In 1845 he was admitted to the bar of New York, but did not 
enter upon the practice of the law, but joined with Mr. Cooper 
in forming the firm of Cooper & Hewitt, to take over the business 
of Peter Cooper. Mr. Hewitt was a ripe scholar and a splendid 
business man, a man of rich and varied experience, just and 
liberal in his dealings with all m.en. I was associated with the 
firm of Cooper & Hewitt for many years, first in a subordinate 
capacity, and later as general manager of their blast furnaces and 
mines at Durham, Pa., and Request, N. J., and later at Ringwood, 
N. J., and learned to know the true worth and character of these 
two gentlemen, for whom I always had the highest regard. In 
1890 Mr. Hewitt was awarded the Bessemer gold medal, by the 
Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain. 

Mr. Hewitt served in our National Congress for twelve years 
(1871-79 and 1881-86). He also served for a term as Mayor of 

17 See Transactions of the American Institute of Engineers, Vol. 37, pages 
349 to 356. 




O^.^ Jl^^ZwJ^ 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 



81 



New York City (1887-1888). He was chairman of the Demo- 
cratic National Campaign Committee during the Hayes-Tilden 
campaign.'^ 




LILLIE CHILLED IRON SAFE 

With portion of metal left ol¥ to show 

the reinforced ribs of iron or steel. 

Made at Durham. 



Safe Works Established at Durham 

On September 1, 1865, Cooper & Hewitt deeded the entire 
real estate to Lewis Lillie & Son, of Troy, N. Y., subject to a 
mortgage of Peter Cooper for $200,000, and later also sold them 
the personal property. Lewis Lillie & 
Son had a plant at Troy for the manu- 
facture of "chilled iron" safes and bank 
vaults. Their safe-making machinery 
was then all transferred to Durham. 
They greatly enlarged the plant by 
building a foundry 61 by 92 feet, a fin- 
ishing shop 300 feet long by 40 feet 
wide, operated by water power ob- 
tained by damming the Durham 
Creek, and digging a race about a mile 
long; a new office building; many new 
dwelling houses and other necessary buildings. In connection 
with the. safe works, which were carried on to their full capacity, 
they operated both blast furnaces with mines and quarries. 
Some of their safes and bank vaults were poured with metal 
direct from the blast furnaces. ^^ 

As they did not have sufficient capital to carry on with, and to 
pay for the extensions and improvements, the entire property 
was on December 27, 1867, taken over by their creditors, who 
organized and operated under the name of The Lillie Safe & 
Iron Company, of which B. F. Fackenthal, Sr., Esq., was made 
general manager; Samuel B. Janes, secretary and treasurer, and 
Russell Sage, the New York banker, president. ^° 

18 American Institute of Mining Engineers, Vol. 34, pages 186 to 204. 

19 It was during the administration of Lewis Lillie & Son, on March 2, 
1866, that the author of this paper entered the office of the Durham Iron 
Works to begin his business career. 

20 Russell Sage, besides being interested in one of the creditor banks, ^\as 
himself a personal creditor in the amount of v^l4,000. John A. Griswold of 
Winslow, Griswold & Co., of Troy, N. Y., builders of the iron-clad "Monitor," 
designed by Ericsson, was also a director of the Lillie Safe & Iron Co. The 
author of this paper remembers very well when Mr. Sage and Mr. Griswold 
came to Durham Iron Works on a tour of inspection. 




DIE SCHLANG ADAM \'ND EFA BETRV 

THE SNAKE BETRAYED ADAM AND EVE. Stovc plate madc at Durli; 




CAIN SEINEN BRVTER AWEL TOT SCHLVG 
CAIN KILLING HIS BROTHER ABEL. StovL" plate made at Durham, 1741 

Stoves and firebacks were cast at the Durham charcoal blast furnace from the time of its erection 
in 1727, and shortly thereafter stoves were manufactured down to the closing of the fur- 
nace in 1789. The two plates shown above are sides for stoves having sLx plates. 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 83 

Owing to the depressed condition of the pig iron market, and 
to the further fact that Lewis LilHe & Son estabUshed a rival safe 
works at Newark, N. J., the Lillie Safe & Iron Company could 
not operate at a profit, and they, therefore, paid all their obliga- 
tions and allowed Peter Cooper to foreclose his mortgage. On 
October 1, 1870, Elias Hoagland, sheriff of Bucks County, sold 
the real estate on the premises at Durham. Edward Cooper and 
Abram S. Hewitt, trading as Cooper & Hewitt, were the pur- 
chasers for $132,000, and later they also bought the personal 
property, and thus for a second time they became the proprietors 
of Durham Iron Works. 

The Bessemer pneumatic process for making steel having been 
established in the United States in 1865, and Cooper & Hewitt 
appreciating the fact that the Durham ores were low enough in 
phosphorus and in other respects, suitable for Bessemer pig iron, 
established a laboratory at Durham October 4, 1870, and ran the 
blast furnaces part of the time on a Bessemer mixture. The pig 
iron was shipped to the Cambria Iron Company at Johnstown, 
Pa., the Pennsylvania Steel Company at Baldwin, near Harris- 
burg, Pa., and to Winslow, Griswold & Company at Troy, N. Y. 
This proved to be profitable, and over the years 1870 to 1874, the 
profits of the works were enough to repay them for their entire 
outlay including the cost of the plant. 



The Blast Furnace of 1876 

During 1873 and 1874, Cooper & Hewitt demolished the two 
anthracite furnaces built in 1848-49, to make room for a new, 
large, modern and up-to-date blast furnace, built on the site 
of old No. 2.^^ And after a shut down of two years while the 
new furnace was building, it was completed and put in blast 
February 21, 1876. It was 75 feet high by 19 feet bosh, with a 
sheet-iron shell, resting on a mantle supported by eight cast-iron 
columns. It was equipped with two verticle blowing engines (in 
1892 a third blowing engine was added), eight Durham hot blast 
stoves, designed by Hon. Edward Cooper, a double bell and 
hopper also designed by Mr. Cooper, and other modern appli- 
ances. During its earlier blasts it was equipped with five tuyeres, 

21 No. 2 ended its last blast September 13, 1873, and No. 1 its last blast 
February 8, 1874. 



84 THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 

which were later increased to seven. It was the first stack in 
America to use the L iiermann or any other closed front, and one 
of the earliest to use bronze tuyeres and a bronze cinder notch. 
Beginning with the third blast, May 10, 1879, a small proportion 
of coke was used in the fuel mixture, which in later blasts was 
increased to 25 per cent. 

On December 27, 1901, Cooper & Hewitt transferred the 
property to Col. John Jamison and Aaron F. Baker (Deed Book, 
No. 302, page 14, etc.), and after getting title, these gentlemen 
placed a mortgage on the property for $100,000, and transferred 
it on January 1, 1902, to a newly chartered company, called The 
Durham Iron Company (Deed Book, No. 302, page 20, etc.). 
This new company, after a somewhat checkered career, shut down 
the furnace June 23, 1908. In the hands of inexperienced people 
the works did not prosper and the mortgage was foreclosed by 
the bondholders. In 1912 the plant was dismantled and scrapped, 
and later the real estate divided and sold. And thus after a 
period of 181 years, including suspensions, the Durham Iron 
Works passed into history. 

To recapitulate: The 1727 charcoal furnace covered a period 
of 62 years, from 1727 to 1789. The property then lay dormant 
for 59 years until the Whitakers bought it and built two anthra- 
cite furnaces in 1848-49, which they and their successors oper- 
ated 27 years until 1874, and after an idleness of two years the 
Cooper & Hewitt anthracite furnace operated 33 years, making a 
total of 181 years. This includes the ordinary shut downs for 
repairs and relinings, and perhaps longer periods in times of 
depressions. 

Capacity and Output of Furnaces 

The capacity of the charcoal, cold blast furnace of 1727, 
operated by water power and blown through one tuyere by a 
leather bellows, was not over 16 or 20 tons per week of seven 
days. Owing to the difficulty in supplying charcoal enough and 
because of freezing weather the furnace did not operate during 
the winter months, and moreover there were many suspensions 
and stoppages, the furnace frequently making several blasts 
during the same season. It is therefore not likely that the out- 
put of pig iron and castings averaged more than 350 gross tons a 



s^g?y?:5?;^?y5y;>? 



'?.'M^/yy^/'^?7A 



Closed Fr 



1H 

patenj 
of bo^ 



84 THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 

which were later increased to seven. It was the first stack in 
America to use the Liiermann or any other closed front, and one 
of the earliest to use bronze tuyeres and a bronze cinder notch. 
Beginning with the third blast, May 10, 1879, a small proportion 
of coke was used in the fuel mixture, which in later blasts was 
increased to 25 per cent. 

On December 27, 1901, Cooper & Hewitt transferred the 
property to Col. John Jamison and Aaron F. Baker (Deed Book, 
No. 302, page 14, etc.), and after getting title, these gentlemen 
placed a mortgage on the property for $100,000, and transferred 
it on January 1, 1902, to a newly chartered company, called The 
Durham Iron Company (Deed Book, No. 302, page 20, etc.). 
This new company, after a somewhat checkered career, shut down 
the furnace June 23, 1908. In the hands of inexperienced people 
the works did not prosper and the mortgage was foreclosed by 
the bondholders. In 1912 the plant was dismantled and scrapped, 
and later the real estate divided and sold. And thus after a 
period of 181 years, including suspensions, the Durham Iron 
Works passed into history. 

To recapitulate: The 1727 charcoal furnace covered a period 
of 62 years, from 1727 to 1789. The property then lay dormant 
for 59 years until the Whitakers bought it and built two anthra- 
cite furnaces in 1848-49, which they and their successors oper- 
ated 27 years until 1874, and after an idleness of two years the 
Cooper & Hewitt anthracite furnace operated 33 years, making a 
total of 181 years. This includes the ordinary shut downs for 
repairs and relinings, and perhaps longer periods in times of 
depressions. 

Capacity and Output of Furnaces 

The capacity of the charcoal, cold blast furnace of 1727, 
operated by water power and blown through one tuyere by a 
leather bellows, was not over 16 or 20 tons per week of seven 
days. Owing to the difficulty in supplying charcoal enough and 
because of freezing weather the furnace did not operate during 
the winter months, and moreover there were many suspensions 
and stoppages, the furnace frequently making several blasts 
during the same season. It is therefore not likely that the out- 
put of pig iron and castings averaged more than 350 gross tons a 




/i J 



DKTAII, OF BRONZE TUYERE AND 

LURMANN PATENT.. 

Closed Front Cinder Notch. First Used at Durham Iron 

Works, Riegelsville, Pa., Februory ai, 1876. 



GERMAN PATENT 




THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 85 

year over the 62 years of its life. This estimate is based on the 
known output for the years 1781 to 1789, and suggests a total 
output of about 21,700 tons during its entire 62 years. 

The two furnaces of 1848-49 were built (as were all blast fur- 
naces of that period) of stone masonry, square in shape, with 
open tops, and with the hot blast stoves resting on top of the 
masonry quite near the tunnel heads. They were lined with 
refractory fire bricks, blown by horizontal blowing engines, 
through three tuyeres at each furnace. When first built they 
were 40 feet high. No. 1 having a 13 feet and No. 2 a 14 feet 
bosh. These sizes were later increased to 48 and 50 feet in 
height and to 15 and 16 feet boshes. During the Whitaker 
administration, 1848 to 1864, these two stacks produced about 
88,000 gross tons, and the subsequent owners from 1864 to 1874, 
about 62,000 gross tons, making a total of 150,000 gross tons. 
These estimates are based partly on data from the books and 
papers of the companies. 

Evolution of Blast Furnaces 

The blast furnace has been subject to the same changes and 
evolution as other industries, only perhaps more so than many 
others, particularly since the introduction of the pneumatic pro- 
cesses for making steel. 

The Durham furnace of 1876, produced 1,000 gross tons in 
one week, and 38,525 gross tons in one calendar year, which was 
nearly twice the output of the 1727 charcoal furnace during its 
life of 62 years. But this furnace which was the latest word in 
blast furnace construction at that time, and was the wonder and 
admiration of iron masters who came to visit it, was a mere baby 
in production, as compared with modern plants of the twentieth 
century. Since this paper was read and before its printing, the 
Warren stack of the Trumbull-Cliffs Company produced 1,011 
tons in one day, and 24,758 tons in one month; and during March, 
1928, the No. 5 furnace of Jones & Laughlin's Aliquippa plant 
produced 1,185 tons in one day and 30,287 tons in one month, 
being nearly 30 per cent, more in one month than the 1727 char- 
coal Durham furnace made during its entire 62 years. And, 
moreover, these stacks are but one of a number operated respect- 
ively by the same companies. The output of iron and steel 



86 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 



products in the United States reached their peak in 1929, when 
42,613,983 gross tons of pig iron and ferro-alloys; 56,433,473 gross 
tons of steel ingots and castings and 41,069,416 gross tons of rolled 
iron and steel plates were made. Part of these products, when 
fabricated, was shipped to all parts of the civilized world. This 
is quite in contrast with the small output of early years, when, 
on August 16, 1750, by Act of Parliament, the American Colonies 
were not permitted to export any iron or steel except to Great 
Britain or one of her Colonies, but not to Ireland, and were pre- 
vented under a penalty of £200 from erecting, or having erected, 
to operate, any slitting mill, the required supply to come exclu- 
sively from England. The total output of pig iron in Pennsyl- 
vania in 1750 was about 2,500 tons. When our government in 
later years placed a duty on iron and steel, conditions were cer- 
tainly reversed. 




PIONEER CONVERTER OF AMERICA 

This engraving made from a photograph of the first pneumatic steel converter, was invented 
by WiUiam Kelly of Eddyville, Kentucky, and used at the Cambria Iron Works at Johnstown, 
Pa., in 1861-1862. 

Mr. Kelly began his experiments in 1847 and made a successful blow in 1851, five years 
before Sir Henry Bessemer applied for patents in this country. After considerable litigation, 
the courts sustained Kelly's prior invention, but certain parts of Bessemer's Machinery were 
later used and the process took the name of "Bessemer Steel." The first steel rails made in 
America were rolled at the North Chicago Rolling Mill on May 24, 1865. 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 87 

DURHAM IRON ORE MINES 
Mine Hill 

All the ore for the 1727 charcoal furnace came from the Dur- 
ham mine known as "Mine Hill." The haul from the mine to 
the tunnel-head of the furnace was less than one-fourth of a 
mile, and all down hill. The ore was rasied by windlasses doubt- 
less operated by man power; the depth of the workings, verticle 
shafts, were about 50 feet, as indicated by the lengths of the 
ropes purchased for hoisting. Ore for the charcoal furnace was 
"pounded" and washed before using. Shortly after the Whit- 
akers built the 1848-49 furnaces they abandoned the old shafts, 
and drove a tunnel or adit, called "Old Tunnel," into the western 
end of "Mine Hill," through which they thereafter operated. 

On November 19, 1819, Mrs. Ann Grace Burton, grand- 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Galloway, by her American 
attorneys, conveyed a tract of 9 acres 94 perches on the apex of 
Mine Hill to William Long of Durham, presumably as a wood lot. 
After several changes in ownership it was, on March 25, 1847, 
purchased by Charles Jackson, Jr., the name under which the 
Glendon Iron Company was at first organized. That company 
having leased the adjoining lands from Mrs. Burton, began min- 
ing operations, but on the purchase of the Durham furnace tract 
by the Whitakers, the Glendon Company confined their mining 
to their own lot, stopping operations in 1857. 

New Tunnel 
In 1859, a tunnel or adit, known as "New Tunnel," was 
begun by the Whitakers on the north side of Mine Hill, starting 
near the level of Durham Creek in order to intersect the ore 
shoots at a lower level and also to unwater the old workings. 
The driving of this tunnel was not carried on continuously, but 
was finally completed by Cooper & Hewitt by holing into the 
old workings on June 19, 1874, at a distance of about 2,000 feet 
from its mouth. Several small shoots of ore were intersected in 
the tunnel, but none large enough to be workable. On Decem- 
ber 28, 1876, after the completion of the New Tunnel, Cooper & 
Hewitt bought the so-called "Glendon Lot.""' Some thousands 

22 Recorded Deed Book No. 180, page 151, etc. Consideration $5,000. 
The Glendon Iron Company operated successively under the corporate names 
of Charles Jackson, Jr., and the Northampton Iron Company, and on March 19, 
1864, by act of the legislature changed its name to the Glendon Iron Company. 



88 THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 

of tons of ore were mined from the lower level, but it was of low 
grade, containing but 40 per cent, of iron, and although non- 
magnetic, it was blue in color, and therefore different from ores 
at higher levels, which had red streaks, with smaller proportions 
of protoxide of iron. On account of the low grade of ore the 
mine was closed about 1885, and not thereafter reopened. 



Surface Mine on Mine Hill 

In 1858 an opening was first made on the south end of Mine 
Hill by the Whitakers, the ore outcropping on the surface, and 
the place was therefore called "Surface Mine." Operations 
were suspended in 1862, and resumed under the administration 
of the writer of this paper in the fall of 1878. From that opening 
a large tonnage of ore was quarried. These shoots were on the 
hanging wall side of the other shoots in Mine Hill. 

Like all other Durham mines the ore pitched east and the 
depth increased, and it soon became an underground operation. 
After testing the ground with diamond drills, a tunnel was driven 
into the mine, beginning at a ravine on the eastern slope of the 
hill, near the buildings of No. 3 farm. This tunnel was begun 
May 16, 1890, as an open cut, and tunneling was begun June 23 
following. On August 31, 1891, we holed into the old mine, 
where two shoots of ore were intersected, with a horse of rock 
lying between them ten feet thick. The total length of the 
tunnel was 1,483 feet and the total cost $8,754.45 or $5.91 per 
foot, of which $3.43 was for labor. Thousands of tons of ore 
were delivered through this tunnel. The cost of mining was 
much reduced, and moreover the haul (by wagons) to the furnace 
plant was fifty per cent, shorter. The ore contained but 5.66 per 
cent, of protoxide of iron, the balance of the iron content being 
vsesquioxide. 

Rattle Snake Hill 

The Whitakers opened up two mines on Rattle Snake Hill, one 
on the northeast end of the hill, known as "Hollow Tunnel," 
in 1854, which produced a large quantity of ore which was 
cheaply mined. The cost of mining this ore and delivering it 
in the furnace stock house was less than one dollar per ton. Had 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 89 

this shoot been followed it would have led into the Rattle Snake 
mine. 

The Rattle Snake mine, lying east of Mine Hill, was first 
opened on the top of the hill, in 1851, where the ore outcropped. 
A slope was put down following the course of the shoot, through 
which all ore was hoisted for some years, but later, probably 
about 1873, a second slope was put down farther east, as the 
shoot was dipping in that direction, and finally the writer of this 
paper, during the administration of Cooper & Hewitt, drove a 
tunnel into the eastern slope of the hill, starting a little above the 
level of Durham Creek, and on its completion all ore thereafter 
was carried out through this tunnel, where it was dumped on 
standard railroad cars, and delivered into the furnace stockhouse 
at a cost of haulage of but a few cents per ton. The Rattle 
Snake mine was sunk to a depth of 150 feet below the tunnel 
level. Operations were suspended in 1908, when the furnace 
was shut down. The ore contained about 50 per cent, of iron 
and .042 per cent, of phosphorus. A shoot of ore known as 
"Back Vein," overlying the Rattle Snake shoot, was operated 
for a short time by Cooper & Hewitt, but aside from this no 
explorations were made on the hanging wall side of the Rattle 
Snake shoot. 



Orchard Limonite Mine 

A limonite mine known as "Orchard Mine," was opened 
on the east side of Rattle Snake hill, near the limestone belt, and a 
comparatively large tonnage of high grade ore recovered. This 
ore contained 50 per cent, of iron and .39 per cent, of phosphorus. 

The Whitakers also drew ores from other limonite (brown 
hematite) mines in Williams Township and elsewhere. About 30 
per cent, of the ores used at the 1876 furnace was drawn from the 
Durham mines. Cooper & Hewitt owned large magnetic ore 
mines at Ringwood, N. J., and elsewhere, large tonnages of which 
were used at Durham, as were also large quantities of foreign 
ores. Durham furnace frequently ran on Bessemer iron, for 
which the Durham ores were adapted to use in the mixture. 

Cooper & Hewitt were careful to preserve drawings of all the 
Durham mines with records of diamond drill holes, as well as 
detailed drawings of the blast furnace and other parts of the 










2 ^S^cS^i 






K a; 






^w-a^ 



J3 J* 



5 ? 



^S-g-2'2 



?„ X c •- «5 - 



oj o m'°^!§ I 

■5 «i rt-^^ g-j 






5 ^2ii O 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 91 

plant, which were preserved in a cabinet, but, alas, after they 
disposed of the property, a flood on October 10, 1903, entered 
the office and all plans and drawings were ruined, and therefore 
so far as I know there are no records available, other than some 
private notes of the writer of this paper. I am of the opinion that 
there is considerable ore left in the Durham hills, which can be 
won at low cost, but they are not rich enough in metallic iron to 
bear transportation, but when some of the large deposits elsewhere 
become exhausted, these Durham ores may become valuable and 
the mines reopened. The mines contain but very little water and 
the cost of pumping is almost negligible, although Rattle Snake 
mine has reached a depth of 150 feet below the bed of Durham 
Creek and is not more than half-a-mile from the Delaware River. 
The Durham ores are primitive but not magnetic; they are 
in fact red hematites; all have a red streak except some of the 
shoots in the New Tunnel which have blue streaks. The 
shoots are all well defined and are what Mining Engineers call 
"regular," i. e., running northeast and southwest, dipping south 
with well defined hanging and foot walls. The shoots vary in 
thickness; sometimes squeezing to 12 or 15 inches and then open 
to lenses of 12 or 15 feet or even more. 



Analyses of Durham Ores and Limestone 

Taken as a whole the ores will not average over 50 per cent, 
in metallic iron, with those from the New Tunnel running much 
lower. The silica is high, making them somewhat refractory. 
The phosphorus averages about .04 per cent., sulphur about .10 
per cent, and manganese from a trace to .08 per cent. They are 
entirely free from copper. 

The flux used at Durham furnace was dolomite from quarries 
located along the Durham creek, less than half-a-mile west of 
the furnace plant. It was comparatively of poor quality, con- 
taining about 8 per cent, of silica, with 53 per cent, of carbonate 
of lime and 35 per cent, carbonate of magnesia. That from the 
mouth of the Durham cave, of which but little was used, was of 
higher grade, containing but 3 per cent, of silica. 



92 THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 

LAND TITLES 

Since my retirement from active business in 1913, I have 
devoted much time in studying original land titles, particularly 
in Durham and Springfield Townships and vicinity, as well as 
the local history connected therewith. I have made three copies 
of my notes, one intended for The Bucks County Historical 
Society, one for The Pennsylvania Historical Society and one 
for my own library. I have been aided in this work by having 
many old deeds and title papers fall into my hands. Some of 
these had belonged to my great-grandfather (1756-1846), some 
to my grandfather (1795-1872), who was an engineer and a con- 
veyancer, and some to my father (1825-1893), who although a 
lawyer, was also an accomplished engineer, interested in this 
same character of research work. I am also indebted to my 
brother William (1857-1925), a lawyer with special aptitude for 
searching titles and fitting the surveys together. But the most 
valuable documents, some fifty of them, written on parchment, 
came to me from a gold beater in Philadelphia, who had pur- 
chased them with the intention of cutting them up for beating 
gold, and, seeing their value, parted with them for the sum of 
eighty dollars. These documents include the deed from Samuel 
Powell, dated February 10, 1727, conveying the Durham lands 
back to the twelve partners freed from the trust ; deeds from the 
heirs of Charles Read, the first of the partners to pass away, 
setting forth the fact that part of Charles Read's holdings in the 
Durham Company actually belonged to James Logan, his brother- 
in-law, but was put in Read's name in order to give James Logan 
control of two votes, as each one-sixteenth entitled a partner to 
one vote; deeds from George Fitzwater and Joseph Turner, 
releasing part of their holdings to the Charles Read estate, and 
declaring that each was the bona fide owner of but one-twenty- 
fourth. This was done in order that James Logan might control 
their votes. By these manipulations James Logan had two 
votes of his own, two of Read's and one each of Fitzwater and 
Turner, six in all. Among the deeds were the original patent, 
dated April 4, 1749, to (Rev.) Richard Peters, in trust for 1,472 
acres of Durham Iron Company lands lying in Williams, Spring- 
field and Lower Saucon townships, indicated on map as the 
Fourth Tract ; deeds from Richard Peters freeing the tracts from 



THE DURHAM IRON WORKS 93 

the trust; many of the Joseph Galloway papers, including a cer- 
tified copy of his will on file in England, and deeds in re the mar- 
riage settlement of his daughter Elizabeth, who was to marry 
William Roberts of the Middle Temple, Barrister at Law. This 
deed and many of the others are not recorded. Also three of the 
title deeds of the so-called Pidcock tract in Solebury Township 
(not recorded) ; the original patent for 2,947 acres to Lawrence 
Growdon in Bensalem Township, which included "Trevose" 
and Langhorne Park; also other deeds for lands in Bensalem 
Township. 

I have deposited most of these documents in the archives of 
The Bucks County Historical Society, and in due time expect to 
present that society with the others, together with other titl^ 
deeds and historical manuscripts now in my possession. 

(For paper on Durham Iron Works, see Bucks County Historical Society, 
Vol. I, page 232.) 





DURHAM IRON WORKS EMPLOYEES 
(From photograph taken by Frank Knecht, September 1, 1883) 

Unless otherwise noted all worked continuously. When they became aged they were given 
light work, until they retired of their own accords. There were many other employees who 
began work equally as early as those on this photograph, and who worked continuously, but 
who passed away before the taking of this photograph was thought of. 

Commencing at upper left hand those standing are: John M. Reilly, furnaceman, boin 
in Ireland in 1828, began work in 1855, died September 2, 1898. William Mills, blacksmith, 
born July 8, 1824, began work in 1854, died February 25, 1895. Michael McAnneny, miner, 
born in Ireland in 1814, began working in the Durham ore mines in 1854, died January 20. 
1892. Samuel Nicholas, laborer and bandy man, born June 28, 1816, began work in 1848, 
left in 1851, returned in 1854, died January 17, 1896. John Young, farrier and blacksmith, 
born in the north of Ireland March 17, 1827, came to Durham from Phoenixville, with the 
Whitakers in 1848, driving a four-horse team with his blacksmith's outfit and other cargo, died 
November 28, 1888. 

Those seated in lower row, beginning at the left, are: Henry Adams, carpenter, born 
October 28, 1824, began work in 1848 on the construction of No. 1 furnace, died December 
21, 1897. William Martin, furnaceman, later a "Furnace Founder," born in Ireland in 1819, 
began working at Durham in 1849, died February 18, 1897. Robert Barnet, blast furnace 
engineman, born in the north of Ireland in October 12, 1825, began work in 1852, died March 
20, 1906. John Arthur, miner, born in Cornwall, England, January 17. 1819, began work 
in 1848 when the Whitakers reopened the Durham ore mines; lost his eye-sight in 1851, while 
blasting a "salamander" from tlie hearth of No. 1 furnace, died July 15, 1886. Edward Keelon. 
miner, later a mining captain, born in Ireland in 1820, began work in 1848 when the Durham 
mines were reopened, died October 12, 1898. Peter Tompkins, stone mason, born in the 
north of Ireland March 28, 1797, began work at Durham in 1853, retired in 1877 at age of 80 
years, died November 30, 1887. He was specially expert in laying dry stone masonry. His 
slogan was "p-air side to Lunnon" (i. e. London). Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, on seeing a copy 
of this photograph, remarked on their intelligent appearance, and said they might well be 
taken for a lot of college professors. 



Charles Kirk's Review of a Century 

By HELEN E. D. ACTON (MRS. FRANK M.), ELKINS PARK, PA. 
(Doylestown Meeting, May 6, 1933) 

I GREATLY appreciate the honor conferred upon me by the 
Bucks County Historical Society in wanting a condensed 
account of my grandfather's diary from 1810 to 1890. It 
contains both historical and personal records. I hope I will do 
justice to his writings and be brief enough to interest you. 

His first ancestor in this country, John Kirk, came from 
Alfreton, England. He and Joan Elet, daughter of Peter Elet of 
what one time appears as Carcushook, another time as Carcoen- 
shook, declared their intentions of marriage at Darby meeting, 
January 14, 1686. Peter Elet's tract of land was the point of 
ground made by Mill Creek and Darby Creek joining as they 
flowed into the Delaware River. 

John Kirk bought five hundred acres of land in Darby, which 
he deeded to his son William; five hundred acres in Abington to 
his son John ; and five hundred acres on the Byberry road north- 
west from what later became the Sorrel Horse, divided among his 
three remaining sons. 

In 1735, John, Jr., built a big stone house on the Abington 
tract, which is still standing and has always been occupied by 
well-to-do families. John, Jr., married Sarah Tyson, daughter 
of Rynear Tyson, one of the Crefeld party who came on the ship 
"Concord" in 1683 to Germantown. They had four sons. Sir 
William Keith, the last Colonial governor of Pennsylvania, was 
building his mansion in Horsham when his masons left. The 
house was partly finished. Perhaps this was the first labor 
strike in the new country. John Kirk, as a neighbor, offered to 
finish the house; so with his four sons and an apprentice, they 
completed the mansion. It was said they never were paid for 
their work. I found this account verified in an old book now out 
of print. 

The Kirk men were of a large, athletic type, capable of per- 
forming an immense of labor — true types for pioneering. They 
were deeply religious. Living meant practicing, not preaching, 
the Golden Rule, and keeping the ten Commandments every day. 



96 CHARLES kirk's REVIEW OF A CENTURY 

Charles Kirk's father, Jacob, built a large barn with a cellar 
before 1800. It was the first of its kind in the neighborhood. 
Charles was born December 10, 1800. He was my grandfather. 
He never attended school after nine years of age, except for the 
three winter months. He mastered arithmetic, mensuration, 
surveying and algebra by close application. His father became a 
cripple shortly before Charles was born. They had a large 
family and all knew privation from an early age. Hard work 
taught him the value of labor to tame an unruly spirit. He 
speaks of his first deep impression of God's spirit when he told 
his father a lie^ — his first, last, and only one. He lived to be 
ninety years old, yet that scar never grew less. 

The farm had been cropped (an old and an odd expression) for 
forty years without having its fertility renewed, with the result 
the crops were too meager to gather. About 1812 lime came into 
general use on farms and made a wonderful change in the crops. 

It took fifteen cords of wood, which had to be cut and hauled 
to the kilns, to burn one thousand bushels of lime. The owner 
of the kiln received five hundred bushels as his share for the 
burning, which he sold to others for twenty-five and thirty cents a 
bushel. Charles always thought the kiln owner had much the 
better of the bargain. 

His mother died. May 6, 1816, after nine days of suffering 
from typhus fever. There were ten children and all took it but 
Charles. One sister died. Eight were in bed at one time with 
the disease. The doctors depended almost entirely on wine and 
spirits for treatment. No one would come to them for fear of 
contagion, so he had to solicit the neighbors to come and sit up at 
nights with the sick ones, as was the custom then. It taught him 
in later years to offer his services to his neighbors when they had 
sickness in their households before he was called upon to aid. 

One doctor's bill was $133; another one was $45, besides a 
large store bill for wine and brandy. These children, by hard 
work and strict economy, paid all bills before the end of the year. 
Their diet was hot mush and milk and dried apple pie with little 
shortening for supper in winter. Breakfast was hot milk and cold 
mush. In summer the supper was bread and milk. Think of 
the great physical labor performed on such meager food. 

The farmer's clothes were made from flax spun and woven 
with wool. It was called linsey-woolsey or home-spun. It took 




CHARLES KIRK— 1800-1890 



m^si 3 [^ 




ii-^r^'^^^^^^S^^j 




HOUSE IN AKINGTON, BUILT BY JOHN KIRK, 1735 



CHARLES KIRK S REVIEW OF A CENTURY 97 

one acre of flax to supply the family with clothing for one year. 
This made very hard labor for men and women. The pulling of 
the flax was a back-breaking job if the ground was dry (it usually 
was) ; the beating of the seed off was slow and tedious. The pro- 
cess was to take a handful, then place it on a stone, and strike it 
with all your strength until the seeds came off. This was then 
spun into linen thread. 

Calico was just coming from the East Indies and sold for 
seventy-five cents a yard. It took six yards for a dress. The 
allotment of working clothes for a man a year was two shirts, tow- 
linen pants in summer and linsey-woolsey in winter all to be made 
by the women. 

1816 — was a very unusual year. It was the coldest summer 
ever known, frost in every month. The leaves were brown and 
dead; the crops were a failure. Charles was ashamed to be seen 
the next spring hauling hay for the stock. It seemed as if they 
had not been careful and thrifty. Not to be thrifty was almost a 
sin and was met with some kind of suitable punishment. 

Napoleon's ravages in Europe made prices very high here. 
Inflation and quantities of paper money were the result. Gold 
and silver were not in circulation for trade. Many had bought 
farms at these high prices and paid half the price for purchase 
money. Deflation came and they had to be sold out by the 
sheriff. Wheat dropped from two and a half dollars a bushel to 
seventy-two cents; corn and rye sold for twenty-eight cents; oats 
for sixteen cents a bushel. It took four years to reach the bottom 
and three years to recover. 

1817 — the locust year, and they were more numerous than at 
any time since. 

1819^ — a very dry year. The crops burnt in the ground. This 
made prices very high. The drought continued until in the 
winter. People had to drive their cattle long distances for water; 
also, they had to haul drinking water. 

1820 — Prices were so low butter would not bring ten cents a 
pound. 

1821 — a very mild winter with plenty of mud, which made bad 
traveling. He mentions, in dry weather, if the wind from the 
south or south-west changes to the east by way of the south, it will 
bring rain; but if it changes by way of the north, it will not bring 
rain. 



98 CHARLES kirk's REVIEW OF A CENTURY 

"We had two horses but neither one was fit for riding. I was 
twitted about being on such a poor mount, by a neighbor, a boy 
of my own age. I was of a sensitive nature and I have never 
been able to feel kindly towards him. Sixty years have passed 
and I cannot be as friendly with him as with others. My father 
purchased a three-year-old colt for thirty-nine dollars. I cut a 
cord of wood, took it to Germantown, and sold it for ten dollars, 
which bought the saddle, and the bridle was two dollars and 
twenty-five cents extra. 

"I never went in young company until after I was twenty-one 
years of age. There were so few I cared to know. There were 
four young men, neighbors of ours, about my own age, who spent 
a great deal of time and money at the tavern, which I did not care 
to do. These four have become bankrupt in purse and reputa- 
tion and have been in their graves a long time. It is so true 'As 
you sow, so shall you reap.' Those that have kept clear of such 
things and pursued lives of honesty, industry, and economy have 
acquired homes and comfortable incomes. It applies the same 
today as it did then." 

1822 — another dry summer; all vegetation was parched. 
People felt it was a punishment for their sins. He does not men- 
tion what their sins were, but I take it they were something like 
our own. 

"My associates had some other kind of a conveyance than a 
horse; so my father told me I might quarry out enough lime- 
stone to burn a kiln of lime and sell enough to buy myself a chair. 
I would have preferred a gig but that cost forty dollars more. A 
chair held three persons. It was a job to quarry out the stone by 
hand and haul it to the kiln. I had to cut the wood to burn the 
lime. I found a carriage maker at Bustleton, Pa., who would 
make a chair with harness for one hundred and forty dollars plus a 
certain amount of lime, which I had to haul eighteen miles for him. 
After fifty years I am fully convinced if young people had to work 
a little harder for their luxuries they would be better equipped for 
life. About this time tow-linen-covered tops for carriages came 
into use. A man had his one horse and cart and his two-horse 
wagon without springs. 

"This fall a friend, Daniel Longstreth, and I decided we would 
like to see Niagara Falls. We joined together, each putting a 
horse to our new light wagon, and with my sister, Phoebe, and 



CHARLES kirk's REVIEW OF A CENTURY 99 

her friend, Sarah Ann Ely, we started to drive there. Sarah Ann 
had an aunt hving twenty miles from Ithaca on the Eastern shore 
of Lake Cayuga. We started from Horsham on a Second-day 
morning (Monday) in October and reached Easton that night. 
Next morning we went through the Wind Gap for fourteen miles 
before breakfast, then on to Peach Woods to lodge that night. 
Our practice was to call for tea or coffee for which we paid six 
cents and ate our own provisions, which we carried with us. This 
was the custom in this new country. We carried boiled ham and 
dried beef, cheese, bread and butter. We always secured a good 
breakfast at the tavern each morning. The expenses were small 
for traveling — six cents for a bed for each person at night. We 
arrived at Ithaca on Seventh-day (Saturday) afternoon, a dis- 
tance of two hundred and twenty miles. The distance now is two 
hundred and forty-nine miles. Either their measurements were 
faulty or they have gone a longer and better way. 

"We attended Scipio meeting. First-day morning. Daniel 
and I left the girls with Sarah Ann's aunt and on Second-day 
(Monday) morning we started for the Falls, going through 
Rochester. Mahlon Dungan, from Frankford, had recently 
moved to Rochester and he insisted we lodge with him, which we 
did. Going from his place to the Falls we saw several Indians, a 
strange sight for us. Daniel's uncle was the principal engineer 
on the Western section of the great New York canal, which was 
being constructed. We went much out of our way to Lockport 
to see the raising of the table-land below to the height of the falls 
above. It was a wild looking place. It only had log huts in 
which the workmen lived. We arrived at Niagara Falls Seventh- 
day (Saturday) afternoon. I think the rapids above the Falls as 
awe-inspiring as the Falls themselves. We returned to our homes 
after four weeks of travel and at an expense of twenty-two dollars 
for my sister and myself." 

1824 and 1825 — were fine years with plenty of rain. 

1826 — another dry summer. The price of oats jumped from 
thirty-seven cents a bushel to seventy-five cents. 

1827 — brought the most unhappy time in the vSociety of 
Friends in regard to their doctrines. At Horsham the propor- 
tion was one Orthodox to seventeen of the others. In Yearly 
Meeting nine thousand Orthodox to eighteen thousand of the 
other branch. 



100 CHARLES kirk's REVIEW OF A CENTURY 

"I now began to look forward to a home of my own and on 
December 13, 1827, I married Elizabeth Conard, daughter of 
Johnathan and Hannah Nixon Conard, in Horsham meeting 
house, before a large gathering of relatives and friends. We 
moved to a farm owned by a George Peterson, on the City Line, 
one mile west of Old York Road. The place had been much neg- 
lected. It had to be refenced and the price was twenty-five cents 
for a new panel of fence and eight cents for resetting the old. I 
bought a cow and a calf for twenty dollars, which was a high price. 
Our cash to start the new home was eight hundred dollars, and at 
the close of the first year we had two hundred dollars to put out at 
interest. At the end of twelve years we had saved six thousand 
dollars. 

"One night, as we were sitting down to supper, our dear 
friend from Gerrrantown came with a slave girl, Susan Lewis. 
We were to keep her in hiding so the slave hunters would not find 
her. She was a good faithful girl and lived with us for many 
years. She married a nice, industrious man." 

1830 — "I was stricken with a severe attack of bilious pleurisy. 
The doctor blistered and bled me freely. The lungs were much 
affected. W^hen the spasms of coughing came I raised blood. I 
felt as if I was not going to be able to make a living; as we just 
starting our married life, I would be a great burden. It was then 
I made a covenant with my Heavenly Father. I would devote 
the rest of my life to labors in His fold if my health could be 
restored until I acquired a comfortable home and ten thousand 
dollars. I would not covet more. Oh, how hard it was to keep 
that covenant when the time came. Things were moving so 
smoothly and money coming in without much effort. I kept the 
covenant and the inward joy that followed was worth all I gave 
up. I devoted my time to the Lord's work." 

1830 — "This fall the old home was sold to a Samuel Wigfall, of 
Philadelphia, for sixty-five dollars an acre, which was much too 
little for it. Father had gone and it had to be sold to settle the 
estate. When I stayed in the home that last night, after all the 
things were sold, the memories of all the joys and sufferings we 
had shared came rushing upon me with overwhelming force. 
The tears flowed copiously and I was not ashamed of it. I never 
have been able to speak of my mother without opening the flood 
gates." Would that the youth of today could feel such sentiment 



CHARLES kirk's REVIEW OF A CENTURY 101 

and not jeer at it. It certainly did not make him any the less a 
man. 

1841 — "I purchased a farm one mile from the newly organized 
meeting at Warminister, Bucks County, Pa. I paid eighty-eight 
dollars an acre for it. It contained one hundred and sixteen 
acres. I had nothing but the kind of money issued by the Bank 
of Pennsylvania. Andrew Jackson had refused to recharter the 
United States Bank of Pennsylvania, so the legislators of our 
State did it themselves with a capital of thirty-two millions of 
dollars, which was more than any local bank could manage, and it 
became insolvent. There was a large amount of paper money in 
circulation after the bank closed. No one would take these notes 
and as that was the only kind of money in circulation, the value of 
the dollar dropped from one dollar to twenty-eight cents, which 
paralyzed business. The other banks issued at one time a sort of 
certificate which did not even promise to pay." 

1845 — "Texas was wrested from the Mexican government 
and made a State with a constitution that slavery should never 
be abolished, as though they could ignore the justice of the 
Almighty Ruler of the world." 

1846 — "I now began to visit other meetings in company with 
Elizabeth Newport and Elizabeth Paxson. We visited Wrights- 
town. It consisted of one hundred and fifty-seven families and 
we occupied three weeks to accomplish our mission to visit each 
family." 

"I feel that silent meetings are of great benefit at times. It 
was during one of these that conviction came to me of the wrong I 
was doing in partaking of anything produced by slave labor. I 
endeavored to prove faithful to that conviction, but it caused no 
small expense to procure free labor products and a heavy burden 
mentally. My wife and I received retorts sharp, pointed, and 
unchristian when we, as guests, did not partake of food that was 
produced by slave labor. I want it fully understood how pro- 
slavery a large proportion of the meetings were. 

'T hope some day a correct account will be written. One mem- 
ber of By berry meeting said, 'No Abolishionist would receive an 
appointment in monthly meeting.' At Horsham a recommended 
minister appeared at the meeting of ministers and elders. Inquiry 
was made as to her stand on slavery. One member said he con- 
sidered an Abolishionist the off-scouring of the earth. Truth 



102 CHARLES kirk's REVIEW OF A CENTURY 

suffered between the two sides. While I was in Ohio after the 
war, I heard a member of that Yearly meeting say, 'Slavery had 
hurt their meeting worse than the separation of 1827 did.' " 

1846 — "My friend and neighbor, Daniel Longstreth, died. I 
nursed him faithfully for three months. He left a widow with 
four small children without any means of support. There was 
only one hundred and fifty-seven dollars left after all the debts 
were paid. It was necessary for the children to have homes, so 
we took Edward, the youngest boy, not because we wanted him 
but because he needed a home. He was a nice child and stayed 
with us until eighteen years of age, when he went, as an appren- 
tice, to Baldwin Locomotive Works; where by hard work, econ- 
omy, and uprightness he became a member of the firm. The two 
elder children by Daniel's first wife inherited some money from 
their grandfather, John Lancaster, and I was made their guardian. 
The Longstreth property had been in the family for four genera- 
tions. John, the eldest, was anxious to keep it, so I bought it and 
managed it for him until he became of age, when I deeded it to 
him. In 1852 the farm had to be sold. I built a nice stone 
house of six rooms and a kitchen, into which Hannah Long- 
streth moved with her children. I continued to care for the 
family until they were in a way to make money. I have always 
endeavored to care for the fatherless and oppressed, which I con- 
sider the duty of all who profess to follow the teachings of Christ. 

"Elizabeth Newport, Elizabeth dinger, and I left our homes 
December fifth, 1853, to go through the south on a religious visit 
to slaveowners. We reached Wilmington, Delaware, the first 
night, where we had a meeting. Then on to Fallston and Gun- 
powder, where we had meetings. Next we went to Westminister, 
Pipe Creek, and Fredericksburg, crossing through Harper's Ferry 
into Virginia. The Methodists were most kind, and helped us 
get up meetings. We knew no one in this part of the south and it 
was a sad task to arrange a meeting. We went on to Winchester, 
Virginia, where there were a group of Friends. We turned west 
from Winchester into the mountains and on to Romney, West 
Virginia ; a Presbyterian minister gave up his prayer meeting that 
we might have his church for our meeting. We continued into 
Kentucky. It had turned warm and the melting snow from the 
mountains made the rivers rise so we could not proceed. We put 
the horses and carriage on a steam packet bound for Maysville. 



CHARLES kirk's REVIEW OF A CENTURY 103 

At Maysville we took passage on a boat for Pittsburgh. The 
boat was heavily laden, it turned cold, the river suddenly became 
lower, after leaving Wheeling we ran aground several times. It 
took ninety hours to do the distance usually done in thirty-three. 
The horses would not eat nor drink while on the boat. When we 
reached Pittsburgh, I thought I would put the horses and car- 
riage on a train for Philadelphia, but they wanted forty dollars, so 
I decided to drive. I hoped by going slowly the horses would 
improve, which they did. 

"We left Pittsburgh First-month, seventh, and drove fifteen 
miles the first day. We reached Ivyland, Bucks County, on the 
night of the sixteenth, all of us in good health. It may be truly 
said, 'Seeing is believing, but feeling hath no fellow.' " Just think, 
that drive is made in a day from Pittsburgh to Ivyland in 1933. 

"The hardships and exposures we endured to bring about this 
religious visit to slaveowners taught us that without the Almighty 
Power above, whose very self is Love, we could not have accom- 
plished so arduous a journey." 

This is the route they drove: 

From Pittsburgh to Greensburg, 31 miles. 
From Greensburg to Youngstown, 10 miles. 
From Youngstown to Legionier, 16 miles. 
From Legionier to Stoystown, 18 miles. 
From Stoystown to Schellsburg, 18 miles. 
From Schellsburg to Bedford, 10 miles. 
From Bedford to Chambersburg, 56 miles. 
From Chambersburg to Shippensburg, 10 miles. 
From Shippensburg to Carlisle, 20 miles. 
From Carlisle to Harrisburg, 18 miles. 
From Harrisburg to Middletown, 9 miles. 
From Middletown to Lancaster, 31 miles. . 
From Lancaster to Fallowfield. 
From Fallowfield to King of Prussia. 
From King of Prussia to Ivyland. 



Notes on Gristmills and Milling in Pennsylvania 

By henry S. ENGART, LEBANON, PA. 
(Doylestown Meeting, May 6, 1933) 

THE subject of "Old Water Power Grist Mills" is one that 
has never been written up as a separate paper in the 
archives of this society. Now that these mills are fast 
falling into ruin and disappearing it is necessary an effort be 
made to preserve in written form and in pictures some of the 
details of their construction, operation, and other general infor- 
mation in connection with them. The contents of this paper 
will be mainly concerned with the construction of the older type 
mills and their wooden gearing and machinery. 

In the course of my narration, details will be given for the 
construction of a complete mill, including the dam, raceway, 
mill-house, and machinery. 

Realizing that too much material of a technical nature is 
poor reading, references to local streams and their mills will be 
made and some anecdotes related about that venerable old 
worthy — the miller. 

Before I take you into the mysteries of millwrighting and 
milling, join me for a moment and come with me once more to 



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im 



GRISTMILL ON MECHANICS RUN 

MECHANICS VALLEY, BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 

December 26, 1931 



NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 105 

the old mill as you were wont to do in your childhood days. 
Everybody is acquainted with some old mill where as a child 
you often accompanied your father or older brother with the 
farm grist. Later in your teens this errand became yours 
to discharge. Experience once more that feeling of elation which 
seized you as you approached the rumbling old structure on a 
drowsy midsummer's afternoon. How your childish curiosity 
was aroused by the vertical row of doorways, one for each floor 
and often numbering as high as five. Directly above the row 
of doors projected the overhang from which hung the millers' 
faithful servant, — the hoist rope, with its heavy chain and hook. 

Sometimes it was necessary to urge the quiet and trusted farm 
horse up to the mill door, especially if he was not regularly used 
for going to the mill. Since the mill usually lay in a hollow, 
the approaches in either direction were sloping which made it 
necessary to use brakes, so that the dragging and scraping of 
wagon wheels was a common sound at the old mill. Instances 
of teams having become frightened at the combined noise of the 
brakes and the mill occasionally happened. The wagon and its 
contents usually wound up in the mill race or the nearby creek. 

When you drew up to the mill it was not unusual to be fourth 
or fifth in line, so great was the volume of business done by the 
local mills in the years gone by. While awaiting your turn you 
watched the unloading of the teams ahead, particularly the bags of 
grain as they were hoisted aloft and skilfully swung in through 
the open door by the miller, all white and dusty. How the 
gurgling and rushing of the water along the mill race tempted 
you to get down from the wagon and try your luck at sailing 
boats or fishing. But a quick glance at father or brother who 
was talking to one of the waiting farmers told you that it was 
advisable to wait for a better opportunity. Another sore tempta- 
tion, both hazardous and fascinating, was the desire to unlatch 
the lower half of the first floor mill door and go exploring into the 
very midst of all that rumbling and grinding machinery. The 
hand-hewn posts and timbers, the easy stairways, the flapping 
belts and grinding cog wheels, the miller's bag truck and the 
piles of filled sacks — a most interesting place to go and a tempta- 
tion the average child could not resist. How nice it was to 
throw grains of corn or wheat in the big cog wheels and then 
listen to the crunching as the cogs crushed them. Some of you 



106 NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 

actually made one trip to the race, to sail boats or, unaccompanied, 
started to explore the interior of the mill. You had taken advan- 
tage of the situation, while the others were busily engaged in 
conversation, to slip away unnoticed. Now that you are older 
and have felt anxiety and responsibility yourself, you can 
realize the apprehension and fear that must have seized your 




DOUBLE-GEARED GRISTMILL IN BEDFORD COUNTY, PA. 
Large wooden cogwheel with cast iron bevel gears 



father or brother when he saw you were gone. Delusions of 
fishing your limp body out of the race or picking up your crushed 
remains from under the cogs momentarily seized him. These 
were not idle delusions either, for there was hardly a mill that 
did not have its tale of horror relating to some one having been 
killed, or of arms, legs, fingers, or toes that were torn off. How 
nimbly those seven-year-old legs of yours carried you back to 
the wagon, and every time you slowed up the least bit there was 



NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 107 

the added impress of the flat palm of a strong hand to increase 
your momentum. 

When your turn came you drove up or rather followed the 
team ahead of you until you were directly beneath the overhang 
of the hoist. In a moment the miller allowed the hoist rope to 
descend atop the sacks of grain in your wagon, and, if you were 
not expecting it, you were likely to be mildly startled when the 
heavy hook and chain struck the bed of the wagon. There was 
pulling and tugging as the chain was wrapped around the middle 
of a bag of w^heat or corn and hooked. Then — a wave of the 




THE ILLICK GRISTMILL ON THE MILLBACH, LEBANON COUNTY, PA. 

The old-fashioned Dutch kitchen and other wood-work was removed from this mill and placed 
in the Philadelphia Museum 
Photograph, March 12, 1932 

hand, and a loud "All right." Up went the bag like a feather 
wafted on a light breeze to the very peak of the mill, where the 
miller seized it, and at the same time releasing the slender hoist 
cord which controlled the hoisting machinery swung it in through 
the door. Bags of grain were usually hoisted to the top floor 
and then emptied into a garner or bin and allowed to run down a 
chute to the burr stones. While a bag or bags were being taken 
up on the hoist, great care had to be taken that no one was 
standing beneath, lest something go wrong — either the rope 
break or some of the machinery fail and the bag come down like a 



108 NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 

shot and instantly kill any one beneath. In a remarkably 
short time the wagon was empty. Then the miller must descend 
to the first floor and give you the grist which was ground from the 
grain that you brought the day or week before. You received 
your grist from the platform at the first floor door which was 
constructed to be level with the bed of the wagon. In some 
mills the hoist was used for loading as well as unloading, but 
those mills usually had a reversible geared windlass of modern 
construction, the friction hoist common in the older mills having 
been torn out. 

It was the custom to go to the mill once or twice a week, 
depending on the distance. Grain to be ground was brought to 
the mill and the finished grist which had been ground from the 
grain brought on the trip before was taken home. Corn, wheat, 
buckwheat, oats, rye, and sometimes barley were the different 
grains which the burr mills could grind. Today, the few of them 
that still exist do little besides the chopping or cracking of corn 
and the grinding of corn meal and buckwheat flour. 

We must not forget the mill office which usually occupied a 
small boarded space in one corner of the first floor and boasted 
of the only heat to be had in the building in the cold winter time. 
Here, the miller sat at odd moments when no customers were 
outside or when the parcel he was grinding was large, requiring 
considerable time. Such accounts of the business as were kept 
consisted mainly of tolls, charged for grinding. The taking of 
toll was the method used for having your grist ground. While 
speaking of the practice of tolling, I am reminded of two anec- 
dotes which used to be told. They both allude to the practice of 
over tolling, which did occasionally occur. 

The first anecdote concerns a miller who bought a small 
mill which was in a run down condition. He was doing his best 
to make the mill pay but had not succeeded. One day a feed 
salesman stopped'. In the course of their conversation, the 
miller complained that, although he was busy grinding most 
of the time, his toll bin failed to pay him for his efforts and 
allow any profit. "Let me see your toll measure," said the 
salesman. After looking at it, he remarked, casually: "Try 
one that is twice as large as this one." Some time later the 
salesman on his yearly rounds was astonished to see the mill 
neatly white-washed and with a new roof. When he entered, 



NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 109' 

he noticed new machinery and things in general appeared to 
have been overhauled. Seeing the miller comfortably seated 
in his little office he exclaimed, in surprise, that he had not 
expected to see this. "Why?" asked the miller. "Well," 
replied the salesman, "last year when I was here things were in 
bad condition and you complained that you would probably 
have to shut down." "Now in the short time that has passed 
since I was here I find everything has been repaired and your 
business looks prosperous. What is your secret?" "Well," 
replied the miller, "I took your advice and made my toll measure 
twice as large." 

The other is told of a small boy who was sent by his father 
to the mill with a sack of grain. "Be sure and bring the em.pty 
sack home," his father said. The boy, upon arrival at the mill, 
gave the sack to the miller and watched him empty it through a 
hole in the fioor. For some reason the miller lost hold of it 
and sack and all went down the chute. The boy, much dismayed, 
returned home to his father without the empty sack and mourn- 
fully said, "He took everything, he didn't even leave me the- 
empty sack." 

Tolling, as a method of payment for grinding has passed 
away. Now all mills have fixed charges for grinding and you 
pay according to weight or measurement in cash. 




WILSON KLINGER'S GRISTMILL 
Northwest of Seudberg, Schuylkill County, Pa. 



110 NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 

So, week after week, you made the same trip. Probably never 
leaving the seat of the wagon or entering the mill. The miller 
enjoyed the full trust of his customers in the matter of taking 
his toll and rarely was there occasion to doubt the integrity of 
those worthy artisans. I say worthy, because, to a large extent 
the health of a community depended on their skill as millers to 
grind good quality flour and meal for the bread, cakes and 
pastry that our forebears ate. 

You must remember that the era of easy transportation, 
good roads, and patent flour was then still in the future. Most 
people in a certain locality were forced to patronize the nearest 
mill because the expense, time, and the difficulty of hauling 
grain to another mill and then going for the finished grist was 
too great. 

All that I have just narrated has become a memory in most 
communities. Here and there, where one of the old mills con- 
tinues to operate, you will find that both the machinery and the 
methods have been modernized. Housewives demand snow 
white flour. Snow white flour, such as we are accustomed to, 
cannot be ground with burr stones because flour made on burr 
stones always contains a certain amount of bran and middling. 




GRISTMILL NEAR HERSHEY, DAUPHIN COUNTY, PA. 
Showing overhang and hoisting rope 



NOTES OX GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 111 

It has been the fooHsh demand for the less nutritive white flour 
that has helped to drive "The Old Mill" out of business. In 
Bucks County, out of a total of nearly one hundred burr stone 
mills, there are at the most only two or three that still operate. 
However, in the western part of the state and in the mountain 
regions there are quite a number of the old burr mills which 
still do their chopping, grinding, and the making of buckwheat 
flour with the stones. There are few millers left who can pick, 
sharpen, set up, and properly grind with burr stones. 

Mills now carry a varied assortment of ready prepared 
patent flours and feeds bought from the western mills. Little 
grinding of local grain is done by them, with the exception of 
some chopping and attrition mill work in the preparation of 
stock feed. 

There can be little doubt but that the community has lost 
another bulwark of its self sufficiency and independence in the 
passing of its mills. With them has gone the ability to supply 
its own flour and meal for human consumption as well as the 
feed for the livestock. Today, our supply comes from afar, 
which is all very good until some hitch occurs in the system of 
supply. Then how prices rise; but there can be no escape, for 
our means of local supply is gone and there is nothing to do but 
bear the burden. 

Deforestation must be charged with its share of the guilt in 
driving the old mill on the rocks. Small streams, which were 
formerly considered of great value for their power to turn mills, 
are now nearly dried up or filled in, and their channels diverted. 
In general, they are worthless and considered as a m.enace to 
highways, for, though during most of the season they can be 
bridged with a culvert, there are times when after heavy rains 
they rise over their banks and flood low areas. Hence it is 
necessary to build high and expensive bridges. Many strong 
and never failing streams have dwindled to mere trickles and 
rills, — a fine commentary on the foresting methods of our some- 
times short sighted ancestors. Large areas of once fertile hills 
and valleys now lie barren, a hopeless maze of gullies and ditches. 
So complete has this deforestation been in some areas that whole 
water courses for miles have ceased to exist, except during times 
of heavy rains. 

Bucks County's largest streams, the Big and Little Neshami- 



112 NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 

nies, become so low during dry seasons that there is not enough 
water flowing over the ripples to wet one's feet. Yet, as I men- 
tioned before, it is bridged at many points with large and expen- 
sive stone and steel bridges. Of the numerous mills that formerly 
stood along the banks of the Neshaminy and were busily engaged 
in supplying the needs of the surrounding communities only one 
is operating. 

"Mechanics Run," to the east of Doylestown, has five mill 
buildings still standing along its banks, all of them were grist 
mills at one time or another. Today all are silent except one 




BROWN'S GRISTMILL, IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS, NEAR BETHEL, 
BERKS COUNTY, PA. 

Photograph taken February 27, 1932, with mill in operation 



which is operated by Oliver Rice when there is any grinding to 
be done, and if there is any water in the dam. 

Inability to adequately serve their customers in time of 
drouth led to the loss of business or the installation of expensive 
engines and motors, which eventually increased running expenses 
so that the business did not pay. 

One by one, the old millers locked their doors and opened 
the waste gates of their races. Some, for lack of other occupa- 
tion and because of advanced age, clung to their dwindling busi- 
ness until death released them. Then the "Old Mill Wheel,'" 
for lack of a master, ceased forevermore its splashing and drip- 



NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 113 

ping rotations. Time, the elements, decay, rust, and fire have 
contributed their share toward obUterating the old mill struc- 
tures. Many of the old buildings have been transformed into 
tea houses and, in rare cases, into dwellings. 

'Tis with a feeling of emptiness and sadness that you return 
to the region of your childhood days and gaze upon the ruins of 
the "Old Mill," once the scene of bustling activity. And, so 
the march of time goes on, casting aside the old and replacing it 
with the new, which, in turn, shall suffer the fate of its predecessor. 

Now, for the brighter aspect of my subject. Although the 
old mills and their builders are fast disappearing, it gives me 
great pleasure to be able to present, in these humble efforts of 
mine, numerous interesting and correct details of "The Art 
OF MiLLWRiGHTiNG." We Can safely say that there will never 
exist again such painstaking and hardy artisans as the old mill- 
wrights, who, for all their eccentricities, builded well. They are 
among the obscure and forgotten builders of this mighty nation 
of ours. 

The Mill Site 

The first thing to be considered in the building of a mill is the 
selection of a stream with a strong, never failing flow of water. 
After choosing a suitable stream you must next determine the best 
point of location for your mill seat. In selecting the site for the 
mill seat two things must be considered. First, the point chosen 
must give you the greatest possible fall, and secondly, it must be 
high enough so that a tail race may be dug of not too great 
length, which will carry off the water as soon as it leaves the 
wheel. If your tail race flows slowly there will be great loss of 
power from backwater slowing the motion of the wheel. 

After carefully leveling your mill seat and knowing the fall 
as well as the quantity of water available, you must next select 
the proper type of water wheel. 

There are six types of water wheels that may be used, each 
depending on the volume of water or the fall that you may have. 

Types of Water W^heels 
The six types of water wheels that the millwright can choose 
from are: 1. Undershot, 2. Overshot, 3. Pitch-back, 4. Brest 
Wheel, 5. Tub Wheel, 6. Reaction Wheel which much resembles 
the modern turbine. 




TYPES OF WATER WHEELS 

Fig. 28— Undershot Water Wheel 
29— Tub Water Wheel 
30— Tub Water Wheels, set up 
31— Breast Water Wheel 
33— Overshot Water Wheel 
34— Mill Dam 
36 — Mill Race, curved to avoid stones 



NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 115 

Undershot wheels were used on streams where the vokime of 
w^ater was large and the fall not very great. The undershot 
wheel gets its name, owing to the fact that the water strikes the 
blades or buckets on the under part of the wheel instead of on 
top as with the overshot wheel. The efficiency of undershot 
wheels was usually low because it was the impact of the water 
alone which turned the wheel. The three other types of wheels, 
excepting the tub wheel, make use of the weight of the water 
after the force of the head is spent. An undershot wheel will 
be only half as powerful as an overshot wheel of the same size, 
the same volume of water being allowed to act on both. The 
undershot wheel will stop as soon as the force of the water is 
spent, unless the flow be constant. Knowing these facts, the 
undershot wheel ought not to be adopted, except where there is 
little fall, but a great plenty of water. 

All of the mills on both branches of the Neshaminy were 
turned by undershot wheels, because of the little fall but the 
great volume, of the two streams. Such was the case when the 
mills were built, but in later years both branches failed frequently 
to supply enough water to their mills in the dry seasons. Dar- 
rah's Mill, at Hartsville, the last to operate on the Little Ne- 
shaminy, lost much of its custom when the parapet was carried 
from the dam, thus reducing the volume of water that could be 
stored during dry weather. 

Overshot wheels, a type where the water is laid on the top, 
acting first by percussion against the blades or buckets of the 
wheel and afterwards by gravity or weight, are highly efficient 
and operate on a minimum of water. They were the type of 
wheel used if the fall in the stream was greater than twelve feet 
and the flow of water was not very great. The larger an over- 
shot wheel is, or any type water wheel for that matter, the less 
water it will require, and the more power you will get. The 
reasons: First, a larger wheel will cast off the water better. 
Secondly, we have a simple problem in physics dealing with 
levers, the arms or spokes of the wheel acting as levers to turn 
the shaft. The force exerted by a lever is equal to the force 
applied at the end multiplied by the distance from the end of 
the lever to the fulcrum. Hence the longer the arms of the 
water wheel the more force you will get from the weight of the 



116 NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 

water in the buckets of the wheel, which act on the arms through 
the medium of the shrouds. 

An eighteen-foot overshot water wheel turning a run of 
stones should be six inches wide for every foot the stones are in 
diameter. So an eighteen-foot overshot wheel to turn a run 
of five-foot stones one hundred and six revolutions per minute 
should be thirty inches wide from shroud to shroud. This wheel 
will require six cubic feet of water per second. A large dam 
well built, situated on a very small stream, if once filled can 




ARMITAGE'S GRISTMILL ON THE CUTALUOSA IX BUCKS COUNTY 
With overshot water wheel 



operate an overshot wheel for a day's grinding of at least ten 
hours, and easily refill itself at night in preparation for the next 
day's grinding. 

I will present some figures to prove this statement. Suppose 
our pond or dam contains three acres and is on the average of 
three feet deep. An acre of mill pond contains 43,560 cubic 
feet of water for every foot of its depth. Assume our dam 
covers three acres and is on the average of three feet deep. It 
will contain three acres times three feet times 43,560 cubic feet 
(of water in an acre), which will be 392,040 cubic feet of water. 
By previous statement I said that an eighteen-foot overshot 
wheel, thirty inches wide, turning a run of stones will require 
six cubic feet of water per second. However, we will allow ten 



NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 117 

cubic feet of water per second to take care of leaks and seepage. 
Divide 392,040 cubic feet (the contents of our dam) by ten 
cubic feet (used per second), and we find that our mill pond will 
contain enough water to run the mill 39,204 seconds or ten 
hours and fifty-three minutes. Allowing the stream that feeds 
the mill pond a flow of two cubic feet per second, our dam would 
also be replenished to the extent of nearly 80,000 cubic feet in 
eleven hours, which would give us a total of 472,000 cubic feet 
of water available. In this instance we are assuming that no 
part of the dam is any lower than the entrance to the race. 

It was because of the adaptability of "Mechanics Run" for 
the use of overshot wheels that we find five mills in the short 
distance of two and one-half miles. 

Pitchback and breast wheels (Refer to picture on page 114 
showing types of water wheels) work on the same principle as 
overshot wheels, in that they are both acted on by the percussion 
and the weight of the water. This type of wheel is used where 
the fall of and the volume of water is not very great. Breast 
wheels are always more than eighteen feet in height or diameter, 
although the fall of the water may be less than twelve feet. It is 
called a breast wheel if the penstock is lower than the shaft of the 
wheel. The water is not carried over the wheel as in the case 
of overshot wheels, but instead the penstock carries the water 
directly toward the wheel. Then it is diverted by a chute down 
against the buckets on the same side of the wheel as the water is 
flowing toward. A close fitting sheeting covers the wheel on the 
side which receives the water. This sheeting or covering pre- 
vents the loss of much water, which would occur when it strikes 
the buckets or floats at right angles. 

When the penstock is nearly as high as the wheel, the water 
may be carried partly over the wheel and shot on backwards. 
The part of the penstock next the wheel is in the form of a chute 
to guide the water into the wheel. The entire side of the wheel 
will need to be closely sheeted to prevent the loss of water. This 
type of wheel is called a pitchback wheel. The head of the 
water may be reduced to the same as it is for an overshot wheel, 
and the motions of the two wheels will be the same, likewise 
their power will be the same. Breast and pitchback wheels have 
been built with their diameters as great as forty feet, giving 
tremendous power and using a minimum of water. Two large 



118 NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 

wheels of this type were used on the Union Canal to pump water 
up to the summit level near Lebanon. 

Perhaps the simplest and cheapest type of mill to suit your 
mill seat would be a "Tub Mill." (Refer to picture on page 114 
showing types of water wheels.) It is a curious piece of ma- 
chinery and very similar to the "Norse Mill," except that the 
norse mill wheel does not have the hoop around it as does the 
tub mill wheel. A tub mill has a vertical water wheel that is 
acted on by the percussion of the water alone. The shaft is 
vertical, carrying the stone on top of it, and serves in place of a 
spindle. The lower end of this shaft is set in a step fixed in a 
bridge tree, by which the stone is raised and lowered. The water 
is shot on the upper side of the wheel in the direction of a tangent 
with its circumference. The wheel runs in a hoop, like a mill 
stone hoop, projecting so far above the wheel as to prevent the 
water from shooting over the wheel and whirls it about until it 
strikes the buckets. The water is shot on in a deep narrow 
column, nine inches wide and eighteen inches deep, to drive a 
five-foot stone. The whole of this column cannct enter the 
buckets until a part has passed half way around the wheel, so 
that there are always nearly half the buckets struck at once. 
The buckets are set obliquely that the water may strike them 
at right angles. As soon as the water strikes, it escapes under 
the wheel in every direction. 

For the complete description of a tub mill I am indebted to 
U. J. Jones, author of "Early Settlements in the Juniata Valley," 
who has ably described the early mills of the Juniata Valley. 
He secured his information from Edward Bell of Blair County. 
Mr. Bell, a millwright, died in 1850, but before his death he 
visited the last of the Continental Tub Mills in the valley and 
minutely examined it. This mill was built before the Revolution 
and stood near Dorsey's Forge, on the Little Juniata, in Hunting- 
don County. 

The mill house was about twelve feet high and fourteen feet 
square, made of small poles and covered with clapboards. There 
was neither floor nor loft to it. The husk was made of round 
logs built into the wall; the water or tub wheel was some three 
feet in diameter, and split boards driven into the sides of the 
shaft made the buckets. The shaft had a gudgeon in the lower 
end and a thing they called a spindle, in the upper end, and was 



NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 119 

not dressed in any way between the claws. The stones were 
about two feet four or six inches in diameter, and not thick, and 
in place of a hoop they had cut a buttonwood tree that was 
hollow and large enough to admit the stones, and sawed or cut 
it off to make the hoop. The hopper was made of clapboards, 
and a hole w^as driven near the eye of the stone, from which a 
pin projected, serving the purpose of a dampsil, which struck the 
shoe every time the stone revolved. The meal trough, made 
out of part of a gum tree, completed the grinding fixtures. The 
bolting chest was about six feet long, two and one-half feet wide, 
and four feet high, made of livewood puncheons, split, hewed, 
and jointed to hold f^our, with a pair of deer skins sewed together 
to shut the door. There was not one piece of iron about the 
chest or bolting reel. It had a crank or handle on one end, 
made of w^ood — the shaft, ribs, and arms, of the same material; 
and the cloth was leona muslin, or lining that looked like it. 

Mr. Jones whose book was pubHshed in 1856, went on to say 
that it was a rather one-horse concern for his day and generation. 
What would he say today if he were taken to some of the huge 
mills of Minneapolis or other parts of the United States? I 
should like to see how some of the people of today would relish 
bread baked from flour bolted through leona muslin. It might 
do for dyspepsia. 

Let it be remembered that tub mills should never be built 
along streams that fail during a dry season. They are suited to 
those places only where water runs to waste during the whole 
year. There were hundreds of such mills in the United States, 
which were useless at the season when they were most needed, 
whilst a well constructed overshot, breast, or pitch-back wheel 
might be kept constantly running. 

The reaction wheel, which operates in somewhat the same 
fashion as the modern turbine is especially adapted for mill 
seats where there is much back w^ater. Reaction wheels may 
be set on vertical or horizontal shafts, working equally well 
either way. Any number of wheels may be put on the shaft, 
according to the power desired or the water available. They 
were usually arranged in pairs, one on either side of the cistern, 
which was a closed downward continuation of the penstock. 
The water flows through an opening along the shaft on either side 
of the cistern, into each of the wheels. There are apertures 



120 NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 

around the rim of the wheel, arranged as curved blades, which 
are struck by the escaping water, the water spurting out with 
equal pressure from all the openings. As the water spurts out 
and strikes the insides of the curved blades the entire wheel is 
whirled around. By opening or closing the apertures the power 
and the quantity of water used may be increased or diminished. 
Thus, with the reaction wheel we have the water acting from the 
inside of the wheel instead of acting on the outside as it does 
with other types. Escaping water pushes the reaction wheel 
around, while confined water pushes the overshot wheel around. 




REACTION WHEEL OR OLD-FASHIONED TURBINE 

Having described the six common types of waterw heels and 
enumerated their good and bad points, we are now ready to 
choose the proper water wheel for our particular mill seat. We 
will assume our mill seat is on a stream that has an average flow 
of ten cubic feet of water per second. There is a fall of twenty 
feet. Our selection will be an eighteen-foot overshot wheel. 

Dams 

In locating a dam, you must be careful to let the dam and the 
mill be a sufficient distance apart, so that the dam will not raise 
the water on the mill, in time of high floods. This has hap- 
pened in many instances, on large streams, where a mill was set 



NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 121 

SO close to the dam that the pier head, or forebay, was in the 
breast. In event of a leak about the forebay, or mill, there was 
no chance of shutting off the water or conveying it another 
way, as can be done where there is a raceway, but all must be 
left to its fate. Such mills are frequently broken down and 
carried away, even the millstones are carried a considerable 
distance down the stream, buried under the sand and never 
found. The great danger from this error will appear more 
plainly, if we suppose six mills on one stream, one above the 
other, each at the breast of its dam, and a great flood to break 




DAM ACROSS THE LEHIGH RIVER AT ALLENTOWN. PA. 

Part of the slack water navigation of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company 
Photograph, April 27, 1932 

one of the dams. At once this increased flood will carry away 
all the dams below as well as the mills. A case of this type 
actually happened in Virginia, in 1794. All the mills and the 
dams on Falling Creek, in Chesterfield County, were carried 
away at once except the lowest mill. The dam of this mill 
having broken the year before it was rebuilt a quarter of a mile 
higher up the creek from the mill, by which means this mill was 
saved. 

The site for the dam should have a foundation of solid rocks 
or stones, so heavy that water will never move them. If the 
site has a bottom of sand or clay, make a foundation of the 



122 NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 

trunks of long trees, laid close together on the bottom of the 
creek, with their butt ends downstream, as low and close together 
as possible. (Refer to Fig. 34, in picture on page 114.) They 
should extend across the whole tumbling space, so that the falling 
water cannot undermine the wall of the dam. On these logs 
the dam may be built, either of stone or wood, but preferably 
of stone if the foundation is to be of wood. The weight of a 
stone dam will keep the foundation logs well anchored whereas 
a wooden dam on a wooden foundation might float away or be 
moved by a heavy flood. 




SPANNUTH'S GRISTMILL, FRYSTOWN, LEBANON COUNTY, PA. 

Destroyed by fire in 1898 and rebuilt 
In operation when photograph was taken, February 27, 1932 



The dam which supplied water for the sawmill on the farm 
of John M. Darrah, about two miles northwest of Hartsville, 
was built on a foundation of logs, which extended out about 
thirty feet from the stone breast of the dam. Many dams are 
built of timber and small stones, such as the old dam at the 
Bridge Valley Mill, formerly "Ryan's Sawmill." All of the 
modern dams of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company are 
built of timber and filled in with stone, gravel and mud. The 
breast of logs is made perpendicular, with straight logs, laid 
close to one another, then another wall of logs fifteen or twenty 
feet upstream is laid, not so high as the breast wall by at least 



NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 123 

three feet, but fitted very close together to prevent lamprey eels 
from working through them. These two walls are tied together 
at every six feet or so, with cross logs, butts downstream, dove- 
tailed and bolted strongly to the logs of the lower wall, especially 
the upper logs. The ends of the upper logs or timbers must be 
well fixed and the upstream ends sunken, since floating logs, ice 
jams and other objects coming down stream will strike them and 
be glanced over the dam by them. These dams should be bow 
shaped, with the bow or arch standing upstream. 

Another common type of dam was the bow, or arch shaped, 
masonry dam, of stone, with the bow or arch standing upstream, 
so that the pressue of the water pressed the stones more closely 
together. On the upstream side of the masonry wall was a 
sloping embankment of earth and stones which helped to glance 
logs and other debris over the wall as well as strengthening the 
breast. 

A third type of dam used on small streams, was the common 
earth embankment having a layer of planks sunk and fastened, 
with the upstream end lowest, to prevent the water from washing 
the newly placed earth away. Many of these earth dams were 
fifteen to twenty feet thick and served as roadways, sluices or 
waste gates taking care of flood water and preventing the water 
from running over the earthen breast. Today, the predominat- 
ing type of dam is built of earth and gravel with a core of con- 
crete. 

Constructing the Raceway 

In digging the race, we must remember that water will come 
to a level on its surface, whatever may be the form of the bottom 
or sideg. When you have determined on the area of the section 
or prism of the race, necessary to convey a sufficient quantity 
of water to the mill, you need only to keep that area in mind, 
while digging the entire length, without paying much attention 
to the depth or width, if there be any rocks in the way. Much 
expense may be oftentimes saved, by making the race deep 
where it cannot easily be made wide enough, and wide where it 
cannot easily be made deep enough. (Refer to Fig. 36 in picture 
on page 114.) One disadvantage in having races very shallow 
in some places is that, the water in dry seasons may be too low 
to rise over the shallow places. The current will keep the deep 



124 NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 

places open, light sand and mud will not settle in them. The 
amount of fall that the race should have, must be sufficient to 
give the water a velocity of at least one to two feet per second ; — 
but, the slower, the better, as there will be less fall lost between 
the dam and the forebay. A fall of one inch to one hundred 
feet is enough in most races. Considerable care is necessary 
when putting in the forebay. A number of solid frames, each 
consisting of a sill, two posts and a cap should be set up two and 
one-half to three feet apart; to these the planks are spiked. The 



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MORGANS GRIST MILL NEAR WILLOW GROVE IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA. 

Original mill built by Benjamin Parry in 1731 

Photograph taken May 22, 1932 

frame at the head next to the water in the race and another six 
or eight feet in the race, should extend four or five feet on each 
side of the forebay into the bank, and be planked in front, to 
prevent the water, and vermin from working under or around. 
Next, lay the bottom and sides of the forebay with good sound 
plank, well jointed and spiked to the sills. Plank the head to 
its proper height, leaving a suitable sluice to guide the water to 
the wheel. A rack should be made across the race at the head 
of the forebay, to keep off the floating sticks and matter, that 
might injure the gates and break the buckets or floats of the 
wheel. The bottom of the race must be planked between the 
forebay and the rack to prevent the water from making a hole 



NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 125 

by tumbling through the rack when choked, and the sides must 
be planked outside the posts to keep the banks up. This rack 
must be twice as long as the forebay is wide, or else the water 
will not come through it fast enough to keep the head up. Per- 
haps this will make clear to you the reason for the wide racks in 
mill races supplying undershot wheels. 

To carry the water away from under the wheel after it has 
been used, makes it necessary that a tail race be dug. This 
tail race or exodus for the fallen water must be deep enough and 
wide enough to carry ofif all the water as it falls from the wheel. 
If it cannot get rid of the water, the wheel will begin to wallow 
in it and we have what is known as backwater, which will cut 
down the efficiency of all types of wheels excepting the reaction 
and turbine wheels. 

The Mill House 

There are several very important things to be considered in 
building the mill house walls. First, the foundations should be 
laid with large, good stones so deep as to be out of danger of 
being undermined, in case water might break through at the 
mill and soften the earth or cause quick sands to form beneath 
the walls. The center of the weight of the wall should pass 
through the center of its foundation. It was often the common 




CRADLING GRAIN IN BLAIR COUNTY, PA. 
Photograph take . July 5, 1932 



126 NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 

practice to build the walls plumb outside, and to batter them 
from the inside, which would throw their center of gravity to 
one side of their base. If, therefore, the wall settles any it will 
incline to fall outwards. Good mortar and hard clean cut stone 
should be used. Good mortar made of pure, well burnt limestone, 
properly mixed with sharp, clean sand, free from any sort of 
earth, loam, or mud will, in time, actually turn to the hardness 
of stone. It is better to put too much sand in your mortar than 
too little. Workmen like their mortar rich, because it works 
easily, but rich mortar will not stand the weather well, nor grow 
so hard as poor mortar. Mortar that is all lime would have 
little more strength than clay. 

Woodwork 

The timbering and woodwork of the mill house should be 
of the best quality live wood, cut and properly seasoned. Oak 
from the standpoint of strength and durability is to be preferred 
for all timbering, joists, and rafters. W^hite pine, yellow pine, 
chestnut, or hemlock make very good material for floors, parti- 
tions, bins, garners, and stair work. To give you an idea of the 
timber required for a three-story mill I am inserting the follow- 
ing: 




MODERN WAY OF REAPING GRAIN AND HARVESTING IN THE 
TWENTIETH CENTURY 



NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 127 

Bill of scantling for a mill, thirty-two by fifty-five feet, three 
stories high; the walls of mason work. 

For the First Floor 

2 sills, 29 feet long, 8 by 12 inches, to lay on the walls for the 
joists to lie on. 

48 joists, 10 feet long, 4 by 9 inches, all of timber that will 
last well in dampness. 

For the Second Floor 

2 posts, 9 feet long, 12 by 12 inches. 
2 girders, 30 feet long, 14 by 16 inches. 
48 joists, 10 feet long, 4 by 9 inches. 

For the First F'loor over the Water House 

1 cross girder, 30 feet long, 12 by 14 inches, for one end of the 
joists to lie on. 

2 posts to support the girder, 12 feet long, 12 by 12 inches. 
16 joists, 13 feet long, 4 by 9 inches; all of good white oak, or 

other timber, that will last in damp places. 

For the Third Floor 

4 posts, 9 feet long, 12 by 12 inches to support the girders. 
2 girder posts, 7 feet long, 12 by 12 inches to stand on the 
water house. 

2 girders, 53 feet long, 14 by 16 inches. 
90 joists, 10 feet long, 4 by 9 inches. 

For the Fourth Floor 

6 posts, 8 feet long, 10 by 10 inches, to support the girders. 

2 girders, 53 feet long, 13 by 15 inches. 

30 joists, 10 feet long, 4 by 8 inches, for the middle tier of the 
floor. 

60 joists, 12 feet long, 4 by 8 inches, for the outside tiers or 
cornice which extends 12 inches over the walls, for the rafters to 
stand on. 

2 plates, 54 feet long, 3 by 10 inches: these lie on the top of 
the walls and the joists on them. 



128 NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 

For the Roof 

54 rafters, 22 feet long, 3 inches thick, 6>^ wide at the bottom, 
and 4>^ at the top end. 

25 collar beams, 1 7 feet long, 3 by 7 inches. 
2760 feet of lath, running measure. 
7000 shingles. 

For the Doors and Window Frames 

12 pieces, 12 feet long, 6 by 6 inches, for door frames. 
• 36 pieces, 8 feet long, 5 by 5 inches, for window frames. 

For the Water House 

2 sills, 27 feet long, 12 by 12 inches. 

1 sill, 14 feet long, 12 by 12 inches. 

2 spur blocks, 4 feet 6 inches long, 7 inches by 7 inches. 
2 head blocks, 5 feet long, 12 by 14 inches. 

4 posts, 10 feet long, 8 by 8 inches, to bear up the penstock, 
2 cap sails, 9 feet long, 8 by 10 inches, for the penstock to 

stand on. 

4 corner posts, 5 feet long, 4 by 6 inches, for the corners of the 

penstock. 




GRISTMILL IN BLAIR COUNTY, PA. 

With two pair of Buhr stones 

Main floor of grinding room 

Taken July 12, 1932 



NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 129 

For the Husk of a Mill with One Water Wheel and 
Two Pair of Stones 

2 sills, 24 feet long, 12 by 12 inches. 
4 corner posts, 7 feet long, 12 by 14 inches. 
2 front posts, 8 feet long, 8 by 12 inches. 

2 back posts, 8 feet long, 10 by 12 inches, to support the back 
ends of the bridge trees. 

2 other back posts, 8 feet long, 8 by 8 inches. 

3 tomkin posts, 12 feet long, 12 by 14 inches. 

2 inner ties, 9 feet long, 12 by 12 inches, for the outer ends 
of the little cog wheel shafts to rest on. 

2 top pieces, 10 feet 6 inches long, 10 by 10 inches. 
2 beams, 24 feet long, 16 by 16 inches. 
2 bray trees, 8)4 feet long, 6 by 14 inches. 
2 bridge trees, 9 feet long, 10 by 10 inches. 

4 planks, 8 feet long, 6 by 14 inches, for the stone bearers. 
20 planks, 9 feet long, 4 by 15 inches, for the top of the husk. 
2 head blocks, 7 feet long, 12 by 15 inches, for the wallower 

shafts to run on. They serve as spurs also for the head block 
for the water wheel shaft. 

Quite a pile of timber and sawed lumber. One does not 
have any idea of the material there is in a mill until he goes 




INTERIOR OF A GRISTMILL IN BLAIR COUNTY, PA. 

Photograph, July 12, 1932 



130 NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 

inside and actually makes a note of the beams, posts, rafters, 
girders, cross ties, and other woodwork. The woodwork of a 
mill has to be very solid in order that there will be as little vibra- 
tion as possible, because the vibrating of different parts will 
cause the machinery to wear out and in some cases to get so 
much out of line that it will not work at all. The mill floors 
must be strong enough to withstand many tons of weight with- 
out sagging in order that the head blocks will not be pressed 
against the tops of upright moving shafts, and prevent them 
from running or cause them to catch fire. 

Setting Up the Machinery 

All of the necessary outside work, in the form of the dam, 
race, forebay, and mill house having been completed, we now 
begin the work of outfitting our mill with the necessary machin- 
ery. All of the gearing, shafting, and machinery must be made 
to fit the mill building, and so arranged that it will not occupy 
too much space. The mill wright always took the timber in its 
rough, unfinished condition and worked it up into gearing, cog 
wheels, shafts, spindles, hoppers, chutes and conveyors. He 
did all of his work in the mill house, which became his work- 
shop for that particular job. Some mill wrights who employed 
a number of workmen and did business similar to modern con- 
tractors ran a mill wrighting shop where a stock of different 
parts was kept constantly on hand. 

The Water Wheel 

How the mill wright fashioned the water wheel and the 
master cog wheel and set them up, although complicated, is 
worth noting. As previously stated, our wheel is to be an 
eighteen-foot overshot. The following materials will be needed 
to construct the wheel and also the master cog wheel : 

1 shaft, 18 feet long, 2 feet in diameter. 
8 arms for the water wheel, 18 feet long, 3 by 9 inches. 
16 shrouds, 8>^ feet long, 2 inches thick and 8 inches deep. 
16 face boards, 8 feet long, 1 inch thick and 9 inches deep. 
56 bucket boards, 2 feet 4 inches long and 17 inches wide. 
140 feet of boards, for soaling the wheel. 



notes on gristmills and milling in pennsylvania 131 

The Master Cog Wheel 

3 arms for the cog wheel, 9 feet long, 4 by 14 inches. 
16 cants, 6 feet long, 4 by 17 inches. 

Having assembled the materials for the wheel, our next task 
is to shape them and then assemble the wheel on its shaft. 
The shaft for a water wheel with eight arms should be sixteen 
square, or sixteen sided, about two feet in diameter, the tree 
to make it being two feet three inches at the top end. Saw this 
piece square at each end, then set a large compass to half its 
diameter, and sweep a circle at each end. Next, plumb a line 
across the center, plumb two more lines on each end of the shaft. 
These lines are exactly one foot to either side of the center plumb 
line and are parallel to the center plumb line. With a chalked 
line strike lines from the ends of these lines, along the shaft on 
each side from end to end. Dress or hew the two sides down to 
the plumb lines. Turn the piece over and setting it level, plumb, 
line, and dress off the other two sides. The shaft is now four 
square; to get it eight square, set it exactly on one corner, plumb, 
line and dress off the four corners. Repeat this on the eight 
corners to make the shaft sixteen square. 

After the shaft has been properly shaped and reduced the 
next task is to lay out and mark the mortises, which must be 
cut to fit the arms of the wheels. There will be sixteen mortises, 
one for each of the sixteen sides of the shaft. The mortises are 
to be one-half inch longer than the actual width of the arms, 
which is to leave room to drive the keys for holding the arms 
tight. 

The gudgeons and end bands are driven on each end of the 
shaft after the ends of the shaft have been shaped down to fit 
the bands. A gudgeon is a wrought iron or cast iron piece with 
a tang usually from two to four feet long, which is rectangular 
in shape and comes to a tapering end. The entire tang of the 
gudgeon is driven into the mortise in the center of the shaft. 
The neck of the gudgeon is five inches Icng, from two to four 
inches in diameter and perfectly round, so that it will run 
evenly in its pillow block, or, in the modern terminology, its 
bearing. The bands are driven on and keyed, then the gudgeons 
are driven in and wedged by driving tapering pieces of iron into 
the ends of the shaft on each side of the gudgeons. It is neces- 



/:',/, /, 




FOREBAY IN MILL RACE TO CARRY WATER TO WATER WHEEL 

Art. 2 — Forebay at head of Mill Race 

Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 show stages in construction of cog wheels, trundles and lantern wheels 



NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 133 

sary that the bands be very tight, so that the gudgeons will not 
work loose or the shaft begin to split where the gudgeon is 
driven in. All of the gudgeons on the different shafts through- 
out the mill are put on in the same manner, whether for counter 
cog shafts or bolting reel shafts. 

After the bands and the gudgeons have been driven and 
fastened and the mortises for the water wheel and the master cog 
wheel have been cut, the shaft is taken and placed on the head 
and spur blocks, in the water house. 





AN ANCIENT DOUBLE-GEARED GRISTMILL IN BEDFORD COUNTY, PA. 
Showing old side wheel, wallowers and trundle — Taken July 28, 1932 



The great or master cog wheel usually has six arms which are 
mortised in the same shaft as the water wheel. In this particular 
mill the master cog wheel will be nine feet in diameter and will 
contain 69 cogs, the cogs having a pitch of 4>^ inches. All the 
material used in the cog wheels should be of the best live oak and 
well seasoned. For the proper preparation of cogs and also the 
wood for shafts, arms, and other parts of the machinery, the 
following procedure is recommended. 

The cogs should be cut fourteen inches long, and three and 
one-quarter inches square; this should be done when the sap 
runs at its fullest and at least a year before they are used, that 
they may dry without cracking. If either hickory or white 
oak be cut when the bark is set, they will worm eat, and, if 




OLIVER EVANS GRISTMILL 
To show application to the various parts 



1 — Spout 
17, 18— Garner 

6 — Storage Bin 

9— Tight Room 
12— Roller Screen 
14 — Chute to Conveyor 
23 — Meal Elevator 
25 — Hopper Boy 
27— Reel 

29 — Lower Packing Room 
33— Chaff Room 
35 — Hopper 
37— Dust Outlet 
40— Gate 
42— Wheel 
44 — Gate to Elevator 



2— Scales 
4, 5, 39 — Elevators 
8, 19, 20— Mill Stones 
10, 11 — Screen Hoppers 
13— Fan 
15. 16, 21 
22, 31, 32. 45- Conveyors 

24 — Elevator Spout 
26 — Bolting Reels 
28— Packing Chest 
30 — Shipping 
34— Small Gate 
36 — Joint in Conveyor 
38 — Elevator Pulley 
41— Pulley Roller 
43— Hoist Wheel 



NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 135 

dried hastily, will crack. To prevent cracking or worm eating, 
boil the wood and dry it slowly or soak them in water for a year. 
Twenty years in mud and fresh water will not hurt oak providing 
the air is excluded. When the cogs are taken out of the boiling 
water, they should be put in a haymow, under the hay, where, 
while foddered away, they will dry without cracking. If you 
do not have time enough to wait for them, a shorter method of 
drying may be u?ed. Put the wood to be used for cogs and 
parts of the cog wheels in a malt kiln with a floor of lath two 
inches apart. Shank the cogs and hang them shank down- 
wards, between the laths, cover them with a hair cloth, and 
make a fire of wood, the smoke of which will prevent them from 
cracking. In the ?ame manner boards, planks, or scantling are 
best dried in the kiln, covered so as to keep the smoke amongst 
them. The fire should be renewed once a day, for twelve or 
fifteen days; thus they will dry without cracking. 

When properly dried, the cogs, if not already shanked, are 
shanked and put in and dressed. To shape the cogs, straighten 
one of the heart sides for the shank, make a pattern, the head 
four inches long, two inches wide, and the shank one and three- 
quarters inches at the point. Make another pattern of the 
shank, without the head, to scribe the sides and dress off the 
backs by, laying it even with the face, w^hich is to have no 
shoulder; take care in dressing them off, that the axe does not 
strike the shoulder, for if it does the cog will crack in drying. 
Next fit and drive the cogs in the mortises exceedingly tight with 
the shoulder of each cog foremost when the wheel will be at 
work. Finish the cogs by sawing them a uniform length and 
then trim them. 

The rest of the cog wheels, wallowers and trundles are made 
with the same explicit care, and their shafts fitted with iron 
gudgeons and hoops. Other phases of millwrighting that were 
necessary to complete the outfitting of the mill were: Fixing the 
headblocks and hanging the wheels, putting in the balance- 
rynds for the stones, bridging the spindle, constructing a crane 
and lighter stafi^, making the hoops to cover each pair of mill 
stones, facing the stones with sand and furrowing them with 
picks, adjusting the hoppers, shoes and feeders, fashioning 
bolting chests, reels, fans, shaking sieves and conveyors and 
elevators. (Refer to picture on page 134.) Through ample 



136 NOTES ON GRISTMILLS AND MILLING IN PENNSYLVANIA 

illustration and the picture which shows the cross-section of a 
mill you will be able to recognize and understand the use of the 
parts just mentioned. 

There are many other things relating to mills as well as count- 
less stories which if time and space would permit I might include 
in this paper. But the printer demands the manuscript, and so 
I must give it to him. With this symbolic picture as a fitting 
ending, we say farewell to the old mill. 




RUINS OF EUGENE BLAIR'S GRISTMILL NEAR HATBORO 

Burned during winter of 1931-1932 
Heartbroken by the loss of his mill and barn, Blair passed on shortly after the fire 



William Penn and His Home Life at Pennsbury 

Historical Address by 

DR. B. F. FACKENTHAL, Jr., RIEGELSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA 

At Pennsbury, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, October 23, 1932, on the Occasion of 
THE 250th Anniversary of the First Arrival of William Penn in America 
1682-1932 

Mr. Chairman, Friends of the Welcome Society, Associates of 
the Bucks County Historical Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

AS A Pennsylvania German, living in a section of our 
county where there are no so-called Friends, I feel highly 
honored in being invited to make an historical address on 
William Penn and his home life here at Pennsbury; it seems 
rather presumptuous for me to do so, particularly before the 
Welcome Society of Pennsylvania and my good friends who have 
for years made intensive studies of the subject assigned to me. 
This is however one of the penalties or should I say pleasures 
attached to my ollfice as president of the Bucks County Historical 
Society. 

As president of that society, I bid you welcome to Bucks 
County. We are indeed glad to join with your patriotic associa- 
tion, under whose program this two hundred and fiftieth anni- 
versary of the coming of William Penn is being celebrated, and 
assemble with you at this historic place, the country home of our 
worthy founder and father of what is now a great Commonwealth. 



The Ancestry of William Penn 

William Penn was born at Tower Hill, London, October 14, 
1644, and was therefore a young man of 37 years when in 1681 
he received from King Charles the Second, the grant of land 
which later became the Province of Pennsylvania, and even in 
those early days he is often referred to as an older man. He was 
certainly not the clumsy, portly man of heavy countenance as 
painted by Benjamin West, but is described as being handsome 
and comely in person and manner, and always an elegant and 
accomplished gentleman. 

His father. Admiral Sir William Penn, was born at Bristol, 
England, in May, 1621, and died at Wanstead, Essex, September 



WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 139 

16, 1670. On January 6, 1643, he married Margaret Jasper, 
daughter of John Jasper, a merchant of Rotterdam. The date 
of her birth is not at hand, but she passed away in 1682, twelve 
years after the death of Sir WilHam. It will therefore be seen 
that William Penn was of Dutch ancestry on his maternal side. 
His father was of Welsh descent, and some historians say his 
forebears were of Royal Tudor race, that his great-great-grand- 
father, who died in 1591, was named John Tudor, and that he was 
generally called John Pennmunth, which became corrupted into 
Penn. His father. Admiral Penn, belonged to the established 
church of England, in which William was baptized October 23, 
1644, at the age of nine days.^ When he arrived at the age of 15 
years, while a student at Christ Church College, Oxford, through 
the preaching of Thomas Loe, he became a convert to Quakerism, 
a sect founded by George Fox, of which persuasion he remained a 
most enthusiastic and consistent leader over the remainder of his 
life. This sect was first called "Professors of Light," or "Children 
of Light"; it was not until 1650 that the name "Quaker" was 
imposed upon them, and two years later in 1652, they were first 
referred to as "Friends." 

William Penn Persecuted for His Religious Activities 

William Penn was a man of parts, well educated, and even as a 
youth an independent thinker, with a strong personality, whose 
will was inflexible and unyielding, willing to suffer hardships and 
imprisonment for his convictions, and withal a man kindly and of 
considerate qualities. He prepared for college at the Chigwell 
Grammar School and under private tutors and entered Oxford 
University at the age of fifteen, where he remained two years. 
For his refusal to conform to the rules and discipline of Oxford 
University, as required by the established church of England, or 
to wear the surplice of a student, and for assaulting other students, 
stripping them of their robes, he was expelled, and on his return 
home was beaten by his father and driven from home. In due 
time a reconciliation took place, and in 1662, at the age of 
eighteen years, his father, the admiral, sent him to France, hoping 
that the environment and gay life of Paris might change his views, 
but the giddy life of Paris had no fascination for him, and 

1 This baptism is recorded in the Registry of Allhallows Barking Church, 
the oldest parish church with a continuous history in London. 



140 WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 

he was recalled in 1664. During his residence in France he 
acquired a knowledge of the French language, and later as the 
result of two extensive tours through Germany and Holland, he 
also acquired the German language, and no doubt the Dutch as 
well. On his return to England from France he entered Lincoln's 
Inn as a student at law, but fled from London by reason of the 
great plague of 1665, which experience served to increase his 
religious zeal. His father used every scheme at his command to 
change his views, and finally sent him to Cork in Ireland to take 
charge of two large estates, which he managed to the entire satis- 
faction of his father, but alas while in Cork he again encountered 
Thomas Loe, and was induced to attend Quaker meetings, 
at one of which on September 3, 1667, he was apprehended 
and with others sent to prison. From that time forward he 
identified himself with the Quakers in everything except costume. 
On his return to England he again quarreled with his father 
for not removing his hat in his presence and in the presence of the 
king, whereupon his father again turned him out of doors. His 
preaching then became m.ore intensive, and in 1668, he made his 
first appearance as an author in support of his religious views. 
This was in defiance of the Conventicle Act of 1664, revived in 
1670, intended to suppress all religious propaganda, he was there- 
fore again arrested and sentenced to a prison term of nine m.onths, 
from which he was released through the influence of the Duke of 
York. On his release from prison, he was permitted to live under 
his father's roof, but forbidden to appear in his presence. He 
was then sent to Ireland a second time and on his return became 
fully reconciled with his father, and thereafter they lived together 
on good terms. 

The William Penn and William Mead Trial 

In August, 1670, one month prior to his father's death, he and 
his friend, William Mead, were arrested for preaching on the 
streets, and after a most remarkable trial at the Old Bailey Court 
in London, lasting four days, (Sept. 1, 3, 4 and 5, 1670) with ten 
magistrates on the bench, they were acquitted by the jury, where- 
upon the judges declined to liberate them, and also placed a fine 
upon the jurors for refusing to find a verdict of guilty, and in 
default of payment were imprisoned. They were finally released 
by habeas corpus proceedings. Their acquittal thereby estab- 



WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 141 

lishing the gerat principle of English law, that it is the right of a 
jury to judge of the evidence independent of the dictation or 
direction of the court. 

Death of Admiral Sir William Penn 

His father, the admiral, died September 16, 1670, leaving to 
survive, two sons, William and Richard, and one daughter, Mar- 
garet, who married Anthony Lowther. To Richard, his second 
son, he bequeathed an annuity of £120 until he arrived at the 
age of 21 years, and then to receive £4,000. However, he sus- 
vived his father but three years. To William, his eldest son, he 
bequeathed an estate yielding £1,500 or more yearly and large 
claims against the government, and thenceforth the cares of 
business and the duties of his lay ministry seem to have equally 
divided his time. 

Six months later, in March, 1671, while preaching in a meet- 
ing-house in London, he was again arrested and committed to the 
tower, and on being acquitted the magistrate requested him to 
take the oath of allegiance, which he knew very well he would 
refuse to do, whereupon he was sentenced to Newgate prison for 
six months. During his term of confinement he wrote and had 
published four treaties, one entitled "Sandy Foundations 
Shaken," another, "No Cross, no Crown," two of the most famous 
polemics of the age. He was considered one of the most learned 
and able writers of his time. 

On April 4, 1672, he married Gulielma Maria, daughter of Sir 
William and Lady Mary Springett. The next few years were 
devoted to preaching and defending with his pen, the doctrines 
of the Quakers, for which his zeal never relaxed, whether in Eng- 
land before sailing to America, or while in America, or after his 
return to British soil. In 1686, partly through his influence, a 
proclamation was issued by James H, for the release of those 
imprisoned on account of their religious activities, and 1,490 
Quakers were set free. Among the non-conformists who were, 
under the laws of England, imprisoned for preaching, was John 
Bunyan, a baptist, who was confined in the Bedford jail for ten 
years. He declined to be liberated by making promises that he 
would desist in his preaching. But thanks for the life of this 
earnest man who during his imprisonment gave to the world his 
Pilgrims' Progress. 



142 WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 

These and other incidents in the Ufe of William Penn are well 
known to most of you, and are referred to only to show the perse- 
cutions that he endured, as well as to show the mind and heart 
of this truly great and sincere man, whose zeal and sincerity were 
but a preparation for bigger things and greater opportunities for 
carrying on his life-work. Did he have a vision then that the 
opportunity was near at hand, and that he was so soon to be 
placed in a position of trust and authority in the new world where 
he could offer an asylum to the oppressed, and could proclaim 
religious freedom to the nations of the world and to all kinds and 
conditions of men? A liberty of conscience, freedom of speech 
and of the press which we enjoy today. He no doubt had this 
thought in mind when he asked that the American lands be given 
to him in cancellation of the claim against the government which 
he inherited from his father. 



Pennsylvania Granted to William Penn 

Charles the Second, King of England, Scotland, France and 
Ireland, on March 12, 1664, granted to his brother, James Duke 
of York and Albany, Earl of Ulster, etc., afterwards King James 
the Second, "All of New England from the St. Croix to the Dela- 
ware." King Charles II granted the Province of Pennsylvania to 
William Penn, Esquire, by Royal Charter dated March 4, 1681. 
This grant was made to satisfy a claim of his father. Admiral Sir 
William Penn, to whom the government had become indebted in 
the amount of £16,000. James, Duke of York, under whom the 
Dutch had become dispossessed of their American territory, con- 
veyed and confirmed the territory embraced in the royal charter 
to William Penn by three deeds of feoffment, one bearing date 
August 21, and two bearing date August 24, 1682, one of the latter 
was for the so-called three lower counties, Sussex, Kent and New 
Castle, comprising the entire state of Delaware, which were 
included in the grant from William Penn. By an act of union 
passed December 7, 1682, they were annexed to the Province of 
Pennsylvania. In 1703 they obtained their liberty to secede, 
and thereafter were allowed a distinct assembly, but it was not 
until July 4, 1776, that Delaware was declared a free and inde- 
pendent state. 






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MEDAL IN COMMEMORATION 
of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Arrival of William Penn-168^-1932 
William Penn's Treaty with the Delaware Indians, 1C83 
From Painting by Paul Domvillt 



144 WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 

There was much controversy and Utigation with Lord Balti- 
more in fixing the boundary line between Maryland and Pennsyl- 
vania, which was finally settled by the survey of Mason and 
Dixon's line, begun in 1763, suspended in 1767, owing to hostile 
Indians, and finally completed in 1782 by Col. Alexander McClean 
and Joseph Neville. Also between Pennsylvania and Connecti- 
cut resulting in the so-called "Pennamite Wars," lasting seven 
years, which was also in due time adjusted by what is known as 
"The Decree of Trenton." Neither do I have time to enter into 
the part that William Penn played in the Province of West Jersey, 
when in March, 1673, he was appointed arbitrator to adjust 
certain differences between Lord Berkley and Sir George Carteret ; 
Berkley having conveyed his interest to John Fenwick in trust 
for Edward Byllinge. In 1674, Penn was appointed one of three 
trustees into whose hands the entire management and control of 
West Jersey was placed. This experience was no doubt one of 
the incentives that led Penn to become interested in Pennsylvania. 



Rights of the Indians to the Soil 

The grant to William Penn made no reference to the rights of 
the aborigines to the soil, but it was part of his plan to extin- 
guish them by purchase. 

On April 8, 1681, he appointed his cousin, William Markham, 
deputy or lieutenant governor, and at once dispatched him to 
take possession of his newly acquired territory, and begin its 
colonization. About the same time he appointed James Harrison 
his "lawful agent," to go to America and sell for him any parcels 
of land in the province.^ 

Markham arrived in the Delaware in June of that year. 
Three months later William Penn appointed three commissioners, 
William Crispin, John Bezar and Nathaniel Allen, to proceed 

2 James Harrison was much esteemed by William Penn. Before leaving 
England, Penn granted him 5,000 acres of land. He was Penn's manager 
and personal representative at Pennsbury. In 1685 he was made one of the 
provincial judges. He was father-in-law of Phineas Pemberton. One of 
Pemberton's daughters married Jeremiah Langhorne. On Penn's second 
voyage to America by ship "Canterbury," he brought John Sotcher with him, 
whom he placed in charge of the Manor House, of which Mary Lofty was 
stewardess. These young people, both Quakers, were married October 16, 
1701, the ceremony was attended by William Penn, whose name and those 
of his wife and daughter, Letitia, are attached to the certificate. This was 
the only marriage in America at which William Penn was present. 



WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 145 

to Pennsylvania to co-operate with Markham in settling the 
colony and to deal with the Indians; Silas Crispin was appointed 
surveyor general and sailed with them, but died on the voyage, 
whereupon Captain Thomas Holme was sent over from England 
and commissioned April 18, 1682, to succeed him in that office. 
The surveys of land bought from the Indians, not only along 
the banks of the Delaware, but throughout the province, w^ere 
predicated on the distance a man could travel within a given 
time. Markham did not conclude his purchase of land in Bucks 
County from the Indians until more than a year after his arrival, 
viz.: on July 15, 1682, about three months prior to the arrival of 
William Penn. This first purchase is described in the deed as 
follows : 

Beginning at a certaine white oake in the Land now in the tenure of John 
Wood, and by him called Gray Stones over against the ffalls of Delaware River, 
And soe from thence up the River side to a corner marked Spruce Tree with 
the letter P, at the ffoot of a mountayne, And from the sayd corner marked 
Spruce Tree along the Ledge or ffoot of the mountaines west north west to a 
Corner white oake, marked with the letter P, standing by the Indyan Path 
that Leads to an Indyan Towne called Playwickey, and near the head of a 
Creek called Towsissinck, And from thence westward to the Creek called 
Neshammonys Creek, And along by the sayd Neshammonyes Creek unto the 
River Dellaware, alias Makeriskhicon; and soe bounded by the sayd mayne 
River to the sayd ffirst mentioned white oake in John Wood's Land; And all 
those Islands called or known by the severall names of Mattinicunk Island 
(now called Burlington Island) Sepassincks Island (now called Newtold 
Island) and Orecktons Island, (now called Biles Island) lying or being in the 
sayd River Dellaware, Tcgeather alsoe with * * *3 

This is the tract on part of which we are assembled today. 
"Gray Stones," the starting point, the land of John Wood, is in 
the present borough of Morrisville. On July 4, 1929, the Bucks 
County Historical Society placed a large bronze tablet designed 
by Dr. Mercer, on a monument to mark the beginning of that 
survey, and on October 17, 1925, the State Historical Com- 
mission erected a monument with bronze tablet alongside of the 
public road between Feasterville and Langhorne, to indicate the 
location of the Indian town of Playwickey. This first purchase 
included the present townships of Bristol, Falls, Middletown, 
Newtown and Lower Makefield, and parts of Upper Makefield 
and Wrightstown. 

3 Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, Vol. I, pp. 47-49. 



146 william penn and his home life at pennsbury 

Penn Executes Deeds Prior to the First Indian 
Purchase 

The two earliest deeds on record in Bucks County from Wil- 
liam Penn are those of April 1, 1681, for 1,000 acres to Thomas 
Woolrich, and of July 27, 1681, for 500 acres to James Hill, both 
prior to the first concession from the Indians. It appears, how- 
ever, that there are earlier deeds, one of which was recently pre- 
sented to the Bucks County Historical Society by Henry A. 
James, Esquire. It is for 250 acres in the Province of Pennsyl- 
vania, to Shadrach Walley, dated March 22, 1681, and therefore 
but 18 days after the grant of King Charles II. The tract is in 
Newtown Township, and is noted on the map contained in Davis' 
History of Bucks County, Vol. I, page 207. It is not recorded, 
and does not recite William Penn as Proprietary, but as a per- 
sonal deed from William Penn of Worminghurst, signed by Wil- 
liam Penn and sealed with his personal seal. The warranty 
recited protects the grantee "from all manner of Titles and 
Claymes of any Indian or Native of the said Tract or province." 
The deed is here for inspection. 




LANDING OF WILLL-VM PENN AT THE BLUE ANCHOR TAVERN 
Philadelphia on November 9, 1682 

(From an old wood engraving in Watson's Annals, Vol. I, page 131) 



Truth Exalted; 

I N 
Afliort, but fure, Tedimony again H- all 
thok^eligiovs, Fa:thi and IV or ft)! ps 
^: that have been formed and followed in 

V the Darkncfs of Aportacy. And 

f\\i for that Glorious Liglit which \s now 
)^ rifen, andftiinesfo th in the Life and 
>!"■ Dodlrine of the dcfpifed QNi^ers^ as 
the alone gcod Old Way of L ife and 
JSalvatfon. 

Prcfcnted to Trinces, friers and Teof>le^ rhac rh j 
may Repent, Believe and Obey. 



BY 
WIlXfAM PEMNT, whom divine Love conftrains in a holy 
Contempt to trample on e/Ee^pt's Glory, not fearing the 
Kin^s Wrath, having beheld the Majcfty of him who is 
Iivilible. 



Lmdm^ Rc-Printcd in the Year 1 1 ft* 



plain Dealing 

With a Traducing 

ANABAPTIST: 

Or Three 

LETTERS 

VVrit upon occafion of fome Slanderous 

Reflections, given and promoted againft 

J Villi am Tenn by one John Morfe, 

Publifiied for Common Benefit, rhatall Imparti- 
al People may be better acquainted vYith the Invedlivc 
Spirit of feme fo called, and their ungodly fly way 
of Defaming fuch as difl'ent from them , 
cfpccially in their Reftlefs Indea- 
vours againft the Poor 

QUAKERS 

Sy 4 Lever of Charity afHd Sinceritf m aH^ 
W. P. 



Printed in ^^t Year, i6ji. 



THE 



SKIRMISHER!; 

DEFEATED 



AND 



T R U T H 

DEFENDED; 

Being an A N S W E R. to a Pamphlet, 

ENTITULED, 
j4 Skirmijh mah upon Quakerifm. 

!Bv William Pcnn. 



Jam. .3. 135141^ 6. n'ho is 4 n^i[e' Md»^ And endue i with Kmnf-- 
ledge amongfi jcu f iff him fhew 0Ut of a good Cenverfttion 
his H^srks with Meekneh cf ivifitm : BhP if ye have bitter 
Bftvfing and Strife tr your Hesrts^ gUry mt^ And Lyemt 
AgAinft the Truth : Fer^ rvbere Envying And Strife is^ there 
is Cehfufton^ and every Evil Work, 



printed in the Year, 167^. 



THE 

PEOPLES 

Antienl and-Juft 

LIBERTIES 

ASSERTED- 



I N THE 

OF 



Y A. L 



WilUamTenn, ^nA William Mead, 

At the -- lions .held at the 0/r/-B 716' in Lofutw^ 
. the fi.rr,-tbirJ, fourth and dtthofSept, 70. 
againft rhe mofl- xWbixrary procedure of t hat- 
Court. ■ 



10. 10, I, 2. fVo mto them t' 

vrite ^rlevosifnefs , which tL 

Need) pom Jmrme^.t^ai'dto t.i- 
Pfal. 94. 20. Hai!-ru T>r k. .1 I 

yfhhh fr^methmifchlef l>) .1 Laiw 

Sic volo, iu jubeo, flat piot. :io;ic vo!ar,tas. 

Otd-Bailj, ill. 5d. 4fhj yCaoiSe^t. 2670. 



I 4 



LETTER 



FROM 



iSilltam ^etm 

Popriecary and Goveniour of 

PENNSYLVANIA 

I In America , 



T O T H E 



jCOMMITTEE 

fxtt ^oriftp of CcaUECS' 



ofihit Provift^c.reilJ.ii/ in Lot-Ln. 



CONrAIKJKG 

' AGeneral Dcfcriprionof thefeid Pmirnt, its&«/, Air, }l'jttr,S:a.'~Mii md l>r,iju.-r, 
I toth Natural ai d Artihcul, atultiagooti EtcrtTtU -rvuf, 

irtmi,L<itrAity, la^wjiyoi Uvmf, fb^/tck, HmM, I ;/;,t/i, s«.-i/«vt ami i -«,•«., 

ftjinji^ (jtvrrnmnty aiai tfacfer order la Cmx •/ ).j-«i. Tustttsfor 

L-;r.d, c>-f . tiiat Jh^iii ajxay i. ,il Djfri- 

Ofrfiejfj'/FWffJ, xhe Datc/i, &c, sndtite frtfiat CmdiiimiiiA XMlem^mni' die 

laid frei)mt<,iei Cm-t) ofjiijtiri^rf-c. 



Towhidu; 



An Atccxuit of the CITY ot 



PHILADELPHIA 

Kcnly ;..id out. 

Jts SdtuJtioa between two Nut^iH'c Ki- er^, J)( '„«■,,« anj SAorW/, 

WITH A 

Portxaiture or Plat-fom then.>of, 

j Whtrdn the Parchafcrs Luts wc dUliaguiftcd by ctrtiir NurrU'ts ii lined, diraliiij 
I to « Catalogue o( tht did Porclsafiwi Naims 

Aiosithe FrofperOBS «nd Adviistsigious Scttlouents rfthc 5«w/r alorsliui, witlun 
tl'c Taid CSty and Coutttry, C'c 

fumed Mi SaU If AndrcwSowlf, «f tk CriaM-UiKet i» (!ol!owi)-L»iK m 



i 



COPY OF COVER OF THE FIRST EDITION OF WILLIAM PENN'S 

letter of 1683 to the Free Society of Traders. Original contains ten pages, 

size 7K by 12 inclies, with map of Philadelphia 



152 william penn and his home life at pennsbury 

William Penn Comes to America by Ship "Welcome" 

William Penn sailed from Deal, England, for America, on his 
first voyage by ship "Welcome," September 1, 1682; one-third of 
those sailing with him lost their lives at sea with smallpox. The 
"Welcome" entered the Capes of the Delaware October 24, of 
that year, arriving before New Castle on the twenty-seventh, 
and William Penn first set foot on American soil on the twenty- 
eighth, and on the following day, October 29, 1682, arrived at 
Upland, later changed to Chester, where he made his first home. 
Later he proceeded to Philadelphia, where he found a welcome 
at the Blue Anchor Tavern, located on the Delaware at the mouth 
of Dock Creek.^ The population on the Delaware at that time, 
made up mostly of Dutch and Swedes with a few Fins, was about 
3,000.^ 

On April 25, 1682, before leaving England, William Penn 
promulgated his first Frame of Government, outlining rules and 
laws for the administration of his newly acquired province, to be 
managed by a governor and council. After his arrival he issued 
additional Frames of Government, and established courts and 
bureaus, and in fact all machinery necessary to carry on a well- 
regulated and successful administration, all of which he had well 
thought out.^ 

The City of Philadelphia Laid Out 

Among the early acts of Markham and the commissioners 
was the selection of a site for a great city, for which both Chester 

4 For Blue Anchor Tavern, see Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. 
XX, page 427. 

5 According to the census of 1930, the population of Greater Philadel- 
phia was 1,950,961. The Atlantic Deeper Waterway Association at its 
twenty-fifth annual convention, held in Philadelphia, October, 1932, reported 
that the Delaware River, from the sea to Port Richmond had been enlarged 
to a depth of 35 feet, with a width of 300 feet, and from Port Richmond to 
Trenton, at the foot of Trenton Falls, the channel had been dredged to a 
depth of twenty feet. 

6 Grant of King Charles II, to William Penn Mar. 4, 1681 

Deeds of feoffment from the Duke of York Aug. 21 and 24, 1682 

Charter of the Province of Pennsylvania Jan. 27, 1682 

Frame of Government issued by William Penn Apr. 25, 1682 

Laws agreed upon in England for Pennsylvania May 5, 1682 

First meeting of the Provincial Council at which William 

Penn presided Mar. 10, 1683 

A second Frame of Government by William Penn Nov. 7, 1696 

Frame of Government by William Markham Nov. 7, 1696 



WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 153 

and Pennsbury Manor were seriously considered/ but the loca- 
tion at the junction of the Delaware and Schuylkill, where a good 
depth of water was found, was finally selected, resulting in the 
founding of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, for which 
Penn signed the charter October 25, 1701. During the latter 
part of 1682 the city was laid out under the personal supervision 
of William Penn, by surveyor Thomas Holme. The site of Phila- 
delphia was purchased from the Swedes in exchange for larger 
tracts of land located elsewhere in Pennsylvania; the Swedes 
having purchased the land from the Indians. 

The second purchase of land from the Indians was negotiated 
by William Penn in person, deed dated June 23, 1683, for terri- 
tory lying between the Neshaminy and Pennypack Creeks, partly 
in Montgomery County. The Bucks County part embraces the 
townships of Bensalem, Southampton, Northampton, Warminster 
and Warrington. 

The third tract purchased on the Delaware river front, begin- 
ning at Wrightstown, and ending near Lackawaxen, was for lands 
taken by the Walking Purchase of 1737, for which there is no 
time at my disposal to dwell upon today. ^ 



Pennsbury Manor Purchased 

William Markham, having been instructed by William Penn 
to locate a site for his country home, selected this site in Falls 
Township, on part of which we are assembled today, and since 
known as "Pennsbury Manor." At that time it contained 8,431 
acres or 57 per cent, of the 14,838 acres contained in Falls Town- 
ship. It has a frontage of five and one-half miles on the Dela- 
ware River. It had been an Indian Royalty, bought by William 
Penn from Sepassing, an Indian king. Although this tract was 
included within the bounds of the tract purchased by William 
Markham it appears that King Sepassing had not signed that 
deed, and therefore Penn insisted that it be again paid for. As 
already stated, three islands in the Delaware were included in 
the tract. 

Scott's Creek, formerly called Sepassing Creek, and later 

7 See Hazard's Annals, page 595, and Watson's Annals, Vol. I, page 56. 

8 For Walking Purchase of 1737, see Bucks County Historical Society, 
Vol. VI, page 7 et seq. 




Thomas Penx 

Proprietary 

b. 1701. d. 1775 

Son of William Penn 



Lady Juliana (Fermor) Penn 

Wife of Thomas Penn 

b. 1729, d. 1801 




Richard Penn 

Proprietary 

b. 1706, d. 1771 

Son of William Penn 



Hannah (Lardner) Penn 

Died April 20, 1785 

Wife of Richard Penn 



WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 155 

Welcome Creek, now a shallow stream, empties into the Dela- 
ware about one mile south of the Manor House, but in William 
Penn's time is said to have been a strong stream with a depth of 
five feet. Its course wasjmmediately back of the Manor House, 
over which Penn directed bridges should be built/^ 

William Penn was delighted with the site selected by Mark- 
ham, particularly as it was but six miles from Burlington, N. J., 
where many of his friends lived. The distance to Philadelphia 
either by water or overland was about 26 miles. The house and 
other buildings were put under construction at the time of Penn's 
first visit. He was obliged to return to England, and sailed 
away by ship "Endeavor," August 12, 1684, having been in 
America but one year and ten months. He had the building of 
this house very much at heart, and continued to give detailed 
instructions from England in regard to laying out the grounds 
and buildings, as well as the furnishing of the house. He brought 
a large part of the furniture with him on his second voyage from 
England. In later years he wrote that the house with its im- 
provements and furnishing had cost him £7,000.'^ 



The Children of William Penn 

By his first wife, Gulielma Maria Springett, William Penn 
had seven children. His first born, named for her mother, lived 
but a few months; the next two, William and Mary, were twins, 
both dying in infancy; the fourth, Springett, died at the age of 21 
unmarried; Letitia, the fifth, born March 6, 1678, married William 
Aubrey, and died without issue April 6, 1746; William, Jr., the 
sixth, born March 14, 1680, married Mary Jones, and from him 
is derived one of the two existing lines of the Penn family; the 
seventh, Gulielma Maria, the second of that name, born Novem- 
ber 17, 1685, died in infancy. William Penn's wife, Gulielma 
Maria, nee Springett, passed away February 23, 1694. 

9 The average mean tide at Pennsbury is 4 feet, 6 inches. Tide extends 
up the Delaware as far as Trenton, where its progress is stopped by the Falls 
of Trenton, which have a fall of 9 feet, 8 inches over a distance of 3,500 feet. 
Falls Township takes its name from these falls. 

10 For a complete list of furniture and other household goods in the Manor 
House, made by William Penn when he departed for England in 1701, see 
Penn and Logan Correspondence, Vol. I, page 62 et seq. 



156 WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURV 

William Penn Marries Hannah Callowhill 

Two years after the death of his first wife, William Penn 
married for his second wife, Hannah, daughter of Thomas and 
Hannah Callowhill. She was a member of the Society of Friends. 
By this union he had seven children: (1) John, born in Phila- 
delphia, January 29, 1700; (2) Thomas, born March 9, 1702, 
who at the age of 50 years married Lady Juliana Fermor, who 
was but 21; (3) Hannah Margarite, born July 30, 1703, died in 
1708; (4) Margaret, born November 7, 1704, married Thomas 
Freame, she died in England in 1751, aged 47 years; (5) Richard, 
born January 17, 1706, married Hannah Lardner; (6) Dennis, 
born February 26, 1708, died unmarried in 1722, aged 16 years; 
(7) Hannah, born September 5, 1708, died January 24, 1709.^^ 

It is therefore seen that William Penn was the father of four- 
teen children, seven by each marriage. Of those by his first wife 
four died in infancy, and three lived to maturity, and that one of 
these three, Springett, died at the age of 21 unmarried, and 
Letitia married and died without issue, leaving William, Jr., the 
only one as a progenitor of a family. 

Of the seven children by his second wife, two, Hannah Mar- 
garite and Hannah, died in infancy and Dennis died at the age of 
16, leaving four, John, Thomas, Margarite and Richard, living to 
maturity. 

William Penn's Second Visit to America 

There was a lapse of 15 years from the time of William Penn's 
return to England until he set out for his second voyage. During 
that time he was accused of various offenses against the crown, 
including that of treason, by reason of his having received favors 
at court during the reign of King Jam.es II, which caused him to 
be suspected of disloyalty to the government when William and 
Mary came to the throne in February, 1689. He was arrested a 
number of times, but always secured acquittal. During his 
absence from America his colony had been greatly disturbed 
by civil and religious quarrels, including the schism in 1690 

11 I am indebted to the valuable contribution on "The Penn Family," 
published in Vols. XX, XXI and XXII of the Pennsylvania Magazine of His- 
tory by Howard M. Jenkins, for data contained in this paper, as well as for 
that contained in the Penn Family chart, attached hereto as a supplement. 
Since published in book form. 



WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 157 

of George Keith. In October, 1692, William and Mary deprived 
him of his authority as governor of Pennsylvania, and directed 
Governor Benjamin Fletcher of New York to take over the 
administration of Pennsylvania. Penn had powerful friends who 
interested themselves in his behalf, through whom he secured a 
hearing at court, and he was honorably discharged in November, 
1693, and in August, 1694, after a lapse of two years, his govern- 
ment was restored to him. 

On September 3, 1699, he set sail from Cowes by ship "Canter- 
bury," for his second trip to America, taking with him his wife, 
Hannah, and his daughter Letitia, then 21 years of age. James 
Logan, then a young man of 24, having been engaged by Penn as 
his secretary, came over with them. Logan held that high office 
for 40 years as secretary and looking after the Penn family inter- 
ests. They landed at Philadelphia, December 3, 1699. Penn 
was warmly received and found his colony in a prosperous condi- 
tion. 

Before settling at Pennsbury, they lived first at the home of 
Edward Shippen on North Second Street, where they remained 
a month, then took residence with Samuel Carpenter in the fam- 
ous "Slate Roof House," on Second Street south of Chestnut, 
and there in that house on January 29, 1700, their son, John, 
thereafter known as "The American," was born. He was the 
only child of William Penn born on this side of the Atlantic.^" 



Life at Pennsbury 

At Pennsbury they lived in great style, employing many ser- 
vants, and judging by the large quantities of provisions bought, 
such as flour by the ton, molasses by the hogshead and other 
supplies in like proportion, suggests that they kept open house, 
and dispensed a liberal hospitality, including the entertainment 
of many Indians. In addition to their home brew, (for among 
their buildings there was a brew house), his cellar was well stocked 
with beer, cider, sherry, canary, madeira, claret and rum. 
According to James Logan's letters there must have been seven 

12 On October 24, 1932, five tablets were unveiled commemorative of Wil- 
liam Penn in Philadelphia, among these were: the site of the Blue Anchor 
Tavern, now 242-244 South Front Street, the site of William Penn's first 
house'in 1682, now 18-20 South Front Street, and the site of the Slate Roof 
House, now the_Keystone Telephone Building, at Second and Sansom Streets. 



158 WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 

full grown negro slaves at Pennsbury in 1704. After the death 
of William Penn all his slaves obtained their freedom. 

The Manor House is described as being large and commodious, 
60 feet long by 30 feet wide. One account says there was an 
extension of 30 feet in the rear. It was two stories high with 
cellar and attic, built of bricks probably burnt on the premises. 
It was covered with tiles, with a leaden lined water tank or 
reservoir on the roof. This in after years leaked so badly as 
to practically destroy the house, and for that reason it was torn 
down. There were wide porches both front and rear. The 
house stood on an elevation 15 feet above tide, and about 150 to 
200 feet from the Delaware, with terraces leading down to the 
boat landing, and a board walk between two rows of poplar trees, 
which were planted in 1685. Vistas and paths were cut through 
the trees in different directions. Penn was fond of agriculture 
and gave special attention to his gardens and orchards, his pear- 
mains and pippins are specially referred to. 

During his sojourn in Pennsylvania he held nineteen treaties 
with the Indians, who always found a welcome at Pennsbury; he 
was honored and revered by them. Because of his just and 
equitable treatment, the Delawares called him "Mignon," and 
the Iroquois referred to him as the "Great Onus." 

Penn's second residence in Pennsylvania lasted but one year 
and eleven months. One wonders how he could accomplish so 
much in so short a time. Tidings from England that a measure 
was pending before the House of Lords for bringing all the 
proprietary governrrents under the crown, led him to return to 
England, and moreover his wife and daughter were anxious to 
get back to their native heath, and therefore on November 3, 
1701, he sailed away with his family, now increased to four by 
the addition of baby John, by ship "Dolmahoy," never to return 
again, much to his great sorrow and disappointment. It appears 
that Letitia Penn, while in America, had promised herself in 
marriage to William Masters, who later followed her to England 
to claim her as his bride, only to find that on August 20, 1702, 
she had married William Aubrey. ^^ 

Soon after Penn's arrival in London, the project before the 
House of Lords was dropped. In 1684, when Penn sailed for 
England at the end of his first visit, Philadelphia contained 357 
1^ See Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. XXII, page 89 et seq. 




PLAN OF PENNSBURY MANOR 

Showing Location of William Penn's Mansion House, Brew House and the Old Cherry Trees 





^i. 


H 


w" ^^B^B 


1 


1 




•l-iiiKjis in 




j^i 


Twwrmmsmfm 






mi 


m- ■ '""« 


"IlilwIulHliii 


ws^mmm 












v-^.,P3S« 







THE CROZIER HOUSE AT PENNSBURY 
Successor of William Penn's Mansion House 
Showing Penn's Brew House on the right 
Front view facing the river 
Both views from map of Falls Township 
Surveyed and made by Thomas Hughes, 1858 



160 WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 

houses with 2,500 people; in 1701 at the end of his second visit 
the population had increased to 7,000. 

In June, 1701, Pennsbury was visited by Lord Cornbury, a 
cousin of Queen Anne, Governor of New York, with a suite of 50 
persons, to whom James Logan gave a "really handsome country 
entertainment," at Pennsbury. 

Penn Becomes Involved in Debt and Mortgages 
Pennsylvania 

After Penn's return to England from his second voyage, he 
became involved by the troublesome affairs in Pennsylvania, 
partly due by reason of his son, William, Jr., sent there as his 
representative, having disgraced him by vicious and notorious 
conduct. Penn had no skill in reading the character of others 
and his confidence in persons less virtuous than himself led him 
into great errors and misfortunes, particularly in financial matters. 
He became greatly involved in debts, and moreover at the same 
time his trusted agent in London, a Quaker, named Philip Ford, 
left his executors false claims against him in the amount of 
£15,000, which he could not pay, and to avoid extortion he 
suffered himself, in 1708, to be committed to the Fleet prison, 
where he remained for a long time. His friends finally came to 
his relief, but he was obliged to raise part of the m.oney by placing 
a mortgage on the Province of Pennsylvania for £6,600, under 
date of October 7, 1708, to Henry Gouldney and his eight asso- 
ciates.^'^ LTnder the primogeniture laws of England, his eldest 
son, and heir presumptive, William Penn, Jr., joined him in the 
execution of the mortgage, and thereafter no grants of land could 
be made without the mortgagees joining in the title. 

William Penn Stricken with Paralysis 

William Penn became so deeply involved financially, that in 
1712, he decided to transfer his rights in the Province of Pennsyl- 
vania to the crown. The sum of £12,000 had in fact been agreed 
upon, and a payment made to him on account, when he was 
stricken with paralysis, and all negotiations were suspended. 
This was followed by other strokes, and although he lived six 

14 Reconveyed to the Penns, January, 1729. 



WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE T PENNSBURY 



161 



years longer, he never regained his mental vigor, and passed 
away at Ruscombe, Berkshire, England, July 30, 1718, in the 
seventy-fourth year of his age, and as Bancroft says: "with his 
fame as wide as the world." 

By his last will and testament, bearing date May 27, 1712, he 
appointed his wife, Hannah, his sole executrix, all her children 
being then under age. John, the oldest, was 18, and Dennis, the 
youngest son, was 11. He devised the Province of Pennsylvania 
to his wife, Hannah, ard eleven other trustees to convey the 
same to such of his children by his wife, Hannah Penn, as the 
said Hannah Penn might appoint. He had lost entire confidence 
in his eldest son, William, Jr., and did not devise him any interest 
in the proprietary rights in his Amxerican colony. William Penn, 
Jr., at first objected to the proving of the will, but it was finally 
probated in Doctors' Commons, November 14-18, 1718.'''' Wil- 
liam, Jr., then filed objections in Chancery to the conditions of 
the will, but died in Belgium, June 23, 1720, two years after the 
death of his father. This suit was then taken up by his children 
and negotiations were pending to sell to Springett and William, 




FRIENDS' MEETING HOUSE, BUILT IN lCii» 
and Penn's GravL- at Jordans, Buckinghamshire, England 



15 William Penn left many debts to be paid out cf his estate, which were 
not discharged until some years after his death, see Pennsylvania Magazine 
of History, Vol. XXIII, page 329. 



162 WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 

3d, two sons of William, Jr., a life right in the proprietorship, but 
Springett died in 1730, and the claims of William, 3d, were 
extinguished by the payment of £5,500. 

William Penn, Jr., his only living son by his first marriage, 
was sent to Pennsylvania by his father hoping that a change of 
environment and the importance of a responsible duty would 
reform his habits. He came to Pennsylvania, leaving his wife 
and family in England. Lieut. John Evans came over with him. 
They arrived February 2, 1704. His freedom in Pennsylvania 
enabled him to lead a wild and profligate life, to the disgrace of 
James Logan and all other friends of his father. His conduct 
was such that it made it impossible for him to remain, and at the 
end of November, 1704, he returned to England, having been 
here but nine months. By this unfortunate visit he injured not 
only himself but his father as well. William Penn, in one of his 
letters to James Logan, says: "He is my greatest affliction for 
my soul's sake and my posterity's or family's sake." His 
profligate and extravagant habits both in America and England 
were a source of great expense to his father who could illy 
afford to pay his debts, and moreover it is quite evident that 
William Penn was not a successful financier. 

It was Cervantes who first said "Comparisons are odious," 
but by way of contrast: Admiral Penn would not tolerate the 
religious tendencies of his son, W^illiam. He beat him and 
turned him from his home, and finally sent him to Paris to mingle 
with the gayest life of any city on the globe, but he came back to 
England unchanged, and also as a polished gentleman, and this 
same William Penn, the proprietary, sent his son, William, Jr., to 
America to remove him from his gay life in London, only to lead a 
wild life to the disgrace of his father and his father's friends, and 
came back to his profligate life in England. 

With the death of Richard Penn, Richard Penn, 3d (grandson 
of Richard Penn and great-grandson of the founder), on April 21, 
1863, the family name of Penn by the first marriage of Willfam 
Penn, became closed, and by the death of Rev. Thomas Gordon 
Penn, who died unmarried, on September 9, 1869, the family 
name through William Penn's second marriage with Hannah 
Callowhill, also became closed, and the family name of Penn 
became extinct, and the male entail of the Proprietary estate 
ended. Rev. Thomas Gordon Penn was a clergyman in the 



WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 163 

Church of England. It is a fact worthy of note that none of 
WiUiam Penn's sons became permanently attached to the Society 
of Friends. 

Successive Proprietaries of the Province of 
Pennsylvania 

I will add to this paper as supplementary thereto, a memoran- 
dum to show the various governors of the Province of Pennsyl- 
vania, also a memorandum to show the successive proprietaries 
down to and after the Declaration of Independence, for the 
Commonwealth by act of General Assembly on November 27, 
1779, (1 Smith Law, 470), very generously allowed the Penns to 
complete sales of all lands that had been surveyed prior to July 4, 
1776, and moreover appropriated the sum of £130,000 sterling 
to be paid "to the devisees and legatees of Thomas Penn, and 
Richard Penn, late Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, respectively, 
and to the widow and relict of the said Thomas Penn," to be paid 
in installments after the close of the war for their unsold lands, 
on account of which payments began in 1785. In England the 
Committee on Claims, allowed them an additional £500,000 
sterling, making a total of £630,000 sterling, or about $3,150,000, 
not a bad return for William Penn's original investment of 
£16,000. It was the payment of these moneys that enabled 
some of the scions of the Penn family to live in luxury over the 
remainder of their lives. By sundry agreements between the 
Penn heirs, the proprietary rights became entailed in male tail, 
and when the name of Penn in male tail became extinct with the 
death of Rev. Thomas Gordon Penn in 1869, the rights became 
vested in William Stuart, Jr., as tenant in tail general. He was 
the son of Archbishop William Stuart, who had married Sophia 
Margaretta Penn, youngest daughter of Thomas Penn. William 
Stuart, Jr., was a great-grandson of William Penn, the founder. 

Brief of Title to Pennsbury Manor 

I have also prepared a complete chain of title to Pennsbury 
Manor, for which there is no time at my disposal to present, but 
will briefly say that Pennsbury Manor was located and laid out 
during the first visit of William Penn. It was included within 
the boundaries of Falls Township, which was not erected into a 
township until ten years later in 1692. The area of Pennsbury 



164 WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 

Manor was reduced by grants made by William Penn and his 
agents until the home tract of 300 acres only remained. In 1707, 
the mansion house with gardens and orchards was rented to 
Col. Robert Quarry of the customs, for £40 per year, merely to 
have it occupied. ^^ Many Indian treaties and conferences were 
held under its hospitable roof by William Penn, and on May 9, 
1735, seventeen years after the death of William Penn, the last 
Indian treaty was held there by Thomas Penn, at which James 
Logan, Jeremiah Langhorne, Joseph Kirkbride, Israel Pember- 
ton and others were present. The Indians were represented by 
Nutimus, Lesbeconk, Lapawinzo and Tiscohan. This council 
was a continuation of the celebrated Walking Purchase treaty, 
begun in Durham Township in 1734, adjourned to Pennsbury 
and finally concluded at Philadelphia, August 25, 1735. 

From an exemplification deed on record at Philadelphia it 
appears that the heirs of William Penn executed a power of 
attorney to Charles Thomas and John Hurst authorizing them 
to make sales and execute deeds for Pennsbury Manor. It 
further appears that Richard Penn, grandson of the founder, on 
June 27, 1775, bought the remaining 300 acres with the view of 
making his future home there. He demolished the old house, 
with the plan of building a new one, but owing to the war raging 
at that time the American people did not feel kindly toward him, 
and he therefore abandoned his project, and on June 20, 1792, 
conveyed the 300 acres for the consideration of £2,500 to William 
Bell. (Deed Book No. 27, page 400, etc.) William Bell on 
May 3, 1803, conveyed the same 300 acres to Robert Crozier. 
(Deed Book No. 33, page 30, etc.) Robert Crozier divided the 
tract, selling 100 acres on June 23, 1803, to Jacob Van Hart. 
(Deed Book No. 33, page 134, etc.) Robert Crozier died inte- 
state seized of the remaining 200 acres, leaving a widow, Rosa- 
mond, and two sons, Robert and Samuel, to survive, to whom 
under the laws of Pennsylvania the property descended. Sub- 
sequently, on April 1, 1812, Jacob Van Hart and wife reconveyed 
to Robert and Samuel Crozier the 100 acres, whereby they 
became seized of the entire 300 acres conveyed to their family 
by William Bell. 

16 Colonel Quarry was not at heart friendly with the Penns, and in 1709 
when William Penn became involved in debt, he gave up this lease, and con- 
nived with a hostile legislature in unfriendly acts towards the Penns, including 
the impeachment of James Logan. 



WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 165 

From the Crozier family it passed successively to Hector C. 
Watson, Essick Howell, George Warner, Jr., Seymore Y. Warner, 
the De Frain Sand Company and the Van Sciver Corporation, 
which was taken over and consolidated with the Warner Com- 
pany, which company has this day, by its president, Charles 
Warner, very generously delivered a deed to the Commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania for 9.8 acres covering the tract where the Manor 
House and other buildings stood, the tract on which we are now 
assembled.'^ 

Let us hope that through the wisdom of our executive and 
legislators, this sacred and historic spot may be restored, as 
nearly as can be, to its former condition, and thus honor the 
memory of William Penn, the founder of our beloved Common- 
wealth, whose fame will endure through all ages, the most con- 
spicuous figure in early American colonial history. 




ADMIRAL SIR WILLIAM PENN 

(Father of William Penn) 

Born May, 1621; died September 16, 1670 

Married Margaret Jasper of Holland 

17 This deed bears date July 20, 1932, acknowledged the same day, and 
recorded at Doylestown, October 24, 1932, in Deed Book No. 609, page 3, &c. 



PROPRIETARIES OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Charles, the Second, King of England, Scotland, France and 
Ireland, on March 12, 1664, granted to his brother, James, Duke 
of York and Albany, Earl of Ulster, etc., afterwards King James, 
the Second, under whom the Dutch had been dispossessed of all 
their American territory, "All of New England from the St. 
Croix to the Delaware." 

Charles, the Second, granted the Province of Pennsylvania, 
including the three lower counties of Sussex, Kent and New 
Castle, comprising the entire state of Delaware, to William Penn, 
Esquire, by royal charter dated March 4, 1681. 

James the Duke of York, conveyed the territory embraced 
in the royal charter of March 4, 1681, to William Penn, Esquire, 
by deeds of enfeoffment bearing dates August 21 and 24, 1682. 

William Penn, the Proprietary, divided the Province of 
Pennsylvania into three counties, Bucks, Chester and Philadel- 
phia, shortly after the grant to him, but there does not appear to 
be any record of the date upon which this was done. It was con- 
firmed by the Provincial Assembly, March 1, 1685. 

William Penn died at Ruscombe, Berkshire, England, July 30, 
1718, having first made his last will and testament, bearing date 
May 27, 1712. He appointed his wife, Hannah Penn, his sole 
executrix. His son, William Penn, Jr., did not share in the 
proprietary rights of his American colony. He at first objected 
to the proving of the will, but it was finally probated in Doctors' 
Commons, November 14-18, 1718. William, Jr., then filed 
objections in Chancery to the conditions of the will, but died 
June 23, 1720. The contest was then taken up by his children 
and negotiations were pending to sell Springett and William, 3d, 
two sons of William Penn, Jr., a life right in the proprietorship, 
but Springett died in 1730, and the claims of William, 3d, were 
extinguished by the payment of £5,500. 

By his will, William Penn devised the Province of Pennsyl- 
vania to Hannah Penn, Thomas Callowhill, Margaret Lowther, 
Gilbert Heathcote, Samuel Wildenfield, John Field and Henry 
Gouldney, all living in England, and Samuel Carpenter, Richard 
Hill, Isaac Norris, Samuel Preston and James Logan, all living in 
or near Pennsylvania, in trust, to convey to such children by his 
wife, Hannah Penn, as the said Hannah Penn might appoint. All 



WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENN SBURY 167 

the children by the said Hannah Penn were minors at the time of 
William Penn's death. John, the oldest, was eighteen and Dennis, 
the youngest, eleven. 

Hannah Penn, the widow of William Penn, the Proprietary, 
by her deed of appointment dated November 18, 1718, appointed 
the Province of Pennsylvania to her four sons; three-sixth or 
one-half thereof to John Penn, one-sixth thereof to Thomas 
Penn, one-sixth thereof to Richard Penn and one-sixth thereof 
to Dennis Penn, which deed of appointment contained a proviso 
that Hannah Penn could revoke, cancel and annul it at any time 
before conveyance of the legal title, to her appointees by their 
trustees under the will of William Penn. 

Hannah Penn, subsequently, upon the death of her son Dennis 
(died February 8, 1723), revoked, cancelled and annulled the 
deed of appointment, dated November 18, 1718, and by her deed 
of appointment dated January 7, 1725, appointed the Province 
of Pennsylvania to her three sons, two-fourth or one-half thereof 
to John Penn, one-fourth thereof to Thomas Penn and one- 
fourth thereof to Richard Penn, which deed of appointment con- 
tained a proviso that Hannah Penn could revoke, cancel and 
annul it at any time before conveyance of the legal title to her 
appointees by the trustees under the will of William Penn. 

Hannah Penn died December 20, 1726, and by her will dated 
September 11, 1718, appointed the Province of Pennsylvania to 
her four sons by William Penn; three-sixth or one-half interest 
therein to John Penn, one-sixth thereof to Thomas Penn, one- 
sixth thereof to Richard Penn and one-sixth thereof to Dennis 
Penn. (A will "speaks as of the testator's death," that is to say, 
became effective at and immediately upon the death of the 
testator. Hannah Penn's will therefore revoked, cancelled and 
annulled her deed of appointment of January 7, 1725.) 

John Penn, Thomas Penn, Richard Penn, Margaret Penn, 
Thomas Freame, Joseph Weyth and Sylvanus Brown entered 
into an agreement under date of July 5, 1727, by which it was 
agreed that the deed of appointment of Hannah Penn dated 
January 7, 1725, by which she appointed the Province of Penn- 
sylvania to her three sons, to-wit: John, Thomas and Richard, 
should stand instead of the appointment made by her last will 
and testament, so that John Penn should be entitled to two- 



168 WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 

fourths, Thomas Penn, one-fourth, and Richard Penn, one- 
fourth thereof. 

John Penn, Thomas Penn and Richard Penn entered into an 
agreement under date of May 8, 1732, in and by which they 
agreed the one with the other that upon their respective deaths 
they would divide their several interests in the Province of 
Pennsylvania in male tail. 

Samuel Preston and James Logan, the surviving trustees 
under the will of William Penn, deceased, released the estate in 
the Province of Pennsylvania to John Penn, Thomas Penn and 
Richard Penn. 

John Penn, by his will dated October 26, 1746, and probated 
November 12, 1746, devised his one-half interest in the Province 
of Pennsylvania to Thomas Penn in male tail with the right for 
the tenant in male tail to convey the whole or any part thereof 
in fee simple. 

Thomas Penn and Richard Penn by an agreement under 
date January 31, 1750, agreed that they would thereafter severally 
hold their several undivided one-fourth interests in the Province 
of Pennsylvania, which had been appointed and released to them 
in male tail with the right for the tenant in possession in male 
tail to dispose of the whole or any part thereof in fee simple. 
This agreement was modified under date March 20, 1750, but 
affirmed the part thereof by which they had agreed to thereafter 
hold their several undivided one-fourth interests in the Province 
of Pennsylvania in male tail. 

Richard Penn by his will dated March 21, 1750, and probated 
March 4, 1771, devised his undivided one-fourth interest in the 
Province of Pennsylvania to his son, John Penn, called John 
Penn, the elder, in estate male tail. The agreements between 
Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, however, had previously estab- 
lished an entail in male tail of his interest in the Province of 
Pennsylvania. 

Thomas Penn died March 21, 1775, and by his will dated 
November 18, 1771, his undivided three-fourths interest in the 
Province of Pennsylvania passed to his son, John Penn, called 
John Penn, the younger, under the provisions of the will of John 
Penn, the son of the Proprietary, and the agreements between 
Thomas and Richard Penn bearing dates respectively January 31 
and March 20, 1750. 



WILLIAM PENTS; AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 169 

The Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, created the 
Independent Sovereignty of the United States of America, and 
Articles of Confederation and perpetual union were ratified 
between the thirteen states March 1, 1781. The Commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania was erected out of the Province of Pennsylvania 
and a Constitution adopted July 15, 1776, to September 28, 1778. 

By Act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania passed November 27, 1779, the title of the late 
Proprietaries to the public lands of the State of Pennsylvania, 
was vested in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the use of 
the citizens thereof, but the title to the lands which had been 
surveyed and set apart by the Proprietaries prior to July 4, 1776, 
were reserved to them. 

On the death of Thomas Penn, March 21, 1775, his son, John 
Penn, called John Penn, the younger, became owner of three- 
fourths interest in the Province of Pennsylvania, in male tail, 
and on the death of Richard Penn, February 4, 1771, his son, 
John Penn, called John Penn, the elder, became owner of one- 
fourth interest in male tail, and on his death, February 9, 1795, 
without issue, his one-fourth interest passed to John Penn, the 
-younger, who then became the sole proprietary of the Province 
in male tail. On his death, June 21, 1834, without issue, not 
having married, the entire Province became vested in Granville 
John Penn, son of Granville Penn and grandson of Thomas Penn, 
and on his death March 29, 1867, without issue, not having mar- 
ried, the entire interest in the Province became vested in his 
brother. Rev. Thomas Gordon Penn, who died September 10, 
1869, without issue, not having married. With the death of 
Rev. Thomas Gordon Penn, the last survivor of the Penn family 
in male tail, and in fact the family name of Penn became extinct. 

The male line of the family of William Penn, the Proprietary, 
having become extinct, the title to the Province of Pennsylvania 
and the lands reserved to the late proprietaries under the Act of 
General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, passed 
November 27, 1779, vested in William Stuart, Jr., under the 
entails created by the agreements between John Penn, Thomas 
Penn and Richard Penn, dated May 8, 1732, the will of John 
Penn, dated October 20, 1746, and probated November 12, 1746, 
and the agreements between Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, 
dated respectively January 31, 1750, and March 20, 1750, and 



170 WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 

under date of November 11, 1750, William Stuart, Jr., recites 
himself as the heir at common law in tail of John Penn or some 
of them, by sundry deeds, wills or descents and recites former 
grants made by them of lands and tenements in the Common- 
wealth by deeds insufficient to debar entailments, which grants 
the said William Stuart, Jr., is desirous of confirming to William 
Levi Bull:* "All and singular the lands, tenements and heredita- 
ments in the said Commonwealth which the said John Penn, the 
elder, John Penn, the younger, the said Thomas Penn, the said 
Richard Penn or any subsequent tenant in tail thereof severally 
and respectively, either by themselves or their attorneys in fact 
have granted and conveyed to divers persons for a full and valua- 
ble consideration, intending to grant and convey such premises 
to the purchaser or purchasers in fee simple," to hold the same 
"to the use of every such purchaser or purchasers and their heirs 
and assigns, so as to enure to the benefit of all persons holding or 
claiming any estate, title or encumbrance in or upon any such 
lands, tenements, and hereditaments, derived or created by or 
under any bona fide purchaser for a good and sufficient considera- 
tion from the said tenants in tail respectively, for the time being 
as aforesaid with the intent that all such grants and conveyances 
by them or any of them so heretofore made, be hereby absolutely 
ratified, confirmed and established." 

This deed which barred the entail, and confirmed the title to 
all properties deeded by the Proprietaries, was joined in by his 
second wife, Adelaide, and was acknowledged in the Supreme 
Court of Pennsylvania, March 25, 1871, and is recorded at Phila- 
delphia, in the office for recording of deeds in and for Philadelphia 
County, in Deed Book J. A. H., No. 123, page 442, etc. 

William Stuart, Jr., was a member of Parliament, born 
October 31, 1798, died July 7, 1874. He was twice married; 
first to Henrietta Maria Pool, who died July 26, 1853 ; and second 
in 1854, to Georgiana Adelaide Forester. He was the son of 
William Stuart, D. D., Archbishop of Armagh, in the established 
church, and consequently Primate of Ireland, who had married 

1 William Levi Bull, a student at law in Mr. Rawle's office, reconveyed 
the lands, tenements, etc., to the said William Stuart, his heirs and assigns 
"in absolute fee simple clear and discharged of from all limitations, condi- 
tions, covenants and restrictions whatsoever." 

For a complete history of the Penn titles, see article by William Brooke 
Rawle, in Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. XXIII, beginning at page 60. 



WILLIAM PENN AND HIS HOME LIFE AT PENNSBURY 171 

Sophia Margaretta Penn, youngest daughter of Thomas Penn, 
and therefore a great-grandson of WilHam Penn, the Founder. 

John Penn, known as "John Penn the Elder," son of Richard 
Penn, who was the last proprietary governor, was one of the 3>S 
oflfice holders under the crown and proprietary government who 
by act of July 31, 1777, and by order of the Supreme Executive 
Council of August first of that year, was to be imprisoned and 
removed from the state. He with his attorney general, Benjamin 
Chew, was arrested and sent to Fredericksburg, Va. On May 15, 
1778, they were discharged from their parole and allowed to go 
to the Union Iron Works, near Clinton, N. J., owned by Ch. J. 
William Allen and Joseph Turner, where they made their home 
for six months, in what is now High Bridge, in a house called 
"Solitude," still standing, belonging to the Taylor Iron & Steel 
Co. The chamber occupied by John Penn has undergone but 
little change, is called "John Penn's Room," and is an object of 
interest to visitors. 

John Penn, known as "John Penn the Younger," son of 
Thomas Penn, who came to Philadelphia in 1783, bought a 
property of 15 acres on the west side of the Schuylkill, now part 
of Fairmount Park, where he built a house and named it "Soli- 
tude," no doubt so named from the High Bridge house occupied 
by his cousin, "John Penn the Elder." 




"SOLITUDE" AT HIGH BRIDGE, N. J., FROM THE SUN DIAL WALK 

Allthough this house had been remodeled, the room occupied by John Penn has 
undergone but little change 



PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA 
Proprietaries, Governors, Lieutenant Governors and 
Presidents of Council Acting as Deputy 
Governors, 1681-1776 

William Markham June 1681-Sept. 1682 Lieut. Gov. 

^ William Penn Oct. 1682-Aug. 1684 Prop. & Gov. 

^ Thomas Lloyd Aug. 1684-June 1685 Deputy Gov. 

^ Thomas Holmes June 1685-Aug. 1685 do 

2 Thomas Lloyd Sept. 1685-Dec. 1688 do 

^ John Blackwell Dec. 1688-Jan. 1690 Lieut. Gov. 

William Markham Mar. 1691 -Apr. 1693 Deputy Gov. 

William Markham Apr. 1693-Nov. 1699 Lieut.Gov. 

^ William Penn Nov. 1699-Nov. 1701 Prop. & Gov. 

Andrew Hamilton Nov. 1701-Apr. 1703 Lieut. Gov. 

Edward Shippen Apr. 1703-Feb. 1704 do 

John Evans Feb. 1704-Jan. 1709 do 

Charles Gooken Feb. 1 709-May 1717 do 

Sir William Keith May 1717-July 1726 do 

Patrick Gordon July 1726-Aug. 1736 do 

James Logan Aug. 1736-Aug. 1738 Deputy Gov. 

George Thomas Aug. 1738-May 1747 Lieut.Gov. 

Andrew Palmer June 1747-Nov. 1748 Pres. of Council 

James Hamilton Nov. 1748-Oct. 1754 Lieut. Gov. 

Robert Hunter Morris Oct. 1754-Aug. 1756 do 

William Denny Aug. 1756-Oct. 1759 do 

James Hamilton Oct. 1759-Nov. 1763 do 

^ John Penn Nov. 1763-May 1771 do 

^ Richard Penn, Jr May 1771-Aug. 1775 do 

John Penn Aug. 1775-July 1776 do 

1 During the times William Penn, the proprietary, was in America, he 
acted as governor and also presided as president of council, which he organ- 
ized. He presided at meetings from March 10, 1683, to August 14, 1684. 
The last was held at Sussex while enroute to England, and again from Decem- 
ber 21, 1699, to October 28, 1701. 

2 The Presidents of Council were designated as Deputy Governors. The 
minutes of August 6, 1684, record that William Penn issued a commission to 
Thomas Lloyd as President of Council to act in the Governor's stead and "to 
keep the great seal." 

3 William Markham was Deputy Governor from March, 1691, to April, 
1693, and Lieutenant Governor from April, 1693, to March, 1695, under the 
administration of Benjamin Fletcher, during the intervention of control by 
the crown, and again as Lieutenant Governor until November, 1699. 

4 John Penn, recited as John Penn, the Elder, and Richard Penn, Jr., 
were sons of Richard Penn, and grandsons of William Penn, the proprietary. 






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Partial Genealogy 
of the Family of 

William Penn 

Proprietary of the 

Province of 

Pennsylvania 



Tabulated by 
Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr. 
Riegelsville, Pennsylvania 

October, 1932 

Old-style calendar used 



. p. Without issue 



Only child of Sir Wil- 
liam and Lady Mary 
Springett 



1— Guilelma Maria Peni 

2— William Penn— Twii 

3 — Marj' Penn — Twin 

4 — Springett Penn 
b. Jan. 25, 1675 
d. Apr. 10, 1696 
Did not marry 

5— Letitia Penn 

"an. I2."l'699,''s.T 
6— William Penn, Jr. 



7 — Guilelma Maria Penn 



The following seven 
children by Penn's 



1— Giiilelma Maria Penn 

a. Oct. 1, 1748 
2— Springett Penn 



1 — Wm. Penn Thomas 

2 — Mary Margaretta 
Fell 

3— Guilelma Maria 

Frances Fell < 

4— Col. Robert Edward 
Fell 

Not'iSried'' ""' 

5 — Springett Penn Fell 



9 — Thomas Penn 



Lady Juliana Fermor 

Thomas came to America 

August 11, 1732 

Returned to England 

October 17, 1741 



1— William Penn, 4th 

b. June 21, 1752 

2— Juliana Rawlins Penn 

ni. May 23. 1771 
William Baker, Esq. 

3 — Thomas Penn, Jr. 
b. July 17, 1754 

4— William Penn— Twin 



xi pKlaJe'Shia 
to England in 1788 
-Granville Penn 
d! Sept. 28! 1844 ^ 

To Isabella Gordon Forbes 



. 1847 



I— Juliana Baker— d.s.[ 

m. Sh!i' HcVtert 
Fawsct Rawlins 

1— John William Penn 

Eur. Dec. 18, 1802 

2— Granville John Pen: 



ThelastdescendantorWm 



4— William Penn 



-Juliana Margaret 
Penn 
Died in infancy 



-ThomasPenn-Gaskell 



2— Peter Penn-Gaskell 

d! July 16, 1831 

m. Elizabeth Edwards, 



-Sophia Penn 
d. s. D. in 1827 
First wt.c 



, K. C. B 
-Louisa Emily Penn 



^^^y- (Sequence may not be 



-Wm. Penn-Gaskell 



3— Eliza Penn-Gasl 



4 — ^Alexander Forbes 
Penn-Gaskell 
d. Sept. 8, 1829 
Aged 27— d. s. p. 

5- Peter Penn-Gaskell, 



6 — Christiana Guilelma 
Penn-Gaskell 
d. Mar. 29, 1830, .let. 24 
m. William Swabric Hall 
d. Sept. 26. 1862 
Aged 63 years 

7— Jane Penn-Gaskell 
Agcd'2'4-No?ma,ried 

8— Isaac Penn-Gaskell 
Not married 



-Wm. Penn-Gaskell 
b. Feb. 20, 1808 
Married- 10 children 



2 — Louisa Penn-Gaskell 
William 'Gerald Fiu- 



5- Hetty Penn-Gaskell 

d. B. p. 
6— Mary Penn-Gaskell 



7— William Penn- 
Gaskell 
d. Dec. 6, 1865 

8— Jane Penn-Gaskell 



9— Emily Penn-Gaskell 

m. 1864— John Paul 

Quinn, M. D. . 



10— Peter Penn-Gaskell, 



m. Mary Kathleen Stubbs 



f l^Wm. Penn-Gaskell 



2— Peter Penn-Gaskell 
Hall 
Twice married, Dec 24 
1— Annie M. Mbtsell 

Dau.' Peter mWu, 
Easton, Pa. 



2 — Louella Skillern 



nn-Gasltell Sldllern 



2— Peter Penn-Gaskell 



1 — Granville Penn- 
Gaskell Quinn 
d. 1893— aged 22 

I— Wm. Penn-Gaskell 



3— Percy Penn-Gaskell 
1— Christiana Gulielma 



3— Edward S. Hall 



5— Wm. Penn-Gaskell 



6— Peter Hall 
b. Mar. 14, 187; 

7— Amelia Hall 



I. 10— George Penn-Gaskell 



1— Jean Bar 
Gaskell I 



-Thomas Granville 
Henry Stuart Knox 
4th Earl of Ranfurly 



b. Mar. 24, ISM 



m. CotinlandY.\\*hite« 



Apr. 4, 1672 
To Guilelma Maria 
Springett 
b. 1643 or 1644 



liam and Lady 3Mar>- 

Springett 

Issue 7 children 



Issue 7 children 



Captain Giles Penn 
Margaret Jasper 

Daughter of 

John Jasper 

Rotterdam, Holland 



2— Richard Penn 



3 — Margaret Penn 
b. 

a. 1718 

m. Feb, 14. 1667 



— Thomas Pen: 



10 — Hannah Margarite 



To Philadelphia 

to England in 1781 

7— Granville Penn 



11 — Margarite Penn 



12— Richard Penn 



14 — Hannah Penn 



lan, D. D. 



1 — Thomas Freame 

2— Philadelphia 
Hannah Freame 
b. 1740-d. 1826 
2nd»i.ofThomasDaws( 



Twice married 
1st 10 Miss Cox 
AndonMav31,1766. 



4-^William Penn 



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Genealogical Notes and Land Titles 

Read Before The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania at 
Philadelphia, March 5. 1934 

By B. F. FACKENTHAL, Jr., Sc. D„ LL. D.. RIEGELSVILLE, PA. 

Mr. President, Members of The Genealogical Society of 
Pennsylvania, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

{FEEL highly honored to be invited to read a paper before this 
society, particularly as the invitation comes to me from your 

president, that veteran historian. Dr. Charles Penrose Keith, 
who has himself accomplished so much in adding to the history 
of your city, and in fact to the entire country, by his publications 
and the family records which they contain. His "Provincial 
Councillors of Pennsylvania," is a storehouse of information, and 
a most valuable contribution to the genealogy of early Phila- 
delphia families. 

I take it that I have been placed on your program by reason 
of my connection with the Bucks County Historical Society, and 
with that thought in mind, I must be pardoned if I make frequent 
references to that society, as well also to the Pennsylvania Ger- 
man Society, which has accomplished much along genealogical 
lines. 



The Pennsylvania-German Society 

The Pennsylvania-German Society, organized in 1891, has 
gathered much historical and genealogical data, and I make the 
statement without fear of contradiction, that the 41 volumes pub- 
lished by that society will compare favorably with those of any 
other patriotic society. Several of the volumes are devoted 
almost entirely to church records. I may add that there is 
often a lack of knowledge in regard to that association, many 
thinking that it is a society of Germans, whereas no German can 
become an active member, but only those who can trace their 
ancestry to people of Germanic origin, arriving in America prior 
to 1800. 

My paternal ancestor came to America from Germany in 



174 GENEALOGICAL NOTES AND LAND TITLES 

1742, which is one Hne entitUng me to membership in that 
society, while my maternal grandfather was a Scotch-Irishman. 
One of my friends, who has honored me with his presence here 
tonight, says that this qualifies me for membership in the Saint 
Andrew's Society. 

It was surprising, during the World War, to note the number 
of people who suddenly became Huguenots or who traced their 
lineage to Switzerland, leaving out their German ancestry. 



Immigrant Lists at Harrisburg 

There are on file at Harrisburg many of the original immi- 
grant lists of the early settlers, who were not British subjects, 
beginning with the year 1727 and ending with 1808. Of these 
lists 319, covering the period from 1727 to 1776, have been pub- 
lished by Prof. I. Daniel Rupp in his "Collection of Thirty Thou- 
sand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French and Other Immi- 
grants in Pennsylvania." These Rupp lists contain the names 
only of those who were required to take the oath of allegiance to 
King George II and King George 1 11.^ 

In 1880 under direction of our then Secretary of State, there 
was edited by Dr. William H. Egle, Librarian of the Pennsylvania 
State Library, as Vol. XVII, Second Series of the Pennsylvania 
Archives, a somewhat more comprehensive list of arrivals, includ- 
ing those published by Professor Rupp, with three additional 
lists of arrivals prior to 1776, also 148 lists of arrivals from 1786 
to 1808. The lists of both Professor Rupp and the Archives con- 
tain many errors and omissions, and both without regard to con- 
secutive arrangement as contained in the original lists. The 
Archives contain the captain's lists which include females and 
children under 16 years of age, who were not required to sub- 
scribe to the oath. 

The Pennsylvania-German Society has just completed new 
translations of all immigrant lists that can be unearthed at 
Harrisburg, to be published in three large octavo volumes of 
about 830 pages each, with carefully prepared indexes. 

The work of deciphering, translating and editing has been 

1 King George II, born October 30, 1683, died October 25, 1760; King 
Ceorge III, born June 4, 1738, died January 29, 1821. 



GENEALOGICAL NOTES AND LAND TITLES 175 

completed by the Rev. Dr. William J. Hinke, Professor of Semitic 
Languages and Literature in the Auburn, N. Y., Theological 
Seminary, who advises me that he has found 34 lists not hereto- 
fore published. The work is well in hand, in fact, has all been 
printed, except about 460 pages of the final index. These three 
volumes will be of the greatest value to all genealogists, for it is 
surprising to know the many families whose ancestry, through 
some branch thereof, traces back to a Germanic origin.*^' 

Prior to 1776, the greater part of these immigrants signed 
their own names to the qualifying lists, and from these auto- 
graphs we learn the correct way of spelling family names, but 
alas, many have since become anglo-saxonized : e. g., the Zim- 
mermans are now Carpenters; the Kleinhans's, Littlejohns; the 
Snyders, Taylors; the Swartz's, Blacks; the Jeagers, Hunters; 
the Keifers, Coopers; the Webers, Weavers; the Umholtz's, 
Underwoods; the Kisters, Custers;the Meyers, Moyers; and the 
LeFebers, Smiths. Other changes less radical have been made 
in many family names, principally in the spelling. One would 
hardly recognize the family names of some of the Crefelt colony, 
who settled Germantown, by the names their descendants bear. 

Since the organization of the Pennsylvania-German Society 
in 1891, there have been 1,657 applicants for membership, not 
all of whom, however, qualified. These applicants were required 
to furnish as full and complete data as could be obtained, cover- 
ing their ancestry on both paternal and maternal sides, thus 
making a series of valuable genealogical records. Some of these 
trace back through seven generations, which means 128 ancestors; 
ten generations would include 1,024 ancestors in a direct line of 
descent. It is to be hoped that these valuable documents, con- 
taining family data, can also be published at an early day. 



Family Genealogies 

Over the past years there has been a renewed interest in family 
genealogy, due largely to the fact that persons want to qualify for 
membership in some society, such as the Daughters of the Ameri- 
can Revolution, Sons of the Revolution, or some other hereditary 

IK Sirce reading this address, these three volumes, entitled "Pennsyl- 
vania German Pioneers," have been published, and distributed free to all 
members of the Pennsylvania German Society. 



176 GENEALOGICAL NOTES AND LAND TITLES 

patriotic society. Some are tracing their ancestry, believing that 
they can share in untold fortunes that await them in foreign 
lands; some to connect themselves with the Emmerick family,, 
believing they can share in the Astor millions. Librarians tell me 
that the greater part of their patrons visit their libraries to study 
family history. 

It is to be regretted that many of the family reunions spend 
so much of their time in feasting and often make no reference to 
their family history, which should be the objective in getting 
together. 

I am told that there are many loose papers, letters and other 
documents stored at Harrisburg, which have not been classified 
or catalogued. It seems to me that these valuable colonial and 
other historical documents should be cared for, edited and pub- 
lished by our State Department. In other words, the publication 
of the so-called Pennsylvania Archives should be continued until 
every available document is put in print. The cost of doing this 
should not be great, and the work should be put in hand before 
these valuable papers become lost, stolen or mislaid. 

The Bucks County Historical Society 

The Bucks County Historical Society, founded in 1880, char- 
tered in 1885, has for its chief object the collecting and housing 
of ancient tools and implements used by our pioneer ancestors 
in clearing the forests and making homes for themselves in what 
was then an unbroken wilderness, with complete sets of tools of 
many tradesmen to show their primitive uses, development and 
evolution, as well as archaeological and other ancient objects. 
These are housed in two connecting buildings, one erected in 
1904 through the liberality of William L. Elkins and his son, 
George W. Elkins, which we call the "Elkins Museum," and the 
other an imposing fire-proof building erected by the late Dr. 
Henry Chapman Mercer, from his own plans under his personal 
supervision, and presented by him to the society, which we call 
the "Mercer Museum." This was opened June 17, 1916, and 
with it Doctor Mercer presented to the society his private col- 
lection, which he had been years in gathering. This collection is 
unique, and I am sure cannot, at this late day, be duplicated. 
Among other items we have 466 firebacks and stove plates, made 



GENEALOGICAL NOTES AND LAND TITLES 177 

up of 313 different patterns. Most of these are described and 
illustrated in Doctor Mercer's book entitled "The Bible in Iron 
or the Pictured Stoves and Stove Plates of the Pennsylvania Ger- 
mans."' The earliest of the stoves was the so-called "five-plate 
jamb stove," which in fact was not a stove at all, but a warming 
oven supplied with heat by passing a flame through it from an 
adjoining fireplace. This was followed by a six-plate draft stove 
operated independently, with an outlet at the top for a smoke 
pipe attachment. There are also examples of Franklin Fire 
Places, invented by Benjamin Franklin, followed with a ten- 
plate stove with a warming oven, and the first to have a bake 
oven. Many styles of wood-burning stoves for heating are still 
in use. It was long after the discovery of anthracite coal in 1791, 
that stoves for burning coal came gradually in use, to be invaded 
in the twentieth century by gas, oil and electric apparatus. 

At the conclusion of my paper I will show on the screen a few 
of these interesting firebacks and stove plates, to illustrate their 
evolution and development, as well also a few of the natural 
geological features of the neighborhood in which I live, also views 
of the museums and Fonthill. Half-tone engravings of these 
slides will appear as illustrations to this paper. 



Fonthill, Home of Dr. Henry C. Mercer 

Allied with the museums is "Fonthill," home of the late Doctor 
Mercer, completed in 1910, a most imposing castle-like concrete 
fire-proof building, profusely decorated with tiles, mostly made at 
his own factory from his own designs, but also many from ancient 
countries. At Fonthill, scattered throughout the different rooms, 
there is a library, which includes many scarce books, consisting of 
5,815 bound volumes and some 1,000 pamphlets, relating mostly 
to folklore, archaeology, history and other like subjects, none, 
however, being along genealogical lines, in which he was not much 
interested. A typewritten catalogue of this library has been pre- 
pared, and in due time will be printed for free circulation, in order 
that students and the public generally may become acquainted 
with the interesting features of this wonderful collection of books. 

2 There are in the Mercer Museum ten firebacks, all of different patterns' 
Also 456 stove plates, made up of 313 different patterns. 



178 genealogical notes and land titles 

Museum Library 

At the museum we have a carefully selected historical and 
genealogical library, about 10,000 bound volumes with thou- 
sands of pamphlets and manuscripts. These are housed in a 
room decorated with Mercer tiles, illustrating historical and 
local features of Bucks County. This room alone is well worth 
a visit to Doylestown. To this we have just added an annex 
with capacity to care for the growth of the library for some 
years to come, and which will enable us to better care for our 
books, maps, newspapers, deeds, manuscripts and other historical 
items."' In 1908 we established a publication fund and have since 
issued six octavo volumes containing all papers read before the 
society from its beginning in 1880 to the close of 1932."* Over the 
past three years the average yearly visitors at the museum who 
registered was 7,637 and at Fonthill 3,183, and I am told that 
about 25 per cent, do not register. 

Through the liberality of the will of Doctor Mercer, we now 
have ample income to carry on our work along more liberal lines. 
Among other things we are hoping to establish a magazine to con- 
tain such papers as may be read before the society, as well also to 
make more permanent our church records, tombstone inscriptions, 
current historical items and such other like historical and genea- 
logical records. 

As president of the Bucks County Historical Society and of 
the Fonthill Trust, I extend to you a cordial invitation to visit 
these unique buildings with their interesting collections. 

Our society, or rather some enthusiasts connected therewith, 
have made complete records of many tombstone inscriptions of 
which several typewritten copies have been made. It is my 
intention to present my copies of these to your society, having 
already placed copies with the Bucks County Historical Society. 

We have also secured copies of many church records, and such 
of these as were in German have been carefully and reliably trans- 
lated by the Rev. Dr. Hinke. My own copies of these will also in 
due time be presented to your society. 

■5 This annex is of fire-proof construction consisting cf two rooms, following 
the lines of the main building. The inside dimensions of one room are 31 feet 
wide by 50 feet long, with an 18 feet ceiling, and with a bridge or passage-way 
9 feet 2 in. by 16 feet, leading to the old library. The other room or addition, 
completed in 1937, is about 33 feet by 58 feet. 

4 "The Fackenthal Publication Fund"- — These six volumes contain an 
aggregate of 4,079 pages, with 515 papers and discussions and 401 illustra- 
tions, besides maps, tables and other inserts. 



genealogical notes and land titles 179 

Sources of Genealogical Data 

It is gratifying to know that your society has on file abstracts 
of wills and administrations of many of the near-by counties. 
Those of Bucks County from 1685 to 1825, are also in the Bucks 
County Historical Society, having been abstracted by our veteran 
librarian, Warren S. Ely. 

These records are reliable sources of family history, as are also 
church records and tombstone inscriptions to which I have already 
referred. Other sources well known to you are deeds, mortgages, 
court records, military records, family papers and family Bibles of 
which we have 89 in the library of the Bucks County Historical 
Society. 

Land Titles 

The study of old deeds and land titles is another source for 
gathering genealogical data, to which I have devoted much time, 
particularly of properties in Durham and adjoining townships. 

In referring to land titles and the history of the Durham Iron 
Company in connection therewith, I must be pardoned for draw- 
ing on other papers that I have heretofore presented to historical 
societies.^ 

I have been aided in this interesting work by having many 
old deeds and other title papers fall into my hands. Some of 
these had belonged to my great-grandfather (1756-1846), some to 
my grandfather (1795-1872), who was an engineer and con- 
veyancer, and some to my father (1825-1893), who although a 
lawyer, was also an accomplished engineer interested in that 
character of research. 

But the most valuable documents, some 50 of them, all parch- 
ments, came to me through a goldbeater in Philadelphia, who had 
purchased them to use for beating goldleaf , and seeing their value, 
parted with them for the sum of eighty dollars. Most of these 
are title papers connected with Durham Iron Works and Trevose 
in Bensalem Township, the home of Lawrence Growdon and later 
of Joseph Galloway, who had married his daughter Grace, from 
whom she inherited inter alia, Trevose and that part of Durham 
containing the iron works. 

While there is evidence of an earlier iron-ore reducing plant 

S "The Durham Iron Works" — Paper read before the Friends Historical 
Association of Philadelphia, June 10, 1922, and also referred to in other papers. 



180 GENEALOGICAL NOTES AND LAND TITLES 

at Durham, it was not until 1726 that the Durham Iron Company 
was formed to erect a blast furnace. The partnership agree- 
ment bears date March 4, 1727, to continue 51 years. The 
twelve men who formed the company were: Jeremiah Langhorne 
of Bucks County, who later became chief justice of the Province; 
Charles Read, later a provincial councillor, and then mayor of 
Philadelphia in which office he served three years, collector of 
excise, trustee of the loan office and judge of the admiralty court; 
Anthony Morris, mayor of Philadelphia in 1739; Robert Ellis, 
merchant; George Fitzwater, merchant, grandfather of George 
Clymer; John Hopkins, mariner; Thomas Lindley, anchorsmith; 
Clement Plumsted, who served as a provincial councillor and 
three terms as mayor of Philadelphia; William Allen, who mar- 
ried Margaret, daughter of Andrew Hamilton, was chief justice 
of Pennsylvania, 1751 to 1774; Joseph Turner, who for fifty years 
was a business partner of William Allen, served as a provincial 
councillor and who in 1745 declined his election to the mayoralty 
of Philadelphia; James Logan, Penn's secretary, whose history 
is well known to you; and Andrew Bradford, printer, son of the 
William Bradford, first printer of New York, and an uncle to the 
William Bradford, so frequently referred to by Benjamin Franklin 
in his autobiography. These were indeed a galaxy of prominent 
and influential men. 

The documents from the goldbeater, to which I have referred, 
included the deed from Samuel Powell, dated February 10, 1727, 
conveying the Durham property back to the twelve partners 
freed from the trust. ^ Deeds from the heirs of Charles Read, the 
first of the partners to pass away, setting forth that part of Charles 
Read's holdings, belonged in fact to James Logan, his brother-in- 
law, but was put in Read's name in order that James Logan might 
control his two votes, as each one-sixteenth entitled a partner to 
one vote; deeds from George Fitzwater and Joseph Turner releas- 
ing part of their holdings to the Charles Read estate, and declar- 
ing that each of them was the bona fide owner of but one-twenty^ 
fourth and not of one-sixteenth.^ This was done to give James 
Logan control of their votes. By these manipulations James 

6 Recorded at Philadelphia, August 2, 1743, Deed Book G, Vol. Ill, p. 
240 &c. 

^ Recorded at Philadelphia, Augu&t 2, 1742, Deed Book G, Vol. Ill, p, 
240 &c. . - & . 



GENEALOGICAL NOTES AND LAND TITLES 181 

Logan secured control of six votes, two of his own, two of Read's 
and one each of Fitzwater and Turner. 

Among these deeds was the original patent, dated April 4, 
1749, to Rev. Richard Peters in trust for 1,472 acres of Durham 
company lands lying outside of Durham Township, signed by 
James Hamilton as Lieutenant Governor, at a time when he was 
himself one of the owners of the company.^ 

There were also a number of Joseph Galloway documents 
including a certified copy of his will on file in England;^ and 
deeds and declarations in re the antenuptial settlement of his 
daughter Elizabeth, who was to marry William Roberts of the 
Middle Temple, barrister at law. This document and many 
others are not recorded. The marriage of Elizabeth Galloway 
proved to be an unhappy one and after the birth of their child 
they entered into a separation agreement.^" 

There are also three of the six deeds for the so-called Pidcock 
tract in Solebury Township, Bucks County, (the Thompson- 
Neely tract) now belonging to the Washington Crossing Park 
Commission, which were not recorded; also the original patent to 
Lawrence Growdon, dated October 31, 1737, for 2,957 acres of 
land at Trevose in Bensalem Township. 

I have deposited most of these documents in the archives of 
the Bucks County Historical Society, and in due time expect to 
present that society with the others, together with many other 
deeds and historical manuscripts now in my possession. 

Durham Iron Company's Lands Partitioned 

When the Durham Iron Company's lands were partitioned, 
December 24, 1773, four years prior to the expiration of their 
partnership agreement, none of the original partners shared in 
the division, all had passed away except William Allen and Joseph 
Turner who had previously disposed of their interests.** 

In the division about sixty per cent, of the entire company, 
which had belonged to Lawrence Growden, then deceased, was 

8 Patent book "A," Vol. XVI, p. 388 &c. 

9 Probated in England, September 28, 1803. Recorded at Philadelphia, 
November 14, 1831, Book of Wills No. 9, p. 684, &c. 

10 Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. II, p. 454. 

II C. J. William Allen, died September 6, 1780; Joseph Turner, died July 
25. 1788. 



182 GENEALOGICAL NOTES AND LAND TITLES 

allotted to his two daughters, one-half or thirty per cent, of the 
whole to Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Nichelson, who resided in 
England, and the other thirty per cent, to Grace, wife of Joseph 
Galloway, which included that part of Durham containing the 
blast furnace, forges, mines, quarries and waterpower. 

Immediately after getting possession of the iron-works tract 
in 1773, the Galloways leased the plant to George Taylor, who 
was in possession and living in Durham when on August 2, 1776, 
he affixed his signature to that immortal document, the Declara- 
tion of Independence. 

Durham Furnace, during the administration of George Taylor, 
was on August 25, 1775, the very first in Pennsylvania to supply 
shot and shells to the Continental army. Cannon were also made 
at Durham, from which furnace ammunition continued to be 
made in large quantities to the close of the war.^^ 

Shot and shells were also made at Durham Furnace for the 
French and Indian war.'^ 

Joseph Galloway Attainted of Treason 

By Act of the General Assembly passed March 6, 1778, 
Joseph Galloway was attainted of treason, and his property in 
Pennsylvania seized and sold by the Commissioner of Forfeited 
Estates. ^"^ 

In the partition of the Durham Iron Company he was allotted 
two tracts, or about four per cent, of the whole in his own right; 
one of which (No. 7) was confiscated, the other one (No. 33) he 
sold to Joseph Morris, this tract borders on the Delaware River 
and forms part of the borough of Riegelsville, the tract on which I 
reside. 

Galloway bought two other of the Durham tracts, one (No. 
9) from James Hamilton, the other (No. 8) from Mrs. Cordelia 
Smith, both of which were confiscated. 

Joseph Galloway's life-right in the Durham Iron Company 
belonging to his wife, nee Grace Growdon, was also seized and 
sold by the Commissioner at Newtown, August 23, 1779, and 
purchased by Richard Backhouse, who took title in his own name 

12 Colonial Records, Vol. X, pp. 297-298-315-331-339-354-365-373-381- 
382-598-690; For Cannon, see ibid., p. 598. 

13 Bucks County Court Records, September Term, 1765. 

14 1 Smith's Laws, p. 449 and Statutes at Large, Vol. IX, p. 201. 



GENEALOGICAL NOTES AND LAND TITLES 183 

for himself and his three associates.'"'' Galloway's life-right in 
Trevose (444 acres), Belmont (574 acres), King's Place (297 
acres), Richlieu (407 acres), Delaware river tract (160 acres) and 
all other properties belonging to Mrs. Galloway were also se- 
questered and sold. 

Grace (Growdon) Galloway died at Philadelphia, February 6, 
1782, leaving issue an only child, to wit: Elizabeth, wife of Wil- 
liam Roberts, who as a young woman was quite the toast a cen- 
tury and a half ago, and to whom she devised the Durham estate 
by her last will and testament, bearing date December 20, 1781. 
Shortly after his attainder Joseph Galloway fled to England, 
taking with him their daughter Elizabeth, who did not return to 
Pennsylvania."' 

Joseph Galloway died at Watford, County of Hertford, Eng- 
land, August 29, 1803, by his last will and testament, dated June 
9, 1803, he devised inter alia all his estate in America to trustees 
for the use of his daughter, Elizabeth Roberts, for life free and 
clear of any rights or claims of her husband. 

Richard Backhouse died in 1795, and in 1804, after the death 
of Joseph Galloway, the heirs of Mrs. Galloway brought ejectment 
proceedings in the Courts of Bucks County to dispossess the heirs 
of Richard Backhouse. The Supreme Court, after several argu- 
ments, declared that Galloway's attainder vested no claim to the 
real estate of his wife, Grace, in the Commonwealth, and only 
freed it from his tenancy by the courtesy when she died seized, 
and therefore the property passed by her will, and the Backhouse 
heirs were dispossessed.'^ 

Mrs. Galloway passed away twenty-one years before the death 
of her husband, and therefore did not live to see Durham and her 
other real estate restored to her heirs. By her will, made tw^o 
days prior to her death, she devised Durham to her only daughter, 
Elizabeth, wife of William Roberts, and from Mrs. Roberts it 
passed to her only daughter, Ann Grace Roberts, wife of Ben- 
jamin Burton, Lieutenant in the 19th Lanciers. Mrs. Burton by 

15 The firm of Richard Backhouse t*t Co., was composed of Richard Back- 
house, Isaac Sidman, George Taylor and Robert Lettis Hooper, Jr., they were 
equal partners. 

16 See diary of Mrs. Galloway in Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. 
55, pp. 32 to 94 and Vol. 58, pp. 152 to 189. 

.17 Jenks vs. Backhouse Heirs, 1 Binney, pp. 1 and 91. Also Pemberton 
vs. Hicks, 3 Dallis, p. 479 and 4 Dallis, p. 168. 



184 GEJ^EALOGICAL NOTES AND LAND TITLES 

her last will and testament, bearing date December 10, 1837, 
devised her Durham estate to her youngest son, Adolphus William 
Desart Burton, who came of age in 1847, and who on January 25, 
1848, granted a letter of attorney to William Rawle of Philadel- 
phia, with power to sell his Durham property and execute deed or 
deeds for same. 

On March 16, 1848, the Durham property was sold by William 
Rawle, attorney, at public sale, held in the township of Durham, 
and was purchased by Joseph Whitaker & Company, who took 
possession, reopened the mines and quarries, and erected two 
blast furnaces adapted to use anthracite coal, and otherwise im- 
proved the property, which continued to be the seat of a blast- 
furnace plant until 1912, when the plant closed down and the 
property was divided and sold. Joseph Whitaker was the grand- 
father of former Governor Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker. 

It may not be known to all of you that among the properties 
belonging to Joseph Galloway, that were seized and sold by 
order of the Supreme Executive Council, was the now celebrated 
Hog Island, in the Delaware river below Philadelphia.^^ Nor 
the fact that part of the monies received from the sale of forfeited 
estates was appropriated to support the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, founded in 1749, but not erected into a University until 
1779, the very year these forfeited estates were sold/^ 

Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa. 

Referring to the University of Pennsylvania, which Ben- 
jamin Franklin was largely instrumental in founding, leads me 
to say, (although not germane to my subject), that Benjamin 
Franklin, that many-sided man, was also instrumental in 1787, 
in establishing Franklin College at Lancaster, Pa., now Franklin 
& Marshall College. The charter members and the first board 
of trustees contain the names of four signers of the Declaration of 
Independence: Robert Morris, Dr. Benjamin Rush, George 
Clymer and Thomas McKean. Among others of the first trus- 
tees were Thomas Mififlin and Joseph Hiester who became gov- 
ernors of Pennsylvania, as did also Thomas McKean; Jasper 
Yeates who became a distinguished jurist; William Rawle, 

18 Colonial Records, Vol. X, p. 607; Vol. XII, pp. 661 and 730; Pennsyl- 
vania Archives, 1st ser. Vol. VIII, p. 760 and 6th sen, Vol. XII, p. 197. 

19 Statutes at Large, Vol. X, p. 23, Act of November 27, 1779. 



GENEALOGICAL NOTES AND LAND TITLES 185 

appointed United States District Attorney by Washington in 
1791, reviser of the Civil Code of Pennsylvania, and the first 
president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.^" William 
Bingham and Peter Muhlenberg who became United States 
Senators. ^^ The remainder of the board, 43 in all, was made up 
of clergymen, scholars and other distinguished men of their time. 
A publication recently unearthed in Paris, printed in French, sets 
forth that Benjamin Franklin was present at Lancaster and laid 
the corner-stone of Franklin College in 1787. 

James Buchanan was elected president of the board of trus- 
tees of Franklin and Marshall College, January 23, 1853, and 
continued to serve during the entire time he was President of the 
United States, resigning July 25, 1865, after the close of the civil 
war. 

Warrants, Surveys and Patents for Land 

While preparing this paper, a friend writes to ask how settlers 
became vested in their lands in fee. This suggests that the pro- 
cedure may be of interest to some of you. 

In Pennsylvania the first humane act was to extinguish the 
Indian titles. This William Penn was always careful to do, in 
fact he paid for his Pennsbury tract (8,431 acres) a second time to 
satisfy an Indian chief, (King Sepassing), although it had pre- 
viously been purchased and paid for by William Markham.^^ By 
his just and honest dealings William Penn always retained the 
confidence and friendship of the Aborigines, but some of the sub- 
sequent proprietaries were not always so considerate, and brought 
down upon themselves and all settlers the animosity of the 
Indians, as witness the unjust Walking Purchase of 1737, result- 
ing in the most barbarous massacres and caused the Indians to 

20 William Rawle, LL.D., born April 28, 1759, died April 12, 1856, com- 
pleted his legal education in London, where he was admitted to the Middle 
Temple, August 17, 1781. In 1827, the College of New Jersey (now Princeton 
University) conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. See 
Biographical Notice, First Series of Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Vol. IV, 
pt. 1, published in 1840. 

21 William Bingham was the founder of Binghamton, N. Y. Gen. Peter 
Gabriel Muhlenberg (1746-1807), called and known as Peter Muhlenberg, was 
United States Senator from February 18, 1801, to October 1, 1807. His 
brother, Gotthilf Heinrich Ernest Muhlenberg, V.D.M., a celebrated botanist, 
was the first president of Franklin College. 

22 This was included within the bounds of the first purchase from the 
Indians, negotiated by William Markham, July 15, 1682, before the first 
arrival of William Penn. 



186 GENEALOGICAL NOTES AND LAND TITLES 

ally themselves against the English and their associates in the 
wars that followed. 

In the settlement of new countries one of the burning ques- 
tions is to encourage immigration, and get settlers to take up 
lands, and not to put hindrances in their way. William Penn 
recognized this in making Pennsylvania not only an asylum for 
religious freedom, but as a means of populating a new country 
as well. 

Warrants to take up land were often granted by the Pro- 
prietaries for favors received, but also to almost any one applying. 
The grants were subject to certain conditions to be complied with 
when surveys were made and patents issued. 

The warrants were often for large acreages, which could be 
split up and all or any part thereof transferred to others. They 
entitled the holder to take up any unoccupied land, in fact 
squatters established what were called "settlements," by locating 
on and improving unoccupied lands, which gave them a good 
title against every one except the Penns. The warrantees or the 
squatters applied to the Surveyor General for surveys, which 
having been made were returned to the department, and when 
the conditions were complied with patents were granted. Some- 
times surveys overlapped, which often led to disputes and litiga- 
tion. 

There was often a lapse of time, sometimes several years, 
after surveys were returned before patents were granted. Surveys 
were sometimes transferred to others. They may have been dis- 
posed of for a consideration or because the original applicant 
could not comply with the conditions. The land had to be paid 
for according to its location and value: in the upper end of Bucks 
County the consideration was about three shillings and one penny 
per acre. 

In addition to the money consideration all patents contained 
the following reservation: 

"Three full and clear fifth parts of all Royal Mines, free from all deductions 
and reprisals for digging and refining the same; and also one-fifth part of the 
ore of all other mines, delivered at the pit's mouth, only excepted and hereby 
reserved." 

And in addition thereto the Proprietaries were to receive a 
yearly rental of one-half penny per acre. 

Patents or original titles were in fact deeds in fee, and all sub- 



GENEALOGICAL NOTES AND LAND TITLES 187 

sequent deeds of transfer were by indentures. The parchments 
on which they were written had indented or notched edges at 
both tops and bottoms. This practice was established before 
the days of recording, or when duphcates were required. The 
chain of title was determined by the indentures fitting and mem- 
bering into each other, and although this practice has long since 
been neglected, the legal term of Indenture survives. 

The General Assembly of Pennsylvania passed an act Novem- 
ber 27, 1779, for vesting the Estates of the late Proprietaries of 
Pennsylvania in the Commonwealth, which in the most liberal 
manner sets forth in detail the relief reserved to the Penn Family, 
to which they were entitled prior to July 4, 1776.^"' 

The Province having been entailed in male tail to the Penn 
heirs, and the last male heir, the Rev. Thomas Gordon Penn, 
having died September 10, 1869, without issue, William Stuart, 
Jr., a great-great-grandson of William Penn, became the Tenant 
in Tail General to the estate. 

By deed dated November 11, 1870, acknowledged in the 
Supreme Court, March 25, 1871, William Stuart, Jr., barred the 
entail, and confirmed the titles to all Pennsylvania lands, his wife 
Adelaide joining in the deed ; thus perfecting the titles to all lands 
that were thought to be defective or concerning which some ques- 
tions of sufficiency had been raised.^* 

I have here for inspection a book in typewriting, containing 
complete briefs of title to all lands in Durham Township and of 
many tracts in Springfield and other townships, all in Bucks 
County, with historical notes, which will, in due time, be pre- 
sented to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 

23 Statutes at Large, Vol. X, pp. 33 et seq. 

24 Recorded at Philadelphia, Deed Book J. A. H. No. 98, p. 311 and No. 
123, pp. 442 et seq. For a complete History of the Penn Titles, see article by 
William Brook Rawle, in Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Vol. XXHI, p. 60 
et seq. 




First casting known to have been made in America. 
Cast at Saugus Iron Works, Lynn, Mass., in 1644. 




FIVE PLATE JAMB-STOVE 

Pen drawing by Dr. Henry C. Mercer to show a section throufih the center of a five plate 
jamb stove. This shows the plan and use of the first stove made in the Province, which was in 
fact a warming device and not a stove. It was built against the partition wall between a kitchen 
and an adjoining room. The flame from the open fireplace in the kitchen, marked G, was 
carried through the jamb opening E, and after passing through the stove B, was returned to the 
kitchen flue through opening F, to the chimney H. 

This plan of jamb-stove is described by Benjamin Franklin. See The Works of Benjamin 
Franklin by William Duane, Vol. Ill, page 458. 




FIVE PLATE JAMH-STONIC 
Dated 1760 — The Tenth Commandment 

Inscription — las dich nicht gelyssten deines nest sten gut 
Translation — Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods 

The so-called Home House, near Richlandtown, on the north side of the public road (Route 
No. 212) leading from Springtown to Quakertown in Bucks County, built in 1743 by Joseph 
Unthank, was equipped with a five plate jamb-stove, which was removed some years ago, but 
the kitchen fireplace and openings into the adjoining room remain. This house was purchased 
by R. P. Hommel, and restored by Dr. Mercer at a cost of $6,000 in order to preserve the only 
known fireplace of its kind in Bucks County. 



■mm 



"^'^^m^m^:^ 







THE DANCE OF DEATH 

A reconstructed five-plate stove 

The inscription on the side plate reads 

HIR. FEIT. MIT. MIR. DER. BITER. TOT. 

ER. BRINGT. MICH. IN. TOTS. NO. 

English translation 

Here fights with me the bitter death 

and brings me in death's stress. 
(Dr. Mercer's Bible in Iron, No. 76.) 




SIX PLATE DRAFT STOVE 

The six plate draft stove was the direct successor of the five plate jamb-stove, and the first 
to have an independent opening for a smoke pipe, thereby permitting a fire to be maintained 
in the firebox. It is not known when the six plate stoves were first used, but they antedate 
the stove invented in 1742 by Benjamin Franklin. Baron Stiegel claimed to have been the 
first to make them, viz.. at his blast furnace at Manheim, in Lancaster County. Some of his 
early stoves contained the inscription: 

"Baron Stiegel is der Mann, Der die Oefen mechen kan": Translation, Baron Stiegel is 
the man who knows how to make stoves. 

The complete stove shown above was made at Warwick Furnace in 1764, with the inscrip- 
tion "Las Vom Bessen Thue Gutes" — Translation: Depart from Evil and do Good. 

Baron Stiegel also built a glass works at Manheim in 1765-68, then the only factory of its 
kind in the British Colonies. 




TEN PLATE STOVE 

Following the six plate stove in the evolution of stoves, was the ten plate stove, which 
marked a great improvement in construction, for it not only had a firebox connected with the 
chimney, but was the first to have an oven for cooking, baking and roasting. The flame 
carried underneath tlie oven, passes around its back, thence over the top, with the draft stack 
over the front. These still survive in some out of the way country places. They were made 
in large quantities at Durham in two sizes designated as large and small. The large ones 
weighed 5 cwt. (560 pounds) and were charged in 1782 at £5-10/. The small ones were 
charged at £5. Their weight is not given; they were usually billed by the ton. 

The stove shown above was made in 1768 by Thomas Maybury at the Hereford Furnace, 
\ ocated on the Perkjomen Creek in Berks County, Pa. 



r 



|o. 





TEN PLATE STOVE 

Following the six plate stove in the evolution of stoves, was the ten plate stove, which 
marked a great improvemer.t in construction, for it not only had a firebox connected with the 
chimney, but was the first to have an oven for cooking, baking and roasting. The flame 
carried underneath the oven, passes around its back, thence over the top, with the draft stack 
over the front. These still survive in some out of the way country places. They were made 
in large quantities at Durham in two sizes designated as large and small. The large ones 
weighed 5 cwt. (560 pounds) and were charged in 1782 at £5-10/. The small ones were 
charged at £5. Their weight is not given; they were usually billed by the ton. 

The stove shown above was made in 1768 by Thomas Maybury at the Hereford Furnace, 
Jocated on the Perkiomen Creek in B^rks County, Pa. 







t 
ii 






r I 



,J 



^x'SJ^!. 



FRANKLIN FIRE-PLACE, INVENTED BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN IN 1742 
DLtailed plan of construction showing air inlet and circulation of flame, Franklin's own description. Ttie works of Benjamin Franklin, Phi- 
losophical \ olume Eesa^s and Correspondence, Volume III, page 411 et sen., published in 1808 by William Duane of Philadc-lphia. 




FRANKLIN FIRE-PLACE IN BUCKS COUNTY 
HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM 

Invention of Benjamin Franklin in 1742, and always referred to as "Fire-Places." Designed 
for warming and not for cooking. Made at different blast furnaces, and apparently of different 
patterns. The earliest ones were probably made at Warwick Furnace. The Durliam Furnace 
books show shipments down to 1789, when the charcoal furnace stopped operating. In October, 
1783, eight Franklin Fire-Places were shipped to Philadelphia at one time, and the consignee 
wrote that he had four others on hand. Refererce is made of two sizes made at Durham. 
In 1783 shipments were made of fire-places weighing 5 cwt., i. e., 560 pounds, and the price 
charged was £5-5/. In 1785 they were billed at £4-10/, whether for a smaller size does not 
appear. 

The base-plate shown above is not an original plate and does not show the inlet for air. 




FIREBACK MADE AT DURHAM FURNACE. 1728 

One of the eight firubacks in Stcnton, at Wayne Junction, Philadelphia, the home of James 
Logan, Penn's secretary. Cast at Durham in 1728 at a time when Jauie.-; Lnuan owned three- 
eighths of the Durham Iron Company. Borings were taken from three of these firebacks 
for chemical analyses, which were found to exactly agree with castings made from Durham 
ores. 

There is a fireback in the Sir William Keith house, Graem Park, on the Little Neshaminy 
in Montgomery County, built in 1721, somewhat similar in design and decoration, but slightly 
larger than the Stenton plates, but bearing the same date, 1728, which was not made at Dur- 
ham. 

No fireback or stove plate or any other casting could have been made at any iron works 
other than a so-called blast furnace. The earliest blast furnace in Pennsylvania was Cole- 
brookdale built in 1720. Durham Furnace was built in 1727. In 1728 there were but four 
blast furnaces in Pennsylvania. 




FIREBACK AT VALLPZY FORGE 

Bearing date 1734. Found about one mile from Washington's lieadquarters in an old liouse, 
which had been tire lieadquarters of General Lord Stirling during the Revolutionary encamp- 
ment, winter of 1777-78. Probably made at Warwick Furnace. Chemical analysis shows that 
it was not made at Durham. 



COLEBROOKDALE FURNACE, BERKS COUNTY, PA. 

Side plate of a six-plate stove cast in 1763. Colebrookdale, built in 1720, was the first blast 

furnace to be erected in Pennsylvania. Thomas Rutter, whose name appears on the 

cartouch, was the principal member of the company to establish this early plant. 

The inscription on tliis plate is, 

COLEBROOKDALE FURNAC 

THOMAS RUTTER 

THU. RECHT. UND. 

The English translation DO RIGHT AND. 

This motto is completed on the other plates which went to make up a complete six-plate stove. 

(Dr. Mercer's Bible in Iron, No. 155.) 




FIRERAC K M 



AT OXFORD, N. J., BLAST FURNACTi", 1746 



Decorated witli Coat of Arms of England, with tlie lion, unicorn, crown, crest and legend 
of the garter: "Honi Soit qui mal y Pensc," Evil to him w!io evil thinketh. Another Oxford 
fireback with same date and decorations contains the motto: "Dieu et mon Droit," God and 
my right. Oxford blast furnace was built in 1743. 







Di o 



Z 5 
O <« 



El g 







RINGING ROCKS OF HRIDGETON TOWNSHIP. BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 
Propert>' of the Bucks County Historical Society. Area about 7 acres. 

This is one of seven known fields of Ringing Rocks, along line of the Triassic or New Red 
Sandstone, three in Bucks County, three in Montgomery County and one in Chester County. 
(See Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. V, p. 212 et seq.) 




RIPPLE MARKS OR WAVE LINES 

In limestone quarry at Raubsville, Northampton County, Pa. One mile north of the 
Riegelsville Borough line, and six miles south of Easton, about 50 yards from the west shore 
of the Delaware river. One of the largest and best defined ripple marks or wave lines along the 
Atlantic coast. 

(See First Geological Survey of Pennsylvania by Prof. H. D. Rogers, Vol. I, p. 99.) 




PALISADES AT THE NARROWS OF NOCKAMIXON, 
BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 

The "New Red Sandstone" bluffs rise almost sheer 400 feet above the Delaware river. 
Pleasure boat "Zlotub," leaving Narrowsvillo locks. This, the Delaware Division Canal, was 
closed to navigation and taken over by the State of Pennsylvania, October 17, 1931. The 
late Dr. Thomas C. Porter considered these palisades one of the best botanical fields in the 
United States. (Photograph taken September 9, 1908.) 



An Introduction to the Loyalists of Bucks County and Som6 
Queries Concerning Them 

By LOUIS ELY THOMPSON. GLEN RIDGE, N. J. 
(Doylestown Meeting, May 5, 1934) 

OUR local historians have been so engrossed in preserving 
the facts concerning the patriotic citizens of Bucks who 
upheld the Continental Congress that they have largely 
overlooked the equally patriotic services of the native sons of this 
same county who joined the British. Excepting the Doans, the 
Tories or Loyalists have not been the subject of a separate study 
by the Bucks County Historical Society. Adherence to the 
Crown prompted the Loyalist to serve in many fields and in var- 
ious ways. Circumstances frequently drove him into active par- 
ticipation in the bitter contest; and a neutral position was beset 
by the suspicions of both sides and made hard to maintain. Many 
were expatriated. For a long time, then, this ignoring of the 
Loyalists by our historians was natural, of course, since in this 
country the descendants of those who upheld the American Cause 
were and are interested in the careers of their Revolutionary 
grandfathers while the descendants of the Loyalists were mostly 
scattered throughout the British Empire. 

Without attempting an investigation of the activities of all 
the Loyalists of Bucks, it would be interesting to pursue the 
careers of a few of them. And such a pursuit brings the searcher 
to puzzling questions to which there may be no answers. 

It was by the fortunes of war that the Loyalists of Bucks were 
compelled for the most part to render their military services to the 
British in other fields, for they had no choice but to follow where 
the British military power controlled. Take, for instance, the 
Bucks County Volunteers at the Block House Fight at Toms 
River, New Jersey, in 1782. The history-minded person from 
Bucks is set on his puzzled way to further investigation of this 
event when he learns that the Loyalist expedition against the 
New Jersey Militia in the Block House at Toms River was led by 
two Bucks County Loyalists, Evan Thomas of Hilltown and 
Owen Roberts of New Britain. Usually the search for historic 
facts is started by some curiosity-arouser. Let the Block House 
Fight at Toms River serve that purpose In this introduction to 
the Loyalists of Bucks County. 



INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 205 

One of the best accounts of this fight is in the Collection of 
Papers of the Bucks County Historical Society, an article by 
General W. H. Stryker, read before the society on January 21, 
1885, under the title of "Three Dramatic Scenes in the Closing 
Hours of the Revolutionary Struggle." In it we read that the 
Board of Associated Loyalists in New York designated Captain 
Evan Thomas and Lieutenant Owen Roberts, both of the Bucks 
County Volunteers, as leaders of the raid against Toms River. 
With them were about forty refugee Loyalists and eighty priva- 
teer seamen under the command of one Lieutenant Blanchard. 
Since Thomas and Roberts came from Bucks, it is quite likely 
that is the reason General Stryker read his paper in the county 
from which these belligerent refugee Loyalists hailed. But 
General Stiyker's article leaves us still curious as to who Evan 
Thomas and Owen Roberts were and what sort of an organiza- 
tion the Bucks County Volunteers was. There are several 
sources of information, no one of which is complete. 

Edward Mathews, in writing about the Thomases of Hilltown, 
says that Evan Thomas' family was of Welsh descent, that they 
were not related to the other Thomases of that township, and 
that they were an aristocratic and wealthy family possessed of 
much land and several slaves. Their home was near Rieff's 
Corner. William and Evan Thomas were grandsons of the first 
Evan in Hilltown.^ 

In the list of those who associated themselves to resist British 
aggression, there are several Thomases enrolled in Hilltown 
Township and five others of that name who were listed as Non- 
Associators. The names of William and Evan Thomas do not 
appear on either list. The name of an Evan Thomas does appear 
among the Non-Associators in Buckingham. Whether this was 
the same Evan who afterwards was captain of the Bucks County 
Volunteers is a question. 

When General Howe's army occupied Philadelphia after the 
battle of Brandywine, William and Evan Thomas among other 
Loyalists from Bucks joined him there. William was made a 
captain of Loyalist troops. His name seldom appears in the his- 
tories and Evan is given credit for organizing and leading a troop 
of mounted men called the Bucks County Volunteers. 

1 "The Thomas Family of Hilltown," Edward Mathews, page 1. 



206 INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

Evan Thomas at that time was in his early thirties. He must 
have been a vigorous fellow to endure the hardships of the many 
campaigns and must also have been endowed with a spirit of 
leadership, since he organized his troop of dragoons and com- 
manded them throughout the remainder of the war. At Toms 
River his men fought as foot soldiers, having been transported 
from New York in boats. It is disappointing that so little is 
known about Evan Thomas in this country; the records are so 
meager that there is not enough from which to make an appraisal 
of his character nor to enable one to visualize his personality. 

The Block House Fight at Toms River was of no great mili- 
tary importance. Captain Thomas and his men captured the 
little fort, burned it, and threw its spiked guns into the river. 
After they had burned the whole village, they carried the sur- 
vivors of the garrison away as prisoners. Lieutenant Roberts 
was severely wounded in the assault on the stockade-like fort and 
it was necessary to hasten back to New York with him and the 
other wounded Loyalists. The victors were elated over the cap- 
ture of Captain Joshua Huddy, the redoubtable Whig m.ilitia 
captain, who commanded the little garrison of the fort. A few 
days after the return to New York, a party of New Jersey Loyal- 
ists under the command of Captain Richard Lippincott of 
Shrewsbury carried Captain Huddy down to Atlantic Highlands 
and, without a trial, hanged him on an hastily improvised gal- 
lows. The Americans were greatly exasperated when the news of 
the burning of the town and the death of Huddy spread over the 
now thoroughly incensed country and many of the British also 
deprecated the unwarranted hanging. General Washington, 
after a dignified correspondence with the British General Clinton, 
determined to retaliate in kind. After consulting with his gen- 
erals, he decided upon the selection of an officer from among the 
British prisoners taken at Yorktown who would be hanged if 
Captain Lippincott were not surrendered. The unfortunate 
choice fell on Captain Asgill, a young officer of the First Regiment 
of Foot and the only son of a wealthy English baronet. Wash- 
ington's ultimatum was, "To save the innocent, I demand the 
guilty." Now there was the devil to pay. Captain Lippincott 
was court-martialled by the British and acquitted on his defence 
that he had acted under the orders of William Franklin, the 
deposed Loyalist Governor of New Jersey and now President of 



INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 207 

the Board of Associated Loyalists in New York. Franklin took 
the next ship for England. The Asgill family and their friends 
moved heaven and earth to save Captain Asgill 's innocent neck 
from the hangman's noose, and at last Count de Vergennes, 
Prime Minister of Louis XVI, interceded with the American Con- 
gress, whereupon Captain Asgill's "ticket was killed," so to 
speak, and he was allowed to return to the British lines. That is 
not the whole story, but the brief account may explain the reper- 
cussion of the victory of the Bucks County Volunteers at Toms 
River which agitated ofificialdom in America and Europe as well. 

What caused Evan Thomas and his fellow Loyalists to aban- 
don their homes and property in Bucks County and fight their 
countrymen thus? If the Loyalists are to be judged by the 
sizes of their estates and by their prosperous condition and in 
many cases by the elevation of the offices which they held, one 
would assume that they were somewhat satisfied with things as 
they were under the rule of Parliament and wished to maintain 
the established order for the security of their lives and their 
properties. Or did they merely join what seemed to be the 
wanning party? Whatever the reasons were, greater animosities 
were stirred up between them and their Whig neighbors, and a 
greater spirit of vindictiveness evinced in both parties in Bucks 
County, than was displayed by the British themselves. 

Thackeray says, "Adversity disarms animosity and causes 
yesterday's enemy to fling his hatred aside." Surely there has 
been enough of adversity in the last few years to cause moderns 
to forget those old hatreds. Now they can consider the con- 
testants dispassionately and without any feeling of bitterness. 
The old enmity which was inherited from the ancestors who 
suffered the deprivations of the struggle should be allowed to die 
out. 

But the subject of Loyalism was not always discussed amica- 
bly and with good feeling. When these old enemies were living, 
meeting them was not so pleasant as our associating with their 
descendants is today. Edward Hicks, whose preaching and 
painting have captured much of the attention of the Bucks 
County Historical Society, was the grandson of Judge Gilbert 
Hicks of Four Lanes End. In 1776 Judge Hicks opened court at 
Newtown in the name of the King and, as a result of this and his 
swinging over to the Loyalists after having enrolled as an Asso- 



20S INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

ciator on the American side, found himself so unpopular that he 
was obliged to flee to the British in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, to 
escape a mob of Whigs. Early in the next century Edward Hicks 
in company with Isaac Parry was traveling in Canada in his 
ministry to the Society of Friends there. The travelers fre- 
quently found lodging with members whose houses were con- 
venient to the meeting which Edward was to attend. In his 
memoirs he relates his experience on one of these occasions when 
he and his friend were entertained in the home of an old American 
Loyalist. Edward wrote: 

"On our way from Young Street to York, we were advised to 
call and stay a night with an old man whose wife was a member 
among Friends. They received us with something like the good 
old English hospitality. The old man, who seemed to plume 
himself on being the sam^e age as George the Third, had received 
this asylum for his secret service durirg the Revolutionary War. 
And I, too, soon had reason to suspect he was the very man that 
led or conducted the blood-thirsty General Grey to the massacre 
at Paoli. Any one acquainted with my prejudices against the 
English, might conclude I was not very comfortable; but had 
they seen the poor man hugging me, when he was told by Isaac 
Parry that I was the grandson of his old tory friend. Judge Hicks, 
they would have been quite disposed to join my friend Isaac in 
the enjoyment of this scene." 

The writer's own experience in meeting the descendants of 
American Loyalists has been rather amusing. I have had occa- 
sion to twit one of my friends in New York on the fact that while 
his ancestor, that same Judge Hicks, was a fugitive from Bucks, 
my colonial grandfather was being appointed as the first sheriff 
to hold that office under the new Whig government in Bucks. 
The cordiality of our relations has not been affected in the slight- 
est. At another time, while searching for data on Loyalists in 
the reserved book room of the New York Library, one of the men 
in charge there observed the nature of my investigations and in- 
formed me that he was descended from a family of Doans. When 
I told him that the Doans of our county had been outlaws during 
the Revolution, he took it good-naturedly and I suspect has 
redoubled his researches into his ancestry. 

But to return to the question: Why did Evan Thomas and 
the other active Loyalists find their position in Bucks untenable? 



INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 209 

The answer is not the same in all instances, and their departure 
hence was not immediate, nor did they all go at once. 

General Stryker said in his paper that Monmouth in New 
Jersey and Bucks in Pennsylvania were "filled with the strongest 
partisans of their country's freedom and here and there devoted 
friends of the royal cause." After the disturbance in Boston 
which followed the enforcement of the Port Bill, the "partisans of 
their country's freedom" were more generally called Whigs. The 
"devoted friends of the royal cause" were called Tories. Both 
designations were borrowed from the names of the political 
parties in England. Later the Tories honored themselves with 
the name Loyalist and reprobated the Whigs as rebels. Thus 
the distinctions were sharply drawn. Both parties were patriotic 
according to their own sentiments, but the Whigs seemed to have 
ascribed the virtue of patriotism exclusively to themselves. 

Early in the turmoil of these conflicting loyalties the Provincial 
Convention in Philadelphia recommended that the people "form 
themselves into associations to improve themselves in the mili- 
tary art . . ."^, and after the news of Lexington and Concord, 
the Committee of Correspondence in Philadelphia resolved that 
the people "... associate together to defend with arms their 
property, liberty, and lives against all attempts to deprive them 
of it."^ The Committee of Safety in Bucks was somewhat lack- 
ing in enthusiasm of a warlike nature until this later event, when 
they passed a resolution of similar tenor to that of the Conven- 
tion.'* 

Frequently quoted is the letter of Henry Wynkoop, who 
served on several county committees and was the delegate from 
Bucks on the State Committee of Safety for a year. Henry Wyn- 
koop wrote as part of a letter to Daniel Roberdeau, a member of 
the State Committee of Safety: "I have received the Returns of 
the Associators & non-Associators, except three townships and 
one Company lately raised, & the number stands, Associ.: 1688; 
Non-associ.: 1613. I have received some of the Association 
Rules, but am affraid the signing of them will go heavily, chiefly 
arising from the Quakers & others, who chuse it staying at home 

2 "Revolutionary Events About Newtown," Samuel Gordon Smyth, Bucks 
County Hist. Soc, Vol. Ill, page 180. 

3 "History of Philadelphia," Scharff and Westcott, Vol. I, page 295. 

4 "History of Bucks County," J. H. Battle, page 302. 



210 INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

and doing nothing."^ By this count of 1688 to 1613 it will be seen 
that there were more people of Loyalist sympathies than General 
Stryker thought when he wrote "here and there devoted friends of 
the royal cause." Probably he was correct in his inference if he 
were thinking of active friends of the royal cause. 

But the power of the Associators was ascendant, and they 
proceeded to tighten the restrictions on their opponents. Soon 
the Council of Safety recommended the appointment in each 
county of a Committee of Observation to look into the attitude 
and behavior of the disaffected Non-Associators. The committee 
in Bucks soon exposed three men who had spoken disrespectfully 
of the American Cause. Every one who delves into the old 
records soon comes to the names of these three. They were John 
Huff, Thomas Meredith, and Thomas Smith. They were the 
first in Bucks County to win unfavorable, public recognition for 
being men of Loyalist sympathies. The county committee 
passed resolutions calling on them for retraction of their state- 
ments. The first two made public apologies, but Thomas Smith 
of Upper Makefield, who had been reported by John Lacey, 
afterward General Lacey in Washington's army, maintained his 
stand, saying in part: "That measures of Congress had already 
enslaved America and had done more Damage than all the Acts 
of Parliam.ent ever intended to lay upon us, that the whole was 
nothing but a scheme of a parcel of hot-headed Presbyterians and 
that he believed the Devil was at the bottom of the whole; that 
the taking up of Arms was the most scandalous thing a man could 
be guilty of, . . ." But this stiff-necked Smith was not able to 
hold these opinions against the rising spirit of the rebellion and he 
too made public apology in writing.^ 

Other Non-Associators discreetly held their tongues, but the 
measures taken by the Council of Safety and later by the Supreme 
Executive Council of the State, which succeeded it, eventually 
forced every man to declare his sentiments. 

Then came the ordinances providing for the purchase of the 
arms of the Non-Associators and later for the seizure and turning 
over of these arms to the Associators. Another offensive against 

5 Penna. Arch. Sec. Series, Vol. I, page 551. 

6 Wilbur H. Siebert, Professor of History, Ohio State University, quotes 
this as do other writers. See his "The Loyalists of Pennsylvania," in Con- 
tributions in History and Political Science, Ohio State University, 1-7. Ibid. 



INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 211 

all who were not active Whigs was the making of defensive service 
in the miUtia compulsory with a tax of £2, 10 shillings above the 
regular assessment for non-service. This test of bearing arms 
on the days appointed for drill or service in the field bore espe- 
cially hard on the Quakers and Mennonites, whose religious 
scruples forbade this warlike exercise. Some of these peaceful 
citizens were dragged away to camp, where weapons were thrust 
into their limp hands. When the weapon fell to the ground the 
Whig military tied it fast to the unwilling recruit and the amusing 
spectacle was presented of a peaceful Quaker marching or doing 
guard duty with his gun tied to him. Meanwhile the recalcitrant 
Non-Associators were fined with inexorable severity. 

The Non-Associators made one final effort to maintain their 
position as a political force in opposition to the Whigs. It was in 
October of 1776 and at Newtown that the Non-Associators put 
over a quick election of representatives for the county. Lieu- 
tenant Colonel William Baxter, of the Bucks County Battalion 
of the Flying Camp (which was equestrian and not aeronautic), 
wrote to the Council of Safety at Philadelphia and sent Captain 
Sempell to inform the members concerning the election. Ap- 
pended to the copy of the colonel's letter in the Pennsylvania 
Archives is a copy of the list of the election olificers. Samuel 
Biles, the sheriff, appointed four inspectors, one of whom was 
Thomas Smith. It would be interesting to know whether this 
was the same Thomas Smith of Upper Makefield who spoke so 
caustically about the Congress. The clerks were William Linton, 
Thomas Ross, and William Atkinson. William Biles "dispersed 
the tickets." The words are probably Captain Sempell's. John 
Windar, Clerk of the Court, made the proclamation and Hicks 
proposed the plan.^ This was most likely Judge Gilbert Hicks, 
whose defection from the Whig Cause is explained in an article 
written for the Bucks County Historical Society by J. Pemberton 
Hutchinson, entitled "Newtown Prior to 1800," which was read 
on July 21, 1896. It is to be regretted that Captain Sempell* 
did not writp a description of this election for the interested 
readers of today, but if the polling of the votes were conducted in 
the same manner as the Tories of Lewes in the neighboring State 

7 Penna. Arch., Vol. V, pages 31-32. 

8 Robert Sample (Sempell) was from Buckingham and commanded a com- 
pany in the 10th Penna. Regiment. 



212 INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

of Delaware conducted an election there, Newtown was not arL 
agreeable place for Whig voters on that election day. At Lewes 
the Tories paraded in numbers and intimidated the Whigs. In 
Bucks later in the month the Council sent two companies of 
militia to suppress the political uprising at Newtown and to dis- 
perse the newly elected officials. 

In December of 1776, when the greater part of Washington's 
little army was encamped in Solebury and the Makefield Town- 
ships where they watched the Hessians in Trenton, the Council of 
Safety resolved: "That it is recommended to General Washing* 
ton to issue orders immediately for the Militia of Bucks and 
Northampton Counties forthwith to join the Army, and to send 
out parties to disarm every Person who does not obey the Sum- 
mons, and to seize and Treat as Enemies all those who shall 
attempt to oppose the Execution of this measure, and likewise 
every person in those Counties who are known or suspected to be 
enemies of the United States."^ 

It must have been at this time that a detachment of Washing- 
ton's army took Joseph Smith, the plow maker, from his home in 
Buckingham and thrust him into the jail at Newtown. Joseph 
would not pay the tax levied on Non-Associators, and, being a 
consistent Quaker, neither would he join the militia. Much of 
his personal property was seized for the tax. Grandmother Ann, 
as his wife was affectionately called by her many descendants,, 
sleeps by Joseph's side near the stone wall of the graveyard at 
Plumstead Meeting. She told her children and numerous grand- 
children before her death in 1854, when she was in her one hun- 
dredth year, that when the soldiers dragged her young husband 
from the house — they were married in 1774 — she had run to the 
door with his coat. It has been repeated by word of mouth to 
this present generation of her descendants what was said at that 
time when she wished with wifely solicitude to protect her hus- 
band from the cold. It was an Irish soldier who jeered, "We'll 
soon make the dommed Quaker warm enough." And Joseph and 
his bride saw that the soldiers were drawn up in two long lines, 
expectantly waiting for Joseph to run the gantlet. Being young 
and vigorous, run it he did and safely, though he received m.any a 
stinging whack from club and flattened sword. The need of the- 

9 Penna. Arch., Vol. V, page 115. 



INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 213 

coat suggests the time of year, since it was December of 1776, 
when Washington's army was in Bucks. 

The doubting Thomases of Hilltown and all other Non- 
Associators who w^ere not favorable to the independence of the 
American Colonies received another jolt in 1776 when the Whig 
government enacted two other ordinances. Briefly the first pro- 
vided for the arrest and imprisonment of residents of the State 
who traitoriously levied war against the United States or aided 
the enemy, and provided also for the confiscation of such person's 
property, and the second ordinance declared that any person 
who by writing or speaking obstructed the measures of the 
United States should desist in so doing and give sureties for good 
behavior, and if such persons were considered dangerous to the 
American Cause that they should be confined in the jail. These 
ordinances, of course, made the position of the active supporters 
of the King very difficult, especially since the application of the 
penalties was often combined with the application of tar and 
feathers by the Whig mobs. But these ordinances did not com- 
plete the pressure that was brought to bear on the Loyalists, for 
there were the various test laws, also, which required the taking 
of the Oath of Allegiance to the State and to the United States 
and the abjuration of Great Britain. A fac-simile of the Oath of 
Allegiance to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, signed by 
Bucks County's signer of the Declaration of Independence, is 
shown next to page 120, Volume V, of the Historical Society's 
Papers, in Warren S. Ely's Biography of George Taylor. Ordi- 
nance followed ordinance until the civil liberties and business 
activities of the Loyalists were severely restricted. Even their 
freedom of movement from place to place was restricted, and this 
applied to those aged sixteen or over and to women as well as men. 
The Loyalists might be divided into four groups. First: 
Those who took up arms and joined the British as did Captain 
Evan Thomas. Second: Those whose enmity took the form of 
outlawry similar to that of Moses Doan, who apparently thought 
that a pleasant way to spend an evening with his band was to rob 
a defenseless tax collector. Third : Those who secretly aided the 
enemy while remaining peacefully at home. Such a one was 
Anthony DeNormandie of Bristol, against whom Joseph Kirk- 
bride, colonel of the Associators, laid information before the 
Executive Council, so that DeNormandie was put under bail of 



214 INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

£500 to be of good behavior and to hold himself ready to appear 
before the Council and answer any charge for six months. 
Fourth: These were persons who held religious scruples against 
war and offered a passive resistance to the Revolution. Many of 
them refused to pay the taxes levied on them as Non-Associators 
or the fines which would give financial support to the military of 
the American Cause. Joseph Smith, the plow maker of Buck- 
ingham, was one of these. A fifth class might be included, in 
which would appear a few who were prominent as politicians. 
Joseph Galloway was an outstanding example in this class for the 
county as well as for the whole state. Indeed he might be put in 
a class by himself. 

The changing fortunes of the British army gave the Bucks 
County Loyalist a period of palpitation, caught as he was be- 
tween Hessian defeat at Trenton and British victory at Brandy- 
wine. After Trenton our own John Lacey, who was now Lieu- 
tenant Colonel of Militia in Bucks, said that many of his neigh- 
bors and acquaintances harbored "a sullen, vindictive, and 
malignant spirit," which led them to make threats against the 
Whig government when in the company of those who enter- 
tained similar opinions and to inform the British of the Whig 
activities and furthermore to attempt to dissuade the Whigs from 
joining the American army or the militia. It seemed to him 
difficult to decide which party was the more numerous, the Whigs 
or the Tories. Many of the disaffected, meaning the Quakers, 
pleaded their religious scruples against bearing arms, so that the 
majority of active partisans appeared to favor the Revolution. ^^ 

The examination of Christian Rufe and Godfrey Miller of 
Nockamixon shows what was going on in May of 1777. Chris- 
tian Rufe said that James Aycliff had asked him to enlist with 
Howe's army and offered him five dollars and one hundred and 
fifty acres of land, as a bounty; that several of his neighbors had 
enlisted and were to receive the bounty; and further that his 
father had told him not to enlist. He said that "Aycliff was 
over in Howe's Army last fall & praised them Much"; "he had a 
conversation with Godfrey Miller, Joiner, who told him the Con- 
gress were Hogs and that he had a mind to go & Blow their 
Powder up." On further examination Christian confessed that 
he had enlisted, but had never received any money. 

10 "The Loyalists of Pennsylvania," Wilbur H. Siebert. 



INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 215 

Godfrey Miller on examination confirmed Rufe's statement. 
When questioned concerning what he had said about Congress 
and the blowing up of their powder, answered that he might have 
said such things but had no real intention of doing so.'' 

The examiner was James Young." 

After the Battle of Brandywine and Howe's occupation of 
Philadelphia several Bucks County Loyalists joined the British 
in that city. Walter Willet, who had been lieutenant of Asso- 
ciators in Southampton Township in 1775, went over to the 
British and became a lieutenant in the Bucks County Light 
Dragoons. Another Willett, Augustine of Middletown Town- 
ship, was captain of the Associated company of the township, 
and as far as the records prove remained a steadfast Whig. If he 
w'ere related to Walter Willett of Southampton, theirs is a family 
of divided loyalty. These horsemen from Bucks were recruited 
in Philadelphia with the financial encouragement of General 
Howe by Captain Thomas Sandford (who was not a Bucks 
Countian) in the fall of 1777 and were afterw^ard commanded by 
Lieutenant Colonel Watson while Sandford was a prisoner of the 
Whigs during the winter and spring of 1778-79. The maximum 
enlistment in this troop was fifty-five men.'^ These, with the 
Bucks County Volunteers, made tW'O troops of horsemen from 
Bucks to join the British in Philadelphia. 

In this season so prosperous to the British Cause another 
dashing fighter was drawn to the British in Philadelphia. This 
was Richard Hovenden of Newtow^n Township, to whom General 
Howe gave a captain's commission in the Philadelphia Light 
Dragoons. Hovenden's troop w-as raised in Philadelphia and it 
is assumed that his men were residents of that city and not Bucks 
Countians. Edward and Richard Hovenden of Newtown Town- 
ship were listed as Non-Associators on August 21, 1775. Edward 
Hovenden espoused the cause of American independence and 
advanced from the rank of ensign on February 15, 1777, to that 
of lieutenant in the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment. He had been a 
prisoner to the British at the Battle of W^ashington Heights in 
1776. His name on the last muster roll of his regiment in which 
it appears is followed by the stark and unexplanatory word, 
"dead." Were the Hovendens another case of brother fighting 

11 Penna. Arch., Second Series, Vol. I, page 742. 

12 "The Loyalists of Pennsylvania," Wilbur H. Siebert. Ibid. 



216 INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

against brother? Joseph Hergesheimer in his book, "Quiet 
Cities," has incorporated a chapter on Philadelphia and Valley 
Forge. In it he describes the scene in the tap-room of the Indian 
Queen. General Howe and his group of brilliantly uniformed 
ofificers are seated at the long table, "flushed with food and heat 
and wine," when a miserable deserter from the "dungheap" at 
Valley Forge, as one of the officers called it, is brought before 
them. Hergesheimer writes that Captain Richard Hovenden 
was in that group. 

Recruiting of the available Loyalists in Philadelphia, however, 
was small, although the inducements were notably tempting, as 
witnessed by this advertisement, which was published by Colonel 
William Allen, Jr., one of the ofificers among others appointed by 
Howe for recruiting service. His advertisement read: 

"All intrepid able-bodied heroes who are willing to serve his Majesty, 
King George the Third, in defence of their country, laws and Constitution 
against the arbitrary usurpations of a Tyrannical Congress have now not 
only an opportunity of manifesting their spirit by assisting in reducing their 
too-long deluded countrymen but also of acquiring the polite accomplish- 
ments of a soldier by serving only two years, or during the present rebellion 
in America. 

"Such spirited fellows who are willing to engage will be rewarded at the 
end of the war, besides their laurels, with fifty acres of land, where every gal- 
lant hero may retire and enjoy his bottle and lass. (It is to be noticed that 
Allen offered to supply everything but the bottle and the lass ) Each volun- 
teer will receive as a bounty five dollars, besides arms, clothing and accoutre- 
ments, and every other requisite proper to accompany a gentleman soldier, 
by applying to Lieutenant-Cclonel Allen, or at Captain Kearny's rendezvous 
at Patrick Tonry's three doors above Market Street, in Second Street. "13 

The bounties offered to Loyalists who were capable of leader- 
ship as officers were much larger. 

These Loyalist rangers were usually outfitted with green 
coats faced with black, a color which deceived many of their 
opponents who were accustomed to expect the red coat of the 
British as the distinguishing mark of an enemy. In the records 
of the United Empire Loyalists in Ottawa is a description of the 
uniforms of the Pennsylvania Loyalists. Their coats were red 
with olive facings. Variety lace is m^entioned in the published 
description and it is assumed that the lace ornamented the hats. 

13 "Philadelphia, A History of the City and Its People," Ellis Paxson 
Oberholtzer. 



INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 217 

No separate description of the uniform of the Bucks County 
Volunteers is given in the United Empire Loyalist publication. 

The Loyalists were either inhabitants of or natives of America 
so that they were familiar with the lay of the land and for that 
reason doubly effective as raiders. Their earlier habits made 
them skillful fighters with small arms and especially those of the 
mounted soldiers. 

But Joseph Galloway of Trevose w^as the greatest Loyalist of 
them all and also the greatest trouble-maker both for his country- 
men and for the British. Next to his friend, Benjamin Franklin, 
he had been the leading politician of the State. In fact, Franklin 
has held such a high opinion of the lawyer Galloway that he had 
intrusted him with the writing of his will. 

Galloway's career is worthy of a separate biography. ^^^ He 
had been a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly and had pre- 
sided as its Speaker, and he had been a deputy to the first Whig 
Congress. In 1775 he moved in the Assembly to be excused 
from serving in the Continental Congress and by so doing lost his 
influence as a political leader. The King's proclamation denounc- 
ing Rebels and requiring all loyal subjects to expose the traitorous 
with an offer of amnesty to those who had erred and would then 
return to loyalty brought Joseph Galloway into the British camp 
at New Brunswick. 

Those were the days of satire in verse and song. In William 
Bradford's paper, the Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Adver- 
tiser, appeared this verse: 

"Galloway has fled and joined the venal Howe. 
To prove his baseness, see him cringe and bow, 
A traitor to his country and its laws, 
A friend of tyrants and their cause. 
Unhappy wretch! Thy interest must be sold," etc. 14 

On the day Galloway fled from his Trevose home, he received 
the anonymous gift of a trunk in which there was nothing but a 
hangman's halter. 

General Howe in Philadelphia selected the talented Galloway 
to be his adviser and afterward made him virtually governor of the 
city as Superintendent of Police and also of Exports and Imports. 

1-^'^ This has been written by Earnest H. Baldwin. See Joseph Galloway, 
the Loyalist Politician, Penna. Mag., Vol. XXVI, page 16L 

14 "History of Philadelphia," Scharff and Westcott, Vol. I, page 336. 



218 INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

Without recounting the long list of what Galloway accom- 
plished or attempted to accomplish in his powerful office, those 
acts which affected Bucks should be noted. 

He assisted in depreciating the continental currency and 
tempted the Bucks County farmers to bring in supplies by offer- 
ing hard money for their produce. 

He had the roads charted and established a system of espion- 
age with many Loyalist spies. 

He offered to raise a regiment, but received a warrant for only 
a troop of eighty men in a battalion under Captain Hovenden. 

He supervised the registering of refugee Loyalists who sought 
the protection of the British in Philadelphia. 

He organized the forays against his old neighbors. From 
Redoubt, No. 1, at Kensington on February 14th of 78, Hoven- 
den's Light Dragoons trotted up the Bristol Road and Thomas' 
Bucks County Volunteers up the Bustleton Road. Hovenden 
brought in that day from Newtown nearly all of the county 
officers. A few days later Thomas and Hovenden, with twenty- 
four dragoons and fourteen foot soldiers, marched again to New- 
town, captured Major Murray of the 13th Pennsylvania Regi- 
ment, wounded nine of his men, and took back thirty prisoners. 
From Jenks' fulling mill they carried ofif two thousand yards of 
cloth which was so sorely needed by Washington's freezing men 
at Valley Forge. Colonel Walter Stewart of the 13th Regiment 
wrote from "Camp near Bustle Town" on February 21st to 
President Wharton, saying he was "much concerned to inform his 
Excellency" of the raid and that the enemy had taken all the 
clothing he had laid up there for his regiment. And later Hoven- 
den with a detachment of regular dragoons captured a drove of 
one hundred and thirty fat cattle on the road across Bucks to 
Valley Forge. In April of the same year these Loyalists came up 
to Bristol and captured Colonel Penrose and several of his offi- 
cers. ^^ 

Galloway's plans became more ambitious. He proposed the 

capture of the Governor and Council of New Jersey while they 

were in session at Trenton, but for some reason was not permitted 

to attempt this. He then turned his attention to a scheme to 

15 "History of Philadelphia," Scharff and Westcott, Vol. I, page 375. 
Davis writes that at the time of this raid, the commanding officer escaped 
capture. As there were more than one raid, these historians may have con- 
fused them. 



INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 219 

capture the whole Continental Congress, but did not get the 
proper support/^ Several desperate Tories were moving toward 
Philadelphia to take part in this raid. One of the terrible 
Moodys of northern New Jersey was killed near Camden as he 
was attempting to join Galloway's force at that time. Which of 
the Tories of Bucks volunteered for the raid is not known, unless 
the information has been discovered recently. No doubt the 
secret activities of the plotting Loyalists would make interesting 
reading if they were brought to light. Toward the end of Gallo- 
way's incumbency as Superintendent, his attitude toward his 
British protectors became critical, a passive attitude at first, 
which changed into open criticism in the following year. 

While Galloway was busy with his schemes and plots in 
Philadelphia, the Whigs were not having a happy time of it in 
Bucks. 

On June 15, 1778, Judge Henry W^nkoop, John Thompson, 
the sheriff, and other Whigs of Bucks sent a letter to the Execu- 
tive Council of the Committee of Safety in words something like 
these: Traitorous robbers who are supported by the enemy in 
Philadelphia and who are secreted and aided by disaffected 
inhabitants commit robberies, pillaging houses, stealing horses 
and cattle. We pray that you publish these felons by proclama- 
tion and offer generous rewards for them and their aiders and 
abbettors. This would serve as a stimulus to active Associators. 
It is generally known that the robbers are David Shannon, 
Thomas Price, John Harvey, Lucas Gilham, Jr., Gideon Weirs, 
John Stackhouse, and Nathaniel Burrows. ^^ 

Robert Levers, one of the Justices of Northampton County, 
had this to write to the Executive Council: "The unfriendly dis- 
position of far the greater Part of Bucks County ... is wholly 
stupid and inactive, seemingly wrapped up in a lethargic sloth, 
no Guard, but a few decreped Invalids, dying by inches for want 
of cloathing . . . What is there to hinder a very small Body of 
Men under the command of a gallant and enterprising officer, to 
make a sudden Push hither (to Easton), destroy all that is valua- 
ble ... I am told with a degree of confidence that Three Hun- 

16 "The Loyalists in the American Revolution," Claude Halstead Van 
Tyne. 

17 Colonial Records. The Council offered a reward of $200 for the arrest 
of the "felons." 



220 INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

dred Men in Bucks County have given in their names to Joseph 
Galloway, and have offered their services, it may be on an Expedi- 
tion to this very town . . ."^^ 

Justice Levers was hardly fair to the militia under Brigadier 
General John Lacey. Lacey, the fittest man for the command, 
was endeavoring with an inadequate force to guard the whole 
Delaware-Schuylkill peninsula while many of the effective soldiers 
of the district were in other parts of the country with their regi- 
ments. So great did the carrying of produce to the British 
become that General Lacey advised the removal of the whole 
population from lower Bucks to a distance of fifteen miles from 
Philadelphia, but General Washington would not sanction this 
plan. 

"I am amazed," said Washington to Colonel Stewart of the 
13th Pennsylvania Regiment, who at one time had his camp near 
Bustleton, "at the report you make of the quantity of provisions 
that goes daily into Philadelphia from the County of Bucks." 

One of the stories in the "Recollections of William H. Keich- 
line" illustrates this condition. The story is about a man named 
Tyson who was a Mennonite of Deep Run in Bedminster. Tyson 
attempted to pass the American lines on the York Road at 
Branchtown with a packsaddle filled with butter and eggs for the 
British in Philadelphia and was captured by Colonel Piper's men. 
Colonel Piper of Pipersville, who knew Tyson at home, had the 
sentence commuted after the court-martial to the less severe 
punishment of pelting Tyson with his own eggs.^^ This seems 
hardly credible when we remember the hunger of the American 
army. However, it is desirable to make a collection of these 
stories because they add color to the otherwise dull scene of the 
Revolution in Bucks. 

Meanwhile Captains Hovenden, Sandford, and Thomas 
indulged as in a sport in the riding through Lacey's lines on their 
foraging expeditions into the lower townships where British gold 
was welcome. 

But the Whigs had another weapon to turn against those 
Loyalists who felt secure in Philadelphia under British protec- 
tion, and that was a resolve of the Supreme Executive Council 

18 Penna. Arch., First Series, Vol. VI, page 346. 

19 "Recollections of William H. Keichline," A Collection of Papers Read 
before the Bucks County Hist. Soc, Vol. V, page 268. 



INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 221 

sitting at Lancaster. By it they restated the power to seize and 
sell the property of all persons who "join or aid the British" and 
appointed Commissioners in the several counties to prosecute the 
severe conditions of the measure. Proclamation after proclama- 
tion summoned to trial all citizens charged with treason against 
the State. The first group were summoned on March 6, 1778. 
Altogether there were eight such proclamations issued between 
this first one and the last which was made public in 1781. Pro- 
fessor Wilbur H. Siebert says in his paper, "The Loyalists of 
Pennsylvania," that of the four hundred and fifty-three persons of 
Pennsylvania who joined the British armed forces, seventy-seven 
were from Bucks. '^^'^ It is difficult to reconcile this figure with the 
numbers of men in Captain Thomas' Bucks County Volunteers 
and Captain Sandford's Light Dragoons. One might assume 
that some of the men in the ranks had no estates worth confiscat- 
ing and therefore there was no profit in proclaiming them as 
traitors. 

Among those proclaimed as traitors on May 8th were five 
from Bucks: Henry Hugh Ferguson, Commissary of Prisoners for 
General Howe and husband of Elizabeth Graeme — Hugh Fergu- 
son is not to be confused with Major Ferguson who was killed at 
the Battle of King's Mountain; Samuel Biles, late sherifT of Bucks 
County; Walter Willet and Richard Hovenden, whose military 
service with the British has been noted, and William Moland of 
Warminster. 

On June 15th the list of the summoned for trial contained 
fifty-one Bucks County names, and on October 20th the names of 
fourteen citizens of Bucks County appeared. On various other 
dates still other attainted persons were proclaimed in shorter lists. 
Of course, many of those who were summoned appeared before 
the Council and were dismissed when the charges against them 
were not proven. An alphabetical list of Traitors may be found 
in Volume X, first series, of the Pennsylvania Archives. In 1801 
a complete Black List of those citizens of Pennsylvania who had 
been loyal to Great Britain was published, with an opinion by 
Justice McKean as to the status of their citizenship in Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Leafing through the minutes of the Supreme Executive 
Council, which is either tedious or exciting according to the- 

191^ "The Loyalists of Pennsylvania," Wilbur H. Siebert, page 58. 



222 INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

reader's lack of interest or his history-consciousness, one comes to 
frequent references to the LoyaHsts of Bucks County. Here are 
notes on some of them : 

November 21st, 1778: John Elwood of Bristol, a pilot, who 
aided the enemy, was convicted of High Treason and sentenced 
to be hanged and a warrant of execution issued for December 2nd. 

November 28th : Application of Mrs. Elizabeth Graeme Fer- 
guson for permission to go to New York to take leave of her hus- 
band and return was denied. 

November 30th : John Elwood was reprieved until January 2nd. 

December 31st: Further reprieve of John Elwood for sixty 
days. 

April 12th, 1779: Notice given that the secretary of the 
council as keeper of the register of forfeited estates of traitors 
would sell in a short time the real estate of the following among 
others: Joseph Galloway, Gilbert Hicks, Henry Hugh Ferguson 
of Graeme Park, John Elwood, Bristol waterman, and Samuel 
Biles, late sherifiF of Bucks County. 

July 15th: John Elwood, in gaol of Bucks County under 
sentence of death for high treason, pardoned. (There were 
doubts as to Elwood 's sanity. He had acted as pilot for the 
enemy's fleet when Howe invaded the State.) 

September 14th: Deed signed to Richard Backhouse for tract 
in Durham Township, Bucks County, late the estate of Joseph 
Galloway. Certificate to Attorney General for £12,800. This 
was the Durham Furnace property.) 

(The signing of deeds for the confiscated properties of Joseph 
Galloway appear in the records with monotonous frequency. 
Galloway in his examination before Parliament claimed the loss of 
estates valued at £40,000.) 

November 3rd: Received from Isaac Hicks £4,030 for con- 
fiscated tenement and lot of land sold at public auction at Court 
House, being the estate of Gilbert Hicks. (This was Judge 
Hicks' property at Four Lanes End.) 

April 6th, 1780: Abraham Harvey was brought before the 
Council charged with aiding British prisoners and others to 
escape to New York, "also with being a person of general dis- 
afifection to the American Cause whose going at large is dangerous 
to the Public welfare and safety while we are engaged in a war 
with Great Britain . . ." 



INTRODUCTIOX TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 223 

"Resolved that he give security of ten thousand pounds and 
two sureties, each for five thousand pounds, for good behavior, 
and be committed to the common gaol of Bucks County until 
same is complied with." 

June 10th: John Coogler (Kugler?) and Susanna, his wife, 
released from jail on 30,000 pounds surety, and not to keep a ferry 
again. (They had been arrested for aiding British prisoners and 
other enemies of the United States to escape across the Delaware; 
the arrest being made agreeable to the Act of Assembly which 
increased the fines to which persons were liable who neglected to 
perform their tour of militia duty.) 

June 13th: Passes granted to go to New York to Mary Fer- 
guson, Ann Kirk, Mary Arnold and others. 

June 27th: Phineas Paxton charged before the Council with 
aiding British prisoners to escape. He kept a public house on the 
road to Newtown. By resolution he was no longer allowed to 
keep the public house and was put under 20,000 pounds surety for 
good behavior. Committed to prison until complied with. 
Joseph Paxton of Middletown joined the British in Philadelphia 
and was captured at Stony Point. His estate was confiscated. 
Were these two Paxtons related ? A question for the genealogist.) 

April 16th, 1781: Petition of Isaac Hicks of Bucks County, 
praying permission to go to New York with family, granted and 
ordered that he do not return during the war. 

May 23rd: Deed to Thomas Huston for one hundred and 
sixty-four acres on the Delaware in Durham Township, estate of 
Peter Perlie, traitor, for 6,600 pounds. (There are various spell- 
ings of Perlie's name.) 

October 5th: Peter Parlee, having joined the British in 1777 
and at that time owing allegiance to this State and residing in 
Durham, the sheriff of Bucks County is instructed by the Council 
to send for him. (He had been taken up in New Jersey.) 

January 30th, 1782 : Deed to Henry Dorough for sixty acres, 
property of Owen Roberts, an attainted traitor. (This was the 
estate of that Owen Roberts who was lieutenant of Evan Thomas' 
Bucks County Volunteers. The estate was in New Britain.) 

February 1st: Asher Parents and Samuel Scott ordered 
released from Bucks County gaol, fines remitted on paying fees 
and costs of prosecution and on condition that they enlist as 
soldiers in the Pennsylvania Line to serve during the war, and be 



224 INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

entitled to receive the same bounty and emoluments as the other 
soldiers of said line. 

February 23rd : Deed to George Benner for fifty acres in Hill- 
town, Bucks County, seized as the estate of Evan Thomas and for 
£330 specie, subject to a yearly ground rent, payable to the 
Trustees of the University of the State, of one-fourth of the said 
sum, the remaining three-fourths being paid into the hands of the 
Agents of Forfeited Estates in the said county. (Many such por- 
tions of the proceeds of sales of confiscated estates were used as 
endowments for what is now the University of Pennsylvania.) 

For several years the minutes of the Council are liberally 
sprinkled with entries of deeds for confiscated estates, signed by 
the president, and the Archives of the State contain complete 
descriptions of these lands with elaborate plats attached. 

May 4th: Deed for part of the estate of John Reid, Tinicum,. 
to Colonel Francis Murray. 

Also deed for part of the estate of John Reid to Joseph Cox,, 
lieutenant of 6th Pennsylvania Regiment. 

(Thus to the victors belong the spoils.) 

Most of the refugee Loyalists, when their estates were con- 
fiscated, had either been captured and confined in jail or were 
with the British Army, but usually their families remained in 
their homes, from which they were removed by the Whig agents. 
Illustrative of the far removal of the Loyalist families from Bucks 
are the descendants of the Galloways, who now live in England. 
They have generously permitted the publishing of Grace Growden 
Galloway's diary in the Pennsylvania Magazine. In it Mrs. 
Galloway, wife of Joseph Galloway, relates her experience at the- 
time the Agents for Forfeited Estates removed her from her town 
house. Charles Wilson Peale was one of the agents for Phila- 
delphia and upon him fell part of the unpleasant duty. Under 
date of "Thursday ye 20th of August, 1779" she writes in part: 

"... Lewise sent me word that I must shut my doors & 
Windows & if they wou'd come to let them make forcible entry^ 
Accordingly I did so and a little after 10 oclock they Knocked 
Violently. . . calle'd out myself to tell them I was in possession 
of my own House & wou'd keep so. . . Hereupon they went out 
in ye yard & Try'd every door but cou'd None Open then they 
broke in the Kitchen door. . . they looked very Mad their was^ 
Peel smith ye Hatter & a Col Will a pewterer in Second Street. . ^ 



INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 225 

I told them Nothing but force shou'd get me out of my house 
Smith said they knew how to manage that & that they wou'd 
throw my cloathes in ye street . . . hinted that Mr G. had 
treated people Cruely. Pell went up stairs and brought down my 
Work bag & bonnets & put them on the side table . . . Mrs. 
Craig asked for My Bed but they Avou'd let Me Have Nothing & 
as I told them acted entirely from Malice . . . Peel said ye 
Chariot was ready but he would not hasten me I told him I was at 
home & in My own House & nothing but force could drive me out 
of it He said it was not ye first time he had taken a Lady by the 
Hand an insolent wretch ... at last he becon'd for Ye Chariot 
. . . then with greates air said come Mrs. Galloway give me your 
hand I answer'd indeed I will not nor will I go out of my house 
but by force he then took hold of my arm & I rose and & he took 
me to the door. . . I said pray take Notice I do not leave my 
house of my own accord or with my own inclination but by force & 
Nothing but force shou'd have made me give up possession. . . 
Mr. Chew he came and told me I must sue them for forcible Entry. 
I am just distracted but Glad it is Over.""*^ 

The distracted Mrs. Galloway was compelled to bear her mis- 
fortunes alone; her husband and their only daughter were in Lon- 
don. Howe had held Philadelphia until the early summer of 
1778; then Galloway and the Loyalists found that they had backed 
the wrong man, for Howe was superseded by Clinton, and Clinton 
evacuated the city and marched across New Jersey. Galloway 
must needs fly and leave his Bucks County wife to rescue what- 
ever part of her estate she could. She did recover some of it, and 
her mother, Sarah Growden, widow of Lawrence Growden, 
regained her dower rights in those properties which had descended 
to Mrs. Galloway and were under Galloway's control. While his 
lands were being confiscated, Galloway was in London making 
more trouble, this time for Howe who had resigned. Galloway 
was examined by Parliament and testified for several days in 
1779. Column after column of his testimony was published in 
Rivington's Royal Gazette, the Loyalist sheet in New York. The 
testimony was so damaging to the British Cause that the publish- 
ing of it had to be suppressed or softened. Galloway criticized 
the campaigns of both Howe and Burgoyne. Four-fifths of the 
people in America were loyal, he asserted, and mismanagement 

20 Pennsylvania Magazine, 193 L 



226 INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

had alienated most of them. In Philadelphia, he said, there were 
4,481 men, one-fourth Quakers, and Howe enlisted only 974. 
This was because of the unpopularity of the men selected as 
recruiting officers, which was hardly fair, coming from Mr. 
Galloway himself. Also 2,300 Continentals had come into Phila- 
delphia and registered and 700 to 800 who did not register. ^^ 
Howe said that he had paid Galloway a fair salary and had 
expected commensurate results. While in England Galloway 
wrote extensively under titles such as: Observations on the Con- 
duct of Sir William Howe" and "Candid Examination of the 
Claims of Great Britain and her Colonies," and he did not mini- 
mize his personal loss of his £40,000 estate. 

But what had become of the Bucks County Volunteers and the 
Bucks County Light Dragoons in Clinton's retreat from Phila- 
delphia? Of the latter Captain Sandford was captured down in 
the neck below the city by the dare-devil Allan McLane of Mary- 
land and his troop of militia horsemen. What Bucks County 
men were captured with Sandford it would be interesting to know. 

The Bucks County Volunteers considered themselves under 
the protection of and part of Simcoe's Queen's Rangers. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Simcoe in his journal — in it he is so engrossed in 
writing about what Simcoe did and in the third person that he 
gives little space to others — says that his command covered 
Clinton's rear and by a rear-guard action at Monmouth enabled 
Clinton to draw off his army.^^ Whether the Bucks County 
troops were with him at that time Simcoe does not say. There 
are many queries about the Loyalist troops of Bucks to which 
there seems to be no answer. Simcoe does say that on his way to 
the attack on General Lacey at Crooked Billet he fortunately dis- 
covered in the darkness of the early morning the identity of Cap- 
tain Thomas' troop and avoided a collision with them, so it is seen 
the Volun.teers were not acting under his immediate command at 
that time.^^ Captain Hovenden and his troop of Light Dragoons 
also participated in the surprise attack at Crooked Billet. Simcoe 
writes later that Captains Hovenden and Sandford, the latter 
having been exchanged, were with him at Kingsbridge, New 
York.2^ 

21 "History of Philadelphia," Scharff and Westcott, Vol. I, page 3€0. 

22 "Military Journal," Lieut. Col. J. G. Simcoe, page 68. 

23 Ibid., page 58. 

24 Ibid., page 74. - ■ ■ ■ 



INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 227 

The next year British operations were transferred to the south 
and the two troops of Bucks County LoyaUsts went with Simcoe's 
Rangers to that section. Hovenden's and Sandford's troops were 
finally incorporated in Tarleton's British Legion, another regi- 
ment of rangers which, like Simcoe's, was largely composed of 
Loyalist Americans. Claude Halstead Van Tyne in his book, 
"The Loyalists in the American Revolution," says that "When 
the Battle of Camden was fought, it was Tarleton's cavalry and 
Rawdon's Volunteers of Ireland, raised in Pennsylvania, that 
carried the day. Nearly 2,400 refugees took part in the terrible 
defeat of Gates. "^^ Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton has also 
written a journal and, as Simcoe wrote, Tarleton devotes most of 
his pages to his own exploits, and properly so, since it was his own 
journal and his audience, the British people, and not the Whigs of 
Bucks County. Once in a while, both Simcoe and Tarleton 
allude in their journals to the Bucks County officers. Thus the 
statement is borne out that the Bucks County Loyalists rendered 
their services to the British on battlefields far from Bucks. 

Then came Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown. Colonel 
Simcoe offered to try to cut his way through the American and 
French Armies and make his escape with his Loyalist troops. To 
this Cornwallis would not agree, and General Washington de- 
manded that the Loyalists lay down their arms with others of 
Cornwallis' troops. But the reader who is careful about dates 
remembers that the Bucks County Volunteers were at Toms 
River in the spring of 1782, so that they could not have surren- 
dered at Yorktown in 178L That may be accounted for by the 
excuse for their escape, which General Washington winked at: 
Washington permitted Cornwallis to send a ship to carry the 
news of his surrender to New York and that ship was filled with 
Loyalists. ^^ Neither of the Bucks County troops surrendered 
with Simcoe, for their names do not appear on the muster rolls of 
his regiment at the time of the surrender. The exact facts as to 
the whereabouts of the Loyalists from Bucks County at that time 
are possibly in the records either in London or in Ottawa, if not in 
Bucks County.. 

While in the south the Loyalists in the regular military service 

25 Van Tyne, page 186. 

26 Van Tyne makes this statement and Simcoe relates it in his journal, 
page 254. 



228 INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

were meeting defeat, the irregular Doans and their gang were 
epidemic in Bucks County and for nearly two years after York- 
town. Township tax collectors were their favorite prey. Sarah 
Keith, sister of John Keith, tax collector for Upper Makefield, in 
her disposition made before John Chapman says that her brother's 
"house was surrounded by a number of armed men."^^ It was 
Moses Doan in his scalloped hat, bear skin coat, blue yarn stock- 
ings, and calf skin shoes with silver buckles of the French pattern, 
that she describes as the one who searched every part of the 
house. Moses Doan wore the same coat and hat when he helped 
rob the County Treasurer at Newtown. He could not find the 
township funds in the Keith house and made motion to go away, 
taking Keith's gun, sword, and bayonet. Then comes this bit of 
testimony which is favorable to the Doans. Sarah Keith de- 
posed : "the Man who stood Sentry at the Kitchen Door, Bid him 
(Moses Doan) take nothing but what Belonged to the Congress. "^^ 
In that instance, at least, these Tory guerrillas refrained from 
taking private property. And the word "guerilla" instead of 
robber, was suggested by the late Doctor Henry C. Mercer when 
he characterized them as such in his paper on the "Doans and 
Their Times." It would seem that their warfare was directed 
against the monetary resources of the new Whig government of 
their county and not against the property of their neighbors. It 
would be repetitious to recount again the exploits of the Doans 
and the proclamations issued against them by the Supreme 
Council of the State and the rewards offered for their capture, the 
latter all too late to save the taxpayers' money. 

The year 1783 swung 'round. There had been a cessation of 
hostilities and in that year occurred the evacuation of New York. 
Ship load after ship load of refugee Loyalists were sent to the 
Canadian Provinces. The British government made good its 
promises. By Act of Parliament a commission was set up to 
enquire into the losses and services of the American Loyalists. 
Other acts continued the enquiries until 1789.^* Captains 
received 3,000 acres of land, subalterns 2,000, and non-commis- 
sioned officers and privates 200 acres. However, this was not 
uniformly observed. The refugees were clothed and fed and 

27 Penna. Arch., Vol. IX, First Series, page 501. 

28 "History of the View of the Commission Inquiring into Claims of the 
American Loyalists," John Eardley-Wilmot, Esq., one of the Commissioners., 



INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 229 

equipped with the tools of their trades until they were able to pro- 
vide for themselves. The officers received half pay pensions 
also."^ 

An early distribution of lands was made in the section west of 
the River St. John in New Brunswick. Here many Pennsyl- 
vanians settled. Amidst the lands in the neighborhood of Beaver 
Harbour, assigned to the men of Loyalist regiments, was a settle- 
ment of Friends at Penn's Field, named by them for their patron, 
William Penn, and afterwards shortened to Pennfield. Joshua 
Knight, who had come from Abington, was their leader. These 
Friends drew up a set of rules for the control of their community 
and kept a "Record Book" which is still in existence. 

Joseph Galloway served on the Board for prosecuting the 
claims of Pennsylvania and Delaware Loyalists. His endeavors 
caused jealousy among Loyalists from other sections and a com- 
mittee of investigation was appointed to consider his case. Its 
report described him as an "active though not an early Loyalist, "^° 
which, of course, put him below those who had been loyal from the 
first. A few years afterward he petitioned the State of Pennsyl- 
vania, asking the restoration of his estate. It is difficult to 
appraise this Loyalist's presumption in petitioning a people that 
he had opposed so bitterly. The petition was not rejected, but 
his attorney was allowed to withdraw it. 

Claude Halstead Van Tyne ventures the opinion that if the 
Loyalist cause had won, Galloway would have held a place in the 
hearts of the American people something like that which honors 
Washington. '^"'^ If that were true, Trevose in Bucks would be 
the Nation's shrine instead of Mount Vernon. 

Joseph Galloway died in England in 1803. 

The Commission of Enquiry labored long. Each claimant 
was examined separately in a room where his testimony would 
not be heard by other claimants or witnesses. 

Evan Thomas was examined at St. John (New Brunswick) on 
the 27th of February in 1787. These are excerpts from a tran- 
script of his testimony: 

29 "The United Empire Loyalists," Stewart Wallace, page 117. 

30 John Eardley-Wilmot, Esq.'s, "Historical View of the Commission for 
Enquiring into the Losses, Services, and Claims of the American Loyalists." 

30K "War of Independence," Claude Halstead Van Tyne, Prof, of Hist., 
University of Michigan, page 17. 



230 INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

"No. 199. Evidence on the claim of Evan Thomas, late of 
Bucks County, Pensilvania. 

"Claimant Sworn. 

"Says he came from New York in the first fleet in 1783, . . . 
He is a native of Pensilvania. In 1775 he lived in Bucks County. 
He joined the British Army at Philadelphia, & served ... all 
the war. . . He now lives at Beaver Harbour. 

"64 acres of land in Bucks County. He had from his father 5 
or 6 acres before the war by his will. It was good land. He had 
a house. Barn on it. Thinks he could have sold it for £7, 10 
Pensilvania Currency per acre. This land is sold to Mr. Bower. 
He left 2 horses & one cow seized by the rebels, a waggon, harness, 
ploughs, harrows and some furniture. 

"Produces an appraisement on oath by Joseph Custard & Jno. 
Walton of the lands of claimant sold under confiscation, 3rd 
February, 1786. 

(This must be a different tract from the one already noted 
which was sold earlier to George Benner. There are many sales 
of confiscated lands belonging to the Thomases noted in the 
Records; some of them sold as the property of Evan or William 
Thomas and some were purchased by other Thomases.) 

"Claimant says that a foraging party of rebels took one hun- 
dred bushels of oats from him on account of his known loyalty. 
Values them at 3 shillings pr. bush. & destroyed a field of corn."^^ 

In Walter Willett's testimony there is more detail. These are 
pertinent excerpts. 

"16 Oct. 1786. 

"No. 610. Case of Walter Willett, formerly of Pennsylvania. 

"Claimant sworn saith: 

"In January 1784, he resided at Granville (Nova Scotia). 
Heard of the Act (of Parliament) in 1784 . . . 

"Says he is a native of America. Resided in Bucks County, 
Pennsilvania, when troubles broke out in September, 1777. 
Joined the British Army under Sir William Howe just before the 
Battle of Germantown. 

"Was with the army & frequently employed by Sir William 
Erskine to get intelligence. 

"In April 1778 held a commission as lieutenant of Bucks Co. 

Light Dragoons in Captain Sandford's Troops. Was attached to 

31 "Report of the Bureau of Archives," Ontario (U. E. L. Claims), page 296. 



INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 231 

the Queen's Rangers under Col. Simcoe in 1779. Was with him 
when he was taken near Brunswick (Georgia). Commanded the 
advanced Guard that Day. Had seven men killed «S: wounded 
that day. 

"Went to Savannah. Was attached to Tarleton's Legion, 
1780 and about June, 1780 was incorporated with the Legion, and 
now received half pay as Lieutenant of the Legion. 

"Came to this Province from New York before evacuation. 
Was chosen agent for the ofificers of the Legion. Now settled at 
Granville. 

"Was possessed of a Farm in Bucks County consisting of 173 
acres. Had it by marriage. It had been the Estate of Thomas 
Harding. . . Claimant married the eldest daughter, Martha. . . 
Produces copy of the proceedings in the Court of Common Pleas, 
Bucks Co., on a partition of the Estate late of Thos. Harding are 
assigned to claimant & Martha, his wife, as her right. The other 
moiety is assigned to the other sister. . . 

"Says he was proscribed and his Estate confiscated, both real 
& personal. Produces copy of certificate from George Wall,^^ 
dated April 18, 1786, whereby he certifies that he had received 
from Martha Willett £7,000 the purchase money . . . This 
£7,000 paid by Martha Willett was Congress money . . . 

"He (Willett) cannot say what the Congress money was worth 
at the time of purchase. . . 

"Claimant's father, brother in law, wife & seven children are 
all living there. Whether they live on the estate he does not 
know. . . Says the estate is worth £12 Pensilvania Currency per 
acre. It has been appraised by two appraisers at 20 dollars per 
acre amounting to £7, 10 . . . Says his wife has behaved very ill 
& he is now at variance with her. 

"His personal estate was sold at vendue . . . 

"Says that by the laws of Pensilvania his wife is now her ow'n 
mistress & can purchase the same as if divorced. It is con- 
sidered a divorce. ""^"^ 

Thus the Loyalist Walter Willett lost his wife as well as his 
country. 

The awards of the commission often felicitously accompanied 

•5- George Wall was one of the Agents for Confiscated Estates in Bucks 
County. 

3^ "Report of the Bureau of Archives," Ontario (U. E. L. Claims), page 741 • 



232 INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

the transcript of the evidence, but in the cases of Willett and 
Thomas, the searcher will be compelled to go to London in order 
to inspect the records there and learn what lands these two 
Loyalists received. 

The records of the Loyalist claimants are preserved in the 
Bureau of Public Archives, Ottawa, Canada. The United 
Empire Loyalists have a "Committee of the Loyal Provincial 
Regiments" which has charge of and will publish existing Muster 
Rolls. The ancient papers are not accessible to the general 
public. In the care of this committee are the rolls of the Bucks 
County Light Dragoons and various independent troops of 
cavalry. Perhaps the rolls of the Bucks County Volunteers are 
among them also. 

Today's pursuit of the Bucks County Loyalists soon brings the 
diligent searcher to the work of Lorenzo Sabine. Sabine pub- 
lished his "Biographical Sketches of the Loyalists of the American 
Revolution" in 1864. He says that in order to assemble these 
biographies, he visited many graveyards and interviewed many 
surviving relatives of the Loyalists who resided in the Canadian 
Provinces. His book contains brief accounts of over fifty 
Loyalists from Bucks County. These are some examples : 

John Biddle, a collector of excise and deputy quartermaster of 
the Whig Army. Changed sides in 1779. Estate confiscated. 

Samuel Biles, sheriff of Bucks County; attainted of treason, 
estate confiscated in 1779. 

Gilbert Hicks called court in the King's name in 1776; went 
to Nova Scotia; was granted land and an annual pension. 

One Paul of Bucks County, first name not known. In 1782 
sentenced as a spy to die in the camp of Lafayette and escaped 
the evening before the execution. In 1783 Jonathan Paul of 
Pennsylvania settled in Pennfield, New Brunswick. (Was this 
one of the Pauls of W^arminster who joined the Doans?) 

Joseph Swift, lieutenant in the British Army prior to the 
Revolution, and afterwards captain of horse with the Pennsyl- 
vania Loyalists; was known as "Handsome but Stuttering Joe 
Swift." He was attainted of treason and his estate confiscated; 
went to Nova Scotia, later returned to Philadelphia and died 
there in 1826. (Swift's residence was in Bensalem.) 

Shaw% first name not known, in 1778 beaten "for his Toryism" 
by two Whig officers and suspended by the neck until he was 



INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 233 

senseless. (In the proclamation of October 30th, 1778, appears 
the name of Jonathan Shaw, ensign in the American Army.) 

Peter Parlie of Durham, attainted and estate confisca1?ed. 
Died in Sussex Vale, New Brunswick, in 1832. 

Richard Hovenden. (Sabine gives no information on his 
final place of settlement.) 

Evan Thomas. Sabine sketches Thomas' military service 
and closes with: Settled in New Brunswick. He died in Penn- 
field in December, 1835, aged ninety, leaving children, grand- 
children, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. 

Acknowledgments 

When the search for the material for this "Introduction to the 
Loyalists of Bucks County" was undertaken it was found that the 
subject of Loyalism in Pennsylvania as a whole had been well 
covered by Wilbur H. Siebert in his papers published by Ohio 
State University in their publication, "Contributions in History 
and Political Science." Claude Halstead Van Tyne's "Loyalists 
in the American Revolution" was also of great assistance in 
approaching the subject. 

Sharff and Westcott in their "History of Phialdelphia" and 
Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer in his "Philadelphia, a History of the 
City and Its People," by necessity included something concerning 
the rural neighbors to the north, especially about those who came 
to Philadelphia at the time of the British occupancy. 

From the work of these historians much was drawn in the 
prearation of this paper on the Loyalists of Bucks. 

F. J. Audet, Chief of Information of the Public Archives of 
Canada, kindly supplied transcripts of the evidence of the 
claimants, Evan Thomas and Walter Willett. 

Other authorities consulted were: 

Edgerton Ryerson's "Loyalists of America and Their Times." 

John Eardley-Wilmot's "Historical View of the Commission 
for Enquiring into the Losses, Services, and Claims of the Ameri- 
can Loyalists." 

W. W. H. Davis' "History of Bucks County." 

"Proceedings Reports of Loyalist Commission Enquiring into 
Losses and Services of Loyalists." 

Colonel John Graves Simcoe's "Military Journal." 



234 INTRODUCTION TO LOYALISTS OF BUCKS COUNTY 

Sir Banastre Tarleton's "History of Campaigns of 1780-1781 
in the Southern Provinces of the United States." 

Rivington's "Royal Gazette." 

Lorenzo Sabine's "Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of 
American Revolution." 

J. H. Battle's "History of Bucks County." 

United Loyalist Association of Canada. 

Stewart Wallace's "The United Empire Loyalists." 

Edward Mathews' "The Thomas Family of Hilltown." 

George H. Locke's "The Queen's Rangers." 




General Washington and His Army Crossing the Delaware 
River Christmas Night, 1776 

Read Before the Society of the 

Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence' 

AT Washington Crossing, in Bucks County, 

May 13, 1934 

By B. F. FACKENTHAL, Jr., Sc. D., LL. D., RIEGELSVILLE, PA. 

Mr. Chairman and Other Descendants of Illustrious Ancestors, 
Ladies and Gentlemen : 

APPRECIATE the honor of being invited to 
address your patriotic society on some of the 
occurrences that took place on these sacred and 
historic grounds during our struggle for independ- 
ence. I shall not attempt to enter into the detail 
of the battles of Trenton, for there were two of 
them, as that has been so ably covered by other historians, par- 
ticularly by Gen. William S. Stryker, both in his papers read 
before historical societies, and in his book, "The Battles of Tren- 
ton and Princeton," and also by Dr. Carlos E. Godfrey in his his- 
torical publications. 

Although the drama of the American Revolution began at 
Lexington in New England, and ended at Yorktown, it was 
fought mainly on New Jersey and Pennsylvania soil. The late 
Gen. W. W. H. Davis, founder of the Bucks County Historical 
Society, called the peninsula lying between the Delaware and 
Schuylkill rivers, "The Alpha and Omega of the American Revo- 
lution." 

At the time of the battles of Trenton, this place, where we are 
assembled today, was known as McKonkey's Ferry, and later as 
Taylorsville. It is in Upper Makefield Township, Bucks County, 
Pennsylvania. On July 25, 1917, the Legislature of Pennsyl- 
vania passed an act establishing the Washington Crossing Park 
Commission, but it was not until January 28, 1919, that the 
names of the village and postoffice were changed to that of Wash- 
ington Crossing. The village on the opposite side of the river in 
New Jersey, now a New Jersey State Park, has been known as 
Washington Crossing since 1854, when a railroad station of that 
name was established there. 



236 GENERAL WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE RIVER 

McKonkey's Ferry was so named for Samuel McKonkey, who 
owned and operated the ferry over the Delaware river from 1774 
to 1777, at a time which has made his family name memorable in 
the annals of the American Revolution.^ 

The battle of Trenton was first planned by General Washing- 
ton, who met with Generals Greene and Alexander (Lord Stirling) 
underneath a chestnut tree on the property of the Paxson Estate 
on the north side of the Old York road near Coryell 's Ferry. The 
tree was then about 33 years old, and when cut down November 
28, 1893, at the age of 150 years, measured 22 feet in circumfer- 
ence.^ 

This place was wisely chosen for the crossing, as the public 
roads on both sides of the river led to the ferry; it was far enough 
away from Trenton to hide their movements from the enemy, 
and moreover it is well above the Falls of Trenton, and the water 
smooth, forming a long eddy. 

Previous to the battle of Trenton, Washington's army had 
suffered defeat after defeat. He had lost more battles than he 
had won. His army was completely routed at the battle of Long 
Island ; he was overwhelmed by an army of trained British soldiers 
at White Plains and at Fort Washington in New York and at Fort 
Lee in New Jersey opposite Fort Washington on the Hudson 
river, where the George Washington bridge, with a clear span of 

1 A ferry was first established on the Delaware river at that place, prob- 
ably as early as 1684 by Henry Baker and continued in operation under differ- 
ent names until it was replaced by a covered wooden bridge opened for travel 
January 1, 1834. This covered bridge was carried away by the flood of Jan- 
uary 8, 1841. It was replaced by a second bridge of similar construction, 
which in turn was destroyed by the flood of October 10, 1903. The present 
bridge of steel construction was then erected. Application has been made to 
the Federal Government for an appropriation toward building an elaborate 
memorial bridge over the river at this place. 

On both ends of the first covered bridge there were sign boards, painted 
on canvas by Edward Hicks, a carriage painter, and an itinerant artist of 
Newtown, Pa., which were copied from Thomas Sully's painting of Washing- 
ton crossing the Delaware, which hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 
Mass. When the bridge was about to fall in the flood of 1841, these paintings 
by Hicks were salvaged and later the one from the Pennsylvania end, (size 32 
in. by 32^2 in.) was secured by the Bucks County Historical Society, where it 
can now be seen. The one on the New Jersey end disappeared, but later found 
its way, in some unknown manner, to the art department of R. H. Macy & Co.'s 
department store in New York City, where it was ofl^ered for sale at $2,449, 
but later withdrawn. We do not know who the present owner is. 

2 The Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. Ill, page 69. 

A painting of this old tree by the brush of Mr. W. A. Lathrop hangs in the 
auditorium of the Bucks County Historical Society. 



GENERAL WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE RIVER 237 

3,500 feet, the greatest span of any bridge in the world, now 
crosses the Hudson. His army was obHged to retire from that 
field of action across New Jersey into Pennsylvania. Had Gen- 
eral Howe followed up his victories, there would have been no 
Washington Crossing, no United States of America and the 
Declaration of Independence, which you represent, an idle boast. 

Washington's letter to his brother^ shows his disappointment 
at his defeat and the entire country was disheartened and dis- 
couraged. But our gallant and resourceful leader. General 
Washington, in whom all had confidence, led on to victories at 
Trenton, the turning point of the American Revolution. 

On their retreat into Pennsylvania from Fort Lee, they 
brought over from the New Jersey shore, every available boat, 
thus depriving the British army from getting possession of them. 
They reached the Pennsylvania shore December 8th. General 
Washington established his headquarters in the village of Morris- 
ville, at the Barclay house, now known as "Summerseat." This 
house, now restored and used as a museum, had been the home of 
two signers of the Declaration of Independence, Robert Morris 
and George Clymer. General Washington remained there from 
December 8th to the 14th, when he moved to the Keith house 
on the Brownsburg road about 2>^ miles back from the Delaw^are 
river, and about five miles from McKonkey's ferry. General 
Knox established his headquarters at the Doctor Chapman house; 
General Greene at the Merrick house and General Sullivan at the 
Hayhurst house, all at the base of Jericho mountain, on roads 
leading to McKonkey's ferry, where they remained until the 
morning of Christmas day, 1776. Thomas Paine was with the 
retreating army from Fort Lee, and was quartered with General 
Greene at the Merrick house, and there on December 19th, he 
began writing his sixteen pamphlets on "The Crisis," the first 
beginning, "These are the times that try men's souls." Alex- 
ander Hamilton was with Washington at the Keith house; he was 
then a young man of 19 years. 

3 General Washington's letter to his brother, John Augustine Washington,, 
dated "Camp near the Falls of the Delaware," December 18, 1776, says: 
"Between you and me, I think our affairs are in a very bad condition, not so 
much from the apprehension of General Howe's army, as from the defection 
of New York, the Jerseys and Pennsylvania. In short, the conduct of the 
Jersies has been infamous. Instead of turning out to defend their country,, 
and affording aid to our army, they are making their submissions as fast as they 
can.* * * *" 



238 GENERAL WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE RIVER 





To^M, 



The Thompson-Neely House 

General William Alexander, known as Lord Stirling, made his 
headquarters at the Thompson-Neely house, the only head- 
quarters on the banks of the Delaware, with the greater part of 
the army encamped near by. This house and camping grounds 
have been restored and are well worth visiting ; they are situated 
about four and one-half miles north of here, and under care of 
the Washington Crossing Park Commission. An old gristmill 
which stood on the river front on that property, at the mouth of 
Pidcock Creek, ground grain for the Continental army. It was 
demolished when the Delaware Division canal was dug in 1829, 
and a new mill built farther up the creek on the site of the present 

mill. This new mill was de- 
stroyed by fire on August 29, 
1872, and the present mill, its 
successor, built in 1874. 

The Thompson-Neely house 
was used as a hospital, and along 
the river-front is the burial place 
of those who died ; one grave only 
has a marked tombstone, that of 
Capt. James Moore, who passed 
away on Christmas day, 1776. 
Twenty other graves of unknown 
_ soldiers are marked with field 
■^ Stones. 

General Washington had his Trenton campaign well thought 
out. For some days previous to the crossing boats had been 
gathered from along both sides of the river, as high up as Easton, 
which included Durham boats having a capacity of from 12 to 15 
tons. All boats were assembled and hidden back of Malta 
Island, midway between Coryell's Ferry (now New Hope) and 
the Thompson-Neely house, where the greater part of the army 
was encamped, about \% miles from each place, and about six 
miles above McKonkey's ferry. On the morning of Christmas 
day, 1776, the boats were dropped down the river and hidden 
back of Lownes, now Taylor Island, quite near where we are 
assembled. 

Late on the afternoon of Christmas day the troops, provided 






»N iVIemoTvo 

of Btny VCoTn«Iid^ 

MooTt of fltwToA I)* 
cl>Cfn/23*AtD. 

77 6 A^4.24\iciTtV 






GENERAL WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE RIVER 239 

with three days of cooked rations and forty rounds of ammuni- 
tion, assembled convenient to the ferry. 

Twenty-four hundred men were selected for the undertaking. 
They were divided into two divisions, the first or right wing under 
command of General John Sullivan and the second or left wing 
under command of General Nathaniel Greene. 

This army of 2,400 men with their accoutrements, together 
with the cavalry and officers on their mounts, and the 20 cannon 
and howitzers must have weighed from 350 to 400 tons. It can 
therefore be seen that a ferry equipped with a hemp rope, capable 
of operating an ordinary ferry boat of but three or four tons' 
capacity, may not have been of much value in ferrying over any 
large number of boats. Wire cables were not invented until 73 
years later. It is not likely that a hemp rope could have with- 
stood the pressure of the stream impinging against the side of a 
loaded Durham boat, particularly as the river was swollen and 
the slush ice running. All paintings and other illustrations show 
General Washington standing up in a Durham boat free from any 
attachment to a ferry cable, and that is doubtless correct. 




THE CONTINENTAL ARMY CROSSING THE DELAWARE RIVER 

at McKonkey's Ferry, December 25, 1776. From tablet on 
Trenton Battle Monument 



In 1895 monuments were erected on both sides of the river to 
mark the place of crossing. The one in New Jersey by the New 
Jersey Society of Cincinnati, and the one on the Pennsylvania 
side by the Bucks County Historical Society; they were placed 



240 GENERAL WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE RIVER 

directly opposite each other, but under ordinary conditions boats 
not attached to a cable could not make a right angle crossing; 
they must have landed some distance below the starting place. I 
made this same suggestion several years ago, before an assemblage 
gathered here, whereupon, a few years later, the Washington 
Crossing Park Commission moved the Pennsylvania monument 
770 feet farther up stream. 

The embarkment began at eight o'clock on Christmas eve 
under direction of Colonel Henry Knox, (later General Knox) 
with the fishermen from Marblehead in the lead, but it took 
until three o'clock of Thursday, the twenty-sixth, before all got 
oyer, and an hour later before the march began, over frozen 
roads through a storm of snow and hail to the village of Trenton^ 
where the battlefield is now marked by an imposing monument. 
The distance measured by an automobile speedometer is 9.8 
miles. 

There was but one road leading out from the ferry, known as 
the Pennington Road, which they followed for about one and one- 
quarter miles to the Bear Tavern, (still standing), where the right 
wing under General Sullivan turned to the right and marched 
over what was then called the Lower or River Road, via Birming- 
ham ; the left wing under General Greene, accompanied by General 
Washington, continued on the Pennington road until they reached 
the Scotch Road, where they turned right and traveled over that 
road to Trenton, where the two divisions met. Each division; 
was preceded by cavalry.^ 

The attack began at eight o'clock and lasted according to- 
some authorities but thirty-five minutes. The rest you know,, 
how the Hessians were surprised and 1,000 of them taken pris- 
oners, and their commander, Colonel Rail, badly wounded from 
the effects of which he died the next day. Sixty other Hessians 
were wounded and thirty-five of their men and officers killed. 

The only casualties on the American side were the loss of two 
men of the line, and the wounding of two commissioned officers, 
Lieut. James Monroe, then a lad of 18 years and 8 months, who- 
later became the fifth president of the United States, and Capt.. 
William Augustus Washington, a kinsman of General Washing- 

■* At that early day there was no road along the river front in New Jersey;; 
t'le present River Road not having been opened until November 14, 1834, but 
there was an inland road known as the Lower or River Road. 



GENERAL WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE RIVER 241 

ton. The death of three soldiers by freezing while crossing the 
river is also reported. 

Part of General Washington's plan was to have Colonel 
Cadwallader's division cross the river at Minnick's ferry, at what 
is now Landreth's seed farm, to attack the cantonments at 
Mount Holly, Black Horse and Bordentown, and General 
Ew^ing's division to cross at Trenton ferry, south of Assunpink 
creek, by other boats which had been assembled south of the 
Falls to cut off any retreating Hessians, but owing to the floating 
ice and weather conditions, they could not carry out their com- 
missions. They were surprised on hearing firing at Trenton to 
know that General Washington with his brave army had made 
the attack. As the result of their failures, the retreat was not 
covered, and some 200 or 300 Hessians escaped capture, but there 
was glory enough for all in the capture of the other 1,000 together 
with their rifles, six brass field pieces, ammunition, stores and 
eight flags. 

After the battle, on the same day, General Washington, w^ith 
his army and 1,000 prisoners, recrossed the river, most of them by 
McKonkey's ferry. Some crossed at Johnson's ferrv, now 
Yardley.' 

The Hessian Prisoners 

The Hessian prisoners were marched to Newtown, then the 
county-seat of Bucks County, where they were imprisoned in the 
Presbyterian Church and elsewhere, and where on December 
30th they signed paroles. Later they were marched to Phila- 
delphia and paraded through the streets to demonstrate to the 
people, particularly to the loyalists and tories, that our gallant 
and resourceful Washington was more than a match for the 
British generals and their Hessian hirelings. 

Many of the Hessians did not return to their native land, some 
joined Washington's army, a few were emplo^^ed at the Durham 
Iron Works in Bucks County, some 30 or 40, both prisoners and 
deserters, were employed at the Hibernia Iron Works in Morris 
County, N. J.^ Many remained in Pennsylvania and became 
heads of families, whose descendants are today among some of 
our best citizens. 

5 New Jersey Archives, Second Series, Vol. IV, page 450. 

6 History, of Morris County, N. J., published by W. Munsell & Co., 1882, 
page 51. 



242 GENERAL WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE RIVER 

On returning to Pennsylvania, Washington made his head- 
quarters at Newtown in Bucks County, where he remained until 
the twenty-ninth.^ While stationed there he planned a second 
attack on the army of General Howe, which he carried to a suc- 
cessful issue. A second crossing of the Delware was therefore 
made, with an enlarged army; Washington himself crossing over 
on Monday, December thirtieth. The boats used at McKonkey's 
ferry were moved down the river, through the falls nearly a mile 
long, to points below Trenton, a distance of nine miles, where 
tide ends, and where by the several ferries located below Trenton, 
the different divisions of the army crossed over. 

The weather had somewhat moderated, but the river was still 
full of slush ice, and moreover there had been a heavy rain during 
the night, making the roads which were covered with snow and 
slush hard to travel. 

The Second Battle of Trenton 

The Continental troops, with the New Jersey militia, var- 
iously estimated as 5,000, concentrated in Trenton, south of 
Assunpink creek, with the British troops facing them from the 
north side thereof, and there on January 2, 1777, they opened fire 
on the Continental army. Washington defended the bridge 
crossing the creek and otherwise deployed his time, and when 
night fell all hostilities were suspended until the morrow. The 
American army was thought to be in a cul-de-sac, and Lord Corn- 
wallis in speaking of the critical position of Washington's army, 
said, "Now I have the old fox in a trap and will bag him in the 
morning and capture his whole army." But alas the "old fox," 
our American Fabius, would not allow himself to be bottled up, 
and as soon as darkness protected his movements, began the 
withdrawal of his troops by a flank and circuitous route over the 
Sand Town road toward Princeton. The roads froze during the 
night making travel difficult. The wheels of his 40 pieces of 
artillery were mufifled and as quietly as possible the evacuation 
was begun. Imagine the chagrin and anger, too, of Lord Corn- 
wallis on the morning of January third to find that his bird had 
flown. 

" Washington's headquarters at Newtown were at the John Harris house, 
on the west side of the creek, later owned by Alexander German, and now 
within the limits of the Borough of Newtown. 



general washington crossing the delaware river 243 

Battles of Stony Brook and Princeton 

The advance guard, some 350 men, under General Mercer, on 
reaching Stony Brook, were encountered by a detachment of 
British troops, of about an equal number, on their way to rein- 
force Lord Cornwallis. The engagement would have led to 
disaster, but for the arrival of other troops led by General Wash- 
ington. The tide of battle was turned and the British routed. 
At this encounter brave Gen. Hugh Mercer lost his life. He was, 
I think, the ranking officer of all who fell during Washington's 
entire New Jersey campaigns. Washington and his victorious 
army continued their march toward Princeton, where they met 
another division of British soldiers, resulting in a victory for the 
Continental army, known in history as the Battle of Princeton. 
General Washington with his army then marched to Morristown, 
38 miles away, where they went in winter quarters from January 
7 to May 28, 1777. 

Brandywine, Paoli and Germantown 

But alas before the close of the year 1777, the disastrous 
battles of Brandywine, Paoli and Germantown had taken place. 
The British occupied Philadelphia; the Continental Congress and 
the Supreme Executive Council evacuated the city; the books, 
papers and valuables were sent to Easton in care of Robert 
Levers; and Washington with his ragged and half-starved army 
spent the winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge. 

Later Campaigns and the Close of the War 

Neither do I have time to enter into the history of later cam- 
paigns, with the brilliant victories at Monmouth and the final 
contest at Yorktown. These are matters of 
history known to all. As one writer says: 

"Washington's name was heralded 
throughout the land; he was celebrated by the 
pens of the most distinguished writers. The 
most illustrious personages of Europe lavished 
praises upon him." 

Lord Cornwallis in answering to a toast at 
a dinner given him by General Washington, 
after the battle of Yorktown, said of him: 




244 GENERAL WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE RIVER 

"When the illustrious part that your excellency has borne in 
this long and arduous contest becomes matter of history, fame 
will gather your brightest laurels rather from the banks of the 
Delaware than from those of the Chesapeake." 

Frederick the Great in referring to the contest declared : 

"The achievement of Washington and his little band of com- 
patriots between the twenty-fifth of December and the fourth of 
January, a space of ten days, were the most brilliant of any 
recorded in the annals of military achievements."^ 



The Signers of the Declaration of 
Independence 

Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, eight 
were foreign born: Pennsylvania with nine furnished the largest 
number, Virginia with seven was a good second, and New Jersey 
with five came next. Five of the other states furnished four each 

and five furnished three each. 
As already stated two of 
the Pennsylvania signers, 
Robert Morris and George 
Clymer, lived for a time in 
Morrisville, Bucks County, 
but not at the time of their 
signing. There was, how- 
ever, one signer, George Tay- 
lor, living in Bucks County, 
and in Durham Township, 
when on August 2, 1776, he 
affixed his signature to that 
immortal document. 

I notice by your list of 
officers that W. Gordon Mc- 
Cabe is on your board of gov- 
ernors; I take it that he is the 
son of my friend. Captain W. 
Gordon McCabe, late of Rich- 




8 LosSing's Field-book of the Revolution, Vol. 11, page 240, ard Stryker's 
The Battles of Trenton and Princeton, p^ge 464. 



GENERAL WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE RIVER 245 

mond, Va., and therefore a lineal descendant of George Taylor, 
the Bucks County signer. 

I have spent considerable time in making an intensive study 
of the life and times of George Taylor, and find that his biog- 
raphers, all of whom I take it have followed Sanderson, have fallen 
into many errors. This fact suggests that you, who are direct 
descendants of the signers, are in position to correct the many 
errors which have crept into the biographical notices of others. 
Why not make the crowning and outstanding work of your 



w ■ 


'J/^^~- M 




f ''■-' Jh 


biJ 




^ 


i 


_r 



TAVERN AT WASHINGTON CROSSING, PA. 
which occupies the site of McKonkey's Ferry House 



society, the gathering of reliable data and publishing correct bio- 
graphical notices of all your patriotic ancestors, whose memory 
you are celebrating today? 

All honor to that galaxy of resolute patriots, whose descend- 
ants you are, for their heroism at a time when they placed their 
lives in jeopardy, but let us accord equal honor to the brave men 
who enlisted under the banner of Washington, and suffered 
privations during a war that raged for nearly seven years, without 
uniforms, not even properly clothed, underfed, with bleeding feet 
as they marched to battle on that stormy Christmas night, carry- 
ing their own flint-lock muskets and bullet molds, for the bore of 
their rifles were not uniform. They were all patriots, and we, their 



246 GENERAL WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE RIVER 

descendants, are proud of their heroism, and glad to trace our 
lineage back to them in order to become members of patriotic 
societies. At any rate I know that I take pride in the military 
career of my ancestor, who held a lieutenant's commission. There 
is honor and glory enough for all of us. 

But, ladies and gentlemen of your patriotic society, the 
greatest of them all was Washington, and in concluding, I ask 
you to rise in memory of him who was "first in war, first in peace 
and first in the hearts of his countrymen." 




ROBERT MORRIS GEORGE CLYMER 

1734-1806 1739-1815 

Portraits of two signers of the Declaration of Independence, who resided for some years 
at Morrisville in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. 



The Life and Expatriation of Judge Gilbert Hicks 

By SARAH W. HICKS, NEWTOWN, PA. 

(Meeting at "Madryn," the home of the Misses Chambers, 

Newtown, Pa., September 22, 1934) 

GILBERT HICKS, my great-great-grandfather, the pro- 
genitor of the Newtown, Bucks County, family of Hicks, 
is a descendant of Robert Hicks, who landed at Plymouth, 
Mass., November 11, 1621, having sailed from London on the 
ship "Fortune," which followed the "Mayflower." The ancestors 
of Robert Hicks were natives of Gloucestershire, England, and 
traced their pedigree in an unbroken line to Sir Ellis Hicks, who 
was knighted by Edward the Black Prince on the battlefield of 
Poitiers, September 9, 1356, for conspicuous bravery in capturing 
a stand of colors from the French. 

I will not go into the genealogy of the Hicks family, as much 
has been written about it in previous articles. 

Gilbert Hicks, fourth son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Moore) 
Hicks, was born in Queens County, Long Island, September 19, 
1720. On April 24, 1746, he married Mary Rodman, born 
February 17, 1717, daughter of Joseph Rodman, of Flushing, 
Long Island. In the winter of 1747-48 he moved to Bensalem 
township, Bucks County, on a tract of 600 acres, the circum- 
stances of which are mentioned in Edward Hicks' Memoirs, 
pages 16-17, as follows: 

"My grandfather, Gilbert Hicks, (my father's father) married 
the daughter of Joseph Rodman, of Long Island, a consistent, 
active m.ember of the Society of Friends, and the young man, not 
being a member, the marriage, of course, was clandestine, Avhich 
was a cause of sorrow to the dear old Friend. Notwithstanding 
this, he could not be inexorable, for he was a Christian. He 
therefore received his daughter, with her husband, as his dear 
children, and thus addressed them, 'I am old, and you are young, 
and would wish to be settled in life; I therefore propose, that you 
go into the new countries, (as Pennsylvania was then called), and 
settle on a tract of land of about 600 acres, that I own, near the 
river Delaware, on the Neshaminy Creek, twenty miles east of 
Philadelphia, and as it is worth at least three hundred pounds, 



248 LIFE AND EXPATRIATION OF JUDGE GILBERT HICKS 

more than would be a just proportion of your share of my estate, 
you must give me a bond for that sum, on my executing a deed 
that shall give you a substantial title.' 

"The proposition of the good old Friend was acceded to by 
his children, and in the winter of 1747 and 1748 they came on and 
found a part of the land clear and a comfortable log house, where 
they were hospitably received by a family of the name of Van- 
sant, and where my father was born (Isaac Hicks) the 21st of the 
4th mo., 1748 (old Style). After building for themselves a com- 
fortable dwelling, the first thing they did was to sell off 200 acres 
of the land to Lawrence Growden, for three hundred pounds, with 
which they paid their father, and found themselves snugly settled 
on a farm of four hundred acres of first rate land, clear of all 
incumbrance, enhancing in value daily, by the astonishing influx 
of European settlers. 

"Whether it was their wealth, or their intelligence, or both, 
they certainly appeared to have obtained a respectable standing; 
for my grandfather received a commission from the royal govern- 
ment, as one of the justices of the peace for the county of Bucks. 

"Either a fondness for public business, or getting tired of the 
labor and care of so large a farm, induced my grandfather to sell 
his large farm of 400 acres, and to purchase a small one, coming to 
a point, at the southeast corner of what was then called Four- 
Lanes-End, (now Attleborough), (now Langhorne), of 100 acres. 
Here he built a spacious brick house, that is still standing (the 
present Parry Building) and moreover it appears that, having 
become wealthy, he devoted himself almost exclusively to public 
business, being promoted to the office of Chief Justice of the 
Court of Common Pleas." 

That Gilbert Hicks was a man of superior mental ability and 
had the respect and esteem of the Governor and Council as well as 
the people of his own community is shown by the trust put in him 
by his being appointed to several public offices and the fact that 
he acted as executor of the estates of the most influential and 
wealthy land owners of his day. 

On June 15, 1752, less than five years after Gilbert Hicks 
moved to Bucks County, he and William Rodman were appointed, 
by the Governor and Council at Philadelphia, Justices of the 
Peace. Although William Rodman was not reappointed, Gilbert 
Hicks remained in office until the Revolution. He was one of the 



LIFE AND EXPATRIATION OF JUDGE GILBERT HICKS 249 

Judges that sat on the bench in Newtown when it was the County 
Seat. 

On March 29, 1776, John Penn, Governor, etc., issued a Com- 
mission on parchment to "Gilbert Hicks and Hugh Hartshorne, 
Esquires, two of our Justices of the Peace, within the County of 
Bucks," etc. "You are appointed to hear, try, and determine all 
the crimes and ofTenses that have been committed by any negro, 
or negroes, slave or free, in said county, and with the assistance of 
six substantial Freeholders, inhabitants of the said county, by 
you to be chosen and legally sworn or affirmed, to hear, examine, 
try, convict, or acquit, according to law, all and every such 
negro and pass sentence according to law, etc." 

In performing his duty in the above capacity he passed sen- 
tence on two negroes, transporting them to the West Indies for 
life as slaves. He had conscientious scruples against such a 
sentence and attributed his future misfortunes to this act. 

He was a partner of Hugh Hartshorne in the firm of Harts- 
horne and Hicks, mentioned as the Board Yard Company in his 
account book. This firm operated a saw and planing mill, and 
furnished the material for many of the buildings erected in the 
southern part of Bucks County before 1800. From this book I 
find that he was the owner and proprietor of a hotel in Four- 
Lanes-End (now Langhorne), and also conducted a general mer- 
chandising business, in addition to conveyancing and the practice 
of law. 

It is interesting to note the following estates settled by him as 
executor, accounts of which are also recorded in his books now in 
my possession : 

1752 Estate of Richard Addis. 
1755 Estate of Robert Harvey. 
1760 Estate of Susanah Edwards. 
1766 Estate of Benjamin Scott. 
1769 Estate of Langhorne Biles. 
1773 Estate of Thomas Barnsley. 

By 1777 Judge Hicks had amassed a considerable fortune, 
and had become one of the county's most influential citizens. 
His will, in my possession, written on June 28, 1777, shows per- 
sonal property at that time. The will is as follows: 



250 LIFE AND EXPATRIATION OF JUDGE GILBERT HICKS 

In The Name of God, Amen. I, Gilbert Hicks, of the 
township of Middletown in the County of Bucks in the province 
of Pennsylvania being in perfect health and of sound mind and 
memory, but calling to mind the uncertainty of life do make this 
my last Will and Testament in manner and form following: 

First, I will and direct that all my lawful debts and funeral 

charges be paid by my Executors. Item, It is my will 

and I do devise that all my Real Estate wheresoever shall be sold 
by my Executors herein after named or the survivors or survivor 
of them, by public auction or otherwise at the Discretion of my 
said Executors or the Survivors or Survivor of them, as soon as 
convenient after my Decease; and the Money arising upon such 
Sale to be applied by them towards discharging my said Debts 
and funeral expenses, and Payment of the Legacies herein after 
mentioned and bequeathed. Item, I give and bequeath to my 
Grandson, Thomas Kirkbride, the Sum of Two Hundred Pounds 
lawful Money of Pennsylvania to be put in Interest as soon as 
convenient after my Decease by my said Executors, they taking 
Real Estate as Security for the payment of the said sum with its 
interest until he arrive at the age of Twenty-one Years ; and when 
he arrives at the said age of Twenty-one Years, the said principal 
Sum with the Interest in the meantime accruing shall be paid to 
him; but if it shall so happen that my said Grandson die in his 
Minority and without Issue, then to be equally divided between 
my four children, Isaac Hicks, Joseph Rodman Hicks, Sarah 
Hicks and Elizabeth Willett, Share and Share alike. Item, I 
give and bequeath to my daughter Elizabeth Willett (having 
already considerably advanced her by permitting her to live 
several Years Rent free in my house occupied as a Tavern) the 
sum of One Hundred Pounds lawful Money aforesaid to be paid 
her by my said Executors at the Expiration of one year after my 
Decease, and a Negro Wench named Jude, also a large looking 
glass with a walnut frame. Item, I give to each of my grand- 
children, Mary and Elizabeth, (children of my said daughter 
Elizabeth Willett) the sum of Fifty Pounds, to be put out at 
Interest on the like Security above mentioned, at the expiration 
of two years after my Decease by my said Executors, to be paid 
to my said grandchildren respectively when they may arrive to 
the age of Eighteen Years, or on their respective days of marriage, 



LIFE AND EXPATRIATION OF JUDGE GILBERT HICKS 251 

which shall first happen. Item, I give to my son Isaac Hicks my 
Negro Wench named Jane, and my Library of Books, Book Case, 
and Scrutoire. Item, I give to my grandson Gilbert Hicks my 
Negro boy named Charles. Item, It is my Will and Intention 
that my Negro Ishmael shall be free from Slavery, agreeable to 
my Promise made to him; but as it will be necessary that my 
Executors should give Security that he shall not become charge- 
able, (which I hereby direct them to do) I will and order that my 
said Negro Ishmael pay out of his Industry the sum of five 
Pounds yearly to my said Executors until the several yearly Pay- 
ments make up the sum of Thirty Pounds, and then the yearly 
Payments to cease and determine. As to my Negro Wench 
Hagar, I also will that she shall be free from Bondage and Servi- 
tude, and direct my residuary Legatees herein after named to 
give such Security in her behalf as will entitle her to her freedom 
immediately after my Decease. 

Item, I give to my daughter Sarah Hicks my best Bed, Bed- 
steads, and all the Furniture belonging to it, all my Plate, a 
Settee, a mahogany Dining Table, six best black walnut chairs, 
two large enameled China Bowls, and m.y best large Looking 
Glass, and all my Pewter. Item, to my son Joseph Rodman 
Hicks, I give and bequeath all the Rest and Residue of my House- 
hold Furniture of what kind soever, my Negro Man Primus, and 
my Clock and Clock Case. All the Rest Residue and Remainder 
of my Estate of what kind soever not herein before disposed of 
I give devise and bequeath to my children Isaac Hicks, Joseph 
Rodman Hicks, and Sarah Hicks, to be equally divided between 
them. Share and Share alike. And, I do hereby constitute and 
appoint my said residuary Legatees Executors of this my last 
Will and Testament, and I also appoint my Friend James Thorn- 
ton of Byberry in Philadelphia County, in the Province aforesaid, 
my Trustee, to see that my Executors do duly execute this my 
last will according to true Intent, Meaning, and Purport thereof; 
hereby revoking and annulling all other and former Wills by me 
heretofore made and published. In Witness whereof, I have 
hereunto put my Hand and Seal, dated the Twenty-eighth Day 
of June, in the Year of Our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred 
and Seventy-seven (1777). Signed, Sealed, published and de- 
livered by the said Gilbert Hicks, to be his last Will and Testa- 



252 LIFE AND EXPATRIATION OF JUDGE GILBERT HICKS 

ment, in the Presence of us, who have subscribed our Names as 
Witnesses thereunto in his Presence and at his Request. 

Gilbert Hicks (Seal) 
Ezra Comfort 
Rebekah Wilson 
Henry Atherton 

Gilbert Hicks made the grave error of reading General Howe's 
Proclamation from the Court House steps in Newtown, November 
30, 1 776. He was deeply impressed with the greatness and power 
of England and honestly believed that the Colonies would be 
crushed in the war. 

He was opposed to the unjust acts of Great Britain, but 
thought it would be better to wait until the Colonies grew stronger 
before attempting to throw off the yoke of bondage. This is 
proven by the fact that at a public meeting held in Newtown, 
July 9th, 1774, in pursuance of a previous notice, Gilbert Hicks, 
Esq., was appointed chairman and William Walton secretary. 
"The chairman on taking his seat as presiding officer made a 
short appropriate address explaining the object of the meeting 
being to consider the injury and distress occasioned by numerous 
acts of the British Parliament, oppressive to the Colony, in which 
they are not represented. 

"The meeting was conducted with harmony and unity of 
sentiment. 

"Representatives were appointed to attend a future meeting 
in Philadelphia, viz.: John Kidd, Joseph Kirkbride, Joseph Hart, 
James Wallace, Henry Wynkoop, Samuel Foulke and Joseph Wil- 
kinson. 

"The following resolution was passed: 

" 'Resolved: That it is the duty of every American when 
oppressed by measures, either of Ministry or Parliament or any 
other power, to use every lawful endeavor to obtain relief, and to 
form and promote a plan of union between the parent country and 
colonies in which the claims of the parent country may be ascer- 
tained and the liberties of the colonies defined and secured.' 

"It was thought this could be best secured by a General Con- 
gress, to be composed of Delegates, to be appointed either by the 



LIFE AND EXPATRIATION OF JUDGE GILBERT HICKS 253 

respective Colonial Assemblies, or by the Members thereof in 
convention." 

On hearing the proclamation, although Gilbert Hicks stated, 
"His sympathy was not on the side of England, but for the best 
interest of the Colonies, hoped his countrymen would pause 
before it was too late," the townsmen took a different view of the 
subject and regarded Judge Hicks as a traitor to his country. 

It is the irony of fate that a man who had given his life to 
public service and had the esteem of all who knew him, should, 
through the performance of his duties, cause his countrymen to 
brand him as a traitor and be obliged to leave his country to 
escape the wrath of fanaticism without an opportunity to speak 
in his own defense. 

The Judge returned to his home, after reading the proclama- 
tion, and Newtown was soon in a state of wild excitement. A 
company of armed men started for Four-Lanes-End to arrest the 
Judge. Joseph Worstall, Sr., learned of the intentions of the 
townsmen, and dispatched his (Worstall's) colored servant to 
inform his good friend, the Judge. It appears that Joseph Wor- 
stall got into quite a little trouble for his actions in this matter. 

On receiving this information, the Judge left his home and 
family and proceeded to New York, where he found an asylum 
with the British Army. He evidently was not heard from for 
some time, as the first letter received from him, that has been 
preserved, written April 5th, 1780, to his son Isaac, reads as fol- 
lows : 

"My Son: 

"The only reason I have heretofore omitted writing to thee is 
least if known to the ill-natured people amongst you, might in 
its consequence operate to thy disadvantage. I am very appre- 
hensive that my dear daughter Sally must want many things, the 
which I would send to her provided I had the least hopes of it 
coming safe. 

"As thou art the head of my family in Pennsylvania I must 
recommend it to thee. Nay lay it upon thee as an injunction to 
live in brotherly love with thy brother and sisters, and in friend- 
ship with all thy neighbors without distinction; which will endear 
thee to thy affectionate father. 

[Signed] Gilbert Hicks. 



254 LIFE AND EXPATRIATION OF JUDGE GILBERT HICKS 

April 5, 1780. 
"To Isaac Hicks, Esq." 

There are four other letters in my possession which give 
further insight on his activities during exile. 

He wrote from New York, November 4, 1783, stating he was 
to leave in two weeks with the British Troops, and asked his son 
Isaac to bring his account books. That this was done is evident 
from the following statement in Edward Hicks' Memoirs: 
"Whilst he found an asylum with the British Army in New York, 
my father paid him his last visit, and on parting, my grandfather 
gave his son his last advice, in a language like this, 'You are a 
young man, and as you may be exposed to many temptations, 
my last and most serious advice to you is, never act contrary to 
your conscientious feelings; never disobey the voice of eternal 
truth in your own soul. Sacrifice property, personal liberty, 
and even life itself, rather than be disobedient to a Heavenly 
vision. I disobeyed this inward monitor, and am now suffering 
the due reward of my deeds.' Such were the last words of my 
dear old grandfather, to his son, on leaving New York with the 
British Army, at the close of the Revolution, for Nova Scotia. 
My venerable father at the age of four score, related the circum- 
stance to me, in such an impressive manner, that I had no doubt 
that he wished it handed down to posterity." 

In a letter dated July 7th, 1784, from Digby, New Scotland, 
he advised his son : "Do not I beg you to mettle in politics. Your 
father has made himself retched by it." 

From the foregone facts it will be seen that Gilbert Hicks was 
in full accord with the public sentiment of Newtown against the 
oppressive acts of Great Britain toward her colonies. 

Josiah B. Smith's Manuscript Book No. 1, Page 23, in speak- 
ing of Gilbert Hicks, reads as follows: 

"There does not appear to be the least evidence that Gilbert 
Hicks held any correspondence, with the British Government, or 
its officers or with any persons, of a treasonable character in rela- 
tion to the Revolution. His only offense consisted in reading the 
Proclamation at the Court House in Newtown, and this was done 
under a sense of duty required by the oath of office to which he 
subscribed when the Commission of Magistrate and Judge of 
Court was conferred upon him a short time previous to the fatal 



LIFE AND EXPATRIATION OF JUDGE GILBERT HICKS 255 

error of his life. He was attainted for treason and all his property 
at Four-Lanes-End and Bensalem, confiscated. As everything 
done in the country by Judge Hicks was done from a conscien- 
tious sense of duty required of a public officer, openly and pub- 
licly without a word of comment, it will remain for the student of 
history to determine the measure of his crime or error of judgment. 
That he did not fully appreciate the intensity of the patriotism 
prevailing the heart of the Colonies before reading the proclama- 
tion, is very certain." 

The last letter received from Judge Gilbert Hicks, that has 
been preserved, was written from Digby, New Scotland, July 7, 
1786. There is no record of the date when he died, but it is 
understood that he died by the hands of an assassin who mur- 
dered him for the quarterly pension he had just received from the 
British Government. 



The County Court at Newtown 

By judge CALVIN S. BOYER, DOYLESTOWN, PA. 

(Meeting at "Madryn," the home of the Misses Chambers, 

Newtown, Pa., September 22, 1934) 

IN preparing this paper I make no pretence at original research 
or the presentation of anything of particular historical value. 
My thought, rather has been, to collect such information and 
data with relation to the Courts of Bucks County during the 
period that Newtown was our county seat as might be of interest 
to the residents of Newtown Borough and Township and as might 
be appropriate to the anniversary which Newtown is celebrating 
this year. 

For this purpose we are not concerned particularly with the 
Courts prior to the time when they were moved to Newtown. It 
is sufficient to note that the first Court of Justice held in Bucks 
County appears to have been located at or near the home of 
William Biles at a place then known as "Crookthorn," situated 
on the road leading from Tullytown to the former Bordentown 
Ferry, or two miles down the Delaware River from Morrisville. 
That Court was established in 1683. In 1705, it was moved to 
Bristol, or New Bristol, as it was then called. It was moved to 
Bristol by reason of complaints that the Court at Crookthorn 
was too far removed from the center of population and by reason 
thereof was inconvenient to the people of the settled portion of 
the county. Langhorne was suggested as the most convenient 
place, but for some unknown reason it was moved to Bristol 
instead. That this was an unwise choice of location is shown by 
the fact that twenty years later it was moved to the Township of 
Newtown as being the geographical center of the then settled por- 
tion of Bucks County. 

On March 24, 1724, an Act of Assembly was approved, en- 
titled: "An Act to enable Jeremiah Langhorne, William Biles, 
Joseph Kirkbride, Jr., Thomas Watson, practioner in physick, 
and Abraham Chapman to build a new Courthouse and Prison 
in the County of Bucks." These five persons or any three of 
them were authorized to purchase land and erect buildings 
thereon according to their own judgment at an expense not to 



THE COUNTY COURT AT NEWTOWN 257 

exceed three hundred pounds or fifteen hundred dollars. Under 
authority of this Act they accordingly purchased a tract of land of 
John Walley on July 17, 1725. This tract of land, lying in what 
is now the Borough of Newtown, was forty perches in length by 
twenty in width, or six hundred and sixty feet by three hundred 
and thirty feet, with an area of five acres. It was known as the 
"Five Acres" and faced what was then "The Commons" lying 
between State and Sycamore Streets. These five acres were sub- 
divided into smsTer lots or squares by three streets; Court Street 
dividi g it lengthwise and Mercer and Sullivan Streets, trans- 
versely. This court house tract was bounded on the west by 
State Street and on the south by Penn Street. The portions of 
the original tract not needed for the use of the county were sold 
upon ground rents. The court house and prison were erected 
as separate structures, each fronting south. The court house 
stood on the present site of the house on Court Street now belong- 
ing to Mrs. Horace G. Reeder. The jail was on Main Street 
(now State Street) and stood on, or about at, the present site of 
the H. G. Efifrig store; the jail yard extending north from the jail 
building. For a detailed description of the court house and its 
location we may refer to the excellent paper read before the His- 
torical Society by Mrs. Mary T. Hillborn of Newtown on January 
20, 1923, and published in Volume V of the Bucks County His- 
torical Society Papers, at page 461, etc. In that paper the first 
court house at Newtown is described as follows: "The court 
house was a two story building with double doors in front, a fire- 
place in each end of the building, stone chimneys, old-fashioned 
hip-roof and a square box on top in which hung the bell. The 
judges were seated on an elevated platform, located in the recess 
of a large bay window. The second story was finished in suitable 
rooms for juries." 

There is some reason to believe that the jail or some building 
used as a jail was destroyed by a fire of incendiary origin, but 
this is little more than a tradition, as no satisfactory evidence or 
record is available to show its date or the nature of the building 
destroyed. It is clear, however, that the original jail building 
proved to be inadequate for its purposes and that in 1745 the 
then existing jail was converted into a workhouse and a new 
building erected as a jail. One of the interesting features of this 
jail, as described by Mrs. Hillborn, was that it contained a bar- 



258 THE COUNTY COURT AT NEWTOWN 

room for the sale of rum to prisoners as well as the public generally. 
The court house was subsequently enlarged by the addition of a 
treasury building located between the jail and the original court 
house, and in 1772 an offtce, twelve by sixteen feet, was likewise 
erected between the jail and court house for the storing of records. 
Prior thereto the records were left in the possession of the various 
court officers at their respective homes. In 1796 this office build- 
ing was replaced by a larger two-story building forty by thirty- 
six feet in size which was used for offices of the several clerks and 
for the safe keeping of public records. Another interesting 
adjunct of the court buildings was a pair of stocks, erected by 
Joseph Thornton in 1742. 

In the meanwhile, as the county seat buildings were being 
enlarged, the population of the county increased very rapidly 
toward the north and in that portion of the county which is now 
Northampton County. Complaints were constantly increasing 
as to the inconvenience for the people in those outlying districts 
traveling to Newtown in their attendance upon court, a distance 
of thirty, forty and more miles. This, in those days of primitive 
travel on horseback and by horsed rawn vehicles, was a very 
serious matter. The first consequence of this spread of the popu- 
lation was the creation of a new county out of the north portion of 
what was then Bucks County. This is the present Northampton 
County. This brought a temporary suspension of the complaints 
as to the location of the county seat. But as time went on, and 
court business increased with the population of the county, the 
court buildings required both enlarging and repairing. When 
these needs became so pressing as to require court action, objec- 
tion was made to the expenditure of money for the erection of 
new buildings at a location so inconvenient to the northern half 
of the county. As the time arrived when action must be taken 
on the needs for a new court house, the controversy over its loca- 
tion became a renewed and probably bitter issue. The argu- 
ment for the removal of the county seat from Newtown to a more 
northerly point became unanswerable, and Commissioners were 
appointed in 1810 to determine upon a new location to be selected 
by them at some point not more than three miles distant from the 
intersection of what is now the Willow Grove, Doylestown and 
Easton highway with the Norristown, Chalfont and New Hope 
highway. The Commissioners after wavering between "The 



THE COUNTY COURT AT NEWTOWN 259 

Turk," or "Edison," as it is now called, on the one hand, and 
"Pool's Corner" on the other, finally compromised upon the 
present site of the Bucks County court house at Doylestown, and 
in 1813 the county seat, after being located at Newtown for 
eighty-eight years, was legally transferred to Doylestown, the 
first session of court being held there on May 11, 1813. 

A more interesting phase of the history of the courts at New- 
town would be the personnel of their judges and officers if informa- 
tion on that subject were available. However, unfortunately, the 
records on that phase are even more vague and scant than on the 
buildings themselves. The records would undoubtedly disclose 
the names of many of the court officers, but a recital of mere 
names would be meaningless and dreary reading. Mrs. Hill- 
born, in her paper already referred to, relates a very interesting 
incident during the incumbency of John Hart as county treasurer 
at Newtown in the robbery of the county treasury at the home of 
the treasurer on State Street, now or lately owned by Mr. Harry 
Mitchell, perpetrated by the Doane outlaws. Unfortunately 
information as to such incidents throwing light on the courts and 
the men who conducted them is now lost beyond recovery. 
Among the attorneys who appeared before the court in Newtown 
during the latter years of its existence there the records disclose 
the following names most frequently: John Ross, Hugh Ross, 
Thomas Ross, Abraham Chapman, Enos Morris, Mathias Morris 
and James Milnor. 

In referring to the judges who presided over the courts of 
Bucks County during this period it is important to note that at 
that time Bucks County was a part of a large Judicial District 
comprised of Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks and Delaware 
Counties and that the judges of this district, or four counties, 
were the judges who presided over the court at Newtown. 
Therefore, it is not surprising that almost all of our judges during 
that period were Philadelphia judges, and that in all probability 
they had comparatively little interest in, and even less personal 
knowledge of, the county and its people. It is doubtful whether 
any judges who presided over the courts at Newtown ever resided 
at that place. Among the law judges who presided over the 
courts of Bucks County during the time that it was located at 
Newtown may be named: Judge Henry Wynkoop, of Northamp- 
ton Township, who presided from 1777 to 1789; Judge John Bar- 



260 THE COUNTY COURT AT NEWTOWN 

clay, of Springfield Township, Bucks County, from 1790 to 1791; 
Judges James Biddle from 1791 to 1797; Judge John D. Coxe from 
1797 to 1805; Judge William Tilghman from 1805 to 1806; and 
Judge Bird Wilson from 1806 to 1818. During this period there 
were a large number of associate judges all of whom were laymen 
appointed by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania. 
Of the president judges, Judge Wynkoop was distinctly a native 
of Bucks County. He was our first member of Congress and an 
intimate friend of George Washington. From his associations 
with the more prominent officials and aristocratic classes of those 
early days he acquired a love of pomp, ceremony and dignity 
which he brought to his judicial office. He promulgated a rule of 
court, requiring his court officers to carry staves, prescribing how 
they were to escort the judge to and from the bench, where they 
were to deposit their staves, etc. 

Judge Bird Wilson was the last and probably the most dis- 
tinguished of the judges who served during the period under con- 
sideration. Although he was a Philadelphian, Philadelphia 
County was then no longer a part of our Judicial District so that 
Judge Wilson presided only over the Courts of Delaware, Mont- 
gomery and Bucks Counties. During that period he resided at 
Norristown. Judge Wilson was of Scotch descent, having i)een 
the son of James Wilson, a lawyer of national prominence during 
the Revolutionary period. Bird Wilson was born at Carlisle, 
Pennsylvania, in 1777. He early displayed his mental ability 
and love of study, graduating from the University of Pennsyl- 
vania at the age of fifteen years. He was admitted to the Phila- 
delphia Bar in 1797. It is doubtful whether he ever actively 
engaged in the practice of the law, although he was a great stu- 
dent and master of the law. In demeanor he was a quiet, unob- 
strusive, gentlemanly young man. He was only twenty-nine 
years of age when appointed by the governor to be president judge 
of this district, and first took his seat on the bench at Newtown 
on May 5, 1806. The first case tried before him in this county 
was that of Commonwealth vs. Joseph Black, charged with horse 
stealing. The defendant was convicted and sentenced to an 
imprisonment equivalent to fourteen years, indicating that not- 
withstanding his rrild and gentle disposition, he enforced the 
crimnal law most vigorously. Judge Wilson in 1818 resigned his 
office of judge in order to enter the ministry of the Episcopal 



The county court at newTown ^6l 

Church. This unusual action was attributed by some to the sup- 
posed fact that he did not wish to sentence one John Craig, who 
had been convicted before him of the crime of murder, the judge 
having been deeply disturbed and distressed by the incidents of 
the trial. While this would seem to be consistent with his gentle, 
refined nature, it is probably nothing more than mere conjecture. 
However, a study of his beautiful portrait hanging in the court 
room at Doylestown would incline one to give credence to the 
story. 

The court records which were kept during these early days are 
exceedingly interesting, especially to members of the legal fra- 
ternity. They are brief, neatly written and in the stilted lan- 
guage of the old English courts. The following excerpt from a 
brief record found in one of the dockets of our Prothonotary's 
Office would not only be Greek to a layman, but would drive any 
modern lawyer to his law dictionary for its meaning. The last 
record entry made at Newtown in Docket No. 5, page 169, notes 
the bringing of the action and then this entry is made: "the 
defendant craves oyer of the writing obligatory and imparles 
specially." It may be said to mean: that the defendant asks 
that the paper sued upon may be read and that he be allowed 
sufficient time to discuss a settlement with the plaintiff before 
filing an answer to the claim. In another case the entry of pleas 
were: "Deft, pleads payment with leave, etc. Pltf. replies non 
solvit et issue." Reduced to simple colloquial terms it amounts 
to this: Defendant: "I paid your bill." Plaintiff: "You did not 
pay. We'll go to trial." 

The Quarter Sessions records are even more interesting than 
those of the Common Pleas Court, disclosing more of the times, 
morals and social problems of those days. The crime which 
appeared to predominate in those days was that of assault and 
battery, the number of bills charging that crime being propor- 
tionately far greater than they are today. Next in number were 
crimes of sex immorality, also far in excess of such prosecutions 
today. The difference, however, is due to a difference in moral 
standards and is to our discredit. Third in number were charges 
of larceny. There were also a surprising number of riot charges. 
The record of the June Sessions, 1780, discloses a list of four or 
five cases in which the crime was called "Keeping School." My 
curiosity being aroused by the title of this crime, I made a search 



262 THE COUNTY COURT AT NEWTOWN 

of the original papers and found the bills of indictment. They 
disclosed that the real offense consisted in teaching school without 
having taken the oath of allegiance to the New Government. 
The punishment for this offense in the cases against William 
Wood and Thomas Folliet were $2,500 fine and a requirement 
that the defendants give bond with surety in the sum of $20,000 
for their good behavior for a period of twelve months. This sen- 
tence no doubt resulted in the defendants becoming guests of the 
county for that period. 

Some of the sentences imposed in those days impress us as 
being brutal in their severity. What would the public's reaction 
be today to this sentence imposed in June, 1780, upon Peter 
Heaton for the crime of larceny: "The Court adjudges that he 
stand in the pillory one hour, be whipped with thirty-nine lashes 
and at the same time shall have his ears cut off and nailed to the 
pillory, the above punishment to be inflicted this day, ye 14th, 
between the hours of 12 & 3 o'clock in the afternoon and to pay 
costs and make restoration." This sentence should probably be 
referred to some humane society for investigation. One of the 
usual portions of the sentence in most larceny cases included any- 
where from five to twenty-five lashes on the bare back. At the 
June sessions, 1778, the sentence included, "whipping fifteen 
lashes this afternoon between four and five o'clock." There is 
something terribly sinister in the brevity and imminence of this 
sentence as pronounced. However, the Courts apparently could 
also be lenient at times. In the case of King vs. Robert Wier, 
June Sessions, 1773, the sentence upon a conviction of assault 
and battery was the payment of a fine of one shilling (25 cents) and 
costs. An interesting feature of the fines imposed was that they 
were not called fines, but the defendant was directed to pay a 
given sum, "for the support of the Government." 

The Criminal Docket Entries are interesting during the first 
two years of the Revolutionary War in that a change took place 
in the formal captions or headings of the term records. At the 
June Sessions, 1775, the caption read as follows: "Bills of Indict- 
ment now delivered into Court by the Grand Jury for the County 
of Bucks this thirteenth day of June in the fifteenth year of the 
reign of our Sovereign Lord George the third King of Great 
Britain, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. Anno 
Domino, 1775, at a Court of general Quarter Sessions of the 



THE COUNTY COURT AT NEWTOWN 263 

Peace held at Newtown in and for this County of Bucks before 
Gilbert Hicks, Joseph Hart, Henry Wynkoop and others, Es- 
quires, Justices of our said Lord the King." Note the difference 
in this caption entered at the March Sessions, 1776: "Bills of 
Indictment now delivered into Court by ye Grand Jury for the 
County of Bucks this twelfth day of March, 1776, at a Court of 
general Quarter Sessions of the Peace held at Newtown." Ap- 
parently his "Sovereign Lord our King" had by that time gone 
into the discard so far as Bucks County was concerned. The 
titles to the cases likewise show the same change. The last case 
at the June Sessions, 1776, like all cases prior thereto, was titled 
"The King vs. James Dorin." The next case listed, which was at 
June Sessions, 1778, was titled "Respublica vs. George Kelly." 
Later on, this was changed to our present form of "Common- 
wealth vs. ." At the June Sessions, 1777, in the last 
Quarter of the Docket a new heading was entered in large script 
as follows: 

"Bucks Criminal Docket 

Continued from December 

Sessions 1777. To June 

Sessions 1778, there Having Been 

No Business Done at March Term 1778." 

At the end of this dignified title, some wag made this facetious, 
but probably truthful, entry: "A sorry term for the lawyers." A 
personal examination of these aged records entered in crudely 
made dockets, now yellow and dusty with age, helps to stimulate 
one's imagination so as to be able to rebuild the old village of 
Newtown of two centuries ago and to repeople it with our sturdy 
pioneer ancestors, and to re-enact those court scenes which 
externally were so different from our courts of today. We can 
picture the folk of that past day coming to court on horseback, by 
carriage and by stage coach, garbed in the gay, graceful attire of 
Colonial times, the drab costumes of the Quakers and the plain 
homespun of the Pennsylvania-Germans. We can see stone 
mounting blocks and long lines of hitching posts around the 
court yard with a motley array of restless horses prancing, 
stamping and whinnying during the long court sessions. The 



264 THE COUNTY COURT AT NEWTOWN 

court room is pervaded with a dignified decorum and an awed 
silence strangely mixed with a certain buffoonery and coarseness 
of speech on the part of the lawyers and occasionally the judges, 
if the stories -which tradition has handed down through the mem- 
bers of the bar, are to be believed. Not infrequently the effects 
of convivial bar meetings at the taproom during court recesses are 
in evidence. However, notwithstanding the external difTerences, 
the courts then as now, were, no doubt, a daily panorama of 
human nature disclosing all its nobility and depravity, its gen- 
erosity and greed, its loyalty and treachery, its kindness and 
cruelty, which are at once our hope and despair of a better civil- 
ization for the future. We hope that this rather sketchy outline 
of that interesting and vital period of eighty-eight years when the 
courts sat at Newtown may have given you something of this 
view of their function, purposes and accomplishments. 



Presses and Printers of Newtown Before I8681 

By EDWARD R. BARNSLEY, NEWTOWN, PA. 

(Newtown Meeting, September 22, 1934) 

("Madryn," Home of the Misses Chambers) 



Bucks County Weekly Gazette 




The second 
newspaper in 
Bucks County, 
established in 
1802 at New- 
town, then the 
county seat, was 
headed The 
Bucks County 
Weekly Gazette. 
The existence of 
Newtown's first 
newspaper is 
now ahnost leg- 
endary, for no 
copies of it sur- 
Mve, and little 
IS known about 
Its printers, Mr Dow and William Coale. 
The following quotation is the only con- 
temporaneous account thereof known to 
the writer, and is taken from the Trenton 
True American of September 13, 1802: 

NEW NEWS-PAPER. 

We have received the first number of a 
paper published at Neivion, in Buclcs-County, 
Pennsylvania, by Dow & Coale, entitled The 
Buck's County Weekly Gazelle. We know not 
the political principles of the Editors; but 
their paper is, like Joseph's coat, of many 
colors. It is principally composed of extracts 
from other papers, of different and discordant 
principles. — It exhibits a disposition to be 



impartial, as well in its contents as in its 

motto: 

"Sworn to no master's arbitrary sway, 

"I range where-e'er occasion points the way." 

The exact date of beginning and when 
it stopped publication is likewise a mys- 
tery. William J. Buck, the pioneer his- 
torian of Bucks County, was the first to 
write of Newtown's pioneer newspaper 
as long ago as 1858. In a letter addressed 
to Judge Michael H. Jenks, of Newtown, 
he said, in part:" 

Willow Grove, April 19th 1858. 
Dear Sir — 

Several years ago I came across a mutilated 
newspaper it was called "The Bucks County 

" and was published at "Newtown, 

September , 1802." In politics it was 

Democratic. It was small and contained but 
four columns to a page. I would much like to 
know who published this paper, its name, and 
at what time it was commenced? Wm. 
Coale's paper was not begun at your place till 
in 1805, and was called "The Farmers Gazette 
and Bucks County Register." I have suffi- 
cient information about this paper. I pre- 
sume it succeeded the former paper. 

Yours very respectfully, &c., 
William J. Buck. 

Jenks' reply to Buck is not preserved, 
but the latter evidently found the answer 
to his query, because in the following 
year, in an article appearing in Bucks 
County Intelligencer under date of July 26, 
1859, he gave to this pioneer paper its 



1 Published in revised form in August, 1935, at Newtown, Pa., from original paper printed serially 
in Newtown Enterprise in 1934, (see issues of October 11, 18, and 25; November 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29; and 
December 13 and 27); copyright, 1935, by Edward R. Barnsley, and revised further in 1936 and 1937, 
for present publication. 

2 Complete letter may be seen in library of Bucks County Historical Society. Asher Miner in his 
prospectus for the Pennsylvania Correspondent, July 7, 1804, does not name the earliest papers, but refers 
to the fact that "Two unsuccessful attempts have heretofore been made to establish weekly newspapers 
in this county." 



266 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



name and publishers, but changed its 
politics. Mr. Buck wrote in this article:^ 
The second paper in the county was printed 
at Newtown, by Dow and Coale, and was 
called the "Bucks County Weekly Gazette." 
It was commenced in September, 1802, and 
was Republican in politics, .\fter a brief 
existence this too died out. 

Whether the paper was Democratic or 
RepubHcan was apparently difficult to 
decide, since it was "principally com- 
posed of extracts from other papers, of 
different and discordant principles." 

In September, 1876, W. W. H. Davis 
published his first History of Bucks County. 
Although he did not know about either 
the printer or even the right name of the 
Bucks County Weekly Gazette, he was 
aware that a newspaper had been in- 
stituted at Newtown in September, 1802. 
He then confused his account of local 
journalistic history by naming his own 
title for the said paper and inventing a 
new publisher. Since 1876, these alleged 
names have been repeated by many others 
as correct, and have always been accepted 
as fact until now, when they are proven 
to be pure fiction. Davis gave, without 
any authority for his statement, the fol- 
lowing misinformation: 

Sometime in that year [1802] Charles Holt 
commenced the publication of the Bucks 
County Bee, but we know neither the date of 
its birth nor its death. It was still published 



in September, but how much longer is not 
known.* 

Mr. Clarence S. Brigham, director of 
American Antiquarian Society and the 
leading authority on American newspapers 
of the period, wrote as follows^ concern- 
ing another Charles Holt and his Bee in 
Connecticut and New York: 

I much doubt the existence of the Bucks 
County Bee of 1802, or rather, that it was pub- 
lished by Charles Holt. Charles Holt gave 
up the New London Bee in June 1802 (his last 
issue was dated the 23d), and established the 
Hudson Bee on August 17, 1802. In his pros- 
pectus for the Hudson Bee, he states that he 
went directly from New London, Conn., to 
Hudson, N. Y., without any mention of estab- 
lishing a paper in Bucks County, Pa. I have 
examined a complete file of the Hudson Bee 
from August to December, 1802, and there is 
no mention anywhere of a Bucks County Bee. 
It seems improbable that such a title could 
have existed and not be mentioned by him. 
No other Charles Holt is known as a news- 
paper publisher during this period. 

Nothing at all is known at present con- 
cerning Mr. Dow, — whether he was the 
financial backer or co-printer with Mr. 
Coale. The only known mention that 
William Coale made to their pioneer paper 
was in 1807 when, in a letter in his 
Farmers' Gazette addressed to his "Sub- 
scribers and the Public in General," he 
said he feared that his journalistic at- 
tempts in Newtown might fail the second 
time. 




3 Contributions to the His'.ory of Bucks County. Chapter VII, Literature. Although these articles were 
published anonymously, an advertisement in Doylestown Democrat and Bucks County Republican, March 
l.S, 1859, states definitely that the series were written by William J. Buck, Esq. 

4 In 1883. Eleazer F. Church, founder of Newtown Enterprise, upon reading this quotation from Davis' 
chapter, Newspapersand Their Editors, commented {Proceedings of Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. I, 
p. 119), "The Bucks County Bee must have been a drone for it made no honey for Charles." Then Church 
continued paronomastically, "He lost hold [Holt] on the county, and he and his paper passed into the 
silent realms of oblivion." 

5 Personal communication, dated Septeiriber 21, 1935. For the True American reference, as well as 
for many other of the original sources quoted in this article, the present writer is deeply obligated to Mr. 
grigham and wishes to acknowledge his many favors. 



THE 

FLOWERS 

OF 

MODERN HISTORY ; 

COMPREHENDING 

ON A NEW PLAN, 

THE MOST REMARK.ABLE REVOLUTIONS AND 
EVENTS, AS WELL AS THE MOST EMINENT 
AND ILLUSTRIOUS CHARACTERS, OF MO- 
DERN TIMES ; 
WITH A VIEW OF THE 

PROGRESS OF SOCIETY AND MANNERS, 
ARTS AND SCIENCES, 

FROM THE 

IRRUPTION OF THE GOTHS AND VANDALS, AND 

OTHER NORTHERN NATIONS, UPON THE ROMAN 

EMPIRE, TO THE 

CONCLUSION OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 

DESIGNED FOR THE 

IMPROVEMENT and ENTERTAINMENT 
OF YOUTH. 



BY THE REV. JOHN ADAMS, A. M. 

Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci. hor. 
NEWTOWN: 

PRINTED BY WILLIAM COALE. 



1804. 



268 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



William Coale 



The first Newtown printer about whom 
there is actual knowledge was one William 
Coale, a Quaker. He was born in 
1782, in Harford County, Md., probably 
in the township of Deer Creek Lower 
Hundred, for the Coale family was very 
numerous in this township at that time. 
He served his apprenticeship in the print- 
ing trade under Benjamin Johnson, 
printer and bookseller, of Philadelphia, 
whose place of business was on Market 
Street between Third and Fourth.*^ 
Before becoming of age, Coale removed 
to Newtown, about 1802, and assisted 
then in the publication of the Bucks 
County Weekly Gazette. 



On Eleventh Month 2, 1802, Friend 
Coale was accepted a member of Wrights- 
town Monthly Meeting on the basis of 
a certificate he had brought from the 
Monthly Meeting in the Northern Lib- 
erties, Philadelphia.^ 

The earliest recorded specimen of Mr. 
Coale's journalistic art is in the form of a 
love-poem in nine verses, which he either 
printed or dated January 23, 1803. The 
object of his affection was Sarah Cary, 
born 1784, the daughter of County Jailor 
Asa Cary, by his first wife, Agnes Ash- 
burn.** Although Sarah was of Quaker 
descent, she was not in good standing 
among Friends, because her parents had 
been married on December 8, 1773, by 



VERSES addressed TO SARAH CAREY 



Thou can'st not steal the rose's bloom 
To decorate thy face. 
But the sweet blush of modesty 
Will lend an equal grace. 

The violet scents the distant gales, 
(It grows in lowly bed); 
So real worth new merit gains 
By diffidence o'er spread. 

Would'st thou, sweet maid, the lily's white 
In thy complexion find — 
Sweet innocence may shine as fair 
Within thy spotless mind. 

When in th' op'ning spring of life. 
And ev'ry flower in bloom. 
The budding virtues in thy breast 
Shall yield the best perfume. 



A nosegay in thy bosom plac'd 

A moral may convej — 

For soon its brightest tints shall fade 

.And all its sweets decay. 

So short-liv'd are the lovely tribes 
Of Flora's transient reign. 
They bud, blow, wither, fall and die. 
Then turn to earth again. 

And, thus, sweet girl, must ev'ry charm 
Which youth is proud to share. 
Alike their quick succession prove 
And the same truths declare. 

Sickness will change the roseate hue 
Which glowing health bespeaks. 
And age will wrinkle with its cares 
The smile on beauty's cheeks. 



But, as that fragrant myrtle wreath 
Will all the rest survive, 
So shall the mutual graces still 
Through endless ages live. 



6 In the early Philadelphia Directories, the address of Benjamin Johnson is given from 1791 to 1798 
as 147 High Street; in 1799 and 1800 he is listed at 23 New Market Street. See Encyclopedia of Philadel- 
phia. 

7 Known in later years as the North Meeting, Sixth and Noble Streets. 

8 Her widower's second marriage is recorded in Pennsylvania Correspondent and Farmers' Advertiser 
of May 9, 1814: "In Newtown, on Saturday evening, the 30th of .Aoril, by John Shaw, esq. Mr. Asa 
Carey, of this town, to Miss Tamar Worstall, of Newtown." On April 18, 1818, .\sa was apnointed libra- 
rian of Newtown Library Company, with a salary of SI. 00 per year, and the privilege of reading the books 
free of charge. On April 3, 1820, Asa was appointed Newtown's third postmaster. The death date of 
Tamar is erroneously given in His'oric Newtown, p. 30, as 1842. Her tombstone in Presbyterian Cemetery, 
Newtown, shows she died September 6. 1846, aged 80. John Barnsley, Esq., her administrator, c. t. a., 
sold her Bird-in-Hand tavern to T. Wilson Milnor on the following March 4th to satisfy the claims of the 
minor children (one of whom was a lunatic) of her brother, John Worstall, of Ohio, who had predeceased 
her. 

9 This transcript of the earliest known press work executed in Newtown has been printed in both edi- 
tions of Davis' History of Bucks County; see 1st ed., p. 813; and 2nd ed., Vol. II, p. 315. Note that here 
as elsewhere in his History Davis inserts, without any apparent authority to do so, the middle initial "B" 
into Coale's name. Davis says that the original poem was printed on pink satin. 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN L5EFORE 1868 



260 



Squire Isaac Hicks, a Presbyterian, and 
her father had been disowned from 
Middletown Monthly Meeting as a con- 
sequence thereof. 

Therefore, Wrightstown Meeting would 
not indulge William's marriage with 
Sarah, so on June 25, 1803, they were 
married out of meeting by Squire Hicks. 
The original marriage docket of the latter, 
now owned by his great-granddaughter. 
Miss Sarah Wcrstall Hicks, describes 
Coale as being a printer, so it is likely 
that in the year of his marriage he was 
running a job office, because the pioneer 
newspaper was probably not issued after 
1802. No doubt most of his business at 
that time consisted in printing legal 
blanks, sale bills, and the like, such as the 
two illustrated on the following pages 



And perhaps some of the old l;ook plates 
of the Newtown Library were printed on 
Coale's press. He frequently advertised 
his blanks in connection with other 
items, such as the following: 

FOR SALE, A HANDSOME 

Young Mare. — 

For particulars enquire at this Oflice. 

Oftoberio, i8o6. 

>3- A frelh fupply of BLANKS, of 
various kinds, juft printed and for fale at 
this Office. 

On February 16, 1807, The Farmers' 
Ga-ettc carried this advertisement by its 
printer: 






3C 



Actual Size of Advertisement 



jIMB 




Sheriff's Tmms of 

LAND. 

By Virtue of a writ of Venditioni exponas to me 
directed, will be exposed to Public Sale at the House 
of ^-^Ct^^i.-^^u^-yt^^ - — __ _ ^ in the - : 
Township of ^^x^i^t^^:^^ - , on the i:>U: >.^ ^t^^,>^ 
day of /^.»^^W^X./;/«^ext a^^^^ c^c/"^^ ^ ^J^ ^^ 

Taken m Execution, and to be sold as the property of 

-^ - DAVID THOMAS, Sheriff. 
Newtown, Bucks County, (yi/c^^- ^^ 'tt /#^^ 



01 



J^twiowM : PfiiSTZB at WiiiiAM woale. 



The originals of these early Coale imprints may be seen in the library of 
Bucks County Historical Society, Doylestown, Pa. 

Also in this institution is another bond for S800 on a form similar to that 
illustrated on the opposite page, and it is from Robert Jolly, of Bristol Town- 
ship, to Joseph Jenks, of Middletown Township. This one was probably 
printed later than the one illustrated, and when used was dated May 25, 1897. 

The actual size of the above sale bill is only 19.2 by 22.7 cm. 



ff^dw/own : Primed hy WitLtAM CoA^t.l 

KNOW ALL MEN.hij these Presefits, That 

y'^^^i^uy.^^z^^ p'&r^^'<^ ^^^^ ~ 1-— \ 

],eld and f.r.nly bound unto cA^urA^^ ^(^S^^^^^^' 

' — ■ — > — ^^ " 

* in the fum of Ji^/tJ tJ^^^rz^t^eO^ JP^;^■c^a^ ^r2^i^ tf^^^/^ 

•lawful money qI 3£/rvrui^A^iyeaiJ 



o bepid to the faid ^/aJ^:^^^. 



'f^>^i/e/i/ 



tsx to, ;?X<^ certain Jtyorney, E:^c"utors, Admimftratoi's, or Afllgns. To 
which payment well and truly to be niade,,;^^^*^ bin4 



Ilcirs/jlxecutors, and Adminifirators, /Sc■r^^ ^^^e^iy^^iy^^^ - — firmly 

by tLcie J'ilIciiIs. Sealctl with x^^ Seal s.nd Hgmd the^y^^t^/^^Kii^, 

ol ^a^u-^ - -______/l one thouland eioht hundred and ^:;«i<^' 

The condition of the above obligation is sucH, 

That if the above bounden ty^^l^^g^c' czt^z^u^S' Alt ,. __. 



Heirs, Executors, or Adminillrators. do and lliall \yell and truly pay, or caufe 
to be paid, unto the above named c^ /r-iirv'^^^^^ii^/t, _ . 



or to A^ certain Attorney, Ksecutars, Adminifirators, or Affigns, ttie full and 
juft fum ofY^^ ,M>mi(2e^y^i^di '^^r^ <rz f^i^M. S^Y^^'^z^e^ 

^ y^^^z/^e.,', a^t^^ — — :-kJU_ 

^ . - then the faid Obligation to be void, or elfc to remain in full force and 
^•jrtiie. 

Sealed and delivered ^ " ^ ' ^ '^ "T) /" ,■ v •''<'' 

in presence of 5 ^c-cW/MOCO J^^C/J^ /- . ^^'\ 



272 PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 

THE FARMERS' GAZETTE, 



And Bucks County Register. 



•• Heart and be just. 



[Vol. II.] NEWTOWN, COUNTY or BUCKS t-r».L,s„iD weeklt, .r WILLIAM COALE. [No. 54.] 

Masthead nf Newtown's earliest preserved newspaper. 



In 1804, he republished Floivers of 
Modern History. This book is Coale's 
first known work, and is also the first 
book known to have been printed in 
Bucks County, so thus it is the chief item 
of bibliographic interest to students of 
local history. ^^ The volume is of duo- 
decimo size, 4 '4 by 6^4 inches, calf 
backed, and contains 105 chapters ar- 
ranged in 314 pages, with the amazingly 
lengthy title: 

The flowers of modern history; compre- 
hending on a new plan, the most remarkable 
revolutions and events, as well as the most 
eminent and illustrious characters, of modern 
times; with a view of the progress of society 
and manners, arts and sciences, from the 
irruption of the Goths and Vandals, and 
other northern nations, upon the Roman 
Empire, to the conclusion of the .American 
War.'i 

Following the title is the statement, 
"Designed for the Improvement and 
Entertainment of Youth." However, in 
the copies examined by the writer the 
physical appearance shows that they have 
been little used by either youth or old age; 
and today they are in nearly as good con- 
dition as when run off the press on Court 
Street, 133 years ago. The author of the 
volume was Rev. John Adams, A. M., a 
Scotchman, who was a voluminous com- 
piler of books for yourg readers. He was 
born at Aberdeen, Scotland, in about 
1750, and died at Putney, England, in 
1814. 



After graduating from the University 
cf Aberdeen, Adams obtained a preaching 
license and upon going to London, was 
appointed a minister of the Scottish 
Church. Most of his works passed 
through many editions, and were largely 
used in schools. Among those better 
known may be mentioned the following, 
with their date of publication: 

1. The Flowers of Ancient His'.ory, 1788. 

2. The Flowers of Modern Travel. 1788. 

i. Elegant Anecdotes and Bon Mos. 1790. 
4. A View of Universal History, 1795. 
-S. The Flowers of Modern His'ory. 1796. 
6. Curious Thoughts on the His'ory of Man, 
1799. 

Also on the title page is a quotation 
from Horace, "Omne tulit punctum qui 
miscuit utile dulci," which translates 
freely, "Everything that combines the 
useful with the pleasant demands ap- 
proval." 

Coale ran a book store in connection 
with his printing office, — apparently the 
first in Bucks County, — and sometimes he 
sold books to the nearby subscription 
library, but generally the Library Com- 
pany did its purchasing in Philadelphia. 
The minutes of said Company are incom- 
plete for this period, only occasionally 
Coale's name appears in the Treasurer's 
Account Book; for example: 

Feby 16, 1804 Books bought of Wm Coale 

Rushes Essays $2 

Grand pres Voyages. 1 
Campbells Narrative 1.2.'i 

4.25 



10 Copies are owred by Newtown Library Company, Historical Society of Pennsylvania 
Antiquarian Society, and Edward R. Barnsley. 

11 The first edition of this work, printed in London, in 1796, was entitled: Flowers of Modern Hisory, 
romfrehending the most remarkable rero'.utions and events of modern times, to the Conclusion of the American 
War. (Sabin, No. 223.) 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



273 



In the following year, 1805, printer 
Coale commenced a newspaper of his own 
which he continued for nearly five years. 
The initial numbsr of this second paper 
in Newtown, called The Farmers' Gazette 
and Bucks County Register, appeared 
probably on Thursday morning, October 
10, 1805. The date of first issue, although 
frequently disputed, has been calculated 
from the earliest known copy, i. e , whole 
number 54, October 17, 1806, and is 
believed to be correct. 

Sixth-day Morning, 

Tenth Month (Oct.) 17, 1806. 



CONDITIONS 

or SUBSCRIPTION TO THIS PAPER. 

Two Dollars per ann. to thofe who 
pay half yearly in advance; two Dollars 
twenty-five Cents to thofe who do not 
cboofe to pay in advance. 

No Subfcriptions taken for lefs than fix 
months. 

Advertifements, &c. accompanied with 
the CASH and proper direftions, will be 
punftually attended to. 

Communications addrefTed to the editor 
mufl be poft paid. 



should have been better informed, wrote 
the following note on March 7, 1855, to 
his History of Bucks County: 

A neighbor informs us that the paper at 
Newtowh was published by Wm. Coale, in 
1803-4, and that it was shortly after discon- 
tinued. 

Davis gives the date correctly. Church 
wrote critically in 1868:'' 

It is said that Coale's paper was noted for 
its typographical errors. Once he made an 



The Farmers^ Gazette, ^c. 

NEWTOWN, 
Sixth-day, (Friday) 17, 1806. 

Apology — In confcquence of much hin- 
derance, a little previous to, and during 
the Ele<flion, the editor is this week under 
the necefiity of prefenting his readers with 
only a half-fheet, and even this at the 
eleventh hour. But as this is the firft fai- 
lure of the kind, fince the eftablifliment of 
the Farmers' Gazette, he hopes to be ex- 
cufed, when he pledges himfelf to make 
up the deficiency in a few weeks. 



Outside and inside headings to Vol 11, No 54. of 
The Farmers' Gazette and Bucks County Register. 



The date of issue of No. 54 appears on 
both of the headings. Oftentimes there is 
frequently a discrepancy between the date 
of the inside and the outside of the 
Gazette, as the respective pages were 
dated on the day they were set into type, 
rather than the publication day. As an 
example of this erroneous information 
as to date of first issue, William J. Buck, who 



amusing mistake in stating that his paper 
was published "Weakly." It was rather 
weakly, and did not long survive. 

It is most unfortunate that no complete 
file has been preserved of this primitive 
newspaper, only 11 x 18 inches in size. 
Josiah B. Smith described the contents 
of one issue, whole number 4, in his 
Manuscript Book I, p. 270.^-^ Davis later 



12 Newlown Enterprise, April 0, 1868. 

13 At library of Bucks County Historical Society. 



274 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1< 



saw this copy, and mentioned it in both 
editions of his History of Bucks County}'^ 
Information about another issue is fur- 
nished by Eleazer F. Church, who de- 
scribed whole number 35 in the April 9, 1868, 
edition of the Newtown Enterprise. This 
copy belonged to Ashbel W. Watson, but 
like Smith's copy has long since been 
carelessly destroyed. 

Six copies, happily, are preserved in 
the incomparable newspaper collection 
of Bucks County Historical Society. 
These are whole numbers 54, 71, 122, 
172, 198, and 202. ^^ The contents of 
these copies will not be described in 
detail, because anyone interested can 
examine them at any time, and they are 
now assured of permanent preservation. 

Also at Bucks County Historical 
Society is one of Coale's printed receipts 
given in 1806 to Dr. Reading Beatty for a 
half-year subscription to the Farmers' 
Gazette. 



ery for sale by the printer, and a proposal 
by Coale to issue by subscription the 
American Farmers' Guide. The present 
writer very much doubts if this book ever 
appeared. 

Eleazer F". Church wrote further that 
the Watson copy of May 5, 1806, con- 
tained an advertisement of a "Lottery 
for the Encouragement of the Useful 
Arts." The following quotation is taken 
from Church's article: 

Ticketswere to behad'of any of the Tavern 
Keepers in Newtown, and of most of the tav- 
ern and Store Keepers in the County of Bucks, 
also at the office of the Gazette, and of Hugh 
Ross' (Justice's House), at his office in New- 
town, next door to Kessler's tavern (Bird-in- 
Hand). Price of tickets, $1.25 — highest prize 
10,000 dollars. Any person who is known to 
be of ability sufficient to insure payment of 
the money, before the drawing commences, 
may have any number to sell on commission. 
Good notes will be taken in payment for 
tickets, or credit given to those who may pur- 
chase to any considerable amount, by giving 
good security if required.' The lottery seems 
to have been a regular gambling concern. 
No manager's name given, and no definite 
object stated. 





NEWTOWN, 




i8o6. 




Receh'dof/^^ 


^^^(y^^€ja 


^ o«f 


Dollar tnuelve 


and 


a half Cents, in 


1^ w 

full for the Farmers'' 


Gazette, from 


No. 


^ to No.^^ 




WILLIAM COALE, 



Actual Size: 4.8 by 12.2 cm. 



Josiah Smith wrote that his copy of 
October 31, 1805, contained a consider- 
able advertisement of books and station- 



Another example of printing executed 
by Coale while in Newtown is a handbill 
dated August, 1808. This broadside, 



14 First edition, p. 812; second edition. Vol. II, p. 314. 

15 No. 54 was presented to the Sjciety by Edward Newlin Brown, of Doylestown. Nos. 122, 172, 
and 202 were presented by Mahlon H. Keller, of Perkasie. No. 71 was presented by Evan T. Worthing- 
ton, of Newtown. The source of No. 198 is unknown. No. 54 is dated Friday, October 17. 1806. No. 
122 is dated Friday, February 26, 1808, on the outside, and March 4 on the inside. No. 172 is dated 
Thursday, March 16. 1809. No. 198 is dated Friday. October \i, 1809, on the oiitside, and Friday, October 
14, 1809, on the inside (October 14, 1809, w as Saturday). No.202 is dated Friday, November 10, 1809. 
If October 10, 1805, was No. 1, then the only correctly numbered issue of these five is No. 122, which 
should be February 26, 1808. 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



275 



now in the writer's collection, is 11x18 
inches and is printed in three columns 
like a page of the Gazette}^ The subject 
matter is a political address concerning a 
county caucus held at "the house of Col. 
Elisha Wilkinson," now called Court Inn, 
at which time it was unanimously deter- 
mined to support James Madison for 
president and Simon Snyder for governor. 

General Davis said that Coale's print- 
ing office was in the brownstone house, 
at the southeast corner of State street 
and Washington avenue (now owned by 
William R. Stuckert), l)ut Josiah B. Smith 
who knew a great deal more about New- 
town history, said it was in the frame 
house at the southeast corner of Court 
and Mercer streets that was torn down 
by Willis G. Worstall in 1873. ^^ This 
lot was originally Court House Lot No. 
13, and was purchased from the Trustees 
by Richard Gibbs. It later came into 
the tenure of William Coale, whose 
printing office was reached by steps on 
the outside of the house, at the north 
end of Edward H. Worstall's storehouse. 
Following Coale, Joseph Hicks owned 
the property, and it was in this house 
that was born his son, Thomas Hicks, 
who later became such a well-known 
portrait artist in New York and elsewhere. 
Willis G. Worstall was a later owner of 
this property, 1875 to 1880. "William 
Cole, printer," is on the list of taxable 
inhabitants of Newtown for 1807, ^^ but 
how much longer is unknown. 

On February 23, 1807, Mr. Coale ad- 
vertised in the Farmers' Gazette and Bucks 
County Register: 

TO SUBSCRIBERS, 

AND THE 

Public in General. 



FEI,LOW-CITIZENS. 

IMPRESSED with a grateful sense of your 
past favours, I am induced, in order to evince 
a desire to make a small recompence, this 
day to enlarge the FARMERS' GAZETTE. 
This I felt afraid of putting into execution 
in the infancy of the establishment, lest I 
should overreach the mark, and the attempt 
should, the second time, sinkinto insignificance. 
But I am now happy to inform my friends, — 
notwithstanding the many disadvantages 
this paper has hitherto been published under, 
that it has a more extensive circulation, than 
my most sanguine expectations could have 
aspired to, in so short a period as seventeen 
months. 

In regard to the principles upon which the 
paper has been conducted, I shall leave you 
to judge, how far I have deviated from the 
track pointed out in my Prospectus. 

I deem it expedient, as the circulation is 
daily becoming more extensive, to issue Pro- 
posals for the Farmers' Gazette, and Bucks 
County Register. ENLARGED: — which will 
be completed by the ensuing Court, in order 
to give my friends and the public, an oppor- 
tunity of subscribing, and forming new pack- 
ets, in different parts of this county, and else- 
where. 

It may be necessary here to suggest. Fellow 
Citizens, the mutual advantages resulting 
from my being enabled to avail myself of an 
Assistant in this laborious task. In the first 
instance, it will be a signal advantage to you, 
as we shall, of course, have more time for 
selecting useful matter; and, secondly, of 
giving you a greater quantity, at the same 
expence. — There is, then, but one way to 
enable me to do this, which consists, entire, 
in one solitary word— PUNCTUALITY. 

WILLIAM COALE. 



Although it is not certain just how 
long the Gazette was maintained by Coale, 
the writer feels sure that it was given up 
some years before the county seat was 
removed from Newtown, and conse- 
quently the said removal did not cause 



16 The width of the Gazette had been reduced from 4 to 3 columns sometime during the previous spring. 

17 On February 23, 1807, James Raguet advertised in the Farmers' Gazelle and Bucks County Register: 
"To Let, A House and Lot, Situate in Newtown, now in the tenure of Wm. Coale, printer — It may be 
divided so as to accommodate two small families." 

18 F. R. Barndey, Hisoric Newtown, p. 93. 



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CATALOGtTE v 




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? BOOjCS:.\ '^ 




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f' 


IN THE 






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Newtown Library. 


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1 . 


1808. . 


2 




i' 


-American ^Letters 




fc 


American Geography . * 


4 




W" 


Anacharfis ^^. -^ . 
j^rtof War ^ , / " ., 


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Annals of xht War 


X 




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^"Addifon's Works f , .. ' 


4 




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'American Conftituttori 


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Adelard and Theodore 


3 






Anbury's TravQ^s 


2 




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American Mufeum » 


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Almor-^n and Haitiet 


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« American Philofophical Tranfa6tions 


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Aikin's Qeqgraphy . . ♦ • 


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8 


^ Afi'ibrid^e . • , 


■X 





PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



2ll 



the abandonment of the paper. The 
latest copy owned by Bucks County His- 
torical Society is dated November 10, 
1809; Davis says/*^ "the publication was 
continued about ten years," but this 
could not be unless, perchance, Coale 
returned to the village after once leaving 
it, and then resumed publication. 

The Treasurer's Account Book of New- 
town Library Company shows that in 
June, 1806, Coale was paid $1.00 for two 
advertisements. For the following notice 
of the annual meeting held October 25, 
1806, he received fifty cents, according 
to this Account Book. 



the Treasurer's account for the following 
year, dated October 13, 1808, reveals that 
he "pd Wm Coale for advertising & Cata- 
logue, s$8." Here is the proof that the 
second oldest catalogue of Newtown 
Library was printed at the office of The 
Farmers' Gazette. How many were print- 
ed is not of record ;^° the fortunate thing 
is that a single copy has been preserved 
all this time and was only last year pre- 
sented back to the Library from whence 
it came. A full size illustration of the 
first page thereof appears opposite. 

In the winter of 1809-1810, Coale re- 
moved to Frankford, Pa., where he in- 



Notice 



The Members of the Newtown Libra- 
ry Company are requefted to meet at the 
houfc of Samuel Heathy on Saturday the 
25th of the prefent month, at Four o'clock 
in the afternoon, in order to choofe 
(agreeably to charter) Five Dire£torsand 
a Treafurer for the enfuing year. 

JAMES RAGUET, Treasurer, 
Oeiober !_/?, 1806. 



On March 25, 1807, the Treasurer paid 
Mr. Coale $3.00 for advertising. The 
minutes of October 31, 1807, read: 

The Subject of Binding a number of the 
Volumes now in the Library & Collecting 
some of them that are out & not in members 
hands being taken under consideration, agree 
that: Abraham Chapman & James Raguet 
be appointed a Committee to Examine the 
situation of the Same & get such of them 
bound as they may Judge proper & collect 
those outstanding as they can find & malce an 
Alphabetical Catalogue of all the Books be- 
longing to said Library and get it Printed. 

The minutes of the next succeeding 
meetings are most unfortunately lost, but 



augurated another new paper in the early 
part of 1810, which he called the Frank- 
ford Weekly Messenger and General Adver- 
tiser}^ In the library of Bucks County 
Historical Society may be seen one of his 
receipts for the first half-year's issue of 
this paper. It is dated September 5, 
1810, and is made out to Nathaniel Van- 
sant. Only one copy of the Messenger 
has been preserved, and no one knows 
how long it survived birth.-' It is just 
possible that it was absorbed by a later 
Frankford paper, the Spirit of '76, which 
was started on June 14, 1810, by John F. 
Gilbert, and lasted for several years. 



19 Second edition, Vol. H, p. 314. 

20 Of the 200 copies printed of the 1791 catalogue, none is known by the writer to be extant. 

21 This paper is listed in Isaiah Thomas' History of Printing, Vol. 11; p. 521, which gives all the news- 
papers published in the United States at tlie beginning of 1810, the year the History was printed. 

22 This is Vol. 1, No. 4, for May 18, 1810, which is now owned by Historical Society of Frankford. 



278 



PF ESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1^ 



■-%. 



deceived, j/^^^.^Zio, of ^yf^g^S/ (^ ^^ ,^\^rf 

one dollar, in full for six months subscription to the Frank. 



ford IFeekly Messenger — from No. y to No.'-^)^,- 



Wm. CO ALE. 



Actual Size: 4.2 by 14.3 cm. 



About 1817, Coale removed again to his 
home county in Maryland, and at Havre- 
de-Grace^^ instituted his third paper in 
January of the following year. This he 
named the Bond of Union, and it lasted 
about as long as the Gazette did.-^ So far, 
the writer has been able to trace only two 
issues; namely, April 23 and 30, 1818, 
(Vol. I, N.s 16 & 17) both of which may 
be seen at American Antiquarian Society, 
Worcester, Mass. 

Davis erred when he wrote-^ that Coale 
"established the Eani of Union at Belair." 

Little is known about the family of 
William Coale. Davis says, "His 
son was publishing The Virginian at 
Abingdon, Virginia, some years ago," but 
fails to give the name of the son or the 
years he was publishing. From other 
records, however, it is learned that the 
son's name was Charles B. Coale, who 
was a prominent journalist in Abingdon 
for over forty years.^^ In the recently 
published Virginia Newspapers 1821-1935, 
L. J. Cappron described Charles' papers 
as follows: 



1. Abingdon Virginian, established Sep- 
tember 7(?), 1839... as The Peoples Friend 
.... Owned and edited by John N. Humes 
until November 9, 1839, when the name was 
changed to The Southwestern Virginian but 
the same volume numbering retained. Edited 
by Laropkin and Charles B. Coale, but in 
April 1840 Humes was editor again and con- 
tinued so as late as July 1841;. ... In Feb- 
ruary 1840 Coale was editor again. He soon 
formed a partnership with George R. Barr 
and the paper was called The Virginian. In 
1849 it was called the Abingdon Virginian 
and was published by Coale and Barr until 

1872 

2. The Abingdon Standard established Sep- 
tember (?) 1876. . .as The Standard by Find- 
lay Harris and Charles B. Coale, Harris con- 
tinuing as editor until 1880. 

Mrs. Sarah (Cary) Coale died in 1831, 
in her 47th year; and William himself died 
at Washington, D. C, in 1856, aged 74. 
Davis says that one who knew Mr. Coale 
well described him as: 

A man of wonderful energy, which never 
amounted to much, as he was erratic and 
fond of adventure. He was a superior work- 
man and as a journeyman printer, com- 
manded the highest wages. He was a wit, 
and full of humor, could tell a story admira- 
bly well, and was above mediocrity as a poet. " 



23 Harford County, the county of his birth. 



24 Davis implies there were two papers: ". . .in 1817, he established apaperat Havre-de-Grace, Mary- 
land, which was discontinued in 1822. Soon after he established the Band of Union at Belair, in the 
same state, which he relinquished in a few years." 

25 Second edition. Vol. II, p. 315. 

26 An excellent sketch of his life mav be seen in Lewis Preston Summer's History of Southwest Virginia, 
1746-1786. p. 786. He died January 3, 1879, without issue. 

27 To illustrate Mr. Coale's attempt to insert wit into his poetry, the writer hesitantly quotes a mar- 
riage noticefrom the Farmers' Gazette, of February 26, 1808: 

On Thur/Jay lasf, by the Rev. Mr. Mantony, Mr. Jacob Edwards, of Northampton 
town/hip, Bucks county, to Mi/s Rachael Fetters, of Moreland town/hip, Montgomery 
county. 

However /trange it may appear. 

It is a fact — then let us. 
Tell of one, who void of fear, 
Freedom exchang'd for fetterf. 



Presses and printers of nEwTOwN before 1868 



279 



Herald of Liberty 



After existing four years without a 
newspaper, Newtown was again enlight- 
ened journalisticly by the advent of The 
Herald of Liberty on Wednesday, April 
27, 1814.2^ David A. Robinson was the 
proprietor and printer, but the writer 
has not been able to unravel the story of 
who the said Robinson was, whence he 
came, and whither he went after getting 
into financial difficulties. 

The paper he published was a little 
larger than the Gazette, about an inch in 
each direction. The only copy extant 
is the one in the library of Bucks County 
Historical Society, i. e., the issue of June 
21, 1815, Vol. II, whole number 61.29 And 
probably the only reason this was saved 
was that Thomas Betts, the subscriber, 
put it aside as a curiosity. Because of a 
typographical omission, the heading ran 
THE HERALD OF LIERTY! 

Robinson, like the other early New- 
town printers, ran a book store in con- 
junction with his office. The following 
list of books he had for sale is taken from 
his advertisement in^ the above-mentioned 
copy of his paper: 



Harrop's Irish Rebellion. 

Drelincourt on Death. 

Dickerson's Geography. 

Burgh's Dignity. 

Watt's Psalms and 
Hymns. 

Paradise Lost (in prose). 

History of North Caro- 
lina, 2 vols. 

Lee's Memoirs, 2 vols. 

Carr's Stranger in 
France. 

Taylor's Arator. 

Village Sermoris. 

Saint's Rest. 

Pilgrims Progress. 

Boston's Fourfold State. 

Fletcher's Posthumous 
Works. 



Fisher's Companion. 
Collins' Voyages. 
Peter the Great. 
History of the Northern 

Campaign. 
Rise and Progress. 
The World — 4 vols. 
The History of North 

America. 
Paradise Lost (in verse). 
Scott's Rokeby. 

Marmion. 

Lady of the 

Lake. 
Homer's Illiad. 
British Spy. 
The Rambler. 4 vols. 
Walker's Dictionary. 
Creighton's Dictionary. 



Also, School Bibles, Testaments, English 
Readers, Introductions, Spelling books, 
Primors, Copy-slips, and a general assort- 
ment of Children's books, &c. 

The only other example of this press 
that has come to light is also at Bucks 
County Historical Society. It is a re- 
ceipt, dated May 24, 1815, which Robin- 
son gave Nicholas Vansant for a half- 
year subscription to his paper; and at the 
bottom is the proprietor's curious signa- 
ture, D. A. ROBINSON, written entirely 
in capital letters. 



LXo^,^ ^c 



d^--rzva/^^-/ 



Newtown, cMci-y 4^^^^^^ S 

To David A. Robinson, Dr. 
To Six months Subscription and Postage to the Herald of Liberty. 21 12 1-2 

Received payment, 



Actual Size: 4.3 by 18.7 cm. 



28 This was nearly a year after the removal of the county seat to Doylestown,— a poor time, one would 
think, to begin a new newspaper, as Robinson found out. 

29 Davis, copying Josiah B. Smith's original error, says this copy was whole number 64; see History 
of Bucks County, 2nd ed.; Vol. II; p. 316; footnote. 



280 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



The minutes of Farmers' National 
Bank of Bucks County refer to their 
inserting advertisements in the Herald 
during the years 1814 and 1815.^^ Davis 
refers^ ^ to a pubhc sale advertised in the 
paper in May and June, 1816, but does 
not give the exact reference. The paper 
was also being issued regularly in the fall 
of 1816 because the proceedings of two 
Democratic meetings held August 28th 
and September 18th cf that year were 
ordered to be published in the Pennsyl- 
vania Correspondent, Herald of Liberty, 
and Norristown Weekly Register. 



I will pay one dollar to any person who will 
go to Trenton this evening to learn the par- 
ticulars." The next morning the word 
"peace," printed in large letters, was hang- 
ing up outside the office. 
Squire Isaac Hicks, grandfather of the 
above mentioned Mary, had commercial 
relations with Robinson, as is shown by 
his old account book, now in the hands of 
his descendants. Apparently, Hicks sold 
the printer a gig very soon after he came 
to Newtown, but never received any other 
payment for it than some miscellaneous 
printed blanks, as is indicated in the fol- 
lowing record: 



DAVID ROBINSON 



1 June 1814 
18 Feb 1815 
23 May 

23 Oct 

18 Sept 1816 

2 April 1817 



for a riding Chair sold him 
by 2 quire blanks & 1 of Bonds 
by >^ q mortgages 1 of Indentures 
by 1 quire Marriage certificates 
by 2>^ quire of blanks 
for Interest from 1 Oct 1814 to this 
by his account now rendered 
for the bal I have his Note 



day 



debit 
$60.00 



9.00 



3.00 



2.50 



15.65 



Josiah B. Smith wrote r^^ 

David A. Robinson published the Herald of 
Liberty in the new stone house that Thomas 
Ross erected for a hotel. It is now owned 
and occupied by the Odd Fellows. 

This is the property at the southeast 
corner of State and Mercer streets. Ac- 
cording to the History of Bucks County, 
Mary Hicks, daughter of Edward Hicks, 
remembered visiting Robinson's press- 
room in January, 1815, at the age of 
eleven. The anecdote that Davis related 
is: 

She had a recollection of being in Robin- 
son's printing-office about the close of the 
war of 1812-15, and saw several persons set- 
ting type. He looked up from his work and 
remarked, "I hear there is a rumor of peace. 



Mr. Robinson does not seem to have 
had much business ability, and he soon 
ended up "financially embarrassed." Jo- 
siah Smith, in writing about him further, 
stated : 

David Twining, formerly of Northampton, 
father-in-law of Edward Atkinson, president 
' of the First National Bank, told me he had 
reason to remember Robinson as he had sold 
him a lot of wood before Robinson failed, and 
never got a cent for it. 



Davis writes 



,33 



He [Robinson] was sent to jail for debt, 
and his property sold by the sheriff. 

Apparently too much liquor was the 
cause of his downfall, for at another place 



30 Minutes of 1814, "It was resolved. . .that public notice thereof be given in the Pennsylvania Corre- 
spondent, published at Doylestown, and the paper printed at Newtown." "On Feb. 7, [1815] notice was 
ordered published in the Pennsylvania Correspondent and Herald of Liberty." From Charles E. Scott's 
Farmers' National Bank of Bucks County, 1914, pp. 14, 15, & 18. 

31 Second edition. Vol. II, p. 165. 

32 Manuscript Book, Vol. I, p. 304, at Bucks County Historical Society. 
Zi Second edition, Vol. II, p. 316. 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



281 



in the History of Bucks County^'^ is the 

statement: 

A printer at Newtown [Robinson] had a 
pamphlet in press for the Friends, but, being 
intemperant, he failed to meet his contract, 
and gave up business. 

The pamphlet which Robinson had in 
press was /I Solemn Review of the Custom 
of War; Showing That War Is the Effect 
of Popular Delusion, and Proposing a 
Remedy. It is set up with the Herald of 
Liberty type in eight numbered sections 
of 32 numbered pages, but the press work 
was probably completed under Miner's 
guidance. That is why the printer's name 
does not appear on the title page, only 
"Newtown, (Penn.) Printed for Gratuitous 
Distribution. 1816." The anonymous 
author of the pamphlet^^ was Rev. Noah 
Worcester, of New Hampshire and Massa- 
chusetts (born, Nov. 25, 1758; died, Oct. 
31, 1837), who was a fifer in the Revolu- 
tion, barely escaping with his life at the 
Battle of Bunker Hill. 

Robinson's business was "given up" 
for him. On March 25, 1817, the 
Pennsylvania Correspondent and Farmers' 
Advertiser carried the following adver- 
tisement: 

Sheriff's Sale of Goods. 

By virtue of Writs of Fieri Facias to me 

directed, will be sold at Public Sale, at the 

house now occupied by David A. Robinson, 

printer, in Newtown, on Saturday the fifth of 

April next, at one o'clock, P. M. 

Household and Kitchen Furniture, a 

Printing Press and Types — an excellent 

Standing Press, with iron screw and bar — all 

nearly new. 

Taken in execution and to be sold as the 

property of the said David A. Robinson. 
Th. G. Kennedy, Sheriff. 

Sheriffs-Office, Bucks County) 
March 22 - 1817. i 



Six weeks previous, Beulah E. Twining 
had had a for-rent advertisement put in 
the same paper for the "3-story stone 
house where David A. Robinson now 
lives;" said advertisement was run through 
the issue of March 18th, at which time 
the house was presumably rented and 
Robinson was moved out. Beulah was a 
first cousin of David Twining, the father- 
in-law of Edward Atkinson, whom Robin- 
son had also stuck. 

To Be Let ; 

The three story Stone House, in Newtown, 
where David A. Robinson now lives. The 
House is large and commodious, and in good 
repair — and with it is a large stable, and good 
garden. Possession may be had the first of 
the Fourth Month next. For terms apply to 
Thomas Story, Jolly Longshore, Store- 
keeper, in Newtown, or to 

Beulah E. Twining. 
2d-mo. nth, 1817. 58 

The Correspondent and Farmers' Ad- 
vertiser on October 6, 1818, advertised: 

TAKE NOTICE 

That I have applied to the Judges of the 
Court of Common Pleas for the City and 
County of Philadelphia, for the benefit of the 
several Acts of Insolvency of this Common- 
wealth, and they have appointed Thursday 
the 15th of October next at 10 o'clock, in the 
forenoon, to hear me and my creditors, at the 
County Court-House, for the City and 
County of Philadelphia. 

DAVID A. ROBINSON, PRINTER 
No. 258, Arch-Street, Philad'a. 
Debtors' Apartment, Sept. 25, 1818. 

It is thereby seen from the foregoing 
records that the Herald of Liberty was 
maintained by David A. Robinson from 
April, 1814, to about January, 1817, and 
that little is known about either this press 
or this printer. 



34 Second edition, p. 311. 

35 The first edition was at Cambridge in 1814; the second at Philadelphia in 1815; the third at Newtown 
in 1816; the fourth at Providence, R. I., in 1818; and the fourth at Boston in 1836 was published as tract 
No. 1 of American Peace Society. The pamphlet was also translated into various languages and circu- 
lated throughout the world; for example, there were 11.000 copies of the Providence edition printed for 
gratuitous distribution. Copies of all the American editions, except the first, may be seen at Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania. For the life of Noah Worcester see Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. 
XX, p. 528. 



282 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



Simeon Siegfried 



One of the best known young men of 
his time in Newtown was Simeon Sieg- 
fried, German by birth, Baptist by faith, 
and printer by trade. ^"^ He was born in 
New Britain Township, Bucks County, 
on September 23, 1797, and received his 
early education from his father, George 
Siegfried, who taught Enghsh and Ger- 
man for many years in the local schools. 
In 1811, he was apprenticed to Asher 
Miner, of Doylestown, under whom he 
worked for six years in the office of the 
Pennsylvania Correspondent a?id Farmers' 
Advertiser, (the predecessor of the Bucks 
County Intelligencer). Davis says that 
during this period of apprenticeship, 
Siegfried was a diligent reader, and that 
this laid the groundwork for future 
literary labor. 

The Doylestown Democrat had been 
instituted on September 18, 1816, so 
when Robinson failed in the following 
February, Mr. Miner bought up the 
printing equipment of the bankrupt 
Herald of Liberty to prevent any further 
competition in Bucks County. Then 
in April of that year, he sent his apprentice 
boy, Siegfried, who still had nearly a year 
of time to serve, down to Newtown to 
get the press in shape for the publica- 
tion of a new sheet to be called the Star 
of Freedom. This paper became, there- 
fore, the successor of the Herald in name 
as well as fact, for was not the meta- 
phorical "star of freedom" really the 
"herald of liberty"? Miner advertised 
as follows in the Correspondent of April 29 
and May 6& 13: 

New 
Printing-Ofifice 

The subscriber has established a Branch 
of his Office in Newtown, in this County, 
under the Direction of Simeon Siegfried — • 



from whence he proposes to publish a weekly 
paper, to be entitled the 

ST.A.R OF FREEDOM 
It will be devoted principally to Agricul- 
tural, Biographical, Literary & Moral Mat- 
ter, and is intended to be rendered valuable 
to the community. It will be afforded at the 
price of a Newspaper, and will contain the 
matter of a Magazine. A specimen sheet 
has been struck off, and may be seen at the 
Correspondent Office, or at the Office in 
Newtown, opposite the Store of James 
Raguet, Esq. 

Asher Miner. 



April 29, 1817. 

I^Subscriptions are respectfully solicited, 
and should a sufficient number appear, the 
work will be commenced by the middle of 
May, and regularly published thereafter. 

X~^Handbills or other Printing correctly 
executed, by 

S. S. 

The initial issue of this little paper 
appeared on May 21, 1817, saying under 
the title: 

Pledged to no party's arbitrary sway, 
I follow truth where'er it leads the way. 

Concerning its new journalistic adven- 
ture in Newtown, the Pennsylvania Corre- 
spondent and Farmers' Advertiser on June 
10, 1817, declared further: 

The publication of the Star of Freedom, 
was commenced on the 21st of May; three 
numbers have already appeared, which may 
be examined at this Office. Its patrons are 
increasing, and hopes are entertained, that a 
sufficient number will be obtained, to give 
permanency to the undertaking. They may 
be received by the riders from the Correspon- 
dent Office. To make the public more fully 
acquainted with its object — the Address to 
the Public, is extracted therefrom; and follows: 

The Star of Freedom 

Presents itself to the Public, with the fullest 
confidence, that should it move in the orbit 
traced by Truth, Virtue and Morality — it 
cannot fail to be sought for with avidity. — 

36 More attention has been given the life and labor of Simeon Siegfried than the other Newtown 
printers because he was, with the possible exception of Asher Miner, the most colorful of all Bucks County 
journalists, having conducted within a space of 30 years, ten different papers in three states and in two 
languages. 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



283 



If at one time it shall contain Sketches of the 
characters of those who have exerted them- 
selves to aid the cause of Truth — and whose 
examplesoughtto excite the rising generation 
to praise-worthy deeds: — At another it will 
exhibit the Statesman and the Warrior, whose 
lives have been devoted to their country's 
service. — It will endeavor to shew that 

"Vice is a monster of such hideous mein. 
That to be Hated, needs but to be seen!" 



"Virtue, the strength and beauty of the soul, 
Is the best gift of heaven." 



"The purest treasure mortal times afford, is 
spotless Reputation." 

A portion will uniformly be set apart for 
original and selected Poetry. — The geniuses 
of the County of Bucks, and of the adjacent 
counties, are invited to communicate their 
lucubrations or interesting subjects. Sober 
Prose will be as acceptable as sprightly 
Poetry. The practical Farmer is requested 
to give the public the result of his experiments 
thro' the medium of the Star. The successful 
Mechanic and Domestic Manufacturer who 
may have made improvements in any of 
the useful professions, will find the Star 
always ready to make the public acquainted 
with the process by which the value of their 
improvements may be known. — Well-written 
Essays are solicited, on every subject calcu- 
lated "To raise the genius, or to mend the 
heart." 

The Premiums offered by different Agri- 
cultural Societies: — Proceedings of Com- 
panies associated to aid our progress to ab- 
solute independence of Foreign Powers; and 
all the variety of Matter, either original or 
selected, which would tend to render the Star 
of Freedom, of equal value with any similar 
publication in Pennsylvania — shall uni- 
formly be sought after by the publislier of 
this work. — A single paper, it is evident, can- 
not embrace this great variety of subjects. 
But within the year such a mass of useful 
information may be collected as would ren- 
der the volume worthy of being bound, and 
furnished with a Title-Page and Index. And 
with this view the paper is printed in its 
present form. 



A similar work has long been in contempla- 
tion by the proprietor. In his desire to ren- 
der the Correspondent more interesting to 
its supporters — many valuable articles have 
been selected for publication, which he could 
never lay before the public, from a deficiency 
of room. The Star is intended to remedy 
this inconvenience, and to be served up as a 
Dessert to the Correspondent. So that when 
the reader has dined upon the Roast-Beef of 
Foreign Intelligence and State Politics, served 
up therein — he may please his palate with 
the Tarts, Nuts and Crackers, which will 
occasionally variegate the Star. — It is be- 
lieved a Literary and Agricultural Register 
if properly managed, might not only prove 
useful to the public, but that its publisher 
would be amply remunerated for his labor 
and expense. With these convictions, the 
risk has been incurred of erecting a New 
Printing Office, and of preparing for this 
publication. Should It find friends, it will be 
published weekly at Newtown, in the County 
of Bucks: — If after a fair trial, it shall fail of 
success, the proprietor will have the consola- 
tion resulting from the consciousness that 
its publication was dictated by motives 
neither mean nor sordid. 

N. B. — This work may be received at any 
Post Office in Pennsylvania, at an expence 
for carriage, of only fifty-two cents. 

The first 29 issues were devoted to 
literature, politics and agriculture. •''^ The 
advertisements were few, the first issues 
containing only three by Newtown mer- 
chants. Later they averaged about six 
to an issue, but news as we know it was 
rarely, if ever, included. 



To Patrons. 

The present No. (26) completes a term of 
six months since the STAR OF FREEDOM 
first appeared above the horizon. — In its rise 
and progress, its beams have been invigor- 
ated and expanded by the literati of this and 
the neighboring counties, — to whom we take 
this opportunity of tendering our undissem- 
bled thanks for their favors. — The occasional 
lustre of the original department has un- 
questionably added much to the interest, 
and extended the circulation, of the STAR; — - 



37 The only complete file of this paper is owned by the writer. The copies at Bucks County Historical 
Society, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and New York State Library are incomplete and in poor 
condition. Library of Congress, Montgomery County Historical Society and Richland (Bucks County) 
Library also contain a few copies each. 



LINES 



Written on the death of Violetta Kennedy, (late consort of Thomas G. -^ 
'Kennedy, Esq. Sheriff of Bucks county) who was drowned on the 28th */ 
of July, 18 17, in the stream that runs through Newtown, while en- 
deavoring to rescue her little son, who had fallen into the water from 
a board, on which he was amusing himself. 



OH ! Newtown, wrapt in sorrow's shade, 
Renounce your grandeur and parade, 

And mourn for Violetta's fall 

That blooming flow'r torn from your wall : 

Cut off when her meridian sun 
Had scarce its western race begun ; 
And now enwrapt in death's dark shade, 
She in the silcm lomb is laid. 

A mother fond, a virtuous wife. 
Her mind serene, and free from strife ; 
A pattern of domestic peace — 
She too must die, her labors cease. 

Her fond attempts her son to save, 
Did phinge her in 3 watery grave : 
'•And launch 'd from life's ambiguous shore, 
" Ingulf 'din death t' appear no more." 

Where this sad tale of death is ♦o'd. 
There stand appali'd, ye young and old; 
And the sad scene in tears deplore, 
Since Violetta is no more. 

Ye virgin throng, in vestal pride. 
Come lay your costly robes aside, 
In weed of woe lament her fate, 
Her sudden death and transient date. 

Her dear companion left to mourn, 
His greatest treasure from him torn, 



His hopes of earthly joy are fled. 
Since she is numbered with the dead. 

He views the solitary room. 
Which only points him to her tomb, 
To contemplate her dear remains 
That lie involv'd in death's cold chains : 

There to remain till time shall cease, 
When death his pris'ner shall release 
The grave her body will refine, 
That she in brightest robes may shine. 

Then cease to grieve — Oh ! mourn no more. 
Your Violetta's gone before, 
To join the blissful throng above. 
And dwell in everlasting love. 

Her sudden death, her early fall, 
Let this a warning be to all : 
Oh ! for the solemn hour prepare. 
For death to us is ever near ! 

Our fleeting lives soon pass away, 
Nor will our short-liv'd minutes stay ; 
We soon must pass the vale of death. 
And in his arms resign our breath. 

Then let us all prepare to go 
To realms were endless blessings flow — 
Though bleak misfortune clouds our sky 
Perpetual pleasures dwell on high ! 



Printed for the Author 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 285 



The ori^nnal poem illustrated on the opposite page was printed by Simeon 
Siegfried, at Xewtown, Pa., in 1817. It is now owned by Miss Sarah Worstall 
Hicks ( f Newtown, great-granddaughter of Squire Isaac Hicks, father of the 
said Violetta. Notice the misspelling in the second line of the last verse! 
For a further account of this accident see Historic Neivtown, p. 92, which 
says that Vinletta was born in 1788 instead of 1778. In speaking of his 
sister, Edward Hicks, son of Isaac, wrote in his Mtm irs, pages 26 & 27: 

"My father might have succeeded more to his mind in the education 
of my only sister, two years cider than myself, for she was put to a boarding 
school, and brought up in the gay world in pride and idleness. But, marrying 
a young man, who was in the path of humHe industry, coming up on foot, 
s'le joined him in his journev, and they had ad^"anced so far in the estima- 
tion of the people, that her hus' and had become high sheriff of the county; 
and she herself, according to his testimony, looking towards uniting with 
her brother, when, by a sudden and affecting death, her course in this world 
was stopped. 

"In the latter part of the 7th month, 1817, in the evening of the day, 
she had prepared supper, and stepped out to call her eldest son, a lad about 
six years old, who had become very fond of playing in a creek that ran near 
their dwelling, when she heard him cry for help. On running to the creek, 
where it was deep and the bank high, she saw him in the water, apparently 
drowning. A few feet up stream she crossed, and ran to his assistance. Her 
screams of distress alarmed her neighbors, and particularly her husband, who 
was writing in his ofifice. When he came to the bank, six or seven feet above 
the water, and saw his wife and child in the deep below, he immediately 
jumped in to their assistance; but, being no swimmer, they all three immersed 
together in a hole in the water, not more than ten feet wide and ten feet deep. 

"I think it is most likely my dear sister sunk soon after getting into the 
deep water, never to rise alive, fcr she was within a month or two of her 
confinement. Her husband and child struggled longer, but were nearly 
gone, when a young man, about sixteen years of age, saA'ed the child; and 
the dying father, as he was sinking for the last time, laid hold of a board 
that had been run into the water by a colored man, and by which he was 
drawn to the shore, nearly dead, and was with some difificulty brought to. 

"My poor dear sister's lifeless corpse was at last brought from the bottom 
of the deep hole, by the manly exertions of a sailor, but every attempt at 
resuscitation was in vain. Such was the tragical end of my dear sister Eliza 
Violetta Kennedy, in the fortieth year of her age." 



286 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



and though sometimes dimmed by the "first 
attempts" of writers over-anxious to see their 
lucubrations in print — though the puffs of 
angry and misjudging scribblers have some- 
times been permitted to cloud its disk, — yet, 
in our humble opinion, much of the original 
matter which has been published, is not only 
worthy of perusal and preservation, but it 
also gives a flattering presage of what the 
literary character of the youth of our country 
would be, if properly encouraged by the 
fostering hand of the public. 

Whether the STAR has contributed, in 
any degree, to "enliven the brow darkened 
by the twilight of age," or aided in "enlight- 
ening the intricate and dangerous path of 
youth," — whether it has displayed Virtue in 
its native, unassuming, yet goodly garb, and 
depicted Vice as the arch-enemy of man, and 
"the disgrace of any people," — whether it has 
been alike useful to the agriculturist and the 
man of literary research, — is not for us to 
determine. Our exertions, however feeble, 
have been unceasing, to render it entertain- 
ing and instructive, — and, by diversifying its 
pages, to suit the tastes of the varied multi- 



tude — The public are the proper judges of its 
merit — they are the arbiters of its destiny— 
on their opinion of its worth, and their liber- 
ality in its support, depends its continuance. 
Its patronage, though very respectable, has 
by no means rendered it profitable to the pro- 
prietor. Punctuality on the part of sub- 
scribers will effect a reimbursement of its 
necessary expenses, — and as a remuneration 
for the fatigues and vexations attending our 
editorial duties, we have the consciousness of 
having endeavored to subserve the best inter- 
est of all concerned. 

With our decision on the merits of original 
productions, some dissatisfaction has at times 
been expressed, and imputations of partiality 
in their insertion have been made: — but 
correspondents are assured, that altho' our 
veto has consigned some of their favorite 
works to oblivion, the decisions are neither 
attributable to partiality or ill will; — on the 
contrary, the most scrupulous regard for per- 
sonal feeling has ever directed us. and in no 
case has a designed offence been given. 

S. SIEGFRIED. 
10th Nov., 1817. 



THE STAR OF FREEDOM. 

LITERARY, POLITICAL, & AGRICULTURAL. 



" Pledged to no Party's arbitrary rway — I follow Truth where'er it leads the ivny." 



THE STAR OF FREEDOM. 

Literary,— Political,— and Agricultural. 

"Pledged to no Pabtt's arbitrary sway— I follow Tbuth where'er it leads the way.' 



THE STAR OF FREEDOM. 

Literary,— Political,— and Agricultural, 



' Pledged to no Party's arbitrary sway — I follow Teuth where'er it leads the way.' 



THE STAR OF FREEDOM. 

A Congressional &f Legislative Journal. 



Pledged to no Party's arbitrary sway — I follow Thuth wttere'er it leads the way.^ 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



287 



I 







Receipt in handwriting of Asher Miner for a half year subscription 
to Star of Freedom; original in Bucks County Historical Society. 



In 1817, Siegfried married a Newtown 
girl^^, like printer William Coale had 
previously done, and also like Coale he 
married soon after having his 20th birth- 
day. Concerning Simeon's romance, little 
is known, except this modest statement 
inserted in the Star of October 29, 1817: 

To the Editor of the Star 
Sir, — Please insert in the Star of Freedom — 

MARRIED, by Thos. B. Montanye, on 
Lord's day the 26th October, Mr. WiUiam 
Burnett, to Miss Sarah Roney, both of New- 
town township. 

— On the same day, by the same, Mr. Sim- 
eon Siegfried, to Miss Mercy Johnson, both 
of Newtown. 

And oblige, yours, 

THOS. B. MONTANYE. 

Mr. Miner copied this notice in his 
Correspondent of November 4th, adding 
that the marriage had been solemnized 
in Newtown. Thomas B. Montanye's 



church was, of course, at Southampton; 
and there was at that time no organized 
congregation at Newtown and little inter- 
est in the Baptists. However, there were 
a few Baptist families resident in the vil- 
lage besides the Siegfrieds. Chief of 
these were: Garret Brown, manufacturer 
of agricultural implements; Charles Hin- 
kle, proprietor of Brick Hotel; and Enos 
Morris^^, attorney at law. The last 
named is referred to by Edward Hicks'*'' 
as: 

— a lawyer, then Hving in our town, and at 
that time a complete tool for a popular Bap- 
tist preacher, [Montanye] who preached to 
a small class in the old Court House, once a 
month. 



court house was razed in 
year following Rev. Mon- 



After the 
1830'*^ the 
tanye's death, the Baptist meetings were 
discontinued; and it was not until 1901 
that the faith was re-established in New- 

took place on October 



38 Davis stated erroneously that her name was Mary and that the 
12, 1817; see History of Bucks County, 2nd ed.. Vol. II, p. 311. 

39 Proceedings of Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. II, p. 646. 
^0 Memoirs, p. 129. 

41 Thaddeus S. Kenderdine stated erroneously in his pamphlet When Newtown was the County Seal 
that the court h^use was torn down before 1822. The sheriff's proclamation for the general election of 
1829 begins: "District No. 1. The F"reeman of the townsViT of Newtown, are to hold their election at 
the house formerly cccupied as a Court House, in said township." Si ice the election of the following 
year was held at what is now called Brick Hotel, it is most likely that the Court House Building was de- 
molished in the sprirg or summer of 1830. 



288 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



town. In 1818, a class in Methodism 
was formed at Fallington with James 
Lippincott as leader, and in the same year 
at Morrisville with Edmund Yard as 
leader.'*^ 

Siegfried seems to have had an early 
inclination for religious expression, so it 
is not surprising to find him becoming 
later in life an accepted minister. While 
publishing the Star of Freedom, he took 
an active part in the non-sectarian "Sab- 
bath School Association of Newtown," 
and was the secretary therecf from its 
organization on July 27, 1817, when 50 
pupils attended.'*-' Within six weeks, the 
school had tripled its membership; and 
in the "Report of Progress" of the follow- 
ing September 24th, it was remarked: 

It is truly gratifying to reflect that 150 
children are now collected together for in- 
struction, and thus led to respect the Sab- 
bath, who lately spent that Holy day in 
the streets. 

The meetings were held at various 
places in the town; the Academy, the 
Pr;sbyterian Church, the houses of the 
teachers, and so forth. On January 10, 
1818, the classes were entertained at the 
home of Mr. and Mrs. Simeon Siegfried. 
It is interesting to note that this organ- 
ization is still flourishing under the sole 
guidance of the Presbyterian Church, 
which took it over after a few years, and 
has conducted it for over a century as its 
own denominational Sunday School. 

On March 14, 1818, the Association 
resolved to have printed 150 copies cf the 
Constitution, and on the following April 
18th the work was reported done and 
Printer Siegfried was paid $4.00. The 
writer has not been able to locate a single 
one of these imprints. 

The last minutes in Siegfried's hand 
are dated July 9, 1818, at which time it 
was recorded that some one else was 



elected secretary for the ensuing year. 
During that summer, Simeon had a falling 
out with the Association, and thus it 
appears in the minutes of November 12, 
1818: 

The resignation of Mr. Simeon Siegfried 
was read and laid over for consideration. 

On the 16th, it was reported spicily 
in the minutes, after four days' considera- 
tion: 

At an adjourned meeting of the Society 
the following resolutions were entered into — 
Viz. 

RESOLVED, that we view the conduct 
of Simeon Siegfried as exceedingly repre- 
hensible and void of that benevolence and 
charity which ought to characterize the 
actions of the members of this association. 

RESOLVED, that the name of Simeon 
Siegfried be erased from the list of members 
of this Society. 

RESOLVED, that the Secretary inform 
Mr. S. Siegfried of the determination of this 
Society. 

Adjourned. 

Of course, what caused the Society to 
so indignantly denounce poor Simeon is a 
secret cf the past, but judging from his 
e.xperiences elsewhere, money may have 
been the origin cf this trou':le. 

Only ten days after marriage, Sieg- 
fried, finding that two cannot live as 
cheaply as one, inserted this advertise- 
ment in his paper on November 5, 1817: 

I^Our Patrons who have not yet conformed 
to the terms of the STAR, are informed that 
we have still a few blank receipts on hand, 
which we would be happy to fill up, and 
exchange for CASH — an article very neces- 
sary in purchasing firewood, &. &. for the 
winter. Every exertion has been used, in 
our editorial capacity, for the information 
and amusement of our readers — for which 
we ask only the prompt payment of the 
amount of their subscriptions, as a means of 
contributing to our comfort. Editor. 



42 Battle's History of Bucks County, p. 382. 

43 The small brownstone marker of the grave of Briton Estill, first president (office now called 
intendent) of the Association, in Newtown Presbyterian Graveyard, is lettered only B. ESTILL. 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE IJ 



289 



Starting with the issue of December 
10, 1817, the Star was converted into 
"A Congressional and Legislative Jour- 
nal." However, this attempted resusci- 
tation did not work as Siegfried wished, 
so with the 45th issue, on Wednesday, 
March 25, 1818^4, he finally suspended 
publication, declaring: 

Notwithstanding the encouragement re- 
ceived, and the flattering prospects pre- 
sented, on commencing the pubHcation of 



under such circumstances the responsible 
and arduous task of conducting a public 
journal, will not, we believe, be questioned. — 
In a wealthy, and populous, and enlightened 
community, the sacrifice of personal re- 
sources, for public convenience or gratifica- 
tion, should not and cannot be expected. 

The reason for the failure of the different 
gazettes established in the lower section of 
Bucks county, are many. Its contiguity to 
the presses of Philadelphia, Burlington, 
Trenton and Doylestown divides materially 
the business which, in a situation further 




Congress of the U. States. 

Ornamental headings for the Agricultural Department and the 
Congressional News in Siegfried's Star of Freedom, 1817-1818. 



this paper, the result of nearly a twelve- 
month's experiment is the certainty that, 
although its patronage is respectable, it is 
totally insufficient to support the establish- 
ment. — The Proprietor has therefore deter- 
miied, as the only means of preventing a 
considerable sacrifice of labor and money with- 
out the most distant prospect of remunera- 
tion, to discontinue the Star of Freedom from 
the present number. 

The experiment, it is believed, has been 
fully tested and no reasonable exertions 
spared to render the paper, in every respect, 
what it was proposed to be. It has not, 
however, met the support necessary to make 
it valuable to the Proprietor, or so extensively 
useful as, with a liberal patronage, it might 
have been. The propriety of discontinuing. 



removed from competition, would be con- 
centrated in its support. The error of local 
jealousies, or in other words, the determina- 
tion to patronize a press located convenient 
to a village or neighborhood, and nowhere 
else, has also its fatal effects: — and a disposi- 
tion to borrow a newspaper, rather than own 
it, is not only inconvenient and unjust to a 
neighbor, but keeps from the purse many a 
dollar which would otherwise contribute to 
compensate his labors. — To expect more from 
a weekly journal than can possibly be realized, 
may also be denominated an error — as it not 
unfrequently leads to dissatisfaction with the 
best exertions — to complaints that an equiv- 
alent to the annual subscription of a paper 
is not received in its pages — and eventually to 
the withdrawing of the patronage upon 



44 Davis stated erroneously that publication suspended on Tuesday, April 7, 1818; see History of 
Bucks County^2nd ed.. Vol. II, p. 311. Note how similar the motto on the Star's masthead (p. 286) was 
to the Bucks Coun!y Weekly Gazette published in Newtown fifteen years earlier (p. 265). 



THE 



.ESTERS 

A POEM, 



DESCRIPTIVE OF A 



PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY 



TO THE 



FALLS OF NIAGARA 



IN THE AUTUMN OF 1804. 



BY THE AUTHOR OF AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



PUBLISHED BY S. SIEGFRIED £c J. WILSON. 



WVWVX'VWW 



JUNE.... 1818. 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



291 



which tlie editor had very properly founded 
his calculations. — To the latter error, more 
particularly, must be attributed the short 
lived lustre of the Slar. From the variety of sub- 
jects it embraced, there was a manifest im- 
possibility of publishing anything useful or 
entertaining that could be gleaned for the 
different departments. To Literature, Poli- 
tics, Agriculture, was the paper appropriated. 
— Yet our literati were unsatisfied: too much 
room, in their opinion was occupied with 
agricultural improvements, moral extracts 
&c. The Politician was displeased that the 
news, foreign and domestic, was not given 
in detail: — and the capital agriculturist com- 
plained that too large a portion of our pages 
were occupied with the productions of 
"Scribblers:" — while it is probable that not 
one in twenty of the host of complaints, ever 
reflected that the diversified sheet regularly 
presented cost but the trifling sum of about 
four cents per week; and that the matter fur- 
nished in either department was, no doubt, 
intrinsically worth the amount. 

It is not intended by these observations 
to arrogate for the Star any merit to which 
it is not strictly entitled — but plainly to 
state, pro bono publico, the causes which 
in our opinion have contributed to annihilate 
a work commenced for the information and 
amusement of the varied multitude. 

Those of our patrons who have been 
pleased to express entire satisfaction with the 
value and arrangement of the Star, and who 
have exhibited the laudible example of pay- 
ing agreeably to the stipulated terms — will 
please accept the unfeigned thanks of the 
Proprietor and Printer. Those who have 
not yet discharged their accounts, will we 
hope to see the necessity of immediate atten- 
tion to the subject. It is proposed to call 
upon all delinquents as soon as practicable 
with their bills prepared for settlement. 

As a measure requested by some patrons 
of the Star, and probably wished by many 
others, the Pennsylvania Correspondent will 
be forwarded to those who have made a year- 
ly payment for the first mentioned paper; 
unless otherwise notified. 

From the popularity of the Correspondent 
it is anticipated that most if not all the sub- 
scribers to the Star would be pleased with 
the change; — It will be perceived by pro- 



posals in the last page of this No. that our 
literary friends will receive the same repas- 
ture as the Star afforded them: — The Poli- 
tician will have all the news: The Agricul- 
turist will not be neglected; and the man of 
business will no longer have occasion to 
complain that he "does not see the Adver- 
tisements." 

On January 22, 1818, Siegfried's sister- 
in-law was wedded at his house, according 
to the marriage docket of Squire Isaac 
Hicks: 

Major Phineas Kelly, of Solebury tp. 
and Beula Johnson of Buckingham dau. of 
Samuel dec'd at Simeon Sigfried in New- 
town. 

In June, 1818, Simeon Siegfried, as- 
sisted by Joseph Wilson, of Philadelphia, 
published a 106-page book entitled: The 
Foresters; A Poem, Descriptive of a Pedes- 
trian Journey to the Falls of Nidgara in 
the Autumn of 1804. By the Author of 
American Ornithology.'^^ 

It has been claimed that The For- 
esters was first published in 1804.'*'^ But 
this cannot be, as The Literary^ Magazine 
and American Register of August, 1805, 
contains a portion of the poem "written 
at Gray's Ferry, August 12, 1805." 
The Literary Intelligence department of 
the same magazine says: 

There will shortly be published a poem, 
of which our present member contains an 
extract, entitled The Foresters. It is large, 
and comprehends a great variety of scenery 
and character, and incidents faithfully por- 
trayed from nature, and but little known in 
our modern artificial book-made rhymes. 
From the specimen now before us, together 
with many other samples of the author's 
talents, which have come under our observa- 
tion, we entertain very sanguine expecta- 
tions of the present performance. 

The poem was not, however, printed 
as indicated above. The first complete 
appearance of it was serially in 1809-10, 



45 Two copies of this book are owned severally by the Bucks County Historical Society, and the writer. 
Other collections containing this work are Newtown Library Company, Pennsylvania Historical Society, 
Wilmington (Delaware) Institute Free Library, and Burlington (Iowa) Free Public Library. 

46 See Catalogue of the Harris Collection of American Poetry, published at Providence in 1886, p. 315. 




Fire board, size 38 by 44 >^ inches, one of the earHest preserved works of 
Edward Hicks, Newtown's well-known "primitive" artist. Inspired by 
Siegfried's publication of The Foresters, executed in February, 1820, and now 
in the collection of the writer. 

Note to the left: the natural history of Canada, the oak tree, beaver, 
moose, bald eagle, and rattle snake; and to the right: the small figures of the 
painter and his companions, Isaac Parry and Mathias Hutchinson. 

Hicks wrote in his Memoirs, p. 74: "Next day we crossed the Niagara at 
Lewistown, and ascended Queenston Heights, and rode seven miles to the 
great Falls; where, putting up our horses and speaking for our suppers and 
lodgings, we went to see the mighty wonder of the world." 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



293 



be quoted again, although he made 8 
mistakes in copying the 20 hnes he re- 
printed. In 1853, there was issued an- 
other edition of the complete poem, 
"published by Samuel Tomlinson, Bucks 
county, Pa. Printed by John Boyle, 
corner of Second and Brown streets, 
Philadelphia." 

The Pennsylvania Correspondent and 
Farmers' Advertiser on July 28, 1818, 
advertised: 

THE FORESTERS A POEM: 
This interesting work, has been very hand- 
somely printed at Newtown, and is for sale 
at 75 cents, neatly bound and lettered — or 
50 cents in boards. A few copies are for 
sale at this Office. 

No reader, who is pleased with a poetical 
description of natural scenery, can fail to 
read the Foresters with delight. The pic- 
tures are so natural, that you appear to be 
present, participating in the pleasure de- 
scribed by the Writer. 

One who "read the Foresters with 
delight" was Edward Hicks, the well- 
known Quaker preacher and painter, of 
Newtown, who was so influenced that 
he made a similar trip to Niagara Falls 
in September of the following year, ac- 
companied, like Wilson, with two com- 
panions. Upon his return in the winter 
of 1819-20, he painted a fire-board of the 
Falls, around which he lettered eight 
lines from the Foresters, copying with 
minute detail Siegfried's typography. 
Hicks is not known to have owned a copy 
of the Foresters, but he had access to the 
one at Newtown Library Company, of 
which he was an active member; and it is 
curious to note that in this copy, page 
74, (the one facing the page of verses he 
used), has been turned down to mark 
the place! Hicks could not, however, 
have used this particular volume for his 
copy to letter from, because the minutes 

47 Star of Freedom, September 3, 1817. 

48 Copies of this edition may be seen at Bucks County Historical Society, Pennsylvania Historical 
Society, New York Public Library, Burlington (Iowa) Free Public Library, and H. B. Frankenfield, Phila- 
delphia. Copies of the Paisley edition may be seen at New York Public Library, and Library of LIniversity 
of Pittsburgh. 



when it was published in the Philadelphia 
magazine, Port Folio, illuminated by four 
engravings made from sketches by the 
author. Siegfried probably took his copy 
from the Port Folio; at least it is known 
he was a subscriber, because when he 
lost a number he advertised as follows i"^'^ 

X^The person who borrowed tlie July No. 
of the PORT-FOLIO from this Office, is 
requested to return it. 

Siegfried's was the first separate edi- 
tion, and after his there was none other 
until the poem was reprinted in 1825 
in Paisley, Scotland, (Wilson's birthplace), 
by one J. Fraser. On the title page the 
authorship, for the first time, is definitely 
stated as being "By Alexander Wilson, 
Author of American Ornithology, &c." 

Alexander Wilson had died at Phila- 
delphia on August 23, 1813, and it was 
his nephew, Joseph Wilson, who arranged 
with Siegfried for the publication at New- 
town of the longest and most ambitious 
poem by the great American Ornithologist. 
And it was Joseph who received the copy- 
right on July 1, 1818, when he entered 
it according to act of Congress. How- 
ever, one John Wilson surreptitiously 
claimed to be the author of this book, 
and stated on the title page of his Lights 
and Shadows of Scottish Life, (published 
at Philadelphia by W. A. Leary & Co.), 
that it was "by John Wilson, Esq., author 
of The Foresters, Noctes Ambrosianae, 
etc., and editor of Blackwood's Magazine." 

The third separate edition was issued 
just twenty years after the first by Joseph 
Painter, at West Chester, Pa.*^ Since 
then there have been several other edi- 
tions of this better known work of Alex- 
ander Wilson. General Davis in his 
History reproduced those portions per- 
taining to Bucks County, so they will not 



294 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1< 



of the Library show that John W. Wyn- 
koop bought this volume for the Library 
on February 12, 1827, for 40 cents, which 
was a 10% reduction from the published 
price. This was seven years after Hicks 
painted the fire-board, so he must have 
used another. 

It is known that Simeon Siegfried 
printed some of the marriage certificate 
blanks used by Squire Hicks, father of 
Edward i"^^ and as Edward himself was 
one of three Newtown tradesmen to first 
advertise in the Star of Freedom, it is cer- 
tain that he was well acquainted with 
Siegfried and his publications. 

In the Pennsylvania Correspondent and 
Farmers' Advertiser issued August 4, 1818, 
Siegfried inserted the following advertise- 
nent: 

GOING TO OHIO! 

And will sell at Public Vendue. On Satur- 
day the 15th of August, at one o'clock, P. M. 
at my residence in Newtown: Household 
and Kitchen Furniture, In all its variety; 
Consisting of Beds, Bedding and Bedsteads 
— a Bureau — Mahogany dining and breakfast 
Tables — Chairs, &c. also. Iron Pots and 
Kettles, Tubs, Buckets, and other articles 
too numerous to particularize. 

Attendance and conditions by 

SIMEON SIEGFRIED. 

On October 27, 1818, the editor of the 
Correspondent advertised as of the 22nd 
ultimo: 

NOTICE. 

The Books of the Star-Office, at Newtown, 
are now in my hands. — All persons indebted 
for Subscriptions, Books, or Stationary will 
give no offence by making immediate pay- 
ment. 

Asher Miner 



In September of that year, Siegfried 
removed to Cadiz, Harrison County, 
Ohio,^*^ where he instituted another paper 
called The Ohio Luminary, on November 
27, 1818. Apparently, this journalistic 
field was barren, for Simeon, as Davis 
puts it, "found that country too new to 
support a new paper." This, plus per- 
haps a little homesickness, caused him to 
sell out in a few months to one John 
Harris and return to Bucks County. ^^ 
Soon after his arrival he was solicited to 
start another Democratic newspaper at 
Doylestown in opposition to the Corre- 
spondent of Asher Miner, under whom 
he had learned his trade. The new paper 
called The Bucks County Messen-ger was 
initiated into the world on June 28, 1819; 
Siegfried was the editor, and he continued 
to publish it for some three years until 
harmony in the political party united it 
with the previously existing Doylestown 
Democrat. Davis says^- concerning this: 

A division in the Democratic party, as 
well as an opposition to the men of the 
county who controlled it, led to the estab- 
lishment of the Bucks County Messenger. It 
was about the size of the Democrat, and 
known as the "yellow fever" paper, on ac- 
count of the dingy color of the paper it was 
printed on — made at Ingham's mill near New 
Hope. It promised to support the general 
and State governments. The Democrat 
branded it as the "intended advocate of cor- 
ruption," and on the MesseMger',? appearance 
the Democrat wanted the persons appointed 
to distribute it "to have their velocipedes in 
order." In connection with the Messenger, 
Mr. Siegfried established a German paper at 
Doylestown, the first in the county, issued 
sometime, 1820. We have never seen a 
copy of this German pioneer paper, nor do 
we even know its name, but it was short- 



49 The ornamental border and typography of some of these blanks are identical with the Violetta 
(Hicks) Kennedy poem illustrated on p. 284. Over a quarter of a century later this border was still being 
used by the Intelligencer, for example see the issue of April 8, 1846. 

50 As early as the previous March 18th he had advertised in the Star his house and lot for rent, "Situate 
on Main Street, in the uoper end of Newtown." He owned no property in his own name in Bucks County, 
according to records of Recorder of Deeds, Doylestown. 

51 Information from John Kilbourn's Ohio Gazetteer or Topographical Dictionary, published at Columbus, 
in 1819. 

52 Second edition, Vol. II, p. 317. 



PRESSES AND PklNTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



295 



lived. "^' It probably gave up the ghost when 
Siegfried left the Messenger, for we find that 
on September 4, 1821, T. A. Meredith an- 
nounces that the account had been assigned 
to him, and that he was anxious for those 
indebted to "walk up to the captain's office 
and settle." 

During the first few months after inau- 
gurating the Messenger, Siegfried was 
sued for libel by the editor and recent 
founder of the Democrat, Lewis Deffe- 
bach, whom he had accused of miscon- 
ducting his office of deputy United States 
marshal. The suit was arbitrated, and 
"no cause of action" awarded.''^ It 
would seem, however, upon reading the 
file of the Doylestown Democrat of this 
period, that Siegfried should have en- 
tered a counter suit, because some of the 
things Deffebach said about him were 
violently scandalous. But Siegfried, like 
all editors of political journals, had a 
thick skin impenetrable to personal 
slander. As an example of this vitupera- 
tion, in the issue of the Democrat of Aug- 
ust 17, 1819, the editor claimed that cer- 
tain dissenting democrats, who had 
backed financially Siegfried's Bucks Coun- 
ty Messenger, were trying to form a third 
party, and: 

They have determined that both demo- 
crats and federalists shaH bow to them and 
vote for such men as they shall dictate! They 
proclaim that Bucks county is obliged to 
maintain them, as well as the paupers, and 
that they will hang to the public nipple, like 
so many young 'possums, until they are 
strangled off. — Aye, and they have sworn 
to put down the "Democrat" and raise up 
that sickly, ulcerated, seven-headed off- 
spring of intrigue and corruption — the 
"Messenger." — So the allied powers have 
decreed. 

The 'Messenger,' that 'Luminary' which 
promised to delight as well as to inform the 
people of this county, but never to deal in the 
common asperities of newspaper controversy, 
nor to tarnish its columns with vulger asper- 
sion of the characters of private individuals. 



has found out, in that book of morality which 
governs its club editors, that promises are 
made to be broken; and, therefore, they have 
thrown off the restraint and have determined 
to outstrip any quadroon paper in the com- 
monwealth, for false and malignant slanders 
against those who have been active and 
successful in exposing their political knavery. 
Guilty or not guilty, my dear Vicars of Bray? 

Deffebach even went so far as to attempt 
to spoil the sale of a pamphlet that Sieg- 
fried was about to publish. Such were 
the good old days of journalism! The 
following advertisement is taken from 
the above mentioned issue of the Demo- 
crat, and is self explanatory: 

PUBLIC CAUTION 

A certain "Simeon Siegfried," the nomi- 
nal editor of the "Bucks County Messenger," 
having, in his paper of the 9th inst. intimated 
to the public that he "has in press, and will 
publish in a few days, the Allegations and 
Testimony submitted to the Visitors in the 
case of the Aims-House Inquiry; we con- 
sider it due to the public to caution them 
against the purchase of the contemplated 
publication. The Visitors having not yet 
framed their Report, and there being no cor- 
rect copy of the Testimony but that which 
is in our possession, the Testimony, &c. 
about to be published by "Simeon Siegfried" 
will be SPURIOUS. A genuine copy of the 
Allegations — the Charge of the Prosecuting 
Committee, and all the documents con- 
nected with the Visitation, will be ready for 
delivery from this office in due season. 

On August 23, 1820, the editor of the 
Democrat wrote: 

The Messenger of the 15th inst. reminds 
us of the ass which had been over-laden, it 
looked so fatigued and yellow that we were 
led to believe it had caught the fever, which 
at present is so prevalent in the city of Phila- 
delphia. With the exception of the proceed- 
ings of corruption, nothing can be found in 
it but extracts purporting to have been re- 
ceived at the office of the Franklin Gazette, 
from different quarters of the state, but 
written by Thomas Sergeant, and repub- 
lished from that paper. 



53 Writing again on the subject in later years, Davis said, "An effort was made to issue a German 
paper from the Messenger office in August, 1821, but was a failure." See Doylestown, Old and New, p. 63. 

54 W. W. H. Davis, History of Bucks County; 2nd ed.. Vol. II, p. 317. 



296 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1^ 



While living at Doylestown, the Sieg- 
frieds had the misfortune to lose their 
only child. The following account of 
this sad affair is taken from The Corre- 
spondent and Farmers' Advertiser of No- 
vember 14, 1820: 

In Doylestown, on the 8th inst. Elizabeth, 
an infant daughter, and the only child of S. 
Siegfried. — Her death was occasioned by 
her clothes taking fire at a moment when her 
mother had left her alone for a few minutes. 
— She was enveloped in flames, with which 
she was contending at her mother's return. 
— She was much scorched — and under these 
circumstances, death must, to the little 
sufferer and her friends, have been a happy 
relief. 

That winter must have been a sorrow- 
ful one for poor Simeon, because only 
four months after the death of his daugh- 
ter, occurred the death of his father, 
whom he had accompanied to Cadiz, 
Harrison County, Ohio, in 1818, as pre- 
viously mentioned. The death notice 
of George Siegfried is taken from The 
Correspondent and Farmers' Advertiser of 
February 13, 1821: 

In the State of Ohio, on the 24th of Jan- 
uary, Mr. George Siegfried, aged about 52 
years. To provide for a numerous family, 
and increase their comforts, he emigrated to 
that state from New Britain Township, in 
this county, about three years since; and 
has fallen a victim to Pulmonary Consump- 
tion. 

After selling the Messenger in 1821, 
Simeon then removed to Bridgeton, N. J., 
to try his luck; and on October 5, 1822, 
established The Bridgeton Observer and 
Cumberland and Cape May Advertiser. 
The prospectus that he issued for the 
same is taken from the earliest preserved 
issue, the second number, now in the col- 
lections of Cumberland County Historical 
Society. 

BELIEVING that a weekly Gazette, con- 
ducted with a proper regard for the senti- 
ments and interests of the patriotic citizens 
of Cumberland and Cape May counties, is 



much wanted, and will meet with a respecta- 
ble support, the subscriber has been induced 
to procure the necessary materials for a News- 
paper Establishment, and to offer his serv- 
ices to the public, — convinced that to EN- 
SURE their patronage it is only necessary 
to DESERVE it. 

Ardently attached to our republican in- 
stitutions, the subscriber is determined, 
throughout his editorial career, to advocate 
the preservation of those rights for which 
our fathers staked "their lives, their for- 
tunes, and their sacred honor." — And if a 
practical acquaintance with the business in 
which he is engaged, may be urged as a claim 
upon the public favor, he has at least one 
legitimate claim — and he begs leave to add 
the assurance that all his faculties will be put 
in requisition to render his paper valuable 
and interesting to its patrons. 

The proposed Editor deems it scarcely nec- 
essary to state that he has no political 
views to subserve — he sincerely wishes to 
cultivate with the citizens of New Jersey, 
of all parties, that harmony of social inter- 
course for which they are distinguished. 

Many promises are usually made in a 
Prospectus, which are never realized in the 
publication: — this the undersigned wished 
to avoid; and will state briefly that the 
"OBSERVER" will contain "the passing 
tidings of the times," as much in detail as its 
limits will permit. — The latest News, both 
foreign and domestic, will be gleaned from 
the best sources: — Agricultural matter, such 
as will be useful to the practical farmer: — 
the local occurrences of the counties of Cum- 
berland and Cape May, which are worthy of 
notice: — a register of Marriages and Deaths: 
— a Price Current of Produce, &c. in Bridge- 
ton: — the Rate of Exchange of Bank -Notes: 
— and a proper variety of Poetical and 
Humorous Selections, from time to time, 
will make up the weekly repast with which 
the readers of the OBSERVER shall be 
served. 

Communications on interesting subjects, 
and couched in language proper for the 
public eye, are respectfully solicited, and will 
meet with prompt attention. The Editor at 
all times reserving to himself the right to 
publish or reject. He will not, however, 
reject every essay which does not correspond 
with his own sentiments — but will freely 
admit all such as have a tendency to promote 
improvement in morals, or in political or do- 
mestic economy. — In short, whatever may 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



297 



contribute to the pleasure or profit of his 
patrons, will, as far as practicable, be laid 
before them, by 

The public's devoted servant, 

SIMEON SIEGFRIED. 

BRIDGETON, September, 1822. 

THE BRIDGETON OBSERVER will be 
published every Saturday morning, on a 
royal sized sheet, and handsome new type, 
at TWO DOLLARS a year— payable half 
yearly in advance. 

No subscription will be taken for a shorter 
period than six months — and no paper will 
be discontinued, unless at the option of the 
Editor until all arrearages are paid. 

i^ Advertisements inserted at moderate 
prices. 

Mr. Siegfried soon became involved 
in some journalistic quarrels with the 
editor of the opposition paper, caused, 
no doubt, by the encroachments of the 
Pennsylvania German from Bucks Coun- 
ty. Siegfried had as a motto on the 
mast-head of his Observer, "Open to all 
parties — influenced by none." This mot- 
to, referred to by Davis as "since hack- 
neyed," was borrowed by Siegfried from 
Isaac Ralston who had used it on the 
first newspaper issued in Bucks County, 
The Farmers' Weekly Journal, instituted 
at Doylestown on July 25, ISOO.''^ 

Siegfried was very obviously much 
incensed when he wrote in the fourth 
number of his Observer, October 26, 1822: 
'It is a mistake to suppose' that as soon 
as a man becomes Editor of a Newspaper he 
KNOWS EVERY THING. Some men, 
however, conduct themselves with as much 
assurance as if actuated by such a sentiment. 
An editor who is young & inexperienced will 
generally find enough to do, if he bestows 
proper attention to HIS OWN BUSINESS— 
afterwards, as age and experience increase, 
he may, if necessary, assist by his advice 
such of his JUNIOR brethren as seem to 
require it. The QUILL-DRIVING EDI- 
TOR of the Union, I believe, has neither 
GREY HAIRS nor EDITORIAL EX- 



PERIENCE, to add weight to the advice 
lately volunteered to 'the editors of the Whig 
and the Observer.' He may, for aught I 
know, possess more knowledge of this 'sec- 
tion of the country' than I do — but of the 
question as to the disposition of the people 
to 'afford' adequate support, &c. intelligent 
men here are probably better judges than he 
can be. — 

The writer has been able to find out 
little concerning the social life of Editor 
Simeon Siegfried in New Jersey, except 
that he was secretary of the Bridgeton 
Circulating Library when the books were 
sold at auction October 23, 1824. Did 
Siegfried have anything to do with the 
disbandment of the Library? A search 
of the Jand records of Cumberland 
County, N. J., revealed that Siegfried 
owned no land in that county, so at this 
late date it is almost impossible to find 
out even where he lived in Bridgeton. 
Apparently, the Observer was progressing 
satisfactorily, for on September 25, 1824, 
the reading public was notified: 

The Editor is truly grateful for the patron- 
age this paper has received — and has the 
pleasure to inform his original friends that 
the list of patrons is steadily augmenting. 
Under a fair conviction that the principles 
maintained, and the courses pursued, are in 
strict accordance with the views of the mass 
of his fellow-citizens, he will continue to 
adhere to and pursue them, to the extent of 
his powers and relying upon the generous 
friendship of those who approve of the man- 
ner in which he has endeavored to discharge 
the arduous duties as an Editor, he con- 
fidently anticipates that the means necessary 
to enable him to "go on his way rejoicing" 
will not be withheld. 

But sad to relate, Siegfried anticipated 
in vain, the means were withheld, and 
only two months later, November 20th, 
he wrote flowerily: 

Having purchased a Printing Establish- 
ment in Pennsylvania, my duties as Editor 
of the Observer have terminated — and al- 
though the station upon [which] I am about 



55 This is one of the oldest newspaper slogans. It is not known wh< 
journalism, but by 1770 the Massachusetts Spy. Boston, was using it. 
County's pioneer newspaper 7'he Farmers' Weekly Gazette. 



n it first appeared in American 
Note that Davis called Bucks 



298 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



to enter affords an earnest [?] of greater 
pecuniary advantage, and a prospect of 
increased usefulness, it is not without reluc- 
tance that I bid adieu to the many friends 
whose kind offices I have experienced during 
my residence in this place. Confident, how- 
ever, that this paper will continue to be con- 
ducted with the same deference for the public 
sentiment which I have endeavored at all 
times to cherish, and that its patrons will 
suft'er no inconvenience from the change, I 
relinquish the charge with less repugnance 
than I should feel under other circum- 
stances — and beg leave to solicit for my 
successor a continuance and an increase of 
the patronage which I have enjoyed. 

In bidding you adieu, my kind patrons, I 
wish you individually and collectively, a 
long and an uninterrupted enjoyment of 
health and prosperity. 

Yours truly, 

Simeon Siegfried. 

X^To facilitate the arrangement and settle- 
ment of the pecuniary concerns of the estab- 
lishment, the paper will be continued on 
account of the late Editor, until the 25th of 
the next month, by George Siegfried, to 
whom letters and communications, post paid, 
will hereafter be directed. 

Subsequently for the next few editions, 
the Observer was "Published Every 
Saturday, by George Siegfried, For the 
Proprietor." Then after December 18, 
1824, the 115th issue, the paper was taken 
over by the new purchaser, Robert John- 
son.^^ During the early part of 1825, 
Siegfried appealed to his former sub- 
scribers to settle their accounts with him, 
and on March 5th, he turned over his 
uncollected bills to Elias P. Seeley, J. P., 
for immediate collection. The opposi- 
tion paper at Bridgeton, the Washington 
Whig, on November 27, 1824, declared: 

Our neighbor, it appears by the last 
Observer, has transferred his establishment 
into other hands; and subsequently we learn 
that he has taken his departure for West 
Chester, Pa., where he has purchased the 



establishment of the "American Republican." 
The Observer is now in charge of Mr. George 
Siegfried, brother of the late editor. 

We suppose the Observer will remain the 
same as formerly, although its motto has 
been changed. We trust that the one now 
adopted will be better supported than the 
last, as that was as complete a burlesque 
upon the manner in which that paper was 
conducted, as it was possible to make it. 

Our new neighbor has made a modest 
entry — he has not invited the attention of 
his readers to a single remark. 

We must send our good wishes after "our 
Neighbor." We hope he may be happy 
and prosperous. 

Concerning the American Republican 
that Siegfried had bought at West Chester, 
Pa., Mr. W. W. Thomson, on page 631 
of Chester County and Its People, 1898, 
wrote : 

November 17, 1824, Mr. [Samuel] John- 
son sold the paper to Simeon Siegfried, who 
was sole proprietor until May 12, 1829, when 
he sold a half interest to Edgar S. Price, 
they two publishing it under the firm name 
of Siegfried & Price until August 18, follow- 
ing, when Mr. Siegfried sold the half inter- 
est he had retained to Robert B. Dodson, 
and from that time on until July 11, 1832, 
it was published by Dodson & Price. 

While conducting the American Re- 
publican, Siegfried, as was his custom to 
help make both ends meet, also ran a 
job ofifice. Two examples of the product 
of his pamphlet press now at Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania are: 



Florula Cestrica: An essay towards a 
catalogue of the phaenogamous plants, na- 
tive and naturalized, growing in the vicinity 
of the Borough of West-Chester, in Chester 
County, Pennsylvania; with brief notices of 
their properties, and uses, in medicine, rural 
economy, and the arts. To which is sub- 



56 Johnson's next move after Bridgeton, N. J., was to Reading, Pa., where he bought out Douglas 
W. Hyde The Bucks County Intelligencer and General Advertiser, of April 5, 1830, reported: "Mr. Hyde, 
of The Chronicle and the Times, bade adieu to his friends and patrons in the relationship of an editor, on 
Tuesday last. He has disposed of his establishment to Mr. Robert Johnson, formerly editor of a paper 
called the Observer, and published in Bridgetown, New Jersey." Douglas W. Hyde died in Pottsville, Pa., 
July 29, 1850, aged 49 years. He was the editor at one time, of the People s Advocate. 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



299 



joined an appendix of the useful cultivated 
plants of the same district. By William 
Darlington, M. D. Ore trahit quodcunque 
potest, atque addit acervo. Hor. West- 
Chester, Penn. Printed for the author, by 
Simeon Siegfried. 1826. 



2. 



Lectures on Agriculture, delivered before 
the Downingtown Society for the acquisition 
and promotion of natural knowledge. By 
Jesse Kersey. West-Chester, Penn. Print- 
ed by Simeon Siegfried. 1828. 

On April 23, 1828, Mr. Siegfried was 
commissioned Clerk of the Orphans' 
Court of Chester County. -^^ 

Two years after selling his interest in 
the American Republican, Siegfried, still 
youthful and full of journalistic enthu- 
siasm, began a new gazette in the same 
village. Concerning this venture, Thom- 
son recorded :^^ 

Simeon Siegfried in September, 1831, 
began the publication in West Chester of 
the Temperance Advocate, conducting it in 
West Chester until May, 1835, when he 
removed it to Downingtown, continuing it 
there until September, following, when it 
was merged into the Philanthropist, a paper 
published in Philadelphia. 

In speaking of another West Chester 
paper, Thomson described^^ Siegfried's 
third and fourth newspaper experiences 
in Chester County: 

The name National Republican Advocate 
was dropped and that of Whig substituted, 
the first number of the Whig appearing April 
15, 1834, and it was ostensibly edited by 
Simeon Siegfried, formerly one of the pro- 
prietors of the American Republican; but 
the editorial matter was furnished by such 
prominent gentlemen as Dr. William Dar- 
lington, William H. Dillingham, Townsend 
Haines and William Williamson. The motto 
of this paper was "True to the principles of 



'76." Previous to taking editorial charge 
of the Whig, Mr. S'egfried had always been a 
Democrat, but as he differed from General 
Jackson on the subject of the National Bank, 
he was willing to publish a paper which advo- 
cated the continuance of the National Bank, 
as the Whigs very generally, if not universally 
did. He remained with the Whig until 
May, 1835. «» 

But Mr. Siegfried was in principle a demo- 
crat, and when it was suggested to him that 
he should discontinue the Whig, he readily 
consented to do so, especially as it was not 
self-supporting, there being two other papers 
in the county of the same political proclivi- 
ties. He therefore removed the Whig estab- 
lishment to Downingtown and there in May 
of that year established the Republican 
Standard and Democratic Journal, which 
advocated the election to the governorship 
of George Wolf, who had then served as Gov- 
ernor six years, and who was opposed by 
Henry A. Muhlenberg, another Democratic 
candidate, and by Joseph Ritner, the Whig 
candidate, the latter of whom was elected 
through the division in the ranks of the 
Democratic party. This paper was pub- 
lished by George W. Mason & Company. '=• 
Mr. Siegfried being the "company," and it 
was edited by Nimrod Strickland and others. 
Upon the election of Mr. Ritner, the pub- 
lication of the paper ceased, and Mr. Mason 
removed to Elmira, New York, where he for 
some years published the Elmira Gazette 
with gratifying success. 

It is interesting to note that the above 
referred to motto, "True to the Principles 
of Seventy-Six," was the one Siegfried 
had put on the Bridgeton Obserirer begin- 
ning with the last issue of July, 1824, at 
which time he dropped, "Open to All 
Parties — Influenced by None." 

After the death of the very short-lived 
Republican Standard and Democratic Jour- 
nal, Siegfried must have returned once 
more to West Chester, because two years 
later he struck off an edition of Dr. Dar- 
lington's Flora Cestrica bearing the im- 



57 Chester County and Its People by W. W. Thomson, 1898, p. 469 

58 Ibid, p. 639. 

59 Ibid, p. 638. 

60 May, 1835, was the date of removal of his Temperance Advocate to Downingtown. 

61 "The Republican Standard, is the title of a new paper, by G. W. Mason & Co. from Downingtown. 
It takes the place of the Whig, recently published at West Chester, by Mr. Siegfried. The Standard sup- 

{Bucks County Intelligencer and General Advertiser, May 20, 1835.) 



ports the re-election of Wolf.' 



300 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



print "West-Chester, Penn. Printed For 

the Author, by S. Siegfried, and for sale 

by Kimber and Sharpless, Philadelphia. 
1837. "62 

What happened to Simeon Siegfried 
during the next decade of his life is un- 
known to the writer. However, he later 
removed to Greene County, Pa., where at 
Waynesburg, he published the Village 
Watchman in the 1840's. The following 
notices are taken respectively from the 
Newtown Journal of September 3, 1844; 
November 5, 1844, and January 14, 1845: 

Simeon Siegfried, known to many of our 
readers, as a gentleman who published a 
paper in this place many years ago, is now 
publishing the "Village Watchman," at 
Waynesburg, Greene co., Pa. Our best 
wishes attend him. 



WHAT OTHERS THINK OF US 

We copy the following complimentary 
notice of the "Journal" from the "Village 
Watchman," published at Waynesburg, 
Green county, Pa., and edited by Simeon 
Siegfried, Esq. We are glad to learn that 
the "Journal" is a welcome visitor, and we 
can assure our friend that no effort shall be 
wanting on our part to render our paper 
worthy of the commendation which he has 
bestowed upon it. 

We can also inform our friend that although 
his enterprise failed in its infancy, he is still 
remembered in old Bucks, and the "Star of 
Freedom" is yet the theme of conversation 
by many an evening fireside. 

"The Newtown Journal. — One of the very 
best Family Newspapers that we lay our 
hands on is the "Journal," published at New- 
town, Bucks county. Pa. by Mr. S. J. Pax- 
son. Having made an unsuccessful experi- 
ment, under the pupilage and direction of 
Asher Miner, Esq., so long ago as A. D. 1817, 
to establish a literary paper in that ancient 



village, we are right glad to have tangible 
evidence of an increase of literary and public 
spirit in that quarter. 

The Journal comes to us with all the inter- 
est of an epistle from home, as Bucks county 
is the land of our nativity — and it was at New- 
town that we found an "help-meet" for life's 
variegated journey; and there we left a 
circle of choice friends, besides a dozen or so 
of correspondents, the productions of whose 
brains and pens were wont to enliven the 
columns of the "Star of Freedom." Some of 
those choice spirits yet live, and occasionally 
catch our eye, as they blaze or twinkle in the 
political firmament. "Lorenzo" and "Rus- 
ticus" are bearing the cares of State in our 
Legislative Halls — "Silvanus" occupies the 
sacred desk — others are doubtless rendering 
the State some service — and others again, 
once the most blythe and jovial of the crew, 
as "Strephon Stripling" for instance, are 
mouldering in the grave! 

The Journal could give us, if tales like 
these were proper for the public eye, many 
an interesting reminiscence of friends and 
scenes of our youthful days. These are, in 
fact, presented to the mind, in the trans- 
actions of the busy and ever-varying present. 
We look (that is, ourselves and spouse) for 
the weekly visit of the Journal with no small 
share of interest. — Long may it prosper. 



Our friend of the "Village Watchman" will 
please accept our thanks for his frequent, 
and highly complimentary notices of the 
"Journal." 

In 1882, Rev. William Hanna pub- 
lished his History of Greene County and 
on p. 301 wrote: 

Z. C. Ragan of the Independent has shown 
me a paper entitled the Village Watchman 
edited by Rev. Simeon Siegfried and dated 
August 4, 1846 during the Mexican War. 
This paper is said to be one of the ancestors 
of the present Republican. '^^ 



62 A copy of this rare botany is owned by Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The complete title 
page of the same reads: "Flora Ceslrica: An Attempt to Enumerate and Describe the Flowering and Filicoid 
Plants of Chester County, in the State of Pennsylvania. With Brief Notices of Their Properties, and Uses, 
in Medicine, Domestic and Rural Economy, and the Arts. By William Darlington, M. D., President of the 
Chester County Cabinet of Natural Science, Member of the American Philosophical Society, Correspondent 
of the Academy of Natural Sciences, at Philada., and of the Lyceum of Natural History, at New York, 
&c. &c. Ore trahit quodcunque potest, atque addit acervo. Hor. West Chester Penn. Printed for the 
Author, by S. Siegfried, and For Sale by Kimber and Sharpless, Philadelphia. 1837." Another copy 
is in the library of Bucks County Historical Society. 

63 For a description of the content of this issue see Hanna's History, pp. 312, 313 & 314. 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



301 



From the following account in Bates' 
Greene County History, p. 343, it seems 
that during this period Siegfried's son, 
Simeon, Jr., was also in the newspaper 
game: 

In 1843 it [the Greene County Whig, de- 
funct since 1841| was revived by Simeon 
Siegfried, Jr. who had charge of the paper 
until 1851 wlien it passed into the hands of 
Thomas Porter, a young man of spirit and 
enterprise, who purchased a new press and 
type. 

While in Greene County, Mr. Sieg- 
fried increased his interest in religion, 
studied for the ministry, and became the 
second pastor of the Bate's Fork Baptist 
Church, and later preached at the Waynes- 
burg Baptist Church, organized June 30, 
1843. General Davis, in his Doylestown, 
Old and New, says on p. 63 that Siegfried 



became a minister of the gospel when he 
went to Ohio in 1818. This is probably an 
error, because he was only 21 at the 
time, and because the many subsequent 
accounts of him never once refer to him 
as "Reverend," until he removed to 
Greene County. 

Rev. Simeon Siegfried, one-time printer 
of Newtown's Star of Freedom, died at 
Evansville, Indiana, on November 10, 
1879, aged 82. Davis says his death 
occurred :*''* 

Not long after receiving news of the death 
of his son, of the same name, likewise a promi- 
nent Baptist minister, who died at Norris- 
town, Penns\lvania, in October, 1879. A 
grandson, son of the latter, was also a Baptist 
minister in Montgomery county at the time 
of the death of botli his father and grand- 
father. 




64 History of Bucks County, 2nd ed., Vol. II, p. 317. Simeon, Jr., was born after 1820, for in that year 
occurred the death of his infant sister, then described as "the only child of S. Siegfried." 



OOWSTITTJTIOW 

OP THE 

Northampton Auxiliary Society 

FOB THE 



NEWTOWN PRESS. 

1880. 



The only known example of Thomas W. Jones' printing. 
Presented to Bucks County Historical Society by Mrs. 
Isaac T. Vanartsdalen, of Newtown, in October, 1934. 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



303 



Thomas W. Jones 



In the fall of 1828, after a journalistic 
lapse of ten years, another printer came 
to Newtown to try his fortune. The 
writer knows little about Thomas W. 
Jones*^^ except the information con- 
tained in the following advertisement 
that was inserted in the issues of the 
Bucks County Intelligencer and General 
Advertiser for September 22 & 29 and 
October 6 & 13, 1828: 



The only known example of Jones' press 
is a little uncut quarto, 6^ x4 inches, en- 
titled Constitution of the Northampton 
Society for the Promotion of Temperance. 
It is imprinted "Newtown Press, 1830." 
How much longer Jones conducted his 
business in Newtown is not known. 

The Bucks County Intelligencer and 
General Advertiser of Novembers, 1830,^^ 
carried this notice: 



NEWTOWN PRESS. 

A PRINTING OFFICE has been estab- 
lished in Newtown, adjoining Yard ley & 
Jones' Store, where Job Printing of every de- 
scription, will be neatly executed, by 

Thomas W. Jones. 

September 22, p52 



Apparently, Jones had had his jour- 
nalistic training in the ofiSce of the Penn- 
sylvania Correspondent and Farmers' Ad- 
vertiser, for in the issue of July 14, 1823, 
Asher Miner wrote: 



Married. 

On Monday evening last, by the Rev. 
P. F. Mayer, Mr. Thomas W. Jones, Mer- 
chant of Newtown, Bucks County, to Miss 
Florence, daughter of the late Andrew 
Thatcher. 



I^Business has called the Editor of this 
paper abroad. In his absence, the con- 
cerns of the Office will be conducted by 
Thomas W. Jones, who hopes any errors of 
the press which may escape his notice, will 
be excused by a generous public. 



This arrangement was repeated again 
the following year. Editor Miner, after 
announcing his intentions of going on a 
bill-collecting trip, informed his readers 
on March 1, 1824: 

The concerns of the Establishment will 
devolve on Thomas W. Jones, in his absence, 
who will be attentive to all orders on the 
Printing-office. 



Thomas W. Jones was sometime a part- 
ner of Charles T. Yardley, and they suc- 
cessfully conducted a store in Newtown 
until 1832 when they became involved in 
debt and their property sold by their 
assignees, Mahlon K. Taylor of Upper 
Makefield Township, and Samuel Yard- 
ley, Jr., of Doylestown Township. In 
the issue of the Bucks County Patriot for 
April 30, 1827, Yardley had announced 
the opening of his new store in the one 
"formerly occupied by Isaac Lefferts." 
It was, therefore, probably at this loca- 
tion that Yardley & Jones conducted 
their business until their failure in 1832. 



65 He was not even mentioned by Davis in his excellent article Newspapers in Bucks County, which 
appeared first as chapter LI I in the 1876 edition of his His'ory of Bucks County. The minutes of Newtown 
Library Company record on August 15, 1827: "By cash Received of Thomas W. Jones New member 
$5.00." 

66 Also in the Doylestown Democrat and Farmers' and Mechanics' Journal of November 9, 1830. 



304 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



Newtown Journal and Its Printers 



On Tuesday, August 18, 1840, The 
Literary Chronicle and Bucks and Mont- 
gomery Advertiser was instituted at Hat- 
boro, Montgomery County, Pa., by 
Oliver I. Search and Samuel Fretz. 
Concerning this, William J. Buck wrote 
as follows, in an article entitled Ttvo 
Newspaper Experiments:^^ 

There is reason to believe that the first 
newspaper published anywhere in the lower 
portion of Montgomery county outside of 
Norristown was "The. Literary Chronicle," 
issued weekly by Oliver I. Search, at Hat- 
boro, in the beginning of June, 1840.'"' The 
size of its sheet was 22 by 32 inches, and six 
columns to a page. I have three numbers 
before me dated respectively December 20th, 
1840; Tuesday, July 13th, 1841; and one 
of Tuesday, Sept. 7th, of the said year. The 
first two have been in my possession upward 
of thirty years, and the other has been pre- 
sented in January last by E. J. Oldfield, of 
Spencerville, Md. The price was S2.00 "one 
half payable in advance, and $2.50 if not 
paid within the year. No subscription 
received for a shorter time than six months." 

From the prospectus we learn that it was 
to be "devoted to news, literature, the arts 
and sciences, agriculture, foreign and do- 
mestic news, amusements, &c., and con- 
ducted on strictly neutral grounds, and will 
not seek to lead or follow any faction, or to 
advocate and support the schemes of any 
particular set of men. — Its readers will be 
kept advised of the nominations of the 
different political parties, and also the result 
of the elections. In short it is designed to 
make the proposed paper worthy of an ex- 
tensive patronage, both from the strictly 
moral tone which it will ever possess, and the 
efforts of the editors to make it a good and 
useful family newspaper, printed on paper 
of an excellent quality and with new types." 



On inquiry, I learn that the Literary 
Chronicle was published in the building at- 
tached to the lower or southern portion 
of the present Pluck's hotel."" It appears 
that about April, 1842."' likely for the 
want of proper patronage, Mr. Search re- 
moved the establishment to Newtown and 
continued its publication there till in the fol- 
lowing August, when it was purchased by 
S. J. and E. M. Paxson, and its name changed 
to The Newtown Journal. In August, 1847, 
the parties sold it to Henry R. Nagle who 
discontinued it either in 1848 or the begin- 
ning of the following year. There is no 
doubt, and the appearance of the paper 
denotes it, that from the beginning to the 
end of its career it could not have been ade- 
quately supported, and thus proved a losing 
concern to its managers. 

Oliver I. Search for this enterprise de- 
serves some notice, and with whom I had a 
personal acquaintance some thirty five years 
ago. His father, William Search, was a long 
and respected citizen of Hatboro, where he 
died, I believe, about a quarter of a century 
ago. Oliver was a printer by profession, and 
after he had parted with the Literary Chroni- 
cle pursued this business in Philadelphia. 
During the Rebellion he was foreman in the 
Evening Bulletin office, and later employed 
on the Press, corner of Seventh and Chest- 
nut streets. After a few years' residence in 
Pittsburg he has returned again to Phila- 
delphia, where I was informed he was living 
a few months ago. It has been reported 
that Samuel Fretz, who became the pro- 
prietor of the Bucks County Intelligencer, 
March 10th, 1841, was a partner with him 
in the publication of the Chronicle at Hat- 
boro, but in the papers before me I see no 
such evidence. That its support was light 
may be judged by the number of the adver- 
tisements therein. My December number 
contains but 17, the next 24, and the third 22. 
Thus endeth an account of The First News- 
paper Experiment in Hatboro or anywhere 
else in that section after an existence of one 
year and ten months. 



67 Published as chapter XXXVIII of The Local Historian: A Series of Sketches Relating Chiefly to 
the Southeastern Section of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, which ran in the Hatboro Public Spirit from 
December 11, 1880, to June 24, 1882. The issue of August 27, 1881, whole number 416, is missing from 
the incomplete file at the Public Spirit office, but the cliooed article can be seen in scrap books either at 
Montgomery County Historical Society, Norristown, or Union Library of Hatboro. 

68 Error; date should be August 18, 1840. [E. R. B.] 

69 Pluck's Hotel was located at the southeast corner of Old York Road and Moreland Avenue. 



70 Date is wrong. 
1841". [E. R. B.] 



A fragment of the paper in the writer'scollectionisheaded, "Newtown, December, 



PRESSES A>JD PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



305 



Mr. F"retz, a native of Bedminster/^ 
and a graduate of the office of the Bucks 
County InieUigencer, sold his interest to 
his partner in March, 1841, and removed 
to Doylestown, where he had purchased 
the Intelligencer from William M. Large 
on March 17, 1841, the same editor, Hugh 
H. Henry, being retained. Mr. Search 
removed the office of the Chronicle to 
Newtown in the fall of 1841, and there 
employed as editor Lemuel H. Parsons, 
principal of Bucks County Academy for 
the past six years. Mr. Parsons was a 
brilliant schoolmaster and a man of con- 
siderable literary ability; prior to his 
coming to Newtown, he had been prin- 
cipal of Adams Academy in Quincy, 
Mass.'^^ In September of that same year, 
1841, he received from Lafayette College 
the honorary degree of Master of Arts. 
Dr. Phineas Jenks, president of the 
Board of Trustees of the Academy, upon 
announcing Parsons' appointment,''^ de- 
clared him "a gentleman of acknowledged 
talents and requirements, and of great 
experience in teaching." In 1835, Mr. 
Parsons delivered at the organization 
of the Newtown Lyceum a very erudite 
address entitled. An Inquiry into the 
Kind and Extent of Education Demanded 
by the Ordinary Circumstances, Duties, 
and Wants of Life.' ^ 

General Davis furnishes the following 
anecdote concerning the versatile editor 



of the Chronicle 
Academy.'-'' 



md principal of the 



I was a student at the old Academy, upon 
which I yet look with almost a loving eye. 

Lemuel Parsons was principal, and 

Dr. Bronson, now President of Washington 
college, the assistant. Your correspondent 
gave almost mortal offence to Mr. Parsons, 
by hanging a newspaper on a stick out the 
belfry on commencement day. The irate 
New Englander visited his wrath upon him 
in a scolding of the severest kind, coupled 
with the threat of dismissal. After he was 
done with me, I doubted in my own mind 
whether I was not a guiltier wretch than 
Judas Iscariot. 



Mr. Parsons seems to have taken an 
active interest in all community affairs; 
for example, in 1838 he was recording 
secretary of Bucks County Colonization 
Society, and corresponding secretary of 
Bucks County Lyceum. He was also in- 
terested in the raising of mulberry trees, 
and no doubt assisted Dr. Phineas Jenks 
and James Worth in the management of 
Newtown Cocoonery.'^ The Bucks Coun- 
ty Intelligencer and General Advertiser of 
August 29, 1838, carried this advertise- 
ment: 



Chinese Mulberries 

'yhe subscriber has a few thousand Chinese 
Mulberry Trees, (Morus Muticaulis) 
which he can dispose of on eligible terms, if 
applied to immediately. 

L. H. PARSONS 



71 Authority for this statement is History of Bucks County, Vol. II, p. 313. However, in Doyles'oum, 

Old and New, p. 60, footnote II, Davis says: "Fretz was born in Plumstead township. He died 

in Spawlding county, Ohio, December 25, 1884, at the age of sixty-six." Note also that Davis calls Oliver 
I. Search, Oliver G. Search in both of these accounts. 

72 Founded in 1822; defunct since 1912. Building was built on the birthplace of John Hancock. 

73 Doyles'own Democrat, June 24, 1835. Davis, Vol. II, p. 379, says that Parsons began teaching at the 
Academy in 1833. 

74 Printed by the Intelligencer in 1837, in the form of a 20-page pamphlet; one copy is owned by the 
Pennsylvania Historical Society, and another by Miss Mary Barnsley Chambers, Newtown. This note 
is printed on the back of the title page: "The following Address was delivered so long ago, as .August, 
1835. It was not published at that time, for reasons which it is unnecessary to mention. The repeated 
solicitations of friends, and especially a formal request of the Bucks County Lyceum, have now induced 
the author to consent to its publication." Certain quotations from this pamphlet may be found in James 
Mulhern's A History of Secondary Education in Pennsylvania, Phila., 1933, p. 529. 

75 Doylestown Democrat, August 5, 1879. 

76 On March 14, 1839, Mr. Parsons was chosen chairman of thecommittee to draw up the constitution 
of Bucks County -Auxiliary of Pennsylvania Silk Society, and was later elected its corresponding secretary. 
On the 20th of that month he advertised in the Bucks County Intelligencer and General Advertiser: "The. 
subscriber has for sale, a few hundred thousand Silk Worm Eggs, of three different varieties." 




Photograph by Stockton Stokes, 43 N. 8th St.. Phila. 



EDWARD M. PAXSON, Esq. 

Born September 3, 1824; Died October 12, 1905 

Chief Justice of tlie Supreme Court of Pennsylvania 

Sometime Pubjislier of the Newtown Journal and the Clay Trumpet, 1842-1847 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



307 



Another seller of these trees was the 
firm of Yardley and Canby, merchants. 
They advertised in the Bucks County 
Intelligencer and General Advertiser of 
October 10, 1838: 

Mulberry Trees. 

C C\C\C\ Of the (Moms Multecaulis) above 
' trees three feet high — for sale by 

the subscribers in Newtown — Enquire of 

YARDLEY & CANBY 

It is unknown, whether or not the 
trees were disposed of before the de- 
pression hit the silk-producing business 
in the county; however, on the following 
February 6th, the selling-out notice of 
this firm appears in the same paper, so it 
appears as if they might have been caught 
in the crash. 

In October, 1842, Mr. Parsons, who 
had recently lost his job at the Academy, 
opened up an opposition school and so 
advertised in the Newtown Journal and 
Workingmen's Advocate of the 18th: 

NEW SCHOOL, 
BY AN OLD TEACHER. 

The subscriber has made up his mind to 
reopen a school in Newtown; and to solicit 
the patronage of such as believe that a 
teacher can only guide, encourage, and 
assist, — and not make, or supply, the powers 
of the pupil. If any encouragement should 
be offered, however small, the subscriber 
will devote his time, and whatever of ability 
or skill he may possess, to the business of 
instructing and training those who may be 
placed under his care — he will, as heretofore, 
give instruction in any or all the various 
branches usually taught in Academies and 
high schools; but he would venture espe- 
cially to mention the Mathematics and 
Natural Sciences; and particularly. Survey- 
ing, Navigation and Bookkeeping; he would 
be pleased to give a course of lessons to a 

class of YOUNG LADIES, in some of the 



higher branches of mathematical and natural 
science, which he believes ought always to 
form a part of female education. 

Several pupils could be accommodated 
with board in the family of the Principal. 

The school will commence at the sub- 
scribers residence, on Monday, the first of 
November. — The terms will be the same as 
formerly. 

L. H. PARSONS, A. M. 

No complete copies have been pre- 
served of the Literary Chronicle during 
Search's proprietorship and Parsons' edi- 
torship, so it is impossible to tell what the 
paper was like during this period.' In 
fact, from the two years' existence of the 
Chronicle and the eight years' existence 
of the subsequent Journal, only 144 copies 
have been preserved, and 136 of these are 
in the writer's collection, the remaining 8 
being at Bucks County Historical Society. 
Although other issues may exist some 
place, they cannot be located now. Wil- 
liam J. Buck owned three copies of the 
Chronicle, but the writer has not been 
able to trace what has become of them, 
except that Mr. Buck exhibited them at 
Norristown on September 9 to 12, 1884. 
The following item is taken from the list 
of exhibits, page 284, as printed in the 
Official Record of the Proceedings of the 
Centennial Celebration of Montgofnery 
County: 

Three numbers of The Literary Chronicle, 
dated December, 1840, July 13, and Septem- 
ber 7, 1841; published by Oliver I. Search, 
Hatboro. The first newspaper printed in 
the lower half of Montgomery county. Very 



Concerning the contents of these papers, 
Buck wrote in the same year, 1884, for 
Theodore W. Bean's History of Mont- 
gomery CotmtyP^ 



77 General Davis wrote that Isaac Walton Spencer was a frequent contributor to the columns of the 
Literary Chronicle and the Newtown Journal. Although he is reported to have written and published con- 
siderable poetry none of his work printed by a Newtown press has been preserved. For a brief biography 
of Spencer see History of Bucks County, 2nd ed.. Vol. II, p. 275. 

78 See chapter XLIV, p. 724. 



308 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



From a few numbers of The Literary Chro- 
nicle we ascertain that in 1841 the following 
persons were in business in Hatboro': Lukens 
Wakefield and David Titus, coach and 
house-painter; Abraham Haslett, smith; 
Hiram Reading, store; Charles Wakefield, 
tailor; G. W. Gilbert, wheelwright; H. N. 
Smith, boot and shoemaker; and O. I. Search, 
job printing. 



A fragment of the first page of the 
issue of December 1, 1841, is headed 
The Literary Chronicle and Bucks and 
Montgomery Advertiser; and this was 
probably the title at its inception, be- 
cause, of course, Hatboro is on the county 
line, and the paper would serve the adja- 
cent areas of both counties. 

After managing the paper for two 
years, Oliver I. Search, in August, 1842, 
sold out to two youthful brothers, Samuel 
Johnson Paxson and Edward M. Paxson, 
aged respectively 24 and 18 years. ^^ So 
far as the writer knows, the former had 
had no previous journalistic training, but 
the latter had worked in the ofifice of The 
Village Record, a paper started at West 
Chester, Pa., by Asher and Charles 
Miner. The first issue under their pro- 
prietorship was that of August 16, 1842, 
which was vol. Ill, no. 1, whole number 
105. They changed the heading to The 
Literary Chronicle and Workingman's 
Advocate and started a new series num- 
bering system of their own, calling this 
issue vol. I, no. 1. Perhaps some of their 
readers objected to the editors showing 
partiality to a particular class of working- 
men, anyway when their second new 
issue appeared, the title read The Literary 
Chronicle and Workingmen's Advocate- 
After five weeks they enlarged the paper, 
and changed the name to The Newto-wn 
Journal and Workingmen'' s Advocate, de- 
claring:^^ 



TO OUR PATRONS 

It becomes our painful duty this week to 
announce to our readers the death of the 
"Literary Chronicle," It departed this life 
on Monday night, the 12th inst., at eleven 
o'clock, precisely. The disease was a VERY 
peculiar one. The Chronicle had been too 
HIGHLY FED, and like many a poor fellow 
has done before, it "burst its boiler." It was 
entirely too SMALL for the amount of "wad- 
ding" it received, and like the toad that was 
determined to swell himself up to the size of 
an ox, it has destroyed itself. 

But to be serious. The "Literary Chroni- 
cle" has sloped, but WE are in Newtown, and 
determined to remain here. The "Journal" 
has arisen, Phoenix like from its ashes, en- 
larged, "revised, and much improved," as 
authors say. The name of "Literary Chroni- 
cle" was associated with too many ideas of a 
lofty and intellectual nature for two such 
unpretending editors as your humble serv- 
ants; and fearing we could not SUSTAIN 
the high reputation implied in the name, we 
concluded to give it a more intelligible appella- 
tion. The "Newtown Journal" appears to be 
a very good name for a newspaper. It is 
plain and easily understood. It awakens 
no ideas of the "grand, gloomy, and pecu- 
liar." Besides, Newtown is a considerable 
of a place, and deserves the honor ef having 
its paper named after it. It appears to us 
that when we were younkers, it was custom- 
ary for a person honored with a namesake to 
make him annually a birthday present. This 
custom, we think, is an excellent one, and in 
order that the good people of Newtown and 
vicinity may not be disappointed when they 
come to bestow their bounty on their name- 
sake, we have prepared a large quanity of blank 
RECEIPTS, which we can fill up in double 
quick time — so that we can stand a pretty 
heavy RUN. 

We have not enlarged our paper without 
incurring a VERY HEAVY EXPENSE. 
We are determined to do our part towards 
making our paper agreeable, and we have no 
doubt our patrons will do THEIR part in 
furnishing the READY. 

In the meanwhile Mr. Search was 
worrying about his collections, and in 
the issue of November 22nd served his 



79 Although the younger brother had been called simply Edward Paxson, when a boy he inserted the 
initial M in his name, "because he wanted to," claiming it had no further significance. Perhaps he chose 
it because M stands for middle, and because it occurs in the alphabet like in his name, — in the middle. 

80 Taken from the issue of September 20, 1842, whole number 110. 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1! 



309 



THE NEWTOWN JOURNAL 

WORKINGMEN'S ADVOCATE. 




Faithfnl and Feafless; 



TUESDAY MORNING MAY 23, 1813. 



S. J. k E. M. PAXSON, Editors. 



First inside heading showing the printing press ruHng the world. 



"last notice to all those concerned," 

stating: 

THE undersigned, having determined to 
settle up his accounts without furtlier delay, 
he would respectfully inform those in arrears, 
that he has placed his bills in the hands of a 
Magistrate for collection with orders to sue 
them out immediately, unless said bills are 
paid to Wm. Search, Hatborough, or to the 
subscriber, Summerville,'' Bucks co., on or 
before the 1st of December. If the money 
is not paid against that time, you may rest 
assured some other course will be pursued. 

OLIVER I. SEARCH. 

One of the most successful literary pro- 
ductions of the Neivtown Journal was the 
lengthy serial story written by Edward M. 
Paxson, entitled The Wolf Rocks; or, The 
Maid of Lahasaka, a Pennsylvania Tale 
of '76, the first chapter of which began 
with the issue of November 1, 1842. ^^ 



The first ofifice of the Paxson brothers 
was in Brick Hotel building, where the 
Chronicle had been located by Search. 
However, when the lease ran out on the 
first of April, which was eight months 
later, they removed their equipment to 
the frame building on State Street later 
owned by R. C. Nagel and occupied by 
him as a drug store. ^^ The following 
notices concerning this removal are 
transcribed from the Journal of April 4, 
1843: 

The office of the "Newtown Journal and 
Workingmen's Advocate" has been removed 
to the spacious building on Main street, two 
doors south of the "Independence Hotel." 

The removal of our printing office, and 
other worldly effects, to a more central part 
of the borough, occupied so much of our 
time that we have not devoted that attention 
to this week's paper we could desire. Our 



81 The name of this cross-roads community in Lower Makefield township was changed some years 
ago to Woodside, which has lately been varied into Edgewood. 

82 This may have been printed separately the following year, for on p. 50 of The Doan Outlaws; or 
Bucks County's Cowbovs in the Revolution, Doylestown, 1897, there is a footnote which says, "For this 
description [of Lahaska Valley] we are indebted to a work published by E. M. Paxson, Esq., in 1843." 
In 1835, his grandfather, Samuel Johnson, wrote the poem, Vale of Lahaseka. Part of the latter is printed 
in History of Bucks County, Vol. II, p. 262. 

83 For a picture of this building, taken about 18fi8, see E. R. Barnsley's Historic Newlou'n, p. 89. 





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PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



311 



new location embraces greater advantages 
for ourselves, and more convenient for our 
friends who may favor us with a call. Next 
week we will endeavor to resume our usual 
variety. 

With the issue of February 28, 1843, 
the Paxson brothers advertised: 

JOB PRINTING of all kinds neatly exe- 
cuted at the office of the Journal, such as 
bills of PUBLIC SALES, in their variety; 
Cards, Blanks, &c., &c., — We have also a 
new and splendid font of new type for print- 
ing PAMPHLETS, and an elegant and ex- 
tensive assortment of job type of all descrip- 
tions. Prices to suit the times. 

One of their first job orders was for 
the Borough of Newtown. The following 
is from the minutes of town council for 
Wednesday, May 10, 1843: 

The financial committee report that they 
have conferred with the editors of the Journal 
& Advocate on the subject of printing the 
act of incorporation and ordinances of the 
Borough of Newtown, and that they will 
print them for $10; when on motion, the 
committee were authorized to offer them $8. 

Their little pamphlet, 5 by 8 inches 
in size, and consisting of 20 pages, is the 
first codification of the borough laws. 
It includes the original act of incorpora- 
tion, passed April 14, 1838; the subse- 
quent act of modification and addition, 
passed March 4, 1842; and the first six 
borough ordinances, the last of which 
was passed May 25, 1843. So far as is 
known, the only extant copy of this pam- 
phlet is in the writer's collection. After 
the Paxsons had completed their work, 
the subject of paying them was not 
brought before Council for two months. 
But during the interval, it is presumed 
the committee had been conferring with 
the editors for a cut-rate job, but the 
latter had insisted on their original price, 
for the minutes of Thursday, August 3rd, 
reveal : 



Oi m3tio:i th2 following bill was passed in 
favor of S. J. and E. M. Paxson for prinitng, 
$10.00. 

The Paxson brothers managed together 
nicely for a year, but then after produc- 
ing exactly 52 issues, they dissolved 
partnership, and S. J. Paxson, aged 25, 
managed the Journal press more or less 
alone. He improved the paper in some 
respects, and on October 31, 1843, issued 
the first extra edition that had ever 
appeared in Newtown, stating: 

Accompanying our paper this week, our 
patrons will receive an Extra Journal, con- 
taining TWELVE columns of advertisements. 
We are so crowded at present that we could 
not this week do justice to our advertising 
friends, and publish the amount of literary 
matter, news, &c., that we wished, so we 
threw the bulk of the advertisements in an 
EXTRA, and resume our usual variety. 
While we are thankful for the liberal patron- 
age which has been extended to us in the way 
of advertising, we are determined to fall 
behind none in the quantity of miscellaneous 
matter we publish. 

Business kept improving that fall, and 
on November 7, 1843, he advertised: 
To Printers. 
Wanted, a large Washington press, in good 
order, for cash, or in exchange for the press 
(Smith) on which this paper is printed. Com- 
munications addressed to the Editor of the 
Journal (post paid) will receive prompt at- 
tention. 

After Edward M. Paxson relinquished 
his active interest in the Newtown Journal, 
he conceived in the latter part of that 
year the idea of publishing a strong 
political newspaper; consequently New- 
town had the distinction during 1844 of 
supporting simultaneously two weekly 
sheets, a condition never before or since 
equalled in the 250-years of its existence. 
Edward's first announcement to the 
public of his new paper was through a 
lengthy advertisement inserted in his 
brother's Journal of November 28, 1843,^* 
which reads in part: 



84 The same advertisement was continued throughout the month of December. The first proposal 
to publish the Clay Trumpet appearing in the Bucks County Inlelligencer was on December 13th. 



312 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1^ 



The undersigned believing that the cause 
and interests of the great Whig party would 
be greatly promoted by the establishment 
of a paper in Newtown, during the next Presi- 
dential campaign, which should be an uncom- 
promising advocate of Whig principles and 
Whig measures, has determined to commence 
the publication of the CLAY TRUMPET 

every Tuesday morning, to commence 

about the 1st of January, and will be published 
until a sufficient time after the Presidential 
election to give the complete returns of the 

same . 

Edward M. Paxson. 

Publication was a week late in getting 
started, for by calculating from the 
earliest preserved copy, it is found that 
the date of initial issue was Tuesday, 
January 9, 1844. This checks with what 
S. J. Paxson wrote in the Newtown Journal 
of December 26, 1843: 

EDWARD M. PAXSON requests us to 
state that the first number of the "Clay 
Trumpet" will be issued on the 9th of Jan- 
uary. 

Later issues of the Journal make no 
mention of the Trumpet, and now very 
little can be gathered concerning its 
history, because only ten copies have 
been preserved. Eight are in the writer's 
collection, another at Bucks County His- 
torical Society, and the remaining one is 
at University of Minnesota. 

The contents of the four columns of 
the Clay Trumpet were entirely poli- 
tical; and local advertisements were 
conspicuous by their absence. The price 
of each issue was "25 cents a single copy, 
or 5 for one dollar." The paper was 
also a temperance organ. Josiah Betts 
Smith says^^ that it was through the 
fluency of E. M. Paxson's writings in the 
Trumpet that Dripping Spring along the 
Neshaminy first received prominent no- 
tice; and considerable publicity was 



established about the place as being an 
ideal spot for picnics and temperance 
gatherings. 

During this period, E. M. Paxson 
seems still to have retained somehow a 
share in his brother's business, although 
his name does not appear officially in the 
paper, except in connection with the fol- 
lowing advertisement from the Journal 
of July 9, 1844: 

ONE CENT REWARD 

Ran away from the employment of the 
subscribers an indentured apprentice to the 
Printing business, named Bennett J. Vernon. 
All persons are forbid harboring or trusting 
said boy at their peril. 

S. J. & E. M. Paxson 

Apparently young Vernon was never 
returned to his bondage, because while 
the above was still being advertised, the 
following was inserted in the paper be- 
ginning with the issue of August 13, 1844: 
APPRENTICE WANTED 
WANTED immediately an apprentice to 
the Printing business. A lad of about 16 
years of age, who has good English educa- 
tion, and can come well recommended can 
hear of a good situation by applying at this 
office. 

It seems, therefore, that during 1844, 
S. J. Paxson conducted the Journal, E. M. 
Paxson ran the Trumpet, and the pair of 
them managed the job office together.^^ 
The manuscript account book of John F. 
Fenton, of Newtown, wheelwright, shows 
that on April 1, 1844, S. J. & E. M. Pax- 
son settled their bill of $5.00 for work on 
the firm's sulky which had been repaired 
the previous October 3rd. The brothers 
were more or less associated at other 
times too; for example, in the issue of 
November 26, 1844, there was inserted 
this notice: 



85 Manuscript Book, Vol. II, p. 98, at Bucks County Historical Society. 

86 Little information on this subject is gained from Church's article. Newspapers of Bucks County. 
After speaking very briefly on the origin of the Journal he said: "Under the Paxsons it was an excellent, 
wide-awake paper. It was at one time the organ of the Native American party, and at another time it 
had an offshoot called the Clay Bugle, or Trumpet, or horn of some kind." [!] Proceedings of Bucks County 
Historical Society, Vol. I, p. 122. 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



313 



X^As the editor of the "Journal" is neces- 
sarily obliged to be absent from his post much 
of the time for a few weeks, on collecting and 
other business, the paper will be conducted 
for a short time by E. M. Paxson. 

During that year, the Paxson brothers 
printed a memorial to their maternal 
grandfather, The Triple Wreath: Poems 
on Various Subjects. 

On November 12, 1844, The Newtoivn 
Journal and Workingmen's Advocate an- 
nounced: 

THE TRIPLE WREATH 
Just received, and for sale at this office, 
the "Triple Wreath," or poems by the late 
Samuel Johnson. This is a neat little work — 
got up in good style. It is embellished with 
an excellent likeness of the author, engraved 
by Edwin M. Ellis; of this county. — Price 
62,',2 cents; bound in annual style, with gilt 
edges, 75 cents. 



On December 3, 1844, the Journal 
printed book reviews extracted from the 
other county papers, the Intelligencer, 
the Democrat, and the Olive Branch, and 
from two of the Philadelphia papers, the 
Cermantown Telegraph and the Pennsyl- 
vania Freeman. These reviews were pref- 
aced by the following remarks: 

We are glad to find that this neat little 
volume seems to meet with very general com- 
mendation. It is exclusively a Bucks 
County work — being written, printed, and 
even the likeness of the author painted and 
engraved in our own county. Below we give 
what some of our brethren of the Press say of 
it! 

Also during 1844, some pamphlets of 
minor importance were produced by the 
Journal press. No copies of these are 




Actual size of frontispiece to The Triple Wreath. 



THE 

TRIPLE WREATH 

POEIUS 

OK 

VARIOUS SUBJECTS 

BY 

SAMUEL JOHNSON. 



The « Triple Wreath "—of Palm or Laurell No I 
Of worldly fame it does not claim a part ; 

Its leaves, and buds, and varied blossoms show 
The impress of their native soil, the heart. 

Susan Wilson. 



NEWTOWN, Pa. 

S. J. & E. M. PAXSON. 

PHILADELPHIA: T. E. CHAPMAN. 

No. 74 North Fourth St. 



1844. 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



315 



known, but in three cases, the type, set 
in double column, was reused in the 
paper. The titles of these pamphlets were : 

1. Address by the lion. Samuel D. Inghayn, 
Delivered before a Stated Meeting of the 
Bucks County Agricultural Society, held in 
Pineville Hall, February 5, 1844. Published 
by Order of the Society, [printed, February 
1844, reprinted in Newtown Journal, 
February 13 & 20, 1844.] 

2. Address of Joshua Dungan, Delivered 
before a Meeting of the Bucks County Agri- 
cultural Society, held at Doylestown, Thurs- 
day, April 18. 1844, Published by Order of 
the Society, [printed, April 1844, reprinted 
in Newtown Journal, April 23, 1844^'] 

3. Constitution and By-Laws of the Bucks 
County Agricultural Society, [printed, 
September 1844, reprinted in Newtown 
Journal, September 3, 1844^^] 

In the August 20, 1844, issue of the 
Journal, S. J. Paxson remarked: 

Thie office of the Newtown Journal has been 
removed to the building adjoining the Brick 
Hotel, a few doors north of its former loca- 
tion, and directly opposite the store of Cor- 
nelius Sellers. 

This second removal, like the first one, 
seems to have had quite a disturbing 
effect on the office, as well as upsetting 
the paper itself. Apparently, they were 
in such a hurry for copy after printing 
the outside of the paper that when they 
came to set up the inside, they had to 
use some of the same advertisements, so 
that in reading this issue, one is rather 
surprised to note that out of the 27 adver- 
tisements appearing on page 2, nine of 
them reappear on page 4, where they had 
previously been printed. 

Simeon Siegfried, a quarter of a cen- 



tury earlier, also printed first the outside 
of his Star of Freedom, then because of 
insufficient type, broke up his forms and 
printed the inside of the sheet. Paxson 
attempted to apologize for this repetition 
by saying: 

Owing to the bustle, confusion, and hin- 
drance occasioned by the removal of our office 
last week, we are compelled to fill up a corner 
of the inside of our paper this week with old 
advertisements that appeared on the outside. 
We assure our readers we shall make ample 
amends when we come out with an improved 
and enlarged sheet. 

The pledge of the "enlarged sheet" 
was more in the nature of a campaign 
promise, for it never became a reality. 
The only enlargement ever experienced 
by the paper was when the Paxson 
brothers slightly increased its size when 
they changed the name from Literary 
Chronicle to Newtown Journal. 

Apparently, both the Journal and the 
Trumpet were printed on the same press, 
and it is probable that E. M. Paxson quit 
his active work on the first-named in 
order to devote his entire time to.the pub- 
lication of the political sheet. Both 
papers were published on Tuesdays, and 
the few advertisements the Trumpet 
carried are identical with the corre- 
sponding ones of the Journal of even date. 
As noted above, the Journal recorded on 
August 20, 1844, the removal of its office 
to the building adjoining Hough's Hotel 
(Brick Hotel). The following similar 
notice from the Clay Trumpet of the same 
day^^ gives the same information, so it 
must be concluded that both papers were 
the product of the same press: 



87 The following notice is from an inside page of the Journal of this date: "We invite the attention 
of our readers to the address of Joshua Dungan, delivered before the Bucks County Agricultural Society, 
on the 15th inst. It contains many valuable suggestions to the farmer. — It has also been published at this 
office in pamphlet form." 

88 Following the title is this notice: "At the last meeting of the Bucks County Agricultural Society, 
it was deemed advisable that the Constitution and By-Laws be printed in pamphlet form for circulation 
among the members. Believing that benefit would result to the Society from their circulation among the 
people generally, we have, at the suggestion of some of our Agricultural friends, published them this week, 
so that the operations, and objects of the Society may be made more public. — Ed." 

89 August 20, 1844; this also happens to be the earliest extant copy, the one at Bucks County His- 
torical Society. 



316 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



We must beg our readers to excuse the 
lack of editorial, and other original matter in 
this week's paper, as we have been so busily 
engaged for a few days in moving our office 
to its present situation, (adjoining Hough's 
Hotel) that we have hardly had time to pen a 
line. We console ourself with the reflection, 
however, that we have given them that in 
the place of it, which is far more valuable and 
efficient than anything from our inexperienced 
and ungraceful pen can possibly be. 

The next change in the management 
of the Newtown Journal was in 1845, when 
S. J. Paxson, after conducting it for a 
little less than a year and a half, sold out 
to his brother and former partner, Ed- 
ward M. Paxson, and removed to Doyles- 
town, where he purchased the Democrat 
in May of that year, and as sole editor 
and owner continued its publication with 
the issue of May 14, 1845. With the 
Democrat, S. J. Paxson received the Bucks 
County Express, a German paper, which 
he continued for five years until he sold 
it to Oliver P. Zink. The third paper 
purchased from John S. Bryan at Doyles- 
town was The Watchtower, but this one, 
however, Paxson discontinued right after 
he had bought it. Bryan, in his last 
issue of the Doylestown Democrat and 
Farmers' and Mechanics' Gazette, May 7, 
1845, declared of the new proprietor: 

Our successor, Samuel Johnson Paxson, 
Esq., will speak for himself, and is every way 
worthy of a continuation of the patronage 
which has always been given to this establish- 
ment. He has had some experience in con- 
ducting a public journal. The political course 
of the Democrat and Express will remain the 
same; — Advocating the principles of Democ- 
racy — Supporting the National and State 
Administrations — in Favor of the Annexation 
of Texas and Admission of Oregon. 

W. W. H. Davis, upon writing John- 
son Paxson's obituary in the May 31, 



1864, issue of the Doylestown Democrat, 
declared : 

At the time this purchase was made 

Mr. Paxson was without any pecuniary re- 
sources and negotiated the purchase and se- 
cured the purchase money by the aid of 
friends. From the time he assumed control 
of the Democrat he devoted himself to his 
duties with an assiduity and an energy which 
is rarely manifested even in this country. 

It is no exaggeration to state that Mr. Pax- 
son occupied that relation to the local press 
of Pennsylvania which James Gordon Bennett 
of the New York Herald so long retained to 
the journalism of New York and that he left 
it greatly improved in respectability and 
weight of influence. His connection with the 
Democrat continued until 1858 when he sold 
it to Col. Davis the present proprietor and 
retired to live upon the competence he had so 
meritoriously acquired.®" 

As a writer Mr. Paxson was sui generis. 
His style was bizarre and quaint; and it re- 
sembled that of no other man. He had a 
dry humor which was well fitted both for 
offensive and defensive purposes, and rarely 
came off second best in a contest of personali- 
ties. . .*' 

S. J. Paxson was particularly clever 
at reforming obnoxious local conditions 
by inserting sham advertisements in his 
paper whenever conditions warranted it. 
For example, he "advertised" in his 
Democrat of September 3, 1845 : 

WANTED 

One hundred and seventy-five young men 
of all shapes and sizes, from the tall, graceful 
dandy, with hair enough on his upper works 
to stuff a barber cushion, down to the little 
hump-backed, freckle faced, bow-legged, car- 
rot-headed upstart. The object is to form a 
gazing Corps, to be in attendance at the 
Church doors on each Sabbath, before the 
commencement of divine service, to stare at 
the females as they enter, and make delicate 
and gentlemanly remarks on their person and 
dress. All who wish to enlist in the above 



90 For a genealogical account of Samuel Johnson Paxson, as well as that of his brother, Edward M. 
Paxson, see History of Bucks County, 2nd ed.. Vol. Ill, p. 156. 

91 In writing about Newtown Journal, T. S. Kenderdine remarked: "Newspapers as well as wine are 
made interesting by age, doubly so when they record the doings of your own locality and give vent to the 
quaint expressions in use from editorial to advertisement. The 'Poets' Corner' and 'Wit and Humor' then 
had a habitation and a name. The former contained poetry which suited those who liked it, while the 
jokes were made manifest through italics and quotation marks." 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



317 



corps, will please appear at the various 
Church doors next Sabbath morning, where 
they will be duly inspected, and their names, 
personal appearance, and quantity of brains 
registered in a book kept for that purpose, 
and published in the newspapers. To pre- 
vent a general rush, it will be well to state 
that none will be enlisted who possess intel- 
lectual capacities above that of an ordinary 
well bred donkey. 



In May 1858, S. J. Paxson sold the 
Democrat to W. W. H. Davis and retired 
permanently from the newspaper busi- 
ness. His debtors, evidently slow in pay- 
ing their accounts, were forcibly reminded 
to do so by the following characteristic 
advertisement, dated January 25, 1859, 
and inserted in the Intelligencer: 

NOTICE TO DELINQUENTS 

A LL PERSONS indebted to the subscriber, 
by note, book account, or otherwise, are 
respectfully requested to liquidate the same 
before or at February Court, as I expect to 
be at the Democrat office at that time, to re- 
ceive the respective amounts and receipt for 
the same. As I retired from the business 
last May, it is now quite time that my books 
should be settled up, so that I can pay my 
debts. Those in arrears are requested to 
make this a personal notice to themselves, 
and govern themselves accordingly by facing 
the music like gentlemen, and stepping up to 
the Captain's office and liquidating the small 
amounts due — Everybody knows that I am 
a clever fellow, hate to sue honest men, and 
it is hoped that this last appeal to their good 
intentions will receive the attention demanded 
by its importance. 

Buckingham, Jan. 25 — 3t. 



S. J. PAXSON. 



1845, appeared the new heading, The 
Newtown Journal and Native American, 
"E. M. Paxson & Company, printer." 
This abrupt change in political policy 
attracted much attention among the 
neighboring newspapers. The German- 
town Telegraph in the following week, 
January 8, 1845, reported: 

I^ANOTHER CH.^NGE.— Samuel J. Pax- 
son, Esq., having disposed of the establish- 
ment of the "NEWTOWN JOURNAL," to 
Edward M. Paxson, Esq., it will be hereafter 
published by the latter gentleman, as the 
advocate of Native American principles. 

S. J. Paxson, to free himself of accusa- 
tions by the Native Americans, declared , 
on June 4, 1845, in his Doylestown Demo- 
crat and Farmers' and Mechanics' Gazette, 
that the Newtown Journal: 

— was published by us for more than two 
years, as an independent journal, and on the 
first of January last was transferred to its 
present publisher, who sees proper to advo- 
cate the claims of the Native American party. 

Edward continued, of course, his job 
office, but no examples of his work during 
this period have been preserved. The 
minute book of the directors of the New- 
town Library Company shows that at a 
meeting held March 3, 1845: 

On motion, it was ordered that the propo- 
sition of Edward M. Paxson to strike off fifty 
copies of the catalogue of Books for a share 
in the Library and five dollars be agreed to 
and that I. Hicks and J. Paul be a committee 
to attend to it. 



Edward M. Paxson's editorship of the 
Newtown Journal began with the issue 
of December 3, 1844, but it was not until 
January 1, 1845, that he became the actual 
proprietor, at which time, "the paper 
with all the furniture, type, good will and 
fixtures, were legally conveyed to its 
present publisher." 

On the first day of the calendar year. 



It is evident from the minutes of the 
meeting held on the following April 15th, 
that Paxson performed his contract satis- 
factorily, for they say: 

The Committee appointed to attend to the 
printing of the catalogue report that it has 
been printed and that they have paid Edward 
Paxson five dollars and presented him a share 
in the Library agreeable to contract. 



318 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



/2^cU'^J^*^<- -V' /^i .-^- '^'^^ — - ^- z-^^;^,/.-, 



iK^^-CC it~'\^ i«-*-wO 






'^rUC ^H- ^^Z-^^^Wti^ <i-*.-S<tZ^^;;^<..,-^„^/^--^<^ 



h^.. 



feC^ 






s-^^^'^i/v*?-^^ 



Original receipt fastened to minute book of Newtown Library 
Company. None of the catalogues is known to be in existence. 



This was the fourth catalogue of the 
library's books, the first being printed 
in 1791, the second in 1808, and the third 
in 1829.92 

In April, 1845, E. M. Paxson printed 
a pamphlet for "The Farmers' Mutual 
Fire Insurance Society of Warminster, 
Bucks County, Pa.," containing the con- 
stitution, by-laws, and supplemental acts 
of incorporation. No copies of this pam- 
phlet have been preserved either, but the 
contents were reprinted from the same 
type in the issue of the Journal for April 
8, 1845. 

Some time during the fall of 1845, the 
price of the paper was reduced from 
$2.00, and the name thereof changed to 
The Newtown Journal and Dollar Weekly. 
On September 23rd of that year, 1845, 
the editor expounded pompously: 

To the Patrons of tlie Journal: 

REDUCTION OF PRICE 
It has now been a little over three years 
since the present editor of the Journal estab- 
lished it in this place under the most discour- 
aging circumstances — and thus far the enter- 
prise has been sustained far beyond his ex- 
pectations. Many difficulties had to be 
surmounted — some thought 'there were 
already enough papers in the county,' and 
the universal opinion was that the effort 
would be unsuccessful. — Time, patierce, and 
industry have overcome these obstacles, and 



the 'Journal' has now a circulation much 
larger than the great majority of country 
papers. And in order to extend still farther 
its circulation and usefulness, we have deter- 
mined to reduce the price to ONE DOLLAR 
A YEAR IN ADVANCE.— thus making it 
decidedly the cheapest country paper to be 
found anywhere. We can thus place in the 
hands of every family who may wish it, a 
paper containing all the local news of the 
county at a price just ONE HALF of what 
it has previously been. By bringing our 
business to a cash standard, we can afford to 
do this, as we shall avoid in a great measure 
the heavy losses which result from the credit 
system. The terms of this paper, then, will 
hereafter be as follows: 

ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR IN ADVANCE. 

ONE DOLLAR AND A HALF AT THE 
END OF SIX MONTHS. 

TWO DOLLARS AT THE END OF THE 
YEAR. 

A small portion of our papers are left by 
the Doylestown riders. On these, of course, 
the postage (fifty cents a year) will be charged. 
The above terms will be rigidly enforced, as 
the low price at which we have put our paper 
renders it necessary that the payment should 
be made strictly in advance. 

We shall continue to make our paper a 
vehicle of correct information, and shall spare 
no pains to render it generally interesting 
and useful. To the business community, 
especially, the 'Journal' offers great induce- 
ments. Its circulation will soon surpass aiy 
of its contemporaries, and as an advertising 
medium, it will be invaluable. It is read by 



92 Copies of the 1829 edition are owned by Newtown Library Company and Bucks County Historical 
Society. It was printed by James Kelly, proprietor of Bucks County I nielli gene er, and the edition was only 
sixty, according to the minutes of the Library dated January 31, 1829: "Resolved, that Alexander Van- 
horn, be a Committee to get Sixty Copies of the Constitution bye Laws, and Catalogue of Books, printed 
for use of Library Company." 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



319 



men of all parties, and consequently the ad- 
vertiser receives a benefit which he would not 
experience by any other means. The busi- 
ness men of our county, especially of the lower 
end, must see the facilities it affords to them, 
and on their aid we confidently rely for sup- 
port. 

If those of our friends, then, who are beliind 
with their subscriptions, will come forward 
and square up their accounts, they can have 
the 'Journal' hereafter at the reduced price 
by comphing with the terms. 

On August 26, 1846, the following 
advertisement appeared in the Doyles- 
town Democrat and Bucks County Gazette: 

Notice to Advertisers 

The "Newtown Journal and Dollar Week- 
ly" has a large and increasing circulation in 
Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia coun- 
ties; and is an excellent medium for those 
having Real Estate to dispose of, to lay their 
advertisements before the public. The 
"Journal" is published at One Dollar per year 
in Advance, and its~columns will be found 
filled with the cards of business men. 

E. M. PAXSON, Publisher. 



In 1846, Mr. Paxson, like two pre- 
ceding bachelor editors, (Coale and Sieg- 
fried), married while publishing a New- 
town newspaper. This notice of the 
same is copied from his brother's Doyles- 
town Democrat and Bucks County Gazette 
of May 6, 1846: 

Married 

In Philadelphia, on Thursday, April 30, 
Edward M. Paxson, Editor of the Newtown 
Journal, to Mary Caroline Newlin, of the 
former place. 

Proprietor Edward M. Paxson con- 
veyed the paper on August 31, 1847, 



to Henry R. Nagel, of Newtown.^-' So 
after exactly five years, the paper passed 
from the hands of Edward M. Paxson, 
who, jointly with his brother's help, had 
built it up, and then individually had 
conducted it on a sound business basis. 
The Journal had become under the Pax- 
son leadership the most successful news- 
paper ever to have been established in 
Newtow n up to tl at time. 

After selling his printing establish- 
ment, Mr. Paxson removed to Phila- 
delphia, where he founded the Daily 
Neivs. This paper he disposed of the 
next year, and then moved back to 
Bucks County, where, at Doylestown, 
he began the study cf law in the office of 
Hon. Henry Chapman.^"* Mr. Paxson 
was admitted to the bar on April 24, 
1850, and after practising for two years 
in Doylestown, returned to Philadelphia 
to continue his profession. His advance 
from this time on was very rapid, finally 
culminating on the first Monday in Jan- 
uary, 1889, by his becoming, through 
seniority, the Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court of Pennsylvania. In 1899, Judge 
Paxson erected for Bucks County Quar- 
terly Meeting the Friends' Boarding 
Home at Newtown; and dedicated it to 
the memory of his parents, Thomas and 
Ann (Johnson) Paxson. 

Concerning the inauguration of the 
Daily News on August 14, 1847, the 
editor of the Doylestown Democrat and 
Bucks County Gazette wrote on the follow- 
ing 18th: 

A NEW PAPER— We have received the 
first number of the "Daily News," a new whig 
paper, which commenced its existence in 
Philadelphia on Saturday last. It opposes 



93 This probably means the date of the first issue by Nagel. On August 25th the sale had been adver- 
tised in the Democrat; see notice later on. 

94 The Bucks County Intelligencer of March 26, 1850, records: "A cowhiding affair took place in our 
streets a week ago this morning, in which our neighbor of the 'Olive Branch' was the defendant — E. M. 
Paxson, (brother of the Editor of the 'Democrat') conducting the other side of the case. It was not con- 
sidered by the community, in its origin or accomplishment, as very creditable to the parties concerned. 
It grew out of an article in the 'Branch,' in reply to one in the 'Democrat' of the week before." General 
Davis, in writing of this affair, (2nd ed., p. 323), said: "On one occasion he made allusion to the wife of 
a member of the Bucks county bar, and the outraged husband retorted by cowhiding the editor on the 
street, for which he was prosecuted and fined.'' 



320 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



the Democratic party, and advocates with 
considerable ability the claims of the federal 
party to the support of the people. It is 
published by Henrj' S. Evans, of the Village 
Record, of Chester county, E. M. Paxson, of 
the Newtown Journal, and Col. Wm. Butler, 
late of the Norristown Herald, associated 
together under the firm of Evans, Paxson & 
Co. Its appearance, and in fact the whole 
general arrangement, is abundant evidence 
that its editors and proprietors are gentlemen 
of tact, talent, ability and good taste. It is a 
paper at once creditable to the party; and all 
sensible persons must regret that a paper in 
which so much ability is enlisted, should be 
engaged in propping up such a hollow- 
hearted and down-hill cause as that which it 
espouses. It is unnecessary to say that it 
sports at its mast-head the names of Irvin 
and Patton; the former the father of the 
infamous Bankrupt Law, and the inveterate 
opponent of Andrew Jackson; and the latter 
the same fellow that paid his creditors with 
whig Bankrupt Notices to the tune of $21,- 
543.50. 



On September 8, 1847, S. J. Paxson 
wrote in his Doylestown Democrat and 
Bucks County Gazette: 

NEWSPAPER UNION— We see by the 
city papers, that the Daily Chronicle, a sickly 
neutral daily penny paper, has been bought 
out by the Daily News, a federal paper, and 
that they will hereafter constitute one paper 
bearing the name of the latter. The Chroni- 
cle has for a long time been under the control 
of a clique of the smaller kind of politicians, 
and might properly be called a guerilla on a 
small scale, in the pay of the federal party. 
Treacherous friends are always worse than 
open enemies. 

THE DAILY NEWS. 

We have received several copies of the 
Daily News — the new federal organ of Phila- 
delphia, with their prospectus marked, it is 
supposed for insertion in this paper. The 
article also appears in the Democratic Union 
at Harrisburg, as well as in several other 
leading Democratic papers in different parts 
of the state, for which they no doubt receive a 
compensation, as they do for other advertise- 
ments. We should hope that no Democratic 
paper would insert their prospectus in any 
other way than as a business advertisement. 
If the editors of the News wish their pros- 
pectus inserted in the Democrat, they will 
please send along the cash like others do. We 



are not willing to lend our columns for the 
purpose of bringing their paper into notoriety, 
unless they pay for the same, and that too in 
exact accordance to our terms as they ap- 
pear at the head of another column. The 
fact of their wanting their advertisement 
inserted in the Democratic paper, shows 
plainly that they are trying to bolster up a 
tottering cause, which fact is clearly proved 
by their having to resort to the Democratic 
Union, and the Doylestown Democrat, to 
make them and their paper known. This 
paper is more read than any ether in the 
county, the thing is notorious, and is acknowl- 
edged by Democrats and men of all parties. 
Hence the anxiety of the News, to make use 
of it to advance their interests. They know 
that the curiosity of ever>' federalist in the 
county, induces him to borrow it weekly of 
his Democratic neighbor. In this way it 
would be seen by more federalists, than if it 
were inserted in the federal organ itself. 

The Bucks County Intelligencer of 
March 26, 1850, recorded: 

i:^-The Philadelphia "Daily News" 
makes quite a handsome appearance in a 
new dress it has just donned; and bears upon 
its face gratifying evidences of prosperity. 
Success to it. 



Judge E. M. Paxson, late in life, wrote 
a letter to the editor of the Bucks County 
Intelligencer, which was printed in the 
issue of July 14, 1904. In this letter, 
dated "Bycot House, July 7, 1904," he 
summed up his journalistic experiences 
in part, by saying: 

— When quite a small boy my father took 
me to The Intelligencer office, located near 
the Chapman residence, and upon the same 
street. James Kelly was then the editor. He 
had shortly before procured a power press and 
it was then in operation. It was a crude, 
clumsy affair, worked by hand, but it looked 
immense to me. I was so captivated that I 
then and there resolved to be a printer and 
publish a paper. Fired by the resolve, I 
subsequently entered the office of the Village 
Record to acquire a practical knowledge of 
the business, where I remained for eighteen 
months, when I commenced business at New- 
town. Subsequently I became engaged with 
the Daily News of Philadelphia. It was 
while connected with this paper that for the 
first time I became aware of the importance 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



321 



of collecting the local news, particularly for a 
country paper. My brother, Samuel Johnson 
Paxson, was at that time the editor of the 
Doylestown Democrat, and I wrote him a 
long letter upon the subject, calling his atten- 
tion to the fact that cauntry papers could 
not compete with the city daily papers in 
general and foreign news, but that in local 
matter they had a mine of wealth in which 
the city paper could not compete. The next 
week the Democrat had a "Local News" de- 
partment. It was a small affair, but it grew. 
The Intelligencer, under John S. Brown, soon 
caught on. and now leads all country papers 
in this as in everything else, so far as I know. — 

Concerning the sale of the Newtown 
Journal, S. J. Parson wrote in his Doyles- 
ioicn Democrat and Bucks County Gazette 
of August 25, 1847: 

NEWSPAPER CHANGE— The Newtown 

Journal has changed hands, and will hereafter 

be conducted by Mr. Henry R. Nagel. E. M. 

Paxson, the former editor, has commenced 

the publication of a daily paper in Philadel- 
phia. We wish the old editor good luck, and 

extend the hand of fellowship to the new. 

Mr. Nagel raised the price of the paper 
fifty per cent , and dropped the sub- 
heads so that the full title was simply 
Newtown Journal. Beginning with the 
issue of August 3, 1847, the editor started 
a continued narrative that ran for 16 
weeks, ending with the issue of November 
16th. It was entitled, "Sketches of the 
Great West, taken in a Travel to St. 
Louis, Fort Leavenworth, Galena, Chi- 
cago, &c., by M. H. Jenks."^^ Preceding 
the first installment was the notice: 

X^At our s3licitation we have been 

politely furnished with the memorandum 

book kept by our worthy Chief Burgess on 

his tour through the Western States — and 

although merely taken to gratify his children 

and friends, and not intended for publication, 

its contents nevertheless will be perused with 

much interest by the readers of the 'Journal.' 

The "Sketches" will be continued in num- 
bers until they are all published. — Ed. 

This trip, as explained by Judge Jenks, 
was started on May 17, 1847, and lasted 

95 These were reprinted in the following issues of William J. Ellis' Delaware Vallev Advance, hanghorne. 
Pa.: Sept. 26; Oct. 3, 17, 24, 31; Nov. 7, 14, 21, 28; Dec. 5, 12, 19, 1935; and Jan. i6. 23, 30; Feb. 6, 13, 
1936. 

96 Information from original justice's docket, now owned by his grandson, the present writer. 



for exactly two months. In that time 
he travelled 4850 miles for $170, or at an 
average cost, including all expenses, of 
only 3>2 cents per mile. Quite a con- 
trast to the high rate of modern travel. 

Henry R. Nagel ran the paper for a 
little over a half a year, but then not 
meeting with much success soon failed. 
Rudolph C. Nagel, the druggist and post- 
master, (possibly his brother), became 
assignee of the accounts, some of which 
were settled by Squire John Barnsley in 
1849 at the same time E. M. Paxson 
entered suit against 27 delinquent sub- 
scribers and advertisers of the Newtown 
Journal.'^^ Henry conveyed his interest 
on the followijig April 14, 1848, to Hiram 
Brower, another graduate of the Village 
Record, West Chester, Pa. On April 26, 
1848, Samuel Johnson Paxson printed 
this notice in his Doylestc2cn Democrat 
and Bucks County Gazette: 

THE NEWTOWN JOURNAL 

The Newtown Journal comes to us now as a 
Federal paper, edited by Hiram Brower. In- 
dependent of its radical federal politics, it is a 
clever looking paper, and the change is no 
gain to Democratic subscribers. Mr. Nagel 
— the former editor, has retired from the field, 
and the federalists hold the editorial gad. 
Personally to the new editor, we extend the 
hand of friendship, and promise him many a 
good thrashing, before the frosts of next Octo- 
ber, shall kill him off. To the retiring editor 
we wish all sorts of good luck, and hope that 
prosperity, and plenty may follow his foot- 
steps. 

The first "thrashing" that Mr. Brower 
took was in the May 31st issue of the 
Democrat, when Paxson declared: 

Hold up! Journal! 

The Editor of the Newtown Journal, has 
been laboring hard for several weeks, to con- 
vince his readers that "the Journal is the best 
paper in the county." He may work a long 



322 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



have our best wishes — though it looks rather 
bad for them to be begging for a pair of 
scissors the first week! 

Mr. Brewer's next journalistic adven- 
ture was in 1844, at Lebanon, Pa., where 
he and T. T. Worth purchased the 
Lebanon Courier. '^^ Concerning this event, 
the Newtown Journal and Native American 
reported on January 1, 1845: 

The Lebanon Courier has changed hands, 
and will hereafter be conducted by Hiram 
Brower, and T. T. Worth. The former is 
an old office chum of ours, and a clever fellow 
at that. The other is also an acquaintance 
of ours, who flourished at West Chester a 
short time since under the parental care of 
"Friend Joseph," of the Register. The 
"Courier" manifests decided improvements, 
and we doubt not that under the new arrange- 
ment, it will go on prospering. Success to 
you boys! 

Little is known about Brower in New- 
town, except that he conducted the 
Journal for nearly two years. At His- 
torical Society of Pennsylvania is a pam- 
phlet that was probably printed by 
Brower's press. It is entitled An Address 
before the Bucks County Agricultural 
Society, October 2, 1848, by T. S. Skinner. 
In 1849, he was secretary of the Society, a 
position which insured good publicity for 
the annual exposition on South Chan- 
cellor street. This office he no doubt 
"inherited" from Edward M. Paxson, 
who was the organizing secretary when 
the Society was re-established on Decem- 
ber 4, 1843. 

Unfortunately, Brower like Robinson 
43 years earlier, became indebted to 
the proprietor of the hotel, and conse- 
quently in January, 1850, had to assign 
his book accounts to Samuel Moore 
Hough. Mr. Hough, owner and operator 
of the Brick Hotel from 1840 to 1851, 
evidently did not make any change in 
the management of the paper, for the 

97 William J. Buck in his chapter XLIX of Bean's History of Montgomery County, p. 788, obviously 
erred when he wrote that Vernon and Brower ran this paper "from 1842 to 1845." Vernon was later with 
the Wilmington Republican. 

98 Their first issue was on December 25, 1844, which they called New Series Vol. I, No. 1, whole No. 
465. On November 4, 1846, the Courier carried a notice that the co-partnership had been dissolved and 
that all bills were payable to T. T. Worth. After that, publication was continued by "T. T. Worth & Co." 



while before he can convince any into such a 
belief, unless it be some dupes. He must 
recollect that the great paper of Bucks Coun- 
ty is the DOYLESTOWN DEMOCRAT, 
that it has all the news one week ahead of all 
others combined, and that it just suits the 
people. Some papers shoot too high, others 
too low, but the Democrat shoots right at 
them. The people will understand when 
they hear the echo from the "Old Cannon." 
We hope the Journal hereafter in its boast- 
ings of its par excellence will always accept 
the Doylestown Democrat. If it does not, 
it will assuredly lose its character for verac- 
ity. 

The new purchaser seems to have had 
considerable experience with country 
journals. In July, 1843, he and J. B. 
Taylor, of West Chester, established in 
that borough, a fortnightly paper called 
The Fountain. The Newtown Journal 
and Workingmen' s Advocate on the 25th 
of that month noted: 

We have received the first number of "The 
Fountain," a paper about to be established 
at West Chester, Pa., by Hiram Brower and 
J. B. Taylor, of that Borough. The editorial 
department is to be partially under the 
direction of Wm. Whitehead, Esq. With 
such proprietors and editors the Fountain 
will or at least ought to go a-head. It is 
proposed to issue the "Fountain," every 
fort-night. 

This paper was probably never issued 
regularly, at least no account can be 
foundof it, and only four months later we 
find G. W. Vernon and the same Hiram 
Brower instituting a new paper at Potts- 
town, Pa., which they called the Potts- 
town Tariffite. On November 28, 1843, 
the Newtown Journal and Workingmen' s 
Advocate declared: 

We have received the first No. of the 
"Pottstown Tariffite,""' published in Potts- 
town, Montgomery Co., Pa., by G[eorge] W. 
Vernon and Hiram Brower. It is neatly 
printed, and evinces considerable talent in 
the editorial department. The publishers, 
who are both young men, and office chums. 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



323 



last extant copy,''*^ namely, that cf Jan- 
uary 22, 1850, was still edited by Hiram 
Brower. After a month's ownership, 
simply a business transfer. Hough then 
conveyed on February 26, 1850, the "good 
will and fixtures" of the decadent New- 
town Journal ofiice to Lafayette Brower, 
Hiram's brother, who was the last to 
publish the paper. No doubt Hiram 



later in 1884 that the paper "continued 
under several names until 1848."*'^'Battle's 
History of Bucks County, published 1887, 
says on p. 332 "in 1850 it suspended." 
This last date is correct, for according to 
the following notice from the Bucks 
County Intelligencer of March 19, 1850, 
the Journal was last issued about the 
middle of that month: 



/f^..Q.J^ 



^^ / 




V-=«-<=^'=- 



yf^^ ^A^^^A^^ Cy'^ 









-i^ 




Original receipt in handwriting of Hiram Brower. 
O ,v ned by Sarah Worstall Hicks, Newtown, Pa. 



worked for Lafayette, because the Ga- 
zetteer of Bucks County, 1871, says that 
the pair of them published the paper, 
but does not give the dates.^*^^ In 1853, 
William J. Buck wrote in his History of 
Moreland from its first Purchase and Set- 
tlement to the Present Time^^^ that the Lit- 
erary Chronicle and Bucks and Mont- 
gomery Advertiser was: "continued several 
years, when it was removed to Newtown, 
where it became the Newtown Journal, 
which was discontinued in 1849." 

Evidently Mr. Buck had no exact data 
on the final date of the paper for he wrote 



To The Late Patrons Of The 
Newtown Journal 

Owing to causes whicli it is not deemed 
necessary to recapitulate in this connection, 
I have disposed of all my right, title and in- 
terest in and to the Printing Establishment 
known as the "Newtown Journal Office," 
embracing as well the Subscription List as 
the entire stock of materials heretofore used 
for Newspaper and Jobbing purposes — to 
Jno. S. Brown, Esq., Editor and Proprietor 
of the "Bucks County Intelligencer"; this, 
therefore, is to notify all persons whose names 
were entered on my Books as subscribers 
to the "Journal," that they will be furnished 
in future with the "Intelligencer." Those 



99 Vol. VIII, No. 25, whole number 493, in library of Bucks County Historical Society. 

100 E. F. Church wrote in 1883, {Proceedings of Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. I, p. 122), that the 
Journal's "last publisher was named Brower, who went to Virginia"; but which Brower it was, he does not 
say. A notice in the Bucks County Intelligencer reveals that Hiram Brower, Esq., was publishing the 
News at Fairfax Court House, Va., in 1859. 

101 Published as chapter XXVII of Collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Vol. I, p. 212. 

102 See his chapter XLIV in Beans' History of Montgomery County, p. 724. 



324 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



also who have made advance payments to the 
"Journal" will receive the "Intelligencer" 
without charge for the length of time their 
receipts respectively call for. This is a 
change which I hope and believe will be 
universally acceptable to all concerned. The 
"Intelligencer" is second to no paper pub- 
lished in the State — either in point of amount 
and quality of its weekly contents, or the 
mechanical skill displayed on each succeeding 
issue — a fact of which every one will be con- 
vinced by a close examination of the accom- 
panying No. 

Lafayetle Brower. 

Newtown, March 15, 1850. 

I^From the above card it will be seen that 
an arrangement has been effected by which 
all such persons as were subscribers to the 
Newtown Journal at the date of its last issue, 
will be considered as subscribers to the Bucks 
County Intelligencer, unless they give imme- 
diate notice of their desire to not be so con- 
sidered. We have entered on our list the 
names of such of them as were not subscribers 
to the Intelligencer before; and hope they may 
find the change agreeable to them. They 
will receive at least twice as much reading as 
heretofore, while the price of the paper is only 
half a dollar greater than that of the Journal. 
We shall also be able to furnish a much 
greater amount of local information than it is 
possible for a paper to procure away from 
the county seat. — In short we hope that each 



and every one may become a permanent sup- 
porter of this paper, and feel as deep an inter- 
est in its success as ever he felt in the "Jour- 
nal." It shall be our endeavor to merit their 
continued friendship and good will. 

Those not before on our list, who had paid 
in advance for the "Journal," will receive 
the Intelligencer for the full time their re- 
ceipts may call for, without further charge. 

Advertisers who have sought communica- 
tion with the public through the "Journal" 
will find the "Intelligencer" a still better 
medium, as its circulation in the county is 
several hundred larger than that of any other 
paper now or at any former time. 

For the accommodation of the neighbor- 
hood, and without any hope of profit, we have 
left the jobbing materials at Newtown in 
charge of HOWARD JENKS, well and 
favorably known as a citizen of the place, and 
fully competent to conduct the business. In 
a short time some necessary additions will be 
made to the stock of materials, to render it 
complete. 

In short, our design and hope is that those 
who have heretofore supported the Journal 
by their subscriptions, advertising, or job 
printing, will be as well or better accommo- 
dated under the new arrangement, and with 
as much convenience and cheapness; and in 
view of this, their continued favors are ear- 
nestly solicited. 



SURVEYING AND CONVEYANCING. 

The subscriber informs his friends and the public 
generally, that he will attend to the above business in 
all its branches, at the shortest notice, on the most 
reasonable terms. From his past experience he 
trusts that he will be able to give satisfaction to all 
who may favor him with their patronage. 

J. BARNSLEY. 

Newtown, March 25th. 1844 tf33. 



Advertisement from the Newtown 
Journal and Workingmen' s Advocate. 



MfiSSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 3^5 



Chronology of Important Dates in History of 
The Newtown Journal 

August 18, 1840 — Initial issue of The Literary Chronicle and Bucks and 
Montgomery Advertiser at Hatboro, Pa.; published by 
Oliver I. Search and Samuel Fretz. 

March, 1841 — OHver I. Search purchased interest of Samuel F'retz, 

according to Davis, but Buck writes that PVetz' name 
does not appear on the issue of December 20, 1840. 

Fall of 1841 — Removal of paper to Newtown, continuing same title, 

sometime between September 7th and December 1st. 

1842 — Change of title to The Literary Chronicle and Working- 
man's Advocate. 



August 16, 1842 — First issue by S. J. and E. M. Paxson. 

August 23, 1842 — Change of title to The Literary Chronicle and Working- 
men's Advocate. 

September 20, 1842 — Change of title to The Newtown Journal and Working- 
men's Advocate. 

October 31, 1843 — First "extra," (really a two page supplement), issued in 
Newtown. 

August 15, 1843 — Samuel Johnson Paxson bought the interest of his 
brother, Edward M. Paxson, who published The Clay 
Trumpet from January 9th to November, 1844. 

January 1, 1845 — E. M. Paxson bought the interest of S. J. Paxson, and 
changed the title to The Newtown Journal and Native 
American. 

September, 1845 — Change of title to The Newtown Journal and Dollar 
Weekly, and subscription reduced from $2.00 to $1.00 
per year. 

August 31, 1847^ — Sold to Henry R. Nagel, and title shortened to Newtown 
Journal, subscription raised to $1.50. 

April 14, 1848— Sold to Hiram Brower. 

February 26, 1850 — Sold to his brother, Lafayette Brower. 

March, 1850 — Sold to Bucks County Intelligencer, and discontinued. 



326 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



Howard Jenks 

Howard Jenks was the next operator HOWARD JENKS 

of a job press in Newtown. Davis says:'*^^ April 21, 1841 

"The material [belonging to the Journal ^° ''^ '^""'"^ ^""^ ^^^^ 

office] soon passed into the possession of September is, 1841 

Howard Jenks." However, it appears to head & 2 Slats to harrow $1.25 

from the foregoing notice that "the entire April 13, 1842 

stock of ma':erials heretofore used for Cr. by Cash $7.25 

Newspaper and Jobbing purposes" had 

been sold to the Intelligencer in 1850. As The original Record Book of the Borough 

shown by this advertisement extracted of Newtoiun shows that Jenks was the 

from the Doylestown Democrat, May 11, only person connected with the manage- 

1852, Jenks brought with him "an entirely ment of the Journal who was a freehold 

new stock of materials," but he does not voter in the Borough, for his name ap- 

mention that he was backed by the pro- pears on the official lists from 1-850 to 

prietors of the Intelligencer. 1855, inclusive. Where he removed to 



HO WARD JENKS, 

Job and Card Printer, 

NEAVTOWJV, BUCKS COUNTY, PA., 

HAS opeiitd iiii (JlTice in ilie Borougli of Newlown, 1 door 
souili of the TeiiipcrHMCe Houl. where lie will lie pleascil 
lo ?ec his numerous friends, and all others wanuns JOB OK 
CARD PRINTING done al a short nonce, and in a neat and 
workmanlike manner. Having laid m an entirely new stock 
of male rials, he is willing; lo place his work with that of any 
other primer in the county ; hoih as to the style of workman- 
ship, and the low rale al which it is done. By strict allentioii 
10 business, the subscriber hopes to receive a liberal share of 
the public pHlrona-<e. HOWARD JENKS. 

myU,lS52. if 



Little is known about the history of 
Mr. Jenks, one time assistant burgess of 
Newtown, or his connection with the 
lower Bucks County family of that name. 
It appears from the Newtown Journal 
and Workingmen's Advocate of December 
3, 1844, that there was: 

Married: In Trenton, on the 28th ult., 
before Charles Burroughs, mayor, by the 
Friends' ceremony, Howard Jenks to Mary 
Brown, daughter of the late Joshua Brown, 
deceased, both of Bucks county, Pa. 



after that latter date, the writer does not 
know. 

Beginning with the issue of October 22, 
1850, and continuing for a year, until 
October 28, 1851, (53 issues) the Bucks 
County hitelligencer carried below its sub- 
heading: 

HOWARD JENKS 
At the Newtown Job Printing Office, is 
authorized to act as Agent for this paper, in 
receiving subscriptions, and money for the 



Jenks had evidently always lived in 
the Newtown vicinity. The following 
record is abstracted from John F. Fen- 
ton's account book: 



The next issue, November 4, 1851, 
announced that Thomas Mifflin Anderson, 
postmaster, was the newly appointed 
agent, and advertised as follows: 



103 History of Bucks County, 2nd ed.. Vol. II, p. 323. 



PRfiSSES AND PRiNfERS OF NEWtOWN BEFORE 1868 



327 



TO PRINTERS. 

A HAND PRESS— Smith's patent— in 
use a few years, but good — capable of print- 
ing a sheet 22 by 32 inches — well adapted to 
jobbing — for sale cheap. Apply personally — 
or by letter, post paid — at this office. 



As this advertisement was not re- 
peated in subsequent issues, it is reason- 
able to suppose that the old Journal press, 
"in use a few years," was sold during the 
second week of November, 1851. Why 
does one suspect this was the Jotirnal 
press? Because, the size of the Journal 
sheet measures exactly 22 by 32 inches. 

Some time before 1852, there must have 
been a third removal of the printing 
office to "1 door south of the Temperance 
Hotel." And it must ha\e been after 
1849, because in that year was published 
the engraved Plan of the Township and 
Borough of Newtown, by M. Dripps, of 
Philadelphia, which shows the "Newtown 
Journal and Printing Office" in the west 
end of Hough's Hotel. It is curious to 
note that the second removal returned the 
office next door to its original location in 
Newtown, and the third removal brought 
it back next door to where it was at the 
second location. In other words, after 
the press was imported from Hatboro, it 
was operated at- two different places in 
Newtown practically adjacent to the two 
oldest hotels, one of which was licensed 
while the other was temperance. And as 
the paper seemed to be equally successful 
or unsuccessful at each location, en- 
vironment could not have been said, in 
this case, to have been the contributing 
factor. 

The late Thaddeus S. Kenderdine, 
after writing to the Newtown Enterprise 
about the content of two copies of the 
Newtown Journal that had fallen into his 
hands, remarked: 



The printing office was a frame building 
adjoining the Brick hotel on the north side, 
afterward used as a tin and stove store and 
since torn down. Palmer McMasters, then a 
sturdy lad, propelled the lever press when the 
edition was "worked off," and afterward 
acted as carrier. The habit of "taking the 
paper" was not near as prevalent among our 
citizens as now, and Palmer remembers one 
of the substantial Newtowners as hurling the 
Journal outside his yard as soon as he found 
it: he so hated its politics. The subscription 
dwindled; it became a two-page paper; the 
copies distributed in the town went below a 
hundred; in fact, between town and county, 
the circulation of the Journal went down so 
low it went up, and the borough had no 
paper until the Enterprise came. 

The Bucks County Intelligencer on 
March 21, 1854, reported: 

To Our Newtown Subscribers 

We have given to Howard Jenks our ac- 
counts against those who receive the Intel- 
ligencer at Newtown. He will call upon those 
in the borough this week; and we hope they 
will find it convenient tosettle with him. Those 
in the vicinity, and those in the borough who 
can, are requested to call at his office, second 
story of Paxson's store. We desire that his 
collections may be completed as soon as 
practicable; and those indebted will confer a 
favor by settling with him without unneces- 
sary delay. 

The next and final move of this press 
was "out." Five years later, in 1857, 
according to Gen. Davis, the equipment 
of Jenks' defunct job office was pur- 
chased by the proprietors^ '^''^ of the Bucks 
County Intelligencer, and removed to 
Doylestown. It is a moot question what 
caused the failure of the Newtown Journal, 
but in the writer's opinion it was due to 
the retirement of the Paxson brothers, 
because after they left Newtown, the 
downward progress of the paper was so 
rapid that in a few years a job office could 
not even exist. 



104 Enos Prizer and Henry T. Darlington, both graduates of the Village Record, West Chester, the 
former being an office-mate of Edward M. Paxson. 



328 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



William Bush 



In October, 1857, the same year that 
the old Journal press was removed to 
the County Seat, a new job office was 
estabhshed at Newtown, by WilHam 
Bush, of Trenton, N. J. His place of 
business uas next door to Paxson & 
Croasdale's Store, or where Feaster's 
jewelry store on State street is now lo- 
cated. He d.'stributed some brilliantly 
colored cards around town, upon which 
he advertised: 

PRINTING IN, RED, BLUE, GREEN, 
YELLOW. AND GOLD AND SILVER, 
IN EVERY STYLE. 

Orders by mail attended to immediately; 
and work done at City Prices. 

All persons are cordially invited to call and 
see the Newtown "Model" Job Print- 
ing Office. 

Mr. Bush did another publicity stunt 
by bringing out an advertising sheet 



headed Newtown Gazette. It was a small 
folio, size of page 9>^xl2 inches, and was 
gotten up to look like a newspaper. 
Although numbered "Vol. I, No. 1," it 
was the only edition ever issued. On 
November 3, 1857, the Bucks County 
Intelligencer carried the following news 
item: 

NEW PAPER.— The first number of a 
new paper, published at Newtown, in this 
county, called the Newtown Gazette, reached 
us last week. William Bush is its editor. We 
are not able to say whether this journal is to 
make its appearance daily, weekly, monthly 
or yearly. Success to it. 

The new paper, if such it could be 
called, appeared only once, so had, 
therefore, the unique distinction of being 
issued "lifely." As far as the writer 
knows, only one copy has been preserved. 



?9^^^^2l^^ ^^ ._ ^....^pIx^^^II^ 

^~" ^-r~-r , ^i^-:>( ~ '.-/^s 





Next door to Paxson & Croasdale's Store, \ 

PRiiVTA^Giii RED, BLUE, GREEii YELLOW, Ai^D 

Oi-ciere* "toy- -rmatil «,ttcxxca.e<^ to ixn-rrt ecg.la,te- f g 

I^All persons are cordially invited to call and see the New-4^(^^ 
town "Model" Job Printinor Office. 




PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



329 



the one recently presented to Bucks 
County Historical Society, by Mrs. Isaac 
T. Vanartsdalen, of Newtown. 

The Model Job Printing Office lasted 
only about a year, then soon became, 
like all the preceding journalistic at- 
tempts, simply another financial failure. 
Apparently, it was decreed that a printing 
press could not be run profitably in New- 
town until another decade had passed. 
The failure of Mr. Bush now ends the 
fascinating story of early journalism in 
Newtown prior to the advent of the 
Enterprise, — from Siegfried's Star which 



twinkled for less than a year to Paxson's 
Journal which ran for ten. 

In spite of the absence, in most cases, 
of actual copies, the chronological history 
of all these newspapers has been recorded, 
biographical accounts of their printers 
have been attempted, and the known 
products of their presses arranged sys- 
tematically. A study of these dozen and 
a half early printers, incomplete as it is, 
constitutes the history of the first half 
century of journalism in Newtown. All 
of their varied efforts to establish a per- 
manent business were sincere, but for one 
reason or another they all failed. 




Son of the founder and second 
owner of the Neivtoivn Enterprise. 




FOUNDER OF NEWTOWN ENTERPRISE 

Born in Buckingham Township, August 11, 1820 
Died in Newtown Borough, June 15, 1893 



PRESSES AND PRINTERS OF NEWTOWN BEFORE 1868 



331 



Founding of Newtown Enterprise 



It was not until 1868, when Mr. Eleazer 
F. Church came to Newtown, that a 
really successful paper was instituted. 
The Neivtown Enterprise is now enjoying 
its sixty-ninth year of justly-earned popu- 
larity; the files are complete from the 
first issue, and it is much to be hoped 
that in the near future some one will 
make this dear old newspaper and its 
four editors the subject of a special essay 
for Bucks County Historical Society. 
Concerning the advent of the Enterprise, 
the Bucks County Intelligencer on January 
28, 1868, recorded: 

"Newtown Enterprise." — Eleazer F. 
Church, an old resident of Bucks county, has 
issued a prosectus for newspaper to be pub- 
lished in Newtown under the above title, 
to be commenced in the course of a few 
weeks. He has rented an office in the new 
building of Barclay J. Smith. He says that 
the new paper is to be "devoted to the inter- 
ests of the lower end of Bucks county, general 
and local news, agriculture, &c.," but will not 
be a political organ. Mr. Church is an old 
printer^ ""^ and has had sufficient experience in 
the business to enable him to publish a good 
paper. Some twelve or fifteen years ago he 
established the Advocate, at Towsontown, 
Maryland, and continued to publish it until 
after the rebeUion broke out. He then 
served for a time as a United States revenue 
officer, and subsequently purchased an inter- 
est in the Hagerstown Herald. A year or 
more ago he again removed to Towsontown 
and established a new weekly paper called 
the Free Press, which did not prove very 



successful in his hands and was sold out to 
other parties. During the last few months 
he has been keeping a store in Towsontown. 
But there is a fascination in the printing busi- 
ness to those who have been long engaged in 
it, and Mr. C. has accordingly made arrange- 
ments for setting himself up again as above 
noticed. As to the practicability of the 
enterprise there may be different opinions, 
but we trust tliat Mr. Churcli may not be 
again disappointed. 

No details are known about the actual 
naming of the several weekly papers 
established at Newtown, (the first two 
of which wefe organized while the village 
was the county seat of Bucks), until the 
arrival of the Enterprise. It seems that 
certain people interested in the forma- 
tion of the new paper, meeting at the home 
of Dr. Elias Ely Smith, decided to choose 
its name by chance. Each one present 
wrote his choice on a slip of paper, and 
Dr. Smith's niece, who w'as visiting them 
at the time, was asked to draw the winner. 
And she pulled out of the hat, NEW- 
TOWN ENTERPRISE. Little did that 
merry party suspect that this beautiful 
young girl was predestined soon to fall 
sick, and that the very first issue of the 
new enterprise, on Thursday, March 19, 
1868, would announce her death: 

On the 15th of 3d-mo., of typhoid fever, 
Mary C, only daughter of Dr. Benjamin and 
Elizabeth E. Smith, aged 20 years and 8 
months. 



105 In November, 1834, at the age of 14, he "entered upon his duties as a printer's devil" at the office 
of the Doylestown Democrat and there served an apprenticeship of four years. 







The second and present location of the Newtown Enterprise. 
From Hthograph of 1893 by T. M. Fowler, Morrisville, Pa. 



Paintings and Other Works of Art 
In the Museums of the Bucks County Historical Society 

By Dk. h. V. FACKENTHAL, Jr., RIEGELSVILLK, PA. 
(Doylestown, Pa., Meeting, May 4, 193.S) 

N addition to the priceless collection of tools, 
archaeological and antiquarian items contained 
in our museums, we have many paintings, engrav- 
ings, photographs and broadsides, also a most 
valuable reference library with many documents, 
old deeds, letters and manuscripts. 
Some of the most interesting and valuable of the paintings 
hang on the wall of this renovated auditorium. As their history 
may not be known to all of you, I desire to invite your attention 
to some of them. 




Paintings by Edward Hicks 



Henry D. Paxson, Jr., Esq., 
in his paper read before this 
society in 1922,^ stated that 
he had listed twenty paintings 
by Edward Hicks, a native 
of Bucks County, a coach 
painter by trade, and an 
itinerant minister among 
Friends. That list has been 
enlarged to thirty, and no 
doubt others will be un- 
earthed and added from time 
to time. 

This society is the fortu- 
nate owner of four of these 
Edward Hicks paintings, and 
we learn that a number of 
others may at an early day be presented to us. Of the four owned 
by us, the one hanging on the north wall of this room, called 




EDWARD HICKS (1780-1849) 



1 Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. VI, page 1. 




Ol>^Us>^ v^,>^ 



OVUkI 



PAINTINGS AND OTHER WORKS OF ART 



335 



"The Peaceable Kingdom," illustrating the eleventh chapter of 
Isaiah, embracing the animals mentioned therein, was a favorite 
subject of Hicks, which he painted many times, and probably no 
two exactly alike, either in size or arrangement. The three others 
hang on the south wall. Two of them represent "Washington 




THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM 

Crossing the Delaware," copied after a large canvass, size 146>2 
by 207>2 inches, painted by Thomas Sully, now in possession of 
the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston. This was also one of 
Edward Hicks' favorite subjects which he painted a number 
of times. The larger one of our two, size of canvass 32 by 
32 inches, a half-tone of which is shown herewith, was 
salvaged from the old covered bridge which spanned the 
Delaware River at Washington Crossing. There were two of 
these paintings on that bridge, one at each end. The bridge was 
opened for travel January 1, 1834, and was carried away by the 
flood of January 8, 1841,^ but it appears that both paintings were 
saved. For years it was thought that both had gone down with 

2 Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. VI, page 171. 



336 



PAINTINGS AND OTHER WORKS OF ART 



the bridge, but the one from the Pennsylvania end was discovered 
in the loft of a store at Taylorsville, now Washington Crossing, 
and was secured for our society by the late Dr. Henry C. Mercer. 
It showed evidence of having been roughly handled, with a large 
hole which had been punched through the canvass; this was 
mended and the painting otherwise restored by Dr. Arthur Edwin 
Bve.' 




WHh|!!>^ 



The other copy of Washington Crossing the Delaware, from 
the New Jersey end of the bridge, also supposed to have become 
lost, turned up several years ago in the art galleries of Macy's 

-'' According to an old museum catalogue, prepared by General Davis, he 
records that the Hicks painting from the Pennsylvania end of the bridge was 
rescued by Huston Thompson, who ran on the bridge and secured it just as 
the bridge was tottering ready to fall. 



PAINTINGS AND OTHER WORKS OF ART 



337 



department store in New York City on consignment and priced 
at $2,449. 

It was later sold, by the owner, William R. Secord, now 
deceased, to Robert Fridenberg, art dealer, of 22 West 56th Street, 
New York City, in whose possession the painting still is. 
We have not been able to get a full history of this New Jersey 
copy after the bridge fell, but it appears that it was for 
some years hanging in a New Jersey tavern. The illustration 
sent out by Macy's shows it to be an exact copy of the one from 
the Pennsylvania end, and now in our museum, a half-tone of 
which is shown herewith. 

Robert W. Carle, of Front and Water Streets, New York City, 
a great-grandson of Edward Hicks, is making a collection of 
Hicks' paintings, and has kindly sent us photographs of many of 
them. 




The fourth picture by Edward Hicks, also hanging on the 
south wall, represents William Penn's Treaty with the Indians, 
under the old Elm tree at Shackamaxon. This subject was copied 
from Benjamin West's celebrated picture now hanging in Inde- 



338 PAINTINGS AND OTHER WORKS OF ART 

pendence Hall at Philadelphia.* This painting is fictitious from 
an historical standpoint. It represents men of mature years who 
were but children and did not arrive in this country until seven 
years after the treaty, if in fact there was such a treaty, which is 
disputed by some historians.'^ The three-story buildings shown 
in the background did not exist, as the country was then largely 
an unbroken wilderness. 

Paintings by Thomas Hicks 

There are three paintings 
by Thomas Hicks (son of 
Joseph and Jane (Bond) 
Hicks), a native of Newtown, 
Bucks County, who at the age 
of fifteen years entered the 
employ of his father's cousin, 
the above mentioned Edward 
Hicks, to begin his apprentice- 
ship as a coach painter.^ One 
of these is that of his own 
portrait, painted \v hen a young 
man. The other two hang 
on the west wall. One is a 
portrait of Martin Johnson 
Heed, painter to the Emperor 
of Brazil. The other is a por- thomas hicks (I823-1890) 

trait of Hon. John Jay, not 

John Jay, the first Chief-Justice of the United States, but of his 
grandson, born in 1817, and appointed Minister to Austria in 
1869. 

The picture hanging on the west wall, back of this platform, to 
the left of the Rescue of the Colors, is perhaps the only relic that 
has been preserved of the famous Beek exhibition held in Doyles- 

4 In Independence Hall, hanging over the fireplace in the Western room on 
the second floor. Size of canvass, 75 by 108 inches wide. 

5 The first Treaty with the Indians was negotiated by WiUiam Markham 
and concluded July 15, 1682. The second treaty was by William Penn in per- 
son and bears date June 23, 1683. 

6 Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. IV, page 44. For cut of Shacka- 
maxon monument, see Historical Collections of Pennsylvania, by Sherman 
Day, page 551. 




PAINTINGS AND OTHER WORKS OF ART 339 

town in August, 1855. It is a portrait of Hon. George G. Leiper, 
then a prominent resident of Delaware County, President of the 
exhibition. It was painted by Samuel F. DuBois, a noted artist 
of Doylestown. 

On the east wall hangs a portrait of Major Joseph Oliver Victor 
Senez Archambault, who was on the staff of Napoleon at Water- 
loo, and who was one of the 18 persons permitted to accompany 

him in his exile to St. Helena. 
On October 19, 1817, Major 
Archambault left St. Helena, 
and on May 5, 1818, arrived in 
America. In 1829 he bought 
J'.' : ^^HH^L ^^ ^^^^^^B ^^^ Brick Hotel at Newtown 

in Bucks County.^ Shortly 
thereafter he joined the Union 
Troop of Bucks County, of 
which he was made lieutenant 
and later promoted to captain. 
He was succeeded as captain 
by Lambert Leshley. The 
last captain of that troop was 
James S. Mann, grandfather 
of our efficient curator, Horace 
M. Mann. Captain Mann 

MAJOR JOSEPH ARCHAMBAULT . j i ^u .u 

was m command when that 
troop entered the Civil War, and under whom it took part in the 
Battle of Gettysburg. The flag of that troop is in our possession, 
and will find a resting place in this auditorium. 

On April 1, 1862, Major Archambault enlisted in the Second 
Pennsylvania Cavalry of which he was commissioned captain of 
Troop A. He was promoted to Major, June 27, 1862. He died 
in Philadelphia, July 3, 1874. In the cabinet underneath his por- 
trait is the military coat of one of his uniforms. 

Paintings by Thomas P. Otter 
There are three paintings by Thomas P. Otter, a well-known 
artist of Doylestown, whom I remember very well, as doubtless 
many of you do. These were all painted at Meridan Hill, Wash- 
ington, D. C, where the 104th Regiment went in winter quarters 
' Historic Newtown, by Edward R. Barnsley, page 44. 




340 



PAINTINGS AND OTHER WORKS OF ART 



during 1861-62. The painting on the north wall represents 
Colonel Davis' brigade, which included in addition to his own 
regiment, the 52nd Pennsylvania, the 56th New York and the 
11th Maine Regiments. Colonel Davis as ranking colonel was in 
command.^ 

Mr. Otter painted a view of the Nockamixon Palisades, from a 
point on the Delaware River at the mouth of Gallows Run. I 
had the pleasure of being with him part of the time when he 
painted that picture, which is now owned by a family in Kintners- 
ville. 




CAMP OF THE 104th REGIMENT AT MERIDAN HILL 

Mr. Otter was a mild and unassuming man, and knowing him 
as we did, the following pleasantry can be appreciated. It was 
related to me by a friend who is present with us this afternoon, 
who prefaced his yarn with the facetious statement that Mr. 
Otter must have been a very profane man ; that on one occasion 
while exploring an old gristmill near Spring Valley, he stepped on 
a loose board on one of the upper stories, fell through to the ground 
below. He gathered himself together, got up, and in slow tones 
said, "Oh sugar." 

8 History of the 104th Regiment by General Davis, pages 25-30. 



PAINTINGS AND OTHER WORKS OF ART 



341 



Paintings by William L. Lathrop 

We are fortunate in having two paintings by William L. 
Lathrop of New Hope, the nestor of the Bucks County colony of 
artists, which he says are unfinished. They were painted in 1912 
for the parade of Doylestown's Old Home Week. They hang on 
both sides of the front entrance doors. One is the old hip-roofed 
house where Baron Fernoy of General Washington's staff made 
his headquarters prior to the Battle of Trenton. The other of the 
old chestnut tree, called "Washington Tree," on the Paxson 




THK WASHlNCiTOX TRKE 

Estate on the north side of the Old York Road, quite near 
Coryell's Ferry, now New Hope. Underneath this tree General 
Washington met Generals Greene and Alexander, and outlined to 
them his plans for the Battle of Trenton. The tree was then 
about 33 years old, and when cut down November 28, 1893, at the 
age of 150 years, measured 22 feet in circumference. 



Painting by Daniel Garber 

The beautiful painting hanging above the south fireplace is 
from the brush of Daniel Garber. It is a rear view of the so- 
called Whittier House, located on what was formerly the Healy 



342 



PAINTINGS AND OTHER WORKS OF ART 



Farm, in Solebury Township, Bucks County. It stands about 
one-half mile from the Delaware River, about 350 yards south 
of the public road leading from Lumberville to Lahaska. In this 
house, now the property of Graham Starr, the Amesbury poet 
lived from 1837 to 1840, and there he wrote some of his early 




WHITTIER HOUSE IN SOLEBURY TOWNSHIP 

poems. That fact gives this old house its historic value, but 
aside from its historic significance, we are indeed fortunate in 
having this painting by Mr. Garber, that noted Bucks County 
artist. He presented it to the Bucks County Historical Society, 
9 John G. Whittier was born at Haverhill, Mass., Dec. 17, 1807; while 
living in Solebury Township he edited the "Pennsylvania Freeman." He 
moved to Amesbury, Mass., in 1840. Died Sept. 7, 1892. He did not marry. 



PAINTINGS AND OTHER WORKS OF ART 343 

at the Cutaloosa Valley meeting, held near his studio on June 16, 
1918. (Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. V, page 151.) 

Mr. Garber stated that when he painted this old house he did 
not know that the poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, had lived there, 
but because it was a study that appealed to him. 

Painting by Miss Marion Darst 
The portrait hanging over the north fireplace, painted by Miss 
Marion Darst, now of Doylestown, a member of our society, who 
is present with us this afternoon, is a life-size portrait of General 
W. W. H. Davis, a hero of two wars, who founded our society in 
1880, and served as its president for 30 years, until removed by 
death in 1910 at the age of 90 years (see Frontispiece). ^° All 
honor to General Davis for his pioneer work and loyalty to the 
history of Bucks County, struggling along as he did, for years 
without proper financial support. He was largely instrumental 
in securing the grounds on which these buildings stand ;^^ also 
in his contact with the Elkins family which furnished the greater 
part of the funds for the erection of the building in which we are 
now assembled, known as the "Elkins Museum." Underneath 
the portrait of General Davis, hang two crossed swords, which he 
gallantly carried in his military campaigns. One was presented 
to him by the Doylestown Guards, January 30, 1847, on his 
departure to the Mexican War.'' The other one was worn by 
him in the War of the Rebellion, in which he served throughout 
the entire war.'"' 

10 General Davis was born July 20, 1820; died December 26, 1910. 

11 The property on which these museums stand was purchased at two 
different times. The northeast corner, 150 ft. by 200 ft., on April 27, 1^00. 
The other part, containing over six acres, on April 1, 1903. See Bucks County 
Historical Society, Vol. 1, preface, page 37. 

12 The inscription on the Mexican sword is: "Presented to Lieutenant 
W. W. H. Davis on his departure for the seat of War, January 30, 1847." 

13 Fort Sumter was fired upon and fell on Friday, April 12, 1861. The 
news reached Doylestown on the Saturday following. On Monday, the fif- 
teenth, Captain Davis called a meeting to reorganize the Doylestown Guards, 
and to ask for enlistments. The response was spontaneous, and the quota of 
his company was soon filled. Their services were offered to the Governor of 
Pennsylvania to serve for three months. On being mustered out August 21, 
1861, General Davis was authorized by the Secretary of War, to recruit a 
regiment to serve for three years. This resulted in Bucks County's 104th 
Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. He served as Colonel and Brevet 
Brigadier General until mustered out with his regiment on Saturday, October 
1, 1864. A large number of the men under command of Lieut. Col. Hart, 
re-enlisted, and served throughout the war, and were finally mustered out 
August 25, 1865. 




£ fe >, 

O p:^ .S 



>. -a 
II 

O m 



paintings and other works of art 345 

Rescue of the Colors 

And finally the "Rescue of the Colors," hanging above this 
platform, size of canvass 4 ft. by 7 ft. 6 in., painted by William T. 
Trego of North Wales, Montgomery County, portraying an heroic 
and thrilling incident in the desperate fight of the 104th Regiment, 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, at the Battle of Fair Oaks before Rich- 
mond, Virginia, on Saturday, May 31, 1862. That regiment, 
under command of General, then Colonel, Davis, part of the 
Army of the Potomac, was in the forefront of that battle, within 
six miles of Richmond, the nearest point to that capitol of the 
Southern Confederacy reached by Union Troops, until Lee's 
army capitulated to General Grant at Appomattox three years 
later. 

This heroic and historic picture was presented to the Bucks 
County Historical Society by the late Hon. John Wanamaker, 
and unveiled at the courthouse October 21, 1899, where it re- 
mained until the Elkins Museum was completed in 1904, when, 
by order of the County Commissioners, it, together with the 
flags of the 104th Regiment, was removed to this auditorium. 

The exercises at the unveiling, presided over by Hon. Joseph 
Thomas, M. D., were thrilling and patriotic, and in closing this 
paper I must ask to be pardoned for repeating in part the addresses 
of General Davis, who graphically described the battle, and the 
Hon. John Wanamaker, who presented the painting to our 



From the Address of General W. W. H. Davis 

General Davis said: "We have come together this afternoon 
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 highly prized by soldiers than the flags of 
their regiments, for they represent their cause and country, and, 
to lose them on the field of battle sometimes entails disgrace. 

"The occasion today is made more deeply interesting by the 
fact that the heroic deed in question, was the deed of Bucks 
County's sons, and the regiment which carried them was Bucks 

14 Bucks County Historical Society, Vol II, page 576 et seq. For Battle of 
Fair Oaks, see Ibid., page 337. 



346 PAINTINGS AND OTHER WORKS OF ART 

County's regiment, serving in the great war for the preservation 
of the Union." 

"The 104th Regiment was the first to cross the historic 
Chickahominy on the march of the Army of the Potomac to 
Richmond, May, 1862. That was on the 21st, and in the next 
two days the regiment crossed and recrossed that stream five 
times." 

"The Battle of Fair Oaks opened about one o'clock on that 
hot afternoon of May 31, 1862, and the 104th had the honor of 
delivering the first fire, a regimental volley, that sent 400 rifle 
balls into the enemy's ranks. This announced to the Army of 
the Potomac that the battle was on." 

He H= * ^ ^ 

"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 men were finally ordered to cease firing and fix bayonets, 

which was promptly done, followed by the command — 'Charge 

bayonets! forward! double quick! march!', and the regiment 

sprang forward with a tremendous yell. In 100 yards it struck a 

low worm fence, not seen before; the four right companies, 

including the company with the colors, springing over the fence. 

The color-bearers stuck their flag-stafl^s in the soft ground and 

lay down beside them. It will now be understood that the 

regiment was astride of 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." 

***** 

"At that time the 104th was engaged single-handed with a 
superior force. Over two hours had elapsed since the regiment 
went into action ; more than one-third of their number had fallen ; 
we could hold the ground no longer; the regiment was 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 efl'ort to capture our flag and nearly succeeded." 



PAINTINGS AND OTHER WORKS OF ART 347 

"The flag carried by 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 to those nearest, not to return without the flag. 
Several sprang for it, including Major Gries, Sergeant Myers, 
Corporal Mitchener and others. Hiram W. Pursell had already 
secured his flag, and with it in his hand, jumped 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 flag in the right, and jumped back over 
the fence, this time with both flags, and they were rescued. While 
doing this he was hit by 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 Mitchener, who 
brought them safely off the field. Both Major Gries and Ser- 
geant Slack died from their wounds." 

^ ^ :^ :^ ^ 

One-third of the men of the 104th Regiment were killed or 
wounded, and moreover there were many other casualties during 
the so-called Peninsula Campaign. If this is not heroism, where 
in the annals of history will you find it? 

One of the flags that was rescued stands in yonder glass case 
at the left of the south fireplace, where General Davis placed it. 
That flag was presented to the 104th Regiment on October 21, 
1861, by the patriotic ladies of Doylestown at a public meeting 
where 5,000 were present, one-half of which were ladies. ^'' 

The photograph of Hiram W. Pursell taken in his mature 
years will be hung alongside of the Rescue of the Colors. 

From the Presentation Address of 
Hon. John Wanamaker 
Mr. Wanamaker said : "My part in these proceedings is a very 
simple one, and I confess to a feeling of selfishness. When Gen- 
eral Davis brought the subscription paper to me with two $25 
subscriptions on it, I said to myself: 'The General ought not to 
be begging for money for the commemoration of the deeds of 

15 Hiram W. Pursell enlisted from Bridgeton Township, Bucks County, as 
a corporal in Company G, 104th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. See 
History of that regiment by General Davis, page 349. He was born August 1, 
1837, died at White Haven, Luzerne County, Pa., May 13, 1918. Buried 
Laurel Hill Cemetery, White Haven. 

16 History of the 104th Regiment, page 17. 



348 PAINTINGS AND OTHER WORKS OF ART 

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.' " 

"I thank the people of Bucks County for the opportunity of 
presenting this picture. It is intended as a gift of a friend and 
neighbor. To the regiment I can only say that it is a gift out of a 
loving heart for them." ***** 

"Who gave the order to recover the colors? I think I can 
take him by the hand, you General Davis (grasping him by the 
hand). The man who never mentioned his own name today in 
the story of the rescue. Wounded though he was, the thing 
uppermost in his mind was the preservation of the flag of his 
country." ***** 

"Your men enlisted as Bucks Countians and returned as 
Bucks Countians after the war was over, but from the day they 
left the boundaries 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 Union. When was that flag ever so 
beautiful as it is today?" 

"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 selfish personal purposes to surmount loyalty to jus- 
tice, truth and honor; despite all differences and divisions, living 
together under the great arch of uprightness and good citizenship 
as flag-revering American citizens, we shall see our country the 
pride and joy of the whole earth." 

What John Wanamaker said 36 years ago is equally pertinent 
in the troublesome times we are now passing through. 

General Davis was wounded in his left arm at the battle of 
Fair Oaks, but he received a more serious wound at the siege of 
Charleston, S. C, on July 6, 1864. He was inspecting the bat- 
tery of the enemy with a field glass, his left arm resting against a 
tree. A shell fired directly at him exploded near where he stood; 
one piece hit his right hand, lacerating it and tearing away the 
first three fingers of that hand. Thereafter he wrote with his 
left hand. The protection of the tree saved his life.^^ 

17 History of the 104th Regiment, pages 321-361. 



Biographical Notice of Matthias Heaton Hall 

Bv DR. B. F. FACKENTHAL, Jr., RIEGELSVILLE, PA. 
(Doylestown Meeting, May 4, 1935) 

IT is my sad duty to announce the passing of Matthias H. Hall, 
which occurred at Penn's Neck, near Princeton, N. J., on 

Saturday, April 13, 1935. 

He was born in Doylestown Township, Bucks County, April 
29, 1844, and was therefore within 15 days of reaching the age 
of 91 years. 

He was a descendant of Matthew Hall of Birmingham, Eng- 
land, who came to America about 1725 and settled in Bucking- 
ham Township, Bucks County. 

His father, Mahlon Hall, was twice married and the father 
of 17 children, of whom Miss Emma Hall is the only survivor. 
His mother was Isabelle, nee Robinson. 

On November 18, 1874, he married Sarah Wiggins, daughter 
of Jesse and Margaret (Hampton) Wiggins of Wrightstown, 
whose emigrant ancestor was Benjamin Wiggins. They were 
the parents of five children: Miss Frances Hall; Margaret, who 
married Beaumont Reed; Hannah, who married Frederick 
Craft; Jesse, living in Philadelphia; and Emma, who married 
George Bury. 

He followed agricultural pursuits and began farming in 
Wrightstown Township. Five years later he removed to Upper 
Makefield Township, where in 1883 he purchased a farm, on 
which he resided until he retired from active business. Over the 
later years of his life he lived with his daughter, Mrs. Margaret 
Reed, at Penn's Neck. He retained his good health and active 
mind down to the day of his death. His body was laid at rest on 
Tuesday afternoon, April 16th, in the Friends' burying ground at 
Wrightstown Meeting House. 

His portrait, taken during the latter days of his life, can be 
seen in the frontispiece of this volume. 

He was elected to membership in the Bucks County Historical 
Society on January 8, 1897, and was one of the most faithful mem- 
bers in attending the meetings of the society, in which he took an 
active interest. Doctor Mercer, in appreciation of his devotion 



350 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF MATTHIAS H. HALL 

to our society, on January 15, 1927, when at the age of 83 years, 
long after most men retire, nominated him for election as a 
director, in which ofifice he served down to the day of his death. 
His council and advice were always of benefit in the management 
of our society. Even at his advanced age he displayed an active 
and liberal mind. 

He was specially interested in archaeology and folklore and 
contributed the four following papers to our proceedings : 

Titles Dates Volumes 

Historical Reminiscences of Pineville and Vicinity. . . Jan. 19,1904 III 332 

The Path that Led to the Indian Village of Playwickey June 16, 1923 V 497 

Notes at Random P>oni My Life's Experience Jan. 15, 1927 VI 82 

Contribution to the Memorial Services of Dr. Henry 

C. Mercer May 3, 1930 VI 311 

The presence of this grand old man, with his cheerful per- 
sonality, will be missed from among us, but let us rejoice in his 
long and useful life. 



Some Memories of George Brown Ellis, Edwin M. Ellis and 

William H. Ellis, Early Nineteenth Century Engravers, 

of Buckmanville Valley, Bucks County, Pa. 

By CHARLES G. ELLIS, Ph. D., GRANDSON OF GEORGE BROWN ELLIS 

(Doylcstowii Meeting, May 4, 1935) 

IN 1903, the day before my steamer was to sail from Liverpool 
for New York, I took train from Chester to Holywell, the town 
from which my paternal ancestor emigrated. 
I found Holywell a quaint market town of the County of 
Flint, of some four thousand inhabitants, pleasantly situated in a 
rather steep valley, facing the north and the estuary of the River 
Dee. In the upper part of the town is the famous St. Winifred's 
Well, which flows from the crypt of an ancient Gothic chapel in 
such volume that within two miles it turns the wheels of three or 
four mills. The well itself is said to have sprung up where the 
blood of St. Winifred, a beautiful Welsh maiden, was shed at the 
hands of an ancient prince of Wales, when she gave her life in 
defense of her honor. The waters are held to have great curative 
value, and the spring was rented from the Episcopalians by the 
Romanists for 150 pounds a year. The Episcopalians wor- 
shipped in the chapel above. The Romanists brought great 
numbers of pilgrims to bathe in the icy waters of the pool below — 
at a price. All above the pool in the crypt one sees piled up 
crutches, braces, splints, and trusses. Some are new, many old 
and rotting, as mute evidences of cures effected. 

A beautiful marble statue of St. Winifred ever looks down into 
the spring and assures the faithful of her benediction. Between 
bathing hours, for tuppence, I bought a small lead image of St. 
Winifred, a printed promise of indulgence for many days if one 
would pray for the conversion of Wales to the Roman faith, and 
was allowed to descend and inspect the spring, the mementoes, 
and the large bathing pool adjacent. 

Also, for nothing, I peeked out of the leaded w^indows of the 
chapel above and saw the twisted, the crooked, and the rheumatic 
bathers take their turns in wading into the deep green pool that 
was, that August day, little warmer than ice water. Wandering 
up above the town, I sat down on a high hill amid the blooming 



352 MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 

furze and broom, and wondered how many of my ancestors had 
watched the clouds and sunshine and the soft summer showers as 
they momentarily changed the distant view of Snowdon. Then, 
looking to the north over the quiet little town, and out to sea 
where stretched the Sands of Dee, I seemed to hear Sally calling 
the cattle home. 

From the market town of Holywell, Flintshire, North Wales, 
David Ellis and his wife Grace came to Philadelphia in 1795. I 
found that the ancestors of the Ellis family suffered from no 
inferiority complex, for they traced their descent possibly, but 
certainly their name, from the Prophet Elias. I secured also a 
copy of the family coat of arms. It shows a crowned angelic 
figure bearing a palm branch of victory in his hand and standing 
on top of the world. 

In an old family Bible was found the following record: 

Holywell, Flintshire, North Wales, Great Britain. 

Children of David and Grace Ellis. 

Jane was born 10 minutes after 12 o'clock Sunday morning, 
March 7th, 1790. 

Sarah, born 30 minutes after 9 o'clock Wednesday night, 
January 11th, 1792. 

Jane died Sunday night 9 o'clock June 16th, 1793. 

Sarah died Wednesday morning, Feb. 11th, 1793. 

John was born 30 minutes after 11 o'clock Thursday, Novem- 
ber 12th, 1793. 

John died, Sunday noon, July 19th, 1795, at Philadelphia. 

Jane born in Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 23rd, 1796. 

Grace Ellis, wife of David Ellis and mother of the above chil- 
dren, died on Sunday afternoon at 11 o'clock March 11th, 1798. 
Was interred in the grave adjoining the two last children, north- 
east corner of Pine St. Meeting Burying Ground, Philadelphia. 

David married for his second wife Martha Brown, probably a 
descendant of George Brown, who, with Mary, his wife, cam.e 
from Lancashire, England, in 1679. 

Children born to David Ellis by Martha, his wife: 

David Robert Ellis, born Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock, 
March 12, 1799. 

George B. Ellis, born ^ after 9 o'clock, Saturday night, April 
19, 1801. 



MEMORIES OF EARLY 19TH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 353 

Edwin M. Ellis, born 30 minutes after 5 o'clock, Friday after- 
noon, October 6, 1809. 

William H. Ellis, born October — , 1816, died December 17, 
1893. 

For about forty years the family resided in Philadelphia. As 
a result of a yellow fever or cholera epidemic some time in the 
1830's, Martha Brown Ellis and her three living sons, George B., 
Edwin M., and William H., determined to make a permanent 
home in the country. They spent one summer at Langhorne, 
and later moved to the beautiful Buckmanville Valley, a basin 
shut in by the Jericho Hills, the Windy Bush, Bowman's Hill, 
and the highlands below New Hope — a region whose artistic 
values are now recognized by a famous and growing nearby art 
colony. 

The oldest of the Ellis brothers, George B. Ellis, was already 
widely recognized by the world outside the valley for his excep- 
tional artistic ability. George had learned the art of steel- 
engraving from Francis Kearney in Philadelphia and trained his 
brothers in the art. All three were notable illustrators in their 
day, but George was ranked as one of the three best of his time in 
America. He called himself a Historical Engraver. 

About 1837 the family bought three farms near the now almost 
deserted village of Buckmanville, the mother buying one and 
dwelling there with her son Edwin. William bought what was 
afterward the Theodore Briggs farm. William Ellis was a free- 
holder in Newtown in 1839. He and his mother lived in the 
stone house on lower State Street near Court for one year. 
Between her place and William's, George also bought a farm, a 
part of the original John Atkinson Tract, and adjoining John L. 
Atkinson, whose daughter Amy he married in 1840. Amy 
Ellis' ring bears the date 1838, but her marriage took place 
April 6, 1840. 

George B. Ellis' farm was afterwards ow^ned for many years by 
Thomas Briggs, and later was the Pershing fruit farm of Jericho. 
George B. Ellis had early established himself and his reputation 
as an artist in Philadelphia. When quite a young man, while 
working for his instructor, Kearney, a very flattering offer for his 
services came from London with much higher compensation 
there than he w^as then receiving, but his employer suppressed the 
letter, and he only found the matter out when too late to accept. 



354 MEMORIES OF EARLY 19TH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 

When only 22, we find him illustrating such works as Oliver 
Goldsmith's "History of Animated Nature," and at 23 the 
"Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott." Having established 
himself as an artist and having accumulated sufficient property, 
he was able before he was forty years of age to move to the 
country, buy a fine farm, and enjoy the old time pleasures of a 
country gentleman. Though, as noted by the various writers in 
art cyclopedias, his name disappeared from the city directories 
in 1838, he maintained a correspondent in the city, and worked at 
his art as he saw fit in his country home in the beautiful valley. 

Here his children were born: Benjamin Franklin, Winfield 
Scott, John Atkinson, Martha Ann who died young, George B., 
and Elizabeth A., now Elizabeth Janney, widow of George 
Janney. Here, too, tragedy befell the Ellis family. The head 
farmer, Benjamin Leedom, was mowing with one of the 
recently invented mowing machines in the meadow by the house 
when his horses ran away and threw Leedom into the knives or 
cutting bar, which cut ofif a hand and a foot. Mrs. Ellis ran into 
the field and when father had pulled the dying man out of the 
machine she attempted to staunch the bleeding. Through the 
violent endeavor then, and later in setting up a bed when father 
broke his leg, my grandmother was so strained that she soon 
developed cancer of the breast, from which she died. 

Grandfather Ellis never married again, but dfevoted himself to 
his children, his home, and his work until his death in 1863. We 
may picture this noted artist in the seclusion of his farm home 
back in the hills; his large mahogany bookcases filled with beauti- 
fully bound volumes, rows of the British poets, editions especially 
illustrated with his owm engravings, of Byron, Scott, editions of 
Shakespeare, Hume, and Smollett's "History of England," "The 
Arabian Nights," Young's "Night Thoughts," Thompson's 
"Seasons," "Keepsakes," and other annuals, volumes of Gra- 
ham's Magazine, Godey's Lady's Book, dictionaries, encyclo- 
pedias, books of philosophy, "The Works of Samuel Johnson," 
and many others gathered during forty years of illustrating books ; 
and the walls of his parlors hung with many splendid foreign 
engravings. In his atelier, an upstairs room with good light, 
were portfolios of engravings of paintings of scenes from Shakes- 
peare's plays by the Royal Artists. Here were his drawing 



MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 355 

boards and work tables, his steel plates, parallel rulers, pencils, 
engraver's tools, lining machine, and his willow charcoal. 

His older children had their farm tasks, attended the country 
schools in season, had their traps, guns, and entered into the 
country life. Johnnie and George, Jr., one night caught a 
strange animal in their rabbit trap, and when they carried the 
trap into the kitchen for Bridget to see the wee bunny with a 
w^hite stripe on its back, and when Bridget cautiously put her 
hand in to stroke the bunny, saying, "Be aisy, wee bunny, be 
aisy," something happened too dreadful to mention, and one of 
the boys who was peeping down Bridget's arm nearly lost the 
sight of an eye. "Take it away!" Bridget cried, "Take away 
the nasty thing!" 

After grandmother died, his little daughter, Lizzie, was taken 
into grandfather's room, where he cared for her, and she played 
about by the hour. The lonely man spent hours in his room, 
engraving, reading, and, when his eyes were too tired for the 
magnifying glass and the use of the graver's tool, he amused 
himself by copying page after page from the dictionary or color- 
ing a portfolio of engravings of Shakespeare's plays. The port- 
folio had just been completed and the varnish had not yet dried 
when grandfather suddenly died. 

One day Frank and Winfield were mowing with scythes when 
Frank caught Winfield, and nearly cut through the calf of his 
leg. At another time, George nearly cut Lizzie's foot off with a 
scythe. At another, Winfield fell from a pole swing upon a 
pile of rocks at a picnic ground, and broke the thigh bone in 
three places — an injury that shortened one leg more than an 
inch. So life with five motherless children moved along on the 
farm, until the boys began to leave home. B. Frank was a 
mechanical genius, and invented and put into operation ball 
bearings, and had his patent application in for months before, by 
some legal twist, the patent went to another. Father went to 
Newtown to learn the carpenter's trade from G. B. Girton. 
For about thirty-five years he was the carpenter at the George 
School, and the picture of him in the carpenter's shop, with the 
legend, "An Artist in Wood," was a feature of the annual Cata- 
logue of the School. 

George attended an academy at Kennett Square, Elizabeth, 



356 MEMORIES OF EARLY 19TH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 

after her father's death, was sent to the Belleview Academy, and 
John became a farmer. 

George B. ElHs' business card reads: 

"George B. ElUs, Historical Engraver, Address Brownsburg, 
Bucks Co., Pa. or J. Warr, No. 4 So. Fifth Street, Philadelphia." 

We also have an engraving something like a book plate of 
today, but probably intended for advertising purposes — an 
urn surrounded and partly concealed by shrubbery, bearing upon 
an exposed side, the inscription, "G. B. Ellis, Historical En- 
graver." He called himself an Historical Engraver presumably 
because, as a student of history, he had engraved so many 
Shakespearian scenes, so much for Scott's works, and for Hume 
and Smollett's "History of England," and so many portraits of 
great men. 

He was thoroughly read in Shakespeare, and I have heard 
said was considered an authority on the costumes and costuming 
for historical pageants, and was called in for council whenever 
there was any considerable effort at entertainment of that kind. 
As a youth, my father was frequently sent to Brownsburg for the 
mail and for the papers that came from Philadelphia. 

Father kept a boat on the river and rowed over to meet the 
mail or paper train. Grandfather had hired men to work his 
farm, but he superintended things well, and I have heard father 
say that in harvest time he loved to go out in the field, lay aside 
his coat, and bind a few sheaves of wheat. 

Occasionally, he would take one of his sons and drive to 
Philadelphia, by what father used to call the Old York Road. 
Grandfather was also interested in gardening, and I remember 
in my childhood father had a tin box in which grandfather had 
been accustomed to keep his garden seeds. My mother met 
George B. Ellis but once, when taken by my father to meet his 
father shortly before his death. Her memory is of a portly 
gentleman of medium height, carefully dressed, and exceedingly 
courteous and kind. He entertained her by showing pictures 
of Shakespeare's plays and recounting and quoting the humour- 
ous anecdotes and lines illustrated. 

While visiting one of my father's cousins, and grandfather's 
niece in Chicago, Mrs. Egbert Jamison, she remarked, speaking 
of George B. Ellis, "Thy grandfather would never do that." 



MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 357 

To my inquiry, "Do what?" she answered, "What thee is doing 
— cross his knees in the presence of a lady. Thy grandfather 
was in every way a gentleman." 

George B. Ellis died suddenly, August 14, 1863. At the time of 
his death, he had two sons in the Union armies — one, B. Frank- 
lin, in the lines before Charleston, S. C, and Winfield, who had 
gone to the front in the Pennsylvania State Troops in the sud- 
den need at Gettysburg. The strain was too much for a tired 
heart. G. B. Ellis had once secured the exemption of Winfield 
from enlistment because of the injured and shortened leg, but 
the young man had gone off again when the home State was 
invaded. B. J. Smith, one time local financier and promoter of 
the Newtown Railroad, immediately upon grandfather's death, 
huried to Harrisburg and secured the release of my father 
Winfield from the army and brought him home for his father's 
funeral. 

George B. Ellis had two brothers, Edwin M. and William 
H., also engravers, who with their mother lived on an adjoining 
farm. Both were good steel engravers, but neither equalled 
their brother George in excellence or amount of work accom- 
plished. 

Edwin remained a bachelor. William married one Ann 
Corson and had two sons; Godey Ellis, so named because for 
years William was an illustrator of the famous "Godey's Lady's 
Book," and George. Both Godey and George followed mer- 
cantile pursuits. Godey became a proprietor of factories in 
Bristol and Philadelphia. 

For some reason never divulged, William and his wife separ- 
ated after a few years of married life. Mrs. Ellis returned to 
her home in Forestville, and William remained with his mother 
and brother on the farm at Buckmanville. For a number of 
years, beginning when I was ten or twelve years of age, I an- 
nually spent two weeks in the summer-time visiting among my 
uncles and great-uncles in Upper Makefield and Buckingham, 
making my headquarters with my great-uncle, John L. Atkinson, 
of Windy Bush Farm. 

As a little boy, I well remember my first visit to the home of 
the old engravers, Edwin and William Ellis. I went down 
across the fields by Uncle John's fish pond, found a way through 
a thicket, and across a swampy brook to Great-grandmother 



358 MEMORIES OF EARLY 19TH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 

Ellis' farm. The artists had not farmed the place for years, 
but had let out the fields on shares or otherwise. The hedges 
about the fields extended ten or fifteen feet on either side from 
the old fence lines. In one of the hedges, I found a large pear 
tree loaded with good-sized yellow natural fruit. Finally, I 
reached the house, and introduced myself to my great-uncles. 
Uncle Edwin was thin, slender, and sallow, with a long face, 
straight dark hair, and dark, humorous eyes. He reminded me 
of pictures of Henry Clay. He was dressed in ancient black, a 
somewhat worn black brocaded vest, and stiff collar and black 
tie, resembling an ancient stock. 

Uncle William was of a more sandy complexion with hair 
inclined to curl, and partly gray and had blue eyes. He was of a 
more rugged build, quick in his motions, and while he also wore 
the brocaded vest (they were the first I ever remember seeing), 
his costume gave a more modern impression. 

It was a delightful place for a boy to visit. These kindly 
old men brought out some of those same yellow pears I had 
sampled in the hedge, but now cooked in molasses. Uncle 
Edwin produced a dish of boiled chestnuts and told me about 
pictures and engraving. He said that there were three principal 
methods of steel engraving. Line engraving, in which the 
engraver, by cutting lines straight or curved lightly or deeply, 
formed a picture on a polished steel plate. These steel plates 
were polished with charcoal made of willow twigs, because 
willow is particularly fine-grained and soft. He said that at 
times they made their own charcoal. The picture to be en- 
graved was first drawn with a fine lead pencil on a rather stiff 
card. Then a copy of this drawing was traced on a stiff trans- 
parent paper with a sharp steel point. 

Dry red lead or chalk was worked into the lines of the draw- 
ing on the transfer paper. This was then placed on the steel 
plate, and the paper gently tapped or pressed until a faint out- 
line in red was printed. The engraver then with his graving 
tool cut the outline of the picture on the plate. The filling-in 
and completion of the picture became a process of infinite 
patience and consumption of time. Grandfather, at times, 
spent from one to three months on one plate. 

The background of a picture was always finished first, then 
the figures developed, and the faces were finished last. A num- 



MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 359 

ber of impressions were taken from time to time to prove the 
work as it progressed. In a steel engraving the darker parts of 
the picture are cut deepest into the plate, and the lighter por- 
tions more faintly cut. This is just the opposite from printing 
from type. An impression was taken by flowing the ink on the 
plate and then wiping off the excess ink with the palm of the 
hand. The paper to receive the picture was dampened and 
pressed down until, sinking into the plate, it picked up the ink 
in the cuts made by the graver. 

I have one of grandfather's beautifully drawn pencil pic- 
tures, a number of proofs of pictures in various stages of finish- 
ing, and at one time had some of his transparent transfer paper, 
w^hich resembled heavy cellophane. 

Another method of engraving was the stipple, a picture pro- 
duced by covering the plate with a multitude of very fine holes 
of varying depths, which produced a stipple effect in the printing. 
Stippling was often used in portraiture, and sometimes com- 
bined with line engraving. A third mode of engraving was the 
mezzotint, when the plates were roughened up by the use of a 
curved steel rocker, which had the face cross-hatched with 
rough lines. When the rocker was worked backward and 
forward across the face of a smooth plate of steel, the surface 
became uniformly roughened. Then with a scraper this rough 
surface was worked down to produce the picture desired. The 
mezzotint made a beautiful, soft-tinted picture, but without 
the fineness of detail of a line or stipple engraving, and with the 
further disadvantage that only a limited number of prints could 
be made. 

Uncle Edwin talked to me about English History — the 
Plantagenets, the Tudors, the Wars of the Roses, about Crom- 
well, and the Pretenders. It was nearly sixty years ago, but I 
can si:ill hear his voice as he spoke of the Pretender. They 
talked about American History, and my uncles told me that 
Gen. Jacob Brown, the hero of Lundy's Lane and Sackett's 
Harbor, and General of the United States Armies, was a rela- 
tion of our family. 

These old gentlemen, although they did no farming, had some 
chickens and a cow. They kept their mother's driving mare and 
never put harness on her after their mother died. She ran in 
the pasture all summer, and was carefully stabled in the winter. 



360 MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 

After Uncle Edwin's death, and when I was about fifteen, Uncle 
William, unable longer to care for her, gave her to my uncle, 
John A. Ellis, of Pineville. The mare w^as thirty-seven years 
old, and had not been shod or driven for fourteen years. She 
was hollow-backed, stifT-legged, mouse-colored, and her hoofs 
turned up in front like Turkish slippers. I had the privilege 
of driving her to a horse-rake. She shook her head in protest, 
and tried to hit me with her tail — the pathetic protest of an 
outraged old lady. 

Uncle Edwin had recently gotten some pictures in Phila- 
delphia, one a fine print of the painting, "Old Kentucky Home." 
He was so excited in getting the pictures that, when he took the 
train for home, he sat down in the one going to Lancaster. He 
was so surprised when the conductor came for his ticket that he 
got out at the first station and left his pictures on the train. 
However, the railway people in Philadelphia had them taken 
off the train and returned to him. 

Late one night, I think it was in 1877 or '78, w^e at our home 
in Newtown were waked up by a knocking on our door. To our 
surprise, it was Uncle Edwin, then about seventy years of age. 
He was nearly tired out. A man of sedentary habits, who rarely 
went away from his country home except by stage and railway, 
who was never known to go visiting, had caught the fever of the 
walking matches that were then very much in vogue, and, 
starting out from Buckmanville, had walked to Trenton, and 
then to Newtown. He said he had walked twenty-seven miles 
that day. It was the first and last time he ever visited our 
home. He stayed with us for a couple of days to rest, and we 
greatly enjoyed his pleasant humor, as he told of his experiences 
on the road. 

Uncle William told me of the time when, at fifteen or six- 
teen, he and a neighbor youth of Philadelphia decided to run 
away and go to sea. For some reason they set out to walk to 
New York to take ship rather than to risk it in their own city. 
They were walking along a highway on Sunday, when a church 
service was dismissed. As it was contrary to the laws of New 
Jersey to travel on Sunday in those days, they dropped their 
carpet-bags over a fence into a grass field, and sat on the fence 
to wait for the church people to pass by. 

While they were sitting there, something caused him to look 



MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 361 

around, and there was a man coming rapidly across the field 
with eyes apparently on their bags. It did not take either of 
them long to retrieve their bags, and to hurry away from the 
dangerous neighborhood. They reached New York, when my 
uncle failed heart about going to sea, and walked back to Phila- 
delphia. His companion went to sea, and afterward became an 
admiral in the American Navy. 

At another time, when Grandmother Ellis had taken her 
family to Langhorne because of the yellow fever epidemic. Uncle 
William found that they had left his violin behind. Starting 
very early one morning, he slipped away and walked in to Phila- 
delphia. The streets were barricaded with high board fences, 
but he climbed over the barricades until he reached his home, 
secured the violin, and walked back to Langhorne in the same 
day. Great-grandmother wondered why William was so tired 
and stiff the next morning. Although Uncle William and his 
wife separated after a few years of married life, and afterwards 
lived only five or six miles apart, they never visited one another, 
though each had the deepest regard for the other. When their 
children came home, it was to alternate visits with mother and 
father. 

When I visited Uncle William in his old age, he would always 
ask, "Have you seen Ann lately? How is she?" When I 
visited Aunt Ann a few days later, as I always did, for she was a 
delightful old lady, she would ask, "Have you seen William 
lately? How is he?" 

Thomas or "Tom" Conningmacher was a famous eccentric in 
those days of sixty years ago — a free thinker, if not an atheist — a 
brilliant mind gone wrong — one of those lean men who do not 
sleep well o' nights, for they think too much. 

Tom named his driving horse after the Saviour of Men, and 
when that horse ran away in the streets of Trenton, Tom's 
cries outraged even hardened sinners, and he was arrested and 
charged with blasphemy. Tom sometimes stopped with Uncle 
William after Uncle Edwin's death, and when I visited him one 
time, he said, "I am quite put out with Tom. He has insomnia, 
and wanders around at all hours of the night. The other night 
I felt something was wrong, and, getting up at about one or 
two o'clock, I saw a light in the barn, and going out, thinking 
there must be a fire, there was Tom on the barn floor with 



362 MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 

about a half bushel of eggs. He had a candle and a bucket of 
water, and was testing the eggs one by one to see if they would 
float or sink. He couldn't sleep, and with that candle he had 
hunted all the hens' nests, ancient and modern, in hay-mow, 
shed, or stable. I can't stand him — he is liable to burn me out." 

At another time: "Well, Tom got in a pretty fix. While I 
was away last week, he came home with a large watermelon, 
and, as the well has a windlass and bucket, Tom put the melon 
in the bucket, and tried to let it down into the well to cool it. 
About half way down, the bucket tipped over, and the melon, 
falling down the well, hit a can of cream, and spilled that in the 
water. Knowing that the well had to be cleaned, he worked an 
hour or so with windlass and bucket, until the water was pretty 
well lowered; then he went down by the rope, taking a broom 
to sweep down the walls, but he couldn't climb up again. When, 
late in the afternoon, I came home and went to the well for a 
drink of water, there was Tom down the well, so hoarse from 
shouting he could hardly croak, 'For God's sake get a ladder!' 
Well, I felt so angry that I went over to the store and sat and 
talked for an hour or so before I borrowed a ladder to get him 
out." 

The last time I visited Uncle William, he had gone out 
somewhere. The windows and doors were open. The house 
invited, so I went in. There were the old familiar pictures on 
the wall, the old books scattered about, but in the deep stone 
window-sill what I had never noticed before, an open and well- 
thumbed Bible. 

When uncle came in, we had one of those old-time talks. 
Afterwards, he could not let me go, but walked back across the 
fields to Uncle John L. Atkinson's, where he had supper with 
the family, and praised Aunt Margaret's molasses cookies, "so 
much nicer than he could get from the baker-wagon from New 
Hope." But after he had gone,. Aunt Margaret said, "Poor 
old man, he didn't know I got my cookies from the same baker 
he did." And I wondered, was Aunt Margaret right, or was 
there a twinkle in the courteous old gentleman's eye as he 
praised his hostess' generous meal? Those three brothers, 
artists, and gentlemen of the old school, have now slept nearly 
three-quarters of a century by the side of the mother they loved, 
beneath the sod hard by the Wrightstown Meeting House, their 



MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 363 

resting places marked only by the lowly, inconspicuous marbles 
familiar to that quiet spot. 

Bucks County historians have made no reference to these 
Bucks County artists, yet so well known were they elsewhere, 
that no worthwhile history of American art, or artists, can be 
written without reference to one or all of them. 

In the libraries of New York and Albany, I find the following 
references to the Ellis Brothers, engravers. In the "American 
Engravers on Copper and Steel," Volume I, by Stauffer, pub- 
lished by the Grolier Club, in 1907: 

"Ellis, G. B. In 1821, Ellis was a pupil of the Philadelphia 
engraver, Francis Kearney, and in 1825-37, he was in business 
for himself in the same city. His name disappears from the 
Philadelphia directories in 1838. George B. Ellis first attracted 
attention as an engraver by his excellent copies of English 
engravings made by him for an edition of Ivanhoe. He pro- 
duced some very good portraits, but his best work is found in 
his small annual plates." 

"The Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors, and En- 
gravers," by Mantle Fielding, 700 copies, printed for the sub- 
scribers, in Philadelphia, 1926, contains a similar article to that 
in Stauffer's History. 

The "Dictionnaire Critique et Documentaire des Peintres, 
Sculpteurs, Bessinateurs, et Graveurs, de Tous les Temps et 
de Tous les Pays," Paris, 1913: 

"Ellis, G. B. Graveur au burin, au XIX siecle. Cite au 
Nagler. (Ec. Am.)" 

"Ellis, Edwin M. This engraver of portraits worked both 
in stipple and in line, was in business in Philadelphia in 1844."— 
Stauffer's History. 

"W. H. Ellis was a good line engraver of landscapes and 
book illustrations. His work appears in Philadelphia publica- 
tions in 1845-1847." — Stauffer's History. 

Genealogy of the David Ellis Family 

David and Grace Ellis, of Holywell, Flintshire, North Wales, 
had the following children born to them in Europe: 

I. Jane, born March 7, 1790; died June 16, 1793. 



364 MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 

II. Sarah, born January 11, 1792; died February 14, 1793. 

III. John, born November 12, 1793; died July 19, 1795, 

at Philadelphia. 

David Ellis, who immigrated to the U. S. A. in 1795 and 
settled in Philadelphia, was reputedly lost at sea in 1821. 

Grace, his wife, who came with him, died March 11, 1798, 
and was buried with her last two children in the northeast corner 
of the Pine Street Meeting Burying Ground, Philadelphia. 

IV. Jane, born Philadelphia, February 23, 1796; died 

young. 

David married second Martha Brown, reported a descendant 
of George Brown, who came with Mary, his wife, from Lan- 
cashire in 1679. Born, August 8, 1780; died January 1, 1866. 

I. David Robert, born March 12, 1799; died . 

II. George Brown, born September 19, 1801; died 
August 14, 1863. 

III. Edwin M., born October 6, 1809; died July 6, 1882. 

IV. William H., born October, 1816; died December 17, 

1893. 

George Brown (II) married Amy Arkinson, daughter of John 
and Elizabeth Harding Atkinson, of Buckmanville, Pa., April 
6, 1840. Born, October 13, 1816; died, February 17, 1858. 

A. Benjamin Franklin, born July 10, 1841 ; died January, 

1926. 

B. Winfield Scott, born June 9, 1842. 

C. Martha Ann, born August 24, 1846; died January 7, 

1849. Died young. 

D. John Atkinson, born April 25, 1848; died September 

27, 1932. 

E. George Brown, born November 2, 1849; died April 14, 

1914. 

F. Elizabeth Atkinson, born April 10, 1852. 

Benjamin Franklin (A) married Mary M. Carver, daughter 
of Amos Carver, of near Pineville, Bucks County, November 10, 
1864. 



MEMORIES OF EARLY 19X11 CENTURY ENGRAVERS 365 

He married second Julia Garner. There were no children. 

Winfield Scott Ellis (B) married Franceanna, daughter of 
James and Mary Martindell Girton, December 22, 1864, at 
Philadelphia. She was born October 9, 1843. 

1. Charles George, born September 23, 1865. 

2. Amy Rebecca, born September 19, 1867; died Septem- 

ber 5, 1870. 

3. B. Franklin, born January 19, 1873; died May 31, 1885. 

4. William John, born January 18, 1879. 

Charles George Ellis (1) married Mary Lewis, daughter of 
John and Fanny Jane O'Connor Grant, October 11, 1894, at 
Margaretville, N. Y. She was born October 11, 1867, at Mar- 
garetville. 

a. Charles Grant, born October 12, 1908; married Gret- 
chen Hart, daughter of Christopher and Anne Dodd 
Hart Snyder, of Kingston, N. Y., at Kingston, Sep- 
tember 30, 1931. 

John Atkinson Ellis (D) married Hannah, daughter of Joshua 
and Sarah Corson, November 30, 1868; born July 25, 1851 ; died, 
October 6, 1917. 

1. Carrie C, born November 19, 1869; died March 26, 

1914. 

2. Edwin M., born July 7, 1874. 

3. Mabel A., born April 15, 1878. 

4. E. Bertha, born March 8, 1880. 

5. J. Atkinson, born May 19, 1885. 

6. J. Corson, born April 22, 1890. 

7. Winfield Roy, born February 5, 1892. 

Carrie C. Ellis (1) married James R. Cooper, November 19, 
1891. He was born May 3, 1867. 

Edwin M. Ellis (2) married Mary Gledhill, August 9, 1902. 
She w^as born November 8, 1880. 

Mabel A. Ellis (3) married Russell Cadwallader, April, 1904. 
He was born September 30, ■ -. 



366 MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 

a. John E., born March 19, 1907, married Helen Mac- 

Donald in 1925. She died in 1926, leaving a child, 
Dorothy. 
He married second Sue Burns. Their children are 
John E. and Gene Russell. 

b. Edwin, born January 19, 1910. 

c. Elmina, born July 20, 1912. 

d. Horace, born February 17, 1914. 

E. Bertha Ellis (4) married Albert T. Worthington, October 
6, 1896. He was born August 18, 1875. 

a. Reina A., born April 20, 1898, married Lewis Van Pelt, 
October 6, 1920. 
Their children are Albert Worthington, born June 30, 
1921; Allen Lewis, born June 30, 1921; E. Kenneth, 
born December 2, 1930. 

J. Atkinson Ellis (5) married Rebecca Van Horn, March 3, 
1909. She was born May 26, 1885. 

a. Lavinia M., born December 26, 1911. 

b. Walter H., born December 9, 1916. 

J. Corson (6) married Beatrice Stark, September 9, 1913. 

a. E. Ruth, born July 23, 1915. 

b. Elizabeth Corson, born January 3, 1918. 

W'infield Roy (7) married Ida M. Krewson, September 16, 
1916. 

a. John Howard, born October 31, 1917. 

b. W. Roy, born July 24, 1919. 

c. Helen M., born November 4, 1921. 

d. Raymond L., born June 26, 1926. 

George B. Ellis (E) married Lucy Hollahan, August 12, 1870. 
1. Frederick, removed to Texas. 

Elizabeth Atkinson Ellis (F) married George Janney, March 
6, 1873. He was born September 23, 1842. Died, April 20, 1927. 



MEMORIES OF EARLY 19X11 CENTURY ENGRAVERS 367 

1. Ethel, born June 28, 1874. 

2. Gillam, born April 30, 1882. 

3. Marguerite, born December 27, 1896. 

Ethel Janney (1) married Wharton Hirst, son of Joseph and 
Abigail Wharton Hirst. He was born July 8, 1862. 

a. Wharton, born October 5, 1913. 

Gillam Janney (2) married Freda Heintzman, May 7, 1902. 

a. Mildred, born November 2, 1903; married Fred 
Hodecker. 

Marguerite Janney (3) married Robert, son of Robert and 
Mercy Hirst Clark, December 24, 1917. He was born Novem- 
ber 5, 1886. 

a. Robert, born March 18, 1920. 

b. Ethel Ester, born March 29, 1926. 

William H. Ellis (IV) married Ann M. Corson of Forest 
Grove, 1833; died January 4, 1894. 

A. George Washington, born February 22, 1839. 

B. William Godey, born October 10, 1844. 

William Godey Ellis (B) married Annie M. Slack, May 26, 
1864. 

1. George Edwin, born May 14, 1865. 

2. Enola E., born November 20, 1876. 

George Edwin Ellis (1) married Nettie Hill, May 1, 1889. 
a. George E. Ellis, Jr., born July 7, 1890. 

Enola E. Ellis (2) married Philip R. Schuyler, 2nd ■ 

Johnson, November 15, 1893. 

George Washington Ellis (A) married Annie Senior, March 
30, 1864; died October 12, 1889. 

1. Thomas White, born ; d. 

G. W. Ellis (A) married second Anna Helen Watson, Decem- 
ber 26, 1891. 

1. William Godey, Jr., born August 17, 1895. 



368 MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 

Partial List of the Engravings of William H. Ellis 

"The Ariel" magazine, Phila., Vol. V, No. 8, facing p. 119, 1831: 

1. The Mother's Grave; Love and Duty (two different subjects on one 
plate). 

Diploma of the Bucks County Agricultural Society, 1846. This engrav- 
ing was authorized at a meeting of the Society in 1846 and S40 was appro- 
priated for it. A copy owned by Charles G. Ellis, Margaretville, N. Y., was 
awarded to Andrew Watkins, of Newtown, on October 2, 1849. 

Illustration for the "Violet," pub. Phila., 1839. 

Godey's Lady's Book, Phila. : 

1844: 

1. The Rebuke. Rect. fr. 43^ by 5 7-8 in. Ins., "Painted by Emile 
Signol. Engraved by W. H. Ellis. Engraved Expressly for Gcdey's 
Lady's Book." 

2. Not Invited. Rect. fr. 5 1-8 by 6 1-8 in. Ins., "Engraved Expressly 
for Godey's Lady's Book by VV. H. Ellis." 

3. The Teacher. Rect. 4J4 by 5>^ in. Ins., "Engraved Expressly for 
Godey's Lady's Book by W. H. Ellis." 

May, 1845, facing p. 192: 

The Recruit. With a View of the Encampment at Monmouth, N. J- 
1777. Engraved by W. H. Ellis from an original picture for Godey's 
Lady's Book. 

October, 1845, facing p. 133: 

1. "Behold the Place Where They Laid Him." Engraved by W. H. 
Ellis expressly for Godey's Lady's Book. 

April, 1846, facing p. 145: 

1. Washington's First Interview with Mrs. Custis. Drawn by F. O. C. 
Darley and Engraved by W. H. Ellis for Godey's Lady's Book. 

October, 1846: 

1. Christ Weeping Over Jerusalem. Engraved by W. H. Ellis for Godey's 
Lady's Book. 

The following article appeared in the Doylestown Democrat and Bucks 
County Gazette of April 8, 1846: 

GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK 

Through the politeness of Mr. William H. Ellis, we have received a copy 
of Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book, for April, which among the embellish- 
ments contains a most admirably executed engraving of "Washington's First 
Interview with Mrs. Custis," executed on copper plate by the hands of the 



368 MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 

Partial List of the Engravings of William H. Ellis 

"The Ariel" magazine, Phila., Vol. V, No. 8, facing p. 119, 1831: 

1. The Mother's Grave; Love and Duty (two different subjects on one 
plate). 

Diploma of the Bucks County Agricultural Society, 1846. This engrav- 
ing was authorized at a meeting of the Society in 1846 and $40 was appro- 
priated for it. A copy owned by Charles G. Ellis, Margaretville, N. Y., was 
awarded to Andrew Watkins, of Newtown, on October 2, 1849. 

Illustration for the "Violet," pub. Phila., 1839. 

Godey's Lady's Book, Phila.: 

1844: 

1. The Rebuke. Rect. fr. 43/4 by 5 7-8 in. Ins., "Painted by Emile 
Signol. Engraved by W. H. Ellis. Engraved Expressly for Gcdey's 
Lady's Book." 

2. Not Invited. Rect. fr. 5 1-8 by 6 1-8 in. Ins., "Engraved Expressly 
for Godey's Lady's Book by W. H. Ellis." 

3. The Teacher. Rect. 4>^ by 5>4 in. Ins., "Engraved Expressly for 
Godey's Lady's Book by W. H. Ellis." 

May, 1845, facing p. 192: 

The Recruit. With a View of the Encampment at Monmouth, N. J- 
1777. Engraved by W. H. Ellis from an original picture for Godey's 
Lady's Book. 

October, 1845, facing p. 133: 

1. "Behold the Place Where They Laid Him." Engraved by W. H. 
Ellis expressly for Godey's Lady's Book. 

April, 1846, facing p. 145: 

1. Washington's First Interview with Mrs. Custis. Drawn by F. O. C. 
Darley and Engraved by W. H. Ellis for Godey's Lady's Book. 

October, 1846: 

1. Christ Weeping Over Jerusalem. Engraved by W. H. Ellis for Godey's 
Lady's Book. 

The following article appeared in the Doylestown Democrat and Bucks 
County Gazette of April 8, 1846: 

GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK 

Through the politeness of Mr. William H. Ellis, we have received a copy 
of Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book, for April, which among the embellish- 
ments contains a most admirably executed engraving of "Washington's First 
Interview with Mrs. Custis," executed on copper plate by the hands of the 



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MEMORIES OF EARLY 19TH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 369 

gentleman who presented us with a copy of the work in question. After the 
Artist had succeeded in obtaining a specimen of the engraving, he forwarded a 
proof to George Washington Parice Custis, Esq., who is a grand-son of Mrs. 
Custis, and from whom he received the following in reply: 

Abington House, March 1, 1846. 

Near Alexandria, D. C. 

My Dear Sir, — I have received your most kind letter, enclosing a 
spirited sketch of the "First Interview between Washington and 
respected and excellent grand-parent, in 1759, for which I pray you to 
accept my thanks. 

Permit me to observe (being an humble painter myself,) that you 
should have given more life and character to Bishop, the celebrated 
body servant, first of Braddock, and then of Washington, who was a 
guard servant of Braddock's Regiment, and the confidential servant 
and friend of that brave but rash commander. Bishop's tall gaunt 
and veteran figure, holding the superb English charger, Ijequeathed 
by Braddock to Colonel Washington on the memorable field of the 
Monongahela, would form a great embellishment to the sketches — 
Bishop in the stiff laced costume, with the cocked hat of the olden 
times. 

There are various other scenes from "the recollection" that would 
form very interesting subjects for the pencil and burin, and as every 
thing relating to the Paten Patrica, more especially of the olden 
times, becomes more and more interesting to the Americans and the 
world. Mr. Godey would, I am sure, gratify his subscribers, by giving 
some sketches in your usually and spirited manner. 

Permit me to suggest to Mr. Darby and yourself a subject that 
would make a most capital picture and engraving, viz: "The Marks- 
man on the Milk White Steed," from a Pilgrim's Progress, among the 
Relics of the Revolution, published in the National Intelligencer, of 
February 23d. 

Wishing you every success in your artistical Recollections of \^'ash- 
ington. 

I remain your brother artist, and ob't servant, 

Geo. W. p. Cvstis. 
Wm. Har\ev PZllis. 



S. J. Paxson, Esq , — Dear Sir — The aho\e is a copy of a letter from 
George Washington Parke Custis. As Mr. Custis is the only remain- 
ing one of the W^ashington family, I thought it might be interesting to 
your readers. 

Truly yours, 

Wm. Harvey Ellis. 



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EXAMPLE OF EDWIN M. ELLIS' ENGRAVING 



MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 371 

Examples of the Engravings of Edwin M. Ellis 

1. Virgil's Tomb, published November 12, 1831, facing page 225 of "The 
Ariel" magazine, Vol. V, No. 15. 

2. Pledge to the Total Abstinence Society. Copy owned l)y C. G. Ellis, 
Margaretville, N. Y. 

3. Samuel Johnson, published 1844, frontispiece to "The Triple Wreath," 
Newtown, 1844; also facing page 29 of A. J. Paxson's "Memoirs of the John- 
son Family," published by Lippincott, 1885. 



A Partial List of Engravings by George B. Ellis 

Stauffer, in his Check List from "American Engravers on Copper and 
Steel," Vol. 2, gives the following selected list of portrait engravings by George 
B. Ellis, with descriptions: 

Joseph Addison. Stip. rect. Frame. Half length; Face K left; 3.13 by 3 
in. Painted by Sir G. Kneller; Engraved by G. B. Ellis; appears in "Addi- 
son," published by J. Crosby, 1832. 

1. As described. 

2. Publication line erased. 

Junius Brutus Booth. Line; half length in costume; face '4 left; 3.9 by 3 in.; 

ins., "Mr. Booth (as Brutus); engraved by G. B. Ellis from a painting 

by J. Neagle;" Lopez and Weyman's Edition. 
Robert Burns. Stip.; rect.; ornamented; half length; face ^^ left; ins., "A. 

Nasmyth pinx. Engraved by G. B. Ellis. Philadelphia (Robert Burns) 

Philadelphia. Pulilished by McCarty and Davis, 1832." 
Lord Byron. Line; rect.; bust, head to left; 2.13 by 2 in.; ins., "Theo. Phillips 

R. A. Pinxt. G. B. Ellis Sculpt. Lord Byron." 
Lord Byron. Line; full length, face -^4 left; ins., "Painted by G. Sanders. 

Engraved by G. B. Ellis. Lord Byron in Early Youth." 

1. As described. 

2. Added, "Published by L. A. Gcdey and Co. for the Lady's Book. 
Phila., Sept., 1853." 

Benjamin Franklin. Line; rect.; half length, seated at a table; face ^4 left; 

4 by 3.3 in.; ins., "Painted by Martin. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 
Oliver Goldsmith. Stip.; vign.; full bust, face nearly profile left; 1.11 by 

1.11 in.; ins., "A History cf the Earth and Animated Nature (Vignette) 

Engraved by G. B. Ellis. Oliver Goldemith. Philadelphia. Pub. by 

Edward Poole, 1823." 
Richard Henry Lee. Stip.; oval in rect. frame; full bust; face K left; 3,6 

by 2.14 in.; ins , "Engraved by G. B. Ellis. Richard Henry Lee." 
Thomas Moore. Line; rect.; full bust in cloud; face K left; 4 by 3.6 in.; ins., 

"Painted by F. Sieurac. Engraved on steel by G. B. Ellis. Thomas 

Moore." 
David Simpson. Stip.; rect.; ornad.; full bust in robes; front face; 4.8 by 

3.14 in.; ins., "Engraved by G. B. Ellis. The Revd. David Simpson, M. A. 

Published by McCarty and Downs." 



372 MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 

Thomas Stone. Line; rect.; half length; nearly profile left; 3.15 by 3.5 in.; 
ins., "Thomas Stone. Drawn by J. B. Longacre from a painting by Pine. 
Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

1. As described. 

2. Name in Autograph. 

William Wood. Line; rect.; full bust in costume; face ^ left; 3.9 by 2.15 in.; 
ins., "Mr. Wood/^'as Stephen Foster. Engraved by G. B. Ellis from a 
painting by J. Nagle. Lopez and Weyman's Edition. Pub. by A. R. 
Poole, Phila., 1827. Copyright." 

Charles Rollin. Stip.; broad rect. frame; nearly half length; face ^ left; 
4.3 by 3.5 in.; ins., "Engraved on steel by G. B. Ellis. Charles Rollin, 
born 1661, died 1741." 

Connecticut River. Line; rect.; 2.14 by 4.2 in.; ins., "Painted by A. Fisher. 
Engraved by G. B. Ellis. Scenery on Connecticut River. See page 424." 

Juniata River. Line; rect.; 2.10 by 4.2 in.; ins., "Thomas Doughty pinxt. 
Engraved by G. B. Ellis. Banks of the Juniata River." 

Weehawken. Line; rect.; 2.13 by 4.2 in.; ins., "Drawn by J. Neilson. En- 
graved by G. B. Ellis. Weehawken. 

Engravings of G. B. Ellis from Other Sources 

From "The Polyglott New Testament," published in Philadelphia by 
Thomas Cowperthwait & Co. : 

1. Title Page— Altar to the "Unknown God" (Acts 17: 23), Vignette. 

2. "The Repose in Egypt." Rect. frame; 2 3-8 by 2 7-8 in. 

From "The Polyglott Bible, English Version," Phila., 1831, Pub. by Key 
& Mielke: 

1. Frontispiece, "Cain and Abel Sacrificing." Vignette. 

2. "The Destruction of Pharaoh's Host." Rect. frame; 2 3-8 by 2 7-8." 

From "Proper Lessons to the Book of Common Prayer," Pub. by Thos. T. 
Ash & Co., Phila., 1836: 

1. Title Page, "Christ, The Bread and The Cup." Rect. frame, l>i 
by 1^ in. 

2. Frontispiece, "Christ Stilling the Sea." Rect. frame, 1>2 by 2 in. 

From "The Book of Common Prayer," Pub. by Thos. T. Ash & Co., 
Phila., 1836: 

1. Title Page — Mother and Child Praying. Rect. frame, 1 ,1^ by 134 in. 

2. Frontis.iece, Christ and Cup in the Garden. Rect. frame, 1^ by 
2 in. 

From "Psalms and Hymns": 

1. Title Page, Angels Singing. "Let every creature praise." Vignette. 

2. David and Harp. "Sing to the harp." Rect. frame, 1>^ by 2 in. 

3. Administering the Sacrament, "This in Remembrance of Me." 
Rect. frame, ly^ by 2 in, 



Memories of early 19th century engravers 373 

From 'Young Ladies' Sunday Book," Key and Riddle, Phila., 1833: 

1. Sunday Evening. Vignette. 

2. Meditation. Rect. frame, 2 1-8 by l^i in. 

From "Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott," Pub. by R. W. Pomeroy, 
Phila., 1824, seven volumes, containing seven illustrations: 

1. The Lay of the Last Minstrel. Rect. frame 2 1-3 by 3 in. Ins., 
"Painted by R. Smirke, R. A. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

2. Marmion. Rect. frame 2 1-3 by 2 7-8 in. Ins., "Painted by R. 
Smirke, R. A. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

3. Lord of the Isles. Rect. frame 2}4 by 3 in. Ins., "Painted by R. 
Smirke, R. A. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

4. Rokeby. Rect. frame 2 34" by 3 in. Ins., "Painted by R. Smirke, 
R. A. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

5. The Lady of the Lake. Rect. frame 2>^ by 3 1-8 in. Ins., "Painted 
by R. Smirke, R. A. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

6. Harold the Dauntless. Rect. frame 2 '/< by 2 7-8 in. Ins., "Painted 
by R. Smirke, R. A. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

7. Bridal of Thiermain. Rect. frame 2>^ by 3 in. Ins., "Painted by 
R. Smirke, R. A. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

From "Scott's Arabian Nights Entertainments," in 6 vol., pub., Phila., 
by R. W. Pomeroy, in 1826: Vols. 1 and 5 contain two pictures each, engraved 
by G. B. Ellis. One is framed, 2>^ by 2^ in.; the other a vignette, 3 by lyi 
in. Vol. 6 contains one with rect. frame 2^ by l^/i in. Ins., "Paintings by 
R. Smirke, R. A., and R. Westall, R. A." 

From "The American Chesterfield," pub. by John Grigg, Phila., 1826: 

1. Frontispiece, a young woman reading. Rect. frame, IK by 2i^ 
in. Ins., "H. Howard, R. A. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

2. Title Page, The Three Graces. Vignette. "Engraved by G. B. 
Ellis." 

From "The Atlantic Souvenir," pub. by Carey and Lea, Phila., 1831: 

1. The Shipwrecked Family. Rect. frame, 2 15-16 by 4>^ in. Painted 
by John Burnett. Engraved by G. B. Ellis. 

2. The Minstrel. Painted by C. R. Leslie. Engraved by G. B. Ellis. 

3. Los Musicos. Rect. frame, 2}i by 3|< in. Painted by Watteau. 
Engraved by G. B. Ellis. 

4. Shipwreck off Fort Rouge, Calais. Engraved by G. B. Ellis. 

Of "Graham's Magazine" see Vol. 1847, 1848, 1849, for such engravings 
as the following: 

1. The Departure. Rect. frame 4 3-8 by 6 in. Drawn by G. B. Ellis 
with changes from H. Courbold. Engraved by G. B. Ellis. 

2. The Troubadour. Rect. frame 4 3-8 by 6 in. Engraved by G. B. 
EUis. 



374 MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 

3. The Supplication. Engraved by G. B. Ellis. 

4. The Young Astronomer. Engraved by G. B. Ellis. 

5. Walking in Light. Rect. frame 4^4 by 6 1-8 in. Drawn with 
changes by G. B. Ellis from "Walking in Beauty," drawn by H. 
Richter. Engraved by G. B. Ellis. 

6. Vengeance Frustrated. Rect. frame 4y2 by 6 1-8 in. Engraved 
by G. B. Ellis. 

7. A Game of Draughts. Rect. frame 4^2 by 6 1-8 in. Engraved by 
G. B. Ellis from "A Scene in DeMouille Park" by Richter. 

8. The Lost Pet. Vignette 414 by 6 in. Engraved for Graham's by 
G. B. Ellis. 

9. The Three Graces. Rect. frame 4 5-8 by 6 1-8 in. Engraved by 
G. B. Ellis. 

From "A History of England" by David Hume, pub. by T. Smollett and 
J. R. Miller, in four volumes, Phila., 1832; pub. prev. by McCarty and Davis: 

Title Page, Vol. 1, Richard Leaving Cyprus. Rect. framed in a 
"Gothic" archway. 4 3-16 by 6K '"• Ins., "Painted by Tresham. 
Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

Title Page, Vol. 2, O. Cromwell Subduing a Mutiny in the Army. 
Rect. framed in a "G." a. 4 3-16 by 6^4 in. Ins., "Painted by 
Smirke. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

Title Page, Vol. 3, The Death of General Wolfe. Ins., "Painted by 
B. West. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

Title Page, Vol. 4, The Death of Nelson. Rect. frame in "Gothic" 
archway. 4 3-16 by 6,34 in. Ins., "Painted by B. West. En- 
graved by G. B. Ellis." 

Portraits of five British kings, Henry V, Henry IV, Henry VI, Edward IV, 
Richard II. On oval medallions with background monumental. Vignette. 
6 by 4J4 in. 

Portraits of British rulers, James I, James II, Charles I, Charles II, William 
and Mary. Heads on oval medallions, background monumental and rustic. 
Vignette. 4,3/4^ by 6^i. Ins., "Engraved by G. B. Ellis from design by R. 
Smirke." 

Mary Queen of Scots. Vignette. 5 by 6 '/4 in. Bust on medallion, alle- 
gorical; verdure; monument; women weeping at foot of monument; cupid and 
quiver. Ins., "Painted by Bromley. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

Cromwell. Vignette. 6^< by 4>^2 in. Bust on medallion, allegorical. 
Lightning in clouds; verdure; rock; tiger recumbent with paw on spear. Ins., 
"Painted by R. Smirke, R. A. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

Frontispiece and other illustrations in "Life of Benjamin Franklin," pub. 
by McCarty & Davis, Phila. 

Frontispiece and Title Page to "Young Man's Own Book," pub. at Phila. 
in 1832. Two full page engravings facing each other. 

Title Page to "The Odyssey." 

Title Page to "Campbell's Poems," pub. Phila. 

"James Hervey, M. D." From "Hervey's Meditations," pub. at Phila. 



MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 375 

"American Natural History," by J. D. Godman, M. D., pub. at Phila. 
Vol. I, pub. 1826, five plates: 

1. (facing p. 81) Short Tail Shrew; Small Shrew; Shrew Mole. 

2. (facing p. 176) Raccoon; American Badger. 

3. (facing p. 212) Skunk; Ermine; Mink. 

4. (facing p. 265) Red Fox; Barking Wolf. 

5. (facing p. 268) Black Wolf; Arctic Fox. 

Vol. II, pub. 1826, eight plates: 

6. (facing p. 21) Beaver; Muskrat. 

7. (facing p. 93) American Gerbillus. 

8. (facing p. 114) Hood's Marmot; Louisianna Marmot. 

9. (facing p. 143) Flying Squirrel; Great-tailed Squirrel; Ground 
Squirrel. 

10. (facing p. 149) Maryland Marmot; American Porcupine. 

11. (facing p. 204) Great Mastodon. 

12. (facing p. 294) Two Elk. 

13. (facing p. 321) Mountain Goat; Prong Horn Antelope. 

Vol. HI, pub. 1828, one plate: 

14. (facing p. 29) Musk Ox. 

(Note: The 1831 edition contains these plates in a slightly different order, 
and, of course, on different pages.) 

"Shakespeare's Works," in 8 volumes, pub. in Phila., 1823, by Carey & 
Lea and McCarty & Davis: 

Vol. I, Title Page. Vignette, ill. from "Tempest." Ins., "T. Uwins del. 
G. B. Ellis sc." 

111. from "Tempest." "But I Prattle." Rect. frame 2 3-16 by 3>^ in. 
Ins., "T. Uwins del. G. B. Ellis sc." 

Vol. VI, Title Page. Vignette, Timon of Athens, Act 4, Sc. 3. 
Ins., "T. Uwins del. G. B. Ellis sc." 
111. from "Timon of Athens," "A Health, Gentlemen." 
Rect. fr. 2J<by 3>$ in. Ins., "T. Uwins del. G. B. Ellis sc." 

Vol. VII, Title Page. "No, No I Will Not Rob Tellus of Her Weed." 
Pericles, Act 4.3.1. Vignette. 
Ins., "T. Uwins del. G. B. Ellis sc." 
"I Thought He Slept." Cymbeline, Act 4.82. 
Ins., "T. Uwins del. G. B. Ellis, sc." 

"Thompson's Seasons," pub. in Phila., 1846: 

1. "Breathe your still song into the reaper's breast." 

Rect. frame 1 7-8 by 2 3-8 in. Ins., "R. Westall, R. A., del. En- 
graved by G. B. Ellis." 



376 MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 

2. Four plates, "Spring," "Summer," "Autumn," "Winter," each 
rect. frame 1 7-8 by 2 3-8 in. Ins. of each, "R. Westall, R. A., del. 
Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

"The Gem," pub. by E. Kearney, N. Y., 1848: 

"The Brothers," also entitled "Rural Amusements," as pub. by Gray 
and Bowen. Rect. 3 by 4 in. Ins., 'Painted by T. Lawrence, P. 
R. A. Engraved by G. B. Ellis. Printed by Rogers." 

"The Literary Souvenir," Phila., 1836: 

1. "Soliciting a Vote" (Canvassing). Rect. 3 by 4 in. Ins., "Painted 
by R. W. Buss. Engraved by G. B. Ellis. Printed by Stevens." 

2. "The Astonished Painter," or "Time and Tide Wait for No Man." 
Rect. 2^ by 3^ in. Ins., "Painted by R. W. Buss. Engraved by 
G. B. EUis." 

"The Token and Atlantic Souvenir," Boston, 1834: 

1. "The Castle." Rect. 3>'2 by 4 in. Ins., "Painted by Renoir. 
Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

2. "The Death of Hassan." Rect. 3 1-8 by 3^ in. Ins., "Painted 
by H. Vernet. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

"The Pearl," 1830, pub. by Thomas T. Ash, Phila.: 

1. "The Mother's Joy." Rect. frame 2^ by 3 3-8 in. Ins., "Painted 
by Pickersgill. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

"The Humorist's Own Book. Pub. by Key & Biddle, 1833: 

1. Title Page. Vignette. Scene at dining table. Ins., "Corbold 
Ellis." 

2. "Capital Joke." Rect. frame 2j< by 3 3-16 in, Ins., "Corbold 
Ellis." 

"American Singer's Own Book," Key, Mielke & Biddle: 

1. Title Page, illustrating seven popular songs. Rect. frame 2 3-8 
by 4 7-16. Engraved by G. B. Ellis. 

2. Engraving, containing nine popular songsters, each framed in 
medallion, interlocked in rustic tracery. Moore, Burns, Dibdin, 
Catalin, Garcia, Paton, Sinclair, Sontag, Graham. Fr. 2 5-8 by 
4 3-8. Ins., "Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

"The Token and Atlantic Souvenir," pub. by Bowen, Boston, 1836: 

1. 'The Emigrant's Adventure." Rect. 3y2 by 4 7-8 in. Ins., 
"Painted by Fisher. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 

2. "The Hunters of the Prairie." Rect. 3>2 by 4 7-8 in. Ins., "Painted 
by Doughty. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 



MEMORIES OF EARLY 19tH CENTURY ENGRAVERS 377 

"Friendship's Offering," Boston, 1842: 

1. "The Death of Sapphira." Rect. 2 7-8 by 3 5-8 in. Ins., "Painted 
by J. Opie, R. A. Engraved by G. B. Ellis." 



Miscellaneous Subjects 

1. Surrender of General Burgoyne to General Gates, 1777. 

2. Lady Grey and Children. 

3. Thomas Scott. 

4. American Scenery. 

5. CatskiU Falls. 

6. Delaware Water Gap. 

7. Lake Scene. 

8. Moonlight. 

9. Niagara. 

10. Passaic Falls. 

11. Schuylkill. 

12. Silver Cascade in the White Mountains. 

13. Trenton Falls, N. Y. 

14. The Brother's Protection. 

15. Jesus Christ, copied from a cameo of Early Centuries. 

16. The Contented Slave. 

17. The Glove. 

18. Love Asleep. 

19. The Shrine. 

20. The Serenaders. 

21. Tropical Verdure. 

22. The Parting Hour. 

23. The Toilette. 

24. The LTn welcome Guest. 

25. The Village School in an Uproar. 

26. The Bride of Abydos. 

27. Mount Shasta. 

28. The Bridesmaid. 

29. The Bride's Departure. 

30. The Return. 

31. The Doomed Bride. 

32. The Bower of Paphos. 

33. Richard and Saladin. 

34. The Fairy Isle. 

35. The Fisher Boy. 

36. The Brigand. 

37. Early Piety. 



Early Hough Families of Bucks County, Pennsylvania 

By WALLACE IRWIN HOUGH, NEW YORK CITY 
(Doylestown Meeting, May 4, 1935) 

A FAIRLY safe beginning for a paper of this sort should 
be to state its purpose, because in the more or less related 
material to follow — material, by the way, sometimes 
related only in the hopeful mind of its compiler — I defy any 
reasonable person to discover either a purpose or a method. 

The purpose then is fourfold. First, I should like to indicate 
the number of immigrant Houghs in Bucks County who might 
have been founders of families. It has commonly been assumed 
that all the Pennsylvania Houghs are descended either from 
Richard Hough, the Provincial Councillor, or from John Hough 
of Middletown, because we can boast of more data on these two 
gentlemen than on the other eight of the name who were con- 
nected with the Province. 

In the second place, I am going to point out whatever inter- 
relations I have been able to discover among these ten pioneer 
Hough families. In some few cases there is a stated blood 
relationship, but for the most part we can base our theories of 
kinship only from certain business and social contacts among 
these families in the county. 

Next, I shall mention two large families of this name who 
were in America before the founding of Pennsylvania; and, in 
the absence of real evidence of immediate relationship, restate 
some facts about the old Hough family of County Chester, 
England, who undoubtedly were the ancestors of all our American 
Houghs of English descent.^ 

Last and, I think, most important of all, my aim is to com- 
pile what data we have regarding these families into some rough 
system so that it may form a basis for more complete researches 
for those persons interested in tying together the American 
families and the parent stock in Cheshire. 

Since, at the present date, Richard Hough, the Provincial 
Councillor, is the best known of the pioneers of the name in 

1 Some people of German and Dutch descent whose names were spelled 
Huff have, in some cases, changed their surnames to the English spelling 
H-0-U-G-H after living in this country. 



EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 379 

Pennsylvania, it seems fitting to touch first on the highlights of 
his brief career in the province.^ 

Richard Hough 

1. Richard Hough, of the city of Macclesfield in the County 
of Chester, England, Chapman, and a member of the Society 
of Friends, arrived in Pennsylvania in the Ship "Endeavour" 
of London, Seventh month 29, 1683, bringing with him four 
servants or dependents: Francis Hough (probably a younger 
brother or nephew) who was to serve two years and to have fifty 
acres of land at the end of his term; Thomas Wood (or Wood- 
house) and Mary, his wife, to serve respectively five and four 
years and each to have fifty acres; and James Sutton, to serve 
four years, and to have three pounds, five shillings per annum 
and fifty acres of land when his period of service had expired. 

Richard Hough seated himself in Bucks County, where he 
took up two tracts of land, both of which fronted on the Dela- 
ware River and both situated in Makefield on the boundary 
lines of the Township. It has been thought that the geographical 
position of his land in Makefield Township probably gave it that 
name, for Makefield is generally accepted to be a corruption of 
"Macclesfield," his native city in Cheshire. 

The boundary of the upper tract, [by warrant dated Sept. 20, 
1685, and by patent of July 30, 1687] described as "five hundred 
acres next Henry Baker on the Delaware River," formed the 
line between Makefield and the Proprietary's Manor of High- 
lands, had a half-mile of river frontage, ran inland for about a 
mile and three quarters, and covered the site of what is now 
Taylorsville. This tract, instead of being a plantation of five 
hundred acres, actually contained, when it was resurveyed, over 
six hundred acres. Richard willed this land to his second son, 
John Hough, a Justice of the Bucks County Court, and it was 
called by the latter "Houghton" or "Houghton Farm." 

The lower tract, lying approximately two miles below Yardley 
and comprising about four hundred sixteen acres, was coincident, 
according to the Holme's Map, with the line between Makefield 
and Falls. It had a quarter-mile stretch of river front and 

2 The late Oliver Hough of Newtown has written a detailed and excel- 
lent account of Richard Hough's life in the "Pa. Mag. of Hist, and Biog." 
Vol. 18, pp. 20-34 incl.; and in Vol. 30, pp. 487-489 of the same publication. 



380 EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 

extended inland for almost three miles. This was Richard's 
home plantation and here he built for his family a stone house — 
the stone used in the building doubtless coming from "ye great 
quarry in Richard Hough's and Abel Janney's lands." The 
lower plantation and home passed on to Richard Hough's eldest 
son, Richard, who, hke his brother John, was a Justice of the 
Bucks County Court, and whose descendants in the male line 
have lived on the land until 1850 when they moved to Ewing, 
N.J. 

By his will dated May 1, 1704, Richard Hough left to his 
youngest child, Joseph Hough, all his land lying "at Neshaminie 
Creek betwixt Randall Blackshawes and John Grays land which 
is almost five hundred seventy odd acres." This property on 
the Neshaminy was first taken up by John Clowes, Richard 
Hough's father-in-law, and after Clowes' death Richard bought 
the tract from the heir, Joseph Clowes, in 1702, as a patrimony 
for his own son Joseph Hough, who was, of course, Joseph 
Clowes' nephew. In after years when Joseph settled on his land, 
the "five hundred seventy odd acres" were found to be eight 
hundred forty acres. The tract was in Warwick Township 
when those boundaries were established, and is now partially 
included in Doylestown Township. "Houghville" takes its 
name from this branch of Richard Hough's family. 

Richard also owned two hundred seventy odd acres in Lower 
Makefield near his home plantation, land bought in 1694 from 
Abel Janney and others and part of an original grant to William 
and Charles Biles. He owned as well four hundred seventy-five 
acres of land in Buckingham which he bought from his brother 
John Hough of Macclesfield, [of whom later]. In all, Richard 
Hough's holdings, scattered about the county, amounted to 
approximately 2,600 acres. 

He took an active part in provincial and county affairs, and 
we have evidence that his politics were conservative and in 
accord with the policies of the Proprietaries [See the Penn- 
Logan Correspondence]. Richard Hough was a Justice of the 
Bucks County Court; [See Pa. Mag. Hist. & Biog. Vol. 18, p. 
18 note]; a member of the Provincial Assembly for the terms 
1684, 1688, 1690, 1697, 1699, 1700, 1703 and 1704; and a mem- 
ber of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania for the years 
1693 and 1700. 



EARLY HOUGH FAIVULIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 381 

In the Penn-Logan correspondence, Logan wrote to William 
Penn in England: (Philadelphia, Second Mo. 5, 1705) "...I 
expect but little good from the present representatives till 
another election, — the honest being so much out-voted by men 
of deep designs or shallow sense. . . . Richard Hough, one of the 
best in the House, was, about three weeks ago unfortunately 
overset in a w^herry, coming down the river, and with two other 
persons, lost his life; the rest were saved. He is much lamented 
by all that knew him, andvunderstand the value of a good man." 

William Penn in reply wrote from London, Seventh Mo. 14, 
1705, "I lament the loss of honest Richard Hough. Such men 
must needs be wanted where selfishness and forgetfulness of 
God's mercies so much abound." 

Richard Hough of Macclesfield, Cheshire, together with his 
future father-in-law, John Clowes of Gosworth, Co. Chester, 
England, and the latter's wife Margery and three of the Clowes' 
children: William, Rebecca, and Margery (junior), brought 
over to Pennsylvania a joint certificate from Congleton Mo. 
Meeting of Friends held "at Mary Brooks' house (widow) in 
Cheshire the 2nd of the 3rd Mo., 1683." Richard belonged to 
the Falls Meeting of Friends in Bucks County, and w^e have 
Michener's "Early Quakerism" (p. 75) as authority for the 
statement that although the Falls Meeting House was built in 
1690, the "Quarterly Meeting continued to be held at the houses 
of William Biles, Nicholas Wain, Richard Hough, Joshua Hoopes 
and others" until 1696. 

Richard Hough married First mo. 17, 1684, Margery Clowes; 
born 11 mo. 17, 1656, in Gosworth Parish, Cheshire; died Nov. 
30, 1720 (probably on the home-plantation, before described). 
This was the first marriage to be recorded in Falls Meeting. 
Margery Clowes (who crossed in the "Endeavour" with Richard 
and her parents) was the daughter of John Clowes, of Gosworth, 
Cheshire, yeoman, by his wife Margery, and a granddaughter of 
another John Clowes of Cheshire. Her father was one of the 
principal land holders in Bucks County; in addition to his tract 
on the Neshaminy (which it will be remembered Richard Hough 
bought for his son, Joseph Hough) he owned his home planta- 
tion, called by him "The Clough," which was situated on the 
Delaware River and in Makefield Township. John Clowes was 
a member of the Provincial Assembly in 1683, 1684. He died 



382 EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 

Seventh mo. 4, 1687; and his wife Margery died Second Mo. 2, 
1698. 

The following abstract of a will recorded in Philadelphia 
[Will Bk. B. No. 15; Rec. p. 30] shows us that Richard Hough's 
brother was definitely John Hough of Macclesfield and not 
the John Hough who settled in Middletown Township, Bucks 
County: 

"Richard Nixon, of Macclesfield, England. Signed 9th 
Month 30, 1699; proved January 22, 1699/1700. Men- 
tions. .. Cousin John Hough; Richard Hough and his chil- 
dren; Richard Hough and his son John, and George Lowe. 
Joseph Stanion's children. James Nixon's children : Thomas, 
Elizabeth and Sarah. George Clarke's daughter, Mary. 
Executors: John Hough of Macclesfield, England, and 
Richard Hough of Pennsylvania. Witnesses: Abel James, 
Mary James, and Richard Hough." 

As we have been told from Logan's letter to William Penn, 
Richard Hough was drowned in the Delaware River, March 
25, 1705, on his way from his home to Philadelphia. He left 
behind his widow Margery (Clowes) Hough and five children : 
Mary, Sarah, Richard, Jr., John, and Joseph. 

ISSUE 

1. Mary Hough, b. 6 mo. 1, 1685; d. Nov. 11, 1720; married Ap. 6, 1704, 
William Atkinson, Councilman cf Bristol, Coroner and County Com- 
missioner, etc., son of Thomas Atkinson, a Minister of the Society of 
P'riends, late of Newby, Yorks., Eng. 

2. Sarah Hough, b. 4 mo. 7, 16':'0; mar. (1st) 4th mo. 23, 1708, Isaac Atkin- 
son, a brother of William (above); she mar. (2nd) in 1724, Leonard Shall- 
cross. 

3. Richard Hough, Justice of Bucks Co. Court, b ....; d. „ ; m. (1st) 

Hester Baker, dau. of Henry Baker, of Bucks Co., and a widow of Thomas 
Yardley and William Browne. He mar. (2nd) Sept. 27, 1717, Deborah, 
widow of John Gumley, of New Castle County. 



ISSUE BY FIRST MARRIAGE 
I — Richard Hough, III, died young. 



EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 383 

ISSUE BY SECOND MARRIAGE 

II — William Hough, died without issue prior to 1755. 
Ill — Deborah Hough, m. Thomas Davis of Lower Makefield. 
IV — Margery Hough, m. Jonathan Saults of Philadelphia. 
V— Henry Hough, son and heir, b. 8 mo. 11, 1724; d. 8-27, 17C6; 
m. 10-22, 1748, Rebecca Croasdale (1727-1800), dau. of William 
and Grace (Harding) Croasdale, of Newtown Tp. 
VI— Mary Hough, b. 1726; d. 1802; m. 2 mo. 12, 1752 [O. S.] Anthony 
Burton, Jr., of Bristol, Bucks Co. 

4. John Hough, b. Sept. 18, 1693; inherited his father's upper plantation on 
the Delaware River which he called "Houghton"; was a Justice of Bucks 
Co. Court. He married 1718/19, Elizabeth Taylor, dau. of Philip Taylor 
of Oxford Township, Phila. County, and Julianna, his wife. 

ISSUE 

I — John Hough, b. Jan. 3, 1719/20; d. 1797; removed to Loudoun 
County, Virginia, where he held over 4,000 A., his seat being 
"Corby Hall." [Do not confuse him with Francis Hough of 
Virginia whom we shall consider later.] He married, 1742, 
Sarah Janney, dau. of Joseph and Rebecca (Biles) Janney, and 
granddaughter of the two Provincial Councillors, Thomas Janney 
and William Biles. Gen. Washington mentions John Hough's 
hospitality at "Corby Hall." 
II — Joseph Hough, b. 20 July, 1722; d. 1777; removed to Loudoun 
Co., Va.; m. Oct. 15, 1746, Lydia Hurst. 

Ill— Benjamin Hough, b. June 14, 1724; d. Feb. 10, 1803; minister of 
the Soc. of Friends; m. (1st) June 9, 1748, Elizabeth West, dau. 
of Thomas W^est of Wilmington, Del., of the family of Benjamin 
West, R. A.; m. (2nd) Sarah, widow of Isaac Janney, of Cecil Co., 
Maryland. 

IV— Isaac Hough, b. Nov. 15, 1726; d. Apr. 13, 1786; removed to 
Warminster Tp.; m. Sept. 24, 1748, Edith Hart, b. May 14, 
1727; d. Mar. 27, 1805; dau. of John Hart, Jr., High Sheriff, 
Coroner, and Justice of Bucks Co. Courts, by his wife Eleanor, 
dau. of Silas Crispin, 1st cousin to William Penn. 
V— William Hough, b. Jan. 1, 1727/8; m. 1749, Sarah Blaker. 

VI— Thomas Hough, b. Jan. 2, 1729/30; d. May 18, 1810, in Phila.; 
m. (1st) Mar. 17, 1757, Jane, dau. of Sam'l Adams of Phila.; 
he mar. (2nd) Jan. 8, 1784, Mary Bacon, dau. of John Bacon, 
of Bacon's Neck, Cumberland Co., N. J., and widow of Thos. 
Gilbert and Richard Wistar. 
VII— Septimus Hough, b. June 21, 1731 ; d. Nov. 3, 1749. 
VIII— Elizabeth Hough, b. Feb. 15, 1732/3; m. Nathan Tomlinson. 

IX— Bernard Hough, b. Jan. 15, 1734/5; d. in France (?). 
X— Martha Hough, b. June 22, 1737; m. David Bunting. 

Xl—Samuel Hough, b. April 15, 1739. 



384 EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 

5. Joseph Hough, b. Oct. 17, 1695; d. May 10, 1773, in Warwick (Doyles- 
town); buried in Buckingham Friends' Burying Ground. By Richard 
Hough's will Joseph inherited the Neshaminy tract which had belonged 
to his grandfather, John Clowes of "The Clough." Joseph married circa 
1725>/6, Elizabeth West, born circa 1708, a daughter of Nathaniel W^est, 

3rd, of Buckingham by his wife Elizabeth , and a granddaughter 

of Nathaniel West, 2nd, late of Burlington Co., N. J., and Newport, Rhode 
Island, by his wife, Elizabeth Dungan, eldest dau. of Rev. Thomas Dun- 
gan of R. I. and Bucks Co., Pa. 

ISSUE 

I — Sarah Hough, m. James Radcliffe, son of Edward and Phoebe 

(Baker) Radcliffe. 
II— Martha Hough, b. 1728; d. 1785; m. William Evans, son of Lewis 
Evans, a Trooper in the Battle of Boyne. 
HI — Mary Hough, m. Samuel Gourley of W'rightstown. 
IV — Rebecca Hough, m. (1st) George Williams; m. (2nd) his brother, 

Samuel Wlllians of Gwynedd. 
V— Joseph Hough, b. 1730; d. Jan. 6, 1818; mar. March 7, 1757, 
his cousin, Mary Tomkins, b. Nov. 25, 1739; d. Aug. 5, 1811; 
dau. of Robert and Lydia (Carrell) Tomkins of Warrington Tp. 
VI— John Hough, "Non-Associator" of 1775; m. Oct. 31, 1767, at 
St. Michael's and Zion Church, Phila., Ruth W'illiams. 
VII — Margery Hough, m. Hugh Shaw. 

VI 11^ — Elizabeth Hough, m. Robert Tomkins, 3rd, (brother to Mary 
Tomkins, wife of Joseph Hough). 
IX — Hannah Hough; d. April 18, 1819; m. Simon Meredith. 

Before we leave Richard Hough's family I should like to 
say a word or two about the coat of arms. Richard's descendants 
in the male lines have been using the coat of arms listed under 
his name in Crozier's "General Armory," George Norburry 
MacKenzie's "Colonial Families of America," Vol. II, and in 
John Matthew's "American Armory and Blue Book." The 
blazon is as follows: Arms — Argent, a bend Sable; Crest — a 
wolf's head erased, Sable; motto — "Memor Esto Majorum." 

The arms (Argent, a bend Sable) are an ancient Hough 
device, in use by the family in Cheshire long before the Heralds' 
Visitations in the sixteenth century. Another very ancient 
Hough coat is that of the Houghs of Hough (or Hogh) in Nant- 
wich Hundred, Cheshire, which consists only of the arms: 
Argent, a chevron Sable between three crescents of the field. 
The first coat of arms (the one which the Houghs descended 
from Richard bear) is the one borne by the Houghs of Leighton 



EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 385 

and Thornton Hough, Cheshire, since circa 1250; the crest was 
added sometime after the Visitation of 1580. 

We have no proof to date that Richard Hough used this 
blazon. The late Oliver Hough of Newtown, whose bookplate 
[See "Hallowell-Paul Family History," 1924] was an engraving 
of the same coat of arms, found the device "Argent, a bend 
Sable" in use by a great-grand uncle of his, Isaac Hough, Junior, 
who lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and who 
may have borne these arms as a matter of tradition. 

Certainly, this coat of arms was borne in England at a date 
sufficiently early for the first armigerous gentleman of the family 
to have been the common ancestor of Richard Hough and of 
all the other Houghs who spring from Cheshire. 

John Hough of Macclesfield 

2. Suppose we consider briefly Richard Hough's brother, 
John Hough of Macclesfield, who is not known to have left 
England, but who owned land in Bucks County, Pa. In 1691, 
John Hough of Macclesfield, Co. Chester, England, bought 
from William Penn three hundred seventy-five acres of land in 
Pennsylvania, "toward the Susquehanna river clear of Indian 
incumbrance," and in 1694 conveyed three-fifths of this tract 
to his brother, Richard Hough, then in Pennsylvania. This 
land was the tract lying in Buckingham which Richard in his 
will directed to be sold. John Hough's purchase called for 375 
A., but the amount laid off to him was much greater than that, 
for the resurvey of 1702 showed Richard Hough's three-fifths 
of it to be four hundred seventy-five acres; this land was con- 
firmed to him by patent dated November 24, 1702. 

Very cautiously I submit a tentative record of John Hough 
of Macclesfield and his children which was compiled entirely 
from copies of Macclesfield vital statistics and vital statistics 
of Friends' Quarterly Meeting of Cheshire and Staffordshire, 
England. 

John Hough was born in 1648; died 3 mo. 22, 1728, and was 
buried with his first wife at Macclesfield. He married first, 

circa 1680, Mary , born circa 1650, and died 9 mo. 12, 

1715. They lived in Macclesfield and were the parents of ten 
children. He married (2nd) 10 mo. 9, 1719, Mrs. Ellen Sarrat 



386 EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 

of Newton, Cheshire. She was born in 1666, died 6th mo. 25, 
1721, and was buried at Newton. 



ISSUE OF JOHN AND MARY HOUGH OF MACCLESFIELD, 
CHESHIRE 

1. Henry Hough, b. 1st Mo. 7, 1681; Died young. 

2. Henry Hough, Chapman, b. 1st Mo. 7, 1683^/4; d. 10th Mo. 21, 1711; 
mar. 7 mo. 9, 1708, Mary Bangs of Stockport, Cheshire, dau. of Benja- 
min Bangs, Sr. She was b. 1684; d. 3 mo. 8, 1732. 

3. Richard Hough, b. 5th Mo. 1, 1684; d. 10th mo. 4, 1707. 

4. John Hough, Jr., b. 5th mo. 13, 1686; d. 3rd mo. 10, 1724; mar. 8 mo. 12, 
1714, Catharine Mellor of Whitehough, Staffordshire, b. 1695; d. 4 mo. 
10, 1721. They lived at Macclesfield, and had issue three children. 

5. Mary Hough, b. 5th mo. 13, 1686, (a twin to John, Jr.); she mar. 3rd 
mo. 1711, James Penketh, of Great Sankey, Lancashire. 

6. Elizabeth Hough, b. 11 mo. 5, 1688; d. 5th mo. 27, 1722; mar. 10th mo. 
25, 1707, John Hough of Sutton, b. 11 mo. 5, 1679, son of Thomas and 
Ellen (Barnes) Hough. 

7. Catherine Hough, b. 9 mo. 17, 1690; d. 6 mo. 12, 1691. 

8. Catherine Hough, b. 9 mo. 1, 1691; d. 6 mo. 14, 1709. 

9. Anne Hough, b. 7 mo. 3, 1693; d. 4 mo. 15, 16' 6. 

10. Thomas Hough, died 2 mo. 30, 1698; buried at Eaton with his two sisters, 
Catherine and Anne. 

Francis Hough 

3. Unfortunately we have very Httle information concern- 
ing Francis Hough who came to Pennsylvania in the ship 
"Endeavour" (Sept. 29, 1683) and who has been assumed to 
be a younger brother or nephew of Richard Hough. We do 
not know the degree of kinship which existed between Francis 
Hough and his patron, but it seems fairly safe to say that there 
was some blood relationship. 

Francis Hough's contract with Richard called for two years' 
service, at the end of which time Francis was to receive fifty 
acres of land. Like most of these tracts, the actual acreage 
was greater than the amount stipulated. In 1703, when Buck- 
ingham Township came into being Francis Hough had 256 
acres there. 



EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 387 

A bond (Deed Bk. I, p. 99, Doylestown) dated January 11, 
1686, gives the information that Francis Hough was a carpenter. 

A deed, dated February 3, 1749 (Deed Bk. 11, p. 65) yields 
us the data: that Francis Hough was living in Plumstead Town- 
ship at that time, that his wife's name was Abigail, that he was 
borrowing money amounting to £14-15 sh. on his 91 acres of 
land in Plumstead which the Proprietaries had conveyed to him 
by patent dated December 14, 1748; and, especially interesting, 
that he was borrowing this money from a Mr. John Riche, yeo- 
man, of Plumstead, who was the husband of Sarah Hough, a 
daughter of John Hough of Middletown Township, Bucks Co. 
This is the first connection in this paper between a member of 
Richard Hough's family and that of John Hough of Middletown. 

Deed Book 12, page 163, shows that an Abigail Hough (possi- 
bly the wife of this Francis Hough) witnessed a deed dated 
June 29, 1753, between John Hough of Solebury; Hannah, his 
wife; Eleanor Hough, widows his mother; and William Hough, 
his brother; to John Barcroft of Solebury [See John Hough's 
pedigree ahead]. 

John Hough 

4. The Hough family in Bucks County, excepting Richard's 
family, on whom we have the most information is that of John 
Hough, yeoman, who came from Hough, a part of Wilmslow 
Parish in the Hundred of Nantwich, Cheshire, England, and 
settled in Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. 
[The record of his arrival is given in Pa. Mag. of Hist. Vol. 9, 
p. 229; and an account of his immediate family is given in T. 
Maxwell Potts' "Our Family Ancestors," pub. 1895.] 

He was born circa 1660; married circa 1680, Hannah . 

They arrived in Pennsylvania 9th mo. 1683 in the ship "Friend- 
ship" of Liverpool wnth their son, John Hough, Jr., and five 
servants: George Claire and Issabel, his wife, to serve 4 years; 
George Claire, Jr., their child, to serve until he is 21; Nathaniel 
Watmough and Thomas Hough, each to serve 4 years. 

This family settled in Middletown in the northwest corner 
of the township adjoining the land of Shadrach Walley of New- 
town Twp. [See Cutler Map, 1703, p. 206, Vol. 3. Davis' 
"Hist, of Bucks County."] Hereafter, we shall call the head 
of this family John Hough of Middletown to distinguish him 



388 EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 

from Richard Hough's brother, John of Macclesfield, and from 
his second son, John Hough of "Houghton." 

John of Middletown was a member of Middletown Meeting 
and later of Falls Monthly Meeting. Besides his home tract 
of land, he bought several hundred acre« in Newtown Township, 
but we do not know that he ever lived on the latter tract. 

In Davis' "History of Bucks County," Volume H, page 99, 
there is the statement that "In 1734, not long after the Proprie- 
taries opened their land for settlement, John Hough purchased 
200 A. on Deep Run in Bedminster Township." This refers 
to John Hough, Jr., son of John of Middletown. 

He was a member of the Provincial Assembly for Bucks 
County in the year 1710. 

Letters of Administration on his estate were granted Jan- 
uary 20, 1732, to his eldest son, John Hough. The securities 
w-ere Samuel Scott and Richard Sands (the latter was a brother- 
in-law of the administrator). 

Francis Rossell, late of Macclesfield, Co. Chester, England, 
who came to Pennsylvania in the "Endeavour" with Richard 
Hough, Francis Hough, Samuel Hough and John Clowes, and 
who settled first in Burlington, N. J. (1684), and later in Bucks 
County, by his last will and testament, dated 8 mo. 5, 1694, 
(reg. at Doylestown) devised 400 acres of land to the children 
of John Hough. This land lay in the upper part of the county, 
and on 7th mo. 10, 1712, it was confirmed to the heirs by the 
Board of Commissioners. 

ISSUE OF JOHN AND HANNAH HOUGH OF MIDDLETOWN 

1. John Hough, b. in Cheshire; d. 1744; Will dated Aug. 12, 1744; prob. Nov. 
17, 1744, wife Eleanor and son William are executors (Bk. 2, p. 42). He 
mar. 4 mo. 1, 1714, Elinor Sands, b. 10 mo. 5, 1692, a dau. of Stephen and 
Jane (Cowgill) Sands of Middletown, Bucks Co. They had issue eight 
children: Buckingham records: 

I— Mary Hough, b. 7 mo. 4, 1715; d. 11 mo. 5, 1782. 
II— John Hough, 3rd, b. 12 mo. 21, 1716/17; d. intestate before 

1776; mar. (1st) Hannah • . Was living in Solebury Tp., 

in 1753. He mar. (2nd) at Christ Church, Phila., Nov. 8, 1757, 
Olive Rogers. John and Olive (Rogers) Hough had issue a dau. 
Eleanor Hough. Olive (Rogers) Hough, after the death of 
John Hough, remarried to William Doyle, as his second wife. 
Ill— jane Hough, b. 10 m. 10, 1718. 



£arly hough families of bucks county, pa. 389 

IV — Stephen Hough, b. 1 mo. 27, 1721 — not mentioned in his father's 

will, may have died young. 
V — William Hough, b. 12 mo. 16, 1722y3; lived in Solebury; one of 
father's executors; his own will dated 4th mo. 16, 1793; prov. 2 
mo. 30, 1793/4, names brother Richard Hough and his own 
son William Hough as his executors. 
VI — Daniel Hough, innkeeper, of Warwick Tp., b. 2 mo. 5, 1725; m. 
Judith Hartley, dau. of John Hartley, of Solebury. He rented 
Doyle's Hotel 1774; bought it Oct. 1, 1776. [See Deed Bk. 11, 
p. 57; D. Bk. 18, p. 4^2; D. Bk. 18, p. 454; and Deed Bk. 21, p. 
101 — all in Doylestown.] 
VII— Joseph Hough, b. 7th mo. 10, 1727. 
VIII— Richard Hough, b. 3rd mo. 

2. Mary Hough, b. 7 mo. 6, 1684; d. 11 mo. 21, 1711/12; m. (1st) 10 mo. 

26, 1705, Jacob Janney; m. (2nd) 3 mo. 2, 1710, John Fisher. 

3. Stephen Hough, b. 1 mo. 30, 1687. 

4. Hannah Hough, b. 1 mo. 7, 1690; m. 1709/10, at Falls Mtg., Thomas 

Ashton, as his second wife; he had married (1st) 5th mo. 31, 1701, 
Deborah Baines of Falls Tp. 

5. Daniel Hough, b. 4 mo. 14, 1693. 

6. Isaac Hough, b. 12 mo. 20, 1694/5. 

7. Sarah Hough, b. 4 mo. 31, 1701; m. John Rich. He applied for member- 

ship in Buckingham Mo. Mtg. on 10 mo. 3, 1728, and when he 
was accepted 11 mo. 7, 1728, he declared his intention of marriage 
with Sarah Hough. In 1749, Elizabeth, widow of John Walley 
and of Nicholas Hellings, (she was born a Hough, and was sister 
of Samuel Hough of Newtown) left money to Sarah Riche, wife 
of John. Note that John Riche lent money to Francis Hough 
who came over with Richard Hough, Provincial Councillor. 

8. Joseph Hough, b. 1st mo. 4, 1703; may have been Joseph of Bensalem who 

married Deborah [Knight?]. See Adm. Bk. A, p. 26, Feb. 23, 
1750. [The records of these last four children are from Falls 
Monthly Meeting.] 

Thomas Hough 

5. The next person to be considered is Thomas Hough 
who came from Cheshire to Pennsylvania in the "Friendship," 
9th mo. 1683, and who was under contract for four years' serv- 
ice to John Hough of Middletown. His family was not con- 
nected with Bucks County, for he removed to Hopewell Town- 
ship, Burlington County, N. J. He was living in Hopewell, 10 
mo. 20, 1704, when he married at Fallsington, Bucks County, 
Jane Cowin, spinster, of Falls. 



390 EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 

Thomas Hough died in 1736, leaving a will. He and his 
wife had issue three children. [See T. M. Potts' "Our Family 
Ancestors" 1895.] 

1. Mary Hough, m. Benjamin Cripps. 

2. Hannah Hough, m. (1st) Daniel Haines, and (2nd) Isaac Fell. 

3. Jonathan Hough, b. 1720; d. intestate 1778; m. Elizabeth Brian; they 

had issue nine children. 
I — Daniel Hough, d. unm. 1797. 
n — Letitia Hough, m. William Budd. 
HI— Samuel Hough, b. 12 mo. 13, 1746; d. 6 mo. 6, 1815; m. Oct. 25, 

1775, Susanna Newbold, b. 2 mo. 3, 1750; d. Aug. 22, 1815. 
IV — Thomas Hough. 

V — William Hough, d. 1781 unm.; paymaster in N. J. Militia during 
Revolution. 

VI — Jonathan Hough, d. unm. 1781 left a will. 

VII — Benjamin Hough, d. unm. 1793, see will. 
VIII — Jane Hough, d. unm. 1781, see will. 
IX — Rebecca Hough, died young. 

Because John Hough of Middletown brought over to Penn- 
sylvania, Thomas Hough of Hopewell, there is some reason to 
conjecture that the two were related. If such a kinship exists, 
Thomas is also related to Samuel Hough of Newtown and to 
Elizabeth, his sister, to Michael Hough of Newtown, and 
very likely to Richard Hough, Provincial Councillor, and to 
Francis Hough. 

General Alfred Lacey Hough and Mr. Charles Merrill Hough 
of N. Y. C. are descended from Thomas of Hopewell. 

Samuel Hough 

6. Samuel Hough of Newtown Township was in all 

probability a relative of Richard Hough, Provincial Councillor, 
and fairly certainly a kinsman of John Hough of Middletown. 
Samuel came from Cheshire, via London, in the "Endeavour" 
with Richard Hough and was an indentured servant to John 
Clowes of Gosworth, Cheshire, who was Richard Hough's father- 
in-law. According to his contract Samuel Hough was to be 
free on July 29, 1687, and was to receive fifty acres of land. 
However, when Cutler surveyed Newtown Township in 1703, 
he owned 732 acres next to the land of Michael Hough; the 



6ARLY HOUGtl FAMiLiES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 39 1 

latter may also have been a relative of Samuel's. [Samuel 
Hough's sister left money to the children of John of Middletown; 
and Michael Hough's father-in-law, Francis Rossell, left 400 
acres to John of Middletown's children.] 

We know that Samuel Hough had a sister, Elizabeth Hough 
of Newtown, for she mentions her brother, Samuel Hough, in 
her will (probated Dec. 10, 1749). It is this lady who connects 
Samuel, whom we consider a relative of Richard Hough, to the 
John Hough family of Middletown. 

Elizabeth Hough of Newtown married John Walley of New- 
town (the only son and heir of Shadrach and Mary (Sharpe) 
Walley), and they had issue four children: Joseph, John, Jr., 
Ananias, and Damaris. John Walley died and his widow, 
Elizabeth (Hough) Walley, remarried to Nicholas Hellings of 
Newtown, as his second wife. Hellings died in 1745, and Eliza- 
beth Hough was again left a widow. Nicholas Hellings by his 
first wife (name unknown) had issue a daughter, Martha Hellings, 
who married, before 1745, William Doyle, as his first wife. 

William Doyle, it will be remembered, married second Olive 
Rogers, widow of John Hough of Solebury. [See Hough of 
Middletown Notes.] 

Elizabeth Hough by her will left money to the children of 
John Hough of Middletown. There must have been some 
blood relationship between Samuel and Elizabeth, on the one 
hand, and the Houghs of Middletown, on the other. And 
because Richard Hough's father-in-law, John Clowes, brought 
Samuel Hough from Cheshire to this country, one would think 
that probably Richard and Samuel were related also ; and hence, 
that John Hough of Middletown and Richard Hough the Coun- 
cillor bore reasonably close ties of kinship. 

Samuel Hough of Newtown has left us two different wax 
impressions of seals he used. One of the seals is distinctly 
armorial, but unfortunately not the "Argent, a bend Sable," 
or the "wolf's head erased. Sable." 

A deed dated Fourth mo. 4, 1702, between "Samuell Hough, 
carpenter to John Stackhouse, of Middletown, yeoman," 300 
A., etc., bears the following seal: arms — Argent, a chevron 
(color?) between three birds [color?]; crest^ — a bird[?]. 

Another deed by Thomas Penn and Richard Penn to Samuel 
Hough, 1734, bears Samuel's fantastic seal: "on a wreath of the 



392 EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 

colors, a cup between two flaming hearts, surmounted by a 
royal crown." This device is most un-heraldic; is more like a 
trademark than a crest P 



Michael Hough 

7. Michael Hough, innkeeper, w^as Samuel Hough's neigh- 
bor, and was most likely a relative of John Hough of Middle- 
town, and possibly of Richard Hough, Provincial Councillor. 
We do not know how Michael Hough, or Huff (as he sometimes 
spelled his name) came to Pennsylvania, but we do know that 
at an early date he acquired the tract of land comprising 250 
acres in Newtown which had belonged to Thomas Revell. 

Michael Hough married Joan Rossell, daughter of Francis 
Rossell, late of Macclesfield, Co. Chester, England, who came 
to Pennsylvania in the "Endeavour" with Richard Hough, 
Francis Hough, Samuel Hough, and John Clowes. Francis 
Rossell came over with a Michael Rossell, and an early bond 
dated 10 m. 9, 1684, describes them both as "milners." Francis 
Rossell, it will be remembered, devised by will dated 8 mo. 5, 
1694, 400 acres to the children of John Hough of Middletown. 

After Michael Hough's death, 5th mo. 22, 1687, Joan (Ros- 
sell) Hough married Thomas Brock. 

7 mo. 10, 1688, "Joan Huft the relict widow of Michael Huft, 
late of the Ferry House over against Burlington, Innkeeper," 
conveys Power of Attorney to Thomas Brock. 

In Michael Hough's will, dated 4th mo. 3, 1685, and wit- 
nessed by John Otter, he mentions one daughter, Mary. John 
Boyden and Edmund Bennett inventoried his estate on 6th 
mo. 26, 1687, and his "250 acres of land lying near Newtowne" 
was appraised at £15; "1 acre lying near ye Ferry" at £2-10 sh. 
1 d.; and a "servant maide" at £8. 

Besides the Houghs already mentioned who emigrated to 

3 Addenda — 6. Samuel Hough of Newtown, Carpenter, was born circa 
1665; and he married between 1708 and 1712 Miss Ruth . 

On June 2, 1702, he received by deed a tract of 564 acres of land (not 
732 acres as on the alleged Cutler Map in Davis' Hist, of Bucks Co.) from 
Israel Taylor of Tinicum Island, chirurgeon, and Joseph Taylor of Phila- 
delphia, cordwainer, the two sons of Christopher Taylor who had received 
the land by patent from Penn, 5th Month 26, 1684. Samuel Hough sold 
parts of his land and disposed of the residue March 14, 1712, his wife Ruth 
joining him in the deed. (See Bucks County Deed Book, No. 4, p. 268.) 



EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 393 

Pennsylvania, there are Daniel of Chester Co., Pa.; Stephen of 
Chester Co.; and Walter of Bensalem Township, Bucks Co. 
These last three gentlemen are little more than names at present. 

Daniel Hough 

8. Daniel Hough owned land between Crum Creek and 
Darby Creek and abutting on Newtown Township, Chester 
Co., Pa. [See Harris Map, circa 1715, in Battle's "Hist, of 
Bucks Co."] John Hough of Middletown, Bucks County, had a 
son named Daniel, possibly named for Daniel of Chester, but 
w'e have no evidence that the two families knew each other. 

Stephen Hough 

9. Stephen Hough [or Hugh] was granted a warrant for 
50 acres of land by the Proprietary, in 1683, to be laid out in 
Chester County, between Crum Creek and Darby Creek. 

Stephen Hough married Frances , and they had issue 

a daughter Martha, born 3 mo. 11, 1684, who married Jonathan 
Taylor. Stephen died 11 mo. 21, 1683 [before the birth of his 
daughter] and his widow Frances remarried 12 mo. 1684/5 to 
Thomas Norbury of Newtown, Chester County. 

The land, referred to above, was laid out in Newtown Tp. 
(now part of Delaware County). Thomas Norbury held this 
tract in right of his wife and at the meeting of the Commissioners 
of Property, held 2 mo. 13 and 14, 1702, requested a resurvey 
of it and 125 acres held in his own right, and a patent for the 
whole. The request was granted. 

John Hough of Middletown also had a son Stephen who 
could have been named for Stephen Hough of Chester County, 
but there is no evidence that the two families even had business 
relations in the new province. 

Walter Hough 

10. In Davis' "History of Bucks County," Volume I, page 64, 
there is mention of a Walter Hough who was appointed one 
of two Overseers of Highways for what was later Bensalem 
Township, Bucks County. 

These three gentlemen of the rearguard (Daniel, Stephen and 



394 EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 

Walter) are in a class by themselves. I have not been able to 
discover anything which could connect them to one another 
or to the other Houghs in Bucks County. Scant though our 
data may be on Francis, Samuel, Michael and Thomas Hough, 
there are still indications that they were all probably related 
to one another, and to Richard Hough, the Provincial Councillor, 
and to John Hough of Middletown. 

There are two other early American Hough families which 
were in no way connected with Pennsylvania, but which, like 
our Pennsylvania families, had their roots in Cheshire, England. 

"William Hough, common ancestor of nearly all of this name 
of New England origin, was born in Cheshire in 1619. He 
emigrated in the party of Rev. Blinman in 1640 and settled first 
at Green's Harbor, near Plymouth; then at Gloucester, Mass.; 
and finally at New London, Conn., where he died Aug. 10, 1683." 
[From: Franklin B. Hough's "American Biographical Notes," 
p. 212. (1875)]. This William Hough was the son of an 
Edward Hough of West Chester, Cheshire, England. 

The Virginia Magazine of History furnishes us with some 
interesting accounts of Francis Hough, of the Hough family 
of Cheshire, who came from London to Virginia in the "Swan" 
in 1620. At the census of 1624/5, when he was twenty years 
old, he was living at Elizabeth City. 

In 1632, he was assigned a patent for fifty acres in Elizabeth 
City. 

On January 3, 1633, Francis conveyed to Henry Coleman 
of Elizabeth City, 60 acres, formerly granted Christopher Wind- 
mill, deceased, and due Hough for marrying his widow, [Mrs. 
Windmill]. 

November 12, 1635, he patented 800 acres at the first creek 
on the south side of the Nansemond River, and extending to 
the mouth of the River. 

December 26, 1636, he made a bill of sale for rights for 300 
acres to Humphrey Swan. 

May 17, 1637, Francis Hough obtained four patents aggre- 
gating 1,500 acres in Nansemond, or Upper Norfolk. 

Francis Hough, gentleman, was a member of the House of 
Burgesses for Nutmeg Quarters, February, 1632/3; and during 
the Indian Conflict of October, 1645, he was a member of the 



EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 395 

Council of War for the Associated Counties of "Isle of Wight, 
and Upper and Lower Norfolk." He set out for England, 
March 4, 1647. 

During the Dutch War (1667) the Governor and Council of 
Virginia ordered five forts of eight guns each to be built at 
strategic points along the mouths of the rivers. One of these 
forts was built on "Mr. Hough's plantation on the Nansemond 
River, probably at the place known as Hough's point." 

In his will dated July 25, 1648; probated July 27, 1648, he 
called himself Francis Hough, of St. Peters the Poor, London, 
merchant. He mentioned his mother, Mrs. Christian Stock- 
wood; his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Stockwood; and his four chil- 
dren: William, John, Jane and Anne. He left specific directions 
that his two sons were to be educated in England in a manner 
fitting for their management of the Virginia plantations. 

Now we have considered the pioneer Hough families of Penn- 
sylvania, and the very early ancestor of the Houghs of New Eng- 
land, and, last, the first Hough known to have set foot in America. 
One of the striking things about the Pennsylvania families is 
the extraordinary evidence of blood-relationship existing among 
them, a matter I have tried to point out by their contacts with 
one another in Bucks County. Each of seven Bucks County 
pioneers seems to show a degree of kinship with the other six. 
Our three "dark horses" from Pennsylvania, (i. e., Daniel and 
Stephen, of Chester, and Walter of Bensalem Township), may 
very well be related to the other seven immigrant ancestors in 
the province, but there is so little known about those elusive 
gentlemen that it is futile to speculate on their relationship. 

Even William Hough of New England and Francis Hough 
of London and the Old Dominion spring from the common 
family in Cheshire, so we may say, in a broader sense all the 
early American Houghs are more or less remotely related. 

Let us look, for a moment, at the parent family in County 
Chester, England. The tradition that the Houghs were of 
Norman-French origin and "came over with William the Con- 
queror in 1066" may conceivably be true, but the name, De la 
Hooghe, De Hooghe and Del Hoghe — as it was then written — 
is conspicuously absent from the Battle Abbey Roll; and the 
name is not Norman-French. 



3% EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 

The somewhat more reasonable theory that the family was 
of Flemish origin — though unsupported by documentary evi- 
dence — has its basis in the fact that there is a very ancient 
family of De Hooghe still living near Bruges in Flanders. Also, 
Giraldis Cambrensis, who wrote his "Itinerary Through Wales" 
in the twelfth century, mentions a colony of Flemings living 
along the Welsh border [Cheshire is a border county]; and Hol- 
linshead, the historian, goes farther in his "Chronicles" and 
relates that there was a large portion of Flanders inundated by 
the sea and that the survivors of the flood petitioned King 
Henry that they might be permitted to settle in England. 
Henry very graciously assigned to them the stormiest portion 
of his kingdom, the Welsh border, where the Flemings were to 
hold in check the over-enthusiastic Celts. 

The name may have come into England at this time, but 
why will it not suffice to say that the Del Hoghes or Houghs 
were an old Cheshire family and there let the matter rest? 

We have proof that from 1259 to 1297 a Richard del Hoghe, 
son of Richard del Hoghe, was frequently at the County Court 
of Chester, [See Chester Plea Rolls No. 4], and that he held 
land in Chorlton and in "le Hogh" (afterwards "the Hough"). 

There is, furthermore, the pedigree of the Houghs of Nant- 
wich Hundred, in Cheshire, which shows that another Richard 
del Hogh was a land holder in the reign of Edward I and that 
his son, Hugh del Hogh, styled lord of Hogh, was lessee and 
constable of Chester Castle, in the time of King Edward HI. 

The Houghs of Leighton and Thornton Hough, in Wirral 
Hundred, Cheshire, are believed to have sprung from the Houghs 
of Hough in Nantwich, same County. They acquired these 
two manors by marriage. 

The manor of Leighton was granted at the conquest to Robert 
de Redolent. After his death and the dispersion of his estates 
among various owners, the paramount lordship of Leighton was 
given to the barons of Montalt, under whom it was held by John 
Riseings and William de Leighton. 

The daughter and heiress of William de Leighton brought 
the manor in marriage to Roger de Thornton, whose only daugh- 
ter, Ellen, heiress of the manors of Thornton and Leighton, 
became the wife of a Richard del Hogh, from whose descendants 
the former of these manors [perhaps] obtained the name of 



EARLY HOUGH FAMILIES OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 397 

Thornton Hough. Leighton continued in the possession of the 
Houghs until the 27th year of the reign of Queen EHzabeth when 
Alice, daughter and heiress of William Hough, Esq., carried 
the manor to her husband, William Whitmore. Thornton 
Hough belonged to the Houghs until circa 1805. [Ormerod's 
"Hist, of Cheshire."] [As I have mentioned, the descendants 
of Richard Hough, the Provincial Councillor of Pennsylvania, 
use the coat of arms of these Houghs of Leighton and Thornton 
Hough.] 

While I realize fully the limitations and the inadequacies of 
this paper, I shall consider that it will have served its purpose 
if, by indicating some of the interrelationships existing among 
the Bucks County families and the identical origin of all the 
early Houghs in America, it stimulates present members of 
these families to make an attempt to consolidate the lines in 
this country and to trace their lineal descent from the early 
house in Cheshire. 



Covered Highway Bridges in Bucks County 

By GEORGE M. HART, DOYLESTOWN, PA. 
(Doylestovvn Meeting, May 4, 1935) 

COVERED bridges, this fast disappearing remnant of the 
olden days, will soon see its last stand on country roads, 
and become a matter of history. No other bridge makes 
a more attractive appearance than the covered type. They 
gave good and satisfactory service until automobiles and trucks 
began to travel our roads. America has always demanded 
speed and then more speed. The result is that many out-of- 
the-way things are practically condemned, and so with the 
covered bridge; it has outlived its usefulness. Today com- 
paratively few remain on roads which have any considerable 
amount of traffic, but some are still to be found along less fre- 
quently traveled country roads. Fifteen years ago there 
were thirty-six covered bridges in the county; the greatest 
number that ever existed; while today, only twenty-two remain. 
It is therefore quite obvious that in a few years this relic will 
have disappeared from the scenery of Bucks County. Mean- 
while, records and data relating to them are likely to become 
lost, and therefore it is quite desirable and in order that their 
history should be preserved. That is why this paper is written 
as a record for future generations. 

Fortunately, there are two bridges reasonably assured of 
permanent preservation. One of these, the Twining bridge, 
over Neshaminy Creek, and located on the Neshaminy farms. 
The other one, the Neely Mill bridge which has heretofore 
spanned Pidcock Creek, and is being relocated over the canal 
nearby. 

There are two types of covered bridge construction in the 
county. Namely, the sprung arch and the crisscross or lattice. 
The latter was evidently the common type, particularly in the 
northern end of the county, as those of lattice construction were 
of a later date. 

The weather boards were usually placed in a vertical position, 
and were seldom painted, as they were in other sections of the 
state. At present there is but one painted covered bridge in 
Bucks County. This is the Knecht's bridge, which is located 



COVERED HIGHWAY BRIDGES IN BUCKS COUNTY 399 

in a remote section of Springfield Township, where Pennsylvania 
German customs are prevalent, which probably accounts for 
that bridge being painted. 

Brief History of 36 Covered Bridges in 
Bucks County 

The following brief description of the covered bridges formerly 
or at present existing in Bucks County does not include covered 
bridges spanning the Delaware River, because a detailed account 
of all river bridges has already been adequately presented by 
Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr., in his excellent paper on "Improving 
Navigation on the Delaware River." (See Bucks County His- 
torical Society, Vol. VI, pages, 103, et seq.) 

Oakford Bridge, on township line between Bensalem and 
Middletown Townships, was one of the first to be eliminated 
because of the heavy weight of automobiles and trucks. This 
structure was built in 1845, and carried the Lincoln highway 
traffic over the Neshaminy Creek until 1921, when it was demol- 
ished and replaced by a concrete arch bridge. This in turn 
was replaced by a third bridge a few hundred yards down stream 
for the accommodation of the new super-highway. 

Mill Creek Bridge, in Northampton Township, crosses 
Mill Creek on the Bridgetown-Feasterville road. It was built 
in the 1830's and is one of the few such bridges remaining in the 
lower end of the county. Unfortunately it will pass out of 
existence in a short time because it carries a considerable amount 
of traffic. 

Rockville Bridge, in southwestern corner of Northampton 
Township, was built in 1830 and was constructed of oak. This 
bridge gave good service until it became too narrow for auto- 
mobiles, and was therefore demolished in 1932. Its length was 
139 feet and it spanned Iron Works Creek. 

Spring Garden Bridge is one of the longest covered bridges 
remaining in the county; its length is 218 feet. It was also an 
early structure, built i'n 1815 and rebuilt in 1839. This bridge 
is typical of the numerous bridges over the lower part of the 
Neshaminy Creek. Its location is near Spring Garden Mill 
on the dividing line between Northampton and Newtown Town- 
ships. 



400 COVERED HIGHWAY BRIDGES IN BUCKS COUNTY 

Worthington's Mill Bridge is over the Neshaminy Creek 
and is the longest remaining covered bridge in the county. Its 
length is 259 feet, and is one of the later structures, having been 
built in 1874. Its location is near Worthington's gristmill on 
dividing line between Wrightstown and Northampton Townships, 
on a road over which there is but little travel. 

Twining Bridge, already referred to, is no longer a county 
bridge, but is in the hands of the owner of a large estate in that 
section. For that reason it is one of the two covered bridges 
in the county that is likely to be preserved. This structure is 
over the Neshaminy Creek on dividing line between Newtown 
and Northampton Townships, and is 181 feet in length. It is 
constructed of hemlock. 

Chain Bridge, on dividing line between Wrightstown and 
Northampton Townships, was built in 1832 and was demolished 
a century later. It was 218 feet long and was built of oak. It 
carried a fairly heavy amount of traffic until its replacement by a 
steel bridge. It was also a typical example of the covered 
bridges over the lower part of the Neshaminy Creek. 

Darrah's Mill Bridge, built in 1821, was the last remaining 
bridge to carry the heavy traffic of a main highway. It was 
on the Old York road over the Little Neshaminy Creek in War- 
wick Township. It was 90 feet long and built of oak. An old 
remnant of the stage coach days passed when this bridge was 
demolished in 1930. 

Castle Valley Bridge was over the Neshaminy Creek in 
Doylestown Township. It had three spans with a total length 
of 483 feet, the longest covered bridge in the county. It was 
town down in 1830 and a new concrete bridge was located near 
its site. This bridge was built in 1835 of hemlock. 

Whitehall Bridge was built in 1792 and rebuilt in 1840. 
It was one of the oldest bridges in the county and remained 
until 1924 when it was demolished because of a new highway. 
It was built of oak and 160 feet in length. It was located in the 
village of Chalfont in New Britain Township, and crossed over 
the West Branch of the Neshaminy Creek. 

County Line Bridge carries a fairly heavy volume of traffic 
at the present time. It spans the Little Neshaminy Creek and 
is located on the County line between New Britain Township, 
Bucks County, and Hatfield Township, Montgomery County. 



COVERED HIGHWAY BRIDGES IN BUCKS COUNTY 



401 



Its length is 125 feet, and is constructed of oak. This structure 
has a 10-ton capacity, which is the heaviest load limit of any 
covered bridge in Bucks County. 

Pine Valley Bridge is located about half-a-mile north of 
the borough of New Britain between New Britain and Doyles- 
town Townships. This bridge was repaired in 1843 and is con- 
structed of hemlock. It crosses Pine Run, which flows through 
one of the richest valleys in central Bucks County. Its length 
is 81 feet. 




KROUT'S MILL BRIDGE, PHOTOGRAPH MARCH 23, 1937 

Krout's Mill Bridge is nestled on a country road in the 
valley over Deep Run in Bedminster Township. Its length is 
80 feet. This is a typical example of a covered bridge on a 
country road that is but little used. 

North Branch Bridge was located on the Dublin Pike 
on the county line between New Britain and Plumstead Town- 
ships. It was eliminated in 1921 because of its limited capacity. 
Nothing further is known concerning it. 

Point Pleasant Bridge, crossing the Tohickon Creek in 
the village of Point Pleasant, which is the dividing line between 
the townships of Tinicum and Plumstead. It was one of the 
longest single arch bridges in the county. This landmark 
passed out of existence in the summer of 1922 and was replaced 
by a bridge of concrete construction. 



402 COVERED HIGHWAY BRIDGES IN BUCKS COUNTY 

ToHiCKON Bridge was built in 1861. It is constructed of 
oak, 118 feet in length. The center pier was placed there in 
1912. It is on the route of the Old Bethlehem road, near Weisel 
postoffice, crossing the Tohickon Creek which is the boundary 
line between Bedminster and Haycock Townships. 

Randt's Mill Bridge, crossing the Tohickon Creek at 
Randt's gristmill, between Bedminster and Tinicum Townships. 
This was one of the many covered bridges that were located near 
old gristmills. It was demolished in 1925 and replaced by a 
bridge of concrete construction. 



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LOUX'S BRIDGE, PHOTOGRAPH MARCH 28, 1937 

Loux's Bridge over Cabin Run in Plumstead Township is 
next to the shortest covered bridge in the county, its length 
being but 60 feet. It was built in 1874 and repaired in 1913. 
It is built of hemlock, which was one of the common woods 
growing in that section at one time, but is now found only on 
steep hills and cliffs. 

Kratz's Mill Bridge, crossing Tohickon Creek on Town- 
ship line between Tinicum and Bedminster Townships, was built 
in 1848, and was torn down in 1930. It was 158 feet long and 
built of oak. 

Cabin Run Bridge is located on scenic Cabin Run in Plum- 
stead Township. It is exceptionally wide, two cars being able 
to pass without difficulty. Its length is 82 feet. 



COVERED HIC.HWAY HRID(iES IN BUCKS COUNTY 



403 



River Road Bridge in Tinicum Township (Route No. 32), 
was the last covered bridge built in the county. This was in 
1878. The timber was brought from nearby townships. Its 
length was 160 feet, and it was exceptionally narrow. This 
narrowness was one of the deciding factors which brought about 
its demolishment in 1932. It crossed Tinicum Creek. 

Erwinna Bridge in Tinicum Township is the shortest of its 
kind in the county, being 56 feet long. It is located near the 
village of Erwinna in Tinicum Township, and spans Lodi Creek. 




FRANKENFIELD'S bridge, photograph march 28, 1897 



Frankenfield's Bridge was built in 1872 and repaired in 
1912. The length of the span is 110 feet. It crossed Tohickon 
Creek in Tinicum Township. This bridge is nestled in a some- 
what secluded part of the county, and should serve the com- 
munity for a longer period of time than many other of the 
covered bridges. 

Uhlertown Bridge in Tinicum Township has the unique 
distinction of being located over the Delaware Division Canal 
of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company. It is 101 feet in 
length and is constructed of oak. It carries a fairly heavy 
volume of traffic through this quaint village. 

Kintnerville Bridge in Nockamixon Township was located 
in the village of the sam^e name. It was torn down in 1921 and 
replaced by a bridge of concrete construction. This was a 



404 



COVERED HIGHWAY BRIDGES IN BUCKS COUNTY 



lattice bridge and one of the first covered bridges to succumb 
to the onward progress of the automobile. It spanned Gallows 
Run, on automobile route No. 611. Its length was 79 feet. 

Mood's Bridge was built in 1874, and is located in the rich 
valley of the Northeast Branch of Perkiomen Creek, in Rock- 
hill Township. Its total length is 120 feet, and carries but little 
travel. 

Steeley's Bridge is located about one-half mile west of 
Mood's bridge over the Northeast Branch of Perkiomen Creek 
in Rockhill Township. The total length is 129 feet, and is con- 
structed of oak. 




SHEARD'S^MILL BRIDGE, PHOTOGRAPH MARCH, 1935 



Sheard's Mill Bridge crosses Tohickon Creek near Sheard's 
gristmill at the dividing line between Haycock and Rockhill 
Townships. It is 134 feet long and is in excellent condition. 

County Line Bridge was built in 1849 and crossed the North- 
east Branch of Perkiomen Creek in Rockhill Township and was 
97 feet long. It was located on the County Line road and was 
demolished in 1932, because of a new highway. 

VanSandt's Bridge was built by G. Arnst and P. S. Naylor. 
Its length is 86 feet. It is on a back country road spanning 
Pidcock Creek, which flows near historic Bowman's hill in Sole- 
bury Township. 



COVERED HIGHWAY BRIDGES IN BUCKS COUNTY 



405 




SOUTH PERKASIE BRIDGE, PHOTOGRAPH MARCH, I'J.^S 

South Perkasie Bridge crosses Pleasant Spring Creek in 
the village of South Perkasie in Rockhill Township. It is 93) 
feet long, built of oak and white pine and carries a fairly volume 
of traffic. 




FINLAND BRIDGE, PHOTOGRAPH MARCH, 1934 

Finland Bridge, in the northwest part of the county in Mil- 
ford Township, was built in 1861 and used until an improved 
road was constructed in that neighborhood. It crossed llnami 
Creek with a span of 140 feet. 



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KNECHT'S BRIDGE, PHOTOGRAPH MARCH 27, 1Q35 

Knecht's Bridge, heretofore referred to, constructed of 
hemlock in 1873. It has a length of 110 feet, and spans Cook's 
Creek (later called Durham Creek). It is in Sleifer's Valley 
in Springfield Township, and on the route of the Indian Walking 
Purchase of 1737. 




HOUPT'S MILL BRIDGE, PHOTOGRAPH DECEMBER, 193S 

Houpt's Mill Bridge in Springfield Township w-as built in 
1872. Situated in one of the remote sections of the county, and 
spans Durham Creek. It carries very little traffic, and therefore 
likely to remain in service longer than other bridges of that type. 
Its length is 107 feet. 



COVERED HIGHWAY BRIDGES IN BUCKS COUNTY 407 

Neely's Mill Bridge, crossing Pidcock Creek in Solebury 
Township, is located near the historic Thompson-Neely house 
at Bowman's hill. This bridge is being moved and relocated 
near its original site, crossing the canal leading to Washington 
Crossing State Park. It is one of the two covered bridges in the 
county to be definitely preserved as a model and relic of bygone 
days. Its length is 106 feet, and is built of hemlock. 

Aqueduct Bridge in Upper Makefield Township is a mile 
south of Washington Crossing, named for the canal aqueduct 
located nearby. It was built in 1848, and of oak construction. 
It spans Hough Creek and has a total length of 70 feet. 

In conclusion, it should be borne in mind that further attempts 
should be made to gather and preserve data on all covered 
bridges, to be put in papers to present to the Bucks County His- 
torical Society, and thus preserve this valuable historic informa- 
tion in order that future generations and the public may have 
access to this passing historical material. 

NOTE BY THE EDITOR 

There was a wooden covered bridge of arch construction, spanning Dur- 
ham Creek on the river road (now automobile route No. 611), built in 1824, 
that was carried away by a flood in the Durham Creek on Thursday, October 
4, 1877. It was replaced by an iron truss bridge which in turn was replaced 
by the present bridge of concrete construction. 




PASTORS WHO SERVED CHRIST'S LUTHERAN CHURCH, 1823 TO 1937 



Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Tinicum, Pa. 

hy rev. .\llen s. fisher, s. t. m. 

(Mcelii-g in Christ Evangelical Liitlu-ran Cliurcli, 
Tinicum. Pa., October 12. 19,?.S) 

(This is a revised and abridged paper based on a chapter under the same title in the 
author's book, "Lutheranism in Bucks County — 1734-1<^34," published in 1Q3.S (pp. 28 to 37), 
which should be consulted for more complete data.) 

THE early history of Christ's Evangelical Lutheran Con- 
gregation, popularly known as Lower Tinicum Lutheran 
to differentiate it from another congregation of the same 
denomination at the upper end of the same township, is still 
uncertain. There may have been Lutheran ministrations among 
the earliest German settlers, by itinerant pastors, between 1747- 
60; but definite data concerning the same is not at hand. 

Tinicum Township was reserved by the Penns, for several 
reasons, and was not open to settlers as early as was some of 
the surrounding territory. The earliest settlers were English 
and Scotch-Irish. The Germans, coming up the Schuylkill- 
Perkiomen Valley from Philadelphia, did not reach Tinicum 
much earlier than 1760. 

The oldest church record of the congregation was opened by 
Johann Wolfe Lizel, who according to his own entry was "Evan- 
gelical Lutheran Preacher from Nuremberg." Lizel was an 
independent Lutheran then also serving at Peace, Weisel (To- 
hickon), which congregation likewise was opposed to Muhlen- 
berg and the United Congregations. 

The first wedding recorded at Tinicum was that of George 
Adam Hillpot (Hellepart) and Maria Phillipina Schnauffer, 
April 10, 1759. In the oldest graveyard, now known as the 
Hillpot Graveyard, the oldest legible tombstone is that of William 
Jiser, who died December 30, 1759. Thus from these facts one 
concludes that the congregation had its beginning about 1760. 

The first church was a log structure. There is no one now 
living who can give any definite information as to the site or 
the nature of this early edifice. There is evidence that it was 
located in or near the Hillpot Graveyard and that it was used 
until 1808. The graveyard, restored and placed in perpetual 
care in 1927, was purchased in 1802, when it was referred to as 



410 CHRIST EVAN. LUTH. CHURCH, TINICUM, PA. 

"the old" graveyard. All legible names are those of Germans, 
as also are all the names attached to a statement concerning 
the purchase, fencing expenses, etc. 

The Marshall Graveyard, also called the Cooper-Ridge 
Burial Ground, known to many people of Bucks County, because 
it is the resting place of Edward Marshall, the walker of the 
infamous and deplorable 1737 Indian purchase; the Erwin 
Family plot at Erwinna, and the graveyard at the forsaken 
Ottsville Church are about the only evidences left of the early 
English and Scotch-Irish settlers in Tinicum Township. There 
is supposed to have been a Gruver or Groover burial plot (Ger- 
man), but this was completely obliterated many years ago. 

The log church served until 1808, when a second house of 
worship was reared. Its site was in the present Fox Graveyard, 
close to the present well-known Tinicum Brick Church, where 
the outlines of the foundations may still be recognized. It was 
of brick (32x42) and served until 1861, when another and a 
larger brick edifice (50 x 70) was reared upon the site of the 
present Tinicum Brick Church. It had a capacity of 1000, 
having galleries on three sides; but even this became too small 
by 1876. The author borrowed a copy of Battle's History of 
Bucks County" from Mrs. Mary Gruver, Ottsville, in which 
was found a newspaper clipping of February 8, 1908, which is 
quoted because of the following interesting information : 

"The fine Brick Church built in 1861 and remodelled in 1876, 
having a steeple 160 feet high, which was a conspicuous land- 
mark for many miles, was burned during the early hours of July 
3, 1907. The burning of the church brought the question of 
separation, previously agitated, to an issue. Soon after the fire 
the members of the Lutheran congregtion held a meeting, 
and by a large majority decided upon separation. In the fall 
of 1907 the officers of the two congregations held a joint meeting, 
at which it was agreed by the Reformed to purchase the Lutheran 
share in the old site. The site was valued at $1800, so the 
Reformed paid the Lutherans $900 for the release and transfer 
of all rights to the ground upon which the Lower Tinicum Brick 
Church stands." 

The Lutherans purchased their present site, approximately 
four acres of land in the present village of Tinicum, Pa., for the 
sum of $400. Ground for a new church was broken on April 



CHRIST EVAN. LUTH. CHURCH, TINICUM, PA. 411 

2, 1908. The corner stone was laid on May 17, and the con- 
secration of the edifice took place on November 22-26, 1908, 
when there was only a debt of $7,400 on the beautiful house of 
worship which had cost approximately $35,000 to $40,000. 
Two years later on Thanksgiving Day all indebtedness had been 
paid and the mortgage was burned. On June 12, 1909, a fine 
memorial pipe organ was presented the congregation and dedi- 
cated. No accounts concerning the contributions and expendi- 
tures for this splendid work were accessible to the writer of this 
history, but many of the beautiful windows and articles of 
furniture bear the names of the men and the women who so 
generously contributed towards the same. 

The earliest notice concerning a school house is that of June 
27, 1790, which, however, is definite concerning such a property. 
According to the names attached, it was definitely Lutheran, as 
also the log church must have been. 

Entries in the oldest record show that settlements from 1819 
to 1833 were between the Presbyterians and the Lutherans. By 
1834 the name Reformed occurs in the place of Presbyterian; 
but from 1838 to 1847 it was again Presbyterian and Lutheran. 
The Reformed and Lutherans were joint owners in the 1861 
building, evidently also in the 1808 edifice, and until such union 
was dissolved in 1907. 

There seems to have been a constant growth in the Lutheran 
membership from 1808 to 1884, when there came a decline, most 
marked after the separation in 1907; but despite the numerical 
change there has been a splendid record in benevolences. The 
Women's Missionary Society, organized in the winter of 1898, 
alone raised no less than $10,000 for the benevolent work of the 
church. 

Though there is some uncertainty concerning some of the 
men who ministered at Tinicum prior to 1808, one can be cer- 
tain that the following pastors served, and for the periods indi- 
cated : 

Johann Wolfe Lizel, 1760-72. 

Frederick Miller, V. D. M., 1773-74. 

LIncertainties, 1774-1803, though there are many entries. 

John M. Mensch, 1803-23. 

Henry S. Miller, 1823-38. 





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CHRIST'S EVANGELICAL CHURCH AND PARSONAGE; BUILT 1908 AND 1917, 
RESPECTIVELY 




TINICUM UNION CHURCH FROM 1861-1907 

Successor to Earlier Buildings 

The First One in 1747 



CHRIST EVAN. LUTH. CHURCH, TINICUM, PA. 413 

Christian Welden, 1838-42. 
Charles P. Miller, 1842-65. 
William S. Emery, 1865-84. 
Joseph W. Mayne, 1884-88. 
Robert B. Lynch, 1888-1903. 
Charles C. Snyder, 1903-1912. 
William A. Fluck, 1913-21. 
Allen S. Fisher, S. T. M., 1922-. 

Tinicum was evidently without parish assignment from 1760 
to 1774, but one notes a tendency to join with Springfield and 
Keller's and Nockamixon, 1774-1801. Keller's dropped out 
of the parish in 1842. By 1879 Tinicum and Nockamixon were 
a parish. Tinicum was a parish from 1880 to 1884, and since 
then has been united with Dublin. 

During these 175 years only two sons of the congregation 
entered the ministry, the Rev. Joseph T. Hillpot, deceased, and 
the Rev. Jordan Trauger, Philadelphia. The Rev. John Fox, 
Coatesville, also a son of the congregation, was transferred to 
Upper Tinicum prior to his ordination. Mr. Luther H. Gruver, 
a Junior at Muhlenberg College, is planning to enter the ministry. 



Buckwampun Historical and Literary Society 

By lewis SIGAFOOS, DOYLESTOWN, PA. 

(Meeting in Christ Evangelical Lutlieran Cliurcli, 
Tinicum, Pa., October 12, 193.S) 

ACCORDING to its efificient secretary, Charles Laubach, 
of Durham, the inception of the society occurred on vSep- 
tember 25, 1885, on the occasion of a visit to Buckwampun 
Heights by Historian William J. Buck, of Jenkintown, Mr. 
Buck having been attracted to the place to contemplate the 
scenes of his childhood, and Mr. Laubach by the historic and 
scientific interest attached to the elevation. After a full dis- 
cussion and interchange of views, it was decided that the beet 
way to perpetuate its traditions and historical interest as well 
as its original appellation, "Buckwampun," it might be best to 
hold a literary picnic each succeeding year in the month of Jure. 
It was then decided to hold the first meeting in June, 1888, 
giving the projectors sufficient time to complete their respective 
historical and scientific labors then pressing. 

Meanwhile Mr. Laubach, in order to make the first meeting 
a success, spared no labor in working out a program and enlist- 
ing persons to take part in carrying out the proposed scheme. 
His first step was to visit all the teachers of Durham, prevailing 
on them to take part in the well arranged program. After 
some reluctance the writer consented to prepare a paper on the 
assigned subject, "Education Then and Now." 

The day of the first meeting on June 11th was an ideal one 
for an outdoor meeting. The setting on the southwest side of 
the hill in a beautiful shady nook, together with its natural 
canopy of trees, and surrounded by plants and shrubbery, with 
an unobstructed view of a charming landscape, combined to 
make it a scene long to be remembered. 

The program, which was a very interesting one, was carried 
out successfully. Secretary Laubach read an essay on "What 
Has Brought Us Hither," and Historian Buck gave "Remi- 
niscences of Buckwampun." President C. E. Hindenach gave 
"Legends of Buckwampun." Ten other essays were given by 
chosen participants. The meeting was fraught with so much 



BUCKWAMPUN HISTORICAL AND LITERARY SOCIETY 415 

interest that the audience was unanimous in wanting to make 
it an annual occurrence. 

The initial meeting was followed annually by meetings at 
various places in the townships of Durham, Nockamixon, Hay- 
cock and Springfield in Bucks County, while two were held in 
Saucon and Williams Townships, Northampton County. Places 
invested with natural attractions or historical interest were 
usually selected for the meetings. 

Before proceeding further, I shall digress from my subject 
by giving short sketches of the officers of the association. 

The president, C. E. Hindenach, for many years a resident 
of Durham, was educated in the common schools, and in the 
Keystone Normal School at Kutztown. He taught school for 
twelve years in the Durham district and \Aas chosen principal 
of the Durham schools in 1881. He served as assessor for a 
period of five years. He was elected as a member of the Assem- 
bly and served two terms with credit and honor. He was a 
pleasing speaker, and a very efficient president for the society. 
He presided at all the meetings save one, and always had some- 
thing new in his welcome addresses. His death occurred Novem- 
ber 23, 1929. 

Charles Laubach, secretary of the association, was a man 
of varied attainments. A persistent student of history and the 
sciences, and a voluminous reader of scientific books, his favorite 
science was geology. As a mineralogist, he always presented 
one or more papers on the geological formation of the rocks 
where the meetings were held and the topography of the section 
of Eastern Pennsylvania in the vicinity. He also had a fine col- 
lection of minerals in his cabinet, most of the samples of his 
own collecting. A large share of the success of the society must 
be credited to his untiring efforts in promoting its interests. 
He was unable to attend the last meeting of the society at East 
Springtown school house on August 15, 1903, on account of 
illness. He passed away August 23, 1904. It is a regrettable 
fact that no one was found to fill Mr. Laubach's place in the 
society, and assume the onerous work that he so cheerfully per- 
formed. For this reason the word "Finis" was written after 
the meeting of 1903. 

And now a word about Historian William J. Buck. It was 
in his honor that the Buckwampun Society was organized. 



416 BUCKWAMPUN HISTORICAL AND LITERARY SOCIETY 

His intense interest in local history led him to trace the history 
of the families of many of the early settlers of his native locality. 
By visiting many of the older persons still living, he was able 
to secure much family history. Old Bibles furnished some 
information, and deeds for lands bought or sold, county records, 
tombstones and church records furnished more. But Mr. 
Buck did not stop at these ; he searched among the Pennsylvania 
Archives and every available public and private library where 
historic facts might be found. These facts he collected and 
published from time to time, thereby winning fame as a local 
historian. The books he published on local history are con- 
sidered a valuable asset to our State library. His death oc- 
curred February 13, 1901. 

The Buckwampun had many members and a host of friends. 
Among its active members who participated in its program 
were numerous teachers and professional men and women. 
Doctors, lawyers, clergymen and business men were invited 
to participate in the exercises. No membership fee was required, 
and everybody was invited to its meetings. Local history, 
biography, geology, botany and many other subjects of interest 
were included in its programs. 

Sixteen meetings were held. The second met on Bougher 
Hill near Riegelsville. For that meeting the writer was asked 
to write a poem on "Prohibition Pro and Con." He complied, 
and at every successive meeting he attended, furnished an 
original poem. The local subjects assigned were: Buckwampun, 
Pennsylvania Palisades, Haycock and the Boatman's Horn. 
Two others, the Editor's Muse and Revere Reminiscences, were 
presented at other meetings. 

The third meeting was held at Stony Garden near the Ringing 
Rocks, at the foot of Haycock Mountain. This was a very 
interesting meeting, and a number of prominent persons were 
among the large audience present. They were probably attracted 
to the place by the program advertised in the local news- 
papers. A very novel feature of this meeting was the 
introduction of music from nature. Previous to the meeting, 
Dr. J. J. Ott, of Pleasant Valley, selected special sounding 
rocks, representing tones of the scale, upon which, by the use 
of a steel hammer, he played "Home Sweet Home" and other 
tunes. This unique performance was greatly enjoyed by all 



KUCKWAMPUN HISTORICAL AND LITERARY SOCIETY 417 

present for its extreme novelty. So far as I know, it has not 
been repeated nor duplicated since. 

The fourth meeting was held in Funk's grove near Spring- 
town. The Euterpean orchestra furnished seven musical num- 
bers on this occasion. The literary program was somewhat 
shorter than usual, and the sttendance was smaller, although 
the weather was fine. 

The fifth meeting was held in the woods of Levi Trauger 
above Bucksville, in sight of Haycock Mountain. It was the 
day of the Buck family reunion, and members of the family par- 
ticipated in the exercises. Music was furnished by the Bucks- 
ville band, of which John T. Buck was leader. 

The sixth annual meeting was held at Ringing Rocks in 
Bridgetown Township. This phenomenon of nature furnished 
another very interesting place for the society's meeting. His- 
torian Buck read a paper he had specially prepared for the 
occasion. It was entitled "Soldiers of the War of 1812-1814," 
from Nockamixon and adjoining townships. Before beginning 
to read he asked the older people in the audience to tell if they 
remembered any of the "Old Twisters of the British Lion's 
Tail." 

About half a dozen present remembered some of the soldiers 
whose names he read. Several sons of the veterans were among 
the audience. 

Another very interesting paper was presented by A. B. 
Haring, president of the Union National Bank of P'renchtown, 
N. J. His subject was entitled "Durham Boats." He related 
several amusing incidents in connection with the crews running 
the barges which carried cannon balls and other products from 
the Durham furnace down the Delaware. He also stated that 
General Washington used these boats during the Revolution 
for transporting his army across the Delaware. Mr. Haring, 
owner of the land which contains these interesting rocks, very 
generously donated them to the Bucks County Historical Society 
on August 22, 1918. 

The seventh meeting was a well-attended one near the vil- 
lage of Applebachsville. Historical sketches of the village and 
the family from which it received its name, were read, and also 
the history of the Springfield and the Tohickon Churches. It 
was told that the weather-cock which surmounted the Spring- 



418 BUCKWAMPUN HISTORICAL AND LITERARY SOCIETY 

field Church, built in 1763, was kept as a relic when the church 
was replaced by a new building in 1816. It came in possession 
of Historian Buck, who later presented it to the Springfield 
congregation, and so the ancient bird "came home to roost," a 
proud emblem doing service now as in his early days more than 
170 years ago. 

The eighth meeting was held in a beautiful meadow along 
the Durham Creek, near the village of Durham. It was 
here at Durham, at the base of Mine Hill, that a blast furnace 
was built in 1727, the third to be erected in Pennsylvania. 
Durham furnace was the first in Pennsylvania to supply shot 
and shells for the Continental army, the first shipment having 
been made August 25, 1775. Music at this meeting was fur- 
nished by the Frenchtown Cornet Band. 

The ninth meeting was held in Benjamin Kohl's woods near 
Revere. The sky was cloudy and the weather threatening, but 
a fair audience assembled to listen to the program. The Nocka- 
mixon Choir rendered the music for the occasion. A poem 
prepared and read by the author, entitled, "Revere Reminis- 
cences," was not on the printed program. It embodied his 
early school days and the various changes that had taken place 
in the school and village since 1863. The Sorrel Horse, Kint- 
ner's Tavern, Rule's Corner were well-known names for the 
village until an application for a post office was made. Several 
names were sent in, but were rejected. A happy idea struck 
the applicant, and Revere was proposed. It was quickly ac- 
cepted, and the residents of the village are proud of the name. 
Having moved from the vicinity, and other interests claiming 
my entire time, this was the last meeting I attended. 

New members continued to join the society and the spirit 
of its meetings was kept up by its active workers. 

The tenth meeting of the society was held at Riegelsville, 
the eleventh at the Ringing Rocks, the twelfth at Pleasant 
Valley, the thirteenth at Pullen, the fourteenth at Durham 
Cave, the fifteenth at Springfield Church, and the sixteenth 
and last at Springtown. 

Programs of local historical and general interests, including 
biographical sketches of former residents and their activities, 
were presented at every meeting ; but time forbids me to elaborate 
on them. Many of the papers read at the meetings of the society 



BUCKWAMPUN HISTORICAL AND LITERARY SOCIETY 419 

are on file at the library of the Bucks County Historical Society, 
in a voluminous scrap book prepared by Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr. 

You no doubt wonder why an organization composed of so 
many interested members willing to foster such a worthy work 
in the cause of historical and scientific knowledge, should lose 
interest and disintegrate. I cannot explain, but believe it was 
partly due to many of its members engaging in other activities 
occupying their time and attention; but principally on account 
of the loss of its efficient leaders, on whom the membership 
depended for the responsibility of planning and carrying out 
the purpose of the organization. 

I sincerely regret that the mantles they wore could not have 
fallen on other shoulders willing to take up the work and con- 
tinue to rescue from obscurity much of the neglected and val- 
uable information about our ancestors, whose labors and trials 
were many and difficult ones. Their hardships were the means 
of paving the way to make it easier for us to travel on life's 
road, and we should feel that we owe them a debt of gratitude, 
which we can only partly repay by preserving and handing 
down to posterity the record of their achievements. 

We fondly hope that some one may be inspired to emulate 
the organizers of the Buckwampun Historical and Literary 
Society, and continue the work along the same lines so success- 
fully carried out by this society during the fifteen years of its 
existence. 



Louis H. Spellier and His Electric Clocks 

By MRS. ANNIE MEREDITH FRETZ, OAK LANE, PHILADELPHIA 

(Doylestown Meeting, May 2, 1936) 

DOYLESTOWN, the county-seat of Bucks County, has the 
dictinction of numbering among her former inhabitants, 
the scientist, Louis H. Spelher. 

He was born in Ger- 
many, January 6, 1841, 
of French and German 
parents, and died at 
Philadelphia, August 22, 
1891. 

For a time he was a 
tutor in the German 
Royal family. To es- 
cape military service he 
came to the United 
States, as the life of a 
soldier was contrary to 
his literary and inven- 
tive genius. On the 
other hand the patriotic 
significance of our 
Fourth of July appealed 
to him as much as it 
did to any native born 
American. He had a 
great love of nature, and 
was fond of gathering 
wild flowers, and was 
enthusiastic about 
Christmas, with its traditional Christmas tree and Christmas 
gifts. 

He came to Doylestown about the year 1871, and opened a 
watch, clock and jewelry store in the building near the corner 
of Main and State Streets, opposite the Fountain House. 

He was a splendid mechanic, with an inventive turn of mind, 




LOUIS H. SPELLIER 



LOUIS H. SPELLIER AND HIS ELECTRIC CLOCKS 421 

and after closing his place of business for the day, devoted his 
spare time to the experimentation and development of a new 
system of electric clocks. When his invention was well in 
hand, he attracted the attention of Alfred Fackenthall, Esq., 
then a young lawyer of Doylestown,^ who became interested in 
him, and who prepared his papers to present to the Patent 
Office at Washington, D. C, where his invention was allowed a 
patent on November 17, 1885. 

On March 17, 1880, he read a paper before the Franklin 
Institute of Philadelphia,^ entitled "Electro-Magnetic Time 
Telegraph," setting forth a history of his invention. 

From that address I quote the following: 

"If we consider that we can control by one correct timepiece just as 
many time telegraphs to indicate true time, as necessary or fancy requires, 
provided there is battery power enough to move them, we have reason to 
believe that they may come into general use in hotels and public buildings." 
* * * * "Now a few words in conclusion of the utility of the electric clocks 
before I close. They will hardly ever come into general use, and always a 
costly novelty for those who desire to have them." 

Mr. Spellier builded better than he knew, as evidenced by 
the large number of electric clocks in use today, not only in 
hotels and public buildings, but in general use everywhere, many 
of which are inexpensive. They keep accurate time and can be 
attached to any electric current outlet. 

After delivering his address and exhibiting his invention, the 
Committee on Science and Art made the following recommenda- 
tion : 

"As we think Spellier's invention such a great step in advance 
that it merits the warm approval and commendation of the 
Franklin Institute. We recommend that he be awarded the 
Elliott Cresson Gold Medal." 

1 Alfred Fackenthall, Esq., was born in Durham Township, May 24, 
1846; he was admitted to the Bar of Bucks County, May 5, 1869, and died 
at Doylestown, November 16, 1892. 

2 Franklin Institute was established in 1824, and begun the publication 
of its Monthly Journal in 1834. It has been suggested that the Franklin 
Institute may have been inspired by Franklin's Junto, a literary association 
begun in 1727, and maintained for many years, with but a few selected literary 
men as its members. For many years the Franklin Institute had its home 
15 South Seventh Street, Philadelphia, until it moved into its magnificent 
and imposing building on the Parkway and Twentieth Street. 



422 



LOUIS H. SPELLIER AND HIS ELECTRIC CLOCKS 



This medal was intrusted by the provisions of ElUot Cresson's 
will, to the Franklin Institute in 1848, and this award to Louis 
H. Spellier was but the eighth medal awarded over a period of 
thirty-three years. 





On May 17, Mr. Spellier read a second paper before the 
Franklin Institute entitled "Electric Clocks and Time Tele- 
graphs," which was published in their Journal, with numerous 
illustrations, August, 1882. 

In 1883, Mr. Spellier published a brochure of 12 pages, with 
illustrations, entitled "Spellier System of Time Telegraphy and 
the Superiorties," a copy of which has been loaned us by his 
nephew, Frederick T. Spellier, of Cheltenham, Pa. 

In 1886, Mr. Spellier published and had copyrighted another 
brochure of 24 pages entitled "A New System of Electric Clocks," 
which was also illustrated, wherein he sets forth the merits of 
his invention, accompanied with many testimonials from learned 
societies and scientific publications, both from America and 
from European countries. From this it appears that he had an 
elaborate exhibition of his clocks at the International Exhibition 
at Philadelphia during October, 1884. The "Electric World" 
of New York in its issue of September 27, 1884, says: "Mr. 
Louis H. Spellier has a space near the office of the exhibition 
management on the main floor, and a number of his clocks are 
distributed throughout the building," and then continues to 
speak in the highest terms of his invention. 

In 1885, Mr. Spellier was awarded the "Scott Legacy Medal 
and Premium," which was intrusted in 1816 to the City of 
Philadelphia by John Scott, Chemist of Edinburgh, to be awarded 
by the City of Philadelphia to inventors upon recommendation 
of the Franklin Institute only. This award consists of twenty 



LOUIS H. SPELLIER AND HIS ELECTRIC CLOCKS 423 

dollars in money, with a bronze medal bearing the inscription 
"To the Most Deserving." This bronze medal has been pre- 
sented to our society by his nephew, Frederick T. Spellier, of 
Cheltenham, Pa. This medal will be passed around at the 
conclusion of this paper. 

During the latter years of his life, Mr. Spellier visited Europe 
and after his return in August, 1891, while vacationing at the 
seashore he contracted pneumonia, from the effects of which he 
died at his Philadelphia home on the 22nd of that month. His 
body lies buried in the Doylestown cemetery. On his tomb 
there is an excellent likeness of him in bronze basrelief, together 
with his name and the dates of his birth and death. He never 
married. 

In 1877, while living in Doylestown, he built a clock for the 
tower of the courthouse, the works of which are now in the 
museum of the Bucks County Historical Society. 




BUCKS COUNTY COURTHOUSE CLOCK 

The first clock installed in the tower of the courthouse at Doylestown, was built and 
erected by Louis Spellier of Doylestown in 1877. The above engraving is from a photograph 
made in February, 1937, of the works which have been preserved and can be seen in the museum 
of the Bucks County Historical Society. 



History of the Building of Doylestown Friends' Meeting House 

From Manuscripts of Samuel Hart, in Possession of The Bucks 
County Historical Society 

Read by MRS. THOMAS O. ATKINSON, DOYLESTOWN, PA. 

(Doylestown Meeting, May 2, 1936) 

ON the day of , 1834, several Friends resid- 

ing in and near Doylestown made application to Bucking- 
ham Monthly Meeting for liberty to hold an indulged 
Meeting on First-days in that village under the care of that 
Monthly Meeting. The Meeting appointed a committee to 
confer with the applicants, who, after one or more consultations, 
reported favorably. The Meeting appointed another committee 
to have the care and oversight of the indulged Meeting for one 
year, which has been continued from time to time. 

A room in the Academy was rented by the applicants, where 
they held their meetings regularly. 

During the summer of 1835 the subject of building a Meeting 
House for themselves was mentioned, and, after consultation, 
was presented to the Monthly Meeting, who encouraged the 
proposal and made arrangements to assist in defraying the 
expense. 

In order to avoid all difficulties which might arise in raising 
the funds for liquidating that expense, William Stokes, Timothy 
Smith, Samuel Hart, Eleazer T. McDowell and Samuel Yardley, 
five of the applicants, entered into a written agreement to build 
a house 50 by 26 feet, one story of 11 feet in height, appropriating 
all voluntary contributions as far as they would go to the pay- 
ment, and the remainder, if any, they would pay in equal shares. 

A lot was immediately purchased, a deed stating the object 
of the purchase was executed to the above named Friends, mate- 
rials collected, a house erected and so far finished as to hold 
meetings therein in Second-month, 1836, which has continued 
until this time. 

In the following summer the building and surrounding 
improvements were completed and the cost found to amount 
to $1,654.50. During the progress of the building and subse- 
quently, John Watson kindly interested himself in obtaining 



426 BUILDING OF DOYLESTOWN FRIENDS' MEETING HOUSE 

contributions from the different Meetings composing Bucks 
Quarter and paid over to the building committee 

the sum of $ 483 . 25 

Meeting Contributions — 

Gwynedd Monthly Meeting, Abington Quarter 29 . 00 

Richland Monthly Meeting, Abington Quarter 33 . 00 

Abraham Chapman 50. 00 

Daniel Byrnes 50. 00 

Thomas Ross 50. 00 

Mathias Morris 20. 00 

Joseph Foulke 10. 00 

Joseph Rich 10. 00 

R. & Th. Hough 10. 00 

Stephen Brock 10. 00 

Elm. Pettit 10.00 

John Dyer 5.00 

John E. Kenderdine. . . ; 4. 00 

$ 774.25 

Remainder paid by the 5 persons named 880.25 

$1,654.50 

Some time elapsed and a proposition was laid before Bucks 
Quarterly Meeting that, if they as a body would increase the 
sum already paid over to us by John Watson to $1,000, we, who 
held the title, would declare a trust of said property holding as 
trustees under the Quarterly Meeting for their benefit. This 
was acceded to, a proportion was assessed on each Meeting, 
amounting to $1,000, the sums already paid by John Walton, 
collected from them respectively, to be deducted from the several 
quotas. The balance, $516.75, was paid over by John Watson 
and a declaration of trust executed as proposed on the 28th of 
the 3d-mo., 1839. 
The advancement reduced the sum paid by the trustees to $363.50 

of which William Stokes paid 76.10 

Timothy Smith " 59.09 

Sam'l Hart " 76.10 

E. T. McDowell " 76.10 

Sam'l Yardley " 76.10 

2d mo. 16th, 1850. $363.49 



BUILDING OF DOYLESTOWN FRIENDS* MEETING HOUSE 427 

The trustees are now all gone except myself. Wm. Stokes, 
Timothy Smith and Eleazer T. Smith are deceased and Samuel 
Yardley is removed to Philadelphia. 

Sam'l Hart. 



Memorandum of an agreement made and concluded this 
Sixth day of October A. D. 1835 between Timothy Smith, Wil- 
liam Stokes, Samuel Hart, Samuel Yardley and E. T. McDowell 
of the one part, and Jacob G. Connard Carpenter (all of Doyles- 
town) of the other part, Witnesseth that the said Jacob G. Con- 
nard doth hereby covenant and agree to and with the party of 
the first part to do the carpenter work of a Certain Meeting 
House, now commenced and about to be erected by the said 
party of the first ; for the public Worship of the Society of Friends, 
on a lot lately purchased by the said party of the first part of 
John Bradshaw situate in the village of Doylestown on South 
Street, adjoining Lands of Timothy Smith, Wm. Stokes and 
others: The said building to be twenty six feet in depth and 
fifty feet in length — one story high — one floor of yellow pine, 
five panel doors — nine fifteen light windows glass ten by twelve 
two window in the gable ends with a Shutter to each. — the sash 
of the nine windows to be double hinge — there is to be a parti- 
tion running across the house from front to back, with one 
double door to pass through and five hoisting shutters on slides, 
all to be hung with pullies and weights — the said double door, 
partition and slides are to be of panel work. If any other or 
more windows should upon reflection be thought propper, they 
are to be made by the said Jacob with frames and shutters all 
of which is to be done and executed in a workman like manner. 
And the said party of the first part in consideration of the cove- 
nants above mentioned do covenant and agree to and with the 
said Jacob, to pay unto him on or before the first day of April 
next ensuing the date hereof the sum of one hundred and fifty 
dollars in full for the completion of the said w^ork. And in addi- 
tion thereto the further sum of three dollars for each And any 
window which shall be made and put in beyond the nine herein 
discribed — also that they are to pay for all extra work done 
beyond wiiat is embraced or intended to be embraced in this 
article, according to the usual and customary wages 



428 BUILDING OF DOYLESTOWN FRIENDS* MEETING HOTJSE 



[n witness whereof we have set our hands- 



Timothy Smith 
Jacob G. Conrad 



Memorandom of an agreement made and concluded this 
Sixth day of October A. D. 1835 between Timothy Smith, WilUam 
Stokes, Samuel Hart, Samuel Yardley & E. T. McDowell on the 
one part and Joseph James of the other part Witnesseth that 
the said Joseph James for and in consideration of the covenants 
hereinafter named doth agree to and with the party of the first 
part, to build erect and construct for the party aforesaid a Meet- 
ing House for the society of Friends Situate in the village of 
Doylestown on Front Street, on a Lot adjoining lands of William 
Stokes Dr. I. S. Rich & others, conveyed or to be conveyed to 
the party of the first part by John Bradshaw, the said building 
to be twenty-six feet in width by fifty in length — the said 
Joseph to do the mason work of the same — the cellar to be built 
of stone seven feet high with and of an eighteen inch wall, and 
the remainder of said building to be built of Brick and to be 
laid and done by the said Joseph — the said Joseph to find his 
own tenders and water to make the mortar — the whole of the 
work both stone and brick to be executed in a workman like 
manner. In consideration of which the said party of the first 
part do hereby agree to and with the said Joseph to pay unto 
him on or before the first day of April next ensuing the date 
hereof thirty seven and a half cents a perch for the stone work 
of said building — and three dollars a thousand for laying and 
executing the Brick work of the same. 

Joseph James 

E. T. McDowell 

for the party of the first part. 



It is mutually agreed between Timothy Smith, William 
Stokes, Samuel Hart, Samuel Yardley & E. T. McDowell that 
they are equally and jointly liable for the cost and expense of 
erecting and completing the Friends Meeting house in Doyles- 
town and the improvements around and about the same and 



BUILDING OF DOYLESTOWN FRIENDs' MEETING HOUSE 429 

that they will mutually and equally contribute to the payment 
of the same. 

It is further mutually agreed by and between the Same 
parties hereto that all contributions made by the monthly 
Meetings of the County, or elsewhere, as well as all monies received 
and obtained of and from individuals, for the purpose of being 
appropriated in payment of said meeting House, are to be equally 
& mutually credited to the accounts and respective liabilities 
of the subscribers. 

To which covenants and agreements we severally and mu- 
tually bind ourselves one to the other for the true performance 
of the same. Witness our hands this fifth day of July A. D. 
1836. 

Timothy Smith 

Samul Hart 
Samuel Yardley 
E. T. McDowell 



Expenses for Friends Meeting House for 1839 to Oct. 31 

Reed, payment in full of Dan'l Byrnes for 1 year's attending the 
Meetinghouse of Friends in Doylestown, Ending Oct. 31, 1839, 
Ten Dollars s$10 

John Vanhorn 

Paid Timothy Smith's bill for whitewashing the fence 
around the yard $ 2 

Am. $12 

Abrm. Chapman for his proportions $1.71 Paid April 2, 1840 

Saml. Yardley 

E. T. McDowell 

Timothy Smith 

Wm. Stokes 

Saml. Hart 

D. Byrnes 





" May 25, 1840 








" March 18, 1840 




" May 2, 1840 




" 12th mo 27, 




To Oct. 31 the whole 




Amt. $10 


Am. $12.00 






Biographical Notice of Warren Smedley Ely 

By dr. B. F. FACKENTHAL, Jr., RIEGELSVILLE, PA. 
(Doylestown Meeting. May 2, 1936) 

f" m mmmm uE passing of Warren S. Ely is a great loss to the 

I County of Bucks and to this society, of which he 
was an active member for nearly forty years. He 
i was the tenth child of Isaac and Mary (Magill) 
Ely, who lived on their farm in Solebury Town- 
ship, Bucks County, where Warren was born 
October 6, 1855. 

He was educated in the public schools of Solebury Township 
and at the Lambertville, New Jersey, Seminary. 

He began his business career as a farmer, taking charge of 
the homestead farm on April 1, 1878, which he conducted for 
two years. On March 1, 1880, he bought a farm in Bucking- 
ham Township, which he cultivated for five years, during the 
same time acting as one of the managers and as treasurer of the 
Buckingham Valley Creamery Association. While operating 
this farm, he met with an accident on October 26, 1881, by which 
he lost his left hand. 

In 1885 he abandoned farming and bought a gristmill prop- 
erty located on Mill Run, a branch of the Neshaminy, in Buck- 
ingham Township, which he equipped with modern and up-to- 
date machinery and operated successfully until the spring of 
1894, when he moved to Doylestown, having been elected in the 
fall of 1893 on the Republican ticket to the office of Clerk of the 
Orphans' Court of Bucks County. On the expiration of his term 
of office in 1897, he was made deputy clerk in that office, and 
later served at various times as deputy Register of Wills, deputy 
Recorder of Deeds, and as deputy Sheriff. 

In March, 1900, he went to Jacksonville, Florida, to fill a 
position with a mercantile house, where he remained five months; 
returning to Doylestown to become the business manager of the 
Doylestown Republican.^ He resigned his newspaper work in 
August, 1901, having been appointed by the court of Bucks 

iThe Doylestown Republican, with daily and weekly editions, began its 
publication November 1, 1893, and ended its career November 24, 1909. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF WARREN S. ELY 431 

County to supervise the refiling and indexing of papers and 
records in the Court of Common Pleas and Court of Quarter Ses- 
sions, and in fact all the original papers on file at the court house, 
covering a period of 200 years, from the founding of the county in 
1682 down to 1882. 

The great opportunity which this courthouse-work afi'orded 
him, and his work in the various row ofiices, stood him in good 
stead, and equipped him for his work of later years in searching 
land titles and in his genealogical researches; in fact, he became an 
expert in that character of work. He was a man of strong per- 
sonality, a close student, with a mathematical mind and withal a 
retentive memory, and was without doubt the best equipped and 
the most reliable historian and genealogist in Bucks County. He 
despised so-called historians who padded their manuscripts with 
statements that were guessed at and that were not fully verified. 

It was not, however, until January 19, 1897, that he became 
interested in the Bucks County Historical Society, and elected to 
membership. He soon became one of its outstanding members, 
reading his first paper on "Scotch Irish Families" on August 9, 
1898, the year following his election. He made a total contribu- 
tion of twenty papers to our society, all of which are printed in our 
publications, a complete list of which is appended hereto. His 
last paper was submitted on May 2, 1931, at the Fonthill meeting. 
On October 14, 1922, he was elected a member of the board of 
directors, serving faithfully down to the time of his death. 

On January 15, 1901, the ofiice of librarian was created, to 
which Mr. Ely was appointed; at that time there were but a few 
hundred books in the library, which has since grown to 8,370 
bound volumes, and in addition we have over 3,000 well selected 
pamphlets, some 16,000 manuscripts, besides broadsides, parch- 
ment deeds, paintings and other historical items. Owing to fail- 
ing health, Mr. Ely resigned as librarian on May 5, 1934, and was 
made librarian emeritus. 

Some years ago Mr. Ely prepared for publication, a History of 
Bucks County, with special reference to its use in public schools, 
which, coming from his pen, is certainly of special value, and 
which it is hoped can be published at an early day. 

Mr. Ely assisted the late General Davis in revising his History 
of Bucks County; in fact, he compiled the entire third volume 
devoted to family histories and genealogies. In addition to the 



432 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF WARREN S. ELY 

papers read before this society, he presented papers to other his- 
torical and patriotic societies, among which can be specially men- 
tioned his address on "General Washington in Bucks County," 
delivered on February 22, 1926, before the Bucks County Chapter, 
Daughters of the American Revolution, published in the Bucks 
County Intelligencer, February 26, 1926. 

In his younger days Mr. Ely was much interested in educa- 
tional affairs, serving for a time as one of the trustees and directors 
of the Hughesian Free School of Buckingham, which ofifice he 
resigned when he moved out of the district. 

For many years Mr. Ely was an active member of Aquetong 
Lodge, No. 193, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he 
was a past grand and for many years its secretary; also a member 
of Doylestown Encampment, No. 35, and a representative of the 
Grand Lodge, in which he was past chief patriarch and scribe. 
He was a representative in the State Grand Encampment for a 
number of years, and for some time filled the position of district 
deputy. 

He was also a past select commander of the Ancient Order, 
Knights of the Mystic Chain of Pennsylvania, affiliated with the 
Buckingham Castle, No. 208, which he represented for several 
years, and served as trustee of the State body for three years. 

Mr. Ely was twice married, first to Miss Hannah S. Mitchener, 
a daughter of Hugh and Sarah (Betts) Mitchener. Mrs. Ely 
was a member of the Society of Friends to which Warren was 
affiliated, but due to the fact that his father was read out of meet- 
ing for marrying without consent of the meeting, Warren did not 
connect himself with the Society of Friends. They were the 
parents of three children, Laura W., born February 21, 1887, died 
February 25, 1903; Mrs. J. Carrell Molloy, of Pineville, Bucks 
County, and Frederic Warren Ely, of Pittsburgh, who survive 
him. 

His second marriage was with Mrs. Josephine I. Burleigh, 
daughter of J. Parker and Florence Belle (Anderson) Naugle, who 
also survives him. He passed away at his Doylestown home on 
March 9, 1936. His body was laid at rest on March 12, in the 
Friends' Burying Ground at Solebury Meeting House, near the 
home of his boyhood, a section of the county to which he often 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF WARREN S. ELY 433 

referred with the greatest affection.^ For portrait of Mr. Ely 
see frontispiece. 

Warren S. Ely contributed 20 papers to our transactions. The 
first on "Scotch Irish FamiHes," on August 9, 1898, and the last on 
"Tamenend vs. Allummpees" on May 2, 1931, of which the fol- 
lowing is a complete list: 

Title Meeting Vol. Page 

1— Scotch-Irish Families Aug. 9,1898 2 521 

2— Bogart's Inn, An Old Hostelry Oct. 1, 1901 3 96 

3— The Tohickcn Settlers Oct. 6,1903 3 296 

4 — Lime Burning Industry, Its Rise and Decay 

in Bucks County Jan. 18, 1910 4 69 

5— Presbyterian Church of Tohickon at Red Hill Oct. 4,1910 4 108 
6 — Historic Associations of Upper Neshaminy 

Valley Oct. 22, 1912 4 336 

7 — Dutch Settlement in Bucks County May 23, 1917 5 1 

8— Turnpike Roads in Bucks County May 23, 1917 5 18 

9 — George Taylor, Signer of the Declaration 

of Independence Jan. 19, 1918 5 101 

10 — Biographical Notice of Clarence D. Hotch- 

kiss Jan. 17, 1920 5 232 

11 — Octagon or So-called Eight Square School 

Houses Oct. 9, 1920 5 290 

12 — Early History of Washington Crossing and 

Its Environs Oct. 1,1921 5 376 

13 — Early History cf Neshaminy Presbyterian 

Church June 7,1924 5 624 

14 — The Samuel Hart Collection of Manuscripts, 

1777-1877 June 7,1924 5 717 

15— Andrew EUicott, The Great Surveyor Jan. 17,1925 5 745 

16 — The Three Tuns Inn at Gallows Hill and the 

Old Durham Road Nov. 21, 1925 6 25 

17 — A Lutheran Mission in Northampton Town- 
ship in 1748 Jan. 10,1925 6 44 

18— The Early History of Point Pleasant Sept. 10, 1927 6 96 

19 — Sesqui-Centennial Anniversary of the Battle 

of Crooked Billet Jan. 19,1929 6 271 

20 — Tamenend vs. AUummapees May 2,1931 6 396 



2For extended notices of Mr. Ely and the Ely family, see Battle's History 
of Bucks County, page 814; Davis' History of Bucks County, (revised edition) 
Vol. HI, page 132; Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography, Volume II, page 
556; and Pennsylvania, a History, by Rev. Dr. George P. Donehoo, Biographi- 
cal Volume, page 8, from which material has been drawn for this biographical 
notice. 



Address of Welcome to "Temora" 

By MRS. CHARLES C. (EDITH SCHUYLER) WILLIS 
(Newtown Township Meeting, September 26, 1936) 
(At tlie home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Willis) 

Dr. Fackenthal, Members of Bucks County Historical Society 
and Friends: 

IT gives us deep joy to welcome you to "Temora," one of the 
old homes of Bucks County, the quiet history of which might 
serve in recording to us many gatherings and reunions, of 
families and friends who have met here from time to time — a 
glimpse of cheer and a bit of the spirit of that home-coming 
welcome of the days of long ago. 

Today's meeting should be of additional interest owing to the 
fact that it is the first to have been held in the Township of New- 
town (other than in the Borough of Newtown) since the organ- 
ization of the Society, November 20, 1880. I have been asked 
to give you some data regarding "Temora," its past and present. 
Through the kindness of Mr. Edward R. Barnsley, of Newtown, 
we have in our possession a photo-copy of the original warrant 
from William Penn to Thomas Revel, dated the sixteenth day 
of 3rd-Mo., Anno Dom: 1683 (the earliest of the William Penn 
Warrants recorded of Newtown), original of which will be found 
at the Land Ofifice Bureau, Harrisburg, Pa.; also a copy of the 
deed of Lawrence Growden and Langhorne Biles to David 
Buckman, recorded 4th-Mo. 10th, 1750 (Deed Book No. 8, 
page 92), a portion of which reads as follows: 

"Whereas, by virtue cf a Warrant granted by William Penn, Esq., bear- 
ing date the sixteenth day of the 3rd-Mo., Anno Dom: 1683, there was sur- 
veyed and laid out on the twenty-eighth day of the same month unto Thomas 
Revel (on Rent) a certain tract or parcel of land in Newtown in the County 
of Bucks, containing 250 acres." 

The early owners of this tract following Thomas Revel were 
Michael Huff, Sr., and Michael Huff, Jr., Thomas Stevenson, 
one Thomas Walmsley, and John Johnson and Margaret, his 
wife. The acreage intact was subsequently deeded by Margaret 
Johnson to Thomas Story, 2nd-Mo. 5th, 1723. (Note that. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME TO TEMORA" 435 

from date of first deed on record to that of the above purchase 
by Thomas Story, a period of exactly fifty years has elapsed.) 
It is further recorded: 

"And whereas Thomas Penn by virtue of the powers and authorities to 
him granted by John Penn and Richard Penn, and of his own right. . . .at 
the special instance and request of the said Thomas Story did by a Patent 
bearing date the thirty-first day of September, Anno Dom: 1733, under the 
yearly quit rent therein reserved, give, grant, release and confirm unto the 
said Thomas Story and his heirs the said two hundred and fifty acres of land 
. . . .as aforesaid, with appurtenances thereto belonging." 

Later on this tract was sold by the General Loan Office and 
bought in by Jeremiah Langhorne, who in turn resold "unto 
one Michael Dowd and his heirs a certain part of the aforesaid 
tract or parcel of land" — (about 61 acres along the easterly end, 
toward Newtown). And further we read, by witness of inden- 
ture, 

"the said Lawrence Growden and Langhorne Biles for and 
in consideration of the sum of Three Hundred Pounds lawfull 
money of Pensilvania, to them in hand paid," convey the 189 
acres to David Buckman. In the year 1791, David Buckman 
bequeathed by will the above tract to his half-brother, John 
Story. It is here we welcome once more the name of Story in 
the early annals of "Temora." 

The following extracts are from a letter written by Mr. Wil- 
liam H. Jenks, of Philadelphia, to his niece, Mrs. Edward B. 
Smith, dated 8th-Mo. 9th, 1899, a copy of which was sent to us 
through the kindness of Mr. Geoffrey Story Smith, Fort Washing- 
ton, Pa.: 

"Thee may also be interested to know something about the old home 
which was situated near the banks of the Neshaminy Creek, on the then 
lonely Swamp Road, about two miles northwest from Newtown, Bucks 
County. The farm, which consisted of about two hundred acres of land, was 
originally owned by David Buckman, who, in 1791, bequeathed it by will to 
his half-brother, John Story, thy great-great-grandfather." 

"Thomas Story, the first of thy ancestors of that name in America, was 
born in Northumberland, England, in 1671 and came to Pennsylvania with 
William Penn on his second voyage, landing here lOth-Mo. (Dec.) 1st, 1699. 
He settled in Bucks County and on Ist-Mo., 18th, 1717/18, married Eliza- 
beth Wilson Buckman (widow of William Buckman) who had four children." 

"John Story was the only child of Thomas and Elizabeth Story and was 
born llth-Mo. 26th, 1718/19. He married 5th-Mo. 1747, Elizabeth Cutler 



436 ADDRESS OF WELCOME TO "tEMORA" 

and died llth-Mo. 10th, 1804. John and Elizabeth Cutler Story had several 
children, one of whom, David Story, thy great-grandfather, born 4th-Mo. 
20th, 1760, was named after his uncle, David Buckman, and inherited through 
his father the above mentioned farm. David Story was married 4th-Mo. 
19th, 1792, to Rachel Richardson and settled on the farm which his uncle 
had bequeathed to his father the previous year. He called the place 'Temora' 
(thy father says after Ossian's second and longest poem, published shortly 
before that time — 'Temora' being the palace of the King) and made it his 
home for many years. It was here that thy grandmother Jenks (Elizabeth 
Story) was born, 3rd-Mo. 6th, 1807. 

"The long, substantially built, stone house was situated on a gentle slope 
facing an extensive lawn, surrounded by neatly trimmed hedges, and shaded 
by many stately pine trees. The place was one in which thy great-grand- 
father took much interest and pleasure, and, as long as it remained in the 
family, was kept in such perfect order that it was considered the pride of the 
neighborhood." 

In 1844, we learn, the farm was sold, no longer to remain in 
the Story family, where, for so many years, it had been the 
center of cherished associations by its proud and gracious pos- 
sessors. In passing to subsequent owners of "Temora" we find 
John Goerly, followed by William Buckman, then Charles 
Blaker and later by Isaac Blaker, Joseph Phipps and Jacob 
Twining. 

About 1905 "Temora" was purchased by Dr. and Mrs. 
Edward Parker Davis, who, for twelve years, occupied the farm, 
Mi;s. Davis renaming it "Bewley Farm" and bringing to the 
home and its surroundings much of interest and hospitality. 
We understand it was from the dairy of "Bewley Farm" that 
fresh table butter was made and a generous supply sent at regular 
intervals to President Woodrow Wilson during his term of resi- 
dence at the White House. From the Doctor Davis ownership 
the old home by deed of purchase went to the Llewellyns of 
Rydal, Pa., from whom it was purchased by the present owners, 
the farm then being known by the name of "Sleepy Hollow." 

It has been our desire to leave undisturbed, as far as possible, 
the various features which have been so much a part of the early 
history of the old place, and to authentically restore any which 
may have been destroyed through the passing years, making 
only such changes as would be necessary for the average com- 
fort and convenience of Twentieth Century livability, and these 
as inconspicuously as possible. Our very first "restoration" 



Address of welcome to temora' 



437 



upon our arrival there in 1921 was the early name "Temora," 
which we welcomed with jubilant enthusiasm. 

The age-old and well-preserved moss-covered roof still 
shelters the old home, in spite of much persuasive advice to the 
contrary! Much of interest do we find by way of the old fire- 
places and mantels, and original wood work; the three-story, 
open stairway with its generous "well," all of which tells of a 




'TEMORA"— HOME OF MR. AND MRS. CHARLES C. WILLIS 

Swamp Road, Newtown Township, Bucks County, Pa. 
From photograph taken January, 1937 



certain quiet simplicity and dignity far removed from the ornate 
of a later day. The old floors of wide, yellow pine boards are 
still intact throughout, with but two exceptions, and we feel a 
sort of prideful glory as we gaze upon David Story's "gentle 
sloping lawn" from out the small paned windows divided by 
their grandly chubby, heavy-set mullions, through the same, 
wavy, irregular glass of these windows out to the treasured 
remnant of the "many stately pine trees." The peculiar coloring 
of exterior stone work shows the many and various coats of 
paint or washes used, which through time and the elements have 







o c 

II 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME TO "tEMORA" 439 

here and there worn away, leaving patches of the soft brown 
color of the original locally quarried stone. 

The yet unsealed attic, with its dow'el pegged rafters, remains 
a welcome retreat from the hurried life of today, when to dream 
of a century long gone by, with its message of peace and gentle 
serenity, is a refreshing experience not to be overlooked. 

In a former paper of the Bucks County Historical Society 
(Vol. IV, page 396) Mrs. A. Haller Gross writes of "Old Spring 
Houses of Bucks County." Mention is made of that at "Bewley 
Farm" (the then home of Mrs. Edward Parker Davis near New- 
town), "a beautiful spring house built in 1727, with a green 
mound over it, on which large trees grow, and which in spring 
is covered with crocuses." 

The long lane approaching the homestead ("Temora") from 
Swamp Road, we have been told, was part of a principal thorough- 
fare leading from New Hope to Philadelphia, crossing the 
Neshaminy at Schofield's Ford, a quarter of a mile below. 

Borings of the large white oak in the west meadow by the 
stream were taken by the late Mr. Henry Moon, which indi- 
cated an age of 240 years or over, thus putting this fine old tree 
well within the great Penn's lifetime, and so gave to it member- 
ship in the group of "Penn Trees." 

Of the "somewhat romantic," to "Temora's" credit, there 
must be a plenty! We find upon the north wall, crudely cut 
into a large stone the initials, "J. S.," and the date mark, "1807," 
no doubt placed there by a John Story himself. Then, too, 
there is a romantic narrative, whether fiction or truth, of Hannah 
Story in bridal attire, coming down the stairway at "Temora" 
on the morning of her wedding day to meet, within the inner 
drawing room, her long absent lover, Robert Watson, whose 
insistent plea to see and talk with Hannah ended in solving the 
mystery of their broken courtship, through the sad intrigue of 
the little bride's envious cousin, which resulted in the consequent 
betrothal of Hannah to Joseph Clayton, w^hose w^edding within 
a few short hours was to take place at the Wrightstown Meeting 
House. A happy and beautiful ending ensues, which Sarah 
Parr tells of in her very quaint and enduring fashion, making 
the little story, by name "Joseph Clayton's Call to the Ministry" 
(a publication of the Ladies' Home Journal of August, 1896) 
quite worth the reading. 



440 ADDRESS OF WELCOME TO "tEMORA" 

We shall not forget to mention the several occasions when 
it has been our privilege to be permitted to welcome to "Temora," 
from time to time, the kindly descendants of the past various 
owners, who come to visit the "home of their ancestors," and 
from whom it has been our good fortune to gather numerous 
and unexpected data regarding "Temora," both interesting and 
amusing, which otherwise we would have been deprived of 
learning. One little narrative is vividly recalled, as the late 
Mr. Isaac Blaker told it, of the two maiden sisters, then residing 
at "Temora." As they sat before the fire, and the evening wore 
away, the hearth-log burning to a last faint glimmer, "Sister 
Rebecca," said one, "touch the alarm, tell the Domestic to cur- 
tail the nocturnal illuminator." Let us hope the command, 
once given, was discreetly and promptly carried out with its 
desired result! 

Many things of interest regarding "Temora," which memory 
fails at the moment to recall, may return to mind as later we 
think upon the deep pleasure of having you with us today. Our 
happiness, as we look back upon this occasion, will be the remem- 
brance that our desire was to have you find welcome, one and 
all, and happiest interest in all that this old home may have 
offered, upon a day which has brought you each to cross its 
threshold, or to linger beneath its shade in thoughts of the long 
ago in the vision of today and a tomorrow. 



Early Time-Telling Devices 

By HARROLD E. GILLINGHAM, GKRMANTOWN, PA. 

(Meeting at "Temora," the home of Mr. and Mrs. Cliarles C. Willis. Newtown, Pa., 

September 26, 1936) 

I FELT greatly honoured when asked to address the Bucks 
County Historical Society on this occasion at the house of 
our dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Willis, where we 
have spent many pleasant hours in their company and in dis- 
cussing their collection of antique furniture. 

It seems that many Philadelphians are proud of their Bucks 
County ancestors, as those of this section feel toward their 
forebears who first settled in the Quaker City; and among the 
forty ancestors of mine who came to this country prior to 1700 — 
(two of whom came in the "Welcome" with William Penn) — • 
at least one-half of them first resided within a radius of fifteen 
miles of where we now stand; so you can readily understand 
why I have such a tender spot in my heart for Bucks County; 
the land of my ancestors — or as my wife's father called it, "God's 
Country." Some of you may recall that for twelve years we 
had a summer home, "Bridge-Gate," on the Old York Road, 
south of the Buckingham Meeting property (where several of 
my ancestors, as well as two of my wife's were married or buried), 
and which we reluctantly sold when the Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania took over the highway and concreted the road — 
taking ten feet from our frontage, bringing us entirely too close 
to the steady automobile traffic which frequented the former 
quiet old turnpike, on which we had to pay toll when we bought 
the property. 

The first Gillingham man-child horn in this country in 1708 
(James, by name) came to Buckingham soon after he married 
Martha Canby in 1730 (his certificate from Abington Meeting 
to the Friends at Buckingham was dated 4th mo. 29, 1730) and 
built that attractive old stone house with his initials and date 
thereon, now occupied by Mr. Coiner, about half a mile back 
from our place at Greenville (or Holicong, as you now know it). 
James commenced to collect — acres, not antiques — to add 
to his first purchase of a farm, until he finally owned about 200 



442 EARLY TIME-TELLING DEVICES 

acres of land in Buckingham Township. Within a quarter of a 
mile of the Gillingham place another ancestor, Samuel Harrold, 
from whom I have my Christian name, also purchased land. 
This property extended from the Buckingham-Doylestown 
turnpike to across the Durham Road; and the barn, with his 
initials, S. H., in the gable, is on part of the Atkinson place. 
Samuel Harrold kept the store at Buckingham (or Centreville, 
as some of the older members of this society may remember it), 
and I am fortunate in having several bills of sale of his, for 
goods purchased from Philadelphia merchants, as well as records 
of sales he made of Bucks County products to others in that 
city. I'll not bother you with genealogical data to show my 
descent from these two Bucks County pioneers; the Friends' 
Meeting records will give all of that; but as both of these men 
seem to have collected acres, as well as merchandise, I believe 
it must have been from them that the germ of collecting was 
instilled into my blood; for from my youth I have been a born 
collector. From my earliest recollection I have had various 
hobbies for the acquisition of objects for use and adornment of 
the home, as well as articles which interested me, such as bird's 
eggs, minerals, woods, human skulls, snakes and other objects, 
in alcohol. 

Having the clock and old watch habit, I soon started in on 
the earlier time-telling devices, and thus was led into pocket 
sundials and sand glasses, as well as making a study of the crafts- 
men who made these fascinating instruments. You may remem- 
ber what Shakespeare said in "As You Like It": "And then he 
drew a dial from his poke and looking on it with lack-lustre 
eyes, says very wisely, 'It is ten o'clock';" and if we should 
meet upon the road and I be asked the time of day, you'd be 




FRENCH SILVER POCKET SUNDIAL 
Made by Butterfield, Paris, About 1690 



EARLY TIME-TELLING DEVICES 443 

somewhat surprised if I take from my pocket this seventeenth 
century silver pocket sundial, raise the gnomen, set the compass, 
and give you the time of day — at least within three minutes of 
Standard Time. But such was the means of time-telling by 
the ordinary man even into the eighteenth century. 

Do you realize that the watch was not conceived until about 
1550, nor perfected until about 1600 — poor time-tellers though 
they were — ; so that the man of modest means could not afford 
such an expensive luxury as a watch and had to resort to the 
more economical means to give him the time of day or night 
(there were also nocturnal dials to sight from the north star). 
And yet some of these old pocket sundials cost today more than 
the seventeenth century watches did. And pocket sundials 
were made for all prices; of wood, brass, silver and ivory, so that 
almost every person desiring could have one, modest though 
his purse might be. 

For at least 5,000.years the telling of time has been necessary 
to man, who for foi'ty-five centuries had to depend upon the 
shadow of the sun to give him the time of day, or by the fixed 
stars for that of the night. In 446 B. C. Herodotus wrote that 
the Greeks had acquired the knowledge of the pole, or gnomen, 
from the Babylonians. The gnomen was known to the Chal- 
deans as an instrument for measuring time by the length of its 
shadow along a horizontal surface. (The gnom.en of a sundial, 
as you know, is that upright triangular piece whose shadow on 
the dial surface marks the hours). Sorre writers claim the 
Druid stones in Brittany, as well as those at Stonehenge, near 
Salisbury, were so set as to give the hour of day as well as the 
seasons, that the farmer might know when to plant his grain. 
Other writers have suggested that the original use of the obelisks 
in Egypt were for gnomens, whose shadow gave the time of day. 
The obelisk in Rome which the Emperor Augustus brought 
from Egypt was set up with the hour lines marked on the pave- 
ment below. The natives of Upper Egypt still plant a palm 
rod in the open ground and arrange a circle of stones around it 
like the hours on the face of a clock. Thus the plowman can 
tell the time of day; probably as Job says (ch. VII, 2) : "As the 
servant earnestly desireth the shadow." 

The early Greeks and Romans mention their "four night 
watches," and unless they had some means of measuring the 



444 



EARLY TIME-TELLtNG DEVICES 



hours, these watches would have been unevenly divided. The 
Egyptians had the clepsydra, or water clock, where water ran 
from one vessel to another; one being marked with hour lines, 
and a servant was stationed nearby whose duty it was to an- 
nounce the hour by striking a gong or bell, as the water went 
below the hour line. An early Chinese timepiece was made 
with a wick of treated flax or hemp, with knots tied at propor- 
tionate distances and when ignited the passage of time was 
estimated by the amount of wick consumed. On the palace at 








EGYPTIAN METHODS OF TIME TELLING 

Left and bottom, various clepsydras 

LIpper right, pole gnomen with hour stones on ground 

Pekin were some very old and rare astronomical instruments, 
which at the time of the Boxer uprising, when allied troops went 
to protect the legations, were looted by the Germans, taken to 
Berlin; but at the armistice after the war with Germany, 1914- 
1918, the Germans were forced to return these to China. 

Marked Candles were likewise used for telling of time, and 
in Philadelphia in 1729 an auction sale was advertised "By 
Inche of Candle." Twenty-five years ago our friend, Dr. Wil- 
liam Davenport, of Paris, (a graduate of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, by-the-way) bought his property at Malmaison by 
"Inch of Candle." One made his bid, and if it was not raised 
by another during the burning of a candle one inch, he secured 
the property. Methinks a rather slow method of conducting 
an auction sale. 



EARLY TIME-TELLING DEVICES 445 

From the earliest known writings of man the telHng of time 
has been mentioned; but not always are we fortunate enough 
to know the means employed. The Bible makes many notes 
of time period, such as "night watches"; "by the hour," etc. 
But the first time telling instrument spoken of is found in the 
second book of Kings (XX-II), where it says: "And Isaiah, the 
prophet, cried unto the Lord: and he brought the shadow ten 




SUNDLVL OF AHAZ 

Made by G. Hartmann of Nurenburg, 1548 
All illustrations of Sundials from author's collections 

degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of 
Ahaz." Again in the thirty-eighth chapter of Isaiah (V-8) one 
reads: "Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, 
which is gone down in the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees back- 
ward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it 
had gone down." What the "sundial of Ahaz" was we know 
not; but several makers of such pieces in the 16th and 17th 
centuries have made instruments which follow the principle of 
the sundial of Ahaz. Two of such pieces are in Philadelphia, 
one owned by the American Philosophical Society and one in 



446 EARLY TIME-TELLING DEVICES 

my own collection. Both are sixteenth century instruments. 
To operate the sundial of Ahaz, one sets the dial by the com- 
pass so that the gnomen points to the north. The shadow of 
the gnomen on the bowl engravings, gives the hour. Then one 
fills the bowl with water and the reflex action through the water 
throws the shadow "ten degrees backward." Thus one follows 
the Bible's description. 

The sand-glass or minute or hour glass, is a very old instru- 
ment for giving short periods of time. It was sometimes called 
by mariners the log-glass, by reason of its use in casting the 
lot to estimate the speed of the vessel. These ship's sand- 
glasses were made to run out in 14 seconds, 28 seconds, half an 
hour and an hour. The half-hour glass was used to measure 
the time of each watch, and woe betide the boy whose duty it 
was to ring the bell each half hour, if he did not watch his glass. 
In our War of 1812, some officers reported the naval engagements 
as lasting so many glasses, meaning the half-hour glass. Sand- 
glasses were also used in churches to remind the preacher of the 
passing of time. Perhaps you will later feel that I should have 
one today. 

Charles I carried a silver pocket sundial, which on his death 
was given his son, the Duke of York. Louis XVI carried a 
brass one made by Butterfield of Paris , (who made the one I 
carry in my pocket), which I have seen in the Carnavalet Museum 
in Paris. This same maker also made pocket sundials to be 
used by the Arabs, one of which I have in my collection. Many 
of the French officers who came to assist us in our War for 
Independence carried silver pocket sundials, one of which is now 
in the museum at Morristown, New Jersey. 

If Aristotle could take time from his serious research to 
describe a doll that moved, and if Ancyrus could pause in his 
mathematical calculations to amuse a child with a rattle, we 
may be pardoned if we spend a few moments talking of the 
"Toys" of the time-telling ages; for such a term has been applied 
to pocket sundials by those who have not gone into the study of 
how the early inhabitants of this old world took the time of day. 

The Makers of Pocket Sundials — These small instruments 
have been made by the Chinese, Japanese, Arabs, Persians, 
Romans, Egyptians, Italians, Germans, French, English and 
likewise by Americans. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Frank- 



EARLY TIME-TELLING DEVICES 



447 



lin are said to have made them, although no specimens of their 
handwork are known at present to the w-riter. Nicholas Bion's 
shop on the Quai d'Horloge, Paris, established 250 years ago, 
has always been occupied by an instrument maker, and today 
Boucart, a friend of mine, makes pocket sundials for explorers 
and others who cannot always depend on their watches in their 
travels. A shop in London, which I have visited several times, 
is still making them, as did the ancestors of the present occupant 
over 185 years ago. 




RING DL'VL ON LEF"T, ABOUT 1750 
WOOD PILLAR SUNDIAL ON RIGHT, c. 1700 



There is an interesting story connected with this London 
shop. In 1910 they had in their show-window a small brass 
dial about one-and-a-quarter inches in diameter. An old cab- 
man got off his hansom cab one day and asked w hat they would 
charge for fifty of them. When given a price he bought them 
and put an advertisement in a newspaper circulated throughout 
the provinces to this effect: "For Sale. An accurate time 
piece, metal case, dome glass, balance action, steel pivot. Price 
2/'6." His sales increased to such an extent that he bought 
five hundred at a time, and the makers told me they had gotten 
the cost down so low, making them in such quantities, that they 



448 



EARLY TIME-TELLING DEVICES 



sold them for eight pence and made a handsome profit. But 
the cabman got two shilHngs and six pence for them by mail 
orders. He made so much from his trading that he gave up 
cab driving and bought a race horse which he drove in the races. 
Finally one dissatisfied customer hauled him into court for mis- 
representation in selling a sundial instead of a watch; but he 
won his case in court, the judge ruling there was no untruth in 
his advertisement. The piece was as accurate as many watches, 




FRENCH IVORY BOOK SUNDIAL 
About 1790 



it was in a metal case with a dome glass, had a balance action 
and steel pivot (this being the compass needle) and one could 
not expect a gold watch for such a price as two shillings and 
six pence. When I visited the shop in 1925 I was fortunate in 
buying the last one the makers had in stock, which I was glsd 
to add to my collection. 

I had an interesting experience with one of my small silver 
pocket sundials. Crossing from England on a Canadian-Pacific 
liner, I was testing my compass by the ship's compass, when a 
young officer came by and asked me what I was doing. "Seeing 



EARLY TIME-TELLING DEVICES 



449 



if your compass is correct," I replied, to wliich he said, "I hope 
to heaven it is, or we will not reach Quebec." Then he asked 
me what I had, and being told, said: "Well, what time is it by 
your little toy." Getting the latitude, I set the piece with the 
needle pointing north, and gave him the time, as near as I could 
get it with only a quarter of an inch for an hour, arid found that I 
was within three minutes of ship's sun time. But you must 




GERMAN WOOD BOOK SUNDLVL 
c. About 1850 



remember that those who used these instruments two hundred 
years or more ago were not interested in catching a suburban 
train, nor did they have radios to tune into for the latest news 
of a baseball game or political speech. 

Collections — My friend, Mr. Henry Russell Wary, of New 
York, who initiated me into the fascinating game of collecting 
such interesting pieces, had, when he died in 1927, the best pri- 
vate collection in America, which his family still own. Mr. 




GERMAN WOOD BLOCK SUNDIAL 
Having gnomens on five faces. Nineteen! li Century 



EARLY TlME-TELLINc; UEVICES 451 

Wray now lies buried in the Buckingham Meeting graveyard. 
Mr. Alfred E. McVitty, of Princeton, has a wonderful collection 
of only extremely rare specimens. The Metropolitan Museum 
of New York and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts also have 
good showings; but the Adler Planetarium in Chicago now possess 
the finest collection, as they recently secured — by gift from Mr. 
Max Adler the great Mensing collection of Amsterdam, con- 
sisting of about four hundred pieces of time-telling and astronomi- 
cal instruments. Many of these came from the original Strozzi 
family of Florence, who commenced to assemble such fine pieces 
four centuries ago. The dates of these instruments are between 
1479 to IcOO and the collection is well worth a visit. IncidentalK' 
this collection was offered to me in 1927 for 120,000 francs, but 
as my Letter of Credit was not large enough that summer I did 
not bring it back with me. 

There are many worthwhile collections abroad, the finest 
being that of Sir Lewis Evans in the Old Ashmolean L>ibrary 
at Oxford, which is known to collectors the world over. The 
British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum of London 
and the Cluny Museum of Paris have good examples, and the 
museums of Berlin and Munich also have many pieces. Inci- 
dentally, when Mr. Wray and I visited the Cluny Museum in 
Paris, we saw^ some of their pocket sundials shown in the cases 
with the lids down, so one could not view the instruments. We 
went to the Curator and told him of conditions and had a very 
pleasant talk with him about such pieces. His reaction was to 
call an assistant, give him the keys to the cases and asked us to 
please arrange them as they should be, which we did under the 
supervision of the assistant and a guard. Four years later, 
when I again went to the Cluny, I saw the cases were exactly 
as we had left them, which was quite different from our experience 
in the British Museum, where we saw two pieces wrongly at- 
tributed as to country of origin, and when we went to the office 
and told them of it, we were informed most positively, "The 
British Museum never makes an error." But my next visit 
three years later showed me they had profited by our advice 
and changed labels. 

Bucks County's old citizen. Captain John S. Bailey, of 
Buckingham, wrote a treatise on the making of garden sundials 
in 1897, and was sufficiently well versed in mathematics to have 



452 EARLY TIME-TELLING DEVICES 

made pocket sundials had he been called upon to produce them. 
But one may as well require a man to wear the suit of clothes 
which fitted him when a boy as to expect present day people to 
use pocket sundials, although the Ansonia Clock Company of 
Connecticut are now making a very practical piece which they 
call the Boy Scout Sun Watch, as do also makers of England. 
These small pocket pieces give quite accurate time for their pur- 
pose. 

These lines are attributed to a very early writer of centuries 
ago: 

"The Gods confound the man -who first found out 

How to distinguish hours — Confound him, too. 

Who in this place set up a sun-dial, 

To rub and hack my days so wretchedly 

Into small pieces! When I was a boy. 

My belly was my sun-dial, one more sure, 

Truer, and more exact than any of them. 

The dial told me when 'twas proper time 

To go to dinner, when I had aught to eat; 

But now-a-days, why even when I have, 

I can't fall to, unless the sun gives leave. 

The town's so full of these confounded dials 

The greatest part of its inhabitants. 

Shrunk up with hunger, creep along the streets." 

Well! I see the sand-glass has run out and my time is up, 
hence I close with thanks for your patience. 



General LaFayette's Journey from Brandywine to Bethlehem 

With Special Reference to Inscriptions in Taverns and 

Tavern Signboards 

By Dr. B. F. FACKENTHAL, Jr., RIEGELSVILLE, PA. 
(Newtown Township Meeting, September 26, 1936) 
(At the Home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Willis) 



MY thought in presenting this paper is to correct 
errors contained in certain records now in the 
Ubrary of the Bucks County Historical Society, 
which state that General LaFayette, after being 
wounded at the battle of Brandywine, when 
enroute to Bethlehem, stopped two weeks at the 
tavern in Pleasant Valley in Springfield Township, Bucks County, 
whereas, it is recorded in the diaries of the Moravian congrega- 
tion at Bethlehem, that he 
arrived there on Sunday, 
September 21, ten days inclu- 
sive after the battle. 

I have no intention of pre- 
senting a history of the Mar- 
quis de LaFayette, or of his 
activities while in America, as 
that has been fully covered by 
others, but wish briefly to 
state that he was born Sep- 
tember 6,1757. He was mar- 
ried in 1774 at the age of 17 
years. He sailed from France 
for America by ship la Vic- 
torie, arriving at North Island, 
Georgetown, South Carolina, 
June 13, 1777, accompanied 
by Baron de Kalb and eleven 
other French, German and 
Polish officers, who wished to marquis de lafayette in 1825 
take service in the Continental army. From Georgetown 




454 Lafayette's journey from brandywine to bethlehem 

they went to Charleston, where they arrived June 17, and 
remained there eight days.^ 

From Charleston they journeyed to Philadelphia (700 miles), 
where they arrived July 27. On July 31, 1777, LaFayette was 
commissioned by congress a major-general. He was then a 
young man of but 20 years, probably the youngest major-general 
of all times, but he was not placed in command of a division until 
December 1 of that year. Baron John de Kalb, born in Alsace, 
June 29, 1721, was commissioned a major-general by congress on 
September 15, 1777. The main thoroughfare through the 
borough of Norristown is nam.ed for him. 

On the day that LaFayette received his commission from 
congress, he met General Washington for the first time. The 
next day, August 1, they visited the forts on the Delaware, 
spending the night at Chester. General LaFayette took part in 
the review of the army near Germantown, and remained in 
Philadelphia and that territory until August 19. 

General Washington, with his army, was then encamped on 
the banks of the Little Neshaminy in Warwick Township, Bucks 
County, with his headquarters at the Moland house on the Old 
York road, where General LaFayette presented to him his com- 
mission on August 20. 

In less than one month thereafter, on September 11, 1777, was 
fought the battle of Brandywine at Chadd's Ford in Chester 
County, where General LaFayette, while gallantly leading his 
troops near Birmingham meeting-house, was wounded in the left 
leg below the knee, the bullet passing through his leg. 

1 General LaFayette made four trips to America. His first arrival on 
June 17, 1777, by ship la Victorie has been referred to. He left America on a 
furlough for a visit to France, sailing from Boston by ship Alliance, January 
11, 1779, and arriving back in Boston by frigate Hermione, April 26, 1780, 
when he rejoined Washington's army. He was active in all military opera- 
tions, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown on October 
17, 1781, which practically ended hostilities. Two months later on December 
23, 1781, he bid America au revoir and sailed away to France from Boston 
harbor by ship Alliance. 

In 1784 he made his first social visit to America, arriving by packet Courier 
de New Ycrk, August 4 of that year. He sailed back from the same port on 
the La Nymphe, December 31, 1784. (See "LaFayette in America Day by 
Day" by J. Bennett Nolan, Esq.) 

His second and more extended visit was on August 14, 1824, arriving in 
New York by packet Cadmus. He remained here for more than a year, 
visiting different parts of the country, where he was acclaimed and royally 
entertained, sailing back to his home from the mouth of the Potomac River by 
the American frigate Brandywine, September 9, 1825. 



Lafayette's journey from brandywine to bethlehem 455 

It is a matter of history that after Washington's defeat at the 
battle of Brandywine, where he made an unsuccessful stand in 
defence of Philadelphia, that the army retired to Chester, fourteen 
miles away, on the evening of the same day, and with the army 
went wounded General LaFayette. 

LaFayette Begins His Journey to Bethlehem 

The next day, September 12, General LaFayette was conveyed 
by barge to Philadelphia, where he was cared for in the Tndian 
Queen tavern. The army surgeons then decided to send him to 
Bethlehem, where, with the aid and co-operation of the Moravian 
congregation, a General Hospital of the Army had been estab- 
lished.' 

From Philadelphia, General LaFayette was taken up the 
Delaware River to Bristol, but authorities differ as to the time of 
his journey. Some say he did not arrive there until September 
18, but the deductions they make from the authorities cited 
may be and doubtless are wrong, but, if correct, he was at Bristol 
but one day. It is, however, more likely as General Davis sug- 
gests, that he arrived at Bristol several days earlier. 

At Bristol he was cared for at the public house of Simon Betz, 
and nursed by his niece, afterward Mrs. Charles Bessinette. At 
Bristol he was fortunate in meeting Henry Laurens, a member of 
congress from South Carolina, who conveyed him to Bethlehem 
in his private coach, and coaches were rare in those days. A 
suite of French officers accompanied him. 

As already stated there is no definite information as to the 

2 By order of General Washington, under date of December 3, 1776, the 
General Hospital of the Army was transferred from Morristown, New Jersey, 
to Bethlehem. The Moravian diaries record that during the first eight months 
of 1777, the movement of troops through Bethlehem was a weekly occurrence; 
also that Bethlehem was visited by many distinguished persons, including 
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Benjamin Harrison, Richard 
Henry Lee, Baron Steuben, Baron de Kalb, Gouverneur Morris, Generals 
Knox, Gates, Schuyler, Mifflin, Fermoy, and many others. In July, 1782, 
General Washington visited Bethlehem while enroute to his headquarters at 
Newburg, New York. 

Not only was the Sun Inn crowded to its utmost with sick and wounded 
soldiers, but many were billeted in private houses and farm buildings, as well 
as in other buildings of the Moravians. It is recorded that on December 31, 
1777, 700 were cared for in the Single Brethren's house, of whom 300 died. 
Two hundred and fifty occupied the Young Ladies' Seminary during the winter 
of 1777, of whom 110 died and were buried on the right bank of the Monocacy 
Creek. At one time there were over 2,000 cared for at Bethlehem and sur- 
rounding towns, including Easton. 



456 Lafayette's journey from brandywine to bethlehem 

time of their starting out from Bristol, which accounts for the 
conflicting statements. General Davis is"not certain whether 
they left there on the eighteenth or on the nineteenth. In the 
same paper he records that: "One account says LaFayette 
remained at Bristol only overnight."'' This suggests that 
they may have left Bristol some days before the eighteenth, which 
seems likely. He further says they stopped over the first night at 
the Richardson house (built in 1738) at Four Lane Ends, now 




JOS2PH AND MARY RICHARDSON HOUSE 

Four Lane Ends, now Langhorne, Bucks County 

Built in 1738 

^ Where Gsncral LaFayette stopped over the first night when enroute 

from Bristol to Bethlehem 

Langhorne. This, according to tradition, seems to be verified. 
The distance from Bristol to the Richardson house, measured by 
an automobile speedometer, is 7.3 miles, a short journey for the 
first day. From Langhorne they continued on the Durham 
road, 4.1 miles, passing through Newtown. This is also well 
authenticated. 

Neither is there reliable information at hand to show the route 
they traveled after passing through Newtown until they reached 

3 Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. I, pp. 66 et seq., and page 558. 



'Lafayette's journey from brandywine to bethlehem 457 

the Old Bethlehem road. General Davis says they might have 
taken the Swamp road out of Newtown, which is reasonably cor- 
rect, as that road, laid out and opened in 1737, was the shortest 
route, 54 miles from Bristol to Bethlehem. General Davis also 
suggests that they might have continued farther along over the 
Durham road before turning northwardly. If so, they could have 
turned at Pineville or at Buckingham, but the total distance 
would have been slightly greater. 

However, by either route they would pass through Dublin, 
and after reaching the Old Bethlehem road travel through Hagers- 
ville, Keelersville, past Tohickon Church, thence ford the 
Tohickon Creek, through Strawntown, where there is an ancient 
tavern.'* Thence through Applebachsville, Pleasant Valley, 
Leithsville in Northampton County, Wagner's tavern and 
Hellertown, thence across the Saucon Creek and the Lehigh River 
to the Sun Inn at Bethlehem. 

The diary of the Moravian congregation at Bethlehem records 
that they arrived at the Sun Inn on the afternoon of Sunday, the 
twenty-first. That record made in writing at the time of their 
arrival, is certainly trustworthy and correct. 

If they left Langhorne on the twentieth and reached Bethle- 
hem on the afternoon of the twenty-first, they traveled about 
46^ miles in two days, which was possible, but owing to the 
unsettled condition of all country roads at that day, was not 
probable. This suggests that they may have left Bristol earlier 
than the nineteenth. The Ott family tradition is that they made 
the tavern at Pleasant Valley one of their stopping places, in fact, 
that they remained there two weeks. 

General Davis suggests that they may have stopped at Stoffle 
(Christopher) Wagner's tavern .7 of a mile from the central part 
of Hellertown. That tavern is plainly noted on Nicholas Scull's 
maps of 1759 and 1770, and also on Reading Howell's map of 
1792. The exact location of that hostelry (later Woodring's) 
was pointed out to me some years ago by an aged friend, who was 
himself a splendid scholar and historian, and who claimed it as 
one of LaFayette's stopping places.^ 

William C. Riechel in his "History of the Old Sun Inn," also 

4 Old deeds on record at Doylestown refer to this tavern at Strawntown as 
Roudenbushes. 

5 Hon. Jeremiah S. Hess, born December 3, 1843, died March 29, 1928. 
Graduate of an American College and of Heidelberg University in Germany. 



458 Lafayette's journey from brandywine to bethlehem 

makes the statement that LaFayette stopped at Wagner's tavern, 
but neither of them state that he was there overnight. 

The Sun Inn was built in 1758, but not completed and open 
for guests until 1760.'^ 

On their arrival at Bethlehem, General LaFayette was at first 
quartered in the infirmary on the top floor of the Sun Inn, but 
owing to its crowded condition and to the noise and confusion, he 
was transferred to the private home of George Frederich Beckel 
on Main Street, adjoining the Sun Inn (later the confectionery 
store of John F. Rauch), where he was nursed and cared for by 
Lissel (diminutive for Elizabeth) Beckel.^ 

The Moravian diaries record, under date of October 18, 1777, 
that: "The French Marquis de LaFayette left us today for the 
army accompanied by General William Woodford." He was 
therefore at Bethlehem 29 days. Washington's army was then 
encamped at White Marsh, on the east side of the Schuylkill 
River. 

Inscriptions on Sign Boards in the Tavern at 
Pleasant Valley 

The Pleasant Valley tavern is 11.3 miles from the Sun Inn at 
Bethlehem. If General LaFayette stopped there enroute to 
Bethlehem, it was doubtless only to rest, but General Davis says: 
"The evidence that he stopped there on his return a month later, 
is too conclusive to be doubted."^ 

At that time the tavern with its more than 117 acres of land 
belonged to Joseph Savitz, who owned it from December 15, 1773, 
to September 12, 1785. On April 10, 1813, the property was pur- 
chased by Jacob Ott.^ The descendants of the Ott family*" are 

6 History of the Old Sun Inn' by William C. Reichel, page 29 (1873). 

7 "The Continental Hospital in Bethlehem" and "LaFayette at Bethle- 
hem" by Mrs. Elizabeth L. Myers, official historian of the Moravian Society. 
Published in Easton and Bethlehem newspapers, September 19, 1931, and 
January 2, 1932. 

8 Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. I, page 75. 

9 The Pleasant Valley tavern property was patented December 16, 1759, 
to Michael Ditthart, whose heirs conveyed it to Elias Beidelman. From 
Elias Beidelman it passed successi\ely to Joseph Sa\itz, Isaac Burson, Jacob 
Ludwig and Henry Eckel, of whom it is related that because of his change to 
temperance principles, he cut down his signpost and poured the liquors into 
the gutter. From Eckel the property passed to Jacob Ott, then to Lewis Ott, 
William C. Cressman, Emil W. Haring, Mary Cressman, Rudolph Jacobson 
and Harry J. Atherholt, the present (1936) owner. 

10 David L. Ott, of Wilmington, Del., and Dr. John J. Ott, of Pleasant 
Valley. 



Lafayette's journey from brandywine to bethlehem 459 

my authority for the statement that in the bedroom assigned to 
General LaFayette, and in the bar room there were boards with 
inscriptions in rhyme painted in German text. These boards 
have been preserved by David L. Ott, superintendent of the 
Wilmington City Electric Company of Wilmington, Delaware, 
who, since the reading of this paper at the Newtown meeting, 
has kindly presented them to our society, enabling us to present 
halftone engravings of them. 

The Bedroom Sign 

The one removed from General LaFayette's bedroom is 2 feet 
6}i inches long, by 13 inches in height, with mitered rims on all 
sides, and contains the following inscription : 




CKRAIAX INSCRIPTION IN 
ENGLISH TEXT 

Las£t mich in Ruh in meiner kammer 
hefreit von lermen und von Jammer, 
Diss ist der Ort zu meiner Ruh, 
biss ich einst thu die augen zu. 



POETIC TRANSLATION IN 
ENGLISH 

In this my chamber let me rest, 
By shouts and waihngs undistressed, 
This is the place for my repose. 
Until at length mine eyes I close. 



Bar Room Sign 

The bar room board is circular at both top and bottom. It 
is 5 feet long by \?>}4 inches high, with a beaded edge or rim, and 
contains the date 1773. 

The German inscription reads as follows: 



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S--f, 



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M '131 



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Lafayette's journey from brandywine to hethleiiem 461 

Signs and Decorations in Tavern Bar Rooms 

"Shall I not take mine ease in mine inn?'' 

The signs in the Pleasant Valley tavern, to which reference 
has been made, has suggested a continuance of my paper on 
inscriptions and signboards of other taverns, which were cjuite 
common in former times. I remember a bar room placard in the 
tavern at Monroe in Durham Township, representing a dead dog 
lying on his back, with his feet high in the air, and underneath was 
inscribed "Old Trust is dead, bad pay killed him." And in an- 
other bar room a dummy clock, and underneath, "No tick here," 
and in another: 

"Kind friend for goodness sake beware 
With muddy boots to enter heare. 
Blamed be the man who won't be neat, 
And bless'd be he who wipes his feet." 

Tavern Signboards 

In former times taverns were known by the names of the pic- 
torial illustrations painted on their signboards. This had its 
beginning at a time when many people could not read or write. 
These painted signboards are fast disappearing, but some still 
remain, among those in our own county of Bucks are the Elephant 
on the Ridge road in Bedminster Township and the Anchor on 
the Durham road in Wrightstown Township, and in our neigh- 
boring county of Montgomery we have the King of Prussia. As 
a rule, these old hostelries and the new ones, too, now have 
elaborate signs telling whose favorite brew of beer they are 
dispensing. 

At Temple, near Reading, in Berks County, there was a sign- 
board with an elaborate painting of King Solomon's Temple, 
which some friends attempted to get for me, in order that I might 
present it to our society, but alas it disappeared. 

General Davis, in his "Doylestown Old and New" (Chapter 
XV, page 127), refers in an interesting way to the old signboards of 
Doylestown taverns, and in his "History of Bucks County" (Vol. 
Ill, page 331), to signboards in different parts of Bucks County, 
such as the Sorrel Horse at what is now Revere, the White Horse 
at Bucksville, the White Bear at Ottsville, the Three Tuns at 



462 Lafayette's journey from brandywine to bethleiiem 

Gallows Hill in Springfield Township, the Rising Sun and King 
George III at Bristol, the Black Bear in Northampton Township, 
the Buck in Southampton Township, the Coach and Horse at 
Newtown, the Plough at Gardenville, the Wheat Sheaf in Falls 
Township, the Black Bear at Tullytown and many others. 

In our neighboring counties, there were the Crooked Billet at 
Hatboro, from which a battle of the Revolution took its name, 
(but the traveler is now greeted with signs with hats at both 
ends of the borough), the Red Lion at Willow Grove and the 
Crown Inn at Bethlehem, built in 1745, one of the oldest signs 
typical of royalty/^ There were scores of taverns in Phila- 
delphia, with names indicated by their painted signboards, 
among them the Rising Sun, a popular hostelry for farmers, 
and the Indian Queen, where General LaFayette was taken on 
September 12, 1777, after being wounded at the battle of Brandy- 
wine.^" 

Dr. Julius F. Sachse, in his "Wayside Inns on the Lancaster 
Roadside" (Pennsylvania German Society, Vols. XXI and XXII), 
gives an interesting history of sixty-two of the old taverns with 
painted signboards between Philadelphia and Lancaster. At 
page 132 of Volume XXII, he refers to a toast that was popular 
with travelers in the days of Conestoga wagons, which contains 
the names of ten of these taverns which formerly stood between 
the Eagle tavern and the Paoli Inn, which was as follows: 

"Here is to the Sorrel Horse that kicked the Unicorn, that made the Eagle 
fly; that scared the Lamb from under the Stage for drinking the Spring House 
dry; that drove the Blue Ball into the Black Bear, and chased General Jackson 
all the way to Paoli." 

John T. Farris, in his "Old Roads Out of Philadelphia," page 
124, records that: 

"Mrs. Mary De Wees, who left Philadelphia for Kentucky on September 
27, 1787, told in her journal of the frequent stops at convenient inns. One 
night she slept at the Sign of the Lamb, breakfasted at Colonel Webster, and 
took supper and slept at the LInited States. Next day she went on to the 
Wagon, and then to the Congress. Next came the Hat. If she had chosen, 
she might have stopped at the Buck, the Red Lion, the Steamboat, the Rising 
Sun, the Spread Eagle, the Ship, the Swan, the Sheaf, the Cross Keys, the 
Rainbow or the White Horse." 

11 History of the Crown Inn, by William C. Reichel, printed for private 
circulation (1872). 

12 LaFayette's own account of his journey. See "LaFayette at Brandy- 
wine," Chester County Historical Society Memorial, 1896, page 88. 



Lafayette's journey from brandywine to hetiileiiem 463 

The Bucks County Historical Society has salvaged some of 
these pictured signboards, which can be seen in the museum at 
Doylestown. Halftone engravings of six of them are shown 
herewith, viz.: the Turk's Head from Edison in Doylestown 
Township, the Cross Keys from Buckingham Township, one 
mile north of Doylestown, the Red Lion from Bensalem^^ Town- 
ship, the Robert Morris from Morrisville in Falls Township, 
the Seven Stars from Durham Township, and the Elephant 
from the Ridge road in Bedminster Township, which is the 
original sign; the one now swinging in front of that tavern is a 
copy which Dr. Mercer had painted in order that he might 
secure the original for our society. Halftone engravings of the 
King of Prussia in Montgomery County, Pa., and two of the 
hotel signs from the collection of Hon. William U. Hensel from 
Lancaster County, are also shown herewith. 



Painters of Tavern Signboards 

There were many celebrated artists who occasionally painted 
signboards, among them Holbein, Hogarth, Millais, West and 
our own Edward Hicks, who painted for Bogart's Inn, located 
in Buckingham Township, the sign of Penn's Treaty with the 
Indians, later known as the "Sign of General Washington." It 
was at Bogart's Inn where many meetings of the Bucks County 
Committee of Safety were held, the first on July 21, 1775, 
which had been organized and first met at Newtown, July 9, 1774. 
Among other signboards painted by Edward Hicks were the fol- 
lowing painted for Newtown taverns, Bird-in-Hand, Brick Hotel, 
Temperance House and the White Hall ; one of his signs is now 
in the Newtown library.^* 

Some hotel signs in England were quite artistic and elaborate. 
That of the White Hart at Scole in Norfolk was said to have cost 
$5,000. Another hotel sign in London was so heavy that it 
brought down the side of the house, killing four people. The 
result was an act of parliament prohibiting dangerous signboards. 
In 1762, London held its first exhibition of inn signs. An exhibi- 

13 For history of the Red Lion Inn, see Bucks County Historical Society, 
Vol. I, page 485. 

14 Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. HI, pages 105, 257 and 561. Also 
Historic Newtown, by Edward R. Barnsley, pp. 30, 46, 57 and 120. 




THE TURK HOTEL 

A hostelry formerly in the village of Turk's Head, later called Houghville, one mile south of 
Doylestown, near Edison in Doylestown Township, Bucks County 

(Presented by Mr. and Mrs. William Lewis) 




THE CROSS KEYS HOTEL 

An Eighteenth Century Hostelry 

In Buckingham Township, Bucks County, one mile north of Doylestown 

Not licensed after 1906 

The Cross Keys are the arms of the Papal See, the emblem of St.' Peter and his successors 




THE RED LION INN— FOUNDED IN 1730 BY PHILIP AMOS 

Near the Poquessing Creek in Bensalem Township, Bucks County, on the road 
between Philadelphia and Bristol 



THE ROBERT MORRIS HOTEL 

In Morrisville, Falls Township, Bucks County 

The portrait of Robert Morris painted by the Quaker painter, Edward Hicks 

On the reverse side of this signboard, Morris is represented as talking to a friend (both standing) 
asking him for money with which to carry on the war 




SEVEN STARS SIGN FROM TAVERN IN DURHAM TOWNSHIP 

At canal bridge between Monroe and Kintnerville. Built by William Abbot in 1779. 

Bought by Philip Overpeck in 1792, to whom a license was granted in 1799 

Maintained as a hotel until 1852. Now used as a farm house 




SEVEN STARS SIGX FROM TAVERX IX DURHAM TOWXSHIP 

Reverse side, Southern exposure, on which the stars and moon are nearly obliterate 1 

On this side the old paint marks have been covered with white paper for the 

purpose of making this photograph. It is likely that there was 

some embellishments above the stars, probably the date 

and name of the tavern 



^PH4 



joaaa 



M 




ELEPHANT HOTEL— 1848 

At Weisel in Bedminster Township, Bucks County, Pa., on tiie Ridege road, seven miles w 
wardly from the Durham road, at the intersection of the road leading from Quakertown 
to Dublin 




KING OF PRUSSIA TAVERN 

On the west side of the Schuylkill River, Upper Merion Township, Montgomery 

County, Pa. The original tavern said to have been built in 1709 by a native 

Prussian, who named it in honor of King Frederick I, King of 

Prussia 

The village of King of Prussia took its name from the tavern in 1786, then kept by 

John Elliott 




From a 
From the collect 



THE SIGN OF THE LION— 1812 

tavern near the market house on West King Street, Lancaster, Pa. 
ion of Hon. William U. Hensel, now the property of Miss Dorothy 
Bleak House, Kinzers, Lancaster County, Pa. 




THE THREE CROWNS— 1771 



From a tavern on the King's Highway in Salisbury Township, Lancaster County, Pa. Painted 
by Benjamin West. 

The holes through the sign were made by Continental bullets. Mine Tory host therefore had 

the Three Crowns painted out on one side and lettered Waterloo Tavern, which 

patriotic side he flung to the breeze when American soldiers approached, 

but wlien British soldiers passed by he proudly reversed the sign 

to show the Three Crowns. 

(From the collection of Hon. William U. Hensel, now the property of Miss Dorothy Flinn of 
Bleak House, Kintzers, Lancaster County, Pa.) 



474 Lafayette's journey from brandywine to bethlehem 

tion of these weather-beaten pictures is now (1936) being dis- 
played in a gallery in fashionable Bond Street. The oldest sign 
shown is from Clare in Suffolk, which has swung outside of the 
Swan Inn for over 500 years. 

A famous restaurant in Fleet Street, London, which I have 
visited, is called "The Cheshire Cheese," made famous by Dr. 
Samuel Johnson, the lexicographer, which name numerous public 
houses in the country have adopted for their signs. 

I have in my library a book entitled "The History of Sign 
Boards," by Jacob Larwood and John Camden Hotten, London, 
1866, containing 536 pages, giving a most interesting and com- 
prehensive history of signboards, with 97 quaint illustrations 
taken from signboards in England. A copy of this book can also 
be seen in the library of the Bucks County Historical Society. 

I have read in one of my histories, which I have not been able 
to locate, that during the Revolutionary war, a signboard with 
the portrait of King George HI (probably in Bristol, where there 
was a King George HI sign), that his portrait was painted out, 
and that of General Washington substituted on receiving intelli- 
gence that Continental troops were to pass through. 

Paul Lecester Ford, in his novel, "Janice Meredith" (page 
119), refers to this in an amusing way, and locates his tavern at 
New Brunswick, New Jersey. 

General Davis records: "That during the Revolutionary war 
a regiment of troops passing through Bristol gave The King of 
Prussia sign three cheers, while they saluted his Majesty of Eng- 
land, with volley after volley until the sign was riddled and fell to 
the ground."'^ 

The Three Crowns tavern of Lancaster County, shown and 
described herewith, was also changed to conform to the patriotism 
of the soldiers passing by, whether Continentals or British. 

In Washington Irving's legend of Rip Van Winkle, the hotel 
which he frequented, near the Katerskill Clove, was the King 
George; on his awakening twenty years later, after the Revolu- 
tion, the name of George Washington on the same signboard was 
part of his bewilderment. 

We all like to revel in Dickens' novels and the Dickens' coun- 
try, with the English inns and their signboards. It was at the 
White Hart in London where Mr. Pickwick first encountered 
15 Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. II, page 310. 



Lafayette's journey from brandywine to bethlehem 475 

Sam. Weller, and at the Great White Hart where Tony Weller 
first appears, and the George and Vulture, the Magpie and Stump, 
and the Blue Boar where Sam. Weller wrote his famous valen- 
tine to Mary, the pretty housemaid, the Blue Dragon of Mrs. 
Lupin and Mark Tapley, and the Six Jolly Fellowship-Porters 
of Miss Abbey Potterson. 

And who would eliminate the Blue Boar from the legend of 
Robin Hood? 



Signboards of English Hotels and Taphouses 

Hotel signboards in England have not undergone the same 
radical change as those in America, as evidenced by the following 
list of 140 painted signboards noted by Mrs. Fackenthal in July, 
1914, while motoring from London to some of the Cathedral 
towns, and to the Shakespeare country and to Oxford in England. 

These were taken only from the signs on the main streets we 
passed through, and does not cover her entire list, nor does it 
include any duplicates of which there were many. 



The Blue Bear 
The Shelborn Arms 
The Marlborough Head 
The White Hart 
The Sun Inn 
The Black Boy 
The Windsor Castle 
The Albion 
The Green Dragon 
The Riviera Hotel 
The Windmill Hotel 
The Prince of Wales 
The Adelaide Inn 
The Star and Garter 
The Half Moon 
The Royal Court 
The Plough Inn 
The Dew Drop 
The Hand and Flower 
The Cricketers Inn 
The Swan's Nest 
The Horse and Jockey 
The Angel's Rest 



The King's Arms and Castle 

The Woolpack Inn 

The Welsh 

The Man Shovel 

The Catharine Wheel 

The Cock Inn 

The Graziers Arms 

The Green Man 

The White Lion 

The Three Swans 

The Albert Arms 

The King of Prussia 

The Fox 

The Old Castle 

The Old Bell 

The Nag's Head 

The Old White Horse 

The Angel Inn 

The East Arms 

The Pond Horse 

The Moor Tavern 

The Reform 

The Dumb Bell 



476 Lafayette's journey from brandywine to bethlehem 



The Jolly Butcher 

The Shears 

The Grey Horse 

The Three Lillies 

The Peacock 

The Wheel 

The New Ship 

The Vine 

The Boot and Slipper 

The Pack Horse Inn 

The Bishop's Head 

The Falcon Inn 

The Eagle 

The Pheasant 

The Mason's Arms 

The Greyhound Hotel 

The Hoopes 

The Black Lion 

The Woolsack 

The Beat and Anchor 

The Hare and Hounds 

The Wheat Sheaf 

The Oat Sheaf 

The Spread Eagle 

The George Inn 

The Old Lanthorn Chop 

The Roe Buck 

The Earl Clarendon 

The Squirrel Inn 

The Bell Inn 

The Malt Shovel 

The Saracen's Head 

The Coach and Horses 

The Wheat Sheaf Inn 

The Red Lion 

Fleur de Lis Hotel 

Magdalen Arms 

Duke of Cumberland 

Carpenter's Arms 

Ye Old Anchor 

Adam and Eve 

Hammer and Anvil 

Horse and Trap 

Rose and Crown 

Falcon Inn 

Ye Old White Bear 

The Checker's Inn 

A total 



The Rising Sun 
The Horse and Dragon 
The Spencer Arms 
The Hand and Plough 
The York House 
The Old George Inn 
The Dolphin Inn 
The Gate Inn 
The Star of Hope 
The Crown and Anchor 
The Spelthorne Inn 
The Ruby Horse 
The New Bishop's Green 
The Shoulder of Mutton 
Bear and Ragged Staff Inn 
Bear and Baculus 
Clarendon Arms 
Gordon Arms 
The Cherry Tavern 
The Unicorn Inn 
The Old Thatch Tavern 
The Jolly Beavers 
The Golden Lion 
The Lampert Arms 
The Turk's Head 
The North Star 
The Black Dog 
The Two Bobs 
The Christopher 
The King George 
The Old Ship 
The Rose and Crown 
The Three Tuns 
The Black Bull 
The Hero 
The Coach Horse 
The Bishops Green 
The Porridge Inn 
The Anchor Inn 
The Red Horse 
The Horse and Trap 
The King William IV 
The Three Horse Shoes 
The Crown Inn 
The Boy's Head 
The King's Arms 
The Nag's Head 
of 140 names 



Lafayette's journey from BRANDY^VINE to bethlehem 477 

Very dear friends of ours, now gone to their reward, who for 
some years had their summer home in Durham, had a board over 
the lintel on the inside of the entrance door of their bedroom, wiih 
the inscription: 

"And the name of that chamber was peace." 



Mm 



•iSii.m' 




DR. JOSEPH THOMAS 

Physician, Civil War Veteran, Naturalist, Politician — born in New Britain Township, 
June 15, 1829. Graduated from the Medical Department, University of Pennsylvania (1856); 
moved to .A.pplebachsville, entered the Civil War as a Captain, later becoming a field Surgeon- 
in-Chief. After the war, resided in Quakertown; elected State Senator (1878). His cata- 
logue of birds in Davis' "History of Bucks County" (1876) was one of the very first county 
bird lists published in the State. He was an admirer of the Bairds, using their nomenclature 
in his work. He died January 28, 1908. 



A List of the Birds of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 
with Annotations 

By GEORGE MacREYNOLDS 

(Doyk-stown Meeting, May 1, l')M) 

I come from haunts of coot and hern. 

— Tlie Brook 

IN 1875 General W. W. H. Davis asked Dr. Joseph Thomas, 
of Quakertown, a naturalist of more than local renown, to 
prepare a catalogue of birds of Bucks County for the forth- 
coming "History of Bucks County" (1876). Dr. Thomas did 
this in a creditable manner. Since then no comprehensive list 
has been attempted by any bird student. 

Sixty years have passed since Dr. Thomas' catalogue was 
published. As he spent probably twenty years in field study, 
some of his records must be three-quarters of a century old. 
However meritorious and accurate it may then have been, his 
catalogue is now quite out of date and some of it obscure to 
modern bird students. Dr. Thomas, were he here, would doubt- 
less be the first to recognize the necessity for a revision. He 
says in his introduction: 

"Fifty years ago (1825), when Wilson, Audubon and others trav- 
ersed our woods and fields to study and descri'.e our native fauna, 
many species of birds, now rare and only occasionally seen within 
our border, were observed in great abundance." 

It may quite as truthfully be said that, since Dr. Thomas' 
time, not only are some species, then common, now rare or occa- 
sional, but others have abandoned the county to be replaced 
with species new within our borders, and at least one species has 
become extinct. 

Before presenting a new list, let us consider briefly a few of 
the changes that have taken place, the causes leading thereto, 
and the advancement made in ornithology itself within the last 
sixty years. Such a glance over the field, even though it may 
be looked upon as a general view of the subject, seems to be 
necessary to a full understanding of birdlife in even so limited 
an area as a single county. 



LAKE WARREN, NOCKAMIXON TOWNSHIP, 
BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 









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View of B'jat Laiulmu, \\itli ( ahm in th.- R.-ar, a'ul Mallards 
on the Lake. Both Mallards and Woodcock were Nest- 
ing within a Stone's Throw of the Cabin the Day 
this Photograph was Taken, May 2, 1937. 



LIST OF BIRDS OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 481 

Bucks County's location, topography and climatic conditions 
have always been considered favorable to abundant birdlife. 
Its topographic and geological formations are widely diversified. 
In the extreme southeast lies the narrow ribbon of Costal Plain 
country, extending from Morrisville to the Philadelphia County 
line, ranging from three to six miles in width, washed on the 
Delaware River shore by tides — very important to water fowl 
and marsh birds. Next comes a broad strip of moderately 
elevated rolling land, with shallow valleys and mound-like 
prominences, like Bowman's Hill, Jericho, Solebury, Bucking- 
ham and Cox's Mountains. North of Doylestown the elevation 
increases, the valleys become more narrow and the hill slopes 
more steep. The irregular so-called trap-rock belt is here 
encountered, including our highest elevations — Kauffman's Hill, 
Haycock Mountain (about 1,000 feet) and the Rockhills — and 
farther west lie those fiatlands called Great Swamps by the early 
settlers. Beyond Haycock Mountain is the narrow Durham 
Creek valley, with Buckwampun and the Durham Mine Range 
predominant among its bold hills. All this is splendid bird 
country. But the greatest bird haven remains to be named — 
the Delaware River, extending along the entire northeastern 
border of the county. Here we find our most abundant birdlife. 

In the introduction to his catalogue Dr. Thomas speaks of 
"a considerable tract of country, especially in the upper end of 
the county, in Nockamixon, Haycock, the Rockhills and Mil- 
ford, being still wooded and comparatively little changed from 
its primitive conditions," where "are still found in considerable 
numbers rapacious birds, warblers, etc., rarely seen in other 
places." But all this primitive forest has been swept away by 
the portable sawmill. The rugged roads of the hill country 
have been replaced by a network of cement and macadam road- 
ways. Their habitats utterly changed and breeding places 
obliterated, the Bald Eagle, the Red-tailed Hawk and the Great 
Horned Owl are now hardly more than occasional visitants. 
Over much of the cleared territory has sprung up a second growth 
of timber, some of it of a scrub-like character, which has invited 
a quite different kind of birdlife from that which occupied the 
primaeval forest. 

As a rule the operation of industrial plants is highly detri- 
mental to birds. On the contrary Bucks County has at least 



LAKE WARREN, NOCKAMIXON TOWNSHIP, 
BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 




View of Lake Looking Northwest, Showing Part of the 950-fQOt Dyke with its Riprap. Tinicum 

Creek Enters the Lake on the Distant WaterHne about a Third Across the Photograph 

from the Right. 




View Showint; the Beautiful Setting of the Lake. Kauffman's (Formerly Boatman's) Hill in 

the Distance. 

Photographs Taken May 2, 1937. 



LIST OF BIRDS OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 483 

one industry which attracts them. When a few years ago the 
Warner Company started their big dredges on the flats of Penn's 
Manor, near Morrisville, few persons foresaw that eventually 
they would excavate the most extensive lakes within the county. 
That is just what happened. These lakes, occupying depres- 
sions where sand and gravel were removed, are 30 feet deep in 
places and several hundred acres in extent. They should furnish 
an ideal harbor for water fowl when enough plant food can be 
established. 

The water area was recently further increased by the con- 
struction of Lake Warren on State Game land in Nockamixon 
Township by the organized sportsmen, with Works Progress 
Administration aid. This lake provides another resting place 
for migrating wild fowl and a breeding place for ducks and 
marsh birds. It was completed late in 1936 and dedicated by a 
big rally of sportsmen on Sunday, June 20, 1937. The area 
covered is about 40 acres. A strong earthen dyke, 950 feet in 
length, supplied with a solidly-built 28-foot spillway, impounds 
the headwaters of Tinicum Creek, thus forming the lake. The 
depth of clear, pure, unpolluted water runs from nine feet near 
the dyke to a few inches where it spreads out along the marshy 
shores. Much is expected of this lake in conserving birdlife. 

Two other W. P. A. projects w'ill further increase the county's 
water area. The dam of Lake Lenape at Sellersville has been 
restored and Branch Creek bed dredged from that point to the 
bridge at South Perkasie, thus doubling the water surface area. 
The second project is at Silver Lake, on the Bath Road near 
Bristol. A new spillway has been built, about six feet of silt 
dredged from the bottom of the lake, and when completed the 
surface area will be larger than formerly. 

This large increase of water area (to be followed soon by 
other incipient projects of similar kind) is of such recent date 
that it has not been possible to get complete migration data 
on the increasing birdlife it brings into the county. The writer 
regrets that his opportunity for observing this new influx has 
been limited; but, should future surveys warrant it, a revision 
of this part of the list can be made in a new edition. 

Looking at the changes wrought within sixty years from 
another angle, great strides have been made in systematic 
ornithology. Audubon Societies and similar organizations have 



LAKE WARREN, NOCKAMIXON TOWNSHIP, 
BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 




Northeast Part of Lake, which Exteiids Far Back into the Brush on the Right. State Game 
Refuge Stakes and Wire Shown Running Across Lake. 




Acres of Marsh like this Spread out from the Head of the Lake— Ideal Nesting Places for 

Water Fowl and Marsh Birds. Marsh Marigold, Golden Club and Other Marsh Plants 

in Bloom in the Foreground. Photographs Taken May 2, 1937. 



LIST OF BIRDS OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 485 

done much to make people bird conscious and to slimuhite inter- 
est in conservation of wildlife. At least one active bird club 
or Audubon Society is now operating in every State of the Union. 
But the greatest forward step was taken in 1883, when the 
American Ornithologists' Union was organized. Since then 
other strong and influential bird organizations, more sectional 
in scope, have been formed; but the A. O. U. has sustained its 
supremacy as the national and largest body. Only through 
such a body has it been possible to make ornithology the sys- 
tematic and standardized science it is today. It has been the 
means of doing away with much of the old confusion. True, 
much systematic work remains to be done and many divergent 
opinions among ornithologists are still to be harmonized; but a 
solid basis has been laid, and what is to follow may not be so 
difficult. 

Thus it has been possible to make great progress in bird nomen- 
clature and in definitely fixing both popular and technical names. 
Puzzling questions of subspecies are now decided by a standing 
committee of the A. O. U., and its decisions are accepted as a;n 
authoritative finality. Recognition of subspecies made the 
use of the trinomial method for scientific names almost obligatory. 

Since the organization of the A. O. U., the Federal Govern- 
ment has entered the picture. The study of birds has become 
an important function of the Bureau of Biological Survey, De- 
partment of Agriculture. Most States now supplem.ent national 
work through their own governmental departments. The 
Biological Survey at first devoted its efforts largely to surveys 
of the economic value of birds. But as time went on, it became 
evident that the economic value of a bird is tied up with its 
whole life and movem.ents, and thus the work of the Bureau 
naturally broadened. 

As an example, migratory movements have been closely 
observed for the Bureau for years by a corps of observers now 
numbering 340, scattered over the North American continent 
from Point Barrow, Alaska, to San Jose, Costa Rica. They 
report semi-annually.^ Of these observers ten are located in 
Pennsylvania, including two in Bucks County.^ 

1 See Bird Migration Memorandum, No. 1, U. S. Department of Agri- 
culture, Bureau of Biological Survey. April 1, 1936. 

2 In Bucks County, Miss P21izabeth C. Cox, New Hope, and George 
MacReynolds, Doylestown. 



486 LIST OF BIRDS OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 

Great things are expected from birdbanding, another modern 
step forward in bird study. As a means of determining migra- 
tion problems, birdbanding dates back to 1899, when Hans 
Chr. C. Mortensen, a Danish schoolmaster, commenced to sys- 
tematically band storks, teals, starlings, and two or three species 
of birds of prey. H is success attracting the attention of European 
ornithologists, birdbanding soon came into prominence in fifteen 
nations of Europe, and in India, Morocco and Japan. In 
America, its possibilities were first brought to the attention of 
ornithologists by Dr. Leon J. Cole in 1902. The American 
Bird Banding Association was organized in December, 1909. 
This and other organizations continued active until 1920, when, 
having outgrown resources privately available, the work was 
turned over to the Biological Survey."^ The banding function 
of the Biological Survey is largely advisory and supervisory, 
much of the actual banding work being done by authorized 
volunteer co-operators. The Biological Survey now covers a 
wide field of wildlife research and management, but this can be 
merely mentioned here. 

Banding has solved at least one of our Bucks County bird 
problems. In winter flocks of Robins are observed in New 
York, Pennsylvania, and perhaps other States in the same 
latitude. In Bucks County, by November 1, opening date of 
the hunting season, no Robins can be found. About the middle 
of December flocks of these birds appear, among other places 
in the Tinicum and Nockamixon cedar swamps and on the sout+i 
sides of Haycock, Buckingham and Jericho Mountains. By 
January 31, or at latest February 15, most of these winter flocks 
have vanished. Were they birds from farther north (the Robin 
breeds as far north as Alaska) wintering here and then retracing 
their flight in February, or were they just local birds changing 
environment for the cold months? Banding has proved that 
they are Canadian birds. Winter visitants trapped here were 
found to have been tagged by Canadian banders. There is, 
however, no brood of Robins peculiar to Canada listed by the 
A. O. U., but we know now for a certainty that the winter Robin 
is not the same that builds its nest on our lawns in April. 

3 See Wild Life Research and Management Leaflet BS-53, U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agricukure, Bureau of Biological Survey. Washington, D. C. 
April, 1936. 



LIST OF BIRDS OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 487 

Several new species of birds have come to Bucks County in 
recent years. One of the most important is the Ringneck 
Pheasant, introduced by sportsmen. The Ringneck, Hke many 
of our native birds, has several vernacular names, one of them 
"English Pheasant." It is a cross between the common Pheasant 
(Phasianus coJchicus), which takes its name from the Colchis 
River in Asia Minor, and the Chinese Pheasant {Phasianus 
torquatus). The Asia Minor bird is said to have been intro- 
duced into England by the Romans, but good authority traces 
it no farther back than the Norman Conquest. The Chinese 
bird was known in England long before 1790, but the exact date 
of introduction has not been ascertained. 

Alexander Pope, the brilliant English poet — a poet almost 
from infancy — wrote his "Windsor Forest" about 1700, when 
but twelve years of age and published it when he was sixteen. 
His lines on a dying Pheasant in this poem make a finished word 
picture: 

See! from the brake the whirring pheasant springs, 

And mounts exulting on triumphant wings: 

Short is his joy; he feels the fiery wound. 

Flutters in blood, and panting beats the ground. 

Ah! what avail his glossy varying dyes, 

His purple crest and scarlet-circled eyes; 

The vivid green his shining plumes unfold, 

His painted wings, and breast that flames with gold. 

The Ringneck was brought to the United States more than 
a century ago by Richard Bache and placed itpon his New Jersey 
estate. This introductory experiment failed. The successful 
attempt dates from 1887, when Rutherford Stuyvesant brought 
over a bunch of birds from England to his estate "Tranquillity," 
at AUamuchy, New Jersey, and placed them in charge of Donald 
MacVicar, former head gamekeeper for the Duke of Leinster, 
Kildare, Ireland. After repeated attempts and many discour- 
agements, MacVicar finally succeeded in establishing the birds 
in this country.'* 

The Ringneck was introduced into Bucks County in 1915. 
So well did this bird thrive here that, from 1920, when Pheasant 
hunting was first permitted, down to the present time, this 

4 See American Pheasant Breeding and Shooting. By E. A. Quarles. 
New York: American Game Protection Association. 1916. 



THE LAST PASSENCxER PIGEONS 




The Last Passenger Pigeon, a female bird, which died in Cincinnati Zoological Garden, 
September 1, 1914. Copyright photograph by Mr. Enno Meyer, official photog- 
rapher of the garden. Taken in 1912, and here reproduced with his kind 
permission. 




The Last Passenger Pigeon Taken in Pennsylvania, a male bird, shot October 23, 1895, 
Monroe County, Pa. Mounted and now owned by Mr. George H. Stuart, 3rd, of 
Philadelphia. Photograph used with his kind permission. 



LIST OF BIRDS OF BUCKS COUNTY, PA. 489 

county has been regarded as the banner Ringneck county in 
Pennsylvania. (See Appendix, Note 1.) 

The Passenger Pigeon, which Dr. Thomas in 1876 said was 
in "some seasons abundant," has since become extinct. This 
subject will be treated only briefly here, inasmuch as the late 
Colonel Henry D. Paxson, who gave much time to a close study 
of the matter, covered it ciuite exhaustively in a paper read 
before The Bucks County Historical Society, October 22, 1912.^ 
Probably the first reference to the Passenger Pigeon in this 
county is contained in the following news paragraph from the 
"Bucks County Intelligencer and General Advertiser" for Mon- 
day, March 29, 1830: 

Wild Pigeons. — Immense flocks of these beautiful l)irds have 
been flying about this neighborhood for several days. On Friday, 
during the severe equinoctial storm, they were taken in immense 
quantities in nets, and we heard it stated many were killed by clubs. 
Our sportsmen have not lacked in industry, and nearly every one 
has by this time had a taste of Pigeon Pot-Pie. One Gentleman in 
this neighborhood has about 40 dozen in his corncrib, which he took 
in a net, and which he is feeding for market. The Philadelphians, 
we presume, will have a bountiful supply of them, for they are taken 
to market in ^\agon loads. One wagon which v.e saw passing along 
had 400 dozen, taken in New Jersey. 

Colonel Paxson quotes this paragraph in his paper, but 
credits it to "Hazard's Register," a Phi