History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania: From the Discovery of the Delaware to the Present Time (Volume 1 and 2), Part 1

Author: William Watts Hart Davis
Publication date: 1903
Publisher:
Number of Pages:


USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania: From the Discovery of the Delaware to the Present Time (Volume 1 and 2) > Part 1


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History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania


William Watts Hart Davis, Warren Smedley Ely, John Woolf Jordan


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V


President of the Buck . County Society of Pennsylvania Historical Sy foto A Gen. John Lares Hundred And Life of O Fries K


SECOND E


GENEALOGICAL A Pre


Genealogist, Member of the


1


HISTORY


OF


BUCKS COUNTY 14 PENNSYLVANIA


FROM THE DISCOVERY OF THE DELAWARE TO THE PRESENT TIME BY 1


WILLIAM W. H. DAVIS, A. M.


President of the Bucks County Historical Society. Member of the American Historical Society, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, the Western Reserve Historical Society; Author of " El Gringo, or New Mexico and Her People. " "History of Gen. John Lacey: " "The Spanish Conquest of New Mexico: " "History of the One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment:" "History of the Hart Family :" "Life of Gen. John Davis:" "History of the Doylestown Guards:" "The Fries Rebellion : " "History of Doylestown. Old and New : " Etc.


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SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED


WITH A GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY Prepared Under the Editorial Supervision of


WARREN S. ELY


Genealogist, Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and Librarian of the Bucks


County Historical Society,


AND JOHN W. JORDAN, LL.D.


Of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.


VOLUME II-ILLUSTRATED


NEW YORK CHICAGO


THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY


1905


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ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1905. BY


THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY.


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1 1 ١


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CONTENTS


VOLUMES I AND II


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CONTENTS.


VOLUME I. .


PACE


Dedication


.


iji


Preface


vi


Illustrations


Vili


CHAPTER I.


Discovery of the Delaware to the Arrival of English Immigrants


...


I


CHAPTER II.


English Immigrants Continue to Arrive


15


CHAPTER III.


William Penn Becomes Proprietary of Pennsylvania.


27.


.


CHAPTER IV.


Penn Sails for his New Colony 36


CHAPTER V.


Some Account of Early Settlers.


47


CHAPTER VI.


Penn and Pennsbury


55


CHAPTER VII.


The Organizations of Townships .... 63


CHAPTER VIII.


Makefield


81


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vi


CONTENTS-VOLUME I.


CHAPTER IX. PAGE Bristol Township


. 91


CHAPTER X.


Bensalem


106


CHAPTER XI.


Middletown


126


CHAPTER XII.


Penn Returns to Pennsylvania and Lives in Bucks County. Resurvey. .. 145


CHAPTER XIII.


Southampton


. 157


CHAPTER XIV.


Warmister


.. 179


CHAPTER XV.


Newtown


201


CHAPTER XVI.


Wrightstown


.. 229


CHAPTER XVII.


Buckingham


. . . . 243


CHAPTER XVIII.


Solebury


270


CHAPTER XIX.


Historic Churches


... 296


CHAPTER XX.


Bristol Borough


. . 317


CHAPTER XXI.


. ... 329


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Northampton


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CONTENTS-VOLUME I. vii


Hilltown


CHAPTER XXII. PAGE


... 343


CHAPTER XXIII.


New Britain


355


CHAPTER XXIV.


Plumstead


379


CHAPTER XXV.


Warwick


396


CHAPTER XXVI.


Warrington


CHAPTER XXVII.


Milford .....


. . . ... . . 424


CHAPTER XXVIII.


Richland


439


CHAPTER XXIX.


Upper Wakefield


..... .. 453 ..


CHAPTER XXX.


The Walking Purchase


471


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ILLUSTRATIONS.


VOLUME I.


PAGE


Henry Hudson


Autograph of William Tom


7


Autograph of Walter Wharton . 8 .


Autograph of Ephraim Herman


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Portrait of William Penn 26


Letitia Penn's Cradle 39


Autograph of Tamany 43


44


Cattle Marks


45


Map of Bucks County, 1681


Pennsbury Manor


Penn's Brew House


General Jacob Brown


Map of Manor of Highlands


China Retreat, 1790


97 9S


Bath Spring Near Bristol


Bloomsdale Farm


IO4


Growden Mansion, Bensalem, Rear View


Nicholas Biddle


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Andalusia, Residence of the Late Nicholas Biddle.


117


Red Lion Inn, Bensalem 124


Jenks Coat of Arms 130


132


Mansion of Jeremiah Langhorne


131


Arms of Penn 146


Penn's Burial Place 153


Map of Southampton, Warminster, and Warrington Townships. TES


Old Sawmill at Davisville


Watts Homestead 165


Gen. John Davis 160


Hart Homestead. Warminster, Built 1750.


181


Longstreth Homestead 183


Autograph of John Fitch


190


Log College. 1726 193


Loller Academy 198


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Middletown Meeting House, Maple Avenue. Langhorne


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Fitch's Steamboat


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Bucks County Seal


48 56 57 73 80


Bristol College. 1838


ILLUSTRATIONS-VOLUME I.


ix


Yates House, Newtown


203


Map of Newtown, 1703. 206


Harris House, Newtown


Brick Hotel, Newtown 200


214


George School, Newtown


222


Sharon, Residence of James Worth, Newtown, 1830.


225


Paxson Memorial Home; Newtown


227


1 Wrightstown Meeting House


237


Eight-Square School House; Penn's Park, Wrightstown


240


Map of Buckingham and Solebury, 1703


242


Preston Coat-of-Arms


245


Crest of the Fells


253


Buckingham Meeting House


255 257. 260


Tyro Hall, a Famous School


Ingham House, Southwest Corner 276 282


285 286


Southampton Baptist Church


304


Presbyterian Church, Newtown


308 319


Sarah Lukens Keen Home, Bristol


326


Old Hip Roof House, Northampton township


3,36


Black Bear Tavern


337


New Britain Baptist Church


365


Daniel Boone . 366


Iron Hill, Residence of Lieut. Samuel Wigton, 1807. 368


Ruins of Old Cloth Mill in Neshaminy, Warwick. 398


Neshaminy Church, Warwick 402


Moland House, Warwick


409


Hough House


413


Sir William Keith


419


Dr. Graeme .


420 421


Map of Richland Township, 1754


438


Autograph of Morris Morris


441


Autograph of Edward Roberts


Autograph of Hugh Foulke 441


443 Richland Friends' Meeting House, Quakertown. 444


Lancaster House, Quakertown. 1747-1891 447


Reformed Church, Quakertown 448


Keith House. Upper Makefield 461


Map of Part of Bucks County 470


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Gen. Zebulon M. Pike


' Kugler's Mill, Lumberton


Solebury Meeting House


Map of New Hope, 1798


294


St. James Episcopal Church, Bristol, 1857.


Oldest House in Bucks County, Wrightstown.


PAGE


Keith House, Graeme Park


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Tinicum


CONTENTS.


VOLUME II.


CHAPTER I.


PAGE


Tinicum


I


CHAPTER II.


Upper Milford; Saucon ; Macungie ; Salisbury ; Whitehall


14


CHAPTER III. -


Rockhill


25


CHAPTER IV.


Nockamixon


38


CHAPTER V.


Bedminster


49


CHAPTER VI.


Springfield


66


CHAPTER VII.


Smithfield ; Allen ; Mount Bethel; Moore; Easton


81


CHAPTER VIII.


Bethlehem ; Nazareth ; Carbon County


93


Haycock


CHAPTER IX.


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CONTENTS-VOLUME II.


CHAPTER X. PAGE


Bucks County in the Revolution


117 1


CHAPTER XI.


Durham


135


CHAPTER XII.


Morrisville


.. 163


CHAPTER XIII.


Doylestown Township


171


CHAPTER XIV. .


New Hope Borough


183


CHAPTER XV.


Doylestown Borough


195


CHAPTER XVI.


Bridgeton


215


CHAPTER XVII.


Clearing Land : Farming : Dress : Mode of Living, Etc. 220


CHAPTER XVIII.


The Courts ; County Seats : Division of County : Building of Alms House. . 227


CHAPTER XIX.


Roads


. 245


CHAPTER XX.


Our Poets and Their Poetry


256


CHAPTER XXI.


290


CHAPTER XXII.


Negro Slavery in Bucks County


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Manors and Large Land Grants


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CONTENTS-VOLUME II. xiii


CHAPTER XXIII. PAGE


Newspapers and Their Editors ........ 308


CHAPTER XXIV.


Old Taverns


331


CHAPTER XXV.


The County Military ; Societies ; Etc.


343


CHAPTER XXVI.


Schools and Education . ... .


361


CHAPTER XXVII.


Religious Excitement : Merino Sheep and Multicaulis; Navigation of the 1 Delaware : Shad ; Elections and Taxes 387


APPENDIX.


Flora PAGE Birds


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Mammals 63


55


Bucks County Associators


65


Compass


80


Historical Index


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ILLUSTRATIONS.


VOLUME II.


PAGE


I. Sellers' Tavern 3I


2 Old Mennonite Church, Bedminster


57


3. Deep Run Presbyterian Church, 1841 60


4. Map of Upper End of Bucks County, 1750. .


5. Horne Homestead, Oldest House in Springfield. 65


6. Map of Lottery Land 67


7. View of Easton About 1800


90


8. William Allen


9. First House in Bethlehem 93


IO. Sun Inn, Bethlehem 94


99


12. Col. Joseph Kirkbride 128


13. House in which George Taylor, the Signer, died, Easton 144


14. Durham Iron Works 146


15. Stove Plate : Cain Slaying Abel 150


16. Gen. Daniel Morgan 154


18. Painswick Hall 170


176


20. Edison Bridge 178


21. National Farm School at Doylestown 181


182


23. Wilkinson Coat-of-Arms 184


24. Doylestown Friends' Meeting House 208


25. Doylestown National Bank, 1897 200


26. Bucks County Trust Company's Building 211


27. Pursell Homestead 218


28. The County Seal


232


29. Bucks County Alms House and Hospital 242.


30. Doylestown Court House, built 1877-78.


243


32. Crown Inn 333


33- Capt. Joseph Archambault 337


34. New Home of Bucks County Historical Society 3.59


35. Joseph Fell, First County Superintendent 368


36. Andrew Hamilton 295


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31. Centenarian Cider Press on Farm of H. Paxson.


332


17. Barclay House, Morrisville


168


19. Bucks County Court House, 1812-1877


22. Autograph of William Doyle


71


II. Delaware Indian Family toI


CHAPTER I.


TINICUM.


1738.


Boundaries .- Indian townships .- London company .- The Marshalls .- Joseph Haverford .- Matthew Hughes .- Adam Meisner .- Casper Kolb .- The Heaneys .- John Praul .- A settler at Point Pleasant .- Hessians settled in Tinicum .- Settlers petition for town- ship .- Boundaries .- Allowed by court .- Original settlers English and Scotch-Irish .- Early roads .- Germans .- The Williamses .- Bridge over Tohickon .- Arthur Erwin .- His death .- Joseph Smith and Smithtown .- Coal first burned in smith-shops .- Charles Smith .- Edmund Kinsey .- Character of Joseph Smith .- Smithtown destroyed .- The Tinicum islands .- Indian workshop .- Marshall's rifle .- Marshall's graveyard .- The homestead .- Tinicum Presbyterian church .- Brick church .- Baptist church .- Point Pleasant .- Dr. DeWitt Clinton Hough .- Joseph . Buehrle .- Erwinna-Frenchtown .- General Paul Mallet Prevost .- Headquarters .- Ottsville .- Fisheries .- Early taverns .- Area of township .- Population.


The stream of emigrants that transplanted the Scotch-Irish from the Lower Delaware, to the bank of Deep Run, Bedminister township, carried settlers of the same race, across the Tohickon into the wilderness of Tinicum, in the first quarter of the eighteenth century. William Penn's attention was called to this region at the time of his second visit. On September 6, 1699, he wrote to James Logan, from Pennsbury: "I desire to see T. Fairman, for that I hear an Indian township, called Tohickon,1 rich lands and much cleared by the Indians, he has not surveyed to mine and children's tracts as I expected. It joins upon the back of my manor of Highlands, and I am sorry my surveyor- general did not inform me thereof. If it be not in thy warrants put it in, ex- cept lands already or formerly taken up, or an Indian township. The Indians have been with me about it." The Proprietary was much provoked that his surveyors had neglected to lay off this tract, to himself and children, which was afterward formed into an Indian township. In the course of our investi- gation, we learned that somewhere "above the Highlands," the exact location


I From Tohickhan, or Tohickhanne, signifying the drift-wood stream, i. e., the stream we cross on drift-wood. Teedyuscung, the great Delaware king, frequently declared the Tohickon to be the northern limit of the white man's country, and that lands to the north of it had been taken from them fraudulently. On all the old records we have examined, it is spelled Tohickney.


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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.


is not known, ten thousand acres were confirmed to John Penn and his children. This may have reference to the same tract, and probably the "Indian town- ship" was part of what is now Tinicum.


The "London Company" was among the earliest land owners in the township, as well as the largest, and the purchase was made about the time the company bought part of the Manor of Highlands, 1699. The courses and distances are given as follows by John Watson, who probably surveyed it when broken up. "Beginning at a white oak by the River Delaware, thence running by vacant lands, southwest sixteen hundred and sixty perches to a black oak; thence by land laid out to said Proprietary land, southeast six hundred and thirty-four perches to a post at the corner of John Streeper's land, thence northeast by said Streeper's land, ten hundred and sixty perches, to a white oak; thence southeast by the said Streeper's land six hundred and eighty perches to a black oak sapling to the said river, thence up the same on the several courses sixteen hundred and fifty-eight perches to the place of beginning, containing seventy-five hundred acres." From these notes it is difficult to define the boundary at the present day. It had a frontage of about five miles on the Delaware, extending back about the same distance and in- cluded the northern part of the township. We have seen a copy of the draft made by Surveyor-General Eastburn, 1740, but its accuracy is doubted, as the lines do not extend eastward to the river.


By 1730, there were a number of settlers in the township, some with families, others without, and in the first quarter of the century we find the names of William, Edward, and Moses Marshall, Moses and Joseph Collins, Joseph Haverford, Richard Thatcher, David Griffee (Griffith), Richard Min- turr .. James Ross, John Hall and James Willey, not one of them German.' The actual date, when these immigrants settled in Tinicum, or the quantity of land taken up, it is impossible to give, Edward Marshall, who made the "Great Walk" for the Penns, in 1737, was an inhabitant of the township at the time, and during his residence, made his home on an island in the Dela- ware, which still bears his name. In 1737, Mathew Hughes took up a tract in the lower part of the township, on the river road, running back to the hills. In 1746 he granted forty acres to Adam Meisner, at the upper end of Point Pleasant, then called the "Narrows." In 1759, Hughes gave fifty-four acres to his son Uriah. In 1739 Casper Kolb bought one hundred acres of the Pro- prietaries.


The Heaneys were among the earliest settlers in Tinicum and the family is still represented in the male and female lines. The year of their arrival is not known, but in 1745, Michael Heaney bought one hundred and fifty acres of patent land, described as "near Tohickon, Bucks County," and in 1748, Casper Kolb sold him an equal amount he had bought of the Proprietaries, but it is possible these two tracts are one and the same. Jacob and Catharine Heaney married and lived in the township prior to 1769; a Michael Heaney, born 1756, and died 1830, was probably a son of the Michael named above; and Anthony and Sarah Heaney died prior to 1780. The name is German, the original being Hoenig or Henich.


2 The Coopers were early in Tinicum, but we have not the date of their arrival. They intermarried with the Ridges, and among the descendants was the late Dr. A. M. Cooper, of Point Pleasant, son of William B. Cooper, born September 15, 1830, and died in September, 1898. He was a graduate of the Jefferson Medical School, and occupied a prominent place in professional and educational affairs.


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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.


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John Praul, of Bensalem, patented several hundred acres extending from Point Pleasant to. Smithtown, reaching a mile back from the river and John Van Fossen, a Hollander, was an early land owner at the mouth of the To- hickon, his tract extending on the south side into Plumstead on which Point Pleasant is built in part. A German, named Christopher Sigman lived in Tinicum, in 1750. There was still vacant land in the township in 1753, when thirty-two acres were surveyed to John Hart, under a warrant, dated March 16, 1750. A few of the Hessians, captured at Trenton, settled in Tinicum, and . others in Saucon and Williams township, Northampton county. The Wolfing- ers of Tinicum and neighboring townships are descended from Frederick Wolfinger who came with his wife from Germany about 1750, and settled in Nockamixon, where he bought a tract of land near Kintnersville, recently owned by John Ahlum and John Keyser. He had four sons and three daughters who married into the families of Schick, Grover, Sassaman, Good, Hoffmann, and Scheetz and left large families. The Lears of Tinicum are descended from ancestry who immigrated from Germany to Virginia at an early day. From there Joseph Lear, the grandfather of Mahlon C. Lear, came to Bucks county and settled in Tinicum near Erwinna, where he died thirty years ago, at the age of ninety-two. The family claim that Tobias Lear, private secretary of General Washington, was a brother of the aforesaid Joseph Lear.


By 1738 the settlers in what is now Tinicum felt themselves numerous enough to ask for a township organization, and on the 12th of March, we find William, Edward and Moses Marshall, Moses, Joseph and Jonathan Collins, Joseph Haverford, Richard Thatcher, David Griffee, (Griffith,) Richard Min- turn, James Ross, John Hall, James Willey, James Stewart, Joseph M. King, Michael Williamson, William Rickey, John McKee, John Peterson, James Briggs, James Campbell, John Stewart, James Johnston, John Shaw, William Hill, and Joseph McFarland, who styled themselves "divers inhabitants of the lands adjacent to Plumstead," petitioned the court of quarter sessions to erect the following district of country into a new township to be called "Tennicunk," viz : "Beginning at21/2 the lower corner of Nockamixon, on the river Dela- ware, thence extending by the same township southeast two thousand one hundred and forty perches to the Tohickon creek, thence down the said creek, by the townships of Bedminster and Plumstead, to the Delaware aforesaid, then up the said river to the place of beginning.3 The court does not seem to have hesitated, but allowed the township, which was soon afterward surveyed and organized. The original boundaries are retained to the present day. At the time the township was laid out, there was probably but one grain-mill in it, on the Tohickon near its mouth. The township organization invited settlers, and immigrants seeking new homes flocked to the country north of the Tohickon, and gradually new farms were opened, dwellings erected, and roads laid out. The names on the petition for the erection of the township prove the early settlers to have been English and Scotch-Irish. The


21/2 The original name, no doubt, is Indian, and the present a corruption. It has been spelled several ways: "Tennicunk" in 1738, "Tenecum" in 1747, "Tennecunk" in 1749, and "Tenecunk" in 1750.


3 The boundary of the township has never been changed, although an effort was made in 1860, when twenty-five of the inhabitants petitioned the court to appoint a jury to inquire into the propriety of "adding a certain part of said township, on the north side of Tohickon Creek, to Plumstead." This would have included that part known as "Point Pleasant," but the court would not agree to it.


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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.


Germans were the introduction of a later immigration, and afterward many of this nationality found homes in Tinicum. We have no record of their advent, but they came soon after the township was settled. In 1762 we find the addi- tional names of Herman Ronsecrout, Bernard Schneider, Samuel McConoghy, William Richards, Henry Newton, Jacob Fox, Robert Stovert, John Wallace, and Martin Fryling, three of which names are German. In 1738 Conrad Kuster took up one hundred and a half acres of land on a branch of Tinicum creek. Henry Stover resided in. Tinicum in 1768, and Christian Houk and Nicholas Hern, both owned land there in 1769. In 1774, Jacob Kolb purchased two hundred and eleven acres. At this time Richard Stevens was the largest landholder in the township, owning four thousand one hundred and thirty-one acres, nearly one-fourth. The population was sparce.


The Williams family of Tinicum and Nockamixon, are descended from Jeremiah Williams, son of Joseph and Lydia Williams, of Boston, where he was born August 22, 1683. In March, 1707, he was married at Flushing, Long Island, to Philadelphia Masters, daughter of George Masters of New York. She was the first white child born in Philadelphia, 1684, hence her name. His wife dying in 1715, Jeremiah Williams married Mary Newbury How- land, a widow of Newport, Rhode Island, September 11, 1716, and settled at Hempstead, Long Island. Here he conducted a mill and store until 1743, when himself and family moved to New Jersey, settling near Quakertown, Hunterdon county. The following year he assisted to establish the Monthly Meeting there, of which he was chosen one of the elders. In 1758-59, Jeremiah Williams and son Benjamin, with their families, moved to Bucks county and settled in Nockamixon township, on a five hundred acre tract now owned by the Stovers and Melchor Ealer, buying it a few years later. It extended from the Delaware river, over the hills some distance. Here Jeremiah Williams died, May 15, 1766, his will bearing date January 23, 1760, and admitted to probate June 6, 1766.


Shortly after his father's death, the son Benjamin purchased five hundred acres in Tinicum, and later a five hundred acre farm in Buckingham township, which he conveyed to his four sons, Jeremiah, Benjamin, William and Sam- uel, they giving their bonds in payment. Benjamin and William were given the land in Nockamixon, Benjamin the farm now owned by the Stovers, and William that now owned by Mr. Ealer, Jeremiah the land in Tinicum, and Samuel that in Buckingham. This was in 1803, and at the father's death, May 1809, these bonds were mentioned as part of his estate. The Benjamin Will- liams who bought the land in Tinicum, was the great-grandfather of Hiram A. Williams, and his son Jeremiah was Hiram's grandfather. He moved there in 1778-9, and his father deeded it to him in 1803. The original pur- chases in Nockamixon are now owned by strangers.


After the death of Jeremiah Williams the second in 1834, his eldest son, John, purchased three hundred acres of the Erwins in Tinicum, the tract in- cluding the farms now owned by William Lear and Jordan Lear, Barzilla Williams, a son, who died June 1, 1901, and the site of the village of Erwinna. This land with the exception of two or three small lots, is also owned by strangers, the farm of Barzilla Williams having been sold very recently. There are but few people bearing the name of Williams, now living in either Tini- cum or Nockamixon, and a once numerous family will soon be a memory in these two townships. James Williams, one of the sons of John, is still living at Erwinna, at the great age of ninety-three, and a sister, Ann Eliza, widow of Jonas Smith lives with her only son, at Stockton, almost ninety. Both are




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