USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. I > Part 1
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M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01144 9664
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofbucksco01davi
563
HISTORY
-
OF
BUCKS COUNTY
PENNSYLVANIA
FROM THE DISCOVERY OF THE DELAWARE TO THE PRESENT TIME BY Vol.1.
WILLIAM W. H. DAVIS, A. M.
. .
Presid. tt of the Bucks County Historical Society. Men.ber of the Amme. wan Historical Society, the Histori .: Streets of Pennsylvania. Se New York in nealoghai and Biographical Society, the Western Reserve
lund. el an . Fourth Penney wia Regiment :" "history of the Hair Family."
History of the D. . lestown Gaards .' "]ke Inte- Rebellion . . HEisterv et Desiertovn, old and New "' Etr.
foi
SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED
WITH A GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY Prepared Under the Editorial Supervision of
WARREN S. ELY
Genealogist, Menthe of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and Librarian of the Bach County Historical Society,
AND JOHN W. JORDAN, LL.D.
On the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
563
VOLUME I-ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK CHICAGO THE LEWIS PUTHASHING COMPANY 1900
ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, IN TAL AFAR 1905,
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1755141
This Volume
IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED TO THE
Memory
OF THE LATE
honorable henry Chapman,
A DESCENDANT OF JOHN CHAPMAN. THE FIRST SETTLER NORTH OF NEW TOWN
ELGI
xeroxed
TO THE READER.
Soon after the publication of the first edition of the History of Bucks County, 1876, we began collecting material for a second edition should that be required. To assist in this work, we had one copy bound in two volumes and interleaved to make our additions and corrections in. When the first edli- tion was exhausted. 1.200 copies, nearly the whole of them going to subscribe ers, we concluded to publish a second edition and set about the work. The subscription price of the first edition was Sa, lost sold as high as $16 to non- spisefibers before it was exhausted. One second fisk was less laborious than the first, as we had the printed text of the first edition as guide and a founda- tion to build upon. Our increased material compels us to issue the new ulition in two volumes, but the increased price is not in proportion to the addi- tional labor and expense. We have added two new chapters, one, the history of "Bridgeton township." organized since the first edition appeared ; the other "Schools and Education." the most valuable chapter in the book to persons engaged with, or interested in. the cause of education. The illustrations; his- torie and appropriate, add to the value and interest of the work and requiring several years to collect, were originally intended for a different purpose. The "Pernsbury House." the Bucks county home of William Penn, was drawn by Addison Hatton, architect. Handelphia, from a written description of the building, after a careful study in the auther. It is as close approximation of the original building as can be reached after mare thym a century. At the best the manor hon e was a first-class colonial dwelling. and so far as we are aware. this is the first attempt to reproduce it. Our thanks are due to a number of persons, for the use of family records and other data, and it affords us pleasure to make the acknowledgement, and especially to Manten S. L.b. Doylestown, who assisted us to unravel more than one knotty point in gen- calogy. besides furnishing vabmhle information. The catalogue of the Flora of Bucks county is from the pen of Dr. C. D. Fretz. Sellersville; the Birds and Mammals by Dr. Joseph Thon as Quakertown ; and the elaborate tell, giving the declination or variation of the compass nerak. between 16so and Ion), was prepared for this work by the United States Coast Survey and Geodetic Office, Washington, D. C., the second favor of the kind extended to us.
September 1, 1904. W. W. H. DAVIS.
PREFACE OF 1876.
The writing of the History of. Bucks county was inore a "Lahor of Love" than of gain. It was undertaken from a desire to preserve interesting facts connected with its south mert and history that, in a few years. would have been lost forever, and no reasonable compensation would reward us for the labor bestowed on it. We laborrel under many difficulties. Its story had never been written, a.d! the material. in a great measure, had to be first gath- ered in isolated facts and then woven into the thread of history. This was the most difficult part of her book. In most cases individuals and families gave up their papers for examination, which proved of great assistance. With the lapse of years the material grew upon our hands beyond our anticipation, and we could have written a larger bock, but are content to give the result of our labors in a wohne it too large for convenient use. Our greatest difficulty was in collecting matter relating to the settlement and early history of the German townships, Because they were les in the habit of preserving family and personal records. We consulted the most reliable records and authori- ties to le perchel and add had dad I contains as few errors as could reason- ably be expected in a w ik of the kind As a rule, we have given the original spelling of the names of to the persons and places, which, in many cases. will be found to differ ir. s. the present spelling. and. in Fine instances, the name is spelled in two way. This was masvidalde. We acknowledge our obliga- tions to many gerthat Let valy for the encouraging interest they took in our labor, but for information furnished, with unsolicited. We also acknowledge the assistance derived fre the small week we the county published twenty years ago, by Mi. Wilson J Back. is of rer carbet and most laborious local historiens. The map and ( graving are ata per now impaniment of the work and no could well inte xt the reader Har medlem of the Flora, Birds and mar 2 extra ty for our work by Doctors I. S. Mover at Jegph Here of Cash www. and me the soul of war of
vii
PREFACE OF 1876.
careful and laborious research .. The information touching the variation of the compass needle was furnished at the author's request by Carlile P. Patterson. Egr .. Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey. The variation of the compass needle, as shown by the United States Coast Survey report for the year 1855, pages 312, 313, has been determined more frequently at two stations in this neighborhood than elsewhere within the limits of the United States. Early observations were unsatisfactory, but being repeated at intervals und merged in due time as first parte in a series ending with several accurate determinations, the law of variation, during the last two centuries, has been deduced for the vicinity of Philadelphia. As applicable also to Bucks county. and referable to early periods in the settlement, the value of the article on variation in this history will be af parent.
(Signed) :
W. W. II. DAVIS.
DOYLESTOWN, PA., September 1, 1876.
i
CHAPTER I.
DISCOVERY OF THE DELAWARE TO THE ARRIVAL OF ENGLISH IMM GRANTS.
1609 TO IGTS.
Buck. .. original county-Size and somalie-Ii. i .-
traversed in Error me-Hol ad plan- setthen - First - New Albert -The Swans argu-To Hell appear. Vier Di
deve cut Swas-The Lis'- wie the 1 -01 ..
Witam Tom-Ogend ofreno- Ki LOVE
- pro-Sott'vis arrive - F'ret grund igry. - I .: 1.
i-1: 1 .!
att of the three original
is Mounted
by ti .
The Price is there and rolling, the
by several triliteris the 1. 1. . re. the princi- Pennypack,
Scholl Limet de in large multi- tities, is i was in the central regla ri
The inhal :- lants are af oot cordial employed in agriculund para .. in 1790 81
HENRY HUDSON
The length is forty notes and average breath fifteen. what it all are of res quare nales, cantalent to georgia actes.
1
2
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
This volume will contain the history of Bucks county from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time.
Henry Hudson, am lengthman in the service of the Dutch East-India company, discovered Delaware has the 28th of August. Ing, but male no attempt to ascend the mr. Daten Cornelius Jacobson May accessed the river some distance, in Both and the years afterward, Captain Hendrickson discovered the Solo will For a number of years the history of the country watered by the Delaware is a relatar of the struggles of Hellkal, Sweden and England for engireen it- backs, and will engage little of our attention. It was about this period dad fucks county was first traversed b. Bara -. In post three Dutch traders, setting det iran Fost Nassau, now At. explore the interior, streck act
to the headwaters of the Delay. r. al
traveled down it to the Schi ". ilvic they were made prisoners by the Minquas, but rescue ! in Capa Hendrickson at the mouth of the river. He was sent roon ! from Man! Brian in ti Restless, and, landing en the west Fan !: of the Delaware, alove the neath mi de Selnelkil, ransomed five Deehmen by giving in exchange ir then 'legis, beads and other merchandise." Is the interior of the country was with unsparel, it is ne proble de wanderers would leave de lans of a great river and trust their steps to an unknown wildero ...
We have lent a in. i round of the success of the Hollander- planting settlements on the Delerin. Har and the French carried on a proti trade with the ludie . . . wiry as Hour, and no dona, now and then, one of them pushed his way inte what is " Becky counts to trap and trade. 1.
16232 - the Dutch Wastinggia Barrette la fort where Gloucester. Now Jersey, stands but atjury vore supervising on the Delaware it was abin- donal. 103%
pany established a trading hose ... a smail iskan! called 1.1." after William Vurhilss. director of New Netherland. : " the Delaware just bekon frente fal's. and loca'e '. Bus of French Walkway. Thepost was broken gal . Is returned to New York, but a
small rossi was To leer in the fur trade. This island.
opposite Movie Sale Wach Gabriel Thomas calle!
. It. the sesli worn by Henry 1bud- salut these & ::
i Hairy Hudson," that Heads of wis
na gtl, atti lạy nộ which thợ
. 1513. It's also du med that
Ventana and discovered . lige
!!! tx argument to prove tes
1evitar - called it Mar: pretoti,
in stream of the Lampe.
Pine . Hendrick . Od! Charles ri: F the English it was gut fully
3
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
"Stacie's island" sixty years later, and now known as "Fairview," is only a sand lar, containing about 75 acre-with a fishery upon it. Fifty years ago it was used as pasture ground. The settlement on this island was undoubtedly the earliest in this counts and state. There is no doubt hanging over its loca- tion. In March, 135. deter Lawrenson stated in a deposition before Governor Dragan, New York, that he came into that province a servant of the West- India company, 1028: that, 1031, he, with seven others, was sent to the Dela- ware, where the company had a trading house, with ten or twelve servants attached to it : that he saw them settled there. That he also saw the place on the island, near the falls, and near the west bank, where the company had a trading house three of four years before ; that three or four families of Wal- douns were settled there, but had then lett." A considerable body of Wal lenses and Huguenots were sent to the Delaware, 1650-1003, but t is not known what became of them.
If the story of New Albion he other than an historic myth, the English Were among the carfest adventurers and setthis on the Delaware. Between 1023 and 1034 -- for several dates are mentioned-es harks I granted an esun- site territory to Sir Edmund Plowden, embracing Long Island, all of New Jersey. Delaware, and parts of Maryland. Virginia and Pensylvania. who formed a company of n ilemen and gentlemen under the title of "The Albion Knights." The Delaware was the chosen ground to settle, and the company pledged itself to introduce 3. 200 trained men inty the colony. Colonists were actually introduced and made their home on the Delaware. Int wither the manhar nor & set besten can be told. Plowden was Load Proprietor and Captain General. while one Beauchamp Plantagenet was made agent of this company of knights setters. Plowden and Plantagenet were here seven years. and became well acquainted with the country and Indian triles. A govern- mont was france, and the machinery of civil administration put in operation. but its duration is unknown. A history of the colony, published 1048, con- tained the letter of rule " Master Robert Evelin" ad dressed to Lady Plowden, after his return to Bedand. lie was four years on the Delaware, and in his Etter vous that "Captain Clubour, fourteen years there trading." sustains What he says of the country. Evelin evidently sailed up the river to the falls. for be mentions the streams emptying into it ; names of the tribes living along it and their strength, with some description of the country and its pro- ductions, Six leagues below the falls he speaks of "two fair, woody islands. very pleasant and fut : parks, one of 1,000 acres, the other of 1.400, or there- about." These were probably Burlington and Newbold's islands. Near the ialle he says is an is fit for a city: all the materials there to build ; and, above. the river fair and navigable, as the faliuns informed me, for I went but ten nuk - higher." The "isle fit for a city" refers, doubtless, to Moon's island, or the one abrest of Morrisville. It is hardly possible he fell into the popular error of some explorers of the period, that the Delaware branched at the falls, the two branches forming a large istand above. He says that a ship of to tons coull ascend to the falls, and that "ten leagues higher are lead mine- in stony hills." At the fall- he locates the Indian town of Kildorpy, with "clear fichis to grant and sow and near it are sweet, large means of clover or honeysuckle." The letter speaks of the allant store of fish in the rivers of water fowl that swim upon its surface, and the game, fruit and wants to be found in the woods that line its banks, and of the magnificent forest trees. Evelin must have trav-
3 Gabriel Thomas.
4 Van Der Donk.
4
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
eled well into the interior and through portions of Bucks county. He speaks of the new town of the Su-quehannocks as a "rare, healthy and rich place, and with a crystal, broad river." This must refer to the Susquehanna, and the tribe from which it takes its name.
What became of Flowden's colony would be an interesting inquiry. if we had the leisure to pursue, or the data necessary to solve it. The late William Rawle, Philadelphia, who gave the subject a careful and intelligent investiga- tion, believed that some, who welcomed Penn to the shores of the Delaware. were the survivors of the Albion Knights. History offers no Oedipus to solve the mystery.s
Down to 1638 the Dutch held undisputed sway on the Delaware, but. for the next seventeen years, and umtil the English displaced them both. they enjoyed a joint occupancy with the Swedes. In April, Peter Minuit planted a Swedish colony near where Wilmington stands, naming the creek Christina. after the youthful Queen of Sweden. They were reinforced, 1640, and again. 1642. under Lieutenant John Printz, who came with full powers to put the machinery of government in operation, and fixed his capital on Tinicum island. just below Philadelphia. The Dutch had failed to make a permanent setik - ment on the west bank of the Delaware, ner had they purchased a foot of ground, except a small tract nearly opposite Gloucester. New Jersey, about the mouth of the Schuylkill. Shortly after his arrival, Minuit purchased of the Lenni Lenape Indians all the land on the west bank of the Delaware from Cape Henlopen to Trenton Falls, extending inland to the Susquehanna, and stakes and other marks were set up to designate the boundaries. This was the first purchase, Io Europeans, of the Indians in the limits of Bucks county. The Dutch called this purchase in question, but it was as valid as any of that period. The time and place of birth of John Printz, the first to administer justice on the west bank of the Delaware, are not known. He was enabled July 20, 1040. attained the rank of Coland in the Thirty-two Years war, and was arrested. tried and dismissed the service for surrendering his post without authority. lle was appointed governor of New Sweden, 12: returning home, 1053, he was appointed Coloud and Governor of the Junk-ping, and died. 1663. without male issue. He built the first four mill in Pennsylvania, at "Karakung." near the Blue Bell tavern, Delaware county. It is described as a "fine mill, which. ground both coarse and fine four."
The English, destined to be the governing race on the Delaware, from its mouth to its source, did not make their appearance until mo. In 1039 some par- ties, from New Haven, purchased enough land of the Dutch and Swedes for several farms's and colonists were sent out the following year : but both nations
5 Ser Edmond Flowden was a great-grandson of Edmund lowden, the jurist. About isto he married Mabel, daughter of l'eter Mariner In 1032, he petitioned King Charles for a grant of land on the Atlantic coast of America, and July 24 same year, an order was issued for letters patent to Sir Edmund Prawyden for Long Ireland and to leagues square i the adjacent continent, to be holden "as of our crown , i Ireland," by the name "i "New Ming" In 1634. Captain Young and his replies. Robert Evelyn, commenced to explore the Delaware and other parts of the province of New Albion. He returned to England, 1435 They accepted the Delaware in August, High and on the 20th came in shal water In' w From on Fall. He returned to Amours, 15. la tope Plowden wa- residing in Virginia and to48 returned is England via Boston, and the same year pali- Ished a description of New Albion His will is dated Jn'y 20. 1051, and he died 1055.
S'2 Letters is in court at New Haven to the Swedes on the Delaware. .
-
17
5
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
threw every possible obstacle in their way. Several additional families came out the following year. These attempts not being successful. failed in giving the English a foothold on the river. In 1646. Andreas Hudde. a Dutch Com- missioner on a mission to search for minerals, ascended the Delaware to the falls, but the Indians would not allow him to go higher. Nevertheless, he drove in a stake with the Dutch coat-of-arms upon it, claiming the country for Holland. At this time there was not a white settler above the Schuylkill, and, prior to 1043, there was not a white female west of the Delaware." Adrian Van Der- Donk, a Dutch traveler, visited the Delaware. 1642, and .. on his return to Hol- land. published a book about the country. The favorable opinion he entertained of New Netherland brought it into notice, and induced many to immigrate. He says: "Above the falls. the river divides into two large boatable streams, which run far inland to places unknown to us." On examining his map we find how little this early explorer knew of the stream he wrote about. The river is made to divide a few miles above Morrisville. The left, or Delaware branch proper, trends to the west in about its natural course, then inclines to the east . and unites with the Hudson in what Van Der Donk calls "Groote Esopus river ;" the other branch, which never had an existence except in the imagination of the author, runs in a more direct course and unites with the main branch near Esopus-the two branches forming a large lake. Campanius, a Swede. who came to this country. 1642, wrote an interesting account of the Delaware. About the falls he found walnuts, chestnuts, peaches, mulberries, a variety of plum trees and grape vines, hemp and hops. The calabash was here first met with. and the rattlesnake. "a large and horrible serpent."
In 1654. Peter Lin Istrom, a Swedish engineer, surveyed and mapped the Delaware from its mouth to the falls. In his treatise, accompanying the map. he speaks of the products of the country: "Maize, or Indian corn, grows of various colors-white, red, blue, brown, yellow and pied. It is planted in, hillocks and squares, as the Swedes do hops. In each hillock they sow six or seven grains of corn, which grow so high as to rise an ell above a man's hend. Each stalk has six or seven cars, with long, slender and pointeil lives. which are of the same color with the corn. Each car is one and a half quarter. but mostis half an ell long. In some parts they are as thick as the thickest man's arm, in others smaller. They have ten. twelve, nay. fourteen rows of grains from the bottom to the top, which, with God's blessing, make a thousand fold increase. When these are just ripe, and they are broiled on hot coals. they are delightful to eat. Out of the white and yellow maize they make bread, but the blue. brown, black and pied are brewed into beer, which is very strong, but fut remarkably clear." Tobacco grew wild in great quantities, and was also cultivated. The map. while not entirely correct, proves the Swedes to have loen familiar with the river and the country on both sides a few miles inland. The names of the streams, which appear to be a mixture of Indian, French. and probably Swedish. can not all be made out. The Poquessing is called Panetquessingh : the Pennepack, Penickpacka; the falls at Morrisville, La Cateract d' alsinpink; the channel between the mainland and an island inst belong the falls, La Rivier de Schamats, and the island itself, Kentkatech. The nest island below is Mondhatkonck, and the channel on this side La Rivier de Sinckchicken. What was afterward Welcome creek, on whose bank William Penn built his manor house, is La Rivier of Sipaessings-Kyl. and Burlington island, opposite Bristol, Mechansio Eyland. The Neshaminy is called the river
6 Hudde', report
6
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
of Inckus. This map enables us to fix the falls at Morrisville as identical with Alummeuch In September, 1055, in the absence of Governor Printz, the Dutch Governor of New York sent a fleet of seven vessels and seven hundred men into the Delaware, which reduced the forts and took possession of the settlements. This put an end forever to Swedish empire on the river. Although it was a bloodless conquest, the captured Swedes were treated with severity. The Dutch authorities divided the western bank of the river into two jurisdic- tions -- the West-India company and the City of Amsterdam -- the latter extend- ing from about Wilmington to the falls, at Trenton. While the Dutch retained control immigration was encouraged, and an occasional vessel arrived from Amsterdam with settlers. At the time of the conquest the population on the river was about 400. mostly Swedes.' The home government sent out horses and cattle in considerable numbers, on condition the settlers were to return them in four years with one-half the increase.
In taking leave of the Swedes we confess to a kindly feeling toward this amiable people. Although few in number, they made their mark upon the future of the state, and their descendants are among our most respectable citi- zens. They subsisted principally by hunting, fishing and trading with the Indians, and lived in the simplest manner in log cabins of a single room, low doors, and holes cut in the sides for windows, with sliding boards. The chim- ney, of stone, clay and grass, occupied one corner of the room. The men dressed in vests and breeches of skins; the women in jackets and petticoats of the same material. Their bedding was likewise of the skins of animals. They tanned their leather and made their own shoes. Their condition was improved after the arrival of the English. We are indebiel to the Swedes for the introduction of domestic animals and the various European grains. They had stables for their cattle before the English came. but, after their example. allowed them to run at large all winter. They were the first to lay ax to the forest. Gordon says: "Many improvements were made by this industrious and temperate podle from Henlagen to the falls." They built the earliest church, and introduced Christian worship into the wilderness west of the Delaware. The first minister of the gospel on the Delaware was Reverend Reorus To killus, a Swedish professor fr an Guttenberg, who died. 1643.
Jacob Mricks, a trade- on the D. Fiware, was one of the earliest Dutch Vice-Directors, commissioned tos ;. He was accompanied by his wife, who soon died a victim to the climate. His nephew, l'eter Alricks, a native of Groningen. FleHend, wh grelhadas came to America with his uncle, was the first kan wa laulho Hier in Bucks county, but probably never lived here. He became prominent in valdie affairs. Regmning life as a trader. he was Commissary of a fort pour Hoopen, toso: the first ladiff and magistrate of New Castle and settlements on the river. bis turisherson extending to the falls : Commandant of the colonis under the Findich IS one of the first justices commissioned by Denn after he arrived anker of the first Assembly, held at Philadelphia. IGS3, and was reportedly a maler of de Primit Council. He lived at New Castle, and land a large tedy of deren. He owned an island in the Delaware boloy the mooth Di VEHIto Write . nor the western shore, which bore bis gene mat ton It was sporimated from the main-land by apar we n & wany extending up the crock
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