USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > A history of the townships of Byberry and Moreland, in Philadelphia, Pa. : from their earliest settlements by the whites to the present time > Part 17
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JOHN MARSHALL.
JOHN MARSHALL taught school a short time in By- berry, after which he moved to Ancocas, New Jersey, where he died, in 1813.
CHRISTOPHER SMITH.
CHRISTOPHER SMITH was born in England, where he learned the trade of nail-making. He taught school in Byberry from 1784 to 1789, then removed to Horsham, where he died, in 1814.
CHARLES SAYRE.
CHARLES SAYRE spent the greater part of his life in Byberry or Bensalem. He married Hetty, widow of Joseph Croasdale. By trade he was a wheelwright, yet for many years he taught school at Knightsville, Byberry, and near the Red Lion. He contributed numerous arti- cles, principally poetical, to the various newspapers of the day, thus evincing a creditable talent as a poet. He was of a religious turn, and spent much of his time, when not engaged at his business, in the fields and woods, where he could see and enjoy the works of God. He did not aspire
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to fame, but was contented with his little circle of friends, by whom he was respected and beloved. He died July 28, 185-, aged 51 years.
THE GROWDENS .*
The Growdens of Bensalem have been repeatedly mentioned in this history. Lawrence Growden, along with his son, Joseph, took up a tract of about ten thousand acres in Bucks County, most of which was in Bensalem, as will be seen by glancing at Thomas Holme's Map. Lawrence remained at his home in Cornwall, England, but Joseph came over to Pennsylvania in 1682, bringing with him his wife and children.
Joseph Growden called his place Trevose, after his home in Cornwall, England. Another portion of his tract he called Belmont, a third he called Richlieu, and a fourth part he called Stony Meadow.
Joseph Growden appears to have been a man of influence, energy and wealth. He was prominent as a member of Byberry Meeting. We learn from Mahlon Carver that he employed a number of his slaves to dig the great race for the mill which he erected on the Poquessing. Speaking of Bucks County, Oldmixon says: "Bucks County sent six members to the Assembly, one of whom was Joseph Growden, who was the Speaker of the House (1708), who was instrumental in settling this country, for which and many other things it is very much indebted to his care and services." In 1699, his first wife died and, in 1704, he married Ann Buckley of Phila- delphia. He had two sons and three daughters. He was member of the Privy Council, Speaker of the Assembly and Supreme Judge. He died in 1730.
Joseph, his oldest son, inherited his property. He soon died, however, and the property was inherited by his second son Lawrence. Lawrence Growden was also a member of the Assembly and a member of the Governor's Council. Along with the Governor and Joseph Galloway, he went to Easton in 1758 to meet the Indians. He was one of the commissioners appointed to run the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland. In 1763 he bought a sixth interest in the Durham Company of Bucks County from William Logan. In this company were also interested his daughter, Elizabeth, and his son-in-law, Joseph Galloway.
He died in 1769, leaving his property to his two daughters, Elizabeth and Grace. Elizabeth inherited the property of her father that was in Philadelphia, and Grace inherited the property within Bucks County. Elizabeth married Thomas Nicholson of Trevore, England. Grace married Joseph Galloway. These were the children of Lawrence Growden. Joseph Growden, Sr., also had a daughter, Grace, who married David Lloyd, 12th mo., 31, 1697.
*Note by the Editor.
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JOSEPH GALLOWAY.
Joseph Galloway was born in Maryland in 1730. He early came to Philadelphia and started a law practice. Soon he married Grace Growden and removed to Trevose in Bucks County. Hencefor- ward he became very prominent in political affairs, becoming member and Speaker of the Assembly and member of the First Continental Congress. He signed the non-importation, non-consumption and non-exportation agreements. He appears to have been conservative, however, in his opposition to Great Britain. Although he was not at first in any sense a Tory, yet for his conservatism he was ridiculed and severely censured. The people carried their dislike to the ex- tent of sending him a halter with which to hang himself. Thus irri- tated, he left Philadelphia and joined the British in New York. Soon afterward his office at Trevore was broken into and many im- portant documents were taken. Thenceforward he became very bitter toward the American cause and, though he did not openly take the field, yet he wrote much in defense of the crown. In 1778 he went to England and, in 1779, met a committee of Parlia- ment. He died in England in 1803.
Just before the Revolution Joseph Galloway became a stockholder in the Durham Company. In 1773, however, the company was dis- solved and Joseph Galloway received tracts Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 23, which lay on both sides of the Durham Creek and contained the iron works. In 1778 this property, along with the Bensalem tract, valued at £40,000, was confiscated by the State. It was, however, recovered after the Revolution by his daughter Elizabeth.
This daughter and heir to his estate married, unhappily, William Roberts. They had one child, but soon they separated, Elizabeth taking the child for a consideration of £2,000. This child, called Grace Anne Roberts, married Adolphus Desart Burton in 1837 and had several children. She died in England.
THE BENEZETS.
The Benezets of Bensalem are descended from John Stephen Bene- zet, a French Huguenot, who arrived in America about the middle of the 18th century. He had three sons. His oldest son, James, succeeded to the estate and had one son, Samuel, who was a major in the Revolutionary War. John Stephen Benezet's youngest son was Anthony, the great philanthropist, who worked so strenuously for the abolition of slavery although his relatives all kept slaves. His house was near the Schuylkill on Market Street. He was rather conscientious in regard to eating meat, as he believed it wrong to eat his "fellow-creatures."
THE DECATURS.
Captain and Commodore Decatur once lived in Byberry, dwelling in the house on the Decatur Road now occupied by William Mor- row. The Decatur Road perpetuates the name in this locality.
The first account we have of the Decaturs is a Decatur of La Rochelle, France, a lieutenant in the French navy. He made a trip to the West Indies and there contracted a fever, which induced
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him to seek a higher latitude. Accordingly, he came to Rhode Island and there met Priscilla Hill, whom he married. He re- moved to Philadelphia, but soon died, leaving one son, Stephen, afterward Captain Stephen Decatur.
Stephen Decatur soon took to the sea and became a naval officer in the Revolutionary War. In this war he commanded first the "Royal Louis" and afterward the "Fair American." He married, while young, a girl of Irish parentage called Pine. The captain had one daughter and three sons. Stephen Decatur was the eldest, James was the second son, and John P. Decatur was the third. Of these, James was treacherously shot while fighting in Preble's Squadron in the Mediterranean. John had three sons and three daughters.
Captain Decatur resided in Philadelphia until the British occupied the city, when he removed to a place called Sinepuxent, in the County of Worcester on the eastern shore of Maryland. Here on the 5th of January, 1779, Stephen, the son, was born. Previous to his removal to Maryland, Decatur probably dwelt on Powder Mill Lane near Frankford. An old tradition of the place is to the effect that the Decaturs were engaged in the manufacture of gunpowder in a mill near the road. This powder mill in memory of which the name has been given to the road, was, however, conducted by a family by name of Worrell.
On returning to Philadelphia, Captain Stephen Decatur settled in Byberry. At any rate, he resided here during the earliest years of his son's life. It was from this residence that Stephen, James and John attended the Byberry School where they received the rudiments of their education. At an early age Stephen contracted whooping cough which left him in an ill state of health. To im- prove his health, the Captain took Stephen, when only eight years of age, on a sea voyage. Ever afterward young Stephen was called "Captain Dick." During these early school days he became addicted to swearing, for which he was punished by his teacher. As this did no good, the teacher decided to go to see the "Old Captain," who, no doubt, was in hearty sympathy with the teacher. But his repri- mand of the boys was so well interspersed with profane phrases, that the teacher gave up the attempt to correct the boys as useless. At another time Stephen was receiving a flogging for some prank in which his brother, James, and one of the McCall boys were interested. Stephen took the punishment in good nature and in a laughing manner cried out: "Brother James and McCall have not received their share yet." For this Stephen received a double share. Once Stephen became involved in a quarrel with one of the McCall boys who offered to fight with him. But, as the boy was smaller than Stephen, he decided to fight the boy and the boy's brother also.
After Captain Stephen Decatur had resided for some years in Byberry, he became interested in a mercantile business in Phila- delphia. On this account he moved with his family to the city. Taking up his residence on Front street, he sent his children to the Academy on Fourth street near Arch. Young Stephen was very fond of swimming. Starting at Kensington, he would skirt the city and come ashore in the locality of the present navy yard. While
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on one of these aquatic expeditions, he one day mounted a vessel and climbed to the tip end of the jib-boom for a dive. When only sixteen years of age, he knocked down and severely injured a man who was using abusive language to his mother. On another occa- sion he got into a fight with some French sympathizers who at- tempted to replace his American hat by that of the French. Fortun- ately he was saved from injury by some of his father's sailors who came to his rescue.
Subsequently Stephen went to the University of Pennsylvania. Leaving school at the age of seventeen, he entered upon his father's business, where he continued until April 20, 1798. On that date he entered the navy which was then engaged in the French Naval War. He became a lieutenant on the "United States." "Essex" and "New York." He next became captain of the "Argus," which joined Preble in the Mediterranean. On this expedition he made his daring entrance into the harbor of Tripoli for the purpose of burning the United States vessel "Philadelphia," lately captured by the enemy. Another attack was soon made on the enemy when Decatur commanded a portion of the fleet. He had captured one of the enemy's vessels and was about to return, when he heard of the death of his brother James. James, in command of one of the vessels of the fleet, had captured one of the hostile vessels. As he was conducting the captured vessel out of the battle, he was treacher- ously slain by the captain of that vessel. Stephen was so enraged at this that he boarded the pirate and had a fierce hand-to-hand fight with the commander whom he finally shot through the heart. In 1812 Stephen Decatur, with the "United States," captured one of England's finest vessels, the "Macedonian." In 1815 he was himself captured while in command of the "President," by a British squadron. After the Second War with Great Britain he took a fleet to the Mediterranean and quickly forced Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli to make peace.
He married a Miss Wheeler of Norfolk, Virginia, and resided in Washington. On the 13th of June, 1819, he began a correspon- dence with Commodore Barren concerning the conduct of the latter. This correspondence led to a duel between the two. In this duel, which was fought on the 22d of March, 1820, Commodore Stephen Decatur was mortally wounded.
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GENEALOGIES.
THE BOLTON FAMILY .*
THE BOLTON family is of ancient British stock. At the time of the Conquest it was in possession of great landed estates both in Yorkshire and Lancashire. The name of Bolton, or Bodelton (the ancient spelling), is from Boel, a mansion, probably implying that it was the principal residence of some Saxon Thane. Mr. Bolton traces the ancestry of his family to the Lord of Bolton,5 bow-bearer to the Royal Forests of Bowland and Gilsland, the lineal representative of the Saxon Earls of Murcia, and who was living A. D. 1135. Robert Bolton, his descendant in the fifteenth generation, was born at Wales, in Yorkshire, in 1688, and died in Philadelphia, in 1742. His descend- ants are now very numerous in the United States. We are, however, unable to trace the relation between him and Everard Bolton, the ancestor of the family whose gen- ealogy is here given, yet they are probably from the same great family. The name of Everard Bolton occurs only in this branch of the family, and it has been so frequently given to its members that it has become a sort of inherit- ance. The Boltons were generally followers of George Fox, and numerous instances are recorded where they suffered, while in England, "for conscience' sake and the truth."
* I am indebted to William F. Corbit, of Philadelphia, for the greater part of the genealogy of this family.
5 The Duke of Bolton appears to have been interested in the colony of New Jersey for we find his name attached to the docu- ments surrendering that colony to the crown in 1702.
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( I.) EVERARD BOLTON, his wife, ELIZABETH, and their two eldest children, came to Pennsylvania from Ross, in Herefordshire, England, in 1682 or 1683, and settled in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, on a tract of land a little east of the site of the present village of Milestown. This tract was presented to his eldest son in 1711, but the deed of transfer was not recorded until 1760. Everard Bolton was an active member of the Society of Friends, having been Treasurer of Abington Meeting for nearly forty years. He was much esteemed, and was appointed a Justice of the Peace by a Council held at Philadelphia, May 30, 1715. Elizabeth Bolton died June 5, 1707, and Everard subsequently married Margaret, widow of John Jones, a merchant of Philadelphia. Everard Bolton died in 1727, leaving eleven children, all by his first wife. They were Everard, Elizabeth, Hannah, Mary, Samuel, Abel, Sarah, Lydia, Isaac, Rebecca, and Martha. Mar- garet died in 1742.
Besides Everard Bolton, we find mention of Edward Bolton, who married Eleanor Jones, of Philadelphia, in 1694, but we have met with no further account of him or his family.
(I.) Everard and Elizabeth Bolton's Children.
(2.) EVERARD, born in Ross, England, March 28, 1680, came to America with his parents. He was by trade a glover. In July, 1707, he married Mary, daughter of Robert Naylor, of Plymouth, and settled in Abington, where he followed his occupation. Children : Priscilla, Mary, Elizabeth, and Samuel.
(3.) ELIZABETH, born in Ross, England, June 26,
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1681, came to America with her parents. She married Ellis Davis in 1709, and settled in Cheltenham, Mont- gomery County, Pennsylvania. He died in 1745, and she died in August, 1749. Children : Deborah, born August 3, 1710; David, born March II, 1712; Abel, born No- vember 17, 1715; Sibel and Hannah, twins, born July II, 1718; Lydia, who married John Hurr.
(4.) HANNAH, born in Cheltenham, December 22, 1684, married Richard Carver, of Byberry, in 1708. Children : Mary, born August 15, 1709; Ann, born Octo- ber 15, 1710; Sarah, and John. Richard Carver died in 1727.
(5.) MARY, born in Cheltenham, November 4, 1687, married Edmund Roberts in 1714. They removed to the "Great Swamp," near Quakertown, Bucks County, and had children, Abel, John, David, Everard, Martha, Mary, and Jane. Of these, Martha married John Roberts in 1742; Mary married J. Foulke, and Jane married Thomas Foulke.
(6.) SAMUEL, born October 31, 1689, married Sarah Dillworth. She died in 1732, leaving a portion of her estate to Janet, wife of Samuel Bolton. He was much esteemed, and Rachel Roberts, who died in 1751, named "her trusty friend, Samuel Bolton, of Cheltenham," as her executor. We find mention of but one daughter, Hannah, who married John Coombs. He being absent for a number of years, she, having first obtained the con- sent of Friends, married John Clark, in 1746.
(7.) ABEL, born November 9, 1691 ; died July 19, 1702.
(8.) SARAH, born November 26, 1693, married Wil- liam Bolton. After his death she married Michael Brown,
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in 1751. She died in Front Street, above Race, Philadel- phia, but left no children.
(9.) LYDIA, born September 3, 1695, married John Biddle, of Philadelphia, in April, 1721. He died June 17, 1750, and she died August 16, 1764, leaving eleven children : Elizabeth, married - Pearson; Sarah, born October 19, 1723; Hannah, born December 28, 1727, married - Waterman, and died August 17, 1772; Josiah, born February 16, 1729; John, born April 16, 1730; Abigail, born August 16, 1731; Joseph, born July 4, 1733; Lydia, born March 14, 1735, died June 4, 1773; Mary, born July 4, 1736; John, born November 15, 1738; and Martha, born October 27, 1741.
(IO.) ISAAC, born June 27, 1697, married Sarah Jones in 1724. She was born December 6, 1698. In 1722 he removed to Philadelphia, and for several years afterwards resided on the north side of Market Street, below Second. In 1750 he removed to Abington. He subsequently pur- chased a large tract of land in Bucks County, where he spent the remainder of his days. To this tract he gave the name of the "Bolton Farm," which name it still bears, although it passed from the Bolton family eighty years ago. In addition to farming, he dealt in skins, and was denominated in law papers of that period as "Isaac Bolton, peltsmonger." His possessions continuing to increase, he became one of the wealthiest men in the Province. He was a member of the Society of Friends, yet had no scruples against holding slaves, as is shown by the follow- ing inventory of his estate :
"To a negro woman, named Dinah, foo o o.
To a negro man, called Berry, £67 10 0.
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To a negro woman, named Cate, £35 0 0.
To a negro woman, named Daffane, £45 0 0. To a negro garle, named Phillis, £22 0 0."
They had eight children: Margaret, Rachel, Sarah, Rebecca, Jemima, Isaac, Joseph, and Everard.
(II.) REBECCA, born May 20, 1701, was married No- vember 4, 1747, to Solomon, son of Dennis Rockford, a noted man in the early days of Pennsylvania. They prob- ably had no children.
(12.) MARTHA, born May 20, 1703, probably died in infancy.
(2.) Everard and Mary Bolton's Children.
(13.) PRISCILLA, married Cornelius, son of Matthias Conrad, of Germantown, March 29, 1732. She died No- vember 22, 1765. Children: Matthew, born July 4, 1733; Mary, born June 26, 1735; Everard, born July 21, 1741 ; Joseph, born February 23, 1742; Samuel and John, twins, born November 13, 1744; Susannah, born January 7, 1750. Of these children, Samuel married Mary and had children, Sarah, Samuel, Hannah, Ruth, Samuel, and Cornelius; and John married Sarah -, and had children, Hannah, Priscilla, Benjamin, Esther, Sarah, and John.
The Conrad family are of German extraction. They originally wrote the name Kunders, the ancestor of the family being Dennis Kunders, who settled in German- town about 1683.
(14.) MARY, is mentioned in her father's will, but we have no other account of her.
(15.) ELIZABETH, was born June 26, 1708.
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(16.) SAMUEL, married Mary Livezey. He lived first in Abington, and afterwards in Byberry, where he died September 12, 1757. Children : Mary, who married John Paul, and died in 1796, and Martha.
(IO.) Isaac and Sarah Bolton's Children.
(17.) MARGARET, born April 6, 1726; died, unmar- ried, May, 1817.
(18.) RACHEL, born September 12, 1727 ; died, unmar- ried, January 1, 1810.
(19.) SARAH, born September 3, 1729, married, first, Massey, of Deer Creek, Maryland, and had one son, Isaac. She married, second, James Rigby, and had one daughter, Ann. Sarah Bolton became a recommended minister in the Society of Friends at the early age of 23 years, and subsequently traveled extensively with Ann Moore and Grace Croasdale, both eminent ministers of that Society. Many of her letters are still extant, and , prove her to have been a woman of tender feelings. She died March 29, 1784, and her husband January 6, 1790.
(20.) REBECCA, was born in Philadelphia, June 18, 1731. She removed to Abington in 1750.
(21.) JEMIMA, born January 27, 1733, married Henry Tomlinson, November 21, 1753. She died May 2, 1802, leaving three children, Sarah, Jemima, and Jesse.
(22.) ISAAC, born April 27, 1735, married Sarah, daughter of William and Sarah Walmsley, of Byberry. He died February 6, 1783. Children : William, Joseph, Isaac, Mary and Margaret, twins, Jesse, Thomas, and Sarah.
(23.) JOSEPH, born March 13, 1737, married Rhoda,
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only child of Rebecca Bolton. He died December 18, 1799 ; she died August 8, 1806.
(24. ) EVERARD, born October 1, 1739, married, first, Deborah, granddaughter of Andrew Griscom, a member of the first Provincial Council, in 1683, and noted for having built the first brick house in Philadelphia. She died in 1801. Everard then married Elizabeth Ivins. He died in 1831, leaving seven children, all by his first wife: Isaac, Sarah, Samuel, Rachel, Aquilla, Abel, and Everard.
(22.) Isaac and Sarah Bolton's Children.
(25.) WILLIAM, born September 12, 1767, was by trade a blacksmith, and lived the most of the time in By- berry. He died September 19, 1823, leaving one daugh- ter.
(26.) JOSEPH, born October 28, 1769, married Jane, daughter of Jonathan Knight. He was by trade a tailor, and lived near Knight's Mill, in Byberry, until 1798, when he moved to Frankford. He afterwards went to Black River, New York, where he married a second time. He died there in 1852, leaving several children, among whom were Tacy, born in 1794, and Isaac, born in 1796.
(27.) ISAAC, born October 7, 1771, married Elizabeth, daughter of Evan Townsend. He at first settled on a farm in Byberry, but afterwards moved to Bustleton, and again to Byberry, where he kept a store. Thence he went to Drumore, in Lancaster County, where he died in 1853, beloved and respected by all who knew him. Children : Evan, who died at Pennsgrove, Chester County, in 1840; John, Isaac, Sarah, Abi, Margaret, and Elizabeth.
(28.) MARY married Nathan Marshall in 1800. He
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was a blacksmith, and settled in Bustleton, but afterwards moved to Concord, Chester County, and thence to Black River, New York, where he died, leaving several children.
(29.) MARGARET, born September 2, 1773, married James Hayton in 1794. She died in 1795.
(30.) JESSE, born June 30, 1777, studied medicine with Dr. Amos Gregg, of Bristol, and died soon afterwards.
(31.) THOMAS married a sister of Henry Comly, of Frankford, and afterwards moved to Black River, New York.
(32.) SARAH married William Woodward, of Brandy- wine.
(24.) Everard and Deborah Bolton's Children.
(33.) ISAAC, born March 23, 1766, married Phebe Kay. Children : Rebecca, who married Isaac Bartram; Sarah; Deborah, who married Francis Stillman; and Anna Maria, who married James Smith.
(34. ) SARAH, born December, 1768, died April 7, 1790.
(35.) SAMUEL, born February 5, 1771, married Rachel Scull, of Cumberland County, New Jersey, who was a descendant of John and Mary Scull, emigrants from Eng- land in 1700. Samuel Bolton was a man of inventive genius, and was quite intimate with John Fitch. He took out patents for several inventions, the models of which were destroyed by fire when the British burned the public buildings, at Washington, in 1814. He died April 7, 1812. Children : Aquilla, Gideon, Rachel, Sarah, Joseph R., James Murray, Hannah S., and Samuel.
(36.) RACHEL, born February 15, 1771, died February 25, 1789.
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(37.) AQUILLA, born in 1773, married, first, Phebe Yarnall; second, Alice Babitt. He died in 1858, at Day- ton, Ohio. Children: Phebe, Denman, Charles, Jane, and Mary.
(38.) ABEL J., born September, 1778. died unmarried in 1858.
(39.) EVERARD, born November, 1784, married Rachel Perkins, and settled in Philadelphia. Children: William P., Everard, and Sarah.
(35.) Samuel and Rachel Scull's Children.
(40.) AQUILLA, who married Christiana Aurand, and resides at Port Carbon, Pennsylvania.
(4I.) SARAH, born October II, 1801, married Henry C. Corbit, of Philadelphia, a descendant of Daniel Corbit, who came from Scotland to America in 1700, and settled in Delaware. She died September 7, 1852, leaving chil- dren : Caroline R., who married Ellerton Perot; Emma, who married Charles S. Ogden; Henry C., who died aged 14 years; Everard S., and Charles, who died in infancy; William F .; Helen, who died aged 15 years ; and Charles, who married Louisa A. Corbit, of Odessa, Delaware.
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