USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Volume II > Part 12
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JAMES CORNELL BIDDLE, son of Colonel Clement and Rebekah (Cornell) Bid-
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dle, born in Philadelphia, December 29, 1795, was a prominent member of the Philadelphia bar, and died in that city, August 30, 1838. He married, March 9, 1825, Sarah Caldwell Keppele, born September 29, 1798, died March, 1877, daughter of Hon. Michael Keppele, and of a family long prominently identified with the social, political and industrial life of Philadelphia. They had issue, six children :- Thomas, Caldwell Keppele, Catharine Keppele, Rebecca, Colonel James Cornell, and Cadwalader Biddle.
CADWALADER BIDDLE, youngest child of James Cornell and Sarah Caldwell (Keppele) Biddle, was born in Philadelphia, October 29, 1837, and died there October 29, 1906. He graduated from the College department of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, in the class of 1856, and from the law department of the same institution in 1859, and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in the same year.
During the War of the Rebellion most of the men of his family were in the service of the country and he was obliged to remain at home and care for his mother and sister, but all his efforts were used for the cause of the Union. He was one of the younger men most active in the formation of the Union League of Philadelphia, and his was one of the first hundred names enrolled on the original membership list, and in 1865 he was a member of the Board of Directors. His knowledge of and interest in public affairs were wide, and his personal acquaintance with men of eminence very extended. His remarkable memory retained in minuteness the history of the momentous times through which he lived, but he had no desire for public office and never would enter the political arena. He never married and his life was spent in doing for others. He was of those beloved and had more friends than most, deeply attached to him, in all the walks of life, and throughout the state of Pennsylvania. He had three brothers and two sisters. The oldest brother,-
HON. THOMAS BIDDLE, died in 1875, aged forty-eight years, was a lawyer, and married Sarah Frederica White, a descendant of the Rt. Rev. William White, first Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania. At the outbreak of the Civil War he served for a time as a lieutenant-colonel, but owing to physical disability was unable to continue to serve. His life was passed in the diplomatic service, which caused him to travel to all parts of the world. His personality won men and he rose to the rank of United States Minister and twice repre- sented the country in that capacity. The second brother,-
CALDWELL KEPPELE BIDDLE, a lawyer (born January 22, 1829, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1846. He married Elizabeth Mead, neé Rick- etts. He was distinguished as a student, was the valedictorian of his class at college, and in his profession eminent for his capacity and acquirement. He was beloved and surely rising to be among the leaders of the bar when he died at the age of thirty-three years. The third brother,-
COLONEL JAMES CORNELL BIDDLE was born on October 3, 1835, and died on November 2, 1898. He was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and engaged in business pursuits. He married Gertrude Gouverneur, daughter of the Hon. William M. Meredith, the distinguished leader of the bar and Secretary of the Treasury. He served with distinction throughout the Civil War. Enlist- ing at the outbreak he was promoted to be an officer, and for "gallant and meri- torious services" on different occasions, was promoted to Major and brevetted
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Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel. He was once taken prisoner. He served on the staffs of a number of General Officers and principally on that of General Meade with whom he served from May, 1863, to the surrender of General Lee. For General Meade he had the greatest loyalty and admiration. In a letter to him General Meade said, "I desire not only to evince my sense of your gallantry and good conduct as exhibited on that great day (Gettysburg), but to express my grateful sense of the cordial and kindly feelings that have always character- ized our intercourse, both official and private." The oldest sister,-
CATHARINE KEPPELE BIDDLE was born on February 1, 1831. She married William P. Tathain, a prominent and successful man in commercial affairs, and one who was gifted mentally. He was deeply interested in science and did all in his power to advance research. He numbered among his personal friends such men as Lord Kelvin. In recognition of his abilities he was elected president of the Franklin Institute, and during his administration the high prestige of the Institute was maintained. The youngest sister, Rebecca Biddle, was born on May 22, 1833, and died unmarried in young womanhood.
RODNEY AUGUSTUS MERCUR
The Mercur family in America was founded after the Revolution, and is of Austrian ancestry. Though but three generations from the founder, they already have taken prominent positions in Pennsylvania. Ulysses Mercur, son of the founder, and father of Rodney A., was at the time of his death an ex- United States congressman and Chief-justice of the Supreme Court of Penn- sylvania. Through the marriage of his father, with Sarah, daughter of Gen- eral John Davis, of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, Rodney A. Mercur derives an ancestry that includes the oldest and best of Bucks county families, viz : the Davis, Simpson, Hart, Watts and Burley clans. Mr. Mercur's Revolution- ary ancestor was John Davis, who served from Trenton to Yorktown, and was wounded in battle. A son of John Davis, also John, served in the War of 1812, attained high political honors in his native county of Bucks, and was major-general of Pennsylvania militia. A son of General Jolin was General W. W. H. Davis, a veteran of the Mexican and civil wars. He was also a well known writer of history and an authority on genealogical and historical matters.
The branch of the Davis family in America from whom Rodney A. Mer- cur descends, was founded by William Davis of Welsh and North of Ireland ancestors, who came from Great Britain about 1740 and settled in Solebury township. Bucks county, Pennsylvania, near the line of Upper Makefield. It is believed that he was born in London, from whence he emigrated to America. Nothing is positively known of his family before he came to America. Tradi- tion has it that William Davis had two brothers, one of whom went to the West Indies, engaged in planting, made a fortune and returned to England to enjoy it. The other became a distinguished lawyer of London and received the honors of knighthood. William Davis married Sarah Burley, a daughter of John Burley, of Upper Makefield, Bucks county, about 1756. John Burley provides in his will that in case his widow shall marry "a careful, frugal man" she and her husband may enjoy the income from his estate until the youngest Burley child shall reach the age of fourteen. William and Sarah (Burley) Davis were the parents of seven children, all born in Bucks county, Pennsyl- vania : Jemima, December 25, 1758; John, September 6, 1760; Sarah, October I, 1763; William, September 9, 1766; Joshua, July 6, 1769; Mary, October 3, 1771 ; and Joseph, March 1, 1774. The daughters intermarried with the Slacks, Torbets and McNairs, all well-known Bucks county families. The widow of William Davis survived him until May 10, 1819, dying, aged eighty-four years.
JOHN DAVIS, second child and eldest son of William the emigrant and his wife, Sarah Burley, was born in Solebury township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- vania, September 6, 1760. When the quarrel between Great Britain and her American colonies broke into open war, John Davis was but sixteen. His friends and neighbors of mixed Welsh and Irish blood. were loyal to the col- onies, and the boy's heart was fired at his country's wrongs. June 4. 1776, the
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Continental Congress ordered a "Flying Camp" established in New Jersey and Bucks county was called on for a quota of four hundred men. The county Committee of Safety appointed Joseph Hart colonel of the battalion with a full complement of field, staff and company officers. In one of these compan- ies, John Davis served as a substitute for his father. He served with these troops through the campaign that closed with the loss of New Jersey, and were discharged in December, 1776. They were in service when Washington crossed to the west bank of the Delaware, December 8. They were again called on De- cember 19, and ordered to report to General Putnam at Philadelphia, but were discharged later in December, 1776. John served all through these operations, including the "Amboy Campaign." When Washington recrossed the Delaware the night of Christmas day to attack the Hessians at Trenton, John Davis was with him. As he was not an enlisted soldier at the time, he probably went as a volunteer or as a substitute for his father. He frequently related the events of that memorable night to his interested children. Among the wounded of that battle was Lieutenant Monroe, afterward president of the United States. He was taken to the house of William Neeley, the home of John Davis. The young soldier was now fully fired with a soldier's ardor, and next enlisted in Captain Butler's company, Third Pennsylvania Regiment, Continental line, prior to March 12, 1777. The regiment was under command of Colonel Richard Butler, who became famous as a fighting officer, and as second in command, holding the rank of major-general, fell heroically fighting at "St. Clair's De- feat," November 4, 1791. John Davis served in the Second, Third, Eighth and Ninth Pennsylvania Regiments, the changes being caused by consolidation and reorganization from time to time. In the summer of 1780 Washington caused a light infantry corps, composed of picked men from Continental regiments in the field, to be organized for General Lafayette. John Davis was drawn for the service and placed in Captain Joseph McClellan's company, Colonel Stew- art's Ninth Regiment. He served with the corps until the 26th of November, 1780, when it was disbanded and the men returned to their old regiments. He served all through the war, enlisted as a private, and there is no evidence of promotion, being one of that great host which win all battles, bear the heat and burden of the day alway, and rarely have justice done them. He was at the battle of Brandywine, where he was so fortunate as to be near General Lafayette when wounded, and assisted to carry him to a place of safety. He was at the "Massacre of Paoli", but escaped unhurt. He fought at Germantown and passed the dreadful winter at Valley Forge. He was with Washington at Monmouth, and followed the colors all through 1778, and wintered with the army at Morristown. He was with Wayne at Stony Point the following July 15, and in the attack on the Block House at "Bergen Point," New Jersey, July 21, 1780, was severely wounded in the foot and for a time disabled. He was on duty again in October, and was one of the guard around the gallows, when Major André was hanged. He was with the Pennsylvania line in 1781, marched for the south, May 26, participated in the siege of Yorktown, and witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis. The honorable record from Trenton to Yorktown entitled the young veteran to a land grant, and a patent therefor was issued, September 29, 1787, for two hundred acres near the southeast line of Crawford county, Pennsylvania. After his return from the war he was
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commissioned ensign in the Second Battalion of Bucks county militia, and, with it was called into service on one or two occasions. Later his widow was granted a Revolutionary pension.
John Davis was married, June 26, 1783, by Rev. James Boyd, to Ann Simp- son, daughter of William Simpson, also a Revolutionary soldier. John Davis rented a farm in Bucks county, which he cultivated for ten years, and where five of his children were born. In 1795 he migrated to Maryland and settled near Brookville, on the Holland river, twenty miles from Washington, and about the same distance from Georgetown. Here he lived the life of a farmer for twenty-one years. Four of his nine children were born in Maryland. In 1816, attracted by the glowing accounts of the "land of promise" beyond the Ohio, he journeyed by wagon to the state of Ohio, where he settled on the banks of the Scioto, ten miles above Columbus, and where he spent the remainder of his days. He was then fifty-six years of age. He prospered in his new home, added to his acres from year to year, enjoyed the respect of his neigh- bors and friends, saw his children marry and given in marriage in the com- munity and settle around him. He died, January 25, 1832, aged seventy-two. Ann, his widow, survived him, dying June 6, 1851, in her eighty-seventh year. The children of John and Ann (Simpson) Davis were: Sarah, born October 12, 1784 ; William, August 22, 1786: John, August 7, 1788, see forward; Ann, No- vember 6, 1790; Samuel, December, 1792, died in infancy; Joshua, June 27, 1796; Samuel S., September, 1798; Joseph, January 27, 1803; Elizabeth, No- vember 18, 1805. The great majority of the descendants of John and Ann (Simpson) Davis live in Ohio and the West, engaged in all branches of business and professions.
JOHN, the second son of John and Ann Davis, was born in Solebury town- ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, August 7, 1788, where he lived the first seven years of his life. He was taken by his parents to Maryland, where he grew to manhood on the farm at Rock Creek Meeting House, working nine months of the year and going to school during the winters. He drove the great Conestoga wagon loaded with the farm produce to Baltimore, and he made one trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, driving his team, loaded with the household goods of a neighbor who was going there to live. The trip took sixty days. He bought his time from his father when he was twenty and began farming for himself. He made occasional trips back to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, to see his relations, and on one of these visits met Amy Hart, of Southampton, whom he married at Davisville, March 13, 1813. This marriage changed the destiny of John Davis. It connected him with some of the most influential families in the county, and made possible his brilliant after-career that carried him to high positions of honor, even to the walls of congress. Amy Hart was the daughter of Josiah and Nancy Hart, of Southampton, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He was the fourth son of Joseph Hart, a colonel of the Revolutionary army. Her father, Josiah, commanded a company of associators at Philadelphia. John Davis set- tled in Southampton in the spring of 1813, and resided in the same locality the balance of his long life, sixty-five years. He took a prominent position in busi- ness and social life immediately, he settled in Southampton, and maintained it as long as he lived; but it was no more than his energy, his intelligence and high character entitled him to. His influence increased from time to time until he be-
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came one of the most prominent citizens of the state. The War with England (1812-1815) was now going on and Mr. Davis helped organize a company of which he was made ensign, Captain William Purdy's company. He served three months and was honorably discharged, December 5, 1814, and returned home. His brief army experience awoke in him a strong taste for military affairs, and he shortly after entered the volunteer militia, and for thirty-five years was in constant com- mission. During that period he held in succession the commissions of captain, bri- gade inspector, with rank of major, lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and was three times elected major-general of the division composed of Bucks and Montgomery counties. In 1815 he organized the "Alert Rifles" and was commissioned captain by Governor Snyder, 1814, so as to cover his services in the field. In 1823 he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the First Regiment, Bucks county Vol- unteers, and was subsequently elected colonel. This was one of the finest mili- tary organizations in the state, and was maintained for over thirty years. When Lafayette visited the United States in 1824, Colonel Davis with his regiment mounted, six hundred strong, met him on September 25 at Morrisville, and escorted him through the company, passing through crowds of people lining both sides of the roads over which they passed. At Bristol where they were dined, Colonel Davis was presented to the general and reminded him that his father had assisted to carry him off the Brandywine battlefield. Lafayette remembered the circumstance, and said the two soldiers handled him "like a child." Colonel Davis was brigade inspector seven years, from August 3, 1828. In 1835 he was elected major-general and commissioned December 5. General Davis was a Democrat and belonged to the "Golden Era" of Democracy, 1820-1860. Its leadership was in strong hands and there was in Pennsylvania, Bucks county, an array of leaders seldom equalled. A few of them will be named: James Bu- chanan, Samuel D. Ingram, George M. Dallas, Jeremiah S. Black, Francis R. Shunk, George Wolf, Henry A. Muhlenberg, David R. Porter, Simon Cameron, James M. Porter, David Wilmot, Richard Vaux, John W. Forney, John Hick- man, Henry Welsh, William F. Packer, Richard Broadhead, and John O. James. These gentlemen with but a single exception began their political career in the ranks of the Democratic party. General Davis was an ardent admirer of General Jackson, and in the campaign between Jackson and Adams entered into the con- test with great warmth. In 1833 General Davis was appointed by Governor Wolf a member of the Board of Appraisers of Public Works, and held the office three years. In 1838 he was elected to congress from Bucks county, over Hon. Matthias Morris, who was a candidate for re-election and took his seat in the Twenty-sixth Congress the first Monday in December, 1839. He made some strong speeches that commanded instant and favorable notice and served on important committees. He closed his congressional career with the session of 1840-41, and retired to private life, although he kept in constant touch with pub- lic affairs. He was active in county, state and federal politics, and his influence was felt wherever a ticket was to be nominated or elected. He was deeply attached to his party, and his advice in party councils was always prudent and timely. In the contest between James K. Polk and Henry Clay, General Davis threw himself into the contest with all his might. He was then still in the prime and vigor of his intellectual and physical manhood; he took the stump at the opening of the campaign, and only hauled down his flag when the victory was
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won. When the new administration came into power, President Polk appointed General Davis, surveyor of the port of Philadelphia, an office he held four years, making John W. Forney his deputy. General Davis was a life long friend and political supporter of the candidacy of James Buchanan, and advocated his elec- tion in good faith, but he could not support his Kansas-Nebraska policy, and the two old friends separated. When the election of 1860 came round, General Da- vis, although over seventy, buckled on the armor and took the field for his per- sonal friend, Stephen A. Douglass. General Davis had in all these years been gradually accumulating, until he was the owner of a very fair estate. He and wife were attendants of the Southampton Baptist church, and he was on the board of trustees and superintendent of a Sunday school. He was one of the founders of the Bucks County Bible Society in 1816, and its vice-president. About 1850 General Davis and wife connected themselves with the Baptist church at Hatboro just over the Montgomery county line, where he was baptized in 1862 or 1863. In his later years he took letters to the Davisville Baptist Church. At the age of eighty-two General Davis represented his church at a Baptist confer- ence at Boston, Massachusetts, and greatly enjoyed his visit. He was a warm friend of temperance and a total abstainer the last thirty years of his life. He set the first example of withholding liquor from workmen and increasing their wages in consequence. He was intensely patriotic. Had his age permitted, he would have enlisted in the union army during the Civil War. General Davis died April 1, 1878. His biographer, also his son, the late W. W. H. Davis, says: ."There have been greater men than John Davis, but none with nobler qualities of head and heart, nor with higher principles, nor of whom in the discharge of all the duties of life it can be more worthily said: 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant' ".
The only son of General John and Amy ( Hart) Davis was W. W. H. Davis, who married, June 24, 1856, Anna Carpenter, of Brooklyn, New York. They were the parents of seven. The eldest daughter, Margaret Sprague, mar- ried Samuel A. W. Patterson, a son of Rear Admiral Thomas H. Patterson, U. S. N. Mrs. Davis died April 3, 1881. Mr. Davis was a graduate of Nor- wich Military University. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, after which he completed his legal studies at Dane Law School, Harvard College, and practiced five years. He filled many public stations. He was an officer of the Mexican War and of the War of the Rebellion. In the latter he was brevetted brigadier-general for meritorius service at the siege of Charleston, South Carolina. He was four years in the civil service of the government in New Mexico as United States district attorney, secretary of the territory and superintendent of Indian affairs. He was honorary commissioner to the Paris Exposition in 1878, and Democratic candidate for congress in 1882, and for the state at large in 1884. He was appointed by President Cleveland, United States pension agent at Philadelphia. General W. W. H. Davis was a local historian of note. He was the author of a "History of Bucks County", Pennsyl- vania, and of many other historical and genealogical writings, including a "Life of John Davis"-his father, from which these pages are largely drawn. He also published a history of the "Hart Family" in honor of his mother. Of the daughters of General John and Amy (Hart) Davis, Ann, the eldest, mar- ried, December 10, 1835, James Erwin, son of Oliver Erwin, who took part
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in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and fled to America in consequence. The sec- ond daughter, Rebecca Davis, married Alfred T. Duffield, of Davisville, Jan- uary 5, 1840. The next daughters to marry were Sarah and Amy, both mar- ried, June 12, 1850; Sarah, see forward; Amy married Holmes Sells, a phy- sician of Dublin, Ohio. The fifth daughter of General Davis, Elizabeth, never married, and after the death of her mother in 1847, became the recognized fe- male head of the family.
SARAH SIMPSON DAVIS, daughter of General John and Amy (Hart) Davis, was born November 10, 1822. June 12, 1850, she married Chief Justice Ulysses Mercur, born August 12, 1818, died June 6, 1887. Ulysses Mercur was the son of Henry.
HENRY MERCUR was born in Klinginport, Austria, September 20, 1786. He was educated in the University of Vienna, Austria, where he spent eight years, terminating in 1807. He saw the victorious army of the great Napoleon enter Vienna in 1805. In 1809 he settled in Towanda, Pennsylvania. Septem- ber 10, 1810, he married Mary Watts, who bore him six children. Henry Mer- cur died in 1868.
ULYSSES MERCUR, son of Henry and Mary (Watts) Mercur, was born in Towanda. He graduated from Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1842, and studied law with Edward Overton, and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1843, commencing practice in Towanda. He was a presi- dential elector on the Lincoln Republican ticket in 1860, and was appointed president judge of the Thirteenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania in March, 1861, to fill out the unexpired term of David Wilmot, United States senator- elect. At the election in November following, Judge Mercur was elected to succeed himself for the full term of ten years, but resigned, March 4, 1865, to accept an election to congress, where he served from 1865 till December 2, 1872, resigning his seat in the Forty-first Congress to return to the bench, where he served as Associate-justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1872 to 1883, when he was elevated to the highest judicial office of the state, Chief- justice of the Supreme Court. He held this exalted office until his death, June 6, 1887. He was a man of highest personal character, and a learned and able jurist. He rendered many important decisions both as Associate- and Chief-jus- tice that have become fundamental laws of the state. He was very careful in his decisions and gave each subject submitted to him the most exhaustive exam- inations, and never wrote an opinion until he was satisfied of the exact law bear- ing on it from every possible point of contention. His judicial opinions were published in the Pennsylvania reports, 1873-1887. Judge Mercur died in Wal- ingford, Pennsylvania. Chief-justice Ulysses Mercur married, as stated, Sar- ah S., daughter of General John Davis, and had sons: Rodney, see forward; James Watts and Ulysses, all practicing lawyers; another son, John D. Mer- cur, is a physician.
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