Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 81

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978

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Issue of Joshua Ernest and Josephine Wales (Tatnall) Smith:

Rebecca Gibbons Smith, m., June 4, 1901, Walter Frederic Bart Berger, son of William Bart and Margaret Kountze Berger, of Denver, Col .; issue :

Elizabeth Wollaston Bart Berger, b. Feb. 2, 1905.

Albert Watson Smith, b. Feb. 9, 1880; d. June 20, 1880.

LONGSTRETH-TOWNSEND FAMILY.

BARTHOLOMEW LONGSTRETH, founder of the family of that name in Pennsyl- vania, was a son of Christopher Longstreth, and was born in Longstreth Dale, Deanery of Craven, county of York, England, 8mo. (October) 24, 1679, and came to Pennsylvania, 1699, bringing a certificate from the Friends' Meeting at Settle, Yorkshire, dated Imo. (March) 11, 1698-99, from which meeting a great number of the prominent Quaker settlers of lower Bucks and adjoining parts of Philadel- phia county, brought certificates to Friends in Pennsylvania, at the time of the first settlement of that section.

On his mother's side, Bartholomew Longstreth was a great-grandson of John Stroth, who commanded a troop under Richard, Duke of York, in the "War of the Roses," but some time after the accession of Richard to the throne, seems to have deserted the standard of that unpopular monarch, joined the forces of his conqueror, the Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., and at the close of the "War of the Roses," 1485, was rewarded for his valor by Henry VII. The coat- of-arms then granted him, had for a crest the red rose of the house of Lancaster, and the white rose of the house of York entwined.

He had engaged at intervals in trading operations with the West Indies, making a trip to the Island of Tortola (prior to his marriage), on a venture, in which he lost his entire consignment of goods, and almost his life, by shipwreck.

Bartholomew Longstreth purchased 300 acres of land near Edge Hill, in the manor of Moreland, Philadelphia (now Montgomery) county, and was still a resident of that county, May 24, 1712, when he purchased his first tract of land in Warminster township, Bucks county, where he then settled and resided the re- mainder of his life. He purchased a tract of 500 acres in Warminster, of Thomas Fairman, and fifty-six and three-quarters acres of Francis Davis, for which he applied and received a patent from the Proprietors, dated October 17, 1713, and it constituted his homestead and residence, the greater part of which he devised to his son, Daniel; it remained the Longstreth homestead for five generations. He also purchased three small tracts adjoining the homestead, though in South- ampton township, in 1727-28-29, respectively, and in 1734 obtained a patent for 267 acres in Southampton, most of which he devised to his son, Isaac, who as "Isaac Longstreth of the Manor of Moreland, Tanner," in 1770, conveyed it to his brother, Joseph, who resided thereon until his death, 1803, and it descended to his son, Joshua Longstreth. In 1735 he purchased 150 acres of land in Warmin- ster, of Andrew Frazer, which he devised to his son, John. He also owned 200 acres of land in Nockamixon, Bucks county, which he devised to his daughter, Sarah. He therefore owned at the time of his decease, 989 acres of land in Warminster and Southampton, his Nockamixon plantation of 200 acres, and a house and lot in the "Crooked Billet."

He was a successful business man. His personal estate at the time of his death exceeded 2000 pounds. He died on his Warminster plantation very suddenly, October 8, 1749, aged "69 yrs. 11mo. & 15 days," as shown by his tombstone in the graveyard at Horsham Friends' Meeting House, where five generations of the

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family lie buried. Bartholomew Longstreth was a man of some prominence in public affairs during his residence in both Philadelphia and Bucks counties. He was one of the signers of the petition to the King, 1699, praying that William Penn be allowed to retain the government of his Province of Pennsylvania. He was an early advocate of education, and some years prior to his death, a school house was erected on his home plantation in Warminster, for the use of the chil- dren of the neighborhood, which, with the lot upon which it was erected, was con- veyed to trustees for the use of a school forever, in 1757, by his son, Daniel, and Grace, his wife.

Bartholomew Longstreth married, at Horsham Meeting, January 29. 1727-28, Ann, born in London, England, 1705, daughter of John and Dorothy Dawson, of the "Crooked Billet," Moreland township, Philadelphia (now Montgomery) county, later named Hatborough, from the hatter shop of John Dawson. John and Dorothy Dawson came to Pennsylvania 1710, from London. He carried on the hat-making business in the "Billet" some years, later combining this industry with the conduct of the ancient inn at that place, which bore for a sign a crooked billet of wood, from which the hamlet took its name ; changed later to Hatborough, now Hatboro, from the business of John Dawson, doubtless the principal industry of the town. John Dawson removed to Philadelphia prior to 1740, and carried on his business there for some years. Ann (Dawson) Longstreth was a woman of intellectual strength and good business and administrative ability.

Issue of Bartholomew and Ann (Dawson) Longstreth:

Sarah Longstreth, b. Jan. 8, 1728-9, d. Sept. 21, 1800; m. William Fussel, of Phoenix- ville, Pa .;

John Longstreth, b. June 10, 1730, d. 1737;

DANIEL LONGSTRETH, b. April 28, 1732; d. Nov. 19, 1803; m. (first) Grace Michener, (second) Martha Bye; of whom presently;

Jane Longstreth, b. March 18, 1733-4; d. aged twenty months;

Jane Longstreth, b. Jan. 23, 1735-6, d. May 16, 1795 ; m., April 22, 1755, Jonathan Coates, of Phoenixville, Pa .;

Ann Longstreth, b. Jan. 3, 1737-8; d. June 26, 1824; m., Sept. 22, 1755, Benjamin Coates, of Phoenixville, brother of Jonathan;

John Longstreth, b. Oct. 25, 1739; d. April 16, 1817, at Phoenixville, where he was some years a Justice of the Peace;

Elizabeth Longstreth, b. May 15, 1741: d. June 28, 1813, at Phoenixville; m. Joseph Starr, of Warminster ;

Isaac Longstreth, b. Feb. 16, 1742-3; d. April 12, 1817; was Captain in the patriot army, during Revolution, and commanded a company at battle of Crooked Billet; later lived at Darby ; m., Nov. 15, 1770, Martha Thomas; his name is on the monument at Hat- boro.

DANIEL LONGSTRETH, eldest surviving son of Bartholomew and Ann (Dawson) Longstreth, was born April 28, 1732, in Warminster township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. His father dying when he was in his eighteenth year, the care of his younger brothers and sisters devolved upon his mother and him, as well as the preservation of the large estate left for their use.

Daniel Longstreth inherited over 400 acres of the homestead plantation under his father's will and resided thereon during his whole life. He was a member of Horsham Monthly Meeting of Friends, and was a prominent and highly esteemed man in the community in which he resided, filling very many positions of public and private trust ; frequently acting as executor, administrator, trustee and guar- dian in the settlement of estates, and serving on innumerable commissions from

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the courts of the county for laying out roads, auditing accounts, etc. During the Revolutionary struggle, being a Quaker non-combatant, he held aloof from public affairs. For a time he was Collector of the Provincial Tax. He was one of the earliest members of the "Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery, and For the Bettering of the Condition of the People of Color." His certificate of membership, dated 3mo. (March) 25, 1793, is still in the possession of the family. In 1766 he erected a fine large addition to the old house originally erected by his father 1713, making it one of the finest and most commodious houses in that vicinity.

Daniel Longstreth married (first), May 22, 1753, Grace Michener, born in Moreland township, May 22, 1729, died April 16, 1775; daughter of John Mich- ener, of Moreland, by his wife, Martha, daughter of Adam and Grace Harker, of Middletown, Bucks county, who had come from Yorkshire, and were among the prominent Friends in Bucks county. John Michener, born in Philadelphia, 9mo. (November) 29, 1701, was the youngest son of John and Sarah Michener who came from England and settled in Philadelphia about 1686, and removed to Moreland, 1715.

Daniel Longstreth married (second), February 2, 1779, Martha, daughter of Thomas Bye, of Buckingham, Bucks county, who survived him and died at the home of her husband's granddaughter, Rachel (Ross) Maris, Philadelphia, March 7. 1833, aged ninety-seven years, three months and fourteen days.

JOSEPH LONGSTRETH, seventh child of Daniel and Grace (Michener) Long- streth, born in Warminster, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, May 31, 1765, learned the business of hat-making and for some years followed that business at Hat- boro, Montgomery county, where his great-grandfather, John Dawson, had estab- lished the business many years previously. At his father's death he inherited the homestead portion of the old Longstreth plantation in Warminster, dying April 23, 1840. Like his father and grandfather, he was a man of the highest standing in the community and greatly respected and esteemed for his public and private virtues, filling numerous offices of public and private trust.

Joseph Longstreth married, September 29, 1797, at Friends' Meeting, New Providence, Montgomery county, Sarah, daughter of David Thomas (2), of Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and his wife, Mary, daughter of Edward and Ann (Jones) Richardson, granddaughter of Joseph Richardson, of "Oleithgo," Philadelphia (now Montgomery) county, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of John and Barbara (Aubrey) Bevan, whose ancestry, tracing back to the guarantors of the Magna Charta, and Edward III., of England, is given in our account of the Bevan family in these volumes; and great-granddaughter of Samuel Richard- son, Mayor of Philadelphia, a Provincial Councillor, and member of Colonial Assembly, and his wife, Eleanor, an account of whom and their emigration is also given in this work. Ann Jones, wife of Edward Richardson, was a daughter of William Jones and came from Wales with her parents when a child. Edward Richardson was an Elder of Friends' Meeting and considered one of the best farmers in his neighborhood.

David Thomas (2) and wife, Mary ( Richardson) Thomas, had issue:

Sarah Thomas, m. Joseph Longstreth;

Abel Thomas, m. Hannah Paul;

David Thomas, m. Hannah Jacobs;

Anna Thomas, m. Moses Robinson, and lived near Phoenixville.

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David Thomas (3), brother of Sarah ( Thomas) Longstreth, was a civil engi- neer, and was engaged in the construction of the Erie Canal, having charge of that part of it from Rochester, westward, and the Welland Canal. He was a man of many accomplishments, a distinguished florist and pomologist, and a well known writer on agriculture and kindred subjects. His son, John J. Thomas, who mar- ried Mary Howland, a minister of the Society of Friends, was also a writer on agriculture, and was some years one of the editors of The Country Gentleman at Albany, New York.

Another son, Dr. Joseph Thomas, of Philadelphia, was author of Lippincott's "Biographical Dictionary," a medical dictionary ; and was a well known writer and lecturer on literature. He went to India to study Sanscrit, and was there at the time of the Sepoy Rebellion. He died December 24, 1891, in Philadelphia, aged eighty years.

David Thomas, father of Sarah (Thomas) Longstreth, was a son of David Thomas, of Upper Providence, and his wife, Anna, daughter of Abel and Mary (Garrett ) Noble. The latter, born in Leicestershire, England, November. 1670, was the second child of William and Ann (Kirke) Garrett, of Harby, Leicester- shire, who came to Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1684, and were progenitors of the prominent family of that and Philadelphia county, some account of which is given in these volumes. Sarah (Thomas) Longstreth was born November 3, 1769, and died March 10, 1829.

Issue of Joseph and Sarah (Thomas) Longstreth:

Edward Thomas Longstreth, b. Aug. 30, 1798, d. Jan. 22, 1802:

DANIEL LONGSTRETH, b. Nov. 25, 1800; d. March 30, 1846; m. (first) Elizabeth Lancaster, (second) Hannah Townsend; of whom presently;

Anna Thomas Longstreth, b. Oct. 8, 1802;

Susan Longstreth, b. Nov. 28, 1804;

Mary Thomas Longstreth, b. Dec. 20, 1807;

Martha Michener Longstreth, b. Feb. 28, 1811, d., Phila., at her home on Arch st., Jan. 5, 1862, unm. She was of literary tastes, of good business capacity, interested in the anti-slavery cause and progressive affairs of the day.

DANIEL LONGSTRETH, only surviving son of Joseph and Sarah ( Thomas) Long- streth, died at the old homestead, and is buried at Horsham. He was a consistent member of the Society of Friends, and for several years clerk of Horsham Month- ly and Abington Quarterly Meetings. He received a good English education, was especially well versed in mathematics; and being all his life a diligent student on mathematical and scientific subjects, became one of the best educated men of his times on these lines. He devoted much of his time to surveying and conveyancing. and wrote a number of papers for the local press on scientific subjects. During his later years he practiced dentistry to a considerable extent. In 1840 he opened a boarding school, for the instruction of boys in higher mathematics, at his home, which he conducted some years with success.

Daniel Longstreth collected, 1833, a large amount of material in reference to John Fitch, inventor of the steamboat, some of which was published in the Bucks county newspaper. He also furnished the greater part of the material on this subject, published by John F. Watson in his "Annals of Philadelphia."

John Fitch made the model of his first steamboat in Warminster, Bucks county, 1785, and it was tried on a pond or stream in Joseph Longstreth's meadow, about

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half a mile from Davisville, in Southampton township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- vania. It realized every expectation; the machinery was made of brass; the paddle wheels, which were of wood, were made by Nathaniel B. Boileau, a student of Princeton, during a vacation. John L. Longstreth (now in his eighty-third year), son of the above Daniel Longstreth, remembers being on a visit with his father about 1843 to Nathaniel B. Boileau, then living at Hatboro, and hearing him say, that he had made those paddlewheels. It was Daniel Longstreth (son of Bartholomew), grandfather of the above Daniel Longstreth, who gave John Fitch assistance in perfecting his priceless invention.

Daniel Longstreth married (first) Elizabeth, of Philadelphia, born July 5, 1803, died September 19, 1829, daughter of John Lancaster, by whom he had two chil- dren, John L. and Elizabeth L. Longstreth.

JOHN L. LONGSTRETH, born November 10, 1827, was but two years of age at the death of his mother, and five years of age when his father married a second time, and he was reared by his second mother, as her own child, and on his father's death, when he was in his nineteenth year, the care of his little brothers and sisters devolved upon him, and they gladly testify to his loving kindness and care in their behalf. When still a young man he came to Philadelphia, was in the employ of the well known firm of French Richards & Company many years. When the firm of Samuel H. French & Company was formed, he became a member of it, and was a prominent business man for nearly fifty years. He married (first), October 25, 1870, in Germantown, Rachel Orum Longstreth, a distant cousin, daughter of Thomas B. and Lydia (Noble) Longstreth, eminent members of the Society of Friends, active in the anti-slavery movement, and in many philanthropic and char- itable enterprises ; granddaughter of Joseph Longstreth, born November 25, 1773, died March 9, 1807, a dry-goods merchant of Philadelphia, and his wife, Mar- garet, daughter of Robert and Sarah McKee, who married (second) Gabriel Middleton, of Philadelphia ; and great-granddaughter of Benjamin Longstreth, born September 17, 1746, died August 4, 1802, buried in Valley Friends' Meeting graveyard. This Benjamin Longstreth was the founder of Phoenixville, Pennsyl- vania, and erected there the first iron works that have since made the town famous. He married Sarah, daughter of Solomon Fussell, and his second wife, Mary Wil- son.

Rachel Orum Longstreth died in Philadelphia, December 24, 1875, and John L. Longstreth married (second), May 28, 1889, Emily T., daughter of John C. and Louisa (Thomas) Evans. They are active in Meeting affairs and in benev- olent institutions.

Elizabeth Lancaster Longstreth, born September 14, 1829, died April 23. 1848, about two years after the death of her father, Daniel Longstreth. She was eighteen years of age and a lovely young woman, and was buried at Horsham.

Daniel Longstreth married (second), at Fourth and Green street Meeting, Philadelphia, December 25, 1832, Hannah Townsend, born in Philadelphia, June 6, 1801, died in Philadelphia, August 6, 1865, buried at Fairhill Cemetery, daugh- ter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Clark) Townsend. She was a descendant of John Townsend, said to have been a brother of Richard Townsend, who came to Penn- sylvania in the "Welcome" with William Penn, October, 1682. About 1715, John Townsend and wife Elizabeth purchased land at Sixth and Walnut streets, Phila- delphia, where two generations of the family resided.

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CHARLES TOWNSEND, son of John and Elizabeth, came into possession of his father's property at Sixth and Walnut streets, Philadelphia, and held it until it was required for the enlargement of Independence Square. He then built a house on Spruce street, below Third, where three generations of the family resided; his son, John Townsend (2), dying there in his eightieth year, in the same house in which he was born.

Charles Townsend married, at Burlington, New Jersey, by New Jersey License dated May 18, 1730, Abigail Embree, "of Pennsylvania."

JOHN TOWNSEND (2), youngest son of Charles and Abigail ( Embree) Town- send, married Hannah, daughter of Joseph and Catharine (Watson) Cox, of Chester county, Pennsylvania.

Issue of John and Hannah (Co.r) Townsend:

JOSEPH TOWNSEND, b. 1772, m. Elizabeth Clark; of whom presently;

Charles Townsend, m. Priscilla Kirk; both were prominent members of Green Street Friends' Meeting, she being an accepted minister. Their three sons were, Elisha K., John K., and Edward Townsend. Elisha was a dentist in Phila .; John K. was a noted ornithologist, made a journey across the continent to the Pacific many years prior to the days of trans-continental railroads, and wrote a book on his travels; Edward Townsend, also a prominent dentist of Phila., was greatly interested in philanthropic work, especially in relation to prisons. He m. Ann A. Townsend, a valued minister among Friends, and lived to the age of ninety-one years. Hannah and Mary Town- send, daus. of Charles and Priscilla, were both gifted writers of Phila .; the former . being author of a "History of England in Verse," and the latter of "Life in the Insect World," etc .;

Lydia Townsend, d. unm .;

Abigail Townsend, d. m .;

John Townsend, m. Mary Fish.

JOSEPH TOWNSEND, eldest child of John and Hannah (Cox) Townsend, born in the old Townsend homestead, on Spruce street, Philadelphia, 1772; married, May 21, 1800, at Pine Street Meeting House, Philadelphia, Elizabeth Clark, born in Philadelphia, September 18, 1773, died there, 1854. She was a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Wyer) Clark, who came from London, England, 1773, bringing with them a son, Joseph, about two years of age, who afterwards married and settled in Watertown, New York. Their daughter, Elizabeth, who married Joseph Townsend, was born after the arrival of her parents in Philadelphia.

Joseph Clark at one time maintained a school for girls in Philadelphia, and Dolly Madison, wife of President James Madison, was among his pupils. He was an active member of the Society of Friends, and deeply interested in philanthropic work, particularly in the education and Christianizing of the Indian and Negro races. At one time he visited in the northern Indian reservations, and brought a number of young Indian girls to Philadelphia and placed them in suitable homes to be taught civilized and refined household ways, that they might exert a civilizing influence on their people on their return to their homes. He also assisted the colored people of Philadelphia in establishing their church of St. Thomas. In the Journal of Stephen Grellett, an eminent travelling minister of the Society of Friends (some account of whom is given in our sketch of the Collins family), he gives the following account of one of his religious pilgrimages: "Feeling drawings of Gospel Love towards some parts of the sea shore about Cape May and Great Egg Harbor, and having obtained the approbation and Certificate of Friends, I set off about the middle of 7th Month, ( ). My dear friend Joseph Clark accompanied me in the service. Besides visiting Friends in those parts, we

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went into about 84 families mostly of the poorer class of the inhabitants, * * * * From John Hunt's Journal, we extract the following note in reference to Joseph Clark :

"Joseph Clark, on 8mo. 8th, 1818, had a meeting of conference with a number of Friends at our Meeting House, about a concern he had felt to promote associa- tions of young women to take care of and assist the poor. He had travelled in many parts of our Yearly Meeting on this concern and assisted in forming such benevolent societies among young women. 'For they that thus help others im- prove themselves.' 'They that labor in right things receive wages and gather fruit unto eternal life.' He carried small tracts of a pious character for gratuitous distribution."

After the death of his wife, which occurred June 22, 1788, Joseph Clark pub- lished a pamphlet giving an account of her piety and works.

Joseph and Elizabeth (Clark) Townsend had four children, Hannah, wife of Daniel Longstreth; two sons both named William, who died in infancy, and Sam- uel Townsend, born 1807, who removed to Baltimore, Maryland, and became a prominent minister among Friends. He married (first) Mary G., daughter of Jonathan and Martha Sleeper, of Philadelphia; (second) Jane Stockton Jewett, a descendant of Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

HANNAH (TOWNSEND) LONGSTRETH was an active member with her husband of Abington Quarterly Meeting, she being clerk for several years. About fourteen years after the death of her husband she removed to Philadelphia, and re-united herself with the Friends' Meeting at Fourth and Green streets, of which she had been at one time clerk. She took an active interest in philanthropic work, was an ardent Abolitionist, and a friend of Lucretia Mott. During the Civil War, she was active in visiting the hospitals where lay the sick and wounded soldiers as they were brought north from battles in the Southland. She was a member of the Penn Relief Association, a society organized by the women of Philadelphia, to sew and prepare supplies and clothing for the soldiers and their families. Sym- pathetic and kind of heart by nature, and possessed of fine literary taste and talent, she was a welcome visitor in many homes, and her company was much sought after. She assisted Benjamin Lundy in the preparation of the "Memoirs of Eliz- abeth Margaret Chandler," the anti-slavery poetess. She died in Philadelphia, August 6, 1865.

Issue of Daniel and Hannah (Townsend ) Longstreth:

Joseph T. Longstreth, b. Ang. 7, 1833; d. July 12, 1834;

Sarah Longstreth, b. Sept. 4, 1834. at old homestead, d. in Baltimore, Md., March 14, 1901 : m. Charles R. Hollingsworth, May 29, 1856, a descendant of Valentine Hollings- worth, an early settler in New Castle co., near the Pa. line, many of whose descendants have been prominently identified with the affairs of Phila. and vicinity. His sister, Elizabeth Hollingsworth, was mother of Prof. Susan J. Cunningham, Ph. D., for thirty-seven years head of mathematical dept. of Swarthmore College, Pa., prior to her resignation, 1906;

Moses Robinson Longstreth, d. inf., April 2, 1838;

Samuel Townsend Longstreth, b. Aug. 2, 1837, at old homestead; m .. June 10, 1869, Jane L. Jones, a descendant of Dr. Edward Jones, and Mary (Wynne) Jones, front Bala, Merionethshire, Wales, the pioneers of the Welsh tract in Merion, Philadelphia co., Mary being dau. of. Dr. Thomas Wynne, who accompanied William Penn to America in the "Welcome," and was Speaker of first Pennsylvania Assembly, 1682-3; also de- scendant of Jan and Mary Lucken, one of thirteen heads of families who founded Germantown, 1684, accounts of both of which families are given in this volume;

Edward Longstreth, b. June 22, 1839, at the old homestead in Warminster, Bucks co., d., Phila., Feb. 24, 1905; came to Phila., Oct. 24, 1857, and was apprenticed to M. W.

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Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 81

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed Publication date: 1911 Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 978

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978