USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania: From the Discovery of the Delaware to the Present Time (Volume 1 and 2) > Part 23
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22 Mr. Alexander Wilson, the American ornithologist, in his pedestrian tour to Niagara, 1804, alludes in "The Foresters," to the valley of the Durham creek in the following terms :
"Light beat hearts with changing prospect gay, As down through Durham's vale we held our way, And pause, its furnace curious to explore, Where flames and bellows lately wont to roar, Now waste and roofless, as the walls we pass The massive shells lie rusting in the grass. There let them rust, fell messengers of death ! Till injured Liberty be roused to wrath, In whose right may they, though hosts oppose, Be blasting thunderbolts to all her foes."
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CHAPTER XII.
MORRISVILLE.
1804.
Situation .- The Falls came early into notice .- First European settlement .- First owner " of site .- Oldmixon in 1708 .- First mill erected .- Origin of name .- Robert Morris settles there .- George Clymer .- General Moreau .- Residence burns down .- Moreau's will and sale of property .- Bridges across the Delaware .- Freshet of 1841 .- Ferry below the falls .- Colvin's ferry .- Borough organized .- Capital of United States fixed at Morrisville .- Fine water privileges .- Industrial establishments .- Population. -Visit to Summerseat, 1896 .- Lafayette crosses the Delaware, 1824.
Morrisville, on the Delaware opposite Trenton, next to Bristol is the old- est borough in the county.
The "Falls of Delaware" was one of the first localities in the county to come into notice, and several tracts of land were taken up on the river just below, under the government of Sir Edmund Andros. It was on the great highway of travel between the lower Delaware and New York half a century before William Penn's arrival, and here the overland route crossed the river by ferriage. The first settlement of Europeans in Bucks county, was made by the Dutch West India company, on a small island just below the falls, near the western shore, where there was a trading-post with three or four families from 1624 to 1627. The remains of the island is now a sand-bar, nearly opposite Mor- risville, containing some seventy-five acres, and is called Fairview.
The land on which Morrisville is built belonged, originally, to John Wood, one of the earliest immigrants among the Friends. In 1703 a patent was issued to Joseph Wood, probably a son of John, for six hundred and sixty-four and a half acres, and the tract, all or in part, remained in the family until 1764, when seventy acres were sold to Adam Hoops, including an island in the river oppo- site. There were reserved, within this purchase, a school-house lot and a land- ing on the river at the lower corner of the village, two and a half perches wide. This was at the terminus of the old ferry road, and probably the landing of the original ferry below the falls, the oldest on the river. Oldmixon, who crossed at this ferry, 1708, and passed down the river, says, "Falls town contains about fifty houses," probably referring to the settlement on the New Jersey side of the river, for there is no record of any settlement at the falls on this side at so early a period.
The first mill at Morrisville was built in 1772-73, while the property was in the possession of the widow and sons of Adam Hoops. In April, 1773, it was
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
conveyed to Richard Downing, including the island and the right of landing. In 1780 the mills were called the "Delaware mills." Patrick Colvin bought the ferry and a considerable tract of land in 1772, which he owned until 1792, and, for those twenty years, what is now Morrisville was known as Colvin's ferry. He built the brick ferry-house, 1792, the stone part having been built several years before.
Morrisville took its name, and received its early impetus from Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution. The 11th of December, 1789, he pur- chased the mill property, called the "Delaware Works," with the island con- taining four hundred and fifty acres, and some vacant lots, of Samuel Ogden and wife. On the 16th of November, 1792, he purchased of Patrick Colvin and wife two hundred and sixty-four and a half acres adjoining the tract he already owned, which had come down by descent and purchase from the Harrisons, Acremans, Kirkbrides and Blackshaws, all original settlers. This tract extended from a point on the river south of the mill property down more than a mile, and embraced the fine land west of the Philadelphia road. While Mr. Morris resided here, he lived in the large house in the grove, which he probably built. and it is positively asserted he also built the brick stables and several small houses where the village stands. On the 9th of June, 1798, the real estate of Mr. Morris was sold at sheriff's sale to George Clymer, another signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Thomas Fitzsimmons, Philadelphia, for forty- one thousand dollars. George Clymer, son of Christopher Clymer, was born at Philadelphia the 10th of June, 1739. On his mother's side he descended from the Fitzwaters, among the earliest immigrants to the province. Losing his parents when a month old, he was brought up by his uncle, William Coleman, the husband of his mother's sister, who left him the bulk of his fortune at his death. His ancestors being shipping merchants he was brought up to that busi- ness, and entered into co-partnership with Reese and Samuel Meredith, whose daughter and sister, Elizabeth, he married. He was not only a signer of the Declaration of Independence, but a member of the convention that framed the constitution of the United States, and also of the first Congress. He died at Morrisville, at the house of his son, Henry Clymer, January 23, 1813, and was buried in Friends' ground at Trenton. His widow died at Northumberland, Pennsylvania, February, 1815. Messrs. Clymer and Fitzsimmons erected a new grist-mill in 1799, and. in 1800, the two ferries fell into the possession of John Longstreth and Samuel Spencer by deed. What is now Green street was then called the Post road and led down to the ferry. The old ferry house stood on the north side of Green street just west of the stone building. George Clymer owned the farm and mansion in the western part of the borough overlooking the village and the city of Trenton, and now owned by a son of the late John H. Osborne.1 He died in that house, and John Carlile, the grandfather of the late John Carlile, was one of the pall-bearers at the funeral. Henry Clymer, the son, bought a farm in Lower Makefield on the river adjoining the Kirkbride ferry road, which was the family residence many years after his death, and was lately owned by Dr. Dana, formerly of Wilkesbarre.
I A granddaughter of George Clymer died at Bethlehem, Pa., March 8, 1898. within four days of seventy-one. She was a daughter of John Clymer, a son of George, and born in Nockamixon township, Bucks county, March 12, 1827, married Franklin J. Schick, 1850, and removed to Bethlehem, 1868. She left one son and two daughters. It is denied by some that Mrs. Shick was a granddaughter of George Clymer, the signer.
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A portion of the Robert Morris property next fell into the hands of the dis- tinguished French general, Jean Victor Maria Moreau, who made his home there several years. He landed at Philadelphia, September 24, 1805, accompanied by his wife and two children, and, after looking around the country for some time for a place of residence, he found none that pleased him so well as Morris- ville, where he located. It is said that Napoleon Bonaparte, while looking over the map of the United States, some years before, had pointed out the falls of the Delaware as a desirable place of residence, but whether that opinion influenced Moreau in selecting this spot is not known. On his arrival, General Moreau took up his residence for a time at the seat of a Mr. LeGuen, who lived in the vicinity, and on the 11th of March, 1807, he purchased three lots of Paul Seiman, J. B. Sartori and J. Hutchinson, including mills and water-power. This prop- city was bounded by Mill, Green, Washington and Bridge streets, except a small corner at Bridge and Mill and Green and Mill. General Moreau lived in the large house in the grove, in which Robert Morris resided until 1811, when it took fire on Christmas-day and was burned down, when he removed into the brick building known as the ferry-house. He resided there until 1813, when events summoned him to Europe, and his tragic death at the battle of Dresden is well known to every reader of history. By his will, dated January 9, 1813, Moreau left his Morrisville property to his wife and infant daughter, but with- out power to sell, the executor being J. B. Sartori. On the 5th of March, 1816, the Legislature passed an act authorizing the sale of the real estate, which was advertised in the Pennsylvania Correspondent, now Bucks County Intelli- gencer, and the Herald of Liberty, at Newtown, and was exposed to public sale June 27th, 1816. It was bought by J. B. Sartori and James Vanuxem, for $52,000. All of the Moreau, and other real estate at Morrisville that once be- longed to Robert Morris, was purchased by John Savage, 1823, which remained in his family nearly half a century.
The wooden bridge between Morrisville and Trenton, and the first across the Delaware, was built by the Trenton Bridge Company, chartered, respectively by the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, March 3 and April 4, 1798. The time for completing the bridge was limited, but subsequent acts extended it to March 3, 1812. Under the joint act John Beatty, Peter Gordon and Aaron Howell, New Jersey, and Philip Wagner, James C. Fisher and Charles Biddle, Pennsylvania, were appointed commissioners to receive subscriptions to the capital stock. Letters patent were issued August 16, 1803; contract made with Theodore Burr, the celebrated bridge architect and builder, during the winter of 1803-4; work begun May, 1804; the bridge completed in January, 1806, and ·opened to travel on the 30th. Its length was 1, 100 feet, and the cost $180,000. Before its completion a freshet in the river proved the abutments were too low and they were raised about one-fourth higher. The opening of the bridge to travel was made a festive occasion. A large concourse of citizens marched in procession across from Trenton under a salute of seventeen guns fired from two field-pieces. The president of the company delivered an address of thanks to Theodore Burr, the architect, and to the mechanics. Governor Bloomfield and other distinguished persons were present, and the celebration was concluded by a good dinner, speeches and toasts. The receipts from tolls for the first six weeks, were $754. After the completion of the bridge the ferry fell into almost entire disuse. The great freshet of 1841, probably the heaviest since the first settlement on the Delaware, carried away the bridges at Easton, Reigelsville, New Hope. Taylorsville, and Yardley, which passed under the Trenton bridge without doing any serious damage. The terminus of the Philadelphia & Tren-
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ton railroad was at Morrisville for several years, and the passengers were taken across the bridge in horse cars. In 1851 a passage way for steam cars was added on the south side, and since then trains have run across regularly. The old wooden bridge has been removed, and on its site the Pennsylvania railroad company has built a handsome double-track iron bridge.
The ferry, below the falls, was established by act of Assembly, May 31, 1718, after there had been a ferry there three-quarters of a century, and a new ferry half a mile above the falls, 1782. The latter was known by the names of Trenton and Beatty's ferry, no doubt the same that was called Kirkbride's ferry. The Trenton Gazette, August 14, 1782, contained the following notice in refer- ence to this ferry :
"The subscribers, having, at length, obtained a road, laid out by authority from Bristol road to the new Trenton ferry, the shortest way, a pleasant, sandy, dry road at all seasons of the year, inform the public that they have good boats. Whoever pleases to favor them with their custom, please turn to the left at the cross-roads, near Patrick Colvin's ferry, to Colonel Bird's mill sixty rods above Colvin's ferry, thence near half a mile up the river to the ferry above the falls, and almost opposite Trenton, where constant attendance is given by their humble: servants.
"JOHN BURROWS, "GEORGE BEATTY."
Morrisville was erected into a borough by act of Assembly, March 29, 1804, the same year the bridge was built, and the turnpike to Bristol and Phil- adelphia was made. The early records of the borough have been lost through carelessness, and it is impossible to give the names of the original officers.
It was in contemplation, at one time, to establish the capital of the United Sates on the Delaware where Morrisville stands. Previous to the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the sessions of Congress were mostly held at New York and Philadelphia. In June, 1783, Congress appointed the first Monday of October following to consider such offers as might be made to them from places which aspired to be the capital of the Republic. About this time Trenton offered a district twenty miles square and a grant of $30,000, in specie, to assist in the purchase of land and the erection of public buildings. October 7, 1783. Congress resolved "that the Federal town should be erected on the banks of the Delaware at the "falls near Trenton, on the New Jersey side, or in Penn- sylvania on the opposite," and a committee of five was appointed to view the respective locations. The site of the capital now became a bone of contention between the North and the South, and motions were made in favor of Trenton and Annapolis; but, on the 21st of October, 1783, it was resolved that Congress shall have two places of meeting, one on the Delaware and the other on the Potomac near Georgetown, and until buildings can be erected at both places, Congress shall meet alternately at Trenton and Annapolis. The effort to have Annapolis substituted for Georgetown failed. When Congress met at Trenton, November, 1784, it was resolved "that measures shall be taken to procure suit- able buildings for national purposes." On the 23d of December three com- missioners were appointed "with full powers to lay out a district not less than two, nor more than three, miles square on the banks of either side of the Dela- ware, nor more than eight miles above or below the lower falls thereof, for a Federal town." They were authorized to purchase the soil and enter into con- tract for the erection of public buildings "in an elegant manner," and to draw on the treasury for a sum not exceeding $100,000. Congress adjourning to New York soon after, we hear no more of the committee. It is said the high land to the west of Morrisville was the chosen location if the purpose of the.
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resolution had been carried out. We found in a bag of old papers what pur- ported to be a draft of the proposed Federal district, some of the lines being too indistinct for it to be copied, which embraced the site of Morrisville and adjacent country. About this time Washington, in a letter to the president of Congress, gave his advice against the proposed location and the project was. dropped altogether. The site on the bank of the Potomac was fixed in July, 1790.
Morrisville, lying on the line of two states, has occasionally been made the place to settle personal difficulties at the pistol's mouth. Such was the case in 1816, when, on the morning of November 20th, Colden Cooper, of New York, and Christopher Roberts, Jr., of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, repaired to its shady haunts and fought a duel that resulted in the death of Cooper, who fell on the field. The cause of the fight we have not been able to learn.
The situation of Morrisville, at the head of navigation on the Delaware, with ample water power at its command, is a very eligible one. If these privi- leges were in New England, instead of conservative Pennsylvania, the town, long since, would have become the seat of extensive manufacturing. The first impetus Morrisville received in the march of improvement was after the death of General Moreau, when his real estate was laid off into town lots and put in the market. It is a place of about 2,000 inhabitants, and contains a number of handsome dwellings; three churches, Presbyterian, Methodist and Advent : lodges of the Knights of Pythias, Ancient Order of Knights of the Mystic Chain ; Council of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and Daughters of America. It has also several industrial establishments, two saw- mills, a manufactory of cases for packing leaf tobacco-making 12,000 a year, grist and merchant flour-mills, turning works for all descriptions of wood turn- ing and a planing mill. In 1873 a manufactory of rubber car springs, tubing, soft rubber goods, etc., was started in the old Robert Morris -- Moreau brick, but enlarged in recent years, and operated by the Goodyear Vulcanite Company for making vulcanite goods. It gives employment to three hundred men, women and children. Next in importance is the Robinson Art Tile Company's works, established 1890, and, since 1895, operated by Forst & Bowman, Trenton, New Jersey. Wildman's carriage works, Haven's machine shop, coal and lumber yards, three public inns, the usual mechanics, stores and shops in their various lines of merchandise. Morrisville has a graded school with a three-year course. embracing all branches to fit one for college, except Greek. The town is lighted by electricity : a water plant was erected, 1894, at a cost of $25,000, and the borough owns a good two-story brick building for municipal purposes. Among the industries may be mentioned Moon's nursery, probably the oldest in the United States, the present proprietor being the great-great-grandson of James Moon, who came from Bristol, England, 1684, where he had been engaged in the same business. The American branch of the family have followed this pursuit for over an hundred years, and possibly since the arrival of the ancestor near the close of the seventeenth century. Three iron bridges. span the Delaware here, the first an iron railroad bridge, of the Wilson pattern, built 1874-75. above the old one, the iron work being made at Pittsburg. When completed the whole structure was moved fifteen feet up the river-resting on rollers to counteract the expansion and contraction of the iron during the extremes of heat and cold. At this point the great traveled route between the North and South crosses the Delaware, and nas been the case since the settlement of the Atlantic slope. A fine grove in the village makes it quite a resort for pic-nics and. other parties of pleasure.
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BARCLAY HOUSE, MORRISVILLE. Washington's Headquarters, 1776.
The Clymer-Morris mansion, mentioned in a previous paragraph, has an interesting history. It is still in the Osborne family and is known as "Summer- seat," the name given to it when built over a century and a quarter ago. It was not only the residence of Robert Morris and George Clymer, both signers of the Declaration of Independence, but was Washington's first headquarters in Bucks county for several days immediately after the Continental army crossed the Delaware, December 8. 1776." When Joseph Bonaparte came to America it is said he offered a large price for Summerseat. but the purchase not being effected, he settled at Bordentown. The house is the best sample of a colonial residence in the county, and carefully preserved. The interior finish is simple and handsome, the paneling being carved in solid wood, and the surroundings show the general style of living in ye olden time. The farm belonging to it contains 160 acres.
The following description of the historic house is from the pen of a young lady of Doylestown,21/2 who visited it at the request of the author, and, while there. made a sketch of the building, which is one of our illustrations.
"A quiet village street. ending in an old time shoemaker's shop just over the rail-guarded bridge. across which the street merges into the country high- way: glimpses of the Delaware here and there through the trees, with low meadows between : nothing in sight to suggest the present.
"At the roadside entrance stands a small lodge house, a hip-roofed build-
2 When Summerseat was occupied by Washington as headquarters. the owner, Thomas Barclay, was a prominent and patriotic resident of Philadelphia. He pur- chased the plantation of two hundred and forty-one acres in 1773. and is thought to have erected the buildings. He sold it to Robert Morris, in 1791, who spent a portion of his time there until overtaken by financial disaster, when the property was sold to George Clymer, who lived there until his death. 1813. Thomas Barclay was an Irish- man by birth and one of the original members of the "Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick," organized at Philadelphia, 1771. It was the parent of the present "Hibernian Society," of which he was president for one year, from June 1, 1779. He subscribed £5,000 to the Pennsylvania bank, established for furnishing provisions and other supplies to the Continental army.
21/2 Miss Marion Otter.
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ing, quaint in its plainness, past which the long lane, with its triple row of cedars, winds up the hill to the well-kept, substantial mansion at the top.
"The house of two and a half stories, facing the river, consists of a main building and smaller wings; it is of a yellow color, well toned by time and the weather ; a broad piazza, a later addition, crosses the front, upon which the windows of the lower rooms open to the floor: within, from the wide hall four large, cheerful rooms open, two upon either side; the heavy timbered floors, the paneled doors, the wainscoting and mouldings, particularly of which the present owner is justly proud, so well preserved are they, all bear sub- stantial witness to times when solidity was a reality and not in appearance.
"From the windows across the sloping fields and shining strips of river, lies Trenton with its hazy veil of smoke and present day activity, in contrast with its neighbor on the Pennsylvania side.
"Passing through the hall and out the opposite door, the house presents, from this side, a much quainter appearance; there is an irregularity in the posi- tion of the windows, a small hooded porch over the hall door with its latch and knocker, while the wall of the smaller wing is broken by an arched recess opening upon a brick pavement, where, at the moment, stood several figures, dogs, and a horse ready saddled, giving a characteristic touch to the place.
"To the west an old-fashioned high-walled garden, the farm buildings and slave quarters bound the lawn; to Northern eyes the latter are most interesting, and, though fast falling into decay, enough remains to show what they once were; five tiny cottages open on a common court of which the walls of the garden and two other buildings form sides; they are substantially built of the stone used in the other buildings upon the place ; two rooms are in each house; the lower room has one side entirely taken up with the huge open fire-place; oven and soap-boiling arrangements of the times ; an enclosed stairway leads to the room above, which also contains an open fire-place; without the court is paved with flat stones, now overgrown with grass and weeds, while a grove of saplings and fruit trees have pushed their way between the stones, making a wilderness where once was heard the songs and mirth of a light-hearted race.
"Many interesting ornaments, showing the taste of past owners, at one time adorned the place, all long since scattered; a pair of lions, now guarding the entrance to St. George's Hall. Philadelphia, came from here. But as we saw it one blustery October day, the wind blowing the leaves down in yellow showers, it seemed to us the place wanted no other adornment than the beauti- ful trees which surrounded it on all sides-tulip, poplars, maples, ash, chestnuts, dropping their nuts with every wind: tall cedars and pines, outlining the lane and mingling their darker foliage with the gay autumn tints on the lawn, they entirely conceal the house, but make a landmark of a place to which each year is adding a new interest."
Before the old bridge was built across the Delaware at Morrisville, 1804, the ferry a little lower down, was extensively used for ferrying cattle across the river on their way to the New York market. The drove swam over after their leader was placed in a boat, and droves of sheep were ferried in the same way. Scows, capable of holding a horse and carriage, were set across by two men. In 1842 Samuel Crossley was ferryman on the Pennsylvania side and kept a tavern in a house known as "Frazier's."
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