USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania: From the Discovery of the Delaware to the Present Time (Volume 1 and 2) > Part 24
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Morrisville was an important point in the Revolution. It was at Colvin's ferry, the lower part of the village, where the Continental army crossed into Pennsylvania and effected its escape from the pursuing British. Trenton, where the Hessians were surprised on Christmas night, in the morning. the
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. turning point in the war for independence-is directly opposite on the east bank of the Delaware. During that important campaign, and until the enemy was driven from western New Jersey, a strong body of troops was stationed at Mor- risville to guard the passage of the Delaware. In 1824, when Lafayette came to the United States as the guest of the nation, he crossed the river over Trenton bridge into Pennsylvania. Here he was met by the late General John Davis, with his fine regiment of Bucks county volunteers, 600 strong, mounted. After the ceremony of reception, the march was taken up and the distinguished guest escorted to the Philadelphia county line, where he was received by the city troops.
At the first census after the borough was organized,. 1810, the population was 266; 1820, 391 ; 1830, 531, and 91 taxables ; 1840, 405 ; 1850, 565; 1860, 784; 1870, 831, of which 51 were foreign born, and 25 colored; 1880, 968; 1890, 1,203 ; 1900, 1,871.
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Painswick - Hall.
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CHAPTER XIII.
DOYLESTOWN TOWNSHIP.
1818.
.
Early history .- Walter Shewell .- Painswick Hall .- Nathaniel Shewell .- The Merediths. -Thomas Meredith .- Doctor Hugh .- The Snodgrasses .- Death of Benjamin .- David Johnson .- Gabriel Swartzlander .- Free Society of Traders .- Langhorne's pur- chase .- Tracts of Cudjo and Joe .- Joseph Kirkbride .- Edward and William Doyle and descendants .- Township organized .- Area .- The Manns .- The Browers .- Christopher Day .- National farm school .- Bridge Point .- The bridge built .- Dr. Samuel Moore .- Robert Patterson .- Carding machines .- Duncan McGreggor's school. John Fitzinger .- Bering .- The Turk .- A candidate for county seat .- Cross Keys .- Mennonite church .- Roads .- Kirkbride house burned .- Population.
The early history of Doylestown township is merged in New Britain, Buckingham and Warwick, from which it was carved in 1818.
Among the earliest settlers in that part of New Britain that fell into Doylestown, was Walter Shewell, who immigrated from Gloucestershire, Eng- land, in 1722.1 Landing at Philadelphia he soon made his way to Bucks county, where he purchased a large tract of land lying on the Lower State Road, a part of which, with the mansion, was in the family until recently. It is two miles from the borough of Doylestown, and, on it Mr. Shewell built a handsome dwelling, in 1769, naming it "Painswick Hall," after his birthplace, in England. He married Mary Kimber, Maryland, and had a family of sons and daughters. Robert, the youngest son, born January 27, 1740, and married Sarah Sallows, January 15, 1764, became a distinguished merchant of Phila- delphia, but retired early from business to Painswick where he spent the re- mainder of his life, dying December 28, 1823. Of the eight children of Robert Shewell, five sons became merchants of Philadelphia, Thomas, the youngest, born July 13, 1774, being the most distinguished. He was partner in a Phila- delphia house at the age of eighteen, at twenty-two making a voyage to the West Indies for his health, and thence to England, where he remained three years in a London house. Betsy Shewell, the wife of Benjamin West, the
I An old school-house stood on the Shewell farm, on the road from Castle Valley to New Britain, near the highway, supposed to have been built prior to the Revolution. There an old time country school was kept until the public school law went into effect, when it was torn down.
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artist, was a member of this family, and, while Thomas was in London, he spent his Sundays at West's house. On his return home, 1799, Mr. Shewell resumed business, which he continued until 1832, when he retired and passed the remainder of his life in ease, dying at Philadelphia, March 22, 1848. He was thrice married, and the father of seven children. Nathaniel Shewell, a leading character of this vicinity, and a descendant of Walter, is remembered by persons of the present generation. He used to relate that, when a boy, shad came up the Neshaminy as far as Castle Valley bridge, which argues there were no dams in the stream at that day to impede their passage. He was elected sheriff the fall of 1799; served a term of three years, and died in 1861.2
The Merediths, carly settlers in Doylestown township, were among the- first to take up land on Neshaminy creek, in the vicinity of Castle Valley bridge. James Meredith came as early as about 1730, whose son, Hugh Meredith, was a practicing physician at Doylestown, 1776. The descendants of the Meredith family, quite numerous in Bucks and neighboring counties, descend from Chester county ancestry, settling there at the beginning of the eighteenth cen- tury. William Meredith, the partner of Benjamin Franklin, 1725, and the late Hon. William M. Meredith were both of this same family. James, said to have been a brother of Franklin's partner, was the immediate progenitor of our Bucks county family. His uncle Thomas became possessed of several hundred acres about Castle Valley on both sides of the creek, and his son Thomas, crazed with over-much study, the inheritor of these lands, was sent to Bucks ·county to spend his life on his possessions, his cousin James coming along to take care of him. The harmless, demented young man in his whims planned the building of a castle on the right bank of Neshaminy, near the Alms-House road. With labor and perseverance he carried to the spot a great quantity of stones, piled them up in a circle as high as his head, cut down trees and had the logs transported to the site. His castle building, which many saner men often indulge, but in not half so practical a way, was not interfered with, and when he died, the logs and stones were used to build the first bridge that spanned the stream, and several dwellings. Thomas Meredith's castle building gave the name to that locality. At the death of the crazy cousin the land came into the possession of James, embracing the farms of the late Sheridan T. Patterson, Lewis Tomlinson, that owned by George W. Lightcap and others. He built a house on the Patterson farm, long owned by the late Monroe Buckman, and married Mary Nicholas, of Philadelphia. He had four sons, Simon, John, Thomas and Hugh. James Meredith bought an adjoining farm, late Bonsall's, but then belonging to Samuel Wells, who built a house on it as early as 1730, and which is still standing. Simon Meredith, born in 1740, married Hannah Hough, 1766, a daughter of Joseph Hough, and granddaughter of Richard Hough, who settled on the banks of the Delaware, 1682, and died in 1813. Hugh, a physician, married Mary Todd, and lived and died at Doylestown. His two sons, John and Joseph, were likewise physicians, and his daughter, Elizabeth, married Abraham Chapman and became the mother of the late Henry Chap- man. The widow of Simon Meredith died April 18, 1819, aged eighty-seven, which carries her birth back to 1732. The older branches of the Meredith family intermarried with the Fells, Mathewses, Foulkes, etc.
Benjamin Snodgrass, ancestor of those bearing the name in this county,
2 Nathaniel Shewell's will was executed July 27, 1847, and a codicil added, October 28, 1855, was probated January 2, 1861. He was one of Doylestown's earliest merchants, prior to 1790.
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and whose descendants are found in many parts of the country, immigrated. from Ireland previous to 1730. During a long voyage his whole family per- ished of hunger except himself and daughter Mary. He settled in what is. now Doylestown township, then included in New Britain. Some time after his arrival he married Jane Borland, a widow, and by her had five children,. Benjamin, born 1731, James, 1734, Rebecca, Margaret,3 and Jane. Mary Snodgrass, the daughter who survived the voyage, married Robert Stewart,. and had one daughter, Jane, who married John Greir, father of the late John Stewart Greir. Benjamin Snodgrass died in 1778, his will being proved the 13th of October, leaving legacies to his children, and his farm was sold by his- executors, January, 1779. The oldest son of Benjamin Snodgrass, by his sec- ond wife, married Mary McFarland, born, 1731, died, 1818, and had three- sons and one daughter. While on his way to visit his son James, a Presby- terian minister settled at New Hanover, Dauphin county ; he was thrown from his gig July 1, 1804, and so badly injured he died in a few days. Of the other children of Benjamin the elder, James married Ann Wilson, who died,. 1809, Rebecca, a Watson, Margaret, a Law, and Jane, a Harvey. Benjamin, son of the second Benjamin, a soldier of the Revolution, was present at the battle of Trenton, and died a bachelor. His youngest sister, Mary, born, 1772, mar- ried John Mann and died, 1803. James, the youngest son of Benjamin Snod- grass, the elder, had one son and six daughters. James, his son and youngest child, born October 21, 1780, married Mary Mckinstry and died at Doyles- town in April, 1870. The daughters married into the families of Pool, Harrar, Todd, Rich, Greir, and Armstrong. The late Benjamin S. Rich, Buckingham, was a descendant of James the elder, and the late Jefferson Greir. a descendant of Sarah Snodgrass. The Reverend William D. Snodgrass, Goshen, New York, was a son of Rev. James Snodgrass, New Hanover. Dauphin county, who died in 1846. The late Doctor James S. Rich, Churchville, was the son of Mary Snodgrass, the granddaughter of James the second.
David Johnson was among the early settlers in that part of New Britain, subsequently included in Doylestown township. He was born in Ireland about 1732, came to Bucks county when young and died April 21, 1819, in his eighty- seventh year. One of the earliest Germans, in the township, was Philip Swartzlander, an immigrant from a German province of Switzerland. He- arrived in 1752, bringing one son, Gabriel, and a daughter Barbara, settling on Pine run, and dying in 1784; he married a second time, in the same year of his arrival, and had two sons, Philip and Conrad. His son Gabriel, born March 31. 1747, and died July 17, 1814, aged sixty-seven years, three months. and seventeen days, married Salome Stout, and at his death left four sons and two daughters: John, who died young ; Jacob, great-grandfather of Dr. Frank Swartzlander, the elder of Doylestown, and Joseph, who died March 7, 1875. Gabriel Swartzlander was the grandfather of Joseph Swartzlander, late of Lower Makefield. We have no record of the daughter. One of the half-broth- ers of Gabriel Swartzlander migrated to North Carolina in the vicinity of New Berne, but that branch of the family have disappeared.
A considerable part of Doylestown township was included in land Penn conveyed to the Free Society of Traders in 1681. In this section lay a tract of over eight thousand acres, whose northeastern boundary was the Swamp road, and extended into the townships of Warwick. New Britain and Hilltown. When the Society lands were sold by trustees, Jeremiah Langhorne bought
3 One account calls her Martha.
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seven hundred acres in Warwick, bounded on the northwest by the line of New Britain, and this purchase embraced all the site of Doylestown borough lying southeast of Court street. At his death he divided three hundred and ten acres of this tract that was unsold, between two of his negro men, for life- Cudjo and Joe. Cudjo's title was extinguished by the executors, 1751, and his portion sold to Isabella Crawford. Joseph Kirkbride, of Falls, was an early land-holder in Doylestown, but never a settler there, although some of his de- scendants lived here. His tract lay northwest of the borough and came down to the line of Warwick, now Court street. On March 30, 1730, he conveyed one hundred and fifty acres to Edward Doyle, originally "Doyl," then a resident of New Britain, but how long he had been there is not known. Joseph Fell took up a tract northeast of the town extending out to Pool's corner. One hun- dred and fifty years ago the land owners immediately around the borough of Doylestown were Edward and William Doyle, Joseph Kirkbride, William and Robert Scott, and Joseph and Samuel Flack. Jonathan Mason was an early proprietor of a large tract of land in the vicinity of New Britain church, and probably purchased from the Free Society of Traders.
The metes and bounds of the Society's lands when the first edition was published, were obtained from the most reliable sources, but subsequent in- vestigation of the county records+ shows some correction to be necessary. The original tract contained fifty-two hundred acres, the remainder, subse- quently included in it, being made up of warrants held by the society but not yet located. It extended eastward from the Bristol road and a line running northward and corresponding therewith, thence by a right-angled line to the Plumstead line at the village of Fountainville, the present line of Doylestown and New Britain, and embraced one thousand acres in Warwick. The survey of 1724, when the fifty-two hundred acres were conveyed to Jeremiah Lang- horne, disclosed the fact that the line did not reach the Plumstead-Bucking- ham line by one hundred and twenty perches, and also left a tract of seven hundred acres lying next this strip, embracing the site of Doylestown south of Court street and running from the New Britain line down to the line be- tween Buckingham and Warwick. This tract was patented to Langhorne and George Fitzwater, seven hundred acres to the former, three hundred to the latter, as unlocated land represented by warrants held by the Society, Fitz- water's three hundred acres being the strip of one hundred and twenty perches wide along the Plumstead-Buckingham line in New Britain; and he having purchased three hundred and ten acres of Langhorne's seven hundred acre tract, the whole strip of one hundred and twenty perches was patented to him down to the Buckingham line. In 1744 Fitzwater conveyed one hundred and twenty acres of this tract to Thomas Holcomb, New Britain, millwright, who erected thereon what is known as "Swartzlander's mill." Holcomb becoming in- volved the land and mill were sold for the payment of debts, to Joshua Mor- ris, and by him, to Smith Cornell, who, after operating the mill until 1767, sold it to Jacob Stout, of Rockhill, the father-in-law of Gabriel Swartzlander, who obtained title to it through his wife, Salome. Langhorne sold one half of the Society tract of fifty-two hundred acres to Joseph Kirkbride, 1729, in three tracts, two of one thousand six hundred and two, and one of five hundred and thirty-four acres, respectively, lying in New Britain and embracing the whole of the northeastern part of Doylestown township, and the other four hundred and forty-eight acres was in Warwick township lying next the Hough tract,
4 By Warren S. Ely.
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the south corner just reaching across the "Dyer's Mill Road," now the Doyles- town-Philadelphia turnpike at the Turk.
The Doyles were in Bucks county some time before making their appearance in New Britain, about 1730-35. Edward Doyle arrived 14, 8 mo., 1687, served several years to pay his passage and received fifty acres of land. Among the tombstones in the Cold Spring Baptist graveyard, near Bristol, on the Delaware, was one erected to a Doyle, 1707, according to Morgan Edwards.5. Joseph Fell, pioneer of the Fell family, born 2, 19, 1668, at Lowlands, Cumberland, England, and died in Buckingham township, Bucks county, 8, 9, 1748, married for his second wife 3, 10, 1711, Elizabeth Doyle, Middletown, who died 4, 17, 178-, in her ninety-seventh year. They had seven children, John, born 5, 6, 1712, married Elizabeth Watson; Sarah, born 8, 26, 1713, married Richard Church ; Isaac, born 6, 17, 1715, married Hannah Haines; Rachel, born 10, 17, 1716, first married John Kinsey, second, Isaac Kirk; Titus, born 5, 7, 1722. married Elizabeth Heston ; Thomas, born 6, 9, 1725, married Jane Kirk, and George Fell, born 9, 13, 1728, and married Sarah Kirk. Elizabeth Doyle was born in Bucks county. Her father was an Irishman and her mother born in Rhode Island." The will of Edward Doyle, probably the immigrant, recorded in the Register's office, Philadelphia, Book B., page 289, is dated September 16, 1702, and proved March 12, 1703. He left fifty acres to his wife Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Dungan, Cold Spring, a breeding mare to his son Edward, and her first colt to his son Clement, and the residue of his estate to his wife. The witnesses to the will were George Knight, Tobias Dymock and William Surkett. The fifty acres mentioned in the will were con- veyed to Edward Doyle by Clement Dungan, 4, 9, 1696, and were in Ben- salem township on the Bristol road. Edward and Clement Doyle both bought land in the limits of the present Doylestown township of Joseph Kirkbride, Clement one hundred and forty-eight acres, where Lemuel wi-Carwithin now lives, May 3, 1733. He died 1771, leaving children, John, Jona- than, Richard, Rebecca and Margaret Evans. Edward purchased forty-two acres, twenty-one perches wide and three hundred and twenty long, fronting on our present Court street and northwest of the Fountain House, which he deeded to his son William. Edward died in New Britain, 1760, leaving sons William, Edward and Jeremiah, and daughters Elizabeth and Rebecca. William Doyle's first wife was Martha Hellings, daughter of Nicholas Hellings, and he married (second) late in life, Olive, widow of John Hough. William Doyle died at an advanced age, and among his children were a son Jonathan and a daughter Elizabeth. Jonathan was probably a son of the second marriage, as he was not born until 1762, and died 1843, at the age of eighty-one. He became the owner of the greater part of his father's real estate at his death and built Hiestand's mill, then a grist and carding mill which he carried on for several years. He married Mary Stephens, of Welsh parentage, and had three chil- dren, William, Thomas, and Eliza. Elizabeth, the sister of William Doyle the elder, married a McBurney. Of the children of Jonathan Doyle, William mar- ried Eliza Hough, Thomas, Fannie Tucker, who had several children, one daughter the wife of the late Robert Smith, Doylestown and another of Samuel J. Johnson, Philadelphia. William Doyle read law with the late Abra- ham Chapman and died at the age of forty. For many years the cross roads at Doylestown was known as "William Doyle's tavern," and during the Revo-
5 See Historical Magazine, August, 1868.
6 Fell Family History, page 26.
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lutionary war, it was first digmined with the name of "Doyle's town," from. which it was afterward changed to the present spelling.
The removal of the county seat to the hamlet of Doylestown, through which the dividing line of Warwick and New Britain ran, 1812, called for the formation of a new township around the public buildings. In August, 1818, a number of the inhabitants of these townships petitioned the court, setting. forth that "they reside on the extremity of the townships of Buckingham, Warwick, New Britain, and Plumstead, and that it would be to the interest and advantage of the said petitioners to have a new township, making the court house the centre thereof, or as nearly so as may be convenient."7 The court
BUCKS COUNTY COURT HOUSE, 1812 1877.
was asked to appoint three impartial men "to view and lay out the township. agreeably to law." and, in accordance with their prayer. Thomas G. Kennedy, Thomas Yardley, and Thomas Story were selected to perform this duty. They reported to the November term following in favor of a new township, to be called Doylestown, and formed out of the territory of the three contiguous townships, as follows: From New Britain five thousand three hundred and fifty acres, reducing her territory more than one-third, from Warwick three. thousand five hundred and fifteen acres, and one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five acres from Buckingham, the southeast corner of the new township reaching down to Bushington, was the part cut off from Buckingham. The report was confirmed and the municipal government of the new township duly put in running order. the late John D. James, many years crier of the. courts, being the first elected constable. The area was ten thousand and fifty acres, or about fifteen and a half square miles. It was subsequently enlarged ty taking in the northwest corner of Warwick. containing the Alms-House
7 When the first edition of the History of Bucks County was written, the petition for the erection of Doylestown township, was in the quarter sessions office, and the author consulted and replaced it. It is now said to be lost, but probably only misaid in removing the records, when the new court house was built :.
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farm and buildings. The report of the jury was accompanied by an elaborate map, including several of the surrounding townships, drawn by Thomas G. Kennedy, one of the jurors.
The Manns of Doylestown, and adjoining townships and counties, are descended from Scotch-Irish ancestry. John Mann, son of James and Mary Mann, County Donegal, Ireland, immigrated to America at the age of twenty, landing at Bristol the fall of 1732, or 1733. He was a fellow-immigrant with the McNairs and others who bear well-known names in the county. He settled in Warminster or Warwick in the vicinity of Hartsville, owning land at his death in both townships. In 1736 he married Margaret Mitchel, Warwick, born. 1707. and had seven children, William, born 1738, Mary, 1740, John, 1742, Ann, 1745. James first, 1747, James second, 1749, and Samuel Mitchel, 1755. In 1748 he purchased one hundred and sixty-two acres in Horsham, which became the homestead of the family, and on it erected a good dwelling, 1754, which is still standing and owned by his descendants. Here his wife died, 1769, and he, 1779, at the age of sixty-seven. His estate was divided among his children and grandchildren. The sons and daughters of John Mann married into the families of Mclaughlin, McNair, Keith, and others, and had large families of children, and their descendants are numerous and scattered, With scarce an exception they are Presbyterian in faith, and some of them have occupied positions of prominence. Joel K. Mann, Montgomery county, represented that district in Congress, and died in 1857, at the age of seventy- six. The late John G. and James S. Mann, Doylestown, were grandsons of John Mann, the elder. The descendants of John Mann's children intermar- ried with the Hustons. Snodgrasses, Greirs, Fentons, Cravens, Shelmires, Manns, Vanartsdalens, Longs, Kirks, Stuckerts, Duffields, et al. Isaac K. Mann, the great-grandson of John Mann, served three years during the Civil war in the One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania regiment.
Christian Brower, who lived on the Bridge Point farm many years, pur- chased the property and moved there 1848. His grandfather, Henry Brower, born 1720, came to New York from Holland, probably in 1726. In 1746 he bought lands at "Schuylkill," Chester county. He had children by his first wife, De Frain, Abraham, Salome and Elizabeth, and, by a second wife, Bar- bara High. Isaac, Jacob, John and Daniel. The last, Daniel, was born 1757. Christian Brower, born, 1784, was a son of Daniel, and married Catharine Price (Bruys), daughter of Daniel Price, Chester county, March 13, 1814. He had children, Amelia, Daniel, Nathan, Elizabeth, Davis, Anna, George, Sarah Margaretta, and Adelaide. Of these, Daniel, George, Margaretta and Amelia are deceased, 1900; Nathan lives at Norristown; Anna and Sarah are married and living : Davis and Adelaide in Doylestown.
In the olden time Christopher Day gave a lot for a school house for what was then New Britain, on the Swamp road just above Cross Keys. A log school house was erected upon it but disappeared many years ago. The lot has since been taken into the farm of John Smith, without title, which is probably in the Commonwealth, in the absence of Day's heirs to claim it.
Bridge Point has borne its present name so long the "memory of man run- neth not to the contrary." and was probably so called from the point of land between the two creeks, on which the mill, store and shops are built, and the bridge spanning the stream below. A bridge was built across Neshaminy at this place by contract. 1764. probably not the first one, at a cost of £210, of which amount the inhabitants raised £152. 6s. by subscription. Henry Crossley agreed to build this bridge by contract for £210, but after it was completed asked the court for an extra allowance of £35. but whether 12-2
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