USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania: From the Discovery of the Delaware to the Present Time (Volume 1 and 2) > Part 28
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The Doylestown Presbyterian church grew out of the meetings held in the Union Academy, a room in the building being set apart for the free use of every denomination that might see fit to occupy it. Mr. DuBois preached there at stated periods. In 1808 he was released from the care of the Tinicum con- gregation, and from that time held worship alternately at Deep Run and in the Academy. The removal of the county-seat to Doylestown, 1813, and the want of proper accommodations in the Academy, coupled with a general desire for a church in the town, gave birth to the project of erecting a Presbyterian church. It was commenced in August, 1813, and dedicated August, 1815. The building was of stone, 55x45 feet and cost $4,282.57. The lot was purchased of John Shaw for $409, and the money principally raised in small amounts, Doctor Samuel Moore being the largest contributor, $200, and three other gen- tlemen giving $100 each. At its dedication there were present, from abroad, the Reverends Jacob Janeway, Philadelphia, and Robert B. Belville, Nesham- iny. At this time the united membership at Deep Run and Doylestown was but thirty, and increased to forty-five in 1818. Thomas Stewart,
James Ferguson and Andrew Dunlap had been ruling elders at Deep Run for several years, and, with the pastor, constituted the first session at Doylestown.
The graveyard was open for interment several months before the church was occupied. The first person buried in it was John Ledley Dick, a young man much respected and lamented, who died at Doylestown, of typhus fever, February 18, 1815. A young member of the bar," his intimate friend and asso- ciate, who was with him in his last moments, in a letter written to a gentleman in the lower end of the county the day of his death, speaks thus of the sad event : "My friend, John L. Dick, died today at two o'clock, p. m., of the typhus fever. How frail is man! Ten days ago he was in the vigor of health. Alas, how visionary our hopes of earthly happiness; but two months since he
6 William Watts Hart. uncle of the author.
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married Miss Erwin, the daughter of the richest man in the county. How soon their fondest anticipations of future bliss and domestic felicity were de- stroyed." The writer of the letter followed his friend Dick to the grave in a few days, and shortly after his mother, sister and cousin crossed the dark river to the undiscovered country beyond, all dying in the same house, late the resi- dence of Mrs. John Fox, Court street, in the space of two weeks. The widow of John L. Dick married Thomas G. Kennedy, 1819. The Dicks, John L. and three sisters, came from Belfast, Ireland, to Doylestown before 1812. Their father is thought to have been a Presbyterian minister. One of the sisters mar- ried Doctor Charles Meredith, Doylestown.
The church was incorporated 1816, and the building enlarged and improved the summer of 1852, at an expense of four thousand three hundred and thirty- nine dollars and three cents, a trifle more than the original cost, and taken down in 1871, and a handsome brownstone church built on its site, at an expense of twenty-five thousand dollars. The Female Bible society, auxiliary to the county society, was organized the same year as the Female Library Society, 1816, both of which are still in a flourishing state. Since the death of Mr. DuBois the pastors of the church have been, Charles Hyde, 1823, resigned in 1829, and died in Connecticut, 1871, was succeeded by Rev. Silas M. Andrews, 1831, who died March, 1881, shortly before completing his fifty years as pastor. At the close of his fortieth year's service, he had baptised 535, received 651 into communion, officiated at 940 funerals, married 848 couples, and de- livered 6,875 lectures and sermons. The next pastor was Rev. William A. Pat- ton, 1882-91. He was succeeded by Rev. W. Hayes Moore, who resigned on account of ill health, and went to New Mexico, where he died. Rev. Robert B. Labaree was installed in May, 1899, and in 1904 resigned and returned to Persia, where he was born, the son of a missionary. He was succeeded by Rev. John M. Waddell in 1905
Doylestown remained a simple cross-roads until 1807, when Court street was laid out and opened thirty-three feet wide on the line of New Britain and Warwick, "beginning at a stone, a corner of land of Nathaniel Shewell and Barton Stewart, in the public road leading from Philadelphia to Easton," now Main street. The land-owners along Court street, at that time, were Barton Stewart, Nathaniel Shewell, the Union Academy, Jonathan and Dan- iel McIntosh, Asher Miner, Doctor Hugh Meredith and John Pennington on the east side, and Nathaniel Shewell, who owned the Ross property and the court-house grounds, John Black, Samuel Wigton, John Shaw, John Worman, Uriah DuBois, Septimus Evans, Josiah Shaw, Israel Vanluvanee, and John Pennington on the west side, who owned all the land bordering the street or road out to its end. In 1818 Court street was extended to the southwest from
Main to intersect State street at the corner of Clinton. Broad street was laid
out, 1811, fifty feet wide, and confirmed at the April term, on the line of lands of Septimus Evans, the academy ground and Rev. Uriah DuBois on the east side, and the site for the public buildings, Nathaniel Shewell, and Isaac Hall on the south. Court street was called "Academy street" in 1816. There were no additional streets opened until after the village was incorporated, 1838. Among the later streets opened were Clinton, 1869, Ashland, Maple and Linden avenues, 1870, and Cottage street, from Court to Linden, 1871.
Among the earliest schools in the borough after that held in the Academy, was the one kept by George Murray, in the stone house on East State street now owned by Ellison P. Barber, which was quite noted in its day. Mr. Mur- ray was born in the parish of Keith, Scotland, February 20, 1781, graduated at
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New Aberdeen and came to America, 1804. After teaching near Morristown, New Jersey, Bensalem, Hatboro, Hulmeville and elsewhere, he came to Doyles- town, 1821, and taught in the Academy until 1829. He then opened a board- ing school in his dwelling which he continued until 1842, when he removed it to his farm in the township, where it was kept to 1850. He taught school fifty-five years, and was one of the oldest educators living." In 1838 the Leg- islature, at the instance of several prominent gentlemen, incorporated the "In- gham Female Seminary," named after the Honorable Samuel D. Ingham, and intended as a boarding and day school. It received a small annual appropria- tion from the state, but discontinued after a few years. A frame building was. erected at the corner of Broad and Mechanic streets and Doctor C. Soule Car- tee, Boston, was called to take charge. After he left, 1843, no further attempt was made to maintain a boarding school. The building was used several years by a school for small children. The Presbyterian manse now occupies the site of the Ingham Female Seminary."
The removal of the county seat to Doylestown in 1813, assured its pros- perity and future growth. At that time it was a hamlet of less than two hun- dred inhabitants.81/2 Attempts had been made for years to push the village ahead and some of the inhabitants saw promise of future greatness in its beautiful location on the great highway between Philadelphia and Easton, for, at that day, railroads were not dreamed of, and the town that stood on an artery of travel was thought to possess advantages. The first newspaper was published here in 1800, the Farmer's Weekly Gasette, printed at the "Centre house," and in 1804 Asher Miner established the Pennsylvania Correspondent, which still survives in the Bucks County Intelligencer. In 1805 Doylestown had a por- trait painter, Daniel Farling, who had his studio over Asher Miner's printing- office, then in the old frame building on north Main street, on the site of N. C. James' stone dwelling. Farling was a versatile genius : the previous year he announced himself a painter, glazier, and paperhanger, "from the cities of New York and Philadelphia," and "orders left at Enoch Harvey's inn" would receive his attention. He probably pursued the limner's art during his leisure hours. The first attempt to sell town-lots was made February 8, 1806, by John Black, "on main road through said village, from Norristown to Coryell's ferry." Doylestown held her first 4th of July celebration, 1806, at the acad- emy, marked by three orations, the reading of the Declaration and drinking seventeen toasts. The senior class of students, with a number of their friends,
7 Mr. Murray died about 1880, nearly an hundred years old.
8 Thomas Hughes, one of the oldest educators in the State at the time of his death, long a resident of Doylestown, died here, 1877, at the age of eighty-six. He was born at Dundee, Scotland, came to America, 1819, and to Doylestown, 1841-42. Himself and wife first opened a boarding school at the Stuart farm, and subsequently moved into town, where he kept school as long as age permitted. Mr. Hughes was an author of considerable repute.
81/2 An old map of Doylestown, drawn by George Burgess, in 1810, when the county seat was located here, shows twenty dwellings and the academy. occupied by the families of Magill, McIntosh, Shaw, two by Morris, Gordon, Hall. Enoch Harvey, a second Harvey, N. Shewell, G. Meredith, Isaac Hall, Asher Miner, Saruck Titus, S. Wigton, Elijah Russell, Robinson, another Meredith, Uriah DuBois, J. Wigton, and a family in the academy, twenty in all. Allowing an average of five to each family it would only make a population of one hundred. It is possible all the houses were not put down on the map.
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took dinner at Mr. Worman's inn," where more toasts were drunk. Samuel Fell was president of the day and John N. Tnomas vice-president. Doyles- town was patriotic in the war with England. 1812-15, and the village and coun- try about sent a volunteer company to the field under Captain William Magill, the uniforms being made in the court house by the young ladies of the neigh- borhood. Several hundred volunteers and militia from the upper end of the county, en route for camp, staid over night in the town, and Magill's old tavern, Main and State, was filled with them. The 7th of July, 1814, a com- pany of United States infantry under Lieutenant Mann, accompanied by Col- onel Clemson, encamped at Doylestown over night.
An effort was made to incorporate Doylestown as early as 1826, but the bill failed in the Legislature because the boundaries were not ascertained. We do not know that anything further was done in this behalf before 1838, when an act was passed the 16th of April, which erected the village into a borough. The charter has been altered and amended from time to time, but the corporate powers have not been materially changed. The local affairs of the little municipality are governed by a council of nine persons, three of whom are. elected annually, and a chief and assistant burgess with nominal duties. The incorporation had but slight influence upon the prosperity of the borough, and for a quarter of a century it was doubtful whether it did not retrograde. After the close of the Civil war the improvement was more marked, and in the next ten years the borough made more progress than in the two previous decades. Since then its growth has been gradual, and its history is without eventful episodes. The town was visited by Governor Hiester, 1823, on his way from Philadelphia to Reading, when he staid all night. He was called upon by the citizens and visited the public buildings, the only attractions in the place. Since then Doylestown has been visited several times by the executive of the state, by Governor Shunk, 1844, and more recently by Governors Curtin and Hartranft and Hoyt. The town had a lodge of Masons as early as 1824, Be- nevolent No. 168, as well as a brass band, and a fire engine.
The oldest families of Doylestown, some represented in the male, and others in the female line, are the Harveys, Stewarts, McIntoshes, Vanluvan -. ees, Halls, Magills and DuBoises, whose residence antedate the county seat. The Chapmans, Foxes, Rosses, Pughs, and Morrises came up from Newtown with the seat of justice, and the Rogers, Mathews, Brocks, and others came at a still later day. The Harveys came from Upper Makefield, where Thomas Harvey was settled about 1750, and, dying 1779, left two sons, Joseph and Matthias. Joseph had six children, Enoch, the immediate ancestor of our Doylestown branch, being born December 1, 1769. He settled here between 1785-90, and married a daughter of Charles Stewart, of Warwick. By 1800. he was the owner of three lots of about fifty acres in Warwick and New Britain, which included where the Fountain House and the lot the Doylestown bank building was first erected on, which had been confiscated in the Revolu- tion. He kept the Fountain House several years, and died, 1831. Joseph and George T. were sons of Enoch Harvey.
The Stewarts were among the earliest settlers in this section. Between 1720 and 1730 Charles Stewart, a young man of culture and some means, in- migrated from Scotland and bought a farm near Doylestown. He married a Miss Finney, whose sister was the wife of Doctor Todd, and mother of Mrs. Hugh Meredith. Charles Stewart was a captain in the French and Indian
9 Where the Lenape building stands.
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war. He had two sons, Charles and George. . The latter married Parthenia Barton, and was the father of Barton Stewart, whom some of our older citizens may remember, while Sarah, the daughter of Charles, married Enoch Harvey. Mrs. Delphine Bissey and her sister were descendants of Charles Stewart, the elder in the fifth generation. But few male descendants are living.
About 1800, John, Jonathan and Daniel McIntosh came to Doylestown, . from Martinsburg, Virginia, where they were born. The future county cap- ital was then a hamlet of fifteen or twenty families grouped about the cross roads. The brothers had originally settled in Northampton township, but we do not know how long they were there. The two former died here at an ad- vanced age, leaving descendants. The Shaws came from Plumstead where they 'were early settlers. The DuBoises we have already mentioned.
The Chapmans are descended from John and Jane Chapman, English Friends, of Stanhope, in the valley of the river Wear, county of Durham. The parish records show he was baptised November 3; 1626, and probably joined the Friends after reaching manhood. Subjected to many persecutions, in- cluding confinement in the common jail and castle of Durham, on account of his religious belief, he and his family immigrated to Pennsylvania to escape them, settling in Wrightstown in 1684. The church at Stanhope possesses the richest living of any in the north of England, and has had for its rectors many distinguished divines, including Butler, the author of the celebrated "Analogy." During the time he officiated some of the Chapmans were church wardens. The interior of the church contains a mural memorial commemora- tive of a valuable legacy bequeathed by one of the Chapmans to the poor of Stanhope and Frosterley. Few churches in the north of England have asso- ciated with their early history more interesting incidents. It is among the oldest in Durham county, and one of the most beautiful, though plain and un- pretending. In recent days it has undergone some renovation, but enough of the ancient structure still remains to give it an antiquarian interest. Its beauty is partly owing to its situation, almost in the centre of the town, with ample yard, and well-supplied with large and venerable trees.' In the graveyard may be found the names of members of many families well-known in this country. The Pembertons, Emmersons, Bainbridges, Madisons and others.
The Ross family are descended from Thomas Ross, Tyrone county, Ire- land, who settled in Upper Makefield in 1720, and his grandson, John, came to Doylestown about a century later when he took his seat on our bench as Presi- dent Judge of our courts. He was afterward appointed to the State Supreme ·Court. This is a family of lawyers and judges, among others, including Thomas Ross, a leading member of the bar, and two terms in the House of Representatives of the United States ; his sons, Henry P. and George Ross, the former Judge of the common pleas of Bucks and Montgomery counties, the latter a leading member of the Bucks bar, and a member of the State Senate ; and Thomas and George Ross, sons of George and grandsons of Thomas, the elder, practicing members of the Bucks county bar. Here are four generations ·of lawyers in a single branch of one family, not very usual.
The Fox family, more than three quarters of a century residents of Bucks county, are descendants of an Englishman born in Ireland, and came to this country when young. the exact time unknown. He was the father of the late Judge John Fox, of Doylestown. General Carleton, in an official letter to his government, 1783, found in the British secret archives, in describing the officers of the state when Joseph Reed was President of Pennsylvania, writes thus :
"Auditor-General, Mr. Edward Fox. This young gentleman is a native
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of England or Ireland, I cannot say which, but believe the first. He came to. this country some time since, and carried on business in the mercantile line. His present office was conferred upon him since Mr. Morris came into the administration, and has a salary of one thousand seven hundred dollars per- year. He is a young man of good abilities, especially in his present line."
Mr. Fox afterward acquired a large fortune, but lost it by loans to and endowments for Robert Morris, Nicholson and Greenleaf. His wife was a sister of Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, aunt of John and Thomas Sergeant. John Fox, after his admission to the bar, settled at Newtown and moved with. the seat of justice to Doylestown, 1813. He married Margery, daughter of Gilbert Rodman. Bensalem, 1816. He was deputy attorney-general of the county in 1814, and left his business to serve on General Worrell's staff with the rank of major. He was president judge of the court of common pleas from 1830 to 1840, and died in 1849, leaving five children, the late Mrs .. John B. Pugh, Doylestown, being the oldest daughter. Edward J., a brother of Judge Fox. fell in a duel with Henry Randall, at Washington, 1821. They were fellow clerks in the treasury department. Judge Fox's children are all dead. The sons read law and were admitted to the bar, two of them becoming dis- tinguished lawyers, the third, Louis, a Presbyterian divine. Of his grandson,. four are lawyers and one a Presbyterian clergyman of New York. No mem- ber of the family bearing the name now lives in this county.
John B. Pugh, a descendant of Hugh Pugh, born in Wales, received a good education, came to this country about 1725, and settled in Chester county. He married Mary Harris, a daughter of the family which gave the. name to the state capital. They had eight children, four sons and four daugh- ters. Later in life he removed with his family to the east bank of the Schuyl- kill, near Norristown, whence their son Daniel, born January 17, 1736, went to Hilltown and settled about 1750. He married Rebecca, daughter of Rev. William Thomas, January 23, 1760, and died in 1813, she in 1819. Their- oldest son, John, father of John B. and Mrs. Rogers, Doylestown, was born June 2, 1761, and died in 1842. His first wife was Rachel Bates, and after her death, 1782, he married Elizabeth Owen, Hilltown, 1800. He became prom- inent in the county, was elected to the Legislature, 1800, and three times re -. elected, and to Congress, 1804 and 1806, but defeated at the third election by five votes. In 1810 he was appointed register of wills and recorder of the- county, which offices he held fourteen years. He was commissioned a justice of the peace as early as 1796, and the last office he held was that of justice un- der a commission of Governor Hiester, dated August 23, 1821.
Matthias Morris, a member of the bar, who was born in Hilltown, in . 1787, and died at Doylestown, in 1839, at the age of fifty-two, was a great- grandson of Morris Morris, the first of the name to settle in this county. For- saking the faith of their fathers, they connected themselves with the Hilltown: Baptist church, where Isaac Morris was an elder many years. Matthias studied law with his cousin, Enos Morris, Newtown, and was admitted to the bar in 1809. He came to Doylestown with the removal of the county-seat, but practiced in Philadelphia until 1819 when Governor Hiester appointed him deputy attorney-general for Bucks county. He now returned to Doylestown- where he spent the remainder of his life. He served a tour of duty at camp Marcus Hook, 1814, was elected to the state senate in 1828 and afterward elected to Congress for one term, 1839-40. In 1829 he married Wilhelmina, daughter of Abraham Chapman. Stephen Brock, the first of the name at Doylestown, was probably a descendant of John Brock, who came to the coun -.
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ty, 1682, and settled in Lower Makefield. He was a famous landlord in his day, and his popular manners made him a power in the county. He was a great lover of fun, and some of his anecdotes are not yet forgotten. He was twice sheriff of the county. The late William T. Rogers, was the son of Wil- liam C. Rogers, of Connecticut, was born in Philadelphia, 1799, and his father subsequently removing to Warrington township. William learned the print- ing trade with Asher Miner, and was several years proprietor and editor of the Doylestown Democrat. He became prominent in politics, and was active in the militia. He served two terms, of four years each, in the state senate, and was speaker the last two years. He was brigade inspector of the county and subsequently elected major-general. He was a friend of public improvements. He died at Doylestown, 1867, and was buried in the beautiful cemetery he was instrumental in having laid out.
The Lear family was the last of the period to come to Doylestown, that remained and reached a prominence in public and private life. George Lear, the father, one of the most prominent men in Eastern Pennsylvania, was the son of Robert and Mary Meloy Lear, of mixed Celtic descent, and born in Warwick township, Bucks county, February 16, 1818. He was brought up to work on the farm, and during his leisure, cultivated a taste for reading. He received his education at the country school, with a single term at the Newtown academy. At nineteen we find him teaching school. He was next keeping store in Montgomery county and reading law in his leisure. Having made up his mind to make the law his profession, he came to Doylestown in the spring of 1844, entered the office of E. T. McDowell, the most eloquent advocate at the bar, and was admitted to practice the following November. He opened an office at once and entered upon his career. That fall Mr. Lear entered the field of politics and was a very picturesque stump speaker. He soon acquired a good practice and in time reached the head of the Bucks county bar. Being a fluent speaker, he had frequent calls to lecture and make speeches. He was an active politician, but was never a candidate for but one elective office, a member of the constitutional convention of 1872-73, but declined to sign the constitution he assisted to form. He was twice appointed deputy attorney- general for the county, 1848-50. and filled the office of attorney-general of the commonwealth four years, during the administration of Gov- ernor Hartranft, 1875-79. In 1882 Lear presided over the Republican state convention, and was president of the Doylestown National bank from 1865 to his death. Mr. Lear was twice married, his second wife being Sidney Whyte. He died May 23, 1884, and was survived by his widow and three chil- dren, two daughters and a son. The latter is a graduate of Yale and a practicing member of the Bucks county bar.
The Medarys came to Doylestown early in the last century. The original name was probably Madeira and came from the island of that name. The family was settled in the Province of Estramadura, Spain, for many years, but during the persecution of the Protestants, in time of Charles V, removed to Holland. How long they remained there is not known, but removed hence to America, settling at Gwynedd, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. Isaac B. Medary, born June 11, 1790, and died January 27, 1853, came to Doylestown about the time it was made the county seat and spent a greater part of his life here. He was a tailor by trade, carrying on business in the stone house on the northwest corner of Main and Centre streets. He married Rebecca Child, or Childs, second daughter of Cephas and Agnes Childs, March 10, 1815, of Plum- stead township. She was born February 11, 1790. They were the parents of
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