USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania: From the Discovery of the Delaware to the Present Time (Volume 1 and 2) > Part 33
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1761 24M. 64P. To P.
The stone was broken off across the last P, as shown above. The figures and letters, doubtless, stood for "twenty-four miles and sixty-four perches to. Philadelphia."1314
1314 The ancient courts of the county. relatively speaking, were much more largely attended than at the present day. This is indicated by the large number of eating and drinking booths set up about the court house during the sessions. At that day there. were no local newspapers and paragraphers to go over the field of gossip and small talk and rake in the last shred of information. The news of that period was carried by word of mouth, and court time was the great occasion to trade bits of news afloat in far off neighborhoods. Court time was the exchange where the man from the wilder- ness of the Blue Ridge, and the more highly-favored citizen, living along the lower reaches of the Delaware, traded the twaddle of the widely sundered localities. We.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Newtown remained the county seat for nearly a century. The cutting off of Northampton county, 1752, had a good deal to do with keeping the county seat at Newtown for so many years. The more distant inhabitants were now brought within easy reach of a seat of justice, and many of the complaints, of the great distance to go to court, ceased. By the beginning of the last century the population had become so well distributed over the county that those in the more remote townships felt it a hardship to be obliged to go down to Newtown to attend court. The inhabitants of the middle and upper townships now began to agitate the removal of the county seat to some point nearer the center of population. Petitions for the removal to a point higher up were presented to the Legislature as early as 1795. The project of building a new jail and court .house at Newtown, in 1800, gave shape to the removal question, and, on Decem- ber 25th a meeting was held at John Shaw's inn, Bedminster, to protest against the erection of new public buildings at Newtown, and "thereby permanently fix the seat of justice at that place." Their principal objection was because Newtown "is about thirteen miles from the center of the county, and because the roads through the place are so unpopular as never to support a sufficient number of public houses to accommodate the many that will be obliged to attend court." A committee was appointed to prepare a petition to the Legislature for the removal of county seat. A meeting was held in the upper end in the fall of 1808, and an adjourned meeting at John Ahlum's in Haycock, Robert Smith, chairman, and Paul Apple, secretary, at which a form of petition was reported, and a committee recommended in each township to procure signatures favorable to the removal. At a meeting held at Cornelius Vanhorne's tavern, Buckingham,181/ Samuel Johnson in the chair, and Thomas Walton, secretary, it was recommended that petitions in favor of removal be sent to the Legisla- ture, and that the new site be selected by ballot.
The agitation for removal was continued, and, at the following session of the Legislature a bill13% was introduced, which passed both houses, and was signed by the Governor the 28th of February, 1810. The act authorized the ·Governor to appoint "three discreet and disinterested persons" not holding any real estate in the county, to select a site for the public buildings, which shall not be "more than three miles from Bradshaw's corner,14 where the road leading from Wilkinson's tavern to the Cross Keys intersects with the public road lead-
blush to add that old Newtown was frequently the scene of many a downright matter- of-fact spree on these interesting occasions. A good deal of metheglin and rum were sold on the sly. In October, 1755, fifteen booth keepers were "scooped in" by the faith- ful Dogberry of his time, Constable Tom Doughty, for selling liquor without a license. Sad to say, five of these people were foremothers, who figure in the old records as Jane . Neale, Hannah Stackhouse, Susannah Stokes, Jane Lachiel, Mary Stephens and Elisha Welsh. The grand jury made these arrests the subject of a presentment to the justices, who broke up the business, and the fifteen bar-rooms disappeared."
"Iron Mask." Germantown Telegraph.
131/2 Centreville-now kept by John L. Righter.
1334 The bill was offered by Joseph Hart, who then represented Bucks county in . the Senate. Mr. Hart was of Warminster, and a member of the Senate as early as 1804. His father was Col. Joseph Hart, same township, who was conspicuous in the Revolution and had also been a member of the Senate.
14 Now Pool's corner, at the toll-gate, a mile from Doylestown on the New Hope pike. Wilkinson's tavern was at Bushington.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
ing from Doylestown to Vanhorne's tavern." The governor appointed Edward Darlington, Chester county, Gabriel Hiester, Jr., Berks, and Nicholas Kern, Northampton, commissioners to locate the site for the public buildings, their commission bearing date March 30, 1810. They met at Doylestown the 12th of May following, and viewed all the locations recommended. Strong influence was brought in favor of Bradshaw's corner and the Turk, but Doylestown, already a considerable hamlet, with an academy and a newspaper, and near the geographical center of the county, was chosen. They selected the lot of two acres and one hundred and twenty-one perches owned by Nathaniel Shewell, then lying in New Britain, on which the public buildings stand. It was surveyed by George Burges, and was part of thirty acres Joseph Fell bought at sheriff's sale in 1788, and whose administrators sold it to Shewell in 1802, and he con- veyed it to the county commissioners May 12th, 1810, for one dollar. Work was begun as soon as practicable, but was not finished until the spring of 1813, the first court being held the 12th of May, three years from the time the lot was selected.1412 The carpenter work by Levi Bond, of Newtown, the mason work by Timothy; the wages a dollar a day and worked without regard to hours. On the marble block, in front of the portico; were cut the letters and figures, 1812. The plans were drawn by Jonathan Smith, of Mount Holly, New Jersey, and he was allowed $349.28 for his services, and one hundred and thirty-one days for personal attendance; the whole cost of the court house and jail being $43,700.02, a considerable sum for that day. The records of that day give little information of the building of the court house and jail of 1812. Samuel Q. Holt, a journeyman carpenter, was the only known survivor, in 1876, .of those who worked at the buildings. Robert Smith and Francis Murray were the associate judges, and Samuel Sellers, sheriff, when the county seat was changed. The old buildings were sold at public sale in January, 1813, reserving the bell, iron doors to the office, stoves, books, chairs, etc., and among the bidders were John Hulme, of Hulmeville, and William Watts, who bought to the value of $2,500.
Immediately after the removal of the county seat those opposed to it began agitation for a division of the county, hoping, in case of success, to fix the seat of the new county at Newtown. The change was very distasteful to many in the lower end and efforts to divide the county were made for many years. In January, 1814, John Fox and John Hulme went to Harrisburg with petitions, bearing one thousand five hundred and twenty-two signatures in favor of divis- ion. They were presented on the 12th, and referred to a committee, but prob- ably never heard of afterward. An opposition meeting was held in Doylestown, January 18th, Derrick K. Hogeland in the chair, and a committee of five in each township appointed to get signers to a remonstrance against a division. A second attempt was made, 1816. A meeting in favor of division was held at Attleborough, now Langhorne, November 6th, John Hume in the chair, which resolved that "Bucks county ought to be divided," and appointed a meeting at Newtown on the 16th, to consult on the most efficient means of accomplish- ing it. A meeting in opposition was held in Bensalem on the 30th, Gilbert Rodman, chairman, which declared the project of a division "inexpedient and
141/2 April 28, 1813, President Judge Bird Wilson issued a proclamation, from New- town, for a criminal court to be held at Doylestown, May 11. 1813, the first court in the new Court House, the regular term probably beginning on the 12th. The last busi- ness transacted at the public office, Newtown, was on May 10, the records being im- mediately thereafter removed to Doylestown.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
improper," and committees were appointed to get signers to remonstrances. At the following session, 1816-17, numerous petitions in favor of a division of the county, and fixing the county seat at Newtown, were presented, and on the 2d of January, 1817, Dr. Phineas Jenks, member from this county, chairman of the House committee, to which the petitions were referred, obtained leave to bring in a bill for a division, the new county to be called "Penn." The line was to start at a point on the Delaware, "at or between Upper Makefield and' Centre Bridge," and run across to the Montgomery line, but the bill never came to a vote. The question was now allowed to rest until 1821, when the dividers again tried their strength and meetings were held at Attleborough, December, 1821, and in the old court house at Newtown, January 14, 1822. The proposed division line was to begin at the northeast corner of Upper Makefield: and Solebury, thence on the northern line of Wrightstown, North and South- ampton, to the Montgomery line, and down that to the Delaware. A bill was introduced into the senate in February, which proposed, among other things, that the new county should be called "Penn," with the county seat at Newtown, and the business to be transacted in the old court house, which was to be- purchased for the purpose. The alms house was to be owned by both counties .. jointly. The attempt was renewed, 1827, and again 1836, the division to run on about the former proposed line. The new county, according to the census of 1830, would have contained a population of thirteen thousand eight hundred. and seventy-one, and an area of ninety-five thousand nine hundred and eighty- five acres.
The division of the county was agitated several times, subsequently, the last time, 1855, when a strong effort was made on the part of friends to compass- the division. Meetings were held, the question discussed, petitions for, and: remonstrances against, circulated for signatures and sent to Harrisburg. The- new county limits were to be enlarged by including several townships of Phila- delphia. The part to be taken from. Bucks was the same as heretofore, and. the question of county seat left open. The following townships and population: were to form the new county of "Penn:"
FROM BUCKS.
FROM' PHILADELPHIA
Upper Makefield.
1,70!
Middletown
2.223
Byberry,
1,130.
Wrightstown
821
Bensalem
2,230
Moreland
472.
Lower Makefield.
1,741
Falls
1,788
Dublin.
4,292
Newtown borough
540
Morrisville 685
Oxford.
1,787
Newtown township
842
Bristol Borough 2,570
BridesBurg
915
Northampton
1,843
Bristol township 1,810
Whitehall
489
Southampton
1,416
Making
20,274
Making
9,10℃
Add
20,274
Population
20,381
The bill passed the House of Representatives, but the Senate committee. reported against it, and it was not brought up again.15
15 This defeat of the county's division, which was final, was effected by the late General Simon Cameron at the instance of his friend General John Davis. The latter went to Harrisburg at the persuasion of Prizer and Darlington who had recently bought the Bucks county Intelligencer, as the question was of some moment to them: When Davis: got to Harrisburg. late on a Sunday evening. preceding the Monday the Senate commit- tee was to vote on it and the friends of the measure expecting it would carry. he called
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
No doubt the previous erection of the alms house near Doylestown had some influence in locating the county seat. The question of erecting such an institu- tion was agitated as early as 1790, the main argument in its favor being that the poor could be maintained at less expense and greater convenience, but it was several years before it was accomplished and then only after violent opposition. The Germans were generally opposed to it, because they furnished few paupers. The bill was signed by the Governor April 10th, 1807, approved by the judges, grand jury and commissioners at the next term of court, and Thomas Long, William Ruckman, David Spinner and William Watts elected commissioners to select a site at the following October election. Several townships were exempt from the provisions of the bill, but they were authorized to share its benefits by paying their pro-rata of the cost of erection, eighteen being named in it, all . below, and including, Plumstead, New Britain and Hilltown. The alms-house war was now waged with greater bitterness than ever, and every possible influ- ence used to prevent the purchase of a site, and a meeting at Hough's tavern, Warwick, February 13. 1808, denounced the unlawful combination to defeat the action of the commissioners. 1512 But it was of no avail. On the 20th of December, 1808, the commissioners purchased the Spruce hill farm, Warwick, of Gilbert Rodman, three hundred and sixty acres, at twenty pounds per acre, the same which the county now owns. A large portion of it was then covered with timber. The purchase appears to have renewed the opposition, and John Wat- son wrote several violent articles against it over his own signature. Meetings were held and lampooning.hand-bills circulated. One objection was there was not enough water to be had to supply the inmates and stock. A meeting to sustain the purchase was held at the public house of Septimus Hough, Warwick, when several depositions were taken to prove that the farm was well-watered, well-timbered, and the soil fertile. All the opposition failed to set aside the purchase which the court confirmed. The corner-stone of the new building was laid the 4th of May, 1809, in the presence of a number of persons, the directors and two other gentlemen providing liquors for the company at their private expense. The entire cost of erecting the building, furnishing it and stocking the farm, was $19,029.13, which, added to the price of the land, $19,280, made in
on Cameron, explained the situation, and asked him to assist. Cameron assented, promis- ing to "see his friends," and told General Davis they must not be seen together. Cam- eron was on the "Hill" early, saw his friends, and when the vote was taken, the Senate committee was solid against division.
151/2 The fight for the erection of the Alms House was bitter as that for a change in the county seat, but not so long. Joseph Hart, Warminster. Senator from Bucks was chairman of committee and reported the bill, 1805. His nephew, Dr. Wm. Hart, wrote his uncle. at Lancaster, where the Legislature was in session, under date of Janu- ary, 1810, an account of the excitement over the matter at home: "The Poor House pur- chase has caused great uproar in some sections of the county; the discontent and op- position originated in Buckingham. Handbills, memorials, etc., are circulating, tending to prejudice the public mind, and truly, if the purchase is, as represented, it is by no means judicious. The soil is stated to be sterile,, and incapable of improvement adequate to the object; destitute of a sufficiency of good water. the well and spring, in certain seasons of the year going nearly dry, generating animalcules, worms. tadpoles, etc., etc., in sach quantities as to render it necessary to filter the water before using it. Such, say. they, is the place. humanity sought for the reception and accommodation of the unfor- tunate poor."
16-2
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BUCKS COUNTY ALMS HOUSE AND HOSPITAL.
all, $38,309.13. The directors paid $94.771/2 for whiskey for the workmen during its erection.
The first board of directors was John McMaster, James Chapman and Ralph Stover. Mr. McMaster resigned in his third year to accept the office of steward. He came to an untimely end the very night of his election to the steward's office for a second term, being thrown from his wagon on the York road between Hatboro and Hartsville, returning from market, by which his neck was broken. Mr. McMaster, a man of very respectable talent and position in life, lived in Upper Makefield, on the farm owned by the late Samuel M. Slack, was justice of the peace and transacted much public business. James McMaster, his father, was an officer in the Revolution, and his grandfather, Alexander McMaster was living in the Wyoming Valley at the time of the massacre, whence he fled into Maryland, and then came to Bucks county. John McMaster was cousin to the late venerable Edward McMaster, of Newtown.
Before the erection of the alms house the county was divided into poor dis- tricts, and each maintained its own. June 16, 1806, Amos Gregg, one of the guardians of the poor, announced he had organized "a house of employment" for the poor of his district, where he can accommodate forty or fifty more, on moderate terms, each township to have the profit of its own pauper labor, where it can be ascertained. Peter Sine, a German, an inmate of the alms house. died there April 2, 1820. at the age of one hundred and ten. On April 24, 1826. there was another death in the building of more note, that of Dr. William Bachelor, at the age of seventy-six, and buried in the Vansant graveyard, near the county line, Warminster. Another account of Dr. Bachelor's death says he died September 14, 1823. See Warminster township.
The first marriage in the alms house was that of Jacob Moore and Jane Brown, colored paupers, March 27, 1810, by the Rev. Nathaniel Irwin. The accommodations have been greatly increased in recent years, including the erection of an hospital shortly after the closing of the Civil war.
The Asiatic cholera visited the alms house in the summer of 1849 when it was prevalent in the country. It broke out in July, and, in less than two weeks some 120 deaths occurred in a population of 150 inmates. Among the dead were the steward, William Edwards, Lafayette Nash, Line Lexington. a medi- cal student under Dr. Hendrie, Doylestown, and a few of the nurses. It created great alarm, and for a time travel on the Easton road was almost suspended. There were but four cases outside the institution and only one or two in Doyles- town. The dead paupers were hauled out by the cart load and buried in a trench behind the orchard, and after the disease was over the infected clothing was burned and the house thoroughly fumigated. A small band of faithful men, led by Davis E. Brower, Bridge Point, nursed the sick and buried the dead. The cause of this terrible visitation was never investigated, but is thought
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
to have been mainly caused by want of proper sanitary care. One of Mr. Brower's most efficient co-workers was Nelson MacReynolds, of the Turk, a man of courage and intelligence.
.
The present court house, erected, 1877, was built almost on the site of the old one, the second grand jury recommending it at the previous April term. The contract was awarded to James B. Doyle, Philadelphia, (but born in the county) July 9 and executed on the 17th. The contract price was $71,375, but. including heating, lighting and furnishing the entire cost was $100,000. Hutton & Ord, Philadelphia, were the architects. The last public gatherings in the old court house were a temperance meeting the evening of July 16, a cotillion party the evening of the 20th, and a meeting to recruit a company for the State militia, to assist in putting down the railroad riots, Friday evening the 27th. The west wall of the jail yard was set in twenty-five feet to make room for the new building, and ground was broken the last of July. The corner-stone, in the southeast corner of the front projection, was laid with appropriate ceremonies October 3, Judge Ross presiding, W. W. H. Davis delivering the address and Judge Watson laying the stone. The building was finished during the summer of 1878, the first court held in it September 9. During its erection a laborer was killed by falling from the square to the hallway below. On breaking ground for the new building the first shovel full of earth was thrown out by George Lear, a member of the bar, and, at that time, attorney general of the State. During a severe rain storm, shortly after the building was finished, some of the heavy glass around the dome was broken and fell through the stained glass skylight over the court room to the floor below. The damage was about $300. The building is a model of convenience and comfort for the court and its officers, and not excelled in the State.16
DOYLESTOWN COURT HOUSE, BUILT 1877-78.
16 No one person, probably, had as much to do in giving Bucks county her elegant and commodious court house as the late Henry T. Darlington. At that time he was pro- prietor and editor of the Bucks County Intelligencer and exerted a wide influence. He labored assiduously in favor of giving Penn's old county a court house befitting its
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
One of the most interesting public affairs in the county in the century just closed was the Bi-Centennial celebration of its settlement held 1882 at Doyles- town, August 31 and September 1 and 2, and was largely attended. It was first publicly suggested in a paper read by W. W. H. Davis, at a meeting of the Bucks County Historical Society, held at Newtown, October 1, 1881. A committee was appointed with Josiah B. Smith, Newtown, chairman, to take the matter into consideration. It made a favorable report, and from that several committees were organized, with a general committee, of which Hugh B. East- burn was chairman. Work was immediately begun, and did not cease until its close. Besides the literary features attending the celebration there was an exhi- bition of the industries of the county and a display of the manners and customs of the past and present, including many curios and relics brought over by the first settlers. To accomplish this families gave up their most priceless treas- ures to add to the attractions of the occasion. The day exercises were held on the fair grounds, morning and afternoon, and in Lenape Hall in the evening. The instrumental music was furnished by bands from Sellersville, Newtown and Bristol.
The literary features opened at 2:30 p. m., Thursday, August 31, in a large canvas pavilion, Judge Richard Watson presiding and delivering the opening address, followed with poems by Dr. Joseph B. Walter, Solebury, and Miss Nellie D. Graham, Upper Makefield. In the evening there was a concert in the hall, several noted vocalists taking part, Brock's orchestra furnishing the instru- mental music. The audience was larger on Friday than the day before, the Hon. George Lear presiding, and, among those present was Governor Hoyt. The exercises consisted of an historical address by W. W. H. Davis, the reading of a poem by Samuel Swain, Bristol, an ode by C. F. Wright, Esq., Doylestown, and an oration by Justice Edward M. Paxson, State Supreme court. A ban- quet took place in Lenape hall in the evening, at which Mr. Lear presided, the intellectual part of the affair consisting of toasts and five minute speeches. Among the distinguished guests present were Governor Hoyt, wife and daugh- ter, Judges Biddle and Briggs, and General B. Frank Fisher, Philadelphia : Jerome Buck, Esq., New York, and Hon. William Godshalk, upper House of Representatives.
The interest in the literary features of the occasion reached its climax Saturday afternoon when an audience of 3,000 persons gathered about the speakers' stand, Dr. Isaac S. Moyer, Quakertown, presiding. with the following exercises : Papers read-"Bucks County Abroad," by John A. Burton, Phila- delphia ; "Our Quaker Ancestry," Miss Anna Eastburn, Langhorne ; "Domestic - Women," Mrs. Cynthia S. Holcomb, Newtown ; an address on "Agriculture," Eastburn Reeder ; a poem on "Grandfather's Spectacles," Miss Laura W. White,. Newtown ; and a declamation by Miss Alma Sager. In the evening eight hun- dred persons assembled in Lenape hall to participate in "Ye Ancient Tea. Drynke." properly costumed and served with music. It was one of the most successful affairs of the kind ever held. All subscribers to the Bi-Centennial: fund to the amount of $5 received a handsomely engraved certificate.
wealth and history. He was equally anxious to provide it with proper jail, but, unfor -. tunately did not live to see his wish gratified. The author knows, however, it was built on lines he approved while living.
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