USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania: From the Discovery of the Delaware to the Present Time (Volume 1 and 2) > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63
The Proprietary's Manor of Perkasie, partly in Rockhill, containing ten thousand acres, was surveyed and laid out prior to 1708. A section of the township still called Perkasie is the seat of a flourishing village of the same name. The manor land was opened for settlement and purchase, about 1730- 35. Jacob Stout, a Swiss immigrant, born 1710, arrived with a brother about 1730, and purchased a tract covering the site of Perkasie, while his brother settled at Germantown. Jacob's wife was a Miss Miller, daughter of a physi- cian of Germany, who had previously married John Liesse. They had two sons and two daughters. Isaac settled in Williams township, Northampton county. Abraham, born 1740, married Magdaline Hartzell, 1762, daughter of Henry Hartzell. It was his daughter who caught a fawn in the woods when a child, carried it home in her apron and it grew to be a buck. Abraham Stout, son of Isaac, a well educated man for the time, a fine penman and followed sur- veying and conveyancing, was a delegate from Bucks to the convention that framed the Constitution of Pennsylvania, 1790. He died, 1812, and remem- bered seeing Indian boys of the neighborhood shoot birds with arrows. Jacob Stout, the immigrant, died 1771, was buried at Stout's grave yard on the south- west end of Perkasie, and the remains of his son, Abraham, were buried at the same place. Abraham Stout and wife had three sons and four daughters, who married into the families of Hartman, Upper Saucon. Lehigh county, Stauffer, Kern, Barndt and Gerhart. The large stone barn Jacob Stout built about 1752, was turned into a sash factory some fifty years ago, but was burned down in the fall of 1875. Before the fire, the walls were apparently as sound as when put up. Since then Mr. Kramer erected a large brick build- ing on the site, suitable for carrying on any business. Among the purchasers of manor lands, 1776, was John Benner, one hundred and thirty-eight acres. The same year Benner conveyed it to John Shellenberger of Hatfield, Mont- gomery county, probably the first comer of the family of this name into the county. In 1779 the property was again sold, to Conrad Shellenberger, Rock- hill
The Arndts of Bucks and Northampton, were early settlers in Rockhill .. Bernard Arndt, the pioneer was born at Zerbt, Germany, March 13. 1678, married Anna Maria Decker, of Anhalt, and with his wife and three children, embarked May, 1731, and landed at Philadelphia. After spending some time. at Germantown, they settled in the upper end of Philadelphia county, now Montgomery, where the father followed his trade and the children grew to. be men and women. Jacob, the second son, born March 24. 1725, married Elizabeth Geiger, bought a farm in Rockhill, and reared a family. He entered the Provincial service during the French and Indian war, reaching the rank of Major. and removed to Northampton, on the Bushkill above Easton, 1760. He was active in the Revolution and prominent in politics, being a member of the Executive Council and served in the Assembly. His wife died March 17, 1797, and he August 3. 1805. His eldest son, John Arndt, born on his father's
Digitized by Google
27
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
farm in Rockhill township, June 5, 1748, commanded a company of riflemen in the "Flying Camp," 1776, and was wounded at Long Island. He was a miller by occupation. He was twice married, after the death of his first wife, January 31, 1776, marrying Elizabeth, daughter of Conrad Ihrie, of Forks township, Northampton, and ten children were born to them. Like his father he was a man of local prominence and filled several county offices. He died at Easton, May 6, 1814, within one month of being sixty-six.
The Rosenbergers are descended from Henry Rosenberger, Wurtemburg, Germanv. and settled in Franconia township, Montgomery county, prior to 1729. He bought one hundred and fifty-nine acres of James Steel, Phila- delphia, and Michael Swartley, of the fifth generation, now occupies it. He was buried at Franconia Mennonite church. His children were Benjamin, Daniel, John and Henry, the two eldest supposed to have been' born in Ger- many. In 1739 Benjamin Rosenberger bought one hundred and twenty-five acres on the county line, including the O. G. Morris farm, died in 1777, and his widow, Helen, 1799. His son Elias, who lived and died in Rockhill, owned land in Springfield. Bedminster and Hilltown, where he lived at various periods of his life. He had four children, Benjamin, driving a baggage wagon in the Continental army before reaching manhood, spending the latter part of his life in Rockhill. John, son of Benjamin, Sr., owned a farm in Hatfield, Montgomery county, whose sons Benjamin and Jacob, and daughters, Anna and Susannah removed to Canada. Both daughters became the wives of the Rev. Jacob Detweiler. A granddaughter of Benjamin, a daughter of John Alderfer, became the wife of Bishop Abraham Hunsicker, who founded Free- land Seminary, the parent of Ursinus College. Henry, another son of Ben- jamin Rosenberger, and his children are much scattered. Daniel, the second son of Henry Rosenberger, Sr., in 1740, bought three hundred and fifty-nine acres in Hatfield township, on the county line, where he lived and died. His will mentions children, David, who married Ann Funk, Isaac married Christiana Funk. Ann married Michael Kolb, and Mary married Valentine Kratz. John Rosenberger, third son of Henry, Sr., born 1724 and died 1808, was buried at Fricks graveyard. He owned several hundred acres including the site of Hat- field village and left a farm to each child. He erected the first grist-mill in that section which stood until 1820, and was one of the founders of Line Lexington Mennonite church. His children were Martin, Abraham, John, Benjamin, Daniel. Henry and Catharine, wife of Abraham Allebach. Many of the descendants live in Bucks county. The fourth son of Henry Rosenberger, Sr., was the Rev. Henry Rosenberger, born December 2, 1725, married Barbara Oberholtzer, 1745, and settled in New Britain on the Hilltown line near Lexington. He was a Mennonite minister and served the Franconia church. His father gave him the homestead shortly after his marriage, and he spent his life there. His children were Gertrude, Annie, born 1748, married Michael Leatherman, second husband John Loux, grandfather of the late John A. Loux; Abraham, Elizabeth, born. 1752, married Mark Fretz, New Britain, Barbara, born 1755. married David Rickert and died at twenty, Magdalina, married John Swartly and Sarah, Philip Swartly.
A reunion of the Rosenberger family was held in Perkasie Park, August 10, 1899, to which fifteen hundred descendants of the pioneer were invited and it is thought as many attended. The exercises consisted of an address of welcome, by Prof. Rosenberger, Quakertown, vocal and instrumental music, historical address by Rev. A. J. Fretz, Milton, N. J., other addresses, and a dinner, not the least attractive part of the programme.
Digitized by Google
28 ·
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Between 1740 and 1750 three brothers and a sister, named Groff, immi- grated from Germany to Pennsylvania. Jacob was engaged to a young girl, who came over in the same ship, and they were married on their arrival. Soon after he purchased a tract of land in Rockhill, where they settled down and spent their lives. He became the owner of several hundred acres, and Sellers- ville is built on a portion of his tract. He was the father of four sons, John, Peter, Jacob and Henry. John bought a farm adjoining his father's which partly remains in the family, Peter went to Lancaster county, where his de- scendants are living, John moved down toward the central part of the county. and was, no doubt, the immediate ancestor of the Groffs of New Britain, and Henry, the youngest son, born about 1758, took part of the homestead farm where he lived and died. and at his death, left the acres to his children. Part of it remains in the family. Henry was the immediate ancestor of David Groff, of Sellersville. In 1755 a tract of sixty-six and three-quarter acres was surveyed to Samuel Iden, on the Tohickon, by virtue of a warrant.
The south-western section of the township was settled early in the last century by Mennonite families from Germany. They established the congre- gation that worshiped in what is now known as Gehman's meeting-house, at that time called Bechtel's, two miles south of Sellersville, near the North Pennsylvania railroad and on the road to Telford. Jacob Derstein, senior, · while assisting to build a fence around the graveyard, remarked that he would like to know who would be first buried in it, and it happened, in the Providence of God, that his own remains were the first to be interred in the new burial- ground. The old log meeting-house was torn down in 1838, and a convenient stone house erected on its site, which still affords accommodation to the large congregation that worships in it.
.
.
In 1737, Paul Gerhart with his two sons, Abraham and Peter, and one daughter, Barbara, immigrants from Alsace, France, settled in Franconia township, Montgomery county, on the Allentown road near a branch of the Perkiomen. They were driven from home by religious persecution, and as the name "Gerhart" is not in the list of arrivals, between 1720 and 1750, it is assumed they took a fictitious name to avoid pursuit. The homestead was known as "Gerhart's tavern" for over a century and is now owned by Irwin R. Hartzell. a descendant. Of the children of the immigrant, Barbara died single and Peter is not accounted for. but Abraham settled in Long Swamp township. Berks county. and later in Rockhill, married Elizabeth Smith and raised a large family. He was born about the close of the seventeenth century and died December 30. 1766: his wife was born December 23. 1723, and died December 23. 1805. From this couple have descended nearly all the Gerharts. or Gerhards, in Bucks, Lehigh and Lebanon counties.
The children of Abraham and Elizabeth Gerhart were Anne Margaret. born April 4. 1744, married Michael Sholl. Abraham (grandfather of Isaac G. Gerhart Telford), born December 3. 1745, married Anna Barbara Det- terer : Catharine, born August 2, 1747, married John George Henry Dietz. Con- rad, born February 21, 1749, died in Chester county. Jacob, born November 10, 1759. ,married Elizabeth Detterer, and lived and died at the homestead. Peter. born December 22. 1752. married a Miss Hunsberger. John, born April 19. 1755. married Magdaline Hartzell (born March 26, 1757). Elizabeth, born May 27. 1759. married Jacob Fellman; Barbara, born December 1, 1760. married Henry Brandt, and Isaac, born November 26. 1762, married Sarah Nogel. Abraham Gerhart, eldest son of Abraham and Elizabeth, and the im- mediate ancestor of the Bucks county branch of the family. settled on a farm
Digitized by Google
-
29~
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
a mile below Sellersville, and spent his life there. He had four sons and three daughters, the youngest dying in infancy, the others marrying into the families of Kern, Singmaster, Frederick, Smith, Harpel and Stout. Three of the immediate descendants of Abraham Gerhart, Isaac, Emanuel Vogel, D. D., LL. D., and R. Leighton Gerhart, father, son and grandson, entered the Reformed church and became prominent clergymen, Emanuel being a pro- fessor in the Theological Seminary, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Gerharts, by reason of the large number of children their sons and daughters fell heir to, intermarried with families in this and adjoining counties and their descend- ants are very numerous.
-
When Richland was laid out and organized, 1734, considerable territory between the township and Hilltown was left without municipal government. Its organization, therefore, into a township was probably a matter of necessity, to give local protection to the inhabitants. In the petition for roads this terri- tory was called "Rockhill" several years before it was organized, and the name was probably given to it because of its rocky and uneven surface. The records give us no information as to the time when the first movement was made to- ward a township, and we only know that it was surveyed and laid out by Nicholas Scull, 1740, with metes and bounds that differ materially from its present boundaries, but when the shape of the township was changed we know not. In the original draft the name of the township is left blank, as it had not yet been agreed upon. The following are the boundaries of Nicholas Scull's survey, with draft attached, 1740:
"Beginning at a white oak standing on Tohickon bank on the west side of a road, laid out from Saucon creek, leading to Philadelphia ; thence by the said road south two degrees east, three hundred and sixty perches; thence by the same south seventeen degrees east two hundred and fifty-two perches to a corner of Hilltown township ; thence by the same southwest, two thousand one hundred and ten perches to the county line; thence along the same northwest, one thousand six hundred and three perches; thence northeast, four hundred and thirty perches by Milford township; thence by the same north twenty-two degrees east, one hundred and fifty perches ; thence by the said Milford town- ship and the township of Richland east, one thousand four hundred and twen- ty-eight perches; thence northeast, eight hundred and seventy perches to To- hickon creek; thence down the same to the beginning." The present area of the township is 14,343 acres, but do not know what it was when first organ- ized. Rockhill is a populous and wealthy township, and in this regard, keeps pace with her sisters. In 1784 the population was 969, with 158 dwelling houses ; in 1810, 1,508; 1820, 1,567; 1830, 2,012, and 424 taxables; 1840, 2,182 ; 1850, 2,447 ; 1860, 3,107 white and colored; 1870, 3,342 white and 21 colored, of which 191 were foreign-born ; 1880, 3,207. In 1870 Rockhill was the most populous township in the county.
An entry in one of the old quarter session's dockets gives additional in- formation touching the organization of Rockhill township. At the June ses- sion, 1739, the inhabitants of "Richlands" petitioned the court stating that a considerable tract of land lay between "Richlands" and Hilltown; that the in- habitants refused to mend the roads, etc., etc., and asked that said vacant land be laid out into a township; whereupon the court ordered a township laid out with the following boundaries: "On the northeast by John Penn's Manor of Perkasie, including the same, on the northerly side by Richlands and Lower Millford; on the westward by the county line, and on the south- ward by the township of Hilltown." The court appointed Uriah Humble,
Digitized by Google
.30
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
supervisor, and John Bryan constable. Prior to the organization of the town- ship, this section of country was mentioned in deed as "the district of Free- .town." The lower part of the township was generally settled by 1750.
The Wormans, of Tinicum, are descended from Johannes Worman, who .came from Rotterdam, Germany, in the ship "Mary of London," 1735, and settled in Rockhill. In 1754 he purchased, of Anthony Haines of Rockhill, a tract of two hundred and seventy-three acres in Bedminster, near Deep Run, and in 1760, conveyed it to John Heany, his son-in-law, of Rockhill. In 1761 Worman purchased a tract of two hundred and one and one-half acres in Tinicum, site of the present Wormanville, of Charles Hughes of the same township. We do not know what year Johannes Worman left Rockhill, but he was still there in 1753, when he was trustee of the Lutheran and Calvinist congregations of Franconia township, Montgomery county. Doubtless he attended church there. He probably went to Tinicum soon after he purchased the Hughes tract, and died there, 1768, leaving a son Michael, to whom he .deeded the farm, and two daughters, Mrs. John Cooper, Tinicum, and Mrs. John Heany, Rockhill. His will is dated March 16, 1765, and was admitted .to probate, April 5, 1768. The same year Michael Worman was one of the petitioners of Tinicum, Nockamixon, Bedminster and Plumstead, asking the county's consent to build a stone bridge over Indian creek, at their own expense, in place of the wooden one. This was an unusual request. Here- after the history of the Worman family belongs to Tinicum.
The Heanys were in Rockhill early, Patrick Heany settling there, 1734, at the age of twenty-one, coming over in the ship "Hope" from Rotterdam. John Heany was in the township prior to 1745, married Catharine, daughter of John Worman, same township, and was appointed constable, . 1755. His occupation is given as "cordwainer." He removed to Bedminster prior to 1764, and was a storekeeper there. He owned land in adjoining town- ships, amounting to several hundred acres, and died, intestate, 1787, leaving a widow and fifteen children. The inventory was filed December 4, 1788, amounting to f1,011. 3s. IId., settlement filed May 26, 1789, and final settle- ment filed and distribution made September 14, 1790.
Derstein's mill,1 one and a half miles south of Sellersville, on the North Pennsylvania railroad, is one of the oldest mills in the upper end of the coun- ty. It is thought to have been the first one erected between Whitemarsh and Centre Valley. The first mill was built by the ancestor of the Derstein fam- ily prior to 1742, and in the rudest manner. Tradition says that four saplings were planted in the ground and covered with a straw-roof ; the mill works con- structed underneath were of the simplest description, but sufficient to turn a pair of chopping stones. A second mill was erected by Abraham and Michael Derstein, 1742, with all the improvements known at that day. A culvert built across the road over the tail race was there a few years ago, as sound as when the masons finished the work. In 1873 William and David Derstein erected a third mill on the site of the old one, which is complete in all its appointments. William Shavers built a mill on the Tohickon before 1746, in which year a road was opened from it to the Bethlehem road, but the location of the mill is not now known. Peter Shepherd owned a grist-mill in the township, 1760, and one at Hunsbury, 1765. William Heacock owned a saw-mill in Rockhill 1785.
Among. the immigrants who settled in Rockhill. and qualified as citizens, were Andreas Lauch, August 28, 1773; Johannes Adam Lauch, August 4. 1750; Johannes Lauschs, October 10, 1752; John Jacob Laux, October 12,.
Digitized by Google
-
31
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
1754, and Jacob Lauch, September 11, 1771. In addition to these, but not of them, was Heinrich ( Henry ) Lauchs, who arrived at Philadelphia in the ship "Minerva,' John Spinner, master, from Rotterdam, and qualified November 9. 1767. He married Barbara, daughter of John Heany, Rockhill, about 1773. On June 16, 1773. Andreas Keichline and wife, Rockhill, conveyed to Henry Laux. "carpenter," 60 acres and 53 perches on Tohickon creek, Haycock. His name appears on the tax list of 1779 to 1793. but removed to Adams township, York county, about 1794. The last we hear of John Laux was February 10, 1800. when he acknowledged and receipted for £34 7s. 8d. balance in full due his wife. Barbara. from her father. John Heany's estate.
The three villages of Rockhill are Sellersville, Bridgetown and Perkasie, the first and last on the North Pennsylvania railroad. As has been already
SELLERS' TAVERN.
stated. Sellersville grew up around what was for many years known as "Sel- lers' Tavern," the name of the post office to 1866, when it was changed to that of the village. The office was first opened. 1820, and Thomas Sellers ap- pointed postmaster. Its improvements have been much accelerated since the opening of the railroad. 1856, and population increased. It then had a popu- lation of about six hundred, with seventy-five dwellings, four stores, two hotels, two flour mills, one of them steam, a tannery. steam planing mill, lumber and coal yard, three cigar manufactories, two churches, and two school houses. A new impetus was given to Sellersville by its incorporation into a borough. 1875. and its wealth and population both increased. Its chief in- dustry is cigar making and within the last two decades four large factories have been built, giving employment to several hundred hands. The prosper- ity of this industry has led to the erection of a number of new dwellings by
Digitized by Google
32
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
private enterprises and a building association. Among the public improve- ments is a school building enlarged at an expense of five thousand dollars, Odd Fellows hall costing eight thousand dollars, and a water plant thirty thousand dollars, furnishing an abundant supply for all purposes. All branches of busi- ness have increased in proportion with the population ; 480 in 1880; 794, 1890, and 1,247, 1900. A movement was started sometime ago, to unite Sellersville and Perkasie in one great borough, but present success is not yet in sight. The surrounding country is thickly settled and well cultivated. The Bethle- hem turnpike, in the early days a general traveled route from the Lehigh to Philadelphia, made "Sellers' Tavern" a place of much resort.2
The churches of Sellersville are a Union Reformed and Lutheran and Catholic. The former was built, 1870-74, and dedicated May 2, the latter year. It is a stone building 70x42 feet with a steeple that can be seen for a consider- able distance. The cost was twenty thousand dollars, finished in the best manner and is known as the Evangelical Lutheran and St. Michael's Re- formed church. The Rev. Mr. Ziegenfus was probably the first Lutheran pastor and served the church to about 1880, when he was succeeded by the Rev. J. C. Becker to 1890. Since that time, the Rev. J. H. Waidelich has been in charge. The first Reformed pastor was the Rev. Peter S. Fisher, who was active in organizing the congregation and building the church, but did not live to see it completed. He was attacked by a fatal illness in May, 1873, while preaching in Leidy's church, Hilltown, and died within a few hours. Mr. Fisher was born at Reading, Pennsylvania, October 11, 1804, licensed to preach, 1825, and ordained 1826. He came to this county, 1827, to supply the churches made vacant by the death of Rev. J. A. Strassburger at Tohickon, Indianfield and Charlestown. He preached at numerous other points and or- ganized three new congregations. During his ministry, of almost half a cen- tury, it is estimated he preached ten thousand sermons, including two thousand five hundred funeral discourses, baptised three thousand, confirmed fifteen hundred, and married two thousand couples. He was greatly esteemed and in his funeral procession walked forty-two Reformed ministers. He was the father of General B. Frank Fisher, who entered the military service in 1861, as a lieutenant of volunteers, at the breaking out of the Civil war, and by its close had reached the rank of chief signal officer of the United States army, with the rank of Brigadier-General. He read law at Doylestown with the late Judge S. L. Roberts and was admitted to the bar, in 1860. The Rev. J. G. Dengler succeeded Mr. Fisher, but, in 1899, was called to a Reformed parish in Lan- caster county.
Perkasie, named after the old Manor that once included within its bounds ten thousand of the acres of that region, situated on the North Pennsylvania railroad, one-fourth of a mile south of the tunnel, is a new town. We have already mentioned that the first purchaser of the land on which it is built was John Liesse ( whose widow married, 1739, Jacob Stout), about 1735. The first improvements were made by Samuel M. Hager, 1861-62, when he erected a store-house and three dwellings, and laid a switch. Nothing more was
2 The Inland Traction company's trolley road, Perkasie to Lansdale, runs through Sellersville, almost paralleling the North Penn. Railroad. The company was chartered, 1899, with a capital of $300,000 and whole amount bonded. The road was opened for travel in April, 1900. The power house is located at Souderton in the edge of Mont- gomery county, and the longest and most expensive bridge at Sellersville, built of iron, three spans, each 921/2 feet long and cost $8,000.
Digitized by Google
1
33
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
done until 1868, when Joseph A. Hendricks built a dwelling and bought the store property. In the fall of 1870 he bought the Nace farm and cut it up into building lots, from which time the village has grown and prospered. When laid out, 1870, it had a store, blacksmith shop, several dwellings and a railroad station called "Comlyville," after Franklin A. Comly, president of the North Pennsylvania Railroad. It was incorporated 1886, and had a population of 300 in 1880; 458, 1890; 1,803 in 1900. It was named Perkasie, 1873, a name first given to the post office at Blooming Glen. Perkasie's principal industry is the manufacture of cigars, which employs some five hundred hands. The borough has fifty places of business, including the minor industries and usual mechanics, a newspaper, opera house, three hotels, two parks, four churches, a graded public school with superintendent and five teachers, fire company, creamery, water plant, erected 1885, and sev- eral beneficial, social and patriotic organizations, and last, though not least, a band organized many years ago. The railroad station at Perkasie is the hand- somest on the line of the North Pennsylania Railroad, and the shipping center for a large scope of populous and productive country. The receipts are about one hundred thousand dollars a year. In 1897 the assessed borough and school taxes were $4,716.37. Samuel M. Hager, the legitimate father of Perkasie, was the son of Colonel George Hager. Rockhill. Both father and son were active in politics and the military, and wielded very considerable in- fluence among the Germans. The Reformed church at Perkasie was organ- ized by the efforts of Rev. J. G. Dengler, Sellersville, who began holding service there in the school house fifteen years ago. As the attendance increased there was a demand for a church building, and the movement resulted in the erection of a neat stone Gothic edifice. The congregation, organized with eighteen members, has grown to over two hundred. In 1897 by the action of Tohickon, the parish was erected into a separate charge, and the Rev. J. Rauch called to the pastorate. It is known as St. Stephen's Reformed con- gregation. +10
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.