USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania: From the Discovery of the Delaware to the Present Time (Volume 1 and 2) > Part 7
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 following were among the early settlers of Nockamixon, 1741-1767, whose descendants have added largely to her population, past and present ; some of whom may have been mentioned elsewhere in family connections :
John George Kohl arrived in Philadelphia September 26, 1732, married Mary Barbara Behlen, lived at Falkner's Swamp, New Hanover township, Montgomery county, 1741, and that year, or the next, removed to Nocka- mixon, and settled on the Durham road near Bucksville. He died there, July 3, 1779, aged seventy-nine years and his wife a month later. His three sons, Joseph. John and George were enrolled in the association and took the oath of allegiance August 27, 1778. The Schick family, Michael, Jacob and John William, arrived in the Lydia, Capt. John Randolph, landing October 10, 1747. They sailed from Rotterdam, the ship's passengers coming from the Palatinate. The name was variously spelled: Schick, Schack, Scheck, Scheik, Schuck, and divers other ways. Michael and John were enrolled in the Association, 1775, but we do not know that they served in the field. Michael Schick and wife Margaret had a son Michael, born November 17, 1767, and two daughters Anna and Elizabeth, born January 28, 1770, and Sarah, May 3, 1781. John William and wife Margaret had a son, John Peter, born, 1768, and another son, also John, born March 30, 1770. They were probably all farmers, and we find none of them figuring outside their own occupation, except Michael, a trustee of the church he assisted to found. George Overbeck. orig- inally settled in Springfield and owned a farm there, but removed to Nock- amixon prior to 1746, on the Durham road. He was born in Hesse Darm- stadt. Germany. 1715, and died August 15, 1798, aged eighty-three years and six months. He erected a substantial stone dwelling on his Nockamixon pur- chase. He made application for license : the first was rejected. but afterward granted June, 1746, and a tavern was kept there several years. This was prob- ably his first. How long he kept it we are not informed. and there are no records that enlighten us." The Sassamans came into the township. 1766, and.
6. In his first application for license, 1746, George Overbeck gives the following "reason, in his petition to the court : That he is "troubled at all hours, and commonly at unreasonable hours of the night, is obliged to break his rest to entertain strangers and travelers, and all the neighbors that live near the road suffer very much for the want of a tavern on that road to lodge travelers, especially in the winter time, by reason of the place being but newly inhabited. fodder being very scarce, etc." The situation is said to be "upon the Durham road. four miles and a half from Durham and six and a half from Tohickon."
Digitized by Google
1
42
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
on May 12, Henry Sassaman bought one hundred and sixty-three acres of George Overbeck, half a mile east of Buckville, the homestead and one hun- dred and two acres, having been in the family to the present time. Jacob Sassaman took the oath of allegiance before Jacob Sacket, Esq., July 1, 1778 .. A Henry Sassaman was a taxable in Maxatawny township, Berks county, and. it is possible the father or a son of the name of Henry was the settler in Nock- amixon.
Christian Trauger, ancestor of the Trauger family of this county, was. born at Beckinbach, Darmstadt, Germany, March 30, 1726, and died in Nock- amixon January 8, 1811. He landed at Philadelphia, October 9, 1747, from the ship Restoration. Rupp spells the name "Traugler." He was active in church, being one of the founders of the Lutheran congregation, Nockamixon. In 1798, Christian Trauger, the elder, and Christian Trauger, weaver, were elders in this church, Christian Trauger, carpenter, deacon, and Fred- erick Trauger, a trustee. Two persons, named Christian Trauger, were enrolled among the Nockamixon militia, 1775, and in the war of 1812-1815, we find Christian Trauger serving in Captain Phineas Kelley's company at Marcus Hook. The Rufe family of this township are descended of Jacob, originally spelled Ruff, who came from Germany, 1739. He had three sons, Christian, John and John Frederick, the latter born November 27, 1766, and died May 16, 1830. Jacob Ruff, the ancestor, died December 25, 1790, aged seventy-two. The family are Lutherans, and between 1783 and 1800 at least five families of the name were connected with the Nockamixon congregation, all leaving descendants ..
Among the old German families of Nockamixon are those of Stover, Kint- ner, Trauger, Oberbeck, Deemer, Buck, and Frankenfield. The Stovers, orig- inally spelled Stauffer or Stoefver, came to the state at its foundation. Lud- wig, or Lewis, settled at or near Germantown, 1684, and his grandson William died at Valley Forge, 1778. John George Stover, from Saxony, a miller by trade, arrived in 1752, and settled in this county. He had three sons, Jacob,. Ulrich, and Henry. The sons of Jacob were Matthias, Henry, who owned a mill at Erwinna, in Tinicum, and Jacob who lived at the Narrows, in Nockamixon. John Stover, miller at Tohickon, in Haycock, was a son of Ulrick, and from Henry are descended the Stovers of Bedminster: Abra- ham was a miller at Tohickon, whose son, John S. Stover, also occupies the old mill property. In 1776 David and Daniel Stover, brothers, immigrated from Saxony and settled in the upper end of the county. David had three sons, among whom was Abraham, father of William S. Stover, cashier of the Frenchtown bank. Daniel likewise had three sons, Henry. Jacob and Daniel. Of these sons, Henry died without children, Jacob had a large family, and his descendants are living in Philadelphia, Northampton county, and in New Jersey. Daniel had three sons, one the father of John N. Stover, of Nocka- mixon." David Stover. Daniel. the great-grandfather of John N., of Nocka- mixon and his son Daniel were all teamsters in their day and hauled goods
7 In 1736 David. Daniel and William Stauffer, or Stover, settled in Nockamixon and were no doubt members of the family mentioned above. Daniel born October 10, 1746, married Lydia Driselin, 1774, left a son bearing his name, who was born 1768. married Mary Magdalen Mayer and died June 13, 1841. During the Revolution Daniel hauled cannon balls from Durham furnace to the Continental Army. The brother William who died at Valley Forge the winter of 1777-78 was doubtless a soldier and we believe him to have been identical with the William named above.
Digitized by Google
43
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
·
from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, Easton and other interior towns. Down to the completion of the Delaware Division Canal, all the goods required for the Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown, Mauch Chunk and Wilkesbarre markets, were transported through this county in "Conestoga wagons," drawn by teams of six horses, fed from a feed box fastened on the tongue of the wagon. One of the finest teams in the last century, was owned by Michael Butz who resided above Belvidere, New Jersey-six large black horses much admired. Among others who drove fine teams, were Zelner Klotz Sumstone, descendant of Philip Sumstone, or Zumstone, who landed at Philadelphia November 1, 1763, Bewighaus, Meyer, Fretz, Joseph and David Stover and others. Many of these teams traveled the Easton road from Philadelphia, through Doylestown, and always stopped at certain taverns on the road, but their occupation was gone when the canal was opened and they passed into history. If their adventures and experiences could be recalled they would be read with deep interest and enjoyed by a generation that knows not of them, except on hearsay. The Wolfingers, prominent in the township, trace their descent from Frederick Wolfinger, who came from the Palatinate in the ship Europe, landing at Phil- adelphia, November 20, 1741, at the age of twenty. There are but few fami- lies of the original settlers in Nockamixon, among them being the Keysers, Traugers and a few others. The Pursells, who long made their home in this township, fell within the lines of Bridgeton when it was organized, 1890.
The family name, of Kintner, was originally "Gintner," and George Gint- ner,8 the grandfather of Hugh Kintner came from Wurtemberg, Germany, be- fore the Revolution, landing at Philadelphia, September 2, 1789, from the ship Albany, and settled in Nockamixon. He served in the Revolution as captain of cavalry, and at its close, turned his continental money into hollow ware- at the Durham iron works and exchanged it for a farm in Monroe county near the Delaware Water Gap. He lived there the remainder of his life, and was drowned in the Delaware while driving the river for fish. He left two sons, Joseph, who died young, and Jacob, the father of Hugh, who lived and died in Bucks county, and who was elected sheriff, 1824-and a daughter, Mary, who married a Smith and settled in Walpack, Sussex county, New Jersey. Jacob was bound out among strangers when young, and the spelling of the name was changed from Gintner to Kintner. This change defeated his effort to recover the pension due his father for his Revolutionary services.
Nicholas Buck, founder of Bucksville, third son of Nicholas Buck, Spring- field, born August 20, 1769, was a wheelwright by trade. He married Mary Magdalena, daughter of John Eck, Upper Salford, Montgomery county, 1789, and in the fall of 1792, settled in Nockamixon, purchasing sixty-four acres of Christian Kleinker, embracing the site of Bucksville. Here he erected new buildings including wheelwright and blacksmith shops, and later, a substan- tial stone house. In 1808 he enlarged the house and obtained license, calling it the "White Horse." a prancing steed of that color, fully caparisoned, being emblazoned on the sign board. At that day the Durham and Easton roads were highways for freight and travel between Philadelphia and the Upper Delaware and Lehigh, and this noted tavern became a stopping-place for loaded teams, and the Easton mail stages. The patronage was continued until the opening of the Belvidere-Delaware railroad, 1854. In 1816. Mr. Buck opened a store and 1828 a post-office was established called Bucksville and himself ap-
8 George Gintner may not have been an officer, but his name appears in a list of Pennsylvania soldiers, see Vol. 13, Series II Pa. Archives.
Digitized by Google
·
-44
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
.
`pointed postmaster. Having a taste for military pursuits, when the British fired on the Chesapeake, 1807, he raised a cavalry company, calling it the "Washington Light Horse," commanding it to his death. His connection with the volunteers made Bucksville a military centre and for many years the uni- formed companies of Springfield, Durham, Nockamixon and Tinicum sub- sequently organized into a battalion81/2 held their annual spring and fall training there. Captain Buck was a useful man in the community, taking a lively in- terest in all that concerned its welfare. He assisted to build a couple of school houses soon after going into the township; and, in order that his own children might have better facilities for education, engaged Charles Fortman,? a learned German, and had a school opened in a room in his house. Here the higher branches were taught, including piano and vocal music, the languages, geog- raphy and bookkeeping. The school was kept up for several years. Captain Buck died August 28, 1830, at the age of 63, his wife surviving until February 4, 1858. dying at the age of eighty-nine. They left ninety-five descendants, some in the fifth generation. They had six children, Elizabeth, Nicholas, Sarah, Mary, Jacob E. and Samuel, all of whom married and left descendants. When Cap- 'tain Nicholas Buck died his son Nicholas took up the affairs of life where his father had laid them down. He began keeping store, 1822, and upon his fath- er's death succeeded to the farm and tavern, became captain of the Washing- ton Light Horse, postmaster, bought other lands and built houses, filling his father's niche in life for forty years, when he was gathered to his fathers. Nicholas Buck, the third was born May 13, 1794, married Susannah, daughter of Michael and Helen Haney, Tinicum, and died September 25, 1871, at the age of seventy-seven. His wife died August 13, 1870, aged seventy-six. They were the parents of ten children, of whom four are living, Alfred, Michael, Sophia and Lucinda.9%
81/2 This battalion was composed of the Washington Light Horse, Capt. Nicholas Buck, Bucks County Rifles, Jacob Sassaman, Leopard Rifles, Capt. Hillpot, and Dur- ham's Infantry, Samuel Steckel.
9 Charles Fortman was of German birth and could speak several languages, in- cluding Latin. The first known of him was from an advertisement in the Norristown Herald, April 15, 1803, wherein he announces that he would give instruction on the piano at three dollars per month and lessons in Latin, French, English and German, besides other branches. Captain Nicholas Buck induced him to go to Bucksville and open a school. He was probably organist in the Haycock church. His name appears in Captain Buck's store book as late as 1823. When and where he died is not known. He was a pioneer of higher culture in Upper Bucks.
91/2 William J. Buck, son of Jacob E. Buck and grandson of Nicholas Buck, the second, was the most prominent member of the family. He was born at Bucksville. Nockamixon township, March 4, 1825, and died at Jenkintown, Montgomery county, February 13, 1901. He was educated at the country schools and the Doylestown Academy. and subsequently taught school. Showing a natural taste for local history, he pursued it as a profession, devoting a large part of his time to its study and research. He was a prolific writer and the author of several books, his most important work being the "History of Montgomery County," published 1884, handsomely illustrated and set in double column. His "History of Bucks County," published. 1850. was the pioneer work on the subject. He was the author of a large number of historic papers, which con- tain much valuable information touching the settlement of the county. He was con- nected with the Pennsylvania Historical Society for several years, arranging the valu- able manuscript. He owned a fine farm in Caroline county. Md., where he spent part
Digitized by Google
45-
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
The Lutheran congregation, Nockamixon, was organized about 1775, and. the first church building, a small log house, stood northeast of Rum Corner, now Ferndale. The only names of early trustees that have come down to us are Michael Schick and Frederick Eberhart, 1766. The Nockamixon church is prop- erly the child of Springfield church-grew up within its bounds, and out of its membership, three generations having lived in adjoining neighborhoods. These two churches have the same pastors, but the earliest Lutheran is not known. The Reformed congregation was organized, 1773. As the records have been lost, or not regularly kept, it is difficult to arrive at a correct history of the church. The first minister at the log house was the Reverend Casper Wack, who lived in Hilltown, and left, 1782. His successors, as near as it can be arrived at, were the Reverend Frederick William Vondersloot, 1787, John Mann, 1792, Mr. Hoffmyer, 1796, Jacob William Dechant, 1808, Samuel Stahr, 1811, in connection with Durham, Springfield and Tinicum, the Reverend W. D. Rothrock, called 1859, ministered to this congregation and Durham, one charge. The Lutheran congregation have worshipped in the same building since the brick church was erected, 1813, built by the two congregations. It was conse- crated June 12, 1814. The same year the Lutheran congregation purchased one- half the Bible and hymn books for ten shillings, for which the Reformed paid fr .. 6s., 1792. The German and English languages are used alternately in worship. In May, 1875, the old brick church was taken down and a handsome new one of the same material erected on its site. The last sermon was preached in the old building by the Reverend William S. Emery. The new church was dedi- cated May 20, 1877, in the presence of several visiting clergymen and a con- gregation of 2,000. Sermons were preached by the Reverends Dr. Schaffer, Philadelphia ; W. T. Gerhart, Lancaster ; A. R. Horne, Kutztown, and L. C. Sheip, Doylestown. The church is one of the largest in the upper section of the county and adorned by a tall steeple. The Reverend Charles . P. Miller, for twenty-three years, 1842-1865, pastor of the Lutheran congregations of Durham, Nockamixon, Springfield and Tinicum, died at Bridgeton, January 18, 1886, and was buried at Nockamixon the 25th, the Reverend A. R. Horne preaching the funeral sermon. Mr. Miller owned and lived on a farm on the Durham road a mile and a half above Bucksville, which he bought of John Buck, 1852.
Instruction in music was probably given earlier in Nockamixon than in any of the surrounding townships. In 1814 through Nicholas Buck, Charles Fortman, a graduate of one of the German Universities, organized and suc- cessfully taught a class on the piano, one of Buck's sons and several of his nephews among the pupils. This was probably the earliest piano class in the county. The piano was afterward sold among the effects of Jacob E. Buck and bought by the late Enos Morris, Doylestown, and used in his fam- ily several years. Fortman taught vocal music in three languages, his instruc- tion books in manuscript, beautifully written by himself. Several of them are still preserved by the descendants of his pupils. Singing-schools were quite common in the German townships prior to 1820, manuscript books being prin- cipally used. The early Germans were the pioneers in musical culture in Bucks county.
In the north-west corner of the township, three miles from Kintnerville.
of his time. Mr. Buck was the founder of the "Buckwampum Historical Society," of the upper end of the county, which has done much to develop the history of that sec- tion. . He was never married.
Digitized by Google
46
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
in a piece of timber on the farm of Frank Campbell is an old graveyard, in which interments have not been made for many years. Most of the graves are marked by rough, unlettered stones, a few only revealing the names of the silent sleepers. The oldest is that of Elizabeth, wife of John Brown, who died October 3, 1757, aged thirty-six years; Thomas Little, died March 14, 1787, aged fifty-five years and Patrick Hines, died November 11, 1813, aged sixty- four years. Near the road is a walled enclosure, some eight by fifteen feet, which appears to have been the burial-place of the Long family. probably of Durham. There lie the remains of Thomas Long. esquire, who died February 22, 1810, aged seventy years, and his two children, Thomas and Rachel, who died, 1781 and 1782. There are other graves inside the enclosure, on two of which we made out the initials and figures : S. I. E. 79, and W. I. So far as known these early settlers were of the English-speaking race. .
Nockamixon has no more attractive locality within her borders than the "Narrows," so called because here the Delaware, a stream of considerable magnitude, has forced itself through a rocky barrier. The distance across the river is not more than a thousand feet. On the west side it is hedged in by beettling cliffs of perpendicular redshale rock, from one to three hundred feet high, which begin a short distance below Kintnerville and extend down the river about a mile, with barely room for the road and canal at some points. Half a mile above Narrowsville, on the river bank, is Prospect Rock, rising three hundred and sixty feet above the water. From its top we have a fine view of the adjacent parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with the Dela- ware canal winding along the river bank like a thread of silver in the distance. In the past these cliffs have extended up the river as high as Unionville, but time and the elements have crumbled them away until now they have forms of well-rounded river hills, covered with a pretty dense growth of vegetation. No doubt at one time the ledge of rocks at the Narrows extended across the river and dammed up the waters, but the tooth of time, by the many agencies well- known to this old destroyer, gradually ate an opening through the soft red-shale, and let the pent-up waters flow to the sea. These rocky ledges are particu- larly rich in their Flora. Here are several northern plants, some of which are found nowhere else in the county, and at only one or two other points south of the province of New Brunswick. The Seedum Rhodiola is found at only one other locality in the United States, in Maine. It is an interesting fact, that this plant is not seen growing where cliffs have mouldered away, and are now covered with soil, and prefers to cling to the native rock. Among other plants of this character found here are the Creeping fern, Canada violet. Rosa Ca- nina, Blue-hair bell. Red-berried elder. Mountain maple, Ginseng, Trillium, the Great Saint John's Wort, Spirea. Tomentosa, or Hard-hack, Dwarf Cherry. Blue Lupine, the Round-leaf gooseberry and Canada water-leaf.
The first Catholic church in the county was organized and a building erected, in Nockamixon, 1798, on a lot, the gift of Edward McCarty. Service was held in private houses as early as 1743, and continued until the Jesuit Fathers of Goshenhoppen. Berks county, erected a building. Fifteen priests have officiated here, including Father Stommel, afterward at Doylestown. In the settlement of Bucks county the building of churches and opening of schools, was contemporaneous, the Germans keeping pace with the English Friends and other denominations. When Nicholas McCarty died, 1766, to show his appre- ciation of education, he provided in his will for the schooling of his children until his youngest son was eighteen years of age. The first school-house in this part of Nockamnixon, was near Thomas McCarty's dwelling. Ferdinand Wag-
1
Digitized by Google
47
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
nor taught in Haycock, in 1784, and probably over the line in Nockamixon. A school house was added to the old Catholic church of 1798, but torn down, 1854.
If the reader put faith in tradition he may believe that Nockamixon in early days had a distinguished Indian doctor, one who could cure all the ills "that flesh is heir to," an ex-king of the Susquehannas.1º He is credited with all the virtue of a "great medicine," and, among other things to his reputation, he is said to have cured the bite of a rattlesnake, and to have restored his own daughter after she was seized with hydrophobia by giving her a decoction of Seneca snake root. Of course we vouch for none of these wonderful cures.
Three main roads run through Nockamixon from north to south, the River road, which follows the winding of the Delaware, the Durham, which runs through its western end, nearly parallel with Haycock run, and is intersected at many points by lateral roads, and an intermediate road starting at the River road near Kintnerville, following the course of Gallows run, and thence via Kintner's down into Tinicum. The earliest local road we have found on record, dates back to 1750, from the river to Durham road, to "begin at the plantation of Richard London's ferry, and ending at the plantation of Theo- dore Todd, which did belong to John Mitchel." The road from the old Har- row tavern, on the Durham road, by Kintner's and down Gallows run to the intersection of the road from Purcel's ferry,11 was laid out, 1793. This was one of the earliest connections across the township from the Durham road to the river. Nockamixon is watered by two branches of Tinicum creek. Gallows run, Falls creek, and other small streams. Haycock creek runs along its west- ern border, but the map shows only one small tributary emptying into it on the Nockamixon side. "Boatman's hill," in the north-east section of the township about a mile from the river, is an isolated elevation a couple of hundred feet high, without distinctive features. The surface of Nockamixon does not differ materially from Tinicum, except that it is not as hilly. The soil is generally ' fertile and there are many fine farms in the township. The villages in the township are Kintnerville on the river, Bucksville on the Durham road, both port villages, Narrowsville, on the high ground overlooking the Delaware, and Nockamixon, formerly known by the classic name of "Rum Corner," where a post-office was established in recent years. In 18-5 Bridgeton, with some con- tiguous territory, was created an election district with a population of 994, by the census of 1870, and only fourteen less in 1860, showing a small increase. In 1890 the same territory was organized into a township with the name it bore while an election district, an account of which will be found in a subse- quent chapter. A post-office was established at Kintnerville, 1849, and Samuel Boileau appointed postmaster. There is but one island in the river opposite Nockamixon, at the north-west corner, which was confirmed to the township, 1786.12 Bucksville, a business centre for the neighborhood, is forty-one miles
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.