USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania: From the Discovery of the Delaware to the Present Time (Volume 1 and 2) > Part 9
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Elizabeth Fretz, daughter of John, born July 19, 1739, married Jacob Kolb, 1760. At first lived in Tinicum ; then moved into Hilltown and died there. They had ten children: Mark Fretz, born December, 1750, married Elizabeth Rosenberger, 1773, died 1840: his wife, born 1752, died 1847. they lived at Curley's mill, New Britain ; had four children. Henry Fretz, youngest son of John, born November 10, 1755, married Barbara Oberholtzer, died 1831 ; his wife, born October 10, 1754, died 1834. He lived in Bedminster on what is known as the "Wister farm" and had ten children." This numerous family,
5 William Nash had three wives; by his first wife he had nine children : Elsie, wife of William Tyson; Ann, married Joseph Tyson ; Kathrine, married Benjamin Hendricks. By second wife: William ; Magdalena, married Jacob Fretz. By third wife, Agnes, mar- ried Oberholtzer; Elizabeth, born August 3, 1751; Joseph, born January 18, 1753; Ben- jamin, born April 16, 1755, died 1758; Abraham, born November 2, 1757. William Nash made three special bequests in his will to his wife's daughters, Barbara and Mary Oberholtzer, and Martin Oberholtzer, Sr. William Nash signed his name with a cross and was probably an immigrant. His will is on record in Philadelphia.
6 We close the Fretz family with a foot note, because of the uncertainty that hangs over the genealogy of one branch; a foot note is a more appropriate place than the text. The question turns upon the marriage of Christian Fretz, whether his wife was Barbara
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
which has added so much to the population of the county. were farmers in the earliest generations, and several acquired wealth, but, at the present day, are found in every walk of life, many in the learned professions.
Henry Stauffer born in Germany, and married Barbara Hockman, landed at Philadelphia, September 9, 1749, and settled in Bedminster on twenty-three acres, purchased of William Allen, June 12, 1762. Here he lived and died, on the farm now. or recently owned by Joseph Sine. They had five children, Ulrich, Barbara, who died young, Henry, Jacob and Ralph. Ulrich Stover (Stauffer) born July 16, 1750. eldest son of the immigrant, married Bar- bara Swartz and had seven children, Elizabeth, who died young, Mary mar- ried William Fretz, Henry. Abraham, Jacob, Andrew and Joseph. He died on the Tohickon, Haycock township, November 2, 1811, where his grandson, John Stover, now or recently, lived. Henry Stover, second son of the immi- grant, born July 9, 1754. married Elizabeth Fretz, Tinicum, had children, Abraham, Catharine, Barbara, and Elizabeth, and died in Springfield near Bursonville ; Jacob, the third son, born May 13, 1757, and died April 28, 1844, married - Elizabeth Swartz, and by her had one child, and nine children by a second wife. He drove his father's team, a mere lad, when pressed into the service during the Revolution, first with Sullivan's cavalry, and then with the main army, under Washington, sometimes carrying his personal effects. He purchased the mill property on the Tohickon now known as "Myer's Roller Mill," December 27, 1784. and died there. The most prominent members of the Stover family were Ralph, youngest son of Henry, the immigrant, and his eldest son, Abraham F. Stover. The former, born January 10, 1760, married Catharine, daughter of Abraham Funk, owned a farm on the Tohickon where the Easton road crosses that stream, and died there November 7, 1811. He was many years a Justice of the Peace. when a much more important office than now, and member of the Assembly, 1793-99, inclusive. While member of Assembly, he had an act passed changing the name "Stauffer" to "Stover." His son Abraham F. Stover, born May 10, 1786, married Rachel Fretz, of Warwick, and died 1854. He followed in his father's footsteps; was several years a Justice of the Peace and Surveyor, and three years a member of As- sembly, 1817-20; removed to Farquier County, Virginia, 1833. purchased a three hundred acre farm and died there. The late Ralph Stover, Point Pleasant, .
Oberholtzer or a Nash. We have the same authority for both, but are not able to reconcile the difference.
Barbara Oberholtzer was the daughter of Martin Oberholtzer, who was born in 1709, died April 5. 1744, married Agnes -- , November 2, 1736, and she was born April 18, 1713, died February 15, 1786; they had issue, Barbara Fretz, born November 20, 1737, Henry, born February 5, 1739. Maria, born December 19, 1740, John, born November 8. 1742, died December 2, 1742, and Martin, born December 20, 1743. Agnes, widow of Martin Oberholtzer, married a second time, William Nash, who was born November 24, 1696, died 1760, and had issue, Elizabeth Nash, born August 3, 1751. Joseph Nash, born January 18, 1753, Benjamin Nash, born April 16. 1755, died, 1758, Abraham Nash, born Novem- · ber 2, 1757.
.. 7 The Stauffer-Stover family, according to tradition, had its origin in a generation of knights called Stauffacher, at Hohenstauen, in Suabia. The dynasty existed more than 130 years to 1268, when Conrad. son and heir of Conrad IVth, was taken in battle and beheaded. The family now separated, and their elegant seat has never been re- claimed, one branch finding a home in America.
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was one of his children. A Christian Stauffer settled in Bedminster about the same period, and owned a farm of one hundred and eighty-one acres there, but we do not know that he was a member of the same family.
Although the original settlers were English-speaking the Germans were not far behind them. The first of this race were Mennonites who settled on and near the Deep Run, and on its banks, built a log church. 1746. On March 24. William Allen gave the congregation a church lot and a farm of fifty acres, the deed being in trust, made to Abraham Swartz. Hans Friedt, Samuel Kolb and Marcus Oberholtzer, bishops and deacons. He gave them, at the same time a silver-cup still used for sacramental purposes. In 1766 the log house was replaced by a stone one. about fifty yards from the former on a knoll on
OLD MENNONITE CHURCH. BEDMINSTER.
the north bank of the creek. The old house was used for a school-house for many years, and not taken down until 1842. The stone building. enlarged and repaired, in 1794. was torn down, in 1872, and a modern structure erected on or near its site. The first minister to officiate was Abraham Swartz, who be- came blind the latter part of his ministry. After that it was his custom to get one of the congregation to read-a portion of Scripture, from which he selected his text and preached a sermon. After Mr. Swartz, the ministers and deacons, in their order, were. Jacob Gross, Abraham Wismer. Abraham Ober- holtzer, Daniel Landes, Christian Gross, Abraham Kulp, Abraham Mover, Isaac Meyers, Samuel Godshalk and John Gross, ministers, and Henry Mover. Joseph Nash, Abraham Fretz, Abraham Wismer. Samuel Shelly, Jacob Ober- holtzer, and Abraham Mover, deacons, all deceased. The more recent min- isters were Isaac Meyers, Samuel Godshalk and John Gross : and Jacob Ober- holtzer and Abraham Meyers, deacons.
The congregation was divided by a schism in 1849. when a portion of the members went off. The seceders built a new meeting-house a few hundred yards from the old one where a small body continues to worship. The old congregation is one of the largest and most flourishing in the county. By a
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clause in the deed the real estate reverts to the heirs of William Allen, if regular service in the church be omitted for the period of five years, but the title would re-invest in the society if a minister should be again ordained .. . Continued service has been held there since the first house was built in 1746. Abraham Godshalk, who is said to have been a deacon of the church at one time, was the author of a work, entitled, "A Description of the New Creature. from its birth until grown into a perfect man," printed at Doylestown by William M. Large, in 1838. He was a man of strong mind, and extensive- reading, but without early education. He wrote considerably in prose and verse. Jacob Gross was an immigrant from Germany.
The author visited the old stone meeting-house in the spring of 1872, a few days before it was pulled down to make way for the new one, at the time. the accompanying sketch was made. Inside and out it had all the quaintness of its day and generation, low eaves, steep roof, heavy cornices, and the doors. in the portion formerly used as a dwelling in two parts, an upper and a lower. The men, as well as the women, sat on benches without backs, those for the women ranged across the room, those for the men along either side, each successive bench being placed at a little higher elevation as they neared the. wall, with rows of pegs suspended from the ceiling, and also in the wall, to. hang their hats on. On the north end was a vestibule provided with pegs and shelves for the cloaks and bonnets of the women. Across the central portion of the south end was a raised platform with a long desk used as a pulpit, on which lay a German Bible printed at Germantown, by Christopher Saur, in 1743, with heavy back and brass clasps, and, beside it, were two hymn- books, also in German, bearing the imprint of 1803. The two old-fashioned stoves were no doubt cast to be put into the first stone meeting-house built there, for one of them bore the inscription, "Matthias G. Melin, May 28, 1766," and the other, "Abraham Meier, 1766."
Among the German settlers in Bedminster near the close of the last cen- tury, was John Peter Mickley, son of John Jacob, who landed at Philadelphia, 1733 and settled in White Hall township, then in Bucks county, now in Le- county, and a descendant of a Huguenot ancestor driven from France at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. John Peter Mickley came to Bedminster, 1784, and had a family of ten children, eight daughters and two sons. The daughters were long-lived, one dying at ninety-two, another at ninety, two at eighty-one, one at eighty-nine and one other at seventy-nine. There are but few, if any Mickleys living in the county, the last male member of the Bed- minster family being Josiah Mickley, sometime deceased. He left one daugh- ter who married Dr. William Nicholas, a veterinary surgeon of Bedminster. She is also deceased, leaving one child. The history of the Mickley family is authority for our saying that John Jacob Mickley drove the team that conveyed. the old Liberty Bell from Philadelphia to Bethlehem prior to the British troops. occupying that city, 1777.
The Eckels were probably among the earliest of the German settlers in: Bedminster. Heinrich Eckel, grandfather of the late John Eckel, dead many years, came from the borders of France and Germany, and settled near Deep Run meetinghouse. Shortly afterward he returned to Europe on busi- ness, and, on his way home, was taken sick and died at Philadelphia, his body being buried in Tohickon graveyard. He left three children, two sons and one daughter, who married Frederick Jordan, and was the ancestor of John W. Jordan, LL. D., librarian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. John, the son, married and settled near Frenchtown, New Jersey. Henry married
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a Moses of Oley, Berks county, and remained at the homestead, Bedminster. He had three sons and five daughters, who married and raised families. Some of the sons were tanners by trade. Several generations of the Eckels resided on the homestead, son succeeding father, but is now in the hands of strang- ers. The last surviving child of John Eckel, a son of Henry, was the widow of the late David Spinner, Milford. John Eckel, merchant, Philadelphia, was a member of the family.
The oldest Reformed church in Bucks county is in Bedminster on the old Bethlehem road, near its crossing of Tohickon creek, and called the "Tohickon Church." It was organized, 1743, and subsequently became a union church, Reformed and Lutheran, and has remained so. The present Reformed pastor is Rev. James Kehm. In Chapter XIX, "Historic Churches," there is a more particular account of this church.
Keller's church, Lutheran and Reformed, on the Ridge road, leading from Bucksville to Sellersville, was organized at an early day but the exact date cannot be given, services being held as early as 1751. It took its name from Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, D. D., in 1751, and preached his introductory land it was built on was conveyed to Henry Acker, Henry Keller and Chris- tian Stoneback for that purpose and an additional tract was subsequently purchased of John Ott. The first Lutheran pastor was the Rev. Lucas Raus, of Germany, who was sent to take charge of the congregation, by the Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, D. D., in 1751, and preached his introductory sermon the 7th of July. In 1840, the Lutherans and Reformed became a union congregation. and joint owner of the real estate by deed dated January I. 1858. The first union church was erected, 1841, at a cost of nineteen hun- dred dollars, and a new building put up, 1894, at an expense of twelve thousand dollars. It is modern in all its appointments with a seating capacity of five hundred; seats arranged in amphitheatre form and a Sunday school annex. A movement to open a cemetery was made in 1874, incorporated the same year, and the first burial was 1876. It is not known when the first interment was made in the graveyard of Keller's church, but some of the grave stones are as old as 1782. The first organ was brought from Germany, the gift of the Rev. Mr. Hecht, the pastor, but the present one was built at Quakertown in recent years. The church records, of the period of which we write, speak of the congregation as the "Vacant Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of the Tohickon, town- ship of Bedminster, county of Bucks." From the close of the Rev. Mr. Raus's pastorate, about 1757, to 1865-70, there were fourteen successors to him as follows: William Kurtz, Conrad Daniel Walther, Otto Hasse, Johann Mich- ae! Enderlein, Frederick Neimyer, Anthony Hecht, August Henrich Schmidt, Tenno, Johann Nicolas Mensch, Henry S. Miller, C. F. Weldon, W. B. Kem- merer, Edward M. H. Sell, Leonard Groh, Reuben B. Kistler, George M. Lazarus. J. F. Ohl, G. C. Gardner and Warren Nickel. As we have already said, the Reformed Congregation was organized, 1742, with the Rev. Mr. Hess, the first pastor, who was followed by the Revs. Zeigler, Gross, Rothrock and C. B. Weaver, a recent incumbent. In this period the number of members has increased from about forty to nearly three hundred. The two denomina- tions worship in the same building in love and peace, beautifully emphasizing religious tolerance. In the last decade, the Lutheran congregation celebrated its one hundred and fiftieth anniversary in the presence of a large concourse of people. and the exercises were in both German and English. Bedminster town- ship was the centre of religious activity early in the eighteenth century, and her churches are of great historic interest. At Deep Run, the earliest Pres -.
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DEEP RUN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 1841.
byterian church, north of the Neshaminy, was established ; on Tohickon creek is the oldest Reformed church in the county and the Mennonite congregation in Bedminster is the oldest of this denomination in the Bucks.
The Keichlines of Bedminster township, not so numerous as they were three quarters of a century ago, are descended from John Peter Keichline, who immigrated from Heidelberg, Germany, and settled in the township as early as 1742. He had three sons, Peter, Andrew and Charles, all serving in the Continental Army. Peter, who lived at Easton as early as 1749, raised a company of riflemen in Northampton and Bucks counties, for Colonel Miles's regiment, and was in command of it at the battle of Long Island, in 1776, where he was taken prisoner. Lord Sterling wrote to Washington that the English General Grant was killed by some of Keichline's riflemen. Andrew" was promoted to a majority on the field of Monmouth, and Charles, who en- tered the army later than his brothers, took the oath of allegiance in June, 1777. Jacob Keichline, son of Andrew, born in Bedminster. September 8, 1776, and died February 26, 1861, was well known in the upper sections of the county, and was the landlord of Keichline's tavern for thirty-six years. An- drew and Charles Keithline were both in Bedminster, the former being the grandfather of the late William H. Keithline of Philadelphia. Peter Keith- line built the first grist-mill on the Bushkill, and Andrew owned and kept a tavern, now a dwelling, opposite Tohickon church. George Piper." the founder of Piperville, and ancestor of those bearing the name in that section of the county, was born on the Wissahickon, Philadelphia county. November 11, 1755, but removed to Bedminster about the time he reached manhood, and married a daughter of Arnold Lear, of Tinicum. He opened store at Pipers-
8 Andrew Keichline was born 1728, and died September 22, 1781, at 53. His son Abraham was born July 27. 1753, but do not know date of death. This data comes from the old family Bible, which was bought at public sale. May 12, 1782, by the son of Jacob for £2, 16s.
9 Colonel George Piper's son, Joseph, an innkeeper at Chester, died Dec. 10 at 50. but as the year is not given, the time of his birth cannot be told. The old Piper tavern was taken down several years ago and a new building erected on an opposite corner.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
ville, about 1775, and in 1778, moved into the tavern at that place and kept it until his death in 1823. He also was an officer in the Continental army and a colonel in the State militia, and assisted Colonel Paul Mallet Provost purchase the tract on the east bank of the Delaware, whereon Frenchtown, New Jersey, was built. Colonel Piper listened to the reading of the Declaration of Inde- pendence in the rear of the State House, Philadelphia, July 4, 1776. The tavern at Pipersville was built by one Braden in 1759, and the sign simply had on it "Piper's Tavern," painted on a board and fastened to the front of . the upper porch. It was called the Bucks county hotel, while Jacob Keichline was landlord, and was not called Pipersville until a post office was established,. in 1845, and David Glick appointed postmaster.
The Sollidays, of Bucks county and other parts of Pennsylvania, were French Huguenots, driven from France during the religious persecution of the seventeenth century. They first fled to Germany, where they became Germanized, subsequently coming to America. While the name "Solliday," the present spelling in Pennsylvania, does not appear in Rupp's list of thirty thousand immigrants, who arrived between 1727 and 1776, persons who set- tled here were the ancestors of the family in America. The name is variously spelled."" The family first appeared in Bucks county, so far as we are informed, in 1762, when Frederick Solliday settled in Bedminster, and purchased one hun- dred and forty-two acres and one hundred and twenty-seven perches of Will- iam Allen, May 6. He may have been there prior to this date, from the recital in the deed, which says the land was there "in his actual possession and seisin." His occupation is given as "shoemaker." The name at that time was spelled several ways. Of Frederick Solliday but little is known. He had sons. Frederick, Jacob, who purchased the homestead of the father, 1794; Daniel. Henry. Emanuel and Benjamin. Frederick Solliday. the immi- grant, died, 1804, and his sons, Jacob, Emanuel and Henry administered to- his estate, August 8. In the letters of administration the name is spelled "Sallade." The son Frederick died 1782, and Michael Weisel, Jr., administered to his estate, October 21. His widow died. 1794. and Michael Weisel also administered to her estate. Her name was Elizabeth and on her petition March 10, 1783, the court appointed Weisel guardian for her minor children, and on her subsequent petition, September 13, 1783. the same person was ap- pointed guardian of her youngest child. "born since the decease of the father, aged three months." On November 6. 1797, the child Frederick petitioned the court to appoint his uncle Emanuel Solliday, his guardian, "having arrived at the age of fourteen years." The first recorded will of the Sollidays, we meet with, is that of Joseph Salladay of Plumsteadville, executed January 29. 1825, and probated April 21, leaving a widow Anne and children, Samuel, Lewis and John N. Salliday. The will is signed Joseph "Salladay," but at the head, is written Joseph "Sollade." Sarah Solliday, died at Doylestown. 1867. and her will probated August 2, Daniel Solladay died in Springfield. 1873, and his
10 Sept. 18, 1749, Ship Ann, Capt. John Spurnier, from Rotterdam, 242 passengers from Basil, Zebeibruckan, Wertemburg and Darmstadt, and among the passengers was "Jacob Salathe." Oct. 4, 1751, Ship Queen, of Denmark. Capt. George Pariah, from Rot- terdam, 252 passengers, came "Jacob Salade." Oct. 16, 1732. Ship Snow. Kelly, master, from Rotterdam, came Nicholas "Salada." October 3. 1764, Ship King of Prussia, came Michael and Thomas "Salade." Doubtless the reason for this difference in spelling the name was the fault of the clerk at the port of arrival trying to spell it as pronounced in English. There is a Salladasburg in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania.
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will probated June 27, and Benjamin Solliday died at Doylestown, 1885. John N. Solliday, the most prominent member of the family in this county, was county auditor two terms, 1862-63, and 1875-77. The family was patriotic and served the country in the Revolution. Melchior Sallada, an armorer by trade, enlisted in Captain Lewis Farmer's company, Colonel Miles' regiment, April 6, 1776, but was discharged by order of Congress to re-enter the service as armorer. Frederick, Emanuel and John Soliday were members of the Bed- minster company of Associators, Captain Robinson, Third Associated Bat- talion. Daniel Sallada, a private in the Third Pennsylvania Continental regiment, was living in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, 1835, at the age of : ninety-six. The first colonel was Joseph Wood, succeeded by Colonel Thomas
.Craig, and was at Brandywine and Monmouth. The Salades were in the Minnisink, on the Upper Delaware, as early as 1752. The late Samuel Solli- .day, New Hope, was several years in business at Doylestown. Thomas C. Atherholt, Philadelphia, is a descendant of the Sollidays in the female line.
There is a labyrinth of roads in Bedminster, but little is known of those . earliest laid out, being difficult to recognize the local roads after the lapse of so many years, and a change of name. The township is cut by three of the great arteries of travel that traverse the county; the Durham and Easton roads passing through the southeast corner of the township, and intersecting at Pipersville, the Old Bethlehem road forms the northwest boundary, while the Swamp road separates it from Hilltown on the west. The first township road that we have a record of, was laid out, 1748, running from the road from "Colvin's ferry (on Delaware) to Philadelphia," to John Clymer's mill on Tohickon, and thence by the Presbyterian and Mennonite meeting-houses to the Old Bethlehem road. In 1755 a road was probably laid out from the Dur- ham road to Jacob Stout's mill on the Tohickon and the Tohickon church, and thence toward the county line. A road was laid out, 1765, from Deep Run meeting-house to the Easton road, and the following year one was opened from the meeting-house to Tohickon church. About 1800 a bridge was built over Deep Run, near the meeting-house.
The Troughs were early settlers in Bedminster, doubtless among the ear- liest of the Germans. ' Ralph Trough, or Traugh, was there, 1741, when the township was organized. In 1763, Rudolph Traugh bought three hundred acres of Thomas and Richard Penn, and at his death, 1772. the land was di- vided between his two sons, Henry and Adam. On February 20, 1787, Henry Traugh and wife. Mary, conveyed this tract to Rudolph, son of said Henry, and March 2, 1787. Rudolph and wife conveyed thirty-one acres of its tract to Adam Yost.
. The Scheetzes, a numerous family of Bedminster and the other townships in the upper end of the county, are descended from Conrad Scheetz, who about a hundred years ago, with his brother Philip immigrated from Germany and settled at Germantown. They were married and brought their families with them. Conrad Scheetz carried on the business of a hatter, and many farmers from Bucks and Montgomery bought their hats of him when going to or from market. He had several children, among which were George, Jacob, Charles, Samuel, Mary, Eliza and Elizabeth, all of whom lived and died in Philadelphia county except George, the oldest son. He came to Bucks county and settled in Bedminster township about eighty-five years ago, at what is now known as Keller's Church. He married a Fluck and had a fam- ily of nine children, eight sons and. one daughter, all of whom married and had families. George Scheetz died about 1861, and his widow, 1875, aged
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