USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. I > Part 11
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IS The only Thomas marked on the Pine Point tree was a son of James Cooper, born 1736 and whose wife was Sarah Erwin t
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
shall demand it." What about this swamp at the present day? Is it still a swamp, or long since drained ?
Near Peinsbury was the "Indian field," where Indians dwelt after they had generally left the vicinity of the settlements. It was the custom of Indians. to burn the underbrush, which made it easier to travel through the woods ; and no doubt "Indian fields" were only localities where the timber had been burnt off.
Our treatment of roads in a separate chapter under a general head, leaves but little for us to say of local roads in the respective townships. They were opened as called for by the necessities of the inhabitants. In Falls were the earliest roads opened, there being a thoroughfare through the township long. before Penn's arrival, although it was neither well opened nor kept in repair. In 1703 the inhabitants of "Middle-Lots." now Langhorne, petitioned for a road from. Falls meeting-house to Bristol, via Anthony Burton's. In 1709 a road was opened from the main road to the river, below the falls, to enable people to eross the river to Mahlon Stacy's mill. The road from the river, opposite the falls to Langhorne, then called "Cross lanes," was opened. 1710. In 1723, at the instance of Sir William Keith, a road was laid out from the ferry below the falls to Sir William's plantation. This was probably the upper river road, as it led to Thomas Yardley's mill. In 1744 the inhabitants of Make- field and Wrightstown petitioned to have this road re-opened, as it had been closed in several places. To the petition was the name of John Beaumont. In 1752 a lateral road was opened from the Yardley's mill road across to the one that ran via Falls meeting-house to Bristol, and, 1769, it was extended across to the road from Newtown to the meeting-house.
Falls township has five villages, none of any size, but all pleasant hamlets. Fallsington. in the northern part. is on the road from Kirkbride's ferry to Hulmeville, and was first called a village in Scott's Gazetteer, 1795. Tullytown is in the southwest corner on the turnpike and close to the Bristol line. It was named after one Tully, who owned land here. In 1816 lots were laid out, one being reserved for a church and another for a school-house, and was sub- sequently described as "a small town on the westermost side of the Manor, near and adjoining Martin's lane end." The population of Fallsington. 1870. was 211 and Tullytown. 150, but both have grown meanwhile. Here is a famous tavern, the "Black Horse," of which more will be said in the chapter on "Old Taverns." Tyburn, about the middle of the township on the Bristol turnpike, was laid out more than three quarters of a century ago and was doubt- less called after Tyburn, England, where public execution took place in early days. It is thought the first man executed in Bucks county was hanged here. hence the name. Oxford Valley, on the road from Fallsington to Lang- horne, partly in Middletown, will be noticed in the latter township, and Emilie near Fallsington. The latter, formerly called "Centleville." has a church and school house, and was in part built on land that belonged to "Fox Hunter" John . Brown. In a petition to the court over a century ago, mention is made of a "late settlement at Penn's Manor," but what reference this had is not known.
The surface of the manor portion of the township is level, while the residue has a gentle declivity toward the Delaware. The northern part is somewhat broken by the Edge Hills, which cross the county from the Delaware to the Schuylkill, and in the southwestern part is Turkey hill, a slight elevation above the surrounding level country. It is watered by Mill, Scott's, and other ereeks. Falls township has a river front of ten or twelve miles, which affords several valuable fisheries, and, lying on tide-water, has all the facilities given by
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
river navigation. No township in the county has a richer or more productive soil, or less waste land. Some years ago the farmers turned their attention to the cultivation of tobacco, and large crops were raised and sold. Biles's, Moon's and Savage's islands belong to Falls.
In the olden time Falls and the neighboring townships must have been a good range for crows, judging from the number killed and paid for by the county. In 1816 the county treasurer paid out $264.88 for crow-scalps, taken in Falls and Lower Makefield, which, at the rate of three pence per head, makes the number killed 7.946. An article on the subject at that period. concludes: "Those who annually receive considerable sums from the county treasury. are in a state of alarm, lest the Breeders should have been all destroyed."
When Congress had in contemplation the locating of the seat of Govern- ment on the west bank of the Delaware at the falls, 1789. the proposed Federal district fell mostly in this township, covering the site of Morrisville. The plat was surveyed by William Harvey and Isaac Hicks.
Falls is among the most populous townships in the county, but we are not able to give the population earlier than 1784, when it was 908 whites and 61 blacks, nor can we give it at each decade since that time. In 1810 it was 1,649: 1820, 1,880 ; 1830, 2,266, and 397 taxables : 1840, 2.068 ;1-12 1850, 2,271 ; 1860, 2,316; 1870, 2.298." of which 194 were of foreign birth; 1880, 2,385; 1890, 2.463 : 1900, 1,850 ; Tullytown Boro, 528.
But few, if any, agricultural districts in the state have a more intelligent and cultivated population than Falls township. The postoffices are Fallsington, established, 1849. and James Thompson appointed postmaster : Tullytown, 1829, and Joseph Hutchinson postmaster ; and Oxford Valley, 1849. when John G. Spencer was appointed postmaster, and held the office to his death, March 31. 1807, at the age of 94. He was born in Northampton township, and re- moved to Falls after arriving at manhood. Few postmasters in the county have been longer in commission.
The Ellets were early settlers in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but we do not know at.what time they came into the former colony. Andrew Ellet was in Bucks county as early as 1700, and on 14th of 2d month. John Hiett conveyed to him 220 acres in Lower Makefield, bounded by Richard Hough. Acreman and others. William Ellet, probably lived and died in Falls, executed this will 20th of 12th mo., 1714, and was admitted to probate September 15. 1721, leaving his plantation to his son-in-law, James Downey, after the death of his wife. He had children, Ann Shalleross, Elizabeth Dowdney (probably Downey ). Mary Hawkings and Sarah Bidgood. Charles Ellet. N. J., married Hannah Carpenter ( daughter of Samuel Carpenter ) born 1743, died 1820, mar- ried, 1765, and had six children : John, born 1760, died May 10, 1824, married Mary Smith. Salem county, N. J., Sarah, Charles. William, Rachel Carpenter. and Mary, Hannah Carpenter Ellet, daughter of John and Mary Ellet, born .No- vember, 1793. died April 20, 1862; Charles Ellet. son of Charles and Hannah Ellet. born 1777. died 1847. married, 1801, Mary. daughter of Israel Israel,
Philadelphia. She was living, 1870, at the age of of. They had four children, and their son Charles, and grandson. Charles Rivers. performed signal service on the Mississippi in the Civil War. Charles Ellet was the father of the ram system. The President and Congress
1814 We can not account for this falling off compared with 18.30.
19 In 1870 the census of Tullytown was taken separately from the township.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
reiused to listen to his recommendations until driven to it by stern neces- The Ellets were potent factors with Admiral Porter in clearing the western rivers of the Confederate iron clads. William Ellet, only son wi Charles Ellet. Jr., graduated at an early age, from the University of Virginia, went to Germany to complete his education and committed suicide there. The civil engineer's daughter married the eldest son of Cabell, Nelson county, Virginia.
The Ivins family were later settlers in Bucks county coming in through New Jersey, but we do not know at what time. Isaac Ivins, the immigrant, was married three times, his first wife being Sarah Johnson, their marriage certi- ficate bearing date 4 mo., 26, 1711. The name of his second wife was Lydia, and the third, Ann. He died, 1768. He mentions all the wives in his will. Hle lived and died in Mansfield township. Burlington county, and was a store- keeper by occupation. His children were Ann, Diadema. Moses, Aaron, born 8. 30, 1736, and died 6. 2, 1799. Isaac, Joseph and Levi. In 1792, Aaron lvins, son of Isaac, Burlington county, but we are not informed whether the junior or senior, but as he married Ann Cheshire. 1764. he was prob- ably son of Isaac the second, brought his wife, Ann, and chil- Åren, Samuel, Ann, Mary and Barclay. and settled in Falls, to which meeting he brought a certificate. In 1796 he purchased 389 acres of Langhorne Biles on the Delaware for £5.835 or $15.560 equivalent to $40 per acre. The earlier descendants of Aaron Ivins intermarried with the families of Middleton, Cook, Comfort, Buckman, Smith, Taylor, Green and others well known in the lower end of the county. The late Dr. Horace Fremont Ivins, born in Penn's manor, October 30, 1856, and died at Easton, Pennsyl- vania. January 8. 1898. was a descendant. He was graduated from the Hahne- mann Medical College. Philadelphia, 18,9. then spent a year in Europe. the greater part of his time in the hospitals of London and Vienna. Upon his re- turn he settled down in practice and became prominent in special branches. William H. Ivins, Camden, N. J., is a descendant of the Burlington county's immigrant.
Biles's island, in the Delaware, a mile below the falls, containing 300 acres, was sold to William Biles about 1680, by Orecton, Nannacus. Nenem- blahocking and Patelana, free native Indians, in consideration of fio, but was not actually conveyed by deed. On March 19, 1729, Lappewins and Captain Cambansh. two Indian "Sachems," heirs and successors of the Indians above named, confirmed the island to William Bites, Jr .. son of William Biles the eller. now deceased, in consideration of fy in Indian goods. The deed contained a warranty against the grantors, their heirs and all other Indians.29
20 In 1723 the island in the Delaware at the upper end of Falls township was called "Joseph Wood's island." and contained 3112 acres. Joseph Wood's tract opposite, in Falls, then contained 600 acres, including the island. This was according to Cutler's resurvey, 1703.
WRIGHTSTOWNIT
H.W. U.H. P.
MAP OF MANOR of HIGHLANDS.
NE 334.8
JOHN CLARK GOV'T SMITH.
SOLEAURY
KIALE
THOMAS
VACANT
N.W. 3568
N BLACKFAN
NE 279. 2.
JOHN BYD
LONDON COMPANY
JEFFERY BURGE
THOMAS ROSS
GREAT SPRING 6
SIL BERT WHEELER
JOHN PIDCOCK
5.3.100
SAM ( HUMAY NO BAKLA 5524
JH 44!
LNHOWEVER
PART OF MANUROF HIGHLANDS.
E. 524.2
ROBERT HEATH
DELAWARE RIVER
DEG? SOUTH ING PERCHES
CHAPTER VIII.
MAKEFIELD.
1692.
First named in report .- Origin of name .- Macclesfield .- Falls of Delaware objective point. -Order of settlers on river .- William Yardley's tract .- Richard Hough .- Old mar- riage certificate .- Briggs family : Stockton : Mead .- Friends' meeting .- Old graveyard. -llenry Marjorum .- Two Makefields one .- Daniel Clark .- Livezey family .- The Briggses .- Three brothers Slack .- Reverend Elijah and General James Slack .- The Janneys .- Edgewood .- Dolington .- Yardleyville .- First store-house .-- Wheat Sheaf .- First lock-tender .- Negro killed .- Yardley of today .- Stone quarries .-- Oak Grove school-house .-- Area of township .- Taxes and population.
Makefield is the first township named in the report of the jury that sub- divided the county, 1692. We give it the second place in our work becauses Falls is justly entitled to the first. It was the uppermost of the four river town- ships, and not only embraced what is now Lower Makefield, but extended to the uttermost bounds of civilization. All beyond was then an "undiscovered country." whose exploration and settlement were left to adventurous pioneers. Lower Makefield is bounded on the land side, by Falls, Newtown and Upper Makefield, and has a frontage of five miles on the Delaware.
There has been some discussion as to the origin of the name "Makefield." which the jury gave to this township, and which it bore until Upper Makefield was organized many years afterward. There is no name like it in England of town, parish, or hundred. When John Fothergill, minister among Friends, london, visited the township. 1721. he wrote the name "Macclesfield" in his journal. It is just possible that Makefield is a corruption of Macclesfield. or that the latter was pronounced Makefield by the early English settlers, and the spelling made to accord with the pronunciation. In the will of Henry Mar- jorum, an early settler, the name of the township is written "Maxfield," but wie remove from Macclesfield.1 But all this is mere conjecture, in face of the
1 In the manuscript book of arrivals, library Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Macclesheld is written "Maxfield." and all historians of Cheshire state this fact. Tysons says : "The chapelry of Macclesfield" is frequently called in ancient records "Maxfield," P. 734. Richard Hough came from "Maxfield" and being one of the principal men appointed to lay out the township, it is possible it was called Maxfield, or Macclesheld. out c: deference to him. At Macclestield, England, is a quaint old church, the oldest part
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
fact that the jury, which laid off the township, spelled the word, plain enough. Makefield.
The "falls of Delaware" was an objective point to Penn's first immigran :.. for a little colony of English settlers had gathered there several years before whither many directed their footsteps upon landing. whence they spread .... into the wilderness beyond. Several settlers pushed their way into the word, of Makefield as early as 1682. Richard Hough, in his will made about 17 .. gives the following as the order of the land-owners along the river from ti . falls up: John Palmer, Richard Hough, Thomas Janney, Richard Vicker -. Samuel Overton, John Brock, one thousand acres: John Clows, one thousan : acres ; William Yardley, five hundred acres ; Eleanor Pownall, Thomas Bond. James Harrison. Thoma. Hudson, Daniel Milnor, two hundred and fifty acres; Joseph Milnor, two hundred and fifty acres ; Henry Bond and Richard Hough five hundred acres, warrant dated September 20th, 1685, patent July 30th, 16% ;. Harrison owned in all five thousand acres here and elsewhere, and Bond was a considerable proprietor. The usual quantity held by settlers was from two hun- dred and fifty to one thousand acres." The parties named held nearly all the land in the township in 1704. The tract of William Yardley covered the site of Yardley, and, after his death, his son Thomas established a ferry ther .. called "Yardley's ferry." which the Assembly confirmed to him in 1722. This soon after became an important point. and, later in the century, when the three great roads leading to Philadelphia, via the Falls, Four Lanes end. now Lang- horne, and Newtown terminated there, the ferry became a thoroughfare of trave! and traffic for a large section of East Jersey.
Richard Hough, from Macclesfield, county Chester, England. arrived in the ship Endeavor, of London, 7th mo. 29th. 1683, with four servants, or de- pendants. He settled on the river front, Bucks county, taking up two tracts of land, one two miles below the site of Yardley, the other joining Penn's manor of Highlands : the upper having a width of half a mile on the river, and rum n back a mile and three quarters, the lower extending inland nearly three mik -. with a width of a quarter of a mile. Richard Hough married Margery daughter of John Clows. Ist mo .. 17. 1683-4. in the presence of many friend- This was one of the earliest marriages among the English settlers, and William Yardley and Thomas Janney were appointed to see that it was "orderly dove and performed." Five children were born of this marriage : Mary. Sarah. Ri- ard. John and Joseph, who intermarried with the families of Bainbridge. Shal- cross, Brown. Gumbly. Taylor and West, and left many descendants. Dr. Silas Hough, son of Isaac Hough and Edith Hart, was a great-grandson vi Richard Hough. the immigrant and his wife; a descendant of John Hart, a minister among Friends from Witney, Oxfordshire, England, who settled " :: Byberry. Philadelphia county. 1682. John Hough, Cheshire, England. wl> arrived the same year as Richard Hough, with his wife Hannah, was probali a cousin.
Richard Hough early became prominent in the new colony in political. - cial and religious affairs. He was a leading member in Falls- meeting, and be-
dating back to the thirteenth century, and contains some curious tombe of the Savas. family. The curiew is still rung at 8 p. m.
2 The following were the land-owners in Makefield in 1684: Richard Hough. Hours Baker, Joseph Milnor. Daniel Milnor. Thomas Hudson. James Harrison. Thomas B . i Henry Siwell, Edward Luffe, Eleanor Pownall, William Pownalt, John Clows. I ... Brock, Samad Overion. Thomas Janney, Richard Vickers.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
iore the meeting house was built, 1690, his house was one of the meeting places of the Bucks county quarterly meeting. He was one of the jury that laid out the original townships of the county, 1692; represented the county in the Provin- cial Assembly of 1684, 1688, 1690, 1697, 1699, 1700, 1703, 1704, and was a member of the Provincial Council, 1693, and 1700. He was active in both bodies, and left his impress on the early legislation of the Province. He held other public offices, including that of justice of the county, and, 1700, William l'enn appointed Richard Hough, Phineas Pemberton and William Biles. a court of inquiry to investigate the state of his (Penn's) affairs in the Province. While in the meridian of his usefulness, Richard Hough met an untimely death. being drowned in the Delaware, March 25, 1705, on his way from his home to Philadelphia. His will is dated May 1, 1704. Among the old marriage certi- ficates that have fallen into our hands, is that of "Robert Smith, Makefield town- ship, Carpenter," and Phoebe, daughter of Thomas Canby, Solebury, married at Buckingham Meeting, September 30, 1719. It was formally drawn on parchi- ment, and the signature well executed. It bears the names of Bye. Pearson, Eastburn, Fell, Paxson, and many others, whose descendants still worship at the meeting.
The Yardleys are supposed to have come into England with William the Conqueror, but the name is not met with until 1215, when William Yardley appears as a witness at the signing of Magna Charta. From that date all trace of the name is lost until 1400, and after that, the trace is complete. The first immigrant of the name to come to America was William Yardley, of Lansclough, Staffordshire. who, with wife Jane, sons Enoch. William and Thomas, and servant Andrew Heath,3 arrived at the Falls, Bucks county, September 28, 1682. He located 500 acres on the west bank of the Delaware covering the site of Yardley, Lower Makefield township. The homestead was called "Prospect Farm," a name it still retains, and is in possession of a member of the family.+ The warrant was dated October 6, 1682, and the patent Janu- ary 23, 1687. William Yardley, born 1632, and a minister among Friends at twenty-five, was several times imprisoned. From the first he took a prominent part in the affairs of the infant colony. He signed the Great Charter, repre- sented Bucks county in the first Assembly, and was a member of the Executive Council. He was an uncle of Phineas Pemberton, one of Penn's most trusted friends and counselors, but in the midst of his usefulness. William Yardley died, 1693, and his wife and children scon followed him. Thomas Janney wrote of him, about the time of his death : "He was a man of sound mind and good understanding." William Yardley and his family being dead, his prop- erty in America reverted to his heirs in England, his brother Thomas and nephews, Thomas and Samuel, sons of Thomas. In 1694, Thomas, the younger son. came over with power of attorney to settle the estate. "Prospect Farm" became his property by purchase, and he settled in Lower Makefield, spending his life here, 12 month. 1706. Thomas Yardley married Ann. daughter of William Biles, the wedding taking place at Pennsbury, and they had issue ten children : Mary, Jane, Rebecca, Sarah, Joyce, William. Hannah, Thomas, Samuel, and Samuel second. Thus Thomas Yardley became the ancestor of
3 They came in the ship "Friend's Adventure," and Andrew Heath married the widow of William Venables.
4 Dr. Buckman gives it as his opinion that the original house of William Yardley was on the Dolington road. a mile from the village of Yardley.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
all that bear the name in Bucks county and many in other parts of the country, with a numerous posterity in the female line. There is another Yardley famil, in Bucks descended from a Richard Yardley of Solebury township, supposed to be of the same ancestry as the Lower Makefield Yardleys, but it has not set been established. Samuel Yardley, Doylestown, who married Mary Hough, belonged to the Solebury family.
Of the old Makefield families, the Briggses trace their descent, on the pa- ternal side, back nearly two centuries, through the Briggses, Storys, Croasdales. Cutlers and Hardings, to Ezra Croasdale, who married Ann Peacock, I68 ;. On the maternal side the line runs back through the Taylors, Yardleys, etc. to John Town, who married Deborah Booth, 1691. Barclay Knight's male line on the paternal side, in so far as the Makefield family is concerned, runs back three generations to Jonathan Knight, who married Grace Croasdale, 174S. while his mother's ancestry, on the paternal side, runs back to Job Bunting, who married Rachel, daughter of Henry Baker, 1689, and on the maternal to William and Margaret Cooper, through the Idens, Walnes, the Stogdales and Wool- stons. The Stocktons, more recent in the township, are a collateral branch of the Princeton family. The first in this county was John Stockton, born June 15, 1768, who was the son of John, a New Jersey judge, a nephew of Rich- ard Stockton, the Signer. The latter descended from Richard, a Friend, who came to America between 1660 and 1670, first settled on Long Island and after- ward purchased a large tract of land near Princeton. John's father and broth- ers, owning large landed estates, remained loyal to the crown in the Revolu- tionary struggle, and lost their lives in the war and their property by confisca- tion. John Stockton settled near Yardleyville, in Lower Makefield, and married Mary Vansant, in 1794, who died August 19. 1844. They had ten children, Ann, Joseph, Sarah, Eliza, Mary Ann, John B., Charity, Isaiah and Eleanor, who intermarried with the Hibbses, Leedoms, Derbyshires, Browns, Palmers and Houghs. The descendants are numerous in the lower end of the county, and among them was the late Doctor John Stockton Hough, of Philadelphia. He was a son of the late Eleanor, who married William Aspy Hough. of Ewing, New Jersey. The Meads were in Makefield as early as 1744. when Andrew Elle: conveyed to William Mead two hundred and twenty acres on the Delaware, adjoining Richard Hough. He sold his land to Hezekiah Anderson in 1747, and left the township. Ellet was also an early settler, and his patent is dated September 26, 1701.
Makefield had been settled near three-quarters of a century before the Friends had a meeting house to worship in-in all those long years going down to Falls. In (to the "upper parts" of Makefield asked permission of Falls to have a meeting on first-days, for the winter season, at Samuel Baker's, John Baldwin's and Thomas Atkinson's which was allowed. In 1750, the Falls monthly gave leave to the Makefield Friends to hold a meeting for worship every other Sunday, at the lionses of Benjamin Taylor and Benjamin Gilbert, because of the difficulty of going down there. A meeting-house was built, in 1752, twenty-five by thirty feet, one story high, which was enlarged in 1764. by extending the north end twenty feet, at a cost of £120.
The town-hip presents us a relic of her early days, in an ancient burial place, called the "old stone graveyard," half a mile below Yardleyville." The
5 One account says the deed was executed I mo .. 7. 1686, to William Yardley and others, in trust. It was then called "Slate Pit Hill." Down to 1800 it was the principal: burying ground for Friends in the township.
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 85
ground was given, June 4, 1690, to the Falls Monthly Meeting, by Thomas Janney, before his return to England, where he died. There is but one stone standing, or was a few years ago, to mark the last resting place of one of the "rude forefathers" of the township, a brown sandstone, twenty-seven inches lugh, eighteen wide and six thick, the part out of the ground being dressed. On the face, near the top, are the figures "1692," and the following inscription below : "Here lies the body of Joseph Sharp. the son of Christopher Sharp." 1.or upward of a half century the two Makefields were included in one town- ship organization, and known by the name of Makefield. They were still one, 1742, but for the convenience of municipal purposes they were divided into two divisions, and called "upper" and "lower" division.
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