USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. I > Part 15
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
GROWDEN MANSION, BENSALEM: REAR VIEW.
side has been covered with a coat of plaster, and a story added. The noble trees forming an avenne that led to the mansion have nearly all disappeared. Gabriel Thomas speaks of the Growden residence, in 1606. as "a very noble and fine house, very pleasantly situated, and likewise a famous orchard, wherein are contained above a thousand apple trees." In 1708 Oldmixon bears testimony to the worth of Joseph Growden, and his great services in planting this county with English colonists. Dying in 1730, his son Lawrence took his place. Ile was a man of ability and attainments ; was a member of Assembly, and Speaker, in 1739; and a Commissioner, with Benjamin Eastburn and Richard Peters. tu run the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland. At his death. in 1770, his real estate descended to his daughter Grace, the wife of Joseph Galloway.
Joseph Growden's daughter Grace married David Lloyd, a Friend and leading man in the Province. He was born in Wales in 1656, and came to
6 The elder.
4
109
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Pennsylvania, 1686. He lost a promising little son, seven or eight years old, under painful circumstances. A relative, in whose care he was left, in the absence of his mother, put him into a closet in the cellar for a trivial offense, which frightened him into fits, of which he died. William Penn, who was in the province at the time, writes to a friend, "poor Grace has borne her affliction to admiration." She is spoken of as "a very fine woman, of great piety, good sense, excellent conduct, and engaging manners," a good endorsement of a Bucks county woman of the early day. Her husband died in 1731, but she survived him many years, and was buried beside him in Friends' graveyard, near Chester.7
An old diary, giving an insight into colonial life at Trevose, says: "The Galloway family lived in great style and were looked upon as 'great folks' by the neighborhood. Grace and her daughter Elizabeth would ride out in her coach and four horses and pay their visits, which were select. Jane Collison, Grace Kirkbride, Mary Richardson, and her daughters, Mary and Ruth, were the only persons in the neighborhood they visited, and them but once a year. They would stay and take.tea ; the horses must not be taken from the coach, but stand before the door. and the driver stands by and mind them until they were ready to go home. Harry W. Watson, Langhorne, in a paper read before the Bucks County Literary Society, January 19, 1899. says of the old home and its guests in colonial days : "The mansion is as solid as when built. 200 years ago. There has been but slight change to alter the outside appearance. This old house, in its day, saw many a distinguished guest. Here Penn held council, and laws were formed for the better government of the colony : here Franklin discussed the laws of electricity, whereby he brought from the heavens the power that moves the mechanical world : here the eminent but erratic Galloway lived, who opposed the separating of the colonies, and whose influence was so strong with congress that the members who favored independence recognized his force and took urgent measures against him. This old mansion is worthy of consideration by those interested in historie research."
Nathaniel Allen arrived from Bristol, England, December, 16SI, with wife Eleanor, and children Nehemiah, Eleanor and Lydia, landing at Robert Wade's, Chester creek. He was one of the three Commissioners Penn joined with Governor Markham, to confer with the Indians about the purchase of land. He held the office of Crown Inspector of wooden measures, and had to attest their capacity as fixed by law. and affix a stamp before they could be sold. He took up a tract of land on Neshaminy, extending to the Delaware, and adjoining that of Joseph Growden, 72, dying there in 1602. The blood of these early pioneers of Bucks county mingled in the fourth generation. In a previous chapter we have taken notice of Duncan Williamson, one of the pioneer settlers of Bensa- lem. Samuel Allen. also from near Bristol. England, with Mary, his wife, and children Priscilla, Martha, Ann. Sarah and Samuel, arrived at Chester in the Bristol Factor, December 11, 1681. In the spring he took up a tract of land on
7 The Growden homestead is now owned and occupied by the sons of Charles W. . Taylor.
71/2 Growden was a man of large wealth for the time and the inventory of his property is in the Register's office. Doylestown. Among others $12.000 was in bonds and notes : $9,000 in stock, farm implements, and furniture; 20 head of cattle, a chariot, three car- riages, two sleighs, an ox wagon, and ten ploughs. His mowing was done with nine sickels. His home was filled with fine furniture, and wines, rum and other drinkables were . stored in his cellars.
TIO
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
the west bank of the Neshaminy, in Bensalem, where he died 20th of yth month, 1702, and was buried on the homestead farm. The place was afterward used as a family burying-ground. The homestead was occupied by Samuel Allen Stackhouse in recent years. The first Samuel Allen conveyed, in his lifetime, a considerable portion of his real estate to his children, his son Samuci getting the homestead and two hundred and sixty acres, and two hundred acre. additional near John Swift's mill on the Neshaminy. In 1606 three hundred acres on the east side of the Neshaminy were conveyed to his son-in-law, John Baldwin. The following year he procured an act of Assembly establishing a ferry over Neshaminy at what is now Schenck's station, and was called Bald- win's ferry. The second Samuel Allen died in 1735. leaving his land to his sons. Samuel and William, and legacies to his other children. The one hundred and sixty acres of Samuel lay on the north side of the "King's highway," and re- mained in the family through six generations, and until 1871. Two generations of Pauls owned the tract. The homestead property is situated near Bridge- water.
Among those who settled in Bensalem, at a later day than the first English colonists, were the Vandegrifts." Vansants, Vanhornes, Tomlinsons, Rodmans. Galloways, Gibbses. Benczets. Kingstons, Jameses, Willets and others. Some of these names became prominent in public affairs, and were of the highest re- spectability, and some of the families retain a leading position in the township. ">
In 1697 four brothers Vandegrift. Nicholas. Leonard, Johannes and Frederick, came to Bucks county and settled in Bensalem. The first of July they purchased of Joseph Growden, respectively, two hundred and fourteen, one hundred and thirty, one hundred and six and one hundred and six acres of land lying on the Neshaminy. Johannes died March, 1745. On the Bristol turnpike, just above Andalusia College, is the Vandegrift graveyard. where rest the remains of many members of the family. The ground, half an acre. was given by Fulkard Vandegrift. 1775. and is part of the two hundred acres that Joseph Growden conveyed to Nicholas Vandegrift, in 1697.2: Among others are stones to the memory of Abraham Vandegrift, who died February 20. 1781. aged eighty-three years, and his wife, Charity, July 6. 1786. aged eighty-five years and six months, and John Vandegrift, the husband of Ann,
8 Abraham Vandegrift was constable. 1777
812 The date of arrival of the Vandegrift brothers is in doubt. In the first edition it was 1670, but was changed to 1097. In the Lampen family, which intermarried into the Vandegrifts, is an heirloom in the shape of a glass flask brought from Holland by the brothers, bearing a date of which the first thice figures are clear and distinct, the fourth no longer legible. They are 107-but whether they stand for date of sailing, or the bottles manufacture, the family cannot positively say, but was always supposed to be the latter.
834 The following bit of romance is told of the wife of William Vandegrift, son of Cornelius, and probably a descendant of Nicholas Vandegrift, one of the immigrant- He married Lucy Wilgus. Dutchess county. N. Y. daughter of a rich father. She lived at home until seventeen, when she and a girl friend, wishing to "see the world" went down the Hudson to New York on a raft. and thence across the country to the Delaware. Growing tired of wandering. and ashamed to return home. they settled down near New- portville, and supported themselves by spinning and dressmaking. Here Lucy Wilgus became Mrs. Vandegrift. June 29. 1767, and the mother of five children. The husband was born January, 1765. died June 17. 1834; the wife born March, 1773, died March 24. 1843.
1
-
III
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
who died August 27, 1765, aged seventy-eight years. No doubt these were Mullren of the first comers of the name, and John was born before the family settled in the county. Among other tenants of this old graveyard is Edward l'eter Aublay, a name now extinct in the township, born June 8, 1767, and died May 30, 1796. The Vansants came about the same time as the Vandegrifts. February 12, 1698. Joseph Growden conveyed one hundred and fifty acres to Garrett Vansant," and the same quantity to his son Cornelius, on the Neshaminy. The will of Johannes Vansant, of Bensalem, is dated October 30, 1714, and he probably died the following December. The Garrett Vansant, who died in Wrightstown in 1746, where he owned real estate, was probably son of the Bensalem Garrett.1. The Vanhornes came into the township at a little later period. but after they had already been settled in the county. April 20, 1722, John Baker, of Bensalem, conveyed one hundred and seven acres and fifty-two perches in this township to Johannes Vanhorne, of Warminster, and on the 6th of May, same year. Bernard Christian, of Bergen, New Jersey. conveyed two hundred and nine acres to Abraham Vanhorne, and, June 7, one hundred and seventy-six acres to Isaac Vanhorne, both of this county, which land probably lay in Bensalem or Southampton. John Vanhorne died in Bensalem, February 15. 1758. at the age of sixty-six years.11 These families came from Long Island, a great storehouse of Dutch immigrants in the early days of Penn- sylvania.12
The Tomlinsons were probably in the township the first quarter of the eighteenth century. John died in Bensalem, where he had lived most of his life, in ISoo, at the age of seventy-nine. He kept a journal. for half a century, in which he recorded many common-place events, and a few of interest. Among other things, we learn there was a slight shock of an earthquake felt there October 30, 1763. and a very white frost the fith of June, 1768. He had a good deal to say in his journal during the Revolutionary war, calls the Ameri- cans rebels, which does not speak well for his patriotism, heard the cannonading at Trenton, and mentions frequent depredations by both armies. The summer of rySo was a remarkably dry one, and crops suffered for want of rain. He records two shocks of an earthquake in Bensalem the 29th of November, the same year.
9 Then spelled Vansand and Van Zandt. See Vansant, Vol. III.
10 Ilarman Vansant died November 8th. 1815, aged eighty years.
IT The Van Hornes arrived at New Amsterdam, 1650, and John, son of Peter, was one of the earliest of the name to settle in Bucks, 1708-10: he was a farmer, as were most of the race, and a member of the Bensalem Church, and afterward a vestryman of St. James Episcopal. Bristol.
12 Nathaniel Vansant, a Captain in the Continental Army, lived and died on the home- stead in Bensalem, near the village of Brownsville. He was tall and sinewy and excelled in rough and tumble exercises of the day, such as running, jumping. etc. When the Revolution broke out he raised a company for Colonel Magaw's regiment and was captain at Fort Washington on the Hudson. lle was kept a prisoner a long time. but served again after his exchange. Some of his war papers are in the Bucks County Historical Society. He built the bridge over the Poquessing. 1805. on the Attleborough and Bustleton road, subsequently piked Captain Vansant died August 8, 1825, aged eighty and was buried at the Bensalem churchyard. His wife, Hannah Brittan, ched August 9. 1818. Among the descendants are the La Rues, Vanartsdalens, Dungans, Rhoads, Hogelands, Knights, Randalls, Shoemakers, et al.
4
112
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
The first of the Rodmans, who owned land in this county, was Doctor John the grandson of John who immigrated from England to Barbadoes. We -: Indies, and died there in 1686. Doctor John Rodman settled at Burlington. New Jersey, where he practiced medicine, to his death, 1756. He was an active Friend. Ile and Thomas Richardson owned a large tract of land in Warwick township as early as 1712. Doctor Rodman purchased land in Bensalem. on the Neshaminy, about the same time, on which he erected a dwelling. 1715. On this tract his son William, born on Long Island, May 5, 1720, and married Mary Revve, of Burlington, subsequently settled. He inherited it from his father and resided there until his death in 1794. The plantation was at fir -: called Rodmanda, but the name was changed to Flushing, his birthplace." This is one of the most notable homesteads in the county, and the old dwelling that had weathered the storms of one hundred and forty-six years, was torn down, 1861, to make room for a more modern structure. William Rodinan held several places of public trust. In 1768 he was appointed one of five com- missioners to treat with the Indians at Ft. Pitt, but declined on account of ill-health. He was in the Assembly several years, and in 1774 was a member of the Committee on Correspondence. His son William, born in Bensalem. October 7, 1757, and married to Esther West, in 1785, was a man of mark in his day. He was an earnest and active patriot in the Revolution, voluntarily taking the oath of allegiance in 1778, for which he was disowned by the Middle- town meeting, and served under General Lacey and in the militia in 1781. He was a justice of the peace for several years, member of the State Senate, com- manded a troop of horse in the "Fries Rebellion" in 1799.14 and was elected to Congress in 1812. His children married into the families of Ruan, Mell- vaine, Olden and Jones. All the Rodmans were friends of the struggling colo- nies. and Gilbert. father of the late Mrs. John Fox, of Doylestown, elder brother of William, was disowned by meeting for serving as Major in the second Bucks county battalion in the Amboy campaign of 1776. John Rodman owned nine hundred and sixty-seven acres in Amwell township, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, within three-fourths of a mile of the Delaware. By his will, dated June 3. 1756, he left this tract to his son William ; and the latter. by his will, December 1. 1789, left it to his sons William and Gilbert. On a re-survey, 1751. the tract was found to contain an overplus of five hundred and fifty-five acres, which was secured to John Rodman, by virtue of the "rights of propriety." purchased by him. The land was originally conveyed to him by lease and re-lease. June 17 and 18, 1735.15
Bensalem is noted for its large trees, probably two of them the largest in
13 Tradition says that in a log cabin at Flushing, lived and died Jean Francois. a soldier of Napoleon's "Old Guard," who was with the Emperor at Moscow and Waterloo. and became an exile in America when the Emperor was sent to St. Helena. He was long a gardener in the Taylor family, and after his death, was buried in Beechwood Cemetery. Hulmeville.
14 William Rodman was Ist Lieutenant of the troop, but the Captain restening about the time it was ordered into service, he took command and retained it until the trouble was over.
15 Rutly's History of the Quakers in Ireland: p. 366, published. 1751, says: "In the year 1655. for wearing his hat in the Assize in New Ross, was John Rodman com- mitted to goal by Judge Louder, kept a prisoner three months, and then banished that country." This was doubtless the ancestor of the Bucks county Rodmans and was sent to' Barbadoes. New Ross is a seaport of County Kilkenny.
113
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
the county, and among the largest east of the Rocky Mountains. About one hundred and sixty years ago, William Rodman, mentioned in a previous para- graph, on his return from a horseback ride, stuck his buttonwood riding switch in the ground by the side of a fine spring near the dwelling. It commenced to grow and continued, and, in the more than a century and a half intervening, its roots have absorbed the waters of the spring and the tree become a giant. The plantation is still known as "Flushing." It was owned many years by A. Murry Mellvain, but is now the property of E. W. Patton, member of the city council and superintendent of Fairmount Park. The tree is measured once a year, May 1, and, at the last measurement, the circumference was 29 feet 10 inches four and one-half fect from the ground. In the same vicinity, a mile from the buttonwood. on the farm of the late Walter Johnson. on the road leading from Newportville to Beechwood cemetery, near Hulmeville, but there is no record of its age, is a famous chestnut, whose measurement is 25 feet 6 inches four and one-half feet from the ground. Both of these trees are healthy.
The Galloways came from Maryland, where Joseph was born. of respecta- ble parentage, about 1730. He removed to Philadelphia in early life and estab- lished himself in the practice of the law, but, marrying Grace Growden, fixed his country home at Trevose. in Bensalem. He was much in public life, and was many years member of the Assembly, and Speaker. He was active in all the colonial measures against the British crown, was a member of the first Ameri- can Congress, 1774, signed the "non-importation," "non-consumption." and "non-exportation" acts, and, at that time, no man in the Province stood in greater favor. In 1776 he abandoned the Whig cause, joined the British army at New York, went to England. 1778, and was examined before a committe of par- liament, 1779. He now became very bitter toward his native country, and during the war, wrote much in defense of the crown. His estate, valued at £40,000, was confiscated,15 but as it came through his wife, it was restored to his only daughter Elizabeth, a beautiful girl who was quite the toast. as "Betsy Gal- loway." She married William Roberts, an Englishman, but the match was an unhappy one. They separated, and she gave her husband £2.000 for the privilege of retaining their only child Grace Ann, who was allowed to see her father in the presence of a third person. The daughter married Benjamin Burton, of the British army, and died in England. 1837. leaving several chil- dren. her youngest son, Adolphus Desart Burton, taking the Durham estates under his mother's will. The real estate in this county. principally in Bensalem and Durham townships, was sold. 1848. That in Bensalem, containing one thousand two hundred and ninety-five acres, was divided into eight tracts : Trevose. the old family seat, east Trevose, south Trevose, Belmont, mentioned
16 The act of Assembly forfeiting Galloway's estate, was passed March 6, 1778. Smith's Laws, 451. The persons named, and whose estates were forfeited were: Joseph Galloway, member U. S. Congress, John Allen, member of Committee of Inspection and Observation for the city of Philadelphia, Andrew Allen, member of Congress, William Allen, the younger. captain, afterward Lient. Col. of a regiment of foot in the U. S. service, James Rankin. Yeoman, York county ( his heirs tried to have this Act of Forfeiture removed by the Pennsylvania Legislature, session of 1879. See Allen Craig's speech against it). James Duche, Chaplain of Congress and Reetor of Christ Church, Philadel- phia, Christian Fonts, Lient. Col. of Militia, Lancaster county, Gilbert Hicks, Yeoman, Bucks county, Nathaniel Vernon, sheriff of Chester county, and Samuel Shoemaker, alder- man, Philadelphia. He died in England. The case of the restoration of the Galloway estate to his daughter, is reported in i Binney, page 1. Lessee of Pemberton, et al. vs. Hicks.
8
114
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
as early as 1700, west Belmont, Richelieu, south Richelieu, west Richelieu, and Richelieu forest. These tracts lay in the northeastern part of the township, four of them bordering the Neshaminy. \ ridge, called Belmont, crossed the estate, running from the Bristol road to the Neshaminy, and down that stream. After Mr. Galloway had deserted to the British, his office at Trevose was broken open and the documents and records scattered about. The late Abrahan Chapman bought a number of his law books. He was a man of great talent. and a politician by nature. After his defection he became a mark for the shafts of wit and anger of the period, and Trumbull lampoons him in his McFingal. Just before his escape a trunk was sent to him, which, on being opened, con- tained only a halter to hang himself. His path in life was filled with troubles and vexations.12:
Richard Gibbs, sheriff of the county before the Revolution, and otherwise prominent in public affairs, lived and died in Bensalem. He was born in Wilt- shire, England, 1723, of a good family, and received a good education. Being a younger son he was destined for a maritime life, which he did not like. and, arriving. at Philadelphia about 1746, left his ship. Falling in with Mr. Stevens, a farmer of Bensalem, he accompanied him home in his market wagon on the promise of a school to teach. While teaching he became acquainted with Law- rence Growden, county clerk, who gave him a clerkship in the office at Trevose, which he held several years. He was afterward elected sheriff. In 1770 he purchased a farm on the Bristol turnpike which he called Eddington, after a place of that name in his native county, in England, where Alfred the Great de- feated the Danes. He inherited a handsome estate by the decease of his elder brother. He was a warm friend of the colonies in the Revolutionary struggle. exhibiting his zeal in many ways, at one time loaning a large sum of money which Congress was not able to refund. The British troops frequently visited his house, and he was obliged to seek refuge in the upper end of the county while they occupied Philadelphia. He was married at Bristol, in 1753. to Miss Margery Harrison, of New York, and had several children. He resided at Eddington until his death, in 1798. Mr. Gibbs was the maternal grandfather of the late Mrs. John Fox, of Doylestown. There is a family burying ground on the Eddington farm.
James Benezet was the eldest of the three sons of John Stephen Benezet. a Protestant refugee from France, who came to Philadelphia in 1731. and settled in Bensalem. prior to the Revolution, where he died. He was proth- onetary and clerk of the quarter sessions, while the seat of justice was at Newtown. His son Samuel was a Continental Major in the Revolutionary army, and afterward a justice of the peace and prothonotary of the county. Anthony, the youngest son of John Stephen Benezet, became a philanthropist of world wide renown. Of the Kingstones, who were in the township early in the last century, Abel was a worthy minister among Friends, and died. 1749, leaving several daughters. George James, a tailor who followed his trade at the Kings- tone homestead. married Sarah Townsend for his second wife, in 1738.
The Willetts, an old family in Bensalem. are descended from Dutch an- cestry of Long Island. Samuel Willett. great-grandfather of the late Charles Willett, deceased. purchased part of the Growden traet in the northwest part of the township. His wife was Elizabeth Lawrence. His son, Augustin Willett, was a man of note in his days, and married Elizabeth, daughter of
1615 Joseph Galloway died at Watford. County Herrford, England, August 20. 1803. his will being dated June 20th. He was seventy-three years of age.
115
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Gilbert Hicks, of Four Lanes End. At the outbreak of the Revolution he took the path of allegiance, raised a company at his own expense and joined the army. He is said to have been at the battles of White Plains, Trenton, Ger- mantown, Brandywine and Monmouth. He became prominent in military affairs after peace; was lieutenant of the county, 1791, captain of the Bucks County Dragoons, 1793, was several years Brigade Inspector, Brigade Ma- jor of General Murray's brigade, Pennsylvania militia, in the whiskey insur- rection, 1794, and commissioned Brigadier General, 1800. In 1797 he com- manded the troops which received Washington on crossing the Delaware, on his return South, and escorted him to the Phladelphia county line. Gen- eral Willett was born, 1751, died 1824, and buried at Friends' burying ground, Attleborough. His grandson, Charles Willett, lived and died on a portion of the homestead tract. One or more of the descendants of Samuel Willett sett- tled in Southampton, Obadiah living and dying on the handsome farm on the road between the Buck tavern and Langhorne.
We do not know at what time the Sickel family came into the township. but they were residents here many years ago. They are also descendants of Holland ancestors who settled at New York while it was New Amsterdam, whence a portion of them went into New Jersey. At the Revolution they were found on the side of their country. Philip Sickel came into Pennsylvania and settled in Philadelphia before the middle of the eighteenth century, and his son John was born, in Bensalem, in 1753. His son John, grandson of Philip, whose date of birth we do not know. married Elizabeth Vandegrift. Their son Ho- ratio G. Sickel, born 1817. was the most prominent member of the family. In his early youth he learned the blacksmith trade, and carried it on at Davisville and Quakertown, but having great fondness for military affairs, commanded one or more volunteer companies. The Civil war found him engaged in busi- ness in Philadelphia. He raised a company to serve three years and joined the Third Pennsylvania Reserves, of which he was elected and commissioned colonel. On the expiration of this term of service, he raised the One Hundred and Ninety-eighth regiment, serving with it to the close of the war. on all occasions proving himself a courageous and reliable officer, and was breveted a brigadier. and major-general. for meritorious service. For several years he filled the office of Pension Agent. Philadelphia. In 1842 General Sickel married Eliza Vansant, of Warminster township, and was the father of several children.
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.