USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. I > Part 21
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
When John Sotcher left Pennsylvania, 1709, James Logan entered into an. agreement to lease it to Colonel Quarry, an officer of the customs. Philadelphia. The term was for seven years, at ito a year, and he to keep the buildings in repair with the condition that in case William Penn should return, Colonel Quarry was to have six months' notice to leave. He was to buy the stock and hire the negroes, if he and Logan could agree upon terms. The lease tell
8 Under date of May 11. 1721, Logan writes to Hannah Penn, "I have lately sent for the books hither, but the goods, after about twenty years age added to them, thou may assure thyself are not much improved."
9 Daughter of Charles Norris, whose first wife was Margaret, daughter of Doctor Rodman, of Bucks county.
155-
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
through on account of Penn's controversy with the Fords, who claimed the fee to the territory. The place at this time was somewhat out of repair, if we may judge by what was to be done before Colonel Quarry moved in. Logan was "to repair the windows and make new door to the lower chamber at the foot of the stairs, and to lay the upper floor of the outhouse, and run one partition : to repair the garden fence, and to build up the wall before the front at the descending steps." The falling down of the wall in front of the house had allowed the rains to wash away the earth hauled to raise the yard.
The years 1702 and 1703 were unhealthy. In the winter the small-pox10 prevailed with severity in Bucks county, and the following summer a "dis- temper"11 broke out. which carried off a number of the inhabitants. The sum- mer, 1704, was the hottest and dryest since the Province was settled, yet there were good crops. The previous winter is noted for deep snows and cold! weather, unknown to the oldest inhabitants.
Within a few years, after the settlement of the Province, great trouble and inconvenience were found in the transfer of real estate, by reason of the dis- crepancy between the quantity called for in the warrant, and that returned in the survey. To remedy the difficulty, the Commissioners of Property ordered a re-survey of all the lands taken up, and a warrant was issued to John Cutler, 1: surveyor of Bucks county. August 11. 1702. In the warrant he was directed to re-survey only the lands of Bristol and Falls township, but, by this and sub- sequent warrants, he re-surveyed all the seated lands in the county. We have not been able to find a complete record of this work, and what we give below is only a partial return of all the townships except Bristol, one of the two- mentioned in the warrant of August It. The "land adjacent" to Wrightstown embraced the territory now Buckingham and Solebury, and those "adjacent" to Southampton and Warminster were Northampton, Warwick and Warrington, none of them yet organized into townships. The surveyors were ordered to make their surveys according to the lines by which the lands were granted by the Proprietary. A number of new surveys were reported without the names of the townships being mentioned, which we suppose were made in territory not yet organized. The following were the surveys made by Cutler :
Falls. Jeffrey Hawkins 555. Joseph Wood 590, and Robert Lucas 322 acres : Makefield. Miller's heirs 1.IOS. Thomas Janney. 4.450, Henry Marjarum 350. John Snowden 421. Peter Worrel 232, Enoch Yardley 518, and Thomas Ashton 236 acres ; Middletown, John Stackhouse 312. Thomas Stackhouse 507. Robert Heaton 1,088. and Thomas Musgrave 440 acres; Newtown. Thomas Hillborne 968, Jonathan Eldridge 289. Margaret Hayworth 278. Shadrick Walley 1.548. and Ezra Croasdale 530 acres : Wrightstown and lands adjacent. Samuel Baker 438, William Parlet 144. William Dirrick 148, John Pidcock 505. and John Chapman 4So acres : Bensalem, Samuel Allen 262. Tobias Dymock 302. and Joseph Kirle 400 acres : Southampton, Warminster and lands adjacent. Isabella Cutler 325. William Wait to3. Joseph Kirle 543, John Morris, 572, George Willard 447, John Fastborne 305. John Swift 580. Abel Noble 697, Jasper Lawrence 460. William Garret 225. Christopher Wetherill 236, Ralph Dracot 250. John Scarborough 504. Jolin Large 107. and William Say 107 acres ; re-survey by general warrant. Anthony Burton 142. William Buckman
IO Three of the Vardleys died of smallpox.
Supposed to have been the yellow fever.
12 His commission was dated March 10, 1702.
!
₡56
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
550, Stephen Twining 550, Samuel Carpenter 547, Henry Paxson (Tinker's Point) 300, William Gregory 225, Jonathan Couper 355, John Baldwin 139. Ezra Croasdale 220, Robert Heaton 925, John and Gyles Lucas 216, Jolm Nay- lor 445, William Hammer 100, Daniel Jackson 390, Thomas Constable 550. Walter Bridgeman 220, William Croasdale 151, Thomas Coleman 248, Joseph Janney 347, and Robert Heaton, jr., 152 acres ; new surveys, Daniel Jackson 500, Richard Ilough 475, widow Musgrave (two warrants) 980, George Howard 450, Edward Hartley 300, Paul Woolfe 300, Jedediah Allen 230. Thomas Carns 450, Randall Blackshaw 500, Martin Zeale 100, Thomas Byr (two warrants) 438, William Croasdale 250, Samuel Beaks 350, Ezra Croas- dale 200, Randall Speakman 500, Thomas Bye 600. Henry Paxson 100, Robert Heath (two warrants) 1,000, George Brown 200. Francis White 250, Jeremiah Langhorne 230, Randall Speakman 500, Henry Child (two warrants) 984. Francis Plumstead (four warrants ). 2.500, Elizabeth Sands 500. Joseph Paul 492, Tobias Dymock 220, and Joseph Pike ( two tracts) 1,000 acres.
A number of these new surveys were in Buckingham, Solebury, and some in Plumstead, which were then filling up with settlers, but had not yet been organized into townships.13 James Logan says they were well supplied with surveyors in Bucks county, and he wrote in the spring, 1703, that the surveys "are in a good state of forwardness," and hope to have them finished in the summer. Among the tracts surveyed in Wrightstown was one of five hundred and seventy-five acres to Benjamin Clark, joining the town square on the south- east side. It will be noticed that many of the names mentioned in the surveys are no longer to be found in the county.
13 Buckingham and Solebury were organized about that time.
---
CHAPTER XIII.
- -
SOUTHAMPTON.
1703.
Second group of townships .- Pickets of civilization .- Southampton first named .- Sepa- rated from Warminster .- Original settlers .- John Swift .- Meeting granted .- Addi- tional settlers .- Thomas Callowhill a land-owner .- Town plat .- Holland settlers .-- Krewson, Vanartsdalen. Ilogeland et al .- Still later settlers .- John Purdy .- Curious dreams .- The Watts family .- The Duffields, Folwells, Beanses, Searches, MeNairs,- Ralph Dracot .- The Davises .- Moravian church .- John Perkins .- Taxables and population .- Southampton Baptist church .- Old school house .- Quaint inscription .- Davisville church .- Dutch Reformed .- Its early name .- Paulus Van Vleck officiates. -Portius the pastor .- Schlatter settles trouble .- Jacob Larzelere .- Location of South- ampton .- Roads .- Villages .- Turnpikes.
Our second group of townships is composed of Southampton,1 Warminster, Newtown. Wrightstown, Buckingham and Solebury. They were settled about the same time, and immediately after the townships of the first group, and we purpose to tell the story of their settlement in detail. The territorial limits of this group reach to the central section of the county, and throughout it much land was taken up prior to 1700. Among the pickets of civilization, which early pushed their way up through the woods from the Delaware, in advance of the tidal wave, may be mentioned John Chapman, John and Thomas Bye, Willian Cooper, George Pownall. and Edward and Roger Hartly. For several years the supplies for a part of this region were drawn from Falls and Middletown. and transported through the forests on horseback or on the shoulders of those who did not own horses. When Gwins mill was built on the Pennypack, their bread supply was drawn from a more convenient point untu mills were erected nearer home.
In the proceedings of the Provincial Council, 1685. fixing the boundary line between Bucks and Philadelphia counties. Southampton and Warminster are called by their present names. At that early day these townships were not organized subdivisions, but only settlements with English names." The report
I Southampton is a parliamentary municipal borough and seaport of England. county Hampshire, at the mouth of the Itchen. Fr miles southwest of London.
2 As Holme's map. 1084, gives the boundaries of Southampton and Warminster as they now exist, it is barely possible these two townships were already laid out and named. but there is no direct testimony to support it.
NW
NAILERS
WAILORS
TOWNSHIP
WY AUCHS LAND
" MILLERS LAND
A
S
Jenrs , LARA
LAND
SPAUIS LAND
G.GHALET!
LAND
M 61LBL.475
CADWALLADER+ LAND
15
TOODY
WISHIP
WARMING T
N. ALF 9.
LAND
O
SCHOUT LANA
LONG
LAth
SOUT HAMTON
WATTS
MOFAIL'S LAND
LAND
P- LAULPKIA
DUFFIELON 1442
JACKMANS LAND
3
LACE C
MAP OF
WARMINSTER. SOUTHAMPTON,
WARRINGTON.
TOWNSHIPS.
LAMU
:734.
LANA
159
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
of the jury laying out the group of townships, 1692, concludes : "Southampton and the lands about it, with Warminster, one,"" which means that these two townships, with the unorganized lands adjoining Northampton and probably Warwick should be considered one township. For several years South- ampton and Warminster were one for all municipal purposes, and it was not until 1703 that the court recognized Southampton as a township, and authorized it to elect its own supervisor of highways. We take this date as the time of its organization, but it does not appear from the records that the two townships were entirely separated until a later period. At its March term, 1711, the inhabitants of Southampton petitioned court to be separated from War- minster in the county assessments and collection of taxes; whereupon it was ordered that the said petitioners and the lands of James Carter, Ralph Dracot, and Joseph Tomlinson may be in future, one township and have a constable ap- pointed to serve therein. It is stated, in the court records, that the inhabitants of Southampton petitioned at March term, 1712, to be allowed to remain a township by themselves. Among the names signed to the petition are Edward Bolton, John Morris, Ralph Dunn, John Naylor, Thomas Harding, Daniel Robinson, Mary Poynter, Richard Lather, and William Beans.
When Thomas Holme made his map of the Province, 1684, there were thirteen+ land owners in what is now Southampton ; probably the greater part were settlers and some of them had purchased land before leaving England. Of these early settlers John Swift," one of Penn's pioneers, owned five hundred acres that lay near Feasterville between the Street road and county line. He was a Friend, but went off with Keith, 1692, and ultimately became a Baptist min- ister. He was called to the ministry, 1702, and, although never ordained, preached nine years in Philadelphia as an assistant. For some unknown cause he was excommunicated, 1730, and died, 1732. He represented Bucks county in the Assembly, 1701 and 1707. The lands of John Martin, Robert Pressinore and John Luffe were situated in the upper part of the township touching War- minster and extending to the county line. Robert Bresmal was a settler in Southampton as early as 1683, in which year he married Mary Webber, "of John Hart's family.'
Soon after the settlement of the township, the Friends of Southampton requested to have a meeting settled among them, which was granted April I, 1686, and a general meeting for worship, once a week, was ordered at the house of James Dilworth. Previous to that Friends had met at each others houses for worship, and as they have never been strong enough in the township to warrant the erection of a meeting-house, they attend meetings elsewhere, gen- erally at Middletown and Byberry.
As the location and soil were inviting, settlers flocked in rapidly, and by 1700, we find the additional names of Stephen Sands, John Vansant, Thomas Cutler, James Carter, John Naylor, Joseph Webb, Jolin Frost, John Shaw,
3 John Gilbert. Thomas Itould. Thomas Groom. Joseph Jones, Robert Marsh, John Swift. Enoch Flowers, Jonathan Jones, Mark Betris, Richard Wood, John Luffe, John Martin, and Robert Pres-more.
4 The will of Robert Marsh. "South Hampton." Bucks county, was dated July 25, 163), and proved. at Philadelphia. 17, 3 mo .. May, 1689. As this was fourteen years before the town-hip was organized, it is additional evidence, if that were needed, that the locality was given its present name before organization.
5 In 1708 John Swift paid his quit-reut "in goods and chattels," to Lawrence Johnson and Charles Heafte. at Pennsbury.
160
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Clement Dungan, Jeremiah Dungan, James Carrell, John Morris, Thoma; Dungan, John Clark, David Griffith, Christopher Day, Nathaniel West, Wilham Gregory and Samuel Selers. The Dungans were sons of Reverend Thomas Dungan, who emigrated from Rhode Island, and organized the Baptist church at Cold Spring, near Bristol, 1684. Joseph Dungan, grandson of the Reverend Thomas, died August 25, 1785, in his 78th year, and was buried at Southampton. We find no further mention of Thomas Cutler, but William, who was an early settler there, died in 1714. They were probably brothers of John Cutler, who made the re-survey of the county, 1702-3. James Carter died. 1714. John Morris bought five hundred and eighty-two acres of James Plumley, 1698, which lay in the upper part of the township, between the Street road and county line, and a considerable part, if not all, north of the Middle road. When the re-survey was made, 1702, Thomas Harding was one of the largest land owners in the township, his acres numbering six hundred and eighteen. Joseph Tomlinson was there early, and died, 1723. April 20, 1705, four hundred and seventeen acres were surveyed by warrant to Thomas Callowhill, the father-in- law of William Penn, situated in the upper part of the township, and bounded by the Street road and Warminster line. It covered the site of Davisville. John, Thomas, and Richard Penn inherited this tract from their grandfather, Callowhill, and January 20, 1734, they conveyed one hundred and forty-nine acres by patent to Stephen Watts. The land of John Morris bounded this tract on the southwest.
On Holmne's map is laid off, in about the middle of the township, a plat one mile square, similar to that in Newtown and Wrightstown. As in those town- ships it was, no doubt, intended for a park, or town plat, and to have been divided among the land owners in the township outside of it. in the proportion of one to ten. But as we have not met with it in any of the Southampton con- veyances, it probably had no other existence than on the map.
At an early day, and following the English Friends, there was a consid- erable influx of Hollanders into the township, and the large and influential families of Krewson, Vanartsdalen, Vandeventer, Hogeland, Barcalow, Van- horne, Lefferts, Vansant and Vandeveer descend from this sturdy stock. Other families, which started out with but one Holland ancestor, have become of almost pure blood by intermarriage. The descendants of Dutch parentage in this and adjoining townships have thus become very numerous, but both the spelling of the names, and their pronunciation, have been considerably changed since their ancestors settled in the township.
Derrick Krewson" was a land-holder, if not a settler, in Southampton as early as 1684, for the HIth of September, 1717, he paid to James Steele, receiver of the Proprietary quit-rents, £9. 1Is. 4d. for thirty-three years' interest due on five hundred and eighty acres of land in this township. In March, 1756, Henry Krewson paid sixteen years' quit-rent to E. Physic on two hundred and thirty acres in Southampton. The will of Derrick Krewson was executed January 4, 1729, but the time of his death is not known. He probably came from Long Island, the starting point of most of the Hollanders who settled in Bucks county.'
6 Original spelling Kra-en.
7 Down to 1756 the Proprietary quit-rents were paid at Pennsbury. but we do not know how much later.
8 Helena Temple, Churchville, who died. February, 1884, would have been one hundred years old had she lived to June 10. She was of Low Dutch stock, daughter of
.
161-
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
The Vanartsdalens of Southampton and Northampton are descended from Simon, son of John Von Arsdalen, from Ars Dale, in Holland, who immigrated to America, 1053, and settled at Flatbush, Long Island. He married a daughter of Peter Wykoff, and had two sons, Cornelius Simonse and John. The former became the husband of three Duteli spouses," the latter of two. Our Bucks . county family comes mediately from Nicholas and Abraham, sons of John, who settled in Southampton. Nicholas married Jane Vansant and had seven children, and John Vanartsdalen, Richborough, was a grandson. Simon. the eldest son, died, 1770. and a daughter, Ann, married Garret Stevens. The Van- deventers.1º Vanhornes. Vandeveers and Vansants,11 are descended from Jacobus Van de Venter, Rutgert Vanhorne, Cornelius Vandeveer, and William Van Zandt, who came from Netherland, 1660. There are buit few of the Van- deventers, and Vandeveers in the township, but the Vanhornes and Vansants. are numerous.
Dirck Hanse Hogeland.12 the first of the name who came to America, com- manded the vessel that brought him from Holland to New Amsterdam, 1655. He settled at Flatbush. and, 1662. married Anne Bergen, widow of Jan Clerq, by whom he had six children. He built the first brick house on Manhattan island. Ilis grandson, Dirck, son of William, born 1698, and married Mariah Slot, New York, with others of the descendants, had settled in Southampton before 1729. They had a family of ten children, from whom have descended a numerous progeny. As a rule both sons and daughters married into Holland families, and the blood to this time has been kept comparatively pure. The distinguishing features of the Hogelands are large families of children, longevity and stalwart sons.13 The youngest son of Dirck. Derrick K .. was long a justice of the peace in Southampton, but resigned about 1820, on account of. age. He was the grandfather of Elias Hogeland, late sheriff of this county. Some of the family have wandered to Kentucky, where the members occupy positions of honor.
In the spring. 1662, William Hanse Von Barkeloo" and his brother, Har-
Garret Krewsen. Southampton, a patriot of the Revolution, who died. 1852. She was baptized September 22, 1784. by the Rev. Simeon Van Arsdalen, who had been dead ninety-eight years when she died, and the pastor of her middle life, Jacob Larzelere, had been deceased fifty years. She lived to see three generations born, live and die. At ninety- six she walked to church. At ninety-nine and within a week of her death, she kept her own house and table, and was busy with home duties. In her long life she was sick in bed but a single day. She was a fair example of the sturdiness of the Holland settlers in Bucks county.
9 Tjelletzi Reiners Wizzlepennig. Ailtie Willems Konwenhoven, and Marytzi Dirks,
IO The correct name is Van de Venter. Van Zandt.
12 Hogeland. or Hoogland, is the Dutch for highlands. In 1746 Indians living among the highlands on the Hudson were called the Hogeland Indians.
13 The will of Dirck Hogeland is dated December 7, 1775, and proved August i, 1778. . He left his six daughters £220 each, a considerable sum in that day, and a large landed estate to them and his sons. Four hundred acres are specified in the will, and other lands not described. His youngest son, Direk, afterward called Derrick, got two hundred and fifty acres.
14 This name has been variously spelled, Borculo, Barckelloo, Burkilon and Barke- loo, by different branches of the family. The family came from Borkelo in the carldom of Zutphen, and province of Guilderland, Holland.
II
162
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
man Jansen Von Barkeloo, with wife and two children landed at New York, where Harman died prior to December, 1071. William married Elizabeth late Claessen, 1000, and died. 1083, leaving eight children. His son Direk married Jamelia Von Ars Dale September 17, 1700, and settled at Freehold, New Jersey. Conrad, born December 4, 1080, died 1754. settled on the Raritan, and married a daughter of Jacob Laes, Monmouth. It was their son, Conrad, who settiel in this county, and was the immediate ancestor of the Barcalows, Southampt n. Conrad's son, Garret, married Elizabeth, daughter of the first Dirck Hogeland and had a family of nine children, who intermarried with the Finneys, Cornell-, Mitchells, Baneses, Stevenses, and MeMasters. The descendants of Garret Barcalow are numerous in Southampton.
The Stevenses are English on the male side, the ancestor, Abraham, coming to this county shortly after William Penn. His son John married Sarah Stoot- holf, and their son Ann Vanartsdalen, a daughter of Nicholas, one of the two brothers of the name who first settled in Southampton. The Benjamin Stevens, who married Elizabeth Barcalow, was a son of Abraham Stevens and Mary Hogeland, daughter of Daniel, who was brother of the Dirck who settled in this county before 1720. The mother of the late Benjamin Stevens was a sister of Abraham. Isaac and William Hogeland, and Garret B. Stevens of the Berks county bar is a son of Benjamin.
The ancestor of the Lefferts family. Leffert Pieterse, immigrated irom North Brabant. Helland. 1060, and settled at Flatbush, Long Island. His grandson, Leffert Leffert, the son of Peter Leffertze" and Ida Suydam, came into the county. 1738, with the Comells, on a prospecting tour. He returned the following year and settled in Northampton township, on a four hundred acre tract, 14 bought of Isaac Pennington, being part of six hundred and fifty- one acres that William Penn granted to Edmund Pennington, his father. The deed is dated June 7, 1739. the consideration. £4492. His will was executed October 6, 1773, and he probably died soon after. His wife's name was An. He left five sons and two daughters, but the greater part of his estate went to hus sons. The late venerable John Lefferts. Southampton, who died at about ninety-five, was the grandson of Leffert Leffert.
The Vanhornes came into the township carly, but the time is not known. On May 6 and 7. 1722, Bernard Christian. Bergen, New Jersey, conveyed two hundred and ninety acres to his son Abraham Vanhorne, by deed of lease and re- lease, which was probably situated in Southampton. Other Holland families set- tled in this and the adjoining township of Northampton about the same period, among whom we find the names of Staates, now of Bensalem, Bennet. Rhodes. Johnson. Fenton, Wright, etc. They were generally large slaveholders, while the "institution" existed in this state. They were universally patriotic and loyal during the Revolution, and often the slaves accompanied their masters to the field. These oll Holland families have a tradition that at one time Wash- ington passed through Southampton and stopped at the houses of some of their patriotic ancestors, and their descendants still cherish the tables he ate at. the ings he drank from, and the chairs he sat upon. These families have become so thoroughly Anglieized, no trace is left of their ancestry.
15 The family on Long Island retain the name "Leffertze," but the first generation born in this county dropped the "2" and final "e." and substituted "."
16 It was bounded by lands of Bernard Vanhorne, Isaac Vanhorne. Adrian Cornell. Henry Krewson. Isane Bennet, John Shaw, and Jure rich Dungan. He owned a planta- non in Newtown
1
163
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
At a still later period the families of Purdy, Watts, Folwell, Search, Miles, Duffield, Davis, and others, well-known, settled in Southampton, of some of which we have been able to collect information.
John Purdy," an immigrant from Ireland, in 1742, settled on the Penny- pack. Moreland township, married Grace Dunlap, and died. 1752. leaving a son, William, and three daughters. The son married Mary Roney, whose fa- ther came from Ireland, 1735, and served in the Continental army. In 1797 the family removed to western New York, except the son, William, who married a daughter of Thomas Folwell, of Southampton, whither he removed and where he spent his life. He became a prominent man, commanded a company of volunteer riflemen in the war of 1812-15 ; was several times elected to the .1s-
OLD SAWMILL AT DAVISVILLE.
sembly, and subsequently Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas. His son. Thomas, was elected Sheriff of the county, 1842, and his grandson, John, was elected to the same office. 1872. The family that bear the name no longer reside in the county or township with the exception of John, the son of Thomas. The family records relate singular dreams of the first John and their remarkable fulfillment. He dreamed one night that while going to Philadelphia on a large white horse, as he passed through Abington the animal turned into the graveyard and rolled, and about the same time his wife dreamed "a large white horse came and pulled down half her house." The ful- fillment quickly followed. for. a few days after, while the husband was attend- ing the election at Newtown, where they were running horses down the main street, he was run against by a large white horse and killed, and the accident was equivalent to pulling down, half the wife's house.
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.