USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. I > Part 22
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Among the new comers into Southampton township, about 1730, was
17 The name is Anglo-Irish, and thought to be a modification of Pardew. Pardee, or Pardoe, and is more common in England and Scotland than Ireland.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Stephen Watts from Lower Dublin, Philadelphia county, who purchased one hundred and fifty acres from Thomas Callowhill. It covered part of the site of Davisville and ran across the township line into Warminster. The deed bears date of 1733. Ile improved the premises and made it the home of his lifetime. It embraced what is known as the "sawmill" property, long in the possession of the late General John Davis.
Stephen Watts was a descendant of the Reverend John Watts, second pas- tor of the Lower Dublin Baptist church, Philadelphia County, who was a son of Henry and Elizabeth Watts and grandson of Gregory Watts, born at Leeds, county Kent, England, November 3, 1661, immigrated to Pennsylvania about 1686, baptized in the Baptist faith November 21, 1686, the following year connected himself with the Pennepek or Pennypack church, and married Sarah Eaton (born 1655) in 1687-SS. He entered the ministry, 1688, became the pastor of the church. 1690, and liad charge to his death, August 27, 1702.15 The following were the children of the Reverend John and Sarah Eaton Watts : Elizabeth Watts, born April 15, 1689, died October 11, 1756; John Watts, born December 3, 1693, died 1771; Sarah Watts, born December 8, 1693. Mary Watts, twin of Sarah, December 8, 1693; Deborah Watts, born February 6, 1695; Silas Watts, born March 7, 1697, died August 16, 1737; Stephen Watts, born February 6, 1700, died 1784.
Stephen Watts, the youngest son of the Reverend John Watts, and the fourth in descent from Gregory, married Elizabeth Melchior, born 1707, and died March 16, 1794. Mr. Watts was an influential man in the community and prominent in the Southampton Baptist church, of which he was a ruling elder for many years. The farm Stephen Watts purchased of Thomas Callow- hill, in 1733. is still in the family, being held by Rodney A. Mercer, Esq., through his mother, a great-great-granddaughter of the said Stephen Watts. The following were the children of Stephen and Elizabeth (Melchior) Watts :
Hannah Watts married, June 14, 1750, James Smith, of Philadelphia. Arthur Watts.19 born October 29. 1733. died October 9, 1809. married Saralı Folwell; Rachel Watts, born June 29, 1736, died November 11, 1765, married as first wife, her cousin John Watts: Elizabeth Watts, born August 23, 1738. died August 22. 1824. married. May 29. 1764, Thomas Folwell, of Southamp- ton, Bucks county, born October 7. 1737. died September 13, 1813, son of Will- iam Folwell by his wife Anne Potts; Stephen Watts, born February 5, 17.41. died in 1788, married Francis Assheton : Sarah Watts, married - Shaw.
Several of the Watts family, by descent and intermarriage were prominent in their day and generation. John Watts, son of Stephen, the elder, was a cele-
18 John Watts is spoken of as a man of good understanding, and a fine speaker. Morgan Edwards said he was an English scholar. He was active against the Keithian movement, and held a public discussion with one of their preachers, coming off the victor.
19 Arthur Watts was the father of two children, by his first wife, William, born September 8. 1765. and died, 1838, and Ann, horn October 5, 1759. married Josiah Hart, January 11, 1776, and died at Doylestown, March 2, 1815, of typhus fever. The son attained' some prominence, was major in a rifle regiment, war of 1812-15, Associate Judge and clerk of the court. He inherited the Watts homestead. In the advertisement for the sale of this farm, 1833, it was stated that "the same head and tail races were made several years ago, with a view of building a gris mill, which was not done owing to the death of the then owner " It is claimed that on this dam John Fitch made a trial of his steamboat models.
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WATTS HOMESTEAD,
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brated surveyor and conveyancer, and wrote a work on surveying. 1765. Iii- brother Silas was also a practical surveyor. Arthur Watts, son of Stephen the elder, was a private in Captain John Folwell's company of AAssociators in 1775- 76, a delegate to the Lancaster convention, July 4, 1776, to choose two Brigadier Generals, to command the Pennsylvania militia in the Revolution, and also a member of the Bucks County Committee of Safety and the Committee of Correspondence. William Watts, the son of Arthur, was one of the Associate Judges of Bucks county, and the clerk of the courts, and second Major of Cul- onel Humphrey's regiment of riflemen, in the war of 1812-15 with England. Josiah Hart, husband of Anne Watts, daughter of Arthur Watts, was a colonel of militia in the Revolution. Stephen Watts, the younger, son of Stephen Watts, the elder, born February 5, 1741, was graduated at the college of Phila- delphia, now the University of Pennsylvania, in 1762, and was a tutor there for a time. In 1760 he was the author of an "Essay on Reciprocal Advantages" of a perfect union between Great Britain and her American colonies ; he read law. was admitted to the Bar and practiced for years. About 1770, he moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he became Master in Chancery, recorder of deeds for the English on the Mississippi. and King's Attorney for Baton Rouge, dying in Louisiana, 1788. His daughter, Margaret Cyrilla Watts, married Manuel Gayaso dle Lamos, Brigadier-General and Governor of the Spanish colony at Natchez, until 1797, when he succeeded the Baron de Carondelet as Governor of Louisiana. Stephen Watts, March 10, 1767, married France-, daughter of Ralph Assheton, of Philadelphia, and granddaughter of Robert Assheton, both members of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania and kins- men of William Penn.
It is not known when the Folwells came into the township, but shortly after the middle of the eighteenth century, possibly before. A branch of the family lived in Philadelphia county, now Montgomery. The brothers, Thomas and John Folwell, owned farms in Southampton, the former that of the late Cornell Hobensack. the latter the Roberts farm on the road to Southampton church a few hundred yards from Davisville. Thomas Folwell, whose wife was a daughter of Stephen Watts, had five 'children, a son, William Watts Folwell, born January 13. 1768, who graduated with honor from the University of Pennsylvania, and subsequently a tutor in the institution, and four daughters. The son married Jane Dungan, born September 9. 1776, removed to Seneca county, N. Y., 1807, and died there leaving numerons descendants. Of the daughters of Thomas Folwell, Ann married Joseph Hart, of Warminster, Mary married William Purdy, Elizabeth married Joshua Jones, both of Southampton. and Rachel married William Reeder, of Mercer county, New Jersey. Their daughters were famous for their beauty, and domestic and womanly virtues. On the date stone of the old Folwell mansion when taken down, 1874, to make way for a new dwelling, were the letters and figures "A. M. M. 1719."
The Duffieldls"" can be traced back to the reign of Edward It, when Richard Duffield was bailiff of York. 1535. The first of the name is said to have come to England with William the Conqueror. The Pennsylvania Dui- fields are descended from Benjamin, the son of Robert and Bridget, born mon. who landed at Burlington, N. J., 1670. and is said to have been one of a deke-
20 The name is probably Norman French and is variously spelled -Du Fielde. De Duffeld. Duffeld and Dudie! 1. It < found among the records of Ripon Cathedral, where the name is Duffeld. Duffeilde. Daffyeld and Duffield William Duffield was Arch Deacon of Cleveland, 1433, and died 1452.
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gation who came across the river to welcome William Penn on his arrival. He afterward settled in Lower Dublin, married a daughter of Arthur Watts, and was the father of thirteen children. He died at Philadelphia and was buried at Christ church. The late Alfred T. Duffield. Southampton, was the fifth in descent from Benjamin, and the son of Jacob, who died at Sackett's Harbor, ISIS. while in the military service of the country. Edward Duffield.21 the grandson of Benjamin, was distinguished for his scientific acquirements, the associate and friend of Rittenhouse and one of the executors of Franklin. Benjamin Duffield has a numerous posterity
The Beans or Banes family, Buckingham, Southampton and Warminster. were descendants of Mathew Baines, of Wyersdale. Lancashire, England, who married Margaret, daughter of William Hatton, of Bradley, 10 mo., 22. 1672. and had issue :
Thomas, born II mo .. 11, 1675, married 4 mo .. 21. 1718. Elizabeth Ellison ; Elinor, born 8 mo .. 22. 1077. married ( at Falls ) 7 mo., 26, 1694. Thomas Duer : Timothy, born i mo., 1678. married 1710. Hannah Low ; William, born 5. 14. 1681. married 1707, Elizabeth -; Deborah, born 1, 1, 1683, married, 1708 (at Falls ), Thomas Ashton.
In 1686 Mathew Baines, with children, Elinor and William, left England for Pennsylvania, the father dying at sea. When the children landed. they were taken charge of by Friends of Chester monthly meeting. The father's dying request, as shown by a letter of Phineas Pemberton to John Walker. 1688, was that his children should be placed in care of James Harrison. but Harrison hav- ing died before their arrival. his son-in-law, Pemberton, went to Chester to look after them, and finding them in good hands they were allowed to remain. As the record of the times puts it : "The boy was put with one Joseph Stichman and the girl with one John Simcock, and hath 40 or 50s wages per annum. the boy to be with said Stidman, who is said to be a very honest man, until he comes to ye age of 20 years, which is ye customary way of putting forth orphans in these parts."
When the children of Mathew Baines came of age they settled in Bucks county, married, raised families and died here. Elinor was married at Falls Meeting, 7 mo. 26. 1694. to Thomas Duer, and became the ancestors of the Duers of Makefield. The name of William's wife is not known. but he settled in Southampton near the line of Warminster, where he died. 1729. leaving a widow, Elizabeth and nine children. Joseph. Mathew. James, Thomas, Eliza- beth, Timothy, William. Jacob and Elinor. They married and settled in Bucks county, except Elinor, who died single. Three of them. James. Thomas and Elizabeth, allied themselves with the Sands family. Four removed to Buck- ingham and took up land there. Mathew and Timothy marrying Paxsons, and Jacob, a Hartley. Timothy lived for a time in Solebury and Tinicum, then re- moved to Fairfax, Virginia, and some of his descendants are said to have sub- sequently removed to Cuba. The other three Beans brothers, of Buckingham. lived to a good old age, and raised large families of children, whose descendants are found in several states. The only child of Timothy, that remained in Bucks county, married Daniel Doan, Jr.
Joseph, the ellest son of William and Elizabeth, married. 3 mo .. 17. 1733. Esther Evan and died in Southampton, 1771. only a few months after his
21 It is said the first consultation held by Jefferson and others on the subject of independence was at the house of Edward Duffield, northwest corner of Fifth and Market streets, Philadelphia.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
mother, leaving four sons. John, Joseph, Mathew and Seth. James, the third son of William and Elizabeth, was a blacksmith and died 1749. His widow, Elizabeth, married a Roberts, and had three children, Phebe, Jesse and Eliza- beth, who survived him. Thomas, the fourth son, who married Jane Sands, had five children, Nathan, Isaac, Thomas, Stephen and James, the latter marrying Griffith Miles, the elder. On the death of his first wife he married Elizabeth Hollinghead who survived him. Isaac, the second son of Thomas and Jane, married Christine Johnson, a descendant of the old New Amsterdam "Jansens," was the ancestor of J. Johnson Beans, Doylestown. William Baines, the an- cestor, marrying out of mecting, his family became associated with the South- ampton and Pennypack churches. The Buckingham Beanses of later years were descendants of William Beans, sixth son of William and Elizabeth Beans, among which was the late Joshua Beans of Doylestown. The late Colonel Charles Banes, Philadelphia, was one of the most prominent members of the family, al- though it produced several in the past.22
Charles Search, the first of this family to settle in Bucks county, came from England about 1750, but it is not known where he settled : we have the names of but two of his children, Christopher and Lott. "The former settled on a farm he purchased on the Street road half a mile below Davisville, where he died. He was married twice, his first wife being a Torbert, and his second wife being a Corson. Lott Search married Sarah Davis, and owned and lived several years on the farm now the property of J. Davis Dut- field. on the Warminster township line road. just above Davisville. About 1830, himself and family removed to Avon, western New York, where he and his wife died, leaving sons Lott and William, and probably other children. They are both deceased. A son of William lived at Batavia, New York. 23 Theodore C. Search, son of Jacob, and grandson of Christopher, Search, is a successful business man of Philadelphia and founder of the "Tex- tile School of Art," a very prosperous institution with eight hundred pupils. He has achieved distinction on other lines.
John McNair, son of Samuel Mc Nair. Horsham. Montgomery county, set- tled in Southampton. 1794, living in the hip-roof house on the Buck road below churchill, where he died. 1833. He followed milling. He was a man of some prominence, holding the offices of justice of the peace, county treasurer, county commissioner, and member of Assembly. While commissioner 1811-13, the new public buildings were erected at Doylestown, and it is related that while the Court house was being built, one of the workmen enlisted for war with England, which so enraged the others, they were on the point of tearing down the re- cruiting office. but Commissioner McNair appeased them. His son Samuel
?? It is difficult to account for the change of the name to Beans, which is peculiar to Bucks county. Of the seven sons of William and Elizabeth. only two. Joseph and James, retained the name of Banes, though some of the descendants of Thomas returned to the name in the third and fourth generations. As nothing is known of Deborah Banes' arrival in America. she probably died in England prior to the husband sailing with the children.
23 Lott Search was living in Southampton, 1805. where he conveyed twenty acres to William Barnesley, in Newtown. His wife's name was then Sarah, evidence that he had married Sarah Davis prior to that time. He was then a "cooper" In 1815 he was in Warminster, and on April 3. himself and wife, Sarah, conveyed twenty -four acres to Isa.c Warner. He was still in Warminster, 1825. when Isaac Longstreth, John Long- streth and Samuel Miles conveyed three lots of land to him, forty-seven acres. The author remembers when he lived on the Warminster farm.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
was living at Davisville, 1877. at the age of seventy-seven, but we do not know the date of his death. Another son, John, settled at Norristown, at one time kept a flourishing boarding school, then read law and practiced, and subse- quently represented Montgomery county in Congress, prior to 1850. His son, F. V. McNair, an officer of the United States Navy, served with distinction under Farragut on the Mississippi, in the Civil war ; more recently he was super- intendent of the Naval Academy, Annapolis, but was relieved on account of ill health. He was subsequently promoted to Rear Admiral and died suddenly at Washington.
The Davis family of Southampton, of which the late General John Davis was long the head and representative member, are descended from William Davis. a Welsh immigrant, who settled in Solebury, or Upper Makefield, Bucks county. about 1740, and married Sarah Burley, daughter of John Burley, Upper Makefield. 1756. He died near the close of the century, his widow surviving him until May 15. 1819. at the age of eighty-four. They had born to them seven children : Jemima. December 25. 1758, married John Pitner ; John. born Septem- ber 6. 1760, married Ann Simpson, June 26, 1783. died January 22, 1832 ; Sarah, born October 1. 1763. married Lott Search : William, born September 9, 1766; Joshua, born July 6, 1769 : Mary, born October 3, 1771, and Joseph, born March 1. 1774. A sister of Sarah Burley married James Torbert, Upper Makefield, and other members of the family connected themselves by marriages with the Slacks. McNairs, Searches, Simpsons, Houghs, Harts and other well known county families.
John Davis, the eldest son of William Davis and Sarah Burley, almost sixteen when the war tor Independence broke out, immediately took up arms in defense of the colonies, his first service being in the Amboy expedition 1776, as a private in the company of Captain William Hart. In January, 1777. he enlisted in Captain Thomas Butler's company, Third regi- ment, Pennsylvania Line, and in turn, served in the Second. Third. Eighth and Ninth Pennsylvania regiments, the change of commands being caused by consolidation and reorganization as the service required. He also served in Cap- tain Joseph Mcclellan's company of Light Infantry corps, commanded by La- favette, in all about five years, from 1778 to 1;81. He was at Brandywine, Germantown, Paoli. Monmouth, passed the winter at Valley Forge, was wounded at the Block House on the Hudson, as- sisted to carry Lafayette to a place of safety at Brandywine when wounded, GEN. JOHN DAVIS. and was one of the guard at the gal- lows when Major Andre was hanged, the storming of Stony Point and at Yorktown.
If further evidence were wanting to prove the Revolutionary service of John Davis, the elder. it is found in the following declaration under oath, made
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September 1, 1820, three years before his death, in his application for a pension under the laws of Pennsylvania :
"I John Davis, do. on my oath, testify and declare that I enlisted in the arms of the Revolution in 1777, in Captain Butler's Company. Colonel Butler's reg - ment, Pennsylvania Line ; afterward was transferred into Captain MeClellan . company of Light Infantry ; that I served in the Line until sometime in 1281. when I was honorably discharged, which discharge is lost. 1 further testify that I was wounded in my foot while in service at a block house near Furt Lee, on the Hudson river, from which I was and continue to be, much disabled." etc. (Signed.) John Davis.'
After John Davis was discharged from the Continental army, he was ap- pointed and commissioned an ensign in the second battalion. Bucks county militia, and with it was called into service on two occasions. This commission is in possession of the author ; also the certificate of John Chapman, who admin- istered the oath of allegiance to John Davis, the 18th day of October, 1779. Under the aet of Assembly of Pennsylvania of March 24. 1785, alloting land to those who had served in the Revolution, John Davis drew lot No. 1.167. in the sixth donation district, 200 aeres, for which the patent was issued to him. September 29, 1787. It was located in Crawford county.
Peace having been declared, John Davis, the Revolutionary veteran. returned to his father's home and took up the laboring oar which he had laid down seven years before. As he had been brought up on a farm, he resolved to resume that occupation, but before doing so. took unto himself a wife. in the person of Ann Simpson. daughter of William Simpson, of Buckingham township. to whom he was married June 26, 1783. They had issue. Sarah. born October 12. 1784, William, born August 22, 1786. John. born August 7, 17&S. died April 1. 1878, Ann, born. November 6, 1790. Joshua, born June 27, 1790. Samuel, born, September. 1798. Joseph, born January 27, 1803, and Elizabeth. born November 18, 1805. John Davis continued farming in Solebury until 1795, when he removed to Montgomery county, Maryland, settling near Rock Creek Meeting House, some twelve miles from Washington. In t& to he made a second removal. this time to Ohio, locating on the east bank of the Sciota river. ten miles above Columbus, the capital, where he spent the balance of his life.
In the meantime John Davis' second son and third child of the foregoing. having married Amy Hart, daughter of Josiah Hart. and niece of William Watts. of Southampton, March 13. 1813. settled at what became Davisville. where he spent his life, farming. store-keeping and saw-milling, dying within four months of ninety. He was a central figure in that community, and took an interest in politics and military matters, representing the district in Congress. filling the office of surveyor of the port of Philadelphia for four years, and hold- ing commissions from ensign to major-general in the volunteer militia. In the war of 1812-15 he served a tour of duty as lieutenant in Colonel Humphrey's rifle regiment. John and Amy Davis had a family of seven children. one dviny in infaney, the remainder marrying into the families of Erwin. Duffieldl. Car- penter, Mercur and Sells, the husband of the daughter Sarah. Ulysses Mercur. becoming chief justice of the State Supreme Court.
The Moravians made a lodgment in Southampton about 1740. purchased a lot and created a meeting house, where the intinerants Owen Rice. John Okely and others of Bethlehem, preached in English until 1747.2+ The site of this early Moravian church was probably on the lot of Gimlettown sche !
24 Rev. William C. Reichel, of Bethlehem.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
honse, where the remains of an old foundation wall can be traced, and this lo- cation is sustained by the tradition of the neighborhood. The lot is on the Bristol road and the title is traced back to Thomas Phillips, before 1687.
Among the early families in the township, we omitted to mention that of Dracot, or Dracket, probably of French descent. Ralph Dracket was there before 1712. About 1750, one of this name, who lived on the Newtown road below the Buek, discovered black lead on the farm of John Naylor." He kept the secret to himself for some time, quietly extracting the lead, which he sold in Philadelphia, and when the owner found it out, generously allowed him to get what he wanted. Dracket died in 1780. The mine was worked in the memory of the author, but has been long abandoned. The lead was said to be of a good quality.
One of the most remarkable persons that lived in Southampton in the past, was John Perkins, who died Angust 8. 1838, at the age of eighty-four. He was blind for more than seventy years, but was enabled by his industry, to earn a living and lay enough up to support him in his old age. His principal occupa- tions were threshing grain with a flail and dressing flax, and he was so well ac- quainted with the roads, he could travel alone in all directions. He was a member of the Southampton Baptist Church for about sixty years and a regular attendant in all kinds of weather.
The earliest record of taxables we have met in Southampton, is 1742, when they numbered forty-three, the largest paying ten shillings on a valuation of £60. The rate was two pence per pound, and nine shillings for single men. By 1762 the taxables had increased to eighty-five. In 1784 the population was five hundred and sixty-eight. of whom thirty were negroes, and there were eighty- four dwellings. The population 1810 was 739; 1820, 907 ; 1830, 1,228, of which 234 were taxables : 1840, 1.256: 1850. 1.407 : 1860; 1,356; 1870, 1.303. of which fifty-eight were of foreign birth, and in 1900. the population was 1.637. If these figures be correct the township gained but one hundred and sixty-five in popu- lation in forty years, and the population was fourteen less in 1870 than in 1850. The area is 8, 119 acres.
In Southampton there are three churches, the Southampton Baptist church. the Davisville Baptist. the Low Dutch Reformed.
The first named is on the Middle Road half a mile below Springville, and was founded in 1731. It was the seventh in the Province. It had its origin in a small band of Keithian Friends, which commenced their meetings at the house of John Swift, forty years before. The first pastor was the Reverend Joshua Potts, since whose time eleven other pastors have ministered at its desk.26 and several generations of the inhabitants of the surrounding country lie buried in its graveyard. In the rear of the church is the grave of the Rev. John Watts.27
25 Was owned by the estate of Isaac Hogeland, a few years ago
20 A more extended account of the Southampton Baptist Church will be found in the Chapter on "Historic Churches."
27 There is some conflict concerning John Watts, both in life and death. The in-cription, on his tomb-stone, argues that he was buried there, but, it is positively as- serted. that he was buried at Cold Spring near Bristol, this county. This we believe to have been the case. for at that period, there was neither church nor graveyard at Southampton. It is also asserted, in the old record, that he was both for and against the Keithian movement, but we cannot stop to unravel it. We were told in the long ago that the gravestones were only erected at Southampton to mark the respect that the- church had for his memory.
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