USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. I > Part 45
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Q'' The Vanartsdalens were among the Holland settlers from Long Island, who settled in Northampton and Southampton and were quite numerous fifty years ago, but few are left in the male line. The author has pleasant recollections of the family of Isaac Vanaftsdalen, when a boy. They lived on a handsome farm on the road leading across from the Bristol road, at what used to be called "Rennett's Corner." after Lott Bennett, a mile above Davisville to Addisville. They were related to my father by mar- L'age. The visits were frequent, and the children never failed to have a good time.
10 The Bennetts were early in Kings county. Long Island Arie, or Adriaen Bennett. bern 1637. being married Dec. 3. 162 .. He was the son of William Adraens J. Bennett. What time they came into Bucks county is not known. but doubtless with the Holland immigration.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Banes, born Angust 24, 1770, died January 1, 1803, and four children were born to them. On his death she married Christopher Search, Southampton, and eight children, six sons and two daughters, were born to them of this second marriage. Joseph Miles passed his life in Lower Dublin, and died there March 27, 1800, his wife surviving him until December 21, 1821. The Rev. Samuel Jones, D. D., is mentioned in his will as advisor to the executor. The inventory of his estate is a long one, the last item being "Abraham. the negro boy," valned at £75. Of these decendants of Anne Miles, nee Nesmith, two of them reached prominence, the late Colonel Charles Banes, Philadelphia, and Theodore C. Search, still living there.
Down to this period, Lower Dublin, Philadelphia county, had been the home of the Miles family and none of them had come into Bueks across an imaginary line, but the time had arrived when the children would migrate from the homestead. Griffith Miles, second son and third child of Joseph and Anne Miles, is said to have been born in Bucks county, and this may have been the case, but we have seen no evidence of it. However, this may be, family tradi- tion says he was here prior to 1800,11 when a young man, following the patri- otie instincts of the family he served in the continental army, and postponed marriage until he was thirty-seven years old, when he married Jane Beans, of Bucks, April 8, 1791. She is said to have been a woman of lovely character, popular with relatives and friends, horn December 8, 1759, and died August 19, 1813. Griffith Miles bought a one-hundred-acre farm in Northampton town- ship, on the Bristol road, contiguous to what is now Breadyville, then the farm house of Jolm Bready, long since deceased. Here the family. parents and children, only two generations, lived a hundred years, none of the children entering the married state. Like his father, Griffith Miles was a farmer, filling his sphere in life with great respectability, dying at the age of eighty-two. Griffith and Jane Miles had five children : Jane, born March 4, 1792, died Feb- ruary 11. 1843: John, born August 22. 1793, died November 13. 1826; Lydia, born October 21. 1795. died December 29. 1893 : Susan, born December 1. 1797. died October 23. 1875: Griffith, born February 8, 1800, died March 16. 1894. His will was executed June 21. 1826, in presence of John Kerr and Samuel Hart, and his son Griffith was made the executor to settle the worldly affairs of the father. After the death of the father, the surviving children, three daughters and one son, Griffith, lived in the old homestead, one after another going to that "undiscovered country whence no traveler returns." In settling the estate, a bold attempt was made to rob the heirs of Griffith Miles by the agency of a forged will, presented for probate by a shrewd, unprincipled woman, who enjoyed a passing intimacy with the family, but the attempt was too bold in conception, and bungling in execution to answer the purpose. When submitted to the scrutiny of the common pleas court and jury of Bucks county its intent was instantly fathomed and a verdict rendered accordingly.
Samuel Miles, fifth son of Joseph and Anne Miles, born June 11, 1771. died May 20. 1855. also settled in Bucks county, spending his married life there. He bought a farm in Southampton township, on the road from Davis-
II Before going to press, the records of the recorder's office Bucks county were examined and they reveal this fact: On April 1. 1800, Samuel Spencer conveyed to Griffith Miles, of Moreland. Montgomery county, two tracts of land on the east side of the Bristol road. Northampton township; making 104 acres and 94 perches. This was the homestead of the elder and younger Griffith Miles, and but recently passed out of the- family.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
ville to Southampton church. He married Catharine, daughter of John and Ann Jones Bennett, and they were the parents of the following children : William Griffith, born February 19, 1798, died June 13, 1889; Ann Jones, born October 27, 1799, died December 23, 1802; Elizabeth Lydia, born November 5, 1801, died August 1, 1897; John Bennett, born March 3, 1804, died April 20, 1869; Erasmus Nesmith, born August 2, 1806, died May 1, 1872; Samuel Madison, born October 18, 1809, died February, 1810; Mary Bennett, born December 13, 1813. the only living member of the family. But one of this family married, William Griffith Miles to Ellen M. Bennett, daughter of John and Huldah Bennett. They had six children, the daughter, A. Melvina Miles, being the only survivor. In these two branches of the Miles family, with ten children who grew to be men and women, but one entered the married state, and that one has butt a single living descendant. William Miles, seventh son of Joseph and Anne Miles, married Rebecca, daughter of Josiah and Ann Hart, of Southampton, and were the parents of a large family of children, sons and daughters. He was married twice. His first wife died of typhus fever, at Doylestown, March 2, 1815, caught while nursing her mother who died of the same disease a few days before, and also her only brother. By the second wife, William Miles had several children, and died on his farm near the Pennepack Baptist church. The Miles family has become very much scattered in recent years, and are to be found in several states.111:
In 1761 Northampton township contained 113 taxables. In 1784 it had 722 white inhabitants, 91 blacks, and 108 dwellings. In 1810 the population was 1, 176; 1820. 1.411 ; 1830, 1.521 inhabitants and 311. taxables : 1840. 1.694: 1850, 1,843 : 1860, 2.048; and 1870. 1.896, of which It were of foreign birth : 1880. 1.768: 1890, 2.049: 1900, 1.522. The area is 14,380 acres.
In 1761 there was a bridge in Northampton called "Cuckoldstown" bridge, to which a road was laid out that year from James Vansant's, but we have not been able to fix the location of it or the stream. The old records speak of a tract of land called Cuckold's manor, but we are equally in the dark as to its exact situation.12
IN!2 Some members of the family trace relationship to the Mileses of New England, brit if there be a connection it is very remote and before they came to America. Richard and Catharine Miles came to this country from Yorkshire, England, 1637; first settled in Boston till 1612; thence to Shrewsbury, Mass., till 1638, and to New Haven, where Richard died, 1678, leaving a son John, who married Elizabeth Redfield. Now follows four generations of Johns who represent the family-but we have only been able to trace one of them as far south as Pennsylvania, Wm. R. Miles, of Germantown, who came from Connecticut. Colonel Samuel Miles, Philadelphia county, now Montgomery, was also a member of this family. He was born March 11, 17440, was a soldier under Captain Isaac Wayne at Braddock's defeat, commanded a regiment in the Continental army, and promoted a Brigadier for distinguished services. After the war for Independence he held several important civil positions.
12 Subsequent research has thrown light on this matter. Under date of June 15, 1704, was presented to the "worshipful Justice holding court of Quarter Sessions, at Newtown," the petition of Ebenezer Large stating that "our petitioner has rented the old accustomed Inn at Cuckholl's Town,' which he has repainted and much improved. and as he is well provided with everything necessary for the accommodation of trav- clus he prays your worship to grant him your recommendation to keep a Public House of Entertainment" etc, etc. This was signed by Ebenezer Large, and his prayer was granted. Where was it?
.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
It is tradition that a lead mine, many years, was worked on Neshaminy, on the farm owned by S. S. Tomlinson, between Twining bridge and the head of Spring Garden dam, south of the Swamp road. It is said the old shaft and drift are still to be seen, but we know of no one who has seen them. Tradition also points to iron work in the same seetion, on a farm on the road from Church- ville to the Holland road, southeast side of the creek. Joseph Morrison's old mill dam backs up to it. Safety Maghce, whom the author knew, and who died fifty years ago, up in the nineties, is given as authority for iron works, in the long past, being about the location named. Geo. W. Henry, Frankford, Phila- delphia, who furnished some of this information, says he thinks the work on "Iron Work Creek," was an ore washing mill prior to 1812. He has some of the lead specimens taken from the mine on the Tomlinson farm and has been told it was worked by one Chilion Cooper.
A postoffice was established at Richboro, and Richard L. Thomas appointed postmaster, 1830. Northampton must have been noted for her fat cattle more than half a century ago, for we find that in 1815 Aaron Feaster, one of her citizens, sold an ox in Philadelphia that weighed alive two thousand four hundred and sixty-four pounds.
The soil of Northampton is rich and fertile, and the township is watered by Neshaminy, which forms its eastern boundary, and its tributaries.
Northampton is the home of a large tree, but does not quite come up to the Bensalem buttonwood. So far that "takes the cake." This tree is on the Allen Tomlinson farm, on the road from Langhorne to Richborough, and is a chest- nut, measuring 24 feet 8 inches in circumference, only 10 inches less than the Bensalem chestnut. It was struck by lightning some years ago and is some- thing of an invalid.
CHAPTER XXII.
HILLTOWN.
1722.
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The line of English settlers .- Welsh and Germans appear .- First township organized north of Buckingham .- Israel Pemberton .- Rev'd William Thomas .- He builds a church .- Ilis will .- John Vastine .- Change of the name .- The Funks .- The . Owens .- Land taken up .- Henry Lewis .- The Morrises .- Mathias .- William Lunn .- Township organ- ized .- The inhabitants meet .- Origin of township's name .- Jacob Appenzeller .- Jolin Williams .- The Beringers .- Michael Snyder .- Hilltown Baptist Church .- St. Peter's Church .- German Lutherans and Reformed .- Rev. Jacob Senn .- Rev. Abrm. Berky .- Villages .- Line Lexington, etc .- Roads .- Bethlehem Road, old and new .- Population. -Surface of township .- Coal oil pipe line.
A line drawn across the county at the point we have now reached in the history of its settlement and organization of townships would mark the limit of country settled by English Friends. On the Delaware front they reached a little higher up and peopled the lower parts of Plumstead, while on the Mont- gomery line they fell short of it in Warwick and Warrington. Thus far, the tidal wave of civilization had rolled steadily up from the Delaware, and town- ship after township was organized as the needs of the settlers required. Now we observe a different direction taken by the pioneers in coming into and peopling the wilderness of central Bucks. The immigrants came through Philadelphia county, now Montgomery, and were almost wholly Welsh Baptists and German Lutheran and Reformed. Few English settlers planted themselves in the ex- treme northwest and northeast corners of the county, and at a few other points, but the old current of immigration was apparently turned aside by the new movement that flanked it on the southwest. We have now to write about new races, with manners and customs and religious belief very different from the followers of William Penn. In the course of time the Germans spread them- selves across the country to the Delaware, and upward to the Lehigh. while the Welsh, fewer in numbers and more conservative in action, confined their settlements to two or three townships on the southwestern border.
In this section of the county, we mean north of Buckingham, and extend- ing nearly to its present northern limit, were located three large land granis, that required subsequent legislation. These were the tracts belonging to the "Free Society of Traders," and the manors of Richlands and Perkasie. The first, containing nearly nine thousand acres, extended northwest from Buck-
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
ingham, and embraced portions of Doylestown, Warwick and New Britain townships. The conveyance was made to the company by Penn before he left England, 1682, and was surveyed to them before 1700. The manor of Rich- lands, containing ten thousand acres, a reservation to the Penn family, lay mostly in the present township of Richland, was laid out in 1703, while that of Perkasie, with about the same number of acres, embraced parts of Rockhill and Hilltown. According to Oldmixon, it was surveyed soon after 1700. A more extended account of these grants will be found in a subsequent chapter. With these exceptions, all the land of the region we are about to treat of was subject to private entry and settlement.
Ililltown was the first township formed north of Buckingham. Settlers were there early in the eighteenth century, but it is impossible to tell when, and by whom the wilderness was first penetrated. As was the case elswhere, the first purchasers generally took up large tracts, and were not settlers. Among these, we find Israel Pemberton an original land-owner in Hilltown. The com- missioners of property conveyed to him two thousand acres October 31, 1716, in two contiguous tracts, which he sold to James Logan, September 26, 1723. and, two days after, Logan conveyed three hundred acres, in the central part of the township, to Reverend William Thomas, for foo. Mr. Thomas was one of the fathers of Hilltown, and one of its most reputable citizens. He was born in Wales, 16,8, and came to America between 1702 and 1712. Missing the vessel in which he had taken passage, he lost all his goods, and was landed at Phila- delphia with his wife and one son penniless. He first went to Radnor town- ship, Delaware county, where he followed his trade. a cooper, and preached for a few years, when he removed to Hilltown, where he probably settled before 1720. IIc became a conspicuous character and influential, acquired a large landed estate, and settled cach of his five sons and two daughters on a fine farin as they married. In 1737 he built what is known as the Lower meeting-house. on a lot of four acres given by himself, where he preached to his death. 1757. The pulpit was a large hollow poplar tree, raised on a platform, and. in time of danger from the Indians, he carried his gun and ammunition to church with him, depositing them at the foot of the pulpit before he ascended to preach. In his will Mr. Thomas left the meeting house and grounds belonging to the inhabitants of Hilltown. This sturdy sectarian excluded "Papists," "Here- ticks." and "Moravins" from all rights in the meeting house and grounds, and "no tolerated minister." Baptist. Presbyterian or other, was allowed to preach there who shall not believe in the Nicene creed, or the Westminster Confession of Faith, or "who will not swear allegiance to a Protestant king :" pretty strong in the faith, but that was a period when strength of conviction was necessary. His children married into the families of Bates. Williams. James, Evans. Days and Morris. Rebecca. the daughter of John. the second son of William Thomas, was the grandmother of the late John B. Pugh, Doylestown. The blood of William Thomas flows in the veins of several thousand persons in this and adjoining states. The following inscription was placed on his tombstone in the obl Hilltown church :
"In yonder meeting-house I spent my breath, Now silent mouldering, here I lie in death ; These silent lips shall wake, and yet declare, A dread Amen, to truths I published there."
Richard Thomas, in no wise related'or connected with the Reverend Will- iam, was among the carly settlers in Hilltown. Ilis sons turned out badly.
345
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Two of them entered the British army during the Revolution, William known as "Captain Bill Thomas," and Evan the second son. The latter accepted a commission and raised a troop of horse. Hle made several incursions into the county, with which he was well acquainted, and was with the British at the Crooked Billet, May 1, 1778, where he is charged with assisting to burn our wounded in buckwheat straw. He went to Nova Scotia at the close of the war, but subsequently returned to Hilltown and took his family to his new home. There was a black sheep, in a political sense, in the Jones family. Edward Jones, a man of capacity and enterprise, served first in the American army, but discouraged by defeat and disaster, he raised a troop of cavalry among his tory friends and neighbors and joined the British at Philadelphia. Ilis farm near Leidytown was confiscated. In 1744. Thomas Jones purchased three hundred and twenty-seven and one-half acres of Lawrence Growden's executor for £327 IOS., which he settled and improved.
John Vastine, by which name he is known, a descendant of Dutch ances- tors, arrived about the time of William Thomas. Before 1690 Abraham Van de Woestyne immigrated from Holland to New York with his three children, John, Catharine and Hannah. In 1698 we find them at Germantown, where they owned real estate, and the two daughters joined the Society of Friends. About 1720 John sold his land at Germantown and removed to Hilltown, where he bought a considerable tract of Jeremiah Langhorne. His quaint dwelling, long since torn down, with gable to the road, stood on the Bethlehem pike about two miles north-west of Line Lexington and four from Sellersville. His name is found on nearly all the original petitions for opening roads in Hill- town, and on that addressed to the court at Bristol, dated March 8th, 1724, from the inhabitants of "Perchichi."1 asking that the draft of Hilltown may he recorded, where his name is spelled Van de Woestyne. He died, in 1738. The names of three of his children are known, Abraham, Jeremiah and Benja- min. The latter joined the Friends, and, in 1730, applied to the Gwynedd monthly meeting for permission to hold meetings in his house. Abigail Vastine, granddaughter of John the founder of the family, and a woman of great personal beauty , which she inherited from her Holland ancestors, inar- ried Andrew Armstrong. John Vastine has numerous descendants in Ches- ter. Northumberland and other counties in this state, and in Kentucky and some of the Western states.
There is, perhaps, no more curious circumstance connected with the his- tory of names in this State than that relating to this family. The original name was Van de l'ocstyre, which, in the course of time, by a gradual change in the orthography, became Wostyne. Toshine, L'ashtine, and lastine, as now spelled. The original settler was oftener called "Wilderness" than by any other name, which many supposed was given him because he had pushed his way among the first into the woods. At that day the Dutch and Germans were somewhat in the habit of translating their patronymics into English, and accordingly "Van de Woestyne" became "of the wilderness." After this the orthography was not much improved, for we find it written Wilderness, Van de Wilderness, etc., etc .. Gradually the original name was abandoned al- together, and Vastine adopted in its stead.
The L'unks, of Bucks county and several other states of the Union, are descended from Henry Funk, an immigrant from the Palatinate, 1710. set- tled at Indian Creek, Montgomery Co. He married Anna, daughter of Chris-
1 Perkasie
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
tian Meyers; was the father of ten children, John, Henry, Christian, Abraham. Esther, Barbara, Anne, Mary Fronecka and Elizabeth; built the first mill on Indian Creek, and well educated for the time, became a Bishop in the Moravian Charch, dying 1760. His eldest son, Jolin, settled near the present Blooming Glen, Hilltown, married, and was a prosperous farmer, and was the grand- father of Henry and Isaac Funk, New Britain. Another descendant, David Funk, married Catharine Godshalk, removed to Westmoreland Co., and became a Mennonite minister. Henry, the second son of Bishop Funk, dismissed! from the Mennonite Church for supporting the Colonies in the Revolution. became a preacher among the Funkites, and migrated to Rockingham Co .. Va., 1786, with his family, whence they spread over the Southern and West- ern States. One of the sons was a noted musician and publisher of music. Christ- ian Funk, third son of John, born 1731, and died 1811, and eldest son of Henry. the immigrant, also dismissed from the Mennonite Church for supporting the Colonies, joined the Funkites. Some of his descendants became prominent. among them the late Charles Hunsicker, Norristown; Dr. A. H. Fetteroli. L.L. D., President Girard College; and S. M. \shenfelter, Colorado Springs. Abraham Funk, fourth son of John, born 1734, died 1788, married May Landis. settled in Springfield on 300 acres, and farmed and milled. He was impressed with his team during the Revolution, and witnessed the battle of Brandywine. Two of his daughters married into the Stover family. He was a member of Assembly, 1808-09. Abraham Funk was the grandfather of Henry S. Funk. Springtown. Among his descendants is Samuel F. Geil, a distinguished law- yer, Colorado.
The Owen family.2 Welsh, were among the earliest immigrants to State and county, and some of them were prominent in Colonial days. Griffith Owen was a member of Colonial Council, 1685-1707; John Owen, Sheriff of Chester county, 1729-30-31 : and Owen Owen Coronor of Philadelphia county, 1730, and Sheriff, 1728. Our Bucks county Griffith Owen is believed to have come from Wales, 1723. with a letter to the Montgomery Church, and purchased from four to six hundred aeres in Hilltown, just west of Leidy- town, and built a home on'it, 1727, which was torn down many years ago. He was Captain of the Associators, and served in Col. Alexander Graydon's regiment in the French and Indian war. Griffith Owen died October Is. 1764 at 70. He was in the Assembly eleven years, the first time. 1749. As he followed the business of surveying and was a good clerk, he must have been a man of more than ordinary cultivation for the period. He married Mar- garet Morgan, probably of New Britain, and had four children, Owen, Ebe-
2 The name "Owen" is that of a distinguished Welsh family. In the Welsh genca- logical book, the line may be traced back for many generations, till we find it descending from a Welsh Prince honored among his countrymen. From Lower's "Dictionary of Family Names," we learn that Owen is a personal name in Wales. Most of our Owens are from that principality, but it is possible a few may be of Saxon blood, for there is an Owine in the Doomsday Book soon after 1066. A still earlier Owine occurs in the Codey Diplomatises. It is the most common of Welsh surnames. The commoner of Welsh patronymies has tended to a great confusion of Welsh of the gentle and simple names in Wales, In ancient families the patronyme became a stationary family name about the time of Henry VIII and Queen Elisabeth. The Owens of Tedomore Hall. Derbyshire, are descended from Howell Dda and the King of South Wales. There are thousands of Owens who bear the name simply because their fathers bore it as a Christian name. Edicard Mathews.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
nezer, Levi and Rachel. Owen married Catharine Jones, and had four sons and four daughters, Abel. Griffith, Edward, Owen, Margaret, Sarah, Mary and Elizabeth. The eldest son, Owen Owen, jr., was a man of active, vigor- ous inind, of influence in his day, and lived to the age of ninety. He married Jane Hughes, daughter of Christopher Hughes, Bedminister, and had eight daughters, Catharine, Elizabeth, Ann, Jane, Mary, Margaret, Zillah and Ilan- nah. John O. James, Philadelphia, was the son of Catharine Owen, the cklest daughter, who married Abel HI. James. Between William Thomas's three hundred acres, bought of James Logan and Griffith Owen, a settler named Van Buskirk took up a large tract, and the Shannon family took up land west of Owen.
The land in Hilltown was mostly taken up by 1720, and chiefly owned by Janies Logan, Jeremiah Langhorne, Henry Paxson, probably of Solebury, William Thomas, James Lewis, who died 1729, John Johnson, Evan Evans, Thomas Morris, Evan Griffith, Lewis Lewis, Bernard Young, John Kelley, Lewis Thomas and Margaret Jones who died in 1727. A Margaret Jones died in Hilltown in 1807, at the age of ninety-five, probably her daughter, leaving one hundred and fifteen living descendants, of whom sixty were in the third and eleven in the fourth generation. These landowners were prob- ably all residents of the township except Logan, Langhorne and Paxson. The manor of Perkasie occupied from a half to one-third of Hilltown. This sec- tion of country was better known by the name of Perkasie than by any other down to the time it was organized into townships, and was designated Upper and Lower Perkasie, the former referring to what is now Rockhill. The major part of the settlers were Welsh Baptists; and co-workers with William Thomas,
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