USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. I > Part 59
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Andrew Snyder was among the carly settlers of Richland. lle was the eldest son of a noble family of the Duchy of Deux Ponts of Rheinish Bavaria, where he was born in 1739, and, in order to obtain money to come to America, sold his title to the inununities of nobility to a younger brother. He arrived at Philadelphia, 1759, and apprenticed himself to Benjamin Chew, with whom he remained three years. At the end of this time the Chews assisted him to purchase four hundred acres in Richland, and, marrying Margaret Jacoby, in 1765, settled down to a farmer's life. Ile entered the army at the breaking out of the Revolution, and was present at Trenton, Germantown, and other battles, and, at the end of five years' service was paid in worthless Continental cur- rency. He was appointed collector for Richland and probably other town- ships, about the close of the war, and was rendered penniless by going security for others, but his old friends, the Chews, came to his aid again. Mr. Snyder died October 26, 1815, at the age of seventy-six. He had a family of eleven children, five sons and six daughters, but Amos H. Snyder, the son of John. and .bis family, of Richland, are the only descendants of the name who reside near the old homestead. His son Frederick settled in Hilltown, Andrew in Philadelphia and George in Ohio.
Richland is in the northwestern part of the county, thirty-five miles from Philadelphia, and bounded by Springfield, Haycock. Rockhill and Milford, with an area of thirteen thousand nine hundred and eighty-six acres. The surface is generally level and the soil fertile. In the northwest corner is a rocky eminence, bare of vegetation, covering some five acres. The rocks are thrown ingether fell-mell, and, when struck by iron, give a ringing sound. Here some of the headwaters of the Tohickon rise, and a rocky ledge follows either bank some distance. With these exceptions there is but little broken land in the township, and it is well-watered by the Tohickon and branches of the Perkio- men. By clearing up the land, and cultivating it, a large scope of country. that was considered a swamp at its first settlement, has been changed into good farm land, among the best in the upper end of the county. By the cou- sus of 1784 the township contained a population of 860, and 147 dwellings: in 1810, 1317: 1820. 1.385 : 1830, 1719, and 314 taxable: 181. 1.781: 1850. 1.720: 180, 2.058 white and 16 colored, and in 1870, 2,104 white and 7 col-
4 This name is spelled Pursell, Purcell and Purcel. 5 Warren S. Eby.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Grad, of which 93 were of foreign birth ; 1880, 1.994; 1890, 2,088; 1900, 1,826. The township book of Richland shows that in 1705 the overseers received 14. 92. 3d. poor-tax. That year the mayor of Philadelphia sent home a female pauper to be supported by the township. Lewis Lewis, one of the overseers, kept her six months for 15. with an extra five shillings a week for ionr weeks when she "was sick and troublesome more than common." In 1772 the township sent Susannah Boys to Ireland, and paid her passage and sundry expenses, amounting to £10. 05. 3. In 1776 two shillings were spent Ly the township for a "bottle of licker" for John Morrison, who sat up with a sick man. In ISof the poor-tax levied amounted to £37. 55. 10d.
The villages of Richland, are Quakertown and Richland Centre, now united under one municipal government. in the western section of the town- ship. Richlandtown, two miles and a half to the northeast, and Bunker Hill in
LANCASTER HOUSE, QUAKERTOWN, ITT 191.
the southern part. The site of Quakertown is a basin, with a diameter of from two to three miles, with a rim of higher ground running around it, and drained by the tributaries of the Tohicken to the Delaware on the southeast, and by Swamp creek on the southwest emptying into the Perkiomen, and thence into the Schuylkill. On the northwest side of the town is a little rivalet called Licking run, emptying imo the Tohickon, which is said to have got its name From a salt lick on its bank. Hali a century ago a company was formed and some stock subscribed to work the lick. The first settlers at this point located on the elevated ground around the basin. then a swampy meadow where their cattle were turned to pasture: and. within the memory of those living, the land around the town was still a swamp, and covered with a heavy growth of tim- ber down to the railroad station. The road between these points became al- most impassable in the spring of the year. A hamlet first began to form at the intersection of what are known as the Milford Square and Newtown and Hellertown and l'hiladelphia roads, all opened at an early day. We have no date when this collection of early dwellings first developed into a village. It was probably called Quakertown from the first, possibly as a siur upon the Friends who settled it; and very likely was first called "the Quaker's town." In I770 Walter Met cole ket tavern at the crossroads but a post-office was not established until por, with William fireen, postmaster. MeCoole built one of the first mills in the township, the same lately owned by Woli, but we do not know the present owner. The Friends opened a school of a higher grade at Quakertown, the only one in the upper end of the county, shortly after the monthly meeting was established, which became popular with the
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REFORMED CHURCH. QUAKERTOWN
Germans, who sent their children to it from Berks and Northampton. In 1795 a public library was established, with Abraham Stout, Everard Foulke. Jo- seph Lester. Isaac Lancaster and Samuel Sellers, directors, and thirty-two members, of whom Stogdale Stokes, of Stroudsburg, was the last survivor. Among the names we find six Foulkes, four Robertses, three Greens and three Lesters, these three families furnishing one-half the members, no better evi- dence being required to prove who were the early patrons of reading about Quakertown. This is the third oldest library in the county, and is still kept up. with a collection of myfoo volumes. The charter provides it shall be kept within a mile of the cross roads. Quakertown was incorporated 1855 with forty-five frecholders, and at the election in March, Edward Foulk was elected chief burgess with a full compliment of borough officers. It has largely increased in population and wealth since the opening of the North Penn railroad, 1850. At that time it had sixty-two dwellings, and one hundred and fifty additional were added prior to 1876. two hundred and twelve in all. In 1870, the popu- lation was Sog: 1888. 760. and 2,109, 1800: 1900, 3.014. In 1803 the borough was divided into three wards, the first two embracing original Quakertown. the third village is Richland Centre, that part of the borough cast of the rail- road. The present population is about 3.000. the first and second wards 1,800. the third 1.200.
In the past twenty-five years Quakertown has undergone great change and development. It has ten churches, representing the Friends, Lutheran." Reformed. Methodist. and Roman Catholic, and five hotels. In industrial and
6 The Lutheran church. St. Johns, erected 1800, was the second house of worship in Quakertown. It was remodeled and enlarged, 1800, and occupied the following spring.
449
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
mechanical pursuits, it has kept pace with the most prosperous sections of the cotti.ty ; among the plants are Roberts, Winner & Co.'s stove works, the Eagle silk null, giving employment to about one hundred hands cach ; several cigar manufactories, large and small, employing five hundred hands, the industry prospering during the late depression ; shoe manufacturing, etc. A national- bank was chartered isto, with a paid up capital of $100,000 ; it has a surplus of $175.000, and $450,000 deposits. Among the secret societies, the Masons, Odd Fellows, American Mechanics, Red Men, Knights of the Golden Eagle, and the Brotherhood of the Union have flourishing lodges. In addition to the industries named. are a foundry, ax handle, spoke and felloe factory, tannery and hay press.
Quakertown has been fortunate in her schools. Besides the Friends . School, established at an early day, Richard Moore and Thomas Lester opened. a boarding school. 1818, that was a success while continued. In 1858 the Reverend A. R. Horne, D. D., opened a Normal and classical school, his as- sistant being the Reverend II. L. Bougher, D. D., former professor of Green at Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg. It began with three scholars and had forty before the end of the term. During the five years the school continued it had four hundred students from half a dozen states, and from one-third of the counties of this state, and one hundred and fourteen of the number were fitted for teachers. The former pupils hold a reunion every five years on August 19.7 When Mr. Horne left, 1803, Reverend L. Cort became principal, but it was changed into a "Soldiers' Orphans" School. 1865, and continued until 1809, under Joseph Fell and Alfred H. Marple. At the present time the bor- ough has three public school buildings, with an average attendance of seven hundred, the principal being Prof. S. M. Rosenberger, Milford township. The post-office is a distributing office for most parts of the upper end of the county hy rail and stage. The village has a water plant, the Tohickon creek furnishing the abundant supply ; the streets and houses are lighted with clec- tricity, and a trolley line connects it with Richlandtown.
Richland Centre. a mile cast of what was old Quakertown, and with
It is finished with all modern comforts and conveniences; has a seating capacity of 300 in auditorium and 150 in gallery ; in basement are Sunday-school room and other apart- ments, heated with steam, lighted with electricity, and has a pipe organ. The church ha> had five pastors: The Revs. Berkemyer, George W. Lazarus. J. F. Ohl, Geo. G. Gardner, and B. F. Fretz.
7. In the National Educator, 1874. Mr. Horne related the following reminiscence of the school: "When the rebellion broke out. 1801. we had charge of the Bucks county Normal and Classical school, Quakertown \ spirit of patriotism was aroused among the students, and they organized a company of 'minute men,' who went through daily drills. The captam of the company was a tall. stalwart student, standing almost head and shoulders above the rest. the drummer boy was a wee bit of a fellow. On Sunday week we met both of these men in their ministerial capacity. The captain, Prof. J S. Stahr, of Franklin and Marshall college, and the drummer boy, the Rev C. J. Cooper, of South Bethlehem, also pastor of the Lower Saucon church, Northampton county."
& The late Dr Isaac S. Moyer, one of the most prominent residents of Quakertown,. and an accomphshed botanist. prepared the catalogue of plants for the first edition of this work. Hle was horn at Harleysville. Montgomery county. 1838, and died. 1808 His wife was a sister of B. Frank Fackenthall, Easton, Pennsylvania.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
which it was connected by a broad street, has been consolidated with it into one municipality. Here the station of the North Pennsylvania railroad was established when opened. the road being the dividing line between the two vil- lages until they were united IS;4. The post-office was established 1867 ; and all the buildings but ten have been built since 1856. The town is mainly built on the farms of Joel B. Roberts and John Strawn, and has a fair share of the industries credited to Quakertown.
Richlandtown, two and a half miles northeast of Quakertown, is a vil- lage of seventy-five houses. Among the earliest settlers were John Smith, a soldier of the Revolution : John Berger, Philip Grower and Daniel Walp. Wal; built the first dwelling. a frame, 1804, but the oldest house, now standing, was built by Abraham Oberholtzer, about seventy-five years ago and, in recent vears. was owned by William Reed. The place was first called "Three Lanes End." and then, in succession "Ducktown," "Frogtown," "Flatland," and the name it bears. It has the usual village industries, including the manufacture of shoes and cigars, stores, etc. There is but one church, St. John's Evangeli- cal. Lutheran and Reformed, organized 1806-7. The lot was the gift of John Smith, the building erected 18os, and rebuilt 1860. A school-house was there prior to the church. and a grave-vard half a mile northeast. Here several of the earliest setttlers were buried, but their graves have been plowed over and can no longer be distinguished. The first Lutheran pastor was the Reverend! George Keller, then Frederick Waage, William B. Kemmer, thirty-eight years. dying 1860, E. T. M. Sell. L. Groh. P. B. Kistler, Joseph Hillpot, and the Reverend D. Il Reiter. installed 1880. and still the rector. He has also off- ciated at East Quakertown, since the church's organization, 1800, and at Trum- bauersville. The first Reformed pastor was the Reverend Samuel Stahr, who served until his death. 1826. then Mr. Berke, Samuel Iless, forty years, who resigned on account of old age, and the Rev. Henry Hess, who succeeded him. 1868. The post-office at Richlandtown was established 1839, and Chris- tian A. Snyder appointed postmaster. Bunker Hill is situated on the New Beilichem road, on the line between Richland and Rockhill, and contains a store and about a dozen dwellings. A tavern was licensed there many years but it has been closed a long time. Within a few years a small hamlet called California has sprung up on the railroad, two miles above Quakertown, which contains a tavern. store, mill. and a few dwellings.
Along the border of the Quakertown basin, near California, there were a few years ago two old log houses, inhabited by the Green family at a very early day. A mile east of Richlandtown, on the road to Doylestown and near the cross-roads at Loux's smith-shop. Haycock, is an old graveyard, where was once a log Methodist church, but taken down half a century ago. On a ruin d gravestone can be read the initials. "J. M.," the latter letter being supposed to stand for Motley, an inhabitant of the neighborhood.
This section of the county has been noted for its healthfulness and the longevity of many of its citizens. A few years ago the Provident Life and Trust company, Philadelphia, instituted an inquiry into the age to which people lived in various parts of the county. An examination of Richland meeting records proved that a larger number of its members died at a greater age thei of any other meeting. The oldest inhabitant of that section. 1875. was John Heller, near Quakertown, who was one hundred the 25th of January, but we do not know when he died. He was born in Rockhill. 1775. and lived sivt- years in Milford township. He met with many mishaps, among others falling
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
a distance of thirty-one feet from the wall of a mill, at the age of seventy-one. which lamed him for life. He was industrious, and in his old age enjoyed good health. There were several lots of land in Richland containing in all four hundred and thirteen acres, and twenty perches, included in the tract known as "Lottery lands:" originally surveyed by John Watson, and re-surveyed, 1773, by Samttel Foulke. . A century and a half ago Robert Penrose was the most ex- tensive farmer in Richland.
We have met with no record of roads earlier than 1729, when the inhabi- tants petitioned to have a road laid out "from the upper part of the said town- ship, near a creek called Sacking. or Sucking, to the place where the Quaker meeting-house is building, and from thence to the end of Aaron Griffith's lane." It is impossible to say what road this was, but it was one leading from the upper end of the township to Quakertown. The following year the inhabitants petitioned for a road from Quakertown to the county line, at Perkasie, an early outlet to Philadelphia. The same year Hilltown and Richland asked for a road from the mouth of Pleasant spring, via the most northerly corner of Ber- nard Young's land, to the county line, near Horsham. The starting may have len near the spring in Pleasant Valley, Springfield. In 1734 a road was laid out from the Great Swamp to the North Wales road leading to Edward Farm- er's mill. The Bethlehem road, carly laid out through Richland, gave the in- habitants a convenient way to the valley of the Lehigh in one direction, and, in the other, opened a new route toward Philadelphia, and the lower end of the county. In 1780 the name of John Fries, the hero of "Milford rebellion," was signed to a petition for a road in Richland.
One of the oldest houses in Richland, possibly in the upper end of the county, is the Fluck log house at the junction of the Swamp road and that to Bunker Hill, two miles east of Quakertown. It is occupied by Charles Moll, grandson of Samuel Fluck, born 1804, had eleven children of which six are living. The house was built at two periods ; in the older part the logs are not smared, but left in the rough and chinked. A date, ent in the chinmey piece of the more recent structure, is very distinct, 1789, and the other part may be a couple of generations older. Tobias Kile, now in his ninety-fourth year, who has lived near by all his life, and in possession of all his faculties, says he has no knowledge when it was built ; that it was an old house in his earliest boy- Good. The Kile family is numerous and of great longevity. There were eleven children, four of which are still living at an advanced age, Tobias, Abraham. Sarah Hartranft and Nancy Coar, with one set of triplets, Isaac. Jacob and Abraham, the former dying recently, close on to ningty. The father's name was Abraham Keil, and the mother Catharine M. Souder. The grand- father was Hartman Keil and the grandmother a Souder also. All livel to nearly one hundred years, The Keil farm is now owned by Nicholas Kile, a errandson of Tobias. A very ofdl log house on this farm is still occupied.
In Richland the Teutonic race has practically overwhelmed the descen- dants of the English and Welsh Friends, the first to invade the wilderness, and Have made it a German township. In Quakertown proper the old Quaker fam- t'es have more nearly held their own, but everywhere else the German is the reling element of the population. We have been able to get but little informa- son of the German families which first settled in Richland. Many of them have numerous descendants living in the township, who are represented in the Musselmans, Walps, Ditterlys, Allums, Bichos, Singmasters, Dichts, Freeds, wel others well-known.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Charles Albert Fechter, a distinguished tragedian, spent several Years of his life in Richland, on a small farm he bought, 1874, dying there 1879."
9 Mr. Fechter was born at London, 1824, of German-French parentage, receiving a liberal education in France. Choosing the histrionic profession as a life pursuit. after proper preparation he joined a travding troupe, making the tour of Italy and playing at different times at Paris, Berlin and London. He took leading English characters, incl: 1- ing Hamlet and Macbeth. Hle met with remarkable success and took rank with the lea huy actors. He came to America. I8;0, well indorsed by the press and public; also Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Edmund Yates. He received a warm reception in all the leading cities. He was a man of genius and should have achieved greater distinction tha :: he won. He was buried in Philadelphia.
CHAPTER XXIX.
UPPER MAKEFIELD.
1737.
Last township below Bedminster to be organized .- Manor of Highlands surveyed .- Original purchasers .- Henry Baker and Richard Hough .- The Harveys .- Judge Ed- ward Harvey .- The London Company .- The Lees,-Windy bush .- Balderstons .- Township petitioned for .- Effort to attach part to Wrightstown .- Township en- larged .- The Tregos .- Charles Reeder .- Samuel McNair .- William Keith .- The Magills .-- McConkeys .-- Doctor David Fell .- Burleys .- First-day meeting .- Meet- ing-house built -Oliver H. Smith .- Thomas Langley .- Bowman's hill .- Knowles family .- Doctor John Bowman -- Lurgan and its Scholars .- Old Shafts .- Indian bury- ing-ground .-- William H. Ellis .- Dolington .- Taylorsville .- Brownsburg .- Monument at Washington's crossing .- Jericho .- Aged persons .- Taxables and population .- Loca- tion and surface of Upper Makefield .- Continental army .- Monks on Jericho Hill.
Lower Makefield had been an organized township forty-five years before Upper Makeneld was separated from it. and was the last of the original town- ships below Bedminster to be organized. The cause of this may be found in the fact that the greater part of the land was retained by the Penns as a manor. and the influx of settlers was not encouraged. The same was the case when a portion of the manor fell into possession of the London company. When Lower Makefield was organized, in 1692, what is now Upper Makefield was a wilderness. Probably a few adventurous pioneers had pushed their way thither, but there was hardly a permanent setttler there.
About 1605 Thomas Holme laid off a tract of seven thousand five hundred acres for William Penn. immediately north of Lower Makefield, and gave it the name of "Manor of Highlands." It lay principally within this township. but extended into the edge of Wrightstown and Solebury, the road from Tay- lorsville to the Eagle being laid on the southern boundary. Among the original purchasers we have the names of Edmund Luff, Henry Sidwell, Thomas Hud- son, whose large tract lay about Dolington and extended to the Delaware, Jo- soph Milnor, and his brother Daniel who settled near Taylorsville. Part of all of the Hudson tract was probably sold to John Clark, who owned eight hun- dred acres in the neighborhood of Dolington which he sold to John Estaugh, in 1,10, and he to Richard Sunley, in 1728. Part of this tract is now owned by the Tregos. In 1743 Samuel Brown bought four hundred and twenty seven acres of it in right of his wife and on behalf of her sisters, the
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
daughters of John Clark. In 1700 William Penn granted one thousand acres. in the manor to Thomas Story, but, when he applied to have the land laid out, it was found to have been already granted to another. In 1703 Thomas and Reuben Ashton, ancestors of the present family of this name, purchased each an hundred acres. According to Holme's map, Henry Baker and Richard Hough took up land on Baker's creek, which empties into the Delaware just below Taylorsville. Subsequently it was called Musgrave's creek, from a man of that name who occupied a house on its banks near the river, then Hough's creek, after Richard Hough, which name it now bears.1
The Harvey family, originally spelled Harveye, which came into the township at the close of the seventeenth century, are descended from Matthias Ilarveye. Northampion county, England. He settled on Long Island, 1669. and was married twice. his first wife being Margaret Horbit, of Flushing. De- cember 2. 1682. She died without issue, June 9. 1688, when he married Sarah Harrington, of Flushing. June 2. 1689. She had three children, Matthias, born April 4, 1690, died August, 1742: Thomas, born October 27, 1692, died Angust 1758, and Benjamin, born April 11, 1695 and died March, 1730. Thomas Har- vey, second son of Matthias Harvey and Sarah Harrington, married Tamar and had issue, Joseph, born February 8, 1734, Mathias, March 7, 1739. William, August 28, 1748, and Thomas February 13, 1750, and eight daughters .. The daughters were all born in Upper Makefield but the date of birth and the names are not known. Thomas Harvey, son of Benjamin, who was the second son of Matthias, the elder, was born May, 1749, but nothing is known of his marriage, when, where or to whom. There was also a Joshua Harvey, born > to one of the sons of Matthias, the elder, who married Elizabeth Patrick and died at St. Thomas. August 24. 1808, While Matthias Harveye, the elder, hved on Long Island he attained some prominence, among the public positions he held being that of one of the Justices of King's county, to which he was ap- pointed October 1, 1090.
There is some uncertainty when Matthias Harveye, the eller, came to- Bucks county and settled in Upper Makefield. As he was living at Flushing. Long Island. November 1, 1096, he must have come to this county subsequent to that time, but we can only approximate it by a real estate deed he was party to. The public records show that on the 8th of 12th month. 1605 -. William Biles, attorney for Thomas Hudson, conveyed one thousand and fifty acres in Upper Makefield to Matthias Harveye for the consideration of £275, the deed being acknowledged in open court. In the recital the purchaser is spoken of as "of Bucks county." There is no positive evidence he was then living in Upper Makefield, but doubtless he was, and the inference is equally
[ William Penn conveyel five hundred acres to Jacob Hall, May 25. 1083, which Hall conveyed to The mas Hudson, 7, 16, 1691, and William Penn confirmed five hundred acres to Huden, which two tract d'as will be seen later, were conveyed to Mathias Harvey. of Flushing. Long Island, whose descendants owned the tract for three generations. There were found, in a manuscript copy of "Resurveys," by John Cutler, among the papers of Surveyor John Watson, mneteen stanzas on the death of Mary Estaugh. addressed to her mother, Eunice Estaugh, by Zebulon Hughes, of which the following. is one stan !! '
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