USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. I > Part 6
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William Penn embarked for Pennsylvania in the Welcome. the Quaker Mayflower, of 300 tons, Robert Greenway, master, September 1, 1683. He was accompanied by 100 immigrants, mostly Friends. They had a long and tedious passage and their suffering was aggravated by the smallpox breaking out. of which 30 passengers died. Penn was assiduous in his attention to the sick. and greatly endeared himself to all. The vessel entered the Capes of Delaware October 24 : arrived before New Castle the 27th. when Penn received possession of the country and submission of the inhabitants. He was at Upland the 20th and from there sent word to some of the leading inhabitants to meet him at New Castle on November 2, to settle the question of jurisdiction and other mat- ters. At this meeting he took occasion to address the people, explaining the nature of his grant. etc. He desired them to bring, at the next court. their patents, surveys, grants and claims, to have them adjusted and confirmed. On November 2. Penn visited Philadelphia, with a number of Friends, to attend Quarterly Meeting. Tradition tells us he came up the river in a boat and landed at the mouth of Dock creek, near a building then being erected, and afterward known as the "Blue Anchor Tavern." He convened an Assembly at Upland. the 4th of December, at which were present from Bucks county. Christopher Taylor, Griffnh Jones and William Yardley. It continued in ses- sion four days, passing about one hundred laws of pressing importance, in- cluding the act of U'nion which united the territories of New Castle and Kent to Pennsylvania. An election was ordered for the 20th of February, 1682.1
1 Old style.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
for members of Council and Assembly, to meet at Philadelphia the 10th of March following. In the proclamation, addressed to "Richard Noble" high sheriff of the county of Bucks,3 he was required to "summon all the freeholders of thy bailiwick to meet at the falls upon Delaware river";" when William Biles, Christopher Taylor, and James Harrison were elected to the Council, and Wil- liam Yardley, Samuel Darke, Robert Lucas, Nicholas Walne, John Wood, John Clows, Thomas Fitzwater, Robert Hall, and James Boyden, to the Assembly, whose names are signed to the Great Charter.5
After giving some directions about the building of Philadelphia, we next find William Penn making a visit to New York. We know nothing of his jour- ney, but no doubt he took the overland route, going up the river in a boat, to the falls, stopping on the way at Burlington to visit the Friends' settlement, and view the site Markham had already selected, and upon which he was erect- ing his manor house, and thence on horseback across New Jersey to Elizabethi- town Point, where he took boat for New York. This was probably the first time the great founder set foot in Bucks county.
Of the one hundred immigrants the Welcome brought to the wilderness west of the Delaware, the heads of families were generally persons of standing and intelligence. About one-half of all who arrived with Penn settled in this county, and their descendants are found here to this day, many of them bearing the same names and some living on the ancestral homesteads. Of the Welcome passengers who settled in Bucks, we are able to name the following :
Thomas Rowland, Billinghurst, Sussex, husbandman, with his wife Pris- cilla, and servant Hannah Mogeridge, who settled in Falls and died 1705. John Rowland, a brother, came at the same time ;
Thomas Fitzwater, Hanworth, county of Middlesex, near Hampton Court, husbandman, with sons Thomas and George, and servants John and Henry. His wife and two children died at sea, on the passage. He was a member from Bucks, of the first Assembly, and died 1699;
William Buckman, parish of Billingshurst, Sussex, carpenter, with Mary his wife, and children Sarah and Mary. He patented three hundred acres in the lower part of Northampton township, 1686, which he sold to John Shaw. and bought a tract in Newtown. on the Neshaminy, of Robert Webb, 1695, and died there. He was the ancestor of the Buckmans still living in Newtown. The descendants of William Buckman are supposed to number two thousand souls. Jacob Buckman, who died near Moorestown, N. J., 1869, was lineally de- scended in the seventh generation :
Cuthbert Hayhurst, Easington. Yorkshire, with his wife and four chil- dren, who took up a tract of five hundred acres near Rocksville, Northampton township, the farm of the late Mordecai Carter being part of it. He was a Friend and belonged to Middletown meeting, dying March 5. 1683, at the age of fifty. He was one of the earliest Friends in his native county, and was im- prisoned, 1654-1666, and at other times. His daughter Mary married William Carter :
2 First sheriff of the county.
3 By naming this county "Bucks" in the first proclamation William Penn issued after his arrival, it would seem he had fixed upon the name. possibly before leaving England.
4 The first election held in the county.
5 It was drawn by James Harrison and Thomas Fitzwater, both Bucks county men.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Richard Ingals, or Ingols, settled in Washington, but we hear nothing further of him;
Thomas Walmsly, with Elizabeth his wife, Yorkshire, settled in North. ampton, where he died soon after his arrival. He had bought land before leay- ing England, and brought with him irons, and other articles, to be used in the erection of a mill. His widow married John Purslone; and his eldest son. Thomas, Mary, daughter of William Faxson, and settled in Bensalem, 1698. The youngest son married Mary Searl, 1699, and settled in Southampton :
Nicholas Walne, with wife and three children, of Yorkshire, settled in Middletown, but owned land in Northampton. He became prominent in our history; was a member of the first and subsequent Assemblies, and died Au- gust, 1721. He has numerous descendants in Philadelphia ;
Thomas Wrigglesworth and wife, Yorkshire. He died, 1686;
Thomas Croasdale, wife and six children, and Thomas Stackhouse and wife, Yorkshire, who settled in Middletown, and Ellen Cowgill and children from Yorkshire ;
John Gilbert came. 1682. and is thought to have been a Welcome pas- senger, although his name is not on the list examined by the author. He settled in Bensalem, but removed shortly to Philadelphia, where he became a prominent merchant, and died, 1711. The name of Thomas Gillett312 is on the list of Wel- come passengers, but it is possible the Bensalem settler should be Thomas in- stead of John. James Claypole, a relative of Oliver Cromwell, through his daughter, who married Lord General Claypole, purchased land in this county, but never lived here. He became a merchant of Philadelphia, and was a part- ner in the Free Society of Traders. He was accompanied by his daughter.
Among the Welcome passengers was Joseph Kirkbride,6 a youth of nine- teen, son of Mahlon and Magdalene, of the quaint little town of the same nante, Cumberland. One account says he arrived in the John and Sarah, 1681, leav- ing England in August. The family records state that he came in the Wel- come. He ran away from his master, and started for the new world with a little wallet of clothing and a tlail. He was first employed at Pennsbury, but soon removed to West Jersey. He married Phebe, daughter of Randall Black- shaw, March 14th, 1688, and at her death, Sarah, daughter of Mahlon Stacy, December 17th, 1702: she died in three years, leaving a son, Mahlon, and two daughters, who married Abel Janney and Reuben Pownall. Joseph Kirkbride lived to become an influential and wealthy man, and leading minister among Friends : was a magistrate and member of Assembly. He went to England, 1699, returning to1, visiting his obl master in Cumberland and paying him for the services he had deprived him of, seventeen years before. He died, 1738. at the age of seventy-five. From his son Mahlon have descended all that bear his name in this county, and many elsewhere, and a numerous posterity in the female line. Hle married Mary, daughter of John and Mary Sotcher. favor.te servants of William Penn, at the age of twenty-one, and settled in Lower Make- field, where he built a stone mansion thit stood until 1855. when torn down by a grandson of the same name. Colonel Joseph Kirkbride, who lived opposite Bordentown, and was prominent in the county during the Revolutionary struggle, was a grand-on of the first Joseph, and son of the Joseph who
5:4 This name is possibly misspelled.
6 A Joseph Kirkbride came in the Bristol Factor, landing its passengers in the Delaware, 10 mo., 11, 1081.
--
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
married Sarah Fletcher, Abington, 1724. The British burnt Colonel Kirk- bride's mansion, 1778.7 Mahlon Kirkbride, Lower Makefield. had in his pos- session, and which came from the Penns through the Scotchers, a brass candle- stick, an oaken chest, and the remains of Letitia Penn's cradle, in which most of the young Kirkbrides were rocked. Probably other Welcome passengers settled in this county, but in the absence of a list entirely correct, it is impos- shie to say who they were."
Our readers must not lose sight of the actual condition of the country when Penn and his immigrant Friends planted themselves on the Delaware. If we except the clearing of an occasional Dutchman, or Swede, or the few English settlers who had preceded the founder, what is now a cultivated and pleasing landscape, was then an unbroken wilderness. The river swarmed with fish of
LETITIA PENN'S CRADLE.
excellent flavor, and the forest was filled with game of various kinds and much wild fruit, while the Indian, roamed unrestramed. These exiles, from com- fortable English homes, sat down in the woods seeking the friendly shelter of a tree, a cave, or otherwise as best they could until a rude cabin could be built ; and wild game and native corn, both the gift of the red man, often fed them and their family until trees were felled and crops raised. Those who located near streams had a never-failing supply of fish. Mills were rare and at a dis-
7 As early as 1718 the assembly established a ferry at Kirkbride's landing, which was afterward known as Bordentown ferry.
S The first settlers brought with them certificates of good character from the meet- ings they belonged to, which, with the names of their parents, children and servants, the vessel they came in, and the time of their arrival, were entered in a book kept for the purpose by Phineas Pemberton. clerk of the court. Among the early settlers there is observed an almost entire absence of middle names. They had not yet come into use.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
tance, and some even carried grain on their back to the Schuylkill .? The coun- try was without roads, and those who traveled followed bridle paths through the woods. or in canoes along the streamis. Life was a stern, hard struggle, the present generation, living in affluence and plenty, cannot realize. At first the; were without plows, using hoes instead, to break up the ground. In 1687 the crops failed on both sides of the river, and the settlers were put to great stress for food, some living on herbs until their necessities were relieved by the arrival of a vessel with corn from New England. Wild pigeons were in such abun- dance they furnished a supply of food, on several occasions, when other sources failed.
William Penn was very favorably impressed with the Swedes he found inhabiting the Delaware and its tributaries, and wrote to England flattering accounts of their treatment of himself and the English colonists. He says they were principally given to husbandry, but had made a little progress in the propagation of fruit trees ; they were comely and strong of body ; had fine chil- dren and plenty of them : and he sees "few young men more sober and indus- trious." Some have contended there was a "Swede's line," running from Up- land through Philadelphia and part of Bucks, half a mile from the Delaware, marking the western boundary of land the Duke of York confirmed to the Swedes, and which Penn reconfirmed. Penn recognized every grant by the Duke of York, but we have not been able to discover any evidence of a con- tinuous line that bore this name. Wherever. mention is made of the "Swede's line," has reference only to the line of the land owned by one of that race, or. as we might say, the "Dutchman's line," or the "Englishman's line." It was merely local to those places where the Swedes owned land that joined the land of other settlers. Holme's map shows no such line, nor have we ever met with it except when mentioned in an occasional old deed.
The virgin Pennsylvania must have impressed William Penn as a most charming land when he arrived upon its shores, 1682. Daniel Pastorious writes. that Penn found the air so perfumed, it seemed to him like an orchard in full bloom : that the trees and shrubs were everywhere covered with leaves, and filled with birds, which, by their beautiful colors and delightful notes pro- claimed the praise of their Creator. A few years later Erik Biork concludes a letter by saying the country may justly be called "the land of Canaan." While William Penn's impressions of his new Province were not so highly wrought. they were equally significant. He is particular in his description of the fishe- in the Delaware, and their excellence and abundance, stating that six thousand shad were taken at one draught, and sold at the doors of the settlers for a half penec each ; and oysters two shillings per bushel. If to these accounts be added that of Gabriel Thomas, who arrived in 1681, in the first vessel after the pur- chase, and the letter of Mahlon Stacy, written 16So, the most credulous will be satisfied that Penn's new Province was a most charming country.
It was William Penn's policy, from the beginning. to extinguish the Indian title to hiis grant of Pennsylvania by purchase.10 The price was insignificant when we consider the value of the land, nevertheless it was such as was paid
9 It is thought had it not been for the Swedes and Hollanders, who preceded William Penn and his immigrants, some of whom had considerable farms, it would have been difficult for the first comers to subsist at all. The Friends owed much to theni. who were the true pioncers.
10 Charles P. Keith, in a "Synopsis of Pennsylvania History," published in the October, 1900, number of "The Pennsylvania Magazine of History." says that "Henry Comp-
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
at that day. Although lie had no authority, William Markham made the first purchase of what is Bucks county, July 15, 1682, three months and a half be- fore Penn's arrival, for which he paid a little wampum, a few blankets, guns, kettles. beads, fish-hooks, etc. This tract had the following metes and bounds : "Beginning at a white-oak, on the land now in the tenure of John Wood, and by him called the Graystones, over against the falls of Delaware river, and from thence up the river side to a corner spruce tree, marked with the letter P. at the foot of the mountains, and from the said tree, along by the ledge or foot of the mountain west, southwest, to a corner white-oak marked with the letter l'. standing by the Indian path, that leads to an Indian town called Plawicky,11 and near the head of a creek called Towsissink or Towisinick, and from thence westward to the creek called Neshamineh, at the high rocks ; and along by the said Neshamineh to the river Delaware, alias Makerickhickon (or Makerish- kitton), and so bounded by the said river, to the first-mentioned white-oak, in John Wood's land, with the several islands in the river," etc.1"
These boundaries are well defined by nature, and easily traced. The place of starting was the riverside at Morrisville, where John Wood owned land and lived; the tree at "the foot of the mountain," which marked the first corner, stood 104 perches above the mouth of Knowle's creek, which runs through Upper Makefield and empties into the Delaware below Brownsburg. The "mountain" followed in a southwesterly direction was the rocky ridge, now called Jericho hill, which extends nearly across Upper Makefield in a general southwest direction. When the course leaves the "mountain" it diverges to the westward, and runs in nearly a straight line to a corner white oak that stood on the land late of Moses Hampton, near the head of a creek about three- fourths of a mile northeast of Wrightstown meeting house.13 "Towsissink" creek is a branch of the Lalaska, crossing the Pineville turnpike a little below the Anchor tavern. From the white oak the line runs west to the high rocks on Neshaminy, about half a mile below Chain bridge, crossing the Durham road near where it is intersected by the road from Pennsville. This purchase included all of the townships of Bristol, Falls, Middletown, Lower, and the greater part of Upper Makefield, Newtown, and a small portion of Wrights- town. the line running about half a mile from its southern boundary.
The next purchase of lands in this county was made by Penn in person, the 23d of June, 1683, when the chiefs Essepenaike, Swampoes, Okkettarickon and Wessapoak, for themselves their heirs and assigns, conveyed to him all their lands, "lying between Pemmapecka" and Neshamineh creeks, and all along upon Neshemineh15 creeks, and backwards of the same, and to run two days journey with a horse up into the country." The same day the chief Tamanen16 and Metamequan released to Penn and his heirs the same territory,
ton, Bishop of Loindon, advised Penn to buy the country of the Indians like the Dutch and Swedes."
II The exact location of the Indian town of "Plawicky" has not been defi- nitely fixed. Dr. Smith, in his notes on Wrightstown, says that tradition has located its site on the land of Thomas Smith in that township, on the north side of the public road near the residence of Isaac Lacy, and above the line of the purchase. Here are two large and never-failing springs, and numerous Indian relics found in the neighborhood tend to confirm the tradition.
12 The islands mentioned in this purchase are Mattiniconk. Sapassinck and Oreskows.
13 Dr. Charles W. Smith.
14 Pennypack. 15 Neshaminy. 16 St. Tamany.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
omitting the two days journey, but July 5, 1697, they confirmed this grant, including the "two days journey." The latter deed was acknowledged in open court at Philadelphia. This purchase inchided the townships of Bensalem, North and Southampton, Warminster. Warrington, and all west of the main branch of the Neshaminy. The purchase by Thomas Holme, 1685, did not em- brace any part of Bucks county, but probably touched us on the southwestern border after leaving the Pennypack, up which the line ran from the Delaware.
It is alleged that a treaty was made with the Indians August 30, 1686, said to be the foundation for the "Walking Purchase," but such treaty or deed has never been found. By it, it is said the Indians conveyed to Penn :-
"All those lands lying and being in the Province of Pennsylvania, begin- ning upon a line formerly laid out from a corner spruce tree, by the river Delaware, and from thence running along the ledge or the foot of the mountains west northwest ( west southwest) to a corner white oak marked with the letter P. standing by the Indian path that leadeth to an Indian town called Play- wikey, and from thence extended westward to Neshaminy creek. from which said line, the said tract or tracts thereby granted doth extend itself back into the woods, as far as a man can go in one day and a half, and bounded on the westerly side with the creek called Neshaminy, or the most westerly branch thereof, and from thence by a line to the utmost extent of said creek one day and a half's journey to the aforesaid river Delaware, and thence down the sev- eral courses of the said river to the first mentioned spruce tree."
The Walking Purchase treaty was begun at Durham, 1734, where John and Thomas Penn met two of the Delaware chiefs, but nothing was done and they adjourned to meet at Pennsbury in May, 1735.17 Here several other Dela- ware chiefs met the Proprietaries-but nothing conclusive was arrived at. In August, 1737, the negotiations were resumed at Philadelphia, and on the 25th and 26th was concluded what is known as the Walking Purchase treaty, about which there has been so much controversy, and which, afterward gave great dissatisfaction to the Indians. This treaty confirms and ratifies the terms of that of August. 1686, and provides for the walk to be made by persons ap- pointed for the purpose. The treaty was executed by four chiefs, and witnessed by twelve Indians and several whites. The purchases made under these various treaties included the present territory of Bucks county, with a greater part of that within its ancient limits. One of the signers to the Walking Purchase was Lappawinsoe, whose portrait hangs in the room of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, painted in this State in 1737. and presented by Granville John Penn. Logan speaks of him, 1741. as "an honest old Indian." He was classed among the chiefs at the Forks of the Delaware, and Hackewelder says his name means "he is gone away gathering corn, nuts or anything eatable."
The traditional account that Janney gives in his life of Penn, that the Proprietary, accompanied by some of liis friends, began to walk out a purchase that was to extend up the Delaware "as far as a man could walk in three days;" that when they reached a spruce tree in a day and a half, near the mouth of Baker's creek, Penn concluded he would want no more land at present, and
17 Under date of 26th, 2d mo .. 1735, Steel writes to Nathan Watson, "that he was disappointed that he had not already hought two fat cattle and some good sheep," for the Indians to assemble at the treaty at Pennsbury-and advises that he now sends him, by William Smith, "thirty pounds to buy two good midlin' fat cattle, a score of good fat wether sheep, and some ewes and lambs," and direct him to send them to Pennsbury before the fifth day of next month.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
ran a line from thence to the Neshaminy ; that they walked leisurely, after the lilian manner, sitting down sometimes to smoke their pipes, to eat biscuit and , heese, and drink a bottle of wine, is a pure myth, having no foundation in fact. We present two autographs of the great Tamanen, or Tamany, which gives us some idea of the chirography of one of our lead- ing aboriginal chieftains. The first was made in 1683, and is the chief's signature to the treaty of June 23. which Penn negotiated for the purchase of the land between the Pennypack and Neshaminy. The second is attached to the treaty of June 15. 1692. In the meantime probably the chieftain had changed his writing master, and had been taught a more modern signature.
By virtue of the Royal Charter. Penn and his heirs were the absolute lords of the soil, after the Indian title was extinguished, and the officers of the land office were his agents. Large quantities of land were disposed of before he left England, to be surveyed afterward. One hundred pounds were paid for a full share, of five thousand acres, and 50s. quit-rent, which entitled the holder to one hundred acres in the city plat. Those who could settle six families were to get their land for nothing. In the conditions agreed upon, between Penn and the original purchasers, July 11, 1681, it was stipulated "that in clearing the ground care should be taken to leave one acre of trees for every five acres cleared, especially to preserve mulberry and oak for silk and shipping." Before 1700 the usual method of granting land was by lease and re-lease, and the rent, generally, was a penny sterling per aere. The patent was to be issued when the purchase money was paid. The price of land increased as the country became more settled, and the quit-rents were slightly raised.
Technically speaking, there were never any manors in Pennsylvania, this name being given to the tenths set off for the Proprietary, and other large surveys made for his use. There was never any attempt to enforce the customs of manorial courts, which would hardly have been tolerated by the court or the settlers.
Penn's Great Law of 1682 abolished the English law of primogeniture, atl allowed the real estate of an intestate to be divided among all his children ; and authorized the right of disposing of real estate by will, attested by two wit- nesses. But over and above all the other blessings of civil government that William Penn established west of the Delaware, was the absolute freedom to worship God, which stands out in marked contrast with the policy of the Puri- tan fathers. In the Great Law, was the following declaration: "Nor shall lie or she at any time be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, contrary to his or her mind, but shall freely and fully enjoy his or her Christian liberty in that respect, without any interruption or reflection."
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