USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. I > Part 8
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Phineas Pemberton,3 who settled at first in Makefield, did not remain there very long, but removed to Falls township, where he spent his useful lite of twenty years He was the son of Ralph Pemberton and Margaret, his wife, daughter of Thomas Seddon, Warrington, England, and were married June 7. 1648. She died September 2, 1655. They had issue Phineas, born January 30, 1650, married first Phebe Harrison, daughter of James Harrison, and by her had issue, Ann, born October 22, 1677. died July 3, 1682; Abigail, born June 14, 1680, married Stephen Jenkins, November 22, 1750; Joseph, born May II, 1682, died November, 1702: Israel, born February 20, 1684, married Rachel Reed, died January 14. 1754; Samuel, born February 3, 1686, died January 23. 1692; Plebe, born February 26, 16S9. died August 30, 1698: Pris- villa, born April 23, 1692, married Isaac Waterman ; Ralph, born September 20. 1694. died November 18. 1694: Phineas Jennings, born April 17. 1696. died 1,01. On the death of Phineas Pemberton's first wife he married Alice Hodg- son. Burlington, by whom he had no children. Ralph Pemberton had a second son by his wife Margaret Seddon. Joseph, born April 12, 1652, died August 3, 1655. Phineas Pemberton acted a prominent part in the new Colony : he was a member of Assembly from Bucks county for several terms, and chosen Speaker, 1698.
As early as 1675, four brothers, Nathaniel. Thomas, Dan'el and William Walton, from Byberry, England. settled in that township, in Philadelphia county, which they named after their native town. They came on foot from New Castle, and lived in a cave. covered with bark, several months: and two of them returned thither for a bushel of seed wheat, fifty miles. The eldest brother joined the Keithians, in 1691, but afterward united himself with All
3 Lower, in his "Patronymica Brittanica" states that the family name of Pemberton 1, derived from the chapelry of that name in the parish of Wigan, in the hundred of West Derby, Lancashire. England. and it is certain Pembertons are found at a very early period as lords of the manor of Pemberton, in Wigan, within a few miles of Aspul.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Saints' church. At what time the Waltons came into Bucks county is not known, but early, as a son of Nathaniel was teaching school in Falls township, where he died in 1759.+
Joshua Hoops, the ancestor of the family of that name in Chester county. of Cleveland, Yorkshire, arrived oth month, 1683, with his wife Isabel, and children Daniel. Margaret and Christian. He settled in Falls, and his wife died April 15th, IOS4. He took an active part in affairs. His son Daniel re- moved to Chester county, in 1690, married Jane Worrilow, settled at Westtown, and had seventeen children.5
Like the Waltons, the Knights came into this county through Byberry, where Giles with his wife Mary and son Joseph, arrived from Gloucestershire, in 1682. They lived in a cave on the Poquessing creck, where he built a house. He kept the first store in the township, and died in 1726, at the age of seventy- four. Dr. A. W. Knight of Brazil, Indiana, the fifth in descent from Giles, owns the gun his ancestor brought from England. They had nineteen children in all. Joseph marrying Abigail Antill, in 1717, and settling in Bensalem. He died in 1799, was a man of influence, and filled several public stations, and was an elegant and imposing man in appearance when in full dress. A descendant of a half-brother of the first Giles was a senator in Congress from Rhode Island. There were upwards of twenty of the name of Knight on the Revolutionary pension roll.6
Joseph Growden, the son of Lawrence Growden, of Cornwall, England, came to Pennsylvania, 1682, with wife and children, and settled in Bensalen, where he took up ten thousand acres for himself and father. His first wife, Elizabeth, dying in 1699, he married Ann Buckley, of Philadelphia, in 1704. He died in December, 1730, leaving two sons, Joseph and Lawrence, who in- herited most of liis real estate, and three daughters. He held many places of public trust in the infant colony ; was member of the Privy Council ; member of Assembly and several years Speaker of that body; he was frequently upon the bench of this county, and appointed a Supreme Judge in 1705. His son Joseph was less distinguished than the father. He was one of the first persons of note, in Philadelphia, who allowed himself to be innoculated for the smallpox, in 1731. At his death. the landed estate of the Growdens passed to his brother Lawrence: who, dying in 1,69, left it to his daughters Elizabeth and Grace. the latter receiving that in this county as her portion. She married Joseph Galloway, of Philadelphia, and Elizabeth, Thomas Nicholson, of Trevose. England.
Notwithstanding the first English settlers of this county began to marry soon after they came, our county records show but twenty-three marriages the first four years after Penn's arrival. In the books of the Friends' monthly meeting there is a much fuller and more reliable record, including births, mar- riages and deathis.
4 Born in Bucks county, 1684.
5 Gilbert Cope.
6 Dr. Knight, mentioned above, who was born in Bucks county, September 5, 180 ;. died at Brazil, Indiana, December 5, 1877. He graduated at the Jefferson Medical College. Philadelphia : married Achsah Croasdale. March 4. 1832; went to Ohio that fall, but removed to Indiana. He became a prominent man and at his death leit a widow and five children.
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CHAPTER VI.
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PENN AND PENNSBURY.
1682 TO 1690.
Markham and Harrison select a site for manor house .- Tlie situation,-Description of house .- Gardens and lawns .- Written instructions .- Penn's horses .- Furniture of house .- Table ware and plate .- Penn did not live there at first visit .- Letter post established .- Bucks county a Quaker settlement .- The Meeting was supreme, but discipline lax .- Discountenanced the use of strong drinks .- Penn returns to Eng- land .- Population .- Schism of George Keith .- Wages .- Farm produce .- Stock .- Great rupture .- Dress .- Quit-rents hard to collect.
Delightful memories linger about Pennsbury, the Bucks county home of the founder of Pennsylvania. This was his rural residence, whither he retired from the cares of state to spend his time in the bosom of his family, and where he intended to fix his permanent home and live and die in the pur- suit of agriculture, his favorite occupation ; but Providence interfered with his designs, and instead of closing his eyes amid the peaceful shades of Pennsbury, he died in England, far away from the home of his affections. As we remarked in a previous chapter, William Markham and James Harrison were commis- sioned by William Penn. before they left England, to select a site and build him a residence. Markham probably selected the site, as he was the first to arrive, but it is possible this was done by William Penn himself after his arrival in 1682.1 The erection of the dwelling was commenced in 1682-83, and cost from five to seven thousand pounds: It stood on a gentle eminence, about fifteen feet above high-water and one hundred and fifty from the river bank, while Wel- come creek wound its gentle waters closely about it. There is not a vestige of the building 'remaining, and of all its beautiful surroundings there are to be seen only a few old cherry trees, said to have been planted by Penn's own hand, standing in the Crozier lane. Penn probably did not live there until his second visit. 1699, when he made it his home.
Unfortunately, no drawing has been preserved of Pennsbury house, if one were ever made, nevertheless we are able to approximate its true size, arrange-
I This location was probably fixed upon, because it was near the flourishing Friends settlement at Burlington, and also contiguous to the fails.
PENNSBURY MANOR.
ments and surroundings." The main edifice was sixty feet long by thirty feet wide, two stories high and stately in appearance, built of bricks probably burnt on the premises,3 as a bricklayer was sent out from England in 1685, and a wheelwright in 1686. The dwelling faced the river. There was a handsome porch, front and rear, with steps having both "rails and banisters." On the first floor was a wide hall running through the building and opening onto the back porch, and in which the Proprietary received distinguished strangers, and used on publie occasions. There were at least four rooms on this floor. On the left was a parlor, separated from the large eating-room of the servants back of it by a wainseoted partition, and there was probably a room on the opposite side of the hall opening into the drawing-room. There were likewise a small hall and a little closet. There were four chambers on the second floor, one denominated the "best chamber," an entry, a nursery, and a closet which seems to have been exclusively Mrs. Penn's. In the third story were at least two garrets, and the stories were nine feet. The back door of the hall Penn styled "two leaved." and, after his return to England, he ordered a new front door because "the present one is most ugly and low." The roof was covered with tiles from the Province, and on the top was a leaden reservoir, to the leakage of which is mainly charged the destruction of the mansion."12
2 Considerable light has been thrown on the subject by the researchies of the late J. Francis Fisher, a close student of local history.
3 He directed bricks 10 be used wherever it were possible, and when not, good timbers cased with clapboards.
312 The engraving of Pennsbury House, accompanying this chapter, was projected and drawn under the supervision of Addison Hutton, architect. Philadelphia, from the most exact description and measurements that could be obtained. even to the "shutts" that were ordered about the time the house was finished. The unsightly reservoir on top of the roof, and the cause of the mitusion's destruction, was omitted. So far as our information extends, there never was any attempt to draw. or otherwise reproduce, Penn-bury House in the time of its owner or subsequently, for the reason, doubtless,
56
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Near the house were the necessary out-buildings, about which he gave rections in a letter to James Harrison, August, 1684. He writes: "I would have a kitchen, two larders, a washı-house, a room to iron in, a brew house, 4 and a Milan oven for baking, and a stabling for twelve horses." The out-buildings were to be placed "uniform and not ascu;" were to be a story and a half high. the story eleven feet. The dwelling remained unfinished for several years, and in May, 1685, Penn writes to Harrison, "finish what is built as fast as it can be done." No doubt there was considerable ornamentation about the building, for, in 1686, Penn again writes, "pray don't let the front be common." The brew- house was the last to yield to the tooth of time. It had long been in dilapi- dated condition, but was not torn down till the fall of 1864. It was twenty by thirty-five feet, and eleven feet to the eaves : chimney and foundation of brick ; the sills and posts were ten inches square; the weather-boarding of planed cedar, and the lath split in the woods. The fire-place was the most generous kind, and would take in a sixteen-foot backlog.
Among the mechanics who worked at the building, and the material men, the following are mentioned : E. James, who was "to finish the work which his men had begun :" bricks were furnished by J. Redman, and deal-boards were got of John Parsons. Hannah" Penn writes to James Logan that her husband is dissatisfied with E. James, "he's too much of a gentleman" and "must have two servants to such a job of work." Henry Gibbs is called "the governor's carpenter."
The house was surrounded by gardens and lawns, and vistas were opened through the forest, affording a view up and down the river. A broad walk was
PENN'S BREW HOUSE.
that Friends of that day did not approve of such things. We believe the picture here presented to the reader is as near a counterpart of the original as can be produced; a first- class colonial dwelling of the period.
4 Gabriel Thomas.
3 Second wife of the founder. daughter of Thomas Callowhill.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
laid out from the house down to the river, and in the fall of 1685 poplar tree .. eighteen inches in diameter, were planted on each side of it. The ground in front was terraced with steps leading to the grounds below. The surrounding woods was laid out in walks at Penn's first visit, and he gave direction to have the trees preserved, as he contemplated fencing off the neck for a park, but we have no evidence it was ever done. Gravel, for the walks, was taken from the pi :. near the swamp in the vicinity, as Penn would not allow that from Philadelphia to be used because it was red. Steps led down to the boat-landing in front of the house, and Welcome creek was bridged in several places. By Penn's direc- tions great care was bestowed upon the gardens, and several gardeners were sent out to take charge of them, also various kinds of shade and fruit trees, shrubbery, and the rarest seeds and roots were planted. In Maryland he pur- chased many trees indigenous to that climate. and caused the most beautiful the wild flowers to be transplanted into his gardens. A well of water supplied the several offices, but how the tank on the roof was filled is not known.
All his letters to his steward prove Penn's great love for rural life, ami his desire, as he expressed it, to make his children "husbandmen and house- wives." He continually looked forward, almost down to his death, to establish his permanent home at Pennsbury; and, after his second return to England. gave instructions to have the improvements go on.6 He directs his fields laidi out at least twelve acres each. He paid considerable attention to agriculture. and took pains to introduce new seeds at Pennsbury. We are probably indebted to him for the introduction of clover and other grass seeds into this county. He writes to his steward in 1685, "Haydust from Long Island such as I sowed in my court-yard, is best for our fields." Again : "Lay as much down as you can with haydust." In the first twenty years there were less than one hundred acres of the manor cleared for cultivation.8 Penn appears to have located a tract of land in the same section for his children, for, in a letter to William Markhanı, in 1689, he writes: "I send to seat my children's plantation that I gave them. near Pennsbury, by Edward Blackfan."?
William Penn was as fond of good stock as of trees and shrubbery. On his first visit he brought over three blooded mares, which he rode during his sojourn here, a fine white horse, not full blood. and other inferior animals, for labor. At his second visit. 1699, he brought the magnificent stallion colt. "Tamerlane," by the celebrated Godolphin Barb. from which some of the best horses in England have descended. His inquiries about the mares were as frequent as about the gardens. In his letters he frequently speaks of his horse "Silas," and his "ball nag Tamerlane." It is quite likely these horses were kept at Pennsbury from the first.
The manor house was furnished with all the appliances of comfort and convenience known to persons of rank and wealth of that day. The furniture was good and substantial, without being extravagant. In "the best chamber. in addition to the bed and bedding, with its silk quilt, were "a suit of satin curtains," and "four satin cushions." There were six cane chairs, and "two
6 He writes from England in 1705: "If Pennsbury has cost me one penny, it has cost me above £5.000. and it was with an intention to settle there, though God has been pleased to order it otherwise. I should have returned to it in 1686, or at farthest, in 168Q."
7 Grass seed. no doubt.
8 Forty acres were cleared by 1701, and an additional forty acres the following year.
9 Ancestor of the Bucks county Blackfans.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
with twiggen bottoms." In the next chamber was a suit of camblet curtains, "with white head-cloth and testar," and a looking-glass in each. The nursery had "one pallet bedstead" and "two chairs of Master John's," Penn's little son born at Pennsbury. In the best parlor the entire furniture was "two tables, one pair stands, two great cane chairs and four small do., seven cushions, four of them satin, the other three green plush ; one pair brasses, brass fire-shovel, tongs and fender, one pair bellows, two large maps." In the other parlor was a leathern chair, which, no doubt, was occupied by William Penn in person. In the great hall was a long table at which public business was transacted, and "two forms of chairs" to sit at the table. In Mrs. Penn's closet were four chairs with needle-worked cases, and in the little closet below were four flower basins. The table furniture was handsome and included damask tablecloths and napkins ; a suit of tunbridge ware, besides white and blue china. While pewter-ware was in common use, the l'roprietary's family possessed a consid- erable quantity of plate, including silver forks and a tea set. The tables and chairs were made of oak or other suitable wood, as mahogany had not then come into use. Carpets were little used in Europe, and probably there were none at. Pennsbury. A tall, old-fashioned, clock stood in the house, which now stands in the Philadelphia Library. Penn brought the greater part of the furniture from Europe, and our list of articles is made up from the inventory left at Pennsbury when the family sailed for England, November, 1701. No doubt some of the most valuable articles were taken along. After they sailed the goods from the town-house were sent up to Pennsbury. In 1695 Penn writes to James Harrison, in charge of the manor house: "Get window shutts ( shutters) and two or three eating tables to flap down, one less than another, as for twelve, eight, five (persons). Get some wooden chairs of walnut, with long backs, four inches lower than the old ones, because of cushions."
William Penn did not reside at Pennsbury, during his first visit, because the mansion was not in condition to live in, but he was frequently there to give directions about the work. He probably made his home with some of the Friends already settled along the Delaware below the falls, for he is known to have been in the county at various times and places, holding court, attending meetings, etc. He had not been a year in his new Province, when he established a letter post to convey intelligence from one part to another. In July, 1683, he ordered a postoffice at "Tekony." and appointed Henry Wady,912 postmaster. Among his other duties he was "to supply passengers with horses, from Phila- delphia to New Castle, or the falls." The rates of postage were, letters from the falls to Philadelphia. 3d. ; to Chester. 5d. : to New Castle, 7d. ; to Maryland, 91. The post went once a week, and the time of starting was to be carefully published "on the meeting-house door, and other public places." This post was continued until some better arrangement was made. The falls, the starting place of the mail, was an important point in the young Province.
We must not lose sight of the fact that Bucks was a Quaker county, and Pennsylvania a Quaker colony. Outside pressure had intensified their religious convictions, which they carried into politics and family. Their social and domestic government was practically turned over to the church, which enforced a discipline that would not be tolerated now. It prescribed the rules for dress, and marked out the line of personal behavior. In 1682, male and female. old and young .. are advised against "wearing superfluity of apparel," and, in 1694, "to keep out of the world's corrupt language, manners, and vain, heedless
9'2 Probably Waddy.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
things, and fashions in apparel, and immoderate and indecent smoking .i tobacco." In 1719 they advanced a step further, and advised all who accu -- tom themselves, or suffer their children, to use "the corrupt and unscriptural language of you to a single" person, to be "dealt with." In 1744 it was deened a "fault" not to take a certificate when removing from one meeting to another. The Friends, in some respects, ignored other denominations, and held then .- selves aloof from colonial gentiles. In 1711 they were exhorted not to attend! the funerals of those not in communion with them ; nor to go into any of their "worship-houses," nor hear their sermons. They were very strict in the matter of courtship and marriage. In 1705 the Bucks quarterly ordered those intend- ing marriage to acquaint the overseers of monthly mecting before they declare their intentions : and the man and woman were not allowed to dwell in the same house, from the time they begin to be "concerned in proposals of mar- riage" until its consummation.19
In spite of this strict discipline, private morals were far from being unexceptionable. A favorite author,11 writing of the first twenty years of the eighteenth century, says, "cases of immoral conduct were common at this period," which happened principally among those who "were in the practice of mingling with, and following, the fashions and customs of the people of the world." The poor colonial gentiles are made the convenient scape-goat.
In some respects the discipline was lax. The meeting countenanced the supplying of liquors at funerals and marriages from the first settlement, no doubt a practice brought from England. Nevertheless, when they saw it was hurtful, they took steps to correct it. In 1729 the yearly meeting recommended that strong liquors be served round but once at funerals, and only to those that came from a distance : and in 1735. the same authority declared that "greater provision for eating and drinking are made at marriages and burials than is consistent with good order." In 1750 the meeting recommends the appoint- ment of overseers "to prevent the unnecessary use of strong drink at burials." A Quaker author, writing on this subject, says: "The custom long prevailed of converting the solemn burial service at the house of mourning into a noisy bacchanalian festival."12
The early Friends were alive to the demands of "melting charity," and. from their first appearance on the Delaware, cared for their own poor. Neither man nor woman, within the folds of the meeting, was allowed to want. ... late as 1801, the Middletown meeting contributed $447.85 to poor Friends in Great Britain and Ireland.
William Penn sailed on his return to England, from his first visit, June 12. 1684. having been in his new province about twenty-one months. In this brief period he succeeded in organizing a great Commonwealth, laying its foundations of civil and religious liberty so broad and deep that tyranny, from church or state. can not prevail against them. He committed the management of public
IO A curious marriage custom prevailed in this province at that day, that of widows being married en chimese to screen the second from the first husband's debts. Kalm says it was a common occurrence when the first husband died in debt. The Friends dis- countenanced such marriages, which were performed by ministers of other denominations
If Michener.
12 In 1683, the grand jury of Philadelphia made presentmient, "Oi ye great rude- ness and wildness of ye youths and children in ye town of Philadelphia, that then daily appear up and down ye streets, gaming and playing for money, etc."
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
affairs, during his absence, to his Lieutenant-Governor and the Council and Assembly, while James Harrison, his agent, who resided at Pennsbury, looked uiter his personal interest. At this time the Province and territories annexed contained a population of seven thousand.
The first great trouble that came upon Friends on the Delaware was the schism of George Keith, 1600. He was a preacher of great note and influence in the Society. Born at Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1638, and fellow student of Hi-hop Burnett, he joined the Friends soon after he left the university. He settled in East New Jersey, before Penn's arrival, of which he was Surveyor- General, and in 1689 was called to take charge of the first public grammar school in Philadelphia. At this time he commenced the agitation that led to a division in the Society. They split on the rock of the sufficiency of what every man has within himself for the purpose of his own salvation. His followers, known as Keithian Quakers, numbered about one-half of the Yearly Meeting. including some of its most considerable men. He established meetings in various parts of the Province. Among those who joined him in this county were John Swift, Southampton, and John Hart, who moved from Byberry to Warminster about this time. A Keithian meeting, the germ of the Southamp- ton Baptist church, was held at Swift's house, and he and Hart both became Baptist ministers. Thomas Rutter, a Quaker of Philadelphia, who joined Keith. married Rebecca Staples, of this county, at Pennsbury. 1Ith month, roth, 1685 ; and was baptised at Philadelphia by Rev. Thomas Killingsworth, in 1007. He began to preach and baptised nine persons, who united in commun- ion, June 12th, 1698, and appointed Mr. Rutter their minister. The society was kept up until about 1707.13 Keith returned to England about 1695, his followers holding together for a few years when most of them joined the Baptists or Episcopalians. Among the signers to "the testimony" against Keith from this county. were Nicholas Walne. William Cooper, William Biles, William Yardley and Joseph Kirkbride, and was dated June 12, 1692.
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