History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 100

Author: Davis, W. W. H. (William Watts Hart), 1820-1910; Ely, Warren S. (Warren Smedley), b. 1855; Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1040

USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III > Part 100

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November 16, 1854, Mr. Purdy mar- ried Sarah Roberts, of Somerton, Penn- sylvania. She was born November 16, 1833, a daughter of John and Rebecca Roberts, the former of Welsh and the latter of Dutch descent, being the daugh- ter of James Vansant, whose ancestors came from the Netherlands in 1660. James Vansant's father, also named James, was a soldier of the American revolution. To John Mann and Sarah ( Roberts) Purdy were born five chil- dren:

I. Rebecca. born at Somerton, Sep- tember 5, 1855. She was educated in the public schools and Doylestown Sem- inary. In 1883 she married Levi L. James, a prominent lawyer and former district attorney, of Doylestown, by whom she had two children: Samuel Polk James, born October 6, 1883, and Grace Vansant James, born May 30, 1887. both now living with their mother in Doylestown. May 4. 1890, Mr. James died, and in 1892 his widow married an- other prominent lawyer of Doylestown, and former congressman, Robert M. Yardley. No children resulted from this union. Mr. Yardley died December 9. 1902.

2. Thomas Purdy, born in Somerton, May 20, 1857. He was educated in the public schools, at Doylestown Seminary and the West Chester Normal School. He taught school in Bucks county, Penn- sylvania; Steubenville, Ohio; and Cape

May Court House, New Jersey, covering a period of about ten years. In 1887 he gave up school teaching and entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as ticket agent in Philadel- phia, and after several promotions be- came passenger agent of the Long Branch division of that road, with head- quarters at Newark, New Jersey, and is now (1904) occupying that respon- sible position. In the railroad world, as elsewhere, he enjoys an enviable repu- tation. In politics he is a Gold Dem- ocrat. He is connected with the Ma- sonic and Royal Arcanum orders. June 2, 1877, he married Ella Virginia, born in 1857, daughter of Edward and Lydia Yost, of Doylestown, both of German extraction. Of this marriage were born six children: I. Edward Yost, born in Steubenville, Ohio, 1878; 2. Jay Victor, born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1880; 3. Cora May, born at Cape May Court House, New Jersey, 1882; 4. Florence Coney, born in Philadelphia. 1886; 5. Harry Roberts, born in Philadelphia, 1889: 6. Russell Wray, born in Phila- delphia, 1892. None of the children are married, and all live at home with their parents in Metuchen, New Jersey. Ed- ward and Jay Victor both volunteered in the United States army during the war with Spain, and at the conclusion thereof were honorably discharged. This action on their part affords evidence that patriotism and military ardor yet mark the Purdy blood. The former named is employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as ticket agent in New York city, West Twenty-third street; the lat- ter is in the art department of the New- ark (New Jersey) "Daily Advertiser."

3. Harry Roberts Purdy, born in Somerton, February 13, 1859. He at- tended the public schools of Somerton and New Hope, and the Doylestown Seminary, until 1876, when he entered Dr. George T. Harvey's drug store at Doylestown, in which he worked for three years. He then went to New York city and was graduated from the New York College of Pharmacy in 1882. From 1882 to 1887 he was apothecary to the Bloomingdale Asylum, New York city, and gave up pharmacy for medi- cine. He entered Bellevue Hospital Medical College and was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1890, since which time he has been en- gaged in medical practice. From 1892 to 1899 he was assistant to the chair of diseases of children in his alma mater, and at the same time was visiting phy- sician to the out-door department of Bellevue Hospital, as well as to the out- door department of St. Mary's Free Hospital for Children. He is a mem- her of the New York County, New York State and American Medical Associa- tions, of the New York County Med- ical Society, is fellow of the New York

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Academy of Medicine, and is a member of the Society of Medical Jurispru- dence. In religion he is an Episcopalian, being a member of the Church of the Transfiguration. In politics, although by inheritance and conviction a Demo- crat, he has, since the free-silver craze took possession of the Democratic party, been an independent. His mili- tary record, briefly, is as follows: Dur- ing the great railroad strike in Pennsyl- vania in 1877 he with othersorganized in Doylestown Company G of the Six- teenth Pennsylvania Regiment, in which he was made corporal. When the strike was over the company was made per- manent as part of the Sixth Regiment, and he was a corporal in that company until 1880, when he took up his residence in New York city for the practice of his profession. He has never married.

4. Cora May Purdy, born in Somer- ton, October 16, 1861. She was edu- cated in the public schools and Eden Hall Convent, Torresdale, Pennsylvania, although she was then, as she is now, like all her family, an Episcopalian. She was married, November 15, 1884, to former Mayor Edward S. McElroy, of Beverly, New Jersey, whose ancestors emigrated from the north of Ireland in 1717 and settled in Bucks county, Penn- sylvania. Their children are: Sarah Purdy, born August 19, 1885 Cora Purdy, and Rebecca James, twins, born July 21, 1887; Richard Dale, born June 25. 1890: Mary Trotter, born January 3, 1897. These children are all living with their parents in Beverly, New Jersey.

5. Frank Vansant Purdy, born in Som- erton, October 20. 1865. He was edu- cated in the public schools of Doyles- town, and was for a time a druggist, serving for three years in Dr. George T. Harvey's drug store in Doylestown, after which he assisted his father in the hotel business until the latter was ap- pointed postmaster, when Frank became his chief clerk. After his term expired he was appointed conductor on the Penn- sylvania Railroad dining cars, which position he held until he died, April 16, 1904, the cause of his untimely death be- ing pneumonia. He was very popular, both as an official and as a man. He never married.

Sarah, wife of John Mann Purdy, died of smallpox, at New Hope, Pennsyl- vania, February 12, 1872. About two years later (October 13, 1874) Mr. Purdy married Caroline Pearson, born October 23. 1848, daughter of Chrispin and Cor- delia Worthington Pearson, of New Hope, Pennsylvania, the former of Scotch and the latter of Welsh descent. Of this marriage were born five chil- dren:

I. George Smith Purdy, born in Doylestown, July 27, 1875. while his father was sheriff. He was educated in the Doylestown high school, and is

(1904) a superintendent in Jacob Reed's Sons' large clothing establishment in Philadelphia. He is noted for his busi- ness energy and integrity. He is un- married.

2. Charles Cox Purdy, born in Doyles- town, May 26, 1879. He was educated at the Doylestown High School

and Pierce's Business College, Philadelphia, and is an artist. He lives in Holmes- burg, and is unmarried. He has seem- ingly inherited the religious fervor of his ancestors to a greater degree than any other member of the family now alive. He is a teacher in the Episcopal Church Sunday school.

3. Anna Van Hart Purdy, born in Doylestown May 28, 1880. She was educated in the Doylestown high school. She lives with her parents in Holmes- burg, and is unmarried. She is a very active member of the Episcopal Church.

4. John Mann Purdy, Jr., born in Doylestown, January 22, 1885. He at- tended the public schools, the School of Industrial Arts of Philadelphia, and is now attending the Drexel Institute in that city. At the annual exhibition of- students' work at this school in June, 1904, he received the first prize for ele- mentary drawing. He gives promise of becoming an excellent artist.

5. William Clossen Purdy, born De- cember 29, 1888. He attended the pub- lic schools of Bucks and Philadelphia counties and is now attending the Northeast Manual Training School of Philadelphia. That he will prove as tiseful, honorable and patriotic as were his ancestors who bore the same chris- tian name, is the confident expectation of the family.

WILLIAM STEWART WALLACE, of Philadelphia, though not a native of Bucks county, takes more pride in his Bucks county ancestry, who were resi- dents of that county for six generations, than many who still reside in that his- toric county. He is a son of John Bower and Maria Louisa (Le Page) Wallace, and was born in Philadelphia, May 30, 1862.

The Wallaces are of Scotch origin and were among the many sons of Scotia who in the last half of the seven- teenth century settled in the province of Ulster, Ireland, where they found a tem- porary asylum from religious persecu- tion and the internecine struggles inci- dent to the restoration of the Stuarts; from thence a number of them migrated to Pennsylvania a generation later. Robert and John Wallace were landhold- ers in Tinicum township in 1739, and were probably the ancestors of all of the name who appear in that township, and in Warwick and Warrington town- ships a few years later, but no records

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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

have been found to clearly demonstrate that fact.

James Wallace, the direct ancestor of the subject of this sketch, and who from various indications was likely a son of John also named, was born about the year 1725, and from his first appearance of record in the township of Warwick, Bucks county twenty-five years later, was one of the prominent men of that community, frequently appearing as a member of commissions to lay out roads, as an auditor to settle decedents' es- tates, and in various other positions of public trust. He was commissioned coroner of Bucks county in 1768, and filled that position for five years. He was one of the trustees of Neshaminy Presbyterian church in 1767. From the time when the relations between the col- onies and the mother country became strained, he was one of the foremost pa- triots in Bucks county. He was one of the deputies appointed at the meeting of the inhabitants of the county at New- town, July 9, 1774, to represent the county in the meeting of provincial deputies held in Carpenter's Hall, Phil- adelphia, July 15, 1774. His name heads the list of the Warwick Associators, or- ganized August 21, 1775. He was one of the most prominent members of the committee of safety of the county from its organization, a member of its sub- committee of correspondence, and many other important committees. He was again appointed to represent the county in provincial convention, May 8, 1775, and again in June, 1776, in the provin- cial conference at Carpenter's Hall, that resulted in calling the convention that drafted the first constitution of the state, and was a member of the committee to report regulations governing the elec- tion of delegates to the constitutional convention, held on July 15, 1776, and was one of the judges of that election in Bucks. He was appointed in the same year to ascertain the process of making saltpetre, explain it to the in- habitants of the county, and to receive and pay for it when manufactured. In this connection he is spoken of in a let- ter from Judge Henry Wynkoop to the committee of safety of Philadelphia, as "a gentleman of property, strict hon- esty and firm attachment to the cause." Upon the state constitution going into effect, he was commissioned one of the judges of the civil and criminal courts of Bucks county, March 31. 1777. He was undoubtedly a leading spirit in the Scotch-Trish community at Neshaminy, as well as in the county at large, and en- joved the confidence of his neighbors and the community, as is evidenced by his always appearing as their representa- tive in all the stirring events of that eventful period, but his career of use- fulness was suddenly cut short by his death in the autumn of 1777. He mar-

ried, in 1754, Isabel Miller, daughter of Robert and Margaret (Graham) Miller of Warrington, and granddaughter of William Miller, one of the earliest set- tlers of Warwick, and who donated the land upon which the original Neshaminy church was built in 1727. William Miller was one of the patriarchs of the Scotch- Irish settlement on the Neshaminy. He died February 27, 1758, at the age of eighty-seven years, and his wife Isabel died December 26, 1757, at about the same age. They were the parents of six children: William, who married a Jam- ison: Robert, surnamed Hugh (single) ; Isabel, the wife of Andrew Long; Mar- garet, wife of John Earle; and Mary, wife of James Curry.

Robert, second son of William and Isabel Miller, was a large land owner in Warrington, and died before his father, and his wife Margaret Graham also died while their children were yet minors. They were the parents of four children: William, Hugh, Robert and Isabel, who married James Wallace above men- tioned. James and Isabel (Miller) Wal- lace were the parents of six children: John and William, who both died un- married; Jean, married John Carr, and died February 8, 1844, at the age of eighty-nine years; Margaret, married Samuel Polk: Robert, married Mary Long, and Isabel who died unmarried. Isabel (Miller) Wallace survived her husband many years, living to an ad- vanced age. Her husband had purchased in 1763 a large portion of the homestead tract of William Miller, Sr., adjoining Neshaminy church, where she resided with her sons Robert and William as late as 1810.

Robert Wallace, third son of James and Isabel, was born in Warwick, and spent his whole life there, dying in 1850. The Wallace farm, where he was born and lived for so many years, was the site of the encampment of General Washington's army during his two weeks stay at Neshaminy in the summer of 1777. Tradition relates that Robert and' his sister carried some choice pears to the General's headquarters and pre- sented them to him. Robert was cap- tain of a company of militia during the Whiskey insurrection and was out again in 1812. He married, November 23, 1702. his cousin, Mary Long, daughter of Hugh and Mary (Corbit) Long, of War- wick, and granddaughter of Andrew and Isabel (Miller) Long. Hugh Long was first lieutenant of Captain William Hart's company in the Bucks county battalion of the Flying Camp, under Colonel Joseph Hart, in 1776, and died of camp fever during service in 1778. He had married Mary Corbet, October 31, 1761. and they were the parents of seven children, three sons and four daughters. Robert and Mary (Long) Wallace were the parents of eight children, viz .: Pris-

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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

cilla, born June 30, 1793, married Will- iam Hart; Eliza, born May 7, 1796, mar- ried James Polk; Isabel, born May 15, 1794, married Joseph Ford; Mary, born August 14, 1803, married Mark Evans; James, born December 29, 1800, see for- ward; Jane, born April 30, 1806, married Charles Shewell; Margaret, born 1807, died in infancy; and Rebecca, born Sep- tember 7, 1814, married William Ward.

James Wallace, only son of Robert and Mary, was born on the old home- stead in Warwick, December 29. 1800, and lived thereon until 1850, when he sold the old farm that had been the property of his ancestors for one litin- dred and twenty-five years, and removed to Montgomery county, where he lived for several years, and then removed to Philadelphia, where he died January 27, 1866. He married, February 14, 1833, Mary Ford, daughter of James and Sarah (Bower) Ford, of Monmouthi county, New Jersey. James Ford be- longed to the old family of Ford or Foord, of Hamilton Square, Mercer county, New Jersey, where he lies buried in the Presbyterian churchyard. He is supposed to have been a descendant of John Foord, who with other Scotch cov- enanters came over in the "Henry and Frances" in an expedition organized by George Scot, Laird of Pitlochie, landing after great hardships at Perth Amboy in 1685. James and Mary (Ford) Wallace were the parents of six children, viz .: Mary Jane, born December 5, 1833, died in 1891, married John Temple; John Bower, born March 23, 1836, see forward; William, born 1838, died 1840; Charles Irvin, born December 15, 1840, died 1903, married July 22, 1861, Anna H. Curtis ; Re- becca, born 1844, died 1862; and James. born 1849, died in infancy. Mary (Ford) Wallace, the mother, was born April 4. 1805, and died in Philadelphia, Decem- ber 14, 1864.

John Bower Wallace, eldest son of James and Mary, was born in Warwick, Bucks county, March 23, 1836, and was educated at the Hilltop Academy of Samuel Aaron, at Norristown, and re- moved with the family to Philadelphia. He became one of the real estate asses- sors of that city, and filled that position for many years until his death March 9. 1877, being at that time president of the assessors' association. At a meeting of the board of revision of taxes and as- sessors of Philadelphia, held March IO, 1877. the following resolution was adopted: "Resolved, that in the death of John B. Wallace the public lose an of- ficer of rare ability, integrity and useful- ness, and his colleagues and friends an associate and companion whose deport- ment and character as a Christian gen- tleman leaves abiding traces on their memories. and commanded their respect and love." He married Maria Le Page, born July 25, 1834, died August 23, 1870,

daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Su- sannah (Gill) Le Page. The former was a son of Peter and Mary Le Page, of the Isle of Guernsey, and the latter a daugh- ter of Philip and Mary (Baker) Gill, of the Island of Sark. Both families were French Protestants, and came to Amer- ica together in 1818, landing at Balti- more, Maryland. Peter Le Page, Jr., married Elizabeth Gill in Philadelphia, November 24, 1824, and died in 1839. His wife survived him many years dying in 1892 at the age of ninety years. They had five children: Peter, Sophia, Selina, Mary and Maria. Peter, the only son, went south when young, married there and was an officer in the Confederate army, and after the war resided until his death in Savannah, Georgia. John Bower and Maria Louisa (Le Page) Wallace were the parents of four chil- dren: William Stewart, the subject of this sketch; John Le Page, who died at the age of eight years; Mary Jane, born March 18, 1866; and James, born Decem- ber 14, 1869, both living.

William Stewart Wallace, eldest child of John B. and Maria L. Wallace, was born in Philadelphia, May 30, 1862, and acquired his education in that city. He read law in the office of Hon. James W. M. Newlin, and was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia in April, 1883, and has since practiced his profession in that city. He is a member of the Law Acad- emy, of which he was secretary in 1886; of the Society of the Sons of the Revo- lution, of the National and Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish Societies, of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Bucks County Historical Society; of the City Relic Society of Germantown, and a member and secretary of the board of trustees of Summit Presbyterian church of Germantown. He married, June 8. 1888, Mollie Comfort Brand, daughter of Jacob S. and Mary (Flack) Brand, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

DR. EDWARD MORWITZ, physi- cian, publisher and scientist. now de- ceased, was held in honor during a long and active life, principally for the val- uable aid he rendered to the farmers and florists of the region tributary to the city of Philadelphia in affording to them the advantages which he gained through a long experience and costly but intelligent experimentation.

Dr. Morwitz was a native of Prussia, born in Danzig in 1815. In1851 he came to the United States, locating in Phila- delphia. where he busied himself in his profession until 1872. In the latter year he removed to Bucks county, where he purchased the Cold Spring Farm, to which he added by the purchase of ad- joining tracts until it comprised about two hundred and eighty acres. From the

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first he gave full play to his passion for rural pursuits, laboring industriously in field and garden and hotbed, introduc- ing innovations in processes of cultiva- tion, and engaging in all manner of ex- periments which had their fruit in the creation of new types of vegetable life and development and improvement of many which were old. In the year of his coming to the county (1872) he took out letters patent on the earliest incu- bator, the invention of himself and Mr. Fred Meyer. The two manufactured their device and placed it on exhibition at agricultural exhibitions at Philadel- phia and Washington, at the last named in 1880, when it was awarded the gold medal. It was, however, too bulky and costly for general use, and did not come into vogue, but did prove the foundation of all that has since been accomplished in the line of extra-natural incubation. In 1883 and the following year Dr. Mor- witz grew upon his Cold Spring Farm, at the expense of infinite patience, tube- rose bulbs in the open air. These found a market in London, England, but the more salubrious climate of Algiers made the product of that region a competitor not to be overcome. In the same year Dr. Morwitz grew winter vetches and barley mixture for use as green fodder for domestic animals. This was changed in the following spring (1885) to oats- vetches, and in 1886 to oats-peas mixture, which has since that time been grown extensively and profitably in the neigh- borhood of the Morwitz estate. In the fall of 1885 Dr. Morwitz built the first silo in the group of townships surround- ing that of Bristol, and his success em- boldened many of the neighboring farm- ers to adopt the apparatus and to con- tinue its use as one of their most val- uable adjuncts. In the same year Dr. Morwitz imported a quantity of crimson clover. He made a number of costly failures before he secured a proper method of planting and cultivating, but finally succeeded, and this culture has became a standing feature of the most profitable and best conducted farms, not only in Pennsylvania, but through- out the country, wherever the plant is at all growable. The low wet meadow patches of the farm were planted with ozier willows, which came to a satis- factory growth, the product being profit- able for a number of years, when the competition of European willow wares necessitated the abandonment of this industry. Many tests were made by Dr. Morwitz which resulted negatively. Thus, he endeavored to introduce the German plants, lupine, seradella and the mnich vaunted sachaline, but soil or cli- matic conditions were uncongenial, and his experiments failed. He succeeded, however, in his prosecution of the Ger- man method of getting catch crops on wheat and rye stubble, and practiced the

process . until the system found general adoption in that part of Pennsylvania, where it has been carried to unsurpassa- ble perfection. These crops were prin- cipally late cabbages, especially the Lan- dreth, late flat Dutch and Boomsdale, rutabagas, spinach and kale. Dr. Mor- witz was also greatly interested in arti- ficial . pisciculture, and heartily second- ed the efforts of the general and state governments in that direction. As early as 1878 he constructed a small plant for trout hatching on the Cold Spring Farm, and succeeded in breeding quite a quan- tity of fine fish, but the often recur- rent floods of the Delaware river oblig- ed him to abandon the experiment. Dr. Morwitz continued in his varied and busy labors until his death, which occur- red in 1893. He found a worthy succes- sor in his son, Dr. Joseph Morwitz, who has encouraged those about him to per- sist in various lines of agricultural in- dustry in which his sire was a pioneer. He was himself instrumental (in 1903) in the formation of the Cooperative Can- ning Factory at Tullytown, which, it is hoped and expected, will greatly increase the value to farmers of the principal truck crops of the district-tomatoes, sugar corn, pumpkins, etc.

The Cold Spring Farm is famous for the "Queen of Edgely" rose, a pink rose which has been awarded the gold and silver medals at the greatest ex- hibitions which have been held since that time. This was produced by Mr. David Fuerstenberg, who in 1897 rented the hothouses first installed by the elder Dr. Morwitz as early as 1881, and which had been in constant growth and devel- opment. Mr. Fuerstenberg had directed the work in the hothouses from the first, and he has made it one of the best and most extensive plants for rose cul- ture in the United States. He discov- ered a sprout from the American Beauty rose in the hothouse. and propogated from it, thus producing the now noted "Queen of Edgely."

CHARLES R. NIGHTINGALE, of Doylestown, justice of the peace, was born in Doylestown township, Bucks county, December 5, 1856, son of Dr. Henry B. and Albina C. (Price) Night- ingale.

Rev. Samuel Nightingale, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Columbus. Burlington county, New Jersey, December IT, 1792, being a son of Isaac and Ann Nightingale. Early in life he removed to Philadelphia, where he was engaged in the wholesale hard- ware business, and removed to Balti- more, Maryland, about 1818, where he followed the same line of business for some years. Ife was a man of more than ordinary mental caliber, and of

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History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 100

Author: Davis, W. W. H. (William Watts Hart), 1820-1910; Ely, Warren S. (Warren Smedley), b. 1855; Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921 Publication date: 1905 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1040

Author: Davis, W. W. H. (William Watts Hart), 1820-1910; Ely, Warren S. (Warren Smedley), b. 1855; Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1040