History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 102

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 102

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Humphrey Hill, the grandfather of Major Hill. was the third son of John and Mary, and was born in October, 1763, and died in December, 18II. He married at Christ Church, March 3, 1791, Alice Howard. born Jannary, 1762, daughter of John and Sarah ( Bunting) Howard, and granddaughter of Thomas and Grace (Beakes) Howard. Sarah ( Bunting) Howard was a daughter of John and Alice Lord (Nicholson) Bunting. of Burlington county, New Jersey, and granddaughter of Samuel and Mary (Foulke) Bunting. the former of whom was a son of Anthony and Ellen Bunting, of Matlock, Derbyshire, and the latter a daughter of Thomas Foulke, one of the nine commissioners of New Jersey who settled at Crosswicks in 1677. Job Bunting, another son of An- thony, was a large landholder in Bucks county. Grace (Beakes) Howard was a daughter of Stephen Beakes and Eliza- beth Biles, of Bucks county, both natives of England, their respective parents (William Beakes, of Barkwell. Somerset- shire, and William Biles, of Dorchester. Dorsetshire) being among the earliest English settlers on the Delaware in Bucks county, the latter being an officer of the court at Upland prior to the ar- rival of Penn, and a member of the first provincial council from Bucks.

Dr. John Howard Hill, the father of Major Hill. was the only child of Hum- phrey and Alice (Howard) Hill. He was for many years an eminent physician at Hatboro, Montgomery county, and had a large practice in adjoining parts of Bucks county. He was twice married, having married in December, 1813. Eliza

470

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

Louisa Davis, and (second) in October, 1835, Cynthia Craig, born October, 1804, daughter of Daniel and Jean (Jamison) Craig, both natives of Warrington, Bucks county, the former being a son of Thomas and Jean (Jamison) Craig, also natives of Warrington, and grandson of Daniel Craig, who came from the north of Ireland and settled in Warrington about 1735. and died there in 1775. Thomas Craig, grandfather of Mrs. Hill, was a captain in the "Flying Camp" dur- ing the Revolution, and the command of the Bucks county regiment devolved upon him on the death of Colonel Will- iam Baxter, during the battle of Fort Washington, November 16, 1776. His brother John and his cousins Thomas, John and William Craig, of Northamp- ton, were also distinguished officers in the Revolution. His sister Sarah, wlio married John Barnhill, was the ances- tress of President Roosevelt. The Craig and Jamison families were among the earliest Scotch-Irish settlers in Bucks county. The former consisted of four brothers: Thomas, Daniel, William. and James: and three sisters: Sarah, wife of Richard Walker. of Warrington. a prominent justice and member of the colonial assembly; Margaret, wife of John Gray, an early elder of Nesham- iny church, and the wife of John Boyd. of the 'Irish settlement. The Craig brothers. with the exception of Daniel, all eventually settled at Craig's or the Irish Settlement. The Jamison family consisted of Henry Jamison and his sons, Henry, Robert and Alexander, who all settled in Warrington. Bucks county. about .1720, where they became large landholders and prominent citi-

zens. Henry Jamison, Jr., married Mary Stewart, and their daughter Jean. born in 1738. became the wife of Cap- tain Thomas Craig. Robert Jamison married Jean Blackburn and their sec- ond son, Robert. born in 1739 and mar- ried in 1767 to Hannah Baird, was the father of Jean Jamison, who became the wife of Daniel Craig. Jr., who was born in Warrington in 1794. and died in Montgomery county in 1836. Dr. John Howard Hill removed to Cali- fornia in 1851. his two sons Harry and Horace going there in 1852-three older sons going with their father and one preceding him.

Major Harry Craig Hill, has a dis- tinguished war record, having served throughout the civil war as a cavalry officer, and will carry to his grave many mementoes of that heroic service, among them a sabre scar extending di- agonally across the forehead. the result of a wound received in a cavalry charge. He served on the staff of General Ben- jamin F. Butler during most of the war. Returning to California after the close of the war, he became interested in sil- ver mines in New Mexico, Colorado and

Utah, and made his home in Utah for several years. He takes special pride in his descent from his Scotch-Irish an- cestors in Bucks county, and has paid several visits to their former homes. He has retired from business, and now re- sides in San Francisco, California.

ELIAS DEEMER. For almost two centuries the Deemer family has been represented in Pennsylvania. There were at one time extensive historical records concerning this family, but un- fortunately many of these were de- stroyed, although authentic record is ob- tainable to some degree concerning the early settlers of the representatives of the name in the new world.

The immigrant ancestors of the Amer- ican branch of the Diemer (as was the original form of the name) family came from Rhenish. Bavaria. They were pro- testants in religion, being adherents of the doctrines of Zwingli, the great Swiss reformer. They came to America very early in the eighteenth century, presum- ably with that great influx of their countrymen who came about 1707. As the family tradition has it, they came to Pennsylvania "more than one hundred years previous to the second war with Great Britain." This would fix the date of their coming at not later than 1711, but the earlier date of 1707 is generally accepted as the true one. They first set- tled near Germantown, and engaged in clearing off land for other families. get- ting out timber for building purposes, burning charcoal. and cutting up wood for fuel, which they marketed in Phila- delphia. From the vicinity of German- town they removed to Providence town- ship, Philadelphia (now Montgomery)

county.

John Deemer was a landowner in Lower Providence township in 1734. but the family was settled there before that time. In 1727 a German Reform church (said by some to be the first regularly organized church of that denomination in the United States, but which Mr. Lambert doubts), was organized at Skip- pack by the Rev. George Michael Weiss. Among the original officers of this church was Jacob Diemer, and it is be- lieved that he or his ancestors were among the first German Reformers in America.

About 1740 a part of the Deemer fam- ily (as the name now appears) removed from their Montgomery county home and settled in Durham, Bucks county. Here they followed farming, charcoal burning. and working in the iron fur- naces. Some years after settling in Dur- ham. a part of the family located in Nockamixon, and the greater number of their descendants of the present day

47I

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

live in these two townships, with a num- ber in Williams township, Northampton county. Joseph Deemer, a native of Durham, when a young man, located in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, and worked at "the forge," presumably Ex- eter Forge. When the Revolutionary war broke out he enlisted in the First New Jersey Regiment and served throughout the entire struggle, belong- ing during that time to four of five dif- ferent organizations. All trace of him is lost soon after the restoration of peace. Pertinent to this narrative is the fact that after a lapse of eighy years an- other Deemer. Edward by name, also a native of Durham, enlisted in the New Jersey regiment (the Thirty-first) and served in the civil war.

Dr. Henry M. Muhlenberg, the father of the Lutheran church in America, fre- quently made mention in his diary of a Rev. Diemer, who preached at various places during the Revolutionary war, and with some he seems to have been on intimate terms. It is to be inferred from the diary that Mr. Diemer was a Lutheran. The Deemers (Diemers) were all originally, and nearly all con- tinued so, members of the Reform church, and if this Diemer was a mem- ber of this branch (and of this there is no assurance), he departed from the faith of his kinsmen. This, however, would not be a radical change, for the gulf between the two denominations is not broad. There were other changes, too, for at a later day there were some members of the family living in Will- iams township who became Methodists under the preaching of Bishop Asbury and other pioneer ministers of that de- nomination. After some of the family had embraced Methodism, those of the family who adhered to the ancestral faith cut off all further intercourse with them, and for more than a generation the two branches acted the part of utter strangers to each other.

Some time after the removal of a por- tion of the Deemer family from Mont- gomery county to Durham, some of those who remained in Providence re- moved to the Susquehanna river and at a later time to the Juniata, where fur- ther knowledge of them ceases. As has been stated, the Deener family furnish- ed at least one soldier to the Revolu- tionary war, one to the Mexican war. and quite a number to the Union during the Civil war. Originally Federalists in politics, they, in common with the great mass of the settlers of German extraction in the upper end of the coun- ty, rebelled against the Federalist sys- tem of taxation and became "Jefferson- ian Republicans." and afterwards Demo- crats, which. with few exceptions they are to the present time. The Deemers were always noted for industry and in-

tegrity. From the middle of the eigh- teenth century to the present time there has scarcely been a period of ten years when one or more Deemers were not em- ployed in the iron furnaces at Durham. In early years they did considerable freighting over the mountains and down the river, but to a large extent abandon- ed this occupation when the canal had been completed. While that waterway was in course of construction they aided the work, several of the Deemers sery- ing under the afterward celebrated George Law, who built the Durham lock and acqueduct, and also the lock and ac- queduct at the Narrows.

Michael Deemer, a direct ancestor of Elias Deemer, but whose ancestry is not obtainable, was born in America, De- cember 20, 1776, and died March 8, 1850. He became an extensive landowner and prominent citizen of Bucks county. mak- ing his home in Kintnerville, Nocka- mixon township, exercising considerable influence in shaping the early policy of the county and in promoting its ma- terial upbuilding. Dorothea. his wife, was born October 15, '1779, and died Oc- tober 29, 1843.

John Deemer (2) son of Michael Deemer, resided in Durham township. Bucks county, where he. too, followed the occupation of farming. He had five children, two sons and three daughters. Edward Deemer, eldest son of John Deemer, was born in the year 1834 on the family homestead in Durham town- ship, and died December 12, 1896. He was reared to the occupation of the farm, and at the time of the Civil war responded to the country's call for troops, enlisting in the Thirty-first New Jersey Regiment, with which he re- mained until the close of hostilities.

Elias Deemer (3) a son of John Deem- er, acquired his early education in the public schools and under private in- struction. When fifteen years of age he entered upon his business career as a salesman in a store in order to acquire knowledge of and acquaint himself with mercantile methods, and at the age of twenty he had entire charge of commer- cial enterprises. In the spring of 1859 lie became bookkeeper. collector and salesman for W. N. Treichler, of Kint- nerville, who was an extensive manu- facturer and dealer in lumber. In the fall of 1860 he went to Philadelphia, where he entered a wholesale notion house, and in 1861, following the inau- guration of the Civil war, joined the Union army, enlisting in the month of August, as a member of Company E. One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, under the command of Captain George T. Harvey and of Colonel W. H. H. Davis, of Doyles- town, Pennsylvania. However, in the month of May, 1862, he was discharged

472

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

because of physical disability. The following spring he removed to Mil- ford, New Jersey, where he engaged in business until the spring of 1868. when he located in Williamsport, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, where he has since made his home. Here he turned his attention to the lumber industry. He has been interested in a number of dif- ferent lumber enterprises, largely in connection with the lumber trade. He is the senior member of the firm of Elias Deemer & Company, his partner being John H. Hunt: was treasurer and manager of the partnership of Strong, Deemer & Company, Limited: was pres- ident of the Williamsport Lumber Company, of the Williamsport Land and Lumber Company, and of the Will- iamsport and Chesapeake Company, and of numerous improvement companies; and was treasurer and half owner of the Williamsport Wood Company. All of the latter named companies have. how- ever, closed out their business. Elias Deemer is now and has been since 1893 president of the Williamsport National Bank, and is a stockholder and director in the J. K. Risher Furniture Company and in the Lycoming Calcining Com- pany, and his business enterprise and sound judgment have been important factors in the successful control of a number of important commercial and in- dustrial concerns, which have contribu- ted to the prosperity of the city of Will- iamsport as well as to the success of individual stockholders. Mr. Deemer has taken an active and helpful interest in public affairs. He had never aspired to office, yet his fitness for leadership led to his selection to the city council in the spring of 1888, and his capability in the discharge of his duties caused his re-election in 1889. He was elected a member of the Fifty-seventh Con- gress in the fall of 1900, was again elect- ed a member of the Fifty-eighth Con- gress in the fall of 1902, and once more was re-nominated for the third time -- an unprecedented occurrence in the con- gressional district he represents-and was re-elected in the fall of 1904, a mem- ber of the Fifty-ninth Congress, receiv- ing 19,807 votes to 11,959 votes for his Democratic opponent, thus securing the largest majority over a Democratic op- ponent that was ever given a Republi- can candidate in the district. So that he has, since March 4. 1901, represented his district in the legislative councils of the nation.

Elias Deemer was married to Henri- etta Hunt, in November, 1865, and they have four children: William Russell, Mary Lillian. Laura Hunt and Lulu May. William Russell Deemer, who is practicing law in Williamsport, married Sara January Grundy, of Kentucky, and have one son, William Russell, Jr., and one daughter, Mary Elizabeth.

JOHN G. KING, vice-president of the Doylestown National Bank, was born in New Britain township, December 6, 1857, a son of John F. and Mary (Godshalk) King, both of German descent. Among the early German emigrants to Pennsylvania were many of the name of Koenig, long since Anglicized into King, all of whom seem to have settled originally in Montgom- ery county, from whence they migrated into several other sections as the country became settled westward and northward. Among these was Peter King, who with two broth- ers, Nicholas and Balthasar, emigrated from Germany in the year 1752, arriving in Phila- delphia on October 16th of that year in the good ship "Snow Kitty." Theophilus Barnes, commander. They probably remained for some time, so says tradition, in the neigh- borhood of Germantown, but about 1760 Peter King purchased a farm in Hatfield township, Philadelphia, now Montgomery county, and settled thereon. Here his two sons, Peter and Martin King, were reared, though both eventually found homes in Bucks county.

Martin King, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, first located in Bucks county in 1783, when he purchased a farm of one hundred acres near Leidytown, in Hilltown township. He later purchased another farm in that neighborhood and be- came a prominent man in the community. He was one of the original trustees of the Hilltown school house, erected in 1795, and maintained for the education of the youth of the neighborhood. He died on his Hill- town farm in September, 1831, his wife, Elizabeth, surviving him. His children were: Peter: Catharine, wife of George Eckhardt, of New Britain : Henry ; Martin, Jr .; John: Elizabeth, wife of Jacob Wisler ; Mary, wife of Samuel Dannehower; Sarah and Margaret. Martin King, Jr., was the . grandfather of the subject of this sketch. He was born in Hilltown township, and on arriving at manhood married Catharine Hartman, who bore him three children, John F .. Amos and Catharine. The father, Martin King, Jr., died about the year 1827, and his widow remarried a man by the name of Snyder, and survived her hus- band many years, dying in Doylestown about 1878.

John F. King. the eldest son of Martin and Catharine (Hartman) King, was born in Hilltown township April 19. 1820. At the age of sixteen years he went to Phila- delphia and learned the trade of a stair builder, which he followed for a few years in Philadelphia, and then returned to Bucks county, where for several years he followed the trade of a carpenter. In 1849 he pur- chased of his cousin, John Eckhart, a lot of eighteen acres near Newville, in New Britain township, where he made his home until 1867, when he purchased the farm and mill property now owned by the subject of this sketch, on the. Herkiaken. a tributary of the North Branch, near Fountainville, in New Britain township. Mr. King was

John & King

473

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

an active business man. He operated the saw and grist mill in connection with his farm for several years, and greatly im- proved the property. Mr. King was a man of high standing in the community. Both he and his wife, Mary Godshalk, were Men- nonites. In politics he was a Republican. He died in August, 1892.

John G. King, the subject of this sketch, was born near Newville, in New Britain township, and was reared on the farm, obtaining a good common school educa- tion. Being the only child of his parents that grew to maturity, his only brother Isaiah dying at the age of twelve years, his services were in demand in the management and conduct of the mill and farm, and he never left home excepting for a period of eighteen months, nine of which he spent in travel and the other nine months in a mill.

After the death of his father he ac- quired title to the farm, and has taken great pride in its management. In the fall of 1900 he was elected prothonotary of Bucks county, and filled the office with eminent ability for three years. At the reorganization of the Doylestown National Bank, in the fall of 1903, he was selected as a director, and on February Ist, 1904. was elected vice-president and given a gen- eral supervision over the affairs of the bank, to which he devotes his entire time. In April, 1894, he removed to Doylestown borough. He was married, December 26. 1882, to Belle M. Worthington, daughter of Aaron M. and Elizabeth ( Michener ) Worthington, of Plumstead, and has one child, Mabel W., born September 19, 1895. In politics Mr. King is a Republican, and has always taken an active interest in its councils. He is a member of Aquetong Lodge, No. 193, I. O. O. F., and of Doyles- town Encampment, No. 35.

DR. A. J. HINES, deceased, of Doylestown, was born August 5, 1826, on the old Hines homestead, in the ex- treme west corner of Warrington town- ship, adjoining the Montgomery county line, and was a son of William C. and Elizabeth (James) Hines.

Mathew Hynes, the great-great-grand- father of Dr. Hines, and the pioneer an- cestor of the family, was born in Ire- land in 1718. and came to Pennsylvania in the year 1740 or thereabouts, locating first in White Marsh township. 110W Montgomery county, and removing a few years later to a tract of five hundred acres on the county line, partly in what was then New Britain township, later ad- ded to Warrington, and extending across the county line into . Montgomery. This tract, like many other large tracts in that locality, was held for half a century by parties who were not actual settlers. It was patented to Andrew Hamilton, and conveyed by him in 1739 to his daughter Margaret, wife of William Allen, by whom

it was conveyed in trust for their use to James Delaney of London. It is probable that the title and possession was vested in Mathew Hines about 1752, though no actual transfer of title was made until 1793, when it was conveyed by Delaney to the sons of Mathew Hynes, except six acres "reserved for the use of their father Mathew Hynes." Mathew Hynes married Ann Simpson, a widow who, tradition relates, preceded Mathew to this country from Ireland, with her son William Simpson, and that Mathew, who had known her in Ireland, followed her to America and married her soon atter his arrival. Tradition further relates that she was the ancestress of General U. S. Grant, and that on the occasion of one of his early visits to his relatives in Bucks county he visited the Hines family, and the relationship was discussed by members of the family old enough to have some knowl- edge of the connection. If this be true, Ann Simpson was the widow of William Simpson and the mother of another son John, who was also a neighbor of the Hynes family. He was born in 1738, and died August 16, 1804, in Horsham township, on the county line near the Hines residence. He married Hannah Roberts, daughter of Lewis Roberts, of Abington, and a sister of Captain (later Colonel) William Rob- erts, whose farm adjoined that of Hines, and under whom William Hines, son of Mathew, served in the Revolutionary war. John Simpson and Hannah Roberts were married November 25, 1762, and their son John, who married Rebecca Weir, daugh- ter of Samuel Weir, of New Britain, was the grandfather of General Grant, John Simpson having removed to Ohio, in 1799, when his daughter Hannah, the mother of General Grant, was a maiden. Mathew Hines died December 23, 1804, aged eighty- six years, and his wife Ann on December I, 1790, aged eighty years. They are bur- ied side by side at Neshaminy church, of Warwick of which Mathew was a trustee in 1755. They were the parents of three sons, Mathew. Samuel and William, the last two of whom, at least, have descend- ants in Bucks county.

William Hines was born in 1749. He was an ensign of the first regiment raised in Bucks county for service in the Continental army, under the supervision of the Bucks county committee of public safety, it being the complement of four hundred men that the county was to furnish for the forma- tion of the Flying Camp for the Jersey campaign in 1776. The commissions of the officers were dated July 9, 1776, and William Hines was assigned to the position of ensign of the company of which Will- iam Roberts was captain, and Henry Dar- rah and James Shaw were respectively first and second lieutenants. At the close of the Jersey and Long Island campaign this reg- iment returned to Bucks county and was incorporated in the organization of the mi- litia in May, 1777, when William Roberts was made a lieutenant-colonel, and the cap-

474

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

tain.cy of his company was committed to Henry Darrah, and William Hines became its second lieutenant. The company saw active service in the fall and winter of 1777 under General Jolin Lacey, and par- ticipated in the battle of Germantown. In the reorganization of the militia in May, 1778, William Hines became first lieuten- ant of Captain Darrah's company, which did considerable active service in and around Philadelphia, though not incorporated in the regular Continental army. A well founded tradition in the family relates that, at one time during the struggle, Lieuten- ant Hines was at a blacksmith shop near his home having a horse shod, when new: of a conflict with the British reached him, and that he mounted his horse and hurried to the front without returning home. In the division of the Hines plantation in 1793, 143 acres were conveyed to William Hines, 112 acres of which descended to his son William and his grandchildren, remain- ing in the tenure of the family for four generations. He died January 17, 1830, in his eightieth year. He married Eliza- beth Harris, daughter of Henry and Mar- tha Harris, of New Britain, and of Welsh descent. Elizabeth died September 30, 1830, aged seventy-eight years, and both are buried at New Britain Baptist church. They were the parents of eight children : viz : three sons,-John; Isaac and William ; and five daughters,-Elizabeth, who mar- ried Simon James, of New Britain ; Ann, wife of John Singer; Sarah, wife of John Eder ; Hannah, wife of Dr. Joseph Mathew; and Priscilla, wife of Britain V. Evans. Colonel John, the eldest son, was a promi- nent officer of militia, and the grandfather of Charles Cox, of Doylestown. Isaac, the second son, died a few months before his father.

William C. Hines, the father of Dr. A. J. Hines, and the youngest of the three sons of William and Elizabeth (Harris) Hines, was born on the old homestead in Warrington township. He purchased it at the death of his father, and died there in 1858. He married Elizabeth James, daugh- ter of Abiah and Rachel ( Williams) James, of New Britain, both natives of New Brit- ain and of Welsh descent. The former born in 1749, died December 1, 1834, was a son of Isaac and Sarah (Thomas) James, grandson of William and Mary James, an :: great-grandson of John and Elizabeth James, who emigrated from Caermarthen- shire, Wales, in 1810 and settled in New Britain. (See James Family in this work ). The children of William and Elizabeth (James) Hines were: Nathan James, An- drew Jackson, Elizabeth and Emily, none of whom married with the exception of the subject of this sketch.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 102

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