USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III > Part 158
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to Michael Weisel two tracts of land in the northwestern part of Bedminster town- ship, near Tohickon church, one of the earliest German Reformed churches in Bucks county, then just being organized. and fronting on the "Swamp Road," then (as now) the line between Hilltown and Bedminster, one of one hundred and fifty acres, and the other one hundred and thirty-one acres.
The Weisels were among the earliest members of Tohickon church, and several generations of the family lie buried in the churchyard adjoining. They were also pio- neers in education, as the first land alien- ated from the family was set off the original plantation for a school house in 1767, with Jacob and Michael Weisel among the trus- tees, and upon which a school house had been already erected. This primitive school house and its humble successors continued to do service as a "temple of learning," supported by the Weisels and their neigh- bors, until superseded by the common schools, supported by taxation, the land being sold by Samuel Weisel as agent for the surviving trustees and converted to private use on April 2, 1861. The date of the death of Michael Weisel. Sr., and his wife Susanna has not been definitely ascer- tained. They conveyed the paternal acres to their eldest son Jacob in 1757, and he in turn conveyed a portion thereof to his brother Michael, George, the other brother, having settled in Richland township. All that is definitely known is that he was de- ceased in July, 1767, when his son Jacob made the conveyance of the school house lot. Of the children of Michael and Su- sanna Weisel, Jacob. the eldest, survived. his younger brother, living until 1797, and to the age of about eighty ycars. He was a lictitenant of militia during the Revolu- tionary war. He and his wife Margaret were the parents of five children: Freder- ick, born April . 21, 1751; Anna Catharine, born March 18. 1756; John, born July 6, 1758: George, born June 29, 1761; and Maria Elizabeth, born in September, 1769. George Weisel, the youngest son, died in Richland in 1798, leaving sons John. Peter, Jacob, and Joseph, and several daughters.
Michael Weisel was born in the Pala- tinate in the year 1720, and was therefore twelve years of age when he accompanied his parents, Michael and Susanna, to Penn- sylvania. He married Magdalena - and was a resident of Bedminster township, Bucks county, until his death, June 24, 1796, at the age of seventy-six years. He was a member of Tohickon Reformed church, and the baptism of three daughters appears of record there in 1753-1756 and 1758, respectively, but they probably all died young, as no daughters are mentioned in his will. He purchased 253 acres of land adjoining the Bedminster homestead on the south, of Chief Justice William Allen, and also received a conveyance from his brother Jacob for a part of the 281 acres purchased by his father in 1743, and con-
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
veyed the greater part of both tracts to his three sons, Michael, Henry and George, during his lifetime, devising to them at his death what remained. Of these three sons, Michael, the eldest, was twice married, his first wife being Catharine and his second, whom he married August 19, 1794, being Mary Sorver. He purchased of his father a portion of the homestead, and also pur- chased a portion of his grandfather's origi- nal purchase of his uncle Jacob, but later sold his Bedminster land and located in Tinicum township, where he died in 1830, leaving four sons, Michael, Daniel, Tobias and Samuel, and five daughters, who mar- ried into the families of Smith, Bissey and Swartz. George Weisel. the youngest son. born March II, 1773, married Margaret Sheib, April 19, 1796. He received from his father a portion of the old homestead, but later sold it and removed to Mont- gomery county, and late in life purchased a farm in Warrington township. later occu- pied by his son George and grandson Sam- uel, where he died April 19, 1862, in his ninetieth year.
Henry Weisel, second son of Michael. Jr., and Magdalena, born in Bedminster about 1765. married Eve Shellenberger, a grand- daughter of Johannes Shellenberger, who came from Germany in 1751 in the "Queen of Denmark" and settled in Hatfield town- ship. Montgomery county, later purchasing large tracts of land in Hilltown. Bucks county, upon which his son Conrad, who married Eve Leidy, settled about 1775. Michael and Magdalena Weisel on June- 28, 1790, conveyed to their son Henry Weisel, 198 acres of the Allen tract in Bedminster, and he was devised another portion of the homestead by his father's will in 1796. In addition to these he purchased a portion of the land devised to his brother George. and about twenty acres across the Swamp road in Hilltown, the site of the old Green Tree hotel, near Hagersville. In 1822 he conveyed sixty-five acres of the homestead to his son George, and died seized of most of the other tracts in 1831. Henry and Eve (Shellenberger ) Weisel were the par- ents of six children : Susanna, born 1789. married Philip Fluck; George, born March 28. 1790, married March 31, 1812, Catharine Fluck; Joseph, born July 10. 1793, pur- chased the homestead at his father's death ; Henry, born January 29, 1796, married Sep- tember 3, 1820. Elizabeth Seiple, and re- moved to Franconia. Montgomery county ; Mary, born 1802, married Henry Eckel, of Bedminster; and Samuel, born August I, ISO.4.
Samuel Weisel, youngest son of Henry and Eve, was a lifelong resident of Bed- minster and adjoining parts of Hilltown. and died in Hilltown, August 9. 1889. He married, May 24. 1829. Catharine Solliday. born June, 1807. daughter of Peter and Magdalena (Godshalk) Solliday, grand- daughter of Jacob and Barbara ( Loux) Solliday, and great-granddaughter of Fred- erick and Barbara Solliday, who came from
Switzerland and settled in Bedminster about 1740.
Frederick Sallade (as the name was originally spelled ) was a clockmaker and armourer, and tradition relates that he rendered efficient service to his adopted country in the trying days of the Revolu- tionary war in the making and repairing of firearms for the use of her patriot soldiers. He settled on a farm purchased of William Allen, near Deep Run Mennonite meeting house, and died there at an advanced age, June 24, 1804. He was a noted clock- maker, as was his son Jacob, and several of his descendants down to the present day, and many specimens of his and their handi- work are still in use in Bucks county. He and his wife Barbara were members of the Tohickon Reformed church, and among the earliest records of baptisms there is that of their son Jacob, born January 22. 1748, baptized July 17, 1748. Their eldest son Frederick was born in Germany, and died in Bedminster several years before his father. The children born to them in America were: Jacob, before mentioned ; John, baptized May 20. 1750: Emanuel, baptized February 4. 1753; and Elizabeth, born April 26, 1758; and possibly others.
Jacob Solliday, like his father, was an eminent clockmaker and followed that vo- cation in connection with farming in Bed- minster for many years. On arriving at manhood he purchased a farm near the Weisel homestead. and lived thereon until 1812, when he sold it to his son Peter and removed to Milford township, where he died April 15, 1815. aged seventy-seven years. He married June 10, 1773. Barbara Loux. born April 24. 1754, died August 23. 1829, daughter of Peter Loux, born 1706, who came from Rotterdam in the "Friendship." September 20. 1738, and set- tled in Bedminster, where he purchased a farm of 175 acres adjoining Frederick Solli- day, which became the property of his grandson, John Solliday. clockmaker, eldest son of Jacob and Barbara, in 1790. The children of Jacob and Barbara (Loux) Sol- liday were: John, born 1775: Peter, born September 24. 1783. of whom presently; Samuel, born July 27, 1789; George, Cath- arine, Nancy, Mary.
Peter Solliday, father of Catharine Wei- sel, was the second son of Jacob and Bar- bara (Loux) Solliday, and was born in Bed- minster. Bucks county, September 2.4. 1783, and died there March. 1859. He was also a clockmaker, and followed that vocation all his life. He remained on the farm with his father, and in 1812 purchased the home- stead and 150 acres, which he conveyed to. his son Peter G. Solliday, in 1857. He married. October 6, 1805, Magdalena God- shalk, born April 1. 1785. died January 12. 1851, daughter of Michael Godshalk, of Bedminster, and they had issue: Jacch, born April 15. 1806, married December 6, 1829, Maria Hartzel: Catharine, born June, 1807, married May 24. 1820. Samuel Weisel : Barbara, born September 21, 1809, married.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Charles Gerhart, of Hagersville; Anne, born July 21, 1814, married Henry Ochs; Elizabeth, born September 20, 1816, mar- ried Samuel M. Hager; and Peter G. Sol- liday, born December 8, 1823, married Anna Stover. The children of Samuel and Cath- arine (Solliday) Weisel are: Magdalena, born June 4, 1830, died young ; Francis S., born October 27, 1832, of whom presently ; Elevina, born December 17, 1835, wife of David H. Bean, of Allentown ; Caroline, born December 17, 1835. wife of Levi Shel- lenberger, of Hagersville; Eve, wife of George Swartz, of Souderton; and Mary, wife of Samuel Rotzel, of Perkasie.
Francis S. Weisel, now residing in Phila- delphia, was the only son of Samuel and Catharine (Solliday) Weisel. and was born in Bedminster, three miles above Dublin, October 27, 1832. On March 30, 1868, his father conveyed to him the farm and hotel in Hilltown, known as the Green Tree hotel, on the Swamp Road, opposite the old Weisel homestead, and he was the pro- prietor of the hotel for five years. In 1873 he removed to Telford borough, where he owned and conducted a hotel and was the postmaster of Telford for ten years. He then removed to Doylestown and purchased the Railroad House, which he conducted for four years. In 1887 he removed to Philadelphia, where he has since lived a quiet and retired life. He was a member of the Reformed church until his removal to Philadelphia, but for the past eighteen years has been a member of the Presby- terian church, he and his family being now members of North Broad street Presby- terian church. He married in 1866 Annie E. Bowers, born near Jamison, Warwick township, Bucks county. August 28, 1847, daughter of Charles and Franey (Veronica) Delp Bowers. Charles Bowers, her father, was born and reared in Philadelphia. his father, a native of England. having lived and died in that city, where his son Charles was born in 1803. On arriving at manhood Charles Bowers located in Bucks county, and on his marriage in 1842 settled in Hatboro, Montgomery county. In the spring of 1849 he purchased about twenty acres of land at Jamison, Bucks county, and resided there until his death, Dc- cember 31. 1871. He married Franev Delp, daughter of George and Margaret (Eydem) Delp, of Bedminster. Bucks county, born 1820, died March. 1850, and they were the parents of five children : Annie E., now the wife of Francis S. Weisel; Sarah, unmar- ried; Oliver, died in Warwick in 1874; Margaret and Elwood.
George Delp, the pioneer ancestor of the Delp family of Bucks county, came from Rotterdam in the ship "Thistle," arriving in Philadelphia, October 28, 1738. He located in Franconia township, now Montgomery county, and became a large landowner there as well as in Hilltown township, Bucks county. He and a number of his descend- ants lie buried in an old burying ground known as "Delp's Grave Yard," in the
northwestern part of Franconia township. George Delp, son of the pioneer, located in Hilltown township, where his son George, the grandfather of Mrs. Weisel, was born. The latter removed to Bed- minster township in 1806, and died there about January 1, 1830. He married Mar- garet Eydem, who survived him twenty years, dying in Bedminster in 1850. They were the parents of five children : Samuel, who died before his father, leaving a daughter Magdalena; Jacob, who married a Barndt and was the father of Reuben Barndt Delp, of Allentown, before referred to. as the husband of Catharine Weisel; Magdalena, who married Ulrick Hockman, both she and her husband dying before her father; Margaret, who married Daniel Bartholomew; and Franey, who married Charles Bowers.
Francis S. and Annie E. (Bowers) Weisel are the parents of two sons: Elmer P. and Oscar W. Weisel ; and a daughter, Florence, who died in infancy.
ELMER P. WEISEL, of 1132 Green street, Philadelphia, was born in Bedmin- ster township, February 23, 1867. His early education was acquired at the public schools of Telford, Montgomery county, and at Sellersville, Bucks county. At the age of fourteen years he entered West Chester State Normal School and graduated from that institution four years later. After three years spent in teaching in the public schools of Bucks county he went to Phila- delphia, and entered the employ of the well known firm of Hood. Bonbright & Co., later Hood, Foulkrod & Co., and remained with that firm until 1894. when he became connected with the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society, 700 Walnut street, where he still holds a responsible position. He joined the Presbyterian church of Doylestown, and during his residence there was a teacher in the Sunday-school connected with that church. Since his residence in Philadelphia he has been a Sunday-school teacher and active church worker there, and has also officiated as organist. He is prominently associated with the Masonic fraternity, be- ing affiliated with Lodge No. 2. Harmony Chapter No. 52, R. A. M., and Mary Com- mandery No. 36, K. T .. of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Young Republican Club, of the Crescent Boat Club. on the Schuylkill river, and of Philadelphia Chap- ter of the American Institute of Bank Clerks.
OSCAR W. WEISEL, of 1132 Green street, Philadelphia, second son of Francis S. and Annie E. (Bowers) Weisel, was born in Hilltown township, Bucks county, July 22, 1870. He was educated at the public schools of Telford and Sellersville and at the Doylestown Seminary, and later took a two and a half years' course at West Ches- ter State Normal School, and then entered Peirce's Business College, Philadelphia, from which he graduated in 1887. He en- tered the employ of Hood, Bonbright & Company, where he remained until 1890,
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
when he went with the Western Savings Fund Society, of 1000 Walnut street, and for the past three years has been the man- ager of Branch Office C of the society at Kensington, Philadelphia. While residing at Doylestown he joined the Presbyterian church there, and has been an active church worker in Philadelphia for the past eighteen
years. He is a member of Lodge No. 2, F. and A. M .; Harmony Chapter No. 52, R. A. M .; and Mary Commandery, No. 36, K. T., of Pennsylvania. He is also a mem- bor of the Crescent Boat Club on the Schuylkill river, and of . the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Bank Clerks.
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