History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 19

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 19

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7. Alfred Earle, born June 7, 1846; married Mary A. Hazlett, living in War- minster.

8. Edwin Augustus, born October 24, 1849, died May 21, 1900.

Judge Yerkes' boyhood days were spent on the Warminster farm. He attended the public school of the neighborhood and la- ter the Tennent school at Hartsville, and then entered Williston College at East- hampton, Massachusetts, from which he graduated in the class of 1862. He read law with Thomas and Henry P. Ross, at Doylestown, and was admitted to the bar November 3, 1865, and at once began the active practice of his chosen profession. He was elected district attorney in 1868, and discharged the duties of the office with special ability. In 1873 he was elected to the state senate and was re-elected in 1876. He was a prominent figure in the upper house of the state, and served on many im- portant committees. He drew the laws regulating the separate orphans courts and the civil and criminal courts of the state under the new constitution of 1874. He was a member of the state board of managers of the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876, and took a prominent part in the management. He introduced the bill creating the Hospital for the In- sane at Norristown and was one of the or- iginal trustees to which position he has been a second time appointed. He has been a life long Democrat and has always been prominent in the councils of the party. He was chairman of the judicial committee of conference in 1869, and was a delegate to the judicial conventions of 1871 and 1872. He was a delegate to the Democratic national convention at Baltimore in 1872, but was one of the twenty-one members of that memorable convention that refused to vote for the nomination of Horace Greeley, giving the vote to Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, of this state. He was a national delegate again in 1880, and delegate to the state con- ventions of 1873, 1874, 1877, 1878 and 1882. In 1883 he was elected president judge of the district and was re-elected in 1893, re- ceiving at that time the unanimous endorse- ment of the bar of the county. As a judge Mr. Yerkes displayed remarkable ability, his' promptness in the despatch of business, his eminent fairness of his decisions, the deep study and wide rescarch shown by the opinions rendered and his intense carnest- ness in the prosecution of the suits brought before him, made him very popular. He, has frequently been called upon to hold

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

court outside the county, and was univer- sally considered a learned and able judge. He was one of six Democratic nom- inees for the superior court at the Will- iamsport convention in 1895, and received on the first ballot 349 out of a total of 454 votes in the convention.

In the election that followed, while he ran far ahead of most of the ticket, re- ceiving a handsome plurality in his home county, he was defeated by his colleague, Justice Smith, of Wilkesbarre. In 1901 he was the Democratic nominee for justice of the supreme court, and ran far ahead of his ticket. On the expiration of his sec- ond term as president judge he was unani- mously re-nominated for the position, but was defeated at the polls by Hon. Mahlon H. Stout. On retiring from office he at once resumed the practice of law, associating himself with the grandsons of his old pre- ceptor, Thomas and George Ross, and en- joys a large practice.

Judge Yerkes and his family are members of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church of Doylestown, of which he is a member of the vestry. He is a member of Doyles- town Lodge No. 245, F. and A. M .; of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Bucks County Historical Society; the Col- onial Society; the Society of the Sons of the Revolution, and the Pennsylvania Ger- mans' Society. He was extremely active in bringing about the erection of the Bucks County Historical Society building, and was largely instrumental in securing funds for the purpose, and as chairman of the building committee had principal charge of the erection of the building. He was mar- ried June 24, 1869, to Emeline, daughter of Monroe Buckman, of Doylestown, but has no children.

THE ADAMS FAMILY. Among the earliest members of the Adams family who emigrated to America were Henry Adams, of Braintree, Massachusetts, and Robert Adams, of Oxford township, Philadelphia county, and Walter Adams, his brother, all of whom it is said were descended from Lord John Ap Adams, son of Ap Adams, who "came out of the Marches" of Wales. Thomas Adams, brother of Henry Adams, of Braintree, Massachusetts, was one of the grantees named in the charter of Charles I. in 1629. He was high sheriff and lord mayor of London.

Henry Adams with his eight sons set- tled at Mount Wollaston, in Braintree, and Walter and Robert Adams were his broth- ers. It is thought, however, that they came to this country at a later date. They settled in Pennsylvania and, like the ma- jority of the early colonists of that state, Walter was a Quaker.

The earliest record of the English branch of the Adams family is that of John Ap Adams, of Charlton Adams, in Somerset- shire, who married Elizabeth, daughter

and heiress to Lord Gowrney, of Beviston and Tidenham county, Gloucester, who was summoned to parliament as baron of the realm, 1226 to 1307. In the upper part of a Gothic window on the southeast side of Tidenham church, near Chopston, the name of John Ap Adams is still to be found, to- gether with "arms argent in a cross gules, five mullets or," of Lord Ap Adams. The design is probably executed on stained glass of great thickness and is in perfect preser- vation. This church originally stood with- in the boundary of Wales, but at a later period the boundary line was changed so that it is now upon English soil. The arms and crest borne by the family are described as argent in a cross gules ; five mullets or, out of a ducal coronet a demi-lion. The legend is "Loyal au mort;" a motto com- monly used by this branch of the family is "Aspire, persevere and indulgence," all other "sub cruce veritas."

,The following is the line of direct des- cent to the Adams family of the Lehigh Valley. (1). Ap Adams came out of the Marches of Wales. Lords of the Marches were noblemen who in the early ages se- cured and inhabited the Marches of Wales and Scotland, living there as if they were petty kings, having their own private laws. These laws, however, were subsequently abolished. (2) Sir Ap Adams, knight, lord of Ap Adams, married Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Gowrney. (3) Sir Thomas Ap Adam; (4) William Ap Adam ; (5) Sir John Ap Adam; (6) Thomas Ap Adams; (7) Sir John Ap Adam, Knight; (8) Sir John Ap Adam, who was the first to attach the letter "s" to his name; (9) Roger Adams; (10) Thomas Adams; (II) John Adams; (12) John Adams; (13) Nicholas Adams; (14) Richard Adams ; (15) William Adams; and (16) Henry Adams, who is said to have emigrated about 1634. In February, 1641, he was granted forty acres of land near Boston, of which Braintree is a part. His brothers were Robert, Thomas and Walter. The last named came to America by way of the Barbadoes, West Indies, and after living there for a time took up his abode in Pennsylvania.

(1) Walter Adams married Elizabeth Their children were: Richard, Anne, William, and Robert. Walter Adams was the brother of Robert Adams, of Ox- ford township, Philadelphia, who died in 1719. leaving no children; he devised the estate of his nephews and nieces, the chil- dren of his brother Walter and Elizabeth, his wife.

(2) Richard Adams, of New Provi- dence township, now Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, died in 1748. His first wife was Vertic name is not known.) His second wife was das. str. Op Ten 9M Alice or Aishe Withers, and they were married in 1726. His children were as fol- lows: Abraham, married Alse -; Will- iam, of Braken township, Lancaster coun- ty; Isaac, of Coventry township, Chester county ; Susanna, married Conrad Custard,

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

or Kistard; Catharine, married John Mor- ris : Mary, married Israel Morris: Mar- garet, married Paul Casselberry; Elizabeth, married Thomas Bull; Ann, married Jacob Umstadt ; Hannah, married Owen Evans.

(3) Abraham Adams died in 1738, and letters were granted to Rachel, his daugh- ter, a spinster. There is mention of two children, Ann and Abigail.

Walter Adams and his brother were brothers of Henry Adams, who came to New England and was a founder of the Adams family there, at Braintree, Massa- chusetts. Walter, his son Richard, and his son Abraham were Quakers.

Conrad Custard, husband of Susanna Adams. (daughter of Richard), owned a large tract of land immediately adoining the tract surveyed to Ensign John Adams, of Nockamixon township, in 1763.

John Adams and James Adams, possibly and probably brothers, lived in Nocka- mixon township, Bucks county. There are a few records at Doylestown, Pennsylvania, which bear James Adams's signature. He was also an ensign in the provincial ser- vice, Associated Companies of Bucks coun- ty, in 1747. (See Colonial Records, vol. v., p. 209; also Pennsylvania Archieves, second series, vol. ii., p. 505). This was nine years before John Adams held a like commission in the provincial service in the Associated Companies of Bucks county. There is nothing to establish that James Adams and John Adams were related, nei- ther can be found any data of their former residence or whose children they were. The only solution is that they were both possibly sons of Abraham Adams; the lat- ter having died intestate no list of his chil- dren is obtainable. The fact that John Adams held land adjoining that of Conrad Custer is a possible solution, he having been raised by his aunt Susanna.

Richard Adams, of Providence town- ship, Philadelphia, whose will is dated February 1, 1847-8, and probated March 24, 1747-48, mentions son Abraham's chil- dren, Ann and Abagail, then letters were granted to Abraham's daughter Rachel. There at once seems to be some discrep- ancy which is most difficult to explain.

James' commission in the provincial ser- vice, as above stated, was dated in 1747, which tends to show that he might have been disinherited by his grandfather. Then, again, there is a possibility that James and John Adams are one and the same man, but this is very doubtful, as their names are mentioned distinctly and separately in the old records.

(1) John Adams, ensign, Provincial Service, of Nockamixon township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, died in Nockamixon township, May 22, 1807. He married Mary He was buried in the old Nocka- mixon church graveyard. His will dated March 21, 1807, proved June 8, same year, is recorded in Will Book No. 7, p. 278, in the registrer of wills office, Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

John Adams, of Nockamixon, served in the provincial service in 1756. He held a commission as ensign in one of the com- panies of the Associated Companies of Bucks county. (See Pennsylvania Archieves, vol. iii., p. 19; also Pennsyl- vania Archives, second series, vol. ii., p. 531). Captain William Ramsey was cap- tain of the company in which John Adams served and held his commission as ensign in 1756, and was also from Nockamixon township, Bucks county. John Johnson was the lieutenant of the company. John Adams of Nockamixon, and Mary his wife, had the following children: Mary, Eliza- beth, Margaret, George, Henry, John Jacob.

George and Henry, sons of John Adams of Nockamixon, served in the Nockamixon Company of Associators in 1775. George was sergeant of the company, and the son, John was a soldier in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war.

The first record that we have of John Adams of Nockamixon owning any land is a warrant that was granted March 26, 1754, to John Adams, for land in Nocka- nixon township, Bucks county, upon which a survey was returned for fifty-four acres and 113 perches. A patent for this same land wis granted April 26, 1726, to Abra- ham Fryling. John Adams had some trouble with this land, for on May 19, 1763, he entered a caveat against the acceptance of a survey made for Archibald Merrin, which took in the above mentioned land and improvements. ( See Pennsylvania Archieves, third series, vol. ii., p. 275). The above land was surveyed by J. Hart, for which he gave a receipt, June 26, 1763, which is recorded in Doylestown, Pennsyl- vania, in Deed Book No. 32, p. 169. This ccceipt also mentions the date of the war- rant, March 26, 1754.

(II) John Adams, private in Captain Samuel Watson's company, of Durham township, Bucks county,

Pennsylvania, was a son of John Adams of Nockamixon township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, born in Nockamixon township, November 3. 1759, died in Durham township, Novem- ber 12, 1826. He married Christina Klinker, December 15, 1789, at the Tohickon Ger- man Reformed church. Some time after the Revolutionary war he moved into Dur- ham township, where he lived until his death. He is buried in the old Durham church graveyard. Christina Klinker, the wife of John Adams, of Durham, was born in Neckamixon township August 15, 1770, died in Durham township October 2, 18.47, and is buried in the old Durham church graveyard. She was the daughter of John and Mary Klinker of Nockamixon town- ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania.

John Adams, of Durham township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was a soldier in the Continental army during the Revolution- ary war. He served as a private in Cap- tam Samuel Watson's company of the Sec- ond Pennsylvania Battalion under Colonel

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

Arthur St. Clair. He enlisted February 12, 1776. (See Pennsylvania Archieves, second series, vol. x, p. 98). Several of the mem- bers of his company were from upper Bucks county. Captain Watson died at

Three Rivers and was succeeded by Thomas L. Moore, who was promoted to major of the Ninth Regiment, May 12, 1779, and was succeeded as captain by John Hen- derson. The company was transferred or became a part of the Third Battalion, Twelfth Regiment, July 1, 1778, and thus became associated with other companies of Bucks county. For his services he re- ceived from the state of Pennsylvania two hundred acres of "donation land" in Rob- inson township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, which was returned for pat- ent October 9, 1786. ( See Pennsylvania Archives, third series, vol. vii, p. 723). This land he sold to Hugh Hamill, November 4, 1786, for £37 IOS. The witnesses to this deed were Thomas Delap ( Dunlap ), John Donnell and Jacob Glassmyer, all residents of Nockamixon township at that date. (Re- corder's office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, deed book D-17, p. 322.) John K., son of John Adams of Durham, was a soldier for some time during the war of 1812-1814, private in Captain John Dornblaser's com- pany ( Pennsylvania Archives, second ser- ies. vol. xii, p. 105).

John Adams of Durham, and Christina, his wife, had the following children : Elizabeth, Mary, Margaret, John K .. Hen- ry. Jacob, Samuel, Susan, married Joseph Retschlin, and Daniel.

John Adams of Durham was quite a large land owner. In 1706 he owned one hundred acres of land and a grist and a saw mill in Nockamixon township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. April 20, 1799, he bought of Solomon Lightcap 263 acres of land. ( Bucks county deed book 30. p. 310).

April 11, 1808, he bought two tracts, one of 155 acres and the other of twelve acres. (Bucks county deed book 39. p. 135). John Adams of Durham died without making a will. It is impossible to give the date when John Adams was mustered out of the service, for the muster rolls of the Twelfth Regiment have practically never been found.

Tax lists Nockamixon township show the holdings of John Adams, the father of the above John Adams, and his sons George and Henry, elder brothers of John. John Adams appears as a "single man" first in the year of 1785, notwithstand- ing that he was of age in 1780. He there- fore served. in all probability. up to about that date ( 1784-1785) in the Twelfth Penn- sylvania Regiment. Captain Samuel Wat- son's company records date to November 25. 1776, only.

(III) Henry Adams, of Durham town- ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, son of John Adams. was born in Durham town- ship June 17, 1806, and died there Decem- ber 15. 1838. He married Elizabeth Bitz, August 25, 1828. at her home in Spring-

field township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He is buried in the old Durham church graveyard. Elizabeth Bitz, the wife of Henry Adams, of Durham, was born Sep- tember 18. 1811, in Springfield township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and died March 28, 1878, in Bethlehem, Pennsyl- vania. She was the daughter of John Bitz and Susan Riegel, his wife. of Springfield, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Henry

Adams's is recorded in Doyles-

town, Pennsylvania. It is dated April

28. 1838, and is proved December 22, 1838. Henry Adams of Durham and

Elizabetlı. his wife, had the follow- ing children: John, Hannah, Catharine and Samuel. After the death of Henry Adams in 1840, Elizabeth Bitz was married a second time to Christian Nicholas. She had no children by this union. Christian K. Nicholas was born in Nockamixon township. Bucks county, Pennsylvania, January 23, 1817. and died in upper Saucon township, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, November 3. 1893, and was buried in Fried- ensville November 7. 1893, and body re- moved to Nisky Hill Cemetery, Bethlehem, December 16, 1899.

(IV.) Samuel Adams of south Beth- lehem, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, son of Henry Adams, of Durham township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was born in Durham township July 25, 1837, and died in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Febru- ary 22, 1902. He married Susie Weaver, September 14. 1865, at her home in Allen- town, Pennsylvania. He is buried at Nisky Hill Cemetery, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Susie Weaver, wife of Samuel Adams, was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, May 5, 1847. She was a daughter of Joseph Wea- ver and Salome, his wife. of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Samuel Adams and Susie Weaver. his wife, had the following chil- dren : John, Joseph W., Henry and Susie.

Samuel Adams when quite a young man started out in farming, and then in iron ore mining. He entered the employ of the Thomas Iron Company of Catasaqua. Penn- sylvania, and was given charge of their mining interests. Mr. John Fritz induced him to come to Bethlehem and accept the position as his assistant in the Bethlehem Iron Company. Here he remained for nearly thirty years, and then had to re- sign on account of his health. He then or- ganized the Ponupo Mining and Trans- portation Company, Limited, and went to Santiago de Cuba as general manager of the company. Here he bought a railroad for the company, the Ferro-Carril de San- tiago de Cuba, and became its president. and also built an extension to the railroad to connect with the company's manganese mines. He remained in Cuba with his fam- ily for over two years, when he resigned and returned north. He was in Cuba part of the year 1892, all of 1893, and part of 1894. After returning from Cuba he as- sisted in forming the Sheffield Coal. Iron and Steel Company of Sheffield, Alabama.

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

He stayed in Sheffield with his family one year, then sold out his interest and came north. While with the Sheffield Coal, Iron and Steel Company he held the position of general superintendent and assistant treas- urer, and also director of the company. He then retired from active business and de- voted himself to farming, having a tract of one hundred acres Friedensville, Pennsylvania, about 130 acres above Bin- gen, Pennsylvania, and a tract of woodland along the P. & R. of forty acres, above Bingen, Pennsylvania. He was also inter- ested in and a director of the following companies at the time of his death: Pon- upo Mining and Transportation Company, Cuban Mining Company, Jones and Bix- ler Manufacturing Company, South Beth- lehem National Bank.

Henry, son of Samuel Adams, was a soldier during the Spanish-American war of 1898. He organized the first volunteer company in the state. He and his com- pany were taken into the Ninth Pennsyl- vania Regiment to help make up the Third Battalion of that regiment. He was com- missioned as captain of Company K, Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment, United States Volunteer Infantry. The regiment was in the Third Brigade, Third Division, First Army Corps.

(V.) Joseph W. Adams, of South Beth- lehem, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, son of Samuel Adams, was born in Beth- lehem. Pennsylvania, January 19, 1872. He married Reba Thomas, of Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, daughter of David J. Thomas and Susannah Edwards, of Pittsburg, June 14, 1899, at her home. Reba Thomas, the wife of Joseph W. Adams, was born in Pitts- burg, November 11, 1877.

Joseph W. Adams was educated at the Moravian parochial school of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Hill school of Potts- town, Pennsylvania, and the Lehigh Univer- sity of South Pennsylvania, where he joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity. He started to work in the drawing rooms of the Bethle- hem Iron Company. He went to Cuba with his father and was treasurer of the Ferro-Carril de Santiago de Cuba, 1892-93. He went to Alabama as assistant to the general superintendent of the Sheffield Coal, Iron and Steel Company in 1895, and part of 1896. He returned home and took up his studies again at Lehigh University in metallurgy and mineralogy, and then read law for over a year. In 1899 he and his brother Henry formed the Cuban Min- ing Company, and he was elected secretary and treasurer of the company and also a director. He is connected with the follow- ing companies : Director and vice-president of the South Bethlehem National Bank; director and president of La Paz Mining Company ; director, secretary and treasurer of the Cuban Mining Company; director and executive committee of Delaware Forge and Steel Company ; director and commit- tee of Guerber Engineering Company ; director of Lchigh Valley Cold Storage

Company ; director, secretary and treasurer of the Roepper Mining Company ; director of Valentine Fibre Ware Company; acting trustee of the estate Samuel of Adams. He is a member of the fol- lowing clubs and societies : Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New York; Empire State Society; Sons of the American Revolution ; Pennsylvania So- ciety of Sons of the Revolution; Pennsyl- vania German Society, and the local town and country clubs ; and of Masonic bodies- Bethlehem Lodge, Zinzendorf Chapter, Bethlehem Council, Allen Commandery, Caldwell Consistory, and Rajah Temple. He is captain of commissary, Fourth Reg- iment Infantry, N. G. P. His children were: John, born January 23, 1901 ; David Samuel, born March 15, 1903.

Henry Adams, captain of Company K, Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment, U. S. V. I., son of Samuel Adams, of South Bethlehem, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Novem- ber 2, 1873. He married Annette Talbot Belcher, of New London, Connecticut, July 9, 1902.

Henry Adams, mining engineer, was edu- cated at the Moravian parochial day school of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Hill school of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and the Lehigh University of South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity. He started to work with Thomas Edison at Edison, N. J. He went to Cuba and was assistant superin- tendent and then superintendent of the Fer- ro-Carril de Santiago de Cuba. He went south to Alabama and was in charge of the coal and coke department of the Sheffield Coal, Iron and Steel Company at Jasper, Alabama. He went to Mexico and erected an electric light plant for the Mexican Na- tional Railroad, and then was supervisor of a division of that road. He resigned and was made constructing engineer for Tumer Nunn & Company of Mexico, Mexico, with headquarters in Pueblo. In December of 1897 and January of 1898 he was in Cuba in the city of Santiago and the surrounding country, and visited the insurgents sev- eral times.

When war broke out with Spain in 1898 he raised the first company of volunteers in the state, with the assistance of Colonel Wilson and Captain Juett of Bethlehem. He and his company were mustered into the United States service, and he received his commisison as captain of volunteers on "July 6, 1898. His company was attached to the Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment, United States Volunteer Infantry, as Com- pany K, to help complete the Third Bat- talion. The regiment was in the Third Division, Third Brigade. First Army Corps. Company K, of the Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment of United States Volunteer In- fantry, is thus mentioned in the "Record of Events which may be Necessary or Useful for Future Reference at the War Depart- ment."

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

"This company was organized in July at South Bethlehem, and mustered in at South Bethlehem, July 6, 1898, which company left by rail for Chickamauga Park, July 7, 1898, arriving in camp July 19, 1898. Re- mained in camp until August 26, 1898, when company left by rail for Camp Hamilton, Lexington, Kentucky, arriving _in camp August 28, 1898. . Left Camp Hamilton for regimental headquarters at Wilkesbarre, September 17, 1898, arriving there Septem- ber 19, 1898. Company left by rail for home station, September 20, 1898, arriving same day, when company was verbally fur- loughed for thirty days."

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History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 19

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