History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 36

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 36

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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

1842, at the age of eighteen years, started the "Newtown Journal," at Newtown, Bucks county, and successfully conducted it until 1847, when he sold out and estab- lished the "Daily News" in Philadelphia. but sold it out also the following year and removed to Doylestown, where he studied law in the office of Hon. Henry Chapman, later the judge of the Bucks county courts. He was admitted to the bar of Bucks coun- ty April 24, 1850, and after two years prac- tice at Doylestown removed to Philadelphia, where he practiced his chosen profession for seventeen years, building up a large practice and establishing a reputation as a counselor at law that marked him for a career as a jurist. He was appointed as a judge of the common pleas court of Phila- delphia on the resignation of F. Carroll Brewster in 1869, and, showing marked ability as a judge. was unanimously nom- inated to succeed himself, and elected the following October. After seven years' ser- vice on the common pleas bench, he was elected to the supreme bench in 1874, and at once took a commanding position among his fellow justices. His career on the su- preme bench on which for eighteen years he served as chief justice, was marked by promptness in the discharge of business, and always bv careful considerations of the questions of law. His opinions were mod- els of terseness, clearness and appropriate diction, and showed an accurate knowledge of the law, expressed in clear and concise language and terms that could be clearly understood. Many notable cases were com- mitted to his hands, and his reputation as a supreme justice was an enviable one. He resigned from the bench in 1893 and be- sylvania ; fourth, receiver of the Philadel- phia & Reading Railroad Company, a posi- tion he filled for four years. The only four public positions ever held by Chief Justice Paxson were the following: First, a mem- ber of the board of guardians of the poor, of Philadelphia : second. judge of the court of common pleas, of Philadelphia ; third, chief justice of the supreme court, of Penn- sylvania; fourth. receiver of the Philadel- phia & Reading Railroad, all of which posi- tions he resigned. He has for many years had charge of several large estates, to the management of which and that of his own large interests he has devoted much of his time in recent years, his summers being spent at "Bycot House" and his winters in Philadelphia. He is one of the largest real estate owners in Bucks county, owning many farms in Buckingham and Solebury, aggregating nearly 2,000 acres.

Judge Paxson married, April 30, 1846, Mary Caroline Newlin, of Philadelphia, daughter of Nathaniel and Rachel H. New- lin, of Delaware county, Pennsylvania. She died at Bycot House, June 7, 1885. He married (second) December 1, 1886, Mary Martha S. Bridges, widow of Hon. Sam- tel A. Bridges, of Allentown. He has no children.

WILLIAM CLAYTON NEWELL, of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, was born in Philadelphia, October 23, 1856, and is a son of William C. and Susan (Bispham) Newell.

William (first) and Martha (McGee) Newell. the great-grandparents of William C. Newell. came from Belfast. Ireland, to Philadelphia in 1780. He was a wholesale merchant and importer and conducted a large mercantile establishment at Water street, below Market street, Philadelphia, for many years. He died January 7, 1883. and Martha. his wife, died in 1843 at the age of eighty-four years. They were the parents of nine children, all of whom were born in Philadelphia: John in 1789; Eliza- beth in 1700: William, February 25, 1792; James in 1797: Ann in 1800; Stewart in 1802: Samuel in 1804; Robert in 1808, and Martha, in 1806.

William Newell (second) son of Will- jam and Martha (McGee) Newell, born in Philadelphia, February 25, 1792, succeeded his father in the wholesale business in Phil- adelphia, and was a large importer of teas and coffees, owning two docks on the river front and doing a large business. He was a member of the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, 1820 to 1831, and was the bearer of government despatches to France in 1842. He married. April 10, 1823, Eliza born in Philadelphia. October 19, 1795, and died August 2, 1863, and they were the parents of two children, William and Rebecca.

William C. Newell (third) son of Will- iam and Eliza, was born in Philadelphia, September 5. 1825, and died there June 27, 1865. He was reared and educated in Phil- adelphia, and on arriving at manhood en- gaged in the wholesale tea business in Philadelphia, and was a large importer of tea from China, to which country he was the bearer of government despatches in 1846. He married. June 16, 1852, Susan Bispham Dunlap, of a prominent family of that city, where she was born in May, 1824. They were the parents of three children : Susan. wife of Dr. James Hendrie Lloyd, of Philadelphia : William Clayton, the sub- ject of this sketch; and Rebecca W., wife of Grellett Collins, of Philadelphia.

son William Clayton Newell. of William C. and Susan (Dunlap) Newell, born in Philadelphia, October 23. 1856, was reared in that city and acquired his educa- tion at the Central High School. At the close of his school days he engaged in the wholesale provision business, in 1877, with which he was connected for several vears. In 1892 he accepted a position with the Provident Life and Trust Co. of Philadel- phia, and has since filled a responsible po- sition with that company, having charge of the real estate department. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution, and of the Society of the War of 1812. He has been a resident of Doylestown since 1880, and is a vestryman

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of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal church of Doylestown. Mr. Newell married, 27 April 1880, Sarah Rex Harvey, daughter of Dr. George T. and Mary L. Rex Harvey, of Doylestown, who is a descendant of one of the oldest families in Bucks county.

Mathias Harvyc, the great-great-great- grandfather of Mrs. Newell, came from England and settled in Flushing, Long Island, where he was a justice of Kings county, New York, commissioned October 1, 1690. On January I, 1697, he purchased 1050 acres in Upper Makefield, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and settled thereon. By his will dated April 5. 1699, his land was devised to his three sons Mathias, Thomas and Benjamin, Mathias, the eldest, get- ting the dwelling house and four hundred acres, and Thomas and Benjamin each three hundred acres. All three of the sons reared large families and left numerous descend- ants in Bucks county. Mathias married Elizabeth Margerum and died in 1742. Benjamin died in 1730. Mathias, the father, was twice married, the three sons above named being by the second marriage, June 2, 1689, to Sarah Harrington.

Thomas Harvye, the second son of Ma- thias and Sarah (Harrington) Harvye, born at Flushing, Long Island, October 22, 1692, came with his parents to Makefield when a child. As above stated he inherited from his father three hundred acres of land in Upper Makefield, on which he lived and died, his death occurring in January, 1759. He married Tamar -, and had eleven children, five sons: Thomas, who died in 1749: Benjamin, who also died be- fore his father: Joseph, Mathias and William; and six daughters: Hannah, who married John Milnor in 1741; Ann, who married Edward Bailey; Elizabeth, married a Coryell; Mary, married Rich- ard Holcomb; Letitia, married Nathan- iel Ellicott: and Sarah.

Joseph Harvey, son of Thomas and Ta- mar, was born in Upper Makefield, Bucks county, February 8, 1734, and died there February, 1779. He inherited from his father one-half of the homestead in Make- field, and lived there all his life. He was twice married, his second wife Margaret, surviving him. By his first wife, Mary, he had six children: Thomas, Joseph, Letitia, William, Enoch and Joshua.

Enoch Harvey, son of Joseph and Mary, was born in Upper Makefield in 1767, and came to Doylestown about 1790, where he followed the trade of a saddler for a few years and was later the proprietor of the inn now known as the Fountain House for a few years. He was a large landowner and an influential citizen, and took an active part in the improvement of Doylestown as it grew from a cross-road village into a town and borough. He died July 15, 1831, in his sixty-fifth year. He married, March 20, 1792, Sarah Stewart, daughter of Charles Stewart. of Doylestown, of Scotch- Irish ancestry, a granddaughter of Captain Charles Stewart, a soldier in both the pro-

vincial and revolutionary wars. Sarah died February 16, 1847, aged seventy-three. The children of Enoch and Sarah (Stewart) Ilarvey, were: Joseph, Charles, Mary, Pleasant, Letitia, Sarah and George T. Harvey.

George T. Harvey, youngest child of Enoch and Sarah (Stewart) Harvey, was born at Doylestown, February 27, 1813. He was educated at a school kept at Bridge Point by Samuel Aaron, and at the Doyles- town Academy. At the age of twenty years he began the study of medicine with Dr. Abraham Stout, of Bethlehem, and, enter- ing the medical department of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, graduated in 1835. He then removed to Missouri, where he practiced medicine until 1840, when he re- turned to Doylestown and erected a drug store on the site of the present Hart build- ing at Court and Main streets, where he kept a drug store for nearly half a century. He was a prominent and influential citizen, was three times postmaster of the town and several years a member of town council, be- ing a member of that body when water was first introduced into the borough in 1869. He was second lieutenant of the Doyles- town Guards, the first company organized in Bucks county for the civil war, and later served three years and three months as captain of Company E, 104th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. Dr. Harvey married (first) June 27, 1842, Mary K. LaRue, of Philadelphia, by whom he had two children, Emma and Edward, the latter judge of the Northampton county courts. Dr. Harvey married (second) in 1856, Mary L. Rex, of Montgomery county, by whom he had three daughters: Mary, Sarah, (Mrs. Newell) and Emily.

The children of William Clayton and Sarah (Harvey) Newell are: George Har- vey, born June 25, 1881, died July 28, 1881 ; William Clayton, born September 16, 1883; Edward Harvey, born September 4, 1885 ; Louis H. F., born November 16, 1887; Mary Louise, born April 4, 1890; and Margaret, born September 10, 1891, died October 5, 1891.

"ANDALUSIA." This place has been handed down in uninterrupted succes- sion to the members of the same family since its acquisition in the year 1795. It was purchased at that time by Mr. John Craig, a well known and disting- uished merchant of Philadelphia, and, through his eldest daughter's marriage in ISII to Mr. Nicholas Biddle, has de- scended to their issue, and is occupied by them and their descendants at the present time.

The Biddle family has been prominent in Pennsylvania since a very early day. William Biddle (3d) married in 1730 the daughter of Nicholas Scull, surveyor-gen- eral of the province of Pennsylvania, and, dying in 1756, left a numerous fam- ily. His son Charles was an active pa-

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triot during the revolution, and vice president of the State of Pennsylvania between 1785 and 1788. when Benjamin Franklin was the president. Another son was Captain Nicholas Biddle, a comrade in early life of Horatio Nelson, when both were midshipmen in the English navy. His later career in the navy of our own country is well known. It was of him Paul Jones, writing of the "five Cap- tains" appointed in the revolution, said: "Four of them were respectable skippers; and they all outlived the war! One of them was the kind of naval captain that the God of Battles makes. That one was Nick Biddle-poor, brave Nick! and he died in hopeless battle with a foe double his own strength-half of his flagship going down, and the other half going up by explosion of his magazine."

Vice-president Charles Biddle married, in 1778, Hannah Shepard, and had ten children. Two of these, Edward and James, went into the United States navy. Edward died during his first voyage, but James became one of the most famous naval officers. He served under Commo- dore Bainbridge on the coast of Tripoli, and shared with the crew of the ill-fated "Philadelphia" the long period of im- prisonment to which they were con- demned by the Tripolitans. He was first lieutenant of the sloop-of-war "Wasp." in the sea fight with the British sloop-of-war "Frolic," and led the board- ers when the decks of the Englishman were carried. He was captain of the. "Hornet," in the action with the British ship "Penguin," when the latter was cap- tured after a furious conflict, her cap- tain being among the list of killed. He was afterwards commander of the navy yard and governor at the naval asylum Philadelphia, from 1838 to 1842. Among special services rendered by him was the taking possession of Oregon ter- ritory in 1817: the signing of a commer- cial treaty with Turkey in 1826; he ex- changed ratifications of the first treaty with China, and acted as United States commissioner to that country; he also touched at Japan and made an earnest effort to conciliate by kindness and forbearance its singular and exclusive people.

Nicholas Biddle, whose name is first associated

with "Andalusia," (son OI Vice-president Charles) wa during many years the most noted member of the family. He was secretary to General Armstrong, United States Minister to France, in 1804, and was present at the coronation of Emperor Napoleon in Paris. At this time the purchase of Louisiana and the indemnification for in- juries to American commerce were in progress, and, although but cighteen years of age, young Biddle managed the details with the veterans of the French burean. in whom his juvenile appearance and precocious ability excited much sur- prise. Leaving the legation, he traveled

in the continent of Europe, adding to his classical attainments a thorough mastery of the modern languages which he re- tained through life. On reaching Eng- land, he became secretary to Mr. Mon- roe, then our Minister to London. On his return to America in 1807, he engaged in the practice of the law and devoted a portion of his time to literary pursuits. He became associated with Joseph Den- nie in the editorship of the "Portfolio" in ISII. His papers on the fine arts, bio- graphical sketches and critical essays exhibit a discriminating taste. When Lewis and Clark had returned from their explorations their journals and memoradums were placed in the hands of Mr. Biddle, who prepared from them and the oral relation of Clark the nar- rative of the expedition. Published in 1814, it has gone through various edi- tions, and is recognized to-day as an au- thoritative and admirably compiled ac- count of this noted journey.

He was in the state legislature in 1810, advocating a system of popular educa- tion. It was not until 1836 that the ideas broached by him were fully carried out by legislative enactment. When the renewal of the charter of the old United States Bank was under discus- sion in 18II, he advocated the measure in a speech which was widely circu- lated at the time, and gained the dis- tinguished approval of Chief Justice Marshall. During the war with England he was elected to the state senate and gave a zealous and powerful support to the measures of the national adminis- tration for carrying on the contest. He and all of his brothers were now en- gaged in the service of the country-in public councils, the navy, the army, and the militia; of whom Commodore James Biddle, Major Thomas Biddle, and Ma- jor John Biddle gained particular mili- tary reputation. The youngest of the brothers, Richard Biddle, during the war a volunteer at Camp Dupont, afterwards settled at Pittsburg and was for many years an acknowledged leader of the bar of that city.

After the capture of Washington, when an invasion of Pennsylvania was ex- pected, Nicholas Biddle in the senate initiated the most vigorous measures for. the defense of the state. Towards the close of the war he replied to the ad- dress of the Hartford convention by an elaborate report which was adopted in the Pennsylvania legislature, a state pa- per which attracted universal attention and added greatly to the reputation of its author. In 1819 he became a government director of the Bank of the United States on the nomination of President Mon- roe, and under a resolution of Congress prepared a work on the laws and regula- tions of foreign countries relative to com- merce, moneys. weights and measures. This was known in its day as "The Com-

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mercial Digest." In 1823, on the retire- ment of Mr. Langdon Cheves, Mr. Biddle was elected to the presidency of the bank and to the conduct of its affairs ne thenceforth devoted all his energies. 4h.c history of the bank is public knowledge, it has been recounted and touched upon in writings and biographies dealing with the events and characters of the time. Only recently (1903) a work entitled "The Second Bank of the United States," by Ralph C. H. Catterall, published un- der the auspices of the University of Chicago, has appeared giving a full account of what in its day was long a "burning ques- tion." After the smoke of battle had cleared and when passions had cooled, it was found that political antagonists were ready to bear testimony to the high character of Nicholas Biddle. Mr. C. J. Ingersoll, a political opponent on the bank question, writing of the war, says: "Nicholas Biddle was as iron-nerved as his great antagonist, Andrew Jackson; loved his country not less, and money as little." The last years of Mr. Biddle's life were spent at Andalusia and there he died on the 27th of February, 1844. "Andalusia" is noted for the fine timber growing upon it, splendid specimens of the American tulip, catalpa, chestnut, Spanish chestnut, and varieties of oak, adorning the lawns, while towering ever- greens surround the mansion house. Many of these trees were planted in the time of Mr. Craig. Nicholas Biddle did much to adorn and beautify the place, ad- ding a very striking portico in the Gre- cian style with Doric columns to the river-front of the house. He was an enthusiastic agriculturist, devoting time and thought to the cultivation of the grape and importing the first Alderney cattle to this country.

He was a member and served as presi- dent of the Agricultural Society, resign- ing only the month before his death. His son, Judge Craig Biddle, inherited his tastes in this direction, serving the so- ciety before its dissolution in the capac- ity of president, also, and he continues to direct the farming operations at "Anda- lusia."

CHARLES HENRY MATHEWS, of Philadelphia, is a descendant of the early settlers in Bucks county, and was born in Doylestown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, April 21, 1844, being a son of Dr. Charles H. and Margaret ( Rodman) Mathews, the former an emi- nent physician of Bucks county, and the

latter belonging to a family that had been prominent in the affairs of the county since the time of Penn. Simon Mathew, the paternal ancestor of Dr. Mathews, was a native of Langenych, South Wales, from whence he emigrated with a colony of Welsh Baptists in 1710, and

settled in the Welsh Tract, New Castle county, now Delaware. He was accom- panied from Caermarthenshire by An- thony Mathew, either his father or broth- er, and among others by Simon Butler, who was in some way connected with him by ties of blood or marriage, and with whom he was closely associated during his whole life, both in New Cas- tle and Bucks counties. The Welsh Tract comprised a large tract of land granted to a colony of Welsh Baptists who, having formed themselves into a church at Milford Haven just prior to sailing for America, migrated to Penn- sylvania in September, 1701, in the "James and Mary," and settled at Pen- nypack, where they remained for a year and a half, and, being joined by later ar- rivals from Pembroke and Caermarthen- shire, removed in 1703 to Pencader Hundred, New Castle county, where they built a church and founded a colony, both known by the name of "Welsh Tract" for a century. In course of time, the spelling of the name has been changed in two particulars. One "t" has been dropped, and the oldest legal docu- ments do not show that it has been used since the emigration to America. The final "s" at first was not used; but old deeds of a date previous to the Revolu- tion show that the name had come to be spelt "Mathews."

In 1720 Simon Mathews and Jane his wife, Anthony Mathews, Simon Butler and Ann his wife, and Daniel Rees and Jane his wife, removed from Pencader Hundred to New Britain township, Bucks county, bringing certificates from Welsh Tract church to Montgomery

Baptist church, the parent 4 New

Britain Baptist church, founded in 1741. Simon Mathew and Simon Butler pur- chased large tracts of land comprising the greater part of the present borough of Chalfont, where they jointly erected what was known for many years as "But- ler's Mill." Butler being the miller; and Mathew a millwright. This mill was the nucleus of the present town, and was the objective point of many of the early roads laid out from the ferries on the Delaware and points in Upper Bucks during the first half of the eighteenth century. Anthony Mathew died in New Britain, March 3, 1726. Simon Mathew died about July 1, 1755, and his wife Jane prior to December 28, 1751, the date of Simon's will. By this will the testa- tor's half interest in the mill, inill lots and dwelling house was devised to his son Edward, as well as a tract of land adjoining, the remainder of the real estate, about 150 acres, the homestead, was devised to the youngest son Thomas.

The children of Simon and Jane Mathew, were: John, married Diana Thomas, and is the ancestor of Edward Mathews, of Lansdale, the historian of the family; Simon, who removed to Vir-

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ginia: Benjamin, who also removed to Virginia; Edward, who lived in New Britain, on Pine Run: Margaret, who married a Thomas: Ann, who married Simon Morgan; and Thomas. John, the eldest son, died in New Britain in 1783, and his widow Diana in 1799. Their chil- dren were: Benjamin; Margaret, married John Young: Mary, married Thomas Barton; Joseph; Rachel, married James Meredith; Ann, married Jonathan Doyle, and removed to Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, and Susanna, married Thomas.

Thomas Mathew, youngest son of Si- mon and Jane, was born in New Britain in 1728. He inherited the homestead farm near Chalfont, and was a prominent and successful farmer, acquiring consid- erable other land in the vicinity. He married Mary Stephens, daughter of David Stephens and granddaughter of Evan Stephens, an early Welsh settler in New Britain. He died in 1795.

Edward Mathew, son of Thomas and Mary (Stephens) Mathew, was born on the old homestead in New Britain (pur- chased by his grandfather in 1720), in 1755. In 1779 he purchased a farm of one hundred acres in New Britain, on which he resided until 1791, when his father conveyed to him the homestead farm of 127 acres, whereon he resided until his death in the winter of 1813-14. He married Eleanor Thomas, daughter of Ephraim and

Eleanor ( Bates) Thomas, of Hilltown, and granddaugh- ter of "Elder" William Thomas, who was born in Llanerwarth, Wales, in 1678, and came to Pennsylvania in 1712 and located in Radnor, Chester county, re- moving to Hilltown in 1718, where he became a very large landholder and one of its most prominent residents. He was a Baptist preacher, and officiated in that capacity for the Baptists of Hilltown prior to the founding of the Hilltown church, the land for which was donated by him and the first church erected at his expense. Edward Mathew was a man of excellent parts and good standing in the community. He was for many years a deacon of the Baptist church of New Britain. The children of Edward and Eleanor (Thomas) Mathew were: Abel; Rebekah, wife of Charles Humphrey: Si- mon; and John, all of whom married and reared families in New Britain.

Simon Mathew. second son of Edward and Eleanor (Thomas) Mathew, was born in New Britain in 1781. At the death of his father he inherited sixty- three acres. of the old homestead, on which he resided for some years, though he was at one time a resident of Mont- gomery county, and prior to the death of his father had resided in Roxborough, Philadelphia. He was a man of excellent character, and succeeded his father as deacon of the New Britain church. He died in New Britain in February, 1828.

He married his cousin. Isabella Stephens, daughter of William and Sarah Stephens, of Doylestown, formerly New Britain township, and granddaughter of David and Ann Stephens, who were the parents of his grandmother Mary (Stephens) Mathew. Isabella was born and reared on the old homestead of the Stephens family in Doylestown (then New Britain township) which was purchased by her great-grandfather Evan Stephens, in 1729. and most of which remained the property of the family for four genera- tions. Isabella (Stephens) Mathews died in 1833.

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History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 36

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