History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 38

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 38

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).

SILAS C. ATKINSON, Deceased, son of Mahlon and Sarah (Smith) At- kinson, was born in Buckingham town- ship. on the old Atkinson homestead. September 20, 1843, and died on his farm near Bycot, in October, 1876. He was educated at the public schools of Buck- ingham, and at the Excelsior Normal Institute at Carversville. He married. October 17. 1867, Anna C., daughter of Thomas and Minerva (Pennoch) Woll- aston, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, and settled on the farm where he died. and where his widow and family still reside. He was a man of fine qualities. and was universally esteemed in the community in which he lived.

Mrs. Atkinson was a lineal descendant of Jeremiah Wollaston, of New Castle county, Delaware, who married Catliar- ine, daughter of George and Catharine (Hollingsworth) Robinson, at Newark .. (now Kennett) Monthly Meeting of Friends. 9 mo. 21, 1716. Their son, James Wollaston, born II mo. 26, 1724, married Mary Chambers, II mo. 16, 1752, at New Garden Meeting, Chester county, was the great-grandfather of Mrs. Atkinson. The Wollastons were large landholders in Delaware. Thomas Wollaston, the father of Mrs. Atkin- son, was born in Delaware, and died in Chester county at the age of eighty years.

Silas C. and Anna C. (Wollaston) At- kinson were the parents of four chil- dren: Alice M., residing at home: Sa- rah H., wife of Robert H. Engle, of Mt. Holly, New Jersey: Jane; and Susan W., the two latter named residing at home. All the children are graduates of Swarth- more College. The family are members. of the Society of Friends.

WILLIAM H. ATKINSON. of Buck- ingham, son of Joseph and Eliza (Hibbs) Atkinson, and grandson of Thomas and Jane (Smith) Atkinson, some account of whom is given upon other pages of this work, was born at Pineville, Bucks coun- ty. Pennsylvania, August 10, 1850.

Joseph S. Atkinson, deceased, the fath- er of the subject of this sketch, was born İ11 Buckingham township. August 9, 1823, being a son of Thomas and Jane- (Smith) Atkinson. He was a prominent farmer and large landholder in Bucks county. The first fifty years of his life was spent in Buckingham township. About 1879 he purchased the Shaw farm in Solebury township, near Lahaska, and lived thereon for several years. He la- ter built a house in Lahaska and retired from farming. He died 3 mo. 27. 1900. His wife was Eliza, daughter of Will- iam and Margery (Kirk) Hibbs, of Pine- ville, by whom he had four children:, William H .. the subject of this sketch; Thomas, who died on the Solebury homestead in 1003: Mary, wife of George Watson. of Doylestown; and Albert, who died in infancy.

The subject of this sketch was reared on the farm in Buckingham, attended the public schools of the neighborhood, and later the Excelsior Normal Institute at Carversville and the Doylestown English and Classical Seminary. On arriving at manhood he took charge of the home farm, his father being occupied with the management of his other proper- ties, and, on his marriage in 1879, his father removed to Solebury, and he took entire charge of the farm, which with six other farms he acquired at his fath- er's death.

167

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

He married, in 1879, Elmira, daughter of Jesse K. and Sarah (Headley) Har- per, of Falls township. Mr. Harper was a prominent and highly' esteemed far- mer of Falls: he died in 1898, aged eighty-three years, and his wife died in 1893, aged seventy-seven years. Both were prominent members of the Society of Friends. Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson are the parents of two children, Eva W. and J. Harper, both residing at home. The family are members of the Society of Friends. In politics Mr. Atkinson is a Republican, but has never sought or held public office.

STEPHEN K. ATKINSON, Protho- notary of the county of Bucks, was born in Upper Makefield township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, June 7, 1854, and is a son of Jesse H. and Martha B. (Stradling) Atkinson.

An account of the migration of John and Christopher Atkinson from Lan- cashire with their families, the death of the head of both families on the ill-fated "Brittanica" in 1692, and the subsequent marriage and settlement of John Atkin- son, Jr., in Makefield, is given in the sketch of The Atkinson Family in this volume.

William Atkinson, second son of John Jr. and Mary (Smith) Atkinson, was born in Upper Makefield in 1721, and married, September 1, 1742, Mary Tom- linson, daughter of Joseph Tomlinson. He inherited from his father 120 acres of the homestead in Upper Makefield, and lived thereon until his death in April, 1800. He and his wife Mary were the parents of thirteen children, of whom eight lived to mature age. I. Mary, mar- ried John Rose; 2. John, married Hannah Lee: 3. Sarah, and 4. Eleanor, both of whom married .Lees; 5. Isaac, who moved to Maryland; 6. Phebe; 7. Will- iam; 8. Joseph.

John Atkinson, eldest surviving son of William and Mary (Tomlinson) Atkin- son, inherited the homestead and lived thereon all his life, dying in 1831. He married his second cousin, Hannah Lee, in 1769. and had twelve children, nine of whom lived to maturity, viz: May, born 1770, married Joseph Gummere; Hannah, born 1772, married Joshua Burleigh; Esther, born 1774, married Joseph Ran- dall: Jane, born 1775, married Charles Deeder: Elizabeth, born 1777. married Jacob Cooper; John, born 1778, married first Mary Atkinson, and second Eliza- beth Harding: Phebe, born 1781, married William Neeld: William, born 1782, mar- ried Belinda Harvey: and Samuel, born 1789. married Mary Harding.

Samuel Atkinson, youngest son of John and Hannah (Lee) Atkinson, was born in Upper Makefield in the year 1789, and lived there all his life with the ex- ception of four years spent in Doyles-

town. On April 28, 1821, his parents conveyed to him sixty-eight acres of the old homestead on which he lived until he became recorder of deeds in 1836, and which he conveyed to his son Samuel in 1842. He was commissioned recorder of deeds of Bucks county, January 23, 1836, and filled that position for four years, being recommissioned January 4, 1839, for one year, the constitutional conven- tion of 1838 having made the office elec- tive and to go into effect with the fall election of 1839. He also filled the posi- tion of deputy register of wills while an incumbent of the recorder's office. At the expiration of his second term as re- corder he purchased a property in the village of Buckmanville, where he lived the remainder of his life, dying August 23, 1858. He was commissioned April 14, 1840, a justice of the peace of Upper Makefield township, and did a large amount of public business. He was a Whig in politics, and took part in the organization of the Republican party in 1856. Like all his ancestors for many generations, he was a member of Wrightstown Meeting of Friends. He married Mary Harding, of Southampton, and they were the parents of nine chil- dren, three of whom died young: Charles, Watson, and Jolin. Those who survived were : Rachel, who married Kinsey Tomlinson, a prominent resident of New- town; Samuel, who married Rebecca, daughter of Bezeleel Eastburn and lived and died on the old homestead: Silas L., who married Elizabeth Eastburn, and was a printer for several years in Doylestown, later of Langhorne, where recently died; Ralph L., who married first Sarah Ann Scarborough, and (sec- ond) Martha E. Johnson, and removed to Shelby county, Ohio; Jesse H., the father of Stephen K .; and Hannah, who married Stephen L. Kirk, a prominent merchant of Langhorne.

Jesse H. Atkinson, son of Samuel and Mary (Harding) Atkinson, was born in Upper Makefield, May 6, 1824, and was reared on his father's farm near Buck- manville, acquiring his education at the public schools. During his father's in- cumbency of the office of recorder of deeds he filled the position of transcrib- ing clerk. He married, October 7, 1847, Martha B. Stradling, born August 12, 1828, daughter of William and Sarah (Carver) Stradling, of Newtown town- ship. William Stradling was a son of Joseph and Hannah (Michener) Strad- ling, of Plumstead, grandson of Daniel, and great-grandson of Thomas and Lyd- ia (Doan) Stradling, who were married at Middletown, October 5, 1719, and set- tled at Newtown township, where Thom- as died in 1764. Sarah (Carver) Strad- ling, born February 19. 1794, was a daughter of William and Phebe (Worth- ington) Carver, granddaughter of Will- iam and Sarah (Strickland) Carver, and

168

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

great-granddaughter of William and Elizabeth (Walmsley) Carver, the first of the family to settle in Buckingham, and William Carver, who came from England in 1682 and settled in Byberry, Philadelphia county.

Jesse H. Atkinson followed farming for a few years after his marriage in Upper Makefield, and later engaged in droving and dealing in western horses, residing in Newtown township. He was actively interested in local politics, and was elected to the office of register of wills of Bucks county in the fall of 1872, on the Republican ticket, and served the term of three years. He died January 4, 1876, one day after the expira- tion of his term of office. His wife, Martha B., still survives him, residing in Newtown, Bucks county. They were the parents of four children: Georgine T., who died at the age of thirteen years; William S., who died in his eighteenth year; Stephen K., the subject of this sketch; Sallie, born 1862, married Stew- ard S. Crouse, of Riegelsville, Bucks county, and resided in Philadelphia, where he died in 1887, leaving three chil- dren,-J. Clyde, Mary and Fred.

Stephen K. Atkinson was educated at the Hughesian School, Buckingham, and at Doylestown English and Classical Seminary. At an early age he accepted a position as clerk in the general mer- chandise store at Holicong, and later worked on the farm for Josiah R. Pen- nington, in Buckingham, in the summer months, for three years attending school in winter. On the election of his father to the office of register of wills he en- tered the office as his assistant and depu- ty. At the death of his father he en- gaged in farming for a few years, and then engaged in the clothing and gents' furnishing business at Doylestown, and later was employed as a traveling sales- man for a wholesale house. He removed to Newtown, where he owned and con- ducted a livery stable for a few years. and later engaged in selling cigars for a large wholesale house. He has for several years taken an active interest in local politics, and was nominated and elected to the office of prothonotary of Bucks county in the fall of 1903.

He married May 24, 1877, Sallie M. Ruth, born in Buckingham, May 21, 1858, daughter of Jesse and Martha (Car- ver) Ruth. She is also a descendant of William Carver, the immigrant of 1682. her maternal grandparents being Izri and Mary (Hartley) Carver, the former of whom was a son of William and Mar- tha (Addis) Carver, and a grandson of Joseph Carver, another son of William and Elizabeth (Walmsley) Carver before mentioned. On the paternal side Mrs. Atkinson is descended from early Ger- man settlers in Upper Bucks. The chil- dren of Stephen K. and Sallie M. (Ruth) Atkinson are: I. Elmer H., born April

21, 1879, married Clara Sergeant, daugh- ter of Charles Sergeant of Langhorne and resides in Newtown; they had three children, Ogden, Eugene, and Elmer R., the latter of whom died August 7, 1905; 2. Martha Ruth, born April 4, 1882, wife of Dr. George R. Doan of Newtown. They have one child, Ronald. Mr. At- kinson still retains his residence at New- town, as well as an active interest in the affairs of that borough.

HOWARD W. ATKINSON, of Doylestown, is a descendant on both the paternal. and maternal side from the old- est families in Bucks county. He was born at Davisville, Southampton' town- ship, Bucks county, November 22, 1853, and is a son of Mahlon and Mary Ann (Wood) Atkinson, and a grandson of Mahlon and Martha (Walmsley) Atkin- son.

His paternal ancestor, John Atkinson, was born at Scotforth, Lancashire, Eng- land, 9 mo. 25, 1695, and came to this country at the age of four years. His father, John Atkinson, married Susanna Hynde, daughter of Richard, at Scot- forth, 2 mo. 8, 1686, and in company with his brother Christopher and their respec- tive families embarked for America in the ship "Brittanica" in April, 1699, bear- ing a certificate from Lancaster Meeting of Friends to Friends in Pennsylvania. John and Susanna Atkinson both died on the voyage, and their three children (William, Mary and John) were taken in charge by the - Friends of Middletown Meeting in Bucks county on their ar- rival. John, the eldest, married 8 mo. 15, 1717. Mary, daughter of William and Mary (Croasdale) Smith, of Wrights- town, and the following year settled on a tract of two hundred, acres of land in Upper Makefield, where their eight chil- dren were born, and where the father died in 1752.

Ezekiel, the sixth child of John and Mary, born in 1728, purchased a portion of the homestead tract and died there in June, 1768. He married in 1754. Rachel Gilbert, born II mo. 14, 1732, daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Mason) Gilbert, of Byberry, granddaughter of Joseph and Rachel (Livezey) Gilbert, and great- granddaughter of John and Florence Gil- bert, who came from England in the ship "Welcome," in 1682, settling first in Bensalem, Bucks county, but removing . to Byberry in 1695, where his descen- dants resided for many generations. Ezekiel and Rachel (Gilbert) Atkinson were the parents of five children: Ben- jamin, Thomas, Watson, Rachel and Ezekiel, the latter born after the death of the father in 1768. After the death of her husband, Rachel Atkinson returned with her children to Byberry, and later married William Walton, of that place,

. FULLIL.C -

.3.

Gerry Gimayer

169

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

known as "Jersey Billy," to distinguish him from his cousins of the name. Here the Atkinson children were reared. Ben- jamin, the eldest, married Jane Adams and died in 1816, leaving a family of six children. Thomas was a captain of a company in the war of 1812. Ezekiel, the youngest, married and removed to Drumore township, Lancaster county, where he purchased land in 1818, and died in 1842.

Mahlon Atkinson, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born and reared in Byberry, but removed with his father to Drumore, where he purchased a farm of fifty-two acres in 1822. He died four years later, in August, 1826. His widow, Martha, returned to Byberry with her five children, Mary, Howard H., Vio- letta, Angelina, and Mahlon R., the lat- ter born a few months after his father's death. Martha, the wife of Mahlon At- kinson, was a daughter of Daniel T. and Mary (Willett) Walmsley, and a grand- daughter of General Augustin and Eliza- beth (Hicks) Willett. General Willett was one of the first soldiers of the Rev- olution to enter active service; he was commissioned as a caption in the First Pennsylvania Battalion, raised under act of Congress of October 12, 1775, for the expedition against Canada, on October 27. 1775, and suffered the terrible priva- tions and hardships of that disastrous campaign of nearly a year on the fron- tiers of Canada. Elizabeth Hicks, wife of General Willett, was a daughter of Gilbert and Mary (Rodman) Hicks, and a descendant of Robert Hicks, the Pil- grim Father, who came to Plymouth, Massachusetts. in the "Fortune" in 1621, from Southwark, London, England. He was a leather dresser in Bermonfdey street, Southwark, and had been twice married, his first wife being Elizabeth Morgan, by whom he had four children, Thomas, Elizabeth, John and Stephen. His second wife was Margaret Winslow, who with her four children, Samuel, Eph- raim, Lydia and Phebe, followed her husband to Plymouth in the ship "Ann," arriving in June, 1722, and they settled at Duxbury. The sons John and Stephen removed to Long Island in 1612. The sub- sequent history of the descendants of John Hicks is given elsewhere in this work, tin- der the title of "The Hicks Family."

Mahlon R. Atkinson was born at By- berry Cross Roads, where his mother had taken up her residence with her relatives after the death of her husband, on Feb- ruary 1, 1827. He learned the trade of a house painter, and early in life removed to Southampton township, Bucks county, near Davisville, where he followed his trade during the active years of his life, removing later to Ivyland. He died at the residence of his son, Lawrence Rush Atkinson, at Hatboro. October 17. 1904. His widow, who was Mary Ann Wood, survives him. They were the parents of

ten children, viz .: S. Emma, who died unmarried in 1898; Charles S., of Doyles- town; Howard W .; Violetta, wife of Will- iam Kline, of Philadelphia; Lawrence Rush, of Hatboro; Matilda, wife of Courtland Yerkes, of Willow Grove; Anna, deceased; Joshua J., and Harry B. of South Amboy; and A. Louisa, wife of Albert Hohensack, of Ivyland.

Howard W. Atkinson was born at Davisville, November 22, 1853, and at the age of eight years went to live at Huntingdon Valley, where he remained until the age of sixteen years, when he reurned home and learned the trade of a house painter, which he followed for fif- teen years. In 1876 he removed to Doylestown, where he carried on paint- ing, employing twelve to fifteen men. In 1884 he began the business of an under- taker, which he has since conducted at Doylestown with success. In 1891 he opened the summer resort known as Oak- land, just outside the borough of Doyles- town, formerly occupied by the Doyles- town English and Classical Seminary, which has become one of the popular in- stitutions of the neighborhood under the conduct of Mr. Atkinson and his ex- cellent wife. Mr. Atkinson married, March 9, 1885, Emma Wilson, of Doyles- town, and they are the parents of four children : Mary, Julia, Augistina, and Frances.

HON. HENRY G. MOYER, of Perk- asie, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, for many years prominent in the business and official circles of Bucks county, was born in Hilltown, Bucks county, August 28. 1848, and is a son of the late Henry A. and Sarah (Gerhart) Moyer, of Hill- town, and is descended from early Ger- man settlers on the Skippack, nearly two centuries ago. The name of Moyer. Meyers, Myers, now almost as common in Bucks county as Smith, was origin- ally spelled Meyer, and the present bear- ers of the name are descended from sev- ral German emigrants of that name who settled in what is now Montgomery county, in the first quarter of the eigh- teenth century, from whence their de- scendants migrated into Bucks county in the second and third generation.

I. Christian Meyer, the paternal an- cestor of this sketch, was a landowner in Lower Salford township, Montgomery county, as early as 1719, and possibly some years earlier, and was one of the founders of the earliest congregations of Mennonites in that locality. All the earlier generations of the family be- longed to that sect, though many of their descendants now belong to other denominations. Christian Meyer died in June, 1757, leaving three sons, Chris- tian. Jacob and Samuel, the last of whom settled in Hilltown; and daughters Eliza-

170

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

beth, who married Nicholas Oblinger; Anna, who married Henry Funck, and Barbara, who married Abraham Reiff. The descendants of the two latter are now quite numerous in Bucks county.

II. Christian Meyer, Jr., son of the above, born in 1705, died 1787, was a farmer in Franconia, Montgomery county, and left sons. Christian, Jacob and Samuel, and daughters, Esther, wife of Christian Gehman; Anna, wife of John Kratz; Maria, wife of Martin Det- weiler; and Barbara, wife of Abraham Kratz.

III. Rev. Jacob Meyer, second son of Christian and Magdalena, of Fran- conia, born January 28, 1730, married (second) Barbara Derstein, of Rockhill, and settled in Hilltown township, where he owned over three hundred acres of land. He was for many years a preacher of the Mennonite faith in Hilltown, and died there in 1782, leaving a family of nine children.

IV. Joseph Moyer (as the name then came to be spelled), second son of the Rev. Jacob and Barbara (Durstein) Meyer, was born in Hilltown, June 19, 1774, and died there June 21, 1815. He was a farmer and lived near Yost's, now Schwenk's mill, north of the present village of Blooming Glen. Joseph Moyer was quite a noted penman and more or less of an artist, several specimens of his artistic work with the pen being still extant. He married, April 7, 1795, Bar- bara Angenv, who was born in Bucks county. April 8. 1770, and died about the year 1857. and they were the parents of eight children, of whom seven lived to maturity. viz .: Jacob, who migrated to Canada; Samuel, who lived and died on the homestead: Joseph, who died in 1842: William A .. who died in 1885; Henry A., see forward; Elizabeth who married Abraham Gerhart; and Mary, who married Abraham Hunsberger.

V. Henry A. Moyer, youngest son of Joseph and Barbara (Angeny) Mover, was born in Hilltown, October 26. 1807, and died there Angust 4, 1875. He re- ceived a good education, and during his younger days taught school for a num- ber of years, but on his marriage, De- cember 8. 1833, to Sarah Gerhart, aban- doned the life of a pedagogue and settled down as a farmer in Hilltown. He took a prominent part in local affairs, and filled a number of township offices, among others holding the office of as- sessor for many years. His wife, Sarah Gerhart, was born August 20, 1814. and died February 20. 1800. Their children were: Lydia, wife of Samuel M. Ger- hart; Abraham G .. deceased; Joseph G., a prominent business man of Perkasie: Barbara, wife of Samuel G. Kramer; Sarah Jane, wife of Henry O. Moyer, of Perkasie; Jacob G. of Perkasie: Isaialı G., deceased: and Henry G., the subject of this sketch.

VI. Henry G. Moyer, born and reared on his father's farm in Hilltown, at- tended the public schools, and later other institutions of learning, and closed his education with a course at Quaker City Business College, Philadelphia, from which he graduated with high honors in 1868, at the age of twenty. In 1879 he was elected justice of the peace, and since that time has done a large amount of public business, officiating as executor, administrator and agent in the settlement of estates, attending to the survey and transfer of real estate and other business of a public character. In 1882 he purchased a one-half interest in "The Central- News," a paper published at Perkasie, with Mahlon Sellers, and conducted it under the firm name of Mahlon Sellers & Co., becoming one of its editors. Mr. Sellers dying soon after. his interest in the paper was purchased by Samuel R. Kramer, and the firm name became Moyer & Kramer, and that firm conducted the paper and a job printing office in connection therewith until 1904. Under their management "The Central News" became a success- ful weekly paper, and enjoys a circu- lation equal to that of any weekly paper published in upper Bucks. Mr. Moyer is an ardent Republican in politics, and has been for many years prominently identified with the local organization of the party in Bucks county, serving as delegate to a number of state and other conventions. In 1882 he was the party nominee for representative in the as- sembly, but was defeated though receiv- ing much more than his party vote in his own locality, the county being then Democratic. In 1894 he was elected to the state senate by a majority of 1577 votes, and in the sessions of 1895 and 1897 served upon many of the important committees of the upper house. Mr. Moyer still does a large amount of pub- lic business. On the organization of Perkasie National Bank, he was elected president and still fills that position, giv- ing much of his time to the affairs of the bank. On January 31, 1005, he was ap- pointed postmaster at Perkasie, Penn- sylvania, bv President Roosevelt, which office he fills with satisfaction, and has established four rural free delivery routes from said office. He is a member of the United Evangelical Church, and has been for many years superintendent of the Sabbath School and class leader of the ocal church at Perkasie, render- ing eminent and efficient services in that

capacity. He is a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity and affiliated with the Odd Fellows and O. U. A. M. He mar- ried Emeline Seiple, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and they have been the parents of seven children. of whom but two survive Mabel Rebecca, born Oc- tober 10. 188 ?. and Henry Clayton, born March 5, 1888.

I7I

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

WILKINSON COAT-OF-ARMS.

OGDEN D. WILKINSON. Lieuten- ant Lawrence Wilkinson, the ancestor of the Wilkinson family of Bucks county, belonged to a very old and respected family, one noted for its consistent ad- herence to the throne of England, and from time to time the recipient of its favors. He was a son of William Wilk- inson, of Lancaster, county Durham, England, by his wife Mary Conyers. daughter of Christopher Conyers, of Horden, and sister of Sir John Conyers, Baronet; and a grandson of Lawrence Wilkinson, of Harpsley House, Lancas- ter, Durham. The arms of the family were confirmed and the crest granted to Lawrence Wilkinson, last mentioned, September 18, 1615, by Richard St. George Norrey, King of Arms, as shown by the following extract from the records of the College of Arms:

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 38

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