History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 98

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 98

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PHILIP FACKENTHAL, founder of this family in Bucks county, was born in the Palatinate and immigrated to Amer- ica, landing at Philadelphia from the ship "Robert and Alice," September 24, 1742. He settled in Springfield. The name of his wife was Elizabeth, but whether married when he arrived we do not know. On May 19, 1753, he purchased one hundred and twenty-three acres of James Galbraith, near the Haycock line, where he settled down to farming, and died there 1765. He was the father of five children: Michael, the eldest son, born May 23, 1756; Henry, Mary, Catharine and Elizabeth. Michael,

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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

the most prominent member of the family was brought up on his father's farm. When the revolution broke out he espoused the cause of the colonies and shortly enrolled himself. It is related of Michael Facken- thal that when called upon to enroll he was in the harvest field, but, cutting his sickel into a post, signed his name at the head of the Springfield Association. His military record is highly creditable. On June 4, 1776, the continental congress resolved to establish a "flying camp" of ten thousand men in the middle colonies, of which Bucks county was to furnish a battalion of four hundred. Joseph Hart, of Warminster, was appointed colonel, and Valentine Opp, Springfield, one of the captains. In this ·company young Fackenthal enlisted, was appointed a“ sergeant, and served with his company in a six months campaign, return- ing home in December. On the night of No- vember 16, he was with his company and battalion in the attack on a force of Hes- sians on Staten Island, capturing part of them. He was subsequently attacked with camp fever, and prevented taking part in the defense of Fort Washington. He re- ceived an honorable discharge at the end of his enlistment and six months pay. Mi- chael Fackenthal re-entered the service in 178I as second lieutenant of Captain Chris- topher Wagner's company, and performed a two months' tour in New Jersey. Among the officers he is mentioned as serving un- der on this occasion were Governor Reed, of New Jersey, and Brigadier General John Lacey, of this county.

In 1807 Michael Fackenthal removed to Durham township, with which he was sub- sequently identified and where he spent his life. He purchased plat 12 of the Durham lands, on which he removed, and occupied himself as a farmer and general business man. He built a saw mill at the lower end of Wyker's island in the Delaware, where he carried on a large lumber trade. He took an active part in politics, was many years justice of the peace, elected county commissioner, member of the assembly 1812-15; and died January 21, 1846, in his ninetieth year. Michael Fackenthal mar- ried Christina Derr, Springfield, born Sep- tember 24, 1754, and died 1828, at the age of seventy-four.

Michael and Christina Fackenthal were the parents of five chil- dren: Catharine, born June IS, 1779, mar- ried - Younkin, and died March, 1859. Anna Maria, born February 22, 1785, died January 23, 1864. John, born February II, 1790, married Elizabeth Adams (born Jan- uary 25, 1791, died May 4, 1878, leaving six children). John Fackenthal held sev- eral public trusts, was a member of assem- bly 1825-27, register of wills, 1836, brigade inspector of militia, and died November 21, 1865.

Peter Fackenthal, fourth child of Mich- ael and Christina, born June 12, 1792, mar- ried Elizabeth Long, of Durham, born De- cember 4, 1796, died June 12, 1877. They were the parents of twelve children. Two

of the sons served in the civil war, one in the 174th Pennsylvania militia, subse- quently in the Nineteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and died in the hospital at Mem- phis, Tennessee, December 5, 1864; the oth- er in the Thirty-fourth New Jersey In- fantry. Michael, born May 13, 1795, a land surveyor and conveyancer by profession, was also a farmer and in the lumber busi- ness with his father. He died February 15, 1872, leaving one son, Benjamin F. Fackenthal, a graduate of Lafayette Col- lege, and for many years a prominent men- ber of the Northampton county bar.

EDWARD NICKLESON ELY, de- ceased, for many years one of the well known and popular residents of Yard- ley, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was born in Solebury township, Bucks county, October 3, 1832, and is a de- scendant of Joshua and Mary (Senior) Ely, who came from Nottinghamshire, England, in 1684, and settled at Tren- ton, New Jersey. An account of the earlier generations of their descendants is given in this volume under the head of The Ely Family.

Joseph Ely, the grandfather of Ed- ward N., as shown in. the above quoted article, was the eldest son of George and Sarah (Magill) Ely, and was born in Solebury, August 13, 1761, and mar- ried Mary Whitson, daughter of Thomas Whitson, Jr., March 12, 1783. Their children were: Anna, who married John Magill; Charles, Thomas, Sarah, Tacy, Joseph, Mary Jane, Elizabeth and Oliver. Joseph Ely settled near New Hope on a farm purchased by his father and died there.

Joseph Ely, son of Joseph and Mary, born November 16, 1794, on the Sole- bury homestead, which he subsequently inherited at the death of his eldest brother, Charles, and lived thereon until eighty years of age, when, his children all having married and settled elsewhere, he sold his farm and lived the re- mainder of his life in retirement: He died at the home of his daughter in Somerville, New Jersey, March 2, 1885, in his ninety-first year. He married, March 19. 1823, Ann Nickleson, daugh- ter of Charles McCormick and Mercy (Bailev) Nickleson, of Makefield, the former a native of Ireland and the latter a daughter of Edward Bailey, and a de- scendant of early English Quaker settlers on the Delaware. Joseph and Ann ( Nickle- son) Ely were the parents of the fol- lowing children : Anna Maria, born June 27, 1824, died October 9, 1867; married Will- iam Van Marter, November 27, 1844: Mercy A., born January 26, 1826, mar- ried. October 7. 1846, Jacob C. Phillips, now a retired grain dealer of Somer- ville. New Jersey: Susanna D., born March 18. 1828, married, January 30,

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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

1857, David Wilson Small, a judge and prominent citizen i Oconomowoc, Wisconsin; Mary Il., born September 13, 1830, died November 16, 1873, mar- ried, January 16, 1855, Nathan R. Worthington, of Solebury; Edward N., above mentioned: Elias E., born Aug- ust 5, 1837, died October 26, 1888, mar- ried, October 27, 1869, Eleanor Bab- cock, removed early in life to Ocono- mowoc, Wisconsin, where his family are all buried; Franklin,. born. Angust 10, 1840, married, . October 8, 1873. Flora A. Bradbury, also removed to Wiscon- sin, and is living at Pewaukee, in that state.

Edward Nickleson Ely, eldest son of Joseph and Ann; was born on the old family homestead in Solebury, where his boyhood. days were spent. He ac- quired, his early education at the public schools and later took a course at an academy at Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. At the age of seventeen years he went to Somerville, New Jersey, to assist his brother-in-law, Jacob. C. Phillips, in the grain business. In 1857 he went to Wis- consin, and was employed for two years as purchasing agent for Rockwell, Luck & Company, large grain dealers and millers there. He then returned to Bucks county and engaged in the lum- ber business with Samuel Solliday, at New Hope, until the spring of 1862, when, having married, he removed to a farm of one hundred and thirty-seven acres at Yardley, which had been in the Howell family since 1812, and spent the remainder of his days there, dying June 13, 1899. . He was' active :in local affairs, and gave his political allegiance to the Democratic party, in whose coun- cils he took an active part. He was a member of Doylestown . Lodge, No. 245, F. and . A. M., and of the Ancient Order United American. Workmen. Religi- ously he was a regular attendant of the Episcopal church. of which his wife was a member. He married, February 26, 1862,, Mary E. Howell, daughter of David and . Harriet I. (Sandoz) Howell, of Makefield, Bucks county, and a de- scendant of one of the oldest families about the Falls of the Delaware, the earliest generations of which have re- sided on the New Jersey side of the river. The Howell family is mentioned at length hereinafter. The children of Edward N. and Mary E. (Howell) Ely were: Howell, born December 4. 1862, died July 29, 1865; Carrie Howell, born April 9, 1868, married, June 1, 1899, Will- iam Stanley Mac Lewee and they have one child, Dorothy, born December 3, 1900. Harriet Sandoz, born February 5, 1870, married, April 6. 1904. George Kinnear Robinson and they have one son, Donald Henry, born April 30. 1905. It is believed on good family tradition that the first American ancestor of the Howell family, Daniel Howell, came

from Kent county, England. He came to Ewing, New Jersey, from Long Is- land, and there purchased and lived on the land which has continued in the family up to the present time and was last inherited by a great-great-granddaugh- ter, who married Alfred Muirheid. The deeds for the land were from Samuel Coxe and John Hutchinson dated 1702, and from William Worrell dated 1705. Daniel Howell married Mary, a sister of Ebenezer Prout's wife, and they were the parents of eleven children. Daniel Howell died April 25, 1732, aged fifty- two, and his wife died September 26, 1760, aged . seventy-six. David Howell, son of Daniel and Mary Howell, mar- ried Mary Baker, who bore, him seven children. He died October 24: 1775, aged seventy, and she passed away January

15, 1786, aged seventy-nine. Joseph Howell, the fifth son of David and Mary (Baker) Howell, purchased five hundred 'acres of land near Taylorsville, Bucks county. Pennsylvania. He

married Jemima Burroughs, who lived to be one hundred years old .. Here ; they enter- tained. the officers and soldiers of the revolutionary war, giving up. their beds for the comfort of the soldiers. The log house is still standing and is in fairly good repair; it is owned by Edgar Titus. Timothy Howell, son of Joseph and Jemima (Burroughs) Howell, re- moved from Taylorsville farm to Yard- ley, near the Delaware river, in 1810, and in the spring of 1812 purchased a farm of one hundred and forty acres in Makefield. He and his wife Rebecca were the parents of the following chil- dren: . Sarah, married (first) Mr. Fenton, and (second). Lewis Moore. Susan, married (first) John Hogeland, and (second) John Temple. Mary, died unmarried .. Martha, married Samuel Slack. John, married . Elizabeth Rich- ardson. David, the father of- Mrs. Ely, who was . a, farmer in Makefield and died there . August 2, . 1864, leaving a widow and the following children: Mary E., wife of Edward N. , Ely. Martha A., widow of Joshua Maris, residing in Tren- ton. New Jersey. Emma, Carrie, wife of Samuel W. Throp, of Trenton. H. Amelia. Two other children, Ella and Wilhelmina, died young.

SAMUEL K. RADCLIFF was born Feb- ruary 14. 1855. upon the old homestead farm where he yet resides, in Warwick township, Bucks county. His ancestry can be traced back to John and Jane (Tor- rence) Radcliff, the former a well known and highly respected farmer of Bucks coun- ty, where he continued his residence up to the time of his death. His children were : Mary, Elizabeth, Isabella, Jane, James, Will- iam, John and Charles.

Samuel K. Radcliff

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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

James Radcliff, son of John Radcliff, was a native of Buckingham township, Bucks county ; he was reared to farm pur- suits, and after his marriage settled upon a tract of land, continuing to engage in busi- ness along agricultural lines throughout his entire life. He bought the farm upon which Samuel K. Radcliff now resides, making the purchase in September, 1829. There he car- ried on general farming and marketed his products in Philadelphia. His political views were in harmony with the principles of the Whig party in early life, and after its dissolution he joined the ranks of the new Republican party. He was honorable and upright at all times, and was a faithful member of the church. Of medium size and vigorous constitution, he was a hard worker in his younger years. He possessed a social, genial nature, was charitable to many, and his kindly spirit and considera- tion for others won him the friendship and favorable regard of all with whom he came in contact. He married Margaret Flack, and his death occurred November 10, 1876, he having long survived his wife, who died in 1842. She was a daughter of Joseph and Euphemia Flack, · representatives of pioneer families of Bucks county. To Mr. and Mrs. James Radcliff were born six chil- dren: Ellen, wife of Joseph L. Sackett ; Elisha Smith, who became a resident of Jamison ; John T., a carpenter ; Euphemia, married Jane W. Doan ; and Joseph F., died in childhood.

Elisha Radcliff, son of James Radcliff. was born in Buckingham township, Bucks county, and succeeded to the ownership of the old home farm, whereon he still resides. He has always carried on general agricul- tural pursuits, and has attended the Phila- delphia market. Following his father's death he purchased the farmn at sale. and has never conducted business at any other place. He assisted previously in improving this property, and since becoming its owner has added to it many modern equipments and accessories. Without political ambition he has nevertheless given stalwart support to the Republican party, having firm faith in its principles. In 1853 he was married to Margaret L. Kirk, who was born in the old historic house which General Washington made his headquarters when passing through Bucks county, her natal day being April II, 1833. Her parents were William R. and Hannah (Carver) ) Kirk, the latter a daughter of Joseph and Hannah ( Lovet) Carver. The Carver family was repre- sented in the war of the Revolution. Will- iam R. Kirk was born at Dunkirk, New York, and was a son of John Kirk, a native of Ireland and his wife. Jane Raney, who was born in Wales. John Kirk was a sea- faring man in his younger life, but after his marriage emigrated from the Emerald Isle to Dunkirk, where three of his children , were born. Later he removed to Bucks county. Pennsylvania, where he learned the weaver's trade. He also engaged in farm- ing, and purchasing a lot he settled at Car-

versville, where he remained until his death, which occurred at the advanced age of ninety-five years. He was the oldest master mason in Bucks county. and was a man of many sterling characteristics, en- joying the full esteem and confidence of all with whom he was associated. His chil- dren were: John, died in infancy ; David, a carpenter : William R., the father of Mrs. Radcliff; Hugh, who was accidentally killed when a young man ; Jane, died unmarried ; Marguerite, who became the wife of J. Lukens; Mary A., the wife of C. Schermer- horn; Mercy, the wife of A. Jones; and Ella, the wife of E. Jamison. The mother was a member of the Presbyterian church, and all of her children became identified with that denomination. To Mr. and Mrs. William R. Kirk were born five children : Margaret L., who became the wife of Elisha Radcliff ; Samttel C., a farmer, deceased : William, who served throughout the civil war and is now living in Wycombe; John, a farmer; and Mary E., the wife of C. Twining.

Samuel K. Radcliff, the only child of Elisha and Margaret L. (Kirk) Radcliff, was born on the old family homestead where he yet resides, February 14, 1855, and was reared to agricultural pursuits. He ob- tained a common-school education. and afterward continued his studies in Doyles- town Seminary. Since putting aside his text books he has devoted his engeries in undivided manner to farm work, and, in addition to the raising of the cereals best adapted to the soil and climate, he also raises some stock, having good grades of cattle and horses upon his place. He is a practical and successful agriculturist. thor- oughly conversant with the best methods of cultivating the land and caring for his stock, and in no business transaction has he ever been known to take advantage of the neces- sities of his fellow men. Mr. Radcliff was reared in the Republican faith and has seen no reason to change his views since attain- ing his majority. He has always been an active supporter of the party and one of its influential representatives in his township. He has served for a number of years as township committeeman. and has filled var- ious township offices, discharging his duties in a capable and creditable manner. On the Ist of January, 1900, he became acting deputy sheriff of the county, and filled the position for three years with credit to him- self and satisfaction to all concerned. In 1896 he was elected county auditor, filling that position for a term of three years. He was also chosen justice of the peace, but never qualified. He is a worthy and con- sistent member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to both the blue lodge and chan- ter, and he is also identified with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows at War- rington and the Neshaminy Lodge of Golden Eagles.

On the 12th of December, 1901, Mr. Rad- cliff was united in marriage to Miss Esther P. Gaines, who was born in Wrightstown

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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

township, Bucks county, in 1862, her pa- rents being Charles and Mary J. Gaines, also natives of this county, but now de- ceased. Her grandfather, James Gaines, was a farmer and merchant, and was promi- nent in community interests. Charles Gaines also engaged in merchandising in his younger years, but later devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits. He was popular in his community because of a genial manner, personal worth and unfalter- ing loyalty to the general good in all mat- ters of citizenship. He served in the gen- eral assembly for two terms, elected on the Democratic ticket, and was actively con- cerned in constructive legislation as shown in the work of the committee rooms. He exerted considerable influence in public af- fairs, and his efforts were always for the general good, he placing the welfare of state and county before personal aggrandizement. He died in 1895 at the age of sixty-two years, while his wife's death occurred in 1890. She was a devoted member of the Methodist church. Their children were three in number : Anna M., who became the wife of L. Worthington ; Esther P., the wife of Samuel K. Radcliff; and John T., a bookkeeper, of Philadelphia.

LEMUEL HASTING DOYLE, of Doylestown, Wisconsin, editor and proprie- tor of the "Badger Blade," and for the past twenty-five years actively interested in journalist work in Wisconsin, was born November 26, 1832, at Mount Washington, Steuben county, New York, and is a de- scendant of the Doyle family of Bucks county, for whom our county seat is named

Edward Doyle, the pioneer ancestor of the family and the great-great-great-grand- father of Lemuel H. Doyle, came to Bucks

county from Newport, Rhode Island, with his father-in-law, Reverend Thomas Dun- gan (an account of whom is given in this volume) and settled on land taken up by the Dungans in Bristol township. On June 9, 1696, he purchased of his brother-in- law, Clement Dungan, fifty acres of land on the banks of the Delaware and lived there until his death in the latter part of 1702, leaving a will dated September 16, 1702. He married Rebecca Dungan and had at least three children, Edward, Clem- ent, and Elizabeth, who married Joseph Fell, the pioneer ancestor of the Fell fam- ily of Bucks county. Edward and Clement Doyle, the sons of Edward and Rebecca, both settled near Doylestown; Edward on the present site of the borough and county seat, and Clement a mile north of the pres- ent borough, and both reared families whose descendants are now widely scattered over the United States, none of the name re- siding in the county where their ancestor was one of the earliest settlers, though one branch of the descendants of Edward re- cently resided just over our borders in Montgomery county, and others reside in

Philadelphia, the late James B. Doyle, the architect and builder of our court house in 1877, being a descendant of the founder of Doylestown. Edward Doyle, second, pur- chased a tract of land fronting on our pres- ent Court street, Doylestown, Bucks coun- ty, then the line of New Britain and War- wick township, in 1730, and resided there until his death in 1770. He was a farmer, but does not seem to have been a success- ful agriculturist. His estate was sold by the sheriff and purchased by his son, Will- iam Doyle, for whom the town was named. He had sons, William, Edward, and Jere- miah, and daughters Rebecca, wife of Rich- ard Freeman, and another who married a Rees.

William Doyle, son and grandson of Ed- ward Doyle, was born in Bucks county about the year 1720. In 1745 he petitioned the court for recommendation to the gov- ernor for a license to keep a "house of en- tertainment". in New Britain townshin. near, the crossing of the two great roads across. the county, at the present site of Doyles- town, and his petition was granted and a license issued. He continued to keep the inn on the New Britain side of the line until 1752, when he purchased two acres cov- ering the present site of the Fountain. House then in Warwick township, and the following year was licensed to keep his inn at that place and regularly conducted the old hostelry there from which the town took its name until 1775, when he sold it and removed to Plumstead township, and is supposed to have followed some of his children outside of the county soon after; a theory that seems to be borne out by the fact that there is no further record of hint in Bucks county after about 1785, and no probate record of the settlement of his es- tate in the county of his birth. The little hamlet that grew up about his tavern known first as "Doyle's Tavern," a noted stopping place for travelers in colonial times trav- eling from the Delaware to the Welsh set- tlements in Montgomery county and from. Philadelphia to the "Forks of the Dela- ware," now Easton, came in the beginning of the revolutionary war to be known as "Doyle Town," and being the geographical center of the county became the county seat in 1812. William Doyle married first about 1742, Martha Ilellings, probably his second cousin, as Elizabeth Dungan, a sis- ter of his grandmother, married Nicholas llellings. She was at least a daughter of Nicholas Hellings of Newtown, and is men- tioned in his will in 1745. William Doyle married (second) about 1775 Olive Hough, widow of John Hough and daughter of liczekiah Rogers of Plumstead township, Bucks county. No authentic list of the chil- dren of Williant and Martha ( Hellings) Hough is obtainable, as they seem to have left the place of their nativity on reaching manhood and womanhood. Two at least of his sons, Samuel and William, found homes in Northumberland county soon after the close of the revolutionary war. Willianz

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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

was commissioned sergeant of Captain Thomas Robinson's ranging company in that county, February 10, 1781; the lieu- terant being Moses Van Campen, the cele- brated Indian fighter. This William Doyle became a colonel in the army operating against the Indians on the frontier in the period following the revolution and up to the second war with Great Britain. He served under General Harrison at the bat- tle of Tippecanoe, and was brevetted briga- dier-general for conspicuous bravery in that action. He died soon after the close of the war of 1812-14, and was buried at Fort Meigs, Ohio. The town of Doyles- town, Ohio, was so named in his honor.

Samuel Doyle, the grandfather of Lem- uel H. Doyle, was born in Bucks county in the year 1752. He served as a soldier dur- ing the revolutionary war, during the lat- ter part of which he was a member of Cap- tain Thomas Robinson's ranging company from Northumberland, and was a friend and associate of Moses Van Campen, the noted Indian fighter who commanded the company as lieutenant in many expeditions against the Indians of the frontier. He obtained a patent for 400 acres of land in Point township, Northumberland county, where he resided until about 1794, when he formed one of a colony of Pennsylvanians that settled at Painted Post, later called Bath, Steuben county, New York, where he died in 1817. He married Mary Arbor, who was born in Monmouth county, New Jersey, and died at Bath, New York, in 1836, at the age of eighty-four years. They reared a large family of children, of whom Charles Carroll Doyle was the eldest and Joseph, the father of Lemuel H. Doyle, was the youngest. A daughter was the first white child born in the new settlement of Bath. Charles Carroll Doyle, eldest son of Samuel and Mary ( Arbor) Doyle, born at Bath, Steuben county, New York, in 1793, served in the war of 1812-14, and at its close settled in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. where he died in July, 1866. He married Mary Robinson, of Pittsburg, a grand- daughter of Peter Wile, of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, who was a soldier in the revolutionary war. Charles Carrol and Mary (Robinson) Doyle were the parents of three sons and five daughters, among whom was Henry H. Doyle, a prominent business man of Pittsburg.

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History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 98

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