History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 186

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

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adelphia County militia setting forth their opinions of the resolves of Congress of the 14th of April and of the 9th of May. At Philadelphia, on the 11th of Sep- tember, 1777, it was ordered that Colonel Hiester, Colonel Corsey, Colonel Antes and Colonel Dewees' respective battalions rendezvous at Swedes' Ford. On January 13, 1778, Colonel Budd attended, and hinted to the Council that about five hundred arms for the service were sent to Colonel Antes ; that arms generally suffer in removing for want of boxes. At Lancaster, April 1, 1778, an order was authorized in favor of Frederick Antes for fifteen hundred pounds to buy horses, at request of Congress committee.

RESIDENCE OF COLONEL FREDERICK ANTES. (Used by Washington as Headquarters.)

A reward of two hundred pounds, set by Lord Howe, for Colonel Antes, dead or alive, induced a party of royalists to attempt his capture on one occasion, while he was visiting his home in Frederick township. It is related that he barely escaped by making good his retreat from the back-door as his pursuers entered at the front.

On the 20th of March, 1777, Frederick Antes was one of the persons designated to sign the issue of two hundred thousand pounds of paper money, dated April 10, 1777. The authority to sign the notes issued by the colonies was esteemed a high honor, and was sought by the best citizens.

One of the biographers of Colonel Antes says, " He was an iron-founder, and cast the first four-pounder pieces made on this side of the Atlantic for the Revo- lutionary army."

During the year 1779, Colonel Frederick Antes re- moved to Northumberland County. Although im- poverished by the war, he took at once a leading position in civil and military life in his new home. He was justice, county commissioner, a Judge of the

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Court of Common Pleas, a member of the State As- sembly and county treasurer.

In 1801, while acting as commissioner in exploration of the Susquehanna, Colonel Antes took cold at Columbia. He repaired to Lancaster, where he died September 20, 1801, and was buried in the church- yard of the German Reformed congregation.

JOHN ANTES, TRAVELER, MISSIONARY AND AUTHOR .- On the 13th of March, 1740, O. S., was born to Henry and Christiana Antes, of Frederick township, a son, whom they named John. At the age of six he became a pupil at the Moravian school established on his father's plantation. At twelve he went tolive with the Moravian Brethren at Bethlehem. At seventeen he became a communicant member of their society. On the 6th of May, 1764, he set out from Bethlehem for Europe, and on the 5th of July he arrived at Marienborn, where a synodical couvention was then in session. He proceeded to Herrnhut, where he arrived on the 5th of September. A year later he went to Neuwied to learn the jewelry business under a celebrated master of the art, and having a great aptitude for mechanical pursuits, made satisfac- tory progress. On the 16th of January, 1769, he received a call to Grand Cairo, Egypt, to the Moravian mission established there. After receiving ordination as a deacon, at Marienborn, on the 23d of May. he proceeded on the journey, going first to London. He took passage here on the 3d of October, for the Isle of Cyprus, and reached Larnica on the 24th of Novem- ber. On the 1st of January, 1770, he left Larnica for Limasol, sixty miles distant, making the journey on a mule, with a Greek guide, and encountered a series of misfortunes on the way. On the 8th of January he reached Alexandria. On the 10th of February he reached Boulac, the harbor of Grand Cairo, where he was received by the Moravian missionaries in the most friendly manner. His duties here were to make him- self "useful to the brethren in whatever might be deemed necessary for the furtherance of their holy enterprise, and to contribute towards their support through the means of his mechanical labor." In the beginning of 1773 the disorders which prevailed in Cairo were so great that Europeans dared not venture into the streets without running risk of insult. Antes was doomed to the outrage of flagellation in the streets. On the 23d of August he visited Behneshe, where a friendship had previously been established with the Copts. Six weeks later he returned to Cairo. On the 15th of November, 1779, he fell into the hands ofone of the Beys, and suffered the tortures of the bastinado. In August, 1781, he was recalled from Egypt, and on the 20th of May following he reached Herrnhut, and during the summer he attended the Synod at Berthels- dorf, in Saxony. In 1785 he received a call as warden of the congregation at Fulnee, in England. In June, 1786, he entered into holy matrimony with Susanna Crabtree. In 1301 he visited Herrnhut. A diminution of strength induced him, in 1808, to ask for a dismissal

from his post, which was granted, and he', family, Bristol for his future abode. lle departed this lin, after a short illness, without any symptom of pain or death struggle, on the 11th of December, 1811.

In 1800, was issued at London a work by Mr. Antes entitled "Observations on the Manners and Customs of the Egyptians, the Overflowing of the Nile and its Effects ; with Remarks on the Plague and other Sub- jeets." It was a quarto. and attracted great attention at the time.

He also wrote his " Autobiography," which was first published in tterman by the society of which he was a member, and was afterwards translated into Eng- lish.

Mr. Bruce, the celebrated traveler, in his great work, speaks of the services rendered him by Mr. Antes, at Cairo, in these words: " This very worthy and sagacious young man was often my unwearied and useful partner in many inquiries and trials as to the manner of executing some instruments, in the most compendious form, for experiments proposed to be made in my travels."

It is stated that on the appearance of Lord Va- lentia's "Travels" in which the veracity of Bruce was questioned, Antes wrote a vindieation of the latter's character and statements.

CHAPTER LVL.

GWYNEDD TOWNSHIP.1

GWYNEDD is one of the central townships of the county, and is bounded on the north by the borough of Lansdale, Hatfield and Montgomery, east by Hors- ham, south by Whitpain, southeast by Upper Dublin, west by Worcester and northeast by Towamencin. It is six and one-half miles long, three miles wide and contains an area of about twelve thousand one hun- dred and fifty acres, having been reduced, in 1869, ninety-two acres by the incorporation of North Wales, whose boundaries were further enlarged in October, 1884, taking in the academy, Baptist Church, shirt- factory and upwards of twenty-one houses. It was further reduced in 1872, one hundred and forty-five aeres by the erection of the borough of Lansdale. The surface is rolling and the soil generally clay, with some loam. The Wissahickon Creek rises but little over a mile from the line, in Montgomery township, its general course being southerly, and it propels three grist-mills and a saw-mill within the township. The Treweryn is the next considerable stream, about three miles in length, with several branches. Willow Run flows by the Spring House and empties into the Wis- sahiekon at the Whitpain line, but neither of the afore- said furnish water-power.

1 By Wm. J. Buck.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

non mchestnut Hill and Spring House turnpike was Fartered March 5, 1804, and was finished the follow- ing year. Its total length is eight miles, of which one and a half are in Gwynedd. In 1813, and the follow- ing year this turnpike was extended from the Spring House into Bucks County, and is commonly called the Bethlehem road. The Sumueytown and Spring House turnpike was incorporated March 17, 1845, and finished in 1848, and has a course through the town- ship of nearly five and one-half miles, or about one- third its total length. The pike from Bhie Bell, through Penllyn to the Spring House was constructed in 1872, and is three and one-half miles long. A

turnpike was made in 1884 from the Sumneytown pike, near Kneedler Station, to the Morris road, pass- ing through the village of West Point, a mile and a quarter in length. The stone bridge where the Sum- neytown pike crosses the Wissahickon was built in 1819; where the State road crosses it in 1833, and the Plymouth road bridge in 1839. The most important improvement, and the one that has done the most for the prosperity of this section, is the North Penn- sylvania Railroad, which was opened for travel to Gwynedd Station June 19, 1856. Nearly a mile above this is the Gwynedd tunnel, five hundred feet in length, and, including the cut, three thousand six hundred feet, its greatest depth being sixty feet. It

was made through the hardest rock, involving con- siderable labor and expense, and it retarded for a while the progress of the road, which was opened through to the Lehigh River January 1, 1857. It has a course through the township of about six miles, with stations at Penllyn and Gwynedd. The Stony Creek Railroad has a course ofthree and one-half'miles in the township, and forms a junction with the North Pennsylvania Railroad at Lansdale. This road was finished in 1874, and its stations in the township are called Acorn, Lukens or West Point, and Kneedler.

According to the census of 1800, Gwynedd contained 906 inhabitants; in 1840, 1589; and in 1880, 2041. The real estate in 1882 was valued at $1,617,212, and including the personal property, $1,728,547, the ag- gregate per taxable being $3000, an average very nearly equal to that of Lower Merion. Three hotels and three general stores, were licensed for 1883. May, 1876, it contained seven stores, three dealers in flour and feed, three coal-yards and one lumber-yard. The census of 1850 returned 262 dwelling-houses, 278 families and 193 farms. In 1785 it contained within its limits five taverns, three grist-mills, two saw-mills and one tannery. There are post-offices at the vil- lages of Gwynedd, Spring House, Penllyn, West Point and Gwynedd Station. At the latter place it is called Hoyt, and not long established. The public schools in 1876 numbered five ; for the school year end- ing June 1, 1883, six, open nine months, containing three hundred and thirty-four pupils. Gwynedd, in 1838, formed the Tenth Election District in the county, voting for many years at the village of the aforesaid

name. By order of the Court of Quarter Sessions, March 25, 1876, the township was divided into two districts, the elections for the lower district being held at the Spring House. The Friends and the Episcopalians have each a house of worship, and the Baptists and the Colored Methodists occasional ser- vices, the latter in a small building below the Spring House.

The Church of the Messiah, located at Gwynedd, was organized in 1870 as a mission under the care of the Board of Domestic Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and of the diocese of Pennsylva- nia.

Services were first held in the school-house. Soon after the organization, the present lot was purchased of Jacob Acuff, and the corner-stone of the present church edifice was laid by Bishop William B. Stevens. A bell was placed in the chapel in 1876 by Mrs. John Gilbert, of Philadelphia. The mission was placed under the charge of the Rev. Samuel Edwards. The pulpit was later supplied for a time by students from the Theological School, in Philadelphia.

The rectors who have since served the church have been the Revs. Henry C. Pastorins, John J. Fury, Henry K. Boyer and the present rector, the Rev. R. T. B. Winskill. The church has thirty-five communicants, and a large summer attendance from visitors in the neighborhood.

West Point is now the largest village in Gwynedd ; it contains a store, hotel, mill, lumber and brick-yards, several machine-shops and about thirty honses. Here are also the West Point Engine-Works and Machine- Shops, erected within the last seven years. The post- office has been only recently established. On the completion of the Stony Creek Railroad, in 1874, this place became known as Lukens Station. Its present name was given it about 1876, when it contained seven or eight houses. During the summer and fall of 1884 a turnpike was constructed through the vil- lage, connecting it with the Sumneytown road and making now a continuous pike from here to the bor- ough of North Wales.

Gwynedd, situated at the intersection of the Sum- neytown turnpike and State road, contains a store, hotel, two places of worship, school-house and about ten houses. Here the early Welsh immigrants made the first settlement in the township, known as North Wales, and is so mentioned on Lewis Evans' map of 1749. Gordon, in his " Gazetteer " of 1832, also calls it by said name, and states " where there is a Quaker Meeting-house, a tavern, three dwellings and a post- office." The latter we know was established here be- fore 1830. The place has been long and popularly known throughont that section as " Acuff"'s Tavern," where the elections were held for some time previous to the division of the township, in 1876. A public- house must have been established before 1769. A store was kept here by Owen Evans before 1765. The Episcopal Church of the Messiah was built in 1872,

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at present without a pastor. The venerable Friends Meeting-house will form the subject of an article.

Penllyn is a station on the North Pennsylvania Railroad, sixteen miles from the city, and is situated on the turnpike leading from the Blue Bell to the Spring House ; it contains a store, fourteen dwellings and several mechanic shops. It is in the midst of an improving country. The post-office was located here in July, 1861. The name signifies in Welsh the head of a dam or the beginning of a stream of water. The first grist-mill in the township, it is supposed, was built near this by William Foulke, and was probably the same owned by Jesse Foutke in 1776. The Spring House is an old settlement, the intersection of the roads here dating back to 1735. It contains a store, hotel, several mechanic shops and about twelve houses. The post-office was established here in March, 1829, John W. Murray being appointed postmaster. Gwynedd Station contains a store, seven houses and Hoyt post- office. K'needler is a station on the Stony Creek Rail- road, with an inn and a house or two. Near this is a small Baptist Church belonging to the society in North Wales, but no stated services are held.

Gwynedd is a corruption of the Welsh word " Gwin- eth," signifying North Wales, and also the name of a river there. It is also called in early records here " Gwinedith." According to Holme's map of original surveys, the upper half of the township, adjoining Hatfield, Montgomery and Horsham, was purchased by John Gee & Co., and the other half by James Peters and Robert Turner, the latter being a well-known merchant in Philadelphia. Owing to the good reports received from the settlers of the Welsh traet on the west side of the Schuylkill, more and more the attention of those they had left behind was excited. The return of Hugh Roberts from Merion to his native seetion, in 1697, tended largely to promote further emigration. Among these may be mentioned William, John and Thomas ap Evan, who, near the close of that year, had arrived in Phila- delphia with a view of taking up some large traet upon which, those who were to follow, might thus the better be enabled to dwell together. After some in- quiry and a brief examination, they purchased, March 10, 1698, from Robert Turner, who had now become the sole owner, a traet containing seven thousand eight hundred and twenty acres, which was further con- firmed to them by Edward Shippen, Thomas Story, Griffith Owen and James Logan, Penn's commissioners of property, March 8, 1702. The tract was stated at the latter date to be "situate in the township of Gwinned, in the county of Philadelphia." This is most probably the earliest mention yet found of the name. There is every reason to believe that at the date of this pur- chase not a single European had yet dwelt on the tract, the earliest settlements having not yet quite extended this far northwards from the city.

Some of the immigrants from Wales left Liverpool in the ship "Robert and Elizabeth," Ralph Williams,

master, having on board Edward Foulke and family, Hugh Roberts, Robert Owen and Cadwallader Evan, brothers of Thomas ap Evan the purchaser, Hugh Griffith, John Hugh, John Humphrey and probably Robert John. The name of Edward David has also been mentioned by some writers. They arrived in Philadelphia July 17, 1698, fifteen weeks after leav- ing their homes in Wales. They were kindly treated by their kindred and former acquaintances in the city and Merion, leaving their women and chil- dren among them until some accommodations would be prepared for their reception on the new purehase. Edward Foulke, in his narrative, states that it was "at the beginning of November " that he settled in his new home in the wilderness, and that "divers others of our company, who came over sea with us, settled near us at the same time." Supplies of food, it is very likely, were procured from their nearest neighbors, in Whitemarsh, whom they would have to pass in their several journeys to and from the eity, where, however, many of the most necessary articles were alone procurable.

To the recently-published work of Howard M. Jenkins 1 we are indebted for an account and estimate of the number of early settlers in Gwynedd previous to the elose of 1698: Edward Foutke and family, 11 persons; Thomas Evan, 10; Robert Evan, 10; Rob- ert Evan, 9; Cadwallader Evan, 4; Owen Evan, 8; William John, 8; John Humphreys, 6; John Hughs, 5, and Hugh Griffith, 5, making a total of 66 inhabitants, the last two being partly conjectural. ' Respecting the families of Evan Roberts and Ellis David nothing positive is ascertained. It is most probable that there were also a few others, besides some servants, who generally, more or less, aecom- panied the immigrants to assist in making their first improvements. In a petition for a road from here to Philadelphia, in June, 1704, they state that they num- ber "in said township above thirty families already settled." The taxables in 1741 had reached ninety- three, showing a considerable degree of prosperity within forty-three years of its first settlement.

Although the Gwynedd traet had been conveyed to William, John and Thomas Evan as containing 7820 aeres through Thomas Fairman's measurement, made 2d of Twelfth Month, 1694, a re-survey was ordered by Penn's commissioners of property, September 29, 1701, which, on being completed, in December, 1702, was found to comprise 11,449 acres. The commis- sioners issued patents to the holders of the several tracts in the township based on this last sur- vey and confirming the title acquired through Turner. Sneh proceedings were only too commom in those days, and show a wrong somewhere. According to this, Thomas Evan received 1049 aeres; William John, 2866; Evan ap Hugh, 1068; Robert John, 720;

1 " Ilistorical Collections relating to Gwynedd," chiefly confined to the early Welsh Friends and their descendants. We are also under obli- gations to the researches of Edward Mathews, of the North Wales Record.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Robert ap Hugh, 232; Robert Evan, 1034; Cadwal- lader Evan, 609; Owen Evan, 538; Edward Foutke, 712; Evan ap Hugh (lower tract), 119; John Humph- rey. 574; William JJohn (lower tract), 322; Robert Evan (lower tract), 250; Hugh and Evan Griffith, 376; Ellis David, 231; Evan Robert, 110, and John Hugh, 648.

Edward Foulke, mentioned among the early set- tlers, came from Coedyfoel, in Merionethshire, North Wałes. He embarked at Liverpool with his wife, Eleanor, and children,-Thomas, Hugh, Cadwallader, Evan, Gwen, Grace, Jane, Catharine and Margaret,- and arrived in Philadelphia as aforesaid, where he was kindly received by his former acquaintances who had preceded him. Having purchased a tract of over seven hundred aeres in Gwynedd he erected a house thereon near the present Penllyn Station, into which he removed the following autumn. In 1702 he wrote in Welsh an account and genealogy of his fam- ily, which was afterwards translated by his grandson, Samuel Foutke, of Richland, a member of the Pro- vincial Assembly from 1761 to 1768. He also wrote an exhortation late in life addressed to his children, which was published in The Friends' Miscellany for 1832. He was a man of literary taste, which seems to have been transmitted to several of his descendants. He died in 1741, aged ninety years.

William John, whose surname has been since changed to Jones, and a joint purchaser with Thomas Evan of the Gwynedd tract, still retained, in 1699, two thousand eight hundred and sixty-six acres, and at his death he was much the largest land- holder in the township. He had children,-Gwen, Margaret, Gainor, Catharine, Ellen and John. He settled near the present Kneedler Station, and a two- story stone house standing near by, bearing the date of 1712, is supposed to have been erected by him. He died in that year, leaving to his only son, John, who was one of the executors, fourteen hundred aeres, in- cluding the plantation and dwelling.

John Humphrey's traet of five hundred and seventy- four acres lay just north of the present Spring House. At his place the early Friends occasionally held meetings for worship, of which he subsequently be- came an elder. A bridge is mentioned at or near his house in 1709, no doubt being one of the earliest in that section. He died the 14th of Ninth Month, 1738, aged seventy years. It appears he accumulated con- siderable property and was regarded as the banker of the neighborhood, his personal property amounting to above one thousand pounds, his bonds and notes being eighty-two in number. Mr. Jenkins, in his re- cent work, relates that "a Friend from Richland at- tended the Monthly Meeting at Gwynedd, and in the afternoon rode to his home, twenty miles distant, un- der great exercise of mind concerning JJohn Huni- phrey. He passed a restless night at home and rode back to John Evans' in the morning. Arriving there, he would not eat or drink until he had delivered his

message ; so, taking John Evans with him, they went to John Humphrey and told him he had better burn all his bonds and mortgages than preserve them ; that it would be much better for himself and his posterity, and this was the word of the Lord to him." He had a son, who was called Humphrey Jones, after the Welsh eustom, which mode, however, was not long retained in this section, much to the relief of our recent genealogists.

At the request of Thomas Penn, in 1734 a list of resident freehoklers of Gwynedd was returned by the constable, being forty-eight in number, whose names were as follows: Evan Griffith, John Jones (penman) John Griffith, Robert Hugh, John Harris, Theodorus Ellis, John David, Eliza Roberts, Rees Harry, Evan Evans, Owen Evans, Thomas Evans, Jr., Thomas Wyat, Leonard Hartling, Peter Wells, John Jones (Robert's son), John Parker, Hugh Evans, Morris Roberts, William Roberts, Robert Evans, Catharine Williams, Thomas Evans, Cadwallader Evans, Robert Parry, John Jones (weaver), Cadwallader Jones, Hugh Griffith, Hugh Jones (tanner), Robert Evan, Edward Foutke, Robert Roberts, Robert Humphrey, Gainor Jones, John Humphrey, Rowland Hugh, Jen- kin Morris, Evan Foulke, Edward Roberts, Rees Nanna, Evan Roberts, Thomas David, Hugh Jones, John Chilcott, John Wood, William Williams, Lewis Williams and Thomas Foulke. Mention is made in the same that " the township of Gwinedeth have hith - erto refused to give the constables the account of their lands, for which reason it is not known what they hold." We do not wonder at this, evidently brought about by the resurveys, in which they had some experience, as has been stated. After a set- tlement now of more than a third of a century, through the aforesaid we are enabled to make an interesting estimate respecting the nationality of its several set- tlers. Of the forty-eight names given all at said date were Welsh, probably excepting six, Leonard Hart- ling being the only German.

Cadwallader Evans died 30th of Third Month, 1745, aged eighty-one years. John Evans was born in Den- bighshire, Wales, in 1689 ; arrived in Pennsylvania with his parents, in 1698 ; was a minister forty-nine years ; died in 1756. Evan Evans was born in Meri- unethshire in 1684, and in 1698 emigrated with his parents to Gwynedd. He died in 1747, having trav- eled extensively through the several colonies in the ministry. Robert Evans, one oftheearly settlers, died in 1731, aged upwards of eighty. A malignant disease prevailed thoughout this section from July 1st to AAugust 24, 1745, of which sixty-three died within the bounds of the Monthly Meeting, the majority being young persons This was certainly a great number when we come to consider the population at that time. Robert Humphreys was collector of taxes in 1722, Cadwallader Roberts in 1723, Thomas Evans in 1742, Henry Bergy in 1776, and John Hoot in 1781; Robert Jones was commissioned a justice of the peace

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 186

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534