USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > The history of Bucks County, Pennsylvania : from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time > Part 14
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On the bank of the Delaware, three miles above Poquessing creek, is situated Andalusia, the home of the late Nicholas Biddle, and is still owned by his descendants. The Biddles have long been settled in Pennsylvania. The first ancestor, William Biddle, one of the original proprietors of West Jersey, came from London in 1681. His grandson, William, settled in Pennsylvania and married the daughter of Nicholas Scull, surveyor-general of the province. The children of this marriage all became distinguished in the annals of our country. James, the eldest, was a judge ; Edward served as a captain in the war of 1756, and was subsequently a member of as- sembly and elected to the first Continental Congress ; Nicholas was a captain in the navy, and perished with his vessel, the frigate Ran- dolph, of thirty-two guns, in a battle with the British ship Yarmouth, of sixty-four guns; and Charles, the father of Nicholas, who was vice- president of the state while Benjamin Franklin was president. The Bensalem property was purchased in 1795, by John Craig, one of Philadelphia's old merchants, who, in memory of his successful ven- tures to Spain and her colonies, called his country-home Andalusia.
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De'L
ANDALUSIA-RESIDENCE OF THE LATE NICHOLAS BIDDLE.
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In 1811 Nicholas Biddle married the eldest daughter of this gentle- man, and henceforward spent much of his time there. He removed to Andalusia permanently in 1821, determined to devote his time to agricultural pursuits. At his marriage he was a member of the legislature, to which he was returned for a number of years. In 1823 he was made president of the United States bank, which he held until its charter expired, in 1830. On the bank being re-chartered by the legislature, he was again elected its president, but retired from it in 1839. The bank failed in 1841, and his own fortune, then very large, went in the general wreck. He died at Andalusia, February 26th, 1844.
Mr. Biddle was an accomplished scholar, and of refined tastes. He courted the muse, and his "Ode to Bogle," the great Philadel- phia waiter and undertaker, lives to the present day, and has been re-published again and again. As a farmer he was the first to intro- duce Alderney cattle, and the cultivation of the grape, while to his efforts the country is indebted for one of the most beautiful struc- tures of modern times, the Girard college. It was a saying of his, that there were but two truths in the world, "the Bible, and Greek architecture," and his influence was generally exerted in favor of that order for public buildings. When it became necessary to enlarge his house at Andalusia, he added to it the beautiful Doric portico which now adorns it. The late Governor William F. Packer wrote : "Whatever may be said of Nicholas Biddle as a politician, or a financier, all agree that on questions of internal improvement and commerce he was one of the most sagacious and far seeing statesmen of the Union. His fault was, if fault it be, that he was twenty years in advance of the age in which he lived."
Four miles below Bristol is Dunk's ferry, a notable crossing of the Delaware. It was established by Duncan Williamson, one of the earliest settlers, and retains a corruption of his christian name. It was called the same on the New Jersey side until Beverly was founded in 1848. His son William Williamson died in Bensalem in 1721, leaving by will six hundred acres lying on the Delaware. Claus Jonson, who died in 1723, owned seven hundred acres. Dan- iel Bankson, an carly settler, died in 1727. At that day upland along the river was called "fast land."
Alice, a slave woman, who spent nearly the whole of her life in Bensalem, died there in 1802, at the age of one hundred and six- teen years. She was born at Philadelphia, of parents who came
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
from Barbadoes, but removed with her master to near Dunk's ferry at the age of ten. At the age of ninety-five she rode on horseback to church ; her sight failed her at one hundred and two, and just be- fore her death her hair turned white, and the teeth dropped out of her head, perfectly sound. She remembered seeing William Penn, at his second visit, and those who aided him in founding the commonwealth, and would often interest her hearers by talking of them.
The township records go back only to 1769, when Peter Johnston and Francis Titus were supervisors, and the road-tax was £30. 3s. 8d. The township auditors were William Rodman, Thomas Barns- ly, Henry Tomlinson and John Vandygrift. In 1776 the amount of road-tax on the duplicate was £57. 18s. In 1780, while the con- tinental currency was at its greatest depression, the amount on the duplicate was £2,537. 17s. 6d, but it fell to £45 the following year. The duplicate shows the following amount of road-tax, respectively, in the years mentioned : 1790, £35; 1800, $451; 1810, $865; 1820, $704.29; 1830, $776.52 ; 1840, $519.21; 1850, $758.43; 1860, $934.74 ; 1869, $3,681.56. In one hundred years the road-tax in- creased forty-fold.
The Bensalem Presbyterian church is probably the oldest religious organization in the county, if we except the society of Friends. Its germ was planted by the Swedes before the close of the seventeenth century. In 1697 the Swedish settlers south of the Neshaminy were included in the bounds of the congregation at Wicacoa,12 Phil- adelphia, while Reverend Andrew Rudman was the pastor, and he probably visited that section occasionally to minister to the spiritual wants of the people. In 1698 Reverend Jedediah Andrews, a Pres- byterian minister from New England, rode from Philadelphia up to Bensalem to preach and baptise. In 1705 the "upper inhabitants," those living between the Schuylkill and Neshaminy, made applica- tion for occasional service in their neighborhoods in the winter season, because they were so far from the church at Wicacoa, and no doubt their wish was gratified. 13
It is impossible to tell the exact time a church organization was effected, but it was between 1705 and 1710. The church was opened for worship May 2d, 1710, and Paulus Van Vleck was chosen the pastor on the 30th, who preached there the same day.
12 An Indian word, from Wickling, dwelling, and Chao, a fir tree. See Clay's History of Swedes.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
The elders at Bensalem at this time were Hendrick Van Dyk, Leo- nard Van der Grift, now Vandygrift, Stoffel Vanzandt, and Nicholas Van der Grift. This was probably the first church built, but be- fore that time service was held at private houses.14 The church was now Dutch Reformed. Van Vleck was a native of Holland, and nephew of one Jacob Phoenix, of New York. He was in that city in June, 1709, when he was ordered to be examined and or- dained, so as to accompany the expedition to Canada, but the Dutch ministers declined for want of power.
While Van Vleck was probably the first settled pastor at Bensalem, other ministers preached there at irregular periods. In 1710 Jan Banch, a Swedish missionary from Stockholm, came to this country, and preached at various places. He was at Bensalem, January 21st, 1710, where he baptised several, among which are the names of Vansandt, Van Dyk, Van der Grift, Larue, and others, whose de- scendants are living in the township. Johan Blacker, a Dutch minister, preached there about the same time. A record in his hand, made January 10th, 1710, declares that Sophia Grieson and Cat- rytje Browswef are members of "Sammany"15 church. In Decem- ber, 1710, there were nineteen members at Bensalem : Hendrick Van Dyk and his wife, Lambert Van de Grift, Cristoffel Van Zand, Nicholas Van de Grift, Herman Van Zand, Johannis Van de Grift, Gerret Van Zand, Jacob Elfenstyn, Jonas Van Zand, Janette Re mierse, Trintje Remierse, Geertje Gybert, Lea Græsbeck, and Catelyntje Van Densen. Van Vleck was likewise pastor at Sam- many and Six Mile Run, a locality not now known.16 The 21st of September, 1710, a committee was appointed by the Philadelphia Presbytery 17 to inquire into Mr. Morgan's and Paulus Van Vleck's affair, and prepare it for the Presbytery. In the afternoon the committee reported on Mr. Morgan, and after some debate he was admitted. The case of Van Vleck gave them greater trouble and was more serious, for there " was serious debating" before he was
14 There are records of births and marriages before the church was built.
15 Was near the Buek, in Southampton, and now known as the North and South- ampton Reformed church, with one place of worship at Churchville and another at Richborough.
16 The church at this place was finished November 15th, 1710, and the wardens elected were: Adrian Bennet, Charles Fontyn, Barent de Wit, and Abraham Bennet. When the missionary Jan Banch visited the church in August, 1712, it had twenty- seven members, and among them are found the names of Bennet, Van Dyk, Densen, Peterson, De Hart, Klein, etc. 17 Old style.
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received. In 1711 Van Vleck was represented in the Presbytery by his elder, Leonard Vandygrift, of the Bensalem church, but he fell under a cloud and left in 1712, and was not heard of afterward. As himself and wife were witnesses to a baptism that took place at Sammany, January 1st, 1712, he must have left after that time. His wife's name was Janett. We find Jan Andriese, of Philadelphia, pastor at Bensalem, September 11th, 1711; but the exact time of his advent is not known, nor the reason of it. It is possible Van Vleck was dismissed about this time, or that he resigned at Ben- salem to devote all his time to Sammany and Six Mile Run. It is not known how long Mr. Andriese continued pastor, but probably until the calling of Reverend Maligus Sims, who was there in April, 1719, when the church had but twelve members.
Mr. Sims was probably succeeded by Reverend William Tennent, who took charge of the Bensalem church about 1721. The latter is said to have remained until he was called to the Neshaminy church, in Warwick township, in 1726, but he must have left before that time, for we learn, from the church records, that Reverend Robert Lenig was the pastor at Bensalem in 1724. At a session, held July 12th of that year, it was ordered that a book be kept for names of communicants, marriages, and christenings. The fee for marriages at the minister's quarters was fixed at ten shillings, and parties were to be published on four Sabbaths before marriage. The clerk was to receive two shillings for each marriage, and nine shillings for each child baptised. As there are no church records from 1726 to 1772, the names of the pastors who officiated during that period are not known. The latter year Reverend James Boyd was called, who preached there and at Newtown, until 1817. He left no record of his labors. In the next forty-five years there were but eleven, of pastoral labors, the church relying mainly on supplies. The present pastor, the Reverend Michael Burdett, D. D., was called, and installed in January, 1871. During his pastorate the church has been in a prosperous condition ; a chapel has been built, and the church build- ing repaired. Doctor Burdett preaches in the new church below Schenck's station, on Sunday afternoons. The church lot was the gift of Thomas Stevenson, August 24th, 1711, and was conveyed in a deed of trust to Johannes Vandygrift, Herman Vanzandt, Johannes Vanzandt, 18 and Jacob Weston, the first trustees. The old build- ing was torn down about half a century ago.
18 We have spelled the names of these early settlers as they are written in the re-
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
The Bensalem Methodist Episcopal church is a flourishing organi- zation. When the congregation was first organized we do not know, but down to 1810 the meetings were held at private houses. For several years previous they held an annual camp-meeting in one of the pleasant groves of the township, holding it in Jacob Hellings' woods in 1804. The congregation felt numerous and strong enough by 1810, to erect a church, and a house was built that year on a lot given by Joseph Rodman. The timber for the frame was the gift of General Willett, cut from his woods. At that early day there was no settled minister over the church and congregation, but the Reverends James Fisher and Richard Sneith, in charge of a circuit six hundred miles in extent, preached there at stated periods. Since then the church has been altered and repaired more than once. It is situated in about the middle of the township, on the Milford road.
The only collections of dwellings in the township that deserve the name of villages, are : Bridgewater, on the Neshaminy, at the cros- sing of the Bristol turnpike, Eddington, on the Philadelphia and Trenton railroad, Oakford, in the north-east corner of the township, and Andalusia, a straggling hamlet, on the turnpike, all post-villages. They contain but a few dwellings each. Richelieu and Centreville are ambitious to reach the village state, and Brownsville is a small hamlet on the Southampton line, with a majority of the dwellings in that township. Anthony Taylor built a fulling-mill at Flushing, on the Neshaminy, and the following spring it was occupied by James Wilson. There is now a steam saw-mill at this place. An- dalusia is the seat of an Episcopal institution of learning, known as Andalusia college, and also a boarding-school for boys, called Potter Hall, both of which are in successful operation. The college build- ing, now much enlarged and improved, was the residence of Doctor William Chapman, who, in 1831, was killed by poison by his wife and a vagabond Spaniard, whom the doctor had taken in for the night. The trial, and the conviction and execution of the Spaniard, attracted great attention at the time. Doctor Chapman was not connected with our Bucks county family of the same name, but was an Englishman. His wife was a Winslow, of New England. The following concerning the family of this woman, from Hereditary Descent, published by O. S. Fowler, in 1848, no doubt will interest the reader: " The Barre (Massachusetts) Patriot says that 'a box
cords, varying somewhat from present spelling ; and they were spelled differently at different periods.
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containing one hundred and twenty-five dollars in counterfeit bills was discovered in the cellar wall of Thomas Winslow of that town, who was ordered to find bail in the sum of one thousand dollars. He has for many years been suspected of dealing in counterfeit money, and has been once or twice arrested for the offense, but escaped for want of sufficient evidence. The family with which he is connected is not a little notorious in the annals of crime. His brother, Mark Winslow, was a noted counterfeiter, and probably the most ingenious one known in the state. About twelve years ago he was sentenced to the state prison for life, and on the eve of removal committed suicide by cutting his throat. Edward, another brother, was also a counterfeiter, and for that and other offenses has been an inmate of the state prison, and of nearly half the jails of the state. Lucretia, a sister, was connected with the same gang, and signed the bills. She was wonderfully expert with the pen, and skillful in imitating signatures. She married a man by the name of Chapman, who was murdered in Pennsylvania some years since. She then lived as the wife of a noted impostor, Mina, and they were both arrested and tried for the murder. Mina was hung, but she was acquitted, although not without very strong evidence of having prompted or connived at the death of Chapman. She subsequently wandered through the South, connected with a strolling theatrical company, and died a few years since. One of her children is now in Barre. She was a woman of great talent, if it had been honestly applied, and of singularly winning manners. Another sister of the Winslows married Robert Green, and still another married Jesse H. Jones, and both Green and Jones were connected with the gang of counterfeiters that used to infest that region.'" We have been told by good authority that at the time of her arrest for poisoning her husband, Mrs. Chapman was under the surveillance of the police, and would soon have been arrested for her connection with this gang of counterfeiters and forgers.
The proximity of Bensalem to Philadelphia induced the British troops to make several incursions into the township while they held that city in 1777-78, and during the war the inhabitants suffered from the depredations of both armies.
Of the roads through the township, that from the Poquessing creek which crosses the Street road below the Trap tavern, and the Neshaminy above Hulmeville and thence to Bristol, was laid out by order of council in 1697. John Baldwin was appointed to keep the
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ferry over the Neshaminy on giving security. When the Hulme- ville dam was built the ferry was discontinued, and a new road laid out, leaving the old one at right-angles near Trevose, and crossing the Neshaminy at Newportville. About this time the road was laid out Bucks and Philadelphia counties built a bridge over the Poquessing, probably where the pike crosses. A second bridge was built there in 1757, and a third in 1794. The road from the Bristol pike at Scott's corner to Townsend's mill, on the Po- quessing, was opened in 1767, and from the pike to "White Sheet bay" in 1769. As early as 1697 a petition was presented to the court to lay out a road from Growden's plantation to Dunk's ferry, but we do not know that it was granted. In 1700 a road was opened from Growden's to the King's highway leading to the falls. This highway at that time was probably the road from the Poquessing that crossed the Neshaminy about Hulmeville, and which at one time was a thoroughfare from the falls to Phila- delphia. Galloway's ford was on the Neshaminy above Hulmeville, and was destroyed when the dam was built, because it backed up the water so that it could not be crossed. At April term, 1703, the court directed a jury to lay out a road "from the uppermost inhabi- tants adjacent to Southampton to the landing commonly called John Gilbert's landing."19
The two oldest taverns in the township 'are the Red lion, on the turnpike, at the crossing of the Poquessing, and the Trap, on the Street road, a mile above where the old King's highway crosses it on its way to the falls. The former is of some historical interest, and will be mentioned in a future chapter.
Bensalem is a rich and fertile township, with but little waste land, and the surface has a gradual slope from its northwest boundary to the Delaware. It is bounded on three sides by water, the Delaware river, Neshaminy, and Poquessing, and it is well-watered by numer- ous tributaries. The nearness of this township to Philadelphia, and the facility with which it can be reached by rail and boat, have in- duced many of her rich citizens to make their homes within its limits. In consequence numerous elegant dwellings line its main highways and the banks of the Delaware, and large wealth is found among the inhabitants. The Philadelphia and Trenton railroad runs across the township a short distance from the river, with sta-
19 John Gilbert was one of the earliest settlers in Bensalem, but the place of his landing is not known to the present generation.
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tions at a number of points, and passing trains take up and set down passengers every few minutes, while the through line of the North Pennsylvania railroad to New York crosses it near the Southampton line.
The township contains an area of eleven thousand six hundred and fifty-six acres, and its boundaries have not been disturbed since its organization in 1692. In 1742, sixty years after its settlement by the English, it had but seventy-eight taxable inhabitants, and the highest valuation of any one person was £50. In 1744 the tax- ables had fallen off to seventy-two, but they had increased to ninety in 1755, and to ninety-eight in 1765. In 1784 the population of the township was 653 whites, 175 blacks and 131 dwellings. In 1810 it was 1,434; 1820, 1,667; 1830, 1,811, and 345 taxables ; 1840, 1731; 1850, 2,239; 1860, 2,336; 1870, 2,353, of which 296 were foreign-born, and 169 black. The township has two shad- fisheries, one known as Vandygrift's, and the other at "Frogtown," and now the property of Doctor Markley. The fisheries we have mentioned in the river townships are all shore fisheries and have been long established. In former times the catch of shad and her- ring was much greater than of late years. The rent of these two fisheries, for a number of years, has not exceeded $500 a year. A post-office was established at Andalusia in 1816, and Thomas Morgan appointed postmaster.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
-
CHAPTER XI'.
MIDDLETOWN. -
1692.
Original name .- Nicholas Walne .- Richard Amer .- John Cutler .- John Eastburn. -Thomas Janney .- Simon Gillam .- Great mixing of blood .- William Huddles- ton .- Abraham and Christopher Vanhorne .- Joseph Richardson .- The Jenks family .- Middletown meeting .- Story of Lady Jenks .- Jeremiah Langhorne .- Attleborough .- Four Lanes Ends .- Joshua Richardson .- High-school built .- Hulmeville .- John Hulme .- Josiah Quincy .- Original name of village .- Mill built .- Industrial establishments .- Oxford Valley .- Origin of name .- Early mills .- Early roads .- Peter Peterson Vanhorne .- Taxables .- Population .- Death of Robert Skirm and wife .- Farley .- The inhabitants farmers.
MIDDLETOWN is the last of the original townships. In the report of the jury that erected it, it is designated, "the middle township" of the group, but was frequently called "Middle Lots," down to 1703, and "Middle township" as late as 1724. Gradually it came to be called by the name it bears.
A few of the original settlers i came in the Welcome, with Wil-
1 Land-owners in Middletown in 1684: Walter Bridgeman, Thomas Constable, widow Crosdalc, Robert Holdgate, Alexander Biles, widow Bond, Robert Hcaton, Thomas Stackhouse, jr., Thomas Stackhouse, James Dilworth, widow Huest, Richard Thatcher, John Scarborow (Scarborough), Nicholas Walne, Jonathan Towne, Joshua Boar, Thomas Marle, William Paxson, James Paxson, Jonathan Fleckne, William Brian, Robert Carter, Francis Dove, Henry Paxson, William Wiggin and Edward Samway.
11
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
liam Penn, while others preceded or followed him. By 1684 the land was generally taken up, a good deal of it in large tracts, and some by non-residents. Some of these settlers purchased land of the Proprietary before he left England. Nicholas Walne, of York- shire, came in the Welcome, and took up a large tract between Attleborough and the Neshaminy. He was a distinguished minister among Friends, and held a leading part in the politics of the county, which he represented several years in the assembly. He died in 1744. Nicholas Walne, his descendant, probably his grandson, was born at Fair Hill, Philadelphia, in 1742 ; studied law at the Tem- ple, London, returned and practiced seven years in this county and elsewhere. Janney says that after he had been engaged in a real estate case at Newtown, Mr. Walne was asked, by a Friend, on his return to the city, how it was decided. He replied, "I did the best I could for my client; gained the case for him, and thereby de- tranded an honest man of his dues." He then relinquished the law, on the ground that its practice is inconsistent with the principles of Christianity, settled up his business, and returned the fees of un- finished cases. He now became a devout attendant on religious meeting, and afterward a minister among Friends.
Richard Amer, 2 from Berkshire, located two hundred and fifty acres on the Neshaminy, below Hulmeville, but died a few months after his arrival. He brought with him a servant, Stephen Lands, who is not heard of afterward. Henry Paxson, from Bycothouse, Oxfordshire, who located five hundred acres on the Neshaminy, above Hulmeville, lost his wife, two sons, and a brother at sea, by disease, and married the widow of William Plumley, of Northamp- ton, in 1684. He was a man of influence, and a member of assem- bly. James Dilworth, of Thornley, in Lancashire, arrived with his son William and a servant, in October, 1682, and settled on a thou- sand acres on the Neshaminy, below Attleborough. Richard Davis came from Wales in November, 1683, with his son David, who mar- ried Margaret Evans in March, 1686, and died fifteen days afterward. Richard is supposed to have been the first surgeon in the county.3 The land taken up by John Scarborough in Middletown came to the possession of his son John, by his father returning to England to
2 His name is not on Holme's map.
3 There was a "barber," as surgeons were then called, on the Delaware as early as 1638, but it is not known that he lived in the county, or that his practice even ex- tended into it.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
fetch his family, but failed to come back.+ Thomas Stackhouse and his son Thomas were the proprietors of a large tract in the lower part of the township. Richard Thatcher took up one thousand acres, and Ralph Ward and Philip Alford one hundred and twenty-five acres each. Robert Hall, whose name is not on Holme's map, but was one of the earliest settlers, owned a tract that joined Bristol township. Robert Heaton, one of the earliest settlers, and a land- owner on Holme's map, built the first mill in the township. Its exact situation is not known, but it probably stood on the Neshaminy about where Comfort's mill is. He died in 1716.5 William Pax- son's tract extended from near Attleborough back of Oxford. He was a member of assembly in 1701. Among others who were original settlers and land-owners were George and John White, Francis Andrews, and Alexander Giles. Thomas Constable owned a considerable tract in the upper part of the township, bordering on Newtown. John Atkinson arrived in 1699, with a certificate from Lancaster monthly meeting. Thomas Atkinson was an early settler, but probably not until after Holme's map was made.
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