USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > The history of Bucks County, Pennsylvania : from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time > Part 22
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Among the inhabitants of Newtown township, of a past generation, was one who attempted to shuffle off this mortal coil by jumping down a well forty feet deep, when a little deranged in his mind. He repented the act when he reached the bottom, cried lustily for help, and was fortunate enough to be drawn out alive. Some people were uncharitable enough to say that his insanity was a dispensation of Providence in punishment for driving off his neighbor's cattle to the British during the Revolutionary war.
Newtown township is bounded by the Neshaminy on the west, which separates it from Northampton, north by Wrightstown, east by the two Makefields, and south by Middletown. The area is six
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
thousand two hundred and forty-six acres, a trifle more than ten times the quantity in the original townstead. We believe the boun- daries to be the same as when it was first laid out. The surface slopes to the south, and the soil is productive. It is watered by the Neshaminy and its tributaries, Newtown creek running the entire length of the township, and Core creek flowing through its south- east corner into Lower Makefield. On the Neshaminy is a valuable quarry of brown stone, used extensively for ornamental building purposes. The main industry is farming. Jenks's fulling-mill, two miles south-east of Newtown, is probably the oldest mill of its class in the county, and was raided upon by the British during their oc- cupancy of Philadelphia in the Revolution.
The first enumeration of inhabitants of Newtown that we have seen, is that of 1742, when there were forty-three taxables and nine single men. The tax raised was £12. 18. 9d., and Samuel Carey the heaviest payer, was taxed ten shillings. In 1754 the taxables were 59; 80 in 1761, and 82 in 1762. In 1784 it contained 497 whites, 28 blacks, and 84 dwellings. The population in 1800 was 781; 1810, 982; 1820, 1,060; 1830, 1,344, and 233 taxables ; 1840, 1,440 ; 1850, 765 whites, 77 blacks; 1860, 933 whites, 67 blacks, and in 1870 the number of the whites was the same, of whom 95 were foreign-born, and 50 blacks. The apparent falling off in the population after 1840 was caused by the incorporation of the village of Newtown into a borough, and the separate enumera- tion of its inhabitants.
The borough of Newtown has possibly borne its present name longer than any other village in the county. The exact time of its founding, and the origin of its name, are both involved in doubt. A tradition tells us that on one occasion as William Penn, with a party of friends, was riding through the woods where the village stands, he remarked to those about him, " this is the place proposed for my new town ;" and a new town in very truth it was, to be founded and built in the depth of the Bucks county wilderness. Whether the village took the name of the township, or the township of the vil- lage, we are left to conjecture, but the probability is in favor of the latter. The last course in a tract of two hundred and twenty-five acres laid out to Shadrick Walley, October 25th, 1683, runs north- east by east by "New Town street, twenty-eight perches," and twenty-five acres in " New Town-stead." In the patent to Thomas Rowland, dated 12th of 12th month, 1684, for four hundred and
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fifty acres, on the " eastermost side of Noshaminoh (Neshaminy) creek," calls for fifty acres in the " village or townstead," one side of which is " bounded on the street or road of said village." The 12th month, 17th, 1698, Stephen Twining, carpenter, of Burlington. New Jersey, sold two hundred and fifty-two acres of the Rowland tract, to Stephen Twining, yeoman, " being in the county of Bucks, at a place called New Town." These are the earliest mentions of the name we have been able to find, and they carry us back to within a year after the arrival of William Penn. On the map of Oldmixon, 1741, it is spelled "Newtowne," and "Newton " in Scott's Gazetteer of 1795.
On the authority of John Watson, in a communication to the Philosophical Society, there was a white man, named Cornelius Spring, living at Newtown in 1692. He was possibly one of the very oldest and earliest inhabitants of this ancient village, but prob- ably he and others were there before that time. The farmhouse of John Tomlinson is supposed to have been built near the close of the century, but the dwelling of Silas C. Bond, in the lower part of the village, is thought to be the oldest house in it. The kitchen, more modern than the main building, was built in 1713. As late as 1725, when the county seat was removed from Bristol to Newtown, it con- sisted of a few log huts built along the Durham road, now State street. This event gave it an importance not hitherto enjoyed, and for almost the ninety years it remained the shire-town, it was con- sidered the first village of the county. The five acres bought of John Walley to erect the public buildings on, and for other county purposes, lay on the east side of State street, and extended from Washington avenue down to Penn street, forty perches, and twenty perches east. The present Court street cut the lot in twain from north to south. In 1733 the ground was laid out into six squares of equal size, one hundred and ninety by one hundred and forty-two and a half feet, and streets opened through it. The court-house and prison were erected on square number one, bounded by land of John Walley, that extended to Washington avenue, State, Sullivan and Court streets. The same year the commissioners sold a lot in the fifth square, sixty feet on Court and one hundred and forty-two and a half on King street, to Joseph Thornton, on which the Court inn was subsequently erected. Gradually the whole of the five acres, not occupied by the public buildings, were sold to various parties long before the county seat was removed. When that event took place
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there was only that portion of plot number one where the court- house, jail and little old office stood to be disposed of. The five acres are now in the heart of the town and covered with buildings.
We have no means of even guessing the population of Newtown when it became the county seat. Eighty years ago it contained about fifty dwellings, and tradition tells us that at that time one house in ten had license to sell liquor, besides the keeper of the jail, and the only known buildings along the west side of Main street were the academy and that occupied by the National bank. The built-up portion of the town was on the east side of Main street, be-
tween Penn street and Washington avenue.
Robert Smock's
estate owned all the land on that side of the street, including the Brick hotel, from the avenue up to the bridge across the creek, ex- cept one lot. A map of that period gives but nineteen building lots on the east side of Main, between Penn street and Washington avenue, and only twenty real estate owners on that side as far as the street extends, not including the county. Of the streets, that on the west side of the creek was known as the "Other" street, while those crossing the common, from the lower to the upper end, bore the names of Lower, Bridge, Middle, now Washington avenue, Spring, Yonder, and Upper streets. At that day Newtown had four taverns. The property on State street, now T. Wilson Mil- ler's, was owned by John Torbert, and kept by Jacob Kessler, who married Doctor DeNormandies' widow. It next came into the pos- session of Asa Carey, who called it "Bird in Hand,"9 then to his widow, Tamer, whose ginger cakes gained great celebrity. To his duties as landlord Mr. Carey added those of postmaster. The The present temperance house was kept by one Dettero, then by Samuel Heath, and next by Samuel Hinkle, a German, who was the standing court-interpreter, and in his absence his wife officiated. The property at one time belonged to General Murray, but the name under which it was kept is lost. Hinkle moved from there to the Brick hotel, whose history will be given elsewhere. The fourth tavern stood on the east side of Court street, near the court-house, and is now a private dwelling, owned by Mrs. Heyd. It was built
9 This house is called in ancient conveyances "Old tavern" and the " Old house." The house next north of it was called " the Justice's house." In olden times Bird in Hand occurred among the trades tokens, and represented the proverb " one bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." It was literally rendered by a hand holding a bird.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
in 1792, and called the " Conrt inn." It belonged at one time to Joseph Thornton, but the last keeper was a Wilkinson, who acquired celebrity in nicking and setting horses tails in good position. He was probably the same person who kept the tavern at Centreville for several years. One large room, known as the "Grand Jury room," was used as a ball room, and in it the late Colonel Elias Gil- kyson first met the lady he afterward married. The property was purchased by Joseph Briggs in 1817, and has not been occupied as a tavern since. It was subsequently used for a school room.
Sixty-five years ago, Newtown was still the county seat, with the stone jail, court-house, and "row offices" on the green. It was the polling-place for the middle and lower end of the county, and the second Tuesday of October was made a day of frolic and horse-racing, a ;; om anied by many free fights. The streets were lined with booths, where cakes, pies, and beer, large and small, were freely sold. Newtown, in early times, was the seat of public fairs, at which the whites and blacks from the surrounding country gathered to make merry in large numbers. Isaac Hicks, justice of the peace for many years, lived on Main street below Carey's tavern, and dressed in breeches. Charles Hinkle kept the Brick hotel, and was suc- ceeded by Joseph Archambault about 1825. The two principal stores were James Raguet's, 10 a French exile, who died suddenly in Philadelphia in 1818, and Joseph Whitalls', who kept where Jesse Heston did, and failed before 1820. Count Lewis, another French exile, died at Raguet's house in 1818. At a later period Jolly Longshore became a famous Newtown storekeeper. He bought out Raguet's sons immediately after the war of 1812, and continued in the business many years. The Raguet store was in the two-story brick where Paxson Pursell now keeps, and what is known as the " Middle store" was Raguet's wagon-house, on the opposite side of the street. The leading physicians were Doctors Jenks, Moore, Plumly, and Gordon, all men of note in their day. Moore was as deaf as an adder, Plumly fond of spirits, and Gordon, who lived two miles from town, and was a tall, handsome man, was a zealous advocate of temperance. Doctor Jenks practiced medicine in New- town about forty years, and died there.
The Newtown library, one of the oldest institutions in the village, was established in 1760. In August a meeting was held at the public
10 Raguet was in Newtown as early as 1785. He married Anna Wynkoop, August 17th, 1790.
16
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
house of Joseph Thornton, and Jonathan DuBois, Abraham Chap- man, Amos Strickland, David Twining, and Henry Margerum were chosen the first board of directors, with John Harris, treasurer, and Thomas Chapman, secretary. The books were first kept at Thorn- ton's house, and he was made librarian. On the list of original subscribers, twenty-one in number, who paid one pound each, is the name of Joseph Galloway. The library was incorporated March 27th, 1789, under the name of the "Newtown library company," and it is still kept up. A Masonic lodge was instituted March 4th, 1793, by authority of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. The officers were Reading Beatty, master, James Hanna, senior, and Nicholas Wynkoop, junior warden. The members numbered fifty- seven. Authority was given to hold the lodge at Newtown, or within five miles of that place.
The Newtown academy has played an important part in the cause of education in that section, and was the first school of a high grade established in the county.11 It has educated many teachers, and for a number of years, with the Presbyterian pastor at its head, it was the right arm of the church.12. It is said that the first teacher of grammar in Buckingham township was educated there. The pastor and other friends of education applied for a charter in 1794, the site was bought in 1796, and the building erected in 1798, at a cost of $4,000. The charter was surrendered in 1852, and the building sold. It was purchased by the Presbyterian congregation, which have expended several thousand dollars in fitting it up. Previous to its erection the public buildings were used for school purposes. The academy languished in the first thirty years of its existence, but it was revived about 1820. In 1806 it was in charge of one P. Steele, who made great pretensions to teach elocution, but which amounted to little. The Reverend Alexander Boyd was principal of the academy for several years, and among other names who taught there may be mentioned Messrs. Nathaniel Furman, Doak, Fleming, Trimble, Mckinney, William B. Keyser, Lemuel Parsons, Doctor James J. Bronson, president of Washington (Pennsylvania) college, and others. Half a century ago the teacher of Latin was Josiah
11 The Newtown academy was the ninth in the state, and $4,000 were appropriated toward its erection. The charter provided that the trustees shall cause ten poor children to be taught gratis at one time.
12 From the church and school there have gone forth about twenty-five ministers of the gospel, to all parts of the country.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Scott, a young graduate of Jefferson college, but now a distinguished lawyer, and a judge of the supreme court of Ohio. As early as 1806 a boarding-school, known as "Porter's academy," was opened for young men, on what was afterward known as the David Rob- erts farm. It was not continued long. Josiah Chapman opened a select boarding-school for girls, in Newtown, in 1817. July 16th, 1829, John Taylor Strawbridge, student at the Newtown academy, was drowned in the Neshaminy while swimming across with his preceptor, Mr. Fairfield.
The lands of Amos Strickland, an early owner of the Brick hotel, lay out along Washington avenue, then called Strickland's lane, a well-known race course when the courts and elections were held at Newtown. In 1784, after his death, eight acres of his real estate, divided into twenty-seven lots, were sold at public sale by Sheriff Dean. They embraced that part of the town south of Washington avenue, and east of Sycamore street.
Joseph Archambault, many years owner and keeper of the Brick hotel, an ex-officer of the great Napoleon, came to Newtown about 1821. At first he worked at the trade of tin-smith, in the old Odd Fellows' hall, but afterward studied dentistry, and practiced it sev- eral years while he kept the hotel. He was an enterprising business inan, and acquired considerable real estate in the village, among which was the large square bounded by Main, Washington avenue, Liberty, and the street that runs west over the upper bridge. In 1835 he laid out this square into building lots, fifty-three in number, and sold them at public sale. On it have since been erected some of the handsomest dwellings in the village. He gave the land on which Newtown hall stands, and was instrumental in having it built. It grew out of the excitement that waited on the, preaching of Fred- erick Plummer in the lower part of the county in 1830-35, whose followers were called "Christians" and "Plummerites." It was built for a free church, and is so maintained. Frederick Plummer first made his advent in this county at Bristol, coming by invitation of Edward Badger, the father of Bela, who was acquainted with him in Connecticut, and was one of his followers. This was about 1817. About 1820 a church was built for him half a mile above Tullytown. He first preached in Badger's mansion house, in Bristol township, just over the borough line. Captain Archambault retired from the hotel to a farm near Doylestown, and then to Philadelphia, where he died.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Newtown was the scene of a very painful occurrence the 28th of July, 1817. A little son of Thomas G. Kennedy, then sheriff of the county, while amusing himself floating on a board on the creek at the upper end of the village, fell off into deep water. His mother, hearing his cries, rushed into the water, to his rescue, and sunk almost immediately. Mr. Kennedy was exhausted in his attempt to save them. He and the child were rescued by the citizens, who flocked to the spot, but the body of his wife was not recovered until life was extinct. She was Violetta, the daughter of Isaac Hicks.
Among the leading citizens of Newtown, in the generation just closing, Doctor Phineas Jenks and Michael H. Jenks were probably the most prominent. They descended from a common ancestry, the former being a grandson and the latter great-grandson of Thomas Jenks, the elder. Phineas was born in Middletown, May 3d, 1781, and died August 6th, 1851. He studied medicine with Doctor Benjamin Rush, graduated in 1804, and practiced in Newtown and vicinity.13 He was twice married, his first wife being a daughter of Francis Murray, and his second, Amelia, daughter of Governor Sny- der. He served six years in the state house of representatives, was a member of the constitutional convention of 1838, and was active in all the reform movements of the day. He was the first president of the Bucks county Medical Society, and one of the founders of the Newtown Episcopal church. Michael H. Jenks was born in 1795, and died in 1867. Brought up a miller and farmer, he afterward turned his attention to conveyancing and the real estate business, which he followed to the close of his life. He held several places of honor and public-trust, was justice of the peace many years, com- missioner, treasurer, and associate-judge of the county, and member of the twenty-eighth Congress. He was married four times. His youngest daughter, Anna Earl, is the wife of Alexander Ramsey, the first governor of Minnesota, and late senator in Congress from that state.
The Hickses of Newtown were descended from John Hicks, born in England about 1610, and immigrated to Long Island in 1643. His great-grandson, Gilbert, born 1720, married Mary Rodman in 1746, and moved to Bensalem in 1747 or 1748. He built a two- story brick house at Attleborough in 1767, and moved into it. He
13 His thesis on graduating, "An investigation endeavoring to show the similarity in cause and effect of the yellow fever of America and the Egyptian plague," was pub- lished by the university and re-published in Europe.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
was a man of ability and education, and high-toned in character, but made the fatal mistake of clinging to the fortunes of Great Britain in 1776. His fine property was confiscated, and he died in exile by the hand of an assassin. Isaac, son of Gilbert, and the first New- town Hicks, born in Bensalem in 1748, and died in 1836, married his cousin Catharine, youngest daughter of Edward Hicks, a mer- chant of New York. Her sister was the wife of Bishop Seabury of Maine, and of her brothers, William studied at the Inner Temple, and was afterward prothonotary of Bucks county, while Edward was - an officer of the British army, and died in the West Indies. Isaac Hicks held several county offices. He was a man of great energy of character. His marriage docket contains the record of six hun- dred and six marriages in forty-seven years. Edward Hicks, the distinguished minister among Friends, whom many of this genera- tion remember, was the son of Isaac, and born at Attleborough in 1780. He was brought up to the trade of coach-making, married Sarah Worstal in 1803, and joined the Society of Friends. He re- moved to Newtown in 1811, where he established himself in the coach and sign-painting business, and was burnt out in 1822. He had a taste for art, and his paintings of "Washington crossing the Delaware" and "Signing the Declaration of Independence" were much noted in their day. He became a popular preacher, and had few equals in persuasive eloquence. He died at Newtown August 23d, 1849. Thomas Hicks, one of the most distinguished artists of New York, is a nephew of Edward Hicks, and a descendant of Isaac. He was born in Newtown, and in his boyhood was apprenticed to his uncle Edward to learn the painting trade. But exhibiting great fondness for art, he left his trade before manhood, and went to New York to receive instruction. He subsequently spent several years in Italy and in other parts of the continent, and on his return home he took high rank among artists.
Francis Murray, an Irishman by birth, and born about 1731, set- tled in this county quite early. He was living at Newtown before the Revolution. He owned several farins in the vicinity, was the possessor of considerable wealth, and occupied a highly respectable standing in the community. He was major in a Pennsylvania regi- ment in the Continental army, and his commission, signed by John Hancock, bears date February 6th, 1777. He was justice of the peace, and held other local offices, including that of general in the militia. In 1790 he bought the dwelling opposite the court-house,
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
now Jesse Leedom's, where he died in 1816. The late Francis M. Wynkoop, who commanded a regiment and distinguished himself in the Mexican war, was a native of Newtown, and grandson of Fran- cis Murray. In its day the Wynkoop family exercised considerable local influence, and always held the highest position for integrity.
Newtown has three organized churches and the Friends' meeting, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Methodist. The Presbyterian church was erected in 1769, and is a large and influential organization, of which a more particular account will be given in a future chapter. An effort was made to build an Episcopal church at Newtown as early as 1766. Thomas Barton, under date of November 10th, that year, writes to the society for propagating the gospel in foreign parts : "At Newtown, in Bucks county, eight miles from Bristol, some members of the church of England, encouraged by the liberal and generous benefactions of some principal Quakers, are building an elegant brick church." Mr. Barton wants an itinerant sent to supply Bristol, Newtown, and other places. The 22d of October, 1768, William Smith enclosed a letter to the secretary, "from the church wardens of Bristol, and another congregation now building a church in Bucks county, about twenty-five miles from Philadelphia." He repeats Barton's story that they were much encouraged by the Friends, and adds that they are "desirous of seeing the church flourish from a fear of being overrun by Presbyterians." We know nothing of this early effort beyond this record. The present Epis- copal church was founded in 1832 by Reverend George W. Ridgely, assisted materially by Doctor Jenks, and James Worth, whose daugh- ter Mr. Ridgely married. Mr. Ridgely was likewise instrumental in founding the Episcopal churches at Yardleyville, Centreville and Hulmeville. He was then pastor of Saint James' church, Bristol. He is a Kentuckian by birth, and studied law with Henry Clay. Newtown and Yardleyville form one parish. The Methodist con- gregation was organized, and the church built, about 1840. Friends' meeting was established in 1815, and service held in the court-house until 1817, when the first meeting-house was built.
Within the present generation Newtown was a stated place for volunteers, of the lower and middle sections of the county, to meet for drill. The spring trainings alternated between this place and the two Bears, now Addisville and Richborough, and were the oc- casion of a large turn out of people of the surrounding country to witness the evolutions of a few hundred uniformed militia. These
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
musters brought back the jolly scenes of fifty years before when it was the general election ground for the county. The streets were lined with booths on either side, where pea-nuts, ginger-cakes, etc., were vended, and the music of the violin, to which the rustic youths of both sexes "tripped the light fantastic toe," mingled with the harsher notes of the drum and tife, on the drill ground close by. The scene was seasoned with fights, and foot-races, and jumping matches, and not a few patriotic politicians were on hand to push their chances for office. The frequenters of these scenes cannot fail to remember Leah Stives, a black woman, a vender of pies, cakes, and beer. Her husband hauled her traps to the ground, early, with his bony old mare, that she might secure a good stand. Leah was a great gatherer of herbs, and noted as a good cook. She died at Newtown in 1872.
The Newtown of 1876 differs very materially from the Newtown of half a century, or even thirty years, ago. It is a pretty and flourishing village, the seat of wealth and culture, and possesses most of the appliances for comfort and convenience known to the period. The dwellings of many of the citizens display great neat- ness and taste. Among the public institutions may be mentioned two banks and a fire insurance company, with a capital of $350,000, a building and loan association, and Odd Fellows' hall, built for an hotel three-quarters of a century ago, and the academy and library already mentioned. There are lodges of Masons and Odd Fellows and Good Templars, and a literary society known as the Whittier institute. Of industrial establishments, there are, an agricultural implement factory, a foundry, of thirty years standing, carriage factory, tan-yard, where the Worstall's 14 have carried on tanning nearly an hundred years, gas works, a steam saw-mill, and steam sash and door factory, a brick and tile-kiln, and wholesale cigar manufactory. The "Enterprise" and "Triumph" buildings, hand- some brick structures, with Mansard roof, erected a few years ago, are occupied by various branches of business. Newtown has a newspaper, and the usual complement of shops, stores, mechanical trades, and professional men. It supports four public inns. A railroad is now being constructed between Philadelphia and New-
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