USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > The history of Bucks County, Pennsylvania : from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time > Part 45
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" Philadelphia, February 25th, 1801."
He continued to practice here until 1814-15, when he removed to Jenkintown, in Montgomery county, but soon returned to this county, to the premises lately owned and occupied by Doctor Setlı Cattell, in Buckingham. Here he resided the remainder of his life, and attended to his large practice while health permitted, dying the 22d of February, 1856, in his eighty-second year. Doctor Fell was much esteemed by all who knew him, was remarkably mild and gentle in his disposition, a peacemaker among neighbors, slow to believe evil of another, and quick at the call of suffering humanity. He was a warm friend of education, and an advocate of temperance.
478
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
First-day meetings in Upper Makefield were first held at the house of Samuel Baker, who owned the farm just below Taylorsville, and late the property of Mahlon K. Taylor, deceased. Of the two Bakers Henry married Mary Radcliff, in 1692, and Samuel, Rachel Warder, in 1703. A meeting-house, twenty-five by thirty feet and one story high, was erected in 1752, and the first meeting held in it the fol- lowiug February. The building-committee were Benjamin Taylor, Joseph Duer, Timothy Smith, and Benjamin Gilbert. It was en- larged in 1764, by extending it twenty feet to the north, at a cost of £120. It was used as an hospital while Washington held the Delaware, in December, 1776.
Among the distinguished sons of Upper Makefield the late Oliver H. Smith, of Indiana, member of the legislature and of Congress, United States senator, attorney-general, and lawyer, probably stands first. He was a son of Thomas and Letitia Blackfan Smith, and a descendant of William Smith, who settled in Wrightstown in 1684. He was born on the farm now owned by John A. Beaumont, in 1794, and died in Indiana in 1859. He had a vein of wit and humor in his composition, and many anecdotes are related of him. When quite a young man, a raftsman at New Hope offered a high price for an experienced steersman to take his raft through Wells's falls. Oliver, believing he could do the job, accepted the offer, and carried the raft down the falls in safety, but he knew nothing more about the channel than what he had learned while fishing. It is told of him that, when he first went to Washington as a senator, he was asked by one of his fellow-senators at what college he had grad- uated, and answered "Lurgan," the name of a roadside school- house in Upper Makefield. At one time Mr. Smith kept store at Hartsville, in Warminster, and at Green Tree, in Buckingham, in 1817. He settled in Indiana while a young man, and as already mentioned, rose to distinction.
Thomas Langley was as eccentric as Oliver H. Smith was dis- tinguished. He was born near London, and came to Pennsylvania about 1756, at the age of twenty, with a handsome fortune for that day. He settled in Upper Makefield and commenced to teach school, and for several years conducted his business with propriety. Without any apparent cause his mind became deranged, and he continued so to his death, in 1806, aged upward of seventy. He imagined himself the king of Pennsylvania, and believed in the in- visible agency of evil spirits. He traversed the country in the em-
479
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
ploy of an itinerant cooper, carrying saddle-bags with clothing and tools. At times he hired out to farmers, and journeyed back and forth with his staff to visit his friends, reading Blackstone and other books. In the summer of 1803, with knapsack and rations on his back, he traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, on foot, and was absent a year. He was a man of very considerable knowledge, dig- nified and polite, clean and neat in his person, and correct in his morals. From his conversation no one could discover his peculiar- ities. He was educated an Episcopalian, but joined the Friends and attended their meeting. At his death he left a personal cstate of £500, but had no heirs in the country.
On the line between Upper Makefield and Solebury rises an elevation known as Bowman's hill, named after Doctor John Browman, 1 an early settler on Pidcock's creek. Being of a con- templative turn of mind, he used to frequent the round top of the hill, and when he died he was buried there at his request. Several others have found a last resting-place on the top of this hill, among them a man who was drowned at Wells's falls, in the Delaware, many years ago. The top is reached by a road of easy ascent up the westerly end. Tradition has woven a tale of romance around the name of Doctor Bowman. It tells us that he was appointed surgeon of the English fleet sent out under captain William Kyd, in 1696, to suppress piracy on the high seas, and turned pirate with him ; how he came to Newtown after Kyd was hanged, about 1700, and by his habits and the suspicious visits of strangers drew upon himself suspicion that he belonged to the pirate's gang, that he mysteriously disappeared and was gone for years, and then re- turned and built a cabin at the foot of the hill that bears his name, that he removed to Newtown in his old age, built a house on the edge of the village, in which he was found dead, that he left a "massive oaken chest" behind, but it failed to yield up Captain Kyd's gold. The story used to be told that if one would go quietly and lie down by Bowman's grave and say, " Bowman, what killed you ?" the reply would come back, "Nothing." Bowman was probably an eccentric man, and had a preference for the summit of this quiet hill for his last resting-place. This ridge of hills extends into New Jersey, and there is every appearance of its having been broken through some time long in the past to allow the dammed up waters to flow to the sea.
1 He is likewise called " Jonathan."
480
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
At the southern base of Bowman's hill, is a small hamlet called Lurgan, after the birth-place of James Logan. In a little one- story building, now used as a dwelling, was kept a day-school half a century ago, where were educated several prominent men. Among the scholars were the late Judge John Ross, Oliver H. Smith, senator in Congress from Indiana, Doctor John Chapman, Edward Smith, a learned man, Seth Chapman, son of Doctor John Chapman, lawyer and judge, Doctor Seth Cattell, a student of and who succeeded, Doctor John Wilson, but died early, and others of note. Amongst those who taught at this primitive seminary, were Moses Smitlı, afterward a distinguished physician of Philadelphia, Mr. McLean, a noted teacher, fine Latin scholar and mathematician, Enos, the father of Hiram Scarborough, of New Hope, celebrated for his penmanship, and Joseph Fell, of Buckingham. The glory of Lurgan is departed, and most of her scholars, statesmen, and jurists have gone to the " undiscovered country."
On a hill on Windy bush farm, the homestead of the Smiths, and which, tradition tells, was so called by the Indians because the leaves on the scrub oaks fluttered in the wind all winter, are several old shafts where sulphate of barytes was mined many years ago. Half a mile south is a clear and sparkling spring, whose waters are impregnated with iron, and which was used for medicinal purposes. The late Jacob Trego, who died near Doylestown upward of ninety years of age, and whose father was born on the adjoining farm to Windy bush, in 1744, frequently heard him say that when ten years of age he used to go to the mines to see the miners digging for silver, in charge of an experienced English miner. There were then five shafts sunk, about fifty feet deep, but only a very small quantity of silver was obtained. The mines were abandoned, the tools beingleft at the bottom. The water that came into the shafts cut off the flow of a fine spring on the farm now owned by John L. Atkin- son, several hundred yards away. It is said that attention was first at- tracted to the spot by the great number of trees struck by lightning in that vicinity, and the frequent discharge of electricity from the clouds coming to the ground. The first school-house in that section was built of logs, in 1730, a short distance south-west of the mineral spring. There was an extensive Indian burying-ground a little west of the road that passes over Windy bush hill, and within an hundred yards of the old silver mine. People now living remember walking among the graves, which were then kept well banked up.
481
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
The Smiths left the timber standing around the burial-ground, in respect to the memory of the Indians, who had been kind to them. Three-quarters of a century ago a few Indians lived in cabins in the vicinity by making baskets.
William H. Ellis, of Upper Makefield, is a steel-engraver of no mean repute, and has produced many works of merit. His first production, doubtless, is his engraving of " Washington's First In- terview with Mrs. Custis," his future wife, a spirited sketch of that interesting occasion, which met the approbation of George Wash- ington Park Custis, the grandson of the lady.
The villages of Upper Makefield are, Dolington, in the southern part on the line of Lower Makefield, Taylorsville and Brownsburg on the Delaware, Jericho, a hamlet at the foot of a range of hills which bears the same name, and Buckmanville in the north-west corner of the township.
Dolington, on the road from Newtown to Taylorsville, in the midst of a beautiful and highly cultivated country, contains a dozen houses, a post-office with daily mail, a tavern, and a graded school. Its first settler was Peter Dolin, deceased since the Revolution, and the place was first called " Dolinton," after its founder. What am- bitious denizen changed the name to that it now bears is not known, or it is just possible that the "g" crept in by accident. His daugh- ter married Paul Judge, an eccentric schoolmaster, who loved whiskey, and governed his school by the rod. Next to Dolin, Ben- jamin Canby and William Jackson were the earliest inhabitants of the village. The latter kept store, but was succeeded by Oliver Hougli, who died in 1803, who was followed by William Taylor. A draft of the village, of 1806, then called "Dolinton," shows a number of lots laid out on the road to Yardleyville, but only a few were improved. Here is a Friends' meeting, and school-house. The post-office was first called Lower Makefield, but changed to Dolington in 1827.
Taylorsville is just below what was called McConkey's ferry for many years, where Washington crossed the Delaware with his army the 25th of December, 1776, to attack the Hessians at Trenton. This circumstance has made it a point of great historical interest. It is a small village, with a tavern, store, and a few dwellings, and received its name from the Taylor family which established itself there more than a half century ago. A wooden bridge spans the Delaware, and on the New Jersey side the railroad station is called
31
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
" Washington's Crossing." Brownsburg is two miles higher up the river, where it is likewise spanned by a substantial wooden bridge. In 1790 it had but two small houses, one stone, the other wood, belonging to Malilon Doane, uncle of Thomas Betts, who owned the surrounding property. He lived a mile west of the ferry, but his brother Joel occupied the log, and Joseph Dubree, a harnessmaker, the stone house. There was probably no tavern then at the ferry. Down to 1810-12 there were still but two houses, a frame, probably on the spot occupied by the log twenty years before, and the stone. The frame belonged to Harman Michener, who lived in one end, and kept a small store in the other, but the stone house was not oc- cupied. About this time David Livezey built a tavern down at the ferry. Brownsburg, containing a tavern, store, and a few dwellings, was formerly called "Pebbletown," but received its present name from Stacy Brown. He got the post-office established there in 1827, and was appointed postmaster. He still holds the commission and discharges the duties.
The hamlet of Jericho, on the south-east slope of Jericho hill, was founded by Jeremiah Cooper, known in his day both as "Lying Jerry" and "Praying Jerry." He was born in 1760, probably in Falls, and in 1795 he bought three acres of John Hayhurst, built a house upon it, and took to wife Mary, the daughter of Mahlon Doane, the father of Brownsburg. He gathered enough mountain boulders upon his lot to fence it in. Half a century ago the hill was called the " Great hills," and the hamlet "Raylman's." Cooper was a carpenter by trade. He was suspected of assisting in the robbery of the county-treasury at the close of the Revolutionary war, and went away until the excitement blew over. He admitted that he accidentally came upon a party of men, counting a large amount of money on a coverlet, but the evidence against him was not strong enough to cause his arrest.
Among the aged persons who have died in Upper Makefield were John Knowles, March 1st, 1817, in his eighty-eighth year, leaving ten children, fifty-eight grand-children, and twenty-nine great-grand- children. He was probably a grandson of the first Knowles who settled in the township ; and Mrs. Jemima Howell, who died Febru- ary 13th, 1825, aged ninety-nine years, eleven months and nineteen days. In the winter of 1870, a negro woman died in the neigh- boring township of Lower Makefield, at the age of one hundred and five.
483
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
The earliest enumeration of taxables in Upper Makefield is that of 1732, when there were but fifty-seven, all told. This was four years before the township was organized, but it appears that Make- field, which included both townships, had been divided into "lower division " and " upper division" some time before for the conven- ience of collecting taxes, etc. In 1742, but fifty-eight taxables were returned, of whom seven were single men. That year the township rate was 3d., and single men paid 9s. each. In 1754, the taxables were 79; in 1762, 108, and in 1763, 97. In 1784 the township contained 792 white inhabitants, and 5 blacks, with 117 dwellings ; 1810, 1,271; 1820, 1,367; 1830, 1,517 inhabitants and 314 taxables ; 1840, 1,490 ; 1850, 1,741 ; 1860, 1,955 ; 1870, 2,066, of which 210 were colored, and 227 foreign-born.
Upper Makefield is a river township, its castern shore being washed by the Delaware its entire length, while on the land side it is bounded by Solebury, Buckingham, Wrightstown, Newtown and Lower Makefield. On the eastern side, a ridge of hills, broken here and there, runs from north to south nearly parallel to the river. In the northern part Jericho mountain 2 runs nearly across the township, pushing up broken spurs at the eastern end that unite with similar spurs from Bowman's hill. In other parts the township is diversified with gentle swells, intervening dells, and stretches of nearly level surface. About the Jericho range are some cozy little valleys, while from the top the eye takes in a wide expanse of culti- vated country, following the windings of the river several miles. Hough's creek in the south, Knowles' creek in the middle, and Pid- cock's creek in the north, with their numerous branches, supply an abundance of water. All these creeks empty into the Delaware, toward which all the water of the township flows. In 1788 the commissioners of Pennsylvania and New Jersey confirmed to this township Harvey's upper, and Lowne's islands.
A considerable portion of the Continental army found shelter among the river hills of Upper Makefield, immediately preceding the attack on Trenton, Christmas-day, 1776, and Washington had his headquarters at a quiet farm house in the shadow of Jericho hill, and that band of patriots embarked from Makefield's shore on the desperate venture that turned the tide of the Revolutionary contest.
2 These hills are the " mountain" range along the foot of which the line of William Penn's first purchase ran in its course south-west, from "a corner spruce tree, marked with the letter P., to a corner white oak, standing near the path that leads to an In- dian town called Playwickey."
484
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXX.
-
THE WALKING PURCHASE.
-
1737.
Indians dissatisfied .- First purchase in 1682 .- Treaty of 1686 .- Do. of 1737 .- Pre- liminary walk .- Courses and distances .- Steel's letter to Smith .- Great Walk ar- ranged .- Marshall et al .- The starting .- Jennings and Yeates give out .- Dis- tance walked .- Head-line drawn .- The walk and the Indians .- Terms of treaty. -About treaty of 1686 .- Treaty of 1718 .- The Charles Thomson map .- The ex- act starting point .- Location of chestnut tree .- Testimony of witnesses .- Fairness of the walk .- Testimony of the Chapman family .- Location of spruce tree .- Tow- sisnick .- Head-line of purchase of 1682 .- Solomon Jennings .- Edward Marshall. -His wife killed .- His death .- Marshall's rifle.
No event in the early history of the county gave so much dis- satisfaction to the Indians, or led to as severe criticism of the Penns as the "Walking Purchase." This was the treaty of 1737, which confirmed to the Proprietaries all that part of Bucks county above a line drawn from the Neshaminy through the lower part of Wrights- town to the Delaware at the mouth of Knowles' creek. We pur- pose, in this chapter, to give an account of this celebrated purchase, and the manner in which it was carried out.
The first purchase of land in this county of the Indians, as we have already stated, was in 1682, by William Markham. This em- braced all the territory between the Neshaminy and the Delaware as high up as Wrightstown and Upper Makefield. After Penn's
485
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
arrival he purchased the land lying between the Pennypack and the Neshaminy. The next treaty is said to have been made the 30th of August, 1686, although such treaty or deed has never been found, by which the Indians conveyed to Penn all the land above the up- per line of the treaty of 1682, extending as far inland "as a man can go in one day and a half," to be bound on the west by the Neshaminy, and on the east by the Delaware. After this treaty white settlers established themselves in considerable numbers on the lower part of the purchase, and some settled in the country about the Lehigh. The Indians became uneasy at these encroachments, and desired to have the limits of the treaty of 1686 marked by definite metes and bounds. They had several meetings with the Proprietaries to carry out the provisions of the treaty of 1686. The first was held at Durham in 1734, which was continued at Penns- bury in May, 1735, and concluded at Philadelphia the 25th of Au- gust, 1737. At these meetings or treaties the limits of the tract described in the treaty of 1686 was confirmed, and it was agreed that the northern boundary should be determined by walking a day and a half in a north-west direction from a point in the head line of the purchase of 1682.
To ascertain how far the walk could be made to extend, the Pro- prietaries caused a preliminary walk to be made while the treaty of 1737 was in negotiation. This was arranged in Philadelphia about April, 1735, by Timothy Smith, sheriff of Bucks county, and John Chapman. They were to procure three persons "who can travel well," to be accompanied by two others on horseback, with provi- sions, and to assist them on their return. To show the anxiety to have the trial walk before the treaty was concluded, we need but quote the letters of James Steel, receiver-general under Thomas Penn, who wrote to Timothy Smith the 25th of April, 1735 : "The Proprietaries are impatient to know what progress is made in travel- ing over the land that is to be settled in the ensuing treaty that is to be held with the Indians at Pennsbury, on the fifth day of the next month, and therefore I now desire thee, without delay, to send down an account of what has been done in that affair," and on the 29th of the same month he again wrote to Smith and John Chap- man : "The Proprietaries are very much concerned that so much time hath been lost before you begin the work recommended so earnestly at your leaving Philadelphia, and it being so very short before the meeting at Pennsbury, the 5th of next month, that they
486
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
now desire that upon the return of Joseph Doane, he, together with two other persons who can travel well, should be immediately sent on foot on the day and a half journey, and two others on horseback to carry necessary provisions for them, and to assist them in their re- turn home. The time is now so far spent that not one moment is to be lost ; and as soon as they have traveled the day and a half journey, the Proprietarics desire that a messenger may be sent to give them account without any delay, how far that day and a half traveling will reach up the country." Steel promised that the Pro- prietaries would "generously reward" those who engaged in this business.
The parties started on the preliminary walk the 22d of April, 1735, and occupied nine days. John Chapman went along in the capacity of surveyor, and from John Watson's note-book, who may have been of the party, we obtain the courses and distances, as fol- lows : "From Wrightstown, where the first Indian purchase came to, to Plumstead, is a little to the north of the north-west along the road,i nine or ten miles, and the several courses of the road from Plum- stead to Catatuning hill,2 is north-west eight miles to the head of Perkiomen branch, north-west by north four miles to Stokes's meadow,3 north one mile by the old draught, north-west by north sixteen miles to the West Branch,+ thence by the same north thirty chains, north-north-west twenty-five chains, north-west six ditto, north ninety ditto, north-north-west one hundred and seventeen ditto, north seventy-four ditto, north-north-east thirty ditto, and north-west by north four hundred chains to the mountains." The trees were blazed through the woods so the route could be followed at the subsequent walk. As the Penns caused this walk to be made without the knowledge of the Indians, our readers are able to judge of the morality of the act.
Immediately the treaty of the 25th of August, 1737, had been concluded, Steel acquainted Timothy Smith of the fact, and asked him in the name of "Our Proprietor to speak to that man of the three which traveled and held out the best when they walked over the land before, to attend that service at the time mentioned, when Solomon Jennings is expected to join and travel the day and
1 Probably Durham.
2 Blue mountains.
3 Applebachsville.
+ Lehigh.
486
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
now desire that upon the return of Joseph Doane, he, together with two other persons who can travel well, should be immediately sent on foot on the day and a half journey, and two others on horseback to carry necessary provisions for them, and to assist them in their re- turn home. The time is now so far spent that not one moment is to be lost ; and as soon as they have traveled the day and a half journey, the Proprietarics desire that a messenger may be sent to give them account without any delay, how far that day and a half traveling will reach up the country." Steel promised that the Pro- prietaries would "generously reward" those who engaged in this business.
The parties started on the preliminary walk the 22d of April, 1735, and occupied nine days. John Chapman went along in the capacity of surveyor, and from John Watson's note-book, who may have been of the party, we obtain the courses and distances, as fol- lows : "From Wrightstown, where the first Indian purchase came to, to Plumstead, is a little to the north of the north-west along the road, nine or ten miles, and the several courses of the road from Plum- stead to Catatuning hill,2 is north-west eight miles to the head of Perkiomen branch, north-west by north four miles to Stokes's meadow,3 north one mile by the old draught, north-west by north sixteen miles to the West Branch,+ thence by the same north thirty chains, north-north-west twenty-five chains, north-west six ditto, north ninety ditto, north-north-west one hundred and seventeen ditto, north seventy-four ditto, north-north-east thirty ditto, and north-west by north four hundred chains to the mountains." The trees were blazed through the woods so the route could be followed at the subsequent walk. As the Penns cansed this walk to be made without the knowledge of the Indians, our readers are able to judge of the morality of the act.
Immediately the treaty of the 25th of August, 1737, had been concluded, Steel acquainted Timothy Smith of the fact, and asked him in the name of "Our Proprietor to speak to that man of the three which traveled and held out the best when they walked over the land before, to attend that service at the time mentioned, when Solomon Jennings is expected to join and travel the day and
1 Probably Durham.
2 Blue mountains.
3 Applebachsville.
+ Lehigh.
A FA BARREN THE DAY AND ARIGHT LINE FROM THE END OF THE DAY AND A FALE WALK THROUGH A MOUNTAINOUS BARREN COUNTRY ABOUNDING WITH PINES &C, TOAPOPLAR TREE BY THE RIVER DELAWARE MARK'D WITH THE ICH HE
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