The history of Bucks County, Pennsylvania : from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Part 6

Author: Davis, W.W.H. (William Watts Hart), 1820-1910
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Doylestown, Pa. : Democrat Book and Job Office Print
Number of Pages: 976

USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > The history of Bucks County, Pennsylvania : from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time > Part 6

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After giving some directions about the building of Philadelphia, we next find William Penn making a visit to New York. We know nothing of his journey thither, but no doubt he took the overland route ; going up the river in a boat, to the falls, stopping on the way at Burlington, to visit the Friends' settlement, and to view the site Markham had already selected, and upon which he was erecting his manor house, and thence on horseback across New Jersey to Elizabethtown Point, where he took boat for New York. This was probably the first time the great founder set foot in Bucks county.

Of the one hundred immigrants the Welcome brought to the wilderness west of the Delaware, the heads of families were generally persons of standing and intelligence. About one-half of all who arrived with Penn settled in this county, and their descendants are found here to this day, many of them bearing the same names and

1 Old style.

2 First sheriff of the county.

3 The first election held in the county.

4 It was drawn by James Harrison and Thomas Fitzwater, both Bucks county men. 5

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

some living on the ancestral homesteads. Of the Welcome passen gers, who settled in Bucks, we are able to name the following:

JOHN ROWLAND, of Billinghurst, in Sussex, husbandman, with his wife Priscilla, and servant Hannah Mogeridge, who settled in Falls and died in 1705. John Rowland, probably a brother, came at the same time;

THOMAS FITZWATER, of Hanworth, in the county of Middlesex, near Hampton Court, husbandman, with sons Thomas and George, and servants John and Henry. His wife and two children died at sea, on the passage. He was a member from Bucks, of the first assembly, and died in 1699 ;

WILLIAM BUCKMAN, of the parish of Billingshurst, in Sussex, carpenter, with Mary his wife, and children, Sarah and Mary. He patented 300 acres in the lower part of Northampton township, in 1686, which he sold to John Shaw, and bought a tract in Newtown, on the Neshaminy, of Robert Webb, in 1695, and died there. He was the ancestor of the Buckmans still living in Newtown. The descendants of William Buckman are supposed to number 2,000 souls. Jacob Buckman, who died near Moorestown, N. J., in 1869, was lineally descended in the seventh generation ;

CUTHBERT HAYHURST, of Easington, in Yorkshire, with his wife and four children, who took up a tract of 500 acres near Rocksville in Northampton township, the farm of Mordecai Carter being part of it. He was a Friend and belonged to Middletown meeting. He died March 5th, 1683, at the age of fifty. He was one of the earliest Friends in his native county, and was imprisoned in 1654-1666, and at other times. His daughter Mary married William Carter ;

THOMAS INGALS, or INGOLS, settled in Warrington, but we hear nothing further of him ;

THOMAS WALMSLY, with Elizabeth his wife and six children, of Yorkshire, settled in Northampton, where he died soon after his arrival. He had bought land before he left England, and brought with him irons, and other articles, to be used in the erection of a mill. His widow married John Paisley ; and his eldest son, Thomas, Mary, daughter of John Paxson, and settled in Bensalem, in 1698. The youngest son married Mary Searl, in 1699, and settled in South- ampton ;

NICHOLAS WALNE, with wife and three children, of Yorkshire, settled in Middletown, but owned land in Northampton. He became prominent in our history ; was a member of the first and subsequent

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

assemblies, and died in August, 1744. He has numerous descendants in Philadelphia ;

THOMAS WRIGGLESWORTH, and wife, from Yorkshire. He died in 1686 ;

THOMAS CROASDALE, wife and six children, and THOMAS STACK- HOUSE, and wife, of Yorkshire, who settled in Middletown ; MARY COWGILL and children.

JOHN GILBERT came in 1682, and is thought to have been a Welcome passenger, although his name is not on the list examined by the author. He settled in Bensalem, but shortly afterward re- moved to Philadelphia, where he became a prominent merchant, and died in 1711. The name of Thomas Gilbert is on the list of Welcome passengers, and it is possible the Bensalem settler should be Thomas instead of John. Jane Claypole, a descendant of Oliver Cromwell, through his daughter, who married Lord General Clay- pole, purchased land in this county, but never lived here. He became a merchant of Philadelphia, and was a partner in the Free Society of Traders. He was accompanied by his daughter.

Among the Welcome passengers was Joseph Kirkbride, a youth of nineteen, son of Mahlon and Magdalene, of the quaint little town of the same name, in Cumberland. One account says he arrived in the John and Sarah in 1681, leaving England in August. The family records state that he came in the Welcome. He ran away from his master, and started for the new world with a little wallet of clothing and a flail. He was first employed at Pennsbury, but soon removed to West Jersey. He married Phebe, a daughter of Randall Blackshaw, March 14th, 1688, and at her death married Sarah, daughter of Mahlon Stacy, December 17th, 1702 ; she died in three years, leaving a son, Mahlon, and two daughters, who mar- ried Abel Janney, and Reuben Pownall. Joseph Kirkbride lived to become an influential and wealthy man, and a leading minister among Friends ; was a magistrate and member of assembly. He went to England in 1699, returning in 1701, visiting his old master in Cumberland and paying him for the services he had deprived him of, seventeen years before. He died in 1738, at the age of seventy- five. From his son Mahlon have descended all that bear his name in this county, and many elsewhere, and a numerous posterity in the female line. He married Mary, the daughter of John and Mary Sotcher, favorite servants of William Penn, at the age of twenty- one, and settled in Lower Makefield, where he built a stone man-

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

sion that stood until 1855, when torn down by a grandson of the same name. Colonel Joseph Kirkbride, who lived opposite Bor- dentown, and was prominent in the county during the Revolutionary struggle, was a grandson of the first Joseph, and son of the Joseph who married Sarah Fletcher, at Abington, in 1724. The British burnt Colonel Kirkbride's mansion in 1778.5 Mahlon Kirkbride, of Lower Makefield, has in his possession, and which came from the Penns through the Sotchers, a brass candlestick, an oaken chest, and the remains of Letitia Penn's cradle, in which most of the young Kirkbrides were rocked. Probably other Welcome passengers set- tled in this county, but in the absence of a list entirely correct, it is impossible to say who they were.6

Our readers must not lose sight of the actual condition of the country when Penn and his immigrant Friends planted themselves on the Delaware. If we except the clearing of an occasional Dutch- man, or Swede, or the few English settlers who had preceded the founder, what is now a cultivated and pleasing landscape, was then an unbroken wilderness. The river swarmed with fish of excellent flavor, and the forest was filled with game of various kinds, and much wild fruit, while the Indian roamed unrestrained. These exiles, from comfortable English homes, sat down in the woods. seeking the friendly shelter of a tree, a cave, or otherwise as best they could, until a rude cabin could be built ; and wild game and native corn, both the gift of the red man, often fed them and their family until trees were felled and crops raised. Those who located near streams had a never-failing supply of fish. Mills were rare and at a distance, and some even carried grain on their back to the Schuylkill.7 The country was without roads, and those who traveled followed bridle paths through the woods, or in canoes along the streams. Life was a stern, hard struggle, which the present, gener-

5 As early as 1718 the assembly established a ferry at Kirkbride's landing, which was afterward known as Bordentown ferry.

6 The first settlers brought with them certificates of good character from the meet- ings they belonged to, which, with the names of their parents, children and servants, the vessel they came in, and the time of their arrival, were entered in a book kept for the purpose by Phineas Pemberton, clerk of the court. Among the early settlers there is observed an almost entire absence of middle names. They had not yet come into use.

7 It is thought that had it not been for the Swedes and Hollanders, who preceded William Penn and his immigrants, some of whom had considerable farms, it would have been difficult for the first comers to subsist at all. The Friends owed much to the Swedes and Hollanders, who were the true pioneers.

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

ation, living in affluence and plenty, cannot realize. At first they had no plows, but used hoes instead, to break up the ground. In 1687 the crops failed on both sides of the river, and the settlers were put to great stress for food, some living on herbs until their neces- sities were relieved by the arrival of a vessel with corn from New England. Wild pigeons were in such abundance they furnished a supply of food, on several occasions, when other sources failed.

William Penn was very favorably impressed with the Swedes whom he found inhabiting the Delaware and its tributaries. He wrote to England flattering accounts of their treatinent of himself and the English colonists. He says they were principally given to husbandry, but had made a little progress in the propagation of fruit trees ; they were comely and strong of body ; have fine children and plenty of them ; and he sees "few young men more sober and industrious." Some contended that there was a "Swede's line," running from Upland through Philadelphia and part of Bucks, half a mile from the Delaware, marking the western boundary of land the Duke of York confirmed to the Swedes, and which Penn recog- nized. Penn recognized every grant confirmed by the Duke of York, but we have not been able to discover any evidence of a con- tinuous line that bore this name. Wherever mention is made of the "Swede's line," it has only reference to the line of the land owned by one of that race, or, as we might say, the "Dutchman's line," or the "Englishman's line." It was merely local to those places where the Swedes owned land that joined the land of other settlers. Holme's map shows no such line, nor have we ever met with it except when mentioned in an occasional old decd.

The virgin Pennsylvania must have impressed William Penn as a most charming land when he arrived upon its shores in 1682. Daniel Pastorious writes that Penn found the air so perfumed, that it seemed to him like an orchard in full bloom; that the trees and shrubs were everywhere covered with leaves, and filled with birds, which, by their beautiful colors and delightful notes proclaimed the praise of their Creator. A few years later Erik Biork concludes a letter by saying the country may justly be called "the land of Canaan." While William Penn's impressions of his new province were not so high-wrought, they were nevertheless equally significant. He is particular, in his description, of the fishes in the Delaware, and their excellence and abundance, stating that six thousand shad were taken at one draught, and sold at the doors of the settlers for

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

half a pence a piece ; and oysters two shillings per bushel. If to these accounts be added that of Gabriel Thomas, who arrived in 1681, in the first vessel after the purchase, and the letter of Mahlon Stacy, written in 1680, the most credulous will be satisfied that Penn's new province was a most charming country.

It was William Penn's policy, from the beginning, to extinguish the Indian title to his grant of Pennsylvania, by purchase. The price was insignificent when we consider the value of the land ; nevertheless it was such as was paid at that day. Although he had no authority, William Markham made the first purchase of what is Bucks county, July 15th, 1682, three months and a half before Penn's arrival, for which he paid a little wampum, a few blankets, guns, kettles, beads, fish-hooks, &c., &c. This tract had the fol- lowing metes and bounds, viz :-

"Beginning at a white-oak, on the land now in the tenure of John Wood, and by him called the Graystones, over against the falls of Delaware river, and from thence up the river side to a corner spruce tree, marked with the letter P. at the foot of the mountains, and from the said tree, along by the ledge or foot of the mountain west, southwest, to a corner white-oak, marked with the letter P. standing by the Indian path, that leads to an Indian town called Plawicky,8 and near the head of a creek, called Towsissink or Towisinick, and from thence westward to the creek called Neshami- neh, at the high rocks; and along by the said Neshamineh to the river Delaware, alias Makerickhickon (or Makerish-kitton), and so bounded by the said river, to the first-mentioned white-oak, in John Wood's land, with the several islands in the river, " &c. 9

These boundaries are well defined by nature, and easily traced. The place of starting was the riverside at Morrisville, where John Wood owned land and lived ; the tree at "the foot of the moun- tain," which marked the first corner, stood 104 perches above the mouth of Knowle's creek, which runs through Upper Makefield and empties into the Delaware below Brownsburg. The " mountain"

8 The exact location of the Indian town of "Plawicky" has not been definitely fixed. Dr. Smith, in his notes on Wrightstown, says that tradition has located its site on the land of Thomas Smith in that township, on the north side of the public road near the residence of Isaac Lacy, and above the line of the purchase. Here are two large and never-failing springs, and numerous Indian relics found in the neighborhood tend to confirm the tradition.

9 The islands mentioned in this purchase are Mattiniconk, Sapassinck, and Ores- kows.

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

followed in a southwesterly direction was the rocky ridge, now called Jericho hill, which extends nearly across Upper Makefield in a general southwest direction. When the course leaves the " moun- tain " it diverges to the westward, and runs in nearly a straight line to a corner white oak that stood on the land late of Moses Hampton, near the head of a creek about three-fourths of a mile north-east of Wrightstown meeting house.10 " Towsissink" creek is a branch of the Lahaska, which flows in a west, north-west course, and crosses the Pineville turnpike a little below the Anchor tavern. From the white oak the line runs west to the high rocks on Neshaminy, about half a mile below Chain bridge, crossing the Durham road near where it is intersected by the road from Pennsville. This pur- chase included all of the townships of Bristol, Falls, Middletown, Lower, and the greater part of Upper Makefield, Newtown, and a small portion of Wrightstown, the line running about half a mile from its southern boundary.

The next purchase of lands in this county was made by Penn in person, the 23d of June 1683, when the chiefs Essepenaike, Swam- poes, Okettarickon, and Wessapoak, for themselves, their heirs and assigns, conveyed to him all their lands, " lying between Pemma- pecka u and Neshenineh creeks, and all along upon Neshemineh 12 creeks, and backwards of the same, and to run two days journey with a horse up into the country." The same day the chief Tama- nen 13 and Metamequan released to Penn and his heirs the same ter- ritory, omitting the two days journey, but July 5th 1697, they confirmed this grant, including the " two days journey." The latter deed was acknowledged in open court at Philadelphia. This pur- chase included the townships of Bensalem, North and Southampton, Warminster, Warrington, and all west of the main branch of the Neshaminy. The purchase by Thomas Holmne in 1685 did not embrace any part of Bucks county, but probably touched us on the southwestern border after leaving the Pennypack up which the line ran from the Delaware.

It is alleged that a treaty was made with the Indians August 30th 1686, said to be the foundation for the " Walking Purchase," but such treaty or deed has never been found. By it, it is said the In- dians conveyed to Penn :-

10 Dr. Charles W. Smith.

11 Pennypack.

12 Neshaminy.

13 St. Tamany.

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

" All those lands lying and being in the province of Pennsylvania, beginning upon a line formerly laid out from a corner spruce tree, by the river Delaware, and from thence running along the ledge or the foot of the mountains west north-west (west south-west) to a corner white oak marked with the letter P. standing by the Indian path that leadeth to an Indian town called Playwiskey, and from thence extended westward to Neshaminy creek, from which said line, the said tract or tracts thereby granted doth extend itself back into the woods, as far as a man can go in one day and a half, and bounded on the westerly side with the creek called Neshaminy, or the most westerly branch thereof, and from thence by a line to the utmost extent of said creek one day and a half's journey to the aforesaid river Delaware, and thence down the several courses of the said river to the first mentioned spruce tree."

The Walking Purchase treaty was begun at Durham in 1734, where John and Thomas Penn met two of the Delaware chiefs, but nothing was done and they adjourned to meet at Pennsbury in May 1735.14 Here several other Delaware chiefs met the Proprietaries- but nothing conclusive was arrived at. In August, 1737, the nego- tiations were resumed at Philadelphia, and on the 25th and 26th was concluded what is known. as the Walking Purchase treaty, about which there has been so much controversy, and which after- ward gave great dissatisfaction to the Indians. This treaty confirms and ratifies the terms of that of August, 1686, and provides for the walk to be made by persons appointed for the purpose. The treaty was executed by four chiefs, and witnessed by twelve Indians and several whites. The purchases made under these various treaties included the present territory of Bucks county, with a greater part: of that within its ancient limits. One of the signers to the Walk- ing Purchase was Lappawinsoe, whose portrait hangs in the room of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, painted in this state in 1737, and presented by Granville John Penn. Logan speaks of him, in 1741, as "an honest old Indian." He was classed among the chiefs at the Forks of the Delaware, and Hackewelder says his name means " he is gone away gathering corn, nuts, or anything eatable."

14 Under date of 26th 2d mo., 1735, Steel writes to Nathan Watson "that he was disappointed that he had not already bought two fat cattle and some good sheep," for the Indians to assemble at the treaty at Pennsbury-and advises that he now sends him, by William Smith, " thirty pounds to buy two good midlin fat cattle, a score of good fat wether sheep, and some ewes and lambs," and direct him to send them to Pennsbury before the fifth day of next month.

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

The traditional account that Janney gives in his life of Penn, that the Proprietary, accompanied by some of his friends, began to walk out a purchase that was to extend up the Delaware " as far as a man could walk in three days ;" that when they reached a spruce tree in a day and a half, near the mouth of Baker's creek, Penn concluded he would want no more land at present. and ran a line from thence to the Neshaminy ; that they walked leisurely, after the Indian manner, sitting down sometimes to smoke their pipes, to eat biscuit and cheese, and drink a bottle of wine, is a pure myth, having no foundation in fact.

We present two autographs of the : great Tamanen or Tamany, which gives us some idea of the chirogra- phy of one of our leading aboriginal chieftains. The first was made in 1683, and is the chief's signature to the treaty of June 23, which Penn negotiated for the purchase of the land between the Pennypack and Neshaminy. The second is attached to the treaty of June 15th, 1692. In the meantime, probably the chieftian had changed his writing master, and been taught a more modern signature.

By virtue of the Royal Charter, Penn, and his heirs, were the absolute lords of the soil, after the Indian title was extinguished, and the officers of the land office were his agents. Large quantities of land were disposed of before he left England, to be surveyed afterward. One hundred pounds were paid for a full share, of five thousand acres, and 50s. quit-rent, which entitled the holder to one hundred acres in the city plat. Those who could settle six families were to get their land for nothing. In the conditions agreed upon, between Penn and the original purchasers, the 11th of July, 1681, it was stipulated " that in clearing the ground care should be taken to leave one acre of trees for every five acres cleared, especially to preserve mulberry and oak for silk and shipping." Before 1700 the usual method of granting land was by lease and re-lease, and the rent, generally, was a penny sterling per acre. The patent was to be issued when the purchase money was paid. The price of land increased as the country became more settled, and the quit-rents were slightly raised.

Technically speaking, there were never any manors in Pennsyl- vania, this name being given to the tenths set off for the Proprietary,

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

and other large surveys made for his use. There was never any attempt to enforce the customs of manorial courts, which would hardly have been tolerated by the court or the settlers.

Penn's Great Law of 1682 abolished the English law of pri- mogeniture, and allowed the real estate of an intestate to be divided among all his children ; and authorized the right of disposing of real estate by will, attested by two witnesses. But over and above all the other blessings of civil government that William Penn estab- lished west of the Delaware, was the absolute freedom to worship God, which stands out in marked contrast with the policy of the Puritan fathers. In the Great Law, was the following declara- tion : "Nor shall he or she at any time be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, contrary to his or her mind, but shall freely and fully enjoy his or her Christian liberty in that respect, without any interruption or reflection."

The population on the Delaware, at Penn's arrival, mostly Dutch and Swedes, and a few Fins, was estimated at three thousand. It rapidly increased. In all of 1682, twenty-three ships arrived, loaded with immigrants, and before the end of the next year over fifty vessels came freighted with passengers. By this time, societies were formed at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Louisberg, Bremen, Lubec, and other places in Germany, to open trade and send immigrants to Pennsylvania. The guiding spirit of this movement was Pastorius, of the free city of Windsheim, who brought over a number of Ger- man immigrants, in October, 1683, and settled them at German- town. The full fruits of the German movement will be seen in subsequent chapters.

The legislative branch of the new government was to consist of two houses, both elective by the people, the upper one of three mem- bers from each county, and the lower of six. Penn said to the set- tlers, " you shall be governed by- laws of your own making, and live a free, and if you will, a sober and industrious people."

At the first provincial assembly held at Philadelphia, in March, 1683, a number of acts were passed necessary to put Penn's govern- ment in operation. The country was divided into three counties, Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester, and their boundaries fixed, those of Bucks beginning " at ye river Delaware, at Poaquesson creek, and so to take in the Easterly side thereof, together with ye town- ships of Southampton and Warminster, and thence backwards."

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

The county was not called Bucks until some time after its boundaries were established. In a letter to the Free Society of Traders, writ- ten August 6th, 1683, six months after it had been formed, William Penn calls it " Buckingham." The name " Bucks" probably gradually grew into use in contradistinction to Buckingham. The boundary between Bucks and Philadelphia, which then included Montgomery, was about the same as we now find it. On the 23d of March the council ordered that the seal of Bucks county be a "Tree and Vine." A house of correction was ordered for each county, 24x16 feet, that for Bucks being located at Bristol. The poor, who received relief from the county with their families, were obliged to wear the letter P. made of red or blue cloth, with the first letter of the name of the place they inhabited, in a conspicuous place upon the shoulder of the right sleeve. In that day, it seems the unfortunate poor had no rights the authorities were bound to respect. At the same session several sumptuary laws were passed, forshadowing the desire of the new commonwealth to regulate per sonal matters between men. The county court was authorized to fix a price on linen and woolen cloth ; justices were to regulate wages of servants and women ; a meal of victuals was fixed at seven pence half-penny, and beer at a penny a quart ; the price of flax was fixed at 8d. per pound, and hemp at 5d. By act of 1684, flax, hemp, linen and woolen, the product of the county, were received in payment of debts. Each settler of three years was to sow a bushel of barley, and persons were to be punished who put water in rum.

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The history of Bucks County, Pennsylvania : from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Part 6

Author: Davis, W.W.H. (William Watts Hart), 1820-1910 Publication date: 1876 Publisher: Doylestown, Pa. : Democrat Book and Job Office Print Number of Pages: 976

Author: Davis, W.W.H. (William Watts Hart), 1820-1910
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Doylestown, Pa. : Democrat Book and Job Office Print
Number of Pages: 976