USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > The history of Bucks County, Pennsylvania : from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time > Part 74
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88
Nearly one-half of this grant was located in central Bucks county, in what are now the townships of New Britain, Doylestown, and Warwick. It originally contained eight thousand six hundred and twelve acres, and its north-east boundary ran along the line of Doylestown, Buckingham and Plumstead, eleven hundred and sixty- eight perches, or nearly three and three-quarters miles, which would
789.
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
bring its north-east corner pretty well up to the line of Plumstead and Hilltown, and it probably included part of the latter township. The upper line from the north-east corner ran south-west for the distance of four miles. The area was twice reduced while held by the company, first by twelve hundred and thirty-two acres being taken off on the north-west side, and afterward in 1706 another slice, of two thousand three hundred and ninety acres, was cut off on the north-eastern and south-western sides, leaving four thousand nine hundred and eighty-four acres. About 1726 the remainder of the tract was authorized, by an act of assembly, to be sold by trustees. At the sale Jeremiah Langhorne bought two thousand acres, of which seven hundred lay in Warwick township, including all that part of the borough of Doylestown east of Court street.
The Penns caused a large tract to be laid off to them in the north- west part of the county, afterward called the manor of Richlands, which embraced the greater part of the township of Richland and portions of neighboring townships. The original survey was made by John Cutler and John Chapman, but the date is not known. It was afterward surveyed by Nicholas Scull, the 3d of September, 1735, by virtue of a warrant dated March 5th, 1734, probably when the land was divided for sale and settlement. The contents, according to the original survey, were sixteen thousand seven hundred and forty-nine acres, but when five thousand seven hundred and thirty-six acres had been sold, and ten thousand five hundred and seventy-seven returned as unsold, there appeared a deficit of four hundred and thirty-six acres, which was supposed to arise from too large surveys. There does not appear to have been any attempt, by the Penns, to hold and cultivate this tract, for it was only a manor in name, and it was thrown open for settlement as soon as the condition of things warranted it. The first sale of this land was made December 10th, 1738, to John Bright, of one hundred and seventy-four acres and eighty perches, and it was gradually brought into market, and down to February 16th, 1775, there were fifty-six purchasers, in quantities ranging from three hundred and thirteen acres down to thirty-three acres. Four tracts were sold between 1785 and 1788, which make up all the transfers that we can find of record. The heaviest pur- chaser was Hugh Foulke, three hundred and thirteen acres and eighty perches.
The manor of Perkasie, a tract of ten thousand acres, lying in the townships of Rockhill and Hilltown, was granted by William Penn,
790
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
October 25th, 1701, to Samuel Carpenter, Edward Pennington and Isaac Norris, in trust. The trustees granted it to John Penn, when it became known as "John Penn's manor of Perkasie, in the county of Bucks." Afterward, by deed of partition, it was divided among the three sons and daughters of William Penn, each one getting the allotment of a fourth part, or twenty-five hundred acres. When an effort was made in 1759 to raise funds for the institution that has since grown into the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Penn. besides a liberal donation in money, conveyed to the " trustees of the college, academy, and charitable school of Phila- delphia," the whole of his one-fourth part of Perkasie. The deed contained several restrictions. The fee could not be disposed of, nor could the property be leased for a longer term than ninety-nine years, or three lives in being. The college was obliged to educate and clothe two students to be nominated by Penn or his assigns, as follows : To educate them when the income reached £50 annually, to clothe one of them with a £100 income, and to clothe both when it reached £200. The cost of clothing was not to exceed £25 each, annually. In default of these conditions the land was to revert to Penn and his heirs. At the time of its conveyance the rental was but £45. When the institution received a new charter from the legislature, in 1806, under the name of the "University of Penn- sylvania," John Penn, the son of Thomas, was asked to release the new corporation of the restrictions in the deed, which he cheerfully complied with, and a new conveyance, in fee simple, was executed to the university. The remainder of these manor lands was sold to settlers, and in the course of a few years passed out of the Penn family. Besides these Perkasie lands, the university owned real estate in Tinicum and Middletown, which was confiscated in 1779 and 1785, and were granted to it by the legislature. In all, it owns about three thousand acres in the county. We have seen no esti- mate of its value since 1835, when it was set down as being worth sixty-four thousand five hundred and ninety-four dollars.
About 1695, Thomas Holme, the surveyor-general, laid off for William Penn a tract of about seven thousand acres, more or less, in vacant territory north of Makefield, which fell principally in what is now Upper Makefield, but extended into the edge of Solebury and the eastern part of Wrightstown. This was called the manor of Highlands. There is evidence that Penn intended to keep this for his children, and he complained to James Logan that the greater
791
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
part of this tract had been taken up by " encroachers," as he called them. This probably induced him to sell it, and thus get rid of the trouble of keeping squatters off of it. In 1709 he conveyed five thousand acres to three gentlemen of London, Tobias Collet, Daniel Quere, and Henry Goldney, who were known as the London company, the survey being made the 19th of August, by Thomas Fairman, by virtue of a warrant dated April 17th. When re-surveyed in 1756, by John Watson, the lines were found to run nearly with those of the first survey. The western line abutted on Wrightstown, the southern was about the present boundary between the two Makefields, and the Delaware the eastern boundary. The map of these lands, taken from Fairman's survey of 1709, differs from that of 1756 in the names of land-owners. On the latter we have, outside the London company's tract, within and immediately adjoining it, John Pidcock, five hundred and eight acres, and next, on the west, Thomas Ross two hundred and thirty, Jeffrey Burges and William Blackfan. William Smith owned a tract next the one marked by John Clark. Inside the London tract are marked J. H. forty-four acres, Matthias Harvey one hundred acres, on the Delaware, Sam- uel Baker five hundred and fifty-two acres, Henry Baker one hundred, S. B. one hundred acres, all in the south-west corner. The manor lands not included in the London company's grant were brought into the market and sold to settlers.
The London company owned a large tract in Tinicum, besides grants elsewhere. In 1750 Parliament authorized the sale of all the company's land, and John Fothergill, Daniel Zachary, Thomas How, Devereaux Bowly, Luke Hinde, Richard How, Jacob Hagen, Silva- nus Grove, and William Heron, of London, were appointed trustees, who constituted Jacob Cooper, Samuel Shoemaker, and Joshua Howell, of Pennsylvania, their attorneys to sell. A good deal of their land in the manor of Highlands had already been sold to individual purchasers, and in several instances their descendants still own the whole or part, but the remainder of the land was sold by the company's attorneys. In November, 1761, two hundred and thirty-seven acres were bought at public sale, by William Smith, of Wrightstown, for £713. 15s. The company owned some twenty-five hundred acres in Tinicum, part of which had been already disposed of, and of the remainder, fifteen hundred and sixty-eight acres, were purchased by Arthur Erwin at the trustees' sale. It is impossible to determine the correct number of acres of the London company in
792
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Tinicum, as the deed is not on record, but they were not fewer than- we have given. Five thousand acres of the Free Society of Traders tract was in Durham, which came into the possession of the Durham company at its first purchase.
793
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
CHAPTER LI.
NEGRO SLAVERY IN BUCKS COUNTY.
First slaves on the Delaware .- Penn a slave-holder .- Slaves in Bucks .- Slaves' graveyard,-Mingo .- Friends favor their freedom .- Action of yearly meeting, and the council .- Practice to liberate slaves .- Samuel Hart .- Slavery abolished. -Number of slaves held and where .- Distribution of slaves .- All registered .- But few among Germans .- Age of slaves .- Matthew Hughes .- Slaves gradually decrease .- Priam. - Alice. - Jack .- Old slave-woman. - Margaret. - Under- ground railroad .- Big Ben .- Redemptioners .- Lord Altham .- Peter William- son .- English indentured servants .- Apprenticeship.
NEGRO slavery was introduced into Pennsylvania by the early Holland settlers. We find negroes on the west bank of the Dela- ware as early as 1636, but neither their number nor location is given. In 1639 one Coinclisse was sentenced to serve " along with the blacks," besides paying a fine for wounding a soldier. In 1657 Vice-director Alricks was complained of " for using the company's oxen and negroes ;" and five years afterward Vice-director Beek- man wants Governor Stuyvesant to " accommodate him with a com- pany of negroes," which he needs. These negroes were slaves, for at that time black men, everywhere, were in bondage.
Long before the arrival of William Penn the English and Dutch were actively engaged in the African slave-trade, which the demand for labor in this and adjoining colonies made profitable. It was under the protection of the English government, and he had no control over it. A number of slaves came into the possession of the Quaker immigrants, and even the great founder himself was a slave- holder, but we venture nothing in saying that he was a kind master. Negro slavery in Pennsylvania was always of a mild type, and slaves
794
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
were well-treated when they behaved themselves. Hector St. John writing of negro slavery just before the Revolutionary war, says : "In Pennsylvania they enjoy as much liberty as their masters, are as well fed and as well clad, and in sickness are tenderly taken care of, for, living under the same roof, they are in effect a part of the family. Being the companions of their labors, and treated as such, they do not work more than ourselves, and think themselves happier than many of the lower class of whites." Nevertheless the police regu- lations were necessarily severe. When slaves were found abroad without passes they were taken up and imprisoned to await recla- mation by their owners, but if not claimed they were sold at public sale to defray expenses.
Negro slaves were held in this county as early as 1684, and no doubt earlier. In that year, among the goods of William Pomfret levied upon to satisfy a debt due Gilbert Wheeler, of Falls, was "one man." In June, 1685, William Penn, hearing that James Harrison, then engaged in erecting his manor-house, had great dif- ficulty in retaining laborers, wrote him : " It were better they were blacks, for then we might have them for life." He writes to Har- rison, December 4th, same year: "The blacks of Captain Allen I have as good as bought, so part not with them without my order." Penn was careful to provide for the freedom of his slaves at his death. On the eve of his return to England, in 1701, he made a will liberating those in Pennsylvania, which he left with James Logan. To " old Sam" he bequeathed " one hundred acres of land, to be his children's after he and his wife are dead, forever." At that time the prejudice of Friends was so strong that they would not allow slaves to be buried in the same enclosure with themselves. In 1703 Middletown monthly meeting appointed Robert Heaton and Thomas Stackhouse to fence off a portion of the ground to bury negroes in. In 1738 that meeting forbade the burying of negroes in their ground. Indian slaves were imported into the colony from the Carolinas before 1709, and a few were held in this county. In February of that year the council took action in the case of an Indian boy, called Mingo, who had been brought into the province contrary to law. James Heaton, of this county, who claimed some property in him, was cited to bring him before the council.
Friends were not only the first to advocate the abolition of slav- ery, but the first to ameliorate the condition of the negroes while in bondage. The German Friends at Germantown urged its aboli-
795
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
tion as early as 1688, an hundred years before it was brought about, and in 1693 the meeting of Philadelphia counseled Friends only " to buy to set free." An article in the corporation of the Free Society of Traders provides that, "if the society should receive blacks for servants, they shall make them free at fourteen years," on certain conditions. As this charter was granted by Penn it shows his early disposition to ameliorate their hard fate. At his suggestion a meeting was appointed for negroes in 1700, and about that time he introduced a bill into the legislature "for regulating negroes in their morals and marriages." In 1705 an act was passed for the trial and punishment of negroes, lashes were inflicted for petty offenses, and death for crimes of magnitude. They were not allowed to carry a gun, under a penalty of twenty-one lashes, nor were four to meet together, and they were liable to be whipped if found abroad after nine o'clock at night, without a pass. They were tried by a tribunal composed of two justices and a jury of six freeholders. In 1723 an act was passed to prevent blacks and whites marrying.
In 1696 the yearly meeting advised Friends not " to encourage the bringing in of any more negroes," and recommended that they " be careful of them, bring them to meeting, and have meetings with them in their families." In 1700 the provincial council passed an act forbidding the importation of slaves, but the privy council annulled it, as they did a subsequent act imposing a fine of £20 on each slave brought into the province. As the century wore on, the assembly tried in vain to get rid of the slave trade, but the English government was with it, and the spirit of trade was against its aboli- lition. At the Falls monthly meeting, August, 1730, a proposition was entertained from the Chester quarterly, whether Friends should not be prohibited buying negroes when imported, as they were re- strained importing them, and after debate it was referred to the respective quarterly meetings.
It was quite common for Bucks county masters to liberate their slaves by will, and some followed Penn's example and made pro- vision for their support. Jeremiah Langhorne, who died in Middle- town, in 1742, provided in his will for the freedom of all his slaves, between thirty and forty in number. Colonel Henry Wynkoop, of Northampton, set all his slaves free a few years before his death in 1816, but they refused to leave the homestead. It was the cus- tom to advertise them for sale like other property. In 1751 James
796
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Gilkyson, of Southampton, advertised his farm and two slaves at public sale. When they ran away a reward was offered for their apprehension, and in 1818, Garret Vanartsdalen, of Northamp- ton township, offered five dollars reward for his negro 'slave " Bill," who was " well set, and of a good appearance." He an- nounces that " he may be purchased at a reasonable price." Most farmers had one or more, and some held several. The men were relied on for out-door work, and the women for in-doors, and at one time or another slaves were found in nearly every household that could afford them. The late Samuel Hart, in a communication to the Pennsylvania Historical Society, in 1845, says : " From fifty to sixty years ago, I could stand on a corner of my father's farm, (twenty miles from Philadelphia, on the Old York road,) command- ing an extensive view of a country beautifully situated, and naturally of excellent quality, and from that spot I could count sixteen farm- houses, and in every house were slaves more or less." Under the operation of the abolition law, the slaves gradually disappeared.
About the time of the Revolution Friends took more advanced ground against slavery. In 1776 the yearly meeting adopted a minute directing the monthly meetings to disown those who held slaves, and subordinate meetings appointed committees to carry out these views. The report of the Bucks quarterly in 1777, says: " Some have complied so far as to give those they had in bondage their liberty, by instruments of writing under their hands and seals, but there are others who still persist in holding them as slaves." In 1778 Sarah Growden and Joseph Lovett, both members of Falls meeting, were dealt with because they refused to set their negroes free. The efforts of Friends aud others opposed to negro slavery were finally crowned with success, and by act of assembly, of March 1st, 1780, the institution was abolished in Pennsylvania. The act provided, among other things, that all slaves then in the state should be registered before the 1st of November, 1782. The owners of slaves in this county complied promptly with the law, and as a failure to register worked the forfeiture of the slaves, no doubt the number put on record is correct. The whole number registered in the prothonotary's office at Newtown, was five hun- dred and twenty.
As a matter of interest to the present generation, we give the names of the registered owners in Bucks county, with the number of slaves and the townships in which they lived:
797
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
BRISTOL .- John Clark, 8; Joseph Mc- Ilvaine, 7 ; William Coxe, 4; George Gil- lespie, 3; William Walton, 7; Joseph Lovett, 3; Abraham Britton, 1; John Barnley, 2; Cornelius Vancourt, 1; Isaac Wykoff, 5 .- 41.
BRISTOL BOROUGH .- William McIl- vaine, 6; Charles Bessonett, 1; Archi- bald McElroy, 2; Joshua Wright, 2; Christian Minnick, 5; Joseph Brown, 1; William Brodnax, 2; Timothy Merrick, 1; John Dowdney, 3 .- 23.
BEDMINSTER .- Robert Robinson, 1 .- 1.
BUCKINGHAM .- Adam Barr, 4; Wil- liam Bennet, 4 .- 8.
BENSALEM .- Joseph Vandygrift, 2; John Swift, 7; James Benezet, 6; Isaac Larrew, 1; Richard Rue, 7; William Rodman, 6; John Kidd, 10; Elizabeth Vanartsdalen, 5; John Vandygrift, 3; Henry Limebacker, 1; Abraham Larrew, 2 ; David Dungan, jr., 2; James Vanarts- dalen, 2; Lawrence Johnson, 1; Samuel Benezet, 1; Augustin Willett, 1; Matthias Fenton, 2; Harman Vansant, 1; Daniel Severns, 1; Abraham Vandygrift, 5 .- 66.
DURHAM .- James Morgan, 7 ; Richard Backhouse, 3 .- 10.
FALLS .- Daniel Larrew, 5; Samuel Richardson, 1; Sarah Haney, 2; Thomas Riche, 19; Thomas Barclay, 11 .- 38.
NEW BRITAIN .- Joseph Grier, 1; John Grier, 2; James Grier, 1; William Rob- erts, 1; Thomas Hockley, 2; Robert Shewell, 2 .- 9.
WARWICK .- Thomas West, 1; John Ramsey, 4; John Grier, 1; John Jami- son, 1; John Carr, 3; Hugh Mearns, 1; Joshua Dungan, 3; Hugh Ramsey, 1; Ann Brady, 1; Jonathan Dungan, 3; William Ramsey, 1 .- 20.
WRIGHTSTOWN .- Joseph Sacket, 1; William Thompson, 6 .- 7.
WARMINSTER .- Isaac Beans, 2; Rob- ert Miller, 1; Estate of John Earle, 3; Joseph Hart, 5; Joseph Hart, 1; Thomas Craven, 9 .- 21.
WARRINGTON .- Andrew Long, 1; Na- thaniel Erwin, 3; Richard Walker, 5; William Long, 1; Abraham Hollas, 1 .- 11.
MILFORD .- George Hillegas, 1 .- 1.
NORTHAMPTON .- Clement Dungan, 2; Gilliam Cornell, 9; Elias Dungan, 6; Phoebe Spear, 1; Charles Garrison, 3; Richard Leedom, 1; Gerardus Wyn- koop, 1; Derrick Kræsen, 6; Gilliam Cornell, jr., 4; George Parsons, 6; Ann Lefferts, 9; Henry Wynkoop, 10; Cath- arine Tenant, 7 ; Helena DuBois, 1 ; John Kræsen, 4; David Dungan, 2; James Edams, 2; Enoch Marple, 1; Rem Cor- nell, 4; William Bennet, 4; Isaac Ben- net, 2; Jacob Bennet, 1; John Bennet, 2; David Feaster, 1; Mary Corson, 2; Ar- thur Lefferts, 3; Isaac Bennet, 1; Isaac Vanhorne, 1; Jeremiah Dungan, jr., 2; John Hegeman, 2; Joseph Fenton, 2 .- 101.
MIDDLETOWN .- Richard Rue, 8; An- thony Tate, 3; James Boyd, 4; Daniel Larrew, jr., 3; Gershom Johnson, 1 .- 19.
LOWER MAKEFIELD .- John Jones, 3 ; Wheeler Clark, 1; Joshua Anderson, 1 ; Richard Stillwell, 2; James Winder, 4; Thomas Yardley, 9; John Duer, 4; James Jolly, 1; Peter Vansant, 5 .- 30.
UPPER MAKEFIELD .- Bernard Van- horne, 1; Robert Grigg, 1 .- 2.
NEWTOWN .- Hannah Harris, 11; Sam- uel Yardley, 4; Lamb Torbert, 1; Mar- garet Strickland, 3; Martha Murray, 1; Peter Lefferts, 2; Thomas Buckman, 1 .- 23.
PLUMSTEAD .- William Hart, 1; Jo- seph Thomas, 1; James Ruckman, 1 .- 3.
SOUTHAMPTON .- Wilhelmus Cornell, 4; Arthur Watts, 2; Derrick Hogeland, 3; Nicholas Vanartsdalen, 3; Jacob Van- sant, 2; Simon Vanartsdalen, 3; Nicholas Vanzant, 3; Jacob Vandike, 8; Thomas Folwell, 1; John Fenton, 2; Derrick Kræsen, 4; Jonathan Willett, 6 .- 41.
TINICUM .- William Davis, 1; Robert Ramsey, 1; Nicholas Patterson, 5; Wil- liam McIntyre, 1; Alexander Mitchel, 3; Thomas Stewart, 1; Thomas Ramsey, 1; Robert Stewart, 1; Arthur Irwin 6 .- 20.
Registered without residence : Joseph Thornton, 4; Elizabeth Praul, 1 ; children of Langhorne Biles, 4; Hugh Tombs, 8; John Praul, 7; Francis Wilson, 1 .- 25.
798
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
The distribution of the slave population in Bucks county, in 1780, is worth a moment's consideration. It was concentrated in twenty townships and one borough, and there were no slaves held in Spring- field, Hilltown, or Rockhill. As a rule they were the most numerous in the townships settled by Hollanders, namely : Northampton had one hundred and one, nearly one-fifth of the whole, while three- fourths of the forty-one in Southampton were owned by descendants of the same race, and one-third of the sixty-six in Bensalem. The
largest individual slave-holder was Thomas Riche, of Falls, who owned nineteen, while in the townships where the Friends were the most numerous, namely : Falls, Middletown, Lower and Upper Makefield, Bristol borough and township, and Wrightstown, there were one hundred and sixty-three, nearly one-third of the whole. But few slaves were owned in townships settled by the Baptists and Presbyterians, namely : Warminster, Warwick, Warrington, New Britain, Newtown and Bedminster. In all the German townships, including Durham, which was hardly one at that day, there were but thirty-two slaves. This indicates that the Germans were averse to the institution, and true to their Teutonic ancestors' love of per- sonal liberty. Six of the seven owned by James Morgan, of Dur- ham, are reported " supposed to be in New York with the enemy." The age, as well as the name, was registered. We find the oldest to be eighty-two years, owned by Peter Vansant, of Lower Makefield, and named "Richard Gibbs," while the youngest was four months. Few of them, male or female, were above the age of forty-five, and only one was above seventy. From this it might be argued that the mild type of slavery in Bucks county was not conducive to long life. After this period a slave was occasionally manumitted by his master and turned out into the world to shift for himself. This was done by deed under seal and properly acknowledged. Thus, May 23d, 1787, Smith Price, "of the township of Plumstead, store- keeper," freed his female slave Esther, "about twenty-five years of age." The same day Nathaniel Ellicott, of Buckingham, set free his slave woman Rachel McDaniel; the 5th of April, 1788, Anthony Burton, of Bristol township, set free seven slaves, probably all he owned; the 24th of June, 1809, William Rodman, of Bensalem, set free his negro woman Rosetta Grant and her two children. There has fallen under our notice a deed of sale for a "certain mulatto woman slave, called Nance, aged twenty years or thereabouts," by David Kinsey, administrator of David Kinsey, of Solebury, deceased,
799
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
executed February 25th, 1761. The last recorded case of manumis- sion in this county is that of Ann Bering, of Doylestown township, "but late from Charleston, South Carolina," who, on the 9th of December, 1824, set free two girls aged ten and eight years, and a boy aged six, on condition that they bind themselves by indenture to serve the said Ann Bering, her leirs and assigns, until twenty- eight years of age, which was recorded August 13th, 1830. Mat- thew Hughes, born in Buckingham in 1733, has the credit of being the first person to move a law in the assembly, while he was a member for this county, for the abolition of slavery in Pennsylvania. He died at nearly an hundred, and was buried in the Buckingham graveyard.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.