Bucks County PA Archives Biographies.....Alburger, William B.
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joe Patterson, Patricia Bastik & Susan Walters Dec 2009

Source: History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania; edited by 
J.H. Battle; A. Warner & Co.; 1887
Bensalem Township


WILLIAM B. ALBURGER P.O. Andalusia, was born in Philadelphia 
October 10, 1818, and is a son of Philip and Elizabeth (St. 
Clair) Alburger, natives of Philadelphia, the former of 
German and the latter of English descent.  Philip Alburger 
was a farmer residing in Lower Dublin township (now 23rd 
ward, Philadelphia), and was a soldier in the war of 1812.  
His family consisted of four sons and one daughter, of whom 
William B. is the oldest.  He was reared in Philadelphia and 
received his education in the city of Alexandria.  He came 
to Bucks county in 1844 and followed the occupation of a 
farmer.  He purchased a hotel and farm in the upper part of 
Bensalem township where he resided until 1863, when he 
removed to Andalusia and has resided there ever since.  He 
was commissioned by Governor Bigler June 22, 1854, major of 
the First regiment, first brigade, second division of the 
uniformed militia composed of the counties of Bucks, 
Montgomery, and Delaware, and on the 6th of June, 1858, was 
appointed aid to Governor Packer with the rank of 
lieutenant-colonel.  He is surveyor and appraiser of the 
Line-Lexington Insurance Company.  In politics he is a 
Jeffersonian democrat.  He served two terms as postmaster in 
the legislature and one term as door-keeper in the state 
senate, and ten years as assessor of the township.  He was 
married in 1842 to Mary Louisa, daughter of Edward and Sarah 
A. (Willett) Parry.  Her grandfather was General Augustin 
Willett, who served in the revolution.  Their children are 
Eliza M. and Emma Virginia.  General Willett was born in 
Bucks county in 1751, and was the son of Samuel and 
Elizabeth (Lawrence) Willett, of English descent.  He 
married Elizabeth Hicks, daughter of Gilbert and Mary 
(Rodman) Hicks, of Attleborough (now Langhorne).  At the 
outbreak of the war he raised a company at this own expense 
in the lower end of Bucks county.  He was with Arnold's 
division in that terrible march to Quebec in the winter of 
1775.  From captain he rose to the command of a regiment as 
lieutenant-colonel, and was a faithful and efficient 
officer.  He was in the battles of White Plains, Monmouth, 
Trenton, and Brandywine and Germantown, and was commissioned 
brigadier-general in the peace establishment.  He was a man 
of tall stature.  He had a favorite colored servant named 
Priam, who was with his master in the army and accompanied 
him in all his goings, always on horseback.  He belonged to 
the Bristol Masonic Lodge, organized March 15, 1780.  He was 
one of the men of the age that tried men's souls and did his 
state good service in his day and generation.  He died in 
the year 1824, honored and respected by all who knew him.  
Elizabeth, his wife, was born in 1755 and died May 24, 1833. 
 They had eight daughters and two sons, viz:  Mary, 
Elizabeth, Abigail, Horatio G., Joseph R., Sarah ., 
Margaret, Euphemia, Grace, and Lydia.  The Willett homestead 
stood along the Valley run not far beyond the Neshaminy 
creek, at Oakford, on the road leading from Langhorne, in 
the township of Bensalem.  The plantation at the time of his 
death was divided into farms for his children.  All have now 
passed into the hands of strangers except one farm of 100 
acres where the buildings stand.  His descendants still live 
there.  His great-grandson and namesake is now serving as a 
member of the state legislature.