Bucks County PA Archives Biographies.....Kirk, Charles
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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
Warminster Township


   CHARLES KIRK retired, P.O. Johnsville, is the oldest male 
resident in the township, as well as one of the best known 
citizens. His ancestors were of English origin, his 
great-great-grandfather, John Kirk, coming here in 1686 from 
Derbyshire, England, settling in Upper Darby, then Chester 
county, now Delaware county. In 1687 he married Joan Ellet 
and had eleven children. He died in 1705 and his wife 
remarried and lived thirty years later. His second son, 
John, was the great-grandfather of Charles. He settled in 
Abington township in 1712, where he purchased two hundred 
acres of land for $260, subsequently buying five hundred 
acres more adjoining on which Dreshertown now stands. In 
1722 he married Sarah, daughter of Rynear Tyson, one of the 
German Friends. He was a mason and built the Park house for 
Governor Keith. He also built in 1735 a large stone house, 
remodeled in 1832, and yet in possession of the family. His 
son Jacob was grandfather of Charles. He and his twin 
brother, Isaac, lived on adjoining farms and each passed the 
age of 90 years, Jacob being 93 and dying in the house in 
which he had been born in 1735. His death occurred in 1829. 
 His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of John Cleaver, of 
Bristol township, who died several years prior to her 
husband. Their children were:  Jesse, Sarah, Elizabeth, 
Jacob, Isaac and John, all deceased. Jacob, the father of 
Charles, was born in Abington township on the original 
homestead 9th mo., 23rd, 1769. He married Rebecca, daughter 
of Charles and Phebe Iredell, of Horsham township, in 1792. 
She was born 10th mo., 19th, 1772. Jacob Kirk died in 1830. 
 His wife died 9th mo., 6th, 1816. Their children were:  
Phebe, Sarah, Ruth, Rebecca, Aaron, Samuel, Elizabeth, 
Hannah, Abraham, and Rachel, all deceased. The only 
survivor is Charles, who was born 12th mo., 10th, 1800, on 
the part of the old homestead inherited by his father. His 
occupation has been that of a farmer. On his marriage he 
began farming for himself in Bristol township, Philadelphia 
county, and in 1841 he bought and removed to the farm in 
this township, which has since been his home. He has been 
twice married, his first wife being Elizabeth, daughter of 
Jonathan and Hannah Conard, of Horsham, Montgomery county, 
to whom he was married on 12th mo., 13th, 1827. She was 
born 3rd mo., 6th, 1798, and died 10th mo., 6th, 1871. To 
their union two children were born. Mr. Kirk's second wife 
is Harriet E., daughter of Nehemiah and Eliza Boisnard 
Stockly, of Accomac county, Va. She was born 3rd mo., 
16th, 1818. They have no issue. Mr. Kirk's two children 
are:  William J., who was born 5th mo., 5th, 1832, and is 
married to Elizabeth, daughter of Watson and Margaret H. 
Twining, of this township, and Hannah C., who was born 11th 
mo., 21st, 1838, and is the wife of Samuel Davis, of this 
township. Mr. Kirk is emphatically a self-made man, who, by 
perseverance and industry, has accumulated a competence. In 
the neighborhood in which so many of his years have been 
spent many true stories have been told of his 
self-sacrifice, generosity and disinterestedness. Of 
unblemished honesty and integrity he is held in the highest 
esteem by all who know him. He has been guardian, executor 
and administrator of many estates, his neighbors insisting 
on his accepting the trusts. Like his ancestors Mr. Kirk is 
a consistent and intelligent member of the Society of 
Friends, crossing the mountains six times on religious 
duties. He was for many years an overseer and has long been 
an elder of the Horsham monthly meeting. The fruits of such 
a life as Mr. Kirk has spent are not alone gathered in this 
world. On the 5th of 12th month, 1853, Mr. Kirk took his 
horses and carriage and accompanied Elizabeth Newport and 
her companion on a mission of gospel love to the 
slaveholders. With the exception of Harper's Ferry and 
Charlestown they held religious meetings in every town and 
village from the northern part of Baltimore county, Md., 
through Western Virginia and into Kentucky as far as 
Greenupsburg. At Maysville, Kentucky, he was relieved by 
others from further service and he proceeded by steamboat to 
Pittsburg and from there to his home in his own conveyance. 
It was a noble feeling that caused Mr. Kirk to visit the 
southern part of our country and plead for the poor and 
oppressed and endeavor in the peaceable spirit of the gospel 
to convince those who held their fellow-men in bondage of 
the wrong they were committing. Mr. Kirk says:  ÒHad it not 
been that we had continued evidence of divine care and that 
the Good Spirit was ever near to aid us it would have been 
impossible for us to have endured either physically or 
spiritually the trials through which we had to pass.