Bucks County PA Archives Biographies.....Van Buskirk, Jacob
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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
Milford Township


   JACOB VAN BUSKIRK retired, P.O. Steinsburg, was born in 
Rockhill township in 1816.  The founder of the family in 
this country was Laurens Andriessen Van Buskirk, who came 
from Holstein, Denmark, in 1655.  His name first appears in 
the records of New Amsterdam June 29, 1656, in a deed for a 
lot on Broad street.  He was then unmarried.  He was by 
trade a turner, but afterward became a draper.  He was a man 
of more than ordinary ability and soon acquired great 
influence among his neighbors.  To him belongs the honor of 
holding the first commission to administer the coroner's 
inquest law in the county of Bergen, N. J. Laurens Van 
Buskirk, second son of Laurens Andriessen, came into the 
county of Bucks from Bergen, N. J., and bought a large tract 
of land in Hilltown township, in 1707.  Jacob, the 
great-grandfather of our subject, was married in 1727 and 
was the father of five children.  Jacob, the fourth son, 
born in 1739, was a Lutheran minister.  He married Anna 
Maria Hollenbach, of Montgomery county, this state, in 1764. 
 Thomas, the youngest child of this union, was born in 1791, 
and was a tanner by trade, married Catherine Schlichter, of 
Sellersville, this county, in 1813, and five children were 
born to them.  The father died in 1828 and two of the 
children died in infancy.  Jacob, our subject, was the 
oldest son.  He attended school in Rockhill, Pottstown, 
Montgomery county, and Quakertown, this county, and learned 
his father's trade, that of a tanner and currier.  His 
father was a learned man in his time.  Six years after his 
marriage, Mr. Van Buskirk came to Steinsburg and carried on 
his trade here for fifteen years.  In 1841 he married Miss 
Livy Apple, of Springfield township.  They had three 
children.  Thomas, the oldest son, a tanner by trade, was 
married to Lucretia Hilman, at Bethlehem, in 1863; and has 
two sons:  Samuel and Frank.  James, the second son of 
Jacob, is a graduate of the Jefferson Medical college, of 
Philadelphia, and a practicing physician in that city, and 
is married to Leonore Hillegas, of Philadelphia.  Albert, 
the youngest son, died at the age of 21 years.  Samuel Van 
Buskirk, son of Thomas and grandson of Jacob, is also a 
graduate of Jefferson Medical college.  Mr. Van Buskirk has 
resided in Steinsburg since 1847, and during his long life 
has held various positions of trust.  In 1862 he was 
appointed to make the enrollment of militia in Milford 
township for the civil war.  In 1870 he took the census for 
Milford township and for three years was jury commissioner.  
He was postmaster for twenty years and is a director of the 
Perkiomen National bank, East Greenville, Montgomery county. 
 Judged by his long business life he is looked on as a good, 
upright man, and has been a life-long advocate of the 
temperance cause.