THE HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CHAPTER VII, THE ORGANIZATION OF TOWNSHIPS, 1692. from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time by W. W. H. Davis, A.M., Democrat Book and Job Office Print., Doylestown, PA, 1876. Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Donna Bluemink. dbluemink@cox.net USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Transcriber's note: Liberty has been taken with numbering footnotes so as to include all footnotes from both the 1876 and 1905 editions, plus any additional text and pictures in the 1905 edition. All 1905 material will be noted with an asterisk. Note: Where names differ, the 1905 edition spelling is applied. ___________________________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER VII THE ORGANIZATION OF TOWNSHIPS FALLS 1692 Organization of townships. -Reservations. -Jury appointed. -Five townships ordered. - Falls. -Its early importance. -First settlers, John Acreman, Richard Ridgeway, William Biles. -Meeting established. -First marriage. -Meeting-house built. - The discipline. -Pennsbury. -Mary Becket. The charities of Falls. -Earliest ferry. -The Croziers. -Kirkbrides. -General Jacob Brown. His appointment. Anna Lee. Fox Hunter John Brown. -Manor Baptist church. -Falls library. -Old graveyards. -Cooper homestead. -Charles Ellet. -Joseph White. Isaac Irvins. -The swamp. - Indian field. -Roads. -Villages. -Surface of township. -Crow-scalps. - Population. -Bile's island. The organization of townships, with an account of the pioneers who settled them, and thus transformed the native forest into productive farms, opened roads and built houses, with a sketch of their gradual expansion and growth in the elements of civilization, are the most interesting portion of a county's history. It is related in one of his biographies, that when William Penn sailed on his return voyage to England, in 1684, the province was divided into twenty-two townships; but this cannot refer to Bucks county, for her boundaries were not yet fixed, nor were townships laid our until eight years afterward (1). There is evidence that William Penn intended to lay out this county according to a system of townships that would have given them much greater symmetry in shape than they now present; and bounded by right lines like the three rectangular townships on the Montgomery border, with an area of about five thousand acres each. In 1687 he directed that one-tenth of each township, with all the Indian fields (2), should be reserved to him; but this reservation was not observed, and the plan of laying out right-angled townships was abandoned. There were no legal subdivisions in this county earlier than 1692, although for the convenience of collecting taxes and other municipal purposes, limits and names had already been given to many of the settlements. At the December term, 1690, the following persons were appointed overseers of highways for the districts named: "For above the falls, Reuben Pownall; for below the falls, Joseph Chorley; for the lower part of the river, Richard Wilson; for the lower part of the Neshaminah, William Hayhurst; the middle lots (3), John Webster; for the lower end of Neshaminah, on the south side, Walter Hough and Samuel Allen; for above, south side, Thomas Harding." Some of the present geographical subdivisions were called townships, and by the names they now bear, several years before they were so declared by law. Southampton and Warminster were so called as early as 1685, in the proceedings of council fixing the line between Bucks and Philadelphia counties. Newtown and Wrightstown are first mentioned in 1687. The names of our early townships were the creatures of chance, or given by force of circumstance, or location. Falls was called after the falls in the Delaware; Newtown because it was a "new town" or settlement in the woods, and Middletown because it was midway between the uppermost inhabitants and those on the river below. Others again were named after the places some of the inhabitants came from, in England, with which they were acquainted, or where their friends lived. (1) All the information concerning the laying out of townships was obtained from the original records in the Quarter Sessions office, Doylestown. * (2) Patches of land cleared by the Indians. (3) Middletown. * The first legal steps toward laying off townships were taken in 1690, when the Provincial Council authorized warrants to be drawn empowering the magistrates and grand juries of each county to subdivide them into hundreds, or such other divisions as they shall think most convenient in collecting taxes and defraying county expenses. Bucks did not take advantage of this act until two years afterward, when the court, at the September term, 1692, appointed a jury, consisting of Arthur Cook, who settled in Northampton, and was appointed a Provincial judge in 1686; Joseph Growden, John Cook, Thomas Janney, Richard Hough, Henry Baker, Phineas Pemberton, Joshua Hoops, William Biles, Nicholas Walne, Edmund Lovet, Abraham Cox, and James Boyden, and directed them to meet at Neshaminy meeting-house, in Middleton, the 27th to divide the county into townships. They reported at the December term, dividing the settled portions into five townships, viz: Makefield, Falls, Buckingham, now Bristol, Salem, now Bensalem, and Middletown, giving the metes and bounds. Four other townships are mentioned, but they are not returned as geographical subdivisions. The following is the text of the report: "The uppermost township, being called Makefield, to begin at the uppermost plantations and along the river to the uppermost part of John Wood's land, and by the lands formerly belonging to the Hawkinses and Joseph Kirkbride and widow Lucas' land, and so along as near as may be in a straight line to --- in Joshua Hoops' land. "The township at the falls being called --- is to begin at Pennsbury and so up the river to the upper side of John Woods' land, and then to take in the Hawkins, Joseph Kirkbride and widow Lucas' lands, and so the land along that creek, continuing the same until it takes in the land of John Rowland and Edward Pearson, and so to continue till it come with Pennsbury upper land, then along Pennsbury to the place of beginning. Then Pennsbury as its laid out. "Below Pennsbury its called Buckingham, and to follow the river from Pennsbury to Neshaminah, then up Neshaminah to the upper side of Robert Hall's plantation, and to take in the land of Jonathan Town, Edward Lovet, Abraham Cox, etc., to Pennsbury, and by the same to the place of beginning. "The middle township called Middletown to begin at the upper end of Robert Hall's land, and so up Neshaminah to Newtown, and from thence to take in the lands of John Hough, Jonathan Graife (Scarfe *), the Paxsons and Jonathan Smith's land, and so to take in the back part of White's land, and by these lands to place of beginning. "Newtown and Wrightstown one township. "All the lands between Neshaminah and Poquessin, and so to the upper side of Joseph Growden's land in one and to be called 'Salem.' "Southampton, and the lands about it, with Warminster, one." It is a feature of the townships of Bucks county, that they were formed in groups, at shorter or longer intervals, and as the wants of the settlers called for them. Subsequent groups will be treated, as they present themselves, in the chronological order of our work. At present we have only to deal with five townships formed at Neshaminy meeting-house, more than two centuries ago. Falls, of which we first treat, is, in some respects, the most interesting township in the county, and may be justly called the mother township. Within its borders, at "the falls of Delaware" the first permanent settlement was made, and there the banner of English civilization was first raised in Bucks; there the great founder had his Pennsylvania home, and there his favorite manor spread its fertile acres around Pennsbury house. The feet of many immigrants pressed its soil before they took up the march for the wilderness of Middletown, Newtown and Wrightstown. A few settlers had gathered about the falls years before the ships of Penn entered the Capes of Delaware, and the title to considerable land can be traced back to Sir Edmund Andros, the Royal Governor of New York. The overland route from the lower Delaware to Manhattan lay though this township when it was only traversed by Swedes, Hollanders and Fins; and while neighboring townships were trodden only by the feet of Indians, its territory was explored by travelers and traders, and the occasional pioneer seeking a home in the woods. For a time its history was the history of the county, as found recorded in the interesting records of Falls meeting. It will be noticed that the report of the jury to lay out these townships leaves the name of Falls, blank, a matter to be determined in the future. But the location gave it the name it bears; and for years it was as often called "the township at the Falls," or "The Falls township." We doubt whether its original limits have been curtailed, and its generous area, fourteen thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight acres, is probably the same now as when first organized. Of the original settlers (4) in Falls, several of them were there before the country came into Penn's possession (5). They purchased the land of Sir Edmund Andros, who represented the Duke of York, and were settled along the Delaware from the falls down; among whom were John Acreman, Richard Ridgway, a tailor, probably the first in the county, William Biles, Robert Lucas, George Wheeler, and George Brown, whose lands bordered on the river. Lucas came from Deverall, Loughbridge, Wiltshire, and arrived 4th mo., 4th, 1679, with William Biles in the ship Elizabeth and Sarah from Dorchester. These grants were made in 1678 or 1679, that of Biles embracing three hundred and twenty-seven acres, for which Penn's warrant is dated 9th, 8th month, 1684, surveyed 23d, same month, and patented 31st, 11th month. William Biles was one of the signers of the celebrated "testimony" against George Keith. He went to England, on a visit, in 1702. Biles became a large landowner. He sold five thousand acres in this county, near Neshaminy, to William Lawrence, Samuel and Joseph Thorne, John Tallmap, and B. Field, but the purchasers could find only two thousand acres. In 1718 James Logan issued an order to survey three thousand additional acres, not already settled or surveyed. Gilbert Wheeler called his house "Crookhorn," a name long forgotten. In the bend of the river below Biles's island, Lyonel Britton (6) and George Heathcote seated themselves, both Friends; the former an early convert to Catholicism, probably the first in the state, while the latter was the first Friend known to be a sea-captain. Thomas Atkinson, Thomas Rowland and John Palmer, names yet well known in the county, settled in the western part of the township. James Harrison, Penn's agent, owned land in Falls, adjoining the manor, and in Lower Makefield. His son-in-law, Phineas Pemberton (7), who likewise settled in Falls, was called the father of Bucks county, and he and Jeremish Langhorne, of Middletown, and Joseph Growden, of Bensalem, were relied upon as the staunchest friends of William Penn. For some years the men of Falls controlled the affairs of the infant county. (4) Names of original settlers: Joshua Hoops, John Palmer, John Collins, William and Charles Biles, William Darke, John Haycock, John Wheeler, Jonathan Witscard, John Parsons, Andrew Elland (Ellet *), William Beakes, William Venables, John Luff, Jeffrey Hawkins, Ann Millcomb, James Hill, John and Thomas Rowland, Thomas Atkinson, Thomas Wolf, Ralph Smith, John Wood, Daniel Brindsly, John Acreman, Joshua Bore (Boare *), Robert Lucas, Gilbert Wheeler, Samuel Darke, Daniel Gardner, Lyonel Britton, George Brown, James Harrison and George Heathcote. (5) Of the English settlers who came into the Delaware, 1677, but three are known to have settled in Bucks county: Daniel Brinson, Devon, England, September 28; John Purslone, Ireland, August; and Joshua Boare, Derbyshire, September. * (6) September 13, 1680, Britton joined with others in petitioning the court at New York, charging Gilbert Wheeler with selling rum to Indians. * (7) May 1685 Pemberton complains to the council that the Indians are killing hogs about the falls. [We learn from subsequent research that the little settlement below the falls was given the name of "Crewcorne," probably after the market town and parish of Crewkerne, Somersetshire, near the border of Dorset, England. In 1680 official papers speak of it as "Ye new seated towne," and the first court in the county was held there, called the "Court of Crewcorne (spelled Creekehorne) at the Falls." April 12, 1680, the inhabitants settled about the falls addressed the following petition "to ye worthy governor of New York," viz.: "Whereas we ye inhabitants of ye new seated Town neare ye falls of Delaware, called Crewcorne, finding ourselves agrieved by the Indians when drunk, informeth that we be and have been in great danger of our lives, of our homes burning, of our goods stealing; and of our wives and children affrighting, etc." and desire that "ye selling of brandy and other strong liquors to ye Indians may be wholly suppressed," etc. This petition was signed Wm. Biles, Samuel Griffield, Robert Lucas, Thomas Schooly, William Cooper, Rich. Reynerson, John Acreman, Robt. Schooly, Darius Brinson and George Browne. *] [On April 21, Wm. Biles, "member of the new Court at the falls of the Delaware," appeared at New York and on that day obtained a warrant to summon Gilbert Wheeler "to appear here for selling drink to Ye Indians." The same day a petition from "the inhabitants at the falls," dated the 12th and a return from the "Court of Creekhorne at the falls," sending in the names of four for magistrates, "according to order" was read before the Governor and council, whose names are given in the record of these transactions. September 13 following, 1680, the petition of the "inhabitants of Crewcorne on the Delaware" was received: They charge Gilbert Wheeler with selling rum to the Indians and state they suspect William Biles to sell rum himself. This petition was signed by Robert Lucas, Geo. Browne, Samuel Griffield, Nancy Acreman, Richard Ridgeway, Lyonel Britton and Robert Schooly. The petitioners were all residents of Bucks county. As the jurisdiction of New York government only extended from the west bank of the Connecticut to the east bank of the Delaware, jurisdiction was assumed over all who lived on the west bank, and was obeyed because there was no other authority to look to. In truth, at that time the settlers in Bucks county lived "nowhere" so far as legal jurisdi ction was concerned. *] When we recall to mind that the first English settlers on the Delaware were men and women of strong religious convictions, and had left the homes of their birth to worship God in peace in the woods of the new world, we can appreciate their early and earnest effort to establish places for religious worship. Before Penn's arrival they crossed the Delaware and united with their brethren at Burlington, who worshiped under tents, and where a yearly meeting was first held in 1681. Friends probably met on this side of the river at each others houses, for worship, as early as 1680, and attended business meetings at Burlinton. The first known meeting of Friends in this county was held at the house of William Biles (8), just below the falls, the 2d of May, 1683, at which were present, besides Biles, James Harrison, Phineas Pemberton, William Beaks, William Yardley, William Darke, and Lyonel Britton. This was the germ of the Falls meeting. The first business transacted was the marriage, Samuel Darke to Ann Knight, but as the young folks did not have the "documents," they were told "to wait in patience," which they declined to do, and got married in a "disorderly manner," out of meeting. [They were probably "dealt with," but to what extent has not come down to us. *] Thomas Atkinson, of Neshaminy (9), asked help to pay for a cow and a calf, and got it. The first quarterly meeting was held at Biles's the 7th of May, 1683. The first meeting house built about where the present one stands, on a lot given by William Penn, 1683, was finished in April 1692. The size was 20 by 25 feet, of brick, burned by Randall Blackshaw. The carpenter work cost 41 pounds, done by contract. It had a "gallery below with banisters," and one chimney lined below with sawn boards (10). In 1686 Thomas Janney gave an additional lot, "on the slate pit hill," thirty yards square. A stable was built, and a well digged, in 1701. The meeting house was partly paid for in wheat at 9s. 3d. per bushel. It was enlarged in 1699-1700, by adding a lean-to of stone, eighteen feet long, and repaired in 1709. A new house was built in 1728, at a cost of about one thousand pounds. The old meeting house was fitted up for a school-house, in 1733. In 1758 a dwelling was built for the schoolmaster, and a second story added to the meeting-house, and an addition to the north end in 1765. A "horsing block" was got for the meeting in 1703 (11). (8) It is thought that the house of Andrew Crozier, on the river road below Morrisville, was built by William Biles, of brick imported from England, and in it the first Friends' meeting was held. (9) Middletown. (10) A letter from Friends in Pennsylvania to brethren in England, dated March 17, 1683, says: "There is one meeting at Falls, one at the governor's home, Pennsbury, and one at Colchester river, all in Bucks county." The author pleads ignorance of the location of "Colchester" river. (11) The earliest known title conveying property to Falls monthly meeting bears date the 4th of 4th mo., 1690, by deed of Samuel Burgess, for six acres, the supposed to be the same now occupied by Falls meeting house and other improvements at Fallsington, but by some unaccountable mistake, the bearings and distances mentioned in the deed embraced a plot of ground entirely beyond the eastern boundary of the intended conveyance. This oversight was a source of annoyance for years, and not corrected until 1724, when Daniel Burgess, who had inherited his father's real estate, conveyed the originally intended six acres to the trustees of Falls monthly meeting, subject to the yearly quit rent of one grain of Indian corn. - George W. Brown's Historical Sketches." * The mother meeting of Falls watched over her flock with jealous care, and looked after both spiritual and secular affairs. Their discipline was necessarily strict. In 1683 Ann Miller was dealt with for keeping a "disorderly house, and selling strong liquor to English and Indians," and her daughter Mary for "disorderly walking;" William (Clows*), John Brock and William Beaks and their wives, for "being backward in coming to meeting;" William Shallcross for his "extravagant dress and loose conversation;" William Goforth, "who had frequently engaged in privateering;" Isaac Hodson for "loaning money at 7 per cent., when the lawful interest was only 6 per cent.:" Henry Baker "for buying a negro;" and William Moon "for marrying his cousin Elizabeth Nutt." This strictness in discipline was offset by "melting charity." In 1695 the meeting contributed 49 pounds toward repairing the loss of Thomas Janney by fire (12); and in 1697, 15 pounds. 6s. 6d., no mean sum at that day, for distressed Friends in New England. When John Chapman, of Wrightstown, was "short of corn," in 1693, he applied to the mother meeting, and no doubt got it, for it was not their habit to turn the needy away empty handed. The first year but one couple was married in Falls meeting - Richard Hough and Margery Clows; and five hundred and twenty-three couples in the first century. (12) The name of the beneficiary and amount were both wrong in the first edition, according to the original minute book of Falls monthly meeting, which reads: "At a monthly meeting at ye meeting house, ye 5th 12th mon., 1695, Henry Baker reported to the meeting ye loss yt Thomas Canby had by his house being burnt by fire, and requested ye meeting's assistance, whereupon there was 49.10 pounds collected and paid to Henry Baker towards his loss." * Penn's favorite manor of Pennsbury, containing about eight thousand acres, lay in Falls Township (13). It is now divided into nearly an hundred different tracts, ranging from three hundred and eighty to a few acres; the land is among the most fertile in the county, the farms well kept and the buildings good. Tullytown is the only village on the manor, in the southwest corner, near the line of Bristol, and it is cut by the Delaware division canal and the Philadelphia and Trenton railroad. In 1733, Ann Brown, of New York, daughter of Colonel William Markham, Penn's Deputy-General, claimed three hundred acres in the manor. The claim was rejected, but out of regard to her, Thomas Penn granted that quantity to her elsewhere. Richard Durdin, who owned five hundred acres of the manor land, died about 1792, when it was advertised at public sale, July 31, 1793. (13) Surveyor-General Eastburn surveyed the manor of Pennsbury, for the heirs of William Penn, 1733, when it contained 5,832 acres, exclusive of the 6 per cent. reserved for roads. One member of Phineas Pemberton's household, of Falls, was Mary Becket, a young English woman, a descendant of the great Northumberland house of Percy. [When her mother married Becket she was a ward in Chancery, and they had to fly to the continent, where he was killed in the religious war in Germany. Mary was their only child. Eleanor Becket, whose maiden name was Horner, subsequently married Robert Haydock, a prominent minister among Friends of Warrington, Lancastershire. Mary Becket made her appearance in the Falls, 1684, her name appearing on the passenger list of the ship Vine from Liverpool, which arrived at Philadelphia the 17th of 7th month. Her immediate party consisted of Henry Baker, his wife Margaret, their four daughters, two sons and servants. They came from Walton, Lancastershire. Robert Haydock, "writing to Phineas Pemberton under date of the 7th of 4th month, 1684, says: "Along with the bearer hereof cometh daughter Mary, and by ye contents of ye enclosed to thy father, which, on purpose I leave unsealed, thou may understand. To your care we commit," etc. In all her letters from Haydock or his wife to Mary Becket she is addressed as "daughter," and in hers to them she calls them "father and mother (14). She continued to reside in Pemberton's family *] until she was married at Falls meeting the 4th of 8th month, 1691, to Samuel Bowne, son of John Bowne, of Flushing, Long Island, well known to students of Colonial history, and then went to live with her husband at Flushing. She called one of her daughters Eleanor, after her mother (15). Below we give a copy of a letter John Bowne wrote to Mary, during their courtship, which was kindly sent us by Miss Parsons, of Flushing, Long Island. It is rather a solemn epistle, and it is doubtful whether a lady at the present day would relish such an one from her lover. It may be taken as a good sample of a love-letter of two centuries ago: "Flushing, 6th mo., 1691. "Dear M. B. "My very dear and constant love salutes thee in yt with which my love was at first united to thee even the love of God; blessed truth in which my soul desires above all things, that we may grow and increase, which will produce our eternal comfort. Dear love these few lines may inform thee that I am lately returned home where we are all well, blessed be the lord for it. My exercise about the concern that we have taken in hand and no, dear hart my earnest desire it is, yt we may have our eyes to the Lord and seek him for counsel that He may direct us in this weighty concern, and I am satisfied that if it be his will to accomplish it he in his own time will make way for the same, so my desire is yt that ye may be recommended to the will of the Lord; then may we expect the end thereof will redound to his glory and our comfort forevermore. Dear heart, I have not heard, certainly, but live in great hope that it hath please the Lord ------ health to our dear friend and elder, brother P. P., to whom with his dear wife remember my very kind love, for I often think upon you all with true brotherly love as being children of one father; so dear Mary, it was not in my hart to write large, but to give thee these few lines at present. I do expect my father and I may come about the latter end of this month. My dear, I could be very glad to hear from thee, but not willing to press the trouble upon thee to write, so I must take leave and bid farewell: my dear, farewell. (Signed): "Samuel Bowne." (14) If Mary Becket were the daughter of her mother's first marriage, it would signify nothing that she and her second husband called her "daughter," and she called them "father" and "mother." * (15) Under date of 1698, William Stout, Lancashire, in his autobiography, p. 50, says: "In this year Robert Haydock, Liverpool, freighted a ship for Philadelphia to take in such passengers as were disposed to go to settle in Pennsylvania, etc." Was this Robert Haydock the same, or any relation to the Robert Haydock who married Mary Becket's mother? * Enough has been said of Mary Becket to show that a web of romance is woven around her life. Who can unravel it? We lay no claim to it. That there was an English girl of this name living in the family of Phineas Pemberton, who married Samuel Bowne, and has numerous descendants in Pennsylvania and New York of the highest respectability is unquestioned, but we know little more. If not a descendant of the Percys, who was she? Mr. Thomas Stewardson, Chestnut Hill, a descendant of our heroine, wrote us, in response to our inquiry: " The origin of the curious myth that made a 'lady' of the poor motherless child, is, I suspect, to be found in a confusion between her and another Mary (Horner, I rather think), many of whose descendants are also descendants of Mary Becket. This other Mary did posses a considerable estate while the Becket child was penniless. I found that for several generations nobody had even attributed wealth to M. B., but that some ladies who were looking over family letters at the old Bowne home, Flushing, got the two names mixed, and wrote to their relatives, in Philadelphia, that Mary Becket had been an heiress. The Horners came from Yorkshire, and I once began a search for this Mary and her guardian, and did actually find an Eleanor Percy, whose period would have fitted well enough with that of Mary Horner (I am not sure of the name now), but I tired of the job, and have never taken it up since." When the surveyor came to lay out the manor of Pennsbury, some of the grants by the Duke of York interfered with its limits. The owners of the lands consented to have the lines straightened, and in consideration, William Penn, September 30, 1682, ordered a tract of one hundred and twenty acres to be laid off for the use of the township, near its center. In 1784 the county commissioners sold twenty acres of this land for taxes. In 1807 the legislature authorized the inhabitants to sell or lease the remainder, the proceeds to be applied to the education of poor children, the fund to be managed by six trustees, two elected each year. The trustees named in the act were Mahlon Milnor, Charles Brown, Daniel Lovet, John Carlisle and William Warner. "The timber or common," as it was called, was divided into twenty-one lots, and leased by public outcry to the highest bidder, from twenty-five cents to one dollar per acre (16). In 1809 "the Barnes's" brought suit to try the title, which cost the township $146.90 to defend. When the common school system was organized, the rents were paid into the school fund. The legislature, in 1864, authorized the common to be sold at public sale, and the proceeds of it now yield about $300 annually. Falls has always been liberal in supporting her poor, and she has spent as much as $1,200 in a single year for this purpose. She was likewise among the earliest to provide for the education of poor children. She has yearly contributed a considerable sum to the public school fund, over and above that raised by taxation, and the revenue arising from the sale of the common. For all public purposes the inhabitants have been liberal givers, and as long ago as 1801, the duplicate shows that $1,284.79 were raised for road-tax. Among the charities of Falls is a public burying-ground, purchased by subscription, in 1813, of David Brown, for $118.80, containing three-quarters of an acre. It was placed in the care of the trustees of the free-school, and ordered to be divided into three parts, "for the white inhabitants;" for "the people of color," and the third part "for strangers." Andrew Crozier had charge of the grounds and digged the graves in 1817. Ten lots were leased, in 1826, at prices ranging from $1.07 to $2.07 the lot. (16) The survey made in 1708, gives the contents 105 3/8 acres. The earliest established ferry in the county was in this township, across the Delaware just below where Morrisville stands. After the arrival of William Penn it was regulated by law, by Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In 1726 the legislature of New Jersey granted the exclusive use of the eastern bank, for ferry purposes, to James Trent, two miles above and two miles below the falls. The upper ferry was at the foot of Calhoun street, and in use to 1857. The lower ferry was used until the bridge was built, in 1804. The large brick ferry house is still standing near the river. About 1720 a ferry was established at Joseph Kirkbride's landing, opposite Bordentown. The lower ferry at the falls was called "Blazing Star Ferry." There was an effort to establish "Harvey's ferry" across the Delaware, in Falls, about 1770, and to have a road opened from the post-road to it, through the land of Thomas Harvey, but was probably not successful. The oldest act for a ferry at the falls, that we have seen, is dated 1718, but the Upland court established a ferry there as early as 1675 (17). (17) There was a "Hopkinson Ferry" on the Delaware, probably in Falls township, but we can not vouch for it. Our attention was directed to it by an extract from a letter, 4th month, 6th, 1820, giving account of an accident that happened to a party of four while crossing the river on the ice, in a carriage, and breaking through. Two were drowned, Esther Collins and Ann Edwards, and Henry Stocker and wife were saved. The letter we speak of was written by the widow of Stocker, and as may be imagined, a very pathetic one. This is the first and only time we have heard of a ferry of this name on the Delaware. * [Referring again to the name of Crozier, we find it is spelled Crozier and Crozer, but we do not know which is the proper way of spelling it. In the Morton lot, St. James graveyard, Bristol, are interred the remains of Andrew Crozer, who died, 1776, Mary, his wife, who died, 1783, and their son Samuel and his children. They were of the same family as the Croziers mentioned above. *] In the spring of 1712 Joseph Satterthwait and Hannah Albertson sustained a loss of 500 pounds by a fire, and the council gave them license to ask charity of the public to replace it. This was one of the earliest fires recorded in the county. The Croziers, who came into the township at a later day than the pioneer settlers, are descended from Huguenot ancestors, reared in the Presbyterian faith. They immigrated from France to Scotland about 1700; thence to county Antrim, Ireland, and about 1723, five brothers, Andrew, Robert, James, John, and Samuel, came to America. Andrew, the immediate head of the Bucks county family, settled near Columbus, New Jersey, where he married Jane Richardson, about 1744. He removed to Falls in 1758, and settled on a farm on the north side of Welcome, now Scott's creek, where he died in 1776; and his wife 1783. They had nine children, the eldest son, Robert, inheriting the manor farm, whose grandson William P. is the present owner. Robert Crozier, of Morrisville, is the grandson of the first Andrew. The descendants have intermarried with a number of Bucks county families. Of the other brothers who came to America, Robert settled in Philadelphia; and James, John and Samuel, in Delaware county, where John P., a grandson of James, lately deceased at the age of seventy-five. This family furnished four soldiers to the Federal army, in the late Civil War. J. Howard Cox served in the 214th Pennsylvania regiment; William Morton, an Illinois regiment; John B. Bunting, 34th Ohio, and William . Crozier, the 104th Pennsylvania. The first Andrew left a large number of descendants. The family of Kirkbride is one of the oldest in the township. As we have recorded elsewhere, the first ancestor was Joseph, who came to the county in 1682, at the age of twenty; married in 1683, and in 1687 bought five hundred acres in Falls of Thomas Atkinson, for 35 pounds. His wife was a daughter of Mahlon Stacy, the proprietor of the site of Trenton. He became a minister among Friends; was an active land surveyor and business man, and at his death left thirteen thousand four hundred and thirty-nine acres to be divided among his children. His wife received twelve hundred acres from the will of her brother Mahlon, who died in 1731. His son Joseph got his three negroes, Isaac, [Coffee*] and Tehmacl. The homestead farm, in Falls, one hundred and one acres and forty-six perches, remained in the family until 1873, when it was sold at public sale to Mahlon Moon, for $210 per acre. A small dwelling, with cellar underneath, and now used as a tool and wood-house, stands on the tract, a monument of "ye olden time," and is said to have been built by the first purchaser of the land. [George Brown, or Browne, as the name was originally spelled, of Leicestershire, England, was an early settler in Falls township, landing at New Castle 1679, three years prior to Penn. He purchased of Sir Edmund Andros, a tract on the Delaware joining Penn's Manor as is shown by Holme's map, and it has remained in possession of the family to the present time. He was accompanied by his intended wife to whom he was married on their arrival. The wife was also from Leicestershire; both were members of the Church of England, but joined the Society of Friends and became active in Falls Monthly Meeting. George Brown, being a man of strong and cultivated mind, wielded considerable influence in the Colony from the first. He was a Justice of the Peace, 1680. He had a family of fourteen children, and died in 1726 at the age of 82. His son Samuel married Ann Clark, 1717, and died 1769 at 74. He was a prominent member of the Assembly. Samuel's son George, likewise a member of Assembly, born1720, was married twice, first to Martha Worrall, 1747, who died 1748, and then to Elizabeth Field, born 1725; the son John married Ann Field, also in the Assembly, both daughters of Benjamin Field, of Middletown. John and Ann Brown occupied a large farm near the present Tullytown, over looking the Manor and the Delaware river. He was known as "Fox Hunter" John Brown. He kept a large pack of hounds and hunting horses after the custom of Englishmen of that day, and continued the practice until late in life. He carried a cane with a head made from a bone taken from the head of a favorite horse. He had a large family of children and died 1 mo. 1st, 1802, at 76. His family were also members of the Society of Friends, and his son John and grandson David were prominent in Falls Meeting. The latt er was 27 years treasurer of the "Bucks County Contributionship." He was the father of General Jacob Brown, commanding general of the United States Army, and removed to Jefferson county, New York, with his family.*] [See facsimile of Jacob Brown] General Jacob Brown was born in the house now occupied by William Warner, about three and a half miles below Morrisville, on the Delaware, May 9, 1775, where his father lived until the general was grown, and they removed to New York at the close of the century. After the war of 1812-15 had begun, and then but a plain citizen, he presented himself to General Armstrong, the secretary of war. He said his name was Jacob Brown; that he was a full-blood Bucks county Quaker, but had an inclination to enter the military service, which he would do if the secretary would give him the command of a brigade; that he knew nothing of military, but believed he possessed every other requisite for a soldier and an officer. The secretary, without hesitation, offered him the command of a regiment, which he declined, saying: "I will be as good as my word; give me a brigade, and you shall not be disgraced; but I will accept nothing less." He afterward received the commission of brigadier-general from the Governor of New York, and with that, began his military career, rising step by step, until he became commanding-general of the army of the United States. He died at Washington city, February 24, 1828. The following inscription appears on the monument to General Brown in the Congressional burial-ground at the city of Washington: "Sacred to the memory of General Jacob Brown. He was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on the 9th of May, 1775, and died at the City of Washington, commanding-general of the army; "Let him who e'er in after days Shall view this monument of praise, For honor heave the patriot sigh And for his country learn to die." The father of General Brown died at Brownsville, New York, September 24, 1813. [The widow of General Borwn was a daughter of E. Williams, of Williamstown, New York, and died in the spring of 1878, at the age of 93. She retained her memory almost to the last. *] About 1773, Anna Lee, with her embryo sect of Shakers, eight or ten in number, passed through Falls, and stopped at the house of Jonathan Kirkbride, while himself and wife were at Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia. The children seeing a number of friendly-looking people ride up, invited them in to spend the night. Anna took possession of a chamber and the others of the kitchen where they commenced to iron a quantity of clothing they took from their saddle-bags. At a given signal all dropped their work, to the astonishment of their young hosts, and falling into ranks went round and round the room in measured tread, shouting "As David danced before the Lord, So will we, so will we; There was a woman sent from God, Her name is Anna Lee." This was repeated several times during the evening, resuming their work meanwhile. The next morning they quietly rode away in single file. About 1790 the Reverend Peter Wilson, of Hightstown, New Jersey, organized a small Baptist congregation in the Manor; but we do not know at what point, nor whether a house was ever erected. He supplied them several years. In 1798 the Reverend Alexander Magowan, licensed to preach in 1784, was called to the Manor, where he labored seven years, and baptized one hundred and ten persons. When he left in 1805 the field appears to have been abandoned and nothing more is heard of the congregation. It was probably absorbed by the First Baptist church of Trenton, which was organized about that time. The society owned a lot at Fallsington, but never built upon it. Mr. Magowan was killed in June 1814 by the upsetting of his wagon while on his way to Ohio. The Falls Library Company was organized and the constitution adopted November 26, 1800, but it was not incorporated until 1802. The constitution is signed by Daniel Trimble, Mahlon Kirkbride, John Mott, John Kirkbride, Stephen Comfort, and John Palmer, secretary. The first article of the constitution prohibits the introduction of any book into the library "which shall have been written with an intention to discredit the Christian religion, or bring into disrepute any society or denomination thereof." Among the earliest patrons of the library are found the names of Allen, Burton, Brown, Buckman, Carlisle, Comfort, Clymer, Crozier, and Cadwallader. The number of volumes is nearly ten thousand. In 1874 Isaiah V. Williamson, a merchant of Philadelphia, gave $5,000 to the library, [and it received further assistance from his estate. *] In Falls township are three old graveyards, one of which, the Pemberton graveyard, has become historic. It is situated near the bank of the Delaware, opposite the lower end of Biles's island, and in Penn's time was known as "The Point," where Henry Gibbs, "the governor's carpenter," was buried in 1685. There appears not to have been more than twelve or fifteen persons buried there, and of all of these only two stones could be found in modern times to tell who sleep beneath. They consisted of two pieces of slate, about ten by sixteen inches, and half an inch thick. On one were the letter P.P., and on the other Phe. P. The two graves are close together, and we have no doubt are the resting places of Phineas Pemberton and his first wife, Phoebe, the daughter of James Harrison. Probably his immediate family were all buried in this yard. The Watson graveyard, on the road from [Langhorne*] to Tullytown, about half a mile from Oxford Valley, is on the farm of Joseph H. Satterthwait. It was given by the Watsons, large land-owners (18) in that neighborhood in early times, as a public burial place, but no burials have taken place for about a quarter of a century. It contains less than half an acre, and is surrounded by a strong stone wall. The little yard is nearly filled with graves, mostly without stones. The oldest date is 1732. It is held in trust by the Friends who keep it in repair. There was formerly a graveyard, two miles from Tullytown on the same road, on what is known as the "old Burton tract," in which slaves were buried. A road has run through it for more than half a century. (18) Thomas Watson owned a tract of three hundred and fifty-seven acres in Falls, by the re-survey. The old Cooper homestead, on the Trenton turnpike, half a mile above Tullytown, was built by Thomas, son of Samuel Cooper, of Philadelphia, in 1789, the timbers being sent up in a sloop to Scott's wharf. He died there at the age of forty-five, leaving four sons and one daughter. His son Thomas lived sixty-nine years at the homestead, and died there in 1866, at the age of seventy-two. He raised eleven children, and on the 15th of February, each year, the eight survivors have a reunion at their mother's home in Bristol. During the war of 1812 Thomas Cooper hauled his wheat to New Brunswick, and got $3.00 a bushel for it. He was the grandfather of John S. Cooper, of Philadelphia. This family claim to be descendants of William Cooper (19), of "Pine Point," from whom J. Fenimore Cooper, the great novelist, is descended. (19) The only Thomas marked on the Pine Point tree was a son of James Cooper, born 1736, and whose wife was Sarah Erwin. A century and a [half] ago a considerable trade in boards, shingles, lime., etc., was carried on with Bordentown, through Falls. They were brought down on this side from some twenty-five miles above, and crossed over at the Bordentown ferry, which was then reached by a private road through the fields from the River road. In 1761 it was made a public road on petition of the inhabitants. Falls township was the birthplace of Charles Ellet, Jr., one of the most distinguished Federal officers in the late Civil War. He was born January 1, 1810; adopted the profession of engineer, and went to France at the age of nineteen with a letter to Lafayette. He finished his education in Paris, and afterward traveled over Europe on foot, studying bridges, canals and other improvements. He constructed several railroads, and the wire-suspension bridges at Fairmount, Niagara and Wheeling. He married a daughter of Judge Daniels, of Virginia. He was the first to recommend the use of steam-rams on the western waters, and proved their efficiency by destroying the enemy's fleet, the 12th of May, 1862, at the cost of his life. He was buried from Independence Hall with civic and military honors. At his death his brother Alfred M. took command, and when he was given the Marine brigade, his nephew, Charles Rivers Ellet, succeeded to the Ram fleet. The latter died suddenly in 1863. Three other members of the family served with the Ram fleet, and behaved with conspicuous gallantry, Lieutenant-colonel John A., and Lieutenants Richard and Edward C. Ellet. Joseph White, a distinguished minister among Friends, was born in this township in 1712. He became a minister at twenty; traveled extensively and preached in this county, and about 1758 made a religious visit to England. He removed to Lower Makefield toward the close of his life, and died there in 1777, from the effects of a paralytic stroke in Falls meeting while preaching on Sunday. Richard Major, equally distinguished in the Baptist denomination, was born in Falls, 1722. He was brought up a Presbyterian, but became a Baptist in 1744. Although without scholastic learning, his vigorous mind rose above all impediments, and he became an able and effective speaker. He removed to Loudon county, Virginia, in 1766, where he labored in the ministry, and died at the age of eighty. It is related that on one occasion a man made a violent attack on him with a club, when Mr. Major, who possessed great presence of mind, said, in a solemn tone of voice, "Satin, I command thee to come out of the man," when the ruffian dro pped his club, and became as quiet as a lamb. In the first letter Penn wrote to Logan, after his return to England, in 1701, is this paragraph: There is a swamp between the falls and the meeting-house; I gave the Falls people, formerly, leave to cut the timber in it for their own use, which they have almost spoiled, cutting for sale, coopery, etc., which now, or in a little time, would be worth some thousands. Phineas Pemberton knows this business; let all be forbid to cut there any more, and learn who have been the wasters of timber, that hereafter they may help to clear the rubbish parts that may be fit for use, or give me tree for tree, when I or my order shall demand it." What about this swamp at the present day? Is it still a swamp, or long since drained? Near Pennsbury was the "Indian field," where the Indians dwelt after they had generally left the vicinity of the settlements. It was the custom of the Indians to burn the underbrush, which made it easier to travel through the woods; and no doubt "Indian fields" were only localities where the timber had been burnt off. Our treatment of roads in a separate chapter, under a general head, leaves but little for us to say of local roads in the respective townships. They were opened as called for by the necessities of the inhabitants. In Falls were the earliest roads opened, there being a thoroughfare through the township long before Penn arrived, although it was neither well opened nor kept in repair. In 1703 the inhabitants of "Middle-Lots," now Langhorne, petitioned for a road from Falls meeting-house to Bristol, via Anthony Burton's. In 1709 a road was opened from the main road to the river, below the falls, to enable people to cross the river to Mahlon Stacy's mill. The road from the river, opposite the falls, to Langhorne, then called "Cross lanes," was opened in 1710. In 1723, at the instance of Sir William Keith, a road was laid out from the ferry below the falls, to Sir William's plantation. This was probably the upper river road, as it led to Thomas Yardley's mill. In 1744 the inhabitants of Makefield and Wrightstown petitioned to have this road re-opened, as it had been closed in several places. To the petition was the name of John Beaumont. In 1752 a lateral road was opened from the Yardley's mill road across to the one that ran via Falls meeting-house to Bristol, and in 1769 it was extended across to the road from Newtown to the meeting-house. Falls township has four villages, none of them of any size, but all pleasant hamlets. Fallsington, in the northern part, on the road from Kirkbride's ferry to Hulmeville, is designated a village in Scott's Gazetteer, of 1795. Tullytown lies in the southwest corner of the township, on the turnpike, and close to the Bristol line. It was called after a man named Tully (20), who owned land there. It was laid out in lots in 1816, one being reserved for a church and another for a school-house, and is subsequently described as "a small town on the westernmost side of the manor, near and adjoining Martin's land end." In 1870 the population of Fallsington was 211, and of Tullytown 150[, but both have grown meanwhile. Here is a famous tavern, the "Black Horse," of which more will be said in the chapter on "Old Taverns." *] Tyburn, on the Bristol turnpike, about the middle of the township, was laid out in building lots more than half a century ago, and no doubt was named after Tyburn, in England, where all public executions took place in [early days*]. It is thought that the first man executed in this county was hanged at Tyburn. Oxford Valley, on the road from Fallsington to Langhorne, lies partly in Falls and partly in Middletown. A notice of it will appear in the latter township, [and Emilie near Fallsington. The latter called "Centleville," has a church and school house, and was in part built on land that belonged to "Fox Hunter" John Brown.*] In a petition to the court, over a century ago, mention is made of a "late settlement at Penn's manor," but what reference this had is not known. (20) John Tully was an original settler in Bristol township on the line of Falls. The surface of the manor portion of the township is level, while the residue has a gentle declivity toward the Delaware. The northern part is somewhat broken by the Edge Hills, which cross the county from the Delaware to the Schuylkill, and in the southwestern part is Turkey hill, a slight elevation above the surrounding level country. It is watered by Mill, Scott's, and other creeks. Falls township has a river front of ten or twelve miles, which affords several valuable fisheries, and, lying on tide-water, it has all the facilities given by river navigation. No township in the county has a richer or more productive soil, or less waste land.[Some years ago*]the farmers are turned their attention to the cultivation of tobacco, of which large and productive crops are raised. Biles's, Moon's, and Savage's islands belong to Falls. In the olden time Falls and the neighboring townships must have been a good range for crows, judging from the number killed and paid for by the county. In 1816 the county treasurer paid out the large amount of $264.88 for crow-scalps, taken in Falls and Lower Makefield, which, at the rate of three pence per head, makes the number killed 7,946. An article on the subject at that period, concludes: "Those who annually receive considerable sums from the county treasury, are in a state of alarm, lest the "Breeders" should have been all destroyed. When Congress had in contemplation the locating of the seat of government on the west bank of the Delaware at the falls, in 1789, the proposed Federal district fell mostly in this township, covering the site of Morrisville. The plat was surveyed by William Harvey and Isaac Hicks. Falls is among the most populous townships in the county, but we are able to give the population earlier than 1784, when it was 908 whites and 61 blacks, nor can we give it at each decade since that time. In 1810 it was 1,649, 1820, 1,880; 1830, 2,266 and 397 taxables; 1840, 2,068 (21); 1850, 2,271; 1860, 2,316; 1870, 2,298 (22), of which 194 were of foreign birth; 1880, 2,385; 1890, 2,463; 1900, 1,856; Tullytown Boro. 528. (21) We cannot account for this falling off compared with 1830. (22) In 1870 the census of Tullytown was taken separately from the township. But few, if any, agricultural districts in the state have a more intelligent and cultivated population than Falls township. The postoffices in Falls are Fallsington, established in 1849, and James Thompson appointed postmaster; Tullytown in 1829, and Joseph Hutchinson postmaster; and Oxford Valley, established in 1849, when John G. Spencer, was appointed postmaster, and held the office to his death, March 31, 1897, at the age of 94. He was born in Northampton township, and removed to Falls after arriving at manhood. Few postmasters in the county have been longer in commission. The Ellets were early settlers in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but we do not know at what time they came into the former colony. Andrew Ellet was in Bucks county as early as 1706, and on the 14th of 2d month, John Hiett conveyed to him 220 acres in Lower Makefield, bounded by Richard Hough, Acreman and others. William Ellet, probably lived and died in Falls, executed his will 20th of 12th mo., 1714, and was admitted to probate September 15, 1721, leaving his plantation to his son-in-law, James Downey, after the death of his wife. He had children, Ann Shallcross, Elizabeth Dowdney (probably Downey), Mary Hawkings and Sarah Bidgood. Charels Ellet, N.J., married Hannah Carpenter (daughter of Samuel Carpenter) born 1743, died 1820, married 1765, and had six children: John, born 1769, died May 10, 1824, married Mary Smith, Salem county, N.J., Sarah, Charles, William, Rachel Carpenter, and Mary. Hannah Carpenter Ellet, daughter of John and Mary Ellet, born November 1793, died April 20, 1862; Charles Ellet, son of Charles and Hannah Ellet, born 1777, died 1847, married, 1801, Mary, daughter of Israel Israel, Philadelphia. She was living, 1870, at the age of 91. They had four children, and their son Charles, and grandson, Charles Rivers, performed signal service on the Mississippi in the Civil War. Charles Ellet was the father of the ram system. The President and Congress refused to listen to his recommendations until driven to it by stern necessity. The Ellets were potent factors with Admiral Porter in clearing the western rivers of the Confederate iron clads. William Ellet, only son of Charles Ellet, Jr., graduated at an early age, from the University of Virginia, went to Germany to complete his education and committed suicide there. The civil engineer's daughter married the eldest son of ---- Cabell, Nelson county, Virginia. The Ivins family were later settlers in Bucks county coming in through New Jersey. Isaac Ivins, the immigrant, was married three times, his first wife being Sarah Johnson, their marriage certificate bearing date 4 mo., 26, 1711. The name of his second wife was Lydia, and the third Ann. He died, 1768. He mentions all the wives in his will. He lived and died in Mansfield township, Burlington county, and was a storekeeper by occupation. His children were Ann, Diadema, Moses, Aaron, born 8, 30, 1736, and died 6, 2, 1799, Isaac, Joseph and Levi. In 1792 Aaron Ivins, son of Isaac, Burlington county, but we are not informed whether the junior or senior, but as he married Ann Cheshire, 1764, he was probably son of Isaac the second, brought his wife, Ann, and children, Samuel, Ann, Mary and Barclay, and settled in Falls, to which meeting he brought a certificate. In 1796 he purchased 389 acres of Langhorne Biles on the Delaware for 5,835 pounds or $15,560 equivalent to $40 per acre. The earlier descendants of Aaron Ivins intermarried with the families of Middleton, Cook, Comfort, Buckman, Smith, Taylor, Green and others well known in the lower end of the county. The late Dr. Horace Fremont Ivins, born in Penn's manor, October 30, 1856, and died at Easton, Pennsylvania, January 8, 1898, was a descendant. He was graduated from Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia, 1879, then spent a year in Europe, the greater part of his time in the hospitals of London and Vienna. Upon his return he settled down in practice and became prominent in special branches. William H. Ivins, Camden, N.J., is a descendant of the Burlington county's immigrant. Biles's island, in the Delaware, a mile below the falls, containing three hundred acres, was sold to William Biles about 1680, by Orecton, Nannacus, Nenemblahocking, and Patelana, free native Indians, in consideration of 10 pounds, but was not actually conveyed by deed. March 19, 1729, Lappewins and Captain Cumbansh, two Indian "Sachems" and heirs and successors of the Indians above named, confirmed the island to William Biles, Jr., son of William Biles the elder, now deceased, in consideration of seven pounds in Indian goods. The deed contained a warranty against the grantors, their heirs, and all other Indians (23). (23) In 1723 the island in the Delaware at the upper end of Falls township was called "Joseph Wood's island," and contained 31 1/2 acres. Joseph Wood's tract opposite, in Falls, then contained 696 acres, including the island. This was according to Cutler's resurvey.* End of Chapter VII.