THE HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CHAPTER IX, BRISTOL, 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 IX BRISTOL 1692 Interesting township. -Was only seaport in county. -Original name. -Present name appears. -Richard Noble. -Reverend Thomas Dungan. -Cold Spring. -Elias Keach. -His history. -Thomas Dungan's descendants. -Samuel Carpenter. -Bristol mill. -Bristol island meadows -Fairview and Belle meadow farms. -Captain John Clark, -Ferry to Burlington. -Act to improve navigation of Neshaminy. -Bessonett's rope ferry. -Line of stages. -[Christopher Taylor. -Captain Partridge. -The Dilworths.*] -The Taylor family. -Anthony Taylor. -Anthony Newbold. -[Bristol college.*] -Captain John Green. -[China Retreat. -Van Broom Houckgeest.*] -Bath springs. -Pigeon swamp. -The "Mystic well." - Daniel Boone. -William Stewart, his schoolmate. -Bolton farm. -Newportville. -Bela Badger. -Surface, area, population. -[Landredth's seed-farm.*] -Hellings's fruit establishment. Bristol, next to Falls, is the most interesting township in the county, and it played a leading part at the settlement of the Province. In it was located our first county seat, where justice was administered for forty years. Then, as now, it contained the only sea-port in the county, where many of the early immigrants landed, either coming up the river in boats or crossing over from Burlington, where some of the ships discharged their living cargoes. As there was sufficient depth of water, very likely some of the smaller vessels landed their passengers on the bank at Bristol. In the report of the jury, fixing the boundaries of the five townships laid out in 1692, Bristol is located "below Pennsbury," and was "to follow the river to Neshaminah, then up Neshaminah to the upper side of Robert Hall's plantation, and to take in the land of Jonathan Town, Edmund Lovet, Abraham Cox, etc., to Pennsbury, and by the same to the place of beginning." The name given to it was "Buckingham," no doubt after the parish of that name in England, and it was so called in the court records as late as 1697, and "New Buckingham" in the meeting records as late as 1705. Its present name first appears in 1702, when a constable was appointed for "Bristol." The reason for dropping the original name and assuming one less pleasant to the ear, is not known; it is probable, however, that the township gradually came to be called by the name of the borough that was growing up within its borders. If we except the few "old renters" from the time of Andros, and still a few others who came when the Swedes and Dutch held rule on the Delaware, the original settlers of Bristol township were English Friends (1). (1) Names of the original settlers: Thomas Holme, John Spencer, John Boyden, Samuel Allen, John Swart, Jacob Pelisson, Richard Noble, Ann Clark, Samuel Clift, William Dungan, Mordecai Bowden, John Tully, Thomas Dungan, Clement Dungan, Richard Lundy, Thomas Bowman, Thomas Rudeyard, William Hauge, Christopher Taylor, Francis Richardson, Griffith Jones and Edward Bennet. Our knowledge of the first English settlers is not extensive, and possibly not always accurate. Thomas Holme, Penn's surveyor-general, owned land in this and other townships, but he probably never lived in the county. His occupation enabled him to pick up tracts worth having, and he appears to have availed himself of the opportunity. Richard Noble, the first sheriff of the county, appointed in 1682, owned an extensive tract on the Neshaminy, above its mouth. William White, Richard Noble and Samuel Allen owned tracts on that stream, in the order they are named, and eight proprietors owned all the land bordering on the Neshaminy, from its mouth up to the Middletown line, Thomas Holme being the heaviest owner, 547 acres, whose land lay on the stream but a short distance, and then ran along the Middletown line nearly to the Falls. John Clark, husband of Ann Clark received his grant from Governor Andros, May 12, 1679, and embraced 309 acres, and dying in 1683, he left it to this widow. The court took charge of Clark's estate at his death, and sold 100 acres to Richard Noble, which Penn confirmed to him in 1689. Samuel Allen's daughter, Martha, was married to Daniel Pegg, of Philadelphia, at her father's house in Bristol township, April 22, 1686. Her husband gave the name to Pegg's run, and a street in Philadelphia. The Dungans came from Rhode Island, and some of them were in Bristol before Penn arrived. William, who was probably the eldest son of the Reverend Thomas, came in advance to the Quaker colony, where there was neither let nor hindrance in freedom to worship God, had 200 acres granted him in Bristol, by William Markham, 4th of 6th month, 1682, which was confirmed by Penn the 5th of 5th month, 1684. He is denominated an "old renter." About the same time there came a small colony of Welsh Baptists, from Rhode Island, who settled near Cold Spring. This spring, one of the finest in the county, is near the river bank, three miles above Bristol, and covers an area of about fifty feet square. It is surrounded by a stone wall, is well shaded, and constantly discharges about one hundred and fifty gallons per minute. In 1684 the Welsh immigrants were followed by the Reverend Thomas Dungan and his family, who settled in the immediate vicinity. He soon gathered a congregation about him and organized a Baptist church, which was kept together until 1702. But little is known of its history. If a church building was ever erected it has entirely [disappeared*]; but the graveyard, overgrown with briars and trees, and a few dilapidated tombstones, remains. It is fifty feet square, and near the turnpike. The land was probably given by Thomas Stanaland, who died March 16, 1753, and was buried in it. Thomas Dungan, the pastor, died in 1688, and was buried in the yard, but several years afterward a handsome stone was erected to his memory at Southampton (2). Two pastors at Pennypack were buried in this old graveyard, the Reverend Samuel Jones, who died December 16, 1722, and Joseph Wood, September 15, 1747. (2) The Rev. Thomas Dungan was born in London, England, about 1632, and in 1637 came with his mother and step-father, Jeremiah Clarck, to New England, settling at Newport, R. I., where young Dungan doubtless spent his boyhood and youth. He probably received part of his education at Roger Williams' celebrated school. He became a freeman of the colony, 1656. Having embraced the Baptist faith, he entered the ministry, and, shortly after Monmouth county, New Jersey, was settled by the English, Mr. Dungan took up land there, but sold it, 1674. After Penn received the grant of Pennsylvania he removed to the Delaware and settled at Cold Spring, founded the first Baptist church in the colony and died, 1688. Penn granted 400 acres to Thomas Dungan and son Clement. The Rev. Thomas Dungan married Elizabeth Weaver, of Rhode Island, and she died, 1690. They had issue: William, born about 1658, married Deborah Wing, died 1713; Clement, died in Northampton township, 1732; Elizabeth, married Nathaniel West, Newport Rhode Island; Thomas, born about 1670, married Mary Drake, died June 23, 1759; Rebecca, married Edward Doyle; he died 1703, and, in his will, names wife, Rebecca, and sons Clement and Edward, both of New Britain; Jeremiah, born about 1673, married Deborah Drake, died April 6, 1761; Mary, married a Richards, and had issue; John, died unmarried and without issue, and Sarah married James Carrell and had issue. * The Reverend Elias Keach, the first pastor at Pennypack, was ordained by Mr. Dungan. The history of this able minister of the gospel is full of interest. He came from London in 1686, representing himself as a minister, and was asked to preach at Pennypack. Many flocked to hear the young London divine. In the midst of his sermon he suddenly stopped as if attacked by sickness, burst into tears and confessed that he was an imposter. He dated his conversion from that moment. He now retired to Cold Spring, to seek counsel and advice of Mr. Dungan, where he remained a considerable time. He probably studied divinity with Mr. Dungan, who baptised him. He became the pastor at Pennypack in 1687, but returned to England in 1692, where he preached with success until his death, in 1699. He married a daughter of Judge More, after whom Moreland township was named. His only daughter Hannah married Revitt Harrison, of England, whose son, John Elias Keach Harrison, came to America about 1734, settled at the Crooked Billet, now Hatboro, and was a member of the Southampton Baptist church. The Reverend Thomas Dungan left five sons and three daughters, but divided his real estate between Thomas, Jeremiah and John, after the death of their mother, they paying their sisters, Mary, Rebecca and Sarah, five pounds each. The sons and daughters married into the families of Wing, Drake, West, Richards, Doyle and Carrell (3). William, the eldest son, married in Rhode Island, probably before he immigrated to Pennsylvania. We have the authority of Morgan Edwards for saying, that by 1770 the descendants of Reverend Thomas Dungan numbered between six and seven hundred. The 2nd of April, 1698, Clement, Thomas, Jeremiah and John Dungan conveyed 200 acres, above Bristol [near the Delaware, to Walter Plumpluey*] at that time, and removed to Northampton township, where members of the family still reside. In March, 1774, the Cold Spring farm was sold at public sale by Thomas Stanaland. Samuel Clift was an "old renter," of whom more in another place. (3) The Doyle and Carrell the Dungan daughters married, were members of the families of the same name living in Warminster and Doylestown, respectively. Samuel Caprenter, born in Surry, England, who came to the province from the island of Barbadoes, in 1683, and now a wealthy shipping merchant of Philadelphia, was the largest landholder in Bristol township at the close of the century. He purchased some 2,000 acres contiguous to Bristol and including the site of the borough. Among the tracts he bought were those of John Otter, Samuel Clift, Edward Bennet, and Griffith Jones, running down the Delaware nearly to the mouth of the Neshaminy, and afterward that of Thomas Holm, running back nearly to the Middletown line, making about 1,400 acres. He likewise owned two islands in the river. He probably built the Bristol mills which stood on what is now Mill creek, a quarter of a mile from the river, and up to whose doors small vessels came to load and unload freight. The saw-mill was seventy feet long by thirty-two wide, and was able to cut about 1,500 feet in twelve hours, while the flour mill had four run of stones, with an undershot wheel. We do not know at what time Mr. Carpenter built the mills, but in 1705 he speaks of them as being "newly built." They earned clear profit of 400 pounds a year. The mill-pond then covered between 200 and 300 acres. The pine timber sawed at the mill was brought from Timber creek, New Jersey, and the oak cut from his own land near by. At that day the mills had about fifteen feet head and fall, and there was water enough to run about eight months in the year. About 1710 or 1712, Mr. Carpenter removed to Bristol, and made his summer residence on Burlington island, his dwelling standing as late as 1828. He was the richest man in the province in 1701, but lost heavily by the French and Indian war of 1703; and in 1705 he offered to sell his Bristol property to his friend Jonathan Dickinson, of the island of Jamaica (4). He married Hannah Hardman, an immigrant from Wales, in 1684, and died at Philadelphia in 1714. His wife died in 1728. His son Samuel married a daughter of Samuel Preston, and a granddaughter of Thomas Lloyd. Samuel Carpenter was largely interested in public affairs; was a member of the Council and Assembly, and Treasurer of the Province. He is spoken of in high terms by all his contemporaries (5). The Ellets, who distinguished themselves in the late Civil War, were descendants of Samuel Carpenter, through the intermarriage of the youngest daughter of his son Samuel with Charles Ellet. (4) At one time Mr. Carpenter offered to sell his Bristol mills to his friend William Penn. (5) Samuel Carpenter had a brother, Joshua, who probably came to America with him. His wife's name was Elizabeth, and their first child was Samuel, born August 14, 1686, and married Mary Yates, who was born at Chester, 1700, daughter of Jasper Yates. Their children were: Joshua, born February 12, 1720; Elizabeth, born November 15, 1725; Samuel, born May 16, 1728 (on Carpenter's Island); Mary, born April 2, 1730; Catherine, born July 10, 1732 (on Carpenter's Island); Jasper, born October 14, 1734, married and had one daughter, Elizabeth, born August 27, 1763, who married Abraham Cook, January 1790; Joshua Carpenter, first born of Joshua and Elizabeth, married and had one child, born July 22, 1753, and married Mary Roan. -Letter from Jasper Carpenter Cook, Philadelphia, May 24, 1877. * The Bristol island meadows, on the Delaware below Bristol, forming a tract of rich meadow land, were patented to Samuel Carpenter. They were then called Burden's island, said to contain 815 and1/4th acres, and were described as lying between Mill creek and Hog run. In 1716 Hannah Carpenter and sons conveyed the island to a purchaser. In 1774 an island near this, containing about forty acres, called Lesser island, was conveyed by John Clark to John Kidd. In 1807 Bela Badger bought the Fairview and Belle meadow farms, lying south of Bristol, and afterward Bristol island, then called Yonkin's, and subsequently Badger's, island. The tide ebbed and flowed between the island and mainland. Mr. Badger, at great expense, banked in about 350 acres of the meadow, making one of the most productive islands in the Delaware. The portion not banked in is covered with water at every high tide. A small part of the meadows, adjoining Bristol, was wharfed in to form the basin of the Delaware Division Canal (6). Before the Revolution Captain John Clark, of the British army, came to America for his health, and lived on the Fairview farm, where Badger died. When a party of British horse came from Philadelphia to Bristol, in 1778, to burn the grist-mill, word was sent to Captain Clark, who rode into the village and forbade the destruction of property, on the ground that he was a British officer and part owner. The mill was not burned, and he soon afterward resigned his commission. He was the worshipful-master of the Bristol lodge of Masons, and remained a member to his death. (6) Possibly these island meadows are the same as Aldricks' island of two centuries and a quarter ago. [Next to William Penn, Samuel Carpenter was the richest man in the Province. He owned the "Slate Roof House," Philadelphia, in which Penn resided, 1700. Watson says Samuel Carpenter was the Stephen Girard of his period, in wealth. *] A ferry across the Delaware, from where Bristol stands to Burlington, was first established by the Provincial Council in 1709. A petition from the county-magistrates was presented by John Sotcher, who then owned the land on this side of the river, and on which the landing was to be. In 1714 an act of similar import was passed by the New Jersey assembly, which fixed the rate for ferrying over, and prohibited all but the licensed ferryman acting, under a fine of twenty shillings. Of course people crossed the river between these two points many years before it was a recognized ferry. It is not known that the landing of the original ferry was on the spot of the present one. About 1729 Simpson Carey petitioned to be granted the ferry from Burlington to Bristol. [Christopher Taylor, mentioned elsewhere -one of the early pioneer settlers of Bristol township, is supposed to have been born near Skipton, Yorkshire, England. There he officiated as a Puritan preacher until he joined the Quakers, 1652. He taught a classical school at various places; came to America, 1682, and obtained the grant of 5,000 acres in this county. He represented Bristol in the first Assembly; -was a member of the first Executive Council, after Penn's arrival, and was also Register-General of the Province. At one time he taught a classical school in Philadelphia. His son Israel was sheriff of Bucks county, and his daughter married Jona Sanderlands, Chester county, 1693. At the time of his death he was a resident of Tinecum island in the Delaware, and practiced surgery. He died 1696. *] An act of assembly was passed in 1771 to improve the navigation of Neshaminy creek, which bounds Bristol township on the southwest. The stream was declared a public highway, as far up as Barnsley's ford, now Newportville, but the navigation was not much improved. At certain stages of the water vessels of light draught can come up to that point. In olden times there was a floating bridge and rope ferry across the Neshaminy about a hundred yards above the turnpike bridge at Schenck's station, the foundation of which can still be seen. They were owned by Charles Bessonett (7), who then ran a line of stages from Philadelphia to New York, and kept tavern in Bristol. In 1785 he and Gersham Johnson were authorized to lay out a road, from the sixteenth mile-stone, on what is now the Philadelphia and Trenton turnpike, through the lands of J. Vandegrift, and William Allen, to and across Neshaminy; thence through land of John Edgar, and Joseph Tomlinson, and on to the nineteenth mile-stone, and to build a bridge and establish a ferry. These were the floating bridge and rope ferry. As early as 1700 the grand jury presented the necessity of a bridge over this stream, and William Moore was appointed to view and select a site, and the expense to the county was not to exceed 80 pounds. Whether it was built, and if so, where, the author is not informed. An early act of the Assembly sought to open lock navigation from tide-water to Bridgetown, but nothing came of it. The bill provided for the incorporation of the "Neshaminy lock navigation company." (7) The Bessonetts were in Bensalem as early as 1729, and on January 6, that year, John Rodman made a conveyance to John Bessonett. His will was executed March 4, 1774, and proved October 26, 1778. His children were: Daniel, John, Charles, Catharine, Anne, Martha and Elizabeth. Charles, who lived and died in Bristol, was deputy postmaster, 1776. A settlement of his estate was filed, October 27, 1807, but was not finally settled until 1812. Charles Bessonett, probably the innkeeper at Bristol, was the son of Charles. On the banks of the Delaware, three miles below Bristol, stands what is known as ["China Retreat" and *] Bristol college (8). About 1787 the farm belonged to one Benger, an Irish sporting gentleman, who imported the famous horse Messenger, which he purchased of a brother of the Duke of York. It was then called Benger's Mount. He sold it to Andre Everade Van Braam Houckgeest, the governor of an East-India island, who retired to this country, and erected an elegant mansion and called it "China Retreat." The marble used in the construction of this building was brought up the river by Samuel Hibbs, of Bensalem, in a shallop. In 1798 he sold the property, containing 361 acres and 30 [3*] perches, to Captain Walter Sims, for 10,706 pounds, whose son-in-law, Captain John Green, who lived on the Roberts' farm, near Newportville, was the first American sea-captain who carried our flag to China. He made the round trip in about a year, passing through the Straits of Sunda. He was also the first to import a full set of china-ware direct from China into the United States, about 1772, and to import Shanghai chickens, from a cross with which [makes*] our celebrated Bucks county chickens. Captain Green died September 24, 1796, at the age of 60, and was buried in Saint James church yard, Bristol. (8) Prior to this, the property belonged to Thomas Clifford, and was known as "Rocky Point," from the reef of rock in the river still visible at low tide. After Clifford's death it was passed to the descendants of his daughter, ___ Smith, and then to the Phillips family. Authority of Israel Pemberton; see also "Miss Eves' Journal," Penna. Magazine, 1881. * [Andre Everade Van Braam Houckgeest, builder of China Retreat, has an interesting history. He was born in Holland, 1739, and after serving in the Dutch Navy, in which two of his brothers were Admirals, he took service in the Dutch East India Company, in China. Amassing a fortune, he came to America and settled near Charleston, S. C., bought a nice plantation and became naturalized. Losing four of his five children and much of his fortune he again accepted service in the Dutch East India Company, and returned to Canton as Chief Director. He gained the confidence and esteem of the Emperor, and, by study and travel, became a recognized authority on Chinese manners and customs. He wrote an interesting book, dedicating it to Washington. He returned to America at the end of nine years, and to his surviving daughter, who, meanwhile, had married Major Richard Brooke Roberts, U. S. A., upon landing at Philadelphia, April 24, 1796; bringing with him a great collection of Chinese curiosities, including a Chinese coachman and footman. He now bought the "Benger Mound" farm near Bristol on which he erected a princely dwelling, in the prevailing colonial style, surmounted by a pagoda from which were suspended silver bells. The rooms were large and elegantly furnished; the music room for his daughter was the width of the house, with vaulted roof, gilded and frescoed, and was noted for its fine acoustic qualities. Here Van Braam dispensed a generous hospitality, numbering among his distinguished guests Washington, Lafayette and Prince Tallyrand, then in exile, the latter spending much of his time at China Retreat. On a festive occasion, it is said, Washington and Lafayette planted the two pine trees that stand in front of the house. Being a man of education and scientific attainments, he became a member of the Philadelphia Philosophical Society, and of the leading societies of Europe. His wife was a daughter of Baron Van Reede Can Oudtshorn, Governor of the Cape of Good Hope. His daughter on the death of Major Roberts, her first husband, married Capt. Staats Morris, son of Lewis Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence. The oldest son of Major Roberts was named Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus, after the Society of the Cincinnati, of which his father was an original member. After the death of Major Roberts, and the death of his widow, Van Braam sold China Retreat and returned to Holland, his fine collection of Chinese curiosities being lost at sea. The family of the distinguished Hollander keeps up its connection with Bucks county by the great grandson, Erasmus Roberts, marrying, 1892, Helen Chambers, daughter of Major Thomas Chambers, Newtown, and granddaughter of the late John Barnsley. *] (See illustration of China Retreat) China Retreat was turned into a seat of learning in 1833, and organized as Bristol College, in charge of the "Episcopal Education Society of Pennsylvania." The leaders in the enterprise were Rev. G. W. Ridgeway and Drs. Twyng and Bedell. The farm of 380 acres, with improvements, was purchased in March 1833, for $20,000 and $15,000 additional were raised by subscription, the subscribers contributing $75 a year per scholarship as a loan to the students. The buildings were only sufficient to accommodate 15 or 20 students, but the college was opened 1834 with the Reverend Chauncey Colton, D. D., the first and only president the institution had, delivering an address. The motto on the seal was "Pray ye the Lord of the harvest to send forth labors into the harvest." the board of trustees was composed of the Rev. James Milnor, D. D., N. Y., Rev. Dr. Smith, afterward Bishop of Kentucky, Dr. Henshaw, later Bishop of R. I., Rev. Levi Bull, Chester Co., Pa., Francis S. Key, author of the Star Spangled Banner, Rev. S. H. Twyng, Jr., D. D., Philadelphia, Rev. John S. Stone, D. D., Rev. James May, John C. Pechin and John Farr, Esq. Lambert Day was Secretary, Edward C. Thurston, Actuary and Superintendent of Manual Labor, and Jacob Lex, Treasurer. The President of the board was Dr. Bedell. As China Retreat (or Hall) did not furnish proper accommodations, a brick building was erected facing the Delaware, four stories, with two wings, at a cost of $80,000. The main building was called White Hall, in honor of Bishop White, and the two wings Pennsylvania and Clifton Halls, respectively. Its capacity was from 100 to 125 students, and, in the near future, there were about 100 in the college and preparatory schools from various parts of the country, all boarding in the building. There were only a few day scholars. The faculty was composed, in part, of the following: Dr. A. R. Packard, Professor of Chemistry and Natural History; Dr. G. S. Pattison, lecturer and teacher of Languages; William S. Serell and T. Alexander Todd, assistants, and Robert Rose, Alexander F. Dodd and James Hulme, tutors. The Rev. C. S. Henry was on the staff in some capacity. For the support of the institution a system of private subscription was organized and considerable money raised. The Bible was the text, and labor in the shop, garden and on the farm the key note of the curriculum. In 1834 Francis S. Key delivered an address before the Philogean Society on the "Power of Literature." The attendance fluctuated; one catalogue contained the names of 120 students, another 156, including preparatory pupils. The names of several clergymen are on the catalogue. The students established Sunday School at several points, including Eddington and Hulmeville, the latter being the germ of Grace Episcopal church at the place. Bristol College came to the end of its career, 1839, many of the students going to Trinity College, Hartford. The president was afterward a professor at Gambier Theological Seminary, Ohio. After the college closed, tutor Alex F. Dobb, who had formerly conducted a school at Langhorne, opened a boarding school there the same year, calling it "St. James Hall." The farm was cut up and sold by the sheriff. (See illustration of Bristol College) In 1843 Captain Alden Partridge, a graduate and one of the earliest Superintendents of West Point, opened a military school in the China Retreat building. At a meeting at the Tremont House, Philadelphia, May 23, 1843, the propriety of establishing a "Literary, Scientific Military Institute" there, was fully considered and favorably acted upon and a committee, of which General John Davis was chairman, was appointed to see the wishes of the meeting carried out. The school was put in charge of Prof. Henry Villiers Morris, a graduate of Norwich University, and a professor there. He was a civil engineer by profession, and subsequently assisted in laying out and building some of the leading railroads of the west. He was an officer in the Civil War, and breveted for meritorious services. He was born at Amherst county, Virginia, April 7, 1819, and died at St. Louis, May, 1898. The school was closed in three years and removed to Harrisburg. The buildings were used for a hospital during the Civil War, and subsequently for a state school for the education of children of colored soldiers (9). (9) The author is indebted to the Rev. S. F. Hotchkin for information relative to Bristol College. (The history of the college is taken entirely from the 1905 edition. *] The Bath Springs, known from the earliest settlement of the county, and for years a fashionable watering place, are situated on the edge of the borough of Bristol. The waters are chalybeate, and had celebrity as early as 1720, when they were a summer resort. In 1773 the distinguished Doctor Rush read a paper on the mineral waters of Bristol before the Philadelphia Philosophical Society, and the following year a Philadelphia newspaper says, "the Bristol baths and chalybeate wells are completed in the most c ommodious manner." Before buildings were erected the visitors boarded in Bristol, most of the families taking boarders, and walked out to drink the waters. General Mifflin and family were among those who frequented the springs, and visitors even came from Europe. The present buildings were erected in 1810 by Doctor Minnick (10), who laid out a race-course on the western part of the tract. More fashionable and attractive summer resorts have turned the tide of visitors in other directions. (10) The Bloomsdale ferry, over a century ago, was called Minnick's ferry, after Christian Minnick, its owner, and the name was changed, 1795. Christian Minnick was a member of the Bucks County Committee of Safety, 1774-75-76, and the ferry was probably named after him.* (See illustration of Bath Spring Near Bristol) There were, originally, three swamps in Bristol township, covering more than a thousand acres of her territory. The most considerable of these is "Pigeon" swamp, probably named after Joseph Pidgeon, of Falls, who died in 1728, extending from the head of Mill pond to within two miles of Morrisville. It is 300 yards wide, and contains about 800 acres. As it cannot be drained and made productive, without heavy outlay of money, it is kept in bushes and used as a pasture ground. It is crossed by several country roads. In 1772 the Legislature chartered "The Pigeon Swamp Company," when some effort was made to drain it. Hugh Hartshorne and Joseph Hall, of Bristol, were appointed to view and survey the swamp and Christian Minnick, Aaron Wright and William Bidgood, managers for the owners. At this time it appears that 152 acres and 108 perches were divided among the owners of contiguous lands, of which Thomas Middleton received forty-six acres, Benjamin Swain, seventeen acres, William Bidgood, thirty-two acres and seventy-two perches, Aaron Wright, sixteen acres and twenty-seven perches, Christian Minnick, thirteen acres and one hundred and thirty perches, Thomas Stanaland, four acres and sixty-one perches, Israel Pemberton, sixteen acres and fifty-nine perches, and William Bidgood, Jr., six acres and seventy-three perches. The other two swamps were Biding's (11), two miles northwest of Bristol, and Green's, three miles southwest, which have been drained and cleared and are now good farm land. In 1809 a road was opened across Pigeon swamp, and as early as 1723 a road was laid out from Green's swamp to Bristol. On the edge of Pigeon swamp, near the Mill pond, is what is known as the "Mystic well," whose discovery, it is claimed, was brought about by spiritual influence. It is related that Daniel B. Taylor, of Lower Makefield, was directed by the spirits to purchase a farm, owned by Malachi White, on which he would find a spring of wonderful medicinal properties, by digging down at a certain spot, just one hundred and one feet six inches. The farm was bought, some obstructions cleared away, the digging commenced in September and completed the following December. They dug sixty feet through loom, gravel and sand, and bored forty-one feet nine inches through a hard blue rock, when water, chalybeate in character, was reached. The well was tubed with an eight-inch iron pipe to the rock. Mr. Taylor built a boarding-house near by, at a cost of $13,0000 and for a time there was some demand for the water, at fifty cents per bottle, and a few visitors came to the well. In 1869 the water was subjected to chemical analysis by Doctor Gaunt, of Philadelphia, and one gallon was found to contain the following: Carbonate of the protoxide of iron, 3.60, sulphate of the protoxide of iron, .25, carbonate of lime, 1.40, sulphate of lime, .75, carbonate of magnesia, .57, sulphate of magnesia, .51, sulphate of potassia, .46, hydrated silica, .86, organic matter, a trace; total, 8.40. Several parties certified that the waters had benefitted them, and one old lady went so far as to say that it seemed to be "both meat and drink" to her. (11) This spelling is probably not correct. [The Dilworths were early settlers in Bristol township, where James Dilworth died, 1699. He came from Thornby, Yorkshire, with his wife Anna, a sister of Nicholas Waln. Some of the descendants drifted over to Chester county and gave name to Dilworthtown. *] Daniel Boone, the great hunter and pioneer of the west, is thought to have been born in Bristol township. The Boones were in the county early. In 1728 we find that Squire Boone (12), a weaver, purchased 140 acres in New Britain township, of Thomas Shute, of Philadelphia. Solomon "Boon" or "Boom" lived in Bristol township before 1743, and died between the 16th and 20th of December of that year, leaving sons, Ralph, Joseph and Solomon, and daughter, Elizabeth. In 1745 Solomon was a signer to a petition to the court to lay out a road from his plantation to Bristol. These Boons were probably of the lineage of Daniel. George Boone, the grandfather of Daniel, immigrated with his wife and eleven children from Exeter, England, in 1717; settled on the banks of the Delaware (13), where he purchased a tract of land. His son, Squire Boone, was married to Sarah Morgan in September 1720, and their son Daniel, the great pioneer, was born October 28, 1734. When about ten years of age his father removed with his family to Berks county, near Reading, then a frontier settlement, where Daniel became an expert hunter. When sixteen or eighteen years of age the family went to North Carolina, and settled on the Yadkin. From about this time we date his great exploits as a hunter and frontiersman, and his career is too well known to need repeating here. No other Bucks countian of the last century became so famous. He died in Missouri, September 26, 1822. We do not think there is any doubt about Daniel Boon being a native of Bucks county, although the location of his birthplace may not be entirely accurate. At the time of his death, the newspapers of Missouri, published in the vicinity of his home, stated that he was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, about 1730. William Stewart, son of Charles Stewart who lived and died in Upper Makefield, who was brought up in that township, accompanied Daniel Boone on his second visit to Kentucky, and was killed at the battle of Blue Licks, declared, in his lifetime, that he was a schoolmate of Boone, and his descendants assert it to this day (14). (12) As this person bears the same christian name as Daniel Boone's father, it is more than probable they were one and the same person. (13) John S. C. Abbott. (14) The account of the Boone family is not included in 1905 edition. [ARCHIVIST'S NOTE: More recent research as to the place of Daniel Boone's birth would indicate that he was born in Oley Twp, Philadelphia County, now Exeter Twp, Berks Co. See other Boone related documents in these archives.] The Taylors, of Bristol township, are descended from Samuel Taylor, husbandman, of the parish of Dore, county of Derbyshire, England. In the summer of 1677 he immigrated to America, and landed where Burlington, New Jersey, now stands. He was one of the proprietors of West New Jersey, and owned one thirty-second of seven undivided ninetieth parts. In the spring of 1678 he settled upon 1,200 acres in Chesterfield township, Burlington county, the whole of which remains in the family. To his second son, Robert, he gave 500 acres of the tract, now known as Brookdale. From him it came to his son Anthony, an ardent patriot during the Revolution, who died in 1785, and from Anthony to his eldest son, Michael. Our Taylors are immediately descended from Anthony, the third son of Anthony, who was born at Brookdale farm in 1772. In 1789 he was apprenticed to John Thompson, an extensive shipping merchant, of Philadelphia, and in 1793 he entered into the same business with Thomas Newbold, under the firm name of Taylor & Newbold. In 1802 he married Mary, the daughter and tenth child of Caleb Newbold, of Springfield, New Jersey. He retired from business in 1810, to Sunbury farm, Bristol Township, which he had purchased in 1808, where he resided to his death, in 1837. The family, from Samuel Taylor down have been Friends. He took great interest in farming, and was the largest land-owner in the county. Upon the failure of the Farmers' bank of Bucks county, at Hulmeville, he, with others, restored its capital and caused its removal to Bristol. He was elected president, and continued such to his death. Anthony Taylor had eleven children, all of whom grew up, and nine survived him: Robert, Sarah, William, Edward L., Michael, Caleb N., Thomas N., Emma L., and Franklin. Caleb N. Taylor, the sixth son of his father, was born at Sunbury, where he has resided nearly all his life. He has always been an active politician of the Whig and Republican schools, and was elected to Congress, 1866 and 1868, having been defeated (15) at three previous elections. [He was succeeded as president of the Bristol bank by his nephew, Benjamin F. Taylor.*] Michael Newbold, the ancestor of Caleb Newbold, whose daughter Anthony Taylor married, and likewise and English Friend, immigrated from Newbold manor, county of Derbyshire, in 1680. He settled near the Taylors, in Springfield township, Burlington county, where be bought 1,000 acres of land, still held by the family. Thomas N., the sixth son, died in Philadelphia. (15) Caleb N. Taylor labored hard, for year, to divide Bucks county, and the question was sometime in doubt, but his effort were finally defeated, 1855, when he seemed on the point of success. This ended the fight. * About 1830-31 Anthony Morris of Philadelphia founded an agricultural school at the Bolton farm, on the road from Oxford Valley to Tullytown, a mile and a half from the former place. It was placed under the superintendency of F. A. Ismar, a pupil of the celebrated school of Hofwyl, in Prussia, to be conducted on the Fellenberg system. The school did not prove a success and was soon abandoned. On the same farm is the "Morris graveyard," a round plat of ground, surrounded by a stone wall, and shaded by a grove of fine trees. Several of the Morris and Pemberton family have been buried in the old yard. This farm was originally the Pemberton homestead, and is yet in the family. The farm adjoining is called Wigan, and both that and the Bolton were named by the original proprietors after towns of the same names they came form in Lancashire, England (16). (16) Bolton farm is still in the family, belonging to Effingham B. Morris, Philadelphia, to whom it came by inheritance. Bela Badger, for thirty years a prominent citizen of Bristol, came from Connecticut in 1807. He bought the Hewson farm in the township, just over the borough line, the Island farm, opposite Burlington, and the Marsh farm, adjoining. He owned 800 acres, in all, fronting on the Delaware. He spent several thousand dollars in banking out the river from part of his land, and recovered 350 acres of very fine meadow-land, and also spent a large sum to improve his fishery, known as the Badger fishery, which he made one of the best on the river. Mr. Badger was a breeder of blooded horses, and dealt largely in fast stock. He made the first match against Eclipse with Sir Walter, and was beaten. He was connected with Colonel William R. Johnson, of Virginia, in the famous match of Henry against Eclipse, for $20,000 a side, run on Long Island, in May 1823, and others of equal note. He was the owner of Hickory, the sire of some of the finest colts since Messenger's day. He imported the celebrated horse Valentine, and was interested in the ownership of some of the best blooded horses of that day. Mr. Badger stood high in the sporting-world, and was considered by all as a man of integrity. He was a brother of Samuel Badger, of Philadelphia, and died in 1835, without family. The only village in the township, except the incorporated borough of Bristol, is Newportville, a mile and a half below Hulmeville, where the Durham road strikes the Neshaminy. The creek is spanned by a wooden bridge, 190 feet long, resting on three stone piers. The site of the village was laid off into town-lots as early as 1808, but it has not grown to great proportions. It was called "Newport" at first, but somebody, with the genuine American genius for naming places, added the syllable "ville," and the postoffice, when established in 1836, was given this name, which it bears to this day and is likely to bear to the end of time. There is properly an upper and lower town, a portion of the houses being built along the creek, and others on the high ground above. It has a large saw and grist-mill, extensive carriage-works, a hall that will seat about 300 persons, a public library, a fire company, two stores, and a tavern. The population is about 200. In the early days of the county, the crossing of the Neshaminy at this place was known as Barnsley's ford. A little cluster of houses, in the south-east corner of Middletown, on a road running from the Delaware to Newtown, lies partly in Bristol township, and is called Centerville. Bristol, like all the lower river townships, has little broken land, neither is it level, but has the gentle undulating surface, after you leave the river bottom, best suited to farming. It is watered by a few small tributaries of the Neshaminy, and Mill creek and its branches, the main stream taking its rise at the base of the primary formation in Middletown. The farmers of the lower part of Bristol have turned their attention to raising tobacco, and there and in Falls a large crop is produced yearly. According to a government return, made in 1871, Bucks county has within its limits 470 manufactories of cigars and one snuff-mill, the latter being in Bristol. These factories employ from thirty to fifty hands each and pay a duty of $180,000 a year to the go vernment. For a number of years, and until one was established in the borough of Bristol, the Friends of this township went to Falls meeting, where many of them still attend. So far as we have been able to learn the area of Bristol townhship has neither been enlarged nor decreased since it organization, in 1692, and contains now, as then, 9,459 acres. The earliest enumeration of taxables, we have met with, was in 1742, when they numbered eighty-three, of whom fifteen were single men. By 1763, a period of twenty-one years, they had increased to one hundred and four. At the same time the heaviest assessment against any one man was that of Lawrence Growden, who was taxed on 130 pounds. The average valuation was from five to ten pounds, evidence there was but little wealth in the township. In 1784 Bristol had a population of seven hundred and sixteen whites and forty-one blacks, and one hundred and fourteen dwellings. In 1810 it was 1,008; 1820, 1,667 (17), 1830, 1,532, and two hundred and two taxables; 1840, 1,450; 1850, 1,810; 1860, 2,187; 1870, 2,040, of which two hundred and four were of foreign birth, and one hundred and twenty-seven colored; the population of Bristol borough has largely increased of late years, and extensive manufactories erected. (17) Probably an error. Bristol township, Bloomsdale farm, has one of the most valuable shad-fisheries in the county, that known as the Badger fishery. It was established as early as 1790, and was rented for a number of years at $1,800 for the season. As high as 1,700 shad and 20,000 herring, besides a large number of smaller fish, have been caught in one day. On one or two occasions sharks, of the shovel-nosed species, have been caught. The rent for some years past has not exceeded $800. Anthony Burton's fishery has rented for $1,000 the season, but of late years for not over $400. Cash Point fishery, now Doctor Sallman's, adjoining Burton's, rents for $300 a year, Barclay Ivins's, in Falls, $500, Betty's Point, owned by C. Ellis, $300, Birch fishery, S. Collins, $300, John Thompson's, $200. David Moon's fishery, where the largest shad have been taken known to have been caught in the Delaware, weighing fourteen pounds, rents for $400 (18). (18) Probably the oldest ash tree in the county, a venerable many-ringed patriarch of the forest, was on the Andrew Schaffer farm, Bristol township, and recently cut down. Many historic memories clustered about its ancient bows, and its age is known to have been over 100 years. Just before the company of Bristol Reserves marched to the battle field of the Civil War, a picnic and banquet, a good-bye offering, was held in its shade, but only four of the one hundred composing the company lived to see the old patriarch laid low. It was twenty feet in circumference and six feet in diameter. The tree produced ten cords of wood. * No sketch of Bristol township would be complete without proper mention of Bloomsdale Farm, the seed-growing plant of David Landreth and Sons, one of the most extensive industries of its kind in the world. The reputation is international. It is on the Delaware, above Bristol, stretching nearly two miles along the river. The estate originally containing 1,000 acres was conveyed to Andrew Robinson, 1685, by Penn's Commissioners of Property. In 1752 it belonged to Colonel Alexander Graydon, father of Captain Alexander Graydon, who erected the Bloomsdale house that year at the north end of the tract. The son was an officer in Colonel Shea's continental regiment, and was made prisoner at the fall of Fort Washington, 1776. A subsequent owner was Leopold Notnagle, son of the head forester of the King of Bavaria, who, taking part as an officer in one of the German revolutions, was compelled to flee the country and settled on the Delaware. In 1807 he erected a stone barn on the premises, one of the largest in the State, and still in good preservation. Stephen Girard was interested in the settletment of his estate. In the thirties, during the "Morus Multicaulus" craze, the farm was largely planted with mulberry trees, the big stone barn turned into a cocoonery, and some silk produced, but to no profit. When the Merino sheep fad struck Bucks county, the owner went into that speculation.* (See illustration of Bloomsdale Farm) David Landreth, the 2d, purchased the Bloomsdale Farm, 1847, and began the seed raising industry. He was brought up amid the plantations of the Landreth nursery, established 1784, and was well equipped by taste and knowledge for the business. He improved the estate in every particular. He planted an arboretum that was not excelled in variety and development or its rare conifera and deciduous trees, the most noted being the gigantic growth of Rhododendrons, Kalmias and Azaleas. The system of culture for vegetable crops for seed production was interesting, the area broad, the expanse great; while the trial grounds, for the annual testing of 6,000 to 7,000 samples of seed of vegetables, and grasses, to determine their relative purity and merit, afforded an interesting school of botanical and physiological research. In 1872, steam plowing, by direct traction, was inaugurated at Bloomsdale, and steam digging and steam chopping experimented with in 1888, but were not found profitable.* In 1889-92 interesting experiments were conducted in the cultivation of the Chinese fibre plant, Ramie, but without success. David Landreth died at Bloomsdale, February 22, 1880, having passed a long life in developing and improving one of the most useful branches of practical agriculture. He was the son of an Englishman, who settled at Philadelphia, near the close of the eighteenth century, and was born there, 1802. At the father's death, 1836, the son succeeded to the business and made it his life-long occupation. Since David Landreth's death his sons have conducted the extensive business with success, and are recognized among the most extensive seed producers in the world. Burnet Landreth, one of the surviving sons, makes his home in the Bloomsdale homestead. He served as a captain in the Civil War, and has received many recognitions from foreign societies, for his services to agriculture, horticulture and forestry, and possesses several diplomas and decoration.* Bloomsdale farm has interesting historic associations apart from its industrial repute. On December 25, the day previous to Washington's attack on the Hessians at Trenton, General Cadwallader made an attempt to cross the river with his division, probably at the Bloomsdale farm, but was obliged to abandon the design by reason of the floating ice. That evening about 8 o'clock all the troops in and about Bristol marched down to Dunk's ferry three miles below (19). On May 9, 1778, while the British occupied Philadelphia, their flotilla returned from an attack on Bordentown, fired several shot at Bloomsdale house, but without injuring it. On July 4, 1804, Aaron Burr, who had recently killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, crossed the Delaware at the ferry on the Bloomsdale farm to avoid arrest. Joseph Bonaparte made two attempts to buy this estate, before purchasing at Bordentown, the first in 1816. The ferry here was one of the earliest on the river above Philadelphia, and wagons and horses were set across in flat boats, propelled by poles and oars, signaling between the two shores by a system of flags.* (19) There is some uncertainty as to the military operations at the Bloomsdale farm at this eventful period in our Revolutionary history. Our reference in the text is from General Stryker's exhaustive history of the "Battles of Trenton and Princeton," excellent authority in such case. Another authority, which we have forgotten, says "Cadwallader's division here (Bloomsdale ferry) crossed the Delaware into New Jersey, December 27, 1776, and being ignorant of Washington's reaching there that evening, marched his force to Burlington, reaching there that evening. Here he received a letter from Washington, informing him of his victory at Trenton on the 26th. Burnet Landreth, writing to the author on the subject, says "General Cadwallader's crossing was the ferry one mile above Bristol, called "Minnick's ferry," and cited letter of Colonel Rodney, aid to Cadwallader.* On the banks of the Delaware, below Bloomsdale, are the extensive establishments for the preservation of fruit, recently owned by Nathan Hellings. The main building is eighty by fifty feet, with thick walls, and is so constructed as to avoid the outside changes of temperature, which is maintained at from thirty to sixty degrees within, while a current of dry air passes constantly through the building to prevent moisture. A large ice-bed under the center of the building cools the atmosphere in summer. Here large quantities of foreign and domestic fruits, in season, are stored for preservation. The storage capacity of the establishment is about 10,000 barrels. End of Chapter IX.