THE HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CHAPTER XVI, WRIGHTSTOWN, 1703. from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time by W. W. H. Davis, A.M., 1876 and 1905* editions.. 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 XVI WRIGHTSTOWN (1) 1703 A small township. --John Chapman first settler. Ralph Smith. -First house erected. - Death of John Chapman. -William Smith. -John Penquite. -Francis Richardson. -James Harrison. -Randall Blackshaw. -The Wilkinsons. [-William Lacey. - General Lacey (2)]. -Township organized. -Townstead. -When divided. -Effort to enlarge township. -Richard Mitchell. -Settlers from New England. -Friends' meeting. -Meeting-house built. -Ann Parsons. -Zebulon Heston. -Louisa Heston Paxson. -Jesse S. Heston. -Thomas Ross. -Improvements. -Croasdale. -Warner. -Charles Smith. -Burning lime with coal. -Pineville, Penn's Park and Wrightstown. -The Anchor. -Population. -Large tree. -Oldest house in county. - First settlers were encroachers. (1) We acknowledge the assistance received from Doctor C. W. Smith's history of Wrightstown township, and from the Chapman MS. kindly loaned us by Judge Chapman. Wrightstown, one of the smallest townships in the county, lies wedged in between Buckingham, Upper Makefield, Newtown, Northampton, and Warwick, with the Neshaminy creek for its southwest boundary. The area is 5,880 acres. It is well watered by a number of small streams which intersect it in various directions, the surface is rolling, and the soil fertile. A ridge of moderate elevation crosses the township and sheds the water in opposite directions, toward the Delaware and the Neshaminy. The ground was originally covered with a fine growth of timber, with but little underbrush, which greatly reduced the labor and trouble of clearing it for cultivation. At first the settlers did little more than girdle the trees, plant the corn, and tend it with the hoe. The favorable location, the good quality of the soil, and its easy cultivation had much to do, no doubt, with it early settlement. Two years and three months after William Penn and his immediate followers had landed upon the banks of the Delaware, John Chapman, of the small town of Stannah (2), in Yorkshire, England, with his wife Jane, and children Mara, Ann, and John, took up his residence in the woods of Wrightstown, the first white settler north of Newtown. Being a staunch Friend and having suffered numerous persecutions for opinion sake, including loss of property, he resolved to find a new home in the wilds of Pennsylvania. Of the early settlers of Wrightstown, the names of John Chapman, William Smith and Thomas Croasdale are mentioned in "Bessies' Collections," as having been frequently fined and imprisoned for non-conformity to the established religion, and for attendance on Friends' meeting. Leaving home June 21, 1684, he sailed from Aberdeen, Scotland, and reached Wrightstown sometime toward the close of December. Before leaving England Mr. Chapman bought a claim for 500 acres of one Daniel Toaes, which he located in the southern part of the township, extending from the park square to the Newtown line, and upon which the village of Wrightstown and the Friends' meeting- house stand. A portion of this land lay outside of the purchase made by William Markham in 1682, and to which the Indian title had not be extinguished, when John Chapman settled upon it. Until he was able to build a log house, himself and family lived in a cave, where twin sons were born February 12, 1685. Game from the woods supplied them with food until crops were grown, and often the Indians, between whom and the Chapmans there was the most cordial friendship, were the only reliance. It is related in the family records, that on a certain occasion, while riding through the woods, his daughter Mara overtook a frightened buck, chased by a wolf, which held quiet until she secured it with the halter from her horse. The first house erected by him stood on the right-hand side of the road leading from Wrightstown meeting-house to Pennsville, in a field now belonging to Charles Thompson, and near a walnut tree by the side of a run. After a hard life in the wilderness John Chapman died about the month of May in 1694 and was buried in the old graveyard near Penn's Park, whither his wife followed him in 1699. She was his second wife, whose maiden name was Jane Saddler, born about 1635, and married to John Chapman, June 12, 1670, and was the mother of but two of his children. A stone erected at his grave bore the following inscription: "Behold John Chapman, that christian man, who first began To settle in this town; From worldly cares and doubtful fears, and Satan's snares, Is here laid down; His soul doth rise, above the skies, in Paradise There to wear a lasting crown." (2) There is neither town, nor parish, by the name of Stannah in England at the present day. It is thought that this place is identical with the present Stanhope in the valley of the river Wear, in Durham county. The church records of Stanhope show that the Chapmans belonged to that parish before John joined the Friends, and there he was baptised. As the family records give Yorkshire as the last county he resided in before coming to America, he probably changed his dwelling place after he became a Friend. Durham and Yorkshire are adjoining counties. As Stanhope is in Durham, and not in Yorkshire, the confusion of locality remains. The children of John Chapman intermarried with the families of Croasdale, Wilkinson, Olden, Parsons and Worth, and have a large number of descendants. The late Doctor Isaac Chapman, of Wrightstown, and Abraham Chapman, of Doylestown, were grandsons of Joseph, one of the twins born in the cave (3). The descendants of John Chapman have held many places of public trust. We find them in the Assembly, on the bench, at the head of the loan-office, county-surveyors, county-treasurers, etc. (4). In the early history of the county they did much to mould its public affairs. Ann Chapman, the daughter of John, became a distinguished minister among Friends. She traveled as early as 1706, and made several trips to England. The family added largely to the real estate originally held in Wrightstown and elsewhere, and about 1720 the Chapmans owned nearly one-half of all the land in the township. In 1734 John Chapman's son John bought 195 acres on the Philadelphia road, adjoining the Penquite tract, which is now owned by John Thompson, the grandson of the first settler of that name in the township. (3) Some remains of this cave were to be seen as late as 1768. (4) In 1811, Seth Chapman, of Newtown, was appointed president judge of the eighth judicial district. Although John Chapman was the first to penetrate the wilderness of Wrightstown, he was not long the only white inhabitant, for within two years William Smith, of Yorkshire, came to dispute with him the honors and hardships of pioneer life. He bought 100 acres of Mr. Chapman and afterward patented several hundred acres adjoining, extending to Newtown and the Neshaminy. His dwelling stood near where Charles Reeder lived. He was twice married, first to Mary Croasdale, of Middletown, in 1690, and afterward in 1720, and was the father of fourteen children. He died in 1743. His son William, who married Rebecca Wilson, in 1722, purchased nearly all the original tract of his brothers, and considerable in Upper Makefield, and died wealthy in 1780. The land remained in the family down to 1812. The original tract embraces several of the finest farms in that section. He was the ancestor of Josiah B. Smith, of Newtown. John Penquite, who came over in September 1683, and died in 1719, was the third settler in township, where he took up 314 acres between the park and Neshaminy. It was originally patented to Phineas Pemberton, in 1692, but secured to Smith in 1701. In 1690 he married Agnes Sharp, who probably arrived in 1686, and died in 1719, his wife dying in 1758, upward of 100 years of age. He was a minister among Friends for nearly seventy years. His son John inherited his estate, and at his death it was divided between his four daughters. Jane married William Chapman, who built Thompson's mill. [In 1765 Ralph Smith, son of William Smith, the immigrant, with his three sons, William, Aaron and Zopher, went to South Carolina, and settled in the Spartansburg district. He held the office of justice of peace under King George III, but resigned when hostilities with the colonies broke out, and entered the army. He and his young son, Samuel, were arrested and confined in the loathsome prison at Ninety-Six. His son Aaron was killed at the battle of the Cowpens, and Zopher fought at the same battle.*] [William Smith, eldest son of Ralph, born in Wrightstown, September 21, 1751, became a distinguished man, his military career beginning against the Cherokee Indians, 1775; when the Revolution broke out he entered the service and remained to the close, reaching the rank of major. He took part in several battles including Guilford Court House, one of the severest in the State, and saved the day at Musgrove Mill by disabling the British commander. He was an uncompromising patriot in the darkest hour in South Carolina, when others were seeking Royal protection. He was equally distinguished in civil life. After the war he was elected county judge, member of Congress, 1797-99, and a member of the state Senate for twenty years, and died June 22, 1837, in his eighty-sixth year. Joseph M. Rogers, the historian, says of him: "He was leader of the House, a solid man of some eloquence, and had he remained longer in Congress, would have become a leading figure in American politics." Simon C. Draper summed up his eulogy in these words: "Few men served the public longer or more faithfully than Judge Smith."*] [William Smith was the father of fourteen children, and four of his sons became prominent in State politics: Colonel Isaac was a state senator for many years; Dr. William, a physician, was a state senator and member of the House of Representatives; Major Elihu served eight terms in the Legislature, and Dr. Eber Smith, an eminent physician, was also a member of the Legislature. Another son, Eliphas, who removed to Alabama with his family, was a captain in the Mexican war, and upon his return, was appointed judge of the Circuit Court. Daniel Smith, the boy imprisoned at Ninety Six, served in South Carolina, but removed with his family to Indiana, and his descendants are living at Indianapolis and Terre Haute.*] In 1684 519 acres, patented to Francis Richardson, were laid off for him in the east corner of the township, but he never settled upon them. Richardson owned 1,200 acres in all, some of which is said to have been in the south-west corner of the township on the line of Newtown. Some or all of it was conveyed to Thomas Stackhouse in 1707. In a few years it fell into the hands of other persons, John Routlige getting 170, and Launcelot Gibson 117 acres. Two hundred acres were patented to Joseph Ambler, in the northeast part of the township in 1687, which descended to his son, and then fell into the hands of strangers. A few years ago the Laceys owned part of this tract. The same year 200 acres, adjoining Ambler, were patented to Charles Briggham, which, at his death, descended to his two daughters, Mary, who married Nicholas Williams, and Sarah, to Thomas Worthington; Amos Warner now owns part of this tract. Briggham's tract had a tannery on it in 1748, but there is no trace of it now. William Penn granted 1,000 acres to John and William Tanner in 1681, who sold the grant to Benjamin Clark, of London, in 1683, and three years afterward 492 acres were laid out to his son Benjamin, of New Jersey, on the northeast side of the township, extending from the Briggham tract to the New Hope road, which contained 575 acres by Cutler's re-survey. Clark did not settle in the township, and in 1728 the land was sold to Abraham Chapman for £350. A few years ago it was owned by John Eastburn, Joseph Warner, and Timothy Atkinson. James Harrison located 1,000 acres in Wrightstown by virtue of a patent from William Penn, date the 11th month, 1682, but he never became a settler. He sold 200 acres to James Radcliff, a noted public Friend, who removed to Wrightstown in 1686, but the remainder, at his death, descended to his daughter Phoebe Pemberton. By 1718 it had all come into possession of his son Israel, by descent and purchase. At different times he sold 307 acres to John Wilkinson, 290 to William Trotter, and the rest to Abraham Vickers, in 1726. This tract lay on the southwest side of the township, running from the park to the Neshaminy, then down to the mouth of Randall's creek, and from Randall Blackshaw's to Radcliff's tract. Harrison must have owned other lands in Wrightstown, for Henry Baker, of Makefield, bought 400 acres of him before 1701. This lay in the northwest part of the township; probably Harrison had never seated it, for it was patented to Baker's son Henry, who sold it to several persons before 1723. It does not appear that Shaw received a park dividend in 1719, although he then owned 121 acres. Randall Blackshaw, an original purchaser, took up 200 in the west corner of the township, which, in 1713, was owned by Peter Johnson, who came in 1697, and at his death in 1723 it descended to his son John. Garret Vansant came into the township in 1690, and settled on a tract in the northwest corner. He sold 200 acres to Thomas Coleman, in his life time, and at his death, subsequent to 1719, the remainder was inherited by his sons, Cornelius and Garret. The Vansant family lies buried in the old graveyard on the Benjamin Law farm (5). Richard Lumley and Robert Stucksbury came about 1695. In 1709, 150 acres were surveyed to Stucksbury, which afterward passed to the possession of Thomas Atkinson. (5) Holme's map contains the names of the following real estate owners in Wrightstown in 1684: Christopher Harford, Henry Baker, Thomas Dickerson, Randall Blackshaw, James Harrison, James Radcliff, and Herbert Springet. [The Wilkinsons of Wrightstown are descended from Lawrence Wilkinson, of Lanchester, county Durham, England, a lieutenant in the army of Charles I, and taken prisoner at the surrender of New Castle, October 22, 1644. He settled at Providence, R. I., about 1652. John Wilkinson, second son of Samuel Lawrence, and a descendant of the immigrant, settled in Wrightstown, 1713, on 307 acres on Neshaminy, purchased May 27, near the present Rushland. It lay in the three townships of Wrightstown, Warwick and Buckingham. He was a judge of the court of common pleas for some years, and a large holder of real estate. His will is dated 1751, and proved April 23. Ichabod Wilkinson, another son of Samuel Lawrence and also a descendant of the immigrant, settled in Solebury, 1742, and married Sarah Chapman, 1743. John and Mary Wilkinson had seven children, Mary born July 1708, married Joseph Chapman, August 1730; Kissiah married Thomas Ross, and was the mother of Judge John Ross; John married Mary Lacey, daughter of John Lacey and sister of General Lacey, May 27, 1740, and Joseph moved to Chester county, 1761. The second wife of John Wilkinson was Hannah Hughes, daughter of Matthew Hughes. John Wilkinson became a prominent man and was much in pubic life. He was a member of Assembly, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas; member of the Provincial Conference, July 15, 1774; Lieut. Col. 3d regiment, Bucks county Associations; member of the Committee of Safety and of the Committee of Correspondence; member of the Constitutional convention, 1776, and held other public trusts. He died May 31, 1782, the Pennsylvania "Gazette" of June 9, paying a high tribute to his personal worth and patriotic service in the Revolution. He was the father of nine children, who intermarried with the Twinings, Chapmans, Hughes, Smiths and other well-known families. Elisha Wilkinson, youngest child of Colonel John Wilkinson, was the most prominent member of the family the past century. He was born 1774, and died at Philadelphia, 1846. He developed a fondness for military affairs in early life. In 1807 he was Lieutenant Colonel of the 31st regiment of militia, and Assistant Quartermaster in the campaign on the Lower Delaware, 1814. He was also prominent in civil life, being sheriff of the county for two terms. He was popular and widely known; a great sportsman, fond of good stock and did much to improve it. In 1814 he purchased the tavern property at Centerville, and kept it several years. Here he was visited by many of the leading men of the period. The late Ogden D. Wilkinson, and his brother-in-law, Crispin Blackfan, built the Delaware-Raritan canal between Trenton and New Brunswick, 1832. Colonel Elisha Wilkinson was twice married, his first wife being Ann Dungan, a descendant of Rev. Thomas Dungan, of Rhode Island, who settled at Cold Spring, Bristol township, 1683, and founded the first Baptist church in the Province. Walter Clark, half brother of Thomas Dungan, was governor of Rhode Island, 1696 to 1697.*] We have not been able to find any record giving the date when Wrightstown was organized into a township, or by whom laid out. It was called by this name as early as 1687 in the will of Thomas Dickerson, dated July 24th, wherein he bequeaths to his kinsman, Thomas Coaleman, "200 acres of land lying and being at a place called Writestown." In the deed of Penn's commissioners to Phineas Pemberton, in 1692, it is called by its present name. The mile square laid out in it was called the "village" or "townstead" of Wrightstown. Land was surveyed in the township as early as 1685. The township was hardly a recognizable subdivision at these early dates, but the name was probably applied to the settlement, as we have seen was the case in other townships. It will be remembered that the first group of townships was not laid out until 1692, and Wrightstown was not one of them, and we are safe in saying that it was not organized until some time afterward. We have placed the date 1703, because that was the time of the resurvey by John Cutler, and we know that it was then a recognized township. When Wrightstown was laid out into a township a mile square townstead, about in the centre of it, was reserved by the Proprietary, whose intention is thought to have been to devote it to a public park for the use of the township. It was surveyed in 1695. At the end of thirteen years the inhabitants became dissatisfied with the reservation, and on petition of the land-owners the Proprietary allowed it to be divided among the fifteen men who owned all the land in the township. This was according to the terms of a deed of partition executed in 1719. These fifteen land-owners were Smith, Penquite, Parsons, Lumley, Stuckbury, Vansant, Johnson, Pemberton, Ambler, Trotter, Clark, John, Abraham and Joseph Chapman, and Nicholas Williams. James Logan agreed to the terms for the Penns, and John Chapman surveyed the square, which was found to contain 658 acres, one-tenth of the area of the township. In 1835 Doctor C. W. Smith made a survey of the original boundaries of the square, which he found to be as follows: "Beginning at the east corner of the park at a hickory tree in the line between Benjamin Lacey's land and Isaac Chapman's land; thence south forty-three and a quarter degrees west along the said line-fence, to Edward Chapman's land; crossing said land and crossing the Durham road north of his house; crossing the farms of Charles Thompson and Garret D. Percy; following the line between the lands of Charles Hart and Mary Roberts to a stone, the corner of Mary Roberts' and Albert Thompson's land, this being the south corner of the park; thence north forty-six and three-quarters degrees west, along the line between Mary Roberts' and Charles Gain's land, crossing the Pineville and Richborough turnpike road about one-fourth of a mile below Pennville; crossing Charles Gain's land following the north-west line of the old graveyard lot; crossing Mahlon W. Smith's land, joining in with and following the public road in front of his house, and crossing lands of Abner Reeder and John Everitt; then following the public road leading to Carver's mill to an angle in said road, the corner of Sackett Wetherill's and Jesse Worthington's land, this being the west corner of the park; thence north forty-three and a quarter degrees east, crossing lands of Jesse Worthington, Benjamin Lair and Edmund S. Atkinson, and following the line between Edmund S. Atkinson's and Thomas Martindale's land, crossing the land of William Smith north of his buildings, to a point between William Smith's and Thomas Warner's land, this being the north corner of the park; thence south forty-six and a quarter degrees east, across Thomas Warner's land, south of his buildings, across William Smith's lands, thence crossing lands of Thomas Smith, Joseph Morris, and Benjamin Lacey, to the place of beginning." At the time of the division of the townstead all the land in the township was located, but it was sparsely populated, and only a small portion had been brought under cultivation. One account gives the township proprietors at seventeen, but the names of only sixteen can be found, of which seven were non-residents. John Abraham and Joseph Chapman received a park dividend of 140 acres, all the other residents 196 acres, and the non-residents, who owned half the land in the township, 322 acres. At a later period the Chapmans owned about three-fourths of all the land in Wrightstown. Before 1789 Henry Lewis, of Westmoreland county, had come into the possession of one acre and ninety-seven perches of the park, through the Pembertons, Penquites, William Chapman and others, and which he sold October 17th, that year, to Robert Sample, of Buckingham, for £30 Pennsylvania currency. In 1720 an effort was made to enlarge the area of Wrightstown, by adding to it a portion of the manor of Highlands adjoining, in what is now Upper Makefield. The petitioners from Wrightstown were John Chapman, Joseph Chapman, James Harker, William Smith, William Smith, Jr., Thomas Smith, John Laycock, Launcelot Gibson, Abraham Chapman, John Wilkinson, Richard Mitchell, Nicholas Allen, Edward Milnor, Peter Johnson, Garret Johnson, John Parsons, and John Johnson. John Atkinson and Dorothy Heston were the only two petitioners from the manor. The territory proposed to be added was about one-half as large as Wrightstown, and the reasons given for the annexation were because a certain road through the manor was not kept in repair, and that the interest of the people to be annexed were more closely united with those of Wrightstown. The strip of land wanted was 930 perches long by 475 wide. In 1718 Richard Mitchell bought seventy acres of Joseph Wilkinson, on the east side of Mill creek, where he built a mill, long known as Mitchell's mill, which fell into disuse when the Elliotts built one lower down on the stream. Mitchell was a man of high standing, and died in 1759. For several years this mill supplied the settlers of a large scope of country to the north with flour. In 1722 the inhabitants of Perkasie petitioned for a road to be laid out to this mill, which also opened them the way to Bristol. The mill, and farm belonging, of 250 acres, were purchased by Watson Welding in 1793, and continued in the family near half a century. The mill is now owned by Hiram Reading, of Hatborough, Montgomery county. The Sacketts came into the township from Hunterdon county, New Jersey, Joseph, the first comer, settling there about 1729, and purchasing 220 acres of John Hilborn, a portion of the Pemberton tract. He kept store for several years. Part of the property is held by his descendants. John Laycock, a minister among Friends, purchased 120 acres of John Chapman in 1722, and died in 1750. Joseph Hampton, a Scotchman, settled in 1724 on 250 acres he purchased of Zebulon Heston. It was on his land, still owned by his descendants, that stood the "corner white oak," near an Indian path that led to Playwicky, mentioned in the Indian purchase of 1682. It is a singular fact that of all the original settlers in Wrightstown, the families of Chapman and Smith are the only ones of which any descendants are now living in the township. About 1735 there was an influx of settlers from the East, a few families coming from New England, among whom were the Twinings, Lintons, and others. The Warners were there ten years earlier. Joseph, born in 1701 and married Agnes Croasdale, of Middletown, in 1723, settled there in 1726, and afterward purchased 150 acres of Abraham Chapman, part of the original Clark tract. The old mansion is still standing, 147 years old (1876 editions). An addition was built to it in 1769. He was grandson of the first William, who died at Blockley in 1706. The ancestral acres are still in the family, owned by Thomas Warner, the fifth in descent from Joseph Warner. It is thought that 1,700 persons have descended from Thomas Warner, the first settler in Wrightstown. Those who came into the township at this period purchased land of the original settlers, sometimes with the improvements. With few exceptions the early settlers were of English or Irish descent, although there were some from other European countries. In 1750 Joseph Kirkbride, of Falls, patented 205 acres adjoining James Radcliff, and extending from the park to Neshaminy, but we cannot learn that he was ever a resident of the township. Robert Hall, an early settler, came with his wife Elizabeth, and a son and daughter, but the time we do not know. John Thompson came early, acquired large property, and became prominent and influential. He was elected Sheriff of the county, which office he filled with great acceptance. The first meeting of Friends was held at John Chapman's in 1686 (6), and afterward at John Penquite's, an accepted minister. Meetings were held at private houses until 1721. These early Friends were members of Middletown monthly that met at Nicholas Walne's. In 1721 Falls Quarterly gave permission to Wrightstown to build a meeting-house, which was erected on a four-acre lot, the gift of John Chapman. The first graveyard was on the road from Wrightstown meeting-house to Rush valley, just beyond Penn's Park, and is known as :the school-house lot." It is now owned by Charles Gain, and was sold to his father a quarter of a century ago. The lot was walled in, but twenty-five years ago Amos Doane used the stone to build a wall on his farm. This graveyard was on the Harker tract, purchased of William Trotter, and at his death Harker (7) gave it to the Wrightstown monthly meeting. There have not been any burials there within the memory of the oldest inhabitants. The lot was reserved from cultivation, but the graves of the first settlers were mutilated by the plow many years ago. In 1734 Wrightstown was allowed a monthly meeting. The first marriage recorded is that of Bezeleel Wiggins to Rachel Hayhurst, of Middletown, in May 1735. Down to the end of the century there were celebrated 330 marriages, the names of the parties being those of families well-known at the present day in the middle and lower sections of the county. The meeting-house was enlarged in 1735 by an addition of twenty feet square, and the Bucks quarterly meeting was held there for the first time that fall. Afterward it rotated between Wrightstown, Falls, Middletown and Buckingham. A wall was built around the graveyard in 1770, at a cost of $506.50, and in 1787 the present house, seventy by forty feet, was erected at an expense of $2,106. An addition was made to the graveyard, to bury strangers in, in 1791. In 1765 Friends adjourned Monthly meeting because it fell on the day of the general election. Wrightstown meeting has produced several ministers among Friends, some of whom became eminent. Of these may be mentioned Agnes Penquite, who died in 1758, aged upward of 100 years, Ann Parsons, born 1685, died 1732, David Dawes, Ann Hampton, Zebulon Heston, and Thomas Ross. Doctor Smith says but one riding chair came to Wrightstown meeting in 1780, that of John Buckman. The women were good riders, and generally came on horseback, but some of them came on foot several miles. (6) The first meeting for worship was to be held once a month, "to begin next First day, come week after 3d, 4th month, 1686," but at the request of John Chapman, in 1690, it was held every three weeks. (7) Harker was elected pound-keeper of the township in 1738, "the pound to be kept on his land near the highway," probably in the vicinity of Pennsville. (See illustration of Wrightstown Meeting House*) Zebulon Heston removed from New Jersey to Falls, where he remained until 1711, when he came up to Wrightstown with his wife and children. Of his seven children, Jacob was the only one born in the township. His son Zebulon became a noted preacher, and in his seventieth year he made a missionary visit to the Delaware Indians on the Muskingum river, Ohio, accompanied by his nephew, John, afterward General Lacey. Mr. Heston died May 12, 1776, in his seventy-fourth year (8). The meeting-house of Orthodox Friends was torn down in 1870, when the few families which had worshiped in it joined the meeting at Buckingham. The burial-ground was enlarged in 1856 by adding a lot from George Warner, and the whole is surrounded by a substantial stone wall. It is more that one-fourth of a mile in circumference. During the last thirty years nearly 1,000 persons have been buried in the yard (9). (8) Mrs. Louisa Heston Paxson, great-granddaughter of Zebulon Heston, and granddaughter of his son Edward, died at Hestonville, Philadelphia county, March 26, 1899 in her 98th year. Her father was prominent in the Revolution, and served in the Continental army, reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He was subsequently a judge on the Common Pleas bench, Philadelphia, and also a member of the State Senate. Mrs. Paxson was a real "Daughter of the Revolution," and a few years ago the National Society present her a gold souvenir. (9) In 1886 The Bucks County Historical Society erected a monument near the corner of the Wrightstown graveyard to mark the starting point of the "Walking Purchase," 1737. Martha Chapman gave the ground, and the monument stands on the southeast corner of the road from Penn's Park makes with the Durham road, is the site of the chestnut tree mentioned in the "walk."* A spirit of improvement set in about 1720, which gradually put a new phase on the appearance of things. Down to this time the township was entirely cut off from the outside world by the want of roads. The opening of a portion of the Durham road down toward the lower Delaware, and the one now known as the Middle road, leading from Philadelphia to New Hope, which meets the former at the Anchor tavern, near the centre of the township, destroyed its isolated situation. A number of new settlers now came in. Those without money took improvement leases for a term of years, which were the means of gradually bringing large tracts of non-residents under cultivation. Some of the large tracts of the original holders were also passing to their children, and being cut up into smaller farms. About this period was commenced that wretched system of farming which cultivated a single field until it was farmed to death, when it was turned out for exhausted nature to recuperate. This retarded the clearing of land, and was almost the death of agricultural improvement. The opening of the road to Philadelphia was an invitation to the farmers of Wrightstown to take their produce there to sell, of which they gradually availed themselves. Instead of wallets slung on horses, simple carts now came into use to carry marketing, and the men began to go to market instead of the women. At this time the inhabitants lived on what their farms produced, with a small surplus to sell. The men dressed principally in tanned deer-skins, and the women in linsey and linen of their own manufacture. About 1756 Croasdale Warner, son of Joseph, bought a tract of land adjoining Joseph and Timothy Atkinson, on which he built a pottery, and carried on the business for several years. It was accidentally burned down in 1812, and was not rebuilt. This was probably the earliest pottery in central Bucks county, or possibly anywhere in the county. The inhabitants of Wrightstown took an interest in the cause of temperance at an early day, and discountenanced the general use of intoxicating liquors. June 12, 1746, thirty-one of her citizens petitioned the court to "suppress" all public houses in the township, because of the great harm they were doing the inhabitants. To this petition is signed the name of Thomas Ross, ancestor of the Rosses of this county. Charles Smith, of Pineville, a descendant of Robert Smith, of Buckingham, was the first person to burn lime with hard coal. His experience in burning lime goes back to 1796, and he has been engaged in it more or less, all his life. His first attempt, and the first in the county, was in 1826, when he used coal on the top of the kiln, and continued it until 1835. The method of arching the kiln, and arranging the wood and coal so as to burn lime to the best advantage, were experimented upon several years. In 1835 he built a kiln to hold 3,500 bushels, and burned in it 2,553 bushels of lime. In another he burned 2,204 bushels with wood and coal, which cleared him $100, and the same month he burned a third that yielded him 2,398 bushels. The same year he constructed a kiln at Paxson's corner, in Solebury, to burn coal alone, and in May 1836 he burned a kiln that yielded him 2,800 bushels, and another in October that produced 3,041 bushels. Contemporary with Charles Smith in the experiments was James Jamison, a successful and intelligent farmer and lime-burner, of Buckingham, and he and Mr. Smith frequently compared their plans and consulted together. Mr. Jamison was killed in his limestone quarry by a premature explosion. In Wrightstown are three small villages, Pineville in the northern, Wrightstown in the southern, and Pennsville, more frequently called Penn's Park, the name given to the post office, near the middle of the township. Pineville was known as "The Pines" a century ago, and was called by this name for many years, from a growth of thrifty pine trees at that point. Seventy years ago it was called "Pinetown," and consisted of a stone store-house adjoining a frame dwelling, kept by Jacob Heston, near the site of Jesse P. Carver's store. The dwelling house and tailor-shop of William Trego stood on the point between the Centreville turnpike and the Buckingham road. [Jesse S. Heston kept store in the bar-room of the present tavern. Soon after that period Thomas Betts removed to Lahaska, where he kept store many years in the building recently occupied by R. R. Paxson. Heston went from Pineville to Newtown and formed a partnership with John Tucker, where they carried on for many years under the firm name of Heston & Tucker. Mr. Heston removed to Bristol, went out of business and died there. He was the father of Dr. George Heston, Newtown. Heston was succeeded at Pineville by Kinsey B. Tomlinson, who removed hence to Newtown, and for many years kept the store subsequently occupied by Evan Worthington. Tomlinson was president of the Newtown National Bank. Isaac Colton, a bound boy of Jesse Heston, grandfather of Jesse S. Heston, Newtown, was the last person to wear leather breeches in the vicinity of Pineville. This was about 1800-1810. When he wore them to school he was the butt of the other boys.*] Another dwelling, and David Stogdale's farm house, with a school-house near the present store, and removed in 1842, completed the village. It had neither tavern, wheelwright, nor blacksmith. The post-office was established after 1830, with Samuel Tomlinson the first postmaster, when the name was changed to Pineville. The first tavern, licensed in 1835 or 1836, was kept by Tomlinson, after having been for several years previously a temperance house. It now contains about twenty (25*) dwellings. John Thompson kept store at the Pines before the Revolution, and also owned a mill on the Neshaminy. Pennsville, or Penn's Park, is built on land that James Harker bought of William Trotter, within the park, in 1752. It is situated in the southern part of the township, on the Pineville and Richborough turnpike, and within the original park or town-square laid out by direction of William Penn. The population is about 130 (150*) souls. It contains thirty-three (35*) dwellings, one public inn (not in 1905 edition), one church, Methodist Episcopal, one store, post-office, established in 1862, and T. O. Atkinson appointed postmaster, and various mechanics' shops. Penn's Park was originally called "Logtown." [Among the dwellings at Penn's Park is an old eight-square school house at the toll-gate on the Pineville and Richborough turnpike, but a school has not been kept in it for many years. The land was leased by the Bursons for a term of ninety-nine years for school purposes. This lease, having expired, places the building in the nineteenth century. We do not know when it was built, but the halftone illustration will give the reader its present appearance.*] (See illustration of Eight-Square School House, Penn's Park, Wrightstown*) Wrightstown is but a small hamlet, with the meeting-house, store, and three or four dwellings, and takes its name from the township. It is built on the original tract of John Chapman, and on the turnpike to Newtown, originally the Durham road. The township has three taverns, at Pineville, Pennsville, and that known as the Anchor, where the Middle and Durham road intersect. It is traversed by these two main highways, and a number of roads that intersect or lead into them. The road from the river side at Beaumont's to the Durham road, near Wrightstown meeting-house, was opened in 1763. Among the aged men who have died in Wrightstown, within the recollection of those now living, were William Chapman, grandson of the first settler, July 1, 1810, aged ninety-two (93*), [David Stogdale, at Pineville, April 1816, aged eighty-three years (10], and [Andrew Collins, February 28, 1817, aged ninety-two years.*] (10) Not in 1905 edition The earliest enumeration of taxables is that of 1764, when they numbered 67. We do not know the population earlier than 1810, when it was 562; in 1820, 618; 1830, 660, and 148 taxables; 1840, 708; 1850, 812 whites; 1860, 853 whites and 9 blacks, and in 1870, 811 whites and 12 blacks, of which 771 were native-born and 52 foreign; [1880, 773; 1890, 838; and 1900, 775.*] The large buttonwood that stands in front of the house of Thomas Warner grew from a riding-switch his father brought from Harford county, Maryland, in the spring of 1787, and stuck in the ground. It measures eleven feet in circumference twelve inches above the ground. An ash, planted in the same yard in 1832, measures nine feet around it. It is well known to all who have examined the subject, that the original white settlers above Newtown were encroachers on the country owned by the Indians. The Proprietary was censured for permitting this intrusion on the Indians, and the latter made mild protest against it. The upper line of Markham's purchase, July 15, 1682, ran through Wrightstown, a short distance below the Anchor, and therefore all the settlers in this township north-west of it were intruders. The same may be said of those who first settled in Buckingham and Solebury, and all above. In truth, all the land settled upon north of Newtown prior to the "Walking Purchase," in 1737, belonged to the Indians, and the whites were really trespassers. John Chapman settled on land to which the Indian title had been extinguished before he left England, but some of the early settlers were not so careful to observe treaty obligations. Just before this chapter was put to press we received information from Mr. William J. Buck, of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, that throws light on the origin of the name of Wrightstown. A letter of Phineas Pemberton to William Penn in England, dated 27th, 11th month, 1687, says: "The land I have in Wrightstown is 1,200 ackers, and only one settlement upon it. I lately offered to have given 100 ackers if he would have seated there, and he has since bought at a very great price, rather than go so far into the woods. There is about 500 ackers yet to take up in the towne. The people hereabout are much disappointed with sd. Wright and his cheating tricks he played here. They think much to call it after such a runagadoe's name. He has not been in these parts for several years, therefore I desire thee to give it a name. I have sometimes called it Centretown, because it lyes near the center of the county, as it may be supposed and the towne is layd out with a center in the middle of 600 ackers or thereabout." The Wright referred to in Mr. Pemberton's letter is thought to have been Thomas Wright, who was associated with William Penn in the West Jersey venture. He arrived in the Martha in 1677, and settled near Burlington. In 1682 he was a member of Assembly. The name was first applied to the settlement, and intended for the prospective township, but, at the time Pemberton wrote, there was no township organization. When he speaks of "the towne" he evidently refers to a settlement in the middle of the townstead. William Penn did not see fit to change the name, although it was called after a runagadoe." [When Abraham Thompson tore down his old dwelling, 1878, erected back in the eighteenth century, he found, under the roof, an assessment paper date April 1, 1809. It was made out in the name of Amos Warner for the tax on that farm, assessed at $21 per acre. The assessor was Jesse Anderson.*] Near the Windy Bush road, running from the Anchor tavern, Wrightstown, stands an old stone school house in which about 1845, Charles C. Burleigh was rotten-egged while advocating the abolition of negro slavery. The person who threw the eggs subsequently perished in a snow storm.*] End of Chapter XVI. TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: The account of the Laceys found in Chapter 16 of the 1876 edition appears in Chapter 17 of the 1905 edition.