THE HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CHAPTER XX, BRISTOL BOROUGH, 1720.
from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time by W. W. H. Davis, A.M., 
1876 and 1905* editions..

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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 XX 

                              BRISTOL BOROUGH

                                   1720


One of the oldest towns in the state.  -Its site.  -Market town petitioned 
      for.  -Lot owners.  -Incorporated.  -Fairs to be held.  -Bristol in 1708.  
     -In 1756.  -Captain Graydon.  
     -First county seat.  -Friends' meeting.  -Work-house.  -Saint James' 
      church.  -The Burtons.  -De Normandies.  -Dr. Francis Gaudonette*.  
     -Charles Bessonett.  -The Williamses.  -British troops billeted.  
     -Attacked by refugees.  -James Thornton.  
     -The Bristol of today.  -Industrial establishments and churches.  
     -Captain Webb.  -Lodges and societies.  -The bank.  -Ground broken for 
      canal.  -Old grave.  -Home for aged gentlewomen.  -Major and Mrs. Lenox.  
     -Its buildings.  -Bath springs.  
     -Thomas A. Cooper.  -John P. Heiss*.  -Taxables and population.

    Bristol, the oldest town in the county, and one of the oldest in the 
state, occupies an eligible situation on the west bank of the Delaware, 
fronting nearly a mile on the river, with fifteen feet of water in the 
channel. A settlement at this point naturally followed the establishment 
of a ferry across the river to Burlington, and at an early day a road was 
laid out from the King's highway down to the landing.
    The site of Bristol is on the grant of 240 acres by Sir Edmund Andros to 
Samuel Clift, in 1681, who sold fifty acres to Richard Dungworth, sixty to 
Walter Pomeroy, and 100 to Morgan Drewitt. The remaining thirty acres 
Clift left to his son-in-law, John Young, by his will dated November 29, 
1682, which his son conveyed to Thomas Brock and Anthony Burton, February 
20, 1695, for £20 currency. Upon this tract, which extends northward from 
Mill creek, and also on a portion of John White's land adjoining, the town 
was laid out in 1697. It had the following metes and bounds: "Beginning at 
a post standing in the line of John White's land, south forty-eight 
degrees east, eighteen rods to a corner post, then south fifty-eight 
degrees west, to a corner post standing by the creek called Mill creek; 
then by the said creek to the river Delaware; thence up the river Delaware 
ninety-four rods to a post; thence north thirty-nine degrees west, 
fifty-one poles to a post; thence west thirty-two degrees south, 
eighty-six poles to the place of beginning, being in Buckingham." (1)   It 
is thought that a portion of the Clift tract had been previously laid out 
into building lots. The road that then led down to the ferry was the same 
as the present Mill street, and was 120 perches long and three perches 
wide.

    (1) It was called New Bristol down to 1714.

    On June 10, 1697, "the inhabitants and owners of land in that county of 
Bucks, but more especially in the township of Bucks," petitioned the 
provincial council, held at Phineas Pemberton's, below the falls, to 
establish a market town "at the ferry against Burlington, with a weekly 
market, and the privilege of wharfing and building to a convenient 
distance into the river and creek," and that there "may be a street under 
the bank to the river and creek." The council ordered the town to be laid 
out, and Phineas Pemberton was directed to make the survey and draft, 
according to the plan submitted. The original lot-owners were Joseph 
Growden, Phineas Pemberton, John White, Robert Brown, John Smith, Thomas 
Musgrove, John Town, Samuel Carpenter, Thomas Brock, Henry Baker, Anthony 
Burton, Samuel Bown, probably Samuel Bowne, who married Mary Becket, 
William Croasdale, and Samuel Oldale, fourteen in all, who no doubt went 
into the investment as a speculation. In 1790 Isaac Hicks was requested to 
draw a plan of the borough, and fix stones at each street corner, which 
was done. No doubt there was a house or two about the ferry before the 
town was granted, and after that the erection of buildings was probably 
accelerated. Bristol was incorporated into a borough by letters patent 
from the crown November 14, 1720, on the petition of Anthony Burton, John 
Hall, William Watson, and Joseph Bond, "and many other inhabitants of the 
town of Bristol, owners of a certain tract of land formerly called 
Buckingham." Joseph Bond and John Hall were the first burgesses, and 
Thomas Clifford the high-constable. As the charter came direct from the 
crown, instead of the Provincial Assembly, the independence of the 
Colonies dissolved the corporation, which was restored by the Legislature 
in 1785. The charter has been several times amended and enlarged, and the 
borough limits extended.
    The charter of Bristol provided, among other things, for the holding of 
two annual fairs, two days in May and three in October, "in such place or 
places as the burgess from time to time may appoint." These fairs were 
attended by all classes; some went to make purchases, but the great 
majority for a frolic. Horse-racing, drinking, gambling, and stealing 
prevailed to an alarming extent. The young men generally went on 
horseback, in their shirt sleeves, with their sweethearts behind them, 
their coats tied up behind the saddle, with their thin-soled shoes, for 
dancing, wrapped up in them. They wore two pairs of stockings, the inner 
white, and the outer of colored yarn, the tops of the latter turned down 
to exhibit the inner pair and protect them from dirt. The negro slaves 
were allowed by their masters to attend the last day of each fair, when 
they flocked thither in large numbers and held their jubilee. After the 
fairs had continued three-quarters of a century, the people of Bristol and 
vicinity petitioned the legislature to abolish then, on the ground that 
they were "useless and unnecessary, and promote licentiousness and 
immorality." (2)

    (2) Act of April 14, 1796.

    We know but little of Bristol in its infancy, in fact it was only a 
feeble frontier river village, and has no history. The inhabitants may or 
may not have been threatened with fires, but in 1701 the Assembly passed 
an act to prevent them. (3)  Oldmixon, who visited Bristol in 1708, speaks 
of it as the capital of Bucks county, containing fifty houses. Graydon's 
memoirs, published in 1811, says of Bristol about 1756: "Then, as now, the 
great road leading from Philadelphia to New York, first skirting the inlet, 
at the head of which stand the mills, and then turning short to the left 
along the bank of the Delaware, formed the principal, and indeed, the only 
street marked by anything like continuity of buildings. A few places for 
streets were opened from this main one, on which, here and there, stood an 
humble, solitary dwelling. At a corner of one of these lanes was a Quaker 
meeting-house, and on a still more retired spot stood a small Episcopal 
church, whose lonely graveyard, with its surrounding woody scenery, might 
have furnished an appropriate theme for such a muse as Gray's. These, 
together with an old brickyard, constituted all the public edifices of 
this, my native town." Captain Graydon, the author of this early sketch of 
Bristol, was the son of an Irishman who came to this country about 1730. 
[His father, Alexander Graydon, born at Longford, and brought up under the 
care of his maternal grandfather near Dublin, was educated for the church 
but declined to take orders. At one time he was President judge of Bucks 
county. He was twice married, his second wife being Rachel Marx, daughter 
of a merchant engaged in the West India trade, and a German by birth, but 
living in Philadelphia at the time of her marriage to Graydon, and where 
they became acquainted.  She was the youngest of four daughters, all 
connected by marriage, to some of the most influential families in 
Pennsylvania. He was patriotic, and in 1747, when a general Indian war was 
threatened, was Colonel of the associated regiment of Bucks county. He died, 
March 1761, his wife and four children surviving him. Captain Graydon 
was born April 10, 1752.*] After his father's death his mother removed to 
Philadelphia and opened a boarding-house, the resort of the leading 
colonial worthies of the day. When the Revolution broke out young Graydon 
espoused the cause of the colonies, and was appointed a captain in Colonel 
John Shee's Pennsylvania regiment, in January 1776. He recruited for his 
company at Attleborough, Newtown and New Hope. He was made prisoner at 
Fort Washington, and exchanged at the end of two years, but did not 
re-enter the military service. After the was he was appointed Prothonotary 
of Dauphin county, and died there. He was a gentleman of culture and 
ability, and maintained a good position in society. At the time of which 
Captain Graydon wrote, all the inhabitants of Bristol were Friends, with 
the exception of the De Normandies and two or three other families.

    (3) What is spoken of as a "great fire" broke out in 1724, but the value 
        of the property destroyed is not known. The Friends of Abington raised 
        money for the relief of the sufferers.

    Bristol was the first seat of justice of the county, where it was 
established in 1705. (4)  The same year the assembly authorized the erection 
of a court-house, a two-story brick that stood on Cedar street, nearly 
opposite the Mason hall, with court room above, prison below, and a 
whipping-post attached to the outside wall. The lot was given by Samuel 
Carpenter. The building was used as a school-house after the courts were 
done with it, and forty years ago the house and lot were bought by William 
Kinsey. In 1722 a house of correction, with a whipping-post attached, was 
erected at the expense of the county, which was replaced by a new one in 
1745. The testimony about the workhouse is conflicting, one authority 
stating that it was removed in 1724 or 1725, two years after it was built. 
The building is still standing. (5)

    (4)  The courts had previously been held in Falls township and Middletown, 
         but Bristol was the first designated "seat of justice."*
    (5)  The workhouse was authorized by act of Assembly of February 22, 1718, 
         to be built at the expense of the county within three years, to be managed 
         by a president, treasurer, and assistants, and not more than £100 were to 
         be raised yearly for its support. As the house was not built within the 
         three years specified, it must have been erected under a subsequent act. 
         By act of March 1, 1745, the common council of Bristol was authorized to 
         erect a workhouse in the town, which is probably the one now standing.

    The Friends' meeting at Bristol is one of the oldest in the county. For 
several years the Friends settled there attended meeting at Falls, 
Neshaminy, now Middletown, and sometimes crossed the river to Burlington. 
In 1704 the Falls meeting granted the Bristol Friends a meeting once a 
month, increased to twice a month in 1707, held at private houses. In 1706 
complaint was made of the want of a meeting-house, and one was erected in 
1710. The unpaid balance of the cost of building, £86, was assumed by 
Falls, Middletown and Buckingham. The lot was the gift of Samuel 
Carpenter, and the deed was executed to Joseph Kirkbride, Tobias Dimocke, 
Thomas Watson, Edward Mayrs [Mayos*] and William Croasdale, in trust. The 
meeting-house was enlarged in 1763, the expense being borne by the monthly 
meetings, and an addition purchased to the lot in 1814. The building being 
out of repair in 1728, George Clough and Thomas Clifford were appointed 
"to procure the same to be mended before the next quarterly meeting." It 
was used as an hospital during the Revolution. The Orthodox Friends have a 
small frame meeting-house, erected at the time of separation, in 1828. The 
Episcopalians were not long behind the Friends in planting a house for 
religious worship in Bristol, who built Saint James' church (6) in 1711, 
which has had an eventful history, and yet gathers within its walls a 
large and flourishing congregation.  (7)

    (6)  For further account of St. James' church see chapter entitled 
         "Historic Churches."*
    (7)  "Bristol, August 6, 1785. At a meeting of the Congregation of St. 
         James' church, held this day, the following choice of the pews were made: 
         No. 1, Col. Merck Bird (John Deverel 1/4); 2, Peter Vanhorne, p.; 3, 
         Miller and Stockman, p; 4, George Sweetman; Richard Rue (Middletown); 6, 
         Swift and Green, p. p; 7, Philip Johnson; 8, Clark and Beneset, p; 9, Dr. 
         James De Normandie; 10, Rodman and Gibbs (Samuel Kinser); 11, Kinsey and 
         Kennedy (B. Bessonett); 12, Cox and McIlvain, p; 13, Dodel and Malcolm 
         (John McElroy); 14, Mr. John Boon, p; 15, Jonathan Hibbs, p; 16, Larzalere 
         and Wright, p; 17, Charles Bessonett Bodine; 18, Riche and Kidd; 19, 
         McElroy and Clunn; 20, Palmer, p; 21, Elwood and Vanskiver; 22, Gabriel 
         Vanhorne, p; 23, Richard Rue (Bensalem); 24, Flower and Gale."*


             (See illustration of St. James Episcopal Church, Bristol, 1857)


    Of the present Bristol families the Burtons have been in that vicinity 
from the first settlement. Anthony, lately deceased, was the fourth in 
descent from the Anthony who married Susan Kean in 1725, and on the 
maternal side the great-grandson of Ann, daughter of John and Mary 
Sotcher. Charles Swain traces his paternal line back four generations to 
Benjamin Swain who married Eliza Rulon about 1743-5, and he is the seventh 
in descent from William and Margaret Cooper, through four generations of 
Woolstons. On the maternal side of the male line he is the sixth in 
descent, through the Briggses, and Croasdales from Ezra Croasdale who 
married Ann Peacock in 1687. The De Normandies, Bessonetts, and Williamses 
were among the early inhabitants of Bristol, but the names of the first 
two families have become extinct.
    The De Normandies were a princely family of France, holding feudal 
tenures in Champagne from the earliest times, the heads of the house being 
the lords de la Motte, [and one of the most distinguished families that 
immigrated to this country.*] In 1460 Giulliaume De Normandie was made 
royal governor of Noyon in Picardy, and founded the chapel of St. Claire 
in the church of St. Martin. He married a De Roye, princess in her own 
right, and daughter of the Lord of De Mailly D'Aisilly and Montescourt. 
From Giulliaume De Normandie descended Laurent De Normandie, the warm 
friend and supporter of Calvin, and the executor of his will, who fled to 
Geneva, and, as did his sons after him, filled some of the highest offices 

in that republic. From Laurent came Jean De Normandie, one of the deputies 
sent in 1603 to conclude a treaty of peace with the Prince of Savoy, and 
from Jean came Joseph, named after his uncle and godfather, the celebrated 
Duc De La Tremouille. These were all Counselors of State and syndics of 
Geneva, as was Michael, the son of Joseph. From Michael came Andre De 
Normandie, the confidential agent and lieutenant of Frederick the Great at 
Neufchatel. In his old age this Andre De Normandie, born at Geneva in 
1651, came to America in 1706, with his two sons, John Abram and John 
Anthony, and settled at Bristol, where he died in 1724. Of his sons, John 
Abram, in 1688, and John Anthony, in 1693, married Henrietta Elizabeth, 
and Mary, daughters of Doctor Francis Gandonet [Gaudinette, Marguerite, 
one of the daughters of Andre, born in Geneva, March 13, 1686, married 
Louis Jolly, and, from her, through the Becket family, are descended the 
families of Ross, Clark and Sims. The late John C. Sims, Philadelphia, was 
descended from this line. He was an accomplished man, and possessing many 
excellent qualities, and had been Secretary of the Pennsylvania Railroad 
Company several years at his death, 1901. Of the two daughters of Dr. 
Daudonette, Henrietta Elizabeth died at Bristol, in 1757, and Mary in 
1748.*] The remains of father and sons repose in Saint James' church-yard. 
The children of the two sons married into the families of Bard, of 
Burlington, and Anderson, whose whereabouts is not known. Some of the De 
Normandies sided with England in the Revolutionary struggle and got into 
trouble, while with others Washington was on terms of warm friendship. The 
families were valuable citizens in the church and out of it. Some of them 
were physicians, and men of science and culture, and they owned 
considerable real estate in the county. Doctor James De Normandie, a 
physician of large practice in Penn's manor, was the last of the family to 
leave the county, [some sixty years ago,*] and settled in Ohio. His son 
James [was a Unitarian clergyman at Roxbury, Mass.*] The father married a 
sister of Samuel Yardley, formerly of Doylestown. [Her name was Sarah, a 
daughter of Thomas Yardley, and also a sister of George and Edward 
Yardley.*] Late in life Doctor John Abram went to Geneva, Switzerland, to 
claim property left him and his cousin, by an old nobleman. He there met 
Voltaire, who was so pleased with his society that he made some 
preparation to return with him and lay his bones here. The Doctor brought 
home a miniature given him by Voltaire, which is yet owned by the 
descendants of the family. Arthur Sands, of Trenton, is a descendant of 
the De Normandies.
    Charles Bessonett, a son of John, a Huguenot refugee, who came to this 
county about 1731, (8) was an active citizen of Bristol an hundred years 
ago, and was probably born there. He was a celebrated stage proprietor, 
and was the first to establish a regular line of stages between 
Philadelphia and New York (1773)  the through trip being made in two days, 
at the low fare of four dollars. This line was kept up until it was 
succeeded by steam and rail. Believing the toll over the Neshaminy was too 
high, he purchased the right of way to the creek by a new route, and built 
a bridge over it; but a heavy freshet came about the time it was finished, 
washed it away, and well-nigh ruined him. In 1785 he kept what is now 
known as Pratt's hotel. Before the Revolution it had the head of George II 
for a sign, but when the American army was passing through on its way to 
Yorktown, the soldiers riddled his majesty's head with bullets. The name 
was then changed to The Fountain. The ancestors of the late Robert 
Patterson were early residents of Bristol, and his grandfather, Robert, 
was an officer in the Revolutionary army.

    (8)  As the record on his tombstone says he died in 1807, at the age of 
         seventy-three, and was not born until 1734, he could not  have come as 
         early as 1731. This would make the date of his arrival uncertain.*

    The Williamses were there early in the last century, possibly members of 
old Duncan's family, who established Dunk's ferry. Ennion, a thrifty 
cooper and baker, and a leader in Falls meeting, married Mary Hugg in 
1725. It is related of him, that while he owned the property many years 
afterward known as the "Willis house," he set some men at work to dig the 
foundation for an addition to the dwelling. Hearing the pick of one of 
them strike a hard substance that did not sound like a stone, he threw the 
laborers some change and told them to get something to drink. When they 
returned they saw the print of an iron pot in the earth. He said he had 
changed his mind about building, and discharged them. After this he 
rapidly grew wealthy. He subsequently built the front portion of the 
Willis house, putting in the west end the letters and figures, "E. 
WEIGHT:., 1735," in blue brick. (9)  This house was afterward in the 
Buckley family, and was used as an hospital during the Revolutionary war.

    (9)  Query: Was Major Ennion Williams, of the Pennsylvania line, a 
         descendant of the Bristol Ennion?

    Bristol, lying on the great highway between the North and South, it was 
often traversed by bodies of troops, and on more than one occasion armies 
passed through it. On the 9th of November 1757, 200 men of the 
thirty-fifth British regiment were billeted in the town over night. The 
bill was presented to the county commissioners, but as they refused to 
pay, the borough had to foot it. These troops were soon followed by a 
large body, en route for winter quarters. Bristol bore her share of the 
tribulations of the Revolutionary war. In December 1776 General 
Cadwallader lay there with 3,000 men, and in 1777, 1,500 were billeted on 
the inhabitants at one time. Armed boats guarded the river in front of the 
town to prevent the enemy passing. On one or more occasions the 
inhabitants felt the weight of the enemy's depredations.
    On Good Friday, 1777, [1778*] Bristol was surprised by a party of refugee 
light-horse from Philadelphia, at daylight. Coming out of the city the 
evening before, they secreted themselves in the bushes about the ford at 
the Flushing mills. Then muffling their horses' feet and waiting for the 
sound of the morning gun, when they knew the sentinels would be drawn in, 
they dashed into the town. Placing guards at the doors of the principal 
citizens, they compelled them to come into the streets, where they afterward 
permitted them to put on their clothes. They did not tarry long, but 
returned to Philadelphia, with what little plunder they could gather, and 
some of the inhabitants, who were kept there prisoners several weeks 
before they were released. At the time of the attack, Bristol was 
garrisoned by a company of militia, but they made no defense. The 
royalists were anxious to capture their captain, but he showed his 
discretion by hiding in a friendly garret. In 1799 a portion of the troops 
which assisted to quell the "Fries rebellion" rendezvoused at Bristol 
before they marched.
    James Thornton, a distinguished minister among Friends, passed several 
years of his life in Bristol. He was born at Stony-Stratford, in 
Buckinghamshire, England, in 1727, and landed in Philadelphia in 1760. He 
afterward married and settled in Byberry, where he spent the remainder of 
his life, and died there June 24, 1794, in is sixty-seventh year. He was 
probably the ancestor of the Thorntons now living in Byberry.
    The Bristol of today is a place of considerable wealth and business. 
Among the industrial establishments are: Bristol rolling-mill, erected for 
a forge in 1851, but changed to its present uses a few years ago at a cost 
of $50,000, and employs sixty-five hands with a weekly pay-roll of $800; 
woolen-mill that cost $90,000, employs 230 hands, and pays $2,000 per 
week; felt-mill, cost $75,000, employs 160 hands, and pays $2,900 weekly; 
Keystone forge, cost $65,000, and employs twenty-five hands when in 
operation; box and sash-factory that cost $15,000, employs eighteen hands, 
and pays $200 weekly. The last has turned out, in a single season, 250,000 
packing and fruit boxes, besides a large amount of other work. Her 
citizens have invested largely in vessels and steamboats. They have built 
twenty-one schooners, sailing out of that port, ranging from two to six 
hundred tons burden each, at a cost of $260,000. Her steam and ferry 
boats, barges and tugs cost $153,000 more. Seven of her schooners have 
been lost at sea, involving a loss of $53,000 to the owners. The 
improvements on the river front consist of three public and six private 
wharves, built at a cost of $33,000. The borough has a board of trade. The 
flouring and saw-mills that Samuel Carpenter owned nearly two centuries 
ago are still in operation.
    [Of late years there have been great changes in Bristol industries and 
some additions. The active agency in the erection of new business plants 
was the "Bristol Improvement Company," organized, 1876, with a stock 
capital of $233,000, and by the annual report, January 1898, the assets 
were $284,379.36, an excess over the stock of $51,379.36. The company 
erected its first plant, 1877, the Bristol Worsted Mills -the main 
building being 328x86 feet, three stories high, with a floor space of 
95,000 square feet, and a capacity of 400 hands. It soon passed into other 
hands and is now operated by William H. Grundy & Co.  A wall paper mill 
was built in 1882, occupied by Wilson & Fennimore, until 1893, when the 
business was sold to the "National Wall Paper Company." It is not operated 
at present but held as a reserve mill to be put in motion in case of 
emergency. It cost $70,000, is three stories high, with a floor space of 
100,000 square feet. The Keystone mill, for the manufacture of fringe, 
consists of a main building, 102x50 feet, two stories high and necessary 
outbuildings. In 1870 a mill for turning out woodwork was erected, burned 
down in 1891, but immediately rebuilt. Probably the most valuable 
manufacturing plant is the Bristol carpet mill, built by the company and 
turned over to Thomas L. Leedom & Co., April 1838, and employs 550 hands. 
The main building is 229x54 feet, two stories high, the whole occupying a 
floor space of 160,000 square feet. It makes carpets and rugs, the wool 
mostly coming from China, Russia, Persia and Mediterranean ports. The 
Thomas B. Harkens Foundry company employ twenty-five men and apprentices. 
In addition to these larger establishments, Bristol is equipped with the 
various minor industries found in a prosperous town, and water and rail 
furnish convenient facilities for reaching markets. (10)*]

   (10)  Since these figures of Bristol industries were taken there has been 
         considerable increase.*

    Besides the two Friends' meeting-houses and the Episcopalian church 
already mentioned, there are four other places of religious worship in 
Bristol - Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, and Baptist. The first named 
is the oldest of these four, and its foundation was probably laid by 
Captain Webb, one of the fathers of Methodism in America, who preached 
there before the Revolution under a chestnut tree on the spot where the 
church now stands. Bristol was one of the birth places of this 
denomination in this country. Captain Webb, a distinguished officer of the 
British army, who lost his right eye at the siege of Louisburg, and scaled 
the Heights of Abraham with General Wolfe, joined a Methodist society in 
England in 1765, and was preaching in Philadelphia between that time and 
1769. John Adams said he was one of the most eloquent men he ever heard. 
He was authorized to preach by John Wesley, and when he retired from the 
army became an itinerant. He gathered the first congregation in 
Philadelphia, and laid the foundation of Saint George's chapel. He joined 
John Embury in New York, and worked zealously in the cause until the war 
broke out, when he returned to England. The earliest Methodist ministers 
in Philadelphia, after Captain Webb, were Messrs. Pillmore and Boardman. 
The congregation of the former was joined by Mrs. Mary Thorne, a Miss 
Evans, of Bristol, who was the first female class-leader in Philadelphia. 
The first Methodist church, outside of the city, was built at Montgomery 
Square, about 1770, by Mr. Supplee. Bristol was one of the earliest points 
where Captain Webb preached, and no doubt he formed the nucleus of the 
Methodist church there. Regular circuit preaching was established in this 
county by the Philadelphia conference in 1790, and the old court house was 
often used for that purpose. The first church building, a small brick, was 
erected in 1804, mainly through the efforts of Mary Connor, enlarged in 
1827, and rebuilt [in 1844, at the cost of $7,000. In 1895-96 a new church 
building was erected, the cornerstone being laid November 17 and dedicated 
October 25, 1896. The church and chapel have a seating capacity of 1,200. 
In the past century twenty-seven pastors have had charge, many of them 
able men, the present rector, Rev. C. H. Rorer, taking charge 1895. Among 
the original members were the parents of the late William Kinsey, Bristol, 
who himself was an active member over half a century.*] It has a 
parsonage, and the congregation is large. The Catholic church, Saint 
Mark's, was built in 1845, at a cost of $2,500, burnt down and since 
rebuilt. There is a brick parsonage on the church lot, and a grave yard is 
enclosed with it. The Presbyterian church was built by subscription in 
1844, and received into the second Philadelphia Presbytery in 1846. The 
first pastor was the Reverend James Mr. Harlow, who resigned in 1850, and 
was followed in succession by the Reverends Franklin D. Harris, to 1861, 
Alfred Taylor to 1864, Henry J. Lee to 1867, Jacob Weidman to June 1, 
1873, who was succeeded by the Reverend James H. Mason Knox, D. D. From a 
feeble beginning this congregation has grown to be large and prosperous. 
The Baptist church was organized in 1848, with twelve members, and now 
numbers over 160, with a Sabbath school of 200 scholars. It has had seven 
pastors in all, the Reverends Messrs. M. H. Watkinson, C. J. Page, W. H. 
Swinden, J. S. Miller, Taylor H. C. Bray, and John C. Hyde. [During the 
pastorate of Mr. Page a new church edifice of brown stone, 44x84 feet, was 
erected, at the corner of Cedar and Walnut streets, and repaired under Mr. 
Hyde.*] The church property is valued at $22,000. The yearly contributions 
from all sources, have reached as high as $2,744.85. [The church 
celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 1898, commencing September 18 and 
lasting three days. Appropriate services were held each day and evening, 
one being taken up with reading its history and an evening occupied with a 
reception. This was during the pastorate of the Rev. E. A. Rook, a 
graduate of Crozier Theological Seminary, who assumed charge in 1894. In 
the period between Mr. Hyde and the coming of Mr. Rook, were the following 
pastors: The Revs. C. E. Harden, '75-'76; William H. Conrad, '77-'80; Levi 
J. Beck, '80-'86; J. D. King, '86-'89; I. W. Goodhue, '89-'91, and W. H. 
Clipman, '92-'94. A small church building*] for the society of Millerites 
among the Friends was erected in 1867.
    Among the societies and institutions of Bristol may be mentioned a lodge 
of Masons, instituted in 1780, at which John Fitch was inducted into the 
order in 1785, Young Men's Christian Association, and lodges of Odd 
Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Red Men, and several temperance 
organizations. Among the public building are a brick town hall and market 
house, with cupola and clock, built in 1831, at an expense of $2,500, 
Washington hall, a large three-story building, erected in 1848, which 
accommodates several societies, two building for common schools, one built 
in 1837 and the other in 1853, at a cost of $11,000, and will accommodate 
600 scholars. The school board has established a public high school, which 
is in a flourishing condition. The Friends have a neat stone school-house, 
and the fire department is represented by one steam and a hand engine and 
two hose carriages. Water-works were erected in 1874, the water being 
pumped up from the river, and distributed over the town from a stand-pipe, 
at a cost of $50,000. Bristol has a circulating library of 1,500 volumes, 
and two newspapers, published weekly.
    The Farmers' Bank, the first in the county, was organized in 1814. The 
books for subscription were opened at various points, from August 8th to 
the 19th, and the commissioners met at Doylestown on the 20th. The 
stockholders met at Harman Mitchener's, Milford, (now Hulmeville), in 
Middletown, December 5th, to choose directors to fix upon a place for 
locating the bank. The directors chose John Hulme the first president, and 
George Harrison the cashier. The bank now occupies the building erected in 
1818 by architect Strickland, for a private residence for James Craig, at 
a cost of $15,000. Mr. Craig resided in the building until his death, and 
afterward his sisters. During their occupancy Lieutenant Hunter, of the 
navy, who killed young Miller of Philadelphia in a duel, and his second, 
Lieutenant Burns, were both secreted in the building until public 
indignation had subsided, and they were suspended. They were both 
afterward restored, and Hunter became the somewhat celebrated "Alvarado" Hunter.
    Bristol is the terminus of the Delaware Division canal, for which ground 
was broken October 28, 1827. After prayer, an address was delivered by 
Peter A. Browne, Esq., of Philadelphia, when a barrow of earth was dug by 
Messrs. George Harrison, of this county, and Peter Ihrie, of Easton. 
Several hundred persons marched in procession under William F. Swift at 
twelve o'clock to where the ground was to be broken. In the afternoon 
about 100 persons sat down to dinner provided by Mr. Bessonett. The canal 
basin was finished in August 1830. On the 7th of August a company of 
seventy or eighty ladies and gentlemen of Upper Makefield and vicinity 
made an excursion a few miles on the canal. The water had been let in a 
few days before, and the canal commissioners passed the canal the last of 
the month. It was formerly opened, from Bristol to New Hope, December 7, 
1830, when a boat filled with excursionists, passed between these points 
and there was a public dinner and speeches at Bristol. [The canal has 
almost fallen into disuse, compared to its activity in former years. It is 
estimated that as many as four or five thousand boats were employed upon 
it, but now only a few hundred, and business is not brisk with them. The 
reason is the competition of railroads as freight carriers. The state sold 
the canal about 1857, when it passed into the possession of an 
incorporated company. Canal boats carry from twelve to fifteen hundred 
tons each, and cost from twelve to fifteen hundred dollars.*] The 
Philadelphia and Trenton railroad runs through the town. The first 
artesian well in the county is at Bristol. It was sunk by L. A. Hoguet, 
eighty-four feet, and tubed with six-inch pipe, at a cost of $390. The 
water is excellent - soft and cold. In the summer of 1873, while removing 
some of the wall about a well, on the property of Emmor Comly, a mutilated 
marble tombstone, with the following inscription, was unearthed: "In 
memory of James Teuxebury, who departed this life December ye 14th, Ano. 
Do., 1726, aged 22 years." The name is unknown to the present generation, 
and so far as we know, was never before met with in the county. A marble 
tombstone at that early period indicated that the deceased, of his family, 
was of consequence.
    [Bristol has a well organized and equipped fire department superior to 
most towns of it size. The borough has three chartered companies, 1857, 
'75 and '95, with all modern appliances, including several thousand feet 
of hose, while two of the wards have companies. There is an electric fire 
alarm system with signal boxes distributed over the town. The most 
destructive recent fire was the burning of the Providence mill, in the 
winter of 1896.*]
    Among the charitable institutions of Bristol none are more noteworthy 
than "The Sarah Lukens Keene Home for Aged Gentlewomen," founded by Sarah 
Lukens Keens, a granddaughter of Surveyor General Lukens. At her death, in 
1866, she devised by will her late residence in Bristol, known as the 
Pavilion, with its furniture, and several thousand dollars in money, in 
trust, for the maintenance, forever, of "five, six or more aged 
gentlewomen, who are widows, or single women, unmarried, of 
respectability, but decayed fortunes, and who have become destitute, at an 
advanced age," etc.  The affection she bore her aunt, the wife of Major 
Lenox, of the Revolutionary army, moved her to this charitable bequest, 
[and the institution is dedicated to her memory.*] The building, one of 
the most substantial dwellings in the borough, was erected in 1815. For 
many years it was the summer residence of Major and Mrs. Lenox, and Miss 
Keene, where their generous and elegant hospitality drew around them many 
friends of distinction of this country and Europe. Joseph Bonaparte, 
ex-king of Spain, was a frequent guest, and likewise several foreign 
diplomats, who usually spent several weeks of the summer in Bristol, then 
quite a resort. Miss Keene was distinguished for mental culture and personal beauty, while her unnumbered acts of unobtrusive charity but added to 
her charms. The institution was put into operation in 1874, and it is to 
be hoped that it will be managed in the spirit which prompted the generous 
donor. The engraving of the Home, inserted in this chapter, is from a 
photograph taken on the spot, and engraved expressly for the History of 
Bucks county.


    (See illustration of the Sarah Lukens Keene Home, at Bristol)


    The buildings of Bristol are brick and frame, and several of the private 
residences are handsome and costly. It is compactly built, and the streets 
are lighted with gas [electricity*]. There is the usual number of stores, 
shops, and houses of public entertainment, with all the ordinary branches 
of mechanism. It is a port of entry, and a number of vessels depart and 
arrive yearly.
    Down to 1821, Bristol was the principal watering place in America, made 
so by the Bath springs, just outside the borough limits, and was the 
summer resort of rich and distinguished people from all parts of this 
country and from abroad. [In the Revolutionary period the Bath springs 
were in great repute. Joseph Galloway, in his private correspondence, 
1774-75, mentions them several times. In a letter of August 17, 1775, to 
Samuel Verplanck, New York, he refers to a Mr. Crake "having arrived at 
Bristol for some time." In a previous letter, December 7, 1774, from 
Trevose, written to Samuel V. Verplanck, he urges him and Mrs. V. to pay 
him a visit, to "make Trevose the place of your residence during your stay 
and will not think of taking lodgings at Bristol. You may here have the 
benefit of the waters without the injury which may be derived from the 
heat or air of that place. The air of Trevose is acknowledged to be pure 
and healthful. The alternative from salt to pure, fresh air, assisted by 
the use of the waters, which may be obtained every day, and a moderate 
share of exercise may, and will in all probability restore your 
condition."*] The semi-annual races, on the Badger and Bath courses, 
attracted to Bristol many sporting characters from New York, New Jersey 
and the South, and many celebrated horses were brought there. Messenger 
was kept at Bristol several years before 1793, and down to within the 
recollection of men of the present generation, Bela Badger, a resident of 
the vicinity, was one of the most noted horsemen of the country. Thomas A. 
Cooper, the great actor, made his home at Bristol, where he built a 
handsome house and ended his days. Among other distinguished residents in 
past years, may be mentioned Major Kneas, United States army, Captain 
Biddle, of the navy, Pierce Butler, and several foreign ministers. 
[Bristol is rapidly improving, the introduction of gas and water having 
stimulated the building of good houses, and the several industrial 
establishments have increased the active wealth of the town. (11)]

    (11) 1876 edition only.

    [Among the families of Bristol sixty years ago, of some local prominence, 
was that of Captain John P. Heiss, whose son, John P., obtained some 
distinction. He was born in 1814, married and went into business, but lost 
his wife and failed. He learned printing in his youth; now went South and 
obtained employment in an office at Nashville, Tenn.  Here it was his 
fortune to rescue from the hands of an assailant an old gentleman, a warm 
personal friend of General Jackson, who, riding by at the time, thanked him. 
He was invited to dine at the Hermitage a few days after, where he met 
many prominent people, including him whom he had rescued. This accidental 
encounter, in the streets of Nashville, made him powerful friends, who 
pushed his fortunes. He took a warm interest in the nomination of Mr. Polk 
for President and an active part in his election. He accompanied the 
President-elect to Washington and, through his influence and General 
Jackson's was made a partner with Mr. Ritchie in the publication of the 
Washington "Union," the organ of the administration. He was afterward 
interested in mining in Mexico, August 22, 1865. Among his last words, and 
now inscribed on his tombstone, were, "I am willing to die; there is rest 
in heaven." Mr. Heiss, (12) it was understood, was a member of President 
Polk's "Kitchen Cabinet."*]

    (12) Mr. Heiss was a lumberman at Bristol, 1835.

    The earliest enumeration of the taxables that we have seen was in 1761, 
when they numbers 123, nineteen more than there were in the township the 
two years afterward. In 1746 the tax levy was £11. 6s, about $30, and in 
1748 it was £9. 18s. about $26.50. In 1785 the borough tax was £51. 12s. 
1d., less that $140, and the total valuation was £11,737.  There were 
eleven negro slaves, and three persons taxed for plate, 106 ounces in all, 
of which Doctor William McIlvaine (13) had sixty ounces. In 1784, Bristol 
had forty-five dwellings, with a population of 269 whites and twenty-four 
colored. Scott's "Gazetteer," of 1790, says Bristol at that date contained 
about fifty dwellings, and another authority puts down the dwellings at 
ninety, and the population at 511. By the census we find the town had a 
population, in 1810, of 628; 1820, 908; 1830, 1,262, and 202 taxables; 
1840, 1,438; 1850, 2,570; 1860, 3,314; [1870, 2,849 native born; 1880, 
5,273; 1890, 6,553, and 7,106 in 1900.*] The first post-office established 
in the county was at Bristol, June 1, 1790, and Joseph Clum [Clunn*] 
appointed postmaster.

    (13) Justice of the Peace from 1775 to 1785.

END OF CHAPTER XX.