THE HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CHAPTER XXIX, UPPER MAKEFIELD, 1737 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 XXIX UPPER MAKEFIELD 1737 Last township below Bedminster to be organized. - Manor of Highlands surveyed. -Original purchasers. -Henry Baker and Richard Hough. -The Harveys.* -Judge Edward Harvey.* -The London company. -The Lees.* -Windy bush. Balderstons.* -Thomas Ross. -Township petitioned for. -Effort to attach part to Wrightstown. -Township enlarged. -The Tregos. -Charles Reeder. -Samuel McNair. -William Keith. -The Magills. -McConkeys. -Doctor David Fell. -Burley's.* -First-day meeting.. Meeting-house built. Oliver H. Smith. -Thomas Langley. -Bowman's hill. -Knowles family.* -Doctor John Bowman. -Lurgan and its scholars. -Old shafts. -Indian burying-ground. -William H. Ellis. -Dolington. -Taylorsville. -Brownsburg. -Monument at Washington's crossing.* -Jericho. -Aged persons. -Taxables and population. -Location and surface of Upper Makefield. -Continental army. -Monks on Jericho hill.* (See Map of Manor of Highlands) Lower Makefield had been an organized township 45 years before Upper Makefield was separated from it, and it was the last of the original townships below Bedminster to be organized. The cause of this may be found in the fact that the greater part of the land was retained by the Penns as a manor, and the influx of settlers was not encouraged. The same was the case when a portion of the manor fell into the possession of the London company. When Lower Makefield was organized, in 1692, what is now Upper Makefield was a wilderness. Probably a few adventurous pioneers had pushed their way thither, but there was hardly a permanent settler there. About 1695 Thomas Holme laid off a tract of 7,500 acres for William Penn, immediately north of Lower Makefield, which was given the name of "Manor of Highlands." It lay principally within this township, but extended into the edge of Wrightstown and Solebury, the road from Taylorsville to the Eagle being laid on the southern boundary. Among the original purchasers we have the names of Edmund Luff, Henry Sidwell, Thomas Hudson, whose large tract lay about Dolington and extended to the Delaware, Joseph Milnor, and his brother Daniel, who settled near Taylorsville. Part or all of the Hudson tract was probably sold to John Clark, who owned 800 acres in the neighborhood of Dolington, which he sold to John Estaugh in 1716, and he to Richard B. Sunley, in 1728. Part of this tract is now owned by the Tregos. In 1743 Samuel Brown bought 427 acres of it in right of his wife, and on behalf of her sisters, the daughters of John Clark. In 1700 William Penn granted 1,000 acres in the manor to Thomas Story, but when he applied to have the land laid out, it was found to have been already granted to another. In 1703 Thomas and Reuben Ashton, ancestor of the present family of this name, purchased each 100 acres. According to Holme's map, Henry Baker and Richard Hough took up land on Baker's creek, which empties into the Delaware just below Taylorsville. Subsequently it was called Musgrave's creek, from a man of that name who occupied a house on its banks, near the river, then Hough's creek, after Richard Hough, which name it now bears.(1) (1) William Penn conveyed 500 acres to Jacob Hall, May 25, 1683, which Hall conveyed to Thomas Hudson, 7. 16. 1691, and William Penn confirmed 500 acres to Hudson, which two tracts, as will be seen later, were conveyed to Mathias Harvey, of Flushing, Long Island, whose descendants owned the tract for three generations. There were found, in a manuscript copy of "Resurveys," by John Cutler, among the papers of Surveyor John Watson, nineteen stanzas on the death of Mary Estaugh, addressed to her mother, Eunice Estaugh, by Zebulon Hughes, of which the following is one stanza: "My worthy friend, suppress thy constant sighs, Nor pain thy breast with unavailing grief. Stop the soft sorrow of they aged eyes, They can not give thy wounded heart relief."* [The Harvey family, originally spelled Harveye, which came into the township at the close of the 17th century, are descended from Matthias Harveye, Northampton county, England. He settled on Long Island, 1669, and was married twice, his first wife being Margaret Horbit, of Flushing, December 2, 1682. She died without issue, June 9, 1688, when he married Sarah Harrington, of Flushing, June 2, 1689. She had three children: Matthias, born April 4, 1690, died August 1742 Thomas, born October 27, 1692, died August 1758 Benjamin, born April 11, 1695 and died March 1730. Thomas Harvey, second son of Matthias Harvey and Sarah Harrington, married Tamar ------- and has issue: Joseph, born February 8, 1734 Matthias, born March 7, 1739 William, born August 28, 1748 Thomas, born February 13, 1750, and eight daughters. The daughters were all born in Upper Makefield but the date of birth and the names are not known. Thomas Harvey, son of Benjamin, who was the second son of Matthias, the elder, was born May 1749, but nothing is known of his marriage, when, where or to whom. There was also a Joshua Harvey, born to one of the sons of Matthias, the elder, who married Elizabeth Patrick and died at St. Thomas, August 24, 1808. While Matthias Harveye, the elder, lived on Long Island he attained some prominence, among the public positions he held being that of one of the Justices of King's county, to which he was appointed October 1, 1690.*] [There is some uncertainty when Matthias Harveye, the elder, came to Bucks county and settled in Upper Makefield. As he was living at Flushing, Long Island, November 1, 1696, he must have come to this county subsequent to that time, but we can only approximate it by a real estate deed he was party to. The public records show that on the 8th of 12th month, 1698-9, William Biles, attorney for Thomas Hudson, conveyed 1,050 acres in Upper Makefield to Matthias Harveye for the consideration of £275, the deed being acknowledged in open court. In the recital the purchaser is spoken of as "of Bucks county." There is no positive evidence he was then living in Upper Makefield, but doubtless he was, and the inference is equally strong that he died there. At that time, and down to 1713, Bucks county wills were admitted to probate in Philadelphia, and this was the case with that of Matthias Harveye, the elder. It was dated April 5, 1699, and probated at Philadelphia November 23, 1706, the inference being that he died shortly prior to the latter date. He devised his large landed estate to his three sons, as follows: to Matthias his dwelling house and 400 acres; Thomas, 300 acres and to Benjamin 300 acres, the remaining 50 acres not being covered by and included in the bequests. It may have been sold prior to his death or otherwise disposed of. On the death of the sons of Matthias Harveye, the elder, they devised their real and personal property to their children.*] [In the last century the Harveye family have become much scattered, few of them remaining in Upper Makefield, although many are to be found in this and other counties and States. Enoch Harvey, a son of Joseph and great-grandson of Matthias, the elder, removed to Doylestown, near the close of the 18th century, and purchased what is now the "Fountain House," one of the most popular inns of the county seat of the past and present centuries. Here he spent his life, dying in 1831. His wife was Sarah Stewart, daughter of Charles Stewart, Warwick township, to whom he was married March 20, 1792, the ceremony taking place in the Neshaminy Presbyterian church. Letters of more recent years speak of Mrs. Harvey, nee Stewart, in the highest terms, as a woman of great refinement, intelligence and dignity of manners.*] [The Stewarts were among the earliest Scotch-Irish settlers in Bucks county, Charles Stewart being probably a son of John Stewart who first appears in Northampton, 1729, and subsequently in Plumstead. Enoch Harvey had a family of several children, among then the late Joseph Harvey, and Dr. George T. Harvey, Doylestown. A daughter married William H. Powell, Norristown, who was proprietor and editor of the Doylestown "Democrat," a couple of years or more, 1832-3. The Harveys have always been a patriotic family, six of the name from this county serving in the armies of the Revolution, one in Captain Darrah's company, 1777. Dr. George T. enrolled his name in a company for the Mexican war, but the quota bing full from this State his military aspirations were nipped in the bud. When the Civil war, 1861-65, broke out he was one of the first in the county to enroll, serving as a lieutenant in the Doylestown Guards in the three months' campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, and subsequently three years in the 104th Pennsylvania regiment. Charles Stewart, probably the father of Enoch Harvey's wife, was an ensign in the first company, 4th Battalion, Bucks County Militia, 1776, his commission bearing date May 6. Ex-Judge Edward Harvey, Allentown, a distinguished lawyer, is a grandson of Enoch Harvey and son of Dr. George T. Harvey.*] The "London company" became extensive land-owners in Upper Makefield many years before it was organized into a township. This was composed of Tobias Collett, Daniel Quere and Henry Goldney, of London, who, before 1700, purchased 5,000 acres of the manor lands, which were surveyed to them August 6, 1709. When the company's land was broken up, years afterward, it was sold to various purchasers, and among then 552 acres to Samuel Baker, of Makefield, in 1722, lying on the south line of the manor and running to the river, 200 of which he sold to Philip Warder, Jr., in 1724, which came into the possession of the widow of John Knowles in 1730. As late as April 6, 1762, William Cox, of Philadelphia, purchased 118 acres and 95 perches of the company's land in Upper Makefield. When the company's land was surveyed in 1709, Thomas Kirle, John Pidcock and Gilbert Wheeler were land-owners in the manor, on the north side of that tract. In August 1705 James Logan wrote to William Penn that the London company must have 5,000 acres more laid off to them in the manor of Highlands, but we do not know that it was done. That spring Penn wrote to Logan complaining that a great part of the manor was taken up by "encroachers." In 1738 Thomas Penn owned 2,500 acres in the township, probably the remainder of the 7,500 of the manor lands not purchased by the London company, and which he valued a £80 the 100 acres. William Smith, son of William Smith who settled in Wrightstown in 1684, purchased 201 acres in Upper Makefield in 1708. The surveyor was instructed to lay out the land "at a place called Windy bush in Penn's manor of Highlands, near Wrightstown." The deed was executed April 28, 1709, and the purchase money, £50 Pennsylvania currency, paid. His son Thomas lived several years in a cave in the woods, and when he moved into a new log house the Indians occupied the cave. Josiah B. Smith, of Newtown, is the sixth in descent from Upper Makefield William, and is still the owner of part of the ancestral acres. Among others who were settlers on the manor lands outside the London company's, were Thoms Ross, ancestor of the family of this name in the county, Jeffrey Burges, R. Norton, John Pidcock and [William*] Blackfan. [The Lees were early settlers in Upper Makefield, William Lee, the immigrant arriving prior to 1725. He bought a tract near Buckmanville, late the farm of Joshua Corson, a great-great-grandson of the pioneer, and now owned by Thomas W. White, Doylestown. William Lee, Jr., son of the immigrant, first appears at Wrightstown meeting, August 19, 1725, as a witness to the first marriage recorded there, and in March 1737, he signed the petition to the court of Quarter Sessions that resulted in the organization of the township. There is some doubt when he was married, but none as to the name of the young woman he took to wife, to enjoy his joys and sorrows. Her name was Hannah Smith, daughter of William and Mary Croasdale Smith, Wrightstown. They are known to have been the parents of four sons, and family tradition credits them with one daughter. William, the eldest son, married Hannah Saunders shortly after February 5, 1746, and was the father of nine children, seven sons and two daughters. They spent their life on the ancestral farm, where he died March 23, 1811, and was buried at Wrightstown. Among his sons was Ralph Lee, born April 28, 1763, who died October 23, 1834, on his Northampton township farm, and was also buried at Wrightstown. His wife was Amy Martin. He subscribed the oath of allegiance October 11, 1785, before John Chapman, and the certificate and family Bible are both in possession of the family. The third son of William Lee, the elder, was Ralph Lee, who married first a daughter of John Atkinson, and second Sibella ----, lived in Buckingham, died prior to March 6, 1748-9, and was likewise buried at Wrightstown. They had two sons, David and William. The former, born 1740, removed to Maryland, about 1770, built the Jerusalem mill on the Little Gunpowder river, 1772, died 1815 and was buried at Little Gunpowder meeting, leaving a number of descendants in that vicinity. William Lee, second son of Ralph and Sibella, removed to Maryland about the time of his brother David, and lived near him, and, at his death, left several children. Samuel Lee, fourth son of William Lee, the elder, removed from Wrightstown to Gunpowder meeting, 1773, but returned 1783. His will, dated January 17, 1790, is said to have been recorded at Belair, Maryland.*] Ralph Lee, the son of Ralph, who was the son of William, who was the son of William the immigrant, became Dr. Ralph Lee of Newtown, the most prominent representative of the family. He was born November 27, 1792, married Rebecca Richardson Story, daughter of David Story, Newtown, May 20, 1824, the ceremony being performed by Mayor Joseph Watson, Philadelphia, first cousin of his wife. He died at Newtown, April 25, 1855, and was buried at Wrightstown. He read medicine and graduated from the Pennsylvania University, 1816. He subsequently made a voyage to China as physician and surgeon to the ship, and upon his return, settled in practice at Newtown, where he spent his professional life. He was widely known in his profession, and a useful citizen in every walk. He was active in organizing the Bucks County Medical Society, 1848, and was its first president, elected November 20, 1850. He was a delegate to the State Medical Society of Pennsylvania, 1853, and to the American Medical Association, 1855. He possessed popular manners. Dr. Lee had two children, a son and daughter: Dr. Richard Henry Lee, the elder, born May 15, 1827, graduated in medicine and settled in Philadelphia, where he was a well-known practitioner, married Sarah Eliza Lathrop, of Providence, Rhode Island, and died March 21, 1881. He left a son, Edward Clinton Lee, Philadelphia. The daughter of Dr. Ralph Lee, Rachel Caroline, born May 1825, grew up to be a beautiful and attractive woman and was the toast of the young men of her generation. She married William E. Bartlett, Jr., Baltimore, and died January 27, 1847. The family line of the Bucks county Lees may be traced down in six generation in direct descent without a break: William, William, Ralph, Dr. Ralph, Dr. Richard, Henry and Edward Clinton.*] The two Makefields were under one municipal jurisdiction for many years. As the settlers increased in the manor of Highlands the constables and assessors of Makefield were given jurisdiction over it, which was continued to 1737, when the population had become so numerous as to make it inconvenient for the officers to discharge their duties. A division of the township was asked for now, which led to the organization of Upper Makefield. At the March term, 1737, a petition, signed by 20 of the inhabitants, viz: John Palmer, Daniel Palmer, William Russell Alexander Rickey, William Lee, Eleazer Doane, Richard Hough, Edward Bailey, Thomas Smith, Richard Parsons, John Atkinson, John Osmond, John Trego, Joseph Tomlinson, Charles Reeder, James Tomlinson, John Brown, John Wall, John Gaill [Caill*] and John Whiteacre, was presented to the court of quarter sessions. The petitioners represented themselves as living on that part of the manor of Highlands called "Goldney's and company's land." i.e. the London company, that the township is so large, containing 22,000 acres, and the lands referred to have become so thickly settled that the township officers cannot discharge their duties toward all the inhabitants, that the constable does not know the bounds of the township, and frequently returns the names of persons taxed with the inhabitants of Wrightstown. For these reasons the petitioners asked to have the said company's lands attached to Wrightstown, or to be erected into a township by itself. This appears to have been the earliest action toward the organization of what is now Upper Makefield, and that it led to that result, although we have not been able to find the record of it. In 1753 John Beaumont, William Keith, Benjamin Taylor, and others, living on the London company's tract, petitioned the court to be either erected into a township by themselves or added to Upper Makefield. This latter request was complied with, and it was ordered that "the upper line of John Duer's tract be the partition between the two townships." This line no doubt is the present southern boundary. The part organized into Upper Makefield contains an area of 11,628 acres, and the boundaries have undergone but little, if any, change from 1753 to the present time. [The Burleys were early settlers in Upper Makefield township, probably about 1725-30, and John Burley was the owner of considerable real estate. He held his first tract under a patent from Thomas Penn, but its date is not known. He was the owner, in all, of 254 acres of which 200 were purchased of Samuel Bunting. Burley is an ancient name in both England and Ireland, and spelled in various ways, but Burleigh (2) is the modern way of spelling it. The first of the name, to settle in America, was Giles Berdly, or Burley, who was living at Ipswich, Mass., 1648, and his will dated July 1668. John Burley, Sr., died in Makefield, 1748, and his will probated April 5, 1749. He left five children, John, Joshua, Sarah, Elizabeth and Mary. The will provides, that in case his widow shall marry "a careful frugal man," she and her husband may enjoy the income from the real estate until the youngest child is 14 years of age. As the widow found a new husband in one John Simmons, we may presume he "filled the bill." John Burley, Jr., the eldest son and child of John Burley, Sr., died in 1799 or 1800, leaving three sons and eight daughters. After 1809 the name of Burley drops out of the county records, but the descendants in the female line are numerous.*] (2) In Burke's Peerage, nineteen different coats of arms are given as borne by the various English families of this name.* [Of the children of John Burley, Sr., the eldest daughter, Sarah, married William Davis, also an early settler in Upper Makefield and grandfather of the late General John Davis, deceased, of Davisville, about 1756-57. They were the parents of seven children: Jemima, born December 25, 1758 John, born September 6, 1760 Sarah, born October 1, 1763 William, born September 9, 1766 Joshua, born July 6, 1769 Mary, born October 3, 1771 Joseph, born March 1, 1774. The eldest son was named after the grandfather on the mother's side. One of Sarah Burley's sisters married James Torbert, and the Burleys were connected, by marriage, with the Slacks and McNairs, all well known Bucks county families. Of William Davis, the husband of Sarah Burley, we know but little, in fact nothing except that he spent his life in Solebury, and died there, married Sarah Burley and was the father of a family of children. The widow of William Davis survived him until May 10, 1819, dying at the age of 84, which places her birth in 1735. Of the children of William Davis and Sarah Burley, Jemima, the eldest, married John Pitner, son of Henry and Deborah, about 1786. He was born in Penn's Manor, August 18, 1755, and married, in early life, a daughter of a Captain Thompson of near Newtown. Six daughters and two sons were born to Jemima and John Pitner: Sarah, May 21, 1787, died September 9, 1809, of yellow fever James Neely, September 29, 1788, died about 1842 Deborah, June 19, 1790, died April 5, 1879 Mary, May 30, 1792, and has been dead over half a century Anna, January 11, 1794, died December 14, 1836 John, October, 19, 1896, died October 15, 1823 William, October 29, 1798, died April 10, 1833 Eliza N., born July 12, 1802, living, 1885, at Wilmington, Del. Several of these children left large families. John Pitner lived at Newtown several years after his second marriage and died at New Castle, Del., after 1811.*] Among those who settled in Upper Makefield early in the last century were the families of Trego, Reeder, McNair, (3) Keith, Fell, Magill, Stewart, and others. The Tregos are descended from French Huguenot ancestry. In 1688 three brothers immigrated to England, and two years afterward Peter came to America and settled in Middletown, then Chester, now Delaware, county, where he lived until 1722. Our Bucks county Tregos are descended from his eldest son, Jacob, who married Mary Cartledge, of Dargy, in 1709, and died in 1720, leaving two children, John and Rachel. His widow married John Laycock, of Wrightstown, in 1722, where she and her two children came to reside. The son, John, married Hannah Lester, of Richland, and in 1736 bought a tract of land in the western part of Upper Makefield, where he erected buildings and lived, and died about 1792, at the age of 66. They had two sons, William and Jacob, and several daughters. Jacob died unmarried, William married Rebecca Hibbs, of Byberry, in 1768, and died in 1827, from whose six sons and three daughters have descended a numerous posterity, living in may sections of the Union. [The Trego family produced two artists or merit, Jonathan K., a portrait painter, son of William Trego and Rachel Taylor, and his son William, a military painter. The former was born in Upper Makefield, 1817, began the study of art with Samuel F. Dubois, Doylestown, and finished at the Academy, Philadelphia. He followed his profession at Detroit several years, and then settled at North Wales, Montgomery county, Pa., where he died February 1901. He painted the portraits of many prominent people, his pictures were noted for being true to nature. His son William, studied with the distinguished military painter of France, is still living and an artist of national reputation. One of his latest pieces is the "Rescue of the Colors," painted for Bucks county and the gift of Hon. John Winemaker.*] (3) James S. McNair, a descendant of the immigrant, born March 14, 1808, died in Upper Makefield, July 6, 1897.* The Reeder were early settlers in the township, but we do not know the time they came in. In 1746 Charles Reeder bought 200 acres of Samuel Carey; his will was executed June 16, 1800, and admitted to probate September 8, 1804. This plantation was sold by his executor to John Chapman in 1806. He had two children, of whom the late Merrick Reeder was the eldest son. There were Merrick in Middletown, where John M. bought a farm in 1759, and died in 1765, leaving six children, [but Charles, of Upper Makefield, was not one of them. (4) (4) Not in 1905 edition. [The Balderstons were first known in England about the time of the invasion of the Prince of Orange, 1688, when John Balderstons was settled at Norwich with a family of children. He may have been one of the invading host, for tradition says the family originally came from Norway, thence to Holland and then to England. It is said the name was devised from that of the Norwegian god "Balder." The eldest son of the family, John, was the only one mentioned for generations, a custom that curtails family informant ion. The second John Balderston married twice at Norwich and died there, and it was his son, John, the third, born 1702, who came to America, but there is some uncertainty as to the time. He settled in Upper Makefield and married Hannah, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Cooper, but subsequently removed to Solebury. They had a family of eleven children: John, Jonathan, Bartholomew, Timothy, Jacob, Hannah, Isaiah, Sarah Mordecai, Lydia and Sarah. They all married and left children except Hannah.*] [John Balderston, the fourth, born 3 mo. 15, 1740. married Deborah, daughter of Mark and Ann Watson, whose mother was a daughter of John Botcher, settled on a farm in Solebury and had a family of eight children. His wife, born, 3 mo., 1744, died 4, 17, 1794, and he then married Elizabeth Language. Mark Balderston, son of John and Deborah, born 5, 1, 1770, and died 9, 3, 1823, married Ann Brown, born 7, 10, 1778, daughter of John and Martha Brown, 3 mo., 18, 1801, and died 8, 25, 1802, from the effects of lightning that struck the house. They lived on a farm in Falls near Trenton. They had one son, John B. Balderston. After the death of the first wife, Mark Balderston married Elizabeth Lloyd and had several children, one being Lloyd Balderston, Cecil county, Md., who married Catharine Cabby. John B. Balderston, the sixth, married Letitia, daughter of Cyrus Cadwallader, Falls township, and had five children, one dying young: Mary married David Heston Elizabeth married John H. Moon Edward married Elizabeth P. Brown William married Sarah W. Brown the latter two daughters of George W. Brown and descendants of the original George Brown, who settled in Falls, 1679, as was also Ann Brown, who married Mark Balderstons. All of John B. Balderstons's sons and daughters have families of children.*] The McNairs are Scotch-Irish. Samuel, the son of James, who was driven from Scotland to Ireland, was born in county Donegal, in 1699. He married Anna Murdock, and with his family and father-in-law, then 80 years of age, came to America in 1732, landing at Bristol in this county. They passed the first winter in an old school-house, around which the wolves howled at night, and the next spring settled in Upper Makefield, where the family lived for five generations. They were members of the Newtown Presbyterian church, and there their remains lie, Samual the progenitor, dying in 1761. They had five children: James, born February 6, 1733 Samuel, born September 25, 1739 Solomon, born in 1744 Rebecca, born in 1747 and one other. The eldest son, James, purchased a farm in Upper Makefield in 1763, which was the homestead for three generations, and only passed out of the family in 1873. He married Martha Keith, had nine children, and died in 1807. From this couple descend our Bucks county McNairs, and their children married into the well-known families of Torbert, McMaster, Wynkoop, Vanhorne, Bennet, Slack, and Robinson, and left numerous descendants. The late James M. McNair, clerk of orphans' court, justice of the peace, officer of volunteers, and church elder, was a grandson of James the elder. From Samuel, who married Mary Mann, of Horsham, and had seven children, have descended the Montgomery county McNairs, and his children married into the families of Mann, Craven, Vanartsdalen, Long, and Kirk. The late John McNair, member of Congress from Montgomery county, was a grandson of Samuel, the son of John, of Southampton. Solomon McNair, son of Samuel the elder, married and had three children, was a merchant of Philadelphia, where he died May 15, 1812, at the age of 68. The descendants of James and Samuel are found in many parts of the Union, the eldest member of the family living being Samuel McNair, of Dansville, New York. (5) They are found in the various walks of life, several are ministers of the gospel, a few members of the other learned professions, but the great majority follow the occupation of their first ancestor in America, husbandry. They have retained most of the characteristics of the races from which they sprung, have generally intermarried into families of a common origin, and cling with tenacity to the Scotch Presbyterian faith. (5) Late of Northampton township, Bucks county, son of John McNair, of Southampton, born May 3, 1795, and died January 3, 1878.* William Keith was in the township prior to 1750, and we believe he came about the time of the other Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. We find that Mr. Keith bought 230 acres of the London company, December 3, 1761. His wife, Mary, died in 1772, at the age of 51, and he in 1781, aged 67, and both were buried in the Presbyterian yard at Newtown. A Samuel Keith, [brother of*] William, died in 1741, at the age of 27. Isaac Stockton Keith, a son of William and Mary, became a distinguished divine. He was born in Upper Makefield, January 20, 1755, graduated at Princeton in 1775, taught a Latin school at Elizabeth, New Jersey, then studied divinity and was licensed to preach by the Philadelphia Presbytery, in 1778. In 1780 he was called to the Presbyterian church at Alexandria, Virginia, and to the church at Donegal in 1788, with a salary of 200 guineas. He shortly afterward married a daughter of Doctor Sproat, of Philadelphia. He became the pastor of the Independent or Congregational church at Charleston, South Carolina, September 16, 1788. The honor of LL.D. was conferred upon Mr. Keith, but we do not know when or by what institution. Charles Stewart, the father-in-law of John Harris, of Newtown, spent his life in Upper Makefield, where he died in 1794. Through his daughter, the wife of Harris, he became the ancestor of some of the most distinguished families of Kentucky. At his death Mr. Stewart owned land "in the country called Kantuckee, in the State of Virginia." The Magills of this township, and numbers elsewhere, are descended from an Irish-Quaker ancestor, who immigrated from the North of Ireland about 1730, and settled on a farm half a mile from where Watson P. Magill lives in Upper Makefield. The original homestead now lies within the limits of the borough of New Hope. Edward H. Magill, president of Swarthmore college, is a native of Upper Makefield [Solebury*], and a descendant of the Irish-Quaker ancestor. The McConkeys, after whom the ferry at Taylorsville was named, were in the township early, also Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. We find that Charity McConkey died September 2, 1771, at the age of 53 years, and was buried in the old yard at Newtown. The main support of that church probably came from Upper Makefield. (See illustration of Keith House, Upper Makefield) Joseph Fell, the first of the name in Bucks county, at his death left a farm in Upper Makefield to his son Joseph, who settled there and was great-grandson of Joseph Fell, who came from England in 1704. Here his son, who became Dr. David Fell, and the father of Joseph Fell, of Buckingham, was born September 1, 1774. His mother was Rachel, granddaughter of Thomas Cabby, the father of 18 children. In his youth there were few facilities for farmers' sons to acquire a good education, but instead, the labors of the field, fishing, swimming, and fox-hunting with horse and hound, gave them robust health. In these David Fell was a proficient. He studied Mathematics with Doctor Fell was proficient. He studied mathematics with Doctor John Chapman, of Upper Makefield, and Latin with the Rev. Alexander Boyd, at Newtown. He entered his name as student of medicine with Dr. Isaac Chapman, of Wrightstown, having Dr. Phineas Jenks as fellow-student. Completing his studies at the University of Pennsylvania he married Phoebe Schofield, of Solebury, and settled in practice in his native township, near the foot of Bowman's hill, on the River-side road. On leaving the university Dr. Fell carried with him the following certificate from Dr. Rush, the great founder of the medical school, and signer of the Declaration of Independence: "I do hereby certify that Mr. David Fell hath attended a course of my lectures upon the Institutes and Practice of Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania, with diligence and punctuality. (Signed) "Benjamin Rush. Philadelphia, February 25, 1801." He continued to practice here until 1814-15, when he removed to Jenkintown, in Montgomery county, but soon returned to this county, to the premises lately owned and occupied by Dr. Seth Cattell, in Buckingham. Here he resided the remainder of his life, and attended to his large practice while health permitted, dying the February 22, 1856, in his 82nd year. Dr. Fell was much esteemed by all who knew him, was remarkably mild and gentle in his disposition, a peacemaker among neighbors, slow to believe evil of another, and quick at the call of suffering humanity. He was a warm friend of education, and an advocate of temperance. First-day meetings in Upper Makefield were first held at the house of Samuel Baker, who owned the farm just below Taylorsville, and late the property of Mahlon K. Taylor, deceased. [Samuel Baker, born in Darby, Lancashire, October 1, 1676, was a son of Henry and Margaret (Hardman) Baker, who came to Bucks county in 1684,*] married Rachel Warder, in 1703, [and was the ancestor of Johns Hopkins, the founder of the university which bears his name.*] A meeting-house, 25x30 feet and one story high, was erected in 1752, and the first meeting held in it the following February. The building-committee were Benjamin Taylor, Joseph Duer, Timothy Smith, and Benjamin Gilbert. It was enlarged in 1764, by extending it 20 feet to the north, at a cost of £120. It was used as a hospital while Washington held the Delaware, in December, 1776. [The Knowles family settled in Upper Makefield, John being the first comer, probably prior to 1700, and settling on the farm owned by the late Thomas Lawless. A portion of the original log homestead is still standing. Later, a stone addition 18x24 was built to it, two stories high. John Knowles married Sarah, daughter of John and Mary Scarborough, 1716, as is shown by the Fall meeting records. She was born, 1694, and died 1717, after the birth of their son, Joseph. John Knowles married a second time, and a son, John was the only child, from whom is supposed to have descended all of the name in Bucks county. John Knowles, the elder, died intestate, 1730. The homestead passed out of the family, 1875.*] Among the distinguished sons of Upper Makefield the late Oliver H. Smith, of Indiana, member of the Legislature and of Congress, United States Senator, Attorney-General, and lawyer, probably stands first. He was a son of Thomas and Letitia Blackfan Smith, and a descendant of William Smith, who settled in Wrightstown in 1684. He was born on the farm now owned by John A. Beaumont, in 1794, and died in Indiana in 1859. He had a vein of wit and humor in his composition, and many anecdotes are related of him. W hen quite a young man, a raftsman at New Hope offered a high price for an experienced steersman to take his raft through Well's falls. Oliver, believing he could do the job, accepted the offer, and carried the raft down the falls in safety, but he knew nothing more about the channel than what he had learned while fishing. It is told of him that, when he first went to Washington as a Senator, he was asked by one of his fellow-Senators at what college he had graduated, and answered "Lurgan," the name of a roadside schoolhouse in Upper Makefield. At one time Mr. Smith kept store at Hartsville, in Warminster, and at Green Tree, in Buckingham, in 1817. He settled in Indiana while a young man, and as already mentioned, rose to distinction. [Moses and Edward Smith were brothers of Oliver H., and Thomas Smith, Wrightstown, and father of Dr. Charles W. Smith.*] Thomas Langley was as eccentric as Oliver H. Smith was distinguished. He was born near London, and came to Pennsylvania about 1756, at the age of 20, with a handsome fortune for that day. He settled in Upper Makefield and commenced to teach school, and for several years conducted his business with propriety. Without any apparent cause his mind became deranged, and he continued so to his death, in 1806, aged upward of 70. He imagined himself the king of Pennsylvania, and believed in the invisible agency of evil spirits. He traversed the country in the employ of an itinerant cooper, carrying saddle-bags with clothing and tools. At times he hired out to farmers, and journeyed back and forth with his staff to visit his friends, reading Blackstone and other books. In the summer of 1803, with knapsack and rations on his back he traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, on foot, and was absent a year. He was a man of very considerable knowledge, dignified and polite, clean and neat in his person, and correct in his morals. From his conversation no one could discover his peculiarities. He was educated an Episcopalian, but joined the Friends and attended their meeting. At his death he left a personal estate of £500, but had no heirs in the country. On the line between Upper Makefield and Solebury rises an elevation known as Bowman's hill, named after Dr. John Bowman, (6) an early settler on Pidcock's creek. Being of a contemplative turn of mind, he used to frequent the round top of the hill, and when he died he was buried there at his request. [The Indian name for the hill was said by some to be Ne-hosh-hick, and by others, Nene-haw-ca-chung.*] Several others have found a last resting-place on the top of this hill, among them a man who was drowned at Wells's falls, in the Delaware, many years ago. The top is reached by a road of easy ascent up the westerly end. Tradition has woven a tale of romance around the name of Dr. Bowman. It tells us that he was appointed surgeon of the English fleet sent out under Capt. William Kyd, in 1696, to suppress piracy on the high seas, and turned pirate with him; how he came to Newtown after Kyd was hanged, about 1700, and by his habits and the suspicious visits of strangers drew upon himself suspicion that he belonged to the pirate's gang, that he mysteriously disappeared and was gone for years, and then returned and built a cabin at the foot of the hill that bears his name, that he removed to Newtown in his old age, built a house on the edge of the village, in which he was found dead, that he left a "massive oaken chest" behind, but it failed to yield up Capt. Kyd's gold. The story used to be told that if one would go quietly and lie down by Bowman's grave and say, "Bowman, what killed you?" the reply would come back, "Nothing." Bowman was probably an eccentric man, and had a preference for the summit of this quiet hill for his last resting-place. This ridge of hills extends into New Jersey, and there is every appearance of its having been broken through some time long in the past to allow the dammed up waters to flow to the sea. (7) (6) He is likewise called "Jonathan." (7) "B. W.," a correspondent, in criticizing what is said of Bowman, in the first edition of the "History of Bucks County," remarks: "John Bowman bought of Israel Morris 52 acres in Newtown township, by deed dated 7th of 10th mo., 1708, and by his will, 1712, gave said land to his son Jeremiah, and £40 to his daughter Sarah. He was buried the 8th of 10th mo, 1712, probably at Middletown, and Frances Bowman, his widow, the 1st of 10th mo., 1730, was buried at the same place. Jeremiah Bowman sold 52 acres to Stephen Twining, the deed bearing date December 26, 1735." The author did not vouch for what "B. N." said of John Bowman, but credited it to "tradition." We regret "B. W." did not throw some light on the subject. What he said of Bowmans who lived in Northampton does not unravel the mystery. What about the Bowman who gave the name to the hill, is the question. Miss Sallie N. Boyd said of Bowman: "He was an eccentric Englishman, and made his home at the Beaumont place on the river, a tract of land taken up by that family, 1742, now the Heed property. Before his death he requested to be buried on Nene-haw-ca-chung, as that would be as near heaven as he ever expected to get. This gave the elevation the name of "Bowman's Hill." His grave was not marked and some think the body was removed.* At the southern base of Bowman's hill, (8) is a small hamlet called Lurgan, after the birth-place of James Logan. In a little one-story building, now used as a dwelling, was kept a day-school half a century ago, where were educated several prominent men. Among the scholars were the late Judge John Ross, Oliver H. Smith, Senator in Congress from Indiana, Dr. John Chapman, Edward Smith, a learned man, Seth Chapman, son of Dr. John Chapman, lawyer and judge, Dr. Seth Cattell, a student of and who succeeded, Dr. John Wilson, but died early, and others of note. Amongst those who taught at this primitive seminary, were Moses Smith, afterward a distinguished physician of Philadelphia, Mr. McLean, a noted teacher, fine Latin scholar and mathematician, Enos, the father of Hiram Scarborough, of New Hope, celebrated for his penmanship, and Joseph Fell, of Buckingham. The glory of Lurgan is departed, and most of her scholars, statesmen, and jurists have gone to the "undiscovered country." (8) The site of an Indian village, near the west end of Bowman's Hill, was marked, for many years, by thousands of tortoise shells. These shells were seen as late as 1780, by Rebecca, wife of the late Peter Cattel, who lived in the vicinity.* On a hill on Windy bush farm, the homestead of the Smiths, and which, tradition tells, was so called by the Indians because the leaves on the scrub oaks fluttered in the wind all winter, are several old shafts where sulphate of barytes was mined many years ago. Half a mile south is s clear and sparkling spring, whose waters are impregnated with iron, and which was used for medicinal purposes. The late Jacob Trego, who died near Doylestown upward of ninety years of age, and whose father was born on the adjoining farm to Windy bush, in 1744, frequently heard him say that when ten years of age he used to go to the mines to see the miners digging for silver, in charge of an experienced English miner. There were then five shafts sunk, about fifty feet deep, but only a very small quantity of silver was obtained. The mines were abandoned, the tools being left at the bottom. The water that came into the shafts cut off the flow of a fine spring on the farm now owned by John L. Atkinson, several hundred yards away. It is said that attention was first attracted to the spot by the great number of trees struck by lightning in that vicinity, and the frequent discharge of electricity from the clouds coming to the ground. The first school-house in that section was built of logs, in 1730, a short distance southwest of the mineral spring. There was an extensive Indian burying-ground a little west of the road that passes over Windy bush hill, and within an hundred yards of the old silver mine. People now living remember walking among the graves, which were then kept well banked up. The Smiths left the timber standing around the burial-ground, in respect to the memory of the Indians, who had been kind to them. Three-quarters of a century ago a few Indians lived in cabins in the vicinity by making baskets. William H. Ellis, of Upper Makefield, is a steel-engraver of no mean repute, and has produced many works of merit. His first production, doubtless, is his engraving of "Washington's First Interview with Mrs. Custis," his future wife, a spirited sketch of that interesting occasion, which met the approbation of George Washington Park Custis, the grandson of the lady. The villages of Upper Makefield are, Dolington, in the southern part of the line of Lower Makefield, Taylorsville and Brownsburg on the Delaware, Jericho, a hamlet at the foot of a range of hills which bears the same name, and Buckmanville in the northwest corner of the township. Dolington, on the road from Newtown to Taylorsville, in the midst of a beautiful and highly cultivated country, contains a dozen houses, a postoffice with daily mail, a tavern, and a graded school. Its first settler was Peter Dolin, deceased since the Revolution, and the place was first called "Dolintin," after its founder. What ambitious denizen changed the name to that it now bears is not known, or it is just possible that the "g" crept in by accident. His daughter married Paul Judge, an eccentric schoolmaster, who loved whiskey, and governed his school by the rod. Next to Dolin, Benjamin Cabby and William Jackson were the earliest inhabitants of the village. The latter kept store, but was succeeded by Oliver Hough, who died in 1803, who was followed by William Taylor. A draft of the village, of 1806, then called "Dolington," shows a number of lots laid out on the road to Yardleville, but only a few were improved. Here is a Friends' meeting, and school-house. The postoffice was first called Lower Makefield, but changed to Dolington in 1827. Taylorsville is just below what was called McConkey's ferry (9) for many years, where Washington crossed the Delaware with his army December 25, 1776, to attack the Hessians at Trenton. This circumstance has made it a point of great historical interest. It is a small village, with a tavern, store, and a few dwellings, and received its name from the Taylor family which established itself there more than a half century ago. A wooden bridge spans the Delaware, and on the New Jersey side the railroad station is called "Washington's Crossing." [In 1895 the Bucks County Historical Society erected a monument at Taylorsville to mark "Washington' Crossing" and dedicated it October 15 in the presence of an audience of 500. The services consisted of vocal and instrumental music, an historical address by General William S. Stryker, New Jersey, and an oration by Dwight M. Lowrey, of nine inches high, with base five feet eight inches by three feet eight inches and weighs 1,500 pounds. On the front of the upper slab is the following inscription: "Near This Spot Washington Crossed the Delaware, On Christmas Night, 1776, The Eve of the Battle of Trenton, Hist. Soc. Bucks Co., Erected, 1895. On the same day the "New Jersey Society of the Cincinnati" erected a bronze tablet on the east bank of the Delaware to mark the spot where the army disembarked. The occasion was one of great interest.*] (9) This ferry was formerly called "Vessel's ferry," but we do not know when the name was changed.* Brownsburg is two [four*] miles higher up the river, [where it is likewise spanned by a substantial wooden bridge (10)]. In 1790 it had but two small houses, one stone, the other wood, belonging to Mahlon Doane, uncle of Thomas Betts, who owned the surrounding property. He lived a mile west of the ferry, but his brother Joel occupied the log, and Joseph Dubree, a harness maker, the stone house. There was probably no tavern then at the ferry. Down to 1810-12 there were still but two houses, a frame, probably on the spot occupied by the log 20 years before, and the stone. The frame belonged to Harman Michener, who lived in one end, and kept a small store in the other, but the stone house was not occupied. About this time David Livezey built a tavern down at the ferry. Brownsburg, containing a tavern, store, and a few dwellings, was formerly called "Pebbletown," but received its present name from Stacy Brown. He got the postoffice established there in 1827, and was appointed postmaster [and held the commission to his death.*] (10) Not in 1905 edition. The hamlet of Jericho, on the southeast slope of Jericho hill, was founded by Jeremiah Cooper, known in his day both as "Lying Jerry" and "Praying Jerry." He was born in 1760, probably in Falls, and in 1795 he bought three acres of John Hayhurst, built a house upon it, and took to wife Mary, the daughter of Mahlon Doane, the father of Brownsburg. He gathered enough mountain boulders upon his lot to fence it in. Half a century ago the hill was called the "Great hills," and the hamlet "Raylman's." Cooper was a carpenter by trade. He was suspected of assisting in the robbery of the county-treasury at the close of the Revolutionary war, and went away until the excitement blew over. He admitted that he accidentally came upon a party of men, counting a large amount of money on a coverlet, but the evidence against him was not strong enough to cause his arrest. [On the old Tomlinson farm, now owned by Hetty Ann Williams, near the Eagle, and a few feet north of M. Hall's line, is a head-stone said to mark the grave of John Tomlinson, who assisted the Doanes in the robbery of the County Treasury, at Newtown, 1781. He is said to have been a Tory. Tradition tells us he was advised to hide and for a time kept himself concealed, but was finally caught, convicted and hanged and buried as stated. It is said the walnut tree near his grave has been frequently struck by lightning, and that flowers that bloom but once in a century have bloomed over Tomlinson's grave. Other member of the family are said to be buried at the same place. Two graves only, are marked.*] Among the aged persons who have died in Upper Makefield were John Knowles, March 1, 1817, in his 88th year, leaving ten children, 58 grandchildren, and 29 great-grandchildren. He was probably a grandson of the first Knowles who settled in the township, and Mrs. Jemima Howell, who died February 13, 1825, aged 99 years, 11 months and 19 days. In the winter of 1870, a negro woman died in the neighboring township of Lower Makefield, at the age of 105. The earliest enumeration of taxables in Upper Makefield is that of 1732, when there were but 57, all told. This was four years before the township was organized, but it appears that Makefield, which included both townships, had been divided into "lower division" and "upper division" some time before for the convenience of collecting taxes, etc. In 1742, but 58 taxables were returned, of whom seven were single men. That year the township rate was 3d., and single men paid 9s. each. In 1754 the taxables were 79; in 1762, 108, and in 1763, 97. In 1784 the township contained 792 white inhabitants, and 5 blacks, with 117 dwellings; 1810, 1,271 1820, 1,367 1830, 1,517 inhabitants and 314 taxables 1840, 1,490 1850, 1,741 1860, 1,955 1870, 2,066, of which 210 were colored, and 227 foreign-born 1880, 1,470 1890, 1,236 1900, 1,143*] Upper Makefield is a river township, its eastern shore being washed by the Delaware its entire length, while on the land side it is bounded by Solebury, Buckingham, Wrightstown, Newtown and Lower Makefield. On the eastern side, a ridge of hills, broken here and there, runs from north to south nearly parallel to the river. In the northern part Jericho mountain (11) runs nearly across the township, pushing up broken spurs at the eastern end that unite with similar spurs from Bowman's hill. In other parts the township is diversified with gentle swells, intervening dells, and stretches of nearly level surface. About the Jericho range are some cozy little valleys, while from the top the eye takes in a wide expanse of cultivated country, following the windings of the river several miles. Hough's creek in the south, Knowles' creek in the middle, and Pidcock's creek in the north, with their numerous branches, supply an abundance of water. All these creeks empty into the Delaware, toward which all the water of the township flows. In 1788 the commissioners of Pennsylvania and New Jersey confirmed to this township Harvey's upper, and Lowne's Islands. (11) These hills are the "mountain" range along the foot of which the line of William Penn's first purchase ran in its course southwest, from "a corner spruce tree, marked with the letter P., to a corner white oak, standing near the path that leads to an Indian town called Playwickey." [They, who gave Jericho hill its Biblical name, little dreamed it would become associated, in the future, with a religious incident of romantic interest. In the Fall of 1894, four or five monks came to old Jericho, built a Priory on its summit, a long one-story frame structure with a cross, containing sleeping cells, a refectory and small chapel. The monks made a roadway up the rocky hill and about the Priory, built a rustic fence, of saplings, whose gate was surmounted by a cross. They prayed and fasted; wore the garb of the Benedictine monk of old; their heads were shorn, their feet protected by sandals, and wore the gown and cowl. In Summer, life had its compensation, in winter, its privation and physical pain, for no fire warmed their cold cells, lighted by narrow windows. The founding of the order was the work of Bishop Potter, of the Protestant church, to revive in the 19th century the monasticism of old. The order was known as the "Community of Saint Benedict." It sprang from the mother of the church, and was instituted by Bishop Potter in St. Chrysostom's chapel, Trinity Church, New York, 1894. Russel Whitcomb, a young Bostonian of culture, and successful in business, took upon himself the vows of the order and became prior. After an experience in conducting a Priory in the tenement districts, New York, the monks came to Falls township, Bucks county, and occupied an old farm house offered them without cost. Here they established a home for orphans and crippled children, gave up their names and became "Fathers of the Community of Saint Benedict." Some, finding the life too austere, abandoned the order, the others removing to Jericho the Autumn of the year they came into the county. When the cold weather came on, it was decided to abandon the Monastery on Jericho, for what reason unknown, when Russel Whitcomb, who was known as "Father Hugh" went to Fond du lac, Wisconsin, where Bishop Grafton presided, to pursue the same religious work he had taken up in Bucks county. After the monks had departed the Priory was torn down, and the top of old Jericho was given over to its former solitude and the bark of the fox and mournful call of the owl. The people of the community live in harmony with their strange neighbors, being particularly interested in Father Hugh. Despite his shorn head and garb, he was a very handsome, prepossessing man, quite young, and in former years, had been the companion of men of learning and social distinction.*] A considerable portion of the Continental army found shelter among the river hills of Upper Makefield, immediately preceding the attack on Trenton, Christmas-day, 1776, and Washington had his headquarters at a quiet farm house in the shadow of Jericho hill, and that band of patriots embarked from Makefield's shore on the desparate venture that turned the tide of the Revolutionary contest. [In Upper Makefield on the farm owned by John M. Darrah, stands the original Eastburn cherry tree, with a few live branches still bearing fruit. The cherry is cultivated quite extensively with the surrounding neighborhood.*] The End of Chapter XXIX.