THE HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CHAPTER XXXI, TINICUM, 1738 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 XXXI CHAPTER I (Vol II), 1905 ed. TINICUM 1738 Boundaries. -Indian townships. -London company. -The Marshalls. -Joseph Haverford. -Matthew Hughes. -Adam Meisner. -Casper Kolb. -The Heaneys.* -John Praul. -A settler at Point Pleasant. -Hessians settled in Tinicum. -Settlers petition for township. -Boundaries. -Allowed by court. -Original settlers English and Scotch-Irish. -Early roads. -Germans. -The Williamses. -Bridge over Tohickon. -Arthur Erwin. -His death. -Joseph Smith and Smithtown. -Coal first burned in smith-shops. -Charles Smith. -Edmund Kinsey. -Character of Joseph Smith. -Smithtown destroyed. -The Tinicum islands. -Indian workshop. * -Marshall's rifle. -Marshall's graveyard.* -The homestead. -Tinicum Presbyterian church. -Brick church. -Baptist church. - Point Pleasant. -Dr. DeWitt Clinton Hough.* -Joseph Buehrle.* - Erwinna. -Frenchtown.* -General Paul Mallet Prevost.* -Headquarters. -Ottsville. -Fisheries. -Early taverns. -Area of township. -Population. Tinicum is bounded by the Delaware river and Nockamixon on the north, the Delaware on the west, the Tohickon, (1) which separates it from Plumstead and Bedminster, on the south, and by Nockamixon on the west. The area is 17,177 acres. (2) (1) From Tohickhan, or Tohickhanne, signifying the drift-wood, i.e. the stream we cross on drift-wood. Teedyuscung, the great Delaware king, frequently declared the Tohickon to be the northern limit of the white man's country, and that the land to the north of it had been taken from then fraudulently. On all the old records we have examined, it is spelled Tohickney. (2) 1876 edition, first paragraph for chapter XXXI. [The stream of emigrants that transplanted the Scotch-Irish from the Lower Delaware, to the bank of Deep Run, Bedminster township, carried settlers of the same race, across the Tohickon into the wilderness of Tinicum, in the first quarter of the 18th century. William Penn's attention was called to this region at the time of his second visit. (3) On September 6, 1699, he wrote to James Logan, from Pennsbury: "I desire to see T. Fairman, for that I hear an Indian township, called Tohickon, (1 also) rich lands and much cleared by the Indians, he has not surveyed to mine and children's tracts as I expected. It joins upon the back of my manor of Highlands, and I am sorry my surveyor-general did not inform me thereof. If it be not in thy warrants put it in, except lands already or formerly taken up, or an Indian township. The Indians have been with me about it." The Proprietary was much provoked that his surveyors had neglected to lay off this tract, to himself and children, which was afterward formed into an Indian township. In the course of our investigation, we learned that somewhere "above the Highlands," the exact location is not known, 10,000 acres were confirmed to John Penn and his children. This may have reference to the same tract, and probably the "Ind ian township" was part of what is now Tinicum.*] (3) 1905 edition, starting Volume II, chapter I, first paragraph.* The "London company" was among the very earliest land-owners in the township as well as the largest, and the purchase was probably made about the time the company bought part of Manor of Highlands in 1699. The courses and distances are given by John Watson, who probably surveyed it when broken up, as follows: "Beginning at a white oak by the River Delaware, thence running by vacant lands, southwest 1,660 perches to a black oak; thence by land laid out to said Proprietary's land, southeast 634 perches to a post at the corner of John [Streeper's*] land; thence north east by the said Streeper's land, 1, 160 [1,060*] perches to a white oak; thence southeast by the said Streeper's land, 680 perches to a black oak sapling, to the said river; thence up the same on the several courses, 1,658 perches to the place of beginning, containing 7,500 acres." From these notes it is difficult to define the boundary at the present day. It had a frontage of about five miles on the Delaware, extending back about the same distance, and occupied the northern part of the township. We have seen a copy of the draft made by Benjamin Eastburn, Surveyor-General, in 1740, but its accuracy is doubted as the lines do not extend eastward to the river. The stream of immigration that planted the Scotch-Irish on the banks of the Deep run, in Bedminster, carried settlers of the same race across the Tohickon, into the then wilderness of Tinicum, in the first quarter of the last century. By about 1730 we find settled there William, Edward and Moses Marshall, Moses and Joseph Collins, Joseph Haverford, Richard Thatcher, David Griffee (Griffith), Richard Minturn, James Ross, John Hall, and James Willey, not one of whom was German.(4) The actual date when each one of these immigrants settled in Tinicum, it is impossible to give, or the place and the quantity of land taken up. Edward Marshall, who made the "Great Walk" for the Penns in 1737, was an inhabitant of the township at the time, and during part of his residence there, made his home on an island in the Delaware, which still bears his name. In 1737 Matthew Hughes took up a tract in the lower part of the township, lying on the river road and extending back to the hills. In 1746 he granted 40 acres to Adam Meisner, at the upper end of Point Pleasant, then called the Narrows. In 1759 Mr. Hughes gave 54 acres to his son Uriah. In 1739 Casper Kolb bought 150 [100*] acres of the Proprietaries. (4) The Coopers were early in Tinicum, but we have not the date of their arrival. They intermarried with the Ridges, and among the descendants was the late Dr. A. M. Cooper, of Point Pleasant, son of William B. Cooper, born September 15, 1830, and died in September 1898. He was a graduate of the Jefferson Medical School, and occupied a prominent place in professional and educational affairs.* [The Heaneys were among the earliest settlers in Tinicum and the family is still represented in the male and female lines. The year of their arrival is not known, but*] in 1745 Michael Heaney bought 150 acres of patent land, described as "near Tohickon, Bucks county," [and in 1748, Casper Kolb sold him an equal amount he had bought of the Proprietaries, but it is possible these two tracts are one and the same. Jacob and Catharine born 1756, and died 1830, was probably a son of the Michael named above; and Anthony and Sarah Heaney died prior to 1780. The name is German, the original being Hoenig or Henich.*] John Praul, of Bensalem, patented several hundred acres, extending from Point Pleasant up to Smithtown, and reaching a mile back from the river. John Van Fossen, a Hollander, was one of the earliest land-owners at the mouth of the Tohickon, his tract extending on the south side into Plumstead, on which Point Pleasant is built in part. A German named Christopher Sigman lived in Tinicum in 1750. There was still vacant land in the township in 1753, when 32 acres were surveyed to John Hart, under a warrant dated March 16, 1750. A few Hessians captured at Trenton settled in Tinicum, and others in Williams and Saucon township, Northampton county. The Wolfingers of Tinicum and neighboring townships are descended from Frederick Wolfinger, who came with his wife from Germany about 1750, and settled in Nockamixon, where he bought a tract of land near Kintnerville, now owned by John Ahlen [Ahlum*] and John Keyser. He had four sons and three daughters, who married into the families of Schick, Grover, Sassaman, Good, Hoffmann, and Scheetz, and left large families. The Lears of Tinicum are descended from ancestry who immigrated from Germany to Virginia at an early day. From there Joseph Lear, the grandfather of Mahlon C. Lear, came to Bucks county and settled in Tinicum, near Erwinna, where he died 30 years ago, at the age of 92. The family claim that Tobias Lear, the private secretary of General Washington, was a brother of the aforesaid Joseph Lear. By 1738 the settlers in what is now Tinicum felt themselves numerous enough to ask for a township organization, and on the 12th of March we find William, Edward and Moses Marshall, Moses, Joseph and Jonathan Collins, Joseph Haverford, Richard Thatcher, David Griffee (Griffith), Richard Minturn, James Ross, John Hall, James Willey, James Stewart, Joseph M. King, Michael Williamson, William Rickey, John McKee, John Peterson, James Briggs, James Campbell, John Stewart, James Johnston, John Shaw, William Hill, and Joseph McFarland, who styled themselves "divers inhabitants of the lands adjacent to Plumstead," petitioned the court of quarter sessions to erect the following district of country into a new township to be called "Tennicunk," (5) viz: "Beginning at the lower corner of Nockamixon, on the river Delaware, thence extending by the same township southeast 2,140 perches to the Tohickon creek, thence down the said creek, by the townships of Bedminster and Plumstead, to the Delaware aforesaid, then up the said river to the place of beginning." (6) The court does not seem to have hesitated, but allowed the township, which was soon afterward surveyed and organized. The original boundaries are retained to the present day. At the time the township was laid out, there was probably but one grain-mill in it, [Barcroft's (7)], on the Tohickon near its mouth. The township organization invited settlers, and immigrants seeking new homes flocked to the country north of the Tohickon, and gradually new farms were opened, dwellings erected, and roads laid out. The names on the petition for the erection of the township prove the early settlers to have been English and Scotch-Irish. The Germans were the introduction of a later immigration, and afterward many of this nationality found homes in Tinicum. We have no record of their advent, but they came soon after the township was settled. In 1762 we find the additional names of Herman Ronsecrout, Bernard Schneider, Samuel McConoghy, William Richards, Henry Newton, Jacob Fox, Robert Stovert, John Wallace, and Martin Fryling, three of which names are German. In 1738 Conrad Kuster took up 101-1/2 acres of land on a branch of Tinicum creek. Henry Stover resided in Tinicum in 1768, and Christian Honk [Houk*] and Nicholas Hern owned land there in 1769. In 1774 Jacob Kolb purchased 211 acres in Tinicum. [At this time Richard Stevens was the largest landholder in the township, owning 4,139 acres, nearly 1/4th. The population was sparse.*] (5) The original name, no doubt, is Indian, and the present a corruption. It has been spelled several ways: "Tennicunk" in 1738, "Tenecum" in 1747, "Tennecunk" in 1749 and "Tenecunk" in 1750. (6) The boundary of the township has never been changed, although an effort was made in 1860, when 25 of the inhabitants petitioned the court to appoint a jury to inquire into the propriety of "adding a certain part of said township, on the north side of Tohickon Creek, to Plumstead." This would have included that part known as "Point Pleasant," but the court would not agree to it.* (7) The name "Barcroft's" not included in 1905 edition. [The Williams family of Tinicum and Nockamixon, are descended from Jeremiah Williams, son of Joseph and Lydia Williams, of Boston, where he was born August 22, 1683. In March 1707 he was married at Flushing, Long Island, to Philadelphia Masters, daughter of George Masters of New York. She was the first white child born in Philadelphia in 1684, hence her name. His wife dying in 1715, Jeremiah Williams married Mary Newbury Howland, a widow of Newport, Rhode Island, September 11, 1716, and settled at Hempstead, Long Island. Here he conducted a mill and store until 1743, when himself and family moved to New Jersey, settling near Quakertown, Hunterdon county. The following year he assisted to establish the Monthly Meeting there, of which he was chosen one of the elders. In 1758-59, Jeremiah Williams and son Benjamin, with their families, moved to Bucks county and settled in Nockamixon township, on a 500 acre tract now owned by the Stovers and Melchor Ealer, buying it a few years later. It extended from the Delaware river, over the hills some distance. Here Jeremiah Williams died, May 15, 1766, his will bearing date January 23, 1760, and admitted to probate June 6, 1766.*] [Shortly after his father's death, the son Benjamin purchased 500 acres in Tinicum, and later a 500 acre farm in Buckingham township, which he conveyed to his four sons, Jeremiah, Benjamin, William and Samuel, they giving their bonds in payment. Benjamin and William were given the land in Nockamixon, Benjamin the farm now owned by the Stovers, and William that now owned by Mr. Ealer, Jeremiah the land in Tinicum, and Samuel that in Buckingham. This was in 1803, and at the father's death, May 1809, these bonds were mentioned as part of his estate. The Benjamin Williams who bought the land in Tinicum, was the great-grandfather of Hiram A. Williams, and his son Jeremiah was Hiram's grandfather. He moved there in 1778-9, and his father deeded it to him in 1803. The original purchases in Nockamixon are now owned by strangers.*] [After the death of Jeremiah Williams the second in 1834, his eldest son, John, purchased 300 acres of the Erwins in Tinicum, the tract including the farms now owned by William Lear and Jordan Lear, Barzilla Williams, a son, who died June 1, 1901, and the site of the village of Erwinna. This land with the exception of two or three small lots, is also owned by strangers, the farm of Barzilla Williams having been sold very recently. There are but few people bearing the name of Williams, now living in either Tinicum or Nockamixon, and a once numerous family will soon be a memory in these two townships. James Williams, one of the sons of John, is still living at Erwinna, at the great age of 93, and a sister, Ann Eliza, widow of Jonas Smith lives with her only son, at Stockton, almost 90. Both are in good health, and retain their faculties to a remarkable degree. John S. Williams, of Solebury township, a grandson of Samuel, son of Benjamin, lives on his handsome farm near New Hope, his home for many years. He is nearing the evening of his days, but is still active and enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him. Two of the sons of Jeremiah Williams, remained in Tinicum, while the others with two of the daughters went to Ohio many years ago, thence farther west, and their descendants are now to be found in several states.*] We have met with the records of but few roads in Tinicum, the earliest being that of 1741, when the road was laid out from the mouth of Tinicum creek, near Erwinna, then known as "London's ferry," to the mouth of Indian cabin run, where it crosses the Tohickon and meets the Durham road, near Hinkletown, in Plumstead. The Durham road was laid out through the township in 1745. In June 1747 John Watson surveyed a road from London ferry, 12 miles and 367-1/2 perches, until it met the Durham road probably a re-survey of the road that was laid out in 1741. About 1750 the inhabitants of Tinicum built, by subscription, a wooden bridge over Indian creek, near it mouth at the river. In 1768 the inhabitants of Tinicum, Nockamixon, Bedminster and Plumstead asked permission of the court to build a stone bridge at their own expense, in place of the wooden one, but it was not granted. Among the petitioners are the names of George Hillpot, William McIntyre, Michael Worman and Abraham Fretz, probably the ancestors of the extensive families bearing these names in that section of the county. The bridge over the Tohickon, on the Durham road, was built in 1765, at an expense of £283. 16s. 10-1/2d., of which the inhabitants contributed £101. 13s. 6d., and the balance was taken from the public funds. This crossing was called John Orr's ford, after the first settler at that place. The grand jury reported in favor of the bridge at the June term, 1763, but it was not to be built until the inhabitants raised as much money as they could toward the cost. At the same term it was reported that Tinicum, Bedminster and Plumstead had raised £84 by subscription. In 1767 a road was laid out from Erwinna to John Wilson's tavern, about half-way to the Brick church, and in 1774, one from Abraham Johnson's blacksmith shop, on the Durham road, to the Presbyterian burying-ground. In 1786 the River road was extended up the river from Kugler's mill, below Lumberville, to the mouth of Durham creek, where it met that already laid out from Erwinna down to that crossing. The road from Erwin's mills to the Durham road was opened in 1790. Arthur Erwin was the largest land-owner in Tinicum at the close of the 18th century and for some time before. When the land of the London company was sold at public sale, about 1761, by trustees appointed by act of Parliament, it fell into the hands of various persons. Mr. Erwin purchased 1,568 acres and 32 perches, Robert Patterson 324, Andrew Patterson 322, and Robert Wilson 131 acres. Mr. Erwin was of Scotch-Irish birth, and became a resident of the township prior to the Revolution. He represented this county in the Assembly in 1785, and was assassinated at the house of Samuel McAfee, in Luzerne county, in the spring of 1791. At his death he owned 2,000 acres in Tinicum, some in Durham, and 25,000 acres in Steuben county, New York. His real estate was divided among his children, each one receiving over 2,500 acres. He laid out the town of Erwinna in this county, and a town called Erwin was laid out on his land in Steuben county. At that time the family was the richest in the county, but it does not now own a foot of the ancestral acres. His son represented Bucks county in the Assembly. [Colonel William Erwin, son of Arthur, died at Erwinna, June 16, 1836, aged about 80. It was supposed his death was hastened by injuries received from a fall. He was called to several important stations, and represented the county in the Senate. (8)] (8) From one of the county papers we copy the following marriage notices relating to the family: At Erwinna, Thursday evening, December 15, 1814, by the Rev. U. DuBois, Mr. John L. Dick, of Doylestown, to Miss Julianna Erwin, daughter of William Erwin, Esq. At Erwinna, May 24, 1819, by the Rev. U. DuBois, Thomas G. Kennedy, Esq., of Newtown, to Mrs. Julianna Dick, daughter of William Erwin, of Erwinna. At Erwinna, at the residence of his grandfather, William L. Erwin, August 2, 1834, the widow of John L. Dick, the first to die of typhus fever, at Doylestown, 1815. Eighty years ago [100*] there was in Tinicum a valuable industrial establishment, founded by Joseph Smith, an ingenious and intelligent mechanic, a descendant of Robert Smith, an early settler of Buckingham. He was the son of Timothy and Sarah Smith, and great-grandson of Thomas Canby, one of the earliest settlers in Solebury. Joseph Smith was married at Wrightstown meeting September 11, 1774, to Ann Smith, daughter of Samuel and Jane, of Buckingham, who was born November 11, 1754. Their two male progenitors, Robert and William Smith, settled side by side in Buckingham and Upper Makefield, with the township line between them, but this was no barrier to the young people falling in love and marrying. Some of the Smiths, of Buckingham, went to Tinicum as early as the spring of 1777. In May 1783 Robert Smith, Joseph Smith, Uriah Hughes, and Joseph Kinsey, all of Buckingham, entered into a co-partnership to erect an industrial establishment, to be run by water. In 1784 Uriah Hughes was released at his own request, and his interest conveyed to Robert Smith. Joseph Smith, the moving spirit in this work, selected a forbidding spot on the back of the Delaware, two and a half miles above Point Pleasant, where he caused to be erected four dwellings, grist and saw-mill, and smith and plow-shops, which gave employment to a number of men. The place took the name of Smithtown. The principal occupation was making plows and mould-boards. Joseph Smith was assisted by his sons, Mahlon, Jonas and Charles, and the father moved there in 1802. Joseph Smith made the first cast-iron mould-board in Pennsylvania. It was the invention of his brother Robert, who took out a patent for it in 1800, but the idea had been in his mind for 10 years, and Joseph had made them three years before the patent was obtained. In 1803 they shipped 758 mould-boards to their factors in Philadelphia.(9) (9) The letters patent, on the Smith iron mould board plow, hangs in the room of the Bucks County Historical Society at Doylestown, and was, by odds, the best output of the Tinicum industrial works. The patent bears the date of May 19, 1800, is signed by President John Adams, and certified to by Charles Lee, Attorney-General, then "executing the office of secretary of state." The invention is styled "a new and useful improvement." In the frame holding the Letter Patent, are four letters from persons endorsing the mould-board, written 1803-4. While Joseph Smith was the inventor, for some unknown reason, the patent was issued in the name of his brother, Robert Smith. This invention revolutionized farming.* Joseph Smith introduced the use of hard coal in blacksmith-shops in Bucks county, and taught others how to use it. In 1812 he sent his sons, Charles and Jonas, the former now living hear Pineville at the age of 90, to Lehighton, for two wagon-loads of coal. One load was left at Smithtown to be used in the shops there, and the other was to be delivered to the three most noted blacksmiths in the county, Thomas Atkinson, of Wrightstown, then doing iron-work for a chain bridge, Benjamin Wood of Solebury, who followed smithing at Ruckman's, and Edmund Kinsey, of Milton, near Carversville. They were unable to use the coal satisfactorily, and it took a good while to burn the load left at Smithtown. To keep the coal from chocking up the draft, a nail-rod was fixed to the roller of the bellows so that at every stroke the rod would run out of the tube into the fire and loosen up the coal. In December of that year Charles Smith, of Wrightstown, a son of Joseph, hauled 30 bushels of hard coal from Smithtown to his shop. It burned well at first, but in ten minutes the fire went out in spite of all he could do. That load of coal lasted three years, and until his father had discovered, by experiment, how to burn the coal in smith-shops as it was burned at Wilkesbarre, but not until his son Jonas had invented a fixture which kept the coal ignited, with the iron heated to any degree of heat. Hard coal now came into general use in forges, and charcoal was supplanted. Charles Smith is said to have used it in his smith-shop, successfully, as early as 1813. In the Pennsylvania "Correspondent," of March 1815, Joseph Smith, of Tinicum, published a card with directions how to construct a smith's fire to burn Lehigh coal in, and states that his own workmen can lay one-third more share-moulds in the same time with Lehigh coal than with charcoal. Jacob B. Smith, of New Hope, and Edmund Kinsey, of Milton, certify to the truth of what he says, and Kinsey adds, "that 22 pounds of Lehigh coal will go as far as 33 pounds of Richmond, or soft coal." Lehigh coal then cost $24 a ton, and its use was thought to be economy. Joseph Smith died suddenly, at the house of a relative in Solebury, on his return home from a visit to his daughter, September 28, 1826, at the age of 73. His widow died in 1854, aged 100 years. Joseph Smith was a man of great activity and intelligence, strong mind and liberal views, and a philanthropist in the best sense of the word, and deserves to be remembered among the benefactors of his race. He learned the mechanical trade of his father, and was the first man to make a plow in Bucks county, and probably in the United States, that was worth anything. His improvements in this valuable implement of husbandry secured him the confidence of Thomas Jefferson, and entitles him to the thanks of the agricultural community. Among his good deeds may be mentioned the introduction of clover-seed into Bucks county, and the use of plaster of Paris on land, which have proved a source of great wealth. He left 59 living grandchildren at his death. His consistency as a Friend brought him into trouble during the stormy period of the Revolution, and he was arrested on two occasions, once being confined a prisoner in the American camp, and once in the Newtown jail. While in jail his wife visited him twice a week, regularly, with provisions, traveling the distance 16 miles, there and back, on horseback alone. After Joseph Smith's death, the plow-works were carried on by his sons, Mahlon, Jonas and Charles, until 1840; and by Mahlon at that and other places until 1870, who [died*] in Tinicum, upward of 90 years of age. He made an improvement in the mould-board after the patent was taken out, and the new pattern was followed for years, but never patented. The mills and most of the workshops were destroyed by digging the Delaware canal, and Smithtown, except in name, has ceased to exist. [The west bank of the Delaware in Tinicum might have been the seat of the Du Pont powder works, subsequently established on the Brandywine, had proper effort been made. Under date of September 10, 1801, Joseph Erwin, in a letter to George Wall, says that Mr. de Noilles, accompanied by Mr. Du Pon (Du Pont), who was formerly French consul at Charleston, South Carolina, paid a visit to Mr. Prevost, founder of Frenchtown, New Jersey. Du Pont was then looking for a place to establish powder works in this country. Mr. Erwin states he was not then fully acquainted with his object, or he would have offered him his location at Erwinna. Mr. Prevost, however, promised to write to Mr. Du Pont, but it is believed he did not.*] Of the islands in the Delaware opposite this township, the joint commissioners of Pennsylvania and New Jersey confirmed three to Tinicum in 1786, and one to New Jersey. Of these islands we know but little. Cutbush, or Cutbitch as it is called by some, and Gondola islands, near Point Pleasant, and containing about seventy acres, belong to John N. Solliday. They were once owned by John Praul, and also by the state. In 1769 Jonathan Quinby sold Cutbush to Adam Hall, of Amwell, New Jersey, for £55. The third, opposite the mouth of Tinicum creek, is called Marshall's island, containing 120 acres, and is owned by Isaac and Jacob Stover. The fourth, known as Ridge's island, belongs to New Jersey.(10) There was considerable controversy about the islands belonging to Tinicum a century ago. Jonathan Quinby claimed the two lower, but it was alleged that he sold the upper one to one Rittenhouse for two or three ears of corn, and that George Wall had purchased Rittenhouse's right for a few bushels of buckwheat. John Praul quieted Quinby's claim by purchasing his right. The grant is supposed to have been made by Penn to one Mills, Mills to Marshall, part of Marshall's heirs to Quinby, who claimed that he obtained a warrant for his right, and laid it on the two islands granted to Adam Hall. (10) In the summer of 1896, Dr. Howard Pursell, of Bristol, wrote the author that himself and Marshall Pusell had visited the island opposite the canal lock below Erwinna, now called Ridge's island, prospecting for Indian relics, a cache of arrow heads having been found there by Dr. Abbott a year or two before. The island's surface is almost entirely of loam and sand, and the use of a probe was easy. On the easterly side the probe struck stone, and within six inches of the surface they found a considerable accumulation of stone chips and a few broken arrows. The chips radiated three or four feet from the center and were three or four inches in depth, mixed with earth more or less. Just at the center, for a space of more than a foot in diameter, there were no chips. The inference is there had been an Indian workshop for making arrow heads there, and perhaps other stone implements; the central spot being the site of the anvil and the surrounding pieces had been hammered off or rejected. No other places were found where there were any stones or pieces, except on the west side of the island, where there was an accumulation of round boulders, such as are common at the shore and bottom of the river. The spot was about 100 yards northeast of where the cache was found. The rifle which Edward Marshall carried for many years of his life is now owned and in the possession of Edward Ridge, of Tinicum, a descendant in the female line. The Ridge homestead is on the River road, three miles above Point Pleasant, to which we made a visit to inspect the famous weapon. We found it a long, heavy, flint-lock gun, with wooden rammer and brass mountings, and it carried an ounce ball. As Mr. Marshall could not get a rifle in this county to suit him, he caused a barrel and lock to be purchased in Germany, and had it mounted here. On the top of the barrel are the following letters, faintly seen: I. A. D. ROTHENBERG. The rifle is in perfect order, and the hair trigger as sensitive to the touch as when the original owner set it to shoot Indians. In the flint-box is the identical rammer-screw that Marshall used to clean out the piece 150 years ago, before he started on a hunt for human game. It is doubtful whether any firearm in existence has shed so much human blood as this old rifle. The house is apparently as old as the rifle, but the situation is one of the most delightful along the river. The great hunter, walker and deer-killer was buried in what is known as Marshall's graveyard, a mile northeast of Head-Quarters.(11 ) (11) The Marshall graveyard is on a hill facing southeast, a mile and a half from where Tinicum creek empties into the Delaware. Tradition says, that about 1760, two young girls, while out on a walk, stopped on this hill, and, while viewing the beautiful prospect from its top, one of them remarked, "When I die I wish to be buried here;" that she shortly died and was buried there under a cedar tree. Here Edward Marshall was subsequently buried, and , on the marble slab covering his grave is a suitable inscrip- tion, thought to have been written by his son Thomas. It was erected by his relatives, 1829. The deed for the lot was executed March 22, 1822, and recorded May 2, 1894. The walls around it was erected by Rebecca Kean, a daughter, 1851, and repaired by Dr. A. M. Cooper, 1892. The ground originally belonged to the Streeper tract. A number of other persons besides the Marshalls and their family connection have been buried there, including the McIntyres, Watsons, McDougals, Otts, Myers, Woods and others. There are four churches in the township, Presbyterian, Lutheran and Reformed, Christian, and Baptist. That know as the Tinicum Presbyterian church is the oldest of that denomination north of Deep run, and probably as old as that. At what time it was organized we do not know, but in the summer of 1739 the Reverend James Campbell preached there and at Newtown. In the fall of that year, he received a call to this church, then called "Tohickon," through Francis Williamson and John Orr, but he continued to supply his two congregations, occasionally going up to the Forks until 1744, when he was installed at Tohickon, May 24th. A few years afterward it was decided to build a new church, and a controversy arose whether it should be built on the site of the old one, or at Red Hill. It was fixed at the latter place, on account of which Mr. Campbell resigned May 1749. He afterward went to North Carolina, and died after 1780. The records of the church are missing down to 1762, and we know nothing of its history during the intervening period. The 16th of February of that year the London company conveyed thirteen acres and four perches to William Wear, of Springfield, and John Heaney and James Patterson, of Tinicum, for the use of the church. In 1767 the latter conveyed to Robert Kennedy and James Blair, of Springfield, James McKee, Robert Smith, James McGlauchlin, and James Bailey, of Tinicum, and Nicholas Patterson and Alexander McCannon, of Nockamixon, in trust for the Protestant congregation of Tinicum and adjoining townships. The records are again silent until 1785, when their pastor, Alexander Mitchel, left them. By consent of the Presbytery, the congregations of Deep Run and Tinicum were united in one charge in 1785, under Rev. James Grier, who served to near the close of 1787. The meeting-house and burial-ground were enclosed in 1786, and the same year £46. 2s. were subscribed to pay Mr. Grier, and £44. 16s. 11d. in 1787, to be paid in specie. The church was incorporated March 28, 1787. Among the supplies for 1788 we find the names of Blair, Hannah. Peppard, and Nathaniel Irwin. In 1792 the church gave a call to the Rev. Nathaniel Snowden, and in 1798, after he was installed at Deep Run, Rev. Uriah DuBois was invited to give Tinicum one-third of his time. In 1820 the Rev. Alexander Boyd, of Newtown, was invited to supply Tinicum one-fourth of his time for one year, for £105, but he continued the supply until 1826. From this time the congregation appears to have relied on supplies, for we find no further record of regular pastors. In 1827 it was agreed to pay $6 a Sunday for a supply by a neighboring clergyman, $7 when from the city, and $8 to administer the Lord's Supper. In 1835 a stone wall was built around the graveyard, superintended by Daniel Boileau and Stephen Bennet, at 62-1/2 cents a day, including board. In 1843 the trustees conveyed the one undivided half of the church and lot to the German Reformed and Lutherans, the English congregation retaining the privilege of occupying the church one-half the time. The quaint-looking old stone building with the stairway to the gallery on the outside, and erected in 1766, was re-built in 1843. It has a gallery on three sides and a high pulpit, with winding steps up to the seat. The worshipers of the three congregations do not number over 100. The oldest gravestone in the yard, with an inscription upon it, is that of James Blair, who died in 1749, aged 83. He must have been well-advanced in life when he settled in Tinicum. We are told that in early days the church owned 300 acres, but we can find no record or it. It now only owns the lot the building stands upon, a portion having been leased to the school-directors of Tinicum for 99 years, upon which a neat school-house has been erected. The fathers of the church were English-speaking people, and in the graveyard we read the names of Blair, Thompson, Bennet, Wilson, Summers, Carrell, Smith, etc. The Brick church, known as Christ church, is on the road from Point Pleasant to Dark Hollow. The records carry us back to 1747, but the congregation was probably organized at an earlier date. The first church, built of logs, stood on the hill at the graveyard, a few hundred yards from the road. The present building, the third, erected in 1861, at an expense of $11,000 of brick, is large and imposing, with basement, and audience-room in second story, is handsomely frescoed, and has a large organ. The spire towers above all surrounding objects. The audience-room seats 1000 persons. The first recorded marriage took place in 1759, Adam Hellebart (now Hillpot) to Maria Phillippina Schnaentherin (now Snyder), born in 1740. The oldest gravestone in the yard is that of William Jiser, who died in 1759, aged 32 years. Among the pastors, in olden times, we find the names of but three, Johannes Wolf Bizel in 1760, Frederick Miller in 1774, and Nicholas Mensch in 1807. The joint congregations, Reformed and Lutheran, number about 700. The present Lutheran pastor is the Rv. W. S. Emery. A small congregation of Christians have a church, called Christian chapel, on the road from Red Hill to Erwinna, where there is occasional preaching by other denominations. The Baptist church, situated at Point Pleasant, on the Tinicum side of the Tohickon, had its origin in the labors of the Rev. Joseph Mathias, pastor at Hilltown, who prosecuted missionary-work in that section of the county nearly half a century ago. His preaching in barns, school-houses, and groves awakened quite a religious interest in that section, the dwelling of Mrs. Hamilton being the centre of operations. The church was constituted September 1, 1849, with 32 members, but the building was not erected until 1852, mainly through the efforts of the Rev. John C. Hyde, its first settled pastor. His labors were greatly blessed, and during his pastorate he was obliged to enlarge the church. He is now pastor of the Baptist church at Bristol, and since then the pulpit at Point Pleasant has been filled, in turn, by the Revs. Messrs. W. B. Swope, E. S. Widemer, H. C. Putnam, D. Spencer, J. H. Appleton, D. Menigee, Joseph Hammit, and George Young [and others*]. The church is in a flourishing condition, with a membership of nearly 200. [Joseph Buehrle, a resident of Tinicum, died in the winter of 1877, at an advanced age. He was a native of Baden, Germany, where he served six years in the army, held a local revenue office and was well off in the world, but taking part in the Revolution of 1848, was obliged to flee his native land. He arrived in America almost without means, first settling at Mauch Chunk, but soon came to Bucks county, where he lived to his death. His son William lives at Quakertown.*] The villages and hamlets of Tinicum are, Point Pleasant, Erwinna, Head-Quarters and Ottsville. The first-named, the most considerable, lies on both sides of the Tohickon, near its mouth on the Delaware. Isaac Swartz was one of the first owners of real estate on the south side of the creek, including Lower Black's Eddy, and on this land all the houses are built from the Eddy up the creek. About 1812 the property passed into the possession of Daniel Solliday, father of John N. On this side of the creek are two taverns, a store and about 75 families. John Van Fossen was the first settler on the north side, and his land extended some distance over into Plumstead. He built the first tavern, where the present one stands, and established the fishery. His property passed to Michael Weisel early in the century; and the tavern was burnt down about 1812, and rebuilt. Here there are some 25 families, with a store, coal-yard, lime-kilns, grist and saw-mill, the former one of the oldest on the creek, two lumber-yards, and a post-office. A post-office was granted in 1821, on the south side of the creek, and called Lower Black Eddy, and was only called Point Pleasant when it was removed to the north side, in 1828, and Joseph Hough appointed postmaster.(12) Fifty years [75*] ago there were but four [6*] dwellings at the "Point," an old house on the mill property, now Ralph Stover's, a tavern where the present Point Pleasant hotel stands, owned by Michael Swartz, and the Black Eddy tavern, owned by Daniel Solliday, on the Point Pleasant side of the creek. A covered wooden bridge here spans the Delaware from the north side of the creek [for several years, but, on being blown down in recent years, was replaced by an iron one. It was on the north side of the Tohickon.*]. Geddis' run empties into the Tohickon just about its mouth, and the Delaware canal crosses the creek a short distance below on a wooden aqueduct. From the hills back of Point Pleasant is presented one of the finest river views in the county. [Uhlertown, opposite Frenchtown, is an enterprising place, and large quantities of hay, grain and straw were formerly shipped on the canal from there, also a successful business carried on in building and repairing boats and lime-burning. A new grist mill was erected, 1877. It has a brick school-house, and during the winter, a literary society is a feature of its social life.*] (12) De Witt Clinton Hough, son of General Joseph Hough, was born at Point Pleasant, December 31, 1826, and died at Rahway, N. J., 1897. His mother was a Simpson, and sister of General Grant's mother. He was educated at the Newtown Academy and graduated in Medicine at the Jefferson School, Philadelphia, 1847. Beginning active practice elsewhere, he settled at Rahway, 1857, and there passed his life. He served through the Civil war as surgeon of the 7th New Jersey regiment, and in civil life, held several places of public trust; was major of the city from 1866 to 1868; member of the first board of water commissioners, and served three terms in the assembly. He was prominent in every walk, and his life full of kindly benevolence. At his death a son took up his professional work. Erwinna on the Delaware nearly opposite Frenchtown, was founded about 1856, the ground on which it stands being bought of John Williams and wife in the spring of that year. The ferry, established early, was called London ferry for many years and then Prevost's ferry, 1808. It has a population of 300 mechanics, stores, a graded school, churches and other evidence of village life. Head-Quarters, on the road from Erwinna to Ottsville, is a hamlet with a store and tavern, and Ottsville, formerly "Red Hill," is on the Durham road near the line of Nockamixon. A post-office was opened at Ottsville, 1814, with Michael Ott as postmaster. The post-office at Erwinna is probably the oldest in the township, having been established, 1807, with Joseph Erwin, postmaster, followed by H. Erwin, 1834. The post-office on the Durham road has frequently changed location, and been at two or three points in the distance of two miles. There were several fisheries on the Delaware between the Tohickon and Tinicum creek in olden times. Cowell's near the "Point" was a lucrative one, but Ridge's was more profitable and probably the oldest. About 1810 as many as 1,500 shad were caught in one day upon a small island opposite the Ridge house. The Cabin fishery was half a mile above Ridge's; the Drive fishery on the Jersey side of the large island, and the Sweet Briar on the Jersey shore opposite, are all productive, or were a few years ago. Shad, caught in these waters, were of the finest kind, and in abundance down to 1825, and in fair quantities to 1842, but since then, the catch has not been so good. The season of 1875 was the best for several years. Although we have said that Barcroft's mill was probably the oldest in the township, the honor is disputed by Joseph Drissel's mill on the Tohickon, a mile northeast of Keichline's tavern, in Bedminster. This is thought to be one of the oldest mills in the upper end of the county, and is still in good running order. Jacob Fretz's mill on the Tohickon was built about the same time, or soon after Barcroft's. Jacob Stout had a grist-mill on the Tohickon, 1755. Wilson's tavern, (13) one of the oldest in the township, stood on the road from the Brick church to the river, about half-way between them. It is a long one-and-a-half-story stone house, still standing. The license was taken away many years ago, because a lot of drunken fellows hanging about on a Sunday morning abused old James Carrell on his way to church. When a tavern was first licensed at Head-Quarters we can not tell, but it was kept a century ago by Jacob Shupe, and by him sold to Jacob Barndt, who died in it, in 1799, whose son, Peter T. Barndt, moved into it, in 1800. A public house is still kept there, but the present building is about 300 yards from where the old one stood. The township and general elections have been held at this house many years. [John I. Carrell, son of the James Carrell mentioned above, and Jane his wife, became a minister of note in the Presbyterian church. He was one of the first graduates of Lafayette college; married Leonora Hickman, 1839, and was chaplain of the 9th New Jersey Infantry in the Civil war, in which his son, a captain, was killed. Mr. Carrell died at Easton, Pennsylvania, June 1877.*] (13) A tavern was kept there, 1767. In area, Tinicum is one of the largest townships in the county, as well as one of the most populous. The surface is very rolling in some parts, but not broken, and along the Delaware an abrupt ledge lifts the general level of the surface from 75-150 feet above the river. It is well-watered by the Tohickon, Tinicum and Mill creeks and their branches. A good deal of the soil is sandy and gravelly, but in general productiveness it is about the equal of the neighboring townships. The Delaware Division canal, which runs along the river front of the township, give the inhabitants great facilities for transporting heavy goods to market, and in importing lime and coal. Besides the bridge across the Delaware at Point Pleasant, another spans the river a mile above Erwinna, [to Frenchtown.*] [Opposite Tinicum township on the left bank of the Delaware, in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, is the flourishing borough of Frenchtown. About a century ago, the land was purchased by Colonel George Piper, and General Paul Mallet Prevost, (14) who laid out the town. The early growth was slow. Seventy-five years ago there were not more than two or three houses. One of them, of logs, on the Baptisttown road, was occupied by Abraham Wyker and family, a carpenter by trade, but sometimes served as a hand on Durham boats that plied on the river. Their bound girl was said to be "possessed of an evil spirit," and people flocked to the house, from ten miles round, to witness her "manifestations." Aged people still have stories to tell of "Wyker's" ghost. Another house was inhabited by a man named Peltz and his family. He occupied his time drinking whiskey and the wife enjoyed the privilege of supporting him, herself and the children. One of the sons swallowed a snake's egg, on a wager of whiskey, which hatched a snake in his stomach, but a strong emetic relieved him. It was preserved in alcohol and is said to have been exhibited in Peal's Museum, Philadelphia, among the curiosities.*] (14) The Prevosts are an old Huguenot family, whose records go back over 700 years. Upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes they took up their residence in Switzerland, where Paul Henri Mallet Prevost was a banker of Geneva, whose uncle, General Augustin Prevost, distinguished himself in the defense of Savannah, in the Revolution. He was a cousin of Sir George Prevost, at one time commander of the British forces in Canada, and Governor of Nova Scotia. At the breaking out of the French Revolution, Paul Henri Mallet joined the French army, but came to this country 1794, and settled at Alexandria, Hunterdon, N. J., and as several of his family and army friends followed him, the place became known as "Frenchtown" the name it bears. The son and grandson of General Paul Mallet Prevost were prominent citizens of Philadelphia, and his great-grandson, Sutherland M. Prevost, was general superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and third vice president.* The first enumeration of the inhabitants of Tinicum was in 1784, when the township contained 769 whites and 9 blacks, 87 dwellings, and 144 out-houses. In 1810, the population was 1,017; 1820, 1,249; 1830, 1,643, [and 33 taxables]; 1840, 1,770; 1850, 2,047; 1860, 2,396; 1870, 2,401, of which 117 were of foreign birth; [1880, 2,346; 1890, 2,098*]. Tinicum is considered a German township. End of Chapter XXXI, 1875 ed. or Chapter I, Vol. II, 1905 ed.