THE HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CHAPTER XLI, DURHAM, 1775. 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 XLI or CHAPTER XI (Vol. II), 1905 ed. DURHAM. 1775. Settled early. -Minerals. -Iron discovered. -Purchase by Durham company. -Quantity of land. -Pechoqueolin*. -Richard Mitchel. -Constable in 1739. -First attempt to organize a township. -Caleb Todd, overseer. -Second petition for township. -Organized in 1775. -Names of petitioners. -The area. -Roads. -Place of Indian treaties. -Company formed and furnace built. -First shipment of iron to England. -Scarcity of labor. -Present furnace. -Robert Durham*. -First Durham boat. -Company dissolved. -Galloway's interest confiscated. -Richard Backhouse. -George Taylor. -Different owners. -The Longs. -John Pringle Jones. -General Daniel Morgan. -Durham cave. -Attempt to annex township to Northampton. -Durham creek. -Monroe. -Riegelsville, -The Fackenthalls. -Churches and pastors. -Schools*. -Population. -Newspapers*. (See illustration, Plan of Durham Lands in Bucks County, 1773.) DURHAM, at the extreme north point of the county, and the last of the original townships to be organized, was one of the earliest in the upper end to be settled. Attention was drawn to this section at an early day. In the description of New Albion, published at London in 1648, there is mention made of "lead mines in stony hills," ten leagues above the falls of Delaware, which probably had reference to the iron ore in the Durham hills, where a little lead has been found from time to time. The information must have been received from the Indians, who would not permit Europeans to explore the river above the falls, or from white men who had penetrated to that point without the knowledge of the Indians. [B. F. Fackenthall think this information was received from the Indians. Iron ore may have been taken for lead; the presence of lead was not likely in that information; however, may have led to the discovery of the valuable iron ore in Durham.] The Proprietary government knew of the deposit of iron ore in the Durham hills as early as 1698, but there is no reliable record as to how and when it was discovered. It is stated in a letter from James Logan to George Clark, dated August 4, 1737, that when the Shawonoe Indians came from the south, in 1698, one party of them "was placed at Pechoqueolin, near Durham, to take care of the iron mines." Their village was probably on the high ground back of the lower end of Riegelsville and near the furnace, whe re traces of an Indian town are still to be seen, and where arrowheads and other remains of the red man are picked up. The chief in charge of the village near Durham, in 1728, was called Ka-kow-watchy. In 1715 there was an Indian town, called "Pahaqualing," above the Water Gap, on the New Jersey side of the Delaware. As one of the leading objects of the Free Society of Traders was the manufacture of iron, their attention was early directed to this region; and in 1701 Jacob Taylor, the surveyor-general of the province, surveyed 5,000 acres for this company, and called the tract Durham (1). On September 8, 1717, a patent was executed to Jeremiah Langhorne and John Chapman for 300 acres, situated on "Schook's," now Durham, creek. (1) Henry. [Not included in 1905 edition footnotes.] [The location of the Indian village of Pechoqueolin has given rise to some little discussion. An article in the March number of the "American Archacologist," 1898, pp. 69,70, (2) says it began 100 yards north of Durham cave and extended to the built up part of Riegelsville; in this distance various stone relics have been found, axes, arrow and spear points and discoidal stones, etc. The jasper quarry by the Indian trail was a mile from the implement factory and the refuse was scattered a distance of 500 yards and 10 or 12 feet in average width. This was its condition 40 years ago. John A. Ruth, Bethlehem, believes the village was north of Gallow Run (3) in the extreme southeast corner of the township, where the refuse usually found on Indian sites is abundant and the relics are evidence an Indian town was located there. To these opinions Mr. H. C. Mercer adds his own, that the original name of the village was Peahotwoallank, meaning "where there is great depression in the ground," descriptive of the southeast corner of Durham. Giving these expert opinions credit for all they are worth, there is no evidence there was not an implement factory at both places, each bearing the name applied to it (4).*] (2) Written by Charles Laubach.* (3) Indian name, Perlefaken.* (4) W. J. Buck contends that Peckoqueolin was located a short distance above Delaware Water Gap.* We have seen a statement that what is known as the Durham tract was purchased as early as 1718, but can find no confirmation of it. (5) There were a few settlers about where the iron-works were first located, in 1723, but scarce any above it. The discovery of iron ore, no doubt, led to the permanent settlement of Durham several years before it would otherwise have been settled; nevertheless, we are just as certain that the ownership of all the land in the township being in a rich company, retarded its set tlement and prosperity. There was not the same general distribution of land as was in the case in other townships. Those who purchased had to buy of the Durham company at their own price. We are not informed just what year the tract was purchased of the Proprietaries, but it must have been prior to 1727, which year the first furnace was erected, up near the ore beds. (6) The company must have included in their purchase the 5,000 acres owned by the Free Society of Traders. (7) The tract originally contained 6,900 acres, but was added to afterward, and at its division and sale, in 1773, the area was 8,511 acres and 100 perches (8). Down to this time the title to but little of these lands has passed out of the company, which was the landlord of the tenants. As the history of the furnace goes far toward making up the history of the township for the last 150 [175*] years, we shall give a more particular account of it before this chapter is concluded. (5) In 1718, a release was obtained of the chiefs of our Indians, for all the lands this side of the Lehigh Hills, and beyond there, it was resolved no settlement should be made till the land was purchased of the natives. Joint letter to John, Thomas and Richard Pennsylvania dated Philadelphia, 13th of 9 mo., 1731, by Isaac Norris, Samuel Preston and James Logan, Penn's Commissioners of Property.* (6) The old map of Durham shows the location of a stamping mill. This suggests that iron was made prior to the erection of the blast furnace, 1727, because it is not likely a stamping mill would be erected after the iron moulders method of reducing iron ore in a blast furnace was in operation. Mr. B. F. Fackenthall, good authority, dissents from the opinion of Mr. Hartman.* (7) While this is historically asserted there is no documentary evidence to sustain it.* (8) One map of the tract gives the area 8,484 acres and 52 perches, but the difference is not material. Mr. Ruth gives the original area of the Durham purchase at 6, 348 acres; 300 patented to Jeremiah Langhorne and John Chapman, September 8, 1717, 1,200 to Langhorne without date, and 4,848 from James Logan by warrant of survey, March 1727. The last mentioned tract was from John Strieper's estate, which the Penns allowed Logan to surrender for an equal quantity in Durham he had previously located. These three tracts were conveyed to Samuel Powell and by him to the "Durham Company," February 10, 1727. "The Plan of the Durham Lands, 1773" gives the whole area at the time of division and sale, at 8,484 acres and 52 perches, but how and when the remainder was acquired we are not informed. No doubt the sparseness of the population was the cause of the long delay in organizing the township, and it is just possible that the company opposed the efforts of the inhabitants to obtain local government. But however this may be, the Durham tract was recognized as a township many years before the court authorized its organization. We find that Richard Mitchel, of Durham, was commissioned a justice of the peace, and Richard Cox constable, in 1738. In 1739 Daniel Bloom was appointed constable for "Durham and Allen's town." This seemed necessary on account of its remoteness from the county-seat. The inhabitants made several efforts for a township before they were successful. As early as June 16, 1743, the settlers "adjoining Durham" petitioned the court to be "comprehended in a new township," and the same month and year 18 families in "Durham township" petitioned to be included in Springfield. (9) In March 1744, the owners of the Durham iron works petitioned the court to lay out a township "that may include all the land between Lower Saucon township on the west, the west branch of the river Delaware on the north, the river Delaware aforesaid on the east, and the southern boundary of Durham tract on the south." On the back of the petition is endorsed, "Read and allowed, and Peter Roke appointed constable." Here the effort ended. These limits would have embraced all of Durham ad Springfield, and what is now Williams township, in Northampton county. In 1745 Caleb Todd was appointed overseer for Durham township. The 14th of March, the same year, Robert Ellis, of Durham, wrote to Lawrence Growden to petition the court on behalf "of the owners of Durham works" for a township of Durham. Ellis was probably a justice of the peace, for in a letter written to him by Lynford Lardner, who had purchased a plantation near the Lehigh, the following November, he is spoken of as being on the bench. In spite of these efforts, the township of Durham was not organized until 1775. The 13th of June of that year some of the inhabitants living on the Durham tract, namely, Jacob Clymer, Henry Houpt, George Taylor, (10) George Heinline, (11) Wendell Shank, Thomas Craig, Michael Deemer, William Abbott, Francis Wilson, (12) Daniel Stillwell, and two others whose names cannot be deciphered, petitioned the court to organize the township of Durham. This attempt was successful, and it was probably laid out with its present boundaries. Enough of the territory of the old Durham tract was excluded, and fell into Williams township, to make one tier of farms. The area is 5,719 acres. (9) The same year that Springfield was organized. (10) The Signer. [Not included in the 1905 edition footnotes.] (11) George Heinline was captain of militia in the Revolution; served in New Jersey and saw a fight. (12) Francis Wilson was the son of an Indian trader. Having the river as a great highway to and from the furnace, there was not the same urgent necessity for an early opening of roads as in most of the other townships. In 1732 (13) the "Durham company" petitioned the court for a road from thence to join the Wrightstown road at the Pines, now Pineville, which was granted and laid out on the Indian path from the lower country to the Lecha or Lehigh. This was not a link in the Durham road, which was already opened above Buckingham, but the road that now crosses the mountain below Greenville, and thence to Pineville, known, we believe, as the "Mountain road." The road from the furnace down to the Tohickon, to meet the Durham road, which had been extended to that point some time before, was opened , [as a continuation of the Durham road,*] about 1745, and the road from the furnace up to Easton in 1755 [1750.*] An outlet to the west was opened about the same period. Before 1747, although we do not know the year, a road was opened from the furnace through Springfield and Richland, to the New Bethlehem, then Provincial, road over which pig-iron was hauled to Mayberry forge, near Sumneytown. This was probably the road which now runs up the south bank of Durham creek, through Springtown to Quakertown. In 1748 a road was laid out from the furnace to Bethlehem. Meanwhile a few local roads were opened, but most of them were to accommodate the inhabitants getting to and from the furnace, where all the business of that region of country centered. How many roads had been opened we do not know, but in 1767 the inhabitants petitioned the court not to allow any more through the township, because "they had enough already." [The road from Monroe to Easton was laid out, in 1817.*] (13) 1905 edition gives the year as 1832 but this must be an editing error. Durham was early celebrated as a place for holding treaties with the Indians, and the Penns often resorted thither to meet their red brethren. The place of meeting was in the meadows about the center of the township, near where the old furnace was built, where one Wilson, (14) an Indian trader, had established himself. The treaty which led to the celebrated Walking Purchase of September 19 and 20, 1737, was begun at Durham, 1734, adjourned to Pennsbury and was concluded at Philadelphia, August 25, 1737. Casper Wister, an early land holder in Springfield, owned 651 acres on Cook's creek, in Durham, 1738. (14) Probably Francis Wilson, one of the petitioners for the township in 1775, but William J. Buck says George Wilson lived here, 1737, and was represented as an Indian trader. The history of Durham township would be incomplete without an extended notice of its furnace, one of the earliest erected in the United States. The tract owned by the company was purchased direct from the Indians, several years before their title was extinguished by the Proprietaries, and embraced, with subsequent purchases,8,511 acres and 100 perches. The title was not confirmed until March 3, 1749, the deed being executed to Richard Peters, who conveyed it to Plumstead, et al. The purchase was acknowledged by some Indian chiefs at the Minisink, in a letter of Nicholas De Pui to Jeremiah Langhorne in 1740, and by Teedyuscung at the treaty made at Easton in 1758. On March 4, 1727 [on or about the year 1726*], the then owners of the tract, namely: Jeremiah Langhorne, of Bucks, Anthony Morris, [brewer*] James Logan, [merchant*] Charles Reed, [Read, merchant*] Robert Ellis, [merchant*] George Fitzwater, [merchant*] Clement Plumstead, [merchant*] William Allen, [merchant*] Andrew Bradford, [printer*] John Hopkins, [merchant*] Thomas Linsley, [Lindlay, anchorsmith*] Joseph Turner, [merchant*] Griffith Owen, and Samuel Powell, (15) of Philadelphia, formed themselves into a stock company for the purpose of making iron. (15) Griffith Owen and Samuel Powell are not included as members of stock company in 1905 edition. [On March 4, 1727, these 12 persons divided into 16 equal shares, and conveyed, for 51 years, to Griffith Owen and Samuel Powell, in trust for the owners. The partners held as tenants in common. At the end of the term the property was to be sold for the benefit of the owners. The first election for officers was held March 25th, and the company proceeded immediately to the erection of a furnace and other improvements. The first blast was begun the spring of 1728, (16) but after running about 100 tons of metal they were obliged to blow out. The second blast was begun late the following fall on a stock of 500 or 600 tons. In November 1728 James Logan shipped three tons of pig-iron to England as a specimen, but iron was then very low. This was before a forge had been erected at Durham, and the company had their metal wrought up into bars elsewhere. The old datestone, bearing the figures "1727," has been preserved and [now occupies a conspicuous place in the office.*] It was used for many years in Abraham Houpt's smith-shop to crack nuts upon, but was fortunately rescued and put to a better use. The first furnace, built about the middle of the tract, [as shown on the accompanying plan,*] where the hamlet of Durham and postoffice are located, two miles from the river and near the ore beds, was about 30x40 feet, and 20 feet high. It was torn down in 1819, and Long's grist-mill now Bachman [Backman*] & Lerch's, was built on the site and when digging the foundation for the mill several old cannon balls were found. When the old tunnel was opened, in 1849, after having been closed up a century, [56 years, some of the heavy white oak timbers in the mines, from eight to twelve inches in diameter, were bent by the weight above them, but were*] sound, and a crowbar and two axes were found. The stamping-mill was [about 1600 feet west of the furnace.*] There were three forges on the creek, the first about a third of the way to the river, the second a quarter of a mile from the mouth of the creek, and the third [near the mouth of the creek, where the present furnace stands. A reference to the map will give the location of the furnace, stamping mill and the forges, as well as the location of the furnace dams. Some of the old timbers where the forges were located, can still be seen.*] The "Mansion house," as it was styled, [owned in 1898 by Mrs. Abraham Boyer, who inherited the property from her father, McKeen Long,*] probably the residence of the superintendent, stands at the corner of the Durham and Springtown roads, near Bachman's mill, where a tavern was kept from 1798 to 1871, and there the elections were held for many years, after 1812. James Backhouse was the first landlord and Joseph Rensimer the last. The dam across Durham creek was a few hundred yards below the Springfield line, on the farm of William Laubach. The company owned an oil-mill [oil well*] on Frey's run, near Laubach's sawmill, which was torn down many years ago. (16) Letter from James Logan, November 6, 1728. The company had great difficulty in getting laborers for the first few years, and the wages were necessarily high. These facts were set forth in a petition to the legislature in 1737, and permission asked to import negroes free of duty to labor at the iron-works. There is no evidence that consent was given, although negroes were employed at the furnace almost from its erection down to the close of the century. Twelve slaves were at work there in 1780, five of whom made their escape to the British at New York. (17) In the early days of the furnace the company hired a school teacher at a fixed salary, and William Satterthwaite, the eccentric poet, was thus employed many years. The product of the furnace was transported in wagons to the river, ad there loaded into "Durham" boats, and taken to Philadelphia. These boats carried the greater part of the freight between Philadelphia and the upper Delaware before the days of canals and railroads. Iron was sent to England from Durham in 1731, and met with great favor there. The testimony of Abraham Houpt says the first Durham boat was built on the river bank near the mouth of the cave, by one Robert Durham, the manager and engineer of the furnace, and that the boat was made nearly in the shape of an Indian canoe, and the works were possibly named after the builder of the boat. This was before 1750. (18) As early as 1758, Durham boats were used to transport flour from John Van Campen's mill, at Minisink, to Philadelphia. The Durhams were in this county as early as 1723, and on 12th of June of that year E. N. Durham was one of the viewers of the road from Green swamp, Bristol township, to the borough of Bristol. (17) Among the negroes employed at the furnace at this period, was a slave, Joseph alias Boston. He was born in Africa, 1715, brought at the age of twelve with a cargo of slaves to Charleston, S. C., and bought by an English sea captain. In 1732 he was sold to a planter of the island of Montserrat, British West Indies, and from there found his way to Durham. He worked here several years and in 1743 was hired to Nathaniel Irish. He became the property of the Moravians and died there September 11, 1781. Negro slavery was abolished in Pennsylvania, by act of March 1, 1780.* (18) In a letter from James Logan, to John Penn in England, about 1727, he writes that iron works had been erected at Durham, and wants Penn to contribute money toward improving the navigation of the Delaware, so that boats may carry more freight and with greater safety.* [The statement that Robert Durham built the first boat that bore this name has been questioned, but not successfully. It rests mainly on the tradition of families living in the immediate vicinity for several generations and had more or less interest in the furnace. Sebastian Houpt settled within a half mile of the furnace, 1738, (19) his son John was born there, 1767, and Abraham, second son of John, 1791. Sebastian was employed about the furnace until he erected a mill some distance up Durham creek, about 1770. The Houpts, always more or less interested in the history of the Durham iron works, asserted that Durham built the first boat named after him. Dr. Johnson, whose grandfather and father were storekeepers at Greenwich forge, N. J., says Robert Durham's name, as builder of the Durham boat, has been current in the family since that time. B. F. Fackenthall, Esq., the attorney, has left a written memorandum among his papers, stating that he was told by his grandfather, Michael Fackenthall, Sr., that Robert Durham, a boat builder by trade, built the first Durham boat on the river bank near Durham cave, and that the story has been current among the Fackenthalls to the present time. The testimony has been confirmed by the Laubachs, who have lived in the vicinity since 1738, John Dickson and his ancestors, the Tinsman family, settlers in Durham, Thomas Pursell and father, who were employed on the Durham boats between Durham and Philadelphia, and others we might name. The latter says the first boat was built on the bank of the Delaware near Durham cave, "devil's hole." There is no particular date for the building of the first boats, but the general tendency points to 1738-48, while George Taylor was operating the furnace under lease. The families cited as witnesses are as reputable as any in the county. A. H. Haring thinks the boat was named after Durham, England, but no connection is shown between the town and the boat. The boat was sharp at both ends and flat-bottomed because of the shallowness of the stream, 55 feet long, six feet beam, three feet deep and 15 tons burden; was propelled by setting poles shod with iron or steel ferrules, one end placed on the bottom of the river, the other against the boatman's shoulder as he walked from stem to stern of the running board. Oars were sometimes used, and occasionally a jury sail was rigged. The crew consisted of six able-bodied men. At one time there was a fleet of several hundred Durham boats on the Delaware, giving employment to 2,000 or 3,000 men. It was a romantic and picturesque means of transportation, but gradually fell into disuse after the canal was finished, 1832. It is said that Isaac Norman, about 1860, propelled the last Durham boat on the Delaware. The boat and the boat horn gave inspiration to Dr. John Watson's "Ode to Spring." (20)]* (19) B. F. Fackenthall believes this date to be incorrect. He says that John Henry Sebastian Houpt, the ancestor of the Houpts of Springfield, is buried in Durham cemetery, and if the inscription on his tombstone be correct, he was born May 21, 1744, and died January 1, 1809. Sebastian Houpt, who arrived September 9, 1738, settled in Philadelphia county, probably in that part now called Montgomery. He was naturalized, 1750, and does not seem to be the ancestor of the Bucks county Houpts, as has been claimed. (20) See chapter on "Our Poets and their Poetry," Vol. 2. Charles Reed, brother-in-law of James Logan, was the first of the original owners of the furnace to die, in 1736, when his interest was bought by Israel Pemberton, who transferred it to William Logan. During the existence of the co-partnership there were many changes in the share-owners by death, purchase and otherwise, so that at its termination there was not an original proprietor left. In 1763, Lawrence Growden bought a sixth of the whole, of William Logan, and subsequently Joseph Galloway became a share-holder in right of his wife, Grace Growden. Elizabeth Growden, who married Thomas Nickleson, of England, became likewise interested in the furnace. (21) June 19, 1772, Joseph Morris conveyed his interest to James Morgan for £375, and at the subsequent pa rtition he was allotted plat number 26, containing 191 acres and 120 [121*] perches. His son. General Daniel Morgan, was born on plat number 30. March 25, 1773, the share-holders voted to dissolve the co-partnership, probably in view of the approaching conflict with the mother country, after continuing 46 years with varying fortunes. The deed was executed December 24th, by Samuel Powell, son, and heir at law of Samuel Powell, who survived Griffith Owen, trustee of the Durham company, Joseph Galloway and Grace, his wife, Abel James, John Thompson, Joseph Morris and Hannah, his wife, James Hamilton, Cornelia Smith, who was the daughter of Andrew Bradford, and James Morgan and Sarah, his wife. In the partition, Joseph Galloway was allotted tracts numbered one, two, three, four, seven and twenty-three [33*], on both sides of Durham creek, which contained the iron works and other improvements, comprising about 1,000 [1,500*] acres in all. [The first four tracts, comprising about 1,000 acres, contained the mines, iron works and other improvements, since known as the "Durham Furnace Tract."*] It was divided into tracts of form 150 to 250 acres each, and most of it was sold at public [sale, 1847.*] (21) Lawrence Growden, from time to time, bought out several different interests in the property until he became the largest individual owner. On his death, he devised his estate to his two daughters, Grace and Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Thomas Nicholson, her husband, and Grace and Joseph Galloway, her husband, who in their own right owned one twenty-fourth of the patent, executed a deed of partition, allotting the Durham tract to Joseph Galloway and his heirs. [On March 6, 1778,*] the legislature passed and act of attainder against Joseph Galloway, when his interest in the property was sold and was bought by Richard Backhouse, who carried on the works for several years. [On February 6,*] 1782 Galloway's widow died in Philadelphia, leaving her interest in the furnace, which she inherited from her father, Lawrence Growden, to her daughter Elizabeth. At the close of the war the latter recovered the property of Backhouse, by which he was bankrupted. He was ousted from the premises before 1791, and was died in 1793. In 1808 the legislature appropriated $415 to Backhouse's heirs to cover expenses incurred in defending the suit against the Galloways. His widow, Mary Backhouse, died in Plumstead in 1815, at the age of 65, and his son John in Doylestown, February 20, 1820, aged 34 years. The late Judge John Ross taught school at the furnace while Backhouse was the owner. (22) (22) But little is really known of Richard Backhouse. He married Mary Williams, November 2, 1769. On January 14, 1777, he was appointed paymaster of Col. Geiger's battalion, Northampton militia. The Durham tract was confirmed to him by the council, September 13, 1779, for £12,800 (Colonial Records, Vol. XII, p. 104.) He was appointed one of the judges of Bucks county, 1774. Backhouse was paid £620. 5s. 6d. on October 19, 1780, for shot and shell, furnished the Continental authorities from August 14th. Tradition says several cannon were cast at the furnace during 1774 and 1776, while George Taylor and James Morgan had control. In the minutes book of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, June 9, 1776, is the following entry: "Captain Hazelwood is to inquire whether Taylor has sent down his four pounder from his furnace." December 1776, exceeded £1,000. Many interesting Revolutionary incidents are connected with the furnace.* The old furnace appears to have fallen into disuse after Backhouse was dispossessed, and was abandoned for a number of years, the land being rented by the English heirs. In 1848 [1847*] the property was sold at public sale, and bought by Joseph Whittaker [and company, the deed bearing date March 16, 1848.*] for $50,000, there being 894 acres of land, divided into seven [six*] farms. [A new furnace was erected in 1849 on its present site, and since then the works have been in successful operation. (23)] In 1864 Whittaker sold the works to Edward Cooper and Abraham S. Hewitt, of New York, for $150,000, who in turn sold them to Lewis and Lewis C. Lillie, of Troy, New York, in 1865. [The latter*] improved the works, and added to them the manufacture of safes, employing some 500 men. Failing for want of capital, the property came again into the possession of Cooper and Hewitt. [For several years they made $500,000 worth of pig iron and castings annually. During 1874-75 the old works were torn down, rebuilt and remodeled, and are among the most complete in the country. The Durham mines supplied all the ore used in the 1727 charcoal furnace, and the greater part of that required for the two anthracite furnaces, built 1848-49, but at present produce but one-fourth of that required for the larger furnace built, 1876, which has a capacity of 900 tons of pig iron per week. The works had been idle several years until recently, when operations were resumed on completion of the Quakertown and Easton railroad.*] (23) 1905 edition does not indicate a new furnace was built in 1849 until later in the chapter in paragraph on cholera. Among the employees at the Durham furnace in early times was George Taylor, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was the son of Nathaniel Taylor, born in Ireland in 1716, immigrated to American, with his father, about 1730, and settled in Allen township, now Lehigh [Northampton*] county, but then in Bucks, and removed to Easton in 1764. He held many places of public trust; was many years justice of the peace, five years in the Assembly, was a member of the provincial Assembly in 1774, of the Continental Congress in 1776, and as such signed the Declaration. He died at Easton, February 25, 1781, and was buried in the Lutheran graveyard. His wife had previously died in 1768. He left two children. He was a man of ability and of refined tastes and habits. Young Taylor bound himself to Mr. Savage, who then managed the furnace works, for a term of years, a and was employed to throw coal into the furnace when in blast; but it being discovered he was fit for something better, he was made a clerk, and was engaged there several years. At the death of Mr. Savage, Taylor married his widow, at the age of 23, and [operated the furnace to 1755, and again from 1774 to 1779, leasing it from Galloway for five years; retaining an interest in it and the three forges in Durham, and in the Chelsea and Greenwich forges to his death.*] [George Taylor (24) deserves more than a passing notice, from the honorable part he took in public affairs during the Revolution, and his name will live with the immortal Declaration he signed. He was intended for the medical profession, but left home and came to America as a redemptioner. He became prominent before entering the Continental Congress. While a member of the Colonial Assembly, 1765-70, he was on the committee to draw an address to the King. He was an active member of Congress, serving on important committees, and although he did not take his seat until after the Declaration had been passed, August 2, 1776, he signed it without hesitation. There is some difference of opinion as to the family he left at his death, one account saying a widow and five children, another two children. It is cause of regret that so much uncertainty hangs on portions of the life of this distinguished man. We understand recent information from Taylor's descendants, has thrown new light on the family, but we do not know its character. A reliable likeness of Taylor is not known to exist, and although some are said to be, nobody will vouch for them. The building in which Taylor died, in Easton, and which illustrates this chapter, still standing at the corner of Fourth and Ferry streets, is from a photograph of about 1870. (24) In addition to the house, in which George Taylor died, we made an effort to get his likeness to illustrate this chapter, but found none that could be vouched for. A few years ago one was published in the Pennsylvania Archives, but all effort to trace its origin was fruitless. Taylor's portrait is not among the collection of the Signers in Independence Hall, but if the engraving in the "Archives," had been considered authentic, it would have been reproduced in oil and added to them. It was better not to have Taylor's likeness here than one that could be called in question.* (See illustration of House in which George Taylor, the Signer, died, Easton.) Among others who were employed as clerk at the furnace was the late Thomas McKean, of Easton, in 1789. The works were several times leased by various individuals. In 1768 a fire broke out which destroyed the bridge-house, casting-house, and bellows. During the war the furnace was engaged in the patriotic work of casting shot and shell for the Continental army, one of the latter being preserved as a memento. They were generally sent down the river in Durham boats, consigned to Colonel Isaac Sidman, Philadelphia. Among others, Adam Frankenfield receipts for a load of shot and shell to be delivered at Philadelphia. From August 12th to 17th, 1782, the furnace shipped to Philadelphia 12,357 solid shot, ranging from one ounce to nine pounds in weight, and we find that in 1780-81 David and Daniel Stover, John Lerch, and Joseph Frey hauled four, six, and nine-pounder balls from the furnace to Philadelphia. The great chain stretched across the Hudson at West Point in the Revolution was made at Durham. The links weighed 250 pounds each, and the maker's name was Atkinson. Hazzard's Register contains an account of the opening of a grave at Durham furnace in which was found a skeleton covered with cannon balls. In 1779 a collier was paid £120 per month, Continental money, when corn sold for four shillings per bushel, turnips nine pence, and onions four pence, and in 1785 the furnace paid Philip Fenstermaker [Fenstermacher*] 400 Continental dollars, in part payment for 80 bushels of rye. In 1763 there were shipped from Philadelphia to England, of the product of the furnace, 2,592 tons of bar-iron and 4,624 tons of pig. James Morgan was superintendent in 1780 [1760*]. At one time the works were leased to a Captain Flowers [but nothing seems to be known of him.*] [In the first edition of the "History of Bucks County," the Durham furnace was credited with forging one of the chains that was stretched across the Hudson, in the Revolution, to prevent the British ascending above West Point. We did this on the faith of its general acceptance without contradiction, but subsequent research satisfies us both chains were made elsewhere.*] [The attention of the military authorities was called to the necessity of obstructing the navigation of the Hudson river in 1776, and was carried out in 1776-77 and 1778, the first chain being laid across at Fort Montgomery, the second opposite West Point, the stronger position of the two. A portion of the Fort Montgomery chain was brought from Lake Champlain, having been designed to obstruct the river Sorel, the other part being made at Poughkeepsie of iron furnished from Livingston Manor. This chain was first laid in October 1776, but being broken by the action of an accumulation of water, was taken up, repaired, new floats added, and firmly placed in position in March 1777. It remained there until removed by the British at the capture of Fort Montgomery. (25) Increased attention was given the subject in May 1777, and on the 17th, Generals McDougall, Knox, Greene, Clinton and Wayne wrote to Washington. On November 24, General Clinton wrote General Gates that he knew of no other way of obstructing the passage of the Hudson, but by chevaux-de-friese, chains and booms, defended by heavy artillery and strong works on the shore." On December 2, 1777, General Putnam wrote General Clinton and the French engineer, Lieut. Col. Radiere, about the erection of "such obstruction as may be necessary," and in January 1778 the subject was brought to the attention of the Provincial convention of New York, then in session. It was laid before a committee, which reported in its favor, January 14th, saying, "the chain must be laid across the river so that it will receive the whole force of the ships coming with all the strength of tide and wind," the committee concluding with "the most proper place to obstruct the navigation of the river is at West Point."*] (25) See Captain Boynton's History of West Point, who quotes the American Archives, Vol. III.* [Following this report and by direction of General Putnam, Deputy Quarter-master, General Hugh Hughes, of the Continental army, visited the Stirling Iron Works of Noble, Townsend & Co., Orange county, N. Y., with whom he made a written contract, February 2, 1778, to make an iron chain to be delivered on or before the first day of April, next, of the following dimensions: length 500 yards, each link about two feet long, made of the best Stirling iron two and a half inches square, with a swirl to every 100 feet, and a clevis to every 1000 feet, "in the same manner as those of the former chains." (26) The company was also to deliver 12 tons of anchors of the same kind of iron. The cost was to be at the rate of £440 (probably Continental money) for every ton weight of chain and anchors. When the links of the chain were done, they were taken from the Stirling Iron Works to Captain Machin's forge at New Windsor, where they were joined together and properly fastened to the logs, which formed the support of the chain when completed. We learn from a letter of General Putnam to Washington, dated February 13, 1778, that "parts of the boom, intended to have been used at Fort Montgomery, sufficient for this place are remaining. Some of the iron is exceeding bad; this I hope to have replaced with good iron soon." The boom, consisting of logs united to each other by an iron band around each end, and two links of chain of nearly two inch bar iron, extended the whole width of the river. Two of these logs were found in the river at West Point, in the summer of 1855. The bill for the boom was £5,945. 3. 1; that for the chain has never been found. The chain when completed, was taken down to West Point, April 16th, and stretched across the river the 30th. It was taken up for the winter, in 1780, and laid down again and properly fixed April 10 and 11, 1781, and 280 men being ordered on this duty. None of the authorities make these links heavier than 250 pounds.*] (26) See Munsell's History, Series No. 5, 68. (See illustration of Durham Iron Works.) [We noticed, in a previous chapter, the prevalence of Asiatic cholera, at the Bucks County Alms House, July 1849. It prevailed with equal fatality at the Durham furnace. Whitaker & Co. were then building a new furnace and employed many hands. It was brought there by a man sick with it on a canal boat. The attention of the lock tender, Huff or Hough, was called to him. He looked in at him and then went away, but was taken sick in a few days and died. His family escaped. Samuel F. Hartman sat up with Hough; he also escaped, but his son, a child of nineteen months, took it and died. The next victims were Terrence Riley and James Stevens, and after them, it spread until about thirty died. In one instance a while family died with the exception of two children. Religious services for the dead were omitted and the bodies buried in trenches in the Haycock Catholic cemetery, at night. James Stevens, the only Protestant who died, was buried by the superintendent in the woods, in the rear of the present mansion. The greater part of them died in a log barn, whither they were taken. The people of the neighborhood were so badly alarmed they would not go near the works to sell the necessaries of life. The Irish immigrants, just arriving to work at the furnace, were the earliest victims. The wives of the workmen, a noble set of women, braved death in nursing the sick and preparing the dead for burial. Among them were Mrs. Bryan Riley, Mrs. Caffrey, Mrs. Reaney, Mrs. Demster, Mrs. Terrence Riley, Mrs. Hartman and Mrs. Young, and among the men, conspicuous for their services during this trying period, were Edward Keelon, John Young, Thomas and Farrel Riley and Samuel F. Hartman. The widows and orphans of the cholera victims, were cared for by the neighbors. Edward Keelon, who lived until 1899, attended every funeral at Durham until his death.*] In 1873 there were 58 furnace building on the premises including dwellings to accommodate 125 families, two for superintendents, a stone farm house and large stone barn, three smaller barns, foundry building 160x60 feet, machine shop 300x50 feet, run by water from Durham creek, giving 100 horse power at the driest time, two anthracite iron furnaces with necessary engines and machinery, pattern shop, case-maker's shop, smith, wheelwright and saddler's shop, stock houses, cart-house, store, postoffice and church. The superintendent and officers were ten in number with 250 hands. [The following persons have been the owners of the furnace since the partition, 1773, to the present time: Joseph Galloway and wife, 1773-78 Richard Backhouse, 1779-93 Elizabeth Roberts and Ann Grace Buront, 1793-1837 Adolphus William Desert Burton, 1837-48 Whittaker & Co., 1848-64 Cooper & Hewitt, 1864-65 Lillie & Son, 1865-70 Cooper & Hewitt from 1870. (27)*] (27) In 1883 photos were published of eleven employees of the Durham furnace, giving name, when they began working, and when they quit: Henry Martin, Robert Barnet, John Arthur, Edward Keelon, Peter Tompkins, John Young, Samuel Nicholas, Michael McNenny, William Mills, John M. Reilly. The earliest to begin was 1848, latest, 1855, eight of them, Adams, Martin, Barnet, Keelon, Young, McNenny, Mills, Reilly, working continuously. Tompkins quit in 1877, on account of age, being eighty-six, Arthur lost his eyes, 1851, while blasting. This is an honorable record, quite as much so as a soldier on the field. There is no friction here, between capital and labor, and their long continued employment emphasizes the poet's saying, that "work is worship." [There is nothing of greater interest connected with the Durham furnace than the manufacture of iron stove plates and their artistic embellishments. Our information on this subject has been obtained from the records and correspondence employed at the furnace at its historic period and can be relied on. From the most authentic source, the manufacture of iron stoves, for heating of buildings, was begun at the furnace about 1741, when controlled by George Taylor, James Logan and James Morgan, father of General Daniel Morgan, iron master. There were called the "Adam and Eve" stoves from the figures cast on them. They were box shape, two feet square without side or oven doors. There was a door to put in wood and a hole in the top for the smoke to escape. The date, 1741, was in raised figures, surrounded by scroll work above the illustration representing Adam and Eve, the serpent, with an apple in its mouth, and fruit trees and animals in the background. They made a highly artistic grouping for a rude period in the wilderness.*] [In 1745, the furnace began casting the famous "Franklin Stove," or fireplace, and continued until it blew out, 1793. They were favorably received and with minor improvements, extensively manufactured. It was the first stove made that could be utilized for baking and cooking, having an extra door above the fuel door, a plate the whole length of the stove and a descending flue the same as the Prince Rupert stove, 1678, cast in England. It was improved, 1754, by a door on one side. This was known as the Philadelphia pattern, though smaller in size. The Franklin sold at £4. 6s, each at the furnace, and at Philadelphia £18 per ton, the price varying with the metal. About 1775, a stove pattern, artistically decorated with a bony skeleton inscribed on the center of the side plates, grasping a bone in one hand in the act of striking a man, near the end of the plate, while another figure on rear end of plate is standing in a frightened attitude looking on the unequal battle. Beneath the figures is the following inscription: HIR. FEIT. MIT. MIR. DER. BITER. TOTER. BRINCT. MICH. INTOTS. NO. A free translation of this Swedish-German is "Here (man) presumes to fight with me, bitter death, but he cannot overcome death."*] [In 1756, when Captain Flower and James Morgan had leased the furnace from George Taylor, a new design for a stove was invented, the side plate being embellished with the following inscription: DIS. IS. DAD. YAR. DER. WELD. 1756. (Translated, "This is the date of the world." 1756.*] [In 1764 a highly embellished "tulip pattern" was made at Durham and the Warwick furnace, the latter on French creek below Reading. The exchange of stove patterns between the pioneer furnaces was frequent and salutary in satisfying our forefather's tastes. The 1764 pattern was embellished with tulip, the date and following inscription: LAS. VOW. BE. SEN. UND. THUE. CUTS. Translation: "Free from evil, and do, or choose, the good." Below the above motto, in an inscribed space, is the following: IAHN. POT. AND. WARCK. FUR. NEC. Translation. "John Pot, Warwick Furnace, his pattern."*] In 1774, when George Taylor, Samuel Williams and James Morgan, were operating the Durham furnaces and forges and neighboring New Jersey forges, a new stove pattern was brought out with the inscriptions "Durham Furnace, 1774," surrounded by a wreath of fine scroll work. This was the first clean-looking stove pattern with clear and distinct lines traced on it. In 1779, a new and greatly improved pattern was made, and stoves manufactured that gave universal satisfaction, as smoke was not admitted in the room, the stove having a good draught, with pipe to the chimney. Heretofore stoves were used with short pipes and some none at all, there being more or less smoke in the room.*] [In 1789 the Valentine Eckert stove pattern was manufactured at Durham, the Sally Ann furnace, near Reading and at Allentown. This was of large size, with heavy plates, had side or oven doors with chimney attachment for opening and shutting, which must have annoyed the cook on baking days.*] [On the stove was the inscription,"Valentine Eckert, Sally Ann Furnace," with fine scroll work with the American Eagle holding in its beak the motto, for heating large buildings, but as the Durham furnace blew out, 1793, very few of this pattern were cast there. The stoves, cast at the 1727 furnace, were delivered in teams employed for the purpose, and there is no record of any shipped by Durham boats that plied on the Delaware, the latter, probably, being wholly occupied in transporting other products of the furnace and forges, grains and other merchandise.*] [In response to our question as to the authors of the designs on the Durham stove plates, Charles Laubach says the German artificers, who planned and executed their valuable historic craft at Durham, Oxford furnace, N. J., Warwick and Sally Ann furnaces, near Reading, from 1741 to 1793, left us a record in legendary and symbolic lore, designed to cultivate historic research and stimulate historic investigators to renewed efforts in snatching from oblivion some of these beautiful and instructive mementoes of pioneer art, characteristic of our German ancestors. Although many of the designs and legends may be termed rude, they yield a mine of historic and legendary lore to the active and observing in their field; telling us of the loyalty of the sturdy German race to their country and religious training; they tell us they not only cleared away the forests to open a new country unsurpassed in resources and beauty; but, at the same time, taught by the legends and symbols inscribed on the stove plates, valuable and suggestive history, enabling their successors to trace symbolic art to it fountain, so eloquently set forth by these pioneers designers. During the years embellished stove plates were cast at the colonial furnace, the patterns were all of mahogany or cherry wood and well cared for in their transportation, from furnace to furnace. The exchange of these patterns among the iron men was constantly going on, so the varying tastes in every community might be readily supplied. Reading then the record of the legendary and symbolic admonitions on the stoves, we find them in most instances, "German text," while the letters, as a rule are English with Scandinavian spelling.*] (The following are the updated histories of prominent families of Durham in the order given in the 1905 edition. Fackenthall family history comes later in chapter.) [The Long family have been in the township a century and a quarter, Thomas Long, an immigrant from Ireland, being the ancestor. He was born 1740, married Rachel Morgan, of English birth, 1766, settled in Williams township, Northampton county, Pa., about 1775, then removed to the Jacob Uhler farm above Riegelsville and afterward to what is known as the "Long homestead," near the middle of the township, still owned by his descendants. They had ten children, (two named:) William, born October 27, 1775, died March 21, 1843 Morgan, born 1780, died March 11, 1864 The latter was the father of seven children: 1. Thomas S., born October 3, 1807, died in Illinois, November 23, 1885 2. Rachel, born October 3, 1807, died December 16, 1810 3. James W., born February 4, 1815 4. William Stokes, born August 29, 1818, lived and died on the homestead, February 7, 1885 5. Rachel, born March 8, 1821, died June 30, 1891. She married Dr. Charles C. Jennings, Easton, and was the mother of three children: Edward O., Charles C., Eleanor. 6. Elizabeth McKeen, born June 9, 1823, died September 8, 1830 7. Eleanor S., born September 10, 1825, married Samuel Boileau, prominent as a merchant, bank president and businessman at Easton and director in several corporations. The Longs have always been prominent in their community, men of strong character and devoted Presbyterians. William, the eldest son of Thomas Long, was an Associate Judge of Bucks county, and a charter trustee of Lafayette College; Morgan Long, second son of Thomas, was an elder in the Durham presbyterian church, postmaster, school director and active in every movement for the good of the community; James S. Long, third son of Morgan Long, born 1815, represented Bucks county in the Legislature, 1847- 1849, and afterward an active businessman at Easton, trustee of Lafayette College and president of Easton National Bank. He was held in high esteem by all.*] [The Laubachs were among the early settlers in Durham township, the first to arrive being Reinhart, aged 70, and his son Christian with two children, all born at Strassburg, near the Rhine, Germany. They embarked at Rotterdam, landed at Philadelphia and qualified as citizens September 16, 1738. In a few days they set out for Durham, accompanied by Anthony and Peter Lerch, aged 13 and 18, and settled on a branch of Durham creek, two and a half miles northwest of the present furnace. This has been the home of the family to the present time. Christian, who had been a soldier in Germany, commanded the Saucon Rangers, 1755-60, during the Indian troubles on the frontier. The Laubachs were numerous in the Palatinate and Switzerland, and worked in iron, a taste that has clung to them in America. Reinhart Laubach soon died, but the son, Christian, survived and reared a family of six children: John George, Elizabeth, Peter, Conrad, Frederick and Reinhart, the first being born in Germany, November 11, 1729, the last in Durham, 1748. They all married and reared families, John George, the eldest son of Capt. Christian, being the great-grandfather of the Durham Laubachs, whose descendants are numerous, and Anthony, third son of John George, was the father. Of the present generation, the sons are businessmen and farmers, Charles, the third son, devoting his leisure time to letters and scientific research, embracing phrenology, ethnology, local history, archeology and paleontology. Captain Laubach, the soldier of the family, bore a prominent part in the frontier troubles after Braddock's defeat, and was frequently called out to protect the fleeing inhabitants. After the troubles were over he returned to his farm and mill on Saucon creek, where he died from injury and exposure, 1768. His son, John George, a member of his father's company, accompanied him in his frontier service, died, 1780, at 53.*] [The Deemers of this county, of German descent and probably from the Palatinate, were early settlers in Durham, and, from there, went into the adjoining township of Nockamixon. The date of their arrival is not definitely known but Michael Deemer was living on the Durham tract in 1775, and one of the twelve signers to the petition for the organization of that township. It bears the date of June 13, same year. He must have been there some time prior to this but we can only conjecture how long in the absence of testimony. In the first edition of the History of Bucks county, it is stated the Deemers were "among the old German families of Nockamixon," and undoubtedly they were, and descendants of Michael Deemer, of Durham. He married Elizabeth Trittenback, but whether before or after his arrival is not known. They were the parents of 13 children, eight sons and five daughters: John, who died, 1797, the same year as his father, Jacob, Henry, Solomon, Michael, died 1850, Frederick, Barnet, died 1827, Merelles, Catharine, Modeline, died 1868, Sarah and Margaret. We give the children as they are mentioned in the will, and probably according to their birth. The will of the Michael Deemer, the first settler was executed August 11, 1795, and admitted to probate March 30, 1797, his death taking place sometime the latter year. The executors were his sons Henry and Solomon Mills, Haycock, and the witnesses Thomas McKeen and Elizabeth McKeen. The testators mention only seven sons in enumerating his children, but, when naming his executors, he specifies his "son Henry" for one of them, who had not been previously named, a singular oversight. By provision of the will the farm was to be divided into 13 equal parts, each child to receive one share and the property to be sold when the youngest child "comes of age." There were minute particulars in the will as to what the widow was to receive, showing a thoughtful care for her welfare.*] [Michael Deemer, the second, who died March 21, 1850, son of Michael the elder, died in Nockamixon and his brothers, George and Frederick, sons of Michael, died in the same township. They had evidently settled there. In addition to the above, the following descendants of Michael the elder, are given in the public records at Doylestown as having died in Nockamixon, and doubtless lived there: Charles F. Deemer, 1840, Michael Deemer, a son, 1850, Samuel Deemer, 1874, John Deemer, 1885, John G. Deemer, died in Durham, 1888, Ellen Deemer, same township, 1896, Dorotha Deemer, East Rockhill, 1896, and Edward Deemer, Durham, 1899. The name of Deemer appears but twice on the index to the wills in the Register's office, Doylestown, Michael Deemer, the elder, will book, No. 6, page 9, and Lavina Deemer, book No. 28, page 212. The will of the latter was executed November 16, 1896, probated, March 5, 1898, executors, Oliver James Deemer and Charles F. Deemer. The absence of the family name from the record of wills is evidence their estates were settled by administration, if they left any. The estate of John Deemer, son of Michael, the elder, who died, 1797, was settled by administration, the administrators being Jacob and Solomon Deemer, his brothers and George Piper, who entered into bond of $5,000. The inventory was filed but settlement never made. It was a feature of the members of the Deemer family in the past to live to a ripe old age, Jacob, the son of Michael, the elder, dying at 90; his brother John at 80, and the five daughters of the elder Michael all surviving to between 70 and 85. One of the Michael Deemers, probably the elder, was killed by the kick of a favorite horse while in a playful mood.*] [John Deemer, the younger, had two sons, Edward and Elias, and three daughters, the latter marrying and removing from the county many years ago. Of the two sons, Edward, who lived in Durham, was keeper of the county prison under Sheriff Nicholas; returned to his home and died there. Elias Deemer, youngest son of John, is the most prominent member of the family. He was born in Nockamixon, educated at the public schools of the township and received a mercantile training at the country stores. When the Civil war broke out, he enlisted in the 104th Pennsylvania regiment, and went with it to the front, but was discharged for disability, 1862. On returning home he resumed his old employment for a time, but, in 1863, settled at Williamsport, Lycoming county, and entered into the lumber business, and success crowned his efforts. He was elected to Congress, 1900, and took his seat, December 1901. The Deemers were large landowners in the past and generally farmers.*] [One of the most distinguished men of Bucks county, was John Pringle Jones, son of William and Elizabeth Hasell (Pringle) Jones, born near the Durham furnace in the house at present, or lately, owned by Stokes Long, 1812. At what time the family came into the township we are not informed. He was an only child, and, at the death of his father, his mother removed to Philadelphia, where her family, English, and of high respectability, lived in Colonial times. The son spent some time with an aunt at Newtown. In 1825 young Jones entered Captain Partridge's Military Academy at Middletown, Connecticut, and graduated, 1828. He subsequently entered the University of Pennsylvania, remaining until the beginning of the senior year, when he entered the College of New Jersey, and graduated, A. B., 1831. He read law with Charles Chauncey, Philadelphia, and was admitted to the bar, 1834. He became distinguished in his profession and held several positions of honor, but never a political office. In 1860 Judge Jones received the honorary degree of L.L. D. From Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania. He held the office of district attorney of Berks County, 1839-47; was president judge of the Berks, Lehigh and Northampton district; afterward of the Berks, and then of the Lehigh and Northampton districts. He was a man of great legal learning, possessed many accomplishments and extensive reading; was handsome in person, of courtly address, of fine social qualities, warm in his friendship and public spirited. Among his labors in the line of his profession was the publication of two volumes of Pennsylvania State Reports. Judge Jones was twice married, his first wife being a daughter of Dr. Isaac Hiester, of Reading, his second, a granddaughter of Governor Joseph Hiester. He died while on a visit at London, England, March 16, 1874.*] [Durham also claims General Daniel Morgan, of the Revolution, as one of her distinguished sons. He was the son of James and Sarah Morgan, and born near the furnace, 1736. The father, after being employed at the furnace about half a century, died there, 1782. His widow removed to Morgan Hill, Northampton county, 1790. The Morgans, Welsh Baptists, settled in Chester county, Pennsylvania, about 1700, possibly earlier, whence John Morgan removed to Richland township, Bucks county, where he died, 1743. His son James, father of Daniel, settled in Durham about 1727. John Morgan had three sons, James, Isaac and John. After James' death his nephew, Mordecai Morgan, became general manager at the furnace, 1785, having charge of the three forges, and those at Chelsea, Greenwich and Bloomsburg, in New Jersey, erected, respectively in 1745, 1748, and 1760. The three latter erected and controlled by Durham blew out, 1742, and were torn down soon after. There were several other Morgans in Durham, probably all of the same family, among them Mordecai, a single man, Enoch, 1793, and Abel taxed for 530 acres, 1783. Isaac Morgan, the brother of James, moved to what is Morgantown, Berks county, and John the younger to Brownstown, where he died. The Morgans of West Virginia are descended from Isaac, John and Daniel. James Morgan lived on a portion of plat 30, Durham survey, now opened by Charles Laubach, near the Laubach Brothers' lime kilns. Here Daniel was born. (28) Becoming tired of working at the Durham furnace, Daniel Morgan went to Chelsea across the Delaware, and within a year, at seventeen, followed his brother John to the Shenandoah Valley, and hired out to a farmer. This suited him no better, and in two years, 1755, we find him driving a baggage wagon in General Braddock's disastrous expedition to Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburgh. After the death of Daniel Morgan's father, his home at Durham was occupied by Jonathan Dillion, whose son John died August 1, 1890, at the age of 91 years, who told Charles Laubach he had the honor of being born in the same house as General Morgan. The Morgan house was yet standing about 1800, in a tumble down condition. (29)* (28) There is some dispute as to the ancestry of General Daniel Morgan. Warren E. Ely, Doylestown, saying on the subject: "Deeds of record in Philadelphia for land in Providence township, Philadelphia county, now Montgomery, prove conclusively that James Morgan, of Durham, Ironmaster, was the son of Thomas and Jennet Morgan, of Providence township, the former of whom died about 1750. These deeds further show that the first wife of James Morgan, of Durham, was Elinor, who died about 1762. His second wife, Sarah, whom he married about 1766, survived him. James Morgan, "Ironmonger," was a resident of Providence township as late as 1765. He conveyed land in Providence township, 1771, while a resident of Durham, and the claim of title recited in the deed, clearly prove his identity with the James Morgan, of Providence, son of Thomas and Jennet.* (29) B. F. Fackenthall, Jr., of Riegelsville says: "From what my father and grandfather told me, I think General Morgan was born on plat No. 1. The place pointed out to me is about 30 yards south of the line No. 30 and No. 1, and is on No. 1, on the north side of Durham creek, in the western angle the Small Laubach run makes with the Durham creek, and empties into it."* (See illustration of Gen. Daniel Morgan.) The birthplace of General Morgan has been involved in some mystery, but we believe the testimony we produce settles the question. His biographer fixes it at the little town of Finesville, on the New Jersey side of the Delaware, five miles east of Durham, and states that his father was a charcoal-burner. This is an error, as his place of nativity should have been fixed on the west bank of the Delaware near the furnace. Our most important witness is the late Michael Fackenthall, who died 1846. He served as a soldier and officer in the Revolution and is said, at one time to have driven a baggage wagon. He often related his meeting with General Morgan, who told him he was born in Durham township, describing the house as standing in the corner of the field where the road from Easton crosses Durham creek and where a small stream empties into said creek. The spot designated is a mile from the Delaware, on the farm of Charles Laubach, formerly Anthony Laubach, on the east side of the Easton road. The house that stood there was remembered by John Dixon, born 1793, died 1889, and a large flat stone, that may have been the hearthstone, found on the site, was recently broken to pieces. The house stood near the creek. Michael Fackenthall, Jr., son of the above Michael, and a man of the highest respectability, related to our informant, Samuel H. Laubach, just before his death, 1872, the following often told him by his father: That while serving in the army with Morgan, they were encamped near a well which getting low, none but officers were allowed to get water at, that Morgan said to Fackenthall: "Michael, you need not go to the creek to drink, you can drink at the well." Fackenthall replied that none but officers were allowed to drink at the well, whereupon the General handed him his own sword to put on, after which he was not interrupted when he went to the well for water. This statement is much more reliable than tradition, and we have faith in its truthfulness. [The Fackenthalls, father and son, were both men of unimpeached veracity,*] and a writer in the Bucks County "Patriot," of January, 1827, claims General Morgan as a native of Durham, and the son of a charcoal-burner. One of the natural features of interest in Durham was a cave on the north side of Durham creek, near its mouth, but now destroyed by blasting away the limestone rock. It was about 150 feet long, averging twelve feet in height, and from four to forty in breadth. The floor descended as you entered. A few stalactites hung from its sides, and a fine spring partly covered the floor with water. The main entrance was crossed by a narrow lateral cavern half its length that terminated somewhat in the shape of the letter T. The general direction of the main gallery was southwest. A passage about the middle of the cave led off to the right, to a room, about 8x12 feet, that was called, in olden times, Queen Esther's drawing room after an Indian woman. The cave was parallel to the creek. [The earliest mention of Durham cave is found on Scull's "Map of the Province of Pennsylvania," 1770, but the first description of it is in Hazard's Register, vol. 1, page 132, 1802. Rafinesque, who visited it 1836, wrote of it as follows: "Durham Cave, once called 'Devil's Den,' is another natural curiosity * * * in a limestone valley. The entrance to the cave is ample and shelving 30 feet wide, 10 feet high. It is often been described and is not remarkable for any great wonder, nor has it any fossils. I only went a little way in it, but it extends 300 years. (30)*] (30) The cave, originally, extended 300 feet into the solid limestone rock, and for many centuries, was the abode of prehistoric man. Before him, it was a den, or convenient shelter, for wild animals, as is shown by the numerous fossil bones discovered in its spacious chambers. There were three rooms, or levels, divided by three steep transverse ledges of limestone, each extending 100 feet into the gloomy subterranean abode to a small lakelet. The levels or chambers, averaged from 12 to 20 feet in width and the same in height, with several lateral caverns extending east and west. One of the chambers is called "Queen Esther's" room, after a so-called noted half-breed Indian woman. When the cave was in a state of good preservation, 50 years ago, it was much visited. -Charles Laubach. Toward the close of the last century an attempt was made to have Durham and Springfield townships annexed to Northampton county. Among those who favored the movement, and was probably at the head of it, was Richard Backhouse, proprietor of the furnace. He had secured the services of Anthony Lerch, Jr., of Lower Saucon, ancestor of the Lerchs of Durham, who was a member of the Assembly for Northampton county, who introduced a resolution to this effect in the house, but it failed to pass. Lerch writes to Backhouse, that the measure failed because the petition for annexation had but 120 names to it, while the remonstrances against it contained 200, and that if he is in earnest he must go to more trouble and get more names, remarking by way of suggestion, "A man from Westmoreland cannote no a boy's name from a man's name. You know well enough what I mean, if not come to my house and I will tell you the hole story. If you can send 200 signers I can get them annexed to Northampton." Political morals of that day were nothing to brag or - hardly better than now! On the farm of Abraham Boyer, near Riegelsville, is a natural sinkhole that is quite a curiosity. A considerable stream, formed by several springs, after a course of half a mile entirely disappears and is not seen again. The hole varies in size from a half-peck to a half-bushel. Durham is principally watered by a fine stream that bears its name, and its tributaries, formed by two main branches in Springfield, both from springs. One rises just west of Springtown and by some is called Funk's creek, and the other in the southern part of the township and is called Cook's creek. This name was formerly applied to the stream down to its mouth at the Delaware, but is now given to its southwest and main tributary. The earliest name given it was "Schook's creek," and "Cook's" may be a corruption of it, as the origin of the latter cannot be traced. We are told that "Schook" is a "Pennsylvania Dutch" word that signifies "of a sudden," or "by fits and starts," which fitly expresses the sudden rise and fall in the stream. It flows through one of the finest valleys in the county extending into the western part of Springfield, which is rich and fertile. The geological theory is, that this valley was the bed of a river before the glacial period, and the Delaware had burst through the mountains at the Water Gap. The continuation of the valley can be traced across New Jersey to the Raritan, at Bound Brook, which may have afforded an outlet to the sea, or possibly part of New Jersey was then submerged, and this river found its mouth nearer to Pennsylvania's shore. The valley presents considerable testimony to support this theory. [Durham has three villages, LEHNENBURG, originally Monroe, whose modern builder was the late Mathias Lehnen, of Riegelsville, on the Delaware, and Durham, on the site of the first furnace. Thomas Rufe was the founder of Monroe. He bought plat 13 on the general plan of the Durham tract, January 1, 1786, of 176 acres, on which he built a log house, and then a saw and grist mill, smith shop, and opened a ferry. (31) Adam Romig set up a tavern in Pursell's house, and the latter opened the river road down to Kintnerville and out to the Durham road. The ferry was much used by people going from New Jersey to Philadelphia. Thomas Pursell's dwelling is still standing and occupied as a tavern. In 1797 Pursell built a mill in New Jersey, opposite Riegelsville, at the mouth of Musconetcong creek. In 1793 he bought plat 12 next to 13 and disposing of all his property, 1807, sold plat 12 to Michael Fackenthall and 13 to Charles and Thomas Meredith, of New Britain. He then moved over to Finesville, New Jersey, and died there 1821. He was twice married and left a large family. Lehnenburg has a population of less than 100, with saw and gristmill, tavern and store. RIEGELSVILLE is on the Delaware, a mile above. Prior to 1800 three brothers, Shank, occupied a log house on the village site. Benjamin Riegel bought them out, 1807, built a stone barn, 1814, stone house, 1820, brick dwelling, 1832, and a stone house by his nephew. The improvement was slow until 1862, when Abraham Boyer purchased the Riegel property and began selling building lots.*] (31) The Durham 1727 furnace records of December 18, 1788, says: "Thomas Pursell, miller, bought of Richard Backhouse, three 56-pound weights, one 28-pound weight, and one 7-pound weight for weighing grain in his mill" at Monroe, formerly, now Lehnenburg. The mill is yet in operation and doing good work. The saw mill erected about 1774, according to the Durham Furnace records, is also in operation, using steam. Mr. Pursell furnished sawed lumber for repairs at the furnace for many years. Later he erected two saw mills on the Musconetcong, New Jersey, where he was buried about 100 yards east of the Riegelsville station. [Riegelsville, 1872, had 40 taxables with two churches, hall for the use of Odd Fellows and American Mechanics, etc., common and high school, two stores, tavern and postoffice. The bridge across the Delaware was built 1838. At the present time Riegelsville has 100 dwellings, and with its twin sister on the opposite side of the river, a population of nearly 1,000. The village has an Academy, with an average attendance of 60, also a public library of 4,000 volumes in that building, both the gift of the late John C. Riegel, 1885. DURHAM, named after the township, and seated half a mile from the Springfield line, contained eight dwellings and sixteen taxables, in 1872, but has grown some since that time. The first store kept there by Richard Backhouse, 1780-92, followed by Thomas McKean, 1796. We have already mentioned that the old Mansion House was kept as a tavern many years, and George Heft was the landlord, 1805. In 1779, William Abbott built a house below Monroe, that was kept as a tavern to 1852. Philip Overbeck, and descendants, being the landlord for half a century. An old house, half log, half stone, on the Northampton county line, was kept by Peter Knecht from 1798 to 1818, but has long since disappeared.*] [Besides Pursell's ferry at Monroe and Shank's at Riegelsville, there was one nearly opposite Durham furnace, called Stillwell or Brinker's ferry. This was one of the earliest ferries across the Upper Delaware, opened soon after the Chelsea forge was built at what is now Finesville, giving connection between the old charcoal furnace and the forges on the Musconetcong, New Jersey. Shortly after, a road was opened along the west bank of Durham creek to the Delaware at the ferry landing. The Greenwich and Bloomsburg, New Jersey, forges commenced operations, 1760. This ferry obtained its name from Daniel Stillwell, who superintended it, 1779-1793, while Richard Backhouse operated the 1727 Durham furnace, but, when the furnace blew out, 1793, the ferry passed into the hands of the Brinker family and was known as the "Brinker's Ferry." After Cooper & Hewitt bought the furnace, in 1876, they located the ferry higher up the river and it began operations in February 1877, the object being the receiving and shipping fuel and freight to and from the Delaware-Belvidere railroad by a shorter and quicker route. The freight was formerly hauled a mile in wagons to reach the station. The ferry boat was 80 feet long, capable of holding two standard freight-cars, and thus ferried over, a locomotive being necessary on each side of the river. Doubtless all the neighboring ferries were established shortly after the furnace of 1727 was built.*] [There was a ford just above Riegelsville in the early days, but the name has not come down to us. Pursell's sawmill at Monroe, (32) was the first in the township, but, about 1803, another was built just below Riegelsville, by Jacob Raub, and washed away by the freshet on the Delaware of 1828 or 29. There are three county bridges in the township across Durham creek, the earliest being built, 1819, and two were carried away by the freshet of 1860, but rebuilt. There are two old grave yards in the township, one at the corner of the road near the first furnace, and where the employees buried their dead, the other known as "Hineline" graveyard, on a farm now owned by B. F. Fackenthall, Jr., on the road from the river to the Durham road near the Northampton county line. George Hineline, an early resident in Durham and Captain of militia in the Revolution, was buried in the graveyard that bears his name. The Shank family first settled in Williams township, Northampton county, and were members of (that church?) as early as 1756.*] (32) Thirty years ago, while excavating for a new building at Lehnenburg, the workmen found three stone journals in which the axles of an old mill wheel had run. They were made of the Mondock stone and Captain Lehnen deposited them in the museum of the Bucks County Historical Society. Mathias Lehnen, who gave the name to the village, was of some local prominence in Upper Bucks. When the Civil was broke out, 1861-65, he entered the 104th Pa. Regt. serving with credit for three years, first as a lieutenant in that Regiment and then as quarter-master. He died August 10, 1898.* [Philip Fackenthall, originally spelled Fackenthal, founder of this family in Bucks county, was born in the Palatinate and immigrated to America, landing at Philadelphia, from the ship Robert and Alice, September 24, 1742. He settled in Springfield. The name of his wife was Elizabeth, but whether married when he arrived we do not know. On May 19, 1753, he purchased 123 acres of James Galbraith, near the Haycock line, where he settled down to farming, and died there, 1765. He was the father of five children: Michael, the eldest son, born May 23, 1756; Henry, Mary, Catharine and Elizabeth. Michael, the most prominent member of the family, was brought up on his father's farm. When the Revolution broke out he espoused the cause of the colonies and shortly enrolled himself. It is related of Michael Fackenthall, that when called upon to enrol he was in the harvest field, but cutting his sickle into a post, signed his name at the head of the Springfield Associators. His military record is highly creditable. In June 4, 1776, the Continental Congress resolved to establish a "Flying Camp" of 10,000 men in the middle colonies, of which Bucks county was to furnish a battalion of 400. Joseph Hart, of Warminster, was appointed colonel, and Valentine Opp, Springfield, one of the captains. In this company young Fackenthall enlisted, was appointed a sergeant, and served with his company in a six months campaign, returning home in December. On the night of November 16, he was with his company and battalion in the attack on a force of Hessians on Staten Island, capturing part of them. He was subsequently attacked with camp fever, and prevented taking part in the defense of Fort Washington. He received an honorable discharge at the end of his enlistment and six months pay. Michael Fackenthall re-entered the service in 1781, as second lieutenant of Captain Christopher Wagner's company, and performed a two months tour in New Jersey. Among the officers he is mentioned as serving under, on this occasion were Governor Reed, of New Jersey, and Brigadier-General John Lacey, of this county. [In 1807 Michael Fackenthall removed to Durham township, with which he was subsequently identified and where he spent his life. He purchased plat 12, of the Durham lands, on which he removed and occupied himself as a farmer and general businessman. He built a sawmill at the lower end of Wyker's Island in the Delaware, where he carried on a large lumber trade. He took an active part in politics; was many years justice of peace, elected county commissioner, member of the Assembly, 1812-15, and died January 21, 1846, in his 90th year. Michael Fackenthall married Christina Derr, Springfield, born September 24, 1754, and died 1828, at the age of 74. Michael and Christina Fackenthall were the parents of five children: 1. Catharine, born June 18, 1779, married Younkin, and died March 1859. 2. Anna Maria, born February 22, 1785, died January 23, 1864. 3. John, born February 11, 1790, married Elizabeth Adams (born January 25, 1791, died May 4, 1878, leaving six children). John Fackenthall held several public trusts, was a member of Assembly, 1825-27, Register of Wills, 1836, Brigade Inspector of Militia, and died November 21, 1865. 4. Peter Fackenthall, born June 12, 1792, married Elizabeth Long, of Durham, born December 4, 1796, died June 12, 1877. They were the parents of 12 children. Two of the sons served in the Civil war; one in the 174th Pennsylvania militia, subsequently in the 19th Pennsylvania Cavalry, and died in the hospital at Memphis, Tenn, December 5, 1864; the other in the 34th New Jersey Infantry. 5. Michael, born May 13, 1795, a land surveyor and conveyancer by profession, was also a farmer and in the lumber business with his father. He died February 15, 1872, leaving one son, Benjamin F. Fackenthall, a graduate of Lafayette College, and for many years a prominent member of the Northampton county bar.*] There are four churches in the township. The Presbytery of New Brunswick sent supplies to Durham as early as 1739, which probably led to the organization of the Durham Presbyterian congregation, in 1742. The church [is now used*] jointly by the Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Reformed. [When the original building was erected we do not know, but*] a new house was built in 1812 [1813*] on a lot given by William Long and wife, and rebuilt in 1857, 45x65 feet. [The Rev. Boyer was the first pastor in the new house. Since 1794, the Presbyterian pastors have been, besides Mr. Boyer: Revs. John Jacob Hoffmeyer, 1794-1806, Stephen Bishop, John Gray, Joseph McCool, 1833-35, William B. Sloan, William Long and Jesse Cawley, laymen, 1835, Joseph Worrell, 1836, John Y. Yeomans, 1843, Charles Nasaau, D. D., 1844, John Carroll, 1849-53, William C. Cattell, 1856-60, John L. Grant, 1860-65, George W. Achenbaugh (Reformed) supply, 1866-67. The last services were held in the summer of 1876. While the Presbyterian congregation, worshiping at the Durham church, has dwindled away, the Lutheran and Reformed have maintained themselves. The names of the latter pastors officiating were; Lutheran: Revs. John Nicholas Mensch, 1811-23, Henry S. Miller, 1823-38, C. F. Welden, 1838-42, C. P. Miller, 1842-1865, W. S. Emery, 1865-79 O. H. Melchor, 1879. Reformed: Revs. Samuel Stahr, 1812-13, William T. Gerhart, 1844-59. William C. Phillips, 1857-59, preached in English for Mr. Gerhart, David Rothrock, 1859-84, Rev. Edmunds, March 1885 to March 1886, David Rothrock, March 1886 to September 1887, Samuel H. Phillips, September 24, 1887, to July 1895, Howard Long, layman, July 1895 to June 1, 1896, J. M. S. Lenberg, June 1, 1896, to September 11, 1897, J. A. Wertz, 1897.*] [In 1848-49, a Presbyterian church was built at Riegelsville, the Rev. John Carrol being the first pastor, and services were held with more or less regularity until 1869. The pastors officiating were supplied from the Durham congregation, and from the faculty of Lafayette College. In 1850, the Reformed (33) and Lutheran congregations of Riegelsville erected a Union church, the first service being held in 1851. The Reformed congregation was organized by Dr. John H. A. Bomberger, afterwards president of Ursinus College, services being held in the village school house several years prior to the erection of the Union church building. Dr. Bomberger was pastor to 1854, assisted, part of the time, by the Rev. William H. Zieber. Following Dr. Bomberger was: Dr. Thomas G. Apple, afterward professor at Franklin-Marshall College, 1854-56, Rev. William Phillips, 1856-63, Dr. George W. Achenbaugh, 1863-64, when he resigned to accept the presidency of Tiffin College, Ohio. He was recalled and was pastor of the church, 1865-73, when he resigned a second time, to accept the presidency of the Palatinate College at Myerstown, Pennsylvania. Dr. R. Leighton Gerhart, 1873-80, J. Calvin Leinbach, 1880-84, B. B. Ferer, 1884. In 1873, the Reformed congregation sold its interest in the Union church to the Lutherans, erected a new church building and was incorporated as "The St. John Reformed church of Riegelsville." On the same premises the congregation has erected a stone parsonage, sexton's house, an academy building and residence for the principal. The church has a permanent endowment fund yielding $1,300 a year, used for educational and library purposes. *] (33) At the 300th anniversary of the adoption of the Heidelberg catechism, 1863, this congregation made a centenary offering of $2,098.50 [The Lutheran church at Riegelsville was organized, 1850, by the Rev. John Mc___, D. D., whose pastorate continued but a few months, and was followed by: Revs. J. R. Willox, 1851-60 C. L. Keedy, 1860-62, Nathan Yeager, 1862-63, Theophilus Heileg, 1864-76 D. T. Kozer, 1877-87, C. L. Flack, 1887. The Roman Catholic church has been represented by its membership for many years. The first religious services were held, 1849, when Father Reardon celebrated mass in private houses. Services continued to be held regularly in private houses until 1872, when a chapel was erected on property donated by Cooper & Hewitt, where the following clergymen have officiated: Fathers Reardon, Wachter, Newfield, Koppernagel, Laughran, Marsterstech, Stommel, Welsh, Krake and others.*] [Methodist Episcopal services were held in private houses at the furnace as early as 1850. In 1877, when a grade school was established at the furnace, one of the old school houses was bought by the Methodist congregation and converted into a church, but the congregation being weak, their effort to maintain a regular organization was not successful. The building was subsequently purchased by E. P. Laubach and converted into a dwelling house. Since then the services have been held at irregular intervals at Riegelsville, sometimes at private houses, and at other times in the public halls. For the past few years, services have been conducted by Rev. Hartzell, although not as a regular organized Methodist church.*] [Among the early Reformed ministers in Upper Bucks and the lower part of Northampton, were Frederick L. Henop, pastor at Easton, and died at Reading, 1785; Betthahn, who died in one of the Carolinas; J. W. Ingold, J. W. Winkhaus, who resided in Montgomery county, and was subsequently pastor of a church in Philadelphia, where he died of yellow fever, 1793; Nicholas Pomp and son Thomas, both of Easton, and John Mann, pastor at Lower Saucon. The Rev. Samuel Hess, many years pastor of several churches in the upper part of the county, lived in retirement at Hellertown, a number of years.*] [The log school house, built near the 1727-40 furnace on the Philadelphia-Easton road, was one of the earliest in that section. The first teacher was William Satterthwait, 1740-45, at a fixed salary, and then occasionally until 1760. He was followed by eleven other teachers, including John Ross, James Backhouse, Richard H. Homer, 1746, Thomas McKean, and among the branches taught were the classics and higher mathematics. The old house was taken down, 1800, and two new ones erected, one near the furnace, the other at Laubach's. The former was called "Long's school house," and schools were kept in them until 1842. Rufe's school house on the Easton road midway between Durham and Stony Point, was built, 1802, Samuel Eichline giving the lot. (34) The first house was a log, and a stone addition added. By 1832 a stone house occupied its place. In 1861 a new house was erected and is still in use. The Riegelsville school building has a history. In 1848 the Durham Presbyterian congregation bought two lots in the village for church purposes, of Benjamin Riegel and John Boyer, and a church building was erected, 1849. It was used until 1869, a number of ministers officiating, including Dr. W. C. Cattell, president of Lafayette College. In 1867 Prof. C. W. Fancher opened an academy in the basement, and was succeeded by D. R. Williamson, 1869, with other teachers meanwhile. The church was closed in 1872 for want of support, and, 1874, fell into the hands of the school board. Since then it has been twice enlarged and improved, the last time, 1895. The school ranks among the best in the county. Since 1884 Riegelsville has had what was equivalent to six newspapers, the last and oldest being still in the flesh when this is written. For further particulars see chapter on newspapers. Among the objects of interest in Durham, for many years, were two famous shellbark hickories, supposed to be 200 years old, among the tallest trees in the county. One, having begun to decay, was recently cut down and made into firewood. They were about the same age and both stately giants of the forest.*] (34) The ground, whereon Rufe's school house is located, was conveyed by Charles Eichline to George Kressler and George Ruth, trustees of the Nockamixon and Springfield congregations, "in trust for the Lutheran and Evangelical congregations in Durham township," February 6, 1790, for school and church purposes. The amount paid for it was 10 shillings. Deed Book 63, page 126. It is possible the first schoolhouse was erected soon after the above date.* In 1793 there were two distilleries in Durham, one owned by Henry Houpt, and the other by Michael Fackenthall. The tannery of David Algard was built by Richard Backhouse in 1792. The Durham Vigilant Horse company was organized in 1832. The surface of Durham is rolling, in some places the swells rising into the dignity of hills - but nevertheless it is fertile, and good crops repay the labor of the farmer. In the valley of Durham there are many fine farms, and the sloping hillsides are cultivated to their summit.(35) In 1783 the taxables of Durham were 74, and tax £103. 15s. 6d.; in 1803 there were but 76 taxables, the valuation $28,930.93, and the taxes $154.92; in 1871 the total valuation of the township was $430,970.00, and the state and county tax, $3,661.28. The number of taxables was 321. The population of Durham in 1784 was 360 whites, 4 blacks, and 33 dwellings; (36) in 1810, 404; 1820, 485; 1830, 750 and 127 taxables; 1840, 691; 1850, 948; 1860, 1,208; 1870, 1,209, of which 125 were of foreign birth; [1880, 1,420; 1890, 1,783; and 1,624 in 1900.*] The postoffice at Durham was established in 1840 [1832*], and John H. Johnson [appointed*] postmaster; at Riegelsville in 1847, and Tobias Worman postmaster. The Durham office was called Monroe. (35) Mr. Alexander Wilson, the American ornithologist, in his pedestrian tour to Niagara, 1804, alluded in "The Foresters," to the valley of the Durham creek in the following terms: "Light beat hearts with changing prospect gay, As down through Durham's vale we held our way, And pause, its furnace curious to explore, Where flames and bellows lately wont to roar, Now waste and roofless, as the walls we pass The massive shells lie rusting in the grass. There let them rust, fell messengers of death! Till injured Liberty be roused to wrath, In whose right may they, though hosts oppose, Be blasting thunderbolts to all her foes." (36) The proportion of dwellings is too small to population. End of Chapter XLI, or Chapter XI of 1905 edition.