THE HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CHAPTER LV, RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT; MERINO SHEEP AND MULTICAULIS, ETC. 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. Transcriptionist's note: Because an additional chapter (on Bridgeton) was added to the 1905 edition, the chapter numbers for the 1905 edition will be one number ahead of 1876 addition. _____________________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER LV, 1876 Edition RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT; MERINO SHEEP AND MULTICAULIS: NAVIGATION OF THE DELAWARE; SHAD ELECTIONS AND TAXES. or CHAPTER XXVII, 1905 Edition Plummerites. -Church built. -Joseph Archambault. -Free church. -Religious awakening. -Temperance revival.* -The hedge-pulpit. -The Tabernacle. -Plumstead Presbyterian congregation. -Merino sheep. -Morus multicaulis. -High price of trees. -Money made and lost. -Floods of 1841 and 1862. -Attempts to improve the navigation of the upper Delaware. -Steamboat to Easton. -Shad fisheries. -First election. -Election districts. -Andrew Hamilton. -Change in provincial politics. -Vote polled. -Taxes. -County expenses. -Bucks county contribution. (Early education. -Public schools. -Agricultural products. -Minerals.) -Horse companies. -Physicians. -Rural poetic picture of Bucks county.* (Please note the material on education from the 1876 edition will be updated and included separately in chapter, XXVI of the 1905 Edition. Material on agricultural products and minerals was included in a previous chapter, LIV/XXV. About 1830 considerable religious excitement was created in portions of the county by the preaching of Frederick Plummer, an eminent and eloquent minister. He had a large following wherever he went through the lower townships, and his followers, known as "Christians" and "Plummerites," were enthusiastic in the cause. In pleasant weather his meetings were generally held in the woods, but at other times they sought the shelter of some friendly roof. Newtown became one of Mr. Plummer's centres, and he was in the habit of occasionally preaching in the academy; but as that was under the control of the Presbyterians, they finally closed the doors against him. But this action only inflamed his followers the more, and aroused a new enthusiasm for their minister and free preaching. Joseph Archambault, the landlord of the Brick hotel, Newtown, and a great admirer of Mr. Plummer, invited him to have his meetings at his house, but as the house would not hold half the people who came to listen, he stood in the door and preached to the large crowd in the street. Mr. Archambault now proposed the building of a Free church, open to all ministers who came to preach without pay, and the proposition was enthusiastically responded to. The movement to build was immediately put on foot, and contributions of money came in freely. Mr. Archambault gave the lot, and in a short time the Free church, now known as "Newtown Hall," was erected and open for worship some time in 1831. This movement led to the building of a Free church at Yardleyville soon afterward, but it was left with a heavy debt and had to be sold. It was bought for an Episcopal church, and as such is now occupied. In the deed of the lot for the Newtown church, Mr. Archambault mentioned the object of the contributors to the building fund, and he stipulated in it, that if the house should not be opened to all ministers whose preaching was free, or if collections were permitted to be taken up in the house, to pay ministers, the property should revert back to his heirs. The enterprise was very successful for a time, but at the death of Mr. Plummer the enthusiasm cooled down, and gradually the sect of "Plummerites" passed into history. With the consent of Mr. Archambault the property was now transferred to the borough of Newtown, but this occasioned trouble in the council, as some of the members wished to convert the building into a schoolhouse, and others for purposes forbidden by the conditions in the deed. The matter was arranged by an act of assembly transferring the property back to the trustees, who were elected by the contributors for building the church and keeping it in repair, for the purposes provided in the deed. The house is now held as a free church. Collections to pay the expenses of opening the house for worship are now permitted, but a minister who receives pay for preaching is not allowed to hold regular services in it. During this period the religious excitement was further notable by the Methodists holding camp meetings in various parts of the county, and a few were held by the Baptists. Several flourishing churches had their origin in these wood-meetings, among which is the Baptist church at Hatboro, in Montgomery county. Twenty-five years afterward there was an awakening on the subject of religion in many parts of the country. It reached Bucks county in 1858, and there was excitement in various communities. During this period there was considerable out-door preaching. The Rev. Messrs. Long and Schultz, of Norristown, built what they denominated the "Portable Highway and Hedge Pulpit," which they transported from place to place and set up wherever they could find hearers. They met with marked success. This led to the "Tabernacle," a large canvas-tent capable of holding from two to three thousand persons. Twelve hundred dollars had been subscribed during the summer and fall of 1857, and on the 10th of October a meeting of Evangelical Christians was held in Norristown, in the First Presbyterian church, to organize an association to have charge of the Tabernacle. The organization was effected under the name of the "Union Tabernacle Association," with a constitution setting forth its object, and the Rev. E. M. Long was made its superintendent. The movement was under the general charge of the Young Men's Christian Association. The Tabernacle was capable of being divided into several apartments, and when the sides were stretched in good weather it would accommodate more than 3,000 persons. It was provided with benches. It was first erected on an open lot adjoining the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, where it was dedicated on the 1st day of May, 1858. The attendance was large, and the religious services very interesting, lasting until late in the evening. After the dedication, services were held in it daily for six months, in various locations in the city. On the opening of spring it was thought best to transport it into the country. In the summer of 1859 it was taken up the North Pennsylvania railroad and erected on the lot of a Friend in Quakertown, where, without charge, it remained several weeks and was the means of doing much good. This led to the first awakening on the subject of religion that ever took place in that neighborhood. When it was removed a wooden tabernacle was built on or near its site, which has since been replaced by a handsome brick church, the only permanent place of religious worship in the village in that time, except Friends' meeting-house. The tent was afterward removed to Plumsteadville, where meetings were held for a season. Since then a Presbyterian congregation has been organized there, and a handsome place of worship erected, but what influence the tabernacle exerted in their behalf we cannot say. The appearance of the big tent in the county created considerable excitement, and crowds attended service in it, wherever it was located. [The year 1877 was noted for a strong effort in behalf of temperance led by Francis Murphy. He had already visited several states, and, on coming to Pennsylvania, made Philadelphia his headquarters. Thousands signed the pledge. The excitement reached Bucks county in the spring and summer, and meetings were held in Doylestown, Bristol, Morrisville and elsewhere. In some parts of the county the interest was unusual. It differed from all previous movements, in that it did not antagonize the rum seller, or those opposed to the cause. Moral suasion was the main factor. The last public meeting, held in the old court house, before it was taken down, was in the interest of the Murphy cause. The wave soon subsided, however, but we hope it left a deposit for good in the county. The first organized effort, in this county, to promote the cause of temperance, was at Friends' meeting house, Newtown, September 25, 1828, where a number of citizens assembled on public notice. At that time, intoxicating liquors were in general use on all occasions indoors and out. The name given to this parent organizations was "The Bucks County Society for the Promotion of Temperance," the members being pledged to abstain from the use of ardent spirits "except for medical purposes." The officers elected, at the first meeting, were Aaron Feaster, president; Joseph Briggs, vice-president; John Lapley, corresponding secretary, and Jonathan Wynkoop, treasurer.*] Those who are old enough, will remember the Merino sheep mania, or fever, which raged in the country, this county included, from 1810 to 1815. Full-blood merinoes sold as high as from $300-500 each, and in a few instances they even brought $1,000. Half-blood sheep sold at from $25-50. A man in this county, whose name it is not necessary to mention, sold his wheat crop, 200 bushels, at $3, and gave the whole of it for one sheep. When the fever subsided these same sheep dropped down to $5 and $10. Many persons were ruined, and the Ms. of an old resident of an old resident of the county says that one man lost $16,000. When the next generation came upon the stage a quarter of a century afterward, 1837-39, they were found just as ready and willing to be gulled as their ancestors, but this time it was the silk-producing mulberry, and the excitement is known in history as the "morus multicaulis" fever. It attacked both male and female, and spread generally through the country. It planted itself early in New Jersey, along the Delaware, and almost immediately leaped across the river, and took root in the lower end of this county. The newspapers teemed with the most marvelous accounts, and the inducements to fortune held out were hardly second to the South sea scheme and the Merino fever. One old lady sold her spectacles to buy mulberry trees to plant in her garden. An acre of trees near Camden, New Jersey, changed hands four times without being taken from the ground, going up from $1,500 to $4,500. The last purchaser was offered a $1,000 advance, but refused it. One man near Burlington, is said to have sold $12,000 worth of trees from two acres of ground, and that Prince, of Long Island, sold $75,000 worth from his nursery. Multicaulis seed brought $16 per ounce, and sprouts of one summer's growth commanded from 12-1/2 to 15 cents per foot, the limbs reserved and taken off and the buds sold at two cents each. In some instances, the trees brought almost fabulous prices. One sale in Germantown amounted to $81,218.75 , and $8,000 profit are said to have been realized from a single acre. Trees four feet in height were sold at from 40-50 cents each, and in some parts of the county as high a $1. Thousands of acres of trees were planted in all parts of the county, and in every village were numerous gardens and out-lots filled with multicaulis. During the height of the excitement, some people in this county made a great deal of money, while others lost. Sharpers and speculators took advantage of the excitement, and the frauds practiced were tremendous. In some instances farms were mortgaged to raise money to go into the speculation, and we are told that one farmer in Falls, was offered a rent of $900 for ten acres, to plant trees on one season, the tenant to clear the land in the spring. Considerable money was made and lost about Newtown, which with Doylestown, became multicaulis centres, and where building were erected to rear silk-worms. The one at Doylestown stood on the lot now owned by Isaiah Closson, on the New Hope turnpike, just east of the Catholic church, and forms part of the present dwelling. The bubble burst with a sudden explosion, and left those who had a stock of trees on hand high and dry. Had the speculation lasted a year or two longer the panic would have been wide-spread. In 1843 the trees had become a worthless encumbrance to the ground and were dug up and cut out. Among the floods in the Delaware, those in 1841 and 1862 were probably the greatest since that of 1692 and 1731. That of 1841 was an ice flood, and occurred January 8th. Houses, barns, fences, furniture, canal-boats, logs, etc., were borne down the swollen stream toward the ocean. Every bridge from Easton to Trenton, then five in number, were swept away. The guard lock of the feeder at Bool's island was torn away, and all the houses in the small hamlet of Johnstown were carried down the stream. The destruction along the Delaware and Lehigh was very great. George B. Fell, who was standing on Centre bridge at the time it was swept away, was carried down with it. He was on a loose plank as he passed New Hope, and had to lie down flat to prevent being swept off under the bridge. [He was rescued by Joshua Nicholas, one of a crowd on the shore at Yardley looking at the flood, when a man was seen to go under the bridge a short time before it was swept away. Nicholas who was quite a waterman, remarked "I must save that man" and against the protests of his friends, ran across the bridge, seized a batteau on the Jersey shore, and at the risk of his life rowed out into the torrent and took Mr. Fell to the shore. As long as Mr. Fell lived Mr. Nicholas was provided for, and after his death his widow continued to look after his welfare, until his decease, many years later.*] The freshet of 1862, almost equally severe, took place the 5th of June. An island in the Delaware was filled with driftwood and other debris. A man bought what appeared to be a roof laying on the sand, but on attempting to remove it, it was found to belong to a dwelling that had lodged there entire. On a bed lay the body of a little child drowned by the freshet. The problem of the navigation of the Delaware, above the falls at Trenton, is still unsolved, and a great river that flows through the heart of a rich and populous country is almost worthless and unused. While yet the Indian canoe glided on the bosom of our beautiful river, the Durham boat came into use to carry the iron made at Durham furnace to market. For many years these boats and others called arks, carried all the commerce of the Delaware and Lehigh to tidewater, and their usefulness was only supplanted by steam. They floated down the stream with the current, the Durham boats being propelled up stream by "setting" with long poles shod with iron. The arks were broken up at Philadelphia and the lumber sold. William Turnbull built the first ark at Mauch Chunk in 1806, and she made her first trip to Philadelphia that year, loaded with 300 bushels of hard coal. The discovery by Judge Fell, in 1808, of how to burn hard coal in a grate, increased it shipment to tidewater. Charles Miner and Jacob Cist, the pioneer operators in anthracite coal in Pennsylvania, leased the mine where coal was first discovered in 1791. Jacob Warner, (1) then in their employ, started from Mauch Chunk August 9, 1814, for Philadelphia with an ark loaded with 200 or 300 tons of coal. After many vicissitudes in going down the Lehigh among which was staving a hole in the bottom, into which the men stuffed their clothing to keep the boat from sinking, she reached the Delaware and floated safely down to tidewater. After steamboats were on the river large fleets of Durham boats and arks were towed down to Philadelphia, from the head of tide, and Durham boats made occasional trips on the Delaware down to 1850. The last trip was made by Isaac Vanorman in March, 1860. As early as 1758 boats went down the river from Delaware Water Gap to Philadelphia carrying 22 tons, but the dangers and labors of the navigation were very great. (2) (1) Died in 1873, at the age of 91. (2) So says a letter of Colonel James Burd. We have been told that the compartments of the arks that brought the first coal down to market were hauled back on wagons by the farmers. Rafts commenced running down the river at an early day. The first that navigated it was run by a man named Skinner, [of Wayne County*] from Cochectonin 1746. (3) He was assisted by one Parks, and on reaching Philadelphia they were given the "freedom of the city," and Skinner was created "Lord-High-Admiral of the Delaware," which title he bore to his death. (4) Previous to the Revolution 750 pounds were expended in trying to make the falls at Trenton navigable for boats and rafts, which they succeeded in doing. Of this sum 478 pounds were subscribed by the citizens of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and the corporation of Philadelphia, because of the importance of the work to the city, voted a gratuity of £300 for the purpose. In the fall of 1824 an invention of a Colonel Clark was tried on the Delaware to improve its navigation from Philadelphia to Easton, with considerable success. It was intended for a tow boat and was propelled by the action of the water on a number of buckets attached to a wheel on each side of a barge. It drew a Durham boat and a large ark containing 16 persons up the rapids at Trenton at the rate of one and one-third miles an hour, but it was supposed that it could make three miles an hour with the machinery properly adjusted. It could not have proved a success, for we do not hear of it afterward. (3) So says a newspaper account. (4) Skinner died in 1813, and was buried at a place called "Skinner's," now known as Bush's Eddy, a mile below Callicoona Depot on the Erie railroad. The first raft consisted of six pine trees, or logs, 70 feet long and to be used for masts for ships then building at Philadelphia. A hole was cut through the end of each log and the logs strung on a pole, called a "spindle," with a pin through each end of the pole outside the logs, to prevent them spreading apart. A raft on the Delaware would now be almost a curiosity.* The navigation of the Delaware underwent but little change as to the conveyance of passengers and goods until the introduction of steamboats, in 1812. In that year a large boat called the Phoenix was put on the river to carry passengers from Philadelphia to Bordentown. She was followed by the Philadelphia, facetiously called "Old Sal," which ran up to Bristol; by the Pennsylvania, which ran to Bordentown; the Trenton and other boats, until the building of the railroads on either banks monopolized the carry ing of passengers. When the Delaware Division Pennsylvania canal (5) was constructed and put in operation, 1828-32, it almost entirely superseded the carrying of heavy freight on the river. In 1852 an attempt was made to navigate the upper Delaware by steam, when a boat, called the Major William Barnet, Captain Young, 150 feet long, made several trips between Lambertville and Easton, arriving at the latter place March 12th. (6) After running part of the summer the enterprise was abandoned. The opening of the Belvidere-Delaware railroad, in 1854, and the completion of the North Pennsylvania road, in 1856, were still further hindrances to future commerce on the Delaware above Trenton. (7) But the time will come when the navigation of the Delaware will be so improved that goods and passengers can be carried with safety and dispatch far toward its source. It is quite surprising that such a fine stream is entirely abandoned for purposes of commerce. (5) It is 60 miles long, 40 feet wide, five feet deep, and has 23 locks 90 feet long by 11 feet wide, and from 6 to 10 feet high. It cost $1,374,744. There have been material alterations in it. (6) On her first arrival at Easton there was a general turnout to welcome the stranger. Speeches were made and a collation served at the American hotel to the captain and crew, where the citizens escorted them. Subsequently the Reindeer, a small steamboat from the Schuylkill, ascended the Delaware some distance above Easton, but she returned to Philadelphia after a few trips. (7) The little steamboat Kittating, six days from Bristol, Rhode Island, bound for the Delaware Water Gap, arrived at Easton the evening of May 7, 1879. The next morning it continued up the river on its voyage and broke a paddle wheel going up. It was intended to run between the Water Gap and Port Jervis, a distance of 40 miles. It created quite an excitement and people flocked to the river bank to see it. It was 60 feet long, six feet six inches beam, 12 feet wide and drew 11 inches of water loaded. Ð "Easton Express," May 8, 1879.* When our English ancestors settled upon its banks the Delaware swarmed with shad and other fish, which were caught without difficulty, (8) but of late years they have become scarce. There has been a material falling off in the last 60 years. William Kinsey says that when a boy he frequently went fishing with others, with a drift-net, and caught as high as 90 in a night, while some caught as many as 160, and he has seen shad caught that weighed 8-3/4 pounds. The late Anthony Burton said that shad were frequ ently caught at his fisheries near Tullytown that weighed eight pounds, and that one weighing nine pounds was caught and presented to L. T. Pratt, of the Delaware house, who had a drawing of it made, which now hangs in the bar-room. The heaviest shad known to be caught in the Delaware was taken at Moon's ferry, near Tullytown, which weighed 14 pounds. In 1819 one was caught below Trenton that weighed 14-1/4 pounds, was two feet eight inches long, and sold for 75 cents. As high as 4,000 shad have been caught in a day at Burton's ferry, and 40,000 in a season, while 60,000 have been caught at Hay's fishery, opposite. The fishing season begins in March and ends the 10th of June. Of late years the run of shad has fallen off to such an extent that few fisheries catch over 500 in a day, and many not more than 100. Drift-nets seldom catch 30 in a night, and they are small, and not five caught in a season average over six pounds in weight. In the spring of 1873 a son of A. W. Stackhouse put the row of a shad into a creek running through the Burton farm. In a few weeks Mr. Burton went to see what had become of it, when he found the water alive with young shad. They remained in the creek until a heavy rain raised the water, when they were swept by the current down into the Bristol mill-pond. The run of herring, likewise, has fallen off so that the shore-nets do not catch 500 a day. Thousands have been known to be caught in one day at a single fishery. Of late years efforts have been made to stock the Delaware with shad. (9) (8) In 1688 Phineas Pemberton saw a whale in the Delaware as high up as the falls. (9) The shad fisheries on the Bucks county coast of the Delaware continue a productive industry. They extend from Torresdale on the south to the utmost limit of our boundary, 25 in all, 10 in tide and 15 above. These are all that are enumerated on our schedule, but there may be more. The fisheries are a source of profit to the fishermen, besides furnishing a supply of healthy food and giving employment to many persons. The number of hands at a fishery will average from 10 to 12 each, the aggregate reaching about 800. We have no figures to show the annual catch at the Delaware fisheries, nor the value, but it is safe to say the fishery interest has appreciated since Pennsylvania and New Jersey took an interest in shad culture, when the state was settled the Delaware and its tributaries were fairly alive with fish of various kinds, but they have fallen off both in quantity and quality. The fisheries on the Pennsylvania side are licensed. The season of 1900 was better than the average for shad fishing.* The first election in Bucks county was held at the Falls the 20th of twelfth month, 1682, which, according to the present reckoning would be February 20, 1683. In the writ of election "freeholders" only were summoned to vote. The elections were probably holden at the Falls until 1705, when the place was changed to the court-house at Bristol, by act of assembly, which required they should be held there annually without further notice, except in case of special elections, when the sheriff was to issue his proclamation. The frame of government adopted in 1696, fixed the pay of members of the assembly at four shillings per day when in attendance, and two pence per mile going and returning. (10) The new charter of 1701, provided for a double number of persons to be elected for sheriff and coroners, from whom the governor must select and commission one. The elections were held at Bristol until the county-seat was removed to Newtown, 1725, when they were changed to the latter place and continued there for many years. The first division of the county into election districts was by the court in 1742, but no places were fixed for the polls. The districts were eight, namely: First, Bristol, Falls, Middletown; second, Northampton, Southampton, Warminster; third, Newtown, Wrightstown, Makefield; fourth, Solebury, Buckingham, Plumstead, and lands adjacent, and Bedminster; fifth, Warwick, Warrington, Hilltown; sixth, Richland, Rockhill, Lower Milford, and lands adjacent; seventh, Upper Milford, Macungie, lands adjacent, and Saucon; eighth, Durham, Allentown, Smithfield, and lands adjacent. The county was divided into two election districts by the act of June 14, 1777. The first district comprised the townships of Milford, Richland, Springfield, Durham, Haycock, Nockamixon, Tinicum, Bedminster, Rockhill, Hilltown, and Plumstead, and the place of elections fixed at the public house of Abraham Keichline, in Bedminster. The remaining townships with the borough of Bristol, composed the second district, and held the election at Newtown. New Britain was added to the upper district in 1785. With but two polling-places the vote was necessarily small in proportion to the population, on account of the distance to travel, the bad roads, and the want of bridges. [At the election of 1725, only 325 votes were polled in the county, and 404 in 1734. In 1800, at the election for State Senator, the district being composed of Chester, Bucks and Montgomery, the vote of this county was but 3,813 and 10,925 in the district. The candidates were both from this county, William Rodman, Bensalem, and John Hulme, Middletown. Rodman, the Democratic candidate, had a majority of 581 in Bucks. In 1804, the election was held between ten and two o'clock, and the only county officers elected were assembly and commissioner. Since then popular government has made wonderful strides.*] (10) In 1718 the pay was six shillings a day, and the speaker received ten. In 1710 the county judges received twenty shillings per day. In 1794, for greater convenience to voters, the county was divided into five election districts, namely: The first district comprised the townships of Newtown, Middletown, Wrightstown, Northampton, Southampton, Upper Makefield, Lower Makefield, Warminster and Solebury, the elections to be held at the court-house in Newtown; the second, Springfield, Haycock, Rockhill, Richland, and Milford, and the elections to be held at the house of Jacob Fries, in Milford; the third, Tinicum, Nockamixon, and Durham, and the elections to be held at the house of Jacob Young, in Nockamixon; the fourth, New Britain, Plumstead, Buckingham, Warwick, Warrington, Bedminster, and Hilltown, the elections to be held at the house of William Chapman, in Buckingham; and the fifth district comprised Bensalam, Falls Bristol, and the borough of Bristol, the elections to be held at the old court-house in said borough. In 1804 a sixth district was formed, comprising the townships at Rockhill, Bedminster, and Hilltown, the elections to be held at the house of Henry Trumbower, in Rockhill. In 1818 all the townships in the county had become separate election districts, with the exception of Bristol township and borough, whose elections were held in the old court-house at Bristol; Falls township and Morrisville, at Fallsington; Warrington, Warwick and Warminster, at Joseph Carr's, Cross Roads, now Hartsville; and Richland and Milford, at the Red Lion, in Quakertown. For many years each township and borough has been a separate election district, except Rockhill and Nockamixon, which are divided into two each. In 1805 the polls were kept open from ten A.M. to two P.M. During the Proprietary government the salaries of county officers were small Ð sheriff, £100, coroner, £10, prothonotary. £10. In 1727 Bucks county was represented in the assembly by the most distinguished man and greatest lawyer in the Province, Andrew Hamilton, who was returned for 12 consecutive years. He was probably the most extraordinary man, intellectually, that lived in Pennsylvania during her early colonial history. He was born in Scotland in 1676, but nothing is known of his family or youth. It is not known at what time he came to America, but we find him settled in Maryland, with a good practice at the bar, in 1712. He was probably involved in some political difficulty at home, for he took the name of Trent when he first came here. He settled in Philadelphia soon after 1712, where he gained the first position at the bar, and held several important offices. Besides being in the council and assembly he was ten years speaker of the house, and the fifth attorney-general of the Province, being appointed in 1717. He made the designs for the state-house, Philadelphia, and had charge of its building and disbursement of the money. He died at Bush Hill, his summer residence, in 1751. His wife was Mrs. Ann Brown, of Maryland, and one of his daughters married William Allen, a large landed proprietor in this county, and Allen's daughter married John Penn, the last Proprietary Governor of Pennsylvania. In an obituary notice of Andrew Hamilton, attributed to Doctor, Franklin, it is stated that "he feared God, loved mercy, and did justice." He was one of the earliest and boldest asserters of the liberty of speech and freedom of the press. His argument in the case of the printer, John Peter Zenger, before the supreme court of New York, in 1736, procured for him a prominent place in the history of liberty. Gouverneur Morris called it the "day-star of the Revolution," because it awakened the public mind throughout the colonies to a conception of the most sacred rights of citizens as subjects of a free country. (11) (11) Although Andrew Hamilton represent the county many years in the Assembly it is not known that he ever lived in it. (See illustration of Andrew Hamilton.) For the first half century of the county the vote was light, probably from two causes, want of interest in politics and the property qualification for voters. We give the vote for a few years in the second quarter of the last century, which exhibits considerable fluctuation: 1725, 512 1727, 339 1728, 530 1730, 445 1734, 794 1738, 821 1739, 571. [The following is the popular vote in the county during the 19th century from 1812: 1812, 5,064 1820, 4,931 1830, 5,586 1840, 8,729 1851, 10,139 1860, 12,771 1870, 13,230 1880, 17,012 1890, 16,569 1899, 17,976; while the vote largely increased with the increase of population there was a large falling off at some elections. The vote of 1889 was the largest ever polled in the county, and the increase from 1812 was almost 350 per cent.*] There was evidently a change in public sentiment at the election in 1739, for the candidates, who had been returned to the assembly for several years, almost without question, were now left at home. Down to about 1756 the Friends were the ruling power in the assembly, and they shaped the destiny of the Province, but a change was now at hand. The excitement caused by the defeat of Braddock in 1755 enabled the war party to carry 24 out of 26 members of assembly. Because the assembly refused to take any steps to protect the frontiers of the Province from the Indians, the British Parliament had a bill prepared making every member take a test oath. (12) This would have excluded all Friends, but it was withdrawn on condition that they would decline being chosen to the assembly. From that time forward they persuaded their members not to stand as candidates, and but a few, of any religious standing, were afterward found in the assembly of the Province. In 1759 Mahlon Kirkbride and three other members from this county vacated their seats, as it was not desirable there should be any Friends there during the war. Before 1750 the Irish of this county commenced to exercise considerable political influence by joining the Friends and supporting their ticket at the polls. Northampton county was cut off from Bucks, no doubt for political purposes. The Proprietaries had become alarmed at the growing numbers and increasing political influence of the Germans, and it was thought that by cutting of Northampton from Bucks and Berks from Philadelphia, the members of assembly they could control would be reduced. The Friends, with whom the Germans had formed an alliance, were now generally opposed to the interest of the Proprietaries. At a later date the influence of the Irish caused them as much alarm as the Germans. (12) An effort was made in 1703 to have all judicial officers in the Province take an oath, when several members of the council wrote to Penn that if this were "enforced in Bucks it would be almost impossible to find a sufficient number of fit persons to make a quorum of justices that will take an administrative oath." At this time the population of Bucks county was almost exclusively Friends. The taxables, 1751, were 3,262.* In taking political leave of the Friends we cannot forget the debt the state owes them. They were its founders and its parent at a time the young province needed a father's tender care, and they have left their impress upon all our institutions. They laid the foundation of civil and religious liberty broader and deeper than any other sect on these shores, and from that time to this they have been the pioneers in all great social and moral reforms. They led the column in education, temperance, and the aboli tion of negro slavery, without having the eye fixed on the reward of office at the other end of the line. Their conduct in the Revolution has been severely and unjustly criticized. Viewing it in light of history, their opposition, as a religious society, was in keeping with their previous conduct and consistent with their faith and belief. The doctrine of opposition to war and strife was the corner-stone of their edifice, and to surrender that would have been giving up everything. To the Friends, Pennsylvania is indebted for the conservatism that distinguishes her people, and from them the state gets her broad charity that is as open as the day. At the beginning of the present century Bucks county formed a congressional district with Montgomery, Northampton, Wayne and Luzerne, and elected three members, who were, in 1804, John Pugh, Frederick Conrad, and Frederick Brown. That year the vote for congress in this county was but 4,563, which fell down to 3,255 for coroner, in 1806. The taxables in 1814 were7,066 and the vote 4,379, its smallness because of the number of men in camp, where a separate election was held. Ten years later the vote was 4,913, and since then there has been a gradual increase down to 1872, when the vote for corner was 14,924. In 1800 the opposing political parties were known as Constitutional Republicans and Democratic Republicans, the former led by Samuel D. Ingham, William Milnor, John Hulme, Nathaniel Shewell, and others, and the latter by William Watts, Samuel Smith, George Harrison, George Piper, Robert T. Neely, etc. It is not within our province to give the mutations of party names from that time to the present, as we are not writing the history of party politics. We are glad to record, in conclusion, that our county politics is not marked by the same bitterness that prevailed in years gone by, and it is a rare thing that personal attacks are made on candidates. [Sixty years ago cannon and gunpowder played no mean part in the politics and elections of Bucks county. The guns were political pets. Among the most popular pieces were the "Nockamixon Coon Skinner" and the "Tohickon Bull Dog." The "Bull Dog" made its appearance, 1847. These were Democratic guns, the Whigs not indulging in such pets. The Democrats of Plumstead also had a gun, but we do not recall its name. The "Coon Skinner," bought in Philadelphia, was four feet long, mounted on wheels, weighed 1,100 pounds and cost $12. It was a tradition that the gun was brought here by Lafayette. We do not know what became of this political artillery, but it doubtless passed to the junk shop, when there was no more demand for such weapons. Politics was much more picturesque 50 years ago than at the present day, and we are pleased to record that in the change there has been an improvement in political morals.*] Tax laws were in force along the Delaware before the English had settled there. The earliest step to tax the settlers was in 1659, when the Dutch authorities proposed to lay one on the Swedes and Finns in the jurisdiction of the West India colony. At the November term, 1677, the Upland court laid a poll-tax of 26 guilders upon each taxable inhabitant between 16 and 60 years of age, to pay its accumulated expenses. It was to be collected by the sheriff before the 25th of the following March, and owing to the scarcity of money, he was authorized to receive it in kind, the price of wheat being fixed at five, rye and barley at four, and Indian corn at three guilders per schepel.(13) Of the whole number of taxables under the jurisdiction of Upland, 63 were in the Tacony district, which included Bucks county up to the falls. About the same time Governor Andros declared real and personal estate liable for debt, the first time the English law on the subject was enforced on the Delaware. In 1678 a tax of five guilders was laid on each taxable inhabitant.(14) (13) A Dutch measure equal to three pecks English. (14) In 1784 Bucks county had a population of 20,109; contained 3,148 taxables, 1760, and her quota of money paid to the crown was £3,305, 8s. From 1758 to 1771 the yearly payment was about £2500 or £32,862. 5. 6. in 14 years. In 1760, Philadelphia City had 2,634 taxables, the county 5,687, or 8,821 in both. In 1771 the city had 3,761, county 6,704, total 10,455. In 1771 Bucks county had 3,177 taxables and the Province 37,665.* Tax bills were among the first presented to the provincial assembly, and a tax was laid on land in 1683. In 1694 a bill was passed for county rates, fixing it that year at one penny on the pound which produced £48. 4s. 1d. in Bucks. John Roland and Francis White were appointed collectors in 1697, and in May they were summoned before the governor for settlement, In 1764 a bill was passed fixing the value of lands for taxation, which has served as a basis for all subsequent assessments for county purposes. Meadow land was to be valued at from £60 to £10 per hundred acres, and cultivated land with improvements, at three-fifths of what it would rent for. Horses were to be valued at four pence per head, horned cattle, above three years old, at six shillings and eight pence, and sheep at one shilling. A fixed valuation was also put on black and white slaves. The rate of interest was fixed at eight per cent, but in 1722, at a period of commercial embarrassment, it was reduced to six, and produce made a legal tender for debts. There is but little in the early or present history of our county finances that would be of interest to the reader. The taxes have increased with the growth of population and wealth, from £48. 4s. in 1694, to $112,000 in 1874, a handsome advance in 180 years, [and for 1899, the close of the century, the tax levy was $97,376.66, and the county expenses about $112,000.*] In 1768 the provincial tax assessed in Bucks was £2,260, of which £417 remained uncollected, or in the hands of the collectors, and the "committee accounts" recommended the commissioners to collect that outstanding by law. Paul Preston, the collector, was written to by Samuel Preston Moore, who appears to have held some position in the provincial treasury, to hurry up the delinquent collectors, to collect as much as he can in two weeks for the credit of the county, for he wants to be able to report that "the county has nearly paid off her present tax." This was caring for the honor of the county in a commendable way. The amount assessed in 1769 was £2,530, and when the collector settled his accounts, September 6th, there were £538. 19s. 11d. outstanding, one-fifth of the whole. In 1781 the amount levied was 25 pounds in excess of 1769, but greater proportion was collected, £2,276. 3s. 4d. This was known as the "eighteen penny tax," because that was the rate per pound. The heaviest tax-paying districts in the county were Falls, Buckingham, and Northampton townships, namely: Falls, £159. 3s. 6d.; Buckingham, £154. 1s. 6d.; Northampton, £139, 18s., nearly one-fifth of the whole amount. These figures tell us plainly where the wealth of the county lay at that period. In 1814 the county expenses were $34,201. The same year a tax of $883.43 was collected on dogs, and $901.08 paid in damages for injury done to sheep by dogs. The following year, $33,363.49 were received in taxes. In 1816 the county treasurer paid out $264.88 for crow-scalps Ð 7,946, at three pence per hear Ð principally in Falls and Lower Makefield. The heaviest county-tax paid by a single township, between 1782 and 1795 was by Bristol, £260. For several years Jeremiah Langhorne was the heaviest tax-payer in the county, and yet his land was assessed at only £100. When the provincial assembly, in 1704, made a grant of £2,000 to William Penn, to be levied on the counties, those appointed to collect the quota of Bucks were summoned to appear before the council to answer their neglect. The figures we have given speak in plain terms of the economical habits of our ancestors. [Educational material of 1876 edition located here will be found updated in chapter XXVI of 1905 edition, the chapter following this one.] Among the institutions of the county are some fifty "horse companies," voluntary chartered associations for the detection of horse thieves and other villains. They hold annual meetings and have a good dinner at the expense of the company. Some of the companies are almost as old as the century. In 1822 a number of them in this and adjoining counties met in council at Norristown, to form a Union for the better carrying out of the object of the corporation, but we are not informed whether it is still maintained. Among the earliest members of the American Philosophical society, we find the following from this county: John Kidd, Doctor John De Normandie, of Bristol, Joseph Kirkbride, William Logan, Elias Hicks, and Doctor John Chapman, all of whom joined in 1768. At the first public commencement of a medical school in America, that belonging to the University of Pennsylvania, held June 21, 1758, the degree of Bachelor of Medicine was conferred upon Benjamin Cowell, of this county. The three leading practitioners of medicine, 100 years ago, were, Doctors Joseph Watson, of Buckingham, Jonathan Ingham, of Solebury, and Hugh Meredith, of Doylestown, and we know of no physician of any note in the county before them. Since their day we have had several who have been prominent in the profession. [The oldest insurance company in the county, and probably in the State outside of Philadelphia, was organized in Falls township, March 17, 1809; it is known as the "Bucks County Contributionship," for insuring houses and other buildings against loss by fire. It was incorporated April 2d, same year, and is still in prosperous condition. The first board of directors was William Milnor, Mahlon Milnor, George Hulme, John Burton, Joseph Brown, John Carlisle, Reading Beatty, Benjamin Cooper, and Charles Brown. Of the nine directors five must be resident of the county. In the first 70 years, down to 1878, it had had 88 directors and seven treasurers. Among the townships, with its sphere of usefulness, are Newtown, Middletown, Bristol, Falls, Bensalem and Lower Makefield. The company has been exceptionally prosperous. The last assessment, levied on policy holders, was in 1843. After that the earnings grew rapidly until 1878, when a plan was adopted of paying back to policy holders, who insured for ten year terms, the amount of the premium paid, with interest thereon, on all policies that expired after 1868, or giving the insured a new policy for ten years, and paying him the interest in cash. The present surplus is $330,000, and the risk, for which the company is liable amounts to about $2,400,000. The home office of the company is at Morrisville.*] We close the volume with a rural poetic picture of Bucks county, from "The Foresters," written at the opening of the last century: "Through fertile Bucks, where lofty barns abound, For wheat, fair Quakers, eggs, and fruit renowned; Full fields, snug tenements, and fences neat, Wide-spreading walnuts drooping o'er each gate; The spring-house peeping from enclustering trees, Gay gardens filled with herbs, and roots and bees, Where quinces, pears, and clustering grapes were seen, With ponderous calabashes hung between; While orchards, loaded, bending o'er the grass, Invite to taste, and cheer us as we pass." END OF CHAPTER LV, 1876 Edition, and CHAPTER XXVII, 1905 Edition. END OF BOTH EDITIONS. APPENDIXES TO FOLLOW.