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William Penn, the son of Admiral Penn, was granted the province designated as Pennsylvania by the king in consideration of the debts owed to his father. Since he was already part owner of the territory in New Jersey, Penn was interested in colonization. By a Royal Charter in 1681, he was made absolute Proprietor of Pennsylvania. With this, he wanted to try his ideas out. Since the Dutch and Swedes had settlements before 1681, Penn sent a letter promising them an assembly for making lams. In October, 1682, Penn arrived in the ship "Welcome" and proceeded up the river, founding Philadelphia. Wisely taking his cue from the other colonies, Penn bought his land from the Indians. His plans provided for the sale or rental of the land, but the lack of supervised settlements and poor governing systems caused much confusion. William Penn, being absent from his colony from 1684 to 1699, caused many frauds. Knowing the necessity of having some form of government, William Penn created three counties, naming them Bucks, Philadelphia and Chester. They were in Pennsylvania and in November, 1682, Penn issued an order calling for an election in these counties. The stories and legends of Bucks County, Pennsylvania are countless and I can only touch lightly on it all. Bucks County extended along the bank: of the Delaware River northward to the Kittatinny Mountain and as far west as the land could be purchased from the Indiana. Since the time of its settlement by William Penn, it has been divided and the counties formed from it, divided a number of times, forming a family tree with Bucks as its parent. Northampton County and part of Berks County were the first step of this division in 1752. Then, Wayne County was formed from Northampton County in 1798. In 1811, Schuylkill County was taken from parts of Berks and Northampton Counties; the following year, in 1812, Lehigh County was formed; then part of Monroe was taken from Northampton County in 1836. The final division was Carbon County in 1642 from parts of Monroe and Northampton Counties. William Penn had sent Thomas Holme, a surveyor, to lay out and make maps of his land. Since the charter granted the privilege of establishing townships, the county was laid out and several of the localities had been given names and limits for the convenience of the county officials. In 1693, the boundaries of the five townships followed the lines of Holme's map; Falls (Fallsington), the Makefields (Upper and Lower), Buckingham (now Bristol), Salem (Bensalem), and lastly, Middletown. In the sparsely settled part of the county, there were two townships but they had no definite boundaries. One was known as Newton and Wrightstown and the other was Southampton and Warminster. Later, these four became separate townships. Today, we find Northampton, Warrington, Warwick and Bedminster. Again, we find another Buckingham, Solebury, Doylestown and Plumstead, In the upper part of the county, there is New Britain, Hilltown, Milford, Rockhill and Richland, Nockaminxon and Tinicum, Springfield, Haycock and Durham. In the early days, Bristol was a market town and county seat when it was established in 1697. Situated on the Delaware River, it was an early port of call. Later, the county seat was moved to Newtown, a town planned by William Penn; then to Doylestown where it has remained ever since. Doylestown was established in 1735 by William Dovle and for many years, was an overnight stop for the stage travelers between Philadelphia and Easton. John Holcomb was one of the early settlers of the town now called Solebury. New Hope is located on a tract of land originally belonging to the Holcombe family but it was once called Coryell's Ferry. It derives its present name from the New Hope Mills built by Benjamin Parry in the late eighteenth century. Tullytown was named for John Tully who owned the Black Horse Tavern in the late 1700's. Buckingham was established in 1702, Norrisville, was first known as Falls of Delaware, but was renamed after the Revolution in honor of Robert Mor ris, the great financier of that war, Yardley was settled in 1682, soon after Pennto arrival, In its early days, there was a treaty between it and New Jersey, Kintnereville was established In 1680 by George Gintner who immigrated from Wuttemberg. Quakertown was settled by the Quakers in 1729. Samuel Sellers operated the inn and tavern which was an early stage stop establishing the town in 1738, Perkasie was named for a land grant given by William Penn called "The Manor of Perkasie". Churches and meeting houses were scattered throughout the county. The Friends Meeting House was erected in Bristol in 1705. The meeting house in Buckingham was erected in 1768, NenhPminy Presbyterian Church was erected in 1743 and the Ottsville Reformed Church was established in 1766. Many Reformed Churches were formed as the German families migrated into Bucks County.
History tells us about William Penn and his perseverance in establishing the province; the work of Thomas Holme in planning the territory; and the Waling Purchase of 1738. One of the highlights of the Revolution was when Washington crossed the Delaware that memorable Christmas night in 1776 in a blinding snowstorm to the Trenton. But little has been said of the men whose courage and endurance carved a future out of the wilderness of Bucks County. These people were English, Welsh, Scotch, Scotch Irish, German and then the Dutch and Huguenots from Staten Island. Thus, the early population was made up of men whose ancestors comprise many of its present day citizens. William Penn and his family settled in Bucks County on the proprietor's plantation which they called Pennsbury, an estate bordering the green banks of the Delaware, 20 miles above his carefully laid out town of Philadelphia. Penn loved his manor and planned it; a manor house, brew house, and out buildings with formal gardens and orchards, coming by barge from his house in town often. William Biles was one of the Friends who arrived in Pennsylvania before Penn received his grant. He was a Quaker minister and settled in Bucks County about 1679. He and his wife, Joanna, and children arrived in the Elizabeth and Sarah., April 4, 1679, probably landing in New Castle. He bought "Biles Islands" in the river about a mile below the falls from four Indians for 10 pounds. Nicholas Buck came from Thionville, Lorraine in 1752 and settled in Bucks County, taking' up a tract of land which he called Buck Hill. William Yardley was born in 1632. He and his wife, Jane, came from Ransclough near Leeke in the County of Stafford. They arrived July 28, 1682 on the ship "Friend's Adventure" with their children, Thomas, Enoch and William, and a servant. William was a Justice of the Peace for Bucks County and became a member of the Provincial Council. He died in 1693. William Buckman of the Parish Billinghurst in the County of Sussex came with William Penn on the Welcomes with his wife, Mary, and two daughters, Sarah and Mary. He followed the trade of carpenter. John Atkinson was born November 25, 1695 at Scotforth, Lancashire. He came to Pennsylvania in 1699 but his parents, John and Susanne, died on the trip. His Aunt, the wife of William Stockdale, took John and his brother to live with her on her plantation in Warminster. Thomas Stackhouse, Jr. in 1682, came to this country on the “Lamb” with his Uncle, Thomas, Sr. He took up 507 acres in Middletown Township. Thomas was a minister of the Friends and represented Bucks County in the Provincial Assembly in 1711/1713 and 1715. He married: (1) Grace Heaton, (2) Ann Mayos, widow of Edward, and (3) Dorothy, the widow of Zebulon Heston. In 1684, Jeremiah Langhorne, with his wife, Grace, and his children, Jeremiah and Sarah, withdrew his certificate from the Friends Monthly Meeting at Kendal in Westmoreland and came to America, settling in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He represented Bucks County in the Assembly. His sister, Sarah Langhorne, married William Biles, Jr., the son of the settler. Thomas Janney, a farmer, immigrated from Shiall, County of Chester. He arrived in America on the ship "Endeavor" in 1683 with his wife, Margery, and four children, Jacob, Thomas, bel and Joseph. The Clymer family came to this country from Germany prior to 1730. There were two brothers. One of these, Christian Clymer, settled in the Lower Makefield Township and his name appears on the records as a petitioner to divide the township. The name was originally spelled Klemmer. Christian Klemmer (Clymer) was born about 1697. He died in 1759 and his wife, Barbara, died in 1776. They had 12 children; seven sons and five daughters. William Dircksen Hogeland was the pioneer of this family coming to Bucks County after 1687, for in that year he took an oath of allegiance in Flatbush. His brother migrated from Holland to New Amsterdam and his mother, from Norway. Yoost (Joseph) Cope was the original pioneer of this family Hilltown Township. He came to America from Wurtemberg, Germany, arriving in the year 1727. He and his wife, Dorothea, had two sons; Adam and John Adam. Leffert Lefferts was the first of this family, visiting first in 1738, and the following year, purchased considerable land, a tract originally conferred by William Penn to Edmund Pennington. Leffert married Antie Vanderbilt. He died in 1773. They had Peter, Ida, Aares, Leffert, Jan Abraham, Cynthis and Jacobus. In 1726, Benjamin Coursen, with his wife, Blandina, left the Dutch settlement on the shores of Staten Island and settled in Bucks County. Their new home, purchased in 1725 from Jeremiah Dungan, was in Northampton Township, although they did not arrive until 1726. The Doane family originally settled in Barnstable County, Massachusetts prior to 1650. Daniel came to Pennsylvania in March, 1696, bringing his certificate from the Friends Meeting at Sandwich, New England. He married Mehitable Twining and settled in Newtown. William Delhl came from Germany before the Revolution. Serving in the war as a teamster, he later settled on a farm in Haycock Township. He married Magdalene Amey sod had a son, Daniel.
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Bucks County, Pennsylvania |
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Location of the First Generation Scarborough/Stackhouse in America |
