THE HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CHAPTER XIII, SOUTHAMPTON, 1703.
from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time by W. W. H. Davis, A.M.,
1876 and 1905* editions..

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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.

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CHAPTER XIII SOUTHAMPTON 1703

Second group of townships. -Pickets of civilization. -Southampton first named.
-Separated from Warminster. -Original settlers. -John Swift.
-Meeting granted. -Additional settlers. -Thomas Callowhill, a
land-owner. -Town plat. -Holland settlers. -Krewson, Vanartsdalen,
Hogeland, et al. -Still later settlers. -John Purdy. -Curious dreams.
-The Watts family*. -The Duffields, [Folwells, Beanses, Searches,
McNairs.] -Ralph Dracot. -The Davies. -Moravian church. -John
Perkins. -Taxables and population. -Southampton Baptist church. [Old
school house. -Quaint inscription. Davisville church. -Dutch
Reformed. -Its early name. -Paulus Van Vleck officiates. -Dortius the
pastor. -Schlatter comes to settle troubles. -[Jacob*] Larzelere.
-Location of Southampton. -Roads. – Villages. -Turnpikes.

(See Map of Southampton, Warminster & Warrington townships, 1734) Our second group of townships is composed of Southampton (1), Warminster,

Newtown, Wrightstown, Buckingham, and Solebury. They were settled about
the same time, or immediately after the townships of the first group, and
we purpose to tell the story of their settlement in detail. The
territorial limits of this group reach to the central section of the
county, throughout which considerable land was taken up prior to 1700.
Among the pickets of civilization, who early pushed their way up through
the woods from Delaware, in advance of the tidal wave, may be mentioned
John Chapman, John and Thomas Bye, William Cooper, George Pownall, and
[Edward and*] Roger Hartley. For several years the supplies for a part of
this region were drawn from Falls and Middletown, and transported through
the forest on horseback, or on the shoulders of those who did not own
horses. When Gwin's mill was built on the Pennypack, their bread supply
was drawn from a more convenient point, until mills were erected nearer home.

(1) Southampton is a parliamentary municipal borough and seaport of England, county Hampshire, at the mouth of the Itchen, 71 miles southwest of London.* In the proceedings of the Provincial Council, 1685, fixing the boundary

line between Bucks and Philadelphia counties, Southampton and Warminster
are called by their present names. But at that early day these townships
were not organized subdivisions of the county, but were only settlements
with English names (2). The report of the jury laying out the groups of
townships, in 1692, concludes thus: "Southampton and the lands about it,
with Warminster, one" (3), which means that these two townships, with the
unorganized lands adjoining, embracing Northampton and probably Warwick,
should be considered one township. For several years this township and
Warminster were one for all municipal purposes, and it was not until 1703
that the court recognized Southampton as a township, and authorized it to
elect its own supervisor of highways. It would appear from the records
that the two townships were not entirely separated until a later period.
At the March term, 1711, the inhabitants of Southampton petitioned court
to be separated from Warminster, in the county assessments and collection
of taxes; whereupon it was ordered that the said petitioners and the lands
of James Carter, Ralph Dracot, and Joseph Tomlinson may be, in future, one
township and have a constable appointed to serve therein. It is stated in
the court records, that the inhabitants of Southampton petitioned March
term, 1712, to be allowed to remain a township by themselves. Among the
names signed to the petition are Edward Bolton, John Morris, Ralph Dunn,
John Naylor, Thomas Harding, Daniel Robinson, Mary Poynter, Richard
Lather, and William Beans.

(2) As Holme's map, 1684, gives the boundaries of Southampton and Warminster as they now exist, it is barely possible that these two townships were already laid out and named, but there is no direct testimony to support it. (3) The will of Robert Marsh, "South Hampton," Bucks county, was dated July 25, 1689, and proved, at Philadelphia, 17, 3 mo., May, 1689. As this was fourteen years before the township was organized, it is additional evidence, if that were needed, that the locality was given its present name before organization.* When Thomas Holme made his map of the province, in 1684, there were

thirteen (4) landowners in what is now Southampton; probably the greater
part were settlers, and some of them had purchased land before leaving
England. Of these settlers John
Swift (5), one of Penn's pioneers, owned 500 acres that lay near
Feasterville, between the Street road and county line. He was a Friend,
but went off with Keith in 1692, and ultimately became a Baptist minister.
He was called to the ministry in 1702, and, although never ordained,
preached nine years in Philadelphia as a assistant. For some unknown cause
he was excommunicated in 1730, and died in 1732. He represented Bucks
county in the Assembly in 1701, and 1707. The lands of John Martin, Robert
Pressmore, and John Luffe were situated in the upper part of the township
touching the line of Warminster, and extending to the county line. Robert
Bresmal was a settler in Southampton as early as 1683, in which year he
married Mary Webber, "of John Hart's family."

(4) John Gilbert, Thomas Hould, Thomas Groom, Joseph Jones, Robert Marsh, John Swift, Enoch Flowers, Jonathan Jones, Mark Betris, Richard Wood, John Luffe, John Martin and Robert Pressmore.* (5) In 1708 John Swift paid his quit-rent "in goods and chattels," to Lawrence Johnson and Charles Heafte, at Pennsbury. Soon after the settlement of the township, the Friends of Southampton

requested to have a meeting settled among them, which was granted April 1,
1686, and a general meeting for worship, once a week, was ordered at the
house of James Dilworth. Previous to that Friends had met at each others
houses for worship. They have never been strong enough in the township to
warrant the erection of a meeting-house, and they attend meetings
elsewhere, generally at Middletown and Byberry.

As the location and soil were inviting, settlers flocked in rapidly, and

in 1709 we find the additional names of Stephen Sands, John Vansant,
Thomas Cutler, James Carter, John Naylor, Joseph Webb, John Frost, John
Shaw, Clement Dungan, Jeremiah Dungan, James Carrell, John Morris, Thomas
Dungan, John Clark, David Griffith, Christopher Day, Nathaniel West,
William Gregory, and Samuel Selers. The Dungans were sons of Reverend
Thomas Dungan, the same who emigrated from Rhode Island, and organized the
Baptist church at Cold spring, near Bristol, in 1684. Joseph Dungan,
grandson of the Reverend Thomas, died August 25, 1785, in his
seventy-sixth year [78th*] and was buried at Southampton. We find no
further mention of Thomas Cutler, but William, who was an early settler
there, died in 1714. They were probably brothers of John Cutler, who made
the re-survey of the county in 1702-3. James Carter died in 1714. John
Morris bought 582 acres of James Plumley in 1698, which lay in the upper
part of the township, between the Street road and county line, and a
considerable part, if not all, north of the Middle road. When the
re-survey was made, in 1702, Thomas Harding was one of the largest land
owners in the township, his acres numbering 618. Joseph Tomlinson was
there early, and died in 1723. April 20, 1705, 417 acres were surveyed, by
warrant, to Thomas Callowhill, the father-in-law of William Penn, situated
in the upper part of the township, and bounded by the Street road and
Warminster line. It covered the site of Davisville. John, Thomas, and
Richard Penn inherited this tract from their grandfather Callowhill, and
January, 20, 1734, they conveyed 149 acres by patent to Stephen Watts. The
land of John Morris bounded this tract on the southwest.

On Holme's map is laid off, in about the middle of the township, a plat

one mile square, similar to what is seen in Newtown and Wrightstown. An in
those townships it was, no doubt, intended for a park or town plat, and to
have been divided among the land owners in the township outside of it, in
the proportion of one to ten. But as we have not met with it in any of the
Southampton conveyances, it probably had no other existence than on the map.

At an early day, and following the English Friends, there was a

considerable influx of Hollanders into the township, and the large and
influential families of Krewson, Vanartsdalen, Vandeventer, Hogeland,
Barcalow, Vanhorne, Lefferts, Vansant and Vandeveer descend from this
sturdy stock. Other families, which started out with but one Holland
ancestor, have become of almost pure blood by intermarriage. The
descendants of Dutch parentage in this and adjoining townships have thus
become very numerous. Both the spelling of the names, and their
pronunciation, have been considerably changed since their ancestors
settled in the township.

Derrick Krewson (6) was a land-holder, if not a settler, in Southampton

as early as 1684, for the 11th of September, 1717, he paid to James
Steele, receiver of the Proprietary quit-rents, £9. 11s. 4d. For
thirty-three years' interest due on 580 acres of land in this township. In
March 1756 Henry Krewson paid sixteen years' quit-rent to E. Physic on 230
acres in Southampton (7). The will of Derrick Krewson was executed January
4, 1729, but the time of his death is not known. He probably came from
Long Island, the starting point of most of the Hollanders who settled in
Bucks county (8).

(6) Original spelling Kroesen. (7) Down to 1756 the Proprietary quit-rents were paid at Pennsbury, but we do not know how much later. (8) Helena Temple, Churchville, who died, February 1884, would have been 100 years old had she lived to June 10. She was of Low Dutch stock, daughter of Garret Krewson, Southampton, a patriot of the Revolution, who died, 1852. She was baptized September 22, 1784, by the Rev. Simeon Van Arsdalen, who had been dead ninety-eight years when she died, and the pastor of her middle life, Jacob Larzelere, had been deceased fifty years. She lived to see three generations born, live and die. At ninety-six she walked to church. At ninety-nine and within a week of her death, she kept her own house and table, and was busy with home duties. In her long life she was sick in bed but a single day. She was a fair example of the sturdiness of the Holland settlers in Bucks county. The Vanartsdalens of Southampton and Northampton are descended from

Simon, son of Jan Von Arsdalen, from Ars Dale, in Holland, who immigrated
to America in 1653, and settled at Flatbush, Long Island. He married a
daughter of Peter Wykoff, and had two sons, Cornelius Simonse and John.
The former became the husband of three Dutch spouses (9), and the latter
of two. Our Bucks county family comes mediately from Nicholas and Abraham,
sons of John, who settled in Southampton. Nicholas married Jane Vansant,
and had seven children, and John Vanartsdelen, of Richborough, was a
grandson. Simon, the eldest son, died in 1770, and a daughter, Ann,
married Garret Stevens. The Vandeventers (10), Vanhornes, Vandeveers and
Vansants (11), are descended from Jacobus Van de Venter, Rutgert Vanhorne,
Cornelius Vandeveer, and William Van Zandt, who came from Netherland in
1660. There are but few of the Vandeventers and Vandeveers in the
township, but the Vanhornes and Vansants are numerous.

(9) Tjelletzi Reiners Wizzlepennig, Ailtie Willems Konwenhoven, and Marytzi Dirks. (10) The correct name is Van de Venter. (11) Van Zandt. Dirck Hanse Hogeland (12), the first of the name who came to America,

commanded the vessel that brought him from Holland to New Amsterdam in
1655. He settled at Flatbush, and in 1622 married Anne Bergen, widow of
Jan Clerq, by whom he had six children. He built the first brick house on
Manhattan island. His grandson Dirck, son of William, born in 1698, and
married to Mariah Slot, of New York, with others of the descendants, had
settled in Southampton before 1729. They had a family of ten children,
from whom have descended a numerous progeny. As a rule both sons and
daughters married into Holland families, and the blood to this time has
been kept comparatively pure. The distinguishing features of the Hogelands
are large families of children, longevity, and stalwart sons (13). The
youngest son of Dirck, Derrick K., was long a justice of peace in
Southampton, but resigned about 1820, on account of age. He was the
grandfather of Elias Hogeland, late sheriff of this county. Some of the
family have wandered to Kentucky, where the members occupy positions of honor.

(12) Hogeland, or Hoogland, is the Dutch for highlands. In 1746 Indians living among the highlands on the Hudson were called the Hogeland Indians. (13) The will of Dirck Hogeland is dated December 7, 1775, and proved August 1, 1778. He left his six daughters £220 each, a considerable sum in that day, and a large landed estate to them and his sons. Four hundred acres are specified in the will, and other lands not described. His youngest son, Dirck, afterward called Derrick, got two hundred and fifty acres. In the spring of 1662, William Hanse Von Barkeloo (14) and his brother,

Harman Jansen Von Barkeloo with wife and two children, landed at New York,
where Harman died prior to December 1671. William married Elizabeth Jane
Claessen in 1666, and died in 1683, leaving eight children. His son Dirck
married Jamelia Von Ars Dale September 17, 1709, and settled at Freehold,
New Jersey. Conrad, [born December 4, 1680, died 1754, settled on the
Raritan, and married a daughter of Jacob Laes, Monmouth. It was their son,
Conrad*] who settled in this county, and was the immediate ancestor of the
Barcalows of Southampton. Conrad's son, Garret, married Elizabeth,
daughter of the first Dirck Hogeland, and had a family of nine children,
who intermarried with the Finneys, Cornells, Mitchells, Baneses, Stevenses
and McMasters. The descendants of Garret Barcalow are numerous in
Southampton.

(14) This name has been variously spelled, Borculo, Barckelloo, Burkiloo and Barkeloo, by different branches of the family. The family came from Borkelo in the earldom of Zutphen, and province of Guilderland, Holland. The Stevenses are English on the male side, the ancestor, Abraham, coming

to this county shortly after William Penn. His son John married Sarah
Stootholf, and their son, Ann Vanartsdalen, daughter of Nicholas, one of
the two brothers of the name who first settled in Southampton. The
Benjamin Stevens, who married Elizabeth Barcalow, was a son of Abraham
Stevens and Mary Hogeland, daughter of Daniel, who was brother of the
Dirck who settled in this county before 1720. The mother of the present
Benjamin Stevens was a sister of Abraham, Isaac and William Hogeland, and
Garret B. Stevens of the Berks county bar is a son of Benjamin.

The ancestor of the Lefferts family, Leffert Pieterse, immigrated from

North Brabant, Holland, in 1660, and settled at Flatbush, Long Island. His
grandson, Leffert Leffert, the son of Peter Leffertze (15) and Ida
Suydam came into the county in 1738, with the Cornells, on a prospecting
tour. He returned the following year and settled in Northampton township,
on a 400 acre tract (16), bought of Isaac Pennington, being part of 651
acres that William Penn granted to Edmund Pennington, his father. The deed
is dated June 7, 1739, and the consideration £492. His will was executed
October 6, 1773, and he probably died soon afterward. His wife's name was
Ann. He left five sons and two daughters, but the greater part of his
estate went to his sons. The venerable late John Lefferts, of Southampton,
[who died at about ninety-five,*] is the grandson of Leffert Leffert.

(15) The family on Long Island retain the name "Leffertze," but the first generation born in this county dropped the "z" and final "e" and substituted "s." (16) It was bounded by lands of Bernard Vanhorne, Isaac Vanhorne, Adrian Cornell, Henry Krewson, Isaac Bennet, John Shaw, and Jeremiah Dungan. He owned a plantation in Newtown. The Vanhornes came into the township early, but the time is not known.

The 6th and 7th of May, 1722, Bernard Christian, of Bergen, New Jersey,
conveyed 290 acres to Abraham Vanhorne, by deed of lease and re-lease,
which was probably situated in Southampton. Other Holland families settled
in this and the adjoining township of Northampton about the same period,
among whom we find the names of Staates, now of Bensalem, Bennet, Rhodes,
Johnson, Fenten, Wright, etc. They were generally large slaveholders, while
the "institution" existed in this state. They were universally patriotic
and loyal during the Revolution, and often the slaves accompanied their
masters to the field. These old Holland families have a tradition that at
one time Washington passed through Southampton, and stopped at the houses
of some of their patriotic ancestors, and their descendants still cherish
the tables he ate at, the mugs he drank from, and the chairs he sat upon.
These families have become so thoroughly Anglicized that no trace is left
of their ancestry.

At a still later period the families of Purdy, Watts, Folwell, Search,

Miles, Duffield, Davis, and others, well-known, settled in Southampton, of
some of which we have been able to collect information.

(See illustration of Old Sawmill at Davisville) John Purdy (17) immigrated from Ireland in 1742, and settled on the

Pennypack, in Moreland township, married Grace Dunlap, and died in 1752,
leaving a son, William, and three daughters. The son married Mary Roney,
whose father came from Ireland in 1735, and served in the Continental
army. In 1797 the family removed to western New York, except the son,
William, who married a daughter of William Folwell, of Southampton,
whither he removed and spent his life. He became a prominent man,
commanded a company of volunteers in the war of 1812-15; was several times
elected to the Assembly, and Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas.
His son, Thomas, was elected Sheriff of the county in 1842, and his
grandson, John, was elected to the same office in 1872. The family are no
longer residents of the township [with the exception of John, the son of
Thomas. The family records relate singular dreams the first John Purdy and
his wife had, and their remarkable fulfillment. On a certain night he
dreamed that he was going to Philadelphia on a great white horse, and that
as he went by Abington the horse turned into the graveyard and rolled.
About the same time his wife dreamed that "a large white horse came and
pulled down half her house." A few days afterward, while attending the
election at Newtown, where they were running horses down the main street,
he was run against by a large white horse and killed, and his death, in
fact, was equivalent to pulling down half the wife's house.

(17) The name is Anglo-Irish, and thought to be a modification of Pardew, Pardee, or Pardoe, and is more common in England and Scotland than Ireland. [Among the new comers into Southampton township, about 1730, was Stephen

Watts from Lower Dublin, Philadelphia county, who purchased 150 acres from
Thomas Callowhill. It covered part of the site of Davisville and ran
across the township line into Warminster. The deed bears date of 1733. He
improved the premises and made it the home of his lifetime. It embraced
what is known as the "sawmill" property, long in the possession of the
late General John Davis.*]

[Stephen Watts was a descendant of the Reverend John Watts, second pastor

of the Lower Dublin Baptist church, Philadelphia county, who was a son of
Henry and Elizabeth Watts and grandson of Gregory Watts, born at Leeds,
county Kent, England, November 3, 1661, immigrated to Pennsylvania about
1686, baptized in the Baptist faith November 21, 1686, the following year
connected himself with the Pennepek or Pennypack church, and married Sarah
Eaton (born 1655) in 1687-88. He entered the ministry, 1688, became the
pastor of the church, 1690, and had charge to his death, August 27, 1702
(18). The following were the children of the Reverend John and Sarah Eaton Watts:
Elizabeth Watts, born April 15, 1689, died October 11, 1756;
John Watts, born December 3, 1693, died 1771;
Sarah Watts, born December 8, 1693,
Mary Watts, twin of Sarah, December 8, 1693;
Deborah Watts, born February 6, 1695;
Silas Watts, born March 7, 1697, died August 16, 1737;
Stephen Watts, born February 6, 1700, died 1784.*]

(18) John Watts is spoken of as a man of good understanding, and a fine speaker. Morgan Edwards said he was an English scholar. He was active against the Keithian movement, and held a public discussion with one of their preachers, coming off the victor. (See illustration of the Watt's Homestead) [Stephen Watts, the youngest son of the Reverend John Watts, and the

fourth in descent from Gregory, married Elizabeth Melchior, born 1707, and
died March 16, 1794. Mr. Watts was an influential man in the community and
prominent in the Southampton Baptist church, of which he was a ruling
elder for many years. The farm Stephen Watts purchased of Thomas
Callowhill, in 1733, is still in the family, being held by Rodney A.
Mercer, Esq., through his mother, a great-great-granddaughter of the said
Stephen Watts. The following were the children of Stephen and Elizabeth
(Melchior) Watts:
Hannah Watts married, June 14, 1750, James Smith, of Philadelphia;
Arthur Watts (19), born October 29, 1733, died October 9, 1809,
married Sarah Folwell;
Rachel Watts, born June 29, 1736, died November 11, 1765, married as
first wife, her cousin John Watts;
Elizabeth Watts, born August 23, 1738, died August 22, 1824, married,
May 29, 1764, Thomas Folwell, of Southampton, Bucks county, born October
7, 1737, died September 13, 1813, son of William Folwell by his wife Anne
Potts;
Stephen Watts, born February 5, 1741, died in 1788, married Francis
Assheton; Sarah Watts, married --Shaw.*]

(19) Arthur Watts was the father of two children, by his first wife, William, born September 8, 1765, and died, 1838, and Ann, born October 5, 1759, married Josiah Hart, January 11, 1776, and died at Doylestown, March 2, 1815, of typhus fever. The son attained some prominence, was major in a rifle regiment, was or 1812-15, Associate Judge and clerk of the court. He inherited the Watts homestead. In the advertisement for the sale of the farm, 1833, it was stated that "the same head and tail races were made several years ago, with a view of building a grist mill, which was not done owning to the death of the then owner." It is claimed that on this dam John Fitch made a trial of his steamboat models. [Several of the Watts family, by descent and intermarriage were prominent

in their day and generation. John Watts, son of Stephen, the elder, was a
celebrated surveyor and conveyancer, and wrote a work on surveying, 1765.
His brother Silas was also a practical surveyor. Arthur Watts, son of
Stephen the elder, was a private in Captain John Folwell's company of
Associators in 1775-76, a delegate to the Lancaster convention, July 4,
1776, to choose two Brigadier Generals to command the Pennsylvania militia
in the Revolution, and also a member of the Bucks County Committee of
Safety and the Committee of Correspondence. William Watts, the son of
Arthur, was one of the Associate Judges of Bucks county, and the clerk of
the courts, and second Major of Colonel Humphrey's regiment of riflemen,
in the war of 1812-15, with England. Josiah Hart, husband of Anne Watts,
daughter of Arthur Watts, was a colonel of militia in the Revolution.
Stephen Watts, the younger, son of Stephen Watts, the elder, born February
5, 1741, was graduated at the college of Philadelphia, now the University
of Pennsylvania, in 1762, and was a tutor there for a time. In 1766 he was
the author of an "Essay on the Reciprocal Advantages" of a perfect union
between Great Britain and her American colonies; he read law, was admitted
to the Bar and practiced for years. About 1770, he moved to Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, where he became Master in Chancery, recorder of deeds for the
English on the Mississippi, and King's Attorney for Baton Rouge, dying in
Louisiana, 1788. His daughter, Margaret Cyrilla Watts, married Manuel
Gayaso de Lamos, Brigadier-General and Governor of the Spanish colony at
Natchez, until 1797, when he succeeded the Baron de Carondelet as Governor
of Louisiana. Stephen Watts, March 10, 1767, married Frances, daughter of
Ralph Assheton, of Philadelphia, and granddaughter of Robert Assheton,
both members of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania and kinsmen of
William Penn.*]

[It is not known when the Folwells came into the township, but shortly

after the middle of the eighteenth century, possibly before. A branch of
the family lived in Philadelphia county, now Montgomery. The brothers,
Thomas and John Folwell, owned farms in Southampton, the former that of
the late Cornell Hobensack, the latter the Roberts farm on the road to
Southampton church a few hundred yards from Davisville. Thomas Folwell,
whose wife was a daughter of Stephen Watts, had five children, a son,
William Watts Folwell, born January 13, 1768, who graduated with honor
from the University of Pennsylvania, and subsequently a tutor in the
institution, and four daughters. The son married Jane Dungan, born
September 9, 1776, removed to Seneca county, N. Y., 1807, and died there
leaving numerous descendants. Of the daughters of Thomas Folwell, Ann
married Joseph Hart, of Warminster, Mary married William Purdy, Elizabeth
married Joshua Jones, both of Southampton, and Rachel married William
Reeder, of Mercer county, New Jersey. Their daughters were famous for
their beauty, and domestic and womanly virtues. On the date stone of the
old Folwell mansion when taken down, 1874, to make way for a new dwelling,
were the letters and figures "A. M. M. 1719."]*

The Duffield (20) family can be traced back to the reign of Edward II,

when Richard was bailiff of York, 1535. The first of the name came to
England with William the Conqueror. The Pennsylvania Duffields are
descended from Benjamin, the son of Robert and Bridget, born 1661, who
landed at Burlington, New Jersey, in 1679, and is said to have been one of
a delegation who came across the river to welcome William Penn on his
arrival. He afterward settled in Lower Dublin, married a daughter of
Arthur Watts, and was the father of thirteen children. He died at
Philadelphia in 1741, and was buried at Christ church. The late Alfred T.
Duffield, of Southampton, was the fifth in descent from Benjamin, and was
the son of Jacob, who died at Sackett's Harbor in 1815, while in the
military service of the country. Edward Duffield (21), the grandson of
Benjamin, was distinguished for his scientific acquirements, was the
associate and friend of Rittenhouse, and one of the executors of Franklin.
Benjamin Duffield has a numerous posterity.

(20) The name is probably Norman-French, and is variously spelled, as Du Fielde, De Duffeld, Duffeld and Duffield. It is found among the records of Ripon Cathedral, where the name is Duffeld, Duffeilde, Duffyeld and Duffield. William Duffield was Arch Deacon of Cleveland, 1435, and diet 1452. (21) It is said that the first consultation held by Jefferson and others, on the subject of independence, was at the house of Edward Duffield, at the northwest corner of Fifth and Market streets, Philadelphia. [The Beans or Banes family, Buckingham, Southampton and Warminster, were

descendants of Matthew Baines, of Wyerdale, Lancashire, England, who
married Margaret, daughter of William Hatton, of Bradley, 10 mo., 22,
1672, and had issue:
Thomas, born 11 mo., 11, 1675, married 4 mo., 21, 1718, Elizabeth Ellison;
Elinor, born 8 mo., 22, 1677, married (at Falls) 7 mo., 26, 1694, Thomas Duer;
Timothy, born 1 mo., 1678, married 1710, Hannah Low;
William, born 5, 14, 1681, married 1707, Elizabeth -—;
Deborah, born 1, 1, 1683, married, 1708 (at Falls), Thomas Ashton.*]

[In 1686 Mather Baines, with children, Elinor and William, left England

for Pennsylvania, the father dying at sea. When the children landed, they
were taken charge of by Friends of Chester monthly meeting. The father's
dying request, as shown by a letter of Phineas Pemberton to John Walker,
1688, was that his children should be placed in care of James Harrison,
but Harrison having died before their arrival, his son- in-law, Pemberton,
went to Chester to look after them, and finding them in good hands they
were allowed to remain. As the record of the times puts it: "The boy was
put with one Joseph Stidman and the girl with one John Simcock, and hath
40 or 50s wages per annum, the boy to be with said Stidman, who is said to
be a very honest man, until he comes to ye age of 20 years, which is ye
customary way of putting forth orphans in these parts."*]

[When the children of Mather Baines came of age they settled in Bucks

county, married, raised families and died here. Elinor was married at
Falls Meeting, 7 mo. 26, 1694, to Thomas Duer, and became the ancestors of
the Duers of Makefield. The name of William's wife is not known, but he
settled in Southampton near the line of Warminster, where he died, 1729,
leaving a widow, Elizabeth and nine children, Joseph, Mather, James,
Thomas, Elizabeth, Timothy, William, Jacob and Elinor. They married and
settled in Bucks county, except Elinor, who died single. Three of them,
James, Thomas and Elizabeth, allied themselves with the Sands family. Four
removed to Buckingham and took up land there, Mather and Timothy marrying
Paxsons, and Jacob, a Hartley. Timothy lived for a time in Solebury and
Tinicum, then removed to Fairfax, Virginia, and some of his descendants
are said to have subsequently removed to Cuba. The other three Beans
brothers, of Buckingham, lived to a good old age, and raised large
families of children, whose descendants are found in several states. The
only child of Timothy that remained in Bucks county married Daniel Doan, Jr.*]

[Joseph, the eldest son of William and Elizabeth, married 3 mo., 17,

1733, Esther Evan and died in Southampton, 1771, only a few months after
his mother, leaving four sons, John, Joseph, Mather and Seth. James, the
third son of William and Elizabeth, was a blacksmith and died 1749. His
widow, Elizabeth, married a Roberts, and had three children, Phebe, Jesse
and Elizabeth, who survived him. Thomas, the fourth son, who married Jane
Sands, had five children, Nathan, Isaac, Thomas, Stephen and James, the
latter marrying Griffith Miles, the elder. On the death of his first wife
he married Elizabeth Hollinghead who survived him. Isaac, the second son
of Thomas and Jane, married Christine Johnson, a descendant of the old New
Amsterdam "Jansens," was the ancestor of J. Johnson Beans, Doylestown.
William Baines, the ancestor, marrying out of meeting, his family became
associated with the Southampton and Pennypack churches. The Buckingham
Beanses of later year were descendants of William Beans, sixth son of
William and Elizabeth Beans, among which was the late Joshua Beans of
Doylestown. The late Colonel Charles Banes, Philadelphia, was one of the
most prominent members of the family, although it produced several in the
past (22).*]

(22) It is difficult to account for the change of the name to Beans, which is peculiar to Bucks county. Of the seven sons of William and Elizabeth, only two, Joseph and James, retained the name of Banes, though some of the descendants of Thomas returned to the name in the third and fourth generations. As nothing is known of Deborah Banes' arrival in America, she probably died in England prior to the husband sailing with the children.* [Charles Search, the first of this family to settle in Bucks county, came

from England about 1750, but it is not known where he settled; we have the
names of but two of his children, Christopher and Lott. The former settled
on a farm he purchased on the Street road half a mile below Davisville,
where he died. He was married twice, his first wife being a Torbert, and
his second wife being a Corson. Lott Search married Sarah Davis, and owned
and lived several years on the farm now the property of J. Davis Duffield,
on the Warminster township line road, just above Davisville. About 1830,
himself and family removed to Avon, western New York, where he and his
wife died, leaving sons Lott and William, and probably other children.
They are both deceased. A son of William lived at Batavia, New York (23).
Theodore C. Search, son of Jacob and grandson of Christopher Search, is a
successful businessman of Philadelphia and founder of the "Textile School
of Art," a very prosperous institution with 800 pupils. He has achieved
distinction on other lines.*]

(23) Lott Search was living in Southampton, 1805, where he conveyed twenty acres to William Barnesley, in Newtown. His wife's name was then Sarah, evidence that he had married Sarah Davis prior to that time. He was then a "cooper." In 1815 he was in Warminster, and on April 3, himself and wife, Sarah, conveyed twenty-four acres to Isaac Warner. He was still in Warminster, 1825, when Isaac Longstreth, John Longstreth and Samuel Miles conveyed three lots of land to him, forty-seven acres. The author remembers when he lived on the Warminster farm.* [John McNair, son of Samuel McNair, Horsham, Montgomery county, settled

in Southampton, 1794, living in the hip-roof house on the Buck road below
churchill, where he died, 1833. He followed milling. He was a man of some
prominence, holding the offices of justice of the peace, county treasurer,
county commissioner, and member of Assembly. While commissioner 1811-13,
the new public buildings were erected at Doylestown, and it is related
that while the Court house was being built, one of the workmen enlisted
for war with England, which so enraged the others, they were on the point
of tearing down the recruiting office, but Commissioner McNair appeased
them. His son Samuel was living at Davisville, 1877, at the age of
seventy-seven, but we do not know the date of his death. Another son,
John, settled at Norristown, at one time kept a flourishing boarding
school, then read law and practiced, and subsequently represented
Montgomery county in Congress, prior to 1850. His son, F. V. McNair, an
officer of the United States Navy, served with distinction under Farragut
on the Mississippi, in the Civil War; more recently he was superintendent
of the Naval Academy, Annapolis, but was relieved on account of ill
health. He was subsequently promoted to Rear Admiral and died suddenly at
Washington.*]

[The Davis family of Southampton, of which the late General John Davis

was long the head and representative member, are descended from William
Davis, a Welsh immigrant, who settled in Solebury, or Upper Makefield,
Bucks county, about 1740, and married Sarah Burley, daughter of John
Burley, Upper Makefield, 1756. He died near the close of the century, his
widow surviving him until May 15, 1819, at the age of eight-four. They had
born to them seven children:
Jemima, December 25, 1758, married John Pitner;
John, born September 6, 1760, married Ann Simpson, June 26, 1783,
died January 22, 1832;
Sarah, born October 1, 1763, married Lott Search;
William, born September 9, 1766; Joshua, born July 6, 1769;
Mary, born October 3, 1771, and Joseph, born March 1, 1774.
A sister of Sarah Burley married James Torbet, Upper Makefield, and other
members of the family connected themselves by marriages with the Slacks,
McNairs, Searches, Simpsons, Houghs, Harts and other well known county families.*]

(See illustration of Gen. John Davis) [John Davis, the eldest son of William Davis and Sarah Burley, almost

sixteen when the war for Independence broke out, immediately took up arms
in defense of the colonies, his first service being in the Amboy
expedition 1776, as a private in the company of Captain William Hart. In
January 1777 he enlisted in Captain Thomas Butler's company, Third
regiment, Pennsylvania Line, and in turn, served in the Second, Third,
Eighth and Ninth Pennsylvania regiments, the change in commands being
caused by consolidation and reorganization as the service required. He
also served in Captain Joseph McClellan's company of Light Infantry corps,
commanded by Lafayette, in all about five years, from 1778 to 1781. He was
at Brandywine, Germantown, Paoli, Monmouth, passed the winter at Valley
Forge, was wounded at the Block House on the Hudson, assisted to carry
Lafayette to a place of safety at Brandywine when wounded, and was one of
the guard at the gallows when Major Andre was hanged, the storming of
Stony Point and at Yorktown.*]

[If further evidence were wanting to prove the Revolutionary service of

John Davis, the elder, it is found in the following declaration under
oath, made September 1, 1829, three years before his death, in his
application for a pension under the laws of Pennsylvania:
"I John Davis, do, on my oath, testify and declare that I enlisted in
the army of the Revolution in 1777, in Captain Butler's Company, Colonel
Butler's regiment, Pennsylvania Line; afterward was transferred into
Captain McClellan's company of Light Infantry; that I served in the Line
until sometime in 1781, when I was honorably discharged, which discharge
is lost. I further testify that I was wounded in my foot while in service
at a block house near Fort Lee, on the Hudson river, from which I was and
continue to be much disabled." etc (Signed.) John Davis.*]

[After John Davis was discharged from the Continental army, he was

appointed and commissioned an ensign in the second battalion, Bucks county
militia, and with it was called into service on two occasions. This
commission is in possession of the author; also the certificate of John
Chapman, who administered the oath of allegiance to John Davis, the 18th
day of October, 1779. Under the act of Assembly of Pennsylvania of March
24, 1785, allotting land to those who had served in the Revolution. John
Davis drew lot No. 1,167, in the sixth donation district, 200 acres, for
which the patent was issued to him, September 29, 1787. It was located in
Crawford county.*]

[Peace having been declared, John Davis, the Revolutionary veteran,

returned to his father's home and took up the laboring oar which he had
laid down seven years before. As he had been brought up on a farm, he
resolved to resume that occupation, but before doing so, took unto himself
a wife, in the person of Ann Simpson, daughter of William Simpson, of
Buckingham township, to whom he was married June 26, 1783. They had issue:
Sarah, born October 12, 1784,
William, born August 22, 1786,
John, born August 7, 1788, died April 1, 1878,
Ann, born November 6, 1790,
Joshua, born June 27, 1796,
Samuel, born September 1798
Joseph, born January 27, 1803, and
Elizabeth, born November 18, 1805.
John Davis continued farming in Solebury until 1795, when he removed to
Montgomery county, Maryland, settling near Rock Creek Meeting House, some
twelve miles from Washington. In 1816 he made a second removal, this time
to Ohio, locating on the east bank of the Sciota river, ten miles above
Columbus, the capital, where he spent the balance of his life.*]

[In the meantime John Davis' second son and third child of the foregoing,

having married Amy Hart, daughter of Josiah Hart, and niece of William
Watts, of Southampton, March 13, 1813, settled at what became Davisville,
where he spent his life, farming, store-keeping and saw-milling, dying
within four months of ninety. He was a central figure in that community,
and took an interest in politics and military matters, representing the
district in Congress, filling the office of surveyor of the port of
Philadelphia for four years, and holding commissions from ensign to
major-general in the volunteer militia. In the war of 1812-15 he served a
tour of duty as lieutenant in Colonel Humphrey's rifle regiment. John and
Amy Davis had a family of seven children, one dying in infancy, the
remainder marrying into the families of Erwin, Duffield, Carpenter, Mercur
and Sells, the husband of the daughter Sarah, Ulysses Mercur, becoming
chief justice of the State Supreme Count.*]

The Moravians made a lodgement in Southampton about 1740. On the 2d of

June, 1744, they purchased a lot of one acre and nine perches, on which a
meeting-house was erected, and where the itinerant, Owen Rice, John Okely,
and others of Bethlehem, preached in English, until 1747 (24). The site
of this early Moravian church was probably on the lot of the Gimlettown
school-house, where the remains of an old foundation wall can be traced.
This location is sustained by the tradition of the neighborhood. The lot
is on the Bristol road, and the title is traced back to Thomas Phillips,
before 1687.

(24) Rev. William C. Reichel of Bethlehem. Among the early families in the township we omitted to mention that of

Dracot, or Dracket, probably of French descent. Ralph Dracot was there
before 1712. About 1750 one of this name, who lived on the Newtown road
below the Buck, discovered black lead on the farm belonging to John Naylor
(25). He kept the secret to himself for some time, quietly extracting the
lead which he sold in Philadelphia; and when the owner found out he
generously permitted him to get what lead he wanted. Dracot died in 1780.
The mine was worked within the memory of the author, but has long since
been abandoned. The lead is said to be of a good quality.

(25) Was owned by the estate of Isaac Hogeland a few years ago. One of the most remarkable characters that lived in Southampton [in the

past*], was John Perkins, who died August 8, 1838, at the age of
eighty-four years. He was blind for upward of seventy years, but
nevertheless was enabled by his industry to lay up enough to support him
in his old age. His principal occupation was threshing grain [with a
flail*] and dressing flax, and he was so well acquainted with the roads
that he could travel alone in all directions. He was a member of the
Southampton Baptist church about sixty years, and was a regular attendant
on the services, in all weather.

The earliest record of taxables in Southampton that we have met, in 1742,

when there were forty-three, the heaviest one paying ten shilling on a
valuation of £60. The rate was two pence per pound, and nine shillings for
single men. By 1762 the taxables had increased to eighty-five. In 1784 the
population of the township was 568, of whom thirty were negroes, and there
were eighty-four dwelling houses. In 1810 the number of inhabitants was
739; 1820, 907; 1830, 1,228, of which 234 were taxables; 1840, 1,256;
1850, 1,407; 1860, 1,356; 1870, 1,303, of which fifty-eight were of
foreign birth, [and in 1900, the population was 1,637*]. If these figures
be correct the township gained 165 in forty years, and the population was
fourteen less in 1870 than in 1850. The area is 8,119 acres.

There are three churches in this township, the Southampton Baptist

church, the Davisville Baptist church, and the Low Dutch Reformed. The
first named stands on the Middle Road half a mile below Springville; was
founded in 1731, and was the seventh in the Province. It had its origin in
the small band of Keithian Friends which commenced their meetings at the
house of John Swift forty years before. The first pastor was the Reverend
John Potts [Joshua Potts*], since whose times nine [eleven*] others have
ministered at its desk (26). Several generations of the inhabitants of the
surrounding country lie buried in its grave yard. In the rear of the
church is the grave of John Watts (27), one of the preachers to the
Keithian band, on whose tombstone is the following quaint inscription:

"Intered here I be O that you could now see How unto Jesus for to flee Not in sin still to be. Warning in time pray take And peace by Jesus make Then at the last when you awake Sure on his right hand you'l partake." (26) A more extended account of the Southampton Baptist Church will be found in the Chapter on "Historic Churches." (27) There is some conflict concerning John Watts, both in life and death. The inscription on his tombstone argues that he was buried there, but it is positively asserted that he was buried at Cold Spring near Bristol, this county. This we believe to have been the case, for at that period, there was neither church nor graveyard at Southampton. It is also asserted in the old record that he was both for and against the Keithian movement, but we cannot stop to unravel it. We were told in the long ago that the gravestones were only erected at Southampton to mark the respect that the church had for his memory. Among the pastors there have been some able and eminent men, and in its

time the Southampton Baptist church was one of the most influential of that body.

The Davisville Baptist church, an offshoot of Southampton church, was

organized March 31, 1849, at the house of Jesse L. Booz, in that village.
It began with thirty-three members, who left the mother church because of
a want of harmony. The seceders were accompanied by the pastor, Alfred
Earle, who became the first pastor of the new organization, with John
Potts and Bernard Vanhorne as deacons. A meeting-house thirty-six by
forty-five feet was erected at an expense of $1,500, and was first
occupied January 1, 1850. The pastors from that time to the present have
been the Reverends Messrs. F. Kent, Charles Cox, James H. Appleton, and
William H. Conrad, who was installed September 1, 1862, with eighty-four
members, and thirty-five children in the Sunday school. Since then the
church building has been much enlarged and improved, and a handsome
parsonage erected. There is now about [250*] members, with nearly as many
scholars in the Sunday school. The money collections in 1873, for all
purposes, were $1,436.22. The church is one of the most flourishing of the
denomination in the county, and exercises a wide influence for good in the
surrounding neighborhood.

The Low Dutch Reformed (28) congregation of North and Southampton, whose

place of worship is at Churchville, on the Bristol road, is probably the
third, if not the second, oldest denominational organization in the
county. It was originally called Neshaminy church, or, as it was written
in the old Dutch records, "Sammany," and "Shammony." It is not known just
when, nor where, the first church was built, but no doubt near the creek
that gave its name, and at an early date churches were erected on the
Street road in Southampton, at what is now Featerville, and at Richborough
in Northampton. These churches were necessary to accommodate the Holland
settlers in these two townships. Reverend Paulus Van Vleck, who was chosen
pastor at Bensalem, May 30, 1710, officiated at "Shammony" until he left
his charge in 1712. Jan Banch, a Swedish missionary from Stockholm,
visited this church in January, July, November and December, 1710, and was
there again in April 1711 and January 1712. At his second visit he
baptised a child of Jacob and Catalinda Welfenstein, the witnesses being
Van Vleck, the pastor, his wife Janett, Rachael Coarson, and Stoffel Van
Sand, a deacon.

(28) This denomination was formerly known as the "Reformed Protestant Dutch church in North America," but the name was changed a few years ago to "The Reformed church in America." It is Presbyterian in government, and Calvinistic in doctrine. It is the oldest branch of the Presbyterian church in America by nearly an hundred years, being planted on these shores in 1610, when the Hollanders settled at Manhattan. In the petition for the organization of Northampton township, December 1722, this church is called the "Neshaminy meeting-house." Samuel Hesselius, one of the pastors at Wicacoa, officiated there in 1719

and 1720, and he afterward preached there in connection with Kalkonhooks
(29) and Matson's ford on the Schuylkill. He was there in 1721, but how
much longer is not known. This congregation and Bensalem were probably
branches of Wicacoa at first, and the people of "Shammony" had the
privilege of burying on the north side of the Wicacoa graveyard. At what
time it was given the name of the church of North and Southampton is not
known, but probably when a church building was erected in each township.
After Mr. Hesselius, there is an interregnum of several years, until the
pastorate of Reverend Peter Henry Dortius (30), who came about 1730 (31).
He preached in both Dutch and German, and frequently traveled a
considerable distance to preach to destitute German congregations. In
September 1740 he baptised several children of the Egypt church, north of
Allentown, in Lehigh county. He was called "Herr Inspector," and probably
had a commission to inspect the German churches and report their condition
to the authorities in Europe. In the latter year of his pastorate he was
involved in trouble with his congregation on account of his falling into
dissipated habits. The Reverend Michael Schlatter (32), the ruling elder
of the Reformed churches in America, was called upon by the pastor to
settle the trouble between him and his congregation. He made several
visits to "Northampton, in Schameny," as he calls the place, to allay the
strife, but was not successful. Dortius left about 1748, and is supposed
to have returned to Holland. During the vacancy Mr. Schlatter preached to
the congregation once a month on a week day.

(29) Darby creek. (30) His wife was Jane, daughter of Dirck Hogeland; they had three children. (31) An authority states that Mr. Dortius was called January 1, 1744, to receive £40 a year salary in "gold money," house, land, firewood, and saddle horse, to preach twice on Sunday in summer and once in winter. Abraham Van de Grift, and Garret Wynkoop were then elders. The year is wrong, probably because the entry was not made until that year. He was pastor there as early as March 1739 and no doubt the date given in the text is correct. (32) A native of St. Gall, Switzerland, where he was born July 14, 1716, and came to America in 1746 to inspect the Reformed churches. At one time he was chaplain in the British army, and was imprisoned because he was a patriot in the Revolution. He died between October 22 and November 23, 1790. Schlatter says that when he landed in New York he received especial proofs of friendship from Father DuBois, who had labored in the ministry with great success more than fifty years. The Reverend Jonathan DuBois (33) was called to succeed Mr. Dortius, on

recommendation of Mr. Schlatter, November 11, 1752, and installed the next
day. He was to receive £50 a year, a house and seventeen acres in Byberry,
a saddle horse, and eight Sundays in each year to himself. In the call the
elders and the deacons style him "your honor." He was to serve the church
in each township on Sunday, when the days were long. It is stated in the
life of the Reverend Henry M. Muhlenberg, that he visited the remnant of
Dutch Lutherans, at Neshaminy, twenty miles from Philadelphia, in 1754.
They had been served some time by Mr. Van Doran, who preached to them in a
barn. Mr. Muhlenberg visited them every six weeks in the summer, and
preached three sermons each Sunday, in Dutch, German and English. He says
the Dutch Reformed had a church. The Lutherans were scattered by death,
removals, etc. In the distribution of charities from the classes of
Amsterdam, in April 1755, "Mr. DuBois, of Northampton," received £21.5s.,
and Mr. Dortius £5.8s. In 1759 £20 were given to Mr. DuBois. In 1760 the
congregation maintained a school of sixty boys. Mr. DuBois officiated for
this congregation until his death December 16, 1772, a period of nearly
twenty-two years.

(33) Jonathan DuBois was the son of Barnet DuBois, and both he and his cousin John, son of Louis, were educated for the ministry by voluntary subscription, the father of Jonathan carrying round the subscription paper, which was drawn by David Evans, pastor of the Pillsgrove church, Salem county, New Jersey. John died in New London, in 1745, while pursuing his studies with Doctor Allison. The wife of Jonathan DuBois is said to have been Amy, sister of Reverend Nehemiah Greenman. There is no record of a successor to Mr. DuBois, until 1777, when he was

succeeded by Reverend William Schenck, who was driven out of New Jersey by
the British. He was born in Monmouth county October 13, 1740, graduated at
Princeton 1767, married 1768, and studied theology with Mr. Tennent. He
was chaplain in the army for a time. He came to Southampton March 3, 1777,
and moved to the parsonage, then the farm now owned by Stephen Rhoads, on
the road to Churchville, a quarter of a mile from the Buck tavern, the
24th of April. It is not known how long he staid, but he was at Pittsgrove
in 1783, and probably left Southampton that year or the year before. Mr.
Schenck died at Franklin, Ohio, September 1, 1827 (34), where he had
settled in 1817. Afterward, in succession, were Reverends Mathias Leydt,
who died November 24, 1783, aged twenty-nine years, Peter Stryker, in
1788, who resigned in 1790, Jacob Larzelere, who came October 13, 1798,
and resigned in 1828, on account of declining years, A. O. Halsey, 1829 to
1867, an able man and minister, who left his mark on the community,
William H. DeHart, from 1868 to 1870, and H. M. Vorhees, in October 1871,
[followed by B. C. Lippencott, Samuel Streng and H. P. Craig.*]

(34) The Schencks trace their ancestry back to Colve DeWitte, the founder of the house, a Hollander who was killed in battle with the Danes in 828. Christian, the first of the name, butler to the Count of Gulic, called by him Schenck in 1225, was a younger son of one of the lords of Tontenburg. The name means cup-bearer, butler, or wine-server. We have seen a copy of the hangman's bill of expenses attending the execution of Sir Martin Schenck, in Holland, about 1589. He had some sort of "on-pleasantness" with the powers that be, and to prevent further trouble he was turned over to the public executioner. The cost of putting him and three of his faithful soldiers out of the way was twenty-five guilders and fifteen stivers. It is a quaint old document. The Reverend William descends from Peter Schenck, who came to Long Island in 1650. While Mr. Schenck was at Southampton his son John Noble was born, January 28, 1778. The church was chartered by the legislature September 20, 1782, the

consistory being then composed of Mr. Leydt, president, Gilliam Cornell
and Henry Wynkoop, elders, and William Bennett, Arthur Lefferts and Daniel
Hogeland, deacons. The first parsonage was in Byberry, Philadelphia
county, but in 1775 the assembly authorized the trustees, Henry Krewson,
Gilliam Cornell, John Krewson and William Bennet, to sell it an buy a new
one. They bought 120 acres (35) of the estate of Thomas Harding, deceased,
of Southampton, for £805.16s.

(35) Farm of Stephen Rhoads on Churchville road, near the Buck tavern. During the pastorate of Mr. Larzelere, the church buildings at the

extreme ends of the parish, Richborough and Feasterville, being out of
repair, it was resolved to build a new church at a central point. A lot of
three acres was bought of John McNair, at Churchville (36), and the
cornerstone was laid June 16, 1814. The original building has been much
enlarged and improved within recent years. The old church at Feasterville
stood in the graveyard, about on a line with the front wall, was small,
old-fashioned, of stone, and was torn down soon after the new edifice was
erected. That at Richborough stood just outside the graveyard, about on
the site of the present school-house. In the front wall of the old
graveyard in Southampton we find, among others, the following
inscriptions: "G. R., 1738" (37), "D. K. (38), 1738." [The oldest
gravestone that gives an account of itself bears the inscription, "A. S.
1760," Abraham Staates. *] One stone records that Garret Krewson died in
1767, aged eighty-two years. There is a large number of stones that tell
no story of those who sleep beneath. Three-quarters of a century ago the
minister preached in Dutch and English, Sunday about. The congregation
generally spoke Dutch, and the venerable John Lefferts remembers when he
learned to speak English of the black cook of the kitchen. The people went
to church in ox teams, and the girls without stockings in warm weather. On
the Street road, a short distance above the site of the old church, is a
burial-ground, free to all, and known as Harding's graveyard. The
flourishing Reformed Dutch church at Richborough is the child of the old
church of North and Southampton.

(36) Then call Smoketown. (37) Garret Krewson. (38) Derrick Krewson. [Probably the oldest school house in the township, and possibly in the

county, when it rendered its final account, was at the Southampton Baptist
church, a mile east of Davisville; and was thought to have been built as
early as 1750. A school house was there in 1765, and doubtless a log one,
when Thomas Folwell leased the lot to Gilliam Cornell, Joseph Beans and
Richard Leedom, "in trust for the people of the neighborhood, for the use
of a school, and no other use whatever, so long as said house shall remain
tenantable with small repairs." The house then on the lot was an old one
or one was to be built on it. In 1771, Thomas Folwell and Elizabeth,
doubtless his wife, and son William, conveyed an acre to the Baptist
church, including the school lot of twelve square perches, "on which the
new school house stands." This is evidence a previous school house had
been taken down. As the first church was erected, 1732, no doubt a school
house soon followed. These lots were part of 160 acres Thomas Folwell
granted to his son William, 1762. The school was classical and
mathematical. We know the name of but two of the early teachers, Rev.
Isaac Eaton and Jesse Moore, a brother of Dr. Moore, who was subsequently
a tutor in the University of Pennsylvania, then read law and became a
judge in one of our western counties. He taught Latin at Southampton. At a
later day Robert Lewis taught there, eighty hears ago, and was paid four
dollars per quarter for each pupil. Among Moore's pupils were Doctors
Wilson Ramsey, Hough, Rev. Oliver Hart, a distinguished Baptist minister,
and Joseph Gales, one of the proprietors of the "National Intelligencer,"
Washington (39).*]

(39) The author learned his A, B, C's in this old school house, stone pointed 16-16 feet, and has a distinct recollection of attending a school commencement there when a child. That and the stone shed and quaint sexton's home were torn down nearly seventy years ago.* Southampton lies in the southwest corner of the county, adjoining

Philadelphia and Montgomery, is six miles long by two wide, in the shape
of a parallelogram, except a ragged corner next to Middletown and
Northampton. The upper part is quite level, with occasional gentle swells,
but more broken and rolling in the middle and lower end. Edge Hill crosses
the township about its middle. It is well-watered by the Pennypack,
Poquessing, Neshaminy, and numerous smaller streams. The soil is fertile
and well-cultivated, with but little waste land. It is well provided with
roads. The Street road {runs through the middle its entire length; the
Montgomery county line bounds it on the southwest, the Bristol road on the
northeast, while a number of*] cross roads cut them at nearly
right-angles. In 1709 the inhabitants of the township stated to the court
that they had no public road to mill, market, or church. In March of that
year they petition for a road "from the Queen's road (40), in Southampton,
down to Joseph Growden's mill," and in September they ask the court to
open a road "towards the new mill (41) on the Pennypack, which is likely
to be our chief market." As late as 1722 the inhabitants complain that
they have no regularly established roads. As early as 1699 a road was laid
out from the King's highway "to Peter Webster's new dwelling" (42). The
Buck road to the Philadelphia county line was relaid fifty feet wide in
1790, and the old road vacated in 1797. The road to Churchville, from the
Buck (43), was laid out in 1795, and that from Davisville to Southampton
Baptist church in 1814.

(40) Old Buck Road. (41) Probably Gwinn's mill, below Hatboro. (42) The location of Webster's dwelling is not known. (43) The "Buck" was so named from the head of the animal that graces it sign board. The oldest inhabitant of Southampton that we have any account of was a

colored woman, named Heston, who died November 15, 1821, in her 105th
year, which carries her birth back to 1716 or 1717.

Sarah Bolton, daughter of Isaac, who was an inhabitant of Southampton 150

years ago, was a minister among the Friends, and preached in Byberry in
1752.

[This township was the birthplace of Dr. John Wilson, who became one of

the most distinguished physicians of the county. He was born in the
vicinity of Feasterville, sent to the classical school at Southampton
Baptist church, graduated at the Philadelphia Medical School, and spent
the greater part of his professional life in Buckingham, were he died. He
was accomplished and elegant in manner.*]

[The township is crossed by three railroads, built in the past

twenty-five years. The first was that from Philadelphia to Newtown,
intending to be continued to New York, but never finished. It crossed the
Street road at Southampton, which it has been the means of greatly
improving and was finished in the early spring of 1878. The Bound Brook
road from Philadelphia to New York, shortly followed, forming connection
at Bound Brook, and thence running over the New Jersey Central tracks to
Jersey City. It leaves the North Penn track at Jenkintown, crossing the
Street road at the township line. The third is the "Pennsylvania Cut-Off,"
from the Schuylkill below Norristown to the Delaware at Morrisville, and
is used by heavy through freight. It too crosses the Street road half a
mile above Feasterville.*]

[The township has likewise two turnpikes crossing it from northeast to

southwest, one on the bed of the Middle or Oxford road, giving a
continuous pike from Philadelphia to New Hope, via Centerville; the other
from Richborough via the Buck, Somerton, etc., to Philadelphia . These
roads were early arteries of trade and travel, the latter one the first
pike in the county. A branch turnpike a mile long runs from the Fox Chase,
Richborough pike to Davisville. *]

[There are five post offices in the township, Davisville, established in

1827, Feasterville, 1831, Churchville, 1872, Southampton and Cornell of
more recent date.*]

[Southampton has six villages, all terminating in "ville," the American

weakness. Davisville, the oldest in name at the Warminster line;
Feasterville, four miles below, also on the Street road; Brownsville, two
miles below that; Churchville on the Bristol road; Cornell on the same
road, a mile above it, and Southampton, the youngest and largest, named
after the township. Davisville was named after the late General John
Davis, and we may say was founded by him, 1827, when he erected a store
house and dwelling at the cross roads, and the post office was moved down
from Joseph Warner's over the line in Warminster, the head waters of one
branch of the Pennypack, takes its rise in the meadows a few hundred yards
above. It was the seat of a sawmill for nearly a century, and in former
years the center of very considerable business. A county bridge built
1843, spans the old sawmill dam, now almost filled with mud. Here five
public roads meet, and the village contains twenty dwelling, with a store
and some minor industries (44). A school house was erected fifty-five
years ago, and dedicated to public use with the following inscription cut
on a marble slab in the gable by the late Daniel Longstreth, 11 mo., 1843:
"Davisville Seminary, built by voluntary contribution; lot the gift of
Richard Benson. The building committee were David Marple, James M.
Boileau, Thomas Montanye, Samuel Naylor, and Jesse Edwards." A day school
was kept in it until the township accepted the school law, when it was
turned over to the public school board and occupied until recently. The
first school in Davisville was a select school for girls, opened by Miss
Isabella McCarren, 1834, and kept there several years. She subsequently
married and spent many years in Philadelphia, but now lives at Southampton,
a mile below, in her ninety-second year. Her mind is good and she
takes an interest in current events.*]

(44) Seventy-five years ago there were but four dwellings in the immediate vicinity of Davisville; the Watts homestead, Josiah Hart's dwelling and sawmill property, John Folwell's house, recently Roberts', and the John White dwelling on the Duffield farm. For a number of years, especially during the active life of the late General John Davis, the village was a political and military center. The volunteer system was in its prime, politics warm and spicy, and the leaders of both made frequent visits hither for orders.* [The village of Southampton, a mile below Davisville at the junction of

the Street and Middle road, contains 100 dwellings with the usual
complement of stores, mechanics, etc. In 1841 there were but three houses
here – Elijah Banes, Edward Boileau, and the store with dwelling attached.
The store house was built by Thomas Banes for his son William, 1793, and
probably occupied by him until his death, 1803, being accidentally killed
in Philadelphia. He was born, 1770, and married Nancy Miles, Thomas Banes
died 1828. The storehouse was left to his daughter, Lydia Lukens, who sold
it to Dr. Joshua Jones, 1827, and since that time, it has had a number of
owners and occupants. A smithy and wheelwright shop was located here early
in the century. In the early day this place was called the "Lower
Corner," in contradistinction to the "Upper Corner," now Johnsville, a
mile above Davisville, and later took the name of the storekeeper for the
time being, as "Hicks' Corner," "Fetter's Corner," etc. Among the
occupants of the store in the past sixty years were Watts Jones, 1841;
James Hicks, 1845; Casper Fetter, 1853; George W. Boileau, 1868; Alfred
Boileau, 1874; John Woodington, William Sharp, Frank Buckius, Jacob
Buckman, George Wolf and others. Woodington removed to Kansas some years
ago. In the field at the northeast corner of the two roads, Capt. William
Purdy's rifle company assembled, September 1814, previous to setting off
for Camp Dupont, Delaware, the Rev. Thomas B. Montanye preaching an
appropriate sermon. A Baptist camp meeting held in a wood near here, 1835,
on the Baptist parsonage farm, gave birth to the Hatboro Baptist church.*]

[Feasterville, a hamlet of a few houses on the turnpike leading from

Richborough to Philadelphia, is in the midst of a highly cultivated
country. Here is the only tavern in the township, the historic "Buck," and
on the turnpike, a mile from Churchville, the only flour mill. In the old
hip-roofed house nearby, the late James Carter, Byberry, was born, 1778.*]

[Springville, a hamlet of about the same number of dwellings and two or

three farm houses, with a post office called "Cornell," a smithy and a
store at the intersection of the Bristol and Middle road, make up the
complement of Southampton's villages. Tradition tells us that in the "long
ago," whereof the memory of man "runneth not to the contrary," Springville
had a tavern called "The Blue Bell," on the site of the store on the
Bristol road, but of its history we know nothing.*]

End of Chapter XIII.