CHAPTER XIV.
NORTHAMPTON AND
SOUTHAMPTON.
THE diversity of nationalities which early characterized the
population of southern Pennsylvania may be attributed in great
measure to the liberal ideas of William Penn regarding
immigration to his provincial domain. He seems to have been
utterly devoid of prejudice in this matter, and welcomed to the
freedom and security of a government designed as an asylum for
the oppressed everywhere, men of all nations and of all creeds.
His acquaintance with the Dutch Reformed antedates his
appearance upon the stage of American political history, for the
mother of William Penn was a native of Holland, the daughter of
a merchant of Rotterdam. But, whether the encouragement given to
Dutch immigration arose from the proprietor’s regard for the
obligations of consanguinity, or whether it was merely one phase
of his administrative policy, the settlement of Hollanders on
the west bank of the Neshaminy formed an important element of
the population of southern Bucks county, nor was the numerical
disproportion as great as would appear at the present day. The
first appearance of this people on the shores of the Delaware
occurred in 1616, two years after the founding of New Amsterdam,
and nearly fifty years before the conflicting claims of the
Dutch and English had finally been decided in favor of the
latter. Although several Dutch names appear among a list of
those who owned land in the county at an early period, the
influx of Hollanders did not assume large proportions until the
townships of Falls, Bristol, and others were marked by the
presence of an aggressive English population. This immigration
began about the year 1700, and ceased to be noticeable about
twenty-five years later. It was drawn principally from Long
Island, at that time almost as Dutch as Holland itself, so that
the purity of the language, the quaintness of dress, and the
social customs distinctively peculiar to their native land, had
suffered little deterioration in being thus successively
transplanted. There seems to have been a decided preference for
the southwestern portion of the county, the earliest to arrive
locating along the river, while those who followed purchased
land farther inland; and thus it is with the townships which
form the subject of this chapter, that their religious and
social life are most intimately associated.
The settlement of either township, however, was not
monopolized by the Dutch. Holme’s map (1684) gives the
distribution of land in Southampton as follows: To the west of
the Street road, in regular order from the north, were the
tracts of John Luffe, Richard Wood, John Jones, John Swift,
Joseph Jones, Thomas Groom, and Thomas Hould; east of which, and
extending from the Street road to the Bristol road, were the
lands of John Martin, Robert Pressmore, Mark Beltis, Enoch
Flower, Joseph Jones, Robert Marsh, and John Gilbert; while the
triangular area bordering the Neshaminy was seated by Nicholas
Walne and Widow Plumly. Among the earliest English settlers in
Southampton was John Swift, a man of local prominence and the
representative of Bucks county in the provincial assembly of
1701 and 1707. James Dilworth was a resident as early as 1680,
when his house became the place of meeting for the Friends of
the vicinity. Other names of English orthography are those of
Thomas and William Cutler, John Shaw, James Carter, Joseph Webb,
John Naylor, Christopher Day, Nathaniel West, and the numerous
family of Reverend Thomas Dungan.
The appearance of Dutch families, though not coincident with
the English settlement just narrated, followed it after a brief
interval. The families most numerously represented at the
present day are those of Vanartsdalen, Barcalow, Lefferts,
Vansant, Hogeland, Vanhorne, Vandeveer, Vandeventer, and Kroesen.
Nicholas and Abraham Van Artsdalen were the first of that name
who settled in Bucks county. They were brothers, descended in
the fourth generation from John Van Arsdalen, who removed from
Ars Dale, in Holland, to Flatbush, Long Island, in 1653. The
Hogelands are the immediate descendants of Dirck Hanse Hogeland,
a Dutch sea captain, who arrived at New York in 1655, and is
said to have built the first brick house on Manhattan Island.
The Lefferts are descended from Leffert Preterse, who became a
Dutch colonist at Flatbush, Long Island, in 1660, having
emigrated from North Brabant, Holland. His grandson, Leffert
Leffert, was the first representative of the family in this
section. In 1738 he visited the county, induced to this step in
all probability by the favorable representations of his
co-nationalists, who had already made it their home, and in the
following year became the purchaser of a considerable tract of
land, originally conferred by William Penn upon Edmund
Pennington. The ancestors of the Barcalow family emigrated
successively from Borkelo, Holland, to New Amsterdam, thence to
Freehold, New Jersey, and finally to Southampton. It was William
Hanse Von Barkelow who removed from the ancestorial home of his
race, and his grandson, Conrad, who added the name to those
previously represented in this new Holland. Leffert Leffert was
accompanied on his prospecting tour by Gilliam Cornell, one of
three brothers whose father was an early settler at Flatbush.
The Cornells were numerously represented within a few years
after this, as several families immigrated at the same time and
settled in the same locality, known to this day by the
appropriate name of Holland. The Kroesens, Vandeventers,
Vandeveers, Vansants, and Vanhornes trace their ancestry
respectively to Derrick Kroesen, Jacobus Van De Venter,
Cornelius Van De Veer, William Van Zandt, and Rutger Van Horne.
Ralph Dracot was a resident of the township in 1712, and
probably prior to that time. About the year 1750 he discovered
lead on the farm of John Naylor, a short distance from
Feasterville. The mine was operated within the memory of the
present generation, but has since been abandoned.
As a political subdivision of the county, Southampton has
existed since 1703, although the name was applied to the
settlement as early as 1685, when it is mentioned in connection
with the boundary line between Bucks and Philadelphia counties.
A jury appointed to divide the county into townships by the
court of quarter sessions in 1692 met at Neshaminy
meeting-house, and in their report, among other things, appeared
the following: "Southampton and the lands about it, with
Warminster, one." No metes and bounds are specified; the brief
ultimatum of the jury is indefinite and perplexing. It is
obvious that this action was intended merely as a provisional
measure, and that the separation which afterward followed was
not at once declared because of the sparsely settled condition
of the territory surveyed by Holme, and designated on his map
with the names it now bears— Southampton and Warminster. The
more rapid increase of population in the southern township and
the unwieldy proportions of the municipal district erected in
1692 were an early cause of dissatisfaction with the arrangement
thus effected, and in 1703 Southampton was recognized by the
court as a separate township, the organization of which was
forthwith ordered. But, as it was still united with Warminster
in the assessment and collection of taxes, this was rather a
compromise than a complete settlement, and was correspondingly
unsatisfactory. In 1711 the wish of the people was at length
gratified when, by order of the court, the joint elections were
discontinued. Neither the local government of the township nor
its boundaries as then existing have since been changed. Its
territorial limits comprise eight thousand acres, and the
population in 1880 was one thousand four hundred and
thirty-five.
The exclusively agricultural character of this region has not
been favorable to the growth of towns. The nucleus of a country
village is in many instances a hostelry, and the local roads
have much to do with the location and size of the towns that
mark their course. The Street road traverses Southampton
throughout its entire length; it is about equidistant from the
county line and the Bristol road. It is intersected at both the
northern and southern limits of this township and by four other
roads at nearly equal intervals. The most northern of these
roads within the township is known as the Middle road, and the
most southern as the King’s road. The latter was laid out in
1693 from the Falls to Philadelphia, and piked a part of the
distance in 1804 or 1805. The Middle road is so known because of
its position between the York road and the one lust mentioned.
The "Buck," one of the oldest hotels in the county, is situated
on the King’s road in Southampton, and has long enjoyed the
distinction of being the only institution of that character in
the township. The post-office at this point is known as
Feasterville, derived from the name of a family quite numerous
in the vicinity. Davisville, a post-village in the extreme
northern part of Southampton, is situated on a branch of the
Pennypack, and derives some importance from the water privileges
thus conferred. The name is derived from that of its founder,
General John Davis. He was of Welsh origin, a descendant of one
of the first of that nationality in this county. He was a
major-general of militia, a member of the national legislature,
surveyor of the port of Philadelphia, and prominent in state
political circles. His father served with honor in the
continental army as an officer in Colonel Butler’s regiment and
La Fayette’s brigade. At the opposite extremity of the township
is the village of Brownsville, otherwise known as Trevose, a
station on the Bound Brook railroad. Southamptonville, a station
on the Newtown railroad, is situated at the intersection of the
Middle road and the Street road. It is a comparatively new
village, and was formerly known as Fetter’s Corner. It has some
importance as a local business center. Springville includes ten
or twelve houses on the south side of the Bristol road, and
perhaps half as many more opposite in Northampton. The situation
of Churchville is equally ambiguous. The post-office was
established here in 1872, with John S. Stoop as postmaster. This
place has long been the religious center for a large part of the
church-going element in both townships. The number of houses in
1871 is placed at twelve, and no increase since that time is
apparent to the casual observer. Churchville station, a suburb
of the village proper on the line of the Newtown railroad in
Northampton, bids fair to equal it in size and importance. It is
possible that the future historian may chronicle the
consolidation of village and suburb, and even now the built-up
area of the former is gradually extending toward the latter.
Having considered the settlement and development of this
region, it remains to give an account of its churches. The
religious characteristics of the people who formed its early
population were as widely different as their language or social
customs. The "kirk" of the Dutch and "meeting-house" of the
Friends were synonymous terms; but the "dominic" of the former
has no corresponding term in the early religious nomenclature of
the latter. The Quakers sought immunity from the threatened
persecution; the Dutch, greater political freedom than the royal
governors of New York were disposed to grant. The former early
lost their numerical prestige through internal dissensions, and
a third religious body, the Baptists, absorbed a large element
from among their strongest adherents; and a fourth denomination,
the Methodist Episcopal, has gained a footing within
comparatively recent years.
The Friends of Southampton were granted an indulged meeting
in 1686, and met for worship weekly at the house of James
Dilworth. Three years previously a meeting for worship was
settled among the Friends at "Poetquesink," which was held at
John Hart’s house and afterward became Byberry meeting,
Philadelphia county. As the strength of the Southampton meeting
was not sufficient to justify the erection of a meeting-house,
they united with the Byberry meeting, some, however, being
received into Middletown. A stone meeting-house was erected at
the former place in 1714, to which an addition was made in 1753;
and in 1808 a second was built, "about sixty-six feet by
thirty-six."
The Reformed Church of North and Southampton dates its origin
at a period which would seem to indicate that it is the oldest
denominational organization in the county. Its recorded history
begins May 20, 1710, when the "church of Bensalem and Sammeny"
was organized; and on the following day Reverend Paulus Van
Vlecq was confirmed its first pastor. He had previously taught
school in New York and served as chaplain in the militia of that
province. His local charge was the neighborhood of Feasterville,
including the Dutch families within a radius of some miles. The
church building, if any existed, was probably located in the
southeastern part of Southampton. Like most of the preachers of
his day, he occasionally travelled some distance from his
settled residence to minister to the spiritual wants of those
for whom no provision had yet been made. He thus visited
Whitemarsh in 1710, and Six-mile run, New Jersey, in 1711.
Besides these three points, there were seven other preaching
stations in his charge. It seems likely that he continued as a
preacher the policy of "boarding round" begun while a
school-master; for from his meager salary of fifty-five pounds
he managed to place money at interest and yet indulge in such
luxuries as stockings, for which the knitting cost three
shillings "light money; tenpence for the dyeing of the
stockings, and sixpence for the knitting woman." Among other
miscellaneous receipts on his salary were the following: "One
ream of paper, fifteen shillings seven and one halfpence; one
dozen pewter spoons, six shillings." He eventually fell into
disrepute, was dropped from the ministry, and in 1713 the
Reverend Paulus Van Vlecq returned to Holland.
Next follows a period in the history of this people which
proves beyond doubt their deep sincerity and freedom from
prejudice. At Abington, ten miles distant, there was a
settlement of Scotch Presbyterians, among whom Malachi Jones had
organized a church. "The word of the Lord was precious" to his
people in those days, and although the language of the Welshman
was not always intelligible to them, the Dutch flocked to hear
him and many united with his church. Their proportion to the
original membership is shown by the fact that of thirty weddings
twenty-three were Dutch, and of one hundred and eight baptisms
fifty-eight were of the same race. The confusion that often
occurred in the baptism of Dutch children by a Welsh dominie is
sometimes amusing— as the change of Gurtrui Arvcegh into Heertry
Aueruck may illustrate. But the Welshman was quite acceptable to
the Hollanders, and they asked him to preach in their own
church, which he consented to do; and so, from 1714 to 1719, the
number of Dutch names on the church register at Abington is
perceptibly diminished, as the preaching in Bensalem becomes
more frequent. There was also a change at the latter place,
which indicated an influx of Scotch-Irish into the neighborhood.
The formation of the Bensalem Presbyterian church in
consequence, and the withdrawal of those who preferred to remain
Dutch Reformed followed in close succession. Mr. Jones was again
induced to preach at Sammeny, 1725—29. He had reached the
advanced age of seventy-four years, but the results of his work
as shown in confirmations and baptisms compare favorably with
those of his younger and stronger years. The following is an
instance of his method of indictment, procedure of trial, and
punishment of an inconsistent church member: "April ye 27th Anno
Domini 1728 . . . . . charged by the Church of being guilty,
1st, of being a notorious lyer; 2ly, a notorious swerer; 3ly, of
cheating and Robbing whoever would give him any credit; 4ly,
armed himself with weapons to kill and murder such as would come
according to Law to demand their rights, whether in their own
persons or by the King’s officers, and thus Rebelling against
the Government; 5ly, of Running away out of ye Province with
other men’s goods. Therefore, ye sd . . . . being guilty of such
abominations, we have determined to put him from among us,
according to ye order given to all ye churches of Christ in such
cases, as in the 1 Cor. 5: 2, 4, 5, 13. Malachi Jones, M." His
pastorate at Sammeny closed with his death, March 26, 1729. The
inscription on a marble slab that marks his resting-place has
thus been translated: "While I had life I should have been
faithful, O Christ, to thee, with zeal, with pious mind,
studious in doctrine, proclaiming thee or proclaiming thy truth.
To rue, in life, thou hast been Delight; now to me, dead thou
art Glory, Life, Salvation."
In the meantime the Dutch people in Bensalem were not without
pastoral care. Reverend Theodorus Jacobus Freilenghausen
preached regularly for them for about ten years. He was the
first Reform minister in New Jersey, with a field that virtually
comprehended the entire state, and headquarters at Three-Mile
run, or New Brunswick. Gilbert Tennent, George Whitefield, and
Jonathan Edwards alike commend his faithfulness and devotion to
an ill-requited work.
The years immediately following the death of Mr. Jones were
marked by troublesome times with the Low-Dutch. At first, 1710,
they had a church organization and a Dutch pastor, then a Welsh
preacher for a time, with occasional services in their own
language; but in 1730 there was no pastor nor any organization,
nor the prospect of obtaining the one or effecting the other. In
this extremity they called upon Reverend Cornelius Van Santwood
for advice and assistance. He was pastor at Staten Island, and
well known to many of those he was asked to help. May 30, 1730,
he visited them; the church assembled, those of the old officers
present were recognized, and two elders and as many deacons
ordained. The affairs of the church in all their moods and
tenses were freely discussed. The place of meeting at this time
was the house of Jacobus Van Zandt, near Churchville. It was
thought that the first thing to do should be the erection of a
church building, or possibly two, as they were very much
scattered; but as they were too weak to do this, one church was
the final decision. And with this action the matter rested for a
time. An equally pressing need was a pastor, and in this their
adviser agreed with them that it would be best to correspond
with the ecclesiastical authorities in Holland. It was resolved
that "We need for ourselves and our children a minister able in
the highest degree. Our duty is to provide ourselves with such
au one, since God has blessed us so that we can honestly support
him." The amount of this support was fixed at "Not less than
eighty pounds if he shall honestly keep house;" and the
qualifications of the dominie that "He must he about thirty
years old and unmarried. More, he must be mighty to instruct and
convince gainsayers." As an additional inducement a half year’s
salary was promised in advance, also a good riding-horse or the
use of one in travelling on Sundays. It was further agreed that
his salary should be supplemented by the free use of a house and
some land, sufficient for the pasturage of a horse and cow, with
"a right good garden and a reasonable orchard." And on the
following day, May 31, 1730, a letter to the fatherland was
sent, and upon its reception depended to a great extent the
future of the congregation. Seven years of waiting passed by,
and the Reverend Petrus Hendricus Doesius arrived (September,
1737). An answer had, indeed, been received in 1732, but it
merely assured the people on this side of the sea that they were
"putting their hands to it." May 29, 1734, a second letter had
arrived, informing them that they had secured a "brave, learned
young man," Marsius by name, the son of a minister, and money
was sent for his passage. But he was not quite brave enough, and
declined at the last moment. The letter announcing this also
stated that there was yet another young man, poor, but studious,
and earnestly desirous of preaching in distant parts of the
world. His name was Doesius. His passage from Rotterdam to
Philadelphia was promptly defrayed by the church, and
thirty-four pounds, a half year’s salary, was advanced as "a
free gift." So substantial a welcome as this must have been
sincere. The condition of the congregation during the ten years
just past had been most discouraging. Occasional meetings for
service were held at private houses. Johannes Slecht, the
"Voorlezer," read a sermon or other discourse, but it may safely
be supposed that the singing formed the most interesting part of
the exercises. Pastor Freilenghausen advised them to furnish the
reader with a riding-horse by turns, but this was not done, and
in 1732 he ceased his labors. With the advent of the new pastor
a new era seems to have begun. The erection of a new church
building was at once agitated. Fifty-one subscriptions
aggregated one hundred and twenty-four pounds ten shillings and
four pence. The Long Island church generously contributed four
pounds ten shillings. The burial-ground at Feasterville was
chosen as its site. It was completed in 1738 or 1739. The
subscription list appears to have become quite popular by this
time, for an effort was made to purchase the parsonage farm and
"reasonable orchard." Ninety-six acres in Byberry were bought
for this purpose by Henry Kroesen and Abraham Vandygrift in
1739. Shortly afterward the dominie brought himself into full
conformity with the new order of things by marrying Janneke
Hoghlandt, one of his younger members. The first five years of
Doesius’s labors were eminently successful. The membership was
more than doubled, thirty-four being received on confession and
eighteen by letter; one hundred and seventy-four baptisms and
forty-one marriage ceremonies complete the statistics of this
period. He also instructed theological students at his house,
and for assisting at the ordination of one of them without due
authority he was severely reprimanded by the Synod in Holland.
He returned to that country in 1743, and argued his cause
without success. His consistory gave him a strong letter of
indorsement, reflecting severely upon the proselyting efforts of
surrounding churches. They urged him to return, and in 1744
extended a new call, which, as they had diminished in numbers in
his absence, was not then so advantageous or so liberal as
fourteen years previously. On New-year’s day, 1745, he arrived
at Philadelphia. But the ordeal through which he had passed had
deprived him of that power in influencing others he had formerly
wielded so effectually, and a career which promised usefulness
and success closed in obscurity and failure.
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Four years, 1746—50, the church was without a pastor.
Reverend Michael Schlatter supplied the pulpit during this time,
with the characteristic ability which distinguished him as the
virtual founder of the German Reformed church in this country,
and harmony was restored. In 1749 a call was extended to
Jonathan Du Bois, not yet a reverend, but only a student, whom
the church was assisting to educate. He was to preach twice on
Sunday in summer and once in winter. He was to receive fifty
pounds salary, the use of seventy acres of land and of a house
and barn; also, "a horse and all that belongs thereunto," and
"eight Sundays in the year to yourself," which it was understood
should be employed in Bensalem. He came first as stated supply,
but in 1752 was ordained and installed, having married in the
previous year Hilletje Wynkoop, the daughter of an elder in his
church. One of his first acts, and the most important of his
administration, was the building of a church at Addisville. This
step had been decided upon prior to his installation. The work
was begun in 1751, when an acre of ground was purchased from
Evan Jones. Derrick Kroesen, Joseph Fenton, Adreejan Cornell,
Garret Van Zandt, Gerardus Wynkoop, and Nicholas Wynkoop were
among those most active in this enterprise. Among the items in a
bill of expenses is one of fifteen shillings for "rum for the
raising of the meeting-house." It was completed and paid for "in
full of all debts, dues, and demands," in 1753, through the
assistance of churches in New Jersey and on Long Island. The
seating capacity of this church was one hundred and seventy. The
pew-rent system in a modified form was introduced. A new phase
of organization and government appears in 1757 in the election
of two church-masters. The first two were Hendrick Kroesen and
Jacob Bennet. They found a small balance in the treasury, and
applied it to repairs of the Feasterville church. The pastorate
of Mr. Du Bois was closed by his death in 1772. He was well
adapted to the people among whom he labored; his remains rest
with theirs in the burial-ground at Addisville.
For their next pastor, instead of sending to Holland or
educating him from among themselves, the people looked to the
Dutch council of New York. July 8, 1774, a call was extended to
Reverend Martinus Schoonmaker, hut he declined. Rynier Van Nest
received the next call, and regarded it with equal favor. April
12, 1776, Reverend William Schenck accepted a call signed by
fifty-five women and twenty-two men. The disparity of members
thus shown indicates to what extent the Dutch of Northampton and
Southampton were patriots. Their new pastor had been compelled
to leave Monmouth, New Jersey, by the British. He was promised a
salary of eighty pounds, and that he might gradually learn to
address his congregation in their vernacular, he was to preach
the first year in English only, the second year "half-and-half"
in summer and two-thirds Dutch in winter. How far the experiment
was successful can only be conjectured.
The next pastor was Matthew Leydt, 1780—83. He was called on
a salary of two hundred and ten bushels of wheat. For the third
time in the history of the church its minister died at his post.
Mr. Leydt is buried in the Feasterville graveyard. Although
without a pastor, church work was not relinquished. A
contribution was sent to the Minnisink congregation, which had
suffered severely during the war. The church buildings were also
repaired. Reverend Peter Stryker was called as pastor, September
15, 1788. His was the first call written in English, but the new
pastor was distinctively a Dutchman. He remained two years. In
September, 1794, Reverend John C. Brush received a letter from
the consistory, which, from its introductory sentence, "In the
name of God, Amen," may have seemed somewhat like a will, but
which imported nothing more serious than a call to their church
at an annual salary of three hundred dollars. He accepted, and
remained two years. Reverend Jacob Larzelere, the ninth pastor
of this church, was installed October 13, 1797. A new parsonage
was built the following year, Daniel Hogeland being business
agent. In 1804 a bequest of three hundred pounds was left to the
congregation by the will of Henry Lymbacher. The centennial of
its history passed by without special observance. Perhaps the
needs of the present were too plainly apparent. The erection of
a new church building was a consideration of first importance
about that time. The Southampton church had stood seventy-five
years, the Northampton building sixty years. August 16, 1813, it
was decided by a vote of eighty-four to thirty-two to rebuild
one church only. September 28, the northeast corner of Mr.
McNair’s farm was chosen as the site. A lot of three acres was
purchased and given to the church by Gilliam Cornell. Joshua
Prall was made superintendent of the building. It was finished
in 1816, but with a debt of six thousand dollars, partially
liquidated by the sale of pews. With accumulated interest, it
ultimately absorbed the parsonage and farm. About this time, the
burial-grounds at the former old churches were inclosed and
their general appearance greatly improved. The prosperity of the
church during Mr. Larzelere’s thirty-one years’ pastorate seems
to have been temporal rather than spiritual. In 1823,
Christopher Vanartsdalen, the treasurer, reports among the
church’s resources three thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight
dollars in interest-bearing bonds. There was scarcely any
increase in the membership. One reason to which this may be
assigned is the location of the church, which was not convenient
to many. Two hundred and sixteen marriages are recorded during
this pastorate; five hundred and eleven baptisms, and one
hundred and twenty-nine accessions. October 13, 1838, pastor and
people mutually agreed to separate.
The ensuing pastorate of Reverend Abram Ootwout Halsey was
the longest in the history of the church. His call was dated May
5, 1829. A new house for the new pastor was forthwith purchased.
He was evidently skeptical as to whether charity should begin at
home. With an exhausted local treasury, he nevertheless called
upon the people regularly for mission contributions. On one
occasion, sixty-seven dollars were sent to the aid of Sunday
schools in the Mississippi valley. Every tenth year was
signalized by a revival of religion. In 1842—43 one hundred and
seventy persons were received into the church on confession;
there were ninety accessions in 1852—53. The use of coal was
introduced in 1846, when two furnaces were built for heating
purposes. Another church building was the great question in
1857. It was decided to build at Addisville. A building
committee of thirteen was appointed, ground purchased, and work
begun in 1858. The new church was completed the following year,
and Reverend N.S. Knowlton became associate pastor. But this
arrangement caused some friction; and in 1864 the Addisville
church was organized and an amicable division of the church
property effected. This was the closing act of Mr. Halsey’s
administration his death occurred August 27, 1868. His sermons
were characterized by length, depth, and breadth; originality,
comprehensiveness, and eloquence.
Four short pastorates since 1868 follow this one of
thirty-eight years.
Reverend William H. De Hart was called February 24, 1868, and
resigned December 31, 1870; Reverend Henry Martyn Voorhees was
called October 31, 1871, and resigned in 1877; Reverend B.C.
Lippincott was called June
27, 1877, and resigned November 5, 1881; Reverend Samuel
Strong, the present incumbent, was installed February 16, 1882.
The beautiful appearance of the church building is largely due
to his efforts, nearly twenty years ago. The parsonage adjoining
was purchased in 1873. The essential points in this history of
one hundred and seventy-seven years have now been presented; the
church has had a career honorable to the denomination with which
it is connected and to the membership of which it is composed;
and its present prosperous condition proves that it has not
outlived its usefulness.
The Southampton Baptist church is the oldest in the county
and seventh in the state. Its origin dates from the "Keithian"
division among Friends in 1691, when the dissidents were known
as "Keithian Baptists." A small congregation met for worship
monthly at the house of John Swift in Southampton, with John
Hart, a former distinguished Friend, as pastor. In 1702 this
church was connected with Pennypack, but the meetings at Swift’s
were continued, Mr. Hart’s position being changed to that of
assistant to Thomas Griffith, the regular pastor. Subsequently,
Mr. Swift removed to Philadelphia, and the place of meeting was
changed to the house of Peter Chamberlain. In 1721, upon the
death of Reverend Samuel Jones, then pastor at Pennypack, these
meetings were discontinued; but in 1726, when Jenkin Jones
became pastor, they were resumed. A short time afterward George
Eaton was called as assistant, and the house of John Morris
became the place of meeting. In 1730 he gave a lot of one acre
for meeting-house and burial-ground, "in order that the
preaching of the gospel might be continued at Southampton." For
the support of a pastor he supplemented this with a farm of one
hundred and twenty acres. A deed of trust for this property was
executed in 1732 to Jeremiah Dungan, Robert Parsons, John
Dungan, John Hart, and Thomas Dungan, the church building having
been completed the previous year. Joseph Eaton was called to
preach one Sunday in each month and Jenkin Jones on week-days.
The history of the congregation as an organization dates from
April 5, 1745, when Pennypack church, at the request of the
Southampton people, dissolved the union formerly existing
between them and constituted the latter a separate body. Three
days later a solemn convocation was entered into by fifty-two
persons, among whom appear the names of Yerkes, Gilbert, Jones,
Shaw, Dungan, Potts, Murray, Morgan, and others equally familiar
at the present day. Joshua Potts, Stephen Watts, and John Hart
were called to the offices of teacher, ruling elder, and deacon,
respectively. Upon the death of Mr. Potts in 1761 Thomas Davis
preached for a short time. Dr. Samuel Jones became pastor in
1763. Erasmus Kelley succeeded him June 1, 1776, and William
Vanhoern May 29, 1773, but resigned in 1785. Reverend Thomas B.
Montanye was called from Warwick, New York, in 1801. He died in
1829, after a pastorate of twenty-eight years. James B. Bowen
was pastor for twelve years preceding 1843; Alfred Earle, from
December 30, 1843, to June 17, 1848; William Sharp, April 7,
1849, to September 14, 1854; Daniel L. Harding, October 14,
1854, to January 11, 1865; William J. Purrington, August 26,
1867, to April 13, 1879; and Silas Durand, April 12, 1884, to
-----. The church was incorporated by act of assembly in 1794.
The first board of trustees was composed of Elias Yerkes, Arthur
Watts, Thomas Folwell, Elias Dungan, Abel Morgan, John Folwell,
Joseph Hart, Isaac Edwards, Joshua Dungan, and Jacob Yerkes. It
was connected with the Philadelphia Baptist Association until
the formation of the Delaware River Association in October,
1835, when it became one of the constituent churches of that
body. The church building erected in 1731 was rebuilt in 1772,
and enlarged in 1814. One of the first Sunday schools in the
county was organized here in 1814 or 1815. Among its
superintendents were William Purdy, Jacob Wright, Christopher
Search, and John Davis. This was a pioneer school. For years no
other Sunday school was held in all this section of country, and
people came for miles to see how it was conducted.
The Davisville Baptist church was known originally as the
"Independent Baptist church of Southampton." It was constituted
at the house of Jesse L. Booz March 31, 1849, with thirty-three
members who had withdrawn from the older body on account of
differences of opinion regarding different matters of church
polity. This new organization met for worship in the Davisville
schoolhouse until January 1, 1850, when a church edifice was
completed. This building was of stone, thirty-three by
forty-five feet, and cost fifteen hundred dollars. It was
changed into the present commodious house of worship in 1867 at
a cost of seven thousand dollars. The following pastors have
served the church: Alfred Earle, 1849—1850; Frederick Kent,
1857—1858; Charles Cox, 1858—1860; James H. Appleton, 1860—1861;
Alfred Earle, 1861—1862: Thomas Cole (supply for six months);
W.H. Conard, 1862—1876; S.V. Marsh, 1876—1883; Philip Berry,
1883 -----. The deacons, in regular order, have been John Potts,
Bernard Van Horn, Thomas Erwin, Samuel Leedom, Dennis Britton,
Thomas Leedom, John B. Heritage, and Charles W. Heaton. The
church was first known by its present name in 1858, when a
mission church in New York acknowledged the receipt of a
communion set from "Davisville" church. In 1870 a formal change
was made, but the new name had been in popular use long before
that. This church was unassociated until 1858, when it became a
member of the North Philadelphia Association.
NORTHAMPTON is referred to in the report of the commission of
1692 as "the lands about (Southampton). From preference,
necessity, or indifference, its people permitted their farms and
houses to be known by this comprehensive but undefined name for
thirty years. December 11, 1722, a petition was presented to the
court, praying for the erection of a township between
Southampton, Warminster, and the Neshaminy. This document was
accompanied by a draft of the proposed township; and as its
present boundaries are identical with those therein described,
it is evident that the petition was acceded to. The extreme
length is seven and one-half miles, and width four and one-half
miles. Between Warwick on the north and Middletown on the south,
Newtown and Wrightstown on the east, Warminster and Southampton
on the southwest, an area of fourteen thousand acres is
inclosed. The population by the last census was one thousand
seven hundred and sixty-eight. Farming is the principal
occupation, and the agricultural character of Northampton and
Southampton is of a high order. The soil is fertile, the land
uniformly level, with a well-defined slope to the south and
southeast. The meadows produce luxuriant crops of hay, a staple
product, much of which is hauled by the farmers themselves to
Philadelphia. Since the opening of railroads through this
section (1876) dairying has also been pursued with profit. For
this it is admirably adapted. Numerous springs and streams of
water increase and preserve the fertility of the soil, while the
rows of willow and sycamore that line their banks relieve the
monotony of an otherwise unbroken landscape. Broad Axe creek
rises above Springville, in Northampton, flows in a southerly
course, receiving waters of the "Iron Works" at Holland, and
numerous smaller streams at various points, and thence pursues
its meandering course to the Neshaminy. Jacksonville and Slack
creeks are affluents of the Little Neshaminy from northern
Northampton. Mill creek is one of a number of tributaries of the
Neshaminy from the same township. The Poquessing rises in
Southampton, pursues a zigzag southerly course at the boundary
between Bucks and the adjoining portion of Philadelphia county,
and empties into the Delaware at Torresdale. Several branches of
the Pennypack rise in this township.
East of the Bristol road in Northampton, the most
considerable survey was that of Arthur Cook, which formed the
northwestern corner of the township; south of this, and
adjoining the same thoroughfare, were the lands of Joab Howle,
Robert Freeman, William Buckman, Thomas Rowland, Samuel Allen,
Peter Freeman, Edmund Bennet, and Thomas Walmesley, whose tracts
extended diagonally to the Neshaminy; following the course of
this stream to the north, the successive land-holders along its
border were Hurst, Edmund Bennet, Richard Thatcher, Christopher
Taylor, Anthony Tompkins, Robert Turner, John Brown, William
Pickering, and Benjamin East; the three tracts in the center of
the township which did not extend to any of its boundaries were
those of Thomas Atkinson, John Pennington, and Daniel Wherley.
Among the settlers of Northampton were several who
accompanied Penn in the Welcome, on his first visit to the
province. Thomas Walmesley, of Yorkshire, and William Buckman,
of Sussex, millwright and carpenter, respectively, were of this
class. The former died before executing his plans, for his
purchase included lands along the Neshaminy which might have
made an eligible mill-site, and he had brought with him such
necessary machinery as could not be readily improvised in a new
country. Cuthbert Hayhurst, of Yorkshire, though not mentioned
on Holme’s map, was the owner of a tract of four hundred acres
in the southwestern part of the township. The Dutch families of
the township are descended from the same ancestry as those of
the name in Southampton.
The Middle road was granted in 1693, and when completed to
Yardley, passed through the central part of Northampton in a
direction nearly due east. Many years ago, when the public house
was in greater favor than at present, one Mr. Bennett
established on this road the "Black Bear," a hostelry famous in
its day and generation. He was succeeded by Richard Leedom, who
was "mine host" in revolutionary times, and amassed considerable
property by speculating in continental money. His uniform
prosperity invited competition, and the "White Bear" was
thenceforth opened. The opening of a new road promised to give
it the advantage, but Leedom, who owned all the land in the
vicinity, was not thus easily left in the rear. He opened a
private lane through his land, thus giving the travelling public
a more direct route than before. It is known to this day as
"Spite" lane. In course of time the Middle road was extended
from the Bear to the Anchor, in Wrightstown, and a second branch
was opened to connect with the Bristol road. About the beginning
of this century Amos Addis laid off a number of building-lots a
short distance north from the Bear on this road, and the hamlet
that thus came into existence received the name of Addisville.
Richard Leedom again felt that his prerogative was infringed
upon, and forthwith prepared to absorb this incipient village
into the town of "Leedomville." The effort was only partially
successful; for in the course of years, and by a process neither
rapid nor brilliant, the distance between the two villages was
so abbreviated and their joint population had so increased that
it became necessary to select a name for a post-office.
Whereupon, with a mutual forbearance both wise and effectual,
the traditional antagonism was forgotten, or rather compromised,
by the choice of Richboro, compounded from the first name of the
richest citizen it has ever known and a good old Anglo-Saxon
termination. But the Reformed church of Addisville has meanwhile
come into existence; and as this reconciles the friends of that
name, let the metropolis of Northampton be known
ecclesiastically as Addisville, politically as Richboro, and
popularly as the Bear to the end of time.
The only other villages entirely within the township are
Rocksville and Jacksonville, in its extreme southern and
northern portions. The latter was so named in honor of the
president whose name it bears, but it may be questioned whether
it is not more of an honor to the place than to him. Rocksville,
though eminently appropriate, judging from the appearance of the
country in its immediate vicinity, is known as a post-office
under the name of Holland. A station on the Philadelphia,
Newtown, & New York railroad is also called Holland.
Although country villages are not usually favorable to the
growth of secret societies, one of the oldest Odd Fellows’
lodges in this county is that of Richboro. The charter of
Northern Star Lodge, No. 54, I.O.O.F., was granted April 21,
1845, to Samuel Thompson, N.G., Christopher H. Leedom, V.G.,
William Edwards, S., and John K. Tomlinson, A.S., in lieu of one
surrendered to the Grand Lodge in 1837. There is reason to
believe that this first charter was granted as early as 1825.
Meetings were first held at the White Bear hotel, then kept by
William Harris. In 1845 the hall occupied at present was
erected. It is a large stone building three stories in height.
Curtis Encampment, I.O.O.F., of Newtown, was instituted here in
1848. The membership of Northern Star Lodge in October, 1886,
was eighty.
Star of Liberty Castle, No. 83, Knights of the Golden Eagle,
was organized at Churchville under a dispensation granted March
24, 1886, with a membership of thirty-two, of whom the following
were the principal officers: Jesse J. Finney, Thomas Beans, W.A.
Yerkes, Thomas H. Fetter, E.H. Leedom, G.W. Beans, W.C.
Cunningham, George Jamison, and Wilson Brown.
Harmony Castle, No. 109, Knights of the Mystic Chain, was
instituted at Churchville, August 13, l884, with Jesse J.
Finney, Chaplain, John W. Saurman, S.K.C., John W. Tomlinson,
S.K.V.C., Abraham Krewson, F.L., W.C. Cunningham, R.S., George
Beans, A.R.S., George Huey, F.S., Thomas Beans, S.K.T., Wilson
Brown, I.G., George Jamison, O.G.
The religious affiliations of the people of this township
with the Churchville Reformed church have been observed; and a
separation from the parent body was long deferred and
reluctantly decided upon. The church edifice (Reformed) at
Addisville was dedicated April 20, 1859. The congregation
worshipping here was thenceforth served alternately by Dr.
Halsey and Mr. Knowlton. Upon the resignation of the latter,
application was made to classis for a division of the charge.
This was granted, and the separate existence of the Addisville
church dates from May 19, 1864. An organization with
seventy-nine members was effected April 7, 1864, when Henry S.
Krusen, Gilliam Cornell, Jonathan Lefferts, and Theodore M.
Vanartsdalen were chosen elders, Alfred Carver, Isaac Bennett,
John Krusen, and Thomas H. Hart deacons. The first settled
pastor was Reverend G. DeWitt Bodine, who was ordained and
installed September 20, 1864, and remained four years, when he
was succeeded by Reverend J.L. Ammerman, who resigned in 1871.
The ensuing pastorate of Reverend Isaac Collier was thirteen
years in length and terminated October 1, 1885, when Reverend E.
Birdsall, the present incumbent, took charge.
About the year 1857, an unsuccessful effort was made to
establish a Presbyterian church at Richboro. A church edifice
was built, and subsequently purchased by a recently formed
Methodist society. It is a substantial building with pleasant
surroundings, and valued at six thousand dollars. The membership
in 1886 was seventy-nine. The Methodist church at Scottsville
was built in 1867. It is a stone structure, thirty-five by
forty-five feet, with a seating capacity of two hundred and
fifty.
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