History of Bucks
County, Pa Volume 3 by William H. Davis
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HENRY CRAWFORD PARRY HENRY CRAWFORD PARRY, one of the best known citizens of Langhorne, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, retired business man, president of the People’s National Bank, is of Welsh descent. His earliest ancestor in America was Thomas Parry, who was born in Caernarvonshire, North Wales, in 1680, and came to Pennsylvania when a young man, married Jane Phillips, in 1715, and settled In Moreland, near the present site of Willow Grove. The family of Parry is one of the most ancient in the United Kingdom, and their coat-of-arms is registered in Burke’s General Armory. Thomas Parry, above mentioned, was a grandson of Colonel Geoffrey Parry, of Caernarvonshire, who married Margaret Hughes, of Cefn Llanfair, and son of Love Parry, of Wanfour, who was high sheriff of Caernervonshire in 1685, and his wife Ellen, daughter of Hugh Wynn of Penarth. Thomas and Jane (Phillips) Parry were the parents of ten children, eight sons and two daughters. He died in 1751, aged seventy-one years. Phillip Parry, born in the "Manor of Moorland," now Moreland township, Montgomery county, 11 mo. 18, 1716, married 2 mo., 1740, Rachel Harker, daughter of Adam Harker, one of the most prominent Friends of his day in Pennsylvania, and settled in Buckingham township, where he purchased March 11, 1746, 170 acres of land near Holicong. He died on this plantation, the late residence of E. Watson Fell, in 1784, leaving three sons: John, Philip, and Thomas; and five daughters: Hannah, Jane, Grace, Rachel and Mary. John Parry, son of Philip and Rachel (Harker) Parry, born in Moreland, 9 mo. 10, 1743, married 4 mo. 17, 1771, Rachel, daughter of Titus and Elizabeth (Heston) Fell, and granddaughter of Joseph Fell, who came from Longlands, in Cumberland, England, in 1705, by his second wife, Elizabeth Doyle, daughter of Edward and Rebecca (Dungan) Doyle. John Parry died in Buckingham 11 mo. 13, 1807, and his wife Rachel, 2 mo. 18, 1818. They were the parents on nine children: Elizabeth, who married George Shoemaker; Joyce, who married Jacob Shoemaker; Mercy; Charity; Tacy; Rachel; and John, who died unmarried; David, who married Elizabeth Ely, and (second) Lydia Richardson, and settled in Drumore, Lancaster county, and Thomas Fell Parry. Thomas Fell Parry, youngest child of John and Rachel (Fell) Parry, was born in Buckingham 7 mo. 8, 1791. He married 12 mo. 17, 1829, Mary, daughter of Moses and Rachel (Knowles) Eastburn, of Solebury, who was born 9 mo. 13, 1800. Mr. Parry was for many years a resident of Philadelphia, where he was engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1846 he purchased property at Langhorne and two years later removed to that locality, where he spent the remaining years of his long and useful life. He died 3 mo. 27, 1876. His wife, Mary E., died 6 mo. 5, 1872. They were the parents of five children: Rachel, born 9 mo. 20, 1830, married Gilbert Shaw; Elizabeth, born 4 mo. 16, 1832, married William Croasdale; Henry C., born 3 mo. 23, 1834; John E., born 11 mo. 22, 1836, married 2 mo. 14, 1861, Mary Jane Livezey; Charles, born 11 mo, 24, 1839, died 12 mo. 19, 1842. Henry C. Parry, the subject of this sketch, eldest son of Thomas Fell and Mary (Eastburn) Parry, was born in the city of Philadelphia and received his primary education at private and public schools in that city. He was fifteen years of age when the family removed to Middletown, Bucks county, and then entered Pennington, New Jersey, Seminary, where he finished his education. On arriving at manhood he engaged in farming in Middletown township, which vocation he followed successfully for sixteen years. In 1876 he engaged in the coal and lumber business at Langhorne station, which he conducted for twenty-one years, building up a fine and profitable business. He sold out the business in 1887, and has since lived retired. Mr. Parry has always been actively interested in the local affairs of his neighborhood, and has held many positions of trust. He has served as chief burgess of the borough for two terms, and two terms as a member of council. He was for many years a director of the First National Bank in Newtown, has been for eight years a director of the People’s National Bank of Langhorne, and was unanimously elected president of the latter institution in 1899, a position he still fills. Mr. Parry has been actively interested in the improvements in and around Langhorne, and is one of the solid substantial business men of that section. He and his family are members of the Society of Friends. Politically he is a Republican. He was married November 13, 1856, to Susan Gillam Blakey, daughter of William Watson and Anna (Gillam) Blakey, and granddaughter of William and Elizabeth (Watson) Blakey. On the maternal side she is a granddaughter of William and Susanna (Woolston) Gillam, and great-granddaughter of Simon and Anna (Paxson) Gillam, and of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Harvey) Woolstore. There of her lineal ancestors were members of the colonial assembly at one time—Thomas Watson, William Paxson and John Sotcher, all of them serving a number of years. Her great-great-grandfather Mazry Watson, was also a member of colonial assembly for very many years. Henry C. Parry is also a descendant of John Sotcher, though his grandmother Rachel (Knowles) Eastburn. (See Eastburn sketch in this work.) William Blakey Parry, only child of Henry C. and Susan G. (Blakey) Parry, was born in Middletown township, 5 mo. 18, 1858. He was educated in the schools of Middletown and in Philadelphia. He married September 27, 1883, Elizabeth, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Williamson) Moon, who was born 7 mo. 27, 1857. Two children have been born to this marriage: Laura Elizabeth, born July 28, 1891; and Henry Crawford, Jr., born November 2, 1895. Text taken from 287-288 Davis, William W. H., A. M. History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1905] Volume III Transcribed November 2001 as part of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project, www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html Published December 2001 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb pages at www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/ |
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Page was last edited:
11/15/2008