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ISAAC M. HUNSICKER

ISAAC M. HUNSICKER was born in Hilltown township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, January 17, 1848, and is a son of Abraham and Catharine (MOYER) HUNSICKER.   Valentine HUNSICKER, the pioneer ancestor of the subject of this sketch, was an early disciple of Menno, and found a temporary asylum from religious persecution in Switzerland, from whence he emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1717, and was one of the earliest settlers in Perkiomen and Skippack township, Montgomery, (then Philadelphia) county.  He was one of the founders of the Mennonite congregation at Skippack, and is buried in the old burying ground adjoining the ancient meeting house  (sic) at Skippack.  His son, Henry HUNSICKER, was a minister for fifty-four years, and also a bishop of the Mennonite church, and was succeeded by his son John, who was a bishop and minister for over forty years.  Several of the descendants of Valentine HUNSICKER have become eminent in the legal profession, and others as ministers of the gospel in different denominations.  A great-grandson was lately president of Girard College.

            Jacob HUNSICKER, son of Valentine and Elizabeth HUNSICKER, located in Hilltown township in 1757 on a farm purchased for him by his father, and conveyed to him by his parents in 1768. The original farm contained 100 acres, and he later purchased 250 acres, partly in Hilltown and part in Rockhill township.  He was a successful and prominent farmer.  Strictly adhering to the tenets of the Mennonite faith, he took no part in affairs of state, either military or civil, but was an important factor in the establishment and development of local institutions, and reared a family in whom were instilled the best elements of citizenship.  He and his wife Elizabeth were the parents of nine children:  Jacob; Isaac; Elizabeth, who married Jacob DETWEILER; Catharine, who married John BERGEY; Sarah, who married Abraham KOLB; Barbara, who married John BECHTEL; Anna, who married Henry KOLB; Mary; and Esther, who married Isaac HUNSBERGER.  Jacob, the father, died in December, 1812, his wife Elizabeth surviving him.

            Isaac HUNSICKER, second son of Jacob and Elizabeth, was born in Hilltown and resided there all his life.  He inherited from his father 130 acres of the homestead, upon which he lived until his death in 1860.  He was one of the original trustees of Perkasie Mennonite meeting to whom the deed for the land was made on which the meeting house (sic) and graveyard were located.  He married Anna OVERHOLT, and they were the parets (sic) of nine children, eight of whom married MOYERS: Jacob, born in 1809, died 1880, married Barbara MOYER; Abraham, born December 8, 1811, married Catharine MOYER; Elizabeth, married Samuel MOYER; Hannah, married Isaac MOYER; Anna, married John MOYER; Lydia, married Joseph MOYER; Leah, married Enos MOYER; Mary, never married; and Catharine, married Martin MOYER.

            Abraham HUNSICKER, second son of Isaac and Anna HUNSICKER, born on the old homestead in Hilltown, December 8, 1811, was the father of the subject of this sketch.  He inherited from his father one-half of the homestead, and followed the life of an agriculturist there during the active years of his life, carrying the produce of his farm to the Philadelphia markets by wagon, prior to the opening of the N. P. R.R. He was a well-to-do and intelligent farmer.  He married in 1835, Catharine MOYER, born in Bedminster in 1818, daughter of Christian and Anna (LANDIS) MOYER, granddaughter of Christian and Mary (LANDIS) MOYER, and great-granddaughter of Rev. Samuel and Catharine (KOLB) MOYER of Hilltown.  Abraham HUNSICKER died December 18, 1888.  His children were as follows; Lydia, deceased, first wife of Abraham HENDRICKS, of Perkasie; Nancy, who married (first) Benjamin FELLMAN, and (second) Abraham HENDRICKS;  Elizabeth, wife of Ezra MOORE, of Perkasie; Sarah, wife of William RENNER, of Perkasie; Isaac M., the subject of this sketch; and Abraham, who married Anna OVERHOLT.

            Isaac M. HUNSICKER was born and reared on the old homestead in Hilltown, and acquired his education at the public schools of that district.  He has always followed farming, and is one of the prominent and successful men of the community.  Like his ancestors for many generations he is a member of the Mennonite church, and politically is a Republican.  He married, April 13, 1872, Mary DETWEILER, daughter of John and Annie (DETWELLER) DETWEILER, and they are the parents of three children: Sallie, born July 5, 1876, died August 11, 1877; Leidy, born August 5, 1878, married December 6, 1902,Della MOYER, daughter of William C. MOYER; Emma, born June 5, 1883, married March 20, 1904, Henry SHADDINGER, son of Edward SHADDINGER.

Test taken from page 514 to 515 of: 

Davis, William W. H., A.M., History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1905] Volume III

Transcribed July 2005 by Joan Lollis as part of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project, www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html

Published August 2005 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb pages at www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/