History of Bucks County, Pa Volume 3 by William H. Davis
Names and Page # Index

SAMUEL B. LANDIS, of Hilltown township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, October 4, 1849, and is a son of Rev. George M. and Mary (BECHTEL) LANDIS. John LANDIS, the pioneer ancestor of the subject, of this sketch, came to Pennsylvania from the borders of Switzerland in or about the year 1700, and located for a time in the neighborhood of Germantown. He was accompanied to America by Benjamin LANDIS, supposed to be a brother who was a minister among the Mennonites, to which sect John LANDIS also belonged. Rev. Benjamin LANDIS later located in Lancaster county, where he has numerous descendants. John LANDIS, following the trend of German migration up the Schuylkill and its tributaries, eventually located in Milford township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he purchased land in 1743. He died in 1750, leaving a widow Anne, and several sons, only two of whom, Jacob and Samuel, are mentioned by name in his will. Jacob was made executor with a brother-in-law, Jacob MUSSELMAN, and the plantation was devised to Samuel, he to have possession when the youngest son should be nineteen years of age, "which will be in January, 1759." Samuel Landis, the son, died in 1771, leaving a widow Margaret, who married Michael MUSSELMAN, and children: John, Jacob, George, Anna; Barbara, wife of Jacob Shelly; Abraham, Eve and Samuel.

Jacob LANDIS, the second son of Samuel and Margaret, born about 1745, purchased a large tract of land in Richland, near California, and lived theron until about 1800, having previous to that date conveyed the greater part to his sons, John George and Jacob. He probably located later in life in Lehigh or Montgomery county, as there is no further record of him in Bucks.

George LANDIS, son of Jacob and Barbara, was a turner by trade, and located prior to 1788 in Springfield township, where he purchased a farm of fifty acres in that year. In 1794 he located at California, Richland township, where he followed his trade in connection with farming. In 1806 he purchased a farm of 137 acres in Haycock, and lived there until his death in 1842, at an advanced age. He married Anna MEYERS, and they were the parents of eight children; two sons, George and John; and six daughters-Barbara, Catharine, Anna, Sarah, Maria and Elizabeth.

George M. LANDIS, eldest son of George and Anna (MEYERS) LANDIS, was born at California, Richland township, December 20, 1796. He learned the trade of a turner with his father, and followed it in Haycock, in connection with the conduct of fifty acres of the old homestead conveyed to him by his father in 1822, until 1857, when he sold his farm and removed to Hilltown, where he purchased the farm and mill belonging to the estate of Peter LOUX, where he resided the remainder of his life. He was a preacher in the Mennonite church, being the first preacher at the Flatland church in Richland, which he helped to build, contributing both money and labor. On the Hilltown homestead, purchased in 1859, was a mill known as the old Fretz Mill, erected by Martin Fretz, which George MOYER operated after settling in Hilltown. He died August 28, 1881. He was twice married, first on March 28, 1820, to Barbara ROSENBERGER, daughter of Jacob and Catharine (RICKERT) ROSENBERGER, of Rockhill, who died November 30, 1842, and their children were: Jacob, born JULY 7, 1822; Ephraim, born December 13, 1824, George R., born November 2, 1828; John L. born March 25, 1832, George M. LANDIS married (second) August 22, 1843, Mary BECHTEL, born August 12, 1804, and they were the parents of one child, Samuel B. LANDIS, the subject of this sketch.

Samuel B. LANDIS, born on the old homestead in Haycock, October 4, 1849, removed with his parents to Hilltown when a lad, and was educated in the public schools of Haycock and Hilltown. He remained on the farm with his parents assisting in the operation of the farm and mill, and at the death of his father purchased the farm and still resides there. He has attended the Philadelphia markets for eighteen years, doing a large commission business in the marketing of his neighbor’s produce. Like his ancestors for many generations, he is a member of the Mennonite church. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. LANDIS married, January 23, 1869, Mary Ann HOCKMAN, born June 3, 1848, daughter of Ulrich and Margaret (MYERS) HOCKMAN, of Bedminster, and they were the parents of twelve children, as follows; John, died in infancy; George, born June 8, 1870, married Ida KACHLINE, and has three children,-Charles, Samuel and Mary; Mary, born September 8, 1872, wife of Jonas HOCKMAN; Catharine, born September 22, 1874, wife of John MUSSELMAN; Ella, born September 9, 1876, wife of Samuel MOYER; Sallie, born November 24, 1878, wife of William KELLER; Daniel, born July 31, 1881, Died August 28, 1882; Emma, born May 10, 1883, married William DUNLAP; William and Ida, twins, died in infancy; Anna, born December 27, 1890; Lettie, born March 28, 1892.

Test taken from page 353-354 of:

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