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

BURROUGHS MICHENER. Among the active and successful business men of Buckingham is Borroughs Michener, of Mechanicsville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He was born in Buckingham, May 7 1855, and is a son of Samuel and Beulah T. (White) Michener. The ancestor of the Michener family of Bucks county was John Michener, who with his wife Sarah came from England to Pennsylvania, and settled in Philadelphia about 1685. He later removed to Moreland township, where he died. He had several daughters and two sons: John and William. The latter, born 10 mo. 14,1696, married at Abington Meeting of Friends in 1720, Mary Kuster, granddaughter of Paulus Kuster, who came to Germantown from Crefeldt, on the Rhine, in 1687. William Michener settled in Plumstead township, Bucks county, in 1722, and became an extensive landowner there and a prominent citizen. He was for many years an elder of Friends Meeting. He died in 1782, leaving six sons and four daughters, whose descendants are now widely scattered over the United States, many of them achieving distinction in the various walks of life.

Meschach, fifth son of William and Mary (Kuster) Michener, was born in Plumstead township, Bucks county, 4 mo. 22, 1737, and died 1 mo. 9, 1826. He was a farmer in Plumstead and Buckingham townships and a considerable landowner in both townships. He married, 11 mo. 24, 1761, Mary Trego, of Wrightstown, Bucks county, and they were the parents of eleven children.

Marmaduke Michener, tenth child of Meschach and Mary (Trego) Michener, was born 12 mo. 28, 1780, and died 3 mo. 25, 1864. He was a farmer and lived the greater part of his life in Plumstead township. He married Hannah Stradling, of Plumstead, born 1784, died December 26, 1866.

Samuel Michener, son of Marmaduke and Hannah (Stradling) Michener, was born in Plumstead township December 15, 1805, and died March 24, 1885. He was a miller by trade, and in early life worked at that trade at Spring Valley and elsewhere, but later turned his attention to farming. He married Beulah T. White, born in Buckingham, July 26, 1815, died September 25, 1899, and their children were: Preston J., born August 18, 1839, now living at Oak Lane, Philadelphia county; James S., born October 22, 1842, now living at Lahaska, Bucks county; Eli C., born October 13, 1845; Hannah A., born October 1, 1849, now the wife of Henry Livezey, of Hatboro, Pennsylvania; and Burroughs, the subject of this sketch.

Burroughs Michener, was reared in Buckingham and Solebury townships, Bucks county. He was thrown upon his own resources at an early age. His first employment was at the age of eight years when he engaged with a blind man, to lead him about, and he continued with him for eight years. At the close of his engagement with the blind man he found employment on a farm in Solebury, where he remained for one year. On April 1, 1871, he apprenticed himself to John B. Davis, at Lahaska, to learn the blacksmith trade. After finishing his apprenticeship, he worked as a journeyman blacksmith for Patrick Barrett, at Mechanics Valley, for one year, one at Pineville, and then removed to Jenkintown, where he remained for one year. In August, 1878, he purchased the blacksmith shop at Mechanicsville, Bucks county, and started into business for himself, which he continued until 1883, when, his health failing, he purchased a small farm near Mechanicsville, and sold out the blacksmith stand and business. One year later he purchased the stage route between Doylestown and Carversville, which he conducted for seven years. He then purchased the livery business at the fountain House, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, but after conducting it for fifteen months sold out and returned to Mechanicsville. In 1898 he purchased a lot there and conducted a plant of green houses, raising flowers for the Philadelphia markets, which he conducted for several years. In 1899 he was elected recorder of deeds of Bucks county, and served a term of three yeas, part of which time he resided in Doylestown. In 1902 he was elected one of the board of directors of Doylestown National Bank, a position which he still fills. He was largely instrumental in effecting a reorganization of the bank, after its close in 1903. He was president of a company organized to build a trolley line from Doylestown to New Hope, via Mechanicsville, and was active in securing a right of way for the road. He is one of the trustees and directors of the Hughesian Free School, president of the Mechanicsville Cemetery Company and holds other positions of trust. He is a member of Black Eddy Lodge, No. 191, I. O. O. F.; St. Tammany Castle, No. 173, K. G. E., Lenape Council, No. 1117, Royal Arcanum, of Doylestown, and of a lodge of the I. O. R. M., of Lambertville. Mr. Michener married, in December, 1877, Miss Arabella Collins. They have no children.

Text taken from page 367

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

Transcribed June 2002 as part of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project, www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html

Published July 2002 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb pages at www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/