History of Bucks
County, Pa Volume 3 by William H. Davis
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MOSES VANDEGRIFTMOSES VANDEGRIFT. in the preceding sketch of the descendants of Jacob Lendertsen VAN DER GRIFTE, who came from Holland in 1644 to New Amsterdam, where he married in 1648, Rebecca Fredericks LUBBERTSEN, is given an account of the baptism and marriage of Johannes VAN DE GRIFT, youngest son of Jacob and Rebecca, and of the birth and marriage of his children. From two of the sons of Johannes and Nealke (VOLKERS) VANDEGRIFT is descended the subject of this sketch, Folkhart, the eldest, and Jacob the second son. Folkhart (or Fulkerd) VAN DE GRIFT, eldest son of Johannes, was born in the province of New York in 1695, and was therefore but an infant when brought into Bucks county by his parents in 1697. He became a large landholder in Bensalem, a man of importance in the Dutch colony in Bucks, and a member of the Bensalem church. He was twice married, first on May 6, 1719 Elizabeth VAN SANDT, and second on August 10, 1742, to Marytje HUFTE. Neither wife survived him. He died in November, 1775. Of his nine children, Fulkhart, Elizabeth, Harman, Alshe, Abraham, John, Cornelius and Elinor, the first eight are mentioned in his willL Abraham VANDEGRIFT, born about 1725 married Femmentje HUFTE about 1752 and had six children. He died in Bensalem township about 1800. The children were: Elizabeth, baptized at Southampton church August 18, 1754, married John DECOURSEY, and had eight children; Mary, married Benjamin SEVERNS; Abraham; and Catharine, who married Abraham VANDEGRIFT, her second cousin. Jacob VAN DE GRIFT, second son of Johannes and Nealke, baptized at New Amsterdam, October 14, 1696, was the grandfather of Abraham above mentioned. John VANDEGRIFT, eldest son of Jacob, known as "John VANDEGRIFT, Esquire," to distinguish him from his cousins of the same name on the records, married November 14, 1750, Maria (or Mary) PRAUL, who died prior to 1786. He died in 1805; his will dated September 7, 1804, proved May 3, 1805, devised to his eldest son Jacob, (baptized at Southampton, April 18, 1753) a stone house "I am now erecting" and one acre of land, he having been "advanced 400 pounds towards purchasing a plantation." This plantation was in Northampton, where Jacob removed in 1783 and died leaving a large family. The will of John VANDEGRIFT further devises to his son John, I 62 ½ acres on the Dunk's ferry road where the testator lived; to his daughter Jane Johnson a lot on same road; to son Bernard a tract of land in New Jersey purchased of John LONGSTRETH, and to his son Abraham seventy-two acres, "part of the land where he now lives, beginning at brother Jacob's lane end." etc. Abraham, son of John and Maria (PRAUL) VANDEGRIFT, was born in Bensalem in 1766. On his marriage his father set apart to him seventy-two acres of land and built a house for him thereon which has since been the home of his descendants. He was twice married; by his first wife he had a daughter Mary who married John BRODNAX. His second wife was Catharine VANDEGRIFT, daughter of Abraham and granddaughter of Folhart, as previously shown. By this marriage Abraham had two sons, John and Samuel, and two daughters: Elizabeth, who married Joseph MYERS; and Phebe, who married Thomas DARRAH. Abrabarn died in May, 1800, leaving a will made eleven years previously, which was contested by the widow and daughter Phebe, but proved in the court of common pleas in December of the same year. The bulk of the landed property including the homestead descended to the son John. John VANDEGRIFT was born on the old homestead August 12, 1806, and died there in, March, 1878. He was a successful farmer, a Democrat, and a member of the Presbyterian church,. His wife was Susanna SIPLER. She died July 3, 1898. John and Susanna (SIPLER) VANDEGRIFT were the parents of eight children: Jesse, who died young; Jesse (2); Moses; John; Philip, who served three years in the civil war and died January 12, 1900, in his fifty-eighth year; Samuel; Letitia; and George W. Moses VANDEGRIFT, the subject of this sketch, was born on the old homestead June 5, 1840. He was reared on the old farm and received his education at the Eddington school. On arriving at manhood he settled on the old homestead that had been the. property of his ancestors for many generations, and has spent his whole life there. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and politically is a Democrat. He was elected supervisor of Bensalem township in 1888 for two years and was re-elected in 1900 for an additional term. He married January 26, 1870, Sarah KNIGHT, daughter of Strickland and Caroline (BRIGGS) KNIGHT, by whom he has six children: Eugene, born January 4, 1880; Walter, born January 5, 1882; Roland and Oscar, twins, born May 27, 1884, (Oscar died in infancy); Fannie, born November 4, 1885, and Russell, born November 8, 1887. Text taken from page 34 -35 of: Davis, William W. H., A.M., History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1905] Volume III Transcribed May 2000 by Judy Jackson of Missouri as part of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project, www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html Published May 2000 on the Bucks County, P., USGenWeb pages at www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/ |
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Page was last edited:
11/15/2008