History of Bucks
County, Pa Volume 3 by William H. Davis
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SAMUEL COMFORT EASTBURN Samuel Comfort EASTBURN. Among the most enterprising businessmen of lower Bucks county is Samuel Comfort EASTBURN, of Langhorne borough. He is a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (COMFORT) EASTBURN, and was born in Middletown township, Bucks county, August 2, 1848. An account of the first three generations of the paternal ancestors of the subject of this sketch is given in other pages, he being a descendant in the sixth generation of Robert and Sarah (PRESTON) EASTBURN, who came from Yorkshire to Philadelphia in 1713, and settled near Abington, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, a year later. Samuel EASTBURN, the great-great-grandfather of Samuel C., removed to Solebury township, Bucks county, in 1729. His son, Robert EASTBURN, and his first wife, Elizabeth DUER, were the great-grandparents of both the subject and his wife, Elizabeth (MAULE) EASTBURN. Aaron EASTBURN, youngest son of Robert and Elizabeth (DUER) EASTBURN, born 1 mo. 10, 1773, married in 9 mo., 1796, Mercy BYE of Buckingham, and lived in Solebury, dying at the age of seventy-three years, 3 mo. 24, 1846, and Mercy, his widow, dying 2 mo. 21, 1848, aged seventy-four years. They were the parents of ten children, seven daughters and three sons. Joseph EASTBURN, the ninth child of Aaron and Mercy, and the only son who married, was born in Solebury township, 4 mo. 18, 1814. He was reared in his native township of Solebury, but on his marriage, 11 mo. 19, 1846, to Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth COMFORT, of Middletown, settled on a portion of his father-in-law's farm in Middletown. At the death of Samuel COMFORT in 1860, this farm descended to his daughter, Elizabeth C. EASTBURN, and a part of it is the present home of the subject of this sketch. The children of Joseph and Elizabeth (COMFORT) EASTBURN were: Samuel C., born 8 mo. 2, 1848; Anna, born 6 mo. 24, 1852, married John G. WILLETTS; and Thomas, born 8 mo. 21, 1853. Joseph EASTBURN, the father, died 10 mo. 31, 1891. The maternal ancestors of the subject of this sketch were among the early Quaker settlers of this section. John COMFORT was a resident of Amwell township, Hunterdon county, where he died in 1728. He brought a certificate from Flushing, Long Island, to Falls Meeting, 12 mo. 3, 1719. In 1720 he married Mary, daughter of Stephen and Sarah (BAKER) WILSON, and had by her three children: Stephen, Sarah and Robert. Stephen COMFORT married Mercy CROASDALE, and settled in Middletown township, where he acquired several large tracts of land. He died in 1772, leaving sons Stephen, John, Ezra, Jeremiah, Moses, and Robert; and daughters Grace and Mercy. Stephen COMFORT (2), married Sarah STEVENSON, and settled on his father's farm on the Neshaminy, near Parkland, and later purchased considerable adjoining land, most of which became the property of his son Samuel at the death of his father in 1826. The other children of Stephen and Sarah COMFORT were, Stephen, David and Jeremiah. Samuel COMFORT lived upon the Neshaminy homestead until about 1850 when he removed to the village of Attleboro, where he died in 1860, leaving children: Mary Ann; Jesse; Elizabeth, wife of Joseph EASTBURN, and Samuel. He was a prominent man in the community and filled many positions of trust. Samuel Comfort EASTBURN was reared on the Middletown farm, and received his education at the Langhorne Academy and at Westtown Boarding School. He later took a course at Crittenden's Commercial College, Philadelphia. He engaged in railroad surveying for a few years, and then in the dry goods business in Philadelphia, where he remained for ten years. In 1880 he took an agency for the Provident Life and Trust Company of Philadelphia, in the life insurance department, and has been connected with it ever since, now holding the position of general agent for Central Pennsylvania. Mr. EASTBURN is an enterprising and successful business man, and has been closely identified with most of the vast improvements in and about his native town of Langhorne in the last twenty-five years. In 1886 he organized and developed the Langhorne Improvement Company, purchasing for it the 620 acres of land upon which the present borough of Langhorne Manor is built. In 1887 he built the Langhorne water works, which now supply water to the three boroughs of Langhorne, Langhorne Manor and Attleboro, and in the same year he built the Langhorne brick works. In 1888 he organized the Langhorne Electric Light Company. He was treasurer and superintendent of the Langhorne Manor Inn, now the Foulke and Long Institute. He has been largely instrumental in the sale and development of suburban real estate, and has been for many years a foremost advocate of the improvement of the public roads. He has always been an ardent advocate of progress and improvement, and has been a potent force along these lines in the community in which he lives. In religion he is a member of the orthodox branch of the Society of Friends. In politics he is a Republican, though never a seeker or holder of other than local office, being for some years a justice of the peace, and filling other local offices. He married May 3, 1876, Elizabeth L., daughter of Joseph E. and Sarah (COMFORT) MAULE, of Philadelphia, who was born 2 mo. 10, 1851. She is a granddaughter of John and Ann (EASTBURN) MAULE, the latter being a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (DUER) EASTBURN, and a sister to Aaron EASTBURN, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. The children of Samuel C. and Elizabeth (MAULE) EASTBURN are: Herbert Maule, born 3 mo. 25, 1877; Samuel Arthur, born 10 mo.3, 1878; Joseph Maule, born 4 mo. 25, 1880; and Howard Percy, born 2 mo. 15, 1887. Herbert is the general agent of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company at Trenton, New Jersey; Samuel A. is district agent for the Provident Life and Trust Company at Williamsport, Pennsylvania; Joseph M. is superintendent of the Redwood Lumber Manufactory, at Samoa, California, for Hammond & Co.; Howard P. is a civil engineer in the employ of the Good Roads Commission of Pennsylvania. All of the brothers are successful in their chosen careers, and all are single. Text taken from page 20 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 GRACE T. BURTON of PA as part of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project, www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html Published May 2000 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb pages at www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/ |
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Page was last edited:
11/15/2008