JOSHUA TOMLINSON
JOSHUA TOMLINSON, honored as the oldest living resident of
Langhorne, of which city he is a native, and the only surviving charter member
of the Lodge of Odd Fellows in that village, is a representative of ancestry
who settled in Pennsylvania in
the colonial days, shortly before the Revolution. The founders of the American branch of the
family came from England
and settled in Philadelphia and
Bucks counties. They were farmers by
occupation, and Friends in religion.
Mr.
TOMLINSON was born March 24, 1822,
in Middletown township, son of
Aaron and Jane (HEADLEY) TOMLINSON; grandson of William and Rachel (EVERETT)
TOMLINSON; and great-grandson of Richard TOMLINSON. He was educated at the Friends' school and
the Bellview school in Langhorne, that last named being then under the charge
of William MANN, one of the most capable teachers of that day. Young TOMLINSON labored upon the paternal
farm until he was seventeen, and at that early age entered upon an
apprenticeship to the coach-maker's trade in a shop which his father conducted
in connection with his farming labors.
He was so employed for four years, and at the expiration of that time,
his father retiring, he succeeded to the management. He conducted the business with much success
until 1849, when he sold it and went to Maryland,
where he cultivated a plantation for a couple of years. In 1851 he returned to Middletown
and resumed his coach-making business, in which he successfully continued until
1875, when he retired to a finely improved and highly productive farm which he
had previously purchased, and where he made his home for thirteen years. He then made a final removal to Langhorne,
where he has since resided, occupying a beautiful and comfortable home where he
enjoys that well merited ease and contentment which should properly crown so
active and well spent a life. He enjoys
the esteem and confidence of the community, to whose prosperity and advancement
he has materially contributed, and among whom he is held in peculiar regard as
the oldest citizen. He is the oldest
surviving member of and the only charter member now living of Orionto Lodge,
No. 177, I. O. O. F., organized in May, 1846, and of which he has been an
active and contributing member continuously down to the present time, a period
of forty-eight years. He was for five
years a justice of the peace, and for many years was a member and secretary of
the old Attleboro Fire Company. In
religion he is a Friend, and in politics a staunch Republican, having
affiliated with the party when it organized in 1856 for its noble purpose of
staying the aggressions of slaveholders and the prostitution of free soil to
human slavery, a crime against humanity
and a sin against God. Mr. TOMLINSON
married, July 4, 1847, Miss
Lydia Ann NOBLE, of Philadelphia,
daughter of Edward and Elizabeth (TILLER) NOBLE. Of This union were born three children, all
of whom were educated in the Friends' and public schools of Langhorne. They were: 1. Edward Hicks, born May 11,
1848, he married Annie REIGAN, and they became the parents of the following
children-Florence May, born 1874; Joshua Noble, who married in 1904, Elizabeth GRIFFITH: Estelle, Clarence L., and one who died in infancy. Florence
May was married to Ervin FISHER, of Philadelphia,
and they became the parents of two children:
Nevin and Oswald FISHER.
Elizabeth Jane, born September
29, 1850. Frederick Noble,
born June 17, 1855, never
married. Mrs. TOMLINSON, mother of this
family, passed away January 28, 1902,
leaving to her mourning husband and children the tender memories of a beautiful
spirit which shed the light of love upon all who came into companionship with
her.
Test taken from page 342-343 of:
Davis, William
W. H., A.M., History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: The Lewis
Publishing Company, 1905] Volume III
Transcribed October 2003 by Joan Lollis of
Merrillville,
IN. as part of the Bucks Co., Pa.,
Early Family Project, www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html
Published October 2003 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb
pages at www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/