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

THE WILLARD FAMILY have been residents of lower Bucks county and adjoining parts of Montgomery county for the past two hundred years. George Willard, of Marple township, Chester county, on January 24, 1696, purchased 100 acres of land in Northampton township, Bucks county, and on August 23, 1697, purchased two hundred and forty-six acres in Southampton township, same county, on which he then settled. February 17, 1699, he purchased one hundred acres adjoining his last purchase and lived thereon until his death prior to 1718, when his executors conveyed his land, reciting his will as dated January 24, 1706. He left one son George, who was named as executor, with John Shaw, a neighbor.

George Willard, Jr., died in Northampton prior to 1739, at which date letters of administration were granted on his estate. It is not known by the present generation of the family what children he left or how they are descended from George Willard who settled in Bucks county in 1697. Jonathan and George Willard were residents of Northampton township in 1775, and were members of Captain Henry Lott’s company of Northampton Associators, and as such participated in the Jersey campaign of 1776-7, being stationed at Billingsport, New Jersey, November 16, 1777. As tradition relates that the father of Jesse Willard (an account of whom and his descendants follows) served in the revolutionary war in a Bucks county company, he was doubtless a son of either Jonathan or George above mentioned. Jonathan Willard died early in the century, leaving a widow Elizabeth, who died in 1825, at the age of ninety-three years, and a large family of children.

JESSE WILLARD, the grandfather of Dr. J. Monroe Willard, principal of the Philadelphia Normal School for Girls, and of Mrs. Keziah D. Hogeland, and Mary Jane Hogeland, of Southampton, Bucks county, born about 1765 or earlier, resided in early life in the township of Moreland, now Montgomery county. On January 7, 1786, he purchased three tracts of land in Southampton, Bucks county, and settled thereon, but in 1799 sold his Bucks county real estate and is said to have returned to Moreland. Jesse Willard was married twice, his first wife being a Wynkoop, his second Margaret Van Artsdalen whom he married December 20, 1800. He had two sons, David and Wynkoop, by his first marriage, and by his second marriage seven children: Jesse, Esther, James V., Charles, Jackson, William and Jane. Charles married, first, Rachel Stockdale, and second Phebe Lee. William married Christiana _______ and left two children, William and Esther. Jane married Harmon Marshall, and had four children, two of whom are deceased.

James V. Willard, third child of Jesse and Margaret Van Artsdale Willard, was born in Moreland, Montgomery county, April 23, 1806, and married Mary Delaney (born April 30, 1812), daughter of William and Mary Delaney, of Southampton, Bucks county, on February 25, 1830. He settled near Rocksville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. They were the parents of thirteen children:

1. Jesse, born December 19, 1830, married Emma C. Streeper, and had two children, Mary W. and Harold Ethelbert. Jesse was a teacher and was drowned at Flat Rock Dam, Schuylkill river, August 15, 1859.

2. Eliza Ann, born May 2, 1832, married James T. Blair in 1852, and had five children: Frank P., Mary W., Orilla, Ida Belle and William James.

3. Matilda, born September 18, 1833, married Samuel Stilwell, of Doylestown, and had four children: James Willard, Irene, John Willard and Sarah. Matilda died May 11, 1901.

4. John V., born December 9, 1835, died March 7, 1866, unmarried.

5. Keziah D., born July 23, 1837, married John Hogeland.

6. Mary Jane, born April 6, 1839, married Morris Hogeland.

7. Emily M., born June 22, 1840, married Martin V. B. Dager, and had three children; Charles O. Dager, D.D.S.; Jesse, and Martin V. B. Jesse died in infancy.

8. Julia, born August 30, 1842, married John C. Fenton, and had eight children: James Monroe W., Simon, Anna, Morris, Mary W., J. Purington, John and Blanche.

9. Louisa, born June 30, 1844, married Samuel D. Cornell, and had four children: David, Harold, Horace and Mary W. Louisa died September 23, 1904.

10. Esther, born August 14, 1846, died in infancy.

11. James Monroe, born February 13, 1848, married Sarah A. Stout, and had one daughter, Florence Gillingham.

12. Josephine Delany, born November 4, 1849, married Morris H. Trego, and had one daughter, Marian W.

13. Margaret, born December 16, 1851, died October 8, 1862.

On the death of his father, J. Monroe Willard accepted a position as teacher in a little school near Willow Grove, at a place known as Kirk’s Corner, and taught there for a short time. Finding that it was possible for him to return to finish his course at the Philadelphia High School, he resigned this position. After finishing his course at the high school, he taught for three months in Springfield school, Springfield township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He began his career as a teacher in the public schools of Philadelphia in January, 1866, as principal of the Washington Consolidated School, Twenty-third Section; January 1, 1868, he was made principal of the Randolph School, Twenty-fifth Section; November, 1869, elected to the principalship of the Forest School, Twenty-eighth Section; in March, 1880, to the principalship of the Germantown School, Twenty-second Section, which he resigned July 7, 1896, upon his election to the principalship of the Northeast Manual Training School, which position he relinquished in September, 1898, to become principal of the Philadelphia Normal School for Girls. In April, 1903, the honorary degree of D. Lit. (Doctor of Letters) was conferred upon him by the Board of Public Education in recognition of the “long service and eminent ability of James Monroe Willard and the fact that he stands at the head of the educational corps in the training of young ladies in the public schools of this district, conferring upon him an honorary degree worthy of his literary and scholastic attainments, and for the honorable distinction he has attained in his years of service in the public schools of the First School District of Pennsylvania.”

Dr. Willard has always been actively interested in educational matters. He was a charter member of the Teachers’ Institute of Philadelphia, and president of the same for two years, 1887-88. He was also one of the organizers of the Educational Club of Philadelphia, and its president for the first five years, 1892-96. He was vice-president of the Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Middle States and Maryland for one year, 1903. He was also instrumental in forming the Philadelphia Teachers’ Association, and was corresponding secretary of that body for two years. He is also a member of the Public Education Association of Philadelphia, and maintains his interest in Bucks county, as shown by his membership in its Historical Society.

Text taken from page 398

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

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

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