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JOHN B. POORE,
county treasurer of Bucks county, was born in Nockamixon
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1867, and is a son
of Robert Alpheus and Hannah (BENNETT) POORE, both
natives of Upper Makefield township, Bucks country. On the
paternal side Mr. POORE is of English descent.
John POORE, born in
Wiltshire, England, in 1615, settled in Newbury, Massachusetts,
in 1635, and became one of the prominent men of that town,
filling the position of selectman and many other positions of
trust. The house built by him is still standing in Newburyport,
and has been continuously owned and occupied by his descendants
to the present generation. He died November 21, 1684, his wife
Sarah and eight of his thirteen children surviving him. The
children were: John, Hannah, wife of Elisha ISLEY; Henry;
Joseph; Mary, wife of John CLARK; Sarah, wife of John
SAWYER; Lydia, wife of Pennel TITCOMBE; and Abigail,
wife of Isaac ISLEY.
John POORE, son of John
and Sarah, was born at Newbury, Massachusetts, June 21, 1642,
and died there February 15, 1701-2. Like his father, he held
many positions of trust in his native town, filling successively
the offices of overseer of wills, selectman and constable, and
many other local offices. He married, February 27, 1665. Mary
TITCOMBE, daughter of William and Joanna (BARLETT)
TITCOMBE, who was born February 27, 1644, and they were the
parents of eight children, seven of whom grew to maturity, viz:
five daughters and two sons, Jonathan and John. The latter died
unmarried August 17, 1705.
Jonathan POORE,
sixth child and only surviving son of John and Mary (TITCOMB)
POORE, was born on the old homestead at Newbury Neck,
February 25, 1678, and died there June 30, 1742. He filled many
important positions and dealing extensively in real estate, he
was one of the prominent men of that locality. He married,
August 18, 1703. Rebecca HALE, daughter of John and Sarah
(JAQUES) HALE. She was born February 18, 1693,
and died March 16, 1760, having married (second) Jonathan
JEWETT. Jonathan and Rebecca (HALE) POOR (sic) were
the parents of nine children, six of whom grew to mature age,
two sons and four daughters. The eldest son, John, born 1711,
died 1792, was prominent in the affairs of his native town and
took an active part in the war of the revolution. His wife was
Ann LONGFELLOW.
Daniel POORE, sixth
child and second surviving son of Jonathan and Rebecca (HALE)
POORE, was born in Newbury, Massachusetts, March 13, 1716.
On arriving at years of manhood he settled at Haverhill on land
given to him by his father, in that part of Haverhill, which
fell into the state of New Hampshire in the readjustment of the
state lines in 1741, and was later incorporated into a district
under the name of Plaistow, and in 1769 incorporated into the
town of Atkinson. The land on which he lived was owned and
occupied by his great-grandson, Jeremiah T. POOR, (sic)
as late as 1880. Daniel POORE was an enterprising and
prominent man in the community, a surveyor, officer of militia,
etc. He died January 9, 1792. He was twice married: his first
wife and the mother of his six children was Anna MERRIL,
(sic) born in Haverhill, March 18, 1718-19, and died July 6,
1781. She was a daughter of Nathaniel and Ruth (WALLINGFORD)
MERRILL. Her father and grandfather were born in Newbury,
and her great-grandfather, Nathaniel MERRILL, was the
ancestor of the now numerous family of the name. Daniel
POORE married (second) February 24, 1782, Lydia BRADLEY,
who survived him but nine days. The children of Daniel and Anna
(MERRILL) POORE were: Jonathan, Daniel, David, and
Jeremiah, all of whom lived and died in New Hampshire: Merrill,
who died in infancy, and John.
John POORE, youngest son
of Daniel and Anna (MERRILL) POORE, was born at Plaistow,
(now Atkinson) New Hampshire, July 8, 1732, and received an
excellent classical education, graduating at Harvard College,
Massachusetts, in 1775, and followed the profession of a teacher
during the active years of his life, first in his native state
and later in Philadelphia and Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He
came to Philadelphia after the death of his wife, and in 1787
became the principal of a young ladies academy established there
in that year, being it is said the first institution of its kind
in the country. His pupils were from all parts of the United
States, from the West Indies, Nova Scotia and Canada. He had
married November 2, 1777. Sarah FOLSOM, born in Statham,
New Hampshire, February 10, 1758, daughter of John and Martha
FOLSOM, by whom he had four children all born in New
Hampshire. His wife died August 3, 1784. While principal of
the young ladies academy in Philadelphia he married one of his
pupils, Jane NEELY, daughter of William and Elizabeth (THOMPSON)
NEELY, of Solebury, bucks county, Pennsylvania, where she
was born in March 1767. Her grandfather, Robert THOMPSON,
was one of the four brothers who with their widowed mother,
Elizabeth (McGRAUDY) THOMPSON, and her brother,
McGRAUDY, settled on the Neshaminy, in Warwick and
Northampton early in the seventeenth century. They were
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, and pillars of the churches of that
denomination at Neshaminy and elsewhere. Robert, the youngest
of the brothers, married in 1747-8, Hannah (DE LA PLAINE)
SIMPSON, born 3 mo. 4, 1714, widow of John Simpson, of
Solebury, and daughter of Jane and Hannah (COCK) DE LA PLAINE,
and granddaughter of Nicholas DE LA PLAINE, a native of
France, who came to New York from Holland, where he had married
Susanna CRESSON, daughter of Pierre CRESSON, also
a native of France, who had married in Holland, Rachel CLAES,
and later emigrated to America with his family and that of
Nicholas DE LA PLAINE and settled on Staten Island.
Susanna (CRESSON) DE LA PLAINE was born at Ryswick,
Holland. Robert THOMPSON was one of the founders of the
Presbyterian church of Lower Solebury, now known as the Thompson
Memorial church in his honor, and of which he was for many years
a ruling elder. He died in 1804 at a very advanced age. The
only child of Robert and Elizabeth (DE LA PLAINE-SIMPSON)
THOMPSON was Elizabeth, born 11 mo. 29, 1748-9, who
married William NEELEY. The later was also an elder of
Solebury Presbyterian church. He died July 10, 1818, at the age
of seventy-six years, and his wife Elizabeth on February 13,
1834, in her eighty-sixth year.
In 1809 John POORE left
Philadelphia and settled in Solebury, where he taught school for
a number of years. In 1815 his family and others erected for
him an academy building, still standing in New Hope, where he
conducted a select school for young ladies for several years.
His wife, Jane NEELY, died on May 15, 1827, and he then
removed to York Haven, York county, Pennsylvania, and resided
with his son Charles M. POORE, until his death on
December 5, 1829, and is interred at Liverpool, York county,
Pennsylvania. He was also in his earlier years a teacher of
vocal music and was an accomplished linguist. He was a staunch
Presbyterian, and assisted in establishing the first Sabbath
schools in Philadelphia in 1791, and taught one on Cherry street
in that year. He was a ruling elder of the Presbyterian church
during his residence in Solebury. By his first wife, Sarah
Folsom, he had four children, John Folsom, George, Charles
Merrill, and Ann, who married Rev. Alfred METCALF and
lived and died in New Hampshire. Three sons all became
prominent merchants in Baltimore, Maryland. John died there
unmarried in 1858. George and Charles Merrill were in
partnership in Baltimore until 1812, when they removed to York
Haven, York county, Pennsylvania, where George died in 1821, and
Charles M., in 1832, the children of the former settling in
Ohio, and of the latter in New Jersey.
The children of John and Jane (NEELY)
POORE, were: Daniel, born October 12, 1793, died April 12,
1888: Jane Neely, born March 16, 1796, married (first) January,
1832, Charles H. BOSS, of New Jersey, who died September,
1835, and (second) in 1852, Josiah HART, who died in
1864: and Hannah De la Plaine POOR, (sic) born February
19, 1799, married Solomon H. OPDYCKE, of New Jersey.
Daniel POORE,
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was the eldest son of
Professor John POORE by his second marriage with Jane
NEELY, and was born in Solebury township, October 12, 1793,
and spent his whole life in that and the adjoining township of
Upper Makefield. By the will of his grandfather, William
NEELY, probated in 1818, he was devised a small farm in the
latter township, near Buckmanville, where he died April 12,
1888. He was for many years a justice of the peace, and acted
as a surveyor and conveyancer in his younger days and did a
large amount of official and public business. He married, May
2, 1815, Maria MERRICK, born in Upper Makefield township,
April 23, 1798, daughter of Robert and Hannah (MCMASTERS)
MERRICK, of Upper Makefield, whose ancestors had been
residents of Makefield for many generations: they were
descendants of John MERRICK, a native of Herefordshire,
England, who came to America about 1699 and settled in Lower
Dublin township, Philadelphia county, where he died in 1732.
He married, in 1702, Eleanor SMITH, and his eldest son
John, who married Hannah HULME, settled in Bucks county,
and is the ancestor of the Makefield MERRICKS. The
children of Daniel and Maria (MERRICK) POORE were as
follows: 1. Eliza Thompson, born September 17, 1816, died April
25, 1863: married September 18, 1837. George F. SMITH,
son of Thomas and Sarah SMITH, of Fallsington. 2. Martha
Merrick, born in New Hope, Bucks county, February 18, 1817, died
in Nockamixon township, May 2, 1902: married Brice M. PURSELL.
(See PURCELL family in this work.) 3. Robert Alpheus,
born December 15, 1829--See forward. 4. John Thaddeus, twin
brother of Robert Alpheus, still lives on and owns the farm on
which he was born in Upper Makefield. He married, February 20,
1861, Martha Rachel LEFFERTS, daughter of Elias and
Margaret (SEARCH) LEFFERTS, of Northampton township, and
took charge of the home farm and continued to conduct it and
care for his aged parents until their death, later acquiring
title thereto. He is an active and prominent man in the
community, and served as county commissioner for the term
1896-1899, and has filled many local positions (sic) of trust.
He has three sons, Augustus P., of Doylestown; Elias L., and
James W.
Robert Alpheus POORE was
born and reared in Upper Makefield township Bucks County. He
engaged in farming in his native township for many years, and on
March 14, 1866, was appointed assistant station agent for the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at Riegelsville, New Jersey, he
at that time residing in Bridgeton, now Upper Black Eddy,
Pennsylvania. In 1872 he was advanced to the position of
station agent and remained with them until January 1, 1900, when
at the age of seventy years he was retired, having been in their
service for thirty-four years. He is now living a retired life
at Riegelsville, whither he removed from Bridgeton as soon as a
suitable home was procured for his family.
He married, December 14, 1854,
Hannah BENNETT, daughter of John and Abi (DOANE)
BENNETT, who was born in Upper Makefield, December 4, 1833,
and they were the parents of nine children, four of whom died in
childhood--Those who survive are, William Wallace Trego POORE,
of Rutlege, Delaware county, Pennsylvania; Olivia, wife of S. O.
BACHMAN, of Riegelsville; Martha Merrick, widow of Rev.
J. C. LEIMBACH, residing in Riegelsville; John B., the
subject of this sketch; and Mary Bertha, residing at home. Mr.
POORE died in January, 1901.
John B. POORE, was born
in Nockamixon township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. May 6,
1867. He was educated at the public schools and at the age of
fourteen years entered the railroad office to assist his father,
and remained with the Railroad Company for five years. He then
entered the employ of Cooper & Hewitt, proprietors of
Durham furnace, as bookkeeper, and filled that position for
fourteen years. In the spring of 1900 he formed a partnership
with Henry SIGAFOOS, in the hard wood lumber business,
with offices at Riegelsville, Pennsylvania. The firm has since
done a large and profitable business. In the fall of 1904, Mr.
POORE was elected on the Republican ticket to the office
of county treasurer, and entered upon his duties the following
January. He has been active in the councils of his party for
several years, and is well and favorable known in all parts of
the county.
Mr. POORE married, on
June 7, 1893, Annie Josephine ADAMS, daughter of William
F., and Emily (HUNT) ADAMS, of Riegelsville, the former a
native of New York state, and the latter of New Jersey. Mr. and
Mrs. POORE are the parents of three children, viz:
Dorothy Adams, born March 18, 1894, Donald Norris, born
September 25, 1895; and John B., Jr. born January 25, 1904.
Text taken from page 696 TO 698 of:
Davis, William W. H., A.M., History of Bucks County,
Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company,
1905] Volume III
Transcribed September 2007 by Joan Lollis as part
of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project,
www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html
Published September 2007 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb
pages at www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/
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