RESOURCE LINKS Obituaries

~Janney

Russell Janney

Russell Janney, husband of Helen Miller Janney, died suddenly Nov, 22 at his home, Taylor Drive and Route 413, Langhorne. Born in Newtown Township, he was the son of the late Horace and Elizabeth Van Horn Janney, He was 74. He was a retired building contractor and a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Levittown, and the Newtown Lodge 437 F&AM. Besides his wife, he is survived by a son, John H. of Langhorne; and a daughter, Miss Margaret J. Janney at home; a brother Stanley of Newtown; a sister, Mrs. Ruth Weiss, of Southampton. Masonic services were conducted. Delaware Valley Advance, 1967

Asa Moore Janney

19 Jun, 2002 Loudoun Times-Mirror, Kindly submitted by Pat Duncan

A giant passes: Asa Moore Janney dies at 94 Asa Moore Janney Jr. was fond of performing Hamlet's description of his father at memorials at the Goose Creek Friends Meeting in Lincoln. Saturday afternoon, hundreds of his friends and family packed the small meeting house to say goodby to Asa Moore, a fixture in the community for nearly a century. They harked to the same words: "He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again." Janney, 94, died June 11 at the Heritage Hall Nursing Center in Leesburg. His health had declined since a stroke earlier this year, but his mind remained as sharp - and playful - as ever, said his wife Arlene. He amused himself and his therapists at Heritage Hall by answering questions in rhyme. And, of course, he recited "Casey at the Bat." Janney's daughter Rachel recalled a visit to the nursing home. Three nurses had helped her father from his bed to a chair. Was he tired from that workout, they wanted to know. "Heck, I'm 94. I was tired before I started," replied Janney. Friends and family shared memories at the memorial, before his ashes were put to rest - in a pine box, at his request - in the Friends Cemetery behind the old stone meeting house. A few in the meeting house wiped tears away, only to burst out in laughter as friends and family shared memories.

Not all Quaker memorials are quite so boisterous, said Arlene later. But it was full of joy, and all the storytelling would have suited Asa Moore just fine. Son Asa Moore III told of the "stinky" chemistry set experiments that cleared the house for hours. The crowds that would gather when his father led impromptu Civil War battlefield tours. The annual Fourth of July firecracker that grew to the size of a loaf of bread. "Pop, I think, we've graduated from a firecracker to a bomb," said the young Asa Moore. Many still recall his ads for goods in the store. "Shirts half off, pants down," one read. Another friend remembered studying religion at a Quaker college. His instructor marveled at his lack of basic knowledge. Well, he countered, his Sunday school teacher at home in Lincoln had been Asa Moore Janney. "I know a lot about the Civil War." Rachel pointed out the two physical attributes she inherited: her height, and her flat feet. "But my real gift," she said, "was growing up in a loving family, in a community that cares for family." the first Janney,

Thomas, came to Pennsylvania with William Penn to found the Quaker colony there. Janneys settled in Bucks County, and moved to Loudoun and to Maryland, where some still live near Sandy Spring. Hannah and Jacob Janney brought their family to Loudoun. Rachel is a third cousin once removed from Allison Janney of "The West Wing." Maybe the show can cast her someday as "the evil twin," she joked. Janney was born April 19, 1908 in Purcellville. His brother Werner was born four years later and went on to a long and distinguished career with the National Geographic Society. The brothers collaborated on a series of books about the Janneys in Loudoun, and the Goose Creek Friends.

"The brothers worked so well together," said Arlene. "The earlier books were done a great deal by correspondence. Asa Moore would write, and send the manuscript to Werner. Werner's expertise made it sound like Asa Moore was talking." Their collaborations included "The Composition Book," "Ye Meetg Hous Smal" and "A Medieval Virginia Town, 1914-1919." They also edited and published "The Ledgers of Israel Janney" and "John Jay Janney's Virginia." By the time Janney left for a chemistry degree at Washington and Lee - one of his colleagues on the track team was future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell - the family had moved to Telegraph Springs Farm and opened the Janney's Store in the old Lyceum Hall in Lincoln. Janney pursued a graduate degree and worked for DuPont in Wilmington, Del., for a few years, but heeded an inner voice and came home to devote himself to family, store, farm and community. He had a habit, during his years as Postmaster, of adding personal notes to envelopes addressed to Lincoln Post Office box holders. Don't you regret not seeing more of the county, the world, a friend asked him a year or two ago. "I haven't seen all of Lincoln yet," he replied. "Pop had at least two other distinguishing characteristics," wrote his children after his death. "He liked inventing and tinkering." They credit him with a device to coat cattle feed with molasses and an efficient hay-bale conveyor for the barn. And telling stories, teaching his family the history of their family and their place. Teaching anyone who took the time to pull up a chair. And reciting Casey at the Bat."

Janney spent most of every day, until his stroke, working on his research and writing letters in the Lincoln store, now owned by John Rubyalid, who operates a law practice there. "It was a rare privilege to be 10 feet from this man for the last year," said Rubyalid. He'd lived a long life, he had no bitterness. He enjoyed every day and made others enjoy it too." Son Asa Moore recounted that the family played a game with their father - one of them would recite a line of poetry, and "Pop" would recite as much of the entire poem as he could remember. It was frequently the entire poem. One of his favorites, said Asa Moore Saturday, was Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar." Crossing the bar to eternity, wrote Tennyson, "Twilight and evening bell/and after that the dark./I hope to see my Pilot face to face/When I have passed the bar." Smaller obituary: Asa Moore Janney Asa Moore Janney Jr., 94, died in Leesburg June 11.

A memorial service was held Saturday at the Goose Creek Friends Meeting in Lincoln, and his ashes were buried immediately afterward in the Friends Cemetery. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Arlene G. Janney of Lincoln; two sons, Asa Moore Janney III of Oakton and John F. Janney of Purcellville; two daughters, Rachael E. Janney of Blacksburg and Hannah L. Janney of Lincoln; and eight granddaughters - Hannah Janney, Myrna Janney, Eliza Janney, Molly Janney, Katie deButts, Rose deButts, Rebeka deButts and Ruth deButts. The family suggested contributions to Loudoun Hospice or the Scholarship Fund, Goose Creek Friends Meeting House, P. O. Box 105, Lincoln, VA 20160.

 

 

Page last updated:     February 21, 2022          Broken Links and to contribute additional data email - Nancy

ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1864) 2nd Inaugural

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan - to do all which may achieve a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. 

 

A Timeline of Bucks County History - Mercer Museum PDF

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February 21, 2022