~ Ivyland Borough

The Borough of Ivyland - municipality

In 1777, General Washington had his headquarters at The Moland House in Hartsville, where it is believed that the "Betsy Ross" flag was first flown

Battle's History of Bucks County 1887

1. Alfred Marple, P. O. Langhorne, was born in Philadelphia, December 28, 1819, being a son of David and Eliza Ann (Hart) Marple. His mother was of English descent and was a daughter of Joseph Hart, Jr., of Warminster, a son of Colonel Joseph Hart of the revolution. John Hart, the founder of the family in America, came over with, or at the time of Penn, and was a noted Quaker preacher. He took up one thousand acres of land in Warminster and Byberry. The family homestead in Warminster was until recently in the family. Forty acres of the farm are now included in the town of Ivyland .
2. Neasham Tribe, No. 160, Improved Order of Red Men, was instituted at Ivyland February 21, 1885, with the following persons as incumbents of their respective offices: William Orem, Sachem, Edmund Barton, S. S., S. D. Edwards, J. S., W. Carr, C. R., Charles T. Horner, K. W., S. C. Finney, P., W. II. Barton, I. G., Tobias Sneekenburger, 0. G.
3. The Warminster Presbyterian church was organized February 10, 1839. Reverend Thomas B. Bradford was pastor from 1839 to 1841 ; Henry R. Wilson, D.D., 1812-49 ; Jacob Belville, D.D., 1850-60 ; A. M. Woods, 1860-70 ; and G. H. Nimmo from that time to the present. The church edifice at Hartsville was built in 1842, a lecture-room some years later, and a chapel at Ivyland quite recently.
4. Samuel E. Robinson, hotel-keeper, P. O. Warminster, is a son of Samuel and Mary L. Robinson, both of whom came from England, the former in 1816. The family settled in Warrington township, but subsequently returned to England, with the exception of three sons and one daughter. All are now deceased but the daughter. The father of our subject was a farmer, and after his marriage bought a farm in Warrington township, on which he lived until late in life, when he removed to Doylestown, where he died in February, 1884. His wife was Mary L. Sutton, who came from England with her parents, who settled in Buckingham township. She was born in 1800, and died in 1879. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson had five children, all living: Jane, Emma, Anna, Edmund and Samuel E., who was born March 2, 1838, in Warrington township. He lived with his father until he was 29 years old, and for four years thereafter farmed the home place for himself. He then removed to Philadelphia, where he was in a hotel for four years, and in 1875 bought the hotel property in Warminster, with the farm adjoining. Mr. Robinson has been twice married, his first wife being Ellen G., daughter of Jacob Titus, of Warrington, to whom he was married in 1866. She died in 1869, leaving a daughter, Laura E., now living with her father. Mr. Robinson's second wife is Mary A., daughter of Andrew Dudbridge, of Warwick township. They had one child, Mary Blanche. Mr. Robinson is a member of Neshaminy Tribe, No. 160, Improved Order of Red Men, of Ivyland, and of the A. O. U. W., of Hatboro.
5. Albert E. Ramsey, hotel-keeper, P. 0. Jamison, was born in Philadelphia February 7, 1842, his parents being James M. and Sarah J. (Dungan) Ramsey. The Ramsey family were originally from Scotland, and William, the grandfather of our subject, was the only one who settled in Bucks county, his brothers going farther west. William was a farmer. He is buried at the Neshaminy graveyard. James M. Ramsey was born in Bucks county. He began life as a farmer and afterward kept store at Johnsville with his brother. He afterward went to Fox Chase, where he kept hotel for a number of years. He then removed to Philadelphia and kept the Farmers' hay market at Seventh and Oxford streets until his death, which occurred in September, 1870. His widow is still living. They had ten children, of whom nine are living and eight of them in Philadelphia. Albert, our subject, was the second child. After leaving school he was engaged in his father's hotel until his marriage, then went to Fox Chase and ran the hotel there until 1871, when he engaged in the coal business in Philadelphia. Three years later he went to Bustleton and clerked and travelled on the road for J. P. Varee & Co. for two years. March 1, 187G, he went to Breadysville, Bucks county, and kept a temperance hotel for thirteen months. He then went to Ivyland and opened the big temperance house there, which he kept one year. He then went to Centerville and kept hotel three years, then to Hartsville two years and in April, 1883, bought the Jamison Corners hotel, which he has conducted ever since. He was married in Philadelphia February .5, 1868, to Miss Anna M. Baker, daughter of Frederick (Weaver) Baker. Her parents are both deceased, her father having died in 1885 and her mother many years previously to that time. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey are the parents of five children, three living : Frederick C, Walter E. and Clarence. Deceased : Julia O. and Byron. Mr. Ramsey is a member of Rising Star lodge, No. 47, I. O. O. F., at Bustleton, also Improved Order of Red Men, at Ivyland, Knights of Golden Eagle at Jamison's Corners, and the Order of Sparta at Philadelphia.
6. Edwin Lacey, farmer, P. O. Wrightstown, was born in Wrightstown township, Bucks county, and is a son of Isaac and Ruth (Twining) Lacey, both natives of Bucks county, and of English Quaker descent. William Lacey was the pioneer of the family in America. He came from the Isle of Wight and settled in Wrightstown. His son John married Rachel Heston in 1718, and had two sons that married : John, to Jane Chapman, in 1746, and Joseph, to Esther Warner, in 1749. John Lacey and Jane Chapman had eight children, one of whom John (afterward General Lacey), became a noted man in his day, serving in the revolutionary war under General Washington. According to the church record kept by the Friends at Wrightstown, he was born December 4, 1752. He married Anatasia Reynolds, daughter of Colonel Reynolds, of Burlington county, N. J. The Lacey family was quite numerous at one time in this section of the country. The great-grandparents of Edwin Lacey were Joseph and Esther (Warner) Lacey (mentioned above), who were residents of Buckingham township at one time. His grandparents were John and Rachel (Wiggins) Lacey, the former born February 19, 1765, and the latter June 6, 1761. They were married March 20, 1792, and had four children : Warner, Benjamin, Isaac and Esther. John Lacey died August 17, 1825. His wife died December 16, 1839. Isaac Lacey was a carpenter by trade, also cabinet-maker and undertaker, and at one time a farmer. He was born and died in the house in which Edwin resides, his death occurring July 15, 1881. The mother was born November 30, 1797, and died July 4, 1807. They had five children : John and Silas, deceased ; Rachel, wife of William H. Birdsall, residing in Clinton county, Ohio ; Edwin and Elizabeth T., who reside together. Edwin was reared to farming, and has always lived in Wrightstown township. He takes an interest in politics, and possesses a pioneer spirit. He attended and took part in the first republican meeting held in the county. He attended the first national republican convention held in Philadelphia; also the second at Chicago, which nominated Lincoln. He served over six years as school director, and was the first to advocate the rebuilding of its school-houses. He is the founder of the town of Ivyland, probably the first regularly laid-out town in the county. August 12, 1873, he began to dig the first cellar, and completed the first house the following winter near the corner of Lincoln street and DuBois avenue. He erected several other buildings. He started the project of building a large temperance hotel there by a stock company in 1875. The company not furnishing enough money to finish it, pidgins, in his zeal to complete the building, indorsed for the necessary material and labor. When it was done it could neither be sold nor rented to advantage, and his remaining lots were sold to pay his indorsements. In 1868 he visited Omaha and bought thirty acres of land in its suburbs for $1350. The growth of the city in the last five years has been so rapid, that in 1887 he was offered and refused $25,000 for it. The value of this land, with the results of persistent toil on the farm, assumes the settlement of all claims against him, with a surplus of over $20,000. Edwin has been a lifelong total abstainer from the use of intoxicating drinks and tobacco, and never indulges in profanity. He favors a constitutional amendment, with a party to enforce it, to prohibit the sale of intoxicating drinks.

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