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Buckingham was organized in 1702-03.  The Empire township. The name Buckingham is of English origin, and in England it is borne by several localities. The first settler is unknown, but John Chapman seated himself in the woods of Wrightstown a few years after Buckingham was settled.

The stream of immigration that brought settlers into the woods of Wrightstown carried them up to the "Great mountain," (Called by the Indians Lahaskekee. Samuel Preston said the Indian name was "Laskeek." In an old paper it is written "Lehoskuk" hill. In 1815 it was called, by some, "Lackawissa."

Among the original settlers were John and Thomas Bye, George Pownall, Edward Henry, Roger Hartley, James Streater, William Cooper, Richard Burgess, John Scarborough, Henry Paxson, John and Richard Lundy, John Large, James Lenox, William Lacy, John Worstall, Jacob Holcomb, Joseph Linton, Joseph Fell, Matthew Hughes, Thomas Weston, Amor Preston, Joseph George, Lawrence Pearson, Rachel Parsons, Daniel Jackson and Joseph Gilbert. Some of these settlers did not come into the township until after 1700.1,2
John Pidcock

Church: BUCKINGHAM MONTHLY MEETING Authorized Marriages, 1730-1810: Bucks County, PA.

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives Joe Patterson OCR'd by Judy Banja and proofread by Donna Thomas

http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/bucks/church/buckinghammm01.txt

 

April 13, 1768 - Buckingham Meeting house burned to the ground., John Dyers Diary

bullet BUCKINGHAM TOWNSHIP
bullet BROAD AXE
bullet BUCKINGHAM
The town
bullet BYCOT
bullet FOREST GROVE
A village in south-western Buckingham Township. First name was Forestville, changed in 1877. 3

 

bullet PIDCOCKS CREAK
bullet WINNAHAWCHUNICK
bullet BOWMAN HILL
bullet

Buckingham Friends

  1. In June, 1705, Buckingham Friends notified Falls meeting that they intended to build a meeting-house, and asked their advice, when Stephen Wilson and John Watson were appointed to collect money among Friends for Buckingham. The house was commenced that year, but it was not finished by September, 1708, when Falls meeting appointed Thomas Streater and Thomas Watson, "to get done with speed." 1, page 280    
bullet Croasdale and Quinby
bullet Photographic Tour
bullet 1703 Map
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Buckingham Villages

  1. There are seven villages in Buckingham, Centreville, Mechanicsville, Lahaska, Greenville, Spring Valley, Bushington, and Concord, the first three being post villages. Centreville, at the intersection of the Durham and York roads, is the largest, containing an Episcopal church, founded nearly half a century ago, two taverns,(Ottoway House a store, mechanics, the Hughesian free school, and about twenty dwellings. The tavern of Mr. Righter has been a famous road-side inn, in its day and generation, and it numbers considerably more than a century of years. Under its roof, the "Bucks county committee of safely" held one of its earliest meetings in 1775, and in it General Green, for a time, had his headquarters during of the most trying periods of the Revolution. Buckingham post-office was established here in 1805, and Cornelius Vanhorne appointed postmaster. Three-quarters of a century ago Greenville was called "Grintown," which name we are told was given it in this wise: A flock of geese driven by a Jerseyman down the York road to Philadelphia becoming unmanageable at this point, the people flocked to the doors to witness the poor man's discomfiture. On seeing these witnesses of his shame, he yelled out in his agony, "this is Grintown." The name stuck to the unfortunate village several years. About 1810 a number of young people were passing a social afternoon at the dwelling of Josiah Shaw, when the name was spoken of in not very respectful terms, and it was suggested that the state of society required a change. Eliza Johnson, daughter of the late Samuel Johnson, was called upon for a new name, when she proposed "Greenville," which was adopted unanimously, and the company was pledged to support it. Forty years ago this hamlet was the seat of a female boarding-school of some local celebrity, but long since discontinued. The other villages named are pleasant little hamlets of a few dwellings each, some with public houses, other without. At Lahaska is a Methodist Episcopal church, built in 1853, and re-built in 1868. The post office at Mechanicsville was established in 1830, and Peter Lester appointed postmaster. The hamlet of Cross Keys, on the Easton pike, a mile from Doylestown, is partly in Buckingham. In 1804 Daniel Stradling kept store there in a house opposite James Dunlaps's tavern. He had formerly been partner of Joseph Morton at Willow Grove.
    1, page 289

 

 

PIDCOCKS Creek rises in Buckingham Township southeast of Buckingham Mountain near Buckingham Valley and flowing northeastwardly enters Solebury Township near Highlon and makes a short loop into Upper Makefield Township. It soon reenters Solebury and, after winding along the northwestern base of Bowman Hill, empties into Delaware Division Canal at the Thompson/Neely House. (center of house built by John PIDCOCK ca. 1701 and still stands in Washington Crossing State Park) It was formerly spanned by two covered wooden bridges. The Neelys Mill Bridge on Delaware River Road (Route 326) was removed entire in 1937 when a new concrete structure was built on its site. It was proposed to relocate this bridge near its old site and preserve it as a model and relic of bygone days, but for some reason this was not done. It was built of hemlock lumber and was 106 feet in length. The second covered bridge, known as VanSandts Bridge, spans the stream on a country road in Solebury about a mile and a half from its stream. It has a length of 86 feet. PIDCOCK CREEK was named for John PIDCOCK, the first settler at the mouth of the creek. He located there prior to 1698, but it was not until May 31, 1701, that he purchased from Gilbert Wheeler the 400-acre tract upon which he resided, known later as the Thompson/Neely tract. The tract included the site of an old Lenni Lenape Indian field and village called Win-na-haw-caw-chuck in the Wheeler and PIDCOCK deeds of 1690 and 1701.
page 321 3

...May not the quest of these adventurous young English bloods have been the menials of John PIDCOCK who, before the township (Solebury) had its being, settled around the mouth of the creek that bears his name and whose deed gave him the right "to dig ore in" the land he bought. Here may be the oldest extant evidence of the hand of white man in Pennsylvania, yet the people of the County and State, even though it is within the bounds of a State Park, look upon it with little more than cold, cursory curiosity. . . page 381 3

WINNAHAWCHUNICK An Indian town in the extreme southeastern part of Solebury Township near Bowman Hill. This long name is a corruption of an Indian word or term, Wund-achga-chunick or Undachgo-chunick, and has been interpreted to mean "at the hill near the water" or "at the hill this side of the water". The identification of the name with this town is explained in a letter by Dr. Henry C. Mercer, discoverer of the town site, to Dr. Amandus Johnson, dated Doylestown, Pa. February 6, 1925, in which Dr. Mercer says: "Mr. Albert Cook Myers, in 1921, sent me a copy of an old deed, discovered by him, of date June 13, 1713, referring to a tract of 500 acres of land, at the mouth of the present PIDCOCKs CREEK (i.e., the site of the Neely Mill), as land previously deeded to John PIDCOCK "to dig ore in" and "as commonly called Winnahawchunick." Knowing nothing of this, I had previously, about 1895, by discovery of Indian relics, established, as I supposed, the site of an Indian village in the field between the Neely barns and the canal." However, this Indian town is mentioned by name in documents of much earlier date than that of the deed cited by Dr. Mercer. It appears in a deed from John Rowland to Gilbert Wheeler to John PIDCOCK, dated May 31, 1701. This Indian town site is now State property under of the control of the Washington Crossing Park Commission and the Department of Forests and Waters. Its boundaries should be defined by markers, with the addition of a tablet suitably inscribed. Page 428 3
 
BOWMAN's HILL Lying nearly midway between the northeastern ends of Jericho and Solebury Mountains, this bold hill is one of the most beautiful and romantic of all the highlands on the lower Delaware River Valley. Its length is about a mile and width less than a mile. It is wholly within William Penn's ancient Manor of Highlands. The present boundary line between Solebury and Upper Makefield Townships crosses it from southwest to northwest. Its elevation is 310 feet above tide level. PIDCOCKS CREEK traverses a beautiful valley at the foot of its northwestern slope. Page 437 3

CHURCHES

Churches of Buckingham

Mount Gilead African Methodist Episcopal church

On the top of Buckingham mountain is the Mount Gilead African Methodist Episcopal church, built of logs, in 1835 and 1836, and re-built of stone in 1852. It is quite a snug edifice, and near by is a graveyard enclosed by a neat pale-fence.
Mount Gilead Church was first constructed of logs in 1832
and later fortified with stone, according to the book "Black
Heritage Sites" by Nancy Curtis. The church was one of
the last stops in Pennsylvania for slaves heading to New
Jersey, according to the book.

PHOTOS

Orthodox Friends Buckingham

The Orthodix Friends' meeting-house of Buckingham was built in 1830. The date was cut by Joseph Fell on a stone and placed in the front wall.

Trinity Church-Buckingham

Rt 202 & 413
Buckingham, PA 18912
Phone: (215) 794-7921

Church: BUCKINGHAM MONTHLY MEETING Authorized Marriages, 1730-1810: Bucks County, PA.

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives Joe Patterson jpatter@epix.net
OCR'd by Judy Banja jbanja@email.msn.com and proofread by Donna Thomas Dmt1951@aol.com
 

SCHOOLS

We learn that Buckingham Township was fortunate in the quality of her early schools. Thomas Smith gave a lot of ground whereon the "The Red School House" was built. "Tyro Hall" was erected in 1790. the "Hughesian Free School" in 1811, and the "Martha Hampton and Hannah Lloyd Boarding School for Girls" in 1830. Another one is "church's School", which is located nearly four miles east of Doylestown.

Richard Church produced at Buckingham Monthly Meeting of Friends, 9th month, 4th day, 1729, a certificate from Ireland dated 2nd month, 4th day, 1729. He was born in Ireland, but was of English ancestry. He married Sarah Fell in 1735 and settled on the northwest corner of the tract of two hundred sixty-five acres patented to him by John Penn, Thomas Penn, and Richard Penn in 1741, having had possession before the patent was issued. It was part of the five hundred acres laid out by Cutler in his resurvey, to the proprietaries in accordance with orders given to lay out that quantity in each township not fully taken up. Church lived there until his death in 1822. He had nine children, three sons, Moses, John, and Joseph, and six daughters. Of the sons only one, Joseph married, and he and Moses lived on the old plantation and all are buried in a little walled graveyard back in the fields not far from the schoolhouse.

Some descendants of the sisters and daughters of Joseph Church still reside in the neighborhood but the name of church is extinct in that locality. Sarah Church, eldest daughter of Joseph, married Jonas Fell, and they were the grandparents of Dr. John A. Fell of Doylestown. His second daughter, Eleanor, married Moses Bradshaw, but they removed to Indiana. His third daughter, Elizabeth, married Benjamin Carlisle, and they have descendants living in the neighborhood.

About the year 1801 Joseph church leased a small plot of ground to his neighbors, for the establishment of the school, and entered into the following agreement:

An agreement made and entered into by us the subscribers for the purpose of building a schoolhouse on a piece of land belonging to Joseph Church and laying by the Doylestown road, and bounded by land belonging to Joseph Fell on the southwest side for which land I, Joseph Church engages to give a least in trust to such persons as shall be hereafter appointed to take one, for the use of a school for the term of ninety-nine years, and have agreed to build a house of stone and laid in lime and sand mortar, to be twenty feet wide and twenty-six feet long, to be one story high and have appointed John Bradshw and Isaiah Michener to employ workmen, provide materials, and superintend the building the house. And we also bind ourselves our heirs and executors to pay in money, labor or materials, such sums as are annexed to our names, unto the aforesaid John Bradshaw and Isaiah Michener. We further agree that if the first subscription should prove insufficient to complete the house we ill advance in proportion to our subscription, and if there should be any over plus it shall be returned to the same proportion.

This lease with the names of the subscribers and the several amounts annexed was found to be insufficient, as only seventy-six pounds, nine shillings and six pence of the required sum had been subscribed. It was again circulated and the necessary amount was realized, one hundred and nine pounds, five shillings, and four pence; equivalent to $291.37 1/2.

The increased subscriptions were made by the same twenty-nine persons whose hames were:

  1. Thomas Michener
  2. John Bradshaw
  3. John Fell
  4. Elisha Michener
  5. Cornelius Shepherd
  6. Johathan Fell, Jr.
  7. John Shaw
  8. Thomas Fell
  9. Samuel Gillingham
  10. Samuel Gilbert
  11. Rober Waker
  12. Joseph Church
  13. Isaiah Michener
  14. Meshack Michener, Jr.
  15. William Sands
  1. Jonas Fell
  2. Asa Fell, Jr.
  3. Samuel Delp
  4. Abraham Myers
  5. Jonathan Large
  6. John Hughes
  7. Benjamin Cadwallader
  8. Thomas Fell
  9. Meschack Michener, Sr.
  10. Joseph Shepherd
  11. Jesse Dean
  12. Jesse Wilson
  13. George Delp
  14. Jonathan Fell
Papers Read before the Bucks County Historical Society, Volume 5, page 359

 

Residents

The Bucks County Gazette (Bristol, Pennsylvania) June 28, 1907

MARRIED MAN ELOPES

Furlong, a little village near here, was convulsed this week by the news that Elmer Carver, a butcher and a married man, and Mrs. Jeanie Weber, a widow, had eloped. Gossip has a long tongue but in this case the faccts are unquestioned. Carver and Mrs. Weber were caught under compromising circumstances by the formers wife and the two left together shortly, after that. No effort has been made to locate them, it is said.

 

 

 

The United Kingdom Connection

Buckingham town is an ancient place, founded in the 6th century by the invading English or Angles who came to this island from North Germany at the time of the withdrawal of Roman legions from Britain. There had been settlement in the area even before this - there are remains of Roman villas and burial mounds nearby, and there is evidence of the original Celtic Britons having lived in the area even before the Romans, several centuries before Christ. The name Buckingham means the Home (Ham) of the clan or folk (Ing) of Bucca - who presumably was the folk chief who actually founded Buckingham, originally spelt Buccingahamma. (It is possible that Hamm meant a meadow, rather than home, no-one can be certain.)

In the 9th century, the Midlands of England were divided into shires, (or counties), each of which took its name from the chief town of the county - hence Buckinghamshire or Bucks. Presumably, William Penn, being a native of Bucks England, named some of the settlements of Pennsylvania after the places in his native land. Soulbury is a small village about 10 miles south of Buckingham town, in Buckinghamshire. The origin of the name is Sula - the name of some ancient Anglo Saxon (English ) founder who probably lived about the same time as Bucca, the founder of Buckingham, and Bury - bury derives from Burh, meaning a fort.

Buckingham Palace, which as you know is where the Queen of the UK lives in London, was originally owned by one of the Dukes of Buckingham, who eventually sold the place to America's favourite English king - George III !

There are other places near Buckingham that may have their names repeated in Pennsylvania localities - Wycombe, Northampton, Bletchley, Aylesbury, Beaconsfield, Hillesden.....

 

 

HISTORICAL TABLE

DATES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
bullet 1497 - England & France Explore North America
bullet1607 - Jamestown
bullet1619 - African Slaves - Jamestown
bullet1620 - December Mayflower Arrives
bullet1643 - Dutch war with Indians
bullet1645 - New Amsterdam fell into England's hands and became New York
bullet1682 - Province of Pennsylvania founded

 

Page last updated:   September 11, 2021

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. 

 

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September 16, 2021