F CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM Date Due BR MAY 2 '64 jBS: FRAGILE PAPER Please handle this book with care, as the paper is brittle. Library Cornell University F 157B8 B72 + . .:—-phies: thig.,r,f.Via»«m Cornell University Library ^^ The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028852304 HON. GEORGE ROSS. ^OOK OF BIOGRAPHIES THIS VOLUME CONTAINS ia®©®4®l.a©^i SEit©aii -OF- Leading Citizens -OF- BUCKS COUNTY, PENNA. " Biography is the only true history."—Emerson, BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING CO., BUFFALO, N. Y. 1899. KB /j7^^-'7l YVIi'Si.iVIKiU 1)3 PRE FAC K "AVING brought to a successful termination our labors in Bucks County in compiling and ^1 editing the sketches herein contained, we desire, in presenting this Book of Biographies b r to our patrons, to make a few remarks, necessarily brief, in regard to the value and importance of local works of this nature. We agree with Ralph Waldo Emerson "that Biography is the only true History," and also are of the opinion that a collection of the biographies of the leading men of a nation would give a more interesting, as well as authentic, history of their country than any other that could be written. The value of such a production as this cannot be too highly estimated. With each succeeding year the haze of Obscurity removes more and more from our view the fast disappearing landmarks of the past. Oblivion sprinkles her dust of forget- fulness on men and their deeds, effectually concealing them from the public eye, and because of the many living objects which claim our attention, few of those who have been removed from the busy world linger long in our memory. Even the glorious achievements of the present age may not insure it from being lost in the glare of greater things to come, and so it is manifestly a duty to posterity for the men of the present time to preserve a record of their lives and a story of their progress from low and humble beginnings to great and noble deeds, in order that future generations may read the account of their successful struggles, and profit by their example. A local history affords the best means of preserving ancestral history, and it also becomes, imme- diately upon its publication, a ready book of reference for those who have occasion to seek bio- graphical data of the leading and early settled families. Names, dates and events are not easily remembered by the average man, so it behooves the generations now living, who wish to live in the memory of their descendants, to write their own records, making them full and broad in scope, and minute in detail, and insure their preservation by having them put in printed form. We firmly believe that in these collated personal memoirs will be found as true and as faithful a record of Bucks Count3' as may be obtained anywhere, for the very sufiicient reason that its growth and development are identified with that of the men who have made her what she is to-day—the representative, leading men, whose personal sketches it has been a pleasure to us to write and give a place in this volume. From the time when the hand of civilized man had not yet violated iv PREFACE the virgin soil with desecrating plough, nor with the ever-ready frontiersman's ax felled the noble, almost limitless, forests, to the present period of activity in all branches of industry, we may read in the histories of the county's leading men, and of their ancestors, the steady growth and development which has been going on here for a century and a half, and bids fair to continue for centuries to come. A hundred years from now, whatever records of the present time are. then extant, having withstood the ravages of time and the ceaseless war of the elements, will be viewed with an absorbing interest, equalling, if not surpassing, that which is taken to-day in the history of the early settlements of America. It has been our purpose in the preparation of this work to pass over no phase or portion of it slightingly, but to give attention to the smallest points, and thus invest it with an air of accuracy, to be obtained in no other way. The result has amply justified the care that has been taken, for it is our honest belief that no more reliable production, under the circumstance?, could have been compiled. One feature of this work, to which we have given special prominence, and which we are sure will prove of extraordinary interest, is the collection of portraits of the representative and leading citizens, which appear throughout the volume. We have tried to represent the different spheres of industrial and professional activity as well as we might. To those who have been so uniformly obliging and have kindly interested themselves in the success of this work, volunteering informa- tion and data, which have been very helpful to us in preparing this Book of Biographies of Bucks County, we desire to express our grateful and profound acknowledgment of their valued services. BuFi-ALO, N. Y., February, 1899. THE PUBLISHERS. N OT E All the biographical sketches published in this volume were submitted to their respective subjects, or to the subscribers, from whom the facts were primarily obtained, for their approval or correction before going- to press ; and a reasonable time was allowed in each case for the return of the type-written copies. Most of them were returned to us within the time allotted, or before the work was printed, after being corrected or therefore be regarded as reasonably accurate. revised ; and these may A few, however, were not returned to us ; and, as we have no means of knowing whether they contain errors or not, we cannot vouch for their accuracy. In justice to our readers, and to render this work more valuable for reference purposes, we have indicated these uncorrected sketches by a small asterisk (*), placed immediately after the name of the subject. They will all be found on the last pages of the book. BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING CO. Book of Biographies bucks county, penna. BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES BUCKS COUNTY ON. GEORGE ROSS, deceased. No ary movement, he paid a military fine, for other family of Bucks County has which he was excommunicated, as the creed furnished our country with as of the Society was most strict against the many illustrious sons, men who have attained support of warfare in any form. In 1786 distinction as pleaders before the bar and in that body sent him to England on a mission, political circles, as has the Ross family, of and, while taking the trip across the water, which the gentleman whose name appears he sustained injuries from a fall down a above was a conspicuous member. As far hatchway which finally resulted in his death back as the family history is recorded, its at Holegate, England, in the home of lyind- members have been prominent figures in the ley Murray, the noted grammarian of that public eye. day. He married Kesiah Wilkenson, by Thomas Ross, who, as a preacher in the whom he reared a large family of children, Society of Friends, was well known in many one of whom was Thomas Ross, the great- parts of England, was a son of Thomas Ross, grandfather of our subject. a native of Scotland, and was born in County Thomas Ross was born in Solebury town- Tyrone, Ireland, in 1708. At the age of ship, Bucks County, where he lived during twenty-one years he departed from the coun- his entire life, and as the records show was try of his nativity for the Colonies, locating in a large land-owner in that section. He fol- Solebury township, Bucks County, Pa., where lowed that most honorable of callings, farm- he soon after joined the Wrightstown Friends ing, and was a very prosperous man. He Meeting. Being a man of superior educa- was the father of two sons, namely : Thomas, tion for that day, he became a noted preacher who was an attorney-at-law and a large land- and a prime factor of that sect. Being owner of this county, resided at Newtown, heartily in sympathy with the Revolution- which was then the county seat of Bucks 12 BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES County, and served as prothonotary of the cratic party. He was united in matrimonial county in 1800; and Hon. John Ross, the bonds with Mary Jenkins of Jenkintown, grandfather of our subject. Montgomery County, a woman well educated, Hon. John Ross was born at Easton, Pa., of large mind, and great force of character. February 29, 1770, and obtained his intel- This union resulted in his leaving the So- lectual training largely in the schools of ciety of Friends, as she did not belong to Easton, where he also read law, being ad- that body, and when it came to making a mitted to the Bucks County Bar in 1792. choice between the one he loved and the Being an able lawyer and a man of sound church, he unhesitatingly chose the former. judgment, he rose rapidly in the ranks of his Their happy union resulted in the birth of profession, and became judge of the Circuit several children, among whom were : J. Jen- Court January 13, 1818, continuing as such kins, who at one time consul to Sicily was ; until April 9, 1830, the district consisting of Thomas, the father of our subject ; and Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester George, who was graduated from Princeton Counties.