HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



33 



Jacob Vandegrift, son of Johannes and 

 Nealke (Volkers) Vandegrift, baptized 

 at New York, October 14, 1696, was but 

 an infant less than a year old when his 

 parents settled in Bensalein township, 

 Bucks county. He married, October 2;^, 

 ■ 1716, Charity Touley. He became a 

 large landholder and a prominent man in 

 the community. He died in 1771. His 

 children were,! John, died 1805, in Ben- 

 salem, leaving live children, viz. :i Jacob, 

 who settled in Northampton township; 

 ( John;VjJane, who married a Johnson; 

 _, Bernard, settled in New Jersey; and Ab-"" 

 ' raham, who married Catharine Vande- 

 grift a granddaughter of Fulerd. 2. Ber- 

 nard, who was devised 200 acres in Up- 

 per Dublin township, and settled there- 

 on; 3. Jacob, who was devised by his 

 father 200 acres of land whereon he was 

 living at his father's death. 4. Charity 

 (or Catharine) who married John Praul, 

 January 20, 1757. 5. Helen (or Elinor) 

 who married Harman Vansant. 



Jacob Vandegrift, third son of Jacob, 

 married first Catrintje Hufte, May 19, 

 1753. and (second) Sarah Titus, Febru- 

 ary 5, 1775, as before stated he settled 

 on 200 acres belonging to his father 

 which descended to him at his father's 

 death. He died in May, 1800, leaving 



five children; Jacob, married Elinor ; 



David, married Sarah — '■ ; William 



Bloomfield, the grandfather of Senator 



Vandegrift; Mary married Bennett; 



and Elizabeth, who married Daniel La- 

 Rue. William Bloomfield Vandegrift in- 

 herited from his father considerable real 

 estate. He was the youngest son, and 

 had just arrived at his majority when 

 the will of his father was proved in 1800. 

 He married Christiana Saund ers. His 

 death occurred in 1854! HTs' children 

 were seven in number, viz.; Sarah Ann, 

 married Charles Tomlinson; Eliza L., 

 married Jacob Johnson ; Eleanor, married 

 Enos Boutcher; Alfred; Charles Souders ; 

 William M., married Eliza Boutcher and 

 Susan, married Peter Conover. 



Alfred Vandegrift was born in Ben- 

 salem township in 1807, and died there 

 ' in 1861. In 1849 his father conveyed to 

 him and his brother jointly a store prop- 

 erty at Eddington, where they conduct- 

 ed a mercantile business until the death 

 of Alfred in 1861. In 1849 he also pur- 

 chased of his father 31^^ acres on the 

 Buck road, which had been the prop- 

 erty of his ancestors for several genera- 

 tions. He married Catharine Gibbs, 

 daughter of John Gibbs, and granddaugh- 

 ter of Richard Gibbs, who was sheriff 

 ^of Bucks county in 1771, and a promi- 

 nent public man. His children were: 

 John Gibbs, born September 2, 1834; 

 William Bloomfield; Elinor, wife of 

 William Lynesson Sayre; Charles Soud- 

 ers, Jr.; Augustus: Henry S.; Lewis H.; 

 Susan ; Mary : Christina ; Alfred and Eliza- 

 beth LaRue. 



33 



HON. CHARLES SOUDERS VAN- 

 DEGRIFT, son of Alfred and Catherine 

 (Gibbs) Vandegrift, is a worthy representa- 

 tive of an old and eminent family. He was 

 born in Bensalem township, August 20, 

 1839. He was reared on his father's farm, 

 and attended the public schools until fifteen 

 years of age, when he entered Captain 

 Alden Partridge's Military School at 

 China Hall, in Bristol township, where 

 he remained for two years. At the age 

 of seventeen he entered the employ of his 

 uncle and namesake, Charles S. Vande- 

 grift, Sr., in the country store at Ed- 

 dington, where he remained as clerk and 

 proprietor until 1873, when he sold out 

 the store, and in connection with J. and 

 E. Thomas opened a lumber yard on the 

 Delaware at Eddington. This partner- 

 ship continued until 1890, when he re- 

 tired from the firm. Since that time he 

 has been employed in the settlement of 

 estates and the transaction of public 

 business. In 1882 he was elected to the 

 state senate and served four years. He 

 was an active member of the upper 

 house, and served on the ways and 

 means, agriculture and other important 

 committees. In politics he is a Democrat, 

 and has served as representative to Dis- 

 trict, State and National conventions. He 

 has always taken an active interest in 

 local matters, and served his township 

 officially at dififerent periods. He is presi- 

 dent of the Good Roads Association of 

 Bensalem township, and one of its most 

 active and efficient members. He is a di- 

 rector of the Farmers' National Bank; 

 president of the Farmers' and Mechanics' 

 Mutual Insurance Company of Bucks 

 and Philadelphia counties; president of 

 the Doylestown Publishing Company; 

 and treasurer and trustee of the Vande- 

 grift Burial Ground at Cornwells. He is 

 a past master of Bristol Lodge, No. 25, 

 A. Y. F. and A. M.; of Harmony Chapter, 

 No. 52, R. A. M.: and St. Johns Coni- 

 mandery. No. 4, K. T., of Philadelphia, 

 and is the district deputy grand master 

 for the eighth district. He is a member 

 of The Netherlands- Society of Phila- 

 delphia. 



Mr. Vandegrift married, March ir, 

 1862, Mary Hannah Rowland, daughter 

 of Charles Rowland, of Chester county, 

 Pennsylvania. To this marriage have 

 been born two children : Frederic Beas- 

 ley, born December 22, 1862: and George 

 Bloomfield, born May 22, 1864. The lat- 

 ter died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Van- 

 degrift are members of the Presbyter- 

 ian church. 



FREDERIC BEASLEY VANDE- 

 GRIFT, son of Senator Charles S. Van- 

 degrift, was educated at the public 

 schools of Philadelphia, and at Smiths' 

 Commercial College, after which he en- 

 tered the office of John W. Hampton, Jr., 



