HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Z7 



Mr. Vandegrift married, May 17, 1828, 

 !Mary Ann Allen, who wasjjorn in Ben- 

 salem township, October 26, 1808. and 

 they were the parents of nine children, 

 namely: Samuel Allen, born March 21, 

 1830, a sketch of whom appears in this 

 work; Joseph T., born August 24, 1832, 

 was twice married and had two children 

 ty each marriage, and died February 

 16, 1904; Jesse S., born August 24, 1836, 

 resides in the western section of the Uni- 

 ted States; Georgianna, born September 

 23, 1839, resides on the old Allen farm 

 with her brother; William Allen, born 

 June 23, 1841, resides in Philadelphia; 

 Israel Thomas, born August 24, 1843. and 

 resides in Philadelphia; George W., born 

 August 24, 1845; Jonathan, born March 

 25, 1848, died September I, 1888; 

 and Benjamin Franklin, born June 18, 

 1853, and resides in Philadelphia. Mr. 

 Vandegrift and his wife held member- 

 ship in the Neshaminy Methodist Epis- 

 copal church. Their deaths occurred re- 

 spectively April 24, 1853, and March 19, 

 1864. 



Mrs. Vandegrift was a daughter of 

 Israel Allen, born May 29. 1766, and his 

 wife Elizabeth Titus, born December 14, 

 1771. Isreal Allen was a son of Joseph 

 and Sarah (Plumley) Allen. Joseph Al- 

 len was a son of William and Mary 

 (Walsh) Allen. William Allen was born 

 at what is now Bridgewater, Bensalem 

 township, on the site of the Bridgewater 

 Inn, a son of Samuel and Jane (Wain) 

 Allen. 'Samuel Allen was a son of Sam- 

 uel and Mary Allen, who came from 

 England in 1681 and settled on the farm 

 now owned by William Allen Vande- 

 grift, in 1682, and one hundred acres of 

 the original tract has never passed out 

 of the possession of the family. The 

 members of the Allen family have al- 

 ways adhered to the tenets of the Society 

 ■of Friends. 



J. WILSON VANDEGRIFT. Among 

 the successful agriculturists of Bucking- 

 Tiam is J. Wilson Vandegrift, who was 

 born in that township January i, 1863, 

 being a son of Bernard and Mary Ann 

 (Folker) Vandegrift, and a grandson of 

 Lawrence Vandegrift of Northampton 

 township, Bucks county, where his fath- 

 er Bernard was born June 30, 1829. The 

 family is of Holland descent, being de- 

 scendants of Jacob Lendert Van de Grift, 

 who migrated from Holland in 1644, 

 and settled on Long Island, from whence 

 three of his sons (Leonard, Nicholas 

 and John,) came to Bucks county in the 

 latter part of the same century and set- 

 tled in Bensalem, descendants of the last 

 mentioned of whom settling in Northamp- 

 ton township a century later. 



Bernard Vandegrift was a farmer all 

 ■his life. In 1877 he purchased the farm 

 now owned and occupied by the subject 



of this sketch, and resided thereon un- 

 til his death, in September, 1900. He 

 married, December 27, 1851, Mary Ann 

 Folker, daughter of James and Mary 

 (Herlinger) Folker, of Buckingham, 

 where she was born August 8, 1829. Her 

 parents were both natives of Bucking- 

 ham, her mother being a daughter of 

 Captain Mathew Herlinger, who married 

 the widow Else, whose husband died at 

 sea on the voyage to America. Bernard 

 and Mary Ann (Folker) Vandegrift 

 were the parents of six children; Harry, 

 of Elizabeth, Colorado; Susanna, wife of 

 William Orem, of Buckingham; Wilmer, 

 a wholesale commission merchant of 

 Philadelphia; Mary, wife of William H. 

 Atkinson, of Forest Grove, Bucking- 

 ham township; J. Wilson; and Theodore, 

 of Warwick township, Bucks county. 



J. Wilson Vandegrift was reared on the 

 farm and acquired a good common 

 school education. In 1885 he purchased , 

 the home farm, which he has since suc- 

 cessfully conducted. By industry and 

 careful business methods he has acquired 

 a competence. In 1899 he purchased an 

 adjoining farm of 102 acres and in 1903, 

 purchased a farm of 160 acres in War- 

 wick township. He married, in Novem- 

 ber, 1894, Olive M. Fell, daughter of 

 Wilson D. and Mary Jane (Trunibower) 

 Fell, of Buckingham. She was born on 

 the Fell homestead in Buckingham that 

 had been in the tenure of her ancestors 

 for over a century, January 19, 1863. She 

 is still the owner of the farm, which is 

 a portion of a tract purchased by her 

 great-great-great-grandfather. Benjamin 

 Fell, in 1753. This Benjamin Fell was 

 born in 1703 in Cumberland, England, 

 and came with his parents Joseph and 

 Bridget (Wilson) Fell to America when 

 an infant. His son John, born in 1730, 

 married Elizabeth Hartley, and their son 

 Seneca born 4 mo. 5, 1760, married Grace 

 Holt of Horsham, among whose chil- 

 dren was Stacy Fell, the grandfather of 

 Mrs. Vandegrift. He was born in Buck- 

 ingham in 1790, and died there in 1864, 

 He married 10 mo. 14, 1812, Elizabeth 

 Kinsey, of Buckingham, who was born 

 in 1791 and died in 1863. They were the 

 parents of seven children, the young- 

 est of whom was Wilson D., father of 

 Mrs. Vandegrift, who was born 12 mo. 

 2, T832, and died April 28, 1895. 



To Mr. and Mrs. Vandegrift have 

 been born five children, Harry E. W., 

 William Orem, Edwin Taylor, Wilson 

 Fell and Gladys. Mrs. Vandegrift is a 

 member of Doylestown Presbyterian 

 church. 



Wilson D. Fell married Mary Jane 

 Trunibower December i, 1854. She was 

 the daughter of Philip and Catharine 

 Trumbower of Bridge Point, nOvv' Edi- 

 son, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. She 

 was born April 11, 1833. and died April 

 15, 1904. 



