44 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



front from the "protest" at Newtown. July 

 9, 1774, when lie was appointed one of the 

 committee from Bucks to meet the "Com- 

 mittee from the respective counties of Penn- 

 sylvania" at Philadelphia, July 15, 1774. 

 until independence was established, almost 

 always representing his county in the var- 

 ious conferences and conventions, serving 

 as chairman of the committee of safety, 

 county lieutenant, etc. He was commis- 

 sioned colonel of the first battalion raised 

 by the committee of safety, and took it 

 through the Jersey campaign of 1776. He 

 was vice-president of the convention that 

 met in Carpenter's Hall. June 18, 1776, and 

 was twice chairman of the committee of 

 the whole in that famous convention. In 

 1777 he was elected to the supreme exe- 

 cutive council, and served until October, 

 1779, when he became lieutenant of Bucks 

 county. He was register of wills and re- 

 corder of deeds of Bucks county, 1777 to his 

 death in 1788, being the first person com- 

 missioned for these offices by the surpreme 

 •executive council. He was elected in 1782 

 to represent Bucks county on the "board 

 of censors," and on June 7, 1784, was 

 commissioned by council as judge of the 

 courts of common pleas and quarter ses- 

 ■sions. The records fully verify the truth of 

 the lines inscribed on the tomb erected to 

 the memory of him and his wife at South- 

 ampton; "His long and useful life was 

 almost wholly devoted to the public ser- 

 vice of his country; while the lives of both 

 ■were eminent for piety and virtue." 



He married October 8. 1740, his cousin 

 Elizabeth Collett, daughter of John and 

 Marie (Crispin) Collett. and granddaughter 

 of Richard and Elizabeth (Rush) Collett. 

 She was born in Byberry, May 14, 1714, 

 and died February ig, 1788, six days be- 

 fore her husband's death. They were the 

 parents of six children, all sons, William, 

 John, Silas, Josiah. Joseph, and another 

 Joseph, the first having died in infancy. 

 William, the eldest died in 1760, at the 

 age of nineteen, unmarried. 



John the second son of Colonel Joseph 

 and Elizabeth Hart, born November 29, 

 1743, was treasurer of Bucks county during 

 the revolution, and was filling that position 

 when the treasury at Newtown was robbed 

 by the Doans and their gang of outlaws, 

 October 22, 1784. He died at Newtown 

 June 5, 1786. He married, September 13, 

 1767, Rebecca Rees, daughter of David and 

 Margaret Rees, of Hatboro, and they were 

 the parents of five sons and two daughters, 

 of whon three died in youth. His son 

 William was a physician in Philadelphia; 

 John was a merchant at Jacksonville for 

 many years, married Rachel Dungan and 

 left numerous descendants; Elizabeth mar- 

 ried Dr. Silas Hough, see Hough family ; 

 Joseph died unmarried. 



Silas, the third .son of Joseph and Eliza- 

 beth (Collett) Hart, born October 4, 1747, 

 was a farmer and lived and died in War- 

 minster; married Mary Daniel, and had 

 ten children : 



Joseph, the sixth son of Colonel Joseph 

 Hart, born July 17, 1749, is treated of in 

 the sketch of General W. W. H. Davis, 

 whose grandfather he was. 



Joseps, the sixth son of Colonel Joseph 

 and Elizabeth Hart, and the ancestor of B. 

 F. Hart, was born in Warminster, December 

 7, 1758. He was a man of liberal education 

 and extensive information on public affairs, 

 in which he took a deep interest, and always 

 enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citi- 

 zens. During the famous Whiskey Insur- 

 rection he was paymaster of Colonel Han- 

 na's brigade, and accompanied the army 

 in its march to western Pennsylvania. He 

 was a member of the state senate 1804- 

 1809, and as such in 1805 was chairman of 

 the committee which reported favorably the 

 bill for building an alms-house in Bucks 

 county, and in 1808 introduced the first 

 resolution in the senate for the removal 

 of the county seat from Newtown to a 

 more central part of Bucks county, and 

 which resulted in the location at the pres- 

 ent site, Doylestown, two years later. He 

 enjoyed a wide acquaintance with the dis- 

 tinguished men of his time in the state, as 

 is evident by his correspondence. He mar- 

 ried, December 25, 1783. Ann Folwell, of 

 Warminster, whose family was one of the 

 most respectable and influential in the 

 county, and they were the parents of seven 

 children, viz : Thomas, John, Charles, 

 Lewis Folwell, Thomas, Eliza Ann, and 

 Clarissa Maria. The first Thomas and 

 Charles died in childhood. At the death 

 of the father, on April 15, 181 1, the home- 

 stead buildings and part of the home farm 

 became the property of Thomas, the fifth 

 son, who died in 1838, the balance being 

 divided between John and Lewis F., who 

 erected buildings thereon. The mother, 

 Ann, died March 11, 1843. Eliza Ann, the 

 eldest daughter, born December 8, 1797, 

 married December 2, 1817, David Marple; 

 and Clarissa Maria, the other daughter, 

 married Joseph Carver. 



John Hart, the eldest son of Joseph and 

 Ann (Folwell) Hart, born in Warminster, 

 April 9, 1787, was a man of prominence 

 in the county, and for many years had a 

 considerable political influence. When the 

 British threatened Philadelphia in 1814 he 

 and his brothers, Thomas and Lewis, en- 

 listed in Captain William Purdy's com- 

 pany in Colonel Humphrey's regiment, and 

 served in the fleld until December, when 

 the danger having passed, they were mus- 

 tered out of service. After the return of 

 peace he took an active interest in the 

 military of the county, serving at one time 

 as colonel of militia. He served one ses- 

 sion in the state legislature. 1832, and filled 

 a number of local offices. He was a warm 

 patron of Hatboro Library, founded in 

 1755 by his grandfather and others. He 

 married, IMarch 10. tSio, Mary Horner, 

 daughter of John and Mary Horner, of 

 Warminster, who was born May 3, 1790, 

 and they were the parents of eight children 

 as follows 



