58 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



only son of Jacob and Mary (Hough) 

 Janney, is the ancestor of the Janneys at 

 present resident within the county of 

 Bucks. He married at Wrightsfown 

 Meeting, Bucks county, lo mo. 28, 1732, 

 Martha IMitchell. daughter of Henry and 

 Sarah (Gove) Mitchell; the former a son 

 of Henry and Elizabeth (Foulds) 

 Mitchell, was born at Marsden Lane, 

 Lancashire, and the latter was a daugh- 

 ter of Richard Gove of Philadelphia. By 

 the will of Thomas Janney, the pioneer 

 and provincial councillor, he devised to 

 his son "Jacob the house and plantation 

 which 'we do live in and upon, with all 

 the la7ids and appurtenances thereunto 

 belonging," and, Jacob dying in 1708, it 

 descended to his infant son and only 

 child Thomas Janney, and has contin- 

 ued to be the home of his descendants 

 to the present day. On a visit to the 

 old homestead in May, 1905, the writer 

 of these lines was shown the old family 

 Bible nearly a century old, in which was 

 inscribed, in the quaint handwriting of 

 long ago, the dates of the birth of the 

 children of Thomas and Martha (Mitch- 

 ell) Janney. Martha, the mother, died 

 9 mo. 19, 1785, and Thomas, the father, 

 4 mo. 8, 1788. Their children were: 

 Jacob, born 8 mo. 15, 1733, died 3 mo. 

 26, 1761, without issue; Thomas, born 2 

 mo. 17, 1736, died 11 mo. 16, 1754; Rich- 

 ard, born 8 mo. 22, 1738, died 9 mo. 5, 

 1766, see forward; Mary, born i mo. 18, 

 1741, died 2 mo. 24, 1795, married 3 mo. 

 19, 1788, William Linton, no issue; Sarah, 

 born 10 mo. 19, 1743, married 11 mo. 11, 

 1762, Daniel Richardson, and had one 

 son, Daniel; Alice, born 10 mo. 4, 1747, 

 married John Dawes, and settled in New 

 Jersey; Martha, born 9 mo. 11, 1750, mar- 

 ried Isaac Warner. None of these sons 

 survived their father, and the homestead 

 was devised by his will to his grandson 

 Jacob Janney, the only grandson of the 

 name. 



Richard Janney, third son of Thomas 

 and Martha (Mitchell) Janney, born 8 

 mo. 22, 1738, married, in 1764, Sarah 

 W^orth. daughter of Joseph Worth, of 

 Stony Brook,' Burlington county. New 

 Jersey. She was born in 1741, and died 

 in Wrightstown township, Bucks county, 

 August 20. 1833. at the age of ninety-two 

 years, having been a widow for forty 

 years, though three times married. Rich- 

 ard Janney died 9 mo. 5, 1766, leaving an 

 only child, Jacob Janney. born 4 mo. 10, 

 1765. His widow married Stephen Twin- 

 ing in T773, and had two children; Mary 

 born September 16, 1774, died March 8. 

 1815, married Joseph Burson; and 

 Stephen Twining, born 1776, died 1849. 

 Her second husband dying in 1777, Sarah 

 married (third) 2 mo. 6, 1782, James Bur- 

 son. 



Of the youth of Jacob Janney, only 

 child of Richard and Sarah (Worth) Jan- 

 ney, little is known. Tradition relates 



that he lived for a time in New Jersey. 

 If this were true, it was probably with 

 his maternal grandparents. As his moth- 

 er's last two husbands both resided in 

 Wrightstown, it is probable that he was 

 reared there or on the old homestead in 

 Newtown, with his grandparents, 

 Thomas and Martha Janney. Certain it 

 is that that was his residence at the time 

 of his grandfather's death in 1788, when 

 he is devised the plantation and made ex- 

 ecutor of the will of his grandfather. He 

 married, ii mo. 16, 1792, Frances Briggs, 

 born 10 mo. 19, 1773, died 8 mo. 21, 1851, 

 daughter of John and Letitia Briggs, and 

 continued to reside on the old homestead 

 until his death, 2 mo. 19, 1820. The 

 children of Jacob and Frances (Briggs) 

 Janney, all born on the old homestead at 

 Newtown, are as follows: 



1. Thomas, born 8 mo. 9, 1794, died in 

 Newtown borough, 3 mo., 1879, married 

 10 mo. II, 1838, Mary Kimber, daughter 

 of Emmor and Susanna, born 2 mo. 10, 

 1807, and had two children: Anna, mar- 

 ried a Bergner, and is still living in New- 

 town; and Emmor Janney, of Philadel- 

 phia. Thomas lived on the old home- 

 stead until 1842, when he rented it to his 

 youngest brother, Stephen T. Janney, 

 and removed to Newtown. He was a 

 large landowner in Newtown and Make- 

 field. 



2. Richard, born 3 mo. 13, 1796, died 

 in Lower Makefield, 8 mo., 1877, married 

 (first) Ann Taylor, and (second) Ach- 

 sah Yardley, and lived and died in Lower 

 Makefield. He had seven children: 

 Mercy Ann, married Heston Lovett, of 

 Lower Makefield, and is deceased; Tay- 

 lor, died unmarried; Susan, married 

 (first) Lovett Brown, of Falls, and (sec- 

 ond) Oliver Paxson, of New Hope, where 

 she still resides; Franklin, died in Phila- 

 delphia; Jacob, married Matilda Ely, of 

 Lambertville, and is living in Philadel- 

 phia; Frances, married Jonathan Scho- 

 field, of Lower Makefield, and is de- 

 ceased; and Mary, married William Lin- 

 ton, of Newtown, and is deceased. 



y 3. Jacob, born 4 mo. 24, 1798, married 

 Esther Betts, daughter of Stephena and 

 Hannah (Blackfan) Betts of Solebury, 

 and removed to Cecil county, 

 Maryland, and after several years 

 residence there returned to Bucks 

 county. and later removed with 

 his family to IMichigan. where he died 12 

 mo., 1869. They had seven children: 

 Hannah. married Amasa Atkinson; 

 James Worth, married Loisa Beitzel; Ed- 

 ward B., died single in Michigan; Fran- 

 ces, married John Sumner, and is re- 

 cently deceased: Elwood, married Al- 

 meda Allen; Robert Simpson, married 

 Urania Baldwin: Dr. Joshua Janney. of 

 Moorestown, New Jersey, who married 

 Amanda Eastburn, of Solesburj^. 



4. John L., born 5 mo. 31. 1800, died 

 on his portion of the homestead, 4 mo. 



