HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



71 



In 1864 he entered the Medical Depart- 

 ment of the University of Pennsylvania 

 and was graduated in 1867. For some 

 years he practiced his profession in 

 Cayuga county. New York. On return- 

 ing to Pennsylvania in 1880 he located at 

 the old homestead at New Hope, living 

 at the ""Old Parry Mansion" until his 

 death June 12, 1893. He enjoyed a large 

 practice, and died much esteemed and 

 lamented. Dr. Parry married March 2, 

 1869, Miss Elizabeth Van Etten, of Van- 

 ettenville. New York, whom he survived 

 twelve years. They had two children, 

 Elizabeth R. and Jane Paxson, the latter 

 deceased. Dr. Parry was a member of 

 the Medical Societies of Bucks county, 

 Pennsylvania and Hunterdon county, 

 New Jersey; and was also a member of 

 the "Bucks County Historical Society" 

 and a life member of the "Historical^ So- 

 ciety of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia." He 

 also was much interested in Free Ma- 

 sonry and belonged to a commandery of 

 Knights Templar in New York state. 



OLIVER PAXSON PARRY, fourth 

 son of Oliver and Rachel (Randolph) 

 Parry was born 1846. and died December 

 13, 1852, in his seventh year. 



DANIEL PARRY, ESQ., of New 

 Hope, Pennsylvania, son of John Parry, 

 of "Moorland Manor" and Margaret Ty- 

 son, his wife, was born April 21, 1774, 

 and married Martha Dilworth of Dil- 

 worthtown, Pennsylvania, having but one 

 child, named for his grandfather, John. 

 Parryville, Carbon county, Pennsylvania, 

 an important point for shipment of coal 

 on the Lehigh river, was named for this 

 Daniel Parry, who was a gentleman of 

 fortune and owned large tracts of land, 

 in Carbon, Wayne, Luzerne and other 

 counties of Pennsylvania; a part of which 

 were obtained through the Marquis de 

 Noailles of France. Daniel Parry died 

 July 16, 1856, aged eighty-two years. 

 Martha Dilworth Parry, his wife, died 

 April 3, 1831, aged fifty-three years. Their 

 son John died in childhood and all three 

 lie buried in their family lot, at Friends 

 burying ground in Solebury township, 

 Bucks county. The Doylestown papers, 

 in noticing the death of Daniel Parry, 

 spoke of him as "a man of large benevo- 

 lence, and a generous friend to the des- 

 titute," and many poor persons indeed 

 mourned the loss of a friend ever ready 

 to help them. 



"THE OLD PARRY MANSION," 

 New Hope Borough, Bucks County, 

 Pennsylvania ("Coryell's Ferry," of the 

 Revolution). 



The ancient colonial double stone r^an- 

 sion still standing at the corner of the 

 old York road and the Trenton or River 

 road in New Hope borough, erected in 



1784 for Benjamin Parry, which has 

 bravely stood in three centuries has long 

 been known as "The Old Parry Man- 

 sion" and has been the home of the 

 Parrys of New Hope (Coryell's Ferry) 

 for five generations. Two different por- 

 tions of this property were occupied by 

 troops of the Continental army, in the 

 Revolutionary war. In 1776, just prior 

 to the Battle of Trenton, a considerable 

 bod}' of American soldiers under General 

 William Alexander (Lord Stirling) were 

 quartered here and the village placed in 

 a state of armed defence by Stirlmg, 

 who threw up a strong redoubt on top of 

 the hill across the pond, in a southwest- 

 erly direction from "The Old Parry 

 Mansion," and a part of this estate. These 

 earth works extended from where the 

 yellow public school house now stands, 

 in an easterly direction, a considerable 

 distance towards the Delaware river, at 

 the termination of the old York road at 

 the river's brink above and below the 

 Ferry landing. Upon another part of the 

 Parry property, (purchased of the 

 Todd's) entrenchments were erected and 

 batteries placed. Lord Stirling also had 

 another redoubt thrown upon the old 

 York road facing the river at the cor- 

 ner of Ferry street, and the present 

 Bridge street, opposite where "the old 

 Washington Tree," cut down November 

 28, 1893, then stood and near the site of 

 the present Presbyterian church. From 

 this elevated position he Ifkewise com- 

 manded the approach from the Delaware 

 river. Such were the defenses of Cory- 

 ell's Ferry at this period of the Revolu- 

 tion, when it (then an important 

 strategic point, and crossing of the 

 Delaware) was saved to the American 

 cause from British plans and designs. At 

 page 175, Volume I of *Washington and 

 his Generals" in speaking of General 

 Alexander (Lord Stirling) it is stated 

 "That in his new capacity of Major Gen- 

 eral, he joined the army in its memorable 

 retreat through New Jersey and took 

 part in the operations on the Delaware 

 river, where he again signalized himself 

 by his successful defense of Coryell's 

 Ferry." 



Lord Stirling's headquarters at New 

 Hope, are said to have been in the old 

 hip roof house known as "The old Fort" 

 which then stood on the site of the pres- 

 ent hipped roof home of Mr. P. R. Slack 

 on the Old York road, just opposite the 

 avenue and entrance to "Maple Grove" 

 then and now owned and occupied by the 

 Paxson family and where Benjamin' 

 Parry's wife Jane Paxson was born Jan- 

 uary 24, 1767, 



Looking backward through the long 

 vista of more than a century and a quar- 

 ter, it seems difiicult to realize that New 

 Hope ("Coryell's Ferry") and the now 



♦Published by E. Meeks, Philadelphia, 1885. 



