HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



73 



to the family for several generations, 

 much of it being carved in solid ma- 

 hogany and walnut woods. In one of 

 the rooms on the first floor is a trap 

 door in the floor leading into a cellar, 

 partitioned off and shelved as a wine 

 cellar, but which may have been in- 

 tended in earlier times, as a means of 

 escape from sudden danger. In the great 

 attic overhead the children, grandchil- 

 dren and great-great-grandchildren oif 

 the original owner, have often played 

 and wondered at the contents of numer- 

 ous chests, high cases of drawers and 

 boxes, since found to have contained 

 much linen-stuffs, and other articles of 

 family value, and far up amid the ratters 

 on the fourth floor, a dark secret room 

 only reached by a long ladder (always 

 removed after each visit) afforded a safe 

 hiding place for papers, and such valued 

 matter as seemed to require extra secur- 

 ity and care in the time of the original 

 owner, which was to his grandchildren, 

 of course, a place of especial wonder, 

 tinctured somewhat perhaps, with a spec- 

 ies of fear. In the wing of the mansion, 

 in a capacious fire place, still swings an 

 ancient iron crane, with its outstretchea 

 arm at rest after a long term of service, 

 much prized by the family and shown 

 visitors as a curious relic. A huge bake 

 oven of an early period and no longer 

 used in the kitchen adjoining was torn 

 out a few years ago for the lost space 

 which was needed. An elaborately cut 

 stone circle in the north gable end of 

 the house, under the roof, bears a tablet 

 inscribed Benjamin Parry, A. D.. 1784, 

 and to this home in 1787 he brought his 

 wife Jane Paxson, as a bride" and here 

 on December 20. 1794, was born their 

 only son, the late Oliver Parry, Esq. 

 whose son Major Edward P.andolph 

 Parry of the United States army, died at 

 "The old Parry Mansion" in 1874 of dis- 

 ease brought on by hardships and ex- 

 posure endured during the late terrible 

 Civil war. Major Parry received a 

 brevet from Congress "for gallant serv- 

 ices during the war." This old mansion 

 has never been out of the Parry family 

 and name; it is now (1905) owned and 

 occupied by Richard Randolph Parry. 

 Of the male descendants of Benjamin 

 Parry (of the name) in the next genera- 

 tion, Oliver Randolph Parry, born March 

 29, 1873, son of above Richard, is the only 

 one living, at the present time. 



_ HON. DAVID NEWLIN FELL, jus- 

 tice of the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- 

 vania, was born in Buckingham, No- 

 vember 4^ 1840, and is a son of Joseph 

 and Harriet (Williams) Fell. 



Joseph Fell, the pioneer ancestor of 

 the family, was born at Longlands, the 

 seat of the family for several generations 

 in the parish of Rockdale, Cumberland, 

 England, October 19, 1668. In 1698 he 



married Bridget Wilson, and two sons, 

 Joseph and Benjamin, were born to them 

 at Longlands. In 1704 with his wife and 

 two sons, he emigrated to America, and 

 located for a short time in lower Bucks 

 county, removing to Buckingham in 

 1706, when he became a large landholder 

 and a prominent man in the community. 

 Two daughters, Tamar and Mary, were 

 born to him in Bucks county. His wife 

 dying when the latter was eleven days 

 old, he married three years later Eliza- 

 beth Doyle, daughter of Edward and 

 Rebecca (Dungan) Doyle, who had come 

 to Bucks county from Rhode Island in 

 1683. Their seven children were John, 

 Isaac, Titus, Thomas, George, Sarah, 

 and Rachel. He died in 1748, his widow 

 surviving him several years. 



Joseph Fell, eldest son of Joseph and 

 Bridget (Wilson) Fell, was born at 

 Longlands, Cumberland, England. June 

 29, 1701. He married, March 4, 1735. 

 Mary Kinsey, daughter of Edmund and 

 Sarah (Ogborn) Kinsey of Buckingham, 

 the former a native of New Castle, Dela- 

 ware, for many years a noted minister 

 among Friends at Buckingham. Joseph 

 Fell, Jr., settled on a farm on the Dur- 

 ham road above Mechanicsville. con- 

 veyed to him by his father, which re- 

 mained the property of his descendants 

 until 1890, a period of one hundred and 

 seventy-five years of continuous occu- 

 pancy. He died there February 22, 1777. 

 His children who lived to maturity 

 were: Joseph; Sarah, who never mar- 

 ried; Rachel, who married William Low- 

 nes ; David ; and Martha, who married 

 Edward Rice, Jr. Mary (Kinsey) Fell, 

 the mother, was born in Buckingham, 

 April 29, 1715, and died December 29, 

 1769. 



Joseph Fell (3) son of Joseph and 

 Mary (Kinsey) Fell, born October 31, 

 1738, on the Buckingham homestead, 

 married October 21, 1767, Rachel Wil- 

 son, who was born in Buckingham June 

 5, 1741. and died March 8, 1810. She 

 was the daughter of Samuel and Re- 

 becca (Canby) Wilson, the granddaugh- 

 ter of Thomas Canby and Stephen Wil- 

 son, both early pioneer Friends in Bucks 

 county and a great-granddaughter of 

 Henry Baker, a provincial councillor 

 and one of the most prominent public 

 men in the infant colony on the Dela- 

 ware. Soon after his marriage Joseph 

 Fell removed to Upper Makefield town- 

 ship, Bucks county, where he purchased 

 a farm and resided until his death, March 

 26. 1789. He was the father of eight 

 children, six of whom grew to maturity: 

 Joseph, born 1768, married Esther Bur- 

 roughs; John, born 1770, married Edith 

 Smith; Martha, married Benjamin Scho- 

 field; David, married Phebe Schofield; 

 Jonathan, born 1776, married Sarah Bal- 

 derston and returned to the Buckingham 

 homestead, in 1831; and Rachel, born 

 1783, married John Speakman. 



