HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



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"This company was organized in July at 

 South Bethlehem, and mustered in at South 

 Bethlehem, July 6, 1898, which company 

 left by rail for Chickamauga Park, July 7, 

 1898, arriving in camp July 19, 1898. Re- 

 mained in camp until August 26, 1898, when 

 company left by rail for Camp Hamilton, 

 Lexington, Kentucky, arriving , in camp 

 August 28, 1898. . Left Camp Hamilton for 

 regimental headquarters at Wilkesbarre, 

 September 17, 1898, arriving there Septem- 

 ber 19, 1898. Company left by rail for 

 home station, September 20, 1898, arriving 

 same day, when company was verbally fur- 

 loughed for thirty days." 



The above is taken from the muster-out 

 roll of the company. The company was 

 mustered into service on the 6th day of 

 July, 1898, and was mustered out of the 

 service on the 29th day of October, 1898. 

 It was the first volunteer company formed 

 in the state of Pennsylvania, and was taken 

 to help fill out the Third Battalion of the 

 Ninth Pennsj-lvania Regiment. The other 

 companies were Captain Green's, of Read- 

 ing; Captain Mercer's, of Summit Hill, 

 above Mauch Chunk ; and Captain Moor's, 

 of Towanda. 



On Friday evening, April 22, 1898, there 

 was a meeting held in the Fountain Hill 

 Opera House, and a call for volunteers 

 made. These met in Doxon's Hall after- 

 ward and elected Henry Adams, captain ; 

 Leighton N. D. Mixsell, first lieutenant; 

 and Dick Enright, second lieutenant. Mr. 

 Enright failed to pass his physical ex- 

 amination and was re-elected. A. Alison 

 Mitchell, of Wilkesbarre, was appointed in 

 his place. The South Bethlehem Market 

 Hall was used as an Armory by the com 

 pany. 



Henry Adams is a member of the Penn- 

 sylvania German Society, 1899; a member 

 of the Society of Foreign Wars, Pennsyl- 

 vania Commandery, 1899 ; general manager 

 of the Cuban Mining Company at Neu- 

 vitas, Cuba, 1899-1902, and the mines of this 

 company were discovered by him ; a mem- 

 ber of the Empire State Society of the Sons 

 of the American Revolution, and was pre- 

 sented a medal of honor by the society for 

 service in the Spanish-American war; and 

 of Masonic bodies — Fernwood Lodge, No. 

 543, Philadelphia, and Caldwell Consistory, 

 32d degree. He was vice president and 

 general manager of the San Domingo Ex- 

 ploration Company and San Domingo 

 Southern Railway Company, San Domingo, 

 R. D., West Indies, 1902. 



HON. GEORGE ROSS, an eminent jur- 

 ist and statesman, was born in Doylestown, 

 August 24, 1841. He came of a distinguished 

 and honored ancestry. His earlier ancestors 

 were of the clan Ross, of the Highlands of 

 Scotland. His great-great-grandfather 

 Thomas Ross was born in the year 1708, in 

 county Tyrone, Ireland, where his parents 

 had sought a refuge from the horrors of civil 

 6-3 



and internecine war in their native Scotia. 

 Emigrating to America at the age of twen- 

 ty-one he settled in Solebury, Bucks county. 

 He joined the Society of Frien-ds and be- 

 came a distinguished preacher. He was a 

 man of superior education and intellectual 

 ability, and traveled extensively in later life 

 both in the American colonies and in Eng- 

 land and Ireland. He died at the home of 

 Lindley Murray, the great grammarian, in 

 York, England, while on one of his relig- 

 ious visits in 1786. He married Keziah 

 Wilkinson in 1731, and had by her three 

 children : John, Thomas, and Mary, who 

 married Thomas Smith. John Ross mar- 

 ried Mary Duer in 1754, and had seven 

 children; Sarah, who died in childhood; 

 Thomas; Keziah, who married Benjamin 

 Eastburn ; John ; Joseph ; Isaiah ; and 

 Mary, who died in infancy. 



Thomas, the great-grandfather of the 

 subject of this sketch, as one of the execu- 

 tors of his father's will, joined in the con- 

 veyance of the Solebury homestead, pat- 

 ented to his father in 1737, to Jacob Van 

 Horn in 1787, and the latter conveyed it 

 back to Thomas by deed dated two days 

 later. In 1796 he conveyed it to his son 

 Thomas, who by will in 1814 devised it to- 

 his brother, Judge John Ross, of Easton, 

 who devised it to his son Thomas, the fath- 

 er of the subject of this sketch, who con- 

 veyed it to Edward Vansant in 1853.. 

 Thus the original homestead of the Ross 

 family in Bucks county remained in the 

 family for one hundred and sixteen years, 

 notwithstanding the fact that for three 

 generations the owners had been much 

 more eminent as jurists than as farmers. 

 John Ross, eldest son of Thomas and Ke- 

 ziah, removed to Philadelphia. His son 

 Joseph removed to the West. John be- 

 came an eminent physician. Thomas mar- 

 ried Rachel Longstrethand settled in West 

 Chester. He was a lawyer, and had a 

 large and lucrative practice. 



Thomas Ross, younger son of Thomas 

 and Keziah. (Wilkinson) Ross, born on the 

 old homestead in Solebury, was the great- 

 grandfather of the subject of this sketch. 

 He married (first) a Miss Clark, and (sec- 

 ond) Jane Cliapman, who was the mother 

 of his six children : Thomas, John, Will- 

 ia'm, Cephas, Hugh and Samuel. He lived 

 on the Solebury plantation until 1796, when 

 he removed with his family to Newtown, 

 where he died about 1814. His eldest son 

 Thomas was appointed prothonotary and 

 clerk of the courts of Bucks county in 1801, 

 and held those offices for eight years. He 

 was born in 1767 and was admitted to the 

 bar of Northampton county in 1793, but 

 practiced but a year or two, when he re- 

 moved to New York city. He returned to 

 Newtown in 1800 and practiced law until 

 appointed prothonotary and clerk. His wife 

 was Mary Lyons, of Long Island. He died 

 in 1815, while visiting his brother John at 

 Easton and left no children. Hugh Ross 

 studied law with his brother John at Easton 

 and on being admitted to the bar returned 



