HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



89 



THE FOULKE FAMILY that has been 

 prominent in the ofificial, professional and 

 business life of Bucks. Montgomery and 

 Philadelphia counties for many generations 

 as well as in that of far distant states and 

 cities, is descended from Edward Foulke, 

 who emigrated from Wales in 1698 and set- 

 tled in Gwynedd, now Montgomery county, 

 Pennsylvania. An acount of his ancestry, 

 tracing in unbroken line to "John King of 

 England, born December 24, 1166. crowned 

 May 27, 1216," and an account of his com- 

 ing to America, etc., the latter written by 

 himself under date of ii-mo. 14. 1702, con- 

 tains among other things the following : 



"When arrived at mature age, I married 

 Eleanor, the daughter of Hugh, ap (son 

 of) Cadwallader, ap Rhys of the parish of 

 Spytu in Denbighshire. Her mother's 

 name was Gwen the daughter of Ellis ap 

 William, ap Hugh, ap Thomas, ap David, 

 ap Madoc. ap Evan, ap Cott, ap Evan, ap 

 Griffith, ap Madoc, ap Einion, ap Meredith 

 of Cai-Fadog: she was born in the same 

 parish and shire with her husband. I had 

 by my said wife nine children, whose names 

 are as follows: Thomas, Hugh. Cadwall- 

 ader. and Evan ; Grace. Gwen, Jane, Cath- 

 arine, and Margaret. We lived at a place 

 called Coedy-foel, a beautiful farm belong- 

 ing to Roger Price, Esq., of Rhiwlas, of 

 Merionethshire, aforesaid. But in progress 

 of time I had an inclination to remove with 

 my family to the Province of Pennsylvania ; 

 and in order thereto we set out on the 3d 

 day of the 2d-month, A. D. 1698, and came 

 in two days to Liverpool, where with divers 

 others, who intended to go the voyage, we 

 took shipping, the 17th of the same month, 

 on board the "Robert and Elizabeth," and 

 the next day set sail for Ireland, where we 

 arrived, and stayed until the ist of the 3d 

 month. May, and then sailed again for 

 Pennsylvania, and were about eleven weeks 

 at sea. And the sore distemper of the 

 "bloody flux broke out in the vessel, of 

 which died five and forty persons in our 

 passage. The distemper was so mortal 

 that two or three corpses were cast over- 

 board every day while it lasted. But 

 through the favor and mercy of Divine 

 Providence. I. with my wife and nine chil- 

 dren, escaped that sore mortality and ar- 

 rived safe at Philadelphia, the 17th day of 

 the sth-month. July, where we were kindly 

 received and hospitably entertained by our 

 friends and old acquaintances. I soon 

 purchased a fine tract of land of about sev- 

 en hundred acres, sixteen miles from Phila- 

 delphia, on a part of which I settled, and 

 divers others of our company, who came 

 over sea with us, settled near me at the 

 same time. This was the beginning of 

 November, 1698, aforesaid, and the ^own- 

 ship was called Gwynedd or North Wales." 



According to his own narrative Edward 

 Foulke was born 5th mo. 14th. 1651, and 

 taking the age given by the Meeting Rec- 

 ords at time of his death would place the 

 date of his death in 17,39. All of his nine 

 children lived to mature age, married and 



reared families. The only two in whom 

 Bucks countians have any especial interest 

 were his eldest son Thomas, and second 

 son Hugh. Gwen, the eldest daughter, 

 married Alexander Edwards, Jr., who was 

 a land owner in Bucks county and 

 has descendants here. Grace mar- 

 ried John Griffith, of Merion, Chester 

 county. Jane married Ellis Hugh, and set- 

 tled at Exeter, Berks county, and left nu- 

 merous descendants of the name of Hughes. 

 Catharine married Theophilus Williams, of 

 Montgomery. Margaret married Nicholas 

 Roberts. Thomas Foulke, eldest son of Ed- 

 ward and Eleanor, born in Merionethshire, 

 \yales, immigrant to Gwynedd. 1698, with 

 his parents, married at Gwynedd. 4 mo. 27, 

 1706. Gwen Evans, daughter of David, of 

 Radnor, and settled at Gwynedd on part of 

 the Edward Foulke tract. He died in 1762, 

 and his wife in 1760. They were the par- 

 ents of eight children, of whom the two 

 oldest Edward (1707-1770) and William 

 (1708-1775) had descendants in Bucks. Dr. 

 Joseph Foulke, for many years a practicing 

 physician of Buckingham, was a great 

 grandson of Edward, through his son Hugh 

 (1752-1831), a noted minister among 

 Friends, who married Ann Roberts, their 

 son Joseph (1786-1863). who married Eliza- 

 beth Shoemaker, being the father of the 

 Buckingham physician. Dr. Charles Foulke, 

 born December 14, 1815, died December 

 30, 1871, for many years a practicing phy- 

 sician at New Hope. Bucks county, and 

 the father of Dr. Richard C. Foulke, still 

 practicing there, was also a great-great- 

 grandson of Thomas Foulke and Gwen 

 Evans. His father. Edward Foulke, of 

 Gwynedd (1784-1851). married Tacy Jones, 

 and his grandfather, Amos Foulke, (1740- 

 1791) one of the firm of Caleb and Amos 

 Foulke. merchants of Philadelphia, was the 

 son of William, second son of Thomas and 

 Gwen. who married Hannah Jones, of 

 Montgomery. 



Hugh Foulke. second son of Edward and 

 Eleanor, born in Merionethshire, in 1685, 

 married, in 1713. Ann Williams, born 11 

 mo. 8, 1693, died gvao. 10, 1773, daughter 

 of John Williams, of Montgomery, and 

 settled in Richland, Bucks county, soon 

 after his marriage, and died there 5mo. 

 21, 1760. He was a minister of the 

 Society of Friends for iorty years. He 

 is the ancestor of many present residents 

 of Bucks county, through comparatively 

 few of the name now reside in the county. 

 The children of Hugh and Ann (Wil- 

 liams) Foulke were; — Mary, born 1714, 

 died 2mo. 29. 1756, married James Boone, 

 of Exeter, Berks county, son of George 

 the elder, and brother of Squire Boone, the 

 father of Daniel, the pioneer of Kentucky. 

 Their eldest daughter, Ann, married Abra- 

 ham Lincoln, of the family of the martyred 

 president. Martha, born Smo. 22. 1716, 

 died 4mo. 17. 1781, married (first), October 

 4, 1738, William Edwards, of Milford, 

 Bucks county, and (second) John Roberts. 

 Samuel, born 1718, died 1797, married Ann 



