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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Richlieu Forest. Part of the soiitlicrn 

 lands were subsequently sold to the Rod- 

 mans. Gabriel Thomas, in his book en- 

 titled "An Historical Description of the 

 Province of Pennsylvania," published in 

 London in 1698, describes the Growdon 

 mansion as situated on the "Neshaminy 

 river" and further says that "Judge Grow- 

 don hath a very noble and fine house, very 

 pleasantly situated ; and likewise a famous 

 orchard adjoining to it, wherein are con- 

 tained above a thousand apple trees of 

 various sorts." Growdon's mansion house, 

 which this quaint historian refers to, is 

 still standing, and is as solid as it was when 

 built over two hundred years ago. There 

 have been but slight changes to alter its 

 appearance with the exception of a half 

 story which was added in 1847. The old 

 house- in its day had seen many a dis- 

 tinguished guest. Here Penn held council, 

 and here laws were formulated for the bet- 

 ter government of the province. Here, in 

 the next generation, Benjamin Franklin re- 

 hearsed his theories regarding the then un- 

 discovered science of electricity with his 

 friend the eminent and erratic Galloway. 



Lawrence Growdon, the younger, was a 

 member of the general assembly from Phila- 

 delphia in 1685. In 1693 he was elected to 

 represent Bucks county in the same body, 

 and served as speaker of the house for a 

 number of consecutive terms. He was ap- 

 pointed a provincial judge in 1706, and 

 was one of the judges of the supreme court 

 in 1715. Proud speaks of him as being at- 

 torney general in 1725. For further in- 

 formation on this subject the reader is re- 

 ferred to an interesting paper entitled "The 

 Growdon Mansion," read before the Bucks 

 County Historical Society, January 19, 1897, 

 by Henry W. Watson, Esq., of Langhorne. 



Lawrence Growdon died in 1769, and left 

 surviving him two daughters, Elizabeth 

 and Grace. The latter married Joseph Gal- 

 loway, one of the eminent men of his day. 

 He was an able lawyer, and at the begin- 

 ning of the Revolution had built up a large 

 practice in the courts of Pennsylvania, New 

 Jersey and Delaware. He was a man of 

 great activity and indefatigable industry. 

 He was a member of the provincial assem- 

 bly eighteen years, and speaker of the house 

 twelve years. He was sent by the assembly 

 as a delegate to the Continental congress. 

 After the death of Lawrence Growdon, his 

 father-in-law, Joseph Galloway, resided at 

 Trevose. He believed that the difficulties 

 between Great Britain and the Colonies 

 which eventually led to the Revolution 

 could be settled amicably and without 

 bloodshed. These views he boldly upheld 

 in the Continental congress. His influence 

 was so great that his opponents saw that 

 he must be silenced. In the autumn of 

 1776, while Galloway was supposed to be 

 living at Trevose, a squad of soldiers ap- 

 peared there in search of him. They did 

 not find him, however, as he had been 

 warned and had left. They sacked the man- 

 sion, and plundered the wine cellar. As 



they left they fired a parting shot at the 

 iron door of the old record office. The bul- 

 let holes may be seen to this day. After 

 hostilities commenced Galloway upheld the 

 British cause. His wife and daughter went 

 to Philadelphia, where he rejoined them 

 shortly after, entering the city with the 

 British army under Sir William Howe. 

 Joseph Galloway had one daughter, known 

 to history as "Betty." In her day she was 

 a great belle. Among her admirers was a 

 British army officer, William Roberts, whom 

 she afterwards married. Galloway took a 

 determined stand against the young man 

 and forbade his daughter to have any as- 

 sociation with him, and threatened to shoot 

 him if he ever came on his property. The 

 colored servants sympathized with the 

 young lovers and carried letters between 

 them. An elopement from Trevose and a 

 marriage followed. When Galloway dis- 

 covered this he was enraged. He imme- 

 diately resolved to sell all his slaves, and ac- 

 cordingly advertised and sold them in the 

 open court yard at the rear of the mansion 

 house and between its wings. This oc- 

 curred about ten years before the Revolu- 

 tionary war. 



Some time after this, Galloway turned 

 his mind to religion and wrote and pub- 

 lished a work entitled "Galloway's Com- 

 ments on Divine Revelation," an old work 

 yet in many libraries. Meeting the far- 

 famed Christian philanthropist, Anthony 

 Benezet, one of the best men of any age or 

 country, Galloway asked him very pom- 

 pously if he had read his great work on 

 "Divine Revelation." "No," replied Ben- 

 ezet, "neither shall I, for I think that a 

 man who sells his fellow beings at public 

 sale had better leave Divine Revelation 

 alone, and everything else that is Divine." 



To prevent her property from being con- 

 fiscated, Galloway's wife Grace, by her will 

 dated December 30, 1781, and recorded at 

 Doylestown, devised all her real estate, in- 

 cluding Trevose, to nine persons therein 

 named, their heirs and assigns, without any 

 restrictions or limitations whatever. The 

 devisees took possession and held her estate 

 until in iSoi, when the survivors of them 

 recorded in Doylestown "A Declaration of 

 Trust," in which they declared that they 

 held the estate in trust for Elizabeth Gallo- 

 way, her heirs and assigns, covenanting to 

 convey at her request. The tracts Trevose, 

 South Trevose, East Belmont, West Bel- 

 mont, Richlieu, and Richlieu Forest were so 

 conveyed to Elizabeth Galloway Roberts, 

 and were sold by her grandchildren to 

 George Williams, great-uncle of the subject 

 of this sketch. 



The Galloways lived at Trevose in ac- 

 cordance with their social position and 

 wealth and were looked up to as great 

 folk, by the people of the community. On 

 every fair day "Betty" Galloway could be 

 seen cantering on horseback over the roads 

 of the ncighhorhnod, followed by a colored 

 groom. Her riding habit has been min- 

 utely described by a local historian : 



