HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Ill 



Prince, on the battle field of Poitiers, 

 September 9, 1356, for conspicuous brav- 

 ery in capturing a stand of colors from 

 the French. 



Robert Hicks settled at Duxbury, 

 Massachusetts, and died there at an ad- 

 vanced age. His sons John and Stephen 

 in 1642 joined an English company 

 which acquired by patent an extensive 

 tract of land about Hempstead and 

 Flushing. Long Island. Stephen Hicks 

 purchased several thousand acres at 

 Little Neck, Long Island, and erected a 

 large mansion where he lived to an ad- 

 vanced age and died without leaving 

 male descendants. 



John Hicks settled at Hempstead, and 

 from him are descended the extensive 

 family of the name on Long Island, in 

 New York, Philadelphia and Bucks 

 county, as well as in many other parts 

 of the Union. He was educated at Ox- 

 ford, and was a man of intelligence and 

 natural force of character, and there- 

 fore soon became a leader in the youth- 

 ful colony, and took an active part in 

 public affairs, his name appearmg in 

 nearly all the iinportant transactions of 

 the time. 



Thomas Hicks, only son of John, in- 

 herited his father's intellectual ability 

 and force of character, and occupied a 

 prominent position in public and social 

 life, filling many positions of trust and 

 honor. He was the first judge of 

 Queens county, New York, and filled 

 that office for many years. In 1666 he 

 obtained from Governor Nicolls a pat- 

 ent for four thousand acres of land in- 

 cluding Great Neck, Long Island, and 

 lands adjacent, and lived there in Eng- 

 lish manorial style. He was a remark- 

 able man in many respects, and retained 

 his mental and physical powers unim- 

 paired to an extreme old age. He was 

 twice married, his first wife being Mary 

 Washburne, by whom he had two sons. 

 Thomas and Jacob, the latter being the 

 father of the famous Quaker preacher, 

 Elias Hicks, the founder of that branch 

 of the Society of Friends known to this 

 day as Hicksites. Judge Hicks married 

 (second) Mary Dought3^ by whom he 

 had ten children — six sons; Isaac. Will- 

 iam, Stephen, John, Charles, Benjamin; 

 anl four daughters; Phebe. Charity, 

 ]\Iary and Elizabeth. A paragraph in 

 the "New York Post Boy" of January 

 26, 1749, in referring to the death of 

 Judare Hicks., says: "he left behind him 

 of his own offspring above three hun- 

 dred children. grandchildren. great- 

 grandchildren and great-great-grand- 

 children." He died in his one hundredth 

 year. 



Isaac Hicks, eldest son of the Judge 

 by his second marriage with Mary 

 Dought3\ was, like his father, a prom- 

 inent man in public affairs. He was 

 judge of Queens county. Long Island-, 

 for the years 1730-1738, and a member 



of the colonial assembly of New York 

 from that county, 1716 to 1739. He mar- 

 ried Elizabeth Moore, and they were 

 the parents of evelen children — nine 

 sons: Charles, Benjamin, Isaac, Gdbert, 

 James, Thomas. Henry, John, Edward; 

 and two daughters, Margaret and Mary. 

 Gilbert Hicks, fourth son of Isaac 

 and Elizabeth (Moore) Hicks, was 

 born in Queens county. New York, Sep- 

 tember 19, 1720, and married April 24, 

 1746, Mary Rodman, born February 17, 

 1717, a daughter of Joseph Rodman. 

 They were the ancestors of all the 

 Hickses of Bucks county. Both were 

 born at Flushing. Long Island. As a 

 wedding present to the youthful couple, 

 Joseph Rodman conveyed to them six 

 hundred acres of land in Bensalem 

 township, on the Neshaminy creek, 

 twenty miles northeast of Philadel- 

 phia, which he had recently purchased. 

 Hither they came in 1747 and made their 

 home in a comfortable log house untfl 

 they erected a more commodious dwell- 

 ing, to defray the expense of which he 

 sold off two hundred acres of the land 

 to Lawrence Growdon. They subse- 

 quently sold the remaining four hun- 

 dred acres and purchased one hundred 

 acres, coming to a point at Four-Lanes- 

 End, (now Langhorne) on which he 

 erected in 1763 a commodious brick 

 house which is still standing. 



On June 9, 1752, Gilbert Hicks was 

 commissioned by the governor and 

 council one of the justices of the peace 

 for Bucks county, and on May li, 1761, 

 he was commissioned chief justice of 

 the court of common pleas. On March 

 29. he and Hugh Hartshorne were com- 

 missioned by John Penn, then gover- 

 nor, to hold court for the trial of ne- 

 groes, whether slave or free. Gilbert 

 Hicks was a man of superior mental 

 abilities, and stood very high in the com- 

 munity, commanding the respect of all. 

 On July 9, 1774, he was chairman of a 

 public meeting held at Newtown, then 

 the county seat of Bucks, in pursuance 

 of previous notice, and in a short ad- 

 dress explained the objects of the meet- 

 ing as being to consider the injury and 

 distress occasioned by the numerous 

 acts of oppression inflicted on the col- 

 onies by the English parliament, in 

 which the colonies were not represented, 

 and entirely concurred in the resolu- 

 tions then adopted, looking toward a 

 congress composed of delegates from 

 the different colonies, "to use every 

 lawful endeavor to obtain relief and to 

 form and promote a plan of union be- 

 tween the parent country and colonies." 

 See Penna. Archives, Second Series, 

 Vol. XV, page 343. 



When, however. General Howe issued 

 his proclamation calling on the loyal 

 subjects of George III to lay down their 

 arms and seek peaceful means of re- 

 dress. Judge Hicks, being greatly im- 



