HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



113 



ancestry from the Pilgrim ancestor 

 Robert Hicks down to his father Gilbert 

 Hicks, is given in the preceding sketch, 

 was born in Bensalem township, April 

 21, 1748, and died in Newtown, Bucks 

 county, October 5, 1836. He received a 

 good education, and was a man of fine 

 intellectual ability and excellent busi- 

 ness capacity. On June 6, 1772, he was 

 commissioned prothonotary and clerk of 

 the several courts of Bucks county, and 

 filled those positions with eminent abil- 

 ity until 1777, when he was directed to 

 turn in all papers and books relating to 

 these offices to be deposited in the fire- 

 proof at Newtown, the political views 

 of his father (Gilbert Hicks) having 

 cast a suspicion upon him. He was 

 also commissioned a justice of the peace 

 an April 9, 1774, and held that office for 

 three years. , The continued good and 

 loyal deportment of the son had its 

 proper effect to convince the public 

 that the suspicion was groundless. After 

 the close of the Revolution he was again 

 commissioned a justice of the peace, 

 and held the office many years while re- 

 siding at Newtown. His office for many 

 years was in the western end of what is 

 now the White Hall Hotel. Here by 

 close attention to his duties and an hon- 

 orable course of life he built up a large 

 business. It is said that in dress he ad- 

 hered to the old style of breeches and 

 knee-buckles. 



He was married at Newtown, on No- 

 vember 17, 1771, to his cousin, Catharine 

 Hicks, daughter of Col. Edward and 

 Violetta (Ricketts) Hicks, who was born 

 in New York, November 4, 1745, and 

 died at Burlington, New Jersey, Oc- 

 tober ig. 1781. Her brother William 

 was prothonotary of Bucks county, 1770- 

 1772. The children of Isaac and Cath- 

 arine Hicks, were : 



1. Gilbert Edward, born March li, 

 J773, who became a prominent physician 

 at Catawissa, Pennsylvania, where hd- 

 married Catharine Hibbs, daughter of 

 James Hibbs. His grandchildren now 

 living are: Dr. J. J. John, historian and 

 prominent business man of Shamokin, 

 who spent some little time in Bucks 

 county in early life ; Emma Walters, of 

 Catawissa; and Anna M. Ormsby, widow 

 of Henry George Ormsby, of Philadel- 

 phia. 



2. William Richard, born November 

 17, 1774, died February 5, 1777- 



3. Edward Henry, born June 29, 1776, 

 died August 20, 1776. 



4. Eliza Violetta, born March 17, 1778. 

 married October 4, 1807, Thomas G. 

 Kennedy, sheriff of Bucks county for 

 the term 1815-1817. She was drowned 

 in Newtown creek, near her home in 

 Newtown, July 28, 1817, in an effort, to 

 save her child, who had fallen in the 

 creek. 



. 5. Edward, born April 2, 1780, died 

 August 23, 1849. 

 8-3 



Isaac Hicks married (second) October 

 20, 1792, Mary (Gilbert) Young, widow 

 of Edward Young, of Philadelphia, who 

 was born August 3, 1757, and died at 

 Newtown February 22, 1812. 



Edward Hicks, youngest son of Isaac 

 and Catharine, was born at Attleboro 

 (now Langhorne, then known as Four- 

 Lanes-End) April 2, 1780. His mother 

 dying when he was but eighteen months 

 old, he was left to the care of her faith- 

 ful servant Jane, a colored woman. His 

 father's home was entirely broken up 

 by the confiscation of all the property 

 belonging to his father, Gilbert Hicks, 

 and this, with sickness and deaths in 

 his family, reduced him for a season to 

 a great strait. He later secured a home 

 for his infant son in the family of David 

 Twining, where he remained until thir- 

 teen years of age. Edward Hicks in his 

 "Memoirs" gives abundant testimony of 

 his appreciation of the kindness received 

 at the hands of his adopted mother, 

 Elizabeth Twining. In April, 1793, he 

 was apprenticed to the coach-making 

 trade with William and Henry Tomlin- 

 son, at Four-Lanes-End, where he re- 

 mained until 1800, when he set up bus- 

 iness for himself. In the autumn of 

 1801 he entered the employ of Joshua 

 C. Canby, then a coach-maker at Mil- 

 ford (now Hulmeville) and remained a 

 resident of that village untilApril, 1811, 

 when he removed to Newtown, Penn- 

 sylvania. He became a member of Mid- » 

 dletown Monthly Meeting of Friends in 

 the spring of 1803, and later became a 

 prominent minister in the Society, trav- 

 eling extensively in the ministry. Like 

 his distinguished cousin, Thomas Hicks, 

 he possessed considerable artistic talent, 

 and a number of his paintings of high 

 merit are still preserved. He was an 

 ardent temperance advocate, and claimed 

 to have built the first house in Bucks 

 county erected without the use of intox- 

 icating liquors, in 1804. He married 

 II mo. 17, 1803, Sarah Worstall, daugh- 

 ter of Joseph and Susanna (Hibbs) 

 Worstall. He died in Newtown 8 mo. 23, 

 1849, and his widow died 12 mo. 30, 

 1855. Their children were: Mary, born 

 10 mo. 12, 1804, died 2 mo. 7, 1880, un- 

 married; Susan, born 11 mo. 9, 1806, 

 married 5 mo. 17, 1832, John Carle, Jr., 

 of New York, and died in New York, 

 I mo. 24, 1872; Elizabeth T.. born 8 rno. 

 24, 1811, married Richard Plummer. of 

 Baltimore, Maryland, 11 mo. 11, 1852, 

 and died in Newtown, 3 mo. 22, 1892; 

 Sarah B., born 12 mo. 24, 1816, married 

 Isaac C. Parry, of Warminister, 5 mo. 

 23, 1844, and died in Warminister 2 mo. 

 23, 1895; Isaac W., born i mo. 20, 1809, 

 and died 3 mo. 28,. 1898. 



Isaac W. Hicks, only son of Edward 

 and Sarah (Worstall) Hicks, was born 

 at Hulmeville, and reared in Newtown, 

 Bucks county, where he lived from ,t)ie 

 age of two years until his death. He 



