HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



127 



shipped the first boatload of lime that 

 was ever sent over the canal, and for a 

 number of years supplied most of the 

 farmers in the lower part of Bucks 

 county. Later he turned his attention 

 to the lumber business, which he con- 

 ducted quite extensively in the Lehigh 

 valley. About 1835 he purchased the 

 farm where his son, George AL Comfort, 

 now resides, situated in Falls township, 

 about a mile and a half from the village 

 of Fallsington, whereon he spent his re- 

 maining days, passing away in 1891. He 

 married Jane C. Comfort, a daughter of 

 Jeremiah and Sarah (Cooper) Comfort. 

 Their only chil,d was 



(VI) George M., who was born April 

 10, 1837, in the house which is yet his 

 home. He early engaged in agricultural 

 pursuits, in which he was much inter- 

 ested, finding it both congenial to his 

 tast«s and satisfactorily remunerative. 

 He was a member of the first board of 

 directors of The Peoples' National Bank 

 of Langhorne, and is yet a member of 

 the board of directors of the First Na- 

 tional Bank of Trenton, New Jersey, 

 and is president of the Bucks County 

 Contributionship for Fire Insurance. 

 Like his ancestors for several genera- 

 tions, he is a member of the religious 

 Society of Friends, and from early life 

 has been actively engaged in its work. 

 He married Ann Elizabeth, daughter of 

 Moses and Mercy Comfort, of Penns 

 Manor, on October 14, 1858. Their chil- 

 dren are : Edward .C, who died in child- 

 hood; Henry W., born February 27, 

 1863; and William S., who died in child- 

 hood. 



(VII) Henry W. Comfort, the only 

 surviving son of George M. and Ann 

 Elizabeth Comfort, resides on and is 

 operating the farm in Falls township 

 which has been the family home for 

 three generations. It includes ah area 

 of 225 acres, on which he keeps a large 

 herd of high grade dairy cows, the 

 milk from which is delivered daily to cus- 

 tomers in the city of Trenton, New Jer- 

 sey. This business was started by his 

 grandfather in 1847. and the milk route 

 has been constantly served from this 

 farm ever since. Mr. Comfort is presi- 

 dent of the John L. Murphy Publishing 

 Company, president and treasurer of the 

 International Pottery Company, of Treii- 

 ton; a director of the Yardley National 

 Bank, and is interested in. and vice- 

 president of The William H. Moon Nur- 

 sery Company. He has been actively 

 associated with affairs touching the gen- 

 eral interests of the neighborhood, is 

 a director of the Morrisville Building 

 and Loan Association, and of the Falls- 

 ington Library Companv, and is one of 

 the managers of The Friends' Asylum 

 for the Insane at Frankford. Philadel- 

 phia. 



Mr. Comfort has been twice married.. 

 His first wife was Edith, daughter of 



Samuel Ellis and Sarah B. DeCou, and 

 his present wife was Lydia P., daughter 

 of Ellwood and Mercy A. Parsons. 



THE ELY FAMILY. The earliest men- 

 tion of Ely as a family surname in Eng- 

 land occurred during the reign of the 

 Plantaganets after the Norman Con- 

 quest. The English "Book of Digni- 

 ties" records William De Ely as lord 

 treasurer for King John and Richard I ; 

 Richard De Ely, lord treasurer for Rich- 

 ard I and Henry II; Ralph De Ely, ba- 

 ron of the exchequer for Henry III, 

 (1240); Philip De Ely lord treasurer 

 for Henry III (1271); Nicholas De Ely, 

 lord chancellor, in 1260, Lord treasurer 

 in 1263, and Bishop of Worcester 1266 

 to 1289. One bra:nch of the family is 

 known to have lived at Utterby, Lin- 

 colnshire, from this early period down 

 to the present day, L. C. R. Norris- 

 Elye being the present Lord of the Man- 

 or of Utterby and patron of the old 

 thirteenth century church of * St. An- 

 drew a.t that place. Wharton Dickinson, 

 the New York genealogist, traces this 

 line back to a connection with Ralph De 

 Ely, Baron of the Exchequer. The Man- 

 or House has the Ely arms, (a fesse 

 engrailed between six fleurs-de-lis) cut 

 in stone over the entrance, dated 1639. 

 The same arms are also found in the 

 church. Another branch is said to have 

 settled in Yorkshire, and Burke gives 

 the arms the same as above, but red 

 instead of black. Papworth's "British 

 Armorials" states that these arms were 

 borne also by Nicholas De Ely and Sir 

 Richard De Illey. In Bailey's "History 

 of Nottinghamshire," John De Ely is 

 stated to have been appointed the first 

 vicar of St. Mary's Collegiate church at 

 Nottingham in 1290, and its author adds 

 that the name has "Come down to the 

 present day." Another John De Ely was 

 Lord of the Manor of Thornhaugh and 

 Wiggesley in Nottinghamshire in 1316 

 (within a mile of Dunhan, where Joshua 

 Ely resided before embarking for Am- 

 erica in 1683.) 



The ancestors of the Elys of Bucks 

 county, Pennsylvania, came from that 

 part of Old England known as the Peak 

 District, famous both for its natural 

 beauty and historic interest. It com- 

 prises Upper Derbyshire, Southwestern 

 Yorkshire, and Western Nottingham- 

 shire. The family were related to the 

 Revells of Derbyshire, an ancient and 

 powerful family, descendants of the JM^or- 

 man nobility. Hugh De Revell was 

 grandm.aster of the Knight Hospitalers, 

 and this family in England throughout 

 the Crusades were trustees of the Knight 

 Templar property in England. The Sta- 

 cyes of Yorkshire, who held the estate 

 known as Ballifield from the time of the 

 Norman Conquest, were also closely 

 connected with the Elys. The Stacye 



