132 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



resided in New Hope until his death, on 

 March 3, 1898. In 1867 he purchased the 

 farm given by his great-grandfather, 

 Joshua Ely, to his son, Joshua, Jr., on 

 which his eldest son, William M. Ely, 

 settled and still resides. Isaac Ely was 

 a prominent and successful farmer and 

 business man. He took an active inter- 

 est in local affairs, and held a number of 

 positions of public trust. He was for 

 many years a member of the local school 

 board, and took an active interest in the 

 cause of education. During the civil 

 war, though a member of the Society of 

 Friends and constant in the attendance 

 of Solebury Meeting, he was active in 

 raising the quota of soldiers required to 

 carry on the war, from his section, and 

 in rasining funds and materials for the 

 care of the sick and wounded in the hos- 

 pitals. He was for manj' years a direc- 

 tor of the Bucks County Agricultural 

 and Mechanics' Institute, and one of 

 the active members of the Solebury 

 Farmers' Club. He married December 

 25, 1841, Mary Magill, born October 23, 

 1820, died March 2, 1897, daughter of 

 John and Anne (Ely) Magill. The 

 former,*born July 12, 1779, died Febru- 

 ary 10, 1866, was a son of John. and Amy 

 (Wliitson) Magill, and a grandson of 

 William and Sarah (Simcock) Magill, be- 

 fore mentioned; and the latter a daugh- 

 ter of Joseph and Alary (Whitson) Ely 

 before mentioned. Amy Whitson, the 

 wife of John Magill, Sr., was born July 

 18, 1739, and was a daughter of David 

 and Clemence (Powell) Whitson, who 

 came from Long Island to Solebury in 

 the first half of the eighteenth century. 

 The children of Isaac and Mary (Ma- 

 gill) Ely were: 



Sarah Ellen, born 1842, died August 

 3, 1876; married John S. Abbott. 



William M. Ely, born January 29, 

 1844; has been for many years a justice 

 of the peace of Solebury, residing on 

 150 acres of the land taken up by his an- 

 cestor, Joshua Ely, in 1737. He mar- 

 ried December 19, 1876, Agnes S. Mich- 

 ener, daughter of Hugh and Sarah 

 (Betts) Michener, and they are the pa- 

 rents of two children: George H., born 

 June 30, 1880, is married to Marion Rice, 

 daughter of Hon. Hampton and Emma 

 (Kenderdine) Rice, and resides with his 

 two children, Wilton and Helen, on the 

 same farm; and Mary D., born Decem- 

 ber 12, 1880. 



Anna M. Ely, born June 7, 1845. mar- 

 ried March 29, 1873, Frederick L. Smith, 

 for many years engaged in the mercan- 

 tile business at Penns Park and New 

 Hope, now living retired in Doylestown. 

 Their "only child. Ely J. Smith, born De- 

 'cember 16, 1877, is a member of the 

 Bucks county bar. 



Edgar C. Ely, born October 14, 1846, 

 find Rachel Anna, born June 4, 1850, both 

 died August 25, 1851. 



John H. Ely, born November 17, 185^, 



married in 1882, Martha S. Gilbert^ 

 daughter of John W. and Letitia (Smith) 

 Gilbert, of Buckingham; he was a farmer 

 in Solebury for several years, and is 

 now residing in New Hope borough. 

 Thejf have no children. 



Laura Ely, born August 18, 1853, mar- 

 ried Seth T. Walton, of one of the 

 oldest families of Montgomery county, 

 and has three children, Edna M., Mark 

 Hubert, and Marguerite. 



Warren S. Ely, born October 6, 1855; 

 see forward. 



Alice K., born January 17, i860, mar- 

 ried Clarence T. Doty, a prominent bus- 

 iness man of Jacksonville, Florida, 

 where they reside. 



Martha C, born December 10, 1861, 

 married Thomas B. Claxton, a farmer 

 in Buckingham. 



WARREN SMEDLEY ELY, tenth 

 child and fourth son of Isaac and Mary 

 (Magill) Ely, was born in Solebury 

 township, October 6, 1855. He was ed- 

 ucated in the common scRools and Lam- 

 bertville Seminary. On April i, 1878, he 

 took charge of the paternal farm, upon 

 which he had been reared, and con- 

 ducted it for two years. March i, 1880, 

 he purchased a farm in Buckingham, to 

 which he removed and cultivated it for 

 five years, during the same period acting 

 as one of the manager^ and the treas- 

 urer of the Buckingham Valley Cream- 

 ery Association. On October 26, 1881, 

 he experienced a distressing accident by 

 the loss of his right arm in farming ma- 

 chinery. This necessitated his seekmg 

 other employment than that to which 

 he had been accustomed, and in the wm- 

 ter of 1881-82 he engaged in business as 

 a real estate and general business agent, 

 and during the ensuing four years was 

 busily engaged in that capacity, at the 

 same time continuing his residence upon 

 the farm and directing its management. 

 In the spring of 1885 he sold the farm 

 and purchased a mill in Buckingham, 

 which he remodeled and refitted 

 throughout, equipping it with the latest 

 improved roller process machinery for 

 the manufacture of flour and granulated 

 cornmeal. He was the pioneer in east- 

 ern Pennsylvania in the manufacture of 

 the latter product, and his "Gold Grits" 

 enjoyed a inore than local reputation, 

 and commanded a ready sale, as did his 

 roller process flour, and he conducted a 

 prosperous business for several j^ears. 



In the autumn of 1893 he was elected 

 on the Republican ticket to the oflice of 

 clerk of orphans court of Bucks county, 

 and in the spring following removed to 

 Doylestown, where he has since resided. 

 After his retirement from oftice on the 

 expiration of his ofticial term, he was 

 appointed a deputy clerk of the same 

 court, acting more especially as advisor 



