136 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



church. Marshall street, Norristown. Mr. 

 Wanger is himself a member of St. 

 John's Episcopal church. He is a mem- 

 ber of the Independent Order of Odd 

 Fellows and the Improved Order of Red 

 JVien, and of the various branches of the 

 Masonic fraternity, having been grand 

 commander of the Knights Templar of 

 Pennsylvania in 1894-5. 



WILLIAM WATSON, one of the 

 most enterprising and progressive farm- 

 ers of Buckingham, was born on the old 

 Watson homestead upon which he still 

 resides, February 17, 1862, being only 

 son of Henry and Emeline P. (Rich) 

 Watson. 



The first American ancestors of the 

 subject of this sketch were early settlers 

 in Chesterfield township. Burfington 

 county, New Jersey. Mathew Watson 

 and Anne Mauleverer, his wife, migrated 

 form Scarborough, in Yorkshire. Eng- 

 land, about 1682, and settled in Chester- 

 field. They were members of Chester- 

 field Monthly Meeting of Friends. 

 Mathew's occupation is given as "chem- 

 its." He purchased in 1683 of Thomas 

 Hutchinson, late of Beverly, in York- 

 shire, a one-twelfth share in the prov- 

 ince of West Jersey, and appears to have 

 been a man of wealth and education. He 

 died in Chesterfield, 7 mo. 13, 1703. and 

 his wife Anne died there il mo. 16, 1721. 

 Their children were: Mathew, Jr., born 

 at Burlington, 10 mo. 2, 1682; and 

 Marmaduke, born 8 mo. 13, 1685. Mathew 

 seems to have been engaged in a ship- 

 ping business, as on 3 mo. 27, 1724, he 

 takes a certificate from Chesterfield 

 Meeting to "transport himself to other 

 parts on account of trading." 



Marmaduke Watson, second son of 

 Mathew and Anne, was married at Bur- 

 lington Meeting, i mo. 27, 1718. to Eliza- 

 beth Pancoast, daughter of Williaffi and 

 Hannah (Scattergood) Pancoast. He 

 inherited from his father large tracts of 

 land in dififerent parts of West Jersey, 

 allotted as part of the one-twelfth share 

 of the province, among them a tra'ct in 

 Bethlehem township. Hunterdon county, 

 on the Musconetcong creek, which he 

 devised in his will to his son Aaron. 

 This w'ill is dated in Chesterfield town- 

 ship. Burlington county, 3 mo. 14, 1746, 

 and was proven July 24, 1749, and men- 

 tions, beside the son Aaron, wife Eliza- 

 beth, son Marmaduke, and daughter 

 Anne, wife of Joseph Curtis. 



Aaron Watson, son of Marmaduke 

 and Elizabeth (Pancoast) Watson, was 

 born in Chesterfield about 1720. It is 

 possible that on arriving at manhood he 

 became associated with his uncle 

 Mathew in the "trading" business, as he 

 seems to have followed a migratory life 

 for some years. In 1744 he brings a 

 certificate from Chester, Pennsylvania, 



Meeting to Philadelphia, where he re- 

 mained until after his father's death. In 

 1750 he takes a certificate to his old 

 home at Chesterfield, but probably lo- 

 cated at once on his inheritance at Beth- 

 lehem, now Kingwood, though he does 

 not take a certificate to Kingwood Meet- 

 ing until 1754, when about to marry 

 Sarah Emley, a member of that Meeting. 

 The children of Aaron and Sarah 

 (Emley) Watson were: John, Lucy, 

 Anne and Sarah, all born at Kingwood, 

 New Jersey. 



John Watson, eldest child of Aaron 

 and Sarah, born at Kingwood, about 

 1755' was reared on the Jersey farm. 

 During the Revolution he remqved to 

 Shrewsbury, and engaged in the manu- 

 facture of salt on the Jersey coast, where 

 Point Pleasant is now located. He sold 

 the product to the continental army, and 

 thus incurred the special enmity of the 

 British, who destroyed his residence and 

 plant, thereby ruining him financially. 

 He married about 1778 or 1779, at 

 Shrewsbury, Mary Jackson, a descen- 

 dant of Daniel Jackson, who migrated 

 from Stangerthwaite, in Yorkshire, about 

 1693, and located in Bristol township, 

 Bucks county, whose descendants had 

 removed to Shrewsbury prior to the 

 revolution. John Watson, returned to 

 Kingwood in 1781, with wife and daugh- 

 ter Sarah. His eldest son John was born 

 there 10 mo. 25, 1781. In the autumn of 

 1782 he removed to Middletown, Bucks 

 county, where his son Aaron was born, 

 and his eldest child, Sarah, died. He 

 removed to Buckingham in 1785, where 

 the rest of his ten children were born, 

 viz.: Hannah, married William Gilling- 

 ham: Sarah, married George Hughes; 

 Elizabeth, married James Shaw; Joseph; 

 Charles; Ann; Marmaduke and John. In 

 1794 he purchased 140 acres of land 

 lying on both sides of the Mechanics- 

 ville road, and including the present 

 Watson farm, the original buildings be- 

 ing on the northwest side of the road, 

 where John Riniker now lives. He died 

 on this farm in 1818, and the farm w^as 

 partitioned through the orphans' court, 

 the farm now occupied by the subject 

 of this sketch being adjudged to his 

 oldest son, William Watson. 



William Watson, son of John and 

 Mary (Jackson) Watson, was born in 

 Kingwood, 10 mo. 25, 1781, and was but 

 a child when his parents removed to 

 Buckingham. He married. May 10, 1809, 

 Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel and Mar- 

 garet (Jenks) (Dillingham, who was born 

 II mo. 21, 1784, and died June 28, 1868. 

 Upon his marriage William Watson set- 

 tled on the farm still occupied by his 

 grandson the subject of this sketch, the 

 building then being first erected for him 

 by his father. William Watson was a 

 prominent and useful man in the com- 

 munity, and filled many positions of 

 trust. He was one of the original trus- 



