HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



141 



Ohio, Feb. 24, 1882. The other chil- 

 dren of Robert and Catharine (Gait) 

 Darrah were, Rachel H., first wife of 

 Rev. D. K. Turner, the eminent Presby- 

 terian divine of Hartsville, lately de- 

 ceased; Eliza M., who married Dr. Free- 

 land of Chester county; Emily, the 

 mother of the subject of this sketch; 

 Rebecca, the second wife of Rev. D. K. 

 Turner; Mary A., who died unmarried; 

 John M., of Hartsville; Kate, who mar- 

 ried Theodore R. Graham of Philadel- 

 phia; and R. Henderson, still residing on 

 the homestead. 



Prior to the death of her husband Dr. 

 Joseph D. Nichols, Mrs. Nichols re- 

 turned to Bucks county and resided with 

 her mother at the old stone mansion, on 

 the Bristol road now owned by the sub- 

 ject of this sketch, her son M. S. Pren- 

 tiss Nichols, where she died in 1898. 



H. S. Prentiss Nichols came to Phil- 

 adelphia in 1872, and since that time 

 has had a home in the old homestead on 

 the Bristol Road at Hartsville, Bucks 

 county, though most of his time has 

 been spent in Philadelphia. He gradu- 

 ated from the college department of the 

 University of Pennsylvania in 1879; 

 studied law and was admitted to the 

 bar of Philadelphia county, where he 

 has since practiced with success, and has 

 since been admitted to practice at the 

 Bucks county bar. He is a member of 

 the Bucks county Historical Society and 

 takes a lively interest in Bucks county, 

 the home of his distinguished maternal 

 ancestors. He is a member of the 

 Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the 

 Revolution. 



He married, June 4, 1895, Isabel 

 Mcllhenny, of Germantown, daughter of 

 John and Berenice (Bell) Mcllhenny, 

 both natives of the north of Ireland, now. 

 living in Germantown, but formerly of 

 North Carolina, where Mrs. Nichols was 

 born. Mr. and Mrs. Nichols reside at 

 346 Pelham Road, Germantown, but the 

 summer months are generally spent at 

 their country home at Hartsville, Bucks 

 county. 



HENRY SYLVESTER JACOBY, 

 Professor of Bridge Engineermg, m 

 Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 

 was born April 8, 1857, in Springfield 

 township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 

 between Bursonville and Springtown, 

 and is a son of Peter L. and Barbara 

 (Shelly) Jacoby, both of German de- 

 scent. 



The paternal ancestor of Professor Ja- 

 coby came to Pennsylvania, as is sup- 

 posed, prior to 1750, but little is known 

 of him. His widow Elizabeth survived 

 him many years, dying at an advanced 

 age at the home of her son-in-law, An- 

 dreas Schneider, in Richland, about 

 1790, letters of administration being 

 granted on her estate January 9, 1790. 



Her children as shown by the distribu- 

 tion account filed were: Conrad, "eld- 

 est son," Henry, who settled in. Lower 

 Mount Bethel township, Northampton 

 county; George, who settled in Lehigh 

 county; John, who settled in York coun- 

 ty; and Margaret, who married An- 

 dreas Schneider, of Richland, a native 

 of Zweibrucken, who came to this coun- 

 try in 1759. Margaret, probably the 

 youngest of the Jacoby family, was born 

 January 6, 1749, and died March 22, 

 1828. 



Conrad Jacoby was born June 7, 1730, 

 and was certainly in Bucks county May 

 18, 1751, when a warrant of survey for 

 a tract of land in Bedminster township, 

 Bucks county, was issued to him. His 

 later Bucks county residence was in Mil- 

 ford township, the threshold of German 

 immigration into the county of Bucks. 

 On April i, 1768, he purchased of Ja- 

 cob Geil 220 1-2 acres of land in Spring- 

 field township, on the line of Durham 

 township. In this deed he is styled "Con- 

 rad Jacobi, of Lower Milford township. 

 Blacksmith." This farm is on the road 

 from Bursonville to Durham, and ad- 

 joins the farm still owned by Professor 

 Henry S. Jacoby, on the northeast. On 

 March 6, 1787, he purchased a farm of 

 152 acres in Bedminster township, the 

 present residence of Gideon S. Rosen- 

 berger, and lived thereon until his death 

 ]March 26, 1795. On April 11, 1791, he 

 purchased 259 acres in Durham town- 

 ship, being Nos. 5 and 6 of the Durham 

 tract, and adjoining his Springfield pur- 

 chase. This tract he conveyed to his 

 sons, Peter and John and John Reigle, 

 respectively, in 1792 and 1793. His wife 

 Hannah died November 27, 1828, at the 

 age of ninety-nine years six months, 

 and is buried at St. Peter's German Re- 

 formed church, in Leidytown, her later 

 days having been spent with her young- 

 est son, Leonard, in Hilltown township. 

 Conrad Jacoby is buried in the grave- 

 yard of the old Tohickon church at 

 Church Hill. He and his wife Hannah 

 were the parents of nine children: John, 

 Philip, Peter, Benjamin, Margaret, Cath- 

 arine, Elizabeth, Henry and Leonard. 

 John lived on the Durham land conveyed 

 to him by his father in I793> until his 

 death as did his brother Peter. Philip 

 lived for a time in Nockamixon, and from 

 1783 to 1787 he lived on a farm of 196- 

 1/2 acres at Stony Point, in Springfield 

 township. He then removed to Hill- 

 town township, where he died in 1827. 

 Benjamin settled in Haycock township 

 on a tract of 165 acres, patented to him 

 as No. 15 of the Lottery Lands in 1789, 

 near Haycock Run postoftice, where he 

 lived until his death. One of the daugh- 

 ters, either Margaret or Catharine, mar- 

 ried a Woolsleyer. Elizabeth married 

 (first) John Fluck, and after his death 

 married Robert Darroch, Jr., and they 

 resided in Bensalem township, Bucks 



