150 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



are : Frances, Margaret, Hanna, Jesse, and 

 l-lmma, all of whom reside with their 

 parents. 



WILLIAM W. HALL, only surviving 

 son of Benjamin and Sarah (Carlile) 

 Hall, was born in the village of Buck- 

 ingham where his father and uncle 

 Moses were at the time engaged in mer- 

 cantile business, November 2, 1851. His 

 parents removing to the present home- 

 stead in T<S54, he was reared on the farm 

 upon which he still resides and was edu- 

 cated in the schools of Plumstead town- 

 ship At the age of thirteen years, dur- 

 ing the civil war, he and four compan- 

 ions went to Philadelphia and offered 

 their services in the Union army. It is 

 needless to say that their services were 

 declined on account of their age. He re- 

 turned home and entered the store at 

 Buckingham as a clerk, remaining as 

 such for eight years, and then returned 

 to the farm. In politics Mr. Hall is a 

 Republican and has taken an active in- 

 terest in the councils of his party. He 

 has held a number of local positions, 

 and has been a justice of the peace 

 since 1888. He has served as delegate 

 to state and- congressional conventions 

 and as a member of the county commit- 

 tee. He is an active member of the In- 

 dependent Order of Red Men, and has 

 served as representative grand chief for 

 five terms to th » grand council of the or- 

 der. ' He is al.so a past chief of the 

 Knights of the Golden Eagle. Mr. Hall 

 married, October 26, 1880, Anna Fry, 

 daughter of Michael Fry, of, Plumstead, 

 and they are the parents of ten children: 

 Chester Arthur; Roscoe C. ; Nellie B., 

 deceased; Warren Russell; Florence 

 Ethel; Norman D.; Althea Fry; Eleanor 

 E., deceased; and- Sarah Esther, and 

 Emma F'auline Hall. 



HOWARD PURSELL, M. D. of Bristol, 

 was born in Bridgeton (formerly Nocka- 

 mixon) township, Bucks county, March 

 23, 1847, and is a son of Brice M. and 

 Martha Merrick (Poore) Pnrsell. 



The Purcell-Pursell family of Penn- 

 sylvania and New Jersey are descend- 

 ants of the noble family of Purcell in 

 Ireland, whose founder. Sir Hugh Pur- 

 cell, was a grandson of Sir Hugh Purcell 

 who went from Normandy to England 

 with William the Conqueror, and traced 

 his descent through many generations 

 from Charlemagne of France. Sir Hugh 

 Purcell is said to have been the first of 

 the conquering Normans to land on 

 1 British soil at Pevensey Bay, and the 

 first to effect a deed of arms by storming 

 the ruins of a Roman castle where a 

 party of King Harold's soldiers lay en- 

 trenched. The Irish Purcells were ad- 

 herents of the House of Stuart, and 

 were swept away by the rebellion of 

 1641, though several distinct branches 



of them later recovered their lands and 

 titles at the restoration and were again' 

 badly broken on the accession of Will- 

 iam of Orange. 



John Purslone Pursley or Purssell, as 

 his name is variously spelled, came to 

 America from Dublin. Ireland, in the 

 ship "Phoenix," arriving in the river 

 Delaware in August, 1677, and settled in 

 Bucks county. He was appointed con- 

 stable far the "further side of Nesham- 

 inah" 7 mo. 9, 1685, and on the 8th of 

 7 mo. 1689, w^as again appointed consta- 

 ble for the "upper, parts of the settle- 

 ment, between Neshaminah and Poques- 

 sing." In the same year he appears as a 

 witness in the Bucks county courts, and' 

 on being attested gives his age as "about 

 sixty years." He was again appointed 

 constable in 1690, for "upper parts of 

 Neshaminah." He married in 1684, Eliza- 

 beth, widow of Thomas Walmsley, who- 

 with her husband and six children mi- 

 grated from Yorkshire in .1682 and set- 

 tled in Byberry, Philadelphia county, 

 bringing a certificate from Settle Month- 

 ly Meeting of Friends in Yorkshire. At 

 about the same date of the arrival of 

 John Purslone in Bucks county, Thom- 

 as Purcil appears at Flatlands, Long 

 Island. He acts as an appraiser in that 

 town in 1679, and was one of the pat- 

 entees of Newton, Long Island, in 

 1686. He or a son of his with the same 

 name removed to the Raritan, in Som- 

 erset county. New Jersey, prior to 1703, 

 and had children baptized at the Raritan 

 . Dutch Reformed church. The descen- 

 dants of Thomas Pursell became num- 

 erous in Somerset, Middlesex and Essex 

 counties. New Jersey, prior to 1760. In 

 1710 he purchased a large tract of land 

 in Somerset county, though then living 

 in Middlesex, and in 1719 conveyed one- 

 half of it to his son Daniel, who in 172S 

 conveyed a part of it to Gysbert Krom, 

 of Amwell township, Hunterdon county. 

 A Daniel Purcell settled later in Alex- 

 andria township, Hunterdon county and 

 in 1783 bought a tract of land in Tini- 

 cum, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and 

 erected a grist mill which he operated 

 for two j'ears. He then returned to- 

 Kingwood, New Jersey, where he died 

 in 1804, leaving sons, Peter, Benjamin 

 and Thomas, and daughters, Ruth Mid- 

 dleswarts, Sarah Tinsman and Hannah 

 Jones. 



On September 28, 1728, "Denes Purcell 

 of Pennsylvania" married Ruth Cooper, 

 daughter of Henry and Mary (Buck- 

 man) Cooper, of Newtown, Bucks coun- 

 ty, and settled in Bethlehem township, 

 Hunterdon county. New Jersey. Wheth- 

 er he w-as a son of John and Elizabeth 

 (Walmsley) Purssell, of Bucks county, 

 or of Thomas, of New Jersey, is prob- 

 leniutical. but certain it is that Dennis 

 and Ruth Cooper were the parents of 

 John Pursell, "of Pennsylvania," who 

 married in 1761 Ann Coone (Coomb), of 



