1^2 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Dr. Pursell lias been twice married, 

 first on February 22, 1869, to Vestilla 

 Smith, daughter of James and Achsah 

 (Lear) Smith. His second marriage oc- 

 curred at Milford, New Jersey, June 

 4, 1879, to Nellie Carpenter Bartolette, 

 daughter of Dr. Charles R. and Ann M. 

 (Carpenter) Bartolette. His children 

 are as follows: James Everett, born 

 June 12, 1870; Ethel Bartolette, born 

 May 12, 1882; Charles Howard, born 

 September 30, 1885, died February 18, 

 1886: and Carrie Nesbit, born February 

 2, 1888. 



WILLIAM EDGAR GEIL, the dis- 

 tinguished author, traveller and orator, 

 was born near Doylestown, Bucks county, 

 Pennsylvania, and is the son of Samuel 

 Geil, still residing in Doylestown, by his 

 late wife Elizabeth Seese, deceased. On 

 the paternal side Mr. Geil is of French 

 and German descent. His great-grand- 

 father, Jacob Geil, was born in the prov- 

 ince of Alsace, in the year, 1742, and ac- 

 companied his parents to America in the 

 ship "Duke of Bedford," arriving in 

 Philadelphia, September 14, 1751. The ■ 

 family lived for a time in Philadelphia 

 and then located on the Skippack, in 

 what is now Montgomery coimty, Penn- 

 sylvania, where Jacob Geil married Anna, 

 daughter of John Clymer (or Klemmer) 

 and granddaughter of Bishop Valentine 

 Klemmer, who came from Switzerland in 

 1717. By deed dated April 18. 1763, Will- 

 iam Crook conveyed to him by name of 

 "Jacob Choel, of Philadelphia county," 

 194 acres in Springfield township. Bucks 

 county. He was a weaver by trade. On 

 April I, 1768, Jacob Geil and Anna his 

 wife conveyed the Springfield farm to 

 Conrad Jacoby, and on April 18, 1768, 

 Samuel Barnhill and wife conveyed to 

 him 153 acres near New Galena in New 

 Britain township. Bucks county. Here 

 his wife Anna died, and he married a 

 second time and in 1786 sold his farm 

 and removed with the j-ounger members 

 of his family to Chester county, and 

 from thence to Rockingham county, Vir- 

 ginia, where he died about 1802. The 

 children of Jacob Geil were: Mary, who 

 married Samuel Godshalk. of New Brit- 

 ain; Abraham. John, Philip, and Mar- 

 garet. The first two were by the first 

 wife, and the last three by the second. 

 Philip and Margaret were minors on their 

 return to Bucks county in 1802, and guar- 

 dians w^ere appointed for them b)^ the 

 Bucks county court. 



John Geil, son of Jacob, was born in 

 New Britain, Bucks county, April i, 1778, 

 and removed with his father to Virginia, 

 where he was apprenticed to the tanning 

 trade, but, liking neither the trade or his 

 master, he returned to Bucks county 

 about 1796, and probably resided for a 

 time with his elder brother, Abraham 

 Geil. Abraham was a farmer, and later 



located near Doylestown, where Samuel 

 Hart now lives, and reared a family of 

 eight children, of whom but two married, 

 and none so far as known left male de- 

 scendants. John Geil married April 22, 

 1802, Elizabeth Fretz, daughter of Mark 

 Fretz, wdio owned and operated the grist 

 and saw mills later known as Curley's 

 Mills, in New Britain. John Geil settled 

 in New Britain, where he owned a farm, 

 and resided there until near the close of 

 his life. He was ordained as minister of 

 the Mennonite congregation at Line Lex- 

 ington in 1809, and preached there for 

 forty-two years. Late in life he re- 

 moved to Plumstead, where he died Jan- 

 uary 16, 1866, at the age of eighty-eight 

 years. His wife was born January 27, 

 1781, and died November 6, 1849. She 

 was the daughter of Mark and Elizabeth 

 (Rosenberger) Fretz, the former a son 

 of John and Maria Fretz of Bedminster, 

 and the latter the daughter of Rev. 

 Henry Rosenberger, for many years pas- 

 tor of the Mennonite congregation in 

 Franconia, Montgomery county. Rev. 

 John and Elizabeth (Fretz) Geil were 

 the parents of nine children: Jacob, the 

 eldest son, married Anna Funk, and had 

 three sons: John F., Enos F. and Sam- 

 uel; the first and last removed west; 

 Samuel became a distinguished lawyer in 

 Ohio, and removed later to California, 

 where he recently died. The remaining 

 children of Rev. John Geil were: Bar- 

 bara, who married Abraham Landis; 

 Elizabeth, who married Martin D. Ros- 

 enberger, of Hilltown, (see Rosenberger 

 family); Mark, who died young; Catha- 

 rine, who married John Krabehl; Mary, 

 who married Joseph Landis; John, born 

 August 20. 1819, killed by a fall in his 

 barn in New Britain, August 26, 1890; 

 Anna, who married Mathew Hare and 

 removed to Illinois; and .Samuel. 



Samuel Geil, of Doylestown, youngest 

 son of Rev. John and Elizabeth (Fretz) 

 Geil, was born in New Britain, Bucks 

 county, March 11. 1825. He was a youth 

 of more than ordinary intellectual abil- 

 ity and of a studious temperament. Early 

 in life he studied civil engineering and 

 surveying. After teaching school for 

 some j^ears he followed topographical 

 engineering and surveying, and for many 

 years made and published township, 

 county and state maps. He made a sur« 

 vey of Morris county. New Jersey, in 

 1850, and his last map published, which 

 was a triumph in map-making, was that 

 of the state of Michigan, made in 1863- 

 65;. He then settled on his large farm in 

 New Britain, where he resided until 

 1878, when he removed to Doylestown, 

 and for several years was engaged in 

 the hard wood lumber business. In 1856 

 he injured his spine by a fall from which 

 he never fully recovered. Samuel Geil 

 married Elizabeth Seese. of Plumstead, 

 whose ancestors came over in the May- 

 flower and they were the parents of two 



