156 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



volumes of his poems have been published, 

 the last one in 1845. In 1801 he retired 

 from active business and, making his home 

 with his son-in-law. Thomas Paxson, de- 

 voted his time to literary pursuits and so- 

 cial intercourse with congenial spirits. He 

 died at the age of eighty-one years, 

 his wife having died a few years previously. 

 She was a daughter of IMathias Hutchinson. 

 Esq., a prominent public official of Bucking- 

 ham, and Solebury, for many years a jus- 

 tice of the peace and an associate justice of 

 the Bucks county courts. He was a grand- 

 son of John and Phebe (Kirkbride) Hut- 

 chinson, of Falls township, the latter being 

 a daughter of Joseph and Phebe (Black- 

 shaw) Kirkbride. Mathias Hutchinson 

 married, in 1765, Elizabeth Bye, whose an- 

 cestors were the first settlers on the land 

 now occupied by "Bycot House." Ann 

 Johnson, who married Thomas Paxson, 

 was born at "Elm Grove" in 1792. She was 

 a woman universally loved and respected in 

 her neighborhood for her many acts of 

 Christian charity and kindness. Whenever 

 by sacrifice and self devotion a fellow being 

 in want or sickness could be made more 

 comfortable by help in counsel or material 

 assistance, she acted the part of the Good 

 Samaritan with a cheerfulness that was 

 "highly appreciated. She was a writer of 

 much merit, both in poetry and prose. She 

 died in 1883, in her ninety-second year. 

 William H. Johnson, a brother of Mrs. 

 Paxson, married her husband's sister Mary 

 Paxson. He was a classical scholar and 

 mathematician, and an extensive writer 

 on temperance and anti-slavery, contribut- 

 ing numerous essays to the "Iiifclligenccr" 

 and other journals. 



Thomas Paxson, at his marriage to Ann 

 Johnson in 1817, settled on the homestead 

 at Abington, but moved to Buckingham 

 two years later and purchased a portion of 

 the Johnson homestead near the mountain, 

 now occupied by his son, Hon. Edward M. 

 Paxson, where he spent his remaining days, 

 dying in April. 1881, at the age of eighty- 

 eight years. He was a member of the 

 Society of Friends and a constant attendant 

 at Buckingham Meeting. He took an active 

 part in the affairs of his neighborhood, and 

 "had strong convictions of right and wrong. 

 He was conservative in his views, and the 

 old landmarks of Friends that had dis- 

 tinguished them as a people were held in 

 reverence by him ; while an earnest advo- 

 cate of all true reforms for the improve- 

 ment of mankind, he believed the religious 

 society of which he was an earnest mem- 

 ber had a mission to fulfill with the Chris- 

 tian religion as a enduring basis. In him 

 the Socety of Frends lost an earnest sup- 

 porter and a living example of sacrifice and 

 devotion to principle rarely met with. The 

 children of Thomas and Ann (Johnson) 

 Paxson, were : 



I. Samuel Johnson Paxson, born in 

 Montgomery county in 1818, died in Buck- 

 ingham, May 28. 1864. He was editor and 



proprietor of the "Doylestown Democrat" 

 from 1845 to 1858, when he sold it to Gen- 

 eral W. W. H. Davis; he was a writer of 

 recognized ability. He married Mary 

 Anna Broadliurst in 1840, and had two 

 daughters: Helen, widow of J. Hart Bye, 

 now living at Germantown; and Carrie, 

 who married Watson B. Malone, and is 

 now deceased, leaving two daughters, 

 and a son Arthur, a business man of 

 Philadelphia. 



2. Albert S. Paxson, born in Bucking- 

 ham in 1820. died there. At the age of 

 nineteen he became a teacher at a school 

 in Montgomery county where his father had 

 taught many years before. A year later, 

 1840. he returned to Buckingham and 

 taught for some years at "Tyro Hall" and 

 at the Friends School at Buckingham. 

 From 1851 to 1856 he was local editor and 

 general manager of the "Doylesfozvn Dem- 

 ocrat," owned and edited by his brother, 

 Samuel Johnson Paxson. In 1856 he re- ■ 

 moved to the old Ely homestead, near Holi- 

 cong. that had been in the continuous oc- 

 cupancy of his wife's ancestors since 1720. 

 He was elected to the office of justice of 

 the peace in 1873, and served for ten years. 

 He devoted considerable time to literary 

 pursuits and was a writer of known merit. 

 He married first, in 1844, Mercy Beans, 

 daughter of Dr. Jesse Beans, who died in 

 1849, leaving a daughter Mary, who mar- 

 ried Robert Howell Brown, of Mount 

 Holly, New Jersey. She died at Bycot 

 House. July 20, 1887. leaving a son. T. 

 Howell Brown, now residing in Solebury. 

 Mr. Paxson married C second) in 1854, La- 

 vinia Ely, daughter of Aaron Ely, of Buck- 

 ingham, and a descendant of Joshua and 

 Mary (Seniar) Ely. who came to Trenton, 

 New Jersey, from Nottinghamshire, Eng- 

 land, in 1684. Their children are: Edward 

 E., born May 7, 1S60. engaged in the bank- 

 ing business in Philadelphia, with summer 

 residence at the old homestead; and Colon- 

 el Henry D. Paxson, born October T, 1862, a 

 member of the Bucks county and Philadel- 

 phia bar, for many years an officer of the 

 National Guard of Pennsylvania, and a 

 prominent lawyer of Philadelphia. He mar- 

 ried Hannameel Canby Paxson, a daugh- 

 ter of Elias Ely Paxson, of Aquetong, 

 and they reside at Elm Grove, in Buck- 

 ingham. 



3. HoH. Edward M. Paxson, the 

 third son of Thomas and Ann (Johnson) 

 Paxson, was born in the old homestead in 

 Buckingham. September 3, 1824. He was 

 educated at the Friends' School at Bucking- 

 ham, then a famous educational institution, 

 where many young men. who later dis- 

 tinguished themselves in legal and other 

 professional life were educated. Judge 

 Paxson did not have a collegiate educa- 

 tion, but fitted himself in the classics and 

 higher branches of learning, chiefly bv his 

 own exertions. At an early age he had am- 

 bitions for a journalist career, and, having 

 mastered the practical art of printing, in 



