HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



163 



i8o8, when he sold it to the county and 

 removed to Bensalem, where he died. He 

 married, June 3, 1784, Sarah Gibbs, and 

 they were the parents of eleven children: 

 Mary, married Anthony McCoy, and was 

 the mother of Dr. Gilbert Rodman 

 McCoy, who succeeded to the practice^ 

 of Dr. Charles Mathews at Doylestown, 

 and was one of the most prominent phy- 

 sicians of the count}'; Margery, married 

 Judge John Fox, president judge of the 

 •courts of Bucks county, 1830-40, and a 

 leader of a powerful faction of the Dem- 

 ocratic party in Bucks county for many 

 years; Gibbs Rodman, born January 8, 

 1782, died December 18, 1812, unmarried; 

 Sarah, married John S. Benezet; Eliza- 

 beth, married William Drinker of Phila- 

 delphia; Margaret, wife of Dr. Charles 

 H. Mathews; Hannah, died unmarried; 

 Gilbert, born August 25, 1800, died Jan- 

 uary 15, 1862, unmarried, studied law 

 with Judge Fox, later with Judge Da'P 

 las at Philadelphia, located at Lancaster, 

 was a clerk in the United States Treas- 

 ury department under Samuel D. Ing- 

 ham in 1829, later becoming chief clerk 

 and filling that position until his death; 

 Euphemia, born 1802, died 1807 ; Mary 

 Ann, born 1804, died in 1827, unmarried ; 

 and Lewis, who graduated from the med- 

 ical department of the Universitj' of 

 Pennsylvania in the same class with Dr. 

 Charles H. Mathews, located in Phila- 

 delphia, where he became a prominent 

 l)hysician, was censor of the College of 

 Physicians, consulting physician tor 

 Preston's Retreat, etc. 



CHARLES HENRY MATHEWS, 

 only son of Dr. Charles H. and Margaret 

 (Rodman) Mathews, was born at Dojdes- 

 town, April 21. 1844. He was educated 

 at the Doylestown English and Classi- 

 cal Seminar3\ the high school at Law- 

 renceville. New Jersey, and at the Col- 

 lege of New Jersey, (now Princeton Uni- 

 versity) graduating in 1864. He studied 

 law in the office of his cousin, Gilbert 

 Rodman Fox. at Norristown, and was ad- 

 mitted to the bar of the Seventh Judicial 

 District, comprising Bucks and Mont- 

 •gomery counties, in June, 1867 and to the 

 Philadelphia bar in November of the 

 same year. He located in Philadelphia, 

 where he has since practiced his chosen 

 profession, holding a high position in the 

 legal fraternity; his present office being at 

 717 Walnut street. He married, March 

 I. i88t. Hannah Selena Black, daughter 

 of William and Delia (Dimon) Black, of 

 New York, and they have been the pa- 

 rents of three children: Charles Henry", 

 Jr., born May 31. 1882. a graduate of 

 Princeton University, class of 1905 ; Lewis 

 Rodman died in infancy; and William 

 Black, born Aoril 12. 1887. Mr. Mathews 

 is a member of the Bucks County Histor- 

 ical Society, and- takes a lively interest 

 in the affairs of his native county. 



ATKINSON FAMILY. The family 

 of Atkinson is an ancient and honorable 

 one, whose representatives were found in 

 different parts of Great Britain several 

 centuries ago. Two distinct families of 

 the name settled in Bucks county, Penn- 

 sjdvania, in the latter part of the seven- 

 teenth century. Thomas Atkinson, of 

 Sandwick, Yorkshire, was married to 

 Jane Bond, at Knaresborough meeting 

 of Friends in 1678, and four years later 

 emigrated to America with his wife and 

 three sons, Isaac, William and Samuel, 

 settling first in Burlington county. New 

 Jersey, but removing soon after to Bucks 

 county. Both Thomas and Jane were 

 ministers among Friends. The former 

 died in 1687, and his widow married Will- 

 iam Biles two 3'ears later. She travelled 

 extensively in the ministry after her 

 second marriage, both in the colonies 

 and in England and Ireland. Thomas 

 Atkinson was a son of John Atkinson of 

 Newby, Yorkshire, and in his will in 

 1687 devises land in Bucks county to his 

 brother John Atkinson, "should he come 

 to Pensilvania." It is not known that the 

 brother John ever emigrated to Amer- 

 ica. Isaac Atkinson, the eldest son of 

 Thomas and Jane, died in Bucks county 

 in 1721, leaving three children, John, Jane 

 and Thomas. Most of the descendants 

 of Thomas and Jane Atkinson eventu- 

 ally settled in New Jersey. 



The present familj' of Atkinsons in 

 Bucks county are descendants of John 

 Atkinson, of Scotforth, near the city of 

 Lancaster, England, who with his brother 

 Christopher and their respective fami- 

 lies embarked in the ship "Brittanica," 

 in April, 1690, for Pennsylvania, where 

 they had purchased of William Penn 

 ■ 1500 acres of land, to be laid out, etc., in 

 March. 1690. Christopher Atkinson, the 

 elder of the two brothers, was married 

 at Lancaster Meeting, England, on 6 mb. 

 8, 1679, to Margaret Fell, daughter of 

 Christopher Fell, of Newtown, Lanca- 

 shire, and the records of that meeting 

 show the birth of seven of their children, 

 of whom at least four, William, Hannah, 

 Margaret and Isabel, sailed with their 

 parents, though only the two latter ap- 

 pear to have survived the voyage, the 

 father. Christopher Atkinson, also dying 

 on the way to America. John Atkinson, 

 the other brother, had married at the 

 same meeting, on 2 mo. 8. 1686. Susanna 

 Hynde. daughter of Richard Hynde, of 

 Scotforth, and the following chHdren 

 were born to them in Lancashire, viz.: 

 William, i mo. 31. 1687; Mary, 7 mo. 25, 

 1689; John. 8 mo. 25, 1692, died 9 mo. 5. 

 1694; John, born 9 mo. 25, 1695. The 

 three surviving children above named 

 accompanied their parents on board the 

 "Brittanica." and. both their parents dy- 

 ing on the voyage, were received by the 

 Friends of Middletown Meeting. Bucks 

 county, where the certificate from Lan- 



