164 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



caster Meeting, dated 2 mo. 30, 1690, was 

 deposited. 



The 1500 acres of land purchased by 

 Christopher and John Atkinson was laid 

 out in 1700 in Buckingliam township, 

 Bucks count}-; 1,000 acres in a parallelo- 

 gram was surveyed in right of Chris- 

 topher, lying between the present Me- 

 chanicsvilie road and the line of the land 

 of T. Howard Atkinson, a lineal de- 

 scendant of John, and extending from 

 the Street road at Sands' Corner to the 

 Greenville road at Beans' Corner. It 

 was in two equal tracts of 500 acres each, 

 and was patented to Margaret Atkinson, 

 widow of Christopher, the upper half 

 in her own right, under the will of her 

 husband, proved on her arrival in Phila- 

 delphia, and the lower tract for the use 

 of her children. The latter was con- 

 veyed by the widow and heirs to Jo- 

 seph Gilbert, and the upper tract by 

 Margaret Atkinson to William Cooper. 

 The remaining 500 acres was surveyed 

 for the use of the heirs of John Atkinson, 

 and was laid out on the opposite side 

 of the Street road, touching the upper 

 tract of the i.ooo acres at Sands' Corner, 

 and extending northwesterly from that 

 point. It was resurveyed by Cutler in 

 1703 in the name of Alice and Mary 

 Hynde, sisters of Susanna, wife of John 

 Atkinson, who had taken out letters on 

 the estates of John and Susanna, in Phil- 

 adelphia, September 6, 1699. No convey- 

 ance appears of record by the Atkinson 

 heirs or their representatives, the first 

 actual settlers thereon being William 

 George, and Alice his wife. Certain it is 

 that none of the heirs of either Chris- 

 topher or John Atkinson found homes 

 on the land originally purchased by their 

 respective patents. 



John Atkinson, the youngest child of 

 John and Sunsanna (Hynde) Atkinson, 

 born in Lancashire, 9 mo. 25, 1695, is 

 supposed to have spent his bojdiood days 

 among Friends in the neighborhood of 

 Newtown, Bucks county. On 8 mo. 13, 

 1717, he was married at the house of 

 Stephen Twining, Newtown, to Mary 

 Smith, daughter of William and Mary 

 (Croasdale) Smith, of Makefield. He 

 immediately purchased 200 acres in the 

 Manor of Highlands, now Upper IMake- 

 field, adjoining his father-in-law, and set- 

 tled thereon and lived there until his 

 death in January, 1752. The children 

 of John and Mary (Smith) Atkinson 

 were: John, born 1718; William, born 

 1721, married Mary Tomlinson, and re- 

 mained on a portion of the homestead; 

 Thomas, born 1722, see forward; Chris- 

 topher, born 1725, married Lydia Canby; 

 Mary, born 1725, married John Stock- 

 dale; Exekiel, born 1728, died on the 

 homestead. 1768. married Rachel Gilbert; 

 Cephas, born 1730. married Hannah 

 Naylor; and Elizabeth, born 1732. 



Thomas Atkinson, third son of John 

 and jNIary, was born and reared on the 



Makefield homestead, but on his mar- 

 riage in 1744 to Mary Wildman, located 

 on 200 acres in Wrightstown township, 

 near Penn's Park, the greater part of 

 which is still owned and occupied by his 

 descendants, part of it by his great- 

 grandson, George G. Atkinson, and part 

 by another great-grandson, Wilmer At- 

 kinson Twining, Esq. Two children, 

 Thomas and Mary, were born to him, but 

 the latter died in infancy. He died in 

 August, 1760. 



Thomas Atkinson, only surviving 

 child of Thomas and Mary (Wildman) 

 Atkinson, was born on the Wrights- 

 town horncsfead, 8 mo. 19, 1751. He in- 

 herited from his father the two hundred 

 fcre farm, and spent his whole life there, 

 dying 8 mo 19, 181 5. He was a promi- 

 nent man in the community, and an ac- 

 tive meinljcr of Wrightstown Friends' 

 Meeting. He married, 5 mo. i, 1779, 

 Sarah Smith, daughter of Timothy and 

 Sarah (Kjnsey) Smith, who bore him 

 seven children, viz. : Mary, died young; 

 Jonathan, brrn 5 mo. 9, 1782, married 

 Esther Smith, and lived and died on the 

 ho.niestcad: Timothy, see forward; 

 I'hoinas, born 10 mo. 8, 1786, married 

 Jane Smith, see forward; Mahlon, born 

 4 mo. II, 1790, a physician, settled in 

 Ohio, married Rebecca Babb; Sarah, 

 boni 2 mo. 25, 1793, iTjarried Jacob Ples- 

 tcn; au'l Joseph, born 8 mo. 22, 1795, died 

 1815. Sarah, the mother of the above 

 children, died 10 mo. 19, 1830. 



Timothy Atkinson, second son of 

 Thomas and Sarah, was born in Wrights- 

 town townsliip and spent his whole life 

 there. He was a farmer and at his fath- 

 er's death purchased a considerable por- 

 tion of il;e old homestead and lived 

 thereon during his life. He married in 

 1807 Deborah, daughter of Edmund 

 Smith, who bore him four children: Ed- 

 mund S., born in 1808; Sarah, born 

 1815, died 1840; Elizabeth, born 18^1, 

 died 1836; and Timothj^, Jr., born 1829, 

 married Letitia Smith, daughter of Dan- 

 iel and Hannah (Betts) Smith, died 1868. 

 Timothy, the father, died in March, 1867. 



Edmund S. Atkinson, born on the old 

 homestead in 1808, lived his whole life 

 thereon. He was twice married, first in 

 1831, to Ruth Simpson, who bore him 

 three sons, — Robert, Thomas Ogborn 

 and J. Simpson, the latter being now a 

 resident of Springfield, Missouri. Ed^ 

 mund married (second) Ann L. Gilling- 

 ham. and had children, Ann: Deborah, 

 deceased; George G., now living on the 

 old homestead in Wrightstown: Sarah 

 E., single, residing in Wrightstown; and 

 Lewis, deceased. Edmund S. Atkinson, 

 the father, died February 16. 1895. 



THOMAS OGBORN ATKINSON, 



son of Edmund S. and Ruth (Simpson) 

 Atkinson, was horn in Wrightstown 

 township. Bucks county, October 12, 



