HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



167 



He married, in 1S79, Elmira, daughter 

 of Jesse K. and Sarah (Headley) Har- 

 per, of Falls township. Mr. Harper was 

 a prominent and highly esteemed far- 

 mer of Falls; he died in 1898, aged 

 eighty-three years, and his wife died in 

 1893, aged seventy-seven years. Both 

 were prominent members of the Society 

 of Friends. Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson are 

 the parents of two children, Eva W. and 

 J. Harper, both residing at home. The 

 family are members of the Society of 

 Friends. In politics Mr. Atkinson is a 

 Republican, but has never sought or held 

 public office. 



STEPHEN K. ATKINSON, Protho- 

 notary of the county of Bucks, was born 

 in Upper Makefield township, Bucks 

 county, Pennsylvania, June 7, 1854, and 

 is a son of Jesse H. and Martha B. 

 (Stradling) Atkinson. 



An account of the migration of John 

 and Christopher Atkinson from Lan- 

 cashire with their families, the death nf 

 the head of both families on the ill-fated 

 "Brittanica" in 1692, and the subsequent 

 marriage and settlement of John Atkin- 

 son, Jr., in Makefield, is given in the 

 sketch of The Atkinson Family in this 

 volume. 



William Atkinson, second son of John 

 Jr. and Mary (Smith) Atkinson, was 

 borri in Upper Makefield in 1721, and 

 married, September I, 1742, Mary Tom- 

 linson, daughter of Joseph Tomlinson. 

 He inherited from his father 120 acres 

 of the homestead in Upper Makefield, 

 and lived thereon until his death in 

 April, 1800. He and his wife Mary were 

 the parents of thirteen children, of whom 

 eight lived to mature age. i. Mary, mar- 

 ried John Rose; 2. John, married Hannah 

 Lee; 3. Sarah, and 4. Eleanor, both of 

 whom married Lees; 5. Isaac, who 

 moved to Maryland; 6. Phebe; 7. Will- 

 iam; 8. Joseph. 



John Atkinson, eldest surviving son of 

 William and Mary (Tomlinson) Atkin- 

 son, inherited the homestead and lived 

 thereon all his life, dying in 1831. He 

 married his second cousin. Hannah Lee. 

 in 1769, and had twelve children, nine of 

 whom lived to maturity, viz: May, born 

 1770, married Joseph Gummere; Hannah, 

 born 1772, married Joshua Burleigh; 

 Esther, born 1774, married Joseph Ran- 

 dall; Jane, born 1775, married Charles 

 Deeder; Elizabeth, born 1777, married 

 , Jacob Cooper; John, born 1778, married 

 first Mary Atkinson, and second Eliza- 

 beth Harding; Phebe. born 1781. married 

 William Neeld; William, born 1782, mar- 

 ried Belinda Harvey; and Samuel, born 

 1789. married Mary Harding. 



Samuel Atkinson, youngest son of 

 John and Hannah (Lee) Atkinson, was 

 born in Upper Makefield in the year 1789, 

 and lived there all his life with the ex- 

 ception of four years spent in Doyles-- 



town. On April 28, 1821, his parents 

 conveyed to him sixty-eight acres of the 

 old homestead on which he lived until 

 he became recorder of deeds in 1836, and 

 which he conveyed to his son Samuel in 

 1842. He was commissioned recorder of 

 deeds of Bucks county, January 23, 1836, 

 and filled that position for four years, 

 being recommissioned January 4, 1839, 

 for one year, the constitutional conven- 

 tion of 1838 having made the office elec- 

 tive and to go into effect with the fall 

 election of 1839. He also filled the posi- 

 tion of deputy register of wills while an 

 incumbent of the recorder's office. At 

 the expiration of his second term as re- 

 corder he purchased a property in the 

 village of Buckmanville. where he lived 

 the remainder of his life, dying August 

 23, 1858. He was commissioned April 

 14, 1840, a justice of the peace of Upper 

 Makefield township, and did a large 

 amount of public business. He was a 

 Whig in politics, and took part in the 

 organization of the Republican party 

 in 1856. Like all his ancestors for many 

 generations, he was a member of 

 Wrightstowp Meeting of Friends. He 

 married Mary Harding, of Southampton, 

 and they were the parents of nine chil- 

 dren, three of whom died young: Charles, 

 Watson, and John. Those who survived 

 were : Rachel, who married Kinsey 

 Tomlinson, a prominent resident of New- 

 town; Samuel, who married Rebecca, 

 daughter of Bezeleel Eastburn and lived 

 and died on the old homestead; Silas L., 

 who married Elizabeth Eastburn, -and 

 was a printer for several years in 

 Doylestown, later of Langhorne, where 

 recently died; Ralph L., who married 

 first Sarah Ann Scarborough, and (sec- 

 ond) Martha E. Johnson, and removed 

 to Shelby county. Ohio; Jesse H., the 

 father of Stephen K.; and Hannah, who 

 married Stephen L. Kirk, a prominent 

 merchant of Langhorne. 



Jesse H. Atkinson, son of Samuel and 

 Mary (Harding) Atkinson, was born in 

 Upper INIakefield, May 6, 1824, and was 

 reared on his father's farm near Buck- 

 manville, acquiring his education at the 

 public schools. During his father's in- 

 cumbency of the office of recorder of 

 deeds he filled the position of transcrib- 

 ing clerk. He married, October 7, 1847, 

 Martha B. Stradling, born August 12, 

 1828, daughter of William and Sarah 

 (Carver) Stradling, of Newtown town^ 

 ship. William Stradling was a son of 

 Joseph and Hannah (Michener) Strad- 

 ling, of Plumstead, grandson of Daniel, 

 and great-grandson of Thomas and Lyd- 

 ia (Doan) Stradling, who were married 

 at Middletown, October 5, 1719, and set- 

 tled at Newtown township, where Thom- 

 as died in 1764. Sarah (Carver) Strad- 

 ling. born February 19. 1794, was a 

 daughter of William and Phebe (Worth- 

 ington) Carver, granddaughter of Will- 

 iam and Sarah (Strickland) Carver, and 



