200 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



omsle}' Hall, Gateshead, where many of 

 his ancestors are buried. Upon the ac- 

 cession of James II, he fled to Rath- 

 drum, county Wicklow, Ireland, where 

 he married Margaret Albin, who bore 

 him ten children. He came to Ameri- 

 ca in 1722, and a year later settled in 

 Newtown township, Delaware county, 

 where he died in 1734 at the age of sev- 

 enty years, and lies buried at old St. 

 David's, Radnor, of which church he 

 was one of the founders and a member 

 of the first vestry. He was accompa- 

 nied to America by Anthony Wayne, the 

 grandfather of Mad Anthony Wayne, of 

 the Revolution, the former being his su- 

 perior officer in the battle of the Boyne, 

 and the two families were closely asso- 

 ciated. John Morgan Hunter, the grand- 

 father of Mrs. Snyder, was a descend- 

 ant in the fifth generation from John 

 Hunter, the pioneer. His mother's sis- 

 ter, Elizabeth Edwards, married Peter 

 Penn-Gaskill. who claimed descent in 

 the sixth generation from William Penn, 

 the founder. John Morgan Hunter mar- 

 ried Eliza Rhodes, by whom he had five 

 children, — Rachel, Hannah, Samuel, Em- 

 ily, (the mother of Mrs. Snyder), and 

 Sarah. 



JOSEPH W. SHELLY, for the past 

 five years District Attorney of the coun- 

 ty of Bucks, was born in Milford town- 

 ship, Bucks county, March 26, /1864, 

 on a farm that had been the property of 

 his ancestors for a century and a quar- 

 ter. The family of Shelly, now very 

 numerous in Upper Bucks, is descended 

 from Abraham Shelly, who emigrated 

 from the Palatinate, Switzerland, or 

 northern France, about 17,30. On Janu- 

 ary 29, 17,39, Thomas and Richard Penn. 

 proprietaries of Pennsylvania, conveyed 

 to him fifty acres of land in Milford 

 township, adjoining other land on which 

 he was already settled, showing that he 

 was already located in ]\Tilford at that 

 date. In 1740 he purchased of Morris 

 Morris 260 acres additional, a portion 

 of which was occupied by his descend- 

 ants, the lineal ancestors of the subject , 

 of this sketch, until 187.3. In February, 

 1761. he and his wife Elizabeth entered 

 into an agreement to convey to their son 

 Michael Shelly 1,3^ acres of this tract, 

 but Abraham died before the conveyance 

 was comoleted. They also conveyed a 

 portion of their land to their son Jacob 

 in 1760. Abraham and Elizabeth Shelly 

 were the oarents of six sons. — .Abraham. 

 Jacob, Joseph. Christian, John and 

 Michael, from both the first and Inst of 

 whom the subiect of this sketch is de- 

 scended thronch the inter-mnrriage of a 

 grandson of the former with a grand- 

 dauehter of the latter. 



.A.brnham Shellv. Jr., purchased land 

 adjoining his father in 17-3. which he 

 later conveyed to his son Joseph. The 



date of the death of Abraham Shelly 

 and Eve his wife has not been obtained, 

 nor a full list of their children, though 

 it is known that their two sons were 

 Joseph and Christian. 



Joseph Shelly, son of Abraham, Jr.. 

 as above related, received from his fath- 

 er a portion of the homestead. He was 

 a farmer, and followed that vocation in 

 Milford township until his death in No- 

 vember, 1818. He married Jannie Yo- 

 der, and thpy were the parents of the 

 following children: Jacob. Abraham, Jo- 

 seph, John, Mary, wife of Michael Lan- 

 dis; Eve, wife of Peter Moyer; Anna, 

 wife of Jacob Moyer; Barbara, wife of 

 Peter Schneider; and Fannie, 'wife of 

 John Fretz. 



Jacob Shelly, son of Joseph and Anna 

 (Yoder) Shelly, married Barbara, only 

 child of Michael and Elizabeth (Mus- 

 selman) Shelly, and granddaughter of 

 Micheal Shelly, youngest son of Abra- 

 ham the emigrant. The land purchased 

 by Michael, Sr.. of his father, in 1761, 

 was devised by Michael to his son John, 

 who, dying without issue in 1770. de- 

 vised it to his brother Michael, the fath- 

 er of Barbara, and he. dying in 1790, de- 

 vised it to his only daughter, who later 

 married Jacob Shelly, her second cousin. 

 Elizabeth, the mother of Barbara Shelly, 

 died in 1793, while her daughter Barbara 

 was yet a minor. Jacob Shelly died in 

 September, 1847, and his wife Barbara 

 in Februarv, 1852. They were the parents 

 of ten children, viz.: INIichael; Fannie, 

 wife of William H. Oberholtzer; Joseph 

 S.; Elizabeth, who became the wife of 

 Rev. Samuel TNIoyer; David; Susanna, 

 who married Samuel K. Harley: John 

 and Mary, who died young; Jacob: and 

 Barbara, who married Levi S. Shelly. 



Joseph S. Shelly, second son of Jacob 

 and Barbara, was born in Milford towa- 

 ship, Bucks countv. December 20. 1809, 

 and died there in 1872. By proceedings in 

 the orphans' court in 1848, the property 

 which had descended to his mother 

 was adjudged to him, and he continued 

 to own it until his death. He married 

 Elizabeth Bauer, dauehter of Andrew 

 and Elizabeth (Bechtel) Bauer, v.-ho was 

 born in Douglas township, Montgomery 

 countv, Pennsylvania, October 30, i8og, 

 and thev were the parents of four chil- 

 dren. — Andrew B.; Susanna, wife of Da- 

 vid Stauffer; Mary, wife of John Bleam 

 Bechtel; and Elizabeth, who died in 

 childhood. 



Rev. Andrew B. Shellv. the fnther of 

 the subject of this sketch, was born in 

 Milford township. September 23. T854. 

 He received his early education at the 

 public and parochial schools of that vi- 

 cinage, and at the afre of eighteen vears 

 began teaching school in the winter 

 months, devoting the summer to study in 

 connection with assistin,g his father on 

 the farm. In t8,!^4 and 18.^7 he was a 

 student at Frecland Seminary (now Ur- 



