HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



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dutjr at the headqiiarters of General Cad- 

 wallader at Philadelphia. ,In January, 

 1864, Captain Comfort re-enlisted his 

 companj' for a further period of three 

 years, or during the war, and was mus- 

 tered into the service as captain of com- 

 pany "F" of the 20th Pennsylvania 

 Volunteer cavalry. One Hundred and 

 Eighty-First Pennsylvania Volunteers, 

 commanded by Colonel JoJm E. Wyn- 

 koop. The regiment was ordered to join 

 the army in West Virginia, and Captain 

 Comfort was never absent from his 

 command when any important opera- 

 tions v.^ere in progress from that time 

 imtil the end of the war. Captain Com- 

 fort was promoted to be major of the 

 Twentieth regiment Pennsylvania Vol- 

 unteer Cavalry in March, 1865. He was 

 mustered out and honorably discharged 

 from the service as major of the first 

 Provisional Pennsylvania Cavalry, July 

 25, 1865. Major Comfort was present 

 in nearly fifty battles or skirmishes of 

 more or less importance, chiefly in and 

 near the Shenandoah vallej'' and in 

 other parts of Virginia and West Vir- 

 ginia. His last campaign was with Gen- 

 eral P. H. Sheridan from the Shenan- 

 doah valley to Appomattox Court 

 House. At this time his regiment was in 

 General Deven's Second Brigade of Gen- 

 eral Merrit's First division of General 

 Sheridan's Cavalry Corps, and he was 

 actively engaged in the battles of Five 

 Forks and Sailer's Creek, and at the sur- 

 render of General Lee's army at Ap- 

 pomattox Court House. He was 

 wounded in the right arm while in com- 

 mand of the skirmish line in the battle 

 of New Market, in the Shenandoah val- 

 ley, in 1864. 



After the close of the war Major Com- 

 fort engaged in manufacturing and mer- 

 cantile pursuits, and travelled exten- 

 sivel}^ in foreign countries. Pie resided 

 in India ten years and was United States 

 vice consul at Bombay from 1894 to 

 1896. consul at Bombay from 1896 to 

 1898, and United States vice and deputy 

 consul general at Calcutta from 1900 to 

 1903. Major Comfort was a member of 

 the Union League Club of New York, 

 the Army and Navy Club of New York, 

 the military order of the Loyal Legion 

 of the United States, the Grand Army 

 of the Republic and other clubs and so- 

 cieties in the LTnited States, and in for- 

 eign countries. He accumulated a com- 

 fortable fortune and retired from active 

 business in 1904. On October 16, 1866, 

 he married Elizabeth Jenks Barnsley, 

 daughter of John and Mary Hough 

 Barnsley, of Newtown, Bucks county, 

 Pennsylvania, a second cousin of Gen- 

 eral U. S. Grant. One child was born 

 of this marriage, Emma Walraven Com- 

 fort, who was educated at Vassar Col- 

 lege and married Harry M. Crook- 

 shank, Pacha, a British official tem- 

 porarily residing in Cairo, Egypt. 



HOWARD OLIVER FOLKER, of 

 Philadelphia, was born at Davisville, 

 Bucks county, Pennsylvania, March 15, 

 1857, and is a son of David and Eliza- 

 beth (Wilson) Folker. David Folker, 

 the father, was born in Buckingham, 

 Bucks county, July 17, 1826, and was a 

 son of James and Mary (Hurlinger) 

 Folker. He learned the trade of a har- 

 nessmaker, which he followed in South- 

 ampton township, Bucks county, for 

 many years. During the civil war he 

 was an uncompromising friend of the 

 Union, and stood shoulder to shotilder 

 with the loyal and earnest men of that 

 section in measures tending to the sup- 

 port of the government and the prose- 

 cution of the war. He was an indus- 

 trious and exemplary citizen who had 

 the respect of all who knew him. He 

 died February 23, 1892. He married 

 Elizabeth Wilson, born September 4, 

 1826. died November 11, 1882. She was 

 a daughter of Ezekiel Wilson, who was 

 born July 11, 1789, and died April 28, 

 1854. He was a private in Captain Will- 

 iam Purdj^'s company in the war of 1812- 

 14, serving at Camp Dupont, Marcvis 

 Hook, under Colonel Thomas Hum- 

 phrey. Llis wife was Elizabeth Dungan, 

 born May 31, 1794, died August 17, 1850, 

 youngest daughter of John and Mary 

 (Hyle) Dungan, and great-granddaugh- 

 ter of Rev. Thomas Dungan, of Cold 

 Spring. The children of David and 

 Elizabeth (Wilson) Folker were: Mary, 

 died in infancy; Charles White, now a 

 resident of Camden, New Jerse3'; How- 

 ard Oliver, and Horace Conard, de- 

 ceased. 



John Dungan Wilson, second son of 

 Ezekiel and Elizabeth (Dungan) Wil- 

 son, born August 28, 1817, died Septem- 

 ber I, 1875, was a man of fine parts and 

 varied accomplishments. He was a 

 jeweler and watchmaker, gunsmith, ma- 

 chinist and carpenter, and a thorough 

 mechanic in all that the word implies. 

 He was also an expert dancing master 

 and a professor in the manly art of self- 

 defense. He married Lucy Ann Lewis, 

 daughter of Elias Lewis, and was a 

 model husband and indulgent father. His 

 wife still survives him, living in 1905 at 

 Hatboro, Pennsylvania. No children 

 now living. He is interred at Davis- 

 ville Baptist church. 



Howard O. Folker was educated in the 

 common schools and at the First State 

 Normal School at Millersville, Penn- 

 sylvania. He taught school for a short 

 time, and in 1873, during the Cuban im- 

 broglio, entered the LTnited States navy 

 and assisted in returning to the United 

 States the filibustering steamer "Vir- 

 ginius," after the massacre of American 

 citizens at Santiago. A vear later he was 

 transferred to the Mediterranean squad- 

 ron, and visited all the different coun- 

 tries of Europe as well as those of Asia 

 and Africa. In 1877, under the new 



