2l6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Moon is also a director and an official in the 

 syndicate which owned the old turnpike ex- 

 tending across lower Bucks county, con- 

 necting Trenton with Bristol and Phila- 

 delphia, as well as of a half dozen or more 

 railroad corporations, whose object was the 

 completion of a trolley line from Philadel- 

 phia to Trenton, which was initiated by 

 General Morrcll in i8gi. The history of 

 the construction of this line represents one 

 of the most stubborn fights between the 

 trolley interests and the railroads ever be- 

 fore the courts of Pennsylvania or any 

 other state, a right-of-way fight of ten years 

 duration, on the line between Bristol and 

 Bridgwater, being ultimately won by the 

 syndicate securing an elevated trolley char- 

 ter, at Harrisburg, which permitted track 

 connections across the disputed right of way 

 and assured the completion of the Phila- 

 delphia and Trenton line. This road was 

 later sold to a Baltimore syndicate which 

 now operates its cars direct from Phila- 

 delphia, over the tracks of the Trenton, 

 Morrisville and Yardley street railway and 

 the Trenton city bridge into Trenton. Ivlr. 

 Moon became a director of the Yardley 

 (Penna.) National Bank in 1895, at the age 

 of twenty-two years. He is a director and 

 secretary of the Philadelphia firm of the 

 Scott Paper Company ; a director of the 

 Reeves Engine Company of Trenton, and 

 also a director in a number of other cor- 

 porations and industrial and business organ- 

 izations. In 1901 lie became one of the pro- 

 prietors and treasurer of the "Trenton (New 

 Jersey) Times," and in 1902 became the 

 active business manager of the establish- 

 ment. Under his capable management the 

 circulation of "The Times" has nearlj^ 

 doubled, and it is becoming one of the 

 popular and strong newspapers of the state. 

 Mr. Moon is a member of the Historical 

 Society of Pennsylvania and the Bucks 

 County Historical Society. He is also a 

 member of the Young IMen's Christian Asso- 

 ciation of Trenton, the Republican Club of 

 Trenton, and the Trenton Country Club. 

 He married, November 8, 1899, at Swarth- 

 more, Pennsylvania, Margaret Scott, bom 

 October 20, 1876, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 

 E. I. Scott, of that place. 



THE WILLIAMSON FAMILY. The 

 history of this family takes us back to the 

 period prior to the grant of Pennsylvania to 

 William Pcnn and possibly to two or three 

 decades prior to that date when the repre- 

 sentatives of three Eureopean nations were 

 battling for supremacy on the shores of our 

 middle states. The Swedes made the first 

 organized settlement on Pennsylvania soil 

 in 163S under Peter Minuit. The Dutch be- 

 gan almost immediately to contest their 

 supremacy there, and from the time of the 

 conquest of the Swedes by the Hollanders, 

 two decades later, until the subsequent con- 

 quest of the latter by the English, repre- 

 sentatives of the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic 



races began to make their appearance on the 

 Delaware. The earliest records of the court 

 at Upland (now Chester) under English 

 jurisdiction in 1676, show a number of 

 names of undoubted English origin, though 

 the first justices v/ere all. Swedes. Dunck 

 Williames, as his name is usually spelled in 

 the earlier records, though it appears in vari- 

 ous forms both as to first and surname, 

 during his whole life was the founder of 

 the family of Williamson in Pennsylvania. 

 He is claimed by his descendants to have 

 been of Swedish or Holland origin, but 

 many circumstances in connection with his 

 first appearance on Pennsylvania soil strong- 

 ly indicate to the writer of these lines that 

 he was of English or Scotch origin. The 

 most significant of these is the fact that 

 he was associated in his first purchase of 

 land with Francis Walker, whose name 

 clearly indicates that he was of neither 

 Dutch or Swedish origin. Again, hereditary 

 surnames were unknown in eithec, Sweden 

 or Holland until late in the sixteenth cen- 

 tury and their representatives in America 

 were known by their father's given name, 

 with the addition of "es" or "se" and "sen." 

 Had he therefore been of Dutch origin his 

 name would have been more probably Gul- 

 liamse, if his father was named William, 

 and the name William was practically un- 

 known among the Swedes. The name 

 Dunck or Dunk was doubtless a contraction 

 of Duncan, and in neither form has ever 

 been found among the Swedes or Dutch. 

 Just when Dunk Williamson arrived on the 

 Delaware is a matter of some conjecture. 

 As early as 1667 Dunk Willims and eight 

 others secured from Governor Richard Nic- 

 olls a patent for a tract of land of one thou- 

 sand acres, known as Passaxunk^ indicating 

 that he was one of the first settlers to se- 

 cure title to land in what is now Philadel- 

 phia, from the English rulers who con- 

 quered the territory in 1664. His grant of 

 land, in connection with Francis Walker, 

 under patent from Sir Edmund Andross un- 

 der date of July 18, 1676, comprehended 

 450 acres on the Neshaminy in the present 

 limits of Bensalem township, comprising 

 the present site of Dunks Ferry, named for 

 him. "Franck Walker," first appears of rec- 

 ord at Upland as the custodian of goods be- 

 longing to Captain Edward Cant well, who- 

 administered the oaths to the first justices 

 at Upland in 1676. On a "List of Tydable 

 persons under the jurisdiction of ye Court," 

 made November 13, 1677, the names of 

 "Dunk Williames" and "Franck Walker" 

 appear in the district of Taokanink (Ta- 

 cony), and on November 12, 1678, Dunk 

 Williams petitioned to take up one hundred 

 acres of land "on the lower syde of Nie- 

 shambenies (Neshaminy) creek, 50 acres 

 thereof att ye river syde & ye other 50 

 acres up in the woods ;" this was therefore 

 at the mouth of Neshaminy in Bensalem. 

 He also served on a jury at the same date. 

 On March 12, 1678-79. he petitioned to take 

 up four acres of marsh back of liis "plan- 

 taceion." On the latter date Ednnuid l")rauf- 



