248 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



on a farm in Moreland, but returned to 

 Warminster some time after his father's 

 decease. He died in 1882, aged al)out 

 eighty-tive years, leaving seven children, 

 four sons and three daughters. 



Joseph Craven, son of Abraham, and fath- 

 er of the subject of this sketch, was born 

 near Hatboro, in Moreland township, in 

 1823. He married Ann, daughter of 

 Thomas Ritchie, and great-granddaughter 

 of James Ritchie, a Scotch-Irish settler of 

 Warwick township, Bucks county. In 1869 

 he removed to Hatlsoro, where he conducted 

 a store for four years. In 1873 he purchased 

 a farm in IMoreland, upon which he resided 

 until 1883, when he removed to North 

 Wales, Montgomery county, where he lived 

 a retired life. 



His children , are : Edwin, residing in 

 Scranton, Pennsylvania; Sue, wife of Frank 

 McVeagh, of Philadelphia; Joanna, wife of 

 Lewis K. Hall of Upper Makeheld; Will- 

 iam of Bridgeport, Pennsylvania; Linford 

 R. ; Robert, of Ashbourne, Pennsylvania ; 

 and Mary deceased, who was the wife of 

 Elmer Smith. 



Linford R. Craven, the subject of this 

 sketch, was educated at the public schools 

 of Hatboro and Upper Makefield, and at 

 the age of fourteen years began his business 

 career as a clerk in a store at Frankford, 

 Philadelphia. In 1880 he removed to North 

 Wales, where he was employed in making 

 shirts, came to Doylestown three years later 

 and followed the same business for one 

 year, when he began photographing in 

 connection with Samuel F. Dubois, a local 

 photographer, and William Boyce of Phila- 

 delphia. In 1885 he opened a portable 

 studio in Doylestown, and a year later pur- 

 chased the old spoke factory at the junction 

 of Court and State streets and erected his 

 present residence and studio. In politics 

 Mr. Craven is a Democrat. He and his 

 family belong to the Doylestown Presby- 

 terian church. He is a member of Doyles- 

 town Lodge, No. 94, I. O. O. F., Doyles- 

 town Encampment, No. 35, I. O. O. F., St. 

 Tammany Castle, No. 1^73, K. G. E., and of 

 Lenape Council No. 11 17, Royal Arcanum. 

 He has served three years in Doylestown 

 borough council, and held other local 

 offices. He was married February 14, 1883, 

 to Fannie H., daughter of Gibson Johnson. 



CHARLES D. BIGLEY, the genial pro- 

 prietor of the North Main Street Bakery, 

 Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and for man}- 

 years an officer in the Bucks county courts, 

 was born in Nockamixon township. Bucks 

 county, Pennsylvania, December 14, 1844, 

 and is a son of Isaac and ]\Iary (Deemer) 

 Bigley, both of German extraction. 



Adam Bigley, the grandfather of Charles 

 D., was a saddler by trade, and a lifelong 

 resident of Nockamixon township, having 

 purchased a small farm there in 1807, 

 which he conducted in connection with his 



vocation as a harness maker. He died in 

 Nockamixon in 1839. He and his wife Sarah 

 were the parents of four children : Isaac, 

 Solomon, Ann, wife of David Haring, and 

 John. 



Isaac Bigley, eldest son of Adam and 

 Mary, was born in Nockamixon township, 

 September 5, 1798, and died there October 

 12, 1883. He was a limeburner in Durham 

 township and in Hunterdon county for sev- 

 eral years, but during the last forty years of 

 his life resided in Kintnersville, Nock- 

 amixon township, on the line of Durham 

 township, on a small lot conveyed to him 

 in 1842. He married Mary Deemer, daughter 

 of Solomon and Mary Deemer, of Nock- 

 amixon, and a granddaughter of Michael 

 Deemer, an early settler in Nockamixon. 

 (See Deemer Family). They were the 

 parents of nine children, viz : Elizabeth, 

 who married James Lewis ; Sarah, who mar- 

 ried Jesse Moser; Catharine, wife of Will- 

 iam Cyphers of Riegelsville, Pennsylvania; 

 Hannah, wife of Frank Laubenstaine ; 

 Susan, wife of Owen Gares; Adam, who 

 married Mary Bellis of New Jersey; Lydia, 

 wife of William Nicholas; Solomon and 

 Charles D. All three of the sons served 

 in the Union army during the civil war ; 

 Adam in a New Jersey regiment ; Solomon 

 D. in the First Pennsylvania Regiment and 

 later as recruiting sergeant ; and Charles D. 

 in the One Hundred and Seventy-fourth 

 regiment. 



Charles D. Bigley was born and reared in 

 Nockamixon township, and acquired his 

 education in the public schools. In early 

 life he followed the trade of a cigar maker, 

 aiid vras also engaged for some time in lime- 

 burning. In October, 1862, he obtained the 

 consent of his father and enlisted for nine 

 months service in the One Hundred and 

 Seventy-fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, 

 under Colonel John W. Nyce, and 

 at the organization of the regiment 

 in Philadelphia on November I, 1862, 

 was appointed corporal in Company 

 F under Captain Thomas W. Harris. 

 November ig, 1862, the regiment proceeded 

 to Washington, D. C, and from there to 

 Suffolk, Virginia, where it reported to 

 General Peck and was assigned to General 

 Ferry's brigade, and on December 31, was 

 ordered to Newbern, North Carolina, 

 where it arrived January 6, 1863. In the 

 same month it was ordered to reinforce the 

 army operating in front of Charleston, 

 South Carolina, and sailed from Beaufort, 

 arriving at Hilton Head on February 5, 

 and was stationed on Helena Island for 

 about a month. It then proceeded to Beau- 

 fort, where it was engaged in provost duty 

 imtil June, 1863, when it was again trans- 

 ferred to Hilton Head. Towards the close 

 of July, the term of enlistment being about 

 to expire, the regiment was ordered north, 

 and, returning to Philadelphia, was hon- 

 orably mustered out of service August •/, 

 1S63. Mr. Bigley returned to Nockamixon, 

 where he resided for the next twenty 



