HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



253 



lived from early life in Buckingham 

 township. He was born in the year 

 1779, and was married December ir, 

 1804, before John Wilson, Esq., of 

 Buckingham, to Jane Hartley, daughter 

 of Anthony and Sarah (Betts) Hartley, 

 of Buckingham, granddaughter of 

 Thomas and Elizabeth Hartley, and 

 great-granddaughter of Edward Hart- 

 ley,, who settled in Buckingham in 1702, 

 and was the ancestor of all the Hart- 

 leys of Bucks county. Edward w-as the 

 father of three sons — Thomas, John and 

 Roger, all of whom had large families 

 and were large land-owners in Bucking- 

 ham and Solebury. Thomas and Eliza- 

 beth had twelve children, of whom An- 

 thony was the fourth. He was twice 

 married; by his first wife, Elizabeth 

 Smith, he had seven children, and by 

 his second, Sarah Betts, six more, Jane, 

 born 4 mo. i, 1779, being the fourth. Her 

 mother, Sarah Betts. was a daughter of 

 Thomas and Elizabeth Betts, of Buck- 

 ingham, and was born 4 mo. 14, I747. 

 and died in 1797. Her grandfather, 

 Thomas Betts, was a native of Long 

 Island and died at Newtown, Bucks 

 county, in 1747- 



Amos Randall purchased in 1810 a 

 small farm in Buckingham, which he 

 conducted in connection with carpen- 

 tering until his death on April 14, 1854, 

 at the age of seventy-five years. Amos 

 and Jane . (Hartley) Randall were the 

 parents of eight sons: Aaron, Eber, 

 David, Levi, Ralph, Isaac, Jesse and 

 Edward. Jane, the mother of these chil- 

 dren, was a member of Friends' Meet- 

 ing: the father was not a member, 

 though frequently attending their meet- 

 ings. All of the eight boys were reared 

 to mechanical trades, and five of them 

 eventually engaged in the manufacture 

 of carriages in Bucks county. Aaron 

 and Levi never married: David removed 

 to the west; Isaac and Jesse married 

 sisters by the name of Lambert, the for- 

 mer settling in Makefield and the latter 

 in Solebury: Ralph married Deborah 

 Firman, and died in 1883; Edward never 

 married. 



Eber Randall, the father of the sub- 

 ject of this sketch, was born in Buck- 

 ingham township in the year 1807. and 

 was educated at the local and Friends' 

 schools. He remained on the farm until 

 the age of sixteen years, when he be- 

 came an apprentice to the shoemaker's 

 trade, which he followed for a number 

 of years. He later purchased and rrtoved 

 to his father-in-law's farm in Middle- 

 town, and followed farming until 1858, 

 when he removed to New^town. and later 

 to Princeton, New Jersey, where he re- 

 sided for a short time, and then removed 

 to Bristol, Bucks county, where he died 

 in T887. at the age of eighty years. His 

 wife was Rachel • Harrison Vansant, 

 daughter of Garret Vansant, of Middle- 

 town township, Bucks county, whose 



ancestors had been residents of Bucks 

 county, for several generations, being of 

 Holland descent and settling origmally 

 on Long Island, from whence his great- 

 grandfather, Garret VanSandt, removed 

 to Bucks county in 1699. Garret Van- 

 sant, the maternal grandfather of Mr. 

 Randall, was the father of six children, 

 three sons and three daughters — 

 Rachel, the mother of Mr. Randall; Jane, 

 who married Isaac Randall, a cousin of 

 Eber; and Mary, who married Jonathan 

 Hunter. Eber and Rachel (Vansant; 

 Randall were the parents of five chil- 

 dren: I. James V. 2. Wilson, who mar- 

 ried Caroline Harding, and was for a 

 number of years associated with his 

 brother James in the carriage business, 

 and some time afterwards in the same 

 business at Bristol, Bucks county. Their 

 children were: Clarence, who married 

 Hannie L. White, one son, Clifford W. 

 Randall; James Merton, who married 

 IMartinette Patterson, daughters, Helen 

 and Marian; Clara, who married Will- 

 iam Broadnax, issue: Clara, Wilfred and 

 Wilson. Clara married for second hus- 

 band Thomas Ivins, issue: Charles; 

 Rachel, who married Samuel Roberts, 

 issue: Samuel Ralph and Wayne Wal- 

 ton. 3. Mary Jane. 4. Anna L., who 

 married Penrose Wilson, one son, 

 George R. 5. Isaac, who died at the age 

 of four years. 



James V. Randall was educated in the 

 public schools of Bucks county, and at 

 an early age learned the carriage manu- 

 facturing business with his uncle Isaac 

 Randall, at Dolington, Bucks county, 

 serving an apprenticeship of five years 

 and working as a journeyman for his 

 uncle one year. In 1854 he located at 

 Newportville, Bucks county, and en- 

 gaged in the manufacture of carriages. 

 In the fall of the same year he took his 

 brother Wilson into partnership and 

 they did a small business there until 

 1857 under the firm name of J. V. & W. 

 Randall. In the latter year they re- 

 moved to Newtown, having purchased 

 the plant of J. E. Woolsey, who had es- 

 tablished a carriage manufacturing 

 business there in 1852. This firm con- 

 tinued the business at Newtown until 

 1865, doing a large business. In that 

 year James V. purchased the interest of 

 his brother and continued the business 

 alone until 1895, when his nephew, 

 Clarence Randall, became a member of 

 the firm, under the firm name of J. V. 

 & C. Randall, which has continued to 

 the present time. This firm do a large 

 business in the manufacture and repair 

 of carriages and wagons of all kinds 

 used in this part of the country, and 

 have built up an enviable reputation for 

 the character of the work they turn out, 

 and for fair and reliable methods of doing 

 business with their home people. Their 

 plant is thoroughly equipped with the 

 best up-to-date machinery, and by a 



