254 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



careful study of the wants and needs of 

 the people they are able to keep in 

 their large warerooms and sell at reas- 

 onable prices every variety of wagon 

 and carriage used in this part of the 

 country. The plant is one of the valu- 

 able institutions of Newtown, and em- 

 ploys several hands. In politics, Mr. 

 Randall is a Republican, but is a man of 

 unassuming manners and retiring dispo- 

 sition, devoted to his business, and has 

 never sought public office. He has 

 served one term in the town council of 

 Newtown. He is a strong advocate of 

 temperance principles, and from boy- 

 hood has lived a moral, upright and tem- 

 perate life, and devoted time and money 

 to the cause of temperance. As an em- 

 ployer of a large number of hands over 

 a period of fifty years, he has never 

 permitted intemperance, profanity or 

 the inordinate use of tobacco among 

 his employees. His support and sympa- 

 thy have always been with the Society of 

 Friends, and all others whose teaching 

 makes men better citizens and fits them 

 for the whole of life's duties. He takes 

 little interest in dogmatic theology, but 

 much in the discoveries of science in the 

 nineteenth century relating to the prob- 

 lems of the universe and man's place in 

 nature. 



He was married in 1858 to Mrs. Han- 

 nah L. Stradling, a daughter of Thomas 

 Harding, and they were the parents of 

 two children: George, who died at the 

 age^of four years; and William E., who 

 is a photographer at Newtown, and is 

 married to Meta Schisler, of German- 

 town, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hannah Lee- 

 dom Randall, the mother of his children, 

 died in 1886, and Mr. Randall married 

 in 1894 Kate Larue Krewson, daughter 

 of Jonathan K. Krewson, of an old and 

 highly respected family of lower Bucks. 

 Her father devoted most of his life to 

 school teaching and was for many years 

 -one of the prominent educators of 

 Bucks county. 



WILLIAM JOHNSON, of South 

 Perkasie, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 

 was born February 6, 1847, at White 

 Marsh, Montgomery county, on the old 

 Tiomestead where his ancestors had lived 

 for several generations. Henry John- 

 son, the father of William, was a son of 

 Henry, and was born and reared on the 

 old homestead at White Marsh. He was 

 a farmer and lime burner, carrying on 

 ■for many years an extensive business 

 in lime burning. He died on the old 

 homestead in 1901. His wife was Deb- 

 orah DeWees, of an old family in the 

 •nieghborhood of Valley Forge, and they 

 were the parents of six children, Henry; 

 Ihe subject of this sketch; Samuel: Ra- 

 •chel: Emma, wife of Joseph Nyce; and 

 Annie, wife of Daniel Hallman. 



William Johnson was reared and edu- 

 cated in White Marsh township. He 

 was for several years engaged in the 

 lime business, and also was an exten- 

 sive contractor in the building of ma- 

 cadam roads. He built the macadam 

 road from Philadelphia to Chestnut 

 Hill, and also filled other large con- 

 tracts. In 1902 he came to South Per- 

 kasie and purchased the hotel property 

 there, which he has since conducted. 

 He is a member of the Masonic frater- 

 nity, being affiliated with Thompson 

 Lodge, No. 340, F. and A. M.; and 

 Thompson Chapter, No. 360, R. A. M., 

 of Philadelphia. Mr. Johnson was for 

 ten years a resident of Chester county, 

 where he did an extensive business in 

 lime burning, stone crushing and road 

 building. In 1870 he married Sarah 

 Leisinger, of Montgomery county, and 

 they have been the parents of four chil- 

 dren: Henry, who married Rebecca 

 Schultz, of Norristown, and is engaged 

 in the lime and stone business at Read- 

 ing, Pennsylvania; Howard and Alfred, 

 both of whom are deceased ; and Mary. 



HESTON WALTON, who was born 

 December 31, 1845, on the home farm 

 near Hatboro, where he yet resides, 

 traces his ancestry back through sev- 

 eral generations to William Walton, 

 who was the youngest of four brothers 

 of the Walton branch who came from 

 England to America in 1678 and settled 

 at Wilmington, Delaware, whence they 

 found their wary to Byberry, in Phila- 

 delphia county, locating on land as a 

 temporary place of residence. Later two 

 of the brothers went on foot to Wil- 

 mington for supplies, and each carried a 

 half bushel of wheat home with him. It 

 is supposed that this was the first wheat 

 seeded in eastern Pennsylvania. The 

 brothers concluded to remain in the vi- 

 cinity of their first location, and" there 

 they became valued settlers, promoting 

 in large measure the early development 

 and progress of the locality. William 

 Walton, the youngest of the brothers, be- 

 came the progenitor of the branch of 

 the family to which Heston Walton be- 

 longs, and his descendants are now num- 

 erous in Montgomery and Bucks coun- 

 ties. The brothers were consistent mem- 

 bers of the Friends' meeting in England, 

 and became early representatives of the 

 denomination in Pennsylvania. They 

 were allied with the farming interests, 

 and lived exemplary lives, contributing 

 in large measure to the moral develop- 

 ment as well as material upbuilding of 

 the localities in which they lived. Will- 

 iam Walton married Sarah Howell, and 

 their son 



Cin Jeremiah W«ilton. wedded Eliza- 

 beth Wamsley. and continued farming 

 in eastern Pennsylvania. 



