298 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



was married at Byberry. 4 mo. 29, 1689. 

 to Sarah Howell, and was the first min- 

 ister at Byberry after the Keithian 

 trouble and continued to preach there 

 for many years. Phcbe (Atkinson) Wal- 

 ton was a daughter of William and 

 Phcbe (Taylor) Atkinson, of Upper 

 Dublin, and granddaughter of John and 

 Susannah (Hinde) Atkinson, of Lan- 

 cashire, England, an account of whom 

 is given elsewhere in this volume. 



William and Phebe (Atkinson) Wal- 

 ton were the parents of ten children, sev- 

 eral of whom died j^oung. Phebe, who 

 married James Shoemaker, was the sec- 

 ond of the name and was born 11 mo. 16, 

 1759. The children of James and Phebe 

 (Walton) Shoemaker were as follows: 

 William, born 3_ mo. 16, 1782; Joseph, 

 died an infant; Isaac, born 4 mo. 6, 1785; 

 John, born 9 mo. 8, 1786; Hannah, born 

 2 mo. 24, 1789; Jesse, born 4 mo. 17, 

 1791, see forward; Jonathan, born 9 mo. 

 3, 1793. married in 1822 Margaret Rut- 

 ter; Rebecca, died an infant; Rachel, 

 born 2 mo. 28, 1798; and Phebe, born 9 

 mo. 2, 1802. 



Jesse Shoemaker, sixth child of James 

 and Phebe, was born and reared in Up- 

 per Dublin, and spent the active years 

 of his life in that township, removing 

 late in life to Horsham where he died 

 in 1882, aged over ninety years. He 

 married at Horsham Meeting, 3 mo. 8, 

 1821, Edith Tongstreth, daughter of 

 Isaac and Jane Longstreth, of Bucks 

 county, a descendant of Bartholomew 

 Longstreth, one of the earliest settlers 

 in Warminster, who was born in 

 Longstrothdale, Yorkshire, in 1679, came 

 to Pennsylvania in 1698, and married 

 Ann Dawson in 1727. The children of 

 Jesse and Edith (Longstreth) Shoe- 

 maker were: James, the, father of the 

 subject of this sketch, born 8 mo. 20, 

 1822; Charlotte L., who died in infancjs 

 and John L., born ID mo. 7, 1832. The 

 latter became an eminent lawyer in Phil- 

 adelphia and filled manj' important posi- 

 tions. He was a member of select and 

 common council for a number of years, 

 and took an active part in the manage- 

 ment of the Centennial Exposition at 

 Philadelphia in 1876. 



James Shoemaker, eldest son of Jesse 

 and Edith, was born in Upper Dublin, 

 but on arriving at manhood settled on a 

 farm in Horsham township, where he 

 has since resided, following the life of a 

 farmer during his active years. He mar- 

 ried Phoebe Shoemaker, daughter of 

 Jonathan and Margaret (Rutter) Shoe- 

 maker, and granddaughter of James and 

 Mary Rutter. She died in April, 1896. 

 James and Phoebe were the parents of 

 eight children : Bella, residing with her 

 father in Horsham: Adeline B., wife of 

 Charles E. Chandler, of Germantown; 

 Jesse, who died in infancy: Harry J., the 

 subject of this sketch; Augustus Brock, 

 an active business man of Tullytown, 



Bucks county, who married Ida, daugh- 

 ter of Elwood and Anna Burton, and 

 has one son Lester; Charlotte L., wife 

 of Russel Twining, of Horsham; Emily 

 P., wife of Edward B. Webster, of Phil- 

 adelphia; and Mary G., wife of Isaac 

 Warner, of Horsham. 



Hon. Harry J. Shoemaker was borrr 

 and reared in Horsham township and 

 acquired his education at the public 

 schools and at Doylestown Seminary. 

 At the age of nineteen j-ears he began 

 teaching school in Bedminster township, 

 Bucks county, and the following year 

 was appointed principal of the Tully- 

 town (Bucks county) school, which he 

 taught for three years. In 1880 he em- 

 barked in the mercantile business at 

 Tullytown, conducting a general mer- 

 chandise store there until 1884. In poli- 

 tics he is an ardent Republican, and has 

 always taken an active interest in the 

 councils of his party and in everything 

 that pertains to the best interest <of the 

 community in which he lived. He was 

 postmaster of Tullytown for four years, 

 and also filled the office of school direc- 

 tor and other local offices in that dis- 

 trict. , In the fall of 1884 he was elected 

 to the state legislature, being the only 

 Republican elected from Bucks county,- 

 and served one term with marked abil- 

 ity, being appointed on several import- 

 ant committees. At the termination of 

 his term he declined the renomination 

 and became a candidate for congress in 

 the seventh congressionaK district, but 

 was defeated in the convention by two 

 votes. He was a delegate to the Na- 

 tional Rpublican Convention of 1884,. 

 and also to that of 1888, which nomiri- 

 ated Benjamin Harrison to the presi- 

 dency. During Harrison's administra- 

 tioii he was confidential clerk to the 

 second Comptroller of the United States 

 treasury. In the meantime he entered 

 himslf as a student at law in the office 

 of the late Hon. B. F. Gilkeson, of Bris- 

 tol, and was admitted to the bar of his 

 native county, and also to the Bucks 

 county bar on January 3, 1890. At the 

 close of his term of four years as con- 

 fidential clerk he located in Doylestown- 

 and began the practice of law, in which 

 he has been successful in the buildings 

 up of a lucrative practice. Later he was 

 admitted to practice in the suprerne 

 courts of Pennsylvania and of the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia. In 1893 he was a 

 iudge of awards at the World's Fair at 

 Chicago, and in that capacity served as 

 secretary of the committee on food 

 products. In 1896 he was again a can- 

 didate for the nomination for congress 

 and received a majority of the votes 

 from his home county, but was defeated 

 in the joint convention. He was a char- 

 ter member of the Doylestown Trust 

 Company, and has served continuously 

 as a director of that institution since its 

 organization. He was one of the orig- 



