314 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



serving in the state asscmlily in 1790. 

 John Erwin, of Southanii)tc)n, married 

 Susan Tomlinson, of English Quaker 

 ancestry, who was born in Bucks county, 

 in 1775, and died February 5, 1856. She 

 was a descendant of Ralph Dracott, an 

 early Huguenot settler in Soutliampton. 

 John and Susan (Tomlinson) Erwin 

 reared a family in Southampton, among 

 whom was Jose'ph Erwin, born Decem- 

 ber. 23, 1792, died October 8, 1870. 



Joseph Erwin married Hannah Morri- 

 son, born February 10, 1796, died De- 

 cember 10, i860, daughter of John and 

 Hannah (Yerkes) Morrison, and grand- 

 daughter of John Morrison, who came 

 from the north of Ireland and settled on 

 the Brandywine, and a descendant on 

 the maternal side from Anthony Yerkes, 

 one of the early burgesses of German- 

 town. (See "Morrison Family" in this 

 work.) Joseph and Hannah (Morrison) 

 Erwin lived for a time in Montgomery 

 county, where was born to them a fam- 

 ily, of whom two were as follows: John 

 Erwin. the father of the subject of this 

 sketch, and Martha Morrison Erwin, 

 who married John Jenkins, brother ot 

 Martha Merrick Jenkins, whom her 

 brother married. 



John Erwin, son of Joseph and Han- 

 nah (Morrison) Erwin, was born in 

 Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. As 

 before stated he married Martha Mer- 

 rick Jenkins, daughter of Joseph and 

 Tacy (Martindale) Jenkins, of Bucks 

 county, whose distinguished ancestry is 

 given in the account of the Jenkins fam- 

 ily in this work, and they were the pa- 

 rents of six children: Joseph Jenkins, 

 the subject of this sketch, born June 

 16, 1844; B. Frank, residing in Philadel- 

 phia; Preston, of Westport, Missouri; 

 Tacy, wife of William Sutton, of Phila- 

 delphia; and James and Charles Erwin, 

 also of Philadelphia. 



THE BARNSLEY FAMILY. The 

 late Joseph Barnsley, of Hartsville, 

 Warminister township, Bucks county, 

 was of English descent. He was born 

 in Newtown, Bucks county, June 9, 1820, 

 a son of William and Jane (Van Horn) 

 Barnsley, and grandson of John and 

 Elizabeth (Van Court) Barnsley. 



John Barnsley emigrated from York- 

 shire, England, about 1760. He was the 

 first member of his line to found a fam- 

 ily on American soil. His uncle, 

 Thomas Barnsley. was a major of the 

 British army in the "60th Royal Ameri- 

 man Regiment." and had fought in the 

 French war under Lord Loudon in 1756. 

 After the settlement of the "French and 

 Indian trouble" in connection with 

 Braddock's defeat, he resigned his com- 

 mission, went back to England, whence 

 he returned with his wife and nephew 

 John, and bought an estate of five hun- 



dred acres on the Neshaminy creek in 

 what is now Bensalem township. Here 

 he built a mansion, the bricks for which 

 were brought from England. This house 

 is yet standing, a fine representation of 

 colonial architecture. Major Barnsley 

 died in 1771, his wife surviving him sev- 

 eral years. They had no children, and 

 the executors being Tories, who were 

 expatriated, the estate was not settled 

 for several years. 



John Barnsley, one of the four heirs,, 

 received his portion in continental 

 money, and not investing it at once it 

 became worthless. He was married 

 about the time of his uncle's death and 

 managed the estate until his aunt's de- 

 mise. On the breaking out of the revo- 

 lution he became one of a committee in 

 Bensalem to drive ofif the cattle to keep 

 them from the British. In January, 

 1777, he was with Washingtan's army in 

 the night march from Trenton to Priiice- 

 ton. His team was impressed to haul 

 ammunition, and in the battle of Prince- 

 ton he was ordered by Washington in 

 person to drive along the line to supply 

 the soldiers. His time expiring shortly 

 after, he came home suffering great 

 hardships on the way. He followed 

 farming in Bensalem for several years, 

 finally buying property at Newtown,, 

 where he lived until his death, February 

 2, 1796. His wife was Elizabeth Van 

 Court, whose ancestors were French 

 Huguenots, originally called De la 

 Court. She was born at Huntingdon 

 valley, Montgomery county, in 1751, and 

 died in 1824. 



Their son, William, father of the sub- 

 ject of this sketch, was born in Ben- 

 salem township, November 8, I77S, and 

 removed with his parents to Newtown 

 township when a boy. He married, Jan- 

 uary 21. 1808, Jane Van Horn, born in 

 Lower Maketield. March 25, 1784, who- 

 died July 25, 1861. Their children were: 

 Mary, John. Thomas and Joseph. He 

 lived in Newtown until 1831. when he 

 bought a farm at Huntingdon valley, 

 Moreland township, where he resided 

 until his death in 1848. He was a suc- 

 cessful farmer and financier, acquiring^ 

 three farms, besides other property. His 

 son John remained on the homestead 

 farm in Newtown, where he lived until 

 his decease, January 11, 1880. He fol- 

 lowed surveying and held the office of 

 magistrate for thirty-five years. Mary, 

 died unmarried January 16. 1889. 

 Thomas lived on the homestead at Hunt- 

 ingdon valley until his death. September 

 6, t866. 



Joseph Barnsley was reared at New- 

 town and Huntingdon valley, and in 

 1845 located on the farm in Warminster 

 which he later inherited. He resided 

 there until 1868. when he was appointed 

 United States revenue collector for fifth 

 district and transferred his home to 

 Doylestown. On the expiration of his 



