HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



32 [ 



county. Pennsylvania, November 7, 1830. 



The progenitors of the Holcombes of 

 Bucks county and of Hunterdon county, 

 New Jersey, were Jacob and John Hol- 

 combe, brothers, born in Triverton, Dev- 

 onshire, England, about 1680. George 

 Holcombe Larison, the historian of the 

 family, says that their father died when 

 they were quite young, but this does not 

 seem to be borne out by the records, as 

 Jacob Holcombe. while in middle age 

 and residing in Buckingham, requested 

 that a meeting of Buckingham Friends 

 might be held "at the home of his aged 

 parents." John and Jacob are sup- 

 posed to be the sons of Richard Hol- 

 combe and Sarah Holme, daughter of 

 Thomas Holme. Penn's first surveyor- 

 general. The latter, in his will in 1694, 

 leaves a legacy "to the children of Rich- 

 ard Holcombe by my daughter Sarah." 

 Jacob Holcombe was one of the earliest 

 landholders in Buckingham, and died 

 there in 1748. leaving a son Thomas and 

 several daughters. His wife was Mary 

 Woolridge. whom he married at Falls 

 Meeting in 1712. 



John Holcombe purchased in 1705 a 

 large tract of land on the Delaware in 

 New Jersey, including a large part of 

 the present city of Lambertville. and has 

 left numerous descendants of the name 

 in that vicinity. At the time of he pur- 

 chase he was a resident of Abington, 

 Philadelphia county, and married at Ab- 

 ington Meeting of Friends, 4 mo. 28, 

 1707, Elizabeth Woolridge. He settled 

 in Amwell township, Hunterdon county, 

 New Jersey, where he later added to his 

 purchase of 1705 several other large pur- 

 chases of lands, and owning at his death 

 in 1743 over one thousand acres of land 

 which he devised to his sons and grand- 

 sons. He was one of the judges of the 

 first court held in Hnuterdon. John 

 and Elizabeth (Woolridge) Holcombe 

 were the parents of six children: John, 

 who died a young man and unmarried; 

 Samuel, see forward; Richard, married 

 (first) Mary Harvey, and (second) Ann 

 Emiey. and had one son and two daugh- 

 ters; Grace, married Philip Calvin; Mary, 

 married Samuel Furnlan. of Morris 

 county. New Jersey; and Julia Ann, 

 married Daniel Howell. 



Samuel Holcombe, second son of John 

 and Elizabeth, born in New Jersey. 171 1, 

 married Eleanor Barber, and they are 

 the ancestors of all the Holcombes of 

 Bucks county, as well as of Hunterdon 

 county. New Jersey. He was a mem- 

 ber of Buckingham Friends Meeting, 

 and became a large landholder. He died 

 August 26, 1769. His wife Eleanor 

 survived him nearly a quarter of a cen- 

 tury, dying June 2, I793. aged about 

 ninety years. The children of Samuel 

 and Eleanor (Barber) Holcombe, were 

 nine in number: i. John, born February 

 16, 1739. see forward; 2. Jacob, born 

 December 7. 1741, married Rachel, 

 21-3 



daughter of John and Elizabeth Hyde, 

 and had eight children. 3. Phebe, born 

 October 2^, 1743, married Henrj^ Lott, 

 and had ten children, three of whom 

 died in infancy; 4. Samuel, born March 

 I7i 1745, married first a widow Stephen- 

 son, nee " Stillwell, and had two sons, 

 Samuel and George; married (second) 

 Sarah Emley, and had children: Mary, 

 Robert, Elisha, Atkinson, Thomas A., 

 Solomon, Lewis and Hannah; he liv^d 

 and died in New Jersey near Mt. Airy. 

 5. George, born April 9, 1747, married 

 Achsah Knowles, and had five children: 

 Joseph, George, Achsah, John and Sam- 

 uel. He was a soldier in the Revolution, 

 and rose to the rank of major. 6. Elijah, 

 born September 29, 1750, married Nancy 

 Brittain, and had eight children. He 

 and his family migrated to Zanesville. 

 Ohio, at an early date. He was also a 

 soldier in the Revolution. 7. Richard, 

 born December 30, 1752, married Hannah 

 Emley, and had seven children: Ann, 

 Emley. Lucilla, George, EHsha and Eli- 

 nor. He was a revolutionary soldier. 

 His grandson, George B. Holcombe, was 

 sheriff of Hunterdon county, 1856-58. 

 8. Thomas, born November 19, 1754, 

 married (first) Leah Deremer, whose 

 only child died young. He married 

 (second) Mary T. Holcombe, and had 

 ten children, Richard, John, Abraham, 

 Leah, Elias, Thomas, Henry, Ralph, 

 Ann and ^Maria. 9. Elizabeth, born Oc- 

 tober 14, 1758. married John Bellis and 

 reared a family of ten children. 



John Holcombe. eldest son of Samuel 

 and Lienor (Barber) Holcombe, born 

 February 16, 1739. married Mary Green, 

 daughter of Richard and Elizabeth 

 (Wolverton) Green. Mary was born in 

 Amwell township, June 26, 1741. and died 

 in Solebury township, Bucks county in 

 1829. John and Mary lived on the old 

 homestead near Lambertville, and reared 

 a family of nine children, several of 

 whom became residents of Bucks 

 county. John Holcombe moved to 

 Solebury in 1792, and died there in 1818. 

 The children were: i. Elizabeth, died 

 unmarried in Solebury about 1855, at the 

 age of ninety years. 2. Samuel, see for- 

 ward. 3. Richard, born 1767, married in 

 1792, Elizabeth Closson, see succeeding 

 sketch. 4. Lienor, married Asher Ely, 

 of Solebury, see sketch of William L. 

 Ely in this volume. 5. John, died in 

 Solebury in 1820; married Mary Pear- 

 son and had children: Pearson. Rhoda, 

 John, Hannah, Samuel. Mary, married 

 Jesse Walton, and Elizabeth, married 

 Thomas Paist. 6. Sarah, married Phineas 

 Walker, see sketch of William L. Walker 

 in this volume. 7. Margaret, never mar- 

 ried, died in Solebury 1855. 8. Amaziah, 

 died young. 9. Daniel, died young. 



Samuel Holcombe. eldest son of John 

 and Mary (Green) Holcofmbe. was born 

 in Amwell township. Hunterdon county. 

 New Jersey March 16. 1765. He married 



