HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



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the old homestead farm of one hundred 

 acres from his father, and a large portion 

 of the present village of bouthampton was 

 built on this land. He married Xancy uor- 

 son, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth 

 (Bennett) Corson, and their children were: 

 Elwood, born September 22, 1838 ; Theo- 

 dore, born March 20, 184 1, married Anna 

 White and by her had one daughter, Ida 

 May, who married George Howard Cliff 

 and has one child, Anna S. ; Harry, born 

 September 18, 1846, married Mary M. Lef- 

 ferts and two children were born to them : 

 Susannah, wife of Maurice Hartman, and 

 they have one child, Vernon ; and Theodore, 

 unmarried; Erasmus, born March 7, 1851, 

 married Mary Ella Warren, and three chil- 

 dren were born to them : Pauline, who be- 

 came the wife of William Benny, and they 

 have one child, Doris; Pauline Benny died 

 in March, 1905 ; Leroy, and Ethel ; Anna 

 E., born March 13, 1858, aforementioned as 

 having become the wife of Edwin Roberts. 



JOHN DAVIS SELLS, of Hatboro, 

 Pennsylvania, was born at Dublin, Ohio, 

 May 4, 1857, and is a son of Dr. Holmes 

 and Amy (Davis) Sells. His oaternal 

 ancestors were political refugees from the 

 provinces along the Rhine and came to this 

 country in the early part of the eighteenth 

 century, settling in Virginia about 1750. 

 His ereat-great-grandfather was John Sells, 

 and in about 1780 his son, John Sells, Jr., 

 moved out to the Scioto valley, in what was 

 then called Virginia, and settled at a point 

 about twelve miles from where the city of 

 Columbus now stands, in the state of (Dhio, 

 county of Franklin. At this place his 

 grandfather Charles, his father Holmes 

 Sells and himself were born. 



Dr. Holmes Sells was born at Dublin, 

 Ohio, Alarch 29, 1826. and finished his med- 

 ical studies in Philadelphia at Jefferson 

 College. He married, June 12, 1850, Amy 

 Hart Davis, born June 24, 1827, daughter 

 of John and Amy (Hart) Davis, and sister 

 of General W. W. H. Davis, and began the 

 practice of his profession at Dublin, Ohio, 

 from which point he removed with his fam- 

 ily to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1859, where he 

 was proprietor of a large drug store and 

 practiced medicine for many years. They 

 were residents of Atlanta during its bom- 

 bardment by General Sherman in the fall 

 of 1864 and lived for six weeks in their 

 cellar. Several shells struck the house and 

 the kitchen was entirely demolished, the 

 cooking stove being the only article of 

 furniture uninjured. In the beginning of 

 the siege a shell burst on the bed from 

 which Mrs. Sells had recently risen, and 

 the concussion threw her through a partially 

 opened door into the yard. Dr. Sells was 

 almost financially ruined by the destruction 

 of his property during the war, and though 

 entirely loyal to the Union he received no 

 remuneration therefor. The family re- 

 mained in Atlanta until the death of Dr. 



Sells in 1888. Mrs. Sells now resides with 

 her sister 'at the old Davis homestead at 

 Davisville. Dr. Holmes and Amy H. 

 (Davis) Sells were the parents of two chil- 

 dren : Charles Watts, born May 15, 1851, 

 died September 9, 1862; and John Davis, 

 the subject of this sketch. Charles Watts 

 Sells had an extraordinary talent for music, 

 and though dying at the early age of eleven 

 years was quite a ijoted performer on the 

 piano. 



John Davis Sells was reared in Atlanta, 

 Georgia. He entered Lehigh University, 

 class of 1876, and finished his education 

 at the University of Georgia, graduating in 

 the class of 1876. He came north to live 

 in 1877, and while residin- at Davisville 

 took up the study of law in the office of 

 Hon. Harman Yerkes, at Doylestown, and 

 was admitted to the Bucks county bar in 

 June, 1882. In the fall of the same year 

 he removed to Pottsville, Schuylkill county, 

 Pennsylvania, and being admitted to the 

 bar of that county practiced law tliere for 

 ten years. In 1893 he went to Washing- 

 ton to fill a governmental position under 

 President Cleveland, which he retained for 

 two years. In 1895 he removed to Phila- 

 delphia and engaged in the iron and steel 

 business, becoming associated with the 

 Royersford Foundry and ^lachine Company, 

 Inc., manufacturers of power transmission 

 machinery, in which he has an interest, 

 and is manager of the "power department" 

 with offices at 43 North Seventh street. 

 Mr. Sells resides with his family at Hat- 

 boro, Montgomery county Pennsylvania. 

 He is a member of the Pennsylvania Society 

 Sons of Revolution, and the Historical So- 

 ciety of Pennsylvania, the Trans- Atlantic 

 Society, and is affiliated with the Masonic 

 fraternity. He married. June 6. 1889, Ella 

 Lane Schofield, daughter of Samuel Lane 

 Schofield, of Scotch Irish ancestry, one 

 of the pioneer civil engineers in locating 

 the original surveys of several of the early 

 railroads of Pennsylvania. His early an- 

 cestors settled in Philadelphia about 1745. 

 On the maternal side Mrs. Sells is a great- 

 great-granddaughter of Michael Kauffman, 

 one of the original settlers of Lancaster 

 county. Mr. and Mrs. Sells have one 

 daughter, Elizabeth Davis Sells, a graduate 

 of Hatboro high school, who now attends 

 St. ]\Iary's Hall, Burlington, New Jersey, 



GEORGE McKINSTRY, one of the 

 younger generation of farmers of Bucking- 

 ham townshin. is a native of Plumstead 

 township, though hi,s paternal ancestors for 

 three generations had been residents of 

 Buckingham. He is a son of Oliver and 

 Louisa (Miller) IMcKinstry, of Plumstead, 

 both deceased, the former of Scotch-Irish 

 and the latter of German descent. 



Nathan McKinstry. the great-great- 

 grandfather of the subject of this sketch 

 was born in the year 1712 and came to 

 this country in the "Scotch-Irish Invasion," 



