348 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Elton, and their children were: Joseph E., 

 deceased; and Thomas K., mentioned here- 

 inafter. Thomas Keyser, the maternal 

 grandfather of Thomas K. Gumpper, was 

 a Dunkard minister, and was among the 

 ■early settlers of Germantown. He donated 

 the ground occupied at Germantown by the 

 Dunkard graveyard. 



Thomas K. Gumpper was born in Phila- 

 -delphia, Pennsylvania, November i, 1843. 

 He received his education at the common 

 schools of his native city, and early in life 

 mastered the trade of barber under his 

 father's instruction. In 1873 he moved to 

 Newtown and established himself in the 

 barber business, which he successfully fol- 

 lowed for twenty years, since which time 

 he has lived a retired life. He served as 

 mail carrier in Philadelphia from 1862 to 

 1874, and was also connected with the Phil- 

 adelphia arsenal for two years. He is a 

 member of the Episcopal church of New- 

 town. He is also a member of the Mystic 

 Chain, No. 121, of Newtown, in which 

 •order he has passed all the chairs. 

 Politically Mr. Gumpper is a Republican. 

 He served as mayor two terms, as assessor 

 nine j^ears, as tax collector for Newtown 

 borough for about two years, and for quite 

 an extended period was a member of the 

 council. In each place of public and 

 private trust he has proved himself capable 

 and trustworthy. Mr. Gumpper married, 

 February 24, 1862, Miss Emma Hill, daugh- 

 ter of George M. and Anna Hill. Mr. Hill 

 was a well-known Philadelphia politician ; 

 he was city commissioner two terms, tax 

 collector two terms, sergeant-at-arms at 

 Harrisburg three or four years, and also 

 United States detective, having worked on 

 the case of President Lincoln when as- 

 sassinated by Mr. Booth. The Hills were 

 among the early settlers of Kensington and 

 were large property holders and prominent 

 people. The issue of this union was eleven 

 children, as follows : John J., who died in 

 infancy; Mirriam. born October 23, 1864. 

 wife of James Gamble: Annie H., who died 

 at four years of age : Sue W., born Januarv 

 13, 1868, wife of John R. Lenny, o. Phila- 

 delphia; Thomas K., born May 25, 1871 : 

 John T.. born June 26, 1873 ; William K., 

 born December 23, 1875 ; Joseph E., born 

 February 28, 1877; James P. H., deceased, 

 born August 10, 1880: Ray E., born Sep- 

 tember II, 1883: Charles N., born June 17, 

 1887. Their grandchildren to the date of 

 February, 1905, are: Mirriam E., Clara, 

 James Elton, Thomas .•\shton, Harry. 

 Erben, Emma and Edna, children of James 

 and Mirriam Gamble. Thomas K., Edward. 

 William and Roy, children of John R. and 

 Sue W. Lenny. Emma H., child of 

 Thomas K. Gumpper. Thomas K., son of 

 John J. Gumpper. Irene, James G. and 

 Helen, children of William K. Gumoper. 

 Ruth and Mirriam, children of Josenh E. 

 Gumpper. All in all he of whom this 

 notice is written may very well count life 

 a success. He has by dint of industi^r built 

 lip for himself a home surrounded with 



life's comforts, and he has the respect cf 

 all with whom he mingles. His family, 

 well reared, are an ornament to society 

 and useful to the world. 



RICHARD LAFAYETTE DOLTON. 

 Among the progressive and prosperous 

 farmers of Southampton township, who 

 make a specialty of dairy farming, may 

 be mentioned the name of Richard L. Dol- 

 ton, a native of Newtown, bucks county, 

 Pennsylvania, the date of his birth being 

 October 21, 1847. His parents were Charles 

 and Emma (Poulterer) Dolton, and his 

 grandparents were Charles and Tamar 

 (Tomlinson) Dolton, whose family con- 

 sisted of two children : Fanny, who became 

 the wife of a Mr. Walker, who was a 

 printer in the Ledger office, and they were 

 the parents of two children ; and Charles, 

 born October 28, 1811. 



Charles Dolton (father) aforementioned 

 was a ship carpenter, and for many years 

 followed a seafaring life. It was during 

 one of his voyages that he met his wife, an 

 English girl, whose name was Emma Poul- 

 terer, born February 23, 1824. After his 

 marriage he continued his seafaring life for 

 some years, and in 1867 turned his atten- 

 tion to farming at Newtown, Bucks county, 

 but shortly afterward, however, retired from 

 active occupation, spending his life in New- 

 town until his death, seven years later, 

 which was the result of an injury received 

 from the kick of a horse. He served dur- 

 ing the Mexican war as a carpenter, prob- 

 ably in an engineer corps, and was severely 

 hurt, having both legs broken by a falHng 

 timber. He also served in the war against 

 the Seminole Indians in Florida, and was 

 one of the men who helped bury Major 

 Dade and his men. The children of Mr. 

 and Mrs. Dolton are as follows : Eliza, born 

 1844, became the wife of Franklin Fenton, 

 son of Benjamin Fenton; Richard Lafay- 

 ette, born October 21, 1847, mentioned here- 

 inafter; Charles T., born in April, 1850, 

 married a lady in Chicago, and they have 

 one son, Richard; they reside in Chicago; 

 John ; Elwood, deceased ; Frank, died in in- 

 fancy. 



Richard L. Dolton attended the schools 

 of Newtown, Bucks county, until the age 

 of ten years, after which he went to work 

 on the farm owned by Isaac Chapman, at 

 Wrightstown, where he remained for three 

 years. He then went to Holland and worked 

 for Joseph W. and James C. Cornell, and 

 from Holland joined his father in New 

 Britain, where they cultivated a farm leased 

 from Richard Hamilton. In the sixties he 

 went with his father to Illinois, w'here they 

 only remained a short period, returning to 

 Bucks county in September, 1865, -after hav- 

 ing disposed of their property in the west. 

 He then went to work for John K. Talbot 

 in Upper Makefield. where he remained un- 

 til the spring of 1866, when he went to 

 farming for himself, renting the property 



