HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



355 



school education, after which he learned 

 ihe miller's trade and for forty years con- 

 ducted Ridge's Mills, in Southampton, to 

 ■which place he removed two years previous 

 to his marriage. Following his long and 

 successful connection with the milling busi- 

 ness, Mr. Wynkoop rented the famous 

 Buck Tavern, which he has managed since 

 1897. Prominent and active in community 

 affairs, Mr. Wynkoop has filled' several 

 township and county offices. He was elected 

 auditor in. 1867, and held that office for 

 three years. From 1870 until 1881 he was 

 school director, and was then elected coun- 

 ty commissioner, remaining in the office 

 for three years, after which he was again 

 elected school director. He built the coun- 

 ty jail at Doylestown, and in all his re- 

 lations to the public interests he has been 

 progressive and enterprising, fostering 

 many measures for the general good. Mr. 

 Wynkoop was married to Miss Mercy 

 Riley, a daughter of William Riley, of 

 Yardleyville, and their children are : 

 Mamie, who married Frank Eastburn ; and 

 Gairett, who married Emma Fulmer, and 

 has two children, Dorothy and Helen. 



LOUIS AUGUSTUS RIDGE, late of 

 Philadelphia, was born in Bristol township, 

 Bucks county, Pennsylvania, January 23, 

 1832, son of Jesse and Hannah (Noland) 

 Ridge, and grandson of Henry Ridge, of 

 Bensalem township. On the maternal side 

 he is the grandson of Dr. William and 

 Hannah (Noble) Noland. 



He was educated in the public schools 

 of Bristol township, and at the Whitehall 

 boarding school, then in charge of Dr. 

 Eoen D. Buckman and brother. The year 

 after leaving school he aided his father on 

 the farm, and in 1852 began school-teach- 

 ing in the country, first in Newportville and 

 later at Eddington, Bristol and various 

 places until 1865. He was engaged to teach 

 in the select school of William Fewsmith 

 at Tenth and Chestnut streets, Philadel- 

 phia, where he remained five years, and 

 was then elected to the principalship of the 

 first section grammar school, remaining 

 there for five years, when he was trans- 

 ferred to the Lincoln grammar school. 

 Twentieth street and Fairmount avenue. 

 In 1886 he was made supervising princi- 

 pal of the Thaddeus Stephens Combined 

 school, where he was engaged in excellent 

 work for many years. His record is ex- 

 ceptional, for he has taught school con- 

 tinuously for over fifty years, each year 

 gaining to a greater degree the confidence 

 of the school patrons and students. The 

 supreme delight of his life was to re- 

 ceive letters from all parts of the coun- 

 try from his old pupils, many now holding 

 important positions of trust in the busy 

 world. August 25. 1857, Mr. Ridge mar- 

 ried Rosannah Kirk, of Bensalem, the 

 daughter of Simpson and Anna (Grim) 

 Xirk, the granddaughter of Benjamin and 



Rosanna (Carr) Kirk. The maternal 

 grandparents of Mrs. Ridge were John 

 and Alica (Culin) Grim. From this union y 

 eight children were born: Edwin Buck- 

 man, born September 28, 185S; Susannah, 

 born December 4, i860; Eleanor, born Feb- 

 ruary 15, 1862; Augusta, born September 

 29, 1864; William Crichton, born April 4, 

 1867; George Edgar, born May i, 1870; 

 Kirk, born April 10, 1874; Rachel John- 

 son, born May 16, 1876. Only two of these 

 children are now living, Augusta and 

 George E., who were educated in the pub- 

 lic schools and Friends' Central school of 

 Philadelphia. Augusta was married April 

 II, 1888, to Henry William Pyle, son of 

 William and Angelina (Darlington) Pyle; 

 he died, without children, January 21, 1890, 

 and his' widow Augusta then made her 

 home with her father.' George Edgar is a 

 jeweler in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. He-, 

 married, March 18, 1899, Winifred Kil- 

 bride, of England,! daughter of Joseph and 

 Catherine Kilbride. William Crichton mar- 

 ried Elizabeth Kitchenman, and they had 

 one son John, born November 5, 1891. 

 William Crichton died November 22, 1902. 

 Mr. Ridge was a member of the Masonic 

 fraternity and associated with Bristol 

 Lodge, No. 25, A. Y. F. and A. M. He was 

 ex-president of the teacher's institute; a 

 member of the educational club; School 

 INlen's Club and the Teacher's Association. 

 In religion he was of the Episcopal faith. 



JOHN M. GRAY, deceased, was born 

 in Buckingham township, Bucks county, 

 August 16, 1836. He was a son of Samuel 

 and Julia Ann (Robinson) Gray. John 

 Gray, the grandfather of John M. Gray, 

 was a native of Ireland, and came to this 

 country soon after 1800. In 1813 he pur- 

 chased a farm of sixty-five acres near the 

 southern base of Buckingham mountain, 

 and followed farming until his death in 

 1845. He had five sons : John, who died 

 in 1875; William; Joseph; Samuel and 

 George, the latter of whom is still living 

 in Buckingham ; and two daughters, Mar- 

 tha Heyde and Rachel Blaker. 



Samuel Gray, the father of John M. 

 Gray, was a blacksmith in early life, but 

 later followed farneing. He died in 1882, 

 aged about seventy-five years. His wife 

 was Julia Ann Robinson, a native of New 

 Jersey. She survived him, and died Janu- 

 ary 10, 1894. Samuel and Julia Ann Gray 

 were the parents of three children : John 

 'M., Ellis, and Sarah Ann, all of whom are 

 deceased. 



John M. Gray was reared on his father's 

 farm and attended the schools of the neigh- 

 borhood. He was married in 1861 to Ka- 

 chel Fell, daughter of Jesse and Priscilla 

 (Sands) Fell, an account of whose ances- 

 try is given on another page of this work. 

 On his marriage, Mr. Fell settled on the 

 farm devised to him by his uncle John 

 Gray in 1875, and followed farming until 



