366 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



of which firm he was the senior member. 

 It proved to be one of the important 

 industries of the county and gave em- 

 ployment to several hundred hands. 

 William H. Grundy was a public-spirited 

 and broad minded business man and 

 did much to advance the interests of his 

 town. He was president of the Bristol 

 Improvement Company, and filled ihe 

 office of chief burgess of the town for 

 two terms. He was always active in all 

 that pertained to the best interests of 

 the town and won and held the respect 

 and esteem of all with whom he came 

 in contact. He was one of the first 

 members of the Union League in Phila- 

 delphia, and a prominent member of 

 the Manufacturers Club of that city. 

 He was also a prominent member of the 

 Masonic fraternity. His career of ex- 

 traordinary business activity and use- 

 fulness was terminated by his sudden 

 death on October 26, 1893, of heart 

 disease. Mr. Grundy married, in 1861, 

 Mary Ridgway, of New Jersey, a lineal 

 descendant of Richard Ridgway, of Wel- 

 ford, county of Bucks. England, who 

 arrived in the River Delaware, in the 

 ship, "Jacob and Mary," of London, in 

 September, 1679, and settled near the 

 Falls of the Delaware in what is now 

 Falls township, Bucks county, where he 

 was a considerable landholder. The first 

 court house of Bucks county was erected 

 on land belonging to Richard Ridgway. 

 Mr. Ridgway was accompanied to Amer- 

 ica by his wife Elizabeth and son 

 Thomas, and another son Richard was 

 born a few months after their arrival. 

 His wife died in Bucks county, and in 

 1699 he married Abigal Stockton, of 

 New Jersey, and thereafter made his 

 residence in Burlington county. New 

 Jersey, where he became a very promi- 

 nent man, and has left numerous de- 

 scendants. 



The maternal ancestors of William 

 Hulme Grundy, were also among the 

 earliest English settlers in Bucks county. 

 George Hulme and his son George 

 Hulme, Jr. came from England prior 

 to 1700 and settled in Middletown town- 

 ship. George, Jr. married, in 1708, 

 Naomi Palmer, daughter of John and 

 Christain Palmer, who came to Bucks 

 county from Cleveland, Yorkshire, ar- 

 riving in the Delaware, 9 mo. 10. 1683. 

 Naomi only survived her marriage a 

 short time. George Jr., married (sec- 

 ond) her sister, Ruth Palmer, contrary 

 to the rules of Middletown Friends' 

 Meeting, which forbid marriage with' a 

 deceased wife's sister, and he was dis- 

 owned by the Meeting. John Hulme. 

 son of George and Ruth, married Mary 

 Pearson, daughter of Enoch and Mar- 

 garet (Smith) Pearson, of Buckingham, 

 and their son, John, was the founder 

 of Hulmeville. which still bears his 

 name. He married Rebecca Milnor, 

 daughter of William Milnor, of Penn's 



Manor, and lived for a number of years 

 in the Manor. In 1796 he exchanged 

 his Manor farm with Joshua Woolston 

 for the "Milford iMiUs," as Hulmeville 

 was at that time known, and subse- 

 quently purchased several hundred acres 

 of land adjoining, and with his sons: 

 William, John, Joseph, George, and 

 Samuel established several new indus- 

 tries there and laid out and developed 

 the town. The family were the origi- 

 nators of the Farmers Bank of Bucks 

 county, now located at Bristol, which had 

 Its mception at Hulmeville. John Hulme 

 was one of the most prominent business 

 men of Bucks county and a pioneer in 

 the rapid development that began in the 

 first quarter of a century after the Revo- 

 lution. His eldest son William was a 

 carpenter and cabinet maker and was 

 associated with his father in the varied 

 industries of the town and assisted 

 materially in its development. He mar- 

 ried, 4 mo. 17, 1794, Rachel Knight, and 

 died m 1809, leaving one son Joseph K. 

 and two daughters, Susanna, and Re- 

 becca. The later was born in 1803, aad 

 became the wife of Edmund Grundy. 

 She outlived all of her generation, dying 

 at her country residence in Bristol 

 township, October 26, 1895, at the ad- 

 vanced age of ninety-two years. Of 

 her five children only one survived her, 

 Mrs. Susan G. Harrison. William Hulme 

 and Mary (Ridgway) Grundy were the 

 parents of two children, Joseph R. and 

 Margaret R. Mrs. Grundy is still living in 

 Bristol, though much of her time is spent 

 in traveling in Europe and elsewhere. 



ALBERT C. ALTHOUSE, M. D. One 

 of the active practicing physicians of Bucks 

 county is Dr. Albert C. Althouse, of Bed- 

 minster township. Dr. Althouse is a de- 

 scendant of Daniel Althouse, who came 

 from Germany and settled in Bedminster, 

 where he owned a large tract of land. 

 Martin Althouse, son of Daniel Althouse, 

 mentioned above, had a farm near Keller's 

 Church and also worked as a mason. His 

 wife was Catherine Sigafoos, and they 

 were the parents of a large family, many 

 of whom died young. Those who reached 

 maturity were: Martin, Levi, Tobias, men- 

 tioned at length hereinafter; Mathias. and 

 Silas. The parents of these children are 

 both buried at the Tohickon church. Mpr- 

 tin Althouse was accidentally killed while 

 coming home with his team from Pliiladel- 

 phia. 



Tobias Althouse, son of Martin and Cath- 

 erine (Singafoos) Althouse, was born in 

 1808. and was a blacksmith by trade. For 

 thirty-eight years he was absent from the 

 township, but returned four years before 

 his death. He served in the army during 

 the Mexican war and also in the Civil war. 

 He married Elizabeth, daughter of John 

 Kramer, of Bedminster, and their children 



