38o 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Olden, of Bound Brook, New Jersey, and 

 they were the parents of eiglit children, 

 viz.: John, born August, 17T6; Abraham, 

 born June, 1718; John, born February, 

 1720; Jane, born May 21, 1723; Thomas, 

 born June 8, 1725; Benjamin, born No- 

 vember 10, 1727: Elizabeth, born May 20, 

 1730; and Joseph, born October 20, 1733. 



Joseph Chapman, j^oungest child of 

 Abraham and Susan (Olden) Chapman, 

 was born in Wrightstown in 1733, and 

 died of yellow fever in 1790. He mar- 

 ried, 5 mo. 17, 1758. Ann, daughter of 

 John Fell, who was born 10 mo. 6, 1739, 

 and died 3 mo. 20, 1828. They were 

 the parents of fourteen children, nine 

 of whom lived to mature age. 



Abraham Chapman, sixth child of Jo- 

 seph and Ann (Fell) Chapman, was born 

 8 mo. 18, 1767, at Wrightstown, and died 

 at Doylestown, 2 mo. 24, 1856. He was 

 an eminent lawyer, being admitted to the 

 Bucks county bar in 1790. He prac- 

 ticed at Newtown until the removal of 

 the county seat to Doylestown in 1812. 

 when he removed to Doylestown and 

 spent the balance of his days in that 

 towm. He was knowm for vears as the 

 "Father of the Bucks County Bar." He 

 was the first president of the Doylestown 

 National Bank. Fie married 12 mo. 15. 

 1795, Elizabeth Meredith, daughter of 

 Dr. Hugh and Mary (Todd) Meredith, 

 the former a native of Warwick town- 

 ship, of Welsh descent, and was for 

 many years a practicing attorney at 

 Dojdestowm, and the latter was a daugh- 

 ter of Joseph Todd, of Warminster, and 

 of English descent. Abraham and Eliza- 

 beth (Meredith) Chapman were the pa- 

 rents of eight children, only two of 

 whom lived to grow up: Wilhelmina, 

 born I mo. 27, 1801. married Mathias 

 Morris, and Henry, born 4 mo. 2, 1804. 

 died 4 mo. Ii, 1891. 



Hon. Henry Chapman was born at 

 Wrightstown. but was reared in Doyles- 

 town, where he spent his entire life. He 

 studied law in the office of his father and 

 was admitted to the bar at the age of 

 twenty-one, April 25, 1825. Inheriting 

 the fine intellectual ability of his illus- 

 trious sire, he had made the most of ex- 

 cellent opportunities for acquiring a fine 

 classical education, and possessed of a 

 truly well-balanced mind and a faculty 

 of concentration, his classical acquire- 

 ments and fine literary taste lent a gloss 

 to his oratory, and made him a strong 

 advocate. In politics he was a Demo- 

 crat of the old school, and exercised a 

 potent influence in his wing of the 

 party. He w-as elected to the state sen- 

 ate in 1843 and served one term of three 

 years. In 1847 he was appointed to fill 

 an unexpired term of four years as pres- 

 ident judge of the Chester-Delaware 

 District, and at its termination in i8;i 

 declined a rcnomination. He was the 

 nominee of his party in Bucks for the 

 position of president judge of the Bucks 



Montgomery District, and though he 

 carried his home county by a handsome 

 majority, internal dissensions in the 

 party in Montgomery lost him the elec- 

 tion. In 1856 he was elected to congress 

 from his home district, and at the ter- 

 mination of his term declined a re-nom- 

 ination. In 1861 he was elected presi- 

 dent judge of the Bucks-Montgomery 

 District, and at the termination of the 

 term in 1871 retired to private life. He 

 died April 11, 1891. He was twice mar- 

 ried, his first w^ife being Rebecca Stew- 

 art, daughter of Dr. Thomas and Re- 

 becca Stewart, of New Britain township. 

 She died 10 mo., 1837, and he married, in 

 1845, Nancy Findlay Shunk, daughter of 

 Governor Francis R. and Jane (Findlay) 

 Shunk. By his first marriage he had 

 four children: Elizabeth, who married 

 T. Bigelow Lawrence, of Boston, Massa- 

 chusetts, and has been many years a 

 wndow. residing at Doylestown; Mary 

 Rebecca, who married William R. Mer- 

 cer, born at Washington, D. C, now liv- 

 ing at Doylestown. Mrs. Mercer died 

 October 27. 1903. They were the pa- 

 rents of three children: Henry C, Eliza- 

 beth, wife of Captain Fidler Von Tsar- 

 born, of Austria, and William R.. who 

 married in 1904. Martha Dana, of Bos- 

 ton. Massachusetts. The other children 

 of Henry and Rebecca Chapman were 

 Henry A., who died in 1834. and Thomas, 

 who died 10 mo. 18, 1862. The children 

 of Henr3^ and Nancy Findlay (Shunk) 

 Chapman are: Fanny, residing at the old 

 homestead near Doylestown. and Arthur. 

 Nancy (Shunk) Chapman died 2 mo. 27, 

 1900. 



Arthur Chapman was born at Doyles- 

 town. He studied law and was admitted 

 to the bar, November 2. 1871. and prac- 

 ticed for a few years, but preferring an 

 outdoor life to the practice of the legal 

 profession, he purchased the two hun- 

 dred acre farm in New Britain, that was 

 the property, of the ancestors of his 

 father's first wife for two centuries, and 

 conducted it for several years. He has 

 lived a retired life in Do^-lestown town- 

 ship for the last fifteen years. 



ALBERT G. B. HINKLE, M. D.. of 

 1.300 Spring Garden street, Philadelphia. 

 Pennsvlvania, was born in Plumstead 

 township, Bucks county. Pennsylvania, 

 November 6. 1831. and is a son of Will- 

 iam and Elizabeth (Walter) Hinkle, late 

 of Plumstead. 



Casper Hinckle. the pioneer ancestor 

 of the subject of this sketch, came from 

 Germanv in the shin, "Neptune," arriv- 

 ing at the port of Philadelphia, Septem- 

 ber 24, 1754. and settled at or near Ger- 

 man town. 



Philip Hinckle, born in Germany, re- 

 moved from "Cresham. alias German- 

 town," to Plumstead township, Bucks 



