382 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



sources, he has by industry and careful 

 business methods acquired a cunipeience. 

 Always a man of strict integrity and high 

 moral character, he has the respect and es- 

 teem of all who know him. Amos S. Hcll- 

 yer married Annie Penrose, a daughter of 

 Samuel and Catharine (Cressmau; Pen- 

 rose, of Plumstead, formerly of Richland, 

 the former of English and the latter of 

 German descent. 



Jonathan Penrose, the grandfather of the 

 above named Samuel i^enrose, was the 

 eldest son of Robert and Mary CHeacock) 

 Roberts, an account of whose arrival in 

 America and subsequent settlement in Rich- 

 land, Bucks county, is given elsewhere m 

 this work. Jonathan w^as born March i, 

 1736 ( N. S.; in Richland township, and 

 lived his whole life there, dying in I797- 

 He married. May 10, I759> Martha Pen- 

 rose, and in 1761 purchased a farm partly 

 in Rockhill and partly in Richland, where 

 he died. He had three sons, Isaiah, David 

 and Robert, and four daughters, Mary, 

 Phebe, Martha, and Sarah. David Penrose, 

 son of Jonathan and Martha, was born and 

 reared in Richland. He was a carpenter 

 and farmer in Rockhill township, owning 

 a portion of the old homestead on the Rich- 

 land line. He married Mary Hartzell of 

 Rockhill. Samuel Penrose, son of David 

 and IMary (Hartzell) Penrose, was born m 

 Rockhill township about the year 1800, and 

 resided there and in Richland until 1842, 

 when he purchased a farm of fifty acres 

 in Plumstead, near Carversville, and re- 

 moved thereon. He lived in Plumstead un- 

 til 1848, when he sold his farm and removed 

 soon after to Philadelphia, where he died 

 about i860. He was a man of consider- 

 able prominence in local affairs, and was a 

 member of legislature from Bucks county 

 in 1839-40. He married Catharine Cress- 

 man, of Rockhill, and they were the pa- 

 rents of nine children, five of whom grew 

 to maturitv: Annie, the wife of Amos S. 

 Hellyer ; Franklin C, of Doylestown ; Sam- 

 uel C., of Wilmington, Delaware; Joseph, 

 who- enlisted in the army during the civil 

 -war, and was among the missing after the 

 battle of Petersburg, and was never after- 

 wards heard of; Maria, widow of Kinsey 

 Reeder., of Makefield, now livin- in Phila- 

 ■delphia ; Jonathan, of Trenton, New Jersey. 



Amos S. and Annie f Penrose) Hellyer 

 were the parents of three children, one of 

 whom, a daughter, died in childhood. The 

 two who survive are Valmore M., the sub- 

 ject of this sketch, and his partner in the 

 firm of A. S. Hellyer's Sons, Samuel A.. 

 Hellyer, born July 14, 1859. The latter 

 remained on the farm with his father until 

 1876, when he became a clerk in the store 

 of Joseph K. Beans, at Holicong, where 

 "he was engaged for less than two years. 

 Returning home in 1878 he attended Dovles- 

 town Seminary for one year, and in 1879 

 went to Yardieyville, where he was clerk 

 in the general merchandise store of Thomas 

 Pursell for four years. He then accented 

 a position with S. P. Dunham & Co., of 



Trenton, where he was employed until 

 February, 188O. On March lO, 1886, he 

 opened the store in the Armstrong building, 

 Doylestown, and conducted business there 

 for twelve years in partnership w4th his 

 father, under the firm name of A. S. Hell- 

 yer & Son. In 1897 he purchased the site 

 of the present store and erected the present 

 handsome store building, and, greatly en- 

 larging the business, took his brother V. 

 M. Hellyer into the firm under the title 

 of A. S. Hellyer's Sons, opening business 

 in the new store April 10, 1898. Fie mar- 

 ried, June 20, 1885, Martie D. White, ot 

 Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and they are 

 the parents of two daughters, Grace and 

 Carrie. 



Valmore M. Hellyer was born and reared 

 in Buckingham, and acquired his education 

 at the Hughesian School and Doylestown 

 Seminary. In 1880 he accepted a position 

 in Buckingham Valley Creamery, and soon 

 after became its superintendent and general 

 manager, retaining that position with emi- 

 nent satisfaction to the corporation for thir- 

 teen years. In August, 1894, he purchased 

 the creamery and operated it on his own 

 account until April, 1895, when he sold out. 

 Prior to leaving the creamery he had 

 erected a stone crusher on Buckingham 

 mountain, which he operated for several 

 years. In 1898 he purchased his father's 

 interest in the firm of A. S. Hellyer & Son, 

 and in 1900 removed to Doylestown, where 

 he has since resided. He has always taken 

 an active interest in local affairs and enter- 

 prises. He has been secretary and treas- 

 urer of the Centreville and Pineville Turn- 

 pike Company since 1887, and is also secre- 

 tary and treasurer of the Buckingham and 

 Doylestown Turnpike Company. He was 

 a trustee of the Hughesian Free School un- 

 til his removal to Doylestown. He is a 

 member of the Doylestown Lodge, No. 245, 

 F. and A. ]\I., and Chapter. No. 270, R. A. 

 M. ; Aquetong Lodge. No. 193, I. O. O. P., 

 and Castle No. 208. A. O. K. of the M. C. 

 He married, March 16, 1881, Lettie Fell, 

 daughter of Charles K. and Letitia (Lar.ge) 

 Fell, and they are the parents of two chil- 

 dren — Alma and A. Newlin. 



STACY L. WEAVER, who for the 

 past thirty years has been engaged in the 

 ice business at Doylestown, was born in 

 Tinicum township. Bucks county. Sep- 

 tember 27. 1846. He is a son of Isaac 

 and Cypra Ann (Laubenstein) Weaver, 

 the former deceased and the latter still 

 residing with her son at Doylestown. 

 The Weaver family have been residents 

 of Tinicum township since its organi- 

 zation. Brice and Anna TTrollinger) 

 Weaver, the grandparents of the subject 

 of this sketch, were engaged in farming 

 all their lives in Tinicum township, and 

 reared a family of nine children — Isaac, 

 the father of Stacy L.. who died about 

 1892; Mrs. Martha McClain, residing 



