HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



405 



George, Alary Ann, and AFargaret, wife of 

 Jacob Wolfinger and another son, Joseph. 



Conrad, the great-grandfather of the snb- 

 ject of this sketch, inherited from his fath- 

 er the 280 acre farm in Bedminster and 

 Tinicuni, and lived thereon during his long 

 life, dying in 1837. He was a very prom- 

 nent man, filling the office of justice or 

 the peace for many j'ears, and doing an im- 

 mense amount of public business, acting as 

 agent, adi;iinistrator and executor in a 

 large number of estates. He married Lydia 



, born February 3, 1772, died June 



-25, 1857, and they left to survive them 

 •one son and heir, John Harpel. 



John Harpel, like his father, was a prom- 

 inent man in the community, and tilled the 

 office of justice of the peace for many 

 years, and was treasurer of Bucks county 

 in 1838. He was born on the old homestead 

 in Bedminster, November 2, 1795, and died 

 there Alay 20, 1866, and his wife Elizabeth 



, was born March 17, 1799, and died 



January 13, 1854. He married a second 

 time, shortly before his death, Catharine 

 , who survived him. John and Eliza- 

 beth Harpel were :hc parents of six chil- 

 •children : Amos, the father of the subject 

 of this sketch, who was born. October 25. 

 1825, and died February 14, 1872 ; Thomas 

 C, the proprietor of the Ottsville hotel ; 

 Samuel, born August 14, 1831, died Janu- 

 ary 19, i860; Lydia Ann; Levi, born Sep- 

 tember 15, 1840, died January 3, 1872; and 

 Sarah. 



Amos Harpel was born and reared on the 

 plantation in Bedminster, and purchased it 

 of his father in 1865. He, however, sold 

 the greater part of it in 1867, and in 1869 

 purchased a farm in Hilltown, and removed 

 there and lived there the remainder of life, 

 dying February 14, 1872, in his forty-sev- 

 enth year. He married Mary Fulmer and 

 they were the parents of four children : 

 Emma, wife of Lewis Keller, the well- 

 known merchant of Bedminsterville, a 

 sketch of whom appears in this volume ; 

 Leidy F., a merchant at Church Hill, Bucks 

 county who married Rachel Yost, and has 

 one child, Alaggie ; Harvey F., the subject 

 of this sketch ; and Alargaret, wife of 

 Milton Afiflerbach. 



Harvey F. Harpel, born on the old home- 

 stead that had been in the family almost a 

 century at the time of his birth, removed 

 with his parents to Hilltown when a child, 

 and was educated at the public schools 

 there. He remained on the farm until six- 

 teen years of age, and then entered the 

 store of his brother-in-law, Lewis Keller, 

 at Bedminsterville, where he filled the po- 

 sition of a clerk for seven and a half years. 

 In 1888 he started in the mercantile busi- 

 ness for himself at South Perkasie, where 

 he still conducts a general marchandise 

 store. He was appointed postmaster in 

 1889, and is still filling that position. In 

 1900 he built himself a fine residence at 

 South Perkasie, and in 1901 built a new 

 two and one-half story store building in 

 which he is carrying on a fine business, 

 l^ike his ancestors, he is a member of the 



Lutheran church at Tohickon (Church 

 Hill). He married, in 1888, Lavinia C. Ath- 

 erholt, daughter of Aaron D. and Erma 

 (Strawn) Atherholt. 



JOSIAH L.' CRESSMAN, of Silverdale, 

 Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was born in 

 Rockhill township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 

 vania, in 1838, and is a son of Tobias H. 

 and Lydia (Leidy) Cressman. The Cress- 

 man family is one of the oldest in Bucks 

 county, and is descended from George 

 Cressman (or Gressman) as the name was 

 originally spelled), who emigrated from 

 Germany in 1729 and settled in Franconia 

 township, now Montgomery county. John 

 Cressrnan, son of George, was a landhold- 

 er in Rockhill as early as 1747. Anthony 

 Cressman, the great-great-grandfather of 

 Josiah L., was a farmer in Rockhill town- 

 ship during the Revolutionary war, and was 

 either a son or grandson of George Cress- 

 man, the pioneer. He died 1790, leaving 



widow Magdalena, and four sons Jacob, 



Abraham, John and Adam; and three 

 daughters — Elizabeth, wife of Daniel Sli- 

 ver ; Catharine and Sarah. His farm con- 

 sisting of 139 acres in Rockhill was ad- 

 judged to the eldest son of Jacob Cress- 

 man. 



Jacob Cressm.an. eldest son of Anthony 

 and Magdalena, was a lifelong resident of 

 Rockhill, and one of the largest land holders 

 in the township, having purchased land 

 there as early as 1782. He died in 1832, at 

 an advanced age. He married Elizabeth 



, and they were 'the parents of ten 



children, viz : Daniel ; Jacob ; Abraham ; 

 Henry; Philip; Alargaret, who marriea 

 first Peter Demigh, and (second) Charles 

 Leidy; Magdalena, wife of Henry Carr (or 

 Kerr) ; Catharine, wife of Peter Rouden- 

 bush ; Maria, wife of Abel Kerr; Hannah, 

 who never married. 



Jacob Cressman, son of Jacob and Eliza- 

 beth, was the grandfather of the subject 

 of this sketch. He was a blacksmith, and 

 followed that vocation during the active 

 years of his life, in connection with farm- 

 ing. He died in Rockhill in May, 1871. 

 He married Alagdalena, daughter of Philip 

 Hartzell, of Rockhill, and they were the 

 parents of ten children : Tobias H., the 

 father of the subject of this sketch; Philip, 

 who married Nancy Gerhart ; Jonas, who 

 married Kate Sheip ; John, who married 

 Margaret Alann, and lived on the old home- 

 stead ; Jacob, who died single ; Hannah, 

 wife of Simon Scholl ; Lydia, wife of Leidy 

 Gerhart ; Elizabeth, wife of William K. 

 Shellenberger. Mary, wife of Abner Ger- 

 hart; and Sarah, wife of Jacob Shellen- 

 berger. 



Tobias H. Cressman, eldest son of Jacob 

 and Magdalena (Hartzell) Cressman, was 

 born in Rockhill township in 1814. He 

 learned the trade of a blacksmith with his 

 father, and followed that trade in Rock- 

 hill until 1848, when he removed to Hill- 

 town, and about 1853 purchased the farm 



