HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



443 



children, three sons of whom died in youth 

 and childhood, and the names of the otn- 

 ers were as follows : Annie, deceased, who 

 was the wife of the late Paul Rymond, of 

 Tinicum. Elizabeth, deceased, wife of the 

 late Henry Kooker, of_ New Hope. Mary, 

 deceased, who was the wife of the late John 

 Wilkinson, a cotton manufacturer of New 

 Hope, who operated the cotton mills there 

 for several years. Catharine, wife of Cy- 

 rus Foreman, aforementioned, who is the 

 only survivor of the family. Henry and 

 Elizabeth (Strouse) Kooker were the par- 

 ents of the following children : William S., 

 a physician in the city of Philadelphia. 

 Mary, who married Walker Booze, of New 

 Hope. Jacob, mentioned at length herein- 

 after. Charles H., who 'is a contractor 

 and builder in Philadelphia. John, a resi- 

 dent of New Hope, who carries on pork 

 butchering and is the owner of a large 

 hardware store. Ida, wife of Charles S. 

 Roberts, a lumber and coal dealer of New 

 Hope. The deaths of *Mr. and Mrs. Kooker 

 occurred May lo, 1903, and February 10, 

 1898, respectively, and the funeral services 

 were conducted at the Solebury Beptist 

 church, of which they had both been mem- 

 bers for many years. 



Jacob Kooker, son of Henry and Eliza- 

 beth (Strouse) Kooker, was born Septem- 

 ber II, 1846, in Buckingham township. He 

 received his education in the public schools, 

 at the age of twenty began to teach, but 

 at the end of a year turned his attention 

 to farming, becoming a tenant in Solebury. 

 After two years he removed to the farm 

 in Buckingham now owned by Judge Pax- 

 son, where he remained six years, and then 

 purchased the store at Holicong. He con- 

 ducted the business for one year and then 

 sold out and bought his present farm in 

 Solebury township. He deals extensively 

 in horses and cattle, owns the Keystonts 

 carriage works in Doylestown, and is also 

 a dealer in real estate, owning several 

 farms and properties at the present time 

 (1905). He was the first man in this sec- 

 tion to buy wagons from the manufactur- 

 ers in carload lots, and is still in the busi- 

 ness, carrying at the present time a stock 

 of over two hundred and also deals exten- 

 sively in harness, organs and pianos. As 

 a clerk for sales he is better known than 

 any other man in the county. He is a 

 member of the Carriage Dealers' Protec- 

 tive Association, and was recently a dele- 

 gate to a convention of that organization. 

 He now holds the office of registration as- 

 sessor. In politics he is a Republican, 

 and his church membership is with the Sole- 

 bury Baptist church, in which for so many 

 years his father served as deacon. He 

 married, December 17, 1867, Martha Nay- 

 lor, daughter of Reeder and Elizabeth (Mc- 

 Nealey) Naylor, of Solebury township, and 

 the following children have been born to 

 them : Annie, who is the wife of Ellsworth 

 Lippencott, of New Hope, and has four 

 children : Bertha, Nellie, Herbert J., and 

 Eva. Nellie G., who married Spencer Rob- 



erts, a gardener and florist with Judge 

 E. M. Paxson, and has one child, Martha 

 K. Roberts. Margaret N. Edgar S., who 

 is assistant station agent at Buckingham 

 Valley station on the Reading Railroaa 

 from New Hope to Philadelphia, Penn- 

 sylvania. 



PRESTON W. HAGERTY. Among 

 the prosperous and influential business men 

 of Chalfont, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 

 who have aided materially in the develop- 

 ment of its mercantile pursuits, is Preston 

 W. Hagerty, whose birth occurred in Nock- 

 amixon township, Bucks county, April 4, 

 1852. This township (which was spelled 

 Noximinson in a deed of 1762) signifies, 

 in the Delaware language, "the place at the 

 three houses." and is supposed to have 

 been settled prior to 1730. Judging from 

 a list of the names of landowners in 1742, 

 the original settlers were English-speaking 

 people. 



John Hagerty, father of Preston W. 

 Hagerty, was a son of James Hagerty,. 

 who emigrated to this country from Ire- 

 land, settling in Nockamixon township, 

 Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he fol- 

 lowed farming as a means of livelihood. 

 John Hagerty was a shoemaker by trade, 

 and this line of work he followed in con- 

 nection with agricultural pursuits in the 

 state of New Jersey. He was united in 

 marriage to Catherine Walters, daughter 

 of Jacob Walters, a native of Germany^ 

 who migrated to America, settling at the 

 Forge, in Warren county. New Jersey. In 

 1852, accompanied by his family, John 

 Hagerty removed to Nockamixon town- 

 ship, Bucks county, and thereafter made 

 his home in that attractive locality. The 

 following named children were the issue 

 of his marriage : Mary M., James, Jacob,. 

 Sarah E., Solomon, Annie, Sophia J., John 

 W., Hannah M., and Preston W. 



Preston W. Hagerty was reared on his 

 father's farm, and was indebted to the com- 

 mon schools in his neighborhood for liis 

 educational advantages. At the age of eight- 

 een years he engaged with his brother 

 Jacob in the produce commission business, 

 and at the expiration of three years, one 

 of which he was employed in driving a 

 team, he purchased the business and con- 

 ducted a wholesale produce trade for ten 

 years, achieving a well merited success as 

 a result of his reliable methods. In the 

 meantime he purchased a farm which he 

 conducted until 1884, in which year he en- 

 tered into business relations with his broth- 

 er-in-law, John S. Rickert, purchasing the 

 store at Chalfont. This connection contin- 

 ued until the death of Mr. Rickert, ten 

 years later, when Mr. Hagerty purchased 

 his interest and has since conducted tnt 

 business alone ; he also purchased the build- 

 ings. His general mercantile business ha» 

 increased to large proportions, and is now 

 one of the most extensive of its kind in 

 that section of the county. The respect and 



