HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



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married Ann Potts in 1727, and died in 

 1776. Thomas himself was born in 

 1737, married in 1764, and died in 1813. 

 During the revolution he was a private 

 in the Moreland company of which his 

 brother John was captain. Thomas Fol- 

 well's wife Elizabeth was a daughter of 

 Arthur Watts, who was a descendant of 

 John Watts, pastor of the Pennypack 

 Baptist church as early as 1699. John 

 Watts was a descendant of the John 

 Watts who was lord mayor of London, 

 1592-1603. 



William Purdy, like all his family, 

 was a Presbyterian, but after he married 

 and settled in Southampton he became 

 a Baptist. In politics he was. like all 

 the Pennsylvania Purdys at that time 

 and since, a Democrat. He was a man 

 of good abilities and excellent charac- 

 ter, one of the most public-spirited men 

 of his time, and stood high in the esteem 

 of his fellows. In 1794, when Washing- 

 ton called for troops to quell the 

 "whiskey insurrection," he was one of 

 the first to volunteer and went to Pitts- 

 burgh, where he remained until the trou- 

 ble was over. In 1805 he was elected 

 captain of the rifle company attached 

 to the Bucks and Montgomery counties 

 Forty-eighth regiment, which position 

 he held for several years. During the 

 second war with Great Britain, after 

 the capture and burning of the capitol 

 at Washington by the British, although 

 beyond the military service age, he was 

 chiefly instrumental in forming a com- 

 pany of independent riflemen. By 

 unanimous vote he was made captain, 

 and he remained in that position for the 

 sake of his men, although solicited to ac- 

 cept command of the regiment. After 

 the war he resumed farming in South- 

 ampton until elected to the state legis- 

 lature, where he continued four years. 

 Shortly after his retirement from his 

 seat in that body the governor appointed 

 him prothonotary of the courts of Bucks 

 county, in which office he continued un- 

 til his death. May 30, 1834. He was 

 buried in the graveyard of the Baptist 

 church at Southampton, and upon his 

 tombstone is the inscription, "An honest 

 man. the noblest work of God." He was 

 survived by his widow, who died June 

 9, 1846, in the sixty-seventh year of her 

 age. Their children were: i. John, born 

 180T, died May 29, 1838; he was a wheel- 

 wright, and resided first at Davisville, 

 Bucks county, and then in Philadelphia; 

 he married Amy H., daughter of William 

 and Sarah Shelmire. who was born in 

 1806 and died in 1878; they had two 

 children. 



2. Thomas, (see forward). 



3. William W^atts, born 1805, died Sep- 

 tember 5, 1827. 



4. Elizabeth Anne, born 1809, died 

 May 5, 1832. 



5. Joseph Hart, born August 6, 1813, 

 died June 12. 1842. All these, with one 



exception, are buried near their parents 

 in Southampton. Joseph is buried in 

 Ewing, New Jersey. 



Thomas (4) second son of William 

 (3) and Mary (Folwell) Purdy, was born 

 in 1802 and died October 10, 1844. He 

 was educated in the common schools, 

 and began life as a farmer. Later he 

 engaged in the hotel business, purchas- 

 ing the Green Tree Hotel at Doyles- 

 town, about 1832. He next embarked in 

 the mercantile business at Richboro, 

 Pennsylvania, but soon took up farming 

 again, having purchased about 1836 the 

 old Folwell homestead at Southampton, 

 the house upon which was built by his 

 maternal ancestors in 1719. He was a 

 staunch Democrat, and took an active 

 interest in politics. He was elected 

 sherifif in 1842. Like his father he was 

 prominent in military affairs; in 1828 he 

 was elected captain of the Liberty 

 Guards, and in 1835 and again in 1842 

 he was elected colonel of the First 

 Regiment of Bucks County Volunteers. 

 He was a member of the Baptist Church 

 at Southampton, and a trustee for many 

 years. He married Elizabeth, daughter 

 of John S. and Mary (Krusen) Cornell, 

 the former of English and the latter of 

 Dutch origin. She was born March 18, 

 181 1, and died May 29, 1884. Of this 

 marriage were born six children: 



1. Mary Jane, born July 7, 1830; un-, 

 married, and residing in Germantown. 



2. John Mann, to be further men- 

 tioned below. 



3. Elizabeth Ann, born July 7, 1835; 

 married Peter Rittenhouse; four chil- 

 dren; resides in Willow Grove, Penn- 

 sylvania. 



4. Matilda, born February 12, 1838;: 

 married Charles (brother of Peter) Rit- 

 tenhouse; six children; resides in Ger- 

 mantown. 



5. Amanda, born June 8. 1841; married 

 William B. Weiss, of Philadelphia; six 

 children. 



6. Katherine Hart, born 1843. Oied 

 :May 8, 1867: married James Lingerman^ 

 of Somerton; no issue. 



John Mann Purdy (s), only son of 

 Thomas and Elizabeth (Cornell) Purdy, 

 but for whom this particular branch of 

 the Purdy family would have become ex- 

 tinct, w-as born in Dojdestown, Bucks 

 county, January 17, 1833. He was 

 reared in Davisville, in the same county, 

 and attended the common schools of 

 that vicinity, and spent one year in the 

 China Hall Military School in Bristol 

 township. Upon the death of his father 

 in 1844 he went to live with Mercy 

 Warner, of Warminster, same county, 

 with whom he remained until 1849, whert 

 he was apprenticed to the carpenter's 

 trade and followed the same at Somerton, 

 Philadelphia county for about ten years. 

 He then began farming on the old Van- 

 sant farm at Somerton, remaining there 

 until 1867, when he bought the Delaware 



