HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



469 



cal Club, Pennsylvania-German Society, 

 Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the 

 Revolution, Montgomery County His- 

 torical Society, of which latter he is 

 treasurer; and is also a member of Nor- 

 ristown Lodge. No. 620. Free and Ac- 

 cepted Masons; Norristown Chapter, 

 No. igo, R. A. M., and Hutchinson Com- 

 mandery No. 32, K. T. Dr. Reed has 

 been a contributor to medical, pharma- 

 ceutical, historical and general litera- 

 ture. He is at present engaged writing 

 a "History and Genealogy of the Reed 

 Familv." 



MAJOR HARRY CRAIG HILL, of 

 San Francisco. California, though not a 

 native of Bucks county, spent his youth- 

 ful days just over its borders at Hat- 

 boro, and has always taken a deep in- 

 terest in the county as the home of his 

 maternal ancestors. He is a son of Dn 

 John Howard and Cynthia (Craig) Hill, 

 who were married in 1835, and was born 

 in Philadelphia. 



His paternal ancestors. William and 

 Mary (Hunter) Hill, came to America 

 from Ireland about 1720 and settled in 

 Middletown, Chester county, where the 

 former died in 1747. leaving six chil- 

 dren — Alexander, Mary, John, Peter, 

 Christiana, and another whose name is 

 unknown, being an infant when the 

 father died. John Hunter, the father of 

 INIary (Hunter) Hill, was a native of 

 Durham, England, and a descendant of 

 the Hunters of Meadowsley Hall, Gates- 

 Tiead. Durham, where are buried many 

 of this noble family who trace their 

 descent from William, the Hunter, who 

 in 1 185 married a lady of Whittenstall 

 and founded the family of Meadowsley 

 Hall. John Hunter was a strong church- 

 man, and, having made himself obnox- 

 ious to the Catholic party, was forced to 

 flee from Durham on the accession to 

 the throne of James II. and took refuge 

 in Rathdrum, county Wicklow, Ireland, 

 where he married in 1693 Margaret Al- 

 iDin. He was captain of a troop of 

 Tiorse under William of Orange at the 

 battle of the Boyne. July i, 1690. and 

 was wounded in the left hip, from which 

 "he suffered a slight lameness during the 

 remainder of his life. His superior of- 

 ficer in the battle of the Boyne was An- 

 thony Wayne (the grandfather of 

 "Mad Anthony Wayne." of the Revolu- 

 tion), with whom he came to America in 

 1722, settling for a short time near 

 "Downingtown. Chester county, but re- 

 moving the following year to a one 

 thousand acre tract of land in Newtown 

 township, now Delaware county, pur- 

 chased March 17, 1723. where he died in 

 T734 at the age of seventy years, and is 

 buried in the churchyard at St. David's 

 Episcopal Church. Radnor, of which 

 Tie was a member of the first vestry. His 

 children were John, William, Mary. Mar- 



garet. George, Peter, Martha, Ann, 

 Elizabeth and James, the first and last 

 named being also members of the ves- 

 try of St. David's. 



John Hill, son of William and Mary 

 (Hunter) Hill, was born in ^liddletown, 

 Chester county, in 1736, and died there 

 in February, 1814. He married at Christ 

 Church. July 22, 1760, Mary Gibbons, 

 daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Mar- 

 shall) Gibbons, and granddaughter of 

 James and Ann (Pearce) Gibbons, great- 

 granddaughter of John and Margery Gib- 

 bons, who came from Warminster, 

 Wiltshire, England, in 1681. and settled 

 in Newtown, Chester county. Mary 

 (Gibbons) Hill was born 2 mo. 15. 1743. 

 Her father. Joseph Gibbons, was a mem- 

 ber of colonial assembly 1748-63. and 

 her grandfather, George Pearce of 

 Thornbury. was also a member of as- 

 sembly 1717-19. Her mother, Hannah 

 Marshall, was a daughter of Abraham 

 Marshall, who came from Gratton, 

 Derbyshire, in 1700. and a sister to Hum- 

 phrey Marshall the famous . botanist. 

 John and Mary (Gibbons) Hill were the 

 parents of thirteen children, eleven of 

 whom lived to maturity and left de- 

 scendants. 



Humphrey Hill, the grandfather of 

 ■Major Hill, was the third son of John 

 and Mary, and was born in October, 

 1763, and died in December, 1811. He 

 married at Christ Church. March 3, 1791, 

 Alice Howard, born January. 1762, 

 daughter of John and Sarah (Bunting) 

 Howard, and granddaughter of Thomas 

 and Grace (Beakes) Howard. Sarah 

 (Bunting) Howard was a daughter of 

 John and Alice Lord (Nicholson) 

 Bunting, of Burlington county. New 

 Jersey, and granddaughter of Samuel and 

 Mary (Foulke) Bunting, the former of 

 whom was a son of Anthony and Ellen 

 Bunting, of Matlock, Derbyshire, and 

 the latter a daughter of Thomas Foulke, 

 one of the nine commissioners of 'New 

 Jersey who settled at Crosswicks in 

 1677. Job Bunting, another son of An- 

 thony, was a large landholder in Bucks 

 county. Grace (Beakes) Howard was 

 a daughter of Stephen Beakes and Eliza- 

 beth Biles, of Bucks county, both natives 

 of England, their respective parents 

 (William Beakes. of Barkwell. Somerset- 

 shire, and AVilliam Bjles. of Dorchester. 

 Dorsetshire) being among the earliest 

 English settlers on the Delaware in 

 Bucks county, the latter being an officer 

 of the court at Upland prior to the ar- 

 rival of Penn. and a member of the first 

 provincial council from Bucks. 



Dr. John Howard Hill, the father of 

 Major Hill, was the only child of Hum- 

 phrey and Alice (Howard) Hill. He was 

 for man}' years an eminent physician at 

 Hatboro. Montgomery county, and had 

 a large practice in adjoining parts of 

 Bucks countv. He was twice married, 

 having married in December, 1813. Eliza 



