482 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



townsliip in 1697, purchasing in that year 

 300 acres of land. By his wife Susanna he 

 had ten children, who have left numerous 

 descendants in Bucks county and elsewhere. 

 James Shaw, eldest son of John and 

 Susanna, was born January 9, 1694. In 

 1724 he purchased of his father-in-law, 

 Thomas Brown, a native of Barking, Essex 

 county, England, 200 acres of land in Plum- 

 stead township, a part of which remained 

 the property of his descendants until 1903, 

 and settled thereon. He died December 

 3, 1761. By his wife, Mary Brown, he had 

 six children; the sixth, Alexander, born 

 November 24, 1734, died January 11, 1790. 

 was the ancestor of the subject of this 

 sketch. He inherited the old homestead 

 and lived his whole life thereon. He mar- 

 ried Sarah, the widow of Moses Brown, by 

 whom he had eight children. Aaron Shaw, 

 the eighth child of Alexander and Sarah 

 Shaw, was the grandfather of the sub- 

 ject of this sketch. He was born on the 

 old homestead. August 19, 1778, and died 

 November 3, 1838. He lived on a portion 

 of the old Shaw homestead. He married. 

 December 13, 1804, Susanna Brown, of 

 Plumstead. The children of Aaron and 

 Susanna (Brown) Shaw were: Rachel; 

 Amos B. ; Charles M. ; Harvey ; Elmina. 

 the mother of the subject of this sketch; 

 John A. ; Aaron and Gilbert. Both the 

 Shaws and Browns were prominent people 

 in Buckingham and Plumstead township. 

 where they were large landowners. Both 

 families were members of the Society of 

 Friends, and there was a number of inter- 

 marriages between them. The Browns 

 donated the land upon which the Plum- 

 stead meeting house stands. 



The children of John C. and Elmina 

 (Shaw) Shepherd are: Harvey S., of Chi- 

 cago, 111.; John A., of Buckingham; Henry 

 C. ; Charles S., deceased, who was insur- 

 ance commissioner in Chicago ; and Emily, 

 of Buckingham. 



Henry C. Shepherd, the subject of this 

 sketch, was reared on the Buckingham 

 farm and obtained his education at the 

 Hughesian School. His father was an in- 

 valid for many years prior to his death, 

 and, his two brothers having left home to 

 seek their fortunes in the west, the active 

 management of the farm devolved upon him 

 soon after attaining manhood. In 1884 he 

 purchased the farm, his mother removing to 

 the village of Buckingham, where she died 

 two years later. In 1891 Mr. Shepherd was 

 appointed clerk of the board of county com- 

 missioners and removed to Doylestown, 

 where he resided for four years. Return- 

 ing to Buckingham, he again took up the 

 management of the farm. In 1900 he re- 

 moved to the village of Buckingham, but 

 still continues the active management of 

 the farm. In politics he is a Democrat, and 

 takes an active part in the councils of the 

 party. He has served three years as school 

 director, and in 1899 was elected trustee 

 of the Hughesian School for life. He is a 

 member of Aquetong Lodge, No. 193, I. O. 



O. F., of Doylestown. He married, in 

 1883, Minnie W. Holloway, daughter of 

 Henry and Ellen Holloway. of Philadelphia, 

 both deceased. Mr. and Airs. Shepherd are 

 the parents of one child, Isabelle Emily, 

 born October 18, 1893. 



A. OSCAR MARTIN, architect, of 

 Doylestown, was born at Dublin, Bucks 

 county, September 8, 1873, and is a son of 

 Jonas and Mary Catharine (Crouthamel) 

 Martin. Jonas Martin, the grandfather of 

 the subject of this sketch, was 'a native of 

 Bucks county, and of German descent, his 

 ancestors having been among the earliest 

 German settlers in upper Bucks. He was 

 a veteran of the civil war, having enlisted 

 in Company D, Captain Jacob Swartz- 

 lander, in the One Hundred and Fourth 

 Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel 

 W. W. H. Davis, on September 17. 1861, 

 being commissioned sergeant of the com- 

 pany. He served the full term of his en- 

 listment, three years, and re-enlisted in the 

 same company for the war. After his re- 

 enlistment, with a number of other mem- 

 bers of the company stationed at Philadel- 

 phia, while the company was being recruited, 

 he paid several visits to his family. In 

 January, 1865. they were ordered to the 

 front and proceeded to Point of Rocks, 

 Virginia, where Sergeant Martin was at- 

 tacked with acute diarrhoea, and died Jan- 

 uary 24. 1865. and is buried in the Na- 

 tional Cemetery at City Point. Virginia, in 

 Section F, Division i, No. 138. His widow, 

 who was Hannah Hill, of Bedminster, is 

 still living at Durham, Bucks county, Penn- 

 sylvania, aged eighty-eight years. 



Jonas Martin, father of the subiect of this 

 sketch, was born on a farm near Dublin, 

 in Bedminster township, in 1850. He lived 

 on the farm until his eighteenth year, when 

 he was apprenticed to the carpenter trade, 

 and has followed that occupation ever since. 

 He has been a resident of Doylestown for 

 the past thirty years, where he has been 

 a prominent contractor and builder. He 

 married Mary Catharine Crouthamel, who 

 was born in Bedminster township. Bucks 

 county in 1851, the daughter of Michael 

 and Barbara Crouthamel. both of German 

 descent. They were the parents of thir- 

 teen children, twelve of whom survive : 

 Ida. wife of George Freas, a carpenter of 

 Philadelohia : Ezra, a builder and contrac- 

 tor in Philadelphia: A. Oscar, the subject 

 of this sketch: Elmira. wife of Warren 

 Lewis, a painter, residence Philadelphia ; 

 Barbara, residing at home : Frank, a car- 

 penter residing in Philadelphia : Laura, 

 Raymond, Emma, Hannah and Howard re- 

 siding at home. 



A. Oscar Martin, the subject of this 

 sketch, was an infant when his parents 

 removed to Doylestown. and his education 

 was acquired at Doylestown high school. 

 He learned the carpenter trade with his 

 father, but at the age of seventeen years be- 



