HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



487 



a prominent man in the community. 

 Thomas and Rachel (Atkinson) Stap- 

 ler were the parents of six children, viz.: 

 William, who married 11 nio. i, 1780,- 

 Mary Mitchell; John, see forward; 

 Stephen, Sarah and Esther, who died 

 unmarried; and Thomas, who married 

 4. mo. 24, 1794, Acsah Yardley, ilaughtet 

 of William and Sarah (Kirkbride) 

 Yardley. 



John Stapler, son of Thomas and 

 Rachel, was born in Midtiletown town- 

 ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and 

 was reared, in Bensalem township. On 

 attaining manhood he married and set- 

 tled in Lower Makefield township where 

 he followed the life of a farmer, and 

 was a considerable landholder. He and 

 his family were members of Falls Meet- 

 ing of Friends; both he and his brother 

 Thomas were part owners of Morns- 

 ville Island, and the industries thereon 

 established, after the failure of Robert 

 Morris. He died in October, 1823. He 

 had married, 10 mo. 21, 1779, Hannah 

 Yardley, born 10 mo. 3, 1758, died 8 mo. 

 8. 1830, daughter of William and Sarah 

 (Kirkbride) Yardley, who bore him thir- 

 teen children of whom eleven lived to 

 maturity, viz.: Sarah, born 7 mo. 27, 



1780, died 1868; Rachel, born 10 mo. 25, 



1781, died 1854; Acsah, born 4 mo. 3, 

 1783. died 3 mo. 11, 1861, married Charles 

 M. Reeder; Ann, born 10 mo. 16, 1785, 

 died 1851 ; Esther, born 9 mo. 30, 1787, 

 died 1844; Thomas, born 3 mo. 25, 1789, 

 died 12 mo. 28, 1842, married Sarah Bunt- 

 ing; Mary, born 5 mo. 30, 1792, died 

 1867; John, born 10 mo. 19, 1793, died 9 

 mo, 23, 1834, see forward; Charles, born 

 5 mo. 8, 1795. died 11 mo. 13. 1865, mar- 

 ried Sarah Jones; Hannah, born 7 mo. 

 19. 1797; and Christiana, born 9 mo. 23, 

 1803, died I mo. 15, 1876, about three years 

 before Hannah. 



William Yardley, the maternal grand- 

 father of the above children, was born 

 3 mo. 25, 1716, and died 8 mo. 3, 1774. 

 He was sheriflf of Bucks county, 1752-55, 

 and a justice of the courts of Bucks 

 county 1764-70. His wife, Sarah Kirk- 

 bride, was a daughter of Mahlon and 

 Mary (Sotcher) Kirkbride; her father 

 and both her maternal and paternal 

 grandsires were members of the colonial 

 assembly and justices of the courts of 

 Bucks county at different periods. 



John Stapler, third son and ninth child 

 of John and Hannah (Yardley) Stapler, 

 was the father of the subject of this 

 sketch. He was born near Yardley, 

 Lower Makefield township, Bucks 

 county. 10 mo. 19, 1793. He learned the 

 trade of a miller, and located at Lam- 

 bertville, New Jersey, in 1820, where he 

 operated a mill for several years as a 

 member of the firm of Lukens and 

 Stapler. 



About 1827 he removed to Bucking- 

 ham, where he operated the mill at Me- 

 chanics Valley, now owned by Oliver J. 



Rice, for four years. In December, 1830, 

 he purchased a farm of two hundred 

 acres in Upper Makefield, and removed 

 there in April. 1831, and died 9 mo. 23, 

 1834. He married 4 mo. 18, 1822, Su- 

 sanna Betts, daughter of Zacariah and 

 Mary Betts, of Upper Makefield, and 

 granddaughter of Thomas and Susanna 

 (Field) Betts. Thomas Betts, the grand- 

 father, was born on Long Island, August 

 14, 1689, and died at Newtown, Bucks 

 county, April, 1747. He was a son of 

 Thomas and Mercy (Whitehead) Betts, 

 and a grandson of Richard and Joanna 

 Betts, who came from England in 1648 

 to Ipswich, Massachusetts, and removed 

 soon after to Newtown, Long Island, 

 where the former died November 18, 

 1713, at the age of one hundred years. 

 He was a member of the colonial assem- 

 bly in 1665, and filled the office of sheriff 

 and many other important positions on 

 Long Island. After the death of John 

 Stapler his widow and family removed 

 to the village of Dolington, where she 

 died in February, 1847. The children of 

 John and Susanna (Betts) Stapler were: 

 Joseph Betts, born 7 nio. 28, 1823; John 

 M., the subject of this sketch; and Mary 

 Ann, born 6 mo. 8, 1830. 



John M. Stapler was born in Buck- 

 ingham, 5 mo. 6, 1828, and was but six 

 years of age at the death of his father. 

 He was reared at Dolington, and was 

 educated at the Claremont Academy, 

 conducted by Yardley and Edward Buck- 

 man, at Rising Sun. He taught school 

 in Makefield for two years. In 1839 he 

 went to Doylestown, where he and his 

 brother Joseph B. conducted a store five 

 years; his brother was then fifteen years 

 old. In 1854 he removed to Plymouth 

 Meeting, Montgomery county, where he 

 was engaged in mercantile pursuits for 

 a period of three years. He then re- 

 moved to Norristown, where he con- 

 ducted a store for several years. In 

 1864 he came to Newtown and entered 

 into partnership with W. Kirk Carver, 

 and the firm conducted the store now 

 occupied by Evan T. Worthington for 

 ten years. In 1874 he purchased the 

 store now conducted by his son-in-law, 

 William T. Wright, where he was ac- 

 tively engaged in mercantile pursuits for 

 upwards of twenty years. He married 

 II mo. 18, 1852, Margaret Rich, daughter 

 of Joseph and Mary (Pennington) Rich, 

 of Doylestown, and they were the pa- 

 rents of two children: Fanny, who died 

 young; and Emma, born 10 mo. 14, i860, 

 who married in 1887. William T. Wright, 

 son of Mark and Louisa Wright. Mr. 

 Wright was reared in Falls township, 

 and comes of an old family that have 

 been associated with lower Bucks for 

 many generations. He became asso- 

 ciated with Mr. Stapler in the conduct 

 of the Newtown store upon his marriage 

 in April, 1887, and is now its proprietor. 

 Mr. and Mrs. Wright are the parents 



