492 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Norristown, Pennsylvania. George i\I., 

 born July 19, 1845 ; died November 12, 

 1872 ; was a soldier in the Civil war, Com- 

 pany D, Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania Regi- 

 ment. Alljert, born April 24, 1848; resides 

 at Norristown, Pennsylvania; married 

 Theresa Manes ; no issue. 



William Summers, the eldest son of Sam- 

 uel and Eliza (Whitby) Summers, was born 

 May 30, 1833, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. 

 He received his education in the public 

 schools. In the year 1851 he was employed 

 as a clerk in a general store at Consho- 

 hocken, Pennsylvania. In 1858 he con- 

 menced business as a dealer in general mer- 

 chandise on the corner of Fayette and 

 W^ashington streets. In 1880 he erected the 

 store on the corner of Fayette and Elm 

 streets, where he continued business until 

 the year 1900, when he retired. He took 

 an active part in promoting the growth and 

 improvement of the borough. He was 

 ■elected burgess of the borough of Con- 

 shohocken for two terms, and also served 

 as a member of town council and school 

 director for several terms. He also served 

 as a director in the Conshohocken Gas and 

 Water Company. At the present time he is 

 librarian of the Montgomery County His- 

 torical Society and a member of the Penn- 

 sylvania German Society. On October 10, 

 1858, he married Henrietta Yost, born 

 March 26, 1833 ; died May 18, 1887, daugh- 

 ter of Abraham and Maria (Christman) 

 Yost. She was a great-great-granddaugh- 

 ter of Jacob Yost, born March 16, 1696; 

 married July, 1732, Elizabeth Shambough. 

 He emigrated to ths country from Zwi- 

 brucken, Germany, landing in Philadelphia, 

 September 21, 1727. Children : 



William E. Summers, born June 6, i860, 

 ■died March 9, 1897; married, February 8, 

 1888, Anne Donnelly, born June, 1866. Chil- 

 dren : William, born November, 1888; died 

 July, 1889; Frances, born July 9, 1891. 



Clara E. Summers, born July 16, 1865; 

 married July 26, 1900, John Murray, born 

 July 14, 1865. They reside at Wharton, 

 New Jersey. 



Lillian E. Summers, born December 5, 



1875. 



OLIVER M. THOMAS, of HiUtown 

 township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, near 

 Line Lexington, is the sole survivor, of the 

 paternal name, of a family that was once 

 very numerous in Hilltown, and whose 

 members were among the largest landown- 

 ers and most influential people in the town- 

 ship. He also resides on land taken up and 

 improved by his ancestors nearly two cen- 

 turies ago. 



Rev. William Thomas, or as he was more 

 familiarly known, "Elder Thomas," the pa- 

 ternal ancestor of the Thomas family of 

 Bucks county, was born in the year 1678, in 

 Lanwenarth, Merionethshire, Wales, on the 

 borders of England. He belonged to a 

 family that possessed considerable means, 

 being freeholders of a considerable estate. 



His parents were members of a Baptist 

 church in Merioneth, and he was reared in 

 the tenets of that faith, and, receiving a 

 superior education for his time, and being 

 of a studious and pious disposition, he be- 

 came a speaker in religious meetings of his 

 sect when still a young man, and, though 

 never an ordained minister, continued 

 to administer to the spiritual needs 

 of his neighbors through his en- 

 tire life. Rev. Abel Morgan, for many 

 years pastor of the Baptist church at Penny- 

 pack, and the founder of the Montgomery 

 Baptist church, and also a native of Mer- 

 ioneth, was his acquaintance and friendf 

 Prior to his coming to America his parents 

 located on a farm called Blassaw of Wyn, in 

 the parish of Bedwlldy, some distance from 

 the place of his nativity. At the death of 

 his parents he sold the patrimonial estate, 

 and being possessed of sufficient means to 

 settle himself comfortably in a new country 

 where land was cheap, he made his pre- 

 parations to embark for Pennsylvania. He 

 had married in 1710 Ann (maiden name not 

 recorded), born in 1680, and his eldest child 

 Thomas was born in Wales in 171 1. In 

 January, 1711-12, he transported his house- 

 hold goods and his wife and infant child 

 to Bristol, England, and, having engaged 

 passage on a ship lying there bound for 

 Philadelphia, had his goods, clothing ana 

 the greater part of his cash taken aboard. 

 Being informed that the ship would not sail 

 for several days, he took his family to the 

 country to await the day of sailing. Though 

 he returned before the appointed time, the 

 ship had already sailed, though still in sight. 

 After an ineffectual attempt to overtake her 

 he was forced to await the sailing of a later 

 vessel. He and his family arrived in Phila- 

 delphia on February 14, 1712, and, though 

 he found the vessel there in which his goods 

 had been transported, the dishonest master 

 had absconded with everything of value he 

 could lay his hands on, and he had the 

 mortification of seeing some of his own 

 clothes on the backs of persons who had 

 bought them of the dishonest master. 

 Wholly without funds or any worldly po- 

 sessions, he was forced to look about for 

 means of obtaining a livelihood. Fortun- 

 ately, he had learned the useful craft of a 

 cooper, and, meeting with a family by the 

 name of Watkins, whom he had known In 

 the old country, he obtained sufficient funds 

 to pay for his passage and to equip him in 

 a modest way to follow his trade. In the 

 latter part of the year 1713 he located in 

 Radnor township, now Delaware county, 

 where he followed the trade of a cedar 

 cooper for some time, returning later _ to 

 the east side of the Schuylkill and locating 

 in the Northern Liberties. By industry and 

 shrewd business tact in the course of five 

 years he accumulated sufficient funds to re- 

 pay his benefactors and to warrant him_ in 

 fulfilling his original intention of becoming 

 a freeholder. At that time the township of 

 Hilltown, though already surveyed, was he'd 

 in large tracts of one thousand to three 



