HISTORY OF ^BUCKS COUNTY. 



493 



thousand acres by a few residents of Phila- 

 delphia and vicinity. Among these was 

 Jeremiah Langhorne, of Bucks county, then 

 chief justice of Pennsylvania. Of him Mr. 

 Thomas purchased 440 acres lying along the 

 county line between Line Lexington and 

 Telford, for eighty-eight pounds. The pur- 

 chase, being consumnidt.^d Februarv 12 

 1718, William Thomas removed his growing 

 family to his new purchase, which 'vas- en- 

 tirely unimproved. He soon erected a sub- 

 stantial though modest house which_ con- 

 tinued to shelter him and some of his de- 

 scendants until nearly a century later, being 

 demolished in 1812. Continuing his life- 

 long habits of industry and thrift, he was 

 able five years later to purchase another 

 tract of three hundred acres one and a half 

 miles further north, part of which is still 

 in possession of the subject of this sketch. 

 In 1725 he purchased 406 acres ^ in two 

 tracts, one of them adjoining his first pur- 

 chase, and the other adjoining the New 

 Britain line, where he later erected a Bap- 

 tist church and gave to the township, with 

 land sufficient for a graveyard. In 1728 he 

 purchased another fifty acres, making in all 

 1258 acres, whose total cost was 361 pounds. 



He continued 'his religious labors from 

 the time of his arrival in Pensylvania, and 

 on locating in Hilltown united himself and 

 his family with Montg'imery Baptist church 

 which had been founded in 1714. This 

 church being, however, over three miles 

 away, he began to minister to* the Welsh 

 Baptist settlers in Hilltown, located still 

 farther away from the church, first at his 

 and their houses and in the open air, and 

 later at the little meeting house erected on 

 land donated by him as before stated. He 

 also assisted the Rev. Benjamin Griffith in 

 his pastorate of Montgomery church. The 

 meeting house erected by him in 1737 stood 

 for forty-four years, being demolished in 

 1771, and a more commodious building 

 erected in its place. 



Death closed the earthly career of this 

 pious Welsh pioneer on October 6, 1757, and 

 a large flat marble slab marks his last rest- 

 ing place in the shadow of the church his 

 earnest labors had helped to establish, on 

 which is inscribed the date of his death and 

 age, and the following singularly appro- 

 priate and unique epitaph, composed by 

 himself : 



"In yonder Meeting House I spent my 



breath ; 

 Now silent mouldering here I lie in death. 

 These silent lips shall wake and yet declare, 

 A dread Amen to truths they published 



there." 



His wife preceded him, dying Novemoei 

 5, 1752, at the age of seventy-two years. 

 By his will dated December 11, 1753, he 

 devised to the inhabitants of Hilltown for- 

 ever the meeting house erected by himself, 

 and the graveyard in which to bury their 

 dead, both to be for the use of the people of 

 whatever religious creed, "Papists and those 

 who refuse to take the oath of allegiance 



to a Protestant king excepted," and, in 

 reference to the graveyard, "those guilty of 

 self-murder only excepted." The house was 

 also to be used for school purposes. A 

 considerable sum was also devised for the 

 use of the Baptist church. His large rea! 

 estate holdings were divided among his 

 children, most of whom were already set- 

 tled on the lands then devised to them. 

 Elder William Thomas and Ann his wife, 

 were the parents of seven children; 



1. Thomas, born in Wales in 171 1, died 

 in Hilltown, January, 1780. 



2. John, born in Radnor, Delaware coun- 

 ty, December, 1713, marrjed Sarah James, 

 and was for many years pastor of the Mont- 

 gomery and Hilltown Baptist churches and 

 has left numerous descendants. 



3. Gwently, born 1716, married Morris 

 Morris. She inherited from her father the 

 farm near the meeting house, and she and 

 her husband are the ancestors of the Morris 

 family of that section, and many others 

 scattered all over the country. 



4. Anna, born 1719, married Stephen 

 Rowland, some of whose descendants still 

 reside in Hilltown. 



5. Manasseh, born 1721, died in Hill- 

 town, February 7, 1802. 



6. William, born 1723, married Abigail 

 Day, and died in Hilltown in 1764. 



7. Ephraim, a twin of Anna, born 1719, 

 married Eleanor Bates, and died in 1776. 

 All these children left families and spent 

 their lives in or near Hilltown. 



Thomas Thomas, the eldest son of Elder 

 William Thomas, was the direct ancestor 

 of the subject of this sketch. He married 

 in 1735) Margaret Bates, and settled in a 

 house erected for him by his father on the 

 tract purchased in 1725, of Rowland Ellis, 

 and this tract and fifty acres of the first 

 purchase of his father was devised to him 

 later. In addition to this he purchased in 1735 

 seventy-nine acres, and in 1750 he purchased 

 a tract of five hundred acres,, but immedi- 

 ately conveyed one hundred acres, each to 

 his brothers Manasseh and John. With the 

 250 acres received from his father he was 

 therefore the owner of 629 acres. He was 

 a member of the Montgomery Baptist 

 church, but attended the Hilltown Baptist 

 church and became a member there on its 

 acquiring a separate existence. He died in 

 January, 17S0. His first wife, ^Margaret 

 Bates, died prior to 1750, leaving three chil- 

 dren, Morgan, born 1736, removed to New 

 Jersey, where he died unmarried ; Ann, 

 who married (first) John Custard, and late 

 in life Jacob Appenzeller; and Alice, born 

 1746, married John Mathias, and died in 

 Hilltown, October 25, 1810, leaving a large 

 family. Thomas Thomas married a second 

 time prior to 1750, Mary Williams, who 

 bore him ten children, viz. : Elizabeth, mar- 

 ried Henry Godshalk ; Esther, married 

 William Williams ; Job, born 1751, married 

 Rebecca Bates, daughter of Thomas and 

 Sarah; Amos, born 1752, married Ruth 

 Bates, sister to Rebecca, removed to Vir- 

 ginia, where he was a captain in the Revo- 



