500 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



born December 4, 1893; another daugh- 

 ter, Dorothy Sarah, died in infancy. 



William H. and Clara R. (Laubach) 

 Bischoff, have one child, George Sam- 

 uel Bischoff, born February 14, 1902. 



Charles Lincoln and Gertrude Alice 

 (Laubach) Free, have one child, Lincoln 

 Forest Free, born April 8, 1903, the first 

 great-grandchild of Samuel H. Laubach. 



CHARLES LAUBACH, third son of 

 Anthony and Elizabeth (Hess) Laubach, 

 was born in Durham township, Bucks 

 county, Pennsylvania, August 29, 1836, 

 and died there August 23, 1904. He was 

 reared on the Durham farm and received 

 a thorough common school education, 

 and afterwards took a classical course in 

 the Vandeveer Collegiate Institute of 

 Easton. 



In 185s he took up a course of study 

 in phrenplogy and ethnology and later 

 lectured extensively on these subjects. 

 In 1857 he took up the study of practical 

 obstetrics under John Ludlow, M. D., 

 of Easton, Pennsylvania, and at the same 

 time took a thorough course of study on 

 medical electricity. On completing his 

 medical studies he took up the practice 

 of medical electricity, which he followed 

 for thirteen months with success. He 

 then returned to the farm and continued 

 his scientific studies, devoting consid- 

 erable portion of his time to geology 

 and archaeology, and became the best in- 

 tO!mcd g^eologist in Bucks county. He 

 was a member of the Archasology and 

 Palaeontology Society of the University 

 of Pennsylvania, and of the Academy of 

 Natural Science of Philadelphia, and con- 

 tributed many valuable papers on scien- 

 tific subjects that have been widely pub- 

 lished. He was an indefatigable student 

 of the folk lore and local history of his 

 native section, and was the best known 

 authority as to the conditions and hab- 

 its of the Indians living in that section, 

 as well as of the events pertaining to its 

 early settlement by his own race. The 

 newspapers of the county and elsewhere 

 have published a vast number of his ar- 

 ticles on geology, archaeology and local 

 history that are of incalculable value. 

 He was one of the organizers of the 

 Buckwampum Literary and Historical 

 Society, and served as its secretary until 

 his death, besides contributing a num- 

 ber of valuable papers to its archives, as 

 well as to those of the Bucks County 

 Historical Society, of which he was one 

 of the oldest members. His collection 

 of interesting specimens of minerals and 

 Indian relics and curios at his home in 

 Durham is one of the best of its kind 

 in the state, and he has presented many 

 specimens to the museum of the Bucks 

 Countj^ Historical Society. He was no 

 mere relic hunter or collector, but thor- 

 oughly understood the value and merits 

 of each article in his collection, and any 

 one interested in historical and scientific 

 subjects could spend hours in poring 



over this valuable collection, and the 

 most lukewarm student could not fail to 

 be interested in his intelligent and Hu- 

 ent explanation of the value and signifi- 

 cance of each article therein. He was 

 also profoundly interested in popular 

 education and all matters pertaining to 

 the advancement and enlightenment of 

 his community. He served several 

 terms as school director, and was dis- 

 trict superintendent of the Durham 

 schools for four years, 1879-1883, and 

 did much for their advancement. In 

 1885 he represented the the first district 

 of Bucks county in the School Direc- 

 tors' Assciation at Harrisburg. He has 

 been connected with numerous success- 

 ful business enterprises in his district. 

 In politics he was a Jefifersonian Demo- 

 crat of the old school, but took little in- 

 terest in the practical politics of 'the day. 

 He was a member of the Reformed 

 church. On March 29, i860, he married 

 Jane Raub, of Riegeftville, who survives 

 him. Their only child, a daughter, died 

 in infancy. The immediate cause of his 

 death was cancer of the face, from which 

 he suffered for upwards of two years. 



WATSON P. CHURCH, the editor and 

 proprietor of the Ncivtozvn Enterprise, was 

 born at Center Bridge, in Solebury town- 

 ship, Bucks county, '2 mo. 7, 1849. He is 

 the second son of Eleazer F. and Hannah 

 Brock (Price) Church. 



Mr. Church is a descendant, through 

 both parents, of Joseph Fell, the pioneer 

 ancestor of the Fells of Bucks county, who 

 in 1705 emigrated from Longlands, in the 

 county of Cumberland, in England, and 

 settled in Buckingham, Bucks county. He 

 was twice married. By his first wife, 

 Bridget Wilson, of Cumberland, he had 

 four children, Joseph, Benjamin, Tamar 

 and Mary. Benjamin, born in Cumberland, 

 9 mo. I, 1703, married (first^ Hannah Scar- 

 borough, and the fifth chil'd of this mar- 

 riage, Phebe Fell, born i mo. 27, 172,6, mar- 

 ried in 1760 Stephen Kirk, son of Isaac and 

 Elizabeth (Twining) Kirk, of Bucking- 

 ham. The third child of this marriage 

 Elizabeth Kirk, born 10 mo. 19. 1773, mar- 

 ried in 1796 John Price, son of Smith and 

 ^Martha (Carver) Price, of Plumstead, and 

 their daughter, Hannah Brock Price, born 

 January 20, 1814, was the mother of Watson 

 Price Church, the subject of this sketch. 



Joseph Fell, the emigrant, married (sec- 

 ond) 3 mo. 10, 171 1, Elizabeth, daughter of 

 Edward and Rebecca (Dungan) Doyle, 

 (born 1688, died 1784). Rebecca was the 

 daughter of Rev. Thomas Dungan. who 

 came to Bucks county from Rhode Island 

 in 1684 and founded a Baptist church at 

 Cold Spring, in Falls township, and she and 

 her husband were the grandparents of 

 William Doyle, from whose colonial tavern 

 of 1745 Doylestown took its name. Sarah 

 Fell, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth, born 



