5IO 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



tomers and how to supply them, to the mut- 

 uel benetit of vendor and vendee. In a 

 few years the business outgrew its modest 

 quarters, and a new and much larger store 

 was erected, including a large furniture 

 warehouse. On October i, 1887, his store 

 buildings and recently erected dwelling 

 were entirely consumed by fire, entailing 

 a loss of nearly $10,000 above the insur- 

 ance. Undaunted by this misfortune, IMr. 

 Keller erected a new and larger store, now 

 the largest in Bucks county, and consider- 



and became proficient in the treatment of 

 disease and setting of broken bones He 

 was twice married, iirst in .March, 171^ to 

 Deborah Carter, and second in 1716 ' to 

 Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and R!i/a- 

 beth (Hooten) Hillborn, of Attleboro 

 Lucks county, by whom he had three 

 daughters and two sons. He died 2 mo 9 

 1776. and his wife i mo. 28, 1771. ' ' 



Thomas Darlington, son of Abraham and 

 Elizabeth, was born in Birmingham in 

 I72S._ He married 4 mo. 25, 1754, Hannah, 



ably increased his stock, and by closely daughter of Edward and Hannah (Pierce) 

 studying the needs of the community and Brinton, and settled in East Bradford 



the wants of his customers and giving all 

 courteous treatment, has built up the larg- 

 est general store business in the county ; 

 demonstrating that a large business can be 

 done out in the country away from rail- 

 road centers. The result is due to the in- 



Chester county, where he was a promi- 

 nent farmer. He died 12 mo. 17, 180S, and 

 his widow 10 mo. 12, 181 1. They were the 

 parents of eleven children, nine sons and 

 two daughters. 



Edward, the eldest child of Thomas and 



tegrity, industry and business ability of Hannah (Brinton) Darlington, was born 



the genial proprietor. in East Bradford 6 mo. 3, 1755. On 3 mo. 



Mr. Keller was married, December 22,, 8, 1781, he married Hannah, daughter of 



1876, to Emma J., daughter of Amos Har- John and Joanna (England) Townsend, 



pel, who was born February 5, 1856. They and settled on a farm of 282 acres in Birm' 



have four children: i. Hiram, born Aug- 

 ust 9, 1879, graduated in 1901 from Gettys- 

 burg College with the degree of A. B., and 

 in 1904 from the law department of the 

 University of Pennsylvania with the de- 

 gree of LL. B. ; was registered as a stu- 

 dent in the law offices of Yerkes, Ross & 

 Ross, and is now a member of the bars 

 of Philadelphia and Bucks counties. 2'. 

 Erwin, born November 30, 1882, a student 

 at the Pennsylvania State College. 3. Elsie, 

 born October 24, 1890. 4. Norman Luther, 

 born February 7, 1896, resides at home. 



Mr. Keller has been postmaster of Bed- 

 minster since 1875. He is a member of 

 St. Mathew's Evangelical Lutheran church. 



HENRY TOWNS-END DARLING- 

 TON, for twenty-three years the editor 

 of the Bucks County Intelligencer, was 

 born at "Darnhall," Birmingham township, 

 Chester county, Pennsylvania, September 

 17, 1832, and died at Doylestown, Bucks 

 county, November 24, 1878. He was the 

 son of Edward B. and Hannah (Sharp- 

 less) Darlington, and therefore descended 

 from two old, prominent and influential 

 families of eastern Pennsylvania. All his 

 ancestors in America were members of the 

 Society of Friends. 



On the paternal side, the subject of this 

 sketch is a descendant in the ninth genera- 

 tion from Richland Darlington, of Darn- 

 hall, Cheshire, England, and in the fifth 

 generation from Abraham Darlington, 

 who migrated from Cheshire in 171 1, and 

 settled in Aston township. Chester, (now 

 Delaware) county, from whence he re- 

 moved to Birmingham township, Chester 

 county, in 1724. Abraham Darlington was 

 a prominent and useful man in the com- 

 munity. While ostensibly a farmer, he was 

 a saddler by trade, and in later life de- 

 voted much time to physic and surgery, 



ingham, devised to him by his grandfather, 

 Edward Brinton. He was an influential 

 man and public-spirited citizen, a member 

 of assembly for twelve years (1802-1814), 

 and held many other positions of trust. 

 He was one of the commissioners ap- 

 pointed to provide for the maintenance of 

 the poor of the county, and took a promi- 

 nent part in all that pertained to the best 

 interests of the community. He . died 4 

 mo. I, 1825, and his wife 8 mo. 9, 1826. 

 They were the parents of six children: 

 William, the celebrated botanist, born 1782, 

 died 1863; Thomas, born 1784, died 1866, 

 unmarried; Ziba, born 1788, died 1S76; 

 Samuel, born 1793, died 1794; Jane, born 

 1796, died 1817, unmarried; and Edward. 



Edward Brinton Darlington, youngest son 

 of Edward and Hannah (Townsend) Dar- 

 lington, was born in Birmingham, 12 mo. 

 16, 1798, and died there 5 mo. 6, 185 1. He 

 married 3 mo. 23, 1831, Hannah, daughter 

 of Nathan H. and Martha (Price) Sharp- 

 less. He was a farmer and a prominent 

 and active citizen. His children were Hen- 

 ry T., the subject of this sketch; Dillwyn, 

 born 1834, died 1851; Martha, born 1837, 

 married Henry Hulme, a native of France; 

 Emily P., married Brinton W. Woodward, 

 of Lawrence, Kansas ; Hannah, married 

 John E. Huey; Thomas, married Jane S. 

 Paschall ; and Catharine, married Frank 

 A. Faxon, of Kansas Citj'-, ^Missouri. 



Henry T. Darlington was born on the 

 farm in Birmingham named by his grand- 

 father "Darnhall" from the residence of 

 his ancestors in England, and the first 

 seventeen years of his life were spent there- 

 on. The greater part of his educifion was 

 obtained at the public schools of his native 

 county. He spent one year at a boarding 

 school kept by Benjamin Price, and another 

 at Anthony Bolmar's school at West Ches- 

 ter. In 1849 he entered the office of the 

 Village Record at West Chester as an 

 apprentice under Henry S. Evans, and re- 



