HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



531 



stead, and took up his residence upon the 

 Buckingham farm. He later purchased two 

 acres in the village of Carversville, and 

 erected a hotel and store which he con- 

 ducted in connection with his son Isaac, 

 until his death in 1815. He had eight sohs, 

 viz : Isaac, Thomas, John, Joseph, James, 

 Stephen, Mahlon and Carey. 



Joseph Pickering, son of Isaac and Eliza- 

 beth (Carey) Pickering, was born in Buck- 

 ingham in 1792. He learned the black- 

 smith trade and followed it for a number 

 of years in Plumstead, later removing to 

 Mechanicsville, Buckingham township, 

 where he followed blacksmithing for a 

 number of years. He married Rebecca 

 Keiple. 



Jonathan C. Pickering, the father of the 

 subject of this sketch, was a son of Jo- 

 seph and Rebecca (Keiple) Pickering, and 

 was born in Plumstead township, Bucks 

 county, in 1817. He was but a boy when 

 his parents removed to Mechanicsville, 

 where Jonathan was reared. On arriving 

 at manhood he married Elizabeth Ander- 

 son, and followed farming in Buckingham 

 until 1867, when he removed with his wife 

 and six younger children to Henderson 

 county, IlHnois, where he followed farm- 

 ing until his death in 1892, at the age of 

 seventy-five years. His wife Elizabeth 

 survived him two years. They were the 

 parents of eight children, seven of whom 

 survive, viz: Mary Anna, wife of Wilson 

 Flack, of Solebury ; H. Augustus ; Joseph, 

 residing in Nebraska ; Rebecca, widow of 

 James Crawford, of Nebraska ; Lester, liv- 

 ing in California ; Elizabeth, wife of W. F. 

 Jones, of Illinois ; and Ezra M., of Illi- 

 nois. 



H. Agustus Pickering was born and 

 reared in Buckingham and resided with his 

 parents to the age of fourteen years, when 

 he accepted a position in the store of Sam- 

 uel A. Firman, at Carversville. After six 

 years of service as clerk and one year spent 

 as a soldier in the army during the war of 

 the rebellion, he became in 1864 a partner 

 with his employer under the firm name of 

 Firman & Pickering, which continued for 

 six years, when Watson F. Paxson became 

 a member of the firm, and the name Was 

 changed to S. A. Firman & Co. In 1872 'Mr. 

 Firman retired from the firm and removed 

 to Doylestown, and his interest was pur- 

 chased by the surviving members of the 

 firm, who continued the business under the 

 firm name of Paxson & Pickering until 

 1880, when A. W. Walton purchased an 

 interest in the firm, and for the next five 

 years the firm name was Pickering & Wal- 

 ton. In 1885 Mr. Pickering sold his in- 

 terest to Edward H. Worthington and en- 

 gaged in farming for five years, when he 

 purchased Mr. Worthington's interest, and 

 is still senior member of. the firm of Pick- 

 ering & Walton, who do an extensive trade 

 in general merchandise. Mr. Pickering en- 



listed on August 8, 1862, in Company C, 

 One Hundred and Twenty»-eighth Regi- 

 ment Pennsylvania Volunteers, under Cap- 

 tain Samuel Croasdale, who later became 

 colonel of the regiment. Mr. Pickering 

 served in the regiment for ten months, par- 

 ticipating in the battles of South Mountam, 

 Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellors- 

 ville. He was taken prisoner at the latter 

 battle on May 3, 1863, and confined in the 

 notorious Libby Prison for sixteen days, 

 when he was exchanged and returned home 

 and resumed his position in the store, be- 

 coming a member of the firm the following 

 year. In politics Mr. Pickering is a Re- 

 publican, but has never sought nor held 

 other than local offices. He is a member ot 

 the Grand Army of the Republic. He was 

 married in 1879 to Hannah H. Shaw, 

 daughter of Eleazer C. and Grace R. 

 (Green) Shaw of Plumstead, and they are 

 the parents of one child, Arthur C, who 

 is a clerk in his father's store. 



JOHN FRANKLIN AFFLERBACH, 

 of Perkasie, Bucks county, is of German 

 origin, a son of Captain John H. Aftler- 

 bach, of Bedminster, where he was born 

 August 27, 1869, and was reared and edu- 

 cated in the township of Haycock. Henry, 

 Daniel and Ludwig Afflerbach emigrated 

 from Germany about the time of the Amer- 

 ican Revolution and settled in Bucks coun- 

 ty — Henry in Springfield, Daniel in Hay- 

 cock, and Ludwig (Lewis) at Durham. 

 The descendants of Henry later located in 

 Haycock and spelled the name Applebach. 

 while most of the descendants of Daniel 

 have held to the original spelling of the 

 name. Daniel AiBerbach purchased a farm 

 of 140 acres in Haycock and lived thereon 

 until his death in 1826. He left six chil- 

 dren — one son, George ; and five daughters ; 

 Elizabeth, wife of Abraham Mills, Cath- 

 arine, wife of Isaac Diehl ; jNIaria, wife of 

 Isaac ]Mills ; Magdalene, wife of John Wel- 

 der : and Sarah, wife of Anthony Weire- 

 back. 



George Afflerbach, the only son of Dan- 

 iel, was born in Haycock township about 

 1778, and lived his whole life there. He 

 was a farmer and a member of Kellers' 

 church. He died in 1838. His wife was 

 Dorothy Stonebach, daughter of Heinrich 

 and Dnrothy (Keller). Stonebach, aind 

 granddaughter of Heinrich Keller, for 

 whom Keller's church was named, and who 

 had emigrated from Weirbach, in Baden, 

 Germany in 1738 and settled in Bedminster. 

 Both he and the paternal grandfather of 

 Dorothy (Stonebach) Afflerbacli were 

 among the organizers and first elders of the 

 church. George and Dorothy (Stonebach) 

 Afflerbach were the parents of thirteen chil- 

 dren, eleven of whom lived to maturity; 

 John; Hannah, born August 22, 1805, wife 



