536 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



1877, Amelia Branin, daughter of Rich- 

 ard and Sarah (Phipps) Branin, of Wil- 

 low Grove, Montgomery county. Amelia 

 Branin was born in Stark county, Ohio, 

 April 12, 1857, and is a descendant, pn 

 the maternal side, of Joseph Phipps, 

 who was associated with William Jen- 

 kins, the pioneer ancestor of her hus- 

 band, in the organization of Abington 

 Meeting. On the paternal side she is 

 descended from Francis I'ranin. born in 

 Ireland, in 1683, who emigrated to 

 America early in the eighteenth cen- 

 tury and settled in Burlington county, 

 New Jersey, where he became a large 

 landholder. His son Michael, born 

 September 9. 1708, married November 

 24, 1730, Elizabeth Norcross, daughter 

 of John and Mary ("Antrim) Norcross, 

 who were for a number of years rc-^- 

 dents of Bucks county. William Branin, 

 son of Michael and Elizabeth. born_ De- 

 cember 15, 1749, married Abigail, 

 daughter of Abner Rodgers, in 17/8, and 

 died February 14, 1813. Their son, 

 Abijah .Branin, born 'May g, 1783. mar- 

 ried October 18, 1804. Mary, daughter of 

 John Houston, of Burlington county, 

 New Jersey, and their son, Richard 

 Branin. born October 10, 1820, is aljve 

 and well at this writing. He married 

 Sarah Pliipps, who died December 3, 

 1900, in her seventy-ninth year. Richard 

 Branin was in his younger days a local 

 preacher of the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church. Mr. and Mrs. Z. T. Jenkins are 

 the parents of three children, viz.: Henry 

 Lincoln, born February i, 1880, at 925 

 Walnut street, Philadelphia, in the 

 house where George M. Dallas, at one 

 time vice-president of the United States, 

 lived, and where the Prince of Wales 

 (now King Edward VII) was enter- 

 tained when visiting this country in 

 i860: Walter Scott, born May 12. '1881, 

 and Elsie, born May 9, 1886. 



MATTHEW C. CUNNINGHAM, sen- 

 ior member of the firm of Cunningham & 

 Seal, wool merchants and importers, Phila- 

 delphia, was born in Newtown township. 

 Bucks county. Pennsylvania, July 6. 1847, 

 and is a son of Joseph T. and Rebecca 

 (Cadwallader) Cunningham, the former of 

 Scotch-Irish and English and the latter 

 of Welsh and English descent, both being 

 natives of Bucks county. 



The Cunningham familv is of Scotch 

 origin, and took its name from the munici- 

 pality of that name on the Frith of Forth, 

 in Scotland, now North Ayrshire, the birth- 

 place of Wallace and Bruce, both of whom 

 were connected by blood and marriage with 

 this same family. Some of the American 

 descendants of the family have traced their 

 ancestry back in a direct line to Malcombe 

 Frisbine. who in 1056 was knighted and 

 made Thane of Conyngham, by Malcombe 

 Canmorc, King of Scotland, for saving 



him from capture by Macbeth's victorious 

 hordes. Three generations later the de- 

 scendants of Malcombe adopted the sur- 

 name of Cunningham, from the name of the 

 principality over which they ruled as feudal 

 lords. 



During the last half of the seventeenth 

 ' century many members of this family mi- 

 grated to Ireland, one considerable branch 

 locating in county Donegal, where a num- 

 ber of them are mentioned as landed pro- 

 prietors during the reigns of Elizabeth and 

 James I, and from whence, at different 

 periods, several of the name migrated to 

 Pennsylvania, two generations later. Among 

 these was the ancestor of the subject of 

 this sketch, who located in the neighbor- 

 hood of Philadelphia, either in Chester or 

 Philadelphia county. 



Thomas Cunningham, the first of the 

 family of whom we have any definite record, 

 married Ann Adams, on October 12, 1775, 

 and soon after that date located in Middle- 

 town township, where he followed the trade 

 of a weaver. On February 20, 1794, he 

 purchased a farm of one hundred acres in 

 Lower Makefield township, and lived there- 

 on until his death in August, 1813, his will 

 stating that he was "advanced in years." 

 Thomas and Ann (Adams) Cunningham 

 were the parents of six children — two sons, 

 Thomas and Matthew ; and four daughters, 

 Martha Erwin, Margaret Van Horn. Ann 

 Erwin, and Sarah Moon. The eldest son, 

 Thomas, to whom was devised^the farm, 

 sold it soon after the decease of his father 

 and removed to Trenton, New Jersey. He 

 married Ann Slack, daughter of Abraham 

 and Elizabeth (Torbert) Slack of Lower 

 Makefield. 



Matthew Cunniiigham, second son of 

 Thomas and Ann, born in 1779, removed 

 with his parents to Lower Makefield town- 

 ship in 1794, and from the age of sixteen 

 years was a school teacher in that and ad- 

 joining townships, until his death on Sep- 

 tember 14, 1835, at the age of fifty-six 

 years and eight months. On March 15, 

 1814. he purchased a farm in Newtown 

 township which he operated in connection 

 with the conduct of his school in that town- 

 ship. He married Rachel Taylor, daugh- 

 ter of Joseph and Mercv (Knowles) Tay- 

 lor, of Newtown township, both of whom 

 were lineal descendants of John and Mary 

 (Lofty) Sotcher. William Penn's faith- 

 ful stewards at Pennsbury. Sotcher being 

 also a member of colonial assembly for 

 many years. 



Benjamin Taylor, grandfather of Joseph 

 Taylor above mentioned, was the son of 

 Philip and Tulianna Taylor, of Oxford 

 township, Philadelphia, earlv settlers at 

 the present site of Tacony. Benjamin was 

 a blacksmith, and followed that occupation 

 in connection with farming in Newtown 

 township and Upper M.nkcfield for nearly 

 sixty years. In T730 he purchased 403 

 acres of land in Newtown township, which 

 he conveyed to his sons Timothy and 

 Bernard prior to 1750. and purchased T50 



