53S 



rilSTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Jacob and Magdalena (Conrad) Cadwalla- 

 der, married Phebe Radcliffe, of Warmin- 

 ster, and was a large landowner in that 

 township, and later in Makefield. Of his 

 eleven cliildren, five grew to maturity, viz. : 

 Cyrus ; Jacob ; John ; Rebecca, wife of 

 David Jarrett ; Phebe. wife of Oliver 

 Hough. Cyrus, the eldest son, born June 

 6, 1763, was twice married, both of his 

 wives being Mary Taylor, as before recited, 

 Jacob, the father of Mrs. Rebecca Cun- 

 ningham, being the eldest son by the first 

 marriage. 



MATTHEW C. CUNNINGHAM was 

 born and reared on the Newtown township 

 farm, and acquired his elementary educa- 

 tion at the public schools of that vicinity 

 and at Joseph Shortlidge's Academy in 

 Delaware county, Pennsylvania. At the 

 age of eighteen years he went to Philadel- 

 phia, and after a course in a business col- 

 lege accepted a position as bookkeeper with 

 the firm of Seal, Williams & Co.. wool mer- 

 chants, and later became one of their most 

 valued salesmen. On January i, i88r. he 

 formed a partnership with Alfred Seal, of 

 the old firm, under the title of Seal & Cun- 

 ningham, and entered into the wool busi- 

 ness for himself. Two years later Mr. 

 Seal died, and a new partnership was 

 formed with John H. Seal, a nephew of 

 Alfred, under the firm name of Cunning- 

 ham & Seal, which still continues, doing 

 a large business. Mr. Cunningham is a 

 popular and successful business man, and 

 has a large circle of acquaintances and 

 friends in Bucks county, where he has re- 

 sided for the past ten years. 



Mr. Cunningham married, in i86g, Fannie 

 S. Phillips, daughter of Charles and Sarah 

 B. (Smith) Phillips, of Solebury. Bucks 

 county. Pennsylvania, where her family 

 have been prominent residents for several 

 generations, the pioneer ancestor of the 

 family being Thomas Phillips, who married, 

 about 1725. Rebecca (Norton) Kitchin, 

 widow of William Kitchin, and had two 

 tury and a half. Aaron Phillips married 

 in 1756, in connection with his half-brother, 

 William Kitchin. erected a mill on Primrose 

 run. near the Delaware, two miles above 

 Wells' Ferry, now New Hope, of which 

 he became the sole owner in 1779. and it 

 has been known as Phillips' Mill for a cen- 

 tury and a half. Aaron Phillips married 

 Mary Clauson. and was succeeded as miller 

 by his son Thomas, who in turn was suc- 

 ceeded by his son Aaron, who married 

 Sarah Croasdale, a descendant of Ezra 

 Croasdale, who came from Yorkshire and 

 settled in ISIiddletown in 1683. bringing a 

 certificate from Brighouse Meeting of 

 Friends in Yorkshire, dated i mo. 29, 1683. 

 He married, in 1687, Ann Peacock, also a 

 native of Yorkshire, and their third son, 

 Jeremiah, born 8 mo. 29, 1694, a large land- 

 owner and prominent man in Middletown. 

 married Grace Heaton. granddaughter of 

 Robert and Alice Heaton, who came from 

 Yorkshire in 1682 in the "Welcome" with 

 William Penn. Jeremiah Croasdale left 



four sons and three daughters. His second 

 son, Robert, born 6 mo. 30, 1728, died 8 mo. 

 9, 1780, married in 1750 Margery Hayhurst 

 (daughter of Cuthbert and Deliverance 

 (Bills) Hayhurst), whose ancestors. Cuth- 

 bert and Mary Hayhurst, also came over 

 in the "Welcome." Jeremiah Croasdale, 

 eldest son of Robert and Margery, born 

 6 mo., 20. 1751, died 9 mo. 27, 1829, mar- 

 ried, 5 mo. 13, 1772, Ann Quinby, of New 

 Jersey, and they were the parents of Sarali 

 Croasdale, who married Aaron Phillips. 

 Aaron Phillips died in 1858, and was suc- 

 ceeded in the proprietorship of the old his- 

 toric mill by his son Charles, the father 

 of Mrs. Cunningham, who conducted it and 

 the farm adjoining until 1889, when he re- 

 moved to New Hope, where he died. 



Charles Phillips Cunningham, only child 

 of Matthew and Fannie, died at the age of 

 eight years. In 1895 Mr. Cunningham pur- 

 chased his country home on the York road, 

 in Buckingham township, Bucks county, 

 near Holicong. where he and his family 

 have since resided. 



THOMAS R. LEISTER, of Perkasie, 

 was born in Hilltown township, May 23, 

 1834, and is a son of Jonas and Catharine 

 (Ruth) Leister. Philip and Nicholas 

 Leister emigrated from Germany in the 

 ship "Brotherhood," arriving in Phila- 

 delphia, November 3, 1750. The latter set- 

 tled in Franconia township, Montgomery 

 county, where he purchased land in 1760. 

 Philip Leister settled in Rockhill township, 

 on the north branch of the Perkiomen 

 creek, where he purchased 150 acres of land 

 JanuJiry 2, 1759- He subsequently pur- 

 chased considerable other land adjoining. 

 The only son of Philip Leister of whom we 

 have any definite record was Philip Jacob 

 Leister, who married September 26, 1772, 

 Elizabeth Cell. On April 18, 1782, his 

 parents, Philip and Catharine Leister con- 

 veyed to him 175 acres of land in Rockhill, 

 with the proviso that he was to support his 

 father and mother, building for them a 

 house on a part of the plantation, and pay 

 fourteen hundred pounds in annual instjll- 

 ments. In 17S7 they conveyed to Philip 

 Jacob another tract of 148 acres. Philip 

 Jacob later dropped the first name and was 

 known as Jacob Leister. He was a mason 

 by trade and reared several sons to the 

 same trade. 



John Leister, son of Jacob and Elizabeth, 

 was born and reared in Rockhill, and fol- 

 lowed the trade of a mason in that neigh- 

 borhood until about 1812, when, on the 

 death of his wife Mary, he married Eliza- 

 beth, widow of John Getman, of Milforo 

 township, and purchased the farm formerly 

 belonging to Getman in Mil ford. This farm 

 he conveyed to his son Michael in 1820, but 

 continued to reside in Milford until his 

 death. He had sons— Philip, Jacob, George, 

 Michael and Jonas; the two former settled 



