554 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



other than local offices; has been a mem- 

 ber of the school board of his native 

 township for several years, being at 

 present the president of the board, and 

 has filled other local offices. He is a 

 member of Buckingham Lodge, No. 208, 

 A. O. K. of the M. C. To Mr. and Mrs. 

 Paist have been born five children: 

 Newlin Fell, now a student at Banks' 

 Business College; Stanley Scott; Ida 

 Marion; Harry Monroe; and Evelyn, all 

 of whom reside at home. 



ANDREW C. PAIST, of Buckingham, 

 was born and reared on the farm he now 

 owns and which had been the property 

 of both his father and grandfather, on 

 February 14, 1855. He is the oldest son 

 of J. Monroe and Elizabeth (Connard) 

 Paist, and grandson of Jonathan and Sid- 

 ney (Bradshaw) Paist, of Buckingham. 

 He remained on the farm with his pa- 

 rents until 1889, when he went to Illi- 

 nois, where he spent two and a half 

 years on a farm in McHenry county, re- 

 turning to Buckingham in October, 1892. 

 The next six j^ears he spent on the home 

 farm with his parents, until after the 

 death of his mother in 1898, when he en- , 

 tered the employ of William Watson, of 

 Buckingham, for one year. On Decem- 

 ber 25. 1899, he married Mary Riniker, 

 daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Riniker, 

 of Buckingham, both natives of Switzer- 

 land. Having purchased their present 

 home, they removed thereon the follow- 

 ing spring, and have since resided there, 

 devoting their attention to agricultural 

 pursuits. In the spring of 1903 he pur- 

 chased the homestead farm where he 

 was born and reared. He is a member 

 of Kittatinning Lodge, No. 88, I. O. R. 

 M., of Danboro, and in politics is a Re- 

 publican. Mr. and Mrs. Paist have no 

 children. 



THOMAS KITCHIN FLOWERS, of 

 Langhorne, was born in that town De- 

 cember II, 1835. and is a son of William 

 and Mary (Kitchin) Flowers. The 

 Flowers family have been residents of 

 Bucks county since 1774. when James 

 Flow^ers, son of Charles and Catharine 

 Flowers, of Long Island, came to Bristol 

 township and married Rebecca Gosline, 

 daughter of John Gosline, of Bristol. He 

 was a shoemaker by trade, and followed 

 that occupation for many years in Bristol 

 township, just outside of the borough, 

 where he had purchased a home in 1775. 

 His son, John Flowers, born in 1780, lo- 

 cated in Middlctown township, where he 

 followed the trade of a butcher in con- 

 nection with farming, until his sudden 

 death from heart disease on January 9, 

 1836. His wife. Phoebe Hibbs. was born 

 in 1781, and was a daughter of Abraham 

 Hibbs. John and Phoebe were the pa- 



rents of seven children : Thomas ; Han- 

 nah, who married Samuel Stradling; 

 Mary, who married Levi Boileau; Will- 

 iam; Amos; John; and George. 



William Flowers, second son of John 

 and Phoebe, was born and reared in 

 Middletown township, and was an active 

 business man, following the vocation of 

 a butcher, merchant and farmer, suc- 

 cessively, being for a number of years 

 the proprietor of the principal general 

 merchandise store in Langhorne, and 

 also owned and operated a farm of sev- 

 enty-four acres in Middletown. He died 

 December, 1872. His wife was Mary 

 Kitchin, daughter of Thomas and Eliza- 

 beth Kitchin, and a great-granddaughter 

 of William Kitchin, who settled in Sole- 

 bury early in the eighteenth century^ 

 where he died in 1727. He was a pro- 

 tege of John Wells, the first proprietor 

 of the ferry at New Hope, and married 

 in 1713 Rebecca Norton, a niece of Mrs. 

 Wells, who bore him five children: 

 Thomas, William, Ruth, Olive and Mary, 

 w^ho have left numerous descendants. 

 Rebecca, the widow, later married 

 Thomas Phillips, and from her are de- 

 scended the Phillips family of Solebury, 

 for several generations proprietors of 

 the mill that bears their name. Thomas 

 Kitchin inherited his father's real estate 

 in Solebury, but sold it soon after his 

 marriage and removed to Philadelphia 

 county. William and Mary P. (Kitchin) 

 Flowers were the parents of five chil- 

 dren: Thomas K., the subject of this 

 sketch; John, and three daughters. 



Thomas Kitchin Flowers, eldest son 

 of William and Mary, was born and 

 reared in Middletown township, and ac- 

 quired his education at the Newtowr» 

 academy and at boarding schools at Pen- 

 nington and Mt. Holly, New Jersey. On 

 finishing his academic education he en- 

 tered his father's store at Attleboro 

 (now Langhorne) as a clerk, and after 

 a few years succeeded his father as its 

 proprietor, and conducted it for many 

 years. Subsequently he sold out the 

 store and entered the employ of Peter 

 Wright & Sons, of Philadelphia, agents 

 for the American Steamship Company, 

 as a clerk, where he remained until the 

 company w^as merged into the Interna- 

 tional Navigation Companj% and with 

 the latter company until it was absorbed 

 by the International Merchant Marine, 

 the great steamship trust which now 

 controls the principal steamship lines 

 sailing from the ports of Philadelphia 

 and New York. Mr. Flowers is a Re- 

 publican in politics, and while at the 

 Langhorne store was appointed post- 

 master of that place by President Lin- 

 coln, and served several years in that 

 position. He still retains his clerical 

 position with the steamship company, 

 remaining in Philadelphia until the last 

 consolidation above referred to. when he 

 was transferred to the offices of the new 



