556 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



offices, having filled the position of 

 towiTship auditor for twelve years, and 

 occupied other local positions. He is a 

 life member of the board of trustees 

 and directors of the Hughesian P>ee 

 School, and an assistant secretary and 

 surveyor of the Farmers and Mechanics' 

 Mutual Fire Insurance Company of 

 Bucks county, to the duties of which 

 latter position much of his time is de- 

 voted. He is a member of Mountain 

 Lodge, No. 31, Shield of Honor. 



JOSEPH H. SIDDALL, Jr., of Buck- 

 ingham, was born in Philadelphia, June 

 28, 1857, and is a son of John Edward 

 and Anna H. (Hampton) Siddall. 



Joseph H. Siddall, the grandfather of 

 the subject of this sketch, was a native 

 of England, and came to Philadelphia 

 in 1810. He was a surveyor and con- 

 veyancer, and served as city surveyor for 

 over fifty years. He married in 1819, 

 Mary Charles, of Philadelphia, who was 

 also a native of England, having come 

 to America in 1816. They had twelve 

 children, of whom only two survive: 

 Frank Siddall,, the celebrated soap man- 

 ufacturer of Philadelphia; and Mary F., 

 wife of John Thurman, of Mechanics 

 Valley, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 



John Edward Siddall, son of Joseph H. 

 and Mary (Charles) Siddall, was born in 

 Philadelphia, September 25, 1827. He 

 learned his father's profession and as- 

 sisted him in the conduct of a large bus- 

 iness, and succeeded to it at his father's 

 death. He married Anna H. Hamp- 

 ton, of Bucks county, and had four chil- 

 dren, of whom but two survive: Joseph 

 H. Siddall, the subject of this sketch, and 

 Ellen, wife of J. Livezey Johnson, 

 formerly of Bucks county, residing in 

 Philadelphia. 



The subject of this sketch was reared 

 in Philadelphia and received his educa- 

 tion at the Friends' schools of Philadel- 

 phia, and on attaining manhood entered 

 his father's office and took up the busi- 

 ness of a surveyor and conveyancer, fol- 

 'lowed by his father and grandfather for 

 nearly a century. The business has been 

 successful, and Mr. Siddall has been 

 trustee and executor of a great number 

 of estates, -in addition to the routine bus- 

 iness of the profession. He has ottices 

 at 822-823, Girard Building, and a city 

 residence in Germantown. In 1902 he 

 and his faniilj^ removed to Bucks county 

 for the summer, and, being pleased with 

 the country, have since made it their per- 

 manent residence. He purchased the old 

 homestead of his maternal grandfather 

 Joseph Hampton, in Buckingham. Jo- 

 seph Hampton, the grandfather of Mr. 

 Siddall, died there in September, 1875, at 

 an advanced age. He was a member 01 

 Wrightstown Meeting, and a direct de- 

 scendant of Joseph Hampton, who ac- 

 companied William Penn to America. 



WILLIAM BONHAM CLAYTON, 

 of Buckingham, is a representative of 

 one of the oldest families in Bucks 

 county, being a lineal descendant of 

 James Clayton, of Bolton, Lancashire, 

 England, who with his wife and six 

 children took passage with many other 

 residents of Bolton, who later became 

 prominent residents of Bucks county, in 

 the ship "Submission," sailing from Liv- 

 erpool 7 mo. 5, 1682, and arriving at 

 Choptank, Maryland 9 mo. 2, 1682, "be- 

 ing brought thither through the dishon- 

 esty of the Maste^r James Settle. The 

 party, which included Phineas Pem- 

 berton, the first clerk of the courts of 

 Bucks county, his wife, father and 

 father-in-law, James Harrison, made 

 their way overland to Bucks county, 

 stopping for a time at Appoquinimink, 

 Delaware, where another son, Joseph, 

 was born to James and Jane Clayton in 

 1683. The children who accompanied, 

 them from Lancashire were James, 

 Sarah, John, Mary, Joshua, and Lydia. 

 James Clayton settled in Northampton 

 township, where some of his descend- 

 ants still reside, though many others 

 are widely scattered over the United 

 States. 



Amos K. Clayton, the father of the 

 subject of this sketch, was born in Mont- 

 gomery county, January 20, 1816. His 

 parents dying when he was quite young, 

 he was reared by his uncle, Clayton 

 Knight. He learned the carpenter trade, 

 which he followed several years, but 

 later engaged in farming. He was of a 

 somewhat roving disposition, living for 

 a time in l^ewtown, Wrightstown and 

 Solebury townships. About the close ot 

 the war he removed to Nodaway county, 

 Missouri, where he purchased a farm of 

 160 acres on which he resided about six 

 years. He then sold his farm to his son 

 Jacob, who still resides there, and re- 

 turned to Bucks county. He died in 

 Ewing. New Jersey, in 1881, aged sixty- 

 five years. Amos K. Clayton was twice 

 married, his first wife being Deborah 

 Cadwallader, by whom he had seven chil- 

 dren, three of whom survive: Jacob C, 

 of Missouri; Joseph C: and P. Ella, a 

 single woman residing at Trenton, New 

 Jersey. He married (second) Elizabeth 

 Briggs. by whom he had five children, 

 three of whom survive: William B., the 

 subject of this sketch; Elwood L., a car- 

 penter of Trenton, New Jersey; I. 

 Harper, a carpenter of the same place. 

 The family were members of the So- 

 ciety of Friends. Amos K. Clayton died 

 February 23, 1881, aged sixty-five years, 

 one month and three days. 



William Bonham Clayton, the subject 

 of this sketch, was the oldest son of 

 Amos K. and Elizabeth Briggs Clayton, 

 and was born in Wrightstown, June 30, 

 1863. He acquired his education at the 

 public schools and at Trenton Business 

 College. At the death of his fath&r he 



