568 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



the sixth, married James Girton. James 

 and Mary (Martindell) Girton were the 

 parents of twelve children: James, of 

 Palmyra, New Jersey; William A., of 

 Bristol township, Bucks county; Mary 

 Elizabeth, widow of Wilson McClanen, 

 living in Newtown; Hutchinson J., of. 

 Newtown: Samuel, deceased; Sophia, 

 wife of Edward Reeder, of Newtown; 

 Rebecca, single; Francenia, wife of Win- 

 field Ellis, of Newtown; and Garret B., 

 the subject of this sketch. 



The subject of this sketch was reared 

 in Bucks county, having lived with his 

 uncle, Isaac Martindell, in' Newtown 

 township, from the age of nine years to 

 the age of sixteen. He worked on the 

 farm for his uncle and enjoyed very lim- 

 ited advantages in the way of an educa- 

 tion, attending school from two to three 

 months during the year. At the age of 

 sixteen he apprenticed himself to Mi- 

 chael Furman, of Newtown, to learn the 

 carpenter trade, his term of apprentice- 

 ship expiring at the age of twenty-one, 

 and he was to receive one month's 

 schooling per year. On attaining his ma- 

 jority he brought his father to Newtown 

 and lived with him, working as a jour- 

 neyman carpenter for about four years. 

 He then established himself in business 

 as a carpenter and builder, and has suc- 

 cessfully pursued that vocation to the 

 present time. His old preceptor was a 

 competitor for the business of the neigh- 

 borhood for a time, but for over thirty 

 years prior to 1895 there was scarcely a 

 building erected in Newtown or vicinity 

 that he did not build or superintend its 

 building. He employed a large force 

 of hands, but gave his personal attention 

 to the work, of which he always did his " 

 share and is still an expert with the tools 

 of his handicraft. He made a close 

 study of the more improved methods of 

 the craft and has always kept abreast of 

 the times. He taught his craft to a large 

 number, having among his apprentices 

 A. Britton, G. Tomlinson, H. Enright, 

 L. Moore, H. Clark, Ed Carter, I. Ben- 

 net, W. Ellis, S. Creely, E. Brennen, C. 

 Tomlinson, J. Degroot, D. J. McClanen, 

 H. E. Girton. M. R. Girton. W. C. Eyre, 

 Leo Wharton, Ed Short, Justus Slack 

 and Isaac Pownall. 



Mr. Girton has been a member of the 

 Presbyterian church of Newtown for 

 upwards of twenty-five years, and is a 

 . member of its board of trustees. In pol- 

 itics he is a Prohibitionist, and has been 

 for many j^ears an earnest worker for 

 the cause of temperance. He is a mem- 

 ber of Siloam Lodge, No. 265, I. O. O. F., 

 of Newtown, of which he is a past grand. 

 He married, in January, 1854, Maria 

 Smith, daughter of John Smith, of Penns 

 Park, and (second) Emma C. Saunders, 

 of Brooklyn, New York. His children 

 are: ^nsan, wife of Robert Krusen: Car- 

 oline, wife of George Worrell: Ida, wife 

 of John Short, of Solebury; Wilhelmina, 



wife of George Kemler, of Brooklyn; 

 Harry E., Maurice, and Albert E., of 

 Newtown; Clara, wife of John E. Mas- 

 ten; and Anna R. Girton. He has twen- 

 ty-seven grandchildren: Harry, Hugh, 

 Garret and Alma Krusen; Anna, Amelia, 

 Mary, Caroline, George, William, John 

 and Albert Worrell; Harry, Edward, 

 Sara, Marion, George, Alice, Nellie, 

 Frederick and John Short, and Mabel, 

 Horace, Helen, Marion, Clarence and 

 Garret B. J. Girton. Mr. Girton also 

 has one great-grandchild, Ethel Short. 

 Mr. Girton, though in his seventy-fifth 

 year, is one of the active business men 

 , of Newtown. 



OLIVER J. RICE. Among the enter- 

 prising and successful young business men 

 of Buckingham is Oliver J. Rice, proprietor 

 of the "Lower Mill," at Mechanics' Valley. 

 Mr. Rice was born in Buckingham town- 

 ship, and is of English and Irish descent, 

 being a son of Charles and Elizabeth (Wat- 

 son) Rice. His paternal ancestor, Edward 

 Rice, was a native of Killeman parish, 

 county Tyrone, Ireland, and brought a certi- 

 ficate of character from the rector and 

 church Wardens of that parish with him to 

 America, dated June 12. 1736. He married 

 Elizabeth Wilson, 6 mo. 10, 1742, and 

 settled in Buckingham township, where he 

 purchased 153 acres of land comprising the 

 present farms of Edward Swartz and Gilbert 

 Percy, near Bridge Valley on the old York 

 Road. He died there in 1761, leaving seven 

 sons and one daughter, viz; James; John; 

 Edward ; George ; Mary, who married John 

 Kinsey; Joseph and Thomas. His widow 

 married Mathew Beans, and the younger 

 children were reared in Buckingham, on the 

 old Beans homestead, near the Solebury 

 line on the Mechanicsville road. 



George Rice, fourth child of Edward and 

 Elizabeth (Wilson) Rice, born in Bucking- 

 ham about 1750, was the great-grandfather- 

 of the subject of this sketch. On arriving 

 at manhood he married Elinor, born Sep- 

 tember 12. 1749, daughter of Robert Skelton, 

 of Buckingham, September 21, 1771, and set- 

 tled on a tract of 164 acres of land in Plum- 

 stead, owned b}' his father-in-law. He was 

 a wheelwright by trade, and after several 

 years on the farm returned to his trade. 

 His children were : Robert. Ann, Susanna, 

 George. Sarah, Mary, Moses, and Elias. 

 George Rice was a soldier in the revobition, 

 being a member of Captain William 

 McCalla's company. 



Robert Rice, eldest son of George and 

 Elinor (Skelton) Rice, was born in Plum- 

 stead township about 1774. He learned the 

 wheelwright trade with his father, and 

 followed it for many years in Plumstead, 

 Solebury and adjacent parts of New Jersey. 

 He married a Miss Burke, and had three 

 children: Joseph; a daughter who married 

 and removed to New York early in life; 

 and Charles. The wife of Robert Rice 



