570 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



was re-elected in the following year. 

 He is a Presbj^terian in religion, and a 

 Republican in politics. He is a member 

 of the Masonic fraternity, affiliated with 

 Bristol Lodge No. 25, A. Y. F. and A. M. 

 He is also a ineinber of Neshaniiny 

 Lodge, No. 422, I. O. O-. F., and of the 

 encampment in the same order, and of 

 the Improved Order of Red Men. His 

 personal qualities are those which mark 

 the upright citizen- and well-disposed 

 neighbor and friend. Mr. Praul married 

 on March 19, 1874, Miss Ella Finne- 

 m.ore, a native of the same township 

 with himself. They make their home in 

 a splendid old rhansion which was 

 erected in 1788, and which stands as a 

 witness to the stirring scenes of the 

 past, in which their ancestors bore an 

 honorable and eminently useful part. 



MICHAEL A. VAN HART, for 

 forty-one years proprietor of the Logan 

 House at New Hope, was born Decem- 

 ber 15, 1823. in the family home which 

 stood on the boundary line between 

 Upper and Lower Makefield townships. 

 The family is of Holland lineage, his 

 grandfather being a native of Holland 

 and the progenitor of this name in 

 America. Coming to the new world he 

 settled in Falls township prior to the 

 revolutionarjr war. He acquired a tract 

 of land near Morrisville, which for many 

 years was known as Van Hart's Island. 

 His son, Jacob Van Hart, was a labor- 

 ing man and spent his entire life, so far 

 as is known, in Upper and Lower Make- 

 field townships and in Newtown. He 

 was twice married. He wedded (sec- 

 ond) Mary Richardson, a daughter of 

 Daniel Richardson, a pioneer settler who 

 resided near Dolington. In their fam- 

 ily were twelve children, of whoin three 

 are living: Michael A.; Abner, a resi- 

 dent of New Hope. Pennsjdvania; and 

 Mrs. Louise Fredericks, a widow living 

 in Plumstead township. 



Michael A. Van Hart attended the 

 common schools in his early boyhood 

 days, but when a youth of ten years be- 

 gan earning his livelihood, living wMth 

 a farnier by the name of John K. Trego, 

 near Pineville. He worked for his board 

 and clothing for Mr. Trego until in his six- 

 teenth year, when he apprenticed himself 

 to the tailor's trade in Lower Bucking- 

 ham township. There he gave his serv- 

 ices in return for instruction in the trade 

 and for his board and clothing during 

 the period of five years. On the expira- 

 tion of that period he located in Center- 

 ville, Buckingham township, where he 

 conducted a tailoring establishment on 

 his own account, continuing there for 

 six or seven years. He afterward re- 

 moved to Pineville, where he opened a' 

 tailoring establishment, being tlnis con- 

 nected with this business until the spring 



of 1863, when he came to New Hope. 

 Here he rented his present hotel build- 

 ing, and in 1874 purchased the property, 

 so that he has now been proprietor of 

 the Logan Hotel for forty-one years, 

 making it a popular hostelry. In con- 

 nection with the hotel Mr. Van Hart 

 owns and operates a farm of one hun- 

 dred and twenty-five acres, pleasantly 

 and conveniently situated about a mile 

 from New Hope, and his farming opera- 

 tions aid materially to his annual income. 

 He is a member of Amwell Lodge, No. 

 12, A. F. and A. M., of Lambertville, New 

 Jersey, and is one of the highly esteemed 

 citizens of his community. Although he 

 has passed the age of four-score years, 

 he is still an active factor in business 

 life, and in spirit and interest seems yet 

 in his prime. In 1848 Mr. Van Hart was 

 married to Miss Mary A. Worthington, 

 a daughter of Francis and Sarah Conard 

 Worthington, of Centerville. They be- 

 came the parents of five children, of 

 whom three are living: Francis W., who 

 is cashier of the Amwell National Bank 

 at Lambertsville : New Jersey ; Katherine, 

 the wife of Edwin Taggar, of Philadel- 

 phia ; and Minnie, the wife of C. J. Roth- 

 ermel, of Minnesota. 



JOSEPH ROBBINS, Sr. The family 

 to which Joseph Robbins, Sr., belongs, 

 is of English lineage and was founded 

 in America by John Robbins, his grand- 

 father, who emigrated from England 

 during the colonial epoch in the history 

 of this country, settling in Freehold 

 township, Monmouth county, New Jer- 

 sey, where he secured a tract of land and 

 followed farming until his death. He 

 married a Miss Ivins, who was a native 

 of New Jersey. Isaac I. Robbins, their 

 only child, was born in New Jersey and 

 removed to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 

 about 1800, being then a young man. He 

 settled at Penns Manor, near the Dela- 

 ware river, upon a farm which he cul- 

 tivated and improved, making a valu- 

 able property. His attention was de- 

 voted exclusively to agricultural inter- 

 ests, and he continued in the work of 

 the farm up to the time of his demise. 

 He married Miss Jane Thompson, and 

 they became the parents of si.x children: 

 John, deceased, born June 20, 1809, died 

 October 9, 1899, aged ninety-one years ; Hec- 

 tor C, born August 11. i8t2. died aged eicrh- 

 ty-two years: Isaac I., born May 5, 1815, 

 died aged eightj^-one years ; James T. 

 born j\Tarch 5, 1817. died aged seventy- 

 eight years; Ann, born September 13, 

 1818. died at the age of eleven years'; and 

 Joseph. 



Joseph Robbins. the youn.gest child of 

 Isaac and Jane (Thompson) Robbins, 

 was born at Penns Manor, May 2. 1821, 

 and at the usual age began his educa- 

 tion as a student in the common schools. 



