58o 



HJSrORV OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



a life of business activity, and had the re- 

 spect and conlidencc oi i.A who knew him. 

 He was always actively niterested in all 

 that pertained to the best interests of the 

 town in which he lived, and filled many 

 positions of trust and honor. From the 

 time that Sellersville was incorporated 

 into a borough in 1874, for many years he 

 was almost constantly an official of the 

 borough and actively interested in the im- 

 provement of the town. He was appointed 

 in 1874 by the court as judge of the elec- 

 tion for the first officers of the borough; 

 was for many years chief burgess; served 

 repeatedly in the borough council ; and also 

 filled the position of school director for 

 several years. He was a charter member 

 of St. Michael's Evangelical church at Sel- 

 lersville, a member of the building com- 

 mittee having- charge of its erection in 1870, 

 and served as trustee, elder and deacon 

 of the church for many years. He mar- 

 ried, November 6, 1862, Kate Cressman, 

 daughter of James Cressman, and they 

 were the parents of two children — ^James 

 Richard, born January 17, 1854; and Henry 

 Howard, born August 20, 1867. His wife 

 Kate died November 10, 1869, and he mar- 

 ried (second) November 25, 1873, Hannah 

 Derstine, , daughter of Michael Derstine, 

 of Rockhill, and their only child was David 

 D., the. subject of this sketch, who was 

 born February , 13, 1877. 



DAVID D. CRESSMAN was born and 

 reared in Sellersville, and acquired his 

 education at the Sellersville high school, - 

 graduating in 1895. He began the print- 

 ing trade in the office of the "Sellersville 

 Herald," and is still employed there, fin- 

 ishing his trade, however, in a Philadelphia 

 job office. He is now devoting most of 

 his time to the closing up of his father's 

 business afiiairs, with which he is thorough- 

 ly familiar, Slaving had charge of most of 

 his fathers -private business for a num- 

 ber of years. In politics I\Ir. Cressman 

 is a Democrat, and a member of the stand- 

 ing committee. He takes an active part in 

 the affairs of the town, and is now serving 

 as borough auditor. He is a member of 

 the Lutheran church. 



EDWIN WARREN MARTINDELL, a 

 man of rare literary attainments, and a well 

 known educator of Hulmeville, Bucks 

 county, traces his ancestry to John Martin- 

 dell, who was born in England, August 24, 

 1676, and who was united in marriage to 

 Mary Bridgmont. Among their children 

 was a son John, who married Mary Strick- 

 land, and among their children was a son 

 Miles, who in 1780 was united in marriage 

 to Susannah Harvey. Thomas ]Martindell, 

 son of the last mentioned couple, married 

 Mary Warner in 1819, and among their 

 children was a son, Jonathan Warner, who 

 was born September 5, 1820, died 1S88. He 

 resided in Wrightstown all his life, and 

 served as school director for several vears. 



In 1851 he married Mary H. Addis, who 

 was born October 18, 1830, died June 11, 

 1899, a daughter of Amos and Amy 

 (Carver) Addis; in 1845 she joined the 

 Southhampton Baptist church, of which she 

 remained a member up to the time of her 

 death. The children of Jonathan W. and 

 ]\Iary H. (Addis) Martindell are as 

 follows : Thomas H., born October 5, 1852, 



died , 1854. Miles M., born 



October 29, 1853. Amy Anna, born Septem- 

 ber 29, 1855, died ■■ , 1883. 



Artios Addis, born March 19, 1857. Edwin 

 Warren, born in Wrightstown township,. 

 January 3, 1859, mentioned at length here- 

 inafter. Isaiah M., born December 25, i860. 

 Benjamin C, borh October 5, 1862, died 

 September 12, 1863. Jonathan Warner, Jr., 

 born February 6, 1865. Mary M., born 

 February 22, 1867, became the wife of Amos 

 Tomlinson. Emma J., born August 27, 1872, 

 became the wife of Monroe Hartman. 



Edwin W. "Martindell was educated in 

 the public schools of his native township 

 and the State Normal School, graduating 

 from the latter Institution in 1890. In i88a 

 he began teaching in the schools of Rockhill, 

 Wrightstown and Southampton, and im- 

 mediately after his graduation came to 

 ]MiddIetown, where he has remained up to 

 the present time (1905), actively engaged 

 as a teacher and organizer. In 1890 Mr. 

 Martindell suggested that a Central High 

 School be .established at Hulmeville, the 

 school building at that place to be enlarged 

 to meet the requirements at a slight expense 

 to the district. It was with cc)nsiderable 

 difficulty that he succeeded . in gaining 

 public sentiment in favor of such plans, as 

 it was maintained that there were insuffi- 

 cient pupils to warrant such an undertaking. 

 By personal visits to the houses^! the boys 

 and girls w-ho had gone througli the lower 

 schools, Principal Martindell, with his un- 

 tiring energy and enthusiasm, soon in- 

 creased the enrollment of piipijs until it 

 was necessary to enlarge the building and 

 secure additional teachers. The success of 

 this pioneer experiment at Hulmeville 

 opened the eyes of the people of-.the county 

 so that they could, see what an advantage a 

 township Central High Schoql would be 

 .to the children. The school .directors of 

 Middletown soon provided free conveyance 

 to the pupils, who were sufficientlj' ad- 

 vanced in their studies to attend, and who 

 lived at a distance from the school. The 

 first class to graduate was in 1892, the 

 graduates numbering nearly sixty, many 

 of whom continued their studies in various 

 states and graduated from schools of bus- 

 iness, law, art, medicine, thereafter engag- 

 ing in the various professions. Not only 

 was Middletown township, under the lead- 

 ership of Mr. Martindell, the first in the 

 county to convey pupils to the Central 

 High School that they might have the ad- 

 vantages of higher education, but it was 

 also the first township to issue a printed 

 catalogue containing the course of study, 

 rules and regulations of the school, to- 



