;84 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



who was a descendant of an old and prom- 

 inent family of Rockhill and Hilltown. lie 

 was reared on the old homestead and as- 

 sumed control of it on arriving at man- 

 hood, becoming the owner in 1872. His life 

 has been one of industry and business ac- 

 tivity. He has followed the commission 

 business for many years with success, mar- 

 keting his own and his neighbor's produce 

 in Philadelphia, and is one of the active 

 and progressive men of his section, and 

 has taken especial pride in giving his chil- 

 dren the benefit of a good education. He 

 married November 30. 1865, Amanda R. 

 Reiff. daughter of Abraham and Sarah 

 (Reitif) Reiff, of Hilltown, and they have 

 been the parents of three children, Elmer 

 R., Sallie E., and Anna Mary. 



Elmer R. Snyder, born August 21, 1866, 

 graduated from the University of Pennsyl- 

 .vania, in 1889, and practiced medicine in 

 Philadelphia for nine years. He died March 

 16, 1898, after undergoing a surgical opera- 

 tion in the University hospital. 



Sallie E. Snyder, born November 19, 

 1867. married June 12, 1894, Rev. Charles 

 C. Snyder, (son of Sim.on and Lydia Sny- 

 der) pastor of the Lutheran church at Dub- 

 lin, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where 

 they reside. 



Anna Mary Snyder, born November 3, 

 1870, married November 21, 1893, Rev. 

 William O. Fegely, pastor of the Lutheran 

 church at the Trappe, Montgomery coun- 

 ty, where he has officiated for seven years. 

 Rev. William O. and Anna Mary (Sny- 

 der) Fegely are the parents of four chil- 

 dren : Byron Snyder, Grace Amanda, Alma 

 M. and Florence E. 



Henry H. Snyder is an elder and deacon 

 of St. Peter's Lutheran church, and has 

 been a trustee of the church for twenty 

 years. He still conducts his farm, and 

 carries on the business of a commission 

 merchant. 



EZRA MICHENER, of Solebury town- 

 ship, for many years one of, the prom- 

 inent farmers and stock breeders of central 

 Bucks, is a representative of one of the old' 

 families of Bucks county. He was born in 

 Buckingham township, near his present 

 residence, October 4, 1839, and is a son of 

 Dr. Isaiah and Esther (Good) Michener. 

 and a lineal descendant of John and ?^Iary 

 Michener. who brought a certificate from 

 Friends in England to Philadelphia Monthly 

 Meeting about 1687. William Michener. 

 third child of John and Mary, born to mo. 

 14, 1696. married at Abington Meeting, 

 (where his parents had located in 1715,) 

 4 mo., 1720, Mary Kuster (or Kester, as 

 the name came to be spelled later), a grand- 

 daughter of Paulus Kuster, who came from 

 the Upper Rhine to Germantown in 1687. 

 In 1723 William Michener settled in Plum- 

 stead township, where he became a large 

 landowner and a prominent citizen. After 

 the death of his first wife, who was the 



mother of his ten children, he married a 

 widow, Ann Schofield, who survived him. 

 He died in 1782. His eighth child, Mes- 

 chach, born 4 mo., 22, 1737, died i mo., 9, 

 1826, was the ancestor of the subject of 

 this sketch. He married, 11 mo., 24, 1761, 

 Mary Trego, of Wrightstown, and lived 

 and died in Bucks county ; he was an exten- 

 sive landholder in Plumstead and Buck- 

 ingham townships. 



Mcschach and Mary (Trego) Michener 

 were the parents of eleven children, of 

 whom Thomas, the grandfather of the sub- 

 ject of this sketch, was the eighth, being 

 born. I mo. 21, 1778. He was a shoemaker 

 by trade, and followe'd that occupation dur- 

 ing the active years of life. About 1825 he 

 removed from Buckingham to Horsham, 

 Montgomery county, where he died at the 

 age of nearly ninety years. His wife was 

 Sarah Bradshaw, daughter of James Brad- 

 shaw, of Warrington, Bucks county, and 

 they were the parents of ten children, of 

 whom Isaiah was the fifth. 



Isaiah Michener was born in Bucking- 

 ham township, Bucks county. January 25, 

 1812. He was reared in Buckingham, and 

 removed with his parents to Horsham, but 

 returned to Buckingham in 1830, and re- 

 sided for several years with his uncle, 

 Isaiah Michener, on the farm, which be- 

 came his at the death of his uncle and 

 was his residence for many years. Soon 

 after his return to Buckingham he took up 

 the study of veterinary surgery, and began 

 to practice that professiort in 1836. and be- 

 came very eminent in the profession, fol- 

 lowing it for sixty-three years. He was 

 one of the founders and the sponsor of the 

 U. S. Veterinary Medical Association. He 

 was a man of great force of character, and 

 enjoyed the esteem and respect of the com- 

 munity. He was devoted to his profes- 

 sion, and did much to advance and increase 

 its usefulness; a man of indomitable in- 

 dustry, he acquired a competence, but kept 

 up the practice of his profession until his 

 death in 1899, at the age of eighty-seven 

 years. He married Esther Good, daughter 

 of John and Sarah C Smith) Good, of Plum- 

 stead. Dr. Isaiah IMichener was active in 

 all that pertained to the best interests of 

 the community in which he lived, and filled 

 many positions of trust. He was for twen- 

 ty-one years president of the Doylestown 

 Agricultural and Mechanics' Institute, and 

 was a familiar figure at its annual county 

 fair. He was a member of the Society of 

 Friends, and politically a Republican. He 

 married a second time, late in life. Rebecca 

 Scott, whose maiden name was Brndshaw. 

 Dr. Isaiah and Esther (Good) Michener. 

 were the parents of ten children, eight of 

 whom lived to maturity, viz: Ezra, see for- 

 ward; Sarah B., wife of Charles S. Pax- 

 son, of Solebury ; Dr. J. Curtis, a prom- 

 inent veterinarian of Colmar, Montgomery 

 county, Pennsylvania ; Mary Ellen, widow 

 of Dr. Asher M. Fell, of Doylestown; Hor- 

 ace, of Doylestown ; Clarissa, wife of J. 



