HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



623 



reside thereon until his own demise, which 

 occurred on the 2d of April, 1897, when 

 he was in his eightieth year. He was a 

 well known business man, of unquestioned 

 integrity and reliability, and was frequently 

 called upon to serve as administrator of 

 estates. He handled much money. in trust, 

 and his inflexible honor made him one of 

 the most highly esteemed citizens of his 

 community. In his political views he was 

 a Republican. He married Elizabeth Dud- 

 bridge, who was born in Warrington town- 

 ship, Bucks county, January 15, 1S42, a 

 ■daughter of Theodore and Ann (Pidcock) 

 Dudbridge, of that township, the former a 

 farmer there. Their daughter, Mrs. Ar- 

 mitage, is still living and makes her home 

 with her son Amos, her only child. 



Amos Armitage was reared on the old 

 home farm and attended the common 

 schools. By the terms of his father's will 

 he inherited the property, which was held 

 in trust for him until he attained his ma- 

 jority. He then took possession of an 

 adjoining farm on which his father held a 

 mortgage and which was left for sale. Mr. 

 Armitage purchased this, and now has 

 within the boundaries of the two farms one 

 hundred and thirty-seven acres of very rich 

 and arable land. While he has never served 

 an apprenticeship in mechanical lines, he 

 is a skilled worker in both wood and iron, 

 an ability that has undoubtedly been in- 

 herited from his ancestors, who for gen- 

 erations have displayed much mechanical 

 ingenuity. He is thus enabled to keep 

 everything about his place in excellent re- 

 pair, and his farm is one of the best im- 

 proved in his locality. He is justly ac- 

 counted one of the progressive young agri- 

 culturists of Solebury township. On the 

 6th of November, 1903, Mr. Armitage was 

 married to Miss Alice Gilbert, a daughter 

 of John and Elizabeth (Warner) Gilbert 

 of Lumberville. He votes with the Re- 

 publican party, and has served as a member 

 of the election board. 



EZEKIEL B. COX. One of the pros- 

 perous business men of Bucks county is 

 Ezekiel B. Cox, of New Hope. Mr. Cox 

 is a son of Reeder Cox, who was born in 

 Plumstead township, and on reaching man- 

 hood moved to Solebury township. He 

 lived in the vicinity of New Hope and Tay- 

 lorsville, engaging in farming and also in 

 lime-burning. He married Elizabeth Nay- 

 lor, and of their eleven children six sur- 

 vive : Howard, who lives in Solebury 

 township; Edward, who is a resident of 

 iNew Hope; Ezekiel B., mentioned at length 

 liereinafter ; Mary, who is the wife of Far- 

 ley Stout, of Hopewell, New Jer.sey ; and 

 Victoria, who is the wife of Horace Shick, 

 of New Hope. Mr. Cox now resides with 

 his son-in-law, Mr. Stout, in Hopewell, 

 New Jersey. . 



Ezekiel B. Cox. son of -'eeder and K lzp- 

 beth (Naylor) Cox, was born May t6, 



1854, in Solebury township, and when but 

 eleven years of age began to work for the 

 neighboring farmers. At seventeen he ap- 

 prenticed himself to the miller's trade m 

 Brownsburg, and two years late;- went to 

 Attleboro, where he hnished his appreniice- 

 ship. For two years he worked as a jour- 

 neyman at Chainbridge, Wrightstown town- 

 ship, and then moved to New Hope, where 

 he worked one year, and then went to the 

 Spring mills in Solebury. After working 

 three years in these mills he opened the 

 Buckingham mills, which he conducted suc- 

 cessfully for seventeen years. In 1898 he 

 sold his milling interests and moved to 

 New Hope, where he engaged in mercantile 

 business with such success that he is now 

 the leading merchant of that place. He is 

 a Republican in politics. Mr. Cox mar- 

 ried, February 28, 1876, Jennie, daughter of 

 Israel Roberts, of Carstown, Ohio, and they 

 are the parents of one son, Frank W., who 

 is his father's assistant in the store. 



WILMER A. TWINING, of Wrights- 

 town, is a representative of a family that 

 have been prominent in the affairs of that 

 vicinity for over two centuries. He is a 

 son of Cyrus and Sarah M. (Atkinson) 

 Twining, and was born in the house in 

 which he now resides, and which has been 

 the home of his ancestors for six genern- 

 tions, on April 17, 1865. 



William Twining came from England 

 about 1640 and settled in the neighborhood 

 of Cape Cod, removing to Eastham, county 

 of Barnstable, Massachusetts, in 1645. In 

 1695 he came to Newtown, Bucks coun- 

 ty, with his son Stephen. Stephen Twining 

 had married Abigail Young in Massachu- 

 setts, where his son John was born i mo. 

 5, 1692-3. He was a prominent member 01 

 the Society of Friends, and meetings were 

 frequently held at his house prior to the 

 establishment of Wrightstown Meeting, of 

 which he was one of the original trustee .•^ 

 John Twining married Elizabeth Kirk, 

 daughter of John and Joan (Elliot) Kirk, 

 who was born 3 mo. 19, 1696, and died 9 

 mo. II, 1776. They were the parents of 

 nine children : John, Joseph, David, Elea- 

 zer, William, Thomas, Jacob, Rachel and 

 Stephen. John Twining died 8 mo. 21, 

 1775. His seventh son, Jacob, born 10 mo. 

 -S' 173O1 was the great-grandfather of the 

 subject of this sketch. 



Jacob Twining, Jr., son of Jacob and 

 Sarah, was the fourth of nine children, 

 and was born 6 mo. 30, 1786. He married, 

 10 mo. 12, 1808, Priscilla Buckman, daugh- 

 ter of Thomas and Mary Buckman, and 

 settled in Northampton township, where 

 he died. Jacob and Priscilla (Buckman) 

 Twining were the parents of nine children, 

 two of whom died in infancy; those who 

 survived were : Thomas, born 2 mo. 14, 

 1810; Sarah, born 12 mo. 17, 1811 ; Mary 

 H., born 12 mo. 25, 1814; Jesse, born 9 

 mo. 25, 1817 ; Henry M., born i mo. 4, 



