626 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



1888. contains the will of Simon Wilmer, 

 A. D. 1400). 



The Rev. George William Forrester was 

 of the noble and ancient house of For- 

 rester, of Scotland, lie was a minister of 

 the Church of England, but having differed 

 on the points of doctrine, and after dis- 

 cussuig the points in question (he was 

 liberal in his views) with the Archbishop 

 of Canterbury, he came to America and 

 settled in Maryland. After the death of 

 his first wife, Mary Wilmer Clay, he mar- 

 ried Catherine Ramsey Pearce Shannon, 

 whose daughter Susannah Shannon mar- 

 ried James Alfred Pearce, who for 

 twenty-four years was United States sena- 

 tor from Maryland, and whose son, James 

 A. Pearce, is judge of the court of appeals 

 of Maryland. Catherine Ramsey, Mr. 

 Forrester's second wife, was a daughter of 

 Governor Ramsey, of the Province of New 

 York. Catherine Margaret Forrester, 

 daughter of the Rev. Mr. Forrester and 

 his wife Mary Wilmer Clay, married July 

 2, 1772, Lieutenant John Hamilton, of the 

 First Maryland Regiment. Ellen (Birkey) 

 Sappington, daughter of Thomas Hughes 

 Birkey, of Baltimore, Maryland, and wife 

 of Major Sappington, has the miniature 

 " likeness of Captain Hamilton, First Mary- 

 land Regiment. Thomas Hughes was 

 lieutenant-colonel of the Susquehanna bat- 

 talion of Cecil county, Maryland ; he raised 

 and equipped a company at his own ex- 

 pense during the Revolutionary war, etc. ; 

 for his correspondence with Governor 

 Tilghman of Maryland, who was his wife's 

 relative, vide "Archives of Maryland." 

 Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Hughes was 

 the son of Thomas Hughes and Elizabeth 

 Gatchel, daughter of Elisha and his wife 

 ■ Rachel Gatchel. who were members of 

 the Society of Friends, The Hughes and 

 Gatchel families have their coats-of-arms. 

 Deborah Hughes, daughter of Thomas and 

 Elizabeth (Gatchel) Hughes, married Rich- 

 ard Thomas, son of Philip Thomas, judge 

 of the land office, and his wife Ann Chew, 

 of West River, Maryland ; vide "The Thom- 

 as Book," by Lawrence Buckley Thomas, 

 D. D. Elisha Hughes, eldest brother of 

 Lieutenant 'Colonel Thomas Hughes, mar- 

 ried Mary Kirk, of Nottingham Meeting, 

 and their daughter, Rachel Hughes, mar- 

 ried Roger Kirk in 1774; hefought in the 

 revolution and was commissioned captain, 

 and Roger Kirk was a grandson of Roger 

 Kirk, founder of the family in America. 

 Roger Kirk and Rachel Hughes, his wife, 

 were members of the Society of Friends. 

 William Henry Brown, chief engineer of 

 the Pennsylvania Railroad, Slater Brown 

 Russell, justice of the peace of West Ches- 

 ter, Pennsylvania, ' Chester Hughes Kirk, 

 William Thompson Kirk, Theodore Kirk 

 Stubbs, many times member of the Legis- 

 lature, — descendant's of Roger Kirk, and 

 Rachel Hughes, are members of the Penn- 

 sylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution. 

 Professor Russell Hays, of Swarthmore 

 College, and H. H. Haines, president of 



Bank of Rising Sun, Md., are descendants 

 of Rachel Hughes and Roger Kirk. Mary 

 Hughes, the youngest daughter of Elisha 

 and his wife Mary, married Joseph Car- 

 roll, a graduate of Dublin University, a 

 Roman Catholic, and a relative of Charles 

 Carroll, of Carrollton, Maryland. Thomas 

 Hughes was a member of "The Principio 

 Company of Maryland and Virginia," 

 where in 17 16- 18 the first pig iron was 

 made in America ; vide Henry Whiteley's 

 historical pamphlet "On The Principio Com- 

 pany." He was a relative of Sir William 

 Bulkeley Hughes, of (Palace) Plas Coch, 

 Wales, whose daughter Mary Hughes mar- 

 ried (Osgood Gee, Esq., of the illustrious 

 house of Carew. Sir Nicholas Hackett 

 Carew and other members of that family, 

 with Augustine and Lawrence Washington, 

 William Chetwynd, Thomas and William 

 Russell, and later George Washington him- 

 self, were interested in the Principio Com- 

 pany. Joseph Whitaker, a relative of 

 Governor Pennypacker's mother, afterward 

 owned the works and mines. Hugh Beard, 

 surveyor, (whose sister Jane Beard married 

 John Marshall, of Maryland, and Joanna 

 Marshall, the poet, is one of their descen- 

 dants) married Mary Hughes Carroll, 

 daughter of Joseph Carroll and Mary 

 Hughes, his wife, and their daughter Sarah 

 Beard married Judge James McCanley, of 

 Elkton, who served six consecutive terms 

 as judge at Elkton, Maryland. Daniel Mc- 

 Canley, his brother, married Rachel Beard, 

 (sister of Sarah) and their daughter, 

 Marianna McCanley, married Frank T. 

 Whitney, of the "Harvard Line" of Whit- 

 neys, of Boston, Massachusetts, and her 

 sister, Ella Howard McCanley, married 

 John Amory, banker of New York city. 

 Miss Ingersoll, daughter of Charles Inger- 

 soll, of Philadelphia, married Arthur 

 Amory, of New York city. 



Peter Birkey was a member of the Society 

 of Friends, but at the outbreak of the Revo- 

 lutionary war he entered the second troop 

 of Count Armand de Rueri's. Partizan 

 Legion ; he was a corporal and would not 

 accept pay or promotion, as he said that he 

 fought for liberty and justice for all man- 

 kind, and not for money and honors. He 

 "venerated General Washington," who 

 called him "honest Peter Birkey," and often 

 sent him while in cariip at Valley Forge 

 on important secret missions of duty. 

 While at Valley Forge, Peter Birkey sold 

 his property and bought shoes and pro- 

 visions which he distributed among the 

 suffering patriot soldiers, his companions. 

 Peter Birkey was very poor in 1826. and 

 General Bloomfield and others wished him 

 to have a pension, but he refused to apply 

 for it. He enlisted in Armand's Legion 

 because its commander was of France, and 

 his father La Barriere was a Frenchman. 

 He was in the battle of Germantown. where 

 his horse was shot under him near Chew's 

 house, but he brought the saddle and bridle 

 off the field under the hot fire of the Brit- 

 ish ; when asked why he so risked his life, 



