HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



627 



he said, "saddles and bridles were scarce 

 i nthose days." He was also in the battles 

 of Brandywine and Camden, South Caro- 

 lina, and after the defeat of General Gates 

 he served with others of the legion under 

 General Marion, to whom he was deeply 

 attached. It is belived that he was with 

 General Wayne at the battle of Stony 

 Point, but there is no definite knowledge 

 ■of this. He was disowned by the Meeting 

 of Friends for going to war, and later 

 joined the Free Quakers, Fifth and Arch 

 streets, Philadelphia, but upon his removal 

 to Burlington, New Jersey, he attended St. 

 Mary's Episcopal Church, and at his death 

 in 1826 was buried in the churchyard. 

 While at Valley Forge he met John Fitch, 

 who was in the army. Afterwards they 

 resided in Philadelphia, were lifelong 

 friends, and when John Fitch's steamboat 

 made her first trip to Burlington, New Jer- 

 sey, there were twenty-four congressmen 

 and two boys on board, one of the latter 

 being John Y. Birkey, son of Peter Birkey, 

 but the name of his companion is not 

 known. 



John Y. Birkey and his wife Deborah 

 Hughes had the following children: 



I. Thomas Hughes Birkey,* born at At- 

 tleborough, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 

 married Mary Curtis, of Baltimore, Mary- 

 land, and had children: Maria Braids Birk- 

 ey, who married Thomas BuUman Baker, of 

 Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and had chil- 

 dren. (This Baker family were originally 

 planters on the James river, Virginia;. 

 The Bullman family were of Phillipsburg, 

 New Jersey, and Easton, Pennsylvania, and 

 were related to the Sitgreaves family. Ann 

 Baker, daughter of Thomas Bullman and 

 Maria Braids (Birkey) Baker, married 

 Richard Mitchell, son of Dr. Mitchell, 

 whose mother was a Miss Ely, of Bucks 

 •county. 



2. John Birkey who married Elizabeth 

 Qnicksell, (they were Friends and are bur- 

 ied in Friends' graveyard, Burlington, New 

 Jersey) and had children, who are now 

 deceased. 



3. William J. A. Birkey, senior, who mar- 

 ried (first) Margaretta Smith Marsh, wid- 

 ow of Joseph Marsh; (second) Eliza Fer- 



guson Myer; and (third) Margaretta Anna 

 Stump Lewis, who survives him. 



John Y. Birkey ruptured a blood vessel 

 while working at his trade, that of beaver 

 fur hatter, which he learned from his father, 

 Peter Birkey, and Samuel Bisphan, Mar- 

 ket street, Philadelphia. He purchased the 

 hotel at Newportville, Pennsylvania, in 

 1812, and celebrated Perry's victory at that 

 place in 1813. He also owned and con- 

 ducted Duncas Ferry on the Delaware 

 river. He died in 1856, and .is buried in 

 the family lot at St. Mary's church, Bur- 

 lington, New Jersey. He was a member 

 of Bristol Lodge, Ancient York Masons. 

 William J. A. Birkey, senior, M. D., son 

 of John Y. Birkey and his wife Deborah 

 Hughes Birkey, (named for her aunt, De- 

 borah Hughes Thomas) married (first) 

 Margaretta Smith Marsh, widow of Joseph 

 Marsh. She was the daughter of Jacob 

 Smith and his wife Catherine Sink, and 

 had children : Horace, Margaret and Will- 

 iam J. A. Birkey, Jr. Mrs. Birkey was 

 born 1803, married 1828, and died April 

 22, 1833. Dr. Birkey married (second) 

 Eliza Ferguson Myer, daughter of Isaac 

 Myer and his wife Margaretta Shade, *^ 

 daughter of Peter Shade and his wife, 

 Susannah Warner. Dr. Birkey and his 

 second wife were married March 25, 1835, 

 by Bishop White of Christ Church, Phila- 

 delphia, and had children : Henry W. and 

 Isaac Myer Birkey. Dr. Birkey married 

 (third) Margaretta Anna Stump Lewis, the 

 ceremony being performed by Bishop Stev- 

 ens, of the Episcopal Church of Pennsyl- 

 vania. She was a daughter of Abram J. 

 Lewis, merchant of Philadelphia, and his 

 wife Anna Stump, of Maryland, who as 

 his widow survives him, and a sister of Dr. 

 Elisha Lewis, who was surgeon of the First 

 City Troop of Philadelphia. Judge Stump, 

 of Perryville, Maryland, and General Evans, 

 of Elkton, Cecil county, Maryland, are cous- 

 ins of Mrs. Birkey. 



William J. A. Birkey, Sr., received the 

 diploma of M. D. from the Royal Junta 

 of Spain ; he was physician and surgeon- 

 dentist to Captain General Tacon, of Cuba, 

 who presented him with many marks of his 

 regard and favor, among others a gold 



*Thos. Hughes Birkey, son of John and Deborah 

 Hughes Birkey, married Mary Curtis and had the fol- 

 lowing children: Edward, never married; Thomas 

 Birkey, who married and had children; Ellen Birkey, 

 who m'arried Major Nicholas Sappington, of Mary- 

 land and had children; Catherine Forrester, never 

 married, and Mary Victoria Birkey, who married Dr. 

 Henry s'nowden, of Maryland, and has a son, Wilmer 

 Snowden, Maria Braide Birkey, daughter of John 

 and Deborah Hughes Birkey, married Thomas Bull- 

 man Baker and had children; Edward Baker, who 

 married and had children; Deborah Hughes Baker, 

 who married Noel Cox, of Talbot county, (Easton) 

 Maryland, and had a son, Noel Cox. Esq.; Julia 

 Baker who married Andrew Louderbouah, and had 

 children; William B. Baker, M. D , who married and 

 had children; and Henry and Thomas Baker. Ann 

 Baker who married Richard Mitchell and had children. 

 Deborah Hughes Birkey's sister, Catherine Ann 

 Hughes, married William Edward Alcock. of Balti- 

 more and England, of the ancient Alcock family of 

 England, which has its coat-of-arms. Bishop Al- 

 cock's Chapel in Ely Cathedral is one of the finest 

 specimens of architecture in England. Vv/illiam Ed- 

 ward Alcock was one of the defenders of Baltimore 



in the war of 1812. They had a son. Dr. William E- 

 Alcock, who married Mis') Swan, of Maryland, whose 

 mother's name was Shipley, and they had two chil- 

 dren : Rosalba Peale and William Alcock. Rosalba 

 Peale Alcock was actively interested in church work 

 at .St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Baltimore, Maryland: 

 the family vault is in the churchyard. William Al- 

 cock, merchant, married the widow of Professor 'Van 

 Brocklin, of New York. Her maiden name was Miss 

 Grundy, of Baltimore, and they have a daughter. 

 William Alcock resides in Floience, Italy. He has in 

 his possession the miniature likeness and family 

 Bible of his great-grandfather, Rev. George William 

 Forrester. 



**Margaretta Shade, who was the wife of Isaac 

 Myer,Sr.,was the daughter of Peter Shade and his wife. 

 Susannah Warner. Her sister. Maria Shade, married 

 Thornas Jones (Ensign) and Washington Jones, their 

 son, is the distinguished mechanical engineer who 

 was entertained while on a visit abroad by the Earl 

 and Countess of Warwick, at Warwick Castle, England 

 John Shade, her brother, had a daughter who married 

 Henry C. Blair, the well known and highly respected 

 apothecary and chemist, of Philadelphia. 



