6!;o 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNT y. 



Andrew Jackson, always retaining a large 

 portrait of him in his room. He interward 

 became a Whig, and subsequently a most 

 unfaltering and inflexible advocate of Re- 

 publican principles. Political preferment, 

 however, had no attraction for him. He 

 was likewise a contributor to the agricul- 

 tural development of the county, and after 

 he took possession of the family estate in 

 Solebury township he was deeply interested 

 in everything pertaining to progress along 

 farm lines, and quick to introduce any im- 

 provement that he believed would come to 

 be of practical benefit in agricultural circles. 

 He was the first man in Bucks county to 

 use a mowing machine. For a number of 

 years he was the president of the Bucks 

 County Agricultural Society, and at the 

 time of his death he was president of the 

 Brownsville Horse Company, the United 

 Horse Company, the Farmers and Me- 

 chanics' Mutual Fire Insurance Company 

 of Bucks county and a director of the 

 Lahaska & New Hope and Buckingham & 

 Doylestown Turnpike Companies, and de- 

 clined to act as president of the last named 

 because of advanced age. On the 27th of 

 August, 1822, William Staveley was united 

 in marriage to Miss Margaret Sheed, a 

 daughter of George Sheed, of the old dis- 

 trict of Southwark, Philadelphia, and on 

 the 27th of August, 1872, they celebrated 

 their golden wedding. They were the pa- 

 rents of eight children, of whom five are 

 yet living: Mina, the wife of William Biles, 

 of Solebury township ; William R. ; Mar- 

 garet, the widow of E. Mitchell ; Cornell ; 

 and Belle, the wife of James W. Jones, of 

 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 



Dr. William R. Staveley was provided 

 with excellent educational privileges. He 

 attended the school in West Chester, Penn- 

 sylvania, and pursued his collegiate course 

 in the Princeton University, of which he is 

 a graduate of the class of 1852. Having 

 decided upon the practice of medicine as a 

 life work, he then matriculated in the Jef- 

 ferson Medical College of Philadelphia, 

 completing the full course by graduation in 

 the spring of 1855. Locating in Solebury 

 township, he entered upon the practice of 

 medicine, for which his thorough prepara- 

 tion and continued private study well fitted 

 him, making him one of the most capable 

 practitioners that has ever represented the 

 medical fraternity in Bucks county. He 

 called his home "Bleak House," because of 

 'the fact that he built it upon an open field. 

 However, he planted trees, and to-day has 

 one of the best groves in the township, the 

 trees having attained to magnificent size. 

 In 1856 Dr. Staveley was married to Miss 

 Julia C. Kelley, of Frankfort, Maine, and 

 to this marriage have been born four chil- 

 dren : Caroline, at home; Albert; Margaret; 

 and Sarah. The son. Dr. Albert Staveley, 

 is a noted surgeon of Washington, D. C. 

 Completing his collegiate course at Prince- 

 ton he^ afterward attended the University 

 of Pennsylvania, from which he was grad- 

 uated in the medical department. 



Dr. Staveley is a Democrat in his political 

 allegiance, and fraternally is connected with 

 Amwell Lodge, No. 12, F. and A. M., ot 

 Lambertsville. Having retired from active 

 practice some years ago, he gives his super- 

 vision to cultivating and beautifying his 

 fine estate covering one hundred and twen- 

 ty-nine acres, and to-day has one of the 

 most attractive homes of Solebury town- 

 ship. 



WILLIAM PHILLIPS WRIGHT. 

 Among those prominently and actively 

 identified with the commercial, political 

 and social interests of the borough of 

 Bristol, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 

 may be mentioned William P. Wright, a 

 man of wide and varied attainments, up- 

 right, sterling character, and ^business 

 ability of a high order, whose active ca- 

 reer has been one of marked enterprise, 

 wherein his reliable methods have 

 achieved for him large financial returns. 

 He was born in the borough in which he 

 now resides, September 27, 1847, a son 

 of John and Rebecca (Bloomsburg) 

 Wright, who were the parents of six 

 children, as follow's: John Wesley, 

 James, William Phillips, Anthony, de- 

 ceased; Charles, deceased; and Frank, 

 deceased. 



The educational advantages enjoyed 

 by William P. Wright were obtained in 

 the public schools of Bristol; Dickinson 

 Seminary, Williamsport; the Pennsyl- 

 vania State Normal School at Millers- 

 ville; and Crittenden Commercial Col- 

 lege. After graduation he was em- 

 ployed in Philadelphia for a few years in 

 the wholesale business. When, in 1871, 

 his father bought the store adjoining 

 the town hall on Radcliffe street, of 

 Pierce, Scott & Pierce, William P. 

 Wright and his brother James, joined 

 him in the general store business at this 

 old stand and there he remained until 

 1881, in which year he purchased the 

 hardware store and busirtess of the Kin- 

 sey estate, situated on Mill street, Nos. 

 iig-i2i, conducting the same success- 

 fully to the present time (1904). Mr. 

 John Wright had for many years been 

 in the general merchandise business in 

 Bristol and built the building in 1857 in 

 which store his son John Wesley has 

 since that time done business Mr. 

 William P. Wright is a thoroughgoing 

 man of business, prompt and reliable in 

 the execution of orders, and well de- 

 serves the large patronage accorded him. 

 The esteem in which he is held in the 

 community is evidenced by the fact that 

 he has served the borough as burgess 

 for one term, and as recorder of deeds 

 of Bucks county for three years. He is 

 a Protestant in religion, a Republican in 

 politics, and an honored member of Bris- 

 tol Lodge, No. 25, Ancient York Free 

 and Accepted Masons, the Knights of 

 Pythias, Knights of Friendship, Broth- 



