HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



679 



1873 he associated with himself his brother 

 Johnson, and when he retired from business 

 in 1897 he was succeeded by this brother. 

 From 1890 to 1896 he served on the com- 

 mittee of the electric light and water plant. 

 He was for many years interested in the 

 Richland Library, founded in one hundred 

 granges, an institution which had always 

 been encouraged by his family. From 1809 

 to 1872 he served as a member of the town 

 council of Quakertown. In politics he is a 

 Republican. He is a birthright member of 

 the Richland Meeting of Quakertown, and 

 has served for three years as overseer. He 

 has since been elected a member of com- 

 mittee. Mr. Strawn has never married. 



PHILIP S. CRESSMAN, proprietor of 

 the American House, Perkasie, Bucks coun- 

 ty, Pennsylvania, was born in Hilltown 

 township, Bucks county. May 31, i860, and 

 is a descendant of one of the oldest Ger- 

 man families in Bucks county. Johannes 

 Cressman, his great-great-great-grandfatn- 

 er, was born in Germany and came to Penn- 

 sylvania with his father, George Cressman 

 (or Gressman, as the name was spelled in 

 German) about the year 1720. The family 

 settled in Franconia township (now Mont- 

 gomery county) from whence Johannes 

 Cressman came to Rockhill township, Bucks 

 county, where he was a landowner as early 

 as 1747. He later returned to Franconia, 

 where he died in 1786. His children were 

 Anthony, John, Elizabeth, Mary, Catharine 

 and Hannah. 



Anthony Cressman, eldest son of Jo- 

 hannes, born May 9, 1731, came to Rock- 

 hill with his parents when a child. He was 

 a farmer, and became a considerable land- 

 holder prior to his death, which occurred 

 March 3, 1789. By his wife Magdalen he 

 had seven children : Jacob ; Elizabeth, wife 

 of Daniel Sliver; Abraham; John; Adam; 

 Catharine, and Sarah. Jacob Cressman, 

 eldest son of Anthony and iMagdalen, born 

 in Rockhill, October 27, 1755, inherited the 

 homestead farm in Rockhill and became one 

 of the largest landowners in the township. 

 He died June 15, 1832. His wife was Eliza- 

 beth Nace, and they were the parents of 

 twelve children. Philip Cressman, young- 

 est son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Nace) 

 Cressman, born in Rockhill township, in 

 1797, resided on a portion of the old home- 

 stead in Rockhill until the death of his fa- 

 ther in 1832, and then removed to Hilltown 

 township. He was a blacksmith by trade, 

 and followed that vocation in connection 

 with farming in both Rockhill and Hill- 

 town. He died in 1872. He married Mag- 

 dalena Stout, and they were the parents of 

 three children, two of whom survived child- 

 hood, viz. : Henry, the father of the suD- 

 ject of this sketch; and Eliza, wife of Jonas 

 Leidy. 



Henry Cressman, born in Rockhill, De- 

 cember 14, 1825, removed with his parents 

 to Hilltown at the age of six years,~and re- 

 sided on the old homestead there for the 



remaining fifty years of his life, dying April 

 8, 1882. He married Sarah A. Snyder, 

 daughter of George and Mary (Wittig) 

 Snyder, of Hilltown, who was born Janu- 

 ary I, 1833, and had six ■ children as fol- 

 lows : James S., born December 6, 1853, 

 married Emma Savacool, and has one chila, 

 Roland; William S., of Sellersville, a gro- 

 cer, married Emma Gearhart, and has three 

 children, the eldest of whom, Alma, is a 

 school teacher at Perkasie ; Philip S., the 

 subject of this sketch; Henry M. S., who 

 is supervisory principle of schools at Egg 

 Harbor City, New Jersey, who married 

 Emma Jacoby, and has three children; 

 Alary Ann ; and another who died in In- 

 fancy. 



Philip S. Cressman, born ^^lay 31, i860, 

 was reared on his father's farm in Hill- 

 town, and educated at the public schools, 

 remaining on the farm until his twenty- 

 second year, when he became a clerk in the 

 general merchandise store of his father-in- 

 law, Reuben B. Crouthamel, at Hagers- 

 ville. He remained there two years and in 

 1884 went into the hotel business at 

 Perkasie as proprietor of the American 

 House, which he has since conducted, erect- 

 ing the present hoiei building and hall in 

 1894. He is a successful and progressive 

 business man, and owns considerable real 

 estate in that thriving borough. He has 

 always taken an active interest in all that 

 pertains to the best interests of the town, 

 and has served several terms as a member 

 of the local school board. He is a member 

 of McCalla Lodge, No. 596, F. and A. M., 

 at Sellersville, and of Perkasie Lodge, 1. 

 O. O. F. He married in 1882 Mary CroU' 

 thamel, daughter of Reuben B. Croutha- 

 mel, then of Hagersville, Rockhill town- 

 ship, but later of Philadelphia, and they 

 are the parents of tour children, Howard, 

 Frank, Winfield, and Mabel. 



ABRAM F. SWARTZ. Early in the 

 eighteenth century, the Swartz family, 

 of German lineage, was founded in Penn- 

 sylvania, where representatives of the 

 name have since been found, doing their 

 full share in upholding the legal and 

 moral status of the state. The first of 

 the family of whom we have authentic 

 record was Andrew Swartz, a native of 

 the fatherland. His son. 



Andrew Swartz, was born in Germany 

 and emigrated to America in 1727, ar- 

 riving in Philadelphia on the i6th of Oc- 

 tober of that year. He located in Fran- 

 conia township, Montgomery county, 

 Pennsylvania, where he purchased a tract 

 of land comprising one hundred and 

 fifty-five acres, then a part of Salford' 

 township. He followed farming through- 

 out the greater part of his life. He mar- 

 ried Catharine Kline, and thej' became 

 the parents of ten children, as follows: 

 Mary, born December 2, 1728; Abra- 

 ham, January 5. 1731; [Margaret, Decem- 

 ber 7, 1732; Ester, February 2, 1735; 



