HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



691 



-demanding strong intellectuality, unfalter- 

 ing purpose and keen discrimination. He 

 is a man whom to know is to respect and 

 honor, and the circle of his friends in 

 Plumstead township is extensive. 



C. ALLEN KNIGHT, whose birthplace 

 was the farm on which he now resides, in 

 Solebury township, Bucks county, is a 

 grandson of Charles and Mary (CooperJ 

 Knight, who spent their entire lives in 

 Newtown ^township. Their son, Alfred 

 Knight, also born in Newtown township, 

 was reared on the old homestead there, and 

 when a young man went to Carversville, 

 from which place he ran the stage line to 

 Doylestown for a number of years. He 

 also owned and operated a number of hay 

 presses, and during the period of the Civil 

 war had a contract with the government to 

 furnish hay for the horses used by the army, 

 lue also served for a short time with the 

 Union troops. In 1866 he purchased a farm 

 .near Carversville, and, moving to that prop- 

 erty, made it his home up to the time of 

 his death, which occurred when he was 

 sixty-six years of age. He was a successful 

 business man and bought and sold various 

 farms, prospering in his undertakings be- 

 cause of his judicious investments. While 

 residing in Newtown he was married to 

 Miss Ruth Anna Allen, who at that time 

 was conducting a millinery establishment in 

 Carversville. She is a daughter of Charles 

 and Sarah (Walker) Allen. Her father 

 was a tanner by trade, and for a number of 

 _years conducted a tannery in Carversville. 

 Mrs. Knight is still living, and makes her. 

 home with her daughter Ida in Forest 

 Grove, Pennsylvania. To Alfred and Ruth 

 A. Knight were born three children : S. 

 Eva, wife of Albert W. Preston, of Sole- 

 bury township; M. Ida, wife of Harry W. 

 Kirk, of Forest Grove; and C. Allen. 



In the common schools C. Allen Knight 

 began his education, which was supple- 

 .mented by study in the Trenton Business 

 College. He was trained to the practical 

 work of the farm on the old homestead, 

 and on reaching his twenty-first year he was 

 -allotted one of his father's farms, he to have 

 all the produce raised thereon. He re- 

 mained there for three years and laid the 

 foundation for a successful career along 

 agricultural lines. In 1893 he purchased the 

 old homestead, on which he has since lived, 

 and he has added modern improvements 

 and equipments, while by his untiring labors 

 he has made this a very valuable and attrac- 

 tive farm property. While residing on his 

 first farm Mr. Knight was married to Miss 

 Alice W. Watson, a daughter of Jenks G. 

 and Caroline C. (Shaw) Watson, of Car- 

 versville. They have three children : Ma- 

 rion, Helen W. and Florence. Mr. Knight 

 is a Republican, but without political as- 

 piration, preferring to give undivided atten- 

 tion to his business affairs, although aiding 

 in the promotion of progressive public 

 :measures as a private citizen. 



THOMAS H. GRAY. For many years 

 Ihomas H. Gray, of Upper Makefield town- 

 ship, was prominently identified with the 

 interests of more than one of the leading 

 •railroad companies. On the paternal side 

 Mr. Gray traces his descent from an an- 

 cestor who emigrated from Scotland to the 

 American colonies. Abraham Gray, a de- 

 scendant o£ this ancestor, was tne grandfa- 

 ther of Iliomas H. Gray. Dean Gray, 

 son of Abraham Gray, was born in Bucks 

 county, probably in Solebury township 

 and while still a child was deprived by death 

 of both his parents. He was reared in the 

 family of Joseph Scarborough, m Solebury 

 township, and on reaching manhood ap- 

 prenticed himself to the blacksmith's trade. 

 Later he purchased a farm on the Bucking- 

 ham and Solebury line, which was cultivated 

 by his sons, as they became old enough, 

 while he worked at his trade. He was an 

 active worker in the temperance cause, and, 

 although a strong Democrat, was a pro- 

 nounced anti-slavery man, advocating the 

 freeing of the slaves by peaceable means. 

 He was a member and officer in the Presby- 

 terian church. He married Sarah Stock- 

 dale, and the following children were born 

 to them: Napoleon B. ; William Warner- 

 Rhoda A.; Joseph N. ; and Thomas H ', 

 mentioned at length hereinafter, who is the 

 sole survivor of this family. Mrs. Gray 

 died in 1869, and her husband passed away 

 in 187 1, at the age of sixty-seven. 



Thomas H. Gray, son of Dean and Sarah 

 (Stockdale) Gray, was born April 22, 1838, 

 in Buckingham township, and was reared 

 on the farm. On reaching his eighteenth 

 year he determined to adopt some other 

 calling than that of a tiller of the soil, and 

 in 1856 went to Philadelphia, where he od- 

 tamed a position as clerk in a store, and 

 w^as employed in different clerical capacities 

 for some years. For eight years he culti- 

 vated the homestead acres, and in 1867 the 

 property was advantageously sold. The 

 family then moved to Brownsburg, where 

 they resided one year, and then removed 

 to the vicinity of Trenton, New Jersey. 

 There for four years Mr. Gray was en- 

 gaged in truck-farming, remaining at home 

 as long as his parents lived. In the spring 

 of 1872 he accepted a position with the 

 Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at Flem- 

 ington, and one year later was given a po- 

 sition as clerk in the superintendent's office 

 at Lambertville, where his work was so sat- 

 isfjictory that four months later he was 

 made clerk to the auditor of freight re- 

 ceipts. His close application to business 

 ur.dermined his health, and in 1881, after 

 eight years in the office, he was obliged to 

 resign. He was immediately employed by 

 the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company as 

 traveling car agent for the lines in New 

 Jersey, a position which he held until the 

 Lehigh Valley road came under the control 

 of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, 

 which event took place in 1889. At this 

 period of his life ^Ir. Gray purehased his 

 present farm in Upper Makefield township. 



