HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



697 



in Statham, New Hampshire, February 10, 

 1758, daughter of John and Martha Fol- 

 som, by whom he had four children, all 

 born in New Hampshire. His wife died 

 August 3, 1784. While principal of the 

 young ladies' academy in Philadelphia he 

 married one of his pupils, Jane Neely, 

 daughter of William and Elizabeth 

 (Thompson) Neely, of Solebury, Bucks 

 <:ounty, Pennsylvania, where she was born 

 in March, 1767. Her grandfather, Robert 

 Thompson, was one of the four brothers 

 who with their widowed mother, Elizabeth 

 (McGraudy) Thompson, and her brother, 

 McGraudy, settled on the Neshaminy, in 

 Warwick and Northampton early in the 

 seventeenth century. They were Scotch- 

 Irish Presbyterians, and pillars of the 

 churches of that denomination at Nesha- 

 miny and elsewhere. Robert, the youngest 

 of the brothers, married in 1747-8, Hannah 

 (Delaplaine) Simpson, born 3mo. 4, 1714, 

 widow of John Simpson, of Solebury, and 

 daughter of Jane and Hannah (Cock) De 

 la Plaine, and granddaughter of Nicholas 

 De la Plaine, a native of France, who came 

 to New York from Holland, where he had 

 married Susanna Cresson, daughter of 

 Pierre Cresson, also a native of France, 

 who had married in Holland, Rachel Claes, 

 and later emigrated to America with his 

 family and that of Nicholas De la Plaine 

 and settled on Staten Island. Susanna 

 (Cresson) De la Plaine was born at Rys- 

 wick, Holland. Robert Thompson was one 

 of the founders of the Presbyterian church 

 of Lower Solebury, now known as the 

 Thompson Memorial church in his honor, 

 and of which he was for many years a rul- 

 ing elder. He died in 1804 at a very ad- 

 vanced age. The only child of Robert and 

 Elizabeth (De la Plaine-Simpson) Thomp- 

 son was Elizabeth, born iimo. 29, 1748-9, 

 who married William Neeley. The later was 

 also an elder of Solebury Presbyterian 

 church. He died July 10, 1818, at the age 

 of seventy-six years, and his wife Eliza- 

 beth on February 15, 1834, i" I'ler eighty- 

 sixth year. 



In 1809 John Poore left Philadelphia and 

 settled in Solebury, where he taught school 

 for a number of years. In 1815 his family 

 and others erected for him an academy 

 building, still standing in New Hope, where 

 he conducted a select school for young la- 

 dies for several years. His wife, Jane 

 Neely, died on May 15, 1827, and he then 

 removed to York Haven, York county, 

 Pennsylvania, and resided with his son, 

 Charles M. Poore, until his death on De- 

 cember 5, 1829, and is interred at Liver- 

 pool, York county, Pennsylvania. He was 

 also in his earlier years a teacher of vocal 

 music and was an accomplished linguist. He 

 was a staunch Presbyterian, and assisted 

 in establishing the first Sabbath schools in 

 Philadelphia in 1791, and taught one on 

 Cherry street in that year. He was a rul- 

 ing elder of the Presbyterian church during 

 his residence in Solebury. By his first wife, 

 Sarah Folsom, he had four children, John 



Folsom, George, Charles Merrill, and Ann, 

 who married Rev. Alfred Metcalf and lived 

 and died in New Hampshire. Three sons all 

 became prominent merchants in Baltimore, 

 Maryland. John died there unmarried in 

 1858. George and Charles Merrill were in 

 partnership in Baltimore until 1812, when 

 they removed to York Haven, York county, 

 Pennsylvania, where George died in 1821, 

 and Charles M. in 1832, the children of the 

 former settling in Ohio, and of the latter in 

 New Jersey. 



The children of John and Jane (Neely) 

 Poore, were : Daniel, born October 12, 1793, 

 died April 12, 1888; Jane Neely, born 

 March 16. 1796, married (first) January, 

 1832, Charles H. Boss, of New Jersey, who 

 died September, 1835, and (second) in 

 1852, Josiah Hart, who died in 1864 ; and 

 Hannah Delaplaine Poor, born February 

 TQ. 1799. married Solomon H. Opdycke, of 

 New Jersey. 



Daniel Poore, grandfather of the subject 

 of this sketch, was the eldest son of Profes- 

 sor John Poore by his second marriage with 

 Jane Neely, and was , born in Solebury 

 township. October 12, 1793, and spent his 

 whole life in that and the adjoining town- 

 ship of Upper Makefield. By the will of 

 his grandfather, William Neely, probated in 

 t8i8, he was devised a small farm in the 

 latter township, near Buckmanville, where 

 . he died April 12, 1888. He was for many 

 years a justice of the peace, and acted as a 

 surveyor and conveyancer in his younger 

 days, and did a large amount of official 

 and public business. He married. May 2, 

 181 5, Maria Merrick, born in Upper Make- 

 field township, April 23, 1798, daughter of 

 Robert and Hannah (McMasters) Merrick, 

 of Upper Makefield, whose ancestors had 

 been residents of Makefield for many gen- 

 erations ; they were descendants of John 

 Merrick, a native of Herefordshire, Eng- 

 land, who came to America about 1699 and 

 settled in Lower Dublin township, Phila- 

 delphia county, where he died in 1732. He 

 married, in 1702, Eleanor Smith, and his 

 eldest son John, who married Hannah 

 Hulme, settled in Bucks county, and is the 

 ancestor of the Makefield Merricks. The 

 children of Daniel and Maria (Merrick) 

 Poore were as follows: i. Eliza Thompson, 

 born September 17, 1816, died April 25, 

 1863 : married September 18, 1837. George 

 F. Smith, son of Thomas and Sarah Smith, 

 of Fallsington. 2. Martha Merrick, born 

 in New Hope, Bucks county, February 18, 

 1817, died in Nockamixon township. May 2, 

 1902; married Brice M. Pursell. (See Pur- 

 cell family in this work.) 3. Robert 

 Alpheus, born December 15, 1829. — See for- 

 ward. 4. John Thaddeus, twin brother of 

 Robert Alpheus. still lives on and owns the 

 farm on which he was born in LTpper Make- 

 field. He married, February 20, 1861, Mar- 

 tha Rachel Lefferts. daughter of Elias and 

 Margaret (Search) Lefferts. of North- 

 ampton township, and took charge of the 

 home farm and continued to conduct it and 

 care for his aged parents until their death. 



