HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



729 



from the principalship of the Sellersville 

 schools during the Christmas hohdays of 

 1892, and took up his duties at the Peirce 

 School in January,' 1893. He remained ai 

 this institution until the summer of 1898, 

 when he resigned-, having completed a 

 period of twenty-one years in the profes- 

 sion of teaching, two years of which were 

 spent in Rockhill township, Bucks county, 

 nearly fourteen years in the borough of 

 Sellersville, Bucks county, and nearly six 

 years in the Peirce School at Philadelphia. 



After leaving the Peirce School, Mr. 

 Williams gave his attention to completing 

 the study of law, which he had begun while 

 teaching at the Peirce School, and on the 

 twentieth day of April, 1900, l>e was ad- 

 mitted to practice in the courts of the city 

 and county of Philadelphia, and very 

 shortly afterwards was admitted to prac- 

 tice in the courts of Bucks county. IMr. 

 Vv illiams has been a resident of Sellers- 

 ville since the year 1879, and during the 

 years of his teaching in the Peirce School 

 and of his practice in the city and county 

 of Philadelphia has made daily trips from 

 his home at Sellersville to and from the 

 city. His family residence is situated on 

 North ]Main street in the borough of Sell- 

 ersville, and is pleasantly located. 



In 1881 Mr. Williams was married to 

 Harriet Newell Lippincott, youngest daugh- 

 ter of Mr. Tyler Lippincott, a long time 

 resident of Rockhill township, and later of 

 the borough of Sellersville. His family 

 consists of two children : Bessie L., born 

 in January, 1885 ; and Martha M., born in 

 July, 1891. 



i\Ir. Williams, in politics, is a Republican. 

 He has never sought any political office, 

 although he has been active in his work 

 for the success of the Republican party. 

 He belongs to the Presbyterian church, be- 

 ing a member of the Old Pine Street 

 ■church, located at Fourth and Pine streets, 

 Philadelphia. 



EOIER P. WF.TSEL. The pionerr an- 

 cestor of the Weisel family of Bucks 

 county, Pennsylvania, was Michael Weisel, 

 who with his wife and family emigrated 

 from the Palatinate to Pennsylvania in 1732, 

 crossing the Atlantic in the ship "Pink," 

 which arrived at Philadelphia, October 17, 

 1732. with sixty-one Palatines and their 

 families, making in all one hundred and 

 sixty-nine persons, from Rotterdam. On 

 the list of these Palatines appear the names 

 of Michael and Frederick Wyssel and their 

 wives and children. ^Mi^hael Weis'^l was 

 accompanied by his wife Susanna and three 

 sons, Jacob, Michael and George. The 

 family probably found their way into Bucks 

 county within a few years of their arrival, 

 followed the trend of German immigra- 

 tion up the Schuylkill and her eastern 

 tributaries into upper Bucks county, then 

 alreadv partly settled by their compatriots. 

 "On February 15, 1743, there was surveyed 



to Michael Weisel two tracts of land in 

 the northwestern part of Bedminster town- 

 ship, near Tohickon church, one of the 

 earliest German Reformed churches in 

 Bucks county, then just being organized, 

 and fronting on the "Swamp Road," then 

 (as now) the line between Hilltown and 

 Bedminster, one of one hundred and fifty 

 acres, and the other one hundred and 

 thirty-one acres. 



The Weisels were among the earliest 

 members of Tohickon church, and several 

 generations of the family lie buried in the 

 churchyard adjoining. They were also pio- 

 neers in education, as the first land alien- 

 ated from the family was set off the original 

 plantation for a school house in 1767, with 

 Jacob and Michael Weisel among the trus- 

 tees, and upon which a school house had 

 been already erected. This primitive school 

 house and its humble successors continued 

 to do service as a "temple of learning," 

 supported by the Weisels and their neigh- 

 bors, until superseded b}^ the common 

 schools, supported by taxation, the land 

 being sold by Samuel Weisel as agent for 

 the surviving trustees and converted to 

 private use on April 2, i86r. The date of 

 the death of i^Iichael Weisel, Sr., and his 

 wife Susanna has not been definitely ascer- 

 tained. They conveyed the paternal acres 

 to their eldest son Jacob in 1757, and he in 

 turn conveyed a portion thereof to his 

 brother ■Michael, George, the other brother, 

 having settled in Richland township. All 

 that is definitely known is that he was de- 

 ceased in July, 1767, when his son Jacob 

 made the conveyance of the school house 

 lot. Of the children of Michael and Su- 

 sanna Weisel, Jacob, the eldest, survived- 

 his younger brother, living until 1797, and 

 to the age of about eighty years. He was 

 a lieutenant of militia during the Revolu- 

 tionary war. He and his wife Margaret 

 were the parents of five children : Freder- 

 ick, born April 21, 1751 ; Anna Catharine, 

 born March 18. 1756; John, born July 6. 

 1758: George, born June 29, 1761 ; and 

 Maria Elizabeth," born in September, 1769. 

 George Weisel, the youngest son, died in 

 Richland in 1798. leaving sons John, Peter, 

 Jacob, and Joseph, and several daughters. 



Michael Weisel was born in the Pala- 

 tinate in the year I7'20, and was therefore 

 twelve years of age when he accompanied 

 his parents, IMichael and Susanna, to Penn- 

 sylvania. He married Magdalena , 



and was a resident of Bedminster township, 

 Bucks county, until his death, June 24, 

 1796, at the age of seventy-six years. He 

 was a member of Tohickon Reformed 

 church, and the baptism of three daughters 

 appears of record there in 1733-1756 and 

 1758, respectively, but they probably all 

 died young, as no daughters are mentioned 

 in his will. He purchased 253 acres of land 

 adjoining the Bedminster homestead on 

 the south, of Chief Justice William Allen, 

 and also received a conveyance from his 

 brother Jacob for a part of the 281 acres 

 purchased by his father in 1743, and con- 



