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Facts and Events
Record in Pennsylvania
- from "A collection of papers read before the Bucks County Historical Society (1908)", pg. 304:
- Bedminster has always been a distinctively German township. In 1733, a tract of 6,653 acres was surveyed to William Allen, Esq.. in right of his purchase of 10,000 acres of William Penn, Jr. It embraced the whole central portion of the township and was divided into about 50 farms varying in size from 100 acres to 175 acres, and was sold on easy terms, mostly to Mennonist emigrants from the Palatinate; the earliest deeds to the Germans are dated 1750, but the greater number of them bear date from 1762 to 1768.
- The earliest deeds however refer to the grantees of 1762-3 as already in possession in 1750, showing that there was some scheme of sale which put the purchasers in possession long before they obtained a free title. This was a favorite plan of William Allen to encourage the settlement and improvement of his many vast tracts of land. Among the earliest settlers was Jacob Leatherman who arrived from Germany in the "Lydia," September 29. 1741, then aged 32 years, with his wife, Magdalene, and two sons, Jacob and Abraham, the latter but two years of age. Six other children were born to him, three sons, Michael, Henry and John, and three daughters. Madalene, who married Jacob High, of Hilltown; Catharine and Ann who died single. The land taken up by Jacob Leatherman consisted of over 300 acres lying in two tracts immediately north of the Mennonite meetinghouse at Deep Run. Jacob Leatherman died February, 1769. His wife, Magdalene survived him several years. 141 acres of the land were conveyed by Allen to Jacob Leatherman for the eldest son in 1767, and the other tract, 162 acres, was conveyed to the executors of Jacob Leatherman. Sr., in 1770; the deed recites an agreement to convey, etc. Abraham Leatherman, the second son, died in 1823. aged 84 years. Tilman Kolb, Jr.. and David Kolb. probably sons of the Skippack Dilman Kolb. Sr., obtained deeds for large tracts here in 1754. John Booz, who arrived in the "Glasgow,"' September 9, 1738, purchased 250 acres near the southeast corner of the tract. Adjoining him were Wiilliam Moyer, David and Christopher Angeny.
References
- Ancestry Family Trees. (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.)
Ancestry Family Trees.
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