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ELMER P. WEISEL The pioneer ancestor 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. Michael Weisel 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 immigration up the Schuylkill and her eastern tributaries into upper Bucks county, then already 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 township, 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 pioneers in education, as the first land alienated from the family was set off the original plantation for a school house in 1767, with Jacob and Michael Weisel among the trustees, 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humble successors continued to do service as a “temple of learning” supported by the Weisels and their neighbors, until superseded by the common schools, supported by taxation,the land being sold by Samuel Weisel as agent for the surviving trustees and converted to private use on April 2, 1861. The date of the death of Michael Weisel, Sr, and his wife Susanna has not been definitely ascertained. 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 deceased in July, 1767, when his son Jacob made the conveyance of the school house lot. Of the children of Michael and Susanna 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 Revolutionary war. He and his wife Margaret were the parents of five children: Frederick, 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 Palatinate in the year 1720, and was therefore twelve years of age when he accompanied his parents, Michael and Susanna, to Pennsylvania. 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 1753, 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 conveyed
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the greater part of both tracts to his three sons, Michael, Henry and George, during his lifetime, devising to them at his death what remained. Of these three sons,Michael, the eldest, was twice married, his first wife being Catharine and his second, whom he married August 19, 1794, being Mary Sorver. He purchased of his father a portion of the homestead, and also purchased a portion of his grandfather’s original purchase of his uncle Jacob, but later sold his Bedminster land and located in Tinicum township, where he died in 1830, leaving four sons, Michael, Daniel, Tobias, and Samuel, and five daughters, who married into the families of Smith, Bissey and Swartz. George Weisel, the youngest son, born March 11, 1773, married Margaret Sheib, April 19, 1796. He received from his father a portion of the old homestead, but later sold it and removed to Montgomery county, and late in life purchased a farm in Warrington township, later occupied by his son George and grandson Samuel, where he died April 19, 1862, in his ninetieth year.
Henry Weisel, second son of Michael, Jr., and Magdalena, born in Bedminster about 1765, married Eve Shellenberger, a grand- daughter of Johannes Shellenberger, who came from Germany in 1751 in the "Queen of Denmark" and settled in Hatfield township, Montgomery county, later purchasing large tracts of land in Hilltown, Bucks county, upon which his son Conrad, who married Eve Leidy, settled about 1775. Michael and Magdalena Weisel on June 28, 1790, conveyed to their son Henry Weisel, 198 acres of the Allen tract in Bedminster, and he was devised another portion of the homestead by his father's will in 1796. In addition to these he purchased a portion of the land devised to his brother George, and about twenty acres cross the Swamp road in Hilltown, the site of the old Green Tree hotel, near Hagersville. In 1822 he conveyed sixty-five acres of the homestead to his son George, and died seized of most of the other tracts in 1831. Henry and Eve (Shellenberger) Weisel were the parents of six children: Susanna, born 1789, married Philip Fluck; George, born March 28, 1790, married March 31, 1812, Catharine Fluck; Joseph, born July 10. 1793, purchased the homestead at his father's death; Henry, born January 29, 1796, married September 3, 1820, Elizabeth Seiple, and removed to Franconia, Montgomery county; Mary, born 1802, married Henry Eckel, of Bedminster; and Samuel, born August 1, 1804.
Samuel Weisel, youngest son of Henry and Eve, was a lifelong resident of Bedminster and adjoining parts of Hilltown, and died in Hilltown, August 9, 1889. He married. May 24, 1829, Catharine Solliday, born June, 1807, daughter of Peter and Magdalena (Godshalk) Solliday, grand- daughter of Jacob and Barbara (Loux) Solliday, and great-granddaughter of Frederick and Barbara Solliday, who came from Switzerland and settled in Bedminster about 1740.
Frederick Solliday ...(to be transcribed)
Jacob Solliday ... (to be transcribed)
Peter Solliday ... (to be transcribed)
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Charles Gerhart ... (to be transcribed)
Francis S. Weisel. now residing in Philadelphia, was the only son of Samuel and Catharine (Solliday) Weisel, and was born in Bedminster, three miles above Dublin, October 27, 1832. On March 30, 1868, his father conveyed to him the farm and hotel in Hilltown, known as the Green Tree hotel, on the Swamp Road, opposite the old Weisel homestead, and he was the proprietor of the hotel for five years. In 1873 he removed to Telford borough, where he owned and conducted a hotel and was the postmaster of Telford for ten years. He then removed to Doylestown and purchased the Railroad House, which he conducted for four years. In 1887 he removed to hiladelphia, where he has since lived a quiet and retired life. He was a member of the Reformed church until his removal to Philadelphia, but for the past eighteen years has been a member of the Presbyterian church, he and his family being now members of North Broad street Presbyterian church. He married in 1866 Annie E. Bowers, born near Jamison, Warwick township, Bucks county. August 28, 1847, daughter of Charles and Franey (Veronica) Delp Bowers. Charles Bowers, her father, was born and reared in Philadelphia, his father, a native of England, having lived and died in that city, where his son Charles was born in 1803. On arriving at manhood Charles Bowers located in Bucks county, and on his marriage in 1842 settled in Hatboro, Montgomery county. In the spring of 1849 he purchased about twenty acres of land at Jamison, Bucks county, and resided there until his death, December 31, 1871. He married Franev Delp, daughter of George and Margaret (Eydem) Delp, of Bedminster, Bucks county, born 1820, died INIarch. 1850, and they were the parents of five children : Annie E., now the wife of Francis S. Weisel ; Sarah, unmarried; Oliver, died in Warwick in 1874; Margaret and Elwood.
GeorgeDelp ... (to be transcribed)
Francis S. and Annie E. (Bowers) Weisel are the parents of two sons: Elmer P. and Oscar W. Weisel; and a daughter, Florence, who died in infancy.
ELMER P. WEISEL, of 1132 Green street, Philadelphia, was born in Bedminster township, February 23. 1867. His early education was acquired at the public schools of Telford, Montgomery county, and at Sellersville, Bucks county. At the age of fourteen years he entered West Chester State Normal School and graduated from hat institution four years later. After three years spent in teaching in the public schools of Bucks county he went to Philadelphia, and entered the employ of the well known firm of Hood. Bonbright & Co., later Hood, Foulkrod & Co., and remained with that firm until 1894. when he became connected with the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society, 700 Walnut street, where he still holds a responsible position. He joined the Presbyterian church of Doylestown, and during his residence there was a teacher in the Sunday-school connected with that church. Since his residence in Philadelphia he has been a Sunday-school teacher and active church worker there, and has also officiated as organist. He is prominently associated with the Masonic fraternity, being affiliated with Lodge No. 2, Harmony Chapter No. 52, R. A. M., and Mary Commandery No. 36, K. T.. of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Young Republican Club, of the Crescent Boat Club, on the Schuylkill river, and of Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Bank.
OSCAR W. WEISEL, of 1132 Green street, Philadelphia, second son of Francis S. and Annie E. (Bowers) Weisel, was born in Hilltown township, Bucks county, July 22, 1870. He was educated at the public schools of Telford and Sellersville and at the Doylestown Seminary, and later took a two and a half years course at West Chester State Normal School, and then entered Peirce's Business College, Philadelphia, from which he graduated in 1887. He entered the employ of Hood, Bonbright & Company, where he remained until 1890,
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when he went with the Western Savings Fund Societyl, of 1000 Walnut street, and for the past three years has been the manager of Branch Office C of the society at Kensington, Philadelphia. While residing at Doylestown he joined the Presbyterian church there, and has been an active church worker in Philadelphia f or the past eighteen years. He is a member of Lodge No. 2, F. and A. M.; and Mary Commandery, No. 36, K. T., of Pennsyvania. He is also a member of the Crescent Boat Club on the Schuykill river, and of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Bank Clerks.
