Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/625

 COIXMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES Springfield township, Burlington county, West Je rse y, and widow o f Thom as Shinn, of the sam e county and province. H er father, Rich­ a rd Stockton, w as an Englishman of good birth and some fortune, who settled in Flushing, L o n g Island, where he w as lieutenant o f a troop o f horse in 1665, and afterw ard s joined the Society o f Friends und removed to B u r­ lington county. W est Jersey. H e w as ancestor of the Stockton fam ily o f New Jersey. Silas and M ary (Stockton-Shinn) Crispin had is­ su e: Joseph, born Oct. 7, 1698, renKivod lo ITclaw are, where he married Elizabeth Barrett. Henjomin, bom Sept. i, 1699, m arried Aug. 2 1, 1722, M ai^aret, cLiughtcr o f Joshua and M artha O wen, o f Springfield township. A bigail, borik Jan. 20, 17 0 1, m arried John W right, o f Springfield township. S u a s, born M arch 19, 170 2, died in Novem ­ ber, 1749, m arried N ov. 9, 1724, M ary, daughter o f Thom as and Ann (Fcnrson) W etherill, o f Burlington. M ary, bom M ay I2, 170 5, m arried N ov. 6, 172 7, m om as ILirl, o f Burlington county. Jo h n, born Dec. 1 1. 17 0 7; nothing more known. A fte r SiLis Crispin's death his widow, M ary (Stockton-Shinn) Crispin, married third, Sept. I I, 17 14, Richard R idgw ay, J r ., of Springfield tow nship; she had no issue by him. T h o m a s C u tsrts, eldest surx’iving son of S ila s and Esther (H olm e) Crispin, w as bom Ju n e 22, 1694, on his father's plantation in I.ow er Dublin township, IdiiLidclphia county, which he afterw ards inherited, and made his home the remainder o f his life. He and his sisters (o f the full blood) inherited through their mother their grandfather Capt. Hkomas Holm e’s plantation, called W ell Spring, and land adjoining, amounting in all to over 2 ,10 0 acres, which in 172 3 w as divided among the then living heirs. One acre laid out by Capt. Thom as Holm e for a fam ily graveyard, in iCp4, w as reserved for their use in common; it ts still held by trustees composed o f descend­ an ts o f Thom as Holme, and known as the C ris­ pin Cemetery Corporation. The tm siccs at the present time are M r. M ercur, O liver H ough, M. Jackson Crispin, C G. Crispin and J. S. Clark. T his graveyard is located aliout a m ile northwest of the main street of Holmcsburg, and a short distance from Rowland sta­ tion on the Bustleton branch of the i^cnnsylvania railroad. In an article in the Frtutkford H erald, 1B95, O liver Hough tells us that: On Wednesday aflernoon, Noyctnber 20. 1895. tbe two surviving trustees of the Ctispi® Cemetery Cur-

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poration. M r. B. F. Crispin, o f West Philadetphia, and Mr. Charles Green, o f Sandiford. Fhiladelphia. met at the home o f George S. O ark, Hsq.. in BoltfiesUurg, for the purpose of filling the three vacancies in tlic Board o f Trustees and to rcor® gaitize the corporation, which for thirty-two years has been dormant, the last meeting having been held in April, iBbj. Messrs. Crispin and Green first held a preliminary meeting and nllcd two of the vacan­ cies, by electu^ as Trustees, Mr. Jam es Watts M er­ cur, o f W allingford, Delaware County, F a, and Mr. Oliver Hough, o f Philadelphia. These two gcntkmcn being in waiting, a meeting of the Ikard was thcB held, ami an organization was effected. M r. Crispin being made President, M r Green, Treas­ urer. and Mr. Hough. Secretary. The last vacancy in the Hoard was thrn filled by the election o f Gen­ eral Wilbam W alts Hart Davis, o f Doykstown. Bucks County, Pa., as the fifth trustee. This corporation is not a public cemetery company, nor in any sense a finandal insuiutkm, but was chartered to protect the interests of the heirs in a private family btirying-grouiid, laid out by Capt. Thomas Holme in the year 1694, for the use of himself and his descendants. In an account of the burying-ground. written by Silas Crispin, son o f Thomas, in 1794, he says that only about a quarter o f an acre was then tn use; this was in the northern corner of the lot. On .April I. 1825, the dcKcndants o f Thomas Crispin met at the house o f Benjamin Crispin in Holmesburg. when Paul Crispin and Robert C. Green were appointed a committee to visit George Henry Walker, who then owned the estate of Longford. Mr. W'alkcr agreed to preserve the plot and keep it in good order. He kept his agreement, but as the ground was unen­ closed. it was found that cattle sometimes wandered in and trampled down the mounds and broke some u f the tombstones. Therefore, on January 22. 1831, the descendants again met at Benjamin Crispin's and formed a society called the '‘Crispin BurialGnmnd Community** to take eharge of the property. The members o f this society then present or after­ wards admitted w ere: Benjamin Crispin. Paul Crispin, George Crispin. John Creighton. Jam es A. Creighton. Thomas Creighton. George C. Creighton. Robert C. Green. Jam es D. Me Kean and Paul K. Hubbs. The ‘’Community" had the ground surveyed the same year and fenced in the part then in use. They afterwards held annual meetings until 1R40 In the latter year Beniamin Crispin introduced a bill in the Slate Legislature, o f which he was a member, which passed both houses, and was ap* proveil by the Governor in the session in iRio. incor­ porating Benjamin Crispin. Paul Crispin, Robert C. (ireen, Thomas Creighton and Jam es A. Creighton, and their successors, under the title of the "Crispin Cemetery," to lake eharge of the burial-ground. These incorporators, or trustees, as xhty afterwards called themselves, divided the ground into twentyfour lots, part o f which they assigned to the differ­ ent bratKhes of the family, two lots being reserved for the church, and one fur strangers or persons not connected w ith the Crispin family. They planted a cedar heiige around the whole acre und ce<lar trees tn mark the lymndariet o f lots. V ery few* per«ons not connections were ever buried there. In 1847 or 1H48 Roliert C. Green, of Sandy Hill, look charge of the cemetery tinder a lease, he keeping it in order in consideration of the profits from hay. etc.. grown on the unused portion. He renovated ahout twentyfive or thirty of the graves, but when he gave up the