History of Bucks
County, Pa Volume 3 by William H. Davis
|
WILSON B. McKINSTRYWILSON B. McKINSTRY. Nathan McKINSTRY, the founder of the McKINSTRY family in this country, was a native of the north of Ireland. He was born in the year 1712 and came to this country when a youth. In connection with a brother-in-law, Hugh YOUNG, they purchased in 1744 a tract of 195 acres in Wrightstown, which they subsequently divided. Ten years later he sold his Wrightstown farm and removed to that part of Buckingham township now included in Doylestown township, where he purchased a farm of 202 acres and resided thereon until his death, April 15, 1790. He and his wife Mary were active members of Neshaminy Presbyterian church of Warwick township, of which he was a trustee. Their children were John, born 1736, died 1791; Jane, born 1745, married James KERR, died 1797; Samuel, born 1748, died January 24, 1796; Henry, born 1750, died November 28, 1894; William, born 1752, died ----; Robert, born 1756, died July 25, 1834. Robert McKINSTRY, youngest son of Nathan and Mary, was born on the Buckingham homestead in 1756, and remained there until his father’s death in 1790. He married in 1783 Mary Weir, daughter of James WEIR, of Warrington. Her sister, Rebecca WEIR, married John SIMPSON and became the grandmother of U. S. GRANT. The distinguished soldier and statesman, shortly after his graduation at West Point, paid a visit to his cousins, the McKINSTRYs of Warrington. On the marriage of Robert McKINSTRY, his father built a house for him on the old homestead, but at the settlement of his father’s estate he did not elect to retain any of the paternal farm, and took up his residence in New Britain. He died July 25, 1834. His wife Mary died April 6, 1846, at the age of eighty-nine years. Robert and Mary (WEIR) McKINSTRY were the parents of seven children, viz: Jane, born 1784, died unmarried April 24, 1869; John, born November 1, 1786, died unmarried September 24, 1863; Nathan, born January 29, 1791, died December 23, 1862; Robert born 1793, died September 5, 1871; William, born 1796, settled in Ohio; James, born 1799, died 1877; and Henry, born 1805. Robert McKINSTRY, wife and their five sons and one daughter who remained in Bucks county were all active and consistent members of Neshaminy Presbyterian church: John was for a long period a trustee; and Henry and Nathan were elders. In their later days services were frequently held in their houses. John, Nathan, James and Henry lived in Warrington, and Robert lived and died on the homestead in New Britain; he left no issue. Henry McKINSTRY, the youngest son of Robert and Mary, was reared on the homestead, and early in life learned the trade of a carpenter, which he followed for several years. In April, 1832, he purchased of Anthony ROBINSON, a farm of ninety acres, and erecting an entirely new set of buildings thereon settled down to agricultural pursuits. He married, November 29, 1838, Amanda BRADY, daughter of Alexander BRADY, of Philadelphia, but for many years a resident of Warrington, where he died in 1863. Henry McKINSTRY was an elder in the Neshaminy Presbyterian church for a number of years. He was active and prominent in social and political matters of his community, and served several years as school director. After a long and useful life, he died in 1885 at the age of eighty years. His wife Amanda died in August, 1902. The children of Henry and Amanda (BRADY) McKINSTRY were five in number viz; Sarah, Mary, Wilson Brady, Henry Martyn, and Franklin Pierce. Sarah married David CORNELL: Mary married Samuel McNAIR; and Franklin married Jennie BOILEAU. He is now a prominent physician of Washington, New Jersey. Wilson Brady McKINSTRY, eldest son of Henry and Amanda (BRADY) McKINSTRY, was born March 1, 1846, on the farm where he still resides. On arriving at manhood he assumed the conduct of the home farm which he purchased at the death of his mother. In politics he is a Democrat, but has never sought or held other than local office. He has been a member of the local school board for nine years, serving both as treasurer and president of the board. He and his family are members of Neshaminy Presbyterian church, with which the family has been connected for four generations. He married in 1876 Matilda BREUHL, born in Philadelphia, in 1855, a daughter of John BREUHL, a native of Alsace, who came to this country when a youth and settled in Bucks county. To Wilson and Matilda (BREUHL) MCKINSTRY have been born four children, viz: Mary, died in infancy; William, Henry and Herbert. William and Henry are electricians and are both actively interested in the telephone business. William married Mary STOCKER, and lives in West Chester. Test taken from page 246-247 of: Davis, William W. H., A.M., History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1905] Volume III Transcribed September 2001 by Joan Lollis of IN. as part of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project, www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html Published September 2001 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb pages at www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/ |
| ||||||||||||||||||
Page was last edited:
11/15/2008