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The chart of the family of William Buzby that is in my possesion is not going to
photocopy at all well. This William and his children are the generations who first
came to America.
I suggest that you ask the Montgomery County Historical Society for a photocopy
of the family chart. You could send them ten dollars or so for their time and for
copying costs. Their address is:
The Historical Society of Montgomery County
1654 DeKalb Street
Norristown, PA 19401-5415
A letter sent to me by The Historical Society of Montgomery
County tells a story of the origins of the Robert Harper who
married Sarah Buzby. The letter whose photocopy I now have
was written by Charles Harper Smith of Hatboro, PA on June
4, 1942 to Mrs. George Harper of Tigby, Idaho. The letter
says, in part,
"I, too, am descended from Robert Harper and Sarah
Buzby, but I can't give you much information about your
husband's line. I am a great-great-grandson of their
oldest son, Samuel, and have worked out a fair list of
his offspring in connection with a book of family
genealogy which I published some years ago, but I have
never tried to bring the other lines down to date."...
"I happen to be able to give you a few scattered items
about Robert and Sarah themselves. She was a daughter of
John Buzby, a well-to-do Quaker who lived hear the
present town of Frankford, a part of Philadelphia, and
the grand-daughter of William Buzby of the same place,
the first of that family in America. William Buzby's
wife was the former Sarah Seary, widow of Thomas Seary,
one of the very first settlers in Oxford. He died within
a year or two of his arrival and Sarah Seary's house was
the meeting place of Oxford Friends before the completion
of their first log meeting house in 1684.
Robert Harper and Sarah Buzby were married 11 mo 23,
1733 Old Style, that is, on January 23, 1734 by the
modern calendar. They were not married in Friend's
Meeting but in the office of Charles Read, His Majesty's
Justice of the Peace. The ceremony could not be
performed in meeting, for Robert was not then a Quaker,
and Sarah's people were not permitted to attend the
wedding. The marriage certificate is still in the
possession of a member of the Harper family in New
Jersey, and I have a photostatic copy of it.
Robert Harper was at the time an indentured servant of
Sarah's father, John Buzby. He was a penniless young
Scotch-Irishman who had obtained passage from his home in
Belfast by binding himself out as a servant for a period
of seven years after his arrival in Pennsylvania. His
time was just about up when he married his boss's
daughter.
He was a skilled iron and steel worker, and after his
marriage he set up a small factory for the manufacture of
augurs and gimlets along the banks of Tacony Creek, near
his home. He died in 1765, quite well-to-do, and the
business was taken over by his son Samuel, my forebear.
The iron and steel tradition remained in this branch of
the family for many generations, the last iron-monger
being my mother's first cousin, Smith Harper of Fox
Chase, who died a few years ago, well over 90 years of
age. He had operated a very prosperous hoe and rake
factory until about the year 1900, when the Steel Trust
drove him out of business.
Robert Harper was not related to the John Harper
mentioned in your letter. John Harper was an Englishman
and a Quaker before he emigrated. Later he became a
follower of George Keith and joined the Trinity Oxford
Church (Episcopal) near Frankford, where he and his wife
were buried. By coincidence, he had both a son and
grandson named Robert, both living in Oxford township.
The grandson later went South, however, and is said to
have been the founder of Harper's Ferry, Virginia."...
I have been learning about this Robert Harper. I have a
photocopy of Robert's Will.
The Will begins,
"Be it Remembered that I Robert Harper of the township
of the Northern Liberties in the County of
Philadelphia & province of Pensilvania Yeoman Being
Sick & Indisposed in body but through the favour of
Divine Providence am of Sound Disposing Mind Memory &
Understanding...."
"Item I Give Devise & Bequeath to my Oldest Son Samuel
a Certain Messuage Smith's Shop & Lott of Ground
thereunto belonging Scituate in Oxford in the said
County...."
The Will contains the names of Robert's younger sons at that
time: Robert, William and John. It also contains the names
of his daughters: Elizabeth, Sarah, Agness, Rebecca, Mary
and Ruth. The Will wraps up,
"In Wittness Whereof I have hereunto Sett my Hand &
Seal This Second Day of the Third Month (called March)
In the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and
fifty Seven 1757..."
The Codicile to Robert's Will is dated "fourth Day of the
seventh Mo 1765". In it he provides for the two sons who
were born after the writing of the original Will - Nathan
and Benjamin. He also reports that some of his daughters
have married - Elizabeth, Sarah, Agness and Rebecca. That
leaves two daughters unmarried in July of 1765, Mary and
Ruth; they were alive in 1757 so they were at least 8 years
old in 1765.
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