My Genealogy Hound

MRS. ANNA H. GRISCOM, widow of Joseph W. Griscom, and daughter of Charles and Mary (Buckman) Harper, is a native of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, where she has made her home throughout her entire life. For three terms Mrs. Griscom has efficiently and faithfully performed the duties of postmaster of that borough. She is also a director of the Abington Library Society of Jenkintown, and vice-president of the Jenkintown Day Nursery and Kindergarten. She is a member of the Episcopal church of that place. Mr. Griscom died August 22, 1892.

Joseph W. Griscom was born at Woodbury, New Jersey, May 5, 1852, a son of David and Jane (Whitlock) Griscom. His mother’s parents (Whitlocks) were residents of Frankford, where they resided for many years. They were consistent members of the Society of Friends. Joseph W. Griscom was one of a family of six children. He was educated in the schools of Woodbury, the Friends’ Central School of Philadelphia, and after a regular course graduated from the College of Pharmacy in Philadelphia. He practiced his profession as a chemist up to 1883, when he met with a serious accident caused by a chemical explosion, which incapacitated him for further work in his profession. He died August 22, 1892. Mr. Griscom married Anna H. Harper on October 10, 1877.

Charles Harper, father of Mrs. Anna H. Griscom, was a native of Jenkintown, where he was born February 15, 1829. He was a lifelong resident of the town, and one of its most useful and progressive citizens. He died April 5, 1898. When eleven years of age he entered the general store of Thomas Hallowell, on the Old York Road, in the capacity of clerk, a position which he filled for several years. He then formed a partnership with William M. Buckman, and together they conducted successfully a general merchandise business for a number of years, when Mr. Harper purchased Mr. Buckman’s interest in the business, operating it in his own interests for many years. He was identified for over half a century with the general mercantile business in Jenkintown, and on his retirement from that occupation became engaged with his son, Thomas B. Harper, in the sinking of artesian wells. In 1880 he erected the handsome residence at the corner of Cedar street and West Avenue, in Jenkintown, now occupied by Mrs. Griscom, where he continued to reside until his death. Mr. Harper was a member of town council for several terms, was at one time a member of the school board, and also held the position of postmaster. He was a charter member of Friendship Lodge, No. 400, Free and Accepted Masons, and of Abington Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He took an active interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of his native town. His cheerful and hopeful temperament rendered him a favorite with all classes of the community in which he lived. Charles Harper married, in 1852, Mary Buckman, born in December, 1833, died in August, 1903. Their children: Anna H. (Mrs. Griscom); Emma C., wife of Franklin Betts; Thomas B., burgess of Jenkintown; Adeline H. The children of Franklin and Emma C. Betts are Charles Harper, Frank and Ralph W. Charles Harper Betts married Harriet Hutzzell, and they have one child, Virginia Hampton.

The Buckman family have long been settled in Pennsylvania. Thomas Buckman, great-great-great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, accompanied William Penn from England to America in 1682, and settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he conducted business as a blacksmith. His son Thomas succeeded to his father’s business, and located in Newtown, at that time the county seat of Bucks. He married, his children being Thomas, Jesse, Phebe (Mrs. Kelly), and Hannah (Mrs. Leedom). Thomas and Jesse, of the sons, were both blacksmiths, the first named marrying Mary, daughter of Abram and Rachel Harding, also of Bucks county. The children of Thomas and Mary (Harding) Buckman: Abram, Priscilla, (Mrs. Jacob Twining), Rachel, (Mrs. Chillian Cooper), Hannah, Harding, Mary (Mrs. William Bailey), Phebe (Mrs. John Jones), Thomas, Sarah Ann (Mrs. John Jones), William and Benjamin. Of these children Thomas was born December 11, 1802, in Falls township, Bucks county, and after a period of early youth spent with his parents became a member of the family of his brother Harding. He next became a resident of Moreland township, in the county of Montgomery, where he was interested in agricultural pursuits, renting and cultivating a farm. He resided on it for three years, when he removed to Abington township immediately adjoining, and occupied a farm in the vicinity of Jenkintown. Mr. Buckman continued his vocation of farmer for a number of years, until an opportunity presented itself to him to engage profitably in the business of lime burning, to which he devoted himself for six years, also purchasing a farm in the state of Delaware, Later he became a resident of Cheltenham township, purchasing land on which he resided for a period of eight years. In the year 1851 he purchased a farm in Abington township, on which he spent the remainder of his life. He married in 1828, Ann, daughter of Clement and Rebecca Comly. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Buckman: Amos, Alfred, Mary (Mrs. Charles Harper, mother of Mrs. Anna H. Griscom); Jacob, a farmer of Plymouth township, in Montgomery county; William, Thomas and, Joseph. The mother died in 1861, and Mr. Buckman married in 1864, Mary Ann, daughter of Thomas Brooke, who served in the war of 1812, and granddaughter of Major William Brooke, a soldier of the war of the Revolution. By the second marriage there were two sons, Linford and Jesse. Mrs. Buckman’s mother died in 1883, in her ninety-first year. Thomas Buckman was a member of the Society of Friends and attended Abington Meeting, near his home. In politics he was a Republican, although he never sought or held office.

The Abington Library Society, with which Mrs. Griscom is connected as a director, is one of the most useful institutions of the kind in eastern Pennsylvania. At the beginning of the last century Jenkintown was a village of twenty-five houses. The residents therein were, however, desirous of being intelligent, and they accordingly held a public meeting on the 19th of February, 1903, for the purpose of establishing a library. Thirty-three members were enrolled, and John Morrison, Ebenezer Hickling and William Johnson were appointed a committee to prepare by-laws. The members of the society were in many cases the founders of the prominent families of the present day in the vicinity. Goldsmith’s “Animated Nature” was the first book purchased, for $6.50 and it is still in the library in a good state of preservation.

The first election of officers took place January 2, 1804, when John Morrison, John Michener, Thomas Shoemaker, John Moore and Richard T. Leech were chosen directors; William Johnson, treasurer, and Jesse Johnson, librarian. It was then decided to procure a charter. The charter was granted September 5, 1805, and is still preserved in the archives of the society. Besides the names already mentioned, it bears those of Rynear Tyson, Clement R. Shepherd, David Thomas, James Oram, William McCalla, Isaac Clayton, Peter Johnson, Daniel Fletcher, Charles Hallowell, Joseph Phipps, Thomas Fletcher, Isaac Hallowell and Joseph Iredell. These names represented a member of the assembly, a justice of the peace, three merchants, a real estate agent, two physicians, and, in fact, most of the leading citizens within a mile of Jenkintown. January 6, 1806, the membership fee was fixed at $6, the annual dues being $1.50. The membership fee was increased in 1809 to $8, and in 1815 to $10, being reduced in 1821 to $6, and still later to $3, and in 1902 to $1, which also covers the use of the library for one year from the date of payment. It is the desire of the directors to make the library practically free under certain restrictions to the citizens of Jenkintown and of the townships of Abington and Cheltenham, the management to remain in the hands of the regularly elected members. It has now about two hundred members.

Among the early members were Rev. Robert Steel, who became a member in 1826, Isaac Mather, still living, in 1827. Isaac Mather became treasurer in 1835, serving until 1848. He served as president from January, 1850, until January, 1903. Charles F. Wilson became a member in 1848, and served as librarian from that time until 1878. The library was for many years located in a room over Charles F. Wilson’s store at York Road and Greenwood avenue. In 1878 it was removed to a room in the rear of Ridpath’s drug-store, in Masonic Hall. Four years later it was removed to a room in the rear of the one it now occupies. Owing to a lack of funds to pay the rent, after seven years it was removed to a room over Joseph Dilworth’s grocery store, whose owner, Charles Wilson, generously donated it free of rent for several years. The number of members had fallen in 1902 to thirteen, when the membership fee was reduced from $3 to $1, and 123 persons were immediately elected members. The northeast room on the first floor of Masonic Hall was secured, and the library has entered on a new lease of life, having nearly five thousand volumes on its capacious shelves. The following paragraph from the report presented at the meeting of the Society on June 12, 1903, will give an idea of its condition at that time:
“During the year 1903, $2,636.33 has been received by the Society, $550 of which was given for the purpose of creating an endowment fund. This sum has been securely invested. For current expenses there has been paid during the year $689.20, and for the purchase of books $846.12, leaving the sum of $551.01 in the treasury of the library.”

The officers are: President, Clement B. Newbold; secretary, Charles Mather; treasurer, Rudolph J. Mitchell; directors, Andrew H. Baker, Theodore B. Culver, Mrs. Daniel S. Marritt, Mrs. Nathan B. Gaskill, Miss M. W. Lippincott, Rev. Roberts Coles, John W. Ridpath, Mrs. Gideon Stoddart, Mrs. Harry E. Depuy, Miss Helen E. Williams; Mrs. Anna H. Griscom, secretary of board of trustees; Florence M. Ridpath, librarian. The institution is thus in a most flourishing condition.