My Genealogy Hound

T. ELLWOOD LIVEZEY. The Livezeys are an old family in Plymouth township, although their first ancestor in this country settled at Abington, in which neighborhood many of the name are still found. The name is often pronounced Leusley at the present day, and there would seem to be some reason for such pronunciation as William Penn conveyed to Thomas Leuisley or Leusley of Norton, in the county of Chester, England, March 2-3, 1681, two hundred and fifty acres of land in Pennsylvania.

At Chester Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania, Eleventh-mo. 3, 1686-7, Jonathan Livsly and Rachel Taylor proposed marriage with each other, he residing in Dublin township, Philadelphia county. A month later they were given the liberty to proceed and accomplish their intentions of marriage. The will of Thomas Livezey, of Dublin township, dated Sixth-mo. 12, 1691, was proved Fourth-mo. 22, 1692, showing that he died between these dates. In the will are mentioned his son, Jonathan; daughter, Ann Littlemore and her three children; daughter-in-law, Rachel Livezey ; daughter, Margaret Lorenson and her three children; grandson, Thomas Livezey; and granddaughter, Mary Livezey. The records of Abington Monthly Meeting show that he died Eighth-mo. 19, 1691, and was buried in Oxford township, near Tacony bridge.

Jonathan Livezey died Ninth-mo. 23, 1698, in Dublin township. He was the son of Thomas, and left a widow, Rachel (Taylor) Livezey, who later married Joseph Gilbert of Byberry. Jonathan Livezey was the ancestor of the Livezeys of Montgomery and adjoining counties. His wife, according to a tradition in the Gilbert family, had been brought by her father to America to prevent her from marrying a person of whom he disapproved. The children of Jonathan and Rachel (Taylor) Livezey: Mary, born Twelfth- mo. g, 1687; Thomas, born Tenth-mo. 17, 1689, died Third-mo. 5, 1759, married, in 1710, Elizabeth Heath; Jonathan, born Third-mo. 15, 1692, died Third-mo. 24, 1764, married, in 1717, Esther Eastburn; Martha, born Third-mo. 1, 1694, married, Seventh-mo. 25, 1721, Robert Thomas; Rachel, born Second-mo. 15, 1696, married, in 1717, Evan Thomas; David, born Twelfth-mo. 20, 1697, died Seventh-mo. 1750, married, in 1721, Rebecca Hinkson. It may be added that Mary Livezey married John Paul, and that Rachel, the mother of the children named above, had five children by the second marriage with Joseph Gilbert, one of whom, Benjamin, was the Indian captive whose story of many years spent with the savages is so interesting. He was twice married, his first wife being Sarah Mason and his second, Elizabeth Peart.

Thomas Livezey (great-great-grandfather) who married Elizabeth Heath, was a member of Abington Monthly Meeting. His son, Thomas (great-grandfather) was born First-mo. 25, 1723, and died of palsy, Ninth-mo. 11, 1790. He married, at Abington, Fourth-mo. 2, 1748, Martha Knowles, who was born Fourth-mo. 24, 1723, and died Eleventh-mo. 2, 1797.
Martha, the wife of Thomas, was the daughter of Francis Knowles, whose parents were John and Elizabeth. Francis was born Twelfth-mo. 2, 1685 at West Chester, in Berkshire, Great Britain.

Samuel Livezey, (grandfather) son of Thomas and Martha, was born First-mo. 26, 1760. He was considered unfit for manual labor in his youth on account of a delicate constitution, and therefore engaged in mercantile business. When he was about fifty years of age he became a minister of the Society of Friends, and so continued until his death. He established the store at Plymouth Meeting, on the property which has continued in the family ever since. His wife was Mary Wood. He located at Livezey’s store near Plymouth Meeting in 1788. His children were: Thomas; Martha, who married Jacob Albertson; Rachel, who married Jonathan Maulsby; Samuel; Mary, who married Lewis Jones; Joseph; and Ann, who married William Ely. Samuel Livezey died Ninth-mo. 3, 1840, in his eighty-first year.

Thomas Livezey (father), born Fourth-mo. 27, 1803, died Tenth-mo. 2, 1879. His brothers selecting other business, he became a farmer and storekeeper. He was an influential man in Friends’ meeting and in the community, although not a minister, as was his father. His wife was Rachel, daughter of Joseph and Mary Richardson, of Attleboro (now Langhorne), Bucks county, Pennsylvania. She was born Eighth-mo. 27, 1808 and married Tenth-mo. 18, 1832. She died Sixth-mo. 1890, in her eighty-second year.

The Richards came from England in early colonial times, and have become connected with many Friends’ families in eastern Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Thomas and Rachel R. Livezey had seven sons, as follows: Dr. Edward Livezey, born Eighth-mo. 28, 1833, and died Fourth- mo. 15, 1876; Samuel, born Third-mo. g, 1835; Joseph R., born Ninth-mo. 20, 1838; John R., born Sixth-mo. 21, 1842, and died Second-mo. 13, 1867; Henry, born Twelfth-mo. 24, 1843, and died Ninth-mo. 24, 1846; Henry 2d., born Sixth- mo. 25, 1847, died Twelfth-mo. 4, 1873; and Thomas Ellwood, born Eighth-mo. 11, 1849.

Dr. Edward Livezey studied medicine with Dr. Hiram Corson, graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1859, served a year and a half in the Wills’ Eye Hospital and a year in the Pennsylvania Hospital, also subsequently in the Government Hospital at Broad and Cherry streets during the Rebellion, and located at No. 507 North Sixth street, Philadelphia, where he had a large practice at the time of his death, which occurred suddenly. His wife was Mary
Balderston. He left several children.

Samuel, second son of Thomas and Rachel Livezey, was engaged for many years in the meat packing business in Chicago, but of late years has resided in Norristown. He married, Eleventh-mo. 20, 1877, Mary Roberts, daughter of Hugh and Alice A. Roberts. A sketch of his wife appears elsewhere in this work. Samuel and Mary R. Livezey have one son, Thomas H., born Tenth-mo. 18, 1879. He married, Tenth- mo. 1, 1902, Joanna M., daughter of William (deceased) and Caroline R. Miller. They reside on Marshall street, Norristown.

Joseph R. Livezey, third son of Thomas and Rachel, has long been engaged in the real-estate business in Philadelphia. He married Deborah, daughter of Joseph Morgan. They have two children, Sarah and Morgan.

John R., fourth son, studied conveyancing and was engaged in that business at the time of his death. He died unmarried.

Henry, 1st, died in infancy. Henry, 2d, read law with Judge F. C. Brewster, of Philadelphia, and Daniel H. Mulvany, of Norristown. He was admitted to the Norristown bar, November 10, 1869, and when his promising career was cut short by death he was associated with the late Judge Boyer.

Thomas Ellwood Livezey, the subject of this sketch, was a farmer on the homestead, which has been for three generations in the family. The house in which he resided was built prior to the Revolutionary war. The farm is one of the finest in Plymouth valley, being underlaid with limestone and having extensive quarries which are no longer worked. It has been brought to a high state of cultivation and is very productive. T. Ellwood Livezey married, Eleventh-mo. 16, 1871, Mary E., daughter of James and Mary (Holt) Childs. Their children: Rachel R.. married Samuel Ifill of Germantown, born Eighth-mo. 19, 1872; Anna c., born Tenth-mo. 23, 1874, married Dr. William G. Miller, of Norristown; Mary J., born Twelfth-mo. 21, 1877, died Eighth-mo. 17, 1878; Emma, born Ninth-mo. 30, 1879, died Fifth-mo. 13, 1891;Thomas J., born Sixth-mo. 24, 1881; Walter C., born Ninth-mo. 14, 1884; Tacy B., born Fourth-mo. 30, 1887, died Fifth-mo., 13, 1891; Emily R., born Seventh-mo. 16, 1894.

The Childs family have long been domiciled in Montgomery county and are of English descent. Henry Childs of Colds Hill, Hertfordshire, England, was eminent as a writer and speaker among Friends and was on intimate terms with William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. He bought from Penn five hundred acres of land on January 20, 1687. Accompanied by his son Cephas, he came to America in 1693 and located in Plumstead, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Henry settled finally in Ann Arundel county, Maryland, and in 1715 gave the Bucks county land to his son Cephas, who settled on it, having married in 1716, Mary Atkinson, of Philadelphia. They had nine children, of whom Henry, born January 1, 1725, married Mary Shoemaker of Gwynedd, August 3, 1750. Their children were: Sarah, John, Isaac, George and Thomas. Of these John (great-grandfather of Mary Childs Livezey) was born April 3, 1755, in Plumstead, from which place his father removed with his family in 1776 to Cheltenham, Montgomery county. John married, June 5, 1777, Mary, daughter of Peter Phipps of Abington. They had twelve children, eight of whom grew to maturity, namely: Mary, Peter, Sarah, James, Tacy, Elizabeth, John and Margaret. Peter (grandfather) was born in 1780, in Cheltenham. He married Sarah Rogers and had children, two of whom, James (father) and Sarah, survived to advanced years. Peter married (second wife) Rosanna Lee, of Lower Merion, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Crickbaum) Lee. Their only child was S. Powell Childs, a prominent farmer and leading Republican of Plymouth township, now deceased. James Childs was a farmer residing for many years near Montgomery Square, but the latter part of his life he spent with his daughter’s family on the Livezey farm at Plymouth Meeting. He survived his wife several years, and died at the age of eighty-seven years.

T. Ellwood Livezey was educated in the Friends’ School at Plymouth Meeting and attended Friends’ Central School in Philadelphia one year but was compelled to withdraw at the end of that time on account of ill health and because his services were needed at home in assisting his father on the farm, in which he always took much interest, preferring agricultural pursuits to any other employment. He made farming his lifework and was very successful in it. He was in every respect a first class farmer, his stock being of the finest and best breeds, his crops among the largest in the county, and everything about the farm well cared for. Genial in disposition and always ready to accommodate a friend or neighbor, few men were so popular in the community as he. In politics he was a Republican but he never sought or held office, preferring to attend strictly to business connected with his occupation of farming. He succeeded his father as director in the First National Bank of Norristown, which position he held until his death. He was an active member of the Society of Friends, and for a number of years held the position of overseer in Plymouth Preparative Meeting. For twelve years prior to his death he held the office of treasurer of Gwynedd Monthly Meeting, filling the position with great acceptability. He not only manifested much interest in the meeting but also in the school attached to it, being for twenty-five years a member of the school committee, and for twenty years its treasurer. His hospitable home, being convenient to the meeting house at Plymouth, has for several generations been a resort for Friends in attendance at meetings, and the rites of hospitality were well maintained by T. Ellwood Livezey until his death, which occurred on Tenth-month 8, 1903, as the result of an accident, and by his widow and sons since his death.