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We the People

The population of Pennsylvania in 1776 was approximately 275,000, including 11,000 slaves, making it the third largest American colony. 20,000 people lived in the city of Philadelphia which was a distinct political unit within Philadelphia County. 90% of Pennsylvanians lived in rural areas. One-third of us lived in the three "old" counties of Philadelphia, Chester and Bucks. (Note: Montgomery County was northern Philadelphia County at that time. Chester County was later divided into Delaware and Chester Counties.) The remaining Pennsylvanians were scattered unevenly throughout the eight "back" counties. 
QUILTERS photographed by Clare ReillyBucksCounty was almost entirely agrarian and provided wheat, meat and truck produce locally and to Philadelphia.  70% of the taxable land holdings exceeded the fifty acres sufficient to support a family farm. A quarter of the households were landless. 
The original county seat of Bristol lay across the Delaware River from the early colonial market town of Burlington, NJ.  As the county was settled in an east to west pattern, the county seat shifted to Newtown. During the Revolution these two towns had a combined population of one thousand. The eastern portion of the county was predominantly settled by English Quakers organized into eight meetings. The Presbyterian Scots-Irish settled the Neshaminy watershed in west central Bucks. The Baptists and Dutch Reformed dwelled in between. The upper reaches of the county were sparsely populated with Germans and Quakers. 
The then 11,883 acres of Warwick Township were sparsely populated. In 1759 there were only 138 taxable land holders including John Moland. Twenty-five years later, the population was still only 609 whites and 27 blacks living in 105 dwellings. 
For two weeks in August 1777, an encampment by eleven thousand Continental and militia soldiers would cover the southwestern slopes of Kerr's Hill including the Moland farm, and crowd the Jamison and Ramsey farms along Bristol Road. 
* *  * * *   EXPLORE yOUR PAST  * * * * *

Visit        Learn more about the inhabitants and history of your and our local areas by exploring the USGenWeb Project Archives indexed by state and county.  Click on the desired state in the left-hand column.  Then click on the desired county within that state's map.  

www.usgenweb.org/

 

               Step back and take a broader look at British colonial North American population and its social pecking order at

http://www.usahistory.info/colonial/population.html

 

Read         Learn about the Revolution in Pennsylvania which took place beyond the boundaries of its capital.

Owen S. Ireland, Chapter 2 - Bucks County, p.23-45,

in John B. Frantz & William Pencak (editors), Beyond Philadelphia: the American Revolution in the Pennsylvania hinterland,

University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998.

  

              The presence and influence of many ethnic groups in Pennsylvania are chronicled in the Pennsylvania History Studies series published by the Pennsylvania Historical Association. 

 

              There are many paths to your past.  Why not try these?

Simon J. Bronner, Chapter 11 – Folklore & Folklife,

and
James M. Beidler, Chapter 12 – Genealogy,
Part II: Ways to Pennsylvania's Past
in Randall M. Miller & William Pencak (editors), Pennsylvania: A history of the Commonwealth, Harrisburg, PA: PA Historical & Museum Commission, 2002.
         

Our local browsers can search the Bucks County Library System from home.

ibistro2.buckslib.org/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/57/49?user_id=DYWEB 

 

     

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