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PAGE 454: LEMUEL HASTING DOYLE, of Doylestown, Wisconsin, editor and proprietor of the "Badger Blade," and for the past twenty-five years actively interested in journalist work in
Wisconsin, was born November 26, 1832, at Mount Washington, Steuben county, New York, and is a descendant of the Doyle family of Bucks county, for whom our county seat is named.
Edward Doyle, the pioneer ancestor of the family and the great-great-great-grandfather of Lemuel H. Doyle, came to Bucks county from Newport, Rhode Island, with his father-in-law, Reverend Thomas Dungan (an account of whom is given in this volume) and settled on land taken up by the Dungans in Bristol township. On June 9, 1696, he purchased of his brother-in-law, Clement Dungan, fifty acres of land on the banks of the Delaware
and lived there until his death in the latter part of 1702, leaving a will dated September 16, 1702. He married Rebecca Dungan and had at least three children, Edward, Clement, and Elizabeth, who married Joseph Fell, the pioneer ancestor of the Fell family of Bucks county. Edward and Clement Doyle, the sons of Edward and Rebecca, both settled near Doylestown ; Edward on the present site of the borough and county seat, and Clement a mile north of the present borough, and both reared families whose descendants are now widely scattered over the United States, none of the name residing in the county where their ancestor was one of the earliest settlers, though one branch
of the descendants of Edward recently resided just over our borders In Montgomery county, and others reside in Philadelphia, the late James B. Doyle, the architect and builder of our court house in 1877, being a descendant of the founder of Doylestown. Edward Doyle, second, purchased a tract of land fronting on our present Court street, Doylestown, Bucks county, then the line of New Britain and Warwick township, in 1730, and resided there until his death in 1770. He was a farmer, but does not seem to have been a successful agriculturist. His estate was sold
by the sheriff and purchased by his son, William Doyle, for whom the town was named. He had sons, William, Edward, and Jeremiah, and daughters Rebecca, wife of Richard Freeman, and another who married a Rees. William Doyle, son and grandson of Edward Doyle, was born in Bucks county about the year 1720. In 1745 he petitioned the court for recommendation to the governor for a license to keep a "house of entertainment" in New Britain township, near the crossing of the two great roads across, the county, at the present site of
Doylestown, and his petition was granted and a license issued. He continued to keep the inn on the New Britain side of the line until I7S2, when he purchased two acres covering the present site of the Fountain House then in Warwick township, and the following year was licensed to keep his inn at that place and regularly conducted the old hostelry there from which the town took its name until 1775, when he sold it and removed to Plumstead township, and is supposed to have followed some of his children outside of the county soon after; a theory that seems to be borne out by the fact that there is no further record of him in Bucks county after about 1785, and no probate record of the settlement of his estate in the county of his birth. The little hamlet that grew up
about his tavern known first as "Doyle's Tavern," a noted stopping \place for travelers in colonial times traveling from the Delaware to the Welsh settlements in Montgomery county and from Philadelphia to the "Forks of the Delaware," now Easton, came in the beginning of the revolutionary war to be known as "Doyle Town," and being the geographical center of the county became the county seat in 1812. William Doyle married first about 1742, Martha Hellings, probably his second cousin, as Elizabeth Dungan, a sister of his grandmother, married Nicholas Hellings. She was at least a daughter of Nicholas Hellings of Newtown, and is mentioned in his will in 1745. William Doyle
married (second) about 1775 Olive Hough, widow of John Hough and daughter of Hezekiah Rogers of Plumstead township, Bucks county. No authentic list of the children of William and Martha (Hellings) Hough is obtainable, as they seem to have left the place of their nativity on reaching manhood and womanhood. Two at least of his sons, Samuel and William, found homes in Northumberland county soon after the close of the revolutionary war. William
PAGE 455 was commissioned sergeant of Captain
Thomas Robinson's ranging company in that county, February 10, 1781; the lieutenant being Moses Van Campen, the celebrated Indian fighter. This William Doyle became a colonel in the army operating against the Indians on the frontier in the period following the revolution and up to the second war with Great Britain. He served under General Harrison at the battle of Tippecanoe, and was brevetted brigadier-general for conspicuous bravery
in that action. He died soon after the close of the war of 1812-14, and was buried at Fort Meigs, Ohio. The town of Doylestown, Ohio, was so named in his honor. Samuel Doyle, the grandfather of
Lemuel H. Doyle, was born in Bucks county in the year 1752. He served as a soldier during the revolutionary war, during the latter part of which he was a member of Captain Thomas Robinson's ranging company from Northumberland, and was a friend and associate of Moses Van Campen, the noted Indian fighter who commanded the company as lieutenant in many expeditions against the Indians of the frontier. He obtained a patent for 400 acres of land in Point township, Northumberland county, where he resided until about 1794, when he formed one of a colony of Pennsylvanians that settled at Painted Post, later called Bath, Steuben county,
New York, where he died in 1817. He married Mary Arbor, who was born in Monmouth county. New Jersey, and died at Bath, New York, in 1836, at the age of eighty-four years. They reared a large family of children, of whom Charles Carroll Doyle was the eldest and Joseph, the father of Lemuel H. Doyle, was the youngest. A daughter was the first white child born in
the new settlement of Bath. Charles Carroll Doyle, eldest son of Samuel and Mary (Arbor) Doyle, born at Bath, Steuben county, New York, in 1793, served in the war of 1812-14, and at its close settled in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he died in July, 1866. He married Mary Robinson, of Pittsburg, a granddaughter of Peter Wile, of Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania, who was a soldier in the revolutionary war. Charles Carrol and Mary (Robinson) Doyle were the parents of three sons and five daughters, among whom was Henry H. Doyle, a prominent business man of Pittsburg. Joseph Doyle was born in the village of
Bath, Steuben county, New York, June 4, 1805. He received a common school education in the crude frontier schools of that vicinity, and was reared to the life of a farmer, which vocation he followed in Steuben and Allegheny counties, New York, until 1852, when he engaged in the mercantile business at
Swainville, New York, and became the first postmaster there. He continued in the mercantile and hotel business the remainder of his life. In January, 1866, he removed to Doylestown, Wisconsin, where he died August 29. 1883. He was a member of the Baptist church, and in politics gave his allegiance to the Republican party, after its formation. He was three times married, first on
January 10, 1832, to Hannah Seager, born in Dryden, Tompkins county, New York, May 7, 1807, died in North Almond, Allegheny county, New York, October 5, 1839. The children of this
marriage were: Lemuel Hasting, the subject of this sketch; Mary Maria, born at Mount Washington, Steuben county, New York, June 26, 1835; and William Nelson, born at Mud Creek, Steuben county, August 21, 1837. Joseph Doyle married (second)
January 24, 1842, at Burns, Allegheny county, New York, Betsy Starr, who died May 14, 1844, leaving an only child, Vine Starr Doyle, born August, 1843, now residing at Doylestown, Wisconsin. Joseph Doyle married (third) on September I, 1844, Phebe Penfield, and six children were born to this union: Charles Arnold, born June 24, 1845, at North Almond, now living at Pardeeville, Wisconsin, who has been for forty years in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company; Joseph Alonzo, born April 4, 1847, now residing at Huntsville, Missouri, who has been for nearly forty years in the employ of the Wabash Railroad Company; Hannah Melissa, born December 14, 1848, at North Almond, Allegheny county; Delia Elvira, born April 14, 1852, at Whitney's Valley, New York; Henry Albert,
born March" 17, 1854, at Swainsville, New York; and Julia Ellen, born at the same place, November 20, 1855. William Nelson Doyle, the second son, resides at Nile, Allegheny county, New York. He served for three years during the civil war as a member of Company K, I361B Regiment New York Volunteers. Lemuel Hastings Doyle, born at Mount Washington
, New York, November 26, 1832, was educated at the common schools of Allegheny county, New York, supplemented by a term at the academy at Nunda, Livingston county, New York. At the age of twenty
years he removed to Columbia county, Wisconsin, near the present site of Doylestown, Wisconsin. In November, 1859, he removed to Waterloo. Iowa, but returned to Columbia county, Wisconsin, in June, 1865, and purchased 235 acres
of land on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad, then just completed, and in August of the same year laid out the village of Doylestown and was appointed the first postmaster there, holding that position for fifteen years. He was also station agent and express agent for seven years, resigning and naming his brother, Charles A. Doyle, his successor. He was also supervisor of the town of Otsego, in which the villages of Doylestown, Rio and Otsego were located; was secretary and director of the Columbia County Agricultural Society for seven years; postmaster of
Rio, August, 1809, to August, 1803; member of the village board, village clerk, justice of the peace and police justice. In 1878 he sold his Doylestown real
PAGE 456 estate and purchased 300 acres three miles north of Doylestown, 200 of which he still owns and upon which he still lives, enjoying the pleasures of
a life in the country, though doing business in the town, and always keeping in touch with the outside world by telephone and free rural mail delivery. He first engaged in newspaper work in 1883 as agricultural editor of "The Prohibitionist," at Milwaukee. Wisconsin, and in March, 1885, became associated with the late Judge G. J. Cox, of Portage, Wisconsin, under the firm name of L. H. Doyle & Co., in the publication of "The Portage Advertiser," which they disposed of in less than a year. In September, 1885, he established "The Columbia County Reporter," at
Rio, and published it until May I, 1893. In 1902 he established a second paper at Rio, known as "The Badger Blade," which he still publishes and in connection therewith conducts a first-class job office, both ventures proving a success, "The Blade" enjoying a large circulation, and his job office is doing an extensive business. In politics Mr. Doyle is a Republican. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for thirty-five years, and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since the lodge was organized in
Rio, and has served as its representative in the grand lodge of Wisconsin for several years. He has been twice married; first to Amanda Jane Hall, who .was born February 23, 1833, at South Dansville, Steuben county, New York, and died at Whitney's Valley, New York, September 16, 1857, to whom he was married December 3, 1856.
He married (second) at Fountain Prairie, Wisconsin, September 27, 1858, Mary Jane Edwards, eldest daughter of David and Mary H. Edwards, and a descendant of Reverend Jonathan Edwards, the eminent divine. She was born at West Troy, Walworth county, Wisconsin, September 5, 1843
, and died at Rio, Wisconsin, January 5, 1902. They were the parents of two sons: Edwards Joseph, born November 16, 1863
, at Waterloo, Iowa, now residing at No. 298 Van Buren street, Chicago
; and Lemuel Hobart, born June 15, 1868, at Doylestown, Wisconsin, and still residing on the farm there.
CHARLES CARROL DOYLE, named for Charles Carrol of Carrolton, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, and son of Samuel and Mary (Arbor) Doyle, born in Bath, Steuben county, New York, in 1793, was the grandfather of Mrs. Henry Clay McEldowney. At the age of nineteen he enlisted in a New York
regiment for the war of 1812-14, and served until its close, participating in the battle of Lundy's Lane in 1814. After the close of the war he married Mary Robinson, then living near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an orphaned granddaughter of Peter Wile, of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, who was a soldier in the revolutionary war, and settled near
Pittsburgh, where he died in July, 1866. Charles Carrol and Mary (Robinson) Doyle were the parents of the following children: Margaret McCaffery, died in 1880; Nancy Power, died in 1887; Susan, wife of James C. Elliot, still living; Maria, widow of Seth Wilmot: Sarah, widow of John Dobson; Joseph Alexander, born in 1820, still living; William Bentley, born 1824, died 1891 ; and Henry Harrison, born September 24, 1840.
Henry Harrison Doyle, of Pittsburgh, is a prominent business man of that city, being engaged in the real estate and insurance business. He married Susanna Evans, born in Pittsburg, daughter of John and Mary Evans, natives of Wales. Mr. Doyle is a veteran of the civil war, having served first in Company G, 28th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and later in Battery C, Independent
Pennsylvania Light Artillery. The children of Henry H. and Susanna (Evans) Doyle are: Mary Emma, wife of Adam Redenbaugh; Henry Harrison, Jr., M. D., married Clara Carey; John, unmarried; Annabel, wife of Henry Clay McEldowney: Joseph Alexander, married Gertrude Stolzenbach; and Marion Robinson, unmarrried. |
