Bedminster Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania in the 1760s

Work

Farm work and timber

This was a farm township: farming was the main occupation¹, with heavy woods supplying material for homes, barns, and churches¹. Grain mattered beyond the household because Philadelphia prices for wheat reached about 7 to 8 shillings a bushel in 1763¹⁰.

Faith

Deep Run Sundays

Deep Run held several traditions in close reach: Presbyterian, Mennonite, Lutheran, and Reformed churches². The Mennonites had a log meetinghouse probably built in 1746⁴ and, from 1766, a stone meetinghouse⁵.

Law & power

Courts at Newtown

County authority lay away from the farms at Newtown, the county seat from 1726 to 1813⁶. Land power was also visible in ownership, since almost one third of Bedminster¹ had passed to William Allen of Philadelphia.

In the air

Old Side religion

Deep Run Presbyterian life was tied to wider arguments within Presbyterianism; James Latta became pastor at Deep Run in 1761⁷ after training at the College of Philadelphia. A contemporary church world debated authority, learning, revival, and confession.

Home & table

Houses not well recorded

The visible household world is hard to recover: no detailed online description found here gives ordinary 1760s Bedminster farmhouse interiors. What can be said locally is that settlers built with the township's heavy woods¹.

Who lived here

German and Scotch-Irish

The early population came from two streams: Scotch-Irish and German immigrants¹ settled Bedminster in the early 1700s. County history later remembered it as one of the strongly German townships² of Bucks County.

Roads & news

Roads carried news

There was no township press found in this search, so news likely came through Philadelphia and county routes. From 1763, the wider region had stage service on the Old Bethlehem Road⁸.

Year by year

1. 1761James Latta became pastor of the Deep Run Presbyterian Church. here⁷
2. 1763Stage service began on the Old Bethlehem Road on September 10, linking the region more regularly to Philadelphia and Bethlehem. nearby⁸
3. 1763Wheat prices in Philadelphia rose to roughly 7 and then above 8 shillings a bushel, a market fact farmers would feel. nearby¹⁰
4. 1765The Stamp Act crisis began, and Pennsylvania colonists argued over Parliament's power to tax paper, legal documents, and printed matter. the country
5. 1766Deep Run Mennonites built a stone meetinghouse. here⁵
6. 1767The Townshend duties renewed colonial arguments over taxation, trade, and British authority. the country
7. 1769Political tension over nonimportation and imperial taxes remained a subject of discussion across the colonies. the country

What the sources say

• Bedminster Township lay in central upper Bucks County, a landscape described as gently rolling hills. inferred¹
• Deep Run, Mink Run, Deer Run, and Cabin Run were named streams in Bedminster Township. inferred¹
• The township history identifies farming as Bedminster's main occupation for much of its history; in the 1760s this means a farm township rather than an industrial village. inferred¹
• Local history says early settlers used Bedminster's heavy woods for building homes, barns, and churches. inferred¹
• The Deep Run settlement contained Presbyterian, Mennonite, Lutheran, and Reformed churches of early importance. from the sources²
• William Allen deeded 100 acres to Deep Run Presbyterian Church in 1729, restricted to worship use. from the sources³
• The Deep Run Mennonites first worshipped in a log meetinghouse probably built in 1746. inferred⁴
• The Deep Run Mennonite stone meetinghouse was built in 1766 and enlarged in 1795. from the sources⁵
• Newtown served as the seat of Bucks County government from 1726 until 1813, so Bedminster residents' county courts and records were there in the 1760s. from the sources⁶
• Almost one third of Bedminster had been conveyed by the Penn family to William Allen of Philadelphia in 1730. inferred¹
• The earliest settlers in Bedminster were Scotch-Irish and German immigrants in the early 1700s. inferred¹
• A nineteenth-century county history says Bedminster had become one of the strongly German townships of Bucks County. from the sources²
• Deep Run Presbyterian Church was recognized by the presbytery in 1732 and was called the cradle of Presbyterianism north of Neshaminy. from the sources²
• James Latta, born in Ireland in 1732 and educated at the College of Philadelphia, became pastor at Deep Run in 1761 and remained until 1770. from the sources⁷
• The Old Bethlehem Road began stage service on September 10, 1763, giving the wider Bucks region a scheduled route between Philadelphia and Bethlehem. from the sources⁸
• Deep Run flows northeasterly across the southeastern part of Bedminster Township and empties into Tohickon Creek near Randts Mill, about a mile from Pipersville. from the sources⁹
• Philadelphia wheat prices rose sharply in the early 1760s, reaching about 7 shillings a bushel in early 1763 and a little over 8 shillings later that year. from the sources¹⁰
• Pennsylvania's colonial Assembly politics in the 1760s still used property qualifications, including county voting tied to improved land or personal property. from the sources¹¹
• No detailed online description found in this search gives the exact appearance, room plan, or furnishings of ordinary Bedminster farmhouses in the 1760s. not known
• No local 1760s newspaper printed in Bedminster has appeared in the sources searched; news likely came through Philadelphia and county routes rather than a township press. not known

Sources

1. Bedminster Township, PA History. Bedminster Township, PA
2. History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania: Chapter XVIII. Bucks County PAGenWeb
3. 1725: Presbyterian Church of Deep Run, Bedminster, PA. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 2017
4. Generated by Ancestral Quest: Fretz and Deep Run Notes. Hiatt Family
5. Deep Run Mennonite Church East (Perkasie, Pennsylvania, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
6. About Bucks County. Bucks County, PA
7. James Latta 1732–1801. University of Pennsylvania Archives
8. History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania: Chapter VII. Bucks County PAGenWeb
9. Deep Run in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Genealogy
10. Prices in Colonial Pennsylvania. University of Pennsylvania Press reprint via Dokumen, 2016
11. The Revolutionary Movement in Pennsylvania, 1760–1776. University of Pennsylvania / Internet Archive scan, 1901

Nearby, about the same time