In August of 2021 I was asked by members of the Bucks County Historical Society and Mercer Museum to help with an amazing project on the Doan Gang. They were seeking information on the whereabouts of a certain grave site. I had previously come across a few references to this in my research, so I figured why not, I'll give it a shot. It was the start of a fruitful relationship, and many fun adventures continue to come out of it. Here's the research.
BCHS Papers Volume 2 “Newtown Prior to 1800” J. Pemberton Hutchinson, July 21, 1896
As an outcome of these confessions, John Tomlinson, of Wrightstown, at whose house the robbery was planned, was arrested, tried, convicted, hung at Newtown, and buried on his own farm; the stones marking the grave are still to be seen. (p. 399)
There is also a family graveyard on the Hettie Ann Williams farm in Upper Makefield, where a number of graves were one time marked, at present however only two are marked. The farmer’s plow is encroaching and probably in a short time this graveyard will be known only in history. (p. 336)
He [John Tomlinson] was hanged October 17, 1782 and was buried on the hill overlooking Cavey Hollow and a few feet north of the east corner of my farm. (p. 340)
http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/bucks/history/local/davis/davis29.txt
On the old Tomlinson farm, now owned by Hettie Ann Williams, near the Eagle, and a few feet north of Mathias Hall’s line, is a head stone said to mark the grave of John Tomlinson, who assisted the Doanes ... It is said that the walnut tree near his grave has been frequently struck by lightning, and that flowers that bloom but once in a century have bloomed over Tomlinson’s grave. Other members of the family are said to be buried at the same place. Two graves only, are marked.
Interview with Marge Reeve, owner of Egypt Farm, May 21, 1980
John Tomlinson, having harbored and fed them, received 140 hard dollars and a quantity of state money for which he was tried in Newtown, found guilty and hanged on October 17th, 1782. He was buried in a corner of his farm near the boundary with Wiggins’ land. (p. 65)
On the 1891 EP Noll map of Upper Makefield, the owners of the relevant properties match up with Mathias Hall’s 1904 description of the grave location. Hall owned the property adjacent to Egypt farm, then owned by Hettie Ann Williams. From the descriptions in the source articles, one can narrow down the approximate location of the grave.
Hall says that Tomlinson is buried on the hill “a few feet north of the east corner of my farm.”
The 1891 atlas shows where the east corner of his 106 acre farm meets the property of Hettie Ann Williams, right above the 2nd t in Hettie.
Comparing this to a current tax parcel map, we find that the corner of Hall’s farm is now the corner of parcel #47-004-0072-010.
This corner is bounded to the north by 47-004-074-008 and to the east by 47-004-074-010. Both houses were built by Toll Brothers in 2008.
A modern Google Map aerial shows the current view, with the location of the corner in the center of the image:
Given the above information, we can conclude that the location of the Tomlinson family burial ground where John Tomlinson is buried now lies in the rear yard of 47-004-074-008. Note that the house has a basement and a swimming pool — one wonders how close they were dug to the graves.
Clarification of Marge Reeve’s quote:
Marge Reeve’s 1980 interview states that Tomlinson was buried near the boundary with Wiggins’ land. At the time of the event, the Tomlinson farm didn’t border any Wiggins land. By 1876, we can see that there were 3 Wiggins properties bordering Egypt Farm, owned by John Eastburn.
Since Benjamin Wiggins owned the adjacent property that Mathias Hall would later own, we can assume that Reeves was simply naming an earlier owner of the property to describe the location. More attention should be paid to the sources from eighty to one hundred years prior, as they were closer to the time of the actual event. Had this been the only source, then we would need to explore the other corners that border Wiggins’ property. Mathias Hall specified the east corner of his property, which eliminates that necessity.
Family Burial Ground or Single Grave?
Mathias Hall’s 1904 BCHS paper makes separate mention of a “family graveyard” on the property and the location where John Tomlinson was buried. He doesn’t note a connection between the two, leading to the question of whether he’s referencing the same location. A farm of two hundred plus acres could contain more than one burial ground, and Tomlinson could have been buried separately from the family, especially given the circumstances of his death.
The Upper Makefield chapter in Davis’ History of Bucks County helps to clarify; “Other member of the family are said to be buried at the same place. Two graves only, are marked.” This information was not included the first edition (1876) of the book, it was added in the 1905 revision. It is likely that Davis used the info from Hall’s paper from the prior year; making the connection that Hall didn’t spell out.
From the available evidence, it seems most likely that there was one burial ground on the property, consisting of multiple graves. J. Pemberton Hutchinson’s 1896 BCHS paper references “stones” being visible at the site, which is consistent with the later descriptions.
Evidence of the Burial Ground
https://datacommons.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=10af5f75f9f94f01866359ba398cb6a9
The earliest aerial photo available from PennPilot is dated January 5th, 1938. Although there is no visible evidence of any graves, there is the shadow of a larger tree which could be the walnut tree described by Davis.
In 1904, Mathias Hall said The farmer’s plow is encroaching and probably in a short time this graveyard will be known only in history. The aerial photo from October 27, 1950 shows that his prediction was a prescient one. We can see crops growing where the burial ground would be, and no evidence that any special attention was being paid to avoid it.
An image from a real estate listing for 47-004-074-010 gives another view of what the area looks like today:
Remember, this is private property and they do not want people coming to their backyards to dig up graves. Please don't do that. Who knows, you may have somebody buried in your backyard too.
I wrote another blog about a forgotten graveyard in the same general location that was likely the Tomlinson family plot, and not Continental Soldiers. Who knows?
https://buckshistory.blogspot.com/2022/12/a-forgotten-graveyard-in-caveys-hollow.html
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