HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
 

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CHAPTER   XXXIII.
 

ROCKHI LL.
 

IT^O.
 

Rockhill settled by Germans.—Abraham Wombold, Samuel Sellers, William Ma-
bury.—Manor of Perkasie.—Jacob Stout, Abraham Stout, John Benner, John
Shellenberger.—TheGrofFs.—Mennonites.—Township laid out.—Origin of name.
—Area and population.—Derstein's mill.—Peter Shepherd.—Sellersville.—
Thomas Sellers.—Reverend Peter S. Fisher.—General Frank Fisher.—Bridge¬
town.—Perkasie.—Telford.—Christian Dettra.—Valentine Nichola.—Indian-
field church.
 

Bockhill was one of the objective points of the German immi¬
gration that came up the Perkiomen and set across into Bucks
county from 1720 to 1730. Germans w^ere among its very earliest
settlers, and it has maintained its German status to the present day.

Our knowledge of the Bockhill pioneers is very limited, being of
that class wdiich rarely preserves recorded family history or tradition.
One of the earliest settlers in the w^est end of the towmship, in the
vicinity of where Sellersville stands, w^as Abraham Wombold, wdio
purchased a tract on a branch of Perkiomen in 1738, on which he
built a dwelling, grist-mill and tannery. Here he carried on milling
and tanning for many years, and to him the farmers for many miles
round brought their grain to be ground. He was followed by Sam¬
uel Sellers, wdio built a dwelling, and opened a tavern in it, on the
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