HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.                             209

on Sunday, when the days were long. It is stated in the life of the
Beverend Henry ]\L Muhlenberg, that he visited the remnant of
Dutch Lutherans, at Neshaminy, twenty miles from Philadelphia,
in 1754. They had been served some time by Mr. Van Doran, who
preached to them in a barn. Mr. Muhlenherg visited them every
six weeks in the summer, and preached three sermons each Sunday,
in Dutch, German and English. He says the Dutch Beformed had
a church. The Lutherans were scattered by death, removals, etc.
In the distribution of charities from the classes of Amsterdam, in
April, 1755, " Mr. DuBois, of Northampton," received £21. 5s., and
]\Ir. Dortius £5. 8s. In 1759 £20 were given to Mr. DuBois. In
1760 the congregation maintained a school of sixty boys. Mr. Du¬
Bois officiated for this congregation until his death, December 16th,
1772, a period of nearly twenty-two years.

There is no record of a successor to Mr. DuBois, until 1777, when
he was succeeded by Beverend William Schenck, who was driven
out of New Jersey by the British. He was born in Monmouth
county October 13th, 1740, graduated at Princeton 1767, married
1768, and studied theology with Mr. Tennent. He was chaplain in
the army for a time. He came to Southampton the 3d of March,
1777, and moved to the parsonage, then the farm now owned by
Stephen Bhoads, on the road to Churchville, a quarter of a mile
from the Buck tavern, the 24th of Aprih It is not known liow^ long
he staid, but he was at Pittsgrove in 1783, and probably left South¬
ampton that year or the year before. Mr. Schenck died at Franklin,
Ohio, September 1st, 1827,28 where he had settled in 1817. After¬
ward, in succession, were Beverends Mathias Leydt, who died No¬
vember 24th, 1783, aged tw^enty-nine years, Peter Stryker, in 1788,
who resigned in 1790, Jacob Larzelere, who came October 13th,
1798, and resigned in 1828, on account of declining years, A. O. Hal-

28 The Schencks trace their ancestry back to Colve DeWitte, the founder of the
house, a Hollander who was killed in battle with the Danes in 828. Christian, the
first of the name, butler to the Count of Gulic, called by him Schenck in 1225, Avas a
vounger son of one of the lords of Tontenburg. The name means cup-bearer, butler.
or wine-server. We have seen a copy of the hangman's bill of expenses attending the
execution of Sir Martin Schenck, in Holland, about 1589. He had some sort of "on-
pleasantness" with the powers that be, and to prevent further trouble he was turneil
over to the public executioner. The cost of putting him and three of his faithful
soldiers out of the way was twenty-live guilders and lifteen stivers. It is a quaint old
document. The Reverend William descends from Peter Schenck, who came to Long
Island in 1050. While Mr. Schenck was at Southampton his son .John Noble wa-^
born, Januarv 2Sth, 1778.

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