Rue-Bispham Family Cemetery

Bensalem Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania

About May of 1984 I paid a visit to what is known as the Rue-Bispham cemetery, in Middletown Township, near Hulmville (formerly Milford Mills), Bucks County, Penna.

The graveyard is on land inherited by Richard Rue, the son of Matthew and Catharine Rue. Richard died prior to 28 September 1785, when his estate was appraised (Bucks County estate #1952). He left a widow Elizabeth who appears to have been the mother of his children. Elizabeth was still alive on 18 November 1809, when she is mentioned in an account relating to the estate of her son Lewis. (Account filed 30 October 1811, Bucks County estate #3514.)

Richard was the residuary legatee of his father and, after his father died in 1770, inherited 50 acres (described as located in Middletown township as of 1743) that Matthew had acquired from James Bodine on 23 October 1752. Forty acres of this property Richard and his wife Elizabeth conveyed to Adam Weaver of Bensalem township, blacksmith, on 5 May 1772 (Bucks County L.R. 27:457), according to Utermholen (In Press) who notes:

Land that was originally Richard's contained a family burial ground by 13 April 1819, when Mathew Rue, son of Richard's son Richard, conveyed land in Middletown along the Newtown and Bristol Road, including one quarter acre to be appropriated for the purpose of a burying ground (Bucks County LR 47:251). This was presumably the graveyard known as the Rue and Bispham burial ground of Middletown township. See five-page transcript by Edouard C. Lehr at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania library.

While I don't have notes from the 1984 visit, I do have a few photos. I remember walking up to site, after first locating it on a map at the Spruance Library of the Bucks County Historical Society, and getting permission from the farmer who owned the land surrounding the cemetery as he worked on a tracter in a nearby barn.

The farmer readily gave permission to enter the graveyard, but warned that the site had been a place of adolescent parties. Recently, he said, state troopers had stopped by to return a stolen headstone which had been recovered. There had been numerous trespassers.

Approaching the cemetery across a cultivated field, a visitor observes that the graveyard is surrounded by a small fieldstone wall, about knee-high, which bears a date of 1837. Apparently this is the date that the wall was constructed.

At the right are some photos which show the general decripit appearance of the cemetery at the time of this visit. One of the first things a visitor noticed upon entering the fieldstone enclosure was a certain gaping hole in front of the graves of Jacob and Harriett Rue. The appearance was that someone had attempted to exhume the remains of this son of Mathew and grandson of Richard Rue and his wife. An odd case of erosion perhaps, or had a youthful party sought some Rue bones for some unfathomable purpose?

REFERENCES

Utermholen, William J. (In Press). The Bucks County Rue Family, unpublished mss., 07-28-1997.

Utermholen, William J. (1994). The ancestry of Richard Rue and his Holman and VanSant connections, The American Genealogist.

Plotting history: Old family graveyards can be found in the front, side and back yards of Levittown homes., in The Bucks County Courier-Times, October 31, 2002, about old Bucks cemeteries including this one.

Records From The Rue & Bispham Burial Ground Situated On The Durham & Frosty Hollow Roads [on I-95] In Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania Compiled by Edouard C. Lehr
In loving memory of Letitia, Wife of David Everitt Died June 22nd, 1863 Aged 75 years	In loving memory of, David, son of Aaron and Mary Everitt Born - Sept. 16, 1804	In loving memory of, Elizabeth E. Allen wife of Joseph E. Allen Born May 28, 1831 Died Feb. 10, 1910
In memory of, Mary Everitt, who departed this life Oct. 17, 1837 Aged 71 years, & 11 months.	In memory of Richard Rue Jun'r. who departed this life on March 25th. in the year of our Lord 1792 Aged 34 years	In loving memory of Christiana, wife of Adam Rue, died Sept. 19th, 1870 in the 77th year of her age
In memory of Martha, wife of John H. Bispham, who died in the year 1827 Aged 31 years.	In loving memory of, Aaron Everitt who departed this life, April 25th, 1852 Aged 82 years, 4 months, 8 days.	Jacob Rue, Born Aug. 25, 1799 Died Feb. 15, 1877
In loving memory of, Harriett Rue, wife of Jacob Rue Born, Jul. 28, 1812 Died, Sept. 25, 1877	Susan M. wife of, Richard R. Bispham Died Feb. 27, 1878 Aged 42 years	Lillie F. daughter of Richard R. & Susanna Bispham. Born April 27th, 1872 Died April 17th, 1892
In loving memory of Annie M. daughter of Richard R. and Susan Bispham Died Jan. 31, 1870, Aged 11 years & 7 months	Memory of Richard Rue Died March 25th 1792 Aged 3 years.	Henry, son of Richard R. and Susan Bispham Died Feb. 28th, 1866 Aged 7 weeks
Willie, son of J.H. & Haana Bispham Died Jan. 25th, 1870 Aged 14 years, 5 months, & 19 days	In memory of Richard B. Cliver, who departed this life Dec. 8th, 1852, aged 34 years, 1 month, & 14 days	Tacy Ann Rue 1842 - 1869
In loving memory of Richard E. [B.?] son of Richard and Caroline Cliver who departed this life April 22nd, 1857	In memory of Ann Eliza daughter of Richard and Caroline Cliver who departed this life April 30th, 1857	In loving memory of Franklin F. son of John and Hanna Bispham who died Aug. 6th, 1854 Aged 2 months & 20 days
In memory of John H. Bispham who died March 6th, 1850 Aged 50 years & 6 mo.	In memory of Lewis Rue Born Jan. 31st, 1788 Died Aug. 9th, 1863	In memory of Anna Rue Born Jan. 30th, 1797 Died Dec. 2nd, 1868
	Eugene Rue son of Richard and Roxana (Allen) Rue Died July 29th, 1854 Aged 21 days.
The above data is copied from a six-page typescript (including title page) at the Spruance Library, Bucks County Historical Society, Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Thanks to Rawne Shafer of Clementon, New Jersey for copying and providing the transcript. The copy library bears handwritten numbers in the upper right corners of the pages 43-48. On the title page is a note that the burial ground is "on I-95". The copy is signed by Richard Walton, 8 May 1992. Birthdate calculator calculates birthdate from deathdate and age in day/month/year format.

GENEALOGY / HISTORY