My Genealogy Hound

ELLWOOD PAUL. The Pauls are an old Pennsylvania family descended from Quaker ancestry. They were farmers as a rule, and many of their descendants are still to be found in Montgomery county.

Ellwood Paul was born July 30, 1840, and reared to farm pursuits, attending school in the intervals of farm labor, receiving a good common school education. He is the son of Lukens and Hannah S. (Lukens) Paul, of Horsham township. Lukens Paul was the son of Yeamans and Susan (Lukens) Paul. She was born July 18, 1791, and died April 27, 1869. Yeamans Paul was the son of Joseph Paul, who was born July 27, 1739, and died on the homestead in Bucks county, March 13, 1799, His wife, Hannah, was born August 3, 1744, and died December 14, 1802. The couple lived in Bucks county, about a half mile from Davis Grove, in Horsham township, Montgomery county, their farm being just beyond the county line.

The children of Joseph and Hannah Paul were: Sarah, born May 7, 1771, died August 4, 1812; Sidnea, born February 4, 1773; Joshua, born June 3, 1774; Hannah, born June 21, 1781; Yeamans, born April 5, 1783, died September 10, 1837. Yeamans Paul, the youngest child of Joseph and Hannah Paul, was the grandfather of Ellwood Paul. His children were Lukens Paul, father, and Joseph Paul, born February 1, 1817, and died in his thirty-fourth year. The farm on which Lukens Paul was born is part of an original tract, which contained nearly five hundred acres.

Lukens Paul (deceased) spent his early life on the farm. When he was twenty-six years of age he married Hannah S., daughter of Joseph S. and Susanna Lukens. The marriage took place January 31, 1839. He then purchased the farm of 103 acres which had been owned by his maternal grandfather, Azor Lukens, and at once settled down to agricultural pursuits, which he continued for a period of twenty-eight years, when in 1867 he retired from active work of this kind. His wife, Hannah Lukens, was also a Friend. Her father, Joseph S. Lukens, was born January 21, 1786, and died May 25, 1875. Her mother, Susan P. Lukens, died October 4, 1872, aged seventy-five years. The children of Joseph S. and Susan P. Lukens: Isaiah; Hannah S. (mother), born March 14, 1819; Joshua P.; Sidney A.; Jervis S. died January 21, 1861, aged thirty-two years, his wife, Ann P. Lukens, dying February 18, 1858, aged thirty-four years. Lukens Paul was a Republican in politics, but never sought or held office. He was, however, a member of the board of directors of the Philadelphia Haymarket Association. The children of Lukens and Hannah S. Paul: Ellwood, subject of this sketch; Isabella, born October 14, 1845, married, April 8, 1869, Oliver P. Knight, their children being L. Paul Knight, born July 16, 1870, and Joseph Ellwood Knight, born September 18, 1876.

Ellwood Paul married, October 24, 1867, Martha Ellen Shoemaker, and took charge of the homestead farm, his parents removing to a smaller tract in the vicinity. He was employed in agricultural pursuits for a period of twenty-seven years very successfully. He then rented the farm and accepted employment in a commercial and short-hand school in Philadelphia, assisting in its management. He was then for a time in the employ of the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company for a short time. He then engaged in the livery business for a time in Philadelphia, but sold out and returned to the farm where he made many improvements, remodeling the house and making it a much more desirable place of residence than it had previously been. He remained on the farm until the year 1900, when he removed to Ambler, purchasing a handsome residence in that borough, where he and Mrs. Paul take great pleasure in extending the rites of hospitality to their friends. The barn on the Paul farm was erected in 1797, and is still in good condition.

On September 20, 1862, Mr. Paul enlisted in at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in Captain Samuel Comly’s Wissahickon cavalry company, having furnished his own horse and accoutrements at his own expense. The company was not, however, called into active service and Mr. Paul was later honorably discharged, when he returned home. Politically Mr. Paul is a Republican, but has never sought political preferment, and has held only township offices. Mrs. Paul is the daughter of S. Lukens and Ann K. Shoemaker. Her mother died September 29, 1864, at the age of forty-four years, and her father June 2, 1891, at the age of seventy-two years. Their children: Martha E., Mrs. Paul; Linford, a farmer; Walter, deceased; Lydia (Mrs. McMichael).

Mr. and Mrs. Ellwood Paul have two children: Harry Ellwood, born July 12, 1874, and Bertha H., born April 5, 1878. Harry E. received a liberal education, and is now an employee of the Philadelphia Drying Company. The family affiliate with the Society of Friends.