[Looking for Fitzwater genealogy information?  Then you’ll want this post.]

The following two articles appeared in the Ambler Gazette, page 2, on 14 July 1898:

THE FITZWATER GRAVEYARD

This old family burial place is about one-third of a mile northeast of the tollgate at Fitzwatertown, on the east side of the road running to Horsham.  It is on the north side of a steep declivity, the surface of the country here being quite rugged.  Here is a walled space, within which are many graves and a less number of tombstones.  The area enclosed is 20 perches.  It is a very small part of 222 acres, conveyed by John Penn, Thomas Penn and Richard Penn in 1740 to Thomas Fitzwater and which by his will of 1742 was given to his son, John Fitzwater.  In 1780 John Fitzwater conveyed 118 acres of it to his brother, Matthew Fitzwater, for £400.

Just when this spot began to be used by the family for a burying ground is not apparent, but it was before the Revolution.  The oldest stone with an inscription is to the memory of Thomas Fitzwater, who died in 1771.  In 1799 there was a formal conveyance of 20 perches from Matthew Fitzwater to John and George Fitzwater.  In 1847 it was conveyed by John Fitzwater as trustee to Jacob Fitzwater.

Besides the tomb of Thomas Fitzwater, mentioned above, are the following [rearranged according to chronology]:

1795, John Fitzwater;

1842, July 2, Robert McCurdy, son of Robert and Hannah McCurdy, born Nov. 15, 1748, reaching his 94th year;

1857, May 10, John Fitzwater, born July 12, 1776;

1876, April 3, Jacob Fitzwater, born Sept. 19, 1789;

1876, March 22, Tacy, his wife, born Feb. 22, 1795;

1877, March 16, Mary Fitzwater, born May 27, 1802

1877, March 25, Jacob Fitzwater, born Jan. 4, 1830;

1879, Feb 7, George W. Fitzwater, born April 3, 1823;

1889, Jan. 26, Robert E. Potter, born Aug. 25, 1834

FITZWATERTOWN

This old hamlet took its name from the Fitzwater family and has been known as such for more than 100 years.  Here is Niblock’s hotel, a store, the old mill, limekilns and a dozen or more dwellings, situated in the deep depression through which passes one of the branches of Sandy Run. There has been no appreciable growth of the village for a long while.  Its connection with the outside world is at Edge Hill or Oreland, only a mile away, however, and the turnpike, as of yore, furnishes the avenue of communication north and south.”

The Fitzwater mill was one of the earliest in Montgomery county. It is propelled by the waters of Sandy run, here flowing from the eastward and crossing the pike. The mill, now belonging to Samuel Conrad, is on the east side of the highway and near the north bank of the stream.  As elsewhere mentioned, William J. Buck speaks of this mill as existing in 1705, and then owned by Thomas Fitzwater.  Of course the present structure was built at a much later period.  The plantation upon which was the mill was inherited by John Fitzwater in 1742, who in turn conveyed part of it to Mathew Fitzwater in 1780, comprising 118 acres.

The same estate came into possession of George Fitzwater and which was sold after his death in 1826 by Sheriff Christian Snyder to William Jarrett.  Only the next year, 1827, the will of William Jarrett conveyed the property to his children, who were Ann Jarrett, Mary, wife of William Hallowell; Jane, wife of Thomas Thompson; Hannah, wife of William Penrose; Tacy, wife of Charles Lippencott.  Later the property came into possession of Mrs. Isaac Hallowell and Mrs. Jane Lippencott.  It was bought by John W. Price of Israel Hallowell in 1852.  The next conveyance was in 1863 from John W. Price to Catharine, wife of William W. Price.  Lastly it was sold by William W. Price in 1869 to Samuel Conrad, who by the date of 1898 has become an aged man of over 80 years.