In 1713 the Manovon tract, at what is now Phoenizville, was patented to David Lloyd.  The earliest settler upon it was Francis Buckwalter, to whom Lloyd sold 650 acres in 1720, for £195.  Buckwalter, a Protestant refugee from Germany, as subjected when in the Fatherland to many persecutions because of his faith, and it was a matter of family history that he was compelled to read his Bible by stealth, concealed in a cow trough.  He finally concluded to flee, and after leaving his home was pursued for 3 days by his vindictive Catholic brothers, who were determined upon his destruction.  His children were Joseph, Jacob, Johannes, Mary and Yost, and from him are descended all of the Buckwalter family in this county.  Of these, Johannes' son John, b Sep[t 14, 1777 married July 27, 1800, Mary Bechtel, b Jan 2, 1775, and their children were Samuel, John, David, Henry, James, and Elizabeth, who married James Wynn.  Of these children, Samuel the eldest was born May 5, 1801, in East Nantmeal tpw, and in 1817-18 went to Charlestown twp to live with his grandfather, Johannes (John), on the farm on which John Henry Buckwalter now resides.  In 1832 he was married by Rev Jacob Wampole to Mary, dau of Daniel and Margaret High, of Schuylkill twp, by whom he had 7 children - Charles C; John Henry; Samuel R; Elizabeth, married to Enoch J Davis; and Helen Caroline, all living; and 2 deceased, DAvid and Margaret, who died young.  Samuel Buckwalter died Feb 26, 1869, and his wife, Mary High, Jan 4, 1850.  He was a second time married, in 1855, to Ann Pennypacker, widow of James Pennypacker.  He was one of the most systematic farmers in the county and was, with his family, a member of the Mennonite Church.