Warrington Township
The Gateway to Bucks County Since 1734

History

Irwin House
Kit House
Old Grist Mill
Pleasantville
Bank Building
Former Schools
Township History
Winding Brook Farm

Sixth Generation of Family Living in house on County Line Road

In the early 19th century, John McKinstry and his brother Nathan constructed the original house at 3263 County Line Road while living in a log cabin on the property and doing carpet weaving for their livelihood. The house was to be a residence for John, Nathan, and Nathan’s new bride, Margaret Bates, whose father, Thomas, was a Revolutionary War veteran.

The three-story house was constructed of local red stone with a wood shingle roof and fireplaces at each end on the first floor and one in the large bedroom on the second floor, where Margaret, Nathan’s daughter, was born in 1828. Her daughter, Jennie Brady, was also born in that room as was Jennie’s daughter, Elizabeth Mae Kohler. Mae’s daughter, Jane Hartzel Henderson, occupied the same room as she was growing up and her children use the room when they visit.

By the early 2oth century, the household included Wilson Brady’s widow, Margaret, and the family of his daughter Jennie Brady Kohler. Two additions were made to the house during this period, both of frame and construction. Coal furnaces and a bathroom were installed.

During Will and Jennie Kohler’s ownership (around the time of World War I), the frame additions were wire-lathed and the entire house was stuccoed. The original windows of six over nine panes were changed so that the lower pane was one large pane. The 13-inch windowsills remain, as do the small panes on all windows on the second floor.

Six successive generations have exclusively and continuously occupied the home. Ulysses Simpson Grant visited his McKinstry cousins at this house while in the area visiting his grandparents on Limekiln Pike…the only historically significant event that can be attributed to the household.

— Jane Hartzel Henderson, Member Historic Commission  

Warrington Township The Gateway to Bucks County Since 1734
Skip to content