The writing of the History of Bucks County has been more a labor of love than of gain to the author. It was undertaken from a desire to preserve interesting facts, connected with its settlement and history, that in a few years would have been lost forever; and no reasonable compensation would reward us for the seven years' labor bestowed upon it.

We labored under many difficulties. Its story had never been written, and the material, in a great measure, had to be first gathered in isolated facts and then woven into the thread of history. This was the most difficult part of our task. In most cases individuals and families gave up their papers for examination, which proved of great assistance.

With the lapse of years the material grew upon our hands beyond our anticipations, and we could have written a larger work, but are content to give the result of our labors in a volume not too large for convenient use.

Our greatest difficulty was in collecting matter relating to the settlement and early history of the German townships, because they were less in the habit of preserving family and personal records.

We acknowledge our obligations to many gentlemen, not only for the encouraging interest they took in our labors, but also for information furnished, often unsolicited. We also acknowledge the assistance derived from the small work on the county, published twenty years ago, by Mr. William J. Buck, one of our earliest and most laborious local historians.

The maps and engravings are a proper accompaniment of the work, and we doubt not will interest the reader.

W.W.H. Davis, Doylestown, Pa., September 1st, 1876.