Early in the history of the township the savages, whose custom was to roam undisturbed wheresoever they pleased, hunting for game and killing the swine, became an annoyance to the settlers in the "back woods" of Concord. This disposition on the part of the red men created much trouble, and soon became so detrimental to the residents that on Nov. 16, 1685, they presented a petition to the Provincial Council respecting it, which is of record as follows:
     "The Complaint of ye friends, Inhabitants of Concord and Hertford" (Haverford), widely separated townships, "against the Indians, for ye Rapine and Destructions of their hoggs, was Read.
     "Ordered that ye Respective Indian Kings be sent for to ye Councill with all speed, to Answer their Complaint.
     "The Inhabitants of the Welsh Tract Complains of the same, by an Endorsement on ye aforementioned Complaint."[Colonial Records, vol. i. p. 162.]

What ultimately resulted from this action of the Concord settlers does not appear of record, nor has tradition preserved any thing respecting it.

At the southwestern end of the original township of Concord was a tract of three hundred acres, which

was surveyed to William Beazer March 29, 1683, and which shortly afterwards passed into the ownership of William Cloud, who, although an aged man, accompanied by his family, came to the colony among the earliest settlers and moved "into the woods" at Concord. He was a native of Calne, county of Wiltshire, and from him the Cloud family of Delaware County claim descent. Just above his tract John Beal, who had married Mary Cloud, took up two hundred acres on rent in 1683, but he subsequently removed. Nearly midway of the township, extending from the western limits of Concord as originally surveyed to Concord Street, which ran north and south, dividing the district into halves, was a tract of five hundred acres, which was surveyed Oct. 12, 1683, to John Haselgrove. This estate, after passing through several owners, none of whom were residents, in 1710 was acquired by Henry Peirce, who settled on this land and was taxed therefor in 1715. Above Concordville, John Lee, on Dec. 3, 1701, received a patent for one hundred and fifty-two acres. He was a wool-comber by trade, and came from Wiltshire, England, in 1700, and settled in Concord. He lived until 1726, and was a noted public Friend in the early days of the province. Above Lee's tract John Mendenhall purchased three hundred acres of land, which was patented to him June 27, 1684. On this property Concord Friends' meeting-house was located, the land being given by Mendenhall for that purpose. He is believed to have come from Mildenhall, county of Sussex, England, and was one of the original projectors and owners of the Concord Mills. Above the Mendenhall tract William Byers had two hundred acres surveyed to him Jan. 17, 1683/4, which, in 1693, passed into the ownership of Nicholas Pyle. He settled in Concord, in 1686, at which time he may have already occupied the estate. In the company's mills he took an active part as one of the owners. He was a member of Assembly, serving as such for six years, and was an active, enterprising man, whose energy did much to tame and subdue the wilderness. In 1701 he purchased the western half of the five hundred acres taken up by William Hitchcock, which extended from the east to the west boundary across the township, for on that part of the estate bought by him the Society Mills were located. The tract of two hundred and fifty acres lying above Pyle's land was surveyed to Philip Roman, February, 1682/3, but it is not probable that he ever resided thereon. On the eastern side of Concord Street, extending from that road to the eastern line of the township, and immediately south of Thornbury, John Harding, at the same date as Roman, acquired title to two hundred and fifty-five acres of land, but he, as with Roman, never resided on the property. Just south of this tract was the William Hitchcock land, already mentioned, which was subsequently purchased by Benjamin Mendenhall, who resided thereon in 1715, and probably followed his occupation of wheelwright. In 1714 he was a member of the Assembly, and, retaining the good opinion of the public, he lived to an advanced age, dying in 1740. Below this tract Nicholas Newlin, on Sept. 24, 1683, received five hundred acres. He was reputed as very wealthy, a nobleman by descent, being one of the De Newlandes, who had come over with the Conqueror. Although of English family, he emigrated, with his wife and children, from County Tyrone, Ireland. He was appointed a member of the Provincial Council and a justice of the courts. His son, Nicholas, was about twenty-four years old when he accompanied his father to Pennsylvania, a man of education and means. In 1698 he was a member of Assembly, and served as such at several different periods. He was also appointed one of the proprietaries' commissioners of property, and a justice of the courts. In 1722 he was one of the trustees of the loan-office, a position he continued to fill until his death. On the Newlin lands, Codnor farm, owned by Col. Frank M. Etting, the author, is located.

Below the present Markham Station, on the Baltimore Central Railroad, was a tract of two hundred acres, patented to Thomas King, July 22, 1684, and thereon he resided until his death, in 1706. On the south of King's land was one hundred acres surveyed to Thomas Moore in 1684, while immediately below him were two hundred acres, patented July 15, 1684, to Nathaniel Park. Jeremiah Collett on March 1, 1682/3, took up two hundred acres on tract immediately south of Park's plantation. On March 1, 1686, this property passed to John Hannum, who gave the ground at the northwest corner of the tract on which St. John's Church was built. He was the grandfather of Col. John Hannum, of the Revolution, who was the controlling mind which caused the removal of the county-seat to West Chester, an act which eventually resulted in the erection of Delaware County. Col. Hannum, it is said, was born on this plantation. South of the Hannum property were three hundred acres, which on July 12, 13, 1682, were surveyed to George Strode, of Southampton County, England, a grocer by trade, but beyond that fact very little is now known respecting him. Directly south of Strode's tract were one hundred acres entered on rent Sept. 24, 1683, by William Hawkes, which on March 26, 1688, were patented to John Palmer. The latter, tradition says, was enticed away from his widowed mother's home, in England, and came as a redemptioner to the colony. He married Mary Suddery, a woman of great courage, for it is related that on one occasion she drove a bear away from a chestnut-tree on this plantation with a fire-poker, or poking-stick. Two hundred acres south of the Palmer tract was surveyed to William Oborne July 3, 1688, and a similar tract to the south of Oborne's land was patented to John Beazer, Aug. 4, 1684, but he did not reside on the estate. Dennis Rochford, Feb. 10, 1682, had surveyed to him five hundred acres, to the south of the Bezer land. Rochford was an Irishman, from Emstorfey, County of Wexford, and accompanied William Penn in the "Welcome." His wife, Mary, died on the passage in that plague-smitten vessel, as did also two of his daughters. He settled on the estate in Concord, and in 1683 was a representative from Chester County in the Assembly. On Oct. 6, 1691, Thomas Green purchased four hundred acres of the Rochford lands. He, with his wife, Margaret, and two sons, Thomas and John, settled in Concord in 1686, possibly on the tract he subsequently bought. From him the Green family of Delaware County trace descent. The remaining one hundred acres bordering on the Bethel line was sold to William Clayton, Jr., Feb. 14, 1684/5, but he never resided on the land in Concord.

Concord Friends' Meeting-House. The land for a Friends' meeting and graveyard at Concord, the sixth in the county, was conveyed or rather leased to trustees, by John Mendenhall, in 1697, they paying "one peppercorn yearly forever." In that year a sum was obtained by subscription for fencing in a burial-ground at Concord, and at a monthly meeting held at the house of George Pearce, on the 10th day of Fourth month, 1697, the following paper was read:
     "WHEREAS, the has been some differences by some that have separated from Friends in their subscriptions towards their building of meeting-houses, &c., for the service of Truth, We, whose names are hereunder subscribed, do promise and oblige ourselves hereby, that if we, or any one or more of us, should separate ourselves from the Society and Communion of these Friends of Concord, Birmingham, and Thornbury, that now we walk in fellowship with, either in doctrine, life or conversation, we will make no trouble amongst these people by reason of any right we, or any one of us think we have because of this, or any other subscription that was, or may be, towards building a meeting-house or making a burial-place for the youse of the said people of God called Quakers. And we further promise to relinquish and lay aside all pretence of right or claim whereby any disquiet may arise among the aforesaid people of God called Quakers, of Concord, Birmingham, and Thornbury. According to the purport, true meaning and intent of the

written as above said, we subscribe as follows:

NAME	£	S	D	NAME	£	S	D	NAME	£	s	d
Nath'l Newlin	7	10	0	Peter Dix	5	15	0	Benj. Mendenhall	5	10	0
George Pearce	5	6	0	Elizabeth Hickman	1	5	0	Isaac Taylor	2	8	0
Thomas Ring	3	5	0	Wm. Brinton Sr.	3	10	0	Nicholas Pyle	3	6	0
Wm. Brinton Jr.	2	16	0	William Cloud	3	6	0	John Mendenhall	2	16	0
William Collett	2	0	0	Benj. Woodward	1	18	0	Edward Jones	1	16	0
John Bennett	4	5	0	Nicholas Newlin	6	15	0	John Hertchim	1	2	6
Robert Way	1	6	0	Joseph Edwards	0	15	0	Edward Bennett	1	6	0
Joseph Gilpin	0	10	0	Thomas Radley	1	0	0	Samuel Scott	0	10	0
Richard Thatcher	1	15	0	John Sanger	0	6	0	Francis Chadsey	1	6	0
Goodwin Walter	0	5	0	Jonathan Thatcher	1	10	0	Daniel Davis	0	5	0
John Newlin	5	10	0	Henry Osborn	2	5	0

Although this sum was subscribed for the building of a meeting-house in Concord, it seems not to have been completely ready for use until 1710, and was then a frame or log structure, which, in 1728, gave place to a brick edifice. In the early times the meeting-houses had no stoves in them, but were partially warmed by charcoal fires, which were built on large stones in the centre of the building, which were allowed to die out before the hour set for meeting, or were warmed by open wood-fires in wide chimney-places. Concord meeting-house was warmed by these latter means, large wood-fires being built in the attic at each end of the building, to which members would resort previous to assembling in the apartment below. Concord meeting-house having become too limited in its dimensions to meet the wants of Friends of that neighborhood, a movement was made looking to its enlargement or the building of an entirely new edifice. In the winter of 1788, while Friends had assembled to consider that question, the house caught fire from the soot in one of the chimneys, and despite the efforts of those present was burned, leaving only the brick walls. Immediate steps were taken to rebuild the house, the expense being borne jointly by Concord Monthly and Quarterly Meetings, the former agreeing to pay six hundred pounds, one-third of the estimated costs, and the six Monthly Meetings in Chester County obligating themselves to discharge the remaining two-thirds. The present. Concord meeting-house was built under these circumstances, the old walls being used, an addition being made thereto. The cost of the structure exceeded largely the estimate, and a call was made for three hundred and seventy-five pounds additional to complete the meeting-house. In this old building for seventy years the question of human slavery was discussed, and by degrees the feeling grew that it was unjust, until on 20th day Second month, 1800, at Concord Quarterly Meeting for the first time appeared on its record this announcement: "Clear of importing, disposing of, or holding mankind as slaves." At two o'clock on Friday, Sept. 12, 1777, Maj.-Gen. Grant, with the First and Second Brigades of the British army, marched from Chad's Ford to Concord, and some of his men were quartered in the old meeting-house, while foraging parties scoured the "country and woods" near by, picking "up Waggons, Horses, Ammunition, Provision and cattle, and several Rebels that had secreted themselves."[Journal of Capt. John Montressor, Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. vii. p. 34.] Tradition records that the meeting-house was made a hospital by the English for their wounded, but the inference is more probable that disabled American soldiers, in striving to escape, were found in the woods by the English scouting parties, were brought there, and on Sunday following, when Dr. Rush with three surgeons came to "attend the wounded Rebels left scattered in the Houses about the field of Battle, unattended by their Surgeons till now," he visited that building on his errand of mercy. Gen. Grant, tradition also asserts, occupied as his headquarters, while he tarried at Concord, a house built in 1755, near St. John's Church, which in recent years has been removed to make room for needed improvements. The English officer, when he advanced to unite with Lord Cornwallis at Village Green, left a guard at the meeting-house for the short time intervening before the whole British army marched away from that neighborhood never to return. The venerable Friends' meeting-house had been the scene of many incidents connected with the family history of the old families of Concord and surrounding townships which will ever render it a place of interest and considerate care.

St. John's Episcopal Church. The first mention of an Episcopalian Church at Concord occurs in the letter of Rev. Evan Evans, dated London, Sept. 18, 1707, on "the state of the church in Pennsylvania, most humbly offered to the venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." Rev. Mr. Evans, in 1700, was sent to Philadelphia by Bishop Compton, the then Bishop of London, to aid by his ministry and teachings the infant Christ Church, the congregation of which, in 1696, had erected a place of worship in the "Great town" in the colony. This missionary gave glowing accounts of the growth of the doctrines of the Church of England among the people of the province, and in order to show how deeply the seed he had sown had taken root, records, "And the true religion (by the frequent resort of persons from remote parts to Philadelphia) did so spread, and the number of converts did so increase that I was obliged to divide myself among them as often and as equally as I could, till they were formed into proper districts, and had ministers sent over to them by the venerable society. For this reason I went frequently to Chichester, which is twenty-five miles; Chester or Upland, twenty; Maidenhead, forty (where I baptized 19 children at one time) Concord, twenty; Evesham, in West Jersey, fifteen; Montgomery, twenty; and Radnor, fifteen miles distant from Philadelphia. All which, though equally fatiguing and expensive, I frequently went to and preached, being by all means determined to lose none of those I have gained, but rather add to them till the society otherwise provided for them."

In the same letter Mr. Evans states, "Our winters, being severe in these parts, detain many from church whose plantations lie at a distance, and for that reason Mr. Nicholas preached sometimes at Concord in the week-days."["Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania," Hazard's Register, vol. iii. pp. 338, 339.]

The first St. Paul's Church at Chester was built in 1702, and on Sunday, Jan. 24, 1703 (new style), it was opened for public worship. In 1704, Rev. Henry Nichols was assigned by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts as missionary in charge of St. Paul's parish, then including Marcus Hook and Concord; hence the week-day services mentioned by Mr. Evans must have been held in that year, certainly prior to 1707. On March 17, 1682/3, Jeremiah (or, as he is usually termed in the early records, "Jeremy") Collet, an earnest Episcopalian, entered on rent two hundred acres of land in Concord, and on March 1, 1686, conveyed the property to John Hannum (who settled in Concord about that time, certainly within two years thereafter), an ardent churchman, who is alluded to by Rev. Mr. Ross in his report to the society, June 25, 1714, in which he furnished "an account of the Building of St. Paul's at Chester," as among the "Parishers who were chief helpers to carry on the work." In 1702, John Hannum gave a lot of ground at the northwest corner of his tract on which to erect a church, and doubtless a log building was located thereon about that year. A tradition prevails that long previous to this date the Swedes were accustomed to hold divine service in Concord. A similar tradition maintained until within recent years that the early Swedish settlers had a church at Chester on the site of the old St. Paul's; but careful investigation has so fully demonstrated the error of this statement that it is no longer an open question. Indeed, previous to Penn coming it is extremely doubtful whether a Swedish person ever saw the territory now Concord township. The tradition originated in the fact that often for months together no clergyman of the Church of England could be procured to preach in these remote settlements. And as late as 1751, Rev. Israel Acrelius records that the Swedish pastor in charge of the Lutheran Church at Christina was frequently requested to preach in the Episcopal Churches, "as otherwise their (the parishioners) children would become unchristened heathens or Quakers, their churches would be changed into stables alongside of Quaker meeting-houses. They praised Mr. Tranberg as a warm-hearted man, who had always assisted them. The Provost, therefore, took some time to see whether it was possible to please everybody. He preached once a month in all these places. He was at Christina every Sunday, but on week-days and saints days in the others. That became the rule, and at first was all right, but afterwards each congregation wanted preaching on a Sunday. So there were also added the churches at Concord and Marcus Hook, which presented the same request; and then there were not as many Sundays in the month as there were congregations to serve, and so Christina would always have been vacant. The good old Swedes now began to murmur, partly at the minister, and partly at the English, who wished to have him with them and never once paid his expenses of travel."[Acrelius' "History of New Sweden," p. 305.] Hence, while the names of several Swedish ministers appear among the list of pastors of St. Paul's, St. Martin's, and St. John's Churches, they were there merely to fill a vacancy, and were never regularly ordained rectors of St. Paul's parish, which included until 1835 St. John's Church in Concord.

Ralph Pyle, of Concord, who was a liberal contributor to the first church of St. Paul's, at Chester, in his will, dated Jan. 1, 1739, and proved Sept. 1, 1741, provided:
     "Item. I give twenty pounds, that is to say, the Interest of the said money, for the use of a minister of the Church of England, to preach three Sermons yearly in the Township of Concord, that is to say, the Sunday before Christmas Day, the Sunday before Easter, and the Sunday before Whitsunday, that is the lawful interest of the said twenty pounds shall be carefully paid unto such minister yearly who shall preach the sermons at the times as above mentioned, whilst there is a Church remain in Concord aforesaid."

Although this bequest was not made a specific charge on the real estate of Ralph Pyle, yet William Pyle, his son, by will Jan. 8, 1745/6, proved four days thereafter, devised to his son, John Pyle, a plantation of two hundred and fifty-six acres in Birmingham, subject to the annual payment of this and other "demands which his grandfather, Ralph Pyle, ordered to be paid by his last will and testament." The peculiar feature of this devise was that the land on which the grandfather's bounty was made a charge by William Pyle in his devise to his son, was conveyed to him by his father, Ralph, twenty years before the latter made his will, in which the above bequest was made.

Six years prior to the death of John Hannum he died in 1730 Isaac Taylor, the noted surveyor of Chester County, on Sept. 25, 1724, surveyed the plot of ground given to the church twenty-two years prior to that date. The log church erected in 1702 was located on the present cemetery, just below the Foucitt lot, and the old church records "the graves of Rev. Richard and Mary Saunderlands were at the church-door." I have been unable to designate who Rev. Richard Saunderlands was. His name does not appear in Professor Keen's carefully-prepared and exhaustive history of the descendants of James Sandelands, of Chester. The first books of the church have been lost, and no record remains prior to 1727. That the congregation of St. John's Church was organized and recognized many years previous to that date is accepted as historically established the reference made to it by Rev. Mr. Evans, heretofore mentioned, can leave no doubts existing, and the fact that Queen Anne presented, in 1707/8, a silver communion set to St. John's Church, at Concord, is confirmatory of this statement. The frame structure was the only house of worship for the Episcopalians of Concord for many years. In February, 1765, the Provincial Assembly. passed an act authorizing the raising of #3003 15s. by a lottery, the proceeds to be divided among the congregations of St. Peter's Church, in Philadelphia, St. Paul's, in Chester and in Carlisle, to be used in furnishing those churches, to build a church at Reading, to repair the church at Molltown, in Berks County, and Huntingdon township, York County, "and for repairing the Episcopal churches in Chichester and Concord, and purchasing a glebe for the church at Chester, in the county of Chester." In 1769 the treasurer of the Province paid to the congregation at Concord its proportion of the funds netted by this lottery. With this sum in 1773 a western end, laid with brick, was added to the frame church, and in 1790 an eastern end, laid with stone, took the place of the early rude structure in which the congregation for nearly a century had worshiped. The new building, however, did not cover the site of the first church. In 1837 another addition was made, but as the edifice had been erected at various dates, and was insufficient to meet the requirements of the congregation, it was determined to build a new church. On June 15, 1844, the corner-stone of the present building was laid, and the work was so hastened to completion that on Oct. 27, 1844, the new church was consecrated by Bishop Lee, "acting with the permission and at the request of Bishop Henry W. Onderdonk, Bishop of Pennsylvania." With the exception of such repairs as from time to time became necessary, the present building is the one erected in 1844. A large chancel window was placed in the church as a memorial of the late Bishop Onderdonk, and several other smaller memorial windows have also been erected. New furniture since the building was completed has taken the place of that of ancient days. St. John's Church has an endowment of one thousand dollars, a bequest of the late Mrs. Elizabeth Sharpless. During the years 1883-84 a new church was erected in the parish, St. Luke's, at Chad's Ford, which is in charge of Rev. J.J. Sleeper, rector of St. John's.

The pastors of St. John's parish have been as follows:

Revs. Evan Evans, Henry Nichols, George Ross, John Humphreys, John Backhouse, Thomas Thompson, George Craig, John Wade, James Connor, James Turner, Levi Heath, Joshua Reece, M. Chander, William Pryce, Jacob M. Douglass, Samuel C. Brinckle, Jacob Douglass, George Kirke, John Baker Clemson, M.D. Hirst, E. Wilson Wiltbank, Alfred Lee, Samuel C. Stratton, Benjamin S. Huntington, R.B. Claxton, W.H. Trapnell, Charles Buck, John R. Murphy, Richardson Graham, John B. Clemsen, M. Christian, J.J. Craigh, Joshua Coupland, H. Baldwin Dean, Joseph J. Sleeper, the present rector.

It is unnecessary to refer to the Roman Catholic Church establishment in Concord, that being presented in the account of Ivy Mills and the Willcox family.

The Taxables in 1715 and 1799. The following taxables appear on the assessment-list for 1715, of taxables in Concord:

Nath. Newlin, Jur, Nicholas Pyle for ye mill, James Clamston, Nath. Newlin, Senr, Joseph Cloud, Henry Oburn, John Palmer, John Palmer, Jur, Godwin Walter, George Robinson, Jacob Pyle, Ralph Pyle, Henry Peirce, Matthias Carle, Ralph Evenson, James Heavrd, William Ammet, Thomas Smith, John Lee, Robert Chamberlin, Robert Chamberlin, Junr, Thomas West, William Hill, Morgan Jones, Thomas Durnall, George Lee, Daniel Evans, Joseph Nicklin, John Hannum, Benjm Mendenhall, John Mendenhall, John Newlin, Joseph Edwards, Thomas Broom, William fforde, ffrancis Pulin, John Penneck, James Chiffers, John Hackney, Christopher Penock.

ffreemen, Caleb Pearkins, Richard ffar, Peter Poulston, John Pennock, John Engram, Henry Jones, Thomas Ealthan.

In the assessment for the year 1799, the following persons appear as taxables in the township:

William Alleson, taylor; Moses Bullock, mason; John Bail, weaver; Joseph Cloud, carpenter; Joseph Hutton, mill-house, currying-shop, and tan-yard, tanner; James Jefferies, tavern-keeper and store-keeper; Thomas Marshall, one stone mill and currying-shop, tanner; Thomas Newlin, Esq., justice of peace; Nathaniel Newlin, saw-mill; Thomas Newlin, blacksmith; John Newlin, stone grist-mill, miller; Moses Palmer, assemblyman and hatter; John Palmer, saddler; John Perkins, shoemaker; Micajah Speakman, blacksmith; Thomas Speakman, joiner; Jacob Thomas, store-keeper; William Trimble, one saw-mill, one large paper-mill; Ann Vernon, tavern-keeper; William Vernon,

saw-mill; William Willis, taylor; William Walter, miller, one stone grist-mill; William Howard, millwright.

Inmates. Abeshai Mellon, weaver; Wheleback Paulin, tanner; Robert Selah, paper-maker; William Clughson, paper-maker; George Moore, paper-maker; William Hull, mason; Thomas Willcox, paper-maker; Jesse Plankinghorn, wheelwright; Thomas Melleon, weaver; Thomas Hance, weaver; Joseph Finch, miller; James Cloud, millwright; Thomas Cheney, hatter; John Masson, shoemaker; Daniel Doaks, wheelwright; James Hall, mason; Pridey Kimber carpenter; John Hatton, carpenter; James Mendenhall, wheelwright; Moses Perkins, shoemaker; John Selah, paper-maker.

LIST OF THE JUSTICES FOR CONCORD TOWNSHIP.

Names	Date of Commission	Names	Date of Commission	Names	Date of Commission
Thomas Newlin	Aug. 19 1791	Matthias Kerlin	July 4 1808	Thomas Pierce	Feb. 5 1814
James Bratton	Feb. 3 1820	Joseph Fox	Dec. 4 1823	John Mattson	Dec. 13 1823
Joseph Bowen	Nov. 10 1824	Joseph Trimble	April 21 1827	Robert Frame	Jan. 15 1829
Robert Hall	Feb. 8 1831	William Mendenhall	Dec. 6 1836 April 14 1840	Casper W. Sharpless	April 15 1845 April 9 1850 April 28 1857 April 24 1862
Edward J. Willcox	April 11 1867	Darwin Painter	April 11 1867 April 15 1872 March 23 1877 April 10 1882

Roads. On Oct. 25, 1687, the grand jury, or those members of that body who attached their names, laid out a thirty-feet wide road from Dilworthtown, following the course of the present road to a point a short distance south of the present Concord Station, and above St. John's Church, on Concord road, at which point the road widened to forty feet, as will be noticed by following the description in the report submitted to court:
     "Laid out a High way from Burmingham to Concord, being a thirty-foote way, by vertue of an order of Court bearing date ye 4th of October, 1687, laid out by us, Walter Marten, John Mendenhall, John Kingsman, William Cloud, Rich. Thatcher, being one-third part of ye present grand Jury of ye county of Chester, as followes, viz.:
     "Beginning att a white oake standing on a Small Branch at William Branton's, marked with five knotches; thence along a lyne of marked trees, between Alice Brunson and land lat Edward Turner to Concord corner tree; thence doune Concord lyne Between ye said Alice Brun8on and Philip Roman to a white Oake marked with five knotches; then crosse ye Corner of said Philip Roman's land; then crosse William Hitchcock's land; thence crosse land that was William Biases; thence crosse John Mendenhall's land; thence crosse land that was Peter Lounders'; thence crosse part of John Symcock's land to ye foote-Bridge of Thomas Moore; then crosse part of ye said Thomas Moore's land to a White Oake marked with five knotches.
     "Laid out by vertue of ye aforesaid Order, a fourty-foote Road from Concord to ye King's Highway in Chester, as followeth, by us, whose hands are under written, ye 25th of October, 1687.
     "Beginning at a white oake with five knotches, standing att ye corner of Nathaniell Park's land, next Thomas Moore's land; thence through ye land of ye said Nathaniell; thence cross John Hannum's land; thence crosse George Stroud's land; thence crosse John Palmer's land; thence crosse land late William Oburne's; thence crosse land late John Beasar's; thence crosse Dennis Rochford's Land; thence crosse William Clayton, Junr's land to ye Hamlett of Bethell.
     "Thence crosse Edward Beason's land; thence cross ffrancis Smith's land; thence crosse Robert Eyre's land to Chichester; thence crosse Walter Martin's land; thence crosse land late John Beasars'; thence crosse John Kingsman's land; thence crosse Henry Hastings' and Richard Buffington's land; thence cross James Brown's land; thence Thomas Wither's land to Chester.
     "Thence crosse part of Robert Wall's land to a small blacke oake marked with 5 knotches, standing att the King's Highway:

WALTER MARTEN, JOHN KINGSMAN,
JOHN MENDENHALL, WILLIAM CLOUD.
RICHARD THATCHER,

At the court held on "3rd day, 2d week, 7th month, 1688, George Strode, Nathaniel Parker, John Palmer, John Hannum, Thomas Moore, John Sanger, Robert Pyle, Petitioned against ye Road lately laid out through the town of Concord. Ordered that ye Grand Inquest doe Inspect ye Road, and make report to ye next Court under ye hands of noe less than twelve."

All these petitioners owned land on the present Concord road, south of the present Concord Station, on the Baltimore Central road. The jury, however, confirmed that highway, but the road leading from Concord to Birmingham at Dilworthtown appears not to have been immediately opened, but remained until May 21, 1707, when, after twenty years, the route as laid out by the jury in 1687 was finally accepted.

The losses sustained by the residents of Concord, occasioned by the pillaging of the British army in 1777, was severe, and the extent of the damages inflicted in that township will never be ascertained. The greater part of the inhabitants were Friends, whose religious principles precluded them from demanding pay for articles destroyed in war. Under the act providing for a registration of claims for damages on account of the British spoliations, the following demands were filed:

NAME	£	S	D
From Alexander Vincent Sept. 13	90	17	6
" William Hannum	329	10	0
" James Hatton	6	0	0
" Amos Mendenhall	10	0	0
" Alexander Lockhart	183	0	0
" Thomas McCall	3	7	0
" Samuel Mendenhall	4	0	0
" Same person, Concord	61	14	0
" James Taylor (by Kuyphausen s party)	34	10	0
" William Pierce September	75	15	0
" William McCoy Sept. 13	16	0	0
" Patrick Gamble " 15	146	15	0
	961	5	6

Isaac Arment, who died in Concord, Nov. 23, 1848, aged ninety years, could recall the fact that he was living at Chad's Ford on the day the battle of Brandywine was fought, and from the heights on the east side of the creek, which afforded a commanding view of the scene, he witnessed the engagement, of which, as years rolled by, he delighted to relate to those who would listen to his recollection of those stirring days.

Schools. The first reference in anywise in Concord township to the subject of education occurs in the will of Ralph Pyle, dated Jan. 1, 1739. The clause is as follows:
     "Item, I give twenty pounds the Interest thereof to the use hereafter mentioned viz: to support the Schooling of a poor mans child who shall then reside either in Concord or in the Township of Birmingham in the County of Chester, So if the Parents of the said child shall be Established Church of England, to be paid by my Heir and him and his Heirs successively and shall have the liberty to put such child out to school and shall change the child once in three years, if any arrears by book for the children."

This bequest was subsequently made a charge on land in Birmingham by William Pyle, of that township, the son of Ralph, who in his devise of a plantation to his son, John, charged the estate with the payment of bequests contained in Ralph Pyle's will. Nothing has come to our knowledge respecting this schooling of a poor man's child other than stated.

The first schools known to have been established in the township were conducted under the charge of the society of Friends. One such school is believed to have been located in Friends' meeting-house about 1779, and in 1793 a dwelling was built close by for the accommodation of the teacher. In 1827 a school-house had been erected, a two-storied building, and, it is alleged by County Superintendent Baker, in his report for 1877, was partially graded. In the following year the division in the society of Friends occurred, and from that date the Orthodox and Hicksite branches educated their children in separate schools. Under the act of 1804 school directors in Delaware County had been elected prior to the law of 1834. On March 18, 1825, Concord elected trustees of schools for three years. Ralph C. Marsh, William Mendenhall, and James M. Willcox were returned to court as elected. At that time school was held at Mattson's, and preparations were made to accept other houses in the township. In 1834, when the school law was passed, the court appointed James M. Willcox and W.H. Palmer to act as inspectors of schools until directors had been elected. On Nov. 4, 1834, a county convention was held at the court-house at Chester, to which delegates, chosen by the several townships, were requested to be present. Concord neglected or refused to elect delegates, and the township was not represented at the meeting. The opposition there was so general that it was not until the act of 1836 was passed that Concord accepted the provisions of the law. That is the received opinion, and yet, in 1835, $165.90 was received by the township as county and State appropriations.

The first board of directors elected under the act of 1836 consisted of William Mendenhall, James M. Wilicox, Joseph Cloud, Joseph Palmer, Robert N. Palmer, and Reece Pyle, and on August 27th of that year the first meeting was held at the public-house of James Hannum. It was resolved that Neal Duffee should be employed as teacher for Lower School, No. 2 (Mattson's); Jesse Green, for Union School, No. 3 (near Elam); and Alexander McKeever, for the Upper School (Concord Hill), at twenty-five dollars per month of twenty-four days.

The following notice was soon after posted in the township
     "NOTICE. At a meeting Concord, Sept. 2, 1836. To all concerned. The Directors of the district of Concord have resolved to open three schools in said District, viz.: At Millers or Lower School and Union School, near Newlins store and Upper School, Concord Hill, on second day the 12th inst. for the reception of all children over four years old for tuition and instruction.

"By order of the Board,
"REECE PYLE, Secretary."

On the 8th of October, 1836, Alexander McKeever was notified by the board that his pay would cease al the expiration of two months, but on the 13th of May, 1837, he was again chosen with Neal Duffee and Jesse Green to teach the schools. June 7, 1838, the directors employed Moses M. Lincoln teacher for school No. 1, Amos H. Wickersham No. 2, Jesse Green No. 3. Wickersham resigned January 14th, and Feb. 11, 1839, James G. Hannum was appointed in his place. The question of continuing the public schools in Concord seems to have been undecided as late as 1840 when in May of that year an election was held, and it was voted to continue them. In the year 1853 the school-houses in the township were known as follows: No. 1, Hatton's; No. 2, Mattson's; No. 3, Gamble's; and No. 4, Sharpless'.

The first school-house erected in the township, except that of the Friends at Concord Hill, was upon a lot of land which by deed dated Dec. 10, 1796, Levi Mattson gave in trust for that purpose. The people of that section, to the number of eighteen, appointed Moses Palmer, Stephen Hall, William Hannum, Nathaniel Walter, and Thomas Hatton, trustees to accept the real estate. It consisted of half an acre of land situated on the north side of the great road from Concord to Chester. A one-story stone school-house was erected by contribution from the neighbors upon this lot and used for school purposes. The building was under direction of trustees until the school law was accepted. The old contribution school passed to the control of the directors, and in the notice of Sept. 2, 1836, it is mentioned as Miller's or Lower school. John Larkin, Jr., of Chester, and Mrs. George Sharpless, of Springfield, were pupils here from 1812 to 1815; John McClugen was a teacher at that time. His Saturday night libations at the Cross-Keys Tavern often incapacitated him from appearing Monday morning in proper condition to teach. William Neal, Nicholas Newlin, and Thomas Haines were also teachers. In 1859, when the directors were about erecting a new house on this lot, the deed from Mattson could not be found, and much doubt was expressed as to the title, but subsequently the deed was procured and recorded. The title being perfected, the directors contracted with Robert Barleu to erect a stone school-house at a cost of nine hundred and forty-four dollars, which was completed Sept. 15, 1859. It has been used for school purposes. On the 13th December, 1826, Robert N. Gamble sold to Joseph Larkin, William McCall, and Samuel Hance (who were trustees of schools of the township in that year) a half-acre of land on the road leading from Naaman's Creek road to Concord road, in consideration of having a school-house erected thereon. A school-house was built and used under the charge of trustees until 1836, at which time it was placed in care of the directors of the public schools, when it was known as School No. 3. It was maintained by them until 1856, when a new house was erected at Johnson's Corners which is still in use. The Gamble lot was sold to William H. Slawter, and the sale confirmed by the court Feb. 27, 1860. The land is now owned by Mrs. Mary Collins, who resides there. The lot at Johnson's Corners was purchased by the directors from Thomas Harlan, July 28, 1856, for one hundred and ninety-eight dollars and twenty-five cents, and Emmor Taylor contracted for the erection of a frame school-house at a cost of nine hundred and sixty-three dollars, to be completed Nov. 15, 1856, when it took the place of Union School, No. 3, mentioned above.

On April 15, 1837, the directors appointed a committee to ascertain whether a suitable lot could be obtained for the erection of a public school-house. This action was rendered necessary by the refusal of Friends to allow the school-house at their meeting-house to be longer under the charge of the directors. No mention is made of a report of this committee, and on the 14th of May, 1838, the board of directors resolved to rent a house in the vicinity of Concord meeting-house for the purpose of a free school. James S. Peters and Samuel Trimble were appointed to rent and furnish a room. On May 24th, they reported that they had rented a house of Matthew Ash, in which school was opened and kept for a long time. The first agitation to build a school-house in Concordville was made in 1860, and April 26th, in that year, a meeting was called to consult on the subject. Nothing, however, was accomplished until 1873-74, when the present commodious two-story brick house was built, at a cost of four thousand dollars. It is located on the State road at the western end of the village.

On the 15th of June, 1847, the school directors purchased ninety-six square perches of land of Casper Sharpless. A stone school-house was erected, and school opened May 15, 1848, with Sarah C. Walton as the first teacher. This house was used till 1870, when the lot was exchanged with Fairman Rogers, and the present brick house, forty by forty feet, was erected. It is located in close proximity to Markham Station.

On May 3, 1851, the board of directors resolved to build a school-house to supply the place of No. 1, and on the 9th of September, 1852, purchased ninety-six perches of land of Hannah Hatton and Deborah Peters. A contract was made with Robert Barlow to erect the building for five hundred and fifteen dollars. This house was built, and was known as the Spring Valley House. It was used until 1874, when it was abandoned, and the district was absorbed in the present No. 1 District, at Concordville, and McCartney District, No. 5.

The McCartney school-house lot was purchased of Samuel Myers about 1878, and the present house erected. This is known as No. 5, and is situated in the south part of the township below Smith's Crossroad.

The following is a list of the school directors since 1840, as obtained from the election records of Media:

1840, Joseph Hannum, Robert Mendenhall; 1841, 1842, John H. Marsh, Peter W. Mattson; 1843, Marshall Cloud, Moses D. Palmer; 1844, Samuel Hanes, William W. Palmer; 1845, John H. Marsh, Evan P. Hannum; 1846, Robert Gamble, Thomas Marshall; 1847, Samuel Hance, William W. Palmer; 1848, Thomas Marshall, Peter W. Mattson; 1849, Edward Green, Matthew Wood; 1850, Joel Swayne, Thomas P. Powell; 1851, Joseph Walter, Isaac Tussey; 1852, Nathaniel Pratt, Andrew Hudson; 1853, Davis Richard, Samuel Myers; 1854, Robert H. Palmer, John Sharpless; 1855, Andrew Pratt, David L. Manley; 1856, John Miller, Thomas Hinkson; 1857, Davis Richards, John Hill; 1858, William Gamble, R.H. Hannum, Joseph Johnston; 1859, David S. Manley, Job Hoopes; 1860, John Shaw, George Rush; 1861, George Drayton, Henry L. Paschall; 1862, John H. Newlin, Robert H. Hannum; 1863, Emmor S. Leedom, Thomas W. Johnson; 1864, Henry L. Paschall, Penrose Miller; 1865, R.H. Hannum, John H. Newlin; 1866, Samuel Bennington, T.W. Johnson; 1867, H.L. Paschall, Penrose Miller; 1868, R.H. Hannum, T.I. Peirce; 1869, Samuel Bennington, T.W. Johnson; 1870, Lewis Palmer, Peter Ingram; 1871, R.H. Hannum, Milon S. Heyburn; 1872, no report; 1873, Lewis Palmer, D. Darlington; 1874, Henry Bishop, George Rush; 1875, Samuel Bennington, Thomas W. Johnson; 1876, R.H. Hannum, William Gamble; 1877, Ralph M. Harvey, Harry Bishop; 1878, Thomas W. Johnson, Samuel Bennington; 1879, William Gamble, R.H. Hannum; 1880, Henry C. Bishop, Samuel N. Hill; 1881, Thomas W. Johnson, W.G. Powell; 1882, Isaiah H. Miller, R. Henry Hannum; 1883, John L. Tucker, Joseph Trimble; 1884, Elwood Hannum, Daniel Fields.

Maplewood Institute. A large tract of land, near Friends' meeting-house, at Concordville, was purchased by Professor Joseph Shortledge, who erected thereon a building fifty by eighty feet, three stories in height, especially designed for a seminary of learning. In the fall of 1862 he established a school, which was conducted successfully, both sexes being admitted as pupils. The academy was well patronized, and soon won its way in public favor. On April 6, 1870, it was chartered by an Act of Assembly, as the "Maplewood Institute," with collegiate privileges. Shortly after this date the building was enlarged by the addition of a wing to the rear, forty by eighty feet, affording facilities which were much needed. The institute at the present time has accommodations for eighty pupils, a well-selected library, and is also well supplied with chemical and philosophical apparatus.

Ward Academy. In 1882, Benjamin F. Leggett erected on the road from Concord Station to Concordville a commodious building for educational purposes, and therein established the Ward Academy. Although an institution of recent date, it has been well attended, and gives promise of extended usefulness. It has grown rapidly in public approval, and is firmly established.

Leedom's Mills. At the court held Oct. 2, 1695, occurs the first mention of Concord Mills, now Leedom's. The grand jury, following the recommendation of a previous grand inquest "to lay an assessment" to pay the judges' fees, to meet the county expenses, and provide funds for the erection of the prison then building, assessed Concord Mills at ten pounds. According to Smith's map of early grants and patents, accepting the above date as the year of the erection of Concord Mills, in 1695, the company's enterprise was located on the west branch of Chester Creek, and on the tract of five hundred acres which was entered by William Hitchcock, Sept. 8, 9, 1681, secured to him Feb. 18, 1682, and a patent was issued therefor June 27, 1684. This tract was a long and narrow strip, extending the entire width of the township, near its northern boundary. On Feb. 7, 1701, Hitchcock sold two hundred and fifty acres of this land on the west of Concord Street road, laid out in 1682, the road has ceased to be, excepting the upper part known as Thornbury Street, to Nicholas Pyle, and the same day the remaining two hundred acres east of the road was conveyed to Benjamin Mendenhall. Concord Mills is on the extreme eastern and lower end of the Pyle tract, the race beginning a long distance above the mill, on the west branch of the creek. The mill was built by a company of which William Brinton, the younger, of Birmingham, was one of the owners and the chief projector of the enterprise. In those days the mill was of great importance to the neighborhood, for prior to its erection there was none within several miles, and hauling was difficult excepting in the winter, when sleds moved easily over the frozen snow. The assessment in 1695, which gave the appraised value of this mill as ten pounds, clearly indicates that it was a frame structure, which subsequently, at a date not ascertained, gave place to a stone building. In 1715, Nicholas Pyle had charge of the mill, for he appears on the assessment-roll for that year "for ye mill." When Concord meeting-house was burned, in 1788, the mill was used as a temporary place for Friends to gather until the present meeting-house was rebuilt. At that time it was owned by Thomas Newlin, who had acquired title to the mill prior to 1780. From 1790 to 1810, John Newlin rented and operated it, and in 1817 he became the owner. A short distance below this mill, in 1696, Nicholas Newlin built a saw-mill, which in 1790 was owned by Nathaniel Newlin, in 1802 by Thomas Newlin, and in 1817 by Benjamin Newlin. The grist-mill, from 1810 to 1820, was rented and operated by Mendenhall and Pennell, and after the latter date by John Newlin. He continued there many years. The grist- and saw-mill subsequently became the property of Casper W. Sharpless, and finally was owned by George Drayton. The latter, in 1859, sold thirty-eight acres and the upper mill to Samuel Leedom, by whose son, Emmor S. Leedom, both the saw- and grist-mill are now held as trust estate.

Hill's Mill. On Sept. 24, 1683, five hundred acres of land was surveyed to Nicholas Newlin, which, lying to the south of the Hitchcock tract, extended from the eastern township line westward to Concord Street road, which ran north and south, dividing the township in the centre. Within this estate, which was patented to Newlin May 1, 1685, a part of the headwaters of the west branch of Chester Creek were embraced, and through the lower part of Newlin's land, running east and west, Providence and Concord road was laid out Aug. 15, 1715. Twenty-two years prior to this highway being approved, Aug. 21, 1693, a road still in use, beginning east of the present school-house on that road, and running thence northward to the Thornbury line, was laid out by the grand jury. On April 2, 1703, the tract was resurveyed to Nathaniel Newlin, the son of Nicholas, and was found to contain five hundred and fifty-two acres of land. The following year (1704) Nathaniel Newlin built a stone grist-mill on the west branch of Chester Creek, now owned by Samuel Hill. In the walls of this old mill is a date-stone marked "Nathan and Ann Newlin, 1704." This mill passed from Nathaniel or Nathan Newlin to his son Thomas, and in 1817 was sold to William Trimble as twenty-seven acres, and the "Lower Mill." Thomas Newlin having for many years previous to that date been the owner of the "Upper Mill," or Society Mill, as it was known in early days, and now as Leedom's. The terms Upper and Lower Mills being used to designate the one from the other, after they had both become the property of Newlin. The Lower Mill later came into possession of Abraham Sharpless, who operated it several years, and after his death it was sold by Casper W. Sharpless, executor of his father, Abraham Sharpless, in April, 1861, to John Hill & Son. The junior member of the firm, Samuel, operated it until the death of his father, John Hill, when the latter's interest was acquired by his son, Samuel Hill, who is the present owner of the mill.

Trimble, or Felton Mills. In 1734, William Trimble appeared at Friends' Meeting at Concord with Ann Palmers, and there they declared their intention of marriage. Soon after their marriage, William Trimble bought one hundred acres of land, the half of the two hundred acres patented to Thomas King, July 22, 1684. The part purchased adjoined the Nicholas Newlin Mill land, to the south of the latter. In 1742, William and Ann Trimble built a stone house, which is still standing, and now owned by Dr. Joseph Trimble. William Trimble, the younger, had on this estate a saw-mill in 1782, and prior to 1799 had erected a paper-mill, which was operated as such by him until 1813, when it was changed to a cotton-factory at the instance of John D. Carter, an Englishman, who had just previous to that time immigrated to Pennsylvania. This factory was four stories in height, sixty by thirty-four feet, and was conducted by Carter until 1826, when he purchased the Knowlton Mills and removed there. The Trimble cotton-factory at that time contained four carding-engines, ten hundred and sixty-eight spindles, and spun seven hundred and fifty pounds of cotton yarn weekly. The mills, after Carter's removal, were leased by Jacob Taylor, and later by Joseph Trimble, Charles Cheelham, Callaghan Brothers, and others. In March, 1873, the mills were destroyed by fire, and the property was sold to Gen. Robert Patterson. The executors of the Patterson estate, on July 1, 1884, sold the site of these mills to George Rush, Jr., who is rebuilding the burned mills, wherein he proposes to manufacture the Rush roller skates, of which article he is the patentee. Early in this century, Samuel Trimble conducted the saw-mill in the immediate neighborhood of the Trimble paper-mill, and continued there many years.

Marshall's Tannery. In the year 1785, Thomas Marshall had a tannery and stone bark-mill on the west bank of Chester Creek, below the present Marshall Mill. It was still owned and operated by him in 1826, and later fell into disuse. The property is now owned by Ellis P. Marshall.

In 1770, Robert Mendenhall was operating a saw-mill on the Mendenhall tract, which he conducted till 1788, when it was in charge of Stephen Mendenhall, and later went out of use. In 1788, Thomas Hatton owned and operated a saw-mill until 1799, when John Hatton succeeded him in the business, and also conducted a currying-shop and tan-yard. In 1802, Joseph Hatton appears to have control of the business, and he conducted it subsequent to 1830. In 1770, John Newlin was operating a grist-mill, and in 1774, Cyrus Newlin and Daniel Trimble were also engaged in that occupation. In 1782, Abraham Sharpless and Hugh Judge were each running a grist-mill. About 1800, William Walter built a grist-mill, which was operated by him many years. A grist- and saw-mill is now on the site of the mill, which is owned by his descendants. In 1788, William Hannum was operating a saw-mill on Green Creek, where in 1811 the business was conducted by William Hannum, Jr., who in the same year had a tan-yard connected with the mill. In 1818, Aaron Hannum built a grist-mill, which, prior to 1826, had been changed by John Hannum to a fulling-mill and woolen-factory, which was operated by John Jones. At that date the machinery consisted of two carding-engines, one belly of thirty-six spindles, one jenny of fifty spindles. Subsequent to 1848 the business was abandoned and the building no longer used as a factory.

In 1811, Matthias Corliss had a carding- and spinning-machine in Concord, which he operated for a short time. In 1779, Henry Myers owned a saw-mill on Concord Creek, which, in 1811, was owned and operated by John Myers, and in 1848 by Jesse Myers. It is not in use at the present time. Prior to the last century William Vernon had a saw-mill on Green Creek, near the Bethel line, which was discontinued many years ago.

Johnson's Corners. The locality known by the above name was the site of the old Three Tun Tavern, established by Nathaniel Newlin in 1748, which was kept as a public-house until 1814. The property in 1848 was owned by John H. Newlin and William Johnson. A school-house was erected there in 1856, which is still used. A store was at the Corners in 1875, but is discontinued. The land on the west side of the road is now owned by Thomas Johnson. The grounds of the Brandywine Summit Camp-Meeting Association are located on the farm of Thomas Johnson. Camp-meetings have been held at the place for twelve or fifteen years, but without organization. In the summer of 1884 an association was formed, and a charter was granted by the court of Delaware County. The association obtained a lease of twenty acres of land, and meetings are held there in the month of July or August. The Brandywine Summit Camp-Meeting is under the charge of the Wilmington Conference.

Elam. The tract of land on which the hamlet is situated was first granted to Francis Chads, and contained one hundred and thirty and a half acres of land. It was resurveyed April 9, 1702, and April 19, 1708, it was sold to John Willis. The road that runs northerly through it was laid out in February, 1705. At the place now called Elam, formerly known as Pleasant Hill, James Smith lived, and in 1819 he petitioned court for a license, which was not granted him till 1823. A full account of his troubles will he found in the account of the licensed houses. Subsequent to 1832, the property was sold as the estate of James Smith to Edward Hoskins. It passed from Hoskins to Joseph Cheyney, and later to William May, whose heirs are now in possession of the land. In 1848 there was at the place a store, post-office, and tavern. The store was built by Marshall P. Wilkinson, and later was sold to Miller & Yarnall. Mrs. Mary A. Yarnall now conducts the store and post-office, having been postmistress since 1865.

The Elam Methodist Episcopal Church, situated a short distance from Elam, was established as a branch of the Siloam Methodist Episcopal Church, of Bethel, in 1882. A lot was purchased of Daniel Husband and Jehu Tolley, and a neat stone chapel, thirty by forty-five feet, was erected. The pastors of Siloam Church, Bethel, have this in charge.

Concordville. Except the few dwellings clustered about the Friends' meeting-house at this point there was no conspicuous settlement until 1831, when John Way was licensed to keep a public-house there, and in the next year a mail station was established, and known as the Concordville Post-office. A line of stages from this time ran through the village on the New London, Philadelphia and Brandywine Turnpike. John Way acted as postmaster until 1844, when he was succeeded by George Rush, who in June, 1869, was followed by Mrs. Sheoff. The latter held the office for only a short time, and was succeeded by George Rush, the present incumbent, who established a store at Concordville in 1844.

Ivy Mills and the Willcox Family. For many reasons a historical sketch of the Willcox family is interesting, identified as it has been with Delaware County since an early period. Their business, established in this county as far back as 1729, has continued in the family for more than a hundred and fifty years, descending from father to son through five successive generations. This is the oldest business house now standing in the United States. It has had intimate relations not only with Franklin, Carey, and all the principal printing-houses of the last century, but also with the authorities of all of the old Colonies that issued paper money in the colonial days for forty years preceding the Revolution; with the Continental authorities of the Revolutionary period, and with the United States authorities ever since that period; all in the line of its regular business as manufacturers of printing, currency, and security papers. On three different occasions, far apart, the services it was able to render the government, in times of war and discredit, were so important that it may be said they were services of necessity. After more than a century and a half of continuous business the principal place of manufacturing is still within two miles of the original location, and the mercantile house still remains in Minor Street, Philadelphia, where it has always been.

The Willcox family in Pennsylvania dates back to 1718, in which year Thomas Willcox and his wife Elizabeth (nee Cole), settled in Delaware County, selecting their future home on the west branch of Chester Creek, in Concord township. Their property has passed by inheritance four times from father to son, and is now owned by their direct descendant of the fifth generation of the same name as the founder, Thomas Willcox.

The name Willcox (Wild Chough) is undoubtedly of Saxon times and origin, as the family crest (a Cornish chough upon a pile of rocks) indicates. The chough is a red-legged raven of the southwest of England, and the first Willcox was so called, doubtlessly, because he bore a wild chough (pronounced gutturally) upon a shield or pole in the many battles fought in those rude days.

Thomas Willcox, originally from Devonshire, England, came over young, as he and his wife lived together in Concord from 1718 until his death, in 1779, his wife dying in the following year. They were of the Roman Catholic faith, as are all their descendants of the name in Pennsylvania to-day, and the family is believed to be the oldest Catholic family in the State. At their house was established one of the earliest missions in Pennsylvania, but at what precise date cannot now be determined, as the early records of some of the Jesuit missions (of which this was one) were destroyed by a fire at St. Thomas, Md., where they were kept; but it is supposed to be about 1732. A room devoted to chapel purposes has always been reserved in the mansion-house of all the successive proprietors up to this time, and the Catholics of the neighborhood have ever been invited and accustomed to attend the religious services conducted there, Many articles of the old chapel furniture, such as chalice, missal, vestments, etc., that have been in use there from the beginning, are still preserved and prized by the family. In 1852, chiefly at the cost of James M. Willcox, the then proprietor of Ivy Mills, the church of St. Thomas was built near Ivy Mills, since which time the private chapel has been maintained for occasional services and private devotion.

Thomas and Elizabeth Willcox had nine children, John, Anne, James, Elizabeth, Mary, Deborah, Thomas, Mark, and Margaret. The eldest son, John, and Mary (married to John Montgomery) removed to North Carolina in early life, settling near Fayetteville, and their descendants of several generations are numerously scattered throughout the Southern States. The counties of Willcox in Georgia and Alabama, respectively, have taken name from some of these, and the old family Christian names of Thomas and Mark are carefully handed down among the Southern branches of the family. The eldest daughter, Anne, married James White, and a distinguished Governor of Louisiana of that name was her grandson. Her grave and tombstone are in old St. Mary's churchyard on Fourth Street, in Philadelphia, the lettering nearly obliterated by time. John's and Mary's descendants embrace many of the best-known names in nearly all the cotton States, and are particularly numerous along the Ocmulgee River in Georgia, and in the Carolinas. The original home in Concord, including the large farm and Ivy Mill, descended to the youngest son, Mark, born in Concord in 1743.

Mark Wilicox, better known in the community as Judge Willcox for the last thirty years of his life, after an early study of law entered into business with his father for a time, and then removed to Philadelphia, where he became a prominent merchant of that city. The firm (Flahavan & Willcox) consisted of his brother-in-law Thomas Flahavan and himself; and their books, some of which are still preserved, show that they owned several vessels, and traded principally with Wilmington and Newberne, N.C., and with London, Dublin, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. Some of the letters of their letter-book, covering the period of 1783 to 1787, are interesting, and contain valuable materials connected with the history of the time, regarding not only Philadelphia and vicinity but a number of other places. In one, for instance, of date Philadelphia, March 20, 1786 (per ship "Adolph," Capt. Clarkson, via Amsterdam), they write to their correspondents Messrs. Roquett F.A. Elsires and Brothers Roquett, of Rotterdam, requesting the latter to sell in Europe all or part of six thousand acres of land belonging to the firm, lying above Mount Vernon on the Potomac; and, subsequently, in letter of date April 21, 1786, they thus enter into a fuller explanation of the location and value of the lands:
     "Should you not be able to sell, you'll keep the Papers in your hands belonging to us until you hear from us. We have the pleasing news from a Gentleman who has Lands in the same Neighborhood, & has moved lately 28 Families on them, that the County is settling faster than any other in the States, & he says he makes little doubt of those Lands being soon settled as thick as within 20 Miles of Philadelphia. There is another advantage which they have, that we neglected to mention to you in our former Letters, that is, that General Washington's Lands are in the vicinity of our's, that Virginia has undertaken to clear the Potowmack River, and that the General has the Direction of it, & no doubt as well for his Country's Interest as his own, will forward the

work as fast as possible. Also that a Town is to be built within 5 Miles of the Lands by Order and Permission of Government. You may therefore Insure them as prime Lands and of the First Quality. There is very little doubt but in a little time this will be the first Country in the World. There may be some Objections Respecting the Savages, but this you may clear up by informing to a Certainty that there are no Savages within a hundred Miles of them, &c., &c.
     "With great esteem,
     "FLAHAVAN & WILLCOX."

The future "town to be built by order of Government" is the present city of Washington, rapidly becoming one of the most beautiful capitals of the world. The "savages" are now far enough away.

They were very extensive owners of land, as will appear from the following extract of a letter to the same correspondents, in Rotterdam, dated June 4, 1787:
     "Since then we have Accts. from France to Gentlemen here, who had letters from their Correspondents in Europe, of their contracting with the Farmer General for 200,000 acres in the neighbourhood of our Lands, for 200,000 French Crowns, & that the Government was sending out Settlers. If so no doubt it will add to the value of our Lands. If you could not sell on advantageous terms you had better find out the Gentleman that sold those Lands and send him the papers. Perhaps he may have it in his power to sell ours along with his Own. Or, if you could sell a larger tract, say twenty thousand acres more, that is, if Speculators in Land would rather have a larger Tract, we would have you engage 20 or 30 Thousand Acres more, and shall send you out all the papers, or deliver them to your Order. We have also Accts. from England of Mr. Vancouver's selling 100 Thousand Acres to English settlers who are coming out next Spring, so that that Place will be as thick as any Place in the States. If these Schemes should fail send back the papers as Quick as Possible. You will soon hear if this news of sale to Farmer General is true and you will be able to judge whether a tryal in France will answer." It is also well known that Mark Willcox, following the example of many prominent men of means in Philadelphia at that time and long after, committed the mistake of investing in lands in many of the interior counties of Pennsylvania, instead of at their very doors. The rapid growth of the city was not foreseen, nor the overleaping by emigration of the mountainous districts of Pennsylvania, where they purchased, for the rich and vast valley of the Ohio and Mississippi. The whole tenor of this venerable letter-book shows plainly the great and lasting depression in all business that followed the Revolution. Its foreign correspondence contains many references to public matters transpiring at the time, one of which to the great Convention of 87 shows the feeling of the intelligent portion of the community in regard to it. This letter is of date July 18, 1787: "We have nothing new to Relate you except that Our Grand Convention, being deputed from the different States, is now sitting here. They have sett for upwards of six Weeks, and are as Respectable a Body as one ever had to meet on Public Business, as well for their Understanding & Fortunes as for the unbounded Confidence being placed in them by their Constituents. The purport of this Meeting is to see into the Situation of the Foederal Union, mend Defects, and Strengthen it upon such solid Basis as will give power to Congress as well as many Resources, so that they'll be reputable abroad as well as at Home. In the mean time to guard against the Infringing upon the Liberty of the Subject. This, no doubt, they will be able to Accomplish, as the People are Tired of the Loose Manner in which they have been Governed for Some time."

The last reference to the convention appears in a letter dated Sept. 25, 1787, as follows: "The Convention has broken up, & has recommended us a Code of laws which, if adopted, will make us Happy at Home and Respected abroad, and we have little doubt of their being adopted, as the People are Generally for it. Nor is there any doubt of General Washington being Universally appointed President General, &c."

There are many precious bits of history and historical reference in this old book which should not be lost, and which will become more valuable as time passes and the still fresh tints of recent history fade away.

Mark Willcox's first wife was his partner's sister, Ellen Flahavan; another sister became the wife of Mathew Carey and the mother of the late Henry C. Carey, of Philadelphia, whose writings on social science and political economy have given him a worldwide reputation. Among the brothers-in-law an intimate friendship always existed, ending only at the death of Mark Willcox, in 1827. The only child of this first marriage, Ellen Willcox, was educated at the only boarding-school in Pennsylvania at that time, the Moravian School at Bethlehem. She married William Jenkins, of Baltimore, Md., and their descendants, quite numerous, are among the best-known and most-esteemed citizens of that city. His second wife was Mary Kauffman, daughter of Dr. Theophilus Kauffman, of Strasburg, Germany, who came to Philadelphia long before the Revolution, and who died some years afterwards in Montgomery County, whither he removed away from the "rebels," who had captured the city, and with whose Revolutionary ideas he had no sympathy.

When his father died, in 1779, Mark Willcox continued to live in Philadelphia, and carried on the manufacturing of paper at the Ivy Mill. At what date he removed from the city is not precisely known, but one of the letters in the letter-book spoken of mentions the fact of his living in the country in 1789. The old Ivy Mill had then been running sixty years, and was the second paper-mill built on the American continent, the Rittenhouse mill, on the Wissahickon, being the only one before it. Following its lead, a number of paper-mills were built in Delaware County, commencing on Chester Creek; and as late as the beginning of the nineteenth century more paper was made in Delaware County, Pa. (then shorn to its present dimensions), than in all the rest of the whole United States. This was the pioneer county in that particular industry, and long it held its pre-eminence. The old Ivy Mill, after standing over a hundred years, was torn down fifty-four years ago, or rather the greater part of it, and rebuilt by James M. Willcox. Two men of two generations, father and son, had conducted it ninety-eight years. The ponderous machinery, however, of modern mills silenced it long ago, but it still stands, a silent relic of its early time. Its wheel has long since decayed; its stone gable is thickly covered with the venerable ivy-vine whose root came over the ocean (in 1718) from near the old Ivy Bridge, in Devonshire; and the day is drawing near when it will begin its last change into a picturesque ruin as ancient as we have them in this New World. The old mill has a history deeply interesting from its connection with the printing-presses of historic men, and perhaps more so from its relations to the old colonial governments that preceded the formation of the United States, and the general government subsequently. The Colonies were wont to issue each its own particular currency, and up to the time of the Revolution the paper for all the money of all the Colonies, from Massachusetts to the Carolinas, was manufactured by Thomas Willcox at his Ivy Mill; after which followed, out of the same mill, the paper for the Continental currency, and after that the paper for the government issues made necessary by the war of 1812.

After Mark Willcox removed to the country (about 1789) he never afterwards returned to the city to live. He was a man of erudition, and a genial but dignified gentleman, and up to the time of his death (in 1827) it was his habit and pleasure to receive frequent visits from his many friends in town, who would drive their twenty miles to pass some days, in the old-fashioned way, at his pleasant country home.

Many years before his death Judge Willcox had associated his sons, John and Joseph, in business with him, but retired early, as the books show that in 1811 the firm consisted of John and Joseph Willcox. Joseph died young and unmarried, and John again united with his father, the product of the mill being always principally bank-note, bond, and similar papers. John died in 1826, leaving two daughters, and his widow married, some years afterwards, Lieut. John Marston, Jr., U.S.N., who has survived her. He now (1884), as Rear-Admiral Marston, resides in Philadelphia, enjoying good health at eighty-nine years of age.

On the death of John Willcox his youngest brother, James M., assumed charge of the hereditary mill, and threw more vigor and activity into the business than it had ever known. His father dying the following year, James became the sole proprietor. Three years afterwards he tore down the mill that had run for a century, and built upon the site a new one of double capacity, with improved machinery. Bank-note paper still continued to be the specialty. For a long period not only were the banks of the United States supplied with their paper from the Ivy Mill, but its lofts were at times piled with peculiar-looking papers of various tints, bearing the ingrained water-marks of most of the governments and banks of South America. Nearly the whole Western Continent drew its supplies from there, such was the reputation of the establishment; and Eastward its paper went as far as Italy and Greece. But an end had to come to this. The sagacity of James M. Willcox foresaw the impending changes that were to revolutionize the paper manufacture, and he began early to prepare for them; at first by improving and enlarging facilities, and then by adopting at once the revolutionary processes according to their best features, for which he had not long to wait. He was very early to appreciate the full merits of the Fourdrinier machine, and one of the first enterprising enough to adopt it. In 1835 he purchased from the heirs of Abraham Sharples the elder, on the main branch of Chester Creek, and about two and a half miles from Ivy Mills, an extensive water-power, and the property on which the Sharples iron-works, consisting of rolling- and slitting-mills, had been situated. Here he built the first of the mills known as the Glen Mills, in which was placed one of the new Fourdrinier paper-machines of the largest class then known. He took his sons, Mark and William, into partnership, and for many years conducted a large and successful business, dividing his attention among his various interests, his farm, the Ivy Mill, the Glen Mill, and his mercantile house in the city. In 1846 he built the second of the Glen Mills. Soon after his health became precarious, and, although he suffered much, he remained actively engaged in the details of all his many engagements as long as he lived. On March 3, 1852, he completed his long-contemplated arrangements and retired from business, leaving it to his three sons, Mark, James, and Joseph, and died unexpectedly before the following morning. He was a man of unusual intelligence, strength and earnestness of character, and fervent religious convictions that governed all his intercourse with other men. No man was better known or more respected in the entire community. His charities accorded with his means. His influence was great, and always for good; and his death was a public loss. Born in 1791, and dying in 1852, he was not sixty-two years of age. His remains repose in the old family burying-ground upon the Ivy Mills property, where those of his father and grandfather were laid before him; and in the same ground lie the remains of many colored people, formerly slaves of his ancestors when slavery existed in Pennsylvania, and a number of their descendants for several generations.

Without change of title, Mark, James M., and

JAMES WILLCOX, PAGE 494

Joseph, the three oldest sons of James M. Willcox, succeeded to the Ivy Mills and Glen Mills business in 1852. In 1866, Joseph retired from business, after disposing of his interests to his elder brothers, since when he has devoted his time to scientific pursuits, chiefly in the departments of geology and mineralogy. In the mean time the civil war had broken out, and the government was again forced to the issue of paper money, this time on a scale unprecedented in the history of the world. For the third time, under the pressing necessities of war and broken credit, it had recourse to the Willcox House to supply its needs. Fortunately this had kept in advance of the times, and the brothers had, but a few years before, succeeded in changing the manufacture of bank-note paper by bringing it also upon the Fourdrinier machine, thus enabling themselves to produce more in a day than the old practice, by hand process, could produce in a month. When, therefore, the emergency came they were able to meet it, first with one large mill, and soon after with a second. The supply was maintained, and always up to the requirements of the government. All the bank-note paper-mills of Europe, save one, are still hand-mills, and it is not too much to say that, at that time, all of them united could not have supplied the paper needed for our government's issues of paper money.

In 1864 the United States Treasury Department, prompted by the desire to prevent the counterfeiting of its issues, undertook the task of manufacturing a currency paper for its own use, and imparting to it some peculiarity of character by which counterfeiting could be detected. A costly mill with Fourdrinier machine was built on the lower floor of the Department building, and experiments at great cost were conducted there for four years. There was no outcome of any value; the attempts were all failures, and the Treasury mill ended where it had begun, with an inferior quality of simple white paper. It was then torn out, and the Willcox Brothers were invited to undertake a task that the Department, with all the scientific aid it could command, had failed in, and that had never yet been successfully performed anywhere. This they were prepared to do by means of a peculiar paper invented by them, and patented three years before. The "localized-fibre" paper, manufactured for many years after this at the Glen Mills for the notes and bonds of the government, attained not merely a national, but a world-wide, reputation, for it accomplished the object desired. So jealously was it guarded by the government that for ten years the mills and premises were occupied by a government officer with a numerous police and detective force, and some forty employes of the Treasury Department, to insure that no sheet or bit of paper should be abstracted for unlawful purpose, and that every sheet should be counted and registered as made, and tracked through the various stages towards completion, until it should be delivered over to the express company to be taken away for use. During that period not a sheet, out of hundreds of millions made, was lost or missed, not a counterfeit seen on any treasury note or bond of the issue or series that began with that paper; and at the end, when Secretary John Sherman, in 1878, removed the manufacture of government paper from Pennsylvania, the paper account at Glen Mills balanced, a clear quittance was given, and the Treasury issue of paper money with which he began his administration was free from counterfeits.

In 1880, Mark Willcox purchased his brother James' interest in the Glen Mills property, the Philadelphia business, and the Sarum farm adjoining Glen Mills, of which they had been joint owners. Some years before he had purchased from his younger brothers, Edward and Henry, the old Ivy Mills estate, so that at his death, in April, 1883, he had acquired possession of nearly all the properties of the family in Delaware County that had historical interest. His two sons, James Mark and William, the present owners of the Glen Mills property, have recently enlarged the principal mill and are actively engaged in the old business, the mercantile department of which is still conducted by them at No. 509 Minor Street, Philadelphia. These two young men constitute the oldest business house of any description in the United States; one that has continued from father to son, in one locality, a hundred and fifty-five years. The Ivy Mills property, the original home, now belongs to the youngest brother, Thomas, of the same name as the founder of the family in America.

James M. Willcox the younger, whose portrait is herein presented, was born at Ivy Mills, in the same house in which his father and grandfather were born, Nov. 20, 1824. He is the fourth son of James M. Willcox, and the second son of a second marriage contracted in 1819. His mother was Mary eldest daughter of Capt. James Brackett, of Quincy, Mass., in which State the Bracketts have resided for ten generations. The first of them, also Capt. James Brackett, was born in Scotland, in 1611, and came over with the early Puritans. This ancestor figures in Hawthorne's. "Scarlet Letter," as captain of the soldiery and custodian of the jail in which Hester Prynne was confined. Her mother, Elizabeth Odiorne, descended from the ancestor of that name who came over with the Church of England colony that founded Portsmouth, N.H. The old Odiorne mansion is still standing, and is one of the most interesting antiquities of that place. James M. Willcox's early school years were passed at Anthony Bolmar's boarding-school, at West Chester, Pa., and thence he passed to Georgetown College, D.C., whose reputation for superior classical and literary training has always been recognized. After leaving college he commenced the study of medicine, but before completing the course changed his intentions and went to Italy, where he spent three years, mostly in Rome and its vicinity, in the study of ancient and modern languages, the higher mathematics, and philosophy. There existed nowhere better or higher schools of languages and philosophy than the Roman Propaganda and Sapienza. In them the Latin, instead of being an object of study, was the text of the class-books, the medium of communication, the spoken and written language of the schools. In it Greek, Hebrew, the sciences, and philosophy were learned and expounded by the professors. The rare advantages within his grasp the young American student employed to the best advantage, and brought home a full share of the honors competed for, becoming an accomplished linguist, speaking several languages, and attaining in the end to the Doctorship in Philosophy. This degree is lightly given in the United States, frequently without any course of philosophy at all, but in the universities of Continental Europe it is conferred on but few, on account of the very severe course and examination required in logic, metaphysics, and ethics, as well as in physics and mathematics. At this time Mr. Willcox enjoyed the privilege of the acquaintance and conversation of men whose names are now historical in the literary world, the recollection of which he now cherishes as among the most pleasant of his life. Not the least among these friends was the greatest of all linguists, ancient or modern, Cardinal Mezzofanti, who was master of forty languages, and with whom lie made a study of ancient Anglo-Saxon. In 1847 he received from Pope Pius IX. his degree in philosophy, the diploma issuing, not from the faculty, but, as a special favor, directly from the Pontiff, as thus set forth in its text: "Pius Papa Nonus, volens eum speciali gratia cumulare, eum Doctorem in Philosophia creavit, cum omnibus honoribus et oneribus quae Philosophiae Doctoribus propria sunt." This diploma, it is unnecessary to say, is much valued and preserved with great care. After spending some months in visiting many parts of Europe Mr. Willcox returned home in the fall of 1847, with health somewhat impaired, and some years afterwards entered into business with his father and brother at Glen Mills. Transferring the same industry and ambition into practical business that he had carried into his scholastic career, he gradually introduced features into it so radical as to entirely change its character.

The advantages of superior education are not lost in any career in life, for the discipline and enlargement of the mind attained can be advantageously applied almost anywhere. One of Mr. Willcox's first aims was to raise the paper manufacture to a higher level, out of the routine into which it seemed to have settled; and to this end he conducted a series of experimental researches, producing, in the course of a few years, as he relates, a greater variety of papers than had ever before been made by any one person. Taking as his department of the business the practical manufacture, he turned special attention towards the plan of making bank-note paper by machinery, and with complete success. Then, impressed with the importance of checking, and perhaps preventing, the counterfeiting of money, so commonly and easily done at that time, he conceived the task of accomplishing with paper what the bank-note companies, with their arts of fine and geometrical engraving, could not accomplish; the result being the invention of the "localized-fibre" paper, so long and so efficiently used by the United States government for its notes and bonds. For many years, as was said before, this distinctive paper was manufactured at Glen Mills, under the government's supervision and protection. Its success at home brought it to the favorable consideration of the governments of Europe, and in 1878, under agreement with the Imperial Government of Germany, Mr. Willcox sent out an agent to Berlin, near which city was put in successful operation a bank-note paper-mill with the special machinery required, as at Glen Mills, for the manufacture of the German currency paper. So pleased were the authorities with the product of the new mill that he received from them a testimonial stating that the contract had been more than carried out, to their great satisfaction; and the localized-fibre paper became the currency paper of the Empire. An exhibit of this protective paper was subsequently made at the great Paris Exhibition, and there received the highest possible award of "Diplome d'Honneur."

The chemical paper long used by the United States Treasury Department for the stamps and checks of the department, and called "Chameleon" paper on account of its sensitive changes when tampered with, was also Mr. Willcox's invention, and put an end to the counterfeiting and re-using of Internal Revenue stamps, by which the government had long been extensively robbed of its revenue. Thus in many parts of his business he found fields for the employment of knowledge acquired outside of its ordinary sphere, and so succeeded in vastly enlarging its proportions and lifting it to the highest plane of usefulness. During this long period of active life and heavy cares his earlier tastes for literature were not neglected, and the hours unoccupied by business were generally devoted to scientific study. He has been an occasional contributor to The American Catholic Quarterly Review, always upon subjects of metaphysical philosophy; and a few years ago he published the conclusions from a long course of abstract reading and reflection in an octavo volume of [Elementary Philosophy, Parts I. and II. By James M. Willcox, Ph.D. Porter & Coates, No. 822 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.] logico-metaphysics, taking strong ground throughout, from the stand-point of rational analysis, against the growing materialistic atheism of the times, impelled thereto, as set forth in the dedication, by the desire to contribute his part in a good work. He has in progress, he states, two other works of somewhat kindred character, upon which he labors alternately, which will require several years to complete.

When the scheme for a Centennial Exhibition was projected Mr. Willcox was among the first to earnestly advocate that it should be international, and to do all in his power to advance it. He was appointed a member of the first Board of Finance created by act of Congress, and at a later day was requested by the Centennial Commission to act as one of the Judges of the Exhibition, of whom there were one hundred American and one hundred foreign selected. At the first meeting of the committees he was chosen President of Group XIII., and after six months active duty in that capacity he wrote, by request, a critical compendium of the entire work of his committee for publication. His services were recognized in a letter of thanks, with a special medal, by the Commission. In 1852 he married Mary Keating, of Philadelphia, daughter of Jerome Keating, who, in partnership with John J. Borie, was one of the early manufacturers of Manayunk; and granddaughter of John Keating, a distinguished officer of the French army in the last century, who, for having captured the island of St. Eustache from the British, was decorated by Louis XVI., and made Chevalier of the Order of Saint Louis. Of this marriage there are five children living, of whom two are married, one residing at Colorado Springs and the other in Philadelphia. His present wife is Katharine, daughter of the late Abraham W. Sharples, of Thornbury township, and granddaughter, on her mother's side, of Right Rev. Henry U. Onderdonk, formerly the Episcopalian Bishop of Philadelphia. Of this marriage there are two children, both living. The family have lived in Spruce Street, Philadelphia, for many years, but still retain possession of a farm in Thornbury, near Cheyney's Station.

Since his retirement from regular business in 1880, Mr. Willcox has been in the habit of spending the winter months in Florida. He early foresaw the phenomenal development of South Florida, little known six years ago, but now rapidly distancing the northern part; and made extensive purchases of property in Orange County and on Indian River that are now very valuable. With the care of these and his material interests at home, the responsibilities of directorship in some large corporations, the continued pursuit of scientific study, and the labor upon his works in hand, he indulges in little leisure; and, to judge from the past and present, is not likely to find the pleasures of idleness as long as he lives.

Licensed Houses. The first record that appears of license being granted in Concord is at the August court, 1722, when the petition of Mathias Karle (Kerlin) was presented, asking that he be permitted to keep a public-house in that township, and to sell rum and other liquors therein, which application was approved by the justices. At the same court John Hannum desired the privilege of keeping a house of entertainment to sell "Beer and Sider," which was also granted. Kerlin's name annually thereafter, to and including the year 1726, appears of record, after which it is omitted from the clerk's list, as is also that of Hannum from the list of 1731. Hannum's house, I learn from the application of his son, John Hannum, in 1747, was on the road from Chester to Nottingham, the Concord road, and the latters name appears annually thereafter up to 1760. In 1761, Robert Hall succeeded Hannum, and in 1771, John Palmer followed Hall in business, and continued there until 1776. In 1782, Frederick Steen seems to have kept this house, then called the "Bucks" and the following year John Gest succeeded him. Robert Burnett obtained license for 1784, and William Hannum from 1785 to 1787, when William Lockart took his place until 1788, at which date the inn disappears as a public-house.

To return to Kerlin's inn. On Nov. 24, 1730, Matthias Kerlin presented his petition, in which he states that he "had license for several years and no complaint made, but on account of other affairs had declined making application for a considerable time, now wishes to renew," which application was granted.

Michael Atkinson, Aug. 31, 1731, presented his petition, wherein he sets forth that for some time past "he had a recommendation to keep a public-house in West Town, and being desirous to remove into Concord, found a suitable place, but hearing that Matthias Kyrlin had an inclination to get into that business, he went to him and received a denial of the report." Atkinson then agreed with the landlord for a term of years at eight pounds per annum, and obtained license to remove into Concord. "The license now being expired," he wished it renewed. It appears that, notwithstanding Kerlin's declaration that he did not propose to apply for license, he did present his application to the court, which was supplemented by the following petition emanating from the "Inhabitants of Concord," bearing date Aug. 31, 1731, "That whereas our Township have been through some misfortune in some measure oppressed by so many publick houses allowed in our town, & by some this last year without our knowledge or good liking. Let us have but one of that Calling, and if you think fit to grant recommendation to Mathias Kyrlen we shall, &c.," be pleased if the court act on these suggestions. The remonstrance was signed by Benjamin Mendenhall, Thomas Downing, and nine others.

The foregoing remonstrance is indorsed "Allowed," while the petition of Atkinson is marked "Not Allowed." Kerlin's name appears regularly on the clerk's list from that date to 1738, when I lose sight of him until 1745, when he regularly is allowed to entertain the public until Feb. 26, 1750, when his petition states that he has kept tavern twenty-eight years; that his family is small, as his children are provided for, but he is unable to work at his trade of shoemaking. As an additional reason why he should be allowed license, he urges that he and his wife are descendants of the "first adventurers who came into this province, when money would not purchase Bread." The court, however, declined to grant him the privilege desired.

In 1785, William Underwood was licensed to keep public-house in Concord. In 1786, Samuel Johnson, Alexander Lockart, and Caleb Taylor received the court's approval. The latter, in 1788, had the privilege continued to him.

In 1748, Nathaniel Newlin was granted license for his house "near several great roads," and it was continued to him until 1776, excepting during the years 1757-59, when William Smith seems to have been the landlord, and in 1760 no names appear of record. License may have been, but probably was not, denied to Newlin during that period. This house was on the Wilmington and Great Valley road, near where the Naaman's Creek road crosses the former highway, now Johnson's Corners. From 1776 to 1782 there is no record respecting license in Concord; in fact, the tracing of successive landlords for public-houses in that township is more difficult than in any other in our county, Ridley and Lower Chichester not excepted. In 1782, Amos Mendenhall had license; in 1774, John Burnett; and from 1758 to 1788, Thomas Maddock, when I lose trace of this house. In 1791, however, John Fred appears to have been landlord of Newlin's Tavern, and in 1800, James Jeffries kept the house, to yield it, in 1806, to John Hickman. In 1810, Charles Hughes had license for The Three Tuns (a favorite name for inns at that day), and Nathaniel Newlin superseded Hughes in 1814, and continued as "mine host" there only one year, when, in 1814, Thomas Smith took his place for a season as the landlord of the old house. After that year the owner declined to have it longer licensed as a tavern.

Moses Bullock, Jr., in his application for the year 1815, says that the noted tavern, The Three Tuns, the property of Nathaniel Newlin, is about "to Drop, and your petitioner has lately erected a convenient House for Business on the same road leading from the Borough of Wilmington to Great Valley, about half a mile from the former stand, and a tavern will be badly wanted in said neighborhood." Bullock's Tavern, for his application was allowed, we learn from the remonstrance against James Smith, was located on the Wilmington road, about a quarter of a mile above Elam. It was known as the Buck, and he was licensed annually thereafter until 1832, when as a public inn it disappears from the records.

In 1783, Joshua Vernon had leave to keep a tavern known as The Blue Ball, at which house he was superseded, in 1787, by James Oliver, who had license only for that year, while Joshua Vernon received the privilege to keep an inn at a house located on the Concord road a short distance beyond Chelsea. The ancient hostelry, well known as the Cross-Keys, no longer as a public-house, is now owned by Michael McGinnis. In 1789, the last year the justices of Chester County granted license for the territory now comprising Delaware County, Joshua Vernon was the only person in Concord to whom the judges show partiality. Under the new order of things, at the first court, held at Chester, after the division, he received license, and was continued yearly to be favored until 1796, when James Jeffries succeeded him at the Cross-Keys. The latter was the landlord until 1799, when Ann Vernon had the license, and in 1800, George Mattson followed her. Thomas Ring had the house in 1802; Samuel Chapman was there in 1805, and the next year he gave place to Jonathan Paul, Jr., who, in 1807, was succeeded by Amos Waddell. In 1809, Curtis Jeffries was "mine host," but he surrendered the honors to Amos Waddell the next year, and the latter, in 1811, to Peter Harper. In 1812, James Marshall took the responsibility of the Cross-Keys on himself, and sustained them during the second disagreement with England, and for three years after the cruel war was over, when, in 1818, David Howes succeeded him, to be superseded the next year by William Baldwin. The latter remained there for eight years, until 1828, when Reece Pyle had license for the inn, and in 1833, Nathaniel Stevens became the last landlord of the Cross-Keys of Concord, for after 1836 it disappears from the list.

In 1817, Joseph Hannum petitioned court for license to keep a public house of entertainment on the West Chester and Concord road, although it would have been more accurate had he said on Concord road, for the White Horse Inn was located on the latter highway, a short mile above Chelsea. The old building, partly of logs and partly of stone, recently the property of Robert M. Smith and now owned by J. & J. Darlington, still stands. He was successful in his application, and he received the court's favor annually thereafter until 1837, when it ceased to be a tavern. During all the time it was a licensed house, the electors of Concord, Birmingham, Bethel, and that part of Thornbury lying west of a public road, from Street road by the shops and continuing by the house of Jacob Parks, to the road dividing the townships of Concord and Thornbury (in 1823), all voted at this inn, while in 1830 the second election district of Delaware County, comprising Concord, Birmingham, Bethel, and Thornbury, had their polling-place at the White Horse, and continued annually to be held there until and including 1837, when a tavern at that place was discontinued.

On Jan. 15, 1819, James Smith, the owner and occupier of the premises at the intersection of the roads leading from Wilmington to West Chester, and from Brandywine to New London Turnpike road, states in his petition that he is desirous of keeping a public-house at that location, and to that end has improved his property and provided himself with buildings and other things necessary and convenient for that business. On Jan. 18, 1819, a remonstrance from the inhabitants of Concord and Birmingham sets forth that the signers "have heard with much consurn that James Smith has petitioned your honours to grant him a Licence to keep a house of public entertainment on the Wilmington road, in the neighborhood of the public houses on the same road, one of them but one-quarter of a mile above and the other one mile and a half below, which is sufficient to accommodate the public. Besides it is feared that if the number of public houses should be encreased that some of them will have to resort to neighboring custom for support." The court rejected the petition, as also a similar one dated October 18th of the same year, which was indorsed by seventy-nine signatures. The remonstrance filed against the latter application states that the petitioner wanted "to locate a tavern at the intersection of the road from Chandlers bridge to the Philadelphia and New London Turnpike road with the road from West Chester to Wilmington, which we consider wholly useless and apprehensive, and would be injurious for many reasons. On the West Chester and Wilmington road there is a tavern, about one-quarter of a mile above the aforementioned intersection, and below it there is one in New Castle County, a small distance more than a mile, so that travelers from West Chester to Wilmington can need no opportunity for refreshments more than is already afforded. The other road from Chandler's bridge is but lately laid out and your remonstrants confidently state that few (if any) loaded travelling waggons have been seen on that road, besides the said road crosses the Concord road not more than a quarter of a mile from Hannum's Tavern, so that those who have really occasion to pass along the said cross road can have no difficulty in obtaining refreshments in passing at either of the intersections." The remonstrants continue, "Although they acknowledge the names of many inhabitants of Delaware County very respectable, are signed to the petition of James Smith, yet it is a matter of certainty that a large proportion of the signers are inhabitants of the State of Delaware, inhabitants of Chester County, and other places distant from James Smith's, who probably can have no opportunity of knowing the facts set forth in his petition nor any occasion of passing by the said cross road." The remonstrance had sixty names attached thereto.

Jan. 27, 1820, James Smith again petitioned for a license for the house, his application being signed by one hundred and twenty-four persons. He also filed an additional paper with seventy-six names attached, in which the signers state "that, learning that a large number of respectable citizens stating" (to the petition already filed) "their belief that a Tavern is much wanted at the stand where the said James Smith lives and that he is a suitable character to keep such house of entertainment. We under the influence of a similar opinion and from a conviction that the public convenience would be promoted by such an establishment, which is needed both for the accommodation of travellers and drovers using the road with cattle, unite in requesting that license be granted to Smith." The court, however, shook their judicial heads, and again the petitioner was turned unsatisfied away. The next year he remained dormant, but March 22, 1822, he appears again. The judges held his petition under advisement and finally refused it, but at the April court, 1823, James Smith came off with flying colors, and after four and a quarter years of bitter struggles the Drove Tavern, at present in Elam, was established. In 1826, James Smith changed the name of the house to the Drovers' and Travelers' Inn, and it was so kept by William Smith in 1827. In 1831 the tavern was licensed to Jane Smith; in 1835, to James; and in 1837 to William Smith, who remained there until 1844. In the latter year Milton Stamp became the landlord of the old hostelry, changing its name again to the Drove, and the following year he gave it a new title, that of Pleasant Hill. In 1849, Isaac B. Gilpin succeeded to the business, to be followed in 1854 by Edward B. Hoskin, and in 1856 Joseph Cheyney became the "mine host" of the inn. John Reven had license the following year, and in 1858 Charles Cheyney received the court's favor. In 1859, William S. Cheyney was the landlord, and continued as such until 1860, when Joseph Cheyney had license granted him, but he died before taking it out, and the privilege was extended to his widow, Mary Cheyney. In 1864, William E. May became the proprietor of The Farmers' and Drovers' Inn, to be succeeded, in 1868, by Richard T. Plummer, who restored the more modern title, Pleasant Hill, to the tavern. In 1869, Joseph Chandler was the landlord, to be followed, in 1870, by Plummer, who owned the property. The house was not licensed from 1871 to 1875, when Zadock T. Speakman had license granted him, to be succeeded, in 1878, by Benjamin French. In 1879, William F. May was landlord, and, in 1881, was followed by Jackson McFarlan. In 1883, when the general remonstrance against granting any license in Concord was presented, the court denied to McFarlan the privilege for the sale of liquor at Elam, exactly sixty years after James Smith was first granted the right to keep a public-house there.

The Concordville Inn was established as a public-house in 1830, in which year John Way was granted license there, and being centrally located in the township, after Joseph Hannum retired from tavern-keeping, the election polls were ordered to be held at that point. In 1858, John Way declined to apply, and the privilege for that year was granted to David M. Hannum, but he failing to take out the license, George W. Taylor was permitted to enjoy it in his stead. The latter continued annually to petition successfully until 1861, when he was followed by Zadock T. Speakman, who, in 1869, gave place to James Cloud. The latter called the house the Concordville Hotel, and in 1871 he was the only person in the township who received the approval of the court. In 1872, Frank H. Cloud had the license, after which time it does not appear to have had the indorsement of the Quarter Sessions until 1876, when the present owner and landlord, James Neeld, secured that favor. Annually thereafter he was among the licensed houses until April, 1883, when two lengthy petitions, one signed by one hundred and twenty-eight men, and the other by one hundred and fifty women, were presented to court protesting "against granting of any hotel license in the said township, and especially against granting license for the sale of intoxicating liquors to James Neeld, of Concordville, or Jackson McFarlan, of Elam,... believing that such license and sale is fraught with results disastrous to the comfort, prosperity, and morality of a portion of our people and the disturbance of our peace, that their petitions are very generally signed by those who bear but a small share of taxation, and who are intoxicated to their own injury. We are fully persuaded that such licenses are not necessary for the accommodation of the public, and that our neighborhood will be better without them." After a lengthy hearing, Judge Clayton refused to grant the license. At the January court, 1884, the license was restored to the Concordville Hotel.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

CHARLES W MATHUES, PAGE 500

The Mathues family are of Irish lineage, Andrew, the grandfather of Charles W., having emigrated after the war of the Revolution, and settled in Baltimore County, Md. He was united in marriage to a Mrs. Smith, widow, and had a son, William, born Dec. 16, 1796, in the above county, where his early life was spent. When about twenty-one years of age he came to Chester County, Pa., and followed the trade of a paper-maker. He married Susan McHenry, whose children were Andrew W., John McHenry, William F., Moses R., Charles W., David S., Alexander C., and Susan E. (Mrs. Daniel Hart). Charles W. was born March 15, 1830, in Chester County, and when thirteen years of age became a resident of Delaware County, at which early period of his life he began a self-supporting career by entering the cotton-mill of John P. Crozer. After two years spent at that point he became an employe of other mills in the vicinity, and at the age of twenty entered the professional field as a student of dentistry. Concluding, however, not to practice, he became a clerk for N.L. Yarnall, at Lenni, and subsequently purchased and ran a stage line for a period of two years. He, in 1851, married Amanda, daughter of Milcah Richardson, and has children, Andrew W., William M., Mary E., Susan M., Charles G., Samuel W., Amanda E., and Ida May. Having determined to become a farmer, Mr. Mathues, in 1857, rented land in Aston township, and subsequently in other localities, finally purchasing a farm in the above township, which his son now cultivates. In 1879 he located in Concord, and has since that time filled a position of prominence as an agriculturist in that township. He is in politics a pronounced Republican, and as a representative of that party was elected in 1875 sheriff of Delaware County, which office he held for the term of three years, as also various township offices. He has since that time been devoted to the cultivation of his farm. Mr. Mathues is a member of the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, as also of the Improved Order of Red Men, the Knights of Pythias, and the American Protestant Association. He is active as a leader in the temperance cause, and has carefully shunned the use of strong drink and tobacco during his lifetime. These correct principles, together with habits of industry and self-reliance, have rendered him independent. In religion he worships with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

THOMAS P POWEL, PAGE 500

Davis Powel, the father of the subject of this biographical sketch, was born in Chester County, and married Miss Catharine, daughter of Thomas Pennell. Their children were Thomas P., Charles Rogers, Davis, Benjamin Rush, Hannah A. (Mrs. William Baldwin, of Harford County, Md.), and G. Washington. Mr. Powel eventually removed to Maryland, where he purchased an extensive landed property, and remained until his death. His son, Thomas P., was born on the 7th of April, 1811, in Philadelphia, and in early life repaired with his father to Maryland, where he enjoyed superior advantages of education. Circumstances influenced his removal in youth to Concord township, Delaware Co., where he engaged in the cultivation of the estate of his maternal relatives. In 1861, having inherited the farm, he made it his residence, and during the remainder of his life followed the business of a farmer. He married, on the 3d of February, 1852, Miss Lydia, daughter of William Garrigues, of Philadelphia, and granddaughter of Samuel Garrigues, of Haverford township. Their only son, William G., now occupies the Pennell homestead, which, in the direct line of descent, is the property of Mrs. Powel and her son. The latter is actively identified with the public measures of the county, was for years secretary and treasurer of the Republican Executive Committee of the county, as also its chairman in 1880, and in 1882 was elected to the State Legislature. Thomas P. Powel made his influence felt in the social and political life of the county. He was in politics a Democrat of the Jeffersonian school, and an ardent supporter of the principles of his party. During the sessions of 1857-58 he was its representative in the State Legislature, and served on the Committees on Agriculture, Railroads, etc. He also filled various less important offices in connection with the township. Though a Friend by virtue of his antecedents, he worshiped with the congregation of St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church of Concord, and was a member of the vestry of that church. Mr. Powel was frequently called upon to act as trustee of estates and guardian, while his unbiased judgment made his services especially valuable in cases requiring arbitration. In public life he was a man of sterling integrity, the strictest justice, and great decision of character. In his social relations he was distinguished by an eminently sympathetic, kind, and benevolent nature. His death occurred Jan. 7, 1872, in his sixty-first year.

CHARLES PALMER, PAGE 501

John Palmer, the progenitor of the family in Delaware County, in 1688 purchased one hundred acres of land in Concord township, the greater part of which has remained in the possession of his descendants to the present time. He married Mary Southery, and had among his children a son, John, who married Martha Yearsley, whose son, Moses, inherited two-thirds of the homestead. He married Abigail Newlin, whose only son, John, born in 1745, married Hannah, daughter of Abram Martin, of Aston, and had children, ten in number, of whom John, born in 1788, in conjunction with the occupation of a farmer, learned the trade of a saddler. He married Beulah, daughter of William Walter, of Centreville, Del., and had children, Lewis, William W., John, Rachel, Charles, Hannah, Lydia, and Beulah. By a second marriage to Elizabeth Hall were born no children. Charles Palmer, whose birth occurred Sept. 16, 1811, in Concord township, spent his youth at the home of his parents. At the age of sixteen he removed to Wilmington, Del., and served as a merchant's clerk. He later repaired to Chester, Pa., and acted in the same capacity for J.P. & William Eyre, remaining with them until his marriage, in 1833, to Deborah, daughter of Benjamin and Mary Pitman, of Monmouth County, N.J. Their children are Mary F. (Mrs. Edward Darlington), Lewis, James (deceased), Edwin H. (deceased, who served in the late war), and Hannah Ann (deceased). Mrs. Palmer died Nov. 1, 1870. She was a woman of marked character, and much respected in her neighborhood for works of charity and love. He was again married in 1874 to Joanna Stoll, of Concord, who survives. After his marriage Mr. Palmer engaged in mercantile pursuits at Beaver Valley, Del.; but finding that no trade could there be successfully conducted without the sale of liquor, he abandoned mercantile ventures and became a farmer. In 1842 he was appointed steward of the County House, and filled the office with entire satisfaction for a period of twelve years. On the expiration of this term he purchased the Hall homestead, in Concord township, and during the remainder of his life engaged in the cultivation of its broad acres. He was, as an early Whig and later as a Republican, actively interested in public men and measures. As supervisor for a term of years he did much to improve the roads of his township. He held the offices of director of the First National Bank of Media for several years, and of the Delaware County Mutual Insurance Company from its organization. He was in religion a member of the society of Friends, and attended the Concordville Friends' Meeting. His death occurred April 12, 1876, in his sixty-fourth year. The following resolution of the Delaware County Mutual Insurance Company on the occasion of his decease bears witness to his character:
     "Resolved, That in the death of Charles Palmer the company has lost one of its most faithful and efficient officers and society a useful member. Active and energetic in the discharge of his duties, moderate and conscientious in his counsels, prompt and constant in his attendance at our meetings, and pleasant in his intercourse with his fellow-members, his absence will be noted and his loss felt. His helping hand was ever ready for those who were needy, and his death will be mourned by many to whom his unostentatious kindness has been extended when struggling in the toils of adversity."

The First National Bank of Media, also, in a similar series of resolutions, expressed the fact
     "That in his death the board and society have lost one of their most useful members, one who by his attention and integrity contributed in a considerable degree to the success of the institution. Pleasant and considerate to all with whom he had intercourse, his loss will be greatly deplored."

LEWIS PALMER, PAGE 501

Darby was settled almost immediately after the coming of Penn, and in 1683 was recognized as one of the localities where a permanent lodgment had been made, but, despite that fact, the population must have been sparse for more than a quarter of a century, for Mrs. Ann Davis, who was born at Darby - she was the daughter of John Bethel, the miller - informed Dr. William Martin, in 1790, “that she was born in the place where Darby now is, and remembered playing with the Indian children in the neighboring wig-wams.”²[2 Martin's "History of Chester," p. 251.] In 1684 Darby Friends' Meeting had been established, the members meeting at the dwelling of John Blunston, which was located nearly in front of the present meeting-house, and near the mill-race which was "digged" through Blunston's meadow. In the same year the first official record of Darby occurs in the list of collectors "to gather the assessment for the building of the court-house." Thomas Worth and Joshua Fearne were appointed to those offices for Darby, and Mons Stacker and William Cobb "for Amosland & Calcoone Hook." The latter was recognized as a distinct municipal district until 1686, when Calcoone Hook was made a part of Darby township, and Amosland was annexed to Ridley.

Calcon or Calkoen's Hook comprised all the territory between Cobb's Creek on the east, and the Mokormpates Kill or Muckinipattas Creek on the west, and derives its name from the Swedish word Kalkon, "a turkey," Walda Kalkoen, "wild turkeys," having "very much abound in that vicinity."³[3 Record of Upland Court, p. 197.] Later the territory known by that name became restricted to that part lying south of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, while its eastern boundary was Morhorhootink, as shown in the atlas of the early grants in Delaware County. The historical map of Pennsylvania terms the stream Tenakong Kolen, and Acrelius says that "Nyecks Kihl" was the Indian name of Darby Creek, which it will be difficult to convince the public ought to be accepted as a term known to the Indian tongue, even on the authority of the usually accurate historian of New Sweden. On June 18, 1668, Governor Lovelace issued a patent to Israel Helme, Hendrick Jacobson, Ole Kock, and Jan Minsterman for that "portion of land on West side of Delaware River within the Mill Kill upon the Hook commonly called Calcoone Hook, reaching from the said mill kill to that which is called by the Indians Mokornippates, including all the lands between the said two Kills as also the valley or meadow ground thereunto belonging, containing by estimation as it lies along the river (creek) side about an English mile, and there being also in the said Mill Kill, a certain little Island near unto and over against the said land known by the name of 'hay Island,' as the said land was granted Aug. 4th 1663 to Ericke Nichels, Moorty Poulson, Andreas Johnson & Henry Jacobson, the three former of whom afterwards parted with their rights thereto."⁴[4 Smith's "History of Delaware County," p. 520.] The territory mentioned in the patent included almost all the land in the township south of the Queen's Highway, and west of a line drawn due south from the toll-gate on that road. On this tract the real estate of the Sharon Land Association, incorporated by act of Assembly March 4, 1871, is located. The Calcoon Hook road, which enters the Queen's Highway at the toll-gate, is first alluded to at the court held Oct. 3, 1691, when complaint was made to court "concerning a way to ye landing at Calcon Hooks, ye inhabitants there being at difference about it. To end ye discourd the Cort ordered ye Grand Inquest to lay out a road & make return of ye same at next court." At the subsequent sessions the following report was submitted to the justices, approved, and was the route on which the road was afterwards opened to public use and travel:

 “Grand Jury return road in Darby township to Landing place at Calcon Hook. The sd road to begin at a corner stone near to an ash tree by ye creek side at ye bottome of Morton Mortonson orchard, then on a straight line four perches to another corner stone being at the lower corner of sd Morton's orchard, then continuing the sd straight line eleven perches and four feet to a corner stone near ye upper end of sd orchard which sd stone standith on ye outermost straight line mentioned in Mounce Pettersons deed from Andrew Swanson Bone. Then continuing a line at thirty-two feet distance, the end of sd Morton's house being built before ye sd road was agreed upon, standing about six foot in ye sd road, excepted from said Mounce Pettersons fence to the end. Still continuing ye sd Line through ye woods to a tree with notches by ye road agreed on among themselves to Darby, thence along ye severall corses of ye sd road to ye Kings road at ye Easternmost corner of Thomas ffoxes, from thence turning Northeasterly at thirty two feet distance, from the aforesaid line back again on ye several corses, still continuing thirty two feet distance ye sd Morton's House End extend as aforesaid to the cross way near ye sd Morton's house then upon a strait line across ye sd way to a corner stone standing in ye corner of ye Mounce (Pettersons) house fence being also ye corner of ye cross roads, from thence down in a straight line down past and so forth to another corner stone standing by ye sd Mouncy's house fence-side making here the road thirty two foot from aforesaid stone at the lower corner of the sd Morton's orchard then along by sd Morton's corner of ye sd Morwin's farm, from which sd stone to ye first mentioned stone it is six perches and two foot broad.”

On the Mokormpates Kill, and just above the northern line of the Calcoon Hook patent, was a tract of two hundred and fifty acres, known in early times as "Boon's Forest," which was laid out to Andres Swason Boon April 13, 1680. From this sturdy Swedish settler a greater man descended, or at least he has secured more of the world's attention, than did his ancestor in Delaware County, - Daniel Boone, the pioneer of Kentucky. On the Boon tract the Knowles Presbyterian Church is located. To the east of Boon's land, extending to Darby Creek, was a tract of two hundred and fifty, entered to Surveyor-General Thomas Holme, Dec. 10, 1683, and July 1, 1688. John Blunston, as the agent of Holme, acknowledged a deed in open court conveying this estate to Joseph Wood. The property not only reached to Darby Creek, but a strip extended along the north line of Boon's land to the Muckinipattus Creek, as the stream forming the western boundary of Darby township is now called, and on that part of the estate Horntown is located. Above this tract, extending from creek to creek, was "Good Intent," a plantation of two hundred acres, which was surveyed to Edward Gibbs July 12, 1683. Immediately north of this estate was a tract of three hundred acres taken up by Thomas Brassey, March 15-16, 1681, who never resided thereon, but sold the property to John Bartram Aug. 30, 1685. On this plantation John Bartram, the earliest American botanist, was born, May 23, 1699. His early attention was first directed to botanical studies by one of those accidents which seem to shape the destinies of all great men. When a mere lad, he was plowing on the Darby farm, and uprooted a daisy. Despite everything the modest little flower kept intruding itself on his consideration, until after several days he hired a man to plow while he rode to Philadelphia to procure a treatise on botany and a Latin grammar. He, fortunately for himself and the world, had inherited a farm from a bachelor uncle, which gave him the means to marry early, and purchase the land on which he afterwards established the noted "Botanic Gardens." On this estate he built with his own hands a stone house, and on one of the stones in the gable was the inscription, - "John * Ann Bartram, 1831," with a star between their first names, as was then the custom, to indicate man and wife. Here he pursued his studious habits, his reputation spreading abroad until correspondence was solicited by the leading botanists of the Old World, - Linnæus, Dr. Fothergill, and others, - while in the colonies, all scientific men in the same line of study sought his favor, advice, and opinions. Dr. Franklin was his earnest friend, and constantly urged Bartram to authorship. His fame had so extended that in 1765 George III. appointed him botanist to the king. He died Sept. 22, 1777, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.

Above the Bartram farm a tract of three hundred acres, reaching to the Upper Darby line, which was taken up by William, John, and Thomas Smith, Aug. 30, 1685, to each of whom a plot of one hundred acres was allotted. John Smith came from Harly, County of Leicester, England, and resided on the estate until 1714. It is presumed that William and Thomas were of the same family, but the exact relationship is not known. That part of the Thomas and John Smith tract lying to the east of the Springfield road and west of Darby Creek became the property of John Ash. His heirs resided at the old homestead until their deaths. In the spring of 1862, within six weeks, Hannah, aged seventy-six years, James, seventy-four, Sarah, seventy-eight, and Alice Ash, aged eighty years, died. They were all unmarried, and had lived there all their lives. "Their habits were those of the world before the flood, retiring to their beds at five o'clock in the afternoon, having no furniture in their house but what had been purchased prior to the Revolution, and some of them, it was said, and perhaps correctly, never having visited that den of iniquities, the city of Philadelphia." On the east of Darby Creek, at the Upper Darby line, on Sept. 10, 1682, was surveyed to Thomas Worth two hundred and fifty acres, which he had purchased prior to leaving England. He was a man of superior education for that day, and was a member of the Provincial Assembly in 1697. He lived to an advanced age, dying in 1731. Below Worth's plantation, John Blunston, on Aug. 10, 1682, acquired three hundred and fifty acres of land, and he is said to have given the name of Darby to the settlement, in remembrance of his old home in England. The fact that the mill-race was cut through his land, and after John Bethel purchased the Darby mills, the right to use this mill-race was conveyed by Blunston, seems to indicate that he was the first person who operated the mills there. The tract of two hundred and twenty-two acres bounded on the east by Cobb's Creek, and to the west by Church Lane, was taken up by Samuel Bradshaw Aug. 10, 1682, the date of the early surveys to Penn's adherents, many of whom, it is said, accompanied the proprietary in the "Welcome," and located in the neighborhood of Darby. He emigrated from Oxton, County Nottingham, and the estate passed to Thomas Bradshaw, March 5, 1697/8, who, it is thought, was a brother of Samuel. To the south of Bradshaw's and partly of John Blunston's tracts was a plot of fifty acres, bounded on the east by Cobb's Creek, and on the west by Blunston's Run, which was surveyed, Nov. 10, 1682, to William Smith, and to the west of the Smith land, in irregular lines, were one hundred acres patented to Peter Erickson, Nov. 30, 1681, the Matthew Baird estate is partly located on this tract. The property was subsequently absorbed, May 29, 1685, into the large plantation of Joseph Wood, on which the village of Darby was originally laid out.

In December, 1739, George Whitefield, the celebrated preacher, left Philadelphia for Chester accompanied by about one hundred and fifty horsemen.¹[1 Watson's Annals, vol. i. p. 538.] On his way he stopped at Darby. Bamfylde-Moore Carew, the noted king of the English mendicants, who was escaping from servitude in Virginia, records that while on his way from Chester to Darby, "but before he reached there, he was overtaken by hundreds of people going to hear Mr. Whitefield preach. He joined them, and they all proceeded to Darby, where he found Mr. Whitefield preaching in an orchard, but could not get near enough to hear his discourse by reason of the great concourse of people." The artful rogue, however, afterwards went to the house where the clergyman was stopping, and by a forged letter and a piteous story succeeded in obtaining several pounds in the paper money of Pennsylvania from Whitefield, as he had done the day before from Mrs. Turner, in Chester.

Watson, the annalist, informs us that William Taylor, who came from England in 1726 and settled at Darby, was the first person to make a pair of smith's bellows in the English colonies, if not in North America. We know that in 1739 the commissioners appointed to adjust the boundary-line between Maryland and Pennsylvania, in surveying to ascertain the proper starting-point for the due west line, passed through the township, for Friday, April 13, 1739, they reported, - " The Surveyors proceeded on the Line till Evening, and left off in the lands of Thomas Worth, in Darby Township,"²[2 Penna. Archives, vol. i. p. 605.] which was located in the northern end of the present township, and east of Darby Creek.

The marshes of Darby Creek, until after the middle of the last century, were often covered with water, until by that reason many of the farms adjacent became almost valueless. The advantage of the bottom-lands as places for pasture was appreciated by some of the early farmers, but it required a few years before a sufficient number could be educated to urge the passage of the act of March 4, 1763, which impowered the owners and possessors of the southern district of Darby marsh or meadow ground to embank and drain such lands, and to keep the outside banks and dams in good repair forever. The act authorized the raising of a fund, and by certain compulsory process to enforce payment from unwilling land-owners. The land thus reclaimed has become of great value and is very productive.

Roads. - On the 25th of May, 1695, a petition was presented to the Provincial Council from the residents of Chester, asking for a "ferrie att the rocks," which prayer was acceded to and Benjamin Chambers, who had received a patent for lands on the western side of the Schuylkill, was authorized to keep a ferry there, which previous to 1747 had passed into the ownership of George Gray. On Sept. 3, 1701, a complaint was laid before the Provincial Council "by some of the Inhabitants of Darby Township against some parts of a road laid out by the Govr's order, from B. Chamber's fferry, through Darby Township to Edgmont. Ordered that Nicholas Pyle, Sam'l Levis, Geo. Maires, & Randal Vernon, all of Chester County, do on ye sixth day next, that one being ye 12th instant, view the controverted parts of the said Road, beginning at the said fferry, and upon a Due Consideration of the allegations on both sides, to give their judgment whether the sd Road is conveniently laid out for a Cart Road, as it now is, or whether it may not, with equal Conveniency for the said purpose and advantage to the Public, as well as Justice to each particular in all respects, be laid out otherwise according to the complaint's desires, and make report thereof to this Board in writing, at the next session."³[3 Colonial Records, vol. ii. p. 33.] If any report was ever made it does not appear in the official papers of the State, as published.

At a court held Feb. 9, 1687, the following report was approved by the court, which road is still used, and now known as the Radnor and Darby road:

"A Highway laid out by ye grand Jury and other neighbours betwixt Hartfort and Darby vpon ye 7th day of the twelfe moneth, 1687. Beginning at Widdow Panthir's, and from thence on ye head lyne betwixt ye said Widdows land and ye land of John Levis, from thence crosse ye land of William Howell, from thence crosse ye land of Arthur Bruce, from thence crosse ye land of Henry Levis, thence Entering the Township of Darby, from thence Crosse ye land of Adam Roads, thence Crosse ye land of John Kirk, thence Crosse ye land of William Garrett, then crosse ye land of Michael Blunstone, then Crosse ye land of George Wood, then Crosse ye land of Robert Smith, then Crosse ye land of Thomas Worth, then coming vpon the land of Joshua ffirne, soe downe ye Towne street of Darby to ye Kings Road, and soe to ye Landing; this Highway to be sixty foote as needs requires.
"William Garrett.
"Richard Parker.
"Edmond Castledge. "Thomas Bradshaw.
"Thomas ffox."

The Queen's Highway. - The Southern Post road from Darby to Chester, Edward Armstrong states, was the earliest highway laid out by authority in Pennsylvania. While that assertion may be correct, there is no evidence, so far as the records show, to establish the fact that the road was ordered by the Governor and Council, the only power authorized to make such ways. Previous to the coming of William Penn all roads led to Chester, not to Philadelphia; and while we hear of suspervisors for Darby, Ridley, and Chester townships soon after Penn's arrival, there is no evidence to show the public requirement of a road to Philadelphia. Hence we may accept the latter way as simply a compliance with the order made Nov. 12, 1678, that "the court this day ordered that Every prson should, Wthin the space of two months, as far as his land Reaches, make good and passable wayes, from neighbour to neighbour, wth bridges where itt needs, To the end that neighbours on occasions may come together. Those neglecting, to forfit 25 gilders." Indeed, the petition presented to Council March 19, 1705/6, corroborates the foregoing statement. The petition is as follows:

"To the Hon'ble John Evans, Esq., Lieut.-Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania and the Three Lower Counties, and to his Council:

"The Humble petetion of the Inhabitants of the town and County of Chester and others, humbly showeth: That whereas, by ye Laws of this Government, ye sole power of laying out of the Queen's Road is lodged in the Governor and Council; and whereas the Town of Chester is daily improving, and In time may become a great place, and very advantageous to the Propriatour, but forasmuch as most of the People of that place concerned In the Improvement is much discouraged for want of a direct Road from thence to Philadelphia, wee, your Petitioners, whose names are hereunto subscribed, do beg the Governor and Councill that an ord'r may be granted to fitt and proper persons to lay out the Queen's Road on as direct a Line as can be from Darby, to answer the bridge on Chester Creek, and your petitioners in duty bound will ever pray.

"That the said Road be laid accordingly and if there shall be occasion for building a bridge over any Navigable creek or water for the greater conveniency of Travelling the said Road; that such bridge shall be so built that the same may in nowise hinder any boats from passing up or down such creek or water. And it is further Ordered yt Jasper Yates, Caleb Pusey, Jeremiah Collett, Robert Barber and John Hendrickson, or any four of them, do survey and lay out the said Roads, and that they return as soon as they can to the Board, - Under their hands and seals an exact draught setting forth the several courses thereof."¹ [1 This petition was for the first time printed in Martin's "History of Chester," p. 59, it being copied from the manuscript in the "Logan Papers," vol. iv. marked "Roads," in possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.]

This road was laid out, and bitter feeling was engendered against several of the commissioners, particularly Jasper Yeates, for the manner in which the road was surveyed. The people of that day declared that his influence carried the highway through Chester at the point it did, so that his own and his father-in-law's estate might be benefited thereby. "God and Nature," it was asserted, "intended the road to cross directly across the creek, but the Devil and Jasper Yeates took it where it was located." However, it was so laid, and at the August court, 1706, the sheriff was directed "forthwith" to give notice "to the Supervisors of the highways for Chester, Ridley, and Darby for clearing the new Road lately laid out by the Governor & Councill leading from Darby to Chester and further that they, the Supervisors, do without delay, upon notice thereof, cause the same new Road to be opened and cleared fifty foot wide." Previous to that road being laid out the highway to Philadelphia was considerably to the north of the present post-road, so that creeks could be crossed above tide-water at the fords. The King's Highway of the early days, if it could be called such, crossed Ridley township almost in a straight line from Irvington to Darby. William Worrall, whose recollections were written by Judge George G. Leiper, in 1820 (Worrall was born in 1730), and published in the newspapers of that time, stated that frequently, in plowing his fields, the plow-share would throw up nails or other articles dropped by the settlers in journeying across the land. He pointed out to Judge Leiper the course of the old road which Penn and his followers took when on their way by land to Philadelphia, as it passed through his farm.

The road laid out in 1706 in time having fallen in bad condition, many of the residents refused to work on the highway, alleging that it was never officially confirmed and was not a legal road, and, moreover, except for a very short distance, the traveled road was from twenty to forty perches south of the route surveyed in 1706. The dispute could only be adjusted by the Provincial Council. Hence on Aug. 17, 1747, the following petition of George Gray and others was presented to Council:

"To the Honourable, the President and Council of the Province of Pennsylvania:

"Therefore your Petitioners humbly pray the Honourable the President and Council would be pleased to grant an Order or Warrant for surveying the said Road, so that it may be surveyed and recorded and sufficiently amended and kept in Repair, or that you would please to give such other Order or Warrant concerning the same as the Nature of the case may require.

"And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c.:

Joseph Bonsall	Geo. Gray
Samuel Levis	George Wood
John Davis	Jonathan Paschall
Job Harvey	Thos. Pearson
Samuel Bunting	William Horne1
	[1 Penna. Archives, 1st Series, vol. i. p. 767.]

At the same meeting of Council a petition from the commissioners and sundry inhabitants of the county of Chester was presented, which stated that "it appears after strict search made that there are divers parts of the king's road leading from Cobb's Creek Bridge, over Chester Bridge, to the line of New Castle County, not to be found upon Record or any return thereof," and for "the Benefit of the Publick" respecting the erection of bridges and repairs to the highways, requested the appointment of persons "to lay out such Parts of the said Road as are deficient."

To these petitions Council replied that "as the Road mention'd is an antient Road, in use before the Grant of the Province, the Board thinks there must have been some Orders of Council made about it, &, therefore, postpone the Consideration thereof till the Council Books be well search'd by the Secretary, & it be known what Orders have been formerly given."² [2 Colonial Records, vol. v. p. 100] At the meeting of Council, Sept. 8, 1747, the secretary reported that he had examined "the council Books, and had found several orders of Council for laying out the several Parts of the said Road, and likewise the Record of that part of the said Road which lies between Darby & Chester;" that he was of opinion that the whole road had been actually laid out, and that the returns were given to the late secretary, Patrick Robinson, who had omitted to enter them in the books of Council, and that his papers, both public as well as private, came into the hands of "his Wido' upon his decease," were lost or destroyed, and the returns of the road might be among those missing papers. Council, however, ordered that the road should be resurveyed, beginning at the south boundary of the city of Philadelphia; thence to the lower ferry (Gray's); thence to Darby Creek; and "thence by the courses described in the recorded Return made in the year 1706 to Chester Bridge; & from thence by the present Courses thereof to the Limits of New Castle government."³[3 Ib., p.107.] Caleb Cowpland, Esq., Joseph Parker, Esq., Joseph Bonsall, Esq., Samuel Levis, James Mather, John Davies, Peter Dicks, Thomas Pearson, and John Sketchley, of Chester County, or any five of them, were instructed to join the persons named for Philadelphia County, or any three of them, "in continuing to lay out as aforesaid the said Road from the Division Line which parts Philadelphia County from Chester County to the Limits of Newcastle." The surveyor-general was also directed to assist them in the survey. They were to report by the first day of October, 1747.

On the day designated the surveyor-general reported to Council that he, with the persons who had been appointed to lay out the road from Philadelphia to New Castle, had met and the road had been laid out as far as Darby, but from this point they could go no farther, unless Council would alter the order, which directed the surveyor and those associated with him in making the highway to conform to the courses of a road "said to be laid out between Darby & Chester Creeks in the Year 1706 & give the same directions as to that part of the Road which they had given as to all other parts, vizt to follow the Courses of the Road as it is now used. The Council considering that that part of the Road was actually laid out, returned and Recorded, tho' it does not appear ever to have been cleared or taken Notice of, did not incline to come to any determination till they shou'd receive full Information how it would affect the Inhabitants and the Possessors of Lands between Darby & Chester."⁴[4 Ib., p.121.]

On March 2, 1748, the following petition from persons living along the road from Darby to Chester was presented to the Provincial Council:

"To the Honoble, the President and Council of the Province of Pennsylvania, &c.:

"Whereas, by our Order of the Eighth Day of September last. We directed You, among others to lay out the Road leading from Darby to Chester, agreeable to the Courses described in a Recorded Return of the same made in the Year 1706: And whereas, on Examination of several Persons living on or near the same Road, it appears that the same was never actually cleared according to said Return, and that was it to be now it wou'd exceedingly prejudice the land through which it shou'd pass, and on further consideration of the matter & perusal of the Draught of the Road as it now runs, it appears to us that it will be most convenient to have it laid out agreeable thereto, And therefore we have thought proper to revoke that part of our former Order which relates to the Return made in 1706, and Do now Order & Direct that You lay the same Road out in the manner it now runs, making no alterations that what may be absolutely necessary to make it more regular & direct in some Places, or more commodious to the Fording Places or Bridges that are now used on the said Road."¹[1 Colonial Records, vol. v. p. 202.]

Division of Upper and Lower Darby. - The territory now constituting the townships of Upper and Lower Darby continued under one municipal government until 1747, when, for the convenience of the inhabitants, at a town-meeting, it was decided to separate the upper part from the lower in all matters save the levies made for the support of the poor. The lines thus agreed upon are not the township lines now existing, but Upper Darby, being less densely peopled, extended farther south. The inconveniences arising from the unofficial division so frequently presented themselves as a disturbing element in local government that forty years thereafter the following petition was presented to the court:

"To the Justices of the Court of General Quarter Sessions to be held at Chester the 3d day of May, 1786:

  "John Sellers.
"Rich'd. Willing,
    "As gard to Thos. Phillips.
"Oborn Garrett.
"Nathan Davis.
"Henry Hayes.
"Saml. Smith.
"Jsa. Oakford."

On Aug. 30, 1786, the court granted the prayer of the petitioners.

The Revolution. - The history of Darby township during the struggle of the Revolution should present many stirring incidents, but, unfortunately, little has been preserved of the happenings of that period to the present generation. Early in 1776, a part of Wayne's regiment, under the command of Capt. Lacey, was stationed in or near the village, recruiting from the yeomanry of the neighborhood, and in the summer of the same year Capts. Laurens, William Walker, and Robert Tatnall were in command of gunboats stationed in the creek, a part of the provincial flotilla designed to dispute the passage of the British vessels of war to Philadelphia. On Sunday, Aug. 24, 1777, Washington's army marched through the village and along the Queen's Highway, when moving southward to offer battle to Howe at Brandywine. On the very day of that unpropitious combat the Council of Safety instructed Col. Warner to take post with his command of militia at Darby, and if they were there on Friday, Sept. 12, 1777, they saw the defeated American army as it "poured through Darby on its way to Philadelphia." On 22d of December, Gen. Howe, with seven thousand enemy, marched out from the latter city and encamped on the heights of Darby, his lines extending along the road from Gray's Ferry to the heights below the village, stretching westward up the Springfield road to the then dwelling of Justice Parker, and their pickets advanced to the intersection of the Springfield and Providence roads, near the then dwelling of Mr. Sharp, now the estate of the late Thomas A. Scott. At two o'clock on the afternoon of December 22d, Maj. Clark, from Newtown, wrote to Washington: "My spy was taken by their advanced guard one mile this side of Darby, on the Springfield road, and carried to the general at Darby. They have made a great number of fires. One of their guards assured my spies they were only foraging and meant to proceed toward Chester. I now observe a considerable smoke towards Providence meeting-house. Intelligence from another says they have three hundred wagons with them. . . No wagons had passed Darby before my spy came away."²[2 Bulletin of Penna. Hist. Society, vol. i. No. 10, March, 1847, p. 28.]

It was during this raid of the British army that the incident recorded by Dr. Smith occurred. Capt. William Brooke, of Haverford, was with his company of militia in the command of Gen. Potter, whose duty was to harass the enemy and capture straggling parties of Howe's troops. While taking their ease one night in a house late the property of George Swayne, which stood on the south side of the post-road, about midway between Sharon Hill and Glen Olden stations, the house was surrounded by a strong party of British soldiers. Brooke determined, if possible, not to be captured, and to escape by leaping from a window. In getting over the fence by the roadside he found that a partial dislocation of his knee, to which he was subject, had happened, and quickly placing his foot through the bars of the fence he gave his leg a quick extension, which brought the joint into its proper position. He succeeded in making his escape.³[3 History of Delaware County, p. 325.] While Howe was encamped at Darby another American officer had a narrow escape from falling into the hands of the enemy. Maj. Samuel Crozier, who had been in service for two years without a leave of absence, received permission to visit his family, who were then residing near Darby. About sunset a lad came running to the dwelling with the intelligence that a large force of British were close by, and doubtless would visit the house. It was impossible for Crozier to flee without being observed; he therefore crept under a haystack standing near the back-door. His wife, anxious to save the family Bible, placed it under her apron, and apparently as if about attending to some ordinary and accustomed duties, walked to the woods, only a short distance, where she secreted it in a hollow tree. The Bible, which was a copy printed in 1653, is now owned by a great-granddaughter residing in Philadelphia.

Sarah Urian in 1876 had a china plate bearing the legend "God save King George, 1716," and also three pewter platters which were brought by the family from Europe two centuries ago. But the rarest of her relics is a strangely shaped copper kettle, which two hundred and forty years ago was brought to this country in the "Stoork," one of the vessels which conveyed Governor John Printz and his Swedish colonists to this country to make the first permanent settlement, of which we have authentic record, in the province of Pennsylvania. Connected with the china plate is a scrap of Revolutionary history. While the English were in Darby on this raid, a number of British officers dined at the house of Urian, and it chanced that this dish with the face turned downward was on the table. The loyal legend attracted the attention of one of the officers, and he read it to his companions, all of whom indulged in much merriment at the expense of their worthy host.

Gen. Potter, who was keeping an active outlook on the movements of the enemy, on the day Howe retired to Philadelphia, wrote to President Thomas Wharton as follows:

"Redner (Radnor) Decr. 28th, 1777.

"Sir, - On Monday last the enemy came out with a view to Furridge they encamped along the Road from Grays ferry to the heights below Darbey, there was a detachment sent down from our army to this place, who with Morgans Riflemen and the Militia went down to their lines and cept them Close in their line. On Tuesday we took 13 of there light horse and ten of there horamen, the next day two more of there horses and there Riders, they have been prevented from plundering the Inhabitance as they usely do, there has been but little scrimidging, we had one Killed and two wounded, we have taken upwards of twenty prisoners, and a number of Deserters have cum in, they have carreyed off a larg Quantity of Hay from the Islands and Darbey. It is said that the Highlanders are gon to New York, and Lord Cornwalas is certanly go to great Bitan. I think they have provided there winter Furidge and fuale, and they will bless themselves and sit down in peace this winter in the City - this day they have Returned to the City. My Brigade is near Breacking up, they will be all discharged about the fifth of nixt month but about one hundred men, his Excellency, General Washington, desired me to let you know that he expected that you would keep out the same number you had now in the field all winter.
"I am your Excellencys
"Most obedant Humble servt
"Jas Potter."

>In a letter from Gen. Sir William Howe to Lord George Germain, dated at Philadelphia, Jan. 19, 1778, he refers to the operations in the neighborhood of Darby, thus:

"There has not any thing more material happened since the departure of Lord Cornwallis, who I requested to be the bearer of my last dispatches, than the passing a considerable detachment of the army across the Schuylkill on the 22d of December, to take post on the heights of Darby, in order to cover the collecting and transporting by water, as well as by land, a large quantity of forage which that country afforded. About 1000 tons were brought in, a quantity judged to be nearly sufficient for the winter consumption; and the detachment returned on the 28th of December, without any further attempts from the enemy to retard the progress of the foragers, than from small parties skulking, as is their custom, to seize upon the straggling soldiers. One of these parties, consisting of two officers and 30 men were decoyed by two dragoons of the 17th regiment into an ambuscade, and made prisoners."¹[1 Hazard's Register, vol. xvi. p. 399.]
  
 The spoliation inflicted upon the residents in the neighborhood of Darby was excessive, much of it having been visited on Friends. No record has been preserved of their losses, their religious principles preventing them from asking indemnity for the damages they had sustained. The following list of claims filed includes the territory now comprising Upper and Lower Darby:

			£	s.	d.
From	Joseph Rudolph	"by the British army, while they lay in Darby, foraging, December"	61	11	8
"	Benjamin Brannan	"by the British army, while they lay at Darby, foraging, December"	41	7	6
"	Jesse Bonsall		197	10	6
"	John Sellers	by the Hessians	20	0	0
"	Jonathan Evans	(Cornwallis), Decr	23	17	0
"	Evan Evens	"	13	0	0
"	Nicholas McCurdy	"	15	1	0
"	Samuel Lewis	"	28	0	0
"	Samuel Leedom		24	0	0
"	Andrew Boon Jr.		40	12	0
"	John Gruber		53	7	0
"	John Humphreys		29	17	6
"	Isaac Kirk		34	14	6
"	John Pollin	(Cornwallis)	18	17	10
"	Henry Hayes		140	15	4
"	William Garrett		47	0	0
"	Alexander Morrow		13	12	6
"	Samuel Smith		55	15	9
"	Benjamin Elllot		167	12	6
"	Daniel Rice		58	8	0
"	William Morrow		67	15	0
"	Andrew Boon	December 25	69	0	0
"	William Lewis	December 12 to 13	43	10	0
"	Andrew Urian		34	1	6
"	Hans Boon	"a helpless man"	77	15	5
			1475	18	2

Sixty-one years after this raid a body of troops visited Darby, but it was the Washington Grays, Capt. Childs, of Philadelphia, who, early in July, 1838, were encamped near the village, and on the 4th of July gave a reception to the ladies and gentlemen of the neighborhood. Five years thereafter, - and doubtless the old veteran saw the Grays on the occasion just mentioned, - on Feb. 16, 1843, Capt. Henry Stoop, a Revolutionary officer, died at Darby, ninety-one years of age. He had taken part in the battle of Trenton, and in his later years delighted to recall the incidents of the war of independence, -
"And show'd how fields were won."

Taxables. - In the assessment-list for 1715 the following names appear:

John Bethell, John Harvey, John Heycock, Edward Philpot, Benjamin Cliff, John Test, Josa. Johnson, John Sholers, Samuel Bradshaw, David Thomas, John Blunston, Sr., John Blunston, Jr., John Wood, Thomas Pillford, John Worth, Enoch Bonsall, Jacob Bonsall, Roger Bailey, Anthony Morgan, George Wood, Michael Blunston, Samuel Sellers, John Marshall, Samuel Wood, John Thomas, Joshua Hearn, Thomas Bardshaw, Samuel Garret, William Garret, Adam Roades, Thomas Lewis, Samuel Lewis, Abraham Lewis, Isaac Coller, William Barnet, James Witaker, Joseph Neid, John Davis, Samuel Levis, Thomas Broom, Josiah Hibbert, John Hood, John Hallowell, William Smith, Thomas Hood, William Smith, Jr., Widow Bartram, Richard Parker, Anthony Lee, Lewis Davis, Matthias Nateilus, Morton Mortonson, Charles Yokecom, Andrew Youran, Swan Boon, Hance Boon, Matthias Mortonson, William Northam, John Broom, Thomas Worth.

Freemen. - Thomas Worth, John Parker, William Prest, John Wallis, Thomas Philips, Francis Youran, Thomas Edwards.

In the foregoing list the residents of Darby and Upper Darby were assessed as of one township. In the following, which is the assessment for the year 1799, Lower Darby township, including the present borough, is alone given:

Samuel Ash (innkeeper), John Ash, Matthew Ash, John Atmore (cooper), James Andrews, Abigail Ash, Joanna Bare, Margaret Boon, Joseph Boon, Moses Bonsall, Margaret Bonsall, Jonathan Bonsall, Levi Ronsall (blacksmith), Edward Bonsall, Isaac Brooks (mason), John Brooks, Josiah Bunting, Samuel Bunting, Benjamin Bartram, William Bright, Joseph Crawford, John & Joseph Ball (Upper Darby), Robert Calvin (Ridley), Benjamin Elliot & John Moore, Israel Elliot (justice of the peace), Enos Eldridge (grazier), John Foreman, Jacob Gibbons (grazier), John Gruber, Thomas Hall (Ridley), Jonathan Heacock, William Hansell (blacksmith), Ann Humphrey, John Hunt (grazier), John Horne, Edward Horne (retailer of spirits), William Horne, Thomas Horne, Isaac Horne, John Humphrey, Rebecca Humphrey, Joseph Heacock (mason), John Hibberd (Upper Darby), Israel Helen, Matthias Holston (carpenter), Job Helms, Matthew Jones, John Jones (pump-maker), James Knowles (Ridley), John Knowles (Ridley), Hugh Lloyd, Esq. (judge and grazier), Richard Lloyd (miller), Moses Lincorn, Thomas Leacock, Samuel Levis, Joseph Merrion, James McClees,John Marshall, Nathaniel Newlin, John Noblett (shoemaker), Mary Oliver (shop-keeper), George Ormsbury (shoemaker), Aaron Oaklord, Isaac Oakford (fuller), Benjamin Oakford (tanner and justice of the peace), Nathan Pearson (joiner), Lydia Pearson, Jonathan Pearson (tailor), Benjamin Paschall (Kingsessing), Joseph Pearson (Ridley), Charles Palmer (shoemaker), John Pearson (tanner), John Palmer, Aaron Palmer, Sarah Periguer, John Pharis, Uriah Rowe (shoemaker), Daniel Rice, George Rudolph, John Rudolph, Joseph Rudolph, John Rively (shop-keeper), Frederick Rively (weaver), Thomas A. Richards, George Swayne, Samuel Shaw (weaver), Stephen Sicard (Philadelphia), Nathaniel Smith, Doyle Swayne (Philadelphia), Thomas Simmons (carpenter), Joseph Shallcross (physician), William Wright, Jesse Sharpless (Philadelphia), Elizabeth Smith (inn-keeper), Jacob Sewell, Ann Mifflin, Isaac Sullender (tailor), John Tryter, David Treanor, Robert Thomas (Upper Darby), Samuel Urian, Israel Urian, Hiram Walton (miller for Caleb Phipps), William Wood (estate of Joseph Wood), Henry Wood (joiner), Robert Wilson, William Gardner (physician), Jonathan Tyson (wheelmaker).

Single Freemen. - Jeshua Ash, William Bonsall (shoemaker), John Brooke (tanner), Andrew Boon, Abraham Boon, Peter Boon, Joseph Boon, John Bartram, John Bunting (tailor), Joshua Bonsall, James Cannon, Abel Fowler (blacksmith), George Gruber (wheelwright), Isaac Heacock (mason), Benjamin Heacock, Thomas Horne, John Humphrey (tailor), William Humphrey (tailor), Oliver Ingram, Wrathey Ingram, Samuel Leacock, James McClees, William McCord, Isaiah Mall, Aaron Marshall, James Marshall, Charles Marshall, Samuel Oliver (carpenter), John O'Donnell, Charles Pearson (tanner), William Long, Nicholas Rice, Samuel Rowe, Thomas Sirrell, John Siddings (shoemaker), Thomas Webster (fuller), Philip Vigorous (shoemaker).

Darby Presbyterian Church. - This church was organized as a Congregational Church, 9th of March, 1840, with sixteen members. A council composed of the Rev. John Todd, of the First Congregational Church, Philadelphia, Rev. William Ramsey, of the Cedar Street Presbyterian Church, of Philadelphia, Rev. Truman Osborn, the Rev. Thomas Benneson, of Newark, Del., Rev. W. H. Bidwell, of the Third Presbytery of Philadelphia, convened at the house of George G. Knowles, in Darby township, for the purpose of taking the necessary steps to organize a church. The Rev. John Todd was chosen moderator, and the Rev. W. H. Bidwell scribe. At this meeting a form of covenant and confession of faith were approved by Council, and it was decided "the way was clear for organization." The following persons were associated into a Congregational Church: George G., James G., William G., Martha, Ann, Catharine W., Elizabeth and Margaret C. Knowles, Richard and Elizabeth M. Holmes, John and Miriam F. Collier, John Keigler, John Munyan, Elizabeth Swayne, and Martha Dunbar.

The Rev. Charles Brown, of the Presbytery of Wilmington, was invited to preach as a stated supply. He began his labors on the 1st of June, 1840, and continued till Dec. 1, 1840. The Rev. Marcus E. Cross was then invited to supply the pulpit and accepted. On the 22d of February, 1841, he was regularly called, accepted, and was ordained as the first regular pastor May 20, 1841. The Council of Ordination convened at the house of Deacon James G. Knowles, and was composed of the Rev. John Todd, of First Congregational Church, Philadelphia; Rev. Anson Rood, pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church, Northern Liberties, Philadelphia; Rev. Joseph P. Thompson, pastor of the Chapel Street Church, New Haven, Conn.; Mr. Benjamin Naglee, elder delegate; Deacon Isaac Thompson, delegate.

On the 19th of September, 1842, it was decided to change to the Presbyterian form of government, and the organization was called the Darby Presbyterian Church. James G. Knowles and Richard Holmes were elected ruling elders. On application to the Third Presbytery of Philadelphia, Oct. 11, 1842, the church was admitted to their charge. On May 23, 1843, a charter was obtained from the Legislature. On June 11, 1845, Dr. William G. Knowles and John Van Lear were elected elders, since which time the following elders have served: 1854, Joseph Naglee; 1859, George G. Knowles; 1872, Robert Henderson; 1883, James Logan.

The first religious services were held in school-houses and private houses until 1841, when George G. Knowles donated a plot of ground on which the church now stands, and gave the stone for the building. The same year the edifice, thirty-five by forty-five, was erected, costing about two thousand five hundred dollars. In February, 1849, the church was broken into and robbed of the pulpit Bible, hymn-book, and a number of Sunday-school books. In the spring of 1873 the church was repaired, the outer walls plastered, a new roof took the place of the old one, and other improvements made, costing thirteen hundred dollars, of which sum William G. Knowles contributed five hundred dollars. The present membership of the church is about sixty-five. The Presbyterian Church, in Darby borough, is an outgrowth of the Knowles Church, twenty members having withdrawn to organize the former ecclesiastical body.

The Rev. Marcus E. Cross continued pastor of the church until 1851, when he resigned, devoting himself to literary work. He had shortly after leaving college edited and published "Hunter's Sacred Biography" and the "Museum of Religious Knowledge," and while pastor of the Knowles Church had begun, in 1847, the publication of the Mirror of Temperance, which he discontinued in 1856. He subsequently published "The Social and Moral Aspect of China." Rev. J. Addison Whitaker was ordained pastor Oct. 3, 1852, and continued until March 2, 1855, when he resigned, since which time the church has been depending on supplies, excepting during the year 1875, when Rev. Andrew Lees was in charge.

African Methodist Episcopal Church. - This church is located on the Horntown road, and in 1842 the society erected on the lot a frame church, which was replaced in 1854 by the present brick edifice, which is twenty-five by forty feet. Among the ministers who have served are the Revs. J. W. Davis, Richard Barney, William Allen, and the Rev. Henderson Bryson, the present pastor. The church has at present about forty members.

Schools. - Schools were taught in what is Darby borough about the middle of the last century, but in the township no record of a school has been found until 1811. When the school law was enacted in 1834, Thomas Smith and Thomas Steel were appointed inspectors by the court until the directors were elected, and $270.60 were received by the township as its proportion of the State and county appropriations.

On the 17th of September, 1811, John Lake, who owned real estate on Church Lane, in the northeast section of Darby township, sold nine square perches of land to Aaron Palmer, Caleb Davis, Benjamin Bonsell, Moses Palmer, Charles Palmer, Gavin Hamilton, Jacob Nitzit, Mary Palmer, Moses Bonsell, Enoch Bonsell, and others, for the purpose of erecting a school-house thereon. Several of the persons here mentioned, and others who subscribed for the purpose of building the school-house, were residents of Upper Darby township, and of the city and county of Philadelphia. The following are the names of those who subscribed and the amounts given:

Aaron Palmer $20	Mary Palmer $10
Caleb Davis 10	Moses Bonsell 10
Moses Palmer 20	Enoch Bonsell 8
Benjamin Bonsell 20	William Bonsell 5
Charles Palmer 20	David Sellers 5
Gavin Hamilton 10	Nathan Sellers 5
Jacob Nitzet 10	Samuel Palmer 5
Abram Lewis 5	Isaac Palmer 5
John Lewis 5	Isaac Earl 1
Enoch Bonsell, Jr. 3	Jonathan Bonsell 1
James Bonsell 3	Joshua Bonsell 10
John Moore 2	John Lake 20
Abram Simcox 1	Samuel Bonsell 5

The amount subscribed aggregated two hundred and nineteen dollars. A one-story stone house was erected on the site, and is still in use, having been enlarged and improved about twelve years ago. This is known as the Palmer or Northern School.

In May, 1835, Jonathan Bonsall taught a school at Horntown, his rates being as follows: "Terms, per quarter, $2.50; ink, quills, pencils, etc., twenty-five cents. No day-scholars will be admitted, except those sent by county commissioners."

Western School District. - On the 25th of September, 1837 the school directors purchased a lot of John Pierson, administrator of the estate of Samuel Shaw, Jr., on which they erected a one-story school-house, which was used until 1874, when the present two-story brick house was erected.

The Southern School is located on Calcon Hook. A school-house was built here about 1850, which was used until 1871, when the present house was erected.

African School is located on the Horntown road. The lot on which this house is erected originally belonged to George G. Knowles, and the first house was a frame building erected about 1850. It was replaced by the present brick one in 1875.

The following is the list of school directors, as found of record at Media:

1840, Thomas Smith, Griffith Holgate; 1842, Samuel Urian, Philip Sipler; 1843, John G. Palmer, Robert P. Ash; 1844, Joshua A. Pearson, Davis Richards; 1845, Edmund Taylor, James Andrews; 1846, John G. Palmer, Robert P. Ash; 1847, William Russell, Jr., Ansley Newlin; 1848, Amos Morris, Charles A. Litzenburg; 1849, John G. Palmer, William Jones; 1850, William D. H. Serrill, William Russell; 1851, Amos Morris, Charles A. Litzenburg; 1852, Thomas M. Fisher, William Jones; 1853, William Russell, W. D. H. Sewell; 1854, Joseph C. Bonsall, William Gardner, Jacob Rice; 1855, James Eachus, John Otty; 1856, Edwin Urian, Jacob Rice; 1857, Joseph C. Bonsall, George Horne; 1858, David Taylor, John Otly; 1859, Edwin Urian, George S. Patchel; 1860, Joseph C. Bonsell, George Swayne; 1861, John Otly, Jacob Rice; 1862, George Swayne, David Taylor; 1863, Frank P. Boyer, Moses Bonsall; 1864, Edward Urian, Richard R. Thatcher; 1865, M. F. Longstreth, John W. Marshall; 1866, Moses Bonsell, Franklin J. Boyer; 1867, Edwin Urian, Moses Lincoln; 1868, Dr. Jacob Boon, Dr. M. F. Longstreth; 1869, Franklin P. Boyer, Moses Bonsell; 1870, Edwin Urian, Richard Thatcher, 1871, M. F. Longstreth, Benjamin F. Horne; 1872, Moses Bonsall, William H. Harrison; 1873, Jacob Lincoln, John Marshall; 1874, F. J. Boyer, M. F. Longstreth; 1875, Moses Bonsall, Charles W. Keithler; 1876, William H. Harrison, M. M. Shaw; 1877, M. Fisher Longstreth, G. A. Hazlett; 1878, Jacob Lincoln, Joshua Kirk; 1879, Joshua P. Kirk, John Marshall; 1880, Davis Yarnall, M. Fisher Longstreth; 1881, Davis Yarnall, Charles T. Brooks; 1882, Israel Helms, Frank P. Lewis; 1883, Joshua P, Kirk, Albert B. Earle; 1884, Charles T. Brooks, Charles H. Scott.

Glen Olden Mills. - The mill on Muckinipattus Creek, now owned by Ephraim J. Ridgway, has an unusually interesting history. The tract of land of five hundred acres was granted, May 16, 1663, by Richard Nicolls, Governor of New York, to Israel Helme, Hendrick Joubson (Jacobson), Oele Koeck, and Jan Minsterman. This land is on what is known as Calcoon Hook. The tract seems to have been divided, for on the 10th of April, 1683, one portion of it, owned by Oele Koeck (and on which, later, the mill was built), was sold to Morton Mortonson, who in turn, Aug. 7, 1708, conveyed it to his son, Lawrence, who, later, sold to his son, Tobias Mortonson. On the 10th of April, 1755, Tobias Mortonson sold twenty-four acres to Thomas Shipley, of Wilmington, who died in January, 1759. The property remained in the Shipley family many years, and in 1774, Thomas Shipley, of Darby, purchased at sheriff's sale a lot of land, containing forty-three acres, in Ridley township, across the Muckinipattus Creek from the mill property, which he continued to own as late as 1788. In 1790, Peter Ross is said to have had control of this mill. In 1797 the mill-seat land, as well as the forty-three acres across the creek, were sold by Sheriff Abraham Dicks, as the property of Charles Davis, the purchaser being John Jones, who, the same day, conveyed the premises to Caleb Phipps. At that date the mill was in existence, and had been built long prior to that date, tradition asserting that it was erected by Thomas Shipley, about the year 1755, he being a miller by trade. In 1799, Hiram Walton was operating the mill, and in 1800, Elisha Phipps, a brother of Caleb, was the lessee, and so remained until 1808, when he purchased the property. Elisha Phipps was a strange, erratic character, moved by the impulse of the hour. It is related that the mill being located at the head of tide-water, as was customary in those days, he conveyed his flour to market by a shallop, and returning would bring a cargo of grain. A small sloop, called "The Dusty Miller," was used for this purpose. On one occasion he loaded his little craft with flour and sailed for New York. Time elapsed, and as no word came from Elisha, his wife became anxious, and finally went to New York in search of her husband. There she could learn nothing respecting him, save that he had not been to see the persons with whom he had been accustomed to trade. Finally she returned to her home disconsolate, fully convinced that her husband had been lost on the trip to New York. Time passed, and no intelligence came from the absent Phipps. It was nearly dusk one evening when the "gude wife" saw "The Dusty Miller" coming up the Muckinipattus with the flood tide. Shortly after the craft was moored at its accustomed wharf and Phipps entered the house, and, in his accustomed manner, tossed his old hat on the floor, as if his absence had been no unusual event in his daily life. It seems that after the "Miller" had passed out of the capes of the Delaware, Phipps, on a sudden impulse, decided to sail for the West Indies, where, selling his flour at a large profit, he shipped a quantity of rum and molasses for New York. At the latter port he sold the cargo, purchased grain, and sailed for the Muckinippattus, where he arrived in safety, as already narrated. On March 21, 1812, Phipps sold the property to Halliday Jackson, who owned it until Feb. 27, 1828, when he in turn conveyed it to Ephraim Inskeep. At the latter's death, in 1876, the Glen Olden Mills passed by inheritance to Ephraim J. Ridgway, the present owner.

Warpington Mills. - In 1867, Richard Thatcher erected a cotton-spinning mill on Church Run. The building was ninety-two by fifty-five feet, two stories in height, containing three thousand spindles, driven by a forty horse-power Corliss engine. The mills and machinery cost sixty-five thousand dollars. On Sunday morning, March 24, 1877, an incendiary fire totally destroyed the building and contents, involving a heavy loss to the owner. The mills have never been rebuilt.

Carpet Mills. - About 1849, Gen. John Sidney Jones established a carpet-factory on the north side of the Southern post-road, about a mile west of the borough of Darby, on land which had descended to him from his ancestors, the family having owned the estate during the Revolution. One of the peculiar rules enforced by the proprietor was the prohibition of coal-fires in any of the eight tenements on the property, but he generously supplied the operatives in the mill with wood for fuel. While operating these mills he published a periodical called The Monthly Jubilee. He and his wife, Fanny Lee Townsend Jones, edited it, the type being set in a building on the estate by Patrick McDermot. It was finally discontinued, as was the carpet-mills. The buildings were subsequently leased to John Shepherd & Co., who established a brush-factory therein. On Friday, Dec. 2, 1876, the mills, together with the mansion-house, were destroyed by fire. In September, 1840, Norman B. Barrett, a lad, residing on the Jones farm, while gunning, sat down to rest himself, laying the gun on the ground. When rising he drew the fowling-piece towards him; the cock caught on a twig and discharged the weapon. He was so seriously wounded that death resulted in a few hours thereafter.

Carpet-Factory. - In May, 1882, Wolfenden, Brother & Chism began the erection of a two-story brick carpet-factory, forty by fifty feet, which was completed and put in operation in July of that year. The mills manufacture from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five yards of body Brussels carpet daily, employing four looms and fourteen operatives.

The Horntown Tannery. - In 1790, John Horn, of Horntown, owned and carried on a tan-yard at Horntown, which was discontinued prior to 1812.

Crime. - On Monday, Nov. 25, 1844, the body of a female child was found in Darby Creek, near Calcoon Hook, at "Deep Hole," inclosed in a grain-sack, a napkin tied around the neck and head so as to cover the whole face. The indications were that the body had been in the water nearly two weeks. A post-mortem examination was made, which disclosed the fact that the child was three months old, and alive when thrown into the water. Alexander Harris, alias Dobson, was tried for the murder of the infant on May 27, 1845, and acquitted by the jury.¹[1 See ante, p. 177.]

At the May court, 1850, George W. Horner, a young man, and Louisa Howard, a young woman with whom he lived, were tried on several indictments charging them with a number of robberies in Upper Darby, Haverford, and other localities in the northern section of the county. The house of Benjamin D. Garrigues was entered, and a hired man, returning at a late hour, discovered that the dwelling had been broken into. Pursuit was at once made, a wagon was overtaken, from which the driver sprang and ran away. The stolen property was found in the vehicle. The horse the next day was placed in the custody of a detective officer, who, finding that the animal manifested a desire to go towards Darby, gave him a free rein, and he continued until he stopped at Horner's house, on the Haverford road just north of the village. The dwelling was searched, and much stolen property found therein. Horner was convicted on three indictments, and sentenced to five years in the Eastern Penitentiary on each indictment. Louisa Howard was convicted of receiving stolen goods, and was sentenced to two years in the penitentiary. In May, 1851, Governor Shunk pardoned Horner, leaving his woman accomplice to serve her term of punishment.

Justices Of The Peace For Darby Township.

Benjamin Brannon Aug. 19, 1791
Israel Elliot Oct. 28, 1791
Benjamin W. Oakford Feb. 14, 1794
Caleb S. Sayers Aug. 6, 1799
Benjamin Hayes Smith April 3, 1804
Samuel Davis Feb. 20, 1810
Thomas Smith July 3, 1821
Joseph G. Malcolm July 30, 1831
Thomas Maddock Jan. 8, 1834
Charles Sellers June 20, 1836
Philip Sipler Aug. 14, 1840
Thomas Smith Aug. 14, 1840
Philip Sipler Apri1 15, 1845
Anthony J. Jordan June 1, 1850
William Russell, Jr. April 15, 1855
William Russell April 14, 1857
Samuel Taylor May 3, 1859

Biographical Sketch.

JAMES ANDREWS, PAGE 515

James Andrews was born Dec. 1, 1795, in Darby township within the present limits of Darby borough, his father, James Andrews, having removed from Wilmington, Del., to the township of Darby when a young man, where he married Martha Bunting, daughter of Josiah Bunting, thus connecting the subject of this sketch through his mother with the oldest residents of that early-settled township. When a boy he attended the Friends' school in Darby, where so many of his ancestors had received their education, and filled the position of teacher in this school while still in his minority. He early left to accept a position in the lumber business with the firm of Watson & Bunting, of Philadelphia, a brother of his mother being a member of the firm. In connection with the late James R. Greaves, he later succeeded to the business under the firm-name of Greaves & Andrews, and still later as J. and J. B. Andrews & Co. Owing to failing health, about the year 1837, James Andrews purchased a farm in Darby with the intention of making it his summer home, but soon became so much interested in the occupations of a farmer as to give up his winter residence in the city and make the country his permanent home. He was a birthright member of the society of Friends, the ancestors of both his father and mother having emigrated to this country on account of their religious belief. He was always a consistent member, taking an active part in the affairs of the society, and frequently accompanying as companion public ministers in their religious visits. A useful, public-spirited citizen, benevolent, modest, and unassuming in his intercourse with his fellow-citizens, he was in all respects a model man, through life being honored with many positions of trust and responsibility. In politics he had decided views, and took an active part, first as Whig and afterwards as a Republican, in the questions of the day. In 1851 his fellow-citizens elected him to the office of associate judge of Delaware County, which position he assumed on his fifty-sixth birthday, and held for fifteen years, declining a re-election on account of his age. In 1825 he married Hannah, daughter of Charles Lloyd, whose children were two sons and five daughters, one son and four daughters surviving him. In his domestic life Mr. Andrews was extremely happy. After the decease of his wife, on the 20th of June, 1868, life seeming to have lost its chief attraction, his health failed rapidly. On the 24th of September, 1869, his children laid him to rest in the old graveyard at Darby, by the side of her whom in life he had loved so well.