USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > History of Delaware county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the territory included within its limits to the present time > Part 1
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UNIVERSITYf PENNSYLVANIA LIBRARIES
Geo Smith
HISTORY
DELAWARE COUNTY,
PENNSYLVANIA,
FROM THE DISCOVERY OF THE TERRITORY INCLUDED WITHIN ITS LIMITS TO THE PRESENT TIME,
WITH
A Notice of the Geology of the County, AND
CATALOGUES OF ITS MINERALS, PLANTS, QUADRUPEDS AND BIRDS,
Written
UNDER THE DIRECTION AND APPOINTMENT OF THE DELAWARE COUNTY INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE,
BY
GEORGE SMITH, M. D.
PHILADELPHIA : PRINTED BY HENRY B. ASHMEAD, Nos. 1102 AND 1104 SANSOM STREET. 1862.
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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by
GEORGE SMITH, M. D.,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
1
INTRODUCTION.
THE circumstances under which the author was induced to engage in the preparation of the work now submitted to the public, will be briefly explained.
Many years since a resolution was adopted by the Delaware County Institute of Science, having in view the collection and preservation of manuscripts, printed docu- ments, traditions, or any other matter or thing calculated to illustrate the history of the County. A notice was published in the County papers, requesting persons in pos- session of the desired information, to place the documents containing it in the possession of the Institute. This re- quest was but very partially responded to, either by the members of the Institution, or by others. Still there were a few who took a deep interest in the subject. They plainly saw that many facts calculated to illustrate our early history had already passed into oblivion, because no means had been adopted to collect and preserve them, and that if this important subject should be longer neglected, many more would soon be placed beyond our reach, by the decease of a number of intelligent persons, still living, who were familiar with the stirring times and local events of our revolutionary struggle.
Among those who took the deepest interest in the matter was Joseph Edwards, Esq., an active and intelligent member of the Institute. It was a subject in accordance with his taste, and he freely devoted his time and his vigorous intellect, in accomplishing the original object of the In- stitution. His reading was from this time more particularly directed to the various works that relate to the early set- tlements on the Delaware. Making himself familiar with
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INTRODUCTION.
that subject, and being possessed of a considerable number of local facts, the idea occurred to him of putting the ma- terials in his possession into the shape of a history of our County. The subject was accordingly brought by him before the Institute, and meeting with the approbation of the members present, it was at once placed in the hands of a committee, with the understanding that the whole labor of drawing up the history should devolve on Mr. Edwards.
Circulars were now addressed to every person supposed to be in possession of facts or information calculated to add value to the work, but again the response was for the most part slow and unsatisfactory ; and the feeble health of Mr. Edwards did not permit him to engage in the laborious task of personally examining voluminous ancient records, and other manuscripts of vital importance to the work in question, and only to a very limited extent of clicit- ing from the aged of our County their recollections of by- gone times.
Thus circumstanced, Mr. Edwards engaged energetically in the work, and, at the time his earthly career was so suddenly brought to a close, he had brought his narrative down to the commencement of Penn's government. The task of completing the work was imposed by the Institute upon the author, who assumed it as a duty he owed to his departed friend, as well as from a desire to place beyond contingency a multitude of local facts, that were to be found only in ancient manuscripts, many of which it was known were not in safe keeping, nor in a good state of preservation.
When the appointment of the Institute was accepted, he had no idea that his labor would extend much beyond the completion of the narrative commenced by his friend, and he supposed that a large amount of the materials had already been collected for that purpose. He was aware that the manuscript of Mr. Edwards was too voluminous, and if used, would require some abridgment, but a careful examination of it soon satisfied him that it could not be used at all, as part of a work for which he was to be mainly responsible. It was discovered that Mr. Edwards in
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INTRODUCTION.
drawing up his narrative had labored under the disadvan- tage of not being in possession of all the important facts connected with his subject ; that the authors upon which he relied were mostly compilers and frequently incorrect, and in addition, his narrative was so very voluminous, that the labor of abridging it would be greater than that of re-writing the whole. It was painful to the author to exclude the whole of the manuscript of Mr. Edwards, but he is happy in having the opinion of one of his most intel- ligent relatives, that the course adopted was proper and judicious.
It thus became necessary to enter upon a thorough ex- amination of every work having a bearing upon the his- tory of the territory embraced within our County, from the time it first became known to Europeans. This has been the most pleasing part of the labor. But it was soon found that the most interesting facts connected with the early history of the County were scattered through the voluminous manuscript records of the Society of Friends ; the records of our early Courts, and other records of the County, now in the offices at West Chester; the records in the Surveyor-General's office at Harrisburg, and in the several offices of the city of Philadelphia. These have been carefully examined so far as they relate to early times; and although their examination required the expen- diture of much time and labor, the reward has been so ample, that it may now be safely said, that no history of the County would have been worthy of the name which did not embrace the numerous local facts derived from these sources.
It will also be seen that the unpublished records at Albany, N. Y., and those at New Castle, in the State of Delaware, have been examined with the view of ascer- taining as many local facts as possible connected with the settlements on the Delaware, prior to the establishment of the government of William Penn. These examinations, though not so prolific of new facts as that of our own re- cords, it will be observed, have not been by any means fruitless.
The examination of these records made the author
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INTRODUCTION.
familiar with most of the early settlers embraced within the limits of our County; where they lived, how they lived, and from whence they came. This gave rise to the idea of the map that exhibits the County as it was at the time of its first settlement, or shortly afterwards, and also suggested the biographical notices which form an impor- tant feature of the work. This arrangement has had the effect of freeing the history of the County proper from much personal narrative and local description, and will, it is hoped, be a source of some satisfaction to many old families of the County, and to many who reside beyond our limits, but who can justly claim kindred here, and " have their claims allowed." Much labor has been ex- pended on this part of the work, and it is trusted not without a reasonable degree of success. Still the author has, to regret, that in respect to some of the early immi- grant settlers, he has been able to learn little or nothing. This will account for the briefness and imperfection of some of the notices, and the entire omission of any notice of other pioneers in the settlement of the County.
The multitude of local facts and circumstances that it appeared necessary to give in the language in which they are recorded, has given to a considerable portion of the work, very much the character of Annals. It hence be- came important to place at the head of each page, the date, as nearly as possible, of the events recorded on it, and on that account the formality of dividing the work into chapters has been dispensed with.
The Geology of the County, and the Catalogue of its Flowering Plants and Ferns would have been contributed to the work by the present author, had the historical part of it been completed by Mr. Edwards. The Catalogue of our Mosses was kindly prepared by Dr. Thomas P. James, and that of the Quadrupeds and of the Birds by John Cassin, Esq., both natives of Delaware County, and both unsurpassed in the branches of the natural sciences to which their contributions respectively belong.
To his long tried friend, Minshall Painter, the author is largely indebted for liberal and constant aid in the ex- amination of voluminous manuscripts, and for the contri-
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INTRODUCTION.
bution of many local facts. He is also under great obli- gations to Thomas Darlington, Dr. William Darlington, Joseph J. Lewis, John H. Brinton, Adis M. Ayers, Walter Hibbard, Jonathan Cope, and Gilbert Cope, of Chester County ; to the late Samuel Breck, Samuel Hazard, Pro- fessor John F. Frazer, and Samuel L. Smedley, of Phila- delphia ; to Thomas Dutton, Elijah Brooke, George G. Leiper, Robert Frame, Robert Thomas, John M. Broomall, Jacob -S. Serrill, Joshua P. Eyre, Charles Johnson, and James M. Willcox, of Delaware County, and to many others, for the aid they have severally rendered by contri- buting documents, or by communicating important facts.
UPPER DARBY, DELAWARE CO., November 1, 1862.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Map of Delaware County, to face title page. Map of the Early Settlements of Delaware County, . last page.
A part of Roggeveen's Map of New Netherland, page 18
Diagram of Chester, pr. R. Long, C. Pusey, James Sanderlands, and others, . . 138
Residence of Caleb Pusey at Chester Mills, . 147
Diagram of a line run due West, preparatory to ascertaining the Western boundary of a tract of land purchased from the Indians in 1685, 170
First Meeting-house of Friends at Chester. 188
Friends' Meeting-house, Haverford, built 1700. rebuilt 1800, 201
View of St. Paul's Church, Chester, built 1703, 208
234
Head Quarters of Gen. Washington, at the Battle of Brandywine, of Marquis de La Fayette,
310
Section of the Delaware River, including Fort Mifflin.
321
Haverford College, 358
Public Buildings at Media,
375
Delaware County Alms House, .
376
Upland,
Burd Orphan's Asylum of St. Stephen's Church,
386
Kellyville,
387
Friends' Meeting-houses at Springfield.
390
St. David's Church, built 1717, .
396
Pennsylvania Training School for Feeble-minded Children,
399
Catholic Church of St. Thomas, Aston.
400
Castle Rock, from the North,
401
Geological Map of Delaware County,
403
Exposure of Trap with Diallage or Authophyllite,
410
Autograph Signatures (3 pages), 442
Fac Simile from the Ledger of Richard Hayes, 467
Autograph Letter of David Lloyd, 480
of Jacob Taylor, 506
of Benjamin West.
513
Draft of the first settled part of Chester,
543
Town Hall at Chester, built 1724,
305
380
View of Media from the South-west, .
388
Birth place of Benjamin West, . 390
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
IN giving an account of the first settlement by Europeans, of any part of America, it has been customary with writers to pre- cede their narratives by a detailed history, not only of the events that were then transpiring in the Old World, but of every event that had occurred for a century or more previously, having the least possible bearing, upon the settlement in question. As the history of a district of country so limited in extent as that of Delaware County, must derive its chief value from the number of local facts it may present, the transatlantic events that led to its settlement in common with that of larger districts of our country, will only be briefly adverted to.
More than a century had elapsed, from the time of the dis- covery of the Western Continent by the Cabots, before the noble river that forms the south-eastern boundary of our County, be- came known to Europeans. The first settlement of Virginia was commenced at Jamestown in the year 1607. Two years later, the celebrated English navigator Henry Hudson, after having made two unsuccessful voyages in the employ of London merchants, in search of a northern passage to the East Indies, entered the service of the Dutch East India Company, and with the same object in view, made his celebrated voyage that resulted in the discovery of the great New York river, that most justly bears his name. Sailing from Amsterdam on the 4th of April, 1609, in a yacht called the Half-Moon, he doubled North Cape with the object of reaching Nova Zembla. In this he was foiled by reason of the dense fogs and the large bodies of ice he encountered, when, changing his original plan, he directed his course with the view of discovering a north-west passage to China. He arrived off the banks of Newfoundland in July, and continu- ing his course westwardly, after some delay on account of dense fogs, entered Penobscot bay on the coast of Maine. Here Captain Hudson had friendly intercourse with the natives of the country, and after having repaired the damage his little vessel had sus- tained, he pursued his course southerly in search, it is said, of a
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
[1610.
passage to the Western Pacific Ocean, which he had formerly learned from his friend Captain John Smith, had an existence, " south of Virginia." Halting a second time at Cape Cod, he observed in possession of the Indians who treated him kindly, " green tobacco and pipes, the bowls of which were made of clay, and the stems of red copper."1
The voyage of the Half-Moon was again continued south-west along the coast, until, on the 18th of August she arrived at the mouth of Chesapeake bay. If there was any truth in the rather improbable story, that Hudson pursued this south-west course, in search of a passage to the Pacific, south of Virginia, he certainly abandoned his plan ; for, without much delay, he reversed his course, making a more particular examination of the coast as he passed along. On the 28th of August, 1609, in latitude thirty- nine degrees and five minutes north, Hudson discovered " a great bay," which, after having made a very careful examination of the shoals and soundings at its mouth, he entered ; but soon came to the over-cautious conclusion, that " he that will thoroughly dis- cover this great bay, must have a small pinnace, that must draw but four or five feet water, to sound before him."2 To this great bay the name of Delaware has been given in honor of Lord De- la-war, who is said to have entered it one year subsequently to the visit of Hudson.3
The examination of the Delaware bay by Hudson, was more after the manner of a careful navigator, than that of a bold ex- plorer in search of new lands, and scarcely extended beyond its mouth. It must have been very slight indeed, as we find that in further retracing his steps, he had descried the high lands of Navesink on the 2nd of September, four days after his entrance into the Delaware bay ; and on the 4th of that month, after having rounded a low " Sandy Hook," he discovered, "The Great North River of New Netherland"-a discovery that will transmit his name to the latest posterity.
Though an Englishman, Hudson was in the employ of the Dutch, and his visit to the Delaware, however transient it may have been, is rendered important from the fact, that on it prin- cipally, if not wholly, rested the claim of that government to the bay and river, so far as it was based on the ground of prior dis- covery. This claim is now fully conceded ; for although the bay was known in Virginia by its present name as early as 1612, no evidence exists of its discovery by Lord Delaware or any other
1 Hist. New Netherland, i. 34.
2 Journal of the voyage by Robert Juet, the mate of Hudson,-N. Y. Hist. Col. vol. i. 130, 131,-also, ib. N. S. i. 320.
3 So far as a negative can be proven, Mr. Broadhead in his History of N. Y. has made it appear that Lord Delaware never saw the bay that bears his name. See p. 51, and Appendix, note D, of that work.
1614.]
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. 3
Englishman prior to 1610, when it is said, that navigator " touched at Delaware bay on his passage to Virginia."1
An official Dutch document,2 drawn up in 1644, claims that New Netherland " was visited by inhabitants of that country in the year 1598," and that "two little forts were built on the South and North rivers." Better anthority is needed to support this claim, than the assertion of an interested party made nearly half a century subsequent to the event.
Though reasonable doubts may exist in respect to the visit of Lord Delaware to the Delaware bay, that bay in 1610 did actually receive a transient visit from Captain Samuel Argall, who pro- bably was the first European that entered its waters after its discovery by Hudson.3
The various names by which the Delaware river and bay have been known, are enumerated in Hazard's Annals of Pennsylva- nia.+ By the Indians it was called, "Pautaxat, Mariskitton and Makerish-kisken, Lenape Whittuck ; by the Dutch, Zuyt or South river, Nassau river, Prince Hendrick river, and Charles river ; by the Swedes, New Swedeland stream ; by the English, Delaware. Heylin in his Cosmography calls it Arasapha. The bay has also been known as New Port May and Godyn's bay.
Six years now intervene, before we have any further accounts of discoveries in " New Netherland," a country, which in the estimation of Their High Mightinesses, The States General of Holland, embraced the Delaware bay and river. On the 27th of March, in the year 1614, a general charter was granted, securing the exclusive privilege of trade during four voyages, with "any new courses, havens, countries or places," to the discoverer, and subjecting any persons who should act in violation thereof, to a forfeiture of their vessel, in addition to a heavy pecuniary penalty.5 Stimulated by this edict of the States General, the merchants of Amsterdam fitted out five vessels to engage in voyages, in pursuance of its provisions. Among them was the Fortune belonging to the city of Hoorn, commanded by Captain Cornelis Jacobson Mey. Captain Adrian Block com- manded another vessel of this exploring party, which was unfortunately burnt upon his arrival at the mouth of the " Man- hattan river." To repair this misfortune, Captain Block imme- diately engaged in the construction of a new vessel-a yacht, 443 feet long, and 11} feet wide. This craft was of but 16 tons burden, and was named the Unrust (Restless.) She was the first vessel built by Europeans in this country, and her construction,
1 N. Y. Hist. Col. i. N. S. 320.
2 N. Y. Col. Doc. i. 149 ; Hist. New Netherland, i. Appendix E, 418.
3 Broadhead's Hist. N. Y. 51 and note D.
5 N. Y. Col. Doc. i. 5.
4 P. 4.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
[1616.
under the circumstance, savors more of a Yankee procceding than any event in the history of New Netherland.
The Fortune, commanded by Skipper Mey, alone proceeded southerly. The coast, with its numerous inlets and islands, was examined and mapped as he went along, until he reached the mouth of the Delaware bay, to the two proper capes of which he appropriated two of his names ; calling the one Cornelis, the other Mey. To a cape still further south he gave the name of Hindlopen, after a town of Friesland.1 All the vessels except the Restless, now returned to Holland, to make a report of their discoveries, and to claim the exclusive privileges of trade, to which, under the general charter granted by the States General, their owners would be entitled. By an edict dated on the 14th of October, 1614, this monopoly of trade was granted to the united company of merchants of the cities of Amsterdam and Hoorn, by whose means the expedition had been fitted out. It was limited, however, to "newly discovered lands, situate in America, between New France and Virginia, whereof the sea coasts lie between the fortieth and forty-fifth degrees of latitude, now named New Netherland," and was to extend to four voyages, to be made within three years from the 1st of January. It will be seen that the Delaware bay is not included in this grant, a circumstance that would suggest that the discoveries in that quarter by Skipper Mey, had not been appreciated.
Captain Cornelis Hendrickson, who had been left in command of the American built vessel Restless, now proceeded to make further explorations, and especially on the Delaware bay. It has even been said that this expedition explored the river as high up as the mouth of the Schuylkill, the discovery of which is credited to Captain Hendrickson.2 If this be correct, the crew of the Restless were the first civilized men who visited the terri- tory now embraced within the limits of Delaware County. The extent of the discoveries made by the worthy captain, can, in a measure, be judged of by his report made to the States General, on behalf of his employers.
" Report of Captain Cornelis Hendrixz" of Munnickendam to the high and mighty Lords States General of the Free United Netherland Provinces, made on the XVIIIth August, Ao. 1616, of the country, bay and three rivers, situate in the latitude from 38 to 40 degrees, by him discovered and found for and to the behoof of his owners and Directors of New Netherland, by name Gerrit Jacob Witsen, Burgomaster at Amsterdam, Jonas Witsen, Lambreht Van Tweenhuyzen, Palas Pelgrom and others of their company."
1 Hist. New Netherland, i. 73.
2 Haz. Ann. 7; Broadhead's Ilist. N. Y. 79.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
1620.]
" First, he hath discovered for his aforesaid Masters and Directors, certain lands, a bay and three rivers situate between 38 and 40 degrees."
" And did there trade with the inhabitants ; said trade con- sisting of sables, furs, robes and other skins."
" He hath found the said country full of trees, to wit: oaks, hickory and pines; which trees, were in some places covered with vines."
"He hath seen in said country, bucks and does, turkeys and partriges."
" He hath found the climate of said country very temperate, judging it to be as temperate as this country, Holland."
" He also traded for and bought from the inhabitants, the Minguas, three persons, being people belonging to this company, which three persons were employed in the service of the Mohawks and Machicans ; giving for them kettles, beads and merchandise."
" Read August 19th, 1616."1
It cannot be fairly inferred from this report, that the Schuyl- kill was one of the three rivers discovered by Captain Hendrick- son, and the original " Carte Figurative,"2 found attached to the memorial of his employers, presented on the day before the re- port was made, furnishes almost conclusive evidence that the voyage of the Restless did not extend even to the mouth of the Delaware river. The refusal of the States General, to grant the trading privileges to these applicants, which in justice could not be withheld from the discoverers of "any new courses, havens, countries or places," furnishes additional proof that the discoveries made in the Restless did not go much beyond what had been previously made. If any knowledge of the Delaware or Schuylkill rivers was acquired on this occasion, it was proba- bly obtained from the three persons belonging to the company, purchased from the Indians, or from the Indians themselves.
In anticipation of the formation of a Dutch West India Company, exclusive trading privileges were not again granted under the general charter of 1614, except in a few instances and to a very limited extent. The trade to New Netherland, regard- ed by the Dutch as extending beyond the Delaware, was thrown open, in a measure, to individual competition. This did not last long, for on the 3rd of June, 1621, the West India Company was incorporated. It did not, however, go into operation until 1623.
Thus far, trade, and new discoveries for the purpose of extend- ing trade, appear to have wholly engrossed the attention of the Dutch. This year a proposition is made by the Directors of the
1 N. Y. Col. Doc. i. 13.
2 For a copy of this "Carte Figurative," see N. Y. Col. Doc. i. facing p. 13.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
[1621.
New Netherland trading company, for the emigration to America of " a certain English preacher,' versed in the Dutch language," then residing in Leyden, together with over four hundred fami- lies both out of Holland and England, whom he assured the petitioners, he had the means of inducing to accompany him thither. The petitioners also asked that two ships of war might be provisionally dispatched "for the preservation of the country's rights, and that the aforesaid minister and the four hundred families, might be taken under the protection of the government ; alledging that his Majesty of Great Britain would be disposed .to people the aforesaid lands with the English nation." After considerable delay, this petition was rejected.2
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