USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > A history of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and its people; Volume I > Part 25
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No less than three persons offered to serve the office of county treasurer, gratis, in 1741. The commissioners appointed Joshua Thompson, one of the number, but Joseph Brinton, the late treasurer, complaining that he still had unsettled business in the office, and being willing to serve at the same cheap rate, Thompson relinquished the office in his favor, upon the condition, how- ever, that he was to hold it during the year following.
A proposition was made to the commissioners for a ferry on the Brandy- wine "on the road from Concord to Maryland by the erection of wharfs. where the creeks overflows. & renders peoples landing very difficult."
In the trial of criminal cases, it appears to have been the practice, since the early settlement of the province, only to employ counsel in those of serious import. In these cases the most able counsel in the Province was engaged. The following minute from the commissioners' books shows the amount of compensation allowed in such cases : "Allowed John Kinsey Esqr an order on the Treas" for the sum of £3 12s. being his fees as Kings attorney at the tryall of James O'Donnelly and Richard Graham, 26th of May last."
Besides the counsel, there was another officer specially employed for trials in the Oyer and Terminer. as will be seen by another minute : "Allowed John Ross, Gent. an order on the Treasurer for the sum of three pounds ten shill- ings, for officiating as clerk of the Crown at a Court of Oyer and Terminer held at Chester, for the tryal of James O'Donnelly & Richard Graham, the 26th of May last." Richard Graham was sent away in "the Privateer," for which additional fees were allowed.
Considering the scarcity of money in these early times, the amounts col- lected by the Quakers in their meetings, for charitable and other purposes, is really astonishing. Haverford Monthly Meeting contributed in 1741 £35 6s. Iod .. and Concord meeting £21 105. 6d. toward the relief of the sufferers by the great fire at Charleston, S. C.
A controversy brought before Chester Monthly Meeting in 1742, between Thomas Dell of the one part, and John Crosby and Peter Dicks of the other, reveals the fact, that previous to this time the latter had erected a forge on Crum creek. The precise location of this early forge cannot at this time be designated.
The ferry established on the Brandywine at Chadds' Ford not proving to
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be remunerative, except when connected with the business of tavern-keeping, John Chadds therefore "presented a petition, (signed by himself and a con- siderable number of inhabitants of Chester county,) to the commissioners and assessors, setting forth that pursuant to an agreement made with their prede- cessors in the year 1737, he built a boat and suitable appurtenances for the conveying of people and carriages over Brandywine creek, with the money that he borrowed of the county for that purpose, the sum of which was 30 pounds, and it being evident as ye petitioner conceives, that the profits of the said ferry, will not without some consideration, compensate for the charge thereof, and that the Honorable Justices, hath at last August Court, thought proper to deprive him the sª John Chadds from keeping a house of entertain- ment, near the sd ferry, which he had done heretofore: They therefore re- quest that the said Jolin Chads may be acquitted & discharged from the pay- ment of the sum of money above mentioned, and also from the care and man- agement of sª boat and appurtenances, and some other person appointed to act therein in his stead." The petition does not appear to have been granted, for in two years thereafter Jolin Chadds had paid the £30, with the interest re- mitted, and is again reinstated in his business of tavern-keeping.
The fairs authorized by law were not sufficient to satisfy the desires of the public in this respect. Charles Connor and five others were this year bound over for holding a fair at Birmingham, but it does not appear that any further proceedings were had in the matter.
How customary it was at this period for criminals to receive corporal pun- ishment by whipping, as a part or the whole penalty for their wrong-doings, may be inferred from the two following minutes taken from the Commission- ers' books: "Allowed John Wharton an order on the Treasurer for four shillings for making a new whip, and mending an old one for the use of the County." "Allowed Isaac Lea an order on the Treasurer, for the sum of 8 shillings, being for two new whips, and mending an old one; for the County's service."
Benjamin Hayes, of Haverford, who had served the commissioners as clerk for many years, "presented a petition desiring to be discharged from his office." John Wharton was appointed in his place.
Tench Francis was allowed £5 for his services as attorney-general in Chester county.
Application was made to the commissioners for a bridge over Chester creek. "with a draw or sliding bridge for convenience of sloops, shallops, or other craft, to pass through the same," but it was decided to repair the bridge without the draw. It was agreed to pay 16s. per hundred for white oak plank, and Ios. for white oak scantling, delivered, to be used in this work.
War having been declared by England against France, the Governor is- sued his proclamation on June II, advising the people of the Province of this change of relations between the two countries, and enjoining all persons capa- ble of bearing arms, "forthwith to provide themselves with a good Firelock, Bayonet and Cartouch box, and with a sufficient quantity of powder and ball."
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The fitting out of privateers was also recommended. The tenor of the pro- clamation was rather calculated to increase the alarm incident to approaching hostilities ; but the Governor had been so successful in his management of In- dian affairs, and by joining in a grand treaty held at Lancaster immediately after the publication of the proclamation, in which both Virginia and Mary- land, and also the Six Nations, were represented, the Province was really se- cure from any immediate attack, except by sea. This relieved our Quaker pop- ulation from the dreadful apprehension of Indian hostilities, but not from constant importunities to furnish supplies to carry on the war, till the capture of Louisburg, on the island of Cape Breton, which happened in 1745. Even after this period, both men and money were in great demand by the home government for some time.
An act was passed in 1747, granting £5000 for the King's use. This amount was raised by an issue of paper money, but this issue did not increase the amount previously authorized. but supplied the place of old and defaced bills, no longer fit to circulate.
On May 5, 1747, the Governor advised the Assembly of the death of John Penn, one of the Proprietors, and, at the same, announced to that body his in- tention of returning to England, which event soon after followed, leaving the and Spaniards, who had committed sundry depredations along the coast. No Palmer had not been long at the head of the government, before the Province was thrown into a state of alarm by the arrival of an express from New Cas- tle, bringing news of the presence of a privateer in the bay, with 100 French and Spaniards, who had committeed sundry depredations along the coast. No laws could be passed in the absence of a Governor ; but the Council was willing to risk the responsibility of providing for the defence of the Province, provid- ed they could have the assurance of certain leading members of the Assembly. that, upon the arrival of a Governor, a bill for the payment of the expenses incurred should have their support. No satisfactory assurance was given, and no effective defensive measures were adopted. The whole responsibility of this non-resistance policy, in a time of such great danger, did not rest with the Quakers alone, their views on the subject of war being endorsed by the Morav- ians and other German sects. This pacific policy doubtless led to the capture- of a large number of vessels in and about the mouth of the bay, but it may well be doubted whether the loss of property sustained would not have been more. than counterbalanced by the loss of life in case armed resistance had been made.
The repair of the road between Cobb's creek and Gray's ferry was neg- lected by the Supervisors, under the belief that it had never been regularly laid out, which was probably true. Upon the petition of George Gray, the keeper of the ferry, and others, to the Council, all difficulty was obviated by the appointment of suitable persons to survey and have a proper return of the road made.
At the same time, upon petition, persons were appointed to lay out the balance of the road, according to former surveys, to New Castle line, but find-
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ing that the travelled road did not occupy the ground upon which the road had been laid out, a final report was not made till July, 1748. The survey appears to have been made by the Surveyor-General, and varied but little from the bed of the old road. The width adopted for the road laid out at this time was sixty feet, except in the towns Darby and Chester.
The piratical depredations committed by the enemy in the Delaware be- came more alarming this year than ever before. One privateer even ventured above New Castle, and in passing, exchanged a few shots with that place. The British sloop-of-war "Otter" was then at Philadelphia, but, unfortunately, it was not in a condition to repel these aggressions of the enemy. Efforts were made to fit out another vessel, and although the Assembly agreed to provide money to defray the expense of such defensive measures as might be adopted, even if they did not approve of those measures, yet moneyed men did not feel sufficient confidence to induce them to make the necessary advances. Every ef- fort was made by the Council to procure cannon, and at length some were ob- tained from New York, and batteries established along the river. One of these was called the "Great Battery," which was probably located near the present site of the Navy Yard.
In this emergency a home guard was organized, not only in the city, but in the several counties, composed of citizens who voluntarily associated for the defence of the Province. They were denominated "Associators," and fur- nished their equipments at their own expense. Chester county furnished a regiment of Associators, for which the following gentlemen were commis- sioned as officers: Colonel, Andrew McDowell; Lieut .- Colonel, John Frew ; Major, John Miller, and Captains Job Ruston, William Bell, Joseph Wilson, Henry Glassford, William Boyd, William Reed, William Porter and William Clinton. Fortunately these preparations for defence were not needed. Pre- liminaries for restoring a general peace were signed at Aix la Chapelle on April 19, and proclaimed here in August.
The year 1748 was one of great sickness, not only in the city of Philadel- phia, but throughout the Province.
James Hamilton, a son of Andrew Hamilton, received the appointment of lieutenant-governor, and assumed the duties of the office in November.
In the autumn of this year, Peter Kalm, the Swedish naturalist, arrived at Philadelphia, and after remaining a short time in that city, passed throughi our county on a visit to Wilmington. On his return to Philadelphia he spent some time at Chichester, "a borough on the Delaware, where travellers pass the river in a ferry." He adds, "they build here every year a number of small ships for sale, and from an iron work which lies higher up in the country, they carry iron bars to this place and ship them." The environs of Chichester, he says, "contain many gardens, which are full of apple trees sinking under the weight of innumerable apples." About noon our traveller reached Chester, "a little market town which lies on the Delaware. The houses stand dispersed. Most of them are built of stone, and two or three stories high ; some are, how- ever, made of wood, in the town is a church and a market place."
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"About two English miles behind Chester," our author remarks, "I passed an iron forge, which was to the right hand by the road side. It belonged to two brothers, as I was told. The ore, however, is not dug here, but thirty or forty miles hence, where it is first melted in an oven, and then carried to this place. The bellows were made of leather, and both they and the hammers, and even the hearth, but small in proportion to ours. All the machines were worked by water." The location of this forge must have been on Crum creek just below where it is crossed by the post road, while that mentioned in connec- tion with Chichester was probably located on Chester creek, at or near Glen Mills, and was owned and carried on by John Taylor.
Up to this period the forests preserved the same open appearance and freedom from underwood which they presented at the time of the first arrival of Europeans. This was originally caused by the annual burnings of the In- dians, and now unwisely continued by the whites, though the practice was re- stricted by legislative enactment. In describing the country through which he passed, our learned traveler (Kalm) remarks that the greater part of it is "covered with several kinds of decidious trees ; for I scarcely saw a single tree of the fir kind, if I except a few red cedars. The forest was high but open be- low, so that it left a free prospect to the eye, and no underwood obstructed the passage between the trees. It would have been easy in some places to have gone under the branches with a carriage for a quarter of a mile, the trees standing at great distances from each other, and the ground being very level."
Agreeably to a report made by a committee of the Assembly in 1749, the whole amount of paper money in circulation at that time in the Province was 185,000.
Among the troubles to which our goodly ancestors were, about this period, subjected, was the depredation committed by the legions of squirrels with which the forests swarmed. To mitigate the evil, an act was passed authoriz- ing the payment of 3d. per head for the destruction of these voracious animals. This premium was sufficient to induce a large number of persons to engage in squirrel shooting as a regular business, and the consequence was, that the amount paid in the whole Province this year for squirrel scalps was £8000. showing that 640,000 of these creatures had been killed.
This large amount rendered bankrupt nearly every county treasury in the Province, and made it necessary to reduce the bounty one-half, by another Act of Assembly.
In pursuance of an Act of Parliament. having for its object the restriction of the manufacture of iron in the British American colonies, Governor Ham- ilton issued his proclamation requiring the sheriffs of the several counties to make a return to him, of "every mill or engine for slitting and rolling of iron. every plating forge to work with a tilt hammer, and every furnace for making steel which were erected within their several and respective counties," on June 24. 1750. In pursuance of this proclamation. John Owen, the sheriff of Chester county. certifies "that there is but one Mill or Engine for slitting and rolling iron within the county aforesaid, which is situate in Thornbury town-
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ship, and was erected in the year one thousand seven hundred and forty-six, by John Taylor the present Proprietor thereof, who, with his servants and workmen, has ever since until the 24th day of June last, used and occupied the same." The sheriff also certifies "that there is not any plating forge to work with a tilt hammer, nor any furnace for making steel," within the county of Chester.
As has been mentioned, the iron works of John Taylor occupied nearly the present site of the Glenn Mills of the Messrs. Willcox; but it is a little re- markable that the iron works within two English miles of Chester, mentioned by Peter Kalm, in his journey from that place to Philadelphia, should have so suddenly gone into disuse. The existence of such works, in 1748, at the point mentioned, cannot be doubted, for the Swedish naturalist was too accur- ate an observer to have been mistaken in a matter of this kind.
Labor in Pennsylvania was, at this period, of three kinds: free hired la- bor, bought servants for a term of years, and slaves for life. The wages of the first class for a year, with food and lodging, in the country, was about £16 for a man, and from £8 to fio for females. The second class consisted of such persons as annually came from different countries of Europe to settle. Real or supposed oppression brought many of them here, but most of them were very poor, and came to better their fortunes. Being without means to pay their passage, which was not more than from six to eight pounds sterling for each, they, by agreement with the captain of the ship in which they ar- rived, were sold for a term of years to pay this small amount.
The usual term of service was four years, and the price advanced for that term, appears at this period to have been about £14, which would leave a sur- plus for the redemptioner, unless it was used in the payment of charges by the government. Children were frequently sold for a longer period to pay the passage-money of their parents. At the expiration of their terms of ser- vice, each was supplied with a new suit of clothes, as was then the usual case with apprentices. Some of these foreigners who were possessed of suf- ficient means to pay their passage, preferred being sold, as the period of service afforded them time to learn our language and the ways of the country, and at the end of that period, the funds they brought with them were invested in the purchase of a permanent home.
This kind of labor being the cheapest, and within the means of a majority of the settlers, it appears to have been substituted for that of the African slave, and at this period had nearly put an end to the importation of slaves into the Province. It was, however, more used further in the interior than within the limits of our county, the earliest settlers having been more liberally sup- plied with negroes.
The third kind of labor was that of the negro slave. The price of negro men at this time was from £40 even to fioo in rare instances. The few who were now imported, were brought from the West Indies, as it was found that in transporting negroes from Africa directly to the more northern Prov- inces, their health suffered more than when gradually acclimated, by being
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taken first to the West Indies, and from thence further north. Even at this period the Quakers and others had manumitted a considerable number of their slaves. The law that made it obligatory on the master to provide for the main- tenance of the slave during life, was an obstacle to emancipation, as it was found that manumitted negroes became indolent, and in their old age were lia- ble to become chargeable. The proportion of negroes to the white population within the limits of our county was much greater at this period than at present. The precise proportion is not known, but in the city of Philadelphia, in 1751, the blacks exceeded one-third of the whole population.
In the computation of time throughout Great Britain and its dependencies, up to December 31st, 1751, what was known as "old style," continued to be used. The change to our present mode of computation was effected by an Act of Parliament, entitled, "An Act for regulating the commencement of the year, and for correcting the Calendar now in use." The numerical designation of the months adopted by the Society of Friends, which made March the First Month, was legalized by an Act passed by the Provincial Assembly in the ninth year of the reign of Queen Anne. Action by the Yearly Meeting of London was immediately had on the subject, which was adopted by that of Philadel- phia ; and as this action explains the whole subject, including the numerical designation of the months used by the Society of Friends, it will be given en- tire, as found in the records of Chester Monthly Meeting :
"Agreed that as by the late Act of Parliament for regulating the commencement of the year, that it is ordered that the first day of the Eleventh month next, shall be deemed the first day of the year 1752, and that the month called January shall be suc- cessively called the first month of the year, and not the month called March as hereto- fore hath been our method of computing.
"That from and after the time above mentioned, the Eleventh month, called Janu- ary, shall thenceforth be deemed and reckoned the First month in the year, be so styled in all the records and writings of Friends, instead of computing from the month called March according to our present practice, and Friends are recommended to go on with the names of the following months numerically, according to our practice from the beginning, so that the months may be called and written as follows :- That January be called and written the first month, and February called and written the second month, and so on. All other methods of computing and calling of the months unavoidably leads into contradiction.
"And whereas, for the more regular computation of time, the same act directs that in the month now called September, which will be in the year 1752, after the second day of the said month, eleven numerical days shall be omitted, and that which would have been the third day, shall be reckoned and esteemed the 14th day of the said month, and that which otherwise would have been the fourth day of the said month, must be deemed the 15th, and so on. It appears likewise necessary, Friends should conform themselves to this direction and omit the nominal days accordingly."
From the commencement of this work the author has conformed his dates to the new style so far as to make the year commence with the first of January, but no allowance has been made for the eleven days that are to be omitted under the present mode of computation.
Standing in the pillory was rarely resorted to as a mode of punishment by
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the justices of Chester county. At the February term of this year, one Owen Oberlacker, alias John Bradley, upon being convicted of "speaking seditious words," was sentenced to stand in the pillory one hour, with the words, "I stand here for speaking seditious words against the best of Kings, wrote in large hand, to be affixed to his back." In addition to this punishment, twenty- one lashes upon his bare back were to be inflicted the same day.
It was in 1753 that the French invaded Western Pennsylvania, in pursu- ance of their grand scheme to secure the possession of the valley of the Mis- sissippi. Though in a time of profound peace, the news of this hostile move- ment filled the country with consternation and alarm, for it was well known that a war would be inevitable. To our Quaker population, though generally out of harm's way, the news of this invasion was especially unwelcome. From experience they had learned that there were those among their young men who would go out to the battle, and should they return, it was rarely to enter that fold from which they had strayed.
Still the Society of Friends pursued the even tenor of their way, regard- less of the storm that was gathering around them. Their meetings, their re- ligious missions to distant places, their visitation of families, and their formal marriages were continued. The Friends of Chester Monthly Meeting even selected this period as the time "to build the old end" of the Providence meet- ing-house, "with stone, and to make other necessary repairs." This "old end," now to be supplied with a stone structure, was probably the first erected meet- ing-house at the place indicated.
In accordance with notice given to the Proprietaries, in 1753, Governor Hamilton resigned his office the following October. He was succeeded by Robert Hunter Morris, of New Jersey.
The events occurring in America in 1754, induced both the English and French governments to send troops to aid in the defence of their American possessions. Those from England were sent by way of Virginia, but did not arrive until the spring of 1755. In conjunction with a considerable number of colonial troops, they were placed under the unfortunate General Braddock, and constituted the expedition defeated by the French and Indians near Fort Du- quesne. The prudent conduct displayed by Washington on this occasion may be regarded as the commencement of the glorious career of this great man.
On the morning of November 18, 1755, a severe shock of an earthquake was felt throughout this region of country. It lasted about two minutes. It was felt along the coast for a distance of 800 miles, being most severe in the vicinity of Boston.
The disputes between Governor Morris and the Assembly, in which the Quakers still had a majority, were constant, and unfortunately were not con- ducted with that spirit of moderation and forbearance that should have pre- vailed in a period of so much difficulty and danger. The Assembly could not vote money specifically for carrying on the war, and in providing means "for the king's use," they desired to issue an additional amount of paper money.
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