USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > A history of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and its people; Volume I > Part 47
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On May 25, 1807, Elijah Tyson bought of his father, Jonathan, 250 acres. of land in Middletown, embracing the mill site, dams, and water rights, and July 25 same year the fourteen acres in Aston, with right to abut against the shore of the creek. In 1807 the name of Tyson appeared on the assessment roll for mills, when Elijah Tyson was assessed a saw mill. He continued in control until July 27, 1813, when he sold eight acres in Middletown, including the mill, mill-dam rights and other privileges, and fourteen and a half acres in Aston township, opposite, with water rights, to Judah Dobson, of Philadelphia, who changed the saw mill to a rolling mill. Little is known about this mill. but tradition has it that it was a copper mill, and the road leading from the place to Village Green is still called the Copper Mill road. The mill does not appear on the assessment rolls from 1817 to 1821.
John Vaughan and John Hart, assignees of Thomas and Judah Dobson. on November 6, 1822, conveyed to Samuel Love "all that rolling mill and four tracts of land," one of which is described as in Middletown, on Chester creek. containing eight acres, adjoining lands of Elijah Tyson, Abram Trimble, and others. Another tract was in Aston, partly covered by the mill pond, and ad- joining and below the land of Jesse Grissell (Griswold). Samuel Love, Febru- ary 9. 1825, relinquished title to the estate, conveying it to John D. Carter, who had been operating the Trimble cotton mill in Concord since 1813. In Carter's deed it is stated that the rolling mill has been changed into a cotton factory, and that the cotton factory, mill dams, ponds, races, and four pieces of land
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"were the properties embraced in the conveyance." The "Report of the Manu- factories of Delaware county," made in 1826, describes the place as being above the Dutton mill-"on Chester creek, in Middletown township, a cotton factory, 40 by 90 feet, head and fall thirteen feet, owned and occupied by Jolın D. Carter ; has seven carding engines of twenty-eight, and two of thirty- one inches, workers and strippers, two drawing frames of four double heads each, two double speeders of ten bobbins each, one stretcher of forty-two spindles, 808 throstle spindles, 616 mule spindles ; spins 1278 pounds of cotton yarn per week. No. 20, with power to drive 4000 spindles, with all the neces- sary preparation, employs about forty-six hands, tenements for thirteen fami- lies." In April, 1829, John D. Carter sold the property to Edward Darlington and Thomas Clyde, and moved to the South. The new owners rented them to Kershaw, Dean and Hill, who operated them until they were sold, March 4, 1832, to Robert Beatty and John O'Neill, at which time there was a cotton fac- tory and tilt mill upon the estate. At this place Beatty & O'Neill began the manufacture of edge tools, but O'Neill soon withdrew from the firm and rented from Beatty, who had bought the cotton mill at Knowlton. The factory was entirely consumed by fire, January 7, 1834, and on October 26 of the fol- lowing year John P. Crozer, bought the property, containing the four tracts of land conveyed in 1822 to Samuel Love, a tilt mill, saw mill, new building for factory, 25 by 35 feet, one brick and seven stone houses. After the sale, Mr. Beatty continued the business at the place for about a year, when Mr. Crozer erected a stone cotton mill, 32 by 76 feet, three stories high. This building was washed away in 1843, and the next year a stone building 33 by 85 feet, three stories in height, was raised. Phineas Lownes and Abraham Blakeley commenced manufacturing at that place in 1846, continuing until 1853, when Mr. Crozer again took charge until 1869, when the mill was leased by John B. Rhodes.
On a little stream, known in early days as Clark's run, later as Chrome run, a tributary of Chester creek, emptying into the latter a short distance above Presbyterian ford, in about 1810, a small stone woolen factory 15 by 30 feet, was erected by Jesse Grissell for James and John Bottomley. The latter were Englishmen who had immigrated to this country with their mother, a brother and sister. The men of the family worked in the factory, continuing until 1832, when James Miller and Robert Boyd rented the property. Miller made edge tools ; Boyd turned axe handles, bobbins, and manufactured paper on a small scale. The mill was destroyed by fire in 1848. Morris Trueman erected a saw mill above the Bottomley mill, on Chrome run, prior to 1777, when he moved to Darby creek and built a paper mill, afterwards generally known as the Matthews paper mill. It was owned by Samuel Levis and was used until 1812.
In 1809, Captain Henry Moore, then in charge of the forge and rolling mills owned by his brother-in-law, Thomas Odiorne, erected on the island in Chester creek, at Rockdale, a nail factory, and installed nine nail machines. In 1810, one hundred tons of iron were manufactured into nails at this factory.
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selling, on an average for ten cents a pound, the capacity being gradually in- creased until 150 tons of nails were manufactured in 1826, and six years later the annual production had reached 400 tons. In 1832, Richard Smith, a whole- sale hardware dealer of Philadelphia, was compelled to accept the works in payment of a loan made to Captain Moore, and he leased the establishment to Howard and Massey for several years, they using the building for a machine shop. It later passed to Bernard McCready, used as a cotton fac- tory by James Roe. later by Robert Boyd during whose occupancy it was de- stroyed by fire. Alexander Balfour then purchased the property, and erected a new building and rented it to Joseph Richardson, Nicholas Walter, and 11. P. Griffiths, who manufactured cotton and woolen goods for about two years. It was later purchased by Samuel Riddle, who operated it for a few years and removed the machinery to his other mills.
Three hundred and seventy acres of land were surveyed to Richard Crosby on November 9, 1863, the tract being part of the 5000 acres bought by John ap (Bevan) and Thomas Wynne, in England, from William Penn, to be located wherever the purchasers desired, on unseated lands. Crosby sold 100 acres to Robert Pennell, April 6, 1685, the latter deeding it December 12, 1717, to his son William. The latter, prior to 1717, had purchased sixty acres from John Taylor, and a few years later erected a mill at the place now called Glen Riddle. In 1766, William Pennell is assessed for a saw and grist mill, which he owned until his death in 1783, although part of the time he did not have charge of the mills, for during the Revolution they were operated by Abraham Pennell. When William Pennell died, he was the owner of 735 acres of land in Middle- town, 258 acres being in the upper part of the township, known as Grubbs, a tract of 417 acres, and sixty acres on which was the grist-mill and saw mill. A tract of 100 acres was across the creek in Aston township, on which the "Old Sable Forge" was located, and 200 acres of the estate was in Fallowfield town- ship, Chester county. Abraham Pennell, November 16, 1785, conveyed to Nathan Sharpless and Rachel (Pennell), his wife, and Esther Pennell, the sixty acres of land on which the grist mill and saw mill had been built many years before. Nathan Sharpless operated the mills, and in 1790 the owners of the mill tract erected a stone house, the date stone being marked "S.G. 1790." On November 7, 1798, David Garrett and Esther ( Pennell) his wife, conveyed to Nathan Sharpless the "water corn or grist mill" and part of the sixty acres of land. On May 21, 1802, Dell Pennell sold to Nathan Sharpless the water right of Chester creek, for use of the "Sharpless Grist Mill Dam where it now stands and has long stood across the creek above our Forge Dam * * * and water sufficient to turn two overshot wheels of fifteen diameter driving cach one pair of mill stones of four feet six inches diameter."
In 1815, Nathan Sharpless erected a woolen factory and fulling-mill which he operated until February, 1817, when he assigned the property to Abraham Sharpless, Francis Wisely, and John Pierce. The fifteen acres of land on which the mills were erected was offered at public sale May 3, 1818, and were purchased by Isaac Sharpless and Gideon Hatton, who changed the woolen
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mill to a cotton factory. John Hastings was the first lessee of the new build- ing, fitting it with the best machinery obtainable, continuing its operation until October 23, 1823, when he was compelled to sell the machinery and leasehold. The completeness of the factory's equipment is shown by the following list of all the machinery requisite for carrying on a large and extensive cotton manu- factory, consisting of four throstles of 492 spindles, two mules of 408 spindles, ten carding engines, 12 roving heads, 12 drawing heads, one stretcher of 96 spindles, four reels, one grinding machine, one willowing machine, one picker and blower, three winding blocks, one banding machine, and one yarn press, together with all the rest of the machinery. During the time that Hastings had the cotton factory, Joseph Mancill was lessee of the grist mill. In 1825 the woolen factory and fulling mill were purchased by Dennis Kelly, who placed Charles Kelly in charge. John Hastings sold the unexpired lease to John Turner & Company, who operated the cotton mill until the time of its pur- chase, together with the land and all the mills thereon, by Peter and George W. Hill, on October 27, 1827. John Garsed located at Pennsgrove in 1831, and in partnership with William France and James Roe conducted the busi- ness for a short time, when Garsed withdrew from the firm, France and Roe continuing, finally failing. John Garsed leased the mill after James Hough- ton moved from Pennsgrove, and in 1840 John D. Pierce, whose father owned the mill, entered into partnership with Garsed. In April, 1843, the firm dis- solved, Samuel Riddle coming into possession. On August 25, 1840, Peter and George W. Hill deeded the estate to Eli D. Pierce, and on April 1, 1843, the latter sold it to Samuel Riddle. When the property came into Riddle's hands there was on the land a cotton factory 96 by 42 feet and three stories in height; a machine shop, which had formerly been the woolen mill, 60 by 30 feet, a stone drying house, 28 by 18 feet; a stone cotton factory, 50 by 45 feet. two stories in height; six stone tenement houses, and a large mansion house built by George W. Hill in 1829. Samuel Riddle took possession in 1843, and by great good fortune the flood of that year inflicted but little dam- age upon his property. In 1845 he made extensive improvements and addi- tions to the mill, and in 1872 erected a stone woolen mill 112 by 65 feet, three stories and a basement. In 1881 he built a brick mill 135 by 62 feet, and three years later the Glen Riddle mills contained 14,000 cotton spindles, 2400 woolen spindles, and 360 looms; and employed 380 operatives, producing tickings. cheviots and doeskins.
Samuel Riddle in 1829 moved from Riddle to Chester creek, where Peter Hill had contracted with him for the erection of a cotton mill above the forks of Chester creek. This factory, called the Parkmount mills, he operated until 1841, afterwards leased it to John Dixon and others ; finally to the Callaghan Brothers, and was burned during their occupancy in 1863. Three years later Burnley, Gledhill & Company, erected a mill on the same site, 50 by 150 feet. devoting it to the manufacture of woolen and cotton goods. In 1870 the Park- mount Mills Cotton & Woolen Company was organized, with George Molli- son, president, John Burnley, secretary and treasurer, and Francis Butter-
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worth, superintendent, the mills containing ninety-six looms, five sets of cars, and 1800 spindles.
Subsequent to 1830, Joseph Pennell built a saw mill on Rocky Run, about three-quarters of a mile above the junction of that stream with Chester creek. James Pennell became the owner after 1848, and August 11, 1870, it was carried away in a freshet, never being rebuilt.
On Rocky Run, on land granted December 7, 1741, to Joseph Talbot by his brother Benjamin, a stone mill was erected in 1792. The grant comprised 134 acres, and was part of the estate of the father of Joseph and Benjamin Talbot. Joseph Talbot built a frame grist mill and for many years there fol- lowed the miller's trade. On April 21, 1773, Joseph Talbot conveyed 105 acres of land and the grist mill to his son, Joseph Talbot, Jr., who conducted the business until March 12, 1784, when James Emlin purchased 115 acres and the mill. Emlin removed the old mill and erected a new structure on its site in 1792. He died in 1797, and the mill, devised to his heirs, remained in their possession until 1823, although it is not probable that any of the family car- ried on the business, for in 1799 John Pierce was operator of the mill. Nathan Yearsley purchased the mill May 1, 1823, but since he died before . 1826, the mill was rented to Ralph E. Marsh until Humphrey Yearsley, Nathan Year- sley's only son, attained his majority in 1836, when he conducted the business On the same run, and adjoining this mill seat, was an old saw mill built by John Worrell prior to 1782, and still in his possession in 1826. In 1875 the property was owned by J. C. Evans, but all traces of the race and dam have disappeared.
One of the first mills erected on Ridley creek was a saw mill built in 1800 by John Evans, who was granted the right to boat logs up the Stimmel dam to the Evans mill. The property in 1819 belonged to the Bank of Delaware County, and was sold by it to James Ronaldson, November 4, 1819. A cotton factory was soon after erected, under the charge of Patrick Mulvany, 33 by 56 feet, three stories high, and in 1826 had three carding engines, 662 throstle spindles, and 480 mule spindles, with a weekly output of 700 pounds of cotton yarn. At that time there were nine houses and the mansion house upon the estate. It subsequently was in charge of George Cummins, Jonathan and Jabez Jen- kins, respectively. James Ronaldson sold the mills to Hugh Groves, an Irish- man, June 26, 1835. In 1841 the mill was So by 46 feet, and contained four double cotton cards, two large speeders, two ellipse speeders, one drawing frame with three heads, one with two heads, two mules of 300 spindles each, one of 240 spindles, thirty-six power looms, and seven throstles of 660 spin- (les, etc. The mills were purchased by Samuel Bancroft in 1842, and run by him until 1866, when he sold them to John Fox, during whose ownership they were burned to the ground.
A long and narrow track extending southwestward from Ridley creck and nearly halfway across the township and to Richard Crosby's property, was surveyed to Joseph Jarvis, March 13, 1701. Here on Ridley creek, Jarvis erected a grist mill which was operated by him in 1704, since at Providence
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Friends Meeting, 2nd mo. 24, 1704, complaint was made that "Thomas Jones had unlawfully taken some corn from Jarvis's mill." Jasper Yeates seems to have had an interest in this tract and mill, for on February 27, 1704, Jasper Yeates and Joseph Jarvis conveyed to Richard and John Crosby "a mill and sixty-three acres of land." On March 25, 1705, Richard and John Crosby, in open court, acknowledged a lease to James Cooper for twenty-one years. This may have been James Cooper of Darby, for in 1715 a fulling mill was being operated upon the property. Some legal difficulty must have interrupted the negotiations for the lease was rescinded.
Richard and John Crosby sold, August 26, 1715, "all those water-mill or grist and fullings mills" to Job Harvey, cloth worker, of Darby, or "Stoffer." He was a son-in-law of John Bethel, owner of the Darby mills, one of which, a fulling mill, Job Harvey had operated for some years prior to 1705, as that year he purchased a part interest, remaining at Darby until the pur- chase of this property. On April 10, 1729, Job Harvey sold the Middletown mills to his son, likewise a cloth worker, the deed describing the land as three tracts, one of fifty-two acres, one of eight and a half acres, and one of three acres-sixty-three and a half acres in all. Josiah Harvey sold the grist mill. fulling mill and the three tracts of land, November 10, 1731, to William Pen- nell and Frederick Engle. Thomas Pennell, William's son, eventually became owner, as on December 30, 1734, Engle released his share of the property to William, who sold it to Thomas, April 2, 1740. From 1766 to 1774, Caleb Jones was assessed for a grist mill, and on April 25, 1775, he sold property described exactly as that Joseph Harvey sold to Pennell and Engle in 1731, and two more tracts to Isaac Levis, of Upper Darby, part of the land being in Upper Providence. Soon after acquiring the land, Isaac Levis erected upon the estate a saw mill, for which he was assessed until 1790. Between the latter year and his death in 1794, he also erected a paper-mill. In 1798 the mill property passed to Seth Levis, Isaac's oldest son, who sold a one half interest to his brother-in-law, Edward Lewis. These mills were conducted by Levis & Levis until the death of Seth Levis, his interest passing to Edward Lewis about 1825. In 1826 the mill is mentioned as a two vat paper mill. The grist and saw mills were also in operation. In 1843 the paper mill was carried away by the flood and was not again rebuilt. In 1845 Edward Lewis erected at this site a tilt mill, which was rented to William and Thomas Beatty, who there engaged in the manufacture of edge tools until 1850, when they moved to Springfield township, on Crum creek. On April 1, 1861, the mill property was conveyed by William Levis Lewis and Edward Lewis to Lewis Palmer, who sold to Edward A. Price, by whom the property was conveyed December 26, 1871, to the borough of Media. That borough fitted up the property for use as a water works, retaining the grist mill for milling purposes.
Painter's Clover & saw mills, which were destroyed by fire about 1860, were built on Dismal run by Enos Painter, and in 1826 were reported as "old mills." They were in charge of Thomas Chalfant from 1825 to 1831, and after that date Benjamin Robinson ran the Clover mill, which long ago
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passed out of existence. The saw mill was run by John Heacock, who made pails, and by Hugh Jones, who made chair backs.
Newtown Township Mills .- One of the oldest records of a mill of any kind in Newtown township is of the saw mill and chairmaker's shop owned by Jolin Foulkes in 1799. In the same year Abraham Calvert and Joseph Foulkes each owned a weave shop; saw mills were conducted by Robert Mendenhall and William Vandever, while Ezra Thomas was the owner and manager of a wheelwright shop.
William Crosly erected a woolen factory on 187 acres of land on Darby creek, purchased February 2, 1828, and there for many years conducted a large and profitable establishment. The property was purchased by Dr. Henry Pleasants, February 24, 1861, the mill having been destroyed by fire, who later sold it to Casper C. Garrett, who erected a paper mill, an enterprise in which he was so successful that he later enlarged his field of operations.
Samuel, James and Alexander Moore in 1835, purchased of Adam Liters, eighty acres of land on Darby creek, a little below the Crosley mill, and thereon raised a stone paper mill. 40 by 60 feet, three stories in height, and a one-story stone picker house. For the accommodation of employees, fourteen tenement houses were built, and an extensive and profitable business conducted until 1855, when the larger building was consumed by fire, the same ill fortune over- taking the smaller a few years later. The property was purchased by Dr. Henry Pleasants. A tannery was owned by David Lewis in 1799, in connec- tion with which he kept a general store. In 1815 the tannery was managed by John Pratt, and was situated near Old Newtown Square. It continued in operation until 1832.
One of the best known agricultural implements of the day was the "Pierce Plow," which William Cobourn manufactured in 1843, his foundry being located near Fox Chase Tavern. The plows were fashioned from cast iron, wrought iron, and steel. For this implement, so indispensable to farm- ers, William Cobourn had the exclusive right of sale, which he exercised to the full, supplying the county for miles around with his product.
Another of the township saw mills, was that which Enos Williamson owned on Crum Creek, but which was unused after 1848. In 1845, Jonathan H. Thomas owned and operated a shingle mill, the only establishment of the kind in the township. On March 22, 1861, it was set on fire and destroyed. The trail of the incendiary was followed through the deep snow, which had recently fallen, to Howellville, Edgemont, where he was arrested and confined.
Nether Providence Township Mills .- William Beatty, an edge tool maker, in 1813 contracted with Daniel Sharpless to accept the ground on Providence road, above the bridge, where William and Richard T. Turner later erected their cotton factory, free of rent for seventeen years, in return for building a house, shop, dam, and race there. Here William Beatty built a tilt or blade- mill, a venture in which he was very successful. His report for 1825 was as follows: 1600 cast steel picking axes made, 500 broad axes, 500 drawing
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knives, 200 cleavers and choppers; 500 axes steeled, besides the manufacture of many chisels, knives, gauges and other small tools.
William Beatty moved to Springfield, on Crum creek, in 1828, his site being just above J. Howard Lewis' paper mill. The title to his Ridley creek property had passed to Henry Sharpless, who in 1828 changed the tilt mill to a cotton lap factory, renting it to Charles and Ambrose Williams. William and Richard T. Turner purchased the mill and eight acres of adjoining land May 10, 1867, there continuing the manufacture of cotton laps.
Daniel Sharpless in 1764 was assessed for a saw mill on Ridley creek, a site later occupied by the Waterville mills. This was in operation prior to 1755, for the "Recollections of William Worrall," published in 1820, state that in 1755 there was so great a drought throughout the county and the streams were so low that the race at Daniel Sharpless' saw mill was dry, a condition unprecedented at that time of the year. Daniel Sharpless in 1790 built a fulling mill at Waterville, and until 1805 conducted it, in which year it was taken over by Isaac Sharpless. In 1810 the business had again returned to Daniel Sharpless, and five years later, when Daniel Sharpless was operating the fulling and woolen factory, Enos Sharpless erected a grist and saw mill. In 1826 James Schofield held a lease to the Isaac Sharpless factory, manufacturing fine cloths and cassimeres, being succeeded by Daniel Sharpless, who gave place to Antrim Osborne. Osborne moving to the Rose Valley mills in 1863; Rob- ert Hall followed him in the management of the Waterville factory, remaining there until 1871, when he moved to Chester, where he had purchased the Mo- hawk mills. Joseph Bowers rented the Sharpless factory in 1873, operating it as a shoddy mill until 1877, when he went to Chester. Five years later the building was totally destroyed by fire. Enos Sharpless had erected as early as 1815, a grist mill on Ridley creek, attached to the same race as Isaac Sharpless mill. In 1826 he owned a grist mill, saw mill and a cotton factory at Water- ville, the latter being managed by George Richardson. Richardson engaged in the manufacture of cotton yarn, his machinery consisting of five carding engines, throstles, spindles, and one mule of 180 spindles. Richard Wetherill succeeded George Richardson in 1828, later moving to Manayunk. John M. Sharpless, Laurence Hartshorne and Gideon Smith, on November 15, 1835, formed a partnership for the manufacture of dye stuff, and the grinding of dye woods, a part of the grist mill being equipped with machinery for that pur- pose. Hartshorne and Smith withdrew from the firm, Hartshorne entirely Smith nominally, but retaining his interest. John Sharpless continued, and November 15, 1845, the mill and die works were partly destroyed by fire. The mills were rebuilt, but April 24, 1846, were once more made the prey of the flames. Once more they were rebuilt, and the business conducted by John Sharpless until his death in 1875, and by his heirs until 1878. In the latter year a company formed under the name of John M. Sharpless & Company purchased a tract in Chester, erected mills, and moved the business to the new site.
In the roll of assessments of 1811-13, Joshua Harlan & Company are
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assessed on a slitting and rolling mill on Ridley creek, operated by them until 1821, when Thomas Chandler, a two-third owner, sold his interest to James Cloud, who took possession and personal charge October 20, 1825, also pur- chasing the third interest held by Samuel Sinclair, of Kennett, Chester county. Ilere he remained one year, selling to Robert S. Johnson, an iron merchant of Philadelphia, "rolling, slitting and saw mill, and all lands mentioned." Robert's brother. Frederick Jolison, was in charge of the mills for about two years, was succeeded by Nathan Roland, and two years later John Gifford Johnson, a son of Robert, assumed the managership, remaining until 1850. In 1827 the mills were running with two shifts of men, night and day, the entire output being sent to Mr. Johnson's store in Philadelphia. The factory report for 1826 gives the annual output of rolled iron and steel as between two hundred and three hundred tons, and that for every ton of output, a ton of Lehigh coal was consumed. Although the mills stood at quite some distance from the stream, they did not escape the great flood of 1843. The main furnace exploded, wrecking the building, two large frame store houses were washed away, and a great deal of general damage was done to machinery and build- ings. Robert Johnson continued in the management of the slitting mill until 1850, when Robert Beatty rented the mill, which had been changed into an edge tool factory by Robert's son, John Gifford Johnson. In 1853, J. G. John- son built a stone grist mill, and the same year John Beatty, brother of Robert, rented the edge tool factory, operating it from 1855 to 1862. In the latter ycar William E. Johnson purchased the property, conducting both mills until 1870, when he sold it to John Dutton and John Booth.
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