USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > A history of the townships of Byberry and Moreland, in Philadelphia, Pa. : from their earliest settlements by the whites to the present time > Part 2
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The Indians sold most of this same tract to the Dutch in 1651.
We learn from Gen. W. W. H. Davis that in 1670-71, Richard Gorsuch patented a considerable tract in the southwestern part of Bensalem and in Philadelphia, extending from the Pennepack Creek across the Poquessing to a creek that the Indians called Quiatcitunk. This latter creek is believed to be identical with the Neshaminy. Governor Lovelace of New York dispossessed Gorsuch for, in 1672, he ordered his surveyor-general to clear this land for his own use.
Penn made several important land treaties with the Indians. That
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this we find the name of Nicholas Moore7 mentioned as having taken up a tract of land containing 10,000 acres, and which enibraced the manor of Mooreland, which has since been divided into Upper and Lower Mooreland. We also find the names of Thomas Knight, half brother to Giles, Samuel Ellis, Thomas Groome, Henry English, Joseph English, William Hibbs, Walter Forrest, William Nichols and wife, and John Gilbert, Florence, his wife, and their son Joseph. Most of these settled in Byberry at once; but a few of them settled in the adjacent parts of Bensalem, and afterwards moved over the creek. Their names frequently occur in the records of the Society of Friends previous to 1685. Most of these early settlers took up large tracts of land, which were laid off in the form of parallelograms, from forty to eighty perches wide, and extending in a northwesterly direction from the Poquessing, across Byberry to near the road now the By- berry turnpike. They were subject to innumerable hard- ships in their attempts to settle the new country, some of
at Kensington was not for the purchase of land, being merely a treaty of friendship. On June 23d, 1683, a treaty was made for the pur- chase of the land between the Pennypack and Neshaminy Creeks. Another treaty was made on June 7th, 1684. On that day, Metamicon sold lands on each side of the Pennypack Creek. This tract em- braced a part of Upper Moreland. In July, 1685, the land between the Pennypack and Chester Creeks was purchased. In 1697 another and larger purchase was made from Taminy, his two brothers Sethi- mac and Weheeland and his son Wehequeekhon and his other sons Yaqueekhon and Quenamockquid for all the land between the Penny- pack and Neshaminy Creeks and extending a considerable distance back into the wilderness.
6 Consult Besse for an account of John Carver's suffering in Eng- land.
7 This name is also written More and Moor.
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hem dwelling in caves or excavations* in the earth, which he Indians taught them how to construct: and Giles Knight, it is said, lived about six weeks by the side of an old log, near the present location of Knight's mill-dam,8 vithout any shelter except the blue canopy of heaven. The Indians afterwards taught him how to construct a wigwam, which was erected in a meadow now belonging to Jacob Eckfeldt, where he resided several months, and until he built a log house near the location of the present mansion. The intercourse between the early settlers and the Indians was of the most friendly kind, and they lived together like brothers, assisting each other in times of dis- tress, and each trying to outvie the other in their en- deavors to promote the comfort and happiness of all. The Indians seem to have been fully sensible of the honorable motives of the settlers, and to have acted accordingly by welcoming them to the lands they had purchased. They taught our forefathers how to construct their wigwams, build canoes, cultivate corn, beans, pumpkins, and other vegetables ; and in return, the colonists paid the Indians for all they obtained, and uniformly treated them with kindness. Game was indeed plenty; but the whites knew not how to capture it; and the streams abounded with the most excellent fish, which required only the trouble of catching. The food of the settlers was plain ; and often the only dish they could offer was fish and pumpkins-
* These caves were dug in the ground to the depth of about three feet, the roofs were formed of timber, limbs of trees, etc., and were usually covered with sod or bark, and the chimneys were built of stone, mortared with clay, etc. They were damp and gloomy abodes, yet served to protect their inmates from the weather.
" This property now belongs to Colonel E. D. Morrell.
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a dish which would not be very palatable to the people of this epicurean age.
At certain seasons, however, provisions were plenty. Wild pigeons were in such great abundance that they could be knocked down with poles; and as the settlers be- came more accustomed to hunting, they procured plenty of wild turkeys, some of which weighed from thirty-five to forty pounds, and sold as low as one shilling each. Deer were killed in such numbers that they were sold for 2s. apiece.º
With all these natural surroundings, it is not surprising that such a beautiful place as the banks of the romantic Poquessing should have been selected for a settlement-
"Where homes of humble form and structure rude, Raised sweet society in Nature's solitude."
Although the rude cabin of the white settler dotted the course of the streams, and the land was gradually being reclaimed from its uncultivated state, yet the wild animals of the forest still lingered around the settlements, and the fox's bark, the panther's cry, or wolf's lugubrious howl, often broke the stillness of the night, and Nature reigned here in all her pristine grandeur. In the magnificent beau- ties of these surrounding solitudes, doubtless, our tore- fathers saw much to draw them still closer to the Author
" Oldmixon, who visited America in 1708, was very favorably im- pressed with the colony and its resources. He said that "Mr. Pen's" account of the country was too conservative rather than too extrava- gant.
Among the best contemporary accounts of the resources of the colony we have the following: Penn's Letters to the Free Society of Traders, Thomas Budd's Account of the Country, Gabriel Thomas' letters and John Holme's poem-The True Relation of the Flourish- ing State of Pennsylvania.
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let of their own existences, and make them feel their utter dependence upon His protecting arm.
In those early times the settlers labored under all the inconveniences of an unsettled country. They had no flour-mills to grind their corn or wheat, but had to pound it in wooden or stone mortars, after the manner of the aborigines. They at first dwelt in damp and gloomy caves, but these were soon given up for the greater com- forts of rude cabins; and these, again, were in time re- placed by log-houses covered with bark or thatched with straw, and which made very comfortable dwellings, yet would contrast strangely with the edifices of modern times. 10
The men were at first dressed in the skins of the wild animals; but in a short time the women, who were noted for their industry, by means of spinning and weaving, furnished them with garments more in accordance with their tastes. Cattle were soon introduced, and mush and milk became a favorite dish. To this was added honey from the wild bees, and molasses and sugar from the sugar maple trees. Horses were introduced soon after the settlement, and the comforts and conveniences of civilized life were thus one by one added to their wilderness homes.
In those early days, however, women were by no means numerous, and many of our forefathers had, for years after they first arrived, to do without "heaven's last, best gift"-a lovely wife, to be the partner of all their toils, tu comfort them in their desolate homes, to prepare for them
10 The custom of dwelling in artifically constructed caves until more permanent dwellings could be constructed, was not alone confined to Byberry. The early settlers of Philadelphia lived in caves dug into the banks of the Delaware.
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their humble fare, and welcome them with untold affec- tion to their rude domestic hearths. The sufferings and hardships attendant upon the settlement of a new country were too great for her delicate constitution; and the ab- sence of all the domestic comforts, as found in her British home, effectually precluded her leaving her kindred for this bleak clime; but as the country became more settled, and comfort after comfort was added to the condition of those early settlers, she tore herself from kindred and lov- ing friends, braved the storms of the billowy deep, and took up her residence in the wilds of Pennsylvania. Oh, how joyfully must she have been welcomed by those hardy sons of toil, the early pioneers !
During the scarcity of females, few were left unmar- ried, and it was indeed rare to find one still single who had attained to the age of twenty years. Those that were here must have been happy, although deprived of so many comforts, for "wives were then never jealous of their hus- bands," and all dwelt together in the greatest harmony. The children were generally healthy ; the active life which they led, and the plainness of their fare, made their cheeks glow with the roseate hue of health, and their frames be- came as strong and robust as those of their neighbors and companions, the hardy sons of the forest. Then nearly every cabin was filled with a lusty race of those who were soon to reclaim the uncultivated soil, convert it into fine fertile farms, and help to rear a settlement, where the persecuted of every clime might find a happy refuge, and where all might dwell together in unity and peace.
The Indians welcomed the early settlers of Byberry, and were ever ready and willing to lend their white
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neighbors a helping hand when in distress. On one occa- sion, John Carver made a journey to Chester, and left his family with provisions which he thought sufficient to last them during his absence; but, from some unforeseen circumstances, he was detained longer than was expected, and his wife, with their two children, was reduced to great distress for want of food. Under these circum- stances she applied to a party of neighboring Indians for assistance. They treated her with much kindness, fur- nished her with some provisions to relieve her immediate wants, and, taking off the little boys' trousers, tied up the legs and filled them with corn, to be carried home for a further supply. At another time, Giles Knight and Josiah Ellis went among them to procure some beans and other vegetables; these were kindly furnished, along with in- structions for cultivating them. For these many acts of kindness they neither asked nor received any recom- pense; they were satisfied with having relieved the wants of their friends, and their reward was the sweet consola- tion of having performed a charitable act. Many other things, equally honorable to the Indian character, might be narrated, for the friendly intercourse between the whites and their red neighbors was never so far broken as to cause one act of violence to be committed by either party, until after the peaceful principles of the early set- tlers were forgotten.
Before the first settlers left England, Penn had decided upon founding a city on the banks of the noble Delaware. Accordingly, soon after their arrival, the commissioners went on a tour up that beautiful stream in order to fix upon the site for the future city. Several places seem to
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have attracted their attention, and, among others, that in the southern part of Byberry, at the mouth of the Poques- sing .* They were much pleased with the bold shore at this spot, and had nearly concluded to found here the city of Brotherly Love, when, having in their minds the future greatness of the city they were about to found, they wisely concluded that a greater depth of water in the channel was advisable, so as to admit the passage of larger ships, and this alone determined them to fix it where it now stands. 11
At the time of the first settlement, the townships of Byberry and Moreland were noted hunting grounds of the Indians; and in order to facilitate securing the game, they were in the habit of setting fire to the rank grass that grew indigenously in all parts of the townships, and thus destroyed all the young timber. We find, as proof of this, that at the time of the first settlement there were but few large trees. scarcely enough to furnish firewood for the settlers, and that the division lines between the tracts were made by means of embankments and ditches-some of
* The land along the Poquessing clear to the river, is believed to have been included in Byberry at the time of the first settlement.
11 It was perhaps, not so much the depth of the river at this point, but the fact that there are a number of dangerous rocks at this part of the river known as "The Hen and Her Chickens" that prevented Philadelphia from being located on the present site of Torresdale. Torresdale used to be pointed out to passengers aboard the river boats as "Old Philadelphia."
Thomas Holme had laid out a street to be called Susquehanna Street, extending due west to the Susquehanna River. It began near Torresdale and ran along the side of the Thomas Holme burying- ground on the property of Murrell Dobbins.
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which are still visible. 12 Some portions in the southern part were under cultivation by the Indians, but the north- ern parts of Byberry and the whole of Moreland, were covered with the tall grass. The settlers did not burn this: off, as the Indians had done, and in a few years the whole surface, except where cultivated, was covered with a. growth of fine timber. Two large trees are mentioned as having stood, one on the lower end of the place now be- longing to Watson Comly,13 and the other about Samuel Smedley's,14 and these served as way-marks for the peo- ple. It is said that Joseph Knight, who was brought from England in 1682, at the age of two years, was afterwards frequently sent, while a boy, in search of the cows, which, for want of fences, often strayed away, and that when he lost his way he would ascend some eminence and look out for these two trees, which served as guides to direct him home again.
The first houses were generally erected near springs or running streams, to save the expense and trouble of dig- ging wells. We find no account of the latter having been dug for several years after the first settlement, and when first introduced they occasioned much conversation among the settlers.
Penn, in his conditions for the settlement of Pennsyl- vania, said that those who bought shares in the province could have five thousand acres for £100 sterling, but
12 These division ditches may still be noticed. Such a ditch may be seen in the wood on the east side of Mr. Watson Martindale's; property. Faint traces of such a ditch may be seen on the Old Hart Burial Ground.
18 This property is now owned by Joseph Buckman.
14 This property is now owned by Mrs. Jonathan Knight.
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would be annually subject to a quit-rent of one shilling, for each one hundred acres-the quit-rent not to begin until 1684. On this account the land of the whole coun- try became subject to a quit-rent, which was to be paid to the Proprietor, or his legal heirs, and which continued to be paid until 1775, when the Commonwealth of Pennsyl- vania purchased the claims for 580,000 dollars, and all quit-rents ceased.
[1682.] During this year provisions were scarce in the colony, and the best dish that could be set before visitors was fish and pumpkins,-a dish to most of us rather un- palatable. In the summer a good supply of horses, cows, sheep, and hogs arrived from England, which were soon followed by others, so that in a few years enough had arrived to stock all the farms and furnish food for the colonists.
As we have already seen, a number of persons arrived during this year and settled in Byberry, the land there having been taken up in small tracts of from one hundred to five hundred acres each. In the manor of Moreland the plan was different, for the whole of it was taken up by Nicholas Moore,*15 a prominent attorney of London, and being held by him until his death in 1689, we find no men- tion of any other persons settling in that township pre- vious to that time. Moore was president of a company called "The Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania," the object of which was "to purchase lands to make an
* William Penn, on the 7th of Sixth month, 1684, conveyed to Nicholas Moore a tract of land in Philadelphia, containing ten thousand acres. This embraced what is now Moreland in Philadel- phia and Montgomery Counties.
15 See account of Nicholas Moore elsewhere.
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agricultural settlement, to establish manufactures, and carry on the lumber trade, and whale fisheries." He came over with Penn, in 1682, and was chairman or speaker of the first Provisional Assembly, held at Chester, on the 4th of December of that year. He was a man of superior abilities; and from having the confidence of William Penn, who placed him in the most responsible positions in the colony, his name is identified with much of our early history, and will be remembered while Moreland, with its fine fertile fields and happy people, continues to exist.
[1683.] Nearly all the early settlers of Byberry were members of the Society of Friends; and one of their first objects, after settling, was to have a place where they could meet together in love and unity, and worship the God of their fathers in spirit and in truth. Tradition says that Friends built a log meeting-house on the flat lands belonging to John Hart, near the present residence of Wilmer Canelle,16 about one hundred yards northward from the junction of Poquessing and Byberry Creeks, in the southern part of the township. It stood on the west side of the road now leading to the Red Lion. It is said that a lot adjoining the meeting-house was fenced off dur- ing this year, to be used as a burying ground by Friends, but every vestige of both has long since passed away. Previous to this two of Giles Knight's children died, and were buried on his own land near the Poquessing Creek,
16 This property now belongs to Colonel E. D. Morrell.
Ving jegin pun- id to ed to Isvl- 1 all the ors un- W'S, on ad he ed re d le
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not far from the present location of Knight's mill-dam.17
In the Fifth month of this year, at a Quarterly Meeting of Friends in Philadelphia, "It was then and there agreed and concluded that there be established a First-day meet- ing of Friends at Tookany and Poetquessink, and that these two make one Monthly Meeting, men and women, for ye ordering of ye affairs of ve church." The Monthly Meeting was accordingly held alternately at the house of Sarah Seary,18 at Oxford, and at John Hart's house,19 on the Poquessing. Soon after this meeting commenced, a lot of about one acre, a few yards north- ward of Hart's house, on the rising ground, was set apart as a place of interment for Friends and others .* This was used as a burying place for all the settlers until the separation, after which it was used only by the followers of Keith. Among those buried in this ancient cemetery were Aurelia, wife of William Rush, in 1683; Thomas Young, 1684; Mary Borman, 1685; Joseph English, 17 This property is also in the possession of Colonel E. D. Morrell.
18 This meeting at the house of Sarah Seary seems to have been the forerunner of the Frankford Friends' Meeting. The lot for this purpose was located on Waln street, opposite Unity. On this lot, which consists of two acres, a school formerly stood. It is now gone. A fire consumed a row of sheds, which formerly surrounded the meeting on three sides. The burial ground is now nearly filled. The present building was erected in 1775. According to local tradition, bricks were imported from England. In the yard, stands a stone platform from which ladies formerly mounted their horses. Many of the early records of this meeting have been lost.
1º The first house was at an early date replaced by the present hip- ped roof house. The property belongs to Colonel E. D. Morrell, and is located on the west side of the Red Lion Hotel, nearly opposite the hotel of that name.
* John Hart, grandson of the ancient John Hart, in 1786, be-
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1686; Christopher Growden, Bensalem, 1687; and Wil- liam Rush, 1688.
[1684.] One of the first papers issued by Byberry Monthly Meeting, on the Poquessing, was a marriage cer- tificate granted to James Morris and Elizabeth Buzby, who formerly belonged to Byberry, but who had lately removed to the Falls of Delaware. It is preserved for its antiquity, and is as follows :
To Friends of ye Monthly Mecting about ye Falls of Delaware, in ye County of Bucks :
Whereas, James Morris and Elizabeth Buzby, who for- merly belonged to our meeting, did, in the Seventh month, appear at our monthly meeting and declare their inten- tions of marriage, and they did produce certificates and testimony sufficient to satisfy us of their clearness; and after deliberation and inquiry, we did permit them to pro- ceed to accomplish their marriage. But so yt they have been from us absent, we are informed yt they belong to your meeting, and now they desire a certificate from us.
These are to certify that thus far they have proceeded, and we have not anything against ym to obstruct ym to your meeting, in order to ye accomplishing their mar- riage, and we remain your Friends and Brethren.
At our Monthly Meeting at John Hart's house, Poet-
queathed this ancient cemetery to the township of Byberry in the following words: "I give and devise to the overseers of the poor in the township of Byberry, in the county of Philadelphia, who shall be such at the time of my decease, and to their successors, forever, a certain burying ground lot of one acre of land, which was conveyed to me by my grandfather, deceased, the same to be occupied as a burying ground forever."
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quessink creek, in ye county of Philadelphia, ye 2d of ye 4th mo., 1684.
JOHN CARVER,
SAM'L HART,
RICHARD TOWNSEND,
JOSEPHI ENGLISH,
HENRY WADDY,
ANN TOWNSEND,
THO. KITCHEN, GILES KNIGHT,
RICH'D DUNGWORTH,
WILL'M PRESTON,
WALTER FORREST,
SAM'L ELLIS,
JOHN HART,
ANN SESSIONS,
DOROTHY DUNGWORTH.
The early Friends seem to have felt their isolated con- dition, living, as they did, in the wilds of Pennsylvania, with but few persons near enough to be called neigh- bors, and to have been fully sensible of their dependence upon each other, which acted like a chain to bind them more firmly together in the pure bonds of love. When a misfortune befell one of the neighbors, all were ready with their services or their means to relieve their wants, or with them shed the sympathetic tear. The records of the meeting show the benevolence of those early settlers, whom, although living a life of penury and toil them- selves, we find entering into an agreement to pay four shillings per week for the support of William Nichols, "on account of his penury."
[1685.] It would seem that some were desirous of having a larger lot of ground for a cemetery than the one at John Hart's, for in this year a minute of the Monthly Meeting, dated 5th mo. 28th, says : "Friends did freely accept of ten acres of land given by Walter For-
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rest,20 for a burying place for the service of Friends, near Poetquessink creek, and it is left to the trust and care of Joseph Fisher, John Hart, Samuel Ellis and Giles Knight, to get the ground conveyed, the deed of conveyance to be made from Walter Forrest to themselves, for the only use and behoof of Friends forever, and that from henceforth it shall be made use for the service aforesaid." As no further mention of this donation has been found, it is doubtful whether it was ever applied to the purpose in- tended, and its location cannot now with certainty be known. It is, however, probable that it was on the Po- quessing, not far from Thomas' mill, which was at that time owned by Forrest. In his last will and testament dated Ist mo. 18th, 1691-2, Forrest bequeathed a mill and lands situated in the township of Byberry, one-half to his wife, and the other half to three persons named Albertson, but in it we find no mention made of the ten acres.
Although the Monthly Meeting of Friends at Byberry had been held at John Hart's since 1683, yet the weekly meetings for worship continued to be held at the house of Giles Knight,21 until the 4th month of this year, when the Monthly Meeting ordered it to be removed to the house of John Hart. No reason is assigned for this change and as the location was not by any means so cen- tral as when held at Knight's, it is probable that it was through the influence of Hart, who was then the leading Friend in Byberry. It, however, shows that Friends
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