USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county > Part 10
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
county and had left for Harrisburg. They were sent forward to Chambersburg, where they volunteered to march beyond the State line and in the face of the finest army of the Southern Confederacy. But they were not needed in Maryland, as Antietam had been fought and Lee's defeated army had retreated.
TENTH REGIMENT PENNSYLVANIA MILITIA.
The 10th was organized between September Ioth and 16th, and its companies were dis- charged from the 25th to the 27th of the same month.
In the roth was Co. K. Chester Guards, commanded by Capt. William B. Thatcher.
SIXTEENTH REGIMENT PENNSYLVANIA MILITIA.
This regiment was organized September 17th and discharged September 25, 1862. Of its field and staff officers Col. Joseph Wilcox, Maj. Charles Litzenberg, Quartermaster John J. Rowland, and Quartermaster-sergeant Isaac Johnson were from Delaware county.
The following companies were from Dela- ware county :
Company B, Mechanic Rifles, of Chester, commanded by Capt. Johnathan Kershaw.
Company C, of Media, commanded by Capt. John M. Broomall.
Company D, Delaware Guards, of Concord and Aston, commanded by Capt. John H. Barton.
Company E, Capt. Amos Bonsall.
Company F, of Thornbury and Edgmont townships, commanded by Capt. Joseph Wilcox.
Company H, Darby Rangers, from Upper Darby township, commanded by Capt. Chas. A. Litzenberg, and after his promotion to major, by Capt. J. Charles .Andrews.
TWENTY-FOURTH REGIMENT PENNSYLVANIA MILITIA.
In the 24th was one company from Delaware county :
Company I, Upland Guards, commanded by Capt. James Kirkman.
INDEPENDENT COMPANY MILITIA.
An "Independent Militia Company " from Delaware county was organized on September II, 1862, and discharged September 25, 1862. It was commanded by Capt. Charles G. An- drews.
PENNSYLVANIA MILITIA AND EMERGENCY MEN OF 1863.
Pope's defeat had led to Lee's first invasion, and Hooker's defeat at Chancellorsville invited the great Confederate chieftain to a second northern invasion. When the tread of his victorious legions -the flower of the Confed- erate armies - was heard toward Hanover and York, intense excitement prevailed through- out Delaware county, and one thousand of her sons responded to Governor Curtin's call for sixty thousand militia. Ten full companies from that county were hurried forward to the capital, but ere they could be fully organized there, the fateful struggle had taken place at Gettysburg, where the destiny of the Nation hung long in the balance ere victory turned the scale in favor of the Union. The retreat of the shat- tered columns of the army of northern Virginia across the Potomac, freed the militia of Penn- sylvania from any further service.
TWENTIETH REGIMENT EMERGENCY TROOPS.
The companies of this regiment were mus- tered into the State service June 19-24, 1863, and discharged on July 27th and 28th, of the same year.
Of its companies the following were raised in Delaware county :
Company G, from Radnor, commanded by Capt. Benjamin N. Brooke.
Company F, commanded by Capt. John Woodcock.
TWENTY-NINTH REGIMENT EMERGENCY MEX.
The 29th was mustered into the State ser- vice on Jnne 19, 1863, and was discharged August Ist, of the same year.
Four full companies of this regiment were from Delaware county :
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Company C, from Media, commanded by Capt. John M. Broomall.
Company G, Capt. Alfred Bunting.
Company H, from Darby, and commanded by Capt. J. Charles Andrews.
Company I, Capt. Joseph Pratt.
THIRTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT PENNSYLVANIA MILITIA.
This regiment was mustered in July 16, 1863, and discharged August 2, 3 and 4, 1863. Two companies from this county served in it :
Company A, from Chester, commanded by Capt. William Frick.
Company F, Capt. Harry Huddleson.
FORTY- FIFTH REGIMENT PENNSYLVANIA MILITIA.
The 45th was mustered in July 16, 1863, and discharged August 29th of the same year. It had one company from this county :
Company B, from Upland, commanded by Capt. George K. Crozer.
FORTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT EMERGENCY MEN.
This regiment was mustered in July 9. 1863, and discharged August 14, 1863.
In it was one company from Delaware county :
Company E, Capt. Harry H. Black.
The most of the officers and men in severel of these companies were veterans and had been discharged from the 124th Pennsylvania in- fantry. The Delaware companies of that regi- ment- B, D and H-had all offered their services and most of them served in the differ- ent emergency companies that went from the county. The mills and factories were stripped of hands, fifty convalescent Union soldiers from Crozer hospital offered their services, and the negroes of Chester asked to be allowed to furnish a company of their race.
The convalescent soldiers were sent back, and the negro company was not accepted.
During 1863 the commissioners paid two county bounties, one of three hundred dollars, and the other of three hundred and fifty dol-' lars per recruit, in order to fill the Delaware
county's quota under Lincoln's two calls for troops in that year.
Drafts were finally made in several of the townships, and the last men drafted ( April 7, 1865.) were ordered, on April 13, 1865, to re- turn to their homes.
NAVAL LIST.
It has been impossible to secure a full list of the officers and men from Delaware connty who served in the war. The following incom- plete list is compiled from all available sources:
Officers.
Rear-Admiral Frederick Engle.
Commodore Pierce Crosby.
Commander De Haven Manly.
Captain Henry Clay Cochran.
Engineers.
Robert S. Taylor, Samuel Anderson,
Martin L. Taylor. William Smead,
William F. Cutler, William Coverdill,
Thomas H. Thompson, John P. Gartside,
Thomas J. Reaney, Henry Pedlow,
William G. Vernon. J. O. Wilson,
Thomas Lees, John Wolf,
James Brannon, Samuel Oglesby.
The fall of Richmond sent a thrill of joy through the county. The raising of the old flag over the broken walls of Sumpter, on April 14. 1865, was made a day of rejoicing in Ches- ter. The night continued the festivities of the day, but in the early morning of the succeed- ing day the wires flashed the news of sorrow, and the people of the city, the towns and ham- lets stood amazed and horrified, as the word went by that the President had been assassin- ated. Rejoicing was changed to mourning. Joy and hope were succeeded by grief and fear. The sable emblems of woe took the place of the tokens of joy, and the laurel wreath of victory was replaced by the sombre badge of mourning. The funeral of President Lincoln was observed with appropriate cere- monies at every place in Delaware county. An intense excitement prevailed throughout
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
the county when Fort Sumter fell and the war commenced ; and a universal sorrow was manifested, in every borough and township, when the news of Lincoln's assassination --- the last act of the great four-years' drama of fratricidal strife-was carried from town to town and from farm house to farm house.
CHAPTER XI.
SHIP-BUILDING-IVY AND GLEN MILLS- PENNSYLVANIA MILITARY ACADEMY- SWARTHMORE COLLEGE - PENNSYLVA- NIA TRAINING SCHOOL-CROZER THEO- LOGICAL SEMINARY - BURD ORPHAN ASYLUM - NEW INDUSTRIES.
SHIP-BUILDING.
The sun of the Southern Confederacy went down at Appomattox Court-house when Lee's war-worn veterans grounded arms to the "Silent Man " from Galena. Then the soldier was lost in the citizen, and peace, the glad- ness-giving queen, reigned supreme through- out the land. After the close of the war the people of Delaware county with increased ac- tivity pushed forward all of their old industries and established some new ones.
Ship building in Delaware county was com- menced as early as 1755 at Marcus Hook, and during Colonial days was established at Ches- ter, where it never amounted to much until 1859. when the present great Roach ship-yard was started by Reaney, Son & Archbold. This company built war vessels, and the moni- tors Sagamon, Lehigh and Tunxis during the war. After the war their business decreased until 1871, in which year John Roach pur-
chased the entire plant. Roach gave the plant the name of " Delaware River Iron Ship Build- ing and Engine Works." He increased and improved the plant until it contained thirty- two acres of land, with a frontage of twelve hun- dred feet on the Delaware, and presented the
appearance of a miniature city. He employed over two thousand men, and constructed the largest vessels ever built in this country.
John Roach, by his gigantic operations in iron ship-building, associated his name for all time to come with maritime architecture in America. He built nearly one hundred ves- sels, and misunderstandings with the govern- ment caused him to suffer great losses.
IVY MILLS.
While ship-building was growing, another industry, that of hand-made paper, was pass- ing out of existence. The pioneers of the lat- ter industry were the Wilcox family, who built Ivy Mills in 1729. These mills made the paper for the colonial and the Continental money, and were actively operated up to 1846, after which they did but little for the next twenty years. They went down shortly after the close of the war.
GLEN MILLS.
The Wilcox brothers saw the necessity as early as 1835 of changing from hand to ma- chine made bank note paper, and built their Glen mills as a successor to Ivy mills, and for that purpose. They manufactured paper for the Government's issues of paper money dur- ing the late war. Between 1864 and 1868 the Government attempted to manufacture its own bank note paper, but failed, and in the latter year gave the contract again to the Wilcox brothers, who furnished an excellent paper for notes and bonds until 1878, when Secretary Sherman removed the manufacture of govern- ment paper from Pennsylvania.
PENNSYLVANIA MILITARY ACADEMY.
In 1862 the Pennsylvania Military academy was incorporated as the Chester County Mili- tary academy, at West Chester, Chester county, with Col. Theodore Wyatt as president. In 1865 it was removed to the present Crozer Theological Seminary building, at Upland, and three years later came to Chester, where its first building was burned in 1882. The
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
present building was erected the same year, and is a handsome four-story stone structure, beautifully located in the northeastern part of the city. Col. Charles E. Hyatt is president, and the institution has accomodations for one hundred and fifty cadets.
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE.
In 1864 Swarthmore college was founded by members of the religions Society of Friends, to provide the children of the society and others with opportunities for higher education under guarded care. The college is named Swarthmore for the home of George Fox, and stands on a tract of two hundred and forty acres at Swarthmore Station, ten miles from Philadelphia, and inSpringfield township. The corner stone was laid May 10, 1866, and on November 10, 1869, the main building was completed. On September 25, 1871, a fire broke out and left nothing but the walls of the buildings. The college was immediately re- built. The present principal college building is an imposing and massive stone structure, three hundred and forty-eight feet long. It consists of a central building five stories high, and two wings each four stories. Among the other stone buildings are Science hall, the as- tronomical observatory, and the house in which Benjamin West was born. Swarthmore is one of the largest and most beautiful colleges in the United States. It has two hundred stu- ents. Dr. Charles De Garmo is president, and Edward Magill, L. L. D., a well known ed- ucator of the United States, is professor of the French language and literature.
PENNSYLVANIA TRAINING SCHOOL FOR FEEBLE- MINDED CHILDREN.
On a beautiful wooded eminence between Media and Elwyn Station, is the cluster of granite buildings that constitute the above named institution. The school was first es- tablished at Germantown in 1853, and six years later was removed to its present location, but the main building was not completed until
1869. Since then it has grown rapidly through the efforts of Dr. I. N. Kerlin.
The school has very fine buildings, includ- ing the asylum and school house. The build- ings are situated on a tract of one hundred and forty acres, and with the land are worth in the neighborhood of a million dollars. The school was founded largely through the efforts of Dr. Alfred L. Elwyn, for whom Elwyn Station is named.
CROZER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
In 1868 Crozer Theological seminary was established by the Crozer family at Upland as a memorial of their father, the late John P. Crozer. Mr. Crozer erected the main build- ing, in 1857, for the use of a normal school, which was continued until 1862. It was suc- cessively used as a United States hospital, from 1862 to 1865, and then as the Pennsyl- vania Military academy from 1865 to 1868. Six thousand wounded Federal and Confed- erate soldiers were cared for within its walls during the late war. The present main build- ings consist of the seminary building, a hand- some three-story brick structure, and Pearl hall, of serpentine stone and in the shape of a Greek cross. Beautiful grounds surround the buildings. The influence of Crozer Theo- logical seminary, which is a Baptist institution of learning, has been felt for good through- out the United States for the last quarter of a century.
SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS.
On September 7, 1871, the Sisters of St. Francis, of Philadelphia, purchased the Hun- tingdon seminary for young ladies at Aston Ridge, that for a short time had been occupied by the Philadelphia Theological seminary of St. Charles Borromeo. A twenty-eight and one-half-acre tract of land belonged to the seminary. The sisters used the old seminary building for the novitiate of the community until it became too small to meet the demands of the order. New buildings were then de- manded, and a handsome chapel- Our Lady
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
of Angels,-and a beautiful convent - Our Lady of the Angels-have been erected.
On May 29, 1873, Archbishop James F. Wood officiating, the corner - stone was laid of the convent of "Our Lady of the Angels."
The corner-stone of the chapel of "Our Lady of Angels" was laid, and its dedication took place on October 4, 1881, Very Rev. John White, of St. Peter's church, Philadelphia, officiating.
Those wishing to join the community are received at the convent, which is under the charge of Mother Mary Agnes, general super- ior, and trained to attend the sick in hospitals and private houses and to teach in parochial schools. Upwards of three hundred sisters are in the community and make their annual retreat every year to the convent. The grounds of the Sisters of St. Francis are kept neat and tasteful, and the convent of Our Lady of the Angels is a beautiful and splen- did structure, being a "couspicuous object in the charming rural picture which strikes the eye as you approach it from any direction."
BURD ORPHAN ASYLUM.
The full title of this institution as incorpor- ated was "The Burd Orphan Asylum of St. Stephen's Church." It had its origin in Phil- adelphia. Mrs. Eliza Howard Burd, who cared for some orphans at Philadelphia, and who, at her death in 1860, left a half a million dol- lars to St. Stephen's church to build and en- dow the present institution, which was opened in 1863. The buildings were not completed until 1866. The buildings are mostly detached from each other, two stories in height, and built of stone. The grounds embrace forty- five acres, and the place was formerly known as " Sellers Hall."
NEW INDUSTRIES.
Among the new industries that came into existence during the first decade after the close of the late civil war may be named the mining
of kaolin and of garnet sand, and the estab- lishment of the Eddystone Print works, whose rapid growth soon led to the founding of the prosperous borough of Eddystone.
Over sixty years ago white clay was found in Birmingham township, that was afterwards used by fullers, and also for the adulteration of white lead and soap. In 1864 a company was formed, which opened kaolin pits on a part of the Isaac Heyburn farm, which it pur- chased. This clay has been shipped from these pits ever since.
In 1873 Charles Williams found garnet sand on the old Lancaster farm, in Bethel township. Six years later pits were opened, and the ship- ment of the sand was commenced.
The Eddystone Print works, the largest of their kind in America, were established in 1874, adjoining the city of Chester, and are now in the borough of Eddystone, which grew up around them. The plant covers an area of twenty acres, and the company operating it employs nine hundred hands.
In the period elapsing from the close of the late civil war up to and including the year 1880, iron ship-building had become a great industry in the county, manufactures of all kinds had advanced, schools, asylums, sem- inaries, academies and colleges had increased, and a new feature of prosperity had been intro- duced in the founding of Ridley Park and Wayne, as suburban towns of Philadelphia.
During that period railroad building was pushed slowly forward. On November 4, 1868, the Chester Creek railroad was opened, and connected the two great lines of the Pennsyl- vania that passed through the county, and early in 1873 the Pennsylvania Railroad Company opened the present line of their road, from Philadelphia to Chester, through Darby. The abandoned track of the Pennsylvania road, through the Delaware river lowlands from Philadelphia to Chester, was leased the pre- ceding year to the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company, which has operated it ever since.
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
CHAPTER XII.
BI-CENTENNIAL OF PENN'S LANDING - LATER RAILROADS-HOUSE OF REFUGE -WILLIAMSON SCHOOL-OIL REFINING -ELECTRIC RAILWAYS-PROGRESS OF OF THE COUNTY.
BI-CENTENNIAL OF PENN'S LANDING.
From 1880 up to 1882 there was nothing of general interest that occurred in the county, but in the latter year steps were taken for the celebration of the bi-centennial anniversary of Penn's landing at Chester. A meeting was held at Chester on the 15th of June, and the following officers of a general committee were elected : Hon. James Barton, jr., chairman ; George E. Darlington, vice-chairman ; J. Craig, jr., recording secretary ; H. G. Ash- mead, corresponding secretary ; H. B. Black, treasurer, and Col. W. C. Gray, chief mar- shal. When the celebration day-October 29, 1882 -arrived, it was ushered in by the ringing of all the city bells, each one giving two hundred taps. Mills and industrial es- tablishments throughout the county were gen- erally closed, and hundreds arrived on each incoming train. Governor Hoyt was present, and the exercises consisted of an introductory address by Mayor Barton, a prayer by Rev. Henry Brown, a bi-centennial poem by Samuel Pancoast, an oration by Hon. John M. Broom- all, a bi-centennial hymn, words by Prof. Charles F. Foster, and music by Prof. John R: Sweeney, and a closing prayer by Rev. Thomas Macauley. On November 9th the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Penn Club unveiled the " Penn Memorial Stone," which had been erected the preceding day as near as could be ascertained to the spot where Penn landed.
LATER RAILROADS.
From the bi-centennial celebration of Penn's landing up to the present time, several schemes for short distance railroads in the 6
county have been discussed, but none have been built. One of the main events, however, of this period has been the building of the Philadelphia division of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, between 1883 and 1889. Its stations from Philadelphia to the Delaware State line are : Darby, Boone, Collingdale, Okeola, Llanwellyn, Holmes, Folsom, Ridley, Millmont, Fairview, Chester, Upland, Felton, Twin Oaks, Boothwyn and Ogden.
BOYS' DEPARTMENT HOUSE OF REFUGE.
The house of refuge was organized in Phil- adelphia in 1826, and in 1889 steps were taken to remove the boys' department to Glen Mills, this county, which was accomplished through the generosity of William Massey, Isaac V. Williamson and others. Mr. Massey gave one hundred thousand dollars, and Mr. Wil- liamson contributed one hundred and five thousand dollars. A farm of three hundred and eigthy-four and four-tenths acres was pur- chased at Glen Mills, and on October 17, 1889, the corner stone of the first (Administration) building was laid. The administration and reception buildings, workshops and chapel were completed in 1890. The school building and twelve cottages were finished in 1891, and the boiler and dynamo house and kitchen and bake house were also completed. The land and these buildings cost over seven hundred and eight thousand dollars.
On January 1, 1892, there were twenty-nine boys at Glen Mills, and by September Ist of that year five hundred and fourteen boys had been transferred to the new home. The fam- ily plan of housing from twenty-five to fifty boys in a cottage has been adopted instead of continuing the old congregate system. The family plan is working with the best of results. Dr. Isaac Massey is manager, F. H. Niebecker superintendent, and Anna Gamewell supervis- ing principal of the eight schools in operation. The buildings are large, fine three and four story brick structures, well supplied with water, heated by steam and lighted by electricity.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
The managers intend in the future to remove the girls' department to Glen Mills.
LATER INDUSTRIES.
Among the later industries of the county, one that is rapidly attaining to proportions of considerable size, is that of iron and steel castings. Prominent among the establish- ments in- this line of manufacture are the Na- tional iron works of Marcus Hook, and the Wellman, Standard, Chester and Eureka steel works of Chester. These works employ over one thousand five hundred men.
Three other late industries of considerable size are: the manufacture of iron pipes and tubes by the Chester Tube and Pipe Company ; the building of street and electric cars by the Lamokin Car Company ; and the manufacture of logwood at the Riverside mills.
THE WILLIAMSON FREE SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL TRADES.
This school was founded by Isaiah Vansant| Williamson for the purpose of giving poor and deserving boys a good English education, for training them in habits of morality, economy, and industry, and for teaching them mechan- ical trades. It is located on the central di- vision of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore railroad (Pennsylvania railroad ), generally called the Philadelphia and West Chester railroad, about sixteeen miles from Broad Street station, Philadelphia. Its rail- road station, as well as postoffice address, is Williamson School, Delaware county. It is in Middletown township, between Elwyn and Glen Riddle stations. This school is the direct outcome of and result of the discontinuance of the apprenticeship system of labor in many trades, and was founded and endowed by Mr. Williamson for the intelligent and practical education of the children of the United States in useful trades.
In his endowment deed of trust on Decem- ber 1, 1888, Mr. Williamson, in stating his mo- tives and reasons for establishing this school, says of industrial training :
" I am convinced that the abandonment or disuse of the good old custom of apprenticeship to trades has resulted in many young men grow- ing up in idleness. which leads to vice and crime and is fraught with great danger to society. I am impressed with the belief that in many worthy institutions founded for the free edu- cation of the young, and sometimes even in the public schools, the system and course of edu- cation, and the associations and surroundings connected therewith, often unfit a young man for a life of manual labor, and induce a false belief in his mind that to labor with his hands is not respectable-and for this reason pro- fessional and mercantile pursuits are over- crowded with incompetent condidates who meet with failure-and thus many who, if they had been differently trained in early life, could have supported themselves at some trade in comfort and decency, are condemned to idle- ness and often to dissipation, beggary and crime."
In 1888 Mr. Williamson in his deed ap- pointed his friends John Baird, James C. Brooks, Lemuel Coffin, Edward Longstreth, William C. Ludwig, Henry C. Townsend and John Wanamaker, all of Philadelphia, as trustees of the future school to be founded. The par value of the securities transferred by the deed. composed entirely of stocks of various corpora- tions, was $1, 596, 000, having an appraised value at the then market price of $2, 119, 250, and producing at that time an income approxi- mating $100,000.
Of several sites offered, the trustees selected the present one of two hundred acres, which was commended by Mr. Williamson a few days before his death, and for which they paid $46,489.80, on May 17, 1889. Ground was broken on May 1, 1890, the corner stone was laid November 8, 1890, and the buildings were so far completed that the school was opened on October 31, 1891.
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