USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Blockley > Historic Lower Merion and Blockley; also the erection or establishment of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 6
USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Lower Merion > Historic Lower Merion and Blockley; also the erection or establishment of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 6
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Peter Coke, also called Cock, and Cox, was a Swede. The above-mentioned William Orien or Urian, was also a Swede. The Swedish Church of St. James, Kingsessing, is still standing on the Old Darby Road, near Sixty-ninth Street, in the midst of a graveyard filled with Swedish names. (The Revolutionary General, Isiah Harmer, is buried there.)
The "Mill Creek" on this map is Cobb's Creek. This name was given it from an early English settler. The Indians called it Karakung. The Swedes named it Mill Creek. An old mill once stood near the Blue Bell Tavern. where the Darby Road crosses the Creek.
The name "Mount Joy" appears on Holme's map of 1681. It is in Letitia Penn's Manor of "Mount Joy." the first draft of what afterwards became Valley Forge Camp Ground. "Welch Tract" as shown on Holme's map includes Tredyffrin township in the Great Valley, now called the Chester Valley. Southeastward are the Welsh townships of Radnor and Haverford. Lower Merion township com- prises the area between Radnor and Haverford on the west- ward, and the Schuylkill on the eastward. Holme's map is dated 1681, but was not finished until 1683.
The "Liberty Lands" included old Blockley township. Philadelphia County, now a part of the built-up portion of West Philadelphia. Below the "Liberty Lands" was the marshy township of Kingsessing settled by the Swedes.
Scull and Heap's map of 1750 shows a goodly portion of Lower Merion and Blockley, with the old roads and the houses of the principal landholders of that period. In the northeastern corner of the map, about the Wissahickon Creek, is a section of old Roxborough township, afterwards a part of the battleground of Germantown.
Reed's map was published in 1774, but it really belongs to a much carlier period, as it accompanied his list of "First
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Purchasers." The greater part of the map here shown represents Blockley, bounded on the northwest by Lower Merion, on the northeast and east by the Schuylkill, which separates it from Roxborough township, the Northern Liberties and the City of Philadelphia ; south by old King- sessing township (in which is Gray's Ferry) ; on the west and southwest by Mill Creek (also called Cobb's Creek), which separates it from Darby township, Chester County (now Delaware County). This map shows the first roads and names of residents living about 1700 and a little later. Among these appears the names of some of the original Swedish landholders as well as the Welsh and English.
Faden's map of 1777 is founded on the survey of Scull and Heap. In addition to Scull and Heap's names it gives "Gov. Penn," then living at Lansdowne, in what is now West Fairmount Park. Also, the "Schuylkill Com- pany," afterwards the "State in Schuylkill" fishing club. which became a patriotic organization wielding a power- ful influence in behalf of American Independence. This map was published the same year that General Washing- ton's army marched through Lower and Upper Merion to Valley Forge.
These four maps give a fairly complete representation of the whole region west of the Schuylkill, from its mouth to Valley Forge, and for a period beginning with the survey ordered by William Penn in 1681, and ending with the year 1777, when the patriot army encamped at Mount Joy.
"Hestonville" And Colonel Edward W. Heston
Hestonville .- A village founded prior to the American Revolution, by Edward W. Heston. His homestead, the original "Heston Villa," stood near what is now Fifty- second Street Station on the Pennsylvania Railroad. A portion of the property is still in the possession of the family. Colonel Heston's daughter, Mrs. Louisa Heston Paxson, was born there in 1801. She died in March, 1898, aged 97 years and 4 months.
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Edward Heston volunteered his services at the begin- ning of the Revolutionary War and went out as Captain of the Sixth Company, Seventh Battalion of Philadelphia Militia. He later became Lieutenant-Colonel. He was a son of Jacob Heston, of Wrightstown, Bucks County, Penn- sylvania, and the grandson of Zebulon Heston, who landed at Barnstable Bay, Massachusetts, in 1699.
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HESTON HOMESTEAD Built 1766. Torn down 1877
Colonel Heston died on February 14, 1824, aged 79 years. His obituary, which appeared in the Saturday Evc- ning Post, February 21, 1824, says :
"It was to Colonel Heston that General Potter, with, perhaps, his whole brigade (then lying near the Gulph), owed their liberty, if not their lives. When Cornwallis left his quarters in Philadelphia, intending to take General Potter by surprise, he marched at the head of five thousand men, crossing the Schuylkill during the latter part of the night. Colonel Heston being on the alert, had lodged that night a short distance from home. About daybreak the enemy was discovered approaching near his farm, through
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which they had to pass, by a man whom he had stationed there as a watch. They advanced and took the Colonel's horse with them. The watch immediately conveyed him the intelligence. The Colonel then fled on foot to one of his neighbours, borrowed a horse, and rode by a circuitous route with all possible speed, until he got ahead of them. He soon arrived in Potter's camp, and found them just going to breakfast. At the request of General Potter, who was then in his Marquee, he ran through and aroused the whole camp to arms, and then went to meet General Washington, who, with his Army, he met crossing the Schuylkill at a bridge which had just been completed for the purpose.
"In consequence of the intelligence he brought, the Americans moved their quarters and the British had the mortification to miss their anticipated conquest.
"The day previous to the Battle of Germantown, he was one among others who, in consummation of a plan laid down by Washington, to cut off the enemy's retreat from Philadelphia, went to the Middle Ferry and assisted in cutting away the rope which then extended across the river, notwithstanding there was a continual fire from the enemy on the opposite bank, etc."
Colonel Heston was later captured by a troop of British horse and taken to Long Island, where he was held for seven months as a prisoner of war. After the close of the war he was elected to the State Legislature, some years later was appointed as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the City and County of Philadelphia. Later, elected to the office of Senator.
In June, 1896, when old Congress Hall, Sixth and Chestnut Streets, was being restored and repaired, one of the carpenters found some papers behind the wainscoting in the Senate chamber which had been there over ninety years. One of the documents was a "Return of election of Senator of the State in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the district of the City of Philadelphia, the County of Philadel- phia, and the County of Delaware. held in the State House,
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Philadelphia, 11th October, 1803." At this election Edward Heston was elected, having received 1,682 votes. The return is signed by James Sharswood, Matthew Carey, James Gamble, Lewis Rush, William Stephenson. Joseph Morrell, and Stephen Girard.
Edward Heston was buried in the family burying ground on his "plantation," near what is now Fifty-fifth and Master Streets. The dead in this enclosure were later removed to Woodlands.
The Heston School, at Fifty-fourth Street and Lans- downe Avenue, is built upon a part of what was Colonel Heston's farm. The ground was willed and deeded to the city by members of the Heston family. The first school- house, built about 1828, was a log house ; this was followed by a "rough-cast" building. In 1868 a brick schoolhouse, with a cupalo, was erected. Several years ago a fine up- to-date grammar school was built on the same plot with the brick building. In 1918 this last-named was set on fire, and the entire building gutted and destroyed. (It was thought by some of the investigators, that robbery was the cause, as it was known that a number of "Liberty Bonds" were there, having been bought by the teachers and scholars. Others felt it was the work of German sympathisers. A couple of weeks later, when the George Brooks School, Fifty-seventh Street and Haverford Avenue, was also burned, five firemen losing their lives, and many others seriously injured, it became certain that the fire was a part . of a plan to spread terror.)
From the "Colonial Records," Vol. XII, page 67-70, may be found the following :
"In the Supreme Executive Council, August 10, 1779.
"Joseph Reed, President.
"An order issued to Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Hes- ton for two hundred dollars for services done to General Potter, from the 14th of November, 1777, to the 3rd of January, 1778, as certified by the said General at four dol- lars p. day."
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An odd little six-page pamphlet entitled "An Address to the People of Blockley and Its Vicinity," published about 1822, was called to my attention several years ago. It described a controversy over the name of the settlement known as Hestonville. Newcomers in the neighborhood of the three-mile stone tried to call the growing village "Monroe." The pamphlet describes the dissention as fol- lows :
"About twenty-five years ago, a person by the name of Hill undertook to make a map of Philadelphia city and its vicinity, an undertaking as arduous as it was laudable ; he, however, completed it. The map was in circular form, extending each way ten miles from the centre, in which the names of places long established were generally entered, and the proprietors of many such villages, country seats, farms etc., as had not been previously named were con- sulted, and in many instances names were agreed on, and entered on the map accordingly.
"Such was the situation of the farm on which the three-mile stone before mentioned stands, which farm at that time belonged to Edward Heston, who, on being con- sulted respecting the name he wished his place to have, gave it the name of Hestonville or villa, which name was entered also.
"Previous to that period, Edward Heston had sold some small lots off of the eastern end of his farm; one to his brother Isaac, and one or two more to strangers. Isaac, however, built a house on his lot and made it his place of residence during his life, and his was the only family among the original settlers that continued to live there at the time that the name of Monroe for that village was first men- tioned or thought of, which name he never either assented to or adopted.
"The name of Monroe, it therefore appears, was alto- gether introduced and adopted by strangers, one of whom had by this time got in possession of a house and lot situated across the turnpike, directly opposite to Isaac Heston's premises ; this stranger had the name of Monroe painted
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on a board and fastened to a post in his lot, which board remained a considerable time before much opposition was made.
"At length, however, Isaac Heston seeing the name of Monroe adopted generally by his neighboring villagers, and knowing, as well he might, that the adoption of that name there, under existing circumstances, was an unwarrantable usurpation of rights long established, he could not con- sistently reconcile to be thus wantonly supplanted of a name that it was no man's privilege to take away. He there- fore suggested to his brother Edward the expediency, and indeed the necessity of keeping up the name, by each of them having the name of Hestonville painted and put up on their respective premises, which was accordingly done; one at the store near the Columbus tavern, and the other in the very centre of what those strangers had been pleased to call Monroe village.
"And what next? A farce was introduced which was completely characteristic of those who commenced it; the name of Hestonville was torn down by violent hands, and the board that contained it carried off the ground ; and as it is one of the principles of nature for like to beget like, similar acts were committed by way of retaliation on the other side, and so it went until sober unbiased observers had cause to mourn over the follies of their contending neighbors; and those only were gratified whose eyes glad- den at the sight of licentiousness, and whose hearts warm in the midst of contention. After a time, however, the name Hestonville disappeared in that quarter, and the name of Monroe was permitted to remain; then, and not till then (notwithstanding the palpable injustice of the meas- ure), a seeming tranquility appeared to prevail for a season.
"Efforts were now made to endeavor to unite the two great contending parties, the inhabitants of Hestonville and those of Monroe."
The Heston faction and the Monroe faction kept up hostilities for some time afterward, and it was only after there had been all sorts of agitation in the vicinity of the
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three-mile stone, religious, educational, social and political, that finally the community settled down to an acceptance of the leadership of the Hestons and the adoption of their family name.
The "three-mile stone" on the Lancaster Pike stood below what is now Master Street, formerly Paschall Street. The "Monroe Fire Engine House" and "Monroe Hall" above it, where local entertainments were held, was near what is now Fiftieth and Lancaster Avenue.
When a new fire house was built on Belmont Avenue (Forty-fourth Street) near Girard Avenue, and the "Monroe Engine Company" (now 16) was moved, the local post office was opened there and was officially station W, but was called "Monroe" by the people, so this old name cropped up again seventy-five years later. As the city grew westward a new post office building was erected at the intersection of Lansdowne and Lancaster Avenues (about twenty-five years ago). It was called "West Park."
Among the other one-time villages to be absorbed by the city were Hamilton Village, on a portion of the Hamil- ton estate. Mantua, extending from the Schuylkill along Haverford Road and Spring Garden Street to Forty-first Street. About all that remains to remind us of this old settlement is the Mantua Baptist Church, Fortieth Street and Fairmount Avenue. Kingsessing, settled by the Swedes, Darby Road. Maylandville, on the Darby Road on Mill Creek, a settlement which grew around Jacob May- land's snuff and tobacco mills. Paschallville was also on the Darby Road near Sixty-fifth Street. Paschall Street, now Master Street, ran from the Lancaster "Pike" above the "three-mile stone" to this village. Haddington was the section lying from Sixty-third to Sixty-fifth Street on and adjacent to the Haverford Road. (During the Civil War a hospital for the sick and wounded soldiers was established at Haddington. Another hospital, called the "Satterlee" (for General Satterlee), was also in Blockley Township. The apartment house bearing this name, at Forty-fifth and
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Chestnut Streets, is built on a portion of the ground where this hospital stood.
An Old Assessor's List The First One Taken after the Revolution
In 1783 Edward W. Heston and Thomas George were appointed assessors for the Township of Blockley. This was the first list taken after the Revolution. The original list, which is in an excellent state of preservation, is in pos- session of the family of the late Edward W. Heston, of Cynwyd. Edward W. Heston was a grandson of Colonel Edward W. Heston, of Revolutionary fame, and one of the assessors.
1
The list shows 112 residents and non-taxpayers, occu- pying 7,231 acres of land. The white population is 644, and there were 8 negroes, or slaves. There were 85 houses, 40 barns, 119 horses, 253 horned cattle and sheep. William Hamilton was the largest land owner, having 554 acres where Woodlands Cemetery is now located. John Penn owned 240 acres, now the site of Horticultural Hall, Fair- mount Park. Edward W. Heston, the assessor, owned 110 acres, near Fifty-second Street. (He was the founder of Hestonville.) George Gray was the second largest land owner, with 300 acres at Gray's Ferry. Carriages were con- sidered a luxury, only a dozen being in the district; but everybody had more than one saddle. Jonas Supplee had the only distillery, not far from Hestonville. There were two ferries, two grist mills, and one tannery.
The list of "Land and Housekeepers" contains the fol- lowing names :
John Thomas, David Jones, Sebastian Wilfong, Joseph Jones, Peter Wilfong, Jonas Supplee, Nathan Supplee, Nathan Rhoads, Henry Read, Samuel Pearson, Lydia Morris, Aron Hilbert, Isaac Gray, Lydia Musgrove, Henry Campffer, Mary Coulton, Edward Williams, David Seld- rack, Frederick Smith, William Seldrack, James Under- wood, William Sanders, John Supplee, Mary Blankley, Jo- seph Lees, Jr., George Gray, Joseph Lees, Barbery Roop.
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Ezebella Turner, Joseph Saltback, Peter Jones, James Wor- rell, Joseph Coughran, Rich'd Crain, Robert and Richard Crain, Thos. George, Jacob Balort, Amos George, Conrad Hoover, Willm Roberts, Thos. Roberts, Able Moore, Wil- liam Bispham, Willm Rose, Andrew Yocum, Martin Wal- ter, Gillion Roop, Joseph Hibbert, John Saltback, Michael Loots, John Bare, Mary Smith, Rebecca Sandoun, John Neven, Peter Rose, John Hough, Robt. McGugan, Adam Rhoads, Abrah Harding, Margery Warner, Henry Smith, Thomas Rhoads, John Davis, Peter Ott, Joseph Watson. Ann Green, John Pywell, James Wallis, Willm Toms, John George, Robert Craig, Jacob Slone, Christian Miller, Malon Hall, John Heckler, Jonathan Supplee, Thos. Tomson, Isaac Kite, Edward Heston, Jacob Reeves, Thos. Walters, Jacob Waggoner, Chris Keller, Jesse George, Jos. Boulton, Abrah Streeper, John Peck, Isaac Warner, Wilson Warner, Peter Evans, Christian Leech, Jacob Hoffman, James Jones, Silas Gilbert, Daniel Bowman, Henry Felton, Willm. Davay, Joseph Hall, Jacob Fawood, Morris Fowler, Jacob Johnson, Jacob Amos, Isaac Hayes, Willm Elliot, Robert Platt, Edmund Phisick, Phenias Roberts, Willm Peters, Rich. Peters, John Lukins, John Penn, Willm Hamilton.
The list of "inmates" of the above-named housekeepers' families and "single freemen" includes the following names :
John Thomas, Jr., David Jones, Francis Leatherman, Andrew Supplee, Matthew McCrate, Edward Haley, David Seldrack, Jr., George Hansil, John Leacock, John Stradling, Peter Worrell, David George, Francis Higgins, Phenias Roberts, Jos. Sellers, Martin Waller, Jr., Abra Smith, Ben Smith, Arch. Watson, Thos. Campble, Jos. Campble, Mour- ton Garrett, John Hall, Jos. King, Jont. Kite, Willm Kite, Arth. Kite, Mich. Cate. Adam Keller, Isaac Roberts, Willm Warner, Joshua Levis, Will Miller, Will Leech, John Leech, Moses Wells, Thos. Clarridge, Charles Arnold, Rich. Whit- field.
Many of these names are also found in the "Pennsyl- vania Archives," Second Series, in the list of Revolutionary soldiers.
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And Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
In the assessors' list the occupation of William Warner is given as "soldier." (From this I infer that he may have been a volunteer in the Continental Army for a lengthy period of time.) The other residents of Blockley, who fought for independence, were mostly "associators," or members of the "Philadelphia County Militia." The same battalion in various years, included both Blockley and Merion, which latter territory was not cut off from Phila- delphia County until 1784.
Thomas Wynne was a Revolutionary soldier, and lived at "Wynnstay," Blockley. His name does not appear on this list, but the 100 acres of land, marked as "Estate of Thomas Wynn, deceased," were held. or rented by Thomas Waters. This Thomas Wynn, deceased, was the father of the Revolutionary soldier, Thomas Wynn. This patriot had been detained a number of years by the British, in their horrible prison-ship, "Jersey." (The old farm was probably leased during his absence.)
Some of the entries on this assessors' list are curious and interesting. Under the head of "Negroes and Mulattes" we see that George Gray owned two, as his personal prop- erty; Rebecca Sandown, widow, one; John Penn, gent, three, and William Hamilton, one.
Another curious circumstance is that on large planta- tions only a small number of "horned cattle" were kept. Thus, David Jones, with 200 acres, had but 8; John Thomas, with 135 acres, only 4; Jonas Supplee, with 110 acres, 2; Edward Williams, with 110 acres, 3, and so on. The largest number held by any one person was 11. These belonged to George Gray, of Gray's Ferry, who possessed 300 acres in Philadelphia County, and 246 acres in Chester County. (In talking with Mr. Edward Heston, of Cynwyd, a short time before his death, while explaining the old list, Mr. Heston said that he thought the reason was that in early days no attempt was made to cultivate grass for pasture and hay, but that cattle were obliged to depend upon scant patches of meadow for grazing ground.)
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Improved methods of farming, introduced into Penn- sylvania after the Revolution were largely due to Judge Peters, of Belmont. To this eminent jurist belongs the credit of importing gypsum as a fertilizer, in 1797. Judge Peters was, during the Revolution, a member of the Phil- adelphia Agricultural Society.
In the assessors' list appears the name of Richard Peters, gent. He holds 180 acres of land, with one dwell- ing house (now Belmont Mansion, in West Fairmount Park), owns 70 ounces of plate, 2 horses, 5 horned cattle, 6 sheep, and has 7 white inhabitants in his family.
Among other residents having a quantity of plate may be mentioned John Penn, gent, 224 ounces; William Ham- ilton, 60 ounces ; Edmund Physick, gent, 37 ounces ; George Gray, gent, 70 ounces, and Isaac Gray, gent, 30 ounces.
John Penn was a grandson of William Penn, and the last royal Governor of Pennsylvania. His residence was the "Lansdowne Mansion," which he built upon his exten- sive property in what is now the West Park. "Lansdowne" was destroyed by fire, July 4, 1854, caused from sparks while a small boy was setting off his firecrackers. (The Park Commissioners, evidently not appreciating the historic value of this old building, had the walls torn down, and Horticultural Hall, erected for the Centennial celebration, stands upon the site of John Penn's home.) On the assess- ors' list the number of acres given for the Lansdowne prop- erty is 240.
Still another curious fact about this old list is that car- riages were few. People travelled mostly on horseback. Almost every householder kept "horses and mares." Under the head of "Riding Chairs and Couches," it is recorded that Isaac Gray, gent, had 1 chair ; John Supplee, farmer, 1 chair ; George Gray, gent, 1 chair: Jacob Waggoner, innkeeper, 1 chair : William Peters, Est., 1 phaeton ; John Penn, gent. 1 coach, 1 phaeton ; William Hamilton, 1 chair.
Following is the list of "non-residentors" owning prop- erty in Blockley :
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Ann Emlen, Will Smith, Joseph Dean, George Clymer, Edward George, Thomas Willing, Samuel Powell, David Beveridge, Sanders and Reaves, Joseph Ogden, Thomas Marshall, Jr., Nathan Thomas, John Sellers, Pick's Lands, Wilfong's do., Widow Shaw's do., Marsh's Land, John Ross's do., Huff's do., Sarah Pawling, Willing and Francis, Jacob Plankingham, Francis Lees. (In the above list is found the name of George Clymer, a signer of the Declara- tion of Independence.)
"Wynnstay"
"Wynnstay" was the original name given to the Wynne place, and is so marked on the early maps. This tract of
THE ORIGINAL "WYNNSTAY"
Built in 1690 by Dr. Thomas Wynne, friend and physician to William Penn. Still standing and has recently been restored
land on the Old Lancaster Road, east of City Avenue, was part of the 1000 acres purchased by Dr. Thomas Wynne and John ap John, in 1681. It was named after "Wynnstay"
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Historic Lower Merion and Blockley
in Wales, and was comprised in old Blockley Township. A lane leading from the Old Lancaster Road, or Blockley and Merion Turnpike (laid out in 1690), left the road near the sixth milestone.
Within the last few years Wynnefield, a pretty sub- urban settlement has grown up on this portion of the Wynne place. (Wynnefield is a translation of the Welsh "Wynnstay.") The sixth milestone is still standing, though the old Lancaster Road has lost its name in Wynnefield, and is called Fifty-fourth Street.
Just above the milestone stands an old house sur- rounded by majestic trees. This is the home of Miss Sarah S. Wynne,* a lineal descendant of Dr. Wynne. On the gatepost is cut "Wynnstay." for the house and the surrounding lawn and garden are part of the Wynne tract. But this is not the original house-that stands further east and nearer Bala. It has recently been restored. The date stones tell us that one end was built in 1690; the other in 1700.
Formerly a long, low, frame addition extended from the older portion towards the north, where a large barn, of the same stone, stood. When the house was restored the barn was torn down, and so was the frame extension. From the stone of the barn was built a new wing where the frame one stood, and also a modern garage. But the main portion of the house was not altered in any way, except that the porches which had fallen to decay were rebuilt.
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