USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Chester > Historical sketch of Chester, on Delaware > Part 10
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The Lafayette House.
The house at the southwest corner of Third street and Edgmont avenue, is one of the oldest buildings in our city, and in a deed from James Sandelands, the younger, September 10, 1700, to Stephen Jackson, the property is described as a house and lot, thus showing that the structure antedates that instrument. Stephen Jackson, on June 17, of the following year, transferred the property to John Worrilow, and he in turn, conveyed it, August 29, 1704, to Philip Yarnall. The latter, after retaining title to the estate for 29 years, sold the dwelling and lot to John Mather, September 26, 1733, who at the time of his purchase was in occupation of the house and kept a tavern there. After the death of Ruth Hoskins, who in her will dated July 3, 1739, devised the present City Hotel to her grand-
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
daughter Ruth, daughter of John Mather-the latter took posses- sion of the larger building directly opposite to that he had occupied, although he does not seem to have made use of the dwelling at that time as a hotel. He, however, did not part with the house he pur- chased from Yarnall, but leased it to James Mather, perhaps his brother, since John Mather named his only son James, probably for the person mentioned. That James Mather kept the tavern.here in 1746 we know, for he was one of the number of innkeepers who petitioned the Legislature for payment of certain claims, more fully referred to in the account of the Black Bear Inn, and in the Journal of William Black, who was the Notary of the Commissioners ap- pointed by Governor Gooch, of Virginia, to unite with those from the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland, to treat with the Iro- quois, or six nations of Indians, in reference to the land west of the Allegheny mountains, in describing the journey of the Commission- ers from Virginia and Maryland to Philadelphia, under date of Saturday, May 25, 1744, he records :
"Nine miles from Wilmington, and at the line dividing New Castle and Chester counties, were waiting the High Sheriff, Coro- ner and under Sheriff of Chester county, who conducted us to Ches- ter Town, six miles further, where we arrived a few minutes before nine at night, and put up at Mr. James Mathew, (Mather) the most considerable house in the town ; most of the company being very much fatigued with the day's ride being very warm, they inclin'd for beds soon after they alighted, and tho' for my part I was not very much tir'd, yet I agreed to hug the pillow with the rest."
The next entry in his Journal, doubtless after refresing slumber, is headed " Chester in Pennsylvania, Sunday, the 26," and he re- cords his doings in, and impression of, Chester, of that day, thus:
" This morning, by the time the sun return'd to Enlighten My Bed Chamber, I got up with a Design to take a view of the town. It is not so large as Wilmington, neither are the Buildings so large in General, the Town stands on a Mouth of a Creek of the same name, running out the Delaware and has a very large wooden Bridge over it, in the middle of the Town, the Delaware is reckon'd three miles over at this place, and is a very good Road for Shipping; the Court House and Prison is two tolerable large Buildings of Stone, there are in the Town a Church dedicated to St. Paul, the Congregation are after the manner of the Church of England ; A Quaker Meeting and a Sweed's " (?)" Church ; about 10 of the Clock, forenoon, Comm'rs and us of their Leeve went to St. Paul's; where we heard a Ser- mon Preach'd by the Reverend Mr. Backhouse, on the 16th Chapt.
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of St. Luke, 30 & 31st Verses, from this some of us paid a Visit to the Friends' who were then in Meeting, but as it happened to be a Silent One, after we had sat about 15 min., they Shook hands and we parted, from this Return'd to our Inn, where we had a very good Dinner, and about 4 in the Evening Set out for Philadelphia, Ac- companied by the Shffs, Coroner, and several Gentlemen of the Town, past thro' Darby a Town 7 miless from Chester, Standing on a creek or the same name and at a Stone Bridge about half a mile further, was met by the Sheriff, Coroner, and Sub-Sheriff of Phila- delphia County "Here the Company from Chester took their leave of Us and return'd."
James Mather afterwards purchased the ground where National Hall stands, with the building thereon, which William and Joshua P. Eyre tore down to make room for the present structure. Here he continued the occupation of an innkeeper.
In his will, May 28, 1768, John Mather devised it to his daughter Jane. She first married Dr. Paul Jackson, who, dying in 1767, the following year she married Dr. David Jackson. The latter and his wife, February 27, 1775, conveyed the property to James Sparks, a merchant of Philadelphia. There is no evidence to show that Dr. David Jackson ever resided there, and, as he was a physician in Philadelphia, the probabilities are that he never personally occu- pied the dwelling, and the same is true of Sparks, notwithstanding he owned it nine years. Who dwelt therein, I have failed to learn, but May 13, 1784, Sparks sold it to William Kerlin, who made it his residence, and dying seized of the estate, in his will, November 28, 1804, devised it to his wife Catharine, for life, with remainder to his son, John Kerlin. This son John owned the property at his death, and on July 5, 1817, his executors, William Kerlin and Jonathan Pennell, so'd it to James Chadwick, who, in turn, dying seized of the property, it descended to his only child, John Chad- wick, subject to the dower of his widow, Rebecca. John Chadwick, while owning the property, purchased two frame buildings at Mar- cus Hook, and placing them on scows, had them floated up to Ches- ter, where he erected them on the eastern end of his property on Third street. Both of these houses are now owned by the estate of Henry Abbott, Sr., deceased This was considered a marvellous feat in those days. John, however, January 15, 1829, conveyed his title to his mother, and, October 7, 1830, Rebecca Chadwick sold the estate to Charles Alexander Ladomus. The latter was French
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
by birth, and at the outbreak of the French Revolution of 1793, his mother, (being of an aristocratic family,) was compelled to flee in the night time to Germany with her children. Charles was at that time a lad of ten years. All the family remained in the land of re- fuge, and after the battle of Jena, October 14, 1805, Charles A. Ladomus was in Berlin when the defeated Prussian army fled through that city. When the French occupied it, he acted as an interpreter for Napoleon. He subsequently made a tour of Europe on foot, which, as he practiced his occupation as a watchmaker in the mean- time, consumed twelve years. About 1828, he came to the United States, married Catharine Schey, a widow, and settled in Chester, where he followed the business of a jeweler and watchmaker in the old building under consideration, until several years before his death, December 30, 1857, in his 76th year. By his will, Decem- ber 15, 1853, he devised his estate to his wife for life, and at her death to his three sons, Jacob, Lewis and Joseph, and to his grand- son Charles Burkheimer, the only child of his daughter Rosanna, in equal shares. The title to the property is still held by the sons, their mother's life estate having determined, April 10, 1874, at which time she died, aged 84 years.
After Mr. Ladomus' death, the old building was occupied by James Chadwick, who did a large business therein. He accumulated considerable means, but his purchase of the lots at Fourth and Market streets, and the erection of Lincoln Hall, in 1866, resulted in financial ruin. Chadwick was succeeded by B. Bauer, who kept a clothing store there until 1875, when the house was rented to Caleb P. Clayton, and after nearly a century had gone by, became once more a public house.
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Historic Buildings in Chester.
The Black Bear Inn.
The hipped-roof house at the north-east corner of Third and Penn streets, was erected early in the last century, for in the will of John Salkeld, Sr., February 17, 1733-4, five years before his death, he devised the premises to his son Thomas, and designated it as " the house and lot wherein my son-in-law, Anthony Shaw, now dwells." How long Shaw lived there after the date mentioned I have not learned, but in 1746 it was kept as a public house by John Salkeld, the younger, for in that year he, among other inn- keepers, presented a petition to the Legislature, asking compensa- tion for the "diet of Capt Shannon's company of soldiers," quar- tered here during the early part of the French war. At this time he was a tenant of his brother Thomas, for the latter, in his will June 21, 1749, after making specific devises of other lands, gave the residue of his estate to his brother John Salkeld. The latter, by his will, December 14, 1775, gave an eighth part of his estate, which was large, to his daughter Sarah. He died early in 1776, for his will was probated January 29, of the same year. In the distri- bution of her father's estate, the Black Bear Inn became her por- tion. Sarah Salkeld had married George Gill, an Englishman, several years before her father's death, for in the latter's will he leaves £10 to his gran.lson, John Gill, and in all probability she was then landlady. George Gill was an outspoken Tory in the Revolutionary struggle, an l so ardent was he in the defence of the English army and ministry, that after the battle of Brandywine, at the time the residents of Chester were smarting under the outrages perpetrated on them by the royal troops, he was compelled to leave this neighborhood when the enemy abandoned Philadelphia, and was proclaimed a traitor to the Colonies. When the British forces evacuated New York at the close of the war, Gill followed them to Halifax. Subsequently he returned to Chester, was arrested and thrown into prison, but was discharged therefrom by the Act of Assembly, which, under certain conditions, allowed free pardon to proclaimed traitors to the United Colonies. William Whitehead, in the History of the Borough, published in his Directory of Ches- ter, in 1859, states from information furnished by Mrs. Rebecca
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
Brobson, then owning and residing in the dwelling, that "at the period in which the inn flourished, the people of Chester made their own malt, and a malt-house stood upon the same lot ; this was a brick building, and in a dilapidated condition fifty years," (73 years ago.)
John Gill, the grandson mentioned in John Salkeld's ( the younger) will, on October 26, 1809, conveyed the premises to Thomas B. Dick, and mentions in the deed that the estate descended to him as heir-at-law of his mother, Sarah Gill. Thomas Barnard Dick was an attorney, admitted to the Delaware County bar, February 9, 1790, but removed to Easton shortly after, where for several years he practiced law. He, however, returned to Chester, and was drowned in the Delaware, April 21, 1811. How the accident hap- pened is not known, since he was on the river alone in a row-boat, during a heavy snow storm. He was the father of Archibald T. Dick, a noted lawyer of this county, and in 1834 the Democratic candidate for Congress. During the war of 1812, the latter was a soldier, although he never took part in a battle, being with the con- tingent forces at Camp Du Pont. He built the Eyre mansion, on Edgmont avenue, now the club house of the Chester Republican League, and died August 13, 1837, in his 43d year. Hon. Frank- lin A. Dick, his son, born in Chester, at the present time is one of the foremost lawyers at the American bar. Phoebe Dick, the widow of Thomas B. Dick, to whom the latter devised the es- tate, conveyed the property to William Brobson, April 22, 1831. The latter was for many years an active man in the Borough, car- rying on the business of tanning in the yard on Edgmont avenue, now the property of his grandsons, Henry and F. J. Hinkson, Jr. Mr. Brobson, by his will, devised the estate to his wife, Rebecca, who died in 1863, at an advanced age. By her will, February 26, 1861, she directed her real estate to be sold within one year after her death. George Sharpless and Frederick J. Hinkson, Sr., ex- ecutors, September 10, 1864, conveyed the property to Henry and Charles Hinkson, and they, October 7, 1864, deeded it to Fred- erick J. Hinkson, Sr.
Frederick J. Hinkson, Sr., was a native of Upper Providence, his grandparents being descended from Irish ancestry. In early life he was a school teacher, continuing that vocation until 1827,
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when he entered the Bank of Delaware County as a clerk, gradu- ating in time by merit to the position of cashier, and finally to the presidency of that institution. When the Bank was incorporated under the Act of Congress in 1864, he resigned the office. In 1857, he was elected one of the Associate Judges of Delaware county ; subsequently he was elected a Jury Commissioner and Di- rector of the Poor. He was a candidate for the State Legislature in 1874, by a popular call, and so great was the vote cast for him that, although there were three tickets in the field (he being named as an Independent) he was only defeated by a trifling pleurality. He was a director in many business associations and companies, being the Treasurer of several In 1837 he married Hannah, daugh- ter of William Brobson. Judge Hinkson died September 10, 1879, and by his will devised the estate to his sons Henry and Frederick J. Hinkson, Jr., who now own it.
The Hope's Anchor Tavern and the Stacey House.
The story of the old building at the south-west corner of Market and Fourth streets is an interesting one, and, although I have not been able to ascertain from whom David Coupland derived title, I have learned sufficient of the history of the premises to state that it is an ancient structure, built during the first half of the last century. It could not, of course, have been erected prior to 1700, for in that year the plan of the town was submitted by James San- delands, the younger, to William Penn and approved by the latter, and at that date the land was in the ownership of the heirs of Jas. Sandelands, the elder. It may be that the property came from Joshua Coupland, who, in his will, December 12, 1750, devised his real estate to his brothers Caleb and David Coupland, charged with a life annuity to his father, William Coupland, then a very aged
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
man. We know that in 1746 the building had been erected and was at that time kept as a public house by David Coupland, for in that year he, with other innkeepers of Chester, petitioned the Leg- islature for payment of the " diet furnished to Captain Shannon's company," which troop was part of the forces enlisted during the old French War.
David Coupland was born in Yorkshire, England, and came to the Colony with his parents in 1723, his brother Caleb having pre- ceded him nearly nine years. In 1730 he married Isabella Bell, and from that time seems to have taken an active part in the move- ments of the day. Although by birthright a Friend, we find that in 1758, when Brigadier General John Forbes commanded the Ex- pedition which resulted in the capture of Fort Du Quesne, (now Pittsburg,) David Coupland enlisted as a private in the company of Captain John Singleton, and during that campaign, he, with Ben- jamin Davis and John Hanby, (Hanley) agreed to pay Hugh Wil- son, of Lancaster county, £5 as a bounty, for entering one wagon in the expedition, to be credited to the Borough of Chester.
When the misunderstanding between the Colonies and England began, David Coupland immediately took sides with the former and was earnest in his efforts to sustain the cause of the Whigs. At the assembling of the people of Chester county, in the old Court House, in this city, December 20, 1774, for the purpose of choosing a committee " to carry into execution the Association of the late Continental Congress," David Coupland was one of the committee chosen, and when the body adjourned, it was agreed that it should meet on January 9, 1775, at the house of David Coupland, and from time to time it held its sessions at his tavern. It was here, May 30, that the declaration of Association was adopted. The mutual pledge thus made was as follows :
"We, the subscribers, do most solemnly resolve, promise and en- gage under the sacred ties of honor, virtue and love to our country, that we will use our utmost endeavors to learn the military exer- cise and promote harmony and unanimity in our respective com- panies; that we will strictly adhere to the rules of decency during duty; that we will pay a due regard to our officers; that we will, when called upon, support with our utmost abilities the civil mag- istrates in the execution of the laws for the good of our country, and that we will at all times be in readiness to defend the lives,
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liberties and properties of ourselves and our fellow-countrymen against all attempts to deprive us of them."
Notice is given by Francis Johnson, Secretary of the Committee, September 25, 1775, calling on the inhabitants of each township in Chester county to hold an election on the 11th of October, and se- lect a person to represent them on the committee for the ensuing year, and the committee so selected is instructed "to meet at the house of David Coupland, in the Borough of Chester, on Monday, the 23d of said month, at 10 o'clock, A. M." It seems that short- ly after this date Coupland retired from business, for in an ad- dress to the inhabitants of the county, in January, 1776, in pursu- ance of the recommendation of the Committee of Safety, that the Colony might have competent men to make gunpowder, Benjamin Brannan, Walter Finney and John Beaton announced various points in the county where they would meet and instruct all persons who have sufficient "public virtue and patriotic spirit" * "to ex- cite them to such a valuable and necessary undertaking at this crisis of time," and designate "the house of Mrs. Whitby ( Withey) in the Borough of Chester, on the first and second of March."
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Notwithstanding his advanced years, David Coupland was so earn- est in his advocacy of the cause of the Colonies, and previous to the battle of Brandywine having entertained the Marquis de Lafayette at his home, that he became very obnoxious to the Tories; hence, when the British army had possession of Philadelphia and Chester county, he was held under suspicion of communicating with the Continental authorities. In the spring of 1778, when the " Vul- ture," a British man-of-war, laid off Chester, in the middle of the night, a boat's crew came ashore and going to David Coupland's dwelling, the present Stacey house, adjoining the hotel, they took him out of bed and conveyed him to the vessel, where he was de- tained for many weeks a prisoner. His age, as well as the anxiety consequent on his forced detention from home, his inability to learn aught of his family, the exposure and harsh treatment induced a low, nervous fever. At length, when the disease began to assume alarming symptoms, the commander of the " Vulture " had him con- veyed ashore and returned to his home, but without avail. He died previous to August 26, 1778, for his will was admitted to probate at that date. The David Coupland who was elected Chief Burgess
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
of Chester, and on March 29, 1779, appeared before the Executive Council and took the affirmation required, was the son of Caleb Coupland, and was at that time in his fifty-seventh year. I men- tion this because I notice that in several places in Martin's His- tory of Chester, the author has been led astray by the similarity of the names.
Who kept the old hostelry immediately after David Coupland, I fail to learn, and although Whitehead, in his Historical Sketch be- fore mentioned, says that James Pennell did at one time, I doubt the accuracy of the statement. Jesse Maddux, early in this cen- tury was its landlord. It is related that the former had a number of ducks of rare species which, with pardonable pride, he would frequently show his guests. On one occasion a prisoner in the jail threaded a strong cord through a number of grains of corn, and dropped the bait into the street, the other end being fastened to one of the iron bars in his cell window. A plump drake seeing the tempting morsel, bolted it, and the man began to draw in his catch. The squawking of the duck apprised mine hostess that something out of the usual way had happened, and she hastened to the door. When she beheld the extraordinary rise in poultry, she exclaimed : " You rascal, you ! that duck's mine !" "That," replied the pris- oner, coolly, " depends on whether this string breaks or not."
Previous to the year 1817, Samuel Pennell occupied the house as a hotel, and was its landlord at the time of the hanging of John H. Craig, for some of his descendants remember standing on the side- walk and seeing the procession form at the prison, when the Sheriff and his deputies began the march to the place of execution.
On April 1, 1819, John Irwin, an Irishman, who had become financially embarrassed in business in the old country, emigrated with his wife and child to America. Coming to Chester, he was advised by Dr. Terril to lease the " Hope's Anchor," which was then for rent. He was very popular in his new occupation, and soon acquired considerable means. He removed the old sign, and replaced it with one representing a white swan swimming in blue water, which creaked on gusty days as it swung in the frame at the top of a heavy pole planted near the curbstone, at the intersection of the streets. Irwin was, as is noticeable in all persons of his na- tionality, a sportsman, and as he grew well-to-do, he kept several
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Historic Buildings in Chester.
fast horses and a pack of hounds He purchased the premises, in- cluding the house now owned by Joseph Ladomus, December 17, 1824, from Matthew D. Bevan, Ann Bevan, {who married Captain Matthew Lawler, Mayor of Philadelphia,) and Tacey Anna Bevan, (who married George Stacey) the children of Agnes Bevan, to whom the property had been devised by her grandfather, David Coupland, for two thousand dollars. From that time until the old Chester Lodge, No. 69, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons surrendered its charter, in 1836, the lodge room was in the third story of the cor- ner building, and was afterwards used by the Odd Fellows.
The hall, after the latter body vacatel it, was altered into four or five rooms for the use of guests. John Irwin died in 1834, and the widow continued the business until 1844, when Maurice W. Deshong leased it and changed the name to " The Delaware County Hotel." Mrs. Irwin died in 1847, and September 17, 1849, the property was sold by Robert R. Dutton, Sheriff, in settlement of the estate, to John Parkinson and Michael Carroll Three years subsequent, March 30, 1852, John Cochran purchased the property, and converted the ancient Inn into two stores and dwellings. The one at the corner was occupied by John Cochran and R. Morgan Johnson as a dry goods store, while the adjoining house was sold by John Cochran, May 15, 1852, to Joseph Ladomus, who still owns it. In February, 1859, John Cochran conveye.i the corner store and dwelling to Edward R. Minshall, whose heirs now own the pro- perty. In 1879, the corner part of the old building was licensed as a hotel, and is at present kept by Edward Kelly.
The Stacy House, immediately adjoining the hotel to the south, was devised by David Coupland to his daughter Sarah, who, in 1783, married Benjamin Bartholomew. The latter was a member of the Assembly from Chester county, and when that body, June 30, 1775, appointed a Committee of Safety, consisting of twenty-five members, Bartholomew was one named from this district. He was very active and efficient in discharging the duties of the position. He died 1784, and his wife, who survived her husband many years, resided in the house until near her death, and by will devised the premises to her niece, Tacey Ann (Bevan) who had married George Stacey. The latter, by her will, March 28, 1829, devised all her estate to her sons, James G. and Davis B. Stacey, in trust for Han-
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
nah, the wife of James G., and Sarah, (Van Dyke) wife of Davis B. Stacey, in equal parts, and at their death, to their children, in fee. Davis B. Stacey, well known to the elder residents of this city, with his brother, was at one time largely engaged in business as shipping merchants in Philadelphia, but, owing to heavy losses, the burning of one ship at sea and the wrecking of another, they were compelled to suspend. Mr. Stacey was an accomplished gen -- tleman, and while abroad met Miss Sarah Van Dyke, of Flushing, whom he married. He died 1864, and his wife survived him many years. The property known as the Stacey House, July 3, 1871, was conveyed by Hannah Stacey and her children to Sarah Stacey and her children. The latter are still the owners of the dwelling, which has been in the possession of the family as far back as I could find record.
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