USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Chester > Historical sketch of Chester, on Delaware > Part 11
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The Blue Ball Inn.
The old dwelling at the north-east of Second and Market streets, was erected by Francis Richardson between the years 1765 and 1770. The land whereon it st inds was devised to him in 1760, by Grace Lloyd. At the time he began the house, Richardson be- lieved that he was on the high road to great business prosperity, but before he had finished it he became financially embarrassed, owing to mist iken efforts to advance Chester to the front rank as a commercial rival of Philadelphia. It will be noticed that there are holes still in the brick walls where, when the house was build- ing, the timbers were inserted on which rested the boards of the scaffolding. It is said by Martin that in the days before the Me- chanics' Lien law, when masons were not paid for their work, these holes were always left in the wall to indicate to their fellow crafts- men that default had been made in that respect, and no mason would fill them in until the builders' claim had been discharged.
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Historic Buildings in Chester.
Be that as it may the holes remain to this day, and have for more than half a century aroused the curiosity of strangers as well as residents of Chester, as to the reason they had not been closed.
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The property was sold by Francis Richardson to David Coupland, reserving in the deed an annual rent of £3. Coupland in his will, dated December 3, 1777, devised to his daughter, Sarah Coupland, the " house and corner lot down Market street, which I purchased from Francis Richardson," during the minority of his grandson, David Bevan, and, when the latter attained manhood, the title was to vest in him. David Bevan, however, died without issue, and the estate passed to Joshua Coupland, a son of David Coupland: for Ezekiel Leonard, Sheriff, sold the rent charge on an execution against Francis Richardson, to Davis Bevan, August 31, 1787, and in the deed designates the property as in the tenure of Joshua Coupland. Bevan, April 1, 1788, conveyed the rent purchased by him to the heirs of Joshua Coupland, and in the distribution of the latter's estate, the Blue Ball Inn descended to his daughter, Sarah, who married, March 6, 1813, Thomas Malin, of Middletown. Mrs. Malin survived her husband, and resided in the ancient dwelling until her death, which occurred previous to 1859.
When the house was first built it was a noted inn, and from its peculiar sign-a blue ball suspended from the end of a pole or staff which projected from a hole in the wall, in the gable end on Mar- ket street-it was known as " The Blue Ball Inn." Its then land- lord was Samuel Fairlamb, who had married Hannah, the daughter of Francis Richardson. It was one of the dwellings struck by the balls from the English vessel of war which opened fire on the town in 1777, as narrated elsewhere, and the shot is said to have passed directly through one of the rooms in the second story.
Mrs. Malin having died intestate, Joshua Coupland administered to her estate, and on September 24, 1860, sold the property to John Brewster The latter, April 11, 1866, conveyed it to William Nu- gent and Drusilla Nugent, and the former, December 29, 1867, sold his interest in the property to Drusilla Nugent, who still owns it. The house is at present occupied as a restaurant.
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
Johnson's Tavern.
Strictly following the plan in writing these sketches, of designat- ing the building by the name of the person who erected it, I am not correct in calling this dwelling Johnson's Tavern, for Samuel Johnson did not come into possession of the premises until many years after the house was erected. The property was part of a tract of land acquired by Jacob Howell from the administrators of Jonas Sandelands , August 21, 1732. (more fully set forth in an ac- count of the Sandeland House elsewhere,) and which afterwards be- came the property of Isaac Howell, who was a tanner, as was also Jacob Howell. The former conveyed the property to William Pennell, December 10, 1748, as a messuage and lot of land, hence the building was placed there by Isaac or Jacob Howell-I presume the former- because the latter built the small stone house on the east side of Edgmont avenue, elsewhere mentioned in the account of the Sandeland House.
William Pennell, by will, 5th, 7th month, 1757, devised this pro- perty to his sons, James, William and Robert, and the two former, December 10, 1763, released their interest in this estate to Robert Pennell, who, April 3, 1784, conveyed the property to Samuel Johnson. The latter kept the dwelling as a public house, and is believed to have occupied it as a tenant before he purchased it. He seems to have failed in his undertaking, for he made default in payment of the mortgage, the estate was seized and sold by Ezekiel Leonard, Sheriff, July 5, 1787, and purchased by Robert Pennell. A brother of the then owner, James Pennell, rented the premises and while he was the landlord, as an attraction for the public, he kept a tiger, which he had taught to perform a number of tricks, and as it wasapparently very tame and docile, he had no fears of the animal. This unusual spectacle, at a time when there were no monstrous travelling shows to entertain the public, drew many per- 'sons to Pennell's tavern, and frequently he could be seen showing to a crowd of gaping rustics how tractable the creature was and how promptly it obeyed his command.
Pennell subsequently became the landlord of the Black Horse Hotel, in Middletown township, now kept by Edgar C. Lyons, and
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Historic Buildings in Chester.
when he removed thither he took the beast with him and continued the exhibitions. One day, while showing the country people his control of the tiger, he forced the animal to do many tricks over and over again, until it became enraged, and springing upon Pen- . nell, it tore him with its teeth and claws so badly before it could be driven back, that the unfortunate man died in a few hours thereafter.
After James Pennell had removed from this house, the owner. Robert Pennell, sold it March 23, 1790, to Tristram Smith, who carried on in the yard the business of tanning for about eighteen years. He conveyed the premises, March 26. 1808, to Jeremiah McIlvain, father of Spencer McIlvain, who lived in the house for more than three years, although he did not use the vats and other appliances on the premises in tanning hides. Mr. McIlvain, June 13, 1811, sold the property to John Cowgill, Jr., of Kent county, Delaware, and Joshua C. Cowgill, of Chester, and after they had held the estate in common until December 15, 1815, Joshua C. Cowgill purchased the interest of John Cowgill, Jr., in the premi- ses. The latter died seized of the house and lot, and Martha Cow- gill and Cyrus Mendenhall, administrators of his estate, conveyed it, December 14, 1832, to William Brobson, who carried on a tan- nery in the two yards now owned by him, for both Isaac and Jacob Howell's yards had come into his possession by purchase. William Brobson, by will, January 1, 1852, devised the estate to his wife, Rebecca, and September 25, 1855, Rebecca Brobson conveyed the estate to Frederick J. Hinkson, Sr., who for many years carried on the tan yard therein. By his will he left the premises to his two sons, Frederick J. Hinkson, Jr., and Henry Hinkson.
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
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The Old Porter (Lloyd) House.
It is doubtful whether any building in the United States, whose history extends over more than a century and a half has had con- nected in the title to the property so many distinguished owners as will be found in that of the old Porter House in this city, whose record was closed in that appalling tragely, early in this year, which shrouded our city in mourning for a season.
By patent dated April 9, 1669, Francis Lovelace, Governor Gen- eral under the Duke of York, granted unto Neeles Laerson, alias Friend, a large tract of ground comprising one hundred and fifty acres, but which by subsequent survey proved to include in the boundary lines one hundred and eighty-three acres. The patent reserved a yearly rent of one and a half bushels of winter wheat, payable to the King. Laerson entered into possession of the land thus allotted him, built upon and improved the premises. By will, dated December 17, 1686-he died the following year - Laerson gave authority to his wife to sell the real estate in her discretion. In exercise of this power Ann Friend-the family had by this time assumed the English alias as their family name and had abandoned the Swedish patronymic absolutely-the widow, Andrew Friend, son and heir of Laerson and Johannes Friend, the second son, by deed dated May 27, 1689, conveyed the estate to David Lloyd. Lloyd, however, after he built the house whose history I am writ- ing, seemed to have had some doubts of the sufficiency of the title and therefore, thirty-four years subsequently, July 13, 1723, he had hun Friend, (then one hundred and five years old,) and Gabriel Friend and Laurence Friend, the younger sons of Neeles Laerson and Ann, his wife, execute a deed conveying the premises he had purchased in 1686. Parts of the estate thus acquired were sold by Lloyd to Joseph Richardson, and to Rodger Jackson, but he sub- sequently re-purchased the land thus conveyed, and in addition ac- quired from Jonas Sandelands a considerable tract, until the estate had increased to about five hundred acres.
David Lloyd was born in the Parish of Marravon, in the county of Montgomery, North Wales, in 1656. He was a trained and well-read lawyer in England, and, although he was only thirty years
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Historic Buildings in Chester.
oll, so highly did Penn esteem his mental worth, that previous to Lloyd's departure for the Colony, the Proprietary appointed him Attorney General of the Province. He and his wife, Sarah, were passengers on the " Amity," which arrived at Philadelphia, August 15, 1686. He is said to have been a man of fine and commanding appearance, of pleasing address, good delivery and an earnest, flu- ent advocate, whose persistent energy often hastened him in debate to utterances which earned for him the ill will of those holding opinions adverse to those he maintained. His natural powers were, however, so conspicuous that they compelled recognition, hence his appointment to many offices of trust and profit. He was at different times Clerk of the County Court of Philadelphia, Deputy Master of the Rolls and Clerk of the Provincial (Supreme) Court. His refusal while discharging the duties of the latter office to de- liver over to Governor Blackwell the records of the Court, brought him in direct collision with the Executive, and, although he was defeated finally, for a consi lerable time he maintained his position successfully.
In 1689 he was Clerk of the Assembly, and in 1692-'94 he was a member of that body, representing the county of Philadelphia. Subsequently for four years he was a member of the Provincial Council, and while filling that position he battled earnestly for popular rights as against the encroachment of acting Governor Markham, and, indeed, it was largely due to his determined cour- age that Markham accorded the new charter of Privileges in 1696. To him we are indebted for many Legislative enactments, which, at that early day, gave security to the public and improvement to the Province. In 1702 he was appointed advocate to the Court of Admiralty. The opening of the eighteenth century found Lloyd in open revolt against Logan and Penn. Logan was haughty and re- served, while " Lloyd was accessible to all, affable in his manners, pertinacious in his enterprises, and devoted to the people," and his brave conduct in refusing to personally apologize to Gov. Evans, made him, as he was, the advocate and defender of the rights of the people. His undaunted courage and persistency of purpose soon made him the foremost man in the Colony, and his honesty of action caused him to be the centre about which all who were strug- gling for popular rights gathered. The Logan and Penn corres-
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
pondence shows with what bitter hatred he was regarded by Penn and James Logan, the latter the ever-willing mouthpiece of the Proprietary party The most opprobrious epithets and the basest of motives were freely ascribed to him, but, notwithstanding the slanders which were constantly hurled at him, he maintained his · purpose without shrinking from the responsibilities it cast on him. His warm personal friendships kept his adherents ardent in his cause, and he was repeatedly chosen a member of the Assembly . and often its speaker. Logan, previous to his open rupture with Lloyd, in a letter to William Penn, describes Lloyd as "a man very stiff in all his undertakings, of sound judgment and a good lawyer, but extremely pertinacious and somewhat revengeful." Proud, the historian, whose mind seemed to liave leaned toward the Proprietary party, tells us that " his political talents seem to have been rather to divide than to unite, a policy that may suit the crafty politician, but must ever be disclaimed by the Christian statesman."
In 1709 Lloyd was manager of the impeachment of James Lo- gan, which proceeding justly failed in convicting the defendant of the charges alleged. In 1718 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Province, a position he held until his death in 1731.
David Lloyd was twice married, his second wife was Grace Grow- den, whom he wed after the year 1703, for several deeds of that year are executed by him alone, indicating that at that time lie was a widower. By his first marriage he was childless; by his second, he was the father of one son, who, at an early age was killed by an accident. He died 6th day of ye 2d month, ( May) 1731, aged 78 years, for such is the inscription on his tomb-stone in Friends' grave yard here. If it be a fact that he was seventy-eight years old when he died, David Lloyd could not have been born in 1656, and yet all the authorities agree in giving the latter date as that of his birth. By his will dated March 27, 1724, after a few bequests, the remainder of his estate is devised to his wife Grace, who was twenty-seven years younger than her husband.
The old mansion was built in 1721, and the slab on which was engraved the letters L. L. D. & G., 1721, which was formerly in the western gable of the dwelling, is now in the office of Chief of Police L. D. Wheaton, to whom it was presented by the contractor who took down the shattered wall of the building after the explo-
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Historic Buildings in Chester.
sion in 1882. The house was of stone, massively built, and was one of the best specimens of Colonial grandeur which had descend- ed to our time. It received many additions to it after it pissed into the possession of Commodore Porter, such as the building of the cupola on the roof, the walling up of the open corner chimney- place and substituting therefor the grates and marble mantels which were seen there when the ruins were visited by thousands of people last spring. Lloyd lived sumptuously in the old mansion, then as before stated one of the most imposing dwellings in the New World, entertaining largely and keeping a retinue of servants. He was one of the eight gentlemen of means in the Province, in- cluding the Governor, who, in the year 1725, are recorded as own- ing four-wheeled carriages, drawn by two horses.
Grace Lloyd, in her widowhood, was attended faithfully by her friend, Jane Fenn, a noted minister of Friends, until the latter married, and in turn became the mistress of the old dwelling. Jane Fenn was born in 1693, in London, and when very young was strongly impressed with the belief that it was her duty to go to Pennsylvania, and after several years had elapsed, in which she struggled against the impression, she sailed in 1712, in comp iny with a Welshman, Robert Davis, who with his family were emigra- ting to Pennsylvania. Davis had paid her passage, and she had obligated herself to return the outlay out of the first money she could earn ; but when he insisted that she should bind herself as a servant for four years to repay him the money, she resisted. as she had not come as a redemptioner. Davis had her arrested for debt. She was thrown into prison, but was relieved therefrom by some Friends, who paid the claim and employed her in their families as a teacher of their children. At this time she was not a Quaker, but the kindness of these people attracted her toward them, and finally she united with the Society and became ultimately one of its most efficient ministers. It is recorded that at a meeting at Haver- ford, David and Grace Lloyd came in, and immediately Jane Fenn, who was present, was impressed with the conviction that " these were the people with whom she must go and settle," while David and Grace Lloyd were in their turn impressed with Jane, " and it was fixed in their minds to take her for the Lord's service." In 1719 she went to live with the family as housekeeper, and remained
114
Historical Sketch of Chester.
with them until 1727, when she visite l England and Ireland on & religious mission, and returned to Chester in 1730, a short time previous to. David Lloyd's death. She remained with his widow antil her (Jane Fenn's) marriage to Joseph Hoskins, 8th mo. 26, 1738, at Chester Meeting.
On May 1, 1741, Grace Lloyd conveyed the mansion and most of the real estate she acquired under. her husband's will to Joseph Hoskins, reserving two acres of ground and " also the room in the south-west corner of the mansion house, called the dining room, the room on the north-east corner of said house, called the parlor, with a closet and milk house adjoining, the chamber over the said dining room, the chamber over the said parlor, one-half part of the garret, the front part of che cellar, the old kitchen and chamber over it, the chaise house, the use of the pump, cider mill and cider press to make her own cider, and part of the garden, with free liberty of ingress, egress and regress into and out of all and every the premises for the term of her natural life without impeachment of waste " Grace Lloyd died in 1760.
Joseph Hoskins was one of the best citizens our town has ever had. He was an enterprising, public spirited man, doing good and asking no mere gratification of his personal vanity by coupling his gift with conditions that the donor's name should be made conspicu- ous and held in remembrance because of these works by which others should be benefitted. He gave because his heart prompted the act in the love he bore his fellows. Joseph Hoskins was born in Chester, June 30, 1705, and seems to have been an active man of business. When twenty-six years of age he made a voyage to the Island of Barbadoes, but returned after a short absence and in 1739, after his marriage, he went to Boston, on business. In the early days of our country, a journey such as this, was a remarkable event in a man's life, and, at this time more persons can be found in Chester, in proportion to its population, who have visited Japan, than at the period I am alluding to, who had made a voyage to Boston. He was made Chief Burgess of Chester and one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace in 1758. In his will bearing date the 31st day of the 12th month, 1769, Joseph Hoskins made this important public devise :
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Historic Buildings in Chester.
and William Swaffer, a certain lot of ground situate in the Borough of Chester, beginning at the intersection of Welsh or Back street, and the King's road, and to extend along the said King's road one hundred feet, and from thence parallel with the said Welsh or Back street one hundred feet, and from thence parallel with the said King's road one hundred feet to the said Welsh or Back street and thence by the same street one hundred feet to the place of -begin- ning. To hold to them the sail Henry Hale Graham and William Swaffer and their heirs forever upon special trust and confidence nevertheless and to and for the uses, intents and purposes herein- after mentioned, expressed and declared, and none other, that is to say, for the use, benefit and behoof of all and every the inhabitants of the said Borough and township of Chester for the building and erecting a school house or school houses or other edifices for the teaching and instructing and educating of youths therein, and my will is that the Trustees aforesaid enter into and be in quiet and peaceable possession of the said lot of ground, immediately after some part of the materials are got ready for erecting a school house thereon."
Joseph Hoskins did not die until 1773, and his will was not probated until the 21st of July of that year, but so unbounded was the confidence of his neighbors in his uprightness, that in 1770 they built a school house on the lot thus given to the Borough, al- though their title was simply the statement of Hoskins, that he had made such devise of real estate in his will. We have every assur- ance to believe that he gave liberally of his income toward the building itself. Not only did he give this land, but in his will he also directed £30-a large sum in those days-to be paid by his executors to John Eyre and James Barton, to be applied " for the schooling and educating of such poor children belonging to the inhabitants of the Borough and township of Chester as the said Preparative Meeting for the time being shall think fit to order and direct." He also gave £10 towards enclosing the Friends' grave yard, on Edgmont avenue, with a brick or stone wall, and. he being childless, the residue of his estate, after a few personal be- quests to relatives and friends, he gave to his nephew, John Hos- kins, of Burlington, New Jersey. This John Hoskins had married, in 1750, Mary, a daughter of Joshua and Sarah Raper, of Burling- ton, and their son, Raper Hoskins, having made Chester his place of residence, in charge of his father's property here, May 2, 1781, married Eleanor, daughter of Henry Hale Graham, while Joseph
1
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
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Hoskins, Raper Hoskins' brother, married, June 12, 1793, Mary, a younger daughter of Henry Hale Graham. John Hoskins, to whom the estate descended under Joseph Hoskins' will, after holding the title to the premises for eighteen years, on March 22, 1791, made a deed conveying a large tract of land, comprising that whereon the old mansion house stood, to Raper Hoskins. The latter having died . in the fall of the year 1798, a victim of the yellow fever scourge in Chester, his widow, Eleanor Hoskins, was granted letters on his estate and in discharge of her duties sold the property, April 28, 1799, to Thomas Laycock. The latter died in the fall of the year 1804, and in satisfaction of certain obligations the estate was sold, October 20, 1806, by John Odenheimer, Esq., Sheriff, to Daniel Hitner, who in turn conveyed it, May 20, 1808, to Anthony Morris. December 10, of the same year, Morris sold the premises to Phebe Pemberton, and November 17, 1809, she conveyed the estate to Major William Anderson. Evelina Anderson, the daugh- ter of the Major, having intermarried with David Porter, in that year the newly wedded couple made their home at the old mansion, excepting during the times when Porter was located at naval sta- tions in charge of the Government yards. February 24, 1816, William Anderson and Elizabeth, his wife, " in consideration of the natural love and affection which they have and bear for their son-in-law, the said David Porter, as well for and in consideration of one dollar," conveyed to David Porter in fee the house, improve- ments and a trifle over three acres and a half of land.
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