USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Chester > Historical sketch of Chester, on Delaware > Part 9
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elected Sheriff of the county. In early life he was noted for his manly beauty. An interesting item respecting the old hostelry during Major Price's occupancy, was related in The Delaware Coun- ty Advocate, several years ago. The article stated that General Harrison, in 1840, after he had received the Whig nomination for the Presidency, was returning from Washington, accompanied by a number of gentlemen from New York, stopped for dinner at the Washington House, and while there received the congratulations of the citizens of Chester. After dinner had been served, the cloth was drawn, wine, as usual on such occasions, was placed on the table, and several toasts were drunk. It was observed that Harrison drank water, and being thereupon pressed to take wine, he rose and said :
" Gentlemen, I have refuse:l twice to partake of the wine cup. that should have been sufficient : thought you press the cup to my lips not a drop shall pass their portals. I made a resolve when I started in life that I would avoi:l strong drink, anl I have never broken it. I am one of a class of seventeen young men who gradu- ated, and the other sixteen fill drunkard's graves, all through the habit of social wine drinking. I owe all my heilth, happiness and prosperity to that resolution. Will you urge me now ?"
The circumstance and remarks made by Harrison were related by one of the gentlemen present nearly forty years afterwards. hence the language used on that occasion may not be accurately re- ported, although the substance is doubtless correctly rendered.
Sarah Piper, by her will, proved September 13, 1841, directed that " the tavern house and thereto belonging, be sold within one year after my decease." In compliance with that request. although there was a longer interval than one year, her executors sold, April 2, 1844, the premises to Henry L. Powell, who in turn, October 11, of the same year, conveyed it to Edward E. Flavill. Mr. Flavill conducted the hotel as a temperance house, and Samuel West, an earnest temperance advocate, employed Edward Hicks, a Quaker artist, to paint a swinging sign-one side presenting a delineation of Penn's Landing at Chester, and the other Penn's treaty (?) with the Indians, which he presented to the landlord. This old sign is still in good preservation and owned by the present proprietor of the Washington House, Henry Abbott. The business proving unre- munerative, Flavili sold the property to Thomas Clyde, January 1, 1849. Mr. Clyde liad formerly kept an extensive country store at the
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
north-east corner of Market Square, the building now owned and occupied by John C Williams and the eating house of Mr. Dixon adjoining, having been erected by him for his dwelling and store. He was also largely interested in quarries on Ridley creek. Mr. Clyde continued the hotel as a temperance house with indifferent succes for over nine years, when he conveyed the property, April 12, 1856, to John G. Dyer. Mr. Dyer had formerly been a clerk in the store of the late Joshua P. Eyre, and subsequently had carried on the dry goods and grocery business in Philadelphia, Chester and Rockdale, was Custom officer at the Lazaretto and was connected with the late James Campbell, in the manufacture of cotton goods at Leiperville. He was a man of fine conversational powers, possessing a ready, copious vocabulary and pleasing address, which particulary fitted him for the business of keeping a hotel. He died October 26, 1881. In 1868, John G Dyer conveyed the estate to Samuel A. Dyer, and he, June 1, 1871, sold it to Henry Abbott, who still owns the property and is the popular host of the Washington House at this time. Both of these gentlemen are well known, active and influential citizens of Chester.
The ground rent spoken of herein, created by Jonas Sandelands, in his deed to John Wright, January 21, 1720, has been fully dis- charged and extinguished of record.
The Columbia House.
The land on which this ancient building stands, was included In the patent dated May 31, 1686, whereby the commissioners of Wil- liam Penn conveyed to James Sandelands, the elder, in fee, twenty acres of ground in Chester, and is a part of the same tract on which the Washington House was built. The land descended to Jonas Sandilands in the distribution of his father's estate. Jonas Sandelands died subsequent to 1721, for at that time he held the
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office of Coroner of Chester county, and his widow, Mary, married before 1731 Arthur Shields. August 31, 1732, Arthur Shields and Mary, his wife, the administrators of Jonas Sandleands' estate, conveyed a tract of land containing over two acres to William Trehorn, subject to a yearly ground rent of five shillings, to be paid to the heirs of Jonas Sandelands. Trehorn and Catharine, his wife, sold the land, November 14, 1733, to Richard Barry, who built the present building previous to December 7, 1736, and lived therein, for at the last mentioned date he mortgaged the premises, and it is stated in that instrument that he had " erected a new brick messuage upon the lot." Barry, who kept the house as a tavern, conveyed the estate to John Hanley, who had in the meanwhile married the widow of William Trehorn She died previous to 1764, and Hanley married again, for September 13, of that year, he and Eleanor, his wife, transferred the hotel to James Coultas. The lat- ter and wife conveyed it, August 6, 1766, to George Gray, in trust, and he sold it to George Harkins, subject to a mortgage of £250 given to Henry Hale Graham, but no deed was made to Harkins, and he, seeming to be in possession, the premises were taken in exe- cution as his property and sold by Jesse Maris, Sheriff, November 6, 1769, to Robert Moore, subject to the mortgage above mentioned, and £255 due the estate of James Coultas, deceased. Robert Moore endorsed, April 28, 1770, on the back of the Sheriff's deed, that he conveyed the premises to Nicholas Barnard, who on paying £250 due Coultas' estate, to George Gray, the latter, May 5, 1770, made a deed to Barnard, subject to the mortgage held by Grahanı.
Mary Withy, the widow of James Withy, an English officer, and a pensioner of the British government for £60 per annum, pur- chased the hotel, July 18, 1771, and during the time she was host- ess it was reported to be the best kept tavern in America, and as such is frequently referred to in publications of that day. This reputation brought to her house numbers of prominent personages when journeying between the seat of Government and points south of Chester. She appears to have realized a snug fortune and must have contemplated the abandonment of the business several years before she actually retired fron it, for during the late decade of the eighteenth century, she purchased the Lamokin farm-now belonging to the estate of Abram R. Perkins, deceased-and made
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
the eastern addition to the old house. Her son, Samuel, maintained the most aristocratic notions, and became very unpopular with the mechanics and workmen by declaring that people in their condition should be restricted from dressing in the same fabrics as used by their more pecuniarily fortunate neighbors, so that the wealthy and the laboring citizens could be designated by their apparel.
When Lafayette was wounded at the battle of Brandywine, he was brought to Chester, and his wounds dressed by Mary (Gorman) Lyons. In a letter written by the late Joseph Weaver, Jr., at one time Sheriff of the county, dated April 3, 1843, and addressed to Hon. Calvin Blythe, he states that it was at Mrs. Withy's tavern, (now the Columbia House,) where the wound was cared for. Mr. John C. Beatty, however, locates the incident as having happened in the old Barber House, an account of which will be found else- where On September 1, 1796, Mary Withy sold the premises to Major William Anderson, who at the date of his purchase had been landlord of the hotel for some time, for it is stated that he had built a frame summer house and an ice house, while the property was in his possession as tenant.
Major William Anderson was a native of Virginia, who when only fiften years of age, had joined the Continental army, serving therein five years, and was present at the siege of Yorktown and the sur- render of Lord Cornwallis. He married Elizabeth Dixon, whose personal appearance in early womanhood was so attractive that she and her two sisters were termed "the three beauties of Virginia." The precise time when Anderson came to Chester I have failed to learn, but I presume shortly after the close of the war. While keeping the hotel he is said to have been elected to Congress, an as- sertion I much doubt, notwithstanding the late John K. Zeilin-in an obituary of Mr. Anderson, published by him in the Upland Union, December 22, 1829-says that he was a member of that body, and Martin, in his History of Chester, states that he served eighteen years as representative from this district. The name of William Anderson does not appear in the list of members of Congress of Pennsylvania, extending back to 1789, as officially published in " Smull's Hand Book." In 1803, he built the old Anderson man- sion on Welsh street, but still kept the hotel for Richard S. Smith, in an interesting sketch of a ride from Philadelphia to New Castle,
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in the year 1808, published in Martin's History of Chester, says :
" I got to Chester about one o'clock, A. M., and stopped at the tavern kept by Major Anderson, and got my horse fed. The hotel dinner was over, but the Major asked me to dine with his family. At the table I noticed quite a handsome young lady, who read a novel all the time we were at dinner. She was the Major's daughter, and afterwards became the wife of the celebrated Commodore David Porter."
Major Anderson was, however, Associate Judge of the Courts of Delaware county, and at the time of his death, December 15, 1829, he held a position in the Custom House in Philadelphia. March 2, 1814, he sold the hotel to Nimrod Maxwell, of Huntingdon, who carried on the business there for several years, when he leased the house to John J. Thurlow, (now a hale and hearty octogenarian, who possesses a rich fund of recollection of the history of Chester and its former residents) who kept it until 1830, when he removed to the National Hotel, at Edgmont avenue and Third street. Max- well having died insolvent, suit was brought against his executors, and April 12, 1830, Jehu Broomall, Sheriff, sold the estate to the Delaware County Bank, which corporation held the title for several years, during which time Samuel Lamplugh was landlord. March 13, 1833, the Bank sold the property to Thomas Ewing, and Eliza, his wife. During the latter ownership, the hotel was kept by John Richards, the late Prothonotary, and he was succeeded by Frank Lloyd, who, still living near Darby, loves to recount the pranks and sports of the olden time, when woe awaited a stranger at the hands of the madcap roytserers of the ancient Borough. Thomas Ewing and wife conveyed the estate, January 17, 1839, to Captain Elisha S. Howes. He was a veritable "salt," who had earned his title as master of merchant ships, and he kept it for several years, until he relinquished it to embark in the grocery business, and March 27, 1848, sold it to James Campbell, who, after making extensive repairs to the building, conveyed it, March 13, 1854, to John Har- rison Hill, who had kept the tavern at Leiperville. The property being sold by the Sheriff, was purchased May 27, 1856, by Mark B. Hannum, who conveyed it, April 1, 1857, to Mrs. Elizabeth Appleby, who now owns it. Under the able management of the present landlord, Thomas Appleby, the old hostelry has in a mea- sure regained its prestige of nearly a century ago. .
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
It might be interesting to some of our readers to mention, that tradition states that one of the owners of the old building, in early times, had an inmate of his family, who was a violent maniac, and at that time, as there was no place for the detention of persons thus afflicted, he was compelled to keep the lunatic in his own house. To prevent his escaping, and to render it impossible for him to reach the windows, a large and strong iron ring was placed in the floor of one of the upper rooms, and to this ring the de- ranged person was made fast by a heavy chain or rope, and for many years was kept confined in that apartment. Madame Rumor, as is often the case, may have located the incidents in the wrong place. I do not vouch for its truth.
The Steamboat Hotel. -
Grace Lloyd, by her will, dated the 6th day of fourth month, 1760, devised unto her cousin, Francis Richardson, of Philadelphia, after certain specific devises of lands and bequests of personal pro- perty to other parties named therein, "all the rest, residue and re- mainder of my lands, plantations, lots of ground, rents, tenements, hereditaments and real estate whatsoever and wheresoever." This Francis Richardson entered into possession of the real estate thus devised to him, and began very extensive improvements. Ile erect- ed between the years 1761 and 1770, the substantial building at the north-east corner of Market and Front streets, now known as the Steamboat Hotel, for a dwelling for his family, built extensive ware- houses and a wharf at the site of the present upper Government pier, which wharf stood until the year 1816, and was known as "Richardson's wharf," and made preparations for a large business as a shipper of grain and other produce. While he was making these improvements he was remonstrated with by many of his friends for his outlay of money in the undertaking, and he was much incensed
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at what he believedl to be their short-sightedness. Unfortunately for his enterprise, the brewing troubles with the mother country worked disastrously for his speculations, and resulted in entirely ruining him. His daughter, Deborah, was married at Chester, June 10, 1773, to Joseph Mifflin, and the same year Deborah, Hannah and John, together with their father, became members of Chester Friends' Meeting. Hannah married Samuel Fairlamb; Grace married Isaac Potts, and Frances married Clement Biddle. The four daughters of Francis Richardson were much admired for their beauty, and the exquisite transparencies of their complexion was so remarkable that the gallants of that day reported that, when they drank a glass of wine, "it might be seen trickling down their fair throats." An elder son, who was born in Philadelphia, and named after his fa- ther Francis, we are told by the Annalist, Watson, "was a person of great personal beauty," a statement Mrs. Deborah Logan fully corroborates. About 1770 this son went to London, having formed a passionate longing for military life from associating with the Brit- ish officers in Philadelphia, and secured a commission in the King's Life Guard, of which crack regiment he subsequently became Col- onel. His brother John, who was a Friend, when the Revolution- ary War broke out, was quite active in military movements, and for that cause was disowned by Chester Meeting in 1775. Francis Richardson died subsequently to the year 1779, for in April of that year he was the lessee of a frame store house on the east side of Market, south of Fourth street, which afterwards became the pro- perty of Dr. Job Terrill, and now of Mrs. Jolin O. Deshong. He died insolvent, and his real estate, dwelling and warehouses were sold after his death by Ezekiel Leonard, High Sheriff, July 2, 1787, to Robert Eaglesfield Griffith, a lawyer of Philadelphia, who, on May 4, 1789, conveyed the estate to Davis Bevan.
This Davis Bevan was of Welsh descent, and was one of the most conspicuous characters in our city's annals. He was married to Agnes Coupland, daughter of David Coupland, and was thirty-seven years of age when the battles of Lexington and Concord were fought. He was commissioned Captain in the Continental Army, and served faithfully throughout the war. Martin, in his History of Chester, furnishes the following pleasing incidents in the life of Captain Davis Bevan :--
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
" He was with Washington at the battle of Brandywine, in 1777, and after the defeat of the American forces he carried dispatches from General Washington to the President of the Continental Con- gress, then sitting in Philadelphia, announcing the result of the en- gagement. A gentleman by the name of Sharp, accompanied Capt. Beven. Proceeding some distance from the army they observed they were pursued by a party of British light horse. Mr. Sharp was not so well mounted as Captain Bevan, who had a thorough- bred mare of great action and endurance. Finding that the light horse were gaining on them constantly, and that Mr. Sharp would persist in urging his nag up the hills in spite of his advice to the contrary, Capt. Bevan said : 'Sharp, if we keep together our capture is certain, therefore, I think you hai l better take the next cross road that we come to, and I will continue on. They will follow me, but I am confident they cannot capture me.' This proposal was agreed to, and as soon as Mr. Sharp had turned off, Capt. Bevan gave the rein to his mare, and his pursuers soon finding themselves distanced, gave up the chase. When Capt. Bevan reached the Schuylkill du- ring the night, he found, owing to a heavy freshet, the ferry boat was either unable to run, or had been carried down the river. A boatman, however, rowed him over, while his mare swam by the side of the boat. He landed safely on the Philadelphia shore, and replacing his saddle, he hastened to deliver his dispatches. This of- ficer had various adventures, and often ran great risks while the American army was at Valley Forge. On one occasion he went to visit his wife at the house of a Mr. Vernon, where she had come from Philadelphia, for the purpose of seeing himn. Mr. Vernon's house was but a short distance from the British lines, and it was therefore necessary that considerable caution should be exercised to prevent capture by the numerous parties of British foragers scouring the country. Mr. Vernon's sons were posted around the house at convenient points for observation to give warning of the approach of enemies, and Capt. Bevan went to bed. About the middle of the night one of the boys came to his room, and informed him that a mounted party were approaching the house, and he had better prepare to take his departure. Being rather an obstinate man he did not seem to believe the report, but presently another picket came in and told him that he would certainly be captured if he remained any longer. He sprang out of bed, hurried on his regi- mentals and reached the back door just as the British party knocked at the front. He got to the stable, where he found his mare already saddled, and leading her out and mounting, he leaped the farm-yard enclosure, and being perfectly familiar with the country he had no .
difficulty in evading his enemies.
" The crew of the Brigantine ' Holker' was enlisted at Chester, by Capt. Davis Bevan, to sail as a privateer. He was Captain of Marines. The ' Holker' was conimanded by Capt. Matthew Law-
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ler, his son-in-law, and captured some valuable prizes, one laden with lead, which was invaluable to the army, as at that time the supply for making bullets was about exhausted. Most of the en- listments were made in July, 1779, as appears by the receipt book of Capt Bevan, now in possession of the Delaware County Insti- tute of Science. The bounty paid for a single cruise was from $50 to $100, most probably Continental money."
During the Revolutionary War, the house, whose southern gable end, as we know, stood near the river, which at that time was a" bold, gravelly shore, was a conspicuous mark : and when the Brit- ish frigate " Augusta," in 1777, sailed up the Delaware to be sunk afterwards in the attack on Fort Mifflin, her commander, in sheer wantonness, opened fire on the defenseless town. One of the shot shattered the wall in the gable end towards the river, and the owner repaired the breach by placing a circular window in the opening thus made. It still remains there.
The house for many years was unproductive ; various tenants oc- cupied it, but because of the tradition that shortly after the Revo- lution a negro named Laban had been killed in the dwelling by a blow with an axe on the head, whose blood was said to have made an indelible stain behind the door where he fell, and whose spirit wandered around the place of his untimely death, they were of a class that could not afford to pay remunerative rent for the prem- ises ..
Davis Bevan died March 30, 1818, and in the distribution of his estate the Steamboat Hotel passed to his son, Matthew Lawler Bevan. He, September 27, 1826, sold the property to John Ford, who named it the Steamboat Hotel, and among the attractions to bring custom to this house, he set up a bagatelle table, the first ever owned in Chester. For some time it drew many of the men of the place to the hotel, and so annoying did it prove to the good wives of that day (who were permitted to remain home while the heads of the family were playing the new game) that the women of Chester christened the table " the bag of hell." Ford, too, was excessively jealous of his wife, and frequently became so demon- strative that for days together he locked his better half in one of the upper chambers and would carry her meals to the room, per- mitting no one to speak with her until his ill humor had expended itself. He seems not to have been successful in the business, for
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
the property was sold by Jehu Broomall, Sheriff, June 1831, to Samuel Smith. The new owner leased the premises to Welcome D. Niles, for eighteen months, but in the meantime he was making efforts to secure a new tenant. The house, as it was at that time, is described in an advertisement headed " for rent," which ap- pearel in the Weekly Visitor of January 29, 1832. It states :
" It is most advantageously located, being but a few yards distant from the landling of the numerous steamboats which ply up and down the river. There are seventeen fine rooms in the building, which are large, airy and very comfortable. The bar-room is fitted up in the neatest manner. A two-story piazza, extending nearly around the house, is sufficient to accommodate nearly 100 persons to dine, and affords a delightful promenade, and an extensive view on the Delaware, the Lazaretto, etc. There is stabling on the premises sufficient for 20 horses, with a fine shed attached. A spring of excellent water on the premises and a good garden, con- taining three acres of excellent land."
The hotel was shortly afterwards rented to Henry Rease, who will be remembered by many of our elder residents, as one of the people from Chester, saved from death when the steamboat William Penn caught fire, March 4, 1834, off the Point House, near Philadelphia, and was burned to the water's edge. After Rease's term had expired the property was leased to Crossman Lyons, a well known citizen of Chester, the son of a Revolutionary soldier, who when a young man had joined Washington's army in its retreat through New Jersey, had followed the fortunes of the Continental troops through the war until its close, when he settled in Chester and married Mary Gorman, a woman of extraordinary nerve, whose busy hands dressed many of those wounded at the battle of Brandy- wine, who were brought to this city for attention. She it was who waited on and dressed the wounds of Marquis de Lafayette, on the evening of that disastrous day. Crossman Lyons, October 12, 1844, purchased the property, and a few years subsequent he leased it to Howard Roberts, who, after keeping the hotel for about three years, declined to continue the business longer, and Mr. Lyons re- sumed the post of "mine host" until November 12, 1851, when John Goff, of Philadelphia, purchased the property and became its landlord.
The following year the new proprietor made extensive improve- ments, laid out the grove as an ice cream garden, built a pavilion,
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and among other attractions procured a live black bear, which for several years was one of the features of the premises, for among his other accomplishments, Bruin had learned to enjoy a " quiet shifter," and seemed to be perfectly happy when he could take a bottle of porter and let the liquid gurgle down his throat. In the fall of the year 1856, the bear having grown cross, it was deter- mined to kill it, and Mortimer H. Bickley was assigned to shoot the animal, which he did. The tables of many Chester people, for several days thereafter, were garnished with bear meat in every style in which the cooks could prepare it. Mr. Goff died in August, 1857, and on December 13, 1859, his administrator, Hon. John Larkin, Jr., sold the estate to his widow, Mary Ann Goff, who still owns it. John Goff, the present landlord, has recently had many improvements made to the ancient building, which still bears about it the evidence that it was erected by a wealthy man of the Colo- nial days, whose genial hospitality gave open-hearted welcome to his friends in the " Auld Lang Syne."
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