History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 92

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162

USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches > Part 92

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"WILLOW GLEN MILLS." RESIDENCE AND MILLS OF JOHN C. YEATMAN, LONDON BRITAIN.

AGRICULTURAL.

335

Mr. Larkin, in December, 1855, purchased the printing- press and materials formerly owned by Bayard Taylor and Frederick E. Foster, with which the Phoenixville Pioneer had been printed, and after carrying ou a job-office in Phoenixville until April, 1856, removed it to East Brandy- wine township, where he conducted a job-office until May, 1870.

The Medical Reporter was a quarterly journal, published under the direction of the Chester and Delaware County Medical Societies, and was printed at West Chester by Henry S. Evans. The publication commenced in July, 1853, and continued for three years. It was an oetavo, each number having thirty-two pages, and contained matters of interest to the medical profession ; the numbers for the three years forming a convenient-sized volume for binding, a title-page and general index were given in the last number.

The want of a magazine for children and young folks among members of the Society of Friends being exten- sively felt, a proposition was made in the society to Mrs. Esther K. Smedley, wife of Dr. R. C. Smedley, of West Chester, in the spring of 1866, to edit and publish such a periodical. The project met with such immediate and hearty approval that she consented to do so, and the publi- lication of the Children's Friend, a monthly juvenile magazine, was commenced in May of that year. It was an illustrated octavo of twenty-four pages, which was after- wards twice increased in size and the number of pages. In 1867 the editor was assisted by Lydia H. Hall. In 1872, owing to failing health, Mrs. Smedley parted with the magazine to her sister, Mrs. Anna F. Bradley, of Coates- ville, who continued its publication until November, 1875, when it was disposed of to Mary Y. Hough, of Philadel- phia, by whom it has since been edited.

Scattered Seeds is an illustrated monthly of sixteen pages, small quarto, edited by Lydia H. Hall, of West

Chester. It is designed for the use of children, and is mainly circulated in schools, and is very popular, as is shown by its circulation, which is now about five thousand seven hundred copies. Although edited by a Friend, and circulating largely in Friends' schools, it is strictly non- sectarian in its contents, and may be made a welcome visitor in all families.

The Christian Sunbeam was a monthly religious paper, under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Its publication commenced in March, 1878, and ended in March, 1880. It was edited by Rev. S. N. Chew, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church of West Chester, and printed by F. S. Hiekman.

Our Monthly is a Presbyterian journal, edited by Rev. Benjamin T. Jones, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of West Chester, and published by F. S. Hickman. It is designed to convey religious instruction to the people, and has been published since July, 1879.

The Student is a monthly journal devoted to the inter- ests of education in the Society of Friends. It is an octavo of twenty-four pages, and is edited by Isaac Sharp- less, professor in Haverford College, and Watson W. Dewees, a teacher in the Westtown Friends' Boarding- School. Its publication dates from September, 1880.

The Chester County Reporter is a weekly legal journal of twelve pages, large octavo, edited by James Monaghan, Esq., of the West Chester bar. It contains the proceed- ings and decisions of the courts of Chester County, and legal notices, and is devoted to the interests of the bar and of the business public. The first number was issued April 6, 1880.

The Brandywine Review, a monthly advertising sheet, is edited by George B. Eager, and published by Mclaughlin & Zook, at Coatesville. The first number was issued in June, 1881.

AGRICULTURAL.

CHESTER is essentially an agricultural county, and must have been so recognized at an early day, as a plow was the leading deviee of its first official seal in 1683 .* We may suppose that at the advent of Europeans in this country, the surface was generally covered with forests, the Indians having a few patches here and there upon which they raised the corn which bears their name. Timber being abundant, and but little in demand compared with the present, the early settlers probably killed the trees by girdling with an axe, and planted the intervening spaces, leaving the tree to decay, and burning the branches as they fell. In an obituary

of Mary Newlin, of Concord, who died in 1790, in her one hundred and second year, it is stated that she was born in Thornbury township, and " remembered when her father and others deaded the timber and burned the leaves, and hoed in their wheat by hand, there being few horses and scarce a plow in the settlement; that the natives were very kind to them, supplying them with bear's meat, venison, wild fowl, and eggs in plenty, and thought the white people conferred an obligation on them by receiving it." The pro- cess of " clearing" and bringing the land into subjection must have been necessarily very slow. The number of acres of sowed land in 1784 is shown in the following table, the townships namned being selected from different parts of the county as representatives of the whole :

* This seal, of which a representation is given on pago 26, was used for more than one hundred years. The present seal differs from it widely.

336

HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA:

TOWNSHIPS.

Farme.

Acres assessed.

Sowed.

Acres io farm.

Per cent. sowed.

Birmingham

6,898

620

117

.09

East Bradford ..

9,440

761

128

.08

East Caln

132

19,195

1342

145

.07

Concord

7,452

508

120

.07

Upper Darby

6,395

437

106

.07

Haverford

5,564

491

113

.09

Londongrove

9,606

860

125

.09

East Nantmeal

16,539

932

199

.06

Enst Nottingham.

109

13,784

652

126

.05

Pikeland

10,283

830

125

.08

Radnor ..

7,138

570

.08

Sadsbury

11,971

456

190

.04

Springfield

4,086

301

113

.07

Thornbury

7,129

585

137

.08

East Whiteland.

5,724

504

136

.09

West Whiteland

6,170

532

154

.08

At the present time the proportion of wood and other unimproved land probably varies from 5 to 15 per cent., and that of sowed land is about double what it was in 1784, or from 8 to 18 per cent., while the average size of farms is considerably less.

Indian corn was found under cultivation by the Indians, and has continued to be one of our most important cereals .* Wheat was introduced by the first settlers, while barley, oats, and rye were early cultivated. The Mediterranean wheat was introduced about the year 1838. Barley continued to be cultivated for a long time; it was principally used in the making of malt, and mostly sold to the Philadelphia brewers. About 1822 the farmers of Chester and Dela- ware Counties, under the impression that the brewers were combined to keep the price of barley at a low figure, organ- ized the " Farmers' Brewery Company," and erected a brewery at Tenth and Filbert Streets, Philadelphia. But this venture was not successful, and after a few years the building was sold at a considerable loss to the stockholders. The raising of barley gradually declined in this county, and after 1840 comparatively little was grown.

In the earlier days rye seems to have succeeded better than wheat on poor ground, and was frequently used in making bread. Col. William Gibbons, writing of his farm in West Nantmeal, 1779, says, --

"I do not expect my wheat yielded well, but hope I have a con- siderable quantity of rye, which is good enough for me, and I suppose for any man that sets a right value on his liberty, if the fortune of war gives that turn to our affairs. Sooner would I ent rye-bread to my dying day than incanly surrender my liberty and sell posterity."

Buckwheat and flax were also generally raised in the county during the last century. But little of cither is now grown. Clover was early introduced, it is thought from Lancaster County, as that section seems to have been the source of seed supplied to this county.t Notwith-

standing this early introduction, the practice of sowing clover had not become universal sixty years ago. Forty years since clover-mills were numerous in Chester County, but the greater part of the seed now sown is brought from the West.

Silk-culture was introduced in Pennsylvania as early as 1734, and probably into this county soon after, as we find that in 1771 the quantity of cocoons taken to a public filature established in Philadelphia was a trifle over 1754 pounds, of which Chester County produced 335 pounds.

The Pennsylvania Gazette of Oct. 3, 1771, says, " Jane Davis, of Chester County, claims the prize offered for rais- ing silkworm cocoons." In 1836 the " Chester County Silk Company" was incorporated, and organized with a capital of $50,000, and a fair amount of stock was sub- scribed for at once. Some sixteen acres were purchased of what was then known as the " Matlack Estate," in West Chester, now a portion of Hoopes, Brother & Thomas' nurseries, near the Catholic convent. A large cocooncry was erected on or near the site of the residence of Mr. George Thomas, near the railroad. The company during that spring set out a plantation of some four to five acres of white Italian mulberry-trees, presented by the Hon. Charles Miner, editor of the Village Record, and who was then, or shortly before had been, a representative in Congress from Chester County. About this time, or a little before, the new Chinese mulberry ( Morus multicaulus) was introduced from China, which at once sprung into popularity to such an extent that its culture became a speculating mania. Millions of dollars were invested in it during the winter of 1837 and spring of 1838, and such was the increased pro- duct in the fall (as every bud produced a large, salable tree in a season's growth) that the supply greatly exceeded the demand, so that a corresponding reaction came on, and a panic of losses and disasters followed, carrying in its train a loss of confidence in the enterprise, and with that the closing up of hundreds of companies that had been organ- ized as the Chester County Company, fully intending to test the enterprise with the Italian trees. The company continued to operate during the three years named, and in the fall or winter of 1839 disposed of the property and closed up its affairs, leaving the subject in doubt as to whether at that time silk-culture could have been made a profitable branch of productive interest for Chester County.t

# Several varicties, under the general namo of "sweet corn," have beon generally raised, and have become increasingly popular ns no article of food within the last thirty years.

1 John Taylor, of Thornbury, in writing to a person at Lancaster, 1754, says,-

" Desire James Webb to send me down to James Way's or Downing's mill as muchi red clever-seed as will sow ten acres of land for pasture. I am told it takes two quarts to an acre. If he cannot seod it down, I must send up on pur- pose for it."

The following letter, addressed to James Murshall, a brother of Humphry Marshall, of West Bradford, is further evidence on this point :

"Respected ffrd .- I herewith send thee one Bushel of Cloverseed, and four Roules of tobacco, as thou will see by the Inclos'd acconot. I Expect I must give the wagoner £1 6d. fer Cariage to the signe of ye Ship [Downingtown]. The price of the Clover seed will Not be lese than three pounde, it being very scarce to be bad. Pleas to take Care of ye Bag, it being None of mine.

"Conclude tby

" LANCASTER, 3d me. let, 1764. ffrd JAMES WEBB. "P. S. I should have sent it socoer hut for Want of oppertunaty."

# June 12, 1838, the West Chester Silk Company had a sale of handkerchiefs manufactured from their own silk. There were thirty- five, which sold at from $1.75 to $3, and aggregatod the sum of $71.05. One of these silk handkerchiefs, together with an interesting col- lection (now relies) of the culture of the company named,-a box containing specimens of silk through all its stages of culture and manufacture, from the cocoon up to sewing-silk,-from the crop of 1837, was oo exhibition at the State Fair held in Philadelphia in 1880. These specimens, which have been carefully preserved for the past forty -three years, are highly interesting mementoes of the enterprise and skill of the citizens of Chester County in this department of in- dustry nt that early day.

AGRICULTURAL.

337

Although goats are said to have been the first domestic animals introduced into the colonies, about 1634,* it is be- lieved the horse was the first in our county to receive special care in breeding. Samuel Holman, of Chester Springs, by his importation of Norman horses in 1851, and John J. Parker, of West Goshen, by his introduction of the Percheron stock in 1869, deserve mention. Little was done towards improving the breeds of cattle until the beginning of the present century. About 1818 some grade Durhams were brought into East Bradford from Kentucky, and after this Joseph Kersey, of Downingtown, owned a half-blood bull, "Oakes," which he sold in 1824 to Thomas S. Woodward and others. Joseph Cope, of East Bradford, procured in England in 1839 a cow, " Donna Maria," and a yearling calf, " Yorkshireman," from Thomas Bates, of Kirkleavington. From this importation some of the herd-book animals of this county are descended. The Holstein cattle were introduced soon after the Durhams, but have not been so popular as the latter. The Spanish merino sheep were introduced here soon after 1810 .; After some time the Saxons found their way to this county, and at a later date the French merinoes, etc.

By fortunate crossing of blood and careful management this county has produced a breed of hogs, known far and wide as "Chester Whites," which for good qualities rival those of any other variety.

In the early settlement of this country, when fences were scarce, and only the cultivated ground was inclosed, all kinds of stock were allowed to run at large, and the farmers identified their own by branding with a hot iron, and by clipping the ears in a certain manner. These peculiar marks were entered upon the court records, and are fre- quently mentioned in the proceedings in Common Pleas. Thus in 1684 it is recorded that "George Maris' cattle- marks, a slitt in the tip of the near year ; his brand marke, G. M." In 1703, " Thomas Woodward's Eare marke is a slit on the top, and a half-penny cut out of the fore side of the near Eare; his brand is T on ye near shoulder, and W on the near butock."

One of the county officers of that day was the ranger,} whose duty it was to see that the stock at large were prop- erly marked, and to take up strays. A result of this sys- tem was that, with scanty forage at times, the animals be- came stunted, and by promiscuous interbreeding the stock degenerated in quality. To remedy in part these evils a law was enacted in 1724, by which it was provided that no stallions under a certain age and size should be allowed to run at large, and that the ranger or other interested persons might take proper measures to abate the disadvantages at the owner's cost. Bells were attached to cows that they might more readily be found at milking-time.

The number of farms in Chester County in 1784 was 3558; the number of horses, 8020; cattle, 10,107; and sheep, 11,896.

Philadelphia was early, as now, the principal market for the dairy products of Chester County. In the early days butter, eggs, and poultry were taken thither from this county, often by women, on horseback, with butter-pails suspended at the horse's sides. Peddlers also, with horses and carts, gathered up the surplus provisions of those who did not wish to attend market in person. As the demand increased farmers from the eastern townships drove their wagons to the city loaded with produce for the weekly markets. James McClune says that before the opening of the Lancaster turnpike the inhabitants of West Nantmeal, Iloneybrook, and portions of Wallace used the Boot road as the nearest route to market ; and that " at an early day the marketing was carried in panniers, arranged for the purpose on each side of the saddle. The farmers forty years ago, and later, seldom went to market more than once a year, with some pork, poultry, butter, eggs, etc." Now the railroads carry thousands of tons annually to feed the teeming population of that city, and rapid transit has de- veloped dairy-farming into a prominent interest. A. daily supply of many thousand quarts of milk is shipped to Philadelphia from the different railroad stations within the county, while butter-factories, or " creameries," have been established in different parts of the county.

Gigantic strides of improvement have taken place in agriculture during the past century, not only in the system of rotation of crops, but in the mechanical appliances by which the operations are performed. The plow, althoughi of great antiquity, was a most rude affair even so recently as seventy years ago. Pearson Embree, of West Chester, has one which is said to have been made near East Mar]- borough about ninety years ago. It is about ten feet in length, and the heavy but shallow wooden mould-board, near three feet long, is shod with sheet-iron. Such as this were in use in the early part of this century, but some of the mould-boards were without any protecting iron. The beam being low, there was much trouble from choking with grass, stubble, or manure, and it was often a boy's unpleasant duty to walk by the side of the plow to dislodge the aceu- mulating rubbish. In 1814, John and Joshua Butler, of Brandywine township, obtained a patent for a bar-share plow, and soon after 1820 cast-iron mould-boards were used. Thomas Peacock, of Willistown, 1820, was a maker of plows; but the most popular furrow-turner was the Wiley plow, generally supposed to have been invented by Bernard Wiley, of Kennet Square,§ about the year 1830.

The first hoe-harrow or cultivator in the neighborhood

* Hazard's Annals, 50.

t Joba D. Steele, Jesse Evans, of Downingtowa, and Ziba Viekers,

of East Cala, were possessed of Spanish merinoes in 1811.

# "Notice is hereby given that William Hartley, of Charlestown, Chief Ranger for Chester County, bath now ia his hands the follow- ing strays :" being 2I horses & mares, and 3 cows and heifers.

Apr. 19, 1744.

William Hartley, ranger of Chester County, advertises 35 borses and mares, 27 of them branded. Apply at his " house in Charles Town in said County." June 28, 1744.

¿ The Kennet Advance (June, 1880) says, "James Wiley, an older brother of Bernard, left his father's farin, in Kennet township, and went to Peekskill, N. Y., where he operated a foundry. An apprentiee of his, named Harvey Coakling, invented a plow, but, lacking the means to push his elaim, James Wiley took ont letters patent in his own name, and at once began their manufacture. He did so for several yoars, aad at his doath left his business to Bernard Wiley and Harvey Conkling as equal partners. Bernard later sold his interest, removed to Kennet, and set up in the same business. Previous to this, how- ever, lliram Hall, of Kennet, manufactured a very similar plow, pur- chasing bis castings through Bernard."

338

HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

is said to have been used on the farm of Jonathan Gheen, in Goshen township. It was stolen from the field one might and found the next summer in Valley Forge dam. In 1801, Samuel Taylor, of East Bradford, completed a straw-cutting machine, with knives and a feeding-roller, " which," says his diary, " several persoos came to see at work."* Moses Pennock, of East Marlborough, and his sons, Samuel and Morton, since of Kennet Square, have been among the most enterprising inventors and manufac- turers of agricultural machinery. In 1841 they obtained a patent for a grain-drill, the first in the country, and subse- quently improved it considerably. Generally in the attempt to adapt hand-machines to horse-power, the primitive form is, to a great extent, retained, and this is said to have been the case with horse-rakes. A wheel-rake, with wooden teeth, was not successful, but one like a big comb, ten feet in length, with fifteen or eighteen teeth, twenty inches long, and resting flat on the ground, was the first in general use. Nathan H. Sharpless, of West Chester, made the first he saw from the description given by a traveling " Yankee." Moses Pennock, with the assistance of his neighbor, Samuel Peirce, added teeth to the other side of the head, and con- trived a plan to empty the rake when desired, by revolving motion. Patents were obtained on this instrument in 1822, 1824, 1825, and 1827. These have been driven out of use by the steel-toothed wheel-rake within the last twenty-five years.f The first mowing-machine of which we have knowl- edge has been facetiously styled the Arm-strong, and con- sisted of a thin blade, a little over three feet long, attached nearly at right angles to the end of a crooked pole somewhat longer. By a sweeping motion from right to left, the mower cut the grass, and left it in a swath covering less than half the ground. All the able-bodied men on the farm would mow at once, each one falling a little behind his neighbor on the left, and cutting over a space from five to six feet in width. At each crossing of the field, and sometimes oftener, a pause was made to whet the scythe with a stone about ten inches long, earried for that purpose. Upon a keen edge de- pended the ease of the work, which at best was very laborious. The first noticeable innovation upon the old-fashioned seythe was in 1822, when Jeremiah Baily, of East Marlborough, obtained a patent for a machine to mow by horse-power. Ezra Cope, of East Bradford, and his nephew, the late Thomas Hoopes, improved this machine by making the gearing more simple, and obtained a patent therefor, May 18, 1825. Fifty or more of these machines were made and used for several years with tolerable success. The Allen machine, made by Caleb Peiree and his partners, Lee and Thompson, at Ercildoun, in East Fallowfield, was introduced in 1854. The Pennoek mowing-machine ap- peared about this time. E. T. Cope & Son, of East Brad- ford, built a large number of the " Buckeye" for some years. Several persons in Chester County have displayed mueh ingenuity in inventing these machines or improve- ments thereon, but, so far as known, none of these inven- tions are now in use.

Grain-cradles were introduced in the early part of this century, ¿ but the farmers were slow to abandon the use of the sickle, which had been so long and so universally em- ployed, and in the use of which not only farm-hands but tradesmen and women also took part. Joseph Smith, of Newlin township, and later James Embree, of Marshallton, manufactured cradles. The latter invented a machine for turning scythe-poles, patented in 1844; and his son, Wil- liam G., still continues to make cradles and scythe-poles, but the demand is small to what it once was.

One hundred years ago the flail was the champion thresh- ing-machine. Other means were also employed : horses were driven around the barn-floor to tramp out the grain, and Richard Barnard, of Newlin, in his diary, 1774 to 1792, frequently mentions treading wheat as the work of the day. In 1770 mention is made§ of " An act to invest John Clayton with an exclusive privilege and benefit of making and selling a machine for threshing of wheat, on a model by him invented." Moses Pennock obtained in 1827 a patent for a vibrating threshing-machine. Other machines came in later, and for a few years past steam- power has been successfully used.

In the inventory of the estate of Matthew Hall, of Mar- ple, 1766, a " Fann for cleaning corn" was set down at 3s. 6d. In 1773, George Ashbridge, of Goshen, had " A Dutch Fan," valued at £1 10s.|| Some old people can remember when a sheet, held by two persons, was used to ereate a breeze, before which the grain was allowed to fall in a light shower.

It is likely our farmers soon learned the necessity of re- storing to the soil the refuse vegetable matter which had grown thereon, in order to keep up its fertility, but at what time lime was first used we are not informed. James MeClune says the first lime-kiln was built by Matthias Shoener, of Honeybrook, in 1806. It was said, fifty years ago, that with the introduction of plaster of Paris T the use of lime declined very much for many years, and it is per- haps on this account that elderly people now speak of lining as a custom that has come up within their recol- lection. The large deposits of limestone in the Great Valley and at other points in our county furnish a convenient sup- ply. Forty years ago it was common for farmers to buy the stone at the quarry and haul it near their homes to be burned, but, with the general tendency of all industries to become specialized, the quarry-owner now burns and

# Samuel Taylor says in his diary, 7, 7, 1800, "Father went to Denois Whealin's store & Bought an English Cradling Scythe." Samuel Hunt, of East Caln, under date of 7, 24, 1775, says, " Leathe Ingrum began to Cradle Oats at 18. 6d. pr aere & 1 Pint of Rum a Day."

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History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 92

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 1162

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162