History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 105

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1150

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The First Jewelry-Store in Chester .- The frame building recently removed by Henry Borden, to erect on its site the present commodious cigar-store and manufactory, was occupied sixty years ago by Charles Alexander Ladomus, who located in a room in the Steamboat Hotel, then vacant, where he repaired clocks and watches. So marked was his success that he removed to the frame house on the west side of Market, above Third, where he added jewelry to his business of repairing time-pieces. Ladomus had an

eventful history. He was a Frenchman by birth, and at the outbreak of the Revolution of 1793, his. mother (being of an aristocratic family) was com- pelled 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 refuge, and after the battle of Jena, Oct. 14, 1805, Charles A. Ladomus was in Berlin when the defeated Prussian army fled through that city. When the French occu- pied 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. In 1824 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 until within a few years of his death, which took place Dec. 30, 1859.

Old Settlers .- Ou August 8, 1834, William Long died in Chester, at the advanced age of ninety-one years and six months. It was worthy of note, for the newspapers of that day assert that at the date of his death his descendants numbered nine children, thirty- five grandchildren, fifty-five great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. Dr. Smith states that on Sept. 14, 1678, Rebecca Pedrick was born at Marcus Hook, " the earliest well-authenticated birth within the limits of Pennsylvania, where both parents were natives of England," that had come under his notice.1 The Pennsylvania Gazette, issue for " June 28th to July 5, 1729," contains the following item :

"On the 30th of May past the children, grandchildren, and great- grandchildren of Richard Buffington, Senior, to the number of one hun- dred and fifteen, met together at his honse in Chester County, as also his nine sons- and danghters-in-law, and twelve great-grandchildren-in- law. The old man is from Great Marle, upon the Thames, in Bucking- hamshire, in Old England, aged about eighty-five, and is still hearty, active, and of perfect memory. His eldest son, now in the sixtieth year of his age, was the first horn of English descent in the Province."

The fact that Rebecca Pedrick's birth antedates that of Buffington is established by Mr. Smith's researches, and hence "the first child of English parentage born in Pennsylvania" was not a male, but a female, and the place of birth removed from Chester to Marcus Hook.

General Items .- Chester in the first half of this century had ceased to show almost all evidence of en- terprise. In the summer and fall of the year sports- men came hither to shoot rail- and reed-hirds in the marshes of islands and flats, and it was the resort on Sundays of persons who drove from Philadelphia for recreation. Among such visitors were many turbulent spirits, and the village authorities were powerless to preserve order. So widely known was this immunity from arrest of Sabbath-breakers from other places that the Philadelphia Herald, in 1834, stated that a young lad who had spent a summer in the borough, on his return to his home, exclaimed, "Oh, ma, how

1 History of Delaware County, p. 491, notice of Roger Pedrick.

SAMUEL PALMER.

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THE CITY OF CHESTER.

I do love Chester !" " Why, my dear?" was the in- quiry. "Because there is no Sunday there," was the boy's reply.

Business was confined to a few stores and small industrial establishments. The even tenor of daily life was almost stereotyped in its character. Hence it was an incident of rare occurrence that even a fire changed the current of events, and the quiet borough must have been astounded on March 24, 1818, when one Spear, who kept a grocery store in the old stone building on Market Street, where John M. Broomall's dry-goods store is now located, in passing behind his counter with a lighted candle, by accident dropped it into an open keg of powder, occasioning an explo- sion which killed Spear instantly and damaged the building.

In July, 1829, it is stated Aaron Denman had in operation at Chester machinery for manufacturing paper from straw, which was " especially valuable for packing."1 I have been unable to locate the site of this paper-mill, which was one of the first in the United States in which straw paper was made.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

WILLIAM WARD.

William Ward, of Chester, was born at Philadel- phia, Pa., Jan. 1, 1837 ; was educated at Girard Col- lege, Philadelphia; learned the art of printing in the office of The Delaware County Republican, at Chester, serving there four years; studied law ; was admitted to the bar in August, 1859, and engaged in the prac- tice of law in connection with operations in land en- terprises and public improvements in Chester and vi- cinity, to which was added the business of banking in 1868. Iu 1873 he retired from the banking firm of Ward & Baker, and devoted himself exclusively to the other branches. He has held a number of positions of public trust, such as president and member of the City Council for a number of years, city solicitor, sec- retary and treasurer of the Chester Improvement Company, director of the First National Bank, treas- urer of the South Ward Water Board, secretary of the Chester Creek Railroad Company, and secretary and treasurer of the Chester and Delaware River Rail- road Company. He never held a purely political office until 1876, when he was elected a member of the Forty-fifth Congress, from the Sixth District of Penn- sylvania, and successively to the Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses. Upon the expiration of his term in March, 1883, he returned to Chester, and has since been actively and exclusively engaged in the practice of the legal profession.

SAMUEL PALMER.

Aaron Palmer, the father of Samuel, was born April 13, 1792, and married Susannah Denny Nov. 24, 1811. Their children were Samuel, Thomas, John, Pamela, Mary Jane, Caroline, and two who died in infancy. Samuel, the eldest, was born Dec. 28, 1813, in Frank- ford, Pa., and resided until his sixteenth year in New York, after which he removed to Philadelphia. He learned the trade of a shell-comb maker, but not finding this pursuit a congenial one, fitted himself for the vo- cation of a teacher. Finding this sedentary life not conducive to health he resumed his trade, and finally engaged in the business of brick-making, having pre- viously been connected in a clerical capacity with various public offices in the city of Philadelphia. On removing to Chester he rented a brick-yard, and for several years conducted the business successfully.

He was married to Margaret, daughter of William and Catherine Morrison News, of Philadelphia. Their children are Eleanor (Mrs. Henry Goodman), Caro- line (Mrs. Michael Cash), Kate (Mrs. James Dough- erty), Susan (Mrs. John Moore), Margaret, John, Thomas, Samuel, Lizzie, and four who are deceased, -Susan, William, Ann Eliza, and an infant. Mr. Palmer was in politics a Democrat, though not a worker in the political field. He was an active mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, and much interested in the advancement of the order. He was not during his lifetime identified with any religious denomina- tion, but died in the faith of the Catholic Church. Mrs. Palmer and her sons have since conducted the business with marked success.

JOSEPH TAYLOR.

Mr. Taylor was of English descent. Israel Taylor, his father, a farmer in Aston township, Delaware Co., married Ann Malin, of Upper Providence township, and had children,-Joseph, William, Anna (Mrs. David Garrett), Bowman, and Gideon. Their son, Joseph, was born April 6, 1802, in Upper Providence, and when an infant removed with his parents to Aston township, where he resided upon the ances- tral home uutil 1844. He received his education in the public schools of Delaware County, and, early evincing a fondness for mathematics, made surveying the business of his life. He was in his political pre- dilections an Old-Line Whig, and, as the candidate of that party, was, in 1844, elected prothonotary of the county, which necessitated his removal to Chester, where the sessions of the court were then held. On the expiration of his official term he resumed his pro- fession, was for a number of years county surveyor, and, later, surveyor for the city of Chester, both of which positions were filled with much ability. He was also surveyor of Darby borough and exercised his skill in the laying out of Chester Rural Cemetery, of which he was one of the projectors. Mr. Taylor

1 Hazard's Register, vol. iv. p. 12.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

was regarded as a man of undoubted skill in his pro- fession and possessing a thorough knowledge of the county to which his labors were chiefly confined. He evinced qualities which won the respect and affection of all who knew him, and was no less regarded for his unquestioned integrity and probity than for his generous instincts and warm sympathies. Having been reared in the Quaker faith his inclina- tions were for the Society of Friends, though a fre- quent worshiper with other denominations and a profound listener to an earnest discourse. Mr. Tay- lor married Miss Hannah Berdett Taylor, daughter of Joseph Taylor, of Upper Providence township, a soldier of the Revolution, who was taken prisoner and held as a hostage at St. John's, New Brunswick, until the close of the war. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are Henry B., John H., Annie W. (Mrs. Richard Stevenson), of Atchison, Kan .; William, cashier of the First National Bank of Chester; Cath- erine R. (Mrs. H. M. Hinkson), and Alfred. John H. joined the Pennsylvania Reserves during the late war as lieutenant of Company C, First Regiment, and fell at the battle of South Mountain. The death of Mr. Taylor occurred on the 27th of February, 1884, in his eighty-second year.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

CHESTER TOWNSHIP.

THIS municipal district, which originally included within its boundaries the present thriving boroughs of North and South Chester, Upland, and the city of Chester, was one of the first municipal districts erected shortly after Penn's first visit to the province, in 1682, when he divided the territory in counties; but the lines and bounds then separating it from the adjacent townships are not of record. The first official recog- nition of the section afterwards known as Chester township was at the court held Oct. 17, 1683, when a grand jury of seventeen persons were "Impannelled to take out a Convenient Highway leading from Providence to Chester." At the court held July 1, 1684, Richard Crosby and Edward Carter were ap- pointed collectors of the county levies for Chester, and at the same court Richard Few was appointed constable. Richard Few was the owner of two hun- dred and twenty-seven acres of land, which was sur- veyed to him Oct. 27, 1682. This tract began at Bridgewater, and ran then directly across the town- ship, through the Cobonrn, Springer, and Engle farm to Ridley Creek. Following that stream in a north course, it extended to the southern point of Samuel Bancroft's land, -a straight westerly line, thence crossing the township to a point just beyond where the run that empties into Chester Creek divides into

two branches, when that stream became the western boundary of the land until it empties into Chester Creek, and by the latter to Bridgewater, thus in- cluding in the tract the greater part of the old Mullen farm, that of McCay, the southern half of the Cald- well, all of the Jones, and the greater part of the Culbert farm. Sneath's Corner was of course in- cluded within this tract. The remaining portion of this township to the north of that tract, except the upper parts of the Afflick and Bancroft's land, was included in the three hundred and seventeen acres surveyed to Thomas Coebourn, Nov. 28, 1682; and on that tract, above Morgan's Station, just over the Middletown township line, in 1686, Coebourn erected the second grist-mill on Chester Creek. An account of this mill will be given in the history of Middletown. On March 29, 1684, three hundred and eighty-five acres of land was surveyed to Thomas Brassey, which included all the land lying in the great bend of Chester Creek, from Bridgewater to the western line of the borough of Upland, on which are now the farms of Stephen M. Trimble, of Elias West, the property of William Maris, north of the Upland road, and part of that belonging to Joseph Engle, lying west of Edgmont road. That part of the farm of William Maris south of Upland road, and the farm of Abraham C. Lukins, part of the estate of Mary Kelley, and the remainder of Joseph Engle's farm was included in the patent of June 7, 1672, to Neals Mattson, of one hundred and sixty-four acres, during the government under the Duke of York. The remainder of the land on the east side of Edg- mont road, and the residue of the Kelley estate, were on the land patented March 31, 1686, to James San- delands.

Sneath's Corner, which is located in that portion of Chester township east of Chester. Creek, already men- tioned, is formed by the road from Hinkson's Corner, crossing the Edgmont great road at that point. In 1816 the property at the corners was owned by George Sneath, Justina Harlan, and Caleb Cobourn. It has been for years noted as a residence for physicians, Dr. Ellis C. Harlan, Dr. Jesse Young, Dr. J. S. Hill, and Dr. David Rose having in succession lived at the corner. The cross-road store at this point has always been a profitable location. Prior to 1816, George Sneath, who owned and occupied the dwelling (now the residence of Dr. David Rose), opened a store in that building. He kept it several years, and at his death his daughter, Mary Sneath, continued the busi- ness for some time, when it was discontinued. In 1823, Joseph Engle, the elder, who had a few years previous purchased the property at the corner from Joshua Harlan, erected the present store-building there, and it was first occupied by his son, William Engle. He was succeeded by Thompson Hawkins, he by D. Reese Esrey, who subsequently embarked in manufacturing at the Pennellton Mills, and William Engle again re- turned to the store. Frank Johnson, however, soon

Forepih Taylor

425

CHESTER TOWNSHIP.

followed Engle, and he, in turn, gave place to J. Row- land Cochran. The store is at present occupied by the Beatty Brothers.

Crossing Chester Creek in the angle made by the division line of Aston to the north, and Upper Chi- chester to the west, was a tract of four hundred acres, laid out to Michael Isard, Sept. 20, 1677, by order of the court at Upland. This estate, which was known as " Weston," on June 20, 1684, became the property of Thomas Baldwin. Baldwin's Run traversed this property from east to west, and the name which the stream received in early days it still retains. On this tract the farms of James C. Williams, Jethro John- son, Lewis Bergdoll, Charles Flower, and the larger part of that belonging to William Graham Flower, are located.

At the bend on Chester Creek, where the land of Hannalı Coppock borders on that stream, the original " Great Road" to Philadelphia crosses so as to reach the fords. At that time William Woodmansey owned one hundred acres of land, extending over to the Upper Chichester line, to which he acquired title Nov. 25, 1679. At the court held 3d day 1st week, Tenth month, 1688, the grand jury in their report stated, "Wee likewise present the Township of Chester for want of a foote Bridge over Chester Creek by Wil- liam Woodmansee's." This presentment was contin- ued to the next court; but that the wishes of the grand inquest were not complied with is evident, for June, 1689, the court " Ordered that William Wood- mansee have an Order sent to him to make up a Bridge near his house." The court at length ac- knowledged that it had imposed more on Woodman- sey than was altogether just, for it subsequently "Ordered that William Colbourne, Supervisor of ye Highways for ye Towne of Chester, have Power to summon yª Inhabitances of sª Township to erect a foote Bridge over Chester Creeke, att or near William Woodmansee's. And that John Baldwin have an- other order to Summon the Inhabitance of ye Town- ship of Astone to assist ye Inhabitance of Chester in yª matter." The foot-bridge was subsequently built, for afterwards several of the residents of the town of Chester were presented for failing to repair this bridge.

These lands of Woodmansey were on the John Test tract of four hundred acres, called "Hopewell of Kent," which was surveyed to Test Sept. 27, 1678. The latter sold this estate to various purchasers in different-sized plots, and at different dates. The lower part of this tract, extending southward into the estate of Samuel M. Felton, containing two hundred and thirty-six acres, became the property of Robert Wade, and he sold it to Henry Worley, March 8, 1698, and the latter conveyed the premises to Jere- miah Carter, Nov. 23, 1702. Through this tract the Upper Chichester road was laid out, Oct. 25, 1687, and four years after the tract came into possession of Car- ter the Aston road was laid out, beginning at Carter-

ville, on the Upper Chichester road, and running in a north westerly course through the township of Aston. Jeremiah Carter is supposed to have been a native of England, and came to this country with his wife, Mary, in 1682, as is stated in the official paper on file at Harrisburg. His first purchase of land was of twenty acres, bought of William Woodmansey on the 9th of November, 1690, for which he paid £6 68. He is mentioned in the deed as "Jeremiah Carter, Lin- ning Weaver." On the 27th of August, 1689, Mary Carter, wife of Jeremiah, was one of a jury of women at the court at Chester. Robert Wade, of " Essex House," conveyed by deed, Sept. 11, 1694, fifty acres of land to Lydia Carter, daughter of Jeremiah and Mary, and provided that her father should have the use of it until she was twenty-one years of age, pay- ing a yearly quit-rent of half a bushel of good wheat. The tract of one hundred and eighty acres which Carter purchased in 1702 was surveyed in 1703, and found to contain two hundred and fifteen acres. In November, 1731, Jeremiah Carter deeded to Nineveh Carter, one of his sons, eighty-eight acres at the southwest part of the tract. Jeremiah Carter, the settler, died in the latter part of 1736, and left three sons,-Edward, Nineveh, and Abraham,-who all settled on or near the old homestead. Edward, a son of Abraham, married Eleanor Dod, of whom an in- teresting story is told :

"She was of English parentage, and, when a young girl, was invited by a saa-captain's wife to come on board the ship and aee the cabin and furniture before the vessel sailed. She accepted the invitation, and em- ployed a boatman to take her out to the ship as it lay at anchor in the harbor, hut when she set foot on deck the captain ordered the boatman away, aud at once weighed anchor and set sail for America with Miss Dod on board. Years passed and no tidings came from the long-lost daughter. Her family probably knew or suspected that she was some- where in America, as about the year 1790 her brother Thomas set out to search for his lost eister, but he died on his passage to America. But at last when she had been many years married, and her own daughters had grown up and settled in life, she was put into communication with her family after the following manner: An Englishman on a visit to America being in the neighborhood, heard that Mrs. Carter was of Eng- lish birth, and called to have a chat with her. Thia led to the unax- pected discovery that he knew her parents aud family in England. When he returned she sent with him a letter to her people, which ha delivered in person, and of course gave full information as to her cir- cumstances in America. This was the first her people know of her whereabouta."1

Joseph Carter, of Chester township, in 1798, in the partition of his father's (Abraham Carter) estate, re- ceived a tract of eighty-five acres of land running down to and along Chester Creek. On this land, near a little run emptying into the creek at the northeastern end of the farm of Edward Carter, deceased, between the years 1807 and 1810, Joseph Carter erected a saw- mill, which, together with four acres of land, by his will, July 17, 1828, he devised to his son, Daniel Carter. The mill must have been in disuse in 1826, for it does not appear on the assessment of the township for that year. It rapidly decayed, and is spoken of in 1833 as " an old deserted saw-mill." About 1800, Joseph

1 Thomas Maxwell Pott'a " History of the Carter Family," p. 60.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Carter sank two shafts near the site of this mill in the effort to develop a copper-mine on the estate, which it was believed would yield a fortune to its owner. In 1833, John F. Watson, referring to this mine, says,-

"There was, many years ago, considerable indica- tions and promise of a valuable copper-mine up the Chester Creek. There is still visible remains of two shafts now filled with water. They were said to con- tain about fifty pounds of copper and about fifty ounces of silver in one hundred pounds. At some future day they will probably be worked with more success and profit." 1

Joseph Carter still clung to the idea that at a future time the mine would be successfully operated, hence by his will he provided " that in case the copper-mine shall be opened ou the land devised by me to my son Daniel, the profit thereof shall be divided equally amongst all my children, their heirs and assigns, with this exception, that Daniel shall have two shares." This mine was never worked after Joseph Carter's death, in 1830. In the Philadelphia Ariel, May, 1832, a writer in an article entitled " A Day in Chester," re- cords his visit to the mine, and describes it as it then appeared :

"Near en old deserted saw-mill we found the traces of an ancient mine. Two abafta appear to have been aunk here, which are yet visible, but filled with water and overgrown by bnehee and briers. A coneid- erable quantity of the rubbish drawn from the mine ie yet lying about the place, from an examination of which it is apparent that the shafta were ennk chiefly through clear white quartz, containing veins of cop- per and molybdæna. The ore of copper which we observed here in the greatest quantity is the yellow ferruginous sulphuret, though the green carbonate and several other varieties may also be fonod. The eniphuret of molybdæda is abundaot, and ao nearly resemblee graphite or plumbago (vulgarly called black lead) as not to be enaily distinguished from it by mare external characters. The two minerals are, however, essentially distinct in their chemical compositions; the plumbago being & carhuret of iron, i.e., iron combined with a large proportion of carhoo, while the other ie the metal called molybdæna, combined with aulpbur. It ie & rare metal, and we are not aware that it has been applied to any uee. Those persons who may desire specimene to add to their cabinet collec- tions of minerala may obtain them without difficulty at this place.

"We were informed by Mr. Edward Jackson, an intelligent old gen- tleman whom we met at the mine, that about thirty years ago three ABBSys were made of the copper ore obtained bere, the average result of which waa fifty-three per cent. of copper, with forty-eight ounces of silver io every ona hundred pennda, and, as he saye, one grain of gold in each ounce of the ore. Before any great depth had been obtained the progrese of the work was suspended, owing to the want of funds, and it has ever since been neglected. But from the awakened attention manifested at present to the mineral treasures of our country, we ven- ture to predict that the work at this place will be reenmed at no very distaot day. The strong probability of obtaining large quantities of rich ore by sinking the chaft to a greater depth may induce come of onr enterprising capitaliate to make an attempt to render that mine pro- ductive."2

Joseph Carter not only built a saw-mill, sunk shafts for copper on his estate, but, previous to 1800, he built a pottery at Cartertown, and there his son, Abraham, learned the trade of a potter. The latter, in 1810, removed to Bridgeton, N. J., where he built a pottery, which he carried on successfully for many years. In 1813, Edward Carter, who had also learned

the trade of a potter, had charge of the business at Carterville, which he conducted until his advanced age compelled him to abandon business.

During the Revolutionary war, Chester township, then including the borough of Chester, suffered greatly from the depredations of the British army. Under an act of the Colonial Assembly a list of the losses sustained by the residents was made. The in- dividual bills then presented are preserved in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. We append merely the names and the amount of loss sustained by the then residents of Chester township :

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 105

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1150

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1150