History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 114

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

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458

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

customed to indulge in the wildest disorder and drunken debauches.1

At the meeting of the Provincial Council in Phila- delphia, Aug. 11, 1716, Governor William Keith called the attention of Council to "the great losses which this colony has already sustained beyond any of its neighbors by our Trade's being blocked up and infested with pirates at the Capes of this river and bay," and further informed them "that one Trench, a noted pirate, who has done the greatest mischief of any to this place has been lurking for some days in and about this town."? We know that on Friday, Sept. 1, 1698, a pirate ship and tender landed fifty armed men and plundered Lewistown.8 In May, 1701, a French pirate appeared above Bombay Hook,4 and for many years thereafter the colonial records show the constant alarms the province was subjected to by fears of piratical demonstration on the settle- ments on the river.

1 Treoch, or Drummond, let his family dame be what it may, was aa grotesquely conspicuous a villaio Rs cao be found in tha sooals of crime. Blackbeard, for that was his piratical name, in person tall, of swarthy complexion, and with an exuberant black beard of extraordi- nary length covering his whole face, from which his sobriquet was de- rived, and which he used to twist into anmberless somall tails, the ends tied with bows of brightly-colored ribbona, waa a picture sufficiently repulsive, one would think, without calling in, as additional decoration when iu battle, three braces of huge pistole dangling across his shoul- ders, and lighted matches protruding from beneath his hat to illuminate hie dusky face and savage eyee with a supernatural glare. His wBs, io- dead, when prepared for action, a figure to be gazed upon with fear and apprehensioo. Socially he was a sensual polygamist, whose harem of fourteen wives was the ecene of brutalities such as even his hardened crew could not witness unmoved with pity, and yet which no one dared to reprove. To render his power over his lawless men absolute, he an- nounced that he had entered into a compact with hell, and once, when at sea, a mysterious personage appeared on the ship, sometimes aloft, sometimes on deck, sometimes below, who spoke to no one but Black- beard, Bad who disappeared as secretly as he had come among them. The crew firmly believed that this was the veritable devil himself, and that this was but one of many dark communications their chieftain held with the powers of evil. At another time when afloat, it is re- corded he said, maddeoed with drink, " Come, lat us make a hell of our own, and try how long we can bear it." Going below with some of his crew, he caused the hatches to be closed, and had several large tube filled with sulphur and other combustible articles, to which ha set fire; then while the thick choking vapors rolled in dense columns through- out the ship, he daoced and filled the sickaoing air with bie profanity, until those above released the half-suffocated and faiotiog men from their perilous situation, which, apparently, gave the piratical chieftain no respiratory unensiness. His convivial pleasantries were also of a similar hideous character; for once when drunk, aeated at the head of his cabio table, he blew out the candles, cocked his pistole, and crossing his lands fired on each side at his associates, one of whoni was wounded so desperately that lia never recovered. This incident Blackbeard often himself related in gleeful moments, stating io conclusioo, "If I did not now and the kill one of my men, they would forget who I am." Iu the fall of the year 1718 the Governor of Virginia sent Lieut. May- nard with two vessele to cruise for Trench, and on the 21st of November he encountered the pirate, who, fortunately, then had but a small crew on board hia ship. A bloody fight resulted,-Maynard and Blackbeard contested hand to hand,-and it is related that the corsair received over twenty wounde with swords, and almost as many bullets struck him, before he was slain, Maynard cut off the dreaded pirate's head and af- fixed it to the bowsprit of hie vessel, and thus he entered Hampton Roads with the ghastly, grinning token of bis success exposed to public view.

2 Colonial Records, vol. iii. p. 54.

4 Ib., vol. ii. p. 21.

8 Ib., vol. i. p. 539.

In 1698, when Gabriel Thomas wrote his quaint "History of Pennsylvania," he specified, among the four great market towns, Chester as enjoying that priv- ilege, and "likewise all those towns have fairs kept in them." It seems that Marcus Hook, shortly after this statement was made, desired to invest itself with the dignity of a market and fair, for at the Council at Philadelphia, May 16, 1699, at which Governor Markham presided, the minutes show : 5

"Upon reading the petition of some of the Inhab- itants of Chichester, in the Countie of Chester, Re- questing a weeklie markett & two fairs in the year ; After a full debate yrupon, the Leivt Gov & Council granted ym a weeklie market on friday's to be keept in broad street as is desired."

On Feb. 14, 1700, Penn having returned, and per- sonally presiding over the deliberations of Council, on the minutes of that body under the date given is the further reference to Marcus Hook as a market town : 6

"The petition of the ffreeholders io and about the Town of Chichester was read, setting forth that Lieut. Gov. Markham & Council, had granted to the eaid Town of Chicheater, the Privilege of a fair and Market, and therefore humbly requests that what was then joiperfectly done, tha Gov. would be pleased fully to Compleat and perfect."

" Resolved, That they shall have a Charter for a ffair & Market, with thia proviso: That because come Complainte have been made agst fairs in General, their fairs should, notwithstanding anything Cootain'd in the said Charter, be put down whenever it should be thought fitt that tha uther fairs of the Government should be also suppressed."

It was not, however, until seven months after Penn had consented to grant a charter to Marcus Hook that he actually gave the ambitious borough the charter, with all the rights and privileges, defined in an official document. The following is a copy of that charter, and it is very interesting, inasmuch as it locates the habitations of the prominent men of that day residents there, and presents other historical data :

" Williaol Peon, True & Abzolute Propr & Governor in Chiefe of the Province of Pensilvania & Terri'es thereunto belonging:

"To all to whom these p'seats shall come SENDETH GREETING:

" Whereas, the ffreeholders & Inhabitants of the lower parts of the County of Chester, on the river Delaware in the sd Province, through a laudable deaira & inclination of improving the ed parte, by setling mora close together, & enlarging of commerce, have humbly besought mee

that I would erect into a market towo a certain comodions place, well situated for that purpose, aforetime commonly called MARCUS HOOK, with the privilidges of a FAIR & WEEKLY MARKET to be held therein.

"KNOW YE, THEREFORE, That I, favoring the just & reasonable ra- quest of tha ad ffreeholders & Inhabitante, by virtue of the powers by the King's Lettera Patent to me & my heirs given & granted, have erected, & do, for me, my heire & enccessora, by the tenour of these p'sents, erect into a Market Towo the sd place, aforetimea called MARCUS Hook, or such part thereof as is hereiobefore described, under tha bounds & limits hereinafter mention'd. That is to any, all thet tract or epuce of ground lying & being situate on the river Delaware: BE- QINNINO Bt the upper point of the land of Jonaa Saodilande upon tha river & extending along the ed river to the lower poiot of the land of Nathaniel Lamplugh, about two hundred & fifty perches, be it more or less; and from the river Dellaware extending backwards about one thousand feet, by lines at right anglee with the river, from the ad two points tu the sixty foot road leading to Chester; which towo, as abova boundad, I will shall ha called CHICHESTER, as of late It has usually been callod, and I doo hereby grant unto the inhabitants of the ad town free ingreas and egress, by land & water, to & from the sd towo, through

6 Ib., vol. i. p. 558.

6 Ib., vol. ii. p. 12.

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LOWER CHICHESTER TOWNSHIP.

all parts of this Province & Terr'ies: As also to lay out all such streete, highways, lanes, alleys & passages iu the sd town, se to them chall seem meet & convenient to lay out for the accommodation thereof; & more especially, that there shall be one street called ffront street, leading from the upper to the lower part of the sd towu: The whole length of the sd town; bounded to the north north-west, with a line paralell to the river, at the distance therefrom that Wm Clayton's dwelling house now stands, and in breadth fifty foot: Also, one other street called Broad etreet beginning at the ed ffront street, on the east north-east of the ed House of Wm Clayton, running in a direct line north north-west, one thousand ffeet or thereaboute, to the gd sixty foot road leading to Chee- ter, & in breadth the same distance that now is between the ed Wm Cley- ton'e House & the house now of Roger Jeckcon, for the length of two hundred and fourteen feet ; & at the extent of the ed two hundred und fourteen feet there shall be a Publick Market Place, in breadth one hundred and furty feet, & in length along the Broad street two hundred and thirty feet; & from the sd market place to the sixty font road aforesd, the sd Broad Street shall be in breadth one hundred feet : Also, one other street called New street, in breadth twenty five foot, begin- ning at the ed ffront street at the distance of ffour hundred & twenty foot to the east north-east of Broad Street & running in a direct line north north-west, to the ed sixty foot road : Also one lane, called Market Lane, in breadth thirty foot, beginning at the ed New street ffour hun- dred & fourteen feet from the ffront street & running parralell to the ed ffrout street, three hundred eighty-three feet into the Market Placo : Also, one other lane called Discord Lane, in breadth thirty foot, begin- ning at the south corner of the Market Place & running west south- west, paralell to the 6ª Front Street, to the outhermost bounds of the towu; which sd street, Market Place, & Lanes, I do hereby grant & con- firm for the ed publick uees forever, together with all other such streets, squares, alleys or passages as now are or hereafter shall be laid ont as aforesd, reserving always to all persons whatsoever all the rights & in- heritances which they now have or hereafter may have or lawfully claim iu nr to any lande or lotts within the bounds or limite aforesd, the publick streets, ways, Ianes, alleys & Market Place only excepted. And I doe further, for me, my heirs & successors, grant to the sd inhabitante and ffreeholders, to have, hold & keep a free market in the ed Market Place, on the sixth day of every week, forever, with ffree leave and liberty, to & for the ed inhabitants & all othere who shall resort thither to buy & sell on the gd sixth day of every week at the said place, all manner of provisions & other necessaries for life, with the right, privi- lidges & immunities whatsoever that to s free market, according to the comon customs & veages of England do belong: For the better regula- tion of which Market, I do hereby constitute & appoint Walter Marten clark thereof, to be encceeded, in case of death, removal from the ed place or other incapacity by such person & persons in the ed office for- ever, as two justices of the Peace for the County of Chester, dwelling in or nearest to the sd town, together with six of the chiefe inhabitants thereof, to be chosen in the Market Place by the ffreeholders of the town & township of Chichester, shall appoint, with full power to the ed Walter Marten & bis successr, to be appointed as aforesd, to diecharge all the parts & duties of the sd office of Clark of the market as ffully & amply, to all intents & purposes, as any other Clark of the Market within this Government may or can: And, for the greater incouragement of trade to the ed town, by the resort of persons from remoter parts, I doe further grant to the sd inhabitants, ffreeholdere & others, ffull power & liberty to HAVE, HOLD & KEEP a PUBLICK FAIR, to be held on the nine & twen- tieth day of September, & on ye two days ffollowing, in every year, for all lawful wares & merchandizes in the sd Market Place, and for horses & cattle in the upper part of Broad street, adjoyning the ed Market Place : PROVIDED, That there shall be no unlawful sports, plays, gaming, revelling, drunkenness, or debauchery, nor any other disorder, nor loose & idle practises, tolerated in the sª ffair, in any part or place thereof, or in the gd towu, by reason of the sd fair, at any time whatsoever ; nor any ale, wine, rume or other strong liquors, sold in the sd fair, but in the usuall dwelling houses of the sd town : And for the better regu- lation of the ed fairs and preservation of good order therein, I doe hereby constitute & appoint Walter MarteD & Philip Roman, Wardens of the ed ffair, to be, in case of death, removall from the ad place, or other in- capacity, succeeded by such two persons in the ed office, forever, as two Justicee of the Peace of the county of Chester, dwelling in or nearest to the sd town, with twelve of the chiefe freeholders of the town & township of Chichester, (to be chosen as aforesd) shall think fitt to ap- point, and upon the decease, removall or other incapacity of any of the ed Wardens to act uny further in the sd office, no feir shall be held in the ed town till a successor or success' to the sd Warden or Wardens be duly chosen, according to the tenor of these p'seuts, anything herein

contain'd to the contrary notwithstanding; And I doe hereby grant to the ed Wardens & to their successors to be elected ae aforesd full power forever to exercise within the sd fairs every year, during the time they shall be kept, all nocessary jurisdiction & authority for suppressing of vice, maintaining good order, & regulating all other things whatsoever within the sd town, to the ad fairs immediately relating :

"IN WITNESS WHEREOF, 1 have caused these, my Letters to be made Patent; Witness myself, at Philadelphia, the twelfth day of September, in the thirteenth year of the reign of William the Third, over England, Scotland, Ffrance, and Ireland, King, &c .; & the oue & twentieth of my Govermt over this Province of Pensilvania, Annoq. d'm. 1701.

" Wm PENN.

" Recorded ye 17tb, 7br, 1701

" By comand of the Propry & Govern“

" JAMES LOGAN, Secry."

On one occasion, at least, the good people of Mar- cus Hook attempted to give vitality to this charter ; hence sixty years after it was granted a meeting of the residents was held April 29, 1760, whereat John Wall and John Crawford were chosen successors of Walter Martin and Philip Roman and John Flower, clerks of the market, after which date the old charter has lain accumulating the dust of a century undis- turbed. The powers of the people in their collective characters in those days certainly was much over- estimated, for in Lower Chichester,

"At a town meeting held this 17th March, 1770, it is unanimously agreed by ne present that every freeholder not attending at the two an- nual elections & not showing & sufficient reason shall be subject to pay into the Overseers of the Poor the eum of one shilling to be applyed 88 will be thought most proper & any of the officers not attending shall be subject to the payment of two shillings to be employed ae aforesaid And farther it is agreed that the publick expennses at Town Meeting shall be regulated & fixed for the whole year to any sum not exceeding Ten Shillings in Regard to the Poor by the Overseers by them to be allowed in their accounts.

" Present-Jacob Worril, Richard Riley, Semuel Lamplugh, John Crawford, Wm. Dockerty, Arch'd Dick, Adam C. Clayton, Isaac Law- rence, Jna. Flower, Joseph Marsball, Rich'd Clayton, Benj. Miller, Jo- seph Clayton, Samuel Armor."

In the last century Marcus Hook was noted for the number of vessels built there. Acrelius, in 1755, made particular meution of this industry, while in 1748, Peter Kalm, the Swedish naturalist, who re- mained for a brief season at Chichester, records that " they build here every year a number of small ships for sale, and from an iron work which lies higher up in the country they carry iron bars to this place and ship them." The furnace mentioned was the famed Sarum Forge, on Chester Creek, near the present Glenn Mill. In 1753, William Howell, of Marcus Hook, was a leading shipwright at that place, and in that year sold a lot of ground to Charles Norris, on the southeast side of Discord Lane, extending to high- water mark on the Delaware.1 In 1800, Samuel Trim- ble was also a ship-bnilder there.

The ancient town continued to remain prominent as a ship-building locality until the tonnage of ves- sels in recent years had increased so greatly that its lack of large yards, capital, and other facilities re- stricted the industry to small coasting crafts. As late

I Deed of partition of estate of Charles Norris, May 24, 1788, Deed- Book D, No. 2J, p. 303, etc. Recorder's office, Philadelphia.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

as the middle of this century Samuel T. Walker car- ried on quite an extensive trade in the building of schooners and sloops, the work being done by Wood- ward & Farray, who seem to have been snb-contract- ors under him. In May, 1849, Jacob Sinex, who had been for several years engaged in ship-building at Marcus Hook, removed to Chester, where he carried on the same business. At the present time Samuel J. Burton has a ship-yard at the Hook, and in March, 1884, a large-sized schooner was launched from his yard.

William Cranston, who died in 1811, aged seventy- seven, in Delaware, was a native of Marcus Hook, and in early life was a noted ship-builder in that bor- ough (was assessed as such in 1800), as was Simon Sherlock, with whom Cranston had served his appren- ticeship. Simon Cranston, born at Marcus Hook in 1768, and died near Stanton, Del., in 1856, aged eighty-eight years, was named by his father in honor of his old master. He frequently related that he could remember, as a lad of eight years, when the British fleet coming up the river opened fire on the town. His recital of that incident is as follows :

" The fleet lay opposite the town, and the Conti- nental Light-Horse were stationed back of the village. My parents' dwelling lay between the two forces. The fleet fired on the troops, and the British sent a boat ashore, and an officer told my mother to take her children into the cellar ; in her fright she took them outside of the house and down into the cellar, in that way exposed to the flying balls."1

In the fall of the year 1784, we learn from a letter written by Judge Francis Hopkinson, that a vessel had been built at Marcus Hook; was attached by a tradesman, on a claim for work and materials furnished in construction of the craft. When she was launched the attachment was laid, but the owners forcibly ejected the officers and moved the vessel to Wilming- ton. The judge was anxious that the State govern- ment should take "the most speedy measures for bringing the offender to answer for the Indignity they have thrown on a Court of Justice of this Common- wealth." 2

Peter Kalm, to whom reference has just been made, in the fall of the year 1748 tarried a brief season in Marcus Hook, and spoke of it by its legal name, Chichester, as "a borough on the Delaware, where travelers pass the river in a ferry." How long this regular. mode of conveyance to New Jersey was main- tained does not appear. But about the beginning of this century an attempt was made to sustain such a means of communication with the eastern shore of the river, but after a brief trial it was abandoned for want of patronage. Kalm made particular reference to the fact that in the town and neighborhood were " many gardens, which are full of apple-trees sinking

under the weight of innumerable apples." In 1828 the newspapers of that day called attention to a re- markable cabbage-tree, then growing in the garden of John S. Van Neman, at Marcus Hook, which was five feet high, eleven and a half feet in circumference, and had twenty limbs, on which were more than fifty small heads of cabbages.

At the beginning of this century Marcus Hook was the residence of one of the early noted painters of the United States. I copy the account of him given by Thompson Westcott :3

" Adolph Ulrick Westmuller, a native of Sweden, after having painted in Europe, came to America, at the age of forty-four years, in 1794, and settled at Philadelphia. He brought with him some of his paintings, which were greatly admired. President Washington sat to him. He recopied, it is said, for James Hamilton, the portraits of the Hamilton fam- ily, and then Hamilton destroyed the originals. Westmuller went back to Europe in 1796, where he lost money by the failure of a great house in Stock- holm. He came back to Philadelphia in 1800, and brought with him his celebrated picture of Danæ, which, being a nude figure, was exhibited only to such as might apply to view it; and from the exhibitions Westmuller received a handsome income. He re- mained in Philadelphia some years, married a lady of Swedishi descent, and finally removed to Marcus Hook, Delaware Co., where he lived until his death, in 1812. His pictures were sold at auction shortly after his death, and brought good prices. For a copy of his Danæ five hundred dollars were paid."

St. Martin's Episcopal Church .- Walter Martin, of Upper Chichester, a Quaker, tradition relates, who being " dealt with" by that society, hecame embittered against Friends, on Dec. 18, 1699, "for divers good causes and considerations him thereunto moving," conveyed to the town and inhabitants of Chichester- Marcus Hook-an acre and one perch of ground for a church and free burial-place for the inhabitants, "Quakers and reputed Quakers only excepted." This ancient deed is explicit as to the doctrine to be taught by the persons who should avail themselves of the donor's bounty to erect a church or meeting-house there. "The inhabitants of said towu and township, which are to have free liberty to build a church, chapel, or meeting-house, are intended to be such as own the two ordinances of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper of bread and wine; and such as own the resurrection of the bodies of the dead, aud own the ordinance of singing of psalms in the praise of God in the congregation, or in their families, and such as own the taking of an oath on the Bible, ac- cording to the laws of England, if lawfully called thereto for the confirmation of the truth ; and it is to be a free burying-place to such as will bear part of the cost of keeping up the fences, or concern them-

1 Martin's " History of Chester," page 109.

: Penna. Archivee, 1st Series, vol. x. page 355.

8 History of Philadelphia, chap. cxvi., Sunday Dispatch of Philedelphia.

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LOWER CHICHESTER TOWNSHIP.

selves with building a church, chapel, or meeting- house thereon."

This lot, the donor strictly declared, was to be kept for the purposes expressed in the deed, "and for no other, whatever," and explained his exception against Friends, " because the Quakers have a meeting house of their own in the said township." William Thomas, the quaint document provided, should be the "first sexton or grave digger for the town of Chichester, during his life, or so long as he is able to perform duties appertaining to the office of sexton or grave digger," with power to those " concerned" in keeping the burying-place to name a successor when Thomas should cease to act iu that capacity.

The adherents of the Church of England in that neighborhood availed themselves of Walter Martin's gift, "feeling little or no satisfaction in their own minds, without having a sacred place set apart for holding public worship according to the ritual of that church," but " being few in number and of less ability to build a place of worship," in the year 1702 they purchased from John and Tobias Hendrickson a rude frame building, which had been used as a blacksmith- shop, for which they paid about five pounds, and all the male residents aided in moving the structure to its new location, where it was subjected to a bountiful coat of whitewash within and without, rude benches constructed, and the nameless church, other than that which it derived from its location, was established. In connection with St. Paul's, at Chester, and the church at Concord, it became a missionary station, under the protection and support of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Rev. Evan Evans, in a letter written in 1707, states that in 1700 he was sent over as missionary to Philadelphia, but the churches of that denomination increased so rap- idly that he was frequently compelled to make long and weary journeys to preach to the scattered congre- gations, " for this reason," he states, " I went frequently to Chichester,"1 until, in 1704, Rev. Henry Nichols was placed in charge of St. Paul's parish, then in- cluding the churches at Chester, Marcus Hook, and Concord. Walter Martin died in 1719, and was buried in a lot in the churchyard which he had reserved as a place of interment for himself and friends. The place where his remains lie is marked with a head- and foot-stone, which, a half-century ago, by order of the wardens and vestry, was redressed and the letters re- cut. The ancient monument presents, near the top, the carved representation of an hour-glass and cross- bones, and bears the following inscription :

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 114

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