History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 115

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

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" In the memory of Walter Martin, buried June 26, 1719, sged 68 years.

" The just man lives in good men's love, And when he dies, he's bless'd above."

In 1714, Rev. John Humphreys was in charge of the parish, and continued as the rector until 1725, when

1 Hazard's Register of Peuneylvania, vol. iii. p. 338; Dr. Perry's " Papers Relating to the Churches in Pennsylvania," p. 33.

he went to Baltimore (?), and refused to return unless the churches at Marcus Hook and Chester would raise his salary to forty pounds per annum. This the parish appears not to have done, for from a paper dated April 5, 1727, signed by Ralph Pile, of Birmingham, Philip Ottey, and others, it is stated that, in 1726, " a great mortality reigned amongst us; we were obliged to de- sire the Rev. Mr. Hesselius, the Swedish minister at Christiana, who, out of his pious and Christian dispo- sition, came to bury our dead, and seeing the discon- solate condition of our churches, offered to assist us once a month at our churches, which he still continues to do."2 In the summer of 1728, Rev. Richard Back- house was appointed missionary to St. Paul's parish by the society. The letter apprising Governor Gor- don of the appointment of Mr. Backhouse is dated at London, August 3d of that year.3 Rev. Israel Acrelius, who came from Sweden in 1749, arriving at Christiana on July 20th of that year, states that so constant were the demands made upon him to hold divine services in the Episcopal Churches at Concord and Marcus Hook, besides his direct charge at Christiana, and as each church desired him to preach there on Sundays, it became impossible to satisfy the congregations, for " there were not as many Sundays in the months as there were congregations to serve. . . . The good old Swedes now began to murmur, partly at the minister, that they never got to hear him on Sunday in their own church, and partly at the English, who wished to have him with them, and never once paid his expenses of travel."" The parish of St. Paul's was then with- out a rector, Rev. Richard Backhouse having died at his home in Chester, Nov. 19, 1749. He had heen succeeded by Rev. Thomas Thompson, who aban- doned his charge, apparently, shortly after he as- sumed the responsibilities of the position.

In the will of Jeremy Collett, in 1725, a legacy of fifty pounds was bequeathed for the " better support of the Episcopal minister officiating in the chapel" at Marcus Hook, doubtless a welcomed addition to the slender means of that congregation. Twenty years after that date, in 1745, the old frame structure be- coming insufficient to meet the need of the neighhor- hood, an effort was successfully made to provide a better house of worship. A fund was raised sufficient to erect a small brick church, about twelve by sixteen feet, which was surmounted by a belfry and an iron vane, in which the figures 1745 were cut. Three years subsequent to the erection of this new edifice, the old frame structure being still standing was used from time to time as a school-house, under the auspices of

2 The above statement appenrs in a note to Martin's "History of Ches- ter," p. 97. The statement is slightly erroneous. The town of Baltimore was not laid out until 1730. The sesqui-centennial of that city was held in the fall of 1880. Mr. Humphreys could hardly have gone there in 1725. He doubtless went to Whetstone Poiot, now within the city limits, for, as we koow, Whetstone Point was incorporated as early as 1706. 3 Penna. Archives, Ist Series, vol. i. p. 226.

+ Acrelius, p. 305.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the church organization. A new difficulty arose, for in a letter written by Mr. Backhouse, June 26, 1748, a year before his death, he says, "The Moravians have hired a house to keep their meetings in twice a month at Marcus Hook, to which place my congregation re- sort, but I hope (and believe) more through curiosity than anything else, because they show me the same respect they ever did, and carefully attend the church as formerly, when it is my turn to be there." 1

In 1759, Rev. George Craig become the rector, having been sent from London as a missionary by the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and continued in charge of the church during almost the entire war of the Revolution, until 1783. He died a few years subsequent to this date, and his re- mains were deposited in the aisle of the church. It was during his rectorship, in 1760, that the nameless sanctuary received the title it now bears, St. Martin's, and it was accepted by the vestry at the suggestion of Emanuel Grubb, as commemorative of Walter Martin, its founder. The annalist Watson states that Emanuel Grubb was the first child of English parents born after the grant to Penn of the province, 1681, and that his birth occurred in a cave in the bank of the river, near Chester. The statemeut, however, as re- gards the date of birth is contradicted by the tomb- stone in St. Martin's churchyard, the inscription being,-

" Emanuel Grubb, Died Angust 9, 1757, Aged 85 years and 10 days."

which makes the date of his birth to have been July 30, 1682.

In 1765 the Episcopal Churches at Chichester and Concord were going to decay, and to raise money to repair these buildings and to aid other churches in other localities, in January of that year the Assem- bly passed an act authorizing a lottery to secure the sum of £3003 15s., and although the Governor re- turned the bill for some amendments,2 we know that such an act was finally approved, for in 1769 the provincial treasurer paid to St. Martin's Church £66 138. 4d., the share it was entitled to as the proceeds of that lottery.

In 1845 the old church, built one hundred years before, became so dilapidated, and besides was in- sufficient to meet the requirements of the congrega- tion, that it was determined to build a new edifice, which was promptly done, and the present building, the third, was erected. In 1822 St. Martin's Church, which, previous to that date, had been a part of the parish of St. Paul's, of Chester, became a separate organization, and from that time has been in charge of the following rectors : Rev. Benjamin S. Hunting- ton, 1852-53; Rev. John Baker Clemson, 1853-58; Rev. Henry Hall Hickman,3 April 8, 1860; Rev. Jo-

seph A. Stone, 1860-68 ; Rev. J. Sturgis Pearce, 1863- 71; Rev. Gustavus Cleggett Bird, 1871.

In 1860 the old brick school-house, which had been built in the hitching-yard belonging to the church in 1801, was taken down by William Trainer, who gave one hundred dollars for the material, and with the bricks obtained from the old building Mr. Trainer erected the wall on the north side of the hitching- yard. The sheds belonging to the church cover the site of the old school-house, and on Sunday, Oct. 15, 1870, a pair of horses belonging to Thomas W. Wook- ward, of Linwood, being back from the shed, broke through and fell into the well which was formerly used, but having been covered with a few boards and some earth, in time was forgotten, until the incident narrated brought its existence to memory. One of the horses broke its neck in the fall, and the other was found severely injured when extricated. In 1871 the congregation erected a parsonage adjoining the Odd- Fellows' Hall, the church in all its preceding history never before having a residence for its rector. The land was donated for that purpose, and the cost of the building subscribed by several of the wealthier mem- bers of the congregation. In 1879, John Larkin, Jr., presented a tract of ground comprising about two acres adjoining the churchyard to St. Martin's Church, thus adding space to the burial-lot, which in almost two centuries had grown crowded with the dead of many generations.

St. George's Methodist Church .- The Methodists had no church organization in Lower Chichester until 1835. In that year Rev. Brooke Eyre visited Marcus Hook, where at that time only three persons resided who were members of that denomination. Mr. Eyre was invited to preach in a shoemaker's shop; and so earnestly and effectively did he address his audience that an interest was immediately aroused. While the excitement was at its height one of the three Methodists in the town chanced to enter the store of William Trainer, and in conversation said if they, the Methodists, had a church in Marcus Hook it would be of great benefit to the village and neighborhood. "Build one," said Mr. Trainer; and, taking down a pass-book, he wrote the formula of a subscription, and headed the list with a promise to pay twenty dollars towards building a Methodist Church. With that beginning the paper was circulated, John Lar- kin, Jr., contributing the like sum. That afternoon between two and three hundred dollars was pledged to the object, and in less than three weeks a sufficient amount was obtained to justify the erection of a plain wooden structure on Discord Lane, where the Meth- odist burying-ground is now located, the land for that purpose being sold by William McLaughlin at a trivial price. The building was supplied with rude uncushioned benches, and a raised platform at one end, where an unornamented board desk served as a pulpit. The congregation was poor, and hence it had to rely on the circuit preachers to conduct its regular

1 Perry's " Papers Relating to the Churches in Pennsylvania," p. 251. 2 Colonial Records, vol. ix. p. 243.

8 On Wednesday evening, May 2, 1860, Mr. Hickman was walking from the cross-roads to Marcus Hook, when he fell dead.

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LOWER CHICHESTER TOWNSHIP.

services, but the body increased steadily in member- ship. On Feb. 20, 1839, Lewis Massey and wife made a deed of trust of a house and a lot of land in Marens Hook as a parsonage for the minister of the Chester Circuit, which lot of ground was located on Broad Street, where the present church edifice now stands, and it continued to be held by the Wilming- ton Conference until St. George's Church became a station, in 1870. At that date the board of trustees decided to petition the Court of Common Pleas to be empowered to convey to the trustees of Marcus Hook Methodist Church one hundred feet on Broad Street, and extending in depth the whole length of the lot, to be used for the erection of a church thereon, and to sell the remaining part of the lot to John A. Ste- venson for two thousand five hundred dollars, which sum was proposed to be used in the purchase of an- other parsonage, the house in Marcus Hook, then dilapidated, being six miles distant from the place where the clergyman of Chester Circuit was appointed to preach. The court authorized the trustees, in No- vember, 1873, to make the deed to Stevenson in fee- simple, free, and discharged from all the trusts men- tioned in the deed of trust.

The old frame church, in the thirty-five years of constant nse, had grown too small for the congrega- tion, and besides was fast falling to decay; hence it was resolved to build a new sanctuary. The corner- stone was laid on Saturday, July 8, 1871. Edward S. Farsons, although not a member of the church, took warm interest in the building, and it was throngh his influence in a large degree that the present ornate church edifice was erected, which is one of the most imposing structures in the ancient borongh.

Previous to 1868 the Methodist Episcopal Church of Marcus Hook was one of the five appointments which constituted the Chester Circuit. In 1868 the territory embraced in the Philadelphia Annual Con- ference was divided into two Annual Conferences. The part lying between the Susquehanna and the Delaware Rivers, and north of the Delaware State line, was made the Philadelphia, while the State of Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland consti- tuted the Wilmington Conference. After this division Marcus Hook was the only appointment of the old Chester Circuit which remained in the Philadelphia Conference, the other appointments becoming part of the Wilmington Conference. The following year (1869) the Marens Hook Church was made a sta- tion, and Rev. E. H. Hoffman was appointed pastor. On Nov. 22, 1869, a charter was secured, in which the church was named Cokesbury, in honor of the first bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury, and that still re- mains as the charter-name of the church, although at the present it is popularly known as St. George's Church. At the close of the year 1869 the church had seventy-nine members in good standing, and the property belonging to the station was valned at four

hundred dollars. In March, 1870, Rev. J. H. Wood was appointed pastor, and was succeeded the follow- ing year by Rev. George A. Wolfe, who continued there for two years. It was during his pastorate the present church edifice was built, at a cost of nine thousand dollars; and when the building was dedi- cated there was an incumbrance of three thousand dollars upon it.

The following is a list of the pastors of St. George's Church from that time: 1873-74, Rev. William M. Gilbert; 1875, Rev. T. W. Maclary; 1876, Rev. M. Lorin ; 1877-78, Rev. A. M. Wiggins; 1879-81, Rev. R. Smith; 1882-84, Rev. William K. Macneal.

The debt which remained on the church at the time of its dedication was discharged in full during the pastorates of Rev. T. W. Maclary and Rev. R. Smith. At the present time there are one hundred and fifty-one members of the church in good stand- ing, and the property is valued at nine thousand dol- lars, and is free of debt.

Baptist Church .- The Baptist Church of Marcus Hook was organized May 3, 1789, the members form- ing the association being Rev. Eliphaz Dazey, who died about 1796, Judge Richard Riley, Richard Moore, Thomas Perkins, George Price, John Walker, who subsequently became a Baptist clergyman, George White, William Perkins, Mary Riley, the judge's wife, Jemima Dazey, who after her husband's death kept a store in Chester, on Market Street, in the second house from the southeast corner of Fourth Street, Sarah Cannell, Christiana Dick, Hannah Moore, Elizabeth Parsons, Mary Perkins, Elizabeth Walker, and Sarah Price. The later was the wife of Samuel Price, who owned a large part of the real estate where the villages of Linwood and Trainer's are now located. The church was built by subscription, and erected in 1789,1 the cost of the structure being £164 16s. 6}d. It was built of bricks, which were made from clay dng near by, and burned in a clamp-kiln. The dimen- sions were twenty-two by twenty-five feet, one story in height. The gallery was located at the south end of the auditorium, and the congregation sat on plain benches having backs to them. At the north end was a raised platform set off from the remainder of the apartments by a baluster and a seat for the minister. The wood-work was in its natural state, excepting the windows and doors, which were painted white. In 1814 the congregation had increased so much in number that an addition of fifteen feet was made to the length of the church, and pews with doors took the place of the old benches. The church as an organization was ad- mitted into the Philadelphia Baptist Association Oct. 6, 1789. For many years Bristow was the sexton of the church, and it is related that on the evening of May 17, 1853, while the old man was driving his cow homeward, he fell to the earth dead.

The corner-stone of the present handsome church

1 Smith's " History of Delaware County," p. 362.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

edifice was laid Sept. 10, 1853, and the same night the box deposited in the stone was robbed of its contents. The church was completed the following year, and on Oct. 21, 1854, the first services were held therein. In March, 1862, Mary Moulder, the daughter of Joseph and Margaret (Flower) Moulder, died at Marcus Hook, aged one hundred and five years, and was buried in the Baptist burial-ground at that place. She had been an earnest member of the church nearly three- quarters of a century.

The list of pastors of Marcus Hook Baptist Church is as follows: Rev. Elephaz Dazey, May 3, 1789, to April 2, 1796; Rev. John Walker, Sept. 5, 1818, to March 10, 1821; Rev. Joseph Walker, Aug. 7, 1824, to -- 1842; Rev. D. L. McGear, Aug. 9, 1845, to June 13, 1846 ; Rev. Theophilus Jones, May 20, 1848, to Feb. 7, 1849; Rev. Isaac Gray, May 1, 1853, to Jan. 4, 1855 ; Rev. Miller Jones, 1858 to 1861; Rev. E. W. Dickinson, D.D., August, 1862, to Dec. 8, 1875 ; Rev. H. B. Harper, May 6, 1876, to April 17, 1878; Rev. C. C. W. Bishop, Sept. 23, 1879.

Hebron African Methodist Church .- This re- ligious society was organized about 1837. The first meetings were held in a log house which stood on the road from Dutton's Cross-roads to Upper Chichester Cross-roads. In 1844 a lot was purchased from John Mustin, and the present frame church erected during the pastorate of Rev. Abraham C. Crippin. The pas- tors from the organization of the church have been as follows : Rev. Israel Geott, Rev. Jeremiah Downer, Rev. John Cornish, Rev. Henry J. Young, Rev. Abra- hem C. Crippin, Rev. Isaac B. Parker, Rev. John L. Armstrong, Rev. Adam Drener, Rev. Jeremiah Buley, Rev. William W. Schureman, Rev. Sheppherd Hol- comb, Rev. Jeremiah Young, Rev. Peter Gardiner, Rev. Caleb Woodward, Rev. Jacob Watson, Rev. George W. Johnson, Rev. William H. Davis, Rev. Henderson Davis, Rev. John W. Davis, Rev. John W. Norris, and Rev. Thomas H. Moore, the present pastor. The church has a membership of thirty, and the trustees are Samuel Anderson, William D. Laws, and Peter Lunn.

The Schools .- The first school of which we have any information in Chichester was conducted under the auspices of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and was held in the old frame house of worship on St. Martin's lot, after the first brick sanctuary was erected, in 1745, and con- tinued for nearly sixty years. In 1801 a new brick school-house was erected on the church lot, the fund for that purpose being raised by contributions among the members of the parish. Here, too, all the public meetings of the township appear to have been held, certainly after 1805. The old school-house was torn down in 1860 by William Trainer, as mentioned in the account of St. Martin's Church. About 1854 the school-house known as Cedar Grove was erected near the Baptist graveyard, and the building on the St. Martin's lot ceased to be used for school purposes. |

After the passage of the school act of 1834, the di- rectors of Lower Chichester were active in the ad- vocacy of the system, and the following year erected a school-house near the present Linwood Station, on lands given by John D. White, one of the directors, for that purpose. The building was defectively con- structed, the walls cracked, and being pronounced un- safe, it was pulled down, and another house built in 1844 at Rocky Hill. The old site being near the rail- road, was believed to be dangerous to the children. On Dec. 7, 1876, the court, on the petition of Samuel Hickman, ordered his farm on the east and west branches of Naaman's Creek to be attached to Upper Chichester school district. In 1880 an ornate school- house was built on the great Southern Post road, near Trainer's Station.

In 1860, and for some time thereafter, the Misses Emanuel kept the Linwood Seminary in Lower Chi- chester.

The full list of school directors of Lower Chichester township is as follows :

1834, Joseph Walker, Jr., Jobn D. White ; 1840, Samnel F. Walker, Joseph Marshall ; 1842, David Trainer, William Eyre; 1843, Peter N. Gamble, Charles P. Bunting ; 1844, William McGlaugh- lin, William Trainer; 1845, Joseph P. Pyle; 1846, William Eyre, William B. Roberts; 1847, John Stewart, John F. Broom- all; 1848, John Larkin, David Trainer ; 1849, no report; 1850, Benjamin F. Johnson, John Stewart; 1851, David Trainer, James Price; 1852, Charles P. Bunting, William H. Rigby, John Ste- venson; 1853, Edward McDade, Townsend Rowand, John F. Broomall; 1854, John R. Casey, Jobn Stevenson; 1855, Peter N. Gamble, Charles F. Wishman; 1856, Mannel Emannel, Peter N. Gamble, George C. Healy; 1857, Thomas Taylor, Alfred Bunting ; 1858, Isaac Eyre, Jacob English ; 1859, Mannel Emannel, Isaac Hendrickson ; 1860, Alfred Bunting, Daniel C. Green ; 1861, Samuel Spansey, Jacob English ; 1862, Isaac Hendrickson, William Trainer; 1863, J. R. Casey, Benjamin Johnson ; 1864, Daniel C. Green, Wil- liam Appleby; 1865, Samnel Spansey, Benjamin D. Johnson ; 1866, William H. Rigby, Isaac Heacock; 1867, Frank Gray, George Barton ; 1868, William Barto, Dr. Manley Emanuel; 1869, Nathan Pennell, Alfred Bunting ; 1870, Frank Gray, Charles Weston ; 1871, William L. Derrickson, Tracy E. Walker; 1872, Isaac Eyre, John Roberts ; 1873, Stephen Hall, E. W. Casey; 1874, Frauk Gray, Ed- win Lisler; 1875, J. Eyre, John Lamplough ; 1876, J. E. Green, Clifford Longhead, William M. Black ; 1877, no report ; 1878, John D. Goff, Clifford Loughead; 1879, Clarence Larkin, John Lamp- longh : 1880, J. E. Green, S. J. Burton .; 1881, B. D. Johnson, A. D. Hastings; 1882, John Roberts, Clarence Larkin ; 1883, James Philips, Henry Heacock ; 1884, John D. Goff, William Trainer.

Licensed Houses, Lower Chichester .- One of the first cases which occurs in our county annals wherein license is alluded to was heard "November 30, 1661, before William Markham, Esq., and Justices," the defendant being a resident of Lower Chichester. The case, as it appears of record, is set forth in the quaint phraseology of that period :

"Henry Reynold having appeared at this court to answer for his selling strong liquor by small measure in his house contrary to the Governors and Council's order, upon his submission to the court, was dis- charged."

Six years subsequently to this proceeding, at De- cember court, 1687, another of the early settlers at Marcus Hook figured in connection with a violation of the license law, as follows :

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LOWER CHICHESTER TOWNSHIP.

" Robert Moulder being yt last Court Indichted for suffering Thomas Clifton and Samuel Baker to be Drunk att his house was upon ye same called to ye Barr Butt nothing being Proved ordered to keep an ordinary provided he keep Horse meat & man's meate."

Moulder must have been indicted under that clause in the " Duke's Booke of Law" which, promulgated Sept. 22, 1676, enacted that "no Licenced Person shall suffer any to Drink excessively or at unseason- able hours after nine of the Clock in or about any of their houses upon penalty of two shillings, six pence for every Offence if Complaint and proof be made thereof." Hence it would seem that the defendant was at the time keeping a licensed house of enter- tainment, for Law 10, enacted by the first General Assembly in December, 1682, at Chester, “against such as Suffer Drunkenness in their houses, and about Ordinances," clearly could have been intended to punish those only who, having special privileges con- fided to them, exercised the same to the injury and disadvantage of the public. The penalty prescribed for this offense was that they " who suffer such excess of Drinking in their house, shall be lyable to the punishment with the Drunkard," which was, for the first offense a fine of five shillings or five days' deten- tion at hard labor in the House of Correction, and to be "fed only with bread and water," while for the second and all subsequent convictions, "ten shillings or ten days' labor, as aforesaid."

The case of Peter Stewart, who was tried in Octo- ber, 1688, for feloniously breaking open the chest of John Wickham, who was then stopping at the house of William Clayton, seems to indicate, from the sen- tence, that at that date Clayton was keeping a public- house at. Marcus Hook. The record shows that he was not licensed in 1704, for at the conclusion of that year he was presented "for keeping an Ordinary without license," but petitioning the court for such license it was granted to him.

The first instance I have found of license being granted in Lower Chichester, other than to Clayton and Moulder, occurs under date of May 25, 1714, when Richard Edwards presented his petition to keep a public-house at Chichester, which was allowed. In 1720, Edward Smout had license granted him for a house of entertainment, with leave "to sell all sorts of liquor," at Chichester, and continued there until Feb. 26, 1724, when his petition states that he " had obtained license for a publick house at Chichester, but now removed to Chester and desires license there," which was approved by the court. Feb. 23, 1725, An- drew Rawson informed the justices that he had taken the house late of Edward Smout, in Chichester, which house he asked might be continued as a license house, which was granted.

Elizabeth Clayton, wife of William Clayton, Jr., Sixth month 28, 1717, petitioned for a renewal of license in Chichester, possibly at the house kept by

her father-in-law, William Clayton, Sr., in 1688, as mentioned above. On Ninth month 23, 1719, Wil- liam Clayton asked to be permitted " to keep a com- mou ale house in the house where he dwells." On Aug. 20, 1720, he was given full license for a public inn, and Aug. 25, 1724, he petitioned for renewal of this privilege. The following year Elizabeth Clayton states that, " having for several years past obtained ye Honours Recomendacon," ask that it be continued, which was approved for that as well as the following year, as also in 1727.

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 115

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