History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 117

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

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The Linwood Mills, at Trainer's Station, on Chi- chester Creek, occupy the site of a grist-mill erected on that stream, about the middle of the last century, by John Price, the then owner of the land. In 1790, Samuel Price, his son, owned the mill, which was operated by George Pearson. In 1806, Samuel Price having died previous to 1802, David Trainer, the father of the present owner, purchased the grist-mill, and in 1811 a John R. Pine built a saw-mill near by on his late father's estate; but subsequent to 1813, David Trainer, Sr., in connection with Gideon Jacques, purchased the saw-mill and carried on the grist- and saw-mill at that place. The former was driven by an overshot wheel, while the saw-mill was fed by a separate race, the waters being discharged into that which turned the grist-mill. In the fall of the year 1814, when the militia of Pennsylvania sum- moned to the field by the President of the United States to repel the threatened invasion by the British army were assembled in encampment near Marcus Hook, the troops, numbering over five thousand men, were located on this and adjoining estates, and close by, at Widow Price's, Maj .- Gen. Gaines, of the. regu- lar army, in command of the department, had his headquarters, and in the neighborhood of the mills reviewed the entire force on Oct. 12, 1814.1 The logs used at the saw-mill were generally floated by water to a point very near the building, and it was neces- sary that the water-way should be preserved ; hence to that end the General Assembly, on March 24, 1817, declared Lower Chichester Creek, "from the mouth thereof up the same to the mill of David Trainer and Gideon Jacques, be and the same is de- clared a public highway for the passage of rafts, boats, and other vessels, and it shall be lawful for the inhabitants and others desirous of using the naviga- tion of said creek to remove all natural and artificial obstructions which may be within the same."2 The

1 I have seen it stated that Gen. Anthony Wayne was the cummand- ing officer who reviewed the troops on thet occasion. Of course that ie a mistake. " Mad Anthony" died at the present site of Erie, Dec. 15, 1796, and had been dead almoet eighteen years when the review took place.

2 Bliss' " Digeet of Delaware County," p. 19.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

act itself declared that under no construction were its provisions to be held as authorizing the removal, injuring, or impairing of the bridge spanning the great post road.

In 1837 the old grist-mill was changed into a cot- ton-factory, and an addition, eighty by forty feet, two stories in height, erected, which was operated by David Trainer, Jr., and John Hastings, Jr., until 1842, when, the firm having lost heavily in that year through the failure of the commission house with whom they dealt, the partnership was dissolved, and under discouraging prospects David Trainer contin- ued the business there. At the National Fair, at Washington, D. C., in May, 1846, the goods made at Trainer's mill received special notice. Success at- tended his efforts, and he had already accumulated considerable means, when at his father's death, in 1849, the estate became his by inheritance. Two years thereafter Mr. Trainer met with a serious loss in the destruction of his mill by fire.

On Monday morning, Oct. 13, 1851, between one and two o'clock, as the night-train from Baltimore came in sight, the conductor and engineer noticed a bright flickering light in the mill, and as no one in the neighborhood seemed to be stirring, the train was stopped and the alarm given. The fire was sup- posed to be the work of an incendiary, as the flames had broken out in a cotton-shed where fire was never used. The loss amounted to fifty thousand dollars, of which only eighteen thousand dollars was covered by insurance. While the walls of the burned factory were being demolished a tremendous mass fell, burying a mason named Armstrong to his waist in the rubbish, and to the surprise of all who saw the accident, when extracted he was found to have sustained no serious in- juries. The work of rebuilding was pushed rapidly, and on Aug. 1, 1852, the old structure having been replaced by a new mill three and a half stories high, one hun- dred and ten by fifty feet, fully stocked with new ma- chinery, operations were resumed. In 1865 an addi- tion of ninety feet was added to the mill, thus making the main building two hundred by fifty feet, to which were attached spacious buildings used as cloth- and picker-rooms, a dye-and finishing-house and an engine- room. In 1865 the firm became David Trainer & Son, J. Newlin Trainer having been taken into partner- ship, and again, in 1868, it became D. Trainer & Sons, William E. and Edward Trainer having been admitted into the firm. In 1869 mill No. 2 was erected. It is a two-story building, sixty by five hundred and two feet, with the necessary outbuildings for boilers, en- gines, etc., and in the spring of the following year,- having been fitted with the best and improved ma- chinery, the firm began manufacturing in this mill. In the fall of that year the neat iron bridge spanning Hook Creek, near the mill, which had been made at the Chester Bridge-Works, was put into its place. An industry such as this, giving employment to a large number of persons, necessarily resulted in building

up in its immediate vicinity a village of dwellings for the operatives. In 1873 the Chester Improvement Company erected a large factory in South Chester, which was purchased by D. Trainer & Sons, and is now known as Mill No. 3. A brief account of this mill will be found in the historical account of South Chester borough. In 1878, at the Paris Exposition, David Trainer & Sons were awarded a bronze medal for superior tickings manufactured at their mills.

David Trainer was born in Delaware County, Pa., on the 9th of July, 1814, and reared on the farm where his birth occurred, and where he still resides. Here he enjoyed such advantages as the subscription schools of the period afforded. His father, David Trainer, had purchased, in 1806, the property, consisting of a farm and flouring-mill erected before 1753 by John Price, and the lad was employed on the farm and about the saw-mill, which had been erected by his father in 1812. In 1837 an addition was made to the old flouring-mill, and the whole having been fitted with machinery, was put in operation for the manu- facture of cotton goods by the son and John Hastings, Jr. The firm become deeply involved by the failure of their commission merchant in 1842, and having dissolved the partnership, David Trainer resolved to retrieve his fortunes single-handed. Upon the death of his father, March 1, 1849, he fell heir to the estate, consisting of the mills and some fifty acres of land. A disastrous fire destroyed the old mill Oct. 8, 1851, but nothing daunted he took immediate steps for rebuilding, and by Aug. 1, 1852, the old flouring-mill had been replaced by a new structure and equipped with new and improved machinery. In 1865 he en- larged this mill, and in 1869 erected Mill No. 2, which was followed in 1873 by the erection of Mill No. 3. These structures are models of comfort and con- venience. In addition he has erected three mansion- houses and eighty-five dwellings for the accommoda- tion of his operatives, in whose welfare he manifests a deep interest. Having thoroughly educated his sons, and acquainted them with the practical details of cotton manufacture, he gave to each an interest as he attained his majority, the firm now being D. Trainer & Sons. Mr. Trainer became connected with the Bank of Delaware County in 1833, and upon its reorganization as the Delaware County National Bank he was chosen a director, and in 1873 elected its presi- dent, serving a term of two years, when he was re- elected, but declined the honor. He is in politics a stanch Republican, having formerly voted the Whig ticket. He is in his religious associations an Episco- palian and member of St. Martin's Church, of Marcus Hook, of which he is senior warden. Mr. Trainer is public-spirited and enterprising, courteous to all, and a vigorous supporter of every public improvement.

Diamond Mills .- On the east branch of Naaman's Creek, near the northwest boundary of the township, is the saw- and grist-mill of Samuel Hockman, which is one of the old mill-seats and landmarks of the

David Framer

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LOWER CHICHESTER TOWNSHIP.

county. Towards the end of the last century it was the property of Nathan Pennell, but he having died about 1800, it was leased to Andrew Steel, and in 1802, Nehemiah Broomall became its owner. In 1826 the mill is recorded as grinding between three and five thousand bushels of grain per annum, while the saw- mill was run only occasionally, and was not rated as a first-class mill. On Oct. 19, 1829, Nehemiah Broom- all sold the property to Benjamin Hickman for three thousand dollars.

A strange incident connected with the mill occurred on Saturday night, Aug. 23, 1849. Benjamin Hick- man that night was aroused shortly before midnight by the barking of his dog, and going out to the mill saw no one. Before he entered the house the dog barked furiously, and then Hickman noticed a light in the woodshed. He called several times to know who was there, but receiving no answer he discharged his gun, and the report was followed by an exclama- tion, " You have shot me!" Hickman went to the place, and found a haggard, withered old woman lying on the ground, the shot having taken effect in different parts of her body. She had collected a large amount of combustible materials in a mass, apparently with the intention of setting fire to them. A physician was sent for, and the next day the woman, who would not tell her name, was lodged in jail. She was sub- sequently sent to the county house. After Benjamin Hickman's death the widow, Ann, conducted the business. The mill is now owned by Samuel Hick- man, who has erected a new merchants' mill on the old site, and at this time the brand of " Diamond Mills" is accepted by the trade as the equal of any flour in the market.

In 1870, John H. Barton and Jarius Baker erected a sugar-refinery on a tract of land to the east of the upper pier at Marcus Hook. It was a large brick building, forty-five by fifty-six feet, and towering up- wards to the height of sixty feet. A new wharf was built adjoining the upper pier, and a canal or way was dug to enable vessels of large size to come close to ·the building to receive or discharge cargoes. In April, 1871, sugar was first made in the refinery. Early on Sunday morning, Feb. 25, 1872, fire was discovered in the char-room, and in two hours thereafter nothing remained of the building but the fire-marked walls. The loss was one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, which was not entirely covered by insurance. Subsequently, James Baker, using the standing wall, erected a large flour-mill on the site of the refinery, but four years after the first fire the new structure was in its turn totally consumed, the fire being, it is sup- posed, an incendiary one.

In 1878, John Larkin, Jr., purchased the site of the burned flour-mill, and using part of the walls, erected a machine-shop and foundry, which was occupied by Keesey & Hubbell for a few months, when they aban- doned the enterprise. In 1880 the Pioneer Iron- Works, a limited company, became the lessees of the

establishment, but after building seven iron vessels it failed, and the premises were rented by Charles C. Glover, who manufactured steam-fittings therein, which business also proved to be unsuccessful. The build- ing is now leased to Joseph Kidd, who is engaged in manufacturing iron conductors for the Union Line cable-roads in Philadelphia, and has at the present time an iron vessel on the stocks, building for parties in New York.

In 1871, Mr. Larkin erected a large brick building, three stories in height, intended for a shoe-factory. It was occupied by Morton Bowker for a few months, but was subsequently changed into the Riverside Hosiery-Mill, and on Sept. 1, 1877, Clarence Larkin and John G. Campbell began manufacturing hosiery therein. In October of the same year Mr. Campbell withdrew, and the business has been conducted by Clarence Larkin from that date. About 1875, John Larkin, Jr., built a machine-shop and foundry on Market Street. It was occupied by William Pearson for some time in building hosiery machinery, but more recently it was rented by the Titanic Steel-Casting Company. It is now unoccupied. Within the last few years Mr. Larkin has built sixty houses in Marcus Hook. In all the history of the town for a century and a half preceding Mr. Larkin's improvement, the number of houses erected in that period did not equal those built by Mr. Larkin in the time men- tioned.

Kaolin has been found in Upper Chichester, for in 1839, when William Trainer was digging in the side of a hill near his dwelling, a body of clay was ex- posed, which was submitted to Professor Hare, Wil- liam J. S. Warner, and Professor Rogers, the State geologist, for examination, and the last-named per- son pronounced it the purest porcelain clay he had ever seen. No effort seems to have been made to put this article in the market. Although kaolin has been found in several townships in Delaware County, only in Birmingham has the industry ever been established or maintained.

During all its history Marcus Hook was prominent as a fishing station. In a description of the village in 1802, published in the "Traveller's Directory" for the year, it is mentioned as " a place engaged in shad and herring fisheries." Inhabitants of the deep other than the fishes mentioned have occasionally been captured off Marcus Hook. In July, 1869, William Blizzard caught off that place a shovel-nosed shark, which measured over five feet in length and weighed a trifle over two hundred pounds. On May 16, 1879, a sea- lion was taken in a seine near Marcus Hook. Its captors being under the impression that it would in- jure their net, killed it. It was thought it had escaped from the Zoological Garden in Fairmount Park sev- eral weeks previous to the time it was caught.

On Saturday evening, Jan. 26, 1879, a remarkable accident occurred near Linwood as the southward- bound express-train was approaching that station.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The wind was blowing furiously, when two students of Princeton College, named Vaughan and Larkin, at- tempted to pass from one car to another. Vaughan was swept from the platform by the strength of the gale, and his skull fractured by the fall. Larkin's life was saved simply by his coat catching ou the knob of the car-door, which held him on the platform until the conductor and brakesman came to his assistance.

Societies .- In 1845 a band was located at Linwood, which furnished the music on several occasions for public meetings and military displays. I have no further information of the organization than is here given. On June 14, 1869, the Linwood Building As- sociation was organized, with George Broomall, presi- dent ; William H. Dickinson, secretary and solicitor ; and David Trainer, treasurer. The association has settled its business and disbanded.

Farmers' and Mechanics' Lodge, No. 185, I. O. of 0. F., was instituted July 11, 1846, with the fol- lowing charter members: Richard Leach, Robert Black, James Stott, William Appleby, Sr., James Phillips, Stewart Smith, John Stevenson, Sr., George Williams, Townsend Rowand, and Edward Waggoner. On the night of institution nine candidates were in- itiated, making a total membership of nineteen. Dur- ing the year twenty-five persons were initiated, making a membership of thirty-five at the beginning of the year 1847. Since that time the lodge has been in active operation, never suspending benefits, paying promptly all lawful claims on the treasury. On July 4, 1849, the corner-stone of the present Farmers' and Mechanics' Odd-Fellows' Hall was laid, C. C. Burr, of Philadelphia, delivering the address on that occa- sion. John Larkin, Jr., was largely instrumental in suggesting and carrying forward the building to com- pletion. The total number of members of Lodge No. 185 since its institution is two hundred and thirty- four, of which number thirty-two have been buried. At present the membership is seventy-two. The lodge since it was instituted has paid over ten thousand dollars in benefits, mostly distributed in Upper and Lower Chichester, and, besides, has about four thou- sand dollars safely invested. Four of the charter members still survive.

Wawasett Tribe, No. 172, I. O. of R. M .- This tribe was instituted eighth sun, flower moon, G. Y. D. 381 (8th day of May, 1872), with twenty-one charter members. The tribe now numbers eighty-one mem- bers. The appointed chiefs are : 1st S., R. H. Dutton ; 2d S., L. K. Bane; G. of F., Wilmer Heacock ; G. of W., Frank H. Wooley; 1st W., George B. Rowand ; 2d W., Amos Pennell; 3d W., James P. Yeager ; 4th W., Levin C. Barton ; 1st B., Ellis Maxwell; 2d B., Isaac Mckinley ; 3d B., Daniel Congleton ; 4th B., George W. Vernon, Jr. The elective officers are : S., Andrew Mahla; S. S., Charles Green; J. S., George W. Morton ; P., Samuel Congleton ; C. of R., F. S. Vernon ; K. of W., I. F. Hendrickson.

Golden Star Council, No. 319, 0. U. A. M .-

This council was chartered July 9, 1873, with twenty- two members, and Isaac J. Brown, Councilor. The first meeting was held in the second story of the ma- chine-shop on the southwest corner of Fourth and Market Streets, Marcus Hook. After that council met until November of the same year at the Spread Eagle Hotel. At that date the society rented the hall at- tached to the hosiery-mills, and used it as a council- chamber until the room was required for mill pur- poses. By dispensation from the State Council granted Dec. 1, 1880, council was authorized to re- move to Linwood Station, where they leased Odd- Fellows' Hall one night in a week. The present Councilor is Edward Truitt, and the number of mem- bers is fifty-three.

Linwood Lodge, No. 499, K. of P .- This lodge was instituted May 12, 1884, by District Deputy Dan- iel W. Flenner, of Chester. Meetings are held in the Odd-Fellows' Hall. John D. Goff is C. C. The present number of members is fifty-six.

Old Residents and their Homes .- Dr. Caleb Smith Sayers settled at Marcus Hook, where he practiced his profession until his death, in 1799, at the early age of thirty-two years. He was a victim of yellow fever, with which he was attacked after visiting a man on a vessel who was lying ill, the captain being ignorant of the serious nature of the disease. The house where the doctor lived, almost as it was in his day, facing the river, still stands. At the time of his death he owned sixty-three acres of land in Upper Chichester, and a brick house and lot and half an acre of ground in Marcus Hook. His son, Hon. Edward S. Sayers, who was consul for Brazil and vice-consul for Portugal, at Philadelphia, died March 29, 1877, was born at Marcus Hook shortly after his father's death. Sub- sequently thereto the family removed to Philadelphia, where Edward S. Sayers became a prominent mer- chant. When the Emperor Dom Pedro visited the Centennial Exposition, he was always attended by Mr. Sayers, the latter in early life having personally become acquainted with the royal family in Brazil. In early times Marcus Hook appears to have been a favorite locality for physicians, and success seems to have attended their efforts there. In 1799, Dr. Nich- olas Newlin not only had his own residence and one hundred and ninety-eight acres of land, but he owned several houses which he rented to families,-a very unusual thing at that period.

During the second war with England, Marcus Hook in the fall of the year (1814) was the designated en- campment of Pennsylvania militia called to the field, as well as a few regiments from Delaware, and the United States regular army, the force gathered there amounting to eight or ten thousand men. During the time of the threatened attack on the city of Phil- adelphia by Admiral Cockburn, the armed gunboats patroled the river to a point near New Castle, and it was no unusual thing for the residents of Marcus Hook to see three or four of these gunboats sailing

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LOWER CHICHESTER TOWNSHIP.

by the town in a day. They were flat sloop-rigged crafts, of forty or fifty tons, carrying one large gun, and commanded by an officer and ten or twelve men, the latter armed with muskets, cutlasses, and pikes.

The old houses standing east of the creek, Morton, Johnson, Pennell, and several others, were all erected before or about the middle of the last century, the clay being dug and the bricks made and burned near where the houses were built. On those farms to this day the excavations made in digging the clay can be pointed out. The Pennell house was built in two parts, the kitchen in 1744, by William Hendrickson, who then owned the property. The figures given have been pressed in the bricks in several places. He sold the estate to John Smith, who built the main part of the present house. Smith was an Irish Quaker, who settled near Kingsessing, and married a Bunting, of Darby. It is stated by tradition that, when looking for a farm, he was told that this was one of the best in the county, and purchased it. He subsequently acquired much real estate in the neigh- borhood. The Trainer family, in the maternal line, are descended from John Smith. Elizabeth Smith, the centenarian, who died in 1802, aged one hundred and three years, and is buried in St. Martin's grave- yard, is said to have been a sister of John Smith, but was always a stanch member of the Church of Eng- land, and a liberal contributor to the struggling parish of St. Paul. The inscription on the gravestone in St. Martin's Church-yard where she lies is simply- " Elizabeth Smith. Born August, 1699. Died Oc- tober, 1802,"-thus proving that she had lived in three centuries. The Johnson house, on the west side of the great post-road, near Stony Run, was built about the same period mentioned as the date of the Pennell building, and with the exception of about twenty years, as long as our records run, the estate has been in the ownership of the family. Benjamin F. Johnson, the old squire, as he was termed, then an octogenarian, on Nov. 9, 1871, died suddenly while seated at his supper-table. A man of studious habits for years, he had maintained the reputation of being one of the best-informed men in the county, and in his lengthened lifetime had been county treasurer, a justice of the peace for nearly half a century, and for sixty successive years a vestryman of St. Martin's Church,-the longest period of continuous service, in any capacity, so far as I have knowledge, ever per- formed by a resident of this county.

The Eyre mansion, just west of the line of the borough of South Chester, is of more recent date, having been built by William Eyre about the begin- ning of this century. Forty years ago, Jan. 2, 1845, Martin Sullivan, a lad on this farm, fell through the funnel in the barn on that estate and was instantly killed.

The village of Linwood is a direct outgrowth of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Rail- road, and its history does not extend backward in our

annals a half-century. The incidents connected with the story of Lower Chichester I have already given, so far as I have information.

In 1878, John Lenkins, a printer, began the publi- cation of a newspaper in Lower Chichester, called The Linwood Times. After one issue the paper was suspended.

The following is a list of justices of the peace :

Names.

Date of Commission.

Samuel Price. .. Aug. 30, 1791.

Joseph Marshall.

May

20,1800.

James Withey. .. July

4, 1806.

Jacob Edwards

Jan.

1,1807.

John Caldwell

Nov. 15, 1814.

Joseph Walker

Feb.

3,1820.

Samuel Smith. March 12, 1822.

David Marshall .March 3, 1824.

George W. Bartram .. June

3, 1824.

Benjamin F. Johnson ... Oct.

25, 1825.

Abraham Kerlin. June

7, 1830.

Samuel T. Walker. Nov.

11, 183].

John Afflick Juna

6,1834.

Samuel Shaw

Nov.

18, 1835.

William Martin. June

10, 1836.

William Eyre ... Dec.

21, 1838.

Georga W. Bartram ..

.. Sept.

23,1839.

Jordan D. Bitting (borongh of Marcus Hook ). April

14, 1840.

Benjamin F. Johnson.

April

14, 1840.

William Eyre.

.. April

14, 1840.

John Larkin, Jr. (borough of Marcue Hook). April Benjamin F. Johnson .. .. April

15, 1845.

William Eyre .... .. April

15, 1845.

Edward Waggoner (borough of Marcua Hook) April

14, 1846.

Benjamin F. Johoson

April

9,1850.

William Eyre ... .. April

9, 1850.

Samuel T. Walker (borough of Marcus Hook) April Benjamin F. Johosoo ... Oct.

23, 1855,

William Eyre .. Oct.

23, 1855.

Benjamin F. Johnson .. .April 10, 1860.

Alfred Bunting (borough of Marcus Hook) .. April

10, 1860.

Manley Emanuel. April

15, 1861.

Benjamin F. Johnson. .. April

28, 1865.

Robert A. Loughead

.April

16, 1867.

Samuel T. Walker .. .. April

14, 1867.

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 117

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