History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 120

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

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

WILLIAM TRAINER.

David Trainer, the grandfather of William, emi- grated from Ireland when nine years of age, and entering the service of George Hinkson, of Nether Providence, Delaware Co., remained until he attained his majority. He married Martha, daughter of Bethel Robert Booth, to whom were born children, -- Jane, Lydia, Mary, Martha, Margaret, Prudence, and David. He married, a second time, Margaret Morton, whose children were Daniel, Edith, George, and James. Mr. Trainer for a while cultivated a farm, after which he engaged extensively in the quarrying of stone, in Ridley township, in connection with his former occupation. His son, David, was born Feb. 19, 1777, in Darby township, and during his active life was both a farmer and a miller. He was an in- fluential citizen, public-spirited and progressive, in politics a pronounced Federalist, and for one or more terms commissioner of the county. He married Mrs. Sarah Newlan, of Lower Chichester township, whose

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

birth occurred March 27, 1771. Their children were Sarah (Mrs. James H. Walker), William, Josiah, Mary (wife of Capt. Frank Smith), and David. Mr. Trainer died Feb. 29, 1846, in his seventieth year, and his wife, July 29, 1849, in her seventy-ninth year. Their son, William, the subject of this sketch, was born Dec. 10, 1806, in Lower Chichester township, where his life has been spent. After such advantages of education as were obtainable in the neighborhood were enjoyed, he became for six months a pupil of Benjamin Tucker, a celebrated Quaker instructor resident in Philadelphia. Returning to his home, the labor of the farm engaged his attention until twenty-one years of age, after which a year was spent in travel in the West. Another year was employed as superintendent of the work connected with the Delaware breakwater, after which he embarked in the business of store-keeping at Marcus Hook, and in 1838 resumed the labors of a farmer. He was married, in 1832, to Miss Mary P., daughter of Israel Heacock, of Darby township, whose children are Emma (wife of Joseph McElrey), Henry Clay, David E., and William,-all married and residing in Phila- delphia. The death of Mrs. Trainer occurred, after a most useful and exemplary life, on the 12th of Sep- tember, 1883. Mr. Trainer, after his marriage, in- herited the farm which is his present home, and con- tinued its cultivation until 1883, when he abandoned active labor. In politics he was early a Federalist, after which he became an earnest supporter of the Whig principles of which Henry Clay was the able exponent, and now votes the Republican ticket. He was formerly active in local politics, and for many years director of the poor of the county. Under his super- vision the old almshouse property at Media was sold, and land purchased at advantageous figures iu Mid- dletown township, on which the present spacious buildings are located. Mr. Trainer was educated in the Quaker faith, but, with his wife, in 1837 became a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Mar- cus Hook, though at present one of the congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church of that place.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

CONCORD TOWNSHIP.

CONCORD TOWNSHIP, the largest municipal division in the county of Delaware, is first mentioned at the court " held at Chester, for the County of Chester, on the 27th of the 4th month, called june, 1683," at which session John Mendenhall was appointed con- stable for "Concord liberty." The name it bears is believed to have been bestowed because of the harmo- nious feelings which in early times prevailed among the settlers there. The township was laid out origi- nally in a rectangular form, and a road exactly in the

centre (called Concord Street) ran from Bethel, on the south, to Thornbury, on the north, dividing it in halves. This street, laid out in 1682, appears never to have been opened. to public travel. The south- western end of Concord, which intrudes into Birming- ham, rendering the boundary-lines of that township the most irregular in the county, resulted from the fact that the lines of the manor of Rockland, in New Castle County, ran along the western boundary of Concord, and, after the division of Pennsylvania and Delaware, the Rockland manor lands were patented to settlers who, doubtless, selected and were annexed to the township in which they wished their lands located. This idea is inferentially established by the fact that no land, either in Concord or Birmingham townships, within the manor was patented previous to 1701, in which year Penn authorized the division be- tween Pennsylvania and the three lower counties- the present State of Delaware-to be made. That part of the Rockland manor which is now in Concord was patented by four persons. George Lee, Dec. 23, 1701, had surveyed to him two hundred acres border- ing on Bethel to the Concord line. Nathaniel Newlin received two patents, June 2, 1702, for six hundred acres,-one of two hundred and the other of four hundred acres,-beginning at the eastern boundary of the original township and extending to the present western line of Concord. His patents were located on the north of Lee's tract, and included almost all the lands between parallel lines, except one hundred and thirty and a half acres, which were surveyed to Francis Chads, April 9, 1702. This tract began a short distance west of Elam, and ran eastward to the original township-line. The irregular piece of land, which juts to a point almost northwest into Birming- ham, was patented to John Chevers, as two hundred acres, Oct. 28, 1708.

Early in the history of the township the savages, whose custom was to roam undisturbed wheresoever they pleased, hunting for game and killing the swine, became an annoyance to the settlers in the "back woods" of Concord. This disposition on the part of the red men created much trouble, and soon became so detrimental to the residents that on Nov. 16, 1685, they presented a petition to the Provincial Council respecting it, which is of record as follows :

"The Complaint of ye friends, Inhabitants of Concord and Hertford" (Haverford),-widely separated townships,-"against the Indians, for ye Rapine and Destructions of their hoggs, was Read.

"Ordered that ye Respective Indian Kings be sent for to ye Councill with all speed, to Answer their Complaint.

" The Inhabitants of the Welsh Tract Complains of the same, by an Endorsement on ye aforementioned Complaint."1

What ultimately resulted from this action of the Concord settlers does not appear of record, nor has tradition preserved anything respecting it.

At the southwestern end of the original township of Concord was a tract of three hundred acres, which

1 Colonial Records, val. i. p. 162.

Zouche, Baron of Codnor, No. 161, in the foreground.

" GODNOR FARM." RESIDENCE OF COL. FRANK M. ETTING, CONCORD, DELAWARE CO., PA.

483

CONCORD TOWNSHIP.

was surveyed to William Beazer March 29, 1683, and which shortly afterwards passed into the ownership of William Cloud, who, although an aged man, accom- panied by his family, came to the colony among the earliest settlers and moved "into the woods" at Con- cord. He was a native of Calne, county of Wilt- shire, and from him the Cloud family of Delaware County claim descent. Just above his tract John Beal, who had married Mary Cloud, took up two hundred acres on rent in 1683, but he subsequently removed. Nearly midway of the township, extend- ing from the western limits of Concord as originally surveyed to Concord Street, which ran north and south, dividing the district into halves, was a tract of five hundred acres, which was surveyed Oct. 12, 1683, to John Haselgrove. This estate, after passing through several owners, none of whom were residents, in 1710 was acquired by Henry Peirce, who settled on this land and was taxed therefor in 1715. Above Con- cordville, John Lee, on Dec. 3, 1701, received a patent for one hundred and fifty-two acres. He was a wool- comber by trade, and came from Wiltshire, England, in 1700, and settled in Concord. He lived until 1726, and was a noted public Friend in the early days of the province. Above Lee's tract John Mendenhall pur- chased three hundred acres of land, which was pat- ented to him June 27, 1684. On this property Con- cord Friends' meeting-house was located, the land being given by Mendenhall for that purpose. He is believed to have come from Mildenhall, county of Sussex, England, and was one of the original pro- jectors and owners of the Concord Mills. Above the Mendenhall tract William Byers had two hundred acres surveyed to him Jan. 17, 1683/4, which, in 1693, passed into the ownership of Nicholas Pyle. He settled in Concord, in 1686, at which time he may have already occupied the estate. In the company's mills he took an active part as one of the owners. He was a member of Assembly, serving as such for six years, and was an active, enterprising man, whose energy did much to tame and subdue the wilderness. In 1701 he purchased the western half of the five hundred acres taken up by William Hitchcock, which extended from the east to the west boundary across the township, for on that part of the estate bought by him the Society Mills were located. The tract of two hundred and fifty acres lying above Pyle's land was surveyed to Philip Roman, February, 1682/3, but it is not probable that he ever resided thereon. On the eastern side of Concord Street, extending from that road to the eastern line of the township, and immediately south of Thornbury, John Harding, at the same date as Roman, acquired title to two hundred and fifty-five acres of land, but he, as with Roman, never resided on the property. Just south of this tract was the William Hitebcock land, already men- tioned, which was subsequently purchased by Benja- min Mendenhall, who resided thereon in 1715, and probably followed his occupation of wheelwright. In

1714 he was a member of the Assembly, and, retain- ing the good opinion of the public, he lived to an ad- vanced age, dying in 1740. Below this tract Nicholas Newlin, on Sept. 24, 1683, received five hundred acres. He was reputed as very wealthy, a nobleman by de- scent, being one of the De Newlandes, who had come over with the Conqueror. Although of English fam- ily, he emigrated, with his wife and children, from County Tyrone, Ireland. He was appointed a mem- ber of the Provincial Council and a justice of the courts. His son, Nicholas, was about twenty-four years old when he accompanied his father to Pennsylvania, a man of education and means. In 1698 he was a member of Assembly, and served as such at several different periods. He was also appointed one of the proprietaries' commissioners of property, and a justice of the courts. In 1722 he was one of the trustees of the loan-office, a position he continued to fill until his death. On the Newlin lands, Codnor farm, owned by Col. Frank M. Etting, the author, is located.

Below the present Markham Station, on the Balti- more Central Railroad, was a tract of two hundred acres, patented to Thomas King, July 22, 1684, and thereon he resided until his death, in 1706. On the . south of King's land was one hundred acres surveyed to Thomas Moore in 1684, while immediately below him were two hundred acres, patented July 15, 1684, to Nathaniel Park. Jeremiah Collett on March 1, 1682/3, took up two hundred acres on tract immedi- ately south of Park's plantation. On March 1, 1686, this property passed to John Hannum, who gave the ground at the northwest corner of the, tract on which St. John's Church was built. He was the grandfather of Col. John Hannum, of the Revolution, who was the controlling mind which caused the removal of the county-seat to West Chester, an act which eventually resulted in the erection of Delaware County. Col. Hannum, it is said, was born on this plantation. South of the Hannum property were three hundred acres, which on July 12, 13, 1682, were surveyed to . George Strode, of Southampton County, England, a grocer by trade, but beyond that fact very little is now known respecting him. Directly south of Strode's tract were one hundred acres entered on rent Sept. 24, 1683, by William Hawkes, which on March 26, 1688, were patented to John Palmer. The latter, tra- dition says, was enticed away from his widowed mother's home, in England, and came as a redemp- tioner to the colony. He married Mary Suddery, a woman of great courage, for it is related that on one occasion she drove a bear away from a chestnut-tree on this plantation with a fire-poker, or poking-stick. Two hundred acres south of the Palmer tract was sur- veyed to William Oborne July 3, 1688, and a similar tract to the south of Oborne's land was patented to John Beazer, Aug. 4, 1684, but he did not reside on the estate. Dennis Rochford, Feb. 10, 1682, had surveyed to him five hundred acres, to the south of the Bezer land. Rochford was an Irishman, from Emstorfey,

484

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

County of Wexford, and accompanied William Penn in the " Welcome." His wife, Mary, died on the pas- sage in that plague-smitten vessel, as did also two of his daughters. He settled on the estate in Concord, and in 1683 was a representative from Chester County in the Assembly. On Oct. 6, 1691, Thomas Green pur- chased four hundred acres of the Rochford lands. He, with his wife, Margaret, and two sons, Thomas and John, settled in Cancord in 1686, possibly on the tract he subsequently bought. From him the Green family of Delaware County trace descent. The re- maining one hundred acres bordering on the Bethel line was sold to William Clayton, Jr., Feb. 14, 1684/5, but he never resided on the land in Concord.

Concord Friends' Meeting-House .- The land for a Friends' meeting and graveyard at Concord, the sixth in the county, was conveyed or rather leased to trustees, by John Mendenhall, in 1697, they pay- ing " one peppercorn yearly forever." In that year a sum was obtained by subscription for fencing in a burial-ground at Concord, and at a monthly meeting held at the house of George Pearce, on the 10th day of Fourth month, 1697, the following paper was read :

" WHEREAS, the has been some differencea by some that have eepa- rated from Friends in their subscriptions towards their building of meeting-houses, &c., for the service of Truth, We, whose names are hereunder subscribed, do promise and oblige ourselves hereby, that if we, or any oue or more of us, should separate ourselves from the Society and Communion of these Friends of Concord, Birmingham, aod Thora- bury, that now we walk in fellowship with, either io doctrine, life or conversation, we will make no trouble amongst these people by reason of any right we, or any one of us think we have becanee of this, or any other subscription that was, or may be, towerde building a meeting- honse or making a hurial-place for the yonse of the said people of God called Quakere. And we further promise to relinquish and lay aaide all pretence of right or claim whereby any diequiet may arise among the aforesaid people of God called Quakers, of Concord, Birmingham, and Thorabury. According to the purport, true meaning sud intent of the written as above said, we subscribe as follows:

£ 8. d.

" Nath'l Newliu.

7 10 0

Peter Dix.

5 15 0

Benj. Mendenhall.

5 10 0

George Pearce

Elizabeth Hick meu.

0 Issac Taylor

2 8

Thomas Ring.

Wm. Brinton, Sr.

3 10 0

Nicholas Pyle.

Wm. Briotoo, Jr ..

2 16 0

William Cloud

John Mendenhall

2 16

William Collett.

Benj. Woodward ...

1 18

Edward Jones.

1 16

Jaha Bennett.

4 5

Nicholas Newlin

: 15 0

Joha Hertchim.

1 2 6

Robert Way

Joseph Edwarde.

0 15 0

Edward Bennett.

Joseph Gilpia

0 10

Thomas Radley.

Samuel Scott.

0 10 0

Richard Thatcher

John Sanger

0 6 0

Francis Chadsey

Goodwin Walter

0 5 0

Jonathan Thatcher.

1 10 0

Daniel Davis.

0 5 0

John Newlin ..

5 10

Heary Osborn

2 5 0

56 0 3"

Although this sum was subscribed for the building of a meeting-house in Concord, it seems not to have been completely ready for use until 1710, and was then a frame or log structure, which, in 1728, gave place to a brick edifice. In the early times the meet- ing-houses had no stoves in them, but were partially warmed by charcoal fires, which were built on large stones in the centre of the building, which were allowed to die out before the hour set for meeting, or were warmed by open wood-fires in wide chimney- places. Concord meeting-house was warmed by these latter means, large wood-fires being built in the

attic at each end of the building, to which members would resort previous to assembling in the apartment below. Cancard meeting-house having become too limited in its dimensions to meet the wants of Friends of that neighborhood, a movement was made looking to its enlargement or the building of an entirely new edifice. In the winter of 1788, while Friends had assembled to consider that question, the house caught fire from the soot in one of the chimneys, and despite the efforts of those present was burned, leaving only the brick walls. Immediate steps were taken to re- build the house, the expense being borne jointly by Concord Monthly and Quarterly Meetings, the for- mer agreeing to pay six hundred pounds, one-third of the estimated costs, and the six Monthly Meetings in Chester County obligating themselves to discharge the remaining two-thirds. The present Concord meeting-house was built under these circumstances, the old walls being used, an addition being made thereto. The cost of the structure exceeded largely the estimate, and a call was made for three hundred and seventy-five pounds additional to complete the meeting-house. In this old building for seventy years the question of human slavery was discussed, and by degrees the feeling grew that it was unjust, until on 20th day Second month, 1800, at Concard Quarterly Meeting for the first time appeared on its record this announcement: "Clear of importing, dis- posing of, or holding mankind as slaves." At two o'clock on Friday, Sept. 12, 1777, Maj .- Gen. Grant, with the First and Second Brigades of the British army, marched from Chad's Ford to Concord, and some of his men were quartered in the old meeting- house, while foraging parties scoured the " country and woods" near by, picking " up Waggons, Horses, Am- munition, Provision and cattle, and several Rebels that had secreted themselves."1 Tradition records that the meeting-house was made a hospital by the English for their wounded, but the inference is more probable that disabled American soldiers, in striving to escape, were found in the woods by the English scouting parties, were brought there, and ou Sunday following, when Dr. Rush with three surgeons came to "attend the wounded Rebels left scattered in the Houses about the field of Battle, unattended by their Surgeons till now," he visited that building on his errand of mercy. Gen. Grant, tradition also asserts, occupied as his headquarters, while he tarried at Con- cord, a house built in 1755, near St. John's Church, which in recent years has been removed to make room for needed improvements. The English officer, when he advanced to unite with Lord Cornwallis at Village Green, left a guard at the meeting-house for the short time intervening before the whale British army marched away from that neighborhood never to return. The venerable Friends' meeting-house had

1 Journal of Capt. John Montressor, Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. vii. p. 34.

1 15

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CONCORD TOWNSHIP.

been the scene of many incidents connected with the family history of the old families of Concord and surrounding townships which will ever render it a place of interest and considerate care.

St. John's Episcopal Church .- The first mention of an Episcopalian Church at Concord occurs in the letter of Rev. Evan Evans, dated London, Sept. 18, | his tract on which to erect a church, and doubtless a 1707, on "the state of the church in Pennsylvania, most humbly offered to the venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." Rev. Mr. Evans, in 1700, was sent to Philadelphia by Bishop Compton, the then Bishop of London, to aid by his ministry and teachings the infant Christ Church, the congregation of which, in 1696, had erected a place of worship in the "Great town" in the colony. This missionary gave glowing accounts of the growth of the doctrines of the Church of Eng- land among the people of the province, and in order to show how deeply the seed he had sown had taken root, records, " And the true religion (by the frequent resort of persons from remote parts to Philadelphia) did so spread, and the number of converts did so in- crease that I was obliged to divide myself among them as often and as equally as I could, till they were formed into proper districts, and had ministers sent over to them by the venerable society. For this rea- son I went frequently to Chichester, which is twenty- five miles ; Chester or Upland, twenty ; Maidenhead, forty (where I baptized 19 children at one time) ; Concord, twenty ; Evesham, in West Jersey, fifteen ; Montgomery, twenty ; and Radnor, fifteen miles dis- tant from Philadelphia. All which, though equally fatiguing and expensive, I frequently went to and preached, being by all means determined to lose none of those I have gained, but rather add to them till the society otherwise provided for them."

In the same letter Mr. Evans states, "Our winters, being severe in these parts, detain many from church whose plantations lie at a distance, and for that rea- son Mr. Nicholas preached sometimes at Concord in | in the month as there were congregations to serve, the week-days."1

The first St. Paul's Church at Chester was built in 1702, and on Sunday, Jan. 24, 1703 (new style), it was opened for public worship. In 1704, Rev. Heury Nichols was assigned by the Society for the Propaga- tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts as missionary in charge of St. Paul's parish, then including Marcus Hook and Concord; hence the week-day services mentioned by Mr. Evans must have been held in that year, certainly prior to 1707. On March 17, 1682/3, Jeremiah (or, as he is usually termed in the early records, "Jeremy") Collet, an earnest Episcopalian, entered on rent two hundred acres of land in Concord, and on March 1, 1686, conveyed the property to John Hannum (who settled in Concord about that time, certainly within two years thereafter), an ardent

churchman, who is alluded to by Rev. Mr. Ross in his report to the society, June 25, 1714, in which he furnished " an account of the Building of St. Paul's at Chester," as among the " Parishers who were chief helpers to carry on the work." In 1702, John Han- num gave a lot of ground at the northwest corner of log building was located thereon about that year. A tradition prevails that long previous to this date the Swedes were accustomed to hold divine service in Concord. A similar tradition maintained until within recent years that the early Swedish settlers had a church at Chester on the site of the old St. Paul's; but careful investigation has so fully demonstrated the error of this statement that it is no longer an open question. Indeed, previous to Penn coming it is ex- tremely doubtful whether a Swedish person ever saw the territory now Concord township. The tradition originated in the fact that often for months together no clergyman of the Church of England could be procured to preach in these remote settlements. And as late as 1751, Rev. Israel Acrelius records that the Swedish pastor in charge of the Lutheran Church at Christina was frequently requested to preach in the Episcopal Churches, " as otherwise their (the parish- ioners') children would become unchristened heath- ens or Quakers, their churches would be changed into stables alongside of Quaker meeting-houses. They praised Mr. Tranberg as a warm-hearted man, who had always assisted them. The Provost, therefore, took some time to see whether it was possible to please everybody. He preached once a month in all these places. He was at Christina every Sunday, but on week-days and saints' days in the others. That became the rule, and at first was all right, but after- wards each congregation wanted preaching on a Sun- day. So there were also added the churches at Con- cord and Marcus Hook, which presented the same request ; and then there were not as many Sundays and so Christina would always have been vacant. The good old Swedes now began to murmur, partly at the minister, and partly at the English, who wished to have him with them and never once paid his expenses of travel."? Hence, while the names of several Swedish ministers appear among the list of pastors of St. Paul's, St. Martin's, and St. John's Churches, they were there merely to fill a vacancy, and were never regularly ordained rectors of St. Paul's parish, which included until 1835 St. John's Church in Concord.

Ralph Pyle, of Concord, who was a liberal contrib- utor to the first church of St. Paul's, at Chester, in his will, dated Jan. 1, 1739, and proved Sept. 1, 1741, provided :

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 120

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