USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania > Part 126
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507
DARBY TOWNSHIP.
10, 1682, to William Smith, and to the west of the Smith land, in irregular lines, were one hundred acres patented to Peter Erickson, Nov. 30, 1681, the Mat- thew Baird estate is partly located on this tract. The property was subsequently absorbed, May 29, 1685, into the large plantation of Joseph Wood, on which the village of Darby was originally laid out.
In December, 1739, George Whitefield, the celebrated preacher, left Philadelphia for Chester accompanied by about one hundred and fifty horsemen.1 On his way he stopped at Darby. Bamfylde-Moore Carew, the noted king of the English mendicants, who was escaping from servitude in Virginia, records that while on his way from Chester to Darby, "but before he reached there, he was overtaken by hundreds of peo- ple going to hear Mr. Whitefield preach. He joined them, and they all proceeded to Darby, where he found Mr. Whitefield preaching in an orchard, but could not get near enough to hear his discourse by reason of the great concourse of people." The artful rogue, however, afterwards went to the house where the clergyman was stopping, and by a forged letter and a piteous story succeeded in obtaining several pounds in the paper money of Pennsylvania from Whitefield, as he had done the day before from Mrs. Turner, in Chester.
Watson, the annalist, informs us that William Taylor, who came from England.in 1726 and settled at Darby, was the first person to make a pair of smith's bellows in the English colonies, if not in North America. We know that in 1739 the commis- sioners appointed to adjust the boundary-line between Maryland and Pennsylvania, in surveying to ascertain the proper starting-point for the due west line, passed through the township, for Friday, April 13, 1739, they reported,-" The Surveyors proceeded on the Line till Evening, and left off in the lands of Thomas Worth, in Darby Township,"2 which was located in the northern end of the present township, and east of Darby Creek.
The marshes of Darby Creek, until after the middle of the last century, were often covered with water, until by that reason many of the farms adjacent be- came almost valueless. The advantage of the bottom- lands as places for pasture was appreciated by some of the early farmers, but it required a few years before a sufficient number could be educated to urge the passage of the act of March 4, 1763, which impowered the owners and possessors of the southern district of Darby marsh or meadow ground to embank and drain such lands, and to keep the outside banks and dams in good repair forever. The act authorized the raising of a fund, and by certain compulsory process to enforce payment from unwilling land-owners. The land thus reclaimed has become of great value and is very productive.
Roads .- On the 25th of May, 1695, a petition was presented to the Provincial Council from the residents of Chester, asking for a " ferrie att the rocks," which prayer was acceded to and Benjamin Chambers, who had received a patent for lands on the western side of the Schuylkill, was authorized to keep a ferry there, which previous to 1747 had passed into the ownership of George Gray. On Sept. 3, 1701, a complaint was laid before the Provincial Council "by some of the Inhabitants of Darby Township against some parts of a road laid out by the Govr's order, from B. Cham- ber's fferry, through Darby Township to Edgmont. Ordered that Nicholas Pyle, Sam'l Levis, Geo. Maires, & Randal Vernon, all of Chester County, do on ye sixth day next, that one being ye 12th instant, view the controverted parts of the said Road, beginning at the said fferry, and upon a Due Consideration of the allegations on both sides, to give their judgment whether the sª Road is conveniently laid out for a Cart Road, as it now is, or whether it may not, with equal Conveniency for the said purpose and advan- tage to the Public, as well as Justice to each particu- lar in all respects, be laid out otherwise according to the complaint's desires, and make report thereof to this Board in writing, at the next session."3 If any report was ever made it does not appear in the official papers of the State, as published.
At a court held Feb. 9, 1687, the following report was approved by the court, which road is still used, and now known as the Radnor and Darby road :
" A Highway laid out by ye grand Jury and other neighbours hetwixt Hartfort and Darby vpou ye 7th day of the twelfe moneth, 1687. Begin- ning at Widdow Panthir's, aod from thence on ye head lyne betwixt ye said Widdows land and ye laod of John Levis, from theuce crosse ye land of William Howell, from thence crosse ye land of Arthur Bruce, from thence crosse ye land of Henry Levis, thence Entering the Township of Derby, from thence Crossa ye land of Adam Roads, thenca Crosse ye land of Joho Kirk, thence Crosse ye land of William Garrett, then crosse ye land of Michael Blunstone, then Crosse ye land of George Wood, then Crosse ye land of Robert Smith, then Crosse ye land of Thomas Worth, then coming vpon the land of Joshua ffirne, soe downe yo Towne street of Darby to ya Kings Road, and soe to yo Landing; thia Highway to be aixty foote as neede requires.
" WILLIAM GARRETT.
" THOMAS BRADSHAW.
" RICHARD PARKER.
" THOMAS ffox."
" EDMOND CASTLEDOE.
The Queen's Highway .- The Southern Post road from Darby to Chester, Edward Armstrong states, was the earliest highway laid out by authority in Pennsylvania. While that assertion may be correct, there is no evidence, so far as the records show, to establish the fact that the road was ordered by the Governor and Council, the only power authorized to make such ways. Previous to the coming of Wil- liam Penn all roads led to Chester, not to Philadel- phia; and while we hear of suspervisors for Darby, Ridley, and Chester townships soon after Penn's ar- rival, there is no evidence to show the public require- ment of a road to Philadelphia. Hence we may ac- cept the latter way as simply a compliance with the
1 Watson'a Annala, vol. I. p. 538.
2 Penna. Archives, vol. i. p. 605.
" Colonial Records, vol. ii. p. 33.
508
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
order made Nov. 12, 1678, that "the court this day ordered that Every p'son should, wthin the space of two months, as far as his land Reaches, make good and passable wayes, from neighbour to neighbour, wth bridges where itt needs, To the end that neigh- bours on occasions may come together. Those ne- glecting, to forfit 25 gilders." Indeed, the petition presented to Council March 19, 1705/6, corroborates the foregoing statement. The petition is as follows :
" To the Hon'ble John Evone, Esq., Lieut .- Governor of the Province of Penn- sylvania and the Three Lower Counties, and to his Council :
" The Humble petetion of the Inhabitants of the town and County of Chester and others, humbly showeth : That whereas, by ye Laws of this Government, ye gole power of laying out of the Queen's Road is lodged in the Governor and Council; and whereas the Town of Chester is daily improving, and In time may become a great place, and very advan- tageous to the Propriatour, but forasmuch as most of the People of that place concerned In the Improvement is much discouraged for want of a direct Road from thence to Philadelphia, wee, your Petitioners, whose names are hereunto subscribed, do beg the Governor and Councill that an ord'r may be granted to fitt and proper persons to lay out the Queen's Road on as direct a Line as can be from Darby, to answer the bridge on Chester Creek, and your petitioners in duty bound will ever pray.
"Edward Dutton.
Richard Crosby.
Jonathan Ruttland.
Joseph Clowd.
David Powell.
Edward Wilburn.
John Wiley.
Thomas Buffington.
Isaac Taylour.
Edward Elwell.
Charles Booth.
Jonathan Munrow.
Joshua Calvert.
John Morton.
Richard Prichard.
David Jones.
John Houldstou. Samuel Bishop.
James Thomas.
Joseph Baker.
Jonathan Hayes.
David Lewis.
Joho Grubb,
William Gregory.
Henry Hollidgsworth.
Ephraim Jackson.
George Simpson.
Edward Kennison. Phillip Yaroall.
James Swaffer.
John Gilibeans.
Edward Jennings. Morgan Jones.
Richard Addams.
James Chivers.
John Childe.
David Lloyd,
Ralph Fishburn.
Jasper Yeates.
Wm Pickells.
James Sandelands.
Wm Huston.
Joho Hoskine. John Wade.
David Roberts. Wm Swaffer.
Paul Sanders.
Thomas Cartwright.
Robert Barber.
John Bauldine.
Sam1 Tomlinson.
John Test.
David Merredith.
John Test, Jr.
Edward Danger.
John Dutton.
Jolın Hekenes.
Thomas Dutton.
Thomas Oldham.
Alexander Badcock.
Thomas Bauldwin.
George Woodiar.
Joseph Richarda.
Jobo Bristow.
Walter Martin.
George Oldfield.
Tho. Powell.
John Sharples.
Nicholas Fairlamb.
Thos. Vernon.
Moses Key.
Jeremiah Collett, Sr.
Henry Coburn.
Mordecai Howell.
Nathan Baker.
Israel Taylor.
Geo. Chandler.
Jeremiah Collett, Jr.
John Worrall.
Humphrey Johnston."
James Hendricxeon.
Council in response to this petition ordered,-
" That the eaid Road be laid accordingly and if there shall be occasion for building a bridge over any Navigable creek or water for the greater conveniency of Travelling the said Road; that such bridge shall be so built that the same may in nowise hinder aoy boats from passing up or down euch creek or water. And it is further Ordered yt Jasper Yates,
Caleb Pusey, Jeremiah Collett, Robert Barber and John Hendrickson, or any four of them, do survey and lay out the said Roads, and that they return as soon as they can to the Board,-Under their hands and seala an exact draught setting forth the several courses thereof." 1
This road was laid out, and bitter feeling was en- gendered against several of the commissioners, par- ticularly Jasper Yeates, for the manner in which the road was surveyed. The people of that day declared that his influence carried the highliway through Ches- ter at the point it did, so that his own and his father- in-law's estate might be benefited thereby. "God and Nature," it was asserted, "intended the road to cross directly across the creek, but the Devil and Jasper Yeates took it where it was located." However, it was so laid, and at the August court, 1706, the sheriff was directed " forthwith" to give notice " to the Su- pervisors of the highways for Chester, Ridley, and Darby for clearing the new Road lately laid out by the Governor & Councill leading from Darby to Chester and further that they, the Supervisors, do without de- lay, upon notice thereof, cause the same new Road to be opened and cleared fifty foot wide." Previous to that road being laid out the highway to Philadelphia was considerably to the north of the present post-road, so that creeks could be crossed above tide-water at the fords. The King's Highway of the early days, if it could be called such, crossed Ridley township almost in a straight line from Irvington to Darby. William Worrall, whose recollections were written by Judge George G. Leiper, in 1820 (Worrall was born in 1730), and published in the newspapers of that time, stated that frequently, in plowing his fields, the plow- share would throw up nails or other articles dropped by the settlers in journeying across the land. He pointed out to Judge Leiper the course of the old road which Penn and his followers took when on their way by land to Philadelphia, as it passed through his farm.
The road laid out in 1706 in time having fallen in bad condition, many of the residents refused to work on the highway, alleging that it was never offi- cially confirmed and was not a legal road, and, more- over, except for a very short distance, the traveled road was from twenty to forty perches south of the route surveyed in 1706. The dispute could only be adjusted by the Provincial Council. Hence on Aug. 17, 1747, the following petition of George Gray and others was presented to Council :
" To the Honourable, the President and Council of the Province of Penn- sylvania :
"The humble Petition of George Gray, Keeper of the lower Ferry over Schuylkill, on the Road from the City of Philadelphia to Chester, and of others, living in the County of Chester, and using the said Road, Sheweth,
"That the said Road, leading from the south street of the said City over the said Ferry to Cobb's Creek Bridge, near Darby, in the County of Chester, has Time out of Mind been the only old and accustomed Road to Darhy, Chester, Newcastle, and the Lower Counties.
1 This petition was for the first time printed in Martin's " History of Chester," p. 59, it being copied from the manuscript in the " Logan Papers," vol. iv. marked " Roads," in possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,
Peter Trego.
Roger Jackson.
509
DARBY TOWNSHIP.
" That the Inhabitantsof the Townships through which the same Road passea, not doubting ita being a recorded Road, have hitherto duly re- paired and amended the same, but now being apprized that it either has not been regularly recorded, or that the Record thereof cannot be found, 60 that they are not obliged to repair the same or contribute thereto, the said Road is at present much ont of Repair, and, growing worse, will, in the Winter, become ntierly impassable or dangerona to travel with Horses, Chaises, or other Carriagea, unless the same be repaired before the ensuing Wioter. That your Petitioners are informed that if the said Road was surveyed and recorded according to Law, the same would sud ought to he from Time to Time repaired by the Inhabitants of the Townships through which the same lyes, whereby the same, being a great and much travelled Road, would become aafe and passable. " Therefore your Petitionere humbly pray the Honorable the Presi- deot and Council would be pleased to grant an Order or Warrant for surveying the said Road, so that it may ba surveyed and recorded and sufficiently amended and kept in Repair, or that you would please to give such other Order or Warrant concerning the samo as the Nature of the case may require.
" And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c .:
"Joseph Bonsall. Samuel Levis.
Geo. Gray. George Wood.
Jobu Davie.
Jouatban Paschall.
Job Harvey.
Thos. Pearson.
Samuel Bunting.
William Horne." 1
At the same meeting of Council a petition from the commissioners and sundry inhabitants of the county of Chester was presented, which stated that "it appears after strict search made that there are divers parts of the king's road leading from Cobb's Creek Bridge, over Chester Bridge, to the line of New Castle County, not to be found upon Record or any return thereof," and for " the Benefit of the Pub- lick" respecting the erection of bridges and repairs to the highways, requested the appointment of per- sons " to lay out such Parts of the said Road as are deficient."
To these petitions Council replied that "as the Road mention'd is an antient Road, in use before the Grant of the Province, the Board thinks there must have been some Orders of Council made about it, &, therefore, postpone the Consideration thereof till the Council Books be well search'd by the Secretary, & it be known what Orders have been formerly given."2 At the meeting of Council, Sept. 8, 1747, the secre- tary reported that he had examined "the council Books, and had found several orders of Council for laying out the several Parts of the said Road, and likewise the Record of that part of the said Road which lies between Darby & Chester;" that he was of opinion that the whole road had been actually laid out, and that the returns were given to the late secre- tary, Patrick Robinson, who had omitted to enter them in the books of Council, and that his papers, both public as well as private, came into the hands of " his Wido' upon his decease," were lost or destroyed, and the returns of the road might be among those missing papers. Council, however, ordered that the road should be resurveyed, beginning at the south boundary of the city of Philadelphia; thence to the lower ferry (Gray's) ; thence to Darby Creek; and "thence by the courses described in the recorded
1 Penoa. Archivea, let Series, vol. i. p. 767.
2 Colonial Recorda, vol. v. p. 100.
Return made in the year 1706 to Chester Bridge; & from thence by the present Courses thereof to the Limits of New Castle government."3 Caleb Cowp- land, Esq., Joseph Parker, Esq., Joseph Bonsall, Esq., Samuel Levis, James Mather, John Davies, Peter Dicks, Thomas Pearson, and John Sketchley, of Chester County, or any five of them, were in- structed to join the persons named for Philadelphia County, or any three of them, "in continuing to lay out as aforesaid the said Road from the Division Line which parts Philadelphia County from Chester County to the Limits of Newcastle." The surveyor- general was also directed to assist them in the survey. They were to report by the first day of October, 1747.
On the day designated the surveyor-general re- ported to Council that he, with the persons who had been appointed to lay out the road from Philadel- phia to New Castle, had met and the road had been laid out as far as Darby, but from this point they could go no farther, unless Council would alter the order, which directed the surveyor and those associated with him in making the highway to conform to the courses of a road " said to be laid out between Darby & Chester Creeks in the Year 1706 & give the same directions as to that part of the Road which they had given as to all other parts, vizt to follow the Courses of the Road as it is now used. The Council consider- ing that that part of the Road was actually laid out, returned and Recorded, tho' it does not appear ever to have been cleared or taken Notice of, did not incline to come to any determination till they shou'd receive full Information how it would affect the Inhabitants and the Possessors of Lands between Darby & Chester." 4
On March 2, 1748, the following petition from per- sons living along the road from Darby to Chester was presented to the Provincial Council :
" To the Honoble. the President and Council of the Province of Pennsylvania, &c .:
" Whereas, You was pleased by Your Order bearing date the 8th Day of September last to appoint na, the subscribers, with some others, to lay a Road ont from Cobb'a Creek to New Castle line, with directions to follow the Road as now used, where it is not already laid out, Bod where it is to follow the Conrees & Diatances therein mentioned in order (aa we preanme) to prevent as much as might be injuring the Owners of the Land adjacent to the sd Road. We, therefore, in obedience to the said Order, met at Cobb's Creek Bridge, and took the courses and Dis- tances of the Road as now need, until we came to that part of the Road which lende from Durby to Chester, and has been laid out by courses & Distance, & then upon trying the coursea thereof found them to run a considerable distauce io divers Places from the Road now used, & that frequently through Improved as well aa wood Lande, aod would in our opinion be very injurions to a Great number of the Inhabitants adjacent to the Road & as we conceive very contrary to Your Intention.
" Therefore we pray, in behalf of ouraelves & othera, that you wou'd be pleased to appoint a jury and Grant them such Powers aa you may think proper to enable them to lay out a Road in the most convenient Place to accomodate the Publick & leset injurious to the Inhabitants, which We apprehend is agreeable to Your Deaign, & we us in Duty bound shall ever Pray.
" SAMUEL LEVIS. CALED COWPLAND. " JOSEPH BONSALL. PETER DICKS. " JOHN DAVIS.
" December 3d, 1747.
3 [b., p. 107.
4 Ib., p. 121.
510
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
" And Mr. Boneall & Mr. Davis attending without were called in, & on their Examination & Inspection of a Draught of the Road as it wou'd run was it to be made agreeable to the Return of the Year 1706, and of another Draught of the Road as it now runs, the Board made the fol- lowing Order, viz .: .
" Whereos, by our Order of the Eighth Day of September last, We di- rected You, among othere to lay out the Road leading from Darby to Chester, agreeable to the Courses described iu a Recorded Return of the same made in the Year 1706: And whereas, on Examination of several Persone living on or near the.same Road, it appears that the same was never actually cleared according to said Return, and that was it to be now it won'd exceedingly prejudice the land through which it chou'd pass, and on further consideration of the matter & perusal of the Draught of the Road as it now runs, it appears to ue that it will be most coove- nient to have it laid out agreeahla thereto, And therefore we have thought proper to revoke that part of our former Order which relates to the Return made in 1706, and Do now Order & Direct that You lay the same Road out in the manner it now ruas, making no alteratione that what may be absolutely necessary to make it more regular & direct in some Places, or more commodious to the Fording Places or Bridges that are now used on the said Road." 1
Division of Upper and Lower Darby .- The terri- tory now constituting the townships of Upper and Lower Darby continued under one municipal govern- ment until 1747, when, for the convenience of the in- habitants, at a town-meeting, it was decided to sepa- rate the upper part from the lower in all matters save the levies made for the support of the poor. The lines thus agreed upon are not the township lines now existing, but Upper Darby, being less densely peopled, extended farther south. The inconveniences arising from the unofficial division so frequently presented themselves as a disturbing element in local govern- ment that forty years thereafter the following petition was presented to the court :
" To the Justices of the Court of General Quarter Sessions to be held at Chester the 3d day of May, 1786:
"The undersigned, Inhabitants of Darby Township, Respectfully Shewetlı :
" That the Townships of Darby hath been hereto Considered as one Township, tho' it was many years ago divided by the Inhabitants for their own Convaniency, which temporary division we desire the Court to confirm by the following line, Beginning at Cobb's Creek on the Northwest side of a tract of land belonging to the heirs of Joshua Ach and io the line of said land, thence along said line and the line of land late Enoch Boneall'e & Joshua Bonsall'e To Darby Creek thence down the said Creek to the northwest line of John Ach's land, thence along said line aud the line of Samuel Ash and Nathaniel Smith to the line of Ridley Township, and That the lower part may be called Darby and the other part Upper Darby.
" JOHN SELLERS. "RICH'D, WILLING, " As gard to Thos. Phillips. "OBORN GARRETT. " NATRAN DAVIS. " HENRY HAYES. " SAML. SMITH, " JaA. OAKFORD."
On Aug. 30, 1786, the court granted the prayer of the petitioners.
The Revolution .- The history of Darby township during the struggle of the Revolution should present many stirring incidents, but, unfortunately, little has been preserved of the happenings of that period to the present generation. Early in 1776, a part of Wayne's regiment, under the command of Capt. Lacey, was
stationed in or near the village, recruiting from the yeomanry of the neighborhood, and in the summer of the same year Capts. Laurens, William Walker, and Robert Tatnall were in command of gunboats sta- tioned in the creek, a part of the provincial flotilla designed to dispute the passage of the British vessels of war to Philadelphia. On Sunday, Aug. 24, 1777, Washington's army marched through the village and along the Queen's Highway, when moving south ward to offer battle to Howe at Brandywine. On the very day of that unpropitious combat the Council of Safety instructed Col. Warner to take post with his com- mand of militia at Darby, and if they were there on Friday, Sept. 12, 1777, they saw the defeated Ameri- cau army as it " poured through Darby on its way to Philadelphia." On 22d of December, Gen. Howe, with seven thousand enemy, marched out from the latter city and encamped on the heights of Darby, his lines extending aloog the road from Gray's Ferry to the heights below the village, stretching westward up the Springfield road to the then dwelling of Justice Parker, and their pickets advanced to the intersection of the Springfield and Providence roads, near the then dwelling of Mr. Sharp, now the estate of the late Thomas A. Scott. At two o'clock on the afternoon of December 22d, Maj. Clark, from Newtown, wrote to Washington : "My spy was taken by their advanced guard one mile this side of Darby, on the Springfield road, and carried to the general at Darby. They have made a great number of fires. One of their guards assured my spies they were only foraging and meant to proceed toward Chester. I now observe a consid- erable smoke towards Providence meeting-house. In- telligence from another says they have three huudred wagons with them. . . No wagons had passed Darby before my spy came away." 2
It was during this raid of the British army that the incident recorded by Dr. Smith occurred. Capt. Wil- liam Brooke, of Haverford, was with his company of militia in the command of Gen. Potter, whose duty was to harass the enemy and capture straggling parties of Howe's troops. While taking their ease one night in a house late the property of George Swayue, which stood on the south side of the post-road, about midway between Sharon Hill and Glen Olden stations, the house was surrounded by a strong party of British soldiers. Brooke determined, if pos- sible, not to be captured, and to escape by leaping from a window. In getting over the fence by the roadside he found that a partial dislocation of his knec, to which he was subject, had happened, and quickly placing his foot through the bars of the fence he gave his leg a quick extension, which brought the joint into its proper position. He succeeded in mak- ing his escape.3 While Howe was encamped at Darby another American officer had a narrow escape from
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