History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 131

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

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Capt. James Serrill, James Bunting, and Joseph Dogson were appointed a committee "to procure one hundred feet of hose to be attached to the engine." At a meeting in the following October the ladder- house in Darby was removed to the lot adjoining the printing-house. Y. S. Walter had in the preceding August begun the publication of the Delaware County Republican in the village of Darby, and we learn that the clerk had " procured a number of printed blanks for notifying the members of the time of meeting." The committee appointed to purchase hose reported

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that sixty feet of leather hose had been procured, for which $40.45 had been paid, and that twenty-five feet of gum-elastic hose had been ordered. but was not finished ready for delivery. A reel-carriage for the hose had also been purchased. At the October meet- ing in 1834, the committee on hose reported the gum- elastic hose could not be had, aud they had purchased leather hose in its stead. At the same meeting Capt. James Serrill, Isaac Bartram, and Abram G. Hunter were appointed a committee to procure " a situation and to erect thereon a suitable House for the safe keeping of the Engine and Hose." At the following annual meeting this committee reported that they had not "performed the duty assigned them," and they were continued a committee " for the purpose and are directed to use more diligence than heretofore." But the following years the report was not of a more sat- isfactory character. On Jan. 23, 1837, the committee reported that they had procured "a situation and erected a house sufficient for the engine and hose and that they were removed to it, the cost of which amounted to one hundred and six dollars." At the following annual meeting, Capt. James Serrill was appointed to have the words "Darby Fire Engine" painted on the front of the engine-house. In 1840 the roof of the ladder-house was so much out of repair that a committee was appointed to have it repaired. At the meeting on Nov. 27, 1851, a committee was appointed to "ascertain whether the owners of the en- giue in Paschallville will place it under the direction of the company." With what success does not appear in writing, the minutes of the meeting not being tran- scribed in the record-book after that date. The com- panies were, however, consolidated and took the name "Darby and Paschallville Fire Company."

The company preserved its organization until 1871, when the borough authorities decided to institute a paid department, and on Nov. 6, 1871, Council elected Enos Verlenden chief engineer. On Jan. 1, 1872, a room was rented at the mills of the Verlenden Broth- ers for three years, in which to house the engine, and the "old machine," after a half-century of ser- vice, in good repair, is ready, at any moment, for use when required.

Licensed Houses .- Darby, one of the earliest set- tlements after Penn acquired title to the province of Pennsylvania, grew more rapidly in population than any locality within the limits of the present county of Delaware, and must necessarily have been largely supplied with houses of public entertainment to ac- commodate the constant stream of emigration flowing thitherward. The first notice that had been found regarding taverns there is the extract from the pro- ceedings of Darby town-meeting, held in 1715, quoted by Dr. Smith, which sets forth :

" That travellers having nothing to defray their charges at the public Inn, shall be allowed ten pence a night (if they are first allowed by the overseers of the poor)."

Who it was that then held the license has not been learned, but it is presumed it must have been John Tests, for Aug. 28, 1717, he was granted " renewal of license to keep a public house in Darby," and in 1719, Margaret Tests, in all likelihood his widow, was also favored with like consideration by the court. Although long previous to that date Wood kept a tavern in Darby, as appears from the evidence in a trial for an assault a few years after the first arrival of Penn in the province.

On Sixth month 30, 1720, Edward Smout made ap- plication to be permitted "to sell all sorts of Liquors, and to keep a house of entertainment" in the dwell- ing he then occupied. The petition being favorably acted on, Smout remained there until 1724, when he having removed to Chichester, Thomas Pattison seems to have succeeded to the business, and con- tinued it until 1734, when his petition is indorsed "cannot be allowed." Among the old records at West

Chester, as of August court, 1734, is a letter from Catha- rine Pattison, addressed to Joseph Parker, the clerk of court, asking him to intercede for her in her application for license for the house. "My husband," she says, " has been gone from me near a week, nor have I any- body to take Care of my business, nor do I expect he will Come again." Her application, however, was re- jected, and Nov. 26, 1734, Richard Parker petitioned for license in Darby, alleging that "one publick house being not sufficient," a view of the case which seemed to impress the judicial mind so strongly that they adopted Parker's conclusion as the correct one.

The "one publick house" mentioned in Parker's application was that kept by Thomas Pulford, who had presented his petition Aug. 30, 1721, in which he requested the court to confer upon him the right to "Sell all sorts of Liquors" in Darby, which leave was granted, and annually extended to him up to and in- cluding the year 1734. However, one year after li- cense was first granted to Pulford, in 1722, Abel Pear- son was also allowed the like privilege, and on the bond given that year by Pulford, Abel Pearson ap- pears as the surety, while on that given by Pearson, Thomas Pulford is the bondsman. Pearson had enough of tavern-keeping in one year, for in the latter part of 1738, Pattison was licensed, and the same pleasant agreement of two of a trade is noticed again, inasmuch as Pulford and Pattison became security one for the other.

The Ship .- In 1735, Benjamin Davis petitioned for and was allowed to keep a public-house in Darby, which place in all probabilities was then known as it was in 1770, and for thirty odd years in the present century, as the "Ship."

In the same year in which Davis found favor with the court (1735) John Lee, or Lea, petitioned for li- cense at the house where Thomas Pulford lived in the village. Joseph Need and twenty other residents in the neighborhood, in anticipation of this request, on the last Tuesday in May presented a remonstrance, which

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set forth that John Lee, late of Philadelphia City, was a tailor by trade, and as there were two public-houses then in the town,-Davis' license had been granted early in that year,-there was no necessity for a third tavern. The judges looked favorably upon this " rep- resentation," and when Lee's application came before the August court it was refused.

Davis did not continue long as a publican, for Aug. 30, 1737, William Thomas petitioned for the court's favor, and stated in his application that he had " pur- chased the dwelling-house in Darby where Benjamin Davis lately dwelt, which has been a publick house several years," and license was continued to him until Aug. 28, 1744, when William Donaldson, having leased the premises, succeeded Thomas as landlord of the inn, and remained as such until 1758, when Mar- garet Donaldson succeeded him in the business, to be herself followed in turn, in 1760, by John Wilkinson. The latter continued there until 1770, when John Mitchell received the license, and in his petition that year, for the first time, occurs the noted name of the old hostelry, as before mentioned. In 1774, Mitchell was succeeded in business by John Richards, and when the latter died in 1779 his widow, Ann, took out the license. Agnes Bryce seems to have had con- trol of the inn in 1782, and John Bryce the year fol- lowing. In 1786, Samuel Smith was granted license for that year, and annually thereafter until 1795, when he died, and his widow, Elizabeth, continued there until 1803, at which date her daughter, Tacy, suc- ceeded to the business. The year following (1804) Tacy Smith associated Sidney Smith, her sister, in the enterprise, and to them the license was annually granted until 1833. During the war of 1812 the old weather-beaten sign of the Ship, still displaying the British flag at the peak, creaked in the wind, and as patriotic spirit ran high, a number of boys in the village determined that the flag of the enemy must come down, and arming themselves with stones, they battered the ancient sign to pieces. The proprietors of the inn very quietly substituted in its place a new sign representing an American frigate in full sail bearing an American ensign. The residents of Darby fifty years ago used to say of these maiden ladies of uncertain age, "May the Lord help the man that wanders in there if he cannot give his family pedi- gree from Noah down, together with his own age, whence he came, whither he was going, and whether he was married or single." In 1833, Hannah Rice succeeded the Misses Smith as landlady of the Ship, and continued so until 1835, when the Smiths again procured license until 1838, when John Smith removed from the Market Wagon (which latter place' in that year ceased to be a public-house) and be- came the landlord of the Ship. The ancient hostelry was to bear that name no more, for it was licensed as the " Darby Village Inn," and continued to be known as such for many years subsequently. In 1840, Norris Hannum became the landlord, and the

line of stages which John Smith, when he re- linquished tavern keeping, sold to Edward Ingram, continued to make the Village Inn their point of arrival and departure. Here Hannum continued until his death, his widow, Sarah B. Hannum, receiving license for the first time in 1847, the year when grant- ing license to vend spirituous liquors by a popular vote under the provisions of the act of Assembly (afterwards declared unconstitutional) had been inter- dicted in all the townships of Delaware County ex- cepting Concord, Thornbury, Edgmont, Middletown, and Darby. In 1848, Mrs. Hannum received license, and in her petition set forth the name of the house as the "Farmers' and Mechanics' Hotel," a title that seemed to please her fancy and which she could use with all propriety, since the original dwelling bearing that name had ceased to be a public-house. In 1852, William Russell, Jr., had the old inn, and he dubbed it anew as the "Plank-Road House." Here he con - tinued until 1856, when he was succeeded by Franklin Thornton, after which date the old inn had several landlords, and was finally torn down, and a new build- ing erected, which is now kept by John Standerling as "The Philadelphia Hotel."

On Aug. 31, 1736, John Hallowell strove to obtain license by showing that "he had rented a house of Joseph Hibberd, in Darby, by the King's Road, and he and his wife being stricken in years," were per- sons well fitted to receive the court bounty, but the justices refused their approval of his petition.

In 1756, Barbara Mccullough was granted license to keep a tavern in Darby township, and in 1758 was followed by John Wayton, while he in turn gave place to John Trapnall, in 1765, after which occurs a break of seven years, until 1773, when Henry Schrieber was a recipient of the court's favor, presumably at the same place, after which it disappears of record.

Sixth month 28, 1744, John Pearson presented his petition asking that he be allowed to keep a house of entertainment in Darby, "where Thomas Bulford kept tavern," and was allowed. The following year Jolın Rudolph, who had rented the premises, suc- ceeded John Pearson as landlord, and continued there until 1747, when John Pearson again presented his petition, and stated therein that John Rudolph was about to remove from the house he had formerly kept and desired liceuse for the same, which was granted him.

The Blue Anchor Tavern .- The same year (1747) John Rudolph was allowed license, but it is very probable it was not in the same place where he had formerly kept, for both he and Pearson were con- tinued annually to be licensed by the court until 1754, when Pearson's name for the last time appears of record. Where Rudolph's tavern was at that time I have failed to learn so as to state its locality beyond doubt, but in 1763, William Pinville seems to have followed him in business, to be succeeded in the year 1765 by John Rudolph, and the latter in 1770 by

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Daniel Bessonett, who states in his petition that the license is desired for the house " where John Rudolph kept on west side of Darby Creek, in town of Darby." This statement would indicate that Rudolph had been landlord of the once noted Blue Anchor Tavern, which stood on the west side of the creek near the bridge. At all events, in 1772, when Jacob Rudolph made ap- plication for the court's indulgence at the old stand, he states it is " where his father was." In 1775, Mary, the widow of John Rudolph, became the landlady, and the following year she was succeeded by William Smith, and the latter, in 1783, by Isaac Thompson, when the inn, then known as the " Bee Hive," passed out of our annals as a public-house, although it is again mentioned in 1806, when Archibald Gardener asked the privilege to renew the license there, stating that he "hath rented the House formerly occupied for a long time by the Rudolphs as a public-house ; . . . that being advanced in years and having a numerous small family to support, Prays your Honors to grant him a permit to sell Beer and sider." The court after due consideration concluded to refuse the prayer of the petitioner. On Friday afternoon, March 20, 1857, the old large stone building, formerly the Blue Anchor, which was then occupied as a dwelling by ten or twelve colored families, was destroyed by fire.

The Market Wagon .- In 1822, Joseph Warner, of Darby, stated to the court that he then occupied a house and lot on the main street, where Capt. James Serrill lately dwelt, which house he declared was necessary for the accommodation of travelers and " market people using the road in particular." His petition was indorsed by seventy-three signatures. A remonstrance was filed, signed by thirty persons, whose objections to the house were that immediately in the neighborhood were two public-houses which furnished all the accommodation desired; that they also feared that if a greater number of public-houses should be located in the village, "some of them will have to resort to a neighboring custom for support," hence they resisted the licensing of new taverns, "which are useless and may be injurious." The court, however, granted Warner's petition, and con- tinued so to do until 1825, when he having died his widow, Hannah, who named the house the " Market Wagon," continued the landlady until 1833. She was popularly known as " Aunt Hannah." Like Madame Defarge, she was constantly employed in knitting, and was never seen in public without her needles, which furnished occupation to her fingers as she lis- tened to or related the trifling happenings of the cir- cumscribed world in which she lived. In February, 1833, she was succeeded in business by John Smith, who had formerly kept the Blockleyville inn in Phil- adelphia. In March, 1837, John Smith, who had learned by this time the value of a line of daily stages to a tavern which was the point of arrival and departure, purchased Tomlinson's business and made the headquarters of the line at this inn.

Farmers' and Mechanics' Inn .- In 1831, John Brown, of Darby, presented his petition, in which he set forth that for several years previous to his appli- cation he had kept a house of public entertainment in the village purposely for the accommodation of people going to and coming from market; that he was "provided with stabling, hay, oats, etc., a large shed for those who carry their own feed to feed their horses in, supplying his guests with beer, cyder and vitwals when they require it; that he has two spare beds for lodging, and keeping a warm bar-room (in cold weather), where the greater part get all the lodging they require." He concludes by asking that " he be permitted to add the further accommodation to travelers of selling them spiritous liquors, wines, etc." The court granted the license desired, and " Uncle John," who rarely ever spoke, but bowed or smiled on almost every occasion, and whose nod, like that of Lord Burleigh, had a monstrous deal of mean- ing in it, when he first received license, his head is said for several days to have moved with the regular nodding motion of a plaster mandarin, and his face was one continual rippling series of smiles. His house he called the "Farmers' and Mechanics' Inn." He died in 1835; certainly in that year his widow, Re- becca Brown, was granted the license, which was continued to her until 1839, when the house ceased to be a licensed tavern. The old building still stands just below the Imperial Mills, at the foot of the steep hill which formerly was the east end of the village.

The Buttonwood .- Aug. 28, 1739, George Wood, of Darby, applied for license, and in his petition stated that he had "laboured for some years under almost continued Indisposition of Body, and thereby ren- dered incapable of taking the necessary care of his plantation, and having a large family to maintain," asked leave of the court to keep tavern in the house belonging to Benjamin Lobb, which application met with the favorable opinion of the justices. In 1750, Wood having died, his widow, Hannah, applied for and received the license, and for twelve years carried on the business, being succeeded in 1769 by Henry Hayes. In 1773, Sarah Pearson kept the house, and 1776 Isaac Serrill, who appears to have been the owner of the premises, received license for the ancient inn, and for the first time the name " Mariner's Compass" appears, indicating that the story of the old Button- wood is now being narrated. There being no record for 1777, I cannot state who was the landlord of the inn during the fall of that year, when the retreating American army, fresh from the defeat at Brandywine, fled through the village, but in 1778 Heury Hays be- came "mine host" of the Mariner's Compass, and continued as such until 1786, when Isaac Serrill once more became its landlord. It was during his time that Gen. Washington was entertained at dinner there, and it is related that when he attempted to enter the house "he found the doorway so low or himself so tall that he was forced to stoop." It was

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on this occasion, so tradition says, that Washington was presented with a superb white charger as a testi- monial of the high regard in which he was held by a number of his admirers residing in Darby and its vicinity. I can find no record of this presentation to Washington and doubt it, although I have seen it so stated in newspaper articles on several occasions. In 1790, after the formation of Delaware County, Samuel Ash had license at the old inn, and continued there until 1820, when, having become a very aged man, he was succeeded as landlord by Stephen Howe. The latter changed the title of the tavern to that of " The Drove," by which name it was known until 1833, when Samuel R. Lamplugh became the man- ager of the inn, and again the old sign in a measure was restored so far as the name "Compass" was con- cerned, the word " Mariner's" being omitted. In the year when Lamplugh obtained license L. Kittenger ran a line of stages between Darby and Philadelphia, which left the Cross-Keys on Fourth Street in the latter city daily at 9 o'clock A.M. and 5 P.M., while the schedule time of departure from Lamplugh's tavern was 73 A.M. and 5 P.M. In December of the same year, J. Tomlinson having purchased the line from Kittenger, placed on the route a large omnibus, the "William Penn," which, when it first rumbled into Darby drawn by four black horses, awakened the theu quiet village to an unusual degree of excitement. In 1836 William Russell had license for the house, and the ancient and noted inn took again its time-honored title in full. In 1837, after Tomlinson sold his stage route to John Smith, Cameron & Keogh started an opposition line of omnibuses between Philadelphia and Darby, making their headquarters at Russell's house. The rivalry between the two inns and stage lines continued, and the enterprise apparently not proving remunerative to Cameron & Keogh, the latter disposed of their business to Evan S. Russell, a son of the tavern-keeper, who continued the stages as the " Express Line of Omnibuses," while to add to the attraction at his house, William Russell rau in addi- tion "a safe and easy carriage and two horses from his house in Darby." In 1844 William Russell was succeeded by William Russell, Jr., and he, in turn, in 1849 by Evan E. Russell, a brother of the preceding host. Although I do not find previous to this time the inn styled the Buttonwood from the records, I distinctly remember that about 1846 it was popularly known by that name. The old tree from which the inn was called, which stood before the door and had become so decayed on one side that the cavity was built in and supported by brick-work, is among my earliest recollections of Darby. It is related that · Thomas Leiper, who used to stop his horses at the inn, always had his carriage to stand some distance off, declaring the old buttonwood would fall some day and he did not propose to be under it when it fell. In 1855 James H. Malin became landlord of the inn, which he dubbed anew as the "Girard Hotel." The

sigu hung on a frame on Main Street, and it was not until 1866, in Malin's petition for that year, that the house was called "The Buttonwood Hotel." In 1871 Malin was succeeded by James H. Lloyd. In 1879 the old tavern was taken down and the present hotel erected on its site. The Buttonwood is now kept by Thomas H. Boyd.

In 1880 the stone house which had formerly stood near the old Steel mill, and was moved bodily several hundred feet to the main street, was licensed as the Arlington House, but after a brief period the court refused to continue the privilege there.

The noted Blue Bell Inn, which is located just over the county-line, on the east bank of Crum Creek, during the Revolution was kept by the Pas- chall family. Townsend Ward relates that on one oc- casion "Gen. Washington stopped there, and chanced to hear the girls in the kitchen (there were three of them) chatting about him, one of them saying she would like to kiss him. He opened the door and in- quired which of them it was who was so willing, but none would speak, for they greatly feared the majestic man. 'Then I will kiss all of you,' he said, and descending, as Jove did, he kissed them all, but it was in that proper manner so becoming in the days of our grandfathers. Until 1855 the venerable dame, who long survived her sisters, was wont to relate the inci- dent with no little pride."1

A Few Old Houses and their Owners .- About a half-mile below Darby, on the Southern post-road, the residence of the late Judge Andrews, was the farm of Nathaniel Newlin. He was a man of great prom- inence in the county, and, notwithstanding his dec- laration during the Revolution that " he found King George's government good enough for him," he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1790 ; in 1791-92 was a member of the Assembly ; in 1794-99, State senator from Delaware County, and was several times offered the nomination for Con- gress by the dominant party, but declined it. His residence subsequently became the property of Judge Andrews. On March 2, 1849, James Andrews and two Philadelphia police-officers made the arrest of a gang of thieves. His barn had been robbed of a number of articles, and suspicion rested on a colored family named Brown, living near Calcoon Hook. Armed with a search-warrant, Mr. Andrews and the officers searched the dwelling of Brown, and three hundred hams, three shoulders, and thirty-five chick- ens were found, besides watches, fine table-linen, clothing, harness, and many other articles. The col- ored man attempted to stab Andrews, but was pre- vented. Eight persons were arrested, committed to jail, and subsequently tried. On Friday, June 14, 1850, in the orchard of this estate, an unknown man was found suspended by the neck, where he had hung himself several hours before being discovered. The

] " A Walk to Darby," Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. iii. p. 264.

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residence has always been one of the most attractive of the houses of colonial days still remaining, on the old Queen's Highway to Chester.

Just on the margin of the Kakarikonk, or Cobb's Creek, in Delaware County, and on the east of the Darby road, "is the picturesque mansion-house of the Smiths, of Tinicum, bought by them of the Lloyds in 1816. An ancient house, a part of it dating from 1725, embowered among aged trees, no destroy- ing hand has as yet touched the antique double-door, now so rarely seen, and which in this place yet retains what perhaps can nowhere else be seen,-veritable " bull's-eyes." These are round pieces of glass, very thick in the middle, and inserted, two of them, in the upper part of the door to afford some little light to the hall. The northern door, the eastern door, and an inside one opening into the dining-room, each con- tain two of these now almost unknown adornments. A wooden lock, yet in good and serviceable condition, is in use on one of the doors of the house.1

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 131

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