History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 136

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

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II. Samuel Sellers, who was born Dec. 3, 1690, and married, Aug. 12, 1712, to Saralı Smith, daughter of John and Eleanor Smith, from Harby, Leicestershire, England, died June 3, 1773. They had seven chil- dren, the youngest being :

III. John Sellers, who was born Sept. 19, 1728, died Feb. 2, 1804. He married, at Darby, Feh. 26, 1749 (O. S.), Ann Gibson, the daughter of Nathan Gibson- and his wife, née Ann Hunt, daughter of James Hunt. They had, among other children, Na- than, David, John,* and George.

IV. John* Sellers, who was born Dec. 1, 1762, died May 12, 1847. He married, April 27, 1786, Mary

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Coleman, daughter of Joseph and Mary Coleman, of Philadelphia, and had, among other children :

V. Johu Sellers, who was born Sept. 29, 1789, and died July 20, 1878.

John Sellers, son of Samuel and Sarah Smith Sel- lers, was born in Upper Darby, Sept. 19, 1728, and was taught the trade of a weaver, his father having erected in that township the first twisting-mill in Pennsylvania, which became noted for the coerlet and camlet cloths there made. Early in life he dis- played much ingenuity, and invented the first wire rolling screens and sieves for cleansing grain ever made on this continent. So successful was this in- vention that he abandoned the manufacture of textile fabrics and devoted his attention to wire weaving, and subsequently added thereto the making of fans for farm purposes. He had also given considerable attention to the study of civil engineering, and soon became noted in the country, no one questioning the accuracy of every line run by him. In 1767 he was elected a member of Assembly, and consecutively for five terms thereafter was one of the representatives of Chester County in that body. Previous to the Revo- lutionary war he was appointed by the Governor one of the surveyors to run a line from the Middle Ferry at Philadelphia, to Lancaster for the Strasburg road, and in 1763 was one of the commissioners to lay out that highway.

In 1769 the Assembly of Pennsylvania granted to the Philosophical Society one hundred pounds towards the cost of building an observatory in the State-House yard in Philadelphia, from which to ob- serve the transit of Venus, which took place June 3, 1769. This phenomenon was here successfully ob- served by Dr. John Ewing, David Rittenhouse, John Sellers, and others.

In 1776 he was chosen a member of Assembly from Chester County, but declined to accept, he, with many other thoughtful men of that day, holding that the Constitution of 1776 had many features subversive of the liberty of the people, one of its most objectionable provisions being that reposing the legislative authority in one House. Yet by that Constitutional Conven- tion he was made one of the justices of Chester County. In 1789, Governor Mifflin appointed him to make surveys of the Schuylkill River, the object being to ascertain whether it was practicable to unite by a canal the Susquehanna and Schuylkill Rivers. In the mean while Delaware County had been erected, and John Sellers was, in the bill, appointed one of the commissioners to adjust the dividing line, and in the election of October of that year he was chosen one of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1790, wherein he took an active part. The duties of these offices demanded his attention to such an extent that, Oct. 17, 1789, he resigned his "Commission for Ex- amining the Waters of the Schuylkill," and Benjamin Rittenhouse was appointed in his stead. In 1790 he was elected senator from his district, then included

with the city of Philadelphia, and served a term of four years. Governor Mifflin, on Sept. 17, 1791, ap- pointed him one of the judges of Delaware County. He seems to have qualified for the office, but resigned shortly afterwards, and the following year Hugh Lloyd was appointed in his stead. John Sellers was recog- nized in his day as a man of considerable scientific attainments, although wholly self-taught, and was elected a member of the American Philosophical So- ciety of 1768. He died Feb. 3, 1804, in the seventy- sixth year of his age.

John Sellers, the son of John and Mary Coleman Sellers, was born in Philadelphia, Sept. 29, 1789, and died July 20, 1878. His mother died when he was about five years old. In consequence of this great loss he spent most of his early life in the country, at the home of his grandfather (also John Sellers). This place, now known as "Sellers' Hall," was part of the original tract of ground taken up by Samuel Sel- lers, the emigrant, and the present brief of title con- tains the form of original grant from William Penn. Here the family lived from generation to generation, and that part of it now known as Millbourne was the home of this John Sellers after his marriage, and is still in possession of his sons. Country life was the ideal of all delights to his boyhood, and it was here, no doubt, that his love of nature was developed which to his latest day was so strong a characteristic. Here he was sent to the common country schools, and ob- tained such education as they then afforded. His habits of observation opened up to him great fields of knowledge which were always extending, and the silent influences of nature were real teachers to him. He knew all kinds of wood lore, and every bird by its note, and all the habits of insect life.

With the greatest simplicity of character he had an amount of latent strength which was not always sus- pected even by himself, but which made him always a reliance to his friends and neighbors. Even in early life he was often called upon to arbitrate in disputes, where his winning, persuasive manner and clear judg- ment had great influence.

He learned the trade of a miller under Thomas Steel, who then had an old mill on Millbourne Place. In 1814 his father built for him a new mill up to the highest-known standard. Part of it is still standing, surrounded and overtopped by handsome additions and improvements, and is now known as Millbourne Mills. Much of the wood-work on the original mill was made by John Sellers and his mechanical father. He felt it a great responsibility to run this mill, and his modesty perhaps exaggerated his deficiencies in business knowledge. He took into it untiring energy and determination, and gradually made it a success. His business principles were very simple, as his whole life was fitted to the groove of strictest justice. He had been brought up in accordance with the teachings of Friends, and to "observe moderation in all things" was a vital principle of religion to him.

John Sellers

" MILLBOURNE." UPPER DARBY TOWNSHIP,

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UPPER DARBY TOWNSHIP.

In 1817, at the age of twenty-seven, he married Elizabeth Poole, the eldest daughter of William Poole, of Wilmington, Del. In this choice he was most wisely directed, and the result might well confirm the supposition that "all true marriages are made in heaven."

It would be impossible to give any correct account of his life without including her in it. She was his counselor in everything, and he honored the whole sex for her sake. She had been the congenial com- panion of a very intellectual father, and she brought into her husband's home a wisdom beyond her years. She made his house a centre of attraction in the neighborhood, hiding all defects with her lavish and bountiful nature. He often recounted their early ex- perience together, when economy was a necessity and all conveniences lacking, and how her cheerful spirit was a tower of strength to him. He never entered into any business of importance without consulting her, and in recounting some losses it was often with the preface, "If I had minded what my wife said, this would not have happened."

They had eleven children, three of whom died in infancy. The rest survive them.

He made a strong protest against the use of alcohol in any form, and was the first in his neighborhood to do away with its use in the harvest fields. This was a mnost unpopular movement when it was thought to be the strength of the laborer and the promoter of cheer- ful endeavor. He had the courage of his principles, however, and by the promise of higher wages he car- ried his point, and set an example to his neighbors that was quickly followed. When anti-slavery doc- trines were most abhorrent to the general public, he went into that cause with all his heart. His house was always open to its disciples, and the fugitive found there both welcome and help on his way. He took liberal papers, and always cast his vote for the liberal party. He was an old-time Whig, and boasted that he never missed his vote at any election from the time of his majority. He considered it a sacred duty to attend the polls, and thought an American citizen unworthy the name who neglected this. He was chosen a delegate to the Free-Soil Convention which met in Buffalo in 1848. He deprecated the spirit of disunion found in some of the ultra abolitionists, and often said " the best way to abolish slavery would be to introduce the public-school system in the South." He was deeply interested in the cause of education, and at one time, with others of his neighbors, built a school-house which they maintained for many years at their own expense. Here the best teachers were employed, and some of his own children received their entire education. When the free-school system was inaugurated this school-house became the prop- erty of Upper Darby, but continued its original name of the Union School, which it bears to this day. He was immediately chosen treasurer and director of the Upper Darby school district, which positions he held

until the last years of his life. Many other positions of trust were given him; he was treasurer of three different road companies at one time, and was several times an administrator to large estates. In these du- ties he was deeply interested and faithfully performed them.

In 1859 he had the misfortune to lose his wife, and the close companionship of forty years was broken. Together they had borne "the burden and heat of the day," and now that the resting time had come hers was "in larger, other worlds than ours." He was a man of few words, and all his principles for- bade repining, but his life was shorn of its brightness.

Loved by everybody, he especially delighted in young people, and naturally attracted many to his house, so that it was never other than a cheerful home. He firmly believed in making it so. He was a member of Darby Monthly Meeting, and, according to the usage among Friends, all his children had birthright membership in this society. Twice a week, all his life, did he faithfully attend meeting. His creed was " to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God," and all who knew him confess that he made it practical. He would sometimes listen to long discussions on theological points, but with great humility regret that he did not understand much about them. He said, " If we all tried to live so that we could look back on each act with satisfac- tion, that would be a good enough religion." To those who knew him best it would seem impossible that regret or remorse could ever have been his por- tion.

His health was perfect, from which fact he derived great pleasure. At one time, when nearly eighty years of age, he walked to and from meeting, a dis- tance of about eight miles, without apparent effort. His love of reading was maintained to his latest day, and his delight in nature never waned. He became the patriarch of his meeting, and died full of honors in the community on the 20th day of July, 1878, aged eighty-nine. His life was a very simple one, without incident or pretension, but from beginning to end was full of sweetness and instruction.

The following extract from a county paper is em- bodied, as concisely estimating his character :

" He was a member of the society of Friends, wor- shiping at Darby Meeting, and was one of the very few remaining of the old members of that meeting. Never ambitious for political preferment, lie did not ask public applause, living in the practice of the belief that the 'post of honor is the private station.' In the anti-slavery cause he was an active worker, and his efforts on behalf of the down-trodden knew no cessation until the work of emancipation was com- pleted and the legitimate fruits of the triumph as- sured. His goodness of heart and Christian character endeared him to those of all creeds and professions. He was liberal in all things, ever looking beyond the present for his reward. With him, through life, what-

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ever was worth doing was worth doing well. If he was not great in the eyes of the world, he was something better, for he found in his congenial calling an ample field for the generous disposition of his heart. Through- out his long career, in every relation of life, he set for us an example worthy of study and imitation. As a husband, father, and friend he not only practiced with rigorous exactness the duties of those relations, but invested them with such gentleness of temper and grace of manner as added uncommon charm and beauty to his daily life, and strongly endeared him to all who were privileged to be related to or connected with him. It was our pleasure to know the deceased for the past forty years, and the invaluable advice and many kind suggestions received from him will ever be remembered. None among the many who were acquainted with John Sellers, and the unstinted kindness of his never-failing considerateness, will feel that we have at all exaggerated the solid worth of an honorable citizen, a firm friend, and a good man."

Keystone Paper-Mill .- The tract on which this mill is located was taken np by John Blunston, Nov. 18, 1683, who sold two hundred and fifty acres, June 1, 1686, to John Hood. No record shows that a mill existed on the property until 1807, when George Sellers was in possession of a saw-mill, which was built subsequent to 1803, and was continned by him as a saw-mill until some time after 1830. It is located in the " Report of Manufactures of Delaware County in 1826" as being " on Cobb's Creek in Upper Darby, above Indian Creek, a large branch which extends into Philadelphia County, a saw-mill head and fall . about 28 feet, Mill Race about one and a half mile long; owned and occupied by Geo. Sellers." This property later came to Abram Pennock, whose wife was a daughter of George Sellers, who used the power to run a paper-mill, which he built on or near the site of the saw-mill. It was occupied a part of the time by C. S. Garrett, and was destroyed by fire about 1865. In the next year (1866) C. S. Garrett & Sons erected the present Keystone Mills, for the manufacture of paper, a short distance from the old mill. The build- ings were of stone, one, fifty by sixty feet, four stories high ; one, thirty-five by thirty-five feet, three stories ; and one, thirty by one hundred feet, one story high. These mills were supplied with a twenty-five-hundred- pound engine, three rag-engines, a thousand-pound washing-engine, a . seven-hundred-pound engine, a Jordan engine, and a fifty-eight-inch Fonrdrinier machine. The power is supplied. from a two-hun- dred-and-fifty horse-power engine and four one-hun- dred horse-power boilers. The product is mostly of card-papers, of which about four tons are made daily. Fifteen men and sixteen girls are employed.

In addition to the mills already given, the following industries appear of record, but their exact locations are not known to the writer. In 1766, Abraham John- son was assessed on a grist- and saw-mill, which reg- ularly appeared until 1774, when Martha Johnson

owned a saw-mill, after which date the name does not appear on the assessment-roll connected with mills. From 1782 to 1790, Job Evans owned and operated a grist-mill. The name of John Tyson occurs in 1782 as the owner of a grist-mill, and was continued to be so assessed until 1804. Jacob Lobb owned or operated a grist-mill in 1788, and from 1774 to 1779, Thomas Pilkinton operated a grist-mill. During the year last mentioned William Davis and Benjamin Brannon had distilleries. The former lived near the northern line of the township, on lands lately owned by Dr. George Smith, the latter on the Darby and Haverford roads, south of the Marshall road, where he kept a tavern.

Fernwood .- The village of this name is located near Cobb's Creek, in Upper Darby township, and on the line of the central division of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, formerly the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad. The land was in the ownership of the Bonsell family for several generations until 1870, when it was purchased by a stock company which had organized in that year by the name of the Fernwood Cemetery Company. The corporators were Amos Bonsell, John Bower, Alfred R. Potter, Charles P. Bower, Frederick Hassold, Price I. Patton, Charles M. Towne, William J. Kelly, Christian Gross, and Godfrey Keebler. The one hun- dred and twenty acres of land purchased of Amos Bonsell was located on Cobb's Creek, bounded on the other sides by Church Lane, the Baltimore pike, and the line of the proposed Chester County Railroad. The plot was named Fernwood Cemetery, from the fact that at the time of purchase fourteen varieties of ferns were growing in large quantities within its limits,-a fortunate name, for the land in 1682 was surveyed to Joshua Fearne, the early settler. The grounds were laid out into lots, paths, and avenues, over thirty-five thousand perches of stone being used in the avenues; three thousand five hundred ever- green and deciduous trees were planted, besides many ornamental shrubs. The first burial within the grounds was made on the 5th of May, 1872, and at the present time this city of the dead has a population of over nine thousand quiet sleepers resting there. The cemetery is largely used for the interment of persons who have resided in Philadelphia, and is about three miles from Market Street bridge. Upon the comple- tion of the cemetery it was determined to establish a village near by, and to that end Price I. Patton and William J. Kelly purchased of Amos Bonsell fifty- seven acres of land adjoining the cemetery, which was laid out into streets and lots. The proprietors erected two houses on Fourth Street (facing the first) in 1872. In that year Adam Tracey purchased a lot and built thereon a dwelling-house, in which he established the first store in the village. In 1876 a stock company was formed for the purpose of building a large hotel, and in that year the Fernwood Mansion, a stone structure, was erected, at a cost of forty-two thousand dollars. It is forty by one hundred and thirty-

RAZMHET DEL

KEYSTONE PAPER MILLS. G. S. GARRETT & SON.

Office and Warehouse, 12 and 14 Decatur Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

AUSTIN, OBDYKE &CO PIPE WORKS. OFFICE 1705 CHESTNUT STREET. PHILADELPHIA. -

AUSTIN, OBDYKE & CO., PIPE WORKS AND TENEMENTS, JUNCTION OF UNION AVENUE AND WEST CHESTER RAILROAD

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UPPER DARBY TOWNSHIP.

three feet, five stories high, containing for hotel pur- poses seventy-seven rooms. In this building are also a Masonic lodge-room and three stores.

Fernwood Lodge, No. 553, F. and A. M., which now holds its communications in the Mansion House, was instituted in December, 1875, in the city of Phil- adelphia, with ten charter members, and with Oliver B. Moss, W. M .; H. M. Hoffner, Treas .; George W. Shirley, Sec. The lodge held its communications for two years in the school-house at Fernwood, and upon the completion of the hall in the Mansion House the lodge removed thither, the new hall being dedicated in December, 1877. The lodge at present has about one hundred members. George W. Shirley is the present Master.

Fernwood Methodist Episcopal Church .- This society was organized July 14, 1872, with about twelve members, under the charge of the Rev. M. H. Sisty, who remained pastor till the spring of 1873. He has been succeeded in the pastorate by the Revs. John Shepherd, George Mack, A. S. Hood, R. A. Sadlier, Pennell Coombe, and the Rev. N. W. Clark, the present incumbent. The church has also a mission at " West End," Philadelphia. The first meeting of the society was held in the summer of 1872, in a grove near the village, and in the fall of that year they assembled in a frame building erected on the rear of the present church lot. In 1873 the present church edifice, built of brick, forty by sixty feet, was erected, at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars. There are eighty members of the church at the present time, and a Sunday-school of one hundred and twenty pupils is connected with it, of which George W. Pentridge is superintendent.

Union Mills at Fernwood .- William Hall & Co., in 1867, established at Darby borough a shoddy and waste-wool mill. In 1870 they erected a building sixty by eighty feet at Fernwood, and removed the business thereto. The building contains twenty-four thousand square feet of floor-room, and embraces the carding- room, picker-room, dye-house, scouring-room, and dry- ing-room. There are twenty-one cards and two en- gines of one hundred and sixty horse-power and boiler of two hundred and four horse-power. The mill pro- duces sixty thousand pounds of shoddy per week.

Near the Union Mills are located the Pipe-Works of Austin, Obdyke & Co. In 1882 this firm erected a building one hundred by eighty feet, especially de- signed for the business of manufacturing tin water- or rain-spouts. Twelve persons are employed and twelve boxes of tin are daily used in this establishment.

The public school-house at Fernwood is of brick, two stories in height, and was completed in 1875.

The railroad company have erected a handsome stone depot at the station, and the travel over the road to this place by reason of the cemetery is large ; two hundred and twenty-five thousand people visit- ing the cemetery last year by rail alone, and many thousands by carriages.

Abolition Society .- The first society formed in Upper Darby was an abolition society, which was organized prior to May 4, 1830, on which occasion George Sellers, Abram Powell, Dr. Caleb Ash, James Rhoads, Joseph Fussel, Joseph Rhodes, Saul Sellers, Jr., Lewis Watkin, Nathan Sellers, John Sellers, Jr., J. Morgan Bunting, David S. Bunting, and William H. Bunting were appointed a committee to attend the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania State Anti-Sla- very Society, Philadelphia, May 17, 1830. The few members of this ridiculed association continued to as- semble occasionally until the emancipation proclama- tion of President Lincoln did utterly away with legal- ized human slavery in the United States. In this township Thomas Garrett, the noted anti-slavery advo- cate, was born Aug. 21, 1789, his father, Oborn Garrett, owning and operating the scythe- and edge-tool works mentioned in the account of the mills on Darhy Creek, and with him Thomas Garrett learned that trade. His pronounced anti-slavery views resulted from the fact that in 1815, he, having moved to Wilmington, returned one day to his father's home in Upper Darby, where he found the family indignant and dis- tressed because a colored woman in their employment had been kidnapped and spirited away. He immedi- ately made chase, and tracked the kidnapper to Ken- sington, where he rescued the woman from them. From that moment until his death, in January, 1871, he was a fearless, active advocate of abolition, and during the ante-bellum days he aided between three and four thousand slaves to escape to the Northern States. In May, 1870, a great parade of the colored people of Wilmington, Del., took place, on which occasion Thomas Garrett, then eighty years of age, was taken in an open barouche through the streets of that city, and on each side a guard of honor was formed, bearing banners inscribed "Our Moses." He died the following year, and his funeral was attended by a vast assemblage of people, a number of whom had come many miles that they might pay respect to the dead man, who throughout his life had been just, fearless, and upright, and who loved his neighbor as himself.

Friends' Graveyard .- On Feb. 4, 1860, the Friends' Monthly Meeting of the Western District of Phila- delphia purchased of Charles Wiltbank twenty-seven and nine-tenths of an acre near Cobb's Creek and the termination of Market Street, Philadelphia, for a burial-place for members of that meeting.

First Use of Gas .- In 1851, Christopher Fallon purchased a tract of one hundred and forty acres of William Black, on the south side of Garrettford road, and west of the Darby and Haverford roads. He erected in that year a spacious mansion-house. On Dec. 28, 1853, the dwelling was illuminated with gas, made at private works on the estate. The fact is noticeable, because it was the first time gas was used for illuminating purposes in Delaware County.

Crimes .- On Sept. 20, 1849, while the services were

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 136

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