History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 143

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

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Buck, on the old Lancaster road." Sower repaired to the place indicated, and being subjected to an examination by Gen. Forbes and the Governor, who was there in person, he was dismissed. Sower had resided in the province thirty-four years, and urged in his defense that he had been instrumental in inducing many persona to settle in the province, and therefore was in duty bound to support its welfare. The general gave him "a serious warning for the future, not to print anything against the King or Government." Forhe was then moving forward on the expedition which resulted in his capture of Fort Du Queane.

577

HAVERFORD TOWNSHIP.

to you, therefore, in the name of suffering humanity, not to give the sanction of your official character to the extension of an evil so deeply to be deplored." Afflick, learning of this remonstrance, in order to offset its influence, had a supplemental petition from "Drivers, Marketmen, Travellers, and others, alleging that ' no stand on the great road leading from Phila- delphia to West Chester is better situated or more re- quired for the entertainment of the public than the above-described house,'" which was signed by forty- eight persons. The court gave Afflick license, but in order that the scales of justice should be properly ad- justed, refused approval to the Black Bear Tavern this year, which made the balance even, as Stackhouse's inn had received license in 1849. In 1859, William Johnson was the landlord, to give place, in 1861, to Benjamin Kirk, who, in 1865, was followed by John M. Afflick. William Thompson, in 1867, kept the Spread Eagle; Washington Bishop from 1869 until local option did away with license, and after the re- peal of that law Roland J. Pugh, in 1875, received approval of the court, a privilege which was trans- ferred to Nelson Pugh the same year. In 1876, Lee- dom Kirk was the landlord, and continued there un- til 1879, when James A. Serveson followed him, to give place to Joseph De Negre in 1881. The latter has since died, but the house is still kept open by his widow and children. At the present time it is the only licensed house in the township.

In 1827, Henry Konkle received license for a house he owned eight miles from Philadelphia and fifteen from West Chester, about half a mile nearer the latter place than the Spread Eagle, which inn he called the Black Bear. The next year Joseph Hassan was the landlord, and continued as such until 1830, when Susannah Dunn, who had the year previous kept the Eagle, took the tavern, and remained there until 1832, when Riley Brown became " mine host" of the. Black Bear Hotel. William Y. Stackhouse had license for 1837, continning to receive the court's approval nntil 1848, when no license was granted in Haverford, and the next year was successful, while the Spread Eagle was refused. In 1850, however, the Black Bear was rejected, while the Eagle that year was in high feather because of the approving judicial nod. In 1851, Stackhouse again appears among the successful appli- cants, and continued annually to secure the judge's consent until 1870, when he being dead, for that year Mary Ann Stackhouse, his widow, was licensed in his stead; bnt, after the date last given, the Black Bear Hotel ceased to be a public house of entertain- ment.

In 1769, John Waytin, and in 1778, Abraham Hughes, petitioned for license in Haverford, but we have not learned the location of the places which they requested might be made more valuable by the ap- proving shake of the judicial heads.

produced, we condense from what has been written by others as follows: Daniel Humphrey came from Llavegrin, County of Merioneth, Wales, in 1682, and soon after settled in Haverford township. He had joined the Friends in his native country. In 1695 he married Hannah, the daughter of Dr. Thomas Wynn, of Merion. Their children were Samuel, Thomas, Hannah, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Mary, Joshua, Edward, Martha, and Charles. He visited his native country on business in 1725.

Edward Humphrey, son of Daniel, was born in Haverford township in the year 1710. He learned the fulling and dyeing business in early life, and car- ried on that business as long as he lived, at the place that is now known as " Castle Hill Mills." In later years, however, he did not attend to his mills person- ally, for, having acquired a knowledge of medicine and surgery, probably from his grandfather, Dr. Wynn, he practiced that profession with much suc- cess. His services were much sought after, but he never charged the poor for attendance. He died un- married, Jan. 1, 1776, and was buried at Haverford Friends' burying-ground.

Charles Humphrey, son of Daniel, and brother of Edward, was born in Haverford about the year 1713, and died in 1786. He was brought up to the milling business, and, with his brothers, carried on that occu- pation extensively for many years. A man of fine talents, he was at one time very influential in the county. He served in the Provincial Assembly from 1764 to 1775, when he was chosen a member of the Continental Congress. In that body, though he had contended with all his energies against the oppressive measures of England, he thought the time had not come to sever our connection with the mother-country, and voted against the Declaration of Independence. He has been censured for this vote, but in giving it he represented the views of a large majority of his constituents at the time it was given. He retired to private life, and, though he took no part in the great struggle for liberty, his sympathies were on the side of his country.

Joshua Humphrey, the son of Joshua, and grand- son of the immigrant Daniel Humphrey, was born in Haverford township in 1751. After availing himself of such limited educational advantages as the town- ship then afforded, he was apprenticed at a tender age to a ship-carpenter of Philadelphia. Here he made a good use of his opportunities, and, being possessed of a comprehensive and philosophical mind, he soon gained the reputation of being the best ship-builder in the country. After the adoption of the Constitu- tion, and it became apparent that our government must be possessed of a navy, Mr. Humphrey was ap- pointed as the first naval constructor of the United States, and 'several of our first ships-of-war were built under his immediate direction. Among them the famous ship "Constitution," of which he was the

The Humphrey Family .- Concerning this, one of the most illustrious families Pennsylvania has yet | designer, draughtsman, and architect. It is claimed 37

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

that the marked superiority of our vessels in combats with those of England of the same class, during the war of 1812-15, was mainly owing to the adoption of Mr. Humphrey's suggestions. He may justly be called the father of the American navy. The last thirty years of his life were passed on a part of his patri- monial estate in Haverford, where he died in 1838.

Samuel Humphrey, a son of Joshua and great- grandson of Daniel first mentioned, learned all the details of ship-building and naval architecture under the instruction of his father. When his reputation had become world-wide the Russian emperor endeav- ored to secure his services, and offered him a salary of sixty thousand dollars per year, besides the use of a furnished mansion, with coach, horses, servants, etc., in attendance, but Mr. Humphrey declined the position with the remark that his services were only at the disposal of his country. Subsequently, under John Quincy Adams' administration, he served as chief of the naval Bureau of Construction and Repairs.

The Grange .- Of this, the most ancient and ru- rally beautiful country-seat in Delaware County, Dr. Smith, in 1862, wrote as follows:

" There is no place in the township of Haverford, perhaps none in the county, with which so much historical interest is associated as with this ancient seat of grandeur and elegance. Henry Lewis, a Welsh Quaker, one of the most staid of his sect, selected this spot as his wilderness abode in 1682. He was succeeded by his son, Henry, who resided here many years About the middle of the last century we find the estate, then consisting of nearly four hundred acres, owned and occupied (at least in the summer season) by a Capt. John Wilcox (sometimes spelled Wil- cock»), who erected upon it a mansion, . . . and gave it the name of 'Clifton Hall.' Capt. Wilcox surrounded his estate with a ditch of some depth, most of which, within the recollection of many now living, could be readily traced, and some parts of it are still visible. It is said, on the authority of tradition, that Capt. Wilcox cansed this ditch to be dug in order to give employment to his negroes, of whom he owned a considerable number.

" About the year 1760, Charles Cruickshank, a Scotch gentleman of wealth, who held a captain's commission under the British government, and who had seen service in the Netherlands, come to America, and in 1761 purchased the Clifton Hall estate, but changed its name to the ' Grange,' or 'Grange Farm.' Soon after the year 1770 . . . the mansion-house was enlarged and variously modified. It is also probable that ahont this period the terraced walks were cut, the green-house established, and that the almost unequaled natural beauties of the place were fully developed by the appliances of art, under the direction of a well-cultivated taste. The land attached to the Grange was partly in three counties,-Chester (now Delaware), Philadelphia, and Mootgom- ery,-which Capt. Cruickshank increased by purchase.

" In 1768, Mr. John Ross, also a Scotch gentleman, and an extensive merchant of Philadelphia, married Clemantina, the daughter of Capt. Cruickshank, who at the close of the Revolutionary war sold the Grange to his son-in-law, Ross, and returned with his family to his native coun- try. Mr. Ross added to the buildings, and also increased the quantity of land to an aggregate of six hundred acres. After the death of Mr. Ross, in 1806, the estate was sold to his son-in-law, John F. Mifflin, who in 1810 sold the mansion to John H. Brinton, the maternal grandfather of Gen. Geo. B. Mcclellan. In 1816, Mr. Briotoo sold the mansion, with another part of the estate which he had purchased in 1811, to Manuel Eyre, Esq., who made it his country residence till his death, io 1845. About that time the Grange was purchased by John Ashhurst, Esq., the son-in-law of Mr. Eyre, who still occupies it as his country-seat.

"At an early period, pasticularly during its occupancy by Mr. Ross, the Grange was fitted up in the most exquisite style of the times, and during the summer months it was not infrequently the scene of elegant and luxurious entertainments."

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JAMES A. MOORE.

James A. Moore was born on the 31st of October, 1802, in New Garden township, Chester Co., where his father was owner of a productive farm. In 1812 he removed to Upper Merion township, Montgomery Co., and became a member of the household of his grandfather, James Abrams. He received, under many disadvantages, a common-school education, a walk of two miles being necessary to reach the near- est school-house. His father having died, the family continued to reside with Mr. Abrams, and young James became a valuable assistant in the labor of the farm. In 1825 the family removed to the present residence of Mr. Moore, in Haverford, which had been previously purchased by his grandfather. Here he took upon himself the maintenance of his mother and the remaining children, and successfully mauaged the various interests pertaining to the farm. On the death of the mother James purchased the property of the estate, and has since that time resided upon it and continued the occupation of a farmer. Mr. Moore was married, July 14, 1834, to Eliza Ann, daughter of John and Sarah Lindsay, of Haverford township, whose children are Sarah Jane (Mrs. Jesse Brooke), Catherine (deceased), Catherine, 2d (Mrs. Jesse B. Matlack), Arabella (Mrs. John Justis), John Lind- say, James (deceased, who served during the call for nine months' men for the late war, and was at the battles of Antietam and Chancellorsville), William B., and Ellen C. (Mrs. H. C. Childs). The death of Mrs. Moore occurred in 1880. Mr. Moore, after a life of industry, on his retirement from active labor, surren- dered the farm to his son, John, who now cultivates it. James A. Moore was formerly a Democrat in his political belief, but later changed his views, and in- dorsed the platform of the Republican party. He has served as school director, assessor, and collector of his township. He has frequently acted as executor in the settlement of estates, his advice and judgment being often sought in the management of important interests. He was in youth actively interested in the military organizations of Montgomery County, and was a member of the First Troop of Montgomery County. His uncle, James Moore, was also a mem- ber of the same organization, and summoned for duty during the war of 1812. Mr. Moore is a Presbyterian in his religious faith, and both an elder and trustee of the Marple Presbyterian Church.

JOSEPH B. LEEDOM.

John Leedom was a prosperous farmer in Mont- gomery County, Pa. His children were Charles, Jo- seph B., Samuel, John, Elijah, Esther (Mrs. Jesse Thomas), Hannah (Mrs. Charles Jones), Ruth Anna (Mrs. Jacob Carncross). Joseph B. Leedom, of this

James A Move

JOSEPH B. LEEDOM.

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MARPLE TOWNSHIP.

number, whose life is here briefly reviewed, was born in 1796 in Merion township, Montgomery Co., and spent his youth upon the farm of his father. During this time he received such advantages of education as were obtainable in the neighborhood, and subse- quently made farming the business of his early life. He married, at the age of twenty-five, Mary M., daughter of Elisha Worrell, of Springfield township, Delaware Co., and had children,-Myra W. (Mrs. Charles Worrell, whose death occurred in 1879), John, Maris W. (who died in 1873), and Joseph. Mr. Leedom, after his marriage, engaged in the busi- ness of milling, and became the proprietor of a mill located on Darby Creek, in Haverford township, be- longing to his wife. This pursuit was continued until 1851, when he retired, and since that date has not been actively engaged in business. Mr. Leedom, first as a Whig and later as a Republican, has evinced a keen interest in the political issues of the day. He has ever been a strong partisan, and filled at one time the office of director of the poor for Delaware County. His religious creed is that of the society of Friends, his membership being in connection with the Haver- ford Meeting. Mr. Leedom is a man of modest de- meanor, who, by his consistent character and sound common sense, has won the respect of the community. His surviving children are Joseph, who married Emily Pyle, of Haverford, to whom were born six children, and John, who married Hannah T. Worrell, and has had five children.

CHAPTER XLV.

MARPLE TOWNSHIP.

AT the court on the 5th day of the Sixth month, 1684, occurs the first mention of Marple in the records of Chester County, at which time Jonathan Hayes and James Stamfield were appointed tax-collectors " for the Publicke Aid for Marple," and at the same court Thomas Pearson was appointed " Constable and Supervisor for the highway for Marple." In many of the early records the name is spelled Marpool ; but Holmes, on his Map of the Improved part of Penn- sylvania, gives this township according to the mod- ern spelling, and as the first court record adheres to the same orthography, the word Marpool is doubtless an error. Why the locality was so called is now unknown.

1684. Richard Maris, a son of George Maris, of Springfield, subsequently became the owner of one hundred and thirty acres of this land, on which he resided, and was assessed for in 1715. The remaining part of the tract was conveyed to Jonathan Coppock, Nov. 4, 1708, but beyond that fact nothing further respecting him is known to the writer. Immediately above the Willard land were three hundred acres, one hundred of which was taken up by Ralph Dray- cott, Dec. 2, 1689, and two hundred acres by Eliza- beth Draycott, Nov. 5, 1690, neither of whom seem ever to have resided on the estate, which passed to Thomas Pearson, Dec. 29, 1697. Tradition states that this Pearson came with Penn in the " Welcome," in 1682, and it was on his suggestion that the name of Upland was changed to Chester. The records of the arrivals of the early immigrants to Pennsylvania, in the possession of the Pennsylvania Historical So- ciety, show that Thomas Pierson,-for so the name is spelled in the list,-was by trade a mason. Mar- garet, his wife, John, his brother, and Mary Smith, his sister, came from Poonall-fee, in Cheshire, Eng- land, in the ship " Endeavour," of London, arriving in the colony on the 29th of Seventh month (Sep- tember), 1683, nearly a year after Penn's arrival. Sarah Pearson, the daughter of Thomas, intermarried with John West, and became the mother of Benjamin West, the noted American artist. Mary Smith, the sister of Thomas Pearson, just above his tract, took on rent, Oct. 6, 1683, fifty acres of ground. Through this land and that of her brother the road leading from Upper Providence to Springfield meeting-house was laid out May 2, 1721. Above Mary Smith's land were two hundred and fifty acres surveyed to John Pearson, who came with his brother Thomas, in the "Endeavour," in October, 1683, which subsequently became the property of Robert Pearson. On Oct. 13, 1685, Francis Stanfield, who had purchased prior to leaving England, received a patent for six hundred acres. He settled on this tract prior to the summer of 1684, for, as already mentioned, at the August court of that year he was appointed one of the tax- collectors for Marple. This large estate subsequently was divided into smaller holdings, of which Peter, John, and Joseph Worrall had various-sized plots, as also Joseph and John Rhoads. In 1713 three hun- dred acres of the Stanfield land became the property of Robert Pearson, who was assessed for it in 1715. Dr. Bernhardus Vanlear, in 1720, acquired two hun- dred and forty-eight acres of this estate, and here he resided until his death, Jan. 26, 1790, at the extra- ordinary age of one hundred and four years. His death being largely due to the fact that in 1788, when he was one hundred and two years old, his house was entered by burglars, and because of his refusal to inform them where he had secreted his treasure, cruelly maltreated him. Above the Stanfield tract, on Oct. 27, 1683, three hundred acres were surveyed

The great road of Marple, which enters the town- ship at its southern boundary just above the Spring- field meeting-house, was laid out in 1683, and ran almost due north through the centre of this district, when it diverged in a westwardly direction, uniting with the West Chester road a short distance south of Newtown line. At the southwestern end of Marple was a tract of three hundred acres, which was patented to George Willard, 22d of Eleventh month, | to Peter and Joshua Worrall. The family of Wor-

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

rells (for the latter is the modern spelling of the name) are believed to be descendants of Sir Hubert de Warel, who lost three sons at the battle of Hastings, which victory gave to William the Conqueror abso- lute possession of England. Peter Worrell (or Wor- rall) was a tanner, from whom the Worrals of Mar- ple are descended; of Joshua, nothing seems now to be known. John Worrall, who settled in Chester township in 1648, came from Oare, Berkshire, Eng- land, and as he named one of his children Peter, and Peter called one of his sons John, it would appear that if not brothers, they were at least very nearly related to each other. John Worrall, Peter's son, with Bernhardus Vanlear, early in the last cen- tury, went to Germany, and graduated as a physician. Above the Worrall tract were seven hundred and fifty acres surveyed to John and Charles Bevan, June 28, 1684, which was part of the two thousand acres pur- chased by John Bevan from Penn, in England. It subsequently became the property of Jonathan Hayes, who, on July 30, 1684, received a patent for six hun- dred acres immediately to the north of the Bevan patent. He was the largest landholder in the town- ship. He was a member of Assembly in 1689, and again in 1697, and one of the justices of the court from 1703 to 1711. In 1715 he was murdered by Hugh Pugh, a millwright, and Lazarus Thomas, a laborer. The trial of the assassins is the first case of homicide known in the records of Chester County.1

Lying directly south of Radnor was a tract of three hundred and thirty acres, surveyed to Thomas Ellis July 10, 1683, which was conveyed to David Morris June 10, 1695, and on a resurvey, in 1703, proved to contain four hundred acres. Through this property and the one below it the Radnor and Ches- ter road was laid out, April 20, 1691. Morris was be- lieved to have been a Welshman, and was one of the projectors and owners of "Haverford New Mill." He resided on his plantation in Marple until his death, in 1720. South of the Morris lands were two hundred acres, which were surveyed to William How- ell June 13, 1684. He appears never to have resided on this tract, which, on March 9, 1705, was conveyed to John Pugh, who certainly did not live in Marple in 1715. Immediately south of the Howell lands was a tract of five hundred and fifty acres, surveyed | Oct. 30, 1683, to Robert Taylor, who was a native of Little Leigh, in the county of Chester, England, who came to Pennsylvania in 1682, and settled in Spring- field, never residing on his Marple estate. Bayard Tay- lor was a descendant of Robert Taylor. The property passed to his sons, Jonathan and Josiah Taylor. In 1715, Robert Taylor, perchance a grandson of Robert, the immigrant, was a resident of Marple, and assessed as a real estate owner in that year. South of the Taylor lands was a tract of four hundred acres, sur- veyed to John Howell Oct. 22, 1683, of whom little

appears to be known. Immediately south of How- ell's tract were five hundred acres, surveyed to Eben- ezer Langford Oct. 21, 1683, who may have lived there for a short time, inasmuch as he gave his name to the stream flowing into Darby Creek, known as Langford's Run. Bartholomew Coppock subsequently became an owner of part of this estate. The next plantation to the south, which comprised three hun- dred acres, and extended to the Springfield line, was surveyed to John Nixson Oct. 20, 1683. On April 12, 1687, he sold the estate to Bartholomew Coppock. Dr. Smith says it was bought by Bartholomew Cop- pock, Sr., while Smith's Atlas of Early Grants makes Bartholomew Coppock, Jr., the purchaser. Barthol- omew Coppock resided there in 1715, and the land is assessed to him. Bartholomew Coppock, the elder, is positively asserted to have resided on this tract, and to have died there in 1717.2 Certain it is that in 1715, only one Bartholomew Coppock was assessed in Marple, and he was a resident of the township.

Although Marple, during the Revolution, was re- moved in a great measure from the clash and din of war, nevertheless, the British foraging parties and their Tory allies caused considerable injury to sev- eral residents of Marple. The accounts filed of the losses thus sustained, which is doubtless but a small part of the gross sum, are the following :

From William Burns, Sr., September 19. 5€ 51 16

€ s. d. 0

From Daniel Cameron ..

0 6

From Joseph Burns, taken by the adherents of the King of Great Britain, September and

December 129 5 5

217 1 11

" In the winter of 1788," says Dr. Smith, "a very tragic affair happened on Darby Creek, where it forms a line between Marple and Haverford, in the death by drowning of Lydia Hollingsworth, a young lady of great worth and beauty, who was under an en- gagement of marriage to David Lewis. The party, consisting of Lewis, Lydia, another young lady, with the driver, left the city in the morning in a sleigh, and drove out to Joshua Humphrey's, near Haverford meeting-house. From thence they drove to New- town; but before they returned the weather moder- ated, and some rain fell, which caused Darby Creek to rise. In approaching the ford (which was on the road leading from the Presbyterian Church to Cooper- town), they were advised not to attempt to cross, but were made acquainted with the existence of a tempo- rary bridge in the meadows above. They drove to the bridge, but the water was rushing over it, and the driver refused to proceed; whereupon Lewis took the lines, and missing the bridge, plunged the whole party into the flood. All were rescued but Lydia, whose body was not found till the next morning. The feelings of Lewis can be more readily imagined than described. This young lady was buried at

2 Smith's " History of Delaware County," p. 455.

1 Ante, p. 162.

581

MARPLE TOWNSHIP.

Friends' graveyard, Haverford. In some pathetic rhymes written on the occasion, it is stated that seven- teen hundred persons attended her funeral." 1

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 143

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