History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 145

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

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

SAMUEL PANCOAST.

Bartholomew Coppock, Sr., from Cheshire, Eng- land, with his wife Margaret and family were among the early emigrants to Delaware County. He settled in Springfield in 1685, and two years later purchased four hundred and forty-eight acres of land in Marple township of John Nixon, where he resided until his death, in 1719, aged seventy-three years. For the tract he received a deed from William Penn, with the great seal of the province affixed, and bearing the sig- nature of his commissioners,-Edward Shippen, Grif- fith Owen, Thomas Story, and James Logan,-the conditions of this grant being that the borough of Chester, on the first day of the first month in every year, pay to the heirs of William Penn, for each and every year, the sum of four English shillings and threepence, or value thereof in coin current, to such person or persons as shall be appointed to receive the same. This deed is still in possession of the Pancoast family in excellent preservation. On the 22d of the Sixth month he deeded the same tract to Bartholomew Coppock, Jr., his son and heir apparent. He built a

brick house on this tract in 1732, which is a part of the present edifice, and the Springfield Friends' Meet- ing was regularly held at this house until a meeting- house was erected, in 1738, on two acres deeded by him for the purpose in 1703. Bartholomew Coppock was for many years member of the Provincial Coun- cil, and frequently represented Chester County in the Assembly. He married, in 1710, Phœbe, daughter of Robert Taylor, of Springfield, and had two sons and four daughters,-Jonathan, Moses, Rebecca, Sarah, Mar- garet, and Esther. Esther married Seth Pancoast, son of William and Hannah Pancoast, of Mansfield, county of Burlington, West Jersey, on the 21st day of the Third month, 1741. By will was bequeathed "to my son-in-law, Seth Pancoast, all that my plantation lying and being in Marple township, containing 188 acres, which includes the homestead." To Seth and Esther Pancoast were born Sarah, who married Thomas Levis, of Springfield, afterwards a colonel during the Revolutionary war. Phebe married Isaac Levis, of Providence. Samuel, who inherited the homestead, married Mary, daughter of John and Rebecca Davis Levis, on the 18th day of the Fourth month, 1782. He was an elder of Springfield Particular and Ches- ter Monthly Meetings of Friends, and held in high esteem by the society. Seth married Abigail Ogden, of Springfield. Esther Pancoast, wife of Seth Pan- coast, Sr., died on the 26th day of the Tenth month, 1764, aged fifty years. He subsequently married Ann Wooley, and had three daughters,-Esther, Eliza, and Hannah. Esther married William Levis, of Springfield. Eliza married Henry Harrison, of Middletown, and, after his decease, John Worrall, of Providence. Hannah died unmarried. Samuel and Mary Pancoast had four sons and one daughter, as follows: John, married to Hannah Thomas, of Phila- delphia, who had two sons,-Robert and Samuel; by a second marriage to Sarah Ogden, of West Ches- ter, were born two daughters and one son,-Hannah, Elizabeth, and John,-of whom Rev. Samuel Pan- coast, of Philadelphia, is the only survivor. William married Margaret Bishop, of Upper Providence, and had three daughters,-Mary, Priscilla, and Rebecca. Rebecca Pancoast, Sr., an exemplary member of the society of Friends, was born the 24th day of the Eighth month, 1789, and died unmarried the 20th day of the Tenth month, 1877. Seth Pancoast, born the 24th day of the Sixth month, 1793, married Mar- garetta Levis in 1821, and died on the 24th day of the Sixth month, 1880. Their children were J. Levis, Mary, Sarah T., Margaret B., Seth, William, Samuel F., and Henry,-of whom six survive. Seth, Sr., above mentioned, was an elder and an active mem- ber of Providence Particular Meeting and Chester Monthly Meeting, and led an exemplary Christiau life.

Samuel Pancoast, who is the subject of this bio- graphical sketch, was the grandson of Seth and Esther Pancoast, and the son of Samuel and Mary

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Pancoast. He was born on the 12th day of the Seventh month, 1787, on the homestead in Marple township, where his whole life was spent. He was educated at the schools of the neighborhood, after which he began life as a farmer. On the death of his father, in 1834, he inherited the homestead, and con- tinued to follow the congenial pursuits to which his early life was devoted. He married, in 1817, Tamar Bishop, daughter of Joseph and Sarah Bishop, of Upper Providence township, whose surviving chil- dren are ten in number. Samuel Pancoast was in his political convictions formerly a Whig, and later be- came a Republican, though never active in the field of politics. He was a member of the society of Friends, and a regular attendant of meeting at the Springfield meeting-house. He possessed a well-in- formed mind, was an intelligent reader of current literature, and in private life an affable and courteous gentleman, enjoying the respect and esteem of all who knew him. The death of Samuel Pancoast oc- curred on the 23d day of the Fifth month, 1873, and that of his wife on the 28th day of the Ninth month, 1877. The homestead is still in possession of the family.

JOHN M. MOORE.

Charles Moore, the grandfather of John M., settled upon the homestead farm in 1718. He married Mrs. Elizabeth Baker, and had children,-William, Han- nah, Margaret, Rachel, and Philip. Philip Moore and his wife, Mary, were the parents of children, --- John M., William, Elizabeth, Phœbe, Hannah, and Jane. John M. was born Feb. 26, 1781, on the home- stead, which was the birthplace and residence of bis father, in Marple township. After receiving a rudi- mentary English education he devoted a brief period to teaching, and then assisted in the cultivation of the farm. When twenty-six years of age he married Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh Jones, of Marple town- ship, and had children,-Philip, Charles (deceased), Mary, William, Phœbe M., John M. (deceased), Han- nah (deceased), H. Jones, J. Hunter, Elizabeth J. (Mrs. Campbell McPherson), and Margaret B. Mr. Moore, on his marriage, inherited the homestead farm, which he cultivated until 1821, when the property now owned by his son, J. Hunter Moore, became his home, on which the substantial stone residence, still standing, was erected. Here he continued the active and healthful employments of a farmer until his death, March 18, 1865, in his eighty-fifth year. The home- stead farm is still retained in the family, and now the residence of his son, Philip Moore. Mr. Moore was early a Whig and subsequently a prominent Repub- lican in his political views. He was strong in his convictions, an active partisan and worker in the po- litical field, and the incumbent of various local offices in the township. He was during the late war thor- oughly loyal in his sentiments, and on many occasions

expressed his abhorrence of all measures tending to a dissolution of the Union. The Moore family are of Protestant Episcopal antecedents. Charles Moore, early spoken of in this sketch, was an active member of St. David's Protestant Episcopal Church, of Radnor township (as was also his son, Philip), and a vestry- man. John M. succeeded to the same office in this historic church.

JOHN DUNWOODY.

David Dunwoody, the grandfather of the subject of this biographical sketch, was a resident of Chester County, Pa. His son, James, married Rachel Burn, whose children were David, Jane, William, James, John, and Joseph. John was born in 1787 in Ches- ter County (near Westchester), and until the age of seventeen resided with his parents. He later accom- panied them on their removal to Marple township, and became actively engaged in the pursuits of a farmer. On the death of his father he came, by in- heritance and purchase, into possession of the home- stead, which continued to be his residence until his removal to Springfield, in 1856. He married, in 1816, Gulielma Fell, daughter of Edward and Mary Fell, of Springfield township. Their children are Jane (Mrs. E. R. Curtis, who has one son, Penrose D.), Penrose (who died in 1849), William (who died in 1827), Mary (who died during the same year), John (whose death occurred in 1828), Anna Maria (who died in 1879), and Gulielma (Mrs. William Parker). Mrs. Dunwoody's death occurred Nov. 21, 1857. The annexed tribute is one of many expressions of esteem on the occasion of her decease :

"The many virtues of this good woman require more than the brief announcement of her death. Her illness came suddenly and was very short, but the cold hands of death found her ready to answer the final summons of her God. Having been born and reared and having lived in this county up to the time of her death, she had a large circle of acquaint- ances and many warm friends. To enumerate her virtues and acts of benevolence would be the best tribute to her memory, for they were many. She was remarkable for her even disposition, her ready smile and willing hand. If any of those around her were sick, her care and attention never ceased until health was restored. Up to the moment of the sickness which has terminated her existence on earth, she was gen- erally hearty, and on the morning of her death ex- pressed herself even better than usual. As a mother she was ever patient and watchful ; as a wife, kind, loving and dutiful; and as a steadfast friend, unfal- tering. Her loss to those bereaved ones will be sorely felt and long remembered."

Mr. Dunwoody having been formerly a supporter of Whig principles found the platform of the Repub- lican party in harmony with his convictions, though he invariably refused all proffers of office tendered him. His religious belief was in harmony with that

Jovi U Moore

David Peterman

587

THE BOROUGH OF MEDIA.

of the society of Friends with whom he worshiped. His death occurred Jan. 21, 1865, in his seventy- eighth year. The following brief summary of a life fraught with usefulness and eminent for purity is given by a friend :

"There was probably no one in the neighborhood in which he lived and where he closed his long and use- ful career more justly valued and respected than the subject of this brief notice. A youth of unstained purity to be followed by an active manhood, void of reproach, was crowned by a vigorous old age, sur- rounded by all the fruits of an industrious, virtuous, and eminently useful life, the final scene of which, as if in attestation of the love and respect in which he was held, being witnessed by a large concourse who assembled to pay the last tribute of respect to his memory. All that should accompany 'the sere and yellow leaf' of old age, as 'honor, duty, love, obedience, and troops of friends,' were his, and de- servedly so. For a long period he had been suffer- ing from the infirmities of age and the gradual decay of nature. The flame long flickered in the socket, but under all he was sustained by a strength not of earth, and the darkness which was to succeed through the 'valley of the shadow' brought no terrors to a soul thus armed and fortified. To him has been revealed the great mystery which must be learned by all that breathe,-bounded human vision has become infinite, and the dull, glimmering light of human intellect has become merged and lost in the full-tide radiance of om- nipotence. At full maturity, like a thoroughly ripened sheaf, he has been gathered into God's garner, and to mourn him is as futile as it is ungrateful to him 'who giveth his beloved rest.'"

DAVID PETERMAN.

The Peterman family are of German extraction. Christian Peterman, the father of David, was a resi- dent of Delaware County. He married Ann Redyner, and had children,-David, Jacob, George, Mary (Mrs. Scrimbger), Sarah (Mrs. Reyner), and Ann (Mrs. Es- rey). David was born in Marple township, Delaware Co., in 1773, and spent his life iu the immediate vicinity of his birth. He received such an education as the schools of that early day afforded, and on reaching man's estate, engaged with his father in farming. At a later date he purchased the farm now occupied by his grandson, Christian Peterman. Mr. Peterman married Ann McClure, of Marple township, to whom were born children,-George, Thomas, Sarah, Samuel, Elizabeth (Mrs. Charles Wesley Page), and Christian, of whom Mrs. Page is the only survivor. Mr. Peterman's pursuits during his lifetime were those of a farmer. He enjoyed-as a man of high moral character, the strictest integrity, and much intel- ligence-a commanding influence in the community, while his kindly nature endeared him alike to rich

and poor. His religious preferences were in harmony with the creed of the Presbyterian Church. The death of Mr. Peterman occurred in April of the year 1842, in his sixty-ninth year.

CHAPTER XLVI.

THE BOROUGH OF MEDIA.1

FOR nearly a century and three-quarters after the first settlers came to the region in which Media was destined to be developed, the charming site of the now beautiful town was settled sparsely like other agricultural districts of the county, and no prophetic vision of the seat of justice that was to be, obtruded itself among the pastoral musings of the quiet, plod- ding farmers, whose broad acres are now so thickly populated and the scene of so much of life's activity.

Concerning the folks who came here two centuries ago (1682), and who owned the land on which Media is built, while it was a virgin wilderness we have gained some interesting facts, and some also con- cerning their successors and the deed history of the land.

The Title to the Soil .- The first dwellers here were the Taylors. Peter Taylor and William, his brother, of the parish of Sutton, county of Chester, England, bought of William Fenn, March 3, 1681, land to the amount of twelve hundred and fifty acres in the province of Pennsylvania, for which they paid the sum of twenty-five pounds for all, and one shilling quit-rent for each one hundred acres, or about one hundred and twenty-eight dollars altogether, which was no greater a price than ten and a quarter cents per acre. Seven hundred acres of this land was taken up on the exact location of Media, the town which was to come into existence one hundred and sixty- eight years later. Peter took four hundred and Wil- liam three hundred acres, leaving a remainder of five hundred and fifty acres to be taken up in East Caln township, where they had decided to locate the other tract. The brothers came over from England early in 1682, some time before the arrival of Penn, and probably in the ship " Amity." They proceeded to locate their claims shortly after arriving. Peter Tay- Jor's land was nearly in the form of a parallelogram, and extended from Ridley Creek to the Providence road, while its southern boundary was nearly co- incident with the present Washington Street in Media borough. The northern boundary was prob- ably not far from the site of the county jail. William Taylor's share of the land was nearly in the form of a square along the line on which the Providence road was laid out, and lay north of and adjoining his

1 By Alfred Mathews.

588

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

brother's larger possessions. William lived upon his new estate but little more than a year, death claiming him upon Jan. 6, 1683. His wife, Margaret, died three days before. They left a son named Joseph and two daughters.

Peter Taylor was unmarried when he came to America, and shortly afterwards, Jan. 2, 1685, took as his wife, Sarah, a daughter of John Houlston, a neigh- horing settler. Peter's children were Peter, William, and Samuel. Peter moved to East Caln not later than 1717, and died in 1720, probably at the house of his son, William, in that township.

It is on record that Peter Taylor and wife, Sarah, on Aug. 20, 1717, deeded to Peter Dicks one hundred and seventy acres of ground, being that portion of the estate nearest Ridley Creek. He retained one hundred and fifty-one acres, the western boundary- line of which must have run due north and south a little west of the residence of A. Lewis Smith, on State Street. When he removed to Caln, his son, Peter, appears to have taken charge of that portion of the estate which was retained. He married Eliza- beth Jarman, of Radnor, died in 1740, and was suc- ceeded by his son Peter, the grandson of the original immigrant of the same name. Meantime a portion of the adjoining property had come into the possession of William, another son of Peter (2d), who sold a part of it, consisting of nearly one hundred and fifty acres, to John Butler in the year 1735, and retained for himself one hundred and fifty-one acres.

The one hundred and fifty-one acres of Peter Taylor (3d) having been sold to Peter Dicks, was deeded to him June 8, 1748, and hence, after an interval of sixty-six years, the land of Peter Taylor, the original owner, had all passed out of the possession of his de- scendants. Nothing remained in the hands of any of the Taylors except the adjoining Sandy Bank prop- erty originally owned by William.

Dicks built a log cabin on his property, which is still standing, although one hundred and thirty-five years old. He had absorbed the whole property, be- sides owning the large tract of land west of the line of the Providence road, south of and contiguous to the eastern end of the Taylor property. He was a son of Peter Dicks, of Cheshire, England, who settled in Birmingham in 1686, and had seven children. He moved to Nether Providence in 1717, where the family had either located a claim in 1686 or subse- quently bought from the Vernons. He was in easy circumstances, and made large additions to his real estate. On the south of Taylor's land he owned about half-way from the site of Providence road to Ridley Creek, while one Broughton owned from his bound- ary to the creek. As the property of Thomas Min- shall faced that of Peter Taylor to the eastward, we have the six original owners of land on or near the site of Media as follows: Peter Taylor, William Tay- lor, John Houlston, Thomas Minshall, Peter Dicks, and - Broughton.

Concerning the William Taylor lands we will now give a fuller history. On Dec. 16, 1781, a century after the first conveyance of the land, Nathan Tay- lor, then holding what was originally supposed to be the three-hundred-acre tract (but subsequently found to contain three hundred and twenty acres), or what remained of it, sold to Enoch Taylor one hundred and twenty acres, including that part on which in late years has stood the residence of Dr. Rowland. Na- than died here about the year 1800, having been born in 1715, and on July 26, 1823, the paternal estate was sold at public sale to John Smith for thirty-nine dol- lars and fifty cents per acre, and thus the last rem- nant of property passed out of the ownership of the Taylor family, after having remained in it one hundred and forty-two years. Enoch also died about 1800. Ezra Taylor was one of his executors. He was born June 26, 1781, and died in 1825. He was buried at Sandy Bank graveyard, the following being the inscription on his tombstone:

" Ezra Taylor, a descendant of Peter Taylor, one of the first settlers of where now ie the Seat of Justice of Del. Countee, born June 26, 1781, died May 25, 1825." 1

The dwelling occupied by the Taylor families passed, as had been said, into the possession of John Smith. It then became the property of A. Pascal, and by him was sold to Dr. Rowland.

It is an interesting fact that Gen. Zachary Taylor, a President of the United States, and the hero of the Mexican war, was a lineal descendant of Peter Taylor, the immigrant of 1682. His ancestors of the second or third generation removed from East Caln, Ches- ter Co., to Winchester, Va., where the boyhood of Gen. Taylor was spent, although he subsequently re- moved to the West.

Having now given some account of the pioneers and provincial owners of the soil, we shall consider the causes that led to the building of the town.

Location of the County-Seat-The Infant Vil- lage .-- The agitation leading to the removal of the seat of justice of Delaware County from Chester to a more central locality, which had its formal and organ- ized beginning at a meeting held at the Black Horse Hotel, in Middletown township, Nov. 22, 1845, hav- ing been elaborately treated in a chapter2 of this work, it is unnecessary in this connection to say more upon the subject than what will suffice to remind the reader of the essentials in the controversy and serve as an introduction to topics of more narrowly local interest of which it is our province to treat in this division of the work. It will be remembered by many, and can be learned by others from the chapter to which we have referred, that after the meeting on Nov. 22, 1845, the matter of removal was submitted to the people at the election immediately ensuing ;

1 Sarah, wife of Ezra Taylor, died in South Media, April 22, 1864, aged eighty-two years.

2 See chapter xvi. of the General History, entitled "The Removal of the County-Seat to Media."

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THE BOROUGH OF MEDIA.

that the vote was in favor of the removal, and that the delegates elected assembled at the Black Horse Hotel, on the 6th of December, and a majority being in favor of a new county-seat the county poor-house property was selected as the most desirable site for the county buildings, and the town which must of course come into existence by reason of their location. As the attendance had been comparatively small, owing to the almost impassable condition of the roads, the anti-removalists claimed that the decision had not reflected the real will of the people. There then en- sued an energetic and even violent political contest upon this local issue, which was carried on in the county and in the Legislature almost unceasingly for two years, with success now for one side and again for the other. The election of Oct. 12, 1847, however, sustained the verdict of two years before by a major- ity of seven hundred and fifty-two votes. Here, when the question seemed decided, however, it became com- plicated, and the opposition, adopting new tactics, fought, if not more fiercely, at least more determin- ately than ever before. Because of some similarity between the removal act and an act previously passed giving the citizens of each township a right to decide by ballot whether liquor should be sold therein, and because this act had been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, the opponents of the removal resolved to place the obnoxious measure before the same tribunal. Without attempting to follow the prolonged secondary struggle we simply note the fact that the will of the people, twice expressed by the ballot, was finally confirmed in the House of Repre- sentatives by an act passed by unanimous vote, Jan. 19, 1848, authorizing removal. It received the ap- proval of the Senate, March 30th, and the signature of Governor Shunk, April 7th, and thus became a law.

In the following fall, Sept. 10, 1848, the county commissioners, Edmund Pennell, Mark Bartleson, and Caleb J. Hoopes, purchased from Mrs. Sarah Briggs a tract of forty-eight acres adjoining the poor- house farm, in Upper Providence. For this property, now worth fifty times as much, the sum of seven thousand seven hundred and sixty dollars was paid, or a little more than one hundred and sixty dollars per acre. Time proved the wisdom of the commis- sioners' decision, for the locality was a very suitable one for the beautiful town which has been developed upon and around it.

Just here we will digress from the current of our narrative to give an idea of the aspect of this spot at the time it was chosen for the site of the county town.

There were then on the ground now included within the limits of Media no less than twelve build- ings. These were the old Almshouse, the Briggs, the Way, and the Hill mansions, all built of stone, and located immediately upon the State road ; the old log honse west of the Almshouse, the house of Peter Wor- rall, which was a tavern, and six others, conspicuous

among them being the Pierce and Haldeman resi- dences. The mansion occupied by Mrs. Briggs was subsequently sold by the commissioners, at their sec- ond sale of lots, to John Esrey, who afterwards trans- ferred it to Dr. Joseph Rowland, one of Media's most successful medical practitioners. About five hundred yards distant from the house just mentioned was an- other of the old residences of the place (occupied in late years by John Wilkinson). This building was erected by the grandfather of the Richard Briggs who occupied what was latterly the Rowland home for his son, Richard Briggs. About the time of the removal of the county-seat this property was sold at sheriff's sale to Elizabeth Way, and subsequently passed into the possession of a relative. The proper- ties of the Briggs, father and son, were bounded on the south by the State road, on the east and north by the poor-house farm, and on the west by land of Isaac Cochran, which included the ground on which Hon. John M. Broomall built a handsome residence a number of years since. The property of William Briggs adjoined the Richard Briggs farm, on the west. This, with the house upon it, was purchased several years prior to the county-seat location by T. Chalkley Palmer, who sold, in the summer of 1847, to Andrew T. Walker. The large tract of land south of the State road was owned by John Hill, Sr. This, with the exception of a few lots on State Street, was subsequently sold to H. Jones Brooke.

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 145

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