History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 154

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

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Pennell Saw-Mill .- Subsequent to 1830, Joseph Pennell built a saw-mill on Rocky Run, about three- quarters of a mill from where that stream empties into Chester Creek. It was owned by James Pennell sub- sequent to 1848, and on Aug. 11, 1870, was swept away by a freshet. It was never rebuilt.

Yearsley's Mill .- On Rocky Run, a branch of Chester Creek, stands an old stone mill, and on a tablet built into the wall, near the top of the gable, is engraved the date 1792. The land on which this mill is located was granted Dec. 7, 1741, to Joseph Talbot by his brother, Benjamin Talbot, and comprised one hundred and thirty-four acres, being part of the estate of their father. Joseph Talbot, on the site of the present mill, built a frame grist-mill, in which for many years he conducted the milling business. On April 21, 1773, Joseph Talbot, Sr., conveyed one hun- dred and five acres of land and the grist-mill to his son, Joseph Talbot, Jr. The latter owned the prop- erty, and conducted the business until March 12, 1784, when he sold one hundred and fifteen acres and the mill to James Emlin, who, in 1792, removed the old and built the present mill on the site. Emlin died in 1797, and the mill, devised to his heirs, was retained by them until 1823. It is not probable that any of the Emlin family carried on the business of

milling, for in 1799 we know the mill was operated by John Peirce. On May 1, 1823, the mill was pur- chased by Nathan Yearsley, but he dying before 1826, the mill was rented to Ralph E. Marsh until Humphrey Yearsley, the only son of Nathan Yearsley, became of age. When the latter attained his major- ity, in 1836, he took possession of it, and has conducted the mill to the present time.

Adjoining this mill-seat on the north, and on the same run, was an old saw-mill, which was built prior to 1782 hy John Worrell, and was still owned by him in 1826. The property was owned by J. C. Evans in 1875. Half a century ago the mill was abandoned, and at this time the race and dam are almost leveled, hardly a trace remaining.

Mills on Ridley Creek-Hillsborough Mills .- The first mill erected on this site is said to have been built as a saw-mill about 1800 by John Evans, who obtained the right to boat logs up the Stimmel dam to the Evans mill. The property in 1819 was in the possession of the Bank of Delaware County, and was sold by that corporation to James Ronaldson on No- vember 4th of that year. A cotton-factory wassoon after erected under the charge of Patrick Mulvany, thirty- three by fifty-six feet, three stories high, and in 1826 had three carding-engines, six hundred and sixty-two throstle spindles, and four hundred and eighty mule spindles. The mill spun about seven hundred pounds of cotton yarn per week. There were then nine houses and the mansion-house on the estate. It sub- sequently was in charge of George Cummins, Jona- than and Jabez Jenkins respectively. On the 26th of June, 1835, James Ronaldson sold the mills to Hugh Groves, an Irishman. In 1841 the factory was eighty by forty-six feet, and contained four double cotton- cards, two large speeders, two ellipse speeders, one drawing-frame with three heads, one with two heads, two mules of three hundred spindles each, one of two hundred and forty spindles, thirty-six power-looms, seven throstles of six hundred and sixty spindles, etc.

The mills were purchased by Samuel Bancroft in 1842, and run by him till about 1866, when they were sold to John Fox, under whom they were burned down subsequent to 1870. The property is now owned by Samuel Bancroft, and is lying idle.

Media Water-Works .- A long and narrow tract extending from Ridley Creek southwestward, and nearly half-way across the township, and to the lands of Richard Crosby, was taken up by Joseph Jarvis, but not surveyed to him till March 13, 1701. At this location, on Ridley Creek, Jarvis erected a grist-mill, which was operated by him in 1704, for at Providence Friends' Meeting, on Second month 24, 1704, com- plaint was made to meeting that "Thomas Jones had unlawfully taken some corn from Jarvis's mill." Jas- per Yeates was interested in this tract aud mill in 1705, for on February 27th of that year, Jasper Yeates and Joseph Jarvis convey to Richard and John Crosby " a mill and sixty-three acres of land." On March

CHARLES BURNLEY.

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MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP.

25, 1705, Richard and John Crosby in open court ac- knowledged a lease to James Cooper for twenty-one years. This may have been the James Cooper of Darby, for in 1715 a fulling-mill was on the property. Some difficulty must have occurred, for the lease was rescinded.

On Aug. 26, 1715, Richard and John Crosby sold " all those water mill or grist and fulling mills," to Joh Harvey, cloth-worker, of Darby, or "Stoffer." He was a son-in-law of John Bethel, who owned the Darby Mill, one of which was a fulling-mill, which Job Harvey had operated for some years prior to 1705, as in that year he purchased a part interest, and remained at Darby until the purchase of this prop- erty. Job Harvey retained ownership of the Middle- town Mills until April 10, 1729, when he sold to his son, Josiah Harvey, also a cloth-worker. This deed describes the land as being in three tracts, one of fifty-two acres, one of eight and a half acres, and one of three acres, making sixty-three and a half acres.

Josiah Harvey sold the grist-mill, fulling-mill, and three tracts of land, Nov. 10, 1731, to William Pen- nell and Frederick Engle. On Dec. 30, 1734, Engle released his rights in the property to William Pen- nell, who owned it until April 2, 1740, when he sold the same property to his son, Thomas Pennell. In 1766, and up to 1774, Caleb James was assessed on a grist-mill, and on April 25, 1775, he sold the same- described property that Josiah Harvey sold to Pen- nell and Engle in 1731, and two more tracts to Isaac Levis, of Upper Darby; part of the land was in Upper Providence. Soon after his purchase, Isaac Levis erected upon the estate a saw-mill, on which he was assessed until 1790, between which time and his death, which occurred in 1794, he erected a paper- mill. In 1798 the mill property passed to Seth Levis, the eldest son of Isaac. On May 23, 1807, Seth sold one-half interest to his brother-in-law, Edward Lewis, who married his sister. This deed, in mentioning the mill land, recites that " Isaac Levis erected there- on a paper-mill." These mills were conducted by Levis & Lewis until the death of Seth Levis, and his interest passed to Edward Lewis about 1825. In 1826 it is mentioned as being a two-vat paper-mill, and manufactured twenty-four reams of imperial and thirty reams of royal printing-paper per week. The grist and saw-mills were also in operation. The paper- mill was washed away in 1843, and was not again rebuilt. In 1845, Edward Lewis erected at this site a tilt-mill, which was rented to William & Thomas Beatty, who manufactured edge-tools at this place until 1850, when they moved their works to Spring- field, on Crum Creek, above the paper-mill of J. How- ard Lewis. The mill-property, on April 1, 1861, was conveyed by William Levis Lewis and Edward Lewis, heirs of Edward Lewis, to Lewis Palmer, who on May 11, 1871, sold to Edward A. Price and others, by whom the property was conveyed December 26th, in that year, to the borough of Media. The corporate 40

authorities fitted the property for use as water-works for the borough, retainiug the grist-mill, which is still used for milling purposes. It is stated by Miss Sarah Miller, of Media, that while the mills were in the pos- session of Isaac Levis, the lumber used in the con- struction of St. Mary's Catholic Church, in Philadel- phia, was sawed there.

Painter's Clover- and Saw-Mills .- On Dismal Run, prior to this century, Enos Painter built a clover- mill and saw-mill, which, in 1826, were reported as old mills. Thomas Chalfant had charge of these mills from 1825 to 1831, and after that date, Benjamin Robinson ran the clover-mill. It has years ago disappeared. The saw-mill was run by John Heacock, who manu- factured pails or buckets there, and Hugh Jones made chair-backs. It was burned about 1860.

The Pennsylvania Training-School for Feeble- Minded Children .- This institution, the third of its kind in order of establishment in America, is de- serving, by reason of its noble aim, splendid growth, and colossal accomplishment in lessening the sum of human sorrow and misfortune, of an extended sketch in this volume, and we venture to say that there are many, even in the township in which the training- school is located, to whom its history is by no means familiar.

A few words about the institutions in this country which chronologically stand ahead of this one, may not prove amiss in this connection. In the United States the first school for the training of the feeble- minded was opened in Barre, Mass., by Dr. H. B. Wilbur, in July, 1848. Now there are no less than thirteen similar institutions in the country.

The movement here in this direction began almost contemporaneously with that in Europe.1 Those most prominent in the earliest measures resorted to in this country were Dr. Frederick Backus, of Roch- ester, N. Y., and George Sumner, of Boston, "who were soon seconded by the enterprise, courage, and philanthropy of Drs. Henry B. Wilbur and Samuel George Howe, whose names must be yoked together with equal honor, the first as the founder of the Barre School."

The State of New York established an experimental school at Albany, in 1851, which was soon followed by a permanent State institution at Syracuse under the superintendence of Dr. Wilbur, who had as co- adjutors such men as John C. Spencer and Governor Marcy.

1 " It ie withio the recollection of living men thet Guggenbuhl, of Switzerland, Segnire, of Paria, and Sageve, of Berlio, opened at the same time their schools for imbecilea and idiots, and the eyes of the natione to their duty io behelf of this neglected class. In 1846, Dr. Kern es- tablished a school at Leipsic; in England, in 1848, under the inspira- tion of such men as Drs. Reid, Twining, aod Conolly, Sir S. Morton Peto devoted his own mancion (Eesex Hall) for the purpose. Scotland opened her first institution in 1852, and in June, 1853, was laid, by Prince Albert, the corner-stone of the school of Earlswood, Surrey. Nearly all the nations of Europe followed these examples."-Dr. Kerlin in an address before the Philadelphia Society for Organizing Charity, Nov. 6, 1882.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The next to move in this work was Pennsylvania. Dr. A. L. Elwyn, afterwards the honored president of the institution, attending at Cambridge a meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Science, in 1849, turned aside to hear a letter from Rachel Laird, a blind girl of Philadelphia, to Lanra Bridgman, the famous blind deaf mute of the South Boston Institu- tion for the Blind, and while there he casually, at the invitation of a teacher, visited a room to see the ex- periment Massachusetts was making in behalf of the children of feeble minds. He was so impressed with what he saw, and with the feasibility of instituting a similar school, that immediately after returning to Philadelphia he held a conference with a number of his friends upon the subject. During the same year James B. Richards, of Boston, who had been associ- ated with Dr. Howe, came to Philadelphia bearing a letter of introduction to Dr. Elwyn. A meeting, presided over by Bishop Potter and held in the office of James J. Barclay, was addressed so earnestly by Dr. Elwyn that the gentlemen present immediately promised aid to Mr. Richards for the establishment of an experimental school at Germantown.

On Feh. 10, 1853, the preliminary steps were taken to found the school which has since developed into a great State institution, and on the 7th of April of the same year the Legislature incorporated " The Penn- sylvania Training-School for Feeble-Minded Chil- dren," and took it under fostering care, by which, with the liberality of citizens, it was built up to a condition by 1869 unequaled by any in the country.

The organization was effected by the usual methods of all charitable corporations in the State. In the enactment appeared the honored names of Alonzo Potter, John K. Kane, J. B. Richards, Matthias W. Baldwin, Jacob G. Morris, Isaac Collins, Alfred L. Elwyn, James Martin, Alexander Fullerton, and Franklin Taylor, who were, with their associates and successors, constituted a body politic and corporate in law. Membership in this corporation was secured by the payment to the treasurer of thirty dollars, or by the annual payment of five dollars. These moneys were invested in the " Free Fund" of the institution.

The school was soon opened at Germantown under the direction of James B. Richards, and by the year 1858 had acquired a property valued at nineteen thousand dollars. The period of its active develop- ment began in 1856, when Dr. Joseph Parrish was called to its superintendence, and " the school became an institution with considerable of an advancement towards departmental purposes and classification."

In looking about for a location in which the train- ing-school could better be conducted (then in Ger- mantown) the site of the present buildings, a farm of sixty acres in the vicinity of Media, was selected as presenting all of the most desirable features. This was bought from William L. Lewis for ten thousand dollars, which sum was contributed by the many friends who came to the aid of the institution, and

who further donated eighty-three thousand nine hun- dred and eighteen dollars towards the erection of the first buildings. The citizens of Media contributed one thousand dollars towards the purchase. The formal opening of the school occurred on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 1859. The dedication ceremonies were wit- nessed by an immense throng of people, mainly the citizens of the county. John P. Crozer gave the opening address. He was followed by Dr. Joseph Parrish, the superintendent at that time, and by sev- eral others. The Legislature, prior to 1869, had ap- propriated a total sum of ninety-seven thousand five hundred dollars, which completed the central, north, and south wings of the main building, and the Legis- lature of 1875-76 listening to an appeal for increased building accommodations, the sum of twenty thousand dollars was placed in the substantial structure known as the North House.

In 1877 began the effort to meet what was believed to be an imperative need,-" the creation of a strictly asylum branch, so situated at separate buildings that the educational department would be unembarrassed by it, while the inmates would get some share in the benefits and supervision of a general institution." It was not until the session of 1880-81 that the Legis- lature was so impressed as to vote assistance, but that body then made an appropriation of sixty thousand dollars, which was used to construct two excellent buildings on an adjoining farm, which in the mean time had been bought. A commodions school-house, forty by one hundred and eight feet, was also erected at a cost of ten thousand dollars, and a laundry- building, in which employment is given to about twenty inmates, at a cost of five thousand dollars. The original sixty acres has been added to until at present the asylum grounds include one hundred and forty acres. The total value of the real estate is prob- ably not far from three hundred thonsand dollars.

The State of Pennsylvania has increased her quota, and now provides for two hundred and fifty children of the commonwealth. The State of New Jersey liberally supports sixty of her feeble ones, and the city of Philadelphia sends eighteen. The "free fund" amounts to over seventy-five thousand dollars, and it is hoped that it may be raised to two hundred thousand dollars in the not far distant future.

There are at present six lists on which children are admitted, viz., under the State fund of Pennsylvania, appropriated for the support of two hundred chil- dren of the commonwealth, for a period of not more than seven years, apportioned as nearly as possible among the Senatorial districts, according to repre- sentation. It is wished to take on this fund improvable cases only, or those who may return to the community, at least self-helpful if not self-supporting ; under the State fund of New Jersey, appropriated for the sup- port of poor children of that State, or for partial aid of such persons of only moderate circumstances, as are unable to pay full cost of maintenance; under

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MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP.

the State fund of Delaware, appropriated for the sup- port of two children from each county of that State; i ness and order of all that pertains to the school and under the city of Philadelphia fund, applied to cases asylum, in the effectiveness of training, and in the gentleness of care, the establishment at Elwyn is not surpassed by any similar institution of which the writer has knowledge. received from the "Children's Home," of the Phila- delphia almshouse, or by special permit through the committee appointed by the Board of Guardians of the city of Philadelphia; under the free fund, de- voted exclusively to the entire or partial maintenance in the institution of such feeble-minded persons as may be selected by the superintendent and committee on admission, and whose support is not otherwise provided for; and under the private list. Children may be received on this list from any place in or out of our State, on payment, quarterly in advance, of such sums as may be agreed upon, the rates being de- termined by the amount of care the case requires, the extra accommodations given, and the ability of parents or guardians to pay.

As the foregoing suggests, the Pennsylvania Train- ing-School is a private institution under State patron- age. The Legislature annually makes an appropria- tion of sixty thousand dollars for its support.

Since 1864 Dr. Isaac N. Kerlin has been superin- tendent of the institution. Under his management the school has made its largest growth, and become most widely useful. The aim of the management has been threefold: first, as the name of the institution indicates, to train the feeble-minded so that they may return to their homes or be placed in proper places, and be self-sustaining; second, to afford a permanent asylum for those whose condition is helpless and hope- less ; and third, to afford in the institution a home to those who by its aids may be wholly or partially self- sustaining. It is the desire of those who have given the matter careful attention that the latter feature may be more fully developed, by making at Elwyn (as the place is called after one of the founders, and the president of the institution) an Asylum Village. Concerning this praiseworthy project, which must in- evitably be carried out some time, we find the following in the course of a newspaper article which had as its subject a recent meeting of the directors of the insti- tution :

"The correspondence of the institution establishes the fact that at lesst one thousand five hundred feeble-minded children are in the homes of persons too poor to pay for their support in any institution, and yet too much attached to their unfortunate offspring to place them in County Almehouses. The injury to the community from the presence of this element ie euch that those who examine this problem believe it would he wise economy to isolate the feeble-minded and idiotic, and establish in Delaware County, in connection with the present institution, &n asylum village, to consist of farm-houses for those who are able to work, a hospital home for the helpless, and a central educational department. The institution already embraces these features, and by utilizing its ferm-lands the coet of maintenance h88 60 diminished that it is now be- Jieved a plan embracing all this dependent population of the State is feasible. This plan would bring under a working system the contribu- tious of those families who are able to support in whole or in part any of their afflicted members, and the aid of the counties and the common- wealth."

the cheerfulness of its inner furnishing, in the neat-

The cluster of granite buildings is situated on a beautiful wooded eminence, between Media and El- wyn Station, on the Philadelphia and West Chester Railroad, within easy walking distance of either, but nearest the latter, which, in fact, was established principally for the convenience of those whose duties take them to the school. The immediate hill on which the main buildings are erected is terraced, graded, with dry walks, and planted with shrubbery. A grove of five acres on the west and north is laid ont for paths and drives, where in summer the chil- dren exercise. A farm of nearly one hundred and thirty acres extends into the valley below, furnishing work for such boys as can be taught agricultural labor. A small tramway connects the parent institu- tion and the hill-side home, and it is designed to ex- tend it to the Elwyn Station. The cars upon this road run one way by gravity, and are drawn back by donkeys. A pretty excursion car that runs upon it accommodates twenty or thirty children, who are thus afforded pleasurable out-door life for some hours in the day.

The asylum buildings, with which this road con- nects, are, like the main buildings, constructed most substantially of stone, are of fine appearance, and excellently adapted to the purpose which they serve. In short, everything about the institution is indica- tive, by its perfection and practical usefulness, of the broad charity of the people, the wise beneficence of the State, and the intelligent and kindly manage- ment that has found exercise here. The work that is carried on by the Pennsylvania Training-School for Feeble-Minded Children is indicated by the fact that during the year (ending Sept. 30, 1883) four hundred and twenty-eight children were under the care of the school and industrial departments. Of these, three hundred and ninety-six remained at the close of the year, classified as regards support as follows :

State of Pennsylvania, wholly.

193

. New Jersey

partially 10

.4 Delaware.

City of Philadelphia.

By parents aud guardians ..

Soldiers' Orphan Fund.

Free ..

Following is a list of the presidents, superinten- dents, and assistant superintendents connected with the institution from its incorporation to the present :

Presidents .- Rt. Rev. Alonzo Potter, 1853-66 ; John P. Crozer, 1866-67 ; S. Morris Waln, 1867-70; A. L. Elwyn, M.D., from 1870.

Superintendents .- Rev. James B. Richards, 1853- 57; Joseph Parrish, M.D., 1857-64; I. N. Kerlin,

In regard to the present condition of the institution, it may be said that in beauty of surroundings and in : M.D., from 1864.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Assistant Superintendents .- I. N. Kerlin, M.D., 1857 -64; Mrs. Louisa P. Ross, 1864-66 ; Rockwood Brig- ham, 1865-67; Henry W. Blake, 1867-69; Henry M. Lyon, M.D., 1871-72; Edgar P. Jefferis, 1872-75; Daniel W. Jefferis, M.D., 1878-80; William B. Fish, 1881-84; D. W. Wilmott, 1884.

Alfred L. Elwyn, M.D., was born July 9, 1804, in Portsmouth, N. H., where he attended school under the noted Deacon Tappan. In 1816 he became a pupil of Phillips Exeter Academy, and there re- mained three years. In 1819 he entered Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1823, after which he read medicine in Boston, under the cele- brated Dr. Gorham. He went to England and Edin- burgh in October, 1826, and returned to London in April, 1827. He then passed one year in Paris, and in the summer of 1829 returned to America, having, during his sojourn abroad, visited his father's rela- tives in England, and kept up a continuous course of study. In 1831 he graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, and received his diploma as M.D. He was married Jan. 31, 1832, to Mary Middleton, daugh- ter of Dr. James Mease, and granddaughter of Hon. Pierce Butler, of South Carolina, by whom he had one living child, Rev. Alfred Elwyn. His daughter, Mary Middleton Elwyn, married Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, of Philadelphia, and died in 1862, leaving two sons, both of whom are living. In 1845, Dr. Elwyn, who made Philadelphia his residence, but did not practice his profession, purchased property in East Bradford township, Chester Co., Pa., where he resided during the summer months. He was one of the founders of the State Agricultural Society, in 1850, and largely identified with its progress, as also with that of the Farmers' High School. He was connected with the establishment of the Institution for the Blind of Philadelphia, and was one of the originators of the Training-School for Feeble-Minded Children, located at Elwyn, Delaware Co., and fostered and built by the State of Pennsylvania. He ever manifested the warmest interest in philanthropic institutions, and aided in the creation of many of them. He was be- fore his death the oldest living member of the Ameri- can Association for the Advancement of Science. He also belonged to the Academy of Natural Sci- ences, and was for some years a director of Girard College. He was also vice-president of the Historical Society, and a member of the Philosophical Society. Dr. Elwyn served as president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and was president of the Old Agricultural Society of Philadelphia. He was one of the Philadelphia board of three for licensing taverns under a special act of the Legisla- ture, in which he acquitted himself with honor, and to the credit of the city. His farm in East Bradford originally belonged to Philip Price, and on this land was used, in 1846, the first guano introduced into Chester County. Dr. Elwyn gave much attention to the natural sciences, philosophical inquiry, and politi-

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 154

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