History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 165

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

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John Cox, on 25th of First month, 1752, couveyed the property to his son, John Cox, who, on Feb. 17, 1753, with the consent doubtless of the other owners, leased the grist- and merchant-mill, with two pair of stones and three bolting-sheets, to John Williamson, Henry Howard, Henry Caldwell, Lawrence Cox, Ed- ward Farr, James Sill, Nehemiah Baker, Philip Dunn, Robert Register, James Scott, Aaron Baker, Ahel Green, Thomas Minshall, John Scott, Jesse Woodward, James Massey, John Baker, Joseph Black, Nathan Lewis, and William Wall for seven years. Tradition states that every man having a share in the mill took his own grain there and ground it himself, whenever the inclination prompted, and did so without render- ing thanks or pay to anybody.

John Cox on Feb. 22, 1755, sold to Thomas Bishop his one-third share in the mill, two tracts of land, and forty acres purchased from John Taylor by Lawrence Cox in 1746, to Thomas Bishop, the latter paying

1 " Sketch of Bishop's Mill," by Wilmer W. James, in Delaware County Paper, June 27, 1877.

671

UPPER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP.

therefor three hundred and twenty-six pounds. Bishop also leased the shares of all the other owners for ten years. As the grist-mill and saw-mill were then rented and the leases had not fallen in he collected the rents, and for the two shares not owned by him paid twelve pounds per annum to the owners. In 1763 a fund was raised by subscription to erect a bridge over Ridley Creek, about one hundred yards below the mills, on the site of the present bridge. The subscription bridge stood until 1843, when it was washed away in the noted flood of August 5th of that year. At the March term of court, in 1799, a petition was presented, sigued by a number of the inhabitants of the county, setting forth that the bridge over Ridley Creek, near Bishop's mills, was in bad condition, and " praying that a sum of money may be allowed out of the county treasury to repair the same." The grand jury allowed forty dol- lars for the purpose of repairing the bridge.

On Nov. 29, 1785, proceedings having been had in partition of the mill property, the mills were awarded to Thomas Bishop. After he acquired absolute owner- ship of the property he built a frame third story and added an overshot, the eastern end of which rested on three stone piers. The latter was designed mainly to "shore up" the old mill, part of the public road passing under this archway. The grist- and saw-mills were occupied by Thomas Bishop until 1802, when Francis Bishop was operating them. In 1807 Thomas Bishop was conducting the grist-mill, and in 1811 he had the saw-mill, and Amor Bishop the grist-mill. In 1810-11 the rolling-mill was built. It was about seventy feet in length, nearly fifty in width, and one story in height, adjoining the southern end of the saw-mill. The rolling-mill, which stood on the site of an ancient plaster-mill, which had been in opera- tion for half a century before it was taken down, in 1810, was four times as large as the building it super- seded. The slitting-mill was erected. shortly after the sale of the whole estate to Bishop. This rolling- mill was used for making boiler-plates, sheet-iron, and a variety of other work. The pig-iron was carted from Philadelphia in wagons, and was in bars about two feet long. The rolling-mill was conducted, in 1812, by Malin & Bishop. The fuel used was the soft, bituminous Virginia coal, but the war soon made it difficult to be had, the cargo being of such a character that the masters of coasting vessels refused to carry it, for if chased when so loaded capture was inevitable. At first the owners of the mill attempted to use char- coal, but that was too expensive, and could not be had in sufficient quantity. Accident, however, came to the relief of Malin & Bishop, and at the same time brought about the use of anthracite coal. The inci- dent is thus recorded in the first report of the Potts- ville Board of Trade :

" In the year 1812 our fellow-citizen, Col. George Shoemaker, procured a quantity of coal from a shaft eunk on a tract he had recently pur- chased on the Norwegian, end now owned by the North American, Coal Company, and known as the Centreville Mines. With this be loaded nine wagons and proceeded to Philadelphia; much tinie was spent by

him in endeavoring to introduce it to notice, but all his efforts proved unavailing. Those who designed to try it, declared Col. Shoemaker to be an impostor, for attempting to impose stone on them for coal, and were clamorous against him. Not discouraged by the sneers and sar- casms cast upon him, he persisted in the undertaking, and at last suc- ceded in disposing of two loads for the cost of transportation ; and the remaining seven he gave to persons who promised to try to use it, and lost all the coal and charges. Messrs. Mellon (Malin) and Bishop, at the earnest solicitation of Col. Shoemaker, were induced to make trial of it in their rolling-mill, in Delaware County, and finding it to answer fully the character given it by Col. Shoemaker, noticed its usefulness in the Philadelphia papers, aod from that period we may date the triumph of reason, aided by perseverance, over prejudice."1

At the Delaware County Rolling-Mill, tradition records that the employés in charge of the furnace, when the load of coal first came to the works, late in the afternoon, threw into the fire a large quantity of the black stones with the often expressed forebodings that " the boss had been fooled," which opinion be- came more and more confirmed when the coal refused to ignite, although frequent attempts were made to kindle it. Late at night the fireman abandoned the effort in despair and went to bed. Unable to rest, he got up in an hour or two thereafter and went to the mill, when he found the furnace-door red hot, the heat in the building intense, and the wood-work almost ready to burst into a blaze. Never before had there been such a fire in the mill. Thereafter Enos Helms was sent to Mauch Chunk with a five-horse team, and carted from that place the fuel used in the rolling- mill. The coal cost two dollars a ton at the mine.

1 Hazard's Register, vol. xiii. page 274. In Burrowes' "State Book of Pennsylvania" (1845), is briefly related the foregoing account, adding, "Some of it, however, was afterwards tried with perfect succese, at a rolling-mill in Delaware County, and the result noticed in the city papers of the day." Watson, in hie " Annals of Philadelphia," vol. ii. page 459, in referring to the first use of anthracite coal says, " At length, after a multitude of disappointments, and when Shoemaker was about to abandon the coal and return home, Messrs. Malin & Bishop, of Dela- ware County, made an experiment with some of the coals in their roll- ing-mill, and found them to succeed beyond expectation, and to be a highly valuable and useful fuel. The result of their experiments WR8 published at the time in the Philadelphia papers. Some experiments with the coal were made in the works of the Falle of the Schuylkill, but without success," The official State publication (1878) entitled, "Penn- sylvania and the Centeonial Exposition" (vol. i. page 124), says, after relatiog the facts of Col. George Shoemaker's trips to Philadelphia with the nine wagons loaded with coal, " Of the two losde sold, one was pur- chased by White & Hazard for use at their wire-works at the Falls of Schuylkill, and the other was purchased by Malio & Bishop, for use at the Delaware County Rolling-Mill. By the merest accident of closing the furnace doors, Mr. White obtained a hot fire from the coal, and from this occurrence, happening in 1812, we may date the first successful use of anthracite coal in the manufactures of this country. Up to that time bituminous coal from Virginia had been exclusively used for manufac- turiog purposes in Philadelphia, and largely for domestic purposes. The war with Great Britain had, however, made Virginia coal very scarce, and it was very desirable that a substitute should be found. The fol- lowing story is told of the succese achieved by White & Hazard in the use of anthracite coal in their wire-works: A whole night was spent in endeavoring to make it burn, when the hands in despair quit their work, hut left the furnace door shut. Fortunately, one of them forgot his jacket, aod on returning to the works half an hour afterwards, he noticed that the door was red hot, and the interior of the furnace io a white glowing heat. Thereafter no trouble was experienced in making the new fuel burn." This is the most pronounced effort that has been found to give the credit of the first use of anthracite coal in manufac- turing to Philadelphia, and to ignore the fact that that credit belongs to Delaware County by simply an incidental suggestion that Malin & Bishop bought one of the cart-loade of coal from Col. Shoemaker.

672

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

In 1826 Thomas Bishop owned all the mill property, and Amor Bishop, his son, operated the works there. In that year the grist-mill ground from eight to ten thousand bushels of grain, the saw-mill was employed occasionally, and about one hundred tons of iron was rolled and slit per annum. The rolling- and slitting- mill was assessed as "not occupied" in 1829. The grist-mill and saw-mill were continued in use by Amor Bishop, and in 1856 were conveyed to his son, Washington Bishop, who sold them to Joseph Velotte in 1867, and the latter, on Jan. 29, 1868, passed the title to William F. Lewis, who now owns and oper- ates them under the name of Sycamore Mills.

The dam at the Sycamore Mills has been washed away four times, once in the great flood of 1793, again on Feb. 22, 1822, a third time in the destructive ice flood of Jan. 26, 1839, and the last time in the noted flood of Aug. 5, 1843.

Register's Nail-Factory .- This industry, which has now been abandoned for more than a half-cen- tury, was the direct outgrowth of the rolling-mill, fore the Providence Mills (now Sycamore) were built. and although it was located across Ridley Creek, just above the bridge at Bishop's Mills, its story is so con- nected with the latter that it properly should be nar- rated in the history of the Sycamore Mill. The nail- factory was a small frame building owned by Jesse Reece, and was rented to David Register, who at an advanced age, in 1812-13, employed men, and began making wrought-iron nails entirely by hand. Regis- ter had been a Tory during the Revolution, and had fled with the British troops to Nova Scotia, but sub- sequently returned after the passage of the amnesty act. The building, which had many years before ceased to be used as a nail-factory, was washed away in the flood of Aug. 5, 1843.

In 1830 Judge Hemphill in Paris, writing to a friend in Chester County, stated that in 1818 or 1820 he, with John Jefferies, visited Mr. Bishop, where, on the latter's estate, he saw "decomposed feldspar in streaks of white lying in abundant veins where the road had been cut through the hills, and observing that the land was uniformly rich where it made its appear- ance, not knowing what the substance was (such he confesses was his ignorance of mineralogy), he im- agined that perhaps it might contribute to fertility and be useful, like plaster or marl, upon land. To test the correctness of the opinion, he obtained a box of it, sent it to a distinguished agriculturist, with a request that he would have it examined, and give in return any information he might be able to get. A letter in reply stated that it was decomposed feldspar; that it was the material of which the French China was manufactured; that a specimen had been sent to France, which afterwards was pronounced excellent. This information was communicated to the late Jacob Cist, Esq., of Wilkesbarre, a gentleman of science, and who was turning his attention particularly towards different clays and the finer materials for Delf-ware and Porcelain. At his request the writer

of this procured and sent to Philadelphia a barrel of the material, which he caused to be taken to Wilkes- barre. He pronounced it excellent, but the distance was too great to haul and work it to advantage."1

Jeremiah Collett's Mill .- Tradition alleges that on the tract of two hundred and fifty acres, purchased Dec. 13, 1693, by Collett from James Swaffer, which was that part of the Swaffer patent lying south of Eg- mont township line, Collett erected a water-power mill. This tradition has some evidence to sustain it, in that at the court held on Oct. 2, 1695, when the grand jury, because "the County Treasurer is out of purse," levied a tax to defray pressing obligations, in the quaint document signed hy the grand inquest ap- pears the following item : "Jeremiah Collett, for his estate and calling, 30 pounds." And in the same pre- sentment certain persons are mentioned by name, and taxed on their " calling," all of whom save Collett we know were millers. Tradition states that Collett had erected a mill and was operating it for many years be-

After the erection of the latter mills the then owner of the property, who was operating these mills, hecame so enraged at the competition that he threatened to build a dam so high that when the water should be sud- denly let out it would rush down the creek, sweeping everything in its way. Tradition locates this mill in Edgmont, on Big Run, on the estate of Joseph Taylor, although one hundred acres of that land was purchased by James Swaffer from John Holston, who took up two hundred and fifty acres there in 1684. Jeremiah Collett never owned the property, nor was the title in Swaffer for the land on which are the re- mains of the mill and a small portion of the old wall of the original dam, the distinct outlines of which are pointed out to this day. If Collett had a mill, it was located in Upper Providence, on the east side of Rid- ley Creek.

Palmer's Mill on Crum Creek .- The only grist- mill in the township in 1799, except that of Thomas Bishop, was owned by Jacob Siter, who was assessed in that year on twenty-seven acres of land,-a grist- mill, plaster-mill, and a frame smith-shop. Where this mill was located is not known, for in 1802 his name does not appear in the assessment-roll as owning a mill. That he lived on Crum Creek is evident from the fact that he was also assessed on forty-seven acres of land in Marple township. On the 23d of March, 1801, Abram Jones purchased a dower-right in a prop- erty on Crum Creek, on which in 1802 he was assessed as owner of a grist-mill in Upper Providence, and also on a saw-mill in Marple. On Jan. 25, 1812, he bought of the executors of William Hunter, the remaining right in the mill property. In the report of Dela- ware County manufacturers, in 1826, it is reported, "On Crum Creek in Upper Providence and Marple a grist- and saw-mill head and fall twelve feet owned

1 Hazard's Register, vol. vii. p. 149.

673

UPPER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP.

and occupied by Abraham Jones, capable of grinding twenty-five thousand bushels of grain and sawing one hundred thousand feet of lumber per annum, but not employed to that extent. These mills were owned and operated by Mr. Jones until 1834, when they were sold to T. Chalkley Palmer, who devised them to his son, Lewis Palmer. The latter is the present owner. Of the mills in the township the location of which has not been ascertained, are the following : In 1764 and continuing till 1774; Charles Lynn owned a grist-mill ; James Hunter and John Williamson each owned a quarter interest in a saw-mill. In 1770, John Calvert owned a saw-mill on Crum Creek, and in 1788, Samuel Vernon owned a grist-mill and saw- mill, and Edward Woodward a grist-mill.

Licensed Houses .- In the township of Upper Providence, the first application for license of record is that of David Calvert, the younger, who presented his petition, dated May 29, 1739, to the court, wherein he states that he "is Building a Convenient house by the great Road which leads from the valley to Ches- ter, near to where the Road from the Northwest parts of this County to Philadelphia crosseth the same," and asked that he may be permitted to sell " Beer & Cyder, & keep a house of Entertainment." His application was rejected, as was also a similar peti- tion at the August court; but Nov. 27, 1739, he in- formed the court that he "has built a Convenient hous," whereupon the license was granted, the loca- tion being that of the present Rose-Tree Hotel.

Aaron Thompson, of Upper Providence, May 29, 1739, requested a tavern license, " on Providence Road, and near Springfield road," which would bring it near Rose-Tree, and although his application was indorsed by Bernhard Van Leer and fifty-two other signers, it was rejected.

At November court of the same year, John Rus- sell filed his petition, wherein he locates his house as " upon Vper providence Street Road side, half a mile above providence meeting-house," and also de- clares that there is " no publick house on the sd Road between Chester to The Great Valley road" (his statement was then true, for it was at this court that Daniel Calvert obtained license), and he wishes " to sell Rum by small Measure, In proportion to two pence the Gill." The court perhaps thought the price so low that that sort of liquor would be injuri- ous to the public generally, at any rate they refused Russell's application.

During the year 1739 there seems to have been considerable effort to procure license in Upper Provi- dence, for May 29th of that year, Matthew Bowcher, in that township, "on Street Road," wished to sell " Beer & Cyder," which was denied him, and August 28th he again made application, indorsed by seventy- six signers, who represent him to the court as "both lame and old," but to no purpose, for the justices still refused the prayer of the petitioner.

Aaron Thompson, who had been denied license at

the May court, 1739, again asked the court's consid- eration Aug. 29, 1744, stating that his house is located "on the fforks of two great Roads,-one leading to Philadelphia, and the other from Chester to Newtown, and there is no publick house conveniently situated for the Philadelphia road ;" almost due east of Media, but again the justices refuse to grant his application.

At August court, 1744, John Calvert's petition shows that he had "leased the house where Daniel Calvert's kept publick-house," and desired that the license might be continued to him, which was done, and yearly renewed until 1747, when Daniel Calvert becomes once more the landlord of the tavern. Then follows an interval of thirteen years, during which the records are silent respecting this inn, but in 1761 David Malin made application, and continued so to do until 1764, when Joseph Nicklin became the inn- keeper. He continued in that occupation only one year, for in 1765 Daniel Thompson secured the li- cense, and annually thereafter until 1768. In 1766, Jonathan Durrell had tavern license in Upper Provi- dence, but his name occurs only during that year.

Townsend Ward, in his interesting "Walk to Darby," in alluding to fox-chasing, says, "For this ancient sport is continued in Delaware County, which possesses the famous Rose-Tree Fox-Hunting Club, and an excellent pack of hounds. The title is derived from an old inn of the days of the Revolu- tion, called the Rose-Tree, situated near Wallingford Station. The club has recently been gladdened by the discovery in an old loft of the original sign of the inn." 1

In 1769, David Malin applied again for the license, and in 1770 his petition sets forth that the tavern is known as the " Three Tonns." In 1771, David Malin again made application for license, and from that date no petition appears of record until 1778, when John Moore received the privilege to keep a public-house there, and in 1782 it was granted to Mary Moore, and continued to her in 1783, when again occurs a break until 1786, when Baldwin Weaver procured the li- cense. From the latter date no petition has been found respecting this old hostelry of record at West Chester. After the erection of Delaware County William Maddock had the license, to be succeeded in 1801 by William Robinson. In 1802, Jonathan Bonsall had the inn, which was then known as the Red Lion. In 1803, Isaac Cochran, who had re- moved from the Blue Ball Inn, in Springfield, en- deavored to get license as the Red Lion, but was re- fused. The next year, 1805, Moses Palmer obtained license for the Rose-Tree Tavern, the title being changed from the Red Lion because of the bad re- pute the latter name had in the county. The house at this time was an old frame building, painted red, which in the sixty-six years since it had been erected had grown dilapidated. In that year (1805) the

1 Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. iii. 268.

674

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Red Lion was taken down and the new sign (the Rose-Tree) was suspended beneath the great poplar trees. In 1806, Isaac Cochran secured the license, and continued to receive the court's favor for ten years while he was landlord. The present stone building was erected at different dates, the oldest part being built in 1809. In 1816, Isaac Cochran, who owned the property, was succeeded by Martin Wise as landlord, but the following year he again became "mine host," and continued as such until 1821, when William V. Black had license. In 1823, Isaac Coch- ran again became the landlord, to be succeeded in 1828 by John Black, and the latter, in 1831, by Isaac Cochran, Jr. In 1833, George Cummings had license, and during the time he occupied the house, in 1836, the stone addition to the inn was made, by which the Rose-Tree grew in dimension to double the size it had been since the new building was erected, in 1809. George Cummings died in 1846, and the following year, 1847, Matilda B. Cummings had a temperance license granted to her by the court for the Rose-Tree. In 1848, Martha Ann Russell obtained license, the following year Malin Bishop, and in 1850, Matilda B. Cummings again was the hostess of the inn. Isaac Cochran, who had so long been landlord of the Rose- Tree, died on April 18, 1852, at Willistown, Chester Co., he having attained the advanced age of eighty- seven years. Robert Johnson, in 1857, followed Ma- tilda B. Cummings, to give place to William Beeby the next year, and he in 1859 to J. Morgan Baker, who remained there until 1864, when the license was transferred to Thomas Graham. In 1865, Thomas B. Miller was at the Rose-Tree, to be succeeded in 1868 by Joseph D. Velotte, and in 1871, Thomas M. Gar- rett, and 1872 Velotte returned, only by the local option law to be deprived of license in 1873 and 1874. After the repeal of that act by the Legislature, Ben- jamin Rogers, the present landlord, received license.

Rose-Tree Fox-Hunting Club was organized in September, 1873, although for a number of years prior to that date the gentlemen who founded the club. At first, the hounds, who were owned by individuals, were kept at the residences of the parties who would meet at the Rose-Tree to hunt, but when J. Morgan Baker be- came the landlord of the Rose-Tree, a number of the dogs were kept at the tavern. During his occupancy of the inn, Baker laid out the race track at the Rose- Tree, which since became noted among turfmen. Several years ago the following account of the club appeared in a New York sporting journal :

" About 1853, J. Howard Lewis, Esq., and George E. Darlington, Esq., began to keep their hounds at the Rose-Tree Tavern, on the Providence road, about one and a half miles above the court-house, which had just been located in the present town of Media. The Rose-Tree was then kept by Morgan Baker [he first had license in 1859], and the hounds remained there for several years. These gentlemen, gradually joined by others, some years later, moved to Lamb Tavern, kept by Woodward, but, owing to the landlord'e intentionally crippling a fox, the kennel was moved to Tom McClure's farm. McClure always kept a few good hounds of his own, until the winter of 1875-76, when he met with an accident and was killed. About 1869 the locality of the hunt was

changed to the Black Horse, io Middletown township. The leaders now were Messrs. J. Howard Lewie, Samuel Lewis, Professor Fairman Rogers, joined by George Hill, the present M. F. H., who was living on Chester Creek and hunting with John Mahony, Henry Saulnier, and Mark Pennell. The former is now, at threescore years and ten, as true a fox hunter as ever followed hounds, and keeps the same blood in hie kennel for which he has always been famous. Without children he and wife live on a small farm, where, as he says, he 'always has mate for the hounds, and milk for the puppies,' and at any time you can find a lot of puppies occupying the warmest corner of the fireplace, and Mrs. Mahony will egy, pointing to one or the other, 'Now, isn't he pretty ?' About the same time, Henry E. Saulnier (who lived formerly in New York, but was attracted to a country place near Ivy Mille ou account of the beauty of the scenery and the hunting) joined. The hounde were moved back to the ' Lamh,' then kept by Benjamin Rodgers, and the next year, 1872, the Rose-Tree was hought by Messre. J. Howard Lewis, Semuel Lewis, Professor Feirman Rogers, and E. Farnum, the hounds cent there, and ' Benny' came as landlord. The club was then regularly organized with six to seven couple of members, with George Hill, M. F. H. and President; J. Howard Lewis, vice-president; George Lewis, treasurer; and Samuel Miller, secretary. It has gradually in- creased in eize until there are now about twoscore and six." 1

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 165

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