USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania > Part 171
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within a recent date, when it was purchased by George W. Childs to stop the sale of liquor near his bailiwick, -the new town of Wayne. The building and grounds have been neatly fitted up, and are now (summer of 1884) in use as a country home for the young Indian wards of the Lincoln Institute.
In 1749, Bartle Bartleson presented a petition to court setting forth that he had a house, known as the Sign of the Buck, which was located half-way between the Sign of the Buck (Jonathan Miller's tavern, Hav- erford) and the Spread Eagle; "that he has been at a great expense in building a commodious house for the purpose, and desires license hereat." His application was successful, and yearly thereafter until 1812, when he was followed in business by John Taylor, who changed the name of the tavern to the Fox. In 1814, Frederick Lowdon obtained license for the house under the same title. The following year Isaac Sharpless leased and managed the house. In 1816, Ann Bartleson, the widow of Bartle, kept the inn, and continued there until 1824, when Mark Bartleson, her son, succeeded to the business. In 1830, Joseph Hassan rented the Fox, and after his death, in 1832, Mary Hassan continued there one year. Joseph Thornburg followed her, in 1833. Then came Mark Bartleson again, in 1836, who continued until 1844, when the house ceased to be one of public entertainment.
Elisha Moore, in 1807, prayed the court to grant him license for his house, located on the Philadelphia and Lancaster turnpike road, near the eleventh mile- stone. He says that he is " nearly three miles above Jonathan Miller's tavern (Haverford), about one- third of a mile above Bartle Bartleson's tavern, and nearly three miles below Edward Siter's and Robert Kennedy's tavern. Between the first and the second last-mentioned taverns, on the old Lancaster road, there is now two taverns, and was there perhaps for forty years prior to the turnpike road being made (1792). The traveling since has vastly in- creased, and is generally confined to the turnpike. And as your petitioner lives in a very eligible situa- tion for the accommodation and convenience of trav- ellers, and has been at a considerable expense in the erection of buildings for keeping a public-house, which he will endeavor to merit by keeping good order, if your Honours will please to grant him a recommendation to his Excellency the Governor for a license for the same." The court acted favor- ably on his petition, and thus was established the White Horse Tavern. In 1814, Moore was fol- lowed by Jonathan Morgan, and the latter, in 1815, gave place to William Sheldrake. However, Elisha Moore returned to the tavern in 1816, and remained there until 1827, when Joseph Miller was the landlord, to be the next year followed by Elisha Moore, who con- tinued to have license granted to him until 1838, after which date the White Horse Tavern disappeared from
DELAWARE COUNTY, PA. " WOOTTON,"
HEELS S ISACH TOVIMEVA
HONVALUE'S 2000T S.931104
695
RADNOR TOWNSHIP.
At February term, 1836, H. Jones Brooke sent in a petition for license, wherein he stated that "your petitioner is desirous of keeping a public-house or tavern in the house he has lately built, at the inter- section of the road leading from the Valley Forge to the Lancaster Turnpike, near the eleven-mile stone, also the road leading from the Gulf Mills to Radnor Friends' meeting-house, and with the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, near the fourteen-mile post on the railroad. There is at present a lumber- and coal- yard established at the place, also a storehouse for storing flour and grain. It is made by the regula- tions of the railroad a point at which the locomotives stop for passengers. It is also an established place for supplying the locomotives with wood, and the subscriber has sunk a well for supplying water. The house is forty feet long by thirty-eight feet wide, two stories high, and finished in such a manner as would make it convenient for a public-house. There is no public-house on the railroad in Delaware County, al- though it passes near six miles through said county. The petitioner has provided himself with necessaries for the convenience and accommodation of travelers and strangers."
Brooke's petition was supplemented by another one signed by Mahlon Ortlip, superintendent of trans- portation and motive-power; Jacob Barry, manager at Schuylkill Plane; Frederick Vogel, superintendent on the Columbia and Philadelphia Railroad; Jacobs & Cornog, Andrew Wells, Joseph Smith, and others. Brooke then obtained license, and each succeeding year until 1839, when William Lowman, as lessee, was granted license for the same house, a point then termed Morgan's Corners. On the 17th of Novem- ber, 1840, while occupied by Lowman, the house caught fire from a spark escaping from a passing loco- motive and was totally destroyed, thus entailing a loss of about four thousand dollars. It was immediately rebuilt by the owner and occupied by William Low- man until 1846, when Ed. J. Lowman became its pro- prietor. The latter kept hotel here for a number of years, and was succeeded by Isaac Palmer. Subse- queutly John Wagoner and George Righter bought the property, who, after keeping the house open for a term of years, sold out to Montgomery and Rand. Under their control the house ceased to be licensed some five or six years ago. It is now occupied as a boarding-house.
Justices of the Peace .- The following-named citizens of Radnor have been commissioned justices of the peace at dates indicated :
Edward Hunter
.Ang.
30, 1791.
John Lindsay.
.June
5, 1794.
Isaac Abrahams.
May
20, 1800.
Luke Cassio ...
March 27, 1809.
Jobn Siter.
.Sept.
1, 1813.
Robert Green ..
Feb.
23, 1816.
Nathao Gibson. Nov.
26,1817.
George Brooke. .July
3, 182L.
Maskell Ewing
June
10, 1822.
Benjamin Lobb
Dec.
4, 1823.
Park Shee.
Dec.
9, 1823.
Daniel Abrahams
Dec.
14, 1825.
Barnard Flynn.
.Nov. 15, 1835.
Abner Lewis ..
May
27,1836.
Thomas Sheldoo. .Dec.
20,1836.
Thomas Catein. .Nov.
1,1838.
Homer Eachine
May
11, 1989.
Abner Lewis
April
14, 1840.
Abner Lewis.
April 15, 1845.
Alexander Johnson.
.April
10, 1849.
Hiram Cleaver
April 10, 1855.
Hiram Cleaver.
April 10, 1860.
Hiram Cleaver.
.April 28, 1860.
Barclay Hall
Nov.
24, 1869.
Daniel C. Abrahams
March 31, 1874.
Daniel C. Abrahams.
March 27, 1879.
John A. Griffin.
April
9,1881.
Wootton, the Country Home of George W. Childs .- One of the most effective beginnings of ex- tensive and elaborate improvements in Radnor was that made by George W. Childs, in Wootton, his country home. Mr. Childs selected the present site with a view to its prospective embellishment and ornamentation. It was exceedingly well adapted to the purpose, consisting in part of cleared land and in part of forest, and sloping grandly towards the avenue which leads westwardly from Bryn Mawr Station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, through the rich and beautifully diversified country of Upper Merion and of Radnor.
Mr. Childs selected this site and began improve- ments upon it in the summer of 1880, and it seems almost incredible that such finished work, such per- fection of detail, as Wootton exhibits could have been accomplished in the brief period that has elapsed since then.
The most comprehensive view of Wootton is to be obtained from the hills on the opposite side of the little valley, in which the house and grounds are like jewels set. The great expanse of lawn, perfectly kept, the house and other buildings, appear from this height as a French study of art and nature, so per- fectly are the beauties of both combined.
Viewed in detail the charms of Wootton enlarge in proportion to their number. The visitor, if ap- proaching from the railroad, has a pleasant drive or walk along a picturesque roadway, nicely graded and thoroughly macadamized for a distance of a little more than a mile, and then finds himself at the main carriage entrance, marked by a handsome and hospit- able-appearing lodge. The drive gradually ascends the knoll or hill, and reaches the house under a hand- some porte-cochère. The house is found to be, per- haps, less pretentious, less elaborate, than one might expect ; but if there is any fault in this particular it is made amends for in the elegauce of detail and the tasteful elaboration of the surroundings. A broad terrace in front, adorned and made tropical in appear- ance by century-old feather palms, bordered by a wall and railing of massive and artistically-cut stone, half concealed by climbing vines, forms the immediate en- vironment of the house, and from this to the road slopes the great shaven lawn, dotted along its borders with a wealth of evergreen and other shrubbery, and richly studded with immense masses of gorgeous foliage plants. Few if any lawns in America have the breadth and smoothness and beautiful slope of
696
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
this, and none are better cared for or more velvety in texture. At oue side, across a little brook which art has handled very gracefully, and beyond a crystal spring which has been given a beautiful housing, is the original forest, left in its native wildness. On the other side of the house the lawn slopes away to the more recently-acquired possessions of Mr. Childs, which constitute the farm, and of which we shall presently speak more specifically.
The house itself is entered by way of a massive door, which is both hospitable and formidable, over a vestibule floored with Roman mosaics, especially im- ported for the purpose. The style of the interior is substantial, curious, quaint, but the idea everywhere most strongly suggested is that of the home, and of hospitality and of comfort. All of constructive de- sign, of ornament and art, seems subversive to the central thought of constructing a model home and a happy place of sojourn for friends. In such ad- mirable taste has the general design been carried out, and lavishness of expenditure so well directed, that decoration has not fallen short of completeness and yet has not overstepped the limit of chasteness. We are told that Wootton had its origin in the desire of Mrs. Childs to build a simple home which should be a retreat for the family, midway in season and elabor- ateness between the Philadelphia residence and the establishment at Long Branch, and that from time to time, as the attractiveness of the locality became more and more apparent, the original simple design was amplified and elaborated, until it resulted in the present commodious and elegant house.
Here the hospitality which Mr. Childs ever de- lights in has had one of its principal theatres. The house has been the scene of a great number of enter- tainments of social and semi-public character, of the celebrated Farmers' Club dinners, and of elaborate yet unostentatious entertainment of the eminent men and women of our country and of Europe. In this connection the origin of the name of Mr. Childs' country home is interesting. The term is trans- planted from England, and is commemorative of pleasant hospitality, of which Mr. and Mrs. Childs were there the recipients.
In Lyson's " Magna Britannia," vol. i. p. 673, there is the following account of " Wootton Underwood," in the hundred of Ashendon and deanery of Waddesdon. The manor was given by William the Conqueror to the Earl of Buckingham, and in 1097 it was brought by marriage to Richard de Grenville, from whom there has been an uninterrupted line of male succession, through twenty generations, to the present proprietor, the Duke of Buckingham. Wootton house has been from time immemorial the seat of the Grenvilles. The present house was built in 1705. The staircase and saloon were painted by Sir James Thornhill. It was the favorite home of the family. In the parish church are the ancient monnments of the Grenvilles, and the windows are ornameuted with the arms and quarter-
ings of the Grenvilles, the Temples, and the Chandos. It was at Wootton that the present Duke of Bucking- ham welcomed Mr. and Mrs. Childs, on their first visit to England, and there they made their acquaintance with English country life. In token of the pleasant memory of the hospitality there extended to them, their own lovely country home was called Wootton, and thus the American Wootton perpetuates the long years of hospitality for which the English Wootton is famous. The Wootton of Delaware County is an ad- mirable type of American country homes, for there guests of all nationalities, the leaders in all that is great and good, are heartily welcomed, and it has al- ready become famous as the seat of a generous hospi- tality not often equaled either in Europe or in this country. The house and the grounds are in admira- ble taste, and it is one of the stately homes for which Delaware County is fast becoming famous.
Interesting as is this home with its beauties of ar- chitecture and decoration of art, and of association, of books, and of costly and quaint bric-a-brac, the grounds and the farm are, after all, the strongest and most unique attraction, and, therefore, we emerge from a delightful house to its sumptuous surroundings.
And of these no hand but that of the painter or the most gifted artist in words can give an adequate idea, hence we will not attempt it.
In addition to the grounds originally constituting Wootton, Mr. Childs bought and brought under care, in 1883, land adjoining his, which he caused to be made an addition to his farm. Upon this, and upon lands which he formerly possessed, some of the most extensive improvements in the region have been made. It is here, southwest of the home and the grounds surrounding it, that the farm has been laid out and brought into nicely-ordered existence, prin- cipally through the management of Mr. John M. Hughes, chief gardener of the place. The farm con- sists of about forty acres of excellent land well tilled, and is supplied with all of the most modern and well- approved adjuncts and appliances. The barn here, while not so perfect in its appointments as the stable near the house (which is perhaps the best in the country), is exceedingly well adapted to its purpose, and contains every requisite of a thorough farm es- tablishment. It is built of stone, and the yard is paved with the same material, while a massive wall surrounds the whole.
Near by is the farmer's house, a handsome cottage, aud in close proximity to this the spring-house, which is a marvel of neatness, and a model scarcely approach- able for all who would have a perfect dairy. It is built of white flint, which is as cool in effect as snow and ice could be, and consists of a work-room and a milk-room, the latter almost a chapel in appearance, and a place of absolute purity, both in fact and appearance. The milk from several pure and deer-like Alderneys, most carefully cared for, is kept here, and has a housing and protection in every way worthy of its unrivaled
George W. Childs
141
11
1
697
RADNOR TOWNSHIP.
quality. A little distance from this flint milk-house, which appears like a Russian fancy in ice in a little house, which is an ornament to the grounds, is the water-power which sends the supply needed at the extensive green-house, on this part of the grounds. In these buildings there is a wealth of bloom and of rich foliage plants from South America, Africa, and all of the tropical regions of the world, which is drawn upon for the beautifying of the lawn and house.
An extensive " Rosary" and elaborate gardens, both of flowers and their more substantial kindred of the kitchen, flourishes here, and near by adjoining a little lake is a nøvel device of the landscape artist, in what is called a "Stumpery," a mass of tree-stumps and gnarled roots and branches, covered with creeping vines and moss, rivaling in beauty and surpassing in oddity the wonderful orchids in the green-houses.
A description of Wootton - of the house and grounds-is impossible within the limits of such a work as is this; and the writer, after giving a few general ideas of its loveliness, must content himself with saying that, as the country home on which wealth has been lavished and taste used in its ex- treme, and as the exponent of advanced experimental and practical agriculture, it has few if any superiors in our country.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
GEORGE W. CHILDS.
It was a fortunate day for the people of Radnor and the region round about when George W. Childs de- cided to establish his country-seat in their midst, for in that action lay the initiation of the idea which led to the founding of the model village of Wayne, an enterprise undertaken with no speculative purpose whatever, but the benefit of others, and destined, perhaps, to be, among all and above all of his good works, the noblest monument to his memory and to the purpose of his life.
We say this because Wayne will in a few years not only he the home of hundreds of healthful, happy families, but, by reason of the admirable carrying out of well-considered plans for sanitation, as well as for securing beauty, will suggest and become the model for other suburban aggregations of homes, and so be the medium of transmission to wider fields and to future generations of the good which is now mani- fested here.
But of Wayne and of that other, though lesser, beauty, " Wootton," with which Mr. Childs has en- riched the loveliness of this locality in Delaware County, enough has already been said in the chapter of which this is a part.
It is fitting that in a history and description of the region which Mr. Childs has made his home, and
which has been so largely and interestingly adorned and endowed by him, something, however brief, should be told of his active, broad, and useful life.
It is one of the greatest elements in the romance of American life that careers like that of Mr. Childs are not uncommon,-that the boy, however poor, how- ever lowly, may make the man of wealthı and of hon- orable distinction,-and it is one of the greatest glories of American life that while it affords in super- lative degree these possibilities, there appears a gen- eral disposition on the part of those who strive suc- cessfully to extend moral and material assistance commensurate with their great abilities to others.
The life of George W. Childs affords a forcible and splendid individual illustration of the foregoing gen- eralities. Born in Baltimore May 12, 1829, at the age of thirteen he entered the United States navy, but after a period of about fifteen months left the service and went to Philadelphia, where the door of a book- store proved to he also the entrance to a life of pros- perity. The right road had been found, it only re- mained for industry, perseverance, integrity, and tact to do their work. The hoy possessed these qualities, and used them. Without them any one of the nu- merous obstacles he met might-and a series of them inevitably must-have caused his failure. Constantly advancing, he became, soon after he had attained his . majority, a partner in the publishing-house of Childs & Peterson, where his energy was soon shown by the way in which he advanced Mr. Peterson's compilation entitled " Familiar Science," to a sale of two hundred thousand copies. His next publishing enterprises were both large undertakings, and both remarkably successful ones. For Dr. Kane's narrative of his Arctic Expedition he was enabled to pay the author seventy thousand dollars, and the success of Parson Brownlow's "Debates on Slavery" and "Sketches of Secession" may be approximately measured by the fact that he paid the author fifteen thousand dollars. He also published Allibone's "Dictionary of Au- thors," and such was his handling of that enterprise that the author made the following acknowledgment : "To George William Childs, the original publisher of this volume, who has greatly furthered my labors by his enterprise and zealous and intelligent interest, I dedicate the fruits of many years of anxious re- search and conscientious toil."
Upon the retirement of Mr. Peterson from the firm, in 1860, Mr. Childs formed a partnership with J. B. Lippincott, which lasted but a year, when he resumed business for himself. In 1863 he purchased the Pub- lishers' Circular, and by remodeling it and changing its name to the American Literary Gazette and Pub- lishers' Circular, greatly increased its value to the trade. He also acquired the American Almanac, and renaming it the National Almanac, soon pushed it into a circulation of thirty thousand copies annually. During all of this time general book publishing had been carried on very extensively and successfully, but
698
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Mr. Childs had long cherished the ambition of owning and controlling a daily journal, and he turned aside to gratify it. On the 3d of December, 1864, he be- came the proprietor of the Public Ledger. This pur- chase was made against the advice of his friends, but time has fully vindicated the wisdom that directed it. The Ledger was at once given the exceptionally high tone which it has ever since retained, and through the skill of the new management, and the force of new blood infused into its every channel, soon re- covered the patronage it had lost, and won a host of new friends. A journal devoted to printing and the affairs of newspapers has said,-
"Every improper feature in advertisement or in news was excluded from its columns ; a spirit of almost judicial fairness was made to breathe throughout its reports and opinions of men and things ; what- ever weight is due lo dignity, independence, impartiality, and a wise and considerate estimate of social and political topics, was imparted to ite editorials; and no expenditure, however lavish, was withheld in en- hancing its value se a trustworthy and salutary fireside visitor. The forecast of Mr. Childs was eminently justified. The Ledger ultimately reached a circulation of ninety thousand copies daily."
Another writer has said of the great newspaper,-
"The policy of the Ledger, since Mr. Childs has owned and controlled it, has been of a character to be described in a very few words. In the first place, it has been undeviatingly high-toned in ite character, scorning the low moral standard which so widely obtains among the press of the United States, with a straightforward integrity of purpose that is char- acteristic of its proprietor. Again, it has striveu to treat such subjects, . and euch only, as were within the line which divides the real interest of the public from that which is factitious. Finally, in its method of handling the questions of the day, it has followed the plan of treating each of these on its own merits, and without bias or regard for personal opinion or criticism."
Fortune followed the venture, and as it increased new channels were created for its outflow. Of Mr. Childs' benefactions, public and private, it is not our purpose to speak in detail,-and indeed that would be impossible. It is well known that his large generosity finds expression through all of the benevolent insti- tutions of the city, and through many ingenious de- vices of his own, for charity, and that in a vast number of channels, small and great, from the tiny rivulet to the sweeping current of the river, good is ever going out from an apparently inexhaustible fountain-head. Such unique and stupendous forms of charity as his have not been equaled by individual effort in our country. His newsboys' banquets, his excursions for whole schools or for the inmates of great institutions, have been so common an occurrence as to excite but little comment. His splendid support of such co- lossal enterprises as the Centennial Exposition are not the least admirable of his exhibitions of public spirit. His gift of a cemetery to the printers of Philadel- phia, and provision of a fund for its perpetual preser- vation ; his erection of a memorial window in West- minster Abbey, to the honor of the poets Herbert and Cowper, and numerous other gifts, have marked him as one of the greatest-hearted and greatest-minded of living men.
It is only natural that the heart which has ever ex- pressed sympathy with humanity should love fellow-
ship with men ; that he should go out to meet them and that he should gather them around him. Hence it came about that his beautiful residence in Phila- delphia was made the meeting-place of some of the greatest minds and most eminent characters of our own and foreign countries. In it at the time of the opening of the Centennial Exposition occurred what was undoubtedly the most notable assemblage in a private liouse ever known in America.
It was the same spirit of sociability that led to the building of his country home, "Wootton," in this township. Here have gathered the great and the humble, and of the promotion of happy human in- tercourse which this house has subserved, it would be very difficult to form even an approximate esti- mate. It has been the sojourning place of many of America's leaders in literature and directors of Na- tional growth, of the titled nobility of Europe, and of the untitled men of genius of both the parent and the daughter realms, and not less has it been the scene of happy visits from the carrier boys and from great throngs of the humble people who have been as carefully and as sumptuously entertained as the visitors of more fortunate stations in life.
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