History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 174

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

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"JOHN OWEN, Sheriff." [L.s.] 1

Although the sheriff distinctly states that John Taylor erected Thornbury Forge in 1746, there is evi- dence to establish the fact that the forge was erected three years, if not for a longer period, prior to that date. In 1742, John Taylor had a store at the present Glen Mills, and from the following order, found among his papers, appears to have been using iron at that time. This ancient document is as follows :

"SON ISAAC,-Let Sister Mary (Brogdon) hava goods to the value of three pounda, five shillings, being for half a Tun of Pig-Iron, & charge it to account.

"July 22, 1742."

"JNO. TAYLOR.ª

In the petition of Obadiah Bonsall for license to keep a tavern in Thornbury, dated Aug. 31, 1743, the house for which he craves the court's bounty was on "the road leading from the French Creek Iron Works to Thornbury Forge," and as a particular reason why an inn should be located there for the accommodation of the public he urged that there were " many people resorting to and working at and near to the sª Forge." This petition is the first absolute knowledge we now have that a forge had been erected there. On Jan. 18, 1745, John Taylor made an agreement with Thomas Wills, forgeman and finer, to work in the forge two years in making anconies at 22s. 6d. per ton, and on June 10, 1746, Reese Jones agreed to coal (burn char- coal) for John Taylor two hundred cords of wood in Middletown at 11s. 8d. per hundred bushels, " half money, half goods, as customary."3 The last agree-

ment is the only one which does not antedate the year given by John Owens as the date when Taylor built the rolling- and slitting-mill, which was the first in Pennsylvania. The seeming contradiction between the fact that John Taylor was a worker in iron in 1742 and that the sheriff of Chester County in 1750 reported that he built the rolling- and slitting-mill in 1746 has been attempted to he reconciled by asserting that the forge was located there in 1742, while at the time des- ignated by the sheriff the rolling- and slitting-mill was established.

The fact that Obadiah Bonsall, in 1743, alludes to the " many people resorting to and working at and near to the sd. Forge" seems to be sufficient answer to the suggestion that at that time simply a blacksmith forge was located there. When it is remembered that not one horse in fifty at that time was shod, and wagons were but little used, it certainly precludes the idea that an ordinary blacksmith-shop in a remote and sparsely-settled neighborhood could give employment to "many persons." A recent writer records that the business enterprises carried on by John Taylor " were upon an extensive and varied scale, and included the manufacture of nails as well as nail rods. The tra- dition is preserved by his descendants that soon after the erection of the slitting-mill his storekeeper, in making one of his periodical visits to England to re- plenish his stock, surprised the Liverpool merchants by telling them that he could buy nails at Taylor's mill at lower prices than they quoted,-a revelation which added weight to the clamor then prevailing in England for the suppression of slitting-mills and simi- lar iron establishments in America, and which agita- tion resulted in the passage, in 1750, of an act of Par- liament which prohibited the further erection of such works."4

John Larkin, the first of this name in Bethel, was one of the early forgemen at Sarum Iron-Works.

In the fall of the year 1748, Peter Kalm, the Swe- dish naturalist, who tarried for a brief season at Marcus Hook, stated that "from an iron work, which lies higher up in the country, they carry iron bars to this place [Marcus Hook] and ship them." Acrelius, writing of the period of 1756, refers to the works thus: "Sarum belongs to Taylor's heirs, has three stacks, and is in full blast." 5 In that year John Taylor died, and the works are said to have been conducted by his son, John Taylor, for some time. Certain it is that in 1766 Sarum Forge was operated hy John Chamber- lain, and he was in occupancy of the four acres upon which the mill stood. In 1770, John Thomson had succeeded Chamberlain in possession of the works. In 1775 the estate was divided between the heirs of John Taylor, and in February of that year Anthony Wayne, who was then following his calling of civil engineering, surveyed the property preparatory to the

1 Panna. Archives, lat Series, vol. ii. p. 57.

" Futhey and Copa's "History of Cheater County," p. 346. 8 Ibid.

+ " The Manufacture of Iron in all Agea," by James M. Swank, p. 135.

5 History of Naw Sweden, p. 165.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

partition being made among the heirs. On March 13, 1775, a partition deed was made, in which one hundred and sixty-nine acres and thirty-four perches, " on which are erected an Iron Forge, Slitting-mill, grist-mill, and saw-mill, with other valuable improve- ments," were divided between Joseph Potts and Ann, his wife, of the first part, James Thomson and Sarah, his wife, Persifor Frazer and Mary, his wife, of the second part, and Thomas Bull, of East Nantmeal, Chester Co., of the third part. Joseph Potts re- ceived a tract of eight acres, situate where the Upper Glen Paper-Mill now stands, on Chester Creek, "with the grist-mill and saw-mill thereon erected, and the seat for a slitting-mill, also the priviledge of building a bridge across the Forge Race at such place as shall be convenient to pass from the said meadow to the road, with liberty to erect a dam on the place where the old slitting-mill dam formerly erected, or lower down the creek if more convenient." Potts also re- ceived a tract of four and three-fourths acres lower down the creek and above the forge lot. By the same deed Persifor Frazer and Mary, his wife, James Thomson and Sarah, his wife, received thirty-one acres and eighteen perches of land, it being the lower part of the tract, together "with the Forge thereon erected." On this land, on the survey, are marked several houses, the forge, race, and the mansion-house still lower down, probably on the site of the present Wilcox mansion. The forge stood where the lower Glen Mill Paper-Factory now stands. On the same date to Thomas Bull, ironmaster, of East Nantmeal, Chester Co., and Ann, his wife, were granted one hun- dred and twenty-five acres of land, it being the upper part of the tract and partly on both sides of the creek, the other tracts all being located on the west side of the creek.

At the time of the survey that portion of the tract on which was the slitting-mill, grist-mill, saw-mill, and forge, was in Aston, and continued so to be until the act of July 30, 1842, annexed all the upper part of the latter township at a line dividing Stony Bank meeting-house and the Stony Bank school to Thorn- bury.

In the deed to Joseph Potts, March 13, 1775, it ap- pears the slitting-mill was then out of repair, but from his precaution in having a clause inserted giv- ing to him the right to rebuild the "old slitting-mill dam," it is evident that he intended to repair the works, which he did. Persifor Frazer, born near Newtown Square in 1736, married Mary, the daughter of John Taylor (the younger), and some time after settled in Thornbury, on his wife's estate, and was interested in the iron-works there, but it is not prob- able that he was active in the conduct of the forge until after 1770, for in that year John Thomson had the works. At the close of 1774 he was prominent in Chester County in resisting the encroachments of the crown, and in January of the following year was a delegate from that county to the Provincial Conven-

tion. At this time he is believed to have had full control of the works. In the early part of 1776 he was elected captain of a company in the Fourth Battalion of Pennsylvania troops, under Col. Wayne, and was present on duty with his command until the fourth day after the battle of Brandywine; when while reconnoitering, he and Maj. Harper were captured by the enemy. While a prisoner of war he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Penn- sylvania. Col. Frazer made his escape, joined his regiment, and took part in the battle of Monmouth. In the fall of 1778 he resigned. In 1781, 1782, and 1784 he was a member of the Assembly. In May, 1782, he was appointed brigadier-general of the militia of Pennsylvania, and in 1786 was appointed register and recorder for Chester County, which office he continued to hold-after the division of the old county and the erection of Delaware County-until April 2, 1792, when he died. Gen. Frazer was buried in the old graveyard at Middletown Presbyterian Church. Gen. Persifor F. Smith, of the United States army, is his grandson.

In 1779 the old slitting-mill was rebuilt, and was operated by Norris Jones. Norris Jones and Abraham Sharpless were occupying it in 1781, and in 1784, Sharpless & Lloyd had control of the slitting-mill, grist-mill, and saw-mill, as well as the forge. The latter copartnership must have been formed in the spring of that year, for in the early part of 1784 Jones & Sharpless were still operating the works, for Mrs. Sarah Thomson, who appears to have married a spendthrift, presented her petition to the Court of Quarter Sessions which sat at Chester, Feb. 24, 1784, in which she set forth that she was the wife of James Thomson, of the township of " Ashtown," and that before her marriage she was possessed of real estate consisting of eighty-four acres of land in West Brad- ford, about one hundred and seventy-four acres in Thornbury and " Ashtown ;" also three-eighths of a forge and abont thirty acres in " Ashtown ;" that after her marriage she joined with her husband in the sale of the real estate in West Bradford; that through "inattention and other proceedings" her husband ran in debt; that all his personal estate was sold to satisfy his creditors, leaving large sums still due, which she thought to liquidate would cover the plan- tation in Thornbury and Aston. Believing that he would continue to contract personal dehts, so as to con- sume all the estates, his life-interest being seized and sold therein, in which event she, "who is in a very infirm state of Health, and also her young children, one of whom it is likely will become a Cripple, will be left destitute of any support; that she cannot therefore hut with terror look forward to the period when herself and helpless children must depend upon the precarious and ineffectual supplies of her own in- dustry, her husband having deserted her and the children, and left them utterly destitute, having re- moved to some distant part of the frontiers." In

709

THORNBURY TOWNSHIP.

conclusion, she prayed the court for alimony on a separate maintenance out of the remains of her for- tune. "Whereupon it is Considered by this Court that the three-Eighths part of the Forge now in the possession of Jones & Sharpless, the dwelling-house wherein she now resides, the small stable adjoining the kitchen, Together with the pailed garden and orchard, the draw-well, the piece of meadow ground on the Norther part of the plantation, containing about three acres, and the piece of woodland laying to the Southward of the said meadow, and adjoining the same containing about eight acres (more or less), Is hereby adjudged to and ordered to be occupied by, and the profits thereof to belong to and be appropri- ated for the use of the said Sarah Thomson, wife of the aforesaid James Thomson, according to her will and discretion, Free and separate from the said James Thomson and all other persons whatsoever during the natural life of her the said Sarah.1

In 1780 the slitting-mill was rented to Lloyd & Hill, and in 1790 Sharpless & Lloyd were operating all the mills at Sarum. On Feb. 14, 1794, Abraham Sharp- less purchased of Josiah Potts the slitting-mill, grist- and saw-mill property, and about 1805 the forge and four acres of land. In 1807, Sharpless associated Francis Wisely in the business of the mills at the up- per seat. From that date the old forge was permitted to go to decay, for no further record is made of it. From 1810 to April 2, 1836, Abraham Sharpless con- ducted the rolling- and slitting-mill, and for the greater part of that time the grist-mill and saw-mill also. His business was extensive and daily his teams were seen going to and from Marcus Hook, where he shipped his manufactured iron and other articles, and received pig-metal and other raw material to be used at his works. On April 2, 1836, the mills having been sold to Wilcox, they were changed to paper- mills, and are now known as the Glen Mills.1

Edwards' Forge and Rolling-Mills. - The first notice of a forge in Thornbury connected with the Edwards family, of which record has been found, is in the assessment-roll for the year 1788, when John Edwards, the elder, was assessed on one hundred and ninety acres of land and a forge. On Oct. 31, 1791, a road was laid out from Edgmont road to the Slitting- Mills on Chester Creek, the road dividing the town- ships of Edgmont and Thornbury, and leading to Per- sifor Frazer's saw-mill. In the report the road is said to pass "between John Edwards' forge and dwelling- house." A few years later, and prior to 1799, the forge was operated by John Lewis and Wills Hemp- hill. Lewis retired from the firm, and in 1807, Wills Hemphill, - Pennock, and Nathan Edwards were condneting the business at this forge. Nathan Ed- wards seems to have operated the works from 1811 to 1816, at which time he had also a saw-mill on the premises. In 1816 he built a slitting-mill, and in

1826 the rolling- and slitting-mill was owned by John Edwards, his son, a lawyer and active politician, who was conducting the works, the firm being Edwards & Kelton. At that time eighty to one hundred tons of sheet-iron were annually manufactured. The forge and saw-mill were used until 1829, when the former was changed to a nail-factory. The assessment-roll for that year mentioned the rolling-mill and " one building said to be intended for a nail-mill." The manufacture of nails was continued for several years. Ahout 1835 the rolling-mill was abandoned and the building was washed away in the flood of 1843. The old race is still to be seen, and the nail-factory is standing a short distance above the present Glen Mills Station.

Thorndale Mills .- In 1766, Richard Cheyney owned a saw-mill on Chester Creek, which he operated until May 27, 1794, when the mill, with eighty acres of land, was sold to Henry Myers, who later purchased of Eli D. Peirce, agent for the estate of Col. Persifor Frazer, a large tract of land adjoining, on which a small saw-mill had been operated during the Revolu- tionary war by Mrs. Mary Frazer, while her husband, : Col. Frazer, was in the army. Subsequently he con- ducted the business there. The water in the dam on Chester Creek was conducted by a race on the south side of the saw-mill. At a later date, when the stone grist-mill on the north side of the creek was erected, a race from the same dam was constructed to furnish the water to run the machinery. About 1867 the mill property was purchased by Daniel James, who is operating the grist-mill. The saw-mill is now only occasionally used.

Brinton Mills .- On the west branch of Chester Creek, a short distance above Concord township line, is Caleb Brinton's grist-mill. The tract on which it stands had been in the ownership of the Brinton family for many generations. In 1770 William Brin- ton owned the land, and in 1788, Joseph Brinton had there a saw-mill, malt-house, and brewery. In 1802 his son, John, and his grandson, Joseph Brinton, were operating a grist-mill which had been built about five years prior to that date. In 1815 the grist-mill was changed to a woolen-factory, and was operated by John and Joseph Brinton. In 1826 the mill con- tained one pair of stocks, two carding-engines, twenty- four and thirty-six inches, one billy of forty spindles, two jennies, of sixty and seventy spindles, and was then manufacturing from four to five hundred yards of satinets per week. At that time both John and Joseph Brinton were dead, and the factory was oper- ated by William Marshall, who subsequently pur- chased and continued in business there unti! 1835, when the building was destroyed by fire. The real estate was bought by Caleb Brinton, who built a stone grist-mill, which he has owned and operated to the present time.

Thornton .- In the colonial days this locality was known as the Yellow House, the name being derived

1 For account of Glen Paper-Mills, see Concord Township, ante, p. 494.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

from the dwelling that stood there and which during the Revolution was the summer residence of George Gray, a stirring Whig, and the keeper of the noted ferry over the Schuylkill still known by his name. In order that the family should be out of danger during the British advance from the head of the Elk to Philadelphia, he refused to allow Mrs. Gray and the children to return to the home on the Schuylkill, but kept them at the Yel- low House to avoid the evils of war, not for a moment supposing the din of strife would be heard in that locality. But the removal of Washington's army to Chad's Ford, made necessary by the movements of Gen. Howe, placed them in the immediate vicinity of " broil and battle." All the morning and afternoon of Sept. 11, 1777, the booming of the cannon at Bran- dywine was distinctly heard, and Mrs. Knowles, who was Margaret Gray, and then a child of eleven years, used to relate how, in the afternoon and evening, the demoralized and scattered American soldiers fled in that direction through the present hamlet of Thorn- ton. It has been said that this locality was called Shintown, because of the manner in which the troops ran through it; but be that as it may, certain it is that Thornton was for many years known by that name. Prior to 1835, John King established a store, in which he was succeeded by Albin Ingram. After the latter removed from the store, it remained idle for several years, when Alfred Mansell took the build- ing and again established the business. He was fol- lowed by Bennett Temple, and is now kept by William H. Yearsley. A post-office was located there many years ago. In 1832, John King was postmaster, and he was succeeded by the person who kept store at that place. Prior to 1831, Thomas Charlton resided at the Yellow House, where he manufactured cloths, cover- lets, linen, sheetings, toweling, and linsey. Of course, his machinery was simply a hand-loom, such as was frequent in the early times. In 1831, Charlton re- moved to Middletown, and continued the business in the first house below the Black Horse Tavern, on the Middletown road, as he announced to his patrons in an advertisement early in that year.

Cheyney Shops .- Just on the border of Chester County, located on Westtown road, are Cheyney's shops, consisting of a blacksmith and wheelwright shop. In front of the property of Cheyney Brothers is a row of buttonwood trees, which were planted by the great-grandfather of the present owners on the 11th of September, 1777, the day of the battle of Brandywine. Prior to 1832 a post-office was established at Chey- ney's shops, and in that year William Cheyney was postmaster. In 1859, Charles H. Cheyney was post- master; in 1863, George S. Cheyney was appointed, and in 1867 the post-office was moved to Cheyney Sta- tion, on the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad.

Aged Persons .- At the residence of Garrett Thatcher, one afternoon in the autumn of 1867, four ladies sat at the tea-table whose united ages amounted to three hundred and fifty-six years, or over ninety

years each. They were Phobe Thomas, aged ninety- seven ; Sarah Sharpless, aged ninety-four; Phœbe Mendenhall, aged eighty-five; and Rebecca Trimble, aged eighty years.

Licensed Houses .- In the township of Thornbury the record shows very few applications to keep houses of public entertainment. The first that has been found is that of Obadiah Bonsall, whose petition, dated Aug. 31, 1743, represents that he "has taken a Lease of a Tenement and piece of Land situated in Thornbury by the road from French Creek Iron- Works to Thornbury Forge, which road being much Travelled, and many people resorting to and working at and near to the said Forge," secured him the license desired."

How Bonsall succeeded in his undertaking of keep- ing public-house does not appear, unless the silence of the records as to any application for continuance of the license the following year argues that he was disappointed in his expectations and abandoned the enterprise. From the first petitions herein set forth, until 1786, when John James received license, Thorn- bury seemed without a public-house, and even James, so far as the records show, made no attempt at re- newal of his privileges subsequent to the above date.

After the county of Delaware was erected no appli- cation for license in Thornbury appears for twenty- two years, until 1821, when Vernon G. Taylor received license for a public-house in the township. In 1829 he was succeeded by John Henderson, whose petition set forth that his house was located about midway between Darlington's tavern, in Chester County, and the President in Edgmont township, while he desig- nated his house as the Thornbury Star. Here he re- mained for twelve years, and in 1841 license was granted to Rufus Cheyney, who died the following year, and the court extended favor to his widow, Sarah. She did not continue landlady of the inn for any considerable time, but in 1844 gave place to Jesse Russell. The latter was "mine host" of the Star Tavern until 1859, when Joseph M. Hizer became the landlord, and continued as such until 1862, when Russell again petitioned successfully yearly except during local option until 1876, after which date no license has been granted in Thornbury.

Relics of First Settlers .- In 1873, John Pyle, of Thornbury, was the owner of some table knives and forks whose age was then over a century and a half. The knives are curved like a cimeter, and a knife and fork weigh a pound, which shows that handling a knife and fork with our ancestors was a weighty operation. In old wills, the gift of a pewter dish was deemed worthy of mention. They were in common use about thirty years ago, as also sets of Britaunia ware, and may be yet in the country. At the time of the set- tlement of this country by the English, wooden dishes and spoons were used.1

Delaware County Republican, 1873.

Daniel James

John . Brinton

711

THORNBURY TOWNSHIP.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

DANIEL JAMES.

The James family are of Welsh descent. Evan James, the grandfather of Daniel, was a resident of West Nantmeal township, Chester Co., Pa., and a farmer of some prominence in the county. He married Rachel Evans, and had children,-Wil- liam, Abner, Jesse, Evan, Hannah, Sarah, and Mary. William, of this number, was born in West Nant- meal township, where the greater portion of his life was spent in the employments of a farmer. He mar- ried Jane Dunwoody, daughter of James and Grace Dunwoody, of the same county and township. To this marriage were born children,-James, Myrach, Daniel, Benjamin F., Evan, Abigail (Mrs. Huzzard), and Rachel (Mrs. Way). Daniel, the third son, was born on the 16th of December, 1810, in West Nant- meal township, and devoted his youth to the acquire- ment of a plain English education, under the instruc- tion of teachers in the neighborhood. At the age of sixteen he became an apprentice to the trade of a mill- wright, and in pursuit of this trade sojourned in various portions of the State for brief periods, having for five years made Nether Providence his residence. During a subsequent brief period spent in Upper Providence he married on the 1st of March, 1838, Eliza P., daughter of John and Eliza Worrall, of Middletown, and later of Springfield township. John Worrall died in the former township, after which his widow re- moved with her family to Springfield township. The children of Mr. and Mrs. James are Ann Elizabeth (Mrs. J. S. Phipps), Jane D., William, Seth P., Mary L. (Mrs. George Dutton), George W., Ellen H. (Mrs. Wilmer Cheyney), and John W. Mr. James, after five years spent in Springfield, returned again to Upper Providence, and purchased what is known as the "Cassin" farm, where he resided for twenty-one years, and cultivated the land he acquired in connec- tion with the pursuit of his trade. In 1861 he was elected as a Republican to the office of county com- missioner, and served a term of three years, after which he was chosen and filled for one term the office of county auditor. In 1867 he retired to a farm and mill property he purchased in Thornbury, and varied the employments of a miller with those of an agricul- turist, though his sons are now conducting the flour- ing-mill. Mr. James was, in performing the official duties, connected with the office of commissioner, ac- tively identified with the conduct of the war, and an important factor in the mustering of recruits. He is a director of the County Agricultural Society, and has been prominently identified with various county in- terests. A practical intelligence and thorough famil- iarity with mechanical appliances and machinery have rendered his business career a successful one, and made him an authority in his department of in- dustry. Mr. James received his early training under

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 174

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