History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 181

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

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1 Record of Upland Court, p. 124.

2 History of New Sweden, p. 204 (note).

3 Penna. Archives, 2d Series, vol. v. p. 621.

736

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

erected in pursuance of the order then made by the justice :

"Jan Cornelissen, of Amesland, Complayning to ye Court that his Son Erik is bereft of his naturall Sences & is turned quyt madd, and yt hee being a poore man is not able to maintaine him.

"Ordered, that three or 4 p'sons bee hired to build a Little Blockhouse at Amesland for to put in the sd madman, and att the next Court order will bee taken yt a small Levy bee Laid for to pay for the building of ye house and the maintayning of ye sd mad man according to Lawes of ye goverment." 1

The remainder of the township of Ridley lying north of Amosland and extending westward from a line drawn due west from the northwest corner of the farm of J. L. Moore to that of William Worrall's, on Crum Creek, was part of the two thousand two hun- dred acres surveyed to John Simcock, who, prior to his leaving England, purchased from Penn many thousand acres of land in Pennsylvania. John Sim- cock was a man of large means, a member of the so- ciety of Friends, who "had suffered much on the score of thythes and for bearing a faithful public tes- timony and going to meetings among his Friends, the Quakers," immigrated to Pennsylvania about the time of Penn's first visit to the province, in 1682. He was a member of Penn's Council, and continued one of the Governor's conncilors until Governor Blackwell assumed control of the provincial government, at the beginning of the year 1689. The following year he was appointed one of the judges of the Provincial Court, and in 1691 was again a member of Council. He was elected to the Assembly from Chester County in 1693, again in 1696, and was chosen Speaker of the | Ridley has not been ascertained. House in the latter year. In 1697, and again in 1698, he was a member of Council. He also was one of the commissioners appointed to settle the difficulties re- specting the boundary lines between Maryland and Pennsylvania, and was deputy president of the Free Society of Traders. John Simcock died on the 7th of the First month (March), 1703, aged seventy-three years.2

The tract of land at Ridley Creek which belonged to Olof Stillé, on May 1, 1674, passed to Domine Lau- rentius Carolus, or Laurenes Lock, the Swedish min- ister who came with the seventh expedition from Sweden to the Delaware. His career was such, and he conducted himself with such freedom of behavior in his ministerial office, that the scandal which his deeds occasioned has descended to the present time. In 1649, "Lock was accused of 'bribery' or ' corrup- tion' (details not given), and would have been sent to

Sweden 'to defend and clear himself had he not fallen dangerously sick." $ He is believed to have resided for a time at Tinicum, afterwards at Uplaud, subse- quently within the jurisdiction of the New Castle Court, and after his purchase of the three hundred and fifty acres on Ridley Creek he resided there until his death. "His old age was burdened with many troubles. Finally he became too lame to help him- self, . . . until his death, in 1688." + Campanins tells us that his "great infirmity seems to have been an overfondness for intoxicating drink."

As mentioned, the territory now comprising Ridley township was not originally limited to its present boundaries. At the court held at Chester on Fifth month 1, 1684, William Cobb and Mons. Stakett were appointed collectors of the county taxes for " Amos Land and Calcoone Hooke." William Cobb theu owned the Swedish's mill on Cobb's Creek, while for "Ridley and in the Woods James Kenela and Ran- dolfe Vernome" were appointed collectors. James Kennerly at that time resided in Springfield, and Randall Vernon in Nether Providence. In 1686 the lines of Ridley township were changed, Calcoon Hook being attached to Darby, and the following year Amosland and Tinicum became part of Ridley .. The lower part of Nether Providence remained attached to Ridley until 1753, when, on petition of the residents in that section, that part of the township was attached to Nether Providence.5 Tinicum remained a part of Ridley until Ang. 31, 1780, when it was erected into a separate township.6 At what date that part of Rid- ley which extended into Springfield, after the organ- ization of the latter township, was separated from

Bridges .- The early settlers of Philadelphia in journeying from Chester to the " Great Town" crossed Ridley township considerably north of the present highway. William Worrall, who was born in Marple in 1730, and who settled in Ridley when a young man, stated, in 1820, that when he first located in the latter township the old inhabitants pointed out to him the path which William Penn and his followers used when crossing his farm, and in his rotation of plowing found nails which he supposed had belonged to some of the early travelers. The first reference to a bridge in the township occurs at a court held on Third day of first week March, 1685 ; it was " Ordered that upon ye returne of ye Grand Jury Albertus Hendrickson, Supervisor of ye Highways belong to Chester, doe forthwith Erect a Horse-Bridge in such places ye Grand Jury have layd it out.

"Ordered yt upon ye same returne Bartholomew

1 Record of Upland Court, p. 102.

2 In Samuel Smith's " History of the Province" (Hazard's Regieter, vol. vi. p. 370), that author, who derived much of bis date for that work from personal interviews with Caleb Pusey, states that on " the 27th of the month called January, 1702, died John Simcock, of Chester County, aged about 73 years." fu the text we have followed the dale given by Dr. Smith (History of Delaware County, p. 501).

3 " Descendants of Joran Kyn," by Professor G. B. Keen, Penna. Hist. Mag., vol. iii. p. 448 (note).

+ Acrelius' " History of New Sweden," p. 177. For an account of the Rev. Mr. Lock's or Lare's difficulties respecting the elopement of his wife, eee ante, p. 10, and for his part in the Long Finn's losurrection, see ante, p. 158.

6 Ante, p. 652.

6 Ante, pp. 285, 286.

737

RIDLEY TOWNSHIP.

Coppock, Supervisor of ye Highways for Crome Creeke forthwith Erect a Bridge in ye King's road over said Croome Creeke."

In 1688 a bridge has been erected over Ridley and over Crum Creek, for at the court held on 3d day of Fourth month, 1688, the judges "Ordered that the Townships of Upper and Nether Providence and Rid- ley doe for this time repaire ye Bridge in ye King's road near Walter Fawsetts & upon Crome Creeke." Re- specting this bridge nothing seems to have been done, for on the 15th of First month, 1693, the grand jury re- ported " that at several time presented the want of a bridge over Ridley Creek and the same being danger- ous and detrimental to the County ;" and thereupon the court " do find the Supervisors of Chester and the Supervisors of Ridley five pounds." Notwithstanding this pecuniary punishment the bridges do not appear to have been built for some years thereafter, for at the court held on Eighth month 4, 1697, " Walter Faucit in open court have engaged to make a good horse- bridge over Ridley Creek near his house at the King's road, upon the condition that all the Inhabitants of the two townships of Ridley should pay him one shil- ling per family, for which the court ordered the sª Supervisors of the two townships to gather the same in their presence within the space of three weeks, and deliver the same to Walter Faucit."

The bridge thus erected seems to have failed to meet the public demand, hence at the court held Aug. 28- 29, 1705, the grand inquest "do present the want of a good, lawful bridge over the Swedes Mill Creek, and also over Darby Creek and also over Crum Creek, and to have the Queen's Road made good, laid out accord- ing to law through Darby Township, and the Township of Ridley to clear the road and mend the bridges." The new bridges thus provided for were on the pres- ent Southern post road, or rather near the line which that road is now laid out. Gabriel Friend was the con- tractor for the bridges over Ridley and Crum Creeks, for on Feb. 22, 1709, he " petitioned the bench for the remaining part of the money due him, for making the causeway at Ridley Creek bridge and the bridge at Crum Creek. The court order that he shall have an order to receive fifteen pounds late currency of the Treasurer."

The Amosland Road,-The present Amosland road is generally accepted by local historians as com- paratively a modern highway, and that the Lazaretto road is the one intended in the following report of the grand jury, arguing that because the present Amos- land road does not go to Darby Creek, it is clearly not the one indicated in the old return, which sets forth :

" Upon the 9th day of the 12th mooth, 1687, By virtue of an Order from the last County Court, given us whose names are hereunto sub- ocribed, being the Grand Jury for to lay out a highway that should serve for Marple, Newtown, Springfield, and the inhabitants that way to the landing-place at Amoslaod, did, upon the above day written, Begin at a roadway on the lunds of George Maris, which Road goeth from Chester through Merple to Newtown, Soe from the Road through

Bartholomew Coppock's land, near his house, his house being on the left hand, Soe through Robert Taylor's land, straight on through more of George Maris his land, Soe hearing a little on the right hand through George Simcock's land, leaving hie plantation on the left, adjoining to Amosland, so unto the King's Road that comes from Darby, marking the trees as we came, so on to the landing-place by the maine creek-side beyond Morton Mortonsen, his house."

This report was signed by William Garrett, Rich- ard Parker, Edmond Cartlidge, Thomas Bradshaw, and Thomas Fox.

The objection that the present Amosland road does not extend to Darby Creek, and hence that highway cannot be the one thus laid out by the grand jury, is not tenable. An inspection of that scarce map en- titled a " Plan of the City of Philadelphia and En- virons, surveyed by John Hills in the summer of 1801-2, 3, 4, 5, 6-7," and published " May 1, 1808," shows that the Amosland road branched at the point where the present highway diverges due east to cross the Muckinipattus Creek, and that a now vacated road led directly to Darby Creek at a point east of Boon's house. That the present Amosland road is the an- cient highway, and that the traditionary name has not been bestowed wrongly, seems evident. Until a better reasou than the fact that the modern highway does not extend to Darby is given to take from the traditionary road its honors, the public can safely rely that the historians, not the public, are misled.

The Revolution .- Ridley township being traversed by the great Southern road, necessarily the Conti- nental and British armies marched through its terri- tory repeatedly. When Washington moved to Wil- mington to oppose Gen. Howe, his troops marched along the Queen's Highway, and after the defeat at Brandywine the discomfited men gathered along that road, extending from Leiperville to Darby township line, and at Leiperville, after midnight of the day of battle, Washington hastened to the little hamlet, and for the night rested at the house of John McIlvain. After the capture of Philadelphia repeatedly English troops marched along that highway, for much of the provisions used was received at Chester from trans- ports, and had to be guarded en route to the city. Gen. Potter had been ordered by Washington to scour the country between the Schuylkill and Chester, and little was left for the inhabitants' subsistence. On the 19th of November, 1777, Cornwallis with three thousand men marched from Philadelphia, and his men robbed the inoffensive people on the route with- out mercy, taking food from the indigent widow as remorselessly as from the wealthy husbandman. On Dec. 22, 1777, Gen. Howe made his noted raid to and beyond Darby, from which point foraging parties were dispatched to procure provisions for the men and provender for the horses. Maj. James Clark, Jr., in a letter written to Washington, relates the follow- ing incident as having happened at Ridley :

" At White Horse tavern was informed that a party of the enemy, about thirty, were plundering on the Neck. I Immediately posted some horsemeo on the road, with orders when the enemy came in sight to fire their pieces and retire, and went off the road in quest of the

738

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

plunderere. During my absence the enemy'e light horse came out to my vedettes, and heing in disguise, called to them and informed them they belonged to our army, and by this means got np within a few yards of them, and fired their carhines; they shot one of them, and the other made his escape ; they then pursued mo with the party, hut I for- tunately knew the road, and came off within a few yards of their picquet. A few minutes sooner would have enabled me to have taken the plunderers, they had but just gone. Col. Butler I left with two hundred men on that road."!

On Dec. 25, 1777, at five o'clock in the morning, Maj. Clark writes from the house of Mr. Lewis, in Newtown :

" This morning a party of the enemy, with a few field pieces, moved from Darby towards Chester. Near the White Horse tavern they fell in with a small party of troops, and a pretty smart skirmish ensned, the enemy playing their artillery 60 warm thet our troupe were soon obliged to give way. We had one man killed and another wounded with a cannon-ball, and we have taken two prisoners, with their horses, one of them a cutler io the Seventeenth Dragoons, and the other a servant. The enemy's design, they say, is only to forage on the Cheater road, and that the party consists of First and Second Light Infantry. Our troops have retired to Springfield meeting-house, and are endeavoring to get some refreshments. The enemy have only forty dragoone with them. The wretched situation of the troops here is much to he lamented. No provisione provided for them, ill-clothed, many of them no shoes, and they are scattered in sixee and sevens all about the neighborhood ; in short, they had better be called away. If any considerable number of the enemy's horse had come up the Springfield road they must have inevitably have fallen into their hands. I have ordered the few officers I met with to collect them, send to a mill near the place where there is plenty of flour, and had them well refreshed, experience of late has taught me the advantage of being superior to the enemy in horse." 2

The mill where the flour was taken was doubtless Peter Hill's grist-mill, from which establishment it is known not only flour but the teams to draw the bar- rels were impressed, and for which, many years after- wards, the United States government paid by a grant of five thousand acres of lands in Virginia.3

The losses sustained by the residents of Ridley township during the various raids of the enemy are thus set forth in the claims filed, although the gross sum does not represent the entire damages sustained by the people of that section :

£ 8. d.

From John Morton's estate, "taken and destroyed by a part of the British army, under Corowallis, at or about the time they attacked the Fort at Billingsport, into which neighborhood the articles were removed for safety, certified by Ann. Morton, Execx." " Taken soon After the capture" .. 365 11 From John Price, " taken by Lewis Turner, master of an 2 armed boat from New York, in March, 1781" 67 19 5

From Israel Longacre, "by come persons who said they be- longed to the shipping in the Delaware, then under the command of Lord Howe, October or November" .. .... From John Victor, taken by " a party of the enemy from 5 the water commander, not known, in the fall of 1777". 56 8 0 From Lewie Trimble, "by two British sergeants, under General Howe," October 25. 135 0

8 0

From Robert Crozer, December 25. 6 14 3

639 17 10

John Morton, whose name appears first on this list, was one of the most conspicnons men of the Revolu- tionary war in Chester County. He was born in Rid-

ley in 1725, and is generally believed to be of Swedish descent, although that fact has never been fully estab- lished. His father died before his birth, and his mother subsequently married John Sketchley, an Englishman, who, himself well educated, instructed his stepson-to whom he was much attached-in mathematics, and imparted to him the common branches of a good education. In 1756, when thirty- one years of age, Morton was elected to the Provincial Assembly, to which body he was successively re- elected until and including 1760, a period of eleven years' continuous service. In 1765, when again a member of Assembly, he was one of the delegates from Pennsylvania to the "Stamp Act Congress," which convened in New York in October of that year. In 1767 he was elected sheriff of Chester County, and in 1769 was a member of Assembly, con- tinning as such until 1775 inclusive, a period of seven years, presiding as Speaker over its deliberations dur- ing the last year of his service therein. In 1764 he was commissioned one of the justices of the county courts, and part of the time the president judge. In 1774, Governor John Penn appointed him an asso- ciate justice of the Supreme Provincial Court. In that year the Assembly appointed him a delegate to the first Continental Congress, and he was reappointed to the second memorable Congress which adopted the . Declaration of Independence, and when that question was pending before Congress he voted for the adop- tion of the measure. John Morton was the first of the signers of the Declaration who died, that event occurring in April, 1777, he having then attained the age of fifty-three. As a private citizen his life was, so far as known, without stain, his public record that of an earnest, honest advocate of the right because it was right, and as an advocate and signer of the Decla- ration of Independence he is deserving of the esteem and admiration of his countrymen.

The following were the taxables in Ridley township in 1715 :

Jacob Simcock, Joseph Harvey, John Stedman, John Hanby, Thomas Dell, John Sharplees, Jacob Simcock, Jr., John Simcock, Joseph Powell, John Crosby, Lawrence Ffriend and Gabriel, Amne Nicholas, Enoch Enochsen, George Brown, Andrew Hendrick, George Vanculine, An- drew Torton, Hance Torton, Andrew Morton, John Hendrick, Andrew Morton, Jr., John Orchard, Israel Taylor, Jonathan Hood, Obadiah Bon- Ball.

The taxables in Ridley in 1799 were as follows :

William Boon, Willlam Beatty, John Crosby (justice of the peace), Robert Colvin, John Crosby, Jr., Philip Cline, Isaac Culin (half saw-mill), Gideon Donn, George Davis, Caleb Davis, David Likene, James Dicka, Duncan McCarty, Henry Effinger, John Hoof (innkeeper), Thomas Hall, Peter Hill (grist-mill, saw-mill), Charles Hedouville, John Irwin, George Jordan, John Knowles, James Knowles, Curtis Lownes (cntter), Andrew Longacre, John McIlvain (saw-mill and old mill-honse), John McDaniel, David Treanor, William McMeanes, James Maddock, Aaron Morton, Daniel Morton, Lydia McIlvain, Thomas West, Ann Morton, James Mc- Ilvain, John Miller, Jeremiah MclIvain (farmer), John McCally, Ieaac Worrell and Thomas Noblett, William Painter, Abijah Price, Isaac Mc- Ilvain, William Price, Mary Pywell, Joseph Pearson (innkeeper), Ben- jamin Pyle. William Paul, Jacob Painter, Charles Ramsey, Ann Smith Shoemaker, John Smith, William Shoemaker, Abraham Trimble, MI- chuel Trytes, William Worrell, Joseph Weaver (miller), John Worrall,

1 Bulletin of Historical Society of Pennsylvania, vol. i. No. 10, March, 1847, p. 29.

2 Ib., p. 30.

" Martin'e " History of Chester," p. 173. The account of the shoot- ing of Capt. Culin by one of his men when heing mustered into service at the White Horse, in 1776, and the capture of Capt. John Crosby by a boat's crew from an English man-of-war in the winter of 1777-78, will be fuund ante, p. 242.

739

Jacob Worrell, Thomas West, George Warner, Samuel Crozer, Richard Britton.

Non-Residents .- Nathaniel Smith, David Treauor, Isaac Eyre, William Laue, John Crozer, Sarah Penyear, George Hinksoo, Jacob Benning- hove, Charles Granthum, Thomas Leiper, Joshua Thompson, Caleb Da- vis (half a saw-mill), Joseph Shallcross, Edward Flanders.

Inmates .- Michael Roe, Hugh Wilson, Robert Smith, Anthony Gurpre, Isaac Hauce, Edward Russell, James Maddock, Samuel Worrell, John Tansuce, Nathan Weer, John Thompson, John McDaniel, George Weth- erill, Peter Welch, Thomas Price, Robert Blythe, John Kitts, John Con- ner, James Weer, Robert Daveoport, John L. Booty, John Culin (car- penter), William Cowen, William Duun, Evau Edmunds (blacksmith), George Likens, Aaron Helme, Valentine Vanholt, Vell Price (weavor), William Carpenter.

Single Freemen .- Enoch Morton (carpenter), Joseph Pearson (carpen- ter), William Whitenian (store-keeper), James Miller, William Brittain, Michael Kitts, Israel Morton (carpenter), Charles Crozer (carpenter), Henry Trimble (tailor), Robert Nohlett, Job Baxter (sawyer), Hugh McIlvain, Alexander Hopkins (tanner), William Hill (miller), William Ore, John Mitchell, John Nelson, Darby Croneon, John Tramao (tan- ner).

The justices for Ridley township since the erection of Delaware County have been as follows :

John Crosby Aug. 30, 1791.

Joel Willis.

.Aug. 30, 1791.

Davis Bevan. .Aug.

19, 1794.

Miles Macarty .. Ang.

13, 1796.

Elisha Price

Aug.

15, 1796.

William Martin.

Aug.

9,1797.

Isaac Eyre.

Oct.

12, 1798.

Nicholas Fairlamb. Dec.

6, 1798.

Aaron Morton.

.May

3, 1799.

Philip Painter

May

20,1800.

Thomas Hinkson

.May

20,1800.

John Pearsoo

.June

21, 1802.

James Withey. .July

4,1806.

Jacob Edwards. .JaD.

1,1807.

John;Caldwell.

Nov.

15, 1814.

Joseph Walker.

Feb.

3,1820.

Samuel Smith.

March 12, 1822.

David Marshall

March 3, 1824.

George W. Bartram

.June

3,1824,

Benjamin F. Johnson ...

Oct.

25, 1825.

Abrahamı Kerlin.

June

7, 1830.

Samuel T. Walker. Nov.

11, 1831.

John Afflick June

6, 1834.

Jooathan P. Worrall ....

March 5, 1835.

Samuel Shaw ..

Nov.

18, 1835.

William Martin ...

10, 1836.

William Eyre ....

21, 1838.

George W. Bartram.

Sept.

23, 1889.

William Hill.

14, 1840.

Jonathan P. Worrall ..

.April

15, 1845.

Jesse W. Griffithe ....

April 11, 1848.

Jonathan P. Worrall

.April

9, 1850.

Jesse W. Griffith.

.April

13, 1853.

Jonathan P. Worrall.

April

5, 1855.

Jesse W. Griffith.

April 16, 1858.

Jonathan P. Worrall.

April 30, 1860.

Jonatbau P. Worrall.

April 28, 1865.

William Worrall

.April 15, 1872.

Robert M. Copeland ....

April 21, 1873.

William H. Price,

March 13, 1875.

John F. Young ..

March 20, 1876.

William H. Price

March 30, 1880.

William Worrell

April 6, 1883.

Churches .- The first mention of religious services being held in Ridley occurs at a Monthly Meeting held at Chester on 11th of the Seventh month, 1682, when it was agreed among other places to hold meet- ing, " the Eastern Meeting at Ridley, at John Sim- cock's, the fifth day of the week, until otherwise was ordered." The meeting was subsequently changed to Walter Faucet's house on Ridley Creek, near the pre- sent Irvington, where the road to Philadelphia crosses the stream. Faucet kept a tavern at this location, but after the erection of Chester meeting-house the meet- ings at his house were abandoned. Friends never erected a building for public worship in Ridley.

the Queen's Highway, south of the present Crum Lynne Station, stands a dilapidated stone structure, the broken roof no longer shielding the interior of the building from the rain, known as the "Plummer Meeting-House." Early in this century a few people residing in the neighborhood organized a Free Chris- tian Church, and on Dec. 29, 1818, Isaac Culin con- veyed to John L. Morton, John Price, Abraham Wood, Jonathan Bond, and Samuel Tibbetts, as trustees, one acre of land lying on the post-road from Philadelphia to Chester. On this lot a stone house thirty by forty feet was erected, and Rev. Frederick Plummer, the elder pastor of a like church in Philadelphia, became its minister. After his death the organization grad- ually dissolved, the last meeting being held in the church about 1865. In the graveyard around the building in former times many bodies were buried, but even the cemetery has ceased to be used for inter- ments. Franklin Parsons, of Ridley, and - Carr, of Springfield, are the surviving trustees.

Leiper's Church .-- Thomas Leiper, in 1818, erected a stone church on the Leiperville road, on the site of the present Leiper Church, and gave an ad- joining lot for a graveyard. The following year a school-house was erected on the same lot, which is still standing, but in ruins. The church was destroyed by fire Sunday, Jan. 28, 1849, which originated from a stove-pipe that passed through the roof. The cor- ner-stone of a new stone Gothic chapel was laid June 17, 1850. The Rev. Dr. Greer and the Rev. Mr. Cuy- ler assisted the pastor, Rev. James W. Dale, in the ceremonies on the occasion. The chapel is thirty by fifty feet, and cost seven thousand dollars. The fol- lowing clergymen have been pastors of the church : Rev. John Smith, Rev. Alom H. Packer, Rev. John L. Janeway, Rev. William L. McCalla, Rev. James W. Dale (installed May 17, 1846), Rev. Alexander Heberton, and Rev. Charles Ewing, the last incum- bent. He was installed Oct. 15, 1872. The Rey. George Hood, Rev. Mr. Dobson, Rev. Mr. Sproull, and the Rev. Mr. Robbins, of Media, conducted the exercises. The chapel was closed in 1876, reopened in 1878, used for a few years, and is now seldom occu- pied.

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 181

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