History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 185

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

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4 Lives of Eminent Philadelphians now Deceased, p. 649.

5 Note to Life of Richard Rush, " Eminent Philadelphians," p. 857.

752

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

he threw his private fortune in the scale on behalf of the colonists, and to that end gave five thousand pounds to the North America Bank Fund to supply means to sustain the war. He also subscribed a hun- dred thousand dollars to varions public improvements in Pennsylvania, from which he could not hope for any personal return, purely for the purposes of en- couraging the development of the State. Truly has it been said of him that "few men ever lived a more patriotic, useful, and honorable life than he, for singleness of heart, integrity of purpose and conduct, devotion to the cause of liberty and of his country he was unsurpassed."1 Not only in public life was he useful, but he it was who first introduced machinery for breaking and grinding plaster and oyster-shells, for sawing stone, thrashing grain, and making cider, all of which he had in operation on his Ridley estate, driven by water-power, under his personal supervision. He died July, 1825, in the eightieth year of his age. Among the descendants of this exemplary citizen have been many conspicuous men of the nation. Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, the Arctic explorer, was his grand- son; Gen. Thomas Leiper Kane belonged to the famous "Bucktails." His eldest son, George G. Leiper, was associate judge of Delaware Connty and member of Congress from this district, and two grandsons of Thomas Leiper, Gen. Charles I. Leiper and Capt. Thomas I. Leiper, made highly creditable records in the late civil war.

Leiper's Canal .- In 1790 Thomas Leiper and John Wall, both large owners of real estate in Ridley, ap- plied to the Legislature with a petition for an appro- priation from the State to ent a canal from the point where the tide flowed in Crum Creek to MeIlvain's mill-dam, in order to cheapen the cost of transporta- tion of stone from Leiper's quarries to tide-water. The petition was supplemented by a similar one from the stone-cntters and masons of Philadelphia, who stated that the stone procured from Leiper's quarries were the best produced in the neighborhood of Philadel- phia, and representing that the construction of this canal would be of great public advantage. The peti- tion was met with a remonstrance by John and Isaac McIlvain, and the Legislature refusing to act in the matter the scheme was abandoned.2 A similar asser- tion was made in the United States Gazette, in August, 1828, as follows :

"The Leiper Canal. The late Thomas Leiper, Esq., of this city, contemplated, in 1790, a canal along his estate in Delaware County, in order to complete an easy communication between his quarries on Crnm Creek and the Delaware. His views were not per- fectly comprehended by the Legislature at that time, and he found himself foiled by the Legislature in that attempt. In 1807 he cansed a railroad-the first in

the country-to be constructed from his quarries to Ridley Creek. In 1825, since the death of Mr. Leiper, his son, George G. Leiper, Esq., revived the idea pro- posed by his father, and on Saturday, the 16th inst., the corner-stone of the canal was laid hy William Strickland, Esq., with an appropriate address from Professor Patterson, of this city. A large concourse of citizens-as we gather from the Upland Union-at- tended the ceremony, among whom was Mrs. Eliza- beth C. Leiper, the aged widow of the gentleman who had proposed the canal." 3

The history of the canal being altogether docu- mentary, we are compelled to reproduce the articles which appeared in the public press at the time the canal was constructed. In Angust, 1828, the Upland Union says,-

"George G. Leiper, of Ridley township, commenced his canal on Monday week last, and one lock is nearly completed. The length of the canal will be near a mile, and will be of great importance to this section of our county. It will be connected with Crum Creek, which empties into the Delaware, and when completed (which will be done A8 800D a8 possible) will have a tendency to enhance the value of property io that neighborhood, as well as open a direct water communication between Philadelphia and the stone-quarries belonging to Mr. Leiper. There are severel mill-sites near its location."4

On Oct. 13, 1829, the Upland Union contained the following :

"THE LEIPER CANAL CELEBRATION .- On Thursday last, the 8th in- stant, the grand ceremony of navigating the Leiper Canal took place. It is a little better than a year since the commencement of this great work of individual enterprise, and its rapid completion appears almost like a dream to one who witnessed the laying of the corner-stone. The original projector of this canal, it is well known, was Thonias Leiper (now deceased), who, owing to unforeseen circumstances in the year 1790, was unable to carry his plan into operation. The project has, however, been successinlly carried into effect by hie eldest son, George Gray Leiper, to whom the citizens of Delaware County are indebted for one of the greatest works of individual enterprise to be found in the United States.

" At one o'clock the ladies were escorted to the canal hoat ' William Strickland,' a beautiful boat about fifty-five feet in length, and named after that distinguished engineer. In the etern of the hoat was stationed a band of music, which played during the passage of the boat up to the quarries, a distance of nearly two miles, some of the most fashionable and patriotic airs. Attached to the boat were two handsome full-blooded Wind-Flower colts, neatly decorated with covers, and trimmed with ribbons. At half-past one o'clock the signal was given, and the proces- sion moved on in carriages, gigs, and gentlemen on horseback accom- padied the boat as she smoothly glided through the unruffled stream to her place of destination. The sight, es may well be imagined, was truly grand and imposing. When the ' William Strickland' entered the first lock (the Elizabeth Leiper Lock, named after the wife of the venerable projector), three cheers were given. In a few minutes after she entered the Thomas Leiper Lock, which for beauty of stone and superior work- manship is unrivaled in the United States. Such ie the opinion of the Messre. Strickland and Struthers, of Philadelphia, and Major Bender.

" On the Thomas Leiper Lock the Delaware County Volunteer Bat- talion, nader the command of Lient .- Col. Henry Myers, were posted, and as soon as the boat passed through it a national salute was fired by the Pennsylvania Artillerists, accompanied with mneketry. The boat was precisely one half-hour from the time she left the Great Southern road until she arrived at the mansion of the Hon. George G. Loiper. The Isdies were then landed, and the boat proceeded on her passage up to the quarries withont any accident having occurred to impede her pro- gress.

" The troops then paraded in front of the mansion of Mr. Leiper, and were addressed by him in a very handsome and appropriate manner. On this as on all other occasione the hospitable dwelling of Mr. Leiper

1 The Aurora, July 8, 1825.

" Westcott'e " History of Philadelphia," Sunday Dispatch, Feb. 16, 1873; Martin's " History of Chester," p. 239.

3 Hazard's Register, vol. ii. p. 96.

+ Ibid., p. 64.

753

RIDLEY TOWNSHIP.

was thrown open, where those who felt disposed to refresh themselves were kindly invited.

" There were at least one thousand persona present at the celebration, and had the weather heen more favorable we believe there would have been a much greater number. We are happy to say, amidst all the bustle incident to auch a parade, no serious accident happened to mar the pleasures of the day."

Under date of Chester, Pa., Oct. 9, 1829, occurs this notice :

" THE LEIPER CANAL .- This canal, the work of our enterprising and public-spirited fellow-citizen, George G. Leiper, was yesterday filled with water, and his new canal boat, the ' William Strickland,' passed the whole line of the canal up to the quarry. The Volunteer Battalion of this county, with their band of music, and a band from the city, we are informed, were present to give life to the interesting scene."1

The canal, which was about a mile in length, not only was used to transport stone in boats to the creek below Leiperville, but the water was led by it as in a race to supply power to the mill at Leiperville. The lower part of the canal has been filled in, and the upper part as far as the mill at Leiperville is still used as a race to convey water to the factory.

Ridley Quarries .- Although doubtless the quar- ries on Ridley Creek were opened at an early date, yet the first record found respecting them occurs in the assessment-roll of 1766. Richard and John Crosby are assessed on quarries in Ridley. The present quarries of John Leiper on the Post road are the old Crosby quarries, worked at that time. The basement of the old building of the American Philosophical Society was built of stone from this quarry. In the year 1789, the Supreme Executive Council directed an order to be drawn in favor of John Crosby for £53 148. 4d. in payment of stone used in repairing the bank at Mud Island,2 where Fort Mifflin now is. The following year the quarries of Thomas Leiper, in Springfield and Ridley, were already noted, as ap- pears from the petition presented to the Assembly in that year, already mentioned in the history of Leiper's Canal. In the General Advertiser, published by Ben- jamin Franklin Baché, in Philadelphia, for July 29, 1797, was the following advertisement, which shows that the quarries had acquired a name before they were purchased by him :

" Cuas STONE .-- The Subscriber will enter into a Contract for the whole of the CURa STONE that may be wanted this year for the Supply of the City and Districts at three pence per foot lower than such stone can be furnished by any other person. It will be warranted the best that ever came to Philadelphia.

" He is also ready to contract for the delivery of auy quantity of boilding or foundation atone; as also of free stone of WEAVER's QUARRY, in the rough, at any place or Port within the United States. The qual- ity of the stone in the subscriber's quarries is known to be excellent by a certificate from Mr. William Covet, and from other City Commission- ers, dated December 13. 1791. They give it as their opinion that the Curb or gutter stone from his quarries exceed in goodness any other that yet have been made use of for the City pavements. In a represen- tation also to the Assembly of this State, signed by 28 of the principal Masons and Bricklayars in Philadelphia, they say that the stones raised from hie quarries are the best produced in the neighborhood of this city, for the purpose of Curb stone, flagge, and house building. For terms apply to

"THOMAS LEIPER, Tobacconist, " No. 9 North Water Street."

In the Leiper quarries in Ridley, in February, 1851, the largest blast of gneiss rock ever made in the county is said to have taken place. The blast was made by William McFarland, assisted hy Edward Rattigan, John Davies, and James McKenney. The length of the breast was ninety-five feet, width of bench forty-two feet, depth of bench nineteen feet six inches, and measured five thousand nine hundred and eighty-fivetons. Three hundred pounds of powder were required for the blast. To the Delaware Breakwater many thousand tons of the stone from this quarry were sent. The masonry of Fort Delaware at the Pea Patch, Girard College, the Chestnut Street bridge over the Schuylkill, and many other massive structures in Philadelphia, were built from stones from these quar- ries. Besides these quarries, which were brought into prominence by the construction of a canal and rail- road, there were a number of quarries along Ridley Creek, all of which became prominent when the United States was building the Breakwater. When this work was first begun the greater part of the stone was furnished from the Delaware County quarries. In 1832 the following quarries were operated on Rid- ley Creek : Thomas Clyde, Robert Churchman, Spen- cer McIlvain, William D. Shoemaker, Thomas B. Shoemaker, John Burk, John Hankins, William Hill, and H. M. Wuger & Co., on Crum Creek, while the quarries of Isaac Hennis, Jonathan P. Worrell, and Samuel Lytle were on Chester Creek. In 1836 the superintendent at the Breakwater rejected the stone from Delaware County, stating that it was inferior to that from Delaware State, on account of the large quantity of mica contained in it, which renders it pe- enliarly liable to decay and easily worn by the action of the water. This action on the part of the snperin- tendent would have occasioned heavy loss to the quarry-owners, and therefore the Delaware County Institute of Science appointed a committee, of which Dr. George Smith was chairman, to report upon the character of the stone. The report was made, and on its result the government revoked the order made by the superintendent.

Moore's Station .- The land on which this station is located, on the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Bal- timore Railroad and the Lazaretto road, between Nor- wood and Ridley Park, was in the possession of the Moore family in 1800, and is so marked on Hill's map. Prospect Park lies to the west of the station. There is at Moore's the railroad station, a block sta- tion, engine-house, and a steam brick grist-mill, twenty-six by sixty feet, which was built in 1877 by George W. Moore & Co.

Leiperville is on the old Queen's Highway, four- teen miles from Philadelphia and one from Chester. It is named from the Leiper family, who at one time owned most of the land in the neighborhood. The Leiper canal ran through the hamlet. It contains one tavern, a store and post-office, a wheelwright- and blacksmith-shop, and about twenty-five dwellings.

1 Hazard's Register of Penna,, vol. iv. p. 247.

2 Colonial Records, vol. xvi. p. 100.

754

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The Battle-Axes .- In 1839 and 1840 a peculiar sect, denominated " Battle-Axes," had some following in Delaware and Chester Counties, and attracted consid- erable attention at the time. The principles they maintained were those subsequently known as "free love," denying the sanctity of the marital relation, and that all they possessed should be held in com- mon. Theophilus R. Gates, then a resident of Philadelphia, was the apostle of the new creed, and his chief disciple was a single woman, Hannah Williamson. In Delaware County the Battle-Axes made a deep impression, for it was directly due to their influence that Aaron T. Morton, of Ridley, on June 5, 1840, committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor. He was mentally weak, and becoming acquainted with Theophilus Gates, of Philadelphia, Morton embraced Gates' peculiar religious tenets. Gates invited Morton to his retreat, explained his doctrine, furnished him with his publication called the Battle-Axe, and the result was Morton became a religious monomaniac. He was in this state of mind when Gates, in company with Hannah Williamson, came to his house on Saturday, May 30, 1840, with the intention of compelling Morton to separate from his wife and form a connection with Williamson, whose mind was also shattered. As soon as the pur- pose of their visit was known, the young men of the neighborhood gathered in large numbers to inflict summary punishment on Gates. It was at last deemed best to defer the matter for a day or two to see what might be done. Gates became alarmed and fled to Philadelphia, and as he drove along the road was hissed and groaned until he reached Darby. Morton, laboring under this trouble, committed the act.

Crimes .- Dennis Shields, a man employed in the construction of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, on Saturday night, Sept. 8, 1871, made an entirely unprovoked attack on Daniel Gib- bons, who was quietly walking along the road at Leiperville, in company with a friend. His assailant struck him on the head with a blunt instrument, which felled him to the earth, and while he was pros- trate Shields jumped upon his breast and abdomen. Shields fled and was never apprehended, and Gibbons lingered until Monday following, when he died of the injuries received. On June 25, 1877, William H. Johnson, of Ridley, who was insane (occasioned by a blow on the head with a chair received in a difficulty some years previous), went to the house of a relative, John Worrall, and without the slightest cause caught up a gun belonging to Worrall and shot him, inflict- ing a severe wound in his side. Johnson, returning to his own house, shot himself with a gun he had loaded before going to Worrall's, the load tearing away part of his head and causing instant death. On Aug. 4, 1877, the body of an unknown man was found sus- pended by a woolen neck-scarf from a tree in a se- cluded wood on the farm of Isaac Carr, near Spring Hill Station. The clothing on the corpse was rotten

from exposure to the weather, and the body was in an advanced state of decomposition, the physicians testi- fying that the remains had been hanging for several months. The name of the suicide was never discov- ered.

Interesting Incidents .- John F. Hill, an old resi- dent of Ridley, who died many years ago, in his youth had been bitten by a mad dog, and it is alleged that during the full of the moon he was subject to violent outbursts of passion for which uo reason could be assigned other than the reason stated. In January, 1843, Henry Goodman, a resident of Ridley, died from glanders, which disease he had contracted by bleeding a horse three weeks before, he at the time having a cut on his finger. Four days after his death Charles Van, a colored man in Chester, died from a slight wound on the thumb received a week previous, while handling the hide of an ox which had died of the murrain. Immediately the wound began swell- ing, and he continued in acute agony until death ended his sufferings. On July 16, 1869, a Mrs. Stew- ard, residing on Crum Creek, near Deshong's quarry, was killed by a stone, weighing over twenty pounds, thrown by a blast made two hundred yards away from her dwelling. She was lying asleep at the time, and the stone, crashing through the roof, fell upon the left side of her head, inflicting a terrible gash near the ear, and severed the left arm from her body.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

THOMAS T. TASKER.

Thomas T. Tasker, the eldest of nine children of William and Mary Tasker, was born in Nottingly, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, on the 12th day of May, 1799. His father, who was a school-teacher and land-surveyor, afforded the lad more than an ordinary English education, after which, at the early age of thirteen and a half years, he began a seven years' ap- prenticeship in the copper and ironsmith's business. He sailed for America in 1819, landing in Philadel- phia on the 4th of June of the same year. For a brief period he was employed in a stove-manufactory, after which, in 1820, he established a coppersmith and iron business in West Chester. In 1824, on leaving the latter point, he removed to Philadelphia, and ulti- mately entered the establishment of Stephen P. Mor- ris, then engaged in the manufacture of stoves and grates. Later he became his partner, continuing the business under the firm-name of S. P. Morris & Co., which afterwards became Morris, Tasker & Co., its present style. They were extensive manufacturers of tubes for gas, water, steam locomotives, boilers, etc., and the first to introduce them into the market. Mr.

Thomas I Laskery homas

Jacob Worrall

755

RIDLEY TOWNSHIP.

Tasker was married in Wilmington, Del., Feb. 4, 1820, to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Hickman, of New Castle County, Del., and has had nine children, of whom six survive. Mrs. Tasker's death occurred in 1878. Mr. Tasker purchased in 1857 over four hundred acres of land in Ridley township, Delaware Co., and has since devoted his leisure to farming and the intro- duction of blooded stock, first making a specialty of Durham cattle, and later of Ayrshires and Guern- seys, which he continues to propagate. His grandson, Thomas Tasker Clark, who resides in Ridley, has the management of this property. Mr. Tasker was first a Whig in politics and afterwards became a Repub- lican, but is not an active partisan. In religion he holds the relation of local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

BETHEL M. CUSTER.

William Custer, the grandfather of Bethel M., resided in Montgomery County, Pa., where he was interested in the manufacture of woolen goods. His children were Anna (Mrs. Nathan Ramsey), Mary (Mrs. Charles Van Dyke), Margaret (Mrs. Bethel Moore), Amos, and John. The birth of John oc- curred in 1784, in Montgomery County, where the larger part of his life was spent as a manufacturer and stone-mason, which trade he also acquired. Later he removed to Perry County, Pa., and became an extensive farmer. He married Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Jonah Osborue, of Montgomery County, and had children,-Mary Ann (Mrs. Franklin Egbert), Margaret (Mrs. Robert C. Branyan), George W., Elizabeth (Mrs. Enos Keel), Bethel M., Anna L. (Mrs. Francis L. Lubbe), John Osborne, and Thomas. Bethel M. was born Jan. 8, 1828, in Montgomery County, from whence he removed, after a residence of ten years, with his parents to Perry County. After such limited opportunities of education as the public schools of the country afforded, he began a career of independence at the age of seventeen, hav- ing apprenticed himself to a blacksmith in West Philadelphia. This trade he pursued with energy for two years, when a more profitable field opened in the sale of milk, in which he engaged, in the spring of 1850, in West Philadelphia. In 1853 he removed to Haddington, and, having rented a farm, continued the business he had successfully established. In 1855 Montgomery County became his residence, from whence he made a final removal, in 1866, to the valuable property he had purchased three years pre- viously, and which is his present home. Here he continued the traffic in milk on a more extended scale, and became one of the oldest and most prom- inent milk dealers in Philadelphia. Mr. Custer was married, in November, 1851, to Mrs. Jane Robertson, daughter of Samuel Crothers, of Kingsessing, Phila- delphia Co. Their children are Luanna J. (Mrs.

Thomas L. Partridge), Charles D., Samuel C., Ida J. (Mrs. Thomas L. Ulrick), Isaac R., Maggie S., John W., Bethel S., Lizzie, and Mary Alice. The death of Mrs. Custer occurred in December, 1870, and he was again married, in June, 1872, to Miss Mattie, daugh- ter of Richard Holmes, of Ridley township, to whom were born children,-Laura H. and Lewis B. Mr. Custer is in his political predilections a Democrat, and actively interested in the local issues of the town- ship. He was for a period of seventeen years a mem- ber of the board of school directors of the township, and has held various minor offices. He is a promi- nent Mason, member of Cassia Lodge, No. 273, of F. and A. M., of Ardmore, Montgomery Co., Pa., as also of St. John's Commandery. Mr. Custer is in his religious belief a Baptist, and a trustee and member of the church of that denomination at Ridley Park.

JACOB WORRALL.

Peter Worrall, the pioneer of the family, was born in England, and emigrated with William Penn to America in 1682. He had three sons,-Peter, who settled in Bucks County, Pa. ; George, who located in the State of Delaware ; and Jonathan, who became a resident of Marple township, Chester Co. (now Dela- ware County), Pa. The latter married Mary Taylor, whose parents were members of the Penn colony, and had among his sons,-Jacob, who was united in mar- riage to Elizabeth Maddock, and had a son, Jesse, who married Mrs. Jane Bishop Bennett, daughter of Robert and Jane Bishop,-their children were Eliza- beth, Jacob, and Tacy; Jacob, the subject of this biographical sketch, was born Sept. 7, 1806, on the ancestral estate in Ridley township, where the birth of his father also occurred. Here his youth was spent amid the employments of the farm, with such advan- tages of education as the neighborhood afforded. He, until twenty-one years of age, assisted his father in his routine of labor, and was later given an interest in the annual yield of the farm. On a subsequent division of the estate he received the half, which included the homestead. Here he resided, and continued his farming occupation until October, 1882, when the residence of his daughter at Leiperville became his home. Mr. Worrall married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel and Mary Worrall, of the same town- ship, and had children,-William (deceased), Mary P. (Mrs. Joseph K. Lukens, whose children are Jacob W., Elizabeth W., and William), and John B. (mar- ried to Miss Mary, daughter of William and Elizabeth Playford, whose children are William and George). Mr. Worrall was formerly a Whig in his political faith, and is now a Republican. He has held minor offices in the township, but is indifferent to such dis- tinctions. Though not identified with any religious creed, he was educated in the faith of the society of Friends.

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 185

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