History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 22

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

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1 Dr. Joshua W. Ash's map of Delaware County, published in 1848, showa plainly thie little part of Chester County which wedges itself into Birmingham, Delaware Co., and yet owea allegiance to and paye taxes in another jurisdiction.

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

instruction, the former seems to have been entirely overlooked, for a more crooked boundary-line could not have been surveyed had that been the intention of the persons making the division. Certain it is more obliging commissioners would have been diffi- cult of selection, if tradition be accepted, for the latter states that the owners of farms in the townships of Birmingham and Thornbury were permitted to choose in which of the two counties their plantations should be placed.

From a draft in the possession of Dr. Smith, which was probably prepared from the surveys made by the commissioners, that author was enabled to glean the following interesting particulars of the manner in which the line was finally adjusted, as well as some of the representations made to the Legislature when the act was pending before that body :

" A straight line was run from the starting-point on the Brandywine to the intersection of the Goshen road by the western line, which is six miles three- quarters and fifty-four perches in length, whereas the crooked line between the same points, passing along the boundaries of the farm, cnt by the straight line, and now forming the division-line between the two counties, has a length of eleven miles one quarter and nineteen perches. On a line perpendicular to the above-mentioned straight line, the court-honse at West Chester is only three miles three-quarters and fifty-eight perches distant. The bearing of this per- pendicular line is N. 46° W. It is charged in a note on the draft, that a member of the Legislature, while the act for a division of the county was nnder consid- eration, asserted that no, part of the straight line run by the commissioners would come nearer West Ches- ter than six miles. The court-house at West Chester lies nearly dne north from the commencement of the division-line on the Brandywine, and is a little over five miles distant from that point, whereas it was alleged at the session of Legislature at which the act was passed that the distance was nine miles. From the intersection of the Goshen road and the county line to West Chester the distance in a direct line is four miles three-quarters and sixty perches, nearly, and the course N. 85° W. The shortest distance from the Street road to West Chester is nine hundred and thirty-five perches. It also appears from the draft that another division-line had been proposed. This commenced at the mouth of Davis' or Harvey's Run, on the Brandywine, and ran so as to include the whole of Thornbury township, in Chester County."1

That the people of the original township of Thorn- bury, who, by the division-line, were included within the limits of Delaware County, were dissatisfied there- with, we learn from the proceeding of the Legislature, for, on Nov. 30, 1789, a petition was presented to that body from "the inhabitants and freeholders of the township of Thornbury, Delaware County, remon-

strating against the act for erecting the said county, and praying they may be re-annexed to the county of Chester." The Legislature, it seems, had at last be- come weary of the constant wrangling growing out of the efforts for the removal to or retention of the seat of justice at designated localities in Chester County, which had extended over twenty years, and had now culminated in a division of the territory ; they refused to further hearken to complaints, and the petition was therefore ordered to lie on the table.

After the passage of the act of Sept. 26, 1789, cre- ating the county of Delaware, Kerlin sold the old court and jail building Nov. 3, 1789, to the county for £693 3s. 8d.

The first election in the new county took place in October, 1789, all voters coming to Chester, where the poll for the entire territory was held. On the 12th of October, President Mifflin and the Supreme Execu- tive Council appointed John Pearson, Thomas Levis, Richard Hill Morris, and George Pearce to be jus- tices of the peace, and on November 7th Henry Hale Graham was commissioned president judge of the courts of Delaware County. Almost immediately thereafter it was discovered that this appointment was irregular, Graham at the time not having been com- missioned as a justice of the peace, which was requisite to make him legally eligible to the position. There- upon President Mifflin desired Graham to return his commission, which he did, and on the 9th day of the same month he was appointed a justice of the peace, and the following day, president judge in and for the county of Delaware.

The first constitution of Pennsylvania, framed by the convention which met early in July, 1776, aroused considerable opposition even at the time of its adop- tion, but when its crude and cumbersome provis- ions, after nearly fifteen years' trial, were found to bear unequally on the people, and legislative and ex- ecutive authority was discovered to be sadly jumbled, the opinions became prevalent that the fraudulent law of the State required general revision. When, on March 20, 1789, Representative Wynkoop offered a resolution in the General Assembly, providing for the calling of a Constitutional Convention, there was some opposition manifested, but the measure was finally adopted March 24, 1789, the six representa- tives from Chester County voting in the affirmative. On September 15th the Assembly ordered the conven- tion to assemble at Philadelphia on the fourth Tuesday of November following, and likewise directed at the next election that the several counties should select delegates thereto. Two days subsequent to the adop- tion of these resolutions the county of Delaware was erected ; hence, at the election in October, the people of the county selected John Sellers and Henry Hale Graham to represent them in the convention. While attending the sessions of that body in Philadelphia, on Saturday, Jan. 23, 1790, Henry Hale Graham died, and on Monday following the convention appointed

1 Smith's " History of Delaware County," p. 345.

FROM THE ERECTION OF THE COUNTY TO THE WAR OF 1812.

Messrs. Roberts, Gray, Gibbons, Thomas Ross, and Sellers a committee to attend the funeral of Judge Graham the next morning, January 26th, at eleven o'clock. On Wednesday, Mr. Roberts reported " they had performed that service," and the same day the county of Delaware was directed to hold a special election on Wednesday, 3d of February, to fill the vacancy occasioned by Graham's death. On Friday, Feb. 5, 1790, the return of the special election was presented to the convention, and Nathaniel Newlin, who had been chosen a member of that body, was duly qualified and took his place therein.

The last member of the Supreme Executive Council from Chester County was Col. Richard Willing, of Haverford township. When Delaware was erected Chester County discovered that the division had left the old territory without a member in Council, hence at the election in October, 1789, Dr. Thomas Ruston was chosen to represent that county.

Dr. Rnston, on October 26th, addressed a petition to President Mifflin, claiming a seat in Council, be- cause, as he argued, every county by law was entitled to one representative, and no councillor could repre- · sent more than one county; that by the erection of Delaware Col. Willing virtually became its repre- sentative, for in that county his property and resi- dence was located, and that Chester, believing a vacancy existed in Council, had, in accordance with law, filled the vacancies at the ensuing election. The Supreme Executive Council, however, was unmoved by his reasoning, for on Oct. 29, 1789, it was unani- mously

" Resolved, That Dr. Thomas Ruston cannot he admitted to take his seat as councillor for the county of Chester, that county heiog represented in Council by Col. Richard Willing, who was elected on the fifteenth day of October, 1788."

With the adoption of the Constitution of 1790 the Supreme Executive Council ceased to be, and the last cause of contention between the two counties was laid at rest by the new and better order of things which was ushered into being when the republic of Penn- sylvania gave place to the great commonwealth of the like name.

CHAPTER XI.

FROM THE ERECTION OF THE COUNTY OF DELA- WARE TO THE SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN.

in the old county of Chester, that in those townships which had been erected into Delaware County, regret for the step taken seldom found utterance, notwith- standing the cost of separate government soon began to be oppressive to the taxpayers. The people un- willingly paid their taxes, scolded the rulers for want of economy in county matters, but rarely re- flected that the additional cost had been the direct outcoming of their own action. The burden of main- taining public highways and county bridges particu- larly bore heavily on the people. The Queen's High- way from Darby to Chester, and the King's Highway from Chester to the State of Delaware, formed the direct line of communication to the Southern States, and travel was exceedingly heavy on these roads. The county was unable to keep those thoroughfares in good repair; their condition in winter time was so wretched that the press of that day, as well as trav- elers' letters, constantly referred to them in the most uncomplimentary terms. The State, at length, in order that the county of Delaware might be relieved in a measure of the oppressive cost for the mainte- nance of these roads, which, in the major part, was incurred for the benefit of persons residing without her borders, authorized the county commissioners, by act of Assembly, April 11,;1799, to place toll-gates on the post-road for the term of five years, when the law expired by limitation, and to collect tolls from persons using that highway. The county commission- ers, in compliance with the law, placed a toll-gate at the bridge over Ridley Creek, and the following schedule of tolls was observed :

Coach, light wagon, or other pleasurable carriage, with four wheele and four horses .. 25 cents. Coach, light wagoo, or other pleasurable carriage, with two wheels and two horses. 15

Chairs, sulkey, etc., with one horse ..

Sleigh, with two horses

Man and horse

Wagon, with four horses.

Wagon, with two horses ..

Cart and horse ..

Every additional horse to carriages of pleasure.

2 Every additional horse to carriagea of burdeo ...

In 1793 the yellow fever raged as a dire pestilence in Philadelphia. It is related that a party of boys in that year, at Chester, went in a boat to a vessel lying in the stream on which were several persons ill with the disease, and in that way it was communicated to some of the residents of the town and neighborhood, but it did not spread, nor was it as fatal as the same malady proved to be five years thereafter. Ninety- four years before the period of which I am now writing, in 1699, when for the first time we have undoubted record of the yellow fever visiting the shores of the Delaware, Chester and the adjacent settlements suf- fered severely, but beyond that fact very meagre par- ticulars respecting it have been preserved. In 1793, however, the scourge in Philadelphia was so malig- nant that the city was almost depopulated; those of its inhabitants, as a rule, who had the means, fled for safety to the surrounding country districts. The

THE sparsely-peopled territory, which in the anger of defeat at the removal of the court-house from "Old Chester"-for so the ancient borough now began to be termed, to distinguish it from the newly-born West Chester-had formed a separate county govern- ment, now began bravely to organize its local admin- istration, select its officers, and prepared to meet the obligations it had assumed. So bitter had been the quarrel respecting the removal of the seat of justice i record of the noble dceds of a few men who remained

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

in Philadelphia in that appalling time to minister to the sick and dying, as well as to give assistance and succor to the poor and needy, in true heroism far ex- ceeds the achievements of the ordinary class of sol- diers with whom history deals, who amid the din and smoke of battle sought the bubble reputation at the cannon's mouth, and for their courage have received the unstinted praises of poets and historians alike. Nor is the cool, calm bravery of the men alluded to the only matter disclosed hy the minutes of citizens which is worthy of commendation : in other respects these records present a grand testimonial to the higher and better nature of mankind.

I have just narrated the difficulties encountered by the inhabitants of this section in meeting the ex- penses of the county ; but when the cry of distress went up from Philadelphia it awakened a responsive sympathy throughout our territory, and from people in all condition of circumstances contributions freely came. It is an interesting fact that the first donation from Delaware County, which was received Oct. 4, 1793, was from "Widow Grubb, of Chester," who presented " eighteen bundles of shirts and shifts for the use of the orphans under the care of the commit- tee." On the 12th of the same month, John Pearson, of Darby, informed that body that a sum of money had been collected for the use of the orphans, and the same day Benjamin Brannan, of Upper Darby, gave notice that the people of Delaware County were raising money for the relief of the sick in the hospital and for persons in distress. On the 15th the com- mittee was notified that £161 68. 6d. had been col- lected in Delaware County; that Nathaniel Newlin, of Darby, was ready to pay that sum to any person authorized to receive it. The letter also stated that further contributions might be looked for. Henry De Forest was instructed to go to Newlin's house, near Darby, and receive the money, which he did. October 16th Mathew Carey and Caleb Lownes met Isaac Lloyd at Weed's Ferry, on the Schuylkill, from whom they received $1448.21, being part of the sub- scription made by citizens of Philadelphia residing in the neighborhood of Darby, to be applied to the use of the sick and poor of that city. Two days there- after, the 28th, Mathew Carey and Caleb Lownes by appointment visited Nathaniel Newlin's house, and received $641.91, a further donatiou from Delaware County, while the same day Thomas Levis, of Spring- field, sent $13 for the like purpose. On December 1st, John Pearson, of Darby, paid £12 10%., an additional sum raised by our people, and on Jan. 18, 1794, the committee acknowledge $34.69 from citizens of Phila- delphia residing in and near Darby. The contribution from Delaware County amounted in all to $1291.57, a record of which this locality may justly be proud, when it is remembered that at that time the popula- tion was less than ten thousand persons all told. The sum just stated was exclusive of the donations " from citizens of Philadelphia residing in and near

Darby," which fund was contributed, among others, by Col. Thomas Leiper, of Ridley; John Wall, a large real-estate owner in our county; Edward Tilgh- man, that distinguished lawyer, who refused the chief-justiceship of Pennsylvania, that it might be bestowed on his kinsman, William Tilghman, and whose country-seat was in Nether Providence, where Samuel C. Lewis now resides ; Raper Hoskins, who then owned the estate, and spent his summers at Green- bank, more recently the Porter House, at Chester, and others deserving prominent places in the history of Delaware County, as well as in that of the city of Philadelphia.

In 1798 the yellow fever visited Philadelphia again, and once more the people fled, many carrying with them the seeds of the disease in their systems, to spread it at the places of refuge they sought. Mrs. Deborah Logan records that a woman from Philadel- phia, dying of the fever in Chester, "exacted a promise from some of her friends that her body should be brought back to the city and buried in consecrated ground, and that in consequence of this bad vow the infection was first caught in the borough (Chester), where it spread with frightful rapidity, and depopulated whole families and streets."1 On Edgmont Avenue, from Fourth Street to the river, there were then only seventeen houses within the space mentioned; more than thirty persons died, while in one of those dwellings2 all the family ex- cepting a boy of five years fell a victim to the plague. Indeed, it is stated that almost one-fifth of the popu- lation of Chester was swept away before the fever had subsided. At Chester Mills, now Upland, it was very virulent. Richard Flower, the owner of the mills, was so severely attacked that he was believed to he dead; but when the burial party was about to place him in the coffin he spoke, and subsequently recovered, to live nearly half a century thereafter. The cooper-shop at that place was made a hospital, and it is traditionally asserted that three dead bodies at one time were then awaiting interment. Only thirty persons constituted the entire population. In other localities near by the disease was equally fatal.

The power of the Federal government to impose taxes, or in any wise to act within the limits of the several States, was during Washington's administra- tion very imperfectly understood, and from that igno- rance the difficulties in Western Pennsylvania, known in history as the Whiskey Insurrection, had their origin. The settlers of that part of our common- wealth were largely Scotch-Irish, and naturally in traditions descended from fathers to sons recitals of the oppressive acts of the excisemen in the mother- country in discharging their official duties, which nar-

1 Mrs. Deborah Logan's manuscript "Reminiscences of Chester," con- tributed as notes to John F. Watson's " Visit to Cheeter in 1827," in collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

" The house adjoining on the north, the present residence of Jona- than Pennell.

FROM THE ERECTION OF THE COUNTY TO THE WAR OF 1812.

rations had so moulded the opinions of their descend- ants that, throughout all our colonial and early State history, any excise tax was regarded with open disap- proval by a large class of citizens. During the Revo- lutionary war the whole people submitted to the levying of duties on distilled liquors, yet at the con- clusion of that contest those who were opposed to the measure combined and secured the repeal of the act of 1772 providing for the tax. Hence when Congress, on March 3, 1791, at the suggestion of Secretary Ham- ilton, imposed a duty of four pence per gallon on dis- tilled liquors, the law was openly defied in Fayette, Alleghany, Westmoreland, and Washington Counties of this State. President Washington, on Sept. 15, 1792, issued a proclamation requiring all persons to cease their resistance and submit to the law, which failed to have the desired effect. On June 5, 1794, Congress amended the law, which action on its part, instead of satisfying those hostile to the tax, merely resulted in making them more clamorous for its abso- lute repeal. Deputy marshals and collectors, who had theretofore only been tarred and feathered, were now fired upon by large bodies of armed men and com- pelled to promise they would not attempt to exercise their authority. The Federal government, however, determined to enforce the law, and instructions were issued to indict those distillers who refused to pay the duties. These instructions on the part of the admin- istration were productive of widespread disorder and organized open defiance. President Washington, on Aug. 9, 1794, published another proclamation, re- quiring all associations whose object was resistance to the excise law to disperse on or before the 1st of September following, at the same time directing a force of nearly thirteen thousand men to be imme- diately raised in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia to suppress the insurrectionary move- ment, which body of soldiers was required "to be held in readiness to march at a moment's warning."

On the same day Governor Mifflin called for the quota assigned to Pennsylvania, five thousand two hnn- dred men, directing them to be armed and equipped as quickly as possible. The number of troops required from Delaware County was twenty cavalrymen and sixteen artillerymen, which force was to compose part of the Second Brigade of the Third Division, under command of Brig .- Gen. Thomas Proctor.1 The call, however, was not responded to with alacrity, for Sec-

retary Dallas, in his report to the Senate of Pennsyl- vania, says, " Returns from the County of Delaware, dated the 6th of September, 1794, stating a variety of difficulties that leave little hope of procuring by reg- ular drafts the quota of this county," and he reiterated that assertion in his "report relative to the want of promptness of the militia,"? dated Jan. 16, 1795. Indeed, from a letter written by Attorney-General Ingersoll to Governor Mifflin, May 25, 1795, it appears that in order to raise the quota in both Chester and Delaware Counties three thousand three hundred and ninety-six dollars had to be paid in bounties, Sec- retary Dallas pledging his personal credit to procure the amount expended.3 Why the quota of Delaware Connty was placed at only thirty-six men is difficult to understand, when we remember that in May of the same year, under the call of the President for ten thousand seven hundred and sixty-four militia in Pennsylvania to be held in readiness during the threatening difficulties on the frontier, our county was required to furnish two hundred and sixty-two men. And it is equally incomprehensible why any difficulty was had in raising thirty-six men in the Whiskey Insurrection, when it is considered that in May, 1794, Governor Mifflin had ordered Adjt. Gen. Harmer to immediately organize and equip the militia of Phila- delphia and the county of Delaware to be in readiness, if needed, to prevent any breaches of the neutrality laws by the cruisers of England or France within this State, or the equipment of any privateer at Philadel- phia by either of the belligerent powers.

However, Capt. William Graham, a lawyer, of Chester, raised a company of cavalry, the greater part of the organization being recruited or drafted from the neighborhood of Chester, and the quota of Delaware County was filled. When the troop was ready to march the ladies of Ridley township presented it with a white silk flag, trimmed with fringe of like material. On it was painted a figure of Washington in full mili- tary costume, to whom an American eagle was de- scending bearing in its claws a sprig of laurel, while from its mouth was a ribbon with the motto, "Liberty or Death." The allegorical picture was surrounded by flags, drums, cannons, and other military emblems.4

1 In William Whitehead's " Historical Sketch of the Borough of Chester" (Directory of Chester, 1859-60) it is stated, "Chester sent a company of infantry to the scene of disturbance, under the command of Capt. Wil- liam Graham." Dr. Smith merely says that Delaware County furnished a company under Capt. Graham, and refers to the Directory of Cheater as anthority for the statement. An article written in 1854 by William H. Dillingham, and published in the West Chester Republican (quoted at large in Martin's " History of Cheater," pp. 169-170), entitled " Remin- iscences of Willlam Graham, Esq.," says, " He commanded a troop of cavalry in the western expedition." Benjamin M. Nead, Esq., of Har- risburg, in a sketch of the life of Brig .- Geo. Thomas Proctor (Penna. Mag. of History, vol. iv. p. 466), states that "on August 7, 1794, Gen. Proctor was placed in command of the First Brigada, which marched

with 1849 men, 96 of which were from Delaware county." The fore- going statement is the only one wherein the gross number of men is given, other than that which is presented in the text. The latter I derived from various papers (io the fourth volume, second eeriea, Penn- sylvania Archives) relating to the Whiskey Iuaurrection. Yet Mr. Nead may be correct in the number mentioned, for he is a gentleman whose assertion on an historical point ie always worthy of respect and consideration. Unfortunately, I cannot find on record, at Media, the election returns for the year 1794. The troops called into service voted in the fields, and the duplicates for that year, if they could be found in the prothonotary's office, would give the names of every man from this county, and, of course, to obtain the number would be a simple matter of addition.

2 Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. iv. p. 306.

3 Ib., p. 532.

4 Iu 1840 this flag was in the possession of Dr. Joseph Wilson. It was carried in the great Whig procession, at Chestor, on July 23d of that year by the delegation from Springfield.

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 22

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