History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 50

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

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1 Duke of York's Laws, p. 72.

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away, leaving his daughter at the house of worship, and that he did not notice that she was not with him until he had gone several miles. The late William Worrall, of Ridley; who was born in Marple in 1730, used to relate that in his youthful days, at marriages, the bride rode to meeting behind her father or next best friend, seated on a pillion; that after the cere- mony was over and the wedded couple were ready to return, the pillion was then placed behind the saddle of the husband, and his wife would in that manner be conveyed to her new home. At that time, and until a very recent period, all houses, in the country at least, had high horse-blocks for women to use in mounting behind the men who rode the animals. These blocks were usually three stone steps, and were also located near by all the old churches and meet- ing-houses. In more modern days they were used to mount into side-saddles.

In the early times all merchandise and freight was transported on pack-horses. Grain was thus carried to market in large sacks, holding between two and three bushels, which were placed on pack-saddles, and a lad mounted on one animal would lead three or four in a line behind the one he rode. Mr. Worrall also stated that in his youth "there were no carts, much less carriages. They hauled their grain on sleds to the stacks. He assisted his father to carry on horse- back one hundred bushels of wheat to Charles Hum- phrey's mill, in Haverford township, which he sold for two shillings a bushel." In this statement he was partly correct. We know that by means of pack- horses the most unwieldy articles were then trans- ported,-bars of iron, barrels of whiskey, and other necessaries.

Mr. Worrall was not, however, accurate in declaring that there were no carriages in the province in his early manhood, for in 1725 there were eight gentlemen of means, including the Governor, each of whom was reported to own a four-wheeled carriage drawn by two horses, and at that time one of the number was kept in the present county of Delaware by Chief Justice David Lloyd, who lived in the old Porter house, as it was known to the present generation, at the foot of Welsh Street. That they were clumsy vehicles can- not be doubted, for even the chair or old-fashioned sulky, that many of the older people can yet recall, was nothing but a common arm-chair on leather braces, suspended over a pair of wheels. The latter conveyance was.exceedingly light in weight, which was only proper at that time, when between the high- waymen, who perchance would bid you "stand and deliver" at any moment, and the miry road, almost hub-deep in winter, which might stall you for half a day, no prudent man was justified in traveling a hun- dred miles without first making his will and so far as he could winding up his affairs, for he had no assur- ance that he would ever return alive, hence the lighter the vehicle he rode in the greater would be his chance of getting safely home again.

The roads in early times were simply narrow passes for horsemen, and the bridges, as shown by the court records, were built for the passage over the streams of persons traveling in that manner. On Nov. 24, 1708, the justices ordered James Hendrickson to repair the bridge over Chester Creek, and also the same day the court " further agreed that the said James Hendrick- son shall build a bridge over Marcus Hook creek in the Queen's Road, where the old bridge now is, and erect it 10 foot broad and so long as is sufficient and necessary for the same to extend, and to build it all of white oak timber completely finished." The roads, too, previous to 1700, were impassable for horsemen, and travel by water was even intercepted in these times. At a court held in Chester, Seventh month 14, 1692, a case was called, and neither party to the suit appearing, the records show this entry, "The Court considering that the weather was so bad that it was impossible for anyone to get down the River they thought fitt to continue the action until the next Court."

The people residing near the navigable streams, certainly before the beginning of the eighteenth cen- tury, traveled from place to place by water. It was not until about 1720 that any carriages, save that of Penn's family, were used in the province, and they were then so rare that in passing along the road they excited as much attention from the rustics as a circus does at this time. About the middle of the century they had come into fashion among the grandees of our colonial days. We are informed that Col. Har- rison, of Virginia, in 1755, passed through Chester in his chaise 1 on his way sonthward, having Mrs. Bel- chior, of Maryland, under his protection. We know that Gen. Washington rode through the country with a coach and four, with two postilions and an out- rider in showy livery. Frequently he passed through Chester in this style, or rather his family would be in the carriage, while he, mounted on a handsome horse, which he rode remarkably well, would follow, the wonder and admiration of the dwellers in the ancient borough, who would gather along the streets to see him pass. He generally stopped at the Washington House, and when his imposing equipage would halt before the door of the old tavern, the entire business of the town would cease, and the people would loiter around until the great man and his coach had rum- bled away in the distance.

In 1732 a line of stages ran from Burlington to Amboy, across New Jersey, connecting at each end of the route with sail-boats. These fast stage-coaches, for such they were called, showed at that period re- markable progress in means of passenger transporta- tion. A journey then was no unimportant eveut, when by the clumsy stage a man could travel about forty miles a day ; that is, if the roads were in good condition ; while even to do this, if the highway was

1 " Maryland Gossip in 1755," Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. iii. p. 146

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

heavy, he must rise at three or four o'clock in the morning aud prolong the ride far into the night. In the winter, if the road was much traveled, it soon be- came a quagmire, into which the horses would fre- quently sink to their knees in the adhesive mud. Then all hands would have to get out and help pry the great lumbering vehicle, which was hub-deep, out of the trouble. As recent as Jan. 10, 1834, the Queen's Highway between Chester and Darby was so bad that the mail-coach from Washington stuck fast in the mud below Darby, and had to be drawn to that village by oxen ; while on Jan. 9, 1836, a heavy lum- ber box on runners, used as an omnibus between Darby and Philadelphia, stuck fast in a snow-drift near the former place, and it was two days before it could be moved.

I have not definitely ascertained when the first stage-line was established between Philadelphia and Baltimore, but Martin1 gives the abstract of a long advertisement which appears in the Independent Gaz- etteer, or the Chronicle of Freedom, published in Phila- delphia, Jan. 2, 1788. Greeshorn, Johnson & Co., of "the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Eastern Shore Line of Post Coach Carriages," state that carriages will set out on Fourth Street, nearly opposite the old Indian Queen Tavern, during the winter on Mondays and Thursdays of every week, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, and arrive in Baltimore on Wednesdays and Saturdays in good season for dining. The pas- sengers on their way from Philadelphia will dine at the " Queen of France Inn," kept by Mr. John Jar- vis, twenty-two miles from the city. In the issue of the same paper, July 12, 1788, the notice is some- what changed, and the rates of fare are given thus :

Miles. £ s. d.

" From Phile. to Chester. 15 0 50

Chester to Qu. of France .. 7 0

46 6 Q. of F. to Wilmington .... 0 2 6

44 Wil, to Christiana Br. 0 3 4 10

44 Christiana Br. to Elk.

0 4 2

Elk to Susquehanna. 16

0 7 6

44 Phila. to Susque. Br. 66

1 5

Susque. to Baltimore 37 Gratis

"The passengers sleep the first night at Christiana bridge."

In the same journal, issue of Feb. 11, 1788, the following note is given : "The proprietors of the Old Line of Stages, having united with the lines from New York to Philadelphia, and thence to Baltimore, will begin to run on Monday, the 18th inst. The stages will leave the New York and Baltimore Stage Office on 4th Street, two doors from the Indian Queen, Kept by Mr. James Thompson, at 6 o'clock on the mornings of Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fri- days, and will return again on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays each week during the Winter Season."

At the time mentioned there must have been rival lines running to Baltimore, that of Greeshorn, Johu- son & Co., and G. P. Vanhorne, Kerlin & Co. The following advertisement appears in the Pennsylvania Packet, March 11, 1790:

" PUBLIC STAGES.

"The well-established Mail Stages between the City of Philadelphia and Baltimore continue their regular Tours respectively from sach place by the way of the Susquehannah, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fri- ' days. Returning ou Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. To facili- tate the dispatch and arrival of the Public Mails is an obligation indis- pensable, and every exertion to accommodate engages the duty and interests of the proprietors. The passengers are therefore requested to be early in their preparations for the Stages starting, as the most assid- uons efforts are requisite and will be practiced, to render general and complete satisfaction.

"G. P. VANHORNE, KERLIN & CO.

" N.B .- Regulations to be seen in the Stage office at the George Inn."

William Kerlin and Matthias Kerlin, Jr., were both interested in stage coach companies, by which occu- pation they became wealthy ; Matthias Kerlin retiring from business about 1792 with an ample fortune, re- turned to Delaware County, his native place, to reside.

The American Annual Register for 1796, published Jan. 19, 1797, presents the unattractive picture of the post-road through the county at that period, and the unpleasant experiences that then awaited the trav- eler. It says, "The roads from Philadelphia to Bal- timore exhibit for the greater part of the way an aspect of savage desolation. Chasms to the depths of six, eight, or ten feet occur at numerous intervals. A stage-coach which left Philadelphia on the 5th of February, 1796, took five days to go to Baltimore. The weather for the first four days was good. The roads are in a fearful condition. Coaches are over- turned, passengers killed, and horses destroyed by the overwork put upon them. In winter, sometimes, no stage sets out for two weeks." Isaac Wild, Jr., of Dublin, in 1796 visited this country, and describing his journey by stage from Philadelphia to Baltimore, he records, "The driver had frequently to call to the passengers in the stage to lean out of the carriage, first on one side, then at the other, to prevent it from oversetting in the deep ruts with which the road abounded. 'Now, gentlemen, to the right,' upon which all the passengers in the stage stretched their bodies half out of the carriage to balance it on that side; 'Now, gentlemen, to the left,' and so on. These performances took place about every half-mile. If the road was contiguous to a wood, they just cut down a few trees to open a new passage, an operation 'which they called making a road."

During the first thirty odd years of the present cen- tury there were several lines of stages running be- tween the points named,-Reeside, Stockton & Stokes, Murdock & Nasp, and Janviers' rival lines of coaches. They changed their horses and stopped for meals at designated places, and made certain inns their head- quarters. The large stable-yards around the old Washington Hotel (Reeside's line stopped at that house), the Columbia House, and the City Hotel (then known as the Eagle and afterwards as the Na- tional), in Chester, were necessary for the change of horses and coach stopping-places. It was a busy scene in those times when the lumbering stage, with

I History of Chester, p. 194.

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its coachman, in the winter-time, wrapped in a great coat of many capes, expertly throwing a whip with a long lash that sounded in the frosty air like the crack of a pistol, the horses at a full gallop, came into sight, the coach-body surging on its heavy leather springs, rumbling over the hard-frozen, lumpy road, and at last turning into the spacious inn-yard. The ear- splitting blast from the guard's horn, which was always blown in coming into the town, brought every one to the windows of the houses, for it was some- thing to be regretted, for twenty-four hours at least, in those days if the stage chanced to go by unob- served. Often, too, the guard, out of very wantonness, would "toot his horn" just to see the horses in the field, who came trotting to the roadside fences to look at the passing wonder, scamper at the noise, and sometimes to alarm the farmers jogging along in the road before the stage. About the beginning of this century, at the run which crosses the King's High- way just below Thurlow Station, the guard once blew a blast to quicken up a lady's horse that was ambling along in a sleepy manner, and did it so effectually that the rider was thrown to the earth and into the run, receiving such injuries that she died within a few minutes.

After the commissioners appointed by Governor Snyder had laid out the street or State road, in 1815, which was afterwards known as the Baltimore, Phila- delphia and New London turnpike, lines of stages were placed on that highway, and John Way, the then landlord of the Concordville Hotel, stated, in his petition in 1830, that his house was located " on the road leading from Philadelphia to New London cross-road, at which the stage teams are now daily changed on their tours between Philadelphia and Baltimore."

Albert Gallatin, in 1807, then Secretary of the Treasury, in a report to the Senate of the United States, states that "the Lancaster road, the first ex- tensive turnpike that was completed in the United States, is the first link of the great western communi- cation from Philadelphia." The road passes through the extreme northeastern verge of Haverford and diagonally through Radnor, and at an early date lines of stage-coaches ran along this noted highway.

Shortly after the Revolution Chester seems to have been a place of considerable attraction as a Sunday resort, and that the public, desirous of visiting the ancient borough, might not lack transportation a Sunday line of stages was run to supply that demand, as we learn from the following advertisement in the Philadelphia Gazetteer for July 3, 1789 :

"The Subscriber intends to run a Carriage from this city to Chester every Sunday end means to carry passengers at a lower rate than the regular atage; and in order that they may arrive in Chester in time for the Sermon, the Coach will leave the INDIAN QUEEN, on Fourth Street at half-past 5 o'clock in the morning At Chester a fresh set of able- bodied Horses will be provided to retnru, so that the company may start thence in time for an agreeable refreshment et Messrs. Graye, and arrive in Philadelphia as early as they wish.

" MATTHIAS KERLIN, JR."

The general local travel from the neighborhood of Chester to Philadelphia was sadly cared for in the beginning of this century. Persons living on the King's Highway, below Chester, and the Queen's Highway, above that town, would have their trunks brought to the front gates of their houses and wait for the Baltimore or Wilmington stage to come, and, if there chanced to be a vacant place, they were taken in and carried to their destination, but frequently the coachman shook his head and drove by without stop- ping. To meet this want, about 1830, Chester rose to the dignity of having a line of stages to Philadelphia. I copy the following advertisement from the Weekly Visitor of Dec. 9, 1831 :

"PHILADELPHIA AND CHESTER COACHES.

"John Pucians respectfully informe the inhabitants of Chester and vi- cinity that he has commenced running a line of stages between Philadel- phia and Chester, leaviog Philadelphia every morning at 8 o'clock, start- ing from the Sign of the Camel on North Second street and stopping for passengers et the Sign of the Cross Keys, corner Second and Lombard streets, and leaving Chester every afternoon at three o'clock, starting from the hotel of Samuel R. Lamplugh."

Lamplugh at that time kept the Columbia House, but the steamboats were then furnishing compara- tively excellent transportation, and the enterprise languished, and finally the coaches were discontinued.

In alluding to the difficulties that beset the traveler by the public roads, mention was made of highway- men. Perhaps it would have been better had the term foot-pads been used, for in no instance that I have found did the thief present himself handsomely appareled, mounted on a dashing steed, with a black silk mask covering the upper part of his face; but, in truth, he had usually a hang-dog appearance, with- out any of the mythological accessories that are al- ways present in the highwaymen of the novelists.

In the fall of 1798 Richard Flower, of Chester Mills, was stopped on the Queen's Highway near the run that crosses the road below Thurlow Station by a man who demanded his money. Mr. Flower appar- ently was complying with the unwelcome request when, seeing his opportunity, he struck the thief a blow on the head with his heavy riding-whip, which felled him to the ground, and then urging his horse into a run he made his way safely home.

In the Post Boy for May 25, 1824, is the following account of a highway robbery committed in this county on the night of the 21st of May of that year :

"ROBBERY .- On Friday evening last Mr. Samuel Black, of this county, being in his market-cart, on his way home from Philadelphia, was attacked on the West Chester road by five robbers, armed with clubs, an axe, etc., who led the horse and cart into the woods, bound Mr. Black in the cart, and after beating him, took what money they could find in his pockets, eod left him in a mangled and insensible con- dition. On their first appearance Mr. Black ancceeded in concealing his watch Rod pocket-book (which contained the principal part of his money and some papers) where they were not discovered. One of the robbers, who was very much intoxicated, threatened to take the life of Mr. Black, and there is no doubt he would have put his threat in exe- cution bad he succeeded in getting into the cart, which he attempted to du. After they had left him some time, Mr. Black recovered sufficiently to unhind himself, and succeeded in getting to the nearest house. It would be well for persons who travel In the night to be prepared for the reception of euch villeios."

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The last case I shall mention occurred about ten o'clock on the night of Feb. 8, 1838, when Warren Gibbon, returning from market, was stopped on the highway, a short distance west of Darby, by three men, who caught his horse by the head. Two of the men then held Gibbon, while the third presented a pistol at his breast with one hand and robbed him with the other. They took from him seventy-five dollars, his watch, and some of his clothing.

There was, of course, during all the time of which I write, the natural highway, the Delaware, and the early emigrant made constant use of it in going from settlement to settlement. Among the first mention respecting transportation the canoe is prominent, and we know that after Governor Markham's coming there appears to have been constant communication by water between the settlements from Burlington to the Capes of the Delaware. Gabriel Thomas, in his " History of Pennsylvania," published in 1698, states that "Chester, the German town, New Castle, and Lewistown" are the four great market towns, and "between these towns the watermen constantly ply their wherries." In October, 1698, Joseph Holt and Isaac Warner were drowned in the river, near Tini- cum, by the upsetting of the ferry-boat going from New Castle to Philadelphia, and on the 23d of the preceding month John Barnskill was a passenger from Chester to Philadelphia in a ferry-boat, when it was overturned by a sudden gust of wind and he was drowned. Shallops constantly plied between the vil- lages of Marcns Hook and Chester to Philadelphia in the last century, and during the months of June, July, August, and September, 1790, John Fitch ran a steamboat, the "Perseverance," as a passenger- and freight-boat on the Delaware, between Philadelphia, Trenton, Burlington, Chester, Wilmington, and Gray's Ferry, advertising her trips regularly in the newspapers of that day. During that summer his steamboat ran over three thousand miles in these trips. This was seventeen years before Robert Fulton made his noted journey in the "Clermont," in Sep- tember, 1807, from New York to Albany. Fitch was a watchmaker, and during the Revolution repaired old muskets. One day, it is stated, he was walking along the stage-road near Newtown, N. J., suffering with rheumatism in his feet, and was so much an- noyed by passing wagons that he declared, "I will make steam carry me." He did so, but the ma- chinery of the "Perseverance" was so defectively constructed that it was constantly breaking down, and nltimately ruined its inventor.

In the last decade of the last century and in the early part of this the "Chester Planter," a shallop, built by Richard Flower to carry flour from the Ches- ter Mills (the present site of Upland) to Philadelphia, would frequently take passengers to and from the places named, but in time the vessel became so old and decayed that it was run on the bank at Mount Mellick, on the opposite side of the creek from Up-

land, where its frame remained many years, until it entirely rotted down.

Previous to 1819, Capt. John D. Hart ran the sloop " John Wall" as a passenger- and freight-boat between Chester and Philadelphia, leaving the former place on Mondays and Thursdays, and returning every Wednesday and Saturday. The "Wall" continued on the line until and including the year 1828. In 1824, John Ashmead Eyre owned the sloop "Mary and Lonisa," commanded by Capt. James Eyre, which he ran as an opposition packet from Chester, and in 1830 the sloop "Hunter," Capt. Harrison, made regular trips. In 1827, Peter Deshong ran the sloop "Mary and Louisa" as a regular packet between Chester and Philadelphia, leaving the former place every Tuesday and Friday, and returning Thursdays and Saturdays. Joshua P. and William Eyre built the sloop "Jonas Preston," which for many years, commanded by Capt. H. J. Gibson, was the noted packet between Chester and Philadelphia. She sub- sequently became the property of John Larkin, Jr., and William Booth, who were engaged in freighting between the points mentioned for several years, run- ning a daily line of packets. In 1849 the firm 'had the sloops "John G. Johnson," Capt. Green, and the "John M. Broomall," Capt. Huston, on the line, and in 1851 the "Jonas Preston" was added, so that one vessel would leave and another arrive at Chester the same day. The "Jonas Preston" ultimately hecame the property of J. & J. Baker, and on April 6, 1868, when off the light-house near Fort Mifflin, heavily laden with coke, she was struck by the swell from the "Eliza Hancock," which caused her to capsize and sink. In 1850, Pancoast Levis ran the packet " Mary J." between the points named, and the same year William T. Crook established a line of packet schooners, making weekly trips between Chester and New York, employing therein the schooners " Wil- liam," Capt. Collins, and the "Rebecca," Capt. Russell.

In 1865 the steam freight-boat "Chester" was built by P. Baker & Co., and ran between Philadelphia and Chester, and in the following year the propeller "Lamokin" was placed on the same route by J. & C. D. Pennell, as an opposition boat. In 1871 the lines were consolidated, and in 1872 the Delaware River Transportation Company (a new organization) was formed. The latter company built the "City of Chester," and subsequently became the owners of the Union lines. They have now on the route the freight steamboats "Eddystone," "Mars," and the "Mary Morgan," a large and commodious passenger steamer. The officers of the company are: President, J. Frank Black ; Treasurer, J. Howard Roop; Secretary, Capt. Frank S. Baker.

In April, 1870, the Electric Line between Wilming- ton and New York, via the Delaware and Raritan Canals, in connection with their lines, established direct tri-weekly communication from Chester to New

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York, placing additional steamers on the route for the purpose. The facility thus afforded to dispatch and receive goods without transshipment was recog- nized by the manufacturers and business men in the southwesterly part of the county, and the enterprise proved a success from the beginning.

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 50

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