History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 51

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

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In the fall of 1883 a new organization, the Chester Steamboat Company, was formed, and the steamboat " Artisan" placed on the route, running as a freight- boat between Chester and Philadelphia.

In 1882 the steam barge "Sarah," of which Capt. Deakyne was manager, began running daily between Chester and Philadelphia, but after a few months' service withdrew.

In the spring of 1883, R. W. Ramsden, who was proprietor of the Pioneer Stage Line from Chester to Upland, started a freight line from Chester to Phila- delphia, running the steam barge " M. Massey." He continued in this enterprise until the fall of that year, when his hoat was burned at the foot of Edgmont Avenue.

Railroads .- That part of the Pennsylvania Rail- road which passes through a small part of Haverford, and diagonally through Radnor township, was origi- nally the Columbia Railroad, built by the State. That part of it nearest to Philadelphia was not completed and opened to trade and travel until 1834. The cars at first were propelled by horse-power, the distance between Columbia and Philadelphia, eighty-two miles, requiring nine hours for the trip, the horses being changed every twelve miles. The cars were built after the forin of the old stage-coaches, only larger, the entrance door at the side, and the driver seated on an elevated box in front.

The first locomotive put on the road was the "Black Hawk," which had been built in England. As the eastern end of the railroad for steam purposes was not completed, the engine was drawn to Lancas- ter over the turnpike road. When the wonderful curiosity was to perform the trial-trip between Lan- caster and Columbia, Governor Wolf and most of the State officials were present to witness the novel sight. The " Black Hawk," however, disappointed the audi- ence, who had been informed by an Irishman em- ployed by the road to keep the track clear of the crowd. " Get out of the track !" he shouted; "when she starts, she'll go like a bird, and ye'll all be kilt !" But when the moment came, and the engineer applied the lever, the locomotive would not move, and did not until by pushing the train was started.

The eastern end of the road having been completed, on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 1834, the first train of cars from Lancaster to Philadelphia passed over the road, drawn by " Black Hawk," the distance between Lan- caster and the head of the Inclined Plane having been traversed in eight and a half hours. Levi G. James, of Chester, who then resided in Radnor, can recall the excitement along the railroad on that day, the people flocking for miles around to witness the

novel spectacle, and how the crowd cheered when the laboring engine, groaning, passed along with the train. The experiment had been successful, and so superior to horses did the locomotive demonstrate itself, that in 1837 there were forty engines in use on the road, and the horses, as a power, ceased to be used.

The extension from the Pennsylvania Railroad to West Chester, which was opened Dec. 25, 1833, aroused a rivalry in Old Chester, and a number of citizens of Delaware County procured the passage of the law of April 11, 1835, incorporating the Delaware County Branch Railroad Company, authorizing the construction of a railway from Chester, along the creek of the same name, to intersect at West Chester with the extension road there. The movement first received shape in November, 1833, when a meeting was held at the Black Horse Hotel to ascertain the probable cost of the proposed road; and as there were then nine cotton-mills, eight grist-mills, two paper-mills, three iron-works, and eleven saw-mills along the proposed route, it was believed the freight from these industries would pay a handsome profit on the costs. The capital invested in manufacturing was then a million of dollars, while the estimated cost of the road-eighteen miles-was twenty thousand dol- lars per mile, or three hundred and sixty thousand dollars for the road laid.

After the passage of the act, on June 18, 1835, sub- scription-books were opened at the Coffee-House, kept by John Bessonett, Jr., No. 86 South Second Street, Philadelphia, and no person was permitted to sub- scribe for more than ten shares on any one day. The books were to remain open for three days. A survey was made and stakes driven, but beyond that the project languished.

It was revived in the spring of 1848, and a survey was again made. The stakes driven at that time by the engineers were much the same course as those of twelve years previous, and those which followed twenty years afterwards, when the Chester Creek Railroad was built. The flicker of hope of 1848 was only a forerunner of the time when such a work must, in the necessity of public accommodation, be con- structed. The latter was built under the provisions of the acts of Assembly of April 16, 1866, and April 17, 1867, and by the aid and assistance given to the enterprise by Samuel M. Felton, the public believed it must be pushed forward to completion. And it was.

The first time the whistle of a locomotive was heard on that road was Nov. 4, 1868, when the engine at- tached to the construction traîn passed some distance along the line, and the horses and cattle in the neigh- borhood, unused to such screeching, scampered from the roadside in alarm. In the spring of 1869 the road was completed and opened to public travel.

On April 2, 1831, the Legislature of Pennsylvania in- corporated the Philadelphia and Delaware County Railroad Company. The charter lay dormant until

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

1835, when an organization was effected, and a board of directors elected. On Jan. 18, 1832, the Legislature of Delaware chartered the Wilmington and Susque- hanna Railroad Company, with power to build a railroad from the Pennsylvania State line through Wilmington to the Maryland State line, towards the Susquehanna River ; and on March 5, 1832, the Leg- islature of Maryland incorporated the Baltimore and Port Deposit Railway Company, with power to construct a road from the points named, and nine days subsequent the same authority incorporated the Delaware and Maryland Railroad to build a road from a point to be selected by the company at the Maryland and Delaware State line to Port Deposit, or any other terminus on the Susquehanna River. All of these companies had organized previous to 1836, when in January of that year the Philadelphia and Delaware County Railroad applied to the Legislature for power to increase its capital, which was granted, and at the same time the title of the company was changed to the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Balti- more Railroad. Negotiations were entered into by the latter company with the Delaware and Maryland Railroad, which finally resulted in the latter granting the former the right of way from the Delaware State line to Wilmington. And on Dec. 20, 1837, the road was completed from Wilmington to Chester, so that an engine and train of cars came from the former to the latter place, but did not cross the bridge over Chester Creek, the rails not having been laid over that stream. On January 15th the road was opened for public travel from Philadelphia to Wilmington.

The railway from Wilmington to Perryville had also been opened on the 4th of July, 1837, and the road from Baltimore to Havre de Grace on the 6th of July on the same year. At this time, although there was but one road, it was owned by three corpo- rations, but on Feb. 5, 1838, they consolidated with a capital of two million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, Matthew Newkirk being elected the first president.

" Although the road was now in condition for use, it was, as compared with modern roads, very incom- plete. The track was constructed of iron bars nailed upon wooden string-pieces, called mud-sills, which rested on the ground, and consequently were continu- ally getting out of position. It was not until after the lapse of some years that this defect was remedied by the introduction of wooden ties."1

It is doubtful whether the foregoing statement ap- plies to the road so far as the Pennsylvania Division was concerned. Martin tells us that "the track of the railroad was originally laid with flat bars, called strap-rail, weighing about fifteen pounds per yard, fastened upon a continuous stringer with cross-ties and mud-sills, and with a gauge of four feet eight and a half inches."

The road was surveyed, so far as its construction through Delaware County is concerned, by William Strickland and Samuel H. Kneass, and in their report to the president and directors of the Philadelphia and Delaware County Railroad in 1835, they state that the whole length of the line of survey from Broad and Prime Streets, Philadelphia, to the Delaware State line was sixteen and three-fourths miles, and they, not without apparent glee, felt "justified in es- timating the amount of passengers from data which their investigation afforded" at about one hundred and fifty persons per day. They also express the be- lief that if the proposed route to Baltimore be adopted (as was done), the distance being thereby reduced to ninety-three miles, the time of passage "may be readily performed in five hours." 2

The contract for grading the roadway through Delaware County was awarded to John Cochran, William Eves, and John J. Thurlow, the latter having purchased Spencer McIlvain's interest in the orig- inal contract. The road was laid the greater part of the distance on the low, level meadow-land between Gray's Ferry and Chester, the earth for grading being supplied from the excavation of the ditches on each side of the track. While the men were working on the road, six lahorers, in May, 1837, attempted to cross from one side of Darby Creek to the other in an old boat which lay on the shore, but it leaked so that when in the middle of the stream it sunk, and two of the men were drowned.

The annoyance to the railroad of being compelled to maintain a draw-bridge at Darby Creek was exces- sive, and after a year or so trial, the company peti- tioned the Legislature, in 1839, for right to build a permanent bridge across that stream. The proposi- tion met with general opposition from the people of this county, and Johu K. Zeilin, then representative, obtained a report adverse to the bill. The railroad made no further effort looking to the removal of the draw-bridge at that point.

It is said that the plan of connecting a rope to the bell of an engine drawing a train of cars, so that the conductor might communicate with the engineer, was an idea of John Wolf, a noted conductor in the early days of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Bal- timore Railroad history. It seems that he had a cord running through the cars and made fast to a log of wood in the cab of the locomotive, which gave notice to the engineer when to stop or go ahead. On one occasion the former and Wolf had a disagreement, and at that time in railroad management the train was supposed to be in charge of the engineer while in motion, the conductor being but a secondary figure. Wolf had pulled the rope once or twice to indicate that he wanted the train to stop at the Blue Bell, but the engineer paid no attention, and rushed past the station without even slacking speed. The conductor

1 Johnson's "History of Cecil County, Maryland," p. 430.

2 Hazard's Register, vol. xvi. p. 245.

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in anger clambered over the tender, and demanded why his signal to stop had not been obeyed. "I'm in charge of this train, and will stop when I think best at any point not a regular station," replied the engi- neer. This put Wolf to his mettle, and it resulted finally in the train being stopped, and, in the pres- ence of the passengers, the conductor and engineer fought until the latter was completely conquered. Never after that time was Wolf's signal disregarded, and the connecting cord was found to work so advan- tageously that it was adopted on all the railroads in the United States.

After the completion of the road, the consolidated companies, now the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company, found that while their capital was two and a quarter millions, the cost of the road and equipping it had amounted to nearly four and a half millions of dollars. The original sub- scribers to the stock, which promised such a golden harvest, soon found that the day when a dividend would be paid was uncertain, while creditors were clamorous for payment, and to liquidate these press- ing claims two mortgages, amounting to three mil- lions, had to be given. The sturdy farmers who had placed a few hundred dollars in the stock of the com- pany began to grow uneasy of waiting for dividends which never came, and by degrees their holdings passed into the market, where they were purchased as investments by wealthy capitalists of the Eastern cities. In 1851, Samuel M. Felton was elected presi- dent of the road, and during his administration the track, rolling stock, and landed estate of the company, which had deteriorated in the endeavor to relieve the road of its heavy debt, was relaid, increased, and im- proved. The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad was put into a position to meet the great demand which came upon it ten years later in for- warding troops to the national capital. So admirable was Mr. Felton's management that the stock paid heavy dividends, and as a consequence it was rarely seen in the market, and if so, it was quickly purchased at a premium. In 1865, Mr. Felton resigned the presidency of the road, and as a testimonial of the great service he had rendered to the company a pres- ent of one hundred thousand dollars was made to him on his retiring from the position he had so admirably filled.

Baltimore Railroad passed into the hands of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, H. F. Kenney, the superintendent of the former road, having been re- tained in charge of the Delaware and Southern Divis- ion of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which includes the old Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore, the Chester Creek, the Baltimore Central, and the Phila- delphia and West Chester Railroads, besides other roads in the State of Delaware.

The West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad was incorporated April 11, 1848, and on Jan. 17, 1852, the contract for building the road, except laying the rails, entered into with Gonder, Clark & Co., who were to receive three hundred thousand dollars in cash and two hundred thousand dollars in stock of the road for the work. On Monday, July 16, 1855, the middle span of the railroad bridge, then being constructed over Ridley Creek, gave way, precipitating five meu to the earth, one hundred and nine feet below, and three were instantly killed. In the autumn of that year the road had been completed, and trains were running to Media; at the close of 1856 the road had extended from Rockdale to Lenni, and by Jan. 1, 1857, to Grubb's bridge, the present Wawa. The road was an expensive one to build, due to the deep valleys and many streams it crossed, so that at one time its stock had fallen to almost nominal value. In the latter half of the year 1858 the road was pushed onward with remarkable rapidity, the rails being laid from Wawa to West Chester, so that the first train of cars from Philadelphia by the direct road reached West Chester on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 1858, and on the follow- ing Thursday a celebration was held in the borough in honor of the event. In May, 1880, the Philadel- phia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company purchased the West Chester and Philadelphia Rail- road, and on the subsequent transfer of the former road to the Pennsylvania Central, the West Chester road was included.

The Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad was incorporated March 17, 1853, and by act of April 6, 1854, was authorized to form a union with a cor- poration chartered by the State of Maryland. On Jan. 3, 1855, ground was broken for the road on the farm of Darwin Painter, in Birmingham, Delaware Co., Dr. Frank Taylor, the president of the road, turning the first sod between Chad's Ford and Grubb's bridge. On Monday, June 1, 1857, the laying of the track from Grubb's bridge was begun, but it was not completed to Chad's Ford for public travel until some time in the year 1858, when trains ran as far as that point. The road, which became the property of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company, passed with the transfer made by the latter corporation to the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, already mentioned.

Isaac Hinkley was elected to fill the place made vacant by Mr. Felton's retiracy, and during the latter's presidency the improved line of railway was laid from Gray's Ferry through Darby, Sharon Hill, Prospect Park, Norwood, Ridley Park, Crum Lynne, and other stations which have been located on the line of the new road, now dotted along almost its entire length by handsome villas and country resi- dences. Ground was broken on Nov. 11, 1870, and the first train passed over the Darby improvement, as The Chester and Delaware River Railroad Com- pany was incorporated in 1872 by letters patent under it was popularly known, early in 1873. In the late spring of 1881 the Philadelphia, Wilmington and . the free railroad law of Pennsylvania. Its terminal

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

points were from Thurlow to Ridley Creek, a distance of about four miles. The incorporators were John M. Broomall, William Ward, William A. Todd, Sam- uel Archibald, Amos Gartside, James A. Williamson, James Kirkman, William H. Green, and Samuel H. Stephenson. Previous to the date of incorporation, Messrs. Broomall and Ward had constructed a spur track from a point below Thurlow Station of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad to the bridge works in South Chester, for the accom- modation of those works. The Philadelphia, Wil- mington and Baltimore Railroad Company furnished the rails and cross-ties at an annual rental. The de- mand of other manufacturing establishments along the river soon became urgent for similar accommoda- tions, and the owners of those industries joining with the original projectors, and the authorities of South Chester borongh acting in unison with reference to granting privileges on Front Street, the railroad was extended up to the city limits. When the boundary was reached the same demand arose from establish- ments in Chester, and the city authorities, following the example of the Borongh Council, gave a hearty support to the enterprise, and the result was the ex- tension of the road to Penn Street. At this period, (1872) the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Com- pany became the lessee of the old bed of the Phila- delphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad from Gray's Ferry to Ridley Creek. The Reading com- pany being owners of a large tract of land on the river near Marcus Hook, assumed control of the rail- road on Front Street, finished its extension across Chester Creek, and connected it with its branch pur- chased from the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Bal- timore Railroad Company. The Chester and Dela- ware River Railroad Company still preserves its separate corporate existence, the present officers being those of the Reading company, excepting William Ward, who is one of the directors. The completion and operation of this railroad has been followed by the most marked results. Many manufacturing es- tablishments of the largest capacity have been erected on the line, owing to facilities afforded for transporta- tion of heavy freights.

CHAPTER XXI.

REDEMPTIONERS AND SLAVERY IN DELAWARE COUNTY.

WHEN the system of redemptive servitude first ap- peared in our history I fail to ascertain, but certain it is that it related in the first instance to English emi- grants solely, and did not show itself until after the territory had been subjugated by the arms of Great Britain. I am aware that Professor Keen states that the only person, so far as known, who came to New

Sweden on the "Griffin," on the first expedition in 1637, and remained in the colony, was Anthony, a bought slave, who served Governor Printz at Tini- cum in 1644, making hay for the cattle, and accom- panying the Governor on his pleasure yacht, and was still living there on March 1, 1648. But he was a slave (the first on our shore), and was not a redemp- tioner, who, to reimburse the owners and master of a ship for his passage and provender on the voyage, agreed that his services might be sold for a stipulated period. In the Duke of York's Laws occurs the first notice of the system, which, while it had many harsh and objectionable features, gave to the colonies great numbers of energetic and thrifty settlers, who, by reason of their poverty, never could have come to the New World had it not been for the redemptive system. The law mentioned provided that " no Christian shall be kept in Bondslavery, villenage, or Captivity, Except Such who shall be Judged there- unto by Anthority or such as willingly have sould or shall sell themselves." 1

The first record of the transfer of a redemption or indentured servant previons to the grant to Penn was at a court held at Upland, June 13, 1677, and is set forth in the quaint phraseology of that period :

" Mr. John Test brought In Court a certaine man-servant named Wil- liam Still, being a taylor by traede, whome hee the ed Test did acknowl- edge to have sold unto Capt'n Edmond Cantwell for the space and tearme of fours years, beginning from the first of Aprill Last past; The ad Wil- liam Still declared in Court to bee willing to serve the ssid Capt'n Cant- well the aboved tearms of foure yeares." 2

After Penn came to the province, in 1682, the sub- ject of indentured servants received the immediate attention of the Governor, and among the laws en- acted by the first and succeeding General Assemblies were those requiring a registration of persons so held to servitude; forbidding the assignment of servants to persons residing without the province; exempting them from being levied on in executions against their masters; forbidding the harboring of a servant for a longer period than twenty-four hours without giving notice to a justice of the peace of the whereabouts of snch servant; interdicting bartering with a servant for goods belonging to his master, and limiting the period of servitude for all unindentured servants of seventeen years of age at five years, and those under that age until they should attain the age of twenty- one years. Masters were also required to bring such servants before the court within three months after their arrival in the province, that the term of service might be determined by the justices. The early records contain many cases growing out of this spe- cies of servitude, which for a century and a half maintained in this State, and gave to it many of its most respected families.

At the court held the 3d day of 1st week, Seventh month, 1686, Thomas Usher, the then sheriff, com- plained that William Collett was holding Thomas

1 Book of Laws, p. 12.

: Record of Upland Court, p. 51.

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REDEMPTIONERS AND SLAVERY IN DELAWARE COUNTY.

Cooper " in his service by an unlawful contract, upon which it was Ordered that William Collett doe forth with Sett the said Thomas Cooper att Liberty, and allow him the Customs & Law of the Country in that case Provided for Servants."

This is the first case I have found in which the custom of the country is alluded to, although it is frequently mentioned thereafter. The act of March 10, 1683, provided that at the expiration of the term of servitude a bonded servant was entitled to receive "One new Sute of Apparell, ten bushels of Wheat or fourteen bushels of Indian corn, one Ax two howes, one broad and another narrow, and a Discharge from their Services." By the act of 1693 the custom was declared to be " two suits of apparell," together with the other articles named in the law of 1683, and by the act of 1700 the servant was to have "two com- pleat suits of apparel, whereof one shall be new, and shall also be furnished with one new axe, one grub- bing hoe, and one weeding hoe, at the charge of their master or mistress." This continued to be the law until the act of March 9, 1771, repealed so much of the act of 1700 as related to the furnishing of a new axe, a grubbing- and a weeding hoe.

The great body of mechanics in the early colonial days originally came to the province as redemptioners, and the cases are frequent showing that this was the rule. The first instance, save that of William Still, heretofore mentioned, and the only one I shall cite, as to this statement, occurred at the court held Ist 3d day of First month, 1689-90, when " James Hayes Petitioned this Court to have his Toles [tools] from Jemmy Collett weh according was Ordered that the said Toles was to be delivered Imediately into the hands of James Sandelands for the use of the said Hayes. The said Hayes paying to Jeremy Collett what he Justly Owes him. The said James Hayes Promised Here in open Court to searve James Sande- lands his Heirs, Exs., Adms. or Assigns the Residue of the Tyme of his Indenture Excepting Two Months and fifteen days weh James Sandelands gave him."

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 51

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