History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 7

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania > Part 7

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I believe that the Assembly met in the double house and not the House of Defense, and my reasons for this opinion are briefly these.

The first record we have of the site of the Assem- bly building will be found in " The Traveller's Di- rectory,"3 wherein it is stated in the notice of Chester that " The first Colonial Assembly for the province was convened in this place on the fourth day of December, 1682. ' A part of the old wall of the room still remains.'"

This wall could not have been part of the old House of Defense, for July 13, 1728, George McCall and Ann, his wife (Jasper Yeates' eldest daughter), and John Yeates conveyed to George Ashbridge the house now owned by the heirs of the late Sarah P. Coombs, which dwelling, according to Armstrong, on the north side occupies about eleven feet of the south end of the site of the House of Defense. On May 5, 1797, George Ashbridge, the grandson of the grantee just mentioned, sold the property to Dorothy Smith and Zedekiah Wyatt Graham as joint tenants. In 1798, Mrs. Smith and Mr. Graham, brother and sister, both died of the yellow fever, and the property passed to their nephew and four nieces in equal shares. At that time the passage-way on the north side of the house was paved, and rose-hushes and other shrubbery grew in a bed alongside of the fence which divided the Smith and Graham property on the north from that of Henry Hale Graham. No part of a wall was to be seen at the point designated several years before the beginning of this century, and it must have been there in 1802 had it been the site of the Assembly House.

Official evidence, however, tells us that almost a hundred years before the "Traveller's Directory" was printed, the House of Defense was destroyed, for at the November court, 1703, the grand jury pre- sented " the old Court hous, being a nuisance to the town in case of fire, and also the chimney of Henry

1 The "House of Defence," we are told by Edward Armstrong, in hie admirable notes to "The Record of Uplaod Court," p. 202, " was rectangular in shape, its size wee 14 by 15 feet, and, according to mese- urement, ite S. E. corner etood about 84 feet from the N. E. corner of Front and Filbert. The northern portion of the house of Mre. Sarah P. Combe occupies about eleven feet of the south end of the eite of the House of Defense."

2 Vol. i. p. 46; " Descendante of Joran Kyn," the founder of Uplund. By Professor Gregory B. Keen, Peuna. Mag. of History, vol. ii. p. 446.

3 " The Traveller's Directory or Pocket Companion. By S. S. Moore God T. W. Jones, Philadelphia. Publiehed by Mathew Carey, 1802." An exceedingly rare volume, in library of Pennsylvania Historical Society. Fifteen yeare subsequent to the publication of the Directory a correspondent of the West Chester Federalist visited Chester and re- cords thet, "Ou the bank of Chester Creek, which passes through the towu, there is still shown en old wall, now making a part of a dwelling house, which formed one side of the first hall of justice io Penneyl- vania-answering for the sessione of the Legislature and the Court of Justice, in both of which Wm Penn occasionally presided." (Martin's " History of Chesler," p. 122.) The extract just quoted le of course full of historical misstatements, the narrative heing based on perverted tra- ditions related to the writer by the people of Chester of that day. The old Assembly House ie confused with the fourth court-house of Chester County, built by John Hoskine in 1695, and the wall mentioned still remaine in the dwelling-house to this day (1884). It shows, however, that traditiou at that time never located the site of Assembly House on the east side of Edgmont Avenue, where the House of Defense stood, -a species of negative proof.

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Hollingsworth, in Chester Town," and, thereupon, " The Court on deliberate consideracon orders the sd hous to be pulled down, and that Jasper Yeats, chief burges of ye borough of Chester, shall see ye order Pformed." Martin is of opinion that this order had reference to the House of Defense, and there seems to be no doubt but that the authorities were alarmed lest the great pile of logs, dry as they must be, would burn the small cluster of houses at Chester. The site of the House of Defense subsequently became the property of Jasper Yeates, and he doubtless saw that the order of court was executed. We certainly learn nothing further from the records of the old nuisance, hence the presumption is that it was abated.

On the other hand, it is known that on the double- house lot the ruins of the dwellings remained for several years after the beginning of this century, and as it adjoined the lot to the south, where the Friends' meeting-house stood when the foundation of Sande- land's dwelling was removed to be used in other build- ings, the tradition that the first Assembly had met there attached itself to the antiquated structure on the adjoining lot, and in time the fact that the double house had ever existed was generally forgotten. So quickly did the tradition link itself to the meeting-house that John F. Watson, in 1827 (only a quarter of a century after the " Traveller's Directory" had correctly located the place where the Assembly met), refers to it as the " old Assembly House," and Stepheu Day, in 1843, in his " Historical Collections of Pennsylvania," follows with the same statement, until the error had made permanent lodgment in the popular mind, and is now difficult of eradication.

CHAPTER VI.

THE COLONIAL HISTORY TO THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

THE only hamlet in Pennsylvania which had re- ceived a distinctive name that was known to persons in England at the time Penn acquired title to the ter- ritory was Upland, and that that had done so was doubtless due to the fact that Robert Wade had a]- ready made it his home. He being a Friend in com- munication with members of that religious sect in the mother-country, that circumstance directed the atten- tion of the Quakers, "a society," says Acrelius, "that the realm could well spare," to the little cluster of rudely-fashioned dwellings on the banks of the Dela- ware. Hence Friends (whom, fortunately for the United States, could be spared from Europe to plant on this continent those seeds of political truths and re- Jigious liberty which, germinating, have grown into a nation on the maintenance of which the future contin- uance of constitutional representative government on the earth largely depends), or Quakers, as popularly

known, desiring to flee from persecution and ignominy at home, gladly availed themselves of the liberal conditions which Penn offered to persons anxious to leave England, and particularly did the latter meet the approval of those people whose poverty had been largely produced by reason of the heavy fines im- posed on them simply because of the religious senti- ments they maintained. That Penn originally in- tended to locate his proposed capital city at Upland can hardly be questioned, for his instructions to his commissioners, Crispin, Bezer, and Allen, particu- larly directing them "that the creeks should be sounded on my side of the Delaware River, especially Upland, in order to settle a great toune," will bear no other legitimate construction. That this was his purpose is evident from all the surrounding circum- stances, and he only abandoned it when he learned that Lord Baltimore, by actual observation, had dis- covered that the site of the hamlet was in the debata- ble land as to ownership. That the proprietary, after he had been informed of Lord Baltimore's persistent claims, had resolved to build a city farther up the river, before he first came to his province, will not admit of doubt; hence the result of the visit of William Penn to James Sandelands, mentioned as having taken place almost as soon as the former landed at Upland, when it was "talkt among the people that it was with Intent to have built a City" at that place, "but that he and Sanderlin could not agree,"1 may perchance have interfered with some proposed improvement at the old Swedish settlement, but even had Sandelands assented to all that Penn may have required, it would not have eventuated in locating the contemplated "great town" at that point.2 Under the circumstances the risks, owing to the disputed ownership of that part of his territory, were too great for Penn to assume.

Martin informs us on the authority of Mrs. Sarah Shoemaker, aged ninety-two years, who died in Ches- ter in 1825, and who had heard her grandfather, James Lownes, often speak of the times of which I am now writing, that during the winter of 1682-83, Upland presented a very animated appearance. It was the only place then in the province, as stated, known to English ship-owners, and consequently, as the destination of all vessels was this port, most of the emigrants landed here, and several ships often rode at anchor at the same time off the hamlet. It is said that the water was deep near the western shore, and vessels could approach so closely to land that the trees would often brush their upper rigging.

The great influx of emigrants in the hamlet caused nearly every dwelling in it to be a house of entertain- ment, and as the people of that day, in the majority of instances, used beer instead of tea or coffee, that fact may account for the number of presentments by the

1 The Breviate, Penn vs. Lord Baltimore, folio 105; Professor G. B. Keen's " Descendants of Joran Kyn," Penna, Mag. of Hist., vol. ii, p. 445. " Latrobe's " History of Mason and Dixon's Line."

THE COLONIAL HISTORY TO THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

grand juries of the residents along the Delaware " for selling beer, etc., without license, contrary to law." The proprietary himself is believed to have made his home at Chester during the greater part of the winter of 1682-83, and while here, it is said (on Nov. 25, 1682), he divided the territory theretofore known as Upland into the three connties,-Chester, Philadel- phia, and Bucks.

William Penn, having called the city of Philadel- phia into being,-he had named it before it had any actual existence as a town,-summoned the freemen throughout the province to hold an election on the 20th day of the Twelfth month, 1682 (February, 1683), to choose seventy-two persons of most note for their wisdom, virtue, and ability to serve as members of a Provincial Council, to meet on "the 10th day of the First month next ensuing" (March, 1683), at the new capital. From each county twelve men were returned under this order, but the several sheriffs also pre- sented petitions from the people in their bailiwicks praying that only three of the twelve men returned as councilors be vested with the duplex character of councilors and assemblymen, and the remaining nine as simply assemblymen. The petition presented by the people of Chester Connty was as follows :1

" To WILLIAM PENN, proprietary and governor of the province of Pennsyl- vania and territories thereof.

" The petition of tha freeholders of the County of Chestar respect- fully showeth, That in obedience to the writ sent to our Sheriff wo have chosen twelve parsons for our delegates to serve in the provincial Council, but conaideriog that the numbers of the people are yet small, and that we have faw fit for or acquainted with auch public businesa, and alao that we are unable to aupport tho charge of greater electiona and Assemblies. After our humble acknowledgmenta of the favor in- tanded ua thereio, we take leave humbly to request that thres of tho twelve we have choson may serve as provincial Councillors, and the other nine for the Assembly, which provincial Councillora are Jolin Symcock (for three yeara), Ralph Witbars (for two yaurs), aod William Clayton (for one year), leaving it to thes to increase the number, aa occasion may serve, hereafter.

. [Signed}

"JAMES BROWN & Co."

The assemblymen thus designated from Chester County were John Hoskins, Robert Wade, George Wood, John Blunston, Dennis Rochford, Thomas Bracy, John Bezer, John Harding, Joseph Phippes.

These petitions, although in direct violation of the charter, were favorably acted on, but in the formation of Conncil Ralph Withers appeared as credited to Bucks County, while Christopher Taylor represented Chester. It is not my purpose to make extended ref- erence to the proceedings of the second Assembly further than to notice that the seal of Chester County at that session was established, bearing as its dis- tinctive design a plow.

The influx of immigrants into Pennsylvania for the few years immediately after Penn acquired own- ership of the territory is unequaled in the history of the British colonial possessions in North America, and can only be likened in recent years to the mar- velous growth of settlements in the oil region of this State, or localities west of the Mississippi, where pre-

cious metals are supposed to yield almost certain for- tune to adventurers who locate there. Within the limits of the present county of Delaware, before the close of the year 1683, the population began to pre- ponderate largely of members of the Society of Friends, and at Chester, Marcus Hook, Darby, and Haverford permanent settlements of Quakers had been made, from which centres their influence ex- tended outwards, giving tone and character to the whole people. The few Swedes and Dutch who had preceded these Friends were soon absorbed in, and their individuality of thought and action was merged into that of the more intelligent majority, greatly to the benefit of the former. The Welsh immigrants, who had secured a tract of forty thousand acres in a whole from Penn previous to leaving the Old World, found, on arriving in the colony, that they could not locate it within the city limits of Philadelphia, and were forced to push out into the then wilderness; and we find, in 1682, that their first lodgment with a few settlers was made in Merion and Haverford, from which they rapidly spread into Radnor, Newtown, Goshen, Tredyffrin, and Uwchlan.

It was the fixed policy of William Penn, in order to avoid all causes of trouble with the Indians grow- ing out of disputed rights to the soil, to purchase from the aborigines, and extinguish the title to the territory as rapidly as civilization pushed ontward into "the backwoods." The ownership of the land within Delaware County was released to William Penn by the Indians in two deeds, both of which are interesting because of the consideration mentioned as having been paid to chiefs. The first deed was exe- cuted over a year before William Penn returned to England, in 1684. The old document is as follows :

" Wa, Sacane & lcquoquehan, - Iodian ahackamakers, and right owners of ya Land Lying betwaan Manaiunk, ala Sculkill and Maco- panachao, ala Cheater Rivers, dos thia 14th day of ye fift month, in ye year accordiog to English account 1683, hereby grauot and Sell all our Right & Title in ya ad Landa Lying between ye ad River, begining ou ya West side of Manaiunk, called Consohockhan, & from theance by a Westerly Lina to ye ad River Malopanackhan, unto William Pano Pro- priatr & Govern' of ye Province of Penosilvanin &c., hiss heires & Aa- aignes, for Ever, for and in Consideration of 150 fathom of Wampum, 14 Blanketts, 65 yda. Duffills, 28 yda, stroud watrs, 15 Guuns, 3 great Kettlea, 15 small Kettlea, 16 pr. Stockina, 7 pr. Shoea, 6 Capps, 12 Gimb- letta, 6 Drawing Knives, 15 pr. Siaaors, 15 Combes, 5 Papera needlea, 10 Tobacco boxes, 15 Tobacco Tongs, 32 Pound l'owder, 3 papers Beads, 2 papara Red Lead, 15 Coats, 15 Shurta, 15 Axes, 15 Koivea, 30 barra of Lead, 18 Glasses, 15 hoea, unto ua in hand paid, the receipt whereof ie hereby acknowledged have renounced all Cluima & Demanda for ye future from us or heiras or Assignea, in or to ye prmises. In witness whereof we have herennto sett or hands and seals ye day & year firat above written.

" The mark of X SECANE,

" The mark of X

ICQUOQUEHAN.

"Sealed aod delivered in presence of " PISERICKEM.

" The mark of X PETER RAMBO,

"The mark of X SWAN SWANSON,

" PHILIP TH. LEHNMANN.

" Jos. CUNTEIS,

"CATEMUS, an Indian king." 2

2 Panna. Archives, lat seriea, vol. i. p. 65.

1 Hazard'a Annale, p. 603.

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The second deed was made after Penn had returned to England. The Provincial Council, on the 22d of the Seventh month (September), 1685, was notified by Capt. Lasse Cock that the Indians were anxious to dispose of their land between Upland and Appoqui- nomy. Council immediately appointed Thomas Holme, surveyor-general, Jolın Simcock, and Col. William Markham, the then secretary of the body, to meet the Indians and purchase from them the terri- tory named. The following deed, executed in ten days after the date given, shows how expeditiously the authorities acted in carrying out the original in- tention of Penn, the extinguishment of Indian titles ; but the indefinite bounds, "so far as a man can ride in two days with a horse," clearly shows the superior bargaining abilities of the white man, and the success which attended this transaction might have prompted the noted " walking purchase" of a later date.

"THIS INDENTURE WITNESSETH That We Lare Packenah Tareek- ham Sickais Pettquessitt Tewis Essepenaick Petkhoy Kekelappan Feomus Mackalohr Melleonga Wisse Powey Indian Kings Sschemak- ers, Right Owners of all the Lands from Quing Quingus Called Duck Creek unto upland Called Chester Creek all along by the West Side of Delaware River and So between the Said Creeks Backwards as far as a mun can Ride in two days with a horse for and in Consideration of these following good to Ve in hand paid and secured to be paid by W= Pean Proprietary and Gouvnour of the Province of Pennsilvania and Territo- ries Thereof, Viz Twenty Gunne Twenty fathom Matchcoat twenty Fathom Stroudwaters, twenty Blankets twenty Kettles twenty pounde Powder One hundred Barrs Lead forty Tomahawks One hundred Knives Fourty pare Stocking One Barrel of Beer twenty pound red Lead One hundred Fathom Wamphum thirty Glass Bottles thirty Pewter Spoons one hundred Awl Blades three hundred tobacco Pipes One hundred hands of Tobacco twenty Tobacco Tongs twenty Steele three hundred flints thirty pare Sisters thirty Combs Sixty looking Glasses two hun- dred Needles one Skiple Salt thirty pounds Shuger five gallons Mollas- sie twenty Tobacco Boxes One hundred Jnice Harps twenty Howe, thirty Guimlets thirty Wooden Screw Borers & One hundred Stringe Beeds Wee hereby Acknowledge in hehslfe of Our Selves as Only Rright Own- ers of the aforesaid Tract of Land to Bargain and Sell And by these Presente doe fully Clearly and Absolutely Bargains & Sell Unto the said Wm Pean his heirs and Assigues for Ever without any mollestation or hindrance from or by Us and from or by any other Indians whatsoever that Shall or may Claime any Right Title or Interest in or unto the Said Tract of Land or any Part thereof. Io Witness Whereuf Wee have hereunto Set onr hande Rnd Sesle at New Castle the 2d day of the Eighth month 1685.

"Signed sealed and delivered unto Capt Thomas Holme Surveyr Gen1 of ye Province of Pennsylvania to & for ye use of William Penn Esqr Proprietary & Govern" of ye aforesd Province & Territories thereunto belonging in the presence of us.

" PIETER ALRICKS

The Mark of

" LASSE COCK

OWEG HAM

" PHILIP TH LEHNMANN

The Mark of

"JAMES ATKINSON

OWEG X HAM

"CHRISTOPRER GORA

The Mark of

" The Mark of

LIK X HAMM

"JOHN X WALKER

The Mark of

"EDWARD LARE

PATASKO X

" JOHN MANDY. " The Mark of

The Mark of

MACK X RASHUTE."1

" TAMMA X GWARAN

The general history of our county is very meagre of interesting incidents in the early days of the province other than the happenings which became matter for the intervention and adjudication of the courts; and as these subjects will be found collated and treated of

in a distinctive chapter, no allusion will be made to them at this time.

The absence of William Penn from England af- forded an opportunity to his enemies and for the friends of Lord Baltimore in the mother-country to press with earnestness objections to the former's title to the "three lower counties," now Delaware, as also to seriously menace his ownership of the greater part of the present county of Delaware (as well as others) in Pennsylvania. Hence it became imperatively es- sential that he should return to Great Britain; and preparatory to his departure he appointed Thomas Lloyd, James Harrison, and John Simcock-the former to be Deputy Governor, and, in the event of death, the others to succeed to that position in the order mentioned-to represent him in the province, and, in the contingency of his (Penn's) death before other officers were selected, empowered them to be "Commissioners & Guardians in Government to my dear Heir, Sprigett Penn." As the record shows that on Aug. 14, 1684, Penn presided for the last time in Council until he returned, nearly sixteen years subse- quently, it is thought that he sailed not long after the date above mentioned.

At a Council held at Philadelphia, April 1, 1685, Thomas Lloyd presiding, the boundaries of the county of Chester were officially prescribed, as follows : "The county of Chester to begin at ye Mouth or Entrance of Bough Creek, upon Delaware River, being the upper end of Tinicum Island, and soe up that creek, dividing the said Island from ye Land of Andros Boone & Company; from thence along the several courses thereof to a Large Creek Called Mill Creek : from thence up the several courses of the said creek to a W.S.W. Line, which Line divided the Liberty Lands of Philadelphia from Several Tracts of Land belonging to the Welsh and other Inhabitants; and from thence E.N.E. by a line of Marked Trees 120 perches, more or less; from thence N.N.W. by the herford (Haverford) Township 1000 perches, more or less ; from thence E.N.E. by ye Land belonging to Jno. Humphreys 110 perches, more or less; from thence N.N.W. by ye Land of Jolin Eckley 880 perches, more or less; from thence continuing ye said Course to the Scoolkill River, wch sd Scoolkill River afterwards to be the natural bounds." 2

Many complaints having been made respecting the manner in which Charles Ashcom, the deputy sur- veyor for Chester County, had encroached on the forty thousand acres which Penn had ordered set apart as the Welsh tract3 (including Radnor and

1 Penoa. Archives, Ist series, vol. i. p. 95.

2 Colonial Records, vol. i. p. 126. Dr. Smith ("History of Dela- ware County," p. 155), says, "This line continues to be the eastern boundary of Delaware County to the north line of Haverford. The resolution of the Council makes the next course run eseterly instead of westerly, and is probably & mistake, as Radnor township never extended farther easterly then it now does."

3 The survey of the Welsh tract was authorized hy the following warrant from the proprietary :

" Whereas divers considersble persons omong ye Welsh Friends have

REFERENCES TO THE SETTLEMENTS OF SEVERAL INHABITANTS IN THE COUNTY OF CHESTER

Phil. Roman.

6 Gibbons Hobbs.

Smith.

61 Tho. Taylor.

b Wm. Hichcot.

7 J. Bluntston.

34 Jno. Batram.

c Pet. Lounder.

8 Jos. Fern.

35 Edw. Gihbs.

63 Jos. Bushell.

d Jno. Simcock.

9 Geo. Wood.

36 Amb. Boon.

64 Rob. Piles.

e Rich. Far.

10 Wm. Wood.

37 Wm. Wood.

65 Jno. Gibbons.

f Wm. Collet.

11 Pet. Ellet.

38 Rich. Tucker.

Rob. Southrey.

g Jos. Philps.

Wm. Clayton.

13 Sam. Bradshaw.

Col. Hook.

¿ Jo. Beale.

Tho. Bradshaw.

41 Hansunin.

& Mos. and Ben. Mendinhall.

Jam. Stanfield.

42 Mer. Morten.

Z Wm. Hichcot.

16 Ant. Sturgis.

43 Mountstoker.

Bowetcr.

Roh. Chamberlain.

17 Edw. Cartledge.

44 Jno. Henrickson.

12 Wm. Brampton.

18 Jos. Pottor.

45 Tho. Nerbury.

0 Tho. King.

Tho. Hood.

Jno. Simcock.

Tho. Moor.

Jos. Slayton.

47 Jno. Harding.

76 Free Schoole.

9 Nat. Park.

21 Pet. Lester.

48 Jno. Kingsman.

Dav. Ogdon.

: Jno. Hannam.

22 Geo. Gleave.

49 Jno. Edg.

Godin Walter.

23 Geo. Mearis.

50 Rob. Cawdwell.

79 Jac. Chanler.

t Tho. Hall.

24 Fra. Yornel.

51 Wal. Fosset.

80 Fra. Harrison.

= Jno. Palmer.

25 Jac. Steedman.

52 Jno. Nixon.

Jno. Peuscy.

Wm. Ouhorn.

26 Jno. Steedman.

53 Jno. Simcock.

Jno. Prisner.

10 Jno. Brazor.

Jno. Steedman.

54 Sar. Baker.

83 Gil. Woolam.

1 Adam Roads.

28 Jno. Holwel.

55 Cha. Whitaker.

85 Jno. Prisnor.

2 Jno. Kerk.

29 Cha. Wheetaker.

56 Tho. Rawlins.

J. Bluntston.

30 Edm. Cartledg.

57 Fra. Cook.

87 Jno. Gibbons.

4 Cha. Lee.

31 Jos. Potter.

58 Tho. Ducket.

8S Fra. Harrison.

5 Sam. Sellers.

32 Tho. Hood.

60 Joel Baloy.

12 Jno. Bluntston.

39 Har. Johnson.

Widdow.

69 Jam. Swarfar.

70 Jno. Houlson.

71 Wm. Gregory.

73 Will. Edwards.

74 Oswin Musgrave.

75 Churchman.

78 Jno. Hodskinson.

86 Wm. Woodmansec.

62 Jno. Buckley.

OF. TR

Beni Fialow

If: Beazor

In® V'arto

John Hafting

ar'

Rich

The Forman

I'm vari

Richard

Weft

2.W

Collet

Richard

Wileget

Barn

I:Eluny

In Bond

Rous

Jones

Inº Sincock

Stephens

Bradford

Peirce

Lof Baker

H'Joris

H'Smith

y'Bramton

6€

Barnard

Ine Harris

plope

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 7

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