USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania > Part 72
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In the early part of this century the island of Tini- cum proper was nearly submerged, consequent on the freshets occasioned by sudden thaws of ice and snow in the spring, or breaks in the banks. In 1819 the banks broke, and the water rushed in overflowing the island road for four miles, and on Feb. 22, 1822, the lowlands were almost inundated, boats sailing within
1 Wheaton's (Pa. Sup. Ct.) Reporte, vol. i. p. 124.
2 See case reported in 11 Smith (Pa. State) Reporte, p. 34; 27th Smith, p. 310, and 9 Norris (Pa. State) Reports, p. 86.
8 Martin's "History of Chester," p. 154.
+ Topographical Sketch of Tinicum Island, already quoted.
5 Ferris' "Original Settlements on the Delaware," p. 70.
6 Ib., p. 71.
7 History of Delaware County, p. 299.
283
THE TOWNSHIP OF TINICUM.
four hundred yards of the Lazaretto to Penrose's Ferry, over the meadows and fences a distance of four miles.1 On Sept. 1, 1850, a heavy rain fell which covered with water the meadows of Tinicum to the depth of six feet, and inundated the railroad from a short distance below Gray's Ferry nearly to the Laza- retto, in some places undermining the cross-ties and in others sweeping them entirely away, so that travel by rail was suspended for more than a week.
Previous to the Revolution, Joseph Galloway, a noted lawyer of Philadelphia, who, when the struggle finally came cast his fortune on the side of the English crown, owned a tract of two hundred and twelve acres of the easterly end of the island, all of it being re- claimed land. The commonwealth of Pennsylvania instituted proceedings against him, and his estates were forfeited. His land on Tinicum was sold by the com- missioner of forfeited estates in Chester County, in September, 1779, and on Feb. 19, 1780, the State made a deed for one hundred and eighty-seven and a half acres to James Budden, John Dunlap, Jacob Morgan, John Mease, Thomas Leiper, Joseph Carson, and John Chaloner, but it seemed that Abraham Kentruzer was in possession of the premises as Galloway's tenant and refused to yield the premises to the purchasers, and on April 28, 1780, the Supreme Council instructed the sheriff to put the latter in possession of the estate. At a later. date, May 17, 1780, William Kerlin pur- chased the remaining part of the tract, containing something over twenty acres."
The following is the list of the justices of the peace for Tinicum township :
Benjamin Bragoon. Ang. 19, 1791.
Israel Elliott
.Oct. 28,1791.
Benjamin W. Oakford ...
.Feb. 14, 1794.
Caleb S Sayers.
.. Aug. 6,1799.
Benjatuin Hays Smith.
April 3, 1804.
Sammel Davis.
Feb. 20, 1810.
Thomas Smith ...
.July 3, 1821,
Joseph G. Malcolm .July
30, 1831.
Thomas Maddock
.Jan. 8,1834.
Charles Sellers.
June 20, 1836.
William Hunter.
April 10, 1849.
Quarantine Station .- In the last decade of the eighteenth century the city of Philadelphia was scourged with yellow fever, and so great was the alarm at the proximity of the Lazaretto, then lo- cated just back of Fort Mifflin, on Providence Is- land, that it was determined to change the site of that station, hence on Aug. 7, 1799, the Board of Health of Philadelphia purchased from Morris Smith and Reuben Smith ten acres of land on the island of Tinicum, and immediately began the erec- tion of the buildings there which were completed in 1800, and quarantine was established there for the first time in 1801. The old two-story building, the steward's quarters, was modeled after the Pennsylva- nia Hospital, at Eighth and Pine Streets, Philadelphia, and although it is now not occupied as a hospital,
in early times the wings were used for that purpose. The building is flanked on the right by the physician's residence and on the left by that of the quarantine master. The present hospital building stands about one hundred yards to the rear of the steward's quar- ters. There is also an ancient brick building known as the old custom-house, three stories high, which we learn from a letter written on Jan. 5, 1847, by Joseph Weaver, Jr., United States custom officer, had not been occupied for many years previous to that time for any purpose, and then suffering much from neglect. Hon. R. J. Walker, Secretary of the Treasury, author- ized Mr. Weaver to rent it to a person who would take good care of it, the United States reserving the right to store goods therein, if necessary. The build- ing was leased to John Pedrick, a ship-carpenter, at a rental of thirty dollars per annum.
Shortly after the quarantine station was located at Tinicum, at the October session, 1804, the Board of Health endeavored to have John Ferguson, master of the schooner "Monongahela Farmer," which had come from New Orleans bound to Philadelphia, indicted for a breach of quarantine, the charge being that after the vessel had come to an anchor and was undergoing quarantine, he permitted thirty-two passengers " to go ashore" from his vessel before they had submitted to the required examination. The grand jury, however, ignored the bill.
In June, 1824, a man was landed from an oyster boat at Chester, dangerously ill with smallpox. A meeting of the borough Council was immediately held, but they having no power to act, several of the citizens sent the man in a market wagon to the Lazaretto, and while waiting at that place to be admitted, he asked for a drink of water, which being given him he drank, and immediately fell back in the conveyance dead. The Philadelphia Gazette of that day attacked the borough authorities and citizens for this act, and for a time a sturdy war of words was carried on in the Post Boy at Chester, and the Philadelphia journals.
No serious objection was made to the location of the quarantine until recent years. In the latter part of June, 1870, the hrig " Home," from Jamaica, came to off the Lazaretto. When visiting her the health officers learned that the captain of the vessel had died and was buried at sea four days after the brig had sailed from Black River, Jamaica. She was loaded with logwood, and although at the time there ap- peared to be no sickness on the vessel, she was in such a filthy condition that she was ordered to be taken to the United States government wharf, adjoin- ing the quarantine grounds. After twenty days, during which she was fumigated, the brig was pro- nounced clean, and permission given to proceed to her destination. In the interim canal-boats were sent from Philadelphia to remove the logwood, and on one of these boats a woman and boy sickened and died. On Friday, July 15th, a large quantity of filthy rags on the " Home" were taken ashore and
1 Smith's " History of Delaware County," p. 299.
2 Colonial Records, vol. vii. pp. 256, 331, 352; Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. viii. p. 208.
284
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
burned, the wind blowing strongly from the south. The next day, Saturday, Mrs. Ann Enos and Ann Sharp, at the hotel then kept by Jacob Pepper, were taken sick, and on the following Friday they both died. On Tuesday, July 26th, Mrs. Eva Kugler, wife of the steward of the quarantine, was taken ill, and died on Saturday. Dr. Cardeza, who was in attend- ance of Mr. Pepper's family, declared the fever was " a stranger" in this locality, and suggested that un- usual care should be taken to prevent contagion. The inference was plain, and when Dr. William B. Ulrich unhesitatingly pronounced it yellow fever the public in the neighborhood, in Chester, and even in Philadelphia, became greatly alarmed Jest it might spread. Dr. William S. Thompson, the Lazaretto physician, and Mrs. Gartsell, a nurse who had been attached to the station for fifteen years, were attacked with the disorder. Dr. John F. M. Forwood, of Chester, who twice before had the fever in the South- ern States, was summoned to act at the Lazaretto, being appointed temporary physician there. Dr. Thompson and Mrs. Gartsell died on the 11th of August, and on the 13th, Robert Gartside, the quar- antine master, fell a victim to the disease. Notwith- standing the fact that Dr. Forwood had had the dis- ease before, he was stricken with the fever, and Dr. Ulrich was called to attend on all the cases there. By the 18th of August the fever had subsided, no new cases having appeared for several days, and all who were then sick of the disorder recovered. About twenty cases of yellow fever occurred. Of these Jacob Pepper, Ann Eliza Enos, Ann Sharp, Dr. Thompson, Robert Gartside, Eva Kugler, Mrs. Gart- sell, William H. Dillmore, and the woman and her son on the canal-boat died.
The alarm had subsided, but at the following session of the Legislature a bill was introduced, which was favorably reported, providing for the sale of the quar- antine station on Big Tinicum Island, the purchase of Little Tinicum Island, and the erection of buildings there for the Lazaretto. The project was sustained by a petition of a thousand residents of Delaware , County, but the bill finally died on the calendar. At the session of 1872 the scheme for removal of the Lazaretto was again presented, the site to which it should be changed being left undetermined in the bill. The Board of Health in Philadelphia at that time memorialized the Senate in opposition to the proposed act, alleging, among other reasons, that the United States in 1871 had rebuilt the long wharf (two hundred and eighty feet), and had completely repaired the large stone government warehouse used for storage of cargoes from infected vessels detained at quarantine. They also declared that Tinicum had but one hundred and twenty-five inhabitants all told, and had remained almost stationary in population for seventy years, while during that time only three dwellings had been erected in the township. The memorial concluded by asserting that the present site
was highly eligible and unobjectionable as regards the surrounding neighborhood. The removalists were again defeated.
The following is a list of the physicians and quar- antine masters at the Lazaretto since the station was established in 1801 :
LAZARETTO PHYSICIANS.
Name. Commissioned.
Dr. Michael Leib Sept. 19, 1800.
=
Nathan Dorsey
1806.
George Buchanan .. July 4, 1806.
Edward Lowber.
1808.
Isaac Heister .. 1809.
Thomas D. Mitchell. May 27, 1813.
Joel B. Sutherland
May 1, 1816.
George F. Lehman
March 4, 1817.
Joshua W. Ash
March 29, 1836.
" Wilmer Worthington.
Feb. 9, 1839,
Jesse W. Griffiths
April 5, 1842.
46
James S. Rich
.Dec. 14, 1848.
S
T. J. P. Stokes ..
1852.
4
Henry Pleasants
.Feb. 16, 1855.
J. Howard Taylor ....
May 31, 1856.
=
Thomas Stewardson.
May 21, 1864.
George A. Fairlamb .. May
3, 1865.
William S. Thompson .. .Jan. 21, 1867.
J. Howard Taylor
Aug. 11, 1870.
D. K. Shoemaker
Nov. 4, 1873.
W. T. Robinson.
1878.
= Samuel Walker.
1884.
QUARANTINE MASTERS.
Thomas Egger. -, 1799.
Capt. William Lake .... .April -, 1809.
Christopher O'Conner. May
1, 1816.
Capt. Thomas Moore .... .May
19, 1818.
Henry Kenyon .... Aug. 16, 1819.
Joseph M. G. Lescure .. March 31, 1831.
Stephen Horne .. 19, 1836.
Benjamin Martin. Feb.
9,1839.
Alexander McKeever. .April
6, 1842.
Capt. John H. Cheyney. March 13, 1848. Jared Ketcham, of Chester County, was appointed, but after a few months' service resigned.
William V. Mckean 1 .Feb. 12, 1852.
Matthew Van Dusen, Jr ... - - , 1853.
.Feb.
16, 1855.
Lewie R. Detan.
March 9, 1858.
Robert Gartside Jan. 20, 1861.
Nathan Shaw ..
April 15, 1864.
Thomas O. Stevenson 20, 1867.
Robert Gartside Feb.
28, 1870.
Dr. John H. Gihon ...
Ang.
11,1870.
" A. W. Matthewe
-, 1873.
" C. C. V. Crawford
-- , 1879.
Horace R. Manley
-, 1883.
On July 8, 1872, Governor Geary visited the Laza- retto, the only time, so far as I have knowledge, that the quarantine station was ever visited by the execu- tive officer of the State.
The old fox-hunters of a past generation used to relate a notable chase on Tinicum, which occurred as long ago as Saturday, Feb. 1, 1824. On that morn- ing, about eleven o'clock, John Irwin and James Burns (Chester), George Litzenberg, Philip Rudolph, and others (of Providence), started a fox on the island, and after a warm run the dogs were within fifty yards of him, when he sprang on the roof of an oven, then to a shed adjoining the house of Mr. Horne, jumped in at the second-story window, and neither huntsmen nor hounds had noticed it. A boy looking on told where the fox had gone, and one of the hunt- ers, ascending the shed, entered the room and pushed down the sash. Just as he did this a girl of the fam-
1 Mr. Mckean resigned in May, 1853.
March 13, 1858.
L. S. Filbert
D. K. Shoemaker.
Jan. 30, 1861.
Joshua T. Jones
March 5, 1845.
Jacob Pepper ..
285
THE TOWNSHIP OF TINICUM.
ily came in the room and shut the door. The fox, finding exit from the apartment by the door closed, ran to the chimney, which he ascended. From its top he sprang to the roof of the house and thence to the ground. He was not captured until near sun- down, when he holed at the root of a hollow tree, which he ascended to the forks, whence he was dis- lodged by a stick being thrust at him, and descending to the roots, he was taken in the usual way and bagged.
Tinicum has been a choice locality for startling sensations from the earliest date. As far back as the 8th of Third month, 1698, Joseph Holt and Isaac Warner were drowned by the ferry-boat from New Castle to Philadelphia being overset in a gust of wind. The evidence showed that Robert White, who was at Isaac Taylor's house, went to the river to bathe and saw a corpse, whereupon he called Isaac Blawn, and the latter said, "Let us go forward and we shall find more;" and be went, and they did see another, and they called Isaac Taylor and all his household and went down together. When the bodies were recov- ered Taylor told Isaac Blawn to search them. On Holt they found a piece of eight and some small money, a silver seal, some keys, and four gold rings on bis finger. On Warner they found a carpenter's rule, fourteen pieces of eight and a half, and some other money. Warner had gone aboard the boat at New Castle, much intoxicated, carrying a speckled bag of money. The whole tenor of the evidence taken would seem to indicate that a rumor had gone abroad that the dead men had a considerable sum of money with them, and that those who had found the bodies at Tinicum had appropriated part of it to their own use. Taylor, it appears, had the matter fully in- vestigated and the testimony of a number of witnesses taken at large. The case is an interesting one, inas- much as it goes into the details of the clothing and other matters of value to the students of history in arriving at a just conception of the customs and habits of the early settlers.
Almost a hundred and fifty years after this event, on Sunday, Jan. 1, 1843, the good people of Tinicum were astonished to find the dead body of a man hang- ing from the limb of an apple-tree on the estate of Richard Welling. On examining the clothing of the deceased a carpenter's rule and a memorandum-book, containing the name of Daniel Barber, was found. No further particulars were ever learned respecting the dead man.
On Sunday, May 12, 1861, the body of a young girl, about fourteen years of age, was found in a ditch on the farm of Jacob Allberger, and, from the appearance of the body, and the fact that tufts of grass had been pulled up by the roots, it was believed that murder had been done in the hope of concealing an infamous outrage. The night previous to the sup- posed murder a colored man, who lived in the neigh- borhood, stated that he had heard voices as if some
persons were talking, but his dogs were barking at the time so that he could not distinguish what was said. The body was brought to Chester. The next morning the Philadelphia papers contained an adver- tisement asking information respecting Elizabeth Cox, of Germantown, and the personal description answered to that of the body found at Tioicum. The parents of the missing girl came to Chester, and recog- nized the corpse as that of their daughter, who was of unsound mind. The case aroused such public in- dignation that on May 24th the county commissioners offered a reward of two hundred dollars for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who had com- mitted the murder. Mayor Henry, of Philadelphia, also appointed two detective officers to investigate the. facts, and on May 31st they reported that the evidence seemed to establish that the girl, in partial derange- ment, had wandered from home, was overtaken by night, and had fallen into the ditch; that the banks of the ditch showed that she had struggled to get ont, but, as one foot and leg almost to the knee had be- come fastened in the adhesive mud, she could not ex- tricate herself, but, finally exhausted, had fallen into the water and drowned. The result of the post-mor- tem examination strongly corroborated this theory. At all events the case ceased at that point, and if murder had been committed, those who did the deed escaped "unwhipped of justice."
On Friday, March 30, 1877, the body of a man, which subsequently proved to be that of Oliver Sax- ton, of Philadelphia, was found on the meadow, near the tenant-house on the estate of Aubrey H. Smith, then occupied by James Reid. The circumstances of his death were soon learned. It appeared the de- ceased, a few days before, had gone to Little Tinicum Island duck-shooting, and when returning in the evening, owing to a heavy storm of rain and snow, was unable to reach his place of destination, and was taken on the yacht of Joseph Woods. The yacht, owing to the storm, was driven ashore on Tinicum, and in the endeavor to get her off the men on her lost their boots in the mud, and finally were com- pelled to abandon her and seek the fast land in their bare feet. It was night, and the men separated to find shelter. Saxton went to the cabin of Henry Roan, near the bank, but was denied admittance. Woods, who reached the same cabin shortly after Saxton had been there and gone away, was also de- nied shelter, but on the payment of several dollars was permitted to pass the night there. Saxton at- tempted to reach Reid's house, but, being overcome with the cold, he fell to the ground and died. When found the skin was worn from his feet, and his legs were torn by the briers through which he had forced his way.
For almost a century Tinicum was a part of Ridley township, but at the May court, 1780, a petition, signed by twenty-three "inhabitants, owners, and occupiers of land in the Island of Tinicum," was pre-
286
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
sented, which set forth "that the inhabitants of the Island aforesaid, as a part of the township of Ridley, have heretofore paid a great part of the tax for the support of the roads in said township, and also main- tained and supported the roads on the Island at their own cost and charge, without the least assistance from the other part of the township. And whereas the dams on said Island, made for the purpose of preventing the tides from overflowing the meadows belonging to your petitioners, were in the year 1777 cut and destroyed, with a view of retarding the progress of the enemy, at that time invading this State, whereby the roads on said Island were greatly damaged, to the very great prejudice of your petitioners, and as it is not in our power to derive any assistance from the inhab- itants of the other part of the township, we conceive it to be a hardship to be obliged to support their road."
The petition concluded with a prayer that the court will, for these reasons, proceed "to divide the Island of Tinicum from the township of Ridley and to make a distinct township of it," with the like powers exer- cised by the other townships in the county.
On Aug. 31, 1780, the court allowed the prayer of the petitioners, and from thenceforth the township of Tinicum became a separate district, having all the rights and obligations of other townships. Indeed more, for while the general act of March 20, 1810,1 provided that "no person should be compelled to serve as constable more than once in every fifteen years," in the same law the township of Tinicum was exempt from the operation of the law, because there was not a sufficient number of persons residing on the island eligible to hold that office, unless within fifteen years a person could be compelled to act in that ca- pacity for more than one year.
Several references in our early Swedish annals lead to the conclusion that a school was established on the island of Tinicum in the primitive days of European settlement there, and that the clergyman of the parish acted in a dual capacity, that of the pedagogue being connected with his ministerial duties. As before mentioned, it is generally maintained by historians that Christopher Taylor had there a school in the higher branches of education previous to 1685. The foregoing statement, however, is inferentially arrived at from collateral evidence purely, and is in no wise the subject of direct proof. Indeed, we have no posi- tive knowledge of a school being kept on Tinicum previous to 1843, about which date Elizabeth Griffiths, a daughter of the then physician in charge at the Lazaretto, had a school in the Dutch house,-the first building on the grounds of the Board of Health, on the left-hand side of the road as you approach the river from Morris' Ferry. The title Dutch house was given to the building because of its being used to quarantine the crew and passengers of a Dutch vessel
in the early days of the Lazaretto. Miss Griffiths was followed by a male teacher, one Culin, but he re- mained there only for a brief season, when the school was abandoned. About 1847 another school was estab- lished in a small frame house, on the site of the primi- tive Swedish Church, the land now owned by George MeLaughlin, but the teacher, whose name was Wilson, became dissatisfied, and he relinquished its care. It also was abandoned, and in time the building itself was removed. In 1854 the first public school on the island, a small brick structure, was erected, the neigh- bors gratuitously laboring in its building, so that it cost not more than two hundred dollars in actual money expended. For many years it served its pur- pose, but in time it became dilapidated, the walls spreading, the plaster fallen from the laths in place, and the floors decayed. It was thoroughly inspected, pronounced hopeless of repair, and the directors de- cided to remove it, and in its place to put up another -the present school-house-on the site, which was done in 1868, at a cost of about four thousand dollars. The schools maintained there are now in good condi- tion, with the average attendance of pupils.
The following persons have been directors of the schools of Tinicum District. On Nov. 28, 1834, the court, under provision of act of 1834, appointed George W. Bartram and Jabez Bunting inspectors of schools for the township :
1840, Dr. Samuel Anderson, Edward B. Smith; 1842, Thomas Jarman, Mioshall Eachus, Jacob Roan : 1843, John Elkina, D. J. W. Griffith ; 1844, William Hunter, Thomas M. Smith ; 1845, James Howell, Wil- liam Johosoo ; 1846, William Johnson; 1847, Stephan Smith, J. Weaver; 1848, John Goff, John Pedrick; 1849, John Goff, William Ward, William Johnson, Stephen Smith, William Hunter ; 1850, John G Dyer, Alexander H. Smith; 1851, Williaon Ward, Humphrey Drooke; 1852, B. E. Carpenter, George Horas ; 1853, ao report ; 1854, William Ward, Amos Johnaon ; 1855, John Hart, William Hnoter ; 1856, William Ward; 1857, Amos Johnson, Joho Holland, Alexander McKeaver ; 1858, John Hart, Alexander McKrever; 1859, William Ward, Alexander McKeever; 1860, Amos Johnson, Alexander T. Carr; 1861, Joho Hart, William Weat; 1862, William Ward; 1863, Joseph P. Horne, D. A. Middleton; 1864, John Hart; 1865, Charles D. Johnson, John Stewart ; 1866, William Gleon, B. F. Miller; 1867, Ed- ward B. Ward, Charles D. Johnson ; 1868, no report : 1869, Thomas E. Howard, Thomas O. Stevena : 1870, Edmund B. Ward, Baojamio F. Miller; 1871, J. W. Ward, F. J. Carey ; 1872, William Wood, Danial Dills; 1873, Edward B Ward, W. H. Wood; 1874, B. F. Miller, Jamea Reed ; 1875, William Hiller, Charles H. Horna; 1876, Amoa Johnson, Charles D. Johnson ; 1877, Richard Wood, Lewis Kugler; 1878, Theodore Lukens, Adam Miller; 1879, Theodora Lukons, J. Miller ; 1880, B. Dillmore, Joseph B. Miller; 1881, Charles Horna, Richard P. Ward, William Miller; 1882, B. F. Miller, Charles H. Horna; 1883, George G. Miller, Pater Goff; 1884, William Boyd, William McCall.
The Islands .- During all our colonial administra- tion the government never claimed authority over the river, the crown holding that it had exclusive juris- diction therein. So fully was this acquiesced in that as late as January, 1775, the Supreme Council de- clared that the river Delaware, not being included within the body of any county of the province, the jurisdiction of the courts of Chester County did not extend into the river, and respecting it no legal process was valid issued from such courts. This as-
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