History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 78

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

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During the few days the British were encamped in Birmingham and Aston, after the battle of Brandy- wine, the good people of Bethel were annoyed and plundered by the foraging parties of the enemy. The latter appropriated the personal property which the Continentals had forgotten to impress, for many of the Revolutionary soldiers swore and stole equally to any troopers under the sun. After both armies had marched away it was a lucky household that could boast of a pair of blankets, while poultry and pork, silverware and silver money, whiskey (essential as bread in those days) and watches had almost wholly disappeared. That section of country was swept com- paratively clear of horses and neat cattle, while in a number of cases the residents were left entirely desti- tute of food. This loss occasioned by the presence of armed forces was large in Bethel, but the value of the articles taken by the British plundering parties can- not now be ascertained, for no returns were made, so far as has been learned, in that township, in conformity with the act of Assembly providing for the filing of sworu statements of the damages sustained by the people in those sections of the State through which the invading army made its way.

In June, 1872, a reunion of the descendants of John Larkin, Sr., and Martha, his wife, took place at the old homestead in Bethel. There were eighty per- sons present, among whom were three brothers and four sisters, the eldest being seventy-seven and the youngest sixty-three years old. John Larkin, the first of the family in Delaware County, was born in Lower Chichester early in the eighteenth century, and after his marriage with Esther Shelley, of Chi- chester, in 1731, be removed to Bethel. In 1799 his two sons, Isaac and -- , were living in the township, the first owning a farm of two hundred and seven acres, and the latter one hundred and twenty-one acres. Ex-Mayor Larkin, of Chester, as well as all the Larkins in Delaware County, are descended from John, who settled in Bethel about 1750. I have failed to learn when the first of the family came to the American colonies, but it was certainly before the coming of Penn. That this is so the records of Cecil County establish. In a deed made by Ephraim Au- gustus Hermen to Thomas Larkin of eight hundred and eighty-three acres of land in 1715, the indenture

recites that previous to Aug. 14, 1682, John Larkin, father of Thomas, had patented that number of acres, which tract was afterwards, including many more acres, patented to Augustine Hermen. In the deed made in 1715 it is stated, " and that the said Thomas Larkin had made his right to the said land appear to be prior to the right of the Hermens, for these reasons, and for divers other good and valuable considerations, Hermen, who was then lord of Bohemia Manor, and his wife, conveyed their interest in the land to Larkin." 1

Bethel has two villages and one Corner. Chelsea, which is in the north part of the township, was for- merly known as Corner Ketch (Catch). In 1833, Reece Pyle sold the land at the Corner to Robert McCall, who, in that year, built the stone dwelling he now oc- cupies, and in the following year built the frame store. Previous to the purchase by McCall, in the last century, Caleb Perkins had a store and shoe- maker's shop at the Corner; and about 1820 a small store was located, then kept by Norris Hannum, hut he had discontinued business before 1833. At the latter date Mrs. Sturgis was conducting a little shop in a building occupying the lot now owned by Sam- uel Jester. Robert McCall continued in business there for many years, and was succeeded by John Hoffman, who in time gave place to Daniel Dutton, he to George Adams, he to James C. Armstrong, and the latter to Samuel H. Pierce, who is now conduct- ing it, as well as discharging the office of postmaster of the village. About 1858 Chelsea was accorded the dignity of a postal station, and John Hoffman ap- pointed its first postmaster.

Booth's Corner is located in the western part of the township, almost midway between Concord and Up- per Chichester townships. In 1831, William Mous- ley had a log blacksmith-shop on the corner where the store of Isaac Booth is now located. In that year Wesley Clark purchased the opposite corner, and erected a wheelwright- and blacksmith-shop. In 1835, Isaac Booth purchased the ground whereon Mousley's shop stood, erected the store building, and from that time the corner took its present name.

Zebley's Corner is at the extreme southern part of the township, bordering on the Delaware State line, and boasts a store and a few dwelling-houses.

The following is a list of justices of the peace for Bethel township:

Samuel Price ........ .. Aug. 30, 1791

Joseph Trimble ....... April 21, 1827

Joseph Marshall ... .. May 20, 1800

Robert Frame ......... Jan. 15, 1829

Matthias Kerlin ...... July 4. 1808

Robert Hall .. ..... Feb. 8, 1831

Thomas Pierce ....... .. Feb. 5,1814 Wm. Mendenhall .... Dec. 6, 1836

James Bratton ...... 3, 1820 ... Jonas P. Eyre .......... April 14, 1840 Samuel Register ...... June 4, 1858

Joseph Fox Dec. 4, 1823

Johu Mattson ... 13, 1823

Joseph Bowen ......... Nov. 10, 1824

Albin Baldwin ......... April 22, 1868

Siloam Methodist Church is a branch of the Bethel Church of Delaware, the former having been organized in 1852, at which time about fifty persons

I Johnston's " History of Cecil County, Md.," p. 103.

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BETHEL TOWNSHIP.

formed the membership of Siloam. A lot of ground, comprising an acre and a half, was given to the con- gregation by Samuel Hanby and Samuel Hance, each contributing three-quarters of an acre. The hand- some stone sanctuary, forty-two by sixty feet, was hastened forward, and in the latter part of 1852 the building had so far progressed that the basement- story was dedicated, and services regularly held therein. On Sept. 24, 1854, the church, then com- pleted, was dedicated, Revs. Mr. Hurey and Andrew Manship, of Philadelphia, conducting the services on that occasion. The building was erected at a cost of four thousand five hundred dollars, of which sum one-half had been contributed from time to time while it was in process of construction, and the re- mainder was collected on the dedication day. The church was embraced in the Mount Lebanon Circuit, and was under the pastoral charge of Rev. William H. Burrell. He has been followed by the following pastors : James Hand, Thomas Newman, Francis B. Harvey, Isaac Merrill, - Smith, John France, John Dyson, Joseph S. Lane, William W. McMichael, Edward F. Kenney, George W. Lybrand, William T. Magee, and Maris Graves, the present incumbent. During Mr. Kenney's pastorate serious charges of gross immoral conduct were made against him, and the long investigation and subsequent trial before the ecclesiastical court aroused great interest in the im- mediate neighborhood and surrounding districts. His acquittal on all the charges by the Annual Con- ference, in 1876, was particularly gratifying to Siloam Church, and when the announcement was made of the result of the trial, the congregation expressed their sympathy in applause, an unusual occurrence in a religious meeting. The present membership of the Siloam is one hundred and fifty, and the Sunday- school connected with the church has one hundred pupils. James C. Hinkson is the present super- intendent. The church was incorporated by the court of Delaware County, Nov. 23, 1868.

In 1871 a mission of Siloam Church was estab- lished at Chelsea, in a chapel which had been built by Dr. Phineas Price, on the Chester and Concord road, east of the village, many years before. The building was purchased by the congregation of Siloam Church, and was formally dedicated July 22, 1871, Rev. Mr. Lane conducting the services on that occa- sion.

Schools .- About the beginning of this century Cæsar Paschal, a colored servant of Mark Wilcox, owned a tract of ground in the angle formed by the intersection of the Chester and Concord road with the Chichester and Concord road at Corner Catch (Chel- sea). He sold an acre of land to a committee for the purpose of erecting thereon a school building. A log house was located in the middle of this lot, so as to afford ample play-ground for the children. How long this building was occupied for school purposes is unknown, but it certainly was not used as such for

any considerable length of time, but was sold to Robert R. Hall, who moved the log structure to the roadside and converted it into a dwelling. The premises are now owned by Samuel Regester.

Previous to 1780 a subscription stone school-house was built on the corner of Kirk road, where Thomas Booth's shops now are. John Foulk, Powell Clayton, and another resident of the township whose name is forgotten, were the trustees. At one time Nathaniel Cloud was the teacher, and the mother of Wesley Poole was a pupil under his instruction. The floor of the building was laid in bricks, and was cold and cheerless in the winter days, the roaring wood-fire being insufficient to warm it thoroughly. Powell Clayton, who was the surviving trustee, sold the lot to Isaac Booth, who tore the building down in 1825, but for several years before that date schools had ceased to be held there. In 1824 a school was opened in a stone building erected on a lot purchased from John Larkin, on the Bethel road, east of Booth's Corner, afterwards known as number one public school. It was likewise a subscription school, Na- thaniel Larkin, Thomas Booth, and John Larkin being the trustees. Charles Willis was the first teacher there,-and subsequently by George Walters and Adam Mendenhall. In this school-house one United States senator and Governor of Arkansas (Gen· Powell Clayton) and two judges (William Clayton, of the Ninth District Court of Arkansas, and Thomas J. Clayton, president judge of Delaware County) were educated, as were many of the present residents of Bethel. The old building remained until 1868, when it was torn down and the present structure, twenty-eight by thirty-five feet, was erected at a cost of sixteen hundred and sixty-one dollars. Osborn Booth was the builder.

On Sept. 9, 1839, a lot containing fifty-five perches was purchased from Foulk Cloud, at Booth's Corner, for $27.50. (The latter, it will be recalled, while trimming peach-trees at his residence, at Booth's Corner, on the afternoon of Dec. 15, 1870, was stricken with paralysis, and died in a few hours.) On this lot a one-story octagon house was erected and used as a public school for several years, when it was burned. The directors rebuilt it, using the old wall, and it con- tinued in use until 1870, when it was torn down, the present structure, known as school number two, being erected on its site at a cost of seventeen hundred and eighty-nine dollars. Nelson G. Green was the con- tractor.

On May 22, 1860, a lot containing eighty-four square perches was purchased from Curtis Barlow, on the Bethel road, a short distance west of Chelsea, and the present school-house, known as number three, erected.

Under the act of 1834 the court appointed in that year Robert McCall and John Larkin inspectors. Following is a list of the school directors of Bethel since 1840:

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

1840, Nathaniel Pratt, Nathanial Cloud; 1842, Foulk Cloud, Nelson Clayton ; 1843, Moses Pyle, Thomas Zehley; 1844, Samuel Register, Nelson Clayton ; 1845, John Clayton, Jonas Eyre ; 1846, Moses Pyle, Albin Baldwin; 1847, Neleon Clayton, Nathaniel Williame; 1848, Wesley Poole, John Clayton ; 1849, Albin Baldwin, Thomas Booth ; 1850, Foulk Cloud, Wesley Poole; 1851, Wesley Clark, Benjamin Larkin ; 1852, Samuel F. Larkin, Albin Baldwin; 1853, Thomas Booth, Sharplees Green ; 1854, Banjamin Larkin, Thomas S. Philips; 1855, Albin Baldwin, Owen Zobley ; 1856, Rohert W. Barton, John H. Cheyney ; 1857, Nathan L. Eyre, Reese Baldwin; 1858, no re- port ; 1859, Samuel Goodley, Robert Logan ; 1860, J. W. Hance, Robert H. Barlow ; 1861, Albin Baldwin, Sharpless Green; 1862, Robert Logan, Wesley Poole; 1863, Robert H. Barlow, Benjamin Worrilow ; 1864, Clarkson Way, J. J. Shields; 1865, Charles M. Cheyney, Samuel Dalton ; 1866, James S. Peters, Robert H. Barlow ; 1867, Albin Baldwin, Benjamin Worrilow ; 1868, William S. Goodley, Joseph Larkin; 1869, Charles W. Poole, Reece Baldwin; 1870, Charles M. Cheyney, Sharpless Green ; 1871, William S. Goodley, Joseph Larkin ; 1872, C. W. Poole, R. Baldwin; 1873, Nathan Cloud, Wesley Poola; 1874, William S. Goodley, Joseph Larkin; 1875, Thomas Talley, James Booth ; 1876, Thomas Booth, George Ebright; 1877, Charles M. Cheyney, Charles Young; 1878, C. W. Poole, A. Pierce; 1879, Thomas Hinkson, Charles Young; 1880, Charles M. Cheyney, Charles Young; 1881, C. W. Poole, Alban Pierce ; 1882, Thomas Hinkson, Clark W. Baldwin; 1883, Chiarles M. Cheyney, William Mathewe; 1884, C. W. Poole, Alban Pierce.

Nearly a mile west of Chelsea, on the Bethel road, is the "Lancaster" farm, where are now the noted garnet-mines. About 1873, Charles Williams, who then owned the estate, directed considerable attention to the garnet sand found on the farm, but his object was more to have the larger pebbles set in gold as personal ornaments than for any use in industrial pursuits. John H. Smedley, of Middletown, a noted geologist and mineralogist, believing that the large deposits of garnets in Bethel could be utilized in all trades in which emery was used for grinding, shaping, and burnishing of metal goods, early in the following year urged upon several firms in Philadelphia the de- velopment of the mines to that end, but without suc- cess. Five years after this discouraging attempt to utilize the deposits of garnets in Bethel, an agent of a New York firm, largely engaged in the manufac- ture of sand-paper and emery, visited Mr. Smedley to consult with him respecting the corundum of Dela- ware County and its use in their business. Smedley in- formed him that he believed the garnet sand would be of much greater value to them than corundum. The result was a visit to the "Lancaster" farm, and its ultimate purchase by Herman, Behr & Co., of New York, of the forty-seven-acre tract, at a cost of one hundred dollars an acre. In the fall of the year 1879 the work of digging was begun, and has been prose- cuted with success. The value of the garnet-sand varies from thirty to one hundred dollars a ton. The first quality is used in making emery-wheels, the second in sand-paper, and the third is sold to stone- cutters for polishing marble.

Bethel Lodge, No. 191, Knights of Pythias, is lo- cated at Booth's Corner.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ROBERT McCALL.

Mr. McCall is of Scotch lineage, and the grandson of Thomas McCall, who resided in Concord township. The children of the latter were seven in number, of whom George, the youngest, married Margaret Mc- Kay, daughter of Robert Mckay, and had children,- William, Joseph, Rebecca, Robert, Mary, Thomas, and Margaret. Robert, the third son, was born on the 14th of July, 1802, in Concord township, and during the period of his early life resided in the county of his birth. He improved the slight advan- tages of education offered, and on attaining his ma- jority developed the exceptional business capacity which has since made his career a successful one. Opening a general store at Thornton, Delaware Co., he remained six years in that locality, and then re- moved to another location in Thornbury, where he also became the proprietor of a similar store, and founded an extensive trade. In 1834 he came to Chelsea, Bethel township, erected a store, and con- ducted a thriving business until 1862, when he retired from mercantile ventures, and purchased a farm to which for a brief period he devoted his energies. He, however, continues to occupy the residence in Chel- sea he erected fifty years ago, having relinquished the cares of business. Mr. McCall during his extended life has maintained a reputation for integrity and scrupulous honesty, while his judgment and keen per- ceptions have aided greatly in the success which has attended his mercantile pursuits. He married, March 13, 1834, Mrs. Anna M., widow of Dr. Jesse Hamer, of Thornbury, and daughter of Dr. John H. Cheyney, of Delaware County. She died in April, 1875, and he was again married to Mrs. Lydia P., widow of Thomas P. Powel, of Concord. Mr. McCall was for- merly a Democrat in his political predilections, but later espoused the principles of the Republican party. He has not been the recipient of any distinguished political honors from the fact of his indifference to such marks of deference. He is a member and rec- tor's warden of St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church of Concord.

CHARLES M. CHEYNEY.

Charles M. Cheyney, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Delaware County in 1781, and married Prudence Dutton, the birth of whose only child (a son), David R., occurred June 1, 1809. He early engaged in teaching and subsequently en- tered the counting-house of a Philadelphia firm, for whom he was book-keeper. He was not active as a politician, and the incumbent of no official positions other than those connected with the township. He was married to Elleneanor B. Kenney, whose birth occurred in the State of Delaware in 1804, and had

Robert m Call

Charles No Chinup

Thomas Booth Sa

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BIRMINGHAM TOWNSHIP.

children,-Anna, Robert (who died in youth), John H. (who entered the service during the late war, and after an active military career of two years and nine months was fatally wounded at the battle of Mine Run), and Charles M. The last named was born in Thornbury township, Delaware Co., Oct. 26, 1835, and received his education at the public schools of the vicinity, with the additional advantage of a brief period at a private school in Media. He then engaged in the labor incident to farm-life, and was thus em- ployed at the time of his enlistment in Company F, Twentieth Pennsylvania Cavalry, under Col. John E. Wynekoop, for a period of seven months' service before the close of the late war. Mr. Cheyney was married in 1861 to Sallie J. Hall (born in 1838), whose great- grandparents came from their native land with Wil- liam Penn, and purchased land of him in Concord township, Delaware Co., where they settled. George Hall, her grandfather, married Jane James, whose son, Mifflin Hall, father of Mrs. Cheyney, was born in 1808, and married Lydia Mccullough in 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Cheyney have had nine children,-John H., Arthur B., David M., Lucius L., William T., Charles R., James S., Harrie B., and Albert B. Mr. Cheyney is a Republican in his political views and has filled various township offices, having served for eighteen years as a member of the school board. In religion he is a supporter, though not a member, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has since his mar- riage been engaged in farming in Delaware County.

THOMAS BOOTH, SR.

Two brothers of the Booth family emigrated from England, if tradition be correct, about two centuries ago, one of them, whose name was Robert, having married, and had among his children a son, Robert, who settled in Bethel township. His son, Thomas, the grandfather of the subject of this biography, mar- ried Phœbe Cloud, and had children,-James, Joseph, Robert, Nathaniel, Jemima, John, and Isaac. The last-named son is the only survivor of this number. James Booth was born in 1790, on the homestead in Bethel, which he occupied, and the land of which he cultivated until his marriage. He then removed to land purchased by his father, and now owned by the subject of this sketch. He married Lydia Forwood, and had children,-Thomas, Mary, Ann, Phoebe, and one who died in infancy. Thomas Booth was born in 1817, in Bethel township, and spent his childhood upon the farm of his father. Having lost that parent when seven years of age, he became an inmate of the home of his uncle, John Booth. After receiving limited advantages of education he entered upon a career of labor, and at twenty-one became owner of the home- stead, having inherited his share and purchased the remaining interest. He married, in 1844, Susanna Marshall, daughter of John Marshall, who was of English descent, and has children,-Sarah Ann (Mrs.

John M. Hinkson, of Concord), Thomas, Samuel (de- ceased), and Lydia Emma (deceased).

Thomas married Leah Talley, of Delaware, and has children,-Laura and Thomas. About 1854, Mr. Booth became a merchant at Booth's Corner, and continued thus employed for some years, after which he returned to the farm, and again resumed the duties of a farmer. He is in politics a stanch Republican, and has held various township offices, as also the ap- pointment for many years of postmaster at Booth's Corner. Having now abandoned active labor, he still resides in the township, and by his advice and experience aids his son, who cultivates the farm.

CHAPTER XXXI.

BIRMINGHAM TOWNSHIP.

AT the extreme southwestern end of Delaware County is Birmingham township, which in early days was pronounced as though written Brummagen. The Brandywine Creek constitutes the entire western boun- dary of the township. This stream was called by the Swedes Fiskekill, and the present name, by tradition, is asserted to have been given to the creek from the fact that after the conquest of New Sweden by the Dutch, in the fall of the year 1655, a Dutch vessel, ladened with brandy, termed by the Dutch " brand- wein," wintered in the stream, and, being cut through by the ice in the following spring, sank. The wreck of this vessel is said to have remained until the mid- dle of the last century on the northern side of the stream, several hundred yards above the juncture of the Brandywine with the Christiana River.1 The name of the township, Birmingham, it is generally sup- posed was given to the territory by William Brinton, the first white settler known to have located in that neighborhood, in remembrance of the town of the like name in England, near which he resided previ- ous to his emigration (in 1684) to the New World. At that time he was a man beyond the noonday of life, and accompanied by his wife, Ann, his junior by five years, a son (William) and two daughters (Elizabeth and Esther), he pushed out beyond the extreme limit of civilization, where he erected a log cabin, as was then the custom, near a spring, among a heavy growth of hardwood trees, preferring to undergo the priva- tions which must necessarily attend his residence there than to submit to the persecutions which, for conscience' sake, he had been forced to endure in his native land. He had purchased from Joseph Alli- bone and William Morgan four hundred acres, and his patent was so located that a century later, when the county of Delaware was erected out of Chester,

1 Ferria' "Original Settlements on the Delaware," p. 196. Vincent's " History of Delaware," vol. i. p. 262.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the line of demarkation cut his original tract into almost equal parts, giving a like portion to both of the counties. The first winter the emigrants passed in the " backwoods," that of 1685-86, was unusually rigorous, bringing in its train severe privations. To such extremity was the household reduced, owing to their remote situation, that the family tradition re- cords they would all have perished by starvation had not the Indians supplied them with game and grain. His settlement, or the tract patented to him, had on it at the time an Indian town. The savages never disturbed him, but, on the other hand, always seemed glad to be of service or minister, so far as they could, to his or his family's necessities.

Slowly the land in that locality was settled, but the residents for several miles, who were mostly of the society of Friends, would occasionally hold religions meetings at his dwelling, which was familiarly termed " the cabin." When George Keith sowed dissension in the society, William Brinton leaned to the precepts of the former, but be ultimately became reconciled, and died in 1700, at threescore years and teo, in full membership with Friends. His wife had died the preceding year, and both were buried on the home- stead farm ; the place of their interment being on the right-hand side of the road leading from Dilworth- town to Painter's Cross-road. William Brinton had acquired considerable real estate subsequent to the patent mentioned, and at his death was considered as possessed of large means.

William Brinton, the younger, who was a stripling of seventeen when his father settled in Birmingham, at the age of twenty-three married Jane, a daughter of Richard Thatcher, of Thornbury. After his father's death, be built, in 1704, a stone house a short distance south of Dilworthtown, which, still standing, remained for over a hundred and seventy-five years almost as it was when he erected it. It is only in the last few years that it has undergone any alteration. He was an enterprising man, being one of the projectors and owners of a company grist-mill in Concord, the first located in that section, and was largely instrumental in the erection of Concord Friends' meeting-house, to which he contributed liberally. His wife, when fifty- four years of age, in 1724, accompanied Elizabeth Webb, a ministering Friend, in a religious visit to New England, the entire journey being made on horseback. From a letter written by her from Long Island, it appears that she was particularly pleased with a horse she saw there " with a white star in his face." In 1695 he was constable of Birmingham, and in 1713 was a member of the Legislature from Ches-

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 78

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