History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 8

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

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THE COLONIAL HISTORY TO THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

Haverford townships, in this county), in laying out lands for other purchesers, not recognized as distinc- ively Welsh settlers, in such a way as to interfere with the continuity of "the Barony," and because the inhabitants of that territory were summoned to do 'ury and other public duties in both Philadelphia and Chester Counties, in 1688 a lengthy petition was prepared by them and forwarded by Col. William Markham the same year to Penn in England. It is not known whether the letter was ever received by Penn; at least so far as the writer has information no notice was ever taken by the proprietary of the communication.

The Welsh settlers in Radnor and Haverford, how- ever, declined to recognize the division of the coun- ties of Philadelphia and Chester, and silently refused to pay their proportion of the public taxes to the treasury of Chester County or to serve on juries. The authorities of the latter at length, having exhausted all means at their command to compel recognition of their jurisdiction, presented a petition from the jus- tices and inhabitants of Chester County to the Gov- ernor and Council, March 25, 1689, in which they represented that the county was at first small, "not above 9 miles square & but Thinly seated, whereby ye said County is not able to Support the Charge thereoff," and that the Governor in " his Serious Con- sideration of our Weak Condition was pleased, out of Compassion to us, to grant an Enlargement of ye same," which was subsequently done in the official boundaries before mentioned. To support the allega- tion that these limits had been approved by William Penn, John Blunstone testified "that a ffew days be- fore Gover Penn left this Province that upon ye bank by John Simcock's house I moved him to Deside this matter that had been so long Discoursed, who then, before me and Others did Declare that ye bounds Should thus runn from the mouth of Bow Creek to Mill Creek, weh should be ye bounds until it come to ye Land of Herford, and then to take in the Townds of Herford & Radnor; from thence to the Skoolkill, and take in his mannour of Springtowne, . . . then I asked him if he would be pleased to give it under

requested me yt all ye Laade Purchased of me by those of North Wales and South Wales, together with ye adjacent counties to yu, as Haver- fordshire, Shropshire, and Cheshire, about fourty thousand acres, may be layd out contiguously as one Barony, alledging yt ye number allready come and suddenly to come, are such as will be capable of planting yo seme much wtbin ye proportion allowed by ye custom of ye country, & so not lye in large and useless vacancies. And because I am inclined end determined to agree and favour ym wth any reasonable Conveniency & priviledge : I do hereby charge thee & strictly require thee to lay out ye ed tract of Land in as uniform a manner, as conveniently may be, upon ye Weet side of Skoolkill river, running three miles upon ye same, & two milee backward, & then extend ye parallell wth ye river six miles, and to run westwardly so far as till ye ed quantity of land be Com- pleately surveyed unto ym. Given at Pennebury, ye 13th 1st mo. 1684. " WILL. PENN.

" To THE. HOLMES, Surveyor General."

In pursuance of this warrant the Surveyor General, un the 4th of the 2d month (April), 1684, issued an order to his deputy, David Powell, he directing him to execute it. The survey was probably made before the end of 1684. See Smith's " History of Delaware County," pp. 164-65.

his hand, to avoyd ffurther Trouble, who answered he would, if any of vs would Come the next day to Philadelphia, in order thereunto; one was sent, but what then obstructed I am not certaine, but yt ye Gover" Departed about two days after." Randall Vernon testified that William Howell, of Harford, "Signified unto me" that he had "asked ye Gover" to what County they should be joined or belong unto, & The Gover" was pleased to answer him that they must belong to Chester County." Thomas Usher, sheriff of Chester County, testified that Penn said to him, "Thomas, I perceive that the Skoolkill Creek Comes or runs so upon the back of Philadelphia that it makes ye City almost an Island, so that a Robbery or the like may be there Committed, and ye offender gitt over ye Creek, and so Escape for want of due persute, &c., therefore I intend that ye bounds of Philadelphia County Shall Come about 3 or ffour miles on this side of the Skoolkill, and I would not have thee to take notice or to oppose that Sheriff on ye Execution of his office, about Kingses or the like, but I intend to enlarge this County downwards to Brandywine." 1 The Deputy Surveyor-General produced the official map, showing the county lines as before given, and stated that "it so is set out by order of the Governor and Provincial Council." Governor Blackwell and the Council intimated that as the bounds had been pub- lished in the map of Thomas Holme, which had been distributed in England, and as land had been sold and located according to that map, to change the boundaries now might result in much confusion to purchasers. Besides, the Welsh settlers had refused to bear any part of the taxes or serve on juries in Philadelphia, as they had done in Chester County, claiming that they were a distinct "barony," and although the Governor and Council intimated that clearly the Welsh Tract was a part of Chester County, yet they refused to announce their final conclusion until the next morning, when, if the Welsh settlers chose to show cause why they should not be part of Chester County, they would be heard. The next morning, Thomas Lloyd and John Eckley appearcd on behalf of the Welsh, alleging that. Penn had in- timated to them that they would form a county pal- atine; but as they had no written evidence to sub- stantiate that assertion, Council decided that the boundaries already shown to have been established must be confirmed. Thereupon the strong arm of the law was extended to compel the reluctant Welsh- men to yield obedience to the decree that had been made. The Court of Chester County appointed John Jerman constable for Radnor, and John Lewis for Haverford, but these recipients of judicial favor fail- ing to present themselves, the justices determined that the dignity of the bench should be maintained. Hence we find that at court held "3d day of 1st week, 3d mo., 1689, ordered that Warrants of Con-

1 Colonial Recorde, vol. i. pp. 263, 265.

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

tempt be Directed to ye Sheriff to apprehend ye Bodyes of John Lewis and John Jerman for their Contempt of not entering into their respective offices of Constables (viz.) John Lewis for Harfort, and John Jerman for Radnor, when thereunto required by this Court."

At the same session, David Laurence, who had been returned as a grand juror from Haverford, failed to attend, and for his neglect or refusal to appear was presented by the grand inquest. The court fined Laurence ten shillings. The jury also presented "the want of the inhabitants of the townships of Radnor and Hartfort, and the inhabitants adjacent, they not being brought in to join with us in the Levies and other public services of this county." The move- ment to compel the Welsh to submit to the consti- tuted authority did not cease, for at the following (June) court the commission of William Howell, of Haverford, was read, and he afterwards assumed the office and subscribed "to the solemn declaration" required. William Jenkins, of Haverford, at the same court, served as a juror. Haverford had yielded, but the court deemed it wise that public proclamation, as was then customary with all laws, should be made respecting this decree, hence we find this entry in the old record of the county : That at court, on Wednesday of the first week in June, 1689, "the Division Lyne between this County and Philadelphia was read, dated ye 1st of ye 2ª moth, 1685." At the December court following, John Jerman was qualified as constable of Radnor, and thereafter the two townships made no further objection to act with and pay taxes to the authorities of Chester County. In 1688 the inhabi- tants of the province were greatly alarmed by reason of a rumor diligently circulated that two Indian women from New Jersey had informed an old Dutch resident near Chester that the aborigines had deter- mined, on a designated Thursday, to attack and mas- sacre all the white settlers on the Delaware. To add to the general consternation, about ten o'clock at night of the evening fixed upon by the savages to begin the attack a messenger "out of the woods" came hurriedly into Chester with the report that three families, residing about nine miles distant, had been murdered by the Indians. The people of the town gathered to consider the startling intelligence, and at midnight a Quaker, resident at Chester, ac- companied by two young men, went to the place named, where they found the three houses empty, but no signs of murder. The dwellers therein, alarmed by the rumor, had fled to the homes of their parents, about a mile distant on Ridley Creek. The further particulars of this alarm are thus given by Proud : 1

going home to know the certainty of the affair, he ran off to acquaint the government at Philadelphia, but being met by a person of more prudence than himself before he gut to the city he was persnaded by him te return.

" The report. netwithstanding, soon arrived at the city, and was told with such alarming circumstances that a messenger was immediately diepatched to Marcus Hoek, near the said Naaman's Creek, to enquire the truth of it. He quickly returned and confirmed the report, but with this variation, that it was at Brandywine Creek, at an Indian tewn, where the five hundred Indiane were assembled, and that they, having a lame king, had carried him away, with all their women and children. These circumstances rendered the affair still mere alarming, and with many amounted to a certainty.

"The Council were, at that time, sitting at Philadelphia on other affairs, when one of them, a Friend, supposed to be Caleb Pusey,2 who lived in Chester County, voluntarily offered himself to go to the place, provided they would name five others to accompany him, without weapons; which, being soon agreed on, they rode to the place ; but, in- stead of meeting with five hundred warriors, they found the old king quietly lying with his lame foot alung on the ground, and his head at ease on a kind nf pillow, the women at work in the fields, and the chil- dren playing together.

" When they had entered the wigwam the king presently asked them very mildly, ' What they all came for ?' They told him the report which the Indian women had raised, and asked him whether the Indians had anything against the English. He appeared much displeased at the repert, and said, 'The woman ought to be burnt to death, and that they had nothing against the English,' adding, ' Tis true there is abont fifteen pounds yet behind of our pay for the land which Willism Penn bought, but as you are still on it and improving it to your own use, we are not in haste for our pay ; but when the English come to settle it we expect to be paid.' This the messengere thinking very reasonable, told him they would undoubtedly be paid for their land.

" One of the company further expressed biniself to the Indian King, in the following manner: 'That the great God, who made the world, ·and all things therein, consequently made all mankind, both Indiana and English ; and as he made all, so his love was extended to all : which, was plainly shown, by his causing the rain and dews to fall on the ground of both Indiane and English alike; that it might generally pro- duce what the Indians, as well as what the English sewed or planted in it, for the sustenance of life; and also by his making the sun to shine equally on ell, both Indians and English, to nourish them all, extend- ing his love thus to all, for they were naturally bound to love one another,'

"The King answered, ' What they had said was true; and as God has given you corn, I would advise you to get it in (it being harvest time); for we intend you no harm.' They parted amicably, and the messengers returning put an end to the people's fears."

The Revolution of 1688 in England was a serious obstacle to the rapid development of this province. William Penn was known to be a warm personal friend of the deposed king, from whose hand he had received many favors; hence, when the new mon- archs were told that Penn was a Jesuit of St. Omers, a self-devoted slave to despotism, and even charged with conspiring for the restoration of James II., the royal ears hearkened attentively to the wildest rumors circulated by his enemies. Penn was twice exam- ined before the Privy Council, and he was even held to bail for his appearance, but the Court of King's Bench discharged him, as no evidence was presented substantiating the charges lodged against him ; there-

"The master of one of these families heing from home, had been informed five hundred Indians were actually collected at Naaman's Craek, in pursuit of their design to kill the English; and as he was bastening to his home, he thought he heard his boy crying out aud eny- ing, 'What shall I do, my dame le killed " Upen which, instead of

1 Iliet. of Pennsylvania, vol. I. page 336.

2 Dr. Smith has correctly shown that Pusey was not a member of the Council that year. It is to be regretted that the name of this member of Council is not recorded, for his act was one of rare heroism. In all probability Proud has confused the incidente, in that he makes Pusey visit the Indians from Philadelphia, when doubtless-for he was of thet stamp of noble men-the Quaker who at midnight rode from Chester, accompanied by two young men, to the scene of the alleged violence was Pusey.

THE COLONIAL HISTORY TO THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

upon he decided to return immediately to his colony, and to that end had gathered about five hundred per- sons to accompany him, the government had even ordered a convoy for the protection of the emigrants, when an infamous wretch accused him under oath of attempting to incite a treasonable outbreak in Lan- cashire, and Penn escaping arrest, was compelled to abandon his proposed colony, entailing on him serious loss. Meanwhile in the province faction feelings and dissensions had been aroused until the three lower counties, now comprising the State of Delaware, actu- ally separated from the three upper counties of Penn- sylvania, their representatives refusing to act in con- junction with the authorities in Philadelphia. At ' last Penn, in the hope of maintaining order, was compelled to appoint, in the beginning of 1692, Thomas Lloyd to be Governor of the province, and William Markham to be Governor of the territory (Delaware). The new order of things, however, failed to produce the harmony desired, so that reports of the confused condition of affairs in the province which went abroad supplied the crown of England with an excuse for suspending the proprietary rule, which was done by a commission from William and Mary, dated Oct. 20, 1692, to Col. Benjamin Fletcher to be Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of Pennsyl- vania. The commission to Fletcher set forth three reasons for the act of suspension, but the real in- centive was the doubt of Penn's loyalty, which the latter's enemies had awakened in the royal breasts.

laws which had been enacted were revised, modi- fied, and repealed by the throne in the authority vested in Fletcher. There is little of interest, speci- ally in reference to the radical changes thus made, connected with the annals of Delaware County, apart from that of the State at large, but among the seven members of the late Governor Lloyd's Council who protested so earnestly against any and all measures in contravention of Penn's charter this county was ably represented. Governor Fletcher's understand- ing of the situation was made clear in his reply to a subsequent address by the Assembly, that "These Lawes and that model of government is desolved and at an end."

William Penn, than whom no more adroit politician (in the legitimate, not the conventional use of that word) appears on the pages of English history, waited for the royal distrust to subside in time, and by away to such an extent that their Majesties themselves at last desired to restore Penn to the enjoyment of those rights of which they had arbitrarily deprived him. Hence, on Aug. 20, 1694, the commission of Governor Fletcher was annulled, and letters patent granted to Penn fully restoring to him the Province of Pennsylvania and its territories. The proprietary not having matters arranged that he could leave Eng- land at that time, commissioned William Markham

Governor, which office the latter discharged until late in the spring of 1698, when he received a new com- mission as Lieutenant-Governor.

In the fall of 1699 the yellow fever visited Phila- delphia as a pestilence. Many of the inhabitants died of the disease, and the utmost alarm prevailed through- out the province. Although we have no direct record that the malady made its appearance at Chester, that such was the case may be inferentially concluded from the fact that the September court adjourned without transacting any business, an incident without a par- allel in our county's history. Later on, in November of that year, William Penn came for the second time to his colony, and before leaving England he an- nounced that it was his intention to make his perma- nent residence in the province. As the vessel sailed up the Delaware the proprietary caused it to be an- chored off Chester, and, coming ashore, he for a second time became an honored guest at the Essex House. Robert Wade, his friend, was dead, but Lydia, his widow, welcomed Penn, and here he met Thomas Story, who had recently returned from a religious journey to Virginia. The next morning, as is related by Clarkson,1 Penn was rowed across the creek in a boat to the eastern side, "and as he landed, some young men officiously, and contrary to express orders of some of the magistrates, fired two small sea pieces of cannon, and being ambitious to make three out of two, by firing one twice, one of them, darting in a car- tridge of powder before the piece was sponged, had But whatever was the motive, the whole system of : his left arm shot to pieces; upon which, a surgeon

being sent for, an amputation took place." The young man, Bevan, thus injured died the following April, and the expenses attending the nursing and ultimate burial of the wounded lad were discharged by Penn.

The proprietary was not destined to end his days in his colony. William III., after the death of Mary, is believed to have regarded him in no friendly spirit, and when the proprietary learned that the ministry, with the intention of converting the provincial gov- ernment into a regal one, had introduced a bill to that effect in Parliament, the consideration of which had been postponed until he could be present, the urgency of affairs compelled his prompt return to England. He sailed from Philadelphia, Nov. 1, 1701, never again to visit the commonwealth he had founded. Before his departure he established a Council of State, and appointed Andrew Hamilton as Deputy Governor.

degrees the antagonistic feelings of the crown died | cidents as relate to court proceedings, religious asso-

The general history of our county, saving such in- ciations, organization of townships, and similar mat- ters, which will be considered hereafter, is very meagre until the approaching struggle of the colonists with Great Britain threw the country into a commotion that tore asunder family ties, and strained the social and political fabric to its very foundation. In a great measure previous to that period, year had followed

1 Life of William Penn, vol. ii. p. 163.

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

year without leaving any impression that has remained to our day. Even the absurd farce, on May 16, 1706, of the French invasion, in which Governor Evans played such a ridiculous part, seems to have made no lasting trace on our county's records, yet doubtless the messenger who rode with such hot haste to Philadel- phia, and whose tidings caused such widespread con- sternation in the latter place1 as he passed through Marcus Hook, Chester, and Darby, gave forth intima- tions that he was the bearer of momentous intelli- gence, for such a course would have been in full accord with the preconcerted scheme of the Governor to arouse general alarm in the province, and yet there seems not to be the faintest reference to this in our local annals.

On May 16, 1712, to the Provincial Council was presented " A Petition of a great number of the In- habitants of the county of Chester, praying that yo Burrough of the Town of Chester, in this Province, may be made a free Port, was read & Considered ; And it is the opinion of the board that the matter may be presented to the Propry., that he may take proper methods Concerning the same & Consult the Courts of the Queen's Customs therein."? In all prob- ability William Penn, whose energy was beginning to yield under the weight of years and constant pecu- niary embarrassments, never gave this petition any serions consideration, his chief desire at that period appearing to be to rid himself of the trouble, vexa- tion, and expense of the colony by its sale to Queen Ann for twelve thousand pounds. This transfer would doubtless have been effected had not a stroke of par- alysis rendered Penn unable to formally execute the contract. During all the last century, as will be shown as we proceed in this narrative, Chester was a place where outward- and inward-bound vessels stopped for days together. On the 4th of Fifth month, 1730, at noon, James Logan dispatched a letter to his son, William, "on his voyage to Bristol, sent to him at Chester," aud during the British occupation of Phila- delphia almost all their transports and men-of-war lay off the former town. As just stated, William Penn's health became so impaired that he was unable to carry to an end his contemplated sale of the province to the crown, and from that time he never wholly rallied, his mind gradually becoming more and more feeble until his death, July 30, 1718.

The disputes respecting the northwestern boundary of the county of Chester, which had been, as supposed, officially determined in 1685, and after a protracted resistance had finally been accepted by the Welsh in 1689, in the early spring of 1720 again engaged the attention of Council, when at that time a petition of the inhabitants of the west side of Schuylkill was presented, setting forth that the commissioners of Chester County bad compelled the payment by them

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 8

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