History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 9

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

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1 Gordon's " History of Pennsylvania," p. 138.

2 Colonial Records, voi. il. p. 546.

of taxes levied by the assessors of that county, al- though they stated that ever since their first settle- ment they had paid their taxes to Philadelphia ; that they had no trade with Chester, " seeing it is impos- sible for us to have any tolerably convenient road to Chester by reason of Rocks and Mountains," and also urged other arguments, all concluding with a prayer that the counties might be so divided as to place them within Philadelphia.3 On Feb. 1, 1721, Council re- ported ' that the General Assembly had acted on the matter, and that the secretary had made full examina- tions as to the official boundaries as theretofore estab- lished, but that he expressed his belief that the line then run " was done arbitrarily by the Surveyor-Gen- eral, and that in his opinion it would have been more regular to carry the Division Line along the side of Radnor and the upper part of that called the Welch Line, laying all those Tracts called Manors to Phila- delphia County." Council thereupon concluded that until the matter could " be more fully and effectually settled, the Commissioners and Assessors of Chester County should forebear to claim those Inhabitants . . and that the said Inhabitants be permitted to pay their Taxes and do all other Duties to the county of Philadelphia as formerly." Chester County, how- ever, declined to accept this decree without resist- ance, for on March 28, 1722,5 David Lloyd (who at the time was chief justice of the province) and Nathaniel Newlin, in behalf of themselves, and the other com- missioners appointed by the act of Assembly for Chester County, presented a petition to Council pray- ing relief " from the unrighteous Attempts of the said persons to sever themselves from the said County of Chester." Council called the attention of David Lloyd to the fact that no regular division of the coun- ties, so far as known, had been made, and the inter- diction of the commissioners of Chester County from levying taxes only applied to cases where persons had been assessed in and had paid taxes to Philadelphia County, for it would be unreasonable to require on the same estate taxes in both counties, and, besides, those who had thus paid their assessments to Philadelphia County were only six in number, but they were of opinion that it was of great importance that the divi- sion-lines should be adjusted without delay. David Lloyd replied that there were persons yet living who remembered the running of the division-line, which was done, he believed, about the year 1688, under the administration of Governor Blackwell, but the com- missioners of Chester County did not know where to apply for the record " or written proofs of it, except to the secretary, in whose custody all things of that kind should be kept." After an interesting statement relative to the custody of the papers of the former secretary, Patrick Robinson, Council instructed the

3 Ib., vol. iii. p. 111.

4 Futhey and Cope's " History of Chester County," p. 41.

5 Coloniai Records, vol. iii. p. 158.

THE COLONIAL HISTORY TO THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

then secretary, James Logan, and Attorney-General Andrew Hamilton, without delay, to make search for the missing documents belonging to the records of Council, and the secretary was "ordered to make further search for the proofs that have been mentioned of the Division Line between the Counties of Phila- delphia & Chester." With this announcement, so far as the minutes of Council are concerned, the whole matter dropped out of public notice, and adjusted itself in the manner suggested by Secretary Logan, by " laying all those Tracts called Mannors to Phila- delphia County."

At a meeting of Council held Feb. 6, 1728-29, a pe- tition was presented by the inhabitants of the upper part of Chester County, setting forth that " by Reason of their Great Distance from the County Town, where the Courts are held, Officers are Kept and Annual elections made," the inconvenience of attending court or obtaining writs and other legal process, , being compelled to travel one hundred miles for such purposes, the want of a jail to imprison " Vagabonds and other dissolute People" who harbored among the frontier settlements where they believed themselves "safe from justice in so remote a Place," a division of the county should be made between the upper and lower parts, and that the upper portion should be erected into a county.1 It is not within the scope of this work to follow the particulars of this movement, which finally resulted in the county of Lancaster being erected by the act of May 10, 1729.

We learn from the minutes of Council of Dec. 16, 1728,2 that the propriety of again making Chester the seat of the Provincial Government was seriously con- sidered. It seems that a resolution had been carried in the General Assembly which set forth, "that inas- much as there has been of late several Indecencies used towards the Members of Assembly attending the Service of the Country in Philadelphia by rude and disorderly Persons unknown to this House," the Gov- ernor and Council were requested to select a place which they shall deem "more safe for the Members of Assembly and most convenient for the Dispatch of the Business of the Country." The Provincial Coun- cil, on their part, after considering the inconvenience of removal at that season of the year and setting out other difficulties, concluded that "if on further Ex- perience the House shall continue in the same Senti- ments that a Removal is necessary, the Board are of opinion that the same out [ought] to be adjourned to Chester, as the most convenient place for their meeting next to Philadelphia." The sober second thought of the indignant legislators, or the penitent petitions of the inhabitants of the Quaker city pre- vailed over the anger of the Assembly, and, on " further experience, the House" neglected to press the subject of removal, and thus Chester did not grasp the prize she was so willing to secure.

1 Colonial Records, vol. iii. p. 343.

2 Ib., p. 340.

About 1730, the first mission of the Roman Catholic Church within the territory now comprising the present county of Delaware was located at the resi- dence of Thomas Willcox at Ivy Mill, in Concord, to which fuller reference will be made in the history of that township. This religious seet did not progress very rapidly, for in 1757, in the census of Roman Catholics in Pennsylvania,8 the following return shows that in Chester County there were

Men. Women.

"Under care of Robert Harding.

Thomas Schneider.

(Irish) .. 9

Ferdinane Farmer (Irislı) ..

(German) ...

...

"These were all who took the sacrament above twelve years of age or thereabout."

On the afternoon of Aug. 11, 1732, Thomas Penn, the son of the proprietary, landed at Chester, and a messenger was dispatched to Philadelphia to apprise the Council and Assembly, then in session, of his arrival. The secretary of Council immediately came to Chester, with the congratulations of the authori- ties, and "to acquaint him-Penn-that to-morrow they would in person pay their respects to him." The following day the Governor and Council, accom- panied by a large number of gentlemen, visited the borough, and " waited on the Honorable Proprietary and paid him their compliments. After dinner the Proprietary with his company, now grown very num- erous, sett out for Philadelphia." On September 20th of the following year, John Penn arrived at Chester, from England, and was there met and welcomed by his younger brother, Thomas, who, with a large num- ber of gentlemen, had come from Philadelphia to greet the eldest son of the founder. After passing the night at Chester, the next morning the party rode to the city, where they were received with manifesta- . tions of popular rejoicing.

In 1739, when England declared war against Spain, an expedition was proposed from the colonies to in- vade the West Indies, and the Governor, in a procla- mation calling for recruits " to inlist in the important Expedition now on Foot for attacking and plundering the most valuable Part of the Spanish West Indies," notified the people of Chester and vicinity that those who proposed to recruit should call on James Mather in the borough, while Henry Hockley, Robert Fin- ney, and Lazarus Finney were designated for like service in other localities throughout the then county of Chester. It seems that in this enterprise a num- ber of redemption servants were enlisted, and not- withstanding the attention of Governor Thomas was drawn to that fact, he took no official action to pre- vent such recruiting, and the parties aggrieved were compelled to seek redress from the Assembly. That body promptly provided for the payment by the prov- ince of all losses sustained by masters whose servants had been accepted into the military forces, and ac- cordingly, on June 3, 1741, to James Gibbons and

¿ Penna. Archives, let series, vol. iii. p. 144.

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Samuel Levis was issued an order on the loan-office for £515 118. 9d., in payment for fifty-eight servants mustered by the officers in Chester County. Other claims for damages suffered by similar enlistments were urged and paid; in one instance it was alleged that ten servants were taken from the iron-works at Coventry and Warwick, and those establishments were obliged to cease operation for a time, because their skilled labor had been marched away as recruits.

On Dec. 22, 1741, the Governor presented to Coun- cil a petition from the justices of the county of Ches- ter, setting forth that great abuses had been "com- mitted" in the county by the use of defective weights and measures, and that they, the justices, at the in- stance of some of "the substantial Inhabitants," as well as an address from the Grand Inquest, had " di- rected the purchasing of Standards of Brass for Weights & Measures, accordingly to his Majesty's Standard for the Exchequer." They therefore prayed that " the Governor would be pleased to appoint an Officer to keep the said Standards, and to Seal and Mark all Weights and Measures within the said County."1 Isaac Taylor was the favored one who re- ceived the appointment, and the standards, we learn, cost the county £17 12s. 11d.2

On March 29, 1744, war was declared between Great Britain and France, and on the 11th of June of the same year Governor Thomas issued a procla- mation 3 in which he not only announced the hostile position of the two nations, but strictly enjoined and required all persons in the province capable of bear- ing arms "forthwith to provide themselves with a · Good Firelock, Bayonet, and Cartouch-Box, and a sufficient Quantity of Powder and Ball," that they , might be prepared to attack the enemy or defend the province from invasion. The Governor also urged the fitting out of privateers, not only as a war meas- ure highly beneficial to the State, but "may bring great advantages to the Adventurers themselves." The Assembly, however, in which the Society of Friends largely predominated, took no step of a de- cided military character ; but Franklin, by his pam- phlet, " Plain Truth," aroused the public to a knowl- edge of the defenseless condition in which the province then stood. A meeting of citizens was called, a regiment was formed in Philadelphia, and money was raised by a lottery to erect a battery below that city, on the river. "These military preparations were necessary to intimidate a foreign enemy, and to curb the hostile disposition of the Indians, which had been awakened by several unpleasant rencontres with the whites." 4

The crown having, on April 9, 1746, ordered that four hundred men should be raised in the province of Pennsylvania, to be part of the forces designed for

1 Colonial Records, vol. iv. p. 507.

2 Futhey and Cope's " History of Chester County," p. 49.

$ Colonial Records, vol. iv. p. 696.

4 Gordon's " History of Pennsylvania," p. 245.

the immediate reduction of the French Canadian colonies, Governor Thomas, on June 9th of the same year, issued his proclamation 5 to that effect, and under it four companies were recruited, commanded respect- ively by Capts. Trent, Perry, Deimer, and Shannon. The latter, John Shannon, of New Castle County, Del., was commissioned June 25, 1746, as captain, and authorized to enlist one hundred men.6 Professor Keen informs us that the company was to be recruited on the Delaware River.7

That the men were collected in New Castle and Chester Counties the names on the roll fully establish, and aside from that inferential proof, we have positive evidence that the organization was quartered in the borough of Chester, for in January of the following year the petitions of James Mather, David Coupland, John Salkeld, and Aubrey Bevan, then tavern-keepers in that town, were presented to the Assembly, asking payment "for the diet of Captain Shannon's company of soldiers," while Dr. Gandouit, a practicing physi- cian in Chester at that time, also petitioned for pay- ment for medicine furnished by him, as well as pro- fessional attendance on the sick soldiers.8 These companies were ordered to Albany, where they went into winter quarters. From a letter from Capt. Trent to Governor Thomas, written from Albany, Oct. 21, 1746,9 we learn that the troops were badly provided with blankets, and that the officers had been com- pelled to purchase a number for them, paying there- for in a draft on the Governor. He stated that had they not supplied the troops with those articles the whole body would have deserted. The weather was extremely cold, and as many as thirty men had al- ready deserted from Capt. Shannon's company, giving as their reason the want of proper covering, and that they might as well take the chance of being killed in trying to make their escape as by remaining to surely die. He related that one of Shannon's men, "when the snow was knee-deep, in attempting to make his escape, got frost-bit, and his companions, fearing to undergo the same fate, left him, when he miserably perished." The following month the captains of the four Pennsylvania companies united in an appeal to the Governor to supply the troops with necessaries, for "we have been making as near a calculation as possible of our provisions, & find, with the utmost frugality, we have not more meat than sufficient to serve till the 19th January, & as to our Bread & Rum, it falls far short of that time."10 The troops, after being kept in cantonment until Oct. 31, 1747, were discharged by proclamation of the Governor, wherein he declared the reason that "the late in-

6 Colonial Records, vol. v. p. 39.

G See his commission and instructions, Pennsylvania Archives, vol. i. p. 688.

7 " Descendants of Joran Kyu," Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. iv. p. 108.

" Futhey aod Cope's " History of Chester Conoty," p. 49.

9 Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. ii. p. 680.

10 Ib., p. 681.

THE COLONIAL HISTORY TO THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

tended expedition against Canada having been by his Majesty laid aside for the present."1

During the early summer of 1747 a French pri- vateer entered Delaware Bay, and captured several inward- and outward-bound vessels.2 The intelligence of these acts reaching Philadelphia on July 4th, pilots were forbidden by proclamation " to conduct, Pilot, or bring up any foreign Ship or Vessel carrying a Flag of Truce ... to any Port or place within this Prov- ince above that Tract of Land lying in Chester county, commonly called and known by the name of Marcus Hook,"3 unless special license was issued by the Governor. The following summer the Spanish and French privateers showed the utmost daring in cruising off the mouth of and in Delaware Bay.

On May 25, 1748, George Proctor, a prisoner of war, succeeded in escaping by swimming from the "St. Michael," a Spanish privateer, carrying twenty- two guns and a crew of one hundred and sixty men, which was at the time moored off Salem Creek. The deposition of the Proctor was taken, and an express sent immediately to Philadelphia with the intelli- gence, which threw the city into the utmost conster- nation, a condition of affairs which was in no wise allayed when on the following day the escaped sailor was himself sent to Philadelphia, the bearer of a let- ter from the authorities, stating that the Spanish ves- sel, about ten o'clock that morning, came up within gunslot of New Castle, and there anchored, with a spring on her cable. The tide, together with a calm, being against her, she was prevented getting nearer to that town, and as the people opened fire upon her, she weighed, and by her boats was towed "stern foremost, giving three Huzzas & one Gunn, hoisted Spanish Colours, & went down the River again." Council desired Capt. Ballet, commander of the sloop- of-war " Otter," to go down the bay and engage the privateer, but that officer stated that he had an en- counter with a large French ship, in which his vessel had received such damage that required her to be hoved down for repairs.+ The Spanish privateer, un- molested, remained in the bay for some time, during which she made prizes of a number of vessels, The result of the alarm, however, was to arouse the public to the necessity of organization ; hence the bodies known as Associators, which had been called into existence during the previous December by the vol- untary action of the people throughout the province, became firmly established, and the military education imparted thereby to the populace was of the utmost consequence to the patriot cause when, a quarter of a century later, the Revolutionary contest was forced upon the colonies. The following is the list of the officers of the two Associate Regiments of Chester County in 1747-48 :5

1 Colonial Records, vol. v. p. 127.

3 Penne. Archives, 2d series, vol. ii. p. 682.

4 Colonial Recorde, vol. v. pp. 248, 252, 253, 256, 260, 261, 263, 264.

5 Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. ii. p. 506.

" Ib., p. 234.

Colonels, William Moore, Andrew McDowell.

Lieutenant-Colonels, Samuel Flower, John Frew. Majors, John Mather, John Miller.

Captain David Perry. Lieutenuot Isaac Davy.

Captain Job Rushton.

Lieutenant Joseph Smith.

Easign Nathaniel Davies.

Ensign James Dysart.

Capiain Roger Hunt. Captain Andrew McDowell.

Lieutenant Guyon Moore. Ensign William Littles.

Lieutenant John Cunningham. Ensign George Mccullough.

Captain George Ashton. Lieutenant Robert Morrell.

Captain John McCell. Lieutenant John Culbertson.

Ensign James Scott.

Captain George Taylor.

Lieutenant John Vaugn.

Ensign Robert Awl.

Captain Moses Dickey. Lieutenant John Boyd. Ensign James Montgomery.

Captain Richard Richardson. Lieutenant John Cuthbert. Ensign John Hambright.

Lieutenant John Kent. Ensign Jacob Free.

Captain John Williameon. Lieutenant James McMakin. Ensign John Johnson.

Captain Hugh Kilpatrick.

Lientenent William Buchanan. Eusign William Cumming.

Captain Johu Methere. Lieutenant James Mathers. Ensign Joseph Talbert.

Captein William Bell. Lieutenant Robert McMullen.

Captain James Hunter. Lieutenant Charles Moore.

Captein Joseph Wilson.

Ensign Benjamin Weatherby.

Lieutenant James Cochran. Ensign Joseph Parke.

Captain John Miller. Lieutenant George Bently. Ensign Thomas Brown.

Captain Henry Glassford. Lieutenant Robert Allison. Ensign John Emmitt.

Captain William Clinton. Lieutenant Morris Thomas. Eneign William Cerr.

Lientenant John Culbertson. Ensigu John Donald.

Captain Thomas Hubert, Jr.

Captain Willianı Reed. Lieutenant Thomas Hope. Ensign Thomas Clerke.

Lieutenant John Reee. Ensign Anthony Richard.

Captain Williem Porter.

Captain George Leggitt. Lieutenant Thomas Leggitt. Ensign Archibald Young.

Lieutenant Robert Mackey. Ensign John Smith.

In the autumn of the year 1748 a general sickness prevailed throughout the province. Kalm records that "the disease was so violent that when it attacked a person he seldom lived above two or three days, and of those who were taken ill with it very few recovered. It was a true pleurisy, but it had a peculiarity with it, for it commonly began with a difficulty of swallow- ing." ... "The physicians did not know what to make of it, nor how to remedy it." 6

In 1751 the act of Parliament," which, as its title stated, was to regulate the commencement of the year and to correct the calendar then in use, was adopted. By its provisions Wednesday, the 2d day of Septem- ber, 1751, was followed by Thursday, the 14th day of the same month, and as the act was intended to equal- ize the style in Great Britain, Ireland, and the colo- nies with that used in other countries in Europe, it was necessary that the Society of Friends should take action ou so important a change. Hence the records of Chester Monthly Meeting respecting this altera- tion in style, as transcribed by Dr. Smith,8 are here given entire :

6 Kalm'e Travels, vol. I. pp. 376, 377.

8 Hist. of Delaware Co., pp. 261, 262.

7 24 Gen. II., c. 23, 1751.

Ensign Edward Pearce.

Captain William McKnight. Lieutenant Robert Anderson. Ensign Samuel Love.

Captain James Graham,

Lieutenant William Derlington. Ensign Francis Gardner.

Captain Robert Grace.

Ensign Rowland Perry.

Captain William Boyd,

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

" Agreed that as by the late Act of Parliament for regulating the com- mencement of the year, that it ie ordered that the first day of the Elev- enth month next shall be deemed the first day of the year 1752, and that the month called January shall be successively called the first month of the year, and not the month called March, as heretofore hath been our method of computing.

" That from and after the time above mentioned, the Eleventh month, called January, shall thenceforth be deomed and reckoned the First month in the year, be so styled in all the records and writings of Friends, instead of computing from the mouth called March, according to our present practico, aod Friends are recommended to go on with the names of the following months, numerically, according to our practice from the beginning, so that the months may be called and written as follows : That January be called and written the First month, and February called and written the Second month, and so on. All other methods of com- puting and calling of the months unavoidably leads into contradiction.

" And whereas, for the more rogular computation of time, the same act directs that in the month now called September, which will be in the year 1752, after the second day of the said month, eleven numerical days shall be omitted, and that which would have been the third day shall be reckoned and esteemed the 14th day of the said munth, and that which otherwise would have been the fourth day of the esid month, must be deemed the 15th, and so on. It appears likewise necessary Frieods should conform themselves to this direction, and omit the nom- înal days accordingly."

In 1753 the French and Indian war was actually begun by a direct violation of good faith on the part of the French, and the struggle then inaugurated, although Great Britain did not declare war until 1755, finally terminated in the white standard of France giving place to the red-crossed banner of St. George throughout that vast territory now known as British North America. When, in the summer of 1755, Gen. Braddock took up the line of march for Fort Du Quesne, there was but one impression in all the Eng- lish provinces, and that was that victory was already assured to his arms. We know that on May 28, 1755, the justices, sheriffs, and constables of the counties of Philadelphia, Chester, Berks, and Bucks were notified that sixty wagons were required for the use of Brad- dock's army, and that, if possible, they should be pro- cured without harsh measures before the 8th day of June following, but if they were not willingly fur- nished they must be impressed. It is, however, very doubtful whether any soldier from the then county of Chester was present at the fatal field of the Monon- gahela,1 but when the news of the crushing defeat

which made famous the rash, overbearing English gen- eral, who purchased with his life posthumous renown, came to astound the colonists as greatly as it amazed the English nation, many a young man from this locality enrolled himself in the hastily-recruited com- pany which, commanded by Capt. Isaac Wayne, was sent into Northampton County to guard the frontier inhabitants from threatened Indian attacks,2 as also in that commanded by Capt. George Aston.3 When, in the summer of 1758, Brig .- Gen. John Forbes took command of the troops collected to reduce Fort Du Quesne, in not a few instances the garb of the peaceful Society of Friends gave place to the dark-scarlet coat, faced with blue, the uniform of the Royal Americans, or the fringed hunting-shirt of the Pennsylvania Pro- vincial. Dr. Smith+ records that no less than eight young men in full membership with Radnor Meeting went into active military service in 1756, and were disowned by the society because of that open viola- tion of its rules. After Braddock's defeat, so in- tense was the feeling in Chester County 5 among the masses that on Nov. 24, 1755, a letter was read in Council from Col. William Moore, informing the Gov- ernor that two thousand of the inhabitants of that locality were prepared to march to Philadelphia to compel the Assembly to pass laws providing for the defense of the province. As at the same meeting a letter from Mr. Weiser, of Berks County, of a like import, was read, the Governor issued orders to the authorities in Philadelphia to take proper precautions to preserve the public peace. Subsequently Moore's letter played a prominent part in the legislative and gubernatorial quarrels of that day, which, being more particularly the history of the State, requires no further mention in this work.

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 9

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