History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 92

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

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Ruth Thomson died without children surviving her. John Mather, by his will, dated May 26, 1768, devised the premises to his daughter, Ruth, and his son-in- law, Charles Thomson ; and in the event of the death of Ruth without children, then to his granddaughter, Mary Jackson. Jane Jackson and Ruth Thomson were named as executors. Jane alone took out letters testamentary. Charles Thomson, after the death of Ruth, his wife, without children, March 5, 1785, re- leased to Mary Jackson all his right and title in the premises.

A description of the old tavern is furnished in the following advertisement, which was published in the Pennsylvania Gazette in the early part of that year :

"ITO BE SOLD .- A COMMODIOUS TAVERN IN THE BOROUGH of Chester, now in the teoure of Mr. Peter Salkend ;- the house is three storiee high, has four rooms on each floor,-large kitchen ad- joining, and a well of excellent water at the kitchen door ; the etabliog is good, can contain upwarde of forty horees, sod has room above for six tons of hay ; there are a large yard aud garden belonging to the house, aleo five acres of highly improved pastures. This house has been a well accustomed Iuo for upwards of forty years past. For terms apply to the subecriber in Philadelphia.

" DAVID JACKSON.

" January 19, 1785.

" N. B .- Depreciation certificates of the officers and soldiers of the Peoneylvania line, as also final settlements of the said Ilne, st their cur- rent value, will be taken in part payment for the above premises."

On March 5, 1785, Mary Jackson conveyed the hotel to Maj. John Harper, who gave it the name of "The Ship George Washington." Harper was the landlord of this tavern when the removal of the county- seat to West Chester was the important topic of con- sideration in Chester County, and the part he took in that struggle has already been mentioned in this work. Harper having removed to West Chester, he made de- fault in the payment of the interest on the mortgage. Suit was brought by the executor of Mary Jackson, deceased, and on Aug. 1, 1788, Ezekiel Leonard, sheriff, deeded the tavern and lot to her executor, Dr. David Jackson, of Philadelphia ; and the latter con- veyed it, Jan. 14, 1793, to Matthias Kerlin, Jr., of Trenton, N. J., who was the brother of William Ker- lin, the owner and host of Washington House, and subsequently returned to Delaware County to reside.

On March 30th of the same year, Kerlin sold the tavern to William Pierce, of Lower Chichester, who devised the estate to his widow, Mary. She married David Coates, of Philadelphia, and the latter and his wife conveyed the property, Feb. 27, 1802, to Abra- ham Lee, of Saint George's Hundred, Del., and he, in turn, March 22, 1803, sold the property to Edward Engle, who kept the hotel until he died (about 1810), and his widow, Mary Engle, continued the business until 1833, when she retired and leased the premises to John J. Thurlow. The ancient hostelry under Mrs. Engle's supervision was the fashionable and popular hotel of the borough. In 1824, when Gen. Lafayette was the guest of Chester, the First City Troop of Philadelphia was quartered at her house, then known as the Eagle Tavern ; for in a description of a journey from old Ireland to Chester, written in verse by Philip Sexton, then living at Squire Eyre's, on Edgmont Avenue, during the early part of this century, he referred to this hotel thus :

" If you stand on the bridge And look to the east, You'll there see an eagle, As big Be a beast.

" Call at this tavern Without any dresd ; You'll there get chicken, Good muttoo, and bread."

Mrs. Engle was the mother of the late Rear Admiral Frederick Engle, who died in 1866, and of Capt. Isaac E. Engle, of the merchant service, who died in 1844. Her daughter, Mary, married the late Hon. Samuel Edwards, a member of the bar and representative in Congress from this district from 1819-21, and again from 1825-27, who died, leaving surviving him his son, Henry B. Edwards, Esq., a member of the bar, a leading citizen of Chester, and a daughter, Mary Engle Edwards, who intermarried with Edward Fitzgerald Beale, at that time lieutenant in the navy, aud noted for his celebrated ride across Mexico with dispatches from Commodore Stockton during our war with that country, subsequently prominent as superintendent of

1 Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. i. p. 240. I have stated in " Historical Sketch of Chester" that James Mather wee landlord of the Lafayette House. This, I find, from examination of authorities of which I had then no knowledge, le an error.

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THE CITY OF CHESTER.

Indian affairs and in exploring expeditions, construct- ing public highways, and in surveys for projected rail- roads. In 1860 he was appointed surveyor-general of California, and under Gen. Grant's second adminis- tration was United States Minister to Austria. Gen. Beale is one of the largest land-owners in the world, his estate in California comprising two hundred thou- sand acres of land.

Mary Engle's daughter, Abby, married John Kerlin, Esq., a member of the Delaware County bar, and for many years president of the Bank of Delaware County. Her son, Frederick E. Kerlin, died in California more than twenty years ago, and the other son, Capt. Charles Kerlin, a well-known merchant captain, now retired from service, lives in New Jersey. The latter in May, 1853, brought to Chester the first Chinese ever known to have been in that town. His strange dress, and "tail" three feet in length, drew a large crowd of boys together, who followed him whenever he ap- peared in the streets.

Mrs. Engle was succeeded in business by John J. Thurlow, about 1828. I quote from John Hill Mar- tin the following graphic description of the old hotel in its palmiest days as a stopping-place for one of the lines of stages which then passed through Chester for Baltimore, Washington, and the South. He says,-

" How well I remember ' Thurlow's,'in the days of its busy greatness ! well I remember how, when I was a hoy, I lingered near its hospitable doors to see the handsome horses of the Reeside, Stockton & Stokes, Murdeck & Sharp, sud Janvier's rival lines of stage coaches changed ; the smoking steeds detached by active hostlers, and the new relay of well-groomed horses substituted, and saw the ' Stage driver,' an impor- tant man in those days, with his great coat of many capes and long whip; the well dressed travelers sauntering about talking and smoking after their meal, waiting for the stags. Oft I have peeped into the small, clean bar-room, in the centre of which stood a large coal stove (in winter) iu a large sand box, that served as a huge spittoon. lo one corner of the room stood a semi-circular bar, with its red railings reaching to the ceiling, into whose diminutive precincte the jolly landlady could scarcely get her buxom person, while her husband with his velveteen shooting coat, with its large buttons and its many pockets, excited my intenss admiration. At his heels there were always two or three handsome setter dogs, of the finest breed and well trained, Sometimes I got a glimpse of the south-west room. This was the parlor; back of it was a room where travelers wrote their letters; and back of the bar was a cozy little room, mine hostess' sanctum, into which only special friends Were admitted. All these are now one large American bar-room.

"In reading accounts of the old English ions of coaching days, my mind involuntarily reverte to 'Thurlow's,' for there ou the walls were hanging the quaint old coaching and hunting prints imported from England, and around the house was ' Boots,' and the ' Hostler,' and ' the pretty waiting-maid with rosy cheeks,' all from old England. The horses are all hitched, the passengere are 'all aboard,' the driver has taken his seat (the guard is blowing his horn, having taken one inside), is gathering up hie many reins ; now he feels for hie whip, flourishes it over his four-in-hand, making a graceful curve with its lash, taking care not to touch his horses; but does it with a report like a rifle-shot, the hostlers jump sside, and with a bound and & rush, the coach is off for Washington ur Philadelphia, carrying perchance within it Clay, Webster, or Calhoun. And of a winter's evening when I have stolen out from home, I have passed the ' Tavern,' and seen seated around its cheerful fire the magnatee of the town, telling stories of other days (as I now could tell their names). And sometimes peeping through the green blinds, I have seen a quiet game of whist going on; perchance it was 'all fours,' or else a game of checkers or dominoes." 1

Mr. Thurlow retired from business about 1840, and was succeeded by Maurice W. Deshong, who kept the house for a few years, and was followed by Maj. Samuel A. Price, who continued the business until 1853, when the late George Wilson became the host. After a few years Mr. Wilson retired, and was in turn succeeded by Lewis A. Sweetwood. The death of Mrs. Mary Engle, in 1870, at the advanced age of ninety-four years, compelled a sale of the hotel and other property, by order of Orphans' Court, to settle her estate, and in that year William Ward, as trustee to make the sale, conveyed the hotel property to Jonathan Pennell, who, in turn, the same year, sold the premises to Paul Klotz, the present owner. The latter has made important additions and im- provements to the eastern end of the ancient build- ing.

The Washington House .- This ancient hostelry was erected on a part of the twenty acres which by patent dated May 31, 1686, the commissioner for William Penn conveyed to James Sandelands. In 1720, Sandelands sold the land to John Wright, he in turn conveyed it to William Pennell, he to James Trego, who died the owner of the ground. In 1746, Aubrey Bevan purchased the lot, which had been used to pasture cattle, from the widow and son of Trego. In the following year Aubrey Bevan erected the present hotel building and gave it the title " Penn- sylvania Arms," as will be seen by an inspection of his will. He was an active and leading citizen of Chester, and the structure, considering the time when it was built, evidences fully the progressive spirit which controlled his efforts. Aubrey Bevan died in 1761, and by will devised this property to his daughter, Mary ; she, together with her husband, William Forbes, by deed dated April 1, 1772, conveyed the estate to William Kerlin, a wealthy man, as wealth was then regarded, and a fervent Whig during the Revolutionary struggle.

After the evacuation of Philadelphia by the Brit- ish army, Kerlin named his hostelry " The Washing- tou House," a name it has been continuously known by to this day. Gen. Washington often, in passing through Chester on his way to and from Mount Ver- non to the seat of government in New York and Philadelphia, stopped at this hotel, and on those oc- casions a certain room, the best in the house, was assigned to his use. The ancient mahogany chairs which stood in the room occupied by the first Presi- deut during these visits are still preserved among the descendants of William Kerlin. He took an active part in the discussion from 1780 to 1786 respecting the proposed removal of the county-seat to West Chester, and after the county-seat had been fiually removed from Chester he labored energetically to bring about the formation of the present county of Delaware. Kerlin did not remain mine host of the Washington House until his death, for by his will, proved April 29, 1805, he alluded, in his devise to his

1 History of Chester, p. 262.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

daughter, Sarah Piper, to "the tavern house" being at that time " in the tenure of Isaac Tucker."

Maj. Joseph Piper, who held a position in the Philadelphia custom-house, under Gen. Steele, the then collector, after the death of his father-in-law resigned his office, removed to Chester, and kept the Washington House, owned by his wife, until his death, in 1827. It is related that Maj. Piper, being in Ches- ter, saw Sarah Odenheimer,-formerly Sarah Kerlin, -a well-formed, blooming widow, on horseback, and was so impressed with her appearance that he wooed, won, and wedded her for his wife. After his death his widow continued the business at the hotel for several years, but ultimately becoming weary of it, she leased the premises to Evan S. Way, who had formerly kept a tavern in Nether Providence. He was a conspicu- ous man in the military affairs of the county a half- century ago, an officer in the Delaware County troop, and kept the hotel until he was elected sheriff, in 1837. The house was then rented to Maj. Samuel A. Price. He was a genial gentleman, who is yet re- membered by many of our old residents, an earnest politician, and in 1834 was elected sheriff of the county. In early life he was noted for his manly beauty. An interesting item respecting the old hos- telry during Maj. Price's occupancy was related in The Delaware County Advocate several years ago. The article stated that Gen. Harrison, in 1840, after he had received the Whig nomination for the Presidency, was returning from Washington, accompanied by a number of gentlemen from New York, stopped for dinner at the Washington House, and while there re- ceived the congratulations of the citizens of Chester. After dinner had been served the cloth was drawn, wine, as usual on such occasions, was placed on the table, and several toasts were drunk. It was observed that Harrison drank water, and being thereupon pressed to take wine, he rose and said, "Gentlemen, I have refused twice to partake of the wine cup; that should have been sufficient; though you press the cup to my lips, not a drop shall pass their portals. I made a resolve when I started in life that I would avoid strong drink, and I have never broken it. I am one of a class of seventeen young men who gradu- ated, and the other sixteen fill drunkards' graves, all through the habit of social wine-drinking. I owe all my health, happiness, and prosperity to that resolu- tion. Will yon urge me now?"

The circumstance and remarks made by Harrison were related by one of the gentlemen present nearly forty years afterwards, hence the language used on that occasion may not be accurately reported, although the substance is doubtless correctly rendered.

Sarah Piper, by her will, proved Sept. 13, 1841, directed that "the tavern-house and thereto belong- ing, be sold within one year after my decease." In compliance with that request, although there was a longer interval than one year, her executors sold, April 2, 1844, the premises to Henry L. Powell, who

in turn, October 11th of the same year, conveyed it to Edward E. Flavill. Mr. Flavill conducted the hotel as a temperance house, and Samuel West, an earnest temperance advocate, employed Edward Hicks, a Quaker artist, to paint a swinging sign,-one side presenting a delineation of Penn's landing at Chester, and the other Penn's treaty (?) with the In- dians,-which he presented to the landlord. This old sign, still in good preservation, is owned by the present proprietor of the Washington House, Henry Abbott. The business proving unremunerative, Fla- vill sold the property, Jan. 1, 1849, to Thomas Clyde. Mr. Clyde had formerly kept an extensive country store at the northeast corner of Market Square, the building now owned and occupied by John C. Wil- liams, and the eating-house of Mr. Dixon, adjoining, having been erected by him for his dwelling and store. He was also largely interested in quarries on Ridley Creek. Mr. Clyde continued the hotel as a temperance house with indifferent success for over nine years, when he conveyed the property, April 12, 1856, to John G. Dyer. Mr. Dyer had formerly been a clerk in the store of the late Joshua P. Eyre, and subsequently had carried on the dry-goods and grocery business in Philadelphia, Chester, and Rockdale, was customs-officer at the Lazaretto, and was connected with the late James Campbell in the manufacture of cotton goods at Leiperville. He was a man of fine conversational powers, possessing a ready, copious vocabulary and pleasing address, which particularly fitted him for the business of keeping a hotel. He died Oct. 26, 1881. In 1868, John G. Dyer conveyed the estate to Samuel A. Dyer, and he, June 1, 1871, sold it to Henry Abbott, who still owns the property, and is the popular host of the Washington House at this time. In 1883, Henry Abbott, Jr., at an outlay of many thousand dollars modernized the old struc- ture internally, and made extensive additions in the rear of the building, preserving, however, its time- honored appearance on Market Street.

The Columbia House .- The land on which this ancient building stands was included in the patent dated May 31, 1686, whereby the commissioners of William Penn conveyed to James Sandelands, the elder, in fee, twenty acres of ground in Chester. The land descended to Jonas Sandelands in the distribu- tion of his father's estate. Jonas Sandelands died subsequent to 1721, for at that time he held the office of coroner of Chester County, and his widow, Mary, married before 1731, Arthur Shields. Aug. 31, 1732, Arthur Shields and Mary, his wife, the administra- tors of Jonas Sandelands' estate, conveyed a tract of land containing over two acres to William Trehorn, subject to a yearly ground-rent of five shillings, to be paid to the heirs of Jonas Sandelands. Trehorn and Catharine, his wife, sold the land Nov. 14, 1733, to Richard Barry, who built the present building pre- vious to Dec. 7, 1736, and lived therein, for at the last-mentioned date he mortgaged the premises, and

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THE CITY OF CHESTER.

it is stated in that instrument that he had " erected a new brick messuage upon the lot." "Barry made Considerable preparation to follow the Employment of a Distiller of Liquors." In February, 1738-39, he asked the court for a license at this house, but he failed to obtain the assent of the justices. In 1746, Jahn Hanly, who had purchased the estate, procured the judges' favor, and continued annually to receive it until 1770, when he died, although after the year 1764 he had removed to the house he owned at the northwest corner of Market and Fifth Streets, which then stood on part of the ground where Dr. Grey's residence was in recent years. The Columbia House (in 1764) was rented by John Withy, a retired Eng- lish army officer, and he having died in 1765, the fol- lowing year his widow, Mary, procured the license. Mrs. Withy was a pensioner of the British government for sixty pounds per annum. On July 18, 1771, she purchased the property, and during the time she was hostess the inn was reported to be the best-kept tavern in America, and as such is frequently referred to in publications of that day. This reputation brought to her house numbers of prominent person- ages when journeying between the seat of government and points south of Chester. Mrs. Withy subsequent to the Revolution retired from the business and re- moved to Lamokin farm. Her son, Samuel, main- tained the most aristocratic notions, and became very unpopular with the mechanics and workmen by de- claring that people in their condition should be re- stricted from dressing in the same fabrics as used by their more pecuniarily fortunate neighbors, so that the wealthy and the laboring citizens could be desig- nated by their apparel.

In this hotel tradition asserts the wounds of La- fayette were dressed by Mary (Gorman) Lyons, but that incident is claimed as having happened at three other houses in the town of Chester. On Sept. 1, 1796, Mary Withy sold the premises to Maj. Wil- liam Anderson, who at the date of his purchase had been landlord of the hotel for two years, for it is stated that he had built a frame summer house and an ice house while the property was in his possession as tenant. Maj. Anderson was a member of Congress and associate judge of the courts of Delaware County. A brief sketch of his life is given in the chapter re- lating to the bench and bar, hence there is no reason to repeat it now. In 1803 he built the Anderson mansion, still standing at the northwest corner of Welsh and Fifth Streets, and after that time until he relinquished the hotel, his family resided in that dwelling. On March 2, 1814, Maj. Anderson sold the hotel to Nimrod Maxwell, of Huntingdon, who car- ried on the business there for several years, when he leased the house to John J. Thurlow, who remained until 1828, when he removed to the National Hotel, at Edgmont Avenue and Third Street, and James Paist, Jr., kept the Columbia House. Maxwell having died insolvent, suit was brought against his executors,

and April 12, 1830, Jehu Broomhall, sheriff, sold the estate to the Delaware County Bank, which corpora- tion held the title for several years, during which time Samuel Lamplugh was landlord. March 13, 1833, the bank conveyed the property to Thomas Ewing and Eliza, his wife. During the latter own- ership, the hotel was kept by John Richards, the late prothonotary, and he was succeeded by Frank Lloyd, who, still living near Darby, loves to recount the pranks and sports of the olden time, when woe awaited a stranger at the hands of the madcap roysterers of the ancient borough. Thomas Ewing and wife con- veyed the estate, Jan. 17, 1839, to Capt. Elisha S. Howes. He was a veritable "salt," who had earned his title as master of merchant ships, and he kept it for several years, until he relinquished it to embark in the grocery business, and March 27, 1848, sold it to James Campbell, who, after making extensive re- pairs to the building, conveyed it, March 13, 1854, to John Harrison Hill, who had kept the tavern at Leiperville. The property being sold by the sheriff, was purchased May 27, 1856, by Mark B. Hannum, who conveyed it, April 1, 1857, to Mrs. Elizabeth Appleby, who now owns it. Under the able manage- ment of the present landlord, Thomas Appleby, the old hostelry has become almost as noted as it was a century ago.

The Blue Anchor Tavern and the Stacey House. -The story of the old building at the southwest cor- ner of Market and Fount Streets begins on Aug. 29, 1732, when James Trego presented his petition, stating "that your Petitioner (has) Built a new House on the Green, near the Court-House, for that purpose,", and desires a license " at ye said house as usually he had in the said Town heretofore," which was allowed him. On May 29, 1733, John West, the father of Benjamin West, "Humbly showeth that your Petitioner has taken to ffarm the house, with the Appurtenances, where James Trego Lately Dwelt on the Green, near the Court-House," and was ac- corded the desired license. David Coupland, on Feb. 23, 1741/2, had leased the house where John Hanly dwelt in Chester,-"the Blue Anchor,"-received license, and Hanly removed to the Columbia House. Coupland kept the house in 1746, for in that year he, with other innkeepers of Chester, petitioned the Leg- islature for payment of the " diet furnished to Captain Shannon's company," which troop was part of the forces enlisted during the old French war.

David Coupland was born in Yorkshire, England, and came to the colony with his parents in 1723, his brother Caleb having preceded him nearly nine years. In 1730 he married Isabella Bell, and from that time seems to have taken an active part iu the movements of the day. Although by birthright a Friend, we find that in 1758, when Brig .- Gen. John Forbes commanded the expedition which resulted in the capture of Fort Du Quesne (now Pittsburgh), David Coupland enlisted as a private in the company

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

of Capt. John Singleton, and during that campaign, he, with Benjamin Davis and John Hanby (Hanly), agreed to pay Hugh Wilson, of Lancaster County, five pounds as a bounty, for entering one wagon in the expedition, to be credited to the borough of Chester.

When the misunderstanding between the colonies and England began David Coupland immediately took sides with the former, and was earnest in his efforts to sustain the cause of the Whigs. At the as- sembling of the people of Chester County in the old court-house in this city, Dec. 20, 1774, for the purpose of choosing a committee " to carry into execution the Association of the late Continental Congress," David Conpland was one of the committee chosen, and when the body adjourned it was agreed that it should meet on Jan. 9, 1775, at the house of David Coupland, and from time to time it held its sessions at his tavern. He was taken prisoner in 1778, in the night-time, by a boat's crew from a British man-of-war lying in the river off Chester, as heretofore related, and, as he was an aged man, he died in consequence of the harsh treatment to which he had been subjected. Who im- mediately succeeded Coupland I have not learned, but in 1790 Enoch Green was the landlord; in 1796, Re- becca Serrell. In 1801, Jesse Maddux received the license. It is related that he had a number of ducks of rare species, which, with pardonable pride, he would frequently show his guests. On one occasion a prisoner in the jail opposite threaded a strong cord through a number of grains of corn, and dropped the bait into the street, the other end being fastened to one of the iron bars in his cell-window. A plump drake, seeing the tempting morsel, bolted it, and the man began to draw in his catch. The squeaking of the duck apprised mine hostess that something out of the usnal way had happened, and she hastened to the door. When she beheld the extraordinary rise in poultry, she exclaimed, " Yon rascal, yon ! that duck's mine!" "That," replied the prisoner, coolly, "de- pends on whether this string breaks or not."

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 92

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