USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > History of Delaware county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the territory included within its limits to the present time > Part 44
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The first railroad in the United States was built in Ridley township in 1806, by the late Thomas Leiper, for the trans- portation of stone from his quarries on Crum Creek to his land- ing on Ridley Creek, a distance of about one mile. The ascents were graded inclined planes, and the superstructure was made of white oak with cross-ties and string pieces. The cars or trucks were very similar to those now in use, the wheels being made of cast iron with flanges. The line of the road can still be seen. This railroad was superseded by the Leiper Canal, which passed from the upper quarries down Crum Creek to the landing, and was built by the Hon. George G. Leiper, the eldest son of Thomas Leiper, in 1828, and continued to be used till 1852, when it, in turn, was superseded by the present railroad.1
The Darby Creek Ferry House, for many years a tavern, bears the marks of antiquity. The figures 1698 are carved on the inner side of the mantel-piece, of the northwest end of the building, and no doubt indicate the date of its erection. It is built of white cedar logs, flattened. Between this end and the other wooden end, there is a space built up with stone. Through this space, and between the two wooden ends of the present building, the road formerly passed to the ferry.
Leiperville is a small village on the post road, where it is crossed by Crum Creek.
1 Previous to engaging in the railroad enterprise, Mr. Thomas Leiper employed a millwright from Scotland, named Somerville, to lay a track sixty yards in length at a grade of one inch and a-half to the yard, he having seen a similar one in Scotland or England. This experimental track was constructed on a vacant lot in the Northern Liberties of Philadelphia, and when the day of trial came, a large concourse of people assembled to witness the experiment. After having loaded the car with all the weights that could be proeured from the neighboring hay-scales, wagers were offered to any amount that no horse eould move it to the summit; but when the word was given, the horse moved off with ease amid the plaudits of the assembled multitude.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
There are several manufacturing establishments in Ridley, and large quantities of stone are annually quarried there and sent to Philadelphia and elsewhere.
The churches in Ridley are a Presbyterian church, erected about the year 1818, and rebuilt a few years since ; a Baptist church constituted in 1830, and another erected by a sect called Bible Christians.
SPRINGFIELD.
Galt, in his life of Benjamin West, ascribes the name of this township to the fact that Thomas Pearson, the maternal grand- father of the great painter, discovered a large spring of water in the first field he cleared for cultivation. Unfortunately for this story, Thomas Pearson first settled in Marple township, where he continued to reside during his life. On Holme's map it is marked Sprinfeld Town, but the author is possessed of no knowledge either in respect to the origin of that name or of the existence of any particular reason for adopting the present name of the township.
On the road leading from Springfield Meeting-house to Chester, stands the house in which West the painter was born. It is a substantial hipped-roofed edifice built of cut stone. Ex- cept in the removal of the old fashioned paint-eaves, the build- ing has undergone very little change. The room in the north- west corner on the first floor is pointed out as that in which the great artist drew his first breath.
There are several manufacturing establishments in Spring- field. Those at Heyville are chiefly employed in making, woolen yarn, while those at Wallingford manufacture cotton goods. Beatty's edge tool manufactory is also located in Springfield.
The old Springfield Friends' Meeting-house, taken down some years since, though built in 1738, presented a venerable appear- ance. An effort has been made to preserve its general aspect and contrast it with the present edifice in the annexed lithograph.
It does not appear that Springfield was fully organized as a township prior to 1686, though Robert Taylor, one of the first settlers, had received the appointment of supervisor "from Chester Creeke to Croome Creeke," early in 1684.
Remarkable phenomena are frequently connected with the discharge of the electric fluid in the shape of lightning, but it rarely occurs that a case is surrounded with so many singular circumstances as the one I am about to notice, which happened on the 3d of November, 1768, and which is copied, with some abridgment, from the Pennsylvania Chronicle.
" At about seven o'clock in the morning Mr. Samuel Levis's
BUILT 1851.
BUILT 1738.
Drawn by C P Tholey.
Bowen & Co. lith Philada
FRIENDS MEETING HOUSES, SPRINGFIELD , 1738, 1851.
Drawn by C.P. Tholey
BIRTH PLACE OF BENJAMIN WEST.
Bowen & Co. lith. Philada
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
house in Springfield, was struck by lightning. The morning was showery, but no thunder was heard nor appearance of light- ning seen, either before or after the shock, which produced the following effects: It appears first to have descended on the chimney, which it entirely leveled to the top of the house, dis- persing the bricks to a considerable distance, with great part of the roof-fractured the gable end, a stone wall into sundry pieces, and penctrated in veins or branches, down to different parts of the house. In the closet of a lower room, a glass bot- tle with a pound and a half of gunpowder in it, was broken and part of the powder thrown about, which did not take fire; a clock near the closet, was overset, and the weights found at 15 feet distance from the place where it stood, and considerable damage was done to the furniture. In passing into the upper chamber, by the stack of chimneys, a gun barrel and some pieces of brass, which were in a closet, were melted in several places.
" A young woman, (Margaret), a daughter of Mr. Levis, hap- pening to be near the door of the closet, was struck down, and to all appearance, breathless for some time. The father run- ning immediately up stairs, where the greatest signs of violence appeared, was the first who found his daughter in her melan- choly situation, amid the ruins of the shattered wainscoat, and an exceedingly strong smell of sulphur. He carried her down stairs in his arms and upon examination there appeared signs of life. A doctor was immediately sent for, who in vain attempted to bleed her, there seeming almost a total stagnation ; but being put to a warm bed she bled freely, and revived so as to be able to speak, to the inexpressible joy of her distracted parents, her whole family and all her friends. In the evening she was able to walk up stairs to her chamber. So instantaneous was the shock, and so sudden the deprivation of her senses, that she could give no account of what happened to her at the juncture. When she regained her senses, she complained of much pain and of being sore, as she was very much scorched, the lightning passing from her head, and as it descended rent her clothes, even her garters into a number of pieces, then to her shoes, carrying away the upper leather, which was torn into fragments, and melting part of one of her silver shoe buckles."
In 1773 this lady became the wife of the late Thomas Garrett of Upper Darby, and was the mother of the late Samuel Garrett of the same township. A number of her descendants are still living.
The same Indians, who had their principal wigwam on Chester Creek, and will be mentioned under the head of Aston, also had a wigwam near Lowne's run, north of the residence of Joseph Gibbons, in Springfield, to which they frequently resorted. But
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
the last of the natives who had a home in the County was " Indian Nelly," who had her cabin on the farm now owned by Garrett Edwards, near the line of the Shipley farm. She had her constant residence there as late as 1810.
MARPLE.
How Marple township obtained its name is a matter of un- certainty. In many of the early records it is spelled Marpool, but Holme, in his map, gives the modern spelling. Marple was organized as a township early in 1684. In 1722, the township contained but twenty-four taxables. There was no established place of worship in the township till Marple Presbyterian Church was erected about the year 1833.
In the winter of 1788, a very tragic affair happened on Darby Creek, where it forms the line between Marple and Haverford, in the death by drowning of Lydia Hollingsworth, a young lady of great worth and beauty, who was under an engagement of marriage to David Lewis. The party, consisting of Lewis, Lydia, another young lady, with the driver, left the city in the morn- ing in a sleigh, and drove out to Joshua Humphrey's, near Haver- ford meeting-house. From thence they drove to Newtown; but before they returned the weather moderated, and some rain fell, which caused Darby Creek to rise. In approaching the ford, (which was that on the road leading from the Presbyterian Church to Coopertown,) they were advised not to attempt to cross, but were made acquainted with the existence of a tempo- rary bridge in the meadows above. They drove to the bridge, but the water was rushing over it, and the driver refused to proceed; whereupon Lewis took the lines, and missing the bridge, plunged the whole party into the flood. All were res- cued but Lydia, whose body was not found till the next morning. The feelings of Lewis can be more readily imagined than de- scribed. The young lady was buried at Friends' grave-yard, Haverford. In some pathetic rhymes written on the occasion, it is stated that 1,700 persons attended her funeral.
HAVERFORD.
This township is wholly located in what was known as the Welsh Tract, and was the earliest settled of the Welsh Town- ships except Merion, in Montgomery County. The name was brought over with the first settlers, who came from the vicinity of Haverford-West, in Pembrokeshire, South Wales. In early times, the name was very frequently written with u instead of v, and doubtless had the pronunciation that this change of letters would give it. The pronunciation was, at length, corrupted to
39:
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Harford, a name by which the township was generally known within the recollection of many now living.
The south end of the Friends' Meeting-house, built in 1700, in which William Penn preached during his second visit to Pennsylvania, is still standing, and is in a good state of preser- vation. It has only been modernized in its outside appearance, by changing the pitch of the roof, and in substituting wooden sash in the windows for those of lead. This was done in the year 1800, when the north end was built to supply the place of the first erected meeting-house. The timbers are very heavy, and have either been hewn or sawed with a whip-saw. The gal- lery was originally at the south end of the building. A number of the chestnut boards with which it was at first lined are still in place. The first interment in the Haverford burial-ground was the body of William Sharpus, 9th mo. 19th, 1684.
There are milestones on the old Haverford or Goshen road still standing, which were doubtless imported from England, and erected when the road was laid out.
THE GRANGE .- There is no place in the township of Haver- ford, perhaps none in the County, with which so much historical
CLIFTON HALL AS IT STOOD IN THE YEAR 1770.
interest is associated as with this ancient seat of grandeur and elegance. Henry Lewis, a Welsh Quaker, one of the most staid of his sect, selected this spot as his wilderness abode in 1682.
394
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
He was succeeded by his son Henry, who resided there many years. About the middle of the last century, we find the estate, then consisting of nearly four hundred acres, owned and occu- pied (at least in the summer season) by a Capt. John Wilcox, (sometimes spelled Wilcocks,) who erected upon it a mansion, of which the annexed cut is an exact representation, and gave it the name of "Clifton Hall." Capt. Wilcox surrounded his estate with a ditch of some depth, most of which, within the recollection of many now living, could be readily traced, and some parts of it are still visible. It is said, on the authority of tradition, that Capt. Wilcox caused this ditch to be dug in order to give employment to his negroes, of whom he owned a consider- able number.
About the year 1760, Charles Cruickshank, a Scotch gentle- man of wealth, who held a captain's commission under the British government, and who had seen service in the Netherlands, came to America, and in 1761 purchased the " Clifton Hall" estate, but changed its name to the "Grange," or "Grange Farm." Soon after the year 1770, (when the annexed sketch was drawn by Capt. Cruickshank,) the mansion-house was enlarged and variously modified. It is also probable, that about this period the terraced walks were cut, the green-house established, and that the almost unequaled natural beauties of the place were fully developed by the appliances of art, under the direction of a well cultivated taste. The land attached to the Grange was partly in three Counties-Chester, (now Delaware,) Philadelphia, and Montgomery, which Capt. Cruickshank increased by pur- chase.
In 1768, Mr. John Ross, also a Scotch gentleman, and an extensive merchant of Philadelphia, married Clemantina, the daughter of Capt. Cruickshank, who at the close of the Revolu- tionary war sold the Grange to his son-in-law, Ross, and returned with his family to his native country. Mr. Ross added to the buildings, and also increased the quantity of land to an aggre- gate of six hundred acres. After the death of Mr. Ross in 1806, the estate was sold to his son-in-law, John F. Mifflin, who, in 1810, sold the mansion to John H. Brinton, the maternal grand- father of Gen. George B. McClellan. In 1816, Mr. Brinton sold the mansion, with another part of the estate which he had purchased in 1811, to Manuel Eyre, Esq., who made it his coun- try residence till his death in 1845, a period of twenty-nine years. About that time the Grange was purchased by John Ashurst, Esq., the son-in-law of Mr. Eyre, who still occupies it as his country seat.
At an early period, particularly during its occupancy by Charles Ross, the Grange was fitted up in the most exquisite
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
style of the times, and during the summer months, it was not unfrequently the scene of elegant and luxurious entertainments.
The late Dr. Charles Caldwell, who afterwards became a Pro- fessor in a Medical College of Kentucky, was then a young man and resided in Philadelphia. During part of the period men- tioned he was a visitor at the Grange, and being struck with the many beauties of the place, wrote a short rural poem on the sub- ject, which is given entire in the Appendix, Note M.1
Though the German Lutheran Church, well known as the "Dutch Church," stands a little beyond the Haverford line in Lower Merion, still a number of old families in our County feel sufficient interest in it to justify a short notice. Prior to 1765, a number of German families had settled in Merion and Haver- ford, and about that year there is evidence of the formation of a Lutheran congregation. After various efforts, a piece of land was secured and a log church erected. In 1800, a second church edifice was built, which was of stone. This, in its turn, gave place to the present building, which was erected in 1833. No doubt the services in this church, in early times, were conducted in the German language.
Owing to the large number of immigrant foreigners professing the Catholic faith, employed in the manufacturing establishments of Cobb's Creek, erected by Dennis Kelly, a church became ne- cessary for their accommodation. For this purpose the Church of St. Dennis was erected in 1825. It was the first Catholic Church edifice built in Delaware County.
The Methodists have a church in Haverford called Bethesda, erected about thirty years since, and the Friends a meeting- house near the Haverford College, which answers for the accom- modation of the professors and pupils of that Institution as well as other persons in the neighborhood.
RADNOR.
After Merion and Haverford, Radnor was the next Welsh township settled. There is no documentary evidence of any set- tlement having been made in Radnor earlier than 1685, though the fact that the certificates of several of the first Quaker settlers of that township are dated early in 1683, it is very probable that settlements were made there in 1684. Some of the earliest immi- grants who located in that township were from Radnorshire in Wales ; hence the name of the township.
A Welsh gentleman, named Richard David, or Davies, in 1681, purchased 5000 acres of land from William Penn in England, which
1 The manuscript copy of the poem was kindly furnished by the venerable Samuel Breek, Esq., who was the son-in-law of John Ross.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
he sold to various purchasers. The whole, or nearly the whole of this purchase was located in Radnor, though there is no evi- dence that the grantor, Davies, ever visited this country.
Radnor Friends' Meeting-house, built in 1718, is still standing. It is a permanent building, in good repair, and with an addi- tion, built in later years, at the east end, (originally for a school- house,) is used for holding the monthly meetings of the Society for several particular meetings. The first body interred in the grave-yard attached to this meeting-house, was that of Gwenllian, the wife of Howell James, 11th mo., 31st, 1686.
About twenty years since, a Catholic educational institution was established in Radnor, called Villa Nova. It was under the charge of the " Hermits of St. Augustine," but is not at this time in successful operation as a school. A large farm is con- nected with the institution.
The Methodist congregation that worships at the church on the old Lancaster road, in the eastern part of the township, is one of the oldest of that persuasion. There is also a Baptist Church in this township, known as Radnor Hall, which was con- stituted in 1841.
NEWTOWN.
Although this township was not included in the Welsh Tract, it was originally, for the most part, settled by Welshmen. It was laid out with what was called a " Townstead" in the centre, and the first purchasers of land in the township were entitled to a certain number of acres in the Townstead, or new village as it was sometimes called. This ideal town doubtless suggested the name of the township. A township similarly laid out in Bucks County bears the same name. Newtown was not fully organ- ized till 1686, though a collector of taxes was appointed early in 1685.
St. David's, or Radnor Church, noticed in another place, is within the limits of Newtown township. With the exception of Haverford mecting-house, it is the oldest place of worship in Delaware County, having been erected in 1717, one year earlier than the Friends' Meeting-house of Radnor. The building and its surroundings bear the marks of antiquity. The stone stair- way outside of the main building, leading to the gallery, is alto- gether unique.
The oldest tomb-stone noticed in the cemetery that surrounds the Church, bears this inscription :
" Here Lieth ye body of Edward Hvghes, Entered ye 16 day of December 1716-aged 56 years 9 months."1
1 This Edward Hughes, it is said, was Rector of the Church as early as 1704.
Drawn by C L Smith Feby 4 ch 1867
ST DAVID'S CHURCH, BUILT 1717.
Bowen & Co hth Philada
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Another bears the following :
" Here lies the body of William Evans, who departed this life, September the 29th, 1734, aged 52 years.
" My: pilgrim: race: I ran: a pace, My: resting: place is here:
This: stone: is: got: to: keep ye spot- That men dig not too near.'
Quite a large number of the tomb-stones were erected in the first half of the eighteenth century.
This church-yard is noted as being the depository of the re- mains of General Anthony Wayne, of the Revolutionary war. They rest under a plain marble monument, bearing on two sides of it the following inscriptions :
" Major General Anthony Wayne was born at Waynesbo- rough, in Chester County-State of Pennsylvania, A. D. 1745- After a life of Honor and usefulness, he died in December, 1796, at a military post on the shore of Lake Erie-Commander in chief of the army of the United States. His military achieve- ments are consecrated in the History of his country and in the hearts of his countrymen-His remains are here deposited."
"In Honor of the distinguished military services of MAJOR GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE; and as an affectionate tribute of respect to his memory, this stone was erected by his companions in arms-The Pennsylvania State Society of the Cincinati, July 4th, 1809-Thirty fourth Anniversary of the United States of America-An event which constitutes the most appropriate Eulo- gium of an American soldier and patriot."
In another part of the yard a massive marble slab, erected after the death of General Wayne, but before his remains were removed from their first place of interment, bears the two follow- ing inscriptions :
" Mary Wayne, Consort of the late Major Gen: Anthony Wayne, died April 18th, 1793, aged 44 years."
" Major Gen : Anthony Wayne, late Commander of the Army of the United States, died at Presqu-Isle December 15th 1796, aged 52 years-his body is intered within the garrisson near the town of Erie."
Besides this church, which has generally been regarded as an institution belonging to Radnor, there is the Friends' Meeting- house, the establishment of which has already been noticed, and a Baptist church constituted in the year 1832.
398
HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
MIDDLETOWN.
This township probably received its name from its supposed central location when the name was conferred upon it. The author has seen no evidence that it was organized as a municipal district prior to 1687, though it possibly may have been.
The first organization within this County of a Presbyterian congregation was in this township, and doubtless their first church edifice was erected on or very near the site of the present Presbyterian Meeting-house, which itself, notwithstanding the recent repairs it has undergone, bears the marks of a respectable antiquity. Thomas Dutton, now in his ninety-fourth year, in- formed me that the present meeting-house was built in the time of his grandfather. "That he, although a Quaker, subscribed money towards the building of it, as he was willing that the Presbyterians should have a suitable place to hold their meetings in."
The church records have been lost or destroyed, but fortu- nately a memento of high interest has been preserved, that not only bears testimony to the early establishment of the Middle- town congregation, but also to the deep interest that was felt in its prosperity by one of the most eminent of the dissenting divines of England. A folio volume, belonging to the church, has the following memorandum, believed to be in the hand- writing of the donor, inscribed on the inside of the cover:
" This Book call'd Mr. Baxter's Directory was given by ye Reverend Dr Isaac Watts of London to the Protestant Dissenters usually assembling for Worship at Middletown Meeting-house in Pennsylvania ; that people who come from far, & spend their whole day there, may have something proper to entertain them- selves with, or to read to one another between the seasons of Wor- ship morning and afternoon : & 'tis for this end intrusted to ye care of [the] Protestant Dissenting Minister who preaches there, and to his Successors, to be used by him or them in their weekly Studys, when they please, and to be secured & devoted to the Use of the Congregation on ye Lords days."
"Jany 30th: 1735-6."
" The Book is committed to the care of Mr. Benj. Hawley to be carried over to Pennsylvania, and after he has kept it in his own hands and made the best use of it for six months, that is till the 30th: of July next, he shall deliver it to the hands of the present Protestant Dissenting Minister for the purposes before- mentioned."
The book is at this time in the custody of the Rev. James W. Dale, the minister now in charge of the Middletown church, who kindly furnished a copy of the above writing for this work.
THE PENNSYLVANIA TRAINING-SCHOOL FOR FEEBLE-MINDED CHILDREN.
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
In early times, no provision whatever was made for heating the body of the Middletown church even in the coldest weather. At such seasons, a fire was provided in a small session room ad- joining the church, to which the people resorted before taking their seats in the congregation. For nearly a century and a half, Middletown was the only Presbyterian Church in Delaware County-a number of the members residing at a distance of from eight to ten miles from their place of worship.
One of the tombstones in the grave-yard, bears the following inscription :-
" Here lieth the body of Bernhard Vanleer, M. D. Physisian in Physick-who departed this life, January the 26th 1790 aged 104 years.
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