USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > History of Delaware county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the territory included within its limits to the present time > Part 50
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10
1,230
Ridley Township, .
630
658
16
20
1,324
Springfield Township,
534
551
9
15
1,109
Tinicum Township,
84
73
20
16
193
Thornbury Township,
462
486
32
37
1,017
Upper Chichester Township,
264
263
14
14
555
Upper Darby Township, .
1,234
1,294
18
25
2,571
Upper Providence Township, .
388
396
50
50
884
14,250
14,698
817
832
30,597
AGGREGATE
For additional statistics, see note N.
BIOGRAPHY OF EARLY SETTLERS
AND
EMINENT MEN OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
ANDERSON, WILLIAM, was born in Pennsylvania about the year 1759. At the commencement of the Revolution- ary War he was quite a youth, yet he joined the American army when it was first organized, or shortly afterwards, probably in the capacity of a private, and continued in the service till the end of the war, when he held a cap- tain's commission. He shared many of the hardships of the Revolutionary struggle, and participated in many of its battles-was at the Valley Forge, the Battle of Germantown, and Siege of Yorktown. After retiring to private life he married and settled in Chester, where he continued to reside during his life. Being a man of ability and ster- ling integrity, and having so long and so faithfully served his country in the time of its greatest need, he was select- ed for various public trusts, and was eventually elected a member of Con- gress, which office he held many years. In the latter part of his life he was em- ployed in connection with the collec- tion of the customs. In politics he was a Democrat of the Jefferson school, but from his amiable deportment always commanded the respect of his political opponents. His daughter, Evelina, be- came the wife of the late Commodore Porter, of the U. S. Navy.
ARNOLD, RICHARD, with his wife Sa- rah, was an early settler in Thornbury, but not one of the earliest. It does not appear that he was a Friend, though some of his children were. He had ten children, all born before 1714, viz .: John, Grace, Thomas, Josiah, William, Elizabeth, Richard, Sarah and Anthony, several of whom were married according to the rules of the Society of Friends. Richard, the elder, died in 1720, his son John having died unmarried three years earlier.
ASHBRIDGE, GEORGE, a member of the Society of Friends, had settled within the bounds of Chester Monthly Meeting as early as 1688, then, probably, quite a young man. In 1701 he married Mary Maylen of Providence. Their children were Joseph, John, George, Jonathan, Elizabeth, Mary, Aaron, Hannah and Phebe. At the time of his death, in 1748, he owned and occupied a planta- tion in Chester township.
ANDRIES, LACE, was, for a time, one of the Justices of Upland Court. He was a Swedish immigrant and resided in Moyamensing.
BAILEY, JOEL, was an early settler in the vicinity of Chester-probably at first west of Chester creek above the mill. In 1687 he was married accord- ing to the usages of Friends to Ann Short, after which he became a resident of Aston. In 1704 the family removed to Marlborough. Their children were Mary, Ann, Daniel, Isaac and Joel. Their descendants are numerous in Chester county at the present day. Joel Bailey died in 1732, at an advanced age.
BAKER, JOSEPH, with his wife, Mary, migrated from England as early as 1685, and settled on a large tract of land in Edgmont. They had several children at the time of their arrival. Of these, Hannah intermarried with Francis Yarnall, and Dorothy with Philip Yarnall. He devised all his land in Edgmont to his son, John, born in this county in 1686. Joseph was in membership with Friends and was fre- quently concerned in the business of their meetings. He was also an influ- ential man in the community and re- presented Chester County in the Pro- vincial Assembly. He died in 1716 leaving his wife to survive him. His
John Simcock John Bristone Richt Hayes Paul Saundoy 17000 Robert Taylor The Holme Davi Dada 11686. 1685. Jane Foin 1738
1684. Joph Bakar 1685.
Iva: Logo 1700
1682.0 John Morton 1776
Job Version AM
William Jonking Charles Ashcom
Richo : Noble Aquiell Hamstory
1684
1687. yre
Eph: Jackson
1715.
Jamog Swafor face Taylor John German
1687.
Jacob Taylor
1714
James Sandelandes
Thomas mary John Sangmouthy Jon Hoayes
John falkeld
John Shamples
443
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
brother John, who died in Philadelphia in 1685, came from Edgmont, in Shrop- shire, England, which was, doubtless, the transatlantic residence of Joseph, and hence the name of the township in which he settled.
BALDWIN, THOMAS, settled on the southwest side of Chester creek above Chester mills, about the year 1697, but afterwards removed to Chester, where he died in 1731. His children were Thomas, Joseph, William, Anthony, Mary, Martha and Elizabeth.
BALDWIN, JOHN, was an early settler in Aston township. In 1689 he was married according to the usages of Friends, to Katharine Turner, a widow. Though in membership with Friends, he does not appear to have taken much interest in the Society. Their children were two-Ruth and John, the latter of whom was married to Hannah John- son. The elder John was a brother of Thomas and Francis Baldwin. By trade was a blacksmith, and came to reside in Chester in the latter part of his life, where he died in 1732, leaving a consi- derable property. Both his children were then deceased. FRANCIS BALDWIN was also a settler in the neighborhood of Chester as early as 1686.
BARBER, ROBERT, was an early resi- dent of the borough of Chester. He was in membership with Friends, and in 1690 married Hannah Ogden, also a member. He appears to have carried on the shoemaking business. Died in 1708.
BALL, JOHN, came from Derbyshire, England, and settled in Darby, now Upper Darby, in 1689. It appears that he had been married in England, as his son Roger was married to Mary Scothorn in 1709. They were in unity with Friends.
BARNARD, ISAAC D., son of James and Susanna Barnard, was born in Aston township in 1791. His father being elected sheriff the following year, purchased a farm near the borough of Chester, upon which he resided till 1800, when, having received the ap- pointment of Register, Recorder, Pro- thonotary and Clerk of the several Courts of Delaware county, he removed into the borough. Neither on the farm,
nor while residing within the town of Chester, had young Barnard any op- portunity of obtaining more than an ordinary common-school education. At the early age of thirteen years he was taken from school and employed in the office of his father as a clerk, in which situation, by his obliging atten- tion and aptness iu the performance of his dutics, he soon gained the confidence and respect of those whose business caused them to visit the office. His father died in 1806, but young Barnard had become such an expert clerk, and with all so much of a favorite in the office, that Thomas B. Dick, who succeeded his father, very wisely se- cured a continuance of his services. In 1809 he left Chester and entered the office of F. Wolbert, Prothonotary of Philadelphia, where he continued till the spring of 1811, when he returned to Chester and entered the office of William Graham, Esq., as a student of law. While still a student, and shortly before he became of age, he obtained a captain's commission in the regular army ; and soon after war was declared with Great Britain, in 1812, he was employed in the recruiting service, and opened a rendezvous at West Chester. Early in the spring of 1813 he pro- ceeded, with his company, to Sackett's Harbor and joined the regiment of General Winder-was present at the capture of Fort George, in May of that year, and by his gallantry in that affair, and the good discipline of his com- mand, commended himself to the fa- vorable notice of his superior officers. He received the appointment of major out of the regular order of promotion, and in that capacity was with General Izzard at Plattsburg, where his conduct again received the approbation of his commander. In the battle at Lyon's creek his conduct in executing a gal- lant charge elicited the special notice of General Bissell.
After the close of the war, Major Barnard left the army, resumed his studies, was admitted to the bar in 1816, and commenced the practice of the law at West Chester. He soon received the appointment of Deputy At- torney General, and in 1820 was elected to the State Senate-the County of Delaware giving him his whole ma- jority. In 1826 he was appointed Se- cretary of the Commonwealth under
444
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
Governor Shulze-and about a year afterwards was elected to the United States Senate. In 1831, on account of ill health, he resigned his seat in the Senate, but while a member of that body he became a prominent candidate before the Democratic convention for nomination as Governor of the State, and was only defeated by a combination of corrupt factions. Not long after he commenced the practice of the law, he was married to Harriet, the eldest daughter of Judge Darlington of West Chester, but they had no children. His death occurred in 1834, at the age of forty-three years.
BARNARD RICHARD, came from Shef- field, England, either in company with William Penn or very shortly after- wards, and settled in Middletown. He was a Grand Juror in 1685, and served the constable's office for Middletown in 1691. Ile was married at the time of his arrival in this country, and died prior to 1704. His children were Richard, who married Ann, the daughter of Abia Taylor; Thomas, who married Elizabeth Swain of Newark, and after- wards Sarah Carter of Chester Meet- ing ; Sarah, who married
Mary, who married Jacob Roman ; Lucy, who married Thomas Dutton ; Lydia, who married Daniel Walker; and Rebecca, who married Enoch Flower. Richard Barnard the elder, was in membership with Friends, as all his children appear to have been. After his death, the land he had pur- chased in Aston was sold by his son Richard to his brother Thomas who settled there. Richard then removed to Marlborough.
BARTRAM, JOHN, from Ashborn in Derbyshire, England, came to Pennsyl- vania in 1683, and settled in Darby township west of Darby creek. He was the son of Richard Bartram, and had been married and settled some time in the town of Ashborn. At the time of his removal to America, his family consisted of his wife Elizabeth, three sons-John, Isaac and William, and one daughter, Mary. He died on the first of September, 1697, in full unity with the Society of Friends, having lost his son John five years before. Mary was married to John Wood of Darby in 1696.
BARTRAM, ISAAC, the second son of the immigrant, John Bartram, became possessed of all his father's real estate by virtue of a deed of gift executed a short time before his death. Isaac probably resided with his mother on the mansion-farm in Darby township till 1708, when he died unmarried, having devised the family homestead to his mother during life, and then to John, (the botanist,) the eldest son of his brother William.
BARTRAM, WILLIAM, the youngest son of the elder John Bartram, was married to Elizabeth, the daughter of James Hunt of Kingsessing, at Darby meeting, on the 27th of March, 1696, by whom he had two sons, John (the botanist) and James. His wife died in 1701. In 1707 he was married to Elizabeth, the daughter of William Smith of Darby, by whom he had two children, William and Elizabeth. In 1712 he removed to Carolina with his " wife and youngest child," but probably died before the end of the year, as his will was admitted to probate on the 17th of January, 1713.
BARTRAM, JOHN, the earliest of American botanists, and the first to establish a botanic garden in America, was the eldest son of the above named William Bartram, and grandson of the immigrant, John. He was born in Darby township on the 23rd March, 1699. By the will of his uncle, Isaac Bartram, he became possessed of the mansion prop- erty of his grandfather, and by the will of his father, of one fourth of his estate, which is not supposed to have been large.
Being left an orphan at the age ofabout thirteen years in a newly settled coun- try almost destitute of schools, it can- not be supposed, that his opportunities for obtaining an education were very good. Such as they were, they were embraced by him with all the spirit of youthful enthusiasm ; devoting him- self to the study of Latin and Greek when opportunity presented. His in- clination was to study physic and surgery, and in the latter science he had acquired so much knowledge as to be useful to his neighbors. His study of nature commenced while engaged in the labor of the field. From her ample volume wide spread before him, John Bartram took his earliest lessons.
445
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
Conceiving the idea of a botanic gar- den, he, in the year 1728, purchased the site of the well known " Bartram's garden," on the banks of the Schuyl- kill, now the property of Thomas East- wiek, Esq. A further notice of John Bartram as a botanist would be incom- patible with this work ; his biography in this respect belongs to the State and to the nation.
Ile was twice married ; to his first wife in 1723-to his second in 1729. Ilis first wife was Mary, the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Maris of Spring- field township. His second was Ann, the daughter of Benjamin Mendenhall of Concord. By the first marriage he had two children ; by his second nine. He was married both times in accord- ance with the discipline of the Society of Friends, of which Society he was a member till 1758, when he was dis- owned for entertaining opinions sup- posed not to be in accordance with the doctrines of that sect. His religious belief may be gathered from a distitch conspicuously engraved with his own hands over the window of an apart- ment in his house devoted to study and retirement; and from its date it may be concluded that he held the same doctrine till the end of his days.
" Tis God alone, Almighty Lord, The Holy One, by me adored." " JOHN BARTRAM, 1770."
His death occurred on the 22nd of September, 1777, shortly after the battle of Brandywine, and it was sup- posed to have been hastened by the apprehension that " his darling garden, the cherished nursling of almost half a century," might not be spared from the ravages that the approaching British army were then committing in his vicinity. He had frequently expressed a desire that his last illness might be short, and in this he was especially gratified. His age was seventy-eight years and six months. [For a more particular account of this great man, the reader is refered to " Memorials of Burtram & Marshall," edited by Dr. William Darlington, and published in 1849.]
BAYNTON, PETER, a man of some ability and plausible address, but des- titute of moral principle, came from England, and settled in the town of Chester about the year 1690. He soon
gained the confidence of the people, and at the same time secured the affections of a lady, whom he married. There are reasons for believing that the lady who became his dupe, was Ann, the widow of James Sandelandes. His career in America was short, but brilliant. He was appointed a justice of the Chester Court, and presided at its sittings, which were sometimes held at his house. In two or three years, how- ever, he suddenly returned to England, carrying most of his property with him, and leaving his wife without competent means for her support. After his arrival in England, he married another woman, a fact which he had the un- feeling impudence to communicate to his wife here, with an intimation of his intention to send for the balance of the property he had left. This, how- ever, was prevented by a timely appli- cation to the Governor and Council.
BEAL, or BALES, JOHN, was an early settler in the lower part of Aston. He was married to Mary, the daughter of William Clayton, Sr., in 1682. They were Friends, and so far as known, their children were John, William, Jacob, Mary and Patience. The family, after some time, removed to Notting- ham, where John died in 1726.
BENNETT, JOHN, intermarried with Ann, the eldest daughter of William Brinton, the pioneer immigrant, in 1684, at Stower Bridge Friends' Meet- ing, in England, and soon afterwards came to this country and settled near his father-in-law, in Birmingham. He died in 1709, leaving four children to survive him, viz., William, John, Ann and Olive. He became a large land- holder in Birmingham before his death. He was appointed constable of Birming- ham, when first organized as a town- ship, in 1686.
BENNETT, EDWARD, purchased land in Concord, in the year 1686, and doubt- less settled there, as he that year mar- ried Margery Willis. He was probably a brother of John Bennett, and she a sister of John Willis, the son-in-law of the immigrant William Brinton.
BETHEL, JOHN, with his wife Frances and family, came to occupy the mill property of Darby about the year 1693,
446
BIOGRAPIIICAL NOTICES.
and he soon afterwards became the owner of it. He doubtless had resided in the country some time previously. In 1699, his wife died, and in 1703 he married Jane Parker, by whom he had one child, Samuel. His children by his first wife were John, Joseph, William, Sarah and Mary. John the younger intermarried with Rose Smith ; Mary with Job Harvey ; and Sarah with Oba- diah Bonsall. The other children pro- bably died unmarried. They were all in membership with Friends, and in the latter part of his life the elder John was active and influential in meeting affairs. He represented the County of Chester in the Provincial Assembly, in 1707, and died about the close of that year or the commencement of the next.
BEVAN, JOHN, or JOHN AP, as he was sometimes called, was born in Gla- morganshire, Wales, in 1646, being the eldest of five children His parents, who were wealthy, died while he was quite young. Being the heir, when he arrived at age, he found himself in pos- session of a large estate, while his brothers were unprovided for-his only sister being dead. His strong sense of justice at once induced him to " por- tion all his brothers, and give them a helpful subsistence in the world." In
1665 he was married to a religious wo- man, a strict member of the Establish- ed Church, who, when her husband had shown a disposition to become a Quaker, was distressed, and felt it to be her duty to interpose her serious objections. They argued the question without result ; but the indiscretion of the priest, in pronouncing the sentence of excommunication without previous notice against the husband, in pre- sence of the wife, so shocked her feel- ings as to make her nearly faint away, and after a time made her willing " to search closely into the weighty work of salvation." They both became Quakers, and in the language of their certificate, were regarded "as a nursing father and a nursing mother to (the spiritually) weak and young" of their neighborhood.
In 1683, John Bevan, with his family, removed to Pennsylvania, and settled either in Merion or Haverford, his land being located in both townships. He had been a pillar of the Meeting he left, he was equally so of Haverford Meeting, which he aided in establish-
ing, and which was frequently held at his house in its infancy. He stood high as a preacher in the Society, and the records of Haverford attest his con- stancy and efficiency in the promotion of works of benevolence and charity. While in the country he traveled much as a minister, and in 1704, visited his native land on "truth's account," ac- companied by his wife and his youngest danghter, Barbara, who was also a preacher. He never returned to Ame- rica, but after suffering some persecu- tion, being imprisoned in Cardiff gaol in 1721, he died shortly afterwards. He had four children married in Penn- sylvania. His daughter Jane to John Wood, of Darby, in 1687 ; son Evan to Eleanor Wood, of Darby, in 1693 ; daughter Elizabeth to Joseph Richard- son, of Philadelphia, 1696; and one other.
BEAZER, JOHN, one of the Commis- sioners appointed by William Penn to lay out the City of Philadelphia, was a resident of Bishops Canning in Wilt- shire. In consequence of his appoint- ment he arrived before the Proprietary made his first visit in 1682. He was accompanied by his wife Susanna, or she followed him soon afterwards. They settled at Marcus Hook, where John died in 1684. John was a public Friend, and appears to have lived up to his religious profession. Before leaving England his business was that of a maltster. He had been a Quaker many years, and had suffered much persecution, by imprisonment, whipping and the stocks. It seems, however, that he invited a part of this persecu- tion, by speaking in the " Steeple- house at Marlborough." So far as is known, he had four children, viz. :- John, Richard, Susannah, (who inter- married with Nathaniel Lampleigh) and Frances, (who became the wife of John Hendrickson, John having first united with the Society of Friends.)
BEAZER, EDWARD, a brother of the above named John, came from Rowde, in the county of Wilts, England, and was a very early settler in Bethel. Edward Pennick married his sister Frances. He was a Friend, and monthly meetings were held at his house in 1686. He died in 1688. By trade he was a mason. He left a son Edward.
447
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
BILES, WILLIAM, never resided in De- laware County. He arrived at Bur- lington in the year 1678, in a ship from London, in company with Jersey set- tlers, and established his abode in what is now Bucks County, but which at that time was embraced in Upland County. Upon the establishment of Penn's government, he was appointed one of the Justices of Upland Court, which office he held till after the ar- rival of Penn and the division of the Province into three counties. He was a man of ability and the strictest in- tegrity-was frequently a member of Council and of the Provincial Assem- bly, but withal, was a preacher, and an active and influential member of the Society of Friends. He was one of the signers of the celebrated testi- mony against George Keith.
BLUNSTON, JOHN, one of the earliest of the Quaker colonists of Darby, emi- grated from Derbyshire, England, in 1682, and brought with him the follow- ing certificate, which is introdneed as a specimen of those documents :
" This is to certify to whom it may con- cern that John Blunston of Little Hallam in the County of Darby hath it in his mind to transport himself into Pennsyl- vania in America: that ye said John Blunston hath walked orderly & so far fortb, as wee know is Cleare upon all ac- counts.
Att Breath house ye 13th of ye 5th month 1682 by us whose names are heare under written John Roads
William Woolly
Edmund Cartledge Richard Seaford
Thomas Whittle Adam Roades
Joshua Fearne Samuel Fox
Joseph Potter Michael Blunston
Will. Day"
John BInnston was married and had two children by his wife Sarah, at the time of his arrival. As no mention is made in his certificate that he was a preacher, it may be inferred that he had not appeared in the ministry till after his arrival here, where his public testimonies were frequent. The early meetings of Darby were held at his house, which stood near the mill-race, and nearly in front of the present Friends' meeting-house at Darby.
Besides attending strictly to his re- ligions duties, his time was much occu- pied in public employments. He was a member of the Provincial Assembly
thirteen years, and several times held the position of Speaker of that body. He was also for a time a member of Council ; was appointed by Wm. Penn one of the Council of State, and was one of the Justices of the Court. He was a member of the Society of Free Traders, and frequently acted as attor- ney for persons residing in England who held land here. He took a firm stand in opposition to George Keith, and signed the testimony against him. His wife Sarah died in 1692, and in 1699 he married Margaret, the widow of Joseph Steadman, of Springfield. His children by his first wife were Sa- rah, Katharine, John and Joseph. The last named dying young, he named an only child by his second wife, Joseph, who also died in early life. John Blunston, Jr., married Anne, the daugh- ter of James Hunt; Katharine inter- married with Adam Roads, and Sarah with Josiah Fearne. John Blunston, the elder, died in 1723.
BLUNSTON, MICHAEL, came from Lit- tle Hallam, "County of Darby," in 1682, and at first settled in the town of Darby. In 1691 he was married at Darby to Hannah, the daughter of Sa- muel Levis, of Springfield, when he probably removed to what is now Up- per Darby. His wife died in 1705, and in 1708 he was again married. His second wife was Phebe Pecho, also of Springfield. This lady was born in England in 1666, and became quite eminent as a preacher among the Qua- kers. Michael was also a devout mem- ber of that Society. He died in 1736, and his wife in 1749, at the advanced age of 83 years. It does not appear that he had children by either mar- riage. IIe bequeathed £80 in trust, " to be employed in entertaining honest Friends," and £50 " to school the chil- dren of poor Friends of Darby Monthly Meeting."
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