USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 9
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Gen. Welsh Post is one of the strongest, numeri- cally and financially, and one of the best organized and successfully conducted posts in the interior of the | of the people. The election for that purpose was held State. Its muster-roll contains nearly three hundred April 9, 1870, when four hundred and ninety-three votes were polled for, and fifty-five against, a new town hall. Plans for the hall were submitted May 28th, a building committee appointed; proposals invited. They were found to be so high that they were referred back to the committee and architect for revision, and were never considered again. In 1871, the hall pro- ject was revived. names, comprising many of the leading citizens of Columbia, including merchants, members of the dif- ferent professions, skilled mechanics, numerous eni- ployés and officers of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and farmers from the suburban districts. It is an organization which very fairly represents the character, patriotism, and intelligence of our citizen soldiery, commanding the respect and enjoying the confidence and sympathy of the community.
In 1873, at an adjourned meeting held May 30th, it was resolved, "that the Borough Council proceed to erect an additional market-house and town hall combined." At the same meeting a building com- mittee was appointed, consisting of Messrs. Bachman, Kauffman, Detwiler, Craig, and Steacy. On August 18th, of the plans submitted, that of E. F. Durang was adopted. September 10th ground was broken by . Chief Burgess Shenberger. September 18th the work of tearing down the old town hall was commenced. The foundation walls for the new structure were com- pleted during the autumn, and carefully protected against the exposures of winter.
Feb. 24, 1874, the contract for the building, exclu- sive of clock, bell, stage, and auditorium furniture, upholstering, heating apparatus, gas fixtures, etc., was awarded to Michael Liphart, being the lowest bidder, at fifty-four thousand three hundred dollars.
Haldeman having succeeded Mr. Detwiler, whose term had expired. In 1875, the terms of Messrs. Craig and Steacy having expired, Messrs. MeClure and Wolfe were appointed to succeed them. E. W. Goerke, C. E., was employed as superintendent. Mr. Liphart died Jan. 30, 1875, and his contract was com- pleted by his sureties, Messrs. A. Bruner and E. Hershey. The bell in the tower was used for the first time after it was hung in tolling his sad funeral notes.
Riverside Home Circle, No. 27, was organized April 23, 1877, with the following officers: Annie The Opera-Ilouse cost $85,824.15. It was formally opened by the Mendelssohn Quintette Club of Boston, on Tuesday evening, Aug. 24, 1875, in the presence Lindsey, P. G .; A. G. Lindsey, G .; "Mary Anderson, P. R. O. T .; Henry Appley, Prophet; Annie Smith, Prophetess ; Jacob R. Gohn, Priest; Mary Schalk, | of over seven hundred people. Before the concert a
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER COUNTY.
short dedicatory address was delivered by H. M. North, Esq.
Prominent Families and Individuals .- Robert Barber was born in England. He was bound to his uncle, Robert Barber, to learn the "art and mystery of cordwaining." They came to Chester in the latter part of the seventeenth century. In the summer or fall of 1708, Robert Barber died, leaving no issue. His estate was large for that time. He de- vised to his nephew, the subject of this, sketch, who was then living with him and had not attained his majority, its largest portion. When he became of age he decided to follow a seafaring life. He was taken by the French and thrown into prison in France, and when he was released he returned to Chester. He and his unele were Quakers, and it is probable that the experience he had while in a French prison, and a prospect of being recaptured by French privateers if he continued to follow a maritime life, diverted his mind from what seemed to be a vocation of much peril to a more peaceful one, and he concluded to settle in Chester. He had an active mind, which was well developed, a body healthy and vigorous, capable of enduring hardships.
Ile married Hannah Tidmarsh, of Philadelphia, a member of the Society of Friends, and a person en- dowed with great energy and a mind of more than ordinary character. In the year 1719 he was a candi- date for sheriff of Chester County, but was beaten by Nicholas Fairlamb. In the fall of 1721 he ran for coroner in the same county, and was elected. In the year 1724 he was elected a member of the Board of County Assessors.
When this county was organized he was appointed sheriff', and at the general election in October, 1729, he was chosen to the same office by the people.
He was ambitious to secure the location of the connty-seat upon his farm, and at his own expense lie erected a temporary log jail in front of his dwelling, which stood where is now the garden of Jacob S. Stoner, the present owner of the premises. This jail is known in history as the place where Sir James Annesly was confined. Until the county-seat was permanently located where it now is, Mr. Barber did not give up all hope of getting it upon his land. It caused him some anxiety, and when he became as- sured that he could not succeed he was greatly disap- pointed.
In the fall of 1730 he declined to be a candidate for sheriff, and he returned to his farm and private life. He built a saw-mill in the meadow south of his dwelling, to which he gave attention. There were but a few acres under cultivation, which was barely sufficient to provide grain enough to support his fam- ily and feed his stock. He had a very large family, and it required his best energies to provide for them. Ile was elected county commissioner for the years 1740-4I. Ife took an active part in behalf of the Penns during "Cresap's war."
Robert Barber died in the year 1749, aged about fifty-seven years. IIe left a widow, Hannah, and ten children, namely : John, was "read out" of the So- ciety of Friends in 1755 for "marrying out." Ife was killed by the Indians at the Ohio while trading. Robert, who married, Sept. 26, 1746, Sarah, daughter of Samuel Taylor ; Thomas, who died in his minority ; Nathaniel, who settled where his father built his man- sion, and retained a portion of the land. He died in the spring of 1804, leaving five children. Elizabeth, who died in her minority ; James, married ; Samuel; Eleanor, who married John Wright, Jr. ; Mary, and Sarah.
The second generation of Barbers gradually left the Society of Friends, and we find that there were several members of the third generation who entered the Revolutionary army and served their country faith- fully.
Samuel Blunston was the son of John Blunston and Sarah, who came from Hallam, in the county of Derby, England, in 1682. He was a minister of the Society of Friends, a warm personal friend of William Penn, and a member of his Council. He was also a member of Assembly. He died in 1723, and his wife, Sarah, died Oct. 4, 1692. Their children were John (1685-1716), Samuel, Joseph (1691-92), and Hannah, who mar- ried Thomas Pearson, of Kingsessing.
Samuel Blunston was born Sept. 2, 1689, at Darby,. Chester Co., Pa. He married, June 4, 1718, Sarah Bilton, the widow of ----- Bilton, who kept a ferry over the Schuylkill. He studied land-surveying. He had considerable means of his own when he married, which was largely increased by his wife's fortune. She had no children by her first husband, nor did. she bring any to her second one. They came to the Susquehanna in the fall of 1726. She lived but & few years after coming here. He was appointed by Peter Evans, the register-general of wills, deputy reg- ister of the county, on the 2d day of August, 1729. When the county was organized he was appointed one of the justices, although he was in commission as a jus- tice from Chester County previous to that time. He was not recognized as a strict member of the Society of Friends after he came to the Susquehanna, and his name does not appear upon the minutes of the Quarterly or Monthly Meeting records. He was & generous liver, and entertained a great deal of com. pany. Thomas Penn was at his house in 1736, and Logan and other prominent officials were there fre quently. He was elected a member of the General Assembly in 1732, 1741, 1742, and 1744. He and bi life-long friend, John Wright, stood up manfully when in the Legislature and opposed Governor Thomas in his arbitrary measures.
When the court-house and jail were built, he wa frequently consulted about their erection, and he seems to have had a general supervision of the work In 1732, when troubles commenced between the Mary landers and Pennsylvanians, in Conagohela Valley
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BOROUGH OF COLUMBIA.
four miles below Wrightsville, to the day the former struck their flag and left the soil of Pennsylvania forever, he was untiring in his efforts to bring the freebooters to justice. He employed Benjamin Cham- bers (the founder of Chambersburg) to go to the en- emy's camp in Maryland and discover their designs. Although captured, he escaped and reported to Mr. Blunston the true state of affairs. He was sent to Donegal, where the Scotch-Irish had a house-raising. They stopped their work and gathered up what fire- arms they had, and hastened to the west side of Wright's Ferry, and just arrived in time to give the Marylanders a warm reception. For the time being a conflict was prevented.
After all of the German settlers in the valley had either joined the enemy or fled to the east side of the river, a large force was collected and placed in the Ferry-House on the west side of the river for defense. Mr. Blunston at his own expense kept a large nuni- ber of men there. Governor Ogle, of Maryland, of- fered a reward of one hundred pounds for his head, and they actually arranged a plan to capture him when returning from the funeral of the wife of the Rev. James Anderson, at Donegal, in 1736. He be- came aware of their plans, and avoided the trap they had laid for him. About this time he became very much discouraged in consequence of the dilatory actions of the Governor and his Council. He saw the danger to the interests of the proprietors by delay, and knew the necessity for prompt action. He sent frequent messengers to the Governor, with letters couched in caustic and bitter terms, that must have had a salutary effect upon the mind of the Governor and his friends. On the 3d day of April, 1736, he was appointed deputy surveyor for the townships of " Derry, Hempfield, Dunnegal, and Lebanon." At the same time he, in behalf of the inhabitants of these townships, presented a scheme for appeasing the "tumults and animosities among them," which was adopted, and it put an end to the troubles about the titles to their land. He had a large field to cover, and the duties which called him there were very exacting. But for the assistance of that re- markable person, Susannah Wright, who copied and assisted him in his writing, he could not have ac- complished successfully the work he did. His health became greatly impaired, and in the summer of 1746 he was compelled to give up all out-door work. He died in September, 1746. He left no issue, and he gave his valued friend, Susannah Wright, a life estate in all his large property, which consisted of nearly nine hundred acres of land. He made several bequests, among which was one to the poor of the county. He owned a number of slaves, and gave them their freedom after a term of a few years.
John Wright was born in Lancashire, England, about the year 1667. Ile came to Chester in the year 1714. He was a public speaker among the Quakers, and he came recommended from that society in Eng-
land. He was not long in Chester before he was elected to the General Assembly, and was also ap- pointed a justice of the peace. Before he came to the Susquehanna he had been at Conestoga, where he preached to the Indians. Ile may have gone up as far as Shawanese Run, where that tribe had a village, and thus became acquainted with the locality where he subsequently settled. Robert Barber went in advance, and the first survey was made in his name, and he conveyed to John Wright in August, 1726, one hundred and fifty acres.
He built his dwelling upon a level spot of ground fronting the river. This dwelling was torn down in 1874 to give place to a more stately brick mansion of modern times. The logs used in its construction were hickory, white and Spanish oak, and a number of black walnut. The dwelling, as first constructed, seems to have contained but one room upon the first story and one upon the second.
In the year 1729, John Wright was elected to a seat in the General Assembly, and re-elected in the years 1730 and 1731 without opposition. Ile was again a candidate in 1732. Accidentally or otherwise John Wright's name was omitted from some of the ballots and another name inserted in its stead, which caused his defeat by half a dozen votes. He carried the contest to the General Assembly, but was again beaten. George Stewart, who resided in Donegal, was elected to the General Assembly in the same year, but he died before taking his seat, and John Wright was elected without opposition to fill the vacancy. He was re-elected for seventeen successive terms thereafter, and on Oct. 15, 1745, he was elected Speaker of the General Assembly.
George Thomas was appointed Governor in 1738. Almost from the commencement of his administra- tion he undertook to carry measures through the General Assembly of an arbitrary character which were in direct opposition to the policy of that body. Among the number of those who led the opposition was John Wright, whose integrity stood the test of all the cajolery or threats the Governor and his friends could bring to bear. The replies of the Assembly through their Speaker, who presented addresses to the Governor in answer to his messages to that body, displayed great ability. Governor Thomas became so enraged at Wright and others for their opposition that he determined to punish them for their temerity. He announced that he would issue new commissions of the peace in place of those held by Wright and other recusant members of the Assembly. This was intended as a threat to coerce them into his measures.
In the year 1733-34 he was appointed a loan com- missioner, one of the most important positions of trust in the province. During the period of Cresap's war, which lasted three years, the farm which he had bought upon the western side of the river was fre- quently run over by bands of hostile Marylanders. His tenants and laboring men were often driven
584
HISTORY OF LANCASTER COUNTY.
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584
HISTORY OF LANCASTER COUNTY.
away. In the month of July, 1735, when he was having a field of wheat reaped, Thomas Cresap, with about twenty persons, armed with guns, swords, pistols, and blunderbusses, marched into the field with drum beating. This military display was not very imposing, but it was calculated to terrify and drive away from his land a farmer who was opposed to the use of personal force to resist it. Wright walked to the valiant warrior, Cresap, and demanded to know what he meant by appearing in so hostile a manner to the terror of Ilis Majesty's peaceable sub- jects employed about the lawful and necessary busi- ness of husbandry. Cresap replied that he came to fight several persons who came over the river, if they would accept his challenge. He drew his sword and cocked his pistol, and presented them at the person of Mr. Wright, who very coolly commanded Cresap and his company to keep His Majesty's peace, and that he would proceed on his lawful business. Cresap brought a number of wagons with him to carry off Wright's grain. He changed his mind when he discovered that he could not intimidate him, and he and his men retreated, leaving the wagons in the field in charge of the owners, who could not resist the persuasive powers of Mr. Wright. They assisted to put the grain upon their own wagons, and hauled it to the ferry, where it was placed in boats and taken to the eastern side of the river.
Governor Ogle, of Maryland, afterwards offered one hundred pounds reward for Mr. Wright's head. He held many conferences with different Indian tribes, and sometimes made long journeys on horse- back to meet them. He was afflicted with rheuma- tism, which often confined him to his bed. He mar- ried Susannah Crewason. They had five children,- Susannah, Patience, John, Elizabeth, and James.
Susannah was born in England. When her parents removed to America she was at school, where she re- mained and finished her education, and followed her parents a few years after they left England. Although she was a member of the Society of Friends, promi- nent persons of birth, education, and culture sought her society. She was brilliant in conversation and endowed with an extraordinary mind. She could not have been a strict follower of George Fox in all things, or she would have devoted herself to the min- istry. After the death of her mother, which took place shortly after her arrival at Chester, she became the ruling spirit in her father's family.
Many of the leading men of the province sought her company, whom she entertained and edified with her conversation. Of this number there was but one young Quaker who made an impression upon her heart, and that person was Samuel Blunston, who married another. After the decease of the latter their old friendship and love for each other was re- newed and they became inseparable friends. They did not marry, probably for the reason that she had entire charge of her father's affairs and her younger
brother, to whom she was much attached. There were but a few families settled here, but all seemed to belong to one family, and all of them looked up to her as the ruling spirit in the neighborhood.
In business affairs she was consulted by every one. She could draw up any legal paper, and her judg- ment upon ordinary legal matters was sound, and it was safe to follow her advice. She gave her atten -! tion also to the study of medicine, and probably read the few medical books she could find, with the view of being better equipped to fight against sickness. She had some taste for painting, and in her leisure moments from other pursuits she painted a number of landscape scenes. She corresponded with Logan, Benjamin Franklin, and other leading men in the provinee and in England upon matters best calcu- lated to elevate the race.
She was one of the first persons in America.to demonstrate the fact that the climate was adapted to the culture of silk. She procured silk-worm eggs, from which she raised a large number of the worms. She sent the raw silk to Europe and had it woven into manilla. One piece alone measured sixty yards, a portion of which she gave to the queen, who pre- sented her with a silver tankard, which is still re- tained among the descendants of her brother James. Benjamin Franklin, who was then in France, became greatly interested in this experiment of silk culture in his adopted province of Pennsylvania, and he wrote to Miss Wright upon the subject, and called the attention of a number of leading men in England to the matter. There are a few specimens of this silk now in the rooms of the Historical Society.
Samuel Blunston gave her a life estate in his prop- erty, and after his death she and her father and hrother, James, removed to the Blunston mansion.
Patience Wright was also born in England. She married Richard Loudon on the 5th of June, 1728, at the dwelling of Samuel Blunston. He purchased a farm in Strasburg township in 1727, adjoining the lands of Samuel Taylor. When the county was or- ganized and the permanent county-seat located where it now is he was appointed keeper of the prison. Mr. Loudon purchased a farm in Manheim township and a small tract near Graff's landing.
Col. John Loudon, son of Richard and Patience (Wright), became a distinguished officer in the Revo- lutionary war, and was in a number of battles. At the close of the war he located in Buffalo Valley, on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.
John Wright married Eleanor Barber, daughter of Robert Barber, the first sheriff of the county. He settled upon his father's land on the west side of the river, and built the ferry-house there. He was a member of the General Assembly from York County for a number of years, and held other positions of trust in that county.
Elizabeth Wright married Samuel Taylor on the 8th day of May, 1728, at the house of Samuel Blun-
·
585
BOROUGH OF COLUMBIA.
ston, Esq. Samuel Taylor was the son of Christopher Taylor. He came from "Tinicum" to this county . in the year 1728, and purchased land in Strasburg township near the Bart township line, where he erected a grist- and saw-mill upon a branch of Beaver Creek.
James Wright was born in Chester in the year 1714 . or 1715, and was the only one of John Wright's chil- dren born in America. About the year 1738, he, in connection with Samuel Blunston, erected a corn- and grist-mill near the mouth of Shawanese Run. He married ont of the Society of Friends. About the same time he erected the stone mansion now along Second Street, between Locust and Cherry Streets, known thereafter as " Wright's Ferry Mansion," and was on land attached to the ferry-house. He at once took a front rank among the leading men of the county. He was elected a member of the General Assembly in 1745, and continued to serve in that body until the year 1771. He and his father and brother, John, were members of that body at one and the same time. It was an unusual circumstance for three mem- bers of the same family to serve so many years to- gether in a legislative body. Through all the turmoil, excitement, and bitterness which grew ont of the French and Indian war of 1755-60, and Pontiac's war of 1763, which was followed by the destruction of the Conestoga Indians, but few Quakers conld face the storm which followed them into the General As- seinbly and drove a number of them out. James Wright rode safely through it all, and this fact alone speaks in favor of his prudence, judgment, and in . tegrity. He served on many important committees, and was intrusted with matters which required sound judgment and taet to prevent Indian outbreaks.
During the campaign of Gen. Forhes against the French and Indians, in 1758, several battalions of troops raised in the eastern part of this province and elsewhere, numbering twelve hundred, marched as far as Lancaster, but refused to go any farther unless they received more rations. James Wright came forward and agreed to provide for the troops until they arrived at Harris' Ferry, about two days' march farther west. They then moved promptly. In this connection it is well to mention that these pioneer Quakers who settled at the Susquehanna were a law unto themselves, and for many years refused to have anything to do with the Yearly or Quarterly Meetings of Friends elsewhere. James Wright was married (2d), July 2, 1753, to Rhoda Patterson. Their children were Samuel, Elizabeth (who married Col. Thomas Boude), John, Thomas, Susannah, James, William, and Patience (who mar- ried Dr. Vincent King).
Maj. Thomas Boude was the son of Dr. Samuel Boude, of Lancaster, who married Mary, the daughter of Samuel Bethel, mentioned-elsewhere. He and his family were Episcopalians. Before he attained his majority he showed a fondness for military matters,
and when the conflict between Great Britain and the colonies came, he and his brothers were among the first to enter the Continental service and march to the front. He entered the army as a lieutenant under command of Gen. Anthony Wayne. He was in the brilliant action at the taking of Stony Point, on the Hudson, and was in command of one of the volunteer squads of twenty called the " forlorn hope," and would have been the first person to enter the sally port-holes but for the fact that a much larger and more powerful person at his side pulled him baek and foreed himself in front. After the capture of the fort, Lieut. Bonde found in an officer's room a watch, which is now in possession of his descendants. For gallant conduct upon this occasion he was promoted to a captaincy, and afterwards to major. He com- manded a body of Light Troops at Gen. Washington's headquarters, and was also a member of his staff. He was in a number of battles, and acquitted himself with honor. He was one of the original members of the Society of the Cincinnati, and was appointed general of militia by Governor Thomas Mifflin. He married Elizabeth Wright, daughter of James Wright. They had one child, Elizabeth, who never married. He was married the second time to Emily, daughter of Col. Samuel John Atlee, a distinguished officer of the Revolutionary war, by whom he had four children,-Mary, Sarah, Samuel, and Washing- ton.
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