History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 169

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 169

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The aforesaid items, collected from several sources, possess at this time considerable interest, and go to show the remarkable changes that time has brought about. For that early date the remarks of Mr. Davies exhibit a remarkable knowledge of the extent, quality and uses of coal, which William Scull had denoted on his map of the province, published in 1770, which exposes considerable error respecting later discoveries on the subject. The information clearly demonstrates that coal was known con-

siderably earlier than what has been generally sup- posed ; the difficulty of bringing it to market alone prevented its earlier introduction for all the pur- poses of a fuel.

Events Following the Borough Incorpora- tion .- Three months had not passed away after the incorporation of Norristown before war had been declared by the United States against Great Britain for the many injuries done to our commerce and the repeated insults offered us as a nation. Thomas Mahon, of the Sixteenth Regiment United States Infantry, was stationed as commanding officer here in the fall of 1812, to enlist men for the service. Captain Horatio Davis, in the spring of 1813, was sent in the place of the former, and at his rendezvous posted up the following notice :

" All patriotic young men are invited to come forward who are able and willing to serve their country and engage only for twelve months. Each recruit shall receive $16 bounty and $8 per month. A corporal will be entitled to $9, nud a sergeant to $11 per month. Plenty of good rations will be provided and excellent clothing furnished."

Ou hearing of the news of the capture of Malden by General llarrison, Norristown was illuminated on the evening of October Ist of this year. Lieutenant Samuel Ladd was made the recruiting officer here at the latter date, and in the following March offered "$124 bounty and 160 acres of land to those joining the service at $8 per month. For procuring the enlistment of a recruit, 88 will be paid." While the ofhee was established here five of the recruits ran away, for whom a reward of ten dollars each was offered, and "all reasonable charges when committed to any officer in the service of the United States." Peace was concluded December 24, 1814, when en- listments ceased.

Charles Norris, a great-grandson of Isaac Norris, the original proprietor of the Manor of Norriton, died at his country-seat, near the borough, December 14, 1813, his wife, Eunice, having preceded him but little over a year. They were both respected mem- bers of the Society of Friends. His will, from which we glean the following family history, was dated but little over four months before his death. To his daughter Mary he leaves the farm of 170 acres in the tenure of David Shrack, to be struck ofl' on the easterly side of land in the tenure of John Miller. To his daughter Deborah he leaves 229 acres in the tenure of Robert Getty, likewise 80 acres to be struck off of the plantation in the tenure of John Bartleswa, torun iu a straight line from the Schuylkill to the town- ship line-road. To his daughter Ilepzibah, 30 acres where he now dwells, with all the out-buildings, and 30 acres now in the tenure of John Bartleswa, after 80 acres are taken off to his daughter Deborah, and 100 to his daughter Mary. To his daughter Hepzibah fifty dollars per annum as long as she lives. To his sister-in-law Keziah Gardner two hundred and forty dollars per annum arising from the Library Company as ground rent as long as she remains single.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Albanus Logan and John Jacobs were appointed his executors. Will proved January 15, 1814. It appears he had no male descendants and that the family had still retained considerable land in the vicinity of the present borough.

A lot of ground containing one acre and ninety-six perches was purchased by the borough authorities from John Markley, May 13, 1814, "in trust for the use of the inhabitants of Norristown, for a public landing, under and subject to such rules and regula- tions as the Town Council or their successors in office may, from time to time, ordain and enact." This public wharf is situated on Stouy Creek, below Main Street.

John Markley, whom we have mentioned as sheriff from 1798 to 1801, became the owner here of five hun- dred and forty acres, with valuable improvements, purchased from William Moore Smith, who had obtained it from the university ; it had previously belonged to Colonel John Bull. On account of his prominency, he deserves a further notice in this con- nection. In 1803 he was appointed one of the trustees of the academy, and in the following year he was engaged in the lumber business. In 1805 he erected the present buildings on Barbadoes Island, probably the first erected there. In 1809 he advertised the island for sale, but subsequently exchanged it for a heavily- timbered farm to the rear of the borough. In the spring of 1811 he was appointed one of the commis- sioners for the sale of stock for the construction of the Ridge Road Turnpike Company. He was ap- pointed recorder of deeds and register of wills for Montgomery County January 8, 1824, which he retained until 1830. He resided in the old Smith mansion, on the north side of Main Street, above Swede, where he died July 28, 1834, in his seventieth year. His ancestor, Jacob Merkle, resided in Per- kiomen township in 1734, where he was the owner of a farm rated for two hundred acres. Besides the offices mentioned, he was also a collector of the United States taxes and a county commissioner.

David Sower, Jr., in his enumeration of the borough in the summer of 1816, states that it then contained one church, an academy, a fire-engine, four schools, about one hundred houses, three physicians, five lawyers, one clergyman, two magistrates, two printers of weekly newspapers, one apothecary, two cabinet-makers, three tailors, one cedar-cooper, one coach-maker, three butehers, five stores, five taverus, two plasterers, one watch-maker, one mason, one chair-maker, three blacksmiths, two hatters, one sad- dler, two oak-coopers, one milliner, one tanner, one barber, four carpenters and four shoemakers. Be- fore the year 1818 Norristown was a dull, quiet, dreamy place. No important public improvements had yet been completed, except the turupike to Philadelphia, in 1816. Outside of politics, the great event was the holding of the courts four times in the year. The boatman's horn was not yet heard; no

noise or smoke from furnaces, forges and factories to disturb its tranquillity ; the rumbling sounds from long trains of cars and the shrill whistle of the locomotive had not then even been dreamed of. The ark, the raft and the Reading boat, with the catching of shad, herring, rockfish, and the leaping into air of the sturgeon, gave some animation every spring to the waters of the Schuylkill, as well as to the fish-hawk, as he rapidly descended to strike his finny prey and convey it to his nest near some tall tree-top,-sights that have passed away, and will not soon be witnessed here again.

General Andrew Porter, "of West Caln township, Chester Co.," purchased, May 10, 1786, of Alexander McCaman and Mary, his wife, of Norriton township, their plantation of one hundred and fifty-five aeres, in two tracts, which they had obtained of Mary, widow of Charles Norris, deceased, September 3, 1770. On the death of General Porter, November 16, 1813, this property was advertised at public sale the follow- ing December 24th, and is described as being “on the Ridge turnpike road, eighteen miles from Phila- delphia and one from Norristown, containing one hundred and twenty aeres ; a large stone dwelling- house, fifty feet front by thirty-six deep; stone barn, sixty by forty-five feet ; a stone tenant-house; contain- ing forty acres of woodland and twelve of meadow." We perceive here, that the buildings were quite com- modious for that time, the house having been built by its then late proprietor, in 1794. Owing to the insufficiency of the bids offered, the place was not sold. The property was purchased from the heirs by Andrew Knox, Jr., in 1821, who made it his residence and died there in 1844, his widow surviving until 1858. His son, the late Colonel Thomas P. Knox, who be- came the proprietor in 1851, died there May 29, 1879, in his seventieth year, and it still remains in posses- sion of his family. On this place David R. Porter, Governor of Pennsylvania from 1838 to 1844; James M. Porter, Secretary of War under President Tyler ; and George B. Porter, Governor of Michigan, sons of the first named, were born and reared. By the en- largement of Norristown in 1853 the Porter property was included in the borough limits.

The visit of Lafayette in 1824 created an unusual excitement throughout the country. A meeting on this account was called by the officers of the Sec- ond Brigade of the Second Division of the Pennsyl- vania Militia at the public-house of Mrs. Ann Webb, in Norristown, August 25, in that year. General Philip Boyer was appointed chairman, and Col- onel George W. Holstein and Colonel John E. Gross secretaries. Colonel William Powell, Colonel J. E. Gross and Lieutenant Richard B. Jones were appointed a committee to draft resolutions, which were adopted. Colonel G. W. Holstein, Colonel William Burk, Col- onel William Powell, Major William Matheys, Captain Philip S. Markley and Lientenant R. B. Jones were appointed " a committee of arrangements to wait on

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BOROUGH OF NORRISTOWN.

General Lafayette on his arrival in Philadelphia, and respectfully invite him to visit the county of Mont- gomery, particularly Whitemarsh, Barren Ilill and also Valley Forge,-scenes that must be endeared to his recollection by events that tried men's souls." Among the military present at the reception in Philadelphia, September 30th, from Montgomery County, were two companies of cavalry, under the command of Captains William Matheys and George W. Holstein and the Norristown Guards, Captain P. S. Markley. Two canal-boats, called the "Lafayette" and "John G. Cosler," each twelve by sixty-five feet, and capable of carrying nearly one hundred tons, joined the three boats from Reading filled with military. The papers of the day stated that on this "joyful occasion would be identified three most interesting and important subjects for congratulation and triumph ever witnessed in Philadelphia,-namely, the visit of Lafayette, the . opening of the Schuylkill Canal and the arrival of the boats laden with coal from Mount Carbon." The

The prison erected in 1787 stood upon the site of the present court-house, while the one in its place was built on a lot of ground two hundred and twenty- deputation from Montgomery County waited on La- four by one hundred feet in extent, fronting on Airy fayette at the State House September 29th. In reply, he stated that owing to his several engagements, more particularly at Yorktown, October 19th, it was, there- fore, not in his power to comply at present, but on his return it was his intention to visit those places.

For a few years after the completion of the Schuyl- kill Navigation, the stagnation of the water in the dams caused considerable alarm, ou account of the increase of fever and ague. Twenty-four persons died in the borough during the year 1824, being equivalent to one in every thirty-seven of the population. Samuel Jamison, Sr., came to the borough in 1828 to superiutend the starting of the first cotton-factory in the place, which had been erected by Bernard Me- Credy, in 1826, at the foot of Swede Street. After getting it in operation, owing to the prevalence of the disease, he was induced to leave, and removed to Holmesburg. It appears that after 1830 the fever gradually abated along the valley, until it has for years almost entirely disappeared throughout this section.

By the act of September 13, 1785, the county was divided into three districts. The townships of Norri- ton, Plymouth, Whitpain, Upper Merion, Providence, ' Worcester and Perkiomen comprised the First District whose elections were ordered to be held in the court- house at Norristown. The act of 1797 increased the number, and Perkiomen was attached to another dis- triet, whose elections were ordered to be held in the court-house at Norristown. The First Dis- triet, in October, 1802, polled 859 votes. In 1824 the district was composed of the borough of Norristown and the townships of Upper Merion, Plym- outh, Norriton, Whitpain, Worcester and that part of Lower Providence east of Skippack Creek. In 1838 the district was reduced to Norristown, Upper Merion, Norriton, Plymouth and that part of Lower Providence mentioned.

As to the manner of voting where several town- ships thus met together, it is explained that to each was assigned a window, with its own officers, instead of the whole district being confined to one ballot-box. It is probable that before 1850 this method was entirely done away with, and every township had its desig- nated election-place within its own limits. Thus, in- stead of seven townships voting at one place in Norristown, as they did a century ago, we find now the borough itself divided into seven districts, cach having its own polls.

Owing to the increase of its population, an act was passed March 26, 1853, to enlarge the borough to its present dimensions. Philip Super, Charles T. Jen- kins and John Thompson, residents of the county, were appointed commissioners to carry into effect the provisions of the act of Assembly.

Street, west of De Kalb. It is of red sandstone, in the castellated Norman style. The front building is one hundred by forty-four feet ; the rear addition, contain- ing the cells, is one hundred and thirty by sixty feet, the whole being two stories high. The cells are nine by thirteen feet each, in which the prisoners work at vari- ous employments, chiefly weaving and shoemaking. The criminals were removed from the old prison to the present structure on its completion, in the latter part of 1851. Its cost was about eighty-six thousand dollars. N. Le Brun was the architect. Its builders were Raysor & Templeton, the county commissioners at the time being Messrs. Dotts, Quillman and Major.

The court-house is one of the finest buildings of the kind in the State. It is built of native white marble, procured within a few miles of its site, as was also the lime used in its construction. It was erected during the years 1853 to 1856. N. Le Brun was the architect. The front ou Swede Street is one hundred and ninety-six feet, with a central width of sixty-four feet, the wings being sixty-six by forty- seven feet. The massive portico in front is supported by six Ionic columns. The steeple was originally two hundred feet high, and was placed to rest partly on the portico. Being deemed unsafe, it was re- duced, prior to 1876, to its present height, which somewhat mars the general harmony of the parts. It contains a clock and a bell weighing three thous- and two hundred and thirty-two pounds, cast at Troy, N. Y. The various county offices, the Law Library, and other rooms for the use of court proceedings, ar- bitrations, etc., are in the building. The cost was one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, of which nineteen hundred and seventy dollars was allowed the architect for his services. The old court-house built in 1787 was torn down in 1855, and the grass of the public square grows over the spot where justice was administered for sixty-seven years, and where the

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

elections for all the neighboring townships were held for more than half a century.

In the public square adjoining the court-house a soldiers' monument has been erected, composed of white and blue marble, nineteen feet high, dedicated September 17, 1869. It contains the names of five hundred and forty-seven soldiers who enlisted in the

SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, NORRISTOWN.

county and died in the service during the lite great Rebellion ; the total number furnished for the same in Montgomery being nearly eight thousand men.

Among the most notable events that have occurred in Norristown was the late celebration of the centen- nial of the county. The association that brought it about originated at a meeting of the Montgomery County Historical Society held February 22, 1883, when a joint committee of the Society and of the county officers appointed one person from each election dis- trict to prepare and arrange the necessary plans. The association held a meeting the following September 10th, when several gentlemen were called upon to offer remarks and suggestions for its success, which was responded to by Colonel T. W. Bean, Rev. C. Z. Weiser, William J. Buck, J. J. Morrison, Dr. C. N. Mann, George N. Corson and Dr. S. Wolf. A com-

mittee of eight was appointed on permanent organi- zation. A president and other officers, with a chair- , man of the executive committee and of finance, antiquities, programme, literary exercises, parade and the Rittenhouse memorial were also duly chosen. The four principal rooms in the court-house and a portion of the yard were secured, in which the anti- quarian exhibition was held the following year from September 9th to 12th, inclusive, and which was vis- ited by probably twenty thousand persons, exhibits having been sent in by almost every district, embrac- ing all matters bearing on the history and progress of the county since its first settlement. In the departments of early and rare books, manuscripts, family Bibles, coins, paper money, minerals, wearing apparel, Indian and Revolutionary relics and agricul- tural implements the exhibit was particularly excel- lent. On the first day the opening address was made by Joseph Fornance, the president of the association, after which the Rittenhouse meridian-stone was dedi- cated in the court-house yard, with an address by Hon. B. M. Boyer. On the second day the memorial exercises were held in Music Hall, which was crowded to its utmost capacity. Music was furnished by a chorus of more than one hundred voices accompanied by an orchestra. The historical address was delivered by William J. Buck, the poem by George N. Corson and the general address by Rev. C. Z. Weiser. On Thursday, or the third day, the parade in honor of the occasion came off, Colonel John W. Schall being chief marshal, about five thousand being in the line, embracing military, firemen, fraternal and be- nevolent organizations, trades, manufactures and industrial pursuits. It is supposed that it was wit- nessed by not less than forty thousand persons not residents of Norristown. The expense under the circumstances was considerable, but was all met from what was realized from the admission fees to the four days' antiquarian exhibition.

Barbadoes Island .- The island in the Schuylkill at Norristown is mentioned in a warrant from William Penn to Ralph Fretwell, a merchant from Barbadoes, as early as August 16, 1684, as "the long island called Barbadoes." They were both at this time in the country, the latter having arrived in Philadelphia, according to his certificate from Friends' Meeting there. in the beginning of that year. But the grant, it appears, was subsequently withheld, and another tract assigned him,-a matter common in those days, and showing that the country, at least along the great water-courses, was quite early and closely examined. It is represented with tolerable correctness on Thomas Ilolme's map of original surveys, having probably been entered upon it before 1695. It became attached to the Manor of Williamstadt, granted to William Penn, Jr., October 2, 1704, and a few days after- wards sold by the latter to Isaac Norris and Wil- liam Trent. The former, in 1720, purchased the I right of his partner, and thus it was retained in the

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BOROUGH OF NORRISTOWN.

Norris family.1 Shortly after the decease of Charles Norris it was sold by Mary, his widow, September 17, 1771, with five hundred and forty-three acres, to John Bull, of Limerick township. The deed describes "Barbadoes Island" at this date to be four hundred perches in length and at the broadest part sixty perches wide, containing eighty-eight acres.

During the life-time of Charles Norris, which was previous to 1770, he erected a dam from the northern shore across to Barbadoes Island to propel his grist- mill, which has led to the origin of the water-power secured here from the Schuylkill. The commissioners that had been appointed under an act of Assembly passed March 14, 1761, to improve the river naviga- tion, in consequence of the decease of Mr. Norris, ap- plied to John Bull, in 1773, requiring from him, as the owner of said mill, water-power and island, to " erect from the upper end of the aforesaid a dam, or wall, of at least twenty perches in length, and inclining in some degree to the eastern side of the said river, and of such height as should be above the water at all times, other than in freshes, so as to direct the waters into the western channel, and also in its build- ing would make use of the stones lying in the western channel." If this was not done the said commissioners would prostrate or remove said dam altogether, so that the channel should "forever thereafter be free and unobstructed to navigation."

Colonel Bull sold his property here, October 30, 1776, to Rev. William Smith, for the use of the University. After 1784, William Moore Smith, son of the afore- said, became the owner, who sold it, with the remain- der of his real estate, to John Markley, of Norristown, about 1800 or not long before. In the summer of 1804 the latter erected upon it the two-story stone house now standing, and which was very probably the first one built there. At that time the greater portion of the island was covered with forest, and in October of that year Markley advertised for hands to eut thereon one hundred and fifty cords of wood. In December, 1805, it was advertised for sale, and was described as containing forty acres of standing timber. With the prosperity of Norristown and vicinity, Barbadoes was becoming more and more a place of resort. The Federal Republican Troop of Horse, commanded by Captain Joseph Price, was ordered to meet at the public-house of Elisha Evans, in Norristown, May 2, 1803, and from thence precisely at three o'clock, proceed to parade on Barbadoes Island. In the

spring of 1804 hand-bills and advertisements were issued over the county and in Philadelphia announ- cing that the "Barbadoes Island Races will com- mence on the 8th of May, when a purse of four hun- dred dollars will be run for four-mile heats; the day following for three-mile heats, for a purse of two hundred dollars, and the third day, one hundred dol- lars for two-mile heats." According to tradition, races were continued there more or less at intervals for several years. Mr. Markley advertised the island again in November, 1809, and stated it as then " containing about one hundred acres, the soil equal to any in the county, consisting of a black loam of un- questionable quality," thirty acres of woodland, two- story stone dwelling-house and other improvements. We know that he still owned it June 27, 1820, when a public meeting was held, of which Captain P. S. Markley, son of the proprietor, was chairman, the ob- ject being to have a committee purchase from John Mark- Icy the right of way across the lower end of Barbadoes Island, that the communication from Norristown with the canal on the opposite side of the river be not im- peded. It was no doubt owing chiefly to the opposi- tion of the latter that this improvement was not located along the borough, and which induced Elisha Evans by his liberal offers to exercise his influence to have it where it now is.

The Schuylkill Canal and Navigation Company began its improvements in 1816, and two years later began building a dam across the river at the lower part of the island, which, by raising the water, was the means of considerably reducing its area. To avoid the expense of litigation, the company purchased, and still own it. Its length, in consequence, is now about three quarters of a mile, or only about one-half of what it was at the time of Colonel Bull's purchase. Just below its lowermost extremity was the famous Swedes' Ford crossing place, known by this name at least as early as 1723. The dam was not, how- ever, raised to its present height until 1830, (the year that the De Kalb Street bridge was completed) which has since washed away the remaining portion of the island that had been left below it. On the 4th of July, 1825, the Norristown Guards, con- manded by Captain Philip S. Markley, paraded through the streets of Norristown, after which, at twelve o'clock, they proceeded with a band of music, accompanied by a number of citizens, to Barbadoes Island, where the day was duly celebrated. This military company we know had also spent July 4, 1820, here in a similar manner.

Lewis Shrack, a noted stage proprietor of Norris- town, in 1824, announced to the public the " Barbadoes Island Floating Baths" in the summer of 1828, as being moored in the river Schuylkill, safely an- chored in eight feet of water, and divided into five compartments, varying from six to sixteen feet, and a depth of from two to five feet, with a floor at the bottom. "The centre apartment is handsomely fitted up where

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 169

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534