History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 207

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 207

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Sumneytown was for a long period a centre of powder and linseed oil mannfacture. The first pow- der-mill in this section was erected by Jacob Dast, on East Swamp Creek about 1780, who continued the business till his death, in 1790. About two years after it was sold to Lorentz Jacoby, who erected additional mills. This business flourished, so that in 1858 eleven mills were in full operation in this township alone, making twenty tons of powder daily. At the same time seven oil-mills were carried on, by which it may be judged that considerable flax must have been raised in this vicinity. The manufacture of powder and lin- seed oil has since greatly declined, and of course af- fecting the capital and labor employed therein.

During the period referred to. when the industries of Marlborough were in full blast, some of the finest horse and mule-teams of the State were in use in transporting their commodities to market. Philip Super, Esq., in his "Pen Pictures of the Perkiomen Valley," says,-

" Sumneytown was for a long time the centre of the powder and linseed oil business of the Perkiomen and its tributaries, the Macoby and Swamp Creeks,-and its name hecame known all over that part of the State, where

public improvements were made. At that time splendid teams of four and six horses drawing tons of powder were employed to distribute it for use along the various lines of public works."

Teaming from Marlborough and the head-waters of the Perkiomen Creek came to an end upon the com- pletion of the railroad to Green Lane. Although time has wrought changes in and near this ancient place, in the transfer of its leading features of trade and in- dustry to other centres, its appearance still denotes the usual activities of country life. There are up- wards of fifty dwellings, a post office, two stores, two hotels, blacksmith-shop, tinsmith and saddler-shops, job printer, two cigar manufactories, a powder mann- facturer and a number of other tradesmen usually found in a country village.

Hoppenville is located partly in Marlborough and partly in Upper Hanover township. The village is built along the main highway, and consists of farm buildings, with the hotel, store and post-office. This is an old village, and before giveu its present name, some twenty years ago, was known as "Die Gasse," or "Die Schmaiz Gasse," a free translation of which would be " the Road," or " the Lard Road," the last name having been given it, tradition says, by a person who, carrying a pot of lard on his way home, stopped at the village tavern, and was so overcome by the business-like hospitality of the jolly landlord that he and his lard-pot tarried on the road for the night. The good people of the village have long outlived the questionable habits of the former citizen, who de- risively named the place " Lard Road," and concluded to call it Hoppenville, compounded from Goshenhop- pen, an old name by which this part of the Perkiomen Valley has long been known. The village contains between twenty and thirty dwellings, a hotel, store and post-office, eigar manufactory, and the usual country tradesmen.

Marlboroughville is situated in the north-east- ern part of the township, near the head-waters of the Macoby Creek, on a main road leading from Sum- neytown to the Bucks County line, distant about three miles east from the former place. There are upwards of a dozen dwelling-houses, with a hotel, school-house and local industries.

Educational. - The people of this township were among the first to encourage the adoption of the com- mon-school system, provided for by the acts of As- sembly of 1834-36. The township, in 1835, accepted the provisions of the law, received the appropriation, levied the school tax, built new school-houses and sought to popularize the movement by all just means. This effort continued until 1842, when the opposition became so marked that the "free schools" so called, were discontinued for 1842, and subscription schools substituted. Great dissatisfaction resulted. The teachers that had been employed in the school build- ings erected and opened under the new system had not sufficient scholars to support them for the term of four and five months, and it was soon found neces-

Sumney had been a land-owner in the township for twenty-four years previous to that time, and bad most likely been a resident of the village before the time of this purchase. Mr. Sumney opened the first tavern in the village some time before the Revolution in the old frame hnilding in the forks of the Maxatawny and Macungie roads, which is still standing and forms part of the present Sumneytown Hotel. He also erected a brewery near the tavern, where he is said to have made most excellent beer."-Super's " Perkiomen Valley."

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

sary to return to the system of the common schools, which they did in the following year, 1843, and have enjoyed its advantages ever since. There are five schools in the township, having one hundred and seventy-five pupils enrolled. The length of term is five months. Wages paid to teachers are thirty dollars per month. Male and female teachers are employed, and equal salaries are paid them.

Religious Worship. - The Lutheran and Re- formed denominations of the locality are united in their place of worship, and have a large and beauti- fully situated church, located quite near the village of Sumneytown. The church is built on a high piece of ground, overlooking the surrounding country, and is a prominent landmark in the township. The edifice was built in 1858, and dedicated iu the month of June, 1859, having seating capacity for seven hundred persons. It has a steeple and belfry, with a seven hundred pound bell to call together its wor- shipers and toll for the sorrowing, who there bury their dead, and whose tombstones are fast whiten- ing the conspicuous ground upon which they are planted.

The pastors who have officiated here are Revs. H. Wendts, A. G. Struntz, E. F. Fleckenstein, A. L. Dechant and Win. B. Fox. The land, consisting of three acres, upon which the church buildings stand, and that inclosed for burial purposes, was donated by Daniel Jacoby, of Sumneytown, in 1857. There is a large Sabbath-school connected with the united congregations worshiping in the church.

Mills and Water-Powers .- The Perkiomen Creek marks the western boundary line of this township, and has long afforded excellent water-power for mills of various characters. It is said that the first mills built on the l'erkiomen were located within the limits of what is now Marlborough township. "For some years after the first settlements were made in this part of the valley the inhabitants had to take their grain to Edward Farmer's mill, on the Wissahickon Creek in Whitemarsh township, at that time in Philadel- phia County, distant 25 to 30 miles; this journey had to be made with the bag of grain thrown across the horse's back, and as the roads were mere bridle-paths, going to mill could not have been the most pleasant undertaking." The first grist-mill erected by Samuel Shuler in the year 1742, was on the East Swamp Creek, about a mile ahove Sumney- town. The next mill built was the large stone grist- mill, still standing about half-way between Green Lane and Perkiomenville, which was built by one of the Mayberrys, and now or late of the estate of Jacob Snyder, deceased, This establishment was founded over a hundred years ago.

Prior to 1784, Jacob Nice owned a tract of land on the east side of Perkiomen Creek, on which he had erected a grist and saw-mill. He sold the prop- erty, March 30, 1798, to Daniel Smith, who soon after changed the grist and saw-mill into an oil-mill and

powder-mill. On Jannary 23, 1810, he sold to Matthew Campbell, who ran the mills as oil-mills until April 1, 1825, when he sold to George Poley, who, in that year, changed the mills into a fulling and carding-mill, and began the manufacture of satinets, linseys and stocking-yarn. In 1842 he built at the place a large brick fulling-mill, which was operated by him until 1860, when he sold to Henry Bergey, who continued there until the building was destroyed by fire, in 1871. The walls were used in rebuild- ing, and the building was fitted up as a grist and plauing-mill, and is so used at present. The follow- ing advertisement, found in the Norristown Register of June 18, 1828, shows the nature of the business car- ried on by this mill at that time :

"George Poley informs the public and his friends that lie intends car- rying on the woolen manufacturing business in all its branches in Marl- boro* township, one mile from Sumneytown, on Perkiomen Creek, next below Brower's mill. Those who will favor him with their custom can have their wool carded into rolls, spun into yarn, made into cloth, flannel, blanketing or suttinetts. All kinds of fulling and coloring done."

Near Green Lane William Schall huilt a two-story stone grist-mill. It was erected during the time Mr. Schall operated the iron forges, near the village of Green Lane, it being an important adjunct to his manufacturing works at that place. There is a large flour and grist-mill at Perkiomenville; built by Jacob Graff, subsequently purchased by Jacob Johnson, who displaced the old building and erected a large three- story brick building in its stead. This mill is now oper- ated by Mr. John H. Nice. Within a distance of one mile and a half, from Green Lane to Perkiomenville, the Perkiomen Creek turns three grist-mills, two chopping-mills, one planing-mill and one saw-mill. At an earlier period, says Mr. Super, there were in this clistance fifteen wheels in operation, turned by the water of the Perkiomen,-viz., forge and furnace three wheels; grist-mills, three wheels; oil-mills, four wheels; plaster-mill, one wheel ; powder-mills, two wheels; wool-mill, one wheel ; and saw-mill, one wheel. This stream has served a good purpose in the early settlement of the Perkiomen Valley, and the industries which it has supported and still encour- ages have been a source of considerable trade and freight traffic to the Perkiomen Railroad, which passes up the stream in close proximity to these es- tablishments, having two stations, besides that of Green Lane,-Rahn's and McLean's,-in passing through this township.

Mercantile Appraiser's Return for 1884 .- Jesse Artman, butcher; E. S. Brey, flour and feed; D. R. Bowman, flour and feed ; Barndt & Cressman, mer- chandise ; Oliver Hendricks, produce ; Henry J. Hevener, flour and feed ; H. & A. McLean, coal and lime; John H. Nice, flour and feed; John H. Nice, coal; J. S. Rahn, coal and lumber ; J. S. Rahu, flour and feed; E. D. Reiter, merchandise ; John Weaver, live stock ; Jesse Zepp, live stock.

Number of taxables, 336; value of improved lands,

AHP

H-

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MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP.

$312,335 ; value of unimproved lands, $28,505; value of 205 horses, $13,625; value of 470 eattle, $14,275; total value of property taxable for county purposes, $391,780.

Elections .- By act of Assembly, April 9, 1833, the township of Marlborough was created a separate election district, and the general elections were order- ed to be held at the public-house of Jacob Dimmig.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

JOHN D. APPLE.

John D. Apple was born in the city of New York, in 1808. His father and mother came from England, and both died soon after their arrival in America. The son, John D. was apprenticed to learn the black- smith trade, which apprenticeship he served out, but never followed that occupation. By his own energy he educated himself until he was competent to teach school, after which he located in the upper portion of Montgomery County, where he soon became a promi- nent citizen. He was elected a justice of the peace in Marlborough township, which office he held for many years. He also followed surveying and convey- gneing, and the drafts and title deeds of a great deal of real estate in that portion of the county are his work, and their fine execution and accuracy attest his proficiency in that business. He was decidedly a self- made man. His reading of standard works and maga- zines was extensive. He was one of the few Ameri- can subscribers of Blackwood's Magazine, The Penny Magazine and other noted British publications.

In 1834 he married Sarah Bitting, a daughter of John Bitting, of New Hanover township, with whom he had five children,-J. Wright, Lewis C., Mary A., Hannah M., and Sallie J. He was for many years the most prominent Democratic politician in the upper end of Montgomery County, and for a long time the intimate and personal friend of the Hon. John B. Sterigere, whose active adherent he was until the lat- ter's death, in 1852.

He took an active interest in the military organiza- tions in his younger days, and was the captain of and commanded the Sumneytown Artillerists, in the Philadelphia riots in 1844.

He was always a student, and although a self-made man, he was at the time of his death, which occurred in 1862, a good Greek, Latin and French scholar, as well as a fine mathematician. He was a large-hearted, popular and useful man.

CHAPTER LXIII.

MONTGOMERY.1

THIS township is regular in form, being nearly square, and is bounded on the northeast by Bucks County, southwest by Gwynedd, southeast by Hors- ham, northwest by Hatfield and west by the borough of Lansdale. Its length is about three and a half miles and width three. with an area of seven thousand one hundred and seventy aeres. Its surface is ele- vated and slightly rolling. The soil is composed of loam and red shale, with the rock near the surface, and it consequently is not well adapted to the growth " of wheat and corn. It is drained by the Wissahickon, which has its source near Montgomeryville and the west branch of Neshaminy creek. The former stream flows south to the Schuylkill and the latter towards the east, and near the Horsham line propels a grist and saw-mill.

The villages are Montgomeryville and Montgomery Square. There is a post-office at the latter place and another, called Eureka, in the east corner, on the county line, but better known as Pleasantville. The population of the township in 1800 was 546; in 1840 it attained to 1009, and has since gradually decreased to 876 in 1880. What is remarkably strange in connec- tion with this subject, is that its boundaries have not been lessened since its organization, like its neighbors, through borough incorporations, while several railroads are almost contiguous for a distance of nearly four miles, with no less than three stations thereon in this distance. The real estate, for taxable purposes in 1883 was valued at $713,280, including the personal prop- erty $768,705, with 247 taxables, of whom 137 are reported subject to military duty. The average per head taxable is $3150, making it the ninth in order of wealth, and thus all but the equal per capita of Lower Merion, in which it is $3212. It contains three public schools, open eight months, with an average attendance of eighty-four scholars for the year ending June 1, 1882, one hundred being the reported number in 1856 in four schools for five months. One hotel and three stores are returned for 1883. The census of 1850 exhibits 163 houses, 179 families and 112 farms. In 1785, it had one inn, one saw-mill and two tanneries. Three churches are within its limits,-the old Mont- gomery Baptist Church, organized in 1719, a Metho- dist Episcopal Church and a Catholic Church, built in 1876 on half an acre of ground, near the Lansdale borough line, mention of which is made in the bor- ough. Montgomery has now decidedly the smallest population of any township in the county, the next approaching it being Marlborough, with twelve hun- dred and twelve inhabitants in 1880.

As a name, Montgomery has been taken from a county in North Wales. It originated from Roger de

1 By Wm. J. Buck.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Montgomery, a Norman knight who, in 1067, was made Earl of Arundel, Sussex and Shrewsbury, and built a eastle which was destroyed by the Welsh in 1095, but afterwards rebuilt by Henry III., who granted it the privileges of a borough. From this came the name of this township through its early Welsh settlers, and fully three-quarters of a century later it was applied to onr present county. The earliest mention we have found of the name here is in a letter from the Rev. Evan Evans to the Bishop of London, in 1707, wherein he mentions a " Welsh settlement called Montgomery, in the eonnty of Phil- adelphia, twenty miles distant from the city, where there are considerable numbers of Welsh people." From what has been stated we may justly conclude that it was called by its present name quite early and we know from the records the township was so-called in March, 1717, and may have been thus organized several years before, though the population must have been sparse.

The earliest survey made in the present township was September 3, 1684, by Thomas Fairman, for William Stanley, of two thousand five hundred acres purchased of William Penn. This was eonveyed February 25, 1688, to Isaac Jacobs, who sold eleven hundred aeres of the same which lay in the vicinity of Montgomeryville, to Alexander Edwards, of Wales. In this neighborhood Thomas Fairman, the surveyor- general, had also taken up a large tract, as well as Job Bates and Thomas Evans, before 1702. Alexan- der Edwards, Jr., in 1707, became owner of a consid- erable part of his father's land. David Hugh Griffith, at this date, made a purchase of one hundred acres. John Bartholomew purchased one hundred and fifty acres at the present Montgomery Square in 1716, where he established the first inn and resided until his death in 1756. John Evans and wife settled in or near this township in 1710, and in the following year John James and wife, the ancestors of a numerous family of this name in Bucks County. James Davis arrived from Wales in 1719, and was a useful man in the settlement.

There is extant a list of land-holders and tenants of this township prepared in 1734 by order of John and Thomas Penn, being twenty-eight in number, copied from the original, and now, for the first time, pub- lished in full,-Robert Thomas, 200 acres; John Starkey, 200; Joseph Naylor, 189; Joseph Ambler, 90; John Bartholomew, 300; Joseph Eaton, 150; William Williams, 200; William Morgan, 100; Samuel Thomas, 100; John Williams, 100; Joseph Bate, Thomas Bartholomew, 30; Griffith Hugh, 100; John Jones (carpenter), 300; John Roberts, 90; Gar- ret Peters, 150; Rowland Roberts, 100; Francis Daws, Thomas Williams, 100; William Storey, 100; Richard Lewis, 150; Isaac Jones, 100; John Roberts, 200; James Davis, 100; David Evans, 100; Isaac James, 200; Jenkin Evans, 50; and Jenkin Jones.

Hugenot origin, and deseended from the celebrated Barthelemi family of Franee, and that they came hither from England. John Bartholomew, the settler here, who died October 30, 1756, aged seventy-one years, had eleven children. The sons were Joseph, Thomas, Jolin, Andrew, Benjamin, Augustine and Edward. Annie married Thomas Walters; Eliza- beth, Isaac Davis ; Rachel, Benjamin Davis ; and Mary, -- Thomas. The widow, Mary Bartholo- mew, died about 1762. John Bartholomew, Jr., died January 17, 1758, aged thirty-nine years. Edward is assessed here in 1776 for one hundred acres, two negroes, four horses and three cattle. George Bar- tholomew and wife, Jane, who owned and kept the Blue Anchor inn, in Philadelphia, 1683, it is supposed was related to this Montgomery family.

Joseph Bate or Bates may have been a son of Job Bates, and he was probably a tenant, who died Sep- tember 24, 1741, aged sixty-nine years. His tract lay to the west of the Baptist Church, adjoining the Hatfield line, and was purchased from the executors by Humphrey Bates in 1749, from whom it descended to his daughter Sarah, the wife of John Pugh, who sold it, in 1792 to John Harman, who had been also a resident and land-holder of the township for some time previous. We find here also in 1776, Thomas Bates with one hundred and fifty aeres. Isaac James was the son of John, the early settler, and survived until July 14, 1791, having attained the great age of ninety- one years. His brothers, Thomas and William, moved into New Britain, where they became extensive land- holders. In 1776, as may be noticed, he still retained his two hundred acres.

Joseph Ambler was a Friend, and in 1776 we find him still living and taxed here for two hundred acres, Joseph Ambler, Jr., one hundred and ninety, and John Ambler one hundred and seventy-five acres. In 1794 there were five taxables here of this surname. Descendants of the family still hold land here. David Evans died September 18, 1763, aged seventy-three years, and Mathusela Evans in 1779, aged eighty-three years. Dr. Peter Evans in 1776 is taxed for two hun- dred acres, two negroes, four horses and eight cattle ; Jenkin Evans, one hundred aeres; and Walter Evans is mentioned as a single man. John Roberts, Jr., in 1776, is taxed for one hundred and fifty acres; he was subsequently long a justice of the peace. John Morris, while engaged in clearing land in this township in the spring of 1731, was approached unexpectedly by his wife who was struck by a branch of a falling tree, which eaused her death in a few hours. Among those who held township offices here may be mentioned Humphrey Bate, supervisor, and Henry McGowen, eonstable in 1767; Samuel Hines, supervisor, 1773; Henry Johnson, constable, 1774; Evan Jones, assessor. and Ezekiel Shoemaker, collector, 1776; and Jacob Kneedler and John Gordon, supervisors, 1810.

Respecting the nationality of the early settlers, the The Bartholomew family represent themselves of documents before us, give mueh information of an

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MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP.

interesting character. Of the twenty-eight names neighboring township of Hatfield, for which they in the list of 1734, three-fourths denote a Welsh origin and probably not one a German. In the assessment of 1776 we find the following names which we take to be German : John Weber or Weaver. Mary Weber, George Doraker, John Drake, Benjamin Drake, John Hartle, Ezekiel Shoemaker, Andrew Cramer, John Ramberger, William Fry, John Har- man, David Bruner, Felix Worsinger and George Geary,-nearly one-fourth of the entire number. Ac- cording to a late township map, they now comprise about half the land-holders. According to a well- known tradition, the early Welsh settlers, sought out the lands in Gwynedd and Montgomery in preference to those in the townships below, because they were not so densely timbered, and would therefore in clear- ing require much less labor, not imagining its lesser productiveness.

The earliest road laid out in this section was no doubt that beginning at Theophilus Williams' plantation, on the banks of the Neshaminy Creek, near the present Line Lexington, and passing through the full length of the township down to John Hum-

Montgomeryville is the largest village in the town- phrey's bridge, above the Spring House, in 1717, be- , ship, containing one store, one hotel and twenty-seven

ing the present Bethlehem road. To this same honses. It has a high location, and from the upper bridge a road had been laid out six years previously, portion on the turnpike a fine view is offered, looking down to the Pennypack Creek, at the present Hun- in a northern direction. Gordon, in his "Gazetteer," mentions this place in 1832 as containing ten houses, two taverns and two stores. A post-office was estab- lished here in 1851, which was removed, in the fall of 1869, to Montgomery Square. Nicholas Senll, on his map of 1759, denotes the road leading from here to Butler's mill, now Whitehallville. The hotel was opened here, soon after the completion of the turnpike. by Charles Humphreys, who was succeeded by Thomas Lunn and John Hough. Henry Slight, a noted stage- driver over the turnpike, purchased it in 1822 and kept it for some time. Francis Kile, who was elected sheritl' of the county in the fall of 1860, afterwards became its proprietor. tingdon Valley, forming the line between Gwynedd and Horsham, and almost touching the southern corner of the township. From the people of this section going so much to mill there for flour at this early time it received the name of Welsh road, which it still retains. A road was laid out in 1731 from David's Corner, on the Bucks County line, to the present Montgomery Square, commeneing at Buckingham Meeting-house. This was the old Swedes' Ford or present State road, widened in 1830 to forty feet. David's Corner very likely received its name from James David or Davis, who is mentioned in the list of 1734. The Horsham road was laid out from John Bartholomew's to Peter Lukens', near Horsham Meet- ing-house, in 1735. The same year the Bethlehem road was resurveyed from the Spring House, and ex- tended up to Peter Trexler's, in the present Lehigh County. The County Line road was extended up from Horsham to Line Lexington in 1752. The Spring House and Hilltown turnpike was constructed on the Bethlehem road in 1814, terminating three miles above Line Lexington. In its day this was an important work, and drew to the road an immense amount of travel down to the general introduction of railroads.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 207

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