History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 220

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 220

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

PHILIP M. IIUNSICKER.

The progenitor of the family in America was Valen- tine Hunsicker, a native of Switzerland, who came to the United States in 1717, and about three years later settled in the present Perkiomen township. His son, Henry Hunsicker, married Mary, daughter of Johu Detwiler, whose children were Henry C., John D., Daniel D., William D., Elizabeth, Mary, Catharine, Susanne. Henry C. Hunsicker was born in Perkio- meu township, where his early life was spent. He married, in 1833, Lydia, daughter of Philip Markley, of the same township, and had children,-Philip M., Charles M., Daniel M., Henry M., Henry M. (2d), Mary M. (Mrs. Henry Yelles), Ann M. (Mrs. James

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Koons), Deborah (Mrs. H. T. Johnson), Lydia (Mrs. Benjamin Saylor) and Kate M. On the occasion of his marriage Mr. Hunsicker removed to Franconia township, and carried on farming until his return, in 1850, to his native township, where he combined mill- ing with the pursuits of a farmer until a few years prior to his death, when he retired from business. His son Philip M. was born November 18, 1836, in Fran- conia township, where his youth was spent, meanwhile becoming a pupil of a day-school and afterwards attending the Freeland Academy, at Collegeville. He removed, with his father, in 1850, to Perkiomen town-

1859; Ilenry T., in 1861; Clayton, in 1863 ; Norwood Penrose, in 1869 (deceased) ; Elmer Ellsworth, in 1873; and Addie T., in 1875 (deceased). Mrs. Hun- sicker died May 4, 1881, and he again married, October 26, 1882, Mrs. Ella C. Kulp, daughter of John II. Custer, of Worcester township. Mr. Hun- sicker is in politics a stanch Republican, and though much interested in local political issues, has never sought nor accepted office. He is identified with the Iron Bridge Hat Association as a director. In his religious views he is a Christian, and member of Trinity Christian Church, of Collegeville.

Philip M. Hunsiella

ship, and on the completion of his studies entered his father's mill, situated on the Perkiomen stream, oppo- site Rahn's Station, for the purpose of learning the trade of a miller. For a while he assisted his father, and later rented the mill, which he operated until 1875, when he embarked in the lumber, coal and feed business at Rahn's Station, continuing thus engaged until 1884, when his sons succeeded him. Mr. Hun- sicker was married, on the 18th of September, 1858, to Lizzie R., daughter of John Z. Tyson, of Perkiomen township. Their children are Melvin T., born in

CHAPTER LXVIII.

PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP. 1

THIS township is bounded on the north by Whit- pain, east by Whitemarsh, south by the Schuylkill and the borough of Conshohocken, and west by the borough of Norristown and Norriton. Its greatest length is three and a half miles; its width two and a half, with an area of five thousand one hundred and fifty-

1 By Wm. J. Buck.

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PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP.

three acres. It formerly contained five thonsand six hundred and thirty-one acres but by the erection of Con- shohocken into a borough in 1850, three hundred and twenty acres were taken off; also in 1853 a long, wedge- shaped strip of one hundred and twenty-eight perches wide on the Schuylkill, containing about one hundred and fifty-eight acres, by the enlargement of the borough of Norristown, thus leaving its area as mentioned. It is next to Springfield, the smallest township in the county. In the long interval from 1686 to 1850, it had not undergone any change in territorial extent.

The surface is gently undulating, and there are no elevations deserving the name of hills. Along the Schuylkill at several places the limestone assumes a rocky appearance, but nowhere rises above fifty feet perpendicularly. In proportion to its size, we have no hesitation in saying that no township in the county surpasses it in the natural fertility of its soil. On the other hand it is not well watered, for it contains no streams that afford valuable water-power. The larg- est is Plymouth Creek, which rises in two small branches in the east corner of the township, and after a course of four miles empties into the Schuylkill at Conshohocken. Saw-Mill Run rises in Whitpain, and after a course of over a mile through Plymonth, turns into Norriton. A small stream empties into the Schuylkill a short distance below Mogeetown.

About two-thirds of Plymouth is underlaid with limestone, which, at some places, is on or near the surface, and again at other places lies at some depth. Nearly its whole front on the Schuylkill is a blufl' of limestone, and few places are more favored for burn- ing it, both from the convenience of the material and the advantages of sending it to market either by rail- road or navigation. The census of 1840 gave the valne of lime manufactured in Plymouth at forty-five thousand two hundred and eighteen dollars. In 1858 seventy-five kilns were personally visited that on an average would produce fifteen hundred bushels of the article, and thus this number, at one burning, could yield considerably over one hundred thousand bushels. The number of kilns has since been in- creased and the extent of the business enlarged. Hence we may well judge the extent of this produc- tion, giving investment to capital and employment to a number of hands. Iron-ore which seventy years ago was almost unknown, is obtained now in abund- ance. In that part of the township which lies be- tween the Plymouth Railroad and the Whitemarsh line there appears to be one vast bed of ore from the borough of Conshohocken.

The Ridge turnpike traverses the township two and a half miles, and the Germantown and Perkiomen pike about three miles. The turnpike leading from Conshohocken to the Broad Axe forms the entire southeast boundary of Plymouth, a distance of three and one-fourth miles, and separates it from White- marsh. The Norristown Railroad passes along the outhwest side by the Schuylkill over two miles,

and on it are Potts' Landing and Mogee Stations. The Plymouth Railroad has a course of over three and a half miles, and extends from Conshohocken to Oreland, on the North Pennsylvania Railroad. This company was incorporated in 1836, and the road com- pleted shortly afterwards to the Whitemarsh line; in 1870 it was extended to its junction at Oreland. The stations in the township are Ridge, Plymouth and Cor- son. The villages are Plymouth Meeting, Hickory- town, Mogeetown and Harmanville. According to the census of 1800, the population was 572; in 1840, 1417; and in 1880, 1916, showing a decrease of 109 since 1870. The taxable real estate in 1882 was valued at $1,146,089, and the total amount of property at $1,- 225,884, making the average per taxable $2804. 1n May, 1883, licenses were granted to fonr hotels, five stores, and five coal-yards. The public schools are five in number, open ten months, with an average of one hundred and fifty-seven pupils. In the census of 1850, 220 houses, 234 families and 91 farms were returned for said year. The township contains about eight square miles, and, according to the census of 1880, 237 inhabitants to the square mile. In the assess- ment for 1883 the aggregate number of taxables is 498.

Plymouth was surveyed, laid out and settled at quite an early period,-

" By virtue of a Warrant from the Commissioners of Property dated 7th of 4th month, 1690, a tract of land in l'hiladelphia County was granted unto the Plymouth Purchasers, and also together with 600 acres adjoining the southeast part thereof, which was intended by the Pro- prietary for a town, containing in the whole 5000 acres, was surveyed and laid ont 14th of 5th month, 1686, beginning at a corner beech-tree standing by the Skoolkill, being also a corner of Major Jasper Farmer's land ; thence northeast by a line of trees 1342 perches to a corner-post ; thence northwest by a line of trees 696 perches to a corner-post of Ben- jamin Chambers and Company's land ; thence southwest by the same 956 perches to a corner-tree standing by the aforesaid Skoolkill ; thence down the several courses thereof to the place of beginning, containing in both the aforesaid tracts, as above said 5000 acres. Returned to the Proprie- tary Secretary's office 20th of 4th month, 1690." 1

From the preceding interesting pieces of history, now for the first time published, the important question arises as to who were the Plymouth purchasers. One account mentions that they were James Fox, Richard Gove, Francis Rawle, John Chelson and some other Friends who came from Plymouth, in Devonshire,

1 In connection with the subject the following has been recently secured :

"L. S. By the Commissioners empowered to grant lots and land in the Province of Pennsylvania and Territories thereunto belonging. At the request of Jonas Fox, Francis Rawle, Nicholas Pearce and Richard Grove, in behalf of themselves and other Friends of Plymouth, joynt purchasers with them of five thousand acres of land, that we would grant the said five thousand acres of land together for a township in the most convenient place for water for the encouragement of the woolen manufacture, intended to be set up by them ; these we therefore, in the Proprietary's name, do will and require thee forthwith to survey, or cause to be surveyed, unto them the said number of acres in the afore- said County, where not already taken up, according to the method of Townships appointed by the Governor, the seating and improving the same within six months after the date of survey, and make return hereof to the Secretary's office, at Philadelphia, the 5th of 5th month, 1686.

" JAMES CLAYPOOLE,

" ROBERT TURNER.

"To CAPT. THO. MIOLME, Surveyor-General."

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England. From au early record of arrivals at Philadel- phia, it is ascertained that in the ship "Desire," James Cock, commander, which arrived June 23, 1686, were Francis Rawle, Sen., Francis Rawle, Jr., and servants, Thomas Janvers, Francis Jervis, John Marshall, Sam- uel Rennell, Isaac Garnier and Elizabeth Saries, James Fox and Elizabeth, his wife, children George, James, Elizabeth and Sarah, servants Richard Fox, Stephen Nowell, Christopher Lobb, Richard Davis, Nathaniel Christopher, Abraham Rowe, Mary Rowe, Mary Lucas and Sarah Jeffries. These were all from Plymouth and hence the origin of the name of their settlement here and of the township.

It will be seen from the preceding list that Francis Rawle and James Fox must have been persons of some note and means to be at least the principal purchasers of the Plymouth tract and undertake its improvement accompanied, as they were, by so many servants. The survey was made only three weeks after their arrival, There is no doubt they settled here immediately after. purchase, though published accounts have heretofore made it a year earlier, which the registry of arrivals proves to be an error. After remaining here several years and making considerable improvemeuts, they became tired of their isolated life in the woods, and removed to Philadelphia, abandoning the settlement. In 170I a resnrvey was made of the tract, which was somewhat different from the former one. It was then mentioned as "Plymouth township " and as containing five thousand three hundred and twenty-seveu acres.

" Beginning at a beech-tree, marked, standing by the river Schuylkill, being near a corner dividing it from the land first laid out to Jasper Farmer; thence by an old line of marked trees northeast 1296 perches to a marked white-oak, standing in the Whitpain townsbip ; thence by an old line of marked trees northwest 643 perches ; thence by marked trees dividing this from reputed lands of Benjamin Chambers; thence by an old line of marked trees southwest 840 perches thereof to the place of beginning."

It would be interesting to know on which of those surveys the existing boundaries of the township have been formed or the most closely followed. It is most probably the first, because the latter width is too narrow to conform with its present dimensions.

After the latter survey, Francis Rawle and Eliza- beth Fox, the widow of James, commenced selling off tract after tract to purchasers, who became actual settlers. Among these were David Mereditlı, Thomas Owen, Isaac Price, Ellis Pugh, Hugh Jones, and Edmund Cartlege, all from Wales. David Meredith purchased his tract of nine hundred and eighty acres in 1701, adjoining the Whitpain line, and lying on both sides of the present Reading turn- pike. He settled on his purchase we know before 1703, and consequently must have made the first im- provements thereon. He died in January, 1727, aged eighty-nine years. He left a widow, Eleanor, and several children, whose surviving descendants of the name are land-holders in the township, and still retain a portion of the original tract. John Maulsby made a purchase, in 1690, in the vicinity of Cold Point. Isaac Schaffer purchased, in 1702, of Rawle

and Fox, four hundred and seventy-two acres. The latter sold off nearly half of his tract soon after to Lumly Williams. Benjamin and Joshua Dickinson, sons-in-law of the aforesaid, came in possession of part of said purchase which lay in the immediate vicinity of the Friends' Meeting-house.

In the list of 1734 the following are given as the names of residents and land-holders in Plymouth : Eleanor Meredith, widow, 500 acres; Rees Williams, 250; Benjamin Dickinson, 100; John Hamer, 200; John Davis ; Joshua Dickinson, 100; John Redwit- zer, 200; Peter Croll, 100; Thomas Davis, 150; Isaac Price, 328; Joseph Jones, 200 ; Mary Davis' estate, 400; Jonathan Rumford, 200; Henry Bell, 100; Philip John, 200; John Holton, 100. In this list of sixteen names about half are Welsh. John Redwitzer and Peter Croll came from Germany, the former having settled at Germantown before 1700. In 1709 he was naturalized, with the privilege to hold or enjoy lands. The names of Jones aud Davis still exist in the township as land-holders.

Among the early settlers of Plymouth may be mentioned Ellis Pugh, a native of Dolgelle, in Wales, where he was born in 1656. In his eighteenth year he became a member of the Society of Friends, and at the age of twenty-four, came forth in the min- istry. He arrived in Pennsylvania in 1687, and not long after settled in Plymouth. He died in the year 1718, at the age of sixty-two years. In the year 1707 he went on a religious visit to the inhabitants of his native country and shortly after returned. About this time he wrote a religious work in the Welsh lan- guage, with the following curious title: " A Salutation to the Britains, to call them from many things to the one thing needful, for the saving of their souls ; es- pecially to the poor unarmed Traveler, Plowmen Shepherds and those that are of low degree like my- self. This is in order to direct you to know God and Christ, the only wise God, which is life eternal, and to learn of Him, that you may become wiser than their teachers." This work was translated by his friend, Rowland Ellis, and revised by David Lloyd, of Philadelphia, where it was printed by S. Keimer, in 1727. It is a small octave volume of two hundred and twenty-two pages, and, of course, rare. It is particularly interesting as an early specimen of Pennsylvania typography. Rowland Ellis the trans- lator mentioned was an early settler in Merion, where he was for some time a justice of the peace. In 1720 he removed either into this township or near by in Whitemarsh, where he resided uutil 1729, in which year he died, while on a visit to his son-in-law, John Evans, of Gwynedd.

Among the notable men of Plymouth was Zebulon Potts, who was appointed a constable of the township in 1774. During the Revolution, and while the British held possesson of Philadelphia, he resided about half a mile from Conshohocken. He was an ardent Whig, and through spies the British became informed of his

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PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP.

opposition to their cause. They several times sent parties out to his house to capture him, and once they prosecuted their search so close as to almost find him. In 1777 he was appointed one of the justices of the Court of Quarter Sessions and Common Pleas. In the assessor's list of 1780 he is represented as having one hundred acres of land, five horses, three cows and an "aged mother to maintain." In October, 1784, hc was elected (the first) sheriff of the county, and con- tinued in the office until 1787. He died in March, 1801. From his will, made the previous 27th of February, we learn that he appointed his wife, Martha, son Joseph, and son-in-law, Joseph Thomas, executors. His chil- dren were Robert T., Joseph, William, Daniel, Aun, Alice, Esther and Martha. Robert T., died at Swedes- burg in 1873, in his eighty-third year. William was the last survivor of the family, and died at the resi- dence of his son-in-law, Evan D. Jones, at Consho- ! hocken, January 31, 1881, in his ninety-fourth year. ; Zebulon Potts died while a member of the State Senate, and the sheriff, John Markley, in the fall of 1801, ordered an election to supply the vacaney. In March, 1803, his personal effects and farm of eighty-two acres, including a tan-yard, was ordered to be sold for the benefit of his creditors.

Jacob Ritter, a noted minister of Plymouth Meeting, was born in Springfield township, Bucks Co., in 1757. His father and mother had come from Ger- many, and to pay their passage hither had bound themselves to serve respectively, three and four years. The Revolution breaking out, he joined as a soldier, and at the battle of the Brandywine was made a pris- oner by a body of Hessians, and confined, with nine Of early township officers, we find Rees Mana a constable and David Morris supervisor in 1767; Frederick Dull and Joseph Levering, supervisors in 1785; and John Shoemaker and Henry Clare, super- visors in 1810. In the assessment of 1780 mention is made of Martin Whiteman, possessing a grist and saw-mill and 64 acres ; John Pringle's estate, a grist- mill and 130 acres; John Bayard, merchant, 50 acres and 4 slaves; Joseph Fitzwater, wheelwright, 44 acres ; Jacob Peterman and Nathan Potts, smiths ; Peter Arnold, John Dickinson and John Davis, shoe- makers; Nathaniel Van Winkle, turner ; and Samuel Cowdon, weaver. One of the aforesaid mills must have been near the mouth of Plymouth Creek, and within the present limits of Conshohocken. hundred others, in the prison at Philadelphia Through the influence of his cousin and Joseph Gal- loway, the superintendent of police, he was discharged from confinment. In the spring of 1778 he married Dorothy Smith, and moved to the city. After a resi- dence there of several years he lost his wife, and, in the spring of 1794, he moved with his children to Springfield. In 1802 he married Ann Williams, of Buckingham. Having sold his farm and purchased one in l'lymouth, he moved on it in 1812, and con- tinued to reside there for the remainder of his life. He was a minister among Friends for fifty years, and of Plymouth Meeting nearly twenty-nine. He died December 15, 1841, aged eighty-five years, and was in- terred in the Friends' burying-ground. Though he The village of Plymouth Meeting is situated at the intersection of the Perkiomen and Plymouth turn- pikes, on the township line. On this side are the Friends and Orthodox Meeting-houses, a school- never received more than a very ordinary education, yet he wrote a journal and a memoir of his life, which was published in 1844, with a preface, additions and notes, by Joseph Foulke, of Gwynedd, in a small du- ; honse, some eight or ten dwellings and a station of odecimo of one hundred and eleven pages, from which chiefly this sketch has been prepared.

Through the petition of James Fox and other early settlers, the Provincial Council gave a permit, the 5th of Second Month, 1687, to lay out a "cart-road," from Philadelphia here, which was not long after accom- plished. This is the road leading from Plymouth

Meeting to the city, and now better known as the Germantown and Perkiomen turnpike, which was laid on its bed and finished in 1804, at a cost of eleven thousand two hundred and eighty-seven dollars per mile. A road was granted from Plymouth Meeting- house to Gwynedd in December, 1705, but, it appears from the records was not open until 1751. Philip Thomas petitioned, in December, 1759, that he had built a new grist-mill on Plymouth Creek, and desired a road opened from the same. This is very probably the road following the stream to the present Plymouth Station.

The "Seven Stars" inn ranks among the oldest stands in the county. In 1754, Benjamin Davis re- ceived a license to keep it, and Nicholas Scull on his map of the province, published in 1759, mentioned it by this name and which it has ever since borne. Soldiers gazed on its sign in the French and In- dian war, and also, later again, the British army as they passed by it on their march to take possession of Philadelphia, and yet the sign of the " Seven Stars " has been perpetuated and still exists amidst the numerous changes of so long a period. The Davis family were early settlers in this immediate vicinity, of whom Samuel Davis was a captain in the American army during the Revolution. William Lawrence kept an inn in Plymouth in 1767; John Hamilton, in 1773; Mathew Henderson, in 1774; James Hamilton, Hannah Koller and Daniel Neill, in 1778; Samuel Canghlin, Elizabeth Bartleson and Daniel Deal, in 1785. Some of these must have kept the present " Black Horse," for this is also an old stand.

the railroad, much the larger portion of the place being situated in Whitemarsh. It was here that the original settlement of Plymouth was made, and where William Penn. according to the survey of 1686 had previously ordered six hundred acres to be laid out for a town. It was thus that the first house of worship throughout all this section came to be located

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

here. In the map acompanying Gabriel Thomas' " Account of Pennsylvania," published in London in 1698, the settlement here is denoted, being the only one so mentioned within the present limits of the county. Lewis Evans also noted it on his map of 1749. The post-office was located here before 1827. Considerable lime is burned in this vicinity and sent off by railroad. It was from the kilns here that the county commissioners requested proposals, in the spring of 1804, for hauling a quantity of lime by the bushel to complete the bridge then building over the Manatawny, at Pottstown, twenty-three miles distant.

Hickorytown is situated on the Germantown and Perkiomen turnpike, three miles southeast of Norris- town and fourteen from Philadelphia. It contains an inn, store, school-house, a blacksmith and wheel- wright-shop and about thirty houses. The post-office was established here in May, 1857. The elections of the township are held here. In 1832 Gordon's "Ga- zetteer" mentions it as containing ten houses. Captain Robert Kennedy, an officer of the Revolution, kept the inn here in 1801; Frederick Dull, in 1806; and Jacob Hart, in 1825. In the beginning of the century this was a noted training-place for the Thirty-sixth Regiment of Pennsylvania militia and the Second Battalion of Montgomery County. The Friendship Company, for protection against horse-stealing, was organized here in the fall of 1807, and in the follow- ing year numbered sixty-four members. Near by is the Plymouth Valley Creamery, belonging to an association of farmers, which went into operation in August, 1882.

Harmanville is situated on the line of Whitemarsh township, at the intersection of the Ridge and Plym- outh turnpikes, one and a half miles from Consho- hocken. It contains a store, several mechanic shops and about thirty houses in the two townships. It has chiefly grown since 1850. The ore and marble pro- duction in the vicinity has given an impulse to its prosperity. Where the Ridge turnpike crosses Ply- mouth Creek and Railroad is Ridge Station. Here are four or five houses, the Seven Stars Hotel and a coal- yard. The venerable stone bridge over which the turn- pike passes was built in 1796. About a quarter of a mile below this on the turnpike a considerable quan- tity of clay has been dug in the past seven years, which is manufactured into fire-brick for the linings of furnaces, especially those used in the manufacture of glass.

Plymouth Meeting. - The Friends were undoubt - edly the earliest settlers of Plymouth and of the contiguous portion of Whitemarsh. It appears that William Penn had conceived the plan for a town to be laid out of about one mile square where is now the site of the present meeting-house. In the summer of 1686 the township was purchased and settled by James Fox, Francis Rawle, Richard Gove, John Chelson and some other Friends, who lived here for a time and

held meetings for worship at the house of James Fox. Being tradesmen, and not accustomed to a country life, they afterwards removed to Philadelphia. Not long afterwards, however, the land was repurchased and settled. Among a number of others were David Meredith, Edmund Cartlege, Thomas Owen, Isaac Priee, Ellis Pugh and Hugh Jones, all Friends. It seems they had become sufficiently numerous here to receive the consideration of William Penn, who, in a letter to Thomas Lloyd, from England dated the 14th of Fourth Month, 1691, among other things, said : "Salute me to the Welsh Friends and the Plimouth Friends-indeed to all of them."

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 220

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