History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 242

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 242

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WHITEMARSH is bounded on the northeast by Up- per Dublin, southeast by Springfield, southwest by the Schuylkill and Conshohocken, west by Plymouth and northwest by Whitpain. Its length is six and one- fourth miles and breadth two and one-half, and it con- tains an area of eight thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven acres. In 1850, by the erection of Con- shohocken into a borough, its territory was reduced three hundred and twenty acres, but by a change of the boundary line, in 1876, about one hundred and sixty acres were added from Springfield township along the Schuylkill. The surface is rolling and the soil generally of a superior quality, being a rich loam, with an abundance of excellent limestone. Edge Hill extends through this township a distance of two

1 By William J. Buck.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

and a half miles, and crosses the Schuylkill below Spring Mill. It is a singular circumstance that no limestone, iron or marble is found anywhere on the south side of this hill. Barren Hill, Militia Hill and Camp Hill are well-known elevations that figure in our Revolutionary history, but do not extend to any length.

Whitemarsh possesses several fine lasting streams of water. The Wissahickon Creek rises from two small branches in Montgomery township, and then flows through Gwynedd, Whitpain, Upper Dublin, Whitemarsh and Springfield townships into the Schuylkill, nearly a mile below Manayunk. Its total length is about nineteen miles, of which thirteen are in this county and three and a half in this township. It is an excellent mill-stream, being steady, copious and rapid in its current. Its principal branches are Valley Run and Sandy Run. At a very early period the Wissahickon was used for mill purposes, a grist- mill having been erected on it by Edward Farmar very near the beginning of the last century. On Holme's map of original surveys it is called " Whit- paine's Creek," after Richard Whitpaine, a large land-holder on this stream in the present township of Whitpain. In the Upland Court records for 1677 it is called "Wiessahitkonk," which, according to Hecke- welder, in the Delaware Indian language, signifies the "catfish or yellow-water stream." Sandy Run has a course of upwards of a mile through the east corner of the township, and empties into the Wissahickon below Fort Washington. It is a clear, spring-water stream, abounding in native trout, and propels a grist- mill and an auger-factory. We know from records that it bore its present name in 1703, if not earlier.

After Lower Merion, Pottsgrove, Upper Providence and Upper Merion, Whitemarsh is the most populous township in the county. In 1800 its population was 1085; in 1840, 2079; and in 1880, 3239. The real estate for taxable purposes, in 1882, was valued at $2,284,915, and including the personal, $2,454,050; the average per taxable, $2981, Montgomery, Upper Dublin and Towamencin being rated higher. In May, 1883, licenses were issued for six hotels, eleven general stores, two hardware-stores, four dealers in flour and feed, one lumber and two coal-yards. In 1858 it contained ten hotels, fifteen stores, six grist-mills, three furnaces, two marble-mills, one paper-mill and one auger-factory. In 1785 five inns, five grist-mills, three paper-mills and two tanneries are mentioned. The public schools are eleven in number, open ten months, with an average attendance of three hundred and one pupils for the school year ending June 1, 1882. In 1856 the township had eight public schools, open nine months. In 1880 a small portion of White- marsh was attached to Ambler School District. The census of 1850 returned 398 dwellings, 426 families and 149 farms. The villages are Barren Hill, Plymouth Meeting, Fort Washington, Spring Mill, Marble Hall, Lafayette, Lancasterville and Whitemarsh or Val-

ley Green. The first four places contain post-offices. Barren Hill has lately been changed to Lafayette Hill, and William Penn post-office is at Spring Mill. There are six houses of worship in Whitemarsh, namely,-one Episcopal, one Lutheran, one Lutheran and Reformed, one Friends', one Baptist and one Evangelical. Besides the common roads, which are numerous, five turnpikes traverse the township. The Norristown and Schuylkill Valley Railroads pass beside each other along its southwestern border upwards of two miles, with stations at Lafayette and Spring Mill; also the Schuylkill navigation for the same distance. The North Pennsylvania Railroad crosses the eastern angle near the Upper Dublin line for about a mile, with a station at Fort Washington. The Plymouth Railroad passes through its central part upwards of three miles, with stations at Plym- outh Meeting, Williams and Flourtown. The Schuyl- ki.l Valley Railroad was commenced in 1883 and fin- ished in the summer of 1884, extending from Phila- delphia, through Norristown, to the coal regions.

Through the researches of Hon. William A. Yeakle it has been ascertained that the executors of Edward Farmar, in a deed of a portion of his estate, dated April 14, 1746, to George Greenfield, mention that it was a "part of the lands by the Indians called Umbili- camense." Through this information an additional discovery has been made in regard to an excursion on horseback by William Penn to view the country. In a bill of charges made out by Thomas Fairman, commencing in 1682, he states, among other items, of his being debtor "To a journey with the Proprietor and his friends to Umbolekemensin, with 3 of my horses, 12 shillings." This trip was no doubt made in 1683, as on August 12th of the following year he embarked for England. It was under these singu- lar circumstances that we have been enabled to locate Umbilicamense, and prove that it was actually within the rich valley of the Wissahickon and not more than a mile from the centre of the township. Another interesting circumstance in this connection is the discovery of the origin of the name of White- marsh. In the petition of the inhabitants of Skippack and vicinity to the Court of Quarter Sessions, dated June 2, 1713, for a road, they state that it may be laid out "from the upper end of the said township down to the wide marsh or Farmar's Mill." At the latter place, by the Wissahickon, as is well known, there is an extremely broad, level expanse of meadow greatly subject to overflows, and we do not doubt, from its miry, wet nature at that early day, that it was known as the "wide marsh," which has needed but a slight change to convert it as now called. The settlement at this mill, too, has borne the name of Whitemarsh from the earliest period, Lewis Evans having thus denoted it on his map of the province published in 1749.

The Farmar family were the earliest and most ex- tensive purchasers of land in Whitemarsh, as well as

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WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP.

the first of its settlers. Major Jasper Farmar was an officer in the British army and a resident of Cork, Ireland. Hearing of the advantages offered by William Penn in colonizing his province induced him to pur- chase from Penn, by a patent dated January 31, 1683, two tracts, containing together five thousand acres.1 When all arrangements had been made for the voyage Major Farmar died, when his widow, Mary and children,-Edward, Sarah, John, Robert, Catha- rine, Charles, Jasper and Robert,-accompanied by Thomas Farmar, Catharine Farmar (widow), Elizabeth Farmar, Edward Batsford and servants Joanna Daly, Philip Mayow and Helen his wife, John Mayow, John Whitlow, Nicholas Whitlow, Thomas Young and his wife, William Winter, George Fisher, Arthur Smith, Thomas Alferry, Henry Wells, Robert Wilkinson, Elizabeth Mayow, Martha Mayow, Sarah Burke, Sheele Oceven, Andrew Walbridge, all from Ireland, embarked on the ship "Bristol Merchant," John Stephens, master, and arrived at Philadelphia November 10, 1685. In the same ship also arrived Nicholas Seull and his servants Samnel Hall, Cornelius Davye, George Gooding, Miles Morin, Daniel Morin, John Ward and Mary Cantwell. All these must have soon after their arrival settled on the aforesaid purchase, which it is likely had not been long located. It appears from the colonial records that John Scull, as overseer for the Farmar family, had settled on the tract with a number of servants several months before their arrival, probably with a view to the immediate erection of buildings and other improvements and preparations in advance of their coming. Complaint was made by Indians to the Governor's Council, July 21, 1685, that the servants on Jasper Farmar's place had made them drunk and abused them. A warrant was issued and sent out by a messenger, who, after being lost in the woods, returned, when it was deferred. When the time arrived the servants made their appearance, but the Indians did not apppear as accusers, and so the matter was probably dropped. This would show that in the immediate vicinity there must have then ex- isted an Indian settlement, and from this circumstance Edward Farmar acquired his knowledge of the Indian language which enabled him, in May, 1701 and 1712, to perform for the government the duties of an inter- preter.

"WM. PENN.

As legatee of her husband's estate, Madame Far- mar, as she was usually called, and Catharine, wife of Jaspar Farmar, deceased, made a partition of the estate, by which one-half of the five thousand acres under the will became in fee her property and the other one- half that of her two sons, Richard and Jasper Far- mar, Jr. Shortly after this Richard disposed of his share, one thousand two hundred and fifty acres, to Thomas Webb, who sold his interest to Madame Far- mar, who, by will, devised the whole toher son Edward Farmar, who thus became the owner of three-fourths of the original purchase. The mother, prior to 1600, married a gentleman by the name of Billop, of Phil- adelphia, and must have died within a few years there- after. Respecting this lady, Chief Justice Nicholas More mentioned, in a letter dated from his residence at Green Spring, in the manor of Moreland, September 13, 1686, to William Penn, then in England, that " Madame Farmar has found out as good limestone on the Schuylkill as any in the world, and is building with it; she offers to sell ten thousand bushels at sixpence the bushel upon her plantation, where are several considerable hills, and near to your manor of Spring- field." This would show that she must have been an energetic woman, and that probably the earliest lime from limestone used in Pennsylvania came from her kilns, at what has been so long known as the village of Whitemarsh.

Edward Farmar was one of the early noted men that settled in this county, and, judging from his pen- manship, must have received a good education in his

SEAL OF EDWARD FARMAR.

youth, which eminently qualified him for the import- ant trusts he afterwards assumed. The family, from purchasing here so much land, retaining so many servants and making the extensive improvements they did, must have been in affluent circumstances, at least wealthier than the majority of the early emigrants. At his arrival Edward Farmar was not fourteen years of age, and consequently did not attain his majority until in 1693. With John Soteher, of Pennsbury, he was sent, in May, 1701, to the Lehigh River to ascertain the intentions of the Indians in that vicinity. He was commissioned a justice of the peace for Philadelphia County Sep- tember 2, 1701, which office it is known he held con- tinuously till or near the close of his life. Andrew

1 Since this article was written we have secured the following interest- ing document, which has not heretofore been published :

"L. S .: William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of Pennsylvania and the Territories thereunto belonging. At the request of Juspar Farmar, Junior, in the behalf of his father, Major Jaspar Farmar, his brother Richard and himself, that I would grant him to take up 5000 acres of land, being of the lands by the Indians called Umbilicamence, fronting at one end upon the River Schuylkill. These are to will and require thee forth with to survey or cause to be surveyed unto him the said five thousand acres in the aforementioned place where not already taken up, according to the method of townships appointed by me, and make return thereof unto my Secretary's office. Given at Philadelphia the 31st of the 10th month, 1683.

"For THOMAS HOLMES, Surveyor-General."

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Hamilton, the Lieutenant-Governor, appointed him, with John Guest and Samuel Finney, justices of the court, February 23, 1703, for the trial of eriminal cases. His settlement in Whitemarsh, we know in 1708, if not earlier, was called "Farmar's Town," and probably several years before this he had erected a grist-mill on the Wissahickon, which had an extended reputation in 1713. In 1710 he presented the lot of ground on which St. Thomas' Episcopal Church was built, besides taking an active part in its erection, for which he may be almost regarded as its founder. A council with the Indians was held at his house May 19, 1712, at which was present the Governor, Charles Gookin, and several of his friends, besides a number of Indians. The most prominent chiefs at this meet- ing were Sasoonan, Ealochelan and Scholitehy, the latter being the principal speaker, Mr. Farmar acting as interpreter. He was elected to the Assembly in 1710, and held the office almost continuously to 1732. and was also for several years one of the county com- missioners. He died November 3, 1745, aged seventy- three years, and was buried in the graveyard of St. Thomas' Church, where a tomb is inseribed to his memory. From the Penn-Physick manuscripts we learn that he furnished lime and flour to Thomas and Richard Penn, at Springettsbury, at various times from 1735 to the period of his death. His extensive estate was settled by his son, Joseph Farmar, and Peter and Jonathan Robeson, who had married his daughters. Though once so numerous, the name of Farmar has now become extinct, not only in Whitemarsh, but probably in all the surrounding townships. Strange to say, in the assessment of Horsham township for 1702, the name of Edward Farmar is mentioned as holding a small farm there. From the similarity of names, it is very probable that he belonged to this family. Descendants exist through intermarriage in the families of Robeson, Shoemaker, Mitchell and Pierce.

From what has been stated, it appears the Scull family settled early here with the Farmars, and it has been supposed, from their intimacy, they were related. Nicholas Scull, who arrived here in 1685, made a purchase in the vicinity, in 1688, of four hundred acres, but which was not located until December 24, 1692. John Scull, who had arrived here previously as overseer for the Farmar family, was a brother of the aforesaid, and also came from Ireland. Nicholas Scull died in 1703, leaving a widow, Mary, and six sons,-Nicholas, Edward, Jasper, John, James and Joseph. Nicholas, the eldest son, and subsequently surveyor-general, was born in Whitemarsh, and, in 1708, married Abigail Heap. The latter was buried in the family ground on the south side of Camp Hill, now on the estate of Gillingham Fell, where a stone has been erected to her memory stating that she died May 21, 1753, aged sixty-five years. Her husband, it is said, was also buried herc, and his head-stone was removed, but from attending circumstances, this is regarded as doubtful. Mr.

Scull as a land surveyor in his day had few equals, and could also speak the Indian language, which, in his youth, he had acquired here, acting on several occasions on behalf of the government as an interpre- ter. From what information we have been able to procure respecting him, he must have received a bet- ter education than was usually given at this early period of our colonial history. In 1722 he made the survey of the road leading from where is now Willow Grove to Governor Keith's residence, in Horsham, and from the latter place another road on the county line to York Road. He was sent, with his brother, John Scull, as interpreter, by Governor Gor- don, in May, 1728, to hold a council with the In- dians at Conestoga. This year, a disturbance happen- ing between several Indians and whites residing in the vicinity of New Hanover township, he was sent with presents to pacify them, in which he wassuccesful. He was sent on a similar errand to Shamokin in 1729. Mr. Scull, we know, in 1731 resided in Philadelphia, and for several years afterwards. In February, 1734, he was appointed deputy-surveyor for the counties of Phila- adelphia and Bucks. Governor Thomas, in May, 1740, sent him to the Minesinks to settle a difficulty between a white man and an Indian, by which the former was wounded, for which service the Assembly allowed him fifteen pounds. In October, 1744, he was commissioned sheriff of Philadelphia County, which office he held for several years. The Indians from Sha- mokin having visited Governor Thomas, in Philadel- phia, in July, 1745, he again served as interpreter. Through ill health, William Parsons resigned the office of surveyor-general of Pennsylvania, when, June 14, 1748, Mr. Scull was appointed to fill his place, which he continued to hold to the close of his life,-a period of thirteen years. Dr. Franklin speaks of him, in his autobiography, as one who " loved books and sometimes made verses." In connection with George Heap he published "A Map of Philadel- phia and Parts Adjacent" in 1750. In 1759 he had published a large map of the improved parts of Penn- sylvania and Maryland, which, for correctness, far sur- passed all previous ones. Mr. Scull died at an ad- vanced age about the beginning of November, 1761, when his associate, John Lukens, of Horsham, was appointed his successor. Respecting Mr. Scull, Richard Peters, in a letter dated Philadelphia, May 11, 1753, wrote to Thomas Penn, that "though he is industrious and enjoys a good office, yet he has a large family and is not beforehand in the world." All ef- forts at finding some notice of his death in the Phila- delphia newspapers at the time has proved unsuc- cessful.

By order of Thomas Penn, one of the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, the constables of the several townships of Philadelphia County were required to make a return of the names of all the land-holders, with the number of acres respectively held by them, and also of the tenants. This list was made out in

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WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP.

1734, and is called an "uncertain return," prepared by John Hyatt, but, in the absence of anything better or more reliable, possesses unusual interest at a particu- lar period, when the country had been sufficiently settled to warrant the care of the government in the due enforcement of the laws. From said list, as per- taining to the township of Whitemarsh, the following forty-seven names have been copied : Edward Farmar; Jonathan Robeson; Edith Davis; John Klinkey, 150 acres; Henry Bartlestal, 170; Marchant Maulsby, 40; Nicholas Stiglitz, 150; Benjamin Charlesworth, 200; John Morris, 200; Jonathan Potts, 80; Samuel Gilkey, 50; Josiah White, 18; David Davis, 50; John Petty, 500; Margaret Nichols, 200; Francis Cawly, 50; David Harry, 200; William Williams, 200; Fred- erick Stone, 150 ; Joseph Williams, 200; Adam Kitler, 170; Ludwig Knoos, 100; Walter Gahone, 100; Casper Simons, 50; Jacob Coltman, 50; Isaac Morris, 300; William Trotter, 100; James Strond, 200. Tenants: John Anderson, Joseph Woolen, Evan Jones, John Scull, John Parker, Henry Rinkard, John Ramsey, Jr., Edward Stroud, John Ramsey, - Campbell, Henry Steward, Thomas Shepherd, William English, Jenkin Davis, John Patterson, Joseph Faris, John Coulson, Handle Hansell, Mathias Ignorance. It will be observed that no figures appear after the first three names, information probably being refused to evade a higher rate of taxation. The list serves as an aid in arriving at a knowledge of the early settlers, though no doubt the number of acres in most in- stances is given only in round numbers, without aiming at exactness.

The name of Robeson does not appear in White- marsh on the list of 1734, but the family were quite early settlers along the lower Wissahickon. Before the death of Edward Farmar, in 1745, Peter Robe- son had married his daughter Sarah, and his nephew- Jonathan Robeson, Jr., Catharine, a younger sister. Through this connection they came in possession of considerable real estate in the township. Peter Robeson's tract contained nine hundred and fifty-two acres on the Wissahickon, and was part of the tract which the Indians had called Umbilicamense. He sold a portion containing five hundred and fifty-two acres, March 4, 1755, to Anthony Williams, of Bristol township, for £1666 4s. 9d. Charles Williams, a de- scendant, still retains a valuable portion, that has ever since been in the family. Jonathan Robeson, in 1780, was assessed for two hundred and thirty-eight acres, a grist-mill, and three negroes, one riding-chair, five horses and four cattle. He is reported as having eleven children, who have numerous descendants in the county and elsewhere. Jonathan inherited the mill property now owned by Silas Cleaver, and a por- tion of the tract is comprised in the farms of John Cleaver and Thomas S. Phipps, adjoining. Among the sons were also Peter and Andrew Robeson. Judge Andrew Robeson, the ancestor of the family, died February 19, 1719-20, aged sixty-six years. Robeson

township, where he was a considerable land-holder, was called after him.

Adam Kitler, who is mentioned in the list of 1734 as owning one hundred and seventy acres of land, resided in the vicinity of the present Marble Hall, where buildings erected by him in 1743 are still standing. In 1745 he purchased additional land, which extended southward to Barren Hill Church. His name is men- tioned in the assessment of 1780, and John Kitler, who may have been a son, as holding one hundred and sixteen acres. The former was buried in the Barren Hill graveyard. This tract has proved itself rich in marble and iron-ore ; large quantities of both have been sent off to Philadelphia or to the neigli- boring works and furnaces.

In the list of 1734 we find the name of John Morris as holding here two hundred acres, and in Abington, at said date, Morris Morris, four hundred acres. It is a tradition that the family in Whitemarsh are de- scended from Evan Morris, who came from Wales and settled a mile east of Friends' Meeting-house, in Abington, and it may be, in consequence, that the aforesaid John and Morris Morris were his sons. Samuel Morris was a justice of the peace in White- marsh from 1745 to 1753 and an overseer of Plymouth Meeting.

He died in 1772, leaving an estate of three hun- dred and fifty acres, which descended to his brother Joshua, of Abington, long a member of Assembly. He donated a lot of land for a school-house and five hun- dred and thirty pounds in trust, the interest to be ap- plied to the building and keeping the same in repair, which went into operation before 1790, and was long known as the Union School. In the assessment of 1780 the only names found in Whitemarsh are Samuel Morris, tanner, rated for twenty-nine acres, and Owen Morris, a single man.

In the northern part of the township, adjoining Up- per Dublin, a tract of six hundred acres was taken up by the Free Society of Traders, who sold three hun- dred and ten aeres of the same to John Jones, which was located by Jacob Taylor, surveyor-general, April 4, 1724. This descended by will to his son, John Jones, Jr., who, with Sarah, his wife, May 21, 1760, conveyed twenty and three-fourths acres, for £39 58., to Abraham Houser, chair-maker. The original deed of this pur- chase was by the latter buried in the ground for greater safety while the British held possession of Philadelphia in 1777. When it was taken up the parchment was found to be almost entirely illegible through the effects of moisture, when the owner thereof called on Mr. Jones, " gentleman, of Philadel- phia," who executed to him a new deed, bearing date November 14, 1793, wherein the aforesaid circum- stances are related.

Abraham H. Carn, a descendant of Mr. Houser and the owner of said tract, possesses both the deeds, which are thus invested with singular in- terest, the latter having been executed a third of a

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

century later, denoting that the parties thereto had been favored with longevity.

The Scheetz family has been for some time in Whitemarsh, several members of which have been noted business men and held office in the county. It has been stated that John Jacob Scheetz, a minister of Creyfelt, on the Rhine, was a member of the Frank- fort Company, organized in 1683 to promote and en- conrage settlement from Germany. His son Henry was thus induced to come to Pennsylvania and firs settled at Germantown, afterwards removing on a purt chase in this township, where he spent the remainder of his days. This property was inherited by his son Henry Scheetz, who, in the assessment of 1780, is called a " paper-maker," and rated for owning a paper- mill and eighty acres of land. This mill he built in 1769, on Sandy Run, to which he added afterwards a grist-mill, which is still standing. It is said he also erected, at a later date, the paper-mill on the same stream, a short distance over the Springfield line, which is still in possession of the family. He was ap- pointed a justice of the peace before the Revolution, and on the formation of Montgomery County com- missioned, December 10, 1784, one of the justices of the Courts of Quarter Sessions and Common Pleas. He died about 1794, leaving two sons, Henry and Justice. The latter was elected sheriff, serving in the office from 1816 to 1819.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 242

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