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Full text of "A collection of papers read before the Bucks County Historical Society"

UNIVERSITY 

OF PITTSBURGH 

LIBRARY 



THIS BOOK PRESENTED BY 

ilumni Giving Plan 



A COLLECTION OF PAPERS 

READ BEFORE 

THE BUCKS COUNTY 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY 




PUBLISHED FOR THE SOCIETY 

BY 

FACKENTHAL PUBLICATION FUND 
193 2 



VOLUME VI 



EDITORIAL COMMITTEE ; 

Warren S. Ely Horace M. Mann 

Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr. V 



F\5T 



Press of 

Berkemeyer, Keck & Co. 

Allentown, Pa. 



^ 



CONTENTS 

Page 

List of Illustrations '^" 

Officers of the Society ^^ 

Changes in By-Laws and Personnel of Officers 



XII 



PAPERS 

Edward Hicks and His Paintings Henry D. Paxson, Jr 1 

Turpentine Gathering in North Caro- 

jina Dr. William S. Erdman 5 



The Indian Walking Purchase of Sep- 
tember 19 and 20, 1737 Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 7 

The Three Tuns Inn at Gallows Hill and 

the Old Durham Road Warren S. Ely 25 

Quarrying Henry K. Deisher 33 

Pioneer Life in Maine in 1808 Mrs. Sophie Lyman Pratt 42 

A Lutheran Mission in Northampton 

Township in 1748 Warren S. Ely 4-1 

Preserving "Summerseat" Hon. Thomas B. Stockham. ... 53 

Biographical Notice of M. J. Allan Emory Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 58 

House Mottoes in Eastern Pennsylvania. Rev. John Baer Stoudt, D. D.. o5 

The Last Days of Harness Making in 

Bucks County Rev. David Gehman 73; 

Notes at Random from My Life's Expe 

rience 

River Boulders or Cobblestones Used for 

Paving James H. Fitzgerald ^8 

The Early History of Point Pleasant W^arren S. Ely 56 

Improving Navigation on the Delaware 
River with Some Account of Its 
Ferries, Bridges, Canals and Floods. . . Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 10> 

Hand Organ Notes Joseph E. Sanford 231 

Letters from Native Bucks Countians 

Living in Canada, 1815 Mrs. C. D. Fretz 24o. 

Hilltown Baptist Churches and Schools. . Mrs. Warren S. Ely 249 

Dolington, Past and Present Barclay Eyre 256 



rience Matthias H. Hall ^^ 



IV 



CONTENTS 



Reminiscing Around an Ancestral Fire- 
place and Bake Oven Mrs. Warren S. Ely 260 

Making Solar Salt Horace M. Mann 263 

Sesquicentennial Anniversary of the 
Battle of Crooked Billet 



. Warren S. Ely 271 

Address at the Unveiling of Monument 

Erected on Crooked Billet Battlefield. . Hon. Webster Grim 274 

Visit in Durham Township of a Politi- 
cal Refugee from Brazil Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 278 

Peddlers and Other Itinerants James H. Fitzgerald 282 

Child Life During the American Revo- 
lution Mrs. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 290 

f Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 297 

Col. Henry D. Paxson 301 

Henry G. Brengle 302 

Dr. Owen Wister 304 

Mrs. Finley Braden (Poem)... . 305 

Dr. Edward Hart 306 

Rudolf P. Hommel 307 

Samuel C. Eastburn 308 

i Miss Belle Van Sant 308 

Johns. Wurts 309 

Mrs. Annie Meredith Fretz. . . . 309 

Mrs. Henry J. Shoemaker 309 

Mrs. I. M. James (Resolutions) 310 

Matthias H. Hall 311 

Joseph E. Sanford 311 

Frank K. Swain 312 

,Alvin F. Harlow 314 



'Dr. Henry Chapman Mercer, Memo- 
rial Services, Addresses, Resolu- 
tions, Etc 



.Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science 

^^ Conferred on Dr. Mercer June 8, 1916. .Franklin & Marshall College.. . 314 

'honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws 

*.! Conferred on Dr. Mercer June 11, 1929. Lehigh University 315 

Tfvbute to Dr. Mercer by his Classmates. . Harvard Univ. Class of 1879. . . 317 

^The Building of "Fonthill" Described. . . Dr. Henry C. Mercer 321 

^"^^dress of Welcome to "Glacialdrift," 

..^Riegelsville Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 331 



CONTENTS V 

South Mountain Indian Quarries Henry K. Deisher 334 

Cattle Ear Marks of the Seventeenth 

Century Henry A. James 342 

Manufacture of Hydrauhc Cement in 

Bucks County Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 346 

New Light on the History of Tin Plating. . Rudolf P. Hommel 356 

Portrait of Dr. Henry C. Mercer, Un- 
veiled at "Fonthill," Presentation 
Address Albert Rosenthal 360 

Acceptance of Portrait, by Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 361 

Early History of Keller's Lutheran 

Church Rev. William J. Hinke, D. D.. . 363 

The Ancestry of John Stover Fretz Mrs. John Stover Fretz 379 

North Doylestown Borough and Adja- 
cent Townships Mrs. C. D. Fretz 386 

Tamenend vs. Allummapees Warren S. Ely 396 

The Thompson-Neely House in Sole- 
bury Township Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr 399 

Family Bibles in the Library of the 

Bucks County Historical Society Mrs. Warren S. Ely 425 

A Rafting Story of the Delaware River. . . Joshua Pine (Third) 467 

A Story of My Branch of the Long- 
shore Family Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg 525 

Restoring Old Pictures Dr. Arthur Edwin Bye 536 

The Moland House, Washington's 
Headquarters on the Neshaminy, 
Address by Colonel Henry D. Paxson 540 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 
Portrait of Colonel Henry D. Paxson Frontispiece 

Portrait of Edward Hicks 1 

The Peaceable Kingdom 4 

Turpentine Sap Bucket 5 

Turpentine Tools 6 

The Indian Walking Purchase of 1737: 

1 — Lunching Place Monument in Springfield Township 7 

2 — Bronze Tablet on Monument 8 

3— Portrait of William Penn 10 

4 — Tablet on Monument at "Grey Stones" 12 

5 — Portrait of Indian Chief Tischohan 14 

6 — Portrait of Indian Chief Lapowinsa 16 

7 — Lenni Lenape Indian Monument, Wrightstown, Pa 18 

8 — Inscription on same, Erected 1890 18 

9 — Map showing Part of Bucks County Released by Indians 20 

10 — Map showing Properties over which Walkers Traveled 22 

11 — Tomb in Memory of Edward Marshall 22 

12 — Map showing Route of Indian Walk 24 

13— Edward Marshall's Rifle 24 

Tablet on Indian Walk Marker at Gallows Hill 26 

Unfinished Obelisk in Quarry at Assuan, Egypt 34 

Rear View of "Summerseat," Looking East 56 

Portrait of Allan Emory 59 

Busts of "Myrtis," 1870, and "Lucile," 1873 62 

Harness Maker's Stitching Horse 80 

Rammer for Setting Paving Blocks 94 

Forks for Grappling Boulders from Bed of River 95 

Paving Tools Used for Setting Paving Blocks in Streets 95 

Improving Navigation on the Delaware River: 

1 — Palisades at the Narrows of Nockamixon 103 

2 — View of Delaware Water Gap 106 



VIII ILLUSTRATIONS 

3 — John Fitch's Passenger Steamboat on the Delaware 108 

4 — Drawing of Durham Boat by John A. Anderson 109 

5— Portrait of William (Alias "Lofty") Piatt 113 

6 — Inscription Cut in Limestone Rocks at Foul Rift 119 

7 — View of Durham Cave, with Seats 151 

8 — View of Durham Cave with Mining Engineers 152 

9 — Embarking on Canal Boats in Front of Durham Cave 154 

10 — Monument at Tri-State Rock on the Delaware River 167 

11 — Strap Rails Used on Delaware & Hudson Railroad 195 

12 — The "Stourbridge Lion" Locomotive Engine 196 

13 — High-Pressure Articulated Oil Burning Freight Locomotive 197 

14 — ^View of Delaware River above Port Jervis 198 

15 — Canal Boat of Delaware Division Canal 202 

16 — Canal Boat Leaving Lock on Delaware Division Canal 202 

17— Water Wheel at Wells Falls in the Delaware River 204 

18 — View of Delaware Division Canal and Towing Path 206 

19 — Canoeing on the Canal — Tail piece 219 

Section of Common Barrel Organ 232 

A Parisian Organ Grinder, Circa, 1737 235 

Strolling Italian Street Singers 245 

Making Solar Salt: 

1 — Aprons or Deep Rooms or Lime Rooms 263 

2 — Evaporating Vats 263 

3 — Evaporating Vats — Another View 266 

4 — Horse Drawn Rake and Anchor or Scraper 266 

5— Salt Tubs with Perforated Bottoms 270 

6— The Salt Cart 270 

View of Tablet on Monument Commemorating the Battle of Crooked 

Billet, May 1, 1778 273 

The Pack Peddler 289 

Insignia, Daughters of the American Revolution — 'Tail piece 295 

Memorial Services for Dr. Henry C. Mercer: 

1— Portrait of Dr. Henry C. Mercer 296 

2 — Mercer Museum, Dedicated 1916 299 



ILLUSTRATIONS IX 

3 — Master Craftsman Medal — Obverse side 303 

4 — Master Craftsman Medal — Reverse side 303 

5 — Moravian Pottery and Tile Works 305 

6 — Plan of "Fonthill" Real Estate and Buildings 318 

7 — Rear View of Fonthill, Doylestown, Pa., Looking Southeast 327 

8 — Interior View of Fonthill — Tail piece 330 

"Glacialdrift," Riegelsville Home of Dr. and Mrs. Fackenthal 331 

Durham Iron Works Home of Mr. and Mrs. Fackenthal 332 

Turtle Backs — Tail piece 341 

Cattle Ear Marks of the Seventeenth Century — Tail piece 345 

Gristmill at Narrowsville Lock: 

1 — Ancient Gristmill where Cement was Ground 346 

2 — Pleasure Boat "Zlotub" Entering Narrowsville Lock 346 

Mennonite Meeting House, Deep Run 385 

The Thompson-Neely House: 

1 — Portrait of George Washington 399 

2 — The Thompson-Neely House — Front View 400 

3 — Headstone in Memory of Capt. James Moore 400 

4 — Front View of "Summerseat," Morrisville, Pa., Washington's 

Headquarters, December 8 to 14, 1776 402 

5 — Washington and His Army Crossing the Delaware River, Christ- 
mas Night of 1776 402 

6 — Tablet Placed on Thompson-Neely House, October 19, 1931 403 

7 — First American Flag with Stars and Stripes 405 

8 — Portrait of Marquis de Lafayette 405 

9 — Monument Marking Place of Embarkment of Washington's 

Army, Christmas Night of 1776, Enroute for Battle of Trenton 406 

10— Tablet on the Keith House 406 

11 — The Keith House, Washington's Headquarters, December 15 to 

25, 1776 406 

12 — Date Stone, Thompson-Neely House, 1757 408 

13 — The Merrick House, General Greene's Headquarters 408 

14 — The Dr. Chapman House, General Knox's Headquarters 408 

15 — The Moland House, Washington's Headquarters, August 10 to 

2\ 1777 410 



X ILLUSTRATIONS 

16 — Tablet on Same, Placed There by Bucks County Historical 

Society, 1897 410 

17 — Tablet on Bowman's Hill Tower 412 

18— The "Spirit of 1776"— Tail piece 412 

19 — Portrait of Gen. Lord Stirling 413 

20 — Portrait of James Monroe 414 

21 — Portrait of Robert Morris 415 

22 — Portrait of George Clymer 417 

23 — Portrait of Gen. John Sullivan 419 

24 — Portrait of Gen. Nathaniel Greene 420 

25— Portrait of Thomas Paine 421 

26 — Portrait of Gen. Henry Knox 422 

27 — Portrait of Alexander Hamilton 423 

Salome — with the Head of John the Baptist: 

1 — Before Restoration, Showing Head Painted over with Fruit 536 

2 — After Re.storation, Showing its Original Condition 536 

Madonna and Child: 

1 — Before Restoration, Showing the Repaint 538 

2 — Showing Same One-fourth Restored 538 

3 — Restored, Becoming a Madonna and Child by Murillo 539 

The Moland House, Washington's Headquarters at Neshaminy Camp in 

Bucks County 540 

Airplane View of Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania 542 

Map Showing Washington Crossing and Other Historic Places in Bucks 
County 544 



THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

Organized November 20. 1880 
Incorporated February 23, 1885 



OFFICERS 

For year ending May, 1933 

President 
B. F. Fackenthal, Jr., Sc. D., LL. D. 

Vice-Presidents 
Col. Henry D. Paxson 
^J. Herman Barnsley 

Directors 

Col. Henry D. Paxson Holicong, Pa. 

ij. Herman Barnsley Newtown, Pa. 

Mrs. Henry J. Shoemaker Doylestown, Pa. 

(Term expires May, 1933) 

Matthias H. Hall Princeton, N. J. 

John H. Ruckman Doylestown, Pa. 

^Mrs. Richard Watson Doylestown, Pa. 

(Term expires May, 1934) 

Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr Riegelsville, Pa. 

Warren S. Ely Doylestown, Pa. 

Mrs. E. Y. Barnes Yardley, Pa. 

(Term expires May, 1935) 

Curator Librarian 

Horace M. Mann Warren S. Ely 

Treasurer and Secretary 
Horace M. Mann 



1 Mr. Barnsley passed away at his home in Newtown, Pa., May 25, 1932. 

2 Mrs. Richard Watson passed away June 3, 1932. 



CHANGES IN BY-LAWS AND PERSONNEL OF OFFICERS 



Presidents 

Gen. W. W. H. Davis 1880 to 1910 

Dr. Henry C. Mercer 1911 to 1930 

Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr Since May 3, 1930 

Vice-Presidents 

John S. Williams Jan. 15, 1901, to Aug. 21, 1920 

Dr. Henry C. Mercer Jan. 21, 1908, to Jan. 17, 1911 

Joseph B. Walter, M. D Jan. 17, 1911, to Aug. 18, 1917 

Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr Jan. 18, 1910, to May 3, 1930 

Col. Henry D. Paxson Since Jan. 15, 1921 

*J. Herman Barnsley Since May 2, 1931 

Directors 

The following changes have been made in the personnel of the Board of 
Directors since the publication of Volume V: 

Matthias H. Hall, Jan. 15, 1927, to succeed 

Grier Scheetz, who died Oct. 6, 1926 

Hon. Harman Yerkes, Jan. 15, 1927, to succeed 

Mrs. Harman Yerkes, resigned ' 

John H. Ruckman, Jan. 19, 1929, to succeed 

Hon. Harman Yerkes, who died March 1, 1928 

Mrs. Henry J. Shoemaker, May 3, 1930, to succeed 

Dr. Henry C. Mercer, who died March 9, 1930 



For Charter, Constitution and By-Laws see Volume I 

AMENDMENTS TO BY-LAWS 

Annual Meetings — At the Doylestown meeting, January 19, 1918, the 
time for holding the annual meetings was changed, first from the third Tues- 
day in January to the third Saturday in January, and second, at the Doyles- 
town meeting, January 19, 1929, it was again changed to the first Saturday 
in May. 

Life Memberships — At the Doylestown meeting. May 7, 1932, the by- 
laws were amended fixing the Life Membership dues at $25. 

The initiation fee remains at $2, and the annual dues at $1. 



Mr. Barnsley passed away at his home in Newtown, Pa., May 25. 1932. 




EDWARD HICKS 

From photograph of original portrait, painted about 1838, by Thomas Hicks (1823-1890), a 

cousin and student of Edward Hicks, the work done by Tliomas Hicks wlien a boy about fifteen 

years old; the paint used being coach-painter's materials. Portrait, now 1932, in the possession 

of Sarah Hicks, of Newtown, Bucks County, Pa. 



Edward Hicks and His Paintings 

By henry D. PAXSON, Jr., PHILADELPHIA 
(Newtown, Pa., Meeting. June 3. 1922) 

IN addition to a book of Memoirs published in 1851* several 
interesting papers' which can be found in the vohmies of this 
Society have been written on Edward Hicks. They form an 
excellent biographical sketch of his life at the same time dwelling 
largely upon his religious work. But his life as an artist, or 
rather his artistic side, has been overlooked. It is from this 
standpoint that Doctor Mercer has asked me to write upon him. 
As our meeting is held today in the same town where Edward 
Hicks made his home, held here in the very room in which he so 
often gave forth his interpretations of the Gospel, here but a 
few feet from the spot where his remains lie buried, I think 
that it is with a certain appropriateness that I now present to 
you what I have gleaned with regard to "Edward Hicks and His 
Paintings." 

Before we can describe the art of Edward Hicks, it is first 
necessary to obtain some idea of his technical knowledge, methods, 
and of the materials which he used. Technic, which is the 
background, the very foundation (you might call it) on which 
an artist builds up his work, is at once lacking in both his hand 
and eye. Bad proportions, false perspective and crude shading 
effects readily present themselves to the overkeen perception 
of the art connoisseur or critic. It is evident that his technic 
was self-taught. Further, we know that whatever talent he 
possessed, he had developed himself, without the guidance 
of an instructor, without the aid of a school, without even the 
opportunity of studying the works of the old masters. Indeed, 
such circumstances immediately mark his work both unifiue 
and interesting from a standpoint of art. 

1 Memoirs of the Life and Religious Labors of Edward Hicks, late of 
Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, written bv himself, Philadelphia: 
185L 

- (a) Paper by Dr. Lettie A. Smith, of Newtown, Pa., read at a meeting 
of the Bucks County Historical Society, held at Solehury Meeting House, 
November 18, 1884, Bucks County Historical Papers, X'olume I, page 217. 

(b) Paper by Hannah E. Holcomb, of Xewtown, Pa., read at a meeting 
of the Bucks County Historical Society held at Ambler Park, June 10, 1886, 
Bucks County Historical Papers, Volume I, page 385. 



2 EDWARD HICKS AND HIS PAINTINGS 

As to his materials, and purely mechanical necessities of 
painting, much can be said. The canvas on which he painted 
was of an ordinary and heavy character as he was not always 
able to obtain the finer and more expensive materials used by 
artists. This was stretched on strong frames that are generally 
two feet in height and two and one-half feet in length. It has 
preserved itself well and has not lost much of its elasticity. 
His colors are most striking and worthy of much praise. These 
he mixed with linseed oil and ground himself with a mortar and 
pestle which is still in the possession of his farrily. The remark- 
able feature about his paintings is that after three-quarters of a 
century they have not lost much of their tone and have but in 
very few cases cracked. 

To describe his art now is an easy task. Truly it is only 
genius that can combine poor technical ability, lack of study, 
and inferior materials and produce paintings such as he has pro- 
duced. He who regards them cannot help being deeply impressed 
by their sincerity, the consciousness of an artistic sense although 
not fully developed, and the extreme originality that so charac- 
terizes all his works. 

As the dominant note of Edward Hicks' life was religion, 
it is not odd that his paintings have been greatly influenced in 
this line. Five of all those that have been unearthed and 
photographed are of a profound religious character. Each one 
bears the inscription, "The Peaceable Kingdom." In them he 
has presented animals such as the leopard, the tiger and the 
wolf lying peacefully beside the lamb and bullock. He shows a 
lion and ox eating straw from a common pile and even puts in a 
little child playing unharmed at the hole of the asp. But he 
has, in the midst of this Biblical picture which is the theme of 
the passage in the Book of Isaiah, "The wolf also shall dwell 
with the lamb and the lion" chosen to introduce in the back- 
ground Indians, Quakers, old English boats as well as American 
scenery. Such an anachronism at once incites curiosity and 
criticism. It is difficult to form a good conjectural opinion as 
to just what the artist had in mind when he did this, but I think 
that he meant to express with the landing of our forefathers a 
harmony in all life and nature. His other paintings which have 
not been influenced by his religious character bear a marked 
resemblance to those of which I have just spoken. The idea 



EDWARD HICKS AND HIS PAINTINGS 3 

of the white man treating with the Indian has been carried out 
in his painting, "Penn's Treaty with the Indians," which is 
without exception his best known work, and his "Signing of the 
Declaration of Independence" is but a further thought on this 
same motive. His choice of subjects may be said to be good 
as they mostly represent well-known historical incidents and 
have done their part in making his works interesting. 

The role that painting played throughout the latter part of 
his life was a most important one. He had, in his youth, when 
he was thrown upon his own resources, served as an apprentice 
in coachmakers' shops but when in later life he devoted himself 
to the spreading of the Gospel he was forced to give up this 
employment. He attempted farming and broommaking but 
was unsuccessful at both of these occupations. It was then 
that he resorted to his painting in order that he might meet the 
pecuniary necessities of life. He painted signboards, fireboards. 
and hotel signs. Some of his canvases he took to Philadelphia 
where he sold them to families for fifty dollars apiece. Three 
of these I have found in the houses of old Philadelphians. 

Much of the latter part of his life he spent at his easel. But a 
few paces from his home in Newtown was a little shop which 
he had converted into a small studio. To this he made daily 
journeys and it was there that his cousin, Thomas Hicks, painted 
his portrait sitting by that easel at which he had for so many 
years endeavored to support his family. There he toiled until 
the day before his death in August, 1849. 

The little shop stood for many years with its things just as 
its owner had left them, and would have been standing so today 
had it not been recently destroyed by fire. 

In conclusion, I would like to say that part of ni>- work has 
consisted in locating and cataloguing all of the known paintings 
of Edward Hicks. Thus far, the list includes about twenty. 
In this work I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to many 
residents of Newtown through whose kindness I have been able 
to obtain photographs of these pictures and especially to Sarah 
Hicks who has given much valuable information and has arranged 
to have this portrait of Edward Hicks here toda>-. 

The portrait was painted about 1P40 by Thomas Hicks who 
V as a cousin of Edward Hicks. It shows the artist at his easel 



4 EDWARD HICKS AND HIS PAINTINGS 

on which rests a "Peaceable Kingdom," one of his favorite 
themes. 

As an example of the "Peaceable Kingdoms," the picture 
which I now exhibit, belongs to my father, and to those of you 
who have nev^er seen one of Edward Hicks' paintings, will serve 
to visualize that which I have endeavored to describe. 




Ell 






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„ 1- tS 

111 

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Turpent:<ne Gathering in North Carolina 

By dr. WILLIAM S. ERDMAN. BrCKINGHAM, l\\. 
(Doylestowii MectiiiK, January 1<». 1<)>4) 

RECENTLY while traveling in the southern states. I made 
inquiry in North Carolina in reference to the primitive 
and present methods used for tapping long leaf yelhnv 
pine trees {Pimus sustralis, P. palustris), also of the tools for 
gathering the sap or gum turpentine for distillation into turpen- 
tine. I also obtained tools used in making barrels and other 
cylindrical containers. North Carolina produces more tur- 
pentine than any other of the southern states. 

After preparing a paper, somewhat in detail, on this industry 
to read before this society, I learned that the late Charles R. 
Nightingale had read a very able and somewhat exhaustive 
paper before our society on the same subject, and that his paper 
had been printed in Volume IV, at page 388, of our proceedings. 
But inasmuch as my name appears on your program for today, I 
decided not to read my paper in full, but merely to refer to it, 
and exhibit the tools which I obtained, and endeavor to explain 
their uses. 

The first tool (exhibiting tool) used is called a "hack"; this 
is for removing the outside bark to a width of about one foot. 
Following that tool a specially 
designed axe is used to cut a 
"box" at the base for the sap 
to run into. This short-handled 
"puller" is used to remove as 
much of the remaining bark as 
the operator can reach, and if a 
removal of the bark for a greater 
distance is desired a long-handled 
"puller" is used. 

The first tapping of a young 
tree is known as virgin sap. This 
is collected six to eight times 
during the first year, and four or 
five times the second year. The 
gum is collected by means of a turpkntine sap bucket 




TURPEXTIXE GATHERIXG IX XORTH CAROLINA 

so-called "dipper." By means of this tool (exhibiting tool) 
the gum is chipped out of the boxes and deposited in buckets. 
They begin tapping trees when they reach the age of 20 to 30 
years, and will produce from six to twelve gallons the first year, 
after that the production both in quantity and quality decreases 
as the tree ages. After the first year the gum is known as 
"yellow dip." 

One man can chip eight to ten thousand boxes (not trees) 
in one season, which lasts from April to September inclusive. 

The chief by-product is rosin. Some years ago this was of 
so little value that it was often discarded as waste, but during 
the World War there was a great demand for it and large quan- 
tities were reclaimed and sold. Of late years turpentine is also 
distilled out of sawdust and ofifal wood from the sawmills. 

I now take pleasure in presenting these tools to our society. 




TURPENTINE TOOLS 

A. Hack for removing the bark or scoring the trees. 

B. Box axe for cutting deep notches or boxes in the trunk of the tree to catch the dripping 
.p. 

C. Dipper, a flat spade-like tool, for scraping the gum out of the box into bucket. 

D. Puller used also for removing the bark or scoring the tree higher up than can be reached 
ith the hack. Handle, 9 to \4^ 2 feet long. 

E. Scraper for scraping off the drying gum. Handle. 6 feet long. 




INDIAN WALK LTTNCIIKON PLACK MARKER 

SpriiiRfield Townslii]), Bucks County, al)()iit a mile soiitliwost of SiiriiiKtown on tlio road 

leading via Loitlisvillo and Ilellertown to Betldelicm. Witli Indian Cliief Strong Wolf, an 

impressive orator who made an address at tlie unveiling, October 23, 1925, and who passed 

around the "Pipe of Peace," which was smoked b>' all oti the platform. 



The Indian Walking Purchase of September 1 9 and 20, 1737, and 

the Lunching Place of the Walkers at Noon on the 

First Day of the Walk 

ADDRESS BY DR. B. F. FACKENTHAL, Jr., RIEGELS\-ILLE, FFNXSVLVAXIA 
OCTOBER 23, 1^*25 

(At tlie unvi-iliiiK of a nioiuiment erected in Springfield Tdwiislii]). Bucks ("i)unt\-, 
Pennsylvania.*) 

Mr. Chairman, Local Committee, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

(Then addressing Chief Joseph Strong Wolf, an Ojibvvay Indian, who 
occupied a seat on the platform.) 

AND special greetings to you. Chief Strong Wolf, who have 
honored us by your presence here today, as a representa- 
tive of the original people of America. From the view- 
point of Christians, the second greatest event in the history of 
the world, was the discovery of America by Columbus. When 
the white man came here all these broad acres, with mountains 
and streams, belonged to your people. The country was then a 
primitive forest, but it was the character of land you loved, for 
it was indeed a free and untrammeled hunting ground. It was 
right that this condition should give way to civilization, but if 
you were a savage nation, that is an added reason why you 
should have been fairly and honorably dealt with. 

Archaeologists have found no reliable evidence of man ante- 
dating the glacial period. The terminal of the great northern 
ice glacier, which spread over this continent, was but a few miles 
north of here, and the location of this monument is therefore 
not within the limits of that area. 

The mountains which Marshall and his associates crossed 
between the location of this monument and the end of the walk, 
a short distance east of what is now Mauch Chunk, are part of 
the great Appalachian range, running northeast and southwest 
near the Atlantic Coast; call them by what name you will, 
whether the White Mountains or the Green Mountains of New- 
Hampshire and Vermont, or the Berkshires of Massachusetts, 

* This meeting was presided over by Hon. Henry W. Shoemaker, Chair- 
man of the Pennsylvania State Historical Commission, later U. S. Minister to 
Bulgaria. Addresses were also made bv V. S. Senator David A. Reed, Hon. 
William R. Coyle, Indian Chief Strong Wolf and Dr. Albert Cook Myers, 
Secretarv-Director of the Historical Commission. 



8 INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 

or the Adirondacks, Catskills or Shawangunks of New York, or 
the Alleghenies, Kittatinnies, Poconos or Blue Mountains of 
Pennsylvania, they all belong to the same series. The beautiful 
mountain which can be seen to the north of here, in all its autum- 
nal grandeur, is a spur of the South Mountain, one of the foot- 
hills of the Kittatinny range, over which the walkers traveled. 

Early Settlements on the Delaware River 

The Delaware River was discovered, August 28, 1609, by 
Captain Henry Hudson, an Englishman, under the patronage 
of the Dutch East India Company. He called it the Zuydt 
or South River. The Indian name was Makerisk-kiskon. Later 
the English named it Delaware, in honor of Lord De La Warr, 
Governor of Virginia, who supposed himself to have been its 
first European discoverer. In 1616, Captain Cornelius Jacob- 
son Mey, for whom Cape May was named, under the patron- 
age of the Dutch, ascended the river and built Fort Nassau at 
the mouth of Big Timber Creek, below the present city of Glou- 
cester, New Jersey. This was the first European settlement 
on the Delaware. During the same year, 1616, Captain Cor- 
nelius Hendrickson discovered the Schuylkill River, but it was 
not until 1623 that the Dutch West India Company of the 
United Netherlands (chartered 1622) took possession by right of 
discovery. Charles P. Keith, Esq., in his "Chronicles of Penn- 
sylvania" (page 8), says the Dutch bought "land in 1629 on the 
west side of Delaware Bay, and for a short time keeping a fort 
there, and even in 1633 erected a fort on the Schuylkill." General 
Davis, in his "History of Bucks County," (first edition, page 
19), says: "There is no doubt hanging over the fact that the 
Dutch were the first to settle in Bucks County." In 1657, the 
Dutch made a permanent settlement at New Amsel (New Castle, 
Delaware). The colony consisted of 108 Dutchmen, among 
them a schoolmaster, who soon had a school of twenty pupils. 
They had horses, cows, pigs, and goats. They made bricks and 
tiles, had gardens, raised rye and wheat and sent timber to 
Holland.' While it is an established and undisputed fact that 
the Dutch were the first to settle on the Delaware, twenty-two 

1 History of the People of the Netherlands, bv Professor Blok of Levden, 
Holland. 



THE FAMOUS 
NDIAN WALK 









)F A DAY AND A HALF 
fvlfWRIGHTSTOWN, BUCKS COUNTY 

neAr the present mauch chunk 

■t ms PERFORMED FOR 

!pENN PROPRIETORS OF PENNSYLVANf/ 

t. SEPTEMBER 19-2a 1737 

^;.^;- ^ BY 

J^ EDWARD MARSHALL 

^^AND his ASSOaAFES. 

VfcTHE OLD DURHAM ROAD AND 
IIlL-BEATEN INDIAN PATH 
lislOON OF THE FIRST DAY 
THEY AFE THEIR MEAL 
KMEADOW OF MARY WILSON 
-../DOW OF CEDRGE* WILSON 
'INDIAN TRADER AND INNKEEPER , 
SETTLED HERE ABOUT 1730 
mA 472. ACRE TRACT ' ' 
toNtTHIS BRANCH OF COOKS CREEK 
T SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 
tiCKSjCOUNTY 



RS OF BUCKS AND NOH 



BRONZE TABLET ON SPRINGFIELD WALKING PURCHASE MONUMENT 



INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OK SIvPTKMHEr ]t).20, ]7M 9 

years prior to the arrival of the Swedes, nevertheless, Swedish 
historians maintain that they came merely as traders, and that 
the first permanent settlement in what is now Pennsylvania, 
was by the Swedes, who made their first appearance under Peter 
Minuet in 1638, succeeded by Peter Hollandre in 1640, and then 
by Governor Johan Printz, who established the first permanent 
seat of government on Tinicum Island in 1643." Seventeen 
years later, in 1655, the Dutch drove out the Swedes, and nine 
years later, in 1664, the English under the Duke of York, during 
the reign of King Charles II, overawed the Dutch on Manhattan 
(now New York), obtaining a surrender of that region without 
shedding blood. As part of their conquest they then entered 
the Delaware River, but the Dutch garrison resisted their attack, 
therefore, on Sunday morning, October 1. 1664, their fort was 
attacked, killing three and wounding ten. The P^nglish then 
took full possession of all Delaware River territory. The history 
of the world repeating itself, the white man subduing the savages, 
the strong conquering the weak, the survival of the fittest, the 
progress of the world advancing with each succeeding conc|uest. 
The Dutch have left their imprint upon the territory of their 
occupancy by the retention of the names they gave to streams, 
as indicated by the ending of "kill." 

Pennsylvania Granted to William Penn 

Charles the Second, King of England, Scotland, France and 
Ireland, on March 12, 1664, granted to his brother James, Duke 
of York and Albany, Earl of Ulster, etc., afterwards King James 
II, "All of New England from the St. Croix to the Delaware." 
King Charles II, granted the Province of Pennsylvania to Wil- 
liam Penn, Esquire, by Royal Charter dated March 4, 1681. 
This grant was made to satisfy a claim of his father, Vice-Admiral. 
Sir William Penn, to whom the government had become indebted 
in the amount of £16,000. James, Duke of York, etc. (under 

- Dr. John Frederick Lewis, President of the Pennsylvania Historical 
Society, in his introduction to Amandus Johnson's book, "Instructions for 
John Printz," (page XV), in referring to the early occupation of lands on the 
Delaware by the Dutch says: "The Swedes had a far better title, because of 
the undoubted fact that theirs was the first permanent settlement upon the 
Delaware, not merely as a trading post, but a permanent occupation of the 
land." It is a fact, however, that all these early people were traders when 
opportunity arose. See also "Where Pennsylvania History Began," by Col. 
Henry D. Paxson. 



10 INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 

whom the Dutch had been dispossessed of all territory in America, 
on which they had settled), conveyed and confirmed the terri- 
tory embraced in the royal charter to William Penn, by two 
quitclaim deeds, bearing date August 21 and 24, 1682, giving 
him what they supposed was a clear title to his possessions. The 
so-called "three lower counties," Sussex, Kent and New Castle, 
comprising the entire State of Delaware, were included in the 
grant to William Penn, and by an act of Union passed December 
7, 1682, by the representatives of those counties they were 
annexed to the Province of Pennsylvania, and continued under 
the same government until July 4, 1776, when Delaware was 
declared a free and independent state. 

William Penn sailed from England by ship "Welcome" 
.September 1, 1682, and entered the Capes of the Delaware 
October 27th of that year, arriving at the town of New Castle 
on the following day, where he presented his deeds from the 
Duke of York and took formal possession of what is now the 
State of Delaware. The date of his arrival at Upland (later 
Chester) has been a matter of dispute, but most authorities 
say that it was on the following day, October 29, 1682. 

His newly acquired territory was so sparsely settled that he 
divided Pennsylvania into but three counties, Philadelphia, 
Chester and Bucks. All lands north and northwest of Phila- 
delphia County (Montgomery was then part of Philadelphia 
County) was included in Bucks, which was then an unbroken 
wilderness; in fact, so little was known of its limits that it was 
described as extending only to the Kittatinny Mountains. It 
included parts of what are now Potter, Tioga, Lycoming, Col- 
umbia and Schuylkill and all of Northampton, Monroe, Pike, 
Wayne, Lehigh, Carbon, Luzerne, Lackawanna, Wyoming, 
Sullivan, Bradford and Susquehanna Counties. These were 
part of Bucks down to 1752, when Northampton County was 
erected. All the land included within the zone of the Walking 
Purchase was, therefore, at the time of the walk, within the 
limits of Bucks County. 

Connecticut Claims 

It appears that King Charles II had made prior grants of 
land in America, which probably through ignorance, mistakes 
or greed, overlapped each other. Thus the grant to Massa- 



INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 17,^7 11 

chusetts, dated March 19, 1682, included a large area on the 
Susquehanna River in the State of New York. That contro- 
versy was settled without bloodshed by two land speculators, 
Phelps and Gorman, who, after purchasing the rights from the 
Indians, and therefore extinguishing their title to the soil, paid 
the State of Massachusetts 8750,000 to relinquish its claim to 
the disputed territory, whereupon it automatically became part 
of the State of New York. This was part of the "Lands of the 
Six Nations," where General John Sullivan so completely 
crushed the Indian uprising in 1779, starting his expedition 
from Easton, over a route now known as Sullivan's Trail. In 
like manner a grant to John Winthrop and his associates for the 
State of Connecticut, dated April 20, 1662, included not only 
what is now within that state, but all the lands west thereof; 
in other words, from sea to sea. This was twenty-one years 
prior to the royal charter to William Penn, and took in all of 
Pennsylvania, north of a line that would pass through the state 
about where the present towns of Stroudsburg and Clearfield 
are located, cutting off about 42,000,000 acres or nearly one- 
third of the state. In Ohio these Connecticut claims were known 
as the "Western Reserve." In 1670, John Winthrop, on behalf 
of Connecticut, took possession of the country north of the 
Delaware Water Gap, known as the Minisink country, and 
built a fort on the Delaware River. The Indians objected to 
any white settlements within their favorite hunting grounds, 
and soon drove them out. Later attempts to settle there ended 
with the sam'e result. It was not until 1768 that settlements 
were made by Pennsylvania in that disputed territory, which 
the Indians were not willing to concede because from their view- 
point, it was not honestly acquired. 

Pennamite Wars 

The contentions between Pennsylvania and Connecticut did 
not become acute until Connecticut attempted to make settle- 
ments in what is now Luzerne County, in the Wyoming Valley. 
This resulted in two separate wars, Avhich were carried on for 
six years, with the sacrifice of many lives. These are known 
in history as the "Pennamite \\'ars," in which the Indians took 
an active part, allying themselves with Connecticut. In 1782, 



12 INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 

after the close of the Revokitionary war, the controversy was 
left to arbitrators, who met at Trenton, New Jersey. While 
the arbitrators recognized the fact that Connecticut had the 
prior claim, a compromise was agreed upon by which some con- 
cessions were granted to Connecticut, and the decision rendered 
in favor of Pennsylvania. This settlement Avas thereafter known 
as the "Decree of Trenton." I mention these complications 
to show how an injustice to the Indians in 1737, was far-reaching, 
and led them many years later to ally themselves with Con- 
necticut in the Pennamite wars, as well as to show the unsettled 
condition of our frontier at that time. In like manner the 
Indians sided with the French in the French and Indian war 
of 1755-60, which can also be traced directly to the outrage 
done them by the dishonest Walking Purchase of 1737, and 
which in many other ways was far-reaching and retarded the 
development of our beloved Commonwealth. 

Indian Rights Purchased by William Penn 

In the grant to William Penn the rights of the aborigines to 
the soil were not mentioned, but it was part of Penn's plan to 
extinguish them by purchase. Prior to his arrival in America he 
enjoined upon his agent, William Markham, to deal justly and 
amicably by them, and during his lifetime his wishes were always 
respected. He, himself, always dealt fairly and honorably with 
them, and ever retained their friendship and good will. The 
consideration paid the Indians for their land was but trifling, 
even when the low values of those primitive times are considered, 
but there was always a bargain and sale between them, which was 
satisfactory to both, and no attempt was made to take any undue 
advantage of the Indians. 

The first purchase of land from the Indians was by deed dated 
July 15, 1682, prior to the arrival of William Penn, negotiated by 
his agent and kinsman, William Markham.- This embraced all 
the territory on the Delaware between the Falls of the Delaware 
and the mouth of Knowles Creek in Upper Makefield Township, 
thence westwardly along the base of Jericho Mountain to the 
Neshaminy Creek, thence down the Neshaminy to the Delaware 

-' For copy of this deed see Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, \'oI. I, 
page 47. See also 2 Smith's Laws, pp. 109, 110. 








TABLET ON MONUMENT AT "GREY STONES" 

Morrisville, Pa., to mark the starting place of William Penn's first purchase of land from the 

Indians, July 15, 1682. 

(Designed by Dr. Henry C. Mercer) 



INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 13 

River. The northern boundary intersecting the Durham road 
near where Wrightstown meeting-house now stands. This inter- 
section was in 1884, marked by a monument erected by the 
Bucks County Historical Society.* This first grant included all 
of the townships of Bristol, Falls, Middletown, Newtown and 
Lower Makefield, and parts of Upper Makefield and Wrightstown. 
The second purchase in Bucks County was made by William 
Penn in person by deed dated June 23, 1683, and was for land 
lying between the Neshaminy and Peapack Creeks, partly in 
Montgomery County. The part lying in Bucks County embraces 
the townships of Bensalem, Southampton, Northampton, War- 
minster and Warrington.^ In like manner all lands in Pennsyl- 
vania were purchased from the Indians. Surveys were generally 
made by the distance a man could travel within a given time. No 
one ever heard of serious complaints from the Indians for any 
injustice or unfair advantage having been taken in the measure- 
ments of land, other than that of the celebrated Walking Pur- 
chase of 1737, the only one that has any special historic sig- 
nificance. A treaty made in 1686 would have been during the 
lifetime of William Penn, who died in 1718. 

Many historians, including William J. Buck, incline to the 
belief that there was no deed executed in 1686. There are, 
however, evidences to show that there was a treaty, but the 
Indian? claimed that the original document had been altered; in 
fact, they called it a forgery; their grievance may have referred to 
its conditions and not to the fact of there not having been a 
treaty. It is certainly most unfortunate that that particular 
document should be the only one to become lost. My good 
friend, Albert Cook Myers, tells me that he has seen a copy 
of this Walking Purchase deed of 1686, but if the original docu- 
ment was altered, as claimed by the Indians, a copy would not 
reveal that condition, particularly in this instance in view of 
the serious charges of the aborigines against Thomas Penn. 

The Indians also objected to the Penns granting patents for 

4^ The deed for this grant refers to a path leading to the Indian town of 
Playwicky. The site of Playwicky, definitely located by Dr. Albert Cook 
Myers, is on the Van Artsdalen family farm in Southampton Township. On 
October 17, 1Q25, a monument was erected alongside the public road nearby 
indicating its location. (See Bucks County Historical Society, \'ol. \', pp. 
497 and 500.) 

■'' For copy of this second deed, see Pennsylvania Archives, F"irst Series, 
Vol. I, page 62. 



14 INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 

lands not included in any treaty, and in like manner the Penns 
objected to the Indians selling lands to the settlers. These 
conditions resulted in a parley to settle their disputes. The 
first conference was held in 1734 at Durham Iron Works, about 
three miles east of this monument, where the Penn representa- 
tives exhibited what they said was the original agreement of 
1686. An adjourned meeting was then held at Pennsbury, May 
5, 1735, and a final meeting at Philadelphia, August 25th, of 
that year, at which a new Walking Purchase agreement was 
entered into.*^ Among the Indians present at these treaties were 
two Indian Chiefs, Tishcohan and Lappawinsoe, whose portraits 
are shown herewith. If the original treaty was in existence at 
that time, why was it necessary to enter into a new contract? 
The walk was accordingly made, but it tended to increase the 
dissatisfaction of the Indians, who were imposed upon and out- 
witted, as they had no thought of parting with their lands beyond 
the Lehigh River, or that trial-walks had been made. 

All evidence indicates that there was a well-thought out and 
deliberate plan or scheme on the part of Thomas Penn and his 
associates, to take an unfair advantage of the savages. Pre- 
liminary trial-walks were secretly made to determine the best 
route, and to test out the qualities of the walkers. One trial- 
walk was around the western base of Haycock Mountain. That 
mountain, 965 feet high, is exceedingly rough and almost impossi- 
ble to cross over, forcing them to go around it. The route 
finally selected was around the eastern base, along which trees 
had been blazed. The trial-walkers, of whom Joseph Doane 
was one, started out on the first trial-walk, x\pril 22, 1735, during 
the very time that conferences were being held with the Indians. 
Nine days were taken for that trial-walk.' 

6 See 2 Smith's Laws, page 116, for copy of this new treaty; also 
Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, Vol. I, page 541. 

" James Steel, receiver general under Thomas Penn, wrote under date 
of April 25, 1735, to Timothy Smith, sheriff, as follows: 

"The Proprietaries are impatient to know what progress is made in travel- 
ing over the land that is to be settled by the ensuing treaty that is to be held 
with the Indians at Pennsbury on the fifth of next month, and therefore I 
now desire thee, without delay, to send down an account of what has been 
done in that affair." 

On the twenty-ninth of the same month (April) he again wrote to Sheriff 
Smith and Sur\eyor General John Chapman: 

"The Proprietaries are very much concerned that so much time hath been 
lost before you begin the work recommended so earnestly on your leaving 
Philadelphia, and it being so very short before the meeting at Pennsbury, the 




INDIAN CIllIiF TlSilCOlIAN 
(TEESHAKOMEN, TISHECUNK OR CAPTAIN 



lOHN) 



Livfd on Hokcndauqua Creek in Allen Township, Northampton CoinU\-. Pa. A Delaware 
Indian Chief present at the meetings held at Durham and Pennsbury in 17.U an<l 17.iS, and 
one of the twelve Indians who signed the treaty concluded at Philadelphia. August 25. 17.?7, 
preliminary to the Indian walk of September 19 and 20, 17.57. 

This and the portrait of Lapowinsa, both painted in 1735, are the onl\- known portraits o( 
the early Delaware Indians painted from life. Both are in the hall of the Pennsylvania His- 
torical Society at Pliiladelphia. 



indian walking purchase of september 19-20, 1737 15 

History of the Indian Walk 

The history of the walk has been told so often that I will not 
enter into its details, but will briefly say: That three walkers 
were finally selected, Edward Marshall, Solomon Jennings and 
James Veates. They started out at sunrise on the morning of 
September 19, 1737, in the presence of John Chapman, the sur- 
veyor general; Timothy Smith, the sheriff; two of his deputies 
and a number of other white men. Some of the party were on 
horseback. Three young Indians accompanied them to watch 
the proceedings. Placing their hands on the chestnut tree where 
the monument now stands near the Wrightstown meeting-house, 
they awaited for sunrise, and then started off at a given signal 
on their race to outwit the Indians. Jennings could not keep 
up the pace, fell by the v ayside during the forenoon at Red 
Hill, now Cttsville, 19^2 miles out from Wrightstown. Yeates 
took too much "toddy" and, acording to Marshall's account, 
fell into the Lehigh River (probably at Lehigh Gap, erroneously 
referred to as Tobyhanna Creek), on the second day of the walk, 
and retired from the race. Marshall alone was the only one 
with sufficient endurance to continue to the end, at an estirnated 
distance of 66 miles, to the north side of the Pocono Mountain, 
about three miles east of Mauch Chunk.^ The Indian watchers, 
appointed to accompany the walkers, left in disgust when they 
became aware of the intention to make the walk an endurance 
test, and grab their lands beyond the Lehigh River. What, 
therefore, must have been their chagrin when they discovered 
that the northern boundary, or head-line, was not to be direct 
to the Delaware River, at a point about where Stroudsburg non^ 
stands, but was to be run at a right angle, ending at Parker's 

5th, of next month, that they now desire that upon the return of Joseph 
Doane, he, together with two other persons who can travel well, should \e 
immediately sent on foot the day and a half journey, and two others on horse- 
back, to carry necessary pro\ isions for them on their return home. The 
time is now spent that not one moment is to be lost; and as soon as they have 
traveled the day and a half journey, the Proprietaries desire that a messenger 
may be sent to give them account without delay, how far that day and a half 
travel will reach up country." 

8 This total distance of 66 miles has not been verified. They traveled 
29.9 miles during the first half day, and if the distance of 66 miles is appro.xi- 
mately correct, it took them a full day to travel the remaining .S6.1 miles, 
which, owing to the mountainous and unbroken country, was the most difficult 
part of their undertaking, and moreover one becomes veary at the tail-end 
of such a strenuous journe\'. 



16 INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 

Glen, about five miles below the mouth of the Lackawaxen 
River, near Shoholo Creek, and thus taking in an additional 
750,000 acres of land, and with it their fertile lands in the Mini- 
sinks and their favorite hunting ground in the Poconos. That 
territory is today a favorite hunting ground for American sports- 
men, and moreover is one of the most popular playgrounds for 
summer^ vacationists. It took the Surveyor General four days 
to run out the line from the end of the walk to the Delaware 
River, a distance of about sixty miles.** 

I have said that some tracts of land, within the zone of the 
walking purchase, were settled upon and some patented prior 
to the walk. The Penns had granted many tracts throughout 
Pennsylvania to Chief Justice William Allen, including some 
in the neighborhood of Bethlehem and in the Minisinks. Keith, 
in his "Provincial Councillors" (page 141), quoting Judge Hus- 
ton, says: "I have heard more than once many years ago, that a 
distinguished barrister in London (referring to William Allen) 
furnished the money which finally paid off the mortgage (of 
£6,600) on the Province held by Henry Gouldney and his eight 
associates." Among other tracts granted were the "Manor of 
Chawton," at what is now Catasauqua, to John Page, September 
11, 1735; 2,000 acres, February 24, 1736, to Thomas Graeme: 
1.000 acres to James Hamilton; 1,000 acres to Patrick Greeme; 
2,000 acres to James Bingham, and the Simpson tract at South 
Bethlehem. In fact, William Penn, personally, executed deeds 
for lands in Bucks County before the Indian titles were extin- 
guished; one of these was to Shadrach W^alley for 250 acres 
located near Newtown, bearing date March 22, 1681, sixteen 
days after the execution of the grant from King Charles II. 
The warranty recited in this deed protects the purchaser "from 
all manner of Titles, Claymes of any Indian or Native of the 
said Tract or province." 

In a letter dated March 26, 1741, from the Delaware Indians 
to James Logan and Jeremiah Langhorne, both large owners 
in the Durham Iron Company, they complain that "about one 
hundred families of whites settled on their lands which they 
say Thomas Penn had sold to them," stating that "All this is 
our land except some tracts we have disposed of. The tract 

^ See Surveyor John Watson's "Narrative of the Indian Walk," Hazard's 
Register, V^ol. \\, page 209. 




INDIAN CHIEF LAPOWINSA 

A Dclawart' Indian Chief and Orator. Present at meetings held at Durliani and Peniisbury 
in 1734 and 17.VS, and one of the twelve Indians who signed the treaty concluded at Philadel- 
phia, August 25, 1737, preliminary to the Indian walk of September 19 and 20, 1737. 

This and the portrait of Chief Tishcohan, both painted in 173.S, are the only known portraits 
of the early Delaware Indians painted from life. The originals are in the hall of the Pennsyl- 
vania Historical Society at Philadelphia. 



INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 l7 

at Durham, the tract of Nicholas Depui, the tract of old (Casper) 
Weiser we have sold. But for the rest we have never sold, and 
we desire Thomas Penn w'ould take these people ofif from our 
land in peace, that we may not be at the trouble to drive them 
off.'"" 

It also appears that of the six tracts belonging to the Durham 
Iron Company, three of them lying in Durham Township, 
aggregating 6,410 acres, 123 perches, and covering the entire 
township, were released by the Indians before they were entered 
upon.'^ One of these was granted to John Striepers, March 9-10, 
1682, taken over by James Logan, January 17-18, 1725, and 
patented to him. May 3, 1727; another was patented to Jeremiah 
Langhorne and John Chapman, September 8, 1717, and the 
other was jaart of a grant to the Free Society of Traders, and 
patented to Jeremiah Langhorne.'' 

The early settlement in Durham, the earliest in northern 
Bucks County, was due to the discovery of iron ore in the Dur- 
ham hills, where James Logan, William Allen, Jeremiah Lang- 
horne, Anthony Morris, William Bradford and their seven asso- 
ciates established the Durham Iron Works, starting the blast 
furnace in 1727. Their early shipments of iron, stoves and 
other castings were made by w^ater dowm the Delaware River by 
Durham boats, which was the only mode of transportation until 
the Durham road was extended to the iron works. The Durham 
road, which ran out of Philadelphia to Bristol, was begun in 
1693; in 1697 it was extended from Bristol, via Langhorne and 
Newtown to Wrightstown; in 1732, via Pineville and Bucking- 
ham to the ford at Tohickon Creek, and from there to Durham 
Iron W^orks in 1745. ^'^ Although the extension to Durham was 
not authorized by the Court of Quarter Sessions, and not officially 
opened until 1745, it is clearly shown that there was a passable 
road there in 1737, because Edw^ard Marshall, the walker, stated 

10 From Logan manuscript in possession of Pennsylvania Historical 
Society. See also Buck's History of the Indian Walk, page 490, and History 
of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, page 29. 

11 History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, page 29. 

1- The real estate owned by the Durham Iron Company consisted of six 
tracts, aggregating 8,511 acres, 100 perches, three as above stated in Durham 
Township; one in Springfield Township; one partly in Springfield, Lower 
Saucon and Williams Townships and the other in Williams Township. 

1-' The Durham road was extended from Durham to South Easton in 1755. 
Now referred to as the "Old Philadelphia Road." 



18 INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 

that they traveled over the Durham road from Wrightstown to 
Gallows Hill. The walkers left the Durham road at Gallows 
Hill, where it bears to the right/^ From Gallows Hill, where 
the Three Tuns tavern stands, they turned slightly to the left 
or north, and then followed a well-beaten path, marked by 
blazed trees, winding its way through the valleys, between 
high hills, crossing the main branch of Durham Creek, to the 
site of this monument. A public road now occupies the loca- 
tion of the Indian path or trail. The distance from Wrights- 
town, as measured by an automobile speedometer, to Gallows 
Hill is 24.3 miles and from there to this branch of Cook's Creek, 
where they ate their midday meal, is 5.6 miles, making 29.9 
miles traveled during the forenoon of September 19, 1737.^^ 
From the site of this (Springfield) monument they followed over a 
trail, now a state road, leading through Leithsville and Heller- 
town, to the Saucon Creek, which they forded, thence to the 
Lehigh River, where at Jones' Island (marked on old maps as 
Ysselstein's Island), about one mile below the present Market 
Street bridge, Bethlehem, they crossed over, thence through 
the present city of Bethlehem, crossing the Monocacy Creek, 
thence to what is now the borough of Northampton, where at 
the eastern approach to the bridge over the Hokendauqua Creek, 
on the concrete road from Bath, a Walking Purchase monument 
was dedicated September 20, 1925, on the anniversary of the 
very day the walkers passed through, thence along the Hoken- 

14 At Gallows Hill, sometimes called Stony Point, where in the forks of 
the road the Three Tuns Inn stands, a walking purchase monument was 
unveiled November 21, 1925, to mark the point where the walkers left the 
Durham road. The address on that occasion was made by Warren S. Ely, 
who took for his subject, "The Three Tuns Inn, Gallows Hill and the Indian 
Walk," making a total of five monuments, including the one at Wrightstown, 
erected on the line of the famous Indian Walk. 

15 A detail of the distances between Wrightstown and W'idow Wilson, as 
measured by an automobile speedometer, is as follows: To Pineville, 2.4 
miles; Pineville to General Green Inn at Buckingham, 4.0 miles; Buckingham 
to Mechanicsville, 1.8 miles; Mechanicsville to Gardenville, 2.7 miles; Garden- 
ville to Hinkletown, 2.5 miles; Hinkletown to Pipersville, 1.9 miles; Pipers- 
ville to Tohickon Creek, 1.5 miles; Tohickon Creek to Red Hill Church, 1.8 
miles; Red Hill Church to the old abandoned Ottsville tavern, 0.9 miles; 
Ottsville tavern to Harrow, 1.2 miles; Harrow to Gallows Hill, 3.6 miles; 
Gallows to Bursonville, 1.0 miles; Bursonville to the Galbraith-Fackenthal 
farm, 1.0 mile; from there to the crossing of the main stream of Durham 
Creek, 1.5 miles; from Durham Creek to Weamer's house, 1.2 miles; Weamer's 
to Schoolhouse at forks of state road, 0.5 miles, and from there to the monu- 
ment on branch of Cook's Creek, near where Widow Wilson's road house stood, 
0.4 miles. Total distance, 29.9 miles. 




LENNI LENAPE INDIAN MONUMENT. WRIGHTSTOWN, PA. 

Occupies the site of tlie chestnut tree from wliieli the walkers started at sur 
Septemlier 19, I7.n. 



^"^^AHUtHT OWNERS 01^ Vh^^ ^^J^^A;^. 
TH^STARrma POINT OF THE 

^^iNDlAH WALK'' 



INSCRIPTION ON LENNI LENAPE INDIAN MONUMENT 



INDIAN' WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 19 

dauqua Creek to Edelman's gristmill, near Kreidersvnlle, in 
Allen Township, on the old road from Bethlehem to Mauch 
Chunk, where a Walking Purchase monument was unveiled 
September 19, 1925, thence through the Lehigh Gap, to the end 
of the walk on the mountain, about three miles east of Mauch 
Chunk. The locations of both of these monuments are indi- 
cated on the map accompanying this paper. 

Location of Wilson Settlement 

To my brother, William Fackenthal, Esq., of the Northamp- 
ton County bar, must be given the credit of correctly locating 
the Wilson Settlement, who, in his efforts to locate the home- 
stead of our ancestor, Philip Fackenthal, who arrived in America 
from the Palatinate in 1742, discovered that it w^as the tract 
in Springfield Township, patented to James Galbraith.^'' It is 
the farm lying one mile west of Bursonville, now known as the 
"Fairview Farm." The original survey of that property describes 
it as "Situate on both sides of a path which leads from Peter 
Lester's house to the Durham road." Reversing the route, 
in the direction the walkers traveled, this path started at Gallows 
Hill on the Durham road, passing through lands later patented 
to William Ware (on which tract at the intersection of the 
Durham road the Gallows Hill monument is erected), thence 
over the tracts patented to Robert Ware, Thomas Blair, Gal- 
braith-Fackenthal tract, Peter Ruth, Nicholas Hess, John Lester, 
where the Durham Creek was crossed, thence over the Peter 
Lester tract, part of which is now owned by Hon. William H. 
Weamer. They entered the Wilson settlement at its south- 
eastern corner, passing through to its western boundary, where on 
this branch of Cook's Creek, or as now called Durham Creek, 
where we are assembled today, this monument is erected; and 
here the walkers stopped for their noonday meal, September 19, 
1737. It is in Springfield Township, within half-a-mile of the 
Bucks-Northampton County line. A map of the route through 
the windings of the hills from Gallows Hill is shown herewith. 
The evidence is conclusive without cavil or contradiction that 
this is the Wilson Settlement, and that this is the branch of 

16 To James Galbraith by warrant October 2, 1739, survey November 1, 
1740, patent April 11, 1749, recorded at Harrisburg in Patent Book "A," \'ol. 
XIII, page 242, etc. Purchased by Philip Fackenthal, May 19, 175o. 



20 INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 

Cook's Creek, where the walkers rested and ate their noonday 
meal. The records at Doylestown show that both George Wilson 
and his wife, Mary, were reported for keeping a disorderly house, 
and were accordingly fined. 

In describing properties by metes and bounds at that early 
day, in this territory, the surveyors generally tied their surveys 
to the Durham road or to the Durham furnace tract. The 
tract on which this monument stands is part of a 472-acre tract 
settled upon by George Wilson, an Indian trader and a tavern 
keeper, who took squatter possession in 1730. In 1738, when 
the tract was surveyed to his widow, Mary Wilson, it was 
described as being "situate on a branch of Cook's Creek, near 
Durham." 

My brother, William Fackenthal, Esq., in a paper read 
before the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical 
Society, after speaking of original titles, and describing in detail 
the requirements necessary to acquire and patent lands in Penn- 
sylvania, has this to say about the George Wilson settlement: 

"Occupancy of public land, however, was not always by 
application, warrant and survey, but any one wishing to settle 
upon unoccupied land took possession of it, made it his home, 
and improved it by building and cultivation, or either. The 
tracts so settled upon were called 'settlements' or 'improvements,' 
and the person so settling upon public land had a good title to 
it against every one except the Penns. So good was the settler's 
title that his right to a warrant, survey, and patent was para- 
mount. These settlement-rights were frequently sold and on 
the death of the settler, passed by will or under the intestate 
laws, the same as other property, and such a settlement was the 
George Wilson settlement in the days of the Indian walk." 

On the death of George Wilson his settlement passed to his 
wddow, Mary Wilson, who, on November 10, 1737, within two 
months after the walk, was granted a warrant for the tract. It 
w-as surveyed to her, May 31, 1738, after \\ hich she transferred 
her right to John Briggs, to whom a patent was issued December 
26, 1741. '' 

There has never been any controversy or dif erence of opinion 
as to the fact that the walkers stopped at noon the first day and 

17 Recorded at Harrisburg in Patent Book, "A," Vol. IX, page 525, etc., 
under date of December 26, 1741, 




FIVE CHESTNUT OAKSAT THE €N0/ 
OF TMC BAYANW A H A\.f WALK / 
ON VKMICM ARtCUT TME. 
PROPRIETARIES HAMCS AKW THE 
tEA«. I7»7' 




AMAP OF TH 

or 
BUCKS 

RELEASEia aV THE INtSI* 
PEN5ILVANA IN SEPTEMB 
A4REEMCMT MABE WITt 
EXTENT or A MAN'S VVAI 
FROM THENCE BY ^ R1& 



20 INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 

Cook's Creek, where the walkers rested and ate their noonday 
meal. The records at Doylestown show that both George Wilson 
and his wife, Mary, were reported for keeping a disorderly house, 
and were accordingly fined. 

In describing properties by metes and bounds at that early 
day, in this territory, the surveyors generally tied their surveys 
to the Durham road or to the Durham furnace tract. The 
tract on which this monument stands is part of a 472-acre tract 
settled upon by George Wilson, an Indian trader and a tavern 
keeper, who took squatter possession in 1730. In 1738, when 
the tract was surveyed to his widow, Mary Wilson, it was 
described as being "situate on a branch of Cook's Creek, near 
Durham." 

My brother, William Fackenthal, Esq., in a paper read 
before the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical 
Society, after speaking of original titles, and describing in detail 
the requirements necessary to acquire and patent lands in Penn- 
sylvania, has this to say about the George Wilson settlement: 

"Occupancy of public land, however, was not always by 
application, Avarrant and survey, but any one wishing to settle 
upon unoccupied land took possession of it, made it his home, 
and improved it by building and cultivation, or either. The 
tracts so settled upon were called 'settlements' or 'improvements,' 
and the person so settling upon public land had a good title to 
it against every one except the Penns. So good was the settler's 
title that his right to a warrant, survey, and patent was para- 
mount. These settlement-rights were frequently sold and on 
the death of the settler, passed by Avill or under the intestate 
laws, the same as other property, and such a settlement was the 
George Wilson settlement in the days of the Indian walk." 

On the death of George Wilson his settlement passed to his 
widow, Mary Wilson, who, on November 10, 1737, within two 
months after the walk, was granted a warrant for the tract. It 
was surveyed to her, May 31, 1738, after \\hich she transferred 
her right to John Briggs, to whom a patent was issued December 
26, 1741.'' 

There has never been an\' controversy or dif erence of opinion 
as to the fact that the walkers stopped at noon the first day and 

1'' Recorded at Harrishurg in Patent Book, "A," \'ol. IX, page 525, etc., 
under date of December 26, 1741. 



"IVE CHESTNUT 



rtSUT OAKSATTHE. ZHO/T/^ 







X f,^ ■ ^'^'^ ^^ WEST 

^-/ ^^F"*"" JL.-"^ NEW JERSEY. 



AMAP or THATPAKT 

or '^. 

BUCKS county: 




3i£^ 



4 



INDIAN WALK1N(; PURCHASE OF SKl'Ti;.M I'.ICK 19-20, 17.^7 21 

ate their meal at the inn of Mary Wilson at the Wilson Settle- 
ment, but various theories have been advanced or guessed at as 
to the location of that settlement. Cjcneral Davis placed it in 
the meadow near Durham furnace; the Funk family tradition is 
that it was in the meadow now belonging to my friend, Hon. 
Henry S. Funk, at East Springtown, about two miles east of 
here; William J. Buck, Charles Laubach, Dr. J.I. Cawley and 
most other local historians have always followed the Funk 
tradition. Examinations of titles to many properties in that 
neighborhood, however, show that the Funk property is part of a 
6vSl-acre tract patented to Casper Wister, November 7, 1736, 
being part of the lands embraced in the Penn lottery scheme. 
The chain of title is complete and has been traced down through 
the Twinings to the Funks and all present owners, and at no 
time was any part of it occupied by the Wilsons. This Casper 
Wister tract is one of those to which I have referred as having 
been patented by the Penns prior to the extinguishment of the 
Indian title by the walking purchase. In the Wister survey the 
Wilson Settlement is described as its adjoinder on the west for a 
distance of 157 perches. 

The property at Wrightstown, where the walkers started, 
was acquired in 1884 by the Bucks County Historical Society, 
whereon it erected a monument dedicated to the Lenni Lenape 
Indians. The Durham road is comparatively straight to Gal- 
lows Hill, where the walkers turned slightly to the left or north, 
following an Indian path or trail, leaving the present BursonviUe 
to the right, thence through the windings of the valleys, 5.6 
miles from Gallows Hill to yonder branch of Cook's Creek, where 
they were entertained at Widow Wilson's road house. Most 
authorities say that it took them but fifteen minutes to eat, 
indicating that Widow Wilson had the meal prepared and ready 
for them, and no doubt their "grog" too. The fifteen minutes 
lost in resting and eating were made up by their continuing to 
walk on that day fifteen minutes after sunset. 

This monument is not erected to glorify the Indian Walk, as 
all true Americans should blush with shame for the injustice done 
the untutored Indians by the civilized white men. It is placed 
here simply as an historical marker to indicate the route of the 
walk. 

The red men never forgave the English people for the -wrong 



22 INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 






^HHs 



done them. They resented it at every opportunity, and many 
of the Indian massacres of after years can be traced to their 
grievance. In 1755, three years after Northampton County was 
erected, and within the bounds of the walking purchase, upwards 
of fifty persons had been killed by the Indians, and many homes 
throughout the county were burned. In their revenge they 
drove every family out of the county for fifty miles above Easton, 
sparing only five friendly families at Depuys', now Shawnee, 
which had been settled mostly by people emigrating via Esopus, 
now Kingston on the Hudson River. Edward Marshall, the 
hero of the walk, was a native of Bustleton, Philadelphia County. 
At the time of the walk he lived on his farm in Tinicum Town- 
ship, moving to Mount Bethel Township, Northampton County, 
in 1752, where he made his home on Jacobus Creek, which 
empties into the Delaware at the borough of Portland. 

He was the special object of 
the Indians' hatred. During the 
latter part of 1755 he fled with 
his family to New Jersey, where 
they remained until the spring 
of 1757, when they moved back 
to their Northampton County 
home. During the latter part 
of May of that year, when he 
was on the mountain chopping 
wood, a band of sixteen Indians 
attacked his home, killing his 
wife (nee Elizabeth Oberfelt or 
Overfield) who was about to 
become a mother, and his eldest 
daughter, Catharine, aged about 
fourteen years. His eldest son, 
Peter, was killed later by a sec- 
ond attack of the Indians. Dur- 
ing the same year, 1757, his 
brother William bequeathed to 
him an unpatented island, containing 116 acres, 19 perches, in 
the Delaware River opposite the mouth of Tinicum Cre^k, in 



^EOWARD mAH?HAlL 




V. 



22 INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 



done them. They resented it at every opportunity, and many 
of the Indian massacres of after years can be traced to their 
grievance. In 1755, three years after Northampton County was 
erected, and within the bounds of the walking purchase, upwards 
of fifty persons had been killed by the Indians, and many homes 
throughout the county were burned. In their revenge they 
drove every family out of the county for fifty miles above Easton, 
sparing only five friendly families at Depuys', now Shawnee, 
which had been settled mostly by people emigrating via Esopus, 
now Kingston on the Hudson River. Edward Marshall, the 
hero of the walk, was a native of Bustleton, Philadelphia County. 
At the time of the walk he lived on his farm in Tinicum Town- 
ship, moving to Mount Bethel Township, Northampton County, 
in 1752, where he made his home on Jacobus Creek, which 
empties into the Delaware at the borough of Portland. 

He was the special object of 
r ^- the Indians' hatred. During the 

latter part of 1755 he fled with 
his family to New Jersey, where 
they remained until the spring 
of 1757, when they moved back 
to their Northampton County 
home. During the latter part 
of May of that year, when he 
was on the mountain chopping 
wood, a band of sixteen Indians 
attacked his home, killing his 
wife (nee Elizabeth Oberfelt or 
Overfield) who was about to 
become a mother, and his eldest 
daughter, Catharine, aged about 
fourteen years. His eldest son, 
Peter, was killed later by a sec- 
ond attack of the Indians. Dur- 
ing the same year, 1757, his 
brother William bequeathed to 
him an unpatented island, containing 116 acres, 19 perches, in 
the Delaware River opposite the mouth of Tinicum Cre^k, in 



EOWA 








KEY TO PATENTS ON 
INDIAN WALKING 



MAP OF THE 
PURCHASE 



18, 1808 P -61-454 

25, 182.1 H -21- 82 

2S, 1808 P -61-4S6 

!:. niiii AA-15-811 



id's i;;! 

86- m U 

SO-120 jni 

35-120 Ml 



.10, 180') P -61-279 

.10, 1809 P -60-193 

mr. 10,182.1 II -20-562 



20-Pliilip Trap 8.S-102 

,. „._,._^ Iron Co 178- 20 

I S7-l,"i7 



^"u,''^°'l, S^'pi 



li-SbBwr ■••■;:;: 


•■ ,55 


Otl. 18,' 1745 


A :i7-J55 


58- 40 




























H- 24^23 










00— l«.l„.rl ll,-n,lir.,Mii 




Nov. .10, 1751 
























Aljr. 11, 1749 
































kiuf^o 




68-Ja..,l, DiL-lil 
69 An.ln'v, ]'..„l,; 








r /m'?^?. 








AA-10-186 












196- 80 






73— Juliii lluulii.J..*,n 


158-40 


Mar. 13, 1744 




















76-Alexa„dcr McCammon. 




Aug, 11, 1763 





INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 23 

Bucks County, then known as Tinicum Island"^ where he hved 
over the remainder of his Hfe with his second wife, having in 
1758 married EHzabeth, daughter of Nicholas Weiser, of North- 
ampton County, then thirty years of age, whose father had been 
scalped by the Indians in 1755. 

Edward Marshall died intestate November 7, 1789, at the 
age of 79 years. He was the father of twenty-one children, 
fifteen of whom, six sons and nine daughters, with his wife sur- 
vived him. His body lies buried in the Marshall-Ridge-Cooper 
graveyard in Tinicum Township, near Erwinna, about three 
miles from his island home. 

This cemetery is located on a tract of 164 acres, 130 perches 
of land (part of the Strieper tract), w^hich Marshall purchased 
March 1, 1738, six months after the Indian Walk, and where he 
lived before moving to Northampton County. ^^ His grave is 
marked by a simple marble tombstone, which is fast going into 
decay. His widow, born in 1727, died October 12, 1807, aged 80 
years, is buried alongside of him in the same graveyard. His rifle, 
shown herewith, is in the museum of the Bucks County Historical 
Society at Doylestown, Pa. 

In conclusion, I will quote Keith, who, in his "Chronicles 
of Pennsylvania," pages 770 and 778, says: 

"The year (1737) witnessed the consummation of the great 
Walking Purchase, in accomplishing which Thomas Penn, the 
son of the man most celebrated for humane and honest treatment 
of the Indians, has been portrayed as hurrying white men to 
their death to deprive the red men of a vast territory. which had 
never been sold. * * *" 

"If, indeed, as the defenders of Thomas Penn have main- 
tained, he was merely enforcing a contract, he is still to be con- 
is Although Tinicum Island had been for many years in possession of the 
Marshall family, it was not until February 2, 1811, that a patent was issued 
to William and Martin Marshall, sons of Edward Marshall, the walker. 
(Recorded at Doylestown, Deed Book, No. 40, page 208.) After various 
ownerships it was, on Fel^ruary 25, 1901, purchased at Sheriff's sale by John J. 
Stover, who on December 5, 1919, conveyed it to the Young Men's Christian 
Association of Trenton, X. J., for the consideration of S5,000 (Deed Book, 
No. 421, page 527). This association changed its name to that of "Treasure 
Island." 

'•^ Edward Marshall says that the walker who endured to the end of a 
day and a half, was promised a warrant for 500 acres of land as a reward; but 
that Thomas Penn would not carry out his promise. This suggests, however, 
that this tract in Tinicum Township, conveyed to Marshall within six months 
after the walk, may have been a gift as part of his reward. 



24 INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 

denined as a man and a statesman. He was grasping a million 
more acres than the children of the forest were disposed to allow 
for some worn-out and forgotten coats and utensils; and it was 
a case of a blunder which was criminal, to arouse the passions 
of the savages against his people ; and has been recognized as the 
disgrace of the American colonies, and of the United States, 
that, when the Delawares finally demanded what they thought 
was justice, this land monopolist, instead of satisfying them, 
induced the Iroquois to overawe them." 

Cooper, the novelist, says: "An Indian never forgets a favor 
or forgives an injury." 

"Lo! the poor Indian! whose untutored mind, 
Sees God in clouds, or hears Him in the wind." 



MARSH.-XLL'S RIFLE 
?iim of Bucks County Historical Society 



24 INDIAN WALKING PURCHASE OF SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1737 

demned as a man and a statesman. He was grasping a million 
more acres than the children of the forest were disposed to allow 
for some worn-out and forgotten coats and utensils; and it was 
a case of a blunder which was criminal, to arouse the passions 
of the savages against his people ; and has been recognized as the 
disgrace of the American colonies, and of the United States, 
that, when the Delawares finally demanded what they thought 
was justice, this land monopolist, instead of satisfying them, 
induced the Iroquois to overawe them." 

Cooper, the novelist, says: "An Indian never forgets a favor 
or forgives an injury." 

"Lo! the poor Indian! whose untutored mind. 
Sees God in clouds, or hears Him in the -wind." 



MARSH.ALL'S RIFLE 
L'um of Bucks CouiU\- Historical Societ\ 



The Three Tuns Inn at Gallows Hill and the 
Old Durham Road 

ADDRESS BY WARREN S. ELY AT THE UN\'EIL1NG OF MONUMENT 
(Gallows Hill, SprinRfield Townsluji, Xovembt-r 21, 1V25) 

THE subject assigned to me for today's address is the Three 
Tuns Inn at Gallows Hill and the old Durham Road. I 
vividly recall that nearly thirty years ago, when I delivered 
an address before the Bucks County Historical Society at Wrights- 
town Meeting House, entitled "An Old Hostelry," a dear old 
Quaker lady, who was also on the program, seriously objected 
to an address being delivered in the Meeting House on a "grog 
shop," and having, during the address, stated that in the olden 
time much more attention was given to the selection of suitable 
men as landlords of our taverns, than at the present time, I got a 
severe call-down from the then presiding judge of the court, and 
inasmuch as the President Judge of Bucks County Courts is to 
follow me with an address, I am constrained to be a little more 
mild in my arraignment of the judiciary. I must say, however, 
that the lay-justices of the earlier courts exercised a wise discre- 
tion in selecting the proprietors of colonial inns, and that these 
early inns were located on the routes of travel through a thinly 
settled country. The inn was the first public gathering place 
on the routes of travel, where all classes could be refreshed on 
their journeys through a primitive wilderness, where news were 
disseminated, questions of the day discussed and measures taken 
for the advancement of the public interest. 

The other branches of my subject are likewise difficult to 
handle for the reason that I am asked to give a history of the 
public road known as the Durham Road at the time of the 
Indian walk in 1737, whereas the road had no official existence 
as a public road until seven years after the walk was performed, 
it having been laid out by a jury appointed by the Court of 
Quarter Sessions and returned to that court on the 13th day of 
March 1 744^/5 . However, it is clearly proven that there was a 
road here known as the Durham Road, because Edward Marshall, 
the walker, states that they traveled over the Durham Road to 
Gallows Hill, where thev turned to the left and then followed 



26 THREE TUNS INN AT GALLOWS HILL AND OLD DURHAM ROAD 

an Indian path. They therefore left the Durham Road at the 
point where this monument has been erected, and where this 
meeting is being held. It is also well authenticated that part 
of the products of the Durham furnace was hauled over this 
route to Philadelphia for a period ten years before the walk, 
showing that there was a well-established highway from the 
Tohickon Creek, to which point the road had been regularly 
laid out by authority of the Court of Quarter Sessions, but from 
here to the iron w^orks at Durham, the tradition says that it fol- 
lowed very closely the present route of the Durham Road. 

The Indl\n Walk— The story of the Indian Walk of 1737, 
was so ably told by Dr. Fackenthal at the dedication of the 
marker placed at the lunching place of the walkers in the Wilson 
meadow, near Springtown, on October 23, last, supplemented 
by his explanation of his chart this afternoon, showing the line 
of the walk and the county-line of Bucks in 1737, that it seems 
needless for me to add anything to that subject. 

Dr. Albert Cook Myers has again voiced his plea for our 
charity towards Thomas Penn and his associates in the matter 
of the mean advantage taken of the Indians, both in the matter 
of the walk and the drawing of the line from its termination near 
Mauch Chunk to the Delaware River, near the mouth of the 
Lackawaxen River. We heartily concur with him in the high 
tribute he pays to William Penn, the great founder of our Com- 
monw'ealth, and freely acknowledge that no censure can be 
ascribed to him in the matter of the unjust walk or the supposed 
treaty of 1686, but we cannot refrain from here emphasizing 
Dr. Fackenthal's condemnation of Thomas Penn and his asso- 
ciates for the manner in which the fair and honest treaty was 
perverted and distorted so as to secure title to a million acres of 
land never intended to be conveyed under that treaty. 

Gallows Hill — I have also been requested to discuss the 
origin of the names Gallows Hill and Gallows Hill Run and 
their history. The name seems to have been applied to the 
hill and stream at the time of the walk, and is perpetuated in 
the warrant of survey to William Ware, which embraced this 
site, in 1738. Jordan F. Stover in a paper read before the Buck- 
wampun Historical Society, on this subject, June 14, 1888, under 
the title of "Gallows," says that the name "was applied in con- 




GALLOWS HILL 

HERE 
EDWARD MARSHALL 

AND HIS ASSOCIATES 
OF THE FAMOUS INDIAN WALK. 
OF A DAY AND A HALF . 
SEPTEMBER 19-20. 1737 
:FT the OLD DURHAM ROA^^ 
.HE FIRST DAY AND FOLLOWED 
IE WELL-BEATEN INDIAN PAFH 
WHICH LED NORTHWESTERLY 
•HROUGH PRESENT HELLERTOWN. BETHLEHEM 
NORTHAMPTON AND THE LEHiGH GAP 

MARKED, BY . 

THE PEKiNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 
, AND CITIZENS OF BUCKS AND NORTHAMPTON COUNTIES 
1925 



TABLET ON 



NDIAN WALK MARKER AT GALLOWS HILL UNVEILED 
NOVEMBER 2), 1925 



THREE TUNS INN AT GALLOWS HILL AND OLD DURHAM ROAD 27 

sequence of an unknown traveler having been found suspended 
by a rope attached to the limb of a chestnut tree by the roadside. 
who had committed suicide." This seems hardly to account 
for the name "Gallows." 

A more amusing story of the origin of the name seems quite 
current in this locality, to the effect that Edward Marshall, 
while performing the walk, broke his suspenders in jumping 
across Gallows Hill Run, just north of this point, and having 
substituted some other support for his nether garments, hung 
his "gallowses" on a tree at the brookside and proceeded without 
them. Since the deposition of Marshall in 1757, refers to this 
point where he left the Durham Road, by the name of "Gallows 
Hill," it might be argued that the name antedated the walk, 
but we must remember that the deposition was made twenty 
years later when the name became firmly attached to the place. 

The Three Tuns Inn — It is extremely doubtful whether 
the original "Three Tuns Inn" on the Durham Road, was located 
at this point. On both Nicholas Scull's map of 1759 and William 
Scull's map of Pennsylvania of 1770, "laid down from actual 
surveys" the Three Tuns is located on the Durham Road between 
four and five miles south of this point, and it is probably the 
older and better known tavern at the "Sign of the Harrow," 
at the present junction of the Durham and Easton roads. This 
was the first tavern' on the Durham Road north of Tohickon 
and was always a noted landmark in the stage coach days. 
Nicholas Scull's map of 1759 also places the Three Tuns far 
south of this point. Whether the location is an error of the 
draftsmen who prepared these maps or whether the name was 
first applied to some other tavern, it is hard to determine. I 
have personally examined the petitions for every tavern located 
on the Durham Road, from the "Sign of the Plough" at Garden- 
ville, to this point, from 1727 down to 1795, and those pertaining 
to this location down to 1875. It was extremely unusual for 
the name of the hotel to be given in the petition for license, 
prior to 1800. Even the two famous hotels of the Harrow and 
the Plough were seldom referred to as such in the early petitions. 

The Three Tuns Inn first came into conspicuous notice when 
Major Samuel Brackenridge was its proprietor. On March 24, 
1790, when John Barclay, Esquire, conveyed to Samuel Bracken- 



28 THREE TUNS IXX AT GALLOWS HILL AND OLD DURHAM ROAD 

ridge thf site of this hotel, 53 acres and 100 perches of land, no 
mention was then made of a tavern. On July 4, 1791, Samuel 
Brackenridge entered into an agreement with John McCammon 
of Nockamixon to purchase of McCammon a tract of land 
partly in Springfield and partly in Nockamixon Township, "lying 
partly on the Great Durham Road, that is to say, the field 
adjoining the land of said Samuel Brackenridge and the said 
Great Road, computed to contain eight acres," and a further 
tract of forty-two acres on the west side of the Durham Road 
adjoining the lands of said Brackenridge, Jacob Fulmer, John 
Strawsnyder, John Moore and the said McCammon, extending 
equal distance along said land from the said Durham Road to 
make, with the said eight acres, the full quantity of fifty acres. 
This tract may have included the site of the old colonial inn kept 
by Charles Fleming and his predecessors. 

At the June sessions of court, 1790, the petition of Samuel 
Brackenridge set forth that he "has moved to that Public House 
on Durham Road, formerly occupied by Charles Fleming, like- 
wise informing your Honors that your Petitioner has purchased 
the same and determined with your approbation to keep an 
orderly house at that place." The license was granted him 
and seems to have been renewed regularly thereafter until the 
death of Major Brackenridge in 1797. 

The tract conveyed by Barclay to Brackenridge was part of a 
tract of 196>^ acres surveyed June 9, 1739, to William Ware 
under warrant dated April 11, 1738, described as being on Gal- 
lows Hill Run, the Indian name of which was "Perlefakon." It 
was patented February 14, 1744. It was an irregular rectangle 
lying in the extreme southeastern corner of Springfield Town- 
ship, quite near the line of Nockamixon Township; its location 
is marked No. 72 on Dr. Fackenthal's map shown on page 22 
ante. The deed from John Barclay to Major Brackenridge 
shows that the Durham Road intersected this tract and the 
Brackenridge purchase lay entirely on the east side of the road 
and extended down to Nockamixon line. 

William W^are, the original owner of the tract, on March 8, 
1765, granted to Rev. Richard Treat^ and George Taylor" a lot 

1 Sometime pastor of Abington Presbyterian Church and a prominent 
divine. 

2 Signer of the Declaration of Independence, and one of the proprietors 
of the Durham Iron Works. 



THREE TUNS INN AT GALLOWS HILL AND OLD DURHAM ROAD 29 

of one acre, ten by sixteen perches "to be holden in trust by the 
said Richard Treat and George Taylor for a burying ground 
forever. This is the old Gallows Hill burying groiuid on the 
east side of the Durham Road still in existence. This tract was 
later conveyed to Daniel Jamison, and Samuel McCammon in 
trust on behalf of the Red Hill Presbyterian Church. (See 
Deed Book No. 20, page 235.) 

On July 26, 1766, William Ware and Jane, his wife, conveyed 
the whole tract to Jacob Landis, reserving the graveyard pre- 
viously sold. On June 4, 1769, the same tract was sold by 
Sheriff Ellicott as the property of Jacob Landis to Alexander 
McCammon. Alexander McCammon by will dated May 18, 
1776, devised it to his son, Samuel McCammon. On April 12, 
1783, Samuel McCammon and Christin, his wife, conveyed the 
196>^ acres and allowance on Gallows Hill Run to Philip Jacobi, 
of Nockamixon. Philip Jacobi and Catharine, his wife, on 
June 7, 1787, granted 174 acres and 67 perches of the same 
tract to John Barclay. I failed to find any deed on record by 
John Barclay conveying the remainder of the tract after he 
conveyed the 53 acres to, Brackenridge. Barclay removed at 
about that date to his native township of Warrington and acquir- 
ing the Barclay homestead and considerable other land in 
Warrington and Warwick Townships, became very prominently 
associated with this section, filling the office of Associate Justice 
of our courts for a number of years. He built the fine stone 
mansion at the village of Warrington, later known as the Rad- 
cliffe House in 1799, and in 1800 personally superintended the 
erection of the stone arch bridge over the Neshaminy at Edison. 
He later removed to Philadelphia, and died there in 1824. 

I have been unable to trace the proprietorship of the tavern 
"formerly kept by Charles Fleming" as recited in Brackenridge's 
petition of 1790. Charles Fleming was proprietor of the Harrow 
Ta\'ern in 1783 and later. I strongly suspect that the "Three 
Tuns" marked on the maps of 1759 and 1770, was the present 
Harrow Tavern, long kept by John Wilson. At the June session, 
1746, George Overbeck, "living upon Durham rode four miles 
and a half from Durham and six and a half miles from Tohickon," 
presented his petition for a license. It sets forth that he 

"is troubled at all hours and Commonly at unseasonable hours of the night 
is obliged to break his rest to entertain strangers and travellers, and all the 



30 THREE TUNS IXX AT GALLOWS HILL AND OLD DURHAM ROAD 

neighbours that Hves neare the Rode suffers very much for want of a Taveron 
upon that Rode to lodge travellers. Especially in the winter time, by reason 
of the place being but newly Inhabited, fodder being very scarce that the 
people suffer for to supply the want of travellers so that they Desire that the 
Honourable Bench would be pleased to take it to consideration and, be pleased 
to give a grant for Lycence to the above named George Overbeck, which we 
the undernamed know to be an honest well meaning man and is well stocked 
with hay and oats and all other necessaries fiting for a Public house, and we 
the undernamed will be forever thankful." 

This petition is signed by William Weear, Robart Wear, Thomas 
Weiar, Lawrence Pearson, Edward, Thomas, Nicholas, and 
Patrick Carty, Alexander McCamont, Hugh Orlton, Uriah 
Humble, George Fox, James Galbraith, John Hayes, John 
Anderson, Timothy Sullivan, Joseph Blair, John Duram, Wil- 
liam Dickson, William Philips, Johannes Heinrich, Herman 
Younghand, Martin Penniger. This petition was rejected, but 
was renewed each year and the license granted about 1748 and 
1749, and was again rejected in 1750, and yearly and semi- 
yearly thereafter until about 1757, when it was again granted 
and regularly renewed for several years. In Overbeck's peti- 
tion of 1755 or 1756, he sets forth "there is no tavern on the 
road between Tohickon Creek and Easton, upward of twenty 
miles." The petition of George Overbeck in 1752 states that 
he "lives close to the Great Road from Newtown to Durham 
and Stephen Twuning's Mill (now Funk's) and likewise what 
road we have from the river up to Saucon and the Swamp, and 
to many of the other Back parts of this province which occations 
a great many travellers." 

Michael Titter (Dieter) was licensed in Springfield in 1752 
and regularly thereafter until about 1765, when he was 
succeeded by "Sebella Titter." 

"Samuel Brackenridge of the township of Springfield" pre- 
sented his petition to the June sessions of the court, 1779, which 
"humbly sheweth, that your Petitioner hath married the widow 
of Jacob Booker (Kooker), who in his lifetime kept a noted Inn 
in said township. Your Petitioner therefore Prays your Wor- 
ship would grant him the license, as a public House of Enter- 
tainment in that part of the country is very necessary." His 
petition was "allowed." This tavern w^as at the site of Spring- 
town. 

At the June sessions of court, 1761, the petition of Jacob 



THREE TUNS INN AT GALLOWS HILL AND OLD DURHAM ROAD 31 

Kucker sets forth that he hath lately purchased the place of 
John Chapham in Springfield, and requests a license which was 
regularly renewed until his death in or about 1779. 

The will of Jacob Kucker, dated May 2, 1776, devises to 
his wife, Susanna, his plantation of 246 acres on which he dwelt, 
partly in Lower Saucon, Northampton County, and partly in 
Springfield Township, Bucks County, bought of John Chapman. 
Letters of administration were granted to Susanna, the widow, 
and her husband, Samuel Brackenridge, on February 7, 1780. 

The license seems to have been granted to Brackenridge for 
the year 1780. At the June sessions, 1781, John Barclay, Esquire, 
presented his petition setting forth that he "lives on the Planta- 
tion belonging to Samuel Brackenridge in Springfield Township, 
known by the name of Cooker's Tavern and Lying on the Forks 
of the Great Road leading from Easton and Bethlehem to 
Philadelphia." The petition was allow^ed. 

Samuel Brackenridge had abandoned his tavern to enter the 
service in the War of the Revolution ; accompanying his friend 
and neighbor, John McCammon, to Newtown, he enlisted in 
Captain Bennett's Company of the Light Horse of Bucks County. 
His name does not appear on the published rolls of the company, 
but Captain Bennett makes a certificate published in the fifth 
series of the Pennsylvania Archives, Volume V, page 387, which 
is as follows: 

"I dow hereby Certify that Samuel Brackenridge belonged to the Troop 
of Horse in the year Eighty and part of Eighty-one, and did the duty required 
of him. 

Capt. Jacob Bennett." 

Whether he immediately returned to the Tavern is not very 
clear. A number of letters written by him to Richard Back- 
house appear among the Durham Furnace papers in the posses- 
sion of the Bucks County Historical Society. In the account 
book of Greenwich Furnace (also in said collection), where a 
store seems to have' been maintained as well as a forge, he is 
charged with four gallons of rum at 15 shillings on October 22, 
1782, and on April 8, 1783, with fifteen gallons at 9 shillings, 
"if rum raises to be replaced." His name appears on the "lists 
of persons licensed" down to about the time he applied for the 
license at Gallows Run. 

On February 25, 1786, there was surveyed to Samuel Bracken- 



32 THREE TUNS INX AT GALLOWS HILL AND OLD DURHAM ROAD 

ridge a tract of land containing 129 acres 29 perches, called 
"Coalhill," which was patented to him August 10. 1787. This 
tract was quite remote from his Gallows Hill property, lying on 
South Mountain, northeast of Springtown, mostly in Northamp- 
ton County, with but a few acres in Bucks. On January 21, 
1788, Major Brackenridge conveyed this property to Rich&rd 
Backhouse, who, after cutting off the timber for charcoal, for 
use at Durham furnace, subdivided it and sold the fee. 

Samuel Brackenridge is taxed for the 210 acres in Springfield 
Township in 1779. His name does not appear again on the 
tax list until 1783 for which year no valuations are given. In 
the tax list of 1784, which was in the nature of a census, he is 
listed for 200 acres, two dwellings, one outhouse, six "white 
inhabitants," — that is, there were six members of his family. 
His name appears also on the tax lists of 1786 and 1787. 

We have no record of the commission of Samuel Brackenridge 
as a Major, but it doubtless could be obtained by a search of the 
State Militia Record. 

He lies buried in the old churchyard of Trinity Reformed 
Church in Springfield. The inscription on his tombstone is as 

follows : 

"In memory of Major Samuel Brackenridge 

who departed this Hfe September 8, 1797, 

in the 47th year of his age." 

His wife died three days later, September 11, 1797, aged 45 
years and 10 months, and lies buried alongside of him. 

The Gallows Hill Inn and 105 acres were sold by the sheriff" 
as the property of Samuel Brackenridge, November 3, 1797, to 
Henry Dotterer, who conducted the tavern until 1802, when 
he sold it to Charles and David Keichline. It was again sold 
by the sheriff, September 27, 1816, and purchased by Jacob 
Keichline and continued in his possession until March 29, 1831, 
when it was conve5^ed to Jacob E. Buck, storekeeper. By this 
time the property had become reduced to* 29 acres. Jacob E. 
Buck conveyed it to Thomas Miller in 1836; Miller to John 
Welder in 1839; Welder to Isaac Sigafoos in 1842; Sigafoos to 
Abraham Dilgard in 1846; Dilgard to Lewis S. Biehn in 1872. 
The name was changed from Three Tuns to Stony Point nearly a 
century ago, but the first post-office was given the name of 
GalloAvs. 



Quarrying 

By henry K. DEISHER. KUTZTOWN, PA. 

(Doylestown Meeting, January 16, 1926) 

QUARRYING is a world wide subject and the earliest opera- 
tions are lost in antiquity. The word mining is another 
word for quarrying, to distinguish under-ground from 
surface operations. Considerable iron ore is found in rock forma- 
tion and nearly all precious metals are extracted from rock 
quarried under ground. 

It is difficult not to digress from our subject, because the 
ruins of the finished products of the quarry are so vast and inter- 
esting. Suffice it to mention the Pyramids and Obelisks, the 
Temples of Thebes, Philae, Memphis, Karnak, Luxor and 
Heliopolis, Tombs of the Kings in Egypt, the rock temples of 
Nubia, the mile of 1,500 pillars of Palmyra, the ruins of Baalbek 
in Syria, the numerous temple ruins in Java, India, Persia and 
Assyria, the Chinese Wall, the temples of the Aztecs in Mexico, 
the Maya in Yucatan and the Inca in Peru. We must not forget 
Greece and Rome, where the finest art was developed. 

Quarrying dates from the first existence of man, the beginning 
of the Stone Age and lasting thousands of years. The Stone 
Age gave way under the march of civilization and ended on the 
Pacific Coast in America less than a century ago. The operations 
studied in our country, no doubt, may be applied to all Stone 
Age peoples of the world thousands of years earlier. During 
the early Stone Age, quarrying was carried on on a restricted 
scale with primitive tools. Pummeling stones for fracturing 
boulders, hammer stones for rough flaking and pecking and 
heavy wooden staves charred at one end to produce hardness 
for excavating earth or prying stones, constituted the principal 
tools. 

We have examples at Macungie and Vera Cruz in Lehigh 
County, Pennsylvania, where a vast amount of energy was dis- 
played by the Indians in pre-historic times. Dr. Henry C. 
Mercer explored excavations to a depth of forty feet at Macungie; 
and states, "Charcoal was found everywhere, proving that rocks 
were heated bv fire and water thrown on to fracture them. 



34 QUARRYING 

Evidence of charred staves for prying out rocks was also found." 
There are 138 pits at Macungie and 60 pits at Vera Cruz, all 
of considerable dimensions. At Flint Hill, Bowers, Berks 
County, Pennsylvania, the pits or quarries are shallow, the rock 
being found on or near the surface and not of large dimensions. 
Dr. William H. Holmes, Washington, D. C, and I found a stone 
weighing fourteen pounds, seven feet below the surface, worn 
round and bruised from throwing on rocks to reduce it to port- 
able size. Hammer-stones worn round from use have been 
found in great numbers at all the quarries. At the quarries 
referred to the highly prized jasper was found. Near Mont 
Alto, Pennsylvania, are many places where Rhyolite was quarried, 
which was the chief supply for Susquehanna River Indians. 
Flint Ridge in Ohio about five miles long, is another great quarry- 
ing site. 

At the dawn of civilization, whether it first occurred in China, 
Babylon, or Egypt, or simultaneously, the first notable opera- 
tions took place in Egypt, followed several centuries later on 
the same gigantic scale east and north. Dates are given by 
historians and archaeologists, but they disagree hundreds of 
years, hence — who shall say? However, it may be assumed 
that extensive quarrying was begun in Egypt earlier than 2500 
B. C. Here again is the question of tools. Copper and tin, 
and copper and tin as an alloy, making bronze, were discovered 
in remote ages, called the Bronze Age. Comparatively speaking, 
iron followed closely, but evidently the hardening process was 
not discovered early, because of tools found in the quarries, those 
of copper and bronze predominate. It may be thought iron tools 
oxidized and disappeared, but such is not the case in the climate 
of Egypt. Fire-setting was resorted to, only to remove waste 
rock. This was done by building brick walls parallel and close 
to the rock to be removed. A hot fire deteriorated and reduced 
the rock. 

Until recently it was a matter of argument how the Egyptians 
severed the large blocks of stone in the quarries for the pyra- 
mids and obelisks. No evidence of drill-marks are found. My 
contention always was that they were hewn out with hammer- 
stones like the Indian pecked the groove around his axe for a 
handle hold. However, the vastness of labor was almost beyond 
comprehension. Only the Assuan quarry, where R. Engelbach 




UNFINISHED OBELISK IN QUARRY AT ASSUAN, EGYPT 

This unfinished granite obelisk lying on its bed in the so-called North Quarry near Assuan 
' erves to show Egyptologists the manner in which these obelisks were quarried. They were 
blocked out from the ledges, the tops and sides dressed, and then detached from the cliffs by 
boring numerous holes underneath them, in which wooden wedges were driven; these were 
then wetted and their expansion released the granite blocks from their beds. The bottom 
sides were then dressed and the shafts conveyed on rollers over a massive causeway (which 
is still in use) to Assuan, where they were transferred to floats and taken down the Nile, where 
they were again moved by means of rollers to the places of destination. The unfinished obe- 
lisk shown above measures 92 feet long by 10 'a feet across at the base, and is estimated to 
weigh about 500 tons. 

The statues, sarcophagi, columns and other large objects, used in the temples, tombs 
and other buildings along the Nile, were also dressed in the quarries to lessen the weight for 
shipment. 



QUARRYING 35 

made recent explorations will be considered and references 
made thereto are taken from his writings. 

"Wedge marks are seen everywhere; some show where a block has been 
removed, others where the wedge failed to act, or has split the rock in the 
wrong direction. Wedge marks show that small slots were cut in rows to 
make cleavage on a specified line. The site clamors for excavation, which 
might well reveal chippings from chisels used in cutting the granite, and thus 
settle once and for all time, whether they were made of highly tempered 
copper or not. The action of fire is shown in many places. The topping 
or inferior stone was removed by fire and where projections of rock were in 
the way to move large blocks from the quarry, fire setting was resorted to. 
Evidence shows that fires were banked with brick to force the heat against 
the rock to be destroyed. It is believed that metal wedges were principally 
used, but some enormous wedge slots have been found where wooden wedges 
may have been used and soaked with water to expand them and force the 
fracture. The most essential discovery pertaining to our subject is an obelisk 
137 feet in length, base 8 feet square, calculated to weigh 1,168 tons. My 
personal opinion is, that it was impossible then, as now, to wedge out a stone 
so long and slender, because it would break at any weak point, due to irregular 
expansion of the wedges. 

"This gigantic stone has a trench all around 6 to 10 feet deep and two 
and a half feet wide, all bashed or bruised out, but the block is not loose at 
the base. Few chisel marks are found; everything rounded. Indisputable 
evidence proves the method employed here which was done entirely by bruising 
with balls of Dolorite. These balls measure from 5 to 12 inches in diameter, 
averaging 12 pounds in weight and are found in profusion in the quarry. It 
is uncertain whether these balls were used by hand or mounted on handles 
and used as rammers. Either way must have been a laborious job, but evi- 
dently quicker than chiseling, due to want of metal tools sufficiently hard for 
so big an undertaking. From a trial made in bruising it is estimated seven 
months double shift were required to ram out the trench. Markings indicate 
that two feet of space were allowed per man, and if the Dolorite balls were 
mounted, one man in the trench regulating the blows and two men ramming 
from above; thus 390 men could work on this trench at the same time. The 
dust which collected would have to be brushed aside frequently and at intervals 
removed as the cushion formed would reduce the stroke to nil." 

Engeibach calculates from inscriptions on finished obelisks, 
that the work was done during the reign of Thutmosis III and 
Queen Hatshepsut, 1.501 to 1447, B. C. No matter what the 
date of the Assuan Obelisk, the process of hardening iron was 
discovered later, when the steel chisel became the principal tool. 

Here may be cited the little known, "Cave of the Horse Ear," 
on the Island of Sicily. The cave is about 150 feet wide and 
long, and 300 feet high, shaped like a horse's ear. It was chiseled 
out of solid rock, during the reign of Dionysius, the elder, tyrant 



36 QUARRYING 

of Syracuse, B. C. 400, for the incarceration of political prisoners, 
numbering 300 at times. There was an aperture at the apex 
where a watchman could hear a whisper from the prisoners, 
who might plan a conspiracy. Native tradition says the number 
of men engaged from time to time exceeded 10,000. John H. 
Werner, who had a brief shore leave from a convoy ship during 
the World War, visited the cave and gave me this information. 
Pliny, about 50 A. D., refers to the tunnel driven under a moun- 
tain three and a half miles to drain Lake Fucino. Intermediate 
shafts no less than 400 feet deep were required for air, and to 
admit men to work in opposite directions, 30,000 men were 
occupied eleven years, all done by fire-setting, hammer and 
chisel. 

Take a glimpse at the operations of the immense marble 
quarries in Italy during, the early centuries A. D. We may 
assume that by this time channel drilling was in vogue and stones 
wedged out, either with wooden wedges saturated with water, 
calcined lime wetted and plugged in holes, or with iron wedges. 
Probably the same methods are employed to date. During 
the years, 1882 to 1890, I saw blocks of Italian marble weighing 
fourteen tons, hauled to the stone sawmill of Schweyer & Liess 
at Bowers, Berks County, Pennsylvania, which had wooden 
plugs or wedges sticking in wedge-holes. 

Stepping forward to the Medieval Period, we find recorded 
that England had over 1,500 castles, Germany probably had as 
many, if not more, built on high cliffs. During a siege an 
abundant supply of water A\as as necessary as food. Wells 
Avere dug hundreds of feet through hard rock to the water level. 
Dr. Henry C. Mercer says: "These outrageous wells were all 
chiseled out and are more wonderful than the castles themselves." 
Agricola, 1494 to 1555, probably the greatest mining engineer 
of his time, says mining was all done by fire and chisel. History 
states that powder was discovered by the Chinese in early times, 
but no mention is made that it was applied to quarrying. Blast- 
ing powder was invented by the Germans in 1627, and this 
revolutionized the industries of quarrying and mining. 

What appeared to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest mine 
in America, is the copper mine at the base of Bowman's Hill, 
about four miles below New Hope, in Bucks County, Pennsyl- 
vania, along Pidcock Creek, about three-fourths of a mile from 



QUARRYING 37 

its mouth. Was it begun before the time of blasting? The late 
Captain J. S. Bailey thought the mine was opened by the "Knights 
of Albion," an English Exploration Company, who came up the 
Delaware River in 1624, or if not, then by the Swedes in 1638. 
About two years ago a deed for this land was found dated 1701 to 
John Pidcock, including the words, "to Dig Ore on." Later the 
Neely family came in possession of the property. Neely had 
heard from the Indians that the place had been opened by white 
men, "long ago," who came up the river in boats and carried off 
pieces of rock. He tried to work it, but was not successful. 
During 1854, one of the descendants cleared the drift and pumped 
out the vertical shaft. An engineer from New York went down 
and found another shaft. He said the mine showed signs of 
tools not in use for a couple of hundred years. Recently an 
engineer claims to have found marks of drill holes, which would 
indicate operations after the discovery of blasting with poAvder. 
Yet it is possible and probable that the mine passage was partly 
opened by hammer and chisel. Do not the drill holes indicate 
that the passage was enlarged by wedging out blocks, a process 
quicker than chiseling? 

Anthracite coal was discovered in 1791 near Mauch Chunk, 
Pennsylvania. W. W. Morris, a Welsh miner, told me the first 
powder used for blasting in coal mines was redish brown and 
very fine as the name indicates. Later the black granular powder 
was developed, followed by glazing the granules as a protection 
against dampness and deterioration. Most of the drill-holes 
in coal mines were horizontal, some inclined up or down, accord- 
ing to dip of the vein. Due to the easy fracture of coal, the 
holes are not heavily charged and only lightly tamped. It 
being difficult to place powder in horizontal holes, the miner's 
squib, a tubular paper bag holding the powder, was shoved back 
in the drill-hole. The paper was pierced with the pin or needle, 
followed by light tamping, great care being taken to keep the 
pin loose by turning during the process of tamping. Withdraw- 
ing the pin, a rocket with saltpeter tape for lighting is inserted 
in the hole, which shoots a flame to the powder charge. Safety 
fuse has not been used in coal mines, due to smoke from burning 
cotton, which produces foul air. 

During 1828 slate was discovered in Lehigh County, Pa., 
and a quarry was opened by Crump and Brereton, from Balti- 



38 QUARRYING 

more, Maryland. In 1844 Kern, Jones and Roberts opened a 
quarry at Slatington, Pa., by means of a tunnel, which was 
operated from 1845 to 1886. In 1844 William Roberts and 
Nelson Labor discovered slate in Northampton County, Pa. 
John H. Moyer, a blacksmith and tool-sharpener, at Slatedale 
quarries for forty-one years, gave me the following information: 
"Fortunes have been made in slate quarrying, but many more 
fortunes have been sunk, due to the enormous expense in remov- 
ing the top of inferior rock to reach quality-slate and installation 
of machinery." Open quarries are made where the topping is of 
limited thickness, as a considerable area has to be stripped. 
Open quarries have been worked to a depth of more than two 
hundred feet. At medium depth slate is generally veined in 
rectangular blocks, which can easily be wedged out. Where 
topping or poor slate extends to considerable depth, shafts are 
sunk and quarrying is extended to depths of four hundred feet 
or more. The best quality' slate is found in solid bodies below 
water level and water pumps are in operation continuall3^ In 
these deep quarries large chambers and tunnels are worked out. 

Blasting is resorted to only when workings are started for a 
lower level. Drill holes are only lightly charged with blasting 
powder to prevent shattering the slate. Large blocks are then 
wedged out with triple iron wedges, two iron wedges called 
feathers are rounded on one side to fit the side of hole and are 
set on opposite sides and a steel wedge is driven between the 
feathers. A row of these drill holes and wedges several inches 
apart are prepared, then tapped lightly back and forth with a 
hammer till the stone fractures. Granite and marble blocks are 
detached in the same manner. Wooden pegs driven in the 
drill holes expand from the dampness, causing fracture, and are 
well adapted to slate. 

For blasting in wet places a tubular tin can, holding the 
powder charge, also having short tube for inserting the safety 
fuse, the end being sealed with tallow is used. Before the time 
of safety fuse, the tube extended to top of the drill hole to be 
filled with fine powder for setting off the charge. 

John H. Moyer also told me from hearsay, 

"The blasting pin was a thin tapered iron rod with a ring or handle at 
the top to facilitate turning to keep it loose for withdrawal after tamping 
the drill hole with clay from the powder charge to the top. The pin hole was 



QUARRYING 39 

filled with fine powder, to which was laid a strip of paper saturated with salt- 
peter, which when lighted burned slowly, allowing the operator to get to a 
place of safety. As an improvement, wheat or rye straw was cut and telescoped 
and inserted in the pin hole and filled with powder. The straw being thinner 
than the pin left an air space, thus lessening the force to blow out the tamping, 
also saving powder." 

I have collected a few of these loading pins in iron, copper and 
wood, copper and wood being used as a precaution in striking a 
spark and igniting the powder. John D. DeTurk, Kutztown, 
Pa., said his father twisted a rag saturated with saltpeter and 
inserted it in the pin-hole instead of powder, but this failed, as it 
smothered the fire. 

Safety-fuse or cotton-fuse, as it was called, was invented about 
1860, but was partly a failure. Water-proofing with tallow was 
tried but without success. This was followed by so-called 
waterproof fuse, but this had many breaks in the powder line. 
After many trials a double-taped asphaltum fuse proved to be a 
success. Safety fuse was not always safe. i\bout 1877, a sand 
blast at the Bowers quarry along the East Penn Railroad, failed 
to explode on time. Contrary to warnings from the quarry 
men, James Williams went to investigate. The cotton in the 
fuse slowly burned across a barren spot and reached powder 
again while Williams was straddling the crevice. Among the 
smoke and flying stones parts of his body were seen hurtling 
through the air. It was customary in those days to inform 
neighbors of a disaster, and I was the messenger on this occasion. 

In Eastern Pennsylvania the quarrying of limestone was 
carried on in open pits; as an industry it dates from about 1720, 
supplying the early charcoal blast furnaces, the first of which in 
Pennsylvania was the Colebrookdale furnace. Anthracite coal 
was first used successfully in blast furnaces in 1840, and from 
that time forward quarrying became an industry of immense 
proportions. There were many furnaces between Easton and 
Harrisburg due to the proximity of limestone and iron ore. Large 
quantities of limestone were calcined and the lime used on farm 
land, and for masonry work. Throughout the limestone region 
nearly every farmer had a quarry and a limekiln. During the 
winter months farmers from great distances hauled lime with 
two and often four horse sleds, paying six to seven cents a bushel. 
Some farmers had their own kilns and hauled stone, purchased 



40 QUARRYING 

at $3.00 per cord. On a long stone ridge, south of Kutztown, 
Pa., farmers from a distance owned quarry-sites like building 
lots, a few had kilns at the quarry and when the owner did not 
have the kiln in use, it was rented at $2.00 to $3.00 per filling. 
This was economical as coal was to be had at the railroad station 
nearby, requiring only a short haul, and lime was not as heavy 
as stone for the long haul to the home farm. 

Forty or more years ago, men living in farm tenant-houses 
as well as laborers from villages, would contract to quarry lime- 
stone during the winter months at $1.00 per cord, the owner 
furnishing tools and blasting powder. Rectangular stones were 
sorted out for foundation walls for which the quarry man was 
paid $1.25 per cord. From ten to forty cords of stone in a 
quarry was a common sight. The drilling for blasting was all 
done by hand, either single handed with a rammer drill, or one 
man turning the drill, his partner striking with a six-pound 
hammer. In dry drilling the dust was removed with a spoon- 
like rod called a scraper. The wet process is considered an 
advantage, as the slush has less resistance and fewer removals. 
The slush was removed with a hickory stick, one end pounded 
into shreds, called swab-stick. The general rule for loading a 
drill-hole is to fill one-third of the depth with blasting powder, 
then insert the fuse well into the powder. A small quantity of 
damp clay was dropped in the hole at a time and the clay well 
tamped with a tamping rod. Before the time of matches, the 
steel with flint and tinder or punk had to be used for lighting the 
saltpeter strip then in use. Besides the tools named, the crow- 
bar played an important part, acting as an assistant to wedges 
in separating fractured rocks after blasting, also for raising 
heavy blocks of stone. 

My father operated two quarries and seven limekilns from 
1856 to 1890. Quarrying was fascinating to me from early 
boyhood, and if father had caught us boys burning up yards of 
fuse and pounds of powder, there would have been stirring times. 
In those times pea coal sold at S2.90 to $3.40 per ton. Since the 
high price of coal and labor, the limekilns have collapsed from 
frost and the quarries are overgrown with trees and weeds. 

In quarries where thirty to forty men worked to supply fur- 
naces with limestone, operations were somewhat difl^erent from 
those I have described. On top of the bank a row of holes two 



QUARRVIN(. 41 

inches in diameter were drilled, ten feet apart and twelve feet 
back of the breast or precipice of the quarry to a depth of about 
twenty feet. Short drills and two men were occupied in starting. 
Later a platform was raised having two men on top and two 
below, generally using a rammer drill, but I also saw two men 
below lifting and turning the drill and the men above striking 
with nine-pound hammers. These holes, five or more, were 
lightly charged with blasting powder in order to run a crack or 
crevice from one hole to another and not tear up the rock. 
According to judgment from 250 to 1,200 pounds of blasting 
powder was poured into this crack and a fuse set about one-third 
distant from each end thereof, and the crack was then filled with 
dry sand. If the judgment of the quarry boss was correct, this 
blast would tear up and throw many tons of rock into the bed 
of the quarry. This was called a sand-blast. Pieces of lime- 
stone too large to be broken with sledge hammers, were drilled 
to a depth of from twelve to twenty-four inches, according to 
their sizes, and charged with powder to shatter them. 

This paper was not intended to cover the time when high 
explosives came into use, but it may not be out of place to refer 
to the gigantic tunnel operations for which, since 1861, steam 
and compressed air drills and recently electric drills are being used. 
Among these large operations might be mentioned the Croton 
aqueduct, the destruction of Hell Gate, the Panama Canal 
and the Hudson river tubes. Several months ago I witnessed, 
at close range, the discharge of a quarry blast using two tons of 
dynamite. A blast was made at Ayer in the state of Washing- 
ton, where 354,000 pounds of explosives were used, which dis- 
placed 300,000 cubic yards of earth and rock. The removal 
was done by modern steam shovels, taking fourteen tons at a 
bite and repeating the operation every forty-five seconds. I 
have briefly referred to some of the modern methods, which 
may be antiquated in a single generation, and who knows, that 
with the march of civilization, fifty years hence, mountains may 
be removed bv faith. 



Pioneer Life in Maine in 1 808 

By MRS. SOPHIE LYMAN PRATT, DOYLESTOWN, PA. 
(Doylestown Meeting, January 16, 1926) 

THIS can hardly be dignified by the name of a paper, but a 
few facts gathered concerning an early pioneer family 
breaking their way through the wilderness of Maine in the 
year 1808, are worth recording. On October 1, 1922, my sister 
and I journeyed to the White Mountains, about twenty-five 
miles north of Portland, Maine, and equally distant from Poland 
Springs, at Dyke Mountain Farm, Sebago, Maine, in a house 
which was built in the year 1853. Under these conditions we 
were in a mood to listen to the tales of its early history as it was 
related to us by a very real character, the oldest surviving 
member of the family, then ninety-six years old; she was bright 
and enjoying good health, but her sight was a little dim. Mrs. 
Asenath W'inthrop, the youngest of her nine children, could 
vividly remember the earliest of her parents' experiences as they 
w^ere told to her when a child. They told her of their pioneering, 
settling and making a home for themselves, and the gradual 
growth of a settlement in that then rugged country, but now 
one of the "Playgrounds of America." 

Go back with me to the year 1808, for a few moments, in 
w^hich year this family, consisting of father, mother, brother 
and child five years old, who migrated from Massachusetts by 
packet boat from Boston to Portland, and from there traveling 
twenty-five miles through an uninhabited territory; the mother 
carrying the child on horseback wath an open saddle (not a 
pack saddle), of which distance the last three miles were through 
an unbroken wilderness, where they were obliged to fell trees 
four feet in diameter as they pushed on toward their quest. 
Probably no such trees are to be found today in that part of the 
country. 

I asked Mrs. Winthrop, my informant, how her family knew 
just where to settle and make a home; she explained that they 
were looking for a site that would be sheltered from the wintry 
blasts, with plenty of sunshine and on high ground, and, of course, 
where they could get water. At one time, however, they had 



PIONEER LIFE IN MAINE IN 1808 43 

to dig down sixty feet for water. They did not blast the frozen 
ground, but after drilHng holes in the rock they put coarse gun- 
powder in them, then lighted on top. 

They raised their own cattle, beef, sheep and chickens. 
They also grew flax and spun and wove and made their own 
clothing. Shoemakers would come to their house periodically 
to make their shoes out of leather which they themselves had 
tanned. For light they would put melted mutton tallow in a 
saucer and would light the end of a twisted rag that hung over 
the side, which they ignited by means of a flint and steel; later 
they used tallow candles, at first made by dipping wicks into the 
melted fat, and later by using candle moulds. For their first 
fences they used stumps of trees for posts, on which they laid 
split pine rails. They also made fences by planting posts and 
inserting pine rails about eight feet long. Later they also built 
stone walls for fences. They hauled roots of big trees L shaped, 
to the ship yard to make keels for ships. They ploughed, hauled 
and traveled with oxen, using wagons somewhat like oxcarts 
now in use. 

Mrs. Winthrop, the present owner, was born in a frame 
house, (not log), the wood-shed, barn and other outbuildings 
were not connected with the house, as is usual in New England. 
The doors and w-indows of the house were the same as all houses 
of that period. The door-latches were made of iron with strings 
attached, and the chimney was built at the end of the house. 
The roofs were of shingles which they split out by hand. They 
cut the wood the proper length, and rived the shingles on the 
spot, using a frow. At first they cooked in the open fire, but 
when cook stoves were introduced, about 1840, they used one, 
which of course burned wood. For baking bread, the present 
owner used a brick bake-oven attached to the present house, built 
in 1853, until about thirty-three years ago. They used a so-called 
tin kitchen for roasting meat up to about forty years ago. Their 
corn, wheat, rye and barley were taken to the gristmill to be 
ground. In winter they used snow shoes. 

If Mrs. Winthrop is still living, she would be one hundred 
years old. Her grandfather was mate on a ship bound for 
Algiers, carrying tribute money. The chest which contained 
the money, made of mahogany, was afterwards sold. 



A Lutheran Mission in Northampton Township in 1 748 

By warren S. ELY, DOVLESTOWN, PA. 

(Do\-lesto\vn Meeting. Januar\- 16, 1926) 

TWO miles south of Richboro in Bucks County on a country 
road leading to Middletown a short distance below what 
is known as the Holland Road, but known in early records 
as the "Road to Robert Heaton's Mill" at Rocksville (Holland 
P. O.), is an old stone-walled graveyard, now locally known as 
the Feaster Burying Ground. It consists of one acre of ground, 
which John Van Horn of Northampton township, by deeds of 
Lease and Release bearing date the 17th and 18th days of June, 
1748, granted and confirmed unto Christian, Barnet, and Abra- 
ham Van Horn, all of Northampton township, and to their heirs 
and assigns. 

These three grantees executed a deed or declaration of trust, 
dated June 18, 1748, setting forth that they "declare, testify 
and express that they stand seized and intented of and in the 
said lot or tract of land, in trust for the use, benefit and behoof 
of the Religious Society of People Distinguished by the name 
of Lutherans and no other." 

After the death of Christian Van Horn, the first named of 
the three trustees, which occurred on November 23, 1753, as 
shown by his tombstone in the old graveyard, Bernard and 
Abraham Van Horn, the other two trustees, on November 16, 
1762, nominated Godfrey Van Duren, son-in-law of the said 
Christian Van Horn, as a succeeding trustee. 

On June 14, 1791, this Godfrey Van Duren, then of Southamp- 
ton township, blacksmith, as "Surviving trustee of the Religious 
Society of People belonging to Northampton Township in said 
County of Bucks, distinguished by the name of Lutherans, 
executed a deed of trust naming Isaac Van Horn of Northampton 
township and John Van Horn of Solebury township as succeeding 
trustees and conveyed to them the same one acre of land, reciting 
the title as above given. See Deed Book, No. 26, page 347, etc. 

This one-acre tract is a part of a tract of 1,000 acres lying in a 
bend of the Neshaminy Creek and extending back in an L- 
shaped form to the Bristol Road, marked on Holme's map in the 



LUTHERAN MISSION IN NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP, 1748 45 

name of Christopher Taylor. It was purchased in 1703, by 
Barendt Christian and Peter Lawrence, a son and step-son of 
Christan Barendtse, the founder of the Van Horn family in 
America. It was partitioned between the two purchasers and 
the part set apart to Barendt Christian was conveyed by him 
to his two sons, Peter and Christian Barnson, the latter being 
the Christan Van Horn, first above referred to. This Christian 
Van Horn conveyed that part of the tract in which the grave- 
yard is included, to his son John, and on February 24, 1748, con- 
veyed to his son-in-law, Godfrey Van Duren, forty-one acres 
adjoining the graveyard. In his will, dated June 18, 1748, the 
same day as the execution of the deed for the graveyard and the 
Declaration of Trust above mentioned, he devised this same 
tract to his daughter. Charity Van Duren. It is described as 
located on the road to Robert Heaton's Mill, and adjoining the 
graveyard and the land of his son, John Van Horn. The will 
mentions sons, Bernard, Henry, John and Christian, and daugh- 
ters. Charity Van Duren, wife of Godfrey; Ann, wife of Cornelius 
Corson; Catharine, wife of Henry Hagaman, and Jane, wife of 
John Hagaman. The will of Abraham Van Horn, dated Feb- 
ruary 7, 1770, names sons, Barnet, Jeremiah, Abraham, Jacob, 
David and Isaac, and daughters, Mary Krewson and Charity 
and Martha Vansciver. 

The Van Horn tombstones, now visible in the the old grave- 
yard, are those of Christian and his wife Williamkee, both born 
in 1681, he dying in 1753 and she in 1760; Christian, their son, 
born x^ugust 21, 1728, died December 17, 1755; a grandson, 
Isaac, son of John, born 1764, died March 6, 1813; another 
John, born 1734, died February 15, 1817; his wife, Catharine, 
born 1739, died October 31, 1804; Cornelius, born 1767, died 
February 10, 1804, and George Van Horn, a private in Co. G, 
128th Regiment Pa. Vols., who died recently at the age of 71 
years. 

There are fifteen Hagaman tombstones ranging in date of 
death from 1822 to 1884: Henry Shepard, April 14, 1860, aged 
82 years; Mary, his wife, October 2, 1850, aged 33 years; William 
Croasdale, 1783-1847; Henry C. Hibbs, 1823-1872; Richard V. 
Dyer, 1820-1898; Martha, his wife, 1819-1878; Theodore Morris, 
1808-1836; Maria, his widow, 1791-1838; Susannah Johnson, 
1813-1847; William F. Johnson, 1819-1887; his wife, Matilda, 



46 LUTHERAN MISSION' IX NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP, 1748 

1821-1901, and their daughters, Anna and Susanna. There are 
thirty-one Feaster tombstones ranging in date of death from 
1771 to comparative recent dates, the oldest being John Feaster, 
1706-1773, and Rachel, his wife, 1703-1771. 

It seems rather strange to the historian familiar with the 
religious history of Bucks County that there should have been 
an attempt to establish a Lutheran congregation in lower Bucks, 
in the very center of the section settled almost wholly by Hol- 
landers who were practically all members of the Dutch Reformed 
Church of North and Southampton, established on the Neshaminy 
in 1710. The Van Horn family, however, early divided their 
religious affiliations, becoming Quakers, Baptists and Presby- 
terians, two or three of them becoming noted ministers of the 
Baptist faith. 

Christian Van Horn, the patriarch among the founders of 
this colony of "People distinguished by the name of Lutherans 
in Northampton township," was as before stated a son of Barendt 
Christian, and grandson of Christian Barendtse, the emigrant. 

Christian Barendtse came from the town of Hoorn, on the 
Zuyder Zee about twenty-five miles from Amsterdam, Holland, 
to New Amsterdam prior to 1653 in which year he was appointed 
a burgomaster and schepen of the town. He was active in the 
public affairs of the Dutch Colony, filling many responsible 
and honorable positions. He was one of the force sent to subdue 
the Swedish settlements on the Delaware in 1654, and in 1656 
acquired a tract of land on the present site of Wilmington, Dela- 
ware, and died there of Marsh fever while erecting a tidewater 
mill, July 26, 1658. 

Jannetje Jans, the widow of Christian Barendtse, returned 
immediately to New Amsterdam, and on September 12, 1658, 
less than two months after the death of her first husband, married 
Laurense Andriessen Van Buskirk, by whom she had several 
children. As above stated her sons, Barentse Christian and 
Peter Lawrensen, purchased the 1,000 acres in what is now 
Northampton township in 1703. Barendtse Christian pur- 
chased several additional tracts in the Holland district of Bucks 
County, owning at one time practically 1,500 acres there. He, 
however, never came to live in Bucks County but died in Bergen 
County, New Jersey, in 1726. In 1707 as already stated he 
conveyed the Northampton township tract to his sons, Peter 



LUTHERAN MISSION IN NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP, 1748 47 

and Christian Barnson. In 1714 he conveyed another tract 
to his son, Barnet Barnson. All three of these sons came to 
Bucks County, and like the other Hollanders of the third genera- 
tion in America, abandoned the custom of taking their father's 
christian name as a surname and like many others took the 
name of Van Horn from the birthplace of their grandfather in 
Holland. 

Christian (Barendtse) Van Horn was born at Bergen, New 
Jersey, October 24, 1681. He married there Williamkee Van 
Dyck, daughter of Jan Tomasse Van Dyck, later a landholder 
in Bucks County. After living for some years on Staten Island, 
Christian Van Horn removed to Bucks County. He deposited 
a certificate from the church on Staten Island at the organiza- 
tion of the Dutch Reformed Church on the Neshaminy in 1710, 
under the pastorate of Rev. Paulus Van Vlecq, who later 
married his granddaughter. Christian Van Horn was a member 
of Provincial Assembly of Pennsylvania, 1723-1732 and 1734- 
1737, thirteen years in all, and was otherwise prominent in public 
affairs, being a large landholder in Middletown, Bensalem, New- 
town and Southampton in addition to his home township of 
Northampton. 

Charity, daughter of Christian and Williamkee Van Horn, 
was baptized at the Dutch Reformed Church of Neshaminy in 
Bensalem, May 21, 1710. The date of her marriage to Godfrey 
Van Duren is not known to me but it was soon after or about 
1745, at least before February, 1748, when her father conveyed 
to her husband the forty-one acres of land in Northampton 
township. 

It is possible that the establishment of a Lutheran congre- 
gation in Northampton had its inception with the Rev. Henry 
Melchior Muhlenberg, who became very active in building up 
and stimulating all the Lutheran churches in our section on 
becoming pastor of Augustus Evangelical Church at the Trappe 
in Montgomery County in 1742, but was doubtless largely due 
to the fact that Godfrey Van Duren was a son of Reverend Johan 
Bernhard Van Duren, or Van Thieran, as it is sometimes spelled, 
whom it is known had appealed to Muhlenberg for assistance in 
securing the pastorate of a church. Doctor Muhlenberg was 
likewise the sponsor of Johan Albert Weygandt and had him 
with him at the Trappe for a time before securing for him charge 



48 LUTHERAN MISSION IN NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP, 1748 

of the Lutheran church at Raritan, New Jersey, in August, 1749^ 
where Van Duren had been preaching for some years. Wey- 
gandt married Rev. Van Duren's daughter Dorothy about 1750. 

Rev. Johan Bernhard Van Dieran was a native of Konigs- 
berg, Germany, dnd came to New York about 1717 with cre- 
dentials from Rev. Mr. Boehme, court preacher at the chapel 
of St. James in London, whom he had impressed as a youth of 
good parts and an ardent religious zeal. His avowed object 
M as to teach and prepare for the ministry. He was a tailor by 
occupation and secured work at that trade on his arrival in 
New York in the same shop with Johan Michel Schutz, a deacon 
of the Lutheran congregation in New York, then under the 
pastorate of Rev. Justus Falkner, who also was interested at 
first in aiding Van Dieran in entering the ministry. He prob- 
ably taught school for a time and sold books entrusted to him 
by Doctor Boehme. 

Rev. Joshua Kocherthal, who had arrived with his flock of 
Swiss and Palatinates in 1710 and removed with the greater part 
of them to Schoharie, New York, died in 1718 or 1719, and Van 
Dieran, making it appear to the congregation that he had been 
ordained by Dr. Boehme succeeded to the pastorate and preached 
there until 1723, when the Schoharie colony, being deprived of 
the land assigned to them, removed to Tulpehocken, Berks 
County, Pa. 

Parson Van Dieran had promised to come to Tulpehocken 
with the colony and act as their pastor there. He, however, 
did not do so though he visited them at intervals and officiated 
as a pastor. It appears that he had previously visited the 
Lutheran church of Falckner Swamp in New Hanover township, 
Montgomery County, some years before the settlement at Tul- 
pehocken and is charged with claiming that he had been ordained 
by Rev. Anthony Jacob Henkel, the pastor of that church. On 
the recommendation of Doctor Falckner he had also appealed 
to the Swedish ministers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for 
ordination in 1721. He had married Mary, a daughter of Johan 
Michel Schutz, in 1721, a maid of fifteen years, and her father 
became an ardent partisan of Van Dieran. Rev. Justus Falckner 
was growing old and feeble and the Van Dieran supporters were 
planning for Van Dieran to succeed him. Falckner realizing 
this fact and not considering him a safe person had secured the 



LUTHERAN MISSION IX NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP, 1748 49 

promise of his elders that they would apply to the Consistory 
at Amsterdam to send tham a successor in case of his death. 
Falckner died in 1723 and Van Dieran immediately left Schoharie 
and came to New York, and the faction favorable to him began 
their efforts to have him selected as pastor, but the elders, 
despite the opposition of Schutz and his friends, asked the con- 
sistory to send them a pastor. The consistory replied that they 
could not at once secure a suitable man. Van Dieran seems to 
have been preaching irregularly at New York and elsewhere, 
and on receipt of this communication Schutz, securing the 
endorsement of a few influential members of the congregation 
and about forty others not closely identified therewith, wrote 
to the consistory that the council of the church had decided to 
call Reverend Van Dieran and they need not seek further for a 
minister. However, before this letter reached them the con- 
sistory had secured a candidate and examined and ordained 
Wilhelm Christopher Berkemyer, who was already on the way 
to New York when the Schutz letter was received. When he 
arrived and learned what the Schutz-Van Dieran party had done 
he became at once an inveterate and remorseless enemy of Van 
Dieran, w^hich lasted throughout the balance of their lives. He 
prepared a pamphlet printed by Zenger, the famous printer who 
was the defendant in a libel suit for publishing criticisms of acts 
of public officers and defended by Andrew Hamilton of Philadel- 
phia. In this pamphlet he charged Van Dieran of many ofl'ences 
against the laws of the Lutheran church, among them that he cut 
the bread used in communion service with a knife instead of 
breaking it. 

Van Dieran became pastor of a congregation at Hackensack, 
but was finally driven out as result of Berkemyer's persecutions. 
He next went to Raritan, Somerset County, New Jersey, where 
he preached for some time, being succeeded by Rev. J. A. Wey- 
gandt in 1749, the latter marrying his daughter Dorothy in 1750. 

The appearance of Godfrey and John Van Deren in Bucks 
County about 1745, both sons of the wandering preacher, may 
have stimulated the effort to start a Lutheran congregation in 
Northampton where Godfrey was living and in which he enlisted 
the assistance of his wife's wealthy and influential relatives. 
On the records of the Lutheran Church at the Trappe between 
the vears 1750 and 1760 appear the baptismal record of several 



50 LUTHERAN MISSION IN NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP, 1748 

persons, as "baptised at Neshaminy." These include several 
members of the Van Horn family, a daughter of Godfrey and 
Charity Van Duren and a number of others including that of 
Bernard Hellyer, the ancestor of the Hellyer family of Doyles- 
town and elsewhere in Bucks County. This would indicate that 
there was a chapel or meeting place of some kind on the one- 
acre lot, but there is no further evidence of this fact. The 
reference to the lot in deeds of adjoining lands always mentioned 
it as a "graveyard." 

Godfrey Van Duren and his wife Charity removed to Sole- 
bury about 1750, and he was for several years proprietor of the 
tavern at Ruckman's and conducted a blacksmith shop adjoining. 
The deed by which they conveyed the forty-one acre farm to 
Adrien Cornell in 1751 was made while they were residents of 
Solebury. He returned to Northampton township prior to 
1760 and acquired other lands, but finally settled in Southampton 
where he died in 1792. 

His occupation while in Southampton was that of a "Nailer" 
and the inventory of his estate lists machinery or tools for the 
manufacture of nails. His wife Charity died and he was married 
second at Southampton Baptist Church by his wife's relative, 
Rev. William Van Horn, in 1780 to Alice Evans, who survived 
him. His only son Bernard married Margaret Murray in Bucks 
County, but soon after his marriage removed first to Loudon 
County, Virginia, and later to Kentucky. A daughter of God- 
frey and Charity married John Hough of Warminster, who 
settled his father-in-law's estate in 1792, but soon after removed 
to Kentucky. Another daughter married Isaac Longstreth, 
having become a member of the Society of Friends at Horsham. 

John Van Dieran, a brother of Godfrey, came to this section 
while a minor about 1740. and was probably an apprentice to 
Thomas Holcomb, who built the Pine Run mill in 1742. He 
sought and obtained membership in Buckingham Monthly 
Meeting of Friends in 1746, and soon after married Susannah, 
daughter of Thomas Holcomb. Soon after his marriage he 
removed, first to Horsham and later to Roxborough, Philadel- 
phia, where he owned and operated a mill until his death about 
1786. His son Charles was a soldier in the Revolution and 
father and son took up several large tracts of land in different 



LUTHERAN MISSION IN NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP, 1748 51 

parts of Western Pennsylvania, where his other sons, John 
and Charles, were living at the time of their father's decease. 

Godfrey Van Duren was a soldier in the Colonial service in 
1756 and also in the Revolution. 

Rev. John Bernard Van Dieran, the father, died about the 
year 1760, and his wife Mary married George Roreback of the 
Raritan section, who had previously married her sister. The 

will of John Van Duren mentioned "My honored mother M 

Roreback." 

The death of Rev. Van Dieran and the defection of others 
of the promoters of the Lutheran congregation probably defeated 
the hopes to establish a church in Northampton. This zealous 
preacher was probably much more sinned against than sinning. 
He seems to have always been popular as a preacher. The 
difficulties thrown in the way of his receiving ordination prob- 
ably led him to pretend to have received the same when he had 
not. His chief accuser, Berkemyer, was actuated by jealousy 
and his charges are largely trivial as viewed by the layman, being 
mostly that he did not conform to rules of discipline and prac- 
tice of the Lutheran church. 

On June 19, 1819, Isaac Van Horn, the survivor of the trustees 
of the one-acre lot named by Godfrey Van Duren in his deed 
of 1791, made another appointment of trustees as shown by an 
instrument recorded in Deed Book 48, page 13, by which he 
recites the title back to the deed of John Van Horn in 1748 
as given in these pages, the death of his co-trustee, John Van 
Horn, and as "Surviving Trustee for the Religious Society of 
People belonging to Northampton township distinguished by 
the name of Lutherans," names Aaron Feaster, Abram Van 
Horn and Lewis Hagerman as succeeding trustees, "in place of 
said deceased Friends and Trustees to do any act and deed which 
the said John Van Horn and myself by virtue of said power and 
trust might or could have done," etc. 

I made no further search for later appointed trustees, my 
sole object in preparing this paper being to record the attempt to 
start a church nearly two hundred years ago. However, I 
wish to add that David Feaster by will dated August 30, 1871, 
and probated June 18, 1873, bequeathed SI, 500 to the trustees 
of the Reformed Church at Addisville, (formerly the Dutch 
Reformed Church) on condition that they "obligate themselves 



52 LUTHERAN MISSION IX NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP, 1748 

in such manner as my executors think proper to keep the grave- 
yard wall and gates around the graveyard known as the Feaster 
and Hagaman Burying Ground, together with the covering of 
the said walls in good order and repair forever." 

Thus some one was far seeing enough to arrange for the 
permanent preservation of the last resting place of these loyal 
old patriarchs in a sensible manner. 



Preserving "Summerseat" 

By THOMAS B. STOCKHAM, MORRISVILLE, PA. 
(Morrisville Meeting, September 25, 1926) 

HERE at "Summerseat," in Morrisville, Bucks County, 
the Bucks County Historical Society held an interesting 
meeting on May 26, 1903. At that meeting Dr. Robert S. 
Dana read a paper entitled "Morrisville and Its Vicinity," and 
Dr. Richard H. S. Osborne read a paper entitled "Historic 
Summerseat." These two papers are full of interesting facts 
relating to the historic lore of this community.^ You will bear 
with me in quoting Dr. Osborne's list of owners of this historic 
country-seat, which show^s the care that was taken by its private 
owners throughout many generations. 

Dr. Osborne says: "The early records indicate that the lands 
of Summerseat formed a part of a certain property of John Wood, 
an Englishman, who settled in Bucks County in 1678, and took 
up 478 acres of land opposite the falls. The succession of 
owners from 1678 to 1859 is as follows: 1678, John Wood; from 
1684, John Ackerman; 1687, Joseph Wood; 1723, Josiah Wood; 
to 1770, William Wood; 1773, Thomas Barclay; 1791, Robert 
Morris; 1798, George Clymer; 1805, Henry Clymer;^ 1813, 
Elizabeth Waddell; 1859, John Humphrey Osborne." 

This property remained in the Osborne family until Decem- 
ber 15, 1919, when the late Mrs. Ada I. Osborne, wife of Dr. 
Osborne, sold it to Isaiah Burks, and on September 4, 1920, 
Mr. Burks conveyed it to the Washington Heights Realty 
Company, and that Realty Company has since sold it to the 
Morrisville School District, deed recorded August 7, 1922. 

Referring to one other historical fact not related in either 
one of these papers, and before taking up the subject of pre- 
serving this mansion, I would direct your attention to a letter 
written by General John Sullivan to His Excellency George 
Washington, January 10, 1781. This letter was brought to my 
attention by Dr. Carlo E. Godfrey, Director of the Public Record 

1 Bucks County Historical papers, Vol. Ill, pages 237 and 242. 

2 Henry Clymer was the son of George Clymer, and there in the home 
of his son, George Clymer, passed away January 23, 1813. 



54 PRESERVING "su:\imerseat" 

Office, of the State of New Jersey, who is as deeply interested 
in the historic facts of Pennsylvania as he is of his own State, 
and who told me that this letter was in the Library of Congress. 
I wrote to the Librarian of Congress and received a photostatic 
copy of the same, and I hope that when this building is restored 
to its former integrity to have a framed copy of this letter hung 
somewhere on these hallowed walls. The letter reads as follows: 

Barclay's House (near Trenton) Jan. 10, 1781, 

8 o'clock E\eng. 
Dr. Sr. 

We are Happy to inform your Excellency that the terms offered to the 
Pennsylvania troops are at length finally and as we believe cordially and satis- 
factorih' agreed on, and tomorrow we expect the Pennsylvania lines will be 
arranged in its former order, Constitutionally, no Concession has been granted 
them that the critical situation of our affairs did not Warrant and Justice 
dictate. 

As an earnest of their sincerity they have this night sent to us under a 
strong guard the two spies sent out by Sr. Harry Clinton with ofTers of terms 
to them, who are now in the House under a guard of the Philadelphia Light 
Horse, and a Court Consisting of Genels Wayne & Irvine Cols. Butler Steward & 
Majr. Washburn at this Moment determining their fate. Several other Emis- 
saries have been sent out by Sr. Harry, who have more prudently deliverd 
their Credentials to us, whether more Honestly time will determine. In 
short the whole progress of this affair exient the first Tumult has been con- 
ducted on their part with a consistency, firmness and a degree of Policy mixed 
with candor that must astonish every theorist on the nature of the American 
Soldiery; and cover Sr. Harry with Shame and Confusion, if not stigmatize 
him with the appellation of Prince, of Blunderers, for having so illy succeed 
in essays of this kind. 

Commissioners appointed by the Committee of Congress Consisting of 
Col. Atles, Gen. Potter, Mr. Blair, McClaneghan and Capt. Morris of the 
Philadelphia Lt. Horse will proceed tomorrow to adjust their Claims. 

Jan. 11 8 of Clock A. M. 

The British Emissaries are Condemned & will be Executed this morning 
at nine. The Commissioners are now Sitting to Determine which of the 
Troops, ought to be Discharged and which to remain & we Trust this Day 
will Complete the Business. I have the Honor to be most respectfully Dr. 
Genl. your Excellency's most obedt. Servt. by order of the Committee. 

JnO. SULLIV.A.N, 

Chairman. 
To His Excellency, 
General Washington. 



PRESERVING SUMMERSEAT ^> 

Since the last meeting of this Historical Society in Morris- 
ville, the greatest war of all history has been fought. Since the 
eventful sojourn of Washington within these walls in the early 
days of December of 1776, since the visit of Lafa\'ette to this 
venerable country seat in 1824, events have led this great nation 
to a position in the eyes of the world that precludes the possi- 
bility of a continued isolation as laid down by the Father of 
his Country. Science and invention ha\'e made all the world a 
kin and the spirit of the trying days of the conflict which made 
this soil hallowed, the plans that were undoubtedly laid within 
these walls and the events that followed to the turning of the 
tide of battle, the raising of the hopes of a people sorely pressed 
and depressed by defeat has reached across a century-and-a-half 
and the sons of these gallant men enacted similar scenes upon the 
soil of their forefathers in old Europe, and have raised the 
standards of Democracy in the old world. 

Trenton and Morrisville have a heritage as great; and the 
spirit that turned the tide of war in the Revolution has carried 
on, and under the stars and stripes, shoulder to shoulder with 
the bars of France and the cross of Saint George of Great Britain, 
made Chatteau-Thierry the second Battle of Trenton. 

We should preserve Summerseat. The boys returning from 
France in the early formative period of the American Legion, 
turned to find a home and ventured to buy this property; young 
and impetuous, back from the great strife, full of vigor, with 
none of the spirit of serenity that surrounded these sacred walls, 
ventured to turn this building into a club and quarters for their 
organization. The task was too great for them and finally they 
had to abandon the project. Such damage as was wrought in 
turning the second floor into an auditorium is not beyond repair. 
These walls can be restored and the early integrity of the building 
thus preserved. 

A fast-growing community turned its attention to the needs 
for better school facilities and prompted the Board of Educa- 
tion to take over this entire block with a view of retaining this 
house, and building a school on the adjoining grounds. The 
tremendous demands placed upon the School District for improved 
school facilities made it impossible for the School Board to 
expend any funds on the restoration of this historic house. The 
fire hazard and the rapid depreciation of the property in an 



56 PRESERVING "sUMMERSEAT" 

unused condition after having been used as a school house, to 
relieve the congestion during the period that the Robert Morris 
school was being built, caused the board to consider very seriously 
the demolition of this structure. The Morrisville Chamber of 
Commerce stepped into the breach at this point to stay the 
hand of destruction until something could be done. The board 
very graciously consented to this request and gave the Chamber 
of Commerce a certain time to carry out its plans. In the mean- 
time this committee of the Chamber of Commerce has raised 
funds to seal up the hole in. the north Avail of the building as their 
contribution to this work and this bit of restoration will be com- 
pleted before the winter sets in. 

This building on this site is not Morrisville's, is not Bucks 
County's, is not the Commonwealth's, but the Nation's own. 
Mount Vernon, the historical shrines of Boston, Tennet Church, 
Yorktown, Valley Forge and Washington Crossing are national 
shrines and "Summerseat" belongs side by side with them. 
Washington's headquarters were in this building from December 
8 to 14, 1776, and I am of the opinion that within these walls he 
planned the battle of Trenton. 

Scripture tells us that at a certain great battle the Israelitic 
leader had the veil removed from his eyes that bound his sight 
to those things that were earthly and saw standing on the hills, 
legions of angels, ready to strike in his behalf. The knowledge 
that they were there was sufficient to spur him on to victory 
with the human forces at his command; perchance the spirits 
of the legions that wended their way up to the Pennsylvania 
shore of the Delaware river and across the icy stream at Washing- 
ton Crossing appearing before the Hessians on the 26th of 
December in that historic battle were perhaps in France at 
Chatteau-Thierry, and there to encourage the spirit of the boys 
of the great American Division that whipped the Hessians again, 
swept them off their feet and turned the tide for democracy. 

May there be pulled aside the veil that blinds us and confines 
our vision to things material, and upon this occasion view those 
same legions before us, and say, "these walls shall not fall"; 
that we will make this a shrine the equal to any within the coun- 
try and restore this house to its rightful heritage and preserve 
it for posterity. Here was developed a great stragetic plan 
under the direction of a genius and by the guidance of a good 




"SUMMERSEAT" 
Rear view looking east — From photograph taken 1931, after restoration 



PRESERVING "sUMMERSEAT" 57 

God who has made this the greatest nation on earth; and our 
act in thus preserving "Summerseat" will bring to the attention 
of a great people their great debt to him who was "first in war, 
first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen": to 
the one great stroke that made Washington feared and respected 
by the enemy, to the one great event that fixed the destinies of 
the whole world. Here was the birthplace of the thought, 
here was reared the child of action, who struck, yonder across 
the river, that blow which stunned an Empire. 

This should be made an hallowed place, another great shrine 
to remind us that a good God guided the hands of a great man 
and is the one who rules our destinies. 

POSTSCRIPT 

On January 7, 1930, the Morrisville School Board com- 
missioned Mayor Stockham, the author of the above paper, to 
prepare plans for the restoration of "Summerseat" to its original 
lines, to be used as a home economic department of the Morris- 
ville High School, which stands near by on the same grounds. 
After much research and study, plans were prepared, and the 
building now stands restored, as near as has been possible, to its 
historic lines. The restored building was formally dedicated on 
March 24, 1931, at which time the Board of Education gave a 
dinner to an illustrious gathering of about forty-five people. 



Biographical Notice of M. J. Allan Emory, Esq., A. M., LL. B. 

By B. F. FACKEXTHAL, Jr., Sc. D., RIEGELSVILLE, PA. 
(Morrisville Meeting, September IS, 1926) 

IX the passing of Allan Emory this society has lost a valued 
member, one who took an intelligent interest in its welfare; 
every feature of which was of interest to him, Avith its history, 
folklore and archaeology. 

He was the son of Rev. William S. Emory (originally spelled 
Emery), who was born at Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsyl- 
vania, March 9, 1818, and Martha Row, daughter of Colonel 
Jonathan and Mrs. Maria (Minium) Row, who was born January 
6, 1824, at Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, 
where she was graduated at the Greensburg Female Seminary. 
She passed away at Frenchtown, Xew Jersey, December 30, 
1907, in the eighty-fourth year of her age. 

The Reverend William S. Emory (father of Allan) began 
his college career by entering Jefferson College, Class of 1836, 
which in 1865 was united with Washington College to form 
Washington and Jefferson; leaving that institution he entered 
Madison College, situated in his home town, at Uniontown, 
Fayette County, where he was graduated with the degree of 
A. B. In 1849, Jefferson College conferred upon him his Master 
of Arts degree. He then entered the Seminary at Columbus, 
Ohio, where he took a post-graduate course, making the study 
of German a specialty. This served him in good stead in after 
years when he was called upon to preach in both English and 
German, which he could do with equal fluency. He then entered 
the Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg. Pennsylvania, from 
which he was graduated in June, 1844. He was first licensed to 
preach by the English Evangelical Lutheran Synod at Wooster, 
Ohio, September 5, 1844, which license was renewed October 4, 
1845, by the English Lutheran Synod at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. 
He was ordained to the Christian ministry, December 12, 1845, 
at Sinking Valley, Huntington County, Pennsylvania. He 
served charges in Huntington, Westmoreland, Indiana and 
Lebanon Counties in Pennsylvania. In December, 1865, he 
accepted a call to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and in March, 
1866, moved with his family to Kintnersville, in that county, 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF M. ]. ALLAN EMORY 



SQ. 



59 




ALLAN EMOR\- 



where he served a large charge 
consisting of four Lutheran 
congregations, worshipping in 
Union churches, viz. : Spring- 
field, Durham, Nockamixon 
and Tinicum; and at the same 
time preached occasionally in 
other nearby churches, which 
had no regular pastors. He 
continued to serve this charge 
until 1880, when it was divided 
and he was assigned to the 
Nockamixon and Tinicum 
churches. Shortly thereafter 
he moved to Erwinna in 
Bucks County. His health 
failing, he retired from the 
active ministry in 1884 and 
moved to Frenchtown, New 
Jersey, where he passed away, May 1, 1890, in the seventy-third 
year of his age. During 1875,' he and the Reformed pastor, the 
Reverend David Rothrock, were instrumental in building the new 
and enlarged brick church at Nockamixon, which stands on beauti- 
ful grounds near Ferndale in Bucks County.' The Reverend Mr. 
Emory's loyalty to his church is shown by the fact that for a 
period of forty-three years he did not miss a single meeting of its 
synod, and over the same period of time missed attending the 
conference but a few times, and then only on account of sickness. 
Allan Emory, the subject of this notice, was born in West 
Newton, Westmoreland County, June 8. 1848. As a lad he 
attended the public schools of West Newton and Indiana, 
Indiana County, where his father served charges. In April, 
1862, the family moved to Palmyra, Lebanon County, where 
Rev. Emory ministered to a Lutheran charge, consisting of four 
congregations, until 1865. While living in Palmyra, Allan was 
employed as a telegraph operator, and happened in the telegraph 
office on the night of Good Friday, April 14, 1865, when the sad 

1 The Lutheran congregation at Nockamixon was established probably 
as early as 1755. The new brick church erected in 1875 is 42 feet by 78 feet 
4 inches. 



60 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF M. J. ALLAN EMORY, ESQ. 

intelligence was flashed over the wire telling of the assassination 
of Abraham Lincoln. He was not on duty that night, and 
although the ofiice was equipped, as all small telegraph offices 
were at that early day, with an old-fashioned tape-registering 
instrument, Allan, who had learned to read by sound, easily 
read the message, which passed through the Palmyra office saying 
"Lincoln is shot," but could not get any further information for 
several hours. 

In 1865, Allan entered the Academy at Gettysburg to pre- 
pare for college, and in 1867 entered Pennsylvania College at 
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated with 
honor in 1871, wdth the degree of A. B. (Bachelor of Arts), taking 
his A. M. (Master of Arts) degree in course in 1874. While at 
college he joined the Philomatheon Literary Society, which was 
certainly of value to him in after years, and fitted him for debat- 
ing and public speaking. In those days it was more or less 
compulsory for college students to associate themselves with 
one of the literary societies. It is to be regretted that this is 
now optional, with the result that most students avoid this 
important feature of their education, and thereby lose one of 
the great opportunities of a college education ; this is particularly 
true of students taking the full college classical course. I know 
whereof I speak, for I am myself president of the board of trustees 
of a Pennsylvania college. Allan was also a member of the Phi 
Kappa Psi fraternity. 

When Allan Emory first went to Gettysburg to prepare for 
college in 1865, the Civil War had just closed, and the battle- 
field was strewn with relics of that decisive struggle. He was 
for some years much interested in these, and sent back home 
to his friends many bullets, buttons, bayonets, sabres and other 
relics which he picked up on the battlefield. He always claimed, 
and was proud of the fact that one of the professors (Professor 
Jacobs) pointed out to General Buford and other officers, from 
the tower of the Lutheran Seminary, the natural advantages of 
Gettysburg as a place to join issues with General Lee for this 
battle and for the disposition of the troops. 

In 1872, Allan entered the Albany Law School of the Union 
LTniversity, Albany, New York, where he attended lectures for 
one year, and was graduated in June, 1873, with the degree of 
Bachelor of Laws (LL. B.). He then registered as a 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF M. J. ALLAN EMORY, ESQ. 61 

law clerk in the office of B. F. Fackenthal, Sr., Esq., at 
Easton, Pennsylvania, where he remained but a short time, 
and then entered the law office of Lewis Stover, Esq., at Phila- 
delphia. He was admitted to practice as an attorney-at-law 
in the Common Pleas Courts of the City and County of Phila- 
delphia, on October 7, 1876. The practice of the law, however, 
did not appeal to him, nor was it fitted to his natural attainments, 
and he soon decided not to hang out his shingle as a practicing 
attorney on his own account. 

Mr. Emory then associated himself with Mr. Joseph L. 
Cunningham, of New York, who had been a fellow student with 
him in the Albany Law School, and became interested in some 
western gold and silver mining operations, spending considerable 
time in Arizona, Colorado and California, not only as an associate 
of Mr. Cunningham, but also in prospecting on his own account, 
and also as a newspaper correspondent. After the death of Mr. 
Cunningham he succeeded him in representing United States 
Senator John P. Jones in some of his mining operations. F'or 
many years he lived in retirement, doing the things he loved 
to do, sketching and writing for which he had a special aptitude. 
He also spent part of his time in caring for some valuable farm 
lands in Iowa, belonging to his father's estate. 

Mr. Emory was primarily a literary man and an artist, with 
natural ability for sketching, painting and modeling in clay, 
and I have often thought, and still think that he missed his 
calling in life and should have followed the bent of his natural 
abilities, and pursued his studies along literary and artistic lines, 
in which I fully believe he could have made himself eminently 
successful, rather than to have aspired to the wearing of a gown 
or a wig, or to sit on a woolsack, or to engage in prospecting for 
minerals. 

One of his classmates at Gettysburg College writes me as 
follows: "Al. Emory had great literary and artistic mental 
qualities, and it was to the regret of his friends that he did not 
guide his life-work along these lines, instead of law for which 
we all felt he was not naturally adapted." 

While a student at Gettysburg, he wrote many short stories 
and legends, some of which were published in the local news- 
papers. Among those which I have preserved is one entitled 
"Kaskeewawa, An Indian Legend of the Delaware," printed 



62 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF M. J. ALLAN EMORY, ESQ. 



June 30, 187 1 , in the Bucks County Intelligencer, which he located 
at his home town of Kintnersville and at the "Top Rock" of the 
Nockamixon PaUsades. This legend, as well as his other stories 
and poems, show him to have had a versatile and imaginative 
mind, so essential in writing stories. During his college vaca- 
tions he also wrote several plays, three of which he staged and 
presented in his home tow^n and in some of the nearby villages. 
These performances always drew crowded houses. He used 
local talent, which he coached with the utmost patience. For 
all of these he made the stage settings and painted the curtains. 
One of these plays he called "Huahonka" and another "Swatara." 
He also modeled in clay. This feature of his natural talent 
is worthy of special merit. Two busts modeled by him have 
been preserved, one called "Myrtis," made in 1870, the clay 
for which he got from Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg. The other 




'MYRTIS" 1870 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF M. J. ALLAN EMORY, ESQ. 63 

called "Lucile," made in 1873 from clay obtained from Herstine's 
pottery located but a short distance from his Kintnersville home. 
His tools for this work were indeed crude, consisting of an old 
table knife and such other improvised tools. His family tells 
me that in due time they will take pleasure in presenting these 
two busts to our society. Etchings of both are shown herewith. 

It was always a pleasure to go tramping with Al. Emory. 
The beauties of nature appealed to him, and he always saw the 
bright and sunny side of life. He often entertained us by 
sketching the views that presented themselves, for in his home 
neighborhood the Ringing Rocks, Top Rock, Cauf man's Hill, 
Palisades of Nockamixon and the Delaware River scenery pre- 
sented unsurpassed beauty. Some of his sketches as well as 
some of his finished paintings have been preserved. In later 
years (September, 1889) he painted a jar of roses which he pre- 
sented to Mrs. Fackenthal, which I will take pleasure in showing 
you. About the same time he wrote, especially for her, a story 
which he entitled "Dimpy." 

After hearing an opera he could readily play many of the 
airs on his piano, and moreover he often composed music, for 
some of which he would also write the hymns or songs. 

He not only wrote short stories, but he published several 
books, and had material ready for several other volumes. One 
of his published books entitled "Within White Walls," I will 
pass around for your inspection, with his latest photograph 
mounted in the front part thereof. 

He was also a poet of no mean order and at the time of his 
death had material enough for a volume of poems, which he was 
planning to have published. 

In politics Mr. Emory was a Republican, and in 1874, the 
year following his graduation at the Albany Law School, he was 
nominated in Bucks County for the Assembly, but at that time 
the county was controlled by the Democrats and he failed of 
election. 

I do not think he belonged to any clubs other than his college 
fraternity, but he was deeply interested in Freemasonry. He 
was made a Mason immediately on coming of age. He was a 
Past Master of Orion Lodge, No. 56, F. & A. M., of Frenchtown, 
N. J.; a member of Howell Chapter, No. 199, R. A. M., of York, 
Pa.; a Knight Templar of St. Elmo Commandery, No. 14, of 



64 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF M. J. ALLAX EMORY, ESQ. 

Lambertville, N. J., and a Shriner, being a member of Crescent 
Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Trenton, N. J. He was also a 
member of the consistory bodies of the Ancient and Accepted 
Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, and was honored by having the 
thirty-third degree conferred upon him. 

Mr. Emory did not marry. He passed away at his French- 
town home, November 12, 1925, in the seventy-eighth year of 
his age. His funeral was in charge of the Masons. His body 
was laid away in the family plot at Frenchtown, where his 
parents lie buried. He is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Emma V. 
Jones and Miss Clara Bell Emory, both of Brooklyn, New York, 
and one brother, William Edwin Emory, of Washington, D. C. 

Mr. Emory was widely read, familiar with several languages, 
possessed of a retentive memory, and was a genial companion, a 
lovable, honorable and high-minded gentleman. I knew him 
perhaps more intimately than any one outside of his own family. 
I never heard him speak an unkind word of any one, and I always 
admired the lovely traits of his character. 

The following poem, from his pen, was found by a member 
of his family, after his death, in the leaves of a book he was 

reading: 

If I can leave a line 

That will outlast the years, 
Bring cheer to hearts that pine 
And wipe away hot tears, 
I'll be content 
For I will know- 
One life below 
Was not ill spent. 



House Mottoes in Eastern Pennsylvania 

By RE\'. JOHN BAER STOUDT, D. D., ALLENTOWN, PA. 
iDoylestown Meeting, January 15, 1927) 

SWITZERLAND— On the evening of July 19, 1924, in com- 
pany with a group of Huguenot pilgrims, I found myself in 
the delightful Swiss city of Interlaken, just in time to see 
one of those gorgeous sunsets for which the place is noted. The 
snow capped Jungfrau, rising to a height of 13,670 feet, which 
marvelously reflected the golden rays of the setting sun. Our 
landlord declared, "This is a rare Alpine glow indeed." After a 
savory supper I set out to see the town. A few minutes brought 
me to a pension, where, above the first story, extending along the 
whole front of the building, was this legend: 

Wenn du im Hertzex Frieden With peace in thy soil, this hut 

hast wird dir die htette zim becomes a palace. 

Pal A ST. 

And above the second story in similar fashion : 

DeM DER SEIN HaU5 HAT WOHL He WHO PUTS HIS HOUSE IN ORDER 

BESTELLT MACHT DOPPELT SCHOEN ilAKES DOUBLY BEAUTIFUL THE 

DIE GANZEN WeLT. WHOLE WORLD. 

A residence not far distant from the above presented this 
sentiment: 

FrEUND SIE ZUFRIEDEN MIT DEINEM FrIEND BE CONTENT WITH YOUR 

SCHICKSAL Den TROTZ hasten UND fate, for IN SPITE OF YOUR HASTE 

JAGEN BRINGST DU ES DOCH NICHT AND HURRY, YOU ARE ONLY AT TO- 

WEITER BIS AUF HEUTE. DAY. 

On the following day I took an early stroll, in order to discover 
if possible more of these interesting inscriptions. After leaving 
the hotel I soon came upon a house, where the motto was painted 
instead of being cut into the wood. The house was rebuilt in 
1907, and the board with the legend of the old house was placed 
on the new house. The latter date was added: 

1599 Lasset uns am alten so es 1599 Let us cling to the old if 

GUT IS halten 1907. IT is good 1907. 



66 HOUSE MOTTOES IN EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA 

The gable end of a house near by presented a similar senti- 
ment : 

Das Alte Schaetzen, Treasure the old, 

Das neue loben. Praise the new. 

On the side of this same house was the legend : 
EswuENscH mireinicrwaserwill Whatever one may wish for me, 

So GAB IHM GOTT ZWEI MAL SO VIEL. MaV GoD GI\ E HIM A DOUBLE POR- 

TION. 

And on the other side of this house I found: 

ZeRST OB SIE BLICKE, WAS BOEST IS BEFORE YOU LIFT YOUR EYES TO 

FLUECKE. HEAVEN, AMEND YOUR WRONGS. 

BiM SCHAFFE RT ECKE, Dk MUESS's WoRK FAITHFULLY, AND YOU WILL 

DIR GLUECKE. succeed. 

In the wall of what was apparently an old barn I found a log 
on which was incised : 

KUNST UN TrEU HIER ANN NITO ART AND SKILL HAVE HERE NOT 

GESPART DEN 10 TAG BrACHET 1647. BEEN STINTED 10 DAY JUNE 1647. 

Not far from this old stable is the "Chalet Rugenau," at 
number 2 Rugenstrasse. This is perhaps the most mottoed of 
all the Swiss Chalets. The inscriptions continue clear along 
three sides of the house. 

Chalet Rugenau, Emil Gauhl, Baufuhrer (Builder) 

IcH HABE GEBAUT diss HaUS all- I HAVE BUILT THIS HOUSE HERE AT 

HIER ANN DIESE STRASSE. THE STREET. 

Drum muss ich Tadler tadlen, Therefore I must let fault- 

UND HOESSLER HOSSEN LASSEN. FINDERS FIND FAULT AND LET 

DoCH TRAUE ich AUF GoTT. haters HATE. 

Nevertheless I trust in God. 

From the old house that had occupied the site there was 
retained a board for the new. It contains the legend: 

Hute Das Haus, und die da gehen Guard Thou this House, and 

bin und aus. they that go in and out. 

Es wohnt segen drin, ungluech Thy Blessing dwelling therein, 

Mus weigen. misfortune must depart. 



HOUSE MOTTOES IN EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA 



67 



Other inscriptions are: 

Wer auf Gott vertraut, hat 
wohl gebaut. 

Bringst Frieden, kommst herein. 

Unfrieden lass dich assen sein. 

WiLLST DU EIN SCHOENES LeBEN 

zimmeren 

So MUST DICH NICHT UM ANDRES 
BEKUEMMERN. 

17 Das wenigste soll dich ver- 

driessen, 

Muss stets die Gegenwart ge- 

NIESEN 07. 

Du soLLs keinen Menschen has- 

SEN 

Die zukunft Gott uberlassen. 

EiN jeder baut nach seinen Sinn 

Keiner kommt und zahlt fur ihn. 

Alex. Lenz Baumeister 



He who trusts in God hath 
builded well. 

If you bring peace, come in, 
If unrest, then stay out. 

If you wish to live a beautiful 

life 

Then you must not be concerned 

WITH other things. 

17 If small matters annoy you, 
Then constantly enjoy the pres- 
ence OF God 07. 



H.4TE NO ONE and LEAVE THE FU- 
TURE TO God. 



Each one builds according to 

HIS IDEA, 

And no one comes and pays for it. 
Alex. Lenz Masterbilder 



As I was about to turn away from this interesting domicile, 
the owner, Emil Gauhl, came out to greet me. He graciously 
invited me into the house. He was pleased to learn that I was 
from the United States, and was flattered by the interest I dis- 
played in the inscriptions. He informed me that he had built 
the house and that several of the mottoes had been on the pre- 
vious structure which had been erected in 1707. The other 
inscriptions were taken from houses in and about the city. I 
hurried back to the hotel proud of my find. 

At Jenatz in the Grisons, there is a house distinguished by 
this sentiment: 



In N.\men Gottes wil ich bauen 

MEIN ALL HIER AUF DIESEN Pl.\TZ. 

Auf Jesum steht mein Ver- 
trauen; im Himmel such ich 

mein ScH.AlTZ; 



In the name of God I will build 
here on this spot. 
In Jesus I put my trust; in heav- 
en I SEEK MV treasure. 



Throughout the German part of the Swiss confederacy and 
everywhere in Germany are found these delightful house mottoes, 



68 HOUSE MOTTOES IN EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA 

which do so much credit to the moral and religious feelings of the 
people. 

The Swiss and Palatinate settlers of Eastern Pennsylvania 
were familiar with date stones and house blessings in the home- 
land. They came to the woods of William Penn, not to trade 
with the Indians or to search for precious stones, but to make 
homes for themselves and their children and their children's 
children. When an immigrant prospered he soon erected a sub- 
stantial stone dwelling alongside the original log-house. It is 
quite natural that he should desire to mark the attainment of 
this cherished hope with a date stone. Hence, it is that many of 
the old stone farm houses have a date stone somewhere in the 
walls. Frequently the initials of the builder w^ere added, and 
occasionally the names of both man and wife appear. Occasion- 
ally a sentiment or a prayer was engraved upon the date stones. 

House Mottoes in Eastern Pennsylvania — I will now 
invite your attention to the inscriptions and date stones to be 
seen on buildings in Montgomery, Lehigh, Berks, Lebanon and 
Lancaster Counties as far west as the Susquehanna River. 

Our journey which I trust will prove interesting and enter- 
taining, begins with a visit to a stately farm house in the valley 
of the Skippack in the County of Montgomery. It was built 
by Peter Wentz and his good wdfe, Rosina, more than a century 
and a half ago. A stone in the southeastern end of the house 
bears the date 1758. A stone tablet set in the wall where it may 
be seen by all who enter in. It reads: 

P. W. R. W. Jesus Kom in P. W. R. \Y. Jesus come into 

Meine Haus Wei che Ximmer mv house and from it never more 

Mer Her aus. Kom mit Deiner depart. Come and with thy 

GUADEN GUD UN STELLE MeINE GRACE AND PEACE SET THOU MV 

Seel zu Freed. soul at ease. 

General Washington occupied this house October 16 to 21, 
1777. It was here that he received a despatch from Governor 
Clinton informing him of the surrender of General Burgoyne, 
and from it he issued orders for a thanksgiving service. 

Saturday, October 18, 1777 

At Headquarters, Wentz's: Orderly Book. — "The General has his 
happiness completed relative to the successes of the Northern Army. On 
the 14th instant, General Burgoyne and his whole army surrendered them- 



HOUSE MOTTOES IX EASTERN' PENNSYLVANIA 69 

selves prisoners of war. Let every face brighten, and every heart expand 
with grateful joy and praise to the Supreme Disposer of all events, who has 
granded us this success. The chaplains of the army are to prepare short 
discourses, suited to the occasion, to deliver to their several corps and brigades 
at five o'clock this afternoon." 

I am told that the house on the farm of the late Hiram C. 
Anders, about one mile east of the village of Fairview, has a date 
stone, the inscription of which is barely legible. It is the 
earliest of these quaint inscriptions, which portray, so eloquently, 
the feelings of the colonial period : 

Ihr hoellen Geister packt euch Be gone, ye hellish spirits, 

Ih habt heir nights zu sch.\ffen Ye have naught here to do. 

Dies Haus gehoert in Jesu reich. This house belongs to Jesus' 

Lasst es nur sicher schlafen realm 

1731. Let it rest in pe.\ce. 1731. 

At "dead man's curve," near Fagleysville in Falconer Swamp, 
Dr, E. E. S. Johnson informs me, stands a house, the motto of 
which reminds us that all our possessions are but a loan. 

Das HaI'S ist mein This house is mein and yet not 

Und doch nicht mein mein, 

Es kommt ein Andern Another comes (to possess it) 

Es auch night sein and will not be his. 

Er bauet von Johannes Built by Johannes Brunst and 

Brunst und Wilihelmein. Wilihelmein 

This inscription recalls the well-known motto on a house in 
Baumkirchen in Tyrol: 

Dies Hause gehort night mein. This house does not belong to 

Der nach mir kommt augh night me, 

sein; Neither to him who gomes after 

Man trag augh dem Dritten me; 

hinaus; The third one was also bourne 

AcH Gott! wein gehort dieses out, 

Haus? O God, to whom belongs this 

house? 

Lehigh County — One of the oldest buildings in Lehigh 
County is the Steckel or Troxel house. It is situated on the 
Coplay Creek not far from the village of Egypt. The house 
was built by Peter Troxel in 1756. He was born in Switzerland 
in 1718, and came to Pennsylvania with his father, John Troxel, 
in 1737. Upon the completion of the house until the erection of a 



70 HOUSE MOTTOES IN EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA 

church in 1764 the Egypt Reformed congregation met in it for 
divine service. The date stone placed between two of the 
second story windows bears this inscription : 

1756 1756 

GOTT, BEHCET DIS HAUS FUER ALLER GOD, PROTECT THIS HOUSE FROM 

GEFAEHR, FUHR UNSER SEEL INS ALL DANGER, AND LEAD OUR SOULS 

HiMEL's SAAL. INTO HEAVEN's HALL. 

JoHAN Peter Trachsel John Peter Trachsel 

UND Maria Magdalena. and Maria Magd.vlena. 

In 1768 the farm passed into the possession of Peter Steckel, 
in which family it remained until recently. 

One of the landmarks in Heidelberg township is the Hand- 
werk homestead. The date stone of this house is eighteen inches 
long and twelve inches high. The inscription reads: 

Home Built by 

Johannes Handwerk 

1801 

Danket Dem Hern 

Den er ist Freundlich 

The couplet is a part of the first verse of Psalm 107, "Oh 
give thanks unto the Lord for He is good." 

Berks County — My cousin, the late George W. Geist, of 
Frankfort, Philadelphia, related to me, shortly before his death, 
how, in going from Sally Ann Furnace to Lyons Station, he 
found this legend on a house: 

Der einer machts The first one builds, 

Der andere verachts The second disapproves, 

Der nachts sagt was machts. The next says, what's the use. 

I have repeatedly tried to find this building, but have failed. 
Possibly the house has been stuccoed since, and that this philo- 
sophical musing of the builder is covered. The same is perhaps 
true of other mottoes. 

I have frequently visited the Oley Valley, Berks County, in 
search for historical and genealogical data. According to a nota- 
tion, I visited the farm in Oley that was originally the homestead 
of Martin Shenkel, on August 31, 1917. I was in the company 
of the late Rev. Isaac Stahr. Here I came across a date stone 
sixteen inches high, thirty-six inches long, with the inscription: 



HOUSE MOTTOES IX EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA 71 

Martin und Martin and 

Maria Maria 

SCHENKEL ShENKEL 

1766 ' 1766 

Alle die to all 

in diesem haus That go in or out 

gehen aus und ein of this house 

lass dir O Gott Be Thou gracious, 

Befohlen sein O God 

Few country homes are as ideally located as the Rothermel 
home at Merkel's Mill, Moslem Springs. It was erected by 
George Merkel in 1767. Up near the cornice in the front wall 
is embedded a red sandstone with the inscription : 

Georg Mercklen Alle de in diesem 

und haus gehen aus 

Christina 1767 und ein las dir 

O Gott, befohlen sein. 

In the Willow Dale, near Blandon, on the Kauffman farm, 
lately owned by Franklin Seidel, may be seen a similar date 
stone. It is fifteen inches high and twenty-eight inches long. 
The inscription likewise gives the names of the owners, and 
invokes a similar blessing on all who go in and out. 

Alle die in diesem Johannes 

haus gehen aus Kauffman 

UND ein, lass dir, UND SuSANNA 

O Gott, befohlen Kauffman 

Seign 1771 

Not only are these date stones similar in size in inscription 
and position in the walls, but the houses themselves are similar 
in size and general design. So that one cannot escape the con- 
clusion but that these houses were erected by the same master 
mechanic. The years of their erection are accordingly 1766, 
1767 and 1771. 

On the walls of the living room in the Shoemaker mansion in 
the borough of Shoemakersville is painted the legend : 

Gott segne dieser Hause God bless this house, 

Und Alles was da geht ein und And all who go in and out, 

AUS, God alone the glory. 
Gott Allein die Eh. 



72 HOUSE MOTTOES IX EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA 

A marble tablet in the gable end of the house is incised H. & 
C. S. 1768. These letters are the initials of Henry and Charles 
Shoemaker, who erected the dwelling. They were the sons of 
Jacob Shoemaker, Jr., of Germantown. 

Cornelius Freed was one of the first settlers in Albany town- 
ship. In his house the neighbors frequently gathered for safety 
and mutual protection during the several Indian uprisings. It is 
located in the cove known as "the Corner." He placed a stove- 
plate in the side of the building, which was removed lately and 
sold to a scrapman. Happily Dr. Thomas L. Montgomery, in 
his History of Berks County, published in 1886, gives us the 
inscription, by means of which the stove-plate may be identified. 
This plate has been designated by Doctor Mercer, as "The 
Traders." A similar plate is in the collection of the Bucks 
County Historical Society. It is the right side plate of a Penn- 
sylvania jam stove, with the picture of a shipping port, probably 
that of Philadelphia, in the center. Above and below this 
representation are four lines of a rhymed inscription, attacking 
false religion and the blindness of a world of greed. 

Was Night zu Gottes Ehr That is sin which is not to the 
Aus Glauben Geht 1st Suende glory of God, in faith. 

Merk auf Dv Falsches Hertz Beware then false heart, waste 
Verliehrt Ihr Keine Stunde not a single hour. 

Die Ueberkluge Welt Ver The overwise world fails to 

Stehet, Doch Keine Warren recognize true wares; 

SiE Sucht und Findet Koth It seeks and finds trash and 

Und Laest Die Perlen Fahren. loses the pearls. 

In the walls of Hain's church near W'ernersville has been 
retained the date stone of the former building. The inscription 
reads : 

Das Is Eine Hoch Deutsch Re- This is a High German Reformed 

FORMiRTE Kirch. Welche 1st Church. It was erected in the 

Aufgebaut worden 1m Johranno year of Christ, 1766. 

CH 1766. All those that go in and out 

Alle Die Da Gehen Aus Und Ein shall be obedient to God and 

Sollten Gott Und Dem (Konig the (King). 

Ge) horsam Sein. 

There is a tradition that has been handed from generation to 
generation concerning the obliteration of the word Koenig and 



HOUSE MOTTOES IX EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA /3 

the letters g-e of the word "gehorsam." It is said that one Sun- 
day morning the men of the congregation were gathering under- 
neath the trees in front of the church, as \\as their custom, that 
Elder Ruth chanced to look up at the inscription of the date 
stone over the doorway and remarked, "Der verdommet Koenig 
mus raus." So before the service \a as begun, he secured a ladder, 
a hammer and a chisel at the schoolteacher's house nearby and 
removed the Koenig from the lettering of the stone. In so 
doing, however, the letters "ge" of the word "gehorsam" were 
also cut out. In this fashion was King George III excommuni- 
cated by the elders of Main's church. 

Lebanon County — Leaving Berks County and entering 
Lebanon County at the eastern border, w e find quite a few houses 
with date stones. The first that is of special note is the old 
Zeller fort, situated midway betw een Sheridan and Newmans- 
town. Above the lintel of the door is carved in a red sandstone 
what appears to be a coat of arms, and the name: 

Heinrich Zkller 
1745 

At Mill Creek Center, still stands the old Jeremiah Miller 
house, with its massive limestone walls, three stories high, with a 
broken or Dutch roof. It has a fine stairway and elegant mantel- 
piece. High up in the wall is this date stone: 

Jere Mueler 

17 52 

MiiRiA, Cath. M. 

His son erected a grist mill, a Kume-Muhl, hard by the house, 
32 years later. The date stone reads: 

17 84 17 84 

GoTT, Allein Deen Serve God Alone 

Michael Miller Michael Miller 

M. Elisabet Miller M. Elisabet Miller 



Two miles south of Myerstown on a plantation, still in 
possession of descendants, is to be seen the old Spangler house, 
with its quaintly carved date stone, with the inscription : 



74 HOUSE MOTTOES IN EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA 

GOTT GESEGNE DeISE HaUS, 

Un wer da Gott ein und aus 

ICH GE aus ODER EIN 

so stet der dott und wortet 

mein: 17-82 
Jacob-Spengler, C. E. S. B. S. 

P. R. N. 

As one approaches Myerstown from the east, where the 
highway crosses the Owl Creek, stands the Len residence, another 
splendid example of Revolutionary architecture. The date 
stone is inscribed: 

Gott, Gesegne, Die 

SEs Haus. Wer da Get 

EIN UND aus 1777 

Peter Len Efa Lenin 

Several miles beyond Myerstown, near the source of the 
beautiful Tulpehocken, is the Captain Michael Leh house. 
It is one of the best examples of colonial homes, and has two date 
stones, with ornamental carvings. The one contains the familiar 
prayer : 

Gott Gesegne (3 Mensch 

Dieses Haus und Gede nck 

Allen uas da God Der letsten stun 

EIN od 1769 er aus Eva Magdale 

Michael Leh 17 Na Lei-in 69 

It was in this house that Captain Leh, in 1793, entertained 
his old commander, General George Washington, accompanied 
by David Rittenhouse, Robert Morris and Trench Francis. 

The other legend may be rendered : 

Oh man, consider thy last hour. 

Near the Center Square in Lebanon, in 1771, Caspar Schnebely 

erected a house, now the American Hotel. It has two date 

stones. However, instead of devoting one to himself and the 

other to his wife, we come here upon the name of the master 

mason to whom we perhaps owe most of the date stones invoking 

blessings in Lebanon County, and who probably planned these 

colonial homes, now so much admired. 

Gott segne disks 
Maurer in Lebanon „ . 

Haus und Alles uas 
Heinrich Rewalt r- 

,^_, DA GeBT EIN und AUS 

17/1 „ c 

Caspar - Sawina 

Schnebelv a. D. 1771 



HOUSE MOTTOES IN EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA 75 

Some distance west of Bismarck on the old Horseshoe Pike, 
one comes upon the Orth homestead. The date stone reads: - 

GOTT SEGENE DiESES HaLS & GOD BLESS THIS HOUSE AND ALL 

Alles was da Get ein & aus. Got that go in and out. To God 

AlEIN DIE EHR & SUNST KEMEM ALONE TO GlORY, AND TO NONE 

Antern mer. besides. 

Adam & Catherine Orts Adam and Catherine Orts 

1*7 (1 MY) 6*2 1*7 (1 M Y) 6*2 

Leaving Lebanon, traveling westward, one soon comes to the 
home of the pioneer Luther pastor, John Casper Stover. Here 
his son, a Revolutionary soldier, built a house, and marked it 
with two date stones. 

The one again contains the familiar lines of: 

Got Bessegne 

Dieses Haus und 

wer gehet da ein 

und aus. 

Johannes Stoever 

Agnes Stoeverin 

1795 

The second stone has this inscription : 

Friede Sei in Peace be within this house, and 

Diesen Haus with them that are without. 

UND MIT DeHNEN ThIS HOUSE WAS BUILT AnNO 1795. 

Welche Draus 
Dieses Haus 

ErBAUT 1ST 

Anno 1795 

Still proceeding westward one soon reaches Annville and 
turning north the new Steinmetz house presents itself. In the 
base of a porch pillar has been preserved the door-sill of the old 
Ulrich house, which was used by the neighbors as a place of 
refuge during the Indian uprisings. It contains this admonition: 

So OFT DIE ThUER DEN ANKEL As OFTEN AS THE DOOR SWINGS ON 

wendt, O mensch dein end Be- the hinge, O man, consider thine 

DENK. 1751. end. 1751. 

This legend recalls another one of those deeply religious senti- 
ments found on the old house in the Rhineland from whence 
many of the early German settlers came: 



76 



HOUSE MOTTOES IN EASTERN' PENNSYLVANIA 



Wer ein und ausgeht zu der 

Thur 
Der Soll bedenken fuer und 

fuer 
Das unser Heiland, Jesus Christ, 
Die emsige Thur zum Leben ist. 



He who goes in and out this door 
Let him constantly ha\'e in mind 
That our Saviour Jesus Christ 
Is the only door to eternal life. 



The date stones of the old Heilnian house located about mid- 
way between the villages of Greble and Hamlin; which was 
destroyed by lire on Christmas some forty years ago, were placed 
in the wall of the new building. The one may be seen in the 
customary place in the front wall, and the other in one of the 
gables. Again on the front stones Ave read : 
GoTT Gesegne Dieses Haus 
Und was da get ein und aus 
Got alein die ehr 
Und sousten keinen mer 
1770 Ano 

The second stone also contains a familiar legend with, how- 
ever, a second couplet added ; 
Wer Got vertraut hat 
woHL Gebaut 
iM Himmel und auf Erden 

WER SICH VERLEIT 

Auf Jusus Christ 

Dem must der Himmel Warden 

Jacob (1770 Anno D.) Margreda 

Heilman 



Who trusts in God has builded 
well 

In Heaven and on Earth, 

To him who relies on Jesus 
Christ, 

Heaven becomes a sure posses- 
sion. 

Jacob (1770 Anno D.) Margreda 
Heilman 

Lancaster County — In Lancaster County, due probably to 
Mennonite influence, one finds fewer of these prayerful legends 
on the date stones. There are, however, several that attract 
our attention. The first of these is the stately old house of the 
Bricker manorial estate. It contains on the south side in the 
customary place, a date stone with the inscription: 



Gott gesegne dieses Haus 
Und ales uas da geget ein und 

AUS 

Gott gesegne ales sampt 
Und da zu des gauze Lant 
Gott Allein die Ehr 
Sonst keinen Menschen mehr. 
Anno 1759 Johrs 
Peter Bricker Elizabeth 
Brick erin 



God bless this house 

And all that go in and out 

God bless all the people 

And also all the land 
To God alone the Glory 

AND TO NO one ELSE BESIDES 

The year 1759 

Peter Bricker and Elizabeth 

Bricker 



HOUSE MOTTOES IX EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA 77 

The next stone is that of the Oberholtzer Mill on the Little 
Conestago. one mile east of Petersburg: 

Wer Gott vertraut Who Trists in God 

hat wohl gebaut has builded well 

im himmel lnd auf erden in heaven and on earth 

1792 1792 

and immediately below, another stone: 

Jacob Oberholtzer 
Catherine Oberholtzer 

1792 

Hard by stands the old dwelling with the date stone: 

Christian Oberholzer 

Magdalena Oberholzer 

1769 

In East Lampeter Township at Bridgeport, on the Phila- 
delphia Turnpike, there stood until a little more than a quarter 
of a century ago, a house with the legend: 

We will haven an die strassen He who builds along side the 

Mus lose mailer plauderu las- highway, 

sen. Must let loose tongues wag. 

Let us cross over the Susquehanna River to look at what is 
one of the older houses in York County, at Stony Run. It was 
lately owned by Emanuel Landis. In the gable end is the date 
stone with the inscription : 

17 Ano 37 — Hab Ich Anno 1737 have I 

Johann Schultz . Johann Schltltz 

UN Christina Seine e- and Christina, my wife 

FRAU, Dieses Haus — built this house 

Baut 



Recrossing the Susquehanna, on our return, let us pause for a 
moment and observe a beautiful inscription on the lock of the door 
on the west side of the First Reformed Church in Lancaster, 
"which speaks much of the simple piety of the times, when every- 
thing set apart for a sacred use was made to be a monitor of 
piety": 



78 



HOUSE MOTTOES IN EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA 



Nun gehen wir zur Kirchen ein, 
Und unser Heiland Jesus Christ 
wolle bei uns sein. 
Ja, nicht nur heit Allein, Und 

so LANGE WIR AUF ERDEN SEIN, 
SoNDERN so LANG DAS UNSERE 
SEELE LEBET. 

Jesus Gottes Sohn hat die ehren 

Krou. 

Er wolle dock uns auch helfen, 

IN den Himmel's Throu. 

IcH BIN GEKOMMEN DIE SuNDER 
ZU BUSSE ZU RUFEN, UND NICHT 

DIE Frommen. Math. IX 13. 
Peter Kieffer 1756 



Let us now go into the church 
and may our Saviour, Jesus 
Christ be with us. 
Yes, not only today, and as long 
as we are on earth, but as long 
as our souls shall live. 
Jesus, the Son of God, has the 

CROWN OF glory. 

May it be his will to guide us 
into heaven. 

I AM COME to call SINNERS TO 
REPENTANCE AND NOT THE RIGHT- 
EOUS. — Matt. IX, 13. 

Peter Kieffer, 1756 



In vain does one look for date stones with inscriptions among 
the homes of the early Quaker or English settlers, with perhaps 
the single exception of the modest home of the celebrated botanist, 
John Bartram. He placed in the gable end of his house a date 
stone with his name and that of his wife: 

John and Anna Bartram 

1731 

and on a tablet, placed above his study window on the east side 
of the house, 39 years later, he expressed his creed : 

'Tis God alone. Almighty Lord, 
The Holy One by me adored. 
John Bartr.\m, 1770 



Francis Daniel Pastorius had, over the door of his cave dwell- 
ing, the legend: 



Parvo Domus, sed Amica 
Bonis procul este Profanii. 



A MODEST HOME, BUT PLEASING TO 
the good, let evil MEN KEEP 
AWAY. 



William Penn is said to have smiled as he paused to read it, 
on one of his visits to him. 

And now our journey ends. I trust that you will agree with 
me, that in this excursion into Pennsylvania Germandom, we 
have come just a little closer to the thoughts and feelings of the 
early German and Swiss settlers. 



The Last Days of Harness Making in Bucks County 

By rev. DAVID GERMAN, FOUNTAINVILLE, PA. 
(Doylestown Meeting, January 15, 1927) 

HARNESS MAKING in early years, as far back as 1850, 
was a good paying business. I began making harness in 
the year 1864, working for James Frederick, in Douglas 
Township, Montgomery County, Pa., but I never served as an 
apprentice. I followed the trade on my own account at intervals, 
while farming in Doylestown Township until 1900, I then opened 
shops in Doylestown and Fountainville, which were maintained 
until 1924, when they were closed; this was due to the innovation 
of automobiles, which almost completely crowded out driving 
horses, making light harness no longer necessary. This also 
ended the sale of plumes, whips, hearts, fancy spreads, fancy 
rings, and everything else used merely for show in decorating 
the horses. For the same reason whip factories were forced to 
close. Whips were made from all kinds of leather, such as raw 
hide, seal skin, and whale bone, whale bone being the best sellers. 
The harness business required good care, judgment and honesty, 
to build up a good trade, as quality and safety were of the greatest 
importance. It required great care in selecting material of all 
kinds. The leather used was of many kinds, from the hides of 
steers, calves, pigs and sheep. Sheep skin leather was used for 
pads, such as required for collars, breeching, linings and where 
leather was apt to chafe the horses. Sheep leather, being soft 
and pliable, was also used for making little pads to be stuffed 
with cotton, pump pads, nose pads, saddle pads and other such 
like purposes. Pig's leather was used for collars, on account of 
its durability. Raw hide was used for plaited traces also for 
hame-straps, belt-lacers and for other parts where strength was 
required. The main kind of leather used for harness was cow 
or steer hide; this could be bought from wholesale houses all 
over the United States, and was sold mostly by traveling agents. 
Rawhide is made out of untanned cow or steer hides. 

Hardware — Some of the rougher hardware was made in 
blacksmith shops, but the finer and fancy polished goods were 



80 



LAST DAYS OF HARNESS MAKING IN BUCKS COUNTY 



bought of dealers, lines of which were carried in country stores 
and hardware shops. The hardware or trimmings consisted of 
rings, buckles, rivets, small bolts, turrets, etc. These trimmings 
were made of brass, rubber, metal, nickel, often silver or nickel 
plated. 

Tools — Some tools were made by 

the blacksmith, but most of them were 

bought from factories, they consisted of: 

Shavers for splitting leather to make it 

of uniform thickness; round knife to cut 

.^ _ along the scribe marks, and wherever 

I "fffil a straight knife could not be used ; draw 

1 H I 1 knife used to cut long straps in different 

I f-jfi-i 1 widths, used also as a gauge; splitting 

I ~i \i3 knife used to split off uneven parts of 

WMimtffSSm straps; cutting knife used to cut out 

1 ^ slanted and tapered parts where no other 

cutting knife could be used; stitching 
horses; square mandrils to shape up 
leather slide loops and keepers; collar 
stuffer to stuff horse collars with curled hair; creasers to put 
beads along the edges; other tools were: awls, hammers, chisels, 
hies, punches of various kinds, punch-blocks, straight and 
crooked needles, scribing compasses, stitching wheels, pad- 
stuffers, saddle-horse, vises, pincers and various other small 
tools, necessarv to make light and heavv harness. 



STITCHING HORSE 



Harness — A full line of harness consists of heavy harness, 
light harness, halters, bridles, saddles, flynets, and for other 
uses and parts wherever leather is required. For sewing harness 
waxed-thread is used, the \\ ax is made of bees-wax, tar and rosin. 
Heavy harness consists of collar, hames, hame-straps, traces, 
hip-straps, choke-straps, belly-bands, back-band, turnback, 
crupper and a bridle. There are different kinds of traces such as: 
folded-leather, stitched, -platted, rope, rawhide and chain. 
Opinion varies as to which is the best; platted rawhide was often 
preferred, but the best for service is a folded leather trace fastened 
to a pair of old-fashioned root hames. Bridles are made up of 
bits, head-piece, front-piece, throat-latch, side-cheeks, blinds, 
bit-straps, choke-strap, reins and lines. Bits are of different 



LAST DAYS OF HARNESS MAKING IN BUCKS COUNTY 81 

kinds, often made to fit the horse's mouth. Some are or were 
made by the blacksmith. Bits are known as curb, straight, 
jointed, twdsted, double-twisted, and a jaw breaker, which is a 
very severe bit, and used only for unruly horses. Check-reins 
are also part of the bridle. Light harness takes practically the 
same parts as heavy harness, with the addition of martin- 
gales, quilers, and a saddle in place of a back-band. A saddle 
is mounted with hook, rings, breakers, and shaft tugs. Some 
prefer a breast strap instead of a collar and hames, and some 
prefer to omit the blinds. Halters are used to tie the animals 
fast to their stalls and to lead them out to pasture or to water. 
Flynets, used only during tiy season, are made up with long 
strips of leather, punched about one inch apart, with what we 
called "lashes," laced through them. Cheaper fiynets are also 
made out of cord; cord net making was profitable in the year 
1900. They are still being made. 

It is interesting to know how the business of a country har- 
ness-maker was carried on. Customers would place orders 
during the winter, which kept the harness-maker busy until 
spring. When spring time came he would go to the farms of his 
customers, taking his tools with him and repair and grease their 
harness ready for their spring work. Neatsfoot, an animal oil, 
is the best for oiling harness. The harness-maker would go 
from farm to farm, until all were in shape for their spring work. 
This done the harness-makers would return to their shops, until 
harvest time, when they would close their shops, go out in the 
fields and help to gather the harvest; when this was done they 
would again return to their shops and apply themselves to their 
trade again. 



Notes at Random from My Life's Experience 

By MATTHIAS H. HALL, PRINCETON, N. J.* 
(Do\lesto\vn Meeting, January 15, 1927) 

IN 1850, there were many log houses and log barns. A few- 
had thatched or straw roofs. Some fields were uncultivated, 
weeds and briers growing on them. There were many draw- 
wells, water being drawn up by means of a windlass, and on 
some farms well-sweeps were used. 

Many farmers had long rows of cherry trees along the lanes 
or public roads. There were cherries to sell, cherries to keep, 
cherries for the birds, and cherries for the boys. 

White-covered wagons were used to go to church, funerals, 
and other places. Some of them were without springs. 

Buckwheat cakes were baked on the top of tenplate stoves 
or on a bake-iron in the fireplace. 

Farmers shelled much of their corn on a spade by placing the 
sharp end of a spade over a half-bushel measure or a sawed off 
barrel, then sitting astride the handle and pulling the ear of corn 
over the sharp spade. 

If much was to be shelled at a time, they would spread it on 
the barn floor and tramp if off with horses or thresh it off with a 
flail. Some of the corn grown in Bucks County was kiln-dried 
and shipped to Europe.^ There was a kiln for drying corn at 
Spring Valley or what is now Mechanics Valley. There were 
two near New Hope and probably there were others. 

About 1854 or '55, a wave of prosperity came over the coun- 
try. Fields that had been lying idle were cultivated, more 
improved tools and machinery were used, there were nicer wagons 
and sleighs to ride in, and finer clothes were worn. There were 
fewer barefoot boys and girls. Rooms were papered instead of 
whitewashed and people commenced to have musical instruments 
in their homes. The Rev. Samuel Nightingale, about 1856, 
had the first or second piano in Doylestown. 

* Mr. Hall was in the eighty-fourth year of his age when he wrote this 
paper. He was born April 27, 1844, and is now (1932) in his eighty-eighth 
year. He is serving on the board of managers of the Bucks County Historical 
Society. 

1 Grain drying kilns were invented and patented by Henry Quinn, March 
10, 1849. See Vol. Ill of these papers, page 525. 



NOTES AT RANDOM FROM MY LIFE's EXPERIENCE 83 

About that time, people had better stoves for cooking and 
baking. About 1855, people commenced canning fruit and 
vegetables, but it did not become common until about 1860. 
Drying of fruit and making preserves and applebutter have 
declined and are not carried on to their former great extent. 

Harpoon hay-forks with rope and pulleys were used for 
unloading hay with horses. Horse rakes on wheels and grain 
drills were not common until 1860. Sewing machines and 
screens for doors and windows became common about 1870. 

Between 1855 and 1858, large droves of sheep passed through 
Bucks County each from one to five thousand in number. 

Up to 1870, farmers grew their own clover and timothy grass 
seed. The seeds of many noxious weeds were brought in between 
1870 and 1890; among these were the yellow-top daisy, wild 
radish, wild mustard, wild lettuce, dodder, chickory, a species 
of thistle and others. 

A very noxious weed, known as horse-nettle in Bucks County 
and Sodom-apple in Chester County, spread from Humphrey 
Marshall's botanical garden in Marshalton, Chester County, 
before 1855; from there it has spread across to Bucks and in 
more distant places; probably ere long, it will be on every farm 
in Bucks County. 

A plant by the name of gallinsoga, the seed of which was 
brought from South America about 1905, is bushy and has a 
small flower, is now found in many gardens. 

Alsike clover was first grown on farms in Bucks County, 
between 1895 and 1900 and alfalfa about ten years later. 

Different ways that were practiced in planting corn are as 
follows: One of the early ways was to plow the whole field in 
ridges, four furrows to a ridge, planting corn in rows on the 
ridges. 

Still another way was to plow the ground, harrow it, then 
plow two furrows to a ridge four feet apart; then mark the other 
way with furrows four feet apart and plant at the intersection 
of the ridges. Ridging was abandoned about 1860. To plant 
a field of eight or ten acres with corn in a day, they would have 
the ground all ready and marked one way, then two men with 
plows, one horse to a plow, would mark the rows the other way. 
One marking rows eight feet apart running to poles. One pole 
at each end and one in the middle of the row with white or red 



84 NOTES AT RANDOM FROM MY LIFE's EXPERIENCE 

rags on each pole to make them conspicuous. The other man 
marking rows without poles. 

Three boys or girls were needed to drop the corn, and three 
larger boys or men to drop the compost, consisting of short, dry 
manure prepared for the job, dropping a small handful on each 
hill. Then three men would cover with hoes. About 1875, 
sleds were drawn by horses (a man riding), marking two rows at a 
time. They also used coverers drawn by horses about that 
time. About 1890, corn planters were used. By 1910, about 
all the corn was planted with planters. 

Next, our wild birds and animals. The groundhog made 
their first appearance about 1890 in central and lower Bucks 
County, and made many dens suitable for foxes. This may 
be why foxes have become more numerous than formerly. 

Hollow trees have become so very scarce that racoons and 
gray squirrels, flying squirrels, also owls, flickers and other birds 
that build in hollow trees have become very scarce. The barn 
swallow is the only one of our native birds that is as numerous 
today as it was seventy years ago. Seventy-five years ago it 
was a common sight in the twilight of the evening of the summer 
time to see a flock of one hundred or more night hawks dipping 
and diving over a field after insects that flew only at night. 
There were enough cuckoos to keep the caterpillar from being 
very destructive. Clifi^ or jug swallows were quite common 
until about 1860. They built nests of mud under the eaves of 
barns, leaving in each a small round hole to go in and out. 

Our mowing machines and other heavy machinery have been 
very destructive to land-turtles that formerly were very numer- 
ous. On a farm near Pineville, Bucks County, upon which I 
lived, a land-turtle with the initials (H. S.) of Jonathan Heston, 
date 1795, was frequently seen up to 1870. This date was 
known to be correct by the family that had lived on the farm 
during that time. About 1900, while plowing for oats in April, I 
plowed a turtle under, not knowing it at the time. In plowing 
for wheat in August, I uncovered it. It was on its back fast. I 
knew it had been there all that time from the efi'orts it had made 
to turn itself. I loosened it and it walked off, it having missed 
one crop of strawberries. 

I have seen the seventeen year locusts come five times and 
they have been fewer in numbers each time. On two of these 



NOTES AT RANDOM FROM MY LIFE's EXPERIENCE 85 

occasions some patriotic fellows stayed a few days longer than 
the rest and uttered their last notes on the Fourth of July. 
Texas flies made their first appearance about 1890. The Colorado 
potato beetle came in 1874 in small numbers. 

The chestnut tree blight reached Bucks County about 1907, 
and has killed about all the large growth of chestnut timber. If 
it has run its course, it will take hundreds of years for the few 
little sprouts and bushes that are left to reforest our land with 
chestnut timber as good as it was when the blight came. It 
may be well to state that chestnut timber grew better on light 
soil than on heavy soil. One of the best chestnut timber dis- 
tricts in Bucks County was the sandy ridge from Doylestown to 
the Delaware River. The outlines are as follows: commencing 
one mile west of Doylestown, from there to Furlong, thence 
along the north side of the limestone valley to the river, thence 
to Lumberville, thence west along the valley to a mile north of 
Doylestown, thence to the place of beginning. 

There was a good bit of chestnut timber on the Buckingham 
Mountain and on the Jericho Hill, also west from Neshaminy 
Falls and Bridgeton into Montgomery County. There were 
some chestnut timber districts in the upper part of Bucks County. 
But I am not able to outline them. The oftener chestnut timber 
was cut off, the thicker it grew the next time, many sprouts 
coming up from every stump. It being a rapid grower from the 
stump, sometimes it crowded out other timber. In about thirty- 
five or forty years it grew large enough for telegraph or telephone 
poles and fencing timber. In clearing of timber land some chest- 
nut trees were left that grew very large — ranging in size from 
two to eight feet in diameter and bore many chestnuts. I 
learned from experience that in whipping the burrs off just before 
they were ripe the tree would die the next year. From 1850 to 
1860 chestnuts sold in Doylestown from six to ten cents a quart, 
in 1875 at fifteen cents a quart. 

On a farm that I owned in Upper Makefield there were two 
chestnut trees near the \\Vightstown Township line and near the 
public road. One was six feet and the other seven feet in diam- 
eter. These trees had many hollow limbs that made a good 
home for hoot-owls and opossums. One night as I was passing 
one of these trees, I saw a small kitten at the butt of the tree. 
Evidently a mother cat had kittens in one of those hollow limbs. 



86 NOTES AT RANDOM FROM MY LIFE's EXPERIENCE 

the kitten having ventured out the rotten bark broke loose and 
let it fall down. I have since thought it might have been a 
wild cat. That was about 1890. 

Wire superseded timber for fencing about 1880; up to 1880 
when a new barn was built, twenty to forty men, from the sur- 
rounding neighborhood, were invited to help the carpenters raise 
the timbers. 

Among the changes that have taken place in the last 25 or 
30 years, the blacksmith and wheelwright shops have taken an 
important part. Up to 1900, almost every village had a black- 
smith shop. There were also some in the rural districts. By 
1920, nearly all the wheelwright shops had been closed and about 
four-fifths of the blacksmith shops. Some of these blacksmith 
shops had been in operation one hundred years or more. There 
were five in Wrightstown Township and now but one remains. 
There were seven in Upper Makefield Township, now only two 
remain. There were fourteen in Solebury Township and four- 
teen in Buckingham, seven in Plumstead, four in Doylestown 
Township. Now there are none left in Doylestown Township. 

About 1870, our gristmills and water-powers commenced to 
go into a decline and by 1920 four-fifths of them had closed. 
Some of them had been in operation 150 years. 

Oil works for making oil from flaxseed were taken out of the 
Mechanics Valley mills in 1860. Oil was made from hickory 
nuts in 1860 at Bridge Point mills from nuts gathered from the 
woods. These mills were originally intended to make oil from 
flaxseed. 

In 1860, on a portion of the north end of Bowman's Hill, 
there was a dense growth of spruce and also at Dark Hollow 
and Spruce Hill on the Neshaminy. 

The darkest days in the history of agriculture since 1850 is 
the present. Up to 1875, farmers could get the very best of 
help. In wages, they could compete with any other industry. 
Since about 1875, it has been gradually getting harder to get 
good help. Today there are but few farmers that have good 
help and a great many have no help at all. Consequently, there 
are thousands of idle and uncultivated acres in Bucks County 
that had been cultivated for two hundred years. Homesteads 
now lie idle where six or seven generations of the same families 
had formerly lived and prospered. The farm depression that 



NOTES AT RANDOM FROM MY LIFE's EXPERIENCE 87 

has taken place in Bucks County and other places is just as 
much a part of our history as is the success or defeat of our 
armies. 

In four townships, Upper Makeheld, Buckingham, Solebury 
and Plumstead, it has been estimated that there are six thousand 
acres now uncultivated that formerly were under the plow. 

When Philadelphia had three hundred thousand or more in 
population and it took nearly a day to take a load of marketing 
there, the farmers of Bucks County were prosperous. Today 
Philadelphia has two million of people and the farmers can 
reach it in two hours by automobile with a load of marketing 
and yet these thousands of acres remain uncultivated. What 
has caused this depression in farm industry? Shall I give my 
opinion as to some of the causes? 

For more than a hundred years we have grown a surplus of 
farm products. This surplus is sold in the world's markets, in 
competition with those products grown by cheaper labor. This 
surplus fixed the price of the whole crop, while ours is grown by 
higher priced labor. One reason why the depression has been 
increasing is the higher price of labor. In different parts of the 
world, there are very fertile agricultural countries that are being 
developed and their products are grow^n by cheaper labor and 
on cheaper land than ours and are competing in the world's 
markets with ours. 

Consequently, the value of farmer's labor has been reduced 
to the level of the wages in those countries. Our farm values 
are being reduced to conform with the cheap lands of Argentina, 
Australia, Canada and other countries because we have to sell 
in the same markets at the same price. 

What is the remedy? A bounty on exports to be adjusted to 
suit conditions which the farmers are not likely to get because 
it would increase the price of farm products and the cost of living 
and the consumer would vote it dowm. 

W^hile we have a surplus without an export bounty more idle 
acres, more empty barns may be expected and the worst is yet to 
come. 

Our merchant marine is laboring under the same disadvan- 
tages as the farmer and if the government does not give some 
relief, our merchant marine will go into a decline just as some of 
the farms of Bucks Countv have done. 



River Boulders or Cobblestones Used for Paving 

By JAMES H. FITZGERALD, MECHANICS VALLEY, PA. 
(Doylestown Meeting, January 15, 1927) 

THIS paper relates to a former industry of Bucks County, 
now almost forgotten, namely: the gathering and shipping 
of cobblestones to be used in paving streets. My personal 
recollection covers a period of ten years, from 1875 to 1885. A 
large number of men and boys found profitable employment in 
taking these rounded stones from the bed of the Delaware River, 
and from certain fields in the valley of the Delaware, all of which 
were washed down the valley from the great northern ice glacier. 
As Philadelphia was the principal market, our inquiry in refer- 
ence to paving streets is confined to that city. Cobblestones 
used in Trenton were taken directh' from the river to the capital 
of New Jersey. \^ery little use was made of them in Bucks 
County towns except to pave stable-yards and gutters. I 
noticed that a gutter, to carry off water on the Foulke property 
in New Hope, was paved with them. 

In 1750, a Grand Jury of the County of Philadelphia reported 
to the Court "the great need of watchmen and paved streets. 
Of the former they would repress nightly insults; and of the 
latter, frequent complaints were made by strangers and others 
of the extreme dirtiness of the streets for w-ant of paving." 
Benjamin Franklin in his Memoirs says that he was "active in 
advocacy of paving, lighting and cleaning of the streets." 

From Watson's Annals we learn that very little effort was 
made to pave the streets before the year 1761. The first endeavors 
were limited to means obtained from lotteries. Second Street 
from High (now Market) to Race Street was paved in that year. 
In 1762 an act was passed "regulating the pitching, paving and 
cleansing the highways, streets, lanes and alleys within the 
settled part of Philadelphia." The first curbstones w^ere set 
in Water Street from Market to Arch about 1786-8. A change 
was also made in the manner of paving. Several streets where 
the passage of water was great had the channels or gutters in 
the middle. 

Before proceeding to pave a street with cobblestones it was 



RIVER BOULDERS OR COBBLESTONES USED FOR PAVING 89 

graded and given a coat of gravel or ashes to a depth of several 
inches. The paver placed tne cobblestones on end, using a tool 
with a short handle resembling a pick with a poll. When neces- 
sary some of the gravel was picked from the bed in placing the 
larger stone so that the surface would be even. The paver gave 
the stone a sharp rap with the poll end of the tool. A generous 
quantity of gravel or sand was spread and raked over this sur- 
face in order to fill the interstices. The cobblestones were then 
rammed tight into place. The tool used was of oak or hickory 
about four and a half feet in height and from four to six inches 
in diameter with an iron band near the bottom. There were 
two handles. One was inserted at a point near the center at 
right angle; the other was on the top and vertical. The stand- 
ard weight of this tool was fifty-five pounds. 

I have no evidence to show that cobblestones were shipped 
from points in Bucks County prior to the construction of the 
Delaware Division Canal from Bristol to Easton. From Davis' 
"History of Bucks County" we learn that ground was broken 
for the canal at Bristol, October 28, 1827. The basin at Bristol 
was finished in 1830 and the canal formally opened from Bristol 
to New Hope, December 7, 1830. In 1854, the outlet lock at 
New Hope was built. Through this lock canal boats were 
lowered into the Delaware River and fastened to a cable and 
taken across to the New Jersey side where the>' were raised by 
another lock into the feeder of the Raritan Canal. Mention 
has been made of this canal because its operation gave a great 
impetus to trade in New Hope and to the shipment of cobble- 
stones from points in Bucks County. During the summer 
months when the river was low, and the water warm, flat boats 
from twelve to eighteen feet in length were anchored in shoal 
water. The pickers stood on the river bottom and used a long- 
handled fork, made for the purpose, tossed the cobbles into the 
boat. A grapple was sometimes used, especially when the 
stones were heavy. When the boat was laden it was propelled 
with the use of poles to the shore and unloaded. "Boothers," 
meaning boulders, was a local name given to these cobblestones. 
On bills-of-lading, however, they were called "pavers." Stacy B. 
Brown, of Newtown, and my associate Jury Commissioner, 
informs me that his grandfather, Stacy Brown, of Brownsburg, 
born 1796 and died 1879, was engaged in the industry; and that a 



90 RIVER BOULDERS OR COBBLESTONES USED FOR PAVING 

drag or "boother rake" with twelve teeth or prongs was used to 
drag the cobblestones from deep to shallow water. This drag 
was purchased in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. From the banks of the 
river the cobblestones were hauled to the canal bank on carts 
and wagons where they were loaded on canal boats. At Upper 
Black Eddy, Pa., John Haney and others used mules while 
John Scheetz, Sr., and Michael Sigafoos of the same place, drove 
yokes of oxen. Stacy Brown, of Brownsburg, also used oxen in 
hauling. 

Pickers, when not paid by the day for their labor, sold the 
stone in boat-loads to a shipper, who, in turn, sold them to a 
dealer or contractor in Philadelphia. The toll paid by the 
shipper of a cargo to the canal company was one mill for one 
thousand pounds per mile with an additional toll of two cents 
per mile for the boat. Thomas N. Ryan, who for a number of 
years was Collector of Tolls at New Hope, informs me that for 
the convenience of pickers and to avoid the expense of hauling, 
canal boats were lowered into the river at New Hope and fastened 
to a "ring rock." After being loaded with cobblestones the canal 
boat was raised into the canal. These ring rocks were located 
at points in the Delaware River where, owing to shallow water 
and swift currents, the Durham boats could not be propelled 
upstream by the use of oars or poles. A rope was fastened to 
the ring and the boat was pulled by using the capstan. Buoys 
marked their location. 

Cobblestones for paving were also picked from the land 
throughout the Delaware River valley. The owners of such 
land and their location were: John E. Holahan and William H. 
Gwinner, Bridgeton Township; Matthew Sheridan, Tinicum 
Township; John A. Beaumont, W. H. H. Thornton, Henry 
Wynkoop and Stacy Brown, of Brownsburg. 

Shipments of cobblestones were made from nearly all points 
on the Delaware Division Canal from Easton to Yardley. For 
the names of shippers and other data the writer is indebted to 
Peter B. Agnew, of Bristol; Bernard McDonnell and Thomas N. 
Ryan, of T<Jew Hope. 

Raubsville was the home of Anderson Colvin, Philip Reese 
and the Stecke Brothers who made weekly trips with eight 
boats to Philadelphia. In addition to loading their boats in the 
five mile level below Easton, their boats were sometimes lowered 



RIVER BOULDERS OR COBBLESTONES USED FOR PAVING 91 

into the Delaware River through an outlet lock in the dam of 
the Lehigh River at Easton and were loaded with cobblestones 
brought from points above that city. William Warner of 
Riegelsville shipped three boats weekly. John Hoffman of the 
same place was also a shipper. Aaron F. Harwick of Upper 
Black Eddy owned five boats, making weekly trips. The names 
of the Harwick boats were: Past Grand, Dundee, Pawnee, 
Weehawken and Two Brothers. George Sigafoos of Lodi (near 
Upper Black Eddy) kept two boats going for some time. Joseph 
Samsel of Erwinna was the owner of the boat "Colonel W. W. H. 
Davis," and Elias Samsel of the same place the boat "Clipper." 
Moses Bird of Point Pleasant was also a shipper with his boat 
called "Colonel Ellsworth." The captains of the boats were, 
as follow's: Abraham Deihl, Nelis Baylor, Samuel Fretz and 
Calvin Strong for Aaron Harwick; Wilson Tettemer and Hiram 
Laubenstone for Joseph Samsel; John Louder and Josiah Carty 
for Elias Samsel. The Lawless Brothers of New Hope: Jere- 
miah, Thomas and John, each owned a boat and were shippers 
and captains. Another brother, Peter Lawless, was engaged in 
the work occasionally. The Lawless Brothers also loaded at 
Borden's Lock near Yardley. Bernard McDonnell, ex-Recorder 
of Deeds of Bucks County, informs me that he was a captain of a 
canal boat and piloted a great number of cargoes to Philadelphia. 
He brought two loads from Parryville on the Lehigh River. 
These cobblestones, however, were inferior in quality as they 
were easily broken, and we do not find any further shipments 
were made from that point. The wharves to which consign- 
ments were made were: Mead Alley, Shackamaxon, Christian 
and Reed Streets. Among the contractors to whom consign- 
ments were made was John M. Mack, the founder of the present 
firm of The Mack Paving Company, Philadelphia. 

Favored with a letter of introduction from our society, I had 
the pleasure of meeting C. E. Myers, Deputy Chief of Highways, 
Department of Public Works, Philadelphia. The information 
which Mr. Myers obtained for me is of such great value that I 
will conclude this paper with his researches. I will now introduce 
Mr. Myers, who says: 

"I find from our records that we have available the titles 
only of ordinances from 1701 to 1850. From 1850 to date we 
have complete copies of ordinances. Beginning somewhere 



92 RIVER BOULDERS OR COBBLESTONES USED FOR PAVING 

around 1750 I find ordinances from then on up to about 1850 
appropriating money to the Committee of Public Highways for 
street improvements and repairs but not specifying the streets 
by name. From this I would assume that whatever work was 
done was by labor hired directly by this Committee and not by 
contract and that the work such as it was — probably of very 
crude nature — consisted of very little actual paving, but rather 
a scheme of keeping in condition existing dirt roads. During 
this same period, however, a number of sewers were placed and 
grades were established on various streets throughout what is 
now the central part of the city and on each of these the street 
was specifiied. 

"Some time prior to 1850, pebbles, or what we now call 
cobblestones, had been used to some extent in the city. The 
first record I find of a change from these pebbles to dressed 
stone (granite blocks) is one of March 14, 1850, and again April 
8, 1852, when ordinances were passed authorizing the repair of 
the existing pebble pavement on Delaware Avenue. (See 
Act of Legislature of May 25, 1829, relating to paving the streets 
of Philadelphia. A later ordinance for the same purpose was 
passed March 16, 1854, but was repealed by an ordinance of 
April 27, 1854. The repealing ordinance states that 'the funds 
appropriated are for the purpose of paving part of Delaware 
Avenue with cubical blocks and repealing the ordinances 
authorizing the repair to the pebble pavement.' This leads me 
to believe that this is the beginning of the use of a hand-cut 
block. 

"I find an earlier record authorizing the improvement of 
High Street (now Market), dated April 21, 1808, with a supple- 
ment of October 6th of the same year, but it does not state any- 
thing about the character of the improvement. It undoubtedly 
was done with pebbles with the gutter in the middle of the street. 

"The first thing in the way of new facts is the ordinance 
approved June 12. 1868, which states briefly that 'from that 
date on all the section of the city lying between the Delaware 
and the Schuylkill Rivers, and from Tasker Street to Girard 
Avenue that may at any time in the future require paving or 
repaving cubical blocks must be laid. These blocks must be of 
approved materials and have a depth of five inches, to be four 
to six inches long and from two and one-half to three inches 



RIVER BOULDERS OR COBBLESTONES USED FOR PAVING 93 

wide, placed upon a bed of anthracite coal ashes, gravel and 
sand with a depth from top of finished stone surface to natural 
ground of twenty inches.' It further states that, 'streets in 
Germantown, Frankford, Manayunk and West Philadelphia 
must be laid of rubble pavement which shall be stone irregular 
in shape, having a depth of from six to nine inches, a length of 
from five to twelve inches, with a flat top surface and a width 
at its Avidest part not to exceed four inches, placed on a layer of 
gravel and ashes.' The same ordinance further directs that as 
any old cobble streets are repaved or replaced the Chief Com- 
missioner of Highways shall sell the cobblestones to the highest 
bidder. It further provides that in the extending of paving 
above or beyond limits as defined above cobblestones may be 
used unless a future ordinance provides otherwise. These cobble- 
stones must be placed upon the same sub-layers of gravel and 
ashes as specified for rubble paving, no stone, however, to exceed 
nine inches nor be less than six inches in depth and they are to 
be set close, breaking joints and to have their greatest length 
upright and vertical as to position and to be rammed until no 
further impression can be made upon them with a fifty-five 
pound rammer. Relative to prices — the ordinance states that 
the cubical block paving shall not exceed in cost three dollars 
per square yard, the rubble one dollar and a half per square 
yard and the cobble paving one dollar and twenty-five cents per 
square yard. I think that any cobble paving laid after this 
date was done by City forces and not by contract. While I 
have not found any ordinances authorizing cobble paving after 
this date, yet there must have been some done. Peter J. Leone, 
President of the Municipal Paving Company, Philadelphia, who 
is an old paver, tells me that he worked on extensive repair work 
on cobble pavement as late as 1910. 

"I cannot give you the total mileage of streets paved with 
cobble. On January 1, 1924, there were less than four and one- 
half miles and about three and three-fourths miles of rubble. 
As to total mileage of paved streets we have very accurate reports 
from the year 1891 to date, and in 1891 there were in the City 
of Philadelphia a total paved mileage of seven hundred and 
fifty-six miles plus an additional of thirty-seven miles of macadam. 
At the same time there were four hundred and fifty-two miles 
of unpaved streets. 



94 RIVER BOULDERS OR COBBLESTONES USED FOR PAVING 



^ 



The cost of paving varied so greatly 
that it is interesting to note the prices 
specified as the maximum in the 1868 
ordinance. At the present time our paving 
figures per square yard for the smooth 
dressed granite blocks, including a concrete 
base with a cement sand cushion and 
grouted surface, is approximately $7.50. 

"As far as I can ascertain there is no 
record of the price the City paid for 
cobblestones, nor do I have any method 
of ascertaining the unit of value whether 
by the ton, perch or boat load. 

"In reply to your question as to 
organized labor — the Pavers and Rammers 
Union of America has three locals at the 
present time in Philadelphia, namely, Nos. 
46, 54, and 77. This Union is afifiliated 
with the American Federation of Labor. 
It was organized in this city about 1910. 
About the year 1900 paving was paid for 
at the rate of $1.75 per ten-hour day. 
PAVER'S RAMMER j^^^^^ ^^jq ^^^ ^^-^^ ^^^ ^2.75 per nine- 

hour day. During 1926 the Union workers received between 
Sll and $12 per eight-hour day, and their contemplated 
demands for 1927 are $13 per eight-hour day. 

"Relative to the question as to the liability of street passenger 
railway companies for the paving of streets occupied by them, I 
can state that even prior to 1890 these companies endeavored 
to avoid their obligations of paving the streets which they 
occupied with rails. They carried the matter through the 
Court, losing each time and finally on October 5, 1891, the 
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decided that the passenger 
railway company within the city limits of Philadelphia must 
repave with improved pavements all streets occupied by them 
from curb to curb. At this time the City had 756 miles of 
improved streets of which quantity approximately 282 miles 
were occupied by street railway companies We are today 
working under what is known as a 1907 Agreement, which was 
approved by the Mayor July 1, 1907. At that time the Phila- 



RIVER BOULDERS OR COBBLESTONES USED FOR PAYING 95 

delphia Rapid Transit Company controlled the underlying com- 
panies and the agreement was made with it. At that time they 
were relieved of 479 miles of street maintenance, in considera- 
tion of which they were to pay to the City Treasury each year a 
sum of vS500,000 for a period of ten years, after which time the 
amount increased on a sliding scale." 

I now wish to show to you and present to our society these 
grappling tools, also the tools procured for this society 
by Mr. Myers (exhibiting and explaining tools). These tools 
were used by the pavers and rammers in laying cobblestones as 
well as rubble and granite block pa\'ing. 




UPPER — Forks for grappling boulders from bed of river. 
LOWER — Paving tools used for setting paving blocks in streets. 



The Early History of Point Pleasant 

By warren S. ELY. DOVLESTOWN, PA. 
(Point Pleasant Meetirg. September 10, 1927) 

THE history of the English settlement of the section of Bucks 
County lying along the Delaware River between Centre 
Bridge and Durham pertains more particularly to the 
period between 1735 and 1760, a half century and more after 
the Quaker settlement of lower Bucks. The Quakers were good 
judges of land for agricultural purposes and like the Germans 
who arrived later shunned the rocky hillsides along the Upper 
Delaware and its tributaries. Even the speculative ventures 
of the second generation of the Quakers in taking up land in 
Upper Bucks, in Plumstead, Bedminster, Richland and Spring- 
field show their shrewd discrimination in this respect. 

There was also another reason for the slow^ settlement of 
Tinicum. The Indians remained longer in that section than 
in the other lands of Upper Bucks lying further westward. Just 
prior to the Indian Walk of 1737 (made in consummation of the 
purchases of 1686, for as much land lying between the Delaware 
and the Neshaminy, above Wrightstown, comprising land as 
far back in the woods as a man could walk in a day and a half), 
the Indians made the claim that the bounds of this purchase 
would not reach farther than a little above the mouth of the 
Tohickon. Again, the township of Tinicum, except a small 
triangular tract lying between the Delaware and the Tohickon 
at its mouth was laid out in two large tracts each nearly 5,000 
acres; the first to Jan Strieper, a German who never came here, 
and whose land was settled on by squatters; and the second to 
the Pennsylvania Land Company of London, who leased but did 
not sell land. 

Considering the immediate site of the village of Point Pleasant, 
\ve find that the practically whole built-up portion of the village 
is located on two tracts surveyed to Matthew Hughes of Bucking- 
ham, a prominent Colonial justice and legislator, in 1737 and 
1 740, which comprised the whole river front of the present village 
from the "Eddy" to the upper limits of the village. The upper 
tract in Tinicum township crossing the Tohickon near its mouth, 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF POINT PLEASANT 97 

at approximately the site of the bridge now spanning that creek 
recrossed Tohickon on its eastern boundary near the mouth of 
Gaddis Run and extended of that width up the Delaware River. 
The other tract extended from the lower bounds of the upper 
tract down the river to the "Eddy," extending farther inland 
than the other. 

■ The Ferry Established — Immediately south of the latter 
tract there was surveyed by Warrant dated February 12, 1735, 
to Enoch Pearson a tract of 100 acres. The line between this 
tract and the lower Hughes tract was the site of the ferry at the 
"Eddy." From the minutes of the Board of Property, we copy 
the following: 

"On 11 mo. (February) 16, 1739, Enoch Pearson who, together with 
Matthew Hughes, having long appHed for the grant of a ferry over Delaware 
River at the mouth of Tohickon Creek, came down without Matthew Hughes, 
who was sick. It was directed that Richard Mitchell of Durham & Nicholas 
Scull view the Banks of the River at this point to ascertain its suitableness as 
the site of a ferry" to go on the Lands of the said Enoch & Matthew and 
carefully view the banks of the River for discovering the best & fittest place 
for landing of Boats & Flatts and also the most convenient Road or passage 
leading to or from such landing place and to make report in the plainest man- 
ner of their proceeding to the Proprietary the better to enable him to deter- 
mine the affair;" 

"6 mo. 23, 1739, Matthew Hughes & Enoch Pearson both present after a 
long Contest about the Grant of the ferry over Delaware River, at last agreed 
that forsomuch of Mathew Hughes Land as shall be touched or injured by 
means of the ferry the said Enoch Pearson shal pay M. Hughes at the rate 
or price of forty shillings for every acre that shall be so touched or made use 
of by the said Enoch. "l 

These minutes show that the ferry was established imme- 
diately on the line of the two tracts and the Ferry Road opened 
in the same year, still open as it comes down the steep hill into 
the present River Road, is shown on the old drafts as continuing 
much in the same direction across the site of the present canal 
across the Hughes tract, and then making an abrupt turn, 
approaching the bank of the river at nearly right angles thereto. 

1 The Ferry is sometimes referred to in our county records as "Mathew 
Hughes Ferry," and he may have been a partner of Enoch Pearson. This 
Enoch Pearson was a son of Laurence Pearson, an early Quaker who with his 
brother Enoch and other children of Edward and Sarah (Burges) Pearson 
came from Pownal Fee about 1687, and a few years alter settled in Bucks 
County. Enoch Pearson, the ferryman, died in 1748 and his father, also a 
resident of Plumstead, died in 1758 at an advanced age. 



98 THE EARLY HISTORY OF POINT PLEASANT 

The old Ferry road from the River road westward is still 
open, extending southwesterly through Plumstead, part of it 
now occupied by the old Danborough and Point Pleasant Turn- 
pike, now a State Highway, passing through the lands then 
belonging to the Friends Meeting House and at Danborough 
passing back of the old tavern and continuing through Fountain- 
ville to Butler's Mill, now Chalfont. This road was the principal 
route of the early settlers here to points westward and to Phila- 
delphia for many years. It was intersected by the road running 
northward or northwestward from Barcroft's Mill (Carversville) . 
laid out at about the same date, which connected with the road 
to London's Ferry below Frenchtown. 

Cave Bank Fishery — On October 2, 1740, Enoch Pearson 
conveyed fifty acres of land, including the site of the ferry to 
Daniel Dawson of Philadelphia, who by will in 1744, devised it 
to his son of the same name and daughter Mary, the wife of John 
Thompson. The latter became the proprietor of the ferry, his 
brother-in-law, Daniel Dawson Junr, conveying to him his 
interest in 1747. 

On May 21, 1748, Thompson conveyed it to John White 
of this place, "Miller": and he on the same date conveyed seven- 
eighths interest therein to seven other residents hereabouts, 
retaining one-eighth himself, and these eight men composed the 
Cave Bank Fishery Company, who continued to own it and 
operate a fishery, hotel and ferry on the site for near half a cen- 
tury. 

Little is known to the writer of the history of the ferry or 
Fishing Company from that date. The eight proprietors of the 
Fishing Company seem to have been John White, John Hart, 
Jane Hart, Hezekiah Rogers, Ezekiel Rogers, John Myer, Elias 
Carey and Rolof Sebring, all landholders nearby. Michael 
Swartz seems to have acquired the share of Hezekiah Rogers in 
1769, and after the death of John White purchased the other 
seven shares, and became sole proprietor of the ferry. It 
descended to his children and grandchildren who were known 
by the name of Black, and gave the name of "Lower Black's 
Eddy" to the village, the name it had when the first Post Office 
was established at the Eddy in 1821. When the Post Office 
was removed to the store north of the Tohickon, with Joseph 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF POINT PLEASANT 99 

Hough as postmaster, in 1826 the name was changed to Point 
Pleasant. The ferry was known as Black's Ferry for many 
years. The writer was first of the opinion that General Sullivan 
crossed here with General Lee's army in December, 1776, (after 
the recreant and disobedient General Lee had been captured 
at Baskenridge, New Jersey, by the British,) and joined Washing- 
ton's command in Makefield in time to take part in the battle 
of Trenton. Washington had been urging Lee to join him on the 
west bank of the Delaware for weeks before his capture. He 
even sent Lord Sterling with a detachment up the River Road 
to meet him and assist him in crossing, but Lee, not appearing, 
Sterling, after going as far north as Easton, returned without 
him. It is stated that Sullivan crossed at "Tinicum," but since 
there was never a direct road from the Eddy Ferry on the Jersey 
shore extending towards Morristown and New York it is probable 
that he crossed at Sherrard's or London's ferry, before referred 
to as there was a well traveled and direct road from there to 
Morristown. That ferry being also in Tinicum township was 
probably the one referred to where Sullivan crossed. 

The conveyance of the share of the Cave Bank Fishery 
belonging to John White at the time of his death shows that no 
member of the company could transfer his share therein without 
the consent of the Company, and gives some idea of the plans 
and proceedings of the Company. 

At this point, the author inquired of Penrose Hicks, an elderly 
and life-long resident of Point Pleasant, as to his knowledge of 
the continuation of the ferry. Mr. Hicks thought the ferry was 
in continual operation until the bridge was opened for travel in 
1855. 

The Mill at Point Pleasant — The first mill was erected 
at its present site by John White, the founder of the Cave Bank 
Fishery. He is memtioned as "Miller" in the deed of 1748 
for the Ferry Tract, but there is not sufficient evidence that the 
mill was erected that early to establish it as a fact. Its owner- 
ship was in the name of John White and his brother Joseph, and 
in a mortgage executed thereon in 1773 it is recited that the 
two tracts on which the mill was erected were patented to them 
in 1765, but from the fact that John White is mentioned as an 
adjoining landowner at earlier dates it is possible that he had 



100 THE EARLY HISTORY OF POINT PLEASANT 

held the site of the mill on Warrant of Survey some twenty 
years earlier than the date of the Patent, as has occurred in other 
instances. The two tracts described and bound by the mortgage 
contained together over 160 acres. In the same year that the 
mortgage was executed they purchased the upper Hughes tract, 
and in the partition of the several tracts owned by them in 1784 
between Joseph White, Sr., and the heirs of his brother John, 
the latter tract and a part of the mill tract lying below Gaddes 
Run was set apart to Joseph, who sold it to John Van Fossen, 
w^ho established a fishery thereon, in connection with John N. 
Solliday, who like many others of his family was a clock and 
watch maker. He owned considerable land in and near the 
village as well as islands in the Delaware and was prominent in 
the public affairs of the community. 

Joseph White, son of John, conveyed the mill property and 
134 acres to Henry Dotterer in 1795, and he, a year later, con- 
veyed it to Edward Humphreys. It was sold by the sheriff in 
1803 as the property of Humphreys to Melchor Heavener, who 
immediately conveyed it to Jacob Stover, then the proprietor 
of the mill at Erwinna. Jacob Stover conveyed it to his son, 
Henry S. Stover, in 1816, and he in turn conveyed it to his son- 
in-law, Ralph Stover, as 152 acres having added to it part of a 
tract of 32^2 acres patented to Jacob Stover in 1805, and included 
in the conveyance to Henry S. in 1816. The conveyance to 
Ralph Stover was made in 1841, and he and his son continued 
to operate it until quite recently. The mill was a noted one in 
its day, particularly the saw mill which turned out large quantities 
of hardwood lumber for shipment to distant points. 

The Delaware Bridge at Point Pleasant — Point Pleasant 
Delaware Bridge was erected in 1853-5. Three hundred and 
twenty-seven shares were subscribed at a par value of $50 per 
share, and at the first stockholders' meeting, June 18, 1853, the 
following officers were elected: President, Ralph Stover; Treas- 
urer, Samuel A. Smith; Secretary, John W. Cowell; Directors, 
William R. Brown, Joseph Hough, Benjamin Harwick, Christian 
Myers, Elias Morris and Samuel Lowder. 

The Secretary was directed to advertise for proposals for 
building the bridge in the Flemington and Doylestown papers. 
The contract was awarded to Hood & Steel, July 9, 1853. The 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF POINT PLEASANT 101 

toll house was let to John White, April 1, 1855. Joseph Cowell's 
"Farm Bridge" across the canal was directed to be rebuilt and 
kept in repair. Joseph Cowell to pay over to the company S250 
received from the Canal Commissioners. 

The bridge was not finished according to contract, and the 
contractors were notified that they were discharged in May, 1855, 
and all sorts of difficulties were encountered. The sheriff levied 
on the unfinished material for debts of the contractors and a 
cross suit was instituted against the sheriff for trespass, but the 
.bridge was finally finished. John White was the first toll col- 
lector, and a rate of tolls was fixed. Persons residing on either 
side of the bridge with business on the opposite side were charged 
but one full toll both ways, and business and professional men, 
including Dr. A. M. Cooper, were allowed yearly and special 
rates. The bridge was completed and opened for travel May 26, 
1855. 

Ralph Stover was annually re-elected as president of the 
company until 1877, when Elias Morris was elected and Stover 
became treasurer. Samuel Nash became secretary in 1856. 
Samuel A. Smith resigned as treasurer in 1858, and Fox Van 
Fossen was chosen, Smith becoming secretary, in which position 
he served until his death in 1861 and John N. Solliday succeeded 
him. Jacob Hughes succeeded John White as collector, and 
Charles VanLuvanee was appointed collector in 1859, but served 
only one year and was succeeded by W^illiam P. Hicks, who 
served until his death in 1877 and was succeeded by his widow 
Martha and son Penrose. John Climer was elected secretary 
and treasurer in 1866, but declining to serve as treasurer, John N. 
Solliday was elected to that position. 

The company had a suit with Hood & Steel, the defaulting 
contractors, in 1861, in the Common Pleas Court. 

The bridge was damaged by the flood of June 5, 1862, making 
it altogether unsafe for travel. There being no funds in the 
treasury to repair it, the stockholders agreed to contribute S5 
per share to raise a fund for that purpose. The stockholders' 
meeting on March 9, 1858, was at "Point Pleasant Seminary." 
Can anyone in our audience give us a history of this institution? 
The response to this query was that the place of meeting was 
doubtless the new school house then recently erected on the hill. 

Any sketch of this section that does not give some attention 



102 THE EARLY HISTORY OF POINT PLEASANT 

to the careers of its men of prominence is necessarily incomplete, 
but I feel that in most instances these matters get more attention 
than the incidents of local history relating to the development 
of our country, and I have given so much of my time to these 
matters that, in addition to my want of data in reference to 
your more conspicuous characters, must be my excuse in failing 
to refer to them. 

The pioneer ancestor of the Gaddis family, which family gave 
the name to Gaddis Run, was John Gaddes, to whom and Wil- 
liam Gaddis there was surveyed on October 19, 1739, a tract 
called "Gambia," 128 acres lying on both sides of the Run, 
which with an adjoining tract of 125 acres laid out to John 
Hyder, was patented to John Gaddes in 1774. 

Samuel A. Smith, before referred to, was quite a noted char- 
acter in the political affairs of the county, filling a number of 
official positions, including a term in United States Congress. 

General Joseph Hough, Ralph Stover and a number of others 
deserve more than the incidental notice given in this brief 
narrative. 




PALISADES AT THE NARROWS OF NOCKAMIXON 

Showing bluffs of New Red Sandstone (Triassic) with an elevation of about 400 feet. Pleasure 

boat "Zlotub" leaving Narrowsville lock on the Delaware Division ca^al September 8, 1908 

(Photograph by Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr.) 




Improving Navigation on the Delaware River with Some 
Account of Its Ferries, Bridges, Canals and Floods 

By B. F. FACKENTHAL, Jr., Sc. D., LL. D., RIEGELSMLLE. PA. 

(Point Pleasant, Bucks County, Pa., Meeting, September 10, 1927) 

(Revised April, 1932) 

HE Delaware River is about 310 miles long, from 
^1 the Catsbergs to the Delaware Bay, having for 
its source little rivulets dripping down the 
western slope of the Catskill Mountains in 
Schoharie and Delaware Counties, New York, 
forming at its base two wild streams, bearing the 
Indian names of Mohocks on the west and Popaxtunk on the east, 
which are fed by numerous accessories and unite to form the 
beautiful Delaware, one of the most limpid streams in all America. 
The Mohocks or West Branch or as sometimes called the 
Little Delaware forms the boundary line between Pennsylvania 
and New York for seven miles, to a point just south of Hancock, 
N. Y., where it is joined by the East Branch (Popaxtunk), and 
from there to Port Jervis the main stream forms the boundary 
between the same two states. At Port Jervis, N. Y. (opposite 
Matamoras, Pa.), where the river encounters the Shawangunk 
Mountains, its course is diverted, turning south at a right angle, 
and from there to the state of Delaware it forms the boundary 
between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In New Jersey this 
range of mountains is called Blue Mountains and in Pennsyl- 
vania the Blue or Kittatinny range. At Tri-State (Carpenter's 
Point) near Port Jervis, a monument has been set up to mark 
the point where the three states meet. 

By reason of the river forming the boundaries between the 
three states, with branches entering the stream from all of them, 
each state is claiming jurisdiction over a certain part of the 
water. In order to determine the amount to which each state 
might be entitled to withdraw, their respective legislatures in 
1922, enacted laws, asking their governors to appoint commis- 
sioners to determine the areas of the water-sheds, on which was 
to be predicated the quantity of water to which each was entitled.^ 

1 Pamphlet Laws of Pennsylvania for 1923, page 448; Laws of New Jersey 
for 1923, Chapter 94; Laws of New York for 1923, Chapter No. 56. 



104 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

These commissioners entered into a "compact," and made their 
first report May 24, 1925, and their second one on January 13, 
1927, defining the water sheds, and apportioning the daily flow 
of water that each state might be entitled to withdraw, as 
follows : 

To Pennsylvania — 900,000,000 gallons; to New Jersey — 
600,000,000 gallons; to New Yofk— 600,000,000 gallons, a total 
of 2,100,000,000 gallons per day. Neither of these reports was 
approved by the legislatures of Pennsylvania or New Jersey, but 
both were approved by the State of New York. Whereupon 
the State of New York declared its intention of taking the water 
allotted to it to supplement the supply for New York City; 
taking it from the following streams, all wholly within the limits 
of the State of New York: 

Watersheds 
Location square miles Di\-ersion per 

Streams" of dams Counties above dams day in gallons 

Little Delaware 

or West Branch Delhi Delaware 50 40,000,000 

East Branch Downsville Delaware 370 370,000,000 

Beaver Kill Beaver Kill Sullivan 60 60,000,000 

Willowemoc Parkston Sullivan 60 60,000,000 

Neversink Curry Delaware 70 70,000,000 

Total 600,000,000 

On May 22, 1929, the State of New Jersey filed a complaint 
in the United States Supreme Court to restrain the State of 
New York and the City of New York from diverting any water 
from the Delaware or its tributaries, and on December 9, 1929, 
Pennsylvania filed a petition to intervene, which was granted. 
On January 27, 1930, the United States Supreme Court appointed 
Hon. Charles N. Burchard special master to take testimony.* 
The master began the duties of his appointment on February 25, 
1930, and after devoting 63 days to the hearing, rendered his 
decision permitting the State of New York and the City of New 
York, under restrictions, to take 440,000,000 gallons of water 
per day from but two of the branch streams above referred to. 
His opinion was confirmed b>^ the Supreme Court on May 4, 1931. 
I am informed by the assistant attorney general of New Jersey, 

- A dam at Delhi would be the only water to be taken from the West 
Branch. Beaver Kill and Willowemoc are tributary to the East Branch, and 
the dams at Beaver Kill, Parkston and Downsville would take water from 
the East Branch. The dam at Currv would draw water from the Neversink. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 105 

that the decision being for a less amount than asked for, together 
with the restrictions placed upon them, and the development 
of the fact that other sources of supply were pointed out, make 
it doubtful whether New York will draw any water from the 
Delaware or its branches for some years to come. 

It developed at the hearing before the special master that if 
the City of New York was permitted to divert 600,000,000 gal- 
lons of water per day, that the flow in the Delaware at Tri- 
State, near Port Jervis, would be diminished by from 14 W to 16 
per cent.; at Riegelsville, 11^-^ per cent., and at Trenton, 8.2 per 
cent. This indicates that if the compact of the commissioners 
had been adopted, and the three states allowed to take 
2,100,000,000 gallons per day the loss at Tri-State would prob- 
ably amount to 52 per cent, of all the water at that point. The 
engineers reported the area of the water-shed drainage as 2,390 
square miles in New York, 760 square miles in New Jersey and 
3,345 square miles in Pennsylvania, of which 980 square miles 
were above Port Jervis. Prior to the State of Pennsylvania tak- 
ing over the Delaware Division canal on October 17, 1931, the 
greater part of the water from the Lehigh river, under normal 
conditions, was diverted at Easton into the Delaware Division 
canal, and not returned back into the Delaware before reaching 
tide water at Bristol. 

Diverting water from the Delaware, and not returning it 
back into the stream would greath' interfere with the plans of 
the Deep Water Way Commission, appointed by Congress, of 
including the Delaware for improvement, with dams for slack 
water navigation, and to some extent weaken it for installing 
water powers along its course, which would be regretted, as it 
appears to be almost suicidal to continue exhausting our coal 
mines, and allow streams like the Delaware to flow by our doors 
without harnessing them for power plants. On the other hand, 
our great cities have need to add to their \\ ater supply. 

The course of the Delaware is through a mountainous coun- 
try, passing through many gorges, of which the Delaware Water 
Gap is the most pronounced. At that place the river passes 
through the Kittatinny or Blue Mountains, which rise on both 
sides thereof to heights of 1,300 and 1,400 feet. There are evi- 
dences to show that many of these gaps or gorges, in prehistoric 
times, formed dams or barriers, which impeded the flow of the 



106 



IMPROVING XAVIGATION OX THE DELAWARE RIVER 



Stream. Whether these obstructions were of rock which wore 
away by erosion, stratum after stratum, or whether the gorges 
were choked with ice or debris, can never be satisfactorily deter- 
mined. The great height of the obstruction at the Delaware 
Water Gap caused the formation of a great lake, backing the 
water on both sides of the river for many miles through the 
Neversink valley and even as far as the Rondout valley in New 
York state, and through the Delaware valley as far as Lacka- 
waxen, where the battle of Minisink was fought. Since the 
giving way of the dam or obstruction at the Delaware Water 
Gap by erosion or otherwise, the bed of the drained lake has 
been known as the "Minisinks," meaning "The Water is Gone," 
or as some interpret it, "The Home of the Minsies." The great 
height of this lake, as geologists tell us, caused the water to over- 
flow and find an outlet through the mountain pass at the W'ind 
Gap, some eleven miles to the west. At the Delaware Water 




DELAWARE WATER GAP 

View looking south. Mount Minsi and the D. L. & W. Railroad on the right or Pennsylvania 
side and Mount Tammany on the left or New Jerse>' side. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 107 

Gap, it is said, there is still to be noticed a deep depression in the 
bed of the river, where the water fell over the barrage.^ 

In like manner the Weygadt Mountain above Easton, and 
Rocky Falls., one mile above Riegelsville, where the Delaware 
cuts through the granite of South Mountain, also the Narrows 
at the Palisades of Nockamixon, where it cuts through the New 
Red Sandstone (Triassic) , there are evidences of the river having 
been similarly obstructed. This is indicated by the deposits 
of river sands in what are probably beds of drained lakes. 
Along the eastern part of the borough of Riegelsville the glacial- 
drift extends to the river, and doutbless underneath thereof, 
while the river sands lie on top. The same river sands can be 
seen in the fields northwest of Riegelsville at the base of South 
Mountain, some 50 or 60 feet above the river. In the bed of the 
Rocky Falls Lake, about ten feet underneath the sands, and 
about forty feet above the river, on removing the sand for use 
in pig beds of blast furnaces, there was discovered, in 1895, the 
remains of an Indian fireplace. This w^as carefully examined 
by Dr. Henry C. Mercer and other noted archaeologists, to deter- 
mine whether there was any evidence of its antedating the glacial 
period, but they found the remains covered only by river sand. 
A photograph of this terrace, on Fry's Run in Williams Town- 
ship, Northampton County, showing depth of sand and position 
of fireplace, can be seen in the album of the Bucks County His- 
torical Society at Doylestown. There has in fact been no well 
authenticated evidence of prehistoric man found underneath 
the glacialdrift at Rocky Falls or elsewhere. 

There is a long spread, and many years intervening, between 
the birch bark canoe of the aboriginies and the modern steamers 
which now enter the river at the Delaware Breakwater. This, 
however, is but one of the developments that has followed the 
evolution and civilization of the history of the world. There 
has been no regular steam navigation on the Delaware above 
Trenton. All attempts to ply steamboats higher up the river 
resulted in failure. John Fitch of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 
was the inventor of the steamboat. In 1785, he built an experi- 
mental boat with side wheels, which he propelled by steam on a 
milldam near Davisville in Warminster Township, Bucks County. 

^ See "The Delaware Water Gap," by L. W. Broadhead, Sherman & Co., 
Philadelphia, 1870; also Hazard's Register, Vol. I, page 428, and Vol. Ill, 
page 407. 



108 IMPROVING NAVIGATION' ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 




JOHN FITCH'S PASSP;NGER STEAMBOAT ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

In 1788, he built a passenger boat, and after experimenting and 
making trial trips, put it in regular service in 1790 on the Dela- 
ware River between Arch Street, Philadelphia, and Trenton, 
making stops at Burlington and Bristol. He sailed it north 
every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and returned every 
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday during the months of June to 
September, inclusive. His experimental boat was 22 years and 
his regular passenger service was 17 years before Robert Fulton 
sailed his "Cleremont" in 1807 on the Hudson river.* While 
there were many kinds of small craft used for transportation on 
the lower waters of the Delaware, it remained for the Durham 
Boat to operate on waters higher up on a commercial scale. 
That model of boat was first used by the Durham Iron Company 
in 1727, to transport the products of the Durham furnace and 
forges to Philadelphia and carry "back-loads" of merchandise on 
return trips. That model of boat always called ''Durham Boat," 
was used on the Mohawk and other streams throughout our 
country, also on the St. Lawrence River.'' Durham Boats 
played an important part on Christmas night of 1776, when 
Washington and his army crossed the river and surprised the 
British at Trenton. With the completion of the Delaware 
Division of the Pennsylvania Canals from Easton to Bristol, 

4 See Bucks County Historical papers. Vol. II, page 22, and Vol. Ill, 
page 565. 

•'^ See Miss Susan Copper's introduction, in 1805, to her father's book, 
the "Pathfinder," Household Edition, 1876, published by Houghton, Mifflin 
& Co. This introduction does not appear in all the editions of Fennimore 
Cooper's works. See also The Early History of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and 
the Fox River Valley by J. \V. Arndt, 1904. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 



109 



opened permanently for navigation in 1834, the use of Durham 
Boats began to decline, and with the opening of the Belvidere 
Delaware Railroad in 1854, they were found to be no longer 
necessary. The last trip by Durham Boat, through to Philadel- 
phia, is said to have been made by Isaac Vanorman starting from 
Easton March 6, 1860. The last one knowm to have been in 
practical use, was fitted up by John Nicholas, in the late sixties, 
to operate on the canal for carrying garden produce from his 
farm, near Kintnersville, in Durham Township, to Easton, but 
alas, that was not operated on the river, and the poetry of its 
primitive motion was gone, for it was propelled by a team of 
horses, but all the same it was the dying ember of a primitive and 
bygone industry. 

For a most interesting history of the Durham Boat, in fact, 
the most reliable and best paper that has ever been written on 
that subject, I beg to refer to the paper of Mr. John A. Anderson, 
published in Volume IV (pp. 282, et seq.) of the Bucks County 
Historical Society, from which the following drawing is taken: 

THE DURHAM BOAT 

ON THE RIVER DELAWARE. 






« 



DRAWING OF DURHAM BOAT BY JOHN A. ANDERSON 

1911 from his personal recollection of shape and size and from information obtained 
from others. 



110 improving navigation on the delaware river 

Rafting on the Delaware River 

To Daniel Skinner must be given the honor of navigating 
the first raft down the Delaware River which he started in 1764, 
from Cochecton Falls, about forty miles above Port Jervis.*^ 
This was the beginning of any industry that grew with the devel- 
opment of the country. Hazard's Register (Vol. Ill, page 384) 
records that in the spring floods of 1828, as many as one thousand 
rafts passed down the Delaware, made up mostly of boards, 
planks and other sawed stuff, estimated at fifty million feet, 
which originated in Delaware and Sullivan Counties in New 
York, and Wayne County in Pennsylvania. Alfred Mathews' 
History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, published in 
1886, at page 960, says: "It is estimated that fifty million feet 
of lumber and logs were run down the Delaware River annually 
some years ago, and the Lackawaxen furnished a considerable 
share of this lumber. The average raft of round timber was 
65,000 feet, although they often ran larger rafts, and of sawed 
lumber they sometimes had 200,000 feet in one raft." Mr. Ethan 
Allen Weaver records that in the thirties it was not uncommon, 
during a favorable flood of water, for two thousand rafts to pass 
down the river in one season; his information was derived from 
files of old newspapers.' This industry reached its height from 
1840 to 1845, and begun to decline about 1855, after the rail- 
roads were put in operation. The passing of this industry seems 
to have been in 1907, when several rafts passed down the Dela- 
ware. It therefore covered a period of about 150 years. 

During the fall of 1883 the Walton Chronicle of Walton, 
N. Y., published a series of articles from the pen of an old rafts- 
man,''' which enter into the detailed history of lumbering, building 
and assembling rafts, rafting and navigating the West Branch 
of the Delaware, and of the main stream beginning at Hancock, 
where the West Branch and the East Branch unite, and from 
there to Philadelphia. These papers give a detailed account of 
his personal recollections of the entire industry, including the 
personnel of the lumbermen, raftsmen and steersmen, the loca- 

6 History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, page 445. 

' Historical Sketches, by Ethan Allen Weaver, page 47 — A collection of 
papers contributed to the Easton Free Press, and reprinted. 

7K Written bv Joshua Pine (the third), born at Walton November 5, 
1798, died there April 13, 1888. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 111 

tion of the sawmills and other details, making them quite unique 
and from which we have obtained the following data: 

In building a raft an incline is selected, or an artificial one 
made, on which a frame composed of "grub plank" is built for a 
"crib." This crib or float is from 16 to 18 feet long and from 
16 to 22 feet wide. These cribs are launched as fast as made, 
and as many used as are required for the size of raft to be built. 
If four or five it is called a "colt," if from eight to ten it is called 
a "raft," i.e., a "single raft." When two single rafts are placed 
side by side it makes a "double raft" or "fleet." 

The cribs and colts are merely skeletons or frames used as 
foundations on which to build the rafts. After they are launched 
and coupled together, lumber is loaded on them to a depth of 
from 21 to 27 inches. This indicates about 150,000 feet of 
lumber on double rafts. Single rafts had but two oars, one at 
each end, while double ones had four, two at each end. The 
steersman handled the right hand oar at the tail end as the raft 
floated down stream. The oarblades were made of hard wood, 
usually maple, they were from 12 to 14 inches wide, and from 
14 to 16 feet long, sawed two inches thick at the butt and three- 
fourths of an inch at the tip end. The tillers were seven inches 
in diameter at the butt by 40 feet long, made of hemlock, pine, 
poplar or bass, the latter being preferred. The oars were care- 
fully hung, so as to be perfectly counterbalanced. 

In addition to the sawed lumber there were large numbers 
of rafts composed of logs, these were mostly to supply the saw- 
mills located along the main stream south of the timber belts; 
some of these main river sawmills disposed of their surplus 
sawed lumber by rafting it and floating it to the Philadelphia 
market. These log rafts were mostly hemlock, in fact, the forests 
produced much more hemlock than of any other kind. A great 
number of railroad ties, ship-knees and hoop poles were often 
shipped on rafts to Philadelphia. 

Lumbering was carried on not only on the main channel of 
the West Branch, but back into the forests, with many sawmills 
on the tributaries to their sources. In like manner lumbering 
was carried on with equal activity along the East Branch. There 
was also great activity in lumbering on the main stream and its 
tributaries below the confluence of the West Branch and the 
East Branch. Hancock was said to have been the very center 



112 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

of the lumbering industry, and where many lumbermen made a 
gathering place and where many of them lived. 

White pine and other lumber was also drawn in large quan- 
tities from the banks of the Susquehanna and its tributaries. 
The Walton Chronicle correspondent mentions particularly that 
large quantities from sawmills at Davenport on the Charlotte 
Creek were carried over the divide between the Susquehanna 
and Delaware rivers, thence by Elk Creek, a total of 14 miles, 
to Frisbee on the West Branch 3}4 miles above Delhi, where it 
was assembled into colts, which in turn were made into rafts 
farther down stream where they was more water. This sawed 
pine limber fetched but from $9 to $10 per thousand feet delivered 
at Philadelphia. He also makes special mention of white pine 
having been drawn over the divide, from Otego, Unadilla and 
Sidney on the Susquahanna in large quantities. 

In 1840-41, two West Branch lumbermen bought 100,000 
feet of white pine boards and 25,000 feet of cherry from sawmills 
on the Ouleout (a branch of the Susquehanna) for which they 
paid S6 per thousand and S2 for carting to Walton on the West 
Branch, where it was rafted and sent to Philadelphia and sold 
for $10 per thousand; this apparently left the speculators but $2 
per thousand or say $250 on the transaction, out of which they 
evidently paid for floating it to market, besides taking the risk 
of having it "stove" enroute. This would hardly satisfy twen- 
tieth century lumber dealers. The correspondent says there was 
a spelndid growth of white pine at Walton, where he lived, and 
where the West Brook enters the West Branch. 

Some of the raftsmen, on their journeys down stream, well 
knew where liquor could be had, and as they ai)proached their 
favorite hostelries, they would call loudly to the inn-keeper, who 
would gladly row out with an assortment of bottles. The writer 
of these notes, living in Durham Township, often witnessed the 
innkeeper, whose establishment was in New Jersey, opposite 
the Durham furnace, row out to meet the rafts. To his mind 
they never seemed to be in a hurry, and by the time each had 
been served with his favorite tipple, the rafts with the inn-keeper 
and his bateau had drifted down stream fully three-quarters of a 
mile. By the time he rowed back another set of thirsty rafts- 
men would signal and yell at him, whereupon the operation was 
repeated, and thus kept up all day long during the rafting season. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 



113 



During rafting season it was almost a daily occurrence to see 
broken rafts floating down stream past Durham that had been 
"stoved," that is wrecked and broken apart, many of them by 
striking the piers of the bridges between Easton and Phillips- 
burg. The scattered timber and logs from such broken rafts 
were often salvaged by watermen living along the river, which 
was quite a profitable undertaking, but often the owners would 
put in an appearance and lay claim to them, particularly if they 
had taken the precaution of stamping their initials on the ends 
thereof. 

While many of the steers- 
men from up river were ac- 
quainted with the channel 
through to tide water at 
Trenton (from which place 
the rafts destined for Phila- 
delphia points were taken by 
tow boats), some came down 
only as far as Easton or 
Riegelsville or Upper Blacks 
Eddy, where they employed 
local steersmen for the re- 
mainder of their trips. Two 
of these, both living on the 
New Jersey side of the river 
at Riegelsville, were expert 
steersmen, and their services 
w-ere in constant demand dur- 
ing rafting seasons. One of 
these was William Piatt, 
known as "Lofty" Piatt, a 
hardy, rugged man who stood 
six feet, three inches in na- 
ture's socks, and whose por- 
trait is shown on the margin 
hereof; the other was William 
Grouse (born 1802, died 1884), 
who knew the channel so well 
that he often, for a few dollars 
extra, insured the safe arrival of the rafts to their destination. 




ALIAS WILLIAM PIATT 
1818-1908 



114 IMPROVING XAVIGATIOX ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

His son, Rutledge T. Crouse, advises me that while one trip from 
Upper Blacks Eddy to Trenton (34 miles) was a full day's work, 
that: "on one occasion, when it was moonlight, his father made 
two trips in one day, coming back from the first by railroad train, 
to Milford, N. J., where he crossed the river and stepped on 
another raft which was waiting for him." Another local steers- 
man was Orrin Eddy, who made his home at Easton. From 
information obtained from his great-grandson, he piloted rafts on 
the Delaware from 1820 to 1840. These local steersmen were 
also employed to run rafts of "sawed-stuff" from local sawmills at 
Easton, Riegelsville and many other places along the river. 

Anthracite Coal Carried to Market on Arks 

Anthracite coal was first discovered by Philip Ginther, 
accidentally, at Summit Hill, in the Lehigh field in 1791, and 
fifteen years later, in 1806, an experimental ark was built by 
William Trumbull at Lausanne (five miles above Mauch Chunk, 
where the Nesquehoning Creek falls into the Lehigh), which 
carried 300 bushels (about ten tons) of coal to Philadelphia, 
but there was no demand for it, as it could' not be sold for heating 
purposes, therefore part of it was thrown on the streets.^ It 
was not until August 9, 1814, that this mode of transporting 
coal was begun in a practical way, when what was called "the 
first ark," was loaded with twenty-four tons of coal and set out 
for Philadelphia. The Lehigh was wild, full of rocks and the 
channel crooked, and within a quarter of a mile from the place 
of starting, the ark struck a ledge of rocks which knocked a hole 
in her bow. With much difficulty they succeeded in stopping 
the leak and then proceeded on their journey, reaching their 
destination August 14, six days out from Mauch Chunk.^ From 
that time forward, until the Lehigh and Delaware Division 
Canals were opened, shipments by ark continued. The arks 
were built of sawed timber in a square, boxlike form 16 by 18 feet 
wide and from 20 to 25 feet long. After discharging their cargo 
at point of consignment, usually Philadelphia, they were taken 
apart and the lumber sold, thus requiring a new boat or ark for 

8 Henry's History of the Lehigh Valley, page 378, and History of North- 
ampton County, page 58. 

9 Henry's History of the Lehigh Valley, page 380, also Hazard's Register, 
Vol. V, page 271, and Vol. VI, page 275. 



IMPROVIXG NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 115 

each cargo of coal.^*^ Canal transportation followed the arks, to 
be superseded by the railroads, branches or sidings of which enter 
every operating mine and coalbreaker. This fuel, called "stone 
coal," which it was not at first known how to use, grew into popu- 
larity very fast. In 1820, 365 tons were sent down to Philadel- 
phia, which completely stocked the market. In the year 1927, 
the production of all anthracite mines in Pennsylvania, amounted 
to 70,454,000 gross tons. It appears that the canals of the 
Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co. (the Lehigh and the Delaware 
Division) are (1932) the only canals remaining in the entire coun- 
try, using boats propelled by mule power. As stated elsewhere 
in this paper, navigation was permanently closed on the Dela- 
ware Division Canal on October 17, 1932. 

The Lehigh River rises by various mountain branches in 
Wayne, Pike, Monroe, Carbon and Lackawanna Counties, 
uniting at the town of Stoddartsville, Luzerne County. Its fall 
from Stoddartsville to Mauch Chunk is 1,006 feet and from 
Mauch Chunk to Easton, a distance of forty-six miles, the fall 
is 364 feet, making a total fall of 1,370 feet. Mr. Charles Miner 
records that three out of every four arks that left Mauch Chunk 
were stove and sunk on the way, but that this did not always 
entail a total loss, as the coal was often salvaged and sold to 
smiths at AUentown, Bethlehem and Easton. ^^ Their experience, 
however, soon taught them that lighter arks with less cargo went 
through much better. 

This great fall and the tortuous course of the Lehigh hin- 
dered navigation, and when the river was low there was not 
water enough in the upper part of the stream to operate to advan- 
tage. To overcome these difficulties, Josiah White, acting as 
his own engineer, devised a system of "artificial freshets," by 
building dams across the stream to form pools for storing water. 
Sluices in the dams were provided for passing rafts of lumber and 
arks loaded with coal through them. The sluices were readily 
opened and closed by one man by means of hygroscopic power 
acting in a contrivance known as "bear-trap locks." 

10 Henry's History of the Lehigh Valley, page 414. 

11 Henry's History of the Lehigh Valley, page 381. 



116 improving navigation on the delaware river 

Clearing Out the Delaware River 

By act of the Pennsylvania Assembly, March 9, 1771, private 
subscriptions were authorized for improving navigation on the 
Delaware River, and on September 28, 1789, an act was passed, 
and an appropriation made by the State, for clearing out the 
channel, in order that navigation might be improved. A com- 
mission was accordingly appointed, consisting of Timothy Mat- 
lack (then president of the Supreme Executive Council), Reading 
Howell and William Dean, to view the river and determine upon 
this work, and on October 6, 1789, they were authorized by the 
council (George Ross, vice-president presiding) to carry the act 
into effect and proceed with the improvements. Whereupon 
the commissioners made an inspection of the river and submitted 
their report January 30, 1790, and in or about June, 1791, 
entered into a contract with Col. Richard Backhouse, of Durham 
Iron Works, and Col. George Wall, Jr., of Lumberville, to clear 
the river of its main obstructions from Trenton Falls to the New 
York State line.'" These contractors put the work in hand at 
once, subletting the clearing of some of the rapids and falls. This 
is clearly set forth by their official report, made in 1793, copy of 
which is on file in the archives of the Bucks County Historical 
Society, in the handwriting of Colonel Backhouse, as is also the 
account book of Colonel Wall, which contains, somewhat in 
detail, an account of their expenditures. A copy of their report 
is attached hereto. 

The greatest obstruction in the entire river was at Foul Rift, 
about three miles below Belvidere, which alone has a fall of 22 
feet, as against 9 feet 8 inches at Trenton Falls; 12 feet 1 inch 
at Wells Falls; 11 feet 1 inch at Tumbling Dam Falls and 11 
feet 5 inches at Marshall's Island Rapids. On page 123 hereof 
is a table, copied from Hazard's Register (Vol. I, page 57), show- 
ing the fall in the Delaware from Easton to Trenton, a distance 
of 49 miles, to be 160 feet, 5 inches. The fall from Port Jervis 
to Easton, distance 66 miles, is 259 feet. (Hazard's Register, 
Vol. Ill, page 104.) 

Messrs. Backhouse and Wall placed the work of clearing 
Foul Rift in the hands of Major Robert Hoops, of Belvidere, 

12 Colonial Records— Vol. XVI, pages 178-181-274-278-346-348-366. See 
also Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania, Vol. VIII, page 32, and Vol. XIII,. 
page 354. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 117 

N. J., who under date of July 16, 1791, addressed the following 
letter to Colonel Backhouse, applying for the job: 

Belvidere, July 16, 1791 
Sir:— 

I have been informed that you and Col. Wall had contracted to clear 
the several Falls in the Delaware so as to render the navigation safe and 
easy. I am willing to engage to clear Foul Rift, and one or two other Falls 
in the neighborhood, pro\ided we can agree on the price which will depend 
on the manner you wish it executed, I would therefore wish to ha\e the 
pleasure of seeing you here and agreeing on the spot, it is now time that 
work of that nature was begun, if it is to be completed this fall. I would 
just observe that Foul Rift is the most shallow, rapid and dangerous Falls 
in the River. Should you and Col. Wall wish to view the ri\-er higher up, 
I will endeavor to accompany you. 

I am, Sir, 

Your most obedient Humble Servant 

ROBT. HooPSi3 

Two letters from Major Hoops to Colonel Backhouse, telling 
of his progress in opening the channel through Foul Rift, have 
been preserved. One which belonged to me was presented to 
Miss Mary S. Clark, of Belvidere, the other is in the manuscript 
department of the Pennsylvania Historical Society at Phila- 
delphia. These letters state that his work was interfered with by 
the Indians raising the hatchet against him, and are otherwise so 
interesting that I append the following copies: 

13 Maj. Robert Hoopes came to Belvidere about 1770, and purchased the 
mill and water power. He built and operated an extensive slaughter-house 
on the south side of the Request, and sent the product, together with large 
quantities of flour manufactured at his gristmill, into the interior of the state 
of New Jersey, for the Continental army. He was progressi\"e and the pioneer 
merchant of lielvidere. He first named the town "Mercer," but later changed 
it to "Belvidere." He was on the staff of Gen. Philemon Dickinson during 
the Revolutionary War. He was appointed County Judge of Sussex County 
(which then included Warren) at a joint meeting, November 17, 1779, and 
again reappointed in 1784 and again in November 20, 1789. In 1792 the 
village consisted of a gristmill, on the site now occupied by the "old mill," a 
sawmill on the opposite side of the Request and six dwelling houses. At that 
time the principal part of the land north of the Request was owned by Major 
Robert Hoops, who ga\e the place its name of Behidere, probably from the 
beauty of the situation; while that on the south side, including the water- 
powers, belonged to the celebrated Robert Morris, who on November 15, 1793, 
entailed it upon his daughter, the wife of Charles Croxall and her children. 
(Historical Collections of New Jersey by Barber & Howe, page 503.) 



lis IMPROVING XAVIGATIOX OX THE DELAWARE RIVER 

Copy of Letter Presented to Miss Mary S. Clark, of Belvidere, N. J., 
BY Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr. 

Belvidere, Sunday 8th August 1791 
Dear Sir 

The day you left me in the afternoon with seven Hands I made a beginning 
and completed a passage through the little foul Rift for a Boat to pass with 
100 or 150 Bushels without touching; & was it not for the three Points where 
the Hatchet was raised against me, I should be perfectly easy — but industry 
and perseverence will I hope overcome all difficulties. 

I have desired the Bearer my Negro Boy Jack to return to me as speedily 
as you can dismiss Him, as no time must be lost. I shall set some hands at 
work tomorrow before I set out for your House & wish as little detention 
as possible as I am determined to return again on the same evening having 
engaged some more hands for Tuesday Morning — 

I am with best Wishes Dear Sir 

Your most Obdt. Servt. 

To Richard Backhouse Esqr Robt. Hoops 

Durham 

Copy of Letter in Possession of the Pennsylvania Historical Society 

Balls Rock 26 August 1791 
Dear Sir 

With all industry & indefatigable labor of twenty & sometimes thirty 
men I am yet at this place and tho I have blowed up the bed of Rock between 
the projecting part and the shore and sunk it at least eight Inches I have 
not yet water enough for a Loaded Boat. I have extended the wing from 
Balls Rock up to the ledge that crosses the River without having any good 
effect. I fear it never will answer the desired purpose, it has been a most 
difficult & expensive piece of work, and was obliged to get some stone oS 
the mountain and roll them down the water upon an average about eight 
feet deep and so swift that it carried off the largest Rocks I could put in, 
the quantity it took is incredible. I have not lost one day rain or shine 
since I began except part of a day I went to Court — I am now in want of 
Money & request you will send me or Bearer Thomas Harmon about one 
Hundred and Fifty Pounds, & will not trouble you for some time again. I 
am determined if possible to compleat the Work this fall. I have cleared 
almost every obstruction up to the point where the Hatchet was first raised 
against me, have now five Men Blowing it and all the Rocks that lay in 
the Channel — I really wish you could take time to come and see me — My 
House and Family of old wicked Boys move up with me to this point to- 
morrow. My hand is stiff 1 can hardly write.- 

I am Dear Sir in Haste 

Richard Backhouse, Esqr Your most Obdt Servt 

Durham Robt. Hoops 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 119 

As these letters from Major Hoops indicate, boats could 
not pass through Foul Rift prior to the improvement of 1791; 
in fact, it is quite a feat to shoot the rapids at the present day, 
even with a small boat or canoe. Merchandise from Belvidere 
and vicinity, for river shipment, was hauled to a point below 
the rift, including the product of the Oxford, N. J., blast furnace, 
built in 1743. 

In 1921, my friend. Dr. Porter W. Shimer, of Easton, dis- 
covered, cut in the limestone rocks, on the Pennsylvania side at 
Foul Rift, the following inscription : 



R^ Hoops \iq] 

c /eared these Fa fU 

T IVI/\TLACK J MiFFUN 

ConiiTiissioners 



At that time he made, expressly for me, a rubbing of the 
cartouch, which is about 9 inches high by 18 inches wide. Owing 
to high water, he could not get a photograph of it, but in the 
summer of 1926 succeeded in getting a splendid negative, from 
which the etching shown herewith was made. On April 5, 1790, 
the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an act appropriating £40-12-8 
to Robert Thorn for clearing Wells Falls and Howells 
Falls. 



120 improving xavigatiox on the delaware river 

Report of Work Done on the Delaware 

by richard backhouse and george wall, esquires 

(From Copy in Archives of the Bucks County Historical Society) 

To his Excellency Thomas Mifflin Esquire 

Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

Sir 

Agreeable to the Request of a Circular from the Secretaries office Dated 
June the 27th 1793 We beg leave to Submit to your Excellency the following 
Report of the Progress we have made in the Executing our Contract for the 
Improving the Navigation of the River Delaware from Trenton falls to the 
northern boundaries of the State \"\z — 

From the New York Line to the Head of Cushicton Falls, we contracted with 
Samuel Preston to finish it and as this is but a Small piece of the Work we 
expect it is done. 

From the head of Cushicton (Cochecton) Falls down to the foot of Tyhock 
(?) Falls much Labour hath been done and every dangerous obstruction 
removed Wing Wall's Erected agreeable to the direction of the Agents of 
information, and the whole we Expect is compleated Agreeable to their 
direction a Particular account of which is in the Possession of your Excel- 
lency, which we delivered last fall when applied for a \\ew & reported to 
us by Captain Chambers with whom we contracted to Compleat that part 
of the work. 

Sambos (?) Rift one Rock is remoxed & the channel improved by throwing 
out loose Stones &c. 

Gap of the Blue Mountain (Delaware Water Gap) the channel between 
Gaps Island and the Jersey is Impro\ed. Adams slip wholly removed & 
three other rocks below (mentioned in the Commissioners report of Jany. 
30th 1790) part of the Rift below^ taken away and so improved as to make a 
ample and safe channel through the gap of the Blue Mountain 

From the Gap Island down to the Foul Rift — At Bowmans rift a large 
Rock removed; at the Darning (?) rift the channel improved & a number 
of Rocks roled away; at Cobus's (Jacobus) rift one removed and the channel 
improved; at lower Bowmans four removed and other small rocks moved 
away; at Lowrys three, and at long Rift two, with many small rocks and 
stones roled away wing Walls made in Sundry Places and the channel deepened 
& Improved over the Shoals &c. 

Foul Rift from the head to the foot was Oct. ye 8th 1791 viewed by the 
Agents of Information, and by them reported to be finished to their Satis- 
faction Except three small rocks below Balls Rock which we have since 
removed & ring Bolts fixed in the remaining part of the oblique Rocks (which 
was not Necessary to remo\e) and a good takel Rope fastened to the Rings 
in order to enable the boatmen to Tole their boat up that part of the Falls 

From the foot of Foul Rift to the Whycot (Weygadt) we have made 
Wing Walls at Big Capwsh (?) Deepened and Improved the Channel for 
Boats at low Water 

At Whycot (Weygadt) Falls We ha\e scaled the uper rift remo\'ed two 
rocks mentioned in the aforesaid commissioners report, with Several other 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 121 

small rocks the Lower Rift Sealed. Two Dangerous Rocks Exactly in the 
Channel (mentioned in said report) removed two -Rocks opposite the moun- 
tain Removed a great Number of small rocks and stones Rolled out of the 
Channel so as to render it safe for boats at low water. 

From the Whvcot (Wevgadt) to H.wcock F.\lls (Rocky F.vlls) 

At the Falls above Easton removed an old P"ish Basket Wing & deepened 
and improved the Channel at the Head of said Falls, and in the Falls removed 
two Rocks mentioned in the Commissioners Report with se\eral other Small 
Rocks which appeared might be in the way at low Water 

At Philipsburgh Falls removed Two Rocks mentioned in said Commis- 
sioners Report, and Improved the channel !)>• Roling out Several Small 
. Rocks and Stones These falls are finished to the intire Satisfaction of the 
Easton Boatmen as Certified to us in writing by Justice Auble (Able) who lives 
there. 

Haycock Falls (Rock>^ Falls) we ha^'e opened the channel on the Jersey 
side, and have made a Wing Wall so as to incline the Riple above to the Jersey- 
shore and Deepen the \\'ater there, the very large Rock mentioned in the 
Commissioners Report is intirely remo\ed so that at a Common Boat-Fresh 
Rafts & Boats may Pass oxer it, and we have scaled & remo\'ed above Thirty 
other Rocks & Rifts in these falls and Widened & Deepened the Channel 
so as to render it very safe for Rafts at high Water if they are Careful and 
Steer near the Jersey Shore at the entrance and Boats may Pass this channel 
at high or low Water without Danger, and we are informed by Mr. Geo. 
Clayhunts (Kleinhants) who lives on the Pennsylvania side against the falls 
that Se%eral Rafts have lately taken that channel and passed with ease & 
Safety the Channel being straight while the Channel on the Pennsylvania 
Shore is winding and Difficult. We opened this channel by the Express 
directions of the Agents against the general opinion of the Boatmen and 
Raftmen who declared it would be useless as neither boats nor Rafts would 
take that Course. However we have foimd to the Contrary and many 
now use it, and believe in a short time will be generally approved and give 
full satisfaction. The removing the Rocks in these falls was attended with 
Difficulty and much Labour and Expense by Reason of the Rocks being 
intensley Hard, abounding with Fissures, so that many blasts of Powder 
where Expended to Little Purpose 

From the H.wcock (Rocky Falls) to the Tumbling Dam 

At Linns Falls we remo\-ed a Fish Basket Wing and removed Se\eral 
Rocks out of the channel so that it is much Improved 

At Stuhl's Falls removed two Small Rocks and Improved the Channel 
for low water by Roling out Large Stones and Gra\-el At the foot of Ridges 
Island we made a Wing Wall and Improved and Deepened the Barr so as 
Boats may Pass at Low \\'ater. 

At Tumbling Dam we have Scaled the Rift abo\e the Island lietween 
this Rift and the Tumbling Dam have Scaled the Rifts and removed many 
Rocks in the Line of the Channels, The Tumbling Dam Rift we ha^•e Scaled 



122 IMPROVING NAVIGATION OX THE DELAWARE RIVER 

& Widened \\'est\vard and Several Rocks Just below the Dam have been 
Scaled and removed, at the Bottom of this channel where the Cut Bitch 
Channel meets it. Three Rocks mentioned in the Commissioners Report 
is removed, and have Scaled and removed part of the Rock in the Tumbling 
near the Island to ease the Passage for boats going upwards 

From the Tumbling Dam to Wells Falls 

At Bulls falls have Deepened Widened and Improved the Channel by 
Roling out many Loose Rocks Stones &c. 

At Howells Falls have made a wing Wall, Deepened and improved the 
channel by removing some Rocks and many large Stones (S:c. 

At \\eirs Falls Two Rocks in the Still Water directly above the Entrance 
rock is removed the Ledge of Rocks westward of the channel is Scaled 
and the Entrance made upwards of four Perches wide Part of the Beacon 
Rock taken off. the Rock Xo. 19 and the Small Rock above Scaled and all 
the Rocks mentioned in the Commissioners report down from Xo. 19 to Xo. 1 
ha^e been scaled or removed; Twenty feet off the Fish Damm wing removed & 
placed agreeable to the Commissioners' report. A large wing wall is erected 
on western entrance Rock and Extended in the direction mentioned in our 
contract, two thirds of the way from thence to the Pennsylvania Shore. Mr. 
Coleback with whom we Contracted to finish this work thought we had 
Compleated it last Season when we called for a view, but the agents of Infor- 
mation did not come till late in the fall when we attended them and after a 
Deliberate investigation of the work done the Said Agents of Information 
to the best of our recollection said there was a great deal of work done and 
well Done but they Suggested some ammendments to be made to render 
the Contract intirely compleat, and pointed them out to Mr. Coleback which 
may soon be done but the Water since that time has not been low enough 
to Permit working in the River to any advantage 

From the Foot of Wells to Trenton Falls 

At Johnstons Falls have made Wing Walls Deepened and improved the 
channel for Low W'ater 

At Slacks Island have removed two Rocks and Improved the channel 
by Roling other Small Rocks & Stones away 

Trenton Falls was finished in the fall of the year 1791, viewed by the Agents 
the 5th of November and approved to be done agreeable to their Design 

THUS SIR we flatter ourselves that we have executed our contract with 
Dilligence and Dispatch considering the Difficulty of the undertaking and 
the lateness of the Season of the year 1791, when we entered into the Engage- 
ment, the most of our work being Rocks to blow under water, and in many 
Places the Stream so Rappid that the Stoutest of men could not Stand it 
without Poles or braces to support them, and notwithstanding the Business 
has not been done with the approbation of many Persons who think they 
understand how it ought to be done better than the Commissioners who 
reported Jany. 30th 1790 or the Present Agents, and have made much Clamour 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 



123 



against us for following their directions which we were Indispinsibly bound 
to do. yet we find the Watermen begin to take our channels in many Places 
and appro\ e thereof. We are therefore Persuaded in a Short time the Improve- 
ments made by us will be generally acknowledged to be ^'ery Beneficial and 
Usefull and Answer the Intention of the Legislature. 

We only Wish a View may be had of the whole work as soon as convenient, 
that if the Agents of Information may point out to us any further matters 
to be done Necessary to compleat the Contract we may have an opportunity 
to do it this fall 

With the greatest Esteem & Respect 
we ha^^e the Honor to be your hum- 
ble Servants 

R. B. (Richard Backhouse) 
G. W. (George Wall) 

From Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, For January, 1828, 
Vol. I, Page 57 

A TABLE 
OF THE SEVERAL RAPIDS OR FALLS IX THE DELAWARE RI\ER 
BETWEEN EASTON AND THE TIDE 



Distance 

below the 

mouth of the 

Lehigh in 

Names of the Falls or Rapids miles 

Trenton Falls 49 

Gould's Rapids 46>^ 

Scudder's Rift 44 

Knowle's Point Rift 39^ 

Buck Tail Rift 36>? 

Well's Falls 35^ 

Greenbank Rift 32 

Galloper's Rift 31 to 32 

Howell's Rift 31 to 32 

Bull's Falls 21 y2 

Cutsow Rift 2S}4 

Tumbling-dam Falls 24 to 25 

Marshall's Island 21 to 23>^ 

Man of War Rift 20 

Stuhl's Falls 18 

Firman's Falls 17 

Nockamixon Falls 14 

Linn's Falls 12 

Durham Falls 9}4 

Gravelly Falls 8 

Rocky Falls 7 

Ground-hog's Rift 6 

Old Sow Rift 5 

Clifford's Rift 3K 

Bixler's Rift l4 









Head of Rapid 


Length 


Fall of each 


abo\ 


•e tide 


of each 


Rapid in 


water at 


Rapid in 


feet and 


lowest tide in 


feet 


inches 


feet an 


d inches 


3,500 


9' 


8" 


9' 


8" 


3,000 


4' 


5" 


16' 


8" 


2,500 


4' 


2" 


24' 


8" 


500 


3' 


1" 


33' 


6" 


500 


1' 


5" 


36' 


5" 


4,780 


12' 


1" 


49' 


9" 


500 


1' 


9" 


58' 


9" 


1,500 


7' 


6" 


68' 


3" 


1,500 


7' 


6" 


68' 


3" 


800 


4' 


5" 


72' 


2" 


1,000 


3' 


10" 


85' 


4" 


5,000 


11' 


1" 


89' 


1" 


1,000 


11' 


5" 


100' 


7" 


500 


1' 


5" 


102' 


3" 


350 


1' 


8" 


107' 


2" 


700 


3' 


7" 


110' 


11" 


1,700 


4' 


11" 


117' 


6" 


2,300 


7' 


4" 


127' 


5" 


350 


2' 


9" 


130' 


3" 


1,500 


1' 


3" 


133' 


3" 


2,000 


2' 


9" 


136' 


1" 


1,700 


1' 


11" 


138' 


1" 


750 


2' 


4" 


145' 


7" 


2,000 


5' 


1" 


150' 


10" 


2,000 


7' 


5" 


160' 


5" 



124 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

REMARKS 

Trenton Falls is a rapid of nearly uniform descent, with a crooked channel 
and very rocky. 

Gould's Rapids are composed of two rifts half-a-mile apart, with slower 
and deeper water, or a semi-pool between. 

Scudder's Rift is a uniform rapicf, quick at the head, ha\ing a bottom 
of stone and gravel. 

Knowle's Point Rift is a uniform deep rapid, with a bottom of stone, 
gravel and rock. 

Buck Tail Rift is composed of two rocky reefs, having deep water near 
the Jersey shore. 

Well's Falls has a bottom entirely of rock; loose rocks are scattered across 
the river, with a crooked channel. 

Greenbank Rift has a smooth gravelly bottom and presents \ery little 
obstruction. 

Galliper's and Howell's Rifts, although nearly a mile apart, are connected 
together by a current not sufificiently quick to be called a rapid; it forms a 
semi-pool and is deep and slow enough for steamboats. 

Bull's Falls is a straight uniform rapid with a bottom of stone and gravel. 

Cutsow Rift is composed of a flat reef of rocks extending across the river. 

Tumbling Dam Falls are composed of separate reefs or steps of rocks 
extending across the river. 

Marshall's Island Rapids are principally of three separate rifts with a 
semi-pool between them as exhibited on the chart, the water between the 
rifts being sufficient for a steamboat. 

Man of War Rift is a short shoal with a bottom of stone and gravel, pre- 
senting little obstruction. 

Stuhl's Falls is a uniform rapid with a bottom of stones and gravel. 

Firman's Falls is a uniform rapid, having a bottom of smooth stones and 
gravel. 

Nockamixon Falls has a rocky bottom and crooked channel among large 
rocks. 

Linn's Falls has two rifts with a semi-pool between sufficient for steam- 
boats, bottom of stone and gravel. 

The head of Durham Falls is a short rocky rift on the Jersey side. Tlie 
whole fall is smooth on the Pennsylvania side. 

Gravelly Falls has a current forming a long curve over a bed of small 
stone and gravel. 

Rocky Falls has a short rift at the head; the remainder is a semi-pool 
among large rocks. 

Ground-hog Rift forms a long curved channel over a bottom of stones 
and gravel. 

Old Sow Rift is a uniform rapid with a bottom composed of smooth stones 
and gravel. 

Clifford's Rift is a uniform straight rapid with a bottom composed of 
stones and gravel. 

Bixler's Rift is a uniform straight rapid with a bottom composed of stones 
and gravel. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATIOX ON" THE DELAWARp: RIVER 125 

In addition to the above named rapids are the following named "shallows" 
where the water has little depth without sensible fall: 

Limestone shallows 32>4 miles below the mouth of the Lehigh. These 
shallows occur a short distance above New Hope and are not discernible 
except at low water; they have 15" at low water. 

Lowreytown shallows (Milford, N. J.) 16}4 miles below the mouth of the 
Lehigh. This shallow is formed by a sand bar in the pool, through which a 
channel is cut near the Pennsyhania shore. 

Whippoorwill shallows 2y2 miles below the mouth of the Lehigh. This 
is a small gravel bar at the head of an island of the same name near the Jersey 
shore. 

In addition to the above there are many shallow spots in the different 
pools formed by sand bars or rocks lying near the surface. 

Ferries on the Delaware River North of 
Philadelphia County 

The early mode of transportation over streams (not con- 
sidering fords) was by canoe, by which the traveler, with his 
saddle-bag, was carried across, while his beast swam behind, 
and in like manner cattle of all kinds were obliged to ford or 
swim over. The so-called river ferry followed the canoe and 
bateau. The ferry boats were scow-shaped, i. e., built with 
straight or "square" bows, alike at both ends. The bottoms 
were flat with an upper or false bottom on which the cargo 
rested. The angle of the ends was about the same as that of the 
river bank on which the boat landed while loading and unloading. 
Some boats were large enough to accommodate the largest stage 
coaches with four or six horses. 

We have no data at hand to show the sizes of ferry boats on 
the Delaware, but they varied in size. "The Crown Inn," page 
60, (Reichel 1872), contains the following memorandum for 
building a ferry-flat, doubtless for the boat used at Bethlehem 
on the Lehigh: "Length, 31^ feet. Breadth at the head, 7^ 
feet. Extreme breadth, 9 feet. Abaft the head, 7 feet 8 inches. 
At the stern by a regular sweep from the extreme breadth, 7 
feet 2 inches. Depth at highest part of sides, 24 inches. The 
shear 2 inches, to flare 3 inches. The sides to be sawed 5 inches 
thick at the bottom edge, and 3}4 inches at the top edge. The 
head and stern posts, 18 inches wide, and 8 inches thick on the 
front edge. The bottom planks to rabbet on 5 inches. The 
bottom planks the whole length, and the cross plank the breadth 
of the flat, the whole two inches thick." 



126 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

The ferries on the Delaware below tide (that is, below Morris- 
ville, Pa., and Trenton, N. J., where high tide ends) were doubt- 
less propelled with oars and setpoles, and by sails when the wind 
was favorable, while those above high tide, where there was a 
current in the river, were equipped with two ropes or hawsers 
attached to the scow, one at each end, which were attached to a 
pulley or pulleys operating on hemp rope cables suspended over 
the river above high water mark. In later years wire rope 
cables were used. The boats were pointed up stream according 
to the direction they were desired to travel, and were propelled 
by the current of the stream impinging against their sides. ^^ 

All ferries where tolls were paid, were required to operate 
under charters, but it appears that one, Elijah Bond, attempted 
to defy the law, and began operating his ferry without such 
license or patent, whereupon, on advice of the Attorney General, 
the New Jersey Council in 1773, decreed that: "The ferries are a 
franchise in the Crown, and that no person hath authority to 
erect a ferry without first obtaining the royal grant. That 
one Elijah Bond has usurped this prerogative of the Crown by 
erecting a ferry in this Province at Nottingham, in the county 
of Burlington, N. J., without any license or grant." 

Although there had been earlier mail services in the American 
colonies, the first regular system in Pennsylvania was inaugurated 
by William Penn in 1683, when he granted: "to Henry Waldy 
of Teconay authority to hold one (i. e., a post office and post 
route) and supply passengers with horses from Philadelphia to 
New Castle or to the Falls," and for which rates were fixed. 
By royal patent of February 17, 1691, a new and more advanced 
system was inaugurated in the American colonies, by the appoint- 
ment of Thomas Neale, Esq., of England, as its head, com- 
missioned with authority to establish post offices and post- 
routes, "within the King's Colony and plantations in America." 
Neale appointed Hon. Andrew Hamilton, Esq., Governor of 
the Jerseys, as deputy postmaster general. By act of May 20, 
1767, "All judges and clerks, with their servants, shall pass and 
repass and shall be conveyed by all ferrymen of all the several 
ferries within the Province, without paying ferriage, fee or 

14 The charters required ferry ropes to be above high water, so as not to 
interfere with rafts or navigation. One cable, howe\er, was placed under 
water by Henry Quinn at or below Riegelsville. (See Bucks County Historical 
Society papers, Vol. Ill, page 527.) 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 127 

reward for the same." By act of November 27, 1700, the rates 
of postage were readjusted with the further stipulation that no 
tolls were to be collected by any ferry from mail carriers or their 
horses or coaches. These were the beginnings of mail routes 
and our wonderful post office system, with two cent postage 
rates, and the rural delivery of mail to the homes of all through- 
out the United States, and an air mail service established during 
week of September 23-30, 1914, all with a gross revenue <^rom 
all sources for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1927, amounted to 
$683,121,988.64. 

Delaware River Ferries 

It has been found impossible, at this late day, to gather 
complete data of these ancient ferries. Some of them spreading 
over two centuries, covering the lives of several generations, 
with many different owners for the same plant, and moreover 
some of the records consulted are conflicting and sometimes 
misleading. As a rule the ferries took the names of the parties 
owning the land, but often of their operators or lessees, and 
moreover with a different set of owners and operators on opposite 
sides of the river. We therefore appreciate the fact that the 
data herein presented are not complete, and that there must be 
errors and omissions, but it is the best that could be produced 
after a somewhat careful and painstaking effort. This primi- 
tive mode of crossing the Delaware is almost a thing of the past, 
as four ferries only remain. Two of them are operated privately; 
all are between Delaware Water Gap and Milford, Pa. They 
are referred to elsewhere in these notes. 

The following data are intended to cover only the known 
ferries on the Delaware within the County of Bucks and north 
thereof to the head-waters of the river ending at Hancock, N. Y., 
and not those plying in the neighborhood of Philadelphia and 
lower down the river. 

(Watson's Annals, Vol. II, page 591, et seq. ; Colonial Records, Vol. I, 
page 498; Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania, Vol. II, page 57; Vol. VII, page 
109, and N. J. Archives, Vol. XVIII, page 360.) 



128 improving navigation on the delaware river 

Ferries on the Delaware River Below Head of 
High Tide 

Dunk's Ferry — Three miles south of Bristol in Bucks 
County, at the terminus of the Street road, near the mouth of 
the Neshaminy Creek, opposite Burlington, N. J. This notable 
ferry was established by Duncan Williamson, and named for 
him, "Dunk," being a contraction of his given name. Although 
there was an earlier ferry there, the first mention we find of it is 
dated September 30, 1762, and again in 1764. In 1768 it was 
leased to John Kidd. On December 25, 1776, the day previous 
to the morning of Washington's attack on the Hessians at Tren- 
ton, Gen. John Cadwallader made an attempt to cross the 
Delaware, probably at Minnick's (later Bloomsdale) Ferry, 
higher up the river, but owing to floating ice, he was obliged to 
abandon his design, which was part of Washington's plan to 
surprise the enemy at Mount Holly, N. J., and to cut off a 
retreat of the Hessians from Trenton. On the evening at 8 
o'clock all troops in and around Bristol marched to Dunk's 
Ferry, three miles below Bristol, where they succeeded in cross- 
ing the next day, and took part in the second battle of Trenton 
and the battle of Princeton. This ferry is shown on a pen-drawn 
map of the Delaware made by Reading Howell in 1783.^^ An 
effort was made in 1851 to revive this ferry, w^hereupon the legis- 
latures of both states passed an act incorporating the "Beverly & 
Dunk's Ferrv Steamboat Company," which, after promising suc- 
cess, was abandoned. 

(New Jersey Archives, Vol. XXIV, pp. 85, 378; Vol. XXVI, page 20: 
Davis' History of Bucks County, Vol. I, pp. 11, 12, 105, 118; Vol. II, pp. 
89, 249; History of Burlington and Mercer Counties, page 513; Colonial 
Records, Vol. I, pp. 498, 513, 514; Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania, 
page 158.) 

Bristol-Burlington Ferry — Bristol is the oldest town (and 
now, 1932, the largest borough) in Bucks County. It was first 
called Buckingham, then New Buckingham, then New Bristol 
and since 1714, Bristol. At a meeting of the Provincial Council, 
June 10, 1697, it was designated as a market town to be laid out 

1-^ A section of this map copied by Howell in 1792 is in the library of the 
Bucks County Historical Society. Reading Howell was born in 1743 at 
Amwell, Hunterdon County, N. J. He was city surveyor of Philadelphia, 
and died November 26, 1827. 



I.MPROMN(; NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RI\I-:R 129 

in streets, "at the ferry against Burlington," indicating a ferry 
there at an earlier day. The ferry crossed the Delaware south 
of Burlington Island. According to Battle's History of Bucks 
County (page 389), this ferry was established by Samuel Clift, 
on his lands; and on his death, April, 1684, his executor, William 
Biles, leased the ferry house for two years to Richard Hurst. 
On November 27, 1700, Pennsylvania authorized a ferry "over 
the Delaware River at or near the Falls to Burlington." This 
act fixes the rate of tolls, and indicates an earlier ferry there. On 
December 11, 1704, New Jersey granted a license to Christian 
Snowden for a ferry from Burlington to Bristol. According to 
General Davis' History of Bucks County: "A ferry across the 
Delaware from Bristol to Burlington was first established by 
the Provincial Council in 1709. A petition was presented by 
John Sotcher, who owned the land on the Pennsylvania side, on 
which the landing was to be. In 1724 an act of similar import 
was passed by the New^ Jersey assembly, which fixed the rates 
and prohibited all but licensed ferrymen acting, under a fine of 
twenty shillings," * * * * "About 1729, Samuel Carey 
petitioned to be granted the ferry from Burlington to Bristol." 
General Davis doubtless intended to say that John Sotcher pre- 
sented his petition in 1709; at any rate, a charter w^as not granted 
to him until June 7, 1712, when there was granted: "At the town 
of New Bristol, with John Sotcher of Pennsbury, Bucks County, 
appointed to keep the ferry, for a term of seven years. "^"^ This 
was confirmed by the Queen's Council, February 20, 1713-14. 
It also appears that on April 22, 1721, a patent for a ferry from 
Burlington to Bristol was granted to Thomas Hunloke, by the 
New Jersey assembly. This ferry continued in operation with 
various owners, until superseded by a steamboat ferry. The 
time of starting the first steamboat cannot be definitely fixed, 
but it appears to have been about 1862. The boats in service 
successively were the "Sun," "Dayton," "Mercer" and the 
"Elwood Doran." There was also, for many years, a line of 
steamboats operating on the river between Philadelphia and 
Bristol, but it was abandoned some years ago. The legislatures 
of Pennsylvania and New Jersey have passed bills, approved 
by the United States War Department, authorizing the building 

16 See "Early History of Bristol," by General Davis, Bucks County His- 
torical Papers, Vol. I, page 548. 



130 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

of a bridge across the Delaware between Bristol and Burlington. 

(See Bristol-Burlington Delaware River Bridge, page 181.) 

(History of Bucks County, by General Davis, Vol. I, page 95, and Vol. 
II, page 89; Colonial Records, Vol. I, pp. 513, 514; Statutes at Large of 
Pennsylvania, Vol. II, pp. 76 and 429. 

Minnick's Ferry, Later Bloomsdale Ferry — We have 
no information as to when this ferry was first established, nor 
when it was legally authorized. It was, however, one of the 
earliest ferries on the Delaware. It was located on what is now 
Landreth's seed farm (bought by David Landreth in 1847), 
one mile above Bristol, Bucks County, crossing the river to 
Burlington County, N. J. Originally called Minnick's Ferry, 
named for Christian Minnick, its owner. Mr. Minnick was a 
member of the Bucks County Committee of Safety, 1774-75-76. 
He died in 1787. In 1795 the name was changed to Bloomsdale 
Ferry. 

General Davis, in his History of Bucks County (Vol. I, page 
105), says that Aaron Burr, after killing Alexander Hamilton, 
crossed over the Delaware to Bristol by this ferry. According 
to the Trenton Federalist for Monday, July 30, 1804, he crossed 
by the Lamberton Ferry, at Trenton to Bristol, enroute to Phila- 
delphia. (See Lamberton Ferry, page 135, post). Ex-King 
Joseph Bonaparte made two attempts to buy Bloomdale, before 
purchasing "Point Breeze," at Bordentown, N. J., where he lived 
from 1815 to 1839. 

Hopkinson's Ferry — General Davis in his History of Bucks 

County (Vol. I, page 71) says: "There was a Hopkinson's Ferry 

on the Delaware, probably in Falls Township, but we cannot 

vouch for it. Our attention was directed to it by an extract 

from a letter, 4th month, 6th, 1820, giving an account of an 

accident that happened to a party of four while crossing the 

river on the ice, in a carriage, and breaking through. Two 

were drowned, Esther Collins and Ann Edwards; the other two, 

Henry Stocker and wife, were saved. The letter was written 

by the widow of Stocker. This is the only time we have heard 

of a ferry of that name on the Delaware." 

(This ferry may have been named for the Hopkinson family, of Borden- 
town, of whom conspicuous members were: Judge Francis Hopkinson, signer 
of the Declaration of Independence and author of the "Battle of the Kegs," 
and his son. Judge Joseph Hopkinson, author of "Hail Columbia.") 



IMPROVIN'G NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 131 

BoRDENTOWN Ferry — From Falls Township, Bucks County, 
to Bordentown, N. J., Scull's map of 1770, indicates this ferry 
crossing to Bordentown, as Kirkbride's. Later maps show it 
as Bordentown Ferry; they, of course, refer to different sides 
of the river. The several acts, by which it was legalized, refer 
to it as being "at the falls over the Delaware River at the landing 
of Joseph Kirkbride," indicating, as stated elsewhere in these 
notes, that "at the falls," "below the falls," etc., are general 
terms, to which different ferries below the falls may be applied, 
and not confined to the ferry at Morrisville, which is imme- 
diately below the falls. On May 31, 1718, an act authorized a 
ferry at the falls over Delaware River, at the landing of Joseph 
Kirkbride, for a term of eleven years. This act fixes the rate 
of tolls to be charged. On May 10, 1729, this grant was con- 
tinued for an additional period of eleven years. On the same 
day the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania confirmed this act as : 
"An act continuing and establishing a ferry from the landing 
place of Joseph Kirkbride, over the Delaware River, at the 
falls." Underdatesof February Hand 18, 1771, Joseph Mitchell 
advertised: "To be lett, the ferry at Bordentown, with boats 
thereunto belonging and a good convenient home and garden 
and two other lots." This doubtless refers to this ferry and 
rights on the New Jersey side. On May 7, 1778, the home of 
Col. Joseph Kirkbride ("a most ardent whig, and was actively 
employed in collecting and forwarding recruits and provisions 
to the army"), with several outbuildings and his Delaware River 
ferry at "Belleview," opposite Bordentown, were burned by the 
"navy" of General Howe. Bordentown is about six miles south 
of Trenton. Joseph Kirkbride was a brother-in-law of Lang- 
horn Biles. 

(Bucks County Historical Society papers, page 383; Davis' History of 
Bucks County, Vol. II, page 166; Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania, \'ol. 
HI, page 194, Vol. IV, page 128; Colonial Records, Vol. Ill, page 360; Xew 
Jersey Archives, Vol. II, pp. 208, 217, Vol. XXIV, page 46, Vol. XX\"tI, 
page 380; History of Burlington and Mercer Clunties, pp. 466, 472.) 

Biles' Island Ferry— Crossing the Delaware from Falls 
Township, Bucks County, to Hamilton Township, Mercer 
County, N. J. Scott's Atlas of Bucks County indicates a ferry- 
landing at the head of this island, about equidistant between 
the Morrisville and Bordentown ferries, about three miles from 
each. Biles' Island containing 300 acres, was purchased by 



132 IMPROVIXG NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

William Biles for £10 from the Indians in 1680, which was con- 
firmed, by a deed to his son bearing date March 19, 1729. Like 
all other ferries below the head of tide, this one was doubtless 
propelled with oars and set-poles, and when the wind was favor- 
able by sails, and not by a cable system suspended over the river. 

Morrisville-Trenton Ferries 

There were three ferries on the Delaware between what is 
now Morrisville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Trenton, 
New Jersey. The first to be established was the one crossing 
at the foot of Ferry Street, immediately south of the present 
Lincoln Highway bridge, and known at various times as the 
"Trenton Ferry," the "Old Ferry," the "Middle Ferry" and the 
"l^pper Ferry." The second one to be opened was the Bond 
Ferry at Lamberton, about one mile south of the Trenton Ferry, 
and the third the "Beatty" or "Calhoun Street Ferry," above 
the falls, and about one mile above the Trenton Ferry. 

On June 10, 1697, the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania 
granted to Joseph Chorley of Falls Township, the right to operate 
a ferry from the Pennsylvania shore, which Warren S. Ely says 
was for the ferry between Morrisville and Trenton, but which 
General Davis, in his History of Bucks County, believes to have 
been at Bordentown. 

Trenton Ferry at Ferry Street — It has been found 
difficult, from information at hand, to differentiate between the 
Trenton ferries and those immediately south thereof, as the 
terms Falls, Falls Township, Delaware Falls, Falls of Delaware 
and Trenton Falls are early names often applied to the general 
locality. General Davis says the Trenton Ferry at Ferry Street 
was established by act of the Pennsylvania Assembly, May 31, 
1718, "after there had been a ferry there three-quarters of a 
century." This may possibly be the ferry referred to by Captain 
Richard C. Holcomb as "A ferry across the Delaware at the Falls 
which was licensed by the Court at Upland as early as 1675." 

On February 7, 1726, the New Jersey Assembly granted the 
exclusive use of the eastern or New Jersey shore, for a limited 
time, for ferry purposes to James Trent, extending for two miles 
above and two miles below the falls. This grant, therefore, 
included the limits of the three ferries. In 1745 Thomas Hooten 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARK RIVER 133 

is referred to as the keeper of this lower ferry. On January 31, 
1753, Robert Lettis Hooper (Sr.) purchased a tract, known as 
Trent Mills, with a ferry, from Hon. George Thomas of the 
Island of Antigua, who had bought it from William and Anthony 
Morris, of Philadelphia. On January 17, 1765, Hooper adver- 
tised his gristmill and certain other property for sale, together 
with his "Ferry known by the name of Trenton Ferry, with a 
patent for same and all boats, etc., for carrying on the business." 
On May 28, June 4 and July 3, 1770, he again advertised for sale 
at public vendue, "The noted patent ferry, called Trenton Ferry, 
in the County of Burlington, with boats and 442 acres of land 
with improvements, extending down the river including the 
fishery called Lamberton, now in the tenure of William Richards 
at the head of tide-way, from whence shallops constantly ply to 
and fro from Philadelphia." Shortly thereafter it was bought 
by Daniel W. Coxe. 

From the following advertisement, appearing in the Pennsyl- 
vania Gazette, It appears that the Coxes owned two ferries on 
the Delaware, one described as being twelve miles from Trenton 
and thirty miles by road from Philadelphia. This must have 
been in the neighborhood of what is now Moore's station, per- 
haps reaching as far down as Titusville, Hopewell Township, 
Mercer County, N. J., where Dr. Daniel Coxe, on March 30, 
1688, bought a large tract from the Indians. The other one, 
probably the Ferry Street Ferry at Trenton, also about thirty 
miles from Philadelphia. 

On April 1, 1761, the executors of Daniel Coxe (the fourth) 
advertised to sell his plantation called "Bellemont," with 1,320 
acres of land, having 1>^ miles of frontage on the Delaware, 
"with a patent for a ferry over to the Pennsylvania shore." 
And again on December 10, 1761, they offered, what is doubtless 
subdivisions of the same tract, in two parcels, one called "Belle- 
mont," whereon he had resided, with 640 acres of land and a 
frontage on the Delaware of at least a mile. The other adjoining 
on the south, separated from it by a creek, containing 507 acres 
of land, with a river frontage of near a mile, "and is a patent 
for a ferry, to which there is a road opening to Pennington, 
and the land on the Pennsylvania shore is purchased for a ferry." 
They are described as being 12 miles from Trenton and 30 miles, 
by a good wagon road, from Philadelphia. 



134 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

On September 26, 1770, Daniel Coxe (the fifth) advertised 
to be let, the Trenton Ferry and Tavern, "on the Delaware, 
near Trenton, 30 miles from Philadelphia, doubtless the Ferry- 
Street Ferry. On January 3, 1776, he advertises for a tenant 
to succeed Rensallear Williams at the lower ferry, and on May 
6, 1776, Thomas Janney advertises the fact that he was in pos- 
session of the ferry, "where Rensallear Williams formerly lived." 
On July 10, 1776, Thomas Harvey, operating the new ferry on 
the Pennsylvania side, entered into a controversy with Thomas 
Janney, in re rates of tolls and other competitive conditions. 
From this we learn that the Delaware, at that time, was 330 
feet wider at the upper ferry than at the lower one, and that the 
distance between them was about one mile. 

On December 27, 1776, the day following the Battle of Tren- 
ton, the British soldiers, out of revenge, burned the "elegant 
home" of Daniel Coxe (the fifth) at the Trenton Ferry. This 
was an unexplainable act, as he was known to have been an 
objectionable Tory, whose property was later seized by the 
Commissioner of Forfeited Estates, and sold at public outcry 
on November 10, 1779.^' 

On William S. Yard's map of Trenton, dated 1776, this ferry 
on the Pennsylvania side is noted as "Blazing Star Ferry." 
(Facing page 92 in Stryker's Battles of Trenton and Princeton.) 

In 1772 Patrick Colvin bought a large tract of land, lying 
on the Delaware, with a ferry, on the Pennsylvania side of the 
river. The settlement was then called Colvin's Ferry. It was 
here that Washington and his army crossed into Pennsylvania 
December 8, 1776, and effected their escape from the pursuing 
British. Colvin disposed of his property with the ferry in 1792, 
but for twenty years from 1772 to 1792, the settlement was 
known as Colvin's Ferry, and as such will go down in history 
as having been in his possession during the entire period of the 
Revolution. The name was not changed to Morrisville until after 
Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, bought property 
and settled there. Morrisville was organized and chartered as a 
borough in 1804. 

The first through stage coaches between Philadelphia and 
New York, were set up by John Butler in 1756. The stages 
ran up and down on the Pennsylvania side, crossing at the Tren- 

17 For Coxe Family, see New Jersey Archives, Vol. X, page 226. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 135 

ton Ferry. This service continued until the river bridge was 
opened for travel January 30, 1806. 

(Davis' History of Bucks County, Vol. I, page 71, Vol. II, pp. 163 to 
169, 247, 253; Hall's History of Trenton Presbyterian Church, page 113; 
History of Burlington and Mercer Counties, pp. 666, 816; New Jersey Archives, 
Second Series, Vol. I, pp. 8, 96, 138, 154, 246, Vol. Ill, pp. Ill, 112; Vol. 
XII, pp. 245, 697, Vol. XX, pp. 365, 492, 646, Vol. XXIV, page 471, and 
Vol. XXVII, pp. 159, 274, 534; Louise Hewitt's Historic Trenton; Colonial 
Records of Pennsylvania, Vol. I, page 514.) 

Lamberton Ferry— Located below Trenton Falls, at Lam- 
berton, now part of the city of Trenton, about two miles south 
of the present Lincoln highway bridge. The New Jersey landing 
was near the site of the present Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany's river bridge. The Pennsylvania end was owned by John 
Thornton. In 1776 this ferry was in possession of Thomas 
Harvey. This ferry is evidently a revival or a continuance of 
the Bond Ferry, referred to on page 126 ante, which in June, 
1773, Elijah Bond was operating without a license. It was 
doubtless by this ferry that the American troops under Gen. 
John Cadwallader attempted to cross the Delaware on Christ- 
mas night of 1776, to form a junction with Washington in his 
attack upon the Hessians, as the crossing at Ferry Street was 
in possession of Daniel Coxe, a well-known British sympathizer. 
In 1776 this ferry was taken over by Major William Trent, a 
son of Colonel William Trent, who later advertised the ferry 
together with 600 or 700 acres of land for sale.^^ At that time 
it was designated by the Quartermaster's department of New 
Jersey as a Continental Ferry, where men in active army service 
might pass at reduced rates of ferriage. On September 25, 1780, 
the Continental Ferry was transferred to the crossing at Ferry 
Street, but on October 8, 1780, it was restored to the Lamberton 
Ferry, but on May 30, 1781, Continental Ferry was again moved 
back to Ferry Street. 

It was at the Lamberton Ferry that Aaron Burr crossed 
over into Pennsylvania after killing Alexander Hamilton in a 
duel at Weehawken. N. J., on Wednesday, July 11, 1804, dying 
the following day, July 12, in the city of New^ York. The 
Trenton Federalist, under date of July 30, 1804, has this to say 
concerning the movements of Aaron Burr: 

18 New Jersey Gazette, September 16, 1778; New Jersey Archives, second 
series, Vol. II, page 429, and History of Trenton, Chapter V, by William J. 
Backes, page 266. 



136 IMPROVING XAVIGATIOX OX THE DELAWARE RIVER 

"In the early part of last week, the man who has covered our country 
with mourning, Col. Aaron Burr, passed through the state of New Jersey, 
on his way to Philadelphia, where, we are informed, he had the hardihood to 
make a public appearance by walking in the open streets in the face of day. 
From Amboy he was carried by some friend to Cranberry, and thence con- 
veyed in a light-waggon, crossing the Delaware at Lamberton ferry to Bristol 
in Pennsylvania." 

As the Trenton Delaware River Bridge was opened for 
travel January 30, 1806, it is to be presumed that all ferries at 
Trenton stopped operating about that time. 

Trextox Ferrv at Calhoux Street — The upper Trenton 
Ferry, crossing the Delaware between Morrisville, Bucks County, 
to a point just above the Calhoun Street bridge, often referred 
to as the Beatty Ferry. Its location was above Trenton Falls, 
and therefore the first ferry on the river above high tide. This 
ferry was doubtless established by George Beatty during the 
early days of the Revolution. General Stryker refers to the 
ferry boat from Beatty's Ferry having been taken up the river 
and used by Washington in crossing the Delaware, Christmas 
night of 1776. General Stryker also says that a few^ of the officers 
and men returned from the battle of Trenton by the Beatty 
ferry and some by the lower Trenton and Yardley ferries. A 
notice in the Trenton Gazette, August 14, 1782, signed John Bur- 
rows and George Beatty, refers to it as the "New Trenton Ferry." 
On Howell's map of 1792, the property on the New Jersey side is 
marked as belonging to Hooper. This is evidently the property, 
then one mile above Trenton, now about where West State Street 
and Prospect Street meet, called "Belville," formerly the home 
of Sir John Sinclair, then of General Alexander (Lord Stirling), 
then of Col. Robert Lettis Hooper, Jr., where he died July 30, 
1797; his wife, the widow of Sir Robert Erskine, having also 
passed away there in 1796.'^ Later the property came into pos- 
session of John Rutherford, who in 1802 advertised his tavern 
and ferry-house to be let. In June, 1802, Mahlon Reed an- 
nounced that he was attending the Rutherford Ferry, where the 
public mail carriages and other stages crossed daily. Robert 

I*' For Col. Robert Lettis Hooper, Jr., see Pennsylvania Magazine of His- 
tory, Vol. XXXVI, pp. 60, et seq.; Hall's History of Trenton Presbyterian 
Church, pp. 113, 114; The Homes of George Taylor, Bucks County Historical 
Society papers, Vol. \', pp. 113, et seq. Robert Lettis Hooper, Sr., died 
April 30, 1785. 



IMPROVIXG NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 137 

Perkins was then in charge of the Pennsylvania side. In August, 
1806, John Rutherford tried to sell his ferry together with two 
ferry-houses. In 1822 he again tried to sell the ferry on both 
sides of the river, but it remained in his possession certainly until 
1845. The bridge which succeeded this ferry was opened for 
travel in 1860. (For Calhoun Street bridge see page 169.) 

(New Jersey Archives, Vol. XX, pp. 273, 366, 568; Davis' History of 
Bucks County, Vol. II, page 166, and Bucks County Historical Society 
papers, Vol. II, page 320. Historyof Trenton, Chapter V, page 269, by William 
J. Backes.) 

Yardley's Ferry — From Yardleyville. now Yardley, Bucks 
County, Pa., to Greensburg, now Wilburtha, Mercer County, 
N. J. Upon the death of Thomas Yardley in 1683, his son 
Thomas established a ferry at this place, which was confirmed 
to him by act of the Pennsylvania assembly. May 22, 1722, 
to be kept by him for a term of fourteen years, "In Makefield 
Township, Bucks County, upon lands of Thomas Yardley." 
Makefield Township was divided in 1853 into Lower and Upper 
Makefield. This ferry is in Lower Makefield. The Pennsyl- 
vania Gazette of July 24-31, 1732, mentions one Warren Barr as 
the person who "formerly kept the ferry above Delaware Falls 
on the Jersey side." On March 1, 1729, there was advertised, 
on the New Jersey side: "A house and ferry to be let on Dela- 
ware above the Falls, commonly called Heath's Ferry. Enquire 
of Thomas Gould or Francis Rowes." This refers to the Yardley 
Ferry. There are two surveys of this ferry on file in the Sur- 
veyor General's office at Burlington, one made November, 1730, 
recorded to James Gould; the other of March, 1736, noting the 
New Jersey side as Gould's Ferry and the Pennsylvania side 
as "Yeardley's." The New Jersey Archives, under date January 
3, 1765, refer to this ferry as Howell's Ferry, late Yardley's. 
On Scull's map of 1770 it is marked Yardley's. General Davis 
says (Vol. I, page 88) that this ferry was first built half-a-mile 
below the river bridge, the boats landing opposite on the farm 
of Jolly Longshore, that one Howell kept the ferry on the New 
Jersey side, by reason of which it was often called Howell's 
Ferry. ^^ General Stryker, in his "Battles of Trenton and Prince- 
ton," frequently refers to this ferry on the New Jersey side as 
Johnson's Ferry (pp. 109-110-117-145-207). On some maps it is 

^0 See Vol. I, page 16, of the Bucks County Historical Society papers. 



138 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

marked John's Ferry. Later the ferry was moved up the river 
to the site of the bridge, where the "White Swan" tavern was 
built. The settlement on the New Jersey side was called Greens- 
burg, but was changed to Wilburtha in 1882, w^hen the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad Company changed the name of its station. In 
like manner Yardleyville was changed to Yardley, when the 
Bound Brook Division of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad 
was opened and the town incorporated into a borough in 1893. 
The ferry was discontinued in 1835, w^hen the river bridge was 
opened for travel. (For Yardley bridge, see 170.) 

(Battles' History of Bucks County, page 441; Colonial Records of Penn- 
sylvania, Vol. Ill, page 166; Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, Vol. V, 
pp. 375, 441; Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania, Vol. Ill, page 318; New Jersey 
Archives, Vol. XI, page 169, and Vol. XXIV, page 467; Bucks County His- 
torical Society, Vol. II, page 16.) 

McKoNKEv's Ferry — Although the McKonkey family 
owned the ferry at Washington Crossing but three years, it will 
always go down in history bearing their family name. The 
Pennsylvania end was located immediately above the present 
river bridge, in Upper Makefield Township, Bucks County, 
on a tract of land taken up in 1684 by Henry Baker, who estab- 
lished the first ferry there, giving the place the name of Baker's 
Ferry, by which it w^as known for nearly a century. Henry 
Baker bequeathed that part of his real estate containing the 
ferry to his son Samuel, w'hose executors advertised the planta- 
tion of 600 acres, w-ith the ferry, to be sold at public vendue 
on March 10, 1763. It was evidently bought by his son, Samuel 
Baker, Jr., whose executors-, in turn, conveyed the property by 
deed bearing date, December 5, 1774, to Samuel McKonkey. 
The name was then changed to McKonkey's Ferry, which has 
been made memorable in history as the place where General 
Washington and his brave men crossed the Delaware on Christ- 
mas night of 1776. Boats for the crossing were gathered from 
all along the river, assembled and hid back of Malta Island 
(later called Smith's Island), about one mile below New Hope. 
While these boats included those of other ferries, history records 
that the crossing was made mostly on Durham boats. Boats 
of the Durham type could not well have been made part of the 
ferry system, for, in fact, one or more ferry boats could not 
have accommodated so large an army with its artillery and 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 139 

Other equipment, even if more than one trip had been made.^^ 
This shows that while the crossing was made at the ferry, it was 
not wholly by the ferry. All paintings and engravings of the 
crossing show General Washington himself in a Durham boat 
struggling with the ice. 

The Wayne County Historical Society, in a publication by 
its secretary, Edwin B. Callaway, records: "Ebenezer Taylor, 
one of the early settlers of Damascus Township, had the dis- 
tinction of plying his way up the Delaware River in the Durham 
boat used by George Washington to make his famous and historic 
trip across the Delaware during the Revolutionary War." 

On March 21, 1777, Samuel McKonkey conveyed the ferry 
with 146 acres of land to Benjamin Taylor. The name of the 
place was then changed to Taylor's Ferry. It remained in the 
Taylor family for man}^ years, and when the post olifice was 
established there, February 11, 1829, it was called Taylorsville. 
Hon. Samuel F. Gwinner in a paper read before the Bucks 
County Historical Society (Vol. H, page 325) states that this 
ferry was at one time known as Tomlinson's Ferry, probably 
its New Jersey name. 

On July 25, 1917, the Pennsylvania Legislature passed an 
act creating the Washington Crossing Park Commission, author- 
ized to improve the highways, preserve its old landmarks and 
lay out a memorial park. On January 28, 1919, the name of 
the village and post office were changed to that of W^ashington 
Crossing. In 1895 the Bucks County Historical Society erected 
on the Pennsylvania side, a granite monument to mark the 
place of crossing. In 1927 the Commission moved this monu- 
ment farther up the river, having by survey, found more nearly 
the exact place of Washington's embarkment. On the same 
day (October 15, 1895) the New Jersey Society Sons of the 
Cincinnati unveiled a monument with a bronze tablet on the 
New Jersey side, to mark the place of his landing. 

^1 The army crossing at McKonkey 's Ferry, in addition to the officers, 
with their horses, consisted of 2,400 selected soldiers with their rifles, 20 can- 
non and howitzers. The embarkment began on Christmas Day at 8 P. M., 
and by 3 A. M. of the 26th the last trip with the artillery was landed on the 
New jersey side. It took until 8 A. AI. to make the march of nine miles to 
the British garrison at Trenton, twelve hours from the time of the first embark- 
ment. On their return trip, by the same ferry on the same day, they brought 
back with them as prisoners 1,000 of the 1,200 Hessians, together with their 
rifles, si.x brass field pieces, ammunition, stores and eight flags. 



140 IMPROVIXG NAVIGATIOX ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

There is very little data at hand, to show the different owners 
of land on the New Jersey side. In early years it was known 
as Eight Mile Ferry and then later as Bernardsville Ferry.'" The 
location was in the present township of Hopewell, Mercer County. 
On May 12, 1768, Henry Margerum advertised a plantation of 
100 acres of land "anciently known as Parmer's Ferry, in Hope- 
well Township, eight miles from Trenton." This distance corre- 
sponds with that between Trenton and Washington Crossing. 
General Davis, in his History of Bucks County, says this ferry 
was for years known as Vessel's Ferry; he must refer to the 
New Jersey side. On a map accompanying the Pennsylvania 
Archives (Vol. I, Third Series), published about 1791, this 
ferry is laid down, on the New Jersey side, as Harvey's Ferry. 

In 1914 the State of New Jersey created the Washington 
Crossing Park Commission, which has laid out a park and 
roads, marked the old buildings and otherwise improved condi- 
tions on that side of the river. There is a movement on foot 
to get an appropriation from the Congress of the United States 
for replacing the present bridge with an elaborate memorial 
bridge. The ferry was shut down when the bridge was opened 
for travel in 1834. (For Washington Crossing bridge, see page 
171.) 

(Bucks County Historical Society papers, \'ol. I, page 465, and Vol. II, 
page 316; Historical Collections of New Jersey, page 262; New Jersev Archives, 
Vol. XXIV, page 113, and Vol. XXVI, page 333.) 

Beaumoxt's Ferry — (Marked Blue-mounts on some maps). 
Located at what is now Brownsburg, formerly Pebbletown, a 
little less than one mile north of Knowles Creek in Upper Make- 
field Township, Bucks County, midway between New Hope 
and Washington Crossing, about 3^4 miles from each place. 
This ferry and the roads leading to it from Wrightstown and 
Washington's headquarters at the Keith House, played an 
important part in Washington's Trenton and other New Jersey 
campaigns.^' The Beaumont family owned about 600 acres 

22 Historical Collections of New Jersey, by Barber & Howe, page 261. 

2-5 Washington's headquarters at the Keith House was about two miles 
west from the Delaware, and those of his trusty generals were nearby, all 
near the southern base of Jericho Hill. Knowles Creek (sometimes erro- 
neously called Baker's Creek), south of Jericho Mountain, is the northern 
boundary of Penn's first purchase of land from the Indians in Bucks County, 
made July 15, 1682, by William Markham, before the arrival of William 
Penn. A marker has been set up on the south side of this creek, setting forth 
this fact. Knowles Eddy, or Knowles Cove, is at the mouth of this creek. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAV^ARE RIVER 141 

of land at that place, extending from the Solebury Township 
line at Bowman's Hill to below Brownsburg. In 1797 John 
Beaumont sold 102 acres, including the ferry, to Samuel Opdyke, 
who also kept the hotel at the ferry. It then became known 
as Opdyke's Ferry, and is so indicated on a map of New Hope, 
dated 1798, reproduced by General Davis in his History of 
Bucks County. The settlement bore the name of Pebbletown 
down to 1827, when the property with its hotel and ferry came 
in possession of Stacy Brown, who was instrumental in having 
a post office established there, called Brownsburg, in his honor, 
and by which name it has since been known. The New Jersey 
ferry landing was in Hopewell Township, Mercer County, at 
or near where Moore station of the Pennsylvania Railroad now 
stands. In his report to President Wharton, on the fords of 
the Delaware, Benedict Arnold refers to this ferry as Petit's. 
As shown on page 133, ante, the Daniel Coxe estate advertised 
for sale, a tract of land in Hopewell Township, of 1,320 acres 
in 1761, and again in 1770, with a river frontage of one and 
one-half miles, to which there was attached a ferry patent, 
stating that they had an option on land in Pennsylvania for a 
ferry landing; this was doubtless prior to the erection of a ferry 
there. The New Jersey Archives refer to Horn's Ferry as 
being near Coryell's, which may refer to this ferry on the New 
Jersey side. 

(Buck's History of Bucks County, pp. 35, 36, and Appendix of same, 
page 18; Battle's History of Bucks County, page 443; Davis' History of 
Bucks County, Vol. 1, pp. 294, 466; New Jersey Archives, Vol. XXV, page 202.) 

Coryell's Ferry — This ferry operated on the Delaware 
between New Hope, Bucks County, and Lambertville, N. J. 
Frequent mention is made of this ferry as a place of crossing the 
river during Washington's campaign on the Delaware. As its 
history and the settlements, on both sides of the river, together 
with the property owners, have been the subject of numerous 
papers by historians, it seems unnecessary to repeat them in 
this brief notice. I beg leave, however, to call special attention 
to the papers by Capt. Richard C. Holcomb, published in Volume 
V of the Bucks County Historical Society; and the brochures 
by Miss Hannah Coryell Anderson, entitled "General Washing- 
ton at Coryell's Ferry," and by Miss Margaret W. Ely, entitled 
"Early History of New Hope." 



142 IMPROVING NAVIGATION OX THE DELAWARE RIVER 

This, like all ferries on the Delaware, took the names of its 
respective owners from time to time, but it is best known in 
history as Coryell's Ferry, by reason of bearing that name during 
our war for independence. John Wells bought land on the 
Pennsylvania side, June 26, 1717, and is said to have established 
a ferry service there about that time. The ferry was located a 
little below the site of the river bridge, where the Ferry Tavern 
(since 1827 the Logan House) stands, and about half-a-mile 
above the head of Wells Falls, which are 4,780 feet long, and 
were named for him. The legal right to operate this ferry 
was first vested in John Wells by act of the Pennsylvania assem- 
bly, May 22, 1722, for "a ferry to be erected and settled in Sole- 
bury in the County of Bucks, over the Delaware River to New 
Jersey." This act fixes the rate of tolls to be charged. His 
license was for a term of seven years, during which time no 
other ferry could operate within a limit of two miles above and 
two miles below. "Except Thomas Canby, his heirs, executors, 
administrators and assigns, for the use of themselves and their 
mill." It appears that John Wells was favored with a con- 
tinuance of his license, during the pleasure of the Governor, 
and that on February 12, 1733, a renewal was granted him, with 
certain restrictions, for an additional period of seven years. On 
October 29, 1745, Benjamin Canby succeeded John Wells as 
proprietor of the ferry, and on the death of Canby in 1748, it 
came into possession of George Ely, of Amwell, N. J., who had 
married the widow of Emanuel Coryell. Ely had the distinction 
of having operated the ferry and taverns on both sides of the 
river. On January 2, 1751, David Kinsey, who had married 
the widow of Benjamin Canby, supplanted George Ely. After 
the death of Mrs. Kinsey (widow^ of Benjamin Canby) in 1760, 
the ferry property was sold and came into possession of John 
Coryell. John Coryell became financially embarrassed, and in 
1782 the ferry was sold by Samuel Dean, Sheriff of Bucks County, 
to John Beaumont, who owned it but a few years. A fire in 
1790 caused the name on the Pennsylvania side to be called 
New Hope. In 1805 a post office was established there, and in 
1837 it was incorporated into a borough. 

On the New Jersey side, Emanuel Coryell, on April 30, 1726, 
applied for a license for John Coates to keep a ferry on that 
side, opposite W^ells' Ferry. In 1728 he sold out to John Purcell, 



IMPROVING XAVIGATIOX OX THE DELAWARE RIVER 143 

who, in turn, in 1732, sold it to Emanuel Coryell, whose legal 
right was confirmed to him, January 7, 1733. Emanuel died 
in 1748. In 1764 John Coryell, son of Emanuel, obtained a 
license for the New Jersey side. On November 1, 1766, the 
ferry, with certain lands in NeW' Jersey, then in possession of 
Robert Grant, late the property of Abraham Coryell, was seized, 
as the property of George Ely, and sold by the sheriff of Hunter- 
don County. On the death of John Coryell, the property was 
adjudged to his son, Abraham Coryell, who advertised for sale: 
"The noted ferry on the Delaware on the Jersey shore, called 
Coryell's Ferry, with 75 acres of land," at public vendue on 
March 15, 1779. The first stages over the Old York Road 
crossed at this ferry, September 26, 1769. As shown by an 
advertisement in the Pennsylvania Chronicle, the New Jersey 
shore, in 1770, was in possession of Donald McDonald. 

The town name of Coryell's Ferry on the New Jersey side 
was changed to that of Lambertville in 1814, when the Hon. 
John Lambert, United States Senator, for whom it was named, 
secured a post office there. The town was incorporated in 1849. 
The ferry stopped operating in 1814, when the river bridge was 
opened for travel. (For New Hope-Lambertville bridge, see 
page 171.) 

(History of Hunterdon and Somerset Counties, pp. 266, 270; New Jersey 
Archives, Second Series, Vol. HI, page 90, Vol. XXV, page 225; Statutes at 
Large of Pennsylvania, Vol. Ill, page 316, and Pennsylvania Archives, Third 
Series, Vol. I, page 27.) 

Cextre Bridge Ferry— So named because it was midway 
between New Hope and Lumberville, about three miles and a 
half from each place. Crossing from Centre Bridge, Bucks 
County, Pa., to what was later Stockton, Hunterdon County, 
N. J. The town was first called Stockton in 1852 when the post 
office was first established there. It was first called Reading's 
Ferry, soon after 1700, for Col. John Reading, a Jerseyman, who 
owned the ferry and lands on the New Jersey side. In 1711 
he was instrumental in having the Old York Road laid out, 
beginning at his ferry, at what is now Centre Bridge, on lands 
of Barzillian Foster, where the terminus of the road was located 
for several years, and then changed to Coryell's Ferry. After 
his death in 1717, it appears that his ferry operations were 
suspended, and the public road allowed to become overgrown 



144 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

with weeds. In or about 1731, Capt. Daniel Howell, son-in-law 
of Col. John Reading, reopened the ferry, but the terminus of 
the Old York Road remained at Coryell's Ferry. On Scull's 
map of 1770, it is indicated as Howell's Ferry, while on the 
map of 1776-77, accompanying Marshall's Life of Washington, 
it is marked Robinson's Ferry. It is also marked Robinson's 
Ferry on the Pennsylvania side and Hart's Ferry on the New 
Jersey side on "The American Atlas," published in 1796 by 
John Reed of New York. Later the land on the Pennsylvania 
side became the property of William Mitchell, from whom the 
place took the name of Mitchell's Ferry, and it is so marked on a 
map of 1798, reproduced by General Davis in his History of 
Bucks County, Vol. I, page 294. The lands and ferry interests, 
on both sides of the river, were conveyed to the newly chartered 
bridge company, viz.: that on the Pennsylvania side by William 
Mitchell on March 29, 1813, and that on the New Jersey side 
by Joseph Howell and Susanna, his wife, on July 16, 1813. 

The ferry was abandoned after the bridge was opened for 
travel in 1814. (For Center Bridge, see page 172.) 

(See papers by Captain Holcomb, Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. 
V, pp. 584 and 650; History of Hunterdon and Somerset Counties, pp. 266, 
270.) 

LuMBERTON Ferry — -From Lumberton, Solebury township, 
Bucks County, Pa., later called "Hard Times," and so marked 
on the survey of the Delaware Division Canal in 1828, to Dela- 
ware township, Hunterdon County, N. J., at a landing about 
three-fourths of a mile south of Bull's Island, now Raven Rock, 
railroad station. In early days the surrounding lands on the 
Pennsylvania side of the river were owned by Stophel Rose, 
which subsequently came in possession of his son, John Rose. 
The ferry was then known as Rose's Ferry. William Skelton 
purchased from John Rose, that part of the tract containing 
the ferry, which he sold to John Kugler, August 13, 1771, reserv- 
ing a right for a landing. John Kugler continued to reside there 
until 1782. He and his wife Susanna were attainted of treason 
for having "harbored spies for the British army, concealing 
prisoners and aiding in their escape to the enemy." They were 
both on April 6, 1780, committed to the Bucks County jail at 
Newtown, but on June 10, 1780, were released on bail of £15,000 
each, and not permitted to operate the ferry, by means of which 



IMPROVING XAVIGATIOX ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 145 

they had carried on a traitorous ccjrrespondence. This led 
John Kugler to sell the property in 1782 to George Warne. 
After Warne's death in 1792 his executors sold the property to 
Joseph Hart for £1,300. It then became known as Hart's 
Ferry, and is so indicated on the map of 1776-77 accompanying 
Marshall's Life of Washington. On the map accompanying 
Reading Howell's survey of the Delaware River in 1783, the 
Pennsylvania side is noted as Warne's Ferry and the New Jersey 
side as Thome's Ferry. On a map published in 1811 the settle- 
ment on the New Jersey side is called Saxtonville, and the ferry 
Saxton's Ferry. Reuben Thomas and Jacob Painter became 
the owners in April, 1796. It then became known as Painter's 
Ferry. Painter died in July, 1805, after which his property 
was sold to Joseph Kugler. In 1816 it was bought by John 
Gillingham. This ferry was discontinued after the toll bridge 
was opened in 1835. Lumberville, one mile farther up the 
river, was known as Wall's Landing as late as 1814, when the 
name was changed to Lumberville. We have no record of a 
ferry at that landing. 

(Davis' History of Bucks County, Vol. I, page 287, and William J. Buck's 
History of Bucks County, pp. 60, 61, 70.) 

Point Pleasant Ferry— From Point Pleasant, Bucks 
County, Pa., to what is now Byram station (until 1882 called 
Point Pleasant) on the Pennsylvania Railroad in Kingwood 
Township, N.J. This ferry was granted to Matthew Hughes on 
August 23, 1739. It was located immediately on line of his 
property and that of Enoch Pearson, which resulted in a com- 
plaint laid before the Board of Property for Pennsylvania, which 
decided that Hughes should 'pay Pearson at the rate of forty 
shillings per acre for land encroached upon. 

In 1740 Pearson conveyed his land with ferry to Daniel 
Dawson, who, by will, in 1744, devised it to his son, Daniel 
Dawson, Jr., and his daughter, Mary, wife of John Thompson. 
Thompson became the sole proprietor in 1747, and in 1748 he 
conveyed it to John White. White conveyed seven-eighths 
interest, on the same day, to seven of his neighbors, and these 
eight men formed the Cave Bank Fishery Company. This 
has always been one of the best shad fisheries on the river above 
tide. This ferry is shown on Reading Howell's map as Blacks. 
It is also indicated on his pen-drawn map of the survey of the 



146 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

Delaware River in 1783, but does not appear on either of the 

Scull maps. Black gave the name of Lower Blacks Eddy to that 

village, which was a popular place for rafts to tie up for the night. 

A post office was granted in 1821. called Lower Blacks Eddy, on 

the south side of the Tohickon Creek, but when removed to the 

north side in 1828, Joseph Hough was appointed postmaster 

and the name was changed to Point Pleasant. In 1832 John F. 

Youngken was postmaster. The ferry continued in operation 

until the bridge was opened for travel in 1835. (For Point 

Pleasant bridge, see page 174.) 

("The Early History of Point Pleasant," by Warren S. Ely, to be pub- 
lished in Vol. VI, of the Bucks County Historical Society papers. Pennsyl- 
vania Archives, Third Series, Vol. I, page 107.) 

Frenchtown Ferry — This is an ancient ferry and may 
have been established as early as 1699, when the London Land 
Company made its first purchase of land in Tinicum Township, 
covering five miles of river front. The first recorded account 
of it, now at hand, dates back to 1741, when it is noted as London 
Ferry, located on the Pennsylvania shore, below the present river 
bridge, in Tinicum Township, Bucks County, Pa., between 
the present towns of Uhlerstown and Erwinna, and crossing 
thence over to Frenchtown, N. J. It is also noted on Scull's 
maps of 1759 and 1770 as London Ferry. On the latter map 
the New Jersey settlement is noted as Sunbeam. On December 
10, 1761, the New Jersey side was in possession of David New- 
berry. On October 18, 1764, it is referred to as Mechlenburgh 
Ferry, kept on the Pennsylvania side by John Tinbrook, and 
on the New Jersey side by Daniel Pigmore. On Reading Howell's 
map of 1792, the present borough of Frenchtown is marked 
Alexandria. On April 1, 1768. William Pidgeon (a lawyer of 
Nottingham, Burlington County. N. J.) bought two tracts of 
land in Tinicum Township, aggregating 529 acres, at sheriff's 
sale as the property of Richard Stevens, which he advertised 
for sale, saying that the ferry was on one of the tracts, and in 
possession of John Tinbrook. Col. Arthur Erwin became the 
purchaser of both tracts, deed dated March 16, 1769, and no 
doubt the ferry was known as Erwin Ferry from that time 
until the property passed out of the Erwin family. (See Deed 
Book, Vol. 13, page 37.) The earliest mention of a ferry on the 
New Jersey side is in the proceedings of the Provincial Council, 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 147 

of that State, under date of June 7, 1753, when there was granted : 
"A patent to Mrs. Ann Pidgeon for a ferry over the Delaware 
River, at a certain place or creek's mouth, falling into the said 
river, and know^n by the Indian name of Nickisakawick, being 
on the lands of said Ann Pidgeon, situate in Kingwood, County 
of Hunterdon, and so along the shore for half-a-mile above and 
half-a-mile below the said creek's mouth." The History of 
Hunterdon County, page 428, in referring to a document, dated 
August 24, 1759, refers to the New Jersey side as Calvin's Ferry. 
The New Jersey Archives (Second series. Vol. I, page 475) says 
that General Howe crossed Sherod's Ferry (at Frenchtown) 
on Thursday morning, October 2, 1777, after the Battle of 
Brandywine. On Erskine's map, on file in the New York His- 
torical Society, used by the Continental army, 1778-80, this 
crossing is noted as Sherrerd's Ferry. In 1808 it was called 
Prevost's Ferry. Abandoned in 1844, when the river bridge 
was opened for travel. (For Frenchtown bridge, see page 175.) 

(New Jersey Archives, Vol. XVI, page 429; Vol. XX, page 646; Vol. 
XXIV, page 438, and Vol. XXVI, page 135. For William Pidgeon see Hall's 
History of Trenton Presbyterian Church, page 246.) 

MiLFORD, N. J., Ferry — From Upper Blacks Eddy, Bucks 
County, Pa., to Milford, Hunterdon County, N. J. Upper 
Blacks Eddy is now in Bridgeton Township, erected in 1890 
out of part of Nockamixon Township, Bucks County. There 
is no reliable data at hand to show w^hen this ferry w^as established. 
A ford was used for crossing before the ferry was built. The 
settlement on the Pennsylvania side, called Upper Blacks Eddy, 
was a most desirable place for raftmen to tie up for the night. 
This is the longest eddy on the river, and was usually crowded 
with rafts during the spring flood rafting season. A post office 
was established there in 1830. 

The earliest record at hand of the New^ Jersey side is a copy 
of a survey, about 1757, by Elisha Emley, which indicates a 
sawmill on the Wissahawken Creek, about 200 feet from its 
mouth at the Delaware. Later a gristmill was built farther up 
the creek, which, in 1769, when the property of Col. John Reid, 
was destroyed by fire. This gave the settlement the name of 
Burnt Mills. 

In 1798 Col. Thomas Lowrey bought 333 acres of land in 
and around what is now the town of Milford, including the 



148 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

site of the burnt mill, and during the following years 1799-1800, 
erected a gristmill by the riverside, to which shortly thereafter 
he added a sawmill. The place was then called Lowreytown, 
arid the ferry Lowreytown Ferry. In 1803 the name was per- 
manently changed to Milford, and the ferry to Milford Ferry. 
There is a tradition that, although the ferry was established 
prior to 1803, the town was named for the ferry, a combination 
of the words Mill and Ford. When the river bridge was opened 
for travel in 1842, the ferry was shut down. (For Milford 
bridge, see page 175.) 

(History of Hunterdon County, pp. 427, 429, and History of the Lowrey 
Family in The Jerseyman, pp. 21 to 26.) 

Monroe Ferry — From Monroe (later Lehnenburg), Durham 
Township, Bucks County, Pa., to Holland Township, Hun- 
terdon County, N. J. Some historians claim that this ferry was 
established when the charcoal blast furnace was started at the 
village of Durham in 1727. This is certainly wrong; there is 
no documentary or other evidence to warrant that assumption, 
and moreover the road from the furnace to Monroe was not 
indicated on the Durham Furnace map of 1773. What is now 
the village of Monroe, on the Pennsylvania side, was first devel- 
oped by Thomas Pursell, when he bought Tracts Nos. 12 and 
13 of the Durham Furnace lands. Tract No. 13, on which the 
ferry was located, was bought by him, January 1, 1786, and the 
river ferry was doubtless built shortly thereafter. The settle- 
ment was then called Pursell's Ferry until 1807; from 1807 to 
1820 as Romig's Ferry; from 1820 to 1839 as Fackenthal's 
Ferry, and after that during the remainder of its life as Johnson's 
Ferry. The name of the village was, however, changed to that 
of Monroe, December 3, 1823, when a post office of that name 
was established there. It was so named in honor of President 
James Monroe, through the influence of Michael Fackenthal, 
Sr., who was one of his admirers, and for whom, in 1816, he had 
been one of his presidential electors. 

When the Belvidere Delaware Railroad was completed to a 
point opposite this ferry in 1853, a flag station was located there, 
called Holland, which was maintained for several years, and 
then discontinued. The present Holland railway station about 
two miles farther south is doubtless the direct successor of the 
one at the ferry. The compiler of these notes recollects, when a 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DKLAWARP: RIVER 149 

small boy in the early sixties, of seeing this ferry in operation. 
On March 19, 1810, a charter was granted for a bridge at Monroe, 
then called Romig's Ferry, for which subscription books were 
opened in February, 1813, but for some unexplained reason it did 
not materialize. 

(5 Smith's Laws, page 111, and Advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 
February 6, 1813.) 

Durham Cave Ferr\— Located on the river bank imme- 
diately in front of the Durham cave in Durham Township, 
Bucks County, Pa., to Holland Township, Hunterdon County, 
N. J. There is no record at hand to show when this ferry was 
first established. Some local historians date it back to 1727, 
W'hen the old charcoal blast furnace at Durham was first started, 
but there is no documentary or other proof of any kind to sustain 
that assumption. There was, in fact, no need of a ferry by the 
furnace company at that early day, as the output of their plant 
was shipped down the Delaware by Durham boats. And 
moreover the exclusive ferry grants to David Martin in 1739, 
for a period of seven years, included both sides of the Delaware 
from one mile above Easton to Tinicum Island, below French- 
town, N. J. The beginning of this ferry doubtless dates from 
about 1742, or when the first forges were built on the Mus- 
conetcong Creek in New Jersey. It is sometimes referred to 
as Stillwell's and sometimes as Brink's Ferry. 

The original charcoal furnace was located about two miles 
west from the Delaware, on the Durham Creek at the village 
of Durham. The Pennsylvania State Historical Commission 
has expressed a desire to place markers at the side of this old 
1727 blast furnace, and at the Mansion House nearby the 
furnace site to mark the home of George Taylor, where he lived 
on August 2, 1776, when he signed the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. 

Durham Furnace Ferry — This might properly be called a 
successor of the Durham Cave Ferry, as it crossed the Delaware 
at about the same place, but there was an interval of a century 
between them. 

When the new and enlarged blast furnace at Durham was 
put in operation, a more pretentious ferry system was built, 
with wire rope cables and a large top-deck boat for carrying 
iron ore and other supplies over the river to the works, and to 



150 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

take back pig iron and castings. The first boat was launched 
February 16, 1877. It was 50 feet long, with a capacity of 
five small narrow gauge cars, to which the stock was transferred. 
The cars had a capacity of 2>^ tons each, making a load of 
\2y2 tons of raw material on each trip. On May 10, 1879, a 
much larger boat was put in commission, with two standard 
gauge tracks thereon, carrying four large standard railroad 
cars on each trip. Standard gauge tracks were put down 
from the river on the New Jersey side, to connect with the 
Pennsylvania Railroad (Belvidere Delaware Division), where 
the Railroad Company had put in sidings to accommodate 
about 100 cars, and simliar standard gauge tracks were put 
down on the Pennsylvania side, from the river to connect with 
the ramification of tracks through the stock houses and around 
the plant. This was a primitive way of supplying the furnace 
with stock and shipping its output, but it served the purpose, 
although its operation was often interrupted by high water, 
and sometimes by ice. In 1896 the Quakertown & Eastern 
Railroad was completed as far as the Durham furnace, when 
the ferry was no longer required, and it was then abandoned. 

When the Bucks County Historical Society met at Durham 
Furnace in 1885, the party arriving, by special train, from 
Lambertville and other points south, was transferred at the 
New Jersey siding, to low-sided freight cars, fitted with seats, 
which were ferried over the river into the works, landing near 
the manager's house, where lunch was served on the lawn, 
they inspected the works, some going to the mines, after which 
they were conducted to the Durham cave, where the meeting 
for reading and discussing papers was held. A half tone engrav- 
ing, showing the arrangement of seats in the mouth of the cave, 
is presented herewith. 

In like manner members of the American Institute of Mining 
Engineers, who were holding their meeting. May, 1886, at 
Bethlehem, Pa., were brought down to the New Jersey siding 
by special train, ferried over the river, given lunch on the lawn 
of the manager's house, after which a business meeting was held 
in the mouth of the Durham cave. At the close of the meeting 
they were transferred to canal scows, drawn by mules, and 
taken down the canal, past the Nockamixon palisades, taking 
their special train at Milford, N. J., back to Bethlehem. This 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON Till-: DKLAWARE KIVRR 



151 



train was run under direction of the superintendents of the 
Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania Railroads, both of whom were 
present at the meeting. Etchings of the engineers and their 
friends, photographed in the mouth of the cave, and of their 
embarking on the boats for their trip down the canal, are shown 
herewith. 

Henry Quinn Ferry — From Durham Township, Bucks 
County, Pa., to Holland Township, Hunterdon County, N. J. 
This Avas a private ferry and therefore not required to have a 




DURHAM CAVE 

Showing seats and platform, as arranged for meeting of the Bucks County Historical Society 

.Tuly 28, 188.5. The stairs lead up to "Queen Esther's Drawing Room." The 

.American Institute of Mining Engineers held a session in this cave. 

May 20. 1886, using the same seats and platform. 



license. The Pennsylvania end was located close within the 
southern boundary of what is now the incorporated borough of 
Riegelsville. On the Pennsylvania side Quinn had installed an 
incline plane, with car and windlass to haul the cargo from 
his ferry boat up the river bank to the towing path of the Dela- 
ware Division Canal. The New Jersey end was at his mills, 
just below Durham Rapids (2 ft. 9 in. fall in 350 feet), where 
he had built a wing-wall dam in the river to supply power for 
operating his mills. This ferry operated only during naviga- 



152 IMPROVING XAVIGATIOX OX THE DELAWARE RIVER 

tion season on the canal, and unlike any other ferry on the river, 
at that time, was equipped with a low-down rope cable attached 
to eye bolts leaded in rocks on both sides, with pulleys attached 
to both ends of his scow, which w-as propelled by pulling it 
back and forth across the river. The eye bolt on the Pennsyl- 
vania shore can still be seen. This ferry was built by Mr. Quinn 
to ship the product of his mills by canal, and continued in 
operation until his mills were destroyed by fire in 1849. The 
sawmill w'as rebuilt by other parties, and continued in operation 
until about 1900, when it was permanently abandoned. 
(Bucks County Historical Society Papers, Vol. Ill, page 526.) 

RiEGELSViLLE Ferry — From Riegelsville, Bucks County, Pa., 
to what is now Riegelsville, Warren County, X. J. In 1773, 
w^hen the then owners of the Durham Iron Works, divided 
their real estate by deed of partition, they had a survey and 
map of the property made. On this map there is laid down a 
road from the furnace at the village of Durham, following the 
Durham Creek, to the Delaware River, terminating on the 
north side of the creek, near the mouth of the Durham cave, 
and there the early ferry was located. It was over that road 
that the Durham Iron Works hauled its product for shipment 
by Durham boats, and is the only road shown on that plan 
leading through to the Delaw-are River, clearly indicating that 
there was no ferry at Riegelsville at that time. By this deed 
of partition, Tract No. 32, containing 258^ acres, w^as allotted 
to Hon. James Hamilton, erstwhile Lieutenant Governor of 
Pennsylvania, and in 1771, president of the Provincial Council. 
This tract extends from the apex of the hill back of Riegelsville 
for nearly a mile to the Delaw-are, its northern boundary passing 
through the center of the present Main Street. On April 21, 
1774, Hamilton conveyed this tract to Wendel Shenk, a black- 
smith, of Williams Township. About that time a road was 
laid out along the northern boundary of the Shenk tract, con- 
necting at the western base of the hill w^ith the before men- 
tioned creek road, and extending to the Delaw'are. Shenk 
located his farm buildings and blacksmith shop, on the river 
bank, about where the Boyer buildings now stand, and there 
he established his ferry, which continued in his possession and 
that of his brother, Anthony Shenk, for some years, giving to 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION OX THE DELAWARE RIVER 153 

the settlement the name of Shenk's Ferry, and by that name it 
was known until April 9, 1806, when Benjamin Riegel, a stone 
mason (but later known as Benjamin Riegel, farmer), bought 
the greater part of the tract, and with it the ferry, and thereafter 
the place was called Riegelsville, and the ferry, on the Pennsyl- 
vania side, Riegel's Ferry. In the division of the Durham lands, 
that part on which the blast furnace, forges and mines were 
located, was partitioned to Joseph Galloway and his wife, nee 
Grace Growdon. From the Galloways, George Taylor (a signer 
of the Declaration of Independence) leased the plant from 1773 
to 1778. Taylor was also interested in the operation of the 
Chelsea and Greenwich forges on the Musconetcong Creek in 
New Jersey, and used Shenk's Ferry for interchange of product, 
as did also the Backhouse administration from 1779 to 1794. 
Prior to the building of Shenk's Ferry the interchange was 
doubtless made by the ferry at mouth of Durham Creek. The 
New Jersey landing was immediately north of the Musconetcong. 
On that side of the river the ferry took the name of the property 
owners, thus it was known as Hunt's Ferry till 1786, Watring's 
Ferry from 1786 to 1808, Leidy's Ferry from 1808 to 1828, and 
as Riegel's Ferry from 1823 until the river bridge was opened 
for travel in 1837. On the. completion of the Belvidere Dela- 
ware Railroad (now part of the Pennsylvania system) to Riegels- 
ville in 1854, the station was named Riegelsville. The post 
office was called Musconetcong, N. J., but was changed to 
Riegelsville, N. J., July 6, 1876. (For Riegelsville bridge, see 
page 176.) 

Raubsville Ferrv — From Raubsville, Northampton County, 
Pa., to Carpentersville, Warren County, N. J. There were 
two ferries here at different times and at different landings. 

The first crossing just below "Old Sow" Island to a point 
immediately below the present Carpentersville station of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad. There is no reliable data to show 
when this ferry was first put in service. It appears that there 
was a public highway across New Jersey at an early day, with 
an outlet to this ferry, and a highway on the Pennsylvania side 
leading westwardly two and one-half miles to connect with 
the Durham Road (sometimes called the Philadelphia Road). 
It is said the ferry was set up as early as 1805, or about the 



154 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

time the first hotel was built by Peter Raub, which gave the 
settlement the name of Raubsville. There was no other outlet 
from the ferry at that time, as the river road was not officially 
laid out until 1817. When the canal was dug through Raubs- 
ville in 1829 the alignment of the river road was somewhat 
changed. 

The survey of the Delaware Division Canal on file at Harris- 
burg, bearing date 1827, shows a ferry on the river at the southern 
end of "Ground Hog" island, opposite a hotel then owned by 
Godfrey Raub. As that hotel was built in 1812, it can be pre- 
sumed that the ferry was erected shortly thereafter, probably in 
1817 when the river road was laid out. This old stone building, 
later converted into a dwelling house, is now (1932) occupied by 
the family of Milton H. Rice. It is likely that when this ferry 
was abandoned it was succeeded by the ferry half-a-mile farther 
up the river opposite "Ground Hog" locks, where a distillery had 
been built by Peter Uhler, the date of which is not at hand, 
but it was in operation during the Civil War; owing, however, 
to objectionable excise laws it was closed down immediately 
thereafter. Mr. Uhler then converted the distillery into a paper 
mill for the manufacture of paper boards out of straw. This 
operation continued, probably until 1872, when it was shut 
down. In 1890 the property was purchased by Adolph Segal, 
who changed the machinery and manufactured waxed tissue 
paper, but his operations were not a financial success, and was 
the beginning of a checkered career for that plant, which changed 
hands quite often, shut down many times, sold out by the 
sheriff at least twice, making different kinds of paper under 
each reorganization, and again became financially embarrassed 
in 1928, when it was again shut down. In 1930 this paper mill 
was destroyed by fire. 

This second ferry was operated mainly for the accommoda- 
tion of the distillery and paper mill, and continued in service 
until about 1916, when the paper mill company erected a steel 
wire cable tramway over the river. This tramway was operated 
but a few years, when it was abandoned, as it was found to be 
cheaper to handle all material by automobile trucks. 

On March 31, 1903, the ferry boat while crossing to bring 
back coal from New Jersey, capsized in midstream, plunging 
two double teams with drivers and the ferryman into the river. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THIi) DELAWARE RIVER 155 

Nathaniel Bougher, one of the teamsters, was drowned, as 
were also the four horses, but James Kreitz, the other team- 
ster, and WilUam Loux, the ferryman, saved their Hves by 
clinging fast to the capsized ferry boat, which broke loose from 
the cable and floated down stream. 

On February 27, 1854, a charter was granted to the Car- 
pentersville Delaware Bridge Company for a bridge over the 
river at this place, but for lack of financial support it was not 
built. Again on April 3, 1903, a second charter w^as granted 
by Pennsylvania to the Warren Bridge Company, with con- 
current legislation by New Jersey, April 17, 1903, but the New 
Jersey act was repealed March 13, 1925, and thus the second 
attempt to build a bridge failed to materialize. 

(Pamphlet Laws of Pennsylvania, for 1854, page 128, and for 1903, page 
147.) 

Easton, Pa., to Phillipsburg, N. J. 

The recorded history of the ferry between Easton and 
Phillipsburg is conflicting, partly due to the fact that all the 
grants and other data may not be at hand. We refer particularly 
to the grants to David Martin, for rights on the New Jersey 
shore, of which but one is at hand, whereas it is quite evident 
that there were two, as can be deduced from the following: 

From a deed on record at Newton, Sussex County, N. J. 
(Recorded Book A, pp. 271 to 274), bearing date September 
26, 1788, from Tench Francis to John Penn, Jr., it appears 
that letters patent for a ferry or ferries over the Delaware, 
together with 105 acres of land and a certain ferry right, were 
granted by King George II, on February 12, 1739, to David 
Martin, of Trenton, N. J., with the "sole liberty and privilege 
of keeping and employing a ferry or ferries at the mouth of a 
creek called Lopetekong, then in the County of Morris (but 
now since the division of the counties found to be in Sussex) 
* * * at a certain distance on each side of the said creek 
along the shore, that is to say, from the place called Lopetekong 
to the south of a creek called Muskonetkong, where the said 
creek empties itself into the River Delaware, down the said 
river and up the said river from the said place called Lopetekong 
to the place where the North Branch and West Branches of the 
said River Delaware meet, commonly called and known by the 
name of Forks of Delaware." 



156 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

The deed further recites that David Martin became indebted 
to a certain Abraham Bennett, whose administrator, Abraham 
Bennett, Jr., recovered against the administrator of David 
Martin, deceased,"'^ whereupon the property was sold by John 
Ford, High Sheriff of Morris County, and conveyed February 
16, 1773, to Richard Peters, and by indenture bearing date, 
June 7, 1777, Richard Peters conveyed it to Thomas WilUng 
and Tench Francis, both of Philadelphia, and Philip Livingston, 
the younger, of New York. That Tench Francis, sole, conveyed 
the property, September 28, 1788, to John Penn, Jr., for the 
consideration of £1,000, gold and silver money. It is recorded 
in several histories that the Penns bought this land, which 
included part of the site of the present city of Phillipsburg, 
fearing that the town of Easton, Penn's "Manor of Fermor," 
would be retarded if Phillipsburg was allowed to grow. A map 
of the survey of this 105 acres of land can be seen in "Historic 
Easton from the Window of a Trolley Car," page 82. 

According to the above recited deed, David Martin's ferry- 
grant extended from a point above the Lopatcong Creek, opposite 
the junction of the two rivers, to the Musconetcong Creek at 
Riegelsville, N. J., a distance of about nine miles. At that 
time the lands south of the Lehigh, also referred to as the Forks 
of the Delaware, having been settled earlier, contained more 
houses than did the north side. From these facts, and the 
laying out of a road from this ferry to Bethlehem in 1745, although 
not built until 1755, we are inclined to the opinion that the ferry 
landing was on the south side of the Lehigh, at a place later called 
Snufftown. Later plans of Easton show a ferry landing at "the 
point," on the north side, at the foot of Ferry Street. 

It further appears that a patent for a ferry or ferries on the 
Pennsylvania side was granted by the Penns to David Martin, 
of Trenton, under date December 23, 1741, which recites in 
part as follows (Patent Book A, Volume 9, page 511, etc.); 

"Whereas David Martin of Trenton in West Jersey. Gentle- 
man, hath lately obtained from his present Majesty King 
George, a grant of the sole liberty and privilege of erecting & 
keeping one or more ferry's upon the east side of the River 

24 From this it can be inferred that David Martin died about 1772, or 
early in 1773. He was a sheriff of Hunterdon County probably from 1739 to 
1749, when he was appointed a justice. (History of Hunterdon County, pp. 
258-260, and New Jersey Archives, First Series, Vol. VII, page 86.) 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 157 

Delaware between a place in Hunterdon County opposite the 
head of an island in the middle of sd river called Tinycym 
Island and an high rock in Morris County called ye Marble 
Mountain about a mile be it more or less above the Forks of 
Delaware. And that the said David Martin having now like- 
wise requested of us a grant of the like liberty and priviledge 
of having and keeping one or more ferry's on our west side of 
the river opposite to that of those which he shall so erect and 
keep on the east side thereof" * * * 

* * * "Do give, grant and confirm unto the said David 
Martin, his executors, administrators and assigns, the sole 
liberty and privilege of keeping & imploying a ferry or ferry's 
in the most convenient place or places on the Pennsylvania 
shore of the Delaware River from the place in Bucks County 
opposite to the upper end of the afs'd island called Tynicomb, 
to the place in the sd county opposite a high rock in Morris 
County (now Warren) called Marble Mountain, about a mile, 
be it more or less, above the Forks of Delaware." * * * 
"from the first day of March next until the full end and term 
of seven years." 

The above last recital of the New Jersey grant to David 
Martin describes a river frontage so much greater than that of 
1739, which leads to the opinion that a second or revised grant 
had been made to him by New Jersey. The 1739 grant covers 
a river frontage of about nine miles, extending from Lopat- 
cong Creek, south to Musconetcong Creek at Riegelsville, 
N. J. Whereas the New Jersey grant, as recited in the Pennsyl- 
vania patent, refers to a river frontage of about twenty miles, 
beginning at Marble Mountain, one mile above the mouth of 
the Lehigh River to the head of Tinicum Islands, the most his- 
toric of which is Marshall's Island. This group of islands is 
called "Tinicum Islands" on Reading Howell's map of 1783. 
(For bridge over the Delaware, see page 176.) 

David Martin's ferry over the Delaware, first chartered by 
New Jersey in 1739, but probably not set up until 1741, when 
the Pennsylvania patent was granted, crossed the river from 
the mouth of Lopatcong Creek, about half-a-mile below what is 
now Centre Square, Phillipsburg, landing in Pennsylvania, south 
of the Lehigh, at Williamsburg, Williams Township, later Snuff- 
town, and after the canal was built called Williamsport, but now 



158 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

part of South Easton. David Martin was a resident of Tren- 
ton, N. J., and it is not likely that he operated this ferry in 
person for any length of time and probably not at all. In 1755 
he leased it to Nathaniel Vernon, who kept a tavern at his ferry 
house at the foot of Ferry Street, Easton. 

It is likely that there was a ferry equally early over the 
Lehigh, of which, however, there is no record. There was, 
however, a ferry there in 1755, when the Philadelphia Road 
was extended from Durham, over "Mammy Morgan's Hill" 
to South Easton, the Easton landing of which was at the foot 
of Fourth Street. Later the ferries over both rivers were con- 
solidated under control of Lewis Gordon, Esq., who sublet 
them to Daniel Broadhead, under whose management they 
remained but a short time. Gordon then resumed possession, 
employing ferrymen, as he was himself engaged in the practice 
of the law. He was in possession of the ferries during the out- 
break of the Revolutionary War. For a time he was loyal to 
the American cause, but later became a Tory, and on August 

6, 1777, both he and his son, John Gordon, were arrested and 
ordered to be imprisoned; they were, however, put under parole 
from which they were discharged April 23, 1778."^ On March 

7, 1778, the ferries were taken over by Jacob Able, who was 
also later suspected of disloyalty, and a military guard was 
therefore placed at both ferries, and all strangers required to 
show their credentials before crossing. In 1780 Jacob Able 
was assessed for a ferry and a tavern. The ferry-landing was 
then at the foot of Ferry Street, called "the point." After 
the close of the war the Lehigh ferry came into possession of 
Abraham Horn, a carpenter. In 1800 the New Jersey rights 
of the Delaware River ferry were bought by Thomas Bullman, 
who remained in control on that side until the toll bridge was 
opened in 1806. 

By act of the Assembly passed April 4, 1796, a bridge over 
the Lehigh River at Easton was authorized, which was built 
in 1798 by Abraham Horn, then in control of the ferry, which 
landed at the foot of South Third Street. It was built of wood, 

25 Lewis Gordon came from Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1750. He is said to 
have been the first attorney admitted to the bar of Northampton after the 
county was erected out of Bucks in 1752. He served as recorder and pro- 
thonotary of Northampton County from 1760 to 1777. The date of his 
death seems to have been about 1780. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 159 

having but one span, 280 feet long, which fell of its own weight a 
few days after opening. 

There is a well-authenticated family tradition that Dewalt 
Drumheller and his son, George, both blacksmiths, forged the 
iron work for this first bridge. Dewalt Drumheller from Feb- 
ruary 3, 1767, to August 1, 1787, owned 74 acres of land on the 
south fork of the Delaware and Lehigh in what was then called 
Williamsburg. 

Mr. Horn replaced the broken down bridge with another 

wooden bridge, having three spans, for which the County of 

Northampton later reimbursed him. This second bridge stood 

until 1811, when it was destroyed by a freshet. A suspension 

chain bridge was then built and opened the same year (1811), 

which served until 1837, when it was replaced by a wooden 

bridge, which was carried away by the flood of 1841. In 1843 

another bridge, covered and of wood construction, was opened, 

which, in turn, was carried away by the tiood of 1862. Another 

wooden bridge, with double driveways, followed, which served 

until 1888, when it was found to be no longer suited for the 

heavy traffic and was accordingly condemned. It was replaced 

by one of iron construction, with driveways 60 feet wide, costing 

$35,000. Owing to the increasing heavier traffic this bridge was 

also found to be unsafe, and in 1912 was replaced by the present 

concrete arch bridge, which to all appearance should stand for 

many years. Both ferries at Easton, particularly during their 

latter years, were profitable operations. Both Easton and 

Phillipsburg are noted on Evans' map of 1749. (For Easton 

bridge, see page 176.) 

(Colonial Records, Vol. XI, pp. 73, 263; Pennsylvania Archives, first 
series, Vol. V, page 490, and Vol. VI, pp. 431, 435; History of Northampton 
County, page 156; Henry's History of the Lehigh Valley, pp. 57, 120; History 
of Warren and Sussex Counties, page 551; Condit's History of Easton, page 
31; Statutes at Large, Vol. XV, page 466.) 

Ferries on the Delaware River Between Eastox, Pa., 
AND Port Jervis, N. Y. 

Harmoxv Ferry — From Forks Township, Northampton 
County, Pa., to Harmony Township, Warren County, N. J. 
This is an ancient ferry, referred to as Hunter's Ferry in 1753 
when Oxford Township was erected. It is also referred to in 
the New Jersey Archives in 1762, by that name. (Vol. XXIV, 



160 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

page 63.) During its earlier years it was an active and pros- 
perous crossing. Located at what is now Harmony station of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad, about five miles above Phillipsburg, 
N.J. 

Martin's Creek Ferry — From Martin's Creek, Lower 
Mount Bethel Township, Northampton County, Pa., to Brain- 
ards, Harmony Township, Warren County, N. J., about 2% 
miles above Harmony Ferry, of which it seems to have been the 
successor. Located immediately above the mouth of Martin's 
Creek. It was an active and profitable ferry prior to the building 
of the railroad bridge. We are told that in the year 1877, its 
gross receipts amounted to $5,500, derived mostly by the trans- 
portation of roofing slate. On a map published in 1828 the New 
Jersey side is called Ramseysburg, and the ferry Snyder's Ferry. 
This ferry continued in operation several years after the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad Company built a bridge over the river at that 
place. The bridge has a passage-way for foot passengers. A 
charter was granted by Pennsylvania, April 3, 1903, with con- 
current legislation by New Jersey, April 17, 1903, to the North- 
ampton Bridge Company for a toll bridge at that place, for which 
land was bought of G. M. Vannatta on the New Jersey side for a 
landing. The bridge, however, was not built, and the New 
Jersey act was repealed, March 13, 1925. 

Depuy's Ferry — This ferry is noted as Depuy's Ferry on a 
map published in 1828, but it appears that a charter was granted 
by Pennsylvania, July 24, 1868, to Aaron W. Hazen, to cross 
from Richmond Road, in Lower Mount Bethel Township, 
Northampton County, to Roxburg station of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad in Warren County, N. J. The best information obtain- 
able shows that it stopped operating in the late 1890's. 

Foul Rift Ferry — From Lower Mount Bethel, Northamp- 
ton County, Pa., to White, formerly Oxford Township, N. J. 
This is an ancient ferry, said to have begun operating in 1751 
apd which, according to the New Jersey Archives (Vol. XVI, 
page 509), was granted a patent, March 3, 1755. It was located 
at the foot of Foul Rift, lyi miles above Depuy's Ferry. On 
the New Jersey side it used the landing just north of Shippen's 
Spring, built by Jonathan Robeson in 1743, for shipping the 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 161 

product of the Oxford Iron Works, on Durham boats, down the 
Delaware Abandoned about 1860. 

Belvidere Ferry — From Riverton, Lower Mount Bethel 
Township, Northampton County, Pa., to Belvidere, Warren 
County, N. J. There are no data at hand to show when this 
ferry was started; Belvidere was founded by Robert Hoops in 
1770, and was first called Hoops. Later it was called Mercer. 
It is recorded that the product of Hoops' flouring mill on the 
Request was carted to the wharf below Foul Rift, above referred 
to, and shipped down the Delaware on Durham boats. After 
Foul Rift was improved Durham boats landed at the foot of 
what is now Water Street, Belvidere. This ferry suspended 
operations when the river bridge was opened for travel in 1836. 
(For Belvidere bridge, see page 177.) 

Hartzell's Ferry — From Upper Mount Bethel Township, 
Northampton County, Pa., to Oxford Township, Warren County, 
N. J. About midway between Belvidere and Manunka Chunk. 
In 1783 this was known as Mack's Ferry; later as the Jackson 
Hartzell Ferry, and then as Boardman's Ferry. For a time it 
was known as the William Emery Ferry. Indicated on Beers' 
Atlas of 1874, and on Geological Survey Quadrangle. 

Myers' Ferry — From Upper Mount Bethel Township, 
Northampton County, Pa., to Delaware, Knowlton Township, 
Warren County, N. J. In 1783 it was known as Attine's Ferry, 
and in 1803 as Alburtain's Ferry. On Melish's Map of Pennsyl- 
vania, published in 1826, it is noted as Auter's Ferry; later it 
was called Myers' Ferry, then the Charles Hartzell Ferry, and 
still later it was owned by Edward McCracken, who operated 
it until 1914, when he sold it to the Knowlton Turnpike & Bridge 
Company, who had become the owners of the abandoned Dela- 
w^are, Lackawanna & Western Railroad bridge, whereupon the 
ferry stopped operating. (See toll bridges, page 167.) 

Dill's Ferry — From Portland Northampton County, Pa., 
to Columbia, Knowlton Township, Warren County, N. J. What 
is now Portland was formerly the village of Dill's Ferry. Port- 
land was incorporated into a borough, October 21, 1876. The 
ferry was located a few rods north of the present river bridge. 
It is recorded that a Mr. Smith owned the first ferry rights, and 



162 IMPROVIN'G NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

that Mr. Dill was the ferryman, probably about 1780. Columbia, 
formerly called Kirkbrides, was laid out in 1813. On the New 
Jersey side the ferry was, in 1774, known as Goodwin's Ferry. 
The ferry shut down in 1869, when the toll bridge was opened 
for travel. The Lehigh and New England Railroad bridge, 
built in 1890, spans the rh^er immediately north of the toll 
bridge. (For Portland-Columbia bridge, see page 178.) 

Decker's Ferry — At Slateford, Upper Mount Bethel Town- 
ship, Northampton County, Pa., to Knowlton Township, Warren 
County, N. J. This ferry was established by George Decker, 
who was granted a charter by the legislature of Pennsylvania, 
February 12, 1856, and was used principally by him to ferry over 
slate from his quarries for shipment by the newly constructed 
D. L. & W. Railroad. The town of Slateford was founded by 
Hon. James M. Porter, who owned and operated a valuable slate 
quarry about half-a-mile to the northwest. The ferry is indi- 
cated on Beers' Atlas of Warren County, published in 1874. 

(Laws of Pennsylvania, for 1856, page 43.) 

DuNNFiELD Ferry — From information furnished by Edward 
L. Lanterman, of Blairstown, N. J., we learn that there was an 
ancient ferry originally known as Decker's Ferry, operated by 
Jacob Decker and his son, Jacob Decker, Jr., crossing the Dela- 
ware from Dunnfield, Pahaquarry Township, Warren County, 
N. J., to Smithfield Township, Monroe County, Pa. For a time 
it was operated by John Zimmerman. Located immediately 
south of the Delaware Water Gap, affording a crossing between 
the States before there was a road through the Delaware Water 
Gap on the Pennsylvania side of the river. It was not until 
1798 that Anthony Dutot (founder of Delaware Water Gap, 
originally called Dutotsberg) built a trail through the gap, which 
he enlarged into a toll road for wagons in 1800. This highway 
through the gap on the Pennsylvania side was changed to its 
present location in 1853, when the D. L. & W. Railroad was 
built. The ferry appears to have been abandoned about 1888. 

Transue's Ferry — Crossing the river about 200 feet above 
the N. Y. S. & W. Railroad Company's bridge at Water Gap 
station, between the Delaware Water Gap and Shawnee, in 
Smithfield Township, Monroe County, Pa., to Pahaquarry 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 163 

Township, Warren County, N. J. This is a private ferry erected 
about 1882 by Adam Transue. Now operated by the Karamac 
Hotel Company, at "Far View," located on the shore of the Dela- 
ware in New Jersey. 

Shawnee Ferry — Located a short distance below the old 
Depue mansion, now the summer home of Charles C. Worthing- 
ton, in Smithfield Township, Monroe County, Pa., crosses the 
Delaware between Shawnee and Depue Islands to Brotzman- 
ville, Pahaquarry Township, Warren County, N. J. In 1760 
it was known as the Old Shoemaker Ferry; at one time it was 
called Brotzman's Ferry. For many years it was owned and 
operated by Charles Walker, and known as Walker's Ferry, 
and as such it is indicated on Beers' Atlas of Warren County. 
Since 1903 it has been owned and operated privately by Mr. 
Worthington, who owns the Buckwood Inn and practically the 
entire village of Shawnee, as well as both islands above referred 
to, and also a large acreage of land on the opposite side of the 
river in New Jersey, where he has established a game preserve, 
and from whence at Sun Fish Lake, he supplies his town with 
spring water. 

Shoemaker's Ferry — From Smithfield Township, Monroe 
County, Pa., to Pahaquarry Township, Warren County, N. J. 
Operated by Daniel Shoemaker in 1812. Beers' Atlas, published 
in 1874 (page 90), refers to M. C. Shoemaker as the ferryman 
at that time. At one time it was known as Lutz's Ferry. This 
ferry was later owned by Hiram Zimmerman, now of East 
Stroudsburg, who operated it for 25 or 30 years and then in 1927 
sold it to the Pennsylvania Power & Light Company. 

(History of Warren and Sussex Counties, pp. 697, 698 and 1072.) 

Fisher or Dimmick's Ferry — From Middle Smithfield 
Township, Monroe County, Pa., to Pahaquarry Township, War- 
ren County, N. J., about five miles above Shawnee. The New 
Jersey landing is a short distance south of the old Pahaquarry 
copper mines. For a time it was operated by Shoemaker, 
brother of Daniel Shoemaker, who operated the last above named 
ferry. It is told of these brothers, that one was a Republican 
and the other a Democrat, and that whenever they met they 
would quarrel about Dolitics. Beers' Atlas, published in 1874, 



164 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

refers to W. L. Fisher as the ferryman there at that time. Since 
1881 this ferry has been in possession of Peter M. Dimmick 
and his father. It is still (1932) owned and operated by them. 
It is one of the four ferries still in operation on the Delaware 
below Port Jervis. It is equipped with an overhead steel wire 
rope cable, which is used during high water. There is an eddy 
at the location of this ferry, which enables Mr. Dimmick to 
operate with water twelve feet above low water mark, but when 
the river is low he uses a low-down cable (a three-eighths wire 
rope), which rides on two open hooks, one at each end of the 
boat, and by means of which his boat is pulled back and forth 
across the stream, as the boat passes along the rope sinks to the 
bottom of the river. His ferry boat is 45 feet long by 10 feet 
wide with a double bottom, on the top one of which his cargo 
is placed. He can carry two large automobiles at one trip. This 
ferry was visited September 12, 1928. 

Decker's Ferry — Sometimes called Walpeck's Ferry. At 
Walpeck Bend, on the river road, above Shawnee, near what 
is called the "Hog Back" road, which leads over the mountain 
following the bend of the river to the village of Bushkill. For 
a time it was known as Smith's Ferry. It crossed the Delaware 
from Walpeck's Point, in Middle Smithfield Township, Monroe 
County, Pa., to Flatbrookville, Walpeck Township, Sussex 
County, N. J. This is an ancient ferry, said to have been 
established before 1744, and was the crossing (above the Dela- 
ware Water Gap) used by early settlers and travelers who came 
into that region from Esopus, N. Y. (now Kingston) and followed 
the "Mine Road" along the New Jersey shore at the base of the 
Blue Mountains, near the old Pahaquarry copper mines. Early 
maps show this highway leading to the ferry and thence into 
Pennsylvania, crossing, the Kittatinny or Blue Mountains at 
the Wind Gap. During the Revolutionary War, Colonel Philip 
Van Cortland's regiment,"^ which had wintered in Ulster County, 
N. Y., was, in 1779, ordered by General Washington to join 
General John Sullivan on his march to Wyommg and Tioga 
Point. They sent their baggage and supplies by w^agon to Car- 
penter's Point, where it was transferred to boats and taken down 

26 For General Philip Van Courtlandt, see Magazine of American History, 
Vol. II, page 278. Also referred to in Caleb E. Wright's novel, Rachel Craig. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 165 

the Delaware to this ferry, a distance of about twenty-six miles. 
The regiment marched on the "Mine Road," which led direct to 
this ferry, where they crossed into Pennsylvania, and thence, 
with their equipment, resumed their march to Fort Penn at 
Stroudsburg, where the}' received orders to join Sullivan's army 
at what is now Tannersville in Monroe County. According to 
the History of Sussex and Warren Counties (page 323), this 
ferry was established by Daniel Decker, and remained in the 
Decker family, continuously, for more than a century, suspend- 
ing operations about 1898. It was succeeded by the Rosen- 
krans' Ferry (q. v.). In 1859 a charter was granted by both 
states to the Flatbrookville Delaware Bridge Company, for a 
bridge to cross the river at this place, but the undertaking was 
not carried out. 

(History of Northampton County, page 55, and History of Sussex and 
Warren Counties, pp. 322 and 330.) 

RosENKRANs' Ferry — One mile above the village of Bush- 
kill in Lehman Township, Pike County, Pa., to Walpeck Tow^n- 
ship, Sussex County, N. J. This ferry is a direct successor to 
Decker's Ferry, last above described, which was closed down 
about thirty years ago, or in 1898. Owing to the bend in the 
river this ferry is but three-quarters of a mile by land above the 
old Decker's Ferry, but by water, following the bend of the river, 
the distance is about two miles. This is one of the four ferries, 
all below Port Jervis, still operating on the Delaware. It has 
been owned and operated by Philip S. Rosenkrans ever since 
Decker's Ferry closed; Mr. Rosenkrans says he is operating 
without a license, but, in fact, it being the successor of Decker's 
Ferry, is operating under the same grant. It is equipped with a 
steel w^ire rope cable suspended over the river. The ferry boat 
has a double bottom, on the top one of which his cargo rests. It 
is 43 feet long and 10 feet wide, with a capacity for carrying two 
large automobiles. Mr. Rosenkrans says he can operate in 
water ten feet above low water mark, This ferry was visited 
August 17, 1928. 

Dingman's Ferry — Founded by Andrew Dingman (born 
1711), who first settled on the New Jersey side of the Delaware, 
and in 1735 moved to the Pennsylvania side, and became the 
pioneer settler of that place, which w-as at first called Dingman's 



166 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE a:)ELAWARE RIVER 

Choice. He established the first ferry on the river at that place, 
making the ferry boat with his hand axe out of forest trees. The 
ferry crossed between his home, which he built on the river bank, 
now in Delaware Township, Pike County, Pa., to Sandystonc 
Township, Sussex County, N. J. For a long time Joseph Ennis 
was the ferryman. It continued in service for nearly a century, 
until 1834, when it was replaced by a toll bridge, the construction 
of which proved so defective that it was thrice destroyed. Dur- 
ing the intervals of its rebuilding, ferry operations were resumed. 
(See Dingman's Ferry Bridge, page 179, post.) 

(History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, pp. 908, 938.) 

Wells' Ferry — This ferry on the Delaware between Milford, 
Milford Township, Pike County, Pa., and Montague Township, 
Sussex County, N. J., was established before or during the 
Revolution by three brothers named Wells. The settlement 
was then known as Wells' Ferry. John Kittle was the ferryman 
in 1808. The ferry was discontinued in 1836, when the toll 
bridge was opened. The ferry was restored to temporary service 
in 1841, when the bridge was destroyed by the flood, again from 
1846 to 1869, and again from 1888 to 1889, when the bridge was 
destroyed by floods or failed to stand owing to defective con- 
struction. (See Milford Bridge, page 179, post.) 

Port Jervis Ferries — There was an early ferry over the 
Delaware at Port Jervis, from the foot of Ferry Street to Mata- 
moras, operated by the Westfall family. Also two ferries from 
Carpenter's Point, now Tri-state, at the J unction of the Never- 
sink and Delaware Rivers. One crossing to the New Jersey 
shore, the other to Matamoras, Pike County, Pa. For two 
generations John D. Carpenter and his son Benjamin were the 
ferrymen. These ferries continued in service until 1852, when 
the first bridge between Port Jervis and Matamoras was opened 
for travel. 

Carpenter's Point is a long narrow neck of land separating 
the Delaware and Neversink Rivers, with only a few rods between 
the rivers for nearly a mile, and then ending in a wedge-like 
point, on the extremity of which the Tri-state corner is the 
separating point of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey 
state lines. A granite monument now marks the spot where the 
three states meet. 



IMPROVIXG NAVKiATION OX THE DELAWARE RIVER 



167 




MONUMENT AT TRI-STATE ROCK ON THE DELAWARE RIX^ER 

The water on right is the mouth of the Neversinlc River where it enters the Delaware. Port 
Jervis is one mile up the Delaware at the point shown on extreme right at top of picture. 



Toll Bridges ox the Delaware River Between 
Pennsylvania and New Jersey 

There are seventeen interstate bridges, formerly toll bridges, 
spanning the Delaware River between Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey, from and including the Lincoln Highway Bridge at 
Decatur Street, crossing from Morrisville, Pa., to Trenton, N. J., 
to the one below Milford, Pa., all of which by concurrent acts 
of the legislatures of both states are to be or have been taken 
over by the two states, and eliminated as toll bridges, as may 
be determined by the Joixt Commission for Eliminating 
Toll Bridges Betw^een Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 
of which Mr. Louis Focht is superintendent and engineer. 

Sixteen of these were originally covered bridges of wood con- 
struction, but that character of bridge is fast disappearing, for at 
the present time (1932) but two of the sixteen remain, viz., the 
one between LTpper Blacks Eddy, Bucks County, Pa., and Milford, 
N. J., and the other between Portland, Pa., and Columbia, N. J. 



168 niPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

The bridge between Lumberville and Raven Rock has four spans 
of old wooden covered construction and one span, the second on 
the Pennsylvania side, of steel to replace a span carried aw^ay by 
the flood of October 10, 1903. The only one not covered and of 
wood construction, is the old railroad bridge south of Portland, 
Pa. 

The first bridge to be granted a charter was that between 
Easton, Pa., and Phillipsburg, N. J., but the first to be com- 
pleted and opened for travel was that between Morrisville and 
Trenton, chartered March 3, 1798, opened January 30, 1806. 
The Easton-Phillipsburg bridge was not officially opened until 
October 1, 1806. 

All of these bridges were originally erected to replace river 
ferries. The following memoranda of them begins with the 
bridge at Trenton and thence follow in order up the river, to the 
last one at Milford, Pa. 

Trenton Delaware Bridge Company — Called Lower Tren- 
ton or Decatur Street Bridge, crossing from Morrisville, Bucks 
County, Pa., to Trenton, N. J. Charters granted by New Jersey, 
March 3, 1798, and by Pennsylvania, April 4, 1798. Letters 
patent, August 16, 1803. Supplemental act by Pennsylvania, 
April 2, 1804, with concurrent legislation by New Jersey, extend- 
ing the time for completion of bridge to March 3, 1812, but it was 
completed and opened for travel, January 30, 1806. A second 
supplement to the charter was granted March 3, 1868. The 
original bridge consisted of five spans of wood construction, 
having a total length of 1,025 feet. Each span was covered by a 
roof arched laterally, and in that respect differed from all other 
bridges on the river, which were covered longitudinally. It was 
designed and built by Theodore Burr, with arch and truss com- 
bined, at a cost of $180,000. The first president of the company 
was Gen. John Beatty, who laid the foundation stone of the first 
pier. Cuts of this old bridge can be seen in Day's Historical 
Collections of Pennsylvania, page 169, and in Barber and Howe's 
Historical Collections of New Jersey, page 286. The bridge 
was remodeled in 1848. In 1851 the Philadelphia & Trenton 
Railroad Company built a bridge close to the south side of the 
toll bridge, as a passage-way for steam trains. That railroad 
was opened for travel between Kensington and Morrisville, a 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THP: DELAWARP: RIVER 169 

distance of 26 miles, on November 1, 1834. (Many of the 
original papers, including the subscription lists of this road, 
which was built under contract by Richard Morris and Thomas 
G. Kennedy, are in the archives of the Bucks County Historical 
Society.) In 1875 the north or toll bridge was rebuilt of iron 
construction, after a design by Joseph Wilson, a noted engineer, 
later of Wilson Brothers & Company During the same year 
(1875) the south truss belonging then to the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road Company, was also rebuilt of iron construction and equipped 
with double tracks; this bridge was in turn abandoned and 
replaced by two double track bridges of steel construction in 
1892 and 1898, respectively. In 1908, on completion of its 
stone arch bridge, immediately south thereof, the railroad com- 
pany took down the superstructure of the two steel bridges and 
used the material in construction work at Washington, D. C. 
This toll bridge, the first on the river to be opened for travel, 
was also the first one to be taken over by the Joint Commission, 
viz., on July 12, 1918, at a price of $240,000. During 1928, the 
Joint Commission built a new double roadway bridge of steel on 
the piers of the abandoned railroad bridge, with a sidewalk on 
the north side. The roadways have an aggregate width of 42 
feet. The estimated cost of this new bridge is S650,000, which is 
now called the Lincoln Highway Bridge. On its completion the 
old north bridge, built in 1876, was sold and the superstructure 

removed. 

(Davis' History of Bucks County, Vol. II, pp. 165, 169.) 

Trenton City Bridge Company — Known as the Upper 
Trenton or Calhoun Street Bridge, which replaced the Calhoun 
Street or Beatty Ferry, crossing from Morrisville, Pa., to Tren- 
ton, N. J. Incorporated, February 24, 1840, with supplementary 
acts of March 15, 1847; April 13, 1859; March 28, 1860, and 
February 19, 1861. Original capital S48,000; cost of bridge, 
$60,000. Opened for travel in 18(:0. Originally a covered 
bridge of wood construction having seven spans with a total 
length of 1,274 feet, including the bridge over the Trenton Dela- 
ware Falls Company's canal. Bridge totally destroyed by fire 
in 1882. Rebuilt in 1884 of iron construction, two trusses, 
double driveway and a sidewalk outside of the north truss. The 
trolley tracks of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Traction 
Company pass over this bridge. Located about one mile above 



170 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

the Decatur Street Bridge, and being just above high tide, was not 
damaged by any of the floods. Taken over by the Joint Com- 
mission November 14, 1928, at price of S250,000. (For Calhoun 
Street Ferry, see page 136, ante.) 

Yardleyville Delaware Bridge Company — From Yardley 
(formerly Yardleyville) to Wilburtha (formerly Greensburg). 
Charter granted by New Jersey, March 2, 1835, and by Pennsyl- 
vania, April 15, 1835. Opened for travel in 1835. Supplemental 
acts, April 11, 1859, exempting persons going to and returning 
from church from paying tolls. Originally a covered bridge of 
wood construction, with six spans and a total length of 903 feet, 
including a span over the Trenton Delaware Falls Company's 
canal. ^' Three spans carried away by the flood of January 8, 

27 Trenton Del.\ware Falls Company — This is a water-power canal, 
on the New Jersey side of the Delaware, authorized by act of the New Jersey 
legislature, February 16, 1831 (capital SIOO.OOO), with authority to build a 
dam in the river at Scudder's Falls, about one mile north of the Yardley bridge, 
at the head of Slack's Island, to furnish hydraulic power to certain industries 
in Trenton. The canal had a total length of about seven miles, with an 
operating fall of 18 }4 feet, to where it debouched into the Delaware at Lam- 
berton, now the southern part of Trenton, with an estimated capacity of 529 
horsepower. From the intake to where it crosses Assunpink Creek, about six 
miles, the fall is 14 feet, and from there to the outlet, a distance of one mile, 
the fall is 4)4 feet. This river dam was not authorized by Pennsylvania, and 
was built in violation of an agreement between the states made April 26, 1783. 
Its building, therefore, resulted in a controversy, and Pennsylvania ordered 
its removal. Howe\er, it still remains, but they are prevented from keeping 
it in repair, not being allowed to replace stones that wash awa^- from the 
parapet. The controversy was precipitated when the Delaware Division 
Canal Company placed a wing dam in the river at Wells' Falls, to lift water 
into the canal to supplement its feed water supply below New Hope, and 
because of the dam which the Delaware & Raritan Canal Company had 
placed in the river at the head of Bull's Island to supply water by means of 
its feeder, all the water of which was not turned back into the river, but was 
discharged mostly in the Raritan River at New Brunswick. The Trenton 
Delaware Falls water power was, in its early years, a valuable franchise. For 
many years its stock was owned by Cooper, Hewitt & Company, and the 
hydraulic power used at their Trenton plants (New Jersey Steel & Iron Co. 
and Trenton Iron Company). After they disposed of their plants, about 
1908, the power company was sold to other parties, and became gradually 
abandoned, the lower part of the ditch was filled up, and now (1932) the 
power is not used by any industry, the water being discharged back into the 
river in the neighborhood of Warren Street. The writer of these notes remem- 
bers that on one occasion when the Hon. Abram S. Hewitt came out from 
New York to visit the Durham Iron Works, he would not cross the river 
bridge at Riegelsville into Pennsylvania, without first getting an assurance 
that a summons would not be served on him, in re the removal of this dam; 
also that he (the writer) was requested to interview the senators and assembly- 
men of Bucks and Northampton Counties to solicit their support in allowing 
this dam to be kept in repair. (Hazard's Register, Vol. VIII, pp. 232, 366; 
Vol. IX, page 119; Vol. X, pp. 119, 121, 161; Vol. XV, pp. 5, 23, 97, 119; 
History of Burlington and Mercer Counties, page 680.) 



IMPROVING XAVIGATIOX ON THE DI-XAWARE RIVER 171 

1841, rebuilt of same construction and again lost by flood of 
October 10, 1903. Rebuilt of steel construction and reopened 
in 1904. Steel bridge, has two trusses with double driveway 
and a sidewalk on the north side. In 1893 the name of the 
Yardleyville post office was changed to Yardley, and during the 
latter part of 1882 the Greensburg, N. J., station of the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad w^as changed to Wilburtha. Bridge taken 
over by the Joint Commission, December 21, 1922, at price of 
$67,500. Floor rebuilt in 1924, and a sidewalk added on the 
upstream side in 1928. (For Yardley Ferry, see page 137 ante.) 

Taylorsville Delaware Bridge Company — From Taylors- 
ville, Bucks County, Pa. (in 1919 changed to Washington Cross- 
ing), to Washington Crossing, Mercer County, N. J. Charter 
granted by New Jersey, February 14, 1831, wdth concurrent 
legislation in Pennsylvania, April 1, 1831. Originally a covered 
bridge of wood construction, with six spans having a total length 
of 875 feet. Completed and opened for travel January 1, 1834. 
(Hazard's Register, Vol. XV, page 80.) Carried away by flood 
of January 8, 1841. Rebuilt and again destroyed by flood of 
October 10, 1903. Rebuilt of steel construction, two trusses 
with double driveway, and reopened in 1904. Taken over by 
the Joint Commission, April 25, 1922, at price of S40,000, which 
in 1926, built a sidewalk on the south side. 

This bridge occupies the site of McKonkey's Ferry, where 
General W^ashington crossed the Delaware on Christmas night 
of 1776. The two states have authorized the laying out of parks 
on their respective sides of the river. There is a plan on foot to 
get an appropriation from congress for building an elaborate 
memorial bridge at this place. (See page 138, ante.) 

New Hope Delaware Bridge Company — From New 
Hope, Bucks County, Pa., to Lambertville, N. J. Charter 
granted by Pennsylvania, December 22, 1812, and by New 
Jersey, December 23, 1812. Originally a covered bridge of 
wood construction, having six spans, with a total length of 
1,051 feet. Cost, $67,936.37. Opened for travel, September 
13, 1814. Three spans carried away by flood of January 8, 
1841, rebuilt after same design. The New Hope end again 
carried away by flood of October 10, 1903. Rebuilt of steel 
construction, with double driveway and sidewalk on south side; 



172 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

reopened, July 23, 1904. The banking privileges granted 
to this bridge company involved it financially, and for that 
reason the stockholders were obliged to sell out. John C. 
Mitchener and James Gordon became the purchasers, who, on 
November 29, 1853, conveyed it to Samuel Grant, of Philadel- 
phia, who became the sole owner. Its sale was confirmed by 
the Pennsylvania legislature, February 20, 1857, and by decree 
of Chancery in New Jersey. After a lapse of 34 years, the 
bridge with its franchises, were conveyed to a number of persons, 
part of whom represented the original stockholders. Taken 
over by the Joint Commission December 31, 1919, at price of 
$225,000. (For Coryell's Ferry, see page 141, ante.) 

(Battles' History of Bucks County, page 529; Day's Historical Collections 
of Pennsylvania, pp. 168, 169; and Pamphlet Laws of Pennsylvania for 1857, 
page 59.) 

Centre Bridge Company — From Centre Bridge, Bucks 
County, Pa., to what, since 1851, has been Stockton, Hunterdon 
County, N. J. Charter granted by New Jersey, February 18, 
1811, and by Pennsylvania, March 23, 1811. Letters patent 
to receive subscriptions, August 17, 1812. Originally a covered 
bridge of wood construction, with six spans and a total length 
of 821 feet. Built under contract, dated February 22, 1818, by 
Capt. Pelig Kingsley and Benjamin Lord. Opened for travel in 
the spring of 1814. The construction was faulty and the con- 
tractors were penalized $1,200. One of the piers soon gave way 
and had to be rebuilt, and sixteen years later, in 1830, the entire 
bridge was rebuilt by Amos Campbell under contract. At that 
time the Raritan feeder on the New Jersey side, and the Dela- 
ware Division canal on the Pennsylvania side had not been dug. 
At first the canal companies built and maintained the bridges 
over their respective ditches, but, in 1851, the bridge company 
took over the one crossing the Delaware Division canal. The 
flood of January 8, 1841, carried away three spans, two piers 
and the stone toll-house all on the New Jersey side. Repairs 
were made by Cortland Yardley for $4,200. The flood of June 6, 
1862, did but very little damage to the bridge, and it was the 
only bridge on the river between Easton and Trenton, that was 
not damaged by the flood of October 10, 1903. Notwithstanding 
these facts, this bridge had one of the most checkered careers of 
all Delaware River bridges. On May 26, 1923, it was slightly 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 173 

damaged by fire; and again damaged by fire, July 19, 1923, and 
on July 22, 1923, was struck by lightning and totally destroyed. 
An act by the Pennsylvania legislature, approved April 10, 
1852, authorized the Plymouth Railroad Company to build a 
railroad from the limestone quarries of Solebury across this 
bridge to connect with the Raritan Feeder and the Belvidere 
Delaware Railroad, but the road was not built. ^^ On November 
6, 1925, the stone toll-house, piers and approaches were sold to 
the Joint Commission for the sum of $10,000. The piers and 
abutments were then repaired and a bridge of steel construction 
erected thereon, having a double driveway and a footwalk on 
the south side, and a 63-foot plate girder span over the Raritan 
Feeder, all at a cost of S258,135, exclusive of the old piers, toll- 
house, etc. This new bridge was opened for travel, July 16, 
1927. (For ferry, see page 143, ante.) 

(History of Old Centre Bridge, by Elmer Roberson; History of Hunter- 
don and Somerset Counties, page 385; History of Bucks County, by Davis, 
Vol. I, page 288; Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania, page 169; 
Pamphlet Laws of Pennsylvania for 1836 and 1852.) 

LuMBERViLLE Delav^^are Bridge COMPANY — From Lumber- 
ville, Bucks County, Pa., to what is now Raven Rock, Hunter- 
don County, N. J., but formerly called Bull's Island. About 
1785 the site of Lumberville was owned by Col. George Wall, 
Jr., and William Hamilton, and was known as Wall's Sawmill 
and Wall's Landing as late as 1814, when the name was changed 
to Lumberville. The river bridge was chartered by the New 
Jersey legislature in 1835, and by Pennsylvania, April 7, 1835. 
A supplemental charter of March 31, 1857, exempted persons 
going to or returning from church from paying toll. Originally 
a covered bridge of wood construction, having four spans over 
the river and a shorter span over the canal, with a total length 
of 705 feet. The bridge consists of two trusses, a combination 
of truss and low arch construction, with double driveway and 
footwalks, built under contract by Solon Chapin and Anthony 
Fry at cost of SI 8,000. Opened for travel in 1835. The second 
span on the Pennsylvania side was carried away by the flood of 

-8 The Plymouth Railroad Company was incorporated June 11, 1836, 
authorized to build a road in Whitemarsh Township, Montgomery County, 
near the road dividing the townships of Plymouth and Whitemarsh, termin- 
ating at a point on the Philadelphia & Germantown Railroad. Since December 
9, 1867, it has been operated by the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Com- 
pany. 



174 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

October 10, 1903, and rebuilt of steel construction, the other 
spans of wooden construction remaining. Immediately above 
this bridge, at the head of Bull's Island, there is a dam in the 
Delaware to impound the water flowing into the Delaware & 
Raritan Canal Feeder. ^^ Agreement pending by the Joint Com- 
mission for taking over this bridge at price of S25,000. (For 
ferry, see page 145, ante.) 

In 1883 the Lumberton Granite Company (owned by the 
Kembles, of Philadelphia) erected a tramway over the canal 
and river from their stone quarry, located about one mile below 
the Lumberton bridge, for shipment of their product by the 
Pennsylvania Railroad. Immediately opposite the quarry in 
New Jersey the railroad company had put in a siding to accommo- 
date a number of cars, which were loaded direct from the quarry. 
The tramway was equipped with a heavy steel wire cable on 
which the carriers traveled, propelled by a small endless steel 
rope, controlled by a stationary engine on the Pennsylvania 
side. The platform carriers had a capacity of about two tons. 
It continued in use until 1904, when the quarry was shut down. 
The writer of these notes and Mrs. Fackenthal, had the delightful 
experience of making a round trip over the river and back on 
one of the platform carriers of this tramway. 

(History of Bucks County, by Davis, Vol. I, pp. 11, 286, 311.) 

Point Pleasant Delaware Bridge Company — From Point 
Pleasant, Bucks County, Pa., to what is now Byram, Hunterdon 
County, N. J., but then also called Point Pleasant. Charter 
granted by Pennsylvania, February 9, 1853, and by New Jersey 
during the same year. Opened for travel, May 26, 1855. Origi- 
nally a covered bridge of wood construction, of five spans, having 
a total length of 895 feet. Capital authorized, S20,000, of 
which but $16,350 was subscribed. Built under contract by 
Hood & Steel. Damaged by flood of June 6, 1862, and an 
assessment of $5 per share made to repair it. Totally destroyed 
by fire, March 29, 1892. Rebuilt of steel construction about 
1893. The four spans nearest New Jersey were carried away 
by the flood of October 10, 1903, and were rebuilt of steel con- 
struction about 1904. This bridge is located immediately above 
the mouth of Tohickon Creek. Taken over by the Joint Com- 

29 See the Delaware and Raritan Canal, page 208 hereof. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 175 

mission, January 6, 1919, at price of $30,000. (For ferry, see 

page 145, ante.) 

("Early History of Point Pleasant," by Warren S. Ely, a paper read at 
the Point Pleasant Meeting, September 10, 1927, to be published in Vol. VI 
of the Bucks County Historical Society.) 

Alexandria Delaware Bridge Company — From Uhler- 
town, Bucks County, Pa., to Frenchtown, N. J. Chartered 
by New Jersey, March 5, 1841, and by Pennsylvania, May 8, 
1841, with a supplement by both states on March 5, 1845. 
Opened for travel early part of 1844. Originally a covered bridge 
of wood construction, with six spans, and two trusses, there was 
no middle truss. Its length was 962 feet, and its cost about 
$20,000. The original bridge continued in use until the fiood 
of October 10, 1903, which carried away the two spans on the 
New Jersey end ; these were replaced by two spans of steel truss 
construction. Taken over June 28, 1929, by the Joint Com- 
mission at price of $45,000. During the summer of 1931 this 
old bridge was replaced by a new steel truss bridge on the old 
foundations. The new bridge was completed and opened for 
travel October 10, 1931 ; it has a double driveway and a footwalk 
on the north side. The total cost of removing the old bridge, 
extensive repairs to piers and abutments and the new super- 
structure was $91,510.87. (For Frenchtown Ferry, see page 146, 
ante.) 

A'Iilford Delaware Bridge Company — From Upper Blacks 
Eddy, Bucks County, Pa., to Milford, Hunterdon County, 
N.J. Chartered by New Jersey, March 8, 1839, and by Pennsyl- 
vania, June 24, 1839. Opened for travel, January 29, 1842. 
A covered bridge of wood construction, of three spans, having a 
total length of 681 feet. Built after the Theodore Burr design 
with arch and truss combined. Three trusses, with single drive- 
ways and sidewalk on each side. Capitalized at $20,000, original 
cost about $18,500, of which but $13,400 had been subscribed; 
the balance was paid out of the earnings. Span next to New 
Jersey carried away by flood of October 10, 1903. Rebuilt after 
same design, using some of the timbers salvaged from the Riegels- 
ville bridge. This is one of the two bridges on the Delaware 
remaining w'ith all spans covered. Taken over by the Joint 
Commission June 28, 1929, at price of $45,000. This bridge and 



176 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

the Frenchtown bridge, taken over and declared free of tolls on 
the same day, was made the occasion of a gala day celebration, 
attended by dignitaries of the states, officers of the Joint Bridge 
Commission, and invited guests, with an automobile parade, 
brass bands and speeches. 

By act of the Pennsylvania legislature, April 10, 1869, the 
Passaic Valley & Peapack Railroad Company was authorized 
to construct a railroad bridge or viaduct across the Delaware 
River at or near Milford, N. J., but the project did not mate- 
rialize. (For Milford, N. J., Ferry, see page 147, ante.) 

(Laws of Pennsylvania for 1869, page 825.) 

RiEGELSViLLE DELAWARE BRIDGE COMPANY — From Riegels- 
ville, Bucks County, Pa., to Riegelsville, Warren County, N. J."'^ 
Charter granted by New Jersey, December 19, 1835, and by 
Pennsylvania, March 22, 1836. Opened for travel, December 
15, 1837. Originally a covered bridge of wood construction, 
of three spans, having a total length between abutments of 577 
feet. Three trusses with two driveways and sidewalks, built 
after the Burr design with truss and arch combined. Con- 
structed under contract by Solon Chapin and Hon. James M. 
Porter for $18,900. Capital stock authorized, $20,000, of which 
but $18,900 was issued. Span nearest New Jersey carried away 
by flood of January 8, 1841, rebuilt of same design by same con- 
tractors at cost of $9,000, paid for by a stock assessment. Two 
spans nearest New Jersey carried away by flood of October 10, 
1903, and span nearest Pennsylvania damaged and fell down 
later. Replaced by a steel wire rope suspension bridge (built 
by Roebling) 585 feet between center pins of trusses. A double 
driveway with two sidewalks. Total cost, including repairs 
to piers and abutments, $29,072.25. Paid for by increasing 
capital stock to $40,000 and using surplus. Reopened for travel, 
April 18, 1904. Taken over by Joint Commission, January 4, 
1923. at price of $50,000. Declared free on and after January 1, 
1923. (For ferry, see page 152, ante.) 

Easton Delaware Bridge Company — From Easton, Pa., 
to Phillipsburg, N. J. Charter granted by Pennsylvania, March 

•^0 Riegelsville, N. J., is partly in Warren and partly in Hunterdon Coun- 
ties, separated by the Musconetcong Creek, which empties into the Delaware 
River, forming the boundary line between the two counties. The river 
bridge is on the Warren County side of the creek. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 177 

13, 1795, and by New Jersey, March 18, 1795. Enabling act, 
March 1, 1800. Supplemental charters, March 12, 1802, extend- 
ing time for completion for an additional seven years. Opened 
for travel, October 14, 1806. A three-span covered bridge 
originally of wood construction, 550 feet in length. It was 
designed and constructed under the supervision of Cyrus Palmer 
of Newberryport, Massachusetts. The design was of arch and 
truss combined, but unlike most of the other bridges on the river, 
it had but two trusses, with double driveways and two sidewalks. 
Its total cost was 862,854.57. The long delay (eleven years) in 
completing this bridge was due to lack of funds, but it turned out 
to be one of the best paying bridges on the river. To get sufficient 
funds for its completion the Pennsylvania legislature authorized, 
by act of April 4, 1798, the raising of vS 12,500 by a lottery scheme, 
and by act of March 10, 1806, the state loaned them $10,000 in 
order to put it under roof. A supplemental act by Pennsylvania, 
approved April 1, 1845, reduced the rate of tolls. By act of 
April 8, 1859, the Auditor General and Treasurer of Pennsylvania 
were directed to audit the accounts. In 1895 this bridge was 
replaced by a steel construction cantilever bridge, designed by 
Prof. James jNIadison Porter (the third). These bridges were not 
damaged by any of the floods, due partly to their location above 
the mouth of the Lehigh River, which, owing to the breaking of 
the dams in the Lehigh, was the principal aggressor in 1841 and 
1862. However, the History of Sussex and Warren Counties, 
page 551, says that while under construction the first bridge was 
washed from its foundation, that may refer to the false work only. 
Taken over by the Joint Commission, August 3, 1921, at price of 
$300,000, in addition to which they divided a large surplus. In 
the fall of 1925 and summer of 1926, the cantilever anchorages 
were replaced at a cost of 826,400, and the floor rebuilt at cost 
of S100,400. fFor ferry, see page 155, ante.) 

(Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania, Vol. XV, page 236; Vol. XVI, pp. 
109, 426; Vol. XVII, page 88, and Vol. XVIII, page 141; 3 Smith's Laws, 
page 200; Pamphlet Laws of Pennsylvania for 1845, page 289, for 1859, 
page 424; History of Northampton County, page 156; History of the Lehigh 
Valley, by Henry, page 120; Sherman Day's Historical Collections, page 168.) 

Belvidere Delaware Bridge Company — From Riverton, 
Northampton County, Pa., to Belvidere, Warren County, N. J. 
Located immediately above the mouth of the Request Creek. 
Charter granted by New Jersey, March 5, 1832, and by Pennsyl- 



178 IMPROVING XAVIGATIOX ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

vania, February 11, 1835, with supplementary charters granted 
by New Jersey, February 6, 1835, and by Pennsylvania, April 1, 
1836. Originally a covered bridge of wood construction, having 
four spans with a total length of 654 feet. First opened for 
travel in the spring of 1836, and immediately thereafter, viz., on 
April 9, 1836, the two spans nearest New Jersey were carried 
away by a flood. Rebuilt after the same design and reopened 
in 1839. The bridge was carried away by the flood of October 
10, 1903. Rebuilt of steel construction and reopened in 1904. 
Taken over by the Joint Commission, June 14, 1929, at price of 
S60,000. (For Belvidere Ferry, see page 161, ante.) 

(Pamphlet Laws of Pennsylvania for 1833, page 25, and for 1836, page 348.) 

Knowlton Turnpike & Bridge Company — Crossing the 
Delaware from Mount Bethel Township, Northampton County, 
Pa. (about two miles south of Portland) to Delaware, Warren 
County, N. J. Originally a railroad bridge of wood construction, 
built in 1853 by the Warren Railroad Company, which later 
became part of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western. After 
some years it was replaced with a bridge of iron construction, 
having three trusses with provision for double tracks. There 
are five spans having a total length of 734 feet. In 1914 the 
railroad company built a new and heavier bridge a few rods 
higher up the river, crossing obliquely, in order to overcome a 
short curve on the Pennsylvania end. On completion of the new 
bridge, they sold the old one to Dr. Henry Darlington, who 
converted it into a toll bridge, and, in turn, transferred it to the 
Knowlton Turnpike & Bridge Company, chartered in New 
Jersey, January 18, 1915, since which time it has been a passenger 
toll bridge. Taken over by the Joint Commission, February 18, 
1932, at price of S275,000. 

Columbia Delaware Bridge Company — ^From Portland, 
Northampton County, Pa., to Columbia, Warren County, N. J. 
Portland was formerly called Dill's Ferry, where a ferry had 
been established in 1780. It was incorporated into a borough, 
October 21, 1876. A river bridge company was first incorporated 
by "The President, Managers & Company at the Columbia Glass 
Manufactory," by the New Jersey legislature, February 5, 1816, 
with concurrent legislation by Pennsylvania, March 16, 1816, 
but a financial panic nipped the enterprise in the bud. Supple- 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 179 

mental charters, extending the time for building a bridge, were 
granted, March 29, 1824, and February 7, 1832, but the bridge 
was not built. A charter was then granted to the Columbia 
Delaware Bridge Company, by New Jersey, March 7, 1839, and 
by Pennsylvania, June 24, 1839. Work on its erection was then 
begun. The piers and abutments were completed during 1839, 
when work was suspended and not resumed until 1868, when the 
bridge was completed and opened for travel in 1869. Its cost 
was about $40,000, of which $37,500 was paid out of its capital 
stock subscriptions. The original bridge, still standing, is a 
covered bridge of wood construction, with four spans having a 
total length of 775 feet. There are two trusses, arch and truss 
combined, with a double driveway, no sidewalks. It is one of 
the two bridges remaining on the Delaware, with all spans of 
covered wood construction. Taken over by the Joint Com- 
mission, May 2, 1927, at price of $50,250. (For Portland Ferry, 
see page 161, ante.) 

(History of Sussex and Warren Counties, page 630, and History of North- 
ampton County, page 253.) 

Dingman's Choice & Delaware Bridge Company — Suc- 
cessor to a ferry established about 1735. From Dingman's 
Ferry, Pike County, Pa., to Layton, Sussex County, N. J. 
Charter for a bridge granted by Pennsylvania, February 11, 
1834, and during the same year by New Jersey. Supplemental 
charter, February 27, 1849. Originally a three-span covered 
bridge of wood construction, 541 feet in length. Opened for 
travel in 1834. Lost by a flood. Rebuilt and again lost by a 
wind storm. Bridge sold in 1864, sale confirmed by act of 
Pennsylvania legislature. A third bridge was then built, which 
broke down in 1869. Ferry service resumed from 1869 to 1900, 
when the present and fourth bridge was built of steel construction, 
w4th two outside trusses, double driveway, no sidewalks. Nego- 
tiations pending with the Joint Commission for taking it over. 
(For Dingman's Ferry, see page 165, ante.) 

President, Managers & Company for Erecting a Bridge 
over the Delaware River, near Milford, Pa. — Crossing 
about one mile below Milford, Pike County, Pa., to Montague 
Township, Sussex County, N. J. First incorporated by Penn- 
sylvania, March 12, 1804, but bridge not built at that time. A 



180 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

second charter was granted by New Jersey, January 27, 1814, 
concurrent legislation by Pennsylvania, March 28, 1814, with 
supplemental acts of March 29, 1823; March 22, 1825, and 
January 29, 1850. Originally a three-span covered bridge of 
wood construction, 531 feet long. Opened for travel in 1836. 
Damaged by the flood of January 8, 1841. Failed entirely in 
1846. Rebuilt in 1869. Lost by flood of 1888. Rebuilt in 
1889 of iron construction, having three spans, two outside 
trusses, double driveway, no sidewalks. Ferry operations were 
resumed while bridge was out of commission. Taken over by 
the Joint Commission, April 25, 1922, at price of 831,500. (For 
Milford, Pa., Ferry, see page 166, ante.) 

(Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania, Vol. XVII, page 688.) 

Twentieth Century Toll Bridges over the 
Delaware River 

It is a coincidence worthy of note, that while the Joint Com- 
mission for Eliminating Toll Bridges over the Delaware River 
is engaged in taking over all the old interstate toll bridges, and 
freeing them of toll, that millions of dollars are being expended 
in building other toll bridges; however, all of the new ones are 
below tide. Three of these new bridges have been completed 
and opened for travel, as shown on the following list. Tw^o other 
crossings are being discussed, one for a bridge below Philadelphia 
and touching the New Jersey shore below Pennsburg; if the War 
Department will not permit this to be built, vehicular tunnels 
may be constructed. The other is for vehicular tunnels between 
New Castle County, Delaware, and Salem County, N. J., a 
bill for which is now (1932) before Congress. 

Philadelphia-Camden Delaware River Bridge — A toll 
bridge built and owned by the states of New Jersey and Pennsyl- 
vania and the city of Philadelphia. Work began January 6, 
1922, and on July 1, 1926, the bridge was opened for travel. A 
steel wire rope cable suspension bridge resting on concrete foun- 
dations. Its total cost was $37,196,971, of which $10,000,000 
was for land, and $2,000,000 for engineering and administration 
expenses. Its total length from Franklin Square, Philadelphia, 
to Sixth and Penn Streets, Camden, is 1.81 miles. The cables 



IMPROVING XAVIGATION OX THE DELAWARE RIVER 181 

are 36 inches in diameter, with a clearance of 135 feet above 
mean high tide. Owing to expansion and contraction between 
the hottest day in summer and the coldest day in winter, the 
difference in clearance above the river varies three feet and six 
inches. The towers are 385 feet high. The river span is 1,750 
feet long, and when built was the second longest span of any 
bridge in the world, exceeded only by the bridge over the St. 
Lawrence near Quebec, which is 100 feet longer. 

Since the Philadelphia-Camden bridge was opened, two other 
bridges, with longer spans, have been completed, viz., the 
Ambassador bridge between Detroit, Mich., and Sandwich, 
Ontario, 1,850 feet, and the George Washington suspension bridge 
over the Hudson River between Fort Washington, N. Y., and 
Fort Lee, N. J., with a clear span of 3,500 feet. Opened October 
24, 1931. 

Tacony- Palmyra Delaware River Bridge — An interstate 
toll bridge of steel construction, resting on conrete foundations, 
crossing the Delaware between Tacony, Philadelphia, and Pal- 
myra in New Jersey. The approach on the Pennsylvania side 
is 1,298 feet long and that on the New Jersey side 1,692 feet; 
the river spans are 2,313 feet, making the total length of the 
superstructure 5,255 feet. The main span is 540 feet long. A 
double-leaf bascule adjoining the main span on the east is set 
on piers giving a clear opening of 240 feet. The roadway is 38 
feet wide to accommodate four lanes of traffic. There are foot- 
paths on both sides. Construction was begun March 27, 1928, 
and the bridge was opened for travel August 14, 1929. Its cost 
w^as about S5, 000, 000. This bridge is a private enterprise, with 
its stock listed on the Philadelphia stock exchange. 

Bristol-Burlixgton Delaware River Bridge — The plans 
for this bridge were made in 1928, and approved by the War 
Department, but owing to some delay work was not begun until 
a year later. This is an interstate bridge of steel construction, 
resting on concrete foundations. It is located at Maple Beach 
about one mile below Bristol, Pa., and enters Burlington, N. J., 
at Reed Street. The total length of superstructure, including 
the approaches, is 3,144 feet. The roadway accommodates two 
lanes of traffic with a foot-path for pedestrians. The bridge is 
equipped with a vertical bascule draw over a channel span of 540 



182 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAV^ARE RIVER 

feet, having a clearance above the river when closed of 64 feet 
and when open of 135 feet. This is the largest vertical draw in 
the world. This bridge is a private enterprise and is said to have 
cost 82,000,000, of which 8100,000 was the cost of the highway 
feeder at West Burlington, N. J. This bridge was officially 
opened for travel May 2, 1931, with special ceremonies, speeches 
and a parade. 

River Bridges and Ferries on the Delaware River 
Between Pennsylvania and New York 

The Delaware River and its tributaries, above Port Jervis, 
N. Y., wind their way through the valleys of the Kittatinny 
and Pocono Mountains of Wayne and Pike Counties, Pa., and 
of the Catskill Mountains of Delaware, Sullivan and Orange 
Counties of New York. Geologically the rocks on both sides 
of the river all belong to the Catskill series. Many beds of 
flagstones were made available when the Erie Railroad was built 
through the Delaware Valley. Their quarrying and shipping 
became an important industry, but alas, the use of cement has 
closed every one of the quarries. Throughout this entire region, 
almost to the tops of the highest mountain peaks, there are evi- 
dences of the great northern ice glacier. 

The country through which the river passes is sparsely settled, 
consisting mostly of rough mountainous forests. It is recorded 
that during the active days of rafting, fifty million feet of logs 
per year were cut from these forests and floated down the Dela- 
ware. There are many lakes and mountain streams, well 
stocked with trout, and the entire section furnishes a delightful 
playground. During the summer season, the many resorts, 
mostly small, offer restful retreats for vacation outings. There 
are but few settlements along the river, except where the bridges 
are located, all of which are doubtless successors to ferries, and 
it is not likely that there were many ferries located between 
them. At any rate, no special effort has been made to locate the 
old ferries. There was, however, a ferry called Dunning's 
Ferry, about two miles above Port Jervis, and about nine miles 
below Pond Eddy bridge; also Minard's Ferry, in Manchester 
Township, Wayne County, crossing the river about one mile west 
of Lordville, to connect with the public road on the New York 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVKK 183 

side in Sullivan County, for which a charter was granted to Zillar 
Minard by the Pennsylvania legislature, April 14, 1869. Also a 
wire rope ferry crossing the river at Stockport, about four miles 
below Hancock. There were also many ferries and bridges on 
both branches of the Delaware above Hancock. 

The distance from Port Jervis to the northern boundary of 
Pennsylvania, following the windings of the river, is about 85 
miles. ^^ There are eleven highway bridges over the Delaware 
between these two points, which have been taken over by the 
New York and Pennsylvania Joint Interstate Commission. The 
bridges are located in the order which follows, beginning at Port 
Jervis, thence up the river ending with the bridge at Hancock. 
Charters were granted for two other bridges, which do not appear 
to have been built. One of them to the "President, Managers & 
Company of the Bridge at Stockport" — Incorporated by Penn- 
sylvania, March 18, 1816, with a supplementary act of March 29, 
1849. Stockport (Hancock post ofifice) is in Wayne County, and 
a crossing would be at Stockport station on the Erie Railroad in 
Sullivan County, N. Y. The other one incorporated as the 
"Delaware Bridge Company," by act of the Pennsylvania legis- 
lature, approved April 11, 1866, "to cross the Delaware from a 
point in Wayne County to be fixed by the corporation, to Fre- 
mont Township, Sullivan County, N. Y." The Erie Railroad 
also crosses the Delaware from New York to Pennsylvania and 
back again on double track deck truss bridges of steel construc- 
tion, but these are referred to elsewhere in these notes; see page 
193 hereof. 

(Hazard's Register, Vol. Ill, pp. 89, 102; 6 Smith's Laws, 1816, page 
354, and Pamphlet Laws of Pennsylvania, 1849, page 196, and for 1866, page 
1198.) 

Port Jervis Bridges — F"rom Matamoras, Pike County, Pa., 
to Port Jervis, Orange County, N. Y. The building of these 
bridges had rather a unique history, due partly to bad faith, 

''1 The northern boundary line between Pennsylvania and New York was 
determined in December, 1774, by David Rittenhouse and Samuel Holland, 
engineers representing both states, who placed a stone marker on a small 
island in the Mohocks or West Branch of the Delaware, with the letters 
"New York, 1774," cut on the north side and "Lat. 42° 20'" cut on top thereof. 
In 1854, the Commissioners of Wayne County erected a granite marker 600 
feet west of the middle of the river, at a point about one mile from Hale 
Eddy, N. Y., to indicate the boundary between the two states. (Hazard's 
Register, Vol. Ill, page 135, and Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania, 
page 679.) 



184 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

deceptions, disappointments and delays. In 1848, a charter 
was granted by the Pennsylvania legislature to the Milford & 
Port Jervis Railroad Company, for a bridge over the river to 
cross between Matamoras and Port Jervis, to be built by the 
New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company, which had 
planned to cross the Delaware at that place with its trunk line, 
but the alignment was changed, and they found it more to their 
advantage to cross at Sawmill Rift, about four miles above Port 
Jervis."'^ However, in view of their obligation to build and 
maintain a railroad and wagon bridge between Matamoras and 
Port Jervis, they carried out their obligation and built a wooden 
truss bridge which was opened in 1852. In 1870, when plans 
were about completed to build a railroad to Milford, a wind 
storm, during March, 1870, completely destroyed the bridge. 
The Erie Railroad then sold the franchise to the Lamonte Mining 
& Railroad Company, which had been incorporated by act of the 
Pennsylvania legislature for the purpose of mining and proved to 
be an unreliable concern. During the same year the legislature 
of Pennsylvania passed an act by which the Erie Railroad was 
to pay the bridge company S10,000 a year for 990 years, but, alas, 
owing to dissensions among the bridge directors, the act was 
repealed, thus relieving the Erie Railroad from all obligations. 
The franchise was then sold to the Barrett Bridge Company, a 
New York corporation, which built a new bridge, lower down the 
river where the present highway bridge stands, but not a com- 
bination bridge suitable for both wagons and a railroad, but a 
tw^o-span wire suspension wagon bridge, on which tolls were 
exacted. This bridge was carried away by an ice freshet in 1875 
and then rebuilt. It was again destroyed by the great flood of 
October, 1903, after which the present two-span steel arch truss 
bridge was built. This bridge was taken over by the Pennsyl- 
vania-New York Joint Commission for eliminating toll bridges 
on March 23, 1922, at a price of S153,250. The commission then 
expended $45,026.32 for strengthening and repairing. 

When building of the Milford & Port Jervis Railroad was 
renewed, a bridge was erected over the Delaware a short distance 
above the Port Jervis bridge, then a toll bridge, and extended to 

32 Port Jervis (originally called Mohackamack Fork) was named for 
John B. Jervis, one of the engineers who built the Delaware and Hudson 
Canal. It was incorporated into a village, July 20, 1853. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 185 

the bluffs of marcellus shale below Matamoras, considerable of 
which was shipped over the Erie Railroad to New York harbor 
points. This bridge withstood the flood of 1903, but the follow- 
ing year in 1904 it was carried away by an ice freshet, whereupon 
it was abandoned. A plate girder span over the Erie tracks and a 
naked pier standing in the middle of the river can still be seen, 
sentinels of an unsuccessful undertaking. 

Pond Eddy Bridge— From Pond Eddy, Pike County, Pa., 
to Pond Eddy (in canal times called Carpenter's basin), Lumber- 
land Township, Sullivan County, N. Y. Originally a wire rope 
suspension toll bridge, built and maintained by the township of 
Lumberland. Carried away by the flood of October, 1903, and 
replaced in 1904 by a two-span bridge of steel construction, and 
then made a free bridge. Being a free bridge the Joint Com- 
mission declined to take it over at its market value. It appears, 
however, that the township was glad to get rid of its upkeep, and 
therefore transferred it to the commission, June 24, 1927, for the 
nominal consideration of S3. 00. 

Shohola Bridge — From Shohola, Pike County, Pa., to 
Barry ville, Sullivan County, N. Y. A two-span wire rope sus- 
pension bridge, first bridge built in 1855, which blew down July 2, 
1859. Rebuilt and again blew dow-n, January, 1865. The 
present bridge of same construction (wire rope suspension) w'as 
built during the fall of 1866. Taken over by the Joint Commis- 
sion, January 27, 1923, at price of 822,789.11. 

(History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, page 968.) 

Lackawaxen Bridge — This crossing between Lackawaxen, 
Pike County, Pa., to Minisink Fork, Sullivan County, N. Y. 
(about a mile and a half from where the battle of Minisink was 
fought, July 22, 1779), consists of a viaduct having four spans, 
suspended by a wire rope cable S}4 inches in diameter, formerly 
used as an aqueduct by the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. 
After the canal was abandoned, it was sold in 1899, and the 
aqueduct converted by Spruks Brothers, lumbermen, of Scran- 
ton, Pa., into a viaduct toll bridge, using the bed of the canal 
as the driveway. Taken over by the Joint Commission, Decem- 
ber, 1928, at price of $20,000. It was about five miles below 
the junction of the Lackawaxen and Delaware Rivers near 



186 IMPROVING NAVIGATIOX ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

Shohola Creek that the Hne of survey of the unjust Indian walk 
of September, 1737, ended. (See Canals, page 194 hereof.) 

Narrowsburg Bridge — From Damascus Township, Wayne 
County, Pa., to Narrowsburg, Sullivan County, N. Y. The 
first bridge was of wood construction. Replaced by a one-span 
bridge of steel construction, having a length of about 160 feet. 
The river at this place passes between two rock embankments, 
which serve for the abutments of the bridge. This is the shortest 
bridge on the entire river. Narrowsburg is sometimes referred 
to as Big Pond. Bridge taken over by the Joint Commission, 
January 6, 1926, at price of S55,000. 

(History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, page 330, and Second 
Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, Vol. C5, page 164.) 

MiLANViLLE Bridge Company — Bridge spans the river from 
Milanville, Damascus Towsnhip, Wayne County, Pa., to 
Skinner's Falls, Sullivan County, N. Y. A two-span bridge of 
steel construction. Incorporated, May 8, 1901, with supple- 
mental act of May 26, 1903. It M-as from this place that the first 
raft was started down the Delaware in 1764;" by Daniel Skinner, 
after which he was called "Lord High Admiral," a title he retained 
until his death in 1813. The bridge was taken over by the 
Joint Commission, April 13, 1923, at price of $19,542.21. 

(History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, pp. 337 and 445; Laws 
of Pennsylvania for 1901, page 144, and for 1903, page 68.) 

Cochecton Bridge CoMPANV^From Damascus, Wayne 
County, Pa., to Cochecton, Sullivan County, N. Y. The first 
bridge, probably the successor of an early ferry, was chartered 
in 1817 and completed in 1819. It was a two-span wooden 
bridge with a pier in the middle. Its construction was so 
defective that it soon fell of its own weight. In 1821 a second 
bridge, with three spans, and two piers, was opened and then 
became regularly incorporated as a toll bridge. In 1846 the 
western pier became undermined during high water, and fell, 
carrying with it the two spans on the Pennsylvania side. A 
legalized ferry was then put in service and operated until the 
winter of 1847-48, when a new bridge was opened for travel, 
but this also proved defective and collapsed in the spring of 1848, 

•5-^ Some historians give this date as 1746, particularly Davis in his History 
of Bucks Count}', both editions, which is wrong, as 1764 is doubtless the 
correct date. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 187 

when the New York span fell. A new pier and a new span were 
then built and the bridge reopened in 1849-50. In 1850 the 
Pennsylvania span gave way. Ferry operations were again 
resumed until 1854, when a new bridge was opened, which stood 
until the great ice flood of 1857, when the entire bridge was swept 
away. The ferry was then equipped with a wire rope cable and 
again put in service, until February 1, 1859, when another new 
bridge was opened. In 1872 the middle span settled, requiring 
repairs. This bridge still standing is of iron construction, with 
three spans and has a length of about 550 feet. Taken over by 
the Joint Commission, January 13, 1923, at price of vS24,951.58. 
(History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, pages 377, 468, 469, 470.) 

Callicoon Bridge — From Damascus Township, Wayne 
County, Pa., to Callicoon, Sullivan County, N. Y. A four- 
span bridge of iron construction, which may have been the suc- 
cessor of an earlier bridge. At any rate, there was a ferry on 
the river at this place authorized by act of the Pennsylvania 
legislature, April 13, 1854. Bridge taken over by the Joint 
Commission, February 9, 1923, at price of S35,000. 

(Laws of Pennsylvania for 1854, page 350.) 

Kellam's Bridge — From Stalker, Manchester Township, 
Wayne County, Pa., to a road leading to Hankins, Sullivan 
County, N. Y. A one-span wire rope cable bridge. It appears 
that there was a ferry on the river at or near this place, granted 
to William T. Kellam by act of the Pennsylvania legislature, 
March 28, 1860, "to a point nearly opposite to the Basket switch 
or depot of the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad." 
Taken over by the Joint Commission, December, 1928, at price 
of $15,000. 

(Laws of Pennsylvania for 1860, page 319.) 

LoRDViLLE & Equinunk Bridge COMPANY — Crossing the 
river from a point below Equinunk, Manchester Township, 
Wayne County, Pa., to Lordville, Sullivan County, N. Y. Incor- 
porated by act of Pennsylvania legislature, April 8, 1857, with 
supplementary act of February 18, 1869. A one-span wire rope 
cable bridge, about 360 feet long. Taken over by the Joint Com- 
mission, April 10, 1930, at price of vS26,002.00. 

(History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, page 536; Laws of Penn- 
sylvania for 1857, page 185, and for 1869, page 189.) 



188 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

Hancock Bridge — From Buckingham Township, Wayne 
County, Pa., to Hancock, Delaware County, N. Y.. A one-span 
wire suspension bridge over the Mohocks or West Branch of 
the Delaware. Taken over by the Joint Commission, July 1, 
1922, at price of SIO, 186.76. There is also a highway bridge 
immediately south of Hancock, crossing the East Branch of the 
Delaware, and another over the West Branch above the New 
York state line, but they are wholly within the state of New York, 
and therefore not interstate bridges. 

Railroad Bridges over the Delaware River 

There are thirteen railroad bridges spanning the Delaware 
River between Philadelphia, Pa., and Hancock, N. Y. 

Pennsylvania Railroad Company — That company's all- 
rail route to New Jersey seashore points. Crossing the Dela- 
ware at Frankford, Philadelphia, Pa. Chartered, March 17, 
1890, as the Delaware River Railroad & Bridge Company. 
Opened for traffic in 1896. Total length of bridge and approaches, 
4,375 feet, made up of an approach viaduct at the Pennsylvania 
end of 41 spans of deck plate girders having an aggregate length 
of 2,129 feet; three spans, through trusses, each 533 feet, with 
a draw span of 328 feet, and an approach on the New Jersey 
side of eight spans of deck plate girders having a total length of 
324 feet. Constructed of steel. 

Pennsylvania Railroad Company — Crossing the Dela- 
ware between Morrisville, Bucks County, Pa., and Trenton, 
N. J. The through line of that company's entire system of 
railroads into and through New Jersey to New York. A stone 
arch bridge, having 18 spans, of which four are for the approaches 
and fourteen spanning the channel. Opened for traffic in 1908. 
This bridge was built to replace a steel bridge three-tenths of a 
mile higher up the river at Decatur Street. For data of the 
first bridge, see page 169, ante. 

Delaware & Bound Brook Railroad Company — The 
Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company, lessees. Crossing 
the Delaware between Yardley, Bucks County, Pa., and North 
Trenton, N. J. A concrete arch bridge, having 14 spans, of 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 189 

which twelve are over the stream and one on each side of the 
river for approaches. Built in 1893 to replace a bridge of steel 
construction, which had six spans, one of which was over the 
public road, which had been opened for traffic, May 1, 1876. 

Lehigh Valley Railroad Company — Chartered, September 
20, 1847. Its railroad from Mauch Chunk to South Easton 
was completed by September 24, 1855. In 1856 a wooden bridge 
of unique design was erected over the Delaware to Phillips- 
burg, N. J. This was a double bridge, with one set of tracks 
supported by the bottom chords, crossing the river on an incline 
to connect at grade with the Belvidere Delaware Railroad. The 
other set of tracks were on top of the trusses and crossed on a 
level to meet the tracks of the Central Railroad of New Jersey 
at grade. In 1866 an enlarged bridge, to the south thereof, of 
wood construction, was completed. It was equipped with 
stiffening arches on new masonry and had double tracks. In 
1868 a new connection was effected with the Belvidere Dela- 
ware. In 1875 the Easton & Amboy Railroad, affiliated with 
the Lehigh Valley, was completed between Phillipsburg and 
Jersey City, when a new bridge of iron construction was built 
with double tracks, having four spans built on a curve, involving 
a three-span single track spur to connect with the Central Rail- 
road of New Jersey and the Morris & Essex Division of the 
D. L. & W. Railroad. The old wooden bridge was then removed. 
A cut of it in process of removal can be seen in Condit's History 
of Easton, page 459. In 1901-02 a new double-track steel 
bridge was added, using the masonry up-stream. It has seven 
spans of a total length of 1,077 feet, with a spur bridge of three 
spans having a total length of 270 feet connecting with the Central 
of New Jersey and Morris & Essex Railroads. At the same 
time the iron bridge, built in 1875, was changed to a single track 
and shortened one span at the New Jersey end. Thus giving 
them two bridges with three tracks, which are now (1932) in use. 

Central Railroad Company of New Jersey — Incorpor- 
ated February 26, 1847, as the Somerville & Easton Railroad 
Company; changed on April 23, 1849, to that of Central Rail- 
road Company of New Jersey. The road was completed and 
opened to Phillipsburg, N. J., in 1852, which is the terminus 
of that branch of its system. In 1855 the Lehigh Valley Rail- 



190 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

road was opened from Mauch Chunk to Easton, and in 1856 
that road built a bridge of wooden construction over the Dela- 
ware, having two sets of tracks one above the other. The top 
or upper tracks connected with the Central Railroad of New 
Jersey, the lower ones with the Belvidere Delaware Railroad, 
which had been completed to Phillipsburg in 1854. The Lehigh 
& Susquehanna Railroad, organized in 1837, a subsidiary of the 
Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, began grading its road 
between Mauch Chunk and Easton in 1866, completing it by 
May 2, 1868. The tracks were laid throughout with Bessemer 
steel rails weighing sixty pounds to the yard, imported from 
England, and was one of the first railroads in this country to use 
steel rails. Some of these rails still remain on abandoned side 
tracks bearing the stamp of "John Brown, Sheffield Atlas Steel, 
1867" ; "Bolton Iron & Steel Co., Naylor & Co., 1867," and "Cam- 
mell Sheffield — Toughened Steel, 1867." Their cost appears to 
have been about $185 per ton. It was not until 1893, that the 
Lehigh & Susquehanna built a bridge of its own across the Dela- 
ware. In 1903 it was replaced by a bridge of iron construction, 
which was followed in 1920 by the present bridge of steel con- 
struction, having seven spans, with a total length of 1,036 feet 
4 inches, which includes the approaches at both ends. There 
are but four spans over the stream. 

Lehigh & Hudson River Railroad Company — Incorpor- 
rated under the laws of both New Jersey and New York. The 
road was completed to Belvidere, N. J., by 1890, which for several 
years was its western terminal. Crosses the Hudson River over 
the Poughkeepsie bridge. A survey was made to extend the 
road from Belvidere to Phillipsburg, but this plan was abandoned 
by reason of an agreement with the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany to use the tracks of the Belvidere Division Railroad. At 
Phillipsburg connection was made with the tracks of the Central 
Railroad, which operated the road from Belvidere until 1896, 
when the Lehigh & Hudson built its own bridge over the Dela- 
ware, using the Central passenger station at the foot of Fourth 
Street, Easton, for its terminal. This bridge crosses the Dela- 
ware on a curve, and also on a grade, dropping from the level of 
the Central tracks at Easton to those of the Pennsylvania near 
its Phillipsburg passenger station. The bridge is of steel con- 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 191 

struction, mostly of plate girders with thirteen spans, of which 
six are over the stream and the others over the approaches. 

Pennsylvania Railroad Company — Crossing the Delaware 
from Brainards, Warren County, N. J., to Martins Creek, 
Northampton County, Pa. The first bridge of wood construc- 
tion was opened for traffic in 1885. The superstructure was 
carried away by the flood of October 10, 1903. Rebuilt of steel 
construction in 1904. Wood trestle approach on the New 
Jersey side 63 feet long, then two spans of deck plate girders 
each 53 feet, four spans of same each 92yi feet and one span 
88^ feet long, making the total length of the bridge and ap- 
proaches, 627 feet 6 inches. 

Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company. 
The construction of this road has a most interesting history. 
It was the outgrowth of the Lackawanna Coal & Iron Company, 
with a plant at Scranton and its valuable coal mines, and of 
the Oxford Iron Company, which desired to find an outlet for 
its products. The railroad is a consolidation of a number of 
roads, chartered under different names: First, the Owego & 
Ithaca, opened December, 1849; second, the Susquehanna Canal 
& Railroad Company, chartered 1826, succeeded by the Lacka- 
wanna & Western running from Scranton to Great Bend, com- 
pleted in October, 1851, and called the Legget's Gap Railroad. 
The Warren Railroad Company of New Jersey, incorporated 
April 23, 1852, Mhich provides, "That it shall be lawful for the 
said Warren Railroad Company to erect a bridge across the 
Delaware at some point near or within five miles of the Dela- 
ware Water Gap." On the same day (April 23, 1852) a charter 
was granted to the Delaware & Cobbs Creek Railroad, with the 
proviso: "That it shall be lawful for the Delaware & Cobbs 
Creek Railroad to connect their road with the road of the Warren 
Railroad Company of New Jersey, by a bridge across the river 
Delaware, which bridge may be constructed jointly, or in part, 
or whole by either company aforementioned * * *" All of 
which were consolidated March 11, 1853, as the Delaware, 
Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company. The Morris & 
Essex Railroad was later taken over by the same company. 

A river bridge, of wood construction, was accordingly built by 
the Warren Railroad Company in 1853. It crosses the Dela- 



192 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

ware about two miles south of Portland, Northampton County, 

Pa., to Delaware, Warren County, N. J. Later this wooden 

bridge was replaced by a bridge of iron construction, having three 

trusses and a double passageway, five spans having a total length 

of 734 feet. This bridge proved to be unsatisfactory, owing to 

the short curve at the Pennsylvania end, and in 1914 a new and 

much stronger bridge of steel construction was built a few rods 

higher up the river. When the new bridge was opened in 1915, 

the railroad company sold the old one to Dr. Henry Darlington 

on behalf of the Knowlton Turnpike & Bridge Company, and 

until February 18, 1932, it was maintained as a toll bridge. See 

page 161, ante. 

(History of Sussex and Warren Counties, page 656, et seq.; History of 
Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, pp. 1031, 1032, and Laws of Pennsylvania 
for 1852, page 422.) 

Lehigh & New England Railroad "Company — Originally 
the Pennsylvania, Slatington & New England Railroad Com- 
pany, which was reorganized in 1887 as the Pennsylvania, 
Poughkeepsie & Boston Railroad Company, which, in turn, was 
foreclosed in 1904, and then taken over by the Lehigh & New 
England Railroad Company, which had been chartered, April 2, 
1895. The road was opened for traffic from Slatington, Pa., to 
Campbells Hall, N. Y., January 1, 1890. A bridge crosses the 
Delaware River from Portland, Pa., to Columbia, Warren 
County, N. J. The bridge has one plate deck girder span over 
the D. L. & W. Railroad tracks, then five spans of similar con- 
struction over the river, then a number of spans of same con- 
struction for a long approach on the New Jersey side. 

Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company. 
A beautifully designed concrete bridge over the Delaware River, 
located at a point between Portland, Pa., and the Delaware 
Water Gap. It has a long concrete approach on the New Jersey 
side, then six arch spans over the river, then with concrete 
bridges over the low-down tracks of the same railroad company 
and over the public roads. This bridge was opened for traffic, 
December 24, 1911 , when the Jersey City cutoff was put in service. 
The railroad company calls the Pennsylvania end, Slateford 
Junction. The New Jersey end is in Knowlton Township, War- 
ren County. 



improving navigatiox ox the telaware river 193 

New York, Susquehanxa & Westerx Railroad Com- 
pany — Incorporated in Pennsylvania, April 25, 1893. Leased 
by the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad Co., now the 
Erie Railroad Co. 

Bridge constructed about 1881-82, under a charter granted 
to the North New Jersey Railroad Company in New Jersey and 
the Water Gap Railroad Co., in Pennsylvania. 

This bridge crosses the Delaware at their Water Gap station, 
between Delaware Water Gap and Shawnee, in Smithfield Town- 
ship, Monroe County, to Pahaquarry Township, W'arren County, 
N. J. It is built of iron with four spans, single track, 884 feet 
3 inches between abutments. 

Erie Railroad Comfaxy — Formerly the New York, Lake 
Erie & Western Railroad. Two double-track deck truss bridges 
of iron or steel construction, about 27 miles apart, cross the Dela- 
ware above Port Jervis. The railroad follows the eastern or 
New York shore to Mill Rift at Old Bolton Basin, about four 
miles above Port Jervis, where it crosses the river and canal 
into Pike County, Pa. This bridge was carried away by an ice 
freshet in 1875, as was also the toll bridge at Port Jervis. From 
Mill Creek the railroad follows the western or Pennsylvania 
shore for about 27 miles, and then crosses back into New York 
over a three span bridge at Tusin Station, about a mile above the 
village of Tusin in Sullivan County, and about eight miles above 
Lackawaxen. Just below Hancock the railroad crosses over the 
East Branch of the Delaware, but that is wholly within the state 
of New York and not an interstate bridge. 



194 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

CANALS CONNECTED WITH THE WATERS OF 
THE DELAWARE AND LEHIGH RIVERS 

Delaware & Hudson Canal — There were five canals built 
and operated in connection with the waters of the Delaware and 
Lehigh Rivers, of which the Delaware & Hudson was the pioneer 
and the first to open for navigation. 

On March 13, 1823, the Pennsylvania legislature authorized 
the improvement of navigation on the Lackawaxen River, in 
order that the anthracite coal mines of Wurts Brothers, located 
at Carbondale in Lackawanna County, operating under the name 
of Lackawaxen Coal Mine and Navigation Company, might be 
developed, and the coal carried to market. This franchise with 
its coal mines and transportation rights was then sold to the 
Lackawaxen Canal Company, organized March 9, 1825, with 
Philip Hone as its first president. On May 1, 1826, it was 
incorporated by act of the Pennsylvania legislature. On April 
23, 1823, the Delaware & Hudson Railroad had been chartered 
by the Pennsylvania legislature. The charter rights were then 
transferred to The President, Managers & Company of the Dela- 
ware & Hudson Canal Company, which had, on April 23, 1823, 
been incorporated under the laws of New York, empowered to 
open water communication between the Delaware and Hudson 
Rivers. A gravity road with eight inclined planes was then 
built from the coal mines at Carbondale, over the Moosic Moun- 
tain to the junction of the Lackawaxen and Dyberry Rivers at 
Honesdale. The mines were on the west side of the mountain, 
which the road ascended by means of five planes, each having an 
ascent of from 120 feet to 205 feet, operated by five stationary 
engines, crossing the mountain through Rix's Gap, then descend- 
ing on the eastern slope by three gravity planes, controlled by 
self-acting windlasses. Its total length was nearly 17 miles, 
with Rix's Gap 970 feet above the canal basin at Honesdale. 
The gauge of the tracks was 4 feet 3 inches, supported on hemlock 
stringers, 8 inches by 16 inches, set on edge, on which the iron 
strap rails were fastened with countersunk screws. The rails, 
made in England, were about 15^ feet long, size 2>^ inches by 
^2 inch, with rounded tops, and the ends dovetailed together as 
shown by the following cut : 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 19: 



/ 1/2" 






^ / 


/ Fig.l 
11/16" 


^ 




Fig. 


' i ( 




= 3/4" 

CO 
lO 


J \ 

1 






Strap rails 

\ 


15i iH>. long \ 

1 \ 



DELAWARE & HUDSON CANAL COMPANY 

Fig. I. Full size section of rounded top strap rails used on inclined plane railroad. 
Fig. 2. Top view. Full size, showing how rails were joined together at ends. 



The planes were, at first, equipped with chains (made in 
England), which proved troublesome, owing to frequent break- 
age, and in a few years were discarded and replaced by tarred 
manilla ropes, and still later, after wire ropes were made in this 
country, probably in 1846, iron wire ropes were installed. 

On August 8, 1829, a locomotive built by Foster, Rastrick 
& Co., of Stourbridge, England, and called the "Stourbridge 
Lion," was imported and put in service on this gravity road. Its 
cost delivered at Rondout was $2,914.90. It was the very first 
locomotive engine to be used on any American railroad. The 
greater part of it has since been reassembled and can now be 
seen in the Smithsonian Institute at Washington. It was the 
plan of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company to use loco- 
motives on the three descending stretches of tracks which were, 
respectively, two, six and four miles in length, and with that end 
in view ordered and had delivered three locomotives. However, 
the experimental trials with the "Stourbridge Lion" were not 
satisfactory, due to the hemlock stringers not having sufficient 
cross ties, and were not considered safe for this "heavy loco- 
motive," weighing eight tons, and the plan was given up. This 



196 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

was, however, the beginning of locomotives in America, the 
evolution and growth of which can be seen by the thousands 
now in use, as well as by the size and economic construction of 
the twentieth century locomotives. The two illustrations shown 
herewith demonstrate the changes that have taken place in a 
century from the "Stourbridge Lion" to the "High-Pressure 




THE "STOURBRIDGE LION" LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE 

The first locomotive engine ever used in America. Made in England and imported by the 

Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. Put in service, August 8, 1829, on their inclined 

plane railway at Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Height to top of stack, 15 feet. 

^Vheel base, 4 feet 6 inches. Two upright cylinders, S^ in. diameter, 36 

in. stroke. Four driving wheels, 48 in. diameter, with wooden 

spokes and felloes. Weight fully equipped, eight net tons. 



Articular Locomotive," using oil as fuel, built at the Baldwin 
shops for the Great Northern Railway Company, weighing with 
tender over 458 net tons, and having a total length of 105 feet. 
In like manner the same progress has been made in rails from 
those of strap iron to those of the steel T rails, weighing 136 
pounds per yard, now being rolled at the Steelton plant of the 



IMPROVIXG NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 197 

Bethlehem Steel Corporation for the Lehigh Valley Railroad.^"* 
The T rail was the invention of Robert L. Stevens, who, in 1831, 
induced a firm in Wales to roll iron rails from his pattern, with 
which to equip the Camden & Amboy Railroad, of which he was 
president. The first shipment arrived in America May 16, 
1831, they were 16 feet long, 3>^ inches high by 3y^ inches at 
the base, and weighed slightly less than 40 pounds per yard. 
Rails having the standard length of 30 feet were first rolled at 
the Cambria Iron Works, Johnstow^n, Pa., in 1855. The first 
experimental Bessemer steel rail was rolled in England in 1857, 




HIGH-PRESSURE ARTICULATED OIL BURNING FREIGHT LOCOMOTI\'E 

Built in 1925 at The Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Great Northern Railway. 

Total length of locomotive and tender, 105 ft. Engine has 12 driving wheels, 

63 in. diameter, with wheel base of 58 ft. 2 in. Tender has 12 wheels, 

33 in. diameter. Two sets (4) engine truck wheels, 33 in. diameter. 

Weight fully equipped, 458",' net tons. 

and the first one in the United States on May 24, 1865, at the 
North Chicago rolling mills. With all this evolution, develop- 
ment and expansion of our railroads and their motive power, the 
flanges on the wheels of both locomotives and cars have under- 
gone but little change. 

From the basin at Honesdale, where the coal chutes were 
located, the canal followed along the northern side of the Lacka- 
waxen River, descending 371 feet, with 37 locks, in a distance 
of about 26 miles, where it crossed the Lackawaxen, and then, 

34 Since this paper was first written, we learn that the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road Co., during May, 1931, began laying steel rails weighing 152 pounds per 
yard. They were rolled at the Steelton plant of the Bethlehem Steel Co., 
and the Edgar Thompson plant of the United States Steel Corporation. 



198 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

when first built, on a dam in the Delaware River, with outlet 
locks on both sides thereof. Owing to the uncertain conditions 
of water in the Delaware, the crossing on a dam was found to be 
unsatisfactory. After the establishment of a wire rope plant in 
this country, by John A. Roebling at Saxenberg, Butler County, 
Pa., the construction of an aqueduct, suspended by wire rope 
cables, was begun, which was completed and put in service in 
1849. These cables were the third cables made in this country. 
Their diameter was 8>^ inches. The aqueduct had four spans, 
having a total length of 550 feet. The waterway between the 
trusses was of wood construction. The canal was formally 
abandoned February 23, 1899, and on June 13th following, the 
canal was sold to the Cornell Steamboat Company, which, in 
turn, sold the bridge to Spruks Brothers, of Scranton, Pa., who 
converted it into a highway toll bridge, the bed on the aqueduct 
serving as the roadway for the viaduct. 

After crossing the Delaware at Lackawaxen, the canal fol- 
lowed along the eastern shore of the Delaware to Port Jervis, a 
distance of 22 miles, with 22 locks, thence along the Neversink 
River, S}4 miles to Cuddebackville, where it crossed over the 
Neversink by an aqueduct 324 feet long, thence through the 




DELAWARE RIVER- ABOVE PORT JERVIS 

Showing Delaware & Hudson Canal beneath Hawk's Nest, about four miles above Port Jervis 

on the New York side of the river and the Erie Railroad on the Pennsylvania side of 

the Delaware. 



IMPROVING XAVIGATIOX ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 199 

Rondout Valley, crossing the Rondout River by a stone arch 
aqueduct supported by two arches, to the basin at Eddyville on 
the Hudson River, two miles from Rondout, now part of Kings- 
ton, formerly called Esopus, a distance of 59 miles with 60 locks, 
from Port Jervis, making the total length of the canal about 
108 miles. 

The gravity road was the first undertaking of that kind in 
America. Prior to its construction coal was hauled from the 
mines by wagons and sleds to the Lackawaxen and its tributaries 
and floated on arks down to the Philadelphia and other markets. 
The first boat, carrying 10 tons of coal, passed through the 
canal during October, 1828, whereas the gravity road did not 
begin delivering coal until October 9, 1829, during this inter- 
vening year carting by team to Honesdale continued. 

The prism of the canal, as well as the locks, were enlarged 
from time to time, first to accommodate boats carrying 30 to 
40 tons, then in 1841 to carry 40 to 50 tons, and again in 1849, 
when the aqueduct was completed, to carry 135 tons. Until 
the incline plane road was ready, the canal shipments were made 
up mostly of wood and lumber. During one week in May, 1829, 
110 boats and 106 rafts of lumber arrived at Eddyville. The 
last boat was cleared through the canal, November 5, 1898, thus 
making the life of the canal seventy years 

In May, 1850, a gravity railroad was completed by the Penn- 
sylvania Coal Company from its mines at Dunmore and Pittston 
in Lackawanna County, to the D. & H. canal basin at Hawley, 
and for several years its anthracite coal was transported by that 
canal. This gravity road extended over the Moosic Mountains, 
and was, in fact, a double road, with one set of tracks for carrying 
down loaded cars, the other for empty cars returning to the 
mines. This pioneer venture of the Delaware & Hudson Com- 
pany, turned out per se to be a paying venture, but on the aban- 
donment of the system, the capital investment was naturally 
lost. It was, however, the beginning of the Delaware & Hudson 
Company, with its railroads, coal mines, ore mines, blast furnace, 
hotels and other propert3^ In October, 1930, the Delaware & 
Hudson Railroad Company petitioned the Interstate Commerce 
Commission for permission to abandon that part of the road 
still in use, saying that it was being operated less and less in 
recent years. Their petition was granted, and on August 3, 



200 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

1931, authorized its abandonment. The building of the incline 
gravity road and the canal were indeed bold undertakings, which 
deserve the applause of all progressive Americans, and now, alas, 
in this twentieth century, the railroads owning coal mines, are 
compelled to segregate them from their carrying systems. 

(History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, by Alfred Mathews, 
1886, pp. 227 and 237 to 244; "Old Towpaths," by Alvin F. Harlow, page 
185, D. Appleton & Co., 1926; Hazard's Register, Vol. HI, page 139, Vol. 
VI, page 111, Vol. VII, page 45; Swank's Iron in All Ages, second edition, 
pp. 437, 438, 439; "A Century of Progress," being a History of the Delaware 
and Hudson Company.) 

Lehigh Canal — Owned and operated by the Lehigh Coal & 
Navigation Company, successor of the Lehigh Coal Mine Com- 
pany, organized February 13, 1792, which not being successful in 
its operations, was dissolved. It was followed by the Lehigh 
Navigation Company, organized August 10, 1818, and the Lehigh 
Coal Company, organized October 21, 1818, which were united 
to form the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, which origi- 
nated under "an act to improve navigation in the river Lehigh," 
granted to Josiah White, Erskine Hazard and George F. A. 
Hauto on March 18, 1818. Owing to some friction among the 
partners, Hauto on March 7, 1820, agreed to sell out his interest 
to his associates. On February 13, 1822, a liberal and broad 
charter was granted to them, with exclusive rights to the use of 
the waters of the Lehigh, and with authority to build canals from 
its coal mines to Easton, where the Lehigh empties into the 
Delaware."''' The work of digging the canal did not begin until 
they had assurance that the Delaware Division Canal would be 
built. About the same time they began building a gravity 
railroad from their coal mines to connect with the canal. This 
was completed by May, 1827. This was later called the Switch 
Back Railroad, and used exclusively by tourists and for 
pleasure excursions. The first section of the canal from Mauch 
Chunk to Easton, 46^ miles, was partly by slack water, requir- 
ing nine dams together with 37 locks to overcome a fall of 364 
feet. This section was opened in June, 1829, but could not 
be used to advantage, as the Delaware Division Canal, with 
which it was to connect at Easton, was not completed. The 
Morris canal in New Jersey with which it was to connect at 
Easton, was not opened until the spring of 1832. Therefore, 

35 See Hazard's Register, Vol, XIII, page 229. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 201 

shipments of coal by arks down the Delaware River continued. 
It was not until 1832 that the Delaware Division Canal was 
opened, and then it was found to be so defective that it took 
until 1834 before navigation could be regularly carried on. The 
second section of the Lehigh Canal, from Mauch Chunk to White 
Haven, 24^ miles, almost entirely by slack water, had a fall of 
642 feet, overcome by 29 locks with falls of from 15 to 30 feet."'*^ 
This section was opened in 1838, and three years later, in January, 
1841, was completely destroyed by a flood. It was rebuilt along 
more substantial lines, and again put in commission in 1844. 
The third section from Wright's creek at White Haven to Stod- 
dartsville, 12,296 miles, with a fall of 336 feet, 3 locks and 3 
dams, was opened for navigation March 19, 1838. On comple- 
tion of this third section the entire canal had a total length of 
83.80 miles with a fall of 1,342 feet. I have often heard my old 
friend, John Brown (born 1808, died 1889), when as superin- 
tendent in charge of building this canal above Mauch Chunk, 
relate his experience and the great difficulties to be overcome in 
building through a pioneer country, with no sign of human 
habitation between Lausanne and Stoddartsville, a distance of 
35 miles, and how he spent many nights sleeping under the hem- 
locks, with hemlock boughs for his bed. 

The great flood of June, 1862, completely destroyed the canal 
above Mauch Chunk, washing away all the dams and locks, as 
well as destroying many of those between Easton and Mauch 
Chunk. The canal above Mauch Chunk was then abandoned, 
and the terminus of the canal re-established at Mauch Chunk, 
where it had been prior to 1838, and where coal was transferred 
to boats down in 1923, when, owing to freshets having washed 
coal culm into the river and canal, the terminus was established 
at Slate Dam, two miles above Siegfried, about twenty miles 
below Mauch Chunk. The culm salvaged from the dams above 
Siegfried in 1927 amounted to 160,148 gross tons, all of which 
was shipped to the Palmerton, Pa., plant of the New Jersey 
Zinc Company. We are told that when canal navigation Avas 
at its peak there were from 2,500 to 3,000 boats on these canals, 
whereas there are now (1928) but 78, of which 72 are "company" 
boats, six belonging to individuals. Of the 72 company boats, 
40 are employed in boating culm recovered by the dredges above 

36 See Hazard's Register, Vol. XVI, page 366. 



202 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

referred to, and 32 on the canal proper from the present head of 

navigation at Slate Dam. On the opening of navigation in the 

spring of 1931, the number of boats plying on these canals had 

been reduced to twenty. The Lehigh canal and its leased line, 

the Delaware Division, were for several years the remaining 

canals in the entire country, which continued to operate with 

wooden boats propelled by mule power. A few boats are still 

(1932) operating on the Lehigh between Easton and Slate Dam 

at Siegfried. 

There are about fifteen plants operating on the Lehigh with 

overflow water, such as: Gristmills, paint-grinding mills, ice 

plants, foundry facing and pumping plants, with heads and falls 

ranging between 10 and 18 feet. Also one hydro-electric plant 

located at South Easton, operating under a head and fall of 21 

feet, now part of the Metropolitan Edison Company's system. 

See also Delaware Division Canal, which is, in fact, part of the 

Lehigh Canal System. 

(Henry's History of the Lehigh Valley, pp. 375, 386, and History of 
Northampton County, page 160; Hazard's Register, Vol. V, page 348.) 

Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania State Canals. 
This is one of a number of canals built by the State of Pennsyl- 
vania. It was authorized by act of April 9, 1827. Built pri- 
marily to connect at Easton with the Lehigh Canal, which has 
operated it under lease since 1866. The digging began at Bristol, 
October 28, 1827, and by 1832 some boats were passed through, 
but the construction was so faulty that it was not until March 1, 
1834, that the defects were partly remedied and the canal declared 
open for navigation. But even then boats could not be loaded 
to their full capacity. This delay was a great disappointment 
and entailed a loss to the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, 
which had completed its canal to Easton by 1829.^' The Dela- 
ware Division Canal is supplied with feed water from the Lehigh 

37 On December 21, 1830, before the defects of construction were remedied, 
the expenditures amounted to $1,238,027.69, nearly twice the estimated cost, 
exclusive of land damages which prior to November 1, 1831, amounted to 
$34,262.64. In 1834 the cost of canal alone was reported to have been $1,430,- 
211.85 On completion of the canal there were 23 lift locks with a fall of 
165.05 feet, 3 guard locks, and 2 outlet locks, one at Bristol and one at Easton, 
9 aqueducts, 20 culverts, 19 waste wieres, 2 safety gates, 18 lock houses, 2 
lock tenders and collectors' houses and 106 bridges. The bridges consisted 
of 3 turnpike bridges, 47 road bridges, 49 farm bridges and 7 foot bridges. 
(Official report on file at Harrisburg, Hazard's Register, Vol. V, page 183, 
Vol. VII, page 24, and Vol. XIII, page 197.) 




CANAL BOAT ON DELAWARE DIVISION CANAL 

Empty boat moving up stream, showing one of the 106 bridges crossing over the canal. 
(Photograph by John A. Anderson.) 




DELAWARE DIVISION CANAL, LOCK No. 17 

Empty boat leaving "Ridges Lock" opposite Marshall's Island, in Tinicum Township, Bucks 

County, Pa. (Courtesy of "The Majestic Delaware, the Nation's Foremost 

Historic River," by Francis Burke Brandt.) 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 203 

River, where, at Easton, a dam was built under an agreement 
entered into between the two canal companies on June 18, 1829. 
This dam was badly constructed, requiring extensive repairs in 
1830, and immediately thereafter, during the same year, was 
destroyed by a flood. Owing partly to bad construction and 
to the porosity of the soil through which the canal ran, the loss 
of water was so great that the Lehigh River could not supply 
enough for passing boats through loaded to their capacity. The 
engineers, at that time, estimated the requirements to be: 

Cubic Feet 

For lockage of 192 boats every 24 hours 1,130,496 

Evaporation do 106,560 

Leakage and Locks do 792,000 

Filtration (Seepage) do 43,142,400 

Total 45,171,456 

Equivalent to, cubic feet per minute 31,369 

Different schemes were therefore resorted to for providing 
more water, among which was a dam put in Durham creek and 
by means of a race or feeder as it was called, 1,890 feet long, 
some water was supplied from that source, this continued until 
1840. Water from twenty-two of the small creeks along the 
route flow directly into the canal. The largest of these is the 
Pidcock creek. In 1833 a short wing-wall dam was put in the 
river at the foot of Wells Falls, about one mile below New Hope, 
to operate a most ingenious, but simple water wheel, for lifting 
water from the Delaware into the canal ; the engraving shown on 
opposite page will better show this device. 

The wheel with larger circumference is an undershot water 
wheel propelled by water from the Delaware, which in turn 
operates the smaller wheel with pockets or buckets to deliver 
water into the canal. The buildings shown in foreground are 
part of the Union Paper Mill plant, which also operates partly 
by water power. 

But all these devices did not provide water enough, and 
with the view of overcoming the difficulty, the Legislature of 
Pennsylvania by acts of April 10, 1832, and February 8, 1833, 
authorized the appointment of commissioners, with power to 
employ engineers to devise some plan for getting more water. 
They reported on a plan for damming the Delaware at or near 
Bull's Island, but this was so strenuously opposed by citizens 



204 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 



at public meetings held at Point Pleasant, July 1, 1835, and at 
New Hope, July 3, 1835, that it was not adopted. (Hazard's 
Register, Vol. XV, pp. 5-23-47-61.) 

As the bed and banks of the canal became more settled and 
the leakages stopped, the loss of water was greatly reduced, until 
finally boats could readily pass through carrying 100 tons. In 
later years additional water was supplied from the sources of 
the Lehigh River in the Pocono Mountains. 




WATER WHEEL INSTALLED IN 1833 AT WELLS FALLS BKLOW XKW HOPE, 
PA., FOR LIFTING WATER INTO THE CANAL 



By act of April 21, 1858, the Delaware Division Canal was 
sold to the Sunbury & Erie Railroad Co. On July 10, 1858, that 
railroad conveyed it to the Delaware Division Canal Company, 
which company, in 1866, leased it to the Lehigh Coal & Naviga- 
tion Company, which continued to operate it down to October 
17, 1931, when the greater part of it was taken over by the Com- 
monwealth of Pennsylvania.''* At Easton there is a weigh-lock, 
also an outlet lock into the Delaware for ferrying boats over to 

38 This lease was for 99 years (therefore expiring in 1965), they were to 
pay the interest on the Delaware Division Canal Company's indebtedness of 
$800,000 at 6%, and dividends semi-annually at rate of 4% on the capital 
stock, of $1,633,350, together with such expenses, not exceeding $5,000 per 
annum, necessary to keep up the organization of the company. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 205 

and from the Morris canal at Phillipsburg, N. J. In 1854, an 
outlet lock was put in about half-a-mile below the New Hope- 
Lambertville river bridge. The elimination of the Delaware & 
Raritan Feeder and the Morris Canal dealt heavy blows to the 
traffic on the Lehigh and Delaware Division Canals, which 
became still further reduced until the spring of 1931 when but 
twenty boats remained in operation. On October 17, that part 
of the canal between Raubsville and Lock No. 5, below Yardley, a 
distance of about 40 miles, was formally transferred to the Com- 
monwealth of Pennsylvania, and with this transfer this canal, 
which had served to develop our country over the past 100 
years passed into history. The last boat. No. 181, passed north 
on the canal on the morning of October 17, 1931. 

As above noted there are a number of plants operating with 
overflow water on the Lehigh Canal. There are also two plants 
similarly operated on the Delaware Division Canal. One at the 
Ground Hog locks at Raubsville, Northampton County, six 
miles below Easton, where a hydro-electric plant was installed 
in 1900. Originally with two units of water, one with a fall of 34 
feet, the tail water delivered back into the Delaware River, the 
other with a fall of 17 feet, the tail water returning to the canal 
below the locks, for navigation purposes. In 1895 this plant 
was bought by the Clymer Power Company, of which the writer 
of these notes was president, and on March 1, 1925, it was sold 
to the Pennsylvania Power ■& Light Company, which has since 
put in new equipment and otherwise enlarged its capacity. Since 
the abandonment of the canal for navigation purposes the 
capacity of this plant has been still further increased, as both 
units can now deliver most of the tail water into the Delaware 
River. The other plant is at Yardley in Bucks County, estab- 
lished about 1898, where the overflow water operates a gristmill 
under a 12-foot head. 

In 1828 the State of Pennsylvania took into consideration the 
extension of the Delaware Division Canal from Easton to Port 
Jervis, N. Y. The engineers completed their survey and esti- 
mates of this extension, and reported November 29, 1828. They 
found the distance from Peter's Rift, about three-quarters of a 
mile above Carpenter's Point (where a dam was to be erected) 
to Easton, to be 66^ miles, and the fall to be 262 feet, with an 



206 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

estimated cost of $1,430,669.17, but the design was not carried 
out. 

(Hazard's Register, Vol. I, pages 23, 91, 121; Vol. Ill, page 101; Vol. V, 
pp. 88, 303; Vol. XIV, page 381.) 




VIEW OF THE DELAWARE DIVISION CANAL AND TOWING PATH 
Near Riegelsville, Pennsylvania 



Morris Canal in New Jersey — Incorporated in 1824 as 
the Morris Canal & Banking Company, to build a canal from 
the mouth of the Lehigh River at Easton to New York tide 
points. Opened for navigation between Easton and Newark 
Bay, May 20, 1832, extended to Jersey City in 1836. The 
length of the water-way with all its windings was 102 miles, 
whereas by an air line the distance was but 55 miles. The canal 
was supplied with water by the overflow of Lake Hopatcong, 
which has an elevation of 914 feet above tide. This lake is on 
the summit between the terminals of the canal, the water descend- 
ing from both ends of the lake. Westwardly to the Delaware 
River at Easton, there is a fall of 760 feet, overcome by eleven 
planes and seven locks. Boats were ferried over the Delaware 
between Easton and Phillipsburg by use of an overhead cable 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 207 

system. There was an outlet lock at Phillipsburg into the river 
and a similar lock on the Pennsylvania side by means of which 
boats could cross the river and enter both the Lehigh and Dela- 
ware Division Canals. From Lake Hopatcong eastwardly to 
New York tide there is a fall of 748 feet, with tw^elve planes and 
eighteen locks. The water descending in both directions, not 
only supplied w^ater to carry on navigation, but also for the 
water wheels which furnished motive power to operate the 
planes, to carry the boats up and down from one level to another. 
The average lift of the planes was about 63 feet, with the highest 
one at Boonton of 80 feet. When first built these planes were 
equipped with manilla ropes, but later, probably about 1847, 
iron wire ropes were substituted. These wire ropes were made 
by John A. Roebling at his plant at Saxonburg, Butler County, 
Pa. This was the third application of wire rope cables for 
inclined planes in this country, the first for a plane at Johnstow^n, 
Pa. ; the second for the old Portage Railroad across the Allegheny 
Mountains. Mr. Roebling began making wire rope at Saxon- 
burg in 1840, and in 1849 moved his plant to Trenton, N. J. 
This canal as a transportation company might have been success- 
ful financially, but it was handicapped with banking rights, 
which, with financial speculation, caused it to be an unsuccessful 
venture. In 1871 the canal was leased to the Lehigh Valley 
Railroad Company, which wanted to get possession of the prop- 
erty and riparian rights at Jersey City. Owing to railroad com- 
petition the revenues gradually declined, and after some litiga- 
tion, which affected the industries along the course of the Mus- 
sonetcong Creek, with overflow water from Lake Hopatcong as 
its source, the canal was abandoned. On November 29, 1922, 
the State of New Jersey purchased the property with its franchise 
for the sum of $875,000. The Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, 
retaining title to the big basin at Jersey City and the bed of the 
canal between Green's Bridge (near Phillipsburg) and the Dela- 
ware River. From 1876 to 1898, thousands of tons of iron ore 
from Cooper & Hewitt's mines at Ringwood, N. J., were trans- 
ported through this canal to their plant at Durham. The ore 
was transferred to canal boats at Mountain View, N. J. During 
later years a few boats continued to operate, but the canal soon 



208 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

became a stagnant ditch, and in 1924 the State of New Jersey- 
decreed it abandoned. 

("Old Towpaths," by Alvin F. Harlow; Communication to the Bulletin 
of the American Iron & Steel Association, December 4, 1893; History of Sussex 
and Warren Counties, page 486.) 

The Delaware & Raritan Canal and Feeder — After 
several abortive attempts, this canal was finally built, as author- 
ized by act of the New Jersey legislature, passed February 4, 
1830, it being the fifth act authorizing its building. The work 
of digging the canal and feeder and of building the dam to supply 
feed-water were begun in 1832. The Delaware River dam 
(located at the head of Bull's Island), the feeder and that part 
of the canal between Trenton and New Brunswick were com- 
pleted in 1834, but that part between Trenton and Bordentown 
was not ready until 1838. The dam above Bull's Island extended 
entirely across the river, with a sluice-way in the middle, but not 
having been authorized by Pennsylvania, its construction resulted 
in much controversy between the two states, brought about when 
the Delaware Division Canal placed a wing-wall dam in the 
Delaware at Wells' Falls, on the Pennsylvania side, one mile 
below the New Hope River bridge, to supply additional water 
for navigation below New Hope. Pennsylvania objected to the 
Raritan dam placed across the river at the head of Bull's Island, 
as it took water out of the river that was not returned back into 
the stream, but was mostly discharged into the Raritan River 
at New Brunswick, and also because it was objected to by the 
shad fisheries. And, moreover, it was in violation of an agree- 
ment between the two states entered into April 26, 1783. How- 
ever, it was of the greatest importance that the canals should be 
supplied with water and the commissioners came to an agreement 
on November 22, 1834, by which both dams were allowed to 
remain. 

The Raritan feeder not only supplied water to the Delaware 
& Raritan system, but was itself a navigable canal 22.6 miles 
in length from the intake at the head of Bull's Island to Trenton, 
where it unites with the main canal. Navigation on the feeder 
stopped some years ago, and the ditch is now used only to supply 
feed water to the main canal; the draw bridges have all been 
replaced with stationary low down bridges. That part of the 
main canal between Trenton and New Brunswick, 37.39 miles 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 209 

in length, is over a route comparatively flat, requiring but 6 
locks. That part from Trenton to Bordentown was not com- 
pleted until 1838. It is 6.27 miles in length, with 7 locks, each 
having a fall of about eight feet. This extension to Bordentown 
was by far the most profitable part of the enterprise. It opened 
up exchange of traffic with the Delaware Division Canal (which 
had an outlet lock at Bristol) with the Schuylkill and Susciue- 
hanna Canals, the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal from the south, 
as well as with all coastwise vessels to carry coal and other cargo 
across the state of New Jersey to New York and other tide water 
points. In 1854 an outlet lock from the feeder at Lambert ville 
was installed to exchange traffic with the Delaware Division 
Canal, which had built a similar outlet lock \}i miles below the 
New Hope River bridge. This provided a much shorter means 
of exchange than via the outlet locks at Bristol and Bordentown. 
Boats both loaded and empty were ferried over the Delaware by 
the same kind of overhead cable system, already described, as 
were used by the oldtime passenger ferry boats. Thousands of 
tons of pig iron were shipped by this canal route from the Dur- 
ham Iron Works to the New Jersey Steel & Iron Company and 
the Trenton Iron Company, the same people, Cooper, Hewitt & 
Co., owning the three plants. 

At the present time (1932) a few boats, propelled by steam, 
are still operating on the Bordentown branch, some for pleasure, 
but mostly for carrying coal from Trenton for delivery to Dela- 
ware River tide w-ater points. 

(Hazard's Register, Vol. VIII, p. 366, and Vol. XV, pp. 1 to 8, 23, 24, 25, 
47, 61, 97; Vol. XVI, page 93; and "Old Towpaths," by Alvin F. Harlow, pub- 
lished bv D. Appleton & Co., 1927.) 



210 IMPROVING NAVIGATIOX OX THE DELAWARE RIVER 

FLOODS OR FRESHETS IN THE DELAWARE AND 
LEHIGH RIVERS 

The following data is gathered from many sources, such as 
county and other histories, Hazard's Registers, Watson's Annals, 
Historical Collections by Ethan Allen Weaver, files of old news- 
papers and the family Bible of George Wyker. No mention is 
made of the usual spring floods or of the other ordinary floods, 
which occurred every year, and were always welcomed by the 
raftsmen, but only those of extraordinary heights which did more 
or less damage to property. 

The flood of April 9, 1836, carried away two spans of the 
Belvidere bridge five months after it was first opened for travel.^'* 

The flood of 1841 damaged many toll bridges, carrying away 
all or some spans of many, as did also the flood of 1862, while 
that of October, 1903, carried away all or part of every bridge 
between Easton and Trenton, except the one between Centre 
Bridge, Pa., and Stockton, N. J. The flood or freshet of 1903 
was the highest on record. The measurements in Durham 
Township show it to have been 53 inches higher than that of 
1841 and 41 inches higher than that of 1862. 

The George Wyker Family Bible 

(Copied from an old newspaper clipping, without date.) 

At the sale of the personal effects of the late Samuel Wyker, 
in Tinicum Township, Bucks County, Pa., William Closson, 
of Point Pleasant, purchased an old Bible which had belonged 
to George W^ker, father of Samuel. George Wyker died April 
1, 1850, in the 84th year of his age. (Therefore born 1767.) 
Among the records contained in this Bible were the following: 

recorded floods of the DELAWARE RIVER SINCE THE 
COUNTRY WAS SETTLED BY WHITE INHABITANTS 

Earliest Flood — On the 4th of June, 1734, was the greatest 
flood in the Delaware since the country was settled (even to 
this day, 1846), for it covered all the banks from one to five feet 
deep, and the people had to flee to the hills for safety. 

On the 23d of May, 1736, occurred another flood within about 

■^9 History of Sussex and Warren Counties, bv James P. Snell, 1881, page 
545. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 211 

foot as high as the one mentioned above, which caused the 
settlers to sell out and buy lands away from the river. My 
grandfather. Henry DeKillian, saw both of these floods. 

On the 8th of May, 1781, there was a very high flood in the 
river. It ran nearly all over Marshall's Island, and they caught 
shad on Marshall's grain field. This fresh I seen myself. G. W. 

On March 16th and 17th, 1784, was the greatest ice fresh 
ever known in the Delaware, and there has been none since now 
at this day, 1846, which did so much damage to the shores. 

On the 7th day of October, 1786, happened what was called 
the "Pumpkin fresh," it being the highest flood since 1734 and 
1736. G. Wyker. 

I have also accounts of many other freshets in the Delaware, 
which I have recorded, but the flood of the 8th and 9th of Jan- 
uary, 1841, exceeded them all, except those of 1734 and 1736. 
in height of water by 3 or 4 feet. G. Wyker. 

On the 15th day of March, 1846, quite a high flood in the 
river, but not by 2 or 3 feet as high as that of 1841. The above 
I have written on the 8th day of April, 1846, being now in my 
80th year. George Wyker. 

(Copied from another page of the same Bible) : 

On Friday and Saturday, the 8th and 9th of January, 1841, 
the river Delaware was higher than it had been for 107 years 
before, for in 1734 it covered what is now called the Erwinna 
flats or lowlands from one to five feet deep and the inhabitants 
had to flee to the hills; but this fresh was not by three feet as 
high, so that the families could stay in their houses, but the 
fresh carried away four bridges on the Delaware and five on the 
Lehigh, besides doing a great deal of damage to property of 
every description; and on the Lehigh it carried away several 
houses, with all their furniture, and several lives were lost. 

George Wyker. 

Freshets Chronologically Arranged 

1687, May 29 — History of Bucks County by Gen. Davis, Second 
Edition, \'ol. I, page 62, records: (See also Watson's 
Annals, Vol. II, page 364, and Historical Collections of 
New Jersey by Barber & Howe, page 282.) "Among the 
notable events along the Delaware, was the 'great land 



212 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

flood and rupture,' May 29, 1687, at the Falls of the Dela- 
ware in Falls Township, which was followed by great sick- 
ness." This does not seem to have been a flood in the 
river, but a land flood, accompanied by an upheaval, and 
is supposed to refer to the separation of Vurhultsen's Island 
from the main land, on Vv'hich the Walloon families had 
settled nearly three-quarters of a century before. 

1692, Feb. 27— Smith's History of New Jersey, page 208, pub- 
lished in 1765, records a flood in the Delaware River, and 
says: "There have been a great many floods since, but 
none quite so high." Watson's Annals, Vol. II, page 364, 
says that Phineas Pemberton "speaks of this great flood 
at the Falls of the Delaware, which rose twelve feet above 
usual high water mark, owing to the sudden melting of 
snow. The water reached the upper stories of houses built 
on low lands." (See also Hazard's Register, Vol. II, page 
23.) 

1731, Feb. 16 — Watson's Annals, Vol. II, page 364, says: "Last 
week we had the greatest fresh in the Delaware, ever 
known since the great flood at Delaware Falls, thirty-nine 
years ago, in 1692." (See also Hazard's Register, Vol. II, 
page 23.) 

1734, June 4 — Referred to in family Bible of George W^ker. 
See page 210, ante. The river rose 20 feet at Trenton. 
(New Jersey Archives, Vol. XI, page 237.) 

1736, May 22 — Referred to in family Bible of George Wyker. 
See page 210, ante. 

1739 — The Crown Inn, page 128, records that: "In 1739, the 
treacherous river (Lehigh) suddenly rose, overflowing its 
banks, sweeping away the cabin of the settler (Ysselstein). 
So impetuous was the angry flood that the inmates of the 
doomed home barely escaped with their lives to higher 
ground. This is the first freshet in the Lehigh on record, it 
being the one which served as a standard of comparison 
for Moravian chroniclers of high water in the last cen- 
tury." This flood is also referred to in "History of Bethle- 
hem," page 672. 

1744, 1758 and 1772 — Three floods are referred to in Hazard's 
Register, Vol. IX, page 159. It is not definitely stated 
that these floods reached the Delaware River. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 213 

1747, Feb. 16-17— "The Crown Inn," pages 21 and 59 to 65, 
records a freshet on the Lehigh which carried away the 
ferry-boat at Bethlehem, which had been in use since the 
ferry was first put in service March 11, 1743. The length 
of the old boat appears to have been 31>^ feet; the new 
one was made 42 feet. This ferry was granted a patent 
March 10, 1756. 

1777, Oct. 27 — Delaware, 23 ft. 8 in. at Easton. Weaver's Col- 
lections, page 186. The heights reported by Mr. Weaver 
all appear to have been taken above the mouth of 
the Lehigh River. All heights reported herein, unless 
otherwise stated, are those above low water mark. 

1781, May 9 — Delaware, 26 feet at Easton. Weaver, page 186. 

1783, Feb. 19 — Delaware. 24 ft. 11 in. at Easton. Weaver, page 
186. 

1784, Mar. 17 — Delaware, 26 ft. 6 in. at Easton. Weaver, page 
71. Wyker's Bible calls this an ice freshet. 

1785, Mar. 17 — Delaware, 27 ft. 5 in. at Easton. Weaver, page 
186. 

1786, Oct. 6 — Delaware, 25 ft. 8 in. at Easton. Weaver, page 
186. 16 ft. at Lambertville. Called the "Pumpkin 
Freshet." Referred to in History of Bethlehem, page 672, 
as being a ruinous freshet. 

1788, "A great freshet," mentioned in the Benjamin Parry papers, 
also in Davis' History of Bucks County, Vol. H, page 188. 

1798, From Wyker's Bible, recorded to be "not as high as 1786," 
but exact height not given. 

1800, Referred to in Hazard's Register, Vol. IX, page 159. Also 
referred to in the Benjamin Parry papers. 

1801, Called "Jefferson Freshet," 14 feet at Lambertville, N. J. 
1804, Apr. 22 and 23— W^atson's Annals, Vol. II, page 365, 

reports: "A very great fresh in the Delaware and Schuyl- 
kill, attended with very high tides, occasioned I y very 
heavy rains." 

1807, "A great freshet," mentioned in the Benjamin Parry papers. 
1811, Freshet destroyed the bridge over the Lehigh River at 
Easton. (Condit's History of Easton, page 465.) 



214 IMPROVING NAVIGATION' ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

1814, Apr. 1 — Delaware, 25 ft. at Easton. Weaver, pages 71 

and 186. 14 feet at Lambertville, N. J. Also referred to 

in the Benjamin Parry papers. 
1814, Aug. 9 — Freshet in the Lehigh River referred to in Henry's 

History of the Lehigh Valley, page 380. 
1817, August — See Hazard's Register, Vol. IX, page 159, where 

a flood is referred to. 
1821, High water in the Lehigh, during the early spring, referred 

to in Hazard's Register, Vol. VII, page 250. 

1828, Delaware, 18 feet at Easton. Weaver, page 71. 

1829, April — Delaware, 18 feet near Eastort. Hazard's Register, 
Vol. Ill, page 256. 

1830, Spring flood washed away the Lehigh dam at Easton. 
(Hazard's Register, Vol. V, page 303.) 

1831, Jan. 10 — Under this date Hazard's Register, Vol. VIII, 
page 250, reports a freshet of unusual height with water 
in the Lehigh higher than it has been since 1821. 

1831, July — Hazard's Register, Vol. VIII, page 62, reports high 
water in both rivers, saying that it had rained almost 
continuously for 23 days during March, with a fall of 5.93 
inches, and continued to rain over the first ten days of July. 

1831, Oct. 13 — Hazard's Register, Vol. VIII, page 272, reports a 
flood in the Lehigh and Delaware, but gives no data, except 
to say that great damage was done. 

1832, Mar. 13 — ^Delaware, 21 feet at Easton. Weaver, page 71. 
Lambertville, 12 feet. Also referred to in Hazard's Reg- 
ister, Vol. IX, page 208. 

1833, June 20 — The Do^^estown Intelligencer, of June 24, 
describes a heavy rain with destructive results in Bucks 
County, and a flood in the Delaware. (Hazard's Register, 
Vol XII, page 15.) 

1836, Apr. 9 — Delaware, 25 feet at Easton. (Weaver, pages 71 
and 100.) Two spans of Delaware River bridge at Belvi- 
dere carried away. Height at Lambertville 14 ft. 6 in. 

1839, April— Delaware, 14 ft. 6 in. at Lambertville. 

1840, Nov. 4 — Referred to as the great flood of November, 1840. 
Considerable damage done, particularly in the neighbor- 
hood of Easton. (History of Northampton County, page 
157.) 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 215 

1841, Jan. 8 — This was a most disastrous flood, caused by heavy 
rains and the ice in the upper waters of the rivers breaking 
up. The flood at Easton reached a height of 35 feet, at 
Bull's Island 23 feet, at Lambertville 20 feet. The fall in 
the Lehigh River between White Haven and Mauch Chunk, 
a distance of 25 miles, is 642 feet. Navigation in the canal 
was overcome by 29 locks from 15 feet to 30 feet in depth. 
Many of these were destroyed by this flood, as were also 
the sawmills of the canal company. Every bridge on the 
Lehigh between Lehigh Gap and Easton was carried away, 
as was also the bridge at Mauch Chunk. (See Henry's 
History of the Lehigh Valley, page 371 ; History of North- 
ampton County, page 157, and numerous other records.) 
Many bridges on the Delaware River were destroyed or 
damaged. (See newspaper clipping.) 

1843, Oct. 18 — Delaware, 14 feet at Lambertville. 

1845, Oct. 13 — Delaware, 23 ft. 2 in. at Easton. Weaver, page 
186. This flood is also referred to by Jonathan Brock in a 
private letter to Samuel Hart, Esq., dated at Bethlehem, 
October 17, 1845, in which he says: "The Lehigh was 
nearly as high on the 13th at White Haven as it was in 
1841, but no damage was done (to the canal) above Mauch 
Chunk. Considerable, however, below. W^ill be repaired 
in about ten days. 

1846, Mar. 15 — Delaware, 27 ft. 6 in. at Easton. Weaver, page 
186. 17 ft. 6 in. at Lambertville. 

1849, Aug. — Recollection of Joseph R. Whitaker, who says the 
Delaware rose so high that the water flooded the hearth 
of the newly completed Durham blast furnace. 

1851 — William H. Glace, Esq., of Catasauqua, Pa., in a brochure 
published in 1912, says: "In 1851 there was another large 
freshet in the Lehigh. The damage was not as great as 
the flood of 1841." 

1857, Great flood with ice in upper Delaware. The river bridge 
at Cochecton carried away. (History of Wayne, Pike and 
Monroe Counties, page 469.) 

1862, June 6 — This was a most disastrous flood, due largely to 
many of the dams on the Lehigh giving way. The sur- 
face of the water in the Delaware at Riegelsville was 
covered with lumber, logs, houses, barns, pig sties, hay 



216' IMPROVING XAVIGATIOX ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

Stacks, bridges, canal and other boats. At Easton the 
water was 42 feet high. At Durham one foot higher than 
1841. All bridges on the Lehigh between Mauch Chunk 
and Easton were either wholly or partly destroyed. All 
the locks above Mauch Chunk were washed out, and that 
part of the canal, between Mauch Chunk and White Haven, 
was abandoned, and thereafter for some years Mauch 
Chunk was made the terminus of the canal, where canal 
boats loaded. Damages to the bridges on the Delaware 
were very slight. 

1869, Oct.— Delaware, 23 feet at Easton; 20 feet at Milford, N. J. 

1875, An ice freshet in the upper Delaware carried away the 
Erie Railroad bridge at Mill Rift, also the toll bridge at 
Port Jervis. 

1877, "Terrible freshet" in Durham Creek and Gallows Run. 
Both Durham and Narrows aqueducts carried away. 

1878, Dec. 11 — Flood in Delaware river, rising to ^vithin one 
inch of the threshold of the Fackenthal homestead in Dur- 
ham township, then occupied by S. B. Redmond. Height 
of water but 3 or 4 feet lower than freshet of 1841. 

1881, Feb. 19 — Flood in Delaware river. The Bucks County 
Intelligencer records it to have been most serious in the 
Penn's Manor section, where the lives of many residents 
were threatened when the water overfloA\ed the banks. 
Houses and barns vere fiooded and many of the smaller 
buildings swept away from their foundations. Some of 
the people were forced to fee from their homes by means 
of boats. 

1888, Flood in the Delaware carried away the Milford, Pa., river 
bridge. (See page 166, ante.) 

1895, Spring — Delaware, 18 feet at Frenchtown, X. J. 

1901, Dec. 16 — The minute-book of the Thomas Iron Co. records 
a flood in the Lehigh ri\'er which greatly interfered with 
the operations of its blast furnaces at Hokendauqua and 
Island Park. In the Delaware this flood came within 9 
inches of the floor of the New Hope-Lambert\alle river 
bridge. 

1902, Feb. 28 — The same minute-book records this flood to have 
been two feet higher than that of December 16, 1901, com- 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 217 

pelling its blast-furnaces along the Lehigh to be "banked," 
i.e., the operations temporarily suspended."^" 

1902, Dec. — Called "Ice Freshet," 19 ft. 2 in. at Lambertville. 

1903, Oct. lO^Probably the highest flood on record. At Easton, 
40 ft. 6 in. ; at Lambertville, 24 ft. 9 in. This datum is mis- 
leading, and cannot be correct, as this flood was higher 
than that of 1862. In Durham Township, by actual 
measurement, it was 41 in. higher than 1862 and 53 in. higher 
than 1841. This flood, although higher than those of 1841 
and 1862, was not so disastrous. The dams and locks 
on the Lehigh were better protected and the people had 
learned to build on higher ground, and moreover rafting 
had ceased and there were no logs or sawed stuff to be 
carried away, as was the case in 1841 and 1862. How- 
ever, many bridges on both the Lehigh and Delaware were 
either wholly or partly destroyed, as recorded elsewhere in 
this paper. 

Variations in heights at different points along the river herein 
recorded, are due to the river spreading out more over low lands 
at some places than at others, and for which due allowance 
should be made. 

No attempt has been made to present data of freshets after 
the great flood of October 10, 1903. 

The following data showing the velocity of flow in the Dela- 
ware River during the ice freshet of March 20, 1905, furnished 
by Mr. Alexander P. Gest, at that time superintendent of the 
Belvidere, Delaware Railroad, is of special interest: 



Station 

Delaware Water Gap 

Manunka Chunk 

Belvidere 

Martin's Creek 


Time 

9.30 A. 

10.40 ' 

11.10 

LOOP. 

1 . 30 


Distance 
in Miles 
M. 

10.3 

13.5 

M. 20.6 

27.5 


Riegelsville 

Milford 


3.00 

4. 15 


36.2 
43.0 


Frenchtown 

Raven Rock 

Stockton 


5 . 20 

6.45 ' 

7.55 


46.5 
55.4 
58.6 


Lambertville 


8 20 


62 




9.25 


68.8 


Wilburtha 

Trenton 


11.15 

12.15 


72.5 
78.1 



40 The author of this paper was president of the Thomas Iron Company 
from December 19, 1893, to May 1, 1913. 



218 IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 

Total time 14 hours 55 minutes. Average velocity about 
5)4 miles per hour. This table shows great variations in the 
speed traveled between stations, which was doubtless due to 
greater fall between some and wider areas at others, where the 
stream is not contracted, but spreads out over low lands on the 
banks of the river. 



Jurisdiction of Islands in the Delaware River 

I have not, in this paper, referred to the islands in the Dela- 
ware River, and their division and ownership between the states, 
as I am hoping to prepare a separate paper on that interesting 
feature, to present to this society at an early day. 

I wnll, however, briefly state that the legislatures of New- 
Jersey and Pennsylvania on April 26, 1783, entered into an 
agreement by which commissioners were appointed for the pur- 
pose of settling the jurisdiction of the Delaware River and the 
islands, islets and dry lands within the same, "from the station- 
point or northwestern corner of New Jersey southerly to the 
place upon said river where the boundary of the State of Dela- 
ware toucheth upon the same." 

Two sets of commissioners were appointed at different times, 
but both under the same act. The first to settle the jurisdiction 
•of islands from the Falls of Trenton southerly to the State of 
Delaware. On this commission New Jersey appointed Abraham 
Clark, *^ Joseph Cooper and Thomas Henderson and Pennsyl- 
vania appointed George Bryan, George Gray and William Bingen. 
These commissioners made their report in duplicate, one copy 
for each state. The New Jersey legislature ratified and con- 
firmed the report by act passed May 27, 1783, and Pennsylvania 
by a similar act on September 20. 1783. 

The second commission was appointed for settling the juris- 
diction of the islands from the Falls of Trenton, northerly, to 
the aforesaid station-point (now called Tri-States at Carpenter's 
Point). On this board there was but one commissioner from 
New Jersey, viz., Moore Furman, and three from Pennsylvania, 
viz., George Wall, John Okely and Jonas Hartzell. The reports 
of these commissioners were ratified and approved by acts of 

41 Abraham Clark was a New Jersey signer of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. 



IMPROVING NAVIGATION ON THE DELAWARE RIVER 



219 



the legislatures of their respective States, that by New Jersey, 
March 16, 1786, and by Pennsylvania, September 25, 1786. 
These reports, enacted into laws, set forth in full detail lists of 
the islands apportioned to each state, giving them the names by 
which they were known at that time. Many of the original 
names have since been changed. Maps of the surveys were 
made by Reading Howell. 

(Laws of New Jersey, pp. 47, 76 and 77, and 2 Smith's Laws of Pennsyl- 
vania, pp. 77 and 388.) 

Data concerning the islands in the Delaware between Port 
Jervis and Hancock are somewhat conflicting, doubtless due 
partly to the names of some of them having been changed. The 
following is the best list that can be made from the information 
at hand; it has been gathered from maps of the United States 
Geological Survey, from Mr. Frank Patterson of Sparrowbush, 
and from "A Rafting Story of the Delaware," heretofore referred 
to. They are noted in the order as we proceed up stream : 

Cherry Island at Mill Run; Butler Island opposite Hawk's 
Nest; Montgaup Island near the mouth of Montgaup river; 
Hogg Island below Cochecton; Horse Island below Cochecton; 
Bear Island and its mate, near Callicoon; Ross' Island at Abra- 
hamsville; Frisbees Island at Equinunk; Murray and Apron- 
string Islands near Hancock. There are many bridges, ferries 
and fords on both branches of the Delaware above Hancock. 




INDEX 



Able, Jacob 158 

Able, Justice 121 

Abrahamville, N. Y 219 

Adams' Slip 1 20 

Air Mail Service 127 

Alexander, William 1 36 

Alexandria Del. Bridge Co I 75 

Alburtain's Ferry 161 

Allegheny Mountains 207 

American Atlas, The 144 

American Institute of Mining Engi- 
neers 150-151-152-154 

American Iron & Steel Association 208 

Ambassador Bridge 181 

Anderson, Miss Hannah C 141 

Anderson, John A 109-202 

Anthracite Coal 1 14-199 

Anthracite Coal Mines. .11 5-200-201 

Antigua Island 1 33 

Aqueducts at Durham and Nar- 
rows 216 

Arks of Delaware and Lehigh. . . . 

109-114-199-201 

Arndt, J. W 114 

Arnold, Benedict 141 

Artificial Freshets 115 

Assunpink Creek 1 70 

Attine's Ferry 161 

Auter's Ferry 161 

Backes, William J 135-137 

Backhouse, Richard. 116-117-118-120- 
123-153 

Baker's Creek 140 

Baker's Ferry 1 38 

Baker, Henry 138 

Baker, Samuel 1 38 

Baker, Samuel, Jr 138 

Baldwin Locomotive 196 

Baldwin Locomotive Works 197 

Ball's Rock... 118-120 

Barber & Howe's History 

117-140-168-211 

Barr, Warren 137 

Barrett Bridge Co 184 

Barryville. N. Y.. 185 

Bascule Draw Bridge 181 

Battle of the Kegs 1 30 

Battle of Minisink 106 

Battle of Trenton 1 34 

Battle's History 1 29- 1 38- 1 4 1 - 1 72 

Beacon Rock 122 

Bear Island 219 

Bear Trap Rocks 115 



Beatty's Ferry 132-136-169 

Beatty. George 136 

Beatty. Gen. John 168 

Beaumont Family 140 

Beaumont Ferry 140 

Beaumont, John 141-142 

Beaver Kill 104 

Beers' Atlas of Warren Co. 161-162-163 

Bellemont 133 

Belvidere. N. J 116-117-118-161- 

177-190-217 

Belvidere Delaware Railroad 

148-150-173-189-190-217 
Belvidere Delaware Bridge Co. 177-210 

Belvidere Ferry 162 

Belleview, Trenton 131 

Belville. Trenton 136 

Bennett, Abraham 157 

Bernardsville Ferry 140 

Bessemer Steel Rails 190-197 

Bethlehem, Pa 125-150 

Bethlehem History 212-213 

Bethlehem Steel Co . 197 

Beverly & Dunk Steamboat Co.. . 128 

Bible of George Wyker 210 

Biles Island Ferry 131 

Biles, Langhorne 131 

Biles, William 129-132 

Bingen. William 218 

Bixler's Rift 123-124 

Black's Ferry 145 

Blazing Star Ferry 134 

Bloomsdale Ferry 1 30 

Blue Mountains 103-105-120-164 

Boardman's Ferry 161 

Boats Ferried at Easton 206 

Boats on Lehigh 201 

Bolton Iron & Steel Co 190 

Bonaparte, ex-King Joseph 130 

Bond, Elijah 126-135 

Bond Ferry 132-135 

Boonton Plane 207 

Bordentown, N. J. 130-1 31-132-208-209 

Bordentown Ferry 131 

Bougher, Nathaniel 155 

Bound Brook Railroad 138-188 

Bowman's Hill 141 

Bowman's Rift 120 

Boyer Homestead 1 52 

Brainards, N. J 160-191 

Brandt, Francis Burke 202 

Bridges on Del. Div. Canal 202 

Bridges between Pa. & N. J 167 

Bridges between Pa. & N. Y 182 



221 



Bridges over Lehigh River 158-159 

Bridgeton, Bucks Co., Pa 147 

Brink's Ferry 149 

Bristol. Pa. . 1 05- 1 08- 1 28- 1 29- 1 30-202- 
209 

Bristol-Burlington Bridge 130-181 

British Soldiers 134-139-144 

Broadhead, Daniel 130 

Broadhead. Luke W 107 

Brotzman Ferry 163 

Brotzmanville, N. J 163 

Brown, John 201 

Brown, John, Incorporated 190 

Brown, Stacy 141 

Brownsburg, Pa 140-141 

Bryan, George 218 

Bucks Co. Atlas of 1876 131 

Bucks County Historical Society . . 

109-1 16-128-131-136-137-138-139- 
140-141-145-150-151-169-202 

Bucks County Jail 144 

Buck's History of Bucks Co... 141-145 
Buckingham (Bristol) 1 28 

Buck Tail Rift 123-124 

Buckwood Inn 163 

Bullman, Thomas 1 58 

Bull's Falls 123-124 

Bull's Island. 144-170-173-174-203-208 

Burchard, Hon. Charles N 104 

Burlington, N. J.. 126-128-130-133-181 

Burlington Ferry 129 

Burlington Island 129 

Burlington & Mercer Co. History 

128-131-135-171 

Burnt Mills (Milford, N. J.) 147 

Burr, Aaron 130-135-136 

Burr, Theodore 168-175-176 

Burrows, John 1 36 

Bushkill, Pa 165 

Butler, John 134 

Byram Station, N. J 145-174 

Cable Ferries 149-1 5 1 -209 

Cable Wire Ropes 195-198 

Cadwallader, Gen. John 128-135 

Calhoun Street Bridge 169 

Calhoun Street Ferry 132-136-170 

Callaway, Edwin B 1 39 

Callicopn, N. Y 187-219 

Callicoon Bridge 187 

Cambria Iron Works 197 

Camden & Amboy Railroad 197 

Campbell, Amos 1 72 

Campbell's Hall, N. Y.. 192 

Canal along Delaware River 194 

Canal Boats 199-206 

Canal Boats of Del. Div. Canal . . 202 
Canal Survey Easton to Port Jervis 205 

Canby, -Benjamin 142 

Canby, Thomas 142 



Canoes Referred to 125 

Cantilever Bridge 1 77 

Carbon County, Pa 115 

Carbondale, Pa 194 

Carey, Samuel 129 

Carpenter, Benjamin 166 

Carpenter, John D 1 66 

Carpenter Point. . 1 03- 1 64- 1 66- 205-2 1 8 

Carpenter's Basin 185 

Carpenterville Del. Bridge 155 

Catasauqua, Pa 215 

Catsbergs 1 03 

Catskill Mountains 103 

Catskill Series of Rocks 182 

Calvin's Ferry 147 

Cave at Durham, Pa 149-150 

Cave Bank Fishery Co 145 

Central Railroad of N . J 1 89- 1 90 

Centre Bridge Ferry 143 

Centre Bridge Co 172-210 

Chambers, Capt 1 20 

Chapin, Solon 1 73-1 76 

Charlotte Creek, N. Y 112 

Chelsea Forge, N. J 153 

Cherry Island 219 

Chesapeake & Del. Canal 209 

Chorley, Joseph 1 32 

Christmas Night of 1776. 108-135-138- 
139-171 

Clark, Abraham 218 

Clark, Miss Mary S 117-118 

"Cleremont," Steamboat 108 

Clifford Rift 123-124 

Clift, Samuel 129 

Clymer Power Co 205 

Coal Mines 200 

Coates. John 142-143 

Cochecton, N. Y 1 86-2 15-219 

Cochecton Bridge Co 186 

Cochecton Falls 110-120 

Coleback. Mr 122 

Collins, Esther 130 

Colonial Records 1 1 6- 1 27- 1 28- 1 30- 1 3 1 - 

135-138-159 

Columbia, N. J.. . 161-162-167-178-192 

Columbia Del. Bridge Co 178-1 79 

Columbia Glass Works 1 78 

Colvin's Ferry 1 34 

Colvin, Patrick 134 

Commissioner of Forfeited Estates 1 34 

Committee of Safety 1 30 

Congress of the U. S 105-140 

Condit's History of Easton 1 59-189-21 3 

Continental Ferry 135 

Cooper, George 218 

Cooper, Hewitt & Co 1 70-209 

Cooper, Miss Susan 108 

Copper Mines, Paharaquarry. 163-164 

Cornell Steamboat Co 1 98 

Coryell, Abraham 143 



222 



Coryell, Emanuel 142-143 

Coryell. John 142-143 

Coryell's Ferry 141-142-143-172 

Coxe. Daniel 133-134-135-141 

Coxe, Daniel W 133 

Coxe Family 1 34 

Crouse, Rutledge T 114 

Crouse, William 113 

Crown Inn. Bethlehem 1 22- 125-2 12-2 14 

Croxall, Charles 117 

Cuddebacksville, N. Y.. 198 

Culm recovered from Lehigh 201 

Curry. N. Y 104 

Cushicton Falls 120 

Cutbitch Channel 122 

CutsowRift 123-124 

Damascus Township 186-187 

Dam in Lehigh at Easton 203 

Dams on Lehigh River 201-215 

Darlington, Dr. Henry 178-192 

Davenport Creek 112 

Davis' History of Bucks County . . 
128-129-130-131-132-135-137-140-141- 
144-145-169-174-186-211 

Davisville, Pa 107 

Dawson, Daniel 145 

Day's Historical Coll. . .. 128-168-172- 
173-177-183 

"Dayton" Ferry Boat 129 

Dean, Samuel, Sheriff 142 

Dean, William 116 

Decatur St. Bridge, Trenton.. 168-170 

Decker, Daniel 165 

Decker's Ferry 162-164-165 

Decker, George 162 

Decker, Jacob 1 62 

Decker, Jacob, Jr 162 

Declaration of Independence.. 149-153 

Deep Waterway Commission 105 

DeKillian, Henry 211 

Delaware, N. J 161-178-192-193 

Delaware Breakwater 107 

Del. Bridge Co., Carpenterville. . . 155 

Del. Bridge Co., Wayne Co 183 

Del. & Bound Brook Railroad. ... 188 
Del. & Cobb's Creek Railroad. ... 191 
Del. County, N. Y. . . 103-104-182-188 
Del. Div. Canal. 1 02- 1 08- 1 1 4- 1 1 5- 1 1 6- 
1 44- 1 5 1 - 1 54- 170-172-1 84-200-20 1 - 
202-203-204-205-206-207-208-209 
Del. & Hudson Canal Co. . . . 185-194- 

195-196-198-199-200 
Del. & Hudson Railroad.. 194-199-200 
Del. Lack. & W. Railroad . . 1 06- 1 6 1 - 

162-I78-189-I9I-I92 

Del. & Rar. Canal & Feeder 

170-174-205-208 

Delaware River . 1 03- 1 05- II 6- 1 20- 1 66- 

182-185-189-198-205-210 



Del. River Bridges. . . 167-180-182-188 

Del. River Cleared 116 

Del. River Falls 123 

Del. River Ferries — see Ferries 

Del. River Floods and Freshets. . . 210 

Del. River Islands 218 

Del. River Rd. & Bridge Co 188 

Delaware River Views ... 1 03- 1 06- 1 08- 

167-198-204-219 

Delaware Water Gap.. . . 105-106-120- 

127-162-164-191-192-217 

Delhi, N. Y 104-112 

Depuy's Ferry 160 

Depuy's Island 163 

Detroit & Sandwich Bridge 181 

Dickinson, Gen. Philemon 117 

Dill's Ferry, Portland 1 6 1 - 1 78 

Dimmick's Ferry 163 

Dimmick, Peter M 164 

Dingman, Andrew 1 65 

Dingman's Ferry 165-179 

Dingman's Choice & Del. Bridge 

Co 165-179 

Distillery at Uhlersville 1 54 

Downsville. N. Y... 104 

Doylestown Intelligencer 214 

Drumheller, Dewalt 1 59 

Drumheller, George 159 

Dunk's Ferry 128 

Dunk's Ferry Steamboat Co 1 28 

Dunmore, Pa 199 

Dunnfield Ferry 162 

Dunning's Ferry 182 

Durham Aqueduct 216 

Durham Boats . . 1 08- 1 09- 1 38- 1 49- 1 52- 
160-161 

Durham Cave 150-151-152 

Durham Cave Ferry 149 

Durham Creek, . . 1 49- 1 52- 1 53-203-2 1 6 

Durham Falls 122-123 

Durham Ferries 149 

Durham Furnace Ferry 149 

Durham Iron Works 1 12-1 1 6-1 48- 

149-150-152-170-209 

Durham Rapids 151 

Durham Road i 53 

Durham Township 1 09- II 2- 1 1 3- 

149-151-210-217 

Dutot, Anthony 162 

Dutotsberg 162 

Dyberry River 194 

East Branch of Del. . 1 03- 1 04- 1 1 0- 1 1 1 - 

188-193 

Easton, Pa. 155-158-159-176-189-190- 

200-202 

Easton & Amboy Railroad 189 

Easton Delaware Bridge Co. . 1 68- 1 76 

Easton Ferries 155-158-159 

Easton Free Press 110 



223 



Easton River Bridges 1 13-168-190 

East Stroudsburg 163 

Edgar Thompson Steel Works. ... 197 

Eddy. Orrin 114 

Eddyville. N. Y 199 

Edwards, Ann 1 30 

Eight-Mile Ferry 140 

Elk Creek 112 

"Elwood Doran" Steam Ferry. ... 129 

Ely, George 142 

Ely, Miss Margaret W 141 

Ely. Warren S 132-146-175 

Emery, William, Ferry 161 

Ennis, Joseph 166 

Ensley, Elisha 147 

Equinunk. Pa 187-218 

Equinunk & Lordville Bridge 187 

Erie Railroad 1 82- 1 84- 1 87- 1 93- 1 98-2 1 6 
Erskine, Sir Robert (Map). . . 136-147 

Erwin, Col Arthur 146 

Erwin Ferry 1 46 

Erwinna, Pa 1 46 

Esopus, N Y 164-199 

Fackenthal, B. F.. Jr 1 02- 1 03- 1 1 8- 

174-216 

Fackenthal Ferry 148 

Fackenthal Homestead 216 

Fackenthal, Michael. Sr 148 

Falls of Delaware II 7-1 26-2 1 2 

Falls of Trenton I 16-218 

Falls Township 1 30- 1 3 1 - 1 32-2 1 2 

Ferries Below Tide 126-127 

Ferries on Delaware River. . . 125-126- 

127-128 

Ferries Must be Chartered . . 1 26- 1 29 

Ferry Boats. Sizes of 125-126-150- 

164-165 

Ferry Boat Capsizes I 54 

Ferry Cables 1 26 

Ferry at Easton 206 

Ferry Street Ferry 1 32- 1 33- 1 34 

Firman's Falls 123-124 

Fish Dam Wing 122 

Fisher or Dimmick Ferry 163 

Fisher, W. L 164 

Fitch, John 107-108 

Flatbrookville, N. J 164 

Flatbrookville River Bridge 165 

Flood of January. 1841... 180-210-215 

Flood of June, 1 862 1 72-2 10-215 

Flood of October, 1 903 210-217 

Floods and Freshets 210 

Focht, Louis 167 

Ford, John, Sheriff 156 

Fords of Delaware 141-147 

Forfeited Estates 134 

Forks of Delaware 155-156-157 

Fort Lee, N. J 181 

Fort Penn, Pa 1 65 



Fort Washington, N. Y 181 

Foster, Barzillian 143 

Foster. Rastrick & Co 195 

Foul Rift in Delaware. . I 16-1 17-1 18- 
120-160-161 

Fox R.iver Valley 1 08 

Francis. Tench 155-156 

Frankford. Pa 188 

Frenchtown. N. J 149-175-176 

Frenchtown Ferry 146 

Freshets. Artificial 115 

Freshets and Floods 210 

Frisbees 112-219 

Fry, Anthony 1 73 

Fry's Run Indian Remains 107 

Fulton. Robert 108 

Gallopers Rift 123-124 

Galloway. Joseph 153. 

Gallows Run Aqueduct 216 

Gap Island 120 

George Washington Bridge 18i 

Gest, Alexander P 217 

Gillingham, John 145 

Ginther. Philip 114 

Glace. William H 215 

Goodwin's Ferry 162 

Gordon. James 1 72 

Gordon. John 1 58 

Gordon. Lewis 1 58 

Gould's Ferry 137 

Gould's Rapids 123-124 

Gould. James 1 37 

Gould. Thomas 137 

Grant. Robert 143 

Grant. Samuel I 72 

Gravelly Falls 123-124 

Gravity Railroads 194-195-199 

Gray, George 218 

Great Bend, Pa 191 

Great Northern Railway Co. 1 96- 1 97 

Greenbank Rift 123-124 

Green Bay. Wis 108 

Green's Bridge. N. J 207 

Greensburg. N. J 137-138-171 

Greenwich Forge. N. J 1 53 

Gristmills 1 17-202 

Ground Hog Island 1 54 

Ground Hog Locks 154-205 

Ground Hog Rift 123-124 

Gwinner, Hon. Samuel F 139 

Hail Columbia 1 30 

Hall's History of Trenton Church 

135-136-147 

Hamilton, Alexander 1 30-1 35 

Hamilton, Hon. Andrew 1 26 

Hamilton, Hon. James 152 

Hamilton, William 173 



224 



Hancock. N. Y... 103-110-111-127-183- 
188-193-219 

Hancock River Bridge 1 88 

Hankins. N. Y. 187 

"Hard Times, " Lumberton 144 

Harlow, Alvin F 200-208-209 

Harmon, Thomas 118 

Harmony Ferry 159-160 

Harmony Station 160 

Hart, Joseph 145 

Hart's Ferry 144-145 

Hart, Samuel 215 

Hartzell, Charles, Ferry 161 

Hartzell's Ferry 161 

Hartzell, Joseph 218 

Harvey's Ferry 140 

Harvey, Thomas 134-135 

Hauto, George F. A 200 

Hawk's Nest. N. Y 198-219 

Haycock Falls (Rocky Falls) 121 

Hazard, Erskine 200 

Hazard's Register — Many references 

Hazen, Aaron W 160 

Heath Ferry 137 

Henderson, Thomas 218 

Henry's History of the Lehigh Val- 
ley. ... 1 1 4- 1 1 5- 1 59- 1 77-202-2 14-215 

Hessians at Trenton 128-135-139 

Hewitt, Hon. Abram S 170 

Hewitt. Louise. History 135 

Hog Back Road 164 

Hogg Island 219 

Holcomb, Capt. Richard C. 122-141- 
144 

Holland. Samuel 183 

Holland Township, N. J.. . 148-149-151 

Hone. Philip 194 

Honesdale, Pa 194-196-197-199 

Hood & Steel. ... 174 

Hoops, later Belvidere 161 

Hoops. Major Robert . 116-117-118- 
119-161 

Hooper. Robert Lettice 133-136 

Hooper, Robert Lettice, Jr 136 

Hooten, Thomas 132 

Hopatcong Lake 207 

Hopewell Township 133-140-141 

Hopkinson Ferry 1 30 

Hopkinson, Francis 1 30 

Hopkinson, Judge Joseph 130 

Horn, Abraham 158-159 

Horn's Ferry 141 

Horse Island 219 

Hough, Joseph 146 

Howe, General 131-147 

Howell, Capt. Daniel 144 

Howell's Falls and Rift. . 1 18-122-123- 
124 

Howell's Ferry 137-140-144 

Howell. Joseph 144 



Howell. Reading's Map.. 128-136-145- 
146-157 

Hudson River. 108-194-199 

Hudson River Bridge 181 

Hughes, Matthew 145 

Hunloke, Thomas 129 

Hunterdon and Somerset County 

History 1 43- 1 44- 1 47- 1 48- 1 73 

Hunter Ferry 1 59 

Hunt's Ferry 1 53 

Hurst. Richard 129 

Hydro-Electric Plant at Raubs- 

viUe. Pa... 205 

Hydro-Electric Plant at South 

Easton 202 

Ice Freshet 217 

Improving Navigation on Dela- 
ware River 1 03 

Inclined Planes 194-195 

Indians 103-138 

Indian Fireplace 107 

Indians, Minsies 106 

Indian Lands 140 

Indians Raised Hatchet 106 

Indian Walking Purchase 186 

Iron Ore from Ringwood, N. J. . . 207 

Iron Strap Rails 194 

Islands in Delaware 218-219 

Ithaca, Owego Railroad 191 

Jacobus Rift 120 

Janney, Thomas 1 34 

Jefferson Freshet 213 

Jericho Hill 140 

Jersey City. N. J 189-206-207 

Jerseyman. The 148 

Jervis. John B 184 

John's Ferry 138 

Johnson's Falls 122 

Johnson's Ferry. Monroe 148 

Johnson's Ferry. Yardley 137 

Johnstown. Pa 197 

Joint Com.. Pa. & N. J. 167-169-170- 
171-172-173-174-175-176-177-178-179 

Joint Com.. Pa. &N. Y 

183-184-185-186-187-188 

Karnac Hotel Co 163 

Keith House 140 

Kellams Bridge 187 

Kellam. William T 187 

Kemble's Stone Quarry 1 74 

Kenneday. Thomas G 1 69 

Kensington 168 

Kidd, John 128 

Kingsley, Capt. Pelig 1 72 

Kinsey. David 142 

Kintnersville. Pa 109 

Kirkbrides. N. J 162 



225 



Kirkbrides Ferry 131 

JCirkbride, Joseph 131 

Kittatinny Mountain. . . . 103-105-164 

Kittle. John 166 

Kleinhants, George 121 

Knowles Cove or Eddy 140 

Knowles Creek 140 

Knowles Point Rift 123-124 

Knowlton Township 192 

Knowlton Turnpike & Bridge Co. 

161-178-192 

Kreitz, James 155 

Kugler. John 144-145 

Lackawanna Coal & Iron Co 191 

Lackawanna County, Pa.. I15-i94-r99 

Lackawanna & Western Railroad 191 

Lackawaxen. Pa.. 106-1 10-193-194-197- 

198 

Lackawaxen Bridge 185 

Lackawaxen Coal Co 1 94 

Lackawaxen Coal Mine & Nav. Co. 1 94 
Lackawaxen River 1 10-185-194-197 

Lake Hopatcong, N. J 206-207 

Lambert, Hon. John 143 

Lamberton Ferry 132-133-135 

Lambertville, N. J. . . 1 4 1 - 1 43- 1 50- 1 7 1 - 

213-214-215-217 
Lambertville Ferry. . I 30- 1 3 1 - 1 35- 1 36 
Lamonte Mining & Railroad Co. 164 

Land Flood 212 

Landreth, David 130 

Landreth Seed Farm 1 30 

Lanterman, Edward L 162 

Lausanne, Pa 114-201 

Layton, N. J 179 

Legget's Gap Railroad 191 

Lehigh Canal . . . 1 14-200-201-202-207 

Lehigh Coal Field 114 

Lehigh Coal Mining Co 200 

Lehigh Coal & Nav. Co 

115-190-200-202-204 

Lehigh Dams 215 

Lehigh Gap, Pa 2 ! 5 

Lehigh & Hudson River Railroad 190 

Lehigh Navigation Co 200 

Lehigh & New England Railroad 1 62- 1 92 
Lehigh River... 114-115-157-177-194- 

200-203-204-206 
Lehigh River Bridge at Easton. . . 213 

Lehigh River Ferry 1 58 

Lehigh River Floods 210 

Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad. . 190 
Lehigh Valley Railroad. . 189-197-207 

Lehnenburg, Pa 148 

Leidy Ferry 1 53 

Limestone Quarries I 73 

Limestone Shallows 125 

Lincoln Highway Bridge. . 1 32- 1 67- 1 69 
Linn's Falls 121-123-124 



Liquor to Raftsmen 112 

Little Delaware 104 

Livingston, Philip 156 

Locks on Del. Div. Canal 202 

Locks on Lehigh Canal 200-201 

Locomotive Engines 196 

Logan House 142 

Logs Salvaged 113 

London Land Co 146 

Longshore, Jolly 137 

Lopatcong Creek, N.J... 155-156-157 

Lord, Benjamin 1 72 

Lordville, N. Y 182-187 

Lordville & Equinunk Bridge Co.. 187 

Loux, William 155 

Lower Black's Eddy 146 

Lower Mount Bethel 160-161 

Lower Trenton Bridge 1 68 

Lowrey, Thomas 147 

Lowreytown Ferry 148 

Lowreytown Shallows 1 25 

Lowrey s Reefs 120 

Lumber Salvaged 113 

Lumberton Ferry 144 

Lumberville, Pa 145-173 

Lumberville Del. Bridge Co. 1 68- 1 73- 1 74 

Lumberville Granite Co 1 74 

Lutz's Ferry 163 

Luzerne County 115 

McCracken, Edward 161 

McDonald, Donald 143 

McKonkey's Ferry 1 38- 1 39- 1 7 1 

McKonkey, Samuel 138 

Mack's Ferry 161 

Magazine of American History. . . 164 

Mail Service 127 

Malta Island 138 

Mammy Morgan's Hill 158 

Manof War Rift 123-124 

Manor House, Durham 149 

Manor of Fermor 1 56 

Manunka Chunk, N. J 161-217 

Marble Mountain 157 

Marcellus Shale 185 

Margerum, Henry 140 

Marshall's Life of Washington 144-145 

Markham, William 140 

Martin's Creek 160-191 

Martin's Creek Ferry 160 

Martin. David . 149-155-156-157-158 
Martin's Ferries at Easton. . 155-156 
Marshall's Island. ... 1 1 6- 1 2 1 - 1 23- 1 24- 
157-202-211 
Matamoras, Pa... 103-166-183-184-185 

Matlack, 1 119 

Matlack, Timothy 1 16-1 19 

Mauch Chunk 1 1 4- 1 1 5- 1 89- 1 90-200-20 1 

Mechlenburgh Ferry K6 

Melish's Map 161 



226 



"Mercer," Belvidere. N. J.. . . 1 17-161 

Mercer County, N. J 133 

"Mercer," Ferry Boat 129 

Mercer. Dr. Henry C 107 

Metropolitan Edison Co 202 

Middle Ferry, Trenton 1 32 

Middle Smithfield Township 164 

Mifflin, J 118 

Mifflin. Gov. Thomas 120 

Milanville Bridge Co 186 

Milford, N.J... 114-124-150-167-175- 

176-217 
Milford. N. J.. Del. River Bridge, i 75 

Milford. N. J.. Ferry 147-148 

Milford, Pa 127-166-167-168-179- 

180-216 

Milford, Pa., Ferry 127-180 

Milford & Port Jervis Railroad Co. 184 

Mill Creek 193 

Mill Rift 193-216 

Mill Run 219 

Minard's Ferry 182 

Minard, Zillar 183 

Mine Road in N. J 164-165 

Minisink, Battle of 106-185 

Minisink Fork 185 

Minnick, Christian 130 

Minnick's Ferry 128-130 

Minsie Indians 106 

Minsie Mountain 106 

Mitchell's Ferry 144 

Mitchel, William 144 

Mitchener, John C 1 72 

Mohawk River 1 08 

Mohocks River 103-183-188 

Monroe County. Pa. . 1 10-1 18-162-163- 
164-165-193 

Monroe Ferry, Bucks Co 1 48 

Monroe, Pres. James 148 

Montgaup Island 219 

Montgomery County I 73 

Moores Station. N. J 133-141 

Moosic Mountain, Pa 193-199 

Moravian Chroniclers 212 

Morris, Anthony 1 33 

Morris Canal 205-206 

Morris Canal & Banking Co 206 

Morris & Essex Railroad 189-191 

Morris, Richard 169 

Morris, Robert 1 1 7-1 34 

Morris. William 133 

Morrisville, Pa. .. 1 26- 1 3 1 - 1 32- 1 34- 1 36- 

167-168 

Morrisville Bridge 168 

Morrisville-Trenton Ferries 1 32 

Mountain View. N. J 207 

Mount Bethel Township 160-1 78 

Mount Holly. N. J 128 

Murray Island 219 



Musconetcong Creek 

149-153-155-156-157-176-207 

Musconetcong. N. J 153 

Myers' Ferry 161 

Narrows Aqueduct 216 

Narrowsburg Bridge 186 

Narrowsburg, N. Y 186 

Neale, Thomas 128 

Neshaminy Creek 1 28 

Neversink River 104-166-167-198 

Newark Bay 206 

Newberry, David 1 46 

New Bristol, Pa 128-129 

New Brunswick. N. J 170-208 

Newcastle 126 

New Hope. Pa. . . 1 24- 1 4 1 - 1 7 1 -203-204 

New Hope Del. Bridge Co 

143-171-205-208-216 

New Jersey Archives. ... 1 27- 1 28- 1 34- 

135-137-138-140-141-147-156-159-160- 

212 

New Jersey Gazette 1 35-208-2 1 8 

New Jersey Legislature 

129-172-177-178-208-218 
New Jersey Steel & Iron Co... 1 70-209 

New Jersey Zinc Co 201 

New Red Sandstone 102-107 

Newton. Sussex Co., N. J 155 

Newtown Jail 1 44 

New Trenton Ferry 1 36 

New York City 104-105 

New York Historical Society 147 

New York. Lake Erie & Western 

Railroad — ^See Erie Railroad 
New York & Pa. River Bridges. . 182 
New York, Sus. & Western Rail- 
road 162-193 

New York Tide 207 

Nicholas. John 209 

Nickisakawick 147 

Nockamixon Falls 123-124 

Nockamixon Rocks 107 

Nockamixon Palisades 102-107-150-154 

North Chicago Rolling Mills 197 

Northampton Bridge Co 1 60 

Northampton County 1 58-192 

Northampton County History. . . 

114-165-177-214 

North New Jersey Railroad 193 

Nottingham Township, N. J.. 126-146 

Okely. John 218 

Old Bolton Basin 193 

Old Ferry, Trenton 132 

Old Shoemaker Ferry 1 59 

Old Sow Island 153 

Old Sow Rift 123-124 

Old Towpaths 200-208-209 

Old York Road 143-144 



21\ 



Ontario-Detroit Bridge 181 

Opdyke's Ferry 141 

Opdyke, Samuel 141 

Orange County, N. Y 182-183 

Otego, N. Y 112 

Ouleout Creek 112 

Outlet Locks 202-204-205-207-209 

Owego &c Ithaca Railroad 191 

Oxford Iron Co 119-161-191 

Oxford Township, N. J 160 



Pahaquarry Copper Mines.. . 
Pahaquarry Township, N. J. 



163-164 

162-163- 

193 

Painter, Jacob 145 

Painter's Ferry 1 45 

Palisades of Nockamixon. . . . 102-107- 
150-154 

Palmer. Cyrus 177 

Palmerton, Pa 201 

Palniyra-Tacony Bridge 181 

Paper Mill. Uhlersville 1 54 

Parmer's Ferry 140 

Parry. Benjamin, Papers 213-214 

Passaic Valley & Peapack Railroad 1 76 

Pathfinder by Cooper 1 08 

Patterson, Frank 219 

Pearson. Enoch 145 

Pebbletown 140 

Pemberton, Phineas 212 

Penn. John, Jr 155-156 

Penn, William 126-140 

Pennsbury, Pa 129 

Pa. Archives 138-140-141-159 

Pa. Assembly & Legislature — 

Many references 

Pennsylvania Chronicle 143 

Pennsylvania Coal Co 1 99 

Pennsylvania Gazette. ... 133-137-1 49 

Pa. Historical Society 117-118 

Pa. Magazine of History 136 

Pa. & N. J. Traction Co 169 

Pa., Poughkeepsie & B. Railroad 192 

Pa. Power & Light Co 163 

Pennsylvania Railroad . . 135-141-150- 
160-169-171-174-197 
Pennsylvania Railroad Co. Bridges: 

Camden-Philadelphia 180 

Del. River Railroad & Bridge 

Co.. .^ 188 

Martin's Creek-Brainards 191 

Morrisville-Trenton 1 35-188 

Pa., Slatington & N. E. Railroad 192 

Pennsylvania State Canals 202 

Pa. State Historical Com 149 

Penn's Manor, Pa 216 

Request Creek or River 1 1 7-1 77 

Peters, Richard 1 56 

Peters' Rift 205 

Petit's Ferry 141 



Perkins, Robert 1 36 

Philadelphia 127-199 

Phila.-Camden Del. Bridge 180 

Phila. & Germantown Railroad. . . 173 
Phila. & Reading R. R.. 138-173-188 

Phila. & Trenton Railroad 168 

Philadelphia Road 153-158 

Phillipsburg Bridges 168 

Phillipsburg. N. J... 113-121-155-160- 

168-176-189-190-205-207-217 

Piatt, William (Portrait) 113 

Pidcock Creek 202 

Pidgeon, Mrs. Ann 147 

Pidgeon. William 146-147 

Pigmore, Daniel 146 

Pike County, Pa 

110-115-166-182-183-185-193 

Pine, Joshua 110 

Pittston, Pa 199 

Plymouth Railroad Co 173 

Pocono Mountains 1 82-204 

Point Breeze (Bordentown) 1 30 

Point Pleasant, Pa. 1 03- 1 45- 1 46- 1 74-204 

Point Pleasant Ferry 145 

Point Pleasant Del. Bridge Co., . 174 

Pond Eddy Bridge 182-185 

Popaxtunk River 103 

Portage of P. R. R 207 

Port Jervis, N. Y.. . . 103-105-1 16-159- 

1 64- 1 65- 1 67- 1 82- 1 83- 1 84- 1 93- 1 99- 

205-219 

Port Jervis Ferries 166 

Port Jervis River Bridges 183 

Porter, Hon. James M 162-176 

Porter, Prof. James M., 3d 177 

Portland, Pa 161-167-178-192 

Post Offices and Post Routes 136 

Postmaster General 126 

Poughkeepsie Bridge 190 

Preston, Samuel 120 

Prevost's Ferry 147 

Princeton. Battle of 128-134-137 

Provincial Council ... 1 28- 1 29- 1 3 1 - 1 32- 
146-152 

Pumpkin Freshet 211 

Purcell. John 142 

Pursell's Ferry 148 

Pursell, Thomas 148 

Quakertown & Eastern Railroad. . 150 

Quebec -St. Lawrence Bridge 181 

Queen's Council 1 29 

Queen Esther's Drawing Room. . . 151 

Quinn, Henry 126 

Quinn, Henry, Ferry 151 

Rafting on the Delaware . 1 1 0- 1 2 1 - 1 82 
Rafting Story of the Delaware.. . . 219 

Rafts, Building of Ill 

Railroad Bridges on Delaware. ... 188 



228 



Ramseysburg, N. J 160 

Rapids in Delaware 123 

Raritan River 1 70-1 72-208 

Raub, Godfrey 1 54 

Raub. Peter 154 

Raubsville, Pa 154-205 

Raubsville Ferry 153 

Raven Rock, N. J... 144-168-173-217 

Reading's Ferry 143 

Reading, Col. John 143-144 

Reading Railroad 1 38- 1 73- 1 88 

Redmond, Samuel B 216 

Reed, Mahlon 136 

Reid, Col. John 147 

Revolutionary War 1 58 

Rice, Milton H 154 

Richards. William 133 

Ridges' Island (Marshall's) 121 

Ridges Lock 202 

Riegel, Benjamin 1 52 

Riegel's Ferry 1 53 

Riegelsville, Pa 1 05- 1 07- 1 1 3- 1 26- 

152-170-176-206-215 

Riegelsville, N. J 152-156-157-176 

Riegelsville Del. Bridge Co 1 75 

Riegelsville Ferry 152-153 

Ringwood, N. J 207 

Rittenhouse, David 183 

Rix Gap, Pa 194 

Roberson, Elmer 1 73 

Robeson, Jonathan 160 

Robinson's Ferry 144 

Rocky Falls I07-I21-I23-124 

Roebling, John A 198-207 

Roebling Suspension Bridge at 

Riegelsville 1 76 

Romig's Ferry 148-149 

Rondout, N. Y 106-195 

Rondout River 199 

Rondout Valley 199 

Rose's Ferry 144 

Rose, John 144 

Rose, Stophel 144 

Rosenkrantz's Ferry 165 

Rosenkrantz, Fhilip S 165 

Ross, George 116 

Ross' Island 219 

Rowes, Francis 137 

Roxburg Station 160 

Rutherford Ferry 136 

Rutherford, John 136-137 

St. Lawrence & Quebec Bridge. . . 181 

St. Lawrence River 108-145 

Sawmill Rift 184 

Sawmills 111-112-114 

Saxenherg, Pa 198-207 

Saxton's Ferry 145 

Schuylkill Canal 209 

Scoharie County, N. Y 103 



Scott's Atlas of 1876 131 

Scranton, Pa 191-198 

Scudder's Falls and Rif t. . 1 23- 1 24- 1 70 

Scull's Maps 131-137-144-146 

Segal, Adolph 154 

Shawnee, Pa 162-163-164-193 

Shawnee Ferry 163 

Shawangunk Mountains 103 

Shenk, Anthony 152 

Shenk's Ferry 153 

Shenk, Wendel 152 

Sherrerd's Ferry 147 

Shimer, Dr. Porter W 118 

Shippen's Spring 160 

Shoemaker, Daniel 163 

Shoemaker's Ferry 163 

Shoemaker. M. C 163 

Shohola Bridge 185 

Shohola Creek 186 

Sidney, N. Y 112 

Siegfried on Lehigh 201-202 

Sinclair, Sir John 136 

Skelton, William 144 

Skinner, Daniel 1 10-186 

Skinner's Falls 186 

Slack's Island 122-170 

Slack Water Navigation 201 

Slate Dam on Lehigh 201-202 

Slateford, Pa 162-192 

Smithfield Township 162-163-193 

Smith's Ferry 164 

Smith's History of N. J 212 

Smith's Island (Malta) 138 

Smith's Laws of Pa... 149-177-183-219 

Smithsonian Institute 195 

Snowdon, Christian 129 

SnL.fftown, Easton 157 

Snycer's Ferry 160 

Solebury Township, Pa 1 73 

Sotcher, John 129 

Somerville & Easton Railroad .... 189 

South Easton, Pa 158-189-202 

South Mountain 107 

Sparrowbush, N. Y 219 

Spruks Brothers 185-198 

Stage Coaches 134 

Statutes at Large of Pa 

116-127-130-131-138-143-159-180 

Steamboat Ferry at Bristol 129 

Steel Rails, L. & S. Railroad 190 

Steelton Plant of B. S. Co 196 

Steersmen of Rafts 1 13-1 14 

Stevens, Richard 146 

Stevens. Robert L 197 

Stirling. Lord Alexander 136 

Stocker. Henry 1 30 

Stockport. Pa., Bridge 183 

Stockton, N. J 143-147-210-217 

Stoddartsville, Pa 1 15-201 

Stourbridge, England 195 



229 



Stourbridge Lion 195-196 

Strap Iron Rails 195 

Stroudsburg, Pa 165 

Stryker's Histories 134-136-137 

Stuhl's Falls 121-123-124 

Sullivan County, N. Y 

104-1 10-182-183-185-186-187-193 

Sullivan's Army 165 

Summit Hill Coal Mines 114 

Sunbeam, N. J 146 

Sunbury & Erie Railroad 204 

"Sun" Ferry Boat 129 

Sun Fish Lake, N.J 163 

Supreme Executive Council 116 

Suspension Bridge at Phila 160 

Susquehanna Canal 209 

Susquehanna River 112 

Sussex County, N. J 1 17- 164- 165- 

166-179 
Sussex & Warren Counties History 

159-163-165-177-179-192-208-210 

Tacony, Phila 126-181 

Tacony-Palmyra Del. Bridge Co. 181 

Tammany Mountain i06 

Tannersville, Pa 165 

Taylor, Benjamin 1 39 

Taylor, Ebenezer 1 39 

Taylor. George 136-149-153 

Taylor's Ferry 1 39 

Taylorsville, Pa 171 

Taylorsville Del. Bridge Co 171 

Teconay, see Tacony I 26 

Thomas, Hon. George 133 

Thomas Iron Co 216-217 

Thomas, Reuben 145 

Thompson, John 143 

Thomas, Robert 118 

Thorn's Ferry 145 

Thornton, John 135 

Tide at Trenton 113 

Tinbrook, John 146 

Tinicum Island 149-157 

Tioga Point, N. Y 164 

Titusville, N. J 133 

Tohickon Creek 146-1 74 

Toll Bridges on Delaware. . 167-182 

Toll Rates on Ferries 1 29- 1 3 1 - 1 42 

Tomlinson Ferry 1 39 

Tramway over Delaware 1 73 

Transue, Adam 163 

Transue's Ferry 162 

Trent, James 1 32 

Trent Mills 133 

Trent. Col. William 135 

Trenton. N. J 105-108-114-126- 

207-208-209-217 

Trenton, Battle of 134-137 

Trenton City Bridge Co 1 69 

Trenton Delaware Bridge Co . 1 36- 1 70 



Trenton Delaware Falls Co. 169-170 
Trenton Falls 1 1 6- 1 20- 1 22- 1 23- 1 24- 1 35 

Trenton Federalist 1 30-1 35 

Trenton Ferries 130-131-132-133- 

134-135 

Trenton Gazette 1 36 

Trenton Iron Co 1 70-209 

Triassic 1 07 

Tri-State 1 03- 1 05- 1 66- 1 67-2 1 8 

Trumbull, William 114 

Tumble Falls and Dam . 116-121-122- 

123-124 

Tusin Station, N. Y 193 

Twentieth Century Toll Bridges. . 180 
Tyhock Falls 114 

Uhler, Peter 154 

Uhlerstown, Bucks Co 175 

UhlersviUe Paper Mills 154 

UnadiUa Creek 112 

Union Paper Mills 203 

U. S. Geological Survey 219 

U. S. Steel Corporation 197 

U. S. Supreme Court 104 

U. S. War Department 129-180 

Upland, Court at 1 32 

Upper Black's Eddy. . 1 1 3- 1 1 4- 1 47- 1 67 

Upper Ferry at Trenton 132 

Upper Mount Bethel 161-162 

Upper Trenton Bridge 169 

Van Courtland. Gen. Philip 164 

Vannatta, G. M 160 

Vanorman, Isaac 109 

Vehicular Tunnels 180 

Vernon, Nathaniel 1 58 

Vessel's Ferry 140 

Viaduct with Bridge over Del. 185-198 

Vurhultsen's Island 212 



Waldy, Henry 126 

Walker, Charles 163 

Walker Ferry 163 

Wall, Col. George, Jr 

116-117-120-123-173-218 

Wall's Landing 145-173 

Walloon Families 212 

Walpeck Bend 164 

Walpeck Ferry 164 

Walton Chronicle, N. Y 11 0-1 12 

War Department of the U. S.. 129-180 

Warne, George 145 

Warne's Ferry 145 

Warren Bridge Co 1 55 

Warren County, N. J 

159-160-176-178-192-193 

Warren Railroad Co 1 78-191 

Washington Crossing 

136-138-139-140-171-217 



230 



Washington Crossing Park Com 1 39- 1 40 
Washington, Gen. George 

108-136-1 38-1 39-141-144-164-171 
Washington, Life by Marshall 144-145 

Water for Del. Div. Canal 203 

Water Gap Railroad Co 193 

Water Sheds of Delaware 104 

Water Wheel at New Hope 204 

Watring's Ferry 1 53 

Watson's Annals 1 27-2 12-213 

Wayne County, Pa 1 1 0- 1 82- 1 83- 

186-188 

Wayne Co. Hist. Society 1 15-139 

Wayne, Pike and Monroe History 

1 lO-l 19-166-185-186-187-192-215 
Weaver, Ethan Allen. 110-21 0-2 13-214 

Weehawken, N.J 135 

Wells' Falls 116-118-122-123-124- 

142-170-203-204 

Wells' Ferry 166 

Wells, John 142 

West Branch of Delaware 

103-104-110-111-112-188 

West Brook 112 

Westfall Family 166 

Weygadt Mountain 107-120-121 

Wharton, Pres 141 

Whippoorville Shallows 125 

Whitaker, Joseph R 215 

White Haven. Pa 201-215-216 

White, Josiah 115-200 

White, John 145 

Whitemarsh 1 73 

White Swan Tavern 1 38 

White Township. N. J 160 



Wilburtha, N. J . . 137-138-170-171-217 

Williams, Rensallear 1 34 

Williamsburg, Easton 157 

Williamson. Duncan 128 

Willing. Thomas 156 

Willowemoc Creek 104 

Wilson Brothers & Co 169 

Wilson. Joseph 169 

Wind Gap. Pa 164 

Wing Wall Dams 151 -203-208 

Wire Rope Cables 195-198 

Wissahawken Creek, N. J 147 

Worthington, Charles C 163 

Wright, Caleb E 140 

Wright's Creek 201 

Wrightstown, Pa 140 

Wurts Brothers 194 

Wyker, George, Bible 210-211-212-213 

Wyker. Samuel 210 

Wyoming Valley 164 

Yard, William S 134 

Yardley, Pa. . 137-138-170-171-1 88-205 

Yardleyville, later Yardley q.v. 

Yardley, Cortland 1 72 

Yardley Del. Bridge Co 1 70 

Yardley Ferry 136-137 

Yardley, Thomas 137 

Youngken, John F 146 

Ysselstein's Cabin 212 

Zimmerman, Hiram 163 

Zimmerman, John 1 62 

Zlotub. Pleasure Boat 102 



Hand Organ Notes 

By JOSEPH E. SAXDFORD, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
(Point Pleasant Meeting, September 10, 1927) 

ONE evening, in tlie fall of 1925, two Italians, a man and a 
woman, were pulling a street piano through the twilight 
of Fulton street in Brooklyn, N. Y. The man could 
speak no English and was plainly frightened when asked where 
such an instrument could be purchased; the woman understood, 
and reaching into a box on the front of the cart, brought out a 
soiled bill-head — from which I copied "Molinari 112 32nd St." 
Thus began an effort to find a peg-supported barrel-organ to 
fill one of the gaps in the collection of the Bucks County His- 
torical Society. This was done at Dr. Mercer's request. The 
following notes were gleaned in connection with this venture: 

The Molixari Busixess — The business of G. Molinari & 
Sons was started in 1865, in Broome street. New York, by Joseph 
Molinari, the grandfather of the present proprietor, Edward 
Molinari. It is now (1927) housed in a badly weathered brick 
four-story building, in the Bayridge section of Brooklyn, which 
at an earlier day was probably a residence. A time-dulled sign 
says there is an office in Elizabeth street. New York, but that 
was six or seven years ago, before the moving pictures and 
phonographs had stolen the children from the hand-organ man. 
The factory is much too large for the activity which goes on 
within it, just as a collar seems to a man, once fat and prosperous, 
now old and shrunken away. The repair of eight or nine hand- 
organs and about fifteen street pianos, which play in New York, 
Boston and nearby cities, and the making of the punched-paper 
music "books" for merry-go-round orchestrions is all there is 
left to do. There is one competitor, the firm of E. Bona & A. 
Antoniazzi, manufacturers of Cylinder Pianos and Organs, at 
336-338 Water Street, New York. 

The organ here discussed is a box-shaped portable wind 
instrument generally carried on the back or shoulder of a way- 
faring man, usually an Italian, and well known, forty years ago, 
as the "Organ Grinder," earning his living by playing the instru- 
ment to entertain people, chiefly children, for a petty fee. 



232 HAND ORGAN NOTES 

Because of its mode of operation, support, size, added 
attractions, musical quality and, above all, its unseen mecha- 
nism, it was variously named, as: 

(a) Hand organ — because it was always played by turning a 
hand-crank. 

(b) Monkey organ — because a poor little rope-fast monkey 
was carried about with it to amuse children. 

(c) Puppet organ — because its mechanism sometimes made 
puppets dance. 

(d) Flute organ — because of its flute-like tones. 

(e) Trumpet organ^because of the sound of some of 
its pipes and accounting for one of its commonest names. 

(f) Barrel organ — because its notes were always produced 
by an unseen revolving cylinder or barrel set with pins. 

(g) Hurdy-girdy — originally applied to the Vielle, a rustic 
stringed instrument resembling the violin, played by a crank- 
turned rosined wheel. In recent times used for hand-organ. 

Mechanism — The hand or barrel-organ is a portable wind 
instrument, the keys of which are operated by a pin and staple- 
studded barrel. It is made to play by turning a crank which 
rotates the barrel, the pins of which trip the pipe-valves and it 
at the same time pumps the bellows which maintains pressure 
in the wind chest. The hand-organ barrel runs horizontally 
nearly the length of the instrument. It is made of wood, about 
six inches in diameter and is covered with paper on the roller 
surface. Into this surface, pins and staples of brass are set, 
encircling the barrel in rings set close together. They are about 
one-thirty-second of an inch wide and project about a sixteenth 
of an inch above the surface of the roller. Above and parallel 
to the barrel and running the length of it is the key-board, holding 
the keys. These are short squared sticks of wood set horizon- 
tally and centrally pivoted (so they may be given a see-sawing 
motion) with the free ends toward the grinder. These keys are 
spaced about a-quarter-of-an-inch apart. Fastened under the 
free end of each key there is a triangular plate of metal, not 
unlike a glazer's point. This is set so that the point of the tri- 
angle is downward in order that it may bear upon the barrel. 
This bearing-surface is about the same width as the pins and 
staples. At the end opposite the bearing, or free end of the key, 



i_. 




A 

IfcO 



SECTION OF COMMON BARREL-ORGAN 

A is the handle; B the worm and crank, which move the barrel and 
bellows; C is the barrel on which the tunes are set. The setting is effected 
by brass pins and staples driven into the barrel at proper distances, accord- 
ingly as the notes are longer or shorter. D is the key, the rising of which over 
the pins causes it to press down the sticker (E) into the wind-chest (F), and 
thus to open the pallet for the wind to enter the pipe above; G is the bellows; 
H, a stop-diapason. 

Diagram from "Arts and Sciences," Charles Knight, London, 1867. 



HAND ORGAN NOTIiS 233 

a rod is hinged. This is called the "striker." It runs vertically 
and on its lower end is fastened to the pipe valves or pallets. 
The lifting of the bearing or free end of the key by a staple or 
pin on the barrel causes the key to press down on the "striker" 
rod which opens the pipe valve leading into the wind-chest. 
The longer the staple the longer the valve stays open as the 
barrel revolves. 

The wind-chest is a box in which the air is kept at constant 
pressure by the action of the bellows. The barrel is rotated 
and the bellows pumped by the hand crank-shaft. This runs 
horizontally from back to front of the case at the right hand 
top as you stand at the back or grinder's side. On this shaft 
there is an "U" shaped crank and a worm gear; hinged on the 
crank there is a rod which runs to the bellows. The worm gear 
meshes into a plain gear at the right hand end of the barrel. By 
turning this hand crank the bellows are pumped, the barrel 
rotated and each key (having its series of pins and staples 
aligned with it and girdling the roller) is pushed upward in the 
proper time and place, releasing the air from the wind chest into 
the organ pipes. 

A tune is played in one revolution of the cylinder. If the 
tune is too long it must be cut to fit. From seven to ten tunes 
may be put on one barrel. 

The bearing surface of each key being only as wide as the 
pins and spaced about a-cjuarter-of-an-inch apart, the pins and 
staples of the tunes not being played, pass idly between the keys. 
The wider the space between the keys the greater the number of 
tunes, and the fewer the number of notes that may be played 
for the same length of barrel. This may be why the seventh 
edition of the "Book of English Trades," published in London, 
1818, says that some of the English organs played as many as 
fifteen tunes. The smaller hand organs have twenty-three 
keys, the larger thirty-two. 

To change to a new tune it is necessary to shift the barrel. 
This brings a new series of pins in contact with the keys. The 
iron axle of the barrel projects through the side of the organ-case. 
Across the top surface of this projection is cut a row of slots. 
The number of slots corresponding to the number of tunes and 
their distances from one another on the barrel. By grasping 
the end of the axle and shifting it in or out, and holding it in 



234 HAND ORGAN NOTES 

place with a knife-like wedge dropped into one of the slots, the 
barrel is held in alignment to be played by one series of pins 
only. Before shifting the barrel it is necessary to lift all the keys 
from the barrel, this is done by a lever at the end of the case. 
Knight says in his article on the Hand-Organ in the American 
Mechanical Dictionary, 1874: 

"The most important part of the manufacture consists in arranging the 
position of the points or staples of the barrel. An ordinary piece of sheet 
music is before the workman and the barrel of a hand organ is mounted below 
it so as to revolve with a large wheel at his left hand. This wheel is divided 
up into parts which correspond to the bars in music. Above the barrel are a 
set of keys, with little teeth that indent the paper wound around the barrel. 
He sits down before the instrument, revolves the wheel one bar, and strikes 
with a hammer the proper keys, then revolves again, and so on. The indenta- 
tions mark the places for the brass points and staples, which another man 
inserts." 

The owner decides what tunes are to be placed upon the 
barrel. 

Molinari says that it costs $15.00 to pin a tune on a barrel 
and, for a 23-key organ, eight hours are required for the task, 
ten hours for a 32-key organ. In London in 1865 ten shillings 
was all that was asked for one tune according to Henry Mayhew 
and eight tunes could be put on an organ barrel for £14. This 
took from three days to a week if the workman wasn't busy. 
The principle of the pinned-barrel was used for playing carillons 
as early as the fifteenth century and the stationary organ as 
early as 1615 (Feldhaus, "DieTechnik" Leipzig, 1914). The pipes 
are made from hardwood, as boxwood, or from reeds. These are 
tuned by pushing or pulling little pegs of wood which stop one 
end of the pipes. In this way the air chamber in the pipe is 
changed and so the pitch. It costs S6.00 to tune a hand-organ 
and this should be done every 6 months. It is the trumpet part 
that gets out of tune the soonest. When the organ gets out of 
tune the pipes rattle. Dust in summer and smoke in winter 
and rain anytime are the greatest foes of the hand-organ. This 
means that the organ must be taken to pieces to be cleaned. In 
London in 1864 it cost 10 shillings to clean and tune it. To 
keep out the dust and soot the organs require a covering. 

The owners of hand-organs took great pride in elaborately 
inlaid wood and mother of pearl instruments. And then would 
hide them under coverings of water-proof oil cloth, bagging, etc. 



HAND ORGAN NOTES 



235 



The Molinaris tried to persuade the grinders from using decor- 
ated cases but the owners took pride in this beauty though hidden. 

The portable barrel organ, 
in France called the "Orgue de 
Barbari," was invented in the 
eighteenth century by a Mod- 
enese by the name of Barberi, 
according to the "Dictionnaire 
des Arts, Metiers et Pro- 
ffessions," by Alfred Franklin 
(Paris, 1906). 



-^MV-e 




A PARISIAN ORGAN GRINDER 
OF CIRCA, 1737 
As shown in a contemporary copper engraving 
designed by Edme Bouchardon (1698-1762) 
"The mendicant's organ seems to have ap- 
peared in the streets before 1702 ... It was called 
in French 'Orgue de Barberie,' either from a 
maker named Barberi or because of its dis- 
agreeable sound." — "The Storv of the Organ," 
C. F. A. Williams, N. Y., 1903. 



Kinds of Hand-Organs — 
The barrel-organ is made both 
stationary and portable. As 
a stationary instrument it 
was used in English country 
churches in the early 19th 
century. The portable barrel- 
organ, alias hand-organ, which 
is our subject, may be classified 
according to size. The small 
organ, about fifteen inches 
wide, fifteen inches tall and 
nine and a half inches deep, 
carried by a single shoulder 
strap and called in the 

trade the "Monkey-organ." The medium size organ carried 
on the back by two shoulder straps and supported when playing 
by a post or stick is about twenty-six inches wide, twenty-three 
inches tall and fourteen inches deep and weighs about fifty 
pounds. The large organ was too heavy to be carried on the 
back, for it weighed 400 pounds. It was 41 inches long, 53 
inches tall and 23 inches deep and was generally mounted on a 
three-wheeled hand cart. 

Barrel-organs are also known according to their voices as 
"wooden trumpet" organs, "flute-organs," etc. The flute 
organs, so called because they sound like the German flute, were 
known as early as 1828 according to the New English Diction- 
ary. The small "monkey-organs" were generally flute- voiced. 



236 HAND ORGAN NOTES 

According to the organ grinder interviewed by Henry Mayhew 
(L. L.) the flute organ was first made by an ItaHan in Paris who 
obtained a patent for it. When these organs were first heard 
they attracted favorable attention and made quite a little money 
for their owners. Here is what Mayhew's grinder of organs 
said in 1860. When he came to England as a boy of ten: 
"There was no organ about l)ut the old-fashioned one made in Bristol, with 
golden organ pipes in front. Then came the one with figure-dolls in front, 
and next came the piano one, made at Bristol, too, and now the flute one, 
which came from Paris where they make them." 
These flute organs cost £20 in 1860. 

Puppet Hand-Organs — The great child called man has 
liked dolfs for thousands of years and one of the first things he 
did when he invented the smaller mechanism was to use part 
of their energy to animate his puppets. Clock dolls came shortly 
after wheel-work clocks and early in the history of the barrel- 
played organ the animation of birds, etc., is noted by Francis W. 
Galpin, w^ho tells us in his "Old English Instruments of Music," 
London, 1910, that in the year 1598, when Queen Elizabeth had 
Thomas Dallam make a manual and mechanical organ with "self 
acting trumpeters, blackbirds and thrushes," which she sent to 
the Sultan of Turkey as a present. 

The hand-organ with mechanically animated puppets was 
found in America as early as 1838, for Nathaniel Hawthorne in 
his "Passages from The American Note Books" (quoted by 
Richard Wright "Hawkers and Walkers in Early America," 
Philadelphia, 1927) says: 

"After supper, as the sun was setting a man passed by the door (of the 
tavern) with a hand-organ, connected with which was a row of figures, such 
as dancers, pirouetting and twining, a lady playing on a piano, soldiers, a 
negro wench dancing and opening and shutting a huge red mouth, all these 
keeping time to the lively or slow tunes of the organ. The man had a pleasant, 
but sly, dark face; he carried his whole establishment on his shoulder, it being 

fastened to a staff which he rested on the ground when he performed He 

had come over the high, soiltary mountains where for miles there could hardly 
be a soul to hear his music." 

This was at North Adams, Massachusetts. 

A hand-organ with puppets was seen by the writer in the 
summer of 1926 at Mr. A. H. Rice's shop in Bethlehem, Pa. It 
measured about three feet high, three feet wide and was about 
two feet deep. The puppets were at the top of the organ set 



HAND ORGAN NOTES 237 

in a boxlike stage, the back of which was set with mirrors. The 
figures were made to waltz as the handle was cranked and the 
tune played. The men were dressed in long trousers of white, 
and their dark coats had the high, full-rolled collar, the fashion 
in 1825 or '30. This organ was too large to be carried and was 
probably mounted on a man-pushed cart when in use. 

The Peg Supported Organ — The large barrel organ, carried 
on the back, was supported by a post, peg or stick while it was 
being played. The grinders when walking carried the stick in 
the hand. 

The shoulder strap on both the monkey and post-organ 
passes under flat metal eyes at the sides of the organ near the 
top and so under the case where it is buckled. A second pair 
of straps, sewed to the shoulder-strap at the side of the organ, 
pass over the top of the organ and are fastened together by a 
buckle. 

The stick part way up from the bottom, has a step or bracket 
cut in it; the distance from this bracket to the top of the stick is 
equal to the height of the organ from the lower back edge to the 
top; on the top of this stick at the back a short perforated strap 
of leather is fastened. The back middle lower edge of the organ 
is now set on the bracket and the strap at the stick's top is 
buckled into a buckle in the middle of the cross-top strap. The 
organ, slightly tilted toward the player, stays on the bracket, 
the grinder steadying it with his left hand and arm as he cranks 
with his right. This stick was never attached in any other way 
according to Molinari. He regards this as an American device. 

In Leech's drawing, "Portrait of the Old Part>- who Rather 
Likes Organ-grinding," the medium-sized organ is shown without 
a stick. The same is true of the organ in George Cruickshank's 
"The Seasons — November St. Cecelia's Day" and "The Seasons 
— July Dog Days." This might tend to indicate that the stick 
was not in use in England in 1860. However, the stick-supported 
organ was used at St. Helen's near Liverpool, England, about 
18F0, according to Mrs. William G. Parcell of Aquetong and 
Nathaniel Hawthorne (quoted in Wright's "Hawkers and 
Walkers") describes it at North Adams, Mass., in 1838. 

The Cushion — This was described by Molinari as a pad 
fastened at its top to a belt which passes around the waist of the 



238 HAND ORGAN NOTES 

organ-grinder, the lower end of this pad is fastened by a strap 
encirchng the leg above the knee. A little way above the knee 
on this pad is a bracket or step (on the same order as the stick 
bracket) . This cushion is worn on the left leg which thus serves 
the same purpose as the bracketed stick. Molinari considers 
this a foreign practice. 

Hand Organ Makers — The name, Cocchi, Bacigalupo & 
Graffigna, Schonhauser Allee 78 Berlin, I saw painted on a hand 
organ for a cart. Frati & Co. had their house in this same street. 
A smaller organ had "Imhof & Co., 9 Bedford Street, London," 
upon it. Molinari said it w^as the first time he had ever noticed 
the name. (L. L.) John Hicks, living in Clerkenwell, London, 
made and repaired organs in c. 1864. Bristol seems to have 
been something of an organ-making town. John Hicks was 
born there (L.). 

Some Tunes Played — Let us hear what Henry Mayhew's 
London Italian of the sixties played. He says, "My organ played 
eight tunes. Two are from opera, one is a song, one is a waltz, 
one is a horn-pipe, one is a polka and the other two are dancing 
tunes." One is from "II Lombardi"; the other opera piece is 
"II Trovatore." Here is an English piece called "Liverpool 
Hornpipe," also one called "The Ratcatcher's Daughter," and 
another, also English, called "Minnie." 

The thirty-two key, peg-supported, wooden trumpet organ 
made by Frati & Company, some time after 1884, now in our 
museum, had two programs, an older one and a new one, each 
having nine tunes as follows: 

THE OLD LIST OF TUNES 
L Somebody Has My Heart 5. King Carnival March 

2. Moody and Sankey March 6. Marching Through Georgia 

3. Fisher's Hornpipe 7. Sweet Mollie 

4. Latest Polka 8. Saint Patrick's Day 

9. La Marseligese 

THE NEWER LIST SUGGESTS THE 1890'S 
L After the Ball Waltz 5. Home Sweet Home 

2. Little Annie Rooney 6. La Marseligese 

3. Tarara Boomdeay 7. Travatore 

4. Club 8. Irish Jig 

9. Saint Patrick's Day 



HAND ORGAN NOTES 239 

An organ for small carts made by Cocchi, Bacigalupo & 
Graffigna, Berlin, Schonhauser Alle 78, played this program: 

1 atineurs Waltz 5. Holzanktion Schottish 

2 Waltz 6. Wiener Schevalben March 

3. Die guten laten Tage Polka 7. Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo 

4. Barnay Ballargham Jig 8. Tune not at hand 

The "Monkey-Organ" in our museum collection has one tune 
that we have identified, viz.: "A Hot Time in the Old Town 
Tonight," that swept the country in Spanish-American war 
days. 

The Serinette or Bird Organ — Because the finch (serin) 
may be taught to pipe man-made tunes, if these are repeated often 
enough, a miniature barrel-organ was devised called the Serinette. 
This was early in Eighteenth Century France when there was a 
rage for serins, and royalty had singing teachers for their birds. 

Chardin (1699-1779), the painter of the familiar scenes of his 
time, painted the picture of a lady who had stopped embroidering 
to play the serinette which rests upon her lap. As she turns 
the crank she looks toward a bird in a cage nearby. This seri- 
nette is about a foot long, eight inches high and ten inches deep. 
It has a hinged cover which is open. 

There is a serinette in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 
New York, which is about the same size but is in the form of a 
book and only three inches deep. It was made in France in the 
eighteenth century by Tomasin. It has a compass of nine notes. 

It would seem that the Bird-organ was thought more impor- 
tant to the French Academy than the beggar's organ, for we find 
"Serinette" defined in the "Dictionnaire de L'Academie Fran- 
coise" (4th Ed. 1762), while the mendicant's "Orgue de Barbari" 
is passed by in silence. It existed in 1737, but not for the 
Academy. 

The Monkey — Pasquale Longo of Philadelphia, the former 
owner of the museum's monkey-organ, told Mr. Horace M. Mann, 
curator of the museum, at the time it was purchased in the fall 
of 1921, that he had been playing a barrel-organ for years and 
because of the industry of his monkeys had been able to make a 
small fortune. The monkey's life-span is about eight years. 
That is, if he is kept warm, for he is very likely to catch cold and 



240 HAND ORGAN NOTES 

die, so must never be taken about in cold weather. In winters 
of enforced idleness Mr. Longo toasted his toes before the fire 
and collected rents from his tenants. It is quite a task to train 
the monkey to tip his hat and get pennies. Longo said that he 
was always kind to his monkey and the monkey seemed to 
vouch for that by nestling close to his owner. Around the 
monkey's small waist was a belt, and fastened to this belt a 
cord or light chain to keep him from straying too far. He would 
return to his owner on call. The monkey wore a small red fez 
with underchin strap and a coat. When Longo was ready to 
go to the next stand he swung the organ over his hip, the monkey 
sitting on top. Longo played at the Frenchtown, N. J., fair in 
1921, and cleared S19.00 in one day above his carfare. 

The monkey was the great attraction for children, when they 
heard an organ they would flock to it, but would soon leave if no 
simian were there to amuse them with his antics. But if they 
saw their monkey friend, would follow him and his master for 
blocks. 

So much for the crank-turned hand-organ which in its 
varieties, ahvays a wind instrument, has been the theme of our 
description, but we cannot properly end the subject without 
mentioning another kind of street musical machine, also portable, 
also turned by a hand-crack, but not a wind instrument at all. 
I refer to the Street Piano. 

The Street Piano — This instrument, sometimes called the 
piano-organ or barrel-piano, is not a wind instrument, but a 
barrel-played string instrument. It is found in two general 
types, distinguished by the tones. The older and probably 
more familiar instrument, with piano tone, and a later develop- 
ment called in the trade the "Mandolin Piano." This instrument 
imitates plucked strings and the efl'ect is much more brilliant 
than the older type of street piano. 

The street piano looks like a small upright piano, placed on a 
low platform, swung between two large cart wheels, at one end a 
pair of shafts. Between these one of the attendants plays 
draught animal when on the move, the other (for there are 
always two) helps by tugging on a looped strap at the side of the 
piano. The average street piano has 48 notes and plays ten 
tunes (M.). 



HAND ORGAN NOTES 241 

The earliest use of the word "piano organ" is 1844 from 
Albert Smith's "Adventures of Mr. Ledbury — Jack had hired, . . 
a piano organ" (N. E. D.). The street piano is also mentioned 
in "London Labour and the London Poor." However, in 1882 
we find B. M. Crocker writing in her book, "Proper Pride," 
"The new piano organs are grinding away mercilessly at the 
corner of every street" (N. E. D.). From this we are led to 
believe that some change occurred in piano organs in the early 
1880's. Doctor Mercer heard the street piano in Vienna in 
1883 and remarked the beauty of its playing. Mr. Molinari 
says it came to America in 1890 and was heard in Philadelphia 
in 1891 or '92. 

Some of these older pianos had pictures which appeared in a 
frame at the front in the panel which serves for music rack on 
the upright pianos. These Molinari called "panoramas" and 
they were a series of pictures fixed in a continuous belt. I too 
remember seeing them as a child in Brooklyn. The pictures at that 
time being highly colored lithographs of Spanish-American War 
scenes. If the children wished to gaze on these pictorial wonders, 
the flap of carpet which hung before the frame was lifted, a penny 
was the price. The pictures coming into the frame on the left 
would disappear behind the right hand margin as the grinder 
cranked the piano. The nearest approach to this form at 
Molinari's was a rather thick dumpy specimen of street piano 
with a lithograph in the front panel showing some people dining 
with "bottled goods," very much to the foreground. The pic- 
ture, probably a wine merchant's advertisement of the "good 
old days." 

These street pianos were often accompanied by a woman 
in Italian peasant costume who juggled and banged tambourines. 
I remember one quite expert who would send the tambourine 
spinning into the air to be caught on its sheep-skin head to con- 
tinue its spinning on the performer's fingers. 

The Orchestrion — Beside the barrel organ and the street 
piano there is another and more modern type of instrument which 
is both stationary and portable, depending upon a pneumatic 
action which is controlled by a ribbon of paper or accordion- 
pleated card-board upon which the tune has been punched. 

We have reason to believe that the idea of thus operating a 



242 HAND ORGAN NOTES 

mechanical organ or piano was taken from Jacquard who by the 
use of perforated cards revolutionized the weaving of patterned 
textiles. On i\ugust 5, 1848, Duncan Mackenzie was granted 
a patent to make "Jacquard machinery, parts of which are 
applicable to playing musical instruments." In the words of 
the record of English "Patents of Invention," London, 1854, 
the "application to musical instruments of an endless band of 
paper, gutta percha, or other suitable material, having a tune 
punched out therein, for the production of sound." This was 
patent Number 12,229. 

This punched-paper-operated pneumatic action has been 
used to play both portable and stationary instruments, both 
wind and strings, some with drums, cymbals, bells, etc., generally 
called "Orchestrions." The most common mechanism thus 
played is the well-known player piano. The ribbon of perfor- 
ated paper passes over a row of slots, each slot controlling a key 
value. A gentle suction is set up in this row of slot key controls 
and the air is sucked in whenever a hole on the paper registers 
wath a slot and that note is played. 

The stationary organs of this type are found at most of the 
"merry-go-rounds" at our amusement parks. These are power- 
driven and, attempting orchestral effects, are hence termed 
"orchestrions." 

"Orchestrions" of the smaller sort were made portable by 
putting them on a wagon gear and drawing them about the 
country by a small horse or pony. The instrument which Mr. 
Victor O. Krauskop, of Narberth, Pa., had seen frequently in 
the years 1898 to 1905 in Lancaster, Pa., was described as 
similar in appearance to a street piano. This instrument was 
hand-cranked. The tune was played by a record of punched 
cards which were fed to the machine on one side, and fell into a 
box at the other end. These cards were in a continuous strip 
and were folded back and forth upon themselves at all times 
except when passing through the instrument. This "orches- 
trion" was not as loud as the power-operated machines so 
familiar in our amusement parks, but was louder than the 
street piano. It contained both a bass-drum and snare-drum. 
Accompanying it were an Italian man and woman, the woman 
in peasant costume. There were also trained birds and both 
organ and birds attracted a great deal of attention. The organ 
never stayed long in Lancaster but would return yearly. 



HAND ORGAN NOTES 243 

The "books" or punched paper records for the pneumatic 
action "orchestrion" are made of heavy brown paper the weight 
of Hght cardboard. The width of the paper varying with the 
number of notes of the organ. This paper is folded back and 
forth upon itself, as accordion-pleating is folded. The book 
seen at Molinari's was one made for Feltman's merry-go-round 
at Coney Island. It would play the organ for half-an-hour 
without repeating any of the tunes, but being arranged as a 
continuous belt it would repeat on and on throughout the day. 
It formed a block or pile about six inches deep, sixteen inches 
wide and about three feet high. The cost of the book was about 
$100.00. 

In making the books, a pattern of manilla paper, the same 
width as the brown paper, is fastened so as to cover a section of 
the blank book. This pattern is marked with a series of pen- 
cilled dashes of various lengths and varied spacing. These 
dashes run the long way of the paper. Both pattern and paper 
are passed under a foot-operated punch, the bed of which is 
centrally placed on a long work bench. This punch makes 
round holes of about an eighth-of-an-inch in diameter. The 
operator punch-cuts along the dashes; a series of round holes 
taking the place of each dash. Once a book has been made it 
may be used as a stencil and perforations marked on other 
blank books. The penciled dashes of the pattern are made by a 
musician who uses a special gauging machine for the work. 
These perforations in the book select and operate the notes to be 
played by the automatic organs in their proper time and place. 

Parisian Street Music, 1927 — The stick supported hand- 
organ is not seen in Paris or elsewhere in France. The larger 
organs are trundled about on small hand carts. The street 
piano is seen in Paris mounted upon a two-wheeled cart, but it is 
much smaller than those seen in America; they are about foyr 
feet tall. The Mandolin Piano is not heard in Paris. 

The cripples of Paris are permitted to grind organs, they are 
an adjunct of begging, denied to those who are in good health. 
The street singers who may play upon the mandolin, guitar, etc., 
and who vend songs are considered in a higher class and may 
pursue their occupation regardless of the state of their health. 
(Information of M. Brochot of Paris, June, 1927.) 



244 HAND ORGAN NOTES 

Other Street Music — In closing these notes it might be 
well to pay tribute to some of the other minor workers in the 
field of music who, according to our moods and their ability, 
have either outraged or pleased us. There was first and fore- 
most the little German band of three or four, each musician in 
bandman's visored cap. Music carried in lyre-shaped clasps 
on the instrument. A repertoire including "Ach du Leiber 
Augustine" and "Heilige Nacht." These men journeyed from 
beer saloon to beer saloon. The New York boys of the seventies 
would cause the cornetist in these bands to pucker his mouth 
and spoil his playing by sucking on lemons when they caught 
his eye, according to Mr. W. E. Palmer, of West Long Branch. 
The writer himself tried this with satisfactory results at Lilla- 
gore's pavillion. Ocean Grove, N. J., a lemon stick candy serving 
as a straw in a whole lemon. This was about 1900. 

Then there was the one man band, he of the bass drum, 
strapped to his back, a rope passing from his left heel through 
the sides of the drum to the spring-separated cymbals on top. 
The drum stick was strapped to his left forearm and jutted out 
behind the half bent elbow. Bells were fastened to his cap and 
he carried an oboe or a clarinet. By flapping his arm he could 
beat the drum; kicking down with his heel brought the cymbals 
together, a nod of the head set the bells to jingling. With him 
was another player and between them they made enough noise 
for five men. This was seen by the writer near Asbury Park, 
N. J., about 1910. 

Another efi'ort in getting one man to make more music, was a 
guitar player who had a set of brass pan-pipes carried on a 
bracket which hooked over his shoulders, the pan-pipes in a 
slightly curved row, so as the player turned his head, his lips 
were always equidistant from the tops. He played the melody 
on these, the accompaniment on the guitar. Having played the 
tune thus he substituted a bracket-supported harmonica for the 
pipes. The third melody was played upon what might be called 
a nose-whistle, a tin afl"air which the player held in his mouth, 
the upper open portion pressing against his nostrils. It is 
played by blowing through the nose. This was seen by the 
writer on the Sixty-ninth Street (Brooklyn) Ferry about 1925. 

The hand-organ man is not yet extinct. This summer of 
1927 one was heard in Doylestown. That the organ grinder is 



HAND ORCiAX NOTE^ 



245 



still to be heard on the East Side of New York is evidenced by a 
cartoon from the Jewish newspaper "Forwards" for May 15, 
1927, which shows an organ grinder talking to a friend — ^says 
the organ-man, "Buying this record was a great mistake. I've 
collected only seven cents till now, while yesterday at this hour 
I had more than fifty cents. I tell you, Fanny, my public wants 
jazz." 




STROLLING ITALLA.N STREET SINGERS 
Photograph by John A. Anderson in front of his home at Lambertville, N. J. 



Letters from Native Bucks Countians Living in 
Canada, 1815 

By MRS. C. D. (ANNIE MEREDITH) FRETZ. OAK LANE, PA. 
(Doylestown Meeting, January 21, 1928) 

THERE is a tradition in the Bradshaw family that James, 
son of John Bradshaw, came to America in the same ship 
with Ruth, a daughter of William and Martha Lowther, 
in the year 1729. They were married in 1740 and had twelve 
children: John, William, James, David, Amos, Joel, George, 
Rachel, Sarah, Ruth, Mary and Robert. William Lowther 
died in 1750; his will made the same year named Benjamin Fell 
his executor. James and Ruth Lowther had bought the home- 
stead located in Buckingham township, four miles northeast of 
Doylestown and one mile southwest of Mechanicsville. James 
lived until the eve of the Revolution ; his will bears date October 
22, 1774, with his eldest son John as executor. He had married 
Hester Dyer of Dyerstown, Bucks County. David, son of 
James and Ruth Lowther Bradshaw, bought the property, and 
it remained in the hands of their descendants until the death of 
Ruth Anna Lippincott and her sister, Anna Maria Meredith, a 
period of more than one hundred and fifty years. 

It is interesting to trace the genealogy of the family. William 
and James lived in Plumstead and John lived at Pool's Corner, 
formerly called Bradshaw's. . This accounts for the homes of 
four of the brothers, but it was not known to the present genera- 
tion where the other three resided until certain old letters were 
discovered, written from Canada during the years 1803 to 1816. 

A nephew, George, wrote to his uncle John, and Joel wrote 
to his brother David, that Amos had died 21st day of 10th month, 
1801, and that his brother George came up to visit him. The 
letters which are made the subject of this paper are quite lengthy, 
and I shall therefore give only extracts from them. 

The oldest letter was written by Joel to his brother David, 
as follows: 

13th of the 2nd month 1803 
Brother David: 

I take this opportunity to let thee know that we are all well at present 
and hope thee and thine are the same. It is a long time since I had a chance 



LETTERS FROM NATIVE BUCKS COUNTIANS. CANADA, 1815 247 

to write to thee by Jacoli Xeece of Tinicuni, who has resided here this some 
time. Fine large crops are in the ground, but lies bare having but little snow 
this Winter, the depth only ankle deep, and quickly gone. New Years was 
very warm, indeed bare ground nearly all Winter. Jacob and Israel go to 
school to Zenas Fell. We have very fine land, and a very good bearing peach 
orchard, given by the Go\ernment at six pence an acre. Halifax being the 
seat of Government about 36 miles from our town, Ralph Clench, one of the 
heads in matters, gives me great encouragement telling me I shall draw my 
two hundred acres of land. It is a long time since 1 had a fine letter from 
thee, David, I badly want to hear from you all. I shall look for thee next 
fall. I think thee has promised to come. We live in peace and plenty. We 
learn that the war is ended. People are coming in here with their families. 
Two of Gabriel Wilson's sons from the Jersies. A committee that pays 
a visit yearly, Benjamin Clark was one last fall who preached the gospel 
devotedly. 

George Bradshaw writes from Upper Canada: 
Dear Uncle: 

I again resume my pen to visit thee with some account of thy relations 
in this country, as these epistolary visits are the only sort we must expect 
in this world. Uncle Joel's daughter Betsey was married last May, and she 
and Mary ha\e both gone to the western side of Lake Erie, about 120 miles 
ofT. I am going to keep school at Thorold. 



5th month 27th 181; 



Dear Uncle: 



Thine of the 20th of last month I this day received, Elizabeth Fell is 
very ill, Zenas and all the rest well. My Uncle George's children, except 
George, all married and well settled. My brother Amos was in the army 
from the first of the war. First Conductor of Commissary Stores at the time 
General Brown came on last summer. 

Pelham, M month 19th, 1815 
Dear Uncle: 

Our land has been visited with sickness since I last wrote. First with 
the Typhoid Fever. In a little more than 12 months near 40 new graves were 
opened in our burying ground at Pelham. On the 18th of 12th month, 1812, I 
was seized with Pluritic Fever and my dear wife departed this life in 1813, my 
youngest child six days after its mother and Aunt Mary Bradshaw the next 
day. My sister Rachel Thomas died this winter. Tell my cousins I should 
be very glad to receive a few lines from them, as I ecpect they can w-rite at 
any time now the war is ox^er. 

Thy loving and affectionate Nephew 

George Bradshaw 



248 LETTERS FROM NATIVE BUCKS COUNTIANS, CANADA, 1815 

Pelham, June 16, 1815 
Dear Uncle: 

Notwithstanding I wrote thee the week before last, I again resume my 
pen to give thee and our dear relations in Pennsylvania some account of our 
present situation. My dear sister, Sarah Beckett died after a short but 
severe illness, she was buried at Pelham beside our father and mother. Thee 
may put thy letter in the Doylestown post office and they will come safely 
to Buffalo. The mail comes every week to Beckett's with newspapers. 

Thy affectionate Nephew 

George Bradshaw 



Hilltown Baptist Churches and Schools 

By MRS. WARREN S. ELY, DOYLESTOWN, PA. 
(Doy lest own Meeting, January 21, 1928) 

THIS history of the Hilltown Baptist Churches and Schools is 
being preserved through the medium of a man in one of the 
most humble walks of life — a junk dealer — who two years 
ago came into the library and gave to Mr. Ely a roll of ragged 
papers with the comment that they were probably unimportant for 
he had found them in the old Rowland House in Hilltown. These 
papers proved to be the original records of the first organized 
Hilltown Baptist Church. This coincidence led me to search 
for other records, which I found in the hands of the present 
trustees, dating from 1798, down to the present time. They 
are now in possession of this society, making a complete record 
of this church from its foundation. 

This recital begins with a history of the founder, Rev. William 
Thomas, who was born in Lauwenarth, Menmouthshire, Wales, 
in the year 1678. His family was possessed of some means and 
consequently William Thomas received superior education. 
When past the age of 30 years he married Ann, presumably 
Griffiths, born in 1680, and four years later, in the year 1712, 
he came to America, accompanied by his wife and infant son, 
Thomas, having lost all his earthly possessions in transit. 

In 1713, he settled in Radnor township, Delaware county, 
where he pursued his trade as a cooper. Here his son, John, 
was born in December, 1713. That he was a shrewd, industrious 
person is evidenced by the fact that in five years' time (1718) 
he had acquired sufficient capital to purchase from Jeremiah 
Langhorne 440 acres of land in Hilltown township, Bucks 
county, a tract lying along the County Line from Line Lexing- 
ton to Telford, for which he paid $234.67, less than 50 cents per 
acre. 

During the next ten years he acquired an additional 800 
acres in three different tracts for which he paid approximately 70 
cents per acre, the last of these being 106 acres, acquired in 1725, 
four acres of which comprise the grant to Hilltown Baptist 
Church. 



250 HILLTOWX BAPTIST CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS 

Elder Thomas was a member of Montgomery Baptist Church 
and labored there as a leader and instructor and between the 
years 1725 and 1737 conducted religious meetings in neighboring 
homes and the open air. In 1737 he decided that the growth 
of the community necessitated a meeting-house in closer proxim- 
ity and he gave them four acres of forest land and proceeded to 
erect a meeting-house upon it. Some say it was of stone, but I 
believe it to have been of logs, and the laity doubtless assisted 
him in clearing the land and hewing the logs for its construction. 

Those of us who know the beauty of this location — the broad 
expanse of beautiful valley and the charm of the landscape — 
can find in the benefactor an inherent love for nature. This 
we find displayed in his selection of a hollow tree for his first 
pulpit. This edifice remained until 1781, during which time it 
was not an independent organization, but a branch of Mont- 
gomery Church. 

The useful life of Rev. William Thomas came to a close 
October 6, 1767, and he was succeeded in his labors at Hilltown 
by his son, the Rev. John Thomas, and we find this appropriate 
testimony to his piety on the stone slab over his grave in Hill- 
town Baptist Cemetery: 

"In yonder meeting-house I spent my breath, 
Now silent mouldering here I lie in death. 
These silent lips shall yet awaive and then declare 
A dread Amen to truths 1 uttered here." 

His will, dated December 11, 1753, and recorded in Will 
Book 2, page 315, contains the following: 

"I, William Thomas, of the Township of Hilltown, Count>' of Bucks, 
Yeoman, stricken in years, do make and ordain this my last will and 
testament. 

I give and bequeath unto the inhabitants of Hilltown Township forever 
the meeting-house erected by myself, together with the grave-yard in which 
to bury their dead, and all others, far and near, black or white. 

Such as guilty of self murder only I reject and deny to be buried in the 
grave-yard or any other part of my land. 

I give liberty to the said inhabitants to enlarge the said grave-yard as 
much as occasion may demand, the same to be laid out and bounded as follows: 

To begin at Henry Lewis' corner post, thence South-east some what 
farther than the spring or well which belongeth already to the said meeting 
house 35 perches, thence north-east 20 perches; thence north-west 35 perches 
to a white oak sapling by the Great Road (now Bethlehem Pike), thence 



HILLTOWN BAPTIST CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS 251 

along said road south west to place of beginning, containing by estimation 4 
acres of land & some perches. 

I forbid any timber to be cut on said lot for any use save to repair the 
meeting house, grave-yard, etc. 

The said meeting and lot of land I give unto the inhabitants of said 
township forever to bury their dead in and school their children (I also allow 
others to send their children there) and to perform christian worship — but 
under the foregoing and following directions and restrictions, viz: — 

I allow all tolerated ministers to preach funeral sermons either in the 
grave yard or Meeting house. Papists and heretics I reject and altogether 
deny them any grant. 

My will is that the Baptist hold religious services in said meeting house 
as often as possible, but not any one that deny the Nicene Creed. 

I allow the Presbyterians to preach in said house, provided they hold the 
Westminster profession of faith, likewise Independents. If it so happen 
that any of them will not swear allegiance to a Protestant King, such I deny 
and disallow altogether. 

Papists and Moravians I allow not to preach in said house, nor any 
other strangers let them appear ever so Godly until they are well known to be 
bound in the faith. 

I will that catechizing children be kept up in said meeting house forever, 
by orthodox catechism, and in order that my will be observed I constitute 
and depute my 5 sons, Thomas, John, Ephraim, Manaset and William to 
assist and take proper care therein, and I direct them in their wills to depute 
some honest religious man in place of each of them to answer the care and 
trust I have reposed in them." 

At a regular business meeting at Montgomery Church, 
November 10, 1781, the following resolution was adopted: 

"The Church of Jesus Christ baptized on profession of faith and meeting 
in Montgomery aforesaid, taking into consideration ye distant situation of 
many of its members residing in Hilltown township and other good causes 
and them there unto moving — do agree and conclude, that the following per- 
sons being of regular standing, and in full unison and communion in this 
Church shall be dismissed from us for the purpose of being constituted a 
regular Gospel Church in Hilltown aforesaid, to hold and occupy the Meeting 
house now pertaining to them with us in the Township aforesaid — viz., and 
that when they shall be constituted, they will be fully dismissed from us. 
And we pray they may be abundantly blessed of the Lord, made a fruitful 
nursery and a Mother in Israel. 

Thom.\s Davis Christopher Wells 

Isaac James Henry Harris 

Peter Evans Joseph Griffiths 

Elders of Montgomery Church." 

There were 48 members constituting the first organized Bap- 
tist Church of Hilltown, viz.: Enoch Thomas, John Brittain, 



252 HILLTOWN BAPTIST CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS 

Thomas Mathias, Rebecca Pugh, Evan Pugh, Manasseth 
Thomas, James Morgan. Rachel Hardy, Alice Mathias, Moses 
Aaron, Job Thomas, Rebecca Thomas, John Mathias, Mary 
Thomas, Sarah Thomas, Alice Lunn, Rev. John Thomas, Sarah 
Thomas, Sr., Elizabeth Mathias, Sarah Thomas, Nathan Evans, 
Nathaniel Brittain, Margaret Jones, John Brittain, Ann Young, 
Hannah Cosner, Joseph Brittain, Abagail Brittain, Rebecca 
Rowland, Rachel Morris, Mary Eaton, Mary Nelson, Thomas 
Jones, Mary Riley, Sarah Thomas, Mary Griffith, Margaret 
Jones, Eleanor Thomas, Elizabeth Vastine, Gwently Morris, 
Anna Brittain, Amos Thomas, Ruth Thomas, Isaac Freeman, 
Sarah Parker, Hannah Mathias, Elijah Davis, Elizabeth Davis. 

The church edifice erected in 1737 was replaced in 1781 under 
the new organization by a structure of stone and the Rev. John 
Thomas (son of Rev. William Thomas) became its first minister, 
remaining until the infirmities of age required his resignation 
in 1786. His pastorate was a successful one for in the first four 
years he had added 54 new members to the congregation. He 
died October 30, 1790. 

March 26, 1789, a call was extended to the Rev. James 
McLaughlin, of Dorchester county, Maryland, he serving until 
1804. A charter of incorporation was drawn for Hilltown 
church and congregation during his administration in the year 
1796 and a seal adopted with the inscription of a dove bearing 
an olive branch the device Hilltown Church. 

November 24, 1804, at the request of the trustees, Joseph 
Mathias was asked to take charge of the churches at Hilltown. 
Although he was not licensed to preach until January 21, 1805, 
he continued to serve until his death in 1851. 

Now we come to the organization of the Hilltown Baptist 
Church, at Nace's Corner. As these churches were under the 
direction of the same officers and presided over by the same 
ministers they bore the distinction of the "Upper Church" 
(Nace's Corner) and the "Lower Church" (Hilltown) and are 
referred to as such in the records. 

In 1750 John Kelly donated an acre of ground for the estab- 
lishment of a church three miles northeast of the Lower Church, 
called the "Upper End," and in his will recorded February 22, 
1760, Will Book 3, page 15, he refers to this "One acre where 
the meeting-house now is" which would indicate that a meeting- 



HILLTOWN BAPTIST CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS 253 

house was erected upon the lot, and no doubt both Rev. William 
and Rev. John Thomas preached there, for there is no record 
that these two churches were ever independent of each other. 

By resolution adopted March 29, 1802, plans were made to 
build a new meeting-house on the lot at Nace's Corner, dimen- 
sions to be 35 by 28 feet, wall to be raised so high that it will 
afford a gallery in one end, and having the pulpit placed in the 
other end, to have two doors, one in the end under the gallery 
and the other in the front of the house. To be ceiled with 
boards on a flat ceiling, the house to be wainscoted, 5 feet high. 
The old meeting-house was then demolished and the new one 
begun April 12, 1802. Phillip Miller & John Mathias were the 
carpenters. The building was completed and paid for November 
9, 1802, and was over-subscribed. Cost of construction being 
$858.19. The ledger account of this transaction is very inter- 
esting when compared with the cost of labor and material today. 
This church was erected under the pastorate of the Rev. James 
McLaughlin, and during the first administration of these organ- 
ized churches and schools. May 1st was the day for their annual 
settlements. Between the years 1796 and 1802, a new church 
was erected, a school established, a parsonage erected, and the 
lower meeting-house remodeled. 

HiLLTOWX Baptist School — You have observed in the will 
of the Rev. William Thomas this clause, "The said meeting- 
house I give to the inhabitants of Hilltown to school their chil- 
dren." Since I have been unable to find any records of a school 
building erected during the life of the Rev. William Thomas, I 
believe the above clause would indicate that the meeting-house 
was used for school purposes as was customary in those times. 

In 1796 application was made to purchase the school lot. In 
Deed Book 29, page 461, dated August 5, 1797, we find that the 
following trustees of Hilltown Baptists, viz., Rev. James Mc- 
Laughlin, Manasseth Thomas, Griffith Owen, Isaac Morris, 
Benjamin Morris, Benjamin Griffith and Thomas Mathias, pur- 
chased from Thomas Jones 30 acres of land adjoining the church 
property for the sum of S400, and on February 6, 1797, the 
board of "trustees drew a code of regulations" governing said 
school as follows: 



254 HILLTOWN BAPTIST CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS 

Sec. 1 — Two or more persons shall be appointed as managers from among 
the trustees annually to superintend the school. 

Sec. 2 — The said managers shall be satisfied with the moral character of 
any master as well as his abilities in literature before he is received as a teacher. 

Sec. 3 — In consequence of a general complaint among the employers 
respecting bad conduct in the master, the managers have power to prevent 
his continuing his term, and he to receive payment only for what time he has 
been in service of his employers. 

Sec. 4 — He is instructed to use no partiality among the scholars, other- 
wise he will expose himself to the aversion and contempt of the employers 
and scholars, but to govern them with gentle insinuation and sovereign 
delight. Passed into a law Feb. 6, 1797. Signed by James McLaughlin, 
Manasseth Thomas, Isaac Morris, Grififith Owen, Benjamin Morris; Thomas 
Mathias, secretary. 

This paper bears the newly adopted seal of the Hilltown 
Baptist Church. 

As there was not sufficient funds in the hands of the trustees 
to pay for the lot when purchased, title remained in the hands of 
Thomas Jones (who had purchased same from William Mus- 
grave) until January 29, 1798, when title was vested in the 
directors and this school existed for 80 years under the direction 
of the Hilltown Baptist Church. 

There seems to have been a small house on this lot when 
purchased for on July 29, 1798, it was agreed to build a new 
house adjoining the old one and attached to the west end of the 
old building, the dimensions to be 17 by 22 feet and two stories 
high, with an entry six feet wide through the first story and one 
room, second floor to have two rooms and to be constructed of 
frame. The cost was £126 18s 6d. This became known as the 
parsonage lot and doubtless was the home of the Rev. James 
McLaughlin for a portion of his term, for the church records 
indicate it was rented after his pastorate. The Rev. Joseph 
Mathias having occupied his home near Chalfont. 

That the executive ability and the careful administration of 
the first trustees of Hilltown Baptist Church played an important 
part in the life of the church and community is plainly seen 
in the records now in our possession, and to such men as Thomas 
Mathias, merchant, who was secretary of the board of trustees 
during the "business administration," whose pioneer system of 
bookkeeping compares favorably with that of today, and to the 
Rev. Joseph Mathias, who was president of the trustees for 



HILLTOWX BAPTIST CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS 255 

many years and at the close of whose pastorate a charter was 
granted by the State of Pennsylvania to Hilltown Church, thus 
making secure for posterity the bequest of the founder, Rev. 
William Thomas. 

Among other important members of this church was Daniel 
Pugh, who came to Hilltown in 1756 and married in 1760 Rebecca, 
daughter of Rev. John Thomas. John Pugh, son of Daniel, 
was active in affairs of Lower Hilltown Church, and is frequently 
mentioned in the records. He filled many offices of trust, such 
as Recorder of Deeds, member of the Legislature, 1800-1804, 
member of Congress, 1804-1808, and was many years Justice of 
the Peace. 

Among prominent persons interred in the adjoining cemetery 
are the patriarch and founder, Rev. William Thomas, and his 
five sons, and his daughter, Gwently, who married Morris Morris, 
prominent in public and religious affairs, and Ann, who married 
Stephen Rowland; also Benjamin, son of Morris and Gwently 
Morris, the well known clock maker and Sheriff of this county, 
1830-1832; and the Honorable Mathias Morris, a member of 
Congress in 1839, who was a great-grandson of the founder. 
There are many others of importance whose names appear on 
these records, but some are buried in the adjoining graveyard, 
and the inscriptions of these crumbling field stones can be seen 
on record in the Bucks County Historical Society. As I wan- 
dered over this historic spot, I found the spring mentioned in 
the will of the founder 190 years ago trickling along through what 
remains of the once thickly forested tract and as it flowed it 
seemed to me to echo the words of the Poet Tennyson, "Men 
may come and men may go, but I go on forever." 



Dolington, Past and Present* 

By BARCLAY EYRE, DOLINGTON, PA. 

(Doylestown Meeting, January 21, 1928) 

PREVIOUS to 1800, "Dolinton," as it was then called, 
boasted of but three houses. The first, a log house, built 
by Peter Dolin, stood upon the site now occupied by the 
store owned by P. A. Leland, and kept by Robert L. Balderston. 
A portion of the old log house still remains, as a part of the 
present building. The second, a frame house, on the site of 
H. C. Hellings' residence, was thought to have been built by 
Dolin also, but occupied by Benjamin Canby. The third house, 
the one now used as a hotel, was built by William Jackson, in 
1800, and used as a store for about 28 years. Oliver Hough 
kept store there for a number of years. The fourth house, or 
shanty, was built soon after this, on the opposite side of the road 
from Dennis Hogan's residence. It was known as the "Black 
Horse," and was occupied several years by James and Patty 
CuUens, who sold cakes and beer, for a living. About this time 
a tannery was established near Joseph Lambert's residence. It 
was run by Joseph Lownes. Another house was built just north 
of this, in which lived Paul Judge, an eccentric school-master. 
He married Peter Dolin's daughter. 

During the next thirty years "Dolinton" made rapid progress 
in many respects. It stretched itself out upon the three high- 
ways leading from Dolin's corner, until it reached almost its 
present limits. The Post Office, formerly called "Lower Make- 
field," was changed to "Dolington" in 1827. Whether the "g" 
was inserted by accident, or for the purpose of adding dignity 
to the title, is not known. 

About this time, William Taylor, better designated to the 
present generation as Robert Eastburn's grandfather, built the 
store now occupied by Robert Balderston (Dolin's), and for 
several years, with his sons, conducted a flourishing business 
there. He died in 1831, (and his four sons died near the same 

* This paper was first read at the Dohngton school-house, in the interest 
of the Hbrary, December 30, 1881, by Barclay Eyre, from information gathered 
from Samuel Buck-man, Benjamin P. Burroughs, Robert M. Croasdale and 
from other sources. 



DOLIXGTON, PAST AND PKESEXT 257 

time), leaving a widow and two daughters, who sold out to William 
Evan?, and removed to Newtown. 

The tailoring business of John Headley was very flourishing 
about 1830 to 1835. He occupied the house now owned by 
Charles Janney, and employed eight or ten hands. The coach 
and wagon factory of Oliver P. Ely and James Briggs, established 
in 1833, also did an extensive business. They were succeeded 
by the present occupant, Isaac Randall. The smithing estab- 
lishment of Seth Davis, on the corner now oAvned by Frederic 
Griscom, gave the town more ring than all the rest, he having 
three or four apprentices all the time. 

In my boyhood days, the old wheelwright shop across the 
way, on the H. C. Hellings property-, was run by John R. Bitting, 
who later removed to Doylestown. He was at one time our 
village Postmaster and kept the Post Office in the lean-to adjoin- 
ing the dwelling. The mails, at that time, A\ere brought from 
Philadelphia by stage coach. 

The period embraced in the first forty years of the present 
century, appears to have been one of great mental activity and 
business enterprise for this small community. Dolington, in 
those days, was a business and literary center of no mean impor- 
tance. People came from the surrounding country, many miles 
to patronize its various industries. The enterprising spirit of 
its inhabitants was shown by a meeting held at Trump & Saterth- 
waite's store, in 1836, to "take steps toward improving the side- 
walks." A committee for the purpose was appointed, and the 
farmers of the neighborhood hauled the gravel. 

In the Fall of 1833 the far-famed Dolington lyceum was first 
organized in the old school-house near Friends' Meeting. Could 
those old walls now re-echo the words that once thrilled many a 
heart, how eagerly would we turn a listening ear. It was there 
the young ideas of our grandfathers, our fathers, and many of 
the present generation, were "taught how to shoot," both under 
the teacher's rod, and beneath the burning eloquence of many a 
hotly contested debate. 

The old school-house, belonging to Makefield Meeting of 
Friends, was built about 1830, under the supervision of Samuel 
Buckman and Jesse Lloyd. The one which it replaced was a 
log building, and had been in use as a school-house, probably 
seventy years. Previous to 1850, the school was conducted 



258 DOLINGTON, PAST AND PRESENT 

under the care of the Preparative Meeting, the last committee 
in charge being Samuel Buckman, Jonathan Paxson, Preston 
Eyre and Samuel C. Cadwallader. During their term of service 
the school was turned over to the school board of the township, 
and became a public school, with Isaac Randall as director. 

In 1859 the new school-house at Dolington was built, and 
first used for school purposes that Fall, with Annie E. Phillips 
as teacher of the primary grades, on the first floor, and Sarah M. 
Fell as teacher of the older pupils, on the second floor, the writer 
being one of these. 

In the "old school-house" the intelligent citizens of the com- 
munity were wont to meet for the promotion of all public enter- 
prises. There, on the 16th of March, 1816, a "respectable 
number of persons assembled for the purpose of consulting on 
the practicability of establishing a library." At an adjourned 
meeting held 9th of 5th month, 1816. the committee previously 
appointed, reported having obtained subscriptions to 31 shares 
at $5 each. They thereupon adopted a constitution and elected 
the following ofificers: Directors — Charles Buckman, Thomas 
Betts, Benjamin Taylor, Jr., Abram Slack, Jr., and Jonathan 
Paxson; Treasurer — Charles Cadwallader; Secretary- — Mahlon K. 
Taylor. 

Of the original members, one is still living, Samuel Buckman, 
now of Newtown township. Several others have died within 
a few vears, whose names are familiar to us: Jonathan Paxson, 
Mahlon K. Taylor, Thom.as Betts, Robert Longshore, Benjamin 
Taylor, Benjamin Beans, William Cadwallader, and Richard 
Janney. 

Among those who bought shares early in the history of the 
library, we notice the name of Joseph H. Yardley, Esq., in 1820; 
Seneca Beans and Mahlon K. Knowles, in 1824; Benjamin Bur- 
roughs, in 1828, and Robert S. Trego, and Charles B. Hill, about 
the same time. Josiah B. Slack's name appears some years later. 

Of those who are still members of the Library Company, 
the name of William Lloyd appears as Secretary and Director 
in 1837; and Samuel C. Cadwallader in 1840. 

When first established, the library was kept in a room over 
the store of Oliver or Phebe Hough, now the hotel property. 
In 1829, it was moved to a room in the second story of William 
Taylor's store (now Robert Balderston's), where it remained, 



DOLINGTON, PAST AND PRESENT 259 

with the exception of two years, 1839 and 1840 (when it was 
kept over the old school-house), till 1858, when the present 
library building was erected, and the books removed thereto in 
Benjamin Lloyd's market-wagon, the writer of this paper assist- 
ing in the moving. In 1838 the tailor shop of Charles Howell 
was built by the Directors of the library, at a cost of $65, but, 
for some unexplained reason, was never used by the library. 

Addendum, 1904 — During the Summer and Fall of 1904, the 
books of Makefield Library were disposed of, Philadelphia parties 
purchasing those of value for $60. The balance were sold at 
public sale, together with the building, furniture and sundries, 
amounting in all to about $115. One hundred dollars of this 
was placed in trust with the Bucks County Trust Company, 
the income thereof to be paid annually to the teacher in charge 
of Dolington public school, on certificate attested by the local 
Director, said income to be used in the purchase of books for the 
Dolington public school library. 



Reminiscing Around an Ancestral Fireplace and 
Bake Oven 

By MRS. WARREN S. ELY, DOVLESTOWN, PA. 
(Doylestown Meeting, January 19, 1929) 

WILL you go with me to \A'estern Pennsylvania and in an 
ancestral home join me in a noon-day dinner cooked and 
baked in an ancestral fireplace? A description of the 
farm house seems necessary to better illustrate my story. The 
house, a stone one, is built against a bank or terrace. The first 
floor consisted of a very large kitchen, living room, parlor and a 
large hall which opened into the garden yard; the second floor 
contained the sleeping rooms and a large hall which opened into 
the yard and flower garden. 

The fireplace around which this story centers occupied all 
the kitchen end except the space occupied by the door which led 
into the living room, the. chimney furnished a fireplace for both 
rooms, it was constructed of stone throughout, including the 
hearth. No andirons were used in these fireplaces; they were 
very large and at all times contained a huge log or stump which 
was rolled against the partition-wall and buried in the hot 
embers of a previous log, always af ording hot embers for every 
purpose. These chimneys were natural ventilators, never once 
do I recall odors of cooking emitting from them, but rather do I 
recall watching the coils of tobacco smoke as they wended their 
way in beautiful rings into the chimney. 

All of the cooking utensils were of iron and all had legs, includ- 
ing the pots used on the crane, some had iron covers including 
the bake pans. We \^ill watch the old Swedish cook while she 
prepares dinner. She has in the pot hanging on the crane part 
of a large ham and with it she cooks cabbage and potatoes. In 
front of the fireplace stands a table scrubbed until it is as clean as 
the dripping snow. On this table is a bread-board and on this 
she rolls out a biscuit and scores it with a knife. She has pre- 
viously raked to one corner of the fireplace some hot coals and 
over this has placed an iron pan on legs having an iron cover. 
She removes the cover and lifting the dough-board containing 
the biscuit she slides it carefully into the pan and covers it. She 



REMINISCING AROUND AN ANCESTRAL FIREPLACE 261 

then removed from the other side of the fireplace a similar pan 
containing baked apples. All of this time the flames seemed to 
envelop the three-legged pot hanging upon the crane as it 
intermingled its steam with its odor and all vanished in vapor 
up the chimney. As she pulled the crane with the hook, Great- 
grandma removed the biscuit from the pan and broke them 
where they Avere scored and then journeyed to the cave cellar 
to bring a pan of milk and the delicious farm-made butter, and 
dinner was served. 

Great-grandma's bake-oven was across the yard from the house 
and was constructed of brick. It had an arched roof, a chimney 
at one end and an iron door at the other. On bake-days a fire 
was built in the oven and when the bread was ready the wood 
and embers were removed and the baking proceeded. 

I recall seeing the old Swedish maid putting the bread to 
raise in a wooden bowl and after covering it with part of a home 
spun blanket, she placed it in front of the fireplace. When the 
bread was ready for the loaves, two-inch planks about six feet 
long by twelve inches wide were placed on the dough-table and 
as each loaf was moulded it was placed on these planks, each a 
reasonable distance apart. These planks were then placed on 
the hearth. When the bread was ready for the oven the planks 
containing the loaves were carried across the yard, placed in the 
oven and carefully watched for a time to determine that the 
temperature was not too great; if it proved so to be, the door 
was left ajar a few minutes. When the bread was ready to be 
removed from the oven a large basket, lined with a white cloth, 
was carried to the bake oven and each loaf removed with a long 
handled scoop (peel) and placed in the basket, after which the 
boards were scrubbed with lye water and placed in the sun to 
dry. 

During festive occasions and before Christmas, a hot oven 
always contained mince pies sufficient to last most of the winter, 
and could always be found on grandma's swing shelves in the 
cave cellar. Mince meat made at butchering time and packed 
in stone crocks covered with several thicknesses of paper tied 
down with a string could be found with the crocks of lard on the 
spring house floor. 

We will wander away from the fireplace of cookery to the 
one across the threshold in the living room, for a long evening 



262 REMINISCING AROUND AN ANCESTRAL FIREPLACE 

before a big blazing fire, all that remains of an apple tree stump. 
Every member of the family gathers there, and the stranger 
within the gates. The fireplace is of such monstrous proportions 
it can accommodate only in circle formation all who are there 
assembled for evening worship, which always included scripture 
reading and a prayer. We children always broke the circle 
when the over-indulgent farm hand Mike, brought a pan of 
butternuts and walnuts from the wood-house, and Greening, 
Winesap and Northern Spy apples from the cave, and some one 
raked over hot coals to one corner of the fireplace where we 
popped corn in an iron pan with a cover, then to bed in Great 
Aunt's bed, after having assisted digestion by practicing the art 
of climbing the steps leading up to it. I shall ever be grateful 
to dear auntie for removing the folds of the feather bed from 
my face as I sank into what seemed to be utter oblivion. 

I have lived to see, first, a brick industry and now a railroad 
center with huge car shops completely smothering every evidence 
of this old home, do you wonder that I say: 

"Backward! turn backward! oh time in your flight," 
And bring me this sanctuary with its fireplace to light. 




APRONS OR DEEP ROOMS AND LIME ROOMS 



Shown in the background where the soluble impurities are first precipitated. In the fore- 
ground are the long shallow vats or lime rooms, where advanced evaporation 

the sulphate of lime, the ftiost common impurity. Underneath is a line of 
perforated brine pipes. 




EVAPORATING VATS 

"Salt Rooms" or vats where final evaporation takes place. 



Making Solar Salt 

By HORACE M. MANN, DOVLESTOWN, PA. 
(Doylestown Meeting, January 19, 1929) 

WHEN Doctor Mercer published a small leaflet or Museum 
Guide in 1927, under the subject of Food, subdivision 
Mineral Food, he regretted that we had nothing in the 
way of tools, implements, machines, etc., to illustrate the acquir- 
ing or preparing one of the only two Mineral Foods used by 
man — Salt. We had tried repeatedly to secure something to 
fill this gap in our collections, but always failed and it was very 
gratifying to us in 1926, when Mr. Thomas K. Gale, of Syracuse, 
New York, offered to give us a complete set of everything used 
by him in the rendering of salt from brine. 

Salt has played a great part in the domestic economy, political 
history, commerce and wealth of man. The first trade routes 
were established for the traffic in salt; nations have fought for 
the possession of salt mines, wells and springs; Venice owed much 
of her wealth to the revenues from salt lagoons; Marco Polo 
mentions blocks of salt stamped with the king's seal used as cur- 
rency in an Oriental country; New York state built the Erie 
Canal, to which the state owed so much of its early progress, 
largely from revenues from the salt springs. It has played a 
part in religion and because of its preservative qualities has been 
the symbol of eternity and incorruption. Christ called His 
disciples the ''salt of the earth," meaning, no doubt, that in them 
lay the preserving of the Christian religion. But after all the 
principal and fundamental sphere has been in the domestic life 
of man in the seasoning and preserving of his food. 

Salt is a constitutent of all blood and is present in every part 
of the human frame as is shown by the tears and perspiration. 
It is unquestionably essential to many forms of plant life and 
we may assume that it is vital to animal life through the instinct 
of wild animals to travel long distances to reach salt springs or 
"licks." On the other hand, as certain primitive tribes do not 
use salt with their food it is not absolutely necessary to human 
existence although these people may secure a certain amount 
of salt by eating their food raw or cooked in such a way that the 



264 MAKING SOLAR SALT 

natural salts are not destroyed and they may be still, in a sense, 
salt consumers. All other people of whatever race, clime or 
degree of civilization they may be, use salt in a pure form as a 
seasoner of food, and as such has been used far behind the dawn 
of history for the most ancient records contain no mention of 
its first use as a condiment, but, on the contrary, speak of its 
use as accepted and commonplace. 

It is such a common thing in our life that we fail to consider 
it even as Shakespeare's King Lear did. Not only as a seasoner 
of food is it important, but as a preserving agent. Until the 
fairly recent introduction of refrigeration and refrigerator railroad 
cars, the only method of preserving and shipping food, especially 
meat and fish, was by packing in salt. Every one remembers 
the late fall butchering in nearly every farm and a good many 
village and town homes and the pickling in salt of the shoulders, 
hams, spareribs, etc., of beef and hog to last the family all 
through the winter. But the domestic preserving was small 
compared with the commercial side where western meat was 
shipped to the big centers of the east packed in salt; eastern 
fish shipped west in the same way; armies fed on salt meat; 
ships provisioned for long voyages. It was not until the War 
of 1914 or a little earlier that "cold storage" finally crowded 
out the use of salt for these purposes. 

Enough for the importance of salt! Every reference book 
refers to the value of salt, from the Bible down. 

Fortunately for man the distribution of salt is wide, for 
there are few nooks or corners of the earth where salt is not 
found, either in mines of rock-salt, salt incrustations on the sur- 
face, salt in solution in salt lakes and brine springs and lastly 
in the sea itself. 

Books could be and have been written about the various 
methods of acquiring and refining salt from these various forms 
of deposit, but I will confine my paper to the salt or brine springs 
or wells and particularly to those wells and the methods of 
refining of Mr. Thomas K. Gale on the east bank of Lake Onon- 
daga near Syracuse in New York State. 

These brine springs, in the heart of the Iroquois country, 
were first noted by the Jesuit, Father Lalemont, in 1645, and 
other Jesuit missionaries showed the Indians how to make salt 
by boiling a kettleful of the brine over a fire as related in the 



MAKING SOLAR SALT 265 

"Relation" of Father Lemoyne, who went on a mission to the 
Indians in 1654. From this time the Indians refined salt in 
small quantities and sent it, with fish and skins, to the trading 
posts. As the tide of immigration flowed into this section the 
early settlers bargained for the right to make salt on the ground 
on one side of Onondaga Lake by the treaty of Fort Stanwix 
in 1788. In 1797 the State of New York purchased the salt 
reservations along the lake from the Indians and rented certain 
tracts to producers. The systematic manufacture of salt was 
thus started and the works have been in operation up to July, 
1926, when Mr. Gale, the last operator, shut down his plant for 
good. Millions of bushels of salt, netting the state an immense 
revenue, were produced, for a long time almost monopolizing the 
salt trade of the country. \'arious methods were used here, 
but the two most important were boiling and solar evaporation. 

In 1797, the industry was fairly well started by the boiling 
method, but the large commercial plants did not start until 
about 1841 and the father of Mr. Gale started in 1851 with both 
the boiling and solar evaporation methods used. In time the 
evaporation in the sun superseded the boiling method and 
toward the end had entirely crowded the former method out. 

The state owned, by purchase from the Indians, all the brine 
wells from which they pumped the brine by means, first of large 
windlass chain and bucket hand pumps and later by steam piston 
pumps, to the various operators who had engaged to manu- 
facture salt. The operators paid for this by a tax on every 
bushel of salt sold, which was carefully checked both by the 
operator's clerk and by a salt inspector. 

This brine was received in large reservoirs or cisterns which 
form a necessary part of each plant. In the plants for making 
solar salt a large amount of open space is required. Here are 
erected acres of shallow wooden "covers" or vats open to the 
sun and set upon rows of posts from three to eight feet above 
the ground. Mr. Gale's plant covered about 20 acres. From 
the receiving cistern the brine flows by gravity down to or is 
pumped up to the first series of vats called "aprons," "deep 
rooms" or "decks," where the brine spreads over a large surface 
dropping the most soluble impurity of the brine, oxide of iron, 
in the form of brownish-red powder, crusts and lumps called 
there "bitterns," probably from the very bitter taste. From 



266 MAKING SOLAR SALT 

these "decks" the brine iiows very slowly over a series of long 
shallow vats where further evaporation drops other impurities 
such as lime, etc. From the lowest corner of these vats toward 
which the brine drains are cut several circular holes by means 
of an auger with a screw bit fitted with an adjustable extension 
arm \\ith a cutting bit which circumscribes and cuts a circular 
hole. These holes are cut to fit the outside diameter of a wooden 
pentstock to drain off the brine to the wooden pipes leading to 
the final evaporation vats or to drain off the brine to under- 
neath cistern when it rains so that the process of evaporation 
will not be retarded by the addition of the rain water. From 
these underneath cisterns the brine must be pumped back again 
to the shallow vats after the weather clears. The pentstocks 
fitted in these holes are stopped with a big wooden plug or cork 
shaped very much like the round glass stoppers in the old- 
fashioned perfume or toilet water bottles. Some of these pent- 
stocks lead to the wooden brine pipes that convey the brine to 
the vats for final evaporation. These pipes are cut into sections 
of from five to twelve feet long with a hole 5-7-9-12 inches in 
diameter bored by means of a pod auger in the same manner 
wooden pump trees are bored in Bucks County. The boring is 
done from both ends. One end is trimmed to a blunt point by a 
reaming tool composed of a plug that fits in the bored hole of the 
log and two extended arms that fit over the outside of the log 
with two diagonally set blades which trim off the outside of the 
log as the tool is turned in about the same manner that the older 
type of pencil sharpener worked. The other end of the log is 
belled by means of a similar tool, also with a plug that, however, 
is pushed farther in the log, with a single tapering diagonal 
arm set with a blade that enters the already bored hole and 
trims out the wood something like the scraper does in the modern 
ice cream dipper. The blades on both of these tools are adjust- 
able so as to cut correspondingly that the pointed end of one 
log might fit tight in the belled end of the log ahead. The logs 
in our collection are yellow pine but the favorite used was 
"Pepperidge" or the Sour Gu.m (Nyssa Sylvatica). It takes 
thousands of wooden sections to carry the brine of a plant. Mr. 
Gale thought he had about 19 miles laid. As they get encrusted 
with salt inside and pretty well covered with it outside from 
leaks and drippings from the vats above they do not rot away 




EVAPORATING VATS 

Another view of "Salt Rooms" where final evaporation takes place. 




HORSE-DRAWN RAKE AND ANCHOR OR SCRAPER 

To draw salt to the edge of the vat for loading, with the anchor or pulley set on edge for horse 

to draw at right angles to the line of scraping. The covers of vats are shown 

in background. 



MAKING SOLAR SALT 267 

and look as if they would last forever. Many of the logs get 
so crusted with salt inside that they stop up entirely when they 
are cleaned out with a long handle with an oval blade set at right 
angles to the handle like a long handled oven scraper and a 
chisel pointed iron rod. 

The vats to which these wooden pipes carry the brine are 
shallow frames about 6-8 inches deep and 16 x 18 feet in size 
set up, as I said before, on posts 3-7 feet high. In a single plant 
are many hundreds of these vats, covering acres of ground, set 
side by side along narrow "streets," only wide enough to permit 
a two-wheeled cart to pass along. Mr. Gale and I went around 
the plant in a four-wheel buggy of the cut under type as no 
other four-wheeled vehicle could make the turn at street inter- 
sections. It was interesting to notice Mr. Gale's old horse, 
which he had used for this purpose alone for over 15 years, make 
the turn at these intersections. He had gone around so much 
that he knew exactly what to do without any guidance from 
his driver other than a simple pull of the rein to direct him when 
we wanted to turn. Instead of turning at once in a semi-circle, 
he would keep on almost across the intersecting street, then turn 
at right angles, cutting the inside front wheel under the body and 
pivoting the rear wheels without touching the vats on either side. 

Each vat is covered by a sloping roof with the ridge pole 
parallel to the front made of unplaned boards about 8 inches 
wide with a similar board nailed over each joint to still further 
prevent rain water seeping through any cracks that might occur 
or develop. This roof is movable. On each side of the vat, 
running at right angles to the front, is a wooden track made by 
two flat parallel strips about two inches wide divided by a third 
strip which rises about two inches higher between the flat strips. 
These tracks extend back of the vat a distance as great as the 
side of the vat. On each of these tracks are placed two wooden 
spools or rollers with flat sides eight inches in diameter and 
about one inch thick connected by a spindle an inch thick and 
about two inches long. The rollers are placed about the width 
of the vat apart and on them is placed the vat roof by means of a 
track along each side which is like the track on the vat except 
that it is inverted. By means of these rollers the roof may be 
run quickly and easily oft' the vat and back on the extension of 
the track in the rear. During the day and even at night when 



268 MAKING SOLAR SALT 

the weather is clear these covers are run off the vat so that 
evaporation may go on unchecked, but at the first sign of rain, a 
bell, hanging at the top of a high scaffolding or on a pole in the 
center of each plant, is rung and every man, woman and child 
on the place hastily drops whatever else they are doing and ri sh 
to push the "covers" over the vats. The presence of fresh water 
in the evaporating "pickle" is very disastrous to a crop and every 
precaution is taken to guard against a fall of rain into the vats. 

As these rollers sometimes break, a heavy wooden handle 
about six feet long with a slightly upturned blunt iron point is 
used to raise the roof high enough to take out or replace a roller. 
This handle has a heavy board two inches thick and fifteen 
inches long swiveled to it a short distance back of the point at 
right angles to the handle, something like the modern can 
opener, which acts as a fulcrum in raising the roof. 

Various tools are used in w^orking over the salt now forming 
in the vats. The Spud, a chisel-shaped iron blade three inches 
square on a long wooden handle, is used to break up crusts, 
bitterns, etc., in the spring before starting operations. The 
Breaker Spud, a narrow iron blade. 12 inches long and an inch 
wide, set at right angles on a long wooden handle, is used to 
break up the crusts on the salt as it forms. The Leveling Rake, 
much like a garden rake except that each iron tooth has a round 
iron button on the point, to level oft" surface of salt after using 
the Breaker Spud or after some of the salt has been taken out 
to the storehouse. The Muddle Rake, a wooden blade, set at 
right angles to the handle, edged with a narrow iron blade so 
that it will not gouge the floor of the vat or scratch up splinters, 
is used to clean off the last layer of salt in the vats in the fall 
before closing down for the season. Finally the Hand Rake, a 
blunt iron blade 14 inches long and 4 inches wide, set at right 
angles on a wooden handle and the Horse Rake, a larger iron 
blade, 3 feet long and 10 inches wude with two wooden handles 
like cultivator handles attached to the top, both used to pull 
the salt to the side of the vat in taking up a "crop." The Horse 
Rake has two chains running from each end of the rake and 
meeting in an iron ring. A rope is fastened to this ring passing 
through an iron pulley or "trolley" set on the street side of the 
vat so that the horse can pull up the "street" at right angles to 



MAKING SOLAR SALT 269 

the direction the rake is being operated in pulHng all the salt to 
this "street" or loading side of the vat. 

A crop now being formed in the vats it is worked over with 
the Breaker Spud and the Leveling Rake and then drawn to 
the street side of the vat by the Hand or Horse Rake. Here it is 
shoveled into wooden tubs about the size of a bushel basket. 
These tubs have a six-inch peg at each side for a handle. On 
the bottom and about half way up the sides, holes one-half inch 
in diameter are bored so that the water, shoveled up with the 
salt, will drain off. The tubs are set on the curb of the vats 
until thoroughly drained and the salt is emptied into a large, 
heavy, two-wheeled cart with high flaring sides to be hauled 
to the storehouse. At Mr. Gale's plant this storehouse was 
built against the side of a high bank with the second floor of the 
house on the level with the top of the bank so that the carts 
could be driven into this second story and the salt dumped down 
a wide chute unto the main floor below. 

The salt was screened for sizes through a circular iron frame 
work covered with different size wire mesh. Some table salt 
was made by grinding the coarser product between a heavy 
stone roller running over a stone base, both set in a wooden 
frame and run by means of a steam engine. Most of this com- 
mercial salt was shipped loose in bulk by canal or railroad. For 
loading, a particular type w^heelbarrow was used something like 
the modern metal cement wheelbarrow with the front side 
extending farther over the wheel so that when loaded a good 
portion of the load was over or ahead of the wheel thereby taking 
most of the strain off the workmen. The wheelbarrow loads 
of salt were counted as they passed out of the store house and 
the tally was kept by means of a wooden frame work, four feet 
high and two feet wide, holding wires on which were strung a 
number of wooden washer like discs, alternated every third, 
fifth or seventh disc by an iron one which was used as a check, 
for every third, fifth or seventh man should check on an iron 
disc, and if he did not they stopped loading until the checking 
was corrected. This counting and checking was done not only 
to tell how much salt was being loaded and sold but also to deter- 
mine the tax the plant should pay the state figured on the number 
of bushels sold of one cent a bushel of 56 pounds on all the salt 
made from brine furnished by the state to the manufacturers. 



270 MAKING SOLAR SALT 

The slower process of solar evaporation, resulting in the 
larger crystals, gives solar salt its distinct value and use; but an 
entirely different method is employed in manufacture of finer 
grades for table use. For this purpose, a "block" is used, con- 
sisting of a long double row of large, iron kettles, set side by 
side in substantial brick arches which practically forms the 
great flue of the furnace placed at one end or by long rows of these 
heavy iron kettles hung under brick arches with open fires under- 
neath. The brine is drawn into the kettles from the receiving 
cistern where certain of its impurities have already been pre- 
cipitated by the addition of a certain amount of quicklime or 
alum. Other impurities that form while boiling, such as chloride 
of lime and the so-called "bitterns" are extracted after the fire 
has been started for a time by a large, fiat, iron pan, furnished 
with a long handle, placed in each kettle, completely covering 
the bottom of the kettle. As the brine is boiled down, the 
impurities fall into these pans, which are carefully drawn out, 
leaving the salt as clean as possible. 

Boiled salt, from rapid evaporation, is of fine grain; but the 
grain is further "cut" by the addition of a small lump of butter 
or tallow, which, melting and spreading over the boiling brine, 
serves to break the crystals as they rise. When the salt begins 
to form, it is dipped up and put to drain in a large splint basket, 
or in our case, in the w^ooden sieve like tubs, which are placed 
on a broad plank over one side of each kettle. 

This is the much shorter process of manufacturing boiled 
salt; for, after draining the prescribed time it is ready for market. 
The finer grades of table salt are obtained by putting the boiled 
salt through the grinder mentioned before. 

All these tools here described are in our museum with the 
exception of the flat pan used to take out the impurities from 
boiled salt and the large splint draining baskets, the latter of 
which Mr. Gale did not use and the former had been thrown away 
a long time ago as Mr. Gale had not made boiled salt for many 
years. He did have several of the large kettles used in this 
boiling of brine still around his yard and we have one now in the 
museum. 




SALT TUBS WITH PERFORATED BOTTOMS 
Set on edge of the vats to drain off preparatory to loading. 




THE SALT CART 
The wide, heavy dump cart collecting the salt from the vats and hauling it to the storage house, 



Sesquicentennial Anniversary of the Battle of 
Crooked Billet 

Report of the Celebration of May 5. 1928 

By warren S. ELY, DOYLESTOWN, PA. 
(Doylestown Meeting, January 19, 1929) 

AT our Annual Meeting here at Doylestown one year ago, 
Dr. John B. Carrell, of Hatboro, on behalf of the Mont- 
gomery County Historical Society, requested our Society 
to join with that Society in the celebration of the 150th Anni- 
versary of the Battle of the Crooked Billet, fought partly on 
Bucks County soil May 1, 1778. 

The proposition was accepted and later a committee of three 
members, Hon. Harman Yerkes, Wilson Woodman and Warren 
S. Ely, was appointed by President Mercer in reference to the 
matter. 

Judge Yerkes was taken sick prior to the date of the first 
meeting of the joint committee at Hatboro, and was unable to 
attend the meeting and died a few weeks later without being 
able to attend any meetings of the committee. 

This was especially unfortunate inasmuch as Judge Yerkes, 
born on the site of the battle, had always been deeply interested . 
in preserving its history and recalled conversations and discus- 
sions of the event held by members of his family and others who 
had witnessed the battle, in his home, and had gathered and 
preserved an account of several incidents connected therewith, 
and looked forward to rendering active assistance in the cele- 
bration. 

Wilson Woodman attended but one of the meetings of the 
committee, alleging his age and infirmities, and want of knowledge 
of the history of the battle, made it impossible for him to assist 
in the work of the committee. 

These circumstances threw all the preliminary work on the 
remaining member of the committee, and he was unable to 
influence any other members of the society to take an active 
part in preparing for the preparation for the celebration, except 
our Secretary, Mr. Mann, who attended several of the later 
meetings and gave valuable advice. 



272 SESQUICEXTENXIAL OF BATTLE OF CROOKED BILLET 

I attended every one of the weekly meetings of the committee 
until the program was completed. 

The history of the battle from various sources was thoroughly 
reviewed and the actual site of the conflict definitely ascertained 
and a map of the surrounding country, showing route of approach 
of the enemy, location of .General John Lacey's headquarters 
and troops, route of retreat and battle, homes robbed by the 
British, scenes of the conflict, burial places of patriots, Washing- 
ton's Camp at Neshaminy, and roads connecting the various 
points, was prepared by A. C. Young, a competent engineer and 
surveyor, and is reproduced in the program, which contains Gen. 
W. W. H. Davis' History of the Battle and a summary of other 
data from various other sources collected by the Committee.^ 

In the selection of the site of the marker and securing the 
granite monument and its erection, I had the active co-operation 
and assistance of Howard T. Hallowell, of Jenkintow-n, who was 
indefatigable in this part of the work as a member of the com- 
mittee. 

The Montgomery County Historical Society did not render 
us any assistance, as a society, financially or otherwise, but 
members of the society residing in and about Hatboro, con- 
tributed liberally both in work and funds. 

I wrote several times to the Cumberland County Historical 
Society in reference to participating with us in the Anniversary 
and also in reference to the participants in the struggle from that 
county, but though the secretary seemed to be much interested 
on receipt of my first letter, never gave us any assistance either 
in data or funds. 

I had considerable correspondence with F. D. Beary, Adju- 
tant General of Pennsylvania, in reference to the State assisting 
in the marking of the sites of the burial of the soldiers, but the 
conditions of state aid were such as we could not accept. 

We finally purchased a granite slab and had it erected on a lot 
24 by 40 feet, purchased of Rudolph Tanner, on the southeast 
side of the Jacksonville Road, 1910 feet from the County 
Line. 

The purchase price of the lot was S50, which was contributed 
by the Bucks County Historical Society, and the deed 

1 For General Davis' "The Battle of Crooked Billet," see Vol. II, page 
173, of our publications. 



hESQUICE.xTENNIAL OF BATTLK OF CROOKED BILLET 273 




made to the Societ}- b\- 
Mr. Tanner and his wife 
has been duly recorded. 
The cost of the shaft and 
its marking and erection, 
approximately S360, was 
paid out of voluntary 
contributions by indi- 
viduals. 

The dedication of the 
monument and the cele- 
bration of the anni- 
versary took place on 
May 5, 1928. There was 
a large concourse of 
people at the dedication. 
Music was furnished by 
Hatboro Cornet Band. 
Prayer was offered by 
Rev. B. M. Gemmill, 
D. D. The tablet was 
unveiled by Dr. Charles 

D. Levingood, of Berwyn, Pa., a lineal descendant of General John 
Lacey, who later in the program delivered an address. The 
dedicatory address was delivered by Hon. Webster Grim, of 
Doylestown. This was followed by the reading of an original 
poem by its author, Mrs. Findley Braden, of Doylestown, 
entitled "Brave Lacey and His Rebs." Two memorial trees 
were planted on either side of the monument under the super- 
vision of the Junior Nature Club, by young girls, members of 
the Club, with suitable ceremonies. A prayer was offered by 
Isaac Michener, a minister of the Society of Friends. The 
exercises closed with the singing of the Doxology by the audience 
and the firing of a salute "To Fallen Comrades of All Wars," by 
representatives of the American Legion Post at Hatboro. 

Dinner was served at Pennypack Lodge and Tea Room, Dr. 
John B. Carrel acting as toastmaster, and addresses delivered 
by Lieutenant Frank Schoble, the blind World War veteran, and 
Irving P. Knipe, President of the Montgomery County Historical 
Society, and Judge Harold G. Knight, both of Norristown. 



274 SESQUICEXTENNIAL OF BATTLE OF CROOKED BILLET 

A pageant was enacted on the grounds of Hatboro Union 
Library by members of the Junior Neighbors of Hatboro in 
Colonial costumes depicting a Quaker wedding and Lafayette 
receiving his commission as General from General Washington. 

A parade participated in by a number of local organizations 
and several hundred school children from Bucks and Mont- 
gomery Counties, including a number of unique floats represent- 
ing Colonial and Revolutionar\' times and events. A meeting 
was held at the Hatboro Crooked Billet Monument erected in 
1860, and addresses were delivered by Lieutenant Schoble, Hon. 
Henry W. Watson and William Fletcher Stites. 

The Hatboro people gave the whole affair very hearty and 
substantial support. 

The Official Program, containing, as before stated. General 
Davis' History of the Battle and other data in reference to its 
history, the map before referred to and many views of the houses 
and sites that figured in the history of the battle, has been pre- 
served, and a fairly full account of the anniversary appears in 
current numbers of the Hatboro Sprit and Doylestown Daily 
Intelligencer . 

Address of Hon. Webster Grim of Doylestown, Pa. 

At the unveiling of the monument to mark the site 
of the Battle of Crooked Billet, May 5, 1928 

We are assembled on this field of glory to dedicate a monu- 
ment to the valor of the patriots who here died that liberty 
might endure. Upon this very spot, one hundred and fifty 
years ago, they fell, in defence of the principles proclaimed in 
yonder city. And surely no patriots in any age or clime died 
more gloriously. Surprised and surrounded, they refused to 
surrender. They retreated, they rallied, and they fell wdth their 
faces toward a stronger foe. The story of Concord and Lexington 
was here retold on Bucks County soil. It is well therefore that 
we raise this monument to their memory. 

Within the confines of this peninsula washed by the Dela- 
ware and the Schuylkill were enacted more stirring events than 
in any other like territory on this continent. In yon city, sa 
soon to feel the oppressors' heel, the Continental Congress had 
proclaimed that these colonies are, and of right ought to be, 



SESQUICENTENXIAL OF BATTLE OF CROOKED BILLET 275 

free and independent states, and they mutually pledged to each 
other their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. From 
the patriots' camps in this County went forth the victorious 
columns that won at Trenton, Princeton and Monmouth. Here 
Germantown was fought and won, and then lost. Yonder lies 
Valley Forge, the Gethsemane of the Revolution. To our rear 
is the spot where the stars and stripes, that beautiful emblem 
of Liberty and Union, were first unfurled in the American army. 
Here too that constitution that cemented a nation into being 
was adopted and sent forth for ratification. Not that any great 
battles were here fought and won by us, because there were no 
great battles won by us in that war, but because by these vic- 
tories the spirits of the patriots were cheered when all also seemed 
lost. 

We are apt to think that the progress of our race depends 
upon the issue of great battles fought and won, and it is true 
that decisive battles have changed the face and fortune of king- 
doms. But not so in the war of the Revolution. No one, no 
two great battles could determine our freedom. Long Island 
and Brandywine could scatter our forces, but they could not 
conquer America. Discouraged and disheartened as were the 
patriots, the star of hope still shone resplendent, and it only 
needed the victory at Trenton to justify that hope. The very 
fact that Howe and his generals decided upon a like policy in 
this engagement at the Billet is proof positive that they recog- 
nized that these colonies could not be subdued by pitched battles 
or by captured cities, and Howe soon thereafter retired to New 
York. The words of that great friend of America, William 
Pitt, to his fellow Englishmen, that England could not conquer 
America, encouraged the hopes of the patriots and was worth 
more to them than regiments of soldiers. For the strength of 
these colonies did not depend upon the size or equipment of her 
armies. It depended upon the indomitable spirit of the patriots 
backed up by a fast developing interior, for while the patriot 
carried the rifle in his right hand he was guiding the plow with 
his left with the result that we were stronger at the end of the 
war than when we began. This development could not 
have been accomplished if our armies had remained mobilized, 
even if Congress could have found means to support them, but 
when some great emergency arose, as it did at Boston, at Sara- 
toga and at Yorktown, the sturdy yeomanry left the plow in 



276 SESQUICENTENNIAL OF BATTLE OF CROOKED BILLET 

the furrow in the valley and the axe upon the hillside and joined 
in one supreme effort, and when that work was accomplished 
they returned again to the valleys and the hills as quickly as 
they had come. It might have contributed to the glory of our 
arms had we been able to win a pitched battle against the British 
regulars, but it must have been at a frightful cost of blood and 
treasure, for England had more and stronger armies which she 
would have placed with us and our last situation would have 
been worse than the first. As time goes on the great generalship 
of Washington in these campaigns becomes more marked and 
we no longer wonder at the great tribute paid him by Frederick 
the Great. To conquer America, it would have been necessary, 
to quote the words of Patrick Henry, to "place a British Guard in 
every house." 

We are accustomed to hear that it was the intervention of 
France which secured for us our independence. Grateful as 
we are to France for her great aid in our time of need, we yet 
would have won our independence without her. The people of 
England were tired of the war: we were growing stronger 
monthly and yearly, and the Government of France was more 
concerned in breaking the power of her old rival, England, than 
she was concerned about our welfare, as subsequent events soon 
showed. 

It is not my purpose to rehearse any of the events of that 
May Day battle. Others will do po. The story has been told 
and retold by our eminent Bucks County historian. General 
Davis, whose ancestors lived in this immediate community, and 
he got some of his information from the lips of persons who were 
present at this battle, and they have been supplemented by the 
research of our present-day historian, Warren S. Ely, whose 
knowledge of the history of our county is not equalled by any 
man in his generation. Suffice it to say that both Washington 
and Howe regarded this as strategic territory. We of Bucks 
County blush with shame to repeat that here almost within 
sight of the Cradle of Liberty, almost within hearing of the 
Liberty Bell, there were more loyal followers of King George 
than in any other part of our Colonies. There were here many 
men who were trading with the enemy, giving them aid and 
comfort. So much so that General Lacey was moved to recom- 
mend that this whole region be depopulated to prevent them 
from feeding the British Army. And Washington was obliged 



SESQUICEXTENXIAL OF BATTLE OF CROOKED BILLET 277 

to place the territory under martial law to break up the practice. 
And Howe could encourage this disaffection by placing here 
armed forces and more particularly could he contribute to it if 
he could bag the forces of General Lacey and lead them prisoners 
to Philadelphia, thus offsetting Trenton. Had Abercombie 
and Simcoe succeeded there would have been many more con- 
fiscations here at the close of the war than there were. 

War at best is horrible. But it is still more terrible when 
the participants are actuated by revenge over some real or 
fancied wrong, and many of the atrocities, murders, saberings 
and burnings of that day must be attributed to this cause, but 
whatever the cause, they form with the massacre at Paoli, a 
very dark blot upon the otherwise bright escutcheon of boasted 
England's glory. 

It is the purpose of these societies in erecting this monument 
to dedicate it to the valor of the men who here died that free 
government might be established, and secondly to mark the 
spot where the only battle was fought on Bucks County soil; 
to remind the present and rising generation, and generations 
yet unborn of the sacrifices here endured to the end that they 
might the better appreciate the heritage vouchsafed to them 
through these sacrifices. And upon this monument encased 
in enduring brass, the Bucks County Historical Society has 
placed the compass of the surveyor, pointing like the finger of a 
guardian angel to the spot of supreme sacrifice, the very spot 
where these men, some living, some dying, some dead, w^ere 
ruthlessly burned in a vast funeral pyre, that all who run may 
read the story of that sacrifice. 

The wayfarer, uninterested in the sacrifices here endured 
that he might enjoy the blessings of free government, will pass 
this spot unheedful of its presence: the more worthy descendants 
of patriotic ancestry will pause and perchance gaze in wonder 
upon the surrounding terrain : but the true American will 
approach this shrine with reverence and reflect upon the sacrifices 
not only here endured, but also of those of the other men and 
women of that day whose sacrifices have laid the foundations 
of this mighty nation. 

Heroes of old, though dead, we salute you! And as we raise 
this memorial to your valor we pledge ourselves anew, that the 
principles for which you suffered, bled and died, shall not perish 
from this earth. 



Visit in Durham Township of a PoHtical Refugee 
from Brazil 

By dr. B. F. FACKENTHAL, Jr., RIEGELSVILLE, PA. 
(Huffnagle House, New Hope Meeting, June 22, 1929) 

WHILE this is not an historical paper, it relates to the 
county of Bucks, which is my apology for presenting it. 
In the year 1895, 34 years ago, a political refugee from 
Brazil, a woman, found asylum at Durham in the upper end of 
this county. She traveled incognito under the name of Madam 
Ferreo; she was accompanied by a maid who always addressed 
her (in Portuguese) as ' "Your Majesty." This maid could 
speak no language but Portuguese; she became homesick and at 
the end of a week or ten days was sent back to Brazil. 

The "Madam," by which name I will hereafter in this paper 
refer to the refugee, guarded her name and title w'ith such care 
that we failed to discover them, but all indications pointed to 
the fact that she was a close relative of Emperor Dom Pedro II. 
She remained in Durham about a month, and during the entire 
time was in constant dread for fear that the Brazilian legation 
at Washington would learn of her whereabouts, and have her 
placed under arrest. 

Dom Pedro II was crowned Emperor of Brazil July 18, 1841, 
and after a reign of more than 47 years, he was in 1889 forced 
to abdicate, due to a Revolution instigated by the officers of 
the army, and on November 15 of that year, a republic was pro- 
claimed, and on the following day the royal family was placed 
on a steamer and ordered out of the country. There had been 
several uprisings among the following of the different factions 
of the new republic as w^ell as insurrectionary efforts to have 
the monarchy restored, the last one in 1894, in which it appears 
that the Madam was one of the leaders. Dom Pedro had died 
in Paris in 1891, and her efforts were directed toward having 
his grandson placed on the throne of Brazil. The scheme failed, 
the revolutionists were attainted of treason, and the life of the 
Madam placed in jeopardy. She finally succeeded in escaping, 
hiding in out-of-the-way places, and with the protection of sym- 
pathizers finally reached the seaport of Bahia, about 800 miles 



VISIT IN DURHAM TOWNSHIP OF A POLITICAL RliFUClEL 279 

from Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, where she took passage 
for New York. 

On that steamer Miss Matilda D. Spilsbury, who had been 
doing missionary work in Argentina, was traveling from Buenos 
Ayres to Durham, via New York, and was an eye witness of the 
embarking of the Madam who was escorted to the steamer by 
a large throng of noisy people, accompanied by a brass band. 
Miss Spilsbury reported the excitement on the dock as being 
most intense. On the boat the Madam became very seasick, 
and Miss Spilsbury, who could converse with her in both French 
and Italian, acted the part of the Good Samaritan, and they 
soon became good friends. 

Miss Spilsbury was a woman of about sixty years, and the 
Madam w^as doubtless of about the same age. She seemed 
younger, having jet black hair. Mr. E. Gybbon Spilsbury, 
brother of Matilda, thought she was older, and w^as uncharitable 
enough to say that she dyed her hair. Her face and neck were 
always white with layers of powder. I fancy that many of you 
ladies have seen the manner in which women of the Latin Ameri- 
can countries pow^der their faces. Mr. Spilsbury often referred 
to her pleasantly as "The Begum." 

The Madam was much distressed on her arrival at New^ 
York, dreading to go to any of the hotels for fear of being dis- 
covered, whereupon Miss Spilsbury invited her to accompany 
her to Durham. The Spilsburys were English people, who had 
lived in France for some years, and spoke French like natives. 
Their home was in Trenton, but they were spending the Summer 
and Fall in what we called "The Raymond House," at the Dur- 
ham Iron Works, while we (Mrs. Fackenthal and I) were living 
in the manager's house at the same works, located about 600 
feet distant, but across the valley on the opposite side of Durham 
Creek. 

Being close neighbors and old-time friends we naturally 
saw a great deal of them and their newly arrived guest. This 
w^as before the days of automobiles, and Mrs. Fackenthal showed 
them much attention, driving the Madam over the beautiful 
hills of Durham and through the picturesque valley of the Dela- 
ware. On one occasion she gave her and the Spilsbury ladies a 
luncheon at Paxinosa Inn on the summit of Weygant Mountain 
above Easton; on another occasion she gave her a dinner in our 



280 VISIT IN DURHAM TOWNSHIP OF A POLITICAL REFUGEE 

home, with ten plates, to which she was careful to invite only 
those who could carry on the conversation in French, for the 
Madam could speak no English. Mrs. Erissmann, daughter of 
Martin Coryell, and her daughter, Cammile, who were in America 
on a visit from Geneva, were among her guests. 

After dinner Mrs. Erissmann had a long talk with the Madam, 
and later said to us, "She is a Bourbon sure enough." The 
Madam, who usually dressed in black, wore a white costume at 
this dinner. My sister, Katharine, who had just graduated at 
Wellesley College, was also a dinner guest. The Madam told 
her that she had visited Wellesley College in 1876 with Dom 
Pedro and his party. Knowing that all visitors were expected 
to register their names, I wrote to the college with the view of 
finding out the personnel of Dom Pedro's party, but alas their 
historical building was destroyed by fire in 1914, and with it the 
registry. 

The Madam made no secret of the fact that she was one of 
Dom Pedro's party when he visited the Centennial Exhibition 
at Philadelphia in 1876, and which was the real objective of 
Dom Pedro's visit to America at that time. The Empress came 
to America with him; she was Theresa Christina Maria, daughter 
of Francis I, King of the two Sicilies. 

The Madam had very little money with her, and to get 
funds was obliged to part with some of her wonderful jewels, 
of which she had many, having exhibited them to Mrs. Facken- 
thal. She carried them in secret pockets in her skirts. A 
twentieth century maiden could not do that today. She gave 
several jewels to the Spilsburys, which Miss Beulah Spilsbury, 
now of Minneapolis, then a child of about eight, advises me she 
still has in her possession. She presented Mrs. Fackenthal 
with several articles, one, a hand-painted photograph holder, 
folding in three parts, like a fire screen, which she said was one 
of her most cherished possessions, as it had belonged to Marie 
Antoinette. I will exhibit this after the conclusion of this 
paper, for it will certainly interest the ladies. It will be noticed 
that one of the paintings is signed by the artist. 

The Madam invited Mrs. Fackenthal to visit her in Italy, 
where she said she owned a large palace. I wondered at the 
time why I was not also invited. 

After spending about a month in Durham she announced 



VISIT IN DURHAM TOWNSHIP OF A POLITICAL REFUOIiP: 281 

her intention of going to New York on a certain Monday morn- 
ing with Mr. Spilsbury, on the pretext of doing shopping, but 
on reaching New York she soon vanished from his care, and 
that was the last heard of her until some years later when Miss 
Spilsbury came across her accidentally in Brussels, where she 
was living quietly without fear of apprehension. 

It is to be regretted that these recollections were not written 
up thirty years ago, when the chief actors of my story were still 
with us. I have, however, sent out inquiries which should bring 
me some reliable information to show who this royal personage 
was, and such additional data as I can gather will be added to 
this paper when it appears printed in the next volume of our 
publications. 

NoTA Bene — Inquiries addressed to Rio de Janeiro, and to 
the Brazilian Ambassador to the United States, both received 
courteous replies, but they failed to throw any light on the 
identity of this refugee. 

The New York Tribune of April 17, 1876, gives the personnel 
of Dom Pedro's party coming to the United States, thus: 

"The members of the imperial party are Dom Pedro II, 
Emperor of Brazil, and the Empress, Theresa Christiana; Vis- 
conde de Bon, Ratiro Chamberlain; Buchard Arthur de Mecedo, 
secretary; Dr. Lonja Pontes, physician; Josefina da Fouseca 
Costa, lady of honor; Dr. Charles Henning, interpreter; Petro 
Antonio du Paind, steward; Lionidid Espozel and Joanna 
d'Alcantara, ladies in waiting, and four servants." 

It is likely that the Lady of Honor may have been the Madam 
referred to in this paper. 



Peddlers and Other Itinerants 

By JAMES H. FITZGERALD, MECHANICS VALLEY, PA. 
(Huffnagle House, New Hope, Pa., Meeting. June 22, 1929) 

THE subject matter of history is everything that undergoes 
change, and a record of the activities and experiences of 
past ages often serve as a guide in the solution of current 
problems. Modern methods in the production of raw material 
and the invention and use of machinery wrought many changes. 
There has also been a change in the distribution of the finished 
article. The modern mail-order house is the development of 
the idea in the mind of the peddler laboriously wending his way 
with his pack. 

The peddler was successful because he went into the homes 
to display his goods. The mail-order house sends pictures of 
nearly everything it has for sale. Psychologically the peddler 
had one advantage, as a purchaser prefers seeing an article to 
seeing a picture of it. Department stores recognize the value 
of displaying their wares. Large windows of plate glass are 
dressed with seasonable goods. Entering the store, we see 
samples of nearly everything on sale displayed on tables. The 
old-fashioned counter behind which the goods were stored in 
bins, drawers, boxes and barrels have been discarded. The 
village store has fallen into line. 

The first peddler I can recall was Bernard McCoy, whom we 
called "Barney." This was in the early seventies. He was a 
bachelor and made his home with relatives in Bristol, Pa. He 
did not travel during the winter months. He carried a carpet 
bag satchel slung over his shoulder on a stoat cane. His stock 
of notions were of the very best quality, such as village mer- 
chants did not carry. One of his specialties was cotton half- 
hose for men and stockings for women and children. He called 
on his regular customers only and covered a large territory in 
eastern and southern Bucks County. One spring we missed 
the genial "Barney" and his almost immaculate white linen 
suit and another peddler, Daniel McGill of New York City, 
informed us that "Barney had died on the way." We subse- 
quently learned that he was taken ill suddenly near Doylestown 
and died a few days afterward. -During that decade (1870-1880) 



PEDDLERS AND OTHER ITINERANTS 283 

two peddlers from New York City, Patrick and John Cusack, 
visited the upper end of the county. Their specialties were 
Irish linens, dress goods and cloth suitings for men. They also 
carried samples and solicited orders which were filled from 
New York and sent by express. They were good salesmen and 
reliable, and were given the hospitality of our home. Before 
taking leave they paid for entertainment in goods. On one 
occasion a peddler named Martin Flaherty became ill and my 
mother quickly gave a correct diagnosis and placed him in 
quarantine; within a few days she had several patients to care 
for as the peddler's malady was the mumps. About the year 
1880 the peddlers of tinware came. They were foreigners and 
could speak and understand very little of our language. One 
of them carried a bulky pile of tin ware which my father said 
weighed more than 100 pounds. 

Thomas Trower (1790-1865) who lived near Cross Keys, 
Buckingham Township, was a successful Bucks County peddler. 
From his will, filed November 18, 1865, we learn that he left an 
estate valued at $28,403.88. After making a few minor bequests 
including $200 to "The Mennonite Society of Doylestown for 
sheds for the accommodation of its preachers," he directed that 
the balance of the estate be held in trust for his wife, Magdalena, 
the interest to be paid to her, and upon her death the principal 
remaining be paid to the "Managers of the Pennsylvania Institu- 
tion for the Instruction of the Blind." 

Mrs. Thomas Trower died November 8, 1886, and the final 
settlement of the estate was filed on February 14, 1887, showing 
a balance of $25,143.85.. Thomas Trower and his wife. Magda- 
lena, were buried in the Mennonite Meeting graveyard, Doyles- 
town, where their graves are marked. 

John Riegle and Benedict Saddler of Upper Black Eddy were 
fishmongers. They caught their fish in the Delaware River and 
its tributaries in the vicinity in which they lived. Mr. Riegle 
was an expert in all the ways of catching fish and was noted for 
his hardihood and adventure. His tall and angular form with 
his strings of cat fish, eels or suckers can be recalled to this day 
by many in Milford, New Jersey. Benedict Saddler, "Benny" 
as he was called, had a horse and wagon and supplied his patrons 
on the Pennsylvania side of the river. Like Joyce Kilmer's 
fisherman they "loved to fish"; but they were abstemious. 



284 PEDDLERS AND OTHER ITINERANTS 

The County fairs brought a large number of hawkers, and 
pubHc vendues were attended by men supplying oyster soup. 
During recent years candy, sandwiches, tobacco and cigars 
have also been supplied. A familiar figure at these sales was 
Jacob Fretz, known as "Peanut Jake." Other peddlers were 
Henry Souder of Rockhill; John Derstine of Hilltown; Niles 
Martin of Yardley, and Joseph Meltzer, with horse and wagon, 
who sold crockery. Hugh Moore, a book agent of Bridgeton 
Township, was successful in his line. Other itinerant workers 
were: medicine vendors, tinkers, umbrella-menders, tailors, 
saw-sharpeners, scissors-grinders, watchmakers and broom- 
makers. 

Residents of Doylestown recall the medicine vendors. The 
Kickapoo Indians: "Doctor" Long and "Doctor" Fortner and 
others. As a preliminary to making sales of their remedies the 
management of the Kickapoo Indians gave a free entertainment 
in Lenape Hall at State and Main Streets, Doylestown. Some 
of them had stands erected on the plaza of the Fountain House 
and used oil or gasoline lamps for illumination. "Doctor" 
Fortner was well known in Bucks County towns and in Phila- 
delphia. He was a member of the House of Representatives 
from Philadelphia for several terms. To Irvin M. James, Justice 
of the Peace, Doylestown, I am indebted for the following extract 
from one of Fortner's advertisements: 

"The cholera came in '62 
When remedies were scarce and few. 
Men, women and children dying every day, 
While some to escape went far away. 
When Fortner came relief in hand 
To drive the cholera from the land." 

Musical itinerants providing open air entertainments came 
to Bucks County. They attracted crowds and after giving 
creditable performances took up a collection. There was the 
one man band. He played a clarinet or other wind instrument 
and at the same time, with the use of pedals, beat a drum and 
clashed cymbals. The organ grinder with a monkey never 
failed to amuse. While popular airs were ground out, the mon- 
key held on a long leash would caper and climb walls or porch 
columns. The little animal wore a red cap which it was trained 
to use in collecting coins. "Dot leetle German band" should not 



PEDDLERS AND OTHER ITINERANTS 285 

be forgotten. Before leaving a town or village, the tavern was 
given a serenade and the landlord invited the performers to the 
bar where a round of drinks was served. 

Strolling minstrels and musicians are found in all lands. 
When the fiddler enters a "townland" in Ireland he plays the 
lively air "Cannie Soogah" (Jolly Peddler) and always receives a 
"Cald Millia Failtah" (hundred thousand welcomes). Oliver 
Goldsmith, M. D., (1728-74), the Irish poet and dramatist, 
related that he made a tour of the continent of Europe playing a 
flute. "All went well," said he, "until I reached Italy, where 
nearly every one was a better musician than I." Here the 
religious houses were opened to him and his talent in disputation, 
characteristic of his race, won him awards in universities in main- 
taining a thesis. 

A law was passed to restrict the activities of peddlers. This 
was "an Act relating to hawkers, peddlers and retailers in the 
County of Bucks. Approved the 22nd day of March, 1862, by 
A. G. Curtin, Governor." This Act prohibited "the hawking 
and retailing by any person or persons of any goods, wares, or 
merchandise, unless he, she or they shall keep a store, shop, 
yard or other fixed place for the purpose where the same shall 
be sold or exposed for sale." A fine of $50 was imposed as a 
penalty for the violation of this act. The Act further provides 
"that the provisions of this Act shall not be construed to apply 
to persons carrying goods for wholesale purposes or to persons 
vending or disposing of articles of their own growth, produce or 
manufacture." One-half of the fine goes to the informer and 
the other half to the County of Bucks. During the early nineties 
a number of prosecutions were brought before Justice of the 
Peace, Willis Wall, of Doylestown, on information given by 
Peter H. Morris of Newtown, Pa., a dealer in clothing and men's 
furnishings. Before any warrant was applied for Mr. Morris 
warned the oftenders and when there was a conviction he waived 
his claim to one-half of the fine. The peddler was then obliged 
to pay only $25 to the county and the costs of prosecution. 
During the past year (1928) two arrests have been made in 
Doylestown on information given by the borough police. One 
case was dropped and in the other the peddler paid the county 
$25 and costs and by agreement gave his stock to the police as 
their reward. 



286 PEDDLERS AND OTHER ITINERANTS 

The idea of securing this protection to local dealers was not, 
however, a new one. In the Middle Ages we find that the mer- 
chants' guilds in the towns of England had a monoply of trading 
and had the power of fining all traders who were not members 
of the guild. Every trade, art or craft had its guild in nearly 
all the countries in Europe. Plutarch writes of them in Italy 
and they were numerous in Germany early in the twelfth century. 
Here was the origin of our apprentice system. Apprentices 
served from 3 to 10 years and were obliged to pass an examina- 
tion before they could become masters in their crafts. A Ger- 
man writer tells us that the 13th century was the golden age for 
labor. 

I wish to relate here some reminiscences of my father, James 
Fitzgerald (died May 27, 1892, aged 74 years). He was born 
in Wexford, Ireland, and emigrated to America in 1839, landing 
in Philadelphia. Until his marriage and permanent settlement 
in Upper Black Eddy, Bucks County in 1851, he was a journey- 
man shoemaker. In those days a farmer would have the hides 
of the cattle he slaughtered tanned and engage a journeyman 
shoemaker to come to his home and make footwear for his family. 
The shoemaker was provided with board and lodging. There 
were a number of tanneries in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 
One of them was conducted by the Kachlines in Frenchtown, 
N. J., the Kachlines also operated a tannery in Durham Town- 
ship, which was -begun by Solomon Bachman about 1830. Many 
of the tools used in this tannery are in the museum of the Bucks 
County Historical Society. Other tanners were John Gilbert 
of Holicong and three generations of Atherholts, David, Joseph 
and Aaron, who conducted a tannery in Haycock' Township. 
There was an early tannery in Nockamixon Township, on the 
Durham Township line; the earliest information we have is that 
it was carried on by Richard Backhouse of Durham Furnace 
from 1792 to 1794; subsequent owners were Philip Leidy, Rev. 
William T. Gerhard, Edward McCarty and David Algard. It 
did not operate after 1872. 

Nathan Michener, of Buckingham, was a journeyman tailor 
and traveled throughout Bucks County plying his needle and 
wielding his goose. Another class of itinerants was that of the 
"tramp" printers. xA.llen McGinty, printer, of Doylestown, 
says that their number has increased during the past two years. 



PEDDLERS AND OTHER ITINERANTS 287 

One printer worked his way from San Francisco. Another, Fred 
Colburn, of Jackson, Michigan, comes east in the same way 
about every three years. They were keen observers of men and 
events, and acquired in the course of their travels much vakiable 
information and experience. 

Every trade or craft has its patron-saint. Saints Crispin 
and Crispinian are the patron-saints of shoemakers, saddlers 
and tanners; they were Christian missionaries from Rome to 
Gaul in the third century, and like St. Paul they worked with 
their hands and made enough to support themselves and also 
aid the poor. 

In the upper end of Bucks County there were many expert 
woodcutters. Farmers and boatmen were also engaged in this 
work, during the winter months. Some were engaged by lum- 
bermen to go a long distance from their homes. They built a 
"shack" or small house in or near the woodland in w^hich they 
prepared meals and had their bunks. In our days they would 
use their automobiles, returning to their homes each night. 
The trunks of large and sound oak trees suitable for sawing were 
the first to be felled. Railroad ties were made from trees of 
medium size. These ties were hewn with broadaxes. White 
hickory, free from knots, was selected for making spokes and 
other parts of carriages, wagons and carts. There was a spoke 
factory at Frenchtown, N. J., which provided a ready and near- 
by market. In order to obtain supplies of lumber, the makers 
of spokes and other parts of carriages and wagons often became 
lumbermen; one of these was John Finney, of Lambertville, N. J., 
who cut off the timber, nearly all hickory from a tract of about 
200 acres on Haycock Mountain. Amos B. Headly and John H. 
Burton (the latter subsequently became a member of the House 
of Representatives at Harrisburg), cut off a tract of seven acres 
near our house; it was nearly all chestnut of which the fence- 
posts and rails were hauled to the canal by James Sheridan of 
Tinicum, and shipment was made in boats. Michael McEntee, 
of Bridgeton Tow^nship, was a prominent lumberman, after his 
death his son, John O. McEntee, continued the business. Tops 
of trees and other offal timber that was not suitable for other 
commercial purposes was cut into cordwood in four foot lengths 
and piled for measurement. (A cord of wood is four feet high, 
eight feet long and four feet wide, containing 128 cubic feet.) In 



288 PEDDLERS AND OTHER ITINERANTS 

recent years lumbermen set up portable sawmills in the woods, 
and much of the work formerly done by hand with axes has been 
eliminated. 

At the beginning of the 20th Century only a few itinerant 
workers were employed by farmers. Nearly every farmer had 
the equipment necessary for the planting, sowijig and gathering 
of his crops. After the invention and perfection of the thresher 
and cleaner a few enterprising men went from farm to farm to 
thresh and clean wheat, rye and oats. In this section of Bucks 
County the men who began this business were James Slack and 
Raymond Haines of Buckingham. They used steam engines 
for power. Subsequently Mood Brothers, Titus W. Carver and 
William Rogers went on the road with their threshers, with balers 
attached to all outfits. 

The dearth of men skilled in handicraft today is due to the 
decline of the apprentice system, whereby a youth was legally 
bound by indenture to serve a master craftsman for a stated 
number of years. As it was a compact between them the law 
governing contracts afforded equal protection to the rights and 
privileges of the employer and the employee. This system has 
been supplanted, in part, by manual training schools giving 
practical as well as technical instruction. There are two schools 
of this kind in Bucks County, namely, St. Francis' Industrial 
School, Eddington, and the National Farm School, Doylestown 
Township. The first named was opened for the reception of 
boys July 19, 1888. This institution is under the direction of 
and instruction is given by the Brothers of the Christian Schools 
and maintains, educates and imparts manual training to 255 
Catholic orphan boys. It receives no State aid. The National 
Farm School, as its name implies, gives instruction in agriculture 
in all its branches and otherwise provides for the education of its 
students equal to a high school course. It was founded in 1896 
by Rabbi Joseph Kroskopf and the number of students at the 
present time is 185. The institution is given financial aid 
through appropriations made by the Legislature of the State, 
and is exempt from taxation. 

During the Middle Ages it required centuries to build a 
cathedral that commands admiration today; but a modern "sky- 
scraper" (tall building) can now be erected within a few months. 
While it took my father a day to make a pair of shoes, a machine 



PEDDLERS AND OTHER ITINERANTS 



289 



today turns out many hundreds of them in a day. In this age 
of speed in transportation on land, sea and in the air; when by 
simply turning a dial we may hear voices in either Rome, Paris 
or San Francisco, we may think that our forefathers were slow; 
but who shall say that they did not reach the goal. 




THE PACK PEDDLER 



Child Life During the American Revolution 

By SARAH R. FACKEXTHAL (MRS. B. F. Jr.) RIEGELSVILLE, P.A. 

(This paper was read, some years ago. by Mrs. Fackenthal, before the George Taylor 
Chapter, Daughters of the .American Reyolution. Easton, Pa. It was also read before this 
society by her husband. Dr. Fackenthal. at the Doylestown meeting. May 3, 1930, in order 
that it might be preserved by having it printed in our published proceedings. Mrs. Facken- 
thal passed away May 16, 1Q2.>.) 

THE lives of children during the i\merican Revolution varied 
as much as at the present day. There were those whose 
fathers were men of influence, education and wealth, and 
the children benefited by all that that implied. Others, whose 
parents were unsuccessful pioneers, suftered with them in their 
many privations. 

We see in museums many articles of dress of the finest texture 
worn by babies of that period, but it is from the portrait of chil- 
dren that we see the folly and extravagance of dress. It was not 
until after the Revolution that a distinctive dress for boys and 
girls was adopted. Until then, as soon as boys put on trousers 
(about the age of five) they dressed exactly like their fathers, 
except in miniature. In returning a picture of children, which 
for a long time hung in the Boston Museum of Art, General 
Loring wTOte: "I shall miss the little grown-ups. Were there 
no children in those days?" 

A little girl of eleven writes the following description of her 
attire to a little friend : 

"I wore my yellow coat, black bib and apron, black feathers 
on my head, my paste comb, all my paste garnets, jet pins, 
together with my silver plume, my locket and rings, black collar 
and mitts, 2 or 3 yards of blue ribbon, striped tucker and rufifles, 
and my silk shoes. My hair was dressed over a high roll, so 
heavy and hot, that it made my head itch and ache and burn 
like anything." 

Children wore stays made of heavy strips of boards and 
steel, made over buckram and canvas. In a museum one pair 
was labeled as having been worn by a boy of five. There is 
certainly a suggestion in some of these little fellows' portraits of 
whalebone and buckram. The boys wore silks and satins, 
trimmed with lace; also wigs. In an expense account, w^e find 
the entry: "Shaving my three sons' heads at sundry times £5 



CHILD LIFE DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 291 

14 shillings, James' wig £9, Samuel's wig £9." These sons were 
aged 7, 9 and 11 years. 

On the other extreme, it is told of a certain grandmother who 
rode on horseback eighty miles to a New Hampshire clearing, to 
see her son's first child, who was but a few months old, that she 
shed bitter tears on finding him clad in a gray woolen homespun 
slip, with an apron of blue and white checked linen. 

In educational advantages no greater contrast of conditions 
could exist, than between the schools of early Revolutionary 
days and our present school system. In the country districts, 
the children were often obliged to walk several miles to the 
nearest schoolhouse, where, in some localities, school was held 
two months in winter by a man, and two months in summer by a 
woman, with mostly boys attending in winter, and mostly girls 
in summer. Here were taught reading, writing, spelling, and 
enough arithmetic to enable them to keep the family accounts, 
and to make change in a shop. Xor was this making of change a 
simple matter. In every state there were at least two units of 
value, — the state pound and the Spanish milled dollar, which 
had been adopted by Congress in the early years of the Revolu- 
tion. The Spanish milled dollar then in general circulation, was 
divided into half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth parts, each 
represented by a silver coin, and each containing more or less 
of shillings and pence, according to the section of country in 
which it was current. Thus, in New England and Virginia six 
shillings were accounted a dollar; in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, and Maryland seven shillings and six pence made a 
dollar; while in South Carolina and Georgia only four shillings 
and eight pence constituted a dollar. The school boy, therefore, 
was expected to convert the local pounds and shillings of his 
state into dollars and joes, and to know the rules for turning 
York money into Pennsylvania money; and to know the value 
contained in a coin in various sections of the country. 

With the district school, the education of a majority of the 
lads in the country ended. A few more fortunate passed thence 
to a seminary, kept by a minister, or to one of the famous acade- 
mies, which were regarded as feeders to Yale or Harvard. 

Little Paul at Blimbers, or Smike at Doothboys Hall, did 
not have a much harder fate. The principal mode of school- 
masters imparting knowledge was by the rod. Indeed, the 



292 CHILD LIFE DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

teacher who in our day should subject pupils to the rigid discip- 
line, the hard fare, the long sermons and prayers, and the floggings, 
which then fell to the lot of the schoolboy, might count himself 
fortunate to escape without being prosecuted by the Society for 
the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. 

To sit eight hours of the day on the hardest of benches, poring 
over Cheevers Accidens (the Latin grammar) and other text 
books, to commit to memory pages of w^ords in Webster's Ameri- 
can Institute, to read long chapters in the Bible, to learn by 
heart Dr. Watts' hymns, to be drilled in the Assembly Cate- 
chisms, to go to bed at sunset, to get up at sunrise, with morning 
and evening prayers, to live on brown bread and pork, porridge 
and beans, made up the life of the lads of most of the academies. 
The food then partaken of, with thankfulness, would now be 
looked upon as prison fare. 

W'hen Sunday came around, they found it anything but a 
dav of rest. There were long prayers in the morning by the 
master; there ^^ere commentaries on some scriptural text to be 
got by note before meeting, to which they all marched off with 
pencil and paper to take down the heads of the sermion, and 
then to give what account of it they could at evening prayers. 

From the academy the lad passed to Harvard or Yale. Were 
it not for the old buildings which still exist, it would be impossible 
to recognize in the Universities of our time any trace of the 
humble colleges which then existed. The Class of 1768 of Har- 
vard voted to take their degrees dressed in homespun. The four 
years' residence at college was spent in an acquisition of Latin 
and Greek, the study of mathem.atics, logic, theoretics and meta- 
physics. Not until about 1783, when Noah W^esbter published 
his famous spelling book and dictionary, was there any decided 
uniformity of spelling. 

Rude as was the school system of New England, it was incom- 
parably better than could be found in any other section of the 
country. 

In the Southern states education was almost wholly neglected. 
It was only the children of wealthy planters, who had private 
tutors at home, or were sent to England to school, or to one of 
the few American schools, who were given the advantage of an 
education. 

Much less attention was paid to the education of the daughters. 



CHILD LIFE DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 293 

and it was not until Revolutionary times that boarding-schools 
for girls sprang into existence. 

President John Adams wrote to his daughter on March 17, 
1777: "I have seen a remarkable institution for the education 
of young ladies at Bethlehem. About one hundred and twenty 
of them live together under the same roof; they all sleep together, 
in the same garret; I saw one hundred and twenty beds, in two 
long rows, in the same room. The bed and bedclothes were of 
excellent quality and extremely neat. How should you like to 
live in such a nunnery?"^ 

Thomas Jefferson shows a loving interest in the education 
of his two little motherless daughters. He writes to his dear 
Patsy, who was at school in Philadelphia, from his home in 
Monticello, in 1783, as follows: 

"With respect to the distribution of your time, the following 
is what I should approve: From eight to ten, practice music; 
from ten to one, draw one day and dance another; from one to 
two, draw on the day you dance, and write a letter next day. 
From three to four, read French; from four to five, exercise 
yourself in music; from five until bedtime, read English, write, 
etc. Inform me what books you read, what tunes you play, 
and send me a copy of your drawing. Write me by every post. 
Write also one letter every week to either your Aunt Eppes, 
Aunt Skipwick, or your Aunt Carr. Put the letter you so write 
under cover to me." 

By the sweat of their brows they certainly earned their bread 
in those days. There was plenty of work even for little children. 
They sowed various seeds in the early spring, and weeded the 
flax in the field. Girls of six could spin. All the work on the 
flax was done by women and children. It was said that there 
were twenty different occupations in the manufacture of flax, 
of which half could be done by children. They could spin on 
the great wheel when they were so small they had to stand on a 
stool to reach up. It was ordered by the magistrates that chil- 
dren while tending sheep and cattle in the fields, should be given 
some other employment, in addition to that work, such as knit- 
ting, weaving tape, etc. Small looms were given the girls, on 
which, while watching the cattle, they w^ove yards of braids 

1 John Adams to his daughter, March 17, 1777. Griswold's Republican" 
Court, page 8. 



294 CHILD LIFE DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

and tapes for use as gloves, ties, shoe-strings, hair laces, stay- 
laces, hat bands, belts, etc., and the boys wove garters and sus- 
penders. 

Knitting was taught little girls as soon as they could hold 
the needles, and in some records we find girls of four who could 
knit stockings and mittens. 

Every little maiden had her sampler, which served the double 
purpose of teaching the letters and the numerals, while learning 
the stitch, followed by crude representations of impossible birds, 
beasts, flowers, trees, buildings, and human beings. 

Many farmers' sons and daughters earned their first spending 
money by making birch brooms for the country store, from 
whence they were shipped to Boston and other towns. They 
did not grow rich on broom-making, as the uniform price paid 
was but six cents, and it took three evenings to make one broom. 

Major Robert Randolph told in fashionable circles in Lon- 
don, that he carried many a load of birch brooms on his back 
ten miles to market, that he might thus earn a few shillings. 

The crop of wild cherries was one of the most lucrative of 
boys' resources. They were used for making cherry rum or 
cherry bounce, and would bring a dollar a bushel. 

During the Revolution, the mail which went out from New 
York to Philadelphia five times a week, was carried by boys on 
horseback. John Quincy Adams, when but nine years old, 
became post-rider for his mother, between Braintree and Boston, 
a distance of eleven miles, to bring intelligence from his father 
during those anxious days after the battle of Bunker Hill. Nor 
was this a light or easy task, with the unsettled roads and the 
unsettled times. 

The spirit of patriotism filled the minds of the children as 
well as the parents, in those days. Josiah Quincy states that at 
Andover there was a schoolboy law that every hoop, sled, etc., 
must in some way bear 13 marks. If the marks were wanting, 
the article was confiscated. 

Dr. Abbot writes that he never heard any swearing in Andover 
until after the Revolution. 

The practice of seating the congregation in those days, when 
boys occupied pews by themselves, was not conducive to their 
best behavior. In Dorchester, by 1776, the boys had become so 
turbulent, the spirit of independence so rife and riotous, that 



CHILD LIFE DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 295 

six men were appointed to keep them in order, while usually 
two tithing-men could perform this duty. 

The term religion during those Revolutionary days, would 
hardly be recognized in our modern religious training of children. 
The spirit of the Lord — perhaps, I should say the fear of the 
Lord — filled their days. They certainly had a profound familiar- 
ity with the Bible. J. L. Buckingham stated in his memoirs, 
that he read the Bible through at least a dozen times before he 
was sixteen years old. Prior to the Revolution there were few 
American children who had ever read any book, other than the 
Bible. 

Born into a religious atmosphere, reared in religious ways, 
surrounded by religious influences, they could not escape the 
impress of deep religious feeling. I am sure that this inheritance 
has come down in a measure to every one of us, and a spirit of 
thankfulness should be ours for such an heritage. 





Memorial Services for Henry Chapman Mercer, Sc. D., LL.D. 

BORN JUNE 24, 1856 
DIED MARCH 9, 1930 

(Doylestown Meeting, May 3, 1930) 

nm nmnrnm UE fiftieth anniversary meeting of the Bucks 
I County Historical Society was held in the audi- 
I torium of the museum at Doylestown, Pennsyl- 
vania, on Saturday, May 3, 1930. The morning 
session was devoted to the presentation and 
reading of annual reports of the Assistant 
Curator, Librarian, Treasurer and Secretary, the election of 
directors, the election of new members and other routine busi- 
ness. The latter part of the afternoon was given over to the 
reading of historical papers. 

During the noon recess the directors met for organization, 
at which meeting Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr., was elected presi- 
dent to succeed the late Dr. Henry C. Mercer, and Col. Henry D. 
Paxson was elected first vice-president. At a later meeting 
J. Herman Barnsley was elected second vice-president. 

Dr. Henry Chapman Mercer Memorial Meeting 

As set forth in the notice of meeting, sent to all members, as 
well as to other friends of the late Dr. Mercer, the first part of 
the afternoon session was a memorial meeting to bear testimony 
to the worth and achievements of our friend, the late Dr. Mercer. 

The meeting was called to order by Dr. Fackenthal, who said: 

It becomes my sad duty to announce the passing of Dr. 
Mercer, which occurred at "Fonthill," on the afternoon of Sun- 
day, March 9, 1930, who for twenty years was the honored presi- 
dent of this society. His body was laid at rest on Friday, March 
14th, in the Presbyterian Church Cemetery alongside those of 
his parents and other members. of his family. 

As set forth in the call for this meeting, it is now in order to 
resolve ourselves into a memorial session, to pay honor and trib- 
ute to the memory of Dr. Mercer. Not only members of this 
society, but his other friends as well, are cordially invited to take 
part in these exercises and add their tributes to his memory. 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 297 

I will therefore open the proceedings by presenting my own 
contribution to the worth and character of this great scientist. 

Remarks of Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr. 

A meeting without Dr. Mercer! A museum without the 
guiding hand of its master! His inspiring personality is sorely 
missed from among us today. 

I cannot recall when I first met him. It was probably after 
his graduation at Harvard University in 1879, or while he was a 
law student at Philadelphia, where he was admitted to the bar 
of that city in 1882, but whenever it was, I was greatly attracted 
by his personality, and am glad to say that I retained his friend- 
ship and confidence down to the day of his death. 

He often came to the upper end of the county, where I live, 
and together we explored the Durham Cave; the Jasper Quarries 
and Indian remains on Rattle Snake Hill; the Durham Furnace 
and its iron ore mines; the Palisades of Nockamixon; the Ringing 
Rocks of Bridgeton and the potteries nearby. These excursions 
were always a liberal education, and I soon learned to appreciate 
him and the thorough and painstaking manner in which he 
carried on his researches. He was a great lover of nature and 
withal a splendid botanist. He was specially interested in the 
Durham Cave, and in 1893 made a more systematic exploration 
of it, camping in a tent on Reservoir Hill, near Durham Furnace, 
and spending about a month, with a force of workmen in digging 
down through the waste material, deposited on the bed of the 
cavern, as well as through the debris on the floor, of the so-called 
Queen Esther's Drawing Room; he was richly rewarded, finding 
many bones and other evidences of native and extinct animals. 
The following year, in 1894, he was made Curator of the Museum 
of American and Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of 
Pennsylvania, and published one of a series of books for the 
University, entitled "Researches upon the Antiquity of Man," 
wherein he recorded the result of his Durham Cave explorations, 
including a full and complete list of all remains discovered. The 
volume contains seven other of his anthropological papers. 

During 1895, the University placed him at the head of the 
Corwith Expedition to study the Hill Caves of Yucatan, which 
resulted in the publication of a splendid volume, profusely 



298 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

illustrated, giving the result of the expedition and his search 
for evidences of prehistoric man. He retired from the University 
of Pennsylvania in 1897 in order, as he told me, to have more 
time at his disposal for field work. 

I have in my library a unique volume, substantially bound, 
containing fifty-five of the papers which he contributed to science, 
mostly on archaeology and anthropology, the first one bears date 
1892. I shall, at a later date, present this book to the Bucks 
County Historical Society. 

Dr. Mercer was indeed a great student along many lines, 
and I have often wondered if his friends and the public generally, 
really appreciated his ability or fully understood him and the 
great purpose of his life. A man of strong and distinct person- 
ality, I wonder if there really was any one quite like him. I 
recently took a friend, a great author, to call upon him, who on 
leaving expressed great admiration of him, and complained 
because Dr. Mercer had done so much, while he had done so little. 

Dr. Mercer stood foremost among the archaeologists of this 
country, with many battles royal to his credit. As early as 1885, 
when but 29 years of age, he wrestled with the giants of his pro- 
fession, as to whether a gorget or so-called Lenape Stone, found 
in a field in Buckingham Township, was genuine. He won his 
battle, and clearly showed it to be a genuine Indian production.^ 
He published the history of that controversy, which, as far as I 
know, was his first published book. Again, for a time, he stood 
alone in his conclusions as to the genuineness of the Turtle Backs, 
or imperfect arrow and spear heads, found in the glacialdrift 
gravels at Trenton, N. J. These he fully proved were of argillite 
and came from the refuse of an Indian quarry on Gaddes Run, 
near Point Pleasant, washed down the valley of the Delaware 
during some early flood, and did not belong to man antedating 
the Columbus Indian; in fact, he always maintained that there 
were no evidences of man prior to the great northern ice glacier. 

Dr. Mercer was present at the organization of this society 
fifty years ago (January 20, 1880), and was the last of the old 
guard to leave us. It was not, however, until 1908 that he was 
elected a director and made first vice-president, but owing to the 
illness of General Davis he was, at that time, the acting president, 

1 The Lenape Stone is now in possession of Col. Henry D. Paxson. 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 299 

succeeding to the presidency in 1911, after the passing of Presi- 
dent Davis. This was the beginning of his greater interest in 
the society, to which thereafter he devoted much of his time and 
thought, building the "Mercer Museum," dedicated in 1916, to 
which he transferred from his "Indian House" at Aldie, his 
antiquarian collection, and for the endowment of which he has so 
generously provided. 

He contributed forty-seven most interesting and instructive 
papers to our proceedings; the first on July 22, 1884, and the 
last on January 17, 1925. Of the last only a synopsis was read 
at the Doylestown meeting, but the completed paper was pub- 
lished in 1929 as a separate volume of 328 pages and 248 illus- 
trations, entitled "Ancient Carpenter Tools." He presented the 
entire edition to this society. 

One of the crowning features of Dr. Mercer's researches, was 
doubtless the publication in 1914, of his "Bible in Iron, or The 
Pictured Stoves and Stoveplates of the Pennsylvania Germans," 
profusely illustrated, recording the results of his many years 
collecting and studying the Colonial firebacks and stoveplates 
of the Pennsylvania Germans. I was much pleased and highly 
honored to have him dedicate that book to me. I think his 
interest in stoveplate inscriptions, his study of the Medieval Art 
of Illuminative Writing among the Pennsylvania Germans and 
his study of the potteries of Nockamixon, Haycock and Rockhill 
townships, were among the incentives that led him to the manu- 
facture of tiles, in which he became a world authority. He took 
out three patents to cover and protect some of his new processes, 
viz.: "New Methods for Making Tiles or Other Decorative 
Devices"; "A New Process for Making Mosaic Tiles"; and "A 
Process for Printing Pictures or Other Designs on F"abrics and 
Paper. "- 

1 remember his great pleasure when I sent him from Nuren- 
burg, a number of photographs of German tiled stoves, and 
again when I brought him a tile from the Alhambra in Spain. 
In like manner he was pleased when I brought him from Egypt, 
two distaff-like spinning reels, purchased from shepherds who 
were spinning uncarded wool with them, while tending their 
fiocks along the banks of the Nile. 

2 These patents bear dates July 14, 1903; June 21, 1904, and March 7, 
1905. 



300 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

On one of my trips to Egypt he asked me to visit the pottery 
at Keneh on the Nile, to inquire if they had ever used or heard 
of using perfumed clay in making their wares, but my inquiries 
there and elsewhere, as well as of several noted Egyptologists^ 
failed to confirm his information that such clays had been used. 

In 1926 he entered the field of romance by publishing a novel 
entitled "November Night Tales." He had also written and 
prepared for publication a romance entitled, "The Well of Monte 
Corbo," which will, in due time, be published by this society. 
These, so far as I know, were his only novels. 

Tourists travel miles in Europe to visit old castles and 
chateaux, but thanks to the genius of Dr. Mercer in the crea- 
tion of "Fonthill,"^ there is placed at our very doors a building 
of equal interest, which with its collection of rare books, engrav- 
ings, tiles and other works of art, together with ample endow- 
ment for its care and upkeep, has generously been placed in 
the hands of trustees, as an educational institution for the benefit 
of the public, particularly for students. This and the Mercer 
Museum, in which we are assembled today, are monuments to 
his everlasting fame. The great care shown by him during his 
lifetime and by his last will and testament for the preservation 
of the grounds and buildings which he created, show the great 
heart of a big man, who loved to do noble things, and who derived 
pleasure in passing something along to others to make their lives 
more happy and useful. 

In 1921 he organized and financed an expedition to China 
to study its folklore and processes and to photograph and describe 
the tools and implements of that country. At the time of his 
last illness he was editing for publication, in book form, the 
findings of that expedition. Volume I of which is to be published 
at an early day. These volumes are to be dedicated to the 
memory of his uncle, Timothy Bigelow Lawrence. By his will 
he bequeaths the sum of S100,000 to pay for publishing the results 
of this expedition and to continue the work in the Far East. 

Dr. Mercer held membership in many learned societies, from 
some of which he received honors, medals and prizes in recogni- 
tion of his work. 

3 Theodore M. Davis, discoverer of the Tomb of Queen Teie, and Sir 
William Everard of London. 

4 Dr. Mercer's own description of the building of "Fonthill" is added as 
an appendix to this publication. 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 301 

On June 8, 1916, Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster, 
Pa., conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Science, and on 
June 11, 1929, Lehigh University at Bethlehem, Pa., honored 
him with the degree of Doctor of Laws.'"' 

A few- days ago when I inquired about the insurance of the 
"Fonthill" buildings, I was told there was none, as he would have 
considered it inconsistent to carry insurance on any of the fire- 
proof buildings erected by him. 

During his life at "Fonthill" he was oblivious of time, and the 
small hours of morning often found him absorbed with his studies, 
surrounded by his books in an almost priest-like devotion. 

He was indeed a great student, widely read, a man of culture 
and delightful personality, whose life should be an inspiration 
to us who are left to carry on his w^ork, with an earnest endeavor 
to live up to his ideals, for he has left us the' memory and example 
of a sincere and industrious life. 

His accomplishments were so great that he could afford to 
die. His passing is a great personal loss, for he was always my 
good friend. 

"I'd give the lands of Deloraine 
Dark Musgrave were alive again." 

Remarks of Colonel Henry D. Paxson 

I came here today desiring to add my tribute to the memory 
of my life-long friend. Dr. Henry Chapman Mercer. 

It is with a sense of deep loss that I recall incidents of fifty 
years of close association. Dr. Mercer and I were boys together. 
We roamed the hills and fair valleys of Bucks County. In the 
aboriginal Jasper Pits at Durham, in the Indian Argillite Quarries 
on Gaddes Run, and in the prehistoric workshops nearby we 
searched for the artifacts of the red man. We swam the waters 
of the Delaware. We climbed Bowman's Hill and Jericho 
Mountain. W'e visited the traditional haunts of the Tory Doanes, 
and in returning home as the shades of evening were lengthening 
we hastened our pace, as in our boyish imagination we saw about 
us the spectres of the Tory outlaws of the Revolution. 

It is not my purpose this afternoon, in view of that which 
has already been presented, to review, even in a cursory way, 

"^ The presentation addresses and conferring of honorary degrees by both 
of these colleges are included in this publication. 



302 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAX MERCER 

Dr. Mercer's life work, his literary accomplishments, his con- 
tributions to history, and his labors in the fields of archaeology 
and ethnology. We all know of the two great museums — the 
Mercer Museum with its collection of objects illustrating the 
history of human industries, and the "Fonthill" home with its 
decorative tiles and art — unique among the museums of the 
world. 

We all recall with pleasure the innumerable meetings of our 
Society when the outstanding feature seemed to be the presence 
of Dr. Mercer. We will long remember his radiant and kindly 
face and his tall form quivering with enthusiasm and emotion as 
he told us of some new discovery. 

I recall one memorable meeting. It was on a June day in 
1916 — the dedication of the Mercer Museum. You, Dr. Facken- 
thal, presided. The building was thronged with distinguished 
people who had come to felicitate and congratulate Dr. Mercer 
on his accomplishment. Of the addresses delivered that day 
I recall the masterly effort of Dr. Learned, of the University 
of Pennsylvania. I would like to repeat, if my memory will serve 
me, the concluding words of Dr. Learned's beautiful tribute: 

"The town of Doylestown is itself like 'a city set on a hill, 
that cannot be hid,' so this Museum is to raise its beacon light 
even above the spires of Doylestown to cast its beams beyond 
the bounds of the ancient colonies, over the seas to the home- 
lands whence the early colonists went forth 200 years ago. All 
honor to the master builder, Dr. Mercer!" 

The Scriptures tell us, "We brought nothing into this world, 
and it is certain we can carry nothing out." Dr. Mercer brought 
nothing into this world, but he has left to his native town, his 
native county and to the world the fruit of his life work. Pos- 
terity will forever honor his name. 

Dr. Mercer has left us — the loss to our Society and his friends 
is immeasurable. Those who knew him and loved him, will 
always cherish the memory of his genius, of his learning, of his 
culture and of his delightful personality. 

Remarks of Mr. Henry G. Brengle 

I have a \^ery few words to say, being here as a representative 
of Dr. Mercer to give thanks, as one of his executors, for a 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 303 



medal that was awarded 
to him during the last 
days of his life. 

I first met Dr. Mercer 
in the year 1887. I had 
never seen him before. 
He graduated from Har- 
vard a good while before 
I did, and I came to 
Doylestown, one evening 
to attend a dinner party. 
There were only a few 
men present, and the 
conversation after awhile 
became very pessimistic 
until finally he looked up 
and said, ' ' I want to repeat 
a little poem I heard today." 
are all familiar with it; he said 




-ery old and I suppose you 



"If with each rose we see a thorn there grows. 
Strive that no thorn shall be without its rose." 



That had quite an 
effect on the diners, and 
the party thereafter 
livened up. Now he is 
gone; the rose has per- 
ished, but we still ha\'e 
the result of his work, and 
with that in mind, I ha\-e 
brought this medal, which 
was sent to me as a rep- 
resentative of his estate, 
by the Arts and Crafts 
Guild, Incorporated, of 
Philadelphia. I would 
like to put it here for 
exhibition so that every- 
body present can inspect 
it. With the medal the 




304 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

Arts and Craft Guild has also sent the following testimonial, 
adopted at a meeting of the Guild members April 11, 1930, 
which they desire to have read, as follows: 

"All through the past year the Jury has given careful thought 
to this award. It was decided by unanimous vote that there was 
no one better fitted to receive this first award than Dr. Henry C. 
Mercer, of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, who at that time was still 
living. After his death a special meeting was called and it was 
finally agreed upon by the Jury and later ratified by the Board, 
that the award should hold. Dr. Mercer, during his lifetime, ren- 
dered untold service both to his community and art, and was always 
a true and loyal friend of the Guild. He was best known, per- 
haps, especially in the art world, as the creator of lovely colored 
tiles, but he was besides an anthropologist, archaeologist, and 
one of the main factors of the Bucks County Historical Society, 
one of the most unique and fascinating museums in the country. 
Apart from this he was recognized as a collector, patron, advisor, 
inspirer, a vital factor in the art life of Philadelphia and its 
surroundings." 

Dr. Owen Wister (Communication) : Were I not to be absent 
at the time of your Mercer Memorial meeting, I should be more 
than glad to attend it and say something. This that follows will 
interest you and the society very much : 

About Christmas time (1929) I saw a very distinguished 
archaeologist, David McKeever, a Scotchman, but well known 
everywhere. One night the question of whether a certain 
museum piece ^^•as genuine or not came up for discussion. Mc- 
Keever said to Francis New bold, who had decided that the piece 
Avas genuine, but desired confirmation, "Why don't you ask 
Henry C. Mercer, of Doylestown? He is not only a competent 
scholar but quite the greatest potter living at the present time, 
and I think probably the greatest potter in the last thousand 
years; I might say in the last two thousand years." Two or 
three days later I saw McKeever again and told him that 1 had 
been very much struck with what he had said and should like to 
tell it to Mercer. He said, "By all means; that is what I think 
of Mercer. He is an extraordinary figure, a figure straight from 
the renaissance." 





« o 



o «J 



§ ^ 8 






MEMORIAL SP:RVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 305 

About February 13th or 14th (1930) I paid Mercer a visit 
and took a friend to see him. He had been upstairs. He was 
allo\\ ed to be downstairs, but I saw that he was very ill. I am 
happy to think that I got this chance to tell him what McKeever 
had said. Of course he disclaimed it, but I saw that it had 
given him very deep pleasure. 

Mrs. Finley Braden: Mr. Chairman and fellow members 
and friends: After the passing of kind Dr. Mercer, I wrote and 
published an article in verse which I thought you might like to 
hear this afternoon, because it expresses the value and glory of 
life work well done. 

HE LABORED LONG AND WELL 

Dr. Henry Chapman Mercer 
1856-1930 

BY MRS. FINLEY BRADEN 

A many-sided scientist for aye, 

Has passed beyond the narrow bounds of earth, 
With much accompHshed through life's lengthened day, 

To long remain, and tell the world his worth. 
Historian, writer, thinker to the end. 

In earlier years, explorer, traveler, too; 
An archaeologist with plans to blend 

And group what would from time to time accrue. 

A complex mind was his to grasp and hold 

The things that make for strong material life; 
An anthropologist, who would unfold 

The past, but dimly limned with lore so rife. 
He had the hermit heart which delves apart, 

And finds the treasures that must e'er await; 
Discouragement and failures at the start. 

But ending in achievements truly great. 

An educator long the lines that tell. 

And leave their impress on both heart and mind; 
Withal a dreamer! Heard the magic bell, 

Which to the unattained will ever bind. 
The arts and crafts he followed too with pride. 

Producing many things that will endure; 
To finally excel, he bravely tried. 

His life a pattern for both rich and poor. 



306 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

There at "Fonthill," the home he built with skill, 

And loved to occupy' through coming age, 
He labored on with slow — decreasing will, 

And ably filled his life book's daily page. 
A man of peace, content to live remote, 

And sageh' let the present world go by, 
Filmed in books, papers, magazines of note, 

A strange new world, which he could but decry. 

And many kindly deeds have come to light, 

Things wisely done in unobtrusive ways. 
To aid, inspire, uplift, before Death's night, 

So rounded out the measure of his days. 
The wondrous realm of Nature his delight. 

Its common stores, to him, were something more; 
The trees and flowers and the sunshine bright. 

The birds in sanctuary, at his door. 

A benefactor to his native town. 

His county, state and country, gaining aught 
That issued from his brain to bring renown. 

And was with weariness, so often fraught. 
He had far vision of the Golden Time, 

A brighter, better world in which to live; 
The drive for wealth exchanged for work sublime, 

Which happiness and solace too, can give. 

And surely God's rich blessing rested on 

His unpaid labors to enrich mankind. 
From those who valued him, he now is gone, 

Yet leaves a widely honored name behind. 
The massive structure he upreared with care. 

And grandly filled with everwise intent, 
Containing much considered odd and rare 

Is for all time, his lasting monument. 

Dr. Edward Hart: I didn't expect to do more than add 
my presence here today, and hear the tributes to Dr. Mercer, 
with whom I had but a shght acquaintance. I had met him but 
once, but I knew, of course, of his family, and when I was a very 
small boy, I went with my grandfather, John Watson, to visit 
Mrs. Henry Chapman, who I suppose was the second wife of 
Judge Chapman, and therefore not one of Dr. Mercer's ancestors, 
as he was a grandson of Judge Chapman's first wife, but I knew, 
although not from personal observation or contact, something 
about Judge Henry Chapman, for whom Dr. Mercer was named. 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 307 

I remember him as a man appearing of great sternness to my 
youthful ideas. The occasion of my meeting Dr. Mercer was in 
the museum here at Doylestown, but his fame came to me from 
many sides, and it is a great pleasure to be here and testify by 
my presence and contribute what little I have to say in his honor. 
He certainly was a great man, and he was all the greater because 
he was wholly an original man. I haven't been as great a 
traveler as my friend Fackenthal, but I have visited a great many 
places and know of no museum anywheres, except perhaps at 
Nurenburg, that can compare with this one. In my limited 
experience it is absolutely unique, and reflects great thought and 
care on the part of Dr. Mercer. 

Mr. Rudolf P. Hommel:*^ I thank you for allowing me 
to ofifer my contribution in memory of Dr. Mercer. 

I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Mercer for the first time 
in the year 1915. After previous correspondence about stove 
plates and their inscriptions I, one day, went to "Fonthill" to 
call on him and his greeting was: "Are you Mr. Hommel? I 
thought you would be a much older man !" In spite of the differ- 
ence in age, we soon became fast friends and my natural bent for 
historical things was fostered by the wonderful enthusiasm of 
Dr. Mercer, and this is a point I wish to emphasize: 

He was an inspiration to anyone who had the privilege of 
meeting him. His kindly criticism w^as always constructive and 
inspired to closer and deeper study. His enthusiasm for research 
was infectious, he could rouse the dormant abilities for investiga- 
tion in anyone who had the least spark of it, and kindle it to a 
blaze. In short: Association with Dr. Mercer was a liberal edu- 
cation. 

Dr. Mercer's most important contribution to Science, however, 
in my mind, is the founding of a new branch of it, namely: The 
Systematic Study of Primitive Trades, Domestic Utensils and 
Activities. He has broken Mith the old prejudice that only the 
life endeavors and belongings of the so-called "upper" classes 
'are worthy of investigation. In a democratic spirit he has 
called to the fore the so-far-slighted class of simple people and 

6 Mr. Hommel is the gentleman selected by Dr. Mercer to head his 
Chinese expedition. He has been in the Far East since 1921, and is now in 
America on a vacation, planning to return to China in the near future to con- 
tinue his researches. 



308 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

toilers, who compose about 95 per cent, of humanity, and have 
been the backbone not only of ours, but of any civilization. To 
stress this important point Dr. Mercer has built this museum, 
to show how toil, trades and crafts, domestic manners and 
activities have been conducted in past ages, and — this is impor- 
tant — has shown it for the first time. Other museums may 
spring up to do the same thing, and we hope they will, but let 
us not forget that Dr. Mercer was the originator of this new 
branch of Science and, if for no other of his many accomplish- 
ments, will go down in history as one of America's great men. 

Mr. Samuel C. Eastburn: Mr. Chairman, recounting a 
very recent letter I had from Dr. Mercer, showing even in his 
weakened physical condition his active interest in everything 
along the lines we have heard, it so happens that I am by the 
grace of the Governor of Pennsylvania, a member of the Washing- 
ton Crossing Park Commission, and in laying out the general 
lines of work for the park, we were contemplating putting w^alks 
and driveways through the park to accommodate the present 
automobile traffic for the next twenty-five years, and the ques- 
tion was up for discussion, and is still undecided, as to whether 
we should have accommodation for the automobiles to drive up 
on a concrete platform to enable them to view the historic places 
without getting out of their cars. I had intimated to Dr. Mercer 
on a previous visit that we were troubled about that, and didn't 
know just exactly what to do, but a short while ago (I didn't 
think of it or I would have brought his letter, I think it would 
have been much better than I can tell it) — I got a four-page 
letter from the Doctor. I shall not attempt to recite it, but I 
remember one sentence particularly which said : "Good Heavens, 
Eastburn, don't let them put concrete walks and driveways 
through Bowman's Hills; you will scare away the fairies." 

Miss Belle Van Sant: A short time before Dr. Mercer's 
death, I went with some friends to visit "Fonthill," we were soon 
ushered into the presence of Dr. Mercer. He was very attentive 
and showed us some tiles that came from Damascus, whereon 
were inscriptions taken from the Koran. He said he "doubted 
if there was any real art that had not a religious background." 
He then went on to say, "What sort of a gothic cathedral could 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 309 

Voltaire have designed?" In speaking of the tiles he remarked 
that while his man was obtaining them the city of Damascus was 
being shelled by the French, thus destroying much more valuable 
art than had the destruction of the library at Louvaine, which 
had caused such French lamentation. 

John S. Wurts, Esq.: I am glad to have this opportunits" 
of adding my personal tribute to the memory of Dr. Mercer. 
He was a great man and a great friend. I know not how to find 
words to express what his friendship meant to me, but we who 
are assembled here today knew him, and to know him was to love 
him. 

Mrs. Annie Meridith F"retz: A few months ago Dr. Henry 
C. Mercer received some visitors in his usual gentlemanly and 
cordial manner. They were the descendants of three brothers. 
Simon, Thomas and Dr. Hugh Meredith, who were the sons of 
James Meredith, born in Wales, and settled in Bucks County on 
land south of Doylestown along the Neshaminy. Dr. Meredith 
was the son of Simon, who emigrated to America in 1708, and 
died before the Revolution. His will is on file in the Bucks 
County Courthouse, and by a codicil thereto, he bequeaths 
"land on which a schoolhouse should be built in which the chil- 
dren of the neighborhood could be educated." This showed 
him to be a liberal minded and progressive citizen. 

Dr. Mercer's great-grandmother, the wife of Abraham Chap- 
man, was a daughter of Dr. Hugh Meredith, and it does not take 
much reflection to see that the lives of five generations, each one 
getting "wiser and better," have produced a wonderful life as 
exemplified in that great man. Dr. Henry C. Mercer. 

Mrs. Henry J. Shoemaker: Dr. Henry C. Mercer was a 
wonderful man. To me he was a great teacher and a very great 
inspiration. I never talked with him that I did not learn some- 
thing of value, and on leaving him always felt a deeper interest in 
the worthwhile things of life. 

It was his profound love of nature that first led the Nature 
Club of Doylestown into the establishment of a bird sanctuary 
and wild flower preserve, and then with his desire to establish 



310 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

something more permanent, he became our guiding spirit in the 
development and growth of an arboretum at "Fonthill." 

Dr. Mercer was interested in the history of the past and its 
preservation, but he was also always building for the future. 
The work which he began will go on, and he needs no encomiums 
from us, or monuments erected to his memory, they cannot add 
to the glory of his career, for the work of his lifetime is his per- 
petual memorial. We shall always hold fresh in our memories 
his indefatigable efforts and his never-tiring labor in behalf of the 
interests of the Bucks County Historical Society. 



Resolutions Read by Mrs. I. M. James 

As a representative of the Doylestown Nature Club, I desire 
to present a copy of the following resolutions adopted by a com- 
mittee appointed March 10, 1930: 

RESOLUTIONS OF THE DOYLESTOWN NATURE CLUB, ON THE 
DEATH OF HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER, Sc. D., LL. D. 

At a meeting of the Doylestown Nature Club, held at Doylestown, on 
March 24, 1930, the following resolutions were adopted: 

Whereas, in the death of Dr. Henry Chapman Mercer, the Doylestown 
Nature Club sustained the loss of a wise and generous friend. 

Be it Resolved, that the members record in grateful appreciation the fol- 
lowing courtesies extended by him in fostering the growth of the Club: 

A Bird Sanctuary, established in 1912. Under the supervision of Dr. 
Mercer, the Club planted one thousand White Pine seedlings, and many 
trees of larger growth on the northwestern part of the estate. The "Little 
Stone House" was renovated for use of the Club; and a room situated over 
the garage, named "Pavilion Terrace," was equipped as a meeting place 
for the Club. The monument at the south entrance to Fonthill, marking a 
row of Elms, planted in memory of the Club's deceased members, was designed 
by Dr. Mercer. The Arboretum, started at Fonthill in 1928, was a cherished 
dream of Dr. Mercer's, promising fulfillment when the Nature Club planted, 
under his invaluable guidance, ninety-one trees native to Pennsylvania, which 
have been marked with Mercer Tile Labels. 

Resolved, that the Doylestown Nature Club carry out the wishes of 
the late Dr. Mercer, by continuing the Arboretum and by caring for the 
grounds at Fonthill according to his last will and testament. 

Resolved, that these resolutions be recorded in the minute-book of the 
Doylestown Nature Club, and that a copy be sent to Dr. Mercer's family. 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 311 

Resolved, that copies be engrossed and framed, one to be placed in the 
Bucks County Historical Society Building, the other to tje hung at Fonthill. 

Helen B. Porter, President, 
Elizabeth Douglass Atkinson, 
Lal'ra V. Anderson, 
Sophia P. Eastburn, 
Ann G. Shoemaker, 

Committee 

Mr. Matthias Hall: We all hear what a great man Dr. 
Mercer was, but no one has referred to his ancestry. He was 
the son of William Robert and Mary (Chapman) Mercer. His 
maternal grandfather, for whom he was named, was Judge Henry 
Chapman, whose ancestry can be traced back into Durham, 
England, for many generations. 

His emigrant ancestors, John and Jane (Sadler) Chapman, 
arrived in America in 1684, with several small children, and 
settled in W^rightstown in the County of Bucks. 

Judge Chapman was an influential Democrat, elected to the 
State Senate of Pennsylvania in 1843; appointed judge of the 
Chester-Delaware Judicial district in 1847 to fill out an unex- 
pired term, and elected Judge of Bucks and Montgomery Coun- 
ties to serve for ten years from 1861 to 1871. 

Abraham Chapman, Esq., the great-grandfather of Dr. 
Mercer, was also a leading lawyer of his time, as well as a promi- 
nent and leading man of Bucks County. 

I am firmly of the opinion that Dr. Mercer's distinguished 
ancestry aided in making him the great man that he was. 

Mr. Joseph E. Saxford: In the year 1856 a child was born 
whose coming was of small importance to the world of that day. 
In 1930 this child, now grown old, died and his death was a 
matter of world occasion. In 1856 he belonged to a family, 
today he belongs to all who have felt the stimulus of his imagina- 
tion. No word that we can utter will either add or detract from 
his stature — he is. He has moulded his personality in imperish- 
able tile; he has visioned it in concrete and steel, and these with 
his great collections will be a quickening spirit, so that those 
coming after us may understand and love him as we w'ho were 
proud to call him friend. 



312 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

Mr. Frank K. Swain (Communication) : I was associated 
with Dr. Mercer for more than thirty-four years, having entered 
his employ in 1896. He was then forty years of age, w^hile I was 
a mere stripling. He was born at Doylestown in 1856, in the 
same house, belonging to Judge Henry Chapman, w^here his 
mother was born. 

When a young man he spent some time in Europe with his 
maternal aunt, Mrs. Timothy Biglow Lawrence, returning in 
1870 after the close of the Franco-German war. On their return 
Mrs. Lawrence began the building of "Aldie," locating it on the 
site of an old farm house. "Aldie" (demolished in 1928) was 
the home of Dr. Mercer for many years until he moved to "Font- 
hill," in 1912. 

In 1895 he built a work-shop at "Aldie," which he named 
"Indian House," where later he housed his archaeological col- 
lection. After I entered his employ in 1896 he added some finish- 
ing touches to the building. At that time he had no thought of 
making tiles. 

On May 22, 1893, prior to my employment, he discovered 
the Ancient Argillite Indian Quarries on Caddis Run, near Point 
Pleasant. He described these quarries in a communication pub- 
lished in the Bucks County Intelligencer , July 6, 1893. During 
the time he was curator of the museum of the University of 
Pennsylvania from 1894 to 1897, he continued to live at "Aldie." 
In 1895 the University of Pennsylvania placed him at the head 
of the Corwith expedition to Yucatan. He began building 
Indian House before he resigned from the University. During 
the autumn of 1896 he made his notable explorations of Big Bone 
Cave in Tennessee. In the autumn of 1897 he spent some days 
at the Herstine potteries in Nockamixon Township, Bucks 
County, where he personally made a number of dishes and 
bowls, but was much disappointed when they w^ere spoiled in 
burning; this was, however, his apprenticeship as a potter. He 
lamented the fact that these old potteries were fast going into 
ruin, as the grandsons and other descendants of the old potters 
had lost both the art and interest in the process. Not one of 
these potteries now remains in operation. We found the plants 
cluttered with unburned ware, some of which had stood on the 
drying racks for many years. The potters-tools lay on abandoned 
Avork benches buried in dust; the tubs and buckets containing 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 313 

pigments were dried out, the hoops faUing off and their contents 
spilled on the floors. 

In the spring of 1896 we went to Nockamixon Township, 
nearly opposite Holland, N. J., railroad station, to dig for Indian 
pottery in a field near the Delaware River, part of the farm of 
Owen Stover. We made our headquarters at Hollihan's hotel 
in Upper Blacks Eddy, where we were most comfortably enter- 
tained by the manager, old Mrs. Cochran. 

The years 1897 and 1898 were spent mosth' in gathering the 
nucleus of his great collection of tools and other antiquarian 
objects. In August, 1898, we went to Maine, and while there 
he made sketches of Aztec and other Mexican carvings, which I 
afterwards learned were designs for tiles, but those patterns 
were never used. His first tiles were copied from designs on old 
stoveplates. He got his idea of making tiles while visiting the 
old potteries of upper Bucks County, where he went primarily 
to gather tools, etc., for his collection. His first plan was to 
make pots, dishes, etc., but his artist friends discouraged that 
feature, saying they wanted tiles and not crocks. We started 
making tiles at Indian House in an experimental way in 1898. 
He described his experience in making tiles in an article pub- 
lished in the Doylestown Republican September 4, 1899, and 
more fully described in a paper read by him before the Bucks 
County Historical Society, February 10, 1914 (Vol. IV, page 482). 

In 1911 he purchased additional property, adjoining his 
"Fonthill" estate, on which to build his new and much enlarged 
plant; this was begun in 1911 and moved into in 1912. You 
are all familiar with the history of "Fonthill" and of his tile- 
making, which need not be entered into by me. I am pleased 
to say that I was associated with him as his manager down to the 
day of his death. 

Dr. Mercer was specialh' skilled in making freehand sketches. 
He was a most wonderful man, a great student of art whose 
master-mind is lost not only to us who knew him and loved him, 
but to the world at large as well. 

I trust I may be pardoned for saying something about our 
personal relations, which were naturally of the closest. His 
confidence and appreciation of my services is shown by the fact 
that he presented his tile plant with its entire contents to me, 
together with a large tract of land, and in other respects by his 



314 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

last will and testament, has shown his appreciation of my life- 
long connection with him. I have, indeed, lost a kind benefactor 
and a great friend. 

Mr. Alvix F. Harlow: A short biographical notice of Dr. 
Mercer prepared by Mr. Harlow was read, but having been copy- 
righted cannot be printed. 

Mr. Henry Chapman Mercer Receives the Honorary 
Degree of Doctor of Science at Franklin and 
Marshall College 

Remarks of Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr., President of the Board 
of Trustees of Franklin and Marshall College, in presenting Mr. 
Henry Chapman Mercer for the degree of Doctor of Science on 
June 8, 1916: 

Henry Chapman Mercer, graduate of Harvard University, 
archaeologist, anthropologist, former Curator of American and 
Prehistoric Archaeology in the University of Pennsylvania, 
exploring and writing a History of the Cave Hills of Yucatan, 
and for his many other cave explorations and archaeological 
researches, for developing the process of making and decorating 
tiles and pottery of the Pennsylvania Germans, and for collecting, 
classifying and publishing a history of the early Pennsylvania 
German fire-backs and stove-plates, called "The Bible in Iron," 
for collecting and preserving in a museum at Doylestowm the 
"Tools of the Nation Maker," which illustrates the work and 
progress of pioneers in the settlement and development of our 
country, and for his many other scientific and educational attain- 
ments, I ask, President Apple, that the honorary degree of Doctor 
of Science be conferred upon him. 

* * * 

Remarks of President Henry H. Apple, in conferring the 
honorary degree of Doctor of Science upon Henry Chapman 
Mercer, June 8, 1916: 

By virtue of the authority conferred upon me by the Board 
of Trustees of Franklin and Marshall College, I grant to Henry 
Chapman Mercer the honorary degree of Doctor of Science, with 
all the rights and privileges appertaining thereto, and in evidence 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 315 

thereof I present you with this diploma duly signed and sealed 
with the seal of the college. 



Dr. Mercer Receives the Honorary Degree of 
Doctor of Laws at Lehigh University 

Remarks of Professor P. M. Palmer, Director of the College 
of Arts and Sciences of Lehigh University, in presenting Dr. 
Henry C. Mercer for the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on 
June 11, 1929: 

A native Pennsylvanian, Mr. Mercer Avas graduated from 
Harvard in 1879 to enter upon a career which has been dis- 
tinguished by its versatility, by its devotion to scholarly ideals, 
its richness in adventure and its interest in humanity. 

His interests in archaeology and anthropology directed 
toward a comparison of ancient man on the various continents 
have led him far afield in the Americas and in Europe and have 
been extended in recent years to China, where even now his 
agents are gathering material for a work on Chinese implements. 
He built and endowed the museum at Doylestown, Pa., which 
contains his collection of colonial tools and utensils, and has pub- 
lished several books on anthropological subjects. 

Mr. Mercer has invented, among other things, new methods 
of tile making, a new process of making mosaics and a process 
of printing large designs on fabrics and paper. He has received 
various medals and prizes in recognition of his work. To the 
world at large he is perhaps best known by his Moravian Tile 
Works, the result of his efforts to reproduce and develop artis- 
tically the old German processes of tile making. 

He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, a member of many other learned bodies, presi- 
dent of the Bucks County Historical Society, formerly Curator 
of Prehistoric Archaeology at the LTniversity of Pennsylvania, etc. 

Mr. President, I do not propose to enlarge upon Mr. Mercer's 
accomplishments, for Mr. Mercer is a modest man, but I cannot 
refrain from adding a personal note. I have known his work 
for nearly twenty years and in my eyes his greatest accomplish- 
ment is his success in recovering for the twentieth century the 
mediaeval conception of art in which the artist and the crafts- 



316 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HEXRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

man were one. It is the artist in Henry C. Mercer to whom I 

pay my personal tribute. 

* * * 

Remarks of President Charles R. Richards in conferring the 
honorary degree of Doctor of Laws upon Henry Chapman Mercer, 
June 11, 1929: 

Henry Chapman Mercer, distinguished archaeologist and 
promotor of historical research, inventor of processes for the 
manufacture of art tiling, member of various learned societies, 
contributor to human knowledge. 

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Board of 
Trustees of Lehigh University and upon the recommendation 
ef the faculty and by formal vote of the Board of Trustees, I 
confer upon you the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws with 
all of the rights and privileges pertaining thereto. In witness 
whereof, I present you with this diploma and direct that you 
be invested with the insignia appropriate to the degree. 

Papers and Addresses Presented to the Bucks County 
Historical Society by Dr. Henry C. Mercer 

The Doanes Before the Revolution. 
The Doanes and Their Times. 
The Grave of Tamanend. 
Notes Taken at Random. 
The Red-man's Bucks County. 
Folk Lore — Notes Taken at Random. 
Tools of the Nation Maker — First Paper. 
Tools of the Nation Maker — Second Paper. 
Brief History Talks. 
Cave Explorations. 
The Lenape Stone. 

Aims and Purposes of the Bucks County Historical Society. 
Memorial Tribute to Gen. W. W. H. Davis. 
Pottery of the Pennsylvania Germans. 

Acceptance of the Log House Presented to the Bucks County 
Historical Society. 

The Grave of Tammany. 

Open Fire Cooking in Bucks County. 

The Common Tinder-box of Colonial Days. 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 317 

John Chapman — First Settler of VVrightstown. 
Notes on the Moravian Pottery of Doylestown. 
Historical Remarks at the Bedminster Township Meeting. 
Two Stoveplates Described. 
Colonial Seals of Bucks County. 
Remarks on the Christmas Tree. 
Presidential Address — Old Bakeovens Described. 
The Bowie and Other Knives. 

Presentation of the Mercer Museum, June 17, 1916. 
President's Report at Annual Meeting, January, 1917. 
Flax Seed Mills. 

Survival of Ancient Hand Corn Mills in the United States. 
An Investigation of the "Giant's Grave" at Bowman's Hill. 
Turnpike Roads in Bucks County. 
Notes on the Norse Mill. 
Notes on Basket Making. 
Notes on Forgotten Trades. 
.\n Ancient Indian Pipe from Bucks County. 
Wafer Irons. 

Ancient Methods of Threshing in Bucks County. 
A Lost Stoveplate Inscription. 
Remarks on Adobe Bricks. 
The Zithers of the Pennsylvania Germans. 
An Attempt to Find the Site of the Indian Town of Play- 
wicky. 

The Dating of Old Houses. 

The Origin of Log Houses in the United States. 

Recollections of Tennent School. 

Random Notes on Forgotten Trades. 

The Colonial Carpenter— Ancient Carpenter Tools. 

Henry Chapman Mercer — Harvard 1879 

Born June 24, 1856— Died March 9, 1930 

By his Classmate, Mr. J. T. CooHdge 

Printed by permission of the Harvard Graduate Magazine 

Graduating from Harvard in '79, Mercer was admitted to 
the Philadelphia Bar in 1881; but his inclinations tended rather 
to other fields. His activities in these included service for three 
vears as Curator of the American and Prehistoric Sections of the 



318 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HEXRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

University of Pennsylvania, while acting as editor of the depart- 
ment of Anthropology of the "American Naturalist." In the 
course of this work he explored many caves in the Delaware, 
Ohio and Tennessee Valleys as well as caverns in Yucatan, and 
his finds included the remains of extinct animals before unknown 
to this Continent: Tapir, Mylodon, Peccary and Fossil Sloth. 

The author of some twenty volumes, Mercer's publications 
included: "The Lenape Stone or the Indian and the Mammoth," 
which attracted wide attention; "Researches on the Antiquity 
of Man"; a number of articles on Archaeology and Anthropolgy 
in various scientific publications; the Proceedings of several 
Scientific Societies; "The Bible in Iron," dealing with old stoves 
and stove plates of the Pennsylvania Germans, and his recent 
publication, "Ancient Carpenters' Tools," which may well be 
considered his most important. 

He was a member of fourteen Scientific and Academic Bodies, 
and his other honors included a bronze medal from the Spanish 
Government, a grand prize at the St. Louis World's Fair, the 
gold craftsmanship medal of the American Institute of Archi- 
tects, and the medal of the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts. 
Franklin and Marshall College conferred upon him the degree 
of Sc. D. in 1917, and Lehigh University the one of LL. D. in 
1929. 

Not long after graduating from college, Mercer noted some 
red clay upon his father's place in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. 
Baked in the embers of the fire it revealed promising qualities, 
and a small homemade kiln was built. From this humble begin- 
ning sprang the widely known Moravian Pottery which developed 
into a cluster of eight kilns where tiles of peculiar character and 
beauty were produced — a business which soon grew to large 
proportions as its products spread far and wide. 

Mercer drew an endless variety of designs — from natural 
history, religious subjects, history and other sources. He 
modeled the forms for the moulds, developed by experiments 
the color glazing. To use his own words: "My research aiming 
to restore and develop forgotten ceramic processes has resulted 
in a patented process for making glazed and colored tiles for 
mural decoration." This process was .also applied to mosaic 
tiles where large and elaborate designs were transferred to slabs 
of clay, and each portion of the composition cut out, colored 



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• \?ol. 2-/3 - PSC. I I 



rH 1 
-1^ i 

■' 1^-13 



Is 



fe 



A€T- — 6Qfa>RT STt- 



318 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HEXRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

University of Pennsylvania, while acting as editor of the depart- 
ment of Anthropology of the "American Naturalist." In the 
course of this work he explored many caves in the Delaware, 
Ohio and Tennessee Valleys as well as caverns in Yucatan, and 
his finds included the remains of extinct animals before unknown 
to this Continent: Tapir, Mylodon, Peccary and Fossil Sloth. 

The author of some twenty volumes, Mercer's publications 
included: "The Lenape Stone or the Indian and the Mammoth," 
which attracted wide attention; "Researches on the Antiquity 
of Man"; a number of articles on Archaeology and Anthropolgy 
in various scientific publications; the Proceedings of several 
Scientific Societies; "The Bible in Iron," dealing with old stoves 
and stove plates of the Pennsylvania Germans, and his recent 
publication, "Ancient Carpenters' Tools," which may well be 
considered his most important. 

He was a member of fourteen Scientific and Academic Bodies, 
and his other honors included a bronze medal from the Spanish 
Government, a grand prize at the St. Louis World's Fair, the 
gold craftsmanship medal of the American Institute of Archi- 
tects, and the medal of the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts. 
Franklin and Marshall College conferred upon him the degree 
of Sc. D. in 1917, and Lehigh L^niversity the one of LL. D. in 
1929. 

Not long after graduating from college, Mercer noted some 
red clay upon his father's place in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. 
Baked in the embers of the fire it revealed promising qualities, 
and a small homemade kiln was built. From this humble begin- 
ning sprang the widely known Moravian Pottery which developed 
into a cluster of eight kilns where tiles of peculiar character and 
beauty were produced — a business which soon grew to large 
proportions as its products spread far and wide. 

Mercer drew an endless variety of designs — from natural 
history, religious subjects, history and other sources. He 
modeled the forms for the moulds, developed by experiments 
the color glazing. To use his own words: "My research aiming 
to restore and develop forgotten ceramic processes has resulted 
in a patented process for making glazed and colored tiles for 
mural decoration." This process was .also applied to mosaic 
tiles where large and elaborate designs were transferred to slabs 
of clay, and each portion of the composition cut out, colored 



\ 



MEMORIAT, SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 319 

separately and fired, somewhat in the manner of a stained glass 
window. He followed closely the workman who stamped out 
each tile by hand, and lastly the degree of firing required. Spe- 
cial designs for special places and purposes had to be studied, 
and these Mercer hit off happily. Notable examples of the 
Moravian Pottery tiles are installed in the Capitol at Harrisburg, 
in Mercer's own house, the Gardner Museum and Museum of 
Fine Arts, Boston. In the latter are two galleries where Spanish 
and Italian fioor tiles were called for, with a proportion of color 
design. The difficulty of saving a color glaze from wearing off 
under foot Mercer overcame by adopting the method he had 
found in two ancient tiles, of sinking the colored design. 

As tools and implements of ancient man were important 
witnesses in fixing anthropological periods and race charac- 
teristics, it was natural that Mercer should be led to make a 
close study of them, and so, not confining himself to those of 
the Old World and the Far East, he began to gather specimens 
from his own neighborhood in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 
brought over by the Moravian Germans in the 18th century — 
specimens at first dug out of ash heaps or in ransacking old 
cellars and garrets (one finely decorated stoveplate was found 
on top of a chimney) and later by gift and purchase. Some of 
these implements differed slightly if at all from similar types used 
in Egypt, in ancient Rome or in the middle ages, and included 
besides objects of domestic use, the general run of tools and 
agricultural implements. Kindred products of other states were 
drawn upon as well, until the collection exceeded the storage 
capacity of Mercer's "Indian House," and in 1916 he built a 
lofty and spacious structure of concrete throughout which he 
gave to the Bucks County Historical Society of Doylestown, and 
later endowed. 

In this museum tiers of galleries rise above a vast central 
court and establish a series of cubicles some sixty in number, 
each one filled with the tools of a craft and specimens of its 
wares — from the basket maker to the blacksmith, from the 
cobbler to the weaver, while the central space below embraces 
the larger agricultural implements as well as a whaleboat, a 
Conestoga wagon, a plough and a large grist mill. The whole 
comprises some 20,000 objects. This collection Mercer aptly 
christened the "Tools of the Nation Maker," and defined it as 



320 .MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

"an Ethnological collection representing the tools and utensils of 
the American pioneer." The contents of an important portion 
of this museum are recorded in a recent publication of Mercer's 
"Ancient Carpenters' Tools," illustrated and described with a 
vividness equally absorbing to the technical and lay reader. 
This collection stands as a monument to its maker, to become of 
increasing value to succeeding generations. 

No stilted terms would fit a description of the large concrete 
home called "Fonthill," which Mercer constructed for himself in 
the environs of Doylestown. Standing high upon a hillside it 
suggests an old castle of varied mass — vastly picturesque and 
reflecting withal the entire freedom from convention of its talented 
and imaginative Architect and Master of the Works. The thick 
walled interior contains deep window reveals which throw rays 
of light upon tiles set in f^oor and pier and wall. Tiles of varied 
shape and color extend to the ornament of frieze and capital and 
barrel vaulting, and include a variety of designs in a wealth of 
color — from the simple conventional to the historical scenes 
quaintly depicted in assembled tiles, the whole relieved by a 
somber setting of rough concrete. A clear picture of this interior 
would be difficult to portray because floor levels and heights of 
studding vary, and staircases lead to further changes of floor 
levels through winding passages to the rooms above; but if sym- 
metry is occasionally sacrificed to constructional needs, the 
dominant impression remains one of beauty and quaintness — of 
something belonging to a realm far away from our day. 

His classmates will recall Mercer as a man of unusual char- 
acter and imagination. Handsome, Avinning, interesting — and 
odd. Philosophy he found could not serve him because it did 
not solv^e the larger problems of life which he sought; nor could 
he fully accept the reality of a beneficent order of things in a 
Nature which allowed a systematic slaughter in animal life— - 
and animals he loved : his dogs were friends to him and he treated 
them with tenderness: "Sailor" could wipe his feet upon the mat 
and unlatch the door, and was proud of it, and so was his master. 
His estate included a bird sanctuary and it is easy to understand 
that he wrote against cruelty to animals and vivisection. Eager 
to solve problems which appealed to him, Mercer was fascinated 
by discussion — and even disputation, a tendency which, he 
related, received a check from an old native of York, Maine, who 
observed: "Harry, it is better to live pleasant than to be right." 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 321 

Mercer loved Nature and everything which possessed ciuality 
in Art, especially in its simple and quaint forms which he dwelt 
upon lovingly and developed in his designs; but he held unbend- 
ing hostility to ugliness and false taste and especially to the noisy 
vulgarity of a certain side of American life. Quantity production 
by machinery was not for him, and in his own work he followed 
the spirit of the craftsman of the past. So he lived a life quite 
apart in the quiet of the country, deeply engrossed in the pursuits 
which were to bring him success and distinction. 

For many years Mercer was handicapped by illness and 
broken down nerves; but his absorbing interests conquered all 
physical ills so far as to carry him to the end of a life of useful and 
notable achievement. 

J. T. C, 79 

The Building of "Fonthill," at Doylestown, 
Pennsylvania, in 1908, 1909 and 1910 

Copy of a typewritten description found among the papers of the late 
Dr. Henry Chapman Mercer 

Several sketches and memoranda in my note books show 
that the building of "Fonthill" was first considered definitely 
during my visit to New England in the summer of 1907, and 
that the cheerful fronting of certain houses, overlooking Com- 
mercial Street, Boston, running N. N. E. by 1 point East, were 
studied for this purpose. 

The house was planned at "Aldie," Doylestown, Pa., by me 
in the winter of 1907, room by room, entirely from the interior, 
the exterior not being considered until all the rooms had been 
imagined and sketched after which blocks of clay representing 
the rooms were piled on a table, set together and modeled into a 
general outline. After a good many changes in the profile of 
tower, roofs, etc., a plaster-of-Paris model was made to scale, 
and used till the building was completed. 

From eight to ten unskilled day laborers at the then wages 
of $1.75 a day, supervised by Patrick Trainor and under my 
constant direction, built the house in three summers, those of 
1908, 1909 and 1910. I employed no architect to carry out my 
plans and there were no skilled laborers employed in the con- 
struction proper, though afterwards a carpenter put in the doors 



322 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

and window sash, a mason set the tiles on the vertical walls and a 
painter put in the window glass. As a single exception to this 
Jacob Frank, employed at the Moravian Pottery, set the ceiling 
tiles which were cast into the building during its construction. 
Cement mixers were not then in general use and all the cement 
was mixed by hand in the proportions of Portland Cement 1 
part, yellow sand (called Jersey gravel), ly^. parts, and bluish 
crushed trap from the crushed stone works at Rockhill Station, 
south of Quakertown, Bucks County, Pa., 5 parts. The mixed 
material was lifted either in iron wheelbarrows, or boxes, with 
four handles, to be carried by two men by a pulley fastened at 
the vertex of a very simple apparatus, namely, a triangle about 
ten feet high, made of three heavy wooden strips balanced with 
guy ropes so as to swing outward from the brink of any of the 
walls or at a hand pull backward inside the edge. This inward 
swing brought the uplifted load within the triangle to the work- 
men's hands. A single horse belonging to Patrick Trainor, 
named Lucy, trained to pull forward the pulley rope, on a counter 
block and back on the path, did all the work of lifting during the 
three years. No accidents happened to the men whose names 
are set in tile letters on one of the inner roofs of the east gable. 
Thunderstorms frequently occurred, but only one so damaged 
the ceiling of the Library gallery that the crust had to be replaced. 
The men were trusted to count the ingredients and mix the cement 
properly. They only failed once on leaving a mixed batch to 
stand over night and then unwillingly removing the rotted mix- 
ture after pouring it into the forms. 

During construction the building was roughly roofed with 
felt paper. The re-enforcing irons used everywhere according 
to approved formulae were hollow ^/j^-inch and less iron pipes 
bought in junk yards in Philadelphia and Doylestown, except 
for the beams, where solid iron rods, not twisted, were used in 
the usual way after bending around posts, to the proper angles, 
six per beam. Besides this, heavy galvanized farm fencing, in 
large rectangular mesh, was laid over all the re-enforcements. 

The plan of the whole house was an interweaving of my own 
fancies blending with memories of my travels and suggestions 
from several engravings, in particular the "Dutch Housekeeper" 
by Gerard Dow, the "Great Barn" by Wouvermans, in the 
Dresden Gallery and a Lithograph now in my Morning Room 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 323 

called "Le Main Chaud" by De Boucourt, also a woodcut illus- 
trating a story called "Haunted" in a book published about 
1865 by Tinsley's Magazine, named "A Stable for Nightmares." 
This picture gave me the night lighting of the Morning Room. 
The first interior imagined and clearly seen was that of the west 
side of the Saloon seen when standing near the large window 
about eight feet from the door to the Library. The arrange- 
ment of rooms at different levels seen over the gallery in the 
Saloon is a memory of a Turkish house seen by me from a rear 
garden in Salonica in 1886. The Saloon still clearly retains the 
appearance of these preliminary dreams, but the original fancies 
for nearly all of the other rooms were changed as we proceeded 
sometimes perhaps for the better and sometimes for the worse. 

The name Fonthill well remembered as that of a house in 
Essex County, Virginia, belonging to my distant relative, Mr. 
R. M. T. Hunter, seemed very appropriate on account of the 
fine spring rising here on a hilltop close to the northwest corner 
of the tower. I long hesitated with it on account of its earlier 
celebrity in the historic "Fonthill" of Beckford in Wiltshire, 
England, long since destroyed, but finally decided to use it on 
the advice of an English friend of high authority. 

The Walls — The foundations, not over 5 feet deep, rested 
on a solid ledge of sandstone, but as this sub-stratum was gen- 
erally covered with a dense crust of broken stones and grit I 
doubted its existence until when later, fearing collapse, we tried 
to under-pin the tower. Then the trenches dug for this purpose 
proved the fact. 

Several demolished buildings, followed by car loads of 
unplaned boards, furnished the wooden material for the forms. 
These consisted of partitions made by laying the boards horizon- 
tally, edge to edge one upon another, with battens nailed wherever 
convenient against their outer sides. Double lengths of wire 
were looped around and twisted upon the projecting ends of 
these battens as we proceeded to keep the forms from bulging. 
These forms were set vertically with a spirit level, and not by 
eye, as has been asserted. Where high winds deflected them or 
where they sagged or where mistakes were made the results were 
corrected after construction by chiseling away projecting corners 
or building up crusts as against the north corner of the east 



324 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

gable. Nevertheless, the north library wall still shows a bad 
overhang. Pieces of tin were tacked over knot holes, large 
cracks and open joints. Owing to warping the board joints 
never fitted close and there was continual leakage of liquid 
cement. This produced many porous spots on the outer wall 
which were plastered over afterwards. The concrete was pur- 
posely not spaded inside the walls in the hope of making them 
more porous. Continued suggestions as to dampness, resulting 
in rheumatism, etc., caused us to cast large vertical holes by 
means of collapsible wooden boxes invented by me, stove pipes 
filled with dry sand, pulled upward as we proceeded, and even 
corn stalks wrapped in paper at intervals of a few feet throughout 
all the walls. The cornstalk plan was, however, a failure as the 
leaves fiew in all directions into the forms and the wet stalks 
would not burn out of the holes. Angles in the very irregular 
chimneys, and the chimneys themselves, were cast upon wooden 
boxes or boards pounded, pried, or burnt out afterwards. The 
walls were cast two feet thick and the box holes either two feet 
long and one foot wide or one foot square. Piers, three feet by 
three and a half, bordered the windows in the tower, the inner 
wall of which for extra strength, enclosing the staircase, etc., was 
cast very thick. The vertical re-enforcing pipes were planted 
two feet apart in the forms and straightened as we went up. The 
fence wire was slid down against them and the horizontal pipes 
laid in on the wet cement at every two feet. The arches over 
many of the windows were made by bending yi inch by 3 inch 
wide wooden strips into semi-circles to coincide with a penciled 
line on the outer forms and the welts left by these still show in the 
Morning Room. The result of our precautions as to wall ven- 
tilation, namely, loose tamping, collapsible boxes, and cement 
batches mixed by hand and greatly varying in density, were 
very successful. Blackened shoes in dark closets never mildew. 
There has never been condensation of moisture except on the 
tile pavement in the hall. Cigars dry up in their boxes, Windsor 
chairs rattle loose. 

Owing to the color of the Jersey gravel, gray cement and 
bluish trap, the outer walls show soft gray-yellow with faint 
greenish reflections and, owing to the roughness of the forms, 
board welts, and porous spots not retouched, the texture is very 
rich as seen at a distance. In experimenting upon smoothing 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 325 

down these outer surfaces for weather protection with cement 
plaster, when a mason working upon a hanging platform did 
the work, we found that the plastering had been carried too far 
on the east upper wall of the tower and thereafter proceeded by 
retouching only the very porous spots. 

Columns — The columns intended to support roof-slopes and 
upper story partitions rise from the cellar to the housetop through 
several rooms without symmetrical arrangement. Their forms 
were made by boards set vertically and held together in circles 
with rope and wire or in squares with battens. Each was re- 
enforced with three vertical pipes and wire circles twisted by 
hand and dropped down the forms about two feet apart as the 
work went on. Tiled capitals and bases and cement capitals 
were put on after construction. Some of the latter in the wind- 
room were taken from very old Byzantine churches in Greece 
and one, the owlish face in the cellar, from Mont St. Michel in 
France. An octagonal M-ooden column used by one of my 
friends, an architect, in a house near Philadelphia and adapted 
by him from a column in the Castle of Tratzberg, in the Austrian 
Tyrol, suggested the polygonal columns, two or three of which 
are octagons, while the others have nine faces or are made cir- 
cular by the use of narrow wooden strips in the form. The 
columns referred to by visitors, one made with stovepipes and 
the other with nail kegs are in the cellar of the east wing. One 
column was cut off during construction in the yellow room to 
make way for the bed. Some of the columns were plastered 
after construction with lime and sand mortar, others with cement. 
Some were left untouched and some slightly retouched. 

Partitions — The interior partitions connected with or sup- 
ported by the columns were cast about five inches thick and 
re-enforced as usual. The wooden window frames and sash were 
made at Doylestown and Lansdale and the frames cast into the 
w^all during construction. The cement windows were cast in 
channels cut with wire loops in slabs of clay and were re-enforced 
with thin iron rods and set in their wall-holes after construction. 
Those on the hall stairs are the first of their kind ever made to 
the writer's knowledge, but in these the stone ingredients were 
too large. One of them with another on the west terrace have 



326 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

cracked around the irons. But those made later with chosen 
ingredients in the garage or with larger mulHons in the Historical 
Building have been very successful. 

Chimneys and Staircases — Some of the chimneys and stair- 
cases were formed with the building, others cast upon it. The 
chimneys above the roof were varied in height and their caps 
sometimes altered for draught. Many of the flues are very 
tortuous. Most draw very well but a few are smoky in certain 
winds and defy correction, namely, those in Mr. Swain's room 
and the East Room. That in the yellow room radiates its heat 
badly, and that in the Library which smoked in west winds has 
been corrected. The Morning Room and Study fireplaces draw 
and heat well and that in the Saloon is probably one of the most 
efficient open fireplaces ever built. The hot air flues were made 
of round terra-cotta pipes cast in the walls. 

Ceilings and Roofs — For the flat ceilings in the cellar, 
platforms of boards sawed to fit were placed between the beam 
troughs and these levels covered with earth. Later, for upper 
rooms, the platforms were made very roughly of rails covered 
with grass under the earth layer, and then about two inches of 
yellow Bucks County sand was spread over the earth. The 
roof terraces and flatter roofs were also so treated, but on the 
very steep roofs of the tower and east gable carpets only were 
spread over the boards except on the east room ceiling, where, 
in spite of the steep slope, the earth and sand layer was used as 
described . 

The vault forms were made of heaps of earth spread over 
piles of boxes and overlaid as before with sand, producing a series 
of carefully graded mounds resting on the platforms as before. 
This process began in the crypt of the tower where no sand layer 
was used. In the Library the earth mounds were raked into 
semi-circles or ellipses and the sand overlay carefully smoothed. 
All worked well notwithstanding the difficulty of scalloping the 
wall forms to meet the slopes of these mounds, and cleaning or 
washing out the column forms from down-fallen earth and sand. 
Having heard of serious condensation of moisture in a recently 
built house in Canada we decided to cast a very porous under- 
crust on all further ceilings. This consisted of Portland cement 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 327 

1 part and fine sifted cinder 6 parts. Three inches of this was 
spread wet over all the ceilings under the re-enforcing irons and 
then about five inches of regular concrete was super posed. No 
waterproofing compound was used for the roofs or walls except 
Dyckerhof's imported waterproof cement for the large west ter- 
race. Otherwise, on the advice of Mr. Robert W. Lesley, based 
on experiments then made with lime, we used ten per cent, (to 
the volume of dry cement) of powdered slacked lime used by 
plasterers and called "Limoid" to waterproof the five-inch con- 
crete layer on all roofs and terraces. This was very successful. 
Only one roof, namely, that in the Smoking Room, ever leaked, 
and that cured itself probably by crystalization in about two 
years. The large water tank, resting directly on the ceiling of 
the Wind Room was thus waterproofed, notwithstanding warn- 
ings from one of the builders of the swimming pool at the Racquet 
Club in Philadelphia, then recently built and lined with tar paper. 
This Fonthill tank, however, sprang a slight leak several years 
later, but again cured itself in a year or two. The same thing 
happened with the tank at the pottery. No cracks have thus 
far appeared in any of the roofs or ceilings. The roof tiles on 
the tower and steeple were not necessary as the surfaces under 
them were already waterproofed. 

Decorations — In the hall and Saloon clay troughs for groins 
and borders and clay impressions of stoveplates were used in 
casting the ceilings. Otherwise tiles were pushed face down- 
wards into the sand crust so as to project about a quarter of an 
inch on the backs. The tile and cement pavements were set 
after construction. A method of casting designs or pictures 
upon ceilings in colored cements was twice tried successfully in 
the cellar of the Saloon, but not attempted later. The ceiling 
tile work pictures, inscriptions, designs, etc., cast as described 
directly during construction tried first in the crypt and next in 
the Library, was very successful. The elaborate and probably 
overworked pictures in the Columbus and Bow Rooms, which 
may be called adaptations of our mosaics with patterns modeled 
in relief and no background were designed in August and burnt 
and set before frost. The tiles were laid first with much difB- 
culty, owing to the wind, on large drawings and then turned 
upside down and pushed into the sand. We feared sagging of 



328 MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

vault forms and the falling of heavy tiles set in this manner, 
but no such bad results followed. When we pulled out the plat- 
form props, the platforms collapsed and tons of earth and sand 
fell, exposing the tiles, after which the loose sand was washed off 
with a hose and when dry brushed and shellaced between the 
tiles. 

Interior Finishing — The interior walls were not furred. 
Sometimes they were plastered with lime and sand mortar or 
with cement and then shellaced with yellow shellac or tinted 
with a clay wash colored with dry paints. The panels in the 
Pine Room, Dormer Room, etc., were adapted from those at 
Haddon Hall, the Library panels were original and colored with 
water color paint sprayed with shellac. The Morning Room 
was panelled with old Doylestown doors of varying dates and 
styles between 1760 and 1850. 

The painted door in the Library was made by outlining the 
pattern with a cautery and was copied from Froissart's Chronicle 
and taken from my old room at Aldie. The iron balcony railings 
were patterned after those seen in an old second-class hotel in 
Genoa, those of cement in the Saloon and outer terraces were 
taken from the porch of San Marco at Venice. The rhymed 
English mottoes on the staircases are original. Several in Latin 
are from old house doorways in Genoa. "Non Omnia sed bona 
et bene" from No. 15 (black numbers). Via del Campo, "Non 
domo dominus sed domino domus," Via Pontaldi, No. 6 (black 
numbers). 

All the tiles on the wall-faces were set in the usual way and 
not cast in during construction. The heavy outer doors are 
made of oak planks from the old covered bridge at Chalfont and 
adapted from doors at Hornby Castle, Yorkshire. The interior 
doors of the same construction are backed with cross battens 
from doors seen by me in 1886, at Durenstein in upper Austria 
and elsewhere on the Danube in Austria. The door nails were 
made in Doylestown by a blacksmith and the hinges and hinge 
hooks from old Bucks County barns were found in neighboring 
scrap iron heaps. The hook prongs were extra forked for casting 
into the walls. A few late paneled doors of about 1850 were 
bought at a Philadelphia wreckage yard. 

The staircases were all plastered with round treads over wire 
netting placed upon the original casting. 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER 329 

The Columbus Room was dedicated to my aunt, Mrs. T. B. 
Lawrence, nee Mary Chapman, to whom I owe my education 
and travels, and all the rhymed tile inscriptions on the columns 
and corbels are original and refer to her, in gratitude for her 
incessant encouragement and help in things good and worthy 
that I have tried to do since my early youth. 

The tapestry woven curtains, etc., in the house are of modern 
French make and have greatly faded. Most of the prints 
(engravings) were obtained from George H. Rigby, the book- 
seller in Philadelphia. The picture frames were generally 
adapted from old mirror frames of about 1840, and they and the 
furniture painted to give color to the room. The floors were 
polished with damp white pine sawdust slightly oiled with boiled 
linseed oil. 

Outside Appearance — In general the house, like old barns, 
anthracite coal breakers, old houses in the country before 1800, 
and, as I believe, like many European castles, was built from 
the inside, that is to be used first and looked at afterwards, 
therefore with only a secondary regard for outside construction. 
The establishment of the height of walls, shape of windows, 
roof-lines, steeples, chimneys, etc., were finishing touches. The 
construction was nowhere concealed. From first to last I tried 
to follow the precept of the architect Pugin. "Decorate con- 
struction but never construct decoration." 

So little was outside appearance considered that we remained 
in doubt and some fear as to the final result till the forms were 
removed. The flat towered roof and "Jersey Terrace" were 
afterthoughts. When the covering of woodwork finally dis- 
appeared the general outlines from the east seemed disappointing 
and out of proportion, but seen from the west the building 
realized the literary and artistic dreams and memories of travel 
which had inspired its construction. 

Large numbers of sightseers visited the house in 1909 and 
1910, since then as a few visitors continue to come, leaflets were 
written to describe the tile work and interior decoration for their 
benefit. Referring to these more minute descriptions I conclude 
with a motto, from the door of an old house, (Vico deitro il core 
della vigne, Genoa, No. 43, red.) ''Intro spice et pidica." 



330 



MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR HEXRV CHAPMAN MERCER 



(During the year 1931 there were 2,573 persons who visited 
"Fonthill" and registered their names and about 500 others who 
failed to register.) 




INTERIOR \'IEW OF FOXTHILL 



Address of Welcome to "Glacialdrift" at Riegelsville 

By dr. B. F. FACKENTHAL, Jr., RIEGELSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA 
(Riegelsville Meeting, September 13, 1930) 

I AM indeed glad to welcome the Bucks County Historical 
Society for the third time in Durham Township. The first 
on July 28, 1885, at our Durham Iron Works home, where the 
luncheon was served on the lawn, and the meeting held in Dur- 
ham Cave; the second at Riegelsville on October 5, 1909, with 
the meeting in the Reformed Church and the luncheon served 
at our home, which we call "Glacialdrift." Mrs. Fackenthal, 
whom many of you knew, was with me then, and because of her 
absence, I hesitated to entertain without' her, but having been 
honored by you with my election as president of our society, to 
succeed the late Dr. Henry C. Mercer, I take pleasure on 
assuming the duties of my office by extending to you a most 
cordial welcome to "Gladialdrift," so called because our home 
stands on a ridge of drift, the moraine which washed down the 
valley of the Delaware River from the great northern ice glacier, 
the terminus of which was but twelve miles north of here, and 
which spread over the entire continent from coast to coast. 

The flood in the Delaware, October 10, 1903, was the highest 
in the recorded histor)^ of the river, which rose to a height of 
about forty feet above low water mark. It reached the public 
road in front of our house, and swept through the low lands of 
the entire borough. The Delaware Division canal, which passes 
through this borough, is the only canal remaining in the entire 
country that continues to be operated by boats propelled by 
mule power. And moreover the latest information is that that 
part of it between Morrisville and Bristol, a distance oi9l4. miles, 
is about to be abandoned.* 

* Since this meeting was held and the above address spoken, the Dela- 
ware Division canal has stopped operating. It was with a feeling of sadness 
that I witnessed the last boat (Boat No. 181) pass through the canal on the 
morning of Saturday, October 17, 1931, going north empty. During the 
afternoon of that very day there was a meeting at the Thompson-Neely house 
in Solebury township, Bucks County, for the formal transfer of that part of 
the canal between Locks Nos. 22 and 23 at Raubsville (there were formerly 
two locks there but changed into one double lock) and Lock No. 5 a short 
distance below Yardley, a distance of about forty miles. At that meeting, 
which was largely attended, William Jay Turner, Esq., attorney representing 



332 ADDRESS OF WELCOME TO 'GLACIALDRIFT" 

Riegelsville, although in Durham Township, is not an old 
settlement; the first dwelling house having been built in 1806. 
There was, however, a ferry with ferryhouse on the river at an 
earlier day. The village of Durham, two miles west of here, 
where the original Durham blast furnace and forges were located, 
was the earliest settlement in Upper Bucks County, having been 
started in 1727, twenty-five years before Easton was laid out 
and Northampton County erected. At that time the entire 
township belonged to the Durham Iron Company, and in addi- 
tion over 2,000 acres outside of the township. In addition 
to their own lands aggregating over 8,500 acres, the hills for 
miles around in Williams and Lower Saucon townships in 
Northampton County and Springfield and Haycock townships 
in Bucks County also supplied wood for burning into charcoal 
used at the Durham furnace.- 

When the Durham Iron Company's lands were partitioned 
on December 24, 1773, Tract No. 33, on which this meeting is 
being held, was allotted inter alia to Joseph Gallow^ay, but for- 
tunately for him he sold it on June 1, 1774, to Joseph Morris, 
and it therefore escaped confiscation when Galloway was attainted 
of treason, and his other Durham lands were seized and sold. 
The southern part of this borough is on Tract No. 32, allotted to 
Hon. James Hamilton, then Lieutenant Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania. Tract No. 36, lying north of here, was allotted to James 
Morgan, who had been the iron master at Durham furnace. The 
front parts of these three tracts or subdivisions (Nos. 32, 33 and 
36) all bordering on the Delaware constitute the entire borough 
of Riegelsville, incorporated May 24, 1916, with a population, 
according to the 1930 census, of 725. 

Durham Township has a most interesting history. It affords 
a rich field for the botanist and the geologist, with its iron ore 
mines and early iron works, where the very first shot and shells 
were made in Pennsylvania for the Continental army, the first 
shipment having been made August 25, 1775, and they con- 

the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, presented a deed for that part of the 
canal to Governor GifTord Pinchot on behalf of the Commonwealth of Penn- 
sylvania. The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company and the Common- 
wealth have entered into an agreement by which the water is to be kept in the 
canal during the usual summer months. This agreement provides for free use 
of the water for five years from July 1, 1931, and thereafter at a rental of 
about $5,000 per year. The canal, abandoned for navigation purposes, and its 
environments are to be maintained as a public park. 









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HOME OF MR. AND MRS. B. F. FACKENTHAL. Jr. 

At Durham Iron Works, where the Bucks County Historical Society was entertained, 

July 28, 1885 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME TO GLACIALDRIFT" 333 

tinued to be made in large quantities throughout the entire time 
of the war. In fact, shot were also made at Durham for the 
French and Indian war. The Indian village of Pechoqueolin 
was in Durham in the southeast corner of the township, and 
here in Durham were the Indian Jasper quarries on Rattlesnake 
Hill, the Durham cave and Durham boats. Durham is the 
birthplace of Gen. Daniel Morgan, the hero of the battle of 
Cowpens, S. C, and here George Taylor lived when he signed 
the Declaration of Independence. The late Dr. John W. Jordan, 
then of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, is my authority for 
the statement that General and Mrs. Washington spent a night 
in the Mansion house at Durham, as recorded in the Moravian 
diaries; and there is a tradition that General Washington and his 
staff stopped for a midday meal at the Seven Stars Inn, in 
Durham Township, two miles south of here, then owned by 
William Abbott, later by the Overpecks. 

All of these interesting features have been so frequently told, 
and referred to in our proceedings, that I do not propose to 
enlarge upon them at this time; I beg only to remind you that you 
are on historic ground, and to greet you and bid you welcome to 
"Glacialdrift," and thrice welcome to Durham Township. 



South Mountain Indian Quarries 

By henry K. DEISHER, KUTZTOWN, PA. 
(Riegelsville Meeting, September 13, 1930) 

THE object of this paper is not intended as a scientific 
treatise on Indian quarries, but chiefly a condensed report 
of quarry locations and a resume of a few thoughts which 
are suggested in answer to inquiries that have been made of me. 

In deaUng with the subject of quarries we must hark far back 
to prehistoric times, to a period concerning which we have no 
written record. Whatever there is of history coming down to 
us through the ages, we find it to vary greatly in different parts 
of the world. 

Europe had her Stone Age. So had Egypt and China, dating 
back thousands of years. The American Stone Age ended on 
the Pacific Coast in America, less than a century ago. 

Along the Atlantic Coast, only a few hundred years ago, our 
forefathers built their rude cabins along the seemingly endless 
stretches of forest. Until then the sole human occupants of 
this vast expanse were the scattered tribes of Red Men to whom 
the cry of the catamount, the howl of the wolf, the boom of the 
bull frog, and the arresting notes of the katydid and cricket were 
but solo parts in the great Symphony of Life. 

But whence came the Indian? This riddle may never be 
solved. 

During the summer of 1929 Chief Cook, wife and daughter 
Pocahontas, of the Pamunkey tribe, a branch of the Powhatan 
Confederacy of Virginia, visited the Pennsylvania State museum. 
Chief Cook is a full blood and direct descendant of Powhatan. 
They number 120 and own 800 acres of land of which not a 
square inch of soil has been turned by the plow of the white man. 

He said it took his wife six years to capture him. His wife 
was asked if he was worth so much eff'ort. 

She replied, "Oh, yes." 

I showed him the poem by Bryant. He looked at it, and 
then with uplifted hands and eyes recited : 



SOUTH MOUNTAIN INDIAN QUARRIES 335 

"They waste us; ay, like the April snow- 
In the warm noon we shrink away; 
And fast the>- follow as we go toward 

the setting day; 
Till they fill the land, as we are driven 

in the sea." 

The section of our country under consideration in this 
article was inhabited by the Lenni Lenape tribe. When did the 
Red Man arrive upon our Atlantic Coast? When did the Lenni 
Lenape first traverse this region? 

From his own legends we learn that the Lenni Lenape came 
from the West. If so, were these Indians equipped with stone 
implements upon arrival? Possibly so, if they arrived in small 
numbers, decimated by constant warfare enroute, which theory 
is in strict accordance with their tradition. Another fact which 
substantiates this theory is that implements made of western 
flint are found scattered throughout this section. Yet the 
answer may be No, for these few implements may have been 
traded for with western tribes, and considerably later, as some 
archaeologists believe. 

Drake, in his "Indians of North America," estimates the 
original number of the Lenni Lenape at 500 at the time of the 
discovery of America in 1492. This estimate is probably too low. 

According to Lenni Lenape legend and the computation of 
authorities, the Red Man arrived here in 1397. Dr. H. C. 
Mercer, in his "The Red Man in Bucks County," quotes from 
the journal of Rev. Charles Beatty, 1767; "Counting the beads 
or a wampum belt as years, according to their custom...." 
Again Dr. Mercer quotes from Brinton's "The Lenape and Their 
Legends" (p. 207): "According to the painted stick chronicle 
. . . ." Heckwelder, another authority, agrees with this version 
or Indian tradition. 

This would show an occupancy of this section for a period 
of approximately two centuries before the arrival of John Smith 
in Virginia in 1607, the Dutch at Manhattan in 1609, and the 
Swedes on the Delaware about 1638. By that time the Indians 
were fairly numerous. Nearly another century had passed 
before the white man began to make interior settlements. Dur- 
ing these centuries these Indians occupied at one time or other 
all the rivers and small streams in the valleys a few hundred 
miles inland. 



336 SOUTH MOUNTAIN INDIAN QUARRIES 

I am citing this at length to account for the many thousands 
of stone implements found by collectors on village and camp 
sites along streams and near springs. To give this matter due 
consideration requires search and study of hill and dale, stream 
and spring, field and forest. I have been actively engaged in 
this work since 1873, having become interested at an early age. 
I gradually enlarged my field of activity until it embraced the 
southeastern counties of Pennsylvania. My research resulted 
in the accumulation of over 18,000 specimens acquired by the 
State Museum in 1917. 

When the Indians came they needed to search for suitable 
material to make implements for the chase and for warfare. 
While engaged in fishing they discovered the waterworn pebbles 
in the river drift and found them suitable for hammerstones and 
for chipping into implements. 

Naturally, the source of the stone deposit was sought, for 
the river drift alone could not supply the demand. I refer again 
to Dr. Mercer's "The Red Man in Bucks County": "Going up 
the Delaware stream, argillite pebbles cease about Frenchtown, 
N. J., and if following them as a dog follows a trail you can walk 
straight to the argillite Indian mine on Gaddis Run, near Point 
Pleasant, Bucks County, Pennsylvania." 

Argillite is a metamorphosed rock formed from a clay sub- 
stance and is very hard. It disintegrates considerably on the 
surface in most soils and varies in color from black to a bluish 
black and brown. 

Dr. Mercer discovered these quarries May 22, 1893. He 
did considerable excavating and describes these quarries at 
length in chapter 2 in his "Antiquity of Man." He located 
another argillite Indian quarry on Neshaminy Creek, also in 
Bucks County. Many implements made of this rock are found 
as far west as the Susquehanna River. I have no knowledge of 
any deposits of argillite having ever been located along this river. 

Nine flake-strewn jasper pits on Rattlesnake Hill, a mile 
from the Delaware River, in Bucks County, had been known for 
a number of years by Charles H. Laubach and J. A. Ruth, of 
Riegelsville. These gentlemen brought the matter to Dr. 
Mercer's attention in 1891. During the summers of 1891 and 
1892 Dr. Mercer headed an expedition to explore the ancient 
jasper quarries in Bucks, Lehigh and Berks Counties, from the 



SOUTH MOUNTAIN INDIAN QUARRIES 337 

Delaware to the Schuylkill River. On this expedition Dr. 
Mercer and Mr. Laubach discovered twenty jasper pits on the 
Saucon Creek, two miles west of Limeport. The information 
given by a farmer, who described the dump heaps as Indian 
mounds, led to the discovery of ten jasper pits one and one-half 
miles south of Limeport. 

At the suggestion of A. F. Berlin, of Allentow^n, investigation 
was made by Dr. Mercer in 1892 at Vera Cruz, Lehigh County. 
Here were found sixty jasper pits, some of enormous size. These 
pits are located in virgin forest and have not been disturbed. I 
have brushed aside the forest leaves and found little piles of 
small jasper flakes, showing where the Indian sat and by primi- 
tive method put the finishing touches to the beautiful jasper 
blades so highly prized by the Indians and present-day collectors. 
Dr. Mercer has tried in vain to raise funds to preserve this spot 
in its primitive state for all time. I have suggested to the 
Pennsylvania State Historical Commission that this tract be 
purchased for this purpose, since it is the only remaining un- 
touched spot of its kind, displaying centuries of aboriginal labor 
of immense proportions. 

Probably the most extensive operations carried on in these 
parts are the 138 jasper pits on the hills southeast of Macungie, 
Lehigh County. During the summer of 1892, Dr. Mercer made 
excavations in several of these pits to a depth of forty feet and 
found evidence of heavy sticks charred at one end to harden 
the wood. These sticks were used for digging and prying. No 
solid ledge of rock of workable quality could be found near the 
surface, hence the tremendous excavations to find rocks or 
nodules. Dr. Mercer describes these operations at length in 
the January, 1894, issue of "American Anthropologist." 

During the summer of 1904, and several times since, D. N. 
Kern, of Allentown, and I hunted over this tract, gathered ham- 
merstones by armfuls and cached them in fence corners, taking 
with us only the best specimens. In recent years these pits have 
been almost obliterated by farm operations. 

There is an outcrop of jasper on the Topton Orphans' Home 
farm, located on the watershed of the Lehigh and Schuylkill 
rivers. The land has been cultivated for generations and leaves 
no visible evidence of aboriginal operations. 

Basanite, or black chert, used mostly for arrow points and 



338 SOUTH MOUNTAIN INDIAN QUARRIES 

knives, is found in small nodules in beds of streams over a con- 
siderable area in Berks County. My search for a deposit of this 
rock of workable quality extended over a period of years, until 
in 1918 Lawson G. Dietrich of Richmond Township, called my 
attention to certain fossils which he had found in rocks on his 
farm. Here I was amply rewarded for my long search. This 
deposit is about two miles west of Kutztown, a few hundred 
yards north of the William Penn Highway and not far from 
Moselem Creek. 

In Berks and Lehigh Counties material used for flaked imple- 
ments predominate in the order named: quartzite, chert, jasper, 
white quartz, argillite and rhyolite. 

Quartzite is found in many places on the South Mountains, 
also along the Blue Ridge or Kittatinny Mountains. The 
famous Blue Rocks in Berks County come under this head, and 
are commonly termed hard sandstone. In 1898 I discovered 
one of the chief sources of supply of quartzite of superior quality 
in Rockland Township, Berks County, a few hundred yards 
northeast of Sally xAnn Furnace. 

Dr. William H. Holmes, of Washington, D. C, contended 
that an abundance of quartzite could be found anywhere on the 
South Mountains. In order to settle this contention we visited 
the place on September 19, 1905, and my assertion was proved 
by excavations. In a very short time we had uncovered a mass 
of flakes and a number of hammerstones and rejects. My 
search has revealed no other quartzite quarries. 

Implements of chalcedony are desirable but rare, probably 
owing to the difficulty of finding raw material in sufficient quan- 
tity in the forest. Chalcedony is found in eggshaped nodules 
along Sacony Creek as far north as Kutztown. Dr. Holmes 
urged me to search for the source of the supply. During the fall 
of 1918 I crossed a cornfield a short distance southwest of Lyons 
and here found a considerable quantity of the rock. 

On the hillside near Bowers, Berks County, is Flint Hill, com- 
monly known as "Feirshtay Barrick" among the Pennsylvania- 
German residents. The name has recently been changed to 
"Sacony Barrick." But why change an appropriate name which 
has been in use since the time of pioneer settlement almost two 
centuries ago? 

The outcrop covers several acres, and the ground is thickly 



SOUTH MOUNTAIN INDIAN QUARRIES 339 

Strewn and mixed with flakes and rejected jasper. A small cir- 
cular patch of woodland shows depressions made by Indian 
diggers. Many years ago I dug test holes and found a number 
of hammerstones. On the north side of the woodland the town- 
ship supervisor dug out hundreds of loads of jasper material in 
sizes suitable for road improvement. Dr. Holmes and I watched 
the workmen unearth a pummeling stone from seven feet below 
the surface. It weighed fourteen pounds and was worn round 
from having been thrown on rocks to reduce it to portable size. 

Hammerstones were abundant there years ago, but have 
since been carried away by collectors. Jeremiah Stern, who was 
reared in that locality nearly a century ago, told me that flakes 
could be seen lying about in scattered piles before the land was 
cultivated. 

From this site the aborigines probably carried away more 
jasper than from all the other quarries combined. This may be 
due to the quality and quantity of the rock found close to the 
surface. 

Can you see in your mind's eye a band of warriors, followed 
by a retinue of squaws heavily laden with camp baggage, slowly 
winding their course to the foot of the hill to one of the several 
springs which gush forth pure, sweet water? Can you see those 
squaws going about their menial tasks, while their lords are 
engaged in procuring the raw rock from the nearby quarry? 

This land was owned by the Weiser family for many genera- 
tions. William Weiser, who cleared portions of this land, 
pointed out to me about forty years ago the location of circular 
spots which he was told were the original sites of wigwams. 

Between Fleetwood and Princetown is an outcrop of jasper 
of but minor importance. Near Fritz Island, south of Reading, 
is an outcrop of considerable size, but so far as I know there is 
little evidence of Indian labor left. Ore mining operations 
obliterated all traces years ago. 

During the past two years it has been my privilege and pleas- 
ure to study Susquehanna River sites and collections. Rhyolite. 
a rock of eruptive origin, was almost exclusively used north and 
south of Harrisburg, as well as east and west along tributaries 
of the Susquehanna River. The early inhabitants of this sec- 
tion were the Susquehannock Indians, called Andaste by the 
French. 



340 SOUTH MOUNTAIN INDIAN QUARRIES 

Credit is due Prof. A. Wanner, Mt. Gretna, Pa., for referring 
me to the location of the extensive RhyoHte Quarries. 

In the fifteenth report of the Bureau of Ethnology, page 73, 
Dr. William H. Holmes states that Rhyolite occurs in narrow 
belts in the South Mountains from Harpers Ferry to a point 
south of Harrisburg. In his search he found no trace of aborigi- 
nal operations until reaching Maria Furnace on Toms Creek, a 
branch of the Monocacy, ten miles southwest of Gettysburg, on 
the mountain slope. The quarries spread over several acres of 
ground. 

The flaking quality of Rhyolite found here was evidently 
superior to all other outcrops. 

According to the number of implements of this material 
found all over the country drained by the Susquehanna River 
down to tide water, an enormous quantity of Rhyolite must have 
been transported from this quarry site. 

Incidentally, Rhyolite Indian artifacts are found in the Jasper 
quarry sections of Berks and Lehigh Counties, and Jasper arti- 
facts are found near the Rhyolite quarries of Adams County and 
the Susquehanna River drainage. 

During the summer of 1904 I guided Professor Wanner to 
the Flint Hill Jasper Quarry and the first specimen he found was 
an arrow head made of Rhyolite. 

Many persons have asked "How old are these stone imple- 
ments?" It may be reasonable to answer from 300 to 500 years 
and much older in some sections. 

Trading pelts for guns, axes, knives, etc., came with the 
advent of the white man, but not all Indians were supplied at 
once. Consequently some of the primitive tools continued in 
use for a period of time, gradually being abandoned on their 
village sites. It is probably a fair guess to state that the quarries 
were gradually abandoned about 1575 to 1650. 

Dr. F. G. Speck of the University of Pennsylvania informed 
me on December 6, 1929, that last summer, in Delaware, he saw a 
squaw still using a stone knife to scale fish, who said that she 
preferred it to a steel knife. 

February 5, 1930. I had the pleasure and honor of entertain- 
ing Chief Strong Heart of the Yakima tribe of Indians in Wash- 
ington State. From photographs of the carved rocks on the 
Susquehanna River he explained many of the symbols. We 



SOUTH MOUNTAIN INDIAN QUARRIES 341 

had a long discussion on the Red Man's religious faith and their 
devotion to the Great Spirit. 

The aboriginal Red Man may well say: 

Where is my home — my forest home? 

The proud land of my sires? 

Where stands the wigwam of my pride? 

Where gleam the Council fires? 

Where are my fathers' hallowed graves? 

My friends so light and gay? 

Gone, gone forever from my \'iew, 

Great Spirit, can it be? 



#^#%^l^ 



Cattle Ear Marks of the Seventeenth Century 

By henry a. JAMES, DOYLESTOWN, PA. 
(Riegelsville Meeting, September 13, 1930) 

A CURIOUS incident prompted your distinguished Presi- 
dent to ask me to write something on "Cattle Ear Marks 
of the Seventeenth Century." While I knew that animals 
had been branded from time immemorial and always supposed 
that the cattle in Bucks County had been branded, yet I had no 
definite knowledge on this subject until about eight or nine years 
ago when a curious incident occurred. 

By oversight and in the process of cleaning, the record of the 
ear marks of animals in Bucks County got into the rubbish and 
waste paper. A Jewish man was buying the waste paper and 
with curious, what might be called, instinct, he evidently looked 
at the small paper and concluded that it was of more than usual 
value. He held communication with some person in regard to it 
and was advised to see the late Dr. Mercer. Of course, in an 
instant. Dr. Mercer realized the value of this paper and made 
an effort to get it. 

The Jewish man claimed that it belonged to him and fixed a 
price on it which Dr. Mercer would not pay. Later, the Jewish 
man got into some trouble and employed me as his counsel. 
While I was looking after his case, he produced this paper and 
told me that it was not to be delivered unless he was paid $25.00. 
I had several talks with Dr. Mercer in regard to the matter and I 
told him I was keeping the paper, but I was not at liberty to give 
it up at that time. I have since concluded that my obligation no 
longer requires me to keep this paper and I believe it should 
repose in the Archives of the Bucks County Historical Society 
and I am turning it over to the Society. 

Naturally, I became somewhat interested in the contents of 
the paper and talked to our friends, Warren S. Ely and Horace 
Mann, in regard to the same. Mr. Mann kindly referred me to 
the only writings upon this subject. 

I found, upon reading a paper delivered by the late General 
W. W. H. Davis before the Doylestown meeting of the Historical 
Society on January 19, 1892, that he refers, in a short way, to 



CATTLE EAR MARKS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 343 

the marking of cattle in our county. He refers to Phineas Pem- 
berton as the first to have ear marks of his cattle registered. He 
says that Phineas Pemberton was the first clerk of the Courts of 
Bucks County, and served until his death in 1702. He further 
says, "One of the earliest subjects to engage the attention of the 
first settlers of our county was the marking of their cattle. As 
they were turned loose in the forest, some distinctive mark to 
recognize them was provided by law. In Bucks the registry of 
ear marks was begun in 1684, but no doubt cattle were marked 
earlier. The first name entered in the book kept for that purpose 
is that of Phineas Pemberton and the entry reads: 'The marks 
of my cattle, P. P., the 10, 6th-mo.. 1684,' and the book is part 
of the records of our Court. Nearly all the entries were made 
in that year, and the book contains the names of 105 owners of 
cattle in Bucks County. The usual method of marking was by 
cropping one or both ears; each owner's cattle must be marked 
differently, and any alteration of the marks was a punishable 
offense. Among the owners of cattle in 1684 we find the names 
of many prominent families of today." 

I also find that the late Honorable Harman Yerkes, at a 
meeting of this Association held at Wolf Rocks, Buckingham, 
July 16, 1895, on the "Tree and Vine, the Original Seal of Bucks 
County," refers to the fact that the early settlers in Bucks 
County recorded the cuts and scarifications of the ears and the 
brand-marks burned in the flesh of their cattle for the purpose 
of identification and ownership. He says in this paper that the 
"Proprietary and Governor" marked his cattle by cropping oft' 
about half of both ears and for his brand mark he burned "on 
the near shoulder" of the animal in large capitals W. P. P. G., 
Governor, the same inscription as appears on his seal. He 
further says that, unless these marks were recorded, it did not 
protect the ownership or right of property. He also refers to a 
case of an unrecorded stray where "at the request of the ranger" 
she was slaughtered by James Harrison. In the division, the 
Governor took two-thirds and the ranger one-third, after Harri- 
son had had 60 pounds for wintering her. He concludes by 
saying that this was a good bargain for the Governor and his 
ranger. 

The "Record of Ear Marks" is a very old and quaint docu- 
ment. From its age and use, some of it is almost illegible. There 



344 CATTLE EAR MARKS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 

are other parts of it which are as clear and distinct as if written 
only yesterday. It is a most interesting piece of antiquity and 
it is fortunate that it can be preserved. On the inside of the 
first page, there is the following legend: "The Record of the ear 
marks entered between the years 1682 and 1693, Phineas Pem- 
berton, Ct. Com." General Davis must have seen this record 
when he wrote his article. 

The paper contains the names of many of the original settlers 
in Bucks County, among them are those of Phineas Pemberton, 
Thomas Watson, John Palmer, John Hutchinson, Samuel Hough, 
Thomas Janney, Thomas Dungan, Henry Cooper, Stephen Van- 
Sant and many others. The marks were very curious and some 
of them might not be tolerated at this time, owing to the fact 
that it might be charged as cruelty to the animal, yet I suppose 
that all of these animals thrived and, at that time, it was impor- 
tant to keep such a record so that the stock would be identified 
and, if lost or stolen, could be redeemed. 

The following appears in the Colonial Records, Volume I, 
page 26: "Certain conditions or concessions agreed upon by 
William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of the Province of 
Pennsylvania, and those who are the adventurers and purchasers 
in the same province the Eleventh of July, one thousand six 
hundred and eighty-one. 

"Seventeenthly — That all shall mark their hogs, sheep and 
other cattle, and what are not marked within three months after 
it is in their possession, be it young or old, it shall be forfeited to 
the Governor, that so people may be compelled to avoid the 
occasions of much strife between Planters." 

These conditions evidently were strictly carried out. There 
is the folloAving record as to ear marks: "At Upland Court helde 
at Kingsesse County on Delaware River by Majestees authority 
June 14, 1681, Charles Jamsen brings in ye Eare Marke for his 
cattle and hoggs and desires that ye same may be recorded. 
Granted and is as follow yeth viz : — the foremost syde of ye Eare 
halfe cutt away." 

Upland Court Records, page 190. 

We thus see that as far back as 1681 there was a record of 
ear marks. Warren S. Ely informs me that he has seen the 
record of several suits pertaining to brands in our early Courts 



CATTLE EAR MARKS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 345 

where the ownership of horses, cattle and hogs was in dispute. 
It seems that these brands could be assigned and the record shows 
that many times the owners assigned and transferred their 
brands to other persons. 

In General Davis' History of Bucks County published in 1905 
at page 44 &c., there is a reference to the branding of animals. 
There is also engravings of ear marks of some of the prominent 
families of Bucks County. 

I have been told one interesting thing and that is, that Warren 
S. Ely was able at one time to trace the lineage of some family 
through the registry of the brand. 

The subject of brands is a most interesting one and one 
could spend a large amount of time upon this subject, but as my 
remarks were to be confined principally to the County of Bucks, 
I do not know that I can say anything further on this subject. 

Of course, all the older persons who had any knowledge of 
brands have long since been called to the Great Beyond. The 
present generation has very little interest in the subject and it is 
impossible to get any stories or matters concerning this ancient 
practice. 






THOMAS YARDLEY 



THOMAS STACKHOUSE 



HENRY PAXSON 




Manufacture of Hydraulic Cement in Bucks County 

By dr. B. F. FACKENTHAL, Jr., RIEGELSVILLE, PA. 
(Riegelsville Meeting, September 13, 1930) 

HE hydraulic cement industry, which has revolu- 
'1 tionized the building trades, the construction of 
bridges, dams and road making, and the economic 
conditions of the entire country as well, has made 
most wonderful and rapid progress in its manu- 
facture and in the evolution of its processes, par- 
ticularly since 1900, when the American-made Portland cement 
became better known, down to the present time when over 
178,000,000 barrels are being made in one year. The total 
cement of all kinds made in the United States from its discovery 
in 1818, down to 1929 inclusive amounts to 2,881,647,337 barrels. 

Lime Mortars — There is no history to show when lime and 
sand mortars were first used, but its use dates back to the very 
dawn of history, as evidenced by its presence found in the oldest 
ruins of the world. The statement having been made to me 
that hydraulic cement had been used in building the wall around 
Jerusalem, I obtained a sample of the bond used in building the 
wall around the Temple Area, where King Solomon's temple 
stood (1000 B. C), now occupied by the Mosque of Omar, but 
the examination showed it to be lime mortar. 

Hydraulic Lime — Was first made in 1756, by Joseph 
Smeaton, an English engineer, who experimented with variations 
of the known processes of burning common lime made from pure 
limestone, in an endeavor to obtain a mortar having hydraulic 
properties. By hydraulic cement is meant a material that will 
harden under water, and in that respect differs materially from 
lime mortars. Smeaton had been employed by Parliament to 
build a lighthouse in the English channel, known as the Eddy- 
stone Lighthouse, where several wooden lighthouses had been 
wrecked by storms. He found that by burning soft clayey, 
(argillaceous) limestone he could obtain a product which, 
although slaking with water, would also harden under water. 




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GRISTMILL AT NARROWSVILLE LOCK 

Where cement was ground on buhrstones in 1829-33. The bridge over the lock was built to 

make tlie mill accessible after the lock was built. The top view shows the lock empty to 

receive boats going north; the other with lock ready to receive the pleasure boat "Zlotub" 

going south. 



MANUFACTURE OF H\T)RAULIC CEMENT IN BUCKS CO. 347 

making possible the construction of his lighthouse, and establish- 
ing the process of making hydraulic lime, the first step toward 
the cements of later days. 

Hydraulic "Roman Cement" — In 1796, James Parker, 
another Englishman, patented a process of burning argillaceous 
limestone. He pulverized his product, and obtained a material 
that would not slake with water, but had hydraulic properties, 
which he called "Roman Cement." This was the beginning of 
the natural cement industry, and the term "cement" has ever 
since been applied to such products which do not slake under 
water, as against the limes, common and hydraulic, which do 
slake. 

Natural Hydraulic Cement Manufactured in America 
— The first natural hydraulic cement manufactured in this 
country was made by Canvass White, then a young man of 27, 
one of the engineers who built the Erie canal, the first canal to 
be built in this country, who in 1818 discovered a deposit of 
argillaceous limestone on the line of the Erie canal. After some 
experimentation he worked out a process for making cement 
which was used for building the locks, aqueducts, culverts and 
other masonry of that canal. The original plan was to use lime 
mortar, and point the work out with imported hydraulic cement. 
The Erie canal was built by the state of New York, and proved to 
be a great commercial and financial success. This was followed 
by the building of many canals throughout the eastern section 
of our country. Some of these per se, were not financial successes, 
but they contributed largely to the development of our country, 
and that fact must not be lost sight of as they were built before 
the days of railroads. 

The building of canals naturally led to the manufacture of 
cement along their lines wherever possible to do so. The cement 
operations were crude, and as a rule the materials calcined in 
ordinary limekilns, but presumably at higher temperatures than 
when burning ordinary lime. Some of the kilns may have been 
specially built vertically, like those on the Lehigh canal to be 
referred to later. In all early operations the grinding was accom- 
plished on ordinary buhrstones, such as were in general use at all 
gristmills. 



348 MANUFACTURE OF HYDRAULIC CEMENT IN BUCKS CO. 

The Lehigh Canal — That part of the Lehigh canal from 
Mauch Chunk to Easton {46^4 miles), begun in 1825 and com- 
pleted in 1829, was built by Josiah White, Erskine Hazard and 
George F. A. Hauto. The management was under the super- 
vision of Josiah White, an uneducated but a shrewd, resourceful 
man of Quaker stock. In 1827, two years after they began 
work, they employed Canvass White, who had aided in building 
the Erie canal, as their chief engineer. They manufactured their 
own cement, the first reference to which is contained in a report 
to the board of managers of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Com- 
pany, by Josiah White under date of January 12, 1828, in which 
he says: 

"The discovery of hydraulic lime on line of the canal has afforded the 
advantage of giving greater permanency to the works without a heavy addi- 
tion to the cost; and I have much pleasure in stating that I have recently 
discovered a method of producing artificially this invaluable article by com- 
pounding the materials of which it is composed and which are found to exist 
in the greatest abundance on the shores of the Lehigh. * * *" (Hazard's 
Register, Vol. I, page 91.) 



In a brochure published in 1912 by William Glace, Esq., he 
gives his father, Samuel Glace (born 180.5, died 1892), credit for 
building these cement kilns for the Lehigh canal, presumably 
under direction of Josiah White. He says there were two plants 
where cement w^as manufactured, the first on the west side of the 
river at Lehigh Gap, where, as discovered later, there was but a 
limited supply of cement-making material. That plant was 
abandoned in 1830, and a second one erected at Siegfried on the 
eastern side of the river. He describes the specially designed 
kilns, of which there were four at each plant, as ranging from 10 
to 15 feet in height, those at Siegfried being the higher. He says 
they were conical in shape, sloping in at the top. The Siegfried 
plant was destroyed by the flood of January, 1841, and the loca- 
tion is now occupied by the Lawrence Cement Company. It is 
well-known that the Lehigh canal passes through the very heart 
of the great cement rock deposits of Lehigh and Northampton 
counties, in which two counties more Portland cement is being 
manufactured than in any other part of the world of like size, 
amounting in 1929 to about 23 per cent. of»all made in the United 
States. I was told by James Smith, a noted contractor, that 



MANUFACTURE OF HYDRAULIC CEMENT IN BUCKS CO. 349 

even the lime mortar made from stone of that locaHty was of 
superior quality. 

The Delaware Division Canal — The State of Pennsyl- 
vania built the Delaware Division canal between Easton and 
Bristol (60 miles). It was begun in 1827, some boats passing 
through by 1832, but owing to faulty construction was not 
regularly opened until 1834. This is the canal, now under lease 
to the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, that flows through 
Riegelsville, past the place of this meeting, and is the only canal 
remaining in this country which continues to be operated by 
mule power. 

Hydraulic Cement Manufactured in Bucks County 

We have records of two plants in Bucks County where natural 
hydraulic cement was ground for the Delaware Division canal, 
one at the Narrowsville locks, about four miles south of Riegels- 
ville, the other in Solebury Township, near New Hope. These 
were both crude affairs. 

Narrowsville Plant — The limestone for the Narrowsville 
operation was in fact quarried in Holland Township, Hunterdon 
County, New Jersey, opposite Monroe (now Lehnenburg) in 
Bucks County, Pa., where it was burned in ordinary limekilns. 
On a draft of the survey of the Delaw^are Division canal, made in 
1827, on file at Harrisburg, the location of the Holland quarry is 
indicated as "cement kilns." The clinker was loaded on Durham 
boats and floated down the Delaware, about three miles, to the 
Narrowsville gristmill, on the Pennsylvania side, in Nockamixon 
township, Bucks County, then owned by Samuel Rufe, where it 
was ground on ordinary buhrstones. This old gristmill stopped 
grinding some years ago; the water-power was obtained from the 
Delaware River by means of a wing-wall dam. 

From an official report of H. G. Sargeant, general engineer 
of the Delaware Division canal, to Thomas G. Kennedy, the 
superintendent, under date of November 20, 1829, it appears 
that most of the hydraulic cement used on that canal was manu- 
factured at the Narrowsville plant, and that they continued 
grinding during the season of 1830. This report is found in 
Hazard's Register, Vol. V, page 184, as follows: 



350 MANUFACTURE OF HYDRAULIC CEMENT IN BUCKS CO. 

"Lock No. 20 (the Narrowsville lock) would have been erected this season 
only that it is located directly in front of and occupies a part of the ground 
on which a gristmill now stands, where most of the hydraulic cement used on 
the line is manufactured, * * *" 

This operation is also referred to in the New Jersey Geological 
Survey of 1868, page 525, to which my attention was first 
called by my good friend, the late Dr. David T. Day of the 
United States Geological Survey. At that time I made for him a 
careful sampling of the exposed ledges in the Holland quarry near 
the river, and found it to be a dolomite with 20 per cent, of silica, 
and in that respect suitable for natural cement ; the other constit- 
uents were 6.66 per cent, sesquioxide of iron and alumina, 40.56 
per cent, carbonate of lime and 32.34 per cent, carbonate of mag- 
nesia. The magnesia was entirely too high for the Portland cement 
of a later day, the highest limit of which, formerly fixed by stand- 
ard specifications at four per cent., was in 1916 advanced to five 
per cent, in the finished cement.* 

William Piatt, known locally as "Lofty" Piatt, born February 
28, 1818 (died April 24, 1908), who lived all his life near the 
Holland quarry, then a lad of 11 or 12 years, remembered this 
operation of quarrying the stone and burning it in the limekilns 
and sending it off on Durham boats for grinding at the Narrows- 
ville gristmill, and on different occasions explained the operation 
to me. In like manner my grandfather, Michael Fackenthal, Jr., 
(1795-1872) often spoke to me about the manufacture of cement, 
as herein stated. 

The Solebury Township Operation — -The other Bucks 
County cement operation was at the limestone quarries of Asher 
Ely in Solebury Township, located about two miles north of 
New Hope and one mile west from the Delaware River. This 

* Since presenting this paper two other dolomite quarries in Holland 
Township, near the Presbyterian Church, have been sampled; both are about 
1,500 feet east of the Delaware River, where old limekilns are still in evidence. 
It is likely that cement clinker was also burned there, although the analyses 
with lower silica are not as suitable for cement as the higher silica in the 
quarry above referred to, which is located a few hundred feet farther north 
and much nearer the river. The analyses are: 

Nearest the Farthest 

Conglomerate North 

Silica 3.16 12.38 

Iron and Alumina 2.24 4.92 

Carb. ofLime 58.85 50.75 

Carb. of Magnesia 35.81 31.30 



MANUFACTURE OF HYDRAULIC CEMENT IN BUCKS CO. 351 

limestone was also calcined in ordinary limekilns and ground in a 
gristmill nearby on the same property, located on Primrose Run, 
from which power was derived. This run discharges its water 
into the Delaware River at Philips gristmill, since converted into 
a community house. During July, 1930, I visited these quarries, 
accompanied by Dr. Benjamin L. Miller, professor of geology at 
Lehigh University, who is studying the limestone and cement 
deposits of Pennsylvania for the State Geological Survey, and 
John F. Magee, general engineer of the Alpha Portland Cement 
Company; we were piloted by Warren S. Ely, who was born on 
the adjoining farm and knew in detail by tradition the history of 
cement having been manufactured there. We examined two 
openings from which limestone is said to have been quarried for 
cement; these were sampled for analyses, the result shows them 
to be dolomites, one of them with enough silica and alumina for 
making natural cement, and from that one the supply was doubt- 
less drawn. The analysis shows 16.80 Silica; 1.71 Sesquioxide 
of Iron; 5.01 Sesquioxide of Alumina; 57.60 Carbonate of Lime 
and 18.16 Carbonate of Magnesia. This quarry is now part of 
the property of Prof. Richard G. Wedderspoon, professor of 
landscape painting at Syracuse University, who makes his sum- 
mer home there. At the time of our visit the quarry was being 
cleaned out preparatory to making a sunken garden of that part 
below the surface of the ground. The old abandoned gristmill 
where the clinker was ground is still standing. It belongs to 
William L. Ely, who is operating a stone-crushing plant nearby. 
The cement was manufactured by Asher Ely, grandfather of 
William, who was born on that farm July 11, 1768, (died August 
12, 1855). His account books are in possession of William, and 
contain entries showing shipments from 1829 to 1833, mostly to 
contractors who built the Delaware Division canal, with its locks, 
culverts, aqueducts and other masonry. Thus we find shipments 
to Dorrance & Company, May 2, 1829, of 401 bushels of cement 
at 22 cents per bushel, about 60 cents per barrel; to John Van 
Gregory & Company, June 15, 879 bushels at the same price; to 
James Wallis of Bristol, August 15, 824 bushels, and on Septem- 
ber 8, 900 bushels, both lots at 20 cents per bushel; to Lewis S. 
Coryell, October 22, 940 bushels; November 5, 1,015 bushels, 
and on December 5, 192>^ bushels, all at 21 cents per bushel. 
These shipments all in the year 1829, cover the very time when 



352 MANUFACTURE OF HYDRAULIC CEMENT IN BUCKS CO. 

the canal was building. There are records of later shipments 
down to 1833, doubtless when the canal at New Hope was having 
the water-wheel erected to supply additional water from the 
Delaware River to feed the lower levels of the canal. 

On the same pages of Asher Ely's account book, are also 
recorded shipments of lime, showing that cement was not con- 
fused with lime. Lime was sold at 15 cents per bushel; wood 
cost $2.75 per cord; labor 50 cents per day, and no doubt long 
days at that. It appears from an old letter addressed to me by 
the late John Ruddle, then General Supervisor of canals, that 
the cement used on the Delaware Division canal was not of the 
same good quality as that used on the Lehigh canal. 

RosENDALE NATURAL Cement — Natural cement was made 
in large quantities in different localities and shipped under many 
different names, but that made in the Rosendale district in Ulster 
County, New York, deserves special mention. In 1898 nearly 42 
per cent, of all natural cement made in this country was ground 
there. Shipments from that territory were mostly by Hudson 
River boats from Rondout, now part of Kingston. The Lehigh 
district during that year was third on the list, with shipments of 
but nine per cent. 

Cement Containers — In earlier years all cement was packed 
in barrels, weighing about 376 pounds net, and the barrel has ever 
since been the standard of measurement. Barrels were gradually 
replaced with cotton sacks holding one-fourth of a barrel or 94 
pounds of Portland cement. Cotton sacks can be used but four 
or five times until they are worn out. This burden falls mostly 
on the cement companies and is, indeed, a costly item. About 
10 per cent, of them are not returned and about 16 per cent, of 
those returned are worn out and go to the scrap pile. The inven- 
tory of one large company, with offices in the Lehigh Valley, in 
1922, contained an item of over 18 million cotton sacks, old and 
new, valued at $1,462,896. The shipments of that same com- 
pany in one year amounted to 64,216,648 cotton sacks, enough, 
when empty, to make 1,500 full car loads. Another company, 
whose headquarters are also in the Lehigh Valley, in 1925, had 
in like manner an inventory of $1,000,000 for cotton sacks, all of 
which in a few years became a total loss. One might dwell on 



MANUFACTURE OF HYDRAULIC CEMENT IN BUCKS CO. 353 

the evolution of the cotton cement sack, and write an interesting 
paper, with illustrations, to show how many of them were con- 
verted, mostly by foreign laborers, into under-drawers. 

Over the past few years large shipments of cement are being 
made in paper bags. These are patented and made with five 
separate layers of paper. ^ One company advises me that 39 per 
cent, of its shipments during 1929 were in paper, and another 
company advises me that 50 per cent, of its present shipments 
are in paper bags. This container may in time replace cotton 
sacks altogether, just as cotton sacks replaced barrels. 

Portland Cement Discovered — Was first made in 1824 by 
Joseph Aspdin, a bricklayer of Leeds, England, by mixing lime- 
stone and clay, calling his product "Portland Cement," because 
blocks made with his mixture resembled in color and texture the 
oolitic limestone quarried on the Isle of Portland in the English 
channel. Although he did not burn his material to incipient 
fusion, which has since been made an essential point in this pro- 
cess, he was the first to use an artificial combination of argilla- 
ceous and calcareous substances and to him properly belongs the 
credit for making the first Portland cement, and the name he gave 
it has ever since adhered to it. 

Portland Cement in America — To David O. Saylor, of the 
Coplay Cement Company, of Coplay, Lehigh County, Pa., must 
be given the honor of having made the first Portland cement in 
this country. He protected his process by letters patent dated 
September 26, 1871, but regular shipments from his new plant 
did not begin until several years later. This company had been 
manufacturing natural cement since 1866, and Mr. Saylor carried 
on successful experiments, obtaining an intimate mixture of 
argillaceous and calcareous substances in proper proportions, 
burning them to incipient fusion and pulverizing his product 
until he obtained a Portland cement, a product so superior to the 
natural cement then in use, that it became only a question of 
time when it largely replaced natural cement. The replaccr 
ment was however quite gradual, because there was not full con- 
fidence given to it, and large quantities of imported Portland 

1 Since this paper was written paper bags with four layers of paper are 
gradually replacing those with five layers. 



354 MANUFACTURE OF HYDRAULIC CEMENT IN BUCKS CO. 

cement continued to be used. It was not until 1900 that ship- 
ments of Portland cement passed those of natural cement. In 
1921, the proportion of natural cement shipments fell below one- 
half of one per cent., but over the past four years it has advanced 
to one and one-quarter per cent. 

In the early manufacture of Portland cement the mixture was 
calcined in circular upright kilns, known as shaft kilns, at first 
using wood and later coal for fuel. It was not until 1886, long 
after Portland cement was in general use, that horizontal rotary 
kilns came into use; these at first were but 24 feet long. In 1909, 
Thomas A. Edison patented rotary kilns having a length of 150 
feet and over. That length has been greatly exceeded until now 
such kilns are made 400 feet long. In the manufacture of 
Portland cement about three per cent, of gypsum is added 
subsequent to calcination. 

Amount of Cement Manufactured and Imported — The 
following table, prepared for me by John F. Magee, General 
Engineer of the Alpha Portland Cement Company, shows the out- 
put of all cement made in the United States since its discovery in 
1818 down to the close of 1929; also a memorandum to show the 
amount of cement imported from 1878 to 1929 inclusive. Another 
memorandum shows some of the changes which have taken 
place in its processes and manufacture. 



Raw Materials 



First Made By— Ancient Ron 



Process of Hand- 

Manufacture andfu 

only E 



Final Preparation Calcii 

of Product of wa 

The r 

slakes 



Hydraulic Properties Mort; 
hydra 



Tensile Strength No pr 

adhes 



Chemical Composition Si 

of Finished Product F 

A 

C 

N 
S 



c 



354 MANUFACTURE OF HYDRAULIC CEMENT IN BUCKS CO. 

cement continued to be used. It was not until 1900 that ship- 
ments of Portland cement passed those of natural cement. In 
1921, the proportion of natural cement shipments fell below one- 
half of one per cent., but over the past four years it has advanced 
to one and one-quarter per cent. 

In the early manufacture of Portland cement the mixture was 
calcined in circular upright kilns, known as shaft kilns, at first 
using wood and later coal for fuel. It was not until 1886, long 
after Portland cement was in general use, that horizontal rotary 
kilns came into use; these at first were but 24 feet long. In 1909, 
Thomas A. Edison patented rotary kilns having a length of 150 
feet and over. That length has been greatly exceeded until now 
such kilns are made 400 feet long. In the manufacture of 
Portland cement about three per cent, of gypsum is added 
subsequent to calcination. 

Amount of Cement Manufactured and Imported — The 
following table, prepared for me by John F. Magee, General 
Engineer of the Alpha Portland Cement Company, shows the out- 
put of all cement made in the United States since its discovery in 
1818 down to the close of 1929; also a memorandum to show the 
amount of cement imported from 1878 to 1929 inclusive. Another 
memorandum shows some of the changes which have taken 
place in its processes and manufacture. 





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MANUFACTURE OF HYDRAULIC CEMENT IN BUCKS CO. 355 



OUTPUT OF ALL CEMENT MADE IN THE UNITED STATES FROM 
1818 TO 1929, inclusive 



Years 


Barrels 
Natural i 
Cement* 


Per- 
cent- 
age 


Barrels 
Portland 
Cement 


Per- 
cent- 
age 


Barrels made 

in United 

States 


Barrels 
Imported 
Cement 




1818 to 1829 
1830 to 1839 


300,000 
1.000,000 


100 
100 










300,000 
1,000,000 






1840 to 1849 


4,250,000 


100 








4,250,000 






1850 to 1859 


11,000,000 


100 








11,000,000 






1860 to 1869 


16,420,000 


100 








16,420,000 


92,000 in 1878 


1870 to 1879 


22,000,000 


99.63 


82,000 


.47 


22,082,000 


106,000 in 1879 


1880 to 1889 


43,463,858 


96.80 


1.477,000 


3.20 


44,940,858 


8,380,198 


18.65 


1890 to 1899 
1900 


81,334.491 
8,749.130 


82.48 

50.77 


17,282,834 
8,482,020 


17.52 
49.23 


98,617,325 
17,231,150 


24,020,574 
2,386,683 


24.36 
13.85 


1901 


7,357,512 


36.88 


12,711,225 


63.12 


20,068,737 


939,330 


4.69 


1902 


8,522,860 


33.10 


17,230,644 


66.90 


25,753,504 


1,963,023 


7.62 


1903 


7.556,167 


25.27 


22,342,973 


74.73 


29,899,140 


2,251,969 


7.53 


1904 
1905 
1906 


5.169.376 
4,855,496 
4,537,021 


16.29 
12.13 
8.90 


26,505,881 
35,246,812 
46,463,424 


83.71 
87.87 
91.10 


31,675,257 
40,102,308 
51,000,445 


968,409 

896,845 

2,273,493 


3.06 
2.21 
4.46 


1907 
1908 
1909 
1910 


3,444,952 
1, 838,3 13 
1.698,284 
1.235,190 


6.60 

3.48 
2.55 
1.59 


48,785,390 
51,072,612 
64,991,431 
76,549,951 


93.40 
96.52 
97.45 
98.41 


52,230,342 
52,910,925 
66,689,715 
77,785,141 


2,033,438 
842,121 
443,888 
306,863 


3.85 

1.59 

.67 

.40 


1911 
1912 


1,019,321 
913,095 


1.28 
1.10 


78,528,637 
82,438,096 


98.72 
98.90 


79,547,958 
83,351,191 


164,670 
68,503 


.20 
.08 


1913 


851,971 


.92 


92,097.131 


99.08 


92,949,102 


84,630 


.09 


1914 


819,596 


.92 


88,230,170 


99.08 


89,049,766 


120,906 


.14 


1915 


793,541 


.92 


85,914,907 


99.08 


86,708.448 


42,218 


.05 


1916 


842,137 


.91 


91,521,198 


99.09 


92,363,335 


1,836 


.01- 


1917 


639,456 


.68 


92,814,202 


99.32 


93,453,658 


2,323 


.01- 


1918 


432,966 


.61 


71.081,663 


99.39 


71,514,629' 


305 


.01- 


1919 


528,589 


.65 


80,777,935 


99.35 


81,306,524 


8,931 


01 


1920 
1921 


767,481 
539.402 


.76 
.46 


100,023,245 
95,507,147 


99.24 
99.54 


100,790,726 
96,046,549 


524,604 
122,322 


,52 
.13 


1922 
1923 


889,428 
1,271,674 


.75 
.93 


117,701,216 
135,912,118 


99.25 
99.07 


118,590,644 
137,183,792 


323,823 
1,678,636 


.28 
1.22 


1924 
1925 
1926 
1927 
1928 
1929 


1,418,461 
1,751.725 
2,031,851 
2,158.323 
2,213,645 
2,159,130 

256,774,442 
1,787,016 


.96 
1.10 
1.24 
1.23 
1.25 
1.25 

8.91 
1.11 


146.047,549 
157,295,212 
162,187,090 
171,864,728 
175,838,332 
169,868,322 


99.04 
98.90 
98.76 
98.77 
98.75 
98.75 


147,466,010 
159,046,937 
164,218.941 
174,023,051 
178,051,977 
172,027,452 


2,010,936 
3,655,317 
3.232,386 
2,050,180 
2,284,085 
1.727,900 


1.36 
2.30 
1.97 
1.18 
1.28 
1.01 


*1930 


2,624,873,095 
159,059,334 


91.09 ; 
98.89 


2,881,647,537 
160,846,350 


66,009,345 
975,546 


.61 


' Includes Puzzolan Cement. 

» In 1918, during the World War, the manufacture of cement fell to ; 


i minimum. 


and the 



imports to 305 barrels. 

* Statistics for 1930 obtained after this paper was written. 



New Light on the History of Tin Plating 

By RUDOLF P. HOMMEL, RICHLANDTOWN, PA. 
(Riegelsville Meeting, September 13, 1930) 

THE writing of this paper was suggested by a paper which 
Dr. Mercer, our late president, read before this society at 
the Chalfont meeting, October 22, 1912, on the "Common 
Tinder-Box of Colonial Days" (See Vol. IV, page 360). 

In that paper he referred to the history of tin plating and 
gave all the data then available to him. 

Tin plating was of great importance in Colonial days, as can 
readily be seen if we recall the tinder-box made of tinned sheet 
iron found in almost every home, as well as other articles such as 
perforated stable lanterns, coffee-pots, knife boxes, candlesticks, 
tin kitchens and such other like utensils. With these facts in 
mind you will better understand why I am submitting this paper 
to our society, rather than to one of the scientific bodies where 
papers of a technical nature ordinarily belong. 

The early history of tin plating in England has heretofore 
been linked with the name of Andrew Yarranton. He relates in 
his book, "England's Improvement by Sea and Land" (Gent. 
1698), how he was sent to Saxony to learn the process of tin 
plating. He succeeded and was able to induce some German 
platers to come with him to England. Regarding the history of 
tinning plate-iron he relates that the art was first practiced in 
Bohemia and that thence it w-as brought to Saxony about the 
year 1620 and that thereafter the w'hole of Europe was supplied 
with tin-plate from Germany. 

The German notion about the origin of tin-plating as expressed 
by Beckmann (History of Inventions, 1799), and held since that 
time, is that it was invented either in Bohemia or Germany. 
Feldhaus (Die Technik der Vorzeit, Leipzig and Berlin, 1914) 
gives as earliest date 1546, when George Agricola mentions the 
plating of the heads of iron pins with tin, and 1551, the date when 
Hans Freiherr von Ungnad received the permission to carry on 
the plating of sheet iron at Waltenstein in Styria. 

Much earlier reference to tin-plating I found in the "Schedula 
Diversarum Artium" by Theophilus Rugerus, probably of Hel- 
mershausen, who wrote in the 12th centurv. He gives directions 



NEW LIGHT ON THE HISTORY OF TIN PLATING 357 

for tinning of iron in Liber III, caput XCI. Pickling with acid 
does not seem to have been known then, for he advises to file 
the parts which should be plated, and not to touch them again 
with the hand, but put the article into the pot of molten tin 
with tallow on the surface, and stir it around until the articles 
become white. After removal from the pot the plated article 
should be shaken and cleaned with chaff and linen. 

Further interesting data about the origin of tin-plating 
yielded a publication,^ issued in the year 1928 by the city of 
Wunsiedel (Bavaria), to commemorate its having been raised to 
the dignity of a free city six hundred years ago. Learned 
archivists have in this memorial brought to light curious facts 
about the early history of Wunsiedel and it appears that the art 
of tin-plating was practiced there long before it became known 
in Bohemia and Saxony. 

Legends' current in the Fichtelgebirge relate that in olden 
times foreigners came to prospect for precious ores. In this 
connection it is interesting to recall that Mathew Paris (ca. 1200- 
1259) in his Historia Anglorum relates how a Cornish man fled 
his country after having committed a murder and discovered 
afterwards in Germany tin in the year 1241. Another, equally 
interesting point, worthy of mention is that in Cornwall and 
Devon, the English tin-producing districts, there were so-called 
Stannary Courts to the regulations of which all the tin mines 
were subject. The court is mentioned already in two charters 
of King John (1199-1216). The Stannary Prison was in Lydford 
and its evil reputation is still current in West Devon in the 
saying, "Lydford law, or hang first and try afterwards."' Of 
the tin industry in the Fichtelgebirge we know that in the 15th 
century its increasing importance led to the establishment of a 
Zinnergericht, Stannary Court, in Wunsiedel and in Weissenstadt. 

Caspar Bruschius in his description of the "Vichtelberg" of 
1542 says that Wunsiedel is indebted for its first development 
into a community to the exploitation of tin mines which were 
worked in the neighborhood already in the 14th century.* It is 

1 Jubilaeums-Schrift der Stadt Wunsiedel 1326 and 1328 to 1928. Pub- 
lished by the City of Wunsiedel, 1928. 

2 Loc. cit., page 153. 

3 Dartmoor and Its Antiquities by J. L. W. Page, London, 1889. 
* Jubilaeums-Schrift, page 107. 



358 NEW LIGHT ON THE HISTORY OF TIN PLATING 

also expressly stated^ that the fame of the tin industry of the 
Fichtelgebirge was due to the tinning of nails and sheet iron 
which was carried on in Wunsiedel, as documents show, already 
in the 14th and 15th century. 

A new era dawned for the tin-plating industry in Wunsiedel 
through the efforts of Sigmund Wann (died in 1469). He lived 
at a time when Margrave Johann, called Alchymista, reigned in 
Bayreuth from 1440-57. Young Wann, the son of a Wunsiedel 
baker, followed the trade of his father, and as a journeyman on 
his prescribed tour went to Venice. By chance he met, and was 
received into, a secret society of alchemists, and later eloped 
with a woman from their midst. Arriving at his home he married 
her and both then carried on the trade of tinning (Zinnerei). 
The tradition also has it that they knew how to separate gold 
and silver from the tin ore, but certain it is that Wann practiced 
the tinning of sheet iron on a large scale and in the course of time 
made a large fortune from which he freely gave (ca. 1452) to 
build a church and to found and richly endow a hospital. The 
Wunsiedel product of tinned goods was sold in Nuremberg, 
Frankfurt on Main, Naumburg, Leipzig and Breslau, and found 
its way into distant countries. At the Leipzig Fair alone Wun- 
siedel tin plate realized usually more than 4,000 florins (a florin 
was about 50c). To easily recognize the Wunsiedel product 
the tinned sheets were stamped with an eagle and a lily. The 
tin was produced in the Fichtelgebirge and the iron came from 
the adjoining Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz). 

The enormous dimensions of the business roused English 
enterprise and it was long before Andrew Yarranton's time that 
English merchants made efforts to procure the secrets of manu- 
facturing tin-plate. About 1596 a Nuremberg export merchant 
was approached by one of his English customers to try and per- 
suade some of the Wunsiedel tinners and sheet iron beaters 
(Blechschlager), no doubt for enticing considerations, to leave 
their home and proceed to England, and there introduce their 
flourishing trade of tinning. The Nuremberg merchant com- 
plied and the next time he met some of the Wunsiedel tinners he 
took them into his confidence and had willing listeners. They 
showed themselves willing to further the plans and received 
earnest-money. Apparently to make the final arrangements 
s Loc. cit., page 108. 



NEW LIGHT ON THK HISTORY OF TIN PLATING 359 

they left Nuremberg for Wunsiedel, but actually with resentment 
in their hearts they denounced the merchant in every inn on 
their way back and bragged how they had fooled him out of the 
earnest-money, which they considered a well applied fine. A 
hundred years later this flourishing trade had almost died out 
in Wunsiedel. The reason was that the trade had spread to 
Bohemia and Saxony where the manufacture could be carried 
on cheaper and whence the ware could be shipped via the rivers 
Moldau and Elbe directly to Hamburg and intermediate points. 
Further search in the archives of Wunsiedel may bring to 
light some more data about the early history of tin plating. Tin 
plating was known before the time of Sigmund Wann, 
and the reason for the business to assume such large proportions 
seems to have been that he improved the manufacture. Per- 
haps it was that he introduced the process of pickling the sheet 
metal with acids. Theophilus in the 12th century did not yet 
practice it. In fact the knowledge of acids came from the Ara- 
bians, and from the Anterior Orient it naturally would have 
spread northward via Spain and Italy. I take it as not without 
significance that the meager accounts of Sigmund Wann stress 
the point of his connection with alchemists in Venice, the very 
source from which he could have secured valuable information 
to further the tin plating industry. 



Oil Portrait of Henry Chapman Mercer, Sc. D., LL. D. 

presented by mr. albert rosenthal of huffnagle house, 
bucks county, pa. 

unveiled at fonthill, may 13, 1931 
Presentation Address of Mr. Rosenthal 

SOME thirty years ago, when engaged in developing the 
series of Portraits of the Signers of the Constitution of the 
United States for Independence Hall. I had among my 
photographs one of James Francis Mercer, Signer from Mary- 
land, from a miniature by Robert Field, with this inscription, 
"Owned by William R. Mercer, Doylestown, Pennsylvania." 
I had etched this portrait some years before. I wrote to Mr. 
William R. Mercer (the elder), asking permission to copy the 
miniature. In reply I received a delightful letter "that he was 
pleased to accede to my request and he would be glad to have 
me come to Doylestown to do the work and that I should bring 
my grip along and stay awhile, and that I would enjoy driving 
with him around the beautiful country. "It will give me an 
opportunity to repay the courtesies, you showed my son, some 
years ago." Here for the first time, I met Dr. Henry C. Mercer. 
And during the years following, I had the pleasure of seeing him 
in Philadelphia and calling on him in Doylestown. 

When I purchased the Huffnagle place (near New Hope), he 
phoned me and expressed his pleasure and gratification that it 
had come into my hands, assuring, he said, a real restoration. 
Subsequently, he called a number of times at Huffnagle to see 
its development and presided at the meeting of the Bucks County 
Historical Society, held there in 1928. I can recall no one in my 
generation, in Pennsylvania, who held such a position locally, 
nationally, and internationally as Dr. Mercer. His activities 
have resulted in things of permanent value, unusual and logical 
and constructive in character. It was a real pleasure to me to 
paint this portrait, and to present it to "Fonthill." I feel it an 
honor and distinction, to thus have associated myself with him 
and to have this portrait in this wonderful building. This 
monument to his free, untrammelled and audacious personality. 



oil portrait of henry chapman mercer 361 

Remarks of Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr. 

President of the Trustees of the Mercer Fonthill Museum 
On Accepting the Portrait of Dr. Mercer 

Mr. Rosenthal: I am delighted to accept this portrait of Dr. 
Henry C. Mercer, not only in my official capacity as president 
of the Fonthill Trustees, but also for the peculiar pleasure that 
it gives me personally. 

I congratulate you, sir, on the wonderful and faithful likeness 
which your brush has given us. I am pleased too that it is to be 
hung in Fonthill, the creation of his genius, which Dr. Mercer 
loved so well, and where he made his home over the last eighteen 
years of his life. 

Two oil paintings hang on the walls of the Bucks County 
Historical Society's museum. One, "The Rescue of the Colors 
at the Battle of Fair Oaks," by William T. Trego, a son of Bucks 
County, presented by John Wanamaker in 1899, which tells a 
most interesting story. 

It was Dr. Mercer, himself, who told me of a letter he had 
received from a distinguished foreigner who had visited our 
museum during the lifetime of General Davis, who, standing 
before that canvas explained to him the details of that battle, 
and pointed out his own portrait. On his return to Europe, after 
touring the United States, this visitor wrote to Dr. Mercer, 
saying that one of the things that impressed him most in America, 
and that would linger in his memory, was the living portrait of 
that aged man, the hero of two wars, standing before that historic 
picture and living over again the years of his younger life. 

The other painting is from the brush of Daniel Garber, 
another adopted son of Bucks County, presented to our Historical 
Society June 15, 1918, of the so-called Whittier House, located 
on the Healy Farm in Solebury Township, where the Amesbury 
poet lived from 1837 to 1840, and where he wrote some of his 
poems, which gives this old house its historical value. 

And now another adopted son of Bucks County, Albert Rosen- 
thal, has presented to Fonthill, an institution closely allied to 
our museum, this splendid portrait of that great student, potter 
and scientist, Dr. Henry C. Mercer. I know that the painting 
of this portrait had been for him a labor of love and because of 
his admiration for Dr. Mercer, and that Mr. Rosenthal has taken 



362 OIL PORTRAIT OF HEXRY CHAPMAN MERCER 

peculiar pleasure in the study and painting of his friend in honor 
not only of us, his living friends, and the County of Bucks, but to 
the history of the world as well. 

Again I thank you, Mr. Rosenthal, on behalf of the Trustees 
of Fonthill for this wonderful life-like portrait, but still more for 
the happy thought that inspired its creation. 



Addresses of appreciation were also made by Col. Henry D. 
Paxson, E. Wesley Keelor, Esq., and Rev. G. M. Whitenack, Jr. 



Early History of Keller's Lutheran Church, Bedminster 
Township, Bucks County 

By rev. WILLIAM J. HINKE, Ph. D., D. D., .\UBURN, N. Y. 

(Doylestown Meeting, May 2, 1931) 

SOME years ago, while collecting data for the history of the 
Tohickon Lutheran Church, the writer ran across what 
seemed to him a surprising fact, one altogether neglected by 
earlier historians, namely, that there were two Lutheran con- 
gregations near the Tohickon creek, both of them called Tohickon 
or Tohecka in the early records. The natural result has been, 
that these two churches have been badly confused and that 
references which properly belong to one church were attributed 
to the other. The first of these is Tohickon Union Church, near 
the village of Keelersville, in the extreme western corner of Bed- 
minster township, and the other is Keller's Church, in the upper 
end of Bedminster township, "standing upon a prominence along 
the Ridge road with the Tohickon creek winding along its base." 
These two churches, about 3>^ miles apart, were never served 
by the same pastors, but the references to them in historical 
documents have been constantly confused. 

The very first reference to Tohickon in the Halle Reports, 
the well-known letters sent by Muhlenberg and his associates to 
their friends in Halle, Germany, has suffered this fate of being 
misinterpreted. On June 15, 1754, Rev. Henry M. Muhlenberg 
wrote to Dr. Francke at Halle as follows: 

"At a river called Tohicon, about twenty-two miles from 
Providence [now Trappe, Muhlenberg's home] there is a fairly 
large congregation of High German Lutherans, who for ten 
years [1744-1754] have been visited as' much as possible by our 
Ministerium, and was last served by Messrs. Rauss and Schultz. 
But. inasmuch as the congregation is somewhat remote, also too 
poor to support a minister alone, indeed is not able to raise even 
the half or the third part of a sufftcient salary, in union with 
other congregations, and as it ought to have services every 
second or at least every third Sunday .... we are much perplexed 
about it. The congregation has built, with great effort and 
cost, a schoolhouse and parsonage. But we do not know how 



364 EARLY HISTORY OF KELLER's LUTHERAN CHURCH 

to help them, because the financial support is lacking. They 
are very sad that we cannot help them, as we would like to do, 
and they believe that they are abandoned for other reasons." 
(Hallesche Nachrichten, new ed.. Vol. II, p. 186.) 

I. Pastorate of the Rev. Lucas Rauss, July, 1751, to 

August, 1753 

We must now add the first reference to Tohecka (Keller's) 
in the minutes of the Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania. 
On June 17, 1750, two delegates from Tohecka were present at 
the third meeting of the Ministerium at Mr. Muhlenberg's home 
at Providence. (Minutes, p. 28.) These two references to 
Tohickon find no support in the Tohickon record, but they are 
confirmed throughout by the Keller record. Hence they must 
apply to Keller's church. Both Muhlenberg and Keller's church 
record agree that Lucas Rauss was the first pastor at Keller's 
church near the Tohickon. Rauss opened the Keller record with 
an elaborate title page, part of which may be translated as follows : 

"Church Record or Protocol of the Evangelical Lutheran 
Congregation at the Toheka, [begun] by me Lucas Rauss, regu- 
larly called pastor." On page 3 of the record, Rauss has entered 
an interesting statement about himself: 

"In the year of the gracious birth of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ 1751, I, Lucas Rauss, born at Cronstadt, in Sieben- 
burgen [Transylvania] received a call to the forsaken Evangelical 
Lutheran congregation at the Toheka, in Bedminster township, 
Boox [Bucks] county, Pennsylvania. The call was handed to 
me in New York by his Reverence, Mr. Henry Melchior Muhlen- 
berg. It was signed by the three oldest ministers of the United 
Evangelical Ministerium in Pennsylvania. As a result, imme- 
diately, namely on June 8th (old style), of the same year, I began 
my journey to Pennsylvania, and, under the divine protection, I 
reached New Providence on June 15th. Thereupon, on July 7th 
of this year 1751, in the name of the great Jehovah, I delivered my 
introductory sermon. May the Lord of the harvest, according 
to His infinite mercy and His burning love for mankind, gather 
much precious wheat upon this field into His heavenly barns and 
may He grant to all spiritual planting and watering His increase." 

The arrival of a settled pastor stirred up considerable activity 



EARLY HISTORY OF KELLER's LUTHERAN CHURCH 365 

in the congregation. On August 14, 1751, the church record was 
bought for nine shillings. On August 17th, a warrant was taken 
out for the church land, for which warrant two shillings and six 
pence were paid. The church land was surveyed on February 6, 
1752, and was found to contain 20 acres and 12 perches. It was 
granted to Henry Acker, Henry Keller and Christian Stoneback, 
as trustees of the congregation. But the trustees failed to 
secure a patent for the land and it was not until May 7, 1857, 
that the transaction was concluded and the patent was issued 
upon the payment of 60 dollars and 47 cents. 

The congregation also set to work, almost immediately, to 
build a schoolhouse, in which divine services were held. On 
March 30, 1752, Rauss records a baptism of Abraham Nicla, son 
of Valentine Nicla and of his wife, Anna Elizabeth, which took 
place in the schoolhouse, at which Abraham Deck, schoolmaster, 
and his wife, Anna Maria, acted as sponsors. The parsonage 
was probably erected at the same time, for in 1754 Muhlenberg 
refers to it as in existence. Rauss entered into the record 
twenty-five baptisms, beginning July 28, 1751, and ending 
August 26, 1753, and during the same time also seven burials. 
From his entries we might infer that he was a fully ordained 
minister, when he came in 1751, but such was not the case. In 
his report of 1751, Muhlenberg states: 

"I announced to the congregations [Old Goshenhoppen, 
Indianfield and Thickon] that we did not know" of a minister 
for them. That they could have neither Mr. Kurtz nor Mr. 
Schrenck, but that there was a student who could serve as cate- 
chist, namely Rauss, whom they had heard a few times. He 
was at their service on trial for a year. They answered that if 
they could not have Mr. Kurtz, they would take Mr. Rauss on 
trial. I replied, that I could not do this by myself, that they 
would have to present a written request at our next meeting, 
which was done, they asking for our supervision and care as well 
as for Mr. Rauss, until we could help them in some better way." 
(H. N., II, 10.) 

Turning to the minutes of the Ministerium for 1751, we find 
these statements fully corroborated. They state: 

"Old Goshenhoppen and Indianfield have called the catechist, 
Mr. Rauss, as their regular teacher, and this shall be granted 



366 EARLY HISTORY OF KELLER's LUTHERAN CHURCH 

them as soon as possible, if he will accept their call." (Minutes, 
p. 35.) 

The church record confirms another statement of Muhlenberg, 
namely, that Rauss and Schultz (who was pastor at New Goshen- 
hoppen) labored together at Keller's church, for we find that the 
first confirmation entered into the record, was held May 31, 1752, 
by Mr. Schultz (Record, p. 295). Frederick Schultz arrived in 
Pennsylvania in 1751, was made Muhlenberg's assistant in New 
Hanover, where he also resided. From there he supplied every 
two weeks New Goshenhoppen and from 1753-1755 also Indian- 
field. While stationed at New Hanover, he made occasional 
visits to Keller's church, to administer the communion and con- 
firm catechumens, until Rauss himself was ordained in 1752. 
On November 5, 1752, Rauss together with Mr. Schrenck were 
ordained to the ministry, in the church at Providence, "to lighten 
the toil and labor of the older ministers, and also by reason of the 
necessity of the circumstances," as the Minutes put it. (Min- 
utes, p. 39.) 

After his ordination Rauss remained at Keller's and affiliated 
churches until the fall of 1753, when Muhlenberg offered to send 
him to York. Rauss indignantly rejected this offer, saying, the 
members of the Ministerium w^anted to get rid of him, by sending 
him so far away as to endanger his life. (H. N. I, 663.) Rauss 
quarreled not only with Muhlenberg, but also with his churches. 
Hence he was compelled to retire from Indianfield and Tohickon 
(Keller's), in the fall of 1753, but he maintained himself at Old 
Goshenhoppen until 1758, when he removed to York county. 
There he continued as an independent Lutheran minister, preach- 
ing to some rural churches, but he also practiced as a physician. 
He died there July 11, 1788. 

Rauss rendered one important service to Keller's church. He 
entered the names of the earliest church members into the church 
record, recording not only the names of the male members but 
adding the names of all the other members of the earliest families, 
together with the places of their nativity and the dates of their 
coming to Pennsylvania. As this information will no doubt be 
of interest to their descendants, we give the main facts from the 
record. In September, 1751, the following persons were members 
of the congregation : 



EARLY HISTORY OP' KELLER's LUTHERAN CHURCH 367 

I. NAMES OF ELDERS: 

1. Henry Keller, b. Jan. 9, 1708, at Wyerbach, Naum- 
burg-Baden; married Oct. 20, 1728, Juliana, da. of 
Peter Kleindienst of Wyerbach. They had ten chil- 
dren. They came to Pennsylvania, Sept. 19, 1738. 

2. Henry Acker, b. 1700, son of Henry Acker, of Spa- 
bach, in Alsace; married 1728, Anna Catharine 
Schaefer of Frischdorf. They had thirteen children. 
They came to Pennsylvania in 1732. 

n. NAMES OF DEACONS: 

1. Christl\n Steinbach, b. Dec. 25, 1710, at Rublin- 
gen in Langenburg-Hohenloh ; married 1732 Anna 
Dorothea Schafer. They had nine children. They 
came to Pennsylvania in 1732. 

2. Andrew Ziegenfuss, b. 1726, at Beydenkirchen in 
Darmstadt; married Feb. 1748, Anna Madgalene 
Laurenz. They had two children in 1752; came to 
Pennsylvania in 1738. 

III. NAMES OF CHURCH MEMBERS: 

1. Jacob Loch, b. about 1684, at Weyerbach, in Naum- 
burg-Baden; married twice, his second wife Anna 
Sybilla in Sept. 1719. They had seven children; 
came to Pennsylvania in 1739. 

2. Valentine Nicla, b. 1719, at Weibelskirchen, in 
Nassau. In 1738 he married Elisabeth Schenck. 
They had eight children. They came to Pennsyl- 
vania in 1738. 

3. Stephan Ackermann, b. May 7, 1700, near Heil- 
bronn, Wurtenberg. Married in Aug. 1731, Eva 
Braun. They had twelve children. Came to Penn- 
sylvania 1738. 

4. John George Schwarz, b. at Hinterbach, in the 
principality of Erbach. Married in 1738 Anna Bar- 
bara Repscher. They had six children. Came to 
Pennsylvania in 1749. 



368 EARLY HISTORY OF KELLER's LUTHERAN CHURCH 

5. John Philip Zimmer, b. April 2, 1723, at Traben, in 
Burkenfeld. Married in 1745, Maria Margaret Heinz. 
They had three children in 1752. They came to 
Pennsylvania in 1748. 

6. John Michael Fischer, b. Aug. 21, 1725, at Idar in 
Oberstein-Leiningen. Came to America in 1746. 
Married in 1750, Anna Dorothea Acker, da. of Henry- 
Acker. 

Rauss also records that "Jacob Loch, Valentine Nicla and 
Stephan Ackermann were installed by the Rev. Handschuh on 
November 14, 1751, as church elders at Tohecka, in the house 
of Henry Keller." These elders probably took the places of 
those mentioned in the above membership list, which bears an 
earlier date. 



H. Pastorate of the Rev. John Henry Schaum, 
October, 1754, to August, 1758 

When Rauss retired from Keller's church, he was succeeded 
by John Henry Schaum. Schaum had been ordered to leave 
York as soon as possible and assume charge "of the smallest and 
poorest congregation at the Tohickon, to preach there and to 
keep school." (H. N., I, 663.) In December, 1756, Muhlen- 
berg reported: "Mr. Schaum in Tohecka has been recovering his 
strength for some time. Nevertheless, he can hardly be in any 
other than miserable circumstances, as his congregation is very- 
poor." (H. N., H, p. 214.) 

According to Keller's church record Schaum came to Keller's 
in October, 1754. From that time to August, 1758, he entered 
39 baptisms into the record. On November 30, 1755, John 
Henry Schaum and his wife Dorothy had a son, Philip Henry, 
baptized. The father himself entered the baptism. In the 
financial accounts for the year 1758, it is stated that Christoph 
Siegman, the treasurer, paid the Rev. Mr. Schaum five shillings 
as salary. If that was the quarterly payment, the total salary 
was pitiably small. 

John Henry Schaum was the son of a pious schoolmaster, 
born in the neighborhood of Giessen. Germany. He received 



EARLY HISTORY OF KELLER's LUTHERAN CHURCH 369 

his education in the institutions of Dr. Francke at Halle and at 
the university of Halle. In 1745, he came to Pennsylvania. He 
was at first sent as schoolmaster to Germantown. In 1747, he 
was transferred to Raritan, New Jersey. In the following year 
he accepted a call to York. In 1749, he was ordained at Lan- 
caster. He labored in York and neighboring churches until a 
division occurred in his churches, when it seemed wise to transfer 
him to another congregation. Through the instrumentality of 
Muhlenberg he came to Keller's. In February, 1758, Muhlenberg 
wrote about his ministry: 

"Mr. Schaum has served one or more little flock at the 
Tohikon creek and during the winter he has taught school. In 
worldly things he has been content to live in poverty, because 
the people among whom he lives are mostly poor. If God per- 
mits and conditions allow, I would gladly take him next spring 
as my assistant in my congregations at Providence and New 
Hanover." (H. N., II, p. 247.) 

In the year 1759, Schaum actually moved to Falckner Swamp, 
where he assisted Muhlenberg and also preached at Oley, Pike- 
land and Lower Dublin. In the spring of 1762, he took up his 
residence in the territory of his congregations, residing at White- 
hall, Lehigh County. When in the following year Moselem, in 
Berks County, became vacant, he accepted a call from that con- 
gregation. He preached there until his death, January 26, 1778. 
Schaum was highly esteemed b>' Muhlenberg, being one of his 
most faithful co-laborers. 



III. Pastorate of the Rev. William Kurtz, 
September, 1758, to October, 1760 

Schaum's successor at Keller's church was William Kurtz. 
He also had been trained in the orphanage of Dr. Francke at 
Halle, had studied theology in Germany and had come to Penn- 
sylvania i whither his brother, John Nicholas, had preceded him) 
in 1754. Shortly after his arrival he became the assistant of 
Muhlenberg at Providence. In September, 1758, he was sent as 
catechist to Tohickon (Keller's), under the supervision of Muh- 
lenberg. In October, 1758, Rev. John F. Handschuh' reported 
to Halle: "Mr. Kurtz is still holding forth bravely with the 



370 EARLY HISTORY OF KELLER's LUTHERAN CHURCH 

people at Tulpehocken and his younger brother is at present on 
trial at Tohecka." (H. N., II, p. 254.) 

In the Keller's church record there are thirteen baptisms 
entered by Mr. Kurtz, extending from September, 1758, to 
October, 1760. The last baptism which he entered is that of 
his own daughter, Susanna, born August 8th, baptized October 2, 
1760. i\mong the miscellaneous entries, there is an interesting 
item relating to Mr. Kurtz. "On Dec. 13, [1758] I, Wm. Kurtz, 
have given from the alms money six pence good currency to a 
poor Irishman, provided with good testimonials." (Record, 
p. 369.) Kurtz was ordained in Lancaster in 1761. He then 
became his brother's assistant at Stouchsburg and Bernville, 
1763-1764. From 1764-1779, William Kurtz served New Hol- 
land and Conestoga, in Lancaster County, after that he moved 
to Lebanon, where he ministered until his death. (H. N., II, 
p. 232.) 

The departure of Kurtz from Keller's at the end of the year 

1760, marks a turning point in the history of the congregation. 
It passes now under the control of independent Lutheran minis- 
ters, men about whom little is known. 

IV. Pastorate of Conrad Daniel Walther, 
February, 1761. to November, 1761 

The first of these independent ministers, not in connection 
with the Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania, was Conrad 
Daniel Walther. His name appears on page 170 of the 
record, in a list of communicants, who communed on May 10, 

1761. He enters his name in the list as "Conrad Daniel Walther, 
p. t. pastor" and Mary Magdalene, his wife. On page 295 of 
the record Mr. Walther enters a list of catechumens, to which he 
prefixed this heading: "Anno 1761, May 10th, being Pentecost, 
the following children were confirmed by me. Rev. Walther." 
Among the baptismal entries Walther entered on pages 151-152, 
nine baptisms, from February 22, 1761, to September 6, 1761. 
Another communicant list was entered by him, dated November 
2, 1761, so that his ministry seems to have extended from Febru- 
ary to November, 1761. Where he came from or what became 
of him afterwards is unknown to the writer. His name is not 
found in any Lutheran source book or history accessible at present. 



EARLY HISTORY OF KELLER's LUTHERAN CHURCH 371 

V. Pastorate of Otto Haase, April, 1762. to April, 1764 

Walther was succeeded by Otto Haase, another independent 
minister, about whom Uttle is known. He arrived at Phila- 
delphia on the ship Elizabeth, September 5, 1751. In 1762, he 
began his ministry at Keller's church. He heads his baptisms 
with the following statement: "1762, at this time, I, Otto Haase, 
through the divine call of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 
was called to be the public teacher, preacher and schoolmaster 
of the congregation." He entered thirty baptisms from April, 

1762, to April, 1764. 

It was during the ministry of Haase that an important event 
occurred, mentioned by Muhlenberg in his diary for the year 

1763. It was the building of a church, about which Muhlenberg 
writes as follows: 

"On Wednesday, February 2nd [1763| towards evening some 
men from the Tohicon congregation came to see me and asked 
for a collection towards their new church building. I gave them 
my mite, but told them to look for more from other friends." 
(H. N., II, p. 523.) This cannot refer to the church now known 
as Tohickon, because that had been an independent church 
from the beginning, with which Muhlenberg had had no dealings. 
It must have been Keller's church on the Tohickon, to which 
Muhlenberg refers constantly as Tohicon or Toheka. Besides, 
the church at Tohickon was not dedicated until 1766. It cer- 
tainly did not take them three years to build a church. Every 
consideration, we believe, favors the conclusion that the church 
to which Muhlenberg made a contribution in 1763 was Keller's 
church at the Tohickon. 



VI. Pastorate of John Michael Enderlein, August, 1766, 
TO July, 1770 

In the year 1766, we find a new preacher at Keller's church. 
It was John Michael Enderlein. He entered his first bap- 
tism on August 10, 1766. From that date to July 1, 1770, Ender- 
lein entered forty-three baptisms. Two of the baptized were 
his own children. On March 1, 1767, was baptized John Paul, 
son of John Michael Enderlein and his wdfe, Anna Barbara. A 
son Peter was baptized October 29, 1769. When Enderlein 



372 EARLY HISTORY OF KELLER's LUTHERAN CHURCH 

came to Keller's church, he was still a catechist. This is stated 
by Muhlenberg himself. He writes, under date October 31, 
1778: "The catechist, Mr. Enderlein, who years ago was awak- 
ened in the revival services of the sainted Rev. Mr. Stark at 
Frankfurt, kept school in Philadelphia for some time, was then 
sent to some distant congregations as catechist, and of late lived 
with his family at Shamokin, has now become an exile, having 
been compelled to flee, because of the uproar made by the hostile 
Indians, together with other inhabitants of that place." (H. N., 
II, p. 733.) This statement of Muhlenberg is corroborated by 
the church record. On page 296 of the record we find an entry 
of catechumens, who were confirmed on April 24, 1766, by Mr. 
Boskirk, pastor of Germantown, because as catechist Enderlein 
could not confirm them.* But the entry in the record was 
made by Enderlein. It is in his handwriting. On April 3, 1768, 
Enderlein himself entered a number of catechumens, with the 
following statement: "Names of the children who were con- 
firmed on Good Friday, April 1, 1768, and admitted to the Lord's 
Supper on Easter, April 3, 1768, by me, John Mich. Enderlein." 

Enderlein also entered ten marriages, from September, 1766, 
to April 24, 1770. Among them is one which deserves notice. 
It reads: "On February 6, 1770, there were married by Chris- 
topher Gobrecht, the Reformed minister (who sent me the 
certificate signed by his own hand), John Philip Lambach, 
schoolmaster, a widower, and Barbara Benner, daughter of 
Peter Benner, single, both Reformed." I am inclined to think 
that the reason why Gobrecht sent this marriage record to the 
Lutheran minister was because Lambach was the schoolmaster 
of the Lutheran church school, in the schoolhouse at Keller's 
church. 

During part of the time that Enderlein was at Keller's church, 
namely, during the years 1769 and 1770, he also officiated at the 
Indianfield Lutheran church, where he entered ten baptisms. 

When Enderlein left Keller's church in 1770, it was appar- 
ently without a regular preacher for some time. In June, 1772, 
eight baptisms were entered in the record, but we cannot tell by 
whom. Most likely by a visiting preacher. In September of 
the same year, the minutes of the Lutheran Ministerium report 
verbal information sent to the "rerraining vacant congregations 

* This confirmation may have taken place before the arrival of Enderlein. 



EARLY HISTORY OF KKLLER's LUTHERAN CHURCH 373 

on the Tohecka," that they could not at present be cared for. 
(Minutes, p. 131.) 

In 1773, the minutes of the Ministerium report a petition 
from the congregations in Indianfield and Tohicon "for a preacher 
who would suit their conditions, because they do not yet have a 
parsonage and can raise only a small salary, and would like to 
have a gifted preacher." (Minutes, p. 141.) The Ministerium 
replied, that the nearest minister in Goshenhoppen, "would, 
God willing, visit them as soon as possible and serve them with 
the means of grace, until we could see how matters will go in 
future." (Minutes, p. 142.) We are unable to say whether 
God was unwilling that the Goshenhoppen pastor should visit 
Keller's. At least there are no communicant lists in the record 
between 1770 and 1774. The congregation was most likely 
vacant during this period. 

VII. Pastorate of Peter Frederick Niemeyer, May, 1774, 
TO December, 1783 

The next minister to officiate at Keller's church was Peter 
Frederick Niemeyer, another independent preacher, for whom 
one looks in vain in the official Lutheran records. He landed in 
Philadelphia on the ship Queen of Denmark, September 11, 1752. 
What became of him during the next twenty-two years we have 
not been able to discover. In May, 1774, he appears as the 
pastor of Keller's church. On Pentecost, 1774, the record 
states: "The following persons were admitted to confession and 
the Holy Communion by me. Rev. Fred. Niemeyer." His 
baptisms begin May 26, 1774. From that date to December 7, 
1783, he entered 144 baptisms. From 1774 to 1782, Niemeyer 
was also ministering to the Indianfield Lutheran church, where 
he entered 101 baptisms. On May 26, 1782, Hannah Niemeyer 
and Elizabeth Niemeyer, two daughters of the pastor, appear 
among the catechumens of that year, who were confirmed. 

VHI. Pastorate of Anthony Hecht, as Catechist, 

1784-1788 

With the departure of Niemeyer another vacancy occurred. 
In May, 1785, the Lutheran Ministerium reported: "The con- 
gregations at Tohicon, Upper Dublin and North Wales desire to 



374 EARLY HISTORY OF KELLER's LUTHERAN CHURCH 

have Mr. Hecht, who formerly kept school, as their preacher, 
and petition the Ministerium to ordain him. Mr. Hecht himself 
was not present, and only a few members of the Ministerium 
know him ; therefore answer was made to the congregations that 
their request could not be granted." (Minutes, p. 200.) In 
1786, the Ministerium appointed a committee to examine Hecht 
and, if found satisfactory, to license him. In 1787, several 
letters were laid before the Ministerium, asking for the ordina- 
tion of Hecht, but the Ministerium replied that they could not 
ordain him now. (Minutes, p. 215.) To Hecht are probably 
due a number of irregular baptisms that are found in the record 
between 1784 and 1788. He probably retired in the latter year, 
as there is another break in the baptismal entries. 



IX. Pastorate of G. J. Wichterman, June to October, 1791 

On June 20, 1791, "two delegates from the Township Bed- 
minster, in Bucks County, asked in the name of the congregation 
for Mr. Wichterman as the pastor, whereupon it was 

"Resolved, That Mr. Wichterman write a brief exposition on 
John 3 : 16, and that afterwards he be more fully examined on this 
passage and his exposition." (Minutes, p. 238.) After the 
exposition handed in by Wichterman had been read and he had 
been further examined, the Ministerium "found that it might 
well venture to give said Wichterman a license for one year." 
In Keller's record the entries of Wichterman begin on June 26, 
1791. He entered four baptisms between that date and October 
9, 1791. On October 9, 1791, the following entry was made by 
Wichterman on page 12 of the record: 

"A meeting of the consistory was held, at which Michael 
Dieterle was elected elder in place of Mr. Muth, and Frederick 
Konig in place of Christian Stein, as deacon, by majority of 
votes. 

G. J. Wichtermann, Licentiate." 

In 1792, the Ministerium received letters "from his former 
and his present congregations, both speaking well of him. In 
the latter his ordination w^as requested. Resolved, that his 



EARLY HISTORY OF KELLER's LUTHERAN CHURCH 375 

license be renewed." (Minutes, p. 245.) In 1793, Wichterman 
is reported as serving the Allentown congregation. At Keller's 
his presence can be traced from June to October, 1791. 



X. Pastorate of Anthony Hecht, February, 1792, to 
October, 1794 

In 1792, their former schoolmaster and preacher, Anthony 
Hecht, reappears in the church record. During the intervening 
years he had been ordained by an independent Lutheran minister 
and as a result he had to function independently of the Minis- 
terium. His successor has left us a rather sarcastic but pic- 
turesque description of Mr. Hecht. He writes: "My pre- 
decessor was not what one would call a learned theologian. He 
wanted to become a tobacco-raiser. Dr. Helmuth related to me 
that he could not get him to learn the five [Latin] declensions 
nor the Greek alphabet. He answered him that he could not 
get any edification out of them. The Ministerium did not 
receive him, but he was ordained by one of the ministers in the 
backwoods. Yesterday I was requested to show^ a little more 
energy in the pulpit. My predecessor, they said, had hammered 
the pulpit most frightfully and had shouted murderously, all of 
which the people liked very much." (H. N!, I, p. 269.) Hecht 
ofificiated as pastor at Keller's church from February, 1792, to 
October, 1794, during which time he entered thirty-three bap- 
tisms. As his name appears several times in the communicant 
lists of the year 1793, we are able to identify his chirography, 
which in turn helps us to fix the length of his pastorate. Hecht 
died while pastor of the congregation and was buried in the 
graveyard adjoining the church. The German inscription on 
his tombstone may be rendered as follows in English : 

"Here rest the bones of 
Anthony Hecht 
fallen asleep in faith 
late Evangelical Lutheran pastor here, 
who died December 29, 1794. 
His age was 31 years, 3 months and 23 days. 
His parents were Anthony Hecht and Sophia Hecht." 



XL Pastorate of Rev. August Henry Sc 
August, 1795, to August, 1798 

A new minister appears upon the scene at Keller's church in 

1795. It was the Rev. August Henry Schmidt. He heads his 

■baptisms with the statement: "List of children baptized by me, 

August Henry Schmidt, pro tempore pastor." From August, 

1795, to August, 1798, he entered 74 baptisms. 

On May 24, 1796, the minutes of the Ministerium state (p. 
286) that "a certificate of ordination and several testimonials of 
August Henry Schmidt, a Lutheran preacher from Germany, 
were read." He requested to be received into the Ministerium. 
In- reply it was resolved to recognize him as an ordained preacher, 
but it was declared that they could not receive him as a member 
of the Ministerium, "before it becomes evident that his conduct 
agrees with his testimonials from abroad." 

August H. Schmidt arrived at Philadelphia with his wife and 
two children on July 7, 1795, on board of the ship Concord. On 
his arrival he was kindly received by the Rev. Dr. Helmuth, who 
gave him a letter of recommendation to the congregation of 
Tohickon (Keller's) and Springfield. Schmidt gives a vivid 
description of conditions then prevailing in his congregations, 
in a historical magazine, published in Germany. He states, 
that he was promised in his call a salary of sixty pounds, together 
with the use of the parsonage, located about forty-five minutes' 
walk from the Tohickon (Keller's) church. He was also prom- 
ised the necessary fire wood, a meadow for three cows, a horse, 
and one Spanish dollar for every catechumen confirmed, as well 
as for every wedding and funeral the same amount. There were 
about 130 families in his two congregations. "My two churches," 
he writes, "are really very pretty, the one at Tohickon has even 
an organ. I like the order of worship." (H. N., I, p. 269.) 

This statement of Schmidt regarding the organ is confirmed 
by the church record, in which we find on page 360 a long list of 
161 subscribers to an organ fund, headed as follows: "We the 
subscribers promise to pay on or before October 12, 1792, for 
the organ, which is to be erected in Bedminster church, the fol- 
lowing sums in gold or silver, Pennsylvania currency." A note 
at the end of the list states that "all the above sums have been 
paid in full by the several persons who subscribed in behalf of 



EARLY HISTORY OF KELLER 's LUTHERAN CHURCH 377 

the organ in Solomon's church, in Bedminster township." This 
is the first time that the name "Solomon's church" appears in 
the record. 

During the ministry of Schmidt, Henry Lohr appears as 
schoolmaster of the congregation (Record, p. 285). In 1798, 
Schmidt removed to Easton, where he ministered for a number 
of years, but the Ministerium refused to admit him as a member, 
even after repeated requests. (Minutes, p. 329.) 

XII. Pastorate of Frederick Sanno, May, 1801, to 
April, 1803 

After the removal of Schmidt, the congregation was vacant 
for several years. In 1801, a new pastor appeared, namely, 
Frederick Sanno. On June 15, 1802, an application was made 
by "Friedrich Sanno," from Keller's, Tinicum and Springfield, 
to the Ministerium for examination, whereupon, with two other 
candidates, he was examined and licensed as a catechist, and 
w^as placed under the supervision of Rev. Mr. Schafer. In June, 
1803, Frederick Sanno, from Bedminster, was present at the 
Synod at Baltimore. He reported for that year 63 baptized, 38 
communed, 39 deceased and one school. At the same meeting a 
call came from the congregation at Carlisle for Sanno. He was 
allowed to accept the call. 

Judging from his handwriting at Keller's, Sanno ministered 
there at least from May, 1801. There are two earlier baptisms, 
entered by his hand, but it is likely that he entered them upon 
his arrival in 1801. He officiated at Keller's from May, 1801, 
to April, 1803, during which time he entered fourteen baptisms, 
which shows that he was rather careless in entering his pastoral 
activities, as there ought to be 63 baptismal entries for 1802 
alone, according to his report to Synod. 

With Sanno's ministry Keller's church passed again under 
the control of the Lutheran Synod and the period of independent 
ministers was definitely at an end. The record of the later 
pastors, beginning with John Nicholas Mensch, 1804-1823, is 
well known. Hence we can bring our sketch of the early history 
of Keller's church to a close. Having followed the guidance of 
the early church record of the congregation, supplemented by the 
Hallesche Nachrichten and the minutes of the Ministerium, we 



378 EARLY HISTORY OF KELLER's LUTHERAN CHURCH 

have, I believe, successfully reconstructed the early pastorates 
of the congregation and with that accomplished our task is done. 
The summary of our findings is as follows: 

About 1744, origin of the congregation. 
1744-1750, visits of Muhlenberg and others. 
1750, two delegates from Tohecka at the meeting of the 
Ministerium. 

Pastorates 

1. 1751, July to 1753, August, Lucas Rauss. 

2. 1754, October to 1758, August, John Henry Schaum. 

3. 1758, September to 1760, October, William Kurtz. 

4. 1761, February to November, Conrad Daniel Walther. 

5. 1762, April to 1764, April, Otto Haase. 

6. 1766, August to 1770, July, John Michael Enderlein. 

7. 1774, May to 1783, December, Peter Frederick Niemeyer. 

8. 1784 to 1788, Anthony Hecht, catechist. 

9. 1791, June to October, G. F. Wichtermann. 

10. 1792, February to 1794, October, Anthony Hecht, pastor. 

11. 1795, August, to 1798, August, August Henry Schmidt. 

12. 1801, May to 1803, April, Frederick Sanno. 

13. 1804, August to 1823, May, John Nicholas Mensch. 



The Ancestry of John Stover Fretz 

By MRS. JOHN STOVER FRETZ, DOYLESTOWN, PA. 
(Doylestown Meeting, May 2, 1931) 

I HAVE been asked to prepare a paper on the History of the 
Fretz Family. A complete account of all of the branches of 
which is far beyond the limits of my allotted time. I have, 
therefore, limited my paper to my husband's direct line. 

Naturally enough, in the history of a family, three pertinent 
questions arise: Where did the family primarily come from? 
Why did they come? Where did they settle^ 

To understand the situation, it is necessary to realize that 
they were, primarily, religious enthusiasts, who were willing to 
give up everything earthly for the sake of their religious freedom 
and beliefs. They were German Mennonites. 

The family originated in the Rhine Palatinate in Germany, 
where they, evidently, had lived for many years. They were a 
thrifty, successful, peace-loving group and, above all else, desired 
that they should do right in the sight of God and man. The 
Palatinate, at that time, consisted of a number of small princely 
holdings, which were governed by over-lords, much the same as 
the feudal system in England. 

It was about the time that the religion of Martin Luther had 
stirred the world, and a Friesian priest, who renounced his church, 
whose name was Menno Simon, who founded the sect of the 
Mennonites. The leading features of their belief was their 
refusal to take oaths, and their doctrine of infant baptism. For 
these doctrines, persecutions followed, and matters went from bad 
to worse, until the devout believers were no longer allowed to bury 
their dead in consecrated ground. In many respects, this sect 
resembles the Society of the Friends, which was a corresponding 
religious movement in England originated by John Fox. It was 
because of their similar faith, and the fact that W^illiam Penn 
had offered an asylum for all such persecuted, that the great 
migrations to America began. There were two or three such 
departures from the homeland for the new country. When one 
realizes that everything was given up, their friends, their homes 
and possessions, all that was dear to them and for which they had 



380 THE ANCESTRY OF JOHN STOVER FRETZ 

lived, that they might go to a strange land infested with savage 
Indians and wild beasts, over seas in none too safe sailing vessels, 
all for the sake of their religious and conscientious beliefs, makes 
one surprised at their faithfulness to their creeds. Very few 
today would give up their homes for any religious faith. 

We are. particularly, interested in three brothers, Christian, 
John, and Mark. These were the original pioneers. (Mark 
died on the voyage over.) They landed in Philadelphia in 1725. 
In the tax-lists, muster-rolls, etc., the name is spelled variously, 
as Fretts, Frets, Fritz, Fresh, due to the fact that the family being 
German, could not spell in English, and the rolls were kept by 
English people, who could not spell in German; hence, the 
phonetic manner of spelling. The correct spelling, as it appears 
in the German records, is von Fritsch and is, probably, a patro- 
nymic meaning, "son of clearness." The family coat-of-arms 
has been definitely traced by Julius F. Sache, Litt. D., formerly 
curator and librarian of the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia and 
for many years treasurer and one of the chief historical authorities 
of the Pennsylvania German Society. 

The original pioneer of my husband's family was John Fretz.. 
He was a weaver by trade and settled for a time in Upper Salford 
Township, now Montgomery County, where he married Barbara 
Meyer. In 1737, he bought 300 acres of land in Bedminster 
Township, Bucks County, where he was one of a committee to 
form the new Township of Bedminster in 1742. He was an 
important man in his day. 

He and his wife were Mennonites and were members of the 
Deep Run Mennonite Church and are buried in that graveyard. 
He died in February, 1772. His will was written January 29, 
1772, and probated March 3, 1772, recorded in Bucks County 
Will Book. 

John and Barbara (Meyer) Fretz had five children, the third 
being Christian Fretz. 

Christian Fretz was born in Upper Salford Township, then in 
Bucks County, May, 1734. 

During the Revolutionary War, he was a private in the Bed- 
minster Township Company, Third Battalion, Bucks County, 
Pennsylvania Militia, under Captain William McHenry. 1777- 
1779. The Bedminster Company were "Associators." 

In 1757, he married Barbara Oberholtzer. He died May 1, 



THE ANCESTRY OF JOHN STOVER FRETZ 381 

1803, and is buried in the Bedminster Mennonite Burying 
Ground. 

Christian and Barbara (Oberholtzer) Fretz had twelve chil- 
dren, the first being John Fretz. 

John Fretz was born in Bedminster Township, Bucks County, 
Pennsylvania, May 24, 1758. He purchased land adjoining the 
homestead in Bedminster Township and lived there until 1792, 
when he purchased 300 acres of the Rodman tract in Warwick 
(now Doylestown) Township and settled there, building the 
stone house, which was torn down in 1898. He purchased con- 
siderable land, owning, at one time, 800 acres along both sides 
of the Neshaminy, marked on old maps of that region as "Fretz 
Valley," by which name it is still known. 

He was a private in the Bedminster Company, Bucks County 
Militia, in Captain William McHenry's Company, 1782. 

He married Ann Kratz. He died on December 20, 1804, and 
is buried in the Doylestown Cemetery. 

John and Ann (Kratz) Fretz had nine children, the first being 
Christian Fretz. 

Christian Fretz was born in Bedminster Township, November 
17, 1782, and lived there until he was ten years old, when his 
father moved to Warwick Township, where Christian lived all of 
his life. He w'as a successful business man and owned a great 
deal of real estate in that township. He established the Fretz 
Valley Inn, near the old homestead on the Philadelphia Road, 
which he conducted for a number of years, dying there on January 
28, 1840. 

He married on April 14, 1808, Mary Stover, and they had 
five children, the third being Philip Kratz Fretz. 

Philip Kratz Fretz was born at the "Fretz Valley Inn," in 
Warwick Township, September 14, 1813. 

He succeeded his father as owner of the "Inn," which he con- 
ducted for a short time, until January 9, 1846. He was exten- 
sively engaged in contract work in partnership with his brother- 
in-law, John Farren, and was one of the contractors who built the 
Horse Shoe Curve for the Pennsylvania Railroad over the Alle- 
gheny Mountain, and, also, built the stone bridge at Bridge 
Point. He was president of the Democrat Club of Pennsylvania 
before the Civil War. He w^as married at Point Pleasant, Penn- 
sylvania, on February 18, 1841, to Anna Stover, by Rev. Silas 



382 THE ANCESTRY OF JOHN STOVER FRETZ 

Milton Andrews. In February, 1861, he and his wife joined the 
Doylestown Presbyterian Church. He died on March 13, 1867, 
on board the steamship, "Henry Chauncy," off the coast of the 
CaroHnas, while on his way to California to visit his brother. He 
was buried at sea. 

Philip Kratz Fretz and Anna (Stover) Fretz had four chil- 
dren, the fourth being John Stover Fretz. the special subject of 
this paper. 

Ralph Stover Fretz, brother of Philip Kratz Fretz. was born 
in Warwick, November 1, 1809, died in California. June 6, 1867. 
He had an eventful career. Early in life, he engaged in business 
in Philadelphia and, later, came to New York City. At the 
latter place, he met Commodore Garrison and became interested 
with him in several important enterprises. For some years, he 
ran a line of steamboats on the Mississippi River and, later, 
engaged in trading and shipping enterprise with Commodore 
Garrison at the Isthmus of Panama, in which he was joined by 
his brothers, John and Christian Augustus. In 1849, he sailed 
from the Isthmus to San Francisco, where, in connection with the 
Commodore, he established a bank. The eighth clause of his 
will reads as follows: 

"Eighth: Considering that I have been greatly blessed and that I have 
an undying attachment to the Government of the United States, the country 
of my birth, and remembering that by reason of my age and infirmities during 
the recent unnatural rebellion to destroy it, I was unable to render service in 
the field to put down and punish that great crime, and being not unmindful 
that a huge public burden of indebtedness has been necessarily incurred in 
accomplishing that object, I desire not only to leave behind me when I am 
gone an humble testimonial of the gratitude I feel towards those whose vir- 
tues, valor and sacrifice and services preserved what I regard as the best 
government that men was ever permitted to have, but beyond that and in 
addition to paying the ordinary taxes on my estate, I think it my duty out of 
the means Providence in His bounty has enabled me to acquire, and the Laws 
of the Country has aided me to preserve, to do something towards extinguish- 
ing the National Debt: Therefore moved thereto by the foregoing causes 
only, I hereby give and bequeath unto the Secretary of the Treasury of the 
United States of America, in trust and to be applied only towards cancelling 
the National Debt, the sum of Twenty Thousand Dollars." 

John Stover Fretz was born in the old Fretz \"alley home- 
stead in Doylestown Township, September 22, 1850. He was 
but seventeen years of age at the death of his father, and resided 
for some years with his brother, Philip Henry Fretz. In 1879, 



THE ANCESTRY OF JOHN STOVER FRETZ 383 

he purchased of his brother, his residence. He soon after erected 
and equipped a large steam saw mill near his residence, which was 
operated for many years. He was a member of the Doylestown 
Presbyterian Church and took an active interest in all charitable 
work. He was the owner of the old Fretz homestead that had 
been the home of his ancestors for over a century. He married, 
in October, 1880, Mary W. Long, daughter of Henry Long, of 
Doylestown. They had one son, Augustus Henry Fretz. 

Augustus Henry Fretz was born in 1882. He graduated 
from Lafayette College in 1903. His first position was rodman 
for the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Later, he was draftsman in the 
office of the Bridge Engineer of the Delaware, Lackawanna &. 
Western Railroad. In 1911, he became instructor in the Geo- 
logical Department of Lafayette College, and in 1918 took his 
present position as x^ssistant Professor in the Geological Depart- 
ment at Lehigh University. 

He married Miss Adele Steele, daughter of the Honorable 
Henry J. Steele, a leading lawyer, of Easton, and a former member 
of Congress from Northampton County. 

In a somewhat lighter vein, there are, as with all families, a 
number of anecdotes, which cannot be proven, but which are 
handed down from generation to generation. Some of these 
may be interesting: It was recorded that Christian Fretz, the 
first, owned a very fine horse. The Indians wanted that horse, 
but Christian would not sell the animal, so they came at night 
and stole it. Christian visited the Indian camp the following 
evening and, when all was quiet in the wigwams, he secured his 
horse and rode home. A horse in those days meant a great deal, 
and this was reputed to have been a very valuable animal. 

One of Christian's sons, also, owned a fine horse. A foraging 
group of Washington's army, while they were encamped near 
Newtown, Pennsylvania, came to the Fretz farm for hay, and 
the commanding officer saw the horse and determined to take 
him. This was against the will of the owner, who rode the 
horse up to Haycock Mountain, fording streams to cover his 
tracks, although being followed by the officer. The horse was 
hidden, and the officer returned. Then the boy went to the 
encampment and laid the matter before the general in command, 
who gave him a written order that he should retain his horse. 
Thus did he win his point. 



384 THE ANCESTRY OF JOHN STOVER FRETZ 

Another story is told of one of the early members of this 
family, who owned some fine cows. One day a man rode up and 
wanted to buy one of them. The owner did not wish to sell, 
but the buyer did not give up and insisted that a price be set. 
This price was made double what the cow was worth to discour- 
age the man, but, nothing daunted, the buyer laid down the 
money and drove the cow away. Later on, the former owner 
talked the matter over with his wife, and they decided it was 
"usury" to keep the money, which, to their simple Mennonite 
faith, was a sin; so he saddled a horse and rode after the man 
and gave half the purchase money back to him saying, "I don't 
want to have my soul damned for a cow." 

Another John Fretz, a grandson of "Weaver John," bought 
three hundred acres of land in Warwick Township, thus estab- 
lishing another Fretz homestead in Bucks County. He paid for 
this tract of land, as he said, "with gold and silver." After 
that remark, he was always known by the name of "gold and 
silver." 

These anecdotes might be multiplied, as like stories could be 
in all family histories, but they are simply hearsay and more or 
less entertaining, without any real facts to make them of value. 

The outstanding work, which the family did, was the estab- 
lishment of a vigorous, honorable, strong race of God-fearing, 
devoted religious people, who gave their all for the tenets of their 
beliefs. 

The one act, which stands out, particularly, is the building 
of the old Mennonite log church at Deep Run, Bucks County, 
which was erected in 1746. This was a great solace to the 
family, and they were largely instrumental in having that place 
of worship later rebuilt with a stone edifice erected in 1766, which 
stood for over a century. 

W^hen one realizes that almost the whole section of country 
pioneered by this family and many others is gradually falling 
into the hands of a race of Italians, Hungarians, Lithuanians, 
and Slavs, who are owning the farms and taking the places of 
those who cut down forests and tilled the fields, it is timely to 
think back of the sacrifices made and the beginning of the 
country established on a religious basis. Even the boys in our 
colleges and universities are largely of foreign extractions, as is 
shown by their names. The older generation, who built the 



THE ANCESTRY OF JOHN STOVER FRETZ 



385 



nation, fought for its independence, and established its ever- 
lasting career, is fast disappearing. 

The real function and reason for historical societies is to keep 
alive the names and works of those who sacrificed and erected 
our Commonwealth, and it should be our pleasant duty to ever 
keep fresh and green the memory of our ancestors. Like Robert 
Paterson, in Sir Walter Scott's well-known "Old Mortality," we 
ought to keep the memory of those gone by. 




jMennoxite meetixghouse. deep run 

Bedminster Township, Bucks County, Pa. Erected in 1872. Successor of stone meeting- 
house of 1756, enlarged in 1795. Meetings for worship were first held in log school- 
house of 1746. 



North Doylestown Borough and Adjacent Townships 

By MRS. C. D. FRETZ (NEE ANNIE MEREDITH), OAK LANE. PHILADELPHIA 
(Doylestown, Pa., Meeting, May 2, 1931) 

EMERSON wrote, "There is no history except biography," 
and in order to know what happened we must see how and 
where people have hved. 

A mile north of Doylestown, the county-seat of Bucks County, 
on the Easton road, was an old tavern, still standing, called the 
"Cross Keys." After the death of the owner, Tobias Weisel, it 
was for some years conducted by members of his family. A Miss 
Hopper, of Philadelphia, was placed there by her brother to 
board, considering it healthy and a quiet place for her to live. 
He reckoned without his host for she would not be a shut-in, and 
being fond of reading she walked to the Doylestown Library for 
books. She was exceedingly stout and alternately took a few 
steps and then rested. She frequently stopped at houses for 
something to eat and drink. She had her favorites among the 
neighbors. Mrs. William Steckel, a kindly woman, was one of 
them. Mrs. Steckel had four daughters. Emma, the oldest, 
was a pupil at the Ingham Seminary (Mrs. Taylor's School) and 
played beautifully on the piano. During the Civil War the 
children of the neighborhood met at Steckel's to pick lint for 
the soldiers. 

Miss Hopper was a great responsibility to her friends who 
feared for her safety, especially after dark. The hostler at the 
hotel, thinking to cure her, donned a sheet, and came before her 
with outstretched arms. She bravely pulled it off and was only 
mildly amused. 

Tommy Trowers and his wife, Madeline, lived at Leather- 
man's, across the way. He was a peddler, and amassed quite a 
fortune for those days. People were horrified when they learned 
that he went into the garret and hung himself. He is buried in 
the Mennonite Graveyard on Dutch Lane. 

The crossroads at the Tavern are of interest, as the one to the 
left was used by the boys as a way to the old swimming pool; 
nearby was the farm of Mr. Haney, who had seven sons. Two 
of them w^ere. successively, teachers of the Sandy Ridge school. 



NORTH DOYLESTOWN BORO. AND ADJACENT TOWNSHIPS 387 

Ezra taught the names of the states and their capitals, by chant- 
ing them, e. g., "Maine, Augusta," and he taught spelling by 
organizing spelling bees and "choosing sides." He later became 
a Presbyterian minister and had a charge near Pittsburgh. 
Abraham, the other brother, was also a very enthusiastic teacher; 
he wrote in my grammar " Perseverentia Omnia vincit." The 
road to the east was the dividing line between Buckingham and 
Doylestown townships. The toll-house was on the side of the 
latter. Old residents remember how the toll-gatherer closed 
and opened the gates at certain hours at night, if he heard a 
call. He had a tin box on the end of a long handle to reach out 
to collect the tolls. The Intelligencer was left there to be called 
for by the subscribers. 

In the house later occupied by Mrs. Jacob Knight lived a 
family whose little girl was run over and killed by a wagon. A 
few years later, Willie Rapp, a young boy living wdth his grand- 
mother, burned a large stack in Fretz Weisel's field. He was 
punished by being sent away to an institution. 

One of the accustomed sights was seeing Neddie Brannen 
breaking stones on the pike, as the road was called. He used a 
long-handled hammer to break the stones to the required size. 
When asked on a hot summer day why he wore a red flannel 
shirt, he replied, "to keep the heat out," and when a child was 
going for Dr. McCoy because her baby sister had a box of 
matches and was tasting them, he said, "They are made of sul- 
phur and will be good for her." 

The tree at Mercer's Corner and Dublin Road, had wide 
spreading branches that sheltered many a tramp on his way to 
Easton or Philadelphia. Frightened children coming home 
from Sandy Ridge School in order to avoid the tramps, would 
run back, climb fences and cut across the fields. In due time a 
good thing was accomplished when a board walk was built from 
the pavement of the town, extending nearly to the Cross Keys. 
Simon Meredith bought ten acres of land across the road from 
his brother Aaron and erected beautiful buildings. From this 
home his daughter, Margaret, was married to Dr. Andrew J. 
Yerkes. They were the parents of Edwin M. Yerkes and Carrie 
Yerkes Voorhis. After living there a few years he sold the place 
to John D. Smith; whose wife said, seventy years ago, "disease 
was caused by germs." She read this in the newspaper Die 



388 NORTH DOYLESTOWN BORO. AND ADJACENT TOWNSHIPS 

Morgenstein, published by Moritz Loeb at the brick house where 
the Happs and Dr. J.N. Rich now have their offices. He and 
his son Isaac were buried from there and two daughters, Flora 
and Carrie, married there. 

In an old-fashioned house at the bend of the road opposite 
lived the Clarks. When Sheriff Albert Philips' term of office 
expired he had the old house demolished and the new house built. 
In a few years history repeated itself and a new one stood on the 
same place, called "Aldie," the home of the Mercers. That 
house was demolished in 1927 and a new one built in a more 
desirable location. The grounds retain many of the old trees 
and shrubs; with landscape gardening has become a place of 
beauty. 

In great contrast from point of age is the adjoining property. 
It was the original tract including land of several hundred acres. 
George Fitzwater bought two tracts containing six hundred and 
ninety acres in 1737. In 1751 he died and his Executor sold the 
tract to Joseph Richardson. Thomas Good bought one tract 
in 1748 of 154 acres, and made improvements. Just where and 
what they were the writer is not informed. He was a Quaker 
from England and married Mary Jardell, of Abington, also a 
Quaker. He had joined Buckingham Friends Meeting when a 
young man. Becoming old by 1762 he conveyed to his son, 
Thomas Good, Jr., 128 acres. Fe was the owner during the 
Revolutionary period, and down to 1794. In 1776 the assessor 
credited him with 198 acres and called him a Quaker; his name 
was among the Non-Associators who did not join the Military 
Company. He sold 77 acres to Asher Foulke. In 1796 he sold 
his 74 acres to Michael Delp. In 1804 the property was again 
divided. Thirty-eight acres and house were sold to Edward 
and Jonathan Rice. In 1834 it was bought by Thomas Wom- 
bold and he sold it to my father, Aaron Meredith, in 1852. When 
Mr. and Mrs. Meredith came to see the place they were surprised 
to hear Mrs. Wombold complain about her husband "never fixing 
anything." The Wombold's took boarders and the family had 
to sleep in the room above the carriage house. Great credit is 
due Mrs. W'ombold for her beautiful f ov ers; roses, lilies, peonies, 
Faster f ov ers, v hite and lavender lilacs, \\ istana, sweet-scented 
shrubs, coral honeysuckle, rose of Sharon, and all the Powers we 
now call old-fashioned. There was a border of currant bushes, 



NORTH DOYLESTOWX BORO. AND ADJACENT TOWNSHIPS 389 

red and yellow raspberries and blackberries along the fence, and a 
grape arbor in the center, also a large box bush. In the front 
yard were two large cedar trees, an arbor vitae, pine, linden, 
plum, cherry, peach and pear trees; in the back yard, a very 
large walnut tree and the property also had a fine apple orchard. 

Two prominent men were distinguished guests in that house 
during the Civil War when Major George K. Scholl, of Perry 
County, Penna., visited his sister and her family. He had been 
a soldier during the Mexican and Civil Wars. He was a tall, 
thin, erect man. He escaped without a wound and lived to a 
good old age. The other man was Dr. Simon Meredith, of 
Mount Joy, Pa. His birthplace, also his father's, was at the 
home where his grandfather, James Meredith, settled, now called 
Pine Tree Farm. 

It is thought that the Aaron Meredith house was built before 
the Revolution. It had an old kitchen with a wide fireplace, 
andirons, pot hooks, and an old time bake oven; a pretty floor 
with a mosaic effect of stones and shining plaster was there until 
the late sixties, when Aaron Meredith built a two-story addition, 
remodeled the front of the house with large windows, removing 
the fireplace to make room for another window, ceiling the garret 
and dividing it into rooms. Two old boxbushes growing close 
by the house were cut down and removed to the woodshed, to 
make room to build the porch. A low, whitewashed fence was 
built on a stone wall and a brick walk from the gate to the front 
door, which had a lattice-work arbor, over which drooped wis- 
taria flowers reminding one of bunches of grapes. 

After Mr. Meredith's death it was bought by Henry W. 
Gross in 1880 and is still in his family. Mr. Gross built an addi- 
tion on the north side to provide a home for his mother. 

On the opposite side of the Easton and Dublin Roads was 
land belonging to Judge Henry Chapman. It reached to or 
near the borough; along the road is a beautiful row of maple 
trees, and on the Dublin side is a fine old w^oods, bordering on the 
Sandy Ridge and Dutch Lane Roads. On retiring from the 
judgeship, he sold his home to Oliver P. James, M. D., and built 
another house on a desirable location. The place was called 
"Willowmere." He died there April 11, 1891, in his eighty- 
eighth year and his funeral was one of the largest that ever took 
place at the Presbyterian Graveyard. His wife, Nancy, a daugh- 



390 NORTH DOYLESTOWN BORO. AND ADJACENT TOWNSHIPS 

ter of Governor Shunk, of Pennsylvania, and their daughter, 
Miss Fanny Chapman, have both passed away. Now the prop- 
erty is in the hands of strangers. In the late eighties it was a 
familiar sight seeing him riding in his carriage, as the poet wrote, 
"viewing the landscape o'er." It would have been interesting 
to have known his thoughts; he would visualize his parents on the 
streets, entering their home, corner of Main Street and Dutch 
Lane, then his mother's father. Dr. Hugh Meredith, who was 
building a house for his son. Dr. Charles; later he would see Dr. 
G. R. McCoy, who spent the greater part of his professional life 
and died there. He would have heard the trouble they had to 
get money to build the Academy, the planning of the different 
houses, a vacant chair in every house. His sister, Wilhelmina, 
married Mathias Morris, a man of the same profession. She did 
not resemble her brother, as she had a full, round face and was 
short and stout. The writer remembers seeing her sitting in the 
bay window. She had several namesakes. Her daughter 
married John Lyman. He made improvements to the old house 
and thereafter it was known as the Lyman home. They have 
descendants. 

The house on the opposite corner was built for a tavern and 
called the Green Tree. A man hung himself in the barn con- 
nected with the hotel. Later Theodore Kinsey lived there. He 
achieved success in the lightning rod business. His daughter, 
Carrie, and Fanny Chapman were playmates and attended a 
school at the last house on Mechanic Street. 

Broad Street was opened in 181 L The first house to be 
built there was occupied by Captain James Carver of the Civil 
War; then Judge Richard Watson and James Lambert, and since 
then has been in the Fackenthall family for three generations. 
Opposite was the jail with its high stone wall; on the front yard 
of the Presbyterian Manse was the Ingham Seminary. The field 
Avas farmed by a lawyer and author, Caleb E. Wright, who lived 
in the old Fox house. The Judge John Fox law office, being in a 
desirable location, was occupied as an office by Alfred Fackenthall, 
Esq., until it was removed to build the Doylestown Trust Com- 
pany. Mr. Fackenthall was one of the prominent men of the 
Republican party. In 1884, he served as a Presidential elector, 
and for some years was chairman of the County Republican 
Committee. He was also greatly interested in the Order of 



NORTH DOYLESTOWX BORO. AND ADJACP:NT TOWNSHIPS 391 

Odd Fellows, having passed the chairs of the Grand Encamp- 
ment of the State. 

Miss Agnes Brunner was six years old when her parents 
moved to their lovely colonial house on Mechanic Street. She 
remembers a minister, the Rev. Alexander Vaughn, sitting in the 
yard at the corner. "I thought him a very smart man as he was 
always reading." In Davis' "Doylestown Old and New" he 
wrote, "The seed from which the Reformed Church grew was 
planted by a minister, Rev. A. Vaughn, of this denomination 
who had a classical school here in 1858. He preached occasion- 
ally in the Methodist Church." 

Passing by the old houses on Mechanic Street, we go down the 
hill, Church Street, and see the Clear Spring hotel. It has a 
never failing spring of water. A one-time owner gave it to the 
town. A man was killed there one windy day when a trap door 
blew down on him while walking between the hotel and the barn. 

Across the street was the "oldest house," a log house in which 
lived Casper Rhodes (Rhot) and his family; it was removed to 
the Historical Society grounds. He is remembered as pasturing 
his cow along the sides of the road, while his wife worked by the 
day for the Chapmans, Dr. James, Baker Hahls, and the Mere- 
diths. Her wages were fifty cents a day; she went to Florida to 
visit a son, where she died, and is buried there. 

The Presbyterian Church is the second one to be built. It is 
on the corner of Mechanic, Church and East Court Streets. 
Rev. Silas M. Andrews was a much loved minister who had 
preached there fifty years. He was the Superintendent of the 
Sunday school, which was held in a frame building at Court and 
Church Streets, near the corner of the graveyard. He talked 
in an impressive way. One day to show how soon life could 
end, he gave an example of a girl dying, simply by cutting her 
finger in breaking a thread. Another time he wished to have the 
number of Bible verses recited to teachers. His method was 
first for those who had recited five to stand up, then those of ten 
to stand up. One time the only one who had ten was a little 
girl; he called her name and said "why can you not do as well as 
she did?" 

The Sunday School held in the afternoon was called the 
Infant School, taught by Mrs. Chapman and Mrs. Taylor. 
These kind ladies gave up their afternoon rest to teach little 



392 NORTH DOYLESTOWN BORO. AND ADJACENT TOWNSHIPS 

children things never to be forgotten. A chart was on the wall, 
containing the letters of the alphabet, each one with a Scriptural 
line. "A is for Adam who was the first man," etc. 

One time Mrs. Chapman took a little girl on her lap fondling 
her saying, "The little country children coming so far this hot 
day." We learned a great many hymns: "Little drops of 
water, little grains of sand," "The morning bright with rosy 
light," "There is a happy land, far, far away," "Like mists on 
the mountains, like ships on the sea," and others. 

We recited verses on the blue tickets; when having a certain 
number we received red ones. We learned the commandments. 
One time Mrs. Chapman saw a boy picking cherries and explained 
how wrong it was breaking the Sabbath day. 

The rich and poor, the educated and illiterate, have left their 
imprint on the town, and the transmission of mental charac- 
teristics is very apparent. 

No history of Doylestown would be complete without an 
account of the first settler, James Meredith, born in Wales, 
descended from Owen Glyndwr, the prince of Powys. He came 
to America in 1708, and served as a Lieutenant during the 
Colonial and Indian Wars. In his will, made in 1774, he be- 
queathed land for a schoolhouse where children of the neighbor- 
hood could be educated. He divided his land between his sons, 
Simon and Thomas, and gave his son, Hugh, who was lame, a 
medical education. Hugh was the first physician of the town 
and surrounding country and prominent in its afTairs. He gave 
land for a Potters' Field, where the bodies of persons of every 
color and condition of life might be interred.* His name is 
among the signers for the removal of the County Seat from New- 
town to Doylestown in 1784. He established a library. Several 
houses built by him still show good material and workmanship. 
The most attractive one of these was for his son, Charles, later 
belonging to Dr. Gilbert Rodman McCoy, and after his death, 
it became the property of his granddaughter, Miriam Watson, 

* The Union Academy erected in 1804, was partly built by subscription 
and partly by lottery, $6,000 being raised by the latter means. Hugh Mere- 
dith was one of the commissioners. The lot on which it was built at the 
southeast corner of Court and Broad Streets was the gift of John Hough, of 
Warwick Township, and the deed was executed, September, 1804, to Charles 
Meredith, of New Britain. (From Davis' Doylestown Old and New, page 49.) 



NORTH DOYLESTOWN BORO. AND ADJACENT TOWNSHIPS 393 

daughter of Judge Richard Watson, who had married Henry A. 
James, Esq. 

The family beUeved in a Higher Power, controlling the 
destinies of man, as their old Welsh coat-of-arms testifies. 
Translated it means, "Without God Nothing. With God Every- 
thing." 

When in Wales, they heard the command, like men of Bible 
times, leave the place of thy birth, cross the ocean, conquer 
opposing forces, and I will give thee, the land for thy inheritance. 
It has been fulfilled — by the survival of the fittest. 

An uncle of James Meredith, living in New Jersey, had an 
invalid son, and he made a proposition that the land he owned 
along the Neshaminy, should belong to James if he would go 
there and care for his son. When the son died, James bought 
the land at sheriff's sale which had been intended as a gift for 
the care of his cousin. Many generations of these three sons 
are living. Four descendants met at Fonthill a short time 
before the passing of Dr. Henry Chapman Mercer. Two of 
the sons of Simon, one of Thomas, and Dr. Hugh. His last 
words to them, "What have they done worthwhile?" The 
answer to that question is to study the lives of those gone before. 
The old homestead of this ancestral land was the birthplace of 
three generations who were valuable members of society. 

Great changes have taken place since those early days — the 
Revolution, the Civil W'ar, the Spanish-American War and the 
World War. 

Mary, the wife of James Meredith, rode on horseback to the 
Episcopal Church in Philadelphia of which she was a member. 
Now, her granddaughter of the fifth generation, in her motor 
car can pass over the same road in less than an hour, or hear the 
church services in her own home over the radio. 

Sixty years ago people laughed over Mother Shipton's proph- 
ecy, "Carriages without horses shall go." How^ true it is that 
the principle of continuity runs through the life history of this 
family, a summation of what they have thought and done has 
reached a climax like plants of long growth coming into flower 
and fruit. 

Dr. Hugh Meredith's daughter, Elizabeth, married Abraham 
Chapman. They were the parents of Judge Henry Chapman, 
who in 1844 built the house, now the summer home of Miss 



394 NORTH DOYLESTOWN BORO. AND ADJACENT TOWNSHIPS 

Sarah James. Almost opposite in the north corner of the Court 
House Park is the beautiful and artistic Memorial Fountain, 
designed by his grandson, Mr. William R. Mercer. It was 
chosen from five other designs, submitted by some of the leading 
sculptors and artists of the country. It occupies an appropriate 
location near the old home. The artist will remember his grand- 
parents, parents, his brother, his aunts, Mrs. Bigelow Lawrence 
and Miss Fanny Chapman, his uncle, Arthur Chapman, and 
sister, Leila, who married Lieutenant Von Fiedler. She is not 
laid at rest in the nearby Presbyterian graveyard, but in far 
away Germany, with her husband and his people. 

In early times the only burial places were the Presbyterian 
and Methodist church yards. A demand was made in 1840 for a 
public cemetery. Ten acres of land were bought. The first 
interment took place January 4, 1851, being the body of a Mr. 
Trueman. In 1870 a plot of ground adjoining and about the 
same size was added. East Court Street was known as Academy 
Lane. At the cross-roads was a beautiful white house, where the 
Silas Atkinson's lived, and when it was burned down every 
one was sorry, for the house and grounds were most attractive. 

A short way to the east a street was opened called Maple 
Avenue. Several modern houses were built there, and a Semi- 
nary known as Linden Female Seminary was established, now 
the residence of Dr. Robert L. Walter. It was a boarding and 
day school. The principals were Rev. L. C. Sheip and Prof. 
Henry H. Hough, with a staff of competent teachers. The 
school was started in Masonic Hall in 1869 and proving a success, 
a lot was purchased, whereon a suitable building was erected 
and the pupils transferred in the spring of 1872. The school 
prospered for a few years. Mr. Sheip died February 17, 1897. 
He had been superintendent of the Doylestown Public Schools 
from 1879 to 1890. Mr. Hough was appointed to a position in 
the Pension Bureau, Washington, where he died in 1902. The 
artist, Thomas P. Otter, Harry Lloyd and Alfred Fackenthall 
had special classes in drawing, Latin and botany. One of the 
pupils finding an early spring flower, Draba Verna, analyzed it 
correctly, which was the beginning of her interest in that study. 
Later in life she was assistant and wife of the botanist who revised 
the catalogue of Wild Flowers of Bucks County for Davis' His- 
tory. 



NORTH DOYLESTOWN BORO. AND ADJACENT TOWNSHIPS 395 

Descending the hill we see Fonthill, the arboretum, the bird 
sanctuary and the little stone house which Dr. Mercer generously 
gave to Bucks County. The latter was once the home of Wilson 
Harding. He is remembered doing carpenter work for the 
neighbors. His by-word was "sure." He had at least two chil- 
dren, Miss Sue and Mrs. Hill. 

In the early seventies, Mr. Aaron Meredith bought a beautiful 
level field below the hill; adjoining it was a picturesque spot, a 
pool from Cooks Run and swampy ground, where grew dog tooth 
violets, and spring beauties, and tall beech trees where visitors 
cut their initials. In the days of the Doylestown Democrat, 
Mr. John P. Rogers, a talented reporter, wrote an article about 
it. He married late in life and had a son, Roscoe, whom he was 
proud to take around in the baby carriage. 

The Merediths had five daughters who were pupils of Linden 
Seminary, and a son, Hugh, who attended the English and 
Classical Seminary. .He studied medicine and received his 
diploma from the University of Pennsylvania. For many years 
he was the head physician and superintendent of the Danville, 
Montour County, Pennsylvania, Hospital. He was a worthy 
successor of the old time doctor of the same name. 

We have descended Harding's Hill and have come to the 
end of our historic walk — the Crossroads of the Easton and 
Dublin pikes. I am indebted to "Local History Sketches" by 
Edward Mathews for many of the dates and landowners con- 
tained in this paper. 



Tamenend vs. Allummapees 

By warren S. ELY, DOYLESTOWN, PA. 
(Doylestown Meeting, May 2, 1931) 

MOST of our older members will recall that forty years 
ago our society, and notably our late president, Dr. 
Henry C. Mercer, were much interested in the legend, 
founded on tradition, that St. Tammany, the great Indian 
sachem, was buried at Spruce Hill, four miles west of here, and 
that Dr. Mercer, having after careful investigation concluded 
that the tradition was true, decided to mark the burial place of 
the great friend of the white man. 

His conclusions and the known facts upon which it was 
founded were the subject of a paper written by him and pub- 
lished in Volume H of "Papers Read before Bucks County His- 
torical Society" at page 38, et seq. 

Having practically convinced himself of the truth of the 
story, he decided to properly mark the site, and in pursuance of 
that intention purchased in the name of our society one acre of 
land surrounding the site. Your orator superintended the survey 
of the lot and prepared the deed of conveyance, which is recorded 
in the office of the Recorder of Deeds at Doylestown. 

However, before the erection of the proposed marker was con- 
summated doubts began to arise as to the identity of the Indian 
chief there interred. The facts related seem to incontrover- 
tently prove that an eminent chieftain was buried there at about 
the date named. 

This date was at that time thought to have been somewhere 
near 1749, by reason of the statement that Robert Shewell (son 
of William Shewell, of Painswick Hall, who was one of the chief 
men who participated at the burial), born 1740, was then a small 
boy, and was refused by his father permission to be present at 
the burial. 

I will not repeat in this paper the details of the statements 
made by the surviving members of the Shewell family, and the 
statements of "E. M." (Edward Mathews), Sherman Day, and 
others who have published more or less garbled stories, at 
different periods, based thereon, as these are already part of our 
published archives. 



TAMENEND VS. ALLUMMAPEES 397 

Suffice it to say that a distinct doubt has always, or least 
frequently, been in the minds of our historians as to the identity 
of the Great Chief, so buried. 

These doubts have always been shared by the author of this 
paper and he has always been on the alert for facts in the history 
of our Indian Chieftains, that might clear away these doubts. 

Tamenend was succeeded as King of the Delaware tribe by 
Scallichty, who died in 1713, and was succeeded by Allummapees, 
also known as Sassoonon, who died in 1747. 

Allummapees was long a popular and successful ruler of his 
tribe. He evidently did not have as strong an attachment for 
the Whites as the great Tamenend, who had known personally 
William Penn and was always a great friend of the white man, 
but he was for years a wise and successful leader of his tribe. 
The great curse of the Indian was his love of ardent spirits, and 
the leaders among them had long endeavored to restrain the 
Indian Traders from selling rum to their followers, and it was 
finally decided by the prominent Delawares that this practice 
could be better controlled by permitting its sale only to their 
chief. 

Under this plan Allummapees, who was Keeper of the Wam- 
pum, was always abundantly supplied with firewater, and having 
the same love for it as his followers, in his later days became a 
confirmed drunkard. 

Conrad Weiser, the great Indian interpreter, who was 
intrusted by the Provincial authorities with nearly all important 
conferences with the Indians, in a letter to Richard Peters, 
Secretary, under date of July 20, 1747, referring to the effort on 
the part of the Proprietors to have Allummapees to resign as 
King of the Delawares, says: 

"Allummapees would have resigned his crown before now 
but that he had the keeping of the Wampum with which he buys 
liquor and has been drunk for this two or three years almost 
constantly and it is thought he would do so long as there is one 
penny of Wampum left in the bag." 

In an earlier letter in June, 1747, to Anthony Palmer, who 
had succeeded James Logan as Provincial Secretary, and was 
succeeded in the same year by Richard Peters, Weiser writes as 
follows: 



398 TAMENEND VS. ALLUMMAPEES 

"The Delaware Indians last year intended a visit to Philadelphia, but 
were prevented by AUummapees' sickness, who is still alive but not able to 
stir. They will come down this year, some time after harv^est. 

"AUummapees had no successor of his relations and he will not hear of 
none so long as he is alive and none of the Indians care to meddle in the affair. 
Shikellimy advises that the Governor should name AUummapees' successor 
and set him up by their authority; that at this critical time might be a man 
to apply to, since AUummapees has lost his senses and is incapable of doing 
anything." 

In another letter in September, 1747, he writes Peters that 
the Indians had at last prevailed upon AUummapees to go down 
to Philadelphia with them. 

In October, 1747, Weiser writes to the Governor that "AUum- 
mapees is dead." 

The only weakness in the theory that it was AUummapees 
was carried in a letter as far as Prospect Hill, and left there 
because of his condition being unfit to travel farther or appear 
before the Provincial authorities, is that there is no record of a 
delegation appearing before the authorities at that date. But 
being unaccompanied by any one in authority, they naturally 
would not have been received, and possibly knowing that they 
could not accomplish anything they may have turned back, 
hoping to find their chief sufficiently improved or sobered to 
continue the journey. 

The circumstances and dates coincide so fully with the tradi- 
tional story, that I am fully convinced that the chief so buried 
was AUummapees. 

The recent investigation of Prof. Max Srabish, of Paterson, 
New Jersey, in what has been long known as "St. Tammany's 
Flats," in Wayne and Pike Counties, indicates that the last 
days of Saint Tammany were spent in that locality, and Srabish 
feels sure he has discovered the actual place of his burial. 

The fact that the delegation of Indians who carried their 
chief over the usual route from the headquarters of the tribe to 
Philadelphia on a diplomatic mission in 1747, or anywhere near 
the date mentioned in the tradition, precludes all possibility of the 
chief having been Tamenend, who had no diplomatic authority 
at that date, and all the circumstances point to and fit in with 
the proposed trip in 1747, so perfectly that I am convinced it was 
AUummapees who was buried at Prospect Hill at that date. 





^^A^ty^~^yi^ 





The Thompson-Neely House, Solebury Township, Bucks County, 
Pennsylvania 

Headquarters of Brigadier General William Alexander, (Known as Lord Stirling,) 
December, 1776, Prior to the Battle of Trenton 

Address by DR. B. F. FACKENTHAL, Jr.. Riegelsville, Pennsylvania, 

On occasion of the unveiling of a tablet placed on the Thompson-Neely House, 
Monday, October 19, 1931, by 

Bucks County Chapter, Daughters of the .American Revolution 

(The Bucks County Historical Society was the guest of the Daughters of the .American 
Revolution, and this joint meeting was in lieu of the fall meeting of the Historical Society.) 

CONSIDER it a great honor and a distinct 
pleasure to represent the Bucks County His- 
torical Society at this unveiling, and I cannot 
too highly commend the patriotism of the Bucks 
County Chapter, Daughters of the American 
Revolution, in erecting this bronze tablet com- 
memorating the deeds of valor and the sacrifices of our gallant 
and resolute forefathers. 

This is indeed historic and hallowed ground. Prior to the 
battle of Trenton this building, now called the Thompson- 
Neely House, was the headquarters of Brigadier General William 
Alexander, known as Lord Stirling, one of Washington's most 
dependable generals.^ On the staff of the Earl of Stirling was 
Captain William Augustus Washington, a kinsman of General 
Washington and later a member of his staff. Lieutenant James 
Monroe, later to become the fifth president of the United States, 
then in his nineteenth year and serving in a Virginia regiment, 
was conspicuous for his bravery at the battle of Trenton. In 1777 
he was placed on the staft' of Lord Stirling with the rank of 
major." Captain Washington and Lieutenant Monroe were the 
only commissioned officers wounded in the battle of Trenton; 
they were brought from the field of battle to this house, where 
they were nursed back to convalescence. Two privates were 
also wounded in that engagement, one of them, Robert James 
Livingston, was cared for at the home of Miss Rebecca Coxe in 
Trenton, the other whose name is not at hand, was probably 
cared for at this Thompson-Neely house. 

(For footnotes, see appendix.) 



400 



THE THOMPSON-NEELY HOUSE 





T^ MemoTj of C«p 

-YrlAnlllerjf^'^^oa 
flfBtnyVCoTn«Iid^ 
MooTt of ntwIoAU 



l.'^.S' 



Captain James Moore, of the 
New York artillery, died here on 
Christmas day of 1776; his body 
lies buried, together with twenty 
others, heroes all of them, in 
the burying-ground along the 
banks of the beautiful Dela- 
ware, almost within sight of this 
house. A quaint headstone, 
_^,^^ with an inscription as shown on 

^■'j ^^.j/^^'A^'Z^ViiJt'i*' .^ the margin hereof, has been 
"Wii^l^'i^^^ MpriJ 7; erected to his memory, but the 

other graves are indicated only 
by field stones. In 1929, the 
Washington Crossing Park Commission, on behalf of the Com- 
monwealth of Pennsylvania, erected a substantial marker, con- 
sisting of a large boulder, set at an angle and facing the private 
road, with a bronze tablet, to the memory of the Unknown 
Soldiers, wath the following inscription: 

In Memory of 
Many UNKNO^VN Soldiers 

OF THE 

Continental Army 
Who Died From Sickness and 
Exposure While Encamped in 

These Fields Before the 

Battle of Trenton and Were 

Buried at This Spot 

Christmas Day 1776 



It is gratifying to notice that these graves are not forgotten 
on Memorial Day, as is indicated by the stars and stripes placed 
over them, the very emblem for which they gave their lives. 

It is doubtless not known to many of you that in 1922, the 
State Highway Commission, in straightening out the River 
road, 1.8 miles below Washington Crossing, at a point where 
the road from Dolington enters the River road, unearthed a 
number of bodies, supposed to have been those of soldiers who 
lost their lives by exposure and otherwise at the battle of Tren- 
ton. Five of these bodies were carefully removed and placed in 
boxes, with the thought of having them interred elsewhere; in 



"W^ 




Sum *^ mmt /* >j. 




W o ■*- 

U o - 

2^ o ^ 

O n ^ 






THE THOMPSON -XEELY HOUSE 401 

fact, one member of the commission, now deceased, offered at 
his own cost to give the matter attention, and also to erect a 
suitable marker over them, but through some neglect this was not 
done. I therefore take the liberty of inviting the attention of the 
present Washington Crossing Park Commission, the personnel of 
■which has changed since then, to this condition, and trust that 
the original thought may be carried out. Why not bury them 
in that sacred place along the banks of the Delaware, by side of 
their comrades, who like them fell unwept and unknown, in the 
great cause of American liberty? 

Here in this Thompson-Neely house, the only headquarters 
of any officer on the immediate banks of the Delaware at that 
time, came General Washington to confer with his generals. 
Some of his letters dated "Camp above the Falls," are thought 
to have been written from here, although the same dating would 
apply equally well to his own headquarters at the Keith house. 

General Lord Stirling, who was quartered here, had special 
charge of gathering boats for crossing the Delaware. He dele- 
gated the detail of that work to Generals Mercer, Stephen and 
DeFermoy. Boats from up the river were assembled and secreted 
along the Pennsylvania shore back of Malta Island (later called 
Smith's Island), situated about midway between the Thompson- 
Neely house and Coryell's Ferry (now New Hope), one and one- 
quarter miles from each place, and about six miles above the place 
of crossing at McKonkey's Ferry. On Christmas day the boats 
were dropped down and moored back of Lowndes, now^ Taylor 
Island, just above the ferry. There is no record to show where 
the boats from Beatty's Ferry and other places south of the 
crossing were assembled, but presumably they were anchored 
at the same place. 

Brigadier General Hugh Mercer took an active and con- 
spicuous part in the battle of Trenton. He was also in the 
second engagement at Trenton, often referred to as the battle 
of Assunpink, where he commanded a column. He was in the 
van of that strategic night march from Trenton to Princeton, 
and in the engagement while enroute, at Stony Brook, near 
Princeton, on January 3, 1777, was w^ounded, dying nine days 
later on January twelfth. He was, I believe, the ranking officer 
to fall during the entire New Jersey campaign.^ 

(For footnotes, see appendix.) 



402 



THE THOMPSON-NEELY HOUSE 



From December 8 to 14, 1776, Washington made his head- 
quarters in the Thomas Barclay house, now known as "Summer- 
seat," formerly the Osborne house in Morrisville, Bucks County. 
It was successively owned by two signers of the Declaration of 
Independence: Robert Morris* and George Clymer,^ the latter 
making his home there. From December 14 until the battle of 
Trenton, Washington was quartered at the Keith house on the 
southern slope of Jericho Mountain, in the adjoining township of 
Upper Makefield, about 2.4 miles westwardly from the Delaware, 
near the public road leading from Brownsburg to Wrightstown. 
Brownsburg is on the Delaware about 3.7 miles north of Washing- 
ton Crossing. The Keith house, substantially built of stone, 
was appropriately marked January 1, 1897, by the Bucks County 
Historical Society; but the headquarters of three major generals 
near the Keith house, lying on the southern and western slopes 
of Jericho Mountain, are not marked, although they are still 
standing in good states of preservation. As these are all Avithin 
the jurisdiction of the Washington Crossing Park Commission, it 
is to be presumed that in due time they will receive attention. 




"SUMMERSEAT," MORRISVILLE, PA. 
Washington's Headquarters, December 8 to 14, 1776. (Front view as restored in 1930) 



(For footnotes, see appendix.) 



THE THOMPSON-NEELY HOUSE 



403 




TABLET PLACED ON THOMPSON-NEELY HOUSE 

OCTOBER 19. 1931 

(Historic Inscription by Colonel Henry D. Paxson) 



By the unveiling of the tablet placed on this shrine today 
by our sister society, an inspiring and patriotic example has 
been set, particularly to those of us who are members of the 
Sons of the American Revolution. I am advised that the 
Pennsylvania Historical Commission stands ready to place 
markers on any of these historic buildings. 

The headquarters to which I have referred are the Hayhurst 
house, that of General John Sullivan;^ the Merrick house, that 
of General Nathaniel Greene,' on whose staff, as an aide-de-camp 
was Thomas Paine, ^ author of the "American Crisis," which he 
signed "Common Sense," beginning with these words: "These 
are the times that try men's souls," which was ordered to be read 
at the, head of each regiment. A copy of this remarkable pam- 
phlet is in the library of the Bucks County Historical Society 
autographed by Robert Thompson. The Doctor Chapman 



house, that of General Henrv Knox, 



^ho£e staff was Captain 



Alexander Hamilton, a courageous soldier, and withal a polished 
(For footnotes, see appendix.) 



404 THE THOMPSOX-XEELY HOUSE 

and scholarly gentleman, who on March 1, 1777, became an aide- 
de-camp on Washington's staff with the rank of Lieutenant 
Colonel, where in connection with his other duties, he gave special 
attention to Washington's correspondence. Hamilton distin- 
guished himself in every engagement in which he took part, par- 
ticularly at the siege of Yorktown, where he had a command, 
after which he retired from the army and resumed the practice of 
law. He continued, however, to be intensely interested in all 
matters for the advancement of his adopted country. He served 
one year in Congress, and then entered the Legislature of New 
York, where by his personal efforts, in face of much opposition, 
he succeeded in having that state approve the Constitution of 
the United States. He was Washington's first Secretary of the 
Treasury, and his most trusted friend and adviser. He was the 
father of our decimal monetary system of dollars and cents. He 
retired from Washington's cabinet January 31, 1795, to resume 
the practice of law, but he continued as the leader of the Federalist 
party until after the election of Jefferson to the presidency. Ham- 
ilton \\as a great lawyer and a great orator, the ablest political 
and constitutional a^ riter of his day, and in every respect, as a 
statesman, he w as the master of them all.'^ 

General Davis, who founded the Bucks County Historical 
Society, invites attention to the fact that no battle was fought 
within the borders of Bucks County; it is thought, however, 
that part of the skirmishing at the battle of Crooked Billet, now 
Hatboro, was forced over the Montgomery County line into 
Bucks. ^* 

There are many headquarters of Washington and his generals, 
and places of their entertainment in Bucks County, very few 
of which are marked. However, one of the most historic of 
these, the Moland house, Washington's headquarters on the 
Little Neshaminy on the Old York road in Warwick Township, 
about half-a-mile north of Hartsville, then called Warwick Cross 
Roads, was marked in 1897 by the Bucks County Historical 

if> (This footnote in the appendix.) 

11 For "The Battle of Crooked Billet" and "General John Lacy, our 
Quaker General," the hero of that battle, see papers by Gen. W. W. H. Davis, 
Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. II, page 173, and Vol. Ill, page 32. 
For \\'ashington's Encampment on the Xeshaminv, see brochure published 
by William J. Buck in 1896, and the Address delivered by Charles Henry 
Jones before the Pennsylvania Sons of the American Revolution, June 20, 1903. 




BROWNSCOMBE 

FIRST AMERICAN FLAG WITH STARS AND STRIPES 

Authorized by Congress June 14, 1777. Said to have been unfurled for the first time at Wash- 
ington's Encampment on the Little Neshaminy in August, 1777, and first carried in 
battle at the head of troops at Brandy wine, September 11, 1777. 



THE THOMPSON-NEELY HOUSE 



405 



Society/' Washington rested there on the night of July 31, 
1777, and returned to make it his headquarters from August 10 
to 23, 1777, a longer time than he remained at any other encamp- 
ment in Pennsylvania, with the exception of White Marsh and 
Valley Forge. He remained there with his army to await the 
movements of the enemy, supposing that i\dmiral Howe, with 
his fleet of 228 sail, was planning an attack on Philadelphia. 

Washington's army, variously estimated at from 11,000 to 
13,000 men, was encamped on the banks of the Neshaminy near 
by, and there they saW' unfurled for the first time, the newly 
designed flag, with its stars and stripes, which had been adopted 
by Congress, June 14, 1777. There with Washington, on the 
banks of the Neshaminy, was the tent of John Marshall, Captain 
of Infantry in General Maxwell's brigade, who later became 
Chief Justice of the United States, and the great expounder of 
our Constitution. He died sixty years later on July 6, 1835, 
and at his burial July 8, the Liberty Bell was tolled, receiving at 
that time its primary fracture. 

The Marquis de Lafayette, 
who arrived in Philadelphia from 
France, July 27, 1777, was on 
July 31, commissioned by Con- 
gress as a major general. On the 
following day, August 1, he 
accompanied Washington on a 
tour of inspection around the 
harbor of Philadelphia and vicin- 
ity. On August 20, he pre- 
sented his credentials to General 
Washington at the Moland 
house, on the banks of the Little 
Neshaminy, and there formally 
joined the army. Nineteen 
days after breaking camp on the 
Neshaminy, viz.; on September 
11, 1777, General Lafayette was 
wounded at the battle of Brandy- 
wine. He was taken to Bethle- 
hem, where he was nursed back to convalescence by the Moravian 

12 (This footnote in the appendix.) 




AIARQUIS D" LAFAYETTE 
1757-1834 



406 



THE THOMPSON-NEELY HOUSE 



sisters. He left Bethlehem October 18, 1777, and at once rejoined 
Washington's army, where he did splendid and heroic services 
down to the close of the war, being present at the surrender of 
Yorktown. 

Count Casimer Pulaski, a Polish soldier, also joined Washing- 
ton's army, as a private, while encamped on the Little Neshaminy. 
He distinguished himself so signally at the battle of Brandywine 
that Congress appointed him Commander of Cavalry, with the 
rank of brigadier general. He was mortally wounded at the 
siege of Savanna, October 9, 1779, dying two days later on 
October 11, at the age of thirty-two years. 

Another memorial erected in 1895, by the Bucks County 
Historical Society is the granite monument on the Pennsylvania 
side of the Delaware at Washington Crossing, to mark the place 




MONUMENT ERECTED IN 1895 
the Bucks County Historical Society, to mark the place of embarkment of Washington's 
Army, C nas night of 1776, enroute for the Battle of Trenton 



WASHINGTON S 
Headquarters 

previous to 

he Battle of Trenton 






Dec. 14-25, 1776 



&^ 



TABLET ON THIL KlUTH HOUSE 
Unveiled January 1, 1897, by the Bucks County Historical Society 




THE KEITH HOUSE 

Washington's Headquarters, December 15 to 25, 1776, on southern slope of Jericho Mountain 

in Upper Makefield Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 2.4 miles westwardly 

from the Delaware River on the road leading from Brownsburg to Wrightstown 



THE THOMPSON -XEELY HOUSE 407 

of embarkment of Washington and his army, enroute to Trenton 
for that briUiant feat of arms on Christmas night of 1776. The 
New Jersey Society of Cincinnati has also erected a monument on 
the New Jersey side, where the troops landed, and set out on 
their long march to Trenton. 

I have prepared a chain of title to the tract on which these 
buildings stand, in which I have been assisted by Mr. Warren S. 
Ely; this can be seen on file in the library of the Bucks County 
Historical Society. It is too voluminous to be made part of 
this paper, and I will therefore briefly state that the tract was 
known by the Indian name of Win-na-haw-caw-chunk. It lies 
on the southern boundary of Solebury township, with Upper 
Makefield township as its adjoinder, and is part of a tract of 
7,500 acres known as the Manor of Highlands. The Pidcock 
tract was variously estimated to contain from 400 to 505 acres 
and allowances. 

It appears that part of the tract was claimed by Thomas 
Rowland, who had been granted a warrant of survey in 1681 for 
2,500 acres by William Penn. On September 9. 1690, the heir 
at law of Thomas Rowland, deceased, conveyed the Pidcock 
tract to Gilbert Wheeler. It further appears that John Pidcock 
came to America as an indentured servant of Gilbert Wheeler, 
and that in 1684, Pidcock took squatter possession of the tract, 
which he seated and improved and thereon established a trading 
s,tation. This settlement gave him a good title as against any 
one excepting the Penns. There was some litigation between 
Wheeler and Pidcock in regard to the title, or to establish lines 
between their properties, or possibly it may have been an attempt ■ 
to dispossess Pidcock, but the courts of Bucks County decided 
in Pidcock's favor, and to clear his title Wheeler by deed dated 
March 1, 1701, conveyed the entire tract to John Pidcock. 
Immediately after having his title confirmed, John Pidcock built 
the first or middle section of this house, little dreaming that it 
was destined to become an important shrine, revered by all 
lovers of liberty. The Thompson-Neely house as it now stands, 
was built in three sections, the central part, with the 
kitchen, by John Pidcock, in 1702. The western section 
was added by Robert Thompson in 1757, as indicated by 



408 



THE THOMPSON-NEELY HOUSE 




the date stone shown on the 
margin hereof; the initials 
stand for Robert and Hannah 
Thompson. The eastern end 
was added in 1786, by Robert 
Thompson after he got title 
in his own name. 

The gristmill, now being 
restored, is the third to be 
built on this property. The 
original Colonial mill which 
ground grain for Washing- 
ton's army was located down 
near the river, and was 
demolished in 1829, when the canal was dug. The second mill 
was then erected farther west where the present mill stands. 
This second mill was totally destroyed by fire early on the morn- 
ing of August 29, 1873. The third, or present mill, was erected 
during the season of 1874. 

Robert Thompson was a journeyman miller employed by 
John Simpson, and on the death of Simpson, he married his 
widow, and was in possession of the premises at the time it 
became the headquarters of Lord Stirling. Robert Thompson 
had the reputation of never turning a poor man from his mill 
with his bag empty, whether he had money or not. 

You have doubtless noticed that Pidcock creek, which fur- 
nished power for the mills, now empties into the canal and not 
into the Delaware. The canal having on Saturday last, October 
17, 1931, become the property of the State of Pennsylvania to 
be used as a park system, this creek will be one small source of 
supplementing a water supply for the canal. 

William Neely emigrated from Ireland, where he was born 
August 31, 1742.'^ On June 24, 1766, he married Elizabeth, 

13 William Neely emigrated from Ireland, where he was born August 31, 
1742. On June 24, 1766, he married Elizabeth, only daughter of Robert 
Thompson, and his wife, nee Elizabeth (De la Plaine) Simpson. William 
Neely died July 10, 1818, and his wife, Elizabeth Thompson, died February 
13, 1834, in her 86th year. They were the parents of two children: (1) 
Robert T., who married Sarah Beaumont, and (2) Jane, born in March, 1767, 
who became the second wife of John Poor, whose first wife, nee Martha Fol- 
som, died August 3, 1784, while he was principal of a young ladies' seminary 
in Philadelphia. Jane was one of his pupils when he married her. She died 
May 15, 1827, after which John Poor removed to York Haven in York 
County, Pa. (See Davis' History of Bucks County, Vol. HI, page 696.) 




THE AIKKRICK H(JL SE 
Headquarters of General Nathaniel Greene prior to the Battle of Trenton 




THE DR. CHAPMAN HOUSE 
Headquarters of General Henry Knox prior to the Battle of Trenton 



THE thompsox-xep:lv house 409 

daughter of Robert Thompson, and shortly thereafter took charge 
of the gristmill. He was in charge of its operation at the time 
of Washington's encampment, and there he ground grain for the 
Continental army. He did not, however, own the property 
until after the death of Robert Thompson, which occurred July 
18, 1803. By his will, Robert Thompson devised the gristmill 
and plantation to his daughter Elizabeth. The property 
remained in the Neely family for many years. It was finally 
subdivided and the greater part purchased by Reuben F. High, 
whose heirs on July 12, 1918, sold 179 acres 40 perches to Irvin M. 
High, from whom the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on October 
15, 1926, purchased 125.09 acres, covering that part on which 
these buildings stand, for the sum of S35,000.''^ 

This tract, aside from its Revolutionary lore, has a most 
interesting history. The mountain so prominently in evidence, 
on which the Washington Crossing Park Commission has erected 
the observation tower, 300 feet above tide, is known as Bowman's 
Hill, so named after Dr. Thomas Bowman who built his cabin 
at its base and by request was buried on its summit. He died 
in 1798. On the north slope there is located a so-called copper 
mine, operated in colonial times, discovered and reopened in 
1854, and again put in operation in 1864.^'' 

There is a tradition that the copper mine had been worked 
in prehistoric times by the Indians. 

As already stated Pidcock was in possession of his property 
by right of his having seated and improved it, and his possession 
could be disturbed only by the Penns. Taking advantage of 
this condition certain Philadelphia and Bucks County capitalists, 
viz.: Hon. James Hamilton, then Lieutenant Governor of Penn- 
sylvania; Chief Justice William Allen; Lawrence Growden, 
recorder of Bucks County; Langhorne Biles; W^illiam Plumstead 
and Joseph Turner, on July 17, 1752, with the connivance of 
Robert Thompson, secured a transfer of the old warrant, and 
on January 18, 1753, a patent was granted to William Coleman, 
in trust for their use and benefit. Six months later, on June 18, 
1753, William Coleman deeded the property, by six separate 
conveyances, to the aforesaid six gentlemen, as Tenants in Com- 

'4 Deed recorded at Doylestown, Deed Book, No. 451, page 268, etc. 
1-'' For an excellent paper on "The Solebury Copper Mine," see paper by 
Capt. John S. Bailey, Vol. I, page 6, of the Bucks County Historical Society. 



410 THE THOMPSON-NEELY HOUSE 

mon, and they on the following day, June 19, transferred the 
fee to Robert Thompson, reserving, however, to their own use 
all mines and minerals, including copper, lead, and iron. The 
object of these gentlemen appears to have been to get possession 
of the old copper mine, and that of Robert Thompson, who had 
possession only by courtesy, to get absolute possession in his 
own name, in order that it might not go to the heirs of John 
Simpson. 

The six deeds from William Coleman are not recorded, but 
three of them fell into my hands, viz.: those to Lawrence Grow- 
den, Langhorne Biles and Joseph Turner, which on July 15, 
1920, I deposited in the library of the Bucks County Historical 
Society. As these three deeds belong to me, I will take the 
liberty, as president of the Bucks County Historical Society, of 
withdrawing them from its archives, and presenting them to the 
Washington Crossing Park Commission, for deposit in the 
Thompson-Neeley museum. These deeds have special value. 
They are witnessed by William Peters and George Clymer, the 
latter one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
whose autograph signature is plainly written and well preserved. 
The deeds are signed by the grantor, William Coleman, who was 
a close friend of Benjamin Franklin. In 1727, Benjamin Frank- 
lin founded a literary club in Philadelphia, called "The Junto," 
and in estimating the character and worth of its members, as 
contained in his autobigraphy, has this to say of William Cole- 
man: 

"Lastly, William Coleman, then a merchant's clerk, about my age, who 
had the coolest, clearest head, the best heart, and the exactest morals of almost 
any man I ever met with. He became afterwards a merchant of great note 
and one of our provincial judges. Our friendship continued without inter- 
ruption to his death, upwards of forty years, and the club continued almost 
as long." 

Today is the fifth anniversary of the Bucks County Chapter, 
Daughters of the American Revolution. Therefore, allow me, 
women of that patriotic society, to congratulate you, and to 
thank you for the honor and dignity that you have added to the 
history of our beloved county. 

This day has also been wisely chosen for this unveiling, as 
it is the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the surrender 
©f Cornwallis at Yorktown, practically ending hostilities, which 





THE MOLAND HOUSE 

Washington's Headquarters, August 10 to 23, 1777, with tablet outUned on the eastern gable 
inscribed as shown above 



THE THOMPSON-NEELY HOUSE 411 

had raged for exactly six years and eight months from April 19, 
1775, when that resolute band of 130 "Minute Men" were 
aroused from sleep early in the morning on the arrival of Paul 
Revere from Boston, hurriedly gathered together on the green 
at Lexington, Mass., under command of Captain Jonas Parker, 
and confronted the British troops from Boston. There were more 
casualties in that skirmish than in both battles of Trenton. 
Brave Captain Parker and eight of his men fell dead, and a 
number were wounded. On the commons at Lexington where 
these brave heroes fell, a monument has been erected to their 
glory, and on a granite marker near by, there is inscribed these 
cautious and patriotic words of command by Captain Parker 
to his men on the approach of the British regulars: "Stand your 
ground, don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a 
war let it begin here." 

And even now as we are assembled here in this quiet valley 
on the banks of the beautiful Delaware, the scenes at Yorktown 
on the York river are being reenacted in pagentry with more 
than 4,000 taking part, and with the president of the United 
States, members of his cabinet, senators and representatives, 
the governors of the thirteen original states, the head of our 
army with his staff; Marshall Petain, Major General Count 
de Chambrun, a direct descendant of Lafayette, and others 
come over from France; the present Lord Cornwallis come over 
from England to represent his illustrious ancestor; Baron DeKalb, 
a descendant of Baron John DeKalb, and Major Fritz von Steu- 
ben, a great-great-grandnephew of Baron von Steuben, come 
over from Germany, and a host of other distinguished guests 
and citizens to the number of many thousands, in attendance. 
Provision has been made for parking 20,000 automobiles. 

I have always been thrilled on reading of the manner in which 
the surrender of Cornwallis was conveyed to the officials and 
citizens of Philadelphia. 

Yorktown capitulated October 19, 1781, but it took Colonel 
Tilghman, one of Washington's aides-de-camp, the express rider, 
four days to reach his destination. He arrived in Philadelphia 
about midnight of the twenty-third. Thomas McKean was 
then president of the Continental Congress. Colonel Tilghman 
knocked at his door so vehemently, that a watchman was dis- 
posed to arrest him as a disturber of the peace. It was the duty 



412 



THE THOMPSON-XEELY HOUSE 



of this watchman, who patrolled the streets at night, to call out 
the time of day and the character of the weather, but on the 
morning of the twenty-fourth, after hearing the good news, he 
changed his cry, and sang out: 

"Three o'clock in the morning and Cornwallis is taken." 

The streets were soon thronged with people eager to learn 
details of the good ncv^s, and the state-house bell rang out for 
gladness. 

This was the same General Cornwallis who trailed Washing- 
ton, the "American Fabius," through New Jersey and Pennsyl- 
vania, and who on dining with Washington a few days after the 
surrender, said to him : 

"When the illustrious part that your excellency has borne 
in this long and arduous conflict becomes matter of history, fame 
will gather your brightest laurels rather from the banks of the 
Delaware than from those of the Chesapeake." 




BOWMAN'S [JILl TOWn 

(THE SITE OF A LOOK-OUT OF THE REVO! r 

IN COMMEMORATION OF 

THE CROSSING OF THE DEi^ 

ON CHRISTMAS NIGHX 1776 AND THI I 

BATTLE OF TRENTON, December ?, H 

^ WHERE THE GENIUS. COURAGE AND STRAfFC 

Washington 

AND THE Valor. Sacrifice and Suffering n; 
OFFrCERS AND MEK 

... -^ ACHIEVED THIS BRILLIANT VICTORY «. 

- THE TURNING POINT or the AMERICAN RFV ; 



;LLUSTfil0US PART THAT YOUR EXCELLENCY 
' AND ARDUOUS CONTEST BECOMES MATTF 
■L.«THER..YO_UR BRIGHTEST LAURELS rI/h 



MAY LIBERTY'S BEACON 

RE Patriotism. Peace and Flllo\ 
AMOnCST ALL PEOPLES 



TABLET ON BOWMAN'S HILL TOWER 

Erected December 17, 1931 

(Size 5 feet high by 4 feet wide) 

Inscription by Col. Henry D. Paxson 

Historian of the Washington Crossing Park Commissi ( 

Bronze Casting by Bureau Brothers. Philadelphia 



THE THOMPSOX-XEELY HOUSE 



413 



FOOTNOTES 



1 WILLIAM ALEXANDER 
EARL OF STIRLING, was born 
in the city of New York in 1726. 
His father, James Alexander, was a 
native of Scotland and took refuge 
in America in 1716, after espousing 
the cause of the pretender in the 
rebellion of the previous year. He 
settled in New Jersey, and became 
Surveyor-General of that state. His 
mother was the widow of David 
Provost. Young Alexander went 
to England in 1755, and while there 
instituted legal proceedings to ob- 
tain the title of Earl of StirHng, to 
which his father was heir presump- 
tive when he left Scotland. He did 
not succeed in gaining a legal recog- 
nition, but his right was generally 
conceded, and thereafter he was 
addressed as the Earl of Stirling. 
He returned to America in 17M. 
He married the daughter of Philip 
Livingston, a sister of (jovernor 
Livingston of New Jersey. He was 
a member of the New Jersey Pro- 
vincial Council. Commissioned a 
colonel of militia in 1775, and on 
March 1, 1776, Continental Con- 
gress commissioned him a Brigadier 
General. He played an outstanding 
part in the battle of Long Island on 

August 27, 1776, our first great battle as a free nation, where he was 
taken prisoner. Washington took immediate steps to regain his services, 
and exchanged him for ( Jovernor Montgomery Brown of Florida. He at once 
rejoined the army and took an active part in the campaigns at Trenton and 
through the Jersies. On February 19, 1777, Congress advanced him to the 
rank of Major General. He was conspicuous in the battles of Brandywine, 
Monmouth, Staten Island, Ticonderoga and the Canadian campaign. He 
passed away at Albany, N. Y., January 15, 1783, at the age of fifty-seven years. 

Lord Stirling became largely interested in mining ore and refining it 
into iron. In 1776 he was the sole proprietor of the Hibernia blast furnace 
and forges, in Morris County, and there he manufactured cannon, shot and 
shells for the Continental army. Immediately prior to the war his fortune 
was estimated at £100,000, but he entrusted his estate to agents, who on 
selling his property, took Continental money in payment. On his death his 
estate was practically insolvent. 




g:-:ner.\l wili.iam .\lkx.axder 

The E.A.RL of Stirling 
1726-1783 



414 



THE THOMPSON-NEELY HOUSE 




JAM IIS moxrop: 

1758-1831 



2 JAMES MONROE was bora 

April 28, 1758, in Westmoreland 
County, Virginia. He was from a fam- 
ily of Scotch cavaliers. His parents 
on both sides were Virginians. He 
entered William and Mary College, but 
his studies were interrupted by the 
breaking out of the revolution, when 
he left college and entered the Con- 
tinental army. He had a most brilliant 
career both as a soldier and a states- 
man. He joined a Virginia regiment 
near New York and took part in the 
battles of Harlem Heights, White 
Plains and Trenton, in the last of which 
he was wounded in the shoulder. In 
1777, he served on the staff of the Earl 
of Stirling and took part in the battles 
of Brand^wine, Germantown and Mon- 
mouth. In 1778, owing to some com- 
plication as to his rank he retired from 
the army. About the time he left the 
army he formed the acquaintance of 
Thomas Jefferson, then governor of 
Virginia, with whom he studied law. 
Their intimacy continued over the 
remainder of their lives. As a states- 
man Monroe filled every post frbm 
assemblyman to president. In 1782, 
at the age of twenty-four he entered the Virginia legislature. In 1783, he 
entered congress, serving three successive terms from 1783 to 1786. On 
retiring from congress he again entered the legislature. From 1790 to 1794, 
he served as a United States senator. In 1794, he was appointed minister 
to France. From 1799 to 1802, he was Governor of X'irginia. In 1802, he 
was sent back to France, where he aided in the treaty by which France in 
1803, sold Louisiana to the United States. In 1803 he was Minister to Eng- 
land and subsequently to Spain. In 1807, he entered the \'irginia legislature 
for the third time, and in 1808 was chosen a second time Governor of Virginia, 
holding ofhce but a short time, when he was called to the cabinet of President 
Madison, as Secretary of State, holding that office until he was elected to the 
presidency in 1817. From 1814 to 1815, he also served as secretary of war, 
and took part in the defense of Washington during our second war with Eng- 
land. He was twice elected President of the United States, first in 1816, 
receiving 183 electoral votes as against 34 for his opponent, Rufus King, the 
Federalist candidate. Four 3,'ears later, when re-elected, he received every 
vote in the electoral college, excepting one, which was purposely cast against 
him, in order to preserve the tradition that Washington should be the only 
president elected by an unanimous vote. It was during Monroe's second 
term that General Lafayette returned to visit America for the second time. 
The period of his administration was known as the "era of good feeling," on 
account of the general prosperity of the country, and the absence of party 
strife. During his administration five new states were admitted, Mississippi, 
Illinois, Alabama, Missouri and Maine. His administration was also marked 
by the acquisition of Florida, the Seminole war, the Missouri Compromise 
and the relations with Europe in regard to South American affairs, which 
resulted in the annunciation of the permanent policy of the Government, 
known as the "Monroe Doctrine." 

At the close of his presidential term in 1825, he retired to his plantation 
in Virginia, but later made his home with his son-in-law in New York, where 
he died July 4, 1831. He was buried in New York, but many years after- 



THE THOMPSON-NEELY HOUSE 



415 



wards his body was moved and reinterred in the Hollywood Cemetery at 
Richmond, Virginia, where the body of his wife rests beside him. 

During the year preceding his death he served as a member of the Virginia 
Constitutional Convention, that being his last public service. 

3 BRIGADIER HUGH MERCER was born at Aberdeen, Scotland, in 
1720. He was educated at the University there, graduating as a medical 
doctor. He came to America in 1747 and settled as a physician near the 
present sight of Mercersburg in Franklin County, Pa., originally called Black 
Town, in honor of James Black, who built a mill there in 1729, but later 
changed to Mercersburg in honor of General Mercer. General Mercer served 
as a captain under General Braddock in 1755, and was severely wounded in 
the battle near Fort Duquesne. In 1758, he was promoted to be a Lieutenant 
Colonel and accompanied General Forbes to Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburgh, 
and commanded that post for some time. Later he settled in Fredericksburg, 
Va., and on breaking out of the American Revolution joined the patriot army. 
On June 5, 1776, he was advanced to the rank of Brigadier General by Con- 
gress. x\s already stated he was mortally wounded at Stony Brook, January 
3, 1777. He was cared for at a neighboring farm house, and received medical 
attention from the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Rush, but his wounds proved fatal 
and he passed away Januar}- 12, 1777. The sword which General Mercer 
carried can be seen in the rooms of the Pennsylvania Historical Society at 
Philadelphia. 

In 1840 the St. Andrews Society erected a monument to his memor\- in 
Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia. 

ROBERT MORRIS AND GEORGE CLYMER were two of the fifty-six 
signers of the Declaration of Independence. Of the signers, Pennsylvania 
contributed nine; \ irginia seven; New Jersey five; Connecticut, Maryland, 
Massachusetts, New York and South Carolina, each four; Delaware, Georgia, 
North Carolina, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, each three. Both Robert 
Morris and George Clymer were among the founders and original charter 
members and trustees of Franklin College, now Franklin and Marshall College 
at Lancaster. 



4 ROBERT MORRIS, an 

American financier, and a signer of 
the Declaration of Independence, 
was born in Lancastershire, Eng- 
land, January 20, 1734. His father 
was a Liverpool merchant exten- 
sively engaged in American trade. 
Robert came to America at the age 
of fourteen and entered tlie count- 
ing house of Charles Willing, a rich 
merchant of Philadelphia. In 1754 
he entered into partnership with 
Thomas Willing, son of his em- 
ployer, which firm soon became the 
largest importing house in America; 
they continued in business until 
1793. The firm was very successful 
and at the outbreak of the American 
Revolution Robert had acquired a 
large fortune. 

In June, 1775, he began his 
public career as a member of the 
Committee of Safety; in October of 
that year he was returned to the 
Assembly of Pennsylvania, to which 
he was re-elected in 1776. In No- 
vember, 1776, he was appointed a 




ROBERT MORRIS 
1734-1806 



416 THE THOMPSOX-NEELY HOUSE 

delegate to Congress, holding all three offices at the same time. On 
July 1, 1776, he voted against the adoption of the Declaration of Independence,^ 
and on July 4, declined to vote either for or against its passage, believing 
the time premature and inappropriate. He was returned to Congress July 
20, 1776, and on August 2, cheerfully signed his name to that immortal docu- 
ment. On retiring from congress in 1780, he again entered the legislature, 
retiring from that body for the fourth time in October of that year. It was 
at that time that the fortunes and conditions of the Continental army had 
reached their lowest ebb. Charleston had fallen, Gates had been defeated by 
Cornwallis and the treachery of Arnold cast a gloom over the entire country. 
The army was destitute and the credit of the country was exhausted with a 
debt of $2,500,000. Congress then provided for the appointment of a superin- 
tendent of finance, to which office Robert Morris was chosen February 20, 
1781. His chief program for raising money was by import duties, to which 
some of the states were opposed; also by loans and subsidies from France, and 
to inaugurate a policy of retrenchment. On different occasions he borrowed 
money on his own personal credit to carry on with. Without his aid Washing- 
ton could not have carried out his campaign of 1781. It was mainly through 
the efforts of Morris that the Bank of North America was established, by 
means of which financial conditions of the country were improved. 

In 1791, Robert Morris purchased a large tract of land, 2,500 acres in all, 
in what is now the Borough of Morrisville in Bucks County, which included 
"Summerseat," where Washington had his headquarters from December 8 to 
14, 1776. The borough of Morrisville was named for him, and that place 
was seriously considered as the site for our national capital, but it finally lost 
out and the banks of the Potomac decided upon. Robert Morris did not 
live at "Summerseat," but made his home elsewhere in Morrisville. George 
Clymer held a mortgage for £27,405 against his property, which he purchased 
at sheriff's sale in 1798. 

Robert Morris had the honor of nominating Washington for the presi- 
dency, and was offered the post of secretary of the treasury, which he declined 
recommending Alexander Hamilton, who was appointed. Morris was then 
elected to the United States Senate, where he served until 1795, when he 
retired from public life. 

His land speculations, amounting to millions of acres, principally in the 
Genessee country in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina, 
and of which "Summerseat" was a part, proved disastrous, and on February 
16, 1798, he entered a debtor's prison at Philadelphia, where he was confined 
until August 26, 1801. He died at Philadelphia, May 8, 1806, in the seventy- 
third year of his age, lea\ing a widow to survive. 

Robert Morris was indeed an eminent financier and a great patriot; he 
pledged his private fortune to uphold our cause, but later when he became 
involved in debt, under the vicious laws in force at that time, an ungrateful 
country allowed him to be imprisoned for debt. Nevertheless, his name stands 
written to his glory on history's page, for the heroic part he plaj'ed in upholding 
the credit of our country in time of its greatest need, and our appreciation 
and admiration of his heroism increase as the years go by. 

On June 18, 1926, his memory was honored by the unveiling of an heroic 
bronze statue on the steps at the Chestnut Street entrance of the Custom 
House at Philadelphia. This was erected jointly by The Philadelphia Bankers 
Association, The Fairmount Park Art Association and The Pennsylvania 
State Commission, toward the cost of which the State appropriated $20,000. 
This state appropriation w-as secured through the efforts of Hon. H. M. 
Edwards of Scranton and other gentlemen of Welsh descent. 



THE THOMPSOX-XEELY HOUSE 



417 




GEORGE CLYMER 

1739-1815 



■^ GEORGE CLYMER, signer 
of the Declaration of Independence, 
was born in Philadelphia, June 1, 
1739. His grandfather, Richard 
Clymer, was a native of England, 
who arrived in Philadelphia in the 
fall of 1699. Richard had two sons, 
William and Christopher, and one 
daughter, Ann. Christopher mar- 
ried Debora, daughter of George 
Fitzwater and his wife, Mary Hardi- 
man. They were the parents of two 
children, Elizabeth who died in 
infancy, and George the subject of 
this notice. George's mother died 
March 6, 1740, and his father on 
June 1, 1740, leaving George an 
orphan at the age of one year. Upon 
the death of his parents, he was 
taken to the home of William Cole- 
man, who had married Hannah 
Fitzwater, and was therefore his 
uncle by marriage. William Cole- 
man finally adopted him and left 
him the bulk of his large fortune. 
(See page 409 ante. ) 

George Clymer recei\ed a lib- 
eral education at the College of 

Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania), but left college before 
graduating to enter the counting-house of Mr. Coleman. In 1764, he left 
the counting-house of Mr. Coleman to enter that of Reese Meredith, whose 
wife was a distant relative of his mother, and on March 22, 1765, he married 
Elizabeth Meredith, his master's daughter, a sister of Gen. Samuel Meredith. 
•In April, 1765, Reese Meredith admitted his son Samuel and his son-in-law, 
George Clymer, to partnership in the firm. 

From 1770 to 1775 he was a member of Common Council of Philadelphia. 
In 1775 he became an alderman. On April 27, 1772, Governor Penn ap- 
pointed him a justice of the Court of Quarter Sessions and Common Pleas 
of Philadelphia. He attended meetings at Philadelphia in October, 1773, 
and again in Boston in June, 1774, to protest against the Boston port bill 
and the importation of tea. He was made a member of a committee of corre- 
spondence, and joined the call for the first Constitutional Congress, which 
met in Carpenter's hall, September 5, 1774. At that meeting he was made 
treasurer of the Continental Congress, and on July 20, 1775, he and Michael 
Hillegas were appointed treasurers. From January 23 to 28, 1775, he was a 
member of the Provincial Convention. On April 24, 1776, he attended 
the famous meeting in the State House yard, and urged the organization of 
the "Associators," and to prove his sincerity accepted a captaincy in Col. 
John Cadwallader's "Silk Stockings." On July 22, he marched with his regi- 
ment to Amboy. On December 10, 1776, he marched with his regiment to 
Dunk's Ferry on the Delaware, but the ice prevented them from crossing to 
join Washington in his Trenton campaign, to attack the Hessians at Mount 
Holly; however, the battalion took part in the attack on Princton, January 3, 
1777. This was the only action that Captain Clymer ever took part in. He 
subsequently was advanced to the rank of Colonel. On August 2, 1776, he 
affixed his name to the Declaration of Independence. 

George Clymer was active in many departments of state and government, 
which cannot be enumerated in this short notice, including the chairmanships 
on Cannon, Further Defense, Floating Batteries, Ships, Fort Island, Powder 
House and other committees. He was chairman of the Committee of Safety, 



418 THE THOMPSOX-XEELY HOUSE 

City V'igilants, Special Commissioner to X'alley Forge and many other positions 
of trust. In the winter of 1777, he was in the Pennsylvania Assembly, for 
under the law at that time offices could be held at the same time both in the 
nation and the state. 

On May 17, 1780, he, with Robert Morris and John Nixon, organized the 
Bank of Pennsylvania with a capital of £315,000 for the express purpose of 
furnishing the army with supplies. To this enterprise George Clymer and 
his brother-in-law, George Meredith, each subscribed £5,000 in silver. Mr. 
Clymer was re-elected to congress in 1780 and again in 1781. On December 
31, 1781, congress incorporated the Bank of North America, of w^hich George 
Clymer and Robert Morris were both directors. 

In 1782, George Clymer moved to Princeton for the purpose of placing 
his two sons, Henr>' and Meredith, in the College of New Jerse\". He remained 
there until October, 1785, when he was again elected to the Pennsylvania 
assembly, where he served until October, 1789. 

In October, 1788, he was again sent back to Congress. In 1798, he pur- 
chased "Summerseat," Washington's headquarters at Morrisville, which in 
1805 he deeded to his son, Henry, with whom he and his family made their 
home, and there he died January 23, 1813. His widow, who survived him, 
passed away at Northumberland, Pa., in February, 1815, at the age of 72 
years. George Clymer's body lies buried at the corner of Hanover and Mont- 
gomery Streets in the city of Trenton, N. J. 

Mr. and Mrs. Clymer were the parents of nine children: William Cole- 
man, Julian, Henry who married the daughter of Thomas Willing, Elizabeth, 
Reese, Margaret who married George McCall, Nancy who married Charles 
Lewis, and George who married a Miss O'Brien. William Coleman, Julian, 
Elizabeth and Reese died young. 

George Clymer is described as being a thoroughbred gentleman, one of 
the most useful and patriotic citizens of his day and generation, an earnest 
promoter of e\ery scheme for improvement of his country in science, agricul- 
ture, polite learning, the fine arts or objects of mere utility. He was a student 
and a thinker, and no one was more ready to sacrifice himself and all he had 
for the sake of his countr>^ 

(See American Magazine of History, Vol. \\ page 196, and Griswold's 
.Republican Court, page 58.) 



THE THOMPSON-XEELY HOUSE 



419 




JOHN SULLI\"AX 
1740-1795 



6 MAJOR GENERAL JOHN SULLI- 
VAN was born February 17, 1740, at Somers- 
worth, directly across the Salmon Falls River 
from Berwick, Maine, where his father, Owen 
Sullivan, with his family, settled on their 
arrival from Ireland in 1732. John was 
brought up on a farm, but at intervals of 
work, received a good education under direc- 
tion of his father, who was a school-teacher. 
On arriving at maturity, John began the study 
of law, and in due time established himself 
in practice at Durham, New Hampshire, 
where he made his home over the remainder 
of his life. 

In 1774 he was chosen a delegate to the 
first provincial congress, from which he 
resigned June 1, 1775, to accept his appoint- 
ment as one of the eight brigadier generals 
appointed by congress on the organization of 
the army, of which George Washington was 
made commander-in-chief. On August 10, 
1776, he was commissioned a major general. 
He took part in early engagements, including 
the battle of Long Island, August 27, 1776, 
where he was taken prisoner, but was soon 
exchanged for General Prescott of the British 
army. After General Charles Lee was cap- 
tured in New Jersey, December 13, 1776, Sulli- 
van was placed in command of his division 

and led Washington's right at the battle of Trenton, where he distinguished 
himself for his gallantry and bravery. He was in the thick of the fight at 
Brandy wine, where he commanded the right wing of the army. At the 
battle of Germantown he defeated the left wing of the British army. He 
spent that dismal winter of 1777-78 with Washington at Valley Forge. 

The Indian massacres and depredations on the frontier along the Upper 
Delaware, the Minisinks, Cherry Valley, the Wyoming Valley and along the 
Susquehanna River, had assumed such proportions, that congress decided 
on a campaign of invasion, and directed Washington to send a strong detach- 
ment of the army into that territory and completely crush out not only the 
uprising, but also to destroy all sources of food supply on which they depended. 

At the head of this uprising was that Mohawk W'arrior Joseph Brandt, 
who was at the head of the confederated six nations of Indians, commonly 
called the Iriquois, and the disaffected settlers known as tories under the 
leadership of Sir John Johnson, Col. John Butler and Guy Carleton. 

Washington selected General Sullivan to head that expedition. He 
assembled his troops at Easton, Pa., from which place he began his march 
on June 18, 1779. He marched out of Easton, crossing the Bushkill Creek, 
thence over College Hill, following an Indian path, since known as Sullivan's 
Road. He crossed the Blue Mountains at the Wind Gap, thence over 
the Poconos and Moosic Mountains into the W'yoming X'alley at Wilkes- 
Barre. From Wilkes-Barre they marched along the eastern shore of the 
Susquehanna to Tioga Point, now the City of Athens. At that point the 
Tioga or Chemung river empties into the Susquehanna. Jsst above their 
junction where they flow close together, Sullivan built four strong block- 
houses, stretching from river to river, which was called "Fort Sullivan." 
A monument has since been erected at that place to mark its location. 

Thirty-five days after leaving Easton, on July 22, they encountered the 
enemy at Newtown, near Elmira, N. Y., where they were joined by General 
Clinton and his army, and what was called the "Battle of Chemung" was 
fought. The enemy was completely annihilated, after which they destroyed 



420 



THE THOMPSON-XEELY HOUSE 



all their growing crops consisting mostly of corn. Continuing their march they 
destroyed all Indian settlements, village after village, after which they began 
their return march back to Easton, where they arrived October 15, 1779. 

One hundred years later, on July 22, 1879, an imposing monument was 
erected on the battlefield at Newtown, and on June 18, 1900, the George 
Taylor Chapter D. A. R. of Easton erected a natural boulder memorial, with 
an inscribed bronze tablet on College Hill, Easton, to mark the route of 
Sullivan's trail. 

Owing to some adverse criticism, General Sullivan retired from the 
army. He was afterwards a member of Congress for three years. In 1786, 
he was president of New Hampshire. In 1789, he was appointed district 
judge, which office he held until his death, which occurred at Durham, N. H., 
January 23, 1795. 

(See "General Sullivan's Indian Expedition, 1779" — New York State 
Publication, 1887, and Paper by Ethan Allen Weaver, read October 16, 1929, 
before the Northampton County Historical Society. See also his letter to 
General Washington, written January 10, 1781, from the Barclay house, Morris- 
ville. Pa.) 




' MAJOR GENERAL NA- 
THANIEL GREENE— Born Aug- 
ust 7, 1742, at Patowomot, Rhode 
Island. His father was a preacher 
among Friends, and educated his 
son \'ery simply, training him from 
childhood to work on the farm and 
at his anchor forge and gristmill, 
but Nathaniel by his own persever- 
ance and ambition acquired a splen- 
did education. In 1770 he was 
chosen as a member of the Rhode 
Island assembly, and to the great 
scandal of the Quakers was one of 
the first to engage in military drill, 
whereupon he was read out of meet- 
ing. On July 20, 1774, he married 
Catharine Littlefield, and during 
the same year he enlisted as a pri- 
vate in the Kentish Guards. In 
1775 he was appointed to the com- 
mand of the Rhode Island contin- 
gent and sent to the army at Boston with the rank of Brigadier General, 
conferred upon him by the state and confirmed at Philadelphia meeting, 
June 15, 1775. On August 9, 1776, he was commissioned by Congress as a 
Major (ieneral. He was in command of troops on Long Island in the afifair 
at Harlem Heights, where he was under fire for the first time. 

Hp was the commanding general at the battle of Fort Washington, where 
he was forced to surrender November 16, 1776. In the New Jersey campaign 
he distinguished himself for his ability as a leader, particularly at Trenton 
and Princeton. He was the youngest of that galaxy of four commanding 
generals who under the leadership of Washington, crossed the Delaware river 
on that stormy night of Christmas, 1776. 

At the battle of Brandywine he commanded a division. At Germantown 
he commanded the left wing of \\'ashington's army. He distinguished himself 
at the battle of King's Mountain in North Carolina, October 7, 1780, and on 
October 30, succeeded General Gates in command of the Army of the South. 
A detachment of his army under command of General Daniel Morgan gained 
a decisive victory over General Tarleton, January 17, 1781, at the battle of 
Cowpens, South Carolina. General Greene carried on his campaign in the 
south with such success, that he finally secured military possession of Georgia 



GENERAL N\TH\NIEL GREENE 
1742-1786 



THE THOMPSON-XKELV HOUSE 



421 



and the Carolinas, with the exception of three coast towns. For his services 
and military prowess, Congress struck off and presented him with a gold medal, 
and made him grants of valuable lands. 

Although the siege of Vorktown, October 19, 1781, practically ended the 
war, the British troops were not withdrawn. Savannah fell July 11, 1782. 
The last blood of the war was shed by the killing of Captain Wilmot, Septem- 
ber, 1782. 

On December 4, 1782, the American detachment at 11 o'clock, took 
formal possession of Charlestown, S. C. At three in the afternoon. General 
Greene escorted (iovernor Mathews to the town hall, and then witnessed the 
British gunboats sail away for England and the war was ended. A preliminary 
treaty of peace was signed at Paris, November 30, 1782; and on September 3, 
1783, a definitive treaty was signed at Versailles in France, by which the 
United States was formally acknowledged by Great Britain to be free, sov- 
ereign and independent. 

When peace was restored in 1783, General Greene retired to "Mulberry 
Grove," his estate near Augusta, Georgia, where he died of sunstroke, June 19, 
1785, in his 44th year. 

On May 18, 1791, General Washington, while traveling in the south, 
stopped to dine with the widow of his old friend and companion in arms, 
General Greene. 

General Nathaniel Greene was one of Washington's outstanding generals, 
often referred to as the most competent of them all. He was described by 
Lord Cornwallis: "As dangerous as Washington, vigilant, enterprising and 
full of resources." 



^ THOMAS PAINE was born 
at Thetford, County of Suffolk, 
England, January 29, 1737. He was 
the son of a Quaker. He left school 
at the age of thirteen and was put 
at his father's trade of staymaking. 
In 1759 he established himself as a 
staymaker at Sandwich, County of 
Kent. In 1762 he became an excise- 
man, from which for some supposed 
irregularity, he was temporarily sus- 
pended, supporting himself between 
times by preaching as a Methodist. 
Benjamin Franklin advised him to 
go to America, and gave him letters 
to Richard Bache. He found em- 
ployment as editor for eighteen 
months on Aitkin's "Pennsylvania 
Magazine" or "American Monthly 
Museum." He was primarily a 
political and philosophical writer. 
He entered heartily in the spirit of 
the times, and allied himself with 
the Patriot or Whig party. He 
joined the Flying Camp as a Penn- 
sylvania militiaman. General Greene 
made him one of his aides-de-camp, 
and as such he took part in that 
disastrous battle of Fort Washing- 
ton. Thomas Paine was with Wash- 
ington's retreating army through New Jersey, crossing the Delaware into 
Pennsylvania where he was later quartered with General Greene at the Mer- 
rick house prior to the battle of Trenton, in which, as a member of General 
Greene's staff he took a conspicuous part. His military experience was, 




THOMAS PAINE 
1737-1809 



422 THE THOMPSOX-NEELY HOUSE 

however, brief, but it prompted him to write a series of sixteen pamphlets, 
entitled "The Crisis," which he signed "Common Sense," the first one dated 
December 19, 1776, beginning with the words: "These are the times that 
tr>' men's souls," and the last one dated December 9, 1783, all of which were 
widely read and had a great influence over the people. He is said to have 
begun writing the first of these patriotic pamphlets while on his retreat with 
the army from Fort Lee, the first one of which was published six days 
before he marched with. General Greene to take part in the Battle of Trenton. 
In January, 1777, he was appointed secretary of the commission sent by 
Congress to treat with the Indians at Easton, Pa., and in April he was elected 
secretary of the Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs. In 1781, he 
went to France as secretary to John Lawrens on a Government mission to 
raise money. They were cordially received by the King of France and 
returned with two and one-half million livers in silver, and in addition much 
clothing and military stores. In 1782, at the suggestion of Washington, 
congress granted Paine S800 to use his pen in support of the country. In 
1784, the State of New York presented him with 277 acres of land at New 
Rochelle, N. Y., and Pennsylvania gave him $3,000 in money. In 1787, he 
went to France to exhibit his new bridge to the Academy of Science in Paris. 
He also visited England and was lionized in London by the party of Burke 
and Fox. He brought odium upon himself by writing in 1791-92, his pam- 
phlet, "The Rights of Man," for which a suit was brought against him, but 
he had already departed for France, where he was enthusiastically received 
and highly honored b}- being made a Citizen along with Washington, Hamil- 
ton and Madison. He was elected as a delegate to the French Convention. 
He opposed the deposing of King Louis XVI, whereupon on December 28, 
1793, he was committed to the Luxemburg prison, where he was kept for ten 
months. Just before his arrest he had finished the first part of his "Age of 
Reason," the famous exhibition of Deism. While in prison he worked on the 
second part. On the change of government he was released, and re-entered 
the Convention where he sat until its adjournment, October 26, 1795. He 
returned to America in 1802, landing at Baltimore, October 30. He was 
pleased to find that his services in the Colonies were greatly remembered, but 
alas his "Age of Reason," had cost him the esteem of the religious part of the 
community. On his retirement he lived successively at Bordentown, N. J., 
New Rochelle, N. Y., and New York City, dying at the latter place June 8, 
1809. He was buried at New Rochelle, where a monument was erected to 
his memory in 1839, although his body had been exhumed and carried to 
England by direction of William Cobbett in 1819. 

9 MAJOR GENERAL HENRY 
KNOX, who came from Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterian ancestry, was born in 
Boston, July 25, 1730. He received 
but a common school education. At 
the age of twenty-five 3'ears he became 
a bookseller at Boston, continuing in 
that profession until the battle of Lex- 
ington in 1775, when he entered the 
Continental army, serving as an aide 
to General Aaron Ward at the battle 
of Bunker Hill, and during the siege of 
Boston. 

In December, 1775, Washington 
sent him to Lake George and the 
Canadian frontier in quest of ord- 
nance-stores and cannon to fortify 
GENERAL HENRY KNOX Dorchester Heights. He executed his 

730-1806 * commission with the greatest fidelity 




THE THOMPSON-NEELY HOUSE 



423 



under most trying conditions. On December 17, he wrote to Washington: 
"Three days ago it was very uncertain whether we could get them over until 
next spring, but now, thank God, they shall go. I have made forty-two 
exceedingly strong sleds, and have provided eighty yol<e of oxen to drag them 
as far as Springfield, where 1 shall get fresh cattle to take them to camp." 
His cargo included more than fifty cannon, mortars and howitzers. For this 
and other faithful services he was made a Brigadier General of Artillery. He 
served with great distinction at Trenton and Princeton. He was also engaged 
in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth, and in the siege 
of Yorktown. He passed the winter of 1777-78, with Washington at Valley 
Forge, laboring to improve the discipline and efficiency of the army. In 
1781, Congress commissioned him as a major general. In 1783, he was dele- 
gated by Washington to arrange with Sir Guy Carleton for the capitulation 
of New York. (Jeneral Knox was in fact, one of Washington's most trusted 
advisers. As an officer he was most faithful and conspicuous for his bravery 
and skill in handling artillery, and for his tireless energy. 

From 1789 to 1795, he was secretary of war in \\'ashington's cabinet, 
having also charge of the navy, which at that time was not a separate bureau. 

General and Mrs. Knox were close personal friends of the (General Washing- 
tons during the days of the Republican court in Philadelphia. The Knox 
family and the family of Judge Chew were visited by the Washingtons more 
than any other families in Philadelphia. Young Knox, when a liookseller, 
had married Miss Flucker, much against the wishes of her family, but Knox, 
the brave general, gave her a prouder name than was ever dreamed of by her 
father, Mr. Secretary Flucker. 

Both General and Mrs. Knox are described as having been "enormously 
large," in fact the largest couple in Philadelphia at that time. They were 
delightful entertainers and splendid conversationalists. 

On his retirement from public life, Knox removed first to St. (.eorges in 
Maine and later to Thomaston, Mass., where he passed away October 25, 1806. 



10 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

was born January 11, 1757, at 
Charles Town, on the Island of 
Nevis, a small island of the British 
West Indies. His father, James 
Hamilton, was of Scotch ancestry, 
and his mother a French Huguenot. 
At the age of fifteen he was sent to 
America to pursue his studies, 
arriving in Boston in Octol^er, 1772. 
From Boston he went direct to 
Elizabethtown, N. J., where he 
attended a grammar school to pre- 
pare for admission to King's Col- 
lege (now Columbia Uni\ersity) at 
New York. He entered college dur- 
ing the latter part of 177,^, and 
endeavored to fit himself for the 
medical profession, but the conten- 
tions of the Colonies with England 
gave a different direction to his 
impulsive and inspiring mind, and 
on March 6, 1774, we find him 
attending a meeting at Boston, 
called to protest against the Boston 
Port Bill. He was then but seven- 
teen years of age, but was called 




.ALEXANDER H.\MILTON 
17.S7-1804 



424 THE THOMPSON" -XEELY HOUSE 

upon to address the meeting. He was slightly built, short of stature 
and not robust, but the vigor and maturity of his intellect and his eloquence 
were the admiration of his auditors. This was the beginning of his public 
career which in later years became the pride and admiration of the entire 
country. On July 6, 1774, he attended and addressed a meeting in New 
York, assembled to take action on the calling of a general congress, where his 
impassionate and well-reasoned speech brought him to the notice of men of 
prominence. But no attempt is made in this short biographical notice to 
record the career of this brilliant man, whose history is so well known, and 
whose services can scarcely be overestimated. (See page 404, ante.) 

In 1780, he married Elizabeth, the second daughter of General Philip 
Schuyler, of Albany, N. Y. Hamilton's life came to a tragic end. He died 
in the city of New York, July 12, 1804, having been fatally wounded July 11, 
1804, in a duel at Weehawken, N. J., on the Hudson opposite New York by 
Aaron Burr, who was jealous of Hamilton's political schemes. The death 
of Hamilton was regarded as a national calamity. After killing Hamilton, 
Burr fled from justice, crossing the Delaware by the Lamberton or Lower 
Trenton ferry into Pennsylvania, July 19, 1804. Burr spent the latter part 
of 1806 at Morrisville with General Jean X'ictor Maria Moreau. 

12 THE MOLAND HOUSE, a front view of which is shown herewith, 
is on the Old York Road in Warwick Township, Bucks County. It stands 
on the north slope of the Little Neshaminy Creek, which it faces. The house 
is substantially built of stone, in a splendid state of preservation, size 24 by 29 
feet, with a two-story addition, 18 by 23 feet. The tract of land on which it 
is erected, is part of 541 acres, called "Coldchester," surveyed to James Boyden, 
10th of the 7th month, 1682. James Boyden transferred it to his grand- 
children. In 1741, 325 >^ acres were sold to John Moland, who by will dated 
November 8, 1760, devised it to his children, Elizabeth, Hannah, Grace and 
Joseph. A deed from Joseph Moland to John Richards recites that the widow 
of John Moland and his daughters, Elizabeth and Grace, are deceased, and 
the property, then 134 acres, became vested in Joseph Moland and his sister 

Hannah, intermarried with Hay, as tenants in common. They were 

therefore the owners at the time of Washington's encampment, and the house 
bears their family name of Moland. 

The subsequent owners were as follows: On April 28, 1789, Hannah Hay, 
widow, conveyed her one-half to Daniel Longstreath; on April 30, 1789, Daniel 
Longstreath conveyed the same half to John Richards; on June 9, 1789, 
Joseph Moland conveyed his one-half to John Richards, these transfers vested 
the entire 134 acres in John Richards; on April 1, 1791, John Richards con- 
veyed the same tract to Elijah Stinson; on April 1, 1842, the executors of 
Elijah Stinson conveyed the same to Reuben P. Ely; on March 8, 1856, Reuben 
P. Ely and his wife conveyed 106 acres and 92 perches to William Rothwell; 
on April 3, 1889, the surviving executor of William Rothwell conveyed the 
same to Sarah R. Campbell; on November 6, 1896, Sarah R. Campbell con- 
veyed the same to Gerardus Wynkoop Rubinkam, and on March 29, 1911, 
Rubinkam conveyed the same 106 acres 92 perches to R. Sherman Robbins, 
the present (1931) owner. 



Family Bibles in the Library of the Bucks County 
Historical Society 

INSCRIPTIONS COPIED BY MRS. WARREN S. ELY, DOYLESTOWN, PA. 

THERE are eighty-nine old Bibles in the Library, of the 
Bucks County Historical Society, and in addition there 
are a number of New Testaments. The following is a 
memorandum of inscriptions and family data contained in forty- 
tw^o of the Bibles. Many of the Bibles do not contain inscrip- 
tions. 



(Alphabetically Arranged) 



1 — Angene, Jacob 

2 — Balderston-Simpson 

3— Child 

4 — Clift-Jenkins 

5 — Cooper 

6 — Cornell 

7 — Cressman 

8— Doyle 

9 — Eastburn 
10— Ely, Isaiah 
11 — Emig, John George 
12— Foulke 
13 — Green, Benjamin 
14 — Green, Evan 
15— Grier 
16 — Hardman 
17— Hough 
18— Howell 
19— Jenks 
20 — Kelly, George 
21— Kelly, Phineas 



22 — Kirk, Isaac 

23 — Kroesen 

24 — Krusen 

25 — Large 

26 — Larue 

27 — Martindell-Bridgman 

28— Moore 

29— Morris 

30— Oberholtzer 

31— Porch 

32— Roe 

33 — Shaw, Susanna B. 

34 — Smith, Canby 

35 — Smith, Scoggens 

36 — Smith, Summers A. 

37— Smith, William 

38 — Souder 

39— Stover 

40 — Strickland-Bennett 

41 — Todd-Chapman-Mercer 

42 — Weaver 



426 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 

JACOB ANGENE BIBLE 

Jacob Angene was born Anno Domini September, 1740. 
Frau Elizabeth born in the year Anno Domini 1725, April 
29th. 

Gertraut in the year Anno 1762 — November 11th. 

EHzabeth was geboren November 9th, 1763. 

Maria was born Anno 1765 — March 12th. 

Barbara was born Anno 1770 — April 8th. 

Jacob was born 2nd day of December, 1773. 

The children of Martain Kulb: 

Cadrin Kulb born in the year 1749, August the 6th day. 

Barra Kulb born in the year 1753, March the 13th. 

Elizabeth Kulb born in the year 1755, February the 12th. 

Merry Kulb born in the year 1760, May the 2nd. 

Madlen Kulb born in the year 1757, March the 12th. 

Susanna Kulb born in the year 1762. 

Nanne Kulb in the year 1765, October 12th. 

BALDERSTON-SIMPSON FAMILY BIBLE 

Ann Balderston's Book, desposited by Fannie Palmer, New- 
town, daughter of Franklin Palmer and Martha Horn Palmer, 
his wife, March, 1921. 

Balderston — John and Deborah Watson were married the 
21st day of the 10th mo., 1767, at Falls Meeting. 

John W. and Elizabeth Buckman were married 17th of 11th 
mo., 1801, at Falls Meeting. 

Ann Balderston was killed by lightning the 25th of 8th mo.,. 
1802. 

Mark Balderston and Elizabeth Lloyd were married the 19th 
of 11th mo., 1805, at Horsham Meeting. 

Mitchell — John and Hannah Balderston were married the 
10th of 12th mo., 1817, at Falls Meeting. 

John Mitchell died the 14th of 12th mo., 1821. 

Simpson — ^James and Ann Balderston were married the 14th 
of the 5th mo., 1823, at Falls Meeting. 

John Simpson and Ruth Whitson were married at Bucking- 
ham Meeting. 

James Simpson and Susanna Satterthwaite were married the 
11th of 5th mo., 1803, at Falls Meeting. 



FAMILY BIBLES IX LIBRARY 427 

Susanna Simpson departed this life the 3rd of 4th mo. 1821. 

Balderstox — Elizabeth, widow of Mark, departed this life 
17th of 10th mo. 1826. 

Palmer — David, Jr., and Susanna Simpson were married 
12th of 10th mo., 1831, at Falls Meeting. 

Brooks — Charles and Elizabeth Simpson were married 14th 
of 10th mo., 1835, at Falls Meeting. 

Mahax — John and Ruth Simpson married the 14th of 10th 
mo., 1835, at Falls Meeting. 

SiMPSOX- — John and Ann Comfort married the 11th of 10th 
mo., 1837, at Falls Meeting. 

HiLLBORX — Ruth (formerly Simpson) died the 6th of 3rd mo., 
1858, aged 85 years, 2 mos., 15 days. 

Balderstox — John Balderston, son of John and Hannah, 
was born 26th of 3rd mo., 1740. 

Deborah Balderston, dau. of Mark and Ann Watson, was 
born 23rd of 3rd mo., 1744. 

Ann, daughter of John and Deborah Balderston, born 28th 
of 8th mo., 1768. 

Mark, son of John and Deborah, born 25th of 7th mo., 1770. 

Merab, daughter of John and Deborah, born 25th of 7th mo., 
1770. 

Mark Balderston died 10th of 8th mo., 1770. 

Hannah, daughter of John and Deborah, born 30th of 5th 
mo., 1772. 

Ann Balderston died 1st of 11th mo., 1774. 

John, son of John and Deborah Balderston, born 24th of 2nd 
mo., 1775. 

Mark, son of John and Deborah Balderston, born 1st of 5th 
mo., 1778. 

Ann, daughter of John and Deborah Balderston, born 15th, 
12th mo., 1780. 

Ezra, son of John and Deborah Balderston, born 13th, 1st 
mo., 1783. 

Deborah Balderston died 17th of 4th mo., 1794, aged 50 yrs., 
13 days. 

John Balderston died 26th of 4th mo., 1821, aged 81 yrs., 1 mo. 

Mark Balderston died 3rd of 9th mo., 1823, aged 45 yrs., 4 
mos., 2 days. 

John W. Balderston died 26th, 2nd mo., 1842, aged 67 yrs., 



428 FAMILY BIBLES IX LIBRARY 

2 days. (He attached the letter W. for distinction as there were 
a number of that name.) 

Merab Balderston died 6th of 4th mo., 1842, aged 71 yrs., 8 
mos. 

Simpson — James, son of John and Kesia, was born the 9th of 
12th mo., 1851, died 13th of 6th mo., 1852. 

Susanna, daughter of John and Ann, died 6th of 3rd mo., 1852, 
aged 11 yrs., 6 weeks. 

WilHam, son of John and Kesia, born 10th of 5th mo., 1853. 

Elizabeth, daughter of John and Kesia, born 19th of 1st mo., 
1857. 

Rowland — Hannah S., wife of Nathan Rowland, died 12th 
mo., 6th, 1858, in 41st year of her age. 

Simpson — John, son of John and Hannah, born 23rd of 10th 
mo., 1739. 

Ruth Simpson, daughter of David and Clement Witson, was 
born 23rd of 1st mo., 1733. 

David Simpson, son of John and Ruth, was born 4th of 4th 
mo., 1765. 

Hannah Simpson, daughter of John and Ruth, was born 20th 
of 4th mo., 1767. 

John Simpson was born 5th of 8th mo., 1769. 

Ruth Simpson was born 21st of 12th mo., 1772. 

James Simpson was born 17th of 6th mo., 1775. 

David Simpson died the 5th of 6th mo., 1831. 

Hannah Shinn, formerly Simpson, died 7th of 2nd mo., 1833. 

John died 4th of 11th mo., 1835. 

James died 23rd of 4th mo., 1842, aged 66 yrs., 10 mos., 6 das. 

Mitchell — Hannah Mitchell died 21st of 6th mo., 1850, aged 
78 yrs., 22 das.; buried at Germantown. 

Simpson — John, son of James and Susanna, died 28th of 6th 
mo., 1857, aged 63 yrs., 7 mos., 7 das. 

Mary, daughter of James and Susanna, was born 10th of 8th 
mo., 1805. 

Elizabeth, daughter of James and Susanna, was born 3rd of 
6th mo., 1807. 

Susanna, daughter of James and Susanna, born 16th of 6th 
mo., 1809. 

Ruth, daughter of James and Susanna, born 11th of 7th mo,, 
1811. 



FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 429 

John, son of James and Susanna, born 21st of 11th mo., 1813. 

Hannah, daughter of James and Susanna, born 8th of 4th mo., 
1818. 

Palmer — James, son of David and Susanna, born 16th of 
9th mo., 1832. 

Charles, son of David and Susanna, born 28th of 5th mo., 
1834. 

Ann, daughter of David and Susanna, born 6th of 8th mo., 
1836. 

F"rankHn, son of David and Susanna, born 20th of 12th mo., 
1848. 

Rowland — Charles, son of Nathan and Hannah, born 5th of 
6th mo., 1852. 

Charles, son of Nathan and Hannah, died 25th of 3d mo., 
1855. 

Mahan — Elizabeth, daughter of John and Ruth, born 6th 
of 5th mo., 1852. 

Simpson — Ann, widow of John, died 6th of 5th mo., 1860, in 
her 80th year. 

Brooks — John, son of Charles and Elizabeth, born 14th of 
9th mo., 1836. 

Mahan — Susanna, daughter of John and Ruth, born 15th 
of 9th mo., 1836. 

Palmer — David, Jr., born 17th of 6th mo., 1837. 

Simpson — Rebecca, born 27th of 7th mo., 1838. 

Brooks — James, born 24th of 10th mo., 1838. 

Mahan— Abel, born 13th of 7th mo., 1840. 

Palmer — Joseph, born 23rd of 10th mo., 1840. 

Brooks — Samuel, born 31st of 10th mo., 1840. 

Simpson — Susanna, daughter of John and Ann, born 23rd of 
1st mo., 1841. 

Hannah and Nathan Rowland married the 7th of 10th mo., 
1841, in Philadelphia. 

Rowland — James M., son of Nathan and Hannah, born 6th 
of 2d mo., 1843. 

Brooks — Ann, daughter of Charles and Elizabeth, born 23rd 
of 2nd mo., 1843. 

Palmer — Susanna, born 26th of 11th mo., 1843. 

Rowland — Lydia, born 16th of 6th mo., 1844. 



430 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 

Simpson — Rebecca, died 20th of 5th mo., 1841, aged 2 yrs., 9 
mos., 23 das. 

Palmer — ^Ann, daughter of David and Susanna L., died 2nd 
of 10th mo., 1842, aged 6 yrs., 2 mos. 

Rowland — James M., son of Nathan and Hannah, died 26th 
of 7th mo., 1843, aged 5 mos., 20 das. 

Lydia died the 8th of 7th mo., 1844, aged 3 weeks and 1 day. 

Henry, son of Nathan and Hannah, born 21st of 4th mo., 1846. 

Brooks — Mary, daughter of Charles and EHzabeth, born 
26th of 5th mo., 1846. 

Rowland — Henry, died 23rd of 6th mo., 1846, aged 9 weeks. 

Palmer — Mary Ann, daughter of David and Susanna, born 
1st of 7th mo., 1846. 

Simpson — Ann Comfort, wife of John, died the 20th of 2nd 
mo., 1849. 

John and Kesia (Smith) married 16th of 10th mo., 1850. 

John, son of James and Susanna, died 28th of 6th mo., 1857, 
in 45th yr. 

WilUam. son of John and Kesia, died 7th mo., 20th, 1860, in 
8th year. 

Brooks — Samuel, son of Charles and Elizabeth, died 24th 
of 2nd mo., 1848, aged 7 yrs., 4 mos. 

Rowland — Franklin, son of Nathan and Hannah, born 10th 
mo., 20th, 1847, in Philadelphia. 

Brooks — Isaac, son of Charles and Elizabeth, born 14th of 
9th mo., 1849. 

Rowland — Florence, daughter of Nathan and Hannah, born 
26th of 10th mo., 1849. 

Franklin, son of Nathan and Hannah, died 3rd of 8th mo., 
1849. 

CHILD BIBLE 

Child — Cephas died the 7th mo. 12th, 1815. 

Jonathan, Jr., departed this life 9th day of the 10th mo., 1821. 

Deborah departed this life the 20th day of the eleventh 
month, 1830, between the eleventh and twelfth hour of the day. 

Jonathan departed this life the eleventh day of the fifth 
month, eighteen hundred thirty-three (1833). 

Michener — Isaac died the 8th mo., 2nd, 1814. 

Thomas died 1st mo., 21st, 1815. 



FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 431 

Amous died 4th mo., 9th, 1815. 

Mary died the 8th mo., 25th, 1816. 

Hannah departed this Hfe 8th mo., 2nd, at 8 o'clock in the 
evening, 1834. 

John Michener died 12th of 3rd mo., 1837. 

FouLK — Hugh departed this Hfe the 22nd of the third month 
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty- 
one. 

Child — Jonathan was married to Deborah Michener, 2nd 
mo., 7th, 1799. 

George was married to Sarah Wood, 11th mo., 26th, 1829. 

Jonathan, son of Isaac and Rachel, his wife, born 6th mo., 
13th, 1761. 

Deborah Child, daughter of George Michener and Hannah, 
his wife, was born 7th mo., 22nd, 1770. 

Isaac, son of Jonathan Child and Deborah, his wife, was born 
12th mo., 15th, 1799. 

George, son of Jonathan and Deborah, his wife, was born 
3rd mo., 27th, 180L 

Rachel, daughter of Jonathan and Deborah, his wife, was 
born 1st day of first month. Anno Domini, 1803. 

Randolph, son of George Child and Sarah, his wife, was born 
3rd mo., 4th, 1836. 

Mary T., daughter of George and Sarah, his wife, was born 
12th day of 4th mo., 1838. 

Walter — Joseph B., son of Joan and Mary Beek Walter, 
of Plumstead, was born the 30th day of August, 1840. 

Wood — Sarah W., daughter of James and Tacy, his wife, 
was born 7th mo., 30th, eighteen hundred and eleven. 

Walter — Joseph B. (M. D.) of Solebury, was married to 
Mary T. Child, of Plumstead, Pa., on the 13th of October, 1870, 
died on the 18th day of August, 1917, aged 76 years, 11 months, 
17 days. 

Child — Jonathan, Jr., died 10th mo., 9th, 1821, aged 14 
years, 4 months, 14 days. 

Deborah, wife of Jonathan Child, deceased 11th month, 20th, 
1830, aged 60 years, 3 months and 29 days. 

Jonathan Child, Sr., departed this life 5th month, 12th, 1833, 
aged 71 years, 10 months, 29 days. 

Joshua departed this life 8th mo., 3rd, 1837, aged 27 years. 



432 FAMILY BIBLES IX LIBRARY 

Israel died 7th mo., 20th, 1884, aged 79 years, 6 months, 4 
days. 

Randolph departed this life 8th mo., 24th, 1836, aged 5 mos., 
20 das. 

Sarah W., wife of George Childs, deceased 10th mo., 19th, 
1846, aged 35 years, 2 months and 18 days. 

George M. died on the 21st day of 4th mo., 1879, aged 78 
years, 3 months, 3 days. 

CLIFT-JENKINS BIBLE 

Presented to the Bucks County Historical Society, by Helen 
Y. Ellis, May 5, 1927. 

Clift — Ann, departed this life January 1st, 1863, aged 64 
years. 

Benjamin K. and Elmira Jenkins were married February 
17th, 1853. 

Benjamin K. Clift was born March 25th, 1823. 

Elmira Clift was born November 9th, 1824. 

Emma Clift was born June 29th, 1858. 

Departed this life, Benjamin K. Clift, July 9th, 1858, aged 35 
yrs., 3 mos., 15 das. 

Emma, daughter of Benjamin and Elmira Clift, departed this 
life April 1, 1903, aged 44 years. 

Departed this life August 28, 1911, Emma Clift, aged 87 
years, 9 months, 11 days. 

Jenkins — Joseph departed this life August 1st, 1852, aged 
42 years, 1 month. 

HoGELANE — George departed this life February 9th, 1861, 
in the 46th year of his life. 

Jones — Departed this life February 15th, 1861, in the 32nd 
year of her age. 

Jenkins — Jesse departed this life October 23, 1865, aged 77 
years, 5 months. 

Elizabeth Jenkins departed this life October 28, 1865, aged 
45 years and 2 months. 

CCOPER FAMILY BIBLE 

This book is a gift of Amos Cooper to his daughter, Mary 
Paxson, soon after her marriage. 



FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 433 

Cooper — William and Margaret Cooper came from England 
in the year 1678, and settled near Cooper's Creek, which was 
named after them, and with them came their four children as 
here noted : 

William Cooper 
William — Joseph — Daniel- — Hannah Wolston 
No. 1 — Mary Thackery, John, Hannah. 

No. 2— Mary Sloan, Ann Whitall, 
John (died young), James, 
Sarah Brown, David, Han- 
nah, John 

No. 3 — Martha Allison 
No. 4 — Amos, Elizabeth Tatum, Paul, Ann 
Wood, William. 
No. 5 
Sibyl Rulon, Mary Paxson, Sarah Webster, Hannah (died young), 
Joseph (drowned), David (died young), Ann Pancoast, David, 
Hannah (died young), Isaac, John, Beulah Snowden. 
No. 5 — Mary Paxson. 

Amos Paxson, Josiah Paxson. 

Letitia, Hannah, Moses, Beu- 
lah, Sarah Ann, Mangelline, 
Lewis, Martha, Caroline. 



CORNELL BIBLE 

Presented to the Bucks County Historical Society in 1916. 

Cornell — In the year 1754, the first day of August is father, 
Gilliam Cornell, deceased. 

In 1724, the 12th day of October, is Gilliam Cornell born 
and married with Margrita Schenck the 8th day of May in the 
year 1756 — she is born the 10th day of September in the year 
1735. 

The 17th day of March, 1757, is born Cornelia, bapt. April 11, 
1758, the 13th of January is Cornelia deceased. 

1758, the 3rd of December, is one Joannes born and baptised 
December 30th. 

1760, the 10th day of May, is Joannes deceased. 

1761, the 26th day of May, is Abraham born and baptised 
June 28th. 



434 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 

1762, the 13th day of September, is Gwillem born and bap- 
tised 31st day of October, and the 5th day of February, 1763, is 
deceased. 

1764, 9th day of August, is twins, Gwillem and Lyn Broeder, 
born; Lyn Broeder is deceased the 11th day and Gwillem is bap- 
tised the 27th August. 

1766, the 16th of July, is Remmitje born and baptised the 
10th of August. 

1769, the 17th of April, is one t^^in, Cornelia, born and is 
baptised the 12th day of May. 

1771, the 13th day of October, Margarita born and baptised 
28th day. 

1774, the 27th day of May, at 11 o'clock in the night is Jan 
born and baptised, June 12, by Domini Van Harlangen. 

1778, the 16th of June, is Maria born and is baptised June 21 
by Domini Schenck. 

1785, the 17th day is father Gilliam Cornell deceased and is 
buried the 19th day of July. 

1761, the 26th day May, is Abraham Cornell born and bap- 
tised the 28th June and married with Aginitye Bennett the 19th 
day of September, 1784. 

One son, Kindchen, was in the world born July the fifth in the 
year 1785 but was soon dead. 

Son Gilyam is born the 8th of August, 1786. 

1788, the 6th of March, is my daughter Margrita born. 

1789, November the 6th day is Cornelia born. 
1791, July the 1st, is daughter Maria born. 
1797, December 23rd, is Abraham born. 

Abraham Cornell died the last day of August in the year 1804. 

This Bible came in possession of Jane E. Vanartsdalen, wife 
of Cyrus T. Vanartsdalen, October, 1872, and to their son, I. T. 
Vanartsdalen, Newtown,. Pa., June, 1908. 

1793, 15th day of September, is Margrita Cornell deceased, 
age 21 years and 11 months. 

1803, 2nd day of September, at seven o'clock in the morning 
is Margrita Schenck Cornell deceased in 68th year of her age. 



FAMILY BIBLES IX LIBRARY 435 

CRESSMAN BIBLE 

Cressmax — Addison, born June 4th, 1843. 
Cathrina H. Rudy, born March 28, 1847. They were mar- 
ried February 18, 1868, by Rev. H. L. Deilgart. 
Jonas Clinton, born July 6, 1868. 
Percival, born October 1, 1869. 
Samuel Often, born March, 1871. 
Elizabeth Ann, born August 1st, 1872. 
Sally Martha, born July 27th, 1874. 

DOYLE BIBLE 

Bible belonging to the late Capt. William L. Doyle, grandson 
of the late Edward Doyle, founder of Doylestown, by the remain- 
ing heirs of the family; by Miss Mary C. Doyle, of Philadelphia, 
Pa. 

Doyle — J. W. Doyle was born January 4th, 1778. 

William T. Doyle was born in Doylestown, February 16, 1816. 

Catherine Miller Doyle was born in Philadelphia, December 
16, 1819. 

Children of W. T. and C. M. Doyle 

Mary C. Doyle, born in Philadelphia, October 23, 1838. 

Margaretta M. Doyle, September 7, 1840, in Philadelphia. 

William W. Doyle, born in Philadelphia, October 21, 1842. 

Joseph C, born in Philadelphia, February 23, 1845. 

Sarah Lapp, born in Philadelphia, March 26, 1847. 

Wilmina T., born in Philadelphia, February 20, 1849. 

Adelaide Clawges Doyle, born in Philadelphia, September 21, 
1851. 

Martha Elizabeth Doyle, born in Philadelphia, April 21, 1856. 

Sarah Pamelia Doyle, born in Philadelphia, July 4, 1858. 

Morgan Thomas Doyle, born in Philadelphia, December 1^ 
1859. 

William T. Doyle and C. M. Clawges were united in the 
Bonds of Marriage on Sunday evening, the sev^enteenth day of 
December, 1837. by Joseph W. Kennard. 

W. Watson Doyle died the 27th March, 1901. age 58 years. 

Mrs. Catherine M. Doyle, wife of the late Capt. William T. 
Doyle, died March 12, 1881, in 69th year. 



436 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 

Mrs. Mary Doyle, wife of William, died in Philadelphia, 
November 26, 1841. 

Mrs. Morgan James died in Philadelphia, August 5, 1846. 

Sarah Lapp Doyle died in Philadelphia June 15, 1847, buried 
in lot 620, Monument Cemetery. 

Wilhelmina T. Doyle died in Philadelphia, April 26, 1855, age 
14 months and 6 days. 

Morgan Thomas Doyle died July 4, 1861, interred in lot 620, 
Monument Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Martha E. Sturgeon (Doyle) died September 7, 1908, age 54 
years. 

John W. died May the 3rd, 1857, age 78 years. 

Mary M. Clawges died October 14th, 1864, in her 67th year. 

William T. Doyle died November 2nd, 1869, in 54th year of 
his age. 

EASTBURN BIBLE 

"Rebekah Eastburn's Book taken at the appraisement of her 
mother, Mary Eastburn, 1806. 12th month 27th, 1830, gave 
Peter Phipps, my beloved nephew, this Bible when I have done 
with it. Rebecca Peirce, formerly Eastburn." 

Eastburn — Mary, daughter of Samuel Wilson, departed this 
life the 19th of the eleventh month, 1805, age seventy-three years, 
one month and seventeen days. 

Joseph was born the 18th of the 1st mo., 1730. 

Mary Eastburn, his wife, was born the 2nd day of the 10th 
mo., 1732. 

Joseph and A4ary were married, the 23rd of 5th mo., 1753. 

Joseph, son of Joseph and Mary, his wife, was born 15th day, 
7th mo., 1754. 

Benjamin was born the 4th of 7th mo., 1755. 

Samuel was born the 20th of 5th mo., 1758. 

John was born the 27th of 4th mo., 1760. 

Rebecca was born the 4th of 4th mo., 1762. 

Thomas was born the 4th of 5th mo., 1764. 

Mary was born the 22nd of 5th mo., 1766. 

James was born the 27th of 8th mo., 1768. 

Amos was born the 25th of 7th mo., 1770. 

David was born the 7th of 4th mo., 1773. 

Elizabeth was born the 22nd of 4th mo., 1775. 



FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 437 

Joseph Eastburn, father of the above children, deceased the 
20th of 10th mo., 1780, aged 50 years, 9 months, 10 days. 

Mary Eastburn, mother of the above children, deceased the 
19th of the 11th mo., 1805, aged 73 years, 1 month and 17 days. 

Thomas departed this life the 14th of the 4th mo., 1816, aged 
51 years, 10 months, 29 days. 

Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph and Mary, his wife, departed 
this life the second day of the 9th month, 1777, aged 1 year, 4 
months, 10 days. 

James departed this life the 4th day of 7th mo., 1792, aged 
near 24 years. 

Benjamin departed this life the 30th of the 9th mo., 1806, 
aged fifty years and almost 3 months. 

Joseph Eastburn departed this life the 16th day of 5th mo., 
1813, aged 58 years, 10 months. 

Phipps — Mary departed this life 10th mo., 17th, 1821, aged 
55 years, 25 days. 

Eastburn — Samuel departed this life 4th of 5th mo., 1822, 
aged 63 years, 9 months, 13 days. 

Amos, departed this life 10th mo., 16th, 1823, aged 52 years, 
9 months, 21 days. 

David departed this life 29th day, 6th mo., 1824, aged 53 
years, 11 months. 

John departed this life 4th mo., 5th, 1843, aged 72 years, 11 
months, 1 day. 

Peirce — Rebecca, departed this life the 9th of 10th mo., 1839, 
aged 77 years, 6 months and 5 days. 

Eastburn — Elizabeth was born the 7th mo., 21st, 1788. 

Bazaleel was born the 8th mo., 14th, 1791. 

Jane was born the 5th mo., 22nd, 1794. 

John was born the 4th mo., 9th, 1801. 

Jane Worstal, late Eastburn, departed this life 11 mo., 6th, 
1825. 

Elizabeth Eastburn, mother of the above children, departed 
this life the 6th mo., 3rd, 1801. 

John Eastburn, father of the above children, departed this 
life the 4th mo., 5th, 1833. 

John S., son of Bazaleel Eastburn, was born the 1st mo., 29th, 
1825 

Wilson — Samuel Senr, born the 6th of 1st mo., 1706. 



438 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 

Rebecca, his wife, born the 16th of 7th mo., 1711. 

Thomas, son of Samuel and Rebecca, born 19th of 1st mo., 
1721. 

Mary, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca, born 2nd of 10th 
mo., 1732. 

Sarah, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca, born 16th of 8th mo., 
1734. 

Samuel, son of Samuel and Rebecca, born 20th of 10th mo., 
1736. 

Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca, born 10th of 
6th mo., 1739. 

Rachel, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca, born 5th of 4th 
mo., 1741. 

Rebecca, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca, born 7th of 6th 
mo., 1743. 

John, son of Samuel and Rebecca, born 5th of 5th mo., 1745. 

Hannah, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca, born 2nd of 5th 
mo., 1747. 

Stephen, son of Samuel and Rebecca, born 2nd of 7th mo., 
1749. 

Oliver, son of Samuel and Rebecca, born 17th of 8th mo., 1751. 

David, son of Samuel and Rebecca, born 23rd of 8th mo., 1754. 

Isaac, son of Samuel and Rebecca, born 14th of 3rd mo., 1757. 

Thomas, son of Samuel and Rebecca, departed this life the 
23rd of 7th mo., 1803, aged seventy-two. 

Mary Eastburn, daughter of Samuel Wilson, departed this 
life the 19th of the Uth mo., 1805, aged 73 years, 1 month, 17 
days. 

Sarah Morris, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca Wilson, 
departed this life the 23rd of 10th mo., 1809, in 76th year of her 
age. 

Rachel Fell departed this life the 22nd day of the 6th mo., 
1814, in the seventy^^second year of her age. 

Stephen departed this life 4th of 9th mo., 1818. 

Elizabeth Ely departed this life the 1st mo., 28th, 1821, aged 
81 years, 7 months, 18 days. 

John departed this life the 10th mo., 15th, 1821, aged 76 
years, 5 months, 10 days. 

David departed this life 4th mo., 1825. 

Hannah Kirkbride departed this life the 7th mo., 1826. 

Isaac departed this life the 5th mo., 1827. 



FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 439 

ISAIAH ELY BIBLE 

Presented to the Bucks County Historical Society by Helen 
M. Flitcraft. 

Bye — John, son of Thomas and Mary Bye, was born in 
Buckingham Township, Bucks County, Penna., September 1, 
1785. 

Hannah Corson, first daughtei of Richard and Hannah Cor- 
son, was born in the Township of Solebury, County of Bucks, 
State of Pennsylvania, on the 6th day of May, the third day of 
the week in the evening in the year of our Lord, 1788. 

John Bye died on the 28th of December, 1854; the fifth genera- 
tion of Byes. 

Hannah, wife of John Bye and daughter of Richard and 
Hannah Corson, died September 5, 1833. 

Ely — Isaiah Ely, son of Jonathan and Cynthia, was born in 
the Township of Solebury, County of Bucks and State of Penn- 
sylvania, the 21st day of April, 1811. 

' Bye — Mercy W., daughter of John and Hannah Bye, was 
born in the Township of Buckingham, County of Bucks, State of 
Pennsylvania, the 26th day of April, 1812. 

Ely — Helen Corson, daughter of Isaiah and Mercy W. Ely, 
was born in Solebury Township, County of Bucks and State of 
Pennsylvania, the 28th of February, 1857. 

Flitcraft — Helen Corson Ely, widow of William H. Flit- 
craft, and daughter of Isaiah and Mercy W. Ely, died in Doyles- 
town, Bucks County, Penna., October 7, 1889. 

Ely — Isaiah, died the 12th of June, 1861. 

Bye — Mercy W. Ely, daughter of John and Hannah Bye, 
died in Philadelphia, Penna., 1904. 

Flitcraft — Helen M., daughter of Helen C. and William H. 
Flitcraft, born March 14, 1866, at Philadelphia, Penna. 

Helen M. Flitcraft, daughter of Helen C. Ely and William H. 
Flitcraft, died in Philadelphia, Penna., April 4, 1912. 

EMIG BIBLE 

This Bible and Testament of John George Emig, Haycock 
Township, Bucks County, was used in the Pulpit of the Reformed 
Church in Springfield Township for many years. It was pre- 
sented to the Bucks County Historical Society by Dr. W. H. 
Meredith. 



440 FAMILY BIBLES IX LIBRARY 

FOULKE FAMILY BIBLE 

FouLKE — Israel was born the 4th of 2nd month, 1760, and 
died the 27th of the 9th mo., 1824. 

Elizabeth Foulke died the 17th of 12th mo., 1831. 

William Foulke deceased the 2nd of 9th mo., 1784. 

Cadwallader Foulke deceased the 22nd of 8th mo., 1794. 

Jane Foulke deceased the 24th of 8th mo., 1794. 

Deborah Foulke deceased the 29th of 12th mo., 1806. 

Thomas Foulke deceased the 11th of 6th mo., 1832. 

Phebe Foulke deceased the 31st of 12th mo., 1838. 

David Foulke deceased the 21st of 9th mo., 1878. 

Amos Foulke deceased the 27th of 4th mo., 1840. 

Hugh Foulke deceased the 3rd of 4th mo., 1853. 

Amos R. Foulke deceased the 22nd of 4th mo., 1853. 

Barton L. Foulke deceased the 18th of 8th mo., 1856. 

Elizabeth R. Foulke deceased the 12th of 5th mo., 1858. 

Jane R. Foulke deceased the 25th of 1st mo., 1860. 

Franklin Foulke deceased the 18th of 3rd mo., 1860. 

The children of Israel and Elizabeth Foulke were born as 
follows : 

Foulke— William, 18th of 8th mo., 1783. 

Thomas, 31st of 12th mo., 1784. 

David, 21st of 12th mo., 1786. 

Cadwallader, 22nd of 5th mo., 1789. 

Jane, the 26th of 3rd mo., 1791. 

Hugh, 8th of 9th mo., 1793. 

Phebe, 27th of 12th mo., 1795. 

Amos, 10th of 8th mo., 1798. 

Deborah, 13th of 8th mo., 1800. 

GREEN FAMILY BIBLE 

Green — Benjamin, son of Joseph and Catherine Green, was 
born the 27th day of the 2nd mo., 1750, O. S.; died the 22nd of 
5th mo., 1828. 

Roberts — Jane, daughter of John and Martha Roberts, was 
born the 16th of the 4th mo., 1841-1753. 

Green — William was born the 10th of the 11th mo., 1776; 
departed this life on the 25th day of the 9th mo., 1851, aged 75 
years. 



FAMILY BIBLES IX LIBRARY 441 

Hannah was born the 29th of the 9th mo., 1778; departed this 
life the 12th of 4th mo., 1826, aged 48 years; wife of Thomas 
Lester. 

Evan was born the 10th of 11th nio., 17^0; departed this Hfe 
9th mo., 12th, 1854, aged 74 years. 

Benjamin was born 10th of 11th mo., 17^2; departed this Hfe 
5th of 4th mo., 1837. 

Jane was born the 8th of the 2nd mo., 1785; departed this life 
the 3rd of the 3rd mo., 1835; wife of Caleb Foulke. 

James R., was born the 4th of the 3rd mo., 1787; departed 
this life the 27th of the 7th mo., 1832. 

Lydia was born the 20th of the 2nd mo., 1789, and departed 
this life fully prepared the 26th of 10th mo., 1850. 

Joseph was born the 14th of 2nd mo., 1791. 

Martha w'as born 14th of the 2nd mo., 1793; departed this 
life 17th of 2nd mo., 1836; wife of Jesse, aged 43 years. 

John was born the 24th of 3rd mo., 1795; departed this life 
the 17th of 6th mo., 1797. 

Abigal was born the 18th of the 3rd mo., 1797; departed this 
life 9th mo., 21st, 1854. 

Green — Benjamin and Jane Roberts were married at Rich- 
land Meeting in the year 1775. 

William Green, son of Benjamin and Jane Green, was married 
to Mary Roberts, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Roberts. 

Hannah Green, daughter of Benjamin and Jane, was married 
to Thomas, son of John and Jane Lester, the 27th of 11th mo., 
1805. 

Green — ^Evan was married to Isabella, daughter of Amos 
and Isabella Slaymaker, of Lancaster County, Pa., in the year 
1816. 

Benjamin. Jr., was married to the daughter of Richard and 
Elizabeth Roberts — 11th mo., 1807. 

Jane, Jr., was married to Caleb, son of Everard and Ann 
Foulke, 26th day of 11th mo., 1807. 

James, married to Grace, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth 
Roberts— 5th mo., 1818. 

Joseph was married to Meriba, daughter of William and 
Elizabeth Edwards, 15th day, 10th mo., 1822. 

Martha was married to Jesse, son of Richard and Elizabeth 
Roberts, 9th dav of 2nd mo., 1815. 



442 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 

Abigal was married to Samuel Cary, son of Elias and Hannah, 
9th day of 9th mo., Plumstead Twp., 1824. 

Grace R. departed this Hfe 20th, 5th mo., 1819. 

James entered {"nto marriage the 2nd time with Ann Foulke, 
daughter of John and Letitia Foulke, 1822. 

Evan Green and Cynthia Lester were married 2nd, 3rd mo., 
1843. He was a widower and she a young widow at that time 
(now this 1st day of January, 1857, she has been a widow again 
for some time). 

Lester — Thomas departed this life 22nd of 8th mo., 1826. 

Benjamin Green departed this life 20th, 6th mo., 1855. 

Evan Green, son of Thomas and Hannah. 20th, 1st mo., 1840. 

Isabella, wife of Evan Green, of Columbia, Lancaster Co., 
died 26th of 11th mo., 1833. 

Sarah Ann Cernea, daughter of Thomas and Hannah, 
departed this life 23rd of 8th mo., 1845. 

On the margin near the name of Benjamin Green is written, 
"My grandfather as well as my great-great-great-grandfather 
and an uncle were all named Joseph. 

GRIER BIBLE 

Grier — Mary Long died 1845. 

Tryox — Mrs. Jane Grier at the home of George Vanarsdale 
in the 79th year of her age. 

Grier — Anna L. Abington, November 27, 1850 (on leaf of 
Atlas B No. 27). 

HARDMAN BIBLE 

Hardmax — Heinrick was born June 26, 1778, and in the 
year 1806, the 12th of October, he married Catherine Clemer, 
who was born in the year 1781, June 7th. 

Catherina Hardman died June 9, 1834, aged 53 years, 2 
days. 

Heinrick died 29th day of May in the year 1864, aged 85 
years, 9 months, 3 days. 

Catharina Hardman was deceased 11th day of August in the 
year 1867, aged 44 years, 3 months and 25 days. 

Abraham Hardman, son of Heinrick, was born April 27th in 
the year 1807. 



FAMILY BIBLES IX LIBRARY 443 

Maria Hardman, daughter of Heinrick, was born the 25th 
day of November in the year 1808. 

Johannes, son of Heinrick, was born the 12th day of July in 
the year 1810. 

Jacob Hardman, son of Heinrick, was born July 3rd in the 
year 1812. 

Susanna, daughter of Henrick, was born the 31st of October 
in the year 1813. 

Elizabeth, daughter of Heinrick, was born the 2nd day of 
July in the year 1816. 

Heinrick, son of Heinrick, was born the 17th day of October 
in the year 1817. 

Enos, son of Heinrick, was born the 4th day of August in the 
year 1820. 

Catharina, daughter of Heinrick, was born the 16th day of 
November in the year 1822. 

HOUGH BIBLE 

Hough— Mary departed this life August 5, 1811, aged 73 
years. 

Joseph departed this life January 6, 1818, aged 86 years. 

Lucinda was born July 24, 1790. 

Esther was born October 18, 1792. 

Richard was born March 1, 1795. 

Elizabeth was born May 28, 1797. 

Mary was born March 31, 1799. 

Thomas was born February 1, 1801. 

Hannah was born January 7, 1803. 

Pamelia W. died November 16, 1831, aged about 65 years. 

Richard T. died February 26, 1835, aged about 75 years. 

Robert departed this life July 15, 1845, aged 55 years. 

Hannah departed this life December 13, 1858; born February 
1, 1801. 

Richard departed this life September 13, 1807; born March 1, 
1795. 

Esther departed this life August 16, 1874, aged 81 years, 9 
months, 28 days. 

Hannah departed this life March 13, 1875, aged 72 years, 2 
months, 6 days. 



444 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 

Mary departed this life August 19, 1881, aged 82 years, 4 
months, 19 days. 

EHzabeth Pamelia, daughter of Robert and Mary Hough, 
departed this Hfe January 4. 1859; born January 19, 1829. 

HOWELL BIBLE 

Howell — Joseph, son of David and Mary Howell, was born 
the 3rd day of O. S. 1729. 

Jemime, wife of Joseph Howell, and daughter of John and 
Elizabeth Burroughs, was born the 15th day of the 2nd mo. 
called February, 1725 O. S. 

Samuel, son of Joseph and Jemime Howell, was born the 6th 
day of the 12th mo. called December, Anno. 1754. 

Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph and Jemime, was born the 7th 
day of 1st mo. called January, 1756 N. S. 

Mary Howell, daughter of Joseph and Jemime, was born the 
7th day of the 1st mo. called January, N. S. 1756. 

David, son of Joseph and Jemime, born the 4th day of the 
11th mo., November, 1757 N. S. 

Phoebe, daughter of Joseph and Jemime, his wife, was born 
the 22nd of the 8th mo., called August, N. S. 1759. 

Timothy, son of Joseph and Jemime, was born the 7th of the 
8th mo., called August, 1761 N. S. 

Martha, daughter of Joseph and Jemime, born the 5th day of 
the 7th mo. called July, Anno Dom. 1763. 

Jemime, daughter of Joseph and Jemime, was born the 9th 
day of 2nd mo., called February, 1765 N. S. 

Susanna, daughter of Joseph and Jemime, born the 25th day 
of the 12th mo., called December, 1766 N. S. 

Hulda Ann was born June 12, 1822. 

Susanna was born April 1, 1824. 

Phebe was born October 15, 1826. 

Lettica was born January 21, 1829. 

Charles Heuston was born June 21, 1831. 

Theodore was born March 5, 1834. 

Samuel was born August 2, 1836. 

Samuel departed this life the 18th day of September, 1837. 

Joanna departed this life January 22, 1870, in the 68th year 
of her age. 



FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 445 

Hulda Ann, Susanna, Phebe, Lettica, Charles Heuston, 
Theodore, and Samuel are the children of Samuel Howell and 
Joanna Howell. 

Joanna Howell, wife of Samuel, and daughter of Garrett and 
Hulda Johnson. 

Jemime, wife of Joseph Howell, departed this life February 
15, 1825. 

Theodore Howell died February 13, 1916. 

Samuel, son of David and Susanna, was born May 26, 1794. 

Charles, son of David and Susanna, was born February 23, 
1796. 

Elizabeth, daughter of David and Susanna, was born Feb- 
ruary 23, 1798. 

More, son of David and Susanna, was born May 2, 1800. 

Phebe, daughter of David and Susanna, was born January 2, 
1803. 

Joseph, son of David and Susanna, was born September 19, 
1806. 

JENKS FAMILY BIBLE 

Jenks — Dr. Phineas married to Eliza Farmer Murray, 
daughter of Gen. Francis Murray, on the 20th of March, 1806. 

Dr. Phineas was married to Amelia Snyder, daughter of 
Simon Snyder, Governor of the Commonwealth, on the 28th of 
March, 1820. 

Elsegood — Rev. Joseph G. and Elizabeth Mary Jenks, 
daughter of Phineas and Amelia Jenks, were married October 
1, 1846. 

Jexks — Dr. P. Frederick Jenks and Eliza J. Hutchinson were 
married March, 1853. 

George A. Jenks, Esq., to Ellen, daughter of Jesse Davis, 
Esq., June 15, 1860. 

Elsegood — Amelia Snyder Jenks to Clarence Franklin Colzer 
of East New York, December 1, 1870. 

Jenks — Eliza Farmer died March 16, 1807, aged 23 years and 
1 month. 

Eliza Farmer Murray Jenks died August 16, 1807, aged 5 
months, 9 days. 

Frederick Augustus Jenks died August 22, 1828, aged 5 weeks, 
6 da vs. 



446 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 

Henry Laurens died July 9, 1830, aged 9 months. 

Phineas (M. D.) died August 6, 1851, in the 71st year of his 
age. 

WilUam Wallace died July 20, 1857, in the 32nd year of his 
age. 

Mrs. Amelia, widow of Dr. Phineas Jenks, died August 6, 
1859, in the 69th year of her age. 

Sylvania, daughter of George A. and Ellen D., died April 14, 
1861, aged 3 days. 

Phillip Frederick (M. D.) of the 1st Missouri Light Artillery, 
died in U. S. Hospital, St. Louis, Mo., January 9, 1863. 

Elizabeth Mary, daughter of George A. and Ellen D., died 
July 12, 1867, aged 47 years, 11 months, 21 days. 

Elsegood — Phineas Augustus Jenks died March 12, 1877, 
in East New York, L. L, aged 21 years, 5 months, 2 days. 

At Trinity Church Rectory, East New York, L. I., May 31, 

1884, Rev. Joseph Isaac Elsegood, aged 67 years. 11 months, 25 
days. 

Colyer — Amelia Jenks. wife of C. F. Colyer, died June 28, 

1885, at East New York, L. I. 

Jenks — Eliza Farmer Murray, born March 7, 1807, daughter 
of Phineas and Eliza F. Jenks. 

Elizabeth Mary Jenks, daughter of Phineas and Amelia, born 
July 29, 1822. 

Simon Snyder, son of Phineas and Amelia, born April 18, 1824. 

William Wallace, son of Phineas and Amelia, born November 
2, 1825. 

Frederick x^ugustus, son of Phineas and Amelia, born July 12, 
1828. 

Henry Laurens and George Antes, twins of Phineas and 
Amelia, born October 9, 1829. 

Phillip Frederick, son of Phineas and Amelia, born February 
27, 1832. 

Amelia Snyder, daughter of Dr. Frederick and E. J., born 
June 15, 1854. 

Phineas Augustus, son of Dr. P. F. and E. J., born October 10, 
1855. 

Sylvania Penn, daughter of George A. and Ellen D., born 
April 10, 1861. 

Elizabeth Marv, daughter of Thomas A. and Ellen D., born 



FAMILY BIBLES IX LIBRARY 447 

in the old homestead in Newtown, Bucks County, in same room 
in which her father was born, July 22, 1862. 

CoRZER — Florence Amelia, daughter of Clarence Franklin 
and Amelia Snyder Jenks, born in East New York, April 4, 
1872. 

Clarence Franklin, second child of Clarence Franklin and 
Amelia Snyder Jenks Corzer, born in East New York, October 
25, 1874. 

Elizabeth Elsegood, third child of Clarence Franklin and 
Amelia Snyder Jenks, born at East New York, November 14, 
1875. 

GEORGE KELLY FAMILY BIBLE 

Maria Arnel's book, presented by Elizabeth Kelly, Septem- 
ber 18, 1845. 

Kelly — George departed this life November 6, 1793. 

George Blackford Kelly departed this life, February 13, 1813. 

Temperance Coates (late Kelly) departed this life /August 6. 
1826. 

Moses departed this life January 5, 1829. 

Phineas and Martha Jopson were joined in marriage on the 
16th day of March, 1806, before John McMasters, Esq., in tapper 
Makefield Township, Bucks County, Pa. 

Phineas Kelly and Beulah Johnson were joined in marriage 
on the 22nd day of January, 1818, before Isaac Hicks, Esq.. in 
Newtown, Bucks County, Pa. 

Arnel — William and Maria Kelly were joined in marriage 
on the 27th day of December, 1838, before Peter Gwinner, Esq., 
in Newtown, Bucks County. 

Kelly — Moses Jopson and Elizabeth Riggs were joined in 
marriage on the 11th day of November, 1841, before the Rew 
William J. Patterson at Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana. 

SwARTZ — William H. and Martha K. Arnel were joined in 
marriage on the 26th day of November, 1863, before the Rev. 
W. S. Wood at Hatboro, Montgomery Co., Pa. 

Harry A. and Jennie L. Ryan were joined in marriage on the 
8th day of April, 1893, by the Rev. D. H. Turner at Hartsville, 
Bucks County, Pa. 

Mary Ann, daughter of Phineas and Martha, born May 2, 
1807. 



448 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 

Moses Jopson, son of Phineas and Martha, born July 31, 1810. 

Maria, daughter of Phineas and Martha, born August 2, 1813. 

Arxel — Phineas Kelly Arnel, son of William and Maria, 
born November 29, 1839. 

Martha Kelly, daughter of William and Maria Arnel, born 
January 1, 1842. 

Maria Arnel, daughter of Moses J. and Elizabeth Kelly, 
born October 11, 1842. 

Harriett Arnel, daughter of Moses J. and Elizabeth Kelly, 
born July 4, 1844. 

Harrie J. A., son of William H. and Martha K. Swartz, born 
March 18, 1865. 

William Swartz, son of George and Mary, born April 9, 1804. 

Swartz- — William H., son of Jesse and Catherine Mattis, 
born October 19, 1840. 

Ryax — Jennie L., daughter of Isaac and Anna Eliza, born 
October 8, 1867. 

Kelly— Mary Ann died March 15, 1809. 

Martha, wife of Phineas, died April 29, 1816. 

Arxel — Phineas Kelly died January 4, 1840. 

William died September 22, 1841. 

Phineas died March 28, 1861. 

Beulah, wife of Phineas, died December 1, 1861. 

Swartz — Harrie, only child of William H. and Martha K., 
died June 13, 1898. 

Arxel — Maria Kelly, wife of the late William Arnel, died 
October 23, 1898. 

Swartz— William H. died August 14, 1908. 

Martha K. died February 2, 1921. 

In this Bible are newspaper clippings as follows: 

Terry — On September 15, 1886, Nancy J., wife of Robert B. 
Terry, and daughter of Giles B. and Mary R. Jamison, in her 41st 
year. 

Worthixgtox — Margaret Ann, wife of B. C. Worthington. 

On the 15th inst., Blackford C. Worthington in the 57th year 
of age. 

Lewis — In Buckingham, October 17, 1880, Sarah, wife of 
John G. Lewis, aged 32 years. 

Simpson— In Philadelphia, Pa., 8th mo.-16-1904, Julia M., 



FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 449 

widow of the late William N. Simpson, aged 75 years. Funeral 
from Wrightstown Friends Meeting House, 8th mo. -19th. 

Thomas — In Forrest Grove, 4th mo. -12-1882, at the resi- 
dence of her son-in-law, Eleazer Doan, Amy Thomas, aged 88 
years, 11 months. 

AiKiN — On February 10, 1897, Catherine, widow of James W. 
Aikin, at her residence, 2121 Christian Street. Interment, Mt. 
Moriah Cemetery. 

Arnold — On February 11, 1897, Franklin, son of the late 
Thomas and Hannah Arnold, in the 49th year of his age, at the 
residence of his uncle, Mr. John T. Atkinson, 1018 Wallace 
Street. Interment, Neshaminy Cemetery, Bucks County. 

Ely — Sarah died on the 27th inst., aged 74 years, at her resi- 
dence, 859 N. Seventh Street, Philadelphia. Interment, Fair- 
hill Cemetery. 

CowGiLL — At the Presbyterian Home for Aged Couples, 
Bala, Pa., March 11, 1913, Caroline, wife of the late John Cow- 
gill, aged 82 years. Interment, Northwood Cemetery. 

Wood — Rev. W. Shadrack Wood, of Mt. Pleasant, West- 
moreland County, died April 1st, the deceased was 67 years of 
age. He was a son of Rev. William Wood, a pioneer in the 
Baptist Church in the western part of the state. He organized 
the first Baptist Church in Doylestown, and was previously 
pastor of the Hatboro Church. He leaves a widow, one daughter 
and two sons. 

Cornell — In Newtown, March 25, 1882, at the residence of 
her son-in-law, Franklin Cornell, Sarah Earle. in the 71st year 
of her age. 

"What man is there on earth with wit or skill 
To stem the tide of a woman's will? 
For if she will, she will, you may depend on't, 
And if she won't she won't, and there's an end on't." 



PHINEAS KELLY BIBLE 

Kelly — Married this 22nd of January, 1818, before Isaac 
Hicks, Esq., Phineas Kelly of Solebury Township, and Beulah 
Johnson of Buckingham, in the presence of Mary Gary, Mary 
Seigfried, Sarah Ann Willard, Samuel West, Simeon Seigfried 
and Livia Festerle. 



450 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 

Beulah, daughter of Phineas and Beulah, was born December 
8, 1818, and was interred in the Presbyterian Burying Ground 
at Solebury the 9th of the same. 

Phineas Kelly, son of Phineas and Beulah, born October 24, 
1820, and was buried 24th of same at Presbyterian grave yard 
in Solebury. 

In this Bible are duplicated the records contained in the 
Kelly Bible previously recorded, also the following: 

Kelly — George departed this life November 6, 1793. 

George B. departed this life February 13. 1813. 

Temperance Coates late Temperance Kelly departed this 
life the 6th day of August, 1826. 

Moses Kelly departed this life January 5, 1829. 

Pearson — Mary Kelly departed this life February 6, 1857. 

Nancy Kelly departed this life April 6, 1841. 

Benjamin departed this life, October 23, 1853. 

ISAAC KIRK BIBLE 

Kirk — Isaac, son of William and Mary, was born the 16th 
of 2nd mo., 1783. 

Martha, wife of Isaac Kirk, was born the 25th of 5th mo., 1788. 

Letitia, daughter of Isaac and Martha Kirk, was born 1st 
day, 7th mo., 1807. 

Miranda was born 17th, 12th mo., 1809. 

William was born 13th, 11th mo., 1813. 

Caroline was born 13th, 8th mo., 1818. 

Lydia was born 3rd, 6th mo., 1821. 

Caroline, daughter of Isaac and Martha, died 4-30-1819. 

Letitia departed this life 30th, 10th mo., 1828. 

Miranda departed this life 29th of 11th mo., 1833. 

Isaac Kirk departed this life January 27, 1845. 

Martha Kirk departed this life April 19, 1873, aged 84 years, 
10 months. 

Lydia Kirk departed this life December 11, 1885, aged 64 
years, 6 months, 8 days. 

William Kirk departed this life February 24, 1904, aged 90 
years, 9 months, 2 days. 

Merrick — Hannah, born December 6, 1770; died September 
8, 1854, aged 83 years, 9 months, 2 days. 



FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 451 

KROESEN FAMILY BIBLE 

Kroesex — Garrett (son of John Kroesen and Jane, his wife) 
was born September 9, 1759. 

Caty, daughter of Thomas Craven and Ellen, his wife, was 
born September 24, 1754. 

Sarah, daughter of Garrett and Caty, his wife, born May 18, 
1782. 

Leanah, daughter of Garrett and Caty, his wife, born June 10, 
1784. 

Jane, daughter of Garrett and Caty, hiswife,born June2, 1786. 

Edith, daughter of Garrett and Caty, his wife, born July 20, 
1788. 

Margaret, daughter of Garrett and Caty, his wife, born 
October 11, 1790. 

John, son of Garrett and Caty, his wife, born May 14, 1796. 

Catherine Kroesen deceased on the twenty-eighth of June, 
one thousand eight hundred and eleven, in fifty-seventh year of 
her age. 

KRUSEN FAMILY BIBLE 

Krusen — David and Juliann McKinstry were joined in the 
bond of matrimony December 2nd, in the year of our Lord, 1830. 
Juliann departed this life February 17, 1849. 

LARGE FAMILY BIBLE 

Presented to the Bucks County Historical Society by Miss 
Anna Smith of Newtown, August 1, 1929. 

Large — Ebenezer, son of Jacob and Mary Bunting Large, of 
KingA\'Ood in County of Hunterdon, New Jersey, and Hannah 
Knowles, daughter of John and Mary Knowles, of Upper Make- 
field in County of Bucks, State of Pennsylvania, were married 
twenty-first day of 10th month, 1790, at Falls, Bucks County, 
Pennsylvania, in Public Meeting at Falls, Bucks County. 

Joseph married Cynthia Scarborough, had seven children. 

Isaiah married 1st Maria Katz, had three children; 2nd Sarah 
Katz, had five children. 

Anna married Stephen S. Kirk, of Forrest Grove, no children. 

Samuel married Mary Hartley Carver, widow of Isaiah. 
She had two daughters and a son by first marriage. 



452 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 

• Knowles — John married Eliza Hall; had eight children. 

Large — Jacob, son of Ebenezer and Hannah Large, was born 
the 27th day of the 8th month, 1791, and departed this life 10th 
day of twelfth month, 1791. 

Mary Large, daughter of Ebenezer and Hannah, was born 
the 24th day of 10th month, 1792, and departed this life 11th of 
2nd mo., 1793. 

William, son of Ebenezer and Hannah, was born 3rd month 
21st, 1794; died 8th mo., 23rd, 1794. 

Joseph Knowles, son of Ebenezer and Hannah, was born on 
11th mo., 13th, 1795, died April 25, 1870, aged 75 years. 

Isaiah Paxson, son of Ebenezer and Hannah, born 10th mo., 
23rd, 1797, and died 10th mo., 1st, 1866. 

Anna, daughter of Ebenezer and Hannah, born 3rd mo., 27th, 
1801, died 7th mo., 7th, 1870. 

Samuel, son of Ebenezer and Hannah, born 1st mo., 1804. 

John Knowles, son of Ebenezer and Hannah, born 10th mo., 
12j:h, 1810; died 9th mo., 9th, 1879. 



LARUE BIBLE 

Larue — Isaac. 

Cooper — Ruth M., married August 12, 1824. 

Keen — Jonathan P. 

Larue — Martha B., married December 31, 1848. 

Larue — Thomas B. 

Reed — Margaret, married October 21, 1849. 

BuzBY — Thomas. 

Larue — Mary F. 

Raylmax — Spencer. 

Larue — Sarah A. 

Burroughs — William . 

Larue — Emmaline G. 

Larue — Joseph R. 

Johnson — Lottie. 

Larue — Isaac, born May 16, 1800. 

Ruth M., born May 15, 1804. 

Martha B., born June 4, 1825. 

Abraham D., born April 19, 1827. 

Thomas B., born June 13, 1828. 



FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 453 

Mary F., born February 12, 1830. 

Sarah Ann, born June 5, 1833. 

Joseph R., born June 19, 1835. 

EmaHne G., born February 9, 1838. 

EHza Ann, born December 16, 1839. 

Emanuel G., born March 25, 1842. 

Margaret E., born February 27, 1847. 

Ruth Ann, born February 3, 1850. 

Rebecca Ann McMillan, born October 31, 1842. 

Ruth M., died August 29, 1864. 

Abraham D., died April 19, 1827. 



MARTINDELL-BRIDGMAN BIBLE 

Mary Bridgman, Her Book, October ye 15th, Anno Domini, 
1705, in the eighteenth year of her age. 

Martindell — John Sen'r born 24th day of August, A. D. 
1676. 

My son, William, was born October the 2nd, 1707. 

My son, Thomas, was born September 24, 1708. 

Ann born November 16, 1709. 

Mary born 12th mo. 22nd, 1711. 

Alesbuthe was born the 6th day 7th mo., 1715. 

— ■ — ■ — was born about 5 o'clock in morning, ye year 1717. 

My son, -, was born August 30, 1723. 

Joseph born June 20, 1747. 

John, son of John and Mary, born December 15, 1749. 

William, son of John and Mary, born August 3, 175-. 

Rachel Martindell, daughter of John and Mary, born October, 
1752. 

Sarah, daughter of John and Mary, October 13, 1754. 

, June 21, 1757. 

Strickland was born June 19, 1759 (?). 

Isaac, son of John and Mary, December 21, 1767. 

Amos, son of John Martindell, August 10, 1757. 

Miles, son of John and Mary, June 2, 1759. 

Rachel departed this life the 21st day of January and was 
buried 22nd in the vear of our Lord 1745 (?), aged 20 years. 



454 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 



MOORE FAMILY BIBLE 



Printed bv John Baskett, Oxford, printer to the University, 
MDCCXXVill. 

Moore — Sarah was born the 18th day of the 9th mo., 1732. 

Thomas Avas born the 6th day of the 10th mo., 1735. 

EHzabeth was born the 19th day of the 10th mo., 1738. 

Rachel was born the 17th day of the 5th mo., 1741. 

Ann was born the 16th day of the 2nd mo., 1744. 

John was born the 30th day of the 8th mo., 1746. 

Mary was born the 28th day of the 9th mo., 1754. 

Walter was born the 22nd day of February in the year 1693, 
died 8th mo., 1782. 

Herbert — Ann was born the 11th of 9th mo., 1710, died 
11th day of 11th mo., 1783. 

Thomas was born in year 1768, departed this life in 23rd year 
of his age. 

MoORE — Violetta, daughter of John and Charlotte Moore, 
was born May 27th, 1808. 

Daniel Thomas Moore, son of John and Charlotte, born 
March 1, 1810. 

Hamilton, son of John and Charlotte Moore, born April 5, 
1817. 

Sarah Thomas Moore, daughter of John and Charlotte, born 
December 3, 1818. 

Lavinia Thomas Moore, daughter of John and Charlotte, 
born June 6, 1821. 

Sarah Thomas Moore, daughter of John and Charlotte, died 
December 8, 1819. 

Lavinia Thomas Moore, daughter of John and Charlotte, 
died April 12, 1822. 

Hamilton Moore, son of John and Charlotte, died September 
5th, 1822. 

Charlotte Moore, wife of John Moore, and daughter of Daniel 
and Sarah Thomas, died July 13, 1823, aged 39 years, 7 months, 
20 days. 

Violetta Moore, daughter of John and Charlotte, died April 
10, 1826. 

John Moore, son of John and Phebe Moore, died April 17th, 
1830, aged 51 years, 17 days. 



FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 455 

John Moore, son of Walter and Ann Moore, born 26th day, 
8th mo., 1746. 

Phebe Dyer, daughter of Josiah and Hester Dyer, born 20th 
day, 2nd mo., 1748. 

Ehzabeth Moore, daughter of John and Phebe Moore, born 
5th day, 3d mo., 1787. 

Ann, daughter of John and Phebe, born 20th day, 2nd mo., 
1769. 

Rachel, daughter of John and Phebe, born 9th day, 3rd mo., 
1771. 

Susannah, daughter of John and Phebe, born 1st day, 4th 
mo., 1773. 

John, son of John and Phebe, born 31st day, 3rd mo., 1779. 

Mary, daughter of John and Phebe. born 6th day, 3rd mo., 
1781. 

James, son of John and Phebe, born 26th day, 2nd mo., 1783. 

Joseph, son of John and Phebe, born 15th day, 8th mo., 1785. 

Esther, daughter of John and Phebe. born 31st day, 5th mo.. 
1789. 

(In this Bible is recorded) "In the year of our Lord 1766, 
the Locusts came by thusans by millions and by tens of thousans 
of millions, outnumberable. John Moore." 

Jamison — This certifies that on the tuenty-eighth day of 
February in the year 1893 John Jamison and Louisa M Moore 
were by me united in marriage at Brooklyn, New York, by 
Howard S. Bliss, Asst. Pastor, Plymouth Church. 

John Jamison died November 30, 1914. 

MORRIS BIBLE 

Presented to the Bucks County Historical Society by Eli C. 
Trumbower, of Wilmington, Del., September, 1922. 
Morris — James was born September 4th, 1763. 
Ann was born December 4, 1766. 

Rachel, daughter of James and Ann, was born October 1 , 1 788. 
John was born October 5, 1790. 
Abraham was born September 11, 1792. 
Martha was born February 11, 1795. 
Daniel was born February 5, 1798. 
Mary was born March 27, 1800. 



456 FAMILY BIBLES IX LIBRARY 

Jahu was born August 26, 1802. 

Lydia Ann was born January 1, 1809 (first day of the year, 
first hour of the day, first hour of Fullmoon). 

James, son of John and Margaret, born September 1, 1820. 

George was born February 26, 1822. 

Ann EHzabeth was born October 7, 1824. 

Martha was born September 26, 1826. 

Abraham was born October 28, 1829. 

Eli G. was born August 5, 1835. 

James departed this Hfe October 17, 1837, aged 74 years. 

Ann departed this Hfe February 18, 1843, in the 78th year of 
age. 

Martha departed this Hfe 10th of 10th mo., 1819. 

Mary departed this Hfe 23rd of 10th mo., 1819. 

Rachel Cadwallader, daughter of James and Ann, departed 
this life 2nd of 9th mo., 1860, aged 71 years, 11 months, 2 days. 

OBERHOLTZER BIBLE 

This Bible was printed by Christoph Saur in 1743 and is in 
German. It was presented to the Bucks County Historical 
Society by Dr. Henry C. Mercer. 

Oberholtzer — Heinrich was deceased the 26th of October, 
1815. 

February 18th, 1820, is Barbara Oberholtzer born. 

October, 1830, is Oberholtzer born. 

Johannes Oberholtzer is born in year Christ, 1803, the 31st 
day of October; Abraham Craut do write this. 

PORCH FAMILY BIBLE 

Mary Porch, August 17, 1723. 

Almiry Porish, born September 6th, 1814. 

Rebecca Porch was born October the 22nd, 1773. 

Joel Porch was born June 12, 1795. 

Moses Porch was born the 20th of January, 1820. 

Samuel Porch was born the 6th of November, 1826. 

Rebecca was born February 18, 1829. 

Ciry B. Porch was born December 23, 1831. 

Mary Porch was born August 17. 1793. 



FAMILY BIBLES IX LIBRARY 457 

Mary Porch departed this life January the 24th, 1822. 

Susannah Porch departed this hfe August, 1824. 

Joel Porch and Mary, his w'lie, August 5, 1820. 



ROE PAMILY BIBLE 

Roe — F. A., born October 4, 1823, in the town of Elmira, 
New York. 

EHza J. (nee Snyder), born January 27, 1825, in the town of 
Charlestown, Jefferson County, Virginia. 

Fayette W., born August 7th, 1850, at estate of "Oak 
Grove," Frederick County, Virginia, two miles from Brucetown, 
Va. 

SUSANNA B. SHAW BIBLE 

Susanna B. Shaw, born 1786, died 1869, aged 83 years. 
Presented by her son, Amos, A. D. 1845, Baltimore, Mary- 
land. 

Samuel Eastburn Bible 

Shalcross, James, departed this life the 9th day of December, 
1821, aged 23 years and 8 months. 

Shalcross, Joseph, Jr., departed this life January 6th, 1823, 
aged 30 years, 6 months. 

John Eastburn departed this life 4th of 3rd mo., 1833, aged 73 
years. 

CANBY SMITH BIBLE 

Presented to the Bucks County Historical Society August 1, 
1929, by Miss Anna Smith of Newtown. 

Smith — Canby and Rachel Hellings were married November 
29th in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
thirty-two (1832). 

BuCKMAN — -Frank and Rachel E. Smith were married January 
16th in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
sixty-eight (1868). 

Howard S., son of Frank and Rachel, his wife, was born in 
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, 
June 20th (1868). 



458 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 

Anna Mary, daughter of Frank and Rachel, his wife, born 
October 16th. 1869. 

Smith — Canby, son of Robert Smith and Mary, his wife, 
was born August 29th, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
eight hundred and eight (1808). 

Rachel Hellings, daughter of Tunis Hellings and Rachel, his 
wife, was born October 14th in the year of our Lord one thousand 
eight hundred and six (1806). 

Edward H., son of Canby and Rachel, was born October 9th 
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty- 
four (1834). 

Mary Emily, daughter of Canby and Rachel, was born 
February 8th in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and thirty-seven. 

Thomas James, son of Canby and Rachel, was born December 
14th in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight 
(1838). 

Charles Stanly, son of Canby and Rachel, was born Novem- 
ber 16th in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
forty (1840). 

Nathan H., son of Canby and Rachel, was born December 18, 
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-two. 

Rachel Elizabeth, daughter of Canby and Rachel, was born 
May 19th in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
forty-five (1845). 

Howard, son of Canby and Rachel, was born September 12, 
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty- 
eight (1848). 

Smith — Canby died on the twenty-seventh day of June in 
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven 
(1867). 

Rachel died December 25th in the year of our Lord one thou- 
sand eight hundred and ninety (December 25, 1890). 

Edward H. died January 4th, 1888. 

Howard died July 15th, 1903. 

Thomas J. died September 11th, 1905. 

Nathan H. died September 3rd, 1909. 

BucKMAN— Rachel E. died September 24th, 1905. 



FAMILY BIBLES IX LIBRARY 459 

SCROGGINS SMITH BIBLE 

Smith' — Scroggins, married 5th of September, 1810, and 
Rachel, his wife, by John Frost, Salem County, N. J. 

Salem County, State of New Jersey, in the year of our Lord 
1810, Scroggins Smith and Rachel Smith, the daughter of Samuel 
Smith and Sarah, his wife, were joined in the bonds of matrimony. 

Scroggins, the son of Scroggins and Rachel, his wife, was 
born August 28, 1812. 

Willem, the son of Scroggins and Rachel, his wife, August 3 — 
at 4 o'clock and five minutes in the afternoon, it being the 
fourth day of the week in the year of our Lord 1811. 

Sarah, the daughter of Scroggins and Rachel, his wife, was 
born May 12th in the year of our Lord 1813, being the 4th day 
of the week. 

Mary, daughter of Scroggins and Rachel, his wife, born 
October 22, in the year of our Lord 1814. 

Willem, son of Scroggins and Rachel, his wife, was born 
April 10th in the year of our Lord 1817. 

Sarah Ann, the daughter of Scroggins and Rachel, his wife, 
born May 27th in the year of our Lord 1819. 

Willem departed this life September the 11th at 4 o'clock and 
3 minutes in the morning in the year of our Lord 1811. 

Sarah, the daughter of Scroggins and Rachel, his wife, 
departed this life May 26th, 1813. 

Mary, daughter of Scroggins and Rachel, his wife, departed 
this life, September 10, 1815, aged 1 year, 11 months. 

Rachel, the wife of Scroggins, departed this life February 
(1821) ?, aged 26 years, 15 days. 

SUMMERS A. SMITH BIBLE 

Ott — Samuel Ott and Elizabeth Summer married June 13, 
1824, by Johan Steer, Prediger. 

Smith — Summers A. and Leah M. Drissel were married June 
22, 1851. Summers was born May 13, 1833, son of Aaron and 
his consort by birth Summers. 

Drissel — Leah M. was born February 29, 1833, daughter of 
Abraham Drissel and his consort Rachel by birth a Mill, died 
August 16, 1895. 

Smith — Emma born January 24, 1853. 



460 FAMILY BIBLES IX LIBRARY 

Ann Elizabeth born June 5, 1856, died December 15, 1857. 
Ott — Elizabeth born February 26, 1797. 

Samuel died July 16, 1855, aged 57 years, 9 months, 20 days. 
Summers — ^Henry, aged 19 years, died December 18, 1861. 
Isaac died September 23, 1874, aged 67 years, 5 months. 
Ott — Elizabeth died November 7, 1885. 

WoLFi>CER — Catherine died November 25, 1861, aged 58 
years. 

WILLIAM SMITH BIBLE 

This Bible originally belonged to William Smith, who came 
from Yorkshire, England, in 1684, and settled at W'rightstown, 
Bucks County, Pennsylvania. 

He married Mary Croasdale, daughter of Thomas and Agnes 
Croasdale, who came from England in the good ship "Welcome" 
in 1682. 

Their daughter, Margaret, married Enoch Pearson, son of 
Thomas and Grace Pearson, of Lancaster, England, at the house 
of Stephen Twining, Middletown, in 1712. 

William Smith married the second time Marcy- — in 1721, 
and died 1743. In his last Will, dated 30th, 10th mo., 1740, 
he gave his great Bible to my daughter, Mary Pearson, during 
her natural life and then to her daughter, Mary Pearson. 

Mary Pearson married John Hulme, son of George and Ruth 
(Palmer) Hulme in 1744, and was the father of John and George 
Hulme. John Hulme married Rebecca Milnor at Falsington, 
Bucks County, 5th mo., 30th, 1770. His father died at his 
house and the Bible remained in the family of his daughter, who 
married George Harrison, to whose children, Samuel Hulme, 
Harrison and Edmund G. Harrison, the Bible descended. 

(Written by Mary S. Price, great-granddaughter of John and 
Mary (Pearson) Price. 

Smith — Joseph, son of William and Marcy, was born the 
first day of January about the year of our Lord 1721-22. 

John, son of William and Marcy, was born the fifteenth day 
of January between one and two o'clock in the evening in the 
year of our Lord 1723-4. 

Ralph, son of W'illiam and Marcy, was born the twenty- 
eighth day of October, between two and three in the evening in 
the year of our Lord 1725. 



FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 461 

Esther, daughter of William and Marcy, born ye eleventh 
day of November about sunfall in the year of our Lord, 1727. 

Elizabeth, daughter of William and Marcy, was born ye 
tenth day of September in the year of our Lord 1730. 

Samuel, son of William and Marcy, his wife, was born 
October ye 23, 1733, about eleven o'clock at night. 

David Smith, son of W^illiam and Marcy, his wife, was born 
April ye 25th day about 12 o'clock. Anno Domini 173 — . 

HuLME — Rachel, daughter of John Hulme and Mary, his 
wife, was born the 11th day of April about 10 o'clock in the 
evening, 1745. 

John Hulme, son of John and Mary, his wife, was born the 
third day of June about five o'clock in the afternoon, 1747. 

Mary, daughter of John and Mary, his wife, was born the 
thirty-first of August about nine o'clock in the morning, 1748. 

George Hulme, son of John and Mary, his wife, was born the 
twenty-fifth of February in the year of our Lord, 1750. 

William, son of John and Mary, his wife, was born the 
eighteenth day of February about four o'clock in the afternoon. 

Thomas, son of John and Mary, his wife, was born the 
twenty-eighth day of January, 1755. 

Margaret, daughter of John and Mary, his wife, was born 
the twenty-sixth day of August, 1757. 

Ruth, daughter of John and Elizabeth, his second wife, was 
born the twenty-third of September in the year of our Lord one 
thousand and seventy-one (1771). 

Thomas, son of John and Elizabeth, his wife, was born on 
the twentieth day of June in the year of our Lord 1774. 

Benjamin, son of John and Elizabeth, his wife, was born the 
fourth day of February in the year of our Lord, 1778. 

SOUDER BIBLE 

SoLTER — Charles died May 30, 1817, aged 44 years. 

Susannah, wife of Charles, died July 30, 1816, aged 42 years, 
married August 20th, 1795, by William Rodgers, D. D. 

John Jarvis, son of Charles and Susannah, was born Sep- 
tember 3, 1796. 

Elizabeth, daughter of Charles and Susannah, born July 31, 
1806 (Philadelphia). 



462 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 

Rebecca Monington, daughter of Charles and Susannah, born 
December 24, 1809. 

Sarah Monington, daughter of Charles and Susannah, born 
December 28, 1812. 

Jackson— Jesse A., oldest child of George and Sarah M., 
born May 15, 1839, at Willingboro, N. J. 

William V., 2nd child of George and Sarah M., born Novem- 
ber 2, 1840, Eddington, Pa. 

Frederick B.. 3rd child of George and Sarah M., born Decem- 
ber 8, 1842, Eddington, Pa. 

George Baird, 4th child of George and Sarah M., born October 
2, 1844, Eddington, Pa. 

Susanna, 5th child of George and Sarah M., born October 23, 
1846, Eddington, Pa. 

Christina, 6th child of George and Sarah M., born October 12, 
1848, Eddington. Pa. 

Joseph Charles, 7th child of George and Sarah M., born 
November 7, 1851, Eddington, Pa. 

Charles Edward, 8th child of George and Sarah M., born 
November 13, 1855, Eddington, Pa. 

George departed this life December 13, 1872, in 69th year of 
age. 

Joseph Charles died November 20, 1888, aged 37 years, 2 
months, 13 days. 

William V. died December 6, 1889, aged 49 years. 

Frederick B. died March 4, 1892 in 49th year. 

George Baird died March 16, 1897, in 53rd year. 

Sarah M. died February -21, 1905, in 93rd year. 

Charles E. died January 30, 1907, in 52nd year. 



STOVER BIBLE 

Stover— Julia Ann died March 12, 1887, in the 84th year 
of her age. 

Lewis Stover was born October 13, 1822, died April 27th 
inst., at 522 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, aged 82 years. He 
was a bachelor survived by a brother and sister, Albert and Clare 
Stover, who reside at Kintnersville, Pa. He was the son of 
Jacob and Sarah Treichler Stover. 



FAMILY BIBLES IX LIBRARY 463 

STRICKLAND-BENNETT BIBLE 

Strickland — Miles was born March 12th, 1730, died April 
13, 1823. 

Phoebe was born in the year 1731. 

Sarah, daughter of Miles and Phoebe, was born the 2nd day 
of June, 1761. 

Mary, daughter of Miles and Phoebe, was born March 31, 
1763. 

Ann, daughter of Miles and Phoebe, was born November 19, 
1765. 

Joseph, son of Miles and Phoebe, was born July 2, 1767. 

Amos, son of Miles and Phoebe, was born February 5, 1773. 

Bennett — John and Sarah Strickland married November 27, 
1782. 

Miles born August 20th, 1783. 

Arthur born July 10, 1785. 

Arthur born December 22nd, 1786. 

Amos born March 15, 1789. 

Joseph born January 26, 1791. 

Phebe born March 6, 1793. 

John born March 12, 1795. 

Matthew born May 11, 1797. 

Strickland born April 27, 1799. 

Mary born April 3, 1801. 

John born February 7, 1758. 

Sarah Bennett, his wife, born June 2, 1761. 

Mahlon D., son of Mary, born February 3, 1826, died July 10, 
1835. 

Arthur, son of John and Sarah, deceased April 25, 1786, aged 
9 months. 

Joseph, son of John and Sarah, deceased April 1, 1814, aged 
23 years, 2 months, 5 days. 

John died July 26, 1836, aged 78 years, 5 months, 19 days. 

Arthur, son of John and Sarah, died March 12, 1837, the third 
son of John and Sarah, aged 50 years, 2 months, 20 days. 

Miles departed this life 3rd mo., 2nd, 1840, aged 56 years, 5 
months, 13 days. 

Sarah, wife of John and daughter of Miles Strickland, de- 
parted this life March 21, 1845, aged 83 years, 9 months, 19 days. 



464 FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 

TODD-CHAPMAN-MERCER BIBLE 

This Bible, printed in Oxford, England, in the year 1685, 
was presented to the Bucks County Historical Society by Miss 
Marian Lyman. On the front leaf is the inscription "This Bible, 
so venerated for its antiquity, was bequeathed to me by my 
maternal grandmother, it having been in the family for several 
generations. W. M." 

Todd — Joseph and Martha, the daughter of Mr. Patrick 
McEwen, were married the 26th of July, 1757, at Capt. Joseph 
Inslees by the Rev. Mr. Cambell. 

Cortland Tregainy, the son of Joseph and Martha Todd, was 
born on Saturday, the 11th of November, at four o'clock in the 
afternoon in the year of our Lord 1758. 

Charles Finney, the son of Joseph and Martha Todd, was 
born Sunday, the 29th of June, at eleven o'clock in the evening 
in the year of our Lord 1760. 

William Rason, the son of Joseph and Martha Todd, was 
born on Monday, the 6th of September, at three o'clock in the 
morning in the year of our Lord 1762. 

Joseph was married to Elizabeth Finney, daughter of Charles 
Finney, December 13, 1732. 

Joseph was born ye Fth day of April in the year of our Lord 
1734, on Monday, 6 o'clock in the morning. 

Elizabeth Todd was born ye 5th day of July, 1736, on Mon- 
day at 2 o'clock in the morning. 

Hannah was born the 8th day of May, 1738, at 4 o'clock in 
morning. 

Rebecca was born the 4th day of June -on Wednesday, 1740. 

Mary was born ye 15th day of November on Monday at 3 
o'clock in the morning, 1742. 

Charles AAas born ye 24th day of July on Tuesday before 3 
o'clock in the morning, 1744. 

A record of the children and grandchildren of Dr. Meredith: 
Elizabeth married to Abram Chapman, their issue w'ere Mary, 
Susanna, Wilhelmina, Ann, F^enry, Elizabeth, Isaac, Elizabeth 
and Samuel. Charles married to Isabelle Dich, of Ireland, their 
issue Matilda, Courtland, Llewellyn, Ann, Sarah, Henry, Ca- 
meila, Elwood and Elma Elizabeth. 

Chapman — W. and M. Morris married in October, 1829, 
issue Elizabeth .and Morgann. 



FAMILY BIBLES IN LIBRARY 465 

H. and Rebecca Stewart married in June, 1826; issue: Eliza- 
beth, born March 31st, 1829; Mary Rebecca, born February, 
1831; Henry Abraham, born October, 1833, died 1834; Thomas, 
born on March 27th, 1835. 

This Bible has Tobias Leech autograph on the title page. 

Chap]\l\x — Henry and Nancy F. Shunk married July 8th, 
1845. Issue: 

Fanny born June 6th, 1846. 

Arthur born April 13th, 1848. 

Mercer — William Robert, U. S. Navy, to Mary Rebecca 
Chapman, of Doylestown, Bucks County, Penna., October 11, 
1853. 

Henry Chapman, son of William R. and Mary R., born June 
24th, 1856. 

William R., son of William R. and Mary R., born May, 1858. 

Lawrence — Timothy Bigelow, of Boston, belonging to the 
American Embassy at London, to Elizabeth, daughter of Henry 
Chapman and Rebecca, his wife, married October 11, 1853. 

T. Bigelow died March, 1865. 

Mercer — Lela L., daughter of William R. and Mary R., 
married July 188 — to Hubert Fidler in Boston, Captain in the 
Austrian Army. 

Lyman — Richard Morris Lyman and Helen Patterson Flint, 
of Oakland, Cal., were married December 16, 1891. 

Richard Morris, Jr., born at Oakland, March 15, 1893. 

Meredith — Hugh and Mary Todd were married the 14th 
day of May, A. D. 1772, by the Rev. William Frazer, of Amwell. 

Elizabeth Meredith, their daughter, was born 4th day of 
November, 1773. 

Charles, their son, was born the 16th day of October, 1775. 

Died, the above Charles Meredith, M. D., July 29, 1831, 
about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, aged 55 years and about 9^^ 
months. 

Thomas Nicholas was born the 29th day of September, 1778; 
departed this life 1855. 

Chapman — Abraham, Esq., and Eliza Meredith were married 
the 15th day of December, A. D. 1795, by the Rev. Dr. Andrews, 
of Philadelphia. They had issue: Mary, born March 17, 1797; 
departed this life August 28th same year. 



466 FAMILY BIBLES IX LIBRARY 

Susanna, born 11th of November, 1798; died February 5th, 
1807. 

Wilhelmina and Ann, twin daughters of Abraham and EUza, 
were born January the twenty-seventh in the year 1801. Ann 
departed this hfe September 5th, 1803. 

Henry Chapman, their son, was born February ye 4th, 1804. 

Elizabeth, their daughter, born July 28th, 1807, and died 
August 19th of same year. There were three others who died in 
infancy. 

WEAVER BIBLE 

Weaver — Isaac born September 27. 1819. 

Stacy born September, 1846. 

Reuben born April 3, 1848. 

Hugh born February 17, 1852. 

Cypia Ann born May 27th, 1822. 

James born April 8th, 1856. 

Clarence born 5th day of December, 1890. 

Anna Reba born 25th day of September, 1888. 

Stacy L. Weaver married 1872. 

Isaac died November 28th, 1877, aged 58 years, 2 months, 1 
day. 

Cypia Ann died August 21, 1910, aged 88 years. 6 months, 17 
days. 



A Rafting Story of the Delaware River 

A series of unsigned articles which appeared in the Walton, N. Y., Chronicle 
from June 21 to October 4, 1883. Since then discovered to have been com- 
municated by Joshua Pine, the third, Walton, New York.i 

Introduction 

IN MY boyhood I hved on the banks of the beautiful Oquago 
or West Branch of the Delaware River, grew to manhood in its 
valley, and have spent a life of nearly "three score years and 
ten" amid its beautiful scenery. I have felled the forest, I have 
followed the plow, I have engaged in lumbering and rafting; 
have been down the river, as hand and steersman, until all its 
scenery, all its places of note, all its natural beauties and adorn- 
ment by art, are beautifully engraven upon my memory, and if I 
can but half describe the picture as it now lies before me, from 
Delhi to Trenton, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, I 
shall be content. 

Building a Raft 

But first of all let us build a raft. When we have lumber to 
run in the spring, the grubs will be cut in the fall before snow 
gets too deep. Saplings of the size to fill a two-inch augur hole 
are selected, and grubbed out, and cut three to four feet in 
length, the butt piece, with the root, being the only part taken. 
When enough have been secured, for our needs, they are taken 
to shelter, and during the winter prepared for use by shaving so 
that they can readily be inserted in the holes bored for them, 
the roots or heads are made so that they fit snug to the under 
side of the runner, the heads are left larger and dressed to about 
an inch in thickness, the under surface rounded so as not to 
catch or hang on dams, stones, etc. The grubs are now ready, 
the lumber is "stocked" or "bunched" on the bank, where there 
is an eddy or water suitable for rafting. 

1 The Pine family were pioneer settlers in Walton, having arrived there 
in 1785. Joshua Pine, the elder, was born in Queens County, Long Island, in 
1729, died in 1809; his son, Joshua Pine, Jr., was born on Long Island in 1761 
and died 1818. The author of these newspaper articles was Joshua Pine, the 
third, who was born at Walton, November 5, 1798, and died there April 13, 
1888. He was therefore 85 years of age in 1883 when he contributed these 
articles. 



468 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

Spring approaches, the river breaks its icy bonds, the hands 
previously engaged come on, and the work of rafting begins. 
One or two are selected and set to boring. An incline is selected, 
or an artificial one made, on this a frame for "crib" building is 
fastened, three "grub plank," or runners are put on the frame, 
and the grubs put in, then three crib scantling are put on to the 
grubs, crosswise of the runners. The crib is then "squared" by 
two sticks cut the proper length, by putting the one end of each 
against opposite corner grubs. The other ends are brought 
together in the middle and pressed down until they lie straight. 
Test this cornerwise, both ways, and the crib is square. Fill 
the spaces between each crib scantling "floor" in the last two 
in each space, put cap scantlings on the grubs lengthways over 
the runners, and wedge down by the side of each grub, slide into 
the water, and one crib is made, and a float, of sixteen to eighteen 
feet in length, and from sixteen to twenty-two feet wide. Build 
the second in the same way, bring it end to end with the first, 
and we find the grubs in line on the two sides and in the middle. 
When they come together the end grubs are but a foot or two 
apart, and scantling called "lockets" are bored so as to fit these 
grubs, and are wedged on as before, by the side of the grub. As 
many of these cribs are put together, in this way, as are desired. 
If four or five, it is called a "colt" ; if from eight to ten, it is called a 
raft, and when four colts are put together (two end to end), or 
two long rafts, it is called a double raft or "fleet." If a long raft 
is built, eight, nine or ten cribs are fastened together, as above, 
and the work of building up begins. Four courses, of three- 
inch-thick timber, are put on the cribs, all over the raft, between 
the grubs, care being taken to "break joints" for every course. 
End pieces are bored on top of the first course at each end of the 
raft, and wedged down. After the four courses are on, the 
"shingle" courses are put on. They are put on so as to break 
or cover the first joint from the end, and each course thereafter is 
shingled on until the desired thickness is attained. From seven 
to nine courses of lumber, three inches thick, or its equivalent, 
if the lumber is less in thickness. Then the "head blocks" are 
bored on at each end, four scantling deep, and wedged. The 
center end grub left for one oar pin, another hole bored, and 
another oar pin wedged in, so that each raft has at either end, 
two oar pins, for emergency or accident. The "binders" reach 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARp: RIVER 469 

across the raft and are bored on to all grubs, and wedged down. 
The bridle pieces are bored on from each corner of the head 
blocks, reaching back far enough to be put on four grubs. All 
loose lumber, like square timber, two-inch plank, boards, and 
the like, are put on in the middle of the raft, crosswise, and we 
are ready for a start, all but the "dinner-box" and the oars. 

Our stems or tillers are of hemlock, pine, poplar, and bass- 
wood, the latter being preferred, and more generally used than 
any other. The stem should be straight, about forty feet in 
length, and at least seven inches in diameter where it is bored 
to hang on the pin. The shank is sawed in five or six feet, the 
thickness of the blade, the piece bored out and the blade inserted 
in the cleft, and firmly pined or spiked in. The blade is made 
of hardwood or hemlock (the former preferred), twelve or thir- 
teen inches wide, fourteen or sixteen feet long, two inches thick 
at the butt and three-fourths of an inch at the top end, and set 
in the stem at an angle, that more of the blade may strike the 
water. The oar-stem having been nicely trimmed and the end 
made small, to admit of easy handling, it is run onto the head 
block where it will nicely balance. It is bored and the hole 
beat out long on top, to prevent binding on the pin. The oar is 
shipped, and now we are ready for our trip, for in the mean- 
time, the "guid wife" has stored the dinner-box with bread, 
butter, cheese, eggs, doughnuts, boiled ham, and other eatables. 
The rope is untied, the hands take their places; the order "pull 
out, boys," comes from the steersman, w'e are afloat and have 
begun our journey. 

Lumbermen and Forests 

In the long ago, the forms and faces of many West Branch 
lumbermen were familiar to me, who alas, have long since 
crossed to that "bourne from whence no traveler returns." 

I trust I shall be pardoned for recalling the names of those 
who took a prominent part in lumbering, and if names are missed 
it will be from lapse of memory. First, and most prominent 
was Esquire Paine, or "Daddy," (as he was familiarly called by 
his acquaintances), who drew his lumber (pine) from the Char- 
lotte, at Davenport, and rafted it at Frisbee's, where the Elk 
Creek comes into the river, about three and one-half miles above 
Delhi village. 



470 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

Many obstacles had to be overcome, and much hard work 
done, before his lumber was on the bank of the river. His pine 
grew fourteen miles from where it was rafted, and between the 
two places a mountain which is the divide between the Susque- 
hanna and the Delaware must be crossed, and for two miles 
there was no road. A good road was soon made through an 
unbroken forest, which was used many years by the public, 
called the Paine road, from Briar Street, to the old Catskill turn- 
pike. Year after year, in the winter time, many men and teams 
were employed in hauling lumber from his mill in Davenport, to 
the Delaware. In the spring it was rafted and run to Phila- 
delphia, and sold for from nine to fifteen dollars per thousand 
feet. The Sloats, Fisher, Thompson, H. R. Millard, and Whit- 
lock rafted also at Frisbee's. Colts only were run from that place. 

On our way we pass the mouth of Fall Brook, which comes 
with a rush and roar through a deep glen, bringing the water 
from many a spring in the town of Meredith. 

As we come to Delhi village, we go under the first bridge 
which crosses rafting water of the Delaware, and as we are pass- 
ing through the village, at Kingston Street, we go under the 
second bridge, and now Steele's Brook comes in, placidly. This 
rises in Meredith from a beautiful little lake, called by the 
euphonious name of Robinson's pond. Steele's sawmill was on 
this brook, just outside of the village. It had been built many 
years, but whether rafting lumber was ever sawed there or not I 
do not remember. Much of the lumber in which the men of 
Delhi dealt, was manufactured on Elk Creek, at Hinkley's and 
McDonald's mills. 

Among the raftsmen and lumbermen of Delhi village, were 
General Putnam Farrington and his brother, who were both 
steersmen. 

When a boy, I remember seeing General Leavenworth and 
hearing that he had been a Delaware steersman. 

There were also, the Goodmans, Edgertons, John Fisher, who 
was a steersman, J. P. and William Flower, Alexander La Valley, 
James Elwood, and others whom memory fails to recall. 

We pass on and see high hills on our right and on our left, 
but our course is through a fine wide valley until we go under 
the third and last river bridge in the town of Delhi, here the 



A RAFTINCt story of the DELAWARE RIVER 471 

river receives the water of the Little Delaware, which takes its 
rise in Lake Delaware, in the town (township) of Bovina. 

We pass the point of the hill, on our right, as the valley 
broadens out and a beautiful landscape view is presented to us 
as we come to Peake's Brook, so named for Oliver Peake, who 
first settled there, and who with his brother Roswell, became 
great lumbermen and steersmen. They raised large families, 
and their male descendants almost all became lumbermen, and 
many of them steersmen, who have been identified with the 
growth, development and prosperity of that part of Delhi and 
Hamden. 

We soon come to where Charles Post lived, on what is known 
as the Hutson farm, who was one of the most extensive lumber- 
men. His lumber was manufactured on Peake's Brook, and 
rafted at the eddy. He acquired a competency and returned 
to a farm up the brooks in the edge of Meredith, and for many 
years lived to enjoy the fruits of his energetic younger manhood. 
He was succeeded by the Hutsons, who also engaged in lumber- 
ing. "Tom" having had experience enough to give him the skill 
to steer. 

Asa Howland was also a lumberman and a skillful steersman. 
He was succeeded by the Weismers, who built a mill on Platner 
brook. The Platners were also engaged in the same business, as 
well as Mr. Yendes (who was a first settler) and his sons, J. B., 
of Hamden, and Joseph, of Hancock, who both became excellent 
steersmen and successful business men, honored and respected 
by all that knew them. 

We have run along a hill on our left, taken the water that 
Platner brook is pouring in, passed by the Yendes homestead, 
and see on our right the farms and houses of Judge Bostwick 
and his son, Marcus, who never engaged much in lumbering, but 
who have crossed the boundary that separates the living from 
the dead, and left behind them a record and a name that the 
living might envy, and have set an example that posterity need 
not be ashamed to emulate. Just below, ^^e come to the village 
of Delancy, where a bridge spans the river, and below. Barker 
creek comes in on the right and Bagley brook on the left. 

The names of a host of men are remembered who v ere 
engaged in lumbering, but the forms and faces, names and deeds 



472 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

are all that is left of many of them, for they have long been 
sleeping "the sleep that knows no waking." 

There was Rowland Robinson, father of Frank, the Peakes, 
John Launt (who lives on Pine's brook, and who was a good 
steersman), William Babcock, father of George and Samuel, 
Henry Holmes, Isaac and David Williams, Philip Maxwell, 
the 'Barbours, James Stoddard, P. B. Pettice, E. Bagley, H. B. 
Goodrich, father of Jerome J., of Delhi, the Masons, George and 
Augustus Chace, father and grandfather of Levi Chace and Mrs. 
R. Harby, Harry Chace, father of Green Chace and Mrs. H. 
Launt. 

We pass along, and soon have passed under another bridge, 
and are at Hamden, where another host of names and memories 
are thronging through my brain, recalling my boyhood days, 
and bringing to mind the time when I \\as a lad engaging in a 
boy's sports and pastimes with zeal, or sitting on the bank of 
that river on whose water I have so many times made a journey 
to the sea, of which I then knew nothing, pensively gazing into 
the heavens or into the limpid water at my feet, weaving for 
myself romantic visions of greatness and renown that have never 
been realized. But I must stop these retrospective fancies, for 
the task I have set myself will tax all my power, and more, for 
the subject is w^orthy the genius of a Headley or any of the most 
celebrated word painters. 

At Hamden, there was Barker, Jerry Launt and sons, John, 
(mentioned above). Lewis and Phillip, and a Mr. Waring, Peter 
Launt and sons, Frederic, Jacob, Hermon James and Philip, 
John and Martin Howard, and Roswell Brant. After the death 
of White Griswold's father, w^ho was a lumberman, White settled 
up the estate, succeeded his father in the lumbering business, 
and locating in Hamden, became the m.ost extensive lumberman 
on the waters of the West Branch, amassed a fortune, and died a 
year or two ago, in Walton, at the age of 86. 

Austin Bassett bought the sawmill of Mr. Griswold, in Ham- 
den, ran it a few years, and bought the mill in Walton village, 
now owned by Wood & Gould, where he was killed instantly by a 
log rolling from a high pile and striking him on the head. Walter 
Chace, grandfather of Green, was also engaged in lumbering, but 
at Delancy. 

Below Hamden we see Crawford brook, come in on our right, 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 473 

also pass Betts' brook and the place where many rafted their 
lumber. There were H. Edwards and his sons, Anson and J. S., 
John, Daniel and Edward Combs, and also Benaje, H. C. and 
H. B. Hawley, Jesse Finch, W. H. Kno\\ les, J. A. Holmes, several 
of whose sons have become great East Branch lumbermen. 
The Mallorys, Terrys, Keelers, Simpsons, Philip Brisack, and 
H. L. Benedict, brother of Daniel, at East Walton. 

Accidents and Drownings 

We float down the little river to Shaw's farm, with its wide 
and fertile flat on our right, under the third and last bridge that 
crosses the river in Hamden. Just below the rift below this 
bridge, a tragedy occurred, over fifty years ago, that cast a 
gloom over the whole community and will be remembered yet 
by many. Below the rift is deep water, called the "clay hole," 
and the neighbors were all gathered near there, either to work 
on the road or for a logging bee, (I am not certain which), and 
at noon a number went into the "hole" to bathe. Among these 
was a young man, Alanson Trueby, who was at work for one of 
the neighbors but without family or relatives in Hamden. 
Trueby was seized with a cramp, when a man on the bank, 
watching the bathers, named Newbury, said: "Men, are you 
going to see that man droMn?" and jumped into the water to 
rescue him, when he was seized by Trueby by his neckerchief, 
in a death clutch, and drawn under the water and both ^^ere 
drowned. Mr. Newbury was a prominent citizen, father of 
Loomis Newbury, of Troy, Pa., who married a sister of E. B. 
Howland. 

Above the Mallory bridge where a sawmill once stood, a 
raft ^vas stuck on the dam and left over night. A rope had been 
tied from raft to shore. In the morning, several men started 
from the raft to the shore in a boat. The current carried the 
boat under the rope, and Charles Eells was knocked out of the 
boat and drowned. He was a brother of the late Samuel Eells, 
and of Mrs. T. S. St. John, of Walton. This occurred in the 
Spring of 1841 or 1842. 

Another tragedy occurred at the Flats bridge, not far from 
the same time. A company of farmers who lived on the Little 
Delaware had been to Delhi with a neighbor named Robbie 



474 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELA\YARE RIVER 

Balantine, Avith a team and wagon. There was a flood in the 
river, and Little Delaware and the roads were flooded. Balan- 
tine drove into the current, and he and one neighbor, together 
Avith the team, were washed off the road, and Balantine and both 
horses were drowned. The neighbor escaped by seizing a bush 
that grew on the bank and pulling himself out. Another accident 
occurred at a crooked place below the Hamden dam, at Fish's 
bend. William Mason was knocked into the river by an oar, but 
not drowned, for his neck was broken by the blow from the oar. 
He was brother of the late Mrs. Peter Launt, and father of the 
late William Mason, of Walton. At Shaw's flat a Scotchman 
was drowned. He had been washing sheep, and the sheep got 
away, and running to head them off he ran into a binnacle hole 
and was drowned before help could reach him. 

Many years ago the bridge at Delancy was built on wooden 
abutments, filled with stone. During a Summer freshet a 
colt was coming down the river from Delhi, and many of the 
school children, as well as a number of men, stood on the bridge 
watching the raft, when it struck a pier, knocking it out, and 
letting the bridge fall into the river. The men on the bridge 
took hold of hands and gathered around the children and hauled 
them off in safety. But all did not escape. Crane, the owner 
and steersman, had a leg broken, and William Barlow, uncle of 
the late Joseph Barlow, had a shoulder broken, and Nathan 
Terry, an uncle of W. M. and H. Terry, was knocked into the 
river and would have been drowned had it not been for an old 
man named Edwards, who jumped in and saved him. Edwards 
wore an old-fashioned long tow-frock, which Terry seized hold 
of and was towed ashore. "Uncle" Isaac Goodrich went down 
Avith the bridge and floated down on the rubbish a long way, 
but was finally rescued. He was father of Dr. Goodrich and 
grandfather of Edward Bagley. 

The death of Dr. and Mrs. Maynard, and Mrs. Carrington, 
by drowning in the river, at Hamden, is of course well remem- 
bered. There was a flood in the river, and the water ran over 
the road between the Hamden bridge and the higher ground on 
the East side. The unfortunate victims had attended a dona- 
tion in the village, and returning in the darkness, drove into the 
water and were swept off and all drowned, the body of Mrs. 
Maynard not being found until several months afterwards. 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 475 

After leaving Mallory's bridge, we run along by nice stretches 
of river bottom, on over mill-dams, for the river, at the time of 
which I write, was thickly studded with sawmills, and have seen 
the incoming waters of Loomis Brook on our right, and Mallory's 
on our left, and received the water of McLean Brook at East 
Walton, speed on and under Weed's bridge. Still hurrying on, 
take in the water of Water's Brook, from "Morgan Water Hol- 
low," round Willow Point, pass the mouth of Townsend's, now 
Marvin's Brook, skirt along the base of Pine Hill, and are at 
Walton, where East Brook pours its volume, that it has brought 
from the hills in Franklin and North Hamden. 

Walton, Home of Captain Joshua Pine 

We have passed by the old lumbering places of the McLeans, 
Weeds, the Ogdens, Abraham and Judge Isaac, the Marvins, 
Thomas and Jared, both of whom were noted steersmen, Isaac 
and William Townsend. On the death of Abraham Ogden, his 
son, William B., at the age of sixteen years, took up his father's 
business and began his career as a lumberman, which he followed 
with energy and success, not only on the Delaware, but after he 
went to Chicago, in 1835, where he became one of the most 
noted and enterprising lumbermen of the Ignited States, obtain- 
ing his lumber from the vast pineries of Michigan. His mills, 
built at Peshtigo, were burned, with a vast quantity of lumber. 
Some of the Walton lumbermen whose names are remembered 
are Beers and Stockton, Bennett Beardsley, Jetur Gardiner, 
A. N. Wheeler, Case and Sylvester Brisack, who sold the last of 
the Townsend pine in the Philadelphia market. 

The river above Walton is narrow and crooked, and the 
lumber that was run from above, was all rafted in colts, but one 
long raft ever having been run from above Walton, and that a 
nine tier raft, from Benedict's, at East Walton, by Joseph Combs. 
But few long rafts have ever been run from Walton. The short 
turns at Stockton's rock, a little below the village, was the bane 
of raftsmen. 

Walton was once a great rafting point, lumber being drawn 
from the Ouleout to this river, and rafted here. Lumber was 
drawn from the Susquehanna, from Otego, L'nadilla, and Sidney, 
to quite an extent. 



476 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

In the winter of '40 and '41, two West Branch lumbermen 
bought 100,000 feet of pine boards, and 25,000 feet of cherry, 
on the Ouleout, near Case Settlement, for which they paid for 
the pine, S6 per thousand, paid about S2 per thousand for hauling 
to Walton, rafted, and ran it to Philadelphia and sold it for SIO 
there. 

At Walton, there v ere a number engaged in lumbering later 
than those rrentioned above, among whom were the sons of Col. 
Thomas and Jared Marvin, of whom N. C. and George W. 
became skilled steersmen. 

About Walton was once a large cjuantity of the best pine, 
but it yielded to the ax and saw of the lumbermen, and the 
Delaware stands confessed as guilty of contributing her full share 
in aiding the lumbermen in stripping the country of its lumber. 
After the pine was gone, the hemlock forests that covered the 
hillsides in every direction with "living green," were also at- 
tacked, until now but a few scattered clumps remain; that must 
soon go the way the former went, and we must be content to get 
our supply of lumber elsewhere, as those are now doing above 
us. Even now more lumber is brought from other places, to 
Walton, than is manufactured at home. 

Leaving Walton, that in early days of rafting was but a small 
village, but has now grown to be a large one, with a population 
of about 1,800, we pass under the bridge, and head, soon after, 
nearly due west, see the water of West and Third Brooks come 
in, pull up sharp to the point on the left, and hold up hard, and 
if we miss Stockton's Rock, feel well pleased. Head south, run 
down to the "Catch-All," turn as square to the right as water 
can run, pass Island Park on our right, and run along the base of 
South Mountain on our left, pass by the Pine homestead on our 
right, by the mill, over the rift, by the mouth of Pine's Brook, 
and are in Pine's Eddy, and know that, if danger is not passed, 
we will have more sea room, at least, for the water that pours in 
at Walton, by the three brooks, makes more of a river. 

Pine's Eddy and Pine's Brook were named for the grand- 
father of Captain Joshua Pine, who was the first settler here; 
and Bob's Brook and Cove were named for an Englishman, 
named Bob Simon, that once lived below Pinesville, on the river 
bank. 

Joshua Pine, the first settler, was succeeded by his son, 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 477 

Joshua, who was a thorough business man, and engaged exten- 
sively in kimbering, and transmitted an unsulHed name to his 
posterity, leaving an impress that manifests itself in his descend- 
ants. 

Capt. Joshua Pine, his son, now in his 85th year, has been a 
notable steersman.^ Frederick Pine, Beers, Nichols, Wake- 
mans, Graham, Cables and Buckbees, were lumbermen in this 
neighborhood, and some few of the last named are yet in the 
business. 

Hundreds of colts would come in spring time, and land at the 
village and at Pine's Eddy, and the houses all along would be 
filled to overflowing with raftsmen, and steersmen would be in 
great demand. There were many steersmen that lived above 
Walton, in the long ago, and I can recall the names of but four 
who are now living that were "thorough" steersmen, viz.: John 
Launt and Ira Peake, of W'alton; Joseph Yendes, of Hancock; 
and J. B. Yendes, who lives near the homestead up the river, in 
the town of Delhi. Extra hands were put on the rafts until 
Hancock was reached, when they were paid, (usually S3 for the 
trip, in the early days), and they must tramp back on foot as 
best they could. Those belonging to Rock Rift, South Walton, 
Pinesville and Walton, usually came up the Cadosia by a path 
through the woods, (for there was no road over the summit then, 
while those that belonged above Walton usually went up to Har- 
vard, on the East Branch, up Baxter Brook, over Bear Spring 
Mountain, through the Morgan Waters hollow, and thence to 
their respective homes. Weary, oh, what weary tramps to those 
tired raftsmen! Many a time all night, through rain or snow, 
through woods, across creeks, over mountains, through mud and 
mire, to reach home, but to repeat the same thing again, for per- 
chance, another colt is ready, the water is falling, and no time to 
rest. W'ell do they understand that "time and tide wait for no 
man." 

Many a time did Pine's Eddy present a busy scene in the 
morning, in rafting time. The untying the rafts, pulling out 
into the current, floating along gently until the rift was neared, 
the rapid movements of the hands as they braced themselves 
for the pull and as they neared the islands just below; the change 

2 Captain Joshua Pine was the author of this paper. 



478 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

of position of the hands as the order came, "Jersey"^ or "Pennsyl- 
vania," all presented a scene of excitement and enthusiasm to 
which the eddy is now a stranger. 

It has been several years since any rafts have been run from 
or above Pine's Eddy, and probably no more will ever be run. 
Below Pine's Eddy were several lumbermen — Eli Gould and 
later, his son, Alfred Gould, Hull Bradley, and afterwards George, 
his son. 

Before the Erie Railroad was built, the home route for 
through hands, those living at Deposit and below, was from 
Trenton to New York, thence up the Hudson to Newburg, from 
there by stage to Cochecton, and the rest of the way on foot, or 
on foot all the way from Newburg. Those that lived above 
Deposit came up the Hudson to Kingston or Catskill, from there 
home on foot or by stage, according to each one's fancy or the 
contents of his purse. 

Now, at Pine's Eddy an iron railroad bridge crosses, and a 
railroad runs to Hancock over the Summit and down through 
the Cadosia valley, on the same ground that so many weary 
raftsmen have tramped over, many and many a time. Little 
did they think that the shriek of the engine would ever be heard 
in this vast solitude. If a wizard's spell could have been cast 
over the stretch of forest from Hancock to Rock Rift on over 
mud and mire, on across the river to Walton, on along the river's 
winding to Hamden, and still on to Delhi, and had a good con- 
veyance like a railroad train to take them to Walton in an hour, 
Hamden in an hour and a half, to Delhi in two hours, for sixty 
cents, eighty-five cents and one dollar and eleven cents respect- 
ively, how gladly they would have availed themselves of the 
chance, and how many nights and days of travel it would have 
saved the tired, wet, and hungry raftsmen. 

Many an amusing incident has transpired here, but I will 
stop to give only one or two. A number of years ago in spring 
time many colts had come from up the river and landed in Pine's 
Eddy, but they were in want of steersmen; so a gentleman, a 
resident, was prevailed on to steer a colt to Ball's Eddy. He 
took command, the colt glided slowly out of the eddy, the rift 

•^ The term "Jersey" is used throughout this paper to indicate the left 
side of the Delaware river, including that part above Port Jervis, where New 
York is the boundary or left-hand side as the rafts proceed down stream. 



■ A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 479 

was neared, orders promptly and confidently given, but alas! 
"a zeal without knowledge," and the raft went firmly onto the 
first island but a few rods below the eddy. Another, an up river 
man had in the eddy a raft that had been left there. He came 
down with a team. The team went right back. The raft was 
started and went upon the second island a few rods below the 
first, and the chagrined raftsman had to build a float to go ashore 
on, and then foot it back home. 

The course of the river here is almost due west till it strikes 
Bank's mountain, and a stranger would be at a loss to know 
whether the river ran to the right or left, but the abrupt turn to 
the south along the base of the mountain soon takes us to 
Gould's turn, where Beers' brook empties into the river. This 
safely passed by a few strokes to Pennsylvania and then a few 
to Jersey, we are gliding into Wakeman's pond and on through 
the "Den," with high and picturesque hills on either hand, clad, 
in sober hues (for it is yet early spring time), relieved by patches 
of snow and clumps of evergreens here and there on their rugged 
sides to their very summits. The Den, in summer, presents a 
scene of rare loveliness. Beautiful in a state of wild rugged 
nature, it is still more beautiful as it is adorned by the skill and 
arts of our present civilization, and fortunate indeed are those 
whose lot is cast in this little valley embosomed by those majestic 
hills. 

Our raft is still gliding along, now close to the mountain as 
if trying to find an opening through which to emerge into more 
open country; and the opportunity is afforded, for as Wakeman 
brook comes tumbling into the river the valley again broadens 
and another eddy is soon passed. One of the most shallow 
places is reached, and to the left Chace's brook is seen leaping 
through an arched causeway under the railroad that is many 
feet above the river and still going up until rock cut is reached at 
the summit. As we go under the bridge that spans the river 
here that is maintained by two towns (townships), Tompkins on 
the left, and Walton on the right. The river from Rock Rift is 
washing the foot of Summit mountain, the valley broadens a 
little on the right when Fish brook adds its water from between 
two hills whose bold promontories are golden in the sunshine. 

Alverson's turn is passed, and as we head more west Owen's 
rock comes in sight, which time and frost has loosened from its 



480 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

bed and sent thundering down the mountain-side into the river 
that flows along till Carpenter's Eddy is reached. Here again 
the valley broadens out, and Dryden brook, from away up in the 
hills that divides Walton and Tompkins, pours its volume of 
water in to swell the turbid river. This is quite a rafting point, 
and was one of the first places of settlement. In this neighbor- 
hood were many lumbermen, such as the Bennetts, Fraziers, 
Gregorys, Alversons, Carpenters, Chamberlains, Loves, Sutton, 
Boyds, Grants, Fuller, and Websters. John Webster was a 
noted steersmen and salesman down the river, selling large 
amounts of lumber for other lumbermen. From here nothing of 
moment occurs, but Park's cove is soon in sight, where the river 
acts as though it was trying to force its way through the hill, 
but turns suddenly to the left, and still rolls on. A noticeable 
adventure terminated at this cove not many years ago. A raft 
came from up the river one night in early spring time, and the 
men attempted to land at Pine's Eddy but missed it and were 
compelled to go on. Another attempt was made to land; two 
men were put off to take the rope at Wakeman's dam but failed 
to stop it. On they went, hoping to stop at Rock Rift. Here 
again two men were put off, and the raft run in end to shore, 
but yet they were unable to stop. Their force was now reduced 
to three men and one boy. The river was high, snow and ice 
to the water's edge, the night growing colder and darker, the 
rope coated thickly v ith ice, yet on they must go and on they 
did go till Little Willow bar Avas reached at Park's cove, that 
stopped the raft but on the a\ rong side of the river. A float was 
made in the darkness, the angry water was crossed, and tired, 
hungry, and wet, and one of them hatless, they slowly plodded 
on to Cannonsville, where they were fed, warmed, and hatted. 

Just below Park's Cove, Speedwell Island once occupied a 
place in the river, but has been entirely washed away. Here w-e 
pass the ford, m.ost used of any fording place along the West 
Branch. We bear aAA ay to the left, pass Winter's turn and 
Love's rock, head Jersey to avoid the bars below, lay up to the 
right, pass Turnip-patch bend, go to the right of LInderwood's 
Island, and pass the shallow est place in \A^est Branch. More 
rafts have been stuck at this place than at any other in the upper 
waters of the Delaware. City Island is soon passed. Rafts 
can go on either side, and v e are at Cannonsville, called at first, 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 481 

Dickinson City. Here the hills look as though they had been 
beaten back and cleft in twain to admit the waters of Trout 
Creek, which add perceptibly to the volume that is bearing us on 
toward tide. 

Among the prominent lumbermen at Cannonsville was: first, 
Dickinson, the founder, Darius Maples and son, J. Thompson, 
Smiths, Cannon (after whom the place was re-christened and 
named), the Owens, Houcks, H. Beagle, Constables, Durfies, 
Seymours, Miller, Crawfords, Huntington, Hathways, Walley, 
and many others. We pass under the bridge that spans the 
river here. Just below Hoag's eddy, we see Johnny Brook come 
in on the right. Going slow and easily, we come to Casey's. 
Here the water gathers into a narrow channel, turns suddenly 
to the left, and hurls itself with such force against the Jersey 
shore as to force the water up stream and to the left, formmg one 
of the prettiest coves on the river. The channel is narrow and 
crooked, and the current strong, and on the point below, many a 
raft has been wrecked. 

Craig's Island is passed to the left, and we come to Craig's 
Bend. Here, too, a stranger would be at sea to know whether 
the river ran to the right or left, but the water turns toward the 
left, plunges against the base of a wooded hill, where Thomas' 
Cove is formed. The passage is soon made between two rocks 
called The Brothers, Fitch's Island passed, and also the high 
hills; the valley broadens on either hand. Stiles' Settlement is on 
the right. Burrows' dam beneath us, and for a little time the 
place where the celebrated Snyder axes were made is at our left. 
On our right, the waters of Cold Spring Brook are coming, turn 
towards the east, and in looking down the river see one of the 
most charming views of village and farm houses, hill and dale, 
that can be found — the village is Deposit. 

In Deposit and Stiles' Settlement formerly lived several 
famous lumbermen, among whom were Uriah Gregory, Wheeler, 
Hadley, Evans, Hulce, Palmer, Burrows Brothers, Briggs, 
Edick, Pine, Peters, Whittaker, and others whose names memory 
fails to recall. Evans' dam is passed, and we are under a wooden 
bridge; going eighty rods farther and we are under a massive 
iron railroad bridge, that was nearly a year in building, for the 
Erie Railroad. Oquago Creek is received into the capacious 
maw of the Delaware. W'e are still going along through a fine 



482 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

section of country till Devereaux tannery is reached. We have 
now passed Pine flat, so named for Judge Pine, its first settler, 
and since owned and improved by Judge N. K. Wheeler. Here 
are now the large stock yards, where cattle are taken from the 
cars, fed and rested. Below here the land is more broken. 
Hills begin to creep down towards the river. On the Pennsyl- 
vania side a giant sycamore appears to view, that looks at first 
to be three or four, but as we near it, its form changes, and there 
it stands, a single tree, a giant among its kind, that has been a 
landmark for a hundred years, and a warning to look out, for 
in a short time we must pass Cook House Island. 

Hale's Eddy is next reached. The eddy is large, and here 
millions upon millions of feet of lumber have been rafted, that 
grew in Pennsylvania. The bridge, and the mouth of Shad- 
pound creek are left behind, and we glide on till Little Peri\\ig is 
reached. Here, also, is Travis' cove. The fine farm, called the 
Greenman farm, is passed, as is Grotevant's creek, where the 
water sets toward Pennsylvania. Monument Island is passed, 
and the Horse race is run (an artificial channel on the Pennsyl- 
vania side). 

The country on either side becomes more rugged and rocky. 
With a sudden pitch toward Jersey, we are carried past the head 
of an island on our right, and Half-way rock on our left. Now 
we find a stretch of good water, but presently Balls-eddy Island 
is in sight. If we intend to land, we go to the right, if not, we 
go to the left. This is one of the most beautiful land-locked 
eddies that can be found along the Delaware, large enough to 
hold hundreds of rafts securely in time of flood. 

This is the place where James Van Auker killed a man by the 
name of Star, about fifty years ago. Here, also, most of the 
single rafts that come from up the river are put together, and 
Ball's-Eddy Creek adds its mite to help swell the current. 

Pine Island next claims attention, for it has ever been the 
dread of all raftsmen, because of its treacherous "sucks," and 
r^any a raft has come to grief here, and the conceit been taken 
out of many a steersman. Three bars, a shoal place, crooks and 
turns. Park Island and Little Falls being passed safely, we reach 
Little Falls Island, that sends the w-ater swiftly against Oven 
Rocks. At this point, all the skill of the steersman and the 
muscle of the men are needed for a few moments, and, in many 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 483 

cases, they have not been sufficient to keep from being stuck on 
the island, or stove on the rocks. Oven Rocks are a mass that 
rise almost sheer from the water, many feet in height, and take 
their name from holes in them, having resemblance to the inside 
of an old-fashioned out-door oven. 

Soon after, Sand's Creek is seen, hurrying in on our left. A 
fine view is had here of the railroad bridge that crosses the creek. 
We also see the oil tank, from which so many gallons of kerosene 
oil are daily pumped across the East Branch and up the moun- 
tain on the East side. This is yet a great rafting point, and 
many rafts start from here every time there is a freshet in the 
river. 

Crary's tannery and gristmill are located at this place. Here, 
there is a low place in the hill that yet separates the two rivers, 
and Hancock village can be plainly seen nestling close along 
the East Branch. A little below, along the river, is the best 
tilled farm on either branch, owned by Flavius Smith. If one 
could own this with the fine buildings, nicely laid-out grounds, 
and fancy blooded stock, he might be content if farming was to 
his taste. 

A wire suspension bridge soon attracts attention. This is 
owned by a stock company, and crosses just where the rocks rise 
abruptly, as though nature had so placed them as to afford room 
for the road that bends to the left on a good grade to Hancock 
village, and yet make secure anchorage for the cables that support 
the bridge. 

On the right the hills seem again to recede, and Holmes Creek 
brings in its tribute. On the left is a high bluff; but beyond 
you can see that nature has been carving among the hills for 
ages, for we pass more crags, get a set towards Drake's Rock, 
then another towards Apron-string Island, then back towards 
the point, and we are in the water of the main river. Looking 
back, on the left we see for the first time, the water of the Pepac- 
ton or East Branch, come rolling towards us. This is the great 
rafting center of both branches, and more of the great lumber- 
men of the Delaware live in Hancock than any other place. We 
are now forty miles by the river from Walton, and twenty-two 
by the road over the summit. 

Some of the noted lumbermen and steersmen at Hale's Eddy, 
are the Surrines, James H. Dickinson, F. Travis, F. Greenman, 



484 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

Abram Lord and son. At Ball's Eddy, Coles, Labars and Mores. 
At Hancock, L. Seymour, Newtons, Terwilligers, Jones, Randall, 
Lakin, Griffis, West, Thomas, Joseph Yendes, Philo Beers, D. 
Leonard, S. Lincoln and two sons, Joseph Darrow, Labars, and 
others. 

The cove Pennsylvania of Apronstring Island, is one of the 
greatest rafting places on the river. Just below here are some 
rocks, that have tumbled into the water, and are the guide to 
the steersmen, for running at Equinunk. If a certain rock is 
under water we can go "Jersey" off Equinunk Island; but if not 
we must pass on the Pennsylvania side, and have "a long pull, a 
strong pull, and a pull all together," to escape contact with the 
high point of rocks, just below the village. Murray Island, that 
stands as sentry over the union of the two rivers, gives the cur- 
rent a set towards a wooded hill to the right, with a semi-circular 
base coming down to the water. Passing Nobody's, we soon are 
running along side of one of the finest maple sugar orchards that 
can be found, owned by Prestons, whose residence can be plainly 
seen from the river, just before we are at Stockport. 

There were three Prestons — Paul, Warner, and Samuel — of 
Quaker parentage, all noted Abolitionists. Each one had his 
own particular part of the vast business that they carried on, to 
superintend. Paul engaged in politics as well as law, and became 
a judge. Warner superintended the lumbering, and Samuel 
the farm. All three were educated, enterprising men. Warner 
was a civil engineer. They are all dead, and distant relatives of 
the deceased succeeded them, and carry on the business. 

We have now had the Erie Railroad from Deposit, as a rival 
to the Dela\\ are River in the carrying trade. There is a station 
at Stockport, on the New York side, but the main business is 
done on the Pennsylvania side. A v ire-rope ferry is used here 
extensively, the mail being carried by it to and from the Station 
to the Postoffice, w hich is in the village proper, on the west side. 
A large amount of lumber is rafted here. Preston's mills are 
located on Stockport Creek, with an inexhaustible supply of 
water. A mile up the creek a dam is built, so large as to furnish 
the mills with plenty of water at all times. ToppoUock bar, 
Knight's farm, creek, and mill, Dilling's creek, and mill, and 
another great rafting place is passed. ToppoUock, Jr., is left 
behind us, and we prepare to go to the right of Equinunk Island, 



A RAFTINC; STORY OF THE DELAWARE RI\ER 485 

and land at the village of the same name, where Equinunk Creek 
has worn or washed out a little niche from the base of the hill in 
which the village of Equinunk lies hidden, where one who had 
taken a dislike to the place, declared, "the son did not shine for 
three months of the year." This, too, is a great place for rafting, 
and every year scores of rafts start from here. Soon after, 
Pull-hair-bar is passed. A wire suspension bridge crosses the 
river at Lordville, a neat little village on our left. 

High hills, wild, grand scenery now presents itself to our 
vision. Lacey's Bend is being left behind, when to the left an 
opening in the mountain discloses to our view the valley and 
waters of Onderdonk Creek, and a little village called Boucheux. 

By the course of the river we are thirteen miles from Han- 
cock and twenty-three miles from Fish's Eddy, on the East 
Branch. The distance is only seven miles from the mouth of 
Onderdonk Creek, across the country, to Fish's Eddy. Truly, 
here is a water course that is not sparing of distance. 

A steep mountain, with ledges of rock and broken stones 
visible on its steep side, claims attention. The railroad winds 
around this mountain close to the river, and where its waters sag 
heavily towards the mountain, a slope wall has been built to 
prevent the undermining of the railroad. Rattlesnakes find 
good places here for their winter hiding, from which they emerge 
in summer. They seem not to understand the signal warning 
to "Look out for cars when the bell rings," for many are killed 
on the rails, by passing trains every year. A beautiful little 
Leaping Brook comes, in a few seconds, from the top of this 
mountain, and noisily pours its tiny stream through a culvert 
into the river. In a little time after, we have crossed Jensen's 
rift, and are in Long Eddy. Here we stop and tie our raft three- 
fourths of a mile from the village called Douglas. Another 
valley and a creek named Geer's, a high divide, and another 
narrow valley and creek called Adams', is to be crossed before 
we arrive at the hotel. 

Geers, Adams, and Coles were first settlers here, and their 
names are familiar to all raftsmen, as their descendants still live 
here, many of them are noted steersmen. This is a great lum- 
bering and rafting point, the lumber from a long w^ay back 
from the river, being accessible through the valleys that center 
here. 



486 A R.AFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

On the north side of the first creek we cross, stands the last 
house on the Delaware in Delaware County, owned and occupied 
by a Mr. Geer. The railroad station is called Basket, from 
Basket Creek, that we reach after passing Crooked Rift, where a 
two span bridge once crossed, we see the little valley through 
which comes its limpid water. Basket Bar is crossed, and our 
channel is on the Jersey side. Kellum's farm is on the other 
side, where, it is said, Dow Appley once killed seventy old rattle- 
snakes in one day. 

Below here, where Little Equinunk Creek comes in, is another 
great rafting place, because in this mountainous region, access 
can hardly be had to the river, except along the creeks, which are 
its tributaries. 

Soon we get a set towards the Pennsylvania shore, and pull 
from the rocks that rise perpendicular from the water, then drift 
with the current to Jersey, pass Cooley's rocks, and another raft- 
ing place. Brown's, and the place where Brown's rock was blown 
out, and we are near Hankins, on the Erie. 

Just below on the Pennsylvania side is Pine flat proper, and a 
hard sag to Jersey. On high ground, in plain view, is a large 
stone mansion, beautifully situated on finely cultivated ground, 
owned by George Kellum, and forming a striking contrast to 
the wild, rugged, broken country all about it. George's Rock 
is to the left, Ross Island passed on the right side, and a creek 
comes in from the west, at the mouth of which is George Abrams' 
rafting place. Pull Jersey for Dreamers' Island, and back 
again from rocks on Jersey. Keep a sharp lookout for the bar, 
and we are opposite Callicoon. The hills have been flattened 
down a little. The valley is narrow and deep, its sides quite 
steep. The village is on a slope. The railroad crosses Callicoon 
Creek on a high bridge. 

Bush's Bar and Eddy are left as we found them, and a wide, 
nice flat on the Pennsylvania side owned by Judge Tyler. The 
mountain on the Jersey side is covered by a stunted growth of 
pine, oak, etc. Bear Island and its mate come next, we go 
between them, and have a stretch of good water to Taylor's 
Island and Landing. Bear Island was named from the following 
circumstance: A man was going down the river with a tame 
bear, and saw a woman washing clothes on the shore, and said 
to her many times: "We've got a bear on our raft!" Neglecting 



A RAFTING STORY OF THF: DELAWARE RIVER 487 

his raft he went on the island, when the woman drawled out: 
"We've a bear on our island." 

Here we get a view of the Ithaca and Newburgh turnpike, 
as it is, winding in and out among the hills descending towards 
Cochecton, two miles below us. There is an eddy below the 
island at Taylor's, and half a mile below, a sag to Pennsylvania. 
We go under the turnpike bridge of three spans, and see the 
village of Cochecton on our left, and Damascus on our right, and 
a small creek that is in a hurry to get to the river. 

The scenery for a long distance has been wild — beautifully 
grand; and in no other way can it be seen to so good advantage 
as by following the course of the river as it winds and turns 
around the bases of these "everlasting hills." Skirting the base 
of a steep mountain, it W'ill turn shortly around its extreme 
point, the other side will be presented to view, and likely enough 
present a more wild and rugged aspect still. Hill after hill, and 
mountain after mountain will appear, as you look back, to be 
overlapping each other, as though nature had intended to rip 
rap the Delaware with giant hills. Ah! noble Delaware. The 
beauties of thy scenery that thou hast been ages in fashioning, 
hath a charm for me that no words can express, nor no pen depict. 

Below Cochecton for a ways, there are hills (some of them 
Avooded, and some of them barren) on one side of the river, and 
on the other, fine pieces of bottom land, alternating. We see 
Page's cove on the New York side oi a little island, near which 
is another oil tank, belonging to the Pipe Line Co. Just below, 
Beaverdam creek comes in from Pennsylvania. Passing along, 
there are to southward some rocks on the Pennsylvania side 
that to the uninitiated would seem as though we could not miss 
them, as we enter Cochecton falls, about one-half mile in length, 
where the water is rough and going at a rapid rate. We set 
tow ards the Jersey side, but we do not pull for another set away 
from them carries us rapidly on. A little cross-pulling to keep 
off the rocks on the right, and we are running on a nice stretch of 
river with low hills on either hand till we pass Jersey of Horse 
island. At its foot we set towards the rocks on the west shore, 
and pass Hog Island on that side, make a short turn to Jersey, 
pass over Prayer Rock Rift, set strong towards a mountain on 
the right, that is one of the guardians of Big Eddy. On tl e 
Jersey side, opposite us, is what is called the "upper eddy." Ice 



488 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

is seen along the shore. It is no uncommon sight to see the ice 
piled up on either shore twenty feet high, from Cochecton to 
Big Eddy, a distance of nine miles. The channel is narrow, 
the water deep, and carries us rapidly along. We pass under a 
wooden bridge that stretches here from shore to shore by a 
single span, resting upon abutments of solid rock, placed there 
long before the waters of the Delaware had marked its course 
from the hills of Delaware County to the sea. 

Big Eddy is circular in form, and about three miles in cir- 
cumference, surrounded by gently sloping hills, with a little 
valley on either side, where two small creeks empty in. Towards 
the lower end is a small island, and to the left is a village, and a 
station on the Erie called Narrowsburg. The river is narrow 
above, and when the ice breaks up it almost always gorges here, 
and the eddy is so completely land-locked that it is the last place 
on the river to break its icy bounds. Many a raftsman has 
waited wearily for days after starting, for the ice to break up. 

Many a steersman has been fooled, for as the raft neared the 
island, and he thought they were going out nicely, a swirl, 
common and peculiar to this eddy, has caught the raft and 
carried it back to the starting point, to be repeated time after 
time, until perchance a rope is thrown to those on the island, 
and the raft hauled past, and the current carries the raft out of 
the treacherous water. When the water is high, and the wind 
blows, it is yet more difficult to leave, and it is said that at one 
time, so many rafts had stopped there, that a man actually 
crossed the eddy by walking from raft to raft. In times of 
flood, rafts are known to have been completely capsized by being 
caught in those great swirls, and torn to pieces and tossed about 
as though they had been straws. At some remote period there 
r-ust have been an abrupt waterfall here that first formed the 
e'ldy. Its shape, the great depth of water, and the rock above it 
through which the river now runs, and through which it has 
worn its course to its present bed, attests that at some time far 
back, here was a beautiful waterfall, and if a fairy's wand could 
have made the water to fly away, a miniature Yosemite would 
have been disclosed to our wondering vision. 

A few years ago, an attempt was made to find petroleum in 
the vicinity of Big Eddy. A drill was sunk to the depth of 
six hundred feet on the Pennsylvania side, just below the rocks 



A RAFTIXG STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 489 

close to the water, and some indications of oil were found, but 
the work was stopped by the finding of a piece of railroad rail 
far down in the hole, and all efforts to get it out were unavailing. 
It was thought to have been put there by a dissatisfied workman 
who had been discharged. We can see below us that the hills 
are more open, and we pull from the rocks on the right. Quick 
water soon takes us to Vangelder's Eddy, on our left, and over 
Little Rocky rift to Smooth rift, and we are at the head of Little 
Cedar Falls. 

The Erie Railway has been, from Deposit, on the New York 
side, but now it crosses over to Pennsylvania on a three-span 
bridge, with two piers in the river. Here, above the bridge a 
point sets out from the right and a heavy sag to Jersey that 
steersmen try to pull from. If their calculations are not right, a 
stave-up on the Pennsylvania pier is not uncommon. 

Passing this safely, we are over another rift and at Ten-Mile 
River, that comes in on the Jersey side, and we are in a large, 
beautiful eddy, one of the most secure places for rafts in time of 
high water; and yet from this eddy in the flood of October, 1869, 
many rafts broke from their fastenings and were lost. Among 
those who lost their lumber are several who live in Walton. 
This, too, is the home of the L'ankins. Richard and William 
live here, brothers of Superintendent Hankins, of the Ontario & 
Western railway. 

Below the eddy is a point notable for the amount of food- 
wood that lodges there, and an old man, Cobus Hofl'man by 
name, known as "Floodwood" Hof man, made a living (if nothing 
more) by gathering the floodwood, making it into rafts, and 
running it to Philadelphia, cutting into wood and selling it. He 
would build a shanty on his raft and live in it until his raft was 
all cut up and sold. 

Our next place is Pine Grove station on our right, where v\e 
enter Mast Hope Falls. The current sets toward Pennsylvania, 
and thence to Jersey, and we are soon' passing Grassy Swamp 
creek and rift, and go by some rocks on our left, that are bad to 
run rafts over. We run between hi^h hills on either hand, 
through Westcolang falls, and run to Jersey, pass Holbert's 
bend, hold to Jersey, and are carried swiftly by Narrow falls 
into Lackawaxen pond, about two miles in length. At Holbert's 
bend a creek comes in. The Erie railroad crosses the creek, and 



490 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

over thirty years ago, this bridge broke down while a stock train 
was crossing. A number of the men employed on the train, and 
many cattle, were killed. 

Lacka WAXEN River and Dam 

Lackawaxen dam was built by the Delaware & Hudson Canal 
Co., to form a slack water for canal boats to cross, and as a feeder 
for the canal. Boats were crossed here by means of a rope ferry 
for a long tirre while the Erie Railway was being built. The 
Lackawaxen River comes in about one hundred rods above the 
dam; it is the largest tributary of the Delaware so far. On the 
Lackawaxen, a large amount of lumber has been rafted for many 
years, but the number of rafts grows less each year, and not 
many years hence, lumbering will be an industry of the past. 
Even now it is a rare thing to see a colt come down the Lacka- 
waxen. The mouth of the Lackawaxen is wide and deep, and 
rafts used to be run from thirty miles from the Delaware. This 
stream drains a large section of country, its main tributary having 
its rise on the same ridge from whence the Equinunk creek takes 
its rise, flowing almost in an opposite direction. 

It was evident to the canal company that as the Erie Railroad 
was to cross the canal, it would be to their advantage to compel 
it to make an over-crossing, so an alteration of the canal was 
made for a short distance, and an aqueduct built across the 
river about 300 feet below the dam, made of timbers resting upon 
four solid pieces of masonry, where it stands as evidence of the 
progress of engineering skill. Every precaution has been taken 
by the canal company to prevent loss to raftsmen. Wings extend 
from the dam up, four or five hundred feet, and near the upper 
end of the wings a buoy is anchored to guide steersmen in enter- 
ing the channel, and run safely between the piers on which the 
aqueduct rests. Chutes are made of timber from the dam to the 
aqueduct piers. The canal company built a house on the bank 
twenty-five or thirty rods below the creek, which is occupied by 
an agent, who asks the name of the owner of every raft that 
passes, and the name of the steersman, and directs him how and 
when and where to pull, and how to run. But notwithstanding 
all these precautions, a raft gets stove against the piers occasion- 
ally, when the canal company promptly pays all damages. 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 491 

Just below the canal is the little village of Lackawaxen, and 
an Erie station of the same name. We pass on between high 
hills and rocks, with the canal on our left and the railroad on 
our right, and we pass Big Rocky Rift. Opposite Big Rocky 
Rift, a mile below the dam, on the New York side, is where the 
battle of the Lackawaxen (Minisink) was fought, between the 
Indians and whites, the former commanded by the famous 
Mohawk Chief Brandt, and the whites by Colonel Hathorn, 
July 22, 1779. Forty-four whites were slain. Their bones lay 
bleaching on the ground until 1820, when they were gathered and 
buried at Goshen, and a monument erected at that place. An- 
other monument was set up, a few years ago, that can be seen 
on looking in a northerly direction from a farm house on the 
New York bank, at Handsome Eddy. 

We next pass the mouth of Beaver Brook, coming in on the 
left, and soon we are in Big Cedar Falls, with a strong set to 
Jersey. Look out for Owens' eel weir rift, for the channel is 
narrow, and the water quickly takes us under Barryville bridge, 
and by the village of the same name in Pennsylvania, and the 
Halfway brook in New York, once a great lumbering point. 

W'e soon see Shohola rock, and quickly pass Shohola Falls 
and Shohola Creek. The Shohola Creek has its rise in Pennsyl- 
vania, about six miles west of Dingman's eddy, a point thirty- 
four miles below the mouth of the creek. The course of the 
creek actually makes its run north not far from the river, and 
pours its black waters through a deep, dark, rocky gorge into 
Shohola, or Megic falls. 

Just below Shohola, during the War of the Rebellion, a train 
filled with Confederate soldiers, prisoners, was run into by a 
coal train, and many men were killed, who were buried here on 
the railroad land. 

Just below the falls on the New York side, is the quarry from 
whence the famous stone was taken, a year or two ago, for W. H. 
Vanderbilt, and where a still larger one is being quarried for a 
millionaire New Yorker. 

Below Shohola the country opens on the left, but on the right 
a ledge of rock comes down to the water, along whose side a 
track for the railroad has been blasted, seventy feet from the 
water, and where the engineers were let down in baskets, to mark 
the course for the workmen. 



492 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

We are now at Handsome Eddy, a beautiful stretch of water 
two miles in length, gently washing the shore on our left. We 
move along slowly and smoothly, and soon see Canope's rock, 
pass it, on the right, enter Buttermilk Falls. 

Canope's Rock, at the head of Buttermilk Falls, was so named 
from the fact that Canope, an Indian, was shot on this rock, by 
Tom Quick, the noted Indian killer, after peace had been declared 
between the Colonies and Great Britain. Canope's companion, 
Ben Shanks, was shot at by Quick's comrade, but he escaped, 
fied up the river, and showed himself first to a Mr. Ross, who 
gave him shelter, and for whom Ross Island was named. Ross 
was one of the first settlers, and his descendants still live along 
the Delaware. 

There is an almost perpendicular ledge of rock several hundred 
feet high, extending several miles without a break, except where 
Carr's rock creek has worn its w^ay through to a level with the river. 
Here, at its mouth, the Erie crosses it on a high bridge, where, 
the reader will remember that, a few years ago (1869), happened 
one of the greatest railroad disasters on record. Some of the 
ill-fated passengers went into the river, and some into the creek 
and were drowned, and some were killed outright by the smash; 
and to add to the horrors, the wreck took fire, and some perished 
in the flames. Nine lives were lost and many wounded; this 
holocaust of human beings will make Carr's Rock to be remem- 
bered as long as the Erie Railroad is in existence. A few days 
after, a freight train went off the rocks into the river just below 
where the first accident happened. The river was strewn for 
miles with flour, grain, etc., and debris of the wreck. 

At Carr's Rock we enter Three Mile rift, reaching to Pond 
Eddy, with a small village on the New York side. At the lower 
end of the Eddy is a wire suspension bridge, with one pier in the 
river, which we pass on the right. A creek from Pennsylvania 
empties into the Eddy. 

Below Pong Eddy is Stair-way rift, where Stair-way brook 
comes in from Pennsylvania. Here the canal is walled up from 
the river, on our left. Here, as well as in other places, many a 
raftsman has learned that he was no match for the canal hand 
in epithet or billingsgate. The water is what raftsmen call 
quick, and it soon takes us in sight of Mongaup Island, (the 
first one since leaving Big Eddy), which we pass on the left side, 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 493 

and enter the Mongaup Falls, on the Pennsylvania side, and at 
the foot receive the water of Mongaup Creek, from New York, 
the second largest tributary, and know that we are nearing 
Butler's Falls. Pull up close to the Island to avoid the "Cellar 
Hole." This is swift water here, and an island or point makes 
out from the right, and the water sets strong to Jersey. In 
building the canal that here runs around the base of a mountain, 
close to the river, a slope wall was built that the water sets 
strong against, and a little out from the wall, is a large rock over 
which the water pours swiftly, forming a huge roll below it, 
and bet^^een the rock and the roll is a deep depression in the 
water called the "Cellar Hole." To avoid this hole and the 
slope wall of the canal, rafts are pulled as close as possible to the 
point on the right. Sometimes mistakes are made, and the 
raft is stuck on the point, or they are a little too far Jersey, and 
must go through the "Cellar Hole," and have the "binders" 
torn off along the slope wall. Butler's is a bad place, and exacts 
tribute annually from the careless or incompetent. 

Below, the country is somewhat more open, but one mile 
farther on, we pass close to Sawmill Rift Island on the right, 
and to the right of all the piers on which the bridge rests upon 
which the railroad recrosses the Delaw^are into New York State. 
This is a long bridge, crossing both the river and canal. This 
rift is about a mile in length, with rocks on the west side, rough 
and ragged, nearly three hundred feet high, and woe to the raft 
that strikes them, going at such a rate as they go here. 

After Sawmill Rift we have a half mile of good water, and 
then pass Stiley Clip and Jerry Eddy, that is an excellent landing 
place on the New York side. 

A more open country is on our left, and we see a nice large 
village called Sparrowbush, and a station for the railroad. It 
was one of the conditions of the charter for the Erie, that a free 
bridge should be built across the river near Sparrowbush, for the 
accommodation of the people of Matamoras, on the Pennsyl- 
vania side. The bridge blew down in 1870, and a wire suspen- 
sion bridge was rebuilt at Port Jervis. 

The hills now recede both to the right and to the left, the 
valley of the Minisink opens to our view, the canal turns to the 
east, leaves the river, and in a little while is lost to view. 

Looking up the valley we see low hills, and valleys alternating, 



494 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

rising higher and higher, until hill and valley become indistinct, 
and are entirely hidden by the encircling blue on the heights 
beyond. 

We now see the village of Port Jervis, lying peacefully on our 
left, coming close down to the river, with a piece of tableland for a 
back ground, rising higher below the village, and terminating in a 
rocky bluff, forty or fifty feet in height. And here on its sum- 
mit stands a monument that marks a corner of the States of New 
York and New Jersey. 

Stiley Clip is passed (that is a selving rock that runs clear 
across the river, causing a large roll like the water flowing over a 
dam). 

Between the Clip and the Point we have a heavy sag to Jersey, 
and a little farther on, the water of the Neversink River that 
has been brought partly from the hills of Ulster County, is aiding 
in hurrying us towards Delaware Bay. 

On our left we can now see a spur of the Shawangunk Moun- 
tain, a goodly share of it almost bare, perpendicular rock, glinting 
in the sunshine. 

We have passed by several places of historic interest, that I 
will stop briefly to enumerate. 

Deposit, on the West Branch, was once a stopping place and 
rendezvous of Indians and pioneers called for long years. Cook 
House. Here, the Indians under Brandt, when Colonel Harper 
and others were prisoners, on their way to Niagara, made a halt. 

In the rocks spoken of, at Equinunk, there is said to be a 
cave in which a family of pioneer settlers took refuge, when pur- 
sued by Indians, and eluded their wily enemies. And it is said, a 
child was born while the family occupied this cave. They 
remained in it several days, and were rescued by a pioneer ranger, 
named Bosen, and taken to a place of safety. 

Where the little village of Damascus now stands, a fort once 
stood, for the protection of the scattered settlers. It was once 
attacked by Indians, but they were driven off without loss to its 
defenders. 

We receive the water of the Neversink, a larger stream than 
the Mongaup, and next to the Lackawaxen in size, and soon 
see on our left that v e are passing a group of islands, extending 
some two miles. They are called Neversink Islands. The 
river is wide, and v. e run across it and take our course along the 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 495 

Pennsylvania shore. When the wind blows, it is a bad place 
for rafts, and many an one has been stuck on some one of the 
islands. When the water is high and the wind blowing hard, 
rafts have been run Jersey of the islands; but the channel is nar- 
row and crooked, and steersmen never go there unless compelled 
to. 

Sheep-pasture Rift and Eddy are ne.xt passed, and a wide 
stretch of river with a group of islands, of which we now go 
Pennsylvania, and we are at Punkies, a place dreaded by rafts- 
men, because of shoal water and liability to encounter strong 
wind. 

There is a nice wide flat on the Pennsylvania side, for four 
miles from Port Jervis. We keep the Pennsylvania shore to 
Old Orchard Eddy. Here a bluff or point sets out. Pull up 
close to the point and land in the eddy below, which is caused 
by the point. On the bluff stands a house where hundreds of 
raftsmen have found shelter for the night. 

Leaving this eddy we pass Pennsylvania of May's Bar, and 
one of the largest villages of the Delaware is in sight. Milford 
is its name, the county seat of Pike County, Penna. This is a 
favorite landing place. There is quite a breadth of low land, 
and a busy, bustling town. The landing place, years ago, was 
called Cave Bank, from the nature of the soil. The bluff" is 
from fifty to one hundred feet high, with sub-soil of gravel, and 
at times when the water is high, the gravel washes out, and the 
surface caves or falls into the river. Van Etten keeps a hotel 
that is built on this bluff. At one time the bank caved off to 
such an extent that the hotel was abandoned for a while. Mil- 
ford, too, is famous for being the home of Tom Quick, before 
mentioned. Here he lived. Here, too, the tragedy was enacted, 
by the killing of his father and his family, before his very face, 
that turned all the kindness of his generous heart for the red- 
skins, to undying hatred of the race. 

Just below Milford, the Sawkill comes in and a boat comes 
out. with Pennsylvania apple-jack, of which the hands partake, 
which they must soon pay for by a sharp pull. Set to Jersey, 
and a half mile below pass under a wire suspension bridge, with 
one pier in the river, sag to Jersey, pull back to run Pennsylvania 
of a group of islands called Minisink Islands. Along this group 
of islands is Brink's Rift. On the Pennsylvania shore is a beauti- 



496 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

ful flat, and a large fine barn, which has for a vane, the image of a 
negro, holding in one hand a bunch of cigars. This is good wheat 
and corn land. Below the rift a rope ferry is used to cross from 
the main land to the islands. The islands extend along on the 
Jersey side for about three miles. 

The mountain now comes to the river on the Pennsylvania 
side, and the rocks rise to a height of three hundred or four hun- 
dred feet above Death Eddy, that takes its name from the tradi- 
tion that a party of Whites were driven by Indians to these rocks, 
and what were not killed by their pursuers went over the rocks 
and were killed by the fall, or drowned in the eddy. 

Just below is Death Eddy Island. Some men were once seen 
planting corn on the island and covering it with their bare feet, 
the soil being so loose and sandy as to admit of that mode of 
planting. Just below the edd>- was an ancient landing place, 
but now abandoned. 

The country is more open again, and a smooth, nice stretch 
of water for two and a half miles takes us to Dingman's, a long, 
nice eddy on the Pennsylvania side. More rafts land here than 
at any other place on the river, above Upper Black's Eddy. 
This is of late years cjuite a summer resort for city people. A 
small steamer is used here in the eddy, which is two miles in 
length, and good hotel accommodations can be had. The grand, 
beautiful scenery, pure mountain air and water, make it attrac- 
tive to many. 

Here a few years ago, I was shown by Westbrook Dingman, 
an old stone chimney, where his father was shot by the Indians 
during the Revolutionary War, the family having escaped by 
taking refuge in a block house near by. 

During the war a squadron of cavalry, commanded by Count 
Pulaski, had to be sent to this region for the protection of the 
settlers, but his command was soon sent south to reinforce 
General Gates, where the patriotic Polander gave his life to the 
then uncertain cause of American liberty. After his withdrawal 
the Indians kept the settlers in a state of constant fear, and many 
barbarities and cruelties were perpetrated by them, the death of 
Bingman, as recorded above, being one of them. 

Across from here in the Shawangunk Mountains, can be seen 
where the Walkill River rises, that runs into the Hudson. 

Below, a bridge once crossed the Delaware, which was blown 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 497 

down a few years ago, and has not yet been rebuilt. A great 
number of railroad ties, ship-knees, and hoop poles, are shipped 
from here on rafts to Philadelphia. 

Below, we pass a rift, and have two miles of nice, quick water, 
and a stretch of fine farming land on either side, when we make to 
Jersey, and enter Safe and Easy Landing Place Eddy, and pass 
Jersey off Bacon Egg Island, keep Jersey to pass Schapenac Bar 
below, run to Pennsylvania of Rock Bar, pass VanAuker's cove 
nearly two miles in length, go Jersey of Buck's Bar, pull to Penn- 
sylvania to Fiddler's Elbow to avoid the sag and a shelving rock 
that runs out into the water on the opposite side. 

Below the point of rock is an eddy called lower VanAuker's. 

Below this on the Jersey side, is a steep gravel bluff, from 
which, a few years ago, several acres slid into the river, but the 
current soon washed it away. Just below, the water sets to 
Pennsylvania, and we pull along to Mullner's cove, a favorite 
landing place. Pass by and we are in sight of Wallpack Bend, 
and make over to Jersey Point. At the bend the Bushkill comes 
in from the Pennsylvania side. 

This was formerly quite a rafting stream for oak joice. The 
joice were rafted in small floats, set edgewise, with a spindle 
run through a hole in each end. The oars were so small that 
a man could carry one on his shoulder, and were taken back and 
used on other floats. 

The mouth of the Bushkill is a favorite resort of sportsmen. 
They are often seen here fishing for bass and other fish. 

Passing the Bushkill, we pull Jersey to avoid the heavy sag 
which sets strong to Pennsylvania. 

A little below here is a rock that looks like a huge volume of 
books piled upon each other; one a little shelving rock called 
Bible Rock, has separated from the ledge and slid down into the 
river. Below Bible Rock is Wallpack Ferry, and an eddy on the 
Pennsylvania side. We run about half a mile, and Flat Brook, a 
large stream, comes in on the Jersey side. About half a mile up 
this stream is the neat little village of Flat Brook. 

Leaving the village of Flat Brook we hold strong to Pennsyl- 
vania, and see a rocky bluff on our left. Quick water takes us 
past Sambo and Mary rift, so named from the fact that a colored 
man and his wife were drowned here by their boat being upset. 
We have passed the lower town of Wallpack. The current now 



498 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

sets toward Pennsylvania, and we run along the side of a bare 
rocky hill, for about a mile, and come to VanCamp's Island. 
Opposite the Island, on the Pennsylvania shore, is VanCamp's 
Nose, a spur of the main rock that guards the shore here. While 
this spur may be like the nose for which it is named, in shape, 
color, etc., it is unlike it in hardness, or long since it would have 
been gone from the many smitings it has received from rafts, 
etc. We are now in sight of Mine House Island, and pass it on 
the Pennsylvania side, and run along by Loving Shore. Above 
the island we have passed Pahaquarry village and creek, on the 
Jersey side. At the foot of the island the current sets to Jersey, 
and we run through Shoemaker's Falls, and land in Shoemaker's 
Eddy, on Jersey side. The eddy is two or three miles long, and 
a great landing place. The flats are of fair width on the Pennsyl- 
vania side. It is two miles from here to the top of the Shawan- 
gunk mountain. 

Below Shoemaker's, we pass Jersey of Tock's and two other 
islands, and pass Labar's Eddy, go Pennsylvania of Muskrat 
Island, and pass Shawnee village and creek from Pennsylvania, 
just below Muskrat Island. Pull to the left and go Jersey of 
Depew Island. 

There are fine farms on some of these islands, one of them 
containing six hundred acres. William Dyer, so long a resident 
of Walton, lived in this section, and has worked on these islands 
many a day. 

We run forty feet from a point of rocks, and Jersey of all the 
piers of a new bridge, built last year by the New York, Susque- 
hanna and Western Railway. 

We follow along the Jersey shore to Smithfield Rift, having 
gone by the village of Tutsburg, Pa. The Broadhead Creek 
comes in from Pennsylvania, near the head of the rift. Look 
out for Little Smithfield Island, turn to the left, and follow down 
the Jersey shore, as the river heads south, and we see the Dela- 
ware & Lackawanna railroad on our right, and the N. Y., S. & W. 
on our left. They show very excellent engineering skill along 
the rocky base of the Shawangunk. 

We are at the Water Gap, and can see that the Delaware once 
met an obstruction, that here dared to cross its path and a foe 
to its farther progress, that was not to be despised — one that 
could not be frightened by any exhibition of its anger. Only 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 499 

by slow, steady, persistent effort could progress be made. The 
Shawangunk, towering 1,600 feet heavenward, on a granite base, 
was planted square across the track of the river, and bid her 
defiance. But the grand old Delaware was equal to the occasion. 
There was no chance for a flank movement, no sapping and 
mining, no underground passage, but a bold attack in front. If 
she couldn't go round, she would go over. So, day by day, week 
by week, year by year, century after century, rising higher and 
higher, until the summit was reached and an advance guard sent 
over — a tiny stream, growing larger day by day, as the passage 
was deepened in the crest of her formidable adversary, until, 
after many ages of ceaseless, unremitting washing, the giant 
Shawangunk was cleft from summit to base, and long years the 
water has flown peacefully along on its way to the ocean, without 
"let or hindrance" from this once rocky barrier. 



Delau^are Water Gap 

From here we can see, far up on the mountain side, in Penn- 
sylvania, the two hotels of the Brodheads, that are the resort 
in summer of thousands from the cities.* One of the Brod- 
heads once kept a hotel below the creek last mentioned, in a little 
village called Tutsburg, where one day two men came along and 
claimed his hospitality for a little while. After they had gone, 
the landlord discovered that his drawer had been robbed, and 
followed the thieves to his brother's, on the hillside. Finding 
they were to be caught, one of them drew a pistol and shot their 
pursuer dead, and wounded his brother, and fled. They were 
finally apprehended, tried, and sentenced to be hung; but before 
the day set for their execution, they escaped from jail. One was 
recaptured and hung, but the other made good his escape. 

On the Jersey side the rocks are almost perpendicular, and 
inaccessible to man; but it is said that honey bees have taken 
possession of the crevices in countless swarms. 

From top to top of the mountains, above the river, the dis- 

4 These two popular summer resorts were completely destroyed by fire. 
The Water Gap House, 300 feet above the river on Sunset Hill, opened June 
20, 1872, was burnt to the ground November 12, 1915. The Kittatinny, 
begun by Anthony Dutot in 1829, purchased by Samuel Snyder in 1832, and 
by him sold to William A. Brodhead in 1851, was completely destroyed by 
fire October 29, 1931. 



500 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

tance cannot be more than half a mile, and from the river to the 
top 1,600 feet. 

The layers, crevices and seams show indisputably that this 
was once one ledge of rock, and that the water has certainly 
worn a passage through it. The water here is deep, and current 
sluggish, and a steamer plies here for two miles, capable of carry- 
ing from fifty to one hundred passengers. 

The top of the Shawangunk can easily be reached by following 
the course of a small stream that comes into the river on the 
Jersey side. It was my good fortune to once stand upon the 
summit of this lofty mountain, and oh, could I but describe the 
beauties of the scenery that was unfolded to my enraptured 
vision! To the north and west, hill and mountain, valley and 
plans, ever presented a new and changing beauty as my eyes 
wandered over the landscape. Looking to the east and south 
such a grand panorama of the beauty of nature and of art pre- 
sented itself so quickly to my vision that I stood entranced by the 
sight and drank in the beauty of the scene before me to my 
heart's content. Looking to the right, sixteen hundred feet 
below me, rolled the Delaware, and on the left the Pawlinskill, 
and from where I stood a pebble could be thrown into either one. 
Far below% to the south, the river could be traced to Easton, 
looking like a silver thread winding along, sometimes close to the 
base of some hill that is a spur of the mountain, on the Pennsyl- 
vania side, and anon leaving the hills and marking its course 
through the low ground. I saw its tributaries, as they too 
glistened in the sun; saw field and forest, farmhouse and hamlet, 
village and town; saw away, far away, till earth and sky meet 
in one circling of blue. The cars of the D. L. & W. and the 
N. Y., S. & W. pass swiftly along, far below, with a deafening 
roar, for the voices of gentlemen and ladies can be plainly heard 
from the river. It is not uncommon when rafts are going to 
Trenton, in May, June or July, to see parties of ladies and gentle- 
men on the top of the mountain, and to hear them in conversa- 
tion. The changes that have been wrought here by engineering 
are almost as marvelous as those that have been made by nature. 
The D. L. & W. railroad has been built on the Pennsylvania side, 
and shows good skill in the building; but the task was light com- 
pared with the effort to build a roadway for the N. Y., S. & W. 
on the Jersey side of this rocky cleft. At the place where we 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 501 

emerge from the "gap," on the Jersey side, is a perpendicular 
point of rock rising sheer from the water, called the Indian 
Ladder, so named from the fact that the Indians in passing 
through the gap, on the Jersey side, going up and down the river, 
would place crotched sticks on either side of this point of rocks, 
and were thus enabled to pass this perpendicular barrier that 
they could not scale. Here the rocks have been blasted, and a 
road-bed formed for the railroad. 

As we pass through the causeway and look back, it shows the 
Gap yet more clearly defined, and for miles its proportions are 
clearly defined against the northern sky. Just below the point 
of rocks is an eddy, where rafts were formerly loaded with 
roofing slate, the only way to get it to market before the Dela- 
w^are and Lackawanna railroad was built. 

Soon after we leave the Gap, Gap Island takes our attention, 
for the wind sometimes blows hard here, and rafts not unfre- 
quently get stuck on the island. We go Jersey of the island. 
We can now see a village of houses on the Jersey side, built 
expressly for the workmen in Howell's quarry, where roofing 
slate alone is quarried. Howell paid for this quarry $100,000, 
about twelve years ago. A half mile below is Decker's wire rope 
ferry. 

As we have passed several of these ferries, it may be of interest 
to the reader to describe them. A post, tower or tree is located 
on either bank, and a wire rope hauled taut, from eight to twenty 
feet above the w^ater. Pulleys are then attached with bow and 
stern ropes attached from the pulleys to the boat. The boat is 
provided with planks at each end, on hinges, that fold onto the 
boat while crossing. When the boat lands they are turned over 
onto the shore, forming a bridge. The boat is now ready and 
the stern pulley rope is let out and the stern of the boat drops 
down, lying at an angle w^ith the rope, and the current carries 
the boat across. To recross, reverse the pulley ropes, and the 
bow of the boat becomes the stern. Some of these ferries are 
valuable, being counted by the owners worth as much as a good 
farm. 

We soon pass by a smart Pennsylvania village, called Slate- 
ford, where slate of all kinds are quarried and sent to all cities and 
villages within reach. Limestone ledges are seen, and in several 
places have been cut through by the river, but always giving 



502 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

evidence of gradually running out, as they are seen on the Jersey 
side. The limestone also shows that the character of the soil 
has changed since leaving the Gap. Along this section the 
inhabitants rely very much upon cistern water, the subsoil being 
of impenetrable flint limestone rock. 

Not far below Slateford we enter Dilsey's Rift, at the foot of 
which a railroad bridge was built last year. This bridge is one 
hundred rods above the toll bridge which connects the little 
village of Columbia, in New Jersey, with the larger Pennsylvania 
village of Portland. 

As we come in sight of the upper bridge, the piers of each are 
seen, and appear to block our way; but if the piers of the first 
are safely passed, we have no trouble with the second. 

The principal industry of Portland is the manufacture of 
school slates, which makes it the great market for the cherry 
that raftsmen run down the river and is made into slate frames, 
which so many of the young readers of the Chronicle use daily 
in the schools. Portland is also a good market for logs. 

Leaving Portland we soon pass the mouth of Pawlinskill 
Creek, and enter Bowman's Rift, after which we have a mile 
of still water, and go under a four-span bridge, on which the 
D. L. & W. railroad crosses the river. This bridge is called by 
raftsmen Sliding Rift bridge. Sliding Rift is about one mile 
long with a strong set of the current to Pennsylvania. Leaving 
the rift we soon come to Anter's Eddy, which is about two miles 
long. It is a great landing place on the Pennsylvania side. Here 
also are two wire-rope ferries. At the foot of the eddy we come 
to a group of islands, and pass Jersey of two of them, and Penn- 
sylvania of Mack's and Buttermilk island. There is a large and 
well-cultivated farm, with good buildings on Mack's Island, and a 
wire ferry from the Pennsylvania shore to it. 

Opposite Mack's Island the D. L. & W. Railway forms a 
junction with the Trenton & Belvidere Railroad.^ Here it 
plunges into a tunnel, and we see it no more. 

The current sets strong to Pennsylvania all the way round 
Butternut Island. Soon we pass Hartsell's Creek and mill, 
and enter Big Indian Rift.. We set again to the right and pass 

5 The Belvidere & Trenton Railroad mentioned in this paper refers to 
the Belvidere Delaware Railroad running from Trenton to Manunka Chunk, 
later a branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 503 

Mcllhaney's Eddy, above Belvidere bridge, under which we 
pass, one pier from Pennsylvania, and have reached Belvidere, 
eleven miles below the Delaware Water Gap. 

Belvidere is the county seat of Warren County, N. J., and 
where the Pequest, another large tributary, comes in. It is also 
a good market for logs. 

We can see that the features of the country have changed. 
On the right it is rough and broken, as spurs of the Blue Moun- 
tains set toward the east. 



Shooting Foul Rift 

Soon after leaving Belvidere, pick up all loose stuff, and 
make things snug and safe, and prepare for Little Foul Rift. 
Enter the rift two-thirds to Pennsylvania, and passing this a 
stretch of slack water brings us to the right of Foul Rift Island. 
Enter Big Foul Rift about forty feet from the Pennsylvania 
shore, and run down close to finger rocks, on Pennsylvania. 
Guard against set of water to Jersey, look out for reef of rocks 
on Jersey shore, and in a few minutes, if nothing happens, we 
have passed Foul Rift, the place most dreaded on the Delaware. 
In going through, rafts sometimes dive and strike sunken rocks, 
over which the water is going at race-horse speed. The raft 
that strikes is badly shattered and great loss is sustained. 

About twelve years ago a raft dove, and struck a rock. One 
of the logs broke loose, ended over and fell on one of the fore 
hands, and hurt him so badly that he died in a few hours. 

The rift is caused by the course of the river running through a 
ledge of limestone rock, that is rough and ragged, and from one 
to two hundred feet high on the Pennsylvania shore. Little 
Foul Rift and Foul Rift proper, including the slack water between, 
are three miles in length, and the time consumed in running is 
about fifteen minutes. The fore-hands stand to their oars and 
look to the steersman to receive any orders he may give, for a 
raft will sometimes take a sheer, and a clip or two is necessary, 
and the order must be given by signs, for no human voice can be 
heard in this mad rush of waters. Just below the rift is an eddy, 
and a boat comes out with whisky for sale, and the temperance 
principles of many a man has been put to a severe strain here. 
A man must be well grounded in his faith or he will imbibe after 



504 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

the intense excitement and tense strain of the nerves through 
which he has just passed. 

Years ago, before canal or railroads were built, boats called 
Durham boats, plied the river, and all the trafihc of the river 
was carried on in boats and canoes. Durham boats have 
ascended the river as far as Walton, propelled by setting poles 
and oars. To ascend Foul Rift, rings were fastened by staples 
to the rocks, and ropes were used to haul the boats up through 
the rift. 

Soon after leaving the eddy we pass Big Capush, by running 
between two islands, and find quick water to Jones' Eddy. 

Here on the Jersey shore is Hutchinsons, a little hamlet 
and station on Belvidere & Trenton Railroad. It is a good 
landing place, and many a raft damaged in Foul Rift has been 
repaired there. Here also, Buckhorn Creek empties into the 
eddy, on which are two sawmills, where up-river logs are sawed 
into lumber. On leaving the eddy, we see a limestone rock on the 
Jersey side, and see on the same side the Trenton & Belvidere 
Railroad. We pass to the left of Smalley's Island, find quick 
water for a mile, then slow to Martin's Creek, on the Pennsyl- 
vania side. Here is a wire-rope ferry crossing the river from 
Martin's Creek to the railroad station on the Jersey shore. 

On Martin's Creek, in Pennsylvania, are a flouring mill, a 
sawmill, a cotton factory, and tannery. The distillery once on 
this creek was burned several years ago. (Later two plants of 
the Alpha Portland Cement Company were located here. The 
village on the New Jersey side is called Brainards.) 

Leaving Martin's Creek, we enter Hog Rift, so called from 
the many hogs which had died from eating distillery slops and 
been thrown into the river, and lodged along the shore, tainting 
the air with their putrid carcasses. The rift is about half a mile 
long, after which we find slack water about one mile and a half, 
and we are in Sandt's Eddy. Leaving Sandt's, we have still 
water till we enter Little Indian Rift, about half a mile long, 
where there is shoal water, and many rafts stick. We soon 
approach Warricott Falls. Just below the falls, on the Pennsyl- 
vania shore, we see Shannertown, a smart little Dutch village. 
Here we see a ledge of rock that crosses the path of the river, 
and through which a channel has been cut by the action of the 
water, and here at the lower end of the ledge a spur of the rock 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 505 

Stands out prominently, and far up from the water it bears a 
resemblance to a human face, and is called Anthony's Nose. On 
the Pennsylvania side, above the ledge, we pass Durham Boat 
Rock, looking like a Durham boat bottom-side up. Below the 
falls, pass Pennsylvania of a rocky point, and are in the great 
upper eddy, at Easton. 

Easton and Phillipsburg 

At the foot of the eddy is Getter's Island. Easton is beauti- 
fully located, bounded on the east by the Delaware, north and 
west by high ground, and on the south by the Lehigh River. 
The Delaware is spanned by three bridges, two of which are rail- 
road bridges. The upper one is a public bridge. Just below 
this the Lehigh River comes in from Pennsylvania and makes a 
dangerous current which makes it difficult to pass the piers of 
the two railroad bridges. It was here several years ago that a 
raft struck one of the piers, and Andrew Morley, at the time 
living in the town of Walton, was thrown into the water and 
drowned. His body was found some eight miles below, several 
days afterward. These railroad bridges (between Easton and 
Phillipsburg) are the greatest obstruction to rafts found on the 
river, and cause more loss than any other. 

Opposite Easton, on the Jersey side, is Phillipsburg, a large 
and growing village. 

Three railroads, viz.: The Morris & Essex, Lehigh Valley, 
and New Jersey Central, center here. The Morris Canal ter- 
minates here, and forms a junction with the Lehigh Canal. 
Boats from that canal lock into the river, and cross the river in 
slack water, formed by a dam built for the purpose, and enter 
the canal by an incline plane on the other side. 

The three railroads cross on two iron bridges, one bridge 
having two tracks, one above the other. The piers of both 
bridges are exactly in line, and about twelve feet apart. 

Easton is a city, and nicely laid out, the streets running 
east and west, and north and south, with an active, energetic 
population of 12,000. It is a large manufacturing city, many 
mills being used for manufacturing lumber, and consequently 
the great log market, where more logs are bought than at any 
other point on the Delaware. Opposite is the island spoken of 



506 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

above, that takes its name from the fact that a man by the 
name of Getter was hung on it a long time ago. The island is 
treeless and rocky, about fifty rods long, and fifteen or twenty 
wide. The execution was public, and many hundreds of people 
witnessed it.^ 

Along by this island, on March 6, 1860, a catastrophe occurred, 
that will be remembered for many years to come. A little 
steamboat had been built, in Easton, to ply in the waters of the 
Delaware. For its trial trip the builder of the boat volunteered 
to act as engineer, assisted by his son. The boat was let into 
the river through a lock in the Lehigh Canal, arid steamed 
proudly by the city, gaily decked with flags and streamers, 
and filled with many prominent citizens, while hundreds on the 
shore and on the island witnessed the first trial of the little stern- 
wheel steamer. The water is deep close along the island, but 
the current is strong, and as they neared the island, setting poles 
were used to help the little steamer stem this swift water. When 
alongside the island, a dull heavy report was heard. The boiler 
of the boat had exploded, and what was a scene of mirth and 
joy but a moment before, was changed to one of woe and wailing. 
The deck and smokestack were blown clear on to the island, 
and the hull floated down and lodged against a pier of the rail- 
road bridge. Judge Sharp and the builder (the volunteer engi- 
neer), and his son, together with a number of the prominent 
persons of the vicinity, both ladies and gentlemen, perished 
with the ill-fated steamboat. We were going down the river 
at the time, in company with A. J. Andrews, of Walton, and 
Jonathan Dicks, now of Unadilla. We were near enough to 
hear and see the explosion. Seeing the dead, as they were 
carried on shore, and hearing the cries of the wounded, and the 
wail of friends that had so suddenly been bereft, made an impres- 
sion upon our mind that will never be forgotten. Our raft 
passed down through the floating debris, and several articles 
were hauled upon it. 

We now turn to a more pleasant object; for high up above, 
to the west, with stone steps leading thereto, stands Lafayette 
College (founded in 1832). 

6 Charles Getter was publicly executed on this island October 4, 1833, 
for the murder of his wife, and the island has ever since been known as Getter's 
Island. 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 507 

The Lehigh Canal also comes to the river, and here turns 
to the right and follows the river to Bristol, where boats lock 
into the river and are towed to Philadelphia. Ten miles above 
Bristol, at Bordentown, boats are also locked into the river, 
and many go from there to New Brunswick by the Raritan ship 
canal. 

In the olden time. Governor George Wolfe owned a fine 
farm, just above Easton, and twenty cradlers were once seen 
cutting wheat, followed by twenty women binding the grain into 
bundles. A famous steersman, a long time ago, was compelled 
to stay a number of days in Easton, when its population was 
considerably less than now, and he related to me that the sim- 
plicity of the manners of the people charmed him, as well as the 
costumes of the ladies, who were very fond of promenading on 
fine afternoons, clad invariably in lace cap, petticoat and short 
gown. 

The piers of the old public bridge are forty feet thick, and 
the arches twenty-five feet from the river, yet in the January 
flood of 1845 (1841?) a log was driven by the water through the 
bridge above the arch over the Pennsylvania span. At Easton, 
more rafts are stovfe on the piers of the lower, or railroad bridges, 
than at any other bridge on the Delaware. The current here 
is very strong and changeable, because of the waters of the 
Lehigh. Sometimes the freshet in the river will be moderate, 
and "big water" in the Lehigh, when that river will make a per- 
ceptible current clear across the Delaware. Then again the 
Delaware will be high and the Lehigh low, and again, both will 
be high or both moderate, changing in either case, the set of the 
water to or from the piers, and the most careful and experienced 
steersman is at fault at times in his calculations, and a stave-up 
is the result. 

After leaving the lower bridge, at Easton, the current sets 
to Pennsylvania against the canal wall, for two miles; and to the 
left, on the Jersey side, are extensive iron smelting works (the 
Andover Iron Company's plant, consisting of three blast fur- 
naces). A creek (the Lopatcong) comes in from Jersey, at 
Bridleman's Bend, and yet the water sags to Jersey against a 
high limestone ledge, and opposite, on our right, is Whipplewill 
Island. Here the roadbed for the Trenton & Belvidere Railroad 
(Belvidere-Delaware) is walled up from the water, and at the 



508 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

foot of the island is a landing place. Below the ledge, great 
kilns for burning lime are seen, where a great amount of lime is 
burned, and sold to the farmers in that region, who raise large 
quantities of wheat and corn. 

A mile below, we come to and go Jersey of Cross Water 
Island, and at the foot of it there are strong swirls that sometimes 
catch the forward oars and makes an experienced fore-hand 
careful, for once in a while a man gets knocked into the river by 
his oar. 

We next come to Old Sow Island, go Pennsylvania of it, and 
the current sets to the wall of the Delaware Division Canal, lay 
up to Pennsylvania by Uhlerville, to pass to the right of Ground 
Hog Island. On the Jersey, side we see Carpenterville, where 
the Pohatcong Creek comes in. The main part of the river goes 
Jersey of the Island, but sags heavy and is filled with sunken 
rocks. At the foot of the island is a curious swirling, where it is 
said is greater depth of water than any place along the river. 
Here the water runs through another of those granite ledges of 
South Mountain and forms what is called Haycocks (Rocky 
Falls) by raftsmen. The current sets first to Pennsylvania, 
and here we run close to a sunken rock, called "entering rock," 
to avoid as much as possible the heavy sag. We pull up sharp 
to Jersey, to miss two submerged rocks. The current now sags 
to Jersey, with a narrow, crooked channel, and sunken rocks on 
both sides, which require care and skill to pass in safety. Soon 
we come in sight of Musconetcong village in Jersey (name 
changed in 1876 to Riegelsville, N. J.), and the bridge (an old- 
fashioned lattice bridge), and Riegelsville, on the Pennsylvania 
side. Here the Musconetcong empties into the Delaware. We 
go between the piers and have slack water for a mile or more to 
Durham Rift. At Quinn's Falls, below Riegelsville, N. J., the 
great n^iills are supplied with motive power by water being 
diverted by a wing-wall dam from the rift to a huge "undershot" 
wheel that turns the machinery. On the Pennsylvania side, 
about one mile below Riegelsville, where the Durham Creek 
empties into the Delaware, are located the Durham Iron Works 
and a village, also the Durham cave, quite a large cavern in a 
limestone hill. The river then sags to Pennsylvania, and we 
look out for Old Fry rock. Here at Monroe another Pennsyl- 
vania creek (Rogers Run) comes in. About one and a half 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 509 

miles below Old Fry rock we come to Lynn's Island and falls, 
which we pass eight rods from the Jersey shore, and at the foot 
get a sag to Pennsylvania, and have a stretch of nice water for 
about two miles. On our right, a ledge of red sandstone, known as 
the narrows or palisades of Nockamixon, rises high and sheer 
from the ground, with just room between the river and the ledge 
for the public road and the canal. Here, where a part of this 
perpendicular ledge rises to a height of three hundred feet, 
tradition says that a tragedy was enacted that illustrates the 
favorite maxim of the great Napoleon, that "human nature is 
the same under the same circumstances," and that the dusky 
denizen of the forest acted at times just like his pale-faced 
brother. An Indian of the tribe inhabiting this region, had a 
beautiful squaw, of whom he had become intensely jealous, and 
he determined upon her destruction. One day he lured his unsus- 
pecting victim to the highest point of the ledge, and with loving, 
lying words upon his tongue, deceiving his beautiful dusky mate. 
Aw-aiting the right moment, with a smile upon his lips, but mur- 
der in his heart, and the glitter of the "green-eyed monster" 
flashing fury from his eye, he hurled her from the ledge to the 
broken rocks below^ a distance of three hundred feet, where her 
lifeless body was afterward found. 

On the Jersey side the country is fine. The river bears away 
to the west and we find a smart rift called Nockamixon and see 
the bluff half a mile below, and can see Upper Black's Eddy. 
Here the Nockamixon Creek comes in. Up this creek is a great 
section for raising watermelons. Once upon a time, just at night, 
a raft was passing the mouth of the creek, when a boat manned 
by two or three boys came out loaded with watermelons. They 
were accused of stealing the melons, which the boys denied, but 
on being told that if they would give the raftsmen some of the 
fruit no information would be given to the authorities, nor to any 
one, and though they still denied the charge they put on the raft a 
half dozen of the finest luscious melons that ever regaled the 
palate. Shortly the raft (which was a single one) was lashed to 
another one that had ladies for passengers, and a house for their 
accommodation, in which the melons were kept, and on which all 
feasted to the end of their trip. If any of the ladies should read 
this sketch they will remember the incident. 

After we leave Nockamixon Rift we round a point and are 



510 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

in Upper Black's Eddy, where almost all rafts stop, there being 
good hotel accommodations, a good eddy and a great log and 
lumber market. Here more lumber is bought and sold than at 
any other place along the river. 

Below we have smart water and pass Gwinner's. At Milford, 
a village on the Jersey side, a lattice bridge crosses, go Pennsyl- 
vania of all the piers, follow along the shore to avoid the Lowery 
fish bars, for three miles, to Tanvat rift, run over to Jersey, and 
looking down stream we see Frenchtown bridge that crosses the 
river here. If we want to go Pennsylvania of Man of War 
Island, we have two piers Jersey of us, but if we go Jersey of the 
island, one pier. This is a bad place if the wind blows, and many 
a raft has been stove on the bridge piers. 

Man of War Island was so named for the trees that once 
stood upon it, looking like the masts of a Man of War, but the 
trees are all gone having been undermined and washed away, 
and no trees are now on the island. 

Frenchtown, N. J., is a nice, thrifty looking place, and quite a 
manufacturing town. It is situated in a beautiful country. 
Along by the island the river is wide with low banks and a beauti- 
ful stretch of water for two miles. 

We soon come to Stover Island and go Jersey of the group 
below, except Rush Island. A little above Rush is an island 
that inexperienced steersmen think is Rush that they go Penn- 
sylvania of, and invariably stick, for which they get unmercifully 
chaffed. Going Pennsylvania of this island is what raftsmen 
call running Rush before they get to it. 

At the foot of Rush Island another of those mountain spurs 
or foot hills cross the course of the river, but this time it is a 
different kind of rock through which the river runs, making a 
rift of quick water for three miles, called Warford's. The river 
is wide and the water shoal, and many rafts are stuck here every 
time there is a freshet, unless the w^ater is very high. 

At the entrance of Warford's ripple, a rocky rift extends 
across from Jersey nearly to Cudbitch Island. We go between 
the rift and island, and also between the island and bar below, 
and soon come to another reef called Tumble Falls Dam. In 
this reef there is a break, through which a raft will go of itself. 
Green fore-hands are called back to steer, and after they have 
run Tumble Falls Dam they are praised for their skill as steers- 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 511 

men; but when they find that they have been fooled they make 
it even by "treating" the whole crew at the first opportunity. 

Once in going down on a moderate freshet, we learned, when 
three miles above Warford's, that the river at that place was 
"stuck" full of rafts. We landed, and, in company with one of 
the crew, walked down to see what there was at Warford's. On 
our way down there was a hard thunder shower, the rain coming 
down in torrents. Upon arriving, we found the river full of 
rafts, as reported, and the men who had been at work to lighten 
them had gone to dinner. The shower had raised the river, and 
while we stood looking the rafts began to move and went off 
without the hands, and a great many stove to pieces, and caused 
great loss to owners. 

Passing out of Warford's, we see Point Pleasant village on 
the Pennsylvania side, and Point Pleasant bridge. If we are 
going by Lower Black's Eddy, without landing, w^e leave one pier 
Jersey; if we intend to land, we go Pennsylvania of two piers. 
Tohickon Creek comes in above the Eddy. The village is also just 
above the Eddy. The Trenton & Belvidere Railroad comes to 
the river, at the bridge, on the Jersey side, and the station is also 
called Point Pleasant. 

Many rafts land at Lower Black's Eddy, and it is a common 
thing to secure m^ore experienced steersmen for running a difiicult 
place below here, and a little above Trenton, called Wells' Falls. 
The practice was once more general than at the present time, 
many of the up-river steersmen being as competent to run Wells' 
Falls as any one below. 

The hill now closes in on our right, and the canal is a water- 
w^ay directly up from the river. The bluff hides the country on 
the west, from view, but on the left it is open and fine, and an 
unobstructed view is had of it. 

The water sags toward the canal, and we pass Pennsylvania 
of Bull's Island, and over a dam from the island to the shore, 
that is built to turn the water into the feeder for the Raritan 
Canal. There is a chute in the dam through which rafts can 
freely pass, for the Delaware is, by the laws of New York, New 
Jersey, and Pennsylvania, declared a navigable stream, and no 
obstruction to prevent navigation is allowed. 

We pass on, on quick water, by the village of Lumberville, on 
our right, and under the bridge that crosses here, at the lower end 



512 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

of the island, and past great stone quarries, where a large amount 
of stone is quarried and loaded directly from the quarries into 
canal boats, and taken to all the cities that are accessible by 
water. 

We soon after pass Pennsylvania of Temple Bar, in the 
middle of the river, and go on good water two and a half miles 
to Eagle Island. On the island are trees, and below, on the 
Jersey side, a limekiln; keep the trees and kiln in range. The 
canal feeder is walled up from the river, and we run over to 
Jersey, but keep the limekiln in sight, and run back to Pennsyl- 
vania, and point to run Howell's Rift. At the foot of Howell's 
Rift, we pass under the bridge at Center Bridge (Stockton on the 
New Jersey side) , leave one pier Pennsylvania. Below, straighten 
up, and have three-fourths of the river on the Jersey side. We 
have been in strong, crooked water, above the bridge, that 
requires the skill that experience gives, in order to run success- 
fully. 

We now come to Limestone Rift. W^e are just half way from 
Upper Black's Eddy to Trenton. We can now see New Hope 
bridge, three miles below us, and looking back we can see Center 
Bridge bridge. Here are rocks in the river. 

We run along on slow water past Philip's Eddy on the Penn- 
sylvania side, and bear to Jersey to the middle of the river and 
pass Rabbit-run Rift, and Rabbit-run Creek from Pennsylvania, 
head to Pennsylvania until we can see a mill on the Jersey shore, 
a mile below. We run to the right of all the bridge piers but one, 
straighten up and run close to the second pier, and we pass under 
New Hope bridge, and a mile below enter Wells' Falls. 

The channel is about one hundred feet wide; wings have been 
put in on both sides to deepen it. Here, the river being wide, 
the water shoal, and the bottom rough and rocky, and a place 
where the wind blows hard at times, there is much sticking and 
staving. This is the place for which Wells' steersmen are hired 
at Lower Black's Eddy. 

Wells' is a rift, formed by one more of those peculiar ledges, 
through which the river seems to have cut its channel, and also 
the last one until we reach Trenton Falls. The rift is about one 
half mile in length, and about as rapid as any along the river. 
It is difficult to describe the obstacles that are met with here^ 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 513 

SO that the reader can get a good idea of them, but it is the place 
dreaded worst of all places on the river, by many. 

About a hundred rods above Wells', there is a wire-rope ferry, 
by which canal boats are crossed, locking into and out of the 
river. Here is the large village or town of Lambertville on the 
Jersey side, and the large village of New Hope on the other. 

After leaving Wells, head to Pennsylvania, to pass a point 
on the left, and then turn and run back to Jersey to avoid sunken 
rocks on our right, called Bobtails. Go to the right of Keeler's 
Island, below which, on the Jersey side, is Jack's Cove, and on 
our right is Brownsburg. 

We left the hills behind us at Wells', and we now see no more 
of them. We now are running through a beautiful country. A 
nice stretch of water for a mile or two, and then pass a rift; 
straighten up, and we are soon at Titusville on the Jersey. 

At the upper end of the village, is the wing or dam built by 
Washington, to form a slack-water or eddy, to facilitate the 
landing of the boats, in which his army crossed the Delaware, 
December 24, 1776, and surprised the Hessians, [hired British 
soldiers] at Trenton, and gained a glorious victory, January 3, 
1777. (Captain Pine has fallen into several errors, as the dam 
of which he speaks was not built for Washington's boats. He 
has also confused the two battles of Trenton. The first when 
General Washington and his army crossed the Delaware on 
Christmas night (not the 24th) of 1776, and fought the first 
battle early on the morning of December 26. He returned to 
Pennsylvania with his Hessian prisoners. His second crossing 
was on the ice when on January 3, 1777, he fought the second 
battle of Trenton, followed by the battle of Princeton.) 

The canal here leaves the river, and we see no more of it until 
it comes to the river again, at Bristol, as previously related. 

As soon as we leave Titusville, we see Eight Mile ferry bridge 
(formerly McKonkey's Ferry). There is a railroad station at 
the bridge, on the Jersey side, called Washington's Crossing. 
Keep along Jersey until we come to the bridge, generally leave 
two piers Jersey of us, and after passing the bridge, are in Scud- 
der's Pond, formed by a dam for the purpose of creating a water 
power for manufacturing purposes, in Trenton. The dam is 
built clear across the river, a chute is made for running rafts over 
the dam. Passing the dam we run Jersey to avoid a bar formed 



514 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

by the water over the dam, straighten up and head to Pennsyl- 
vania above Yardleyville, on our right. Here is Four Mile ferry 
bridge under which we go, one pier from Pennsylvania, keep along 
that shore to the Bound Brook Railroad bridge, and go to the 
right of all the piers. This is a long, high, iron bridge, extending 
over the canal, which is about fifty rods from the river, in Penn- 
sylvania; the river; the aqueduct of the water power, and the 
railroad in New Jersey. 

We now see Gould's Island, and run along within forty or 
fifty feet of it on the Pennsylvania side to avoid some rocks in 
mid-channel. Below this island are several bars, on one of 
which, called Blackguard Island, is a fish h^use. 

The river is wide below, and we run to Jersey until the third 
pier of upper Trenton bridge hides a white gristmill in Trenton. 
We keep this course until we pass Marble Roll, then have the 
mill all in sight until we pass Sunfish Ripples, and then run Jersey 
until the edge of the mill can be seen on the Jersey side of the 
third pier of the bridge, then straighten up and run close to it, 
lay up to Pennsylvania to avoid the Blade Rocks, and run along 
side an island, and leaving Trenton Falls, we are in tide water. 
Point to Jersey and run along to the lower Trenton bridge, leave 
one pier Jersey, head towards the shore, and run along for a 
mile, and land at the city of Trenton, the capital of the State of 
New Jersey, two hundred and fifty-eight miles from the head of 
raft navigation on the West Branch, at Frisbee's, three miles 
above Delhi. 

Trenton and Morrisville 

The lower bridge at Trenton is a double iron bridge with two 
tracks side by side, one for the railroad and the other for the 
public. 

As we come to Trenton we can now see some of the mighty 
forces that the Delaware has been gathering as she has been 
winding in and out among the hills and running through the 
valleys on her long torturous course, by receiving the waters of 
her tributaries, which she is now hurling with steady, persistency 
into tide water, and is yet able to make her power felt against 
the tide, until Delaware bay engulfs her. 

As soon as a raft lands it is quickly covered with boys and old 
women, begging for broken pieces, the "dinner-box," etc. 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 515 

There are many fine buildings that attract attention, among 
them the State Capitol buildings and State Prison are in plain 
sight from the river. The Insane Asylum, rolling mills, flouring 
mills, cotton factories and many other mills, are seen, including 
the largest manufactories of crockery in America. 

There is a half mile or more wharfage where steamboats are 
seen tied, and sloops at anchor in the stream. Sail boats are 
scudding here and there, rafts are coming and landing, orders 
are given, all is bustle and excitement, the hands are in a hurry 
to get the dinner they are entitled to by custom, and anxious to 
get their pay, which they have well earned, and to be speeding 
on their way to New York City and then home again. 

Opposite Trenton, on the Pennsylvania side, stands Morris- 
ville, notable as being at one time the home of the great French 
General, Moreau, who was banished by Napoleon. He lived 
here for years, living the life of a quiet country gentleman until 
after Napoleon started on the invasion of Russia, when Moreau 
left America, joined the Russian army and was killed while 
heading a reconnoitering party of Russians against the French. 
Here, on the New Jersey side, the Assunpink Creek empties into 
the Delaware. 



From Tide at Trenton to Philadelphia by Tugs 

The run is ended, but the market is not yet reached, for the 
lumber must go thirty-five miles farther, on tide water, to Phila- 
delphia. Rafts are now all towed by steam tugs, at six dollars 
each. Thirty or forty are put into a tow, and in a few hours are 
landed in Philadelphia. For many years rafts were drifted 
through tide, and often it required a long tedious time, for the 
raft only made progress while the tide w^as ebbing. When the 
tide began to flow, the raft must be staked down, and watch and 
wait was the only alternative. Sometimes headwinds v ould 
delay, or the wind would drift the raft out of its course. Occa- 
sionally, if the wind was strong and the tide high, a raft would 
drift on to a bar, or mud flat, and be left high and dry when the 
tide was out, and would remain there perhaps for weeks, or until a 
higher tide once more floated it. In drifting, the raft must be 
loosed from the "halyards" whenever the tide turned, night or 
day, and it was not uncommon to run a-foul of the anchor chains. 



516 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

in the night, of vessels anchored in the stream, and it would be 
uncommon if the hardest kind of swearing was not indulged in, 
especially by the boatmen. 

Soon after we leave Trenton, the channel is Pennsylvania of a 
group of islands, called Duck Islands, along the Jersey shore. 
Pennsylvania of the channel is Periwig Island, and still to the 
right of that, a large, long island close along the shore. The 
channel, years ago, was between Periwig and this last mentioned 
island. At the foot of Periwig, the current sets to Jersey, close 
in shore, and we soon come to Bordentown, a city six miles below 
Trenton. 



Bordentown, the Home of Joseph Bonaparte 

Bordentown was made famous by being, for many years, the 
home of Joseph Bonaparte. He, as all know, was made king of 
Spain, and on the downfall of his illustrious brother. Napoleon, 
he, in common with the mushroom kings of that period, were 
compelled to seek safety in other countries. Joseph Bonaparte 
sought an asylum in America, and made Bordentown his home. 
He built a splendid mansion, laid out beautiful grounds, erected 
elegant out-buildings, including stables for his horses, that were 
very extensive. He had a large, beautiful park, filled with deer 
and game; greenhouses, conservatories, arbors, walks, drives, 
flowers and fruits. Everything to charm the eye or please the 
taste, or that money could buy, was lavished upon his home, to 
beautify and adorn it; and to say he succeeded is but to tell the 
simple truth. Here, on the banks of the noble Delaware, whose 
every ripple from its source to the ocean, since it has been known 
by a white man, has been chanting a refrain of liberty and free- 
dom, lived this ex-king, reveling in the wealth that was brought 
with him, from the convents and cathedrals that were robbed to 
support him in the semi-royal style that he maintained. Here, 
too, for years he had a chance to study the great principles that 
underlie our system, "that all men are created equal," and 
"that governments derive their just powers from the consent of 
the governed." After the downfall of Napoleon, and France 
had settled down to its normal quiet, he returned to his native 
land, and died there. His valuable and beautiful estate remained 
in the possession of his descendants for years, and may yet be 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 517 

held by them for aught I know. After Waterloo and the "Res- 
toration," a son of General Murat, King of the Two Sicilies, a 
nephew of Joseph Bonaparte, also settled at Bordentown. He 
built a fine mansion, lived a fast life, squandered his money 
lavishly, became dissipated, and died, after a few years, leaving 
his young, beautiful and accomplished wife, penniless. She, 
more democratic than scions of royalty generally are, main- 
tained herself by teaching music, and yet preserved her respecta- 
bility. These instances, related above, practically illustrates 
the principle, that the United States is an asylum for the world. 
And here is another that better illustrates the principle that here 
in the United States, there is no such doctrine that kings rule 
by "right divine," and that: 

"Honor and worth from no condition rise, 
Act well your part, there all the honor lies." 

David Hall, a lumberman and steersman, who lived near Han- 
cock, went to Bordentown, about twenty years ago, and engaged 
in business connected with the canal. A few years after, he 
was elected mayor of the city of his adoption, and subsequently 
was made sheriff of the county. The tide rises here from four 
to six feet. A large creek empties into the Delaware, here, on 
the Jersey side. The Raritan Ship comes to the river here. 
Sailing vessels are towed through, and many steamboats navi- 
gate its water. A vast amount of produce, coal and lumber, 
are carried on this canal, and find a market in New York and 
adjacent cities. 

The Camden and Amboy Railroad comes up the river to 
this place and then strikes off across the State to Amboy, on 
Newark Bay. A branch extends up the river and connects with 
the Pennsylvania Central at Trenton. About one mile below, 
on the same side of the river, is Whitehall, a large railroad and 
manufacturing town. Just below Whitehall we come to Penns- 
bury Island, extending along the Jersey shore for two miles. 
There are a number of houses on the island and several valuable 
farms. 

A few miles below is Florence Heights situated on a high 
bluff on the Jersey side. There are no bluffs on the other side 
and from these Heights an unobstructed view is had of the 
country on both sides of the river for miles around. There is 



518 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

located here a famous Water Cure establishment where hundreds 
if not thousands of invalids come every year for treatment by 
this system. About opposite Florence Heights stands Tully- 
town on the Pennsylvania shore, and Common Creek is adding 
to the water of the Delaware. 

We next come to, and pass Pennsylvania of Burlington 
Island, containing six or seven hundred acres of excellent farming 
land divided into several farms, all with first-class houses and 
farm buildings. 

A few miles farther on, we reach the city of Bristol on the 
Pennsylvania side, fifteen miles below Trenton, and twenty 
above Philadelphia. Here a large tributary, the Mill Creek, 
pours its water in from the Pennsylvania shore. This is the 
terminus of the Delaware Division Canal. Vast quantities of 
coal is brought here from the mines far up the Lehigh River, 
and extensive coal yards have been built to receive it. Many 
vessels, of all kinds, both steam and sail, and of great size are 
loaded here with coal, lumber, produce, etc. Any vessel that 
can cross the bar below Philadelphia, at the mouth of the Schuyl- 
kill, can ascend the river to Bristol. This is a large, thriving, 
manufacturing city. 

Almost opposite, on the Jersey shore, is the beautiful village 
of Burlington. It is a thriving, bustling, wide awake town, 
and like all down river villages, the buying, selling and manu- 
facturing of lumber adds, not a little, to its business. A creek 
also comes in on the Jersey side (Assiscunk Creek) . A convent 
stands here, and it has a nice wall along its river front, to which 
our raft was once tied. C. Roff, of Harvard, was with us, and he 
will remember how the nuns of the convent were afraid their wall 
would be damaged by our rope as the tide ebbed, and our raft 
drew off, and how they raised the rope from the wall when it 
appeared to be catching on the stones. 

Four miles below, is Neshaminy village and creek, on the 
Pennsylvania side. On this creek are situated mills for lumber. 
The creek is navigable for a distance for vessels of light draught. 

About a mile below, is Beverly, on the Jersey side, called in 
former times. Dunk's Ferry. 

Below this is a part of the river called White Sheet Bay, 
Horseshoe Bar and Many Island, that the channel is Jersey of, 
and then we see Torresdale, a Pennsylvania village. 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 519 

Opposite on the Jersey side, is Rancocas Creek and village. 
The creek is navigable a distance of twelve miles, to Mt. Holly, 
the county seat of Burlington County. Large mills are here, 
and this, too, is a good lumber market. The tide at this point 
is very strong, and tug boats with rafts in tow stop and wait 
for the tide to begin to ebb. 

About forty years ago, Eben Patchen moved from Walton, 
and lived four years with his father-in-law, Joseph Wall, four 
miles up Rancocas Creek. 

Next below is Pennypack Creek and Pennypack village, on 
the Pennsylvania side. Old time raftsmen, who used to drift 
their rafts through tide, will remember this place as the old 
bake house. Here, in the river, are the rocks, called the old hen 
and chickens. 

A turn, now, in the river, and Eight Mile Point is rounded, 
and Tacony, a Pennsylvania village, is in view. Here, in early 
rafting times, stood a single hotel, called Buttermilk Tavern. 
This was once the terminus of the Pennsylvania Central Rail- 
road, and passengers were transferred by boats to Philadelphia, 
some seven miles. Now it would be difficult to tell where the 
terminus of the railroad is. 

The next place below is Bridesburg, at the mouth of Frank- 
fort Creek, and we are within the corporate limits of the Quaker 
City. Opposite Bridesburg, the Penshocking Creek comes in 
from Jersey. Bridesburg is noted for the extensive chemical 
works that are situated on the creek. The refuse of the estab- 
lishment runs into the creek, and gives it the appearance of a 
huge coloring vat. An United States arsenal is also located here. 
The buildings and grounds are surrounded by a high wall, and 
the wall surmounted by iron pickets, and on top of the wall, 
besides the pickets, sentries pace to and fro constantly, night 
and day, keeping watch and ward over the large number of 
implements and the vast amount of munitions of war stored 
here. Philadelphia street cars run up here, and even up to 
Tacony, and the streets are lighted by gas. 

About a mile below, a break-water appears, called by rafts- 
men, the Stone Wall. Along this wall are landing places, and 
wherever we choose can tie our raft. 



520 a rafting story of the delaware river 

Port Richmond, Philadelphia 

We are at Philadelphia. It is just three miles from Brides- 
burg to Conrow's dock, Port Richmond. Along at Port Rich- 
mond, almost all the lumber is sold. This place is to the lumber 
market what Weehawken and other sale yards are to the cattle 
trade in New York. After the lumber is sold it is delivered by 
the seller to the slips, wharves or yards of the buyer. This 
work is done by the tug boats, and at the expense of the seller. 
The raft is then thrown out upon the dock, piece by piece, and 
every piece turned over. It is counted by experts, and the con- 
tents of each stick noted. It is then taken up and bunched on 
the dock, and from thence carted to the yard of the buyer and 
nicely stocked, each length and thickness in separate stocks. 
All this is done at the expense of the buyer. After the raft is 
counted, the counter gives the seller the number of feet in his 
raft; he presents it to the buyer, who gives, usually, his check 
for the amount. The seller gets his check cashed, pays up his 
bills and starts for home, happy in the possession of the hard- 
earned cash, for which he has had so much anxiety since his 
raft has been afloat. 

One counter, two bunchers, and six hands to throw out, 
nine in all, make a gang, and they will throw out a double raft, 
or 100,000 feet, in a day. 

The river at Port Richmond is about a mile wide. There 
are two channels, caused by a long, low, narrow island, nearly, 
if not quite, two miles long. Through this island two channels 
have been cut for ferryboats, that ply between Philadelphia and 
the city of Camden opposite, on the Jersey side. 

Just above Camden, Cooper Creek comes into the river, the 
last one that we pass on our rafting trip. 

Camden is quite a large city, and a number of railroads 
start from here and run in every direction across the State. 

Philadelphia is a beautiful city, lying between the Delaware 
and Schuylkill rivers. Its streets are systematically laid out, 
crossing each other at right angles. It is the second city in size, 
wealth, and importance, in the United States. Its present 
limits far exceed its former corporate size, and has reached out 
across the Schuylkill, up the Delaware, back, westward, until 
many large places yet known by their local names, are within 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 521 

its limits. For many years, Philadelphia was the first city in 
numbers, finance, and commerce, in the United States. But 
after the completion of the Erie Canal from Buffalo to the Hud- 
son, and the opening up of the west, and the consequent diverting 
of trade to New York City, and the downfall of the United States 
Bank, Philadelphia fell behind New York, and has since remained 
second, and it seems to be impossible for her to equal again her 
more favored rival. 

Philadelphia was founded by William Penn. The Old Elm 
stood for many years on the bank of the Delaware, where Penn 
made his first treaty with the Indians. This tree was blown 
down in 1810. We have heard old lumbermen speak of seeing 
it, as it stood, seeming to be more majestic for once having 
sheltered the illustrious Penn, and witnessed the ratification of 
a treaty with the Indians that was never broken while the maker 
lived. A marble block, fifteen to twenty feet high, still marks 
the spot where the Old Elm stood, bearing appropriate inscrip- 
tions on its four polished sides, commemorative of the treaty 
made in December, 1682, or February, 1683, authorities disagree 
as to date. 

Philadelphia Is Hallowed Ground 

Here stands old Independence Hall. Within its walls the 
words were spoken that brought a mighty nation into being. 
Words that have been an inspiration to the toiling, down- 
trodden millions of the earth. Words that have been ringing 
in the ears of monarchs, heard in the mansions of the great and 
powerful, and whispered in the hovels of the poor. Reverberat- 
ing across rivers and oceans, over mountain and plain, for a 
hundred years, declaring the universal equality of man. Here, 
in old Independence Hall, Thomas Jefferson and his compatriots 
gave to the world the grand declaration, "That all men are 
created equal," and endowed by their Creator with certain 
inalienable rights, and among these are, "life, liberty, and the 
pursuits of happiness." And to secure these ends governments 
are instituted among men, divining their just power from the 
consent of the governed. One entire floor of Independence Hall 
is filled with relics of 1776. Here we can see life-size portraits 
of all the signers of the Declaration — pictures of the men who 
"pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor." 



522 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

Here, too, can be seen the chairs in which they sat, the desks on 
which they wrote, the inkstand and the pen that wrote the 
immortal Declaration, the pew in which Washington worshiped. 
Here, too, can be seen the old Bell that rang out the grand peal 
of Liberty. Here, too, can we see the portrait of the old bell 
man, with his hand upon the rope, with an expectant, waiting, 
anxious look upon his face, ready so soon as the result of the 
deliberations of Congress were made known to him, to make the 
old bell ring as it never rang before. And right well did he per- 
form his part in the national drama. Independence Hall is a 
very high building, and at the top an observatory, the last flight 
of stairs leading thereto going directly through the City Hall 
clock. The machinery of the clock can be plainly seen, including 
the ponderous hammer that strikes the bell that tolls out the 
hour to all the inhabitants of the city. The hammer is as large 
as a blacksmith's sledge, and its strokes upon the huge bell can 
be heard on the river for ten miles. The old Hall now occupies a 
block from Chestnut street to Walnut, above Sixth street. It 
has been enlarged by additions, to make room for the courts. 
The city, supreme, sessions, and police courts, are all held here. 
And as the city prison is at Moyamensing, the "Black Maria" 
(the van in which prisoners are conveyed to prison) makes daily 
trips to and from the Hall to Moyamensing. And in 1865, 
Independence Hall held, for a while, a patriot equal to any that 
it ever sheltered — Abraham Lincoln, our martyred President, 
who lay in state within its walls. Fitting and appropriate 
place, for there the Declaration was made that all men are equal, 
and to Abraham Lincoln do we owe as much as to any of the 
patriots who had gone before him, that the equality of all men 
is acknowledged all over this broad land. 

All about Philadelphia is historic ground. 

What is now within the city limits, on the northwest, was 
Germantown, where the disastrous battle was fought, October 4, 
1777, that gave the city to the British, and gave snug, warm 
quarters for their army, and compelled Washington and his 
patriot army to winter at Valley Forge. The old stone house 
is still standing, in which the British soldiers took refuge, and 
turned the tide of battle against the Americans, showing yet 
very plainly the marks of the conflict. 

The reader must remember that Philadelphia is a large city, 



A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 523 

second only to one other in the United States, yet first in one 
thing — manufactories. No attempt, therefore, has been made 
to describe but a few things in connection with it. 

On Chestnut street stands the old United States Bank build- 
ing. And the readers of history will readily call to mind the 
fierce political conflicts that were waged for and against the 
financial policy which the United States Bank represented. 
They will remember the wrath and indignation caused by the 
removal of the "deposits" by an arbitrary exercise of power on 
the part of President Jackson. The building is now used, and 
has been for years, for a Custom House, and millions of dollars 
of governmental revenue are annually collected there. 

The postofifice was kept for many years in Independence Hall, 
but now it is kept in a magnificent structure erected by Uncle 
Sam for that express purpose. 

A shot tower of fabulous height vies with the observatory of 
Independence Hall, in reaching heavenward. 

In the heart of the city stands a little house built of cedar 
logs. It was one of the first structures built when the city was 
founded. It stands in an enclosed and covered court to pre- 
serve it. Within it can be seen the fireplace, the crane, hooks, 
andirons, and all the cooking utensils and furniture, in use in ye 
ancient time. 

One thing more: The United States Mint is located here, 
where nearly all the hard money of the United States is coined. 

Lumbering on the Delaware is a business of vast proportions. 
Several thousand men go down the river on rafts every year, 
and more than double the number of men are employed in raft- 
ing, and other thousands are employed in peeling, cutting, 
skidding, hauling, sawing, stocking, etc. It also requires car- 
penters, millwrights, axes, chains, teams, sleighs, wagons, saws, 
bars, augers, etc., furnishing business for canals, railroads, steam- 
boats, dealers, and to hundreds who keep raftsmen. 

We have now taken you, reader, all the way down the noble 
Delaware, but it has mostly been a fair weather trip. We have 
not spoken of the rain, the snow, the cold, and the discomfort 
that must be endured, for rafts can only be run when there is 
water enough to float them over the shoal places, so that when a 
freshet comes the rafting must be done, rain or shine, snow or 
blow, and many an one who, perchance, may read these lines, 



524 A RAFTING STORY OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

will remember the long, weary days of rafting, in rain or snow, 
and the relief, when tired, wet and hungry, the close of day 
brought rest and refreshment. The discomforts experienced 
on the river, by being exposed to storms, the snow squalls, the 
showers, the run all day long, in drenching rain, the sudden 
change, sometimes to cold, the wet clothing freezing, the be- 
numbed fingers, the occasional douse in the ice-cold water, the 
jump into the river to lift off the raft, and as you bend down for 
the lift have the water run over your back, you may remember 
the chill that seemed to go to the very marrow of your bones, 
and then when night came, the raft landed and securely tied to 
shore, you may have been compelled to walk a mile or two to 
find supper and shelter. The fitful night's sleep, and the putting 
on of the wet garments in the morning, and last of all, the pulling 
on of the wet, shrunken boots. The kicks, the stamps, the 
broken straps and curses that this last act of dressing causes, 
are beyond computation. But, once more afloat, it is all for- 
gotten in the duties of the present, and anticipations of the 
future. 

And now, dear reader, we have built a raft, manned it, loosed 
it from the shore, gone with it to Philadelphia, about three hun- 
dred miles, a long tortuous route, through wild, grand scenery, 
some of it yet unchanged and untouched by the hand or art of 
man, through stretches of beautiful, cultivated country, past 
high mountains, through lovely valleys, past marts of trade, by 
busy manufactories, along railroads and canals, past quiet and 
peaceful farm houses, to and by places of historic interest, for 
the lower waters of the Delaware have been singing a requiem, 
for a hundred years, for the patriotic dead, — for pioneers who 
fell victims to the wrath of the red man, or gave up their lives on 
the altar of their country. 

We have taken you under forty-five bridges that span the 
Delaware, past eighty-five hamlets, villages, towns and cities 
on its banks, past many islands that we have called by name, 
and many more we have not named, and many that have no 
name, and have named and located one hundred and eighty-four 
creeks or tributaries. 

Our task is done and we bid you good-bye, wishing peace, 
prosperity, and long life to the readers of the Chronicle and the 
raftsmen and lumbermen of the Delaware. 



A Story of My Branch of the Longshore Family 

By MRS. LUCRETIA L. BLANKENBURG, PHILADELPHIA 
(Doylestown Meeting, May 7, 1932) 

ROBERT LONGSHORE, a surveyor from England, helped 
as a deputy surveyor to make the plans and survey of 
Philadelphia in 1682. He married Margaret Cock, the 
daughter of Pieter Larson Cock, a Swede, who came to America 
in 164L Pieter was collector of tolls, imports and exports for 
the colony, also a magistrate for New Sweden and later, deputy 
governor. Robert Longshore, gentleman, purchased 500 acres 
of land in Bristol Township, Bucks County. Euclydas Long- 
shore, the son of Robert and Margaret Longshore, was my 
ancestor. 

Euclydas Longshore married Alice Stackhouse, a girl of 16 
years, daughter of Thomas Stackhouse and Grace Heaton of 
Bucks County, January 8, 1715. 

Euclydas Longshore, Jr., their son, my great-grandfather, 
was born April 27, 1735. He married a Miss Cox for his first 
wife — issue 11 children. The initial letter of all their names was 
A. Euclydas Longshore afterwards married at the age of 45, 
Sarah Gillam, daughter of Lucas and Ann Dungan Gillam, 28 
years old — May 11, 1780 — issue 11 children. The fourth child 
of this marriage, Abraham, was my grandfather. 

Abraham Longshore married Rhoda Skelton, daughter of 
Joseph and Mary (Carey) Skelton, of Solebury, in Bucks County, 
March 11, 1807 — issue 11 children. My father, Thomas Elwood 
Longshore, was the fourth child, born November 11, 1812; died 
August 19, 1898. It is from his life sketch that these notes are 
copied. 

From Narrative of Thomas Ellwood Longshore 
(Dated Jan. 10, 1891) 

Euclydas Longshore, our grandfather, from impressions I 
have received from different members of his family, was rather 
an easy, good-natured man, with a sense of dry humor. He was 
of light complexion inclined to sandy with brown or light hair. 
At the time father, Abraham Longshore, was born, 11 mo. 6th, 



526 A STORY OF MY LONGSHORE FAMILY 

1785, the family was living in a stone, one-story house, north of 
John Watson's farm in Middletown, Bucks County, on the 
south side of the road, that ran south of Newtown from the 
Neshaminy to Jenks' fulling mill. It was a small farm, with an 
orchard near the house. Our uncle Euclydas used to point it out 
to me as the place where they lived. Grandfather was not much 
of a farmer. Things drifted anyhow. It was while he lived 
there that Mr. VVildman (Mahlon perhaps) who occupied the 
Stacy Watson farm, wrote and sent him the following: 

Neighbor Clyde, I can't abide 
The cow that wears the bell, 
She was this morn within my corn 
How long I can not tell. 

(The damage done a serious one 

Of which I now complain.) 
It will be worse for you and us 
If she gets in again. 

Grandfather was road supervisor for many successive years. 

It was probably after grandmother received a small legacy 
from the estate of her father, Lucas Gillam, that they purchased 
some 60 or 70 acres of the old farm, with the old stone kitchen 
and log house adjoining, where we were born. Grandfather 
ended his days there. The land was so very poor and barren, 
it did not pay to farm it. 

The family was so poor that the children went out to live as 
they grew large enough. Father told me, that he left home and 
went to James Wildman's to live when he was about 12 years old. 
He did not get along satisfactory with old Adam Adams, their 
colored hired man, and refused to thresh in the barn with him, 
because he abused him. He told James Wildman of his bad 
treatment, saying that he would not work with Adam. James 
told him if he was not going to work again, he must go to bed 
and stay till he was m illing to go to work. Father went to his 
bed and lay there the remainder of that day, all night and 
towards evening the next day, when some visitors came to the 
house, and Rachel Wildman, Jr., then a baby in the cradle, cried 
and all were too busy to rock the cradle, whereupon her mother 
called father from his bed to come and rock the cradle. This 
was the winter of 1798 when father was 14 years old. In the 
spring he left Wildman's and returned home to farm for his 



A STORY OF MY LONGSHORE FAMILY 527 

father. He sowed four quarts of clover seed which he persuaded 
his father to purchase, and for the first time cut a Httle clover hay. 
It was sown on about an acre of ground in the northwest corner 
of the barn-field, over what we used to call Guy's Spring Run. 
During the two years he stayed at home, he did more farming 
than his father had ever done. 

In the spring of 1802, he went to learn the trade of wheel- 
wright, and was indentured to a man by the name of George 
Walker, who lived and had his shop in Attleboro (now Lang- 
home), near where Dr. Allen's house stood. Walker owned all 
the square inclosed in the quarter-mile roads that surrounded it 
on the north side of the village. Father remained with Walker 
one year, during which time he kept a diary of every day's work. 
He did little or nothing in the shop, but did the farming and out- 
door work. 

At the end of the year he went home on a visit ; took his diary 
with him, and showed it to his father, stating that he did not 
want to return as he would never learn his trade there. 

His father told him to take his diary to Esquire Isaac Hicks, 
father of Edward Hicks, the Quaker preacher at Newtown, and 
ask his advice in the matter. Esquire Hicks examined it and 
told him to go about his business, and that he need not go back 
to Walker if he did not want to. He did not return but engaged 
with Charles Goheen, a wheelwright, who lived in the east end 
of Attleboro. 

Father remained with Goheen some three years, learning his 
trade. Goheen had two bad boys, Dick and Jim, who gave him 
some trouble. When their father was away, they would be in 
the shop annoying and interrupting father at his work, and 
sometimes doing mischief; for which father was held responsible. 

Goheen told father he would hold him accountable for any 
disorder or damage in the shop W'hen he was away. Father then 
undertook to carry out his instructions and by force, kept the 
boys out of the shop; handling them roughly. They made great 
complaint of his abuse and cruelty towards them. This pro- 
duced some dissatisfaction, and things did not work harmoniously. 

Father had no way to get any spending money without doing 
extra work. He therefore engaged a farmer to bring to him at 
the shop some tough, crooked, white oak stump roots. Mechanics 
and apprentices then worked at night till 9 o'clock from October 



528 A STORY OF MY LONGSHORE FAMILY 

to April. Father purchased some candles and from 9 until 10 
o'clock hewed and sawed out harness hames out of the oak roots 
for the farmers. He had them seasoning, and ready for sale, 
but kept them out of his master's sight. 

One day a farmer came into the shop to inquire for, and buy, 
some hames. Father, in the presence of the boss, brought out 
his hames and made a sale. This displeased Goheen, and he 
told father that his shop was not large enough for two men to 
run separate businesses, and if he continued to carry on, he must 
leave and find some -other place. This naturally angered him, 
as he had been some three years at the trade, but he was not 
master of some of the particular branches. He left, however, 
when about 20, went to Newtown, rented a shop, hired a capable 
workman and opened for himself. It was during this first year 
in Newtown that he became acquainted with the maiden who 
became my mother. 

Shall I say, that he and some other Quaker boys of the 
neighborhood concluded to ride on horseback to Buckingham 
Quarterly Meeting, which was held in the last of May? 

They remained over night and were invited by Friends to 
dine, and then go where there were some young folks. There 
were several at Grandfather Skelton's, where they called, and 
the girls were buxom and friendly and treated the lower end 
visitors with cordiality. 

This was in May, 1806. In the 3rd month 11th, 1807, they, 
father and mother, were married, rented a house and com- 
menced life in Newtown. 

Grandfather Euclydas had died 6th month 14th, 1804, when 
father was in his nineteenth year and serving his apprenticeship 
with Charles Goheen. At his death the children were scattered. 
The boys stayed out till they were 16 years old. 

Our uncle Euclydas lived with uncle Simon Gillam while 
father was learning his trade and till he got the farm and moved 
to it from Newtown. The old farm where we were born was 
sold at public sale and James Wildman bought it for about $25 
or $28 per acre. The farm was so poor, that it lay idle or nearly 
so for two or three years. 

Father and mother lived in Newtown two years, when father 
purchased the old farm of James Wildman and moved there 
in the spring of 1808 or 1809. 



A STORY OF MY LONGSHORE FAMILY 529 

Sister Sarah Ann was the only one of the children born in 
Newtown, viz., on December 26, 1807. 

Grandfather died in 1804, eight years before I was born. 
When father moved on the old farm, he could get practically 
nothing from it. He built a small frame shop, north of the house 
under the big cherry tree, and followed his trade for a living. He 
hired a journeyman by the name of Twining to do jobbing for 
wagon work for farmers. There was no barn on the place and 
no use for one; but father traded around, got some lime, collected 
a little manure and gradually began to raise little crops. Uncle 
Euclydas was with him as farmer. 

In 1813 father found he would soon need a barn, and in the 
spring began to build one, and his neighbor laughed at him, and 
told him he would never fill it. It was built of stone, 40 feet long 
by 27 feet deep and 20 feet up to the square. 

Grandmother was living down by the spring in a little one- 
story frame house. I remember when, in my petticoats, running 
down the road to see her. It was in the summer of about 1815. 
She was sitting in her big arm chair, with a clean check apron 
and cap on and with spectacles, reading the Bible or some 
religious book, probably a hymn book. She was quite religious 
and used to sing hymns and chant from the Bible. I remember 
the solemnity of her funeral which I attended the next year. 

Father borrowed SI, 000 when he bought the farm; and it was 
often with the greatest difficulty he could raise money to pay 
the interest. I remember how they talked about it and how we 
all had to do what we could to save money, by living poor and 
dressing in poor patched homespun clothes, eating mush, rye 
bread without butter or molasses or even lard; tea or cofTee 
without sugar, also rye pie, shortened with smoked 
pot-skimmings and sour dried apples, but we made the less of it 
answer. 

About the year 1811 Uncle Thomas Longshore came to father 
to learn wheelwrighting, and in 1813 Uncle James Longshore also 
came to learn the trade. They quarreled and both left one or 
two years before reaching 21, when they would have been free. 
LIncle Thom went to Logtown (now Pennsville) where he married 
Aunt Jane (Jane Gaine). Uncle Thom set up business there and 
for a time L^ncle James worked with him. James married Aunt 
Sarah Roberts and then opened a shop of his own north of Penns- 



530 A STORY OF MY LONGSHORE FAMILY 

ville. Helived with US from 1815 to 1816. In the spring of 1822 
father tore down the old log house and built a new house of stone. 
This is still standing and is now occupied by a gentleman farmer, 
by the name of Branson, who raises stock. 

I was then nine years old; Was kept from school and put to 
work tending stone masons; I worked with the men at the house 
all summer and helped to carry mortar in a bucket for the 
plasterer. Brother Carey and I did most of that tending. The 
remembrance is vivid with me yet; how steady I worked those 
long warm days and how tired I would get. The masons worked 
from sun to sun. Their names were Joseph Reeder, Enos Reeder 
and Tom Scout (Aunt Aby Minor's son) by her first husband. 
Father hired an old man by the name of William Steward, to boss 
the carpenter work, and father worked with him as carpenter also, 
all summer, until the house was finished. 

Thomas Scout built the stone shop at the corner of the south 
yard the next year, and I was tender again for the mason. 

By this time the farm produced more than the barn would 
hold, and we built barracks and stacked some of the grain; but 
the debt remained on the farm, as the money coming in was all 
spent in improvements. 

I have heard father say that the most schooling he got was 
three months when about 16, before he went to his trade; how- 
ever, he learned to read and write and cipher as far as practice, 
through single rule of three. The Bible and Testament were 
the school reading books, as they also were when I first went to 
school to Thomas Byles at the eight square school house (octagon 
built of brick), by Wildmans from 1817 to 1818. 

While father was at Goheens learning his trade he heard of a 
new school book just published by Lindley Murray, called the 
"English Reader"; and he spared the money to purchase one for 
his own use. 

Father had a natural taste and turn for reading, with a desire 
for knowing and being somebody, with very little opportunity 
for either. He had a personal pride, and told me that at one 
time (I believe while at Goheens) he had committed to memory 
and could sing one hundred songs. In those days the young 
people would collect in companies, and on first day afternoons, 
spend hours around the Spa Springs, sitting on benches, singing 



A STORY OF MY LONGSHORE FAMILY 531 

and sporting their time in amusement. Father would sing and 
Edward Hicks would preach, and make them cry. 

His young manhood was short. He married about three or 
four months after he was 21 years old. Mother was 23. 

I recollect very well how often he would tell us boys, when 
playing around on first days, that we ought to get our books and 
read, learn something; and not always remain blockheads, and 
be know-nothings, in the world. He would read Bible stories 
to us on first day afternoons and try to interest us. 

During the year 1819 while we were living in the old one- 
story log and stone house, Eliza Slack, a cousin, a few months 
older than Sister Sarah Ann, came to live with us. She and 
Sarah did the housework week about, one would milk and take 
care of it and the other get breakfast and supper. They both 
had their spinning wheels and tasks to perform afternoons and 
evenings. 

We children often would play and have what we called fun, 
when father and mother were away or visiting. Father paid 
Eliza 25 cents per week. When she left us, she went to John 
Blakey to see if she could go to Friends School to be educated 
for a teacher out of the charity fund of Friends. They took her 
into the school in that way. 

The Longshores, with few exceptions, were plain working 
people. They scattered from Bucks County. The record gives 
some living in Northern Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Virginia, 
Alabama, Louisiana, Ohio and Colorado. There is little known 
of their achievements. In closing his sketch, father says: 

What we, Abraham Longshore's children, have inherited of 
his extremes of character have been somewhat checked and 
tempered by our mother's quiet, solid, hard sense, simplicity of 
character, native honesty and earnest, practical goodness. She 
not only gave us of these as an anti-natal legacy, but conscien- 
tiously labored to train us as best she could in the lessons and 
habits of earnest, honest, sober, industrious man and woman- 
hood. 

I remember in my early childhood of the earnest, emphatic 
lessons she impressed upon us about our conduct, our habits, our 
associates, our language: about cursing, swearing, stealing, lying, 
cheating or doing anything wrong to ourselves and to one 
another. 



532 A STORY OF MY LONGSHORE FAMILY 

These early, maternal lessons have ever been remembered 
and heeded, through all these sixty subsequent years. They 
have helped to preserve me as I am. 

We children have inherited these traits from our parents in 
different proportions; making us look at life and its purposes 
from different points of vision, and to feel ourselves impelled to 
different pursuits. 

When 3'oung, as a boy, plowing and teaming, as well as alone 
at work on the farm, I was given to meditation, to thought, and 
speculation. I saw so much and felt so much, that was not 
good and pleasant, that life itself became a study and miracle 
that overwhelmed me with embarrassment. 

I thought, read, studied, wondered, vowed and promised 
myself, if ever I lived to be a man, I would not do as the multi- 
tude, the blind, unthinking, deluded, infatuated masses were 
doing. 

I have in a measure lived to fulfill my promises and pledges 
in boyhood. I wanted to know what was best and true and live 
up to it as near as I could. 

I was the first in the family to embrace anti-slavery, total 
abstinence, non-resistance, woman's rights, hygiene in diet and 
to work for the enlightenment of others. All our family finally 
came over in part to these views. My life has been a very 
different one from any other one of the family. I helped to 
make brother, Doctor Joseph, a temperance man, and so saved 
him; for he drank entirely too much. 

In 1846 Brother Joseph held a temperance meeting in Lang- 
horne. He was arrested for disturbing the peace and fined S50.00 
by the court. The Judge left the courtroom three times during 
the trial to get a drink. As Joseph was a member of Society of 
Friends, the Friends looked up his case, found him not guilty 
of the charge and the fine was remitted. 

Personally, Sister Sarah Ann and I had the most severe 
training in domestic economy, and in the most rigid restraint of 
poverty, against waste, expenditure and personal gratification. 

I inherited neither health, strength, or genius. Have suffered 
not a little from overwork, hardships and exposures, and want 
of a capacity every way to make life a success. So I managed 
to get a matrimonial union that has supplemented my deficiencies ; 
have outlived all my brothers, yet had the least vital capital. I 



A STORY OF MY LONGSHORE FAMILY 533 

have tried to take care of myself, more than they, and am now 
in my seventy-ninth year. 



From the Friends Intelligencer 

Thomas Ellwood Longshore was born 11th month, 11th, 
1812, on a farm, in Middletown Township, Bucks County, 
Pennsylvania. Died 8th month, 19th, 1898, in Philadelphia. 
Later his autobiography states: 

"I learned to read, write, and cipher before my tenth year. At sixteen 
I bought a grammar book and commenced to study at nights, and whenever I 
could snatch a moment. I longed and begged to go to school to get an edu- 
cation, that I might do something other than farm work, but father thought 
he could not spare me. 

"I was a ready reader, and winter evenings before I was twelve years old I 
had read aloud to the family the two volumes of George Fox's Journal. The 
religious impressions I then received have remained with me through life. I 
read and studied Barclay's Apology before 1 was twenty. 

"The division among Friends in 1828 had just taken place and I read 
Elias Hicks' sermons carefully, and much of the controversial Fn'ends' litera- 
ture of that period with interest and eagerness. Among the books I read was 
Clarkson's Life of William Penn, Clarkson's Portraiture of Quakerism, and 
his writings on the Foreign Slave Trade, The Life of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, 
The Life of Columbus, The Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of 
Independence." 

At twenty-one he helped to organize a debating society 
which held its meetings at the cross roads school house of his 
neighborhood and there learned to speak in public. 

Not being robust and having a distaste for farm work he left 
home at the age of twenty-three. He went to Baltimore, Wash- 
ington, D. C, and on to Ohio, walking most of the way. In a 
Friends settlement at New Lisbon he obtained a situation as a 
teacher. There in 1835 he became a Garrisonian Abolitionist, 
and met Hannah E. Myers to whom he was afterwards married. 

In 1841 he with his wife returned to Bucks County, where 
he again taught school. To quote further: 

"When my wife knew the 'Female Medical College,' now 'Woman's 
Medical College,' was to open soon, she commenced a systematic course of 
study in medicine. In the Autumn of 1850 we moved to Philadelphia. In 
1851 she graduated as a medical doctor. Up to 1865 I was engaged in 
various ways in connection with my wife in her practice of medicine, doing 



534: A STORY OF MY LONGSHORE FAMILY 

the clerical and not a little of the practical part to help on with the work she 
had undertaken. 

"About the year 1872, when our success seemed secure and our circum- 
stances were more independent, having the leisure I commenced a course of 
scientific reading, embracing social science and moral philosophy, and their 
connection with religion and ecclesiastical history. 

"I procured several histories of the Christian Religion, ancient and 
modern, and have read them with care to learn all of value I could on this 
subject. 

"There was to me a mystery in what passed for religion and I wished to 
solve it if possible. It has been a matter of surprise to me that so few people 
know anything of value in regard to this history, and are so content with their 
ignorance. 

"Some fifteen years ago I was a regular contributor to 'Friends Journal,' 
published by Dr. Joseph Gibbons of Lancaster County, of articles that startled 
the readers and excited opposition from several writers. These writings 
were based on the historical and scientific facts that I had accumulated. 

"For several years I spoke in our public meetings, holding up the prin- 
ciples of Christianity as I found them spiritually explained in Christian his- 
tory. My knowledge has been obtained from undoubted orthodox sources, 
and all the views I have ever made public were well grounded in history, and 
supported by recognized authoritative scripture expounders, views that can- 
not be refuted. When 'Friends Journal' went out of existence, I sent a number 
of articles to a New York liberal paper, most of which were printed. 

"In 1891 I published these articles in a volume entitled 'The Higher 
Criticism of Theology and Religion.' " 

Prior to this he wrote and published George Fox's Interpreted, 
also numerous tracts on reUgion. 

His acquaintance with Friends Hterature and religious history 
gave him broad views. As a speaker in the Society of Friends 
his communications were often too advanced to meet popular 
approval. Those who understood and appreciated his ministra- 
tions attribute to his efforts in large part the present awakening 
among Friends. 

He was a philanthropist and reformer. For years he had 
been a regular contributor to several religious and secular papers. 
His writings were chiefly on Peace, Temperance, Labor and 
Woman Suffrage. 

His business dealings were always honorable. He was just 
too consistent to take the advantage of the ignorant or one 
whose necessities were great. 

His private life was without a shadow. 



A STORY OF MY LONGSHORE FAMILY 535 

His wish and desire was to be helpful, and in a modest way 
he tried to make the world a little better. 

The children of Thomas E. and Hannah E. Longshore were 
Charming Longshore, M. D., and Lucretia Longshore Blanken- 
burg, the author of this paper, wife of Rudolph Blankenburg 
(now deceased), ma^^or of Philadelphia, 1912-1916. 



Restoring Old Pictures 

By dr. ARTHUR EDWIN BYE. HOLICONG. PA, 

(Doylestovvn Meeting. May 7, 1932) 

UP until comparatively recent times the art of painting was 
always regarded as a mystery. As a skilled craft, its 
secrets were carefully guarded by the old masters and 
handed down through the centuries from master to pupil. It 
took years of apprenticeship for a pupil to be initiated in the 
method of the master, and the layman was not admitted to the 
profession. 

The restoration of old masters was even more of a guarded 
secret — even looked upon by many as a Black Art. Viewed in 
the light of present-day science, there were good reasons for this. 
The methods of old restorers were dangerous, even pernicious. 
For instance, raw potatoes were considered good for cleaning ofif 
dirt. It was also a general custom to repaint whole parts of a 
masterpiece instead of laboriously striving to preserve the 
original surface. No wonder the restorers kept their methods to 
themselves. 

But, on the other hand, it is equally dangerous for unskillful 
persons to tamper with fine pictures. The average person can- 
not know that using raw potatoes, bread crumbs, or any vege- 
table substance will start a fungus growth in the minute cracks 
of the paint. Also he does not know that rubbing pictures with 
oil (olive and linseed oil) darkens them, that shellac causes 
immense cracks and water will loosen the priming ground of the 
canvas. 

When I first began the study of restoration of pictures, there 
were no published books on the subject. I had to glean what I 
could of the history of the art of restoring from some few scientific 
papers, or references in technical books of general nature. I 
learned entirely from study with older professional restorers and 
from experience. In this profession experience is the only sure 
teacher, for every picture is a new problem, no rule can apply to 
every one, and only years can give one the resourcefulness to 
diagnose a case correctly and to apply the remedy. 

Paintings are in many ways like people. They have their 





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RESTORING OLD PICTURES 537 

vicissitudes in life, changes of climate affect them; accidents 
occur; they become physical wrecks or suffer chronic diseases. 
But, unlike people, they can be rejuvenated and given an entire 
new lease of life. For a fine picture, painted in the methods of old 
masters, is composed of durable materials. The pigments 
themselves are imperishable minerals. It is the wooden or 
canvas background that becomes diseased, or the protective 
varnish which disintegrates. The business of the picture-doctor 
is to treat the background, or to remove the varnish, renewing 
both if need be, thereby preserving the actual pigments in all 
their brightness and freshness. The artist's actual work need 
never be affected, unless, by accident or carelessness, his pig- 
ments have actually fallen oft" in places, or been rubbed oft' by 
unskillful scrubbing in the past. 

Pictures are generally painted either on wood panel or on 
canvas. The early Italians preferred poplar, while the Dutch 
used oak. Poplar, or soft woods, become worm eaten in the 
course of time, unless they have been treated, and they warp. 
Oak panels also warp and twist. Atmospheric changes greatly 
affect them. In our dry houses they shrink to so great an 
extent that the pamt on top, which does not usually shrink, 
blisters and falls oft". There is only one way to prevent shrink- 
age, and that is to plane down the wood on the back until it is too 
thin to be affected by atmospheric changes, and then apply it to 
three-ply board. Sometimes paintings are actually transferred 
from wood to canvas to prevent crumbling. To prevent warping 
panels are "cradled" or braced by strips of wood glued to the 
back longitudinally with the grain, and containing slots through 
which other strips are inserted transversely, holding the panel 
flat. The effect in the back is that of a gridiron, or lattice work. 

Canvases, of course, have other troubles. They become 
torn, — how many of them have the traditional bayonet hole! 
Particularly family portraits, which some soldier, barracked in 
the old mansion, spitefully insulted! Canvases even become 
rotten, tear out of their frames, crumple up and fall 
to pieces. These must be lined with new canvas. The old 
method of lining was to use an adhesive mixture of glue with rye 
flour or glue with rosin. There were various recipes, all of them 
implying a medium which became hard and brittle, subject to 
the effect of dampness and atmospheric change. My method 



538 RESTORING OLD PICTURES 

is to use melted wax mixed with resinous preservatives, applied 
w^hile hot, and ironed in, not only perfectly flattening the picture, 
but preserving it for many generations. 

It is an eighteenth century and erroneous idea to believe 
that an old painting should be yellow, or dirty. The artist who 
made the picture never intended it to be so. That yellowness, 
that obscurity, is due to old or disintegrated varnish. When 
that is removed, and replaced by a new protective film, the pic- 
ture becomes again as the artist left it. 

The discovery of a safe method of removing old varnish is 
due mostly to a Munich professor, named Pettenkofer, who 
placed the picture in an air-tight box, in the bottom of which a 
blanket soaked in alcohol was placed, the fumes of the alcohol 
melting the varnish and refreshing it. But this method did not 
thoroughly clean a picture and today other means are used. 
Among these is the friction method, the varnish, being actually 
rubbed off with the hand. But this can only be done with mastic 
varnish. The most general method is the use of solvents — a 
wide range being used, varying in strength, according to the age 
of the painting. 

The age of a picture, its genuineness, or whether it has been 
overpainted, can often be determined by a quartz lamp which 
changes the colors in certain ways. For example, old white is 
affected differently from modern white (zinc white). The 
X-ray will also assist, for, as I said before, old pigments are hard, 
like minerals, and show up like the skeleton of the body, while 
the new paint is soft and faint, through which the rays easily 
penetrate. The X-ray has frequently revealed a different 
painting underneath the surface of another one. 

This leads me to mention one or two interesting cases in my 
experience. Restorers often have surprises; sometimes they 
are pleasant to the owners, often not! Once I had a so-called 
self portrait of van Dyke put in my hands to restore. It was of 
a young man in a grey cloak. When I cleaned it, much of the 
resemblance to van Dyke came off, and a part of the cloak, 
revealing a splendidly painted hand holding a long halberd! It 
was a study, undoubtedly by van Dyke, not of himself, but of a 
halberdier. 

Another time I cleaned a painting by Carlo Dolci. It repre- 
sented a beautiful young woman holding a huge salver of fruit. 





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RESTORFD, BECOMING A MADONNA AND 
CHILD. BY MURILLO 



RESTORING OLD PICTURES 539 

The fruit seemed suspiciously new. Carefully I cleaned it, dis- 
covered finally that underneath was a gory human head. The 
subject was Salome with the Head of John the Baptist. A 
former owner had disliked the gruesome head and employed an 
artist to paint a bunch of fruit over it. 

The most startling case was that of a three-quarters length 
portrait of a lady with a child in her lap. It was supposed to 
have been painted by a famous French painter about 1775, and 
to represent the ancestress of one of our most distinguished 
families. But obviously it had been considerably damaged and 
restored by a botcher, who had muddled the hair and costume 
in a frightful way. I was commissioned to take off the previous 
restoration, and to bring back the original quality of the great 
master's w^ork. I began at one corner and found that under- 
neath the red curtain background was a stone wall with ivy. 
Then I stopped, and, for the sake of record, had it photographed. 
This accomplished, I went ahead. The clothes of the baby 
came off, then the costume of the lady and her jewelry. At last 
I uncovered a perfectly preserved and marvellously painted 
Madonna and Child. An ancestress and a baby ancestor had 
been lost, but a masterpiece recovered! Why the outrage had 
been done to so fine a picture is still a mystery. Fortunately 
the family was pleased with the result. 

Not always are results such a shock to family pride, and often 
the restorer is able to discover signatures, dates, inscriptions, 
coats of arms, and other data which identify the portraits as 
long-lost ancestors. One such case revealed a coat of arms in 
the upper right hand corner of the picture, and below, near a 
skull, which stood on a table, the date 1646, the artist's mono- 
gram and an inscription, "Hie gloria mundi," while on a Bible, 
"Hie gloria aeternum" was written. Subsequent genealogical 
research proved that the arms were those of the Lawiey family 
and that the portrait was of Sir Francis Lawiey, baronet and D. D. 



The Moland House, Washington's Headquarters on the 
Neshaminy, Historical Address 

By colonel HENRY D. PAXSON. HOLICONG, PENNSYLVANIA 

(Delivered on May 19, 1932, at the Moland House, Washington's headquarters on the 
Little Neshaminy, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on occasion of the visit of Distinguished 
French Educators. Officers and Men of the French Naval Reserves, at the Lafayette College 
Centennial Celebration, Fasten, Pennsylvania.) 



T 



HE President of The Bucks County Historical Society, 
Distinguished French Guests, Members of the Faculty 
of Lafayette College, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



I esteem it a great honor and privilege to be asked to come here 
today to extend cordial greetings and a hearty welcome to Bucks 
County. This request comes from the President of The Bucks 
County Historical Society, dean of our Bucks County historians 
and foremost citizen — Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr. As he is your host 
today the honor and distinction of addressing you should have 
been his, and if I felt there would be no other opportunity for 
him to ^peak to you, I would be loath to accept this pleasant 
office which he so graciously has accorded me. The welcome I 
extend is three-fold — on behalf of The Bucks County Historical 
Society, on behalf of the Washington Crossing Park Commission, 
and, I think I may be permitted to say, on behalf of all of the 
good people of Bucks County. 

Your host has brought you to an unpretentious but historic 
edifice — the Moland House. This was the headquarters of 
General Washington, or rather I should say, it was one of his 
headquarters. If that were all of the story, its interest would 
not be so outstanding since Washington had three other head- 
quarters in Bucks County which are still standing, and when 
we go beyond our borders, Washington's headquarters are legion. 
A few years ago, when motoring through the country, I observed 
at a tea house a sign which read, "This is a House at which 
Washington did not stop." That which makes these head- 
quarters of surpassing interest is the fact that here in this house, 
on the 20th day of August, 1777, General Lafayette presented 
his credentials to General Washington, and first joined the 
American Army. A few days later he unsheathed his sword to 
aid us in our struggle for Independence. 





THE MOLAND HOUSE 

Headquarters, August 10 to 23, 1777, with tablet outlined on the eastern gable 
inscribed as shown above 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 541 

Gentlemen — your itinerary today is a crowded one, and the 
schedule allows me but ten minutes in which to address you. 
For a moment I would like to draw the curtain on the Moland 
House and give you, in the briefest way possible, the background 
of facts leading up to what took place here. 

The drama of the American Revolution opened in New Eng- 
land; it was mainly fought on Pennsylvania and New Jersey 
soil; it ended, practically ended, in victory at Yorktown. Bucks 
County's more important part in the Revolution begins in the 
month of December, 1776. Down to that time Washington had 
lost more battles than he had won. Following the disaster at 
Long Island w-e see him with his defeated, discouraged, and 
almost naked army, retreating through New Jersey and seeking 
shelter here on Bucks County soil, on the west bank of the Dela- 
ware. Here he spent seventeen days, December 8th to Decem- 
ber 25th, his men with him at that time scarcely totaling 6,000, 
many of whom were unfit for duty. Washington, having 
brought with him to the Pennsylvania shore all of the boats and 
river craft, the enemy waited on the opposite shore of the Dela- 
ware for the waters to freeze so that they could cross, march 
through Bucks County, and seize Philadelphia, our capital. 
Philadelphia was panic-stricken, many of the inhabitants left 
the city, and Congress, which had been sitting there, picked up 
its papers and fled to Baltimore. Washington's men had suffered 
defeat after defeat, were discouraged and ready to go home. 
This has been described as the darkest hour of the Revolution 
and Washington at the Keith House, in Upper Makefield Town- 
ship, w-rote his brother, "I fear the game is nearly up." Then it 
was that over there at McKonkey's Ferry was born a new and 
desperate courage which bore fruition in the brilliant victory at 
Trenton. 

On Christmas day at night, Washington with 2,400 men 
crossed the swollen waters of the Delaware River, filled with 
floating ice, forbidding the approach of man. It was a hazard- 
ous undertaking requiring nine hours. Then in the face of a 
blinding storm of snow and sleet they marched nine miles to 
Trenton, surprising Colonel Rail, the Hessian Commander, and 
his 1,400 men, and after a spirited but brief engagement made 
them lay down their arms. The Hessian Commander was 
killed. Washington and his army then retraced their steps the 



542 HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

nine miles to McKonkey's Ferry, bringing with them, 1,000 
Hessian prisoners, six brass field pieces and several stands of 
colors. Recrossing the Delaware they marched six miles to 
Newtown and later the captives were paraded in the streets of 
Philadelphia to show the doubting Thomases that Washington 
and his "ragged Continental soldiers" were more than a match 
for the trained mercenaries of Europe. A few days later he 
recrossed the Delaware, fought the second battle of Trenton 
and on the day following, the battle of Princeton, in all of which 
he was victorious. These victories have justly been called "the 
turning point of the American Revolution." Washington now 
took possession of that part of New Jersey from which he had 
been driven out and the British were forced back to New York. 

Now comes the campaign in the summer of 1777. Howe's 
army, in more than two hundred vessels sailed from the harbor 
of New York for an undisclosed destination. Washington, then 
at Morristown, New Jersey, surmising Howe's destination to be 
Philadelphia, set his army in motion down the York Road and 
on July 31st spent the night here on this spot called "Neshaminy 
Camp." The following day he moved to Germantown. Howe's 
army appeared off the Delaware Capes but learning of Washing- 
ton's movements again put out to sea. Washington and his 
army then came back to "Neshaminy Camp" and remained here 
two weeks, from August 10th to August 23rd, a longer time than 
he encamped at any other place in Pennsylvania except 
White Marsh and Valley Forge. 

The camp ground lay here on both sides of the Old York 
Road, on ground sloping from Carrs' Hill to the Little Neshaminy. 
It was not a fortified or intrenched position — simply an encamp- 
ment. The Moland House was W^ashington's headquarters 
which he shared with Lafayette as a member of his military 
family. And at yonder house, across York Road, General 
Greene had his headquarters. 

At this encampment Lafayette had an opportunity of 
observing the whole American Army and has left this description 
of it: 

"Eleven thousand men, but tolerably armed, and still worse 
clad, presented a singular spectacle in their parti-colored and often 
naked state. The best dresses were hunting-shirts of brown 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 543 

linen. Their tactics were equally irregular. They were arranged 
without regard to size, excepting that the smallest men were in 
the front rank. With all this they were good looking soldiers, 
conducted by zealous officers." 

Washington apologized for their appearance to Lafayette. 
"We ought to feel embarrassed," he said, "in presenting our- 
selves before an officer just from the French army." 

"It is to learn, not to instruct," was Lafayette's apt reply. 

Howe finally came up the Chesapeake to the head of Elk and 
then moved into Chester County, Pennsylvania, where Washing- 
ton met him, September 11, 1777, at Brandywine. It was in 
this battle that Lafayette was wounded. He was later taken to 
the Moravian Hospital at Bethlehem, where he was nursed to 
convalescence by the Moravian Sisters. In the cruel winter of 
1777 and 1778, Lafayette was at Valley Forge sharing with the 
men their sufferings and privations. 

On June 18, 1778, Howe evacuated Philadelphia and 
started the march through New Jersey in the direction of 
New^ York. Washington immediately put his army in motion 
and crossing Montgomery and Bucks Counties, caught up 
with him at Englishtown, New Jersey, where was fought 
on Sunday, June 28, 1778, the battle of Monmouth. The 
early part of the fight was lost through the treachery of 
General Charles Lee, but Washington with the aid of Lafayette 
changed the second part of the battle into victory and they and 
their army made their camp on the battlefield that night. Before 
the dawn of the following day the British had fled from the 
field. Time will not permit me to trace further the steps of 
Washington and Lafayette ending in victory at Yorktown. 

Distinguished Frenchmen^you are now on historic soil, 
ground hallowed by the presence of Washington and Lafayette. 
You are in the very center of the theatre of action during the 
Revolution. If we take this spot as the hub of a wheel, its spokes 
will radiate to eight battlefields of the American Revolution. 
Over yonder — across the Delaware in New Jersey, we have 
Trenton, Princeton and Monmouth. Down in this direction, 
across the Delaware, we have the battlefield of Red Bank. To 
the west of this point, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, the 
battlefield of Brandywine, where Lafayette was wounded, and 
coming east we have Paoli and Germantown, and down here a 



544 HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

short distance on the York Road, the Crooked Billet- — eight 
battlefields of the American Revolution, all of which you could 
by motor visit in one day, and I believe we would still have time 
to stop at Valley Forge w'here more courage was required than to 
face the bullets of the enemy. 

Distinguished Frenchmen — had it not been for the presence 
of Lafayette and the aid your country gave us in the hour of 
our need, there would have been no Valley Forge, no Yorktown, 
no Antietam nor Gettysburg, nor martyrdom of Lincoln to com- 
memorate; we, today, would be a dependency of Great Britain 
like Australia, India and South Africa. 

Distinguished Representatives of France — in conclusion, per- 
mit me to give expression to this thought, which I will ask you to 
take with you on your homeward journey, that in your pilgrimage 
to Bucks County and to this historic shrine, you have honored 
the soldiers of the American Revolution, those brave men who 
at that early day gave their lives to uphold the principles of 
human liberty, gave their lives, as we said of our boys sent to 
France to aid you in your struggle in the World War, for an 
ideal, the giving of which always ennobles a nation. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 545 



Lafayette College Centennial 

Tour Into Bucks County with French Guests, 
May 19, 1932 

The route traveled was south down the Delaware River, 
stopping enroute at New Hope to visit the art gallery at Phillips 
Mill, where the artist colony were holding their annual exhibition 
of paintings, then over the Old York Road, past many historic 
places to the Moland House on the Little Neshaminy, where we 
were greeted by Col. Henry D. Paxson, who delivered an his- 
torical address; then to Doylestown, the county-seat of Bucks 
County, to visit the museum of the Bucks County Historical 
Society, then to "Fonthill," the home of the late Dr. Henry C. 
Mercer with its library, archaeological collection, decoration of 
tiles and other interesting features, after v/hich tea was served 
on the lawn, then back to Lafayette College over the Easton 
Road. 

Personnel of the Party 

Dr. William Mather Lewis, President of Lafayette College. 

Dr. Charles Cestre, Professor of American Literature, University 

of Paris.* 
Dr. Felix Gaiffe, Professor of French Literature, LIniversity of 

Paris.* 
M. Jacques Gruber, Architect for the City of Paris. Consulted 

in the laying out of the Parkway, and the Art Museum at 

Philadelphia. 
M. Jean Tillier, General Manager French Lines for New York 

and Canada. President French Chamber of Commerce in 

the United States. 
Commandant Jules Chabot, Captain Steamship "Lafayette." 
Commissaire Amiel and four sailors from the Motor Steamship 

"Lafayette," all of whom took part in the pageant at Lafayette 

College, May 17, 18 and 20, 1932. 
George H. Shufiflebotham, Instructor of Modern Languages, 

Lafayette College, a French scholar who had charge of the 

sailors. 

* On May 17, 1932, Lafayette College conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws 
upon Doctors Cestre and Gaiffe. 



546 HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

Mr. Edward F. Knight, Publicity Director of the French Steam- 
ship Line. 

Prof. Albert H. Gilmer, Professor of Dramatic Art, Lafayette 
College. Author and director of the Lafayette College 
Pageant. 

Dr. George H. Allen, Professor of Latin and the Fine Arts, Lafay- 
ette College. 

Prof. James B. Hopkins, Professor of Romance Languages, 
Lafayette College. 

Dr. Morland King, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Lafayette 
College. 

Dr. John Hunt Wilson, Professor of Chemistry, Lafayette College. 
Chairman of the Transportation Committee. 

David B. Skillman, Esq., Active member of Northampton 
County Bar. Editor of the History of Lafayette College, 
entitled "Biography of a College." Secretary of the Board 
of Trustees. 

Mr. Harold Cadmus, Manager Charles Scribner's Sons, who 
printed the "Biography of a College." 

Mr. John Fackenthal Magee, Treasurer Lafayette College Cen- 
tennial Committee, Chief Engineer Alpha Portland Cement 
Co. 

Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr., President The Bucks County Historical 
Society, President of the Fonthill Trust. President Board of 
Trustees of Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa. 
Host and Conductor of the Outing Party. 

Col. Henry D. Paxson, Welcomed the party at the Moland House 
and delivered an address on "The Moland House, Washing- 
ton's Headquarters on the Neshaminy." President Swedish 
Colonial Society, Vice-President of The Bucks County His- 
torical Society, and Historian of the Washington Crossing 
Park Commission of Pennsylvania. 



546 HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

Mr. Edward F. Knight, Publicity Director of the French Steam- 
ship Line. 

Prof. Albert H. Gilmer, Professor of Dramatic Art, Lafayette 
College. Author and director of the Lafayette College 
Pageant. 

Dr. George H. Allen, Professor of Latin and the Fine Arts, Lafay- 
ette College. 

Prof. James B. Hopkins, Professor of Romance Languages, 
Lafayette College. 

Dr. Morland King, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Lafayette 
College. 

Dr. John Hunt Wilson, Professor of Chemistry, Lafayette College. 
Chairman of the Transportation Committee. 

David B. Skillman, Esq., Active member of Northampton 
County Bar. Editor of the History of Lafayette College, 
entitled "Biography of a College." Secretary of the Board 
of Trustees. 

Mr. Harold Cadmus, Manager Charles Scribner's Sons, who 
printed the "Biography of a College." 

Mr. John Fackenthal Magee, Treasurer Lafayette College Cen- 
tennial Committee, Chief Engineer Alpha Portland Cement 
Co. 

Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr., President The Bucks County Historical 
Society, President of the Fonthill Trust. President Board of 
Trustees of Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa. 
Host and Conductor of the Outing Party. 

Col. Henry D. Paxson, Welcomed the party at the Moland House 
and delivered an address on "The Moland House, Washing- 
ton's Headquarters on the Neshaminy." President Swedish 
Colonial Society, Vice-President of The Bucks County His- 
torical Society, and Historian of the Washington Crossing 
Park Commission of Pennsylvania. 



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