[Book] History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania

CHAPTER XXXII THE CITY OF CHESTER In 1644 the present site of Chester, east of the creek of that name, was a tobacco plantation, occupied by farm servants in the employment of the Swedish company. About that time many of the colonists began to seek grants of the broad acres on the main land, and … Read more

CHAPTER XXXI BIRMINGHAM TOWNSHIP At the extreme southwestern end of Delaware County is Birmingham township, which in early days was pronounced as though written Brummagen. The Brandywine Creek constitutes the entire western boundary of the township. This stream was called by the Swedes Fiskekill, and the present name, by tradition, is asserted to have been … Read more

CHAPTER XXX BETHEL TOWNSHIP This municipal district, which was the smallest township in the original county of Chester, is about three miles in length and a mile and a half in breadth at the widest part, the whole area being scarcely five miles square, is mentioned as early as 1683,* and again at the court … Read more

CHAPTER XXIX ASTON TOWNSHIP Dr. Smith states that “this township probably derived its name from Aston, a village of Berkshire, England. . . . In 1686, Edward Carter, then a resident in what is now Aston, was appointed constable for Northley.”* The opinions of all our local historians agree in that the name of Northley … Read more

CHAPTER XXVIII THE TOWNSHIP OF TINICUM [Please note that this chapter is heavely footnoted.  The footnotes are indicated by an “*” and “(number*).] The island of Tinicum, now comprising the township of the same name, is located in the Delaware River, about two-miles from the eastern limit of the city of Chester. At the southwestern … Read more

CHAPTER XXVII CIVIL LISTS PROTHONOTARY, CLERKS OF COURT, RECORDER OF DEEDS, AND REGISTER OF WILLS Thomas Revell, Sept. 13, 1681, to Aug. 22, 1683; Robert Eyre, Oct. 17, 1683, to December, 1689; Joshua Fearne, September, 1690, to April 18, 1693; John Childe, June 13, 1693, to March, 1690-1700; Henry Hollingsworth, June 11, 1700, to Feb. … Read more

CHAPTER XXVI PHYSICIANS AND MEDICAL SOCIETIES It is very likely that the Swedish home authorities in preparing for the colonization of the Delaware, fully aware of the necessity which might arise for the services of a physician, took the precaution to include among the earliest settlers some person skilled in the art of medicine as … Read more

CHAPTER XXV THE COURT, BENCH, AND BAR OF DELAWARE COUNTY [Please note that this chapter is heavely footnoted.  The footnotes are indicated by an “*” and “(number*).] Beyond the possibility of refutation, it can be asserted that at Tinicum, in the present county of Delaware, justice was first dispensed within the limits of the State … Read more

CHAPTER XXIV DELAWARE COUNTY CLIMATE, TOGETHER WITH NOTICES OF REMARKABLE WEATHER In 1633 it is recorded that De Vries was frozen up in Wyngaert’s Kill from January 17th to February 3d, and that he did not return to Swansdale until the 20th of February. The Dutch colonists “did not imagine that we had been frozen … Read more

CHAPTER XXIII WILD ANIMALS, FISH, ETC., OF DELAWARE COUNTY When the first European settlers located in Delaware County the territory abounded with wild game, and for more than a hundred years thereafter large animals in a state of nature were common. Gabriel Thomas informs us in his “History of Pennsylvania,” that when he lived in … Read more