[Book] History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania

CHAPTER XXII AGRICULTURE, WITH A BRIEF MENTION OF OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS Gabriel Thomas, the first historian of our State, in his quaint volume published in 1698, in describing the productions, says, “Their sorts of grain are wheat, rye, peas, barley, buckwheat, rice, Indian corn, and beans, with great quantities of hemp and flax, as also … Read more

CHAPTER XXI REDEMPTIONERS AND SLAVERY IN DELAWARE COUNTY When the system of redemptive servitude first appeared in our history I fail to ascertain, but certain it is that it related in the first instance to English emigrants solely, and did not show itself until after the territory had been subjugated by the arms of Great … Read more

CHAPTER XX TRAVELING AND TRANSPORTATION, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE RAILROADS IN THE COUNTY In these days of rapid transit, when inside of eighty days a man can “put a girdle round about the earth,” it is a difficult matter to comprehend the slow journeys of the olden time, or that hardly three hundred years … Read more

CHAPTER XIX MANNERS AND CUSTOMS – HOW INHABITANTS OF DELAWARE COUNTY LIVED IN FORMER YEARS Houses. The progress of a nation is traced not in the life of an individual, who, from some personal or fortunate circumstance, was elevated for the time being above his fellows, but is found in the narrative of the daily … Read more

CHAPTER XVIII CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS We have little or no information as to the criminal code which maintained among the early Swedish and Dutch settlers on the Delaware.* The fragmentary records which have been preserved incidentally in correspondence and official reports do not enlighten us as to the manner of trial or the authority exercised … Read more

CHAPTER XVII THE CIVIL WAR The war of sections, which had overhung the country for over forty years, burst upon the nation on Saturday, April 18, 1861, when the American flag was hauled down at Fort Sumter, under the assaults of Southern military men who, on the plains of Mexico, had proudly marched to victory … Read more

CHAPTER XVI THE REMOVAL OF THE COUNTY-SEAT TO MEDIA In considering the history of the removal of the county-seat from the ancient borough of Chester to Media, the present location, I must necessarily draw largely from the narrative of that event furnished by Dr. Smith, he having been an active advocate of the changes, although … Read more

CHAPTER XV THE TEN-HOUR MOVEMENT One of the most important movements, and, in the results which have flowed from it, of great moment to the people of Delaware County, the State of Pennsylvania, and, more or less, to the country at large, was first put into practical effect in the eastern portion of this State, … Read more

CHAPTER XIV STORMS, FRESHETS, AND EARTHQUAKES We have little save tradition respecting storms, freshets, and earthquakes in the olden times. It is only within the last half-century that any circumstantial records have been kept of such incidents in our annals. On March 22, 1662,* William Beckman, in a letter, mentions the day before the tide … Read more

CHAPTER XIII FROM THE SECOND WAR WITH ENGLAND TO 1850 The second war with England had almost wholly severed communication with the Old World, particularly with Great Britain, and the immediate result was an effort on the part of the people to meet the public demand for those commodities which previous to the beginning of … Read more