Emma C. Patterson wrote "Your Town and My Town" for the Suburban & Wayne Times from 1949 to 1958. It was written during a time when Wayne's founders were still around to reminisce about the area's development. The articles are a wealth of information, with many names and places referenced.

The same way historic photographs of Radnor can tell us a great deal about their subjects, Ms. Patterson's writing draws a vivid picture of Radnor's history as seen from the lens of the mid-20th Century. At that point venerable institutions that no longer function were still alive in full swing, longtime residents who could remember back to Wayne's agrarian past could still share their memories, and there was enough community interest that the Suburban was willing to print such extensive and descriptive columns week after week for nearly a decade.

Locked in fading newsprint, tucked away inside crumbling scrapbooks for fifty years, each article by Emma C. Patterson is reproduced here in full, in an easy to navigate searchable blog format.

Browse an index of all articles

Ithan

/ Emma C. Patterson

Much has appeared recently in this column concerning Strafford, our neighbor to the west. More will appear in the future concerning that old settlement, including the history of the Old Eagle School and of the large three stories building now known as Spread Eagle Mansion. In this week’s column we turn to Ithan, our neighbor to the east.

Like Wayne, Ithan was once rolling farm land. Unlike Wayne it has never grown into a consolidated and thriving community – on the other hand it has always maintained much of its rural charm, with the Conestoga road running through it and with the old Ithan Store the center of community interest. Conestoga road itself dates back more than two hundred years now, having originally been an Indian trail from the Delaware River to the Susquehanna River.

In the middle and latter part of the 19th century, after the Indians had mostly disappeared from the Pennsylvania scene, but automobiles, telephones and electricity had not yet appeared, a great part of Ithan belonged to the J. Hunter Ewing estate. Radnor was then called Morgan’s Corner, where the Chew family owned most of the land. Among other landowners were the Bories, the McCreas, the Matlacks, the Parks and the Meigs. The houses on Radnor road near the railroad, which are still occupied, were then called “Cork Row”.

Ithan itself was then a group of straggline buildings and huge farms. Going west on Conestoga road, the traveller came to the old Quaker Meeting, still an historic landmark to this day. To the East of the meeting house was the Dr. Blackfan home, while beyond it was the general store, now known as the Ithan Store operated by Robert Curley. Nearby were the saddler’s, the wheelwright’s and the blacksmith’s shops. Homes in this vicinity were those of the Ericksons, the Sloans, the Joyces and the Joseph Childs. Then there were the Sorrel Horse Inn, one of the most historic road houses in the vicinity, and the Odd Fellows Hall, the latter the Isaac Fields property.

Near Five Points was the pottery plant. Swinging from there in a southwesterly direction there were few houses until the Baptist Church was reached. Near there were the homes of the Heagys, the Lawrence Rameys, the Greens, the Litzenbergs, the Charles Pughs and the Dan Abrams. The latter was later purchased by W. Hinckle Smith, while the vast McFadden property was once Joseph Worrell’s grist mill.

The home of Anderson Kirk and that of James J. Beadle were on Ithan avenue. The property that was the blacksmith shop of Samuel McElroy at one time, later belonged to the Brownings. dan Geiger and the Heuves families lived on Lowry’s lane, while the Miller place later became the Cassat estate. On the highway near Villanova College was the McKeown farm, and nearby was the home of Frank Paul. Also on the turnpike were the properties of Peter Penn-Gaskell Hall and the Browns. The corner so long occupied by Brackbills’ farm Market was the home of Mrs. Hayward, a beautiful house built on the ruins of an earlier building destroyed by fire. The Young and Streefer families had been successive inmates of the older house.

Much of this information on Ithan and its general environs in the early seventies was given in an interview with Thomas J. Harkins that was published in The Suburban some years ago. Born in Philadelphia in 1858, Mr. Harkins threw in his lot at an early age with John H. Beadle, whose family were among the first settlers of Ithan. John Beadle at that time owned a large farm at Eagle, near Wayne, later moving to Radnor road.

During a long and useful life Tom Harkins saw many changes in Ithan, the community in which he made his home. Always active in the affairs of that community, he was for many years inspector and later the judge of elections in Ithan. He also served as registry assessor and was road forman for the Township. His business as a truck farmer carried him to all corners of the district and won him a wide circle of friends.

When the Ithan postoffice came into existence he became its first mail carrier, a position which he held until he resigned three years later. For nearly fifty years he was sexton of St. Martin’s chapel, first assuming his duties when the chapel was organized in the School house in 1893. Mr. Harkins was as familiar with the early days of Wayne as he was with that of his own community of Ithan. He remembered the old Lyceum Hall when it was located on the Turnpike near the present site of the Wayne Iron Works. He remembered this Turnpike, too, when it was a straggling, shaded, country lane. What is more, he played a part in the development as it was by J. Henry Askin and carried on by the Wayne Estate.

(Information which may be used in future succeeding articles about the Ithan district will be gratefully received by Mrs. Patterson, Windermere Court, Wayne.)

The Ithan Store (corner Conestoga & Radnor-Chester Rd.) – Mr. & Mrs. Robert M. Curley

/ Emma C. Patterson

Among Radnor Township’s quaint landmarks few are as well known as the old Ithan Store standing at the intersection of Conestoga and Radnor-Chester roads. The exact date of its building is not known, but it was probably in the last quarter of the 17th century. For old records show that the first male child to be born in Radnor Township was a son of John Jarman, who purchased this property in 1688 from Richard Daves (or Davis, as it is spelled in some of the records). This little Jarman baby first saw the light of day in that part of the old building in which the store is now located, the eastern section having been erected at a somewhat later date. In 1769, at the ripe old age of eighty-five, Jarman died in this same house.

Present owners of the old store are Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Curley, who had taken over its management in 1945 for the “co-operative” formed by a number of Ithan residents when the store and Post Office located in this building seemed doomed in 1937. this group was anxious to save not only the little local store itself, but their own fourth class Post Office as well. Then in 1948 Mrs. Edward Meigs, who owned the property, decided to sell and Mr. Curley was willing to buy. But because there was not a clear title to the property he could not at first obtain a mortgage. This was because the state claimed that five feet of the land was part of the Radnor-Chester road. This would mean that four feet and four inches of the roadway actually penetrated the store building’s corner at the intersection of Radnor-Chester and Old Conestoga roads.

This situation was met in an unique manner after Bob Curley had given six months of unsuccessful effort to determine the original boundaries of the property. What information he had uncovered he turned over to Congressman William H. Milliken, who was later responsible for a special act which awarded the five feet of land along the highway to Radnor Township as long as the old building stands. The Radnor Township Commissioners in turn gave the strip of land to the store property. This made it possible for Bob Curley to purchase a property which had long been the community center of the old settlement of Ithan.

Since purchasing the property, the Curleys have had the porch which extended across the front and part of the east side of the building taken down. They have made numerous inside improvements, including the installation of an air-conditioning unit to provent some of the dampness from seeping through the 24-inch thick stone and mud-mortar walls. The building still has fireplaces in every room, including one in the cellar. Rafters are hand-hewn and floor boards are of the wide old-fashioned variety. The downstairs section of the building, which is on the corner, is used for the store and post office, while the eastern downstairs portion and the entire upstairs is used for home quarters by the Curley family.

In trying to clear the title to the property when he decided to purchase it in 1948, Mr. Curley first looked for a hidden cornerstone. After a vain search he decided it might been stolen in the period when there were a number of such thefts. This was at a time when houses seemed to sell better when they had a corner stone. And a thrifty, not to say unscrupulous, real estate dealer sometimes transferred an authentic stone from one old building to another without such a stone to hasten the sale of the latter. Next he turned to old records housed in various historical societies and libraries. In the Philadelphia Public Library he found a number of histories dealing with the early days of Delaware County, among them the “Encyclopaedia of Delaware County”, by Winfield Scott Garner; “The Welsh Settlement of Pennsylvania”, by Browning; “History of Delaware County”, by Dr. George Smith, and many others.

Among the many interesting facts that Mr. Curley uncovered was that in 1681 Richard Daves had obtained from William Penn some 500 acres of the original grant of 5000 acres of the land from Charles II of England to Penn made one year earlier. To the Colony founded by Penn had come the oppressed and persecuted of many lands. The Quakers soon surpassed all others in numbers. Some of these were of Welsh origin, a large colony settling in the “Welsh Barony”, of Montgomery and Delaware Counties.

Richard Daves’ holdings were in what is now the Ithan section of Radnor Township. In 1688 John Jarman purchased 100 of John Daves’ acres on part of which the old property now known as the Ithan Store was built. The exact date of this is unknown. But it was, Mr. Curley says, the first place of worship of the Radnor Friends Meeting, their own Meeting House across the road not having been built until 1695. This was the original edifice, the present one having been erected in 1721 after the first was destroyed by fire. In 1685 the first wedding of the Radnor Friends Meeting took place when services were still held in the little building across the road.

John Jarman was made constable of Radnor Township in 1685 and served until 1721 when he died. he was a celebrated mathematician of his time and the publisher of “The American Almanac” between 1690 and 1700.

The City Council of Philadelphia planned that the Kings Highway should go through the Jarman property soon after it was purchased by the latter. In spite of strong opposition on the part of John Jarman and various of his Welsh neighbors the road was laid in 1691. But legend has it that more than once thereafter Jarman planted his crops on the site of this road. In 1697 the Radnor-Chester Road was put through by the State of Pennsylvania.

There were originally four towns in Radnor Township including Wayne, Radnor, Radnorville and Villa Nova. The first Post Office at what is now Ithan was called Radnorville. Somewhere about 1850 this name was changed to Ithan because of the similarity between Radnor and Radnorville. And so it is to this day, although it has increased to such a size that it is now a third class Post Office instead of the original fourth class one. Mrs. Curley carries on as postmistress, while her husband runs the store.

(For the material used in this article, Mrs. Patterson wishes to acknowledge her indebtedness to Mr. Curley, whose interest in his property has brought to light many fascinating historical facts in regard to it.)

The Radnor Friends Meeting House, part 1 – preparation meetings of Haverford and Merion

/ Emma C. Patterson

In recounting the story of the old Ithan Store in last week’s column, we stated that Robert Curley, present owner of the property, has found that it was in 1681 that Richard Daves obtained 500 acres from William Penn as part of the original grant of land from the Charles II of England to Penn made one year earlier. Daves’ holdings were in what is now the Ithan section of Radnor Township and it was from him that John Jarman purchased the 100 acres on part of which the old store now stands. It was soon after 1688 that the store was built.

It was not until the middle nineties, probably somewhere between 1693 and 1695, that the original Radnor Meeting across the road was built. There is no record of the materials used for it. It may indeed, have been built of logs, as were some of the early dwellings. By 1717 Friends of Radnor were considering the erection of a meeting home to be built of stone. According to some of the old records encouragement for this undertaking was needed, for early records mention “A letter from one frd (friend) Benjamin Holm to this meeting recomending to their Consideration The Stirring up of frds (friends) In Ye Building of their Meeting house att Radnor.”

Benjamin Holm’s letter to the Meeting also states that those concerned with the building “should be concerned for ye prosperity of Truth.” David Morris, David Lewis, Edd. Rees and Robert Jones, Richard Hayes and Samuel Lewis were appointed “to assist In Ye contrivance and ye building Thereof, and they meet together abt (about) it on ye 21st of this instant, and report to ye next morning.”

The members of the Committee all belonged to the Preparation Meetings of Haverford and Merion. The next Meeting was held at Merion, and one of its minutes embraces the report of the Committee.

“Some friends of those appointed to assist Radnor friends in Ye Contrivance of a new meeting house, then having acct. yt. they have accordingly met and given their thoughts as to ye bigness and form thereof. To wch (which) Radnor frds Then there present seemed generally to agree with.”

The monthly meetings were held alternately at Haverford, Merion and radnor, and in course a meeting would be held in the early part of December, 1718. This meeting was ordered to be held at Haverford, “their meeting home at Radnor being not ready.”

The west end of the present building was constructed at that time but the east end was not completed for several years. It was in 1721 that Radnor Friends “Made a Motion . . . for some assistance to finish their Meeting House. And it is desired that the friends of the Severall parts belonging to this Meeting do contribute what they think Meet for so comendable a work.” The east end was still under construction in 1722 and was for a period used for a Friends School. Here Enoch Lewis, a well-known mathematician, and later a member of the Westtown faculty, went to school and later taught.

Today that meeting house, built in the closing years of the 17th century, with its addition made some twenty-five years later, still stands in its quiet dignity, at one of the busiest intersections of roads along the Old Conestoga Road. The building is in good repair, and in constant use, with a membership of some 125 Friends. It is a “united meeting,” that is, with membership from both Arch Street and Race Street meetings.

The old burying ground in its quiet serenity looks much as it always has throughout these many years. There is occasionally a new grave in the midst of the old ones. Although of course long outdated now, the old vault still stands as a reminder of the days when frozen ground made permanent burial impossible until spring should come. An endowment fund provides for lasting upkeep of the burial ground. There is still, too, the old block from which one dismounted from horse or carriage when coming to services.

Inside there is still the old division between the men’s side and the women’s, though that custom of seating has now fallen into disuse. the original old pine panelling is still lovely as is whatever old glass remains. Quite recently the “pot-bellied” stoves have been dispensed with, and a modern heating system has been installed.

Due to the large numbers who attend First Day School, an interesting use has been made of the old fashioned wagon sheds. Five of these now have been converted into connecting rooms for First Day School, the backs of these rooms still the thick stone walls of the sheds, and their fronts glass enclosed in a most attractive manner. Two more still remain to be converted when the demands come for more First Day School space.
Still standing after more than two hundred and fifty years, the Radnor Meeting looks much as it did originally, though some modernization has taken place. Like its close neighbors, Merion Meeting and Haverford Meeting, it is a living memorial to the faith of some of Pennsylvania’s earliest settlers, a faith still enduring in our present generation of the Society of Friends.
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(The intervening years between the early days of Radnor Meeting and the present will be described in subsequent articles. For her information Mrs. Patterson is indebted to Miss Dorothy Harris, of the Historical Library of Swarthmore ; to Mrs. Ralph Unkefer, of Ithan and to the “History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania,” by George Smith, M.D.)

The Radnor Friends Meeting House, part 2

/ Emma C. Patterson

On one of last week’s warm summer afternoons the writer left the swift flowing traffic of Conestoga road to turn right at the corner of Radnor-Chester road in order to reach Newtown road. On the left, in a triangle bounded by three roads, stands the quaint little building once used as a Friends School and now home of F. A. Chidsey, Jr. Across Newtown road is the entrance to the old Radnor Meeting House, the original building dating back to the latter part of the 17th century, with the present building erected only about twently-five years later.

Once inside the gateway, the noise of the busy thoroughfare seemed at once muffled and far away. Low headstones in the burying ground to the west of the Meeting House marked old graves and new. A soft breeze, cooler here than on the road, swayed the branches of the trees surrounding the Meeting House and the tall grasses and flowers in the field beyond.

The front door was ajar . . . softly I stepped across the threshold of the old building that has stood in quiet serenity just off the busy highway for so many a long year. A peace and quietness that is difficult to feel in these days of fear and of unrest seemed to flow from the beautiful pine-banelled walls and to come in with the setting seem through the old panes of glass. It was a moment for pause, for reflection and for prayer that we of a generation so far removed from that of those who first worshipped here should face our future as courageously as they did their’s.

Softly I closed the door behind me and went out again along the highway. But in spite of the constant flow of automobile traffic the past seemed closer to me for the moment than did the present. Perhaps it was because Conestoga road is rather narrow between the Old Store and Ithan Station and with its cool woods for a short distance along each side suggests the narrow pathways trodden by our forefathers and the Indians who were their neighbors. For the moment at least I could almost see that sparsely populated settlement of Radnor in the “Welsh Tract” that William Penn sold to Welsh Friends in the early 1680’s.

Houses of these early Welshmen were few and far between. At first some were built of logs, later ones were of stone. Life must have been lonely and rather terrifying at times, especially to those who had come from the well populated parts of Wales. The wilderness of the forests through which Friends passed in going to meeting, is reflected in the Minutes of Radnor Meeting of 1693: “It is ordered by the Meeting & Consent of the Inhabitants of the Townships of Haverford and Radnor . . . ye (that) ye Inhabitants . . . should pay 1s (one shilling) per hundred (one hundred acres of land) towards ye takeing of Woolves”.

But at least the Pennsylvania Colony founded by that famous Quaker, the good William Penn, was free form the religious persecution which they had suffered in their homes overseas. The Quaker movement took root in America in 1656 and twenty-six years later, in 1682, Penn founded his colony as a “holy experiment” in the application of Quaker ideals to the State. Although later settlers were hostile to their ideals, the Quakers were consistent in using their influence to keep peace with the Indians and to protect them from fraud and debauchery. They always worked for popular education, peace, temperance and democracy and championed effectively the cause of religious liberty.

The founder of the Society of Friends was George Fox, an Englishman, whose followers were first called Quakers, because he had exhorted the magistrates “to terrible at the word of the Lord”. Believing himself to be the subject of divine call, he wandered from place to place spreading his views on religious reforms. he made missionary journeys through Ireland, Scotland, the West Indies, Holland, and even North America. Generally speaking, the Society of Friends exhibits a “form of Christianity widely divergent from the prevalent types, being a religious fellowship which has no formulated creed demanding definite subscription, and no liturgy, priesthood or outward sacrament, and which gives to women an equal place with men in church organizatioon.”

The “Welsh Tract” of 40,000 acres promised by William Penn to Welsh Friends included the present townships of Haverford, Merion, Radnor and part of Goshen. Among the purchasers was a Richard Davies, who bought 5000 acres and in turn sold it to Friends of Radnorshire in Wales. These were the Friends who first settled the present township of Radnor.

According to Miss Dorothy Harris of the Historical Library of Swarthmore, who has compiled form many sources an interesting history of Radnor Meeting, “As soon as homes were built, Welsh Friends began meeting together in them for worship, and continued meeting in homes for about ten years until their Meeting Houses could be built. Gradually four distinct worship groups developed, one in Merion, one in Haverford, one in Radnor, and one on the west bank of the Schuylkill River. This last one was held in the home of Thomas Duckett, whose farm occupied the ground on which the former West Philadelphia Station, at 32nd and Market, stood. Business meetings each month of the four groups began to be held in 1684 and at first rotated irregularly among the other localities of Schuylkill, Haverford and Merion. This was the beginning of Radnor Monthly Meeting–called in the early period Haverford Monthy Meeting.

(To be continued.)

The Radnor Friends Meeting House, part 3

/ Emma C. Patterson

As stated in last week’s column, business meetings of the four distinct worship groups of Friends in this general area began in 1684. And from that time on careful minutes of these monthly meetings were kept, many of them in existence to this day. Those for the period 1686 to 1693 are unfortunately lost. These are the ones that might have told of the building of the first Radnor Meeting House, that small structure possibly built of logs, which preceded by some years the present stone building erected in about 1718.

These first monthly meetings of the four groups were still held in the homes of members in the various localities since none of the Meeting houses were built. The very first monthly meeting was at Thomas Duckett’s farm, which was on the site later occupied by the former West Philadelphia Station. This was on the “Second Month, 10th”, 1684. But as the western settlements grew, monthly Meetings came to be held more frequently at Haverford, Merion or Radnor, until in 1698, the Meeting at the Schuylkill had ceased to be connected with Radnor Monthly Meeting, the members probably finding it more convenient to meet with Philadelphia Friends. (This early Schuylkill Meeting should not be confused with the later Schuylkill Meeting near Phoenixville.)

The westward movement is indicated by an excerpt from the monthly meeting records of 1686 which state, “At our Monethly Meeting at John Bevan’s home in Haverford ye 8th day of ye second month, it’s ordered . . . that whereas every Generall Monethly Meeting was formerly ordered to be kept at Thomas Duckett’s house in Schoolkill, It is ordered by this meeting that every other Monethly Meeting be kept at Havford for ye conveniency of Radnor friends and them who may settle upwards.”

It is interesting to note that in “the book of marriages”, Radnor marriages up to and including one on the 9th Month 17th, 1692, are recorded as having taken place in the homes of Friends. However, the next recorded Radnor marriage in 4th Month, 1693, that of Philip Philip and Phebe Evans, took place in “the meeting house in Radnor and in a publike assembly of friends then met together”. This would indicate that the first Radnor Meeting was completed sometime between 9th Month, 1692, and 4th Month, 1693, nine years after the earliest recorded monthly Meeting. The very first marriage known to have taken place at Radnor was that of Richard Ormes and Mary Tyder who were married 7th Month 3rd, 1686, in the house of John Evans, of Radnor.

According to Miss Dorothy Harris’s noteworthy article on Radnor Meeting House which has given us so much information for this series “The minutes of the monthly meeting furnish a wealth of material from which to reconstruct a picture of the early life of Radnor. In some ways the minutes are very much like those of today with frequent appointments of representatives to Quarterly Meeting, Certificates received and sent, and business relating to the care of the meeting house . . .

“In the early days the Monthly Meeting was a body of considerable authority in civil matters. It settled disputes among its members, saw to it that debts were properly paid, and administered legacies . . . Sometimes, too, the exigencies of farm life affected the time of holding meetings, as when in 1717 ‘In Consideration yt (that) ye next monthly (meeting) hapening SO in ye harvest Time Its thought convenient yt It be removed to ye 3rd 5th day in ye next mo (month) and frds (Friends) are Desired that they remember It So Agreed on In this meeting.'”

Only a few years after the building of the first meeting house, a meeting-library for the “service of Truth” was established there. The first minutes in regard to it state: “It is ordered that friends booke belongeing to this Monethly Meeting be brought . . . once a moneth In order that they may be dispersed among ffriends & that they may have ye Service of them.” One David Maurie was ordered “to mke a Chest for to keep” these books.

Even in those faraway days there were visiting committees whose mission it was to go to see families “Within the verge” of the meeting in order to arouse their interest in coming to the meeting house more regularly. Their reception was evidently a friendly one on the whole, since it is recorded in some of the Minutes that “The friends appointed to visit friends families brings an acc’t that they have visited most of friends’ families and that friends generally Received them in Love, and were very ready to put by their work and Come with their families to wait upon the Lord”.

Specially appointed meetings were often called for “Publick Friends” who were visitors in the vicinity, sometimes even coming from as far away as the Mother Country. For in spite of the difficulties of travel there was some intervisitation between Friends in Wales and those in the new “Welsh Tract”. However, Friends in the ministry who visited Radnor sometimes met with a strange custom, according to Miss Harris, who quotes the following from the Minutes of 1703: “It is the desire & advice of this meeting, that friends do not stand up, and turn their backs to Publick freinds when they are ministering, and be not Restless, & go forth out of Ye Meetings when they can avoid it, and that friends should advise their family as to it.”

There was evidently a warm spirit of neighborly helpfulness among these newcomers to a strange land that extended to others not of their own religious faith. In 1699 when Radnor Friends learned that assistance was needed by a contingent arriving on “Ye Last Leverpoole Ship” a goodly sum of money was raised for them. Even the distress of “Friends and others” in the New England conolny was alleviated by a fund to which members of Radnor, Havrford and Merion Meetings subscribed. Closer to home was the need of one Jonas Potts and his wife who “being poore, and haveing divers small children want assistance to buy a Cow”. Another member of the Meeting who wanted a horse to plow also received one.

The building of the present Radnor Friends Meeting, begun in about 1717 and completed in about 1722, was described in the first article of this series. The trying years of the Revolution, as it affected Radnor Meeting Friends will be told in next week’s column.

The Radnor Friends Meeting House, part 4

/ Emma C. Patterson

During the French and Indian Wars which lasted from 1754 to 1763, a number of the able-bodied men from Radnor Township joined the provincial forces, according to Henry Graham Ashmead in his “History of Delaware County.” Among those who served in the armies commanded by Braddock, Forbes, Stanwix and Boquet were eight young Friends who “were disowned by the Quaker fraternity, and prohibited from enjoying any benefits within the society for evermore”. Presumably, however, the Revolutionary War found these same men enrolled, perhaps as commissioned officers in the Pennsylvania Line. According to Ashmead, Colonel Evan Evans, one of the most prominent American officers in Chester County during the Revolutionary War, was a resident of Radnor. And since he was a son of a Friend, he was probably among the disowned ones above mentioned.

Soon after the disastrous battle of the Brandywine, General Washington, with his army, marched out from Germantown over the old Conestoga Road for the purpose of again engaging the invaders of this region. However, a heavy rainstorm compelled the General to countermarch his forces and return without a conflict with the enemy. But after the British obtained possession of Philadelphia, soldiers under orders from General Howe and Lord Cornwallis commited many depredations in Radnor Township and the adjoining districts. Many families were left wholly destitute after their livestock, provisions, clothing and household goods had been carried away.

This was, indeed, a trying period for Radnor Friends as shown in a Minute of the 9th Month 10th, 1778: “The Minute of the Meeting for sufferings was read here and Friends Considering that the time of Difficulty is now amongst us more especially on those who Endeavor to keep to the Testimony we as a People have Maintained from the beginning, and suffering for the same have been felt by some; which may probably increase more & more, the committee . . . are desired to meet at Haverford Meeting House the 21st Instant at 10 o’clock”.

In the winter of 1777-78, General Potter, with a considerable body of American militia, was assigned to guard the country between the Schuylkill and Chester, to prevent supplies reaching the enemy and also to protect the inhabitants from foraging parties sent out from Philadelphia by the British. Numerous skirmishes took place in Radnor and its vicinity between Potter’s men and the British invaders.

Radnor Friends Meeting House was occupied both as officers’ quarters and as a hospital early in the year 1778. Indeed it could not be used for meetings until 1780 because of the necessity of repairs occasioned by this use of the building. Radnor Friends supplied the food and fuel for the hospital. Many suffered for their testimony and in one of the old record books is a list entitled, “An account of sundry Effects taken from Friends of Radnor Preparation Meeting by the Contending Armies, Substitute & Non-Attendance in the Militia, Demands, Taxes, etc.” SOme of the names included in this list are those of Daniel Maule, Evan Lewis, Jesse Meredith, Abijah Richard, John Jones, James Espen, Jacob Walker, Abel Thomas and Samuel Richards.

According to Miss Dorothy Harris, whose paper of Radnor Friends Meeting contains so much valuable information, it was during the period preceding and during the Revolutionary War that Radnor Friends were also struggling with the problem of slave-holding. In 1774 the Minutes record “That we have done but little in Respect to treating with Possessors of Negroes as Friends here appear against further Purchases, and think the Testimony against Slavery will be Continued.” Later minutes state “The Friends sometime past appointed to treat with the Possessor of Slaves are Continued, and to bring an account to next Meeting of such who appear averse to the Measure.”

By 1775 “The Friends appointed report they have visited those possessed of Slaves, and found most of them in a Complying Disposition, One being set free, and others Intended when of age.” By 1779 the holding of slaves was no longer countenanced by Radnor Friends. Members who persisted in holding them were disowned.

With the close of the Revolutionary war more prosperity came to Radnor and its surroundings. New highways were laid out and many additional settlers established themselves. In 1792 the construction of the Lancaster Turnpike was begun, to be completed a few years later. This was the means of increasing travel through the central part of the township, and as a consequence numerous wayside inns were established.

Radnor Monthly Meeting entered upon a new period of growth. Farls in “Old Roads Out of Philadelphia” speaks of the time when large numbers of carriages, as many even as 200, gathered at the meeting house on First Days. This book also tells of the beautiful sycamore tree that stood until a few years ago at the end of the carriage sheds.

With the separation in 1827, the Meeting House at Radnor went to Race Street Friends. With the migration of Friends westward and an increasingly exacting discipline that disowned many members for marriage outside of the Society, their numbers gradually began to dwindle. By 1882 the Preparation Meeting at Radnor had so declined that it was found advisable to lay it down. on 12th month 13th, 1882, “The Committee appointed . . . met together and were united in proposing that Radnor Preparation Meeting be discontinued, and its members joined to Valley Preparation Meeting.”

But even after the Radnor Preparation Meeting had ceased to exist, Merion, Valley and Haverford Preparation Meetings, which still formed Radnor Monthly meeting, came together for their monthly meetings in the present Radnor Meeting House. And occasionally meetings for worship were held there on First Days.

In 1931, according to Miss Harris’ historical sketch, a group of Friends from both branches of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting began gathering regularly for meeting for worship in Radnor Meeting House. A forum period before meeting was started and gradually the little meeting began to take on new life, gathering strength from a varied group of students, visitors and faithful concerned Friends, many of whom found the quick meeting a source of spiritual power in their daily lives.

For a period of six years, regular meetings for worship continued to be held at Radnor on First Days. Then as a need for more permanent organization was felt, application was made to the two Philadelphia Quarterly Meetings for the setting up of a united meeting.

On 2nd Month 13th, 1937, the first session of Radnor United Monthly Meeting was held in the meeting house at Ithan with the approval of the two Philadelphia Quarterly Meetings. The meeting itself was a constituent of both Race and Arch Street Yearly Meetings. However, the property continued to be held by Radnor Monthly Meeting and is under the care of the trustees of Radnor Meeting.

At the first monthly meeting seven members were received on certificate to form a nucleus from which the meeting grew to a membership of 78 in six years. This membership is now 125. To quote Miss Harris’ closing paragraph: “To nurture a new meeting on the ground where devoted Friends for over two hundred and fifty years have gathered to renew their faith in worship has been not only a great privilege, but also a source of deep inspiration to the members of the new meeting.”

Conclusion

(The writer is indebted to Mrs. Ralph Unkefer for her copy of Miss Harris’ historical sketch on Radnor Friends Meetings and to Richard W. Barringer for his copy of Ashmead’s “History of Delaware County.”)

Ashmead’s History of Delaware County, part 1 – Episcopal Church, Old St. David’s

/ Emma C. Patterson

In 1884 L. H. Everets and Company, Philadelphia publishers, brought out a heavy volume of some 767 pages entitled, “History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania”. Its author was Henry Graham Ashmead, who in his preface explains that his history “has been written with the purpose of presenting, as far as could be done in a single volume, an authentic, exhaustive, and unbiased narrative of the events which have occurred in Delaware County from the period of the early settlements within its territory to the present time.”

Nearly a quarter of a century earlier Dr. George Smith had written his “History of Delaware County”. In the meantime much historical material had been reclaimed from the past in all parts of the country through interest awakened by the National Centennial, according to Mr. Ashmead. And, in consequence much information was available to the later historian to which the earlier one had no access.

The writer of this column has made use of Mr. Ashmead’s book not only in recent articles on Radnor Friends Meeting, but also in an earlier one on the great stone commemorating Washington’s march to Valley Forge which was recently rededicated and placed in front of the Rosemont School. In rereading the portion of the History pertaining to Radnor Township, this same writer finds much more that is of interest concerning the Township, so named because its first settlers were natives of Radnorshire in Wales. Incidentally, Radnorshire is mentioned in Welsh history as early as the year 1196, when it was burned by “an invading foe”.

Among much interesting information is that Radnor Street, or Radnor Road as it is now called, was laid out in 1683 and that probably the first settlements along it were made in that year. Running almost due north and south in its straight course through Radnor Township, it divides the Township into two almost equal parts. Among the first families to settle here were those of John Jarman (or Jerman), Stephen Y. Evan, David Meredith, Richard Miles, John Morgan, Evan Protherak, Richard Ormes, William Davids and Howell James. All were Welsh Friends who were domiciled here in less than four years form the date of William Penn’s first arrival in this province. The first white child born in Radnor was John Jerman whose birth occurred on November 12, 1684. Stephen Evans’ daughter, Sarah, whose birth occurred on May 25, 1686, was “the first female child born of European parents in the Township”.

Although most of the early inhabitants of Radnor were Quakers, there were still others “who could only be satisfied with the dogmas preached by ministers of the established church,–the Church of England”. And so as early as the year 1700 a Rev. Mr. Evans of Philadelphia, the first clergyman of the Episcopal Church to preach in Pennsylvania, occasionally visited certain families residing in Radnor Township and preached to them.

Later the people of Radnor petitioned for a minister of their own. In consequence the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in FOreign Parts appointed the Rev. Mr. Club as missionary to Oxford and Radnor, which were about 20 miles distant form each other. Arriving in 1714 “the inhabitants of both Towns received him with great kindness . . . the people of Radnor especially were very thankful to the Society for having been pleased to consider their wants, and renewed their promise of giving him their best assistance and presently after his arrival, heartily engaged to build a handsome stone Church, which have since performed.” This was the beginning of the church edifice now known as Old St. Davids, begun in 1715 and completed in 1717. In the beginning it was usually designated as the Radnor Church.

Mr. Club’s ministry was a short one and he died in 1715. After his death the Church wardens of the Parish wrote to the Society: ” Mr. Club, our late Minister, was the first that undertook the Care of Oxford and Radnor, and he paid dear for it; for the great Fatigue of riding between the two Churches, in such dismal ways and weather as we generally have for four Months in the Winter, soon put a period to his life.”

Oxford and Radnor had some difficulty in obtaining from the Society a successor to Mr. Club, since the Society urged them to make “sufficient allowance” for a minister to reside permanently with them. In answer to this the two towns assured the Society that “they were heartily disposed to do their best; but at present their circumstances would not do great things. They were at present but poor settlers who had a newly settled Land backwards in the Wilderness, and had not yet so much as their own Habitation free from Debts.” But as the Society was anxious not to disappoint the people of Oxford and Radnor, they did appoint a Rev. Mr. Wayman in 1717, and those of the Episcopal faith in Radnor Township had someone to preach to them in Welsh “because many of them do not understand English.”

Mills of various kinds were among the early business enterprises in Radnor Township. As early as 1710 William Davids owned a grist mill which was located on or near the site of the mills operated many years later by Tryon Lewis. Although it is impossible to trace the history of this ancient mill-privilege down through its successive owners this mill of William Davis is believed to be the first enterprise of its kind established in Radnor Township.

A few worn and faded assessment-rolls provide the only authentic sources of information respecting the manufactories of Radnor Township. These show that there were numerous grist mills and sawmills. Adam Siter had one of the early tan yards while William Bailey had a fulling mill. Records of 1802, ’03 and ’04 show Jesse Brooks as the owner of the grist, saw and plaster mills. Other well-known names of the early days of Radnor Township appear among the mills owners: Levi Lewis, Abram Evans, Daniel Maule, John and William Siter, John Pugh, Samuel Colef, Hannah Lewis, and many others. Sites of these mills were mostly on Ithan Creek and Darby Creek.

Mills in operation when Ashmead’s history of the County was published included the Brooke Mills, owned and operated by Joseph W. Worrell; the Evans mills, owned and operated by David Paxon; the Siter mill, owned and operated by Mahlon Edwards and Tryon Lewis mills occupying the site of a mill operated some 174 years before in 1710.

An earthenware pottery kiln near the fifteenth milestone on the old Lancaster Road was built by Eber James in 1829. With the exception of a few brief years he operated this pottery kiln until his death in 1845. Others who managed the works were Benjamin Jones, L. G. James and Isaac Hooper.

(To be continued)

Ashmead’s History of Delaware County, part 2 – Catholic Church, Radnor Methodist, Episcopal, Radnor Baptist, Church of Good Shepherd, Wayne Pres.

/ Emma C. Patterson

In continuing the story of Radnor Township as told by Henry Graham Ashmead in his history published in 1884, it seems that in 1820 many of the citizens of the township wanted to have it annexed to Montgomery County. For one thing it was much closer to Norristown than Chester, which was the county seat of Delaware County. For another, the taxes of Montgomery County were lower than those of Delaware. There was much agitation on the subject throughout the county as Radnor was one of its best townships.

The possible solution to the question seemed to lie in the removal of the seat of justice from Chester to a more centrally located spot. A general meeting of those “both friendly and unfriendly” to this proposal was called for the 8th of June, 1820. The meeting, it seems, “was unusually large and very respectable, and after the subject of removal had been discussed very fully and rather freely, a vote was taken which resulted in favor of the removalists.”

Immediately, removal of the county seat became the leading topic everywhere in Delaware County. All party distinction became merged in the issue–nominations for office were made accordingly. Two anti-removalists were ejected to the Assembly, whereupon the removalists petitioned the Legislature for redress.

This petition, drawn up by Robert Frazer, Esq., a prominent lawyer, was signed by 912 citizens. However, no legislation favorable to the measure was obtained. And while the issue was still discussed from time to time, nothing was done until 1847 when the question of moving the county seat from Chester to Media was submitted to the people.

At that time Radnor polled 152 votes in favor of removal and 40 against it. And in the meantime Radnor Township had relaxed its efforts to become part of Montgomery County, which had been the original issue.

Bits of interest gleaned from the pages of Ashmead’s history concern the Radnor Library and the Radnor Lyceum. The Library was extablished in 1809 with 500 volumes, representing the liberality of 18 subscribers. These were placed in a store near the Radnor Friends Meeting House.

Radnor Lyceum was organized on the 12th of May, 1838, by the election of the following officers: Hugh Jones Brooke, president; John Pechin, recording secretary; Dr. James Jenkins, corresponding secretary; John Mather, treasurer; John Evans, Edward B. Wetherill, WIlliam Haskens, Alexander Kenzie, George Palmer, Mary Kenzie and Adelaide Cornog, managers. Present day readers could wish that our historian had elaborated to a far greater extent on the subject of both the library and the lyceum.

The first authentic reference to schools in Radnor, according to Mr. Ashmead, are found in court records, where it is shown that in 1825, in accordance with an order issued, Abram Lewis, Benjamin Maule and Benjamin David were elected school trustees for the township. They were then called “school men” and were elected to serve one, two and three years, respectively.

These records also show that on May 14, 1827, the school men purchased from Mordecal Lewis land “on which to erect a men’s school”.

In 1834 the free school system was inaugurated. Prior to the adoption of this school law, however, schools had been maintained in the township even from the days of its first settlement. They were subscription schools taught chiefly in the winter. Little else is known of their history, however, since no records were kept.

When the free school system was adopted, the court appointed as inspectors of schools of Radnor John Evans and Jesse Brooks, Jr. They were to act until school directors were elected.

In 1835 Radnor Township received from the State and County $1010.45 for school purposes. Two years later school directors bough from John Evans “a schoolhouse site of 80 square perches”. In 1855 a two-acre lot was added to former school holdings. By 1884 there were seven school buildings scattered throughout the township.

As early as 1842 members of the Order of St. Augustine established themselves in Radnor Township as a branch of the parent house in Philadelphia by founding Villa Nova College. They had then just purchased the estate of John Rudolf whose stone house of two and a half stories was the first college building. The upper stories, consisting of six rooms, were devoted to the use of the students while the lower part was occupied by professors.

In September, 1844, the chapel, the first place of Catholic worship in the neighborhood, was dedicated. In 1849 the new college hall was opened. This large stone edifice was later the east wing of a larger college building. This main college building was erected in 1873 by the superior-general, Rev. Thomas Galberry, O. S. A., at that time president of the college.

A new church, seating some 800 persons, was completed in the middle eighties. This took the place of a frame building used since 1872 and was designed to meet the requirements of a congregation that had increased more than a hundredfold since 1842, when those who assisted at worship numbered seven. Many changes, some the result of two disastrous fires, have marked the growth of this well known Main Line college still existing in Radnor Township more than a hundred years after its founding.

Other interesting old churches in Radnor Township in addition to Radnor Friends Meeting and Old St. Davids, whose origins have already been described in this column, are the Radnor Methodist Episcopal Church, Radnor Baptist Church, Church of the Good Shepherd and the Wayne Presbyterian Church.

The history of Radnor Methodist Church dates back to the primitive days of Methodism when such men as Bishop Coke, Richard Whatcoat and Francis Asbury officiated on this ground. The Radnor Baptist Church was organized February 20, 1841. It originated in the agitation of the question of anti-slavery in the Great Valley Baptist Church when those members who were greatly opposed to slavery asked for letters to form a new church.

The first meetings of the Church of the Good Shepherd were held in Wayne Hall in 1869. The corner stone of the church was laid in 1871 and the church itself was completed in 1872. The Wayne Presbyterian Church also had its origin in religious services held in the Wayne Hall in 1870. This was in June of that year, and by the December following the completed church building was dedicated.

Later issues of this column will contain full accounts of the histories of these four churches and of others in Radnor Township.

1913 Labor Day Circus, part 1 – “Society Circus”,

/ Emma C. Patterson

Except for closed stores, quiet business streets and an extra flow of automobile traffic along Lancaster avenue, next Monday will seem much like any other Monday in Wayne. But Labor Days have not always been like that in our town. There was Monday, September 1, 1913, when some 10,000 people gathered together on Radnor School field to witness a “Society Circus”, the like of which was never seen before, nor ever has been since–not in Wayne, at any rate!

Faded copies of the good old Public Ledger and of the Philadelphia Press printed the following morning tell the story by pictures and the printed columns. There are the three Wood brothers, Penman, Robert and Thomas, members of the Second City Troop and sons of Major John P. Wood, pictured as they did bareback stunts on two beautiful horses. “The champion fancy and bareback riders of the world”, and bareback riders of the world”, to quote the “Ledger”, certainly gave a daring exhibition!

And then there’s a picture of Theodore J. Grayson in a polka dot clown suit and B. L. VanSchaidk, chairman of the circus committee, in an elegant riding costume, including a tall silk hat and a coat with tails. Wallace C. Dickson is pictured as a snake charmer and just to prove his claims to that title, he has a large snake coiled around his waist. Standing with him is A. J. D. Peterson, the bearded lady, and very ladylike, indeed, in a high waisted silk dress and kid gloves reaching above the elbow.

Francis Leonard, queen of the gypsy caravan, is pictured with three fortune telling companions, Mona Whitlock, Margaret Riley and Mrs. B. L. VanSchaick.

Triplets from Rosemont are lying side by side in another picture, with a combined weight of 23 pounds at the tender age of 11 weeks. They are Redmond George Smith, Eleanor Ida Smith and Margaret Powell Smith, children of Mr. and Mrs. Redmond Smith. Still another picture shows Carl Rex Clark, “a wee fellow driving his pet goat ‘Billie’ and cuddling his dog ‘Gipsy!’ Carl Rex won first prize, too, for novel decoration of his wagon, “All hay and corn and squash”.

Boy Scouts, commanded by County Scout Executive, S. S. Aplin are pictured atop their 16-ft. tower where they gave “a remarkable exhibition of what to do if the tower is on fire and there are a lot of people holding a blanket for you to jump into. They jumped and carried each other about on stretchers”.

The reader goes through columns of printed matter to discover just why such a pretentious affair was staged on Labor Day, 1913. Apparently there was no attempt to make money for any purpose, charitable or otherwise. It was sufficient that expenses were cleared and that everyone had “the time of their lives” on the big holiday. And the fun started early and lasted “until long after the stars were telling folk that it was long past dinner time”. Those who served on the committee of arrangements were M. F. D. Scanlon, president; Matthew Randall, secretary and Frederick H. Treat, treasurer. And then there were not a few of the prominent citizens of Wayne and St. Davids who helped to make the day such a memorable one.

Three bands led the parade that swung around the Radnor High School grounds that day, making itself heard above the merry-go-round, the animals, the clowns and the crowds, The circus was given twice, for big as the tent was, it did not begin to hold the crowd that wanted to see what was going on. B. L. VanSchiack was the “typical ringmaster in yellow tights who coiled his big whip.”

The Cassons, Joseph Jr., 11 years old and William, aged 6, led the bill. These boys, it seemed, who had “made all Philadelphia marvel at their riding in the Devon Shows, turned tricks from their mounts that made their jockey father envious.”

Next on the program was a regular tumbling and gymnastic feature put on by T. Huber Stilwell and the “Gym” team of Radnor High School. Then came the clowns and the clown police. There was Lawrence Allen, programmed as “Splinters; his salary would make a plumber green with envy”; John M. Rogan, T. G. Roberts and Dr. J. A. Standen, billed as “Rogan and Yellum; their act isn’t a scream–it’s a yell”. Cops included Daniel M. Sheaffer, Frederick H. Treat, Jr., William Keator, Frederick Radcliffe, D. K. Dickson and T. G. Roberts. Other clowns included Dr. Norman Sinclair and Theodore Grayson, “night-stick gentlemen who gave all the old and a few new antics”.

(To be Continued)

The copies of the “Public Ledger” and the “Philadelphia Press” have been lent to the writer by T. Griffiths Roberts who has saved them all these 37 years.

1913 Labor Day Circus, part 2 – “Society Circus”

/ Emma C. Patterson

Last week’s column surely recalled to Wayne’s old-timers that merry Labor Day now thirty-seven years past, when some 10,000 people gathered on the School Field to eat popcorn and peanuts as they witnessed the antics of clowns, performing at that Society Circus of 1913. We told you of ringmaster Van Schaick and the clown, Theodore T. Grayson; of the bareback riders Penman, Robert and Thomas Wood; of Wallace Dickson, snake charmer and A. J. D. Peterson, bearded lady.

But there were others, too, including Dr. Norman Sinclair, “for two years all the rage in Paris and Strafford”, who performed in a comedy riding act. After Dr. Sinclair came an animal act when Tom Walton was master of the wild beasts, and of the Wild Man, a very dangerous character, who, according to the program, had been captured less than two weeks before in Ithan. As impersonated by Ralph Weadley this Wild Man escaped from a side show at an inopportune moment, much to the consternation of the audience. But this was not all. For Osgood Sayen, as “Moke”, the monkey, stepped on the tail of the lion, George Ling, whereupon William Lynch, the tiger, joined in the fracas!

In the side shows, George C. Allen, “P. D. Q. R. S. V. P. Professor Nella, who had just completed a series of Chautauqua lectures on ‘Grape Juice and Our International Relations'”, exhibited his human curiosities. Among them were Crutze, strong man, as done by Thomas Hearne, and Lady Winne, whose snakes loved her as much as the program promised her audience would do. “Even Lillian Russell is jealous” of this lady as personified by Wallace Dickson. Others in the side show were William Holiday, who would “rather eat swords than watermelon”, and A. J. D. Peterson, the bearded lady, whose name was “Princess Pet”.

Besides side-shows there were eating contests. one was a bun and jelly number, another a huckleberry pie and still another was a watermelon contest. Almost impossible to believe is the fact that one person could possibly win two of these contests, as did Nicholas Tulena when he came away with the prize for both bun and watermelon eating. And Walter Fritz, according to the Public Ledger’s account “Stained his nose with glory and huckleberry as he ate himself into first place with pie.”

Quoit pitching began early and ended late with hundreds of men taking part in the contest. Thomas Costello won first place in the singles and Thomas Disken second place, with too many other prizes to enumerate among the numerous contestants.

In the baby show, according to the Ledger, “every baby got a blue ribbon just for being a baby”. Thirty-five infants in all were in the contest and all riding in beautiful decorated coaches. of great interest, of course, were the triplets, Redmond George, Eleanor Ida and Margaret Powell, children of Mr. and Mrs. Redmond Smith, of Rosemont. And then there was Eleanor Pearl Thomas, who as “fairy butterfly” took first prize for decoration while her cousin, Marie Thomas, had third place as “nymph of goldenrod” and Jean Law, as “fairy queen”, won second prize. Carl Rex Clark, as noted in last week’s column, won first prize for novel decoration of his small hay wagon. And George and Warren Lentz received a prize for their cart loaded with Fall flowers. In addition to the triplets, three sets of twins were exhibited in this event. Judges were Mrs. Theodore E. Wiedersheim, Mrs. McComb Elmer and Mrs. August von Bernuth.

Women patrons of the Circus were more than busy around flower exhibits and fancy work, and were faithful patrons of the gypsy caravan for it was there that they could have their fortunes told.

Great interest was shown in the exhibits of old dresses, quilts, fancy work and antique embroidery. Winners in these classes were Mrs. Silver and Mrs. Pile for samplers; Mrs. G. F. Hale for old handkerchiefs; Mrs. Petery, mrs. Austin Obdyke, Miss Margaret Elder and Mrs. McKenna for old-fashioned silk quilts, and Mrs. Silver and Mrs. Chapin for antique lace work.

Prominent Wayne women who won prizes in the cookery section were Mrs. Charles Fox, Mrs. W. H. Margerum and Mrs. Robert P. Elmer for large cakes; Mrs. H. B. Lienhardt, Mrs. Virginia Johnson and Mrs. Howard Adams for bread; Miss Katharine Gallagher and Mrs. Charles M. Sheaffer for rolls; Mrs. William Holman, Mrs. William B. Riley and Mrs Sheaffer for small cakes; Mrs. Marshall Ward, Mrs. William C. Lobb and Mrs. H. J. Warfield for preserves; Mrs. Brandt for pickles; Mrs. Marshall Ward, Mrs. Oscar Ward and Mrs. Oscar Russell for preserved vegetables and Mrs. Von Bernuth and Mrs. Riley for pies.

As this columnist glances once more through the old copies of the Philadelphia Press and the Public Ledger lent to her by T. Griffiths Roberts, she notes a few names not already mentioned. Among them are W. J. Buxton, “an impressive bandmaster”; Squire M. F. D. Scanlon, chairman of the Celebration Committee; Fred H. Treat, the “Mayor of Wayne”; officers Green, Muench and Erbaugh and Sergeant Crager of the Radnor Township Police Force. To all these and to many, many others of its citizens already mentioned, Wayne owed probably the greatest Labor Day celebration ever presented along the Main Line. Compared to it, last, Monday, in spite of the tremendous flow of traffic along the Pike, was quiet, indeed!