Aston Township.

gave the name "Old Sable Works." In 1830, when William McCracken began work there, Capt. Moore's establishments consisted of a nail-slitting and rolling-mill, as also a grist- and cotton-mill. The nail-mill was located on the island where the unoccupied stone mill now stands, and was in Middletown. The grist-mill was in Aston, adjoining the rolling- and slitting-mill, and had been built by Capt. Moore about 1827. The iron ore and coal used in smelting was hauled to the mills from Chester and Marcus Hook, to which places those articles were brought in shallops. Richard S. Smith, of Philadelphia, who acted as Moore's agent for the sale of nails manufactured by him, had advanced large sums of money to Moore, and on May 23, 1832, the latter conveyed the estate to Smith to secure him for the advances, with the understanding that the property would be reconveyed on payment of the sums due. In 1833, Moore failed, and the estate passed absolutely to Smith. Capt. Moore, previous to 1826, had built on the site of the forge a stone cotton-mill, four stories and an attic in height. - Lewis and John S. Phillips operated the cotton-weaving factory from the time it was erected until some years after the property was purchased by Smith. They gave place to Henry Burt and ----- Kerlin, who operated it until the spring of 1843, when they became embarrassed and made an assignment. The grist-mill was in that year occupied by Henry Gorman. The mills lay idle nearly a year, when they were rented to Barnard McCready, who purchased them in 1845, and the following year he was an exhibitor at the National Fair, at Washington, and received special mention for the printed cotton goods be made. He erected a spinning-mill adjoining the old factory (now changed into dwelling-houses), and continued to conduct the business until his death, when he was succeeded by his son, Thomas, and his son-in-law, Robert Ewing. It was subsequently leased for ten years to John G. Steen & Samuel Riddle, and at the expiration of that term was purchased by Alexander Balfour, and operated by him for a short period, when it was sold to Samuel Riddle. The cotton-mill which stood on the site of the old forge was entirely consumed by fire on May 20, 1873. It was then operated by Whittaker & Lewis in the manufacture of cotton yarn.

The old forge-dam stood about twenty feet above the bridge at Glen Riddle, and was removed by Samuel Riddle in 1875. Two thousand feet above the forge-dam was that of the Sharpless Mill. The present dam at Rockdale was built in 1845.

The other works of Barnard McCready were located in Middletown, and their story will be told in the history of that township.

Thatcher's Tilt-Mill. - Previous to 1811 there was a tilt-mill situated on Chester Creek above Grubb's Bridge, and near Wawa Station, the junction of the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad and the Baltimore Central Railroad, which was owned and operated by Joseph Thatcher. The land whereon it was located had been selected, doubtless, with an eye to its admirable water-power by Caleb Pusey, the noted miller of early colonial days. In 1812, Enos Thatcher had control of the works, and in 1815 the firm became Thomas & Enos Thatcher. The stimulating effect of the war with England caused an extension of the business, but with the return of peace it, as with all manufacturing industries, became precarious, hence it is with no astonishment we find it recorded in 1826 that the "tilt- and blade-mill," owned and occupied by Thomas Thatcher, had not been "much used in times past." Nevertheless, the last named, through good and bad times, retained the ownership of the mill until his death, in 1840. Indeed, at that time there was a stone tilt-mill, forty by forty-one feet, with four fires, two of which were blown by water-power, a new wheel having been built for that purpose, to which a lathe could be attached, as well as grindstones and polishing-wheels. Near by the mill was also a coachmaker's shop, twenty-five by thirty-seven feet, and two stories in height. In 1841, Joseph and Isaac Thatcher were engaged in making at that mill "scycloidal" self-sharpening plows. In the flood of 1843 this tilt-mill, belonging to the heirs of Thomas Thatcher, was swept away by the water, nothing being found after the rushing current had subsided but the tilt-hammer and the grindstone. In 1852, John W. Thatcher carried on blacksmithing and coach-building near by for several years. The property is still in the ownership of the family, John Thatcher being the present proprietor.

Lenni Mills. - Thomas Griffith, on Jan. 2, 1797, conveyed to John Lungren, paper manufacturer of Upper Providence, a tract of land containing one hundred and sixty-seven acres, on which was "a messuage and mill-seat." This land was described as situated in Aston, along Chester Creek, adjoining lands of John Rattew, Levi Mattson, and other lands of Thomas Griffith. It was stipulated in the deed that Lungren was to have the right to "use the water of a small run, which at present empties itself into the race belonging to the saw-mill formerly existing upon the premises," which right was especially granted for "the mill in contemplation to be shortly erected by the said John Lungren for the manufacture of paper upon a part of the premises hereby intended to be granted." The same day, Jan. 2, 1797, Jonathan Pennell, blacksmith, conveyed to John Lungren "all rights to adjoin or abut the dam which will belong to the mill called a Paper-Mill, intended shortly to be built by the said John Lundgren.'' The lands of Jonathan Pennell were on the opposite or east side of Chester Creek, in Middletown township. The paper-mill was erected in 1798, and was assessed in Aston township in 1799. The dam built at the time the mill was put up had become so decayed in 1815 that a new dam was constructed to take the place of the first. John Lungren continued to operate this