Aston Township.

could, with J. Lewis' security. This was in the autumn of 1824, and I was to have possession in the spring of 1825, at which time I removed."¹ Mr. Crozer changed the paper-mill into a cotton-factory, and in 1826 had there ten carding engines of twenty-four inches, thirteen hundred and thirty-eight spindles, on which he spun eleven hundred pounds of cotton-yarn per week. At that time there were dwelling houses on the estate for nine families. In the noted flood o 1843 the eastern end of the factory was carried away, with the size-house, water-wheel, many looms, and the dry-house, containing yarns and goods valued at several thousand dollars. In 1846, John P. Crozer exhibited ticking at the National Fair, Washington, and the goods received special mention. At West Branch, Mr. Crozer continued to reside until May, 1847, when, having completed his dwelling at Upland, he removed thither. The West Branch Mill, however, remained in the ownership of the Crozer family until 1882, when it was sold to John B. Rhodes, who now owns and operates it.

Pennellton (Bridgewater) Mills. - In 1826 the site of these mills was known only as a mill-seat, and it was not until 1845 that Isaac Morgan built a stone cotton-factory forty by forty-five feet, and four stories in height, to which he gave the name "Pennellton," in honor of Hannah Pennell, his wife. The first occupant of the Pennellton Mill was Edward Leigh, who carried on cotton-spinning and weaving therein from 1846 to 1850, when he was succeeded in the same business by Charles and Joseph Kenworthy, from 1851 to 1855. They in turn gave place to ---- Lewis, and he to John Campbell, of Philadelphia. The latter relinquished the mill to Patrick Kelley, who manufactured a grade of goods known as "Powhatten," which became noted in the market, and in a few years made him comparatively wealthy; so much so that, desiring to retire in December, 1863, he sold his entire interest in the business and machinery to Hugh Shaw and David Reese Esrey, who remained at the Pennellton Mills until the summer of 1866, when, having built Powhattan Mill, No.1, in North Chester, the old factory on Chester Creek was purchased from Isaac Morgan by Joseph Willcox & Co., who changed it to a paper-mill, and gave it the present name, "Bridgwater." In January, 1872, Samuel Haigh & Co., of Philadelphia, purchased the estate and changed it to a woolen-factory, and have operated it from that date. The mill contains five sets of sixty-inch cards, four sell-factory mules, three thousand one hundred and nine spindles, and other necessary machinery. The original mill has been enlarged by an addition to the western end. The mills are now known as the Gladstone Mills, but the locality is still called Bridgewater.

Schools. - The history of schools in Aston is interesting. and can be traced in our annals certainly to the year 1777, for Thomas Dutton used to relate that the day of the battle of Brandywine - he was then nine years of age - the pupils had assembled at the school as usual, but when the booming of the cannon at Chad's Ford, but a few miles distant, was heard, the aged master, James Rigby, dismissed the scholars, saying, "Go home, children; I can't keep school to-day." After the English troops had withdrawn from the neighborhood of Village Green, doubtless the school resumed its sessions; but of that fact we have no positive evidence. The presumption is, however, that at the beginning of this century no building especially designed for school purposes had been erected in that township. This fact seems to be established from the deed dated May 11, 1802, by which Samuel Hewes, of Aston, conveyed to William Pennell and Thomas Dutton, of the same township, "for the use of a school, a house thereon to be built," a lot of land comprising an acre, which was part of a tract of fifty-nine acres which Thomas Goodwin had sold, Nov. 1, 1799, to Hewes. This lot was to be held "in trust and for the use of a school, a house to be built thereon for the use, benefit, and behoof of the subscribers towards building said house." The names of such subscribers were annexed in a schedule to the original deed, - that part of it is not on record in the recorder's office, - which trust was to continue for the heirs and assigns of the parties therein named, and in case it should at any time be deemed proper to sell the lot and school-house, it was provided that the trustees for the time being could convey a fee-simple title to the purchaser, after such sale had been authorized by the majority vote of the subscriber, the purchase money to be divided in proportion to the amount contributed by each subscriber. The building thus erected was known as the octagon school-house, at Village Green, and therein, about 1820, James McMullen was the pedagogue. In 1836, after the Public School Act had gone into effect and the board of directors for Aston township was organized, the old schoolhouse passed into the possession of the township, and on Sept. 30, 1836, a school was opened there, Nicholas F. Walter being employed as teacher in the lower room at a salary of twenty-five dollars per month, and Mrs. Moore was appointed teacher in the upper room.

At first the school law was not looked upon with favor by the residents of Aston, for at the election held at the Seven Stars in 1834, at which the question was submitted of raising a school fund, the vote stood forty-one against twelve in the affirmative. At a meeting of the school board, held on May 6,1836, after the act of that year had become a law, Richard S. Smith, who had been appointed a delegate to the convention, held at Chester, on the 2d of the same month, reported that a tax of seven thousand five hundred dollars had been levied in the county by the school directors, and a meeting of the people was ordered to be held in the several townships on the 17th of May,