The City Of Chester.

the son of Abraham and Nanny Turner Blakeley, was born July 5, 1806, in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England, where he remained until twenty years of age. After very limited advantages of education he became an employé of a cotton-factory at Staley Bridge, Lancashire, and remained thus occupied until 1828, when, having determined to emigrate to the United States, he sailed in April of the same year, and on the 29th of the following month landed in Philadelphia. During the succeeding eighteen months he was engaged as a weaver of woolen goods by Messrs. Bullock & Davis, of Germantown. In the fall of 1829 he removed to Pottsville, and made it his residence until 1833, when he entered the factory of John P. Crozer, of Delaware County, as foreman of the weaving department. At the close of the year 1846 he formed a copartnership with Phineas Lownes, as Lownes & Blakeley, and the firm embarked in manufacturing at Knowlton in 1847. Disposing of his interest in the autumn of 1853 he removed to Chester, and embarked in his present extensive enterprise, the manufacture of cotton goods.

Having purchased the interest of a special partner in 1857, he operated the factory alone until the admission of his son, Benjamin W., who now assumes as partner its active management, Mr. Blakeley still remaining the financial head of the firm. He was married in 1836 to Miss Betsey Walker, a lady of Irish extraction, to whom was born one son, Benjamin W. Mrs. Blakeley died in January, 1837, and he was again married Aug. 2, 1838, to Miss Maria A., daughter of James P. and Sarah Miles. Their children are Sarah (deceased), Eliza (Mrs. Henry E. Gilroy), Sophia (Mrs. John N. Wilson), Sarah E., Mary E. (Mrs. John P. Graham), Anna M. (deceased, Mrs. William Lister), William S., Alice M. (deceased), and Henry G. Mr. Blakeley has since his residence in Chester been among its most enterprising and public-spirited citizens, and has contributed largely to the building up of its trade and its importance as a manufacturing centre. He was formerly an Old-Line Whig, and later became a Republican. He is not active as a politician, but has served as member of both branches of the Borough and City Councils. He is a member of the Madison Street Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is both trustee and steward, and has been one of its most active workers.

Phoenix Cotton- and Woolen-Mills. - These mills were built by Spencer McIlvaine at the corner of Ninth and McIlvaine Streets, and operated by John Green as the Continental Mills. In May, 1871, they were sold to J. Blazedell, Jr., of Chicopee, Mass. The same year they came into possession of John Maxon, by whom they were operated till 1882, when they were sold to Ashforth & Downey, of Philadelphia, who now own and operate them under the management of John Maxon. The mills contain one hundred looms, twenty-one hundred and sixty spindles, and four sets of cards. The mills were partially destroyed by fire in January, 1878, and again in November, 1879.

Mohawk Mills. - The building now occupied by this mill was originally built by John M. Broomall for T. Bickum Price as a machine-shop, and for a short time that business was conducted there by Price & Mulford. In 1856, Samuel Eccles, Jr., purchased the building and changed it into a cotton-mill. In 1868 he removed to Baltimore, and the mill passed through several hands till May 13, 1871, when the property was purchased by Robert Hall, who, on the 1st of January, 1872, admitted his son as a partner in the business. The original building was twenty-five by fifty feet, and two and a half stories in height, and later a building fifty by thirty-seven feet, and two stories high, was erected. Mr. Hall, in 1872, increased the capacity of the works by the erection of a two-story building twenty-five by thirty-seven feet, two stories in height. The mill contains two sets of cards forty-eight inches, two self-acting mules, three hundred and thirty spindles each, and forty-four looms. Forty-four hands are employed, to whom three hundred and twenty-five dollars per week are paid. Twenty-seven hundred pounds of raw cotton and wool are used, and ten thousand two hundred yards of goods are manufactured weekly.

Irving and Leiper Manufacturing Company. - James Irving erected, in the year 1853, a mill one hundred and twenty by forty-six feet, three stories in height, between Front Street and the Delaware River, at the corner of Franklin Street. It was not put into operation till 1859, when a partnership was formed between James and David Irving and Thomas I. Leiper under the firm-name of Irving & Leiper. The death of David Irving occurred in 1862, and the business was continued by James Irving and Thomas I. Leiper until 1878, when the Irving & Leiper Manufacturing Company was incorporated, with James Irving, president; Thomas I. Leiper, treasurer; and Charles H. Worthington, secretary. The main building at present is two hundred and thirty by fifty feet, three stories in height. Engine-room forty feet square, picker-room forty by sixty feet, warehouse thirty by seventy feet. There are seventy-six sets of cards and twelve thousand spindles, driven by a four hundred horse-power engine. Three thousand bales of cotton are used in a year, from which are produced weekly twenty-two thousand pounds of yarn. A force of one hundred and seven hands is employed.

Victoria Mill. - This mill was established by John Gartside, who in 1860 erected a building four stories in height, sixty-five by thirty-three feet, and in 1873 erected an addition fifty by thirty-three feet. At present there are two buildings, one, one hundred and twenty by forty, the other one hundred and twenty by thirty. There are four sets of cards, twenty-four broad looms, two thousand one hundred spindles, and all the machinery requisite to manufacture the best qualities of woolen cassimere and cloakings. Three thousand