Concord Township.

was surveyed to William Beazer March 29, 1683, and which shortly afterwards passed into the ownership of William Cloud, who, although an aged man, accompanied by his family, came to the colony among the earliest settlers and moved "into the woods" at Concord. He was a native of. Caine, county of Wiltshire, and from him the Cloud family of Delaware County claim descent. Just above his tract John Beal, who had married Mary Cloud, took up two hundred acres on rent in 1683, but he subsequently removed. Nearly midway of the township, extending from the western limits of Concord as originally surveyed to Concord Street, which ran north and south, dividing the district into halves, was a tract of five hundred acres, which was surveyed Oct. 12, 1683, to John Haselgrove. This estate, after passing through several owners, none of whom were residents, in 1710 was acquired by Henry Peirce, who settled on this land and was taxed therefor in 1715. Above Concordville, John Lee, on Dec. 3, 1701, received a patent for one hundred and fifty-two acres. He was a wool-comber by trade, and came from Wiltshire, England, in 1700, and settled in Concord. He lived until 1726, and was a noted public Friend in the early days of the province. Above Lee's tract John Mendenhall purchased three hundred acres of land, which was patented to him June 27, 1684. On this property Concord Friends' meeting-house was located, the land being given by Mendenhall for that purpose. He is believed to have come from Mildenhall, county of Sussex, England, and was one of the original projectors and owners of the Concord Mills. Above the Mendenhall tract William Byers had two hundred acres surveyed to him Jan. 17, 1683-4, which, in 1693, passed into the ownership of Nicholas Pyle. He settled in Concord, in 1686, at which time he may have already occupied the estate. In the company's mills he took an active part as one of the owners. He was a member of Assembly, serving as such for six years, and was an active, enterprising man, whose energy did much to tame and subdue the wilderness. In 1701 he purchased the western half of the five hundred acres taken up by William Hitchcock, which extended from the east to the west boundary across the township, for on that part of the estate bought by him the Society Mills were located. The tract of two hundred and fifty acres lying above Pyle's land was surveyed to Philip Roman, February, 1682-3, but it is not probable that he ever resided thereon. On the eastern side of Concord Street, extending from that road to the eastern line of the township, and immediately south of Thornbury, John Harding, at the same date as Roman, acquired title to two hundred and fifty-five acres of land, but he, as with Roman, never resided on the property. Just south of this tract was the William Hitchcock land, already mentioned, which was subsequently purchased by Benjamin Mendenhall, who resided thereon in 1715, and probably followed his occupation of wheelwright. In 1714 he was a member of the Assembly, and, retaining the good opinion of the public, he lived to an advanced age, dying in 1740. Below this tract Nicholas Newlin, on Sept. 24,1683, received five hundred acres. He was reputed as very wealthy, a nobleman by descent, being one of the De Newlandes, who had come over with the Conqueror. Although of English family, he emigrated, with his wife and children, from County Tyrone, Ireland. He was appointed a member of the Provincial Council and a justice of the courts. His son, Nicholas, was about twenty-four years old when he accompanied his father to Pennsylvania, a man of education and means. In 1698 he was a member of Assembly, and served as such at several different periods. He was also appointed one of the proprietaries' commissioners of property, and a justice of the courts. In 1722 he was one of the trustees of the loan-office, a position he continued to fill until his death. On the Newlin lands, Codnor farm, owned by Col. Frank M. Etting, the author, is located.

Below the present Markham Station, on the Baltimore Central Railroad, was a tract of two hundred acres, patented to Thomas King, July 22, 1684, and thereon he resided until his death, in 1706. On the south of King's land was one hundred acres surveyed to Thomas Moore in 1684, while immediately below him were two hundred acres, patented July 15, 1684, to Nathaniel Park. Jeremiah Collett on March 1, 1682/3, took up two hundred acres on tract immediately south of Park's plantation. On March 1, 1686, this property passed to John Hannum, who gave the ground at the northwest corner of the tract on which St. John's Church was built. He was the grandfather of Col. John Hannum, of the Revolution, who was the controlling mind which caused the removal of the county-seat to West Chester, an act which eventually resulted in the erection of Delaware County. Col. Hannum, it is said, was born on this plantation. South of the Hannum property were three hundred acres, which on July 12, 13, 1682, were surveyed to George Strode, of Southampton County, England, a grocer by trade, but beyond that fact very little is now known respecting him. Directly south of Strode's tract were one hundred acres entered on rent Sept. 24, 1683, by William Hawkes, which on March 26, 1688, were patented to John Palmer. The latter, tradition says, was enticed away from his widowed mother's home, in England, and came as a redemptioner to the colony. He married Mary Suddery, a woman of great courage, for it is related that on one occasion she drove a bear away from a chestnut-tree on this plantation with a fire-poker, or poking-stick. Two hundred acres south of the Palmer tract was surveyed to William Oborne July 3, 1688, and a similar tract to the south of Oborne's land was patented to John Beazer, Aug. 4, 1684, but he did not reside on the estate. Dennis Rochford, Feb. 10, 1682, had surveyed to him five hundred acres, to the south of the Bezer land. Rochford was an Irishman, from Emstorfey,