Concord Township.

sawmill; William Willis, taylor; William Walter, miller, one stone grist-mill; William Howard, millwright.

Inmates. - Abeshai Mellon, weaver; Wheleback Paulin, tanner; Robert Selah, paper-maker; William Clughson, paper-maker; George Moore, paper-maker; William Hull, mason; Thomas Willcox, paper-maker; Jesse Plankinghorn, wheelwright; Thomas Melleon, weaver; Thomas Hance, weaver; Joseph Finch, miller; James Cloud, millwright; Thomas Cheney, hatter; John Masson, shoemaker; Daniel Doaks, wheelwright; James Hall, mason; Pridey Kimber, carpenter; John Hatton, carpenter; James Mendenhall, wheelwright; Moses Perkins, shoemaker; John Selah, papermaker.

Roads. - On Oct. 25, 1687, the grand jury, or those members of that body who attached their names, laid out a thirty-feet wide road from Dilworthtown, following the course of the present road to a point a short distance south of the present Concord Station, and above St. John's Church, on Concord road, at which point the road widened to forty feet, as will be noticed by following the description in the report submitted to court:

"Laid out a High way from Burmingham to Concord, being a thirty-foote way, by vertue of an order of Court bearing date y^e 4th of October, 1687, laid out by us, Walter Marten, John Mendenhall, John Kingsman, William Cloud, Rich. Thatcher, being one-third part of y^e present grand Jury of y^e county of Chester, as followes, viz.:

"Beginning att a white oake standing on a Small Branch att William Branton's, marked with five knotches; thence along a lyne of marked trees between Alice Brunson and land lat Edward Turner to Concord corner tree; thence doune Concord lyne Between y^e said Alice Brunson and Philip Roman to a white Oake marked with five knotches; then crosse y^e Corner of said Philip Roman's land; then crosse William Hitchcock's land; thence crosse land that was William Biases; thence crosse John Mendenhall's land: thence crosse land that was Peter Lounders'; thence crosse part of John Symcock's land to y^e foote-Bridge of Thomas Moore; then crosse part of y^e said Thomas Moore's land to a White Oake marked with five knotches.

"Laid out by vertue of y^e aforesaid Order, a fourty-foote Road from Concord to y^e King's Highway in Chester, as followeth, by us, whose hands are under written, y^e 25th of October, 1687.

"Beginning at a white oake with five knotches, standing att y^e corner of Nathaniell Park's land, next Thomas Moore's land; thence through y^e land of y^e said Nathaniell; thence cross John Hannum's land; thence crosse George Stroud's land; thence crosse John Palmer's land; thence crosse land late William Oburne's; thence crosse land late John Beasar's; thence crosse Dennis Rochford's Land; thence crosse William Clayton, Jun^r's land to y^e Hamlett of Bethell.

"Thence crosse Edward Beason's land; thence cross ffrancis Smith's land; thence crosse Robert Eyre's land to Chichester; thence crosse Walter Martin's land; thence crosse land late John Beasars'; thence crosse John Kingsman's land; thence crosse Henry Hastings' and Richard Buffington's land; thence cross James Brown's land; thence Thomas Wither's land to Chester.

"Thence crosse part of Robert Wall's land to a small blacke oake marked with 5 knotches, standing att the King's Highway.

At the court held on "3rd day, 2d week, 7th month, 1688, George Strode, Nathaniel Parker, John Palmer, John Hannum, Thomas Moore, John Sanger, Robert Pyle, Petitioned against y^e Road lately laid out through the town of Concord. Ordered that y^e Grand Inquest doe Inspect y^e Road, and make report to y^e next Court under y^e hands of noe less than twelve."

All these petitioners owned land on the present Concord road, south of the present Concord Station, on the Baltimore Central road. The jury, however, confirmed that highway, but the road leading from Concord to Birmingham at Dilworthtown appears not to have been immediately opened, but remained until May 21, 1707, when, after twenty years, the route as laid out by the jury in 1687 was finally accepted.

The losses sustained by the residents of Concord, occasioned by the pillaging of the British army in 1777, was severe, and the extent of the damages inflicted in that township will never be ascertained. The greater part of the inhabitants were Friends, whose religious principles precluded them from demanding pay for articles destroyed in war. Under the act providing for a registration of claims for damages on account of the British spoliations, the following demands were filed:

Isaac Arment, who died in Concord, Nov. 23, 1848, aged ninety years, could recall the fact that he was living at Chad's Ford on the day the battle of Brandywine was fought, and from the heights on the east side of the creek, which afforded a commanding view of the scene, he witnessed the engagement, of which, as years rolled by, he delighted to relate to those who would listen to his recollection of those stirring days.

Schools. - The first reference in anywise in Concord township to the subject of education occurs in the will of Ralph Pyle, dated Jan. 1, 1739. The clause is as follows:

"Item, I give twenty pounds the Interest thereof to the use hereafter mentioned viz: to support the Schooling of a poor mans child who shall then reside either in Concord or in the Township of Birmingham in the County of Chester, So if the Parents of the said child shall be Established Church of England, to be paid by my Heir and him and his Heirs successively and shall have the liberty to put such child out to school and shall change the child once in three years, if any arrears by book for the children.''

This bequest was subsequently made a charge on land in Birmingham by William Pyle, of that township, the son of Ralph, who in his devise of a plantation to his son, John, charged the estate with the