Darby Township.

"And Mr. Bonsall & Mr. Davis attending without were called in, & on their Examination & Inspection of a Draught of the Road as it wou'd run was it to be made agreeable to the Return of the Year 1706, and of another Draught of the Road as it now runs, the Board made the following Order, viz.:

"Whereas, by our Order of the Eighth Day of September last. We directed You, among others to lay out the Road leading from Darby to Chester, agreeable to the Courses described in a Recorded Return of the same made in the Year 1706: And whereas, on Examination of several Persons living on or near the same Road, it appears that the same was never actually cleared according to said Return, and that was it to be now it wou'd exceedingly prejudice the land through which it shou'd pass, and on further consideration of the matter & perusal of the Draught of the Road as it now runs, it appears to us that it will be most convenient to have it laid out agreeable thereto, And therefore we have thought proper to revoke that part of our former Order which relates to the Return made in 1706, and Do now Order & Direct that You lay the same Road out in the manner it now runs, making no alterations that what may be absolutely necessary to make it more regular & direct in some Places, or more commodious to the Fording Places or Bridges that are now used on the said Road."¹

Division of Upper and Lower Darby. - The territory now constituting the townships of Upper and Lower Darby continued under one municipal government until 1747, when, for the convenience of the inhabitants, at a town-meeting, it was decided to separate the upper part from the lower in all matters save the levies made for the support of the poor. The lines thus agreed upon are not the township lines now existing, but Upper Darby, being less densely peopled, extended farther south. The inconveniences arising from the unofficial division so frequently presented themselves as a disturbing element in local government that forty years thereafter the following petition was presented to the court:

"To the Justices of the Court of General Quarter Sessions to be held at Chester the 3d day of May, 1786:

"The undersigned, Inhabitants of Darby Township, Respectfully Sheweth:

"That the Townships of Darby hath been hereto Considered as one Township, tho' it was many years ago divided by the Inhabitants for their own Conveniency, which temporary division we desire the Court to confirm by the following line, Beginning at Cobb's Creek an the Northwest side of a tract of land belonging to the heirs of Joshua Ash and in the line of said land, thence along said line and the line of land late Enoch Bonsall's & Joshua Bonsall's To Darby Creek thence down the said Creek to the northwest line of John Ash's land, thence along said line and the line of Samuel Ash and Nathaniel Smith to the line of Ridley Township, and That the lower part may be called Darby and the other part Upper Darby.

On Aug. 30, 1786, the court granted the prayer of the petitioners.

The Revolution. - The history of Darby township during the struggle of the Revolution should present many stirring incidents, but, unfortunately, little has been preserved of the happenings of that period to the present generation. Early in 1776, a part of Wayne's regiment, under the command of Capt. Lacey, was stationed in or near the village, recruiting from the yeomanry of the neighborhood, and in the summer of the same year Capts. Laurens, William Walker, and Robert Tatnall were in command of gunboats stationed in the creek, a part of the provincial flotilla designed to dispute the passage of the British vessels of war to Philadelphia. On Sunday, Aug. 24, 1777, Washington's army marched through the village and along the Queen's Highway, when moving southward to offer battle to Howe at Brandywine. On the very day of that unpropitious combat the Council of Safety instructed Col. Warner to take post with his command of militia at Darby, and if they were there on Friday, Sept. 12, 1777, they saw the defeated American army as it "poured through Darby on its way to Philadelphia." On 22d of December, Gen. Howe, with seven thousand enemy, marched out from the latter city and encamped on the heights of Darby, his lines extending along the road from Gray's Ferry to the heights below the village, stretching westward up the Springfield road to the then dwelling of Justice Parker, and their pickets advanced to the intersection of the Springfield and Providence roads, near the then dwelling of Mr. Sharp, now the estate of the late Thomas A. Scott. At two o'clock on the afternoon of December 22d, Maj. Clark, from Newtown, wrote to Washington: "My spy was taken by their advanced guard one mile this side of Darby, on the Springfield road, and carried to the general at Darby. They have made a great number of fires. One of their guards assured my spies they were only foraging and meant to proceed toward Chester. I now observe a considerable smoke towards Providence meeting-house. Intelligence from another says they have three hundred wagons with them. . . No wagons had passed Darby before my spy came away."²

It was during this raid of the British army that the incident recorded by Dr. Smith occurred. Capt. William Brooke, of Haverford, was with his company of militia in the command of Gen. Potter, whose duty was to harass the enemy and capture straggling parties of Howe's troops. While taking their ease one night in a house late the property of George Swayne, which stood on the south side of the post-road, about midway between Sharon Hill and Glen Olden stations, the house was surrounded by a strong party of British soldiers. Brooke determined, if possible, not to be captured, and to escape by leaping from a window. In getting over the fence by the roadside he found that a partial dislocation of his knee, to which he was subject, had happened, and quickly placing his foot through the bars of the fence he gave his leg a quick extension, which brought the joint into its proper position. He succeeded in making his escape.³ While Howe was encamped at Darby another American officer had a narrow escape from

³ History of Delaware County, p. 325.