Darby Township.

falling into the hands of the enemy. Maj. Samuel Crozier, who had been in service for two years without a leave of absence, received permission to visit his family, who were then residing near Darby. About sunset a lad came running to the dwelling with the intelligence that a large force of British were close by, and doubtless would visit the house. It was impossible for Crozier to flee without being observed; he therefore crept under a haystack standing near the back-door. His wife, anxious to save the family Bible, placed it under her apron, and apparently as if about attending to some ordinary and accustomed duties, walked to the woods, only a short distance, where she secreted it in a hollow tree. The Bible, which was a copy printed in 1653, is now owned by a great-granddaughter residing in Philadelphia.

Sarah Urian in 1876 had a china plate bearing the legend "God save King George, 1716," and also three pewter platters which were brought by the family from Europe two centuries ago. But the rarest of her relics is a strangely shaped copper kettle, which two hundred and forty years ago was brought to this country in the "Stoork," one of the vessels which conveyed Governor John Printz and his Swedish colonists to this country to make the first permanent settlement, of which we have authentic record, in the province of Pennsylvania. Connected with the china plate is a scrap of Revolutionary history. While the English were in Darby on this raid, a number of British officers dined at the house of Urian, and it chanced that this dish with the face turned downward was on the table. The loyal legend attracted the attention of one of the officers, and he read it to his companions, all of whom indulged in much merriment at the expense of their worthy host.

Gen. Potter, who was keeping an active outlook on the movements of the enemy, on the day Howe retired to Philadelphia, wrote to President Thomas Wharton as follows:

In a letter from Gen. Sir William Howe to Lord George Germain, dated at Philadelphia, Jan. 19, 1778, he refers to the operations in the neighborhood of Darby, thus:

"There has not any thing more material happened since the departure of Lord Cornwallis, who I requested to be the bearer of my last dispatches, than the passing a considerable detachment of the army across the Schuylkill on the 22d of December, to take post on the heights of Darby, in order to cover the collecting and transporting by water, as well as by land, a large quantity of forage which that country afforded. About 1000 tons were brought in, a quantity judged to be nearly sufficient for the winter consumption; and the detachment returned on the 28th of December, without any further attempts from the enemy to retard the progress of the foragers, than from small parties skulking, as is their custom, to seize upon the straggling soldiers. One of these parties, consisting of two officers and 30 men were decoyed by two dragoons of the 17th regiment into an ambuscade, and made prisoners."¹

The spoliation inflicted upon the residents in the neighborhood of Darby was excessive, much of it having been visited on Friends. No record has been preserved of their losses, their religious principles preventing them from asking indemnity for the damages they had sustained. The following list of claims filed includes the territory now comprising Upper and Lower Darby:

Sixty-one years after this raid a body of troops visited Darby, but it was the Washington Grays, Capt. Childs, of Philadelphia, who, early in July, 1838, were encamped near the village, and on the 4th of July gave a reception to the ladies and gentlemen of the neighborhood. Five years thereafter, - and doubtless the old veteran saw the Grays on the occasion just mentioned, - on Feb. 16, 1843, Capt. Henry Stoop, a Revolutionary officer, died at Darby, ninety-one years of age. He had taken part in the battle of Trenton, and in his later years delighted to recall the incidents of the war of independence, -

Taxables. - In the assessment-list for 1715 the following names appear:

John Bethell, John Harvey, John Heycock, Edward Philpot, Benjamin Cliff, John Test, Josa. Johnson, John Sholers, Samuel Bradshaw,