Upper Darby Township.

hundred and three acres, surveyed, Nov. 8, 1682, to Luke Hanck, which, on March 5, 1688, was sold to William Garrett, who, emigrating from Leicestershire, England, settled on this property, and was the ancestor of the Garrett family, much of the original estate remaining in the possession of his descendants. Above the Garrett plantation was a tract of two hundred and fifty acres, surveyed to Joshua Fearne Aug. 28, 1682. He came from Ashoner, Derbyshire, England, and settled on the estate immediately, his mother and two sisters accompanying him to the province. He married in 1687, and died in 1693, but during the ten years he lived in Upper Darby he filled many of the most important offices in the county, having been sheriff, clerk, and a justice of the courts, and twice a member of Assembly. Immediately north of Joshua Fearne's estate were six hundred and fifty acres, surveyed to William Wood and William Sharlow, while above this, and extending to the Haverford line, was a tract of five hundred acres, surveyed to John Browne Nov. 15, 1683. The western half of this plantation was purchased by John Roads, Nov. 9, 1683, and thereon he resided, while the remainder was bought by John Roads, Jr., and for several years he lived there, prior to his removal to Montgomery County.

To the east of this tract was a hundred acres, through which the Haverford and Darby road passed almost north and south, also belonging to John Roads, while directly south John Kirk, on Dec. 4, 1688, acquired title to one hundred acres, part of which tract is still owned by one of his descendants, and part of it owned by Levi Lukens. To the south of this (Kirk's) land was a plot of four hundred acres surveyed to the heirs of Matthew Grattan, June 14, 1692, but the same year it passed to the ownership of John Hood, who had come from Castledownington, Leicestershire, England, in 1686, and settled in Upper Darby, on two hundred and fifty acres purchased from John Blunston, which, lying north of the Sellers land, ran along Cobb's Creek to within a short distance of the Haverford line. John Hood was a member of the Provincial Assembly in 1704. The remaining part of John Blunston's four hundred and twenty acres, along Cobb's Creek and the Haverford line, was divided into small holdings of sixty and fifty acres, which were purchased by Adam and John Roads, Joshua Fearne, and John Hood, Jr.

As already stated, the history of Upper Darby is lacking in many incidents during the Revolutionary war, although its territory was frequently visited by foraging parties of the enemy, who swept the country clear of cattle and provisions, and frequently robbed the inhabitants of their household articles, never omitting an opportunity to appropriate money and plate to their coffers. Doubtless many anecdotes of that period were once freely circulated, but in time they have been entirely forgotten. The following incident is the only one which seems to be preserved:

One day, while the American army was encamped at White Marsh, Montgomery Co., Samuel Levis, of Upper Darby, an aged Quaker and a sterling Whig, met a party of American soldiers who were reconnoitering the English lines. The old man, who would not take an active part in the war for conscience' sake, volunteered to aid them in learning the movements of the enemy. With that object he fastened his horse to a tall hickory-tree which grew on the dividing line of Upper Darby and Springfield townships, and began ascending the tree. His hat was in the way as he clambered up. Tossing it to the ground, he mounted to the topmost branches, and with a telescope began to scan the country in the direction of the city. While thus employed a scouting party of British dragoons appeared, and noticed Friend Levis perched in the tree, so intent on his observations that he was unaware of the approach of the enemy. He was compelled to descend, to become a prisoner, and he was refused permission to recover his hat. He and his horse were taken to Philadelphia, where he was thrown in jail, detained several days, and finally discharged, but he never succeeded in recovering his horse or his hat. With the evacuation of Philadelphia the war-cloud lifted from Delaware County, and from that time the feet of hostile armed troops have not trodden its soil.

List of taxables in the township in 1799:

Matthew Ash, Benjamin Brannon, John Brooks, Mary Bonsall, John Ball, Joseph Ball, Benjamin Bonsall, Joseph Bonsall (saw-mill), James Bonsall (miller), William Davis, John Davis, Samuel Davis (cooper), Job Evans, Abner Evans (innkeeper), Evan Evans (tailor), Jonathan Evans, Philip Francis, Nathan Garrett, Sr., Nathan Garrett, Jr., Thomas Garrett (tilt-mill), Samuel Garrett (blacksmith), Samuel Garrett, Oborn Garrett, William Garrett, Joseph Hibberd, Joseph Hibberd, Jr., Hezekiah Hibberd, John Hibberd, Robert Jones, Samuel Kirk, Thomas Kirk, Joseph Kirk, William Kimble, Benjamin Lobb (cooper-shop), Isaac Lobb, Levi Lukens (tanner), Catharine Lewis, Thomas Lewis, Abraham Lewis, William Levis (Philadelphia, paper- and saw-mill), Thomas Levis, Joseph Levis, Samuel Levis (paper- and grist-mill, miller), William Moore, John May, Jonathan Owen, James Pyott, Hannah Pollen, Anna Pencler, Amos Penegar, Bevan & Thomas Pearson (store-keepers), Israel Roberts, Jacob Reaver, George Steward, John Sellers (saw-mill), Nathan & David Sellers (cotton-factory and saw-mill), James Steel (miller, at Sellers' grist- and merchant-mill), Amos Sharpless, James Tyson, John Matthews (paper-maker, paper- and grist-mill), John Tyson (grist-mill), William Thompson, George Widdows (wheelwright), William West (grazier), Jacob Warner, Lawrence Howard, Nathaniel Hutton (Philadelphia), Thomas Leacock, Gibbons Jones (carpenter), Mordecai Lewis, William Pollen, Nathan Pollen, Samuel Pollen, Leonard Shuster (weaver).

Inmates. - Samuel Bonsall, Thomas Cumming, Owen Cumming, Joel McClellan, John Dunbar, David Dunbar (paper-maker), Isaac Earl (shoemaker), John Fitzgerald, Neil McFaggen, Edward Ferrell, John Gow, John Garrett, .Justice Hendrickson (paper-maker), Richard Hayes, Ann Hibbard, Peter Hartley, Hugh Hunt, Henry Hartley, Michael Johnson, Jonathan Jones, John Hechler, Laurence Lowry, Joshua Levis (paper-maker), Charles Levis, John Murphy, Phineas Palmer, Thomas Rudolph, Deborah Rogers, John Rudolph (paper-maker), William Rudolph (paper-maker), John Suplee (joiner), Benjamin Sharpless (paper-maker), Isaac Tyson (miller), Henry Upright, William Levis (paper-maker), Thomas Williams (paper-maker).

Single Freemen. - Robert Armstrong, Reuben Bonsall, Joseph Bonsall, Jr., Benjamin Bonsall, Jr., William Brooks, Ulif Calls, John Dunlap, Joel Davis (wheelwright), William Suplee (wheelwright), Robert Dunbar, William Evans, John Graham, John Guard, Isaac Justice, IsraeI Lobb, Israel Lobb, Jr., Ephraim Lobb, Asher Lobb (shoemaker), Jonathan Evans (carpenter), William Pollen (carpenter), John Jones (joiner),