Upper Darby Township.

two hundred and thirty-four looms, thirty-nine cards, and sixty inch sets of woolen cards. Three thousand six hundred pounds of cotton yarn is produced weekly, and sixty operatives are employed.

Modoc Mills. - On Darby Creek, a short distance above the Kellyville Mills, in 1873, Daniel Sharkey and William Weidbey erected a stone cotton-mill, ninety by forty-two feet, two stories in height. The machinery consists of four mules and five cards. Fourteen operatives are employed, and about three thousand six hundred pounds of cotton yarn are produced weekly.

Garrett Mills. - William Garrett emigrated to the province of Pennsylvania in 1683. On March 5, 1688, there was surveyed to him two hundred and three acres from a tract of three hundred and three acres, which had been located by Luke Hanck, Nov. 8, 1682. It was a long tract, which extended nearly across the township, with the south end resting on Darby Creek, opposite the present Heyville Mills, in Springfield township. William Garrett was assessed in 1766 on a leather-mill and a blade-mill, in 1774 on a fulling-mill and blade-mill. In 1782, Oborn Garrett was assessed on a fulling-mill, and in 1788 on "a skin-mill out of repair," and also a plaster-mill. After that date the name of Garrett does not appear on the assessment-roll of Upper Darby in connection with mills until 1798, when Thomas Garrett owned a tilt-mill at the site of the present Union Mills, owned by Thomas Kent, and there Thomas & Samuel Garrett conducted the tilt-mill, oil-mill, and cotton-factory at that locality for many years after that date. In 1848, just below Garrettsford, on the Thornfield estate, belonging to William Garrett, on Dr. Ash's map a tannery is located. Possibly this may have been the leather or bark-mill for which William Garrett, in 1766, was assessed.

Union Mills. - Thomas Garrett, in 1805, built at this mill-site a tilt-mill, and on July 27, 1808, he purchased of Samuel Levis the right to place the abutment of a dam across Darby Creek for any purpose, excepting for a grist- or paper-mill. After securing this privilege a new dam was built, the works at that location enlarged, and, as mentioned in the account of the Garrett Mills, was conducted by Thomas & Samuel Garrett. The latter, as an individual enterprise, had operated an oil-mill at the same locality, which was continued until about 1830, and was washed away in the flood in 1843. In 1822, Thomas Garrett erected a stone cotton-factory, fifty-four by forty feet, three stories in height, which, in 1826, was rented to John Mitchell. It was known as the Union Mill, and at that time contained seven carding-engines, one drawing-frame, one stretcher of one hundred and twenty spindles, four hundred and forty-four throstle-spindles, six hundred and sixty mule-spindles, and made weekly one thousand pounds of cotton-yarn. Twenty-four operatives were employed, and stone tenement-houses had been erected to accommodate five families. In 1830, James Robinson succeeded Mitchell, and carried on manufacturing there for several years. Charles Kelly leased it in 1839, and continued to operate it until April 1, 1845, when the property was purchased by James Wilde, the locality at that time known as Wildeville. On Nov. 16, 1846, Wilde sold the mills to his brother-in-law, Thomas Kent, who now owns and has continued to operate the Union Mills since that date. In 1850, Mr. Kent built an addition of fifty by forty feet, three stories in height, to the original mill on the south end, and in 1852 to the north end he built an addition fifty by forty feet, three stories and an attic. Fifteen years afterwards, in 1867, Thomas Kent had the walls of the main building removed to the floor of the second story, and on the remaining walls rebuilt the mill four stories and an attic, thus giving a total length of two hundred feet, forty feet in width, and erected also a dye-house eighty by forty feet, a fire-proof picker-house thirty by thirty-four feet, two stories in height. The machinery in the Union Mills comprises ten sets of forty-eight inch cards, eleven self-acting mules of four hundred spindles each, one hundred narrow and sixteen broad looms, having capacity of manufacturing four thousand yards of goods weekly.

Rockbourne Mills. - This mill is located on the west side of Darby Creek, and was the property of Samuel Garrett, who failing in 1837, it was assigned to Oborn Levis and William Garrett, who conveyed it, April 1, 1838, to Edwin Garrett. This mill is located near the site of the oil-mill which was washed away in 1843. After this cotton-mill was erected Edwin Garrett rented it to Jonas Cowan, who made cotton laps until the fall of 1842, when James and John Wilde succeeded him, and remained there until the fall of 1843, when they removed to Oborn Levis' mill farther up the creek. Thomas and John Kent, on Jan. 1, 1844, rented the factory and manufactured woolen goods. April 1, 1845, Thomas Kent purchased the mill, and in 1850 built an addition to it of thirty by forty feet, four stories and an attic. In 1868 the old part of the building was almost entirely taken down and a stone structure fifty-four by one hundred and twenty-five feet, four stories and attic, was erected. This mill contains six mules with four hundred spindles each, five sets of cards, and thirty-eight broad looms. Twenty-four hundred yards of woolen goods are manufactured weekly. Two hundred people are employed in both mills. The machinery is driven by a one hundred horse-power engine and one hundred and twenty horse-power boiler.

Thomas Kent, the son of Josiah and Hannah Kent, was born in Middleton, Lancashire, England, on the 27th of March, 1813. His youth was spent at the home of his parents, where limited advantages of education were afforded. He had, however, during this early period acquired habits of thought and observation which were more serviceable in later life than the knowledge derived from books. Entering a cot-