Marple Township.

effect that object, a piece of ground near Broomall. On that lot a stone house was erected and placed under the care of the trustees, who held it until the acceptance of the school law by the township, when it was transferred to the school directors. The house built in 1818 was used until 1855, when it was removed and the present two-story house erected.

On Feb. 22, 1837, a lot was purchased of Benjamin Garrett, and a stone house erected. The lot was conveyed in "consideration of promoting the education and literary instruction of the youth resident in or belonging to the township of Marple." That building was used until the present stone house was erected in 1877 on the same lot, but nearer the road. The old house, however, is still standing, and the new building and the old one are known as the Cedar Grove School-House.

It will be observed in the account of the school-house at Broomall that trustees were appointed by the deed of John Craig to receive the title and exercise control over the house and lot. On March 18, 1825, most of the townships in the county elected trustees of schools, and George Rhoads, Henry Lawrence, and Clement Lawrence were elected for Marple. At that time there were two schools at least maintained in the township, one on the Craig lot, the other near the Rhoads farm. When the school law of 1834 became operative, the court appointed Dr. Walter Williamson and James Lewis inspectors of public schools until the directors were elected. In 1835-36 Marple received as her share of the public money assigned to the county, from State and county appropriations, seven hundred and seventy-nine dollars and forty-one cents.

The following is a list of the school directors of Marple township, so far as appear of record at Media:

1840, Samuel Bartram, William Nuzum; 1842, Samuel Hale, Thomas Sheldon; 1843, no report; 1844, John S. Moore, Samuel Pancoast; 1845, Joseph Esrey, Thomas Steel, Jr.; 1846, Isaac Latch, Eber Lewis; 1847, John B. Webb, Samuel Johnson; 1848, James Lewis, James S. Bell, John Black; 1849, Abraham Pyott, Allen Lodge; 1850, Henry Hipple, William McClellan; 1851, Cook Curtis, Philip Moore; 1852, Henry Hipple, William McClellan; 1853, Joseph Rhoads, George Esrey; 1854, John F. Taylor, Thomas Williamson; 1855, Eber Lewis, Amos Bond; 1856, George Ezrey, Joseph Rhoads; 1857, John F. Taylor, Thomas Williamson, Henry Hipple; 1858, Walter Green, Eber Lewis; 1859, George Esrey, Joseph Rhodes, Jr.; 1860, Henry Hipple, Benjamin Jones; 1861, Henry Hipple, Samuel Black; 1862, Milton Lewis, Joseph Rhoads; 1863, Benjamin Jones, John F. Taylor; 1864, Samuel Black, William Bartram; 1865, Joseph Rhoads, Milton Lewis; 1866, John F. Taylor, J. Morris Moore; 1867, Henry Hipple, William McClellan; 1868, Milton Lewis, Joseph Rhoads; 1869, Reece Pyott, William Dickinson; 1870, no report; 1871, Milton Lewis, Joseph Rhoads; 1872, William Dickinson, Reese Pyott; 1873, Samuel Sharpless, Henry Hipple; 1874, Joseph Rhoads, Charles Curtis; 1875, E. P. Esrey, R. E. Barr; 1876, Samuel Sharpless, Sarah Worrall; 1877, William Dickinson, A. W. Sloan; 1878, Richard E. Barr, Henry Hipple; 1879, William Bartram, James L. Williamson; 1880, William Dickinson, Sr., Joseph Rhoads; 1881, H. Jones Moore, R. E. Barr; 1882, Richard Barr, William P. Hipple; 1883, Joseph Rhoads, William Dickinson; 1884, William Jones, H. Jones Moore.

The following is a list of the justices of the peace for Marple township:

Crimes and Accidents. - During the night of June 20, 1850, the barn on the farm of David Paxson was broken into and the throat of a valuable horse cut, so that he was found dead in his stall the next morning. The person who committed the act was never discovered.

On Wednesday, Sept. 23, 1868, Thomas Bryson, a shoemaker, and William Stinson, in an altercation respecting some chickens, began throwing stones at each other, when one hurled by Bryson struck Stinson on the temporal bone, fracturing his skull, causing death in a few hours. At the November court following Bryson was tried, convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to a period of two years' imprisonment.

On Thursday, Nov. 18, 1880, Mordecai W. Steel, while gunning for rabbits near his house, was accidentally shot by a companion. About to get over a fence, the latter endeavored to uncock his gun, when the hammer slipped from his thumb, the fowling-piece discharged, and the load entered the head of Steel, who was standing a few feet in advance. The wounded man died two days thereafter.

Licensed Houses. - In Marple township, before the old county of Chester was divided, no license to keep a public-house appears on record so far as I have discovered, and even after Delaware County was erected, no application to that end was presented until ten years had elapsed, when, July 29, 1799, Davis Reed, of Marple, represented to this court that he was "in the possession of a commodious, suitable, and necessary stand for a public-house, at the intersection of the road leading from Philadelphia to Lancaster by the way of West Chester, and that leading from the upper or northern part of the county to the borough of Chester." The signers who appear on his petition urged the court's approval warmly, for they "conceive that the stand or situation described in the above petition to be very eligible and necessary for the purposes therein mentioned, and that on several accounts, some of the principal of which are the following, viz., First, on account of its being so nearly central in the township, that it will on that account be convenient to transact the township's business at. And, secondly, we who reside in the upper part of the county are of the opinion that it would be a very necessary and requisite stage for the accommodation of such of us who have frequently to attend at the borough of Ches-