The Borough Of Media.

Peter Taylor was unmarried when he came to America, and shortly afterward, Jan. 2, 1685, took as his wife, Sarah, a daughter of John Houlston, a neighboring settler. Peter's children were Peter, William, and Samuel. Peter moved to East Caln not later than 1717, and died in 1720, probably at the house of his son, William, in that township.

It is on record that Peter Taylor and wife, Sarah, on Aug. 20, 1717, deeded to Peter Dicks one hundred and seventy acres of ground, being that portion of the estate nearest Ridley Creek. He retained one hundred and fifty-one acres, the western boundary-line of which must have run due north and south a little west of the residence of A. Lewis Smith, on State Street. When he removed to Caln, his son, Peter, appears to have taken charge of that portion of the estate which was retained. He married Elizabeth Jarman, of Radnor, died in 1740, and was succeeded by his son Peter, the grandson of the original immigrant of the same name. Meantime a portion of the adjoining property had come into the possession of William, another son of Peter (2d), who sold a part of it, consisting of nearly one hundred and fifty acres, to John Butler in the year 1735, and retained for himself one hundred and fifty-one acres.

The one hundred and fifty-one acres of Peter Taylor (3d) having been sold to Peter Dicks, was deeded to him June 8, 1748, and hence, after an interval of sixty-six years, the land of Peter Taylor, the original owner, had all passed out of the possession of his descendants. Nothing remained in the hands of any of the Taylors except the adjoining Sandy Bank property originally owned by William.

Dicks built a log cabin on his property, which is still standing, although one hundred and thirty-five years old. He had absorbed the whole property, besides owning the large tract of land west of the line of the Providence road, south of and contiguous to the eastern end of the Taylor property. He was a son of Peter Dicks, of Cheshire, England, who settled in Birmingham in 1686, and had seven children. He moved to Nether Providence in 1717, where the family had either located a claim in 1686 or subsequently bought from the Vernons. He was in easy circumstances, and made large additions to his real estate. On the south of Taylor's land he owned about half-way from the site of Providence road to Ridley Creek, while one Broughton owned from his boundary to the creek. As the property of Thomas Minshall faced that of Peter Taylor to the eastward, we have the six original owners of land on or near the site of Media as follows: Peter Taylor, William Taylor, John Houlston, Thomas Minshall, Peter Dicks, and ----- Broughton.

Concerning the William Taylor lands we will now give a fuller history. On Dec. 16, 1781, a century after the first conveyance of the land, Nathan Taylor, then holding what was originally supposed to be the three-hundred-acre tract (but subsequently found to contain three hundred and twenty acres), or what remained of it, sold to Enoch Taylor one hundred and twenty acres, including that part on which in late years has stood the residence of Dr. Rowland. Nathan died here about the year 1800, having been born in 1715, and on July 26, 1823, the paternal estate was sold at public sale to John Smith for thirty-nine dollars and fifty cents per acre, and thus the last remnant of property passed out of the ownership of the Taylor family, after having remained in it one hundred and forty-two years. Enoch also died about 1800. Ezra Taylor was one of his executors. He was born June 26, 1781, and died in 1825. He was buried at Sandy Bank graveyard, the following being the inscription on his tombstone:

"Ezra Taylor, a descendant of Peter Taylor, one of the first settlers of where now is the Seat of Justice of Del. Countee, born June 26, 1781, died May 25, 1825."¹

The dwelling occupied by the Taylor families passed, as had been said, into the possession of John Smith. It then became the property of A. Pascal, and by him was sold to Dr. Rowland.

It is an interesting fact that Gen. Zachary Taylor, a President of the United States, and the hero of the Mexican war, was a lineal descendant of Peter Taylor, the immigrant of 1682. His ancestors of the second or third generation removed from East Caln, Chester Co., to Winchester, Va., where the boyhood of Gen. Taylor was spent, although he subsequently removed to the West.

Having now given some account of the pioneers and provincial owners of the soil, we shall consider the causes that led to the building of the town.

Location of the County-Seat - The Infant Village. - The agitation leading to the removal of the seat of justice of Delaware County from Chester to a more central locality, which had its formal and organized beginning at a meeting held at the Black Horse Hotel, in Middletown township, Nov. 22, 1845, having been elaborately treated in a chapter² of this work, it is unnecessary in this connection to say more upon the subject than what will suffice to remind the reader of the essentials in the controversy and serve as an introduction to topics of more narrowly local interest of which it is our province to treat in this division of the work. It will be remembered by many, and can be learned by others from the chapter to which we have referred, that after the meeting on Nov. 22, 1845, the matter of removal was submitted to the people at the election immediately ensuing;