Middletown Township.
was employed, and there learned the trade of a spinner. This industry was followed in his native land until 1842, when he embarked for America. He was, in 1838, married to Miss Susanna, daughter of James and Mary Woodcock, of Hightown, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Their children are Mary (Mrs. Henry Grant), deceased; Mabeth (Mrs. Albert Smith), Joseph, and Charles, deceased.
Mr. Burnley, on landing upon American shores, at once repaired to Montgomery County, Pa., and engaged in spinning with his brother, with whom he remained until 1844. He then removed to Upper Darby and pursued his vocation in connection with his brother George. At a later date the three brothers - George, John, and the subject of this sketch - formed a copartnership for the manufacture of cotton goods, which was continued until 1865, when the last named came to Middletown township and purchased a farm, having meanwhile relinquished the business of a manufacturer. He remained thus engaged until 1878, when on his retirement from active pursuits he removed to Lenni. Mr. Burnley was in politics a Republican, but not active as a politician. He was a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and interested in all projects for the advancement of morality and religion in the community. His death occurred Oct. 13, 1881, in his seventy-fifth year. The grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Burnley are Charles E., Ulysses C., Henry T., Georgianna, and Anna, children of Henry and Mary Grant; Ella B., Wilmer C., Susanna, George, and Mary, children of Albert and Mabeth Smith; Susan E., Lizzie, and Mary, children of Joseph Burnley.
Pennell Saw-Mill. - Subsequent to 1830, Joseph Pennell built a saw-mill on Rocky Run, about three-quarters of a mill from where that stream empties into Chester Creek. It was owned by James Pennell subsequent to 1848, and on Aug. 11, 1870, was swept away by a freshet. It was never rebuilt.
Yearsley's Mill. - On Rocky Run, a branch of Chester Creek, stands an old stone mill, and on a tablet built into the wall, near the top of the gable, is engraved the date 1792. The land on which this mill is located was granted Dec. 7, 1741, to Joseph Talbot by his brother, Benjamin Talbot, and comprised one hundred and thirty-four acres, being part of the estate of their father. Joseph Talbot, on the site of the present mill, built a frame grist-mill, in which for many years he conducted the milling business. On April 21, 1773, Joseph Talbot, Sr., conveyed one hundred and five acres of land and the grist-mill to his son, Joseph Talbot, Jr. The latter owned the property, and conducted the business until March 12, 1784, when he sold one hundred and fifteen acres and the mill to James Emlin, who, in 1792, removed the old and built the present mill on the site. Emlin died in 1797, and the mill, devised to his heirs, was retained by them until 1823. It is not probable that any of the Emlin family carried on the business of milling, for in 1799 we know the mill was operated by John Peirce. On May 1, 1823, the mill was purchased by Nathan Yearsley, but he dying before 1826, the mill was rented to Ralph E. Marsh until Humphrey Yearsley, the only son of Nathan Yearsley, became of age. When the latter attained his majority, in 1836, he took possession of it, and has conducted the mill to the present time.
Adjoining this mill-seat on the north, and on the same run, was an old saw-mill, which was built prior to 1782 by John Worrell, and was still owned by him in 1826. The property was owned by J. C. Evans in 1875. Half a century ago the mill was abandoned, and at this time the race and dam are almost leveled, hardly a trace remaining.
Mills on Ridley Creek - Hillsborough Mills. - The first mill erected on this site is said to have been built as a saw-mill about 1800 by John Evans, who obtained the right to boat logs up the Stimmel dam to the Evans mill. The property in 1819 was in the possession of the Bank of Delaware County, and was sold by that corporation to James Ronaldson on November 4th of that year. A cotton-factory was soon after erected under the charge of Patrick Mulvany, thirty-three by fifty-six feet, three stories high, and in 1826 had three carding-engines, six hundred and sixty-two throstle spindles, and four hundred and eighty mule spindles. The mill spun about seven hundred pounds of cotton yarn per week. There were then nine houses and the mansion-house on the estate. It subsequently was in charge of George Cummins, Jonathan and Jabez Jenkins respectively. On the 26th of June, 1835, James Ronaldson sold the mills to Hugh Groves, an Irishman. In 1841 the factory was eighty by forty-six feet, and contained four double cotton-cards, two large speeders, two ellipse speeders, one drawing-frame with three heads, one with two heads, two mules of three hundred spindles each, one of two hundred and forty spindles, thirty-six power-looms, seven throstles of six hundred and sixty spindles, etc.
The mills were purchased by Samuel Bancroft in 1842, and run by him till about 1866, when they were sold to John Fox, under whom they were burned down subsequent to 1870. The property is now owned by Samuel Bancroft, and is lying idle.
Media Water-Works. - A long and narrow tract extending from Ridley Creek southwestward, and nearly half-way across the township, and to the lands of Richard Crosby, was taken up by Joseph Jarvis, but not surveyed to him till March 13, 1701. At this location, on Ridley Creek, Jarvis erected a grist-mill, which was operated by him in 1704, for at Providence Friends' Meeting, on Second month 24, 1704, complaint was made to meeting that "Thomas Jones had unlawfully taken some corn from Jarvis's mill." Jasper Yeates was interested in this tract and mill in 1705, for on February 27th of that year, Jasper Yeates and Joseph Jarvis convey to Richard and John Crosby "a mill and sixty-three acres of land." On March