Newtown Township.

the American army and fight the British? 'I'm not afraid to go,' he screamed; 'they can't hurt me! They may kill me, if they like, and make a drum-head of my old hide, but they'll play humy, drum, drum, humy, drum, drum, till the British are scared out of the country;" then, in wild excitement, he threw off a heavy cloak, which hung around his shoulders, and displayed an American uniform."

In 1783, Rev. William Currie again took charge of St. David's and began energetically to collect funds to repair the ravages which time and the war had made in the old church building and graveyard wall. While he was rector the church was admitted to membership in the Diocesan Convention of Pennsylvania, in 1786. In August, 1787, Thomas Reed and Philip Sheaf were appointed as delegates to secure a minister, the Great Valley Episcopal Church of Chester County, St. James at Perkiomen, and the Swede's Church near Norristown being united with St. David's Church in the parish. The result was the calling of Rev. Slaytor Clay. In August, 1792, while Mr. Clay was rector, the church was incorporated, and it was during his incumbency that the body of Gen. Wayne was removed from the fortress at Presque Isle to Radnor churchyard by his son, Col. Isaac Wayne. On the 4th of July, 1809 (an oppressively warm day), the Pennsylvania State Society of the Cincinnati placed a plain marble monument over his remains. This stone was erected previous to the removal of the body of the general to Old Radnor churchyard. The ceremonies of the dedication of the monument were conducted by the Society of the Cincinnati. There was an imposing pageant, and the First City Troop of Philadelphia, under command of Maj. Robert Wharton, paid the honors of war over the grave. The hearse containing the body of the general was preceded from his residence to the grave by a veteran, Samuel Smiley, one of the Wayne brigade, who refused to ride, and seemed overcome with the realization of the fact that his old commander was dead. One of the officers of the City Troop, it is said, was overcome by the extreme heat, and after the ceremony was over, an eccentric Baptist preacher, old Davy Jones, who had witnessed the massacre at Paoli and had taken part in the battle, mounted the platform that had been erected near the monument and told the story of that butchery. The crowd gathered on the occasion is said to have been so large that many of the limbs of the trees in and surrounding the yard broke with the weight of the people who had climbed up on them.

During Mr. Clay's rectorship an addition was made to the graveyard and the wall repaired, the dashed part of the wall showing where the extension was made. The present northwest wall of the graveyard, added at a still more recent date, forms the boundaries between Delaware and Chester Counties. The church building was repaired and the pews rearranged. Mr. Clay continued in charge of St. David's until his death, in 1821, although his health was so broken that frequently services were not held in the church, and often the congregation was dependent on supplies. In 1818 Rev. Samuel C. Brinckle settled near the church, and preached every other week after that time until Mr. Clay's death; and succeeding the latter in the rectorship, he preached every Sunday, but that he did so was due to William Crosley, a wealthy member of the church, who subscribed twenty dollars to the support of a minister who would preach every Sunday. The congregation, moved by this example, contributed until the salary was increased to nearly four hundred dollars.

The rectors of the church since Mr. Brinckle have been: Rev. Simon Wilmer, from December, 1832, to July, 1833; Rev. William Henry Rees, from July, 1833, to September, 1838; Rev. William Peck, from October, 1838, to October, 1845; Rev. William W. Spear, from January, 1846, to March, 1846; Rev. Breed Batchelor, from March, 1846, to December, 1847; Rev. Thomas G. Allen, not regularly appointed; Rev. John A. Childs, from January, 1848, to August, 1856; Rev. Henry Brown, from 1851 to 1855; Rev. Richardson Graham, from January, 1856, to January, 1861; Rev. Thomas G. Clemson, from August, 1861, to June, 1866; Rev. William F. Halsey, from Nov. 18, 1866, to his death, October, 1882; Rev. George A. Keller, from December, 1882, the present incumbent.

On July 30, 1820, the first confirmation ever held in St. David's Church was conducted by Bishop White, sixteen persons being on that occasion admitted to membership. In 1824 the Sunday-school was organized, and about 1830 that part of the old gallery which passed over the front door was taken down, the high-backed, old-fashioned pews torn out, and the present ones substituted, the pulpit enlarged, and the sounding-board removed. A vestry house was built, about seventeen feet square, on the site of the present Sunday-school building. In 1844 the present parsonage was built. In 1850 St. David's corporation brought suit against Thomas Beaumont, who, they alleged, had gradually been encroaching on the church lands. The church was comparative successful in the suit, but the vestry was unable to show any title to the land other than possession. It is a tradition that Queen Anne presented Radnor Church with a communion service, which is doubtless true, for it was her custom to make such gifts to every church of England in the British colonies. It was due to her interest in these matters that Walpole called her "the wet-nurse of the church." This service was taken by some marauding party of soldiers during the Revolution, and has never been recovered.

In 1861 the corporation purchased an acre of land from George Phillips, and enlarged the graveyard. On Sept. 4, 1867, the church celebrated its sesqui-centennial, the date being erroneous, 1717 being accepted as the year of the church building, instead of 1715. In 1871 the church was repaired, and a new