Upper Providence Township.

In the early days of the province Upper and Nether Providence, as stated in the account of the latter township, constituted one municipal division. The separation of Providence into two districts was recognized as early as the March court, 1687/8, when John Calvert was appointed constable for Upper Providence. This township is bounded on the east by Crum Creek, on the west by Ridley Creek, on the south by Nether Providence, and on the north by Edgmont. At the southwest limit of the township on Ridley Creek, and lying on the west side of Providence road, was a tract of three hundred and fifty acres, which was surveyed to William Taylor March 2-3, 1681, while immediately above was a plantation of like size, which, on the like date, was taken up by Peter Taylor. On these tracts that part of the borough of Media lying within Upper Providence is located. Peter and William Taylor, of the parish of Sutton, county of Cheshire, England, purchased from William Penn twelve hundred and fifty acres of land before they emigrated to the province. Part of this land was located in Upper Providence, the remainder in East Caln township. After the act of Feb. 13, 1804, creating the office of directors of the poor for Delaware County was in force, on March 25, 1805, the three directors, William Anderson, Jonathan Heacock, and John Smith, purchased from Isaac Taylor sixty-nine acres and eighty-five perches of land on this tract. The same day Ezra Taylor conveyed fifty-two acres and one hundred and thirty-two perches to the directors, and the same date William Spear and wife made a deed to the same grantees for seven acres and forty-two perches of land. The grantors were descendants of the original settlers, and on the estate thus conveyed the first county house or house of employment was erected. Subsequently the directors, on May 20, 1805, purchased eight acres and one hundred and five perches from Peter Worrall, and at a later date, Minshall Painter, John Clayton, and Joel Evans, the then directors, purchased twenty-six acres and one hundred and forty-two perches from Brinton Jones and Isaac Hinkson, trustees to sell the real estate of Woodward Crossley, deceased, which lands were added to the county property. Above the Peter Taylor tract was a plantation of two hundred and fifty acres taken up by Allen Robinett, and here at a later date he erected the Robinett Grist-Mill, while on this land on Ridley Creek, John Camm, the first stocking-weaver in Chester County, located. Of Allen Robinett little is known at this time, which is almost absolute evidence that he was not in membership with Friends.

Still following Ridley Creek, above the Robinett tract, Randal Malin took up two hundred and fifty acres on March 6-7, 1681. He emigrated from Great Barrens, in Cheshire, England, before or shortly after the first visit of Penn to his colony. Randal Malin was accompanied with his wife, Elizabeth, and settled on this land, glad to find an asylum in the wilderness from persecutions for his religious opinions, for he had suffered a fine of £20 5s. in England because he had made a prayer in a meeting of Friends there. Doubtless the exposure and privation to which she was subjected was too severe for the wife and mother, for she died in 1687. Randal Malin married again in 1693, his second wife being Mary Conway, a widow, the daughter of Valentine Hollingsworth, of New Castle County. He died shortly after the beginning of the eighteenth century, leaving two sons (Isaac and Jacob, children by his first wife) and two daughters (Hannah and Rachel, children by his second wife). On a portion of his estate in Upper Providence his descendant, Stephen Malin, still resides. Above the Malin lands, taken on rent by John Holston, Feb. 18, 1683, two hundred acres were secured. In 1717 the greater part of this land was purchased by Henry Miller. The latter, with his wife, Sarah, and several children, came from the parish of Dunster, Somerset County, England, three years prior to his acquiring ownership of this land. Henry Miller was by trade a weaver, and in Upper Providence located a small manufacturing establishment, wherein he wove serges, camlets, and similar goods, and had also a store, in which, with other articles, he sold the product of his looms. He was an active man in the early colonial days, and in 1717 was elected a member of the Provincial Assembly. Immediately above the Holston tract two hundred acres were surveyed to George Woodward on March 12, 1683. He never resided on the plantation, but on Twelfth month 25, 1695, the land having been sold to Joseph Phipps, was resurveyed, and was found to contain two hundred and eighty acres. The estate, June 15, 1715, was conveyed to Henry Miller, and it is doubtless on this tract that he embarked in manufacturing. Trout Run is almost entirely within the limits of this plantation.

Above the Woodward land Henry Miller, on March 19-20,1715, acquired title to two hundred and twenty-two acres, on which Blue Hill is located, and it was on this land that he settled, which fact may account for the premises remaining so long in the ownership of his descendants. This plantation, however, was a part of a large tract of five hundred acres which was surveyed to James Swaffer, Nov. 7, 1684. He came from Newton, Cheshire, England, in that year, and settled on this land, but he subsequently removed to Philadelphia, selling his land in Upper Providence in smaller plantations. On part of this tract, in 1717, the mill in early time known as Providence Mill, and subsequently as Bishop's mill, and at the present as Sycamore Mills, was erected. To the east of a straight line drawn northward to Crum Creek from Providence great road, at the point where the latter highway diverges to the northwest to Blue Hill, William Salis-