Radnor Township.

In the winter of 1777-78, Gen. Potter, with a considerable body of American militia, was assigned to the duty of guarding the country between the Schuylkill and Chester, to prevent supplies reaching the enemy, as well as to protect the patriotic inhabitants from foraging parties sent out from Philadelphia by the British. In the performance of these duties numerous skirmishes took place in Radnor and its vicinity between Potter's men and the thievish invaders. In a letter from Gen. Potter, dated at Radnor, on the 28th of December, 1777, one of these encounters is thus described: "On Monday last the enemy came out with a view to forage. They encamped along the road from Gray's Ferry to the heights below Darby. There was a detachment sent down from our army to this place, who, with Morgan's riflemen and the militia; went down to their lines and kept them close therein. On Tuesday we took thirteen of their lighthorse and ten of their horsemen; the next day two more of their horses and their riders. They have been prevented from plundering the inhabitants, as they usually do . . . . We had one killed and two wounded. We have taken upwards of twenty prisoners, and a number of deserters have come in. They have carried off a large quantity of hay from the Islands and Darby . . . ."¹

During the same winter another incident transpired in Radnor which for a time was of serious import to a native and former resident of the township. It appears that soon after the occupation of Philadelphia and its vicinity by the British, one Benjamin Davis, the proprietor of the Rising Sun Tavern, in Frankford, became a temporary resident, willingly or otherwise, of the city. Some time during the season mentioned he appeared at the American camp in Radnor and made a statement to Gen. Potter in substance as follows: That his mother resided within the American lines in Radnor; that he was the proprietor of the Rising Sun Tavern in Frankford; that he had been made prisoner by the British, and had been detained by them in Philadelphia for several weeks; that they had finally released him, and that he now wished to visit his mother, in Radnor, preparatory to returning to his tavern, the Rising Sun. Gen. Potter granted his request, and allowed him to visit his mother. Soon after, however, it was whispered about that Davis was a spy, and had been sent out by the British to ascertain the strength and position of the Americans. Thereupon he was arrested, and made to undergo a most rigid examination, but finally, whether guilty of any understanding with the enemy or not, was released, and allowed to go free and unmolested. Probably this was the same Davis who was assessed as the owner of a grist-mill in Radnor in 1788, and in years subsequent to that date.

With the close of the Revolutionary war an unwonted degree of prosperity dawned upon Radnor. New highways were laid out, many additional settlers established themselves here, and a Methodist meeting-house was erected. In 1792 the Philadelphia and Lancaster turnpike was commenced, to be completed two years later by the expenditure of four hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars. This, the first turnpike road built in America, was the means of greatly increasing travel through the central part of the township, and caused the establishment of numerous wayside inns along its route.

In 1809 the Radnor Library was established. Its five hundred volumes, representing the liberality of eighteen subscribers, were placed in a store near Friends' meeting-house.

In 1820 many of the inhabitants of Radnor inaugurated rather vigorous measures looking to the annexation of their township to the county of Montgomery. These proceedings on the part of Radnor residents at last aroused the whole county, and finally became the leading topic of discussion among its citizens. Dr. Smith writes of this agitation and its rather tame results as follows:

"Dissatisfaction had for some time existed among the people of the upper part of the county on account of the seat of justice being situated on its southern margin. The people of the township of Radnor, residing much nearer to Norristown, the seat of justice of Montgomery County, than to Chester, petitioned for the annexation of their township to that county. The fact that the taxes of Montgomery were lower than those of Delaware is also said to have had an influence in promoting this movement. Be that as it may, the prospect of losing one of the best townships in the county was a matter of serious alarm, when its small dimensions were taken into consideration. The discontented in the remote townships, seeing that the loss of Radnor would weaken their strongest ground of complaint, determined to test the question of a removal of the seat of justice of the county to a more central situation. Accordingly a general meeting of the inhabitants of the county, 'both friendly and unfriendly' to the proposed removal, was convened on the 8th of June, 1820. The meeting was unusually large and very respectable, and after the subject of removal had been discussed very fully and rather freely, a vote was taken which resulted in favor of the removalists.

"Removal now became the leading topic of discussion throughout the