Thornbury Township.

Erwin, and the Gothic church, which is thirty by forty-five feet, erected, at a cost of four thousand dollars. On May 3, 1874, the church was dedicated, the Rev. Dr. Speer, of Philadelphia, of the Episcopal Church, preaching the sermon on that occasion. Dr. Speer was assisted in the ceremonies by the Rev. George W. Gaul, of the Methodist Church; Rev. Abel C. Thomas, of the Universalist Church; Rev. Mr. Lynn, of the Presbyterian Church; Rev. Dr. Worrell, of the Baptist Church; and Darlington Hoopes, a public Friend. The church is under control of a committee appointed be the society, and a regular Sunday-school is maintained there, having at the present time sixty pupils. Mrs. W. A. Cheyney is superintendent.

An able writer, in mentioning the Wayside Church, says, -

"A beautiful little structure built at Cheyney Station, on the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad, well deserves notice. It is called the Wayside Church, and is independent of all other organizations. It was erected by members of various religious sects, aided by many attached to no denomination, and it is open to all professors of religion, the services being varied to suit the views of the particular officiating individual, who may be some one invited by the congregation, or some well-meaning clergyman or ether person who may feel it his duty for the time to occupy the pulpit. In the absence of such person, services much resembling the Episcopal are read by one of the members designated for the occasion. The congregation numbers about two hundred.

"The place owes its origin to the efforts of certain liberal-minded people in the neighborhood, whose design appears to be to bring members of the several religious bodies more in contact with one another, that they may learn how insignificant are the differences of opinion which have filled Christendom with persecution and bloodshed. The result is teaching on a small scale the lesson that most religious disputes are purely dialectic. The sects being isolaled, learn to attach peculiar and technical meanings to certain much-used words, and therefore, to some extent, really talk each a different language from the other without knowing it. The movement at Cheyney appears to be in the direction of the progress of the age. Within the last half-century there is manifestly a growing tendency among the various religious denominations to co-operate with one another in benevolent and humanitarian enterprises, and to view the peculiarities of one another in a more charitable light, and there is a decreasing disposition on the part of each to claim the exclusive right of regulating the relations existing between man and his Maker. Delaware County has its full share of the wholesome progress in this direction."¹

Stony Bank Methodist Church. - This church organization. was originally included in the township of Aston, until the act of July 30, 1842, made the change in the township lines which annexed Stony Bank meeting-house to Thornbury. The church was organized in 1810, by Israel Pyle, Benjamin Baldwin, and others, the first meetings being held in the Stony Bank school-house until the meeting-house was erected, in 1812. The stone church then built was used until 1870, when the new edifice was erected, the cornerstone being laid on July 28th of that year. The building was completed the following spring, and dedicated May 27, 1871. The membership of Stony Bank Church is about twenty-five persons at the present time. Since 1856 the pastors have been Revs. H. G. King, J. Z. Cooper, H. H. Bodine, H. Houston, H. B. Mauger, W. C. Johnson, J. W. Watson, E. W. Townsend, J. Magee, W. B. Chalfant, R. H. Sadler, C. M. Boswell, C. E. Adamson, N. W. Clark, and the present pastor, W. C. Graeff.

Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal Church. - The class from which the church was organized was formed about 1845, and on March 26, 1846, Albon Pyle conveyed a lot at Thornton to Israel Pyle and others as trustees, to be used for the erection of a church building as well as it burial-ground. A meeting-house was built soon after the lot was donated for that purpose. For many years the church was under the charge of Chester Circuit, being dependent for religious exercises on the circuit preachers who served also Mount Hope and Stony Bank Churches. On Nov. 26, 1860, Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal Church was incorporated by the court of Delaware County. In 1871 the building, which began to show the marks of age, was repaired at a cost of eight hundred and twenty-two dollars. The church was reopened on Sunday, Nov. 19, 1871, and during the day and evening the following clergymen preached: Revs. Hughes, Wallace, Alcorn, and Watson. Contributions to the gross amount of five hundred dollars were made.

African Methodist Episcopal Church. - Several years ago a number of colored Methodists organized a class in Thornbury, and shortly afterwards purchased the old frame school-house on the Westtown road, formerly used by Nathan Hunt. The building was moved about half a mile farther to the north, oil the same road, in close proximity to the residence of James Sullivan, and was fitted up as a church. The congregation have no regular pastor, but are dependent on the circuit preachers.

Schools. - The first school established in the township was doubtless at the location now known as the Western District school-house, which is situated near the Chester Comity line on the road leading from Concord to Dilworthtown. The deed for the lot is in the possession of Charles Cheyney, one of the school directors. The indenture, dated March 25, 1715, is made by William Pyle to George Pierce, John Willis, Henry Nayle, Edward Bennett, Thomas Eavenson, Richard Woodward, Philip Taylor, Jacob Vernon, Joseph Brinton, John Yearsley, Richard Eavenson, and John Pyle, of Thornbury, and William Brinton, of Birmingham, conveying a lot of ground in trust for the purpose of maintaining a school there. The deed also conveys the right to a foot-path, three feet in width, leading to a spring not far distant on the land of William Pyle. This deed has never been recorded, but has remained in the possession of the trustees, and subsequently of the school directors, the latter acting as trustees since the acceptance of the school law by the township, for one hundred and sixty-nine years. The date when a school-house was erected on this lot cannot be definitely ascertained, but the probabilities are that such a structure was built soon after the deed was executed, for the pur-