Thornbury Township.

conclusion, she prayed the court for alimony on a separate maintenance out of the remains of her fortune. "Whereupon it is Considered by this Court that the three-Eighths part of the Forge now in the possession of Jones & Sharpless, the dwelling-house wherein she now resides, the small stable adjoining the kitchen, Together with the pailed garden and orchard, the draw-well, the piece of meadow ground on the Norther part of the plantation, containing about three acres, and the piece of woodland laying to the Southward of the said meadow, and adjoining the same containing about eight acres (more or less), Is hereby adjudged to and ordered to be occupied by, and the profits thereof to belong to and be appropriated for the use of the said Sarah Thomson, wife of the aforesaid James Thomson, according to her will and discretion, Free and separate from the said James Thomson and all other persons whatsoever during the natural life of her the said Sarah.¹

In 1780 the slitting-mill was rented to Lloyd & Hill, and in 1790 Sharpless & Lloyd were operating all the mills at Sarum. On Feb. 14, 1794, Abraham Sharpless purchased of Josiah Potts the slitting-mill, grist- and saw-mill property, and about 1805 the forge and four acres of land. In 1807, Sharpless associated Francis Wisely in the business of the mills at the upper seat. From that date the old forge was permitted to go to decay, for no further record is made of it. From 1810 to April 2, 1836, Abraham Sharpless conducted the rolling- and slitting-mill, and for the greater part of that time the grist-mill and saw-mill also. His business was extensive and daily his teams were seen going to and from Marcus Hook, where he shipped his manufactured iron and other articles, and received pig-metal and other raw material to be used at his work. On April 2, 1836, the mills having been sold to Wilcox, they were changed to paper-mills, and are now known as the Glen Mills.¹

Edwards' Forge and Rolling-Mills. - The first notice of a forge in Thornbury connected with the Edwards family, of which record has been found, is in the assessment-roll for the year 1788, when John Edwards, the elder, was assessed on one hundred and ninety acres of land and a forge. On Oct. 31, 1791, a road was laid out from Edgmont road to the Slitting-Mills on Chester Creek, the road dividing the townships of Edgmont and Thornbury, and leading to Persifor Frazer's saw-mill. In the report the road is said to pass "between John Edwards' forge and dwelling-house." A few years later, and prior to 1799, the forge was operated by John Lewis and Wills Hemphill. Lewis retired from the firm, and in 1807, Wills Hemphill, --- Pennock, and Nathan Edwards were conducting the business at this forge. Nathan Edwards seems to have operated the works from 1811 to 1816, at which time he had also a saw-mill on the premises. In 1816 he built a slitting-mill, and in 1826 the rolling- and slitting-mill was owned by John Edwards, his son, a lawyer and active politician, who was conducting the works, the firm being Edwards & Kelton. At that time eighty to one hundred tons of sheet-iron were annually manufactured. The forge and saw-mill were used until 1829, when the former was changed to a nail-factory. The assessment-roll for that year mentioned the rolling-mill and "one building said to be intended for a nail-mill." The manufacture of nails was continued for several years. About 1835 the rolling-mill was abandoned and the building was washed away in the flood of 1843. The old race is still to be seen, and the nail-factory is standing a short distance above the present Glen Mills Station.

Thorndale Mills. - In 1766, Richard Cheyney owned a saw-mill on Chester Creek, which he operated until May 27, 1794, when the mill, with eighty acres of land, was sold to Henry Myers, who later purchased of Eli D. Peirce, agent for the estate of Col. Persifor Frazer, a large tract of land adjoining, on which a small saw-mill had been operated during the Revolutionary war by Mrs. Mary Frazer, while her husband, Col. Frazer, was in the army. Subsequently he conducted the business there. The water in the dam on Chester Creek was conducted by a race on the south side of the saw-mill. At a later date, when the stone grist-mill on the north side of the creek was erected, a race from the same dam was constructed to furnish the water to run the machinery. About 1867 the mill property was purchased by Daniel James, who is operating the grist-mill. The saw-mill is now only occasionally used.

Brinton Mills. - On the west branch of Chester Creek, a short distance above Concord township line, is Caleb Brinton's grist-mill. The tract on which it stands had been in the ownership of the Brinton family for many generations. In 1770 William Brinton owned the land, and in 1788, Joseph Brinton had there a saw-mill, malt-house, and brewery. In 1802 his son, John, and his grandson, Joseph Brinton, were operating a grist-mill which had been built about five years prior to that date. In 1815 the grist-mill was changed to a woolen-factory, and was operated by John and Joseph Brinton. In 1826 the mill contained one pair of stocks, two carding-engines, twenty-four and thirty-six inches, one billy of forty spindles, two jennies, of sixty and seventy spindles, and was then manufacturing from four to five hundred yards of satinets per week. At that time both John and Joseph Brinton were dead, and the factory was operated by William Marshall, who subsequently purchased and continued in business there until 1835, when the building was destroyed by fire. The real estate was bought by Caleb Brinton, who built a stone grist-mill, which he has owned and operated to the present time.

Thornton. - In the colonial days this locality was known as the Yellow House, the name being derived