Springfield Township.

along Crum Creek, was one hundred and thirty acres, which was patented to John Gleaves at as late a date as March 20, 1743. Immediately adjoining the last-mentioned plantation was a tract of two hundred and fifty acres, surveyed to Peter Leiscester, Nov. 20, 1682. He appears never to have settled on this land, but it subsequently passed into the possession of George Gleaves, who died previous to 1690, and one hundred and twenty-five acres on Crum Creek was owned by his son, John. "The ford on Crum Creek, at Lewis' mills (Wallingford Mills), for nearly a century was known as Gleave's Ford. This ford was on the 'great road from Marlborough to Philadelphia,' and as early as 1754 a bridge was erected over the creek at that point by private contributions, the subscription paper for which is still preserved."¹ The remaining one hundred and twenty-five acres of the Leiscester land in 1700 passed to George James, which in recent years was part of the plantation of James Lownes. On the Leiscester tract is the main stream of Lownes' Run. Above this estate, on Nov. 10, 1682, to Jane Lownes was surveyed one hundred and fifty acres. She was a widow, of Cheshire, England, who for conscience' sake fled with her children from persecution in the Old World, and settled in this land in 1684. About one hundred yards southwest of the old mansion-house on this farm, still owned by her descendants, is a stone bearing the inscription, "Jane Lownes, her cave and dwelling, 1684." Above the Lownes tract Robert Taylor took up four hundred acres of land, Nov. 11, 1682, extending from the southeastern line of the lands of J. Howard Lewis to a point where the eastern line of George S. Powell's farm touches on the State road. Taylor came from Little Lehigh, county of Chester, and settled in Springfield as early as 1684. On Sixth month 20, 1689, he conveyed the western part of the estate, containing three hundred acres, to his son, Isaac, and the remaining one hundred acres to the east to his son, Thomas Taylor.

Above the Taylor tracts, and extending to the Marple township line, Bartholomew Coppock, on Nov. 11, 1682, seated four hundred acres, on which he settled in 1685, but two years thereafter purchased lands in Marple, and removed thither. Two hundred and sixty acres of this land at the eastern part of the tract subsequently became the property of Bartholomew Coppock, Jr., who is believed to have been the nephew of Bartholomew Coppock, Sr., although there were but a few years' difference in their ages. It was at his house where the first meetings of Friends in Springfield were held, and he it was who gave the two acres of land on which the meeting-house and graveyard were located. He was a member of the Provincial Council, and for several terms represented Chester County in the General Assembly. George Maris seated, Oct. 26, 1683, four hundred acres, being part of one thousand acres purchased by Robert Toomer on May 14, 1683. This plantation comprised the land lying along Darby Creek, from Marple township, a short distance above the mouth of Lewis' Run. It was an irregular tract, difficult of description, the Amosland road running through the southwestern part of the estate. In a valley, selected because of its sheltered location from the chilly blast of the severe winters of the early colonial times, George Maris built a stone house near the spring before mentioned, and here he resided until his death, in 1705. He was over fifty years of age when he emigrated, coming from Grafton, Flyford, county of Worcester, England, his wife, Alice, and several children accompanying him. He was a man of influence in the infant colony, filling the office of justice of the court, and from 1684 to 1693 (excepting in 1689) represented Chester County in the General Assembly. In 1722 the original house of this settler was removed, but on its site was erected, by George Maris, a grandson, a two-story and a half stone dwelling, known as Home House, and at the grove back of that building, on Aug. 25, 1883, the two hundredth anniversary of the arrival of George Maris and his family was celebrated by a reunion of his descendants, more than a thousand being present, some of whom had traveled many hundreds of miles to take part in the ceremonies. The exercises were of a most interesting character. Continuing along Darby Creek to the present line of Upper Darby, Owen Foulk, on June 17, 1683, entered two hundred acres, which was part of the five thousand acres purchased by John, ap John, and Thomas Wynn, and on March 22-23, 1681, conveyed to Foulk. One hundred and fifty acres in the southern part of the tract was conveyed to Samuel Levis, Fourth month 27, 1692. He, accompanied by his wife Elizabeth, and one child, emigrated from Harly, county of Leicester, England, in 1684, and settled in Springfield. Prior to leaving Europe, he with William Garrett purchased one thousand acres of land. In 1686 he represented the county of Chester in the General Assembly, an office to which he was frequently elected. He was also a justice of the court. Directly south of the Levis tract were four hundred and ninety acres which were surveyed to George Simcock, Oct. 12, 1682. Whether he ever lived on this land is unknown, but he prior to 1703 had sold the tract to several parties in plots of one hundred acres and smaller farms. On Oct. 17, 1683, to Francis Yarnall was surveyed one hundred acres, which was an oddly-shaped plantation, lying to the north of the southerly part of the Simcock land, bounded on the north by Peter Leiscester's and James Lownes' tract, to the east by the estate of George Maris, and on the west by lands of Joseph Powell. Yarnall emigrated about the date mentioned, and resided on this property; but he subsequently removed to Chester, and in 1711 was a representative from this county in the General Assembly. Joseph Powell seems never to have resided on his plantation,