Springfield Township.

A.M. in 1855. He accepted, in 1852, the principalship of the classical department of the Providence High School, and acted in that capacity until 1859, when he was appointed sub-master of the Boston Latin School. During his sub-mastership he published a French Grammar and a series of French Readers which have been widely used in the schools and colleges of this country. In 1867, Mr. Magill, having resigned his position in the Latin School, devoted a year to foreign travel. In 1869 he was made principal of the Preparatory school of Swarthmore College, and two years later became president of the college, which office he still holds. Mr. Magill was, in 1852, married to Sarah W., daughter of Seneca Beans, of Lower Makefield, Bucks Co., Pa. To this marriage were born children, - Helen, Eudora, Beatrice, Gertrude B., Francis G. (deceased), and Marian. Under the presidency of Mr. Magill, Swarthmore College has enjoyed a high degree of prosperity. Beginning chiefly as a preparatory school, the college department, which was gradually added, has increased in extent until it has become the rival in point of numbers of the preparatory department. President Magill's career as an educator has been attended by signal success, evincing in a high degree, as he does, all those characteristics which the teacher should possess. His own accurate scholarship has led him to require the same accuracy and thoroughness in his students. To this trait of his character is combined unwearied patience with a seriousness and earnestness which have won for him the confidence of those under his instruction. His chief work as an instructor was done in Providence and Boston. At Swarthmore devolved upon him duties of another character, in which he has been equally successful. Exercising a general oversight of both teachers and taught, the skill which he has shown in this difficult work, as well as in the management of a large body of students, is proof that he possesses in a high degree those qualities which combine to make a successful college president.

Mills on Crum Creek - Wallingford Mills. - The first mention of the name of Lewis in Springfield in connection with mills occurs in the assessment-roll of 1779, when John Lewis was assessed on a grist-mill. In 1788 a saw-mill was added, and from that time until 1817 he appears as the owner of these mills. In 1811, John Lewis, Jr., was returned as the owner of a paper-mill, and in 1817, George Lewis was connected with him in the business. In 1835 the grist-mill was changed into a cotton-factory and rented to James Ogden, who continued in the business for a short time, when he was succeeded by John Reese and Mordecai Lewis, sons of George Lewis, who operated the mill, and also changed the old Wallingford paper-mill into a cotton-factory. On Sunday, Jan. 11, 1851, two children, daughters of Thomas Davis, aged respectively ten and eight years, were sliding on the ice on the dam, when the eldest venturing out too far, the ice broke; the youngest, going to her assistance, got into the water, and both were drowned. J. Reese Lewis, in endeavoring to save the children, very nearly lost his own life, and from the effect of the exposure on that occasion he never recovered. A few years afterwards J. Reese Lewis died, and the mills were operated by Mordecai Lewis until his death, on Oct. 14, 1870, since which time the business has been conducted by his sons, Isaac, Albert, and Reese Lewis.

The name Wallingford was given a hundred years ago to the locality by Thomas Allen, who came from the like place in the county of Berks. Near that place, in the latter part of the last century, Sarah Allen had license for a public-house, which disappeared from the list of inns eighty years ago. An advertisement which was published in the Delaware County Republican for Sept. 1, 1837, furnishes some interesting historical data connected with the Allen family. The advertisement was as follows:

"Notice. - To the children of Thomas Allen, formerly of Tilehurst and Wallingford, in the County of Berks, in England, and afterwards of Springfield, in the county of Delaware, in the State of Pennsylvania, in North America, deceased:

"Pursuant to a decree of the High Court of Chancery in England, made in a cause, 'Bottomley vs. Fisher,' any person or persons claiming to be the child or children of the said Thomas Allen, who were living at his decease (which took place in or about the month of March, 1794), or the legal personal representative, or representatives, of any such deceased child or children, are, by their solicitors or agents, forthwith to come on before Sir Griffin Williamson, Knight, one of the Masters of the said court, at his Chambers, in Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, on or before the 1st day of November next, to establish and make out their claim to a Legacy under the will of Elizabeth Pentycross, widow of Thomas Pentycross, formerly Rector of Saint Mary the More, in Wallingford, aforesaid, or in default thereof they will be peremptorily excluded the benefits of the said devise.

"The said Thomas Allen was a dissenter from the doctrines of the Church of England, and formerly lived at Tilehurst, and afterwards at Wallingford, aforesaid, and some time in the year 1793 emigrated to Springfield, in the county of Delaware, in the State of Pennsylvania, where he died on or about the month of March, 1794, leaving, it is believed, five children surviving him, viz.: Abijah Allen, Daniel Allen, Elizabeth Pentycross Allen, Sarah Allen, and Aaron Allen."

Holtz Mill. - On Lownes Run, a small stream that empties into Crum Creek, and on the Springfield road, in the year 1779 George Lownes was operating a blade-mill where small cutlery was manufactured. In 1799 Curtis Lownes owned the above property and also a stone tilt-mill. The blade-mill was discontinued before 1807, and the tilt-mill was operated until after 1812. About 1816 it was changed to a carding-mill, and was at that time seventeen feet by twenty-six feet and three stories in height. It passed soon after to George Bolton Lownes, who operated it until 1827, when Samuel Riddle, now of Glen Riddle, rented the mill and continued there two years, when he removed to Chester Creek and built the Parkmount Mills. The stream at this place is very small, and while Mr. Riddle was there, on one occasion, the water became so low that the machinery stopped. Desiring to know the cause of this sudden decrease of power, he found that Lownes had turned a drove of steers into the lot