It's hard to believe that Chester Creek in Aston Twp. once looked like this. A postcard from about 1910
NOTE: The Knowlton Mills are long gone and stood in Aston and Middletown Twp. and was torn down in 1924. The majority of the mill stood in Middletown Twp. The approx. location today would be the 600 block of Creek Rd. today.
July 7, 1899– CHESTER TIMES
OLD KNOWLTON MILLS
The Factory Site to Be Offered at Public Sale – Owned by Crozers Since 1835
George
K. Crozer, attorney in fact for the owners, will offer at public sale on
Thursday, July 27, the old mill property at Knowlton. There are about 32 acres of ground, with
water rights, and eleven dwelling houses on the tract, besides the large
factory building. The mill and a portion
of the land is in Middletown Township, and some of it is across the creek in
Aston.
This
factory has been in the Crozer name for a great many years, John P. Crozer
having purchased it in 1835. The old
property has had an eventful history and the following from Ashmead’s History
of Delaware county, will prove interesting.
On
the 16th of January, 1789,
Nicholas Fairlamb (who at that time also owned the Cobourn and Dutton Mill
farther down Chester Creek) conveyed to John Sharpless the tract of land on
which the Knowlton Mills are situated.
No mention is made in this deed of a mill or mill seat. Indeed, in 1809, “the site of Knowlton was a
perfect wilderness,” according to Smith’s History of Delaware County.
On
September 30, 1802, John Sharpless conveyed the same tract to Jonathan Tyson,
with the right of a certain dam thereon.
On November 15th of the same year, Tyson purchased of
Elizabeth Grissel (Griswold) fourteen acres in Aston Township, located on
Chester Creek, opposite to the tract he had bought of Sharpless, the deed
specifically mentioned the dam rights, etc.
On
May 25th, 1807, Elijah Tyson, a son of Jonathan, bought of his
father two hundred and fifty acres of land in Middletown, embracing the mill
site, dams and water rights, and July 25th of the same year, the
fourteen acres in Aston with right to abut dam against the shore of the
creek. In this year (1807) for the first
time, the name of Tyson appeared on the assessment roll in connection with mills,
and at that time, Elijah Tyson was assessed on a saw mill. He continued to control the business until
July 27, 1813, when he sold eight acres in Middletown, including the mill,
mill-dam rights, etc. and fourteen and a half acres in Aston Township,
opposite, with water rights, to Judah Dobson, of Philadelphia, who changed the
saw mill to a rolling mill. Little
information has been gained concerning this mill, but tradition asserts that it
was a copper mill, and the road leading from the place to Village Green is
still known as the Copper Mill Road. The
venerable Hon. Edward Darlington of Media (now in his eighty-ninth year) stated
the mill was known as Dobson’s copper mill, and was used for rolling copper
into sheets. The mill does not appear of
the assessment rolls for 1817, 1818, 1819, 1820, nor in that of 1821.
THE
DOBSON TRACT – On November 6, 1822, John Vaughan and John Hart, assignees of
Thomas and Judah Dobson, conveyed to Samuel Love, “all that rolling mill and
four tracts of land,” one of which is described as in Middletown on Chester
Creek, containing eight acres, adjoining lands of Elijah Tyson, Abram Trimble,
and others. Another tract was in Aston,
and was partly covered by the mill pond, and was adjoining, and below the land
of Elizabeth Grissel (Griswold). Samuel
Love retained title to the estate until February, 1825, when he conveyed it to
John D. Carter, who had been operating the Trimble cotton mill in Concord since
1813. In the deed to Carter it is stated
that the rolling mill had been changed into a cotton factory, and that the
“cotton factory, mill-dams, ponds, etc., and four pieces of land” were the
properties embraced in the conveyance.
In
the “Report of the Manufactories of Delaware County,” made in 1826, the place
is described as being “above the Dutton Mill on Chester Creek, in Middletown
Township, a cotton factory forty by ninety feet, head and fall thirteen feet,
owned and occupied by John D. Carter; has seven carding engines of twenty-eight
and two of thirty-one inches, workers and strippers, two frames of four double
heads each, two double speeders of ten bobbins each, one stretcher of forty-two
spindles, eight hundred and eight throstle spindles, six hundred and sixteen
male spindles; spins twelve hundred and seventy-eight pounds of cotton yarn per
week, No. 20, with power to drive four thousand spindles, with all the
necessary preparation. Employs about
forty-six hands; tenements for thirteen families.” This property was owned by Carter until April
1829, when it was sold to Edward Darlington and Thomas Clyde, and Carter
removed to the South. The mills were
rented by Darlington & Clyde to Kershaw, Dean & Hill, who operated them
until they were sold, March 4, 1832 to Robert Beatty and John O’Neill. At the time of the purchase there was a
cotton mill and tilt mill on the estate.
Beatty & O’Neill began at this place the manufacture of edge tools;
but O’Neill soon withdrew from the firm and rented from Beatty, who had bought
the cotton mill at Knowlton.
CROZERS
BUY IT – On January 7, 1834, the factory was with contents, entirely consumed
by fire. On October 26, 1835, John P.
Crozer bought the property containing the four tracts of land, conveyed in 1822
to Samuel Love, a tilt mill, saw mill, news building for factory, twenty-five
by thirty-five feet, one brick and seven stone houses. After the sale Mr. Beatty continued the
business at the place for a year or two, when Mr. Crozer erected a stone cotton
mill, thirty-two by seventy-six feet, three stories in height. This mill was washed away in the memorable
flood of 1843, and the next year the present stone building, thirty-three by
eighty-five feet, three stories in height was erected.
In
1846 Phineas Lownes and Abraham Blakeley commenced manufacturing at that place
and continued until 1858 when it was operated by Mr. Crozer until about
1869. At the latter date the mill was
leased to John B. Rhodes, who conducted it for several years. It was abandoned several years ago, and all
the machinery removed.
“Near
the head-gates of the mill there was formerly the marks of a grave, the
occupants of which tradition named Moggey and from that circumstance the
crossing of the creek was named Moggey’s Ford.
As Moggey had the reputation of making her appearance occasionally, it
required so little courage in the traveler in early times to cross the ford at
night.” The incident on which the
tradition was based was that about eighty years ago an English girl disappeared
from the locality, and although suspicion pointed its finger at the wealthy resident
in the neighborhood as being interested in her disappearance, no action was
taken. The marks of a grave at the head
gates when in subsequent years human bones were discovered near the spot, and
long after the suspected man had removed to a distant country, were spoken of
in confirmation of the truth of the tradition of Moggey’s ghostly appearance.
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment