The Origins of the names of the Townships in Delaware County

It is hard to imagine today that 100 years ago places like this  where everywhere. Today there are less and less places like this. The above picture is from a postcard about 1910 of Chester Creek in Thornbury Twp.

Note: The names of the townships in Delco and their origin are interesting. Most names are know but some have been long forgotten and are unknown. Please read below and have a Happy Father's Day

THE ORIGINAL TOWNSHIPS OF DELAWARE COUNTY

         Delaware, County, as a separate political division, was created on September 26, 1789, by an Act of Legislature, which was passed in response to a petition from the people living in the eastern part of old Chester County, who asked that a new county be formed with Chester as the county seat.

         Although Chester County was the older political unit, Delaware County was older as a settlement.  The Swedes who settled there in 1643 called it New Sweden.  When the Dutch took over the Swedish territory, a small settlement was growing up where Chester now stands, which was called Oplandt or Upland by the Dutch and Swedes, to distinguish the land up the river from the settlements downstream.  When the Duke of York took over the Dutch territory, three courts of justice were established on the Delaware River.  One called Upland Court had jurisdiction from C Christina River to the head of the Delaware at Trenton.  This district was called Upland Co., a name still in use when William Penn arrived in 1682 to take formal possession of his new province.

         According to tradition, Penn asked his friend Pearson, who had accompanied him on the voyage, what new name he would suggest for Upland.  Pearson came on the “Welcome”, and that Penn himself used the name Upland in heading his letters until Dec. 16, 1682, when he wrote Chester alias Upland, said to be first use of the name.  Ashmead quotes from a letter written by the vestry of St. Paul’s Church in 1702:  “This county is so called because most of the inhabitants came from Cheshire”.  Perhaps this is the true origin of the name.

         Chester Township was the oldest sub-division of old Chester Co.  Tinicum was an older settlement that Chester but under the Duke of York it had been included with Amosland and Calcon Hook, in a municipal district named for the latter.  All gthree of these names are used locally.  Calcon Hook, in a municipal district named for the latter.  All three of these names are used locally.  Calcon Hook is Dutch for Turkey Point, Tinicum was on Indian name, and Amosland apparently had its origin in the name of a resident who was a celebrated nurse, Amma, being Swedish for nurse.  On old maps it appears as Ames or Amies Land.  The form Amosland is still used for an ancient road in Ridley Township and Morton, which originally ran from Springfield to Tinicum.

        

The land in Tinicum and Calcon Hook proper was held by owners who had obtained title before William Penn came, and no patents were ever granted by him in those districts.

  This was true also of parts of Amosland.

         New townships were laid out as quickly as the surveyors could mark the boundaries.  It was Penn’s intention to run the township divisions on straight lines at right angles to the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, but the plan could not be carried out successfully.  Radnor and Haverford are among the few that conformed to it.

         Most of Penn’s followers had bought land before leaving England, intending to pick out their tracts after they arrived.  Some settled near the Delaware, but many traveled into the back country and made their homes in the wilderness.  Family ties, old friendships and mutual religious beliefs drew people together and led them to settle on adjacent lands.  In time, small communities were named either by an influential landholder or by mutual consent of the residents.  A township name was officially recognized when a constable or tax collector was appointed, or when a petition was presented for official action or approval in such matter as laying out a road or building a mill dam.

         These early settlers had not lightly chosen to take part in a venture which was to carry them to a strange, new land, leaving behind them the homes that were familiar and dear.  To many of them, no future needs could be worse than the persecution they faced the dangers and difficulties that arose, but, though they did not regret their departure they could not forget the land they had left.

         This remembrance of home prompted early settlers to give familiar names to the villages and townships they founded.  Thus, Darby, which included Upper Darby until 1786, was named for Derbyshire, spelled Darbyshire on many of the certificates of good standing brought to America by the founders; Edgmont, also written Edgmond was named by Joseph Baker an early settler, for the town in Shropshire from which he came; Birmingham, originally spelled Brummagem was the town in England from which dame William Briton, first settler in the township; Thornbury was named by George Pearce for his wife’s old home in Gloucestershire; Aston, or Ashton, was called Northley in 1686 when Edward Carter, an early settler, was appointed first constable, but the next year, when a new officer was appointed, the name of the township was given was Aston.  As this was the name of a town in Oxfordshire from which Carter came, it is probable that he brought about the change.

         Haverford and Radnor, in the Welsh tract, had names brought from Wales by the Quakers who built homes in those townships.  Earlier forms of Haverford found on old maps and deeds are Hauerford and Harford.

         Marple, at first written Mar Poole, is “a name wrapped in mystery” according to Ashmead.  Dr. Smith says it is “of uncertain origin”, but as there is an English parish of that name, it is possible that the English emigrants who were the first settlers in Marple brought the name with them.  The secret of its origin may be buried in old family records.

         Upper and Lower Chichester were originally one township, not officially divided until 1759.  An early settlement was made in Lower Chichester by Swedes on the site of Marretties Hoeck, or Marcus Hook.  Later the Dutch made land grants in the townships, and the Finns of the Swedish colony settled on the site of Trainer.  Some of the residents wished to have the name changed from Marcus Hook to Chichester, the name of an English town, but though the township was officially organized as Chichester, the townspeople clung to the old name even after Penn, in granting a charter for a market to be established in the town, had said:  I will the place shall be called Chichester.”

         Tradition connects Marcus Hook with the pirates that infested the Atlantic coast during the 17^th century and early part of the 18^th.  It is a legend that the notorious Blackbeard and his crew often visited the town, where their noisy revels in a certain street led the townsfolks to call it Discord Lane a name it still bears.

         Ridley Township was named in 1682 by John Simcock who located a purchase of 2875 acres of land just north of Amosland and called it Ridley for the town in Cheshire from which he came, but the name was not used officially until 1687 when a township of that name was organized, including Amosland and Tinicum as well as Simcock’s land.  Calcon Hook had been annexed to Darby Township in 1686.  Tinicum was separated from Ridley in 1780 on petition of the residents.

         Springfield, at first called Ridley-in-the-Woods, was not officially recognized as a township until 1686, though it was settled earlier.  Traditionally the name came from a large spring found on the land of George Maris, an influential early settler.

         Bethel and Concord were, for several years, one municipal district known as Concord Liberty until two townships were organized.  Concord was a name chosen to denote the spirit of harmony which prevailed in the settlement.  Bethel is a Hebrew word meaning House of God, probably chosen to denote the holy purpose of the settlers.  Bethel Hamlet was the first settlement, later called Corner Ketch, now called Chelsea.

         Middletown was so named because it was supposed to be the central township in Chester Coc.  This was a mistake, but it is well-named for Delaware Co.  It was settled in 1686 and organized in 1687.

         The name of Providence first appeared on the county records when a petition was presented to the court in 1683 for a highway to Chester, but it was not organized until. 1684.  The name is generally accepted as an expression of gratitude for a safe journey.

Newtown, though not in the Welsh Quakers.  It was laid out with a townstead in the center, called new village.  The earliest purchasers of land in the township were entitled to a certain number of acres in the townstead.  This new town in the center may have suggested the name of the township, for Newtown in Bucks Co. was similarly laid out, but it is possible that the name was brought from Montgomeryshire in Wales where there is a large town of the same name.

         These 21 original townships, all settled and organized before 1688, constituted the whole territory of Delaware Co. when it was first organized as a separate county.  They still exist as municipal districts, but their area has been reduced by the formation of Chester City and 27 boroughs.