GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY NOTES 7 



floors and so many rooms and passages that one might 

 get lost. The Reading railroad trains used to stop to 

 allow the passengers a glimpse of it and its garden. There 

 is a release from the heirs, after the death of Samuel 

 Baird, in 1820, recorded at the West Chester Court 

 House, to allow their mother to remain at Stowe during 

 her lifetime." This mansion, of such great repute in its 

 day, was erected originally by a Frenchman, and after- 

 ward came into the possession of Samuel Baird by pur- 

 chase from John Potts, his wife's uncle, as previously 

 mentioned. 



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At the close of the Revolutionary War Thomas Potts 

 of Pottsgrove and Coventry foundry, having stopped for 

 water at the west branch of Norwegian Creek, noticed 

 in the stream some black stones. 2 His family for three 

 generations had been engaged in industries connected 

 with mining and smelting iron ore, and he was well 

 instructed in the metallurgy of his time. He recognized 

 the black substance as coal, though unlike the English 

 coal then in use. When he returned home he carried 

 with him a package of the new mineral and tested its 

 quality in one of his own forges. Being satisfied he had 

 found what was of great value in his business, he pur- 

 chased a large tract of land and formed a company, 

 associated with him in the purchase, among whom Samuel 

 Baird is mentioned. 



In March, 1784, a resolution was passed appointing 

 twenty-two commissioners to parcel out the land, of which 



2 Anthracite was recognized by several persons independently 

 about the same time, in Pennsylvania, and the claim to the first 

 discovery is disputed. 



