2 2 CONARD : 



tory of ever}'^ farm between his home and Chester, on each 

 side of the main road — a distance of some ten miles. He 

 could tell when and by whom they were first settled, and how 

 each had descended to the owners at that time. His papers 

 on this subject are in the possession of the Delaware County 

 Institute of Science. Evidently the Painters did not believe 

 in specialization. They were professors of "things in gen- 

 eral," and very little went on in the world that they did not 

 get hold of. 



There were other men of similar interests scattered about 

 that neighborhood, and they were naturally more or less inti- 

 mate. Dr. George Smith, father of A. Lewis Smith, Esq., 

 was one ; he compiled the History of Delaware County, men- 

 tioned above. George Miller, Jr., Minshall Painter, John 

 Miller, Dr. George Smith and John Cassin, on 9th month 

 2ist, 1833, founded the Delaware County Institute of Science, 

 which now flourishes in Media. They obtained a charter for 

 the Institute and held their first meetings in a little house still 

 standing at Lewis' (Sycamore) Mills, on Ridley Creek. After- 

 ward they took more roomy quarters near the Rose Tree Inn, 

 and in 1867 moved to their ample accommodations in Media. 

 The Painters, at their death, left the Institute on a sound 

 financial footing — a matter of no small importance. 



During the latter part of their lives, Jacob and Minshall 

 Painter lived in the old homestead with a hired housekeeper 

 to care for them. The}' spent most of their days reading in a 

 little, fire proof, library building, a few rods from the dwell- 

 ing. On the second floor of this stone structure the books 

 and papers were kept. They had Darwin, Huxley, Spencer, 

 Tyndal, Draper, and other standard writers of the day. They 

 took up with Appleton's Scientific Series, and had as many of 

 those volumes as had been published. The " Cycle of Know- 

 ledge " was also kept in this room, and the printing press was 

 in the same building. They did not hide their talents under 

 a bushel, but freely dispensed their knowledge by social con- 

 versation, by contribution of scientific articles for societies 



