1G97.] HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. 195 



Notwithstiiiidin^ the Governor and Council, in 1G04, sustained 

 England in his claim to a monopoly of ferrying people over the 

 Schuylkill, the following extract from the Ilaverford Meeting 

 Records shows that this monopoly was not continued by the 

 Proprietary's government when restored, and that a ferry was 

 again kept up by the monthly meeting. 



''David Evans & Daniel Humphrey are ordered by this meet- 

 ing to collect twenty shillings out of each of the meetings of 

 Ilaverford & Radnor and the rest y' are unpaid of the subscrip- 

 tion towards the/e;/v^, to pay Nath: Mullenex's wages."' 



Notwithstanding this meeting and others occasionally gave 

 their attention to secular aft'airs, there was no falling off by the 

 members in the performance of their moral and religious duties. 

 It is really wonderful, the amount of patient labor that was be- 

 stowed about this period in preserving the Church in its purity ; 

 in counselling and advising the rising generation, and in reclaim- 

 ing the wayward. And it is even still more wonderful to see 

 the large amounts that were appropriated to charitable purposes. 

 This was particularly the case among the Welsh Friends. Every 

 reasonable want was attended to. If a newly arrived immigrant, 

 or a ^' poor friend'' stood in need of a house, it was built for 

 him; of a plough or a cow, he was provided with one. The 

 fields of the sick and the weak were not allowed to remain un- 

 cultivated, and their pecuniary wants and other necessities were 

 liberally supplied. Nor was their care in these respects con- 

 fined to their own little communities. Wherever suffering 

 humanity was found, our Quaker ancestors were ever ready to 

 contribute liberally to its relief. 



This year the meetings were made acquainted with the dis- 

 tressed condition of the people of New England; " the great 

 want and necessity of Friends and others, by reason of the 

 Indians making inroads upon them, burning and destroying 

 their habitations and the lives of many, and by reason of the 

 failing of their crops." The relief afforded was prompt and 

 liberal. Ilaverford Monthly Meeting subscribed X60 148. lid.; 

 Chichester, Concord, and Birmingham, £37 bs. ^d. ; and 

 Chester, £32 2«. l\d. The amount subscribed by Darby is not 

 given. 



There was a subscription made this year of £86 by the 

 Friends of Concord, Birmingham, and Thornbury, towards the 

 erection of a meeting-house — it is supposed at the first-mention- 

 ed place. The subscription list contains thirty-four names. From 

 its heading, it is very apparent that some of the members were 



• In 1698, there is another minute that shows that the three townships of Haverf'>rd, 

 Merlon, and Radnor, were concerned in this ferry, and in the minutes of 1699, there 

 is a final receipt from Mullenex, which probably closed the connection of the meeting 

 with the ferry forever. 



