400 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. 



ASTON. 



This township probably derived its name from Aston, a village 

 of Berkshire, England, noted as the place at which a battle was 

 fought in the year 871 between the Danes and the Saxons, in 

 which the former were totally defeated by Ethelred and his brother 

 Alfred. In 1686, Edward Carter, then a resident in what is 

 now Aston, was appointed constable for NortJdey. The next 

 year John Neal's (Nields) was appointed for the township of 

 Aston, which may be regarded as the period at which the town- 

 ship was organized as a municipal district. 



The manufacturing villages of Rockdale and Crozerville are 

 located in this township, and also parts of other manufacturing 

 villages. In the former of these Calvary Episcopal Church, re- 

 markable for its neatness, is located. It was built in 1836, on 

 an eminence commanding a view of the village. Village Green 

 is a handsome town, in which is located the successful seminary 

 of J. Harvey Barton. Mount Hope Methodist Church is a 

 mile from the village, and a new church of the same denomina- 

 tion, has recently been erected within its limits. The Catholic 

 Church of St. Thomas is also in Aston township. The old de- 

 serted church known as the " Blue Church," was built about 

 the year 1818, the chief part of the funds necessary for its erec- 

 tion being furnished by the late James Lindsay The Rev. John 

 Smith was the first pastor. 



As late as 1770, a family of Indians had a wigwam on the 

 Aston side of Chester Creek, opposite the farm of Jared Dar- 

 lington, in Middletown, but did not remain there constantly. 

 Their names were Andrew, Isaac, his son, and two women, 

 sisters, Nanny and Betty, one of whom w^as the wife of Andrew. 

 Andrew died about the year 1780, and was buried in the grave- 

 yard of Middletown Friends' Meeting. These Indians also had 

 a wigw^am in the hollow north of Joseph Gibbon's, in Springfield, 

 to which they sometimes resorted. 



EDG3I0NT. 



Joseph Baker, one of the earliest settlers in Edgmont, had a 

 brother John, who died in Philadelphia in 1685. John, in his 

 will, states that he was " late of Edgmont, in Shropshire, old 

 England." We may presume, then, that Joseph came from the 

 same locality. Hence the name of the township, which was 

 frequently spelled Edgmond in early times. There was no ap- 

 pointment of a municipal officer for Edgmont till 1687, though 

 Joseph Baker, residing within the limits of the township, was 

 appointed constable for Gilead in 1686. 



There is a tradition that in laying out the road from Chester 



