BIOGRAPHY OF EARLY SETTLERS 



AND 



EMINENT lim OF DELAWARE COUNTY. 



Anderson, William, was born in 

 Pennsylvania about the year 1759. At 

 the commencement of the Revolution- 

 ary War he was quite a youth, yet he 

 joined the American army when it was 

 tirst organized, or shortly afterwards, 

 probably in the capacity of a private, 

 and continued in the service till the 

 end of the war, when he held a cap- 

 tain's commission. He shared many of 

 the hardships of the Revolutionary 

 struggle, and participated in many of 

 its battles — was at the Valley Forge, 

 the Battle of Germantown. and Siege 

 of Yorktown. After retiring to private 

 life he married and settled in Chester, 

 where he continued to reside during his 

 life. Being a man of ability and ster- 

 ling integrity, and having so long and 

 so faithfully served his country in the 

 time of its greatest need, he was select- 

 ed for various public trusts, and was 

 eventually elected a member of Con- 

 gress, which oflice he held many years. 

 In the latter part of his life he was em- 

 ployed in connection with the collec- 

 tion of the customs. In politics he was 

 a Democrat of the Jefferson school, but 

 from his amiable deportment always 

 commanded the respect of his political 

 opponents. His daughter, Evelina, be- 

 came the wife of the late Commodore 

 Porter, of the U. S. Navy. 



Arnold, Richard, with his wife Sa- 

 rah, was an early settler in Thornbury, 

 but not one of the earliest. It does not 

 appear that he was a Friend, though 

 some of his children were. He had 

 ten children, all born before 1714, 

 viz.: John, Grace, Thomas, Josiah, 

 William, Elizabeth, Richard, Sarah 

 and Anthony, several of whom were 

 married according to the rules of the 

 Society of Friends. Richard, the elder, 

 died in 1720, his son John having died 

 unmarried three years earlier. 



AsHBRiDGE, George, a member of the 

 Society of Friends, had settled within 

 the bounds of Chester Monthly Meeting 

 as early as 1688, then, probablj-, quite a 

 young man. In 1701 he married Mary 

 Maylen of Providence. Their children 

 were Joseph, John, George, Jonathan, 

 Elizabeth, Mary, Aaron, Hannah and 

 Phebe. At the time of his death, in 

 1748, he owned and occupied a planta- 

 tion in Chester township. 



AsDRiES, Lace, was, for a time, one 

 of the Justices of Upland Court. He 

 was a Swedish immigrant and resided 

 in Moyamensing. 



Bailey, Joel, was an early settler in 

 the vicinity of Chester — probably at 

 first west of Chester creek above the 

 mill. In 1687 he was married accord- 

 ing to the usages of Friends to Ann 

 Short, after which he became a resident 

 of Aston. In 1704 the family removed 

 to Marlborough. Their children were 

 Mary, Ann, Daniel, Isaac and Joel. 

 Their descendants are numerous in 

 Chester county at the present day. Joel 

 Bailey died in 1732, at an advanced age. 



Baker, Joseph, with his wife, Mary, 

 migrated from England as early as 

 IGSf), and settled on a large tract of 

 land in Edgmont. They had several 

 children at the time of their arrival. 

 Of these, Hannah intermarried with 

 Francis Yarnall, and Dorothy with 

 Philip Yarnall. He ilevised all his land 

 in Edgmont to his son, John, born in 

 this county in 1C8G. Joseph was in 

 membership with Friends and was fre- 

 quently concerned in the business of 

 their meetings. He was also an influ- 

 ential man in the community and re- 

 presented Chester County in the Pro- 

 vincial Assembly. He died in 1716 

 leaving his wife to survive him. His 



