BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



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The irrigation of his meadow hiiid was 

 not neglected, and he was soon en- 

 abled to sell hay to his neij^hboring 

 farmers, who had, at lirst, spoken 

 lightly of " the town man's farming." 

 His land was naturally of a good 

 quality, and the kind treatment it had 

 received, brought in an ainuidance of 

 green grass. His {)lan of farming was 

 now changed, and with plowing very 

 little, an extensive system of top dress- 

 ing was introduced by means of com- 

 post. He used lime, but to what ex- 

 tent is not known. He was, however, 

 among the first to introduce gypsum, 

 and was one of it warmest defenders 

 as a manure. His farm was thus 

 brought into the best possible condi- 

 tion for grazing, and that was his prin- 

 cipal business during the remainder of 

 his life. In the improvement of our 

 lands, William West was doubtless the 

 pioneer, and in his day he had no com- 

 petitor. It is impossible to say how 

 much the vastly increased productive- 

 ness of our county is owing to the ex- 

 ample set by him. Though so suc- 

 cessful in agriculture, his whole time 

 ■was not devoted to his farm. He was 

 frequently employed in public business 

 in the County, and served five years as 

 its representative in the Legislature. 

 He died on the 6th of December, I8u8, 

 aged eighty-four years. 



Wood, William, migrated from the 

 town and county of Nottingham, Eng- 

 land, and with bis wife and family 

 settled in or near the town of Darby in 

 1683. He was a member of the Society 

 of Friends, and being a man of ability 

 and education, he was chosen a mem- 

 ber of the Provincial Council in less 

 than a year after his arrival. But his 

 services in that body were cut short 

 by his death, which occuired before 

 the close of the year 1G85. It is be- 

 lieved that Joseph Wood was his son 

 and heir, and that John, who inter- 

 married with Mary Bartram, was a 

 younger son. Joseph removed to New 

 Castle. 



WooDw.vRD, Richard, with his wife 

 Jane, was an early settler in Middle- 

 town, but the precise time of his immi- 

 gration is not known. They were 

 Quakers, and so far as has come to the 

 knowledge of the writer, their children 

 were Richard, Edward and William. 



Richard, Jr., intermarried with Esther 

 Davis, of Concord, and subsequently 

 with Ah\ry Britain, a daughter of Bar- 

 tholomew Coppock, and Edward with 

 Abigail, daughter of John and Jane 

 Edge. Richard the elder died in 17u6, 

 aged seventy years. 



WOODMANSON, WiLLIAM, (Or Wood- 



mancy, as his name is sometimes 

 spelled.) with his wife Esther, came to 

 the settlements on the Delaware, in the 

 ship Kent, from London, with the West 

 Jersey Commissioners, sent out to pur- 

 chase land from the natives, in the 

 year 1677. Before the close of that 

 year, his name appears in the records 

 of Upland Court as a resident and tax- 

 able of Upland district. He made his 

 settlement on the west side of Chester 

 Creek, above the present manufactur- 

 ing village of Upland, and called it 

 Harold. He was a vigilant member of 

 the Societ}- of Friends ; and ris early as 

 the 11th of 7th mo 1682, the Chester 

 Monthly Meeting decided to hold the 

 " middle meetinf/," at his house at Harold. 

 This meeting continued to be held 

 there for some time. William Wood- 

 manson was one of Governor Mark- 

 hams Council before the arrival of Wil- 

 liam Penn and was a juror at the first 

 court held under Penn's government. 

 He removed from Chester to Phila- 

 delphia, where his wife died, and he 

 married a second wife, named Dorothy, 

 but it is not known that he left any 

 family. In England, William Wood- 

 manson resided in Bedfordshire, and 

 there suttered imprisonment for refus- 

 ing to take the oath of allegiance, kc. 

 His wife Dorothy died in 1702, and he 

 in 1706. 



WORUELL or WORRALL, RiCHARD, 



emigrated from Oare. Berkshire, Eng- 

 land, in 1682, and arrived at Philadel- 

 phia a short time before the Proprietary. 

 He served as a juror in the last Court 

 held for Upland County, but it does 

 not appear that he settled within the 

 bounds of Delaware County. He was 

 a Friend, and had suffered some perse- 

 cution on account of his religion as 

 early as 1670. 



WouRALL, John, was a Friend, and 

 came from the same place as the next 

 above. They both presented their cer- 

 tificates at the same time, and to the 



