The Taylors of...All Over the Place -- Part 2

Pusey P. and Mary Turner Taylor

In the last post, we began a somewhat self-indulgent look at the Taylor family, mostly focusing on the households of William Taylor (1773-1829) and his 7th son (12th child of 14), David Wilson Taylor (1819-1895). I say "somewhat self-indulgent" because this happens to be my wife's lineage -- David W. Taylor is her Great-great-great grandfather. I do believe, though, that their story is interesting in its own right (to people other than us), as it does meander through multiple places in Mill Creek, Christiana, and Brandywine Hundreds; through historic Chadds Ford, PA; and even Virginia and New Jersey.

We'll start here with David W. and Elizabeth Taylor, who had four surviving children -- Newton Pyle (1853-1929), Pusey Phillips (1855-1924), Martha Walters (1860-1946), and Levis Walter (1864-1937). All would have been born on the Centreville farm, Newton and Pusey at the older house and Martha and Levis at the new house. All four kids lived in the general area all their lives, but in this post our concern is Pusey (my wife's Great great grandfather). In 1891, Pusey married Mary A. Turner (1869-1947) of Nether Providence Township, Delaware County. She was the daughter of an English cotton manufacturer, and went by "May" (an name that has been passed all the way down into my children's generation). Pusey and May were married in Philadelphia, but moved around several times in Delaware and Pennsylvania in their first 20 years together. I believe I've pieced most of it together.

One indispensable resource is the Taylor family's entry in the 1914 A History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and Its People, Volume 2. Among other things it, lists the place of birth for each of Pusey and May's seven children. Their first, and my wife's Great grandmother, was Margaret Flaville Taylor, born in November 1892, according to the book, at Mermaid. Although I can find no other record of the Taylors near Mermaid, I think the December 1892 ad below answers the question. It incorrectly lists his middle initial as "A", but it seems Pusey was leasing the the former Lindsay farm, purchased in 1875 by Elizabeth Ocheltree. Although the house is long gone, the barn and one stone outbuilding still stand on Middleton Drive, north of Stoney Batter Road about halfway down.

The Taylors of...All Over the Place -- Part 1

David W. and Elizabeth Taylor, with
grandson David W. Taylor

In the last post about the David W. Taylor House, I promised a more indepth look at the Taylor family
to which he belonged. Not exactly coincidentally, my wife also happens to belong to that family (David W. is her 3rd Great Grandfather). This line of Taylors has a long history, and much of it (thankfully) has been fairly well-documented. My father-in-law, David Starkey, some years back himself wrote a piece about the Taylor line, which I know I read but didn't fully appreciate at the time. Now I do.

In all the documentation about the Taylors, most of it seemed to focus on the time that most of them spent in Pennsylvania, and less on their time in Delaware. I had not realized the impact these Taylors had in Delaware, and in Mill Creek Hundred specifically, until recently. As it turns out, even in my wife's direct line, they spent a good deal of time in Mill Creek, Christiana, and Brandywine Hundreds. They also made notable contributions in the Chadds Ford area, too. Here's a look at part of their story.

The story began (in the New World, at least) in 1682, when Welsh Quaker Thomas Taylor emigrated to William Penn's new colony with his young family. Thomas died soon after the trip, probably from something contracted onboard ship. Fortunately his children survived, and for the next few generations stayed generally in Delaware and Chester Counties. In 1773, Thomas' great grandson John Taylor, then living in Pennsbury township, had a son named William. It was William, third of fourteen children, who first moved the short distance south into Delaware, and into Mill Creek Hundred.

Mystery Bridge in the Delaware Park Woods

I have another mystery for you all, and it's one that falls in the category of Cool Sh*t You Find in the Woods. A reader named Frank had tried to bring this to my attention a while back but I didn't get around to it. I did now and I'm glad I did, and I thank him for reaching out again. (I also thank him for the photos.) What he found is an old bridge in the woods on the south end of the Delaware Park property. I've tried, but I can't figure out why it's there.

It spans a small creek that runs south from White Clay Creek a short distance beyond the former Pennsylvania RR (now Amtrak) tracks. It's made of concrete, so it's almost certainly early or mid 20th Century. Anything older would have been wood or stone. It's not a railroad bridge, but I can't find any evidence of there ever being a vehicular road there. I've checked old maps and aerial views, but no road. So why is it there?

All I have are guesses, some better than others. A short-lived road or planned one, long gone? Access road for local farmers? Access road for DE Park vehicles? Since it's now covered with grass and dirt, maybe access over the creek for DE Park horses? Frank thinks he recalls seeing "1941" on it once, but he's not sure. Delaware Park opened in 1937, and this type of bridge was in use both before and after then. But it does look like the kind built to handle automobile traffic, not horse-drawn traffic.

The David W. Taylor House and Dilworth Farm

The David W. Taylor House

One of my dirty little secrets here is that although I was born and raised in Mill Creek Hundred, my family didn't arrive in MCH until the 1960's. So, unlike with many of you, there aren't many of these stories that intersect directly with my own past. This story here might be about as close as I get, as you'll see shortly. And as many of the recent investigations have, it started with a simple question from a reader of, "Do you know anything about this house?" At first I thought I didn't, but then realized that I had actually run across it before, though I hadn't done any deep research into it then.

The house itself is located in Christiana Hundred, though not far from MCH. It's on Ashland Clinton School Road, just off of Old Kennett Road (about a mile west of Centreville). It's a beautiful three story stone home, built in a somewhat plain Second Empire style. There is an old wooden shed and a large barn next to it. There are also stone foundations of another large structure, between the extant barn and the road. After a little research, I think I can shed some light on the history of the house and its surroundings.

The history of the area goes back further than we need to right now, but by the mid-1700's much of the land in the region between Ashland Clinton School Road and Way Road was in the hands of the Armstrong family. This included, among other things, the property that is now the Delaware Nature Society's Coverdale Farm. It's also the same Armstrong family that later migrated a short ways south to the Mt. Cuba area, as detailed in Donald Prather's posts. In 1792, Archibald Armstrong purchased two adjoining tracts totaling 132 acres -- one from his father John Armstrong and one from John and Lydia Philips. On this farm Archibald made his home, until his death in 1839. His will granted the property next to his son Nathaniel, who it seems resided in the same house. I believe this house was the one that still stands on the east side of Ashland Clinton School Road, near Center Mill Road. Only this house appears on the 1849 map, and not the one to the north (which we'll get to momentarily).