One Hundred Years

We'll round out this run of Henry Graham Ashmead books with the last one in my collection, "One Hundred Years: The Delaware County National Bank. Chester, Pennsylvania. 1814-1914". The topic of the Delaware County National Bank isn't of great interest to me, though I assume I'll read this someday; I purchased it on my path to acquire every "history of" book pertaining to the great county of Delaware in Pennsylvania. It's a classic history of the bank outlining the history, financial crises and individuals associated with the bank. If you're lucky to be related to one of distinguished men associated with the institution, you'll find a wealth of personal information. For the rest of us, we're just happy to know that our ancestors most likely banked here.

The Publication Committee, headed by Wm. C. Sproul, O.B. Dickinson and J.H. Roop provided a nice explanation in the foreward as to the purpose of this book:

"While the nation is attaining such a respectable antiquity, and our institutions are becoming time-honored, as such things go, and although centennial anniversaries of one sort or another are not now so rare in America, the number of financial or commercial establishments which date back on hundred years is not yet so great but that the rounding out of a centennial is still worthy of note. Even in so ancient of a section as the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania, including the great and conservative city of Philadelphia, the number of banking houses which have weathered the storms of a century may be counted upon the fingers of one hand."

I love the perspective old books give us into the pasted. Two things stand out from this one paragraph. (1) Even in 1914 the United States was considered new. The authors make note that the young nation was just then gaining "time-honored" antiquities. I think with over 200 years of history behind us we lose sight of how very young we are as a country. In a very early and obtainable copy, we can get a glimpse of that attitude and bring into perspective our current place in history. (2) The second take away from this paragraph is their mention of Philadelphia as being a "conservative city"... for those of you familiar with our current Philadelphia this is sure to make you chuckle. So on the opposite end of the spectrum (which they're currently demolishing [that was a joke]), we can see how quickly things can change. A young, fast moving country. I'm sure if Wm. C. Sproul, O.B. Dickinson and J.H. Roop were alive today, they would have a lot more to say about the state of our State.

Historical Sketch of Chester

While we're on a Henry Graham Ashmead run we'll discuss his book, 'Historical Sketch on Chester'. Published in 1883 by the Historical Committee of the Penn Bi-Centennial Association of Chester, Ashmead describes the book as follows:

The Historical Committee of the Penn Bi-Centennial Association of Chester, in the discharge of the duties confided to them, thought it but fitting that the people should have some enduring memorial of the celebration in our city of the Two Hundredth anniversary of the landing of William Penn, the Founder of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania - a memorial which could pass from father to son and keep alive, to some extent at least the interest which the even aroused and the lessons it taught.I find it fitting to be sitting here, a great-grandson of a father who participated in the Penn Bi-Centennial, studying and writing about this book. Utah wouldn't be a state for another 13 years, I wouldn't be born for another 84 years and the internet wouldn't be invented for another 79 years. Yet Mr. Ashmead and the Historical Committee had the foresight to document the great history of the City of Chester so that someone like me could learn and write about its history.

William Penn first landed in America on October 27, 1682 in New Castle, Delaware. There he preformed a traditional turf and twig ceremony. A turf and twig ceremony was an English common law, to convey property. The common law in those jurisdictions once provided that a valid conveyance of a fee interest in land required the physical transfer by the seller to the buyer, in the presence of witnesses, of a piece of the ground, a twig, key, or other symbol. Two days later he landed in Upland, Pennsylvania and promptly renamed it Chester.

Two hundred years later the members of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Penn Club to mark the 200th anniversary of the landing erected a granite monument, standing about five feet tall and has Penn's coat of arms on the side facing inland. The site is now about 100 feet inland, with railroad tracks separating it from the Delaware River in an industrial section of Chester, just south of Chester Creek.

This book in particular has several unique features that any book collector would admire. Ashmead inscribed it to its owner Amos C. Brinton and the book plate indicates it was donated at one point to the Chester County Historical Society by Bart Anderson. Bart Anderson is the famous Delaware/Chester county historian. Two great signatures in one!

History of Delaware County (Ashmead)

While George Smith stands as the father of all Delco histories, Henry Graham Ashmead perfected the work started by Dr. Smith. Of the dozens of books, pamphlets and plays published by Mr. Ashmead; the book that he is most remembered for is 'History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania'. Published in 1884, it is a comprehensive documentary of Delaware County - its people, history and culture. Henry Ashmead writes, "The present history has been written with the purpose of presenting, as far as could be done in a single volume, an authentic, exhaustive and unbiased narrative of the events which have occurred in Delaware Count from the period of the early settlements within its territory to the present time".

Though only published 22 years after George Smith's similar title, Mr. Ashmead had an entire nation and county behind him. In his own words he explains, "Since the publication of the admirable History of Delaware County, written by Dr. George Smith, nearly a quarter of a century ago, the interest awakened in the National Centennial resulted in directing general attention in almost every locality through the country to its early annals, and as a consequence in Delaware County, at least, much historical material was reclaim from the past of which Dr. Smith could have had no information while preparing his works for the press." The great national excitement stirred up in 1876 from our nations 100th anniversary brought to light a great wealth of information, leaving George Smith's history obsolete.

Henry Ashmead's career was as diverse and impressive as any 19th century historian. He attended private schools in West Chester and practiced law, he extensively traveled around the country and wrote many diverse styles of literature. It was once written of him:

His writings have ever been characterized by that which is approved by the highest standards - clearness of style and smoothly flowing diction. It is to be said in all truthfulness that his pen has never been used in an unworthy cause. Whether as editor, writer or speaker, his one object has been the exploitation, forcefully, yet never outside the bounds of truthfulness, the accomplishments of those men of the past and of the present, too, who have stood for the best that there is in citizenship in their devotion to public interests and worthy causes, and all that goes to the establishment and development of an ideal community. To his tasks he has brought a wide range of abilities. A deep student of books, a close observer of events and a rare judge of men, and uniting the knowledge of the historian, the wise discrimination of the critic, and the well tempered judgment of the philosopher. He has through a long and peculiarly useful life, endowed himself with all the equipment necessary for his labors in promoting the up building of the historic city and county in which he takes a genuinely hearty pride.

The Horne history runs throughout the book - Ashmead documents our involvement in Delco civil history - our support of public libraries, petitioning the government for a road and other events that have built Delaware County into the great county it is today. One of my favorite recollections of the Horne's appears on page 284 where he tells a tale of fox hunting (a sport widely practiced in Delaware County):

The old fox-hunters of a past generation used to relate a notable chase on Tinicum, which occurred as long ago as Saturday, Feb. 1, 1824. On that morning, about eleven o'clock, John Irwin and James Burns, George Litzenberg, Philip Rudolph, and others started a fox on the island, and after a warm run the dogs were within fifty yards of him, when he sprang on the roof of an oven, then to a shed adjoining the house of Mr. Horne, jumped in at the second-story window, and neither huntsmen nor hound hand noticed it. A boy looking on told where the fox had gone, and one of the hunters, ascending the shed, entered the room and pushed down the sash. Just as he did this a girl of the family came in the room and shut the door. The fox, finding exit from the apartment by the door closed, ran to the chimney, which he ascended. From its top he sprang to the roof of the house and thence to the ground. He was not captured unil near sunset when he holed at the root of a hollow tree...

It's stories like these that can't be found in census, birth records and other genealogical materials... it's stories like these that fuel a collector's desires. Thank you Mr. Ashmead.