UWCHLAN TOWNSHIP


The principal developer of Uwchlan was David Lloyd. He came to Pennsylvania from Montgomeryshire, Wales, in 1686 and was active in the affairs of the colony. He acquired extensive property in Uwchlan but did not settle there himself. He died in Chester County in 1731, leaving the land he had not already sold to his widow, Grace (Growden) Lloyd. She continued to dispose of Uwchlan property. She died 29 years after her husband.

The following description of Lloyd’s lands and their disposition is based solely on information contained in old deeds and is necessarily an approximation. David Lloyd acquired at least the following acreages in Uwchlan: 1. Approximately 1703--a patent signed by Griffith Owen, Thomas Story and James Logan for two parcels totaling 1666 2/3 acres. 2. 1708--800 acres from Thomas Palmer, son of George Palmer. 3. 1708--420 acres from John Palmer, son of George Palmer. 4. 1708--250 acres from Philip Howell. 5. 1711--1000 acres from Francis Cook and his wife, Mary, daughter of James Claypoole. 6. 1718--467 acres from Nicholas Fairlamb, sheriff of Chester County. In 1712, the 250 acres from Howell, 350 from the Cook grant and 50 of the John Palmer land were laid out together, apparently along what is now the Pikeland boundary and surveyed to David Lloyd. Of this 650 acres, 100 went to James Pugh (tract 3); 100 went to Robert Benson (tract 12 and part of tract 14); 80 some went to James Rees (tract 13 and part of tract 14); and 100 went to Joseph Phipps (tract 43). John David’s 100 acres (tract 2) and part of the Cadwalader Jones’ land (tract 9) also probably came out of the 650. Purchasers of the 1666 2/3 acres included: 1714 Joseph Phipps 700 Tracts 44-45 1715 John Cadwalader 250 Tract 16 1715 James Rees 100 Tract 15 Griffith John 100 Tract 30 1715 Cadwalader Jones 10 Part of tract 9 1728 John Vaughan 200 Tract 17 1730 Morris Rees 185 Tracts 18 and 19 In addition Grace Lloyd sold 69 acres (tract 20) to Michael Rees in 1738. Of the Thomas Palmer land 700 acres of the 800 acres were surveyed in 1709 and divided up among: 1711 David Rees 200 Tract 46 1715 Thomas David 400 Tracts 47, 48, 49 1715 Samuel John 100 Tract 31 Part of the John Palmer acreage, 125 acres, went to Jeremiah Jerman in 1725 (tract 98). In 1732 Grace Lloyd sold the adjoining 208 acres (tract 93) to Philip Davis, and in 1736 she sold 220 acres (tract 92) to John Smith. Grace Lloyd also sold 267 acres of the 467 acre tract to Humphrey Lloyd in 1731 (tract 73).

The present-day township boundaries of Uwchlan and Upper Uwchlan appear to be in close conformity to the way the land was originally laid out. The southern boundary was approximately along the dotted line shown on the map, the dividing line between Caln and West Whiteland being just to the west of tract 27. Charlestown, Pikeland and Vincent lay to the east. To the north Uwchlan veered out around tract 72 and crossed tract 95 at the place where it narrows. At the northwest it went around tract 97 and turned south across 99 and 100 to Springton Manor. Springton Manor, now Wallace Township, lay in the space to the north of tract 85, extending up to the top of tract 101. The East Branch of Brandywine Creek formed the western boundary of tract 85 and of Uwchlan Township from there on to the south.

The exact course of the Brandywine is not clear from the deeds for several feeder streams were called by the same name-for example the water courses cutting between tracts 88 and 89 and along the western edge of tract 87. As nearly as can be ascertained from the deeds early roads ran as follows: 1. The King’s Road, or the Great Road leading from Uwchlan Friends Meeting House (cross in tract 16) to French Creek and Warwick Furnace ran along the west of tract 16, cut over to the boundary between tracts 44 and 45, ran along the east of tract 45A and tract 59 to Eagle. From there it went north northwest across tracts 66 and 69 and up across the middle of tract 95. 2. Somewhere north northwest of tract 74 another “great road” led from the first road to the Little Conestoga. 3. Paxtang Road ran from the Sign of the Red Lion, a tavern for which Lionville was named, west and north to the Brandywine at what is now Lyndell. It apparently went from Lionville across tracts 29, 30, 31 and 47. It probably veered north at that point for there was a road at the northeast corner of tract 49, at the southeast of tract 52, at the southwest corner of tract 87 and roughly along the boundary between tracts 100 and 101. The last mentioned road was called the road to Philadelphia in a tract 100 deed. 4. A road to Reed’s Mill formed the western boundary of tract 101. 5. The road from the Sign of the Red Lion to Chester and Philadelphia led east across the top of tracts 18 and 9 and turned south to form the western boundary of tracts 3 and 4. 6. The road from Uwchlan to Downingtown cut south across tract 17, west along the old Welsh line (bottom of 17, 29, 30 and 31) and south across 27. A branch of this, the George Thomas Road, may have gone directly south to the Great Valley. 7. James Packer built a private road along the eastern boundary of tract 47 south to the Paxtang, or “the West” Road. 8. Another road led south across the western part of tract 48. This was about the location of Shannon’s Creek. To the south this road formed the boundary between tracts 38 and 39. Shannon’s Creek turns west over to Dowlin. 9. Finally, there was a road along the boundary between tracts 62 and 63, which may account for the odd shape of tract 62. The following section of this paper presents in alphabetical order the names of settlers in Uwchlan from the beginning to approximately 1800, together with such genealogical information as was found in deeds, wills, Quaker records and in some cases Futhey and Cope.

Tax lists consulted were those for 1715, 1718, 1719, 1722, 1727, 1765 to 1779, 1785 and the 1798 direct tax list for Uwchlan and Pikeland. The information on the settlers is keyed to the numbered tracts on the map. The final section of this paper gives briefs of title to the numbered tracts shown on the map. The metes and bounds for the variouse tracts do not always jibe from one deed to another, but allowing for surveying, recording and measurement errors, the tracts were approximately as shown. By 1800 the population of Uwchlan was 1086 persons, plus one slave, perhaps a descendant of the blacks mentioned in the will of James Rees.

SOME EARLY RESIDENTS OF UWCHLAN TOWNSHIP [CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA] 1715-1800




This page updated on March 1, 2009