Description of the Township when Founded

The 1850 Census gives some picture of the size of the township.  There were 101 dwellings occupied by 104 families.  Total population was 592.  Roughly 70 per cent of workers described themselves as either farmers or laborers.  There were also masons, shoemakers, millers, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, carpenters, merchants, manufacturers, and one tailor.

Almost 90 per cent of the township residents at that time had been born in Pennsylvania, and roughly 5 per cent came from Delaware.  A few came from New Jersey and Maryland, and one was born in North Carolina. Surprisingly, 21 residents stated they had come over from Ireland; three were English, and there was one Scot.

Notices of real estate sales at the time show that at least some farms were large, with a number of different structures.  Skimming through newspapers of the time would show items like the following:

For sale in 1849: 230 acres, with a stone mansion 56 feet by 38 feet, plus an adjoining kitchen, a double-floored stone barn 85 by 40 feet, two stone tenant houses, spring house, smoke house, wood house, and carriage house.

Another ad in 1858 described an estate of 189 acres, with a 10-room, 2-story house, 2 large barns, carriage house and spring house.  A year later, this property was for sale: 101 acres with spring water and shade trees, 12 acres of timber, apple orchard and other fruits, with a “substantial and commodious” house, barn, tenements, wagon house, work shop, and wood house.

Not all property, however, was this large.  An ad in 1855 offered 1 ¼ acres (“more or less”), with a brick 2-story dwelling 18 by 24 feet, attached kitchen with a pump and well water at the door, a stable 16 feet square, a stone blacksmith shop 17 by 22 feet, and another shop 16 by 22 feet.  So confident was the owner of the value of the property that the ad declared, “A further description is deemed unnecessary, as persons wishing to purchase will call and view for themselves.”

Newspaper notices of the times, like these, suggest that there was some fluidity in the total township population.  For the years from 1850 to 1865, there were at least 55 notices of sale of property.  Asking prices per acre ranged between $90 and $200.