A36-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 14, 1998
Chester Extension Banquet Explores County’s Agricultural History
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
KENNETT SQUARE (Chester
Co.) At The Stone Bam near
Kennelt Square, about 133 Chester
County Extension Association
family and friends learned some
things about the agriculture history
of their county.
Thursday evening at the exten
sion’s annual meeting, fanners and
ether industry educators and lead
ers learned that some things have
changed in the “five centuries” that
have passed in the development of
a thriving ag economy in south
eastern Pennsylvania.
And they learned that some
things really hadn’t changed much
at all.
In a brief and colorful history of
the county as recounted by Colin
A. Hanna, chairman of the Chester
County Commissioners, the early
days of tire pioneering county were
marked by commerce and
controversy.
Right where the banquet took
place, the early settlers once called
the “back country," said Hanna.
Hanna said early colonists were
known for few attributes.
“There was lawlessness, they
were considered renegades or
adventurers,” he said.
Hanna referred to a carefully
researched and colorfully recorded
display of the progress of the coun
ty from the 1600 s into the nex t cen
tuiy. The display at the banquet
recounted the times from the first
settlers of the land owned by Wil
liam Penn, after the land was
obtained from the Lenape tribes in
1682-1683.
Back then. Chester County
included a lot of land mass, taking
in areas now held by Delaware,
Philadelphia, and Berks counties.
Delaware County was the first one
separated from Chester, in 1729.
Into the mid-1700s, fanning
was largely subsistence fanning.
The farmer literally lived off the
land and didn’t sell livestock or
crops. The farms were located near
rivers for easy access to transporta
tion and production borrowed
heavily from the native Americans
maze, sweet potatoes, pump
kins, gourds, watermelon, and
beans.
According to the county com
missioner, the people and the land
“were pretty rough and pretty
much exhibited pioneer-like quali
ties,” he noted. Eventually, the
areas west of Philadelphia, Ailing
with immigrants, included a sub
standal amount of English, Irish,
In a brief and colorful history of the county as recounted
by Colin A. Hanna, chairman of the Chester County Com
missioners, center, the early days of the pioneering county
were marked by commerce and controversy. At the ban
quet, special recognition was given to Trudy Dougherty,
county extension director, left, for 25 years with coopera
tive extension. At right is Tony Jasienski, president of the
Chester County Cooperative Extension board of directors.
and Welsh. They headed west
using the cart paths that eventually
became known as routes 1,3, and
30. The Swiss and German settlers
navigated northward using the
rivers.
When the families purchased
the land from Penn, they first
obtained a “warrant,” which
required that surveying be
completed.
Then, a land patent, or “deed,”
was issued. The word “deed"
means to pass on the land patent to
subsequent purchasers.
Sometimes it took quite a while
to finally obtained ownership of
land as many as 75 years.
“If you think the county govern
ment moves slowly, look how far
we’ve come," said Hanna.
In the years 1700-1732, it cost
about 10 pounds (the currency at
the lime) for 100 acres of land.
From 1732-1762, the rate
increased 50 percent, to 15 pounds
per 100-acre tract The farms then
were known as “plantations” and
averaged about 150 acres in size.
Power equipment to create
arable land was simply nonexis
tent Clearing the land took time, a
lot of lime about an acre a year.
There was only one horse for about
evety 6-7 families. To rid the area
of trees, the trunks were girdled,
the bark was cut, the lumber was
harvested, and the tree eventually
died and was cut down. Stumps
remained. Farmers plowed in
between stumps, where they could.
It took 10-20 years for the stumps
to rot and decay enough to be
uprooted and tillable land was
available.
But some things never change.
Hanna noted that in 1764, a
survey went out calling for “tax
assessment,” that included sepa
rate categories for cows and
horses. Thbse days, the assessment
wasn’t on real estate alone, but on
livestock. The survey concluded
there were 2,502 farms, 6,716
horses, 8,672 cattle, and 9,489
sheep.
And there were the fads.
In 1800, a series of agricultural
“fads” included one where, for 20
years. Merino sheep were the hit of
the land, sweeping the county. In
the 1820 s, the big attraction was
raising all sorts of commercial
swine, including existing breeds
and die development of cross
breds. A staple of the human diet
was salt pork.
Then, in 1824, the Pennsylvania
Agriculture .Society of Chester
County was formed, and the first
Those achieving 10-year milestones included Pat Taws and Judy Fromm, staff
assistants at the extension office. Also, Sarah Wallace, adviser to the EFNEP prog
ram, was recognized. In photo, from left, Trudy Dougherty, county extension director;
Fred Davis, regional director, who presented the awards; Taws; and Fromm.
ag expo an ancestor to what is
known now as Ag Progress Days
in Rockspring was featured in
Paoli. The expo included new
ways for farmers to work with
seed, uses of com, millet, how to
grow different vegetables, and
other items.
In the 1840 s, Pennsylvania was
tied with New York as the top
wheat producing state.
Daily farming came into being
in the 1840s-1860s, with the influx
of Herefords, Ayrshires, Gallo
ways, and Holsteins.
Again some things never
change.
In an article which appeared in
the newspaper of the time, the
American Republican, farmers
were reminded of the “good times”
when wheat prices stood at $2 a
bushel. An article read: “When the
farmer prospers, every other
branch of business prospers, also.”
Through the 1880 s, the develop
ment of the railroads after the Civil
War provided fresh eggs, milk,
cheese, and other products to near
by Philadelphia. At that time, the
Patrons of Husbandry group,
which later evolved into what we
know as the Granges, was
established.
Chester County Century Farmers were honored at the banquet at The Stone Bam
near Kennett Square Thursday night.
Charles Wollaston, Maple Lawn Farm, right, was honored
for more than 50 years of service to Extension. In addition,
new board members of the association, serving a three
year term, included Jane Pepple, Oxford, owner and opera
tor of Pep-L-Lea Holsteins, left. Not pictured: Eric Miler,
Chadds Ford, president of Chadds Ford Winery and Sara L.
Munoz, part and community coordinator/home and school
visitor for southeast Delco School District.
In 1880, another assessment sioncrs were appointed. In 1896,
was completed in Chester County. the first rural fn*: deliveries began,
which showed there were 6,616 , Tbc worries about loss of farm
farms and 264 grist mills. In 1883, ** to P«>P le mov “8 from
the first Chester County commis- "urn to Pag* A 37)