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Home : Quarterly Archives : Volume 12 |
Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society |
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Source: April 1963 Volume 12 Number 3, Pages 62–66 The Weller's House : 638 Conestoga Road, Berwyn We moved into this house about twelve years ago. About that time there was a play called "George Washington Slept Here" that enjoyed some popularity. The play did not have much more substance than the title implies. However, when you acquire an old house practically at Valley Forge, surely Washington, or at least some of his G.I's-- or whatever they were called then,– must have slept here. But history tells that Cornwallis was in this locality. I do not know whether it would be a good "conversation piece" to have had General Cornwallis sleep in your house or not. Anyway, he did sleep in a house in the valley owned at that time by Abel Reese, who later built our present house. In a book called "Valley Forge," written by Alden W. Quimby and published in 1906, there is a picture of Abel Reese's first house and called "Cornwallis' Headquarters." It is in the Great Valley. Here is a paragraph from this book, page 47: "The staid farmers above Walkerville were undergoing experiences of which they would fain have been relieved. Abel Reese was summoned from the cellar, where he was constructing a potato bin, to meet a short, stout man in a general's uniform, who announced himself as the Earl Cornwallis. The sturdy tiller of the soil could not have conjured up a more unwelcome personage; still, the appearance of the dreaded officer was prepossessing. His face was attractive, and a slight grayish tinge of his hair invested it with benevolent aspect. His manners were those of a perfect gentleman, and tended to relieve the family of their fears. The earl deprecated the fortunes of war, which compelled him to request the use of the farmhouse as his personal headquarters for a while – "not very long," he said with a smile, which the worthy farmer did not comprehend; but the titled soldier was indulging in a dream of a more congenial residence in the City of Brotherly love at an early day." The house that we are now living in was not built until 1794, so we will have to manage without any Revolutionary War "sleepers" here. This house has been known as the John Reese House. And one of our Quarterlies states, "The John Reese House doubtless dates from the Reese ownership. This house is built of logs, now covered with clapboard. A low long barn, dated from 1830, was removed about 1880.
The Weller's house The farm and wood tract of 63 acres came into possession of John Thomas and wife, but the records do not seem to show when John Thomas acquired this farm, or from whom. But he did sell it for 1800 pounds, November 25, 1785, to John Steinmetz. The title was cleared June 1, 1793, by conveyance, through Sheriff McClelon." This seems to imply that titles had not been cleared in the previous conveyance from Thomas to Steinmetz. On October 25, 1796, Steinmetz and wife disposed of the same 63 acres and buildings to Abel Reese of the Valley. Abel died Dec. 3, 1799, leaving this farm to his son John Reese. The first house on this 63-acre tract was a small log house, close to the public road and on the extreme southwest corner. There is still a wall there, which was probably dug for this first house. This building was one and a half stories and was removed about 1876. The original part of our house was a log cabin, two stories high, which is covered with clapboard and is now our dining room and the area above. The door and windows and some of the windowpanes are original. The rafters, which have been described as hand hewed but are not, were cut with an "up-and-dowm saw" and show these saw marks. This was a saw operated by two men, straight up and down, rather than on a slant, and was a very early type of saw. The rafters in the dining room are now exposed, and probably were originally. But at one time they were covered with lath and plaster; the marks of this show. But this made the low ceiling even lower, so the lath and plaster were taken off again, probably by Mr. Richardson, who owned the house just before us. The fireplace wall of the cabin is built of stone and goes up to a large and rather high chimney. The fireplace is large, all-purpose type and was for many years the only source of heat and means of cooking. There is a shelf built of masonry high on one side of this fireplace, which was probably to keep food warm. Brackets for a crane are built in the stone work, but there was no crane there when we got the house. We had a crane made which is a copy of one from Daniel Boone's house. The paneling and shelf around the fireplace are probably original. The built-in cupboard in the dining room is very old, as the type of wood used shows, and it was there before the hard-wood floor was laid, but we do not know whether it was part of the original cabin or not. In 1797 Abel Reese, by his will, bequeathed his plantation of 63 acres and buildings to his son John Reese. John was directed to pay his sisters, Judith and Elizabeth, 100 pounds. It stayed in the possession or at least in the name of John Reese until 1873. As this is 76 years, John must have inherited the farm when very young and also lived to an old age. However, perhaps the title was not actually changed until after his death, as the records show the title was conveyed to Abel Reese in 1873. Abel held it for only five years. While John Reese owned the house, in 1850, the front part was built, two rooms on the first floor, two rooms and bath on the second floor, and four small rooms on the third floor. This part is also built of logs, but was covered with clapboard at the time it was built. The front porch looks as if it were added later; architecturally it would probably be better without the porch. Also a good solid front door was cut up to put glass in. With the porch the glass is probably needed, but the solid door would be more in keeping with the house. The chimneys are set entirely in the house and take up a lot of room. The fireplace was closed to make a flue for the oil-burner, but the other three are all usable. The marble mantels are interesting, as they are carved in the same way the wooden mantels were, and marble like this was quarried in this general neighborhood, so this is almost certainly Pennsylvania marble that was quarried near here. The rafters in the attic are numbered in Roman numerals - something to do with the builders, I suppose- and are put together with wooden pegs. Only comparatively minor changes have been made in the house since it was built. There was a door going outside where the coat closet is, the east bedroom on the second floor was once divided into two rooms, and there was a small hall across the west bedroom to connect the front and back stairs. A dormer window was added on the second and also on the third floor. The kitchen was built on at some time, but I do not know when. In 1873 the house was conveyed to Abel Reese, a grandson of the original Abel. He kept it only five years, conveying it in 1878 to David Ryan, who kept it only three years and in 1881 conveyed it to John Keller. By this time some of the original 63 acres had been sold. But the house and barn and enough land for a fairly large farm still remained. During the late 1800's John Keller rented the house and farm to the Hoskinses' who now live across the street. Miller Hoskins' father told me he lived here when he was a young boy and slept in the back room above the dining room. The window of this room is directly above the first floor window, and he said some nights when his parents thought he was in bed he had climbed out the window for a night out with the boys, and he could easily get back by stepping on the window sill and top of the first-floor window. Very likely his parents knew this all the time and just winked an eye. He also told me that a former owner, probably David Ryan, was a hunter who really depended on hunting to supply his food. He had several large hunting dogs. Mr. Hoskins said "There used to be deep claw marks on the dining room door where the dogs pawed when they wanted to be let in. Perhaps they are still there"? I assured him that they are there and in plain sight. Since this happened before the turn of the century I am tempted to change the clawing dogs to wolves to make it a better story, but I guess I had better stick to the script. The property passed in 1905 from John Keller to John Franklin Keller, who probably sold off most of the farm land, some to the Bodines who lived directly in back of us. In 1905 Dr. Sagebeer acquired the property which was at that time, I think, the same house and barn with about two acres of land as when we acquired it in 1950. Dr. Sagebeer's heirs conveyed the property in 1942 to John F. Richardson, from whom we purchased it. The portraits are of our great-grandparents, our father's mother's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wertz. They were probably painted before the Civil War. The Wertzes lived in Philadelphia on Filbert Street, above 8th. I guess this makes us an old Philadelphia family, but Filbert Street was probably not as good an address as Elfreth's Alley. Our grandmother told us the Wertzes lived in a typical red brick city house that stood where the Filbert Street entrance to Strawbridge & Clothier now is. So when I go into Strawbridge's by this entrance, I feel as if I were crossing my own threshold, in a way. The small chairs in our dining room belonged to Mrs. Wertz and were in her daughter's dining room, and our parents and ours. We also have the gold chain she is wearing. An interesting coincidence - we often sit in a pew in our church which has a name plate for Amaziah Wertz. I think this is the only pew in the church with a name plate. It is there because Amaziah died during church service in this pew. I have no reason to think that Amaziah Wertz was related to our great-grandparents, but since this goes quite far back, they may have belonged to the same family. At any rate it was nice of him to reserve a pew for us, and it gives us a feeling of dynasty. Three and one half years ago we sold about one third of our land to our nephew, William W. Phillips, who built the house now there. This worked out very well until a few months ago when he was transferred to Detriot. However, the house has been sold to Dr. Grant, his wife and two daughters, and we are pleased to welcome them as our new neighbors. The article referred to is in Vol. I, #2 - p.22 (1938) of the Tredyffrin-Easttown History Club Quarterly. |
