Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives


Source: January 1983 Volume 21 Number 1, Pages 3–10


The Chester County Archives

Jack McCarthy

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Chester County is fortunate in that it has an extraordinary collection of historic governmental records that have survived for a number of years. The reasons for this fortunate situation are several.

Certainly one reason is that for the first one hundred years or so the government of Chester County was dominated by Quakers, who were notoriously meticulous and conscientious record-keepers. Another reason is that Chester County has never had one of those catastrophic courthouse fires, in which hundreds of years of accumulated records are destroyed and lost forever.

But probably the single most important reason for the survival of this remarkable collection has been the diligence over the years of certain individuals who have recognized the importance of the records and taken steps to ensure their preservation. These people include county clerks and officials, as well as professional historians, researchers, and librarians. Among the many who have contributed, three merit special mention: Joseph Parker in the eighteenth century, Gilbert Cope in the nineteenth century, and Dorothy Lapp in the twentieth century.

It is interesting to trace the history of Chester County's records over the years: where they were kept, who looked after them, and how they eventually came to be incorporated into the Chester County Archives. It should be noted that the records to be discussed are the records of the Chester County government only. Not included are the records of other levels of government (township, state, or federal.) or the records of a private or non-governmental nature (such as journals, diaries, newspapers, or letters). The Archives consists only of historic records generated or received by the Chester County government in the course of conducting its official business.

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Petition of Joseph Parker calling attention to the lack of security for the county's records in 1737

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The first known instance of someone taking steps to ensure the survival of Chester County's records was in 1724. In that year, the County was building a new courthouse and Joseph Parker, the Clerk of the Court at the time, presented a petition to the Court, warning the justices of "the great danger the records of the county lay in".

Upon hearing the petition, the justices ordered the county commissioners and assessors to "fit and prepare a place in the new courthouse with all possible speed for keeping the said records in". So far as we know, this was, in a sense, the first Chester County Archives,

Thirteen years later, in 1737, Parker presented another petition "To the Commissioners and Assessors of the County of Chester", (it is reproduced on the opposite page.) In it he again called attention to the lack of security regarding the county's records. He alleged, in part, that although a place was set aside in the new courthouse for the records

"It is Apparent to Every Person that will make Use of his Eyes that the Doors are most Commonly Left Open for Horses and Cattle to go in and out at Pleasure the Furniture broke and Exceedingly Diminished and the place made a Common Stage whereby Rude people Breaks the windows Treads down the Ceiling and commits many Disorders which if not timely Prevented must End in the Ruin thereof,"

We don't know what the response to this petition was, but it must have accomplished something, for many of the records Parker was concerned about are surviving today. These include the first Chester County Court Book, begun in 1681, the first Chester County Deed Book, begun in 1688, the first Chester County Treasurer's Book, begun in 1699, and the first Chester County Will Book, begun in 1714.

These early records provide us with a glimpse of everyday life in early Pennsylvania, For instance, in the early Court Book we find that the first case ever tried in Pennsylvania under William Penn's proprietorship was a civil suit: Peter Erickson v. Harman Johnson, The second case ever tried involved the same parties, reversed, with Harman Johnson suing Peter Erickson, (In each case, the jury, incidentally, found for the plaintiff.) Those of us who might have thought that today's complicated legal procedurrs of suits and countersuits area twentieth century phenomenon may be surprised to see this example of civil justice in the seventeenth century, more than three hundred years ago.

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The early Treasurer's Book reveals that the Treasurer regularly paid a bounty for wolf heads, fox heads, and crow heads. It seems that these animals were a real nuisance to the early settlers, and a reward was given for killing them. When the hunter brought the head in, the treasurer had to see to it that it was buried, but first making sure the ears were cut off so that the same head could not be used again to collect the bounty!

Joseph Parker served as Clerk of the Court from 1724 to 1766. He did his job well, protecting the records from the horses, cattle, and rude people who apparently populated the courthouse. He did not live to see the records through their next traumatic experience - the invasion by the British in 1777. In this case, our county records are important not for documenting what did happen, but for documenting what did not happen. During the British occupation of the area in the fall of 1777 no county courts were held, no deeds were recorded, and no wills were probated. Thus the records tell us of the disruption of local government that was caused by the Revolutionary War.

One of the more interesting records in the Archives reveals another aspect of life in Chester County during the Revolution. This is the British Depredations Book, the account of damages sustained by local residents at the hands of the British during their occupation of the area. From this record we learn, for example, that a Christopher Rues of Easttown lost "11 sheep, 30 Bushels of Potatoes, 2 Shirts, 1 Quilt, 1 looking glass, and assorted turkeys and other fowl". Similarly, David Havard of Tredyffrin lost "1 Horse & Wagon, 17 Sheep, 2 Hogs, and sundry wearing apparel".

After the Revolutionary War a degree of normalcy returned to Chester County. The records, having survived not only the horses, cattle, and rude people but also a revolution, were now to encounter their next test of survival - the removal of the county seat from Chester to West Chester in 1786.

Chester County originally included all of what is now Delaware County. The county seat was the town of Chester, at the extreme eaqtern edge of the county. This proved a hardship for residents of the western sector, who had to travel many miles over terrible roads to conduct their governmental business. A movement was begun to relocate the county seat in a more central location. The town of Turk's Head was chosen and renamed West Chester, After construction on a new courthouse was begun, a battle nearly broke out between those opposing the move and those in favor of it. The matter was resolved peacefully, however, and the courthouse was completed in 1786, All the county records were moved from Chester to West Chester, and the first court held in the new courthouse in West Chester was held on November 28 of that year.

But there was a slight problem: there was no room in the new courthouse for storing the records. They were kept in the private residences of the various county officials!

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This situation proved most unsatisfactory, and in 1791 a local grand jury recommended that "as soon as may be, a public building be built to keep the public records in". Such a building was erected that same year and the records moved in. Once again, we are fortunate that local citizens had the foresight to insist that proper measures be taken to ensure the survival of the county's records, for had they remained in the private residences they very likely would have gotten dispersed through the years and lost to us today.

We now move from 1791 to the 1840' s. The public building erected in 1791 has become inadequate, and local citizens again petition the county for better care of the records. One petition, from 1845, reads

"That the belief has become general that the Public Records of the County are in a confused and suffering condition for the want of adequate room to dispose of them to the best advantage for reference, and moreover that the buildings in which they are kept are not so constructed as to afford adequate protection against accidents by fire in case such should occur in any part thereof. It is about sixty years since these buildings were erected, and even if commodious enough at that time, - although illy constructed in the first place, have now become so crowded with the books of Records and official documents of all kinds, that much inconvenience results to the officers and public in the transaction of business, and it is evident that a short time only can elapse before it will be absolutely necessary to provide more room, and better accommodations for the public officers and safe-keeping of the public records."

The petition was signed by twenty-eight county citizens.

The county did build a new courthouse in 1846, designed by Thomas U. Walter, with enough room for storing the records of this time. The 1846 building presently forms the south wing of the Chester County courthouse complex, and many historic records are still stored there. Our Archives staff is continually unearthing valuable records from the vaults and storage rooms in this building.

We are now in the mid-nineteenth century, the early years in the career of one of Chester County's foremost historians, Gilbert Cope. Cope lived from 1840 to 1928. In his lifetime he wrote numerous historical and genealogical works, chief among them his History of Chester County, Pennsylvania. Published in 1881, it is still the standard reference work on the county.

Cope's importance to the Archives lies in the fact that in addition to using the county's records extensively to write his book he saved many of them from destruction, and organized them for future scholarly use.

Among the many groups of records he rescued and organized, two may be briefly mentioned: the tavern papers, and the road papers. From the tavern papers we can trace the history of early taverns, such as the Blue Ball in Tredyffrin or the Leopard in Easttown. We can discover who operated them through the years and where they were located. From the road papers, we can trace the early history of the Lancaster Turnpike, the Swedesford Road, and other roads running through the county.

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Dorothy Beaumont Lapp

In the early 1920!s, when Cope was in his eighties, he would occasionally meet on the train a young woman who was attending Swarthmore College. They discovered that they had a mutual love of history, and became friends. The young woman was Dorothy Lapp, who was to carry on Cope's tradition of preserving and organizing Chester County's historical records. After graduation from Swarthmore in 1924, Miss Lapp was a teacher for a few years and also worked as a freelance researcher in New York City.

She returned to Chester County in the early 1930's, and began a lifelong commitment to preserving the county's records. She served as the librarian and archivist of the Chester County Historical Society from 1937 to 1976, and in this time compiled numerous transcriptions, inventories, and indices of county records.

As was the case for Gilbert Cope, her rescue of records from destruction is as important as her organization of them. She would check the courthouse wastebaskets and trash cans daily for valuable records that might have been discarded. She would also check the courthouse bailing room, a room where old records were prepared for shipment to the paper mill for scrap. She had friends in the county offices who would alert her when there were plans to dispose of records.

Two brief stories illustrate her determination in these efforts. In the early 1940's the county informed the Historical Society that it was disposing of a large group of records, and that if the Society was interested in them it would have to come and get them immediately. This was during the Second World War, when there was a shortage of cardboard. All Miss Lapp could muster was one cardboard box. She had to make the two-block trip from the courthouse to the Historical Society countless times, carrying one boxful of records each time, until all of them were safely in the Society's headquarters.

Another time, men from the paper mill were actually at the courthouse, loading a bunch of old records onto their truck to be taken to the mill for scrap, when Miss Lapp arrived on the scene. Posing as a county employee, she told the men that there had been a mistake, and that those records were not meant to be destroyed and had been put in her custody.

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These are just two examples of Dorothy Lapp's commitment to the preservation of the Archives, a commitment that has spanned much of this century. Although technically retired, she is still working every day - indexing, doing research, and transcribing records. She is a walking encyclopedia of Chester County's history. When the Archives was formally opened in August 1982, it was only fitting that it be named in honor of her: it is now called the Chester County Archives / Dorothy B. Lapp Research Center.

We have now come to 1982 in our history of the records of Chester County. At this point it is necessary to backtrack a bit, and discuss the role of the Historical Society in preserving the county's records, and to explain how the Society came to administer the Archives in conjunction with the County.

The Chester County Historical Society was founded in 1893, to acquire and preserve property and information of historic value or interest to the people of Chester County. For many years, the Society had taken an active role in preserving the county's historic governmental records. Through the work of Dorothy Lapp and others, records that were saved from destruction were deposited in the Historical Society for safe-keeping. The Society also acquired county records by private donations.

Many county records had come into private hands over the years, and these were subsequently given to the Society. For example, Gilbert Cope's private manuscript collection included many county records, and the Society arranged for their acquisition in the 1950's.

One particular record arrived at the Historical Society in a very interesting and most unusual way. An old book fell off the back of a truck on its way to the paper mill one day. A local worker picked it up and then took it to his doctor, who was also well-known for his interest in history. The doctor was Henry Pleasants Jr., vice-president of the Society, and he in turn donated the book to the Society. It turned out to be the account of the British depradations mentioned earlier. It was saved only because it happened to fall off a truck! One wonders how many other priceless records got away.

Another means by which the Historical Society acquired county records was by official transfers from the County itself. County officials, faced with growing quantities of records to administer and insufficient staff and space to care for them, began transferring those of historic value to the Society. In the 1960's and early 1970's these transfers were on a regular basis. By the mid-1970's, the Society had accumulated a considerable amount of these historic records.

At 'the same time, by the mid-1970's the Society also came to the realization that a county archives would be needed to administer these records properly. A remarkable collection of seventeenth through twentieth century records had survived, but they were scattered in storage rooms in the county courthouse and in the various sections of the Society's manuscript collection. It was obvious that they should all be assembled in one facility to make them more accessible to researchers.

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Through a series of meetings with the County in the late 1970's, it was agreed that the County and the Historical Society would jointly institute a county archives. The County Commissioners designated the Historical Society as County Archivist. The Society would provide the staff and administration of the Archives, and the County would provide space in the courthouse and some funds for supplies and equipment. In 1980 the Society hired an archivist to direct the project. In 1981 a large room in the courthouse was designated to serve as a records storage, and public research facility. Shelving and supplies were purchased with funds allocated by the County, and the records moved in.

On August 27, 1982 the Archives was formally opened in a ceremony attended by more than 300 people. Included were federal, state and local officials, other county employees, members of the Historical Society, and interested members of the community.

Today the Archives is open to the public and provide reference service for researchers to use the records. In addition to the Archivist there is an Archives assistant and a corps of very valuable volunteers. The Archives staff is continually discovering and acquiring additional county records and making them available for study. It is thus continuing the work begun by Joseph Parker more than 250 years ago and kept alive by Gilbert Cope and Dorothy Lapp.

The Archives is located in the basement of the Chester County Court-Annex, and is open to the public from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Tuesdays through Fridays, and by appointment at other times. The telephone number is (215) 696-5370.

The records currently available for use in the Archives include

Early Court Records 1681-1710
Records of the Court of Common Pleas 1714-1800
Records of the Court of Quarter Sessions 1710-1906
Commissioner's Minutes (with gaps) 1740-1918
Treasurer's Accounts (with gaps) 1699-1870
Tax Assessment Records 1715-1939
Birth and Death Records 1852-1855, 1893-1906
Marriage Records 1852-1855, 1885-1908
Coroner's Records 1720-1975
Road and Bridge Records 1700-1980
Constable's Returns 1780-1799
Naturalization Records (with gaps) 1798-1910
Wills and Administration Records 1714--1810
Records of the Orphans' Court 1714-1810
Records of the Division of Townships, School, and Election Districts 1720-1921
Tavern Petitions 1700-1923
Directors of the Poor Records 1798-1935

 
 

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