Marcus Hook is located in Delaware County,Pennsylvania. Positioned
8 miles NE of Wilmington, DE and 16 miles SW of Philadelphia, PA,
it is known as the “Cornerstone of PA.”
During its early years Marcus
Hook was a major Lenape settlement that became a New Sweden trading
post in the year 1640. Called “Chammassungh” or “Finland,” the post
was on the west side of the Delaware River, between Marcus Hook
and the mouth of Naaman’s Creek. In 1653, a larger tract of land
was named New Sweden by Queen Christina of Sweden. A few years later
in 1679, the Dutch conquered the Swedish authority and called the
area “Marretties hooke” or Marcus Hook.
Under William Penn’s administration
in 1682, the inhabitants requested that their town name be changed
to “Chichester.” The request was approved and documented by William
Penn, but the old town name of “Marcus Hook”, had been fixed in
the minds of the public, and to this day continues to be its time-honored
nomenclature.The borough was officially incorporated on March 7,
1892.
For a more detailed history of Marcus
Hook go to marcushookboro.com/new_page_7.htm
The W3R National
Trail is a 680 mile Historic Trail which French Allied
troops and Continental soldiers traveled from Rhode Island to Virginia
under the command of General George Washington and French General
Rochambeau.
“On the morning
of 19 April 1775, a column of British soldiers marching toward the
town of Lexington, Massachusetts, found their advance barred by
a small band of seventy-seven colonial militiamen. Hopelessly outnumbered,
the Americans began to disperse, when suddenly a single shot rang
out. The American War of Independence had begun.”
[Reference: March To Victory, Dr. Robert Selig]
On September 5th, 1781,
at the town of Marcus Hook, Pa. (Chester County, Pa.), a Revolutionary
soldier encampment is highlighted as a point of interest. “Here,
General George Washington receives word that the French Admiral
de Grasse’s fleet (28 ships and 3, 000 soldiers) had arrived
safely in the Chesapeake Bay. Not only is General Washington ecstatic,
but until their arrival in Marcus Hook, the allied armies had marched
on hope alone that de Grasse would do what he had written in the
letter that had reached them in White Plains on August 14, 1781”
[Reference: Rochambeau Papers, vol. 9]
“On 17 October,
1781, Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown, Virginia
to a combined force of Americans and French headed by General George
Washington and General Rochambeau”
[Reference: March To Victory, Dr. Robert Selig]
“It is important
to note that during this war, the march of soldiers through American
towns had a solidifying impact on American communities along the
route. The small community of Marcus Hook, willingly laid aside
local and regional prejudices in order to provide logistical support
to the troops, minimize the potential for civil-military friction,
and pave the way for decisive victory at Yorktown as well as the
creation of an independent American republic.”
[Reference: March To Victory, Intro., Jeffery J. Clarke, Chief of
Military History]
Photo, Click
here: “ General Washington receiving good news at Marcus
Hook, Chester County”
Click here for W3R www.w3r-us.org
National Link
To view the 2009 W3R
Presentation of Dr. Selig’s Lecture, click here
To order a CD of Dr.Selig’s 2009 Lecture at Marcus Hook, Pa.
Donation $20
Please Email Paula Manerchia mhps1@hotmail.com
Article: Daily Times
“Marcus Hook Recognizes Historic Washington Route” 9-6-09
Historic
Delaware River
(research under construction)
- Vaisseaux-de-Frise:
was suggested during the Revolutionary War by Dr. Franklin[Ashmead
p43]
- Chevaux-de-Frise:
- Ice-Breakers: “The
U.S. have at Marcus Hook, 2 landing piers and 4 stone ice-breakers
forming the winter or ice-harbor at that point; one landing pier
is at the foot of Church St., the other at the foot of Market
St. There is also a wharf to the east of the sugar refinery, now
in ruins (pre 20th cen) and another pier some distance below Market
St. called Walker’s Pier”
[Ref: History of Chester, John Hill Martin, p94]
The
Marcus Hook Plank House
(research under construction)
Pirates
“If traditions be accepted as authority, at the conclusion
of the 17th and the first and second decades of the 18th century,
the pirates which then infested the Atlantic coast from New England
to Georgia, would frequently stop at Marcus Hook, where they would
revel. When deep in their cups, they would indulge in noisy disputation
and broils until one street in Marcus Hook became known as Discord
Lane (presently Second Street).”
[Ref: Ashmead p.457] Discord Lane is documented on the 1701 map
of Marcus Hook.
“Blackbeard,
who for many years kept the coast in alarm, with his crew it is
said often visited Marcus Hook, where at the house of a Swedish
woman there, to whom he gave the title of Marcus, although her name
was really Margaret, he was accustomed to indulge in the wildest
disorder and drunken debauches.” [Ref: Ashmead p.457]
Click
here for PLANK HOUSE CREW LINK
The Market
Square
“The Market Square area of Marcus Hook was established in
1699. Governor Markham presented a request to William Penn to have
a weekly market and two fairs. In 1700, William Penn referenced
Marcus Hook as a Market Town located at Broad Street and Market
Lane.”
[Ref: Ashmead p.458-459, see also 1701 map]
Click here for Archaeological results of The Market Square area,
River Ramble 2009.
Leading Shipwright
Town
“Marcus Hook was noted for the number of vessels (schooners
) that were built there. In 1753, William Hopewell of Marcus Hook,
was a leading shipwright. Between the years of 1800-1849, Samuel
T. Walker Woodward & Farray, Samuel Trimble, Jacob Sinex, Samuel
J. Bruton, William Cranston, Simon Sherlock and Jacob Sinex all
engaged in ship-building at Marcus Hook”[Ashmead p.459-460]
Click here to view the Pioneer Schooner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_(schooner)
St.Martin’s
Episcopal Church
“In 1699, Walter Martin, conveyed to the town and inhabitants
of Marcus Hook an acre and one perch of ground, for a church and
free burial-place for the inhabitants. The church was founded in
1702 and called St. Martin’s which was suggested by Emanuel
Grubb as commemorative to Walter Martin, its founder who died in
1719 and is buried in a lot in the churchyard.”
[Ashmead p460]
St. Martin’s
Episcopal Church Cemetery (research under construction)
Emanuel Grubb [Ashmead p462]
Rev.George Craig [Ashmead p462]
Dr.Caleb Smith Sayers, Died December 3, 1799, he is buried under
the floor of St. Martin’s Church.
Cokesbury
Church
(research under construction)
The Alligator
and Inventor , Brutus DeVilleroi:
Brutus de Villeroi was born in France in 1794. He was a French engineer
of the 19th century. In 1833, he completed his first submarine the
“Nautilus.” In 1842, he was a professor at the Saint-Donatien
Junior Seminary in Nantes, where Jules Verne was a student. During
the late 1850’s, DeVilleroi traveled to Philadelphia, Pa.
where he developed several submarines. He is recorded in the Federal
Census of 1860 as boarding with his crew at the Spread Eagle Hotel
in Marcus Hook, Pa. which was owned by his friend and resident of
Marcus Hook, Edwin Chandler. DeVilleroi proposed a submarine design
to the U.S. Navy, to counter the threat of Confederate States Navy
ironclad warships. The U.S. signed a contract with DeVilleroi in
1861 for $14,000. The ship became the U.S. Navy’s first submarine,
the Alligator. DeVilleroi died in 1874 and is buried in Philadelphia.
[ Ref: www.oldsubsplace.com;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutus_DeVilleroi]
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