BELL PHONE - JEFferon 4274

HISTORICAL F1ANKFORD
BY HUGH M. WILSON

HISTORICAL FRANKFORD Recently we had occasion to visit the old farm house and homestead of George Castor who bought it in 1799 from Clement Biddle and Anna Howard Penrose. George Castor had many rescendants, many of whom made it their home. Most of the country houses put up by the merchants in Frankford and suburbs have either gone to decay or else have ben razed to make way for modern irnproements which have no respect for mansions and homesteads of the old days. This mansion, however, remains and ir in good condition notwithstanding its two centuries of use It is believed to be in better state now than in former times. The farm was a monument we think to the old Swedish days when Swedish farmers came up the Delawve And chose ground and settled ori Its banks, using the river as a natural highway. The Swedish folks were part andparcel of the Viking age. They were a sea-going people and one of the first4 things they did when they came to America was to build boats to use on the Delaware River. The edifice is situated on the Delaware river and is in a very lovely position. The entrance to it is on a lane running from the east side of State Road or the present Tacony street, tq the Delaware River, south of Van Kirk Street. At the current time It is a part of the properety of the International Shoe Company Frankford Tannery. Former owners wanted to pull it dowh but it was saved from destruction by Mrs. Neal 0. Brodhead (since deceased) who had a liking for old, homesteads and the buildings of former days. She was at that time a tenant in the mansion. The Swedes we farmers. They had no permanent settlement above Wicaco in old Southwark around the Old Swedes Church at Christian and Water streets, whch was near the beach of the Delaware River. Above that all the ground taken up was isolated farms and hunters' and trappars' cabins. Indian encampments were on the streams or near the conu-ence of currents. I - is not to be wondered at that Indian relics are found on the farm. We have such a meagre account of the Swedish actiities and settlement for their properties, and partly because, when they came, the ground and.,streams were only used for hunting and fishing, laud was not worth much for these purposes. So they squatted on the farms and depended on 'squatter rights" to give them possession. Deeds were then sent to Sweden for recording.. When William Penn came here in 1682, most of the productive acreage was then in the possession of others who acquirdd it under and from different authority. Penn bought this ground from them, notably the Swedes. The mansion was put: up at different dates wth probably some years in between. The latin home was constructed first followed afterward by the newer portion. There

is a descent of apparently two three steps between the new part an the old. The large fire-place in the farn house indicates it was at one tin used for cooking purposes, with crane and all the necessary impl ments for that labor. We belie) this shows an English resident, wit alterations in the flre-place, fro: the Swedish manlier to the Englie way of preparing food in those day Remember, the Duke of York ca tured New York and took possessic of the land in this province and g control of the Delaware River I about 164, a long way back. M think the viewing of an open, coo' ing fire-place was the inspiration an motive of Longfelow's poem, "Ti Hanging of the Crane." Both parts of the house are pin tered, so it is hard to determine what materials they are built. V imagine the older edifIc4 was put u of stone as that substance was UI nearest stuff on hand and the eas est procured. The newer hous built after the Revolution, may I either of stone or brick. Things have been improperly1 don under the various tenants, bjxt tI present occupants, Air. and Mrt Vroinan, admire old houses and mat dons, and are interested in old horn s teads with their large roomy, stab . from living room to garret, and at ci et houe fittings and fire-places, whch this edifice has quite a numbe Before they get through with ti present alterations, they intend I make it as it originally stood, ti house facing the river and the pore (on, the river side) over the inal entrance door. The house itself in a splendid condition and sits bac from the fence at the end of the Ian about 100 feet. This portion is give over, at the present time to a garde] With trees and old-fashioned fiowet and two cement walks to the rnai door. There is also on the( face c Delaware edge of the place a garde With an abundance of peonies whi the present people brought wit them from their former residence i North Carolina. The mansion is big place, a delightful situation the and now and we credit it With b ink - one of the oldest -still stnndiii and one of the most charming horn steads and best in provident care an condition in the.whole Northeast. Lately we have been reading Dr Conwoll' "Acres of Diamonds." Tb inspiration of the lecture is based o a story told by a Turkish guide C people who leave home, suffer priv, tions and don't find the things the are seekng, not recognizing the these things were on the place whic they had lefttheir own residence As the poet Campbell says, "Distanc lends enchantment to the view."Thi mountain een affar off is beautifu but a closer inspection shows it be full of gullies and rocks. So is with the people of Frankford Many acquire and go after antque -in other countries and location while all the time they have oh homesteads and relics at home. To Be' Continued

BY HUGH M. WILSON

At the present day the Castor fam- uel Castor. An' inscribed plate cornily on account of intermarrying with memorating the incident has been the representative families of Frank- placed at the house. In 1881 the first Building Club hiford and surrounding suburbs is ramified or scattered. The Castors the United States was formed in at the presen time still remain in Frankford. To obtain legal advice this vicinity and the family is yet about the movement the aid of Jesse Castor, the lawyer, was enlisted. He flourishing. Jan Georg Gerster (John George W" the secretary of the meeting, Castor), the immigrant, took a live- held January 3, 1831, at which the ly interest in the German Reformed B-dildino Club was organized. He Church (now the Presbyterian Was an original shareholder and a Church of Frankford). Lieutenant trustee of that Society. He had a Frederick Castor, Who *as the sec- great deal to do with the guidance ond son of the original George, had and preliminary work of that instia son George, who -is the father of tutThn. We give an extract from Jesse Yonker Castor who was his their minutes:' "At the meeting on only eon. George married Margaret January 10, 1831, after the trustees Jung, afterward chaned to Yonker. were duly organized, it was on moSo that Is the reason for him being tion resoWed that Jesse Castor be a named 5ese YOnker 'Castor. lie was committee to purchase a set of books supposed. to have been berti, in 1795 for the association. On motion, Rein the old- homestead which then and olved, that James Wright, Jesse Casnow stood on the Delaware River, tor and Alfred C. Jones be a cornWlssinomi*, (the house still stand- inittee to prepare a code of by-laws Ing). In 1818, when Jesse Was a and report at the next meeting." Jesse was co-executor with Hon. young man of about 23, when Dr. Briggs became pastor of the Presby- Joel R Poinsett who Was Secretary. terian Church, he was elected to be of War during the second term of choirmaster of that church. Choir- President Jackson, 1837 to 1841. Be ipaster, with his tuning fork, was was co-executor foP another of Frank. qUite a job then as the church did ford's distingushd 'citizens, Colonel t" have an organ and he had to James -Burns, who died in 1831, lead. the singing. He held this posi- Probably in 1833 he w1as eleCted tIoh for three years until 1821. Dur- trustee of the church during the pasing that period he Organized the Hhr- torate of Rev. Mr. Davies. month Singing Society, a singing soJesse Y. Castor died In 1840, a ciety of old-time characteristics. The young man of 45, and is buried in society met around a huge stove in the burying ground of the Frankford the auditorium of the church. This PresbytOrian Church. His eldest son, led to the first choir being estab Thomas F., graduated from West lished. Point as Second Lieutenant of the He studied law, and was graduated First Regular U. S. Dragoons. from the Dickinson College, Carlisle, Re served throughout the Mexican Pa. From 1925 to 1828 he was the War. The, sword which he carried solicitor,of Philadelphia. in that struggle and his official sword 'When General Lafayette visited is still in existence and shown when Frankford in 1824, he was received needed. He was promoted to First by.. General Isaac Worrell in the old Lieutenant and died in that position $D house (still standing) at 4335' iii the barracks, in California. His 1'rankford avenue. An arch was body was brought home and buried thrown across Frankford avenue, the in the old church burying ground. contribution of the people of Frank- A grandson of Jesse Yonker Castor ford showing their love of country. lives at the present time in FrankOn that arch as one of the features ford and bears the same. name, Jesse welcoming him, was a chorus of Yonker Castor. twenty-four young women of FrankThe existing younger generation ford, under the leadership of Jesse seams to have inherited the voice and Yonker Castor. The chorus sang pa- musical abilities of a former day. triotic songs as Lafayette passed un- One great granddaughter, Ruth Casderneath the arch. The escort which tor, lives with the present Jesse Youacted as a guard to General Lafay- ker Castor, sings soprano in ti'-' ette and preceded and followed him singing society, the 'laylci Vocal from Frankford to Philadelphia, was Ensemble. To Be Continued under the command of General Sam-

HlST'O RI CAL f\RkN K FO RD

HUGH M WILSON
t'Vas

tors and Their 7nventiofls

tQrd. In the old days they built a luirch. In the more recent times they invented things of the beneficial To Be Continued typ.. The Leant LenaPo (Delaware) jfldfans used to claim they weye, the original people; we think of the Cstore as. the 9QntifluiRg family. Many persons :a.h farnIlies have come and they,'emain. 2 WEEKS GARAGE San, Georg, Gerster (John George Cantor) 1. was born in Basil, SwitzerRENT lan'd 'qu september 24, 1710. He 24-Hr. Manager Service can to tIns country to Philadelphia, In 173fk, , two hundred and one yeals Nice, Good, Clean, 85 Private ago. ,e resided in Philadelphia for Garaes - We Are Always ars, with his first wife, evefaI On the 'Premises. Ave, whoim he had married ju SwitzShe bore him eight children. efland. lo flyEt two yungsters were 59fl5 ('George and Fiederiek) and were 4817-19 Mulberry Street born in that town. After remaining in that metropolis for some years, he rmo5d to Germantown (a German' eni'urb). It was not until he had been in this country twenty-six 'eats or in .17G2 that he came to the 1814 Harrison Street. bounds of Frankford. On March 10, 1762, he bought a 202 acre fai'm In Oxford Township, the Detached brick dwelling, 8 Present CaSter Road; and from that Rooms, Bath, Hot Water time onward he and part of hisi f am- Heat, 2-car Garage. ily were interested iii the doings of 'rn1eford. As his first wit,e l34 eight h1Ltheii' and these young peiions intermarried with other households, his family became divided. Some went to Hol.mesburg and estab lisbed the lineage there;" others went 4413 FRANKFORD AVE. to Wissinou2ing. But Frederick,. the '-second son, stuca LU me C-.---. -..1,t1'. he jfih'i- ited from his father, and the estate became the property of his soles and relations. The Castor family of Fratikfdrd. With them only,' are we conce,ned Eve, the first wife of Jan Georg Gerster, died. He toot a second wife, il Anna Marie Burghart. The record Is in the German Reformed Church' of Frankford (The Frankford Pres' byterian Church, Church street and FrankfOrd Road), the church Jan Georg had helped to establish and Chance of a lifetime! build. His name is the first on the list of the five who undertook to erect The coolast and smartchurch. The Castors of the est style of the season. present day are still members of the old church which their forbears had helped to found. We notice that one Is on the committee for the Twentyfifth Anniversary of Dr. Laird's ministry. Jan must have had a great deal to do *ith the gathering of the people into a congregation and the constructing of the building. He must have been a very religious man. As another historian has said, "The varied population of Frankford had rather' colorless' lives. As the people from t)te neighboring communities came 'tQ Frankford to grind their see their friends or relameal and tiona.. ttiel4 religious welfare doubtthe subject of frequent conversations hround bumble firesides." Gerste loved that thurch. When he died' he chose its burial ground se final resting place. 'He rests from his labors, and. his works dQ follow him." The second son, Frederick, who reroamed on the farm and from whom some of the Castors spring, also took Part with his father in raising the German. llformed Church. We find his flame. on the register of those who came additionally to the help of the first' five In the field Frederick had quite a Revolutionary War xpei-ience. He was a Lieutenant in b F'irst Pennsylvania Militia and Very. cool for summer! Made With those troops fought at the Trenwith solid leather soles for ton, Brandywine and Germantown battles. It is also rumored he was longer wear! Sizes 81/2 to 2. at the Yorktown surrender to General Washington. FITTED by trained experts' But we Will skip in our narrativO the taTnhly hietory of the Castors and corie (_)Alloro rnbderu times. Frank. ford should 'be proud of the helpful, FULL'FASKIONED RINGLESS ' practical inventions of the Uastor which we will tell you about in the next article. The Castors have always been a '.". warlike crowd; one was a general Of militia, another was in and through' the Mexican War, another:' as 'a grad'ate of *et. Poljmt and a Lieu. tenant of Cavalt7 another enlisted Ini Irrankferd. in, th Ci War. Ii ws omijy ' boy of fiftethe at, tha the. lie was in the 28th lenns4. ranla Vdiunteers. H0, was with hil coflip6ny.-and, foight with them on

jul Tamily since they came to Frank-

The Castors have been a very use:

Culp's Hill, Gettysburg, and thei battles. Re was with General She man on his march to Atlanta ap participated in the battles of tha march. He was on' the jaunt to S vannah ending 'at the battle of Ban tonville, North, Carolina.

Mr. and Mrs. Campbell

Sale Frankford

$3900 C. HARRY HEINZ, INC.

CA&tapa SAK

Hosiery 490r,

4516" FRANKFO OPEjI

HISTORICAL FRAN KFORD

HUGH M. WILSON
Frankford in all business lftjes had I treet, made, it impassable, and then great and ueful me4 and women, bad to stop -worn Decause on want mi perons who nob only served their funds. Thomas Castor came to the generation welt' but who started and rescue, hired men, advanced the cash left behind, them the inventions and and had the road built. Thomas Castor, being of an invenworks which they did Among the important inventors and active men tiv'e turn of mind, showed much pracof Frankford was Thomas Castor, ticability as well as muth aptitude in born October 14, 1810, died August many p1 his inventions. On August 4, 1884. As the opening of roads and 3, .1852, he obtained patents on the transportation on. them was prcfmin. 'first dump or tilt wagon, the forerunant before the public then, Thomas ner of our present chute wagons. Castor naturally took to inventing Patents for the wagon were obtained and improving the methods of trans- In Great Britain. Castor's shop, 'was portation to the exclusion of other noted for its fabrication of fine and Objects. The bent of the mind of beautifully, - finished carriages and Thomas was on carrying the people wagons, and for many years he had and goods from one point to another. extensive business in circus, baggage This Is shown by the trades they and band wagons; also animal cages, learned. The elder brother, Peter, chariots, etc. He had among his cuswas a blacksmith; and Thomas, the tomers such showmen as- P. P. Baryounger son, was apprenticed to Ben- num, Barnum and Bailey, Adam jamin Shalleross as a wheelwright. Forepaugh, John O'Brien, Botthelor So you can see that their main trend and Doris. Thomas Castor was of thought was along the line of con- closely identified with the early history of Frankford. veyances In 1833 when Thomas was 23 years For about thirty years he was the old, he' commenced business with his Captain of Engineers of the Washbrother Peter. This partnership last- ington Volunteer Fire Company No. ed until about 1861. In the early 13, organized in 1793, the first volundays they manufactured a kitchen ter 'comlany in Frankford. He was Iron range, known as the Castor also borough councilman and a memRange. ber of the 1l'rankford Land Company. ,their business began to go ahead Due to his Interest in transportation and 'Ilourish and they were compelled most of his inventions have been to to move to larger quarters. As steel improve the modes of travel. rails were successful with the- steam We call attention to the distinlocomotive, if tracks would, be laid In the streets and cars run upon guished careers of each third son of them, you would have rapid transit the Castor family, a fact which has Iticleed. GnU of the first contracts persisted from the beginning and which the firm had was in equipping through six generations. The presthe Fifth and Sixth and the Race and entHorace W. Castor, architect, is VIe streets railway with horse cars. the third son of Thomas Ellwood, This was There Thomas came in. who wa the third son. of Thomas the ' J{e had studied the problem and with Inventor, who was the third son of his knowledge he wm pr.epared , to John, ,vho was the third son of Lieusole It. The cars were a double-deck -tenant Jacob who was a young man aair, with a spiral ladder reaching at the time of the Revolutionary War to the upper deck. Thomas invented and a Second Lieutenant in the 7th the spiral ladder and took out .a 'paz Coipany of the Second Battalion p1 t5flt on It. The cars were lighted by Locks CoUnty militia. He was at the- battles of the Brandywine smoky oil lamps, one in front and Germantown. He was the third and son one in the rear. Thom" 'deised a 8mokeless central lamp for the light- of the Immigrant Jan Georg Gerster (Jhn George Castor). - ing. Prankford should give glory to the The horse cars as made by the Castor -Brothers Wagon Works' were in Cator progeny for what they have 185the first to be drawn over rails done and what they are still doing. laid jn a street, and ante-dated by Not only has Horace W. Castor writone yiear the first Pullman car which ten, a. 'paper on Thomas Castor, but carried four passengers in wooden he has contributed many gifts to the bunks. In 1855 a very characteristic Historical Society of Frankford, meeting was held to consider a sys- among them being the old silver tem of water transportation by the watch ' of Thomas Castor, his day way of Frankford Creek and the Del- book, receipt book, and the original a-ware Rlv'r to Philadelphia. Thoni- patent papers on some of his invenas Castor was energetic in these tions. He also presented the origimetings, not only as a citizen of nal book of the guardian Hannah, of 1'rankford, but as a manufacturer ot Thomas Castor, and many other dobeautifully painted, ha14dsmy', trimmed and equipped horse 'ears, Aswe related in a previous article, I then the most Improved method of many 'families have come and gone; transportation to anq from Philadel- they have died out; but the Castor phia. family with its many intermarriages The Philadelphia and Delaware with other, families and their own 1Uver Railroad Company. was the 'many offsprings remain and at the commencement of the Frankford and present time the Frankford, HolmesSbuthwark Line. Adams Avenue In burg and Wissinoming Castors are lOwer Frankford was' the tend of the Still with us. We trust they will be line, Kensington ,,avenue pot being frith'us In the days to come and that cut through to Frflkford Road till the family name will staywith us. 1888. Credit Is due Horace W. Castor, Thomas Castorwas a public,' spir- architect, for the historical facts ited itizeu. During the,Jpanic of which are In this article, taken from 1857, the company which -bad- -the the paper' written by MflThr the contract tor laying track k throgb Frankford Historical Society, OcoIIa1n street (Frankford ro4d) to Ar her, 1934. ' * ott,8treet, 'Went to work, ug up the To Be Continued -