A View From 1963
The Caleb Pusey Plantation in Upland, Pa.
By ARDEN SKIDMORE
Daily Times Staff Writer
11/30/1963
A small plantation—similar to the type William Penn saw here in his day—will appear in Upland within the next two years. The center attraction will be the historic Caleb Pusey House. This is the last house in Pennsylvania having documented associations with Penn, the Commonwealth's founder. It is also the only English-built house still standing in the state. Pennsbury Manor in Bucks County is only a re-creation. "We want to make it look like a little plantation, as it was in Caleb Pusey's day," said Mrs. Mary S. Patterson of Swarthmore, who with Mrs. Sarah P. Brock of Newtown Square serves as co-chairman of The Friends of the Caleb Pusey House, Inc. Of a $70,000 goal, only $4,500 remains to be raised.
"We plan to move a log house onto the property, fix up the old adjoining stone schoolhouse for the caretaker and perhaps have a Friends Meeting House somewhere on the grounds," said Mrs. Patterson. "And it won't be complete," she said, "until we have a mill."
Pusey lived there as the agent and manager of Penn's first mill in the 17th century. The Welcome Society has indicated interest in providing proper period furniture for the house. Genuine Pusey items to be displayed include the 1717 corner cupboard marked with Caleb Pusey's name, which is owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The 1707 wedding certificate of Pusey's daughter, Lydia, has been contributed by a descendant, Maxfield Parrish, the artist. Other small farm buildings around the Pusey House are projected. "Visiting archaeologists' have told us that we should find the stone foundations of 10 or 12 small buildings around the house," Mrs. Patterson said, "and that it will of great value if we can reconstruct the smokehouse, springhouse and barn, which were once part of Caleb's plantation,"
Archaeologists have been working outside the house. It is hoped Pusey House will become one of the state's most outstanding tourist attractions. Delaware County officials may create a park in the area, along both sides of Chester Creek.
From the numerous artifacts found in the ancient building at 17 Race St., near the creek, they have discovered that Pusey had a walnut grove. Quite naturally, the planting of walnut trees is planned. Some walnut wood also will be used in the restoration of the house, such as replacing paneling long ago destroyed by fires.
Caleb Pusey also had some holly trees. Samuel H. Newsome president of The Delaware County historical Society, has a plan to acquire one or more of these as gifts. The accompanying photo also shows Pusey had a willow tree. Everybody is pitching in to help. The historical society owns nine acres of land at the Pusey site and will permit the Friends' group to use it to best advantage. Eventually, it is hoped to have a meadow with a 17th century appearance. There will be a simple English garden.
The Pusey House itself today appears much as it did in December, 1699, when Penn came for midday dinner. A marker in the wall which has set this house apart and helped to protect it, reads: "House built by Caleb Pusey in years 1683 and occupied by William Penn during occasional visits." The house was built in two sections, the second one in 1696, according to popular belief.
Thirty-two years after the late Samuel Smedley and Chester F. Baker began dreaming about the purchase and preservation of the historic old landmark, the Friends of Caleb Pusey are on the verge of meeting their original goal of $35,000—to be matched by $35,000 from the State of Pennsylvania. "We are hopeful the entire restoration project can be completed in two years, said Mrs. Patterson. To date, $31,000 has been received from 1,100 contributors, including a number of foundations, clubs and schools. The spirit behind these contributions has been wonderful, Mrs. Patterson said. School children have contributed money. There have been house-to-house drives. An Upland housewife, Mrs. Kathryn Richmond, even wrote a fundraising play about Pusey, and Pennsylvania Banks, such as The Delaware County National and Philadelphia National, have provided space for displays and exhibits.
A woman who recently moved from the state wrote: "When I come in to the center of Philadelphia I find nothing to remind me of William Penn except his statue. Thank goodness you are saving the Caleb Pusey House." She enclosed a check. Mrs. Patterson said the Commonwealth has granted $14,000 of the $35,000 in matching funds.
After long years of frustration the Pusey House bill finally was approved at the 1961 General Assembly session. State Sen. Clarence D. Bell (R-Delaware County) and State Rep. Francis Worley (R-Adams County) had introduced so many Pusey House bills that they had their colleagues dizzy. Worley, a direct descendant of Francis Worley, Caleb Pusey's stepson, introduced Pusey House bills in 17 legislative sessions. Twice, in 1945 and 1949, Pusey House bills got to the voting stage but failed. Much of the credit for the bill's final passage is due Mrs. Patterson. She won the appreciation and support of Dr., S. K. Stevens, executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and Martin Brackbill, Gov. William Scranton's budget secretary.
She once sat down and wrote 19 individual letters to members of a legislative committee to get action. Mrs. Patterson also got foundations interested in Pusey House. They could put the project over the top in a big way. Mrs. Patterson and Mrs. Brock became vitally interested in the Pusey House in 1960 after attending a meeting of the Chester County Historical Society. They heard a speaker declare that this last house left in Pennsylvania where Penn had been would go down soon if something were not done-."We decided, then and there, to do whatever was necessary," said Mrs. Patterson, who has won wide attention for her Quaker research work. Now, because of these two women, the Friends of Caleb Pusey are set to go into Delaware County Orphans Court to have the house turned over to them.
At present, two trustees control the house. Originally, there were four—Baker, Freas B. Snyder of Upper Darby, William S. Tomlinson of Upland and the Delaware County Historical Society in the person of its president. Baker and Snyder have since died. A Crozer deed of trust had provided for this transfer eventuality. In case, the deed read, a corporation were ever formed which was able to maintain the house, the property could be turned over to it. The Friends of Caleb Pusey House, Inc., was established in 1960.
John P. Crozer had bought the house, with 60 adjoining acres, in 1845, and built his cotton mills. Fully aware of the house's historical value, the Crozers determined that it should be saved as a relic of the past. After the Civil War, they made it into a two-family house, and installed a caretaker. It was still occupied as late as 1960. William Jordan, who lives at 1503 Carroll St., Chester, was born in the house in 1899. He will be 64 years old April 30. He is delighted at what is being done for Pusey House. He remembers so many people wanting to carry away souvenirs that his grandmother, Annie Jordan, who raised him from five months, "had to stop them before they carried away the whole house."
The first actual strengthening of the walls of Pusey House began Sept. 26. "This has seemed like a long, slow process," said Mrs. Patterson. "But it has only been because of the faithful work performed each Sunday by The Archaeological Society of Delaware, under the direction of Dr. Allen G. Schiek, that we have discovered architectural clues which will make our finished product right." John M. Dickey is the project's architect. He is a member of the Media firm of Price and Dickey and treasurer of The Society of Architectural Historians. Dickey has had a long-time interest in Pusey House.
After his first inspection, he decided some of the walls were in such precarious condition that they had to be shored up immediately. This was done. Dickey views Pusey House as "a perfectly fascinating mystery." "We are still a long way from knowing the complete story of the house," said, "but every few days we make an exciting new discovery which proves or disproves one of the theories and leads us slowly but inevitably back along the tangled way to the original structure."
To aid him in his work, Dickey has drawn in Penelope Hartshorne, who was invaluable in the restoration of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and John D. Milner, both from the National Park Service. Milner, a young architect, already has made many valuable deductions. His most recent discovery was a large arch-like indenture along one wall of the house. Perhaps a milk or malt beer kettle hung there. "We are going over the house brick by brick to find which bricks were from Caleb's time," said Milner.
"Things are coming more logically." Dickey said the restoration project at Pusey House is being tackled from three main fields:
* Measurement of the building and careful drawings of the interior portions of the house.
• Investigation of the existing fabric, the old fireplaces, holes in the walls and the central chimney.
• Reconstruction of the house.
Penelope Hartshorne was thrilled with the Pusey House center wall, of half-timber construction, which historians say undoubtedly was an original outside wall of the house. "The archaeological work at Pusey house has produced not only artifacts of great number and variety, but also numerous architectural features that have enhanced the restoration," said Dr. Schiek. In the east room is a long cellar, 8 1/2 feet deep, with an unusual circular stone stairway. In the west room, about half of the original timbers for supporting the floor were found in place. Here, too, in the southwest corner of the room, is a finely constructed well, 14 feet deep, and filled in as the cellar had been.
In the northwest corner of the same room a very unusual doorway was discovered, more than half it being below the ground level. "It is impossible to do more than mention a few of the outstanding artifacts," said Dr. Schiek. "The Virginia Colony coin of 1773 is probably the most unusual, along with the Connecticut and Nova Caesaria coins. The well yielded a long lost 17th century pewter plate of London origin. "We must think of a way to display the thousands of artifacts found — household goods, articles of personal adornment, coins, bones and children's toys," said Mrs. Patterson. "These will teach us how our early settlers lived," she said, "but it would not be appropriate to have these in the house because it should be furnished to show how Caleb's family lived. "As we pondered our need for an extra building, we noticed plaster falling off the outside of a dilapidated house in Swarthmore. Underneath, good squared logs were exposed. "Talking to the owner, we believe she will give this 18th century log house to us to use for a museum.
"Working back on deeds," Mrs. Patterson said, "we were astonished to find that this log house once belonged to William Pennock and Lydia Jackson Pennock, and that Lydia was Caleb Pusey's great - great granddaughter." It will probably take around $8,000 to move the log house, one of the few remaining in Delaware County—six miles to its new site and restore it.
"One of our finds of the year," said Mrs. Patterson, "has been the Charles Ashcomb Survey Map showing 'some part of the county of Chester in Pensilvania' (sic) in 1683.”The original is in the manuscript of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. This shows that both Caleb Pusey and Richard Townsend had houses standing next to each other."
The Strawbridge & Clothier Department Store, which is building a new store in Springfield, reportedly is interested in the Pusey House project. G. Stockton Strawbridge, company president, and his mother are descendants of Richard Townsend. The way everybody has pitched in to "dig" the Pusey House would make a fascinating story in itself. Frank Colatriano of The Archaeological Society of Delaware gave up a two-week vacation to dig. College students have appeared with electronic detection gadgets. The Archaeological Society of Delaware offered to excavate the house, provided it could be done on Sundays.
"One of the great joys has been the happy participation of more than 70 boys and girls who live in or near Upland," said Mrs. Patterson. "They have worked like troopers at the screening tables, their only reward being the cookies and cold drinks provided by the older people and the fun of a treasure hunt."
The people who have had some part in the plan to save Pusey House run into the scores, like George Plowman and the Rev. David A. MacQueen, to name two. Many organizations have been involved, too. As far back as 1937, the Federated Women's Clubs of Delaware County were eyeing the project.
The Pusey House has been described many times and much has been written about Pusey himself. Pusey lived from 1651 to 1727. Born in Berkshire, England, this early Quaker moved to London where he made shoe lasts. In 1681, he bought 250 American acres from Penn, thereby becoming a first purchaser. He married the widow Ann Stone Worley. It is believed her late husband, Henry Worley, was a close relative of Daniel Worley, the London merchant. Daniel Worley was the mastermind among a group of investors who planned to set up a grist mill in Pennsylvania. Penn owned five shares, Townsend, the builder and miller, had four shares, and Pusey one share.
Other investors remained in England, hoping for a rich profit. Pusey, as the man to oversee the new American venture, wisely selected the Upland site, both for his home and the mills. It was just above the ford, where the Indian path—later the Swedish trail and still later the Kings Highway—crossed Chester Creek.
It was a well-defined inland path for those traveling from the north down to Maryland. In time it brought many Quaker ministers to Pusey's door. Despite early difficulties, the mills prospered. In 1699, Pusey became a partner with Penn and Samuel Carpenter, in another venture on Caleb's meadow. These were two water grist mills, a saw mill and a Fulling mill. The mills stood until the American Revolution when George Washington ordered millstones buried so the British could not grind flour after The Battle of Brandywine.
The weathervane from the Penn-Carpenter-Pusey mill is now a prized possession of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Pusey, who had a large family— two daughters, two stepsons, a bound boy, and later two nephews from London — served his neighbors and the province in many ways,
He was repeatedly elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly. Pusey was one of 18 members of the Executive Council during Penn's first absence. When Penn left for the last time, in 1701, Pusey was one of 10 appointed to the Governor's Council. Penn came to have a high regard of Pusey, and a warm friendship developed. Penn frequently favored Pusey.
In 1708, after his last daughter married, Pusey sold out and probably moved to his brick house in Chester, close to the Delaware River. In 1717, Caleb and Ann Pusey made their home at London Grove, not far from Kennett, Pa.
John F. Watson, the analyst, visited the Pusey House in 1827 and described it as "a lowly stone dwelling, but crudely finished on the inside, not smoothly plastered to this day." Many of the stones from Pusey's house were taken from the bed of Chester Creek. Townsend built the original part of the Pusey house, now known to be the left (east) side, after his arrival on the Welcome with Penn in 1682.
Persons still desiring a part in the restoration of this historic Pennsylvania shrine may send their contributions to The Friends of the Caleb Pusey House, Inc., Box 256, Swarthmore, Pa,
Pusey's Friends will welcome them.
November 3O, 1963
By ARDEN SKIDMORE
Daily Times Staff Writer
11/30/1963
A small plantation—similar to the type William Penn saw here in his day—will appear in Upland within the next two years. The center attraction will be the historic Caleb Pusey House. This is the last house in Pennsylvania having documented associations with Penn, the Commonwealth's founder. It is also the only English-built house still standing in the state. Pennsbury Manor in Bucks County is only a re-creation. "We want to make it look like a little plantation, as it was in Caleb Pusey's day," said Mrs. Mary S. Patterson of Swarthmore, who with Mrs. Sarah P. Brock of Newtown Square serves as co-chairman of The Friends of the Caleb Pusey House, Inc. Of a $70,000 goal, only $4,500 remains to be raised.
"We plan to move a log house onto the property, fix up the old adjoining stone schoolhouse for the caretaker and perhaps have a Friends Meeting House somewhere on the grounds," said Mrs. Patterson. "And it won't be complete," she said, "until we have a mill."
Pusey lived there as the agent and manager of Penn's first mill in the 17th century. The Welcome Society has indicated interest in providing proper period furniture for the house. Genuine Pusey items to be displayed include the 1717 corner cupboard marked with Caleb Pusey's name, which is owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The 1707 wedding certificate of Pusey's daughter, Lydia, has been contributed by a descendant, Maxfield Parrish, the artist. Other small farm buildings around the Pusey House are projected. "Visiting archaeologists' have told us that we should find the stone foundations of 10 or 12 small buildings around the house," Mrs. Patterson said, "and that it will of great value if we can reconstruct the smokehouse, springhouse and barn, which were once part of Caleb's plantation,"
Archaeologists have been working outside the house. It is hoped Pusey House will become one of the state's most outstanding tourist attractions. Delaware County officials may create a park in the area, along both sides of Chester Creek.
From the numerous artifacts found in the ancient building at 17 Race St., near the creek, they have discovered that Pusey had a walnut grove. Quite naturally, the planting of walnut trees is planned. Some walnut wood also will be used in the restoration of the house, such as replacing paneling long ago destroyed by fires.
Caleb Pusey also had some holly trees. Samuel H. Newsome president of The Delaware County historical Society, has a plan to acquire one or more of these as gifts. The accompanying photo also shows Pusey had a willow tree. Everybody is pitching in to help. The historical society owns nine acres of land at the Pusey site and will permit the Friends' group to use it to best advantage. Eventually, it is hoped to have a meadow with a 17th century appearance. There will be a simple English garden.
The Pusey House itself today appears much as it did in December, 1699, when Penn came for midday dinner. A marker in the wall which has set this house apart and helped to protect it, reads: "House built by Caleb Pusey in years 1683 and occupied by William Penn during occasional visits." The house was built in two sections, the second one in 1696, according to popular belief.
Thirty-two years after the late Samuel Smedley and Chester F. Baker began dreaming about the purchase and preservation of the historic old landmark, the Friends of Caleb Pusey are on the verge of meeting their original goal of $35,000—to be matched by $35,000 from the State of Pennsylvania. "We are hopeful the entire restoration project can be completed in two years, said Mrs. Patterson. To date, $31,000 has been received from 1,100 contributors, including a number of foundations, clubs and schools. The spirit behind these contributions has been wonderful, Mrs. Patterson said. School children have contributed money. There have been house-to-house drives. An Upland housewife, Mrs. Kathryn Richmond, even wrote a fundraising play about Pusey, and Pennsylvania Banks, such as The Delaware County National and Philadelphia National, have provided space for displays and exhibits.
A woman who recently moved from the state wrote: "When I come in to the center of Philadelphia I find nothing to remind me of William Penn except his statue. Thank goodness you are saving the Caleb Pusey House." She enclosed a check. Mrs. Patterson said the Commonwealth has granted $14,000 of the $35,000 in matching funds.
After long years of frustration the Pusey House bill finally was approved at the 1961 General Assembly session. State Sen. Clarence D. Bell (R-Delaware County) and State Rep. Francis Worley (R-Adams County) had introduced so many Pusey House bills that they had their colleagues dizzy. Worley, a direct descendant of Francis Worley, Caleb Pusey's stepson, introduced Pusey House bills in 17 legislative sessions. Twice, in 1945 and 1949, Pusey House bills got to the voting stage but failed. Much of the credit for the bill's final passage is due Mrs. Patterson. She won the appreciation and support of Dr., S. K. Stevens, executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and Martin Brackbill, Gov. William Scranton's budget secretary.
She once sat down and wrote 19 individual letters to members of a legislative committee to get action. Mrs. Patterson also got foundations interested in Pusey House. They could put the project over the top in a big way. Mrs. Patterson and Mrs. Brock became vitally interested in the Pusey House in 1960 after attending a meeting of the Chester County Historical Society. They heard a speaker declare that this last house left in Pennsylvania where Penn had been would go down soon if something were not done-."We decided, then and there, to do whatever was necessary," said Mrs. Patterson, who has won wide attention for her Quaker research work. Now, because of these two women, the Friends of Caleb Pusey are set to go into Delaware County Orphans Court to have the house turned over to them.
At present, two trustees control the house. Originally, there were four—Baker, Freas B. Snyder of Upper Darby, William S. Tomlinson of Upland and the Delaware County Historical Society in the person of its president. Baker and Snyder have since died. A Crozer deed of trust had provided for this transfer eventuality. In case, the deed read, a corporation were ever formed which was able to maintain the house, the property could be turned over to it. The Friends of Caleb Pusey House, Inc., was established in 1960.
John P. Crozer had bought the house, with 60 adjoining acres, in 1845, and built his cotton mills. Fully aware of the house's historical value, the Crozers determined that it should be saved as a relic of the past. After the Civil War, they made it into a two-family house, and installed a caretaker. It was still occupied as late as 1960. William Jordan, who lives at 1503 Carroll St., Chester, was born in the house in 1899. He will be 64 years old April 30. He is delighted at what is being done for Pusey House. He remembers so many people wanting to carry away souvenirs that his grandmother, Annie Jordan, who raised him from five months, "had to stop them before they carried away the whole house."
The first actual strengthening of the walls of Pusey House began Sept. 26. "This has seemed like a long, slow process," said Mrs. Patterson. "But it has only been because of the faithful work performed each Sunday by The Archaeological Society of Delaware, under the direction of Dr. Allen G. Schiek, that we have discovered architectural clues which will make our finished product right." John M. Dickey is the project's architect. He is a member of the Media firm of Price and Dickey and treasurer of The Society of Architectural Historians. Dickey has had a long-time interest in Pusey House.
After his first inspection, he decided some of the walls were in such precarious condition that they had to be shored up immediately. This was done. Dickey views Pusey House as "a perfectly fascinating mystery." "We are still a long way from knowing the complete story of the house," said, "but every few days we make an exciting new discovery which proves or disproves one of the theories and leads us slowly but inevitably back along the tangled way to the original structure."
To aid him in his work, Dickey has drawn in Penelope Hartshorne, who was invaluable in the restoration of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and John D. Milner, both from the National Park Service. Milner, a young architect, already has made many valuable deductions. His most recent discovery was a large arch-like indenture along one wall of the house. Perhaps a milk or malt beer kettle hung there. "We are going over the house brick by brick to find which bricks were from Caleb's time," said Milner.
"Things are coming more logically." Dickey said the restoration project at Pusey House is being tackled from three main fields:
* Measurement of the building and careful drawings of the interior portions of the house.
• Investigation of the existing fabric, the old fireplaces, holes in the walls and the central chimney.
• Reconstruction of the house.
Penelope Hartshorne was thrilled with the Pusey House center wall, of half-timber construction, which historians say undoubtedly was an original outside wall of the house. "The archaeological work at Pusey house has produced not only artifacts of great number and variety, but also numerous architectural features that have enhanced the restoration," said Dr. Schiek. In the east room is a long cellar, 8 1/2 feet deep, with an unusual circular stone stairway. In the west room, about half of the original timbers for supporting the floor were found in place. Here, too, in the southwest corner of the room, is a finely constructed well, 14 feet deep, and filled in as the cellar had been.
In the northwest corner of the same room a very unusual doorway was discovered, more than half it being below the ground level. "It is impossible to do more than mention a few of the outstanding artifacts," said Dr. Schiek. "The Virginia Colony coin of 1773 is probably the most unusual, along with the Connecticut and Nova Caesaria coins. The well yielded a long lost 17th century pewter plate of London origin. "We must think of a way to display the thousands of artifacts found — household goods, articles of personal adornment, coins, bones and children's toys," said Mrs. Patterson. "These will teach us how our early settlers lived," she said, "but it would not be appropriate to have these in the house because it should be furnished to show how Caleb's family lived. "As we pondered our need for an extra building, we noticed plaster falling off the outside of a dilapidated house in Swarthmore. Underneath, good squared logs were exposed. "Talking to the owner, we believe she will give this 18th century log house to us to use for a museum.
"Working back on deeds," Mrs. Patterson said, "we were astonished to find that this log house once belonged to William Pennock and Lydia Jackson Pennock, and that Lydia was Caleb Pusey's great - great granddaughter." It will probably take around $8,000 to move the log house, one of the few remaining in Delaware County—six miles to its new site and restore it.
"One of our finds of the year," said Mrs. Patterson, "has been the Charles Ashcomb Survey Map showing 'some part of the county of Chester in Pensilvania' (sic) in 1683.”The original is in the manuscript of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. This shows that both Caleb Pusey and Richard Townsend had houses standing next to each other."
The Strawbridge & Clothier Department Store, which is building a new store in Springfield, reportedly is interested in the Pusey House project. G. Stockton Strawbridge, company president, and his mother are descendants of Richard Townsend. The way everybody has pitched in to "dig" the Pusey House would make a fascinating story in itself. Frank Colatriano of The Archaeological Society of Delaware gave up a two-week vacation to dig. College students have appeared with electronic detection gadgets. The Archaeological Society of Delaware offered to excavate the house, provided it could be done on Sundays.
"One of the great joys has been the happy participation of more than 70 boys and girls who live in or near Upland," said Mrs. Patterson. "They have worked like troopers at the screening tables, their only reward being the cookies and cold drinks provided by the older people and the fun of a treasure hunt."
The people who have had some part in the plan to save Pusey House run into the scores, like George Plowman and the Rev. David A. MacQueen, to name two. Many organizations have been involved, too. As far back as 1937, the Federated Women's Clubs of Delaware County were eyeing the project.
The Pusey House has been described many times and much has been written about Pusey himself. Pusey lived from 1651 to 1727. Born in Berkshire, England, this early Quaker moved to London where he made shoe lasts. In 1681, he bought 250 American acres from Penn, thereby becoming a first purchaser. He married the widow Ann Stone Worley. It is believed her late husband, Henry Worley, was a close relative of Daniel Worley, the London merchant. Daniel Worley was the mastermind among a group of investors who planned to set up a grist mill in Pennsylvania. Penn owned five shares, Townsend, the builder and miller, had four shares, and Pusey one share.
Other investors remained in England, hoping for a rich profit. Pusey, as the man to oversee the new American venture, wisely selected the Upland site, both for his home and the mills. It was just above the ford, where the Indian path—later the Swedish trail and still later the Kings Highway—crossed Chester Creek.
It was a well-defined inland path for those traveling from the north down to Maryland. In time it brought many Quaker ministers to Pusey's door. Despite early difficulties, the mills prospered. In 1699, Pusey became a partner with Penn and Samuel Carpenter, in another venture on Caleb's meadow. These were two water grist mills, a saw mill and a Fulling mill. The mills stood until the American Revolution when George Washington ordered millstones buried so the British could not grind flour after The Battle of Brandywine.
The weathervane from the Penn-Carpenter-Pusey mill is now a prized possession of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Pusey, who had a large family— two daughters, two stepsons, a bound boy, and later two nephews from London — served his neighbors and the province in many ways,
He was repeatedly elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly. Pusey was one of 18 members of the Executive Council during Penn's first absence. When Penn left for the last time, in 1701, Pusey was one of 10 appointed to the Governor's Council. Penn came to have a high regard of Pusey, and a warm friendship developed. Penn frequently favored Pusey.
In 1708, after his last daughter married, Pusey sold out and probably moved to his brick house in Chester, close to the Delaware River. In 1717, Caleb and Ann Pusey made their home at London Grove, not far from Kennett, Pa.
John F. Watson, the analyst, visited the Pusey House in 1827 and described it as "a lowly stone dwelling, but crudely finished on the inside, not smoothly plastered to this day." Many of the stones from Pusey's house were taken from the bed of Chester Creek. Townsend built the original part of the Pusey house, now known to be the left (east) side, after his arrival on the Welcome with Penn in 1682.
Persons still desiring a part in the restoration of this historic Pennsylvania shrine may send their contributions to The Friends of the Caleb Pusey House, Inc., Box 256, Swarthmore, Pa,
Pusey's Friends will welcome them.
November 3O, 1963