482 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY
to bore for oil on the Big Walnut. The ex-
citement grew greater from day to day, the
stock of the company increased in price and
sold rapidly to those whom, it is easy now to
say, were more hopeful than wise. It was
decided that the work was impracticable after
the well had been driven 900 feet through the
sandstone, blue clay and clay shale, and the
enterprise was abandoned. Had they been
successful, the promoters of the venture would
have been credited with unusual foresight and
business acumen. The citizens of Porter
Township are the peers of the citizens of any
similar neighborhood in the State in intelli-
gence, industry, enterprise and morality.
The present officers of the township (for
1908) are as follows:
C. H. Forsley and L. E. Smith, justices
of the peace; F. O. White and C. W. Sherman,
trustees; W. H. Fredericks, clerk; C. N. Metz-
ger, treasurer; E. R. Chadwick, assessor;
Ernest Garvin and Elmer Vining, constables.
RADNOR TOWNSHIP.
Radnor, one of the three original townships
of Delaware County, rich and fertile in its soil,
substantial and progressive in its citizenship,
takes second rank to no farming community in
this section of the State. Peopled from its in-
fancy, largely by men of the sturdy Welsh
race, the development and improvement of the
land and the establishment of schools and
churches was accomplished with greater
rapidity than is recorded in the experience of
most virgin territories. Henry Perry, of Angel-
sey, South Wales, accompanied by his young
sons, Ebenezer and Levi, was the first white
settler, coming in the fall of 1803, but it was
not until July of the following year that he
became a property owner. He purchased 100
acres of land for $150 of David Pugh, an ex-
tensive land owner, at whose solicitation he
had come west from Philadelphia to make set-
tlement.
David Pugh, leaving his native country,
Radnorshire, South Wales, crossed the ocean
in 1801, and took up his residence in Balti-
more. Maryland. The following year he went
to Philadelphia, where he met Dr. Samuel
Jones, who had a warrant for 4,000 acres of
United States Military land, in Town-
ship 6, Range 20, as designated by the
Lhiited States Survey. The result of the ac-
quaintance was the employment of young
Pugh as an emissary to go west and learn
something of the character and value of the
land owned by the doctor. Early in 1802 he
left Philadelphia and after an adventurous trip
on "horseback, lasting two months, arrived at
Franklinton, Franklin County, the settlement
nearest the land he sought. With an exper-
ienced backwoodsman as guide, he made his
way northward through an unbroken wilder-
ness to the land, located in the township to
which he subsequently gave the name of Rad-
nor, in honor of his native country. The name
however is of English origin, the Welsh name
of that country being “Maesyfed.” After a
thorough examination, David Pugh returned
to Philadelphia and made a favorable report to
Dr. Jones. In the city of Philadelphia, March
2, 1803, for a consideration of $2,650, a trans-
fer was made to David Pugh, of the
tract of 4,000 acres, excepting 50 acres
given to David Lodwig, and 50 acres
donated as a “glebe” for a Baptist or a Presby-
terian minister who would locate in the pro-
posed settlement.
Henry Perry, who had but recently arrived
in this country, was persuaded by Mr. Pugh to
make settlement in this wild country, which he
and his two sons did in the fall of 1803, as
before mentioned, leaving his wife and two
small children in Baltimore. The journey was
made on foot, and after many trials and hard-
ships they arrived on the Pugh land. A small
clearing was made, a cabin erected and the
following spring crops planted on land which
they had cleared during the winter. Leaving
his young sons (Ebenezer being fifteen and
Levi thirteen years old at the time of their ar-
rival) in possession of the cabin, 1 Ienrv Perry
returned to Baltimore for the remainder of his
family, which in the early summer he brought
West, making the journey in a cart. In 1804,
David Pugh returned and had his land sur-
veyed into 100 acre tracts, except 150 acres, in
the center, which were laid out in town lots,
the town to be known as New Baltimore.