People

The English Quakers who settled in Bradford Township in the early 1700s were typical of many Chester County residents of the era. They were enterprising, hard-working and deeply religious people, having agreed to follow William Penn’s settlement guidelines, Certaine Conditions or Concessions. As they carved out a living in the rural landscape, they agreed to take care of the region’s natural resources: no clear-cutting of forests or damning of streams without consulting their neighbors. Most of all, before they cultivated farms, established roads or built mills, the settlers agreed to respect the Native Americans whose lands they were about to encroach.

The Lenni Lenapes’ traditional hunting and fishing grounds at Northbrook were not far from the land where Abraham Marshall, the father of Humphry Marshall, built his homestead known as Derbydown. Together, the Lenapes and settlers lived peacefully together. Despite assurances, over time the Lenapes were forced to relocate further west.