MARTIN'S TAVERN

MARTIN'S TAVERN

Joseph Martin

3rd Cousin 9X Removed

  

Martin’s Tavern, “that old Accustomed House of Entertainment, known by name of the Centre House, in West Bradford,” was constructed and opened as a “Publick House” in 1764. 

The tavern was located on a 2.5 acre lot, once part of a 

1250 acre tract of land granted by 

William Penn to Mary Penington in 1681. 

 THE BLACKSMITH'S SHOP

The original grant was gradually subdivided and passed through several owners: Daniel Wharley, who married Mary Penington, Edward Beeson, Edward Clayton, Abraham Marshall I, William Clayton, and Richard Baker. 

Joseph Martin of West Bradford 

was the first owner of Martin's Tavern and Keeper.

On June 9, 1764, Joseph Martin purchased from Richard and Rachel Baker two acres with a fine, two-and-a-half-story stone house measuring 23’ across the front and 31’ deep on the gable. The tract was adjacent to the Bradford Meeting House property, and Martin, “who also having obtained from Sarah Arnold a small addition to the aforesaid...,” now owned a 2.5 acre lot with a house at the fork in “the Great Road” from Trimble’s and Marshall’s mill (Northbrook Road) and the road to Taylor’s Ferry and Chester (Strasburg Road east). He began constructing a two-and-a-half story stone addition measuring 21’ x 31’ as a tavern house. The resulting building, which incorporated the earlier structure, was 44’ x 31’, fronting towards the fork in the road.

Martin applied for a tavern license 

on August 28, 1764, and stated:

That there is a Necessity for a Publick house for the Entertainment of Travellers in said Township, there being many Large roads Much used by Travellers and no house of Entertainment upon any of them for Several Miles Distant so that they are often times obliged to be Burdensome to the Neighbours or want Refreshment. And Your Petitioner has Now Purchased a Lott with a house thereon, And is now Erecting a Commodious house at the place, it being Convenient for most of the roads and Many Miles remote from any house of Entertainment upon any of them, Your Petitioner therefore prays You would be pleased to recommend him to his honour the Governor for a Lycence to keep a house of entertainment for Travellers at the place aforesaid. Twenty-five local landowners subscribed to the petition, including noted botanist Humphrey Marshall, who built his own stone mansion a few years later adjacent to Martin’s Tavern; Joel Baily, a self-taught mathematician, surveyor, clockmaker, gunsmith, astronomer, and millowner, who assisted Mason and Dixon; and James Trimble of Trimble’s Ford, a prominent millowner. Other names on the list are associated with the Brandywine and fording places that ring across the pages of Revolutionary War history: Emmor and Robert Jeffries of nearby Jeffries Ford on the east branch of the Brandywine; Thomas Taylor of Taylor’s Ferry; and Thomas and John Buffington of Buffington’s Ford.

County tax records reveal that in 1765, Joseph Martin owned “120 Acres Land with buildings, 40 acres of woodland, Tavarn & 3 Acres Land, a Tenant, 4 Horses, 5 Cattle, 13 sheep.” However, by 1767 his holdings were reduced to “2 Acres & Tavern, 1 Horse, 2 Cows, 2 Sheep." The cause of Martin’s own fall in fortune is at present unknown, but he was by no means alone. Numerous farms in the area were seized and sold by the Sheriff, as the newspapers attest. On May 16, 1768, Martin sold the property, “two acres and a half and twenty perches of Ground, together with the Buildings thereon erected…,” to William Clayton.

Clayton did not last long as tavernkeeper. On October 24 of the following year, the tavern property was reconveyed to Joseph Martin, and he was back in business again. Joseph Martin continued to run the tavern through 1775

DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Joseph Martin’s 18-year-old son, Joseph Jr., joined a regiment 

and marched for New York. The records of the Flying Camp have largely been lost, but circumstantial evidence suggests that 

he might be the Lieutenant Joseph Martin of Baxter’s Pennsylvania Battalion of the Flying Camp, commissioned in June, 1776. The disruption of families, the local economy, and the 

social structure took its toll in various ways. Once independence was declared, businesses were required to accept paper 

Continental dollars or face prosecution if they refused. 

Hard money was scarce in the best of times before the war, and each colony printed its own paper currency. Pennsylvania currency was in pounds and shillings valued at a lower rate than British sterling, but it remained fairly stable. Continental dollars 

were backed by nothing but faith, and many people refused to accept them. Those who did often faced financial ruin.

The difficulties caused by the war, his age, and perhaps even his son’s enlistment, may have induced 59 year old Joseph Martin to once more give up the tavern. On February 21st, 1776, the Tavern was listed for sale in the Pennsylvania Gazette. The purchaser was Captain Abraham Marshall, grandson of Abraham Marshall I and nephew of Humphrey Marshall.

The Marshallton Historic District - Marshallton was settled the mid 1700’s when a few houses, the Bradford Meetinghouse, Martin’s Tavern and a blacksmith shop were grouped near the intersection of the roads to Strasburg and Downingtown. Strasburg Road was a drovers’ thoroughfare between the market city of Philadelphia and Strasburg in Lancaster County. Having a good central location, West Bradford was known as a place of prosperous farmers and prominent middle class craftsmen. It had 25 residents in 1715, and 81 residents by 1760.
Resources that contribute to this district are:
50.01: Parcel 50-6P-40-E at 550 Northbrook Road, Martin’s Tavern, circa 1750 (NR, HD, PI, BS) -  It is one of the County’s earliest taverns started by Joseph Martin in 1764, the same year Mason and Dixon began their survey. 

During the Colonial era, original log homes gave way to the stone and brick structures. In the first Census in 1790, the township had 725 residents and 1,739 in 1820. 

MARSHALLTON INN

Martin’s Tavern was an important public gathering place. Squire Cheney and Col. Hannum rode out from there to look for the British the morning of September 11, 1777. Upon finding them, Cheney rode to warn Gen. Washington that he had been flanked.

Joseph married Hannah Harlan

CHILDREN:

Joseph, JR

Caleb

 Rebecca (m. to Joseph Woodward)

Hannah (m. to Benjamin Miller)

Lydia (m. to John Woodward)

Mary (m. to Daniel Leonard)

I have so much more to learn about my Martin ancestors… and so the 'dead people' stories continue...
... and I shall visit Martin's Tavern!