Biographical Sketch of Stephen DARLINGTON (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris . *********************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county", by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Philadelphia, PA, 1893, pp. 248-250. "STEPHEN DARLINGTON, who was a constant student, a ripe scholar and one of the finest linguists of Pennsylvania, ranked high as a scientific and progressive farmer. He was a son of George and Lydia Barnard Darlington, and was born in what is now Pocopson township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, October 28, 1799. The primogenitor of the Darlington family in Chester county was Abraham Dar- lington, who came from England about the year 1708. He was reared on a farm and learned the trade of saddler, but after coming to this county he settled east of the Brandywine on a farm of two hundred acres. His second wife was Elizabeth Hillborn, and their fifth child, Thomas Darlington, removed higher up on the Brandywine, where he settled on a farm now owned by one of his grandsons. Thomas Darlington married Hannah Brinton, and their sixth son, George Darlington (father), who was a farmer and miller by occupation and trade, settled, near the close of the last century, west of the Brandywine, on the Pocopson stream. He married Lydia Barnard, and his children in the order of age were: Hannah, Richard, Stephen, Cyrus, George, Joseph B., Hill- born, Lydia, and Eliza. "Stephen Darlington was reared on the farm, received a good education, and then engaged in farming and the study of mathematics. He settled on a farm bordering the Brandywine, and between that stream and his father's home, which had been previously owned by Henry Hoopes. This farm was in poor condition when Mr. Darlington came into possession of it, but he immediately commenced the ferti- lization of its soil and the improvement of its fences and buildings, and in fifty years he had brought it up to such a state that it ranks as one of the best farms of Pennsylvania. He brought the soil up to garden richness, and while his buildings were not ornamental, they were permanently finished and roofed with slate, from the dwelling to the pig sty. His fences were con- structed of iron and placed upon a stone basis so securely as to stand the test of a century. "On September 15, 1825, Mr. Darlington married Ann Mendenhall, who was born October 27, 1804, and died March 9, 1885, aged eighty years. She was a daughter of Aaron Mendenhall, who owned a fine farm in Pennsbury township, which had descended as a patrimonial estate from his father, Isaac, who inher- ited it from his father, Joseph, one of the sons of the immigrant Benjamin, who came about 1686, from Married Hill, Wiltshire, England, with his brother John and settled in Pennsylvania, and from whom all of the name of Mendenhall in America are descended. Mr. and Mrs. Darlington had five children: Fenelon, Sarah, Louisa, Emma, and Lamartine. Mr. Darlington was fortunate in the choice of a partner, who contributed her full share to the success of out-door as well as household operations. She was tidy in the extreme, and busied in usefulness from morn to bed time. She with her husband uniformly attended meetings of worship and business in the Society of Friends, of which they were members. She rarely took up a book or paper unless in the afternoon of the first day of the week. Notwithstanding this full timing of her hours, she was foremost in look- ing after those in suffering or in want, and was free in administering unto these by heart, hand and purse. "A memorable occasion of Stephen Darlington's life was his golden wedding which was celebrated Wednesday, September 15, 1875, with appropriate and interesting ceremonies, a full account of which appeared in the 'Daily Local News'. It was really a grand reunion of the Darlingtons and Mendenhalls, families so noted for punctuality and honesty that it is a common expression 'as punctual as a Darling- ton' or 'as honest as a Mendenhall'. A magnificent repast was furnished in the commodious barn to accommodate the large number that were present. Addresses were delivered and poems read by several of the guests, but two of the most distinguishing events of the occasion were the marriage of Sarah D., the eldest daughter of Mr. Darlington, to Samuel Auge, of West Chester, who was a guest at the original wedding, fifty years before, and the address of welcome from Mr. Darlington and his wife, which was a poetical effort on the part of Stephen Darlington of so much merit that we reproduce it as it appeared in the public press: 'When noble LaFayette from beyond the sea, Reviewed the land himself had helped to free, Received the plaudits of a grateful shore, Which scarcely ever man received before; T'was then in early youth, as man and wife, We ventured on the doubtful path of life; Poor and of small account, we took our stand, But thanks to toll and Heaven's protecting hand, Enough of comfort 'round our home appears, To satisfy the needs of closing years; Enough of fame our modest cause attends, And not the least, a list of valued friends; And now since fifty suns have passed away, Gladly we greet you on this bridal day; You who with us have shared the early morn, Or, who the bloom of later years adorn - To all we wish a long and prosperous life, A noble husband, or a worthy wife.' "Stephen Darlington was a republican in politics. He gave close attention to the education of his children, and at the close of the day's labor after examining their work and progress in their studies, he gave them a lesson in the languages as a general rule. In early manhood he exhibited the taste and well-read scholarship of the poet, the persevering tact and thrift and effort of the matematician; and gathered the self-sought and self-found gems and treasures in language - while he shrunk not from the dull and slow and sturdy rounds of the practical farmer. In his early studies each new effort was crowned with a new joy (such as he only knows who ascends the golden pathway of art, of science or of duty), but in later life he confined his efforts mainly to farming operations and the study of the classics. Stephen Darlington's long and practically useful life closed on May 16, 1884, when he passed awayfrom the scenes of his earthly labors. His remains were interred in a beautiful lot in Birmingham cemetery, but he will be long remembered in the community where he resided. A successful teacher of the county pays the following beautiful and well deserved tribute to his memory: 'While Stephen Darlington was a model agriculturalist, he was also a constant student, a ripe scholar, and as a linguist had few equals, if any, in his native State.' "