Biographical Sketch of Samuel PAINTER (1881); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Candace Roth . Copyright 2004. All Rights Reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ********************************************************* "History of Chester County Pennsylvania" by J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope; ppg. 671/2 "PAINTER, Samuel, is supposed to have come from that part of England bordering on Wales, and his name is found as a lot-owner in Philadelphia in 1705. His son Samuel purchased 532 acres of land in Birmingham in 1707, and his father bought adjoining land in 1711. The son was married, 4,7,1716 at Concord Meeting, to Elizabeth Buxcey, a sister to the wife of John Passmore, of Kennet. Their children were Mary, m. to Isaac Gilpin; Samuel; John, m. to Agnes Cobourn and Sarah Yeatman; Thomas, m. to Grace Cloud; Ann, m. to Robert Chamberlin; and Lydia. Samuel (3) married, 6,5,1741, Esther, daughter of Joseph and Hannah Gilpin, of Birmingham. Their children were James, m. to Jane Carter; George; Lydia, m. to Isaac Baily; Joseph; Thomas, Hannah, m. to Joseph Townsend, of Baltimore; and Samuel. Of these, Joseph, b. 4,1,1748, d. 10,24,1804, m. Elizabeth Woodward, b. 6,12,1748, d. 8,24,1808, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Kirk) Woodward. They lived in East Bradford, now Birmingham township, where he followed the fulling business. Of their five children, Joseph Painter was born 7th mo. 5, 1782, and was married at Bradford meeting, 9th mo. 12, 1805, to Lydia Marshall, daughter of Samuel and Rachel Marshall, of West Bradford, born 8th mo. 2, 1788. They resided for many years in East Bradford, but settled in West Chester in 1829. Their children were,---1. Mary Ann, b. 7,11,1806, d. 11,11,1809; 2. Rachel M., b. 4,17,1808, d. 11,15,1865; 3. Samuel M., b. 9,16,1809, m. 10,17,1839, Ann Vickers; 4. Elizabeth P., b. 5,31,1813, m. Joseph Vickers, d. 9,8,1863; 5. Lydia S., b. 8,3,1815, d. 11,24,1832; 6. Sarah, b. 12,8,1816, d. 6,30,1817; 7. Joseph H., b. 10,5,1818, m. 2,19,1840 Esther, daughter of Joseph and Charity Kersey; 8. Mary H., b. 9,30,1820, m. 12,30,1840, Chalkley M. Valentine; 9. James G., b. 5,12,1823, m. Mary H. Pierce; 10. Cyrus P., b. 11,20,1825, m. Abigail A. Alison; 11. Thomas, b. 7,7,1830. Joseph Painter died 8th mo. 12, 1855, and his wife, Lydia, 5th mo. 10, 1857. Joseph Painter was a man of strong character, and for many years wielded a controlling political influence in the county. Immediately succeeding the alleged abduction and murder of Morgan by the Freemasons, the feeling against the Masonic order was very high all over the land. In 1829, Mr. Painter published a few numbers of a paper at Yellow Springs, which was printed by Alexander Marshall, and devoted to the interests of the Anti-Masonic party. Later in the same year he established at West Chester the "Anti-Masonic Register." (See page 331.). About six months after starting his paper at West Chester, he built a frame office at the east end of what is now the Mansion House. He began his paper at Yellow Springs with only one hundred and fifty subscribers, but in two or three years his list increased to over two thousand. His papers were delivered all over the county, at the stores and elsewhere, to subscribers by riders outside of the post facilities. For a decade of years the Anti-Masonic party, of which his paper was the organ, swept the county, and elected Governor Ritner to the gubernatorial chair. Mr. Painter was an able writer and first-class business man, and in the publication of his paper a power in the county and State. He amassed a snug competence. His paper took advanced ground in favor of the cause of temperance, and was strongly anti-slavery, opposing the holding of human beings in bondage, and attacking the slave dynasty and interests in every conceivable way. Mr. Painter was one of the agents of the "Underground Railroad," through whom many a slave found a channel for escape to Canada and the more Northern States. During the height of the Anti-Masonic furor the Masonic lodge at West Chester surrendered its charter. Mr. Painter was a humanitarian in its broadest sense, a friend of liberty and good society, and a foe to tyranny, whether in governmental, religious, or mental economics, and for a long period was the brilliant and trusted leader of a party whose most able exponent he was with his trenchant pen and iron will. James Painter, son of Samuel (3), was married 5,9,1771, to Jane Carter, daughter of John and Hannah (Cope) Carter, of East Bradford (now Birmingham) township, and settled close by her father's late residence. Their children were Elizabeth, Enos, John, Hannah, and Phebe. Enos, the only one that married, was born 12,1,1773, died 5,30,1857; married Hannah, only daughter of Jacob and Ann Minshall, of Middletown, Delaware Co., and settled on her father's farm. At this homestead Minshall and Jacob Painter, his two unmarried sons, spent their lives, which were largely devoted to the acquisition of knowledge, the care of a botanical garden, and collection of family and local history. The former was one of the founders of the Delaware County Institute of Science. Their brother James, born 12,17,1802, married, 5,6,1835, Betsy G., daughter of William and Betsy Thatcher, of Thornbury, and settled on the ancestral farm on the Brandywine. He died 3,25,1867, after which his widow removed to West Chester. Their children were William T., Hannah, Minshall, Mary, and Annie. Of these, the eldest, William T., was born 4th mo. 23, 1836, and married, 10th mo. 13, 1864, Hannah Mary, daughter of Job and Sarah S. Hayes, of Newlin township. He settled at the homestead of his father, formerly of East Bradford, but now of Birmingham. His children are George, born 12th mo. 8, 1866, and Mary B., born 9th mo. 12, 1870. His wife, Hannah Mary (Hayes), died 5th mo. 26, 1880. His dwelling-house was erected in 1773, and its immediate locality was the scene of Revolutionary conflicts, the Brandwine battle being fought only two miles from it. The American army passed by the Painter house, and his grandmother, a staunch patriot, making bread, the soldiers, hungry and tired, ate all the dough and drank the well dry."