History of Bradford Township (1881); Chester County, PA

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Sandra Ferguson <ferg@ntelos.net>.

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from THE HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA, by Futhey and Cope (1881);
 
Bradford was organized about 1705, and Richard Buffington was constable for that 
year.  He was succeeded by Robert Jefferis in 1706 and Abiah Taylor in 1797.
    In this, as in some other twps, the first settlers were not the first owners 
of the land, and the first surveys were made for persons who had purchased 
before leaving England, if indeed they ever came over.  P{rior to 1686 it had 
not been surveyed and was an unbroken wilderness existing where now may be seen 
some of the finest farms in the county.  The Welsh tract had been laid out, and 
its western line afforded a base for further operations, as did also the surveys 
to the southward, in Birmingham    About the year 1686 surveys were made of 
nearly all the land south of the Strasburg road, but some of these were 
afterwards altered.  Among the landowners who became actual settlers, Richard 
Buffington was probably the first.  He was the ancestor of the numerous family 
of that name, and had settled at Upland (now Chester) before Wm Penn obtained a 
grant for Pennsylvania.
    At a court held in NOv of 1731, a petition was presented, signed by George 
Strode, Joseph Townsend, James Jefferis, Abiah Taylor, Samuel Scott, Richard 
Buffington, Henry Woodward, James Tull, Isaac Vernon, Abraham Marshall and 14 
others, asking for the division of the township and defining of the boundaries, 
the township was then divided into 2 townships; .
     Bradford was probably named from Bradford, in Yorkshire, or the town of the 
same name on the Avon, in Wiltshire, England.
    East Bradford was reduced in size in 1856 by the cutting off of a portion of 
its southern end and attaching it to Birmingham.  The line between East Bradford 
and West Bradford was changed somewhat in 1857, so as to make the Brandywine the 
line at or near Sugar's bridge, adding land of John Pollock to East Bradford.